The Doctrine of Justification by Faith

1. There is an Imputation unto us of that which is really our own, inherent in us, performed by us, antecedently unto that Imputation, and this whether it be Evil or Good. The Rule and Nature hereof is given and expressed, Ezek. 18.20. The Righteousness of the Righteous shall be upon him, the Wickedness of the Wicked shall be upon him. Instances we have of both sorts. (1) In the Imputation of sin, when the Person guilty of it, is so judged and reckoned a sinner, as to be dealt withal accordingly. This Imputation Shimei deprecated, ⟨p. 234⟩2 Sam. 19.19. He said unto the King, Let not my Lord impute Iniquity unto me, ([Greek or Hebrew] the word used in the expression of the Imputation of Righteousness. Gen. 15.6.) neither do thou remember what thy Servant did perversely; For thy Servant doth know that I have sinned. He was Guilty, and acknowledged his Guilt, but deprecates the Imputation of it, in such a sentence concerning him, as his sin deserved. So Stephen deprecated the Imputation of sin unto them that stoned him, whereof they were really guilty, Act. 7.60. Lay not this sin to their charge; impute it not unto them. As on the other side Zechariah the Son of Jehojada, who died in the same cause, and the same kind of death with Stephen, prayed that the sin of those which slew him might be charged on them, 2 Chron. 24.22. Wherefore to impute sin, is to lay it unto the charge of any, and to deal with them according unto its desert.

1. There is an Imputation unto us of that which is really our own, inherent in us, performed by us, antecedently unto that Imputation, and this whether it be Evil or Good. The Rule and Nature hereof is given and expressed, Ezek. 18.20. The Righteousness of the Righteous shall be upon him, the Wickedness of the Wicked shall be upon him. Instances we have of both sorts. (1) In the Imputation of sin, when the Person guilty of it, is so judged and reckoned a sinner, as to be dealt withall accordingly. This Imputation Shimei deprecated,