A defence of the doctrine of justification, by faith in Jesus Christ

Now to fulfil the desires of them that fear him, hath he showed himself in Flesh unto them; which Discovery Principally is made by the Words and Works of Christ. But,

Now to fullfil the desires of them that fear him, hath he shewed himself in Flesh unto them; which Discovery Principally is made by the Words and Works of Christ. But,

Secondly, Christ by his Words and Works of Righteousness, in the days of his Flesh, neither showed us which was, nor called us back to the Possession of the Holiness that we had lost; but did Perfect, in, and by himself, the Law for us, that we had Broken. Man being Involved in Sin and Misery, by reason of Transgression Committed against the Law, or Ministration of Death, and being utterly unable to Recover himself there-from, the Son of God himself; Assumeth the Flesh of Man, and for Sin Condemned Sin in that Flesh. And that, First, by walking through the Power ⟨p. 46⟩of his Eternal Spirit, in the highest Perfection to every point of the whole Law, in it's most Exact and full Requirements; which was to be done, not only without Commixing Sin in his doing, but by one that was perfectly without the least being of it in his Nature: yea, by one that now was God-Man, because it was God whose Law was broken, and whose Justice was offended. For, were it now possible to give a Man Possession of that Holiness that he hath lost in Adam, that Holiness could neither in the Principle, nor Act, deliver from the Sin by him before Committed. This is Evident by many Reasons: First, because it is not a Righteousness able to answer the Demands of the Law for Sin; that requiring not only a perfect abiding in the thing Commanded, but a satisfaction by death, for the Transgression Committed against the Law.¹ The Wages of Sin is Death. Wherefore he that would undertake the Salvation of the World, must be one who can do both these things: One that can perfectly do the Demands of the Law, in Thought, Word, and Deed, without the least Commixture of the least Sinful thought, in the whole Course of his Life: He must be also able to give by Death, even by the Death that hath the Curse of God in it, a complete satisfaction to the Law for the breach thereof. Now this could none but Christ accomplish; none else having Power to do it. I have Power, said he, to lay down my Life, and I have Power to take it again: And this Commandment have I Received of my Father. This Work then must be done, not by another Earthly Adam, but by the Lord from Heaven; by one that can Abolish Sin, Destroy the Devil, Kill Death, and Rule as Lord in Heaven and Earth. Now the Words and Works of the Lord Jesus, declared him to be such a one. He was first, without Sin; then he did no Sin;