Vindiciae legis, or, A vindication of the moral law and the covenants, from the…Vindiciae legis, or, A vindication of the morall law and the covenants, from the…

But on the other side, our condition is in one respect made ¹happier then Adams; which is the certainty of perseverance in the state of grace, if once translated into it. And this consideration Austin did much press. We have indeed much sin with our grace, yet God will not let that spark of fire go out: but Adam had much holiness, and no sin; yet how quickly did he lose it? Not but that grace of it self is amissible as well as that of Adams, but because of the special promise and grace of God in Christ; therefore whom he loves, he will always love.

But on the other side, our condition is in one respect made ¹happier then Adams; which is the certainty of perseverance in the state of grace, if once translated into it. And this consideration Austin did much presse. We have indeed much sin with our grace, yet God will not let that spark of fire goe out: but Adam had much holinesse, and no sin; yet how quickly did he lose it? Not but that grace of it self is amissible as well as that of Adams, but because of the speciall promise and grace of God in Christ; therefore whom he loves, he will alwaies love.

1. 1The state of reparation more happy then that of innocency, in respect of the certainty of perseverance in the state of grace.

The next Question is, Whether we may be now by Christ said to ¹be more righteous then Adam? For so an Antinomian in his Treatise of Justification, pag. 320. 321. quoteth places out of some Authors, as affirming this, that now by Christ we have a more perfect righteousness, then that of Angels, or was lost in Adam; and by this means labours to prove, that we are so holy, that God can see no sin in us. Now, to answer this, I deny not, but the orthodox sometimes have used such expressions, and upon this ground, because the righteousness of Christ as it was his, was of infinite value and consequence; and so as we are in a Mediator, we are in a better and surer condition, then the Angels or Adam was: but they never used such expressions to the Antinomian sense, as if hereby we were made not only perfectly righteous, but also holy, and without sin. This opinion is at large to be refuted in the Treatise about Justification; only thus much take for an answer, That the doctrine, which holdeth the imputation of Christs righteousness, doth not necessarily infer, that therefore we have righteousness more excellent then Angels or Adam; for it is only imputed to us for that righteousness which we ought to have: it is not made ours in that largeness or latitude as it was Christs, but as we needed it. Now God never required of us such an holiness as the Angels have, or a greater righteousness then Adam had; and therefore it's a senseless thing to imagine, that that should be made ours which we never needed, or ever were bound to have: so that those expressions of the orthodox must be understood in a sound sense.