( 219) caufe, as the Remvolitam ;I anfwer no Right nor real benefit can come to the Creature, ( who is wholly Gods own, andat his difpofe ) but by the Will of God , granting it as theefficient caufe If therefore Merit be no confederation , caufing Gods Will to grant that Right, there will be a difficulty in chewinghow it immediately caufeth the Right it felf,efpecially to Vs.And per- haps it will anon appear, that they leave nothing toChrifts death to do in this neither ; but that according to them, we had Right to all this, and muchmore,from eternity. 2. The words of the moft fober and learned man that I know of,that writes this way,are thefe, Here treo things may be obferved; mr, omen, 1. What we afcribe to the (..01erit of Cbrig : v12. The accornplifb. ment of that Condition, Which God required to make way, that the Obligation which he had freely put uponhimfelf, might be in adttal force. And fo much ( how rightly,I leave to himfelf to confider) loth Mr. Baxter affign to our works : Thef.26. p, 140. And all know,that a Condition as fuch, is no caufe, but anAn- tecedent, or Comfitfine qua non. And is not the death of Chrift then fairly advanced, and his Merits well vindicated ? My con- flant affirmation is, and fill was, that mans works are not in the leaf degree truly and properly meritorious,and that they are fuch meer Conditions of falvation(not ofour firft Juffification)as that they are no caufes ofany right we have (no not to a bit ofbread, much lets) to Heaven. Do not thefe men well defend the honor of Chrifts Merits then, if they give no more to them, then I do to mans works ? viz. to be no meritorious caufes, fo much as of an hours temporal mercy ? that is, To be properly no Merits at all : It feems to me therefore that they doby their Doctrine of eternal Juffification or pardon, not only deftroy Juffification by Faith, but alfo all the Merits ofChrikand leave nothing for them to do, for the caufing of our pardon or Juffificationbefore God. Nay, whether this learned man can make Chrifts fufferings and obedience fo much as a bare Condition, let them confider that read him,affirming that Condition; properly muft be uncertain : and nothing is fo to God : therefore there can be no Condition. withGod : therefore Chrifts death could be none. Ff2, SECT.
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