C H A P. 3. We mil not lease to any Rigbttoufacfs tt'itFi:n us. 463 merite, placing our Evangelical merite in a meer fubordination to Chrift's do but shew , what prejudice & partiality can do , and harden thofe, who perceive their errors. ] Finally he faith here. And fo if any Libertine will fay , that atria's Rigb- teoufnefs imputed ro him , will ju,,Rifie him without Filth or be in 'lead to ho- linefs to him , he inufl deny imputed Righteoufnefs thus to Ge , what indeed it is not. Anf. Though I know, the Lord hath thought good toordaine Faith, as a mean , whereby we may be made partaker of Ch+illt's Surety-Righteouf- nefs , and fo be juflified ; Yet I may fay , that Chritl's Righteoufnefs impu- ted, as being the foie meritorious caute & (;Katie formali: objediva of our lu- flification , will jutlifie without Faith , as any part of that Righteoufnefs', which we are contidered as clothed with, when declared & pronunced Righ- teous. And though it be not in (lead of holinefs, as if holinefs were no more required of us; Yet it is & muft be in (lead of that holinefs & Righte- onfnefs , which was required of us in the Old Covenant & by the Law , i . order to our being accepted & juflified thereupon. He tels us in the margine, that none deny. That ail that are.faved have inherent Righteoufnefs ; and that in tanturn we are Righteous by it ; That a man accufed , as being an Infidel , Ath.eil, Impenitent , Ungodly ,al-Iy- pocrite &c. mutt be jutlified by pleading all the contraries in himf lf; or elfe perish ; And (hat this inherent Righteoufnefs is imperfect, and in us found with fin , & that therefore no man can be juflified by it without pardon of fin, nor at all againft the charge of being a firmer , & condemnable by the Law of innocency. But what is all this to the point ? Muft we not therefore fay with Paul, that in the bufinefs of juflification , we mutt account our own Righteoufnefs to be but dung , and only lean to the Righteoufnefs of Chrilt? What would he hence conclude ? And what remaineth then ( faith he ) but to trouble the world with contending de nomine , whether this Imperfct? Righteon f- nets , shall be called f &ighteou fnefr , d r the giving of it, called ju fl ifysng , or making us Righteous fo far, Anf. And who , I pray , more guilty of troubling the world with thefe contendings, than he ? But to the matter, it is no meer contending \de nomine, that he hath caufed , when in Read of the Surety- Righteoufnefs of Chrift , with which the Orthodox Afferted beleevers to be clothed, as the immediar ground of their juflification before- God, and which they by Faith were to lean to, and reft upon in order to juflification, he fubflituteth , in its place , our imperfec`l holinefs , 8z maketla that to me- rite juflification & Salvation, as a fubordinat Righteoufnefs ( fo called, though indeed in this cafe the principal.) advanced to that dignity by the merites of Chrifl's Righteoufnefs ; and as all that Righteoufnefs , which can properly be raid to be ours', and CO be imputed to us ; as the only Pote- ftative Condition of our f uftificarion & Salvation , according to the New Covenant , purchafed by Chrift. This is fomething more, and a great fo- tnething more , than a meer comet about a word , or a name. This tou- cheth the foundation of the Gofpel,let Mr. Baxter think as little of it, as he will. I nerd not take notice of his making thefe two one thing , jufl i- hing & marina us righteous, and ofhis calling the giving of R=ghteoufnefs
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