Baxter - Houston-Packer Collection BT70 .B397 1675

Of God's government, paffive and habitual Righteoufnefs , by which hé merited pardon- 4. - That it was not we that merited it in him, but he, togive it us only onthe terms ofa Lawof Grace. 127. Yet'fome come nearer, and fay that, 7o punifh and not- Reward are not all one : And fo the refpe t that Sin hath to the deferved punifh- ment needed pardon and fatisfaétion But our defirving the Rewardneed- ed Chrifl's perfeEl Obedience_ to be imputed. In this there is fomewhat of truth. But you muttavoid the errors that lie in the way, and are by moft fuppofed truths. I. Remember that man canhave nothing from God, but what is ameer Gift as to the matter, though it be a Reward as to the order and ends of collation. And in this cafe , punifhment is damni as well as fenfus ; And fo the lofs of the Reward is theprincipal part of Hell or Punifhment. So that if Chritt's death bath pardhned our fins of Omiffion, we are reputed to have done all our duty ; And if fo, we arereputed to have merited th'eReward: And ifhe pardonour fins as to all punifhment offenfe and loft, he pardoneth them as to their forfeiture ofHeaven as a Gift, if not asa Reward. 128. But,fay they,remif ionof fin is but part ofJuftification,becaufe a manmay be forgiven, and yet not reputed never to have broken the Law. To put away -guilt, and tomake one righteous are two things. Anf Still confufion. Guilt is either of the fault as fuch , or óf the punifhment, and of thefault only asthe cant ofpunifhment. Ifall guilt bothGulps &peen e were done away, that perfon were reputed pofttively righteous; that is, never to have omitted a Duty, or committed a sin : But indeed when only the Reatuspeens (6. Gulps quoad peens) isdone away, the Reatus culpe infe remaineth. And this Chrift himfelf never taketh away, no not in Heaven, where for ever we fhall bejudged, once to havefinned, and nottobe fuchas neverfanned. of this fee Pretax de 129. And this feemeth the very core of their error, that they think Retentit. at large. 'wemutt be juftified inChrift by the Lain ofInnocency, which juftified Chrif himfelf,; and that we are quitor wafted fimply from all guilt of fault , as well as obligation to punifhment : which is a great untruth, contrary, to all the fcopeof the Gofpel, which affureth us, that we ase juftified by the,Law of Grace or Faith, and not by the Lawof works: That Chrifi freeth us from the curfe and penalty of the Law : Which he could not do, if we were reputed never tohave deferved it, as never being Sinners. Ifwe are reputed fuch asfulfilled the Law of Innocency ( by anotherin our civilperfon, or asfulÿ reprefentingus,) all the Gofpel is over-turned : There is no room forRepentance, none forthefatisfaili- . on of Chrift, none for Faith in his blood, nor for Pardon, or-prayer for Pardon, or anyGrace, AEI, Duty or Ordinance, sacraments, Confeßon, or any thingwhich fuppofeth sin. To fay thatAdam's Lawmeant, [Do this, by thyfelfor by Chrift, and thou(halt live,] is a Humane fiction, not found in Scripture, confound- ing the Law of Innocency with the Gofpel : Andto fay that theNew Covenant maketh us one Perlon with Chrift, and then the LawofAdam Bothjuftifie us, is adouble error. We are not reputed one Perlonwith Chrift 5 nor doth the firft Covenant juftifie any but the Perlon that per- formeth it. But we maintainas well as they, that the fame Righteoufnefs of Godinhimfelf, is manifefted in both Covenants, and the fame holy love of perfett Obedience, and the endsof the firft Covenant are feat. red by the fecond. But the tenour and terms are not thefame, nor the Righteoufnefsof the fubjeil as denominated from thof terms. It is not the fame Law which condemneth us and jultifieth us, nor that juftifieth Chrift

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