The Life of Justification Opened, Chapter 25
CHAP. XXV.
Faith is not our Gospel-Righteousness.
OUr Adversaries, to strengthen their Assertion of the Imputation of Faith, in a proper sense, to the exclusion of the imputation of the Righteousness of Christ, have other two Positions, which they own & maintaine. One is, that our Faith or our act of beleeving is the whole of our Gospel-Righteousness: And the other is. That Christ hath procured that it should be so, by procuring the New Covenant, whereof this faith is made the Condition. To this last we shall speak something, in the next Chapter; & of the other here.
How much Mr. Baxter doth contend, for our Faiths being called & accounted our Gospel-Righteousness, is known. The forenamed Author of the discourse of the two Covenants is very plaine pag. 48, &c. where he is explaining, what God's counting Abraham's faith to him for Righteousness is. There he tels us, that he takes it to signifie thus much, to wit. That God, in a may of special grace, or by vertue of a new Law of grace & favour, which was established by God, in Christ (Gal. 3: 17.) that is, in reference to what Christ was to do & suffer, in time then to come, did reckon his practical faith to him for Righteousness, that is, that which in the eye of that new Law, should passe in his estimation for righteousness, subordinat to Christ's Righteousness, which procured this grant or Law. And thereafter pag. 40. he tels us, That it is an act of God's special favour, & by vertue of his new Law of grace, that such a faith, as he hath described (that is, a faith taking in all Gospel Obedience, as we saw above) comes to be reckoned or imputed to a man for Righteousness; & through God's imputing it for righteousness, to stand a man in the same, if not in a better stead, as to his eternal concerns, as a perfect fulfilling of the original Law from first to last would have done. Christ's Righteousness being presupposed the only Meritorious Cause of this grant or Covenant. Thereafter pag. 50. he tels us, there are two things, which constitute & make up the Righteousness of the Law of Grace, first, that which consisteth in the forgiveness of sins & 2. the righteousness of sincere obedience: And in inference to both, he saith, faith is imputed for righteousness be vertue of the Law of Grace; for, saith he, faith as practical is imputed to a man for righteousness, as it is that & all that, which is required of him himself by the Law of Grace, to entitle him to the righteousness, which consisteth in remission of sins. And then as to the second he saith pag. 52. That faith is imputed for righteousness, which is practical or productive of sincere obedience, without which proper…y it is not a fulfilling of the Law of Grace, as a condition of the promised benefites, & consequently cannot justifie a man, in the eye of that Law: for, as he addeth, there must be repentance, & forgiving men their injuries, & faith must be such as worketh by love, & then he tels us, that Abraham was justified by his works. Jam. 2.
All which abomination of doctrine, & perversion of the right wayes of the Lord, we are not here to examine: It is enough, in reference to the clearing of what is now before us & under consideration; that we see here a plaine d…lmeation & explication made of that Gospel, which Mr. Baxter said, this Treatise would lead us into the knowledge of: & which is the very same, upon the matter, with that Gospel, which Socinians & Arminians hold forth, joyning herein with Papists, as we saw in part above Chap. XVIII. towards the beginning, & we shall at this occasion trouble the Reader with some more of their expressions, that we may see, that the doctrine, which is now so much cried up, & followed after, is nothing but old Socinianisme & so, owned & professed by such, as do not deserve to be called Christians, Socin. de Servat. lib. 4. c. 4, 7, 11. God justifieth the ungodly, but now converted, penitent, & after he hath left off to be ungodly: the justified are not ungodly in themselves, neither are they so called, yea they are not sinners; & which is more, they do not now sinne. And so faith & works, that is, obedience to the commands of Christ, as the forme of faith, doth justifie us before God, & by them through them (per illa, ex illis) he justifieth us. Smalcius disp. 4. c. Frantzium. Regeneration, all other good works, Love, Prayer, Obedience, Faith, Charity &c. are so far from being effects of justification, that without them justification can no way really exist, for God justifieth no man, but him, who is compleetly adorned with all these vertues … yea the study of good works & walkeing before God were the cause (though not the chiefe) of the justification of Noah, Abraham & others, who are said to be justified by faith. Socin. ubi supra de Serv. lib. 1. c. 4. Faith doth not justifie by its proper vertue, but by the mercy & go…d will of God, who justifieth such, as do such a work, & imputeth it for righteousness. With Paul, to have righteousness imputed is nothing else, but to have faith imputed, & to be accounted just, faith is so imputed to us, as that because of faith, we, howbeit guilty of many unrighteousness, are esteemed perfectly righteous, or God so dealeth with us, as if we were perfectly righteous who can doubt, that the Apostle meaneth no other thing than that we are not righteous before God, because our works require that, as a due reward, but because it hath so seemed good to the Lord, to take our faith in place of righteousness; so that we receive the reward of grace, by which we are declared righteous before him. More might be adduced for this end, as it might be shown also, how herein the Arminians conspire with them against the orthodox. And as for the judgment of Papists, in this point, it is likewise known.
It will not be necessary that we insist, in disproving that, which hath been so much witnessed against by the orthodox writting against Papists, Socinians, & Arminians, upon these heads: It will suffice, I suppose, if we give a few reasons, why we cannot acquiesce in the doctrine, proposed by the forenamed Author.
1. Hereby works of obedience are exalted to the same place, & are allowed the same Force, Influence & Efficacy into Justification, with Faith, whereby all the Apostles disputes for Faith & against Works, & for faith as inconsistent with & exclusive of works, are evacuated & rendered useless; So that the Apostle hath either not spoken to the purpose, or hath not spoken truth: either of which to say is blasphemie. The Apostle argueth thus, we are Justified by faith; therefore we are not Justified by works. This man reasoneth on the contrary, we are justified by faith, therefore we are justified by works; because by a faith that includeth works; as if the Apostle had meaned a Faith that was dead, & had no affinity with works.
2. Hereby he confoundeth all these duties, which are required of Beleevers, or of such, as are in Covenant with God, with that which is solely required of them in order to their first entering in Covenant, or into a state of Justification: as … one should say, that all the marriag-duties, required of such as were already in that marriage state, were conditions of entering into the marriag-state.
3. Hereby he confoundeth Justification, with Glorification, making all that Faith & sincere obedience, which is required in order to actual Salvation & Glorification, to be necessary before Justification: And thereby must say, that no man hath his sins pardoned, so long as he liveth; but if he be sincerely obedient, he is in the way to a Pardon, & to Justification. He cannot say, that by a practical Faith, he only meaneth such a true and lively Faith, as will in due time produce these effects: for, as that will not consist with his explication of that practical Faith, so it would crosse his whole designe. The just man in the eye of this new Law, (as he saith p. 49.) is every one that rightly beleeves, repents & sincerely obeyes, because that is all that it requires of a man himself to his Iustification & Salvation. Where we see, that with him, Justification & Salvation go together, & have the same conditions, and he that is just must be one, that hath these Conditions; and he who hath not these Conditions is not just in the eye of that new Law; and if he be not just in the eye of that new Law, his faith cannot be accounted to him for Righteousness, nor he Justified.
4. The man hereby confoundeth the two Covenants, or giveth us a new Covenant of Works, in stead of the Covenant of Grace; for this practical Faith, which includeth all obedience, hath the same place, force & efficacy in the new Covenant, that compleet Obedience had in the old. And this Gospel is but the old Law of works, only with this change, that where as the old Law required Perfect Obedience to the end, in order to Justification & Salvation; this new Covenant of works requireth Sincere Obedience to the end, in order to Justification & Salvation: And so thus we are Justified & saved as really by & upon the account of our works, as Adam would have been, if he had continued in obedience to the end; & this Faith and sincere Obedience is as really, &, to all ends & purposes, as effectually and formally our Righteousness, as Perfect Obedience would have been the Righteousness of Adam: And thus the reward must as really be reckoned to us of debt, & not of grace, as it would have been to Adam, if he had stood: And as faire a ground is laid for us to boast & glory, though not before God, as had been for Adam, if he had continned to the end. The evasion he hath to make all this of grace, saying p. 49, 50. And yet every beleevers justification will be all of grace, because the Law by which they are justified is wholly of grace, & was ena…ed in meer grace & favour to undone man, is not able to help him; for it was wholly of undeserved grace & love, that God did so far condescend to Adam, & to all mankinde in him, as to strick a Covenant with him, a promise of such an ample reward upon his performance of the condition of Perfect Obedience to the end; & yet, notwithstanding this Law was wholly of grace & was enacted in meer grace & favoure: for neither was the Lord necessitated thereunto; nor could Adam say, he had deserved any such thing at God's hand, the reward had been reckoned to Adam, if he had stood, of debt, not simplie and absolutly, but ex pacto; by reason of the compact: So that we see, the cases run parallel & the Covenant is of the same nature & kinde. The difference betwixt the Power granted to Adam, & now to man, to performe the conditions required, is with him, the same upon the matter; for if man will go the length he can & may, he may be sure of God's help to convoy him all the length he should; And what had Adam more? And as for the diversitie of the conditions, which then were Perfect Obedience, & now only Sincere, that can make no alteration in the Nature of the Covenant: and beside, I see not, why this Man can not as well say that if man now will go as far, as he may & can, by his own stock of power, unto the performance of Perfect Obedience, God will certainly give him his help to carry him forward; as he saith, that if man will now go all the length he can unto the performance of Faith, Repentance, & new sincere obedience, God is ready & willing to contribute his help to carry him forward thereunto.
5. He confoundeth the right to, with the possession of life eternal, as to their Causes & Antecedents; for as new & holy Obedience is by us made the way to the possession of the Kingdom: so by him it is made the way or cause of the Right jus to the Kingdom; for he requireth it as antecedent to a mans Justification & first being brought into a Covenant state with God, when he first receiveth the Right to the inheritance; And thus the Inheritance is made to be of the Law, & not of promise, contrare to Gal. 3: 18, for the whole and sure Right thereunto is had by Obedience to the Law, with him.
I shall say no more to this here, because there is a sufficient confutation of this to be found in Mr. Durham on the Revel. pag. 234. &c. where that digression is handled, concerning the way of Covenanting with God, & of a sinner obtaining of Iustification before him. And in all such as write against Papists and Sociniant, on this head.
But if it be asked, may not faith be called our Gospel-Righteousness, & be said to be imputed to beleevers, as such a Righteousness, without any wrong done to the Righteousness of Christ, which keepeth still its own place of being our legal or pro legal Righteousness? I Ans. Though it be true, that Faith is now required of all that would be Justified; yet I no where finde, that it is called our Gospel Righteousness; and I judge it not saife to admit expressions, without warrand of the word, in this tender matter; especially such expressions, as have a manifest tendency to corrupt, rather then explicate the truth, in this particular; as, I judge, will be found true of this expression; for how beit it be said by the Asserters thereof, that Faith, is but a less principal & Subordinat Righteousness; Yet in effect, according to their explication of the whole doctrine (as may be seen by this Treatise last mentioned & answered) it is made the Principal & only Righteousness, that is imputed to us: for Christ's Righteousness, say they, is only imputed, as to is effects, or in its causality. See Baxter against D. Tully p. 70. (just as Suarez said de divin. gr. lib. 7. de sanct. hom. c. 7. §. 39. cited by Mr. Rutherfoord Exercie. Apel. Exerc. I. c 2. pag. (mihi) 64. the merites of Christ are not given to us, that we might be formally justified, but that they may be a price wherewith we may buy a Righteousness, whereby we may be formally justified; as he who giveth a price to another, whereby he may buy clothes, is said to clothe him, not foomally, but effectivly, morally, as is manifest:) And even as to these effets it dependeth wholly upon Faith, and this Faith is only said to be properly imputed for our Righteousness. And beside, they tell us, that the Righteousness of Christ is alike common to all, to the Reprobat as well, as to the Elect, and so it can be imputed properly to none: And as to its effective …mputation (as Suarez calleth it) or Imputation, as to its effects or in its causality (as others speak) after that it is offered & held forth to all, & hath the same common effects, unto all, untill the condition be performed, that dependeth wholly upon mans performance of the Condition; And as to its antecedent effects, it is equally & absolutly imputed to all; that is, it is imputed to none, but the effects thereof are equally made common to all, in making Salvation possible, & the condition to be faith, and the like: And as to the special effects, (as they may be called) which depend on faith, when one beleeveth, & so fulfilleth the Condition, he hath thereby a Gospel-Righteousness, or this Faith of his is reckoned upon his score, for a Gospel-Righteousness, & thereupon he receiveth Pardon, Justification &c. Now let any Judge, whether or not these effects are not more the effects (at least more immediatly) of their own Gospel-Righteousness, than of Christ's: for Christ by all his Righteousness did purchase these effects to all a like, & that conditionally; and now they themselves by their own personal Gospel Righteousness of Faith, do make an actual purchase of these effects, according to the Covenant, ex pacto. And to say, That Christ did by his merites purchase the New Covenant, doth but confirme, what I have now said, towit, That all that, which Christ procured, was, That all such, as should acquire a Gospel-Righteousness of their owne, shonld be justified &c. And thus Christ died to purchase a vertue & merite to our faith, & that to this end, it should become a Gospel-Righteousness, whereby they might have whereof to boast & to glory before men, at least. Hence we see that Christ's Righteousness might rather be called the Subservient & ours the Principal. And further, (which may justly make Christians ab horre this opinion) Thus this poor convinced sinner, pursued by justice for a broken Law, is called to leane his whole weight of Acceptance with God, & found all his hope of Pardon & Justification, upon his own Faith, or Gospel Righteousness, as the only Righteousness, wherewith he is to be covered, & the only Righteousness, which is imputed unto him; & not upon Christ & his Righteousness, for what Christ did or purchased was common to all, & had only a conditional vertue, which the personal Righteousness reduceth into act, & so must have a principal share of the glory; for as to what Christ did, Iudas had the same ground of thankfulness & praise, that Peter had, & Peter no more then Iudas; and thus Peter was to sing the song of praise for his Justification & Pardon, unto his own personal Faith & Gospel-Righteousness. If this be not the Native result of this doctrine, let any put it in to practice (which I shall be loath to advise) & trye, whether thereby more of their weight is laid on Christ, or on their own faith: And on the other hand, let any serious & exercised Christian be enquired, & see if their practice agree with this doctrine.
If it be said, That there is no such hazard, so long as Faith is not considered here as abstracted from its Object Christ, but is considered with a respect thereunto. I Ans. (1) We have seen, what a poor & general respect faith by some of our Adversaries is said to have to Christ, whereby it is made nothing but a meer historical faith & the Author of the Discourse of the two Covenants, p. 31. saith, that even that faith, that had not the Messias in the promise is imputed for Righteousness. (2) As for such as confesse that justifying faith hath a special respect to Christ & his Righteousness, we would know, whether it hath this respect, that it peculiarly refugeth the soul there from the storme of wrath, and bringeth in thence Christ's Righteousness, or cartieth the man out to it, that he may lean upon it, & plead the same, as the only ground of his Absolution from the sentence of the Law? And if this be granted, then it is manifest, that the beleever hath no Righteousness, but Christ's Surety-righteousness, where withall he desireth to appeare before God, & this is it alone, to which he leaneth, & through which alone he hopeth for Pardon & Acceptance, without the least reflecting act of soul upon his own Faith. (3) But againe if so, faith must stand alone, as acting thus in a peculiar manner on Christ, which no work else is fitted to do; & therefore Faith & Works must not be joyned together; nor must Faith be considered, in this affaire, as comprehending all Obedience in it, as we see, they say. (4) But when Faith is made our Gospel-Righteousness, in whole, or in part, howbeit they say, they consider Faith, as acting on its object Christ; yet it is manifest, that it is then considered with relation to its object, in a Physical, or metaphysical manner, as all acts (specified from their objects) may & must be considered; but not in a theological sense, as required in the Gospel, to bring-in the Surety Righteousness of Christ, & to leane the soul thereupon, as its only Righteousness: for when it is said to be our whole Gospel Righteousness, it is considered as a moral vert…e, & as an act of Obedience in us, constituting us Righteous in a formal sense, according to the new Law, which is hereby fully & in all points performed & obeyed; much more, when works are joyned with it, doth it with works put on a far other respect, than to be the hand receiving the Atonement, & the gift of Righteousness.
But saith Mr. Baxter against Mr. Cartwright p. 179. In regai…d of that justification, which is from the accusation of the Law of works, I say faith is but a condition & no otherwise justifieth, but because it is made that condition by a New-Law, per legem remediantem, & we must be judged by that Law: therefore, when the case is, whether we have performed the conditions of that new law, or not? then faith is materially that Righteousness, by which we must be justified, against all accusations of Non-performance. Ans. (1) I doubt if such as never heard a report of Christ, shall be judged by the New-Law; far lesse by it alone. (2) God will not call in question a Beleevers faith, nor accuse him of Non-performance. Nor will the Gospel, or New-Law do it; so that the Beleever needs not plead his performance; in reference to a Justification at the tribunal of God. (3) When Faith is made a Condition by a New-Law, & thereby become the beleevers Righteousness, this Righteousness is the Condition, and is therefore a Righteousness, because made a condition, by that new Law; yea & elsewhere ibid. pag. 106. this Righteousness is said to be compleet & perfect, as all Righteousness must be: we see, what weight is laid upon it. And when there is no other Righteousness properly imputed to us, (for as for that Imputation of Christ's Righteousness, which he would yeeld to as the only sound sense, it is but what Iesuites, Socinians, & Arminians yeeld to, & we cannot be satisfied with,) who seeth not, how this matter is framed so, as all the weight of the soul must be laid upon this personal Righteousness, especially when it is made another Sort of Condition, than we can acknowledge it to be, as shall be seen afterward; and when it is the immediat ground of our Right to Pardon, Justification, Adoption &c. for Christ's purchase was (to him) general & common, and no more for one, than for another, and to all conditionally.
If it be said. What hazard is there, so long as Christ's Righteousness is held to be that, which satisfieth for the breach of the Covenant of Works, & is full Satisfaction to justice, and which hath purchased the New-Covenant, and the new easie termes; our Righteousness, in performing the new easie termes, whereby we come to have Right to life & all the benefites purchased by Christ, is no way prejudicial unto that, nor robbeth not Christ's Satisfaction of the least of the glory due to it. I Ans. The hazard still continueth, for hereby … Gospel Righteousness, be it Faith alone, or Faith & Works together, is made the immediate & sole ground of our Right to the benefites; for what Christ did, was general & common, and He, by what he did, made no particular purchase of any good unto any, but procured the New-Covenant, and the new grant of life upon the easie termes, alike unto all: the satisfaction, which he made unto the Law giver for the breach of the old Covenant, was not as a peculiar Cautioner, for any in particular, but was equally for all, & as much for the damned, as for the saved; So that our Right to the benefites cometh purely & wholly from our performance of the New-Termes, which Christ is said to have purchased. Therefore, though our personal Righteousness hath no interest in purchasing the New Covenant, or in making satisfaction to Justice, unto that end; yet Justice being now satisfied equally for all, and the New Covenant being purchased alike for all, our personal Righteousness is that, which must bear the glory of our interest in the benefits: & the Obligation, where in we stand to Christ, upon that account, is the same that others are under who reap none of the benefites, which we reape by our New Righteousness. And here it is also manifest, that Faith (if that should be made the Gospel-Righteousness alone, without works) in order to the justification of a sinner, is not conceived to act upon Christ, as the Lord our Righteousness, that the soul may put on his Surety-righteousness & thereby answere all challenges of the broken Law: but is conceived as our Work, and as our Performance of the New Conditions, and as such is rested upon, & leaned to; Whereby man, hath ground of glorying before men, in himself, and not in the Lord alone, for all have alike ground of glorying, upon that account, seing what the Lord did was common to all, and this new personal Righteousness maketh the difference.
But it will be said, That Christ's Righteousness, being acknowledged to be our only legal Righteousness, whereby we answere the charge of the Law, the asserting of a Gospel-Righteousness, whereby we come to have an interest in that legal Righteousness, can do no prejudice. I Ans. Beside that this maketh two distinct Righteousness as, & the one a meane to obtean another, the one within us a price (ex pacto) for the other without us; and all this in order to Absolution from one charge of the Law brought in against the sinner: hereby, as to us, our personal Righteousness is really made our legal Righteousness, because it is made that Righteousness, whereupon this man, and not the other that wants it, is freed from the charge of the Law: for, according to this way, Faith is not imployed to lay hold on Christ's Righteousness, that by presenting that Surety-Righteousness unto justice, the soul may escape the charge, but when the charge of violation of the Law of God is brought in against the sinner, his only reliefe is his Gospel-Righteousness, which he presenteth, whereupon he pleadeth for Pardon & Absolution, by vertue of the new Covenant, which Christ hath purchased; for should he alledge the death & satisfaction of Christ that should give no reliefe, because that was for all alike, & thereby the New Covenant was purchased where in the Gospel Righteousness (whether Faith alone, or Faith & New Obedience) was set down, as the Condition; and therefore it can stand him in no avail; but he must refuge himself from wrath under the wings of his own Gospel-Righteousness (for he hath no other) and thereupon rest secure, & be confident of his Absolution from all that the Law could charge against him. As, for example, if the Princes son should by a valuable price, given to the Prince, procure new Termes and Conditions to be proposed to a company of condemned treatours lying in prison: if any one of these were challenged for the old crime, & threatned with the execution of the sentence past upon that account, it would be of no avail to him, to say, the Princes son hath laid down a valuable price to buy me from death, because he knew, that he did that for all the rest, in purchasing a New Covenant, & new conditions; but the first & sure course he would take, would be to present his performance of the new conditions, & say, the charge cannot reach me, because I have performed the Conditions of the New Covenant, procured by the Princes son. This I suppose is plaine & cleare, & this in our case, would be found to be the only saife course, that poor challenged sinners would take, if they should act according to the doctrine of our Adversaries, to which, (as I said) I should not dar to advise one or other. But really the Gospel-way (which is opposite to this) is plaine & saife, if we have but so much humility, as to complye therewith: And a difference may seem small, in the debate, which yet in practice may prove great & of dangerous consequence.