An humble apology for non-conformists with modest and serious reflections on the Friendly debate…

Quest. Is not Obedience then to the Moral Law, the Condition of our Justification? See Debate, p. 13.

Answ. No: 'Tis not the Condition and Qualification of the Covenant, so properly, ¹as 'tis of those Persons that enter into the Covenant. Faith justifieth the Person before God, and Obedience justifieth the Faith before men. Obedience (saith a Reverend Author) must be in the same Subject with Faith, but it hath not a Voice in the same Court. We do not cry down mans Obedience, when we cry up the Obedience of Christ, as the matter of our Justification, and the Imputation of it, as the form of our Justification: We dare not appear before ⟨p. 79⟩God in our own filthy Garments and menstruous Clothes: We expect a Blessing from our Heavenly Father, when we are arrayed with the Robes of our Elder Brother Jesus Christ his Righteousness, which sends up a sweet smell in Gods Nostrils.

Answ. No: 'Tis not the Condition and Qualification of the Covenant, so properly, ¹as 'tis of those Persons that enter into the Covenant. Faith justifieth the Person before God, and Obedience justifieth the Faith before men. Obedience (saith a Reverend Author) must be in the same Subject with Faith, but it hath not a Voice in the same Court. We do not cry down mans Obedience, when we cry up the Obedience of Christ, as the matter of our Justification, and the Imputation of it, as the form of our Justification: We dare not appear before ⟨p. 79⟩God in our own filthy Garments and menstruous Cloaths: We expect a Blessing from our Heavenly Father, when we are arrayed with the Robes of our Elder Brother Jesus Christ his Righteousness, which sends up a sweet smell in Gods Nostrils.

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