log Some Arg, Vindicated from C it A P. 2.3. he had laid down , out of his own purpofe , the whole price, that was re- quired , and fo had , according to the termes of the Compact , made a pur- chafe of glory to himfeif t as the man with the pin in his fleeve , if the Law & Covenant bad fo flood , that all that gave the Prince a Pin out of his flee ve shall receive fuch & fuch great things ; & he only & a few moe were fo good merchants , as to give the Pin, when others did not , might well have boafled & faid , he had not gotten thofe great things for nothing , for he laid down the full price , condefcended upon by Law & Covenant , and had ground of boafling , at leaft , before men , though not before the Prince , who graciotìfly condefcended to reward fo richly fuch a mean gift. (3) This anfwere will fay , that there had been no ground of boafting , even by the old Covenant of works , though man had keeped the Law perfectly : for even then , it might have been faid, that the weight of glory was not given, for the really worth & excellency of perfect Obedience ; Perfect Obedien- ce & Holinefs having its fufficient reward in its own befome ; for it is a re- ward to it felf. % w?, But he faith. Ifinenhad fulfilled the Law,d?lbi jufiified that way ,therehad been lone pretence of boafíing orglorying in themfelves. Anf. And why not alfo, if faith be now accounted the fulfilling of the Law, and be now imputed to us , as all our Righteoufnefs ? Let us fee , if the reafons , which he bringeth for the former, will not alfo evince this. His fir fl is this ; Becaufe fuch a Righteonfnefs had held force proportion as leafl that should have (been given to it Rom. 4; vers 4. God had given them no more, than what they had (at lead in fotne fort) deferved. Anf. But who can tell us, what that proportion, or that fort would have been? And may not alto the Righteoufnefs of Faith ( which is here fuppofed to be of our felves, and not the rneer gift of God) be faid to hold forne proportion , at leaf in force fort ? Yea , may it not, in this refpect , be faid to hold a grea- ter proportion , vii, that the exerting of the act of Faith now would argue more ftrength of free will, to that which is good , that Perfect Obedience in Adam; for though we should fuppofe , that man now had as full a power ro beleeve, if he would , as Adam had to obey , yet it cannot be denied, but there is much more oppofition no* even within , to that which is good r than there was in Adam; and confequently that the vertue appearing in the acting of Faith , mutt be conceived as greater, than what could have ap- peared in Adam's full obedience, who had nothing within to oppofe him , or prove arerrsora in his way ? As it would argue more valour for a weak fouldier to go quarter of a mile fighting with his enemies in the way , then for a giant to go twentie miles, wherein he should meet with no oppofition. But though the proportion were granted to be greater betwixt the reward and Adam's Obedience ; than is betwixt the reward & Faith ; yet there muti be & will be a proportion granted: for majus & minus non variant fpeciem,degrees make no variation in kinde. (2) Can or will it be faid , that God had given- the perfect obeyer no more, than he had , in force fort at leaft , deferved, if we should fuppofe, there had been no promife made of fuch a reward to obeyers, or antecedently to a Covenant ? And if this cannot be faid (as it cannot be laid, by any jfuppofe, who feriouily confider the matter ) then the
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