' Hah. i. 13; Eom. i. ?,2; 2 Thess. i. 6. » Job xxxiii. 24. •■' L^a liii. 5, fi, 10, II; iPet. ii. 2+; Matt. xx. 28; 1 Tim. ii. 6; 2 Cor. v. 21 ; Gal. iii. IP.; 1 Pet. i. 18, ii. 24; Eph. i. 7 ; Rev. i. 5, 6, etc. * Matt xix. 17; 1 Jolin i 8; James ii. 10. « Gal. iv.
4, 5; Horn. viii. 3, 4, v. 9, x. 4; I Cor. i. 30; Phil. iii. 8-10.
78 THE PREFACE OF MR RIDDLE
oxiT peace on him;^ that for us ])e imderwent death, the curse of the law, which inwrapped the whole punishment due to sin, and that by the will of God, who so made him to be sin who knew no sin, and in tlie under- going whereof he prayed and cried, and sweat blood, and was full of heavi- ness and perplexity,"^ — the Scripture is abundantly evident; and what we assert amounts not one tittle beyond Avhat is by and in it affirmed.
Tlie fahe doctrine of the merit of Christ, and his purchasing for lis the Mngdom of heaven, is the next stone which this master-builder disallows and ]-ejects. That " Christ hath bought us with a price ; that he hath re- deemed us from our sins, the world, and curse, to be a peculiar people, zealous of good works, so making us kings and priests to God for ever; that he hath obtained for us eternal redemption, procuring the Spirit for us, to make us meet for the inheritance of the saints in light, God bless- ing us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in him, upon the account of his making his soul an offering for sin," perfoi ming that obedi- ence to the law which of us is required,* — is that which by this expression of the "merit of Christ" we intend, the fruit of it being all the accom- plishment of the promise made to him by the Father, upon his undertaking the great work of saving his people from their sins. In the bundle of doc- trines bv Mr B. at once condemned, this also hath its place.
That Christ rose from tlie dead by his oivn poicer seems to us to be true, not only because he affirmed that he " had power so to do, even to lay down his life and to take it again," John x. 18, but also because he said he Avould do so when he bade them " destroy the temple," and told them that " in three days he would raise it again." It is true that this work of raising Christ from the dead is also ascribed to the Father and to the Spirit (as in the work of his oblation, his Father " made his soul an offer- ing for sin," and he " offered up himself through the eternal Spirit"), yet this hinders not but that he was raised by his own power, his Father and he being one, and what work his Father doth he doing the same.
And this is the account which this " mere Christian " giveth us concern- ing his faith in Christ, his person, and his grace: He is a mere man, that neither satisfied for our sins nor procured grace or heaven for us ; and how much this tends to the honour of Christ and the good of souls, all that love him in sincerity will judge and determine.
His next attempt is upon the way whereby the Scripture affirms that we come to be made partakers of the good things which Christ hath done and wrought for vis ; and in the first place he falls foul upon that of ap- prehending and applying Christ's righteousness to ourselves hy faith, that so there may no weighty point of the doctrine of the cross remain not con- demned (by this wise man) of folly. This, then, goes also, name and thing : Christ is "of God made unto us righteousness" (that is, "to them that believe on him," or " receive" or " apprehend" him, John i. 12), God " hav- ing sot him forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his rigliteousness for the forgiveness of sins," and declaring that every one who " believeth in him is justified from all things fiom which he could not be justified by the law," God imputing righteousness to them that so be- lieve ; tliose who are so justified by faith having peace with God. It being the great thing Ave have to aim at, namely, that " Ave may knoAV Jesus Christ, and the felloAvship of his sufferings, and the poAver of his resurrection, and be found in him, not having our own righteousness, which is of the
' Isa. liii. 6, 6, etc. 2 Heb. ii. 9, 14, x. 10; 2 Cor. v. 21; Luke xxii. 41-4t.
3 1 Cor. vi. 20; 1 Pet. i. 18; Gal. i..4, iii. 13; Titus ii. 14; Eph. v. 26,27; Rev. i. 5, 6; Hcb. ix. 12-14; Eph. i. 3 ; Phil. i. 29.
TO HIS CATECHISM EXAMINED, 79
]aw, but the righteousness which is by the faith of Christ, Christ being the end of the law to every one that believeth,"^ — we say it is the duty of every one who is called, to apprehend Christ by faith, and apply his righte- ousness to him; that is, to believe on him as " made the righteousness of God to him," unto justification and peace. And if Mr B. reject this doc- trine, name and thing, I pray God give him repentance before it be too late, to the acknowledgment of the truth.