Concerning this imputation it must be observed, that whatever is our own antecedently thereunto, which is an act of God thereon, can never be imputed unto us /or any thing more or less than what it is really in itself For this imputation consists of two parts, or two things concur thereunto : — First, A judgment of the thing to be ours, to be in us, or to belong unto us. Secondly, A will of dealing with us, or an actual dealing with us, according unto it. Wherefore, in the imputation of any thing unto us which is ours, God esteemeth it not to be other than it is. He doth not esteem that to be a perfect righteousness which is imperfect; so to do, might argue either a mistake of the thing judged on, or perverseness in the judgment itself upon it. Wherefore, if, as some say, our own faith and obe- dience are imputed unto us for righteousness, seeing they are imjje^fect, they must be imputed unto us for an imperfect righteous- ness, and not for that which is perfect; for that judgment of God which is according unto truth is in this imputation. And the impu- tation of an imperfect righteousness unto us, esteeming it only as such, will stand us in little stead in this matter. And the acceptila- tion which some plead (traducing a fiction in human laws to interpret the mystery of the gospel) doth not only overthrow all imputation, but the satisfaction and merit of Christ also. And it must be observed, that this imputation is a mere act of justice, without any mixture of grace; as the apostle declares, Rom. xi. 6. For it consists of these two parts: — First, An acknowledging and judging that to be in us which is truly so ; Secondly, A will of dealing with us according unto it: both which are acts of justice.
(2.) The imputation unto us of that which is not our own antece- dently unto that imp)utation, at least not in the same manner as it is afterward, is various also, as unto the grounds and causes that it pro- ceeds upon. Only it must be observed, that no imputation of this kind is to account them unto whom any thing is imjDuted to have done the things themselves which are imputed unto them. That were not to impute, but to err in judgment, and, indeed, utterly to over- throw the whole nature of gracious imputation. But it is to make that to he ours by imputation Avhich was not ours before, unto all ends and purposes whereunto it would have served if it had been our own without any such imputation.
IMPUTATION, AND THE NATURE OF IT. 1 GD
It is therefore a manifest mistake of their own which some mal^e the ground of a charge on the doctrine of imputation. For they say, " If our sins were imputed unto Christ, then must he be esteemed to have done what we have done amiss, and so he the greatest sinner that ever tvas;" and on the other side, " If his righteousness be imputed unto us, then are we esteemed to have done what he did, and so to stand in no need of the pardon of sin." But this is contrary unto the nature of imputation, which proceeds on no such judgment ; but, on the contrary, that we ourselves have done nothing of what is im- jDuted unto us, nor Christ any thing of v/hat was imputed unto him.
To declare more distinctly the nature of this imputation, I shall consider the several kinds of it, or rather the several grounds whence it proceeds. For this imputation unto us of what is not dUr own antecedent unto that imputation, may be either, — 1. " Ex justitia;" or, 2. "Ex voluntaria sponsione;" or, 3. "Ex injuria; or, 4. "Ex gratia;" — all which shall be exemplified. I do not place them thus distinctly, as if they miglit not some of them concur in the same im- putation, which I shall manifest that they do ; but I shall refer the several kinds of imputation unto that which is the next cause of every one.
ri. Things that are not our own originally, personally, inherently, may yet be imputed unto us " ex justitia," by the rule of righteous- ness. And this may be done upon a double relation unto those whose they are: — (1.) Federal. (2.) Natural.
(1.) Things done by one may be imputed unto others, " propter relationem foederalem," — because of a covenant relation between them. So the sin of Adam was and is imputed unto all his posterity ; as we shall afterward more fully declare. And the ground hereof is, that we stood all in the same covenant with him, who was our head and representative therein. The corruption and depravation of nature which we derive from Adam is imputed unto us with the first kind of imputation, — namely, of that which is ours antecedently unto that imputation: but his actual sin is imputed unto us as that, whicli h^omes ours by that imputation; which before it was not. Hence, saith Beilarmme himself, " Peccatum Adami ita posteris omnibus imputatur, ac si omnes idem peccatum patravissent," De Amiss. Grat., lib. iv. cap. 10; — " The sin of Adam is so imputed unto all his poste- rity, as if they had all committed the same sin." And he gives us herein the true nature of imputation, which he fiercely disputes against in his books on justification. For the imputation of that sin unto us, as if we had committed it, whicli he ackuowledgeth, includes both a transcription of that sin unto us, and a dealing with us as if we had committed it ; which is the doctrine of the apostle, Rom. v.