66 OfC`jod's fovernneìt, maketh nothingbutbelieving acceptance the conditionof our Right, and he that doth that much, {hail, without perfection, be efteemed and ufed asrighteous for the fake of the faid Righteoufnef of Chriftt. So that in point of Merit, as to the value of the thing, Chrift's Righteoufnef is inftead of our Innocency : Butas to the order of collation, fomething being ftill tobe requiredof us as a conditionof Right , fo our Faith now is inftead of ourInnocency, as being all that is laid on us inftead of it, thatwe may have right to Juftification. And toaffign this condition on our part , Paul faith, That Faith is imputed to us for righteoufnefr. To deny this fenfe, is to ufe violence with the Text. 141. Chrift's Righteoufnef is made ours, as our Sins were made his: which is not inthemfelves, as is aforefaid : God forbid we fhould think that Chrift was ever reputed by Gad to be a sinner, a Blafphemer, a Murderer, an Enemy to God and Goodnef, one that hadSatan's Image, and was his servant, a Perfcutor of himfelf, &c. But only our fin was imputed tohim as to the punifhment deferved : that is, he affumed the Reatumpetite, the punifhment, and a duenefs occa4onedby our fin; but made his own by his voluntary fponfon; But never hadhe the rectum culp a in its felt, but meetlyas aforefaid refpe&ively to the punifhment. Even fo wehave the Righteoufnefs of Chrift, not in itsfetf, as Proprie- torsof it, but inrelation to the fels ; that is, we have the effesis, evenour ynflifscation, and other benefits as purchafed by it, and for its fake : And as our guilt, orobligation to punif iment,was not chrifts, till his voluntry fponfonor contnt did make it fo; EvesfohisRighter/0.4 is not our in theefells, till our voluntary content accept it : Becaufe it isnot a natural, but a contrafled Relation that is between Chrift and us. And as it is not a lira propriety in Chrift's Righteonfn j/s that we have, fo it is much lefs a plenaryand abfolute propriety : nor havewe it in the Relationof a meritoriouscant to all afar, as if it had beenfullyour own, but only limitedly to thofe ;Os which God accepted it for, and hath afligned to it in theGofpel ; that is, it is buta certain fort and meafure of mercies that are givenus from it in Gods timeand way. 142. TO the afíerting of the rigid fenfeof Imputation, They are ne- ceffitated to fay that, which fuppofeth Gods repute of the matter to be falfe ; that is, thathe reputeth us to have done that in and by Chrift, whichwe never didby him : But God judgeth nothing to be otherwife than it is ? that hejudgeth Chrift tohave beenthe Sponfor and Mediator, and in that perfon to have done and fuffered ashedid, is becaufe it is true : But he judgethhimnot tohave beenthe legal Perfon of the Sinner, and as many perfons as there be redeemed Sinners in the world, becaufe that is nottrue. 143. They fay that what the Surety doth, the Debtor doth in Law- fenfe, and tojudge fo is not to err. Butthere are feveral fortsof sure- ties, much more of Infiruments in paying a Debt. z. There be free Sureties, whoare not obliged to the Debtor ashis Dependents; and thefe either by counter-fecurity, or by right of the thing, may recoverall of the Debtor again. And therefore the Law fuppofeth not the Debtor to have payed the Debt by them; but that theCreditor made them both :oynt-Debtors for his ownficurity. 2. There are Sureties antecedently, and Sureties canfequently: One that before the Debt doth conditionally make himfelf a Joynt-Delítor, in cafe the Principal pay it not; And there is aSurety more properly called an undertaking-Friend, who after payeth the Debt, being difobliged before. Chrift was not a Surety of the firft fort, in Law- fenfe; And if you call Gods Decrees, which are his
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy OTcyMjk=