9. That God's justice is satisfied for sins past, present, and to come; whereby God and Christ have lost both their power of enjoining godliness, and all prerogative of punishing disobedience; for what is once paid is not revokable; and if punishment should arrest any for their debts, it either argues a breach on God's or Christ's part, or else that it has not been sufficiently solved, and the penalty completely sustained by another; forgetting "that every one must appear before the judgment seat of Christ, to receive according to the things done in the body; yea, every one must give an account of himself to God."* many more are the gross absurdities and blasphemies, that are the genuine fruits of this so confidently believed doctrine of satisfaction.

Caution.

But

Let me advise, nay warn thee, reader, by no means to admit an entertainment of this principle, by whomsoever recommended; since it does not only divest the glorious God of his sovereign power, both to pardon and punish, but as certainly insinuates a licentiousness, at least a liberty, that unbecomes the nature of that ancient Gospel once preached amongst the primitive saints, and that from an apprehension of a satisfaction once paid for all. Whereas I must tell thee, that unless thou seriously repent, and no more grieve God's holy Spirit, placed in thy inmost parts,

* 2 Cor. xv. 10; Rom. xiv. 12,

but art thereby taught to deny all ungodliness, and led into all righteousness; at the tribunal of the great Judge, thy plea shall prove invalid, and thou receive thy reward without respect to any other thing than the deeds done in the body. "Be not deceived, God will not be mocked; such as thou sowest, such shalt thou reap; ;"* which leads me to the consideration of my third head, viz. 'Justification by an imputative righteousness.'

The Justification of impure Persons, by an imputative Righteousness, refuted from Scripture.

DOCTRINE.

'THAT there is no other way for sinners to be justified in the sight of God, than by the imputation of that righteousness of Christ, so long since performed personally; and that sanctification is consequential, not antecedent.'

1. "Keep thee far from a false matter; and the innocent and righteous slay thou not; for I will not justify the wicked."+ Whereon I ground this argument, that since God has prescribed an inoffensive life, as that which can only give acceptance with Him, and on the contrary hath determined never to justify the wicked; then will it necessarily follow, that unless this so much believed imputative righteousness had

that effectual influence, as to regenerate and redeem the soul from sin, on which the malediction lies, he is as far to seek for justification as before; for whilst a person is really guilty of a false matter, I positively assert, from the authority and force of this scripture, he cannot be in a state of justification; and as God will not justify the wicked, so, by the acknowledged reason of contraries, the just He will never condemn, but they, and they only, are the justified of God.

2. "He that justifieth the wicked, and he that condemneth the just, even they both are an abomination to the Lord."* It would very opportunely be observed, that if it is so great an abomination in men to justify the wicked, and condemn the just, how much greater would it be in God, which this doctrine of imputative righteousness necessarily does imply, that so far disengages God from the person justified, as that his guilt shall not condemn him, nor his innocency justify him? But will not the abomination appear greatest of all, when God shall be found condemning the just, on purpose to justify the wicked, and that He is thereto compelled, or else no salvation; which is the tendency of their doctrine, 'who imagine the righteous and merciful God to condemn and punish his innocent Son, that he having satisfied for our sins, we might be justified (whilst unsanctified) by the imputation of his perfect righteousness.' O! why should this horrible thing be contended for by Christians?

* Prov. xvii. 15.

3. "The son shall not bear the iniquity of his father; the righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him. When a righteous man turneth away from his righteousness, for his iniquity that he hath done shall he die. Again, when the wicked man turneth away from his wickedness, and doeth that which is lawful and right, he shall save his soul alive; yet saith the house of Israel, the ways of the Lord are not equal; are not my ways equal?"* If this was once equal, it is so still, for God is unchangeable; and therefore I shall draw this argument, that the condemnation or justification of persons, is not from the imputation of another's righteousness, but the actual performance and keeping of God's righteous statutes or commandments, otherwise God should forget to be equal; therefore how wickedly unequal are those, who, not from scripture evidences, but their own dark conjectures and interpretations of obscure passages would frame a doctrine so manifestly inconsistent with God's most pure and equal nature; making him to condemn the righteous to death, and justify the wicked to life, from the imputation of another's righteousness;-a most unequal way indeed!

4. "Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven, but he that doeth the will of my Father. Whosoever heareth

* Ezek. xviii. 20, 26, 27, 29.

these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man which built his house upon a rock," &c.* How very fruitful are the Scriptures of truth, in testimonies against this absurd and dangerous doctrine! These words seem to import a twofold righteousness; the first consists in sacrifice, the last in obedience; the one makes a talking, the other a doing Christian. I, in short, argue thus; if none can enter into the kingdom of heaven, but they that do the Father's will, then none are justified, but they who do the Father's will, because none can enter into the kingdom but such as are justified. Since therefore there can be no admittance had, without performing that righteous will, and doing those holy and perfect sayings; alas! to what value will an imputative righteousness amount, when a poor soul shall awake polluted in his sin, by the hasty calls of death, to make its appearance before the judgment seat, where it is impossible to justify the wicked, or that any should escape uncondemned, but such as do the will of God?

5. "If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love, even as I have kept my Father's commandments, and abide in his love."+ From whence this argument doth naturally arise; if none are truly justified that abide not in Christ's love, and that none abide in his love who keep not his commandments;