Zoe Mr. Baxter's O ?cn':on about imput. examined. C H A P. r fes. Net Chrift was in our 1,-. w- place , and undertook to do what He did, as our Surety ; neither is this flippofed in the cafes propofed; & againe , the benefite here following viT. jollification &c. doth prefuppofe us to be Righ- teous & confequently we mutt have a Righteoufnefs imputed , becaufe we have none of our owne ; for we may not admit Faith to that high dignity. We have mentioned more appofite & fit Similitudes above. I cannot affent to what he faith (n.47. pag. 68. ] That Chriflislefsimpro- perly [aid to have reprefented all mankind , as newly fallen in Adam , :n a general Jessie, for the purchafing of the univerfàl gift of pardon dr life , called the New Covenant , than to have reprefented, sn hisperfeíl holinef s and fufferings , every be- leever , confidered as from his firfl being to his death. For of His reprefentn g all mankind newly fallen in Adam , I read nor in the Scriptures : nor yet of His purchafing the New Covenant, Whether thefe be not additions to the word of God, let Mr. Baxter ( who oft chargeth others herewith ) confi- der. Nor do I know what Scripture warranteth him to fay. pag.69. That Chrifl , the fecond Adam , is in a fort , the root of Man , as Man , as Heir the Redeemer of Nature it Pelffrom defiruflion; Nor what truth can be in it, unlefs he think to play upon the word , in a fort. He feemeth to come neerer us , when he faith ( n. 48. p. 70. ) The fumme of all lyeth , in applying the difl:nfl:onofgiving Chrift's RighteoufneJs, as fuck in it felf, (19' as a Caufe of our Ri {hteoufnefs , or in the caufality of it ; ar our finis not reputed Chrifi's fin in it Pelf, and in the culpability of it ( for then it muff needs make Chrifl odious to God) but in its caufality of punishment. So Chrifl's material or formall :ghteoufnefs is net by God reputed to be properly and abfolutely our own in it felfas fuck, but the caufality , fre , as it produceth fuchde' fuch effet r. Anf. How Chrifl's Righteoufnefs fhould be the ca life of our Righteoufnefs, if we fpeak properly , I know not ; for we are here fpeaking of Righteouf- nefs , in order to juai cation, & in this cafe , I know no other Righteouf- nefs, but Chrift's Surety - righteoufnefs, imputed to us, and bellowed upon us : & it is improper to fay, that Chrift's Righteoufnefs is the caufe of it felf, as given to us. But it may be, he meaneth , that it is the caufe of our Faith ; & this I grant to be true , but I deny , that this faith is our Righteoufnefe, whereupon we are juflified , or the ratio formals.. objeftiva of our juftifications. When we mention the Imputing of Chrift's Rghteouf- nefs , we mean the Righteoufnefs of Chrift it Pelf, not Phvfically , but le- gally & juridically, & that isits worth or legal caufality; not as it produ- ceth, but in order that it may produce Inch Effecas. Our finis reputed Chrift's legally in its demerite of punilhment , or in its reatar Culp e , that He might be legally thereby rent culpe; and yet He was not odious to God , becaufe it was not His Inherently, but only legally & by Imputation. Mr. Baxter in his following Chap. 3 .,fearing , that by all that he had laid, he had not made the [late of the contròverfie plaine enough to the unexerci- fed Reader , goeth over it againe, in a fhorter way, that he may make it as plaine , as poflibly he can. And yet, I judge, (fuch is my dulnefs) that he never made the matter more obfcure, at leaf , to the Unexercifed Reader, nor pofiïbly could , than he bath done here : for if any man , how under - ftandiug
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