and the peculiar Moods of speaking in every language and in every age and to urge Metaphors no further than their first intention without which we may deal by all Authors as these men deal by the Scripture make them speak non-sence or as they use to call them venerable Mysteries and overthrow and contradict their own design And this is their first way of expounding otherwise called adulterating and debauching Scripture by the sound of words Secondly When this will not do then they argue and reason about the sense of Scripture from their own preconceived notions and opinions of Religion pretend to prove their own Scheme and fancies of Religion from the Scripture but in truth prove the sense of the Scripture by its agreement with their own opinions which is such a trick as the Papists have got to prove the Authority of the Church from the Scripture and the Scripture from the Church I might give Instances of this in abundance but I shall mention only some few lest I tire my self and my Reader Thus after all their talk of being justified by the imputation of Christs Righteousness there are a great many places of Scripture which expresly tell us that we are justified by Faith have Remission of sins by Faith have peace with God by Faith are sanctified by Faith are the Sons of God by Faith have Eternal Life and are saved by Faith now how do you think shall all these Scriptures be reconciled to their notion of being justified by the imputation of Christs Righteousness for Faith certainly is not the Righteousness of Christ in their notion of it why this is plain at first sight to these acquaintances of Christ. For when Faith is said to justifie and save c. we must not understand this absolutely that is we must not understand this of Faith considered as Faith but we must understand it relatively that Faith justifies as it brings us to Christ and makes us one with him by whom we are justified Faith apprehends the Righteousness of Christ and the Righteousness of Christ justifies now this distinction is plainly owing to their preconceived opinions without which no man could ever have stumbled on 't that when the Scripture saith that Faith justifies the meaning should be that it justifies and saves instrumentally and relatively words which the Scriptures are unacquainted with that is not as it is Faith but as it apprehends the Righteousness of Christ which in plain words signifies that Faith does not justifie though the Scripture so often says it does But now the Reason of this Interpretation is very plain for should Faith justifie as our own Act that is as Faith it would be as bad as good works and as perfectly irreconcileable with the free Grace of God For had justification been promised to any thing wrought in us or done by us it had been of desert not of Grace of wages not of mercy if God had promised justification upon any work of ours had said we must bring so much humiliation so much repentance so much breaking of Spirit so much Grace so many Prayers Alms-deeds or so much Faith as our own Act and then we should be justified it would not have been of Grace not of free mercy though modest men who are not so apt to dream of meriting by every thing they do would have thought that free Grace and Faith might have been easily reconciled though Faith had justified as our own Act since the reward and recompence does so infinitly exceed the work that there can be no suspition of merit and where there is no merit the Reward is of Grace and not of debt whatever the condition of the promise be But this is past all doubt when it is confirmed by a metaphor or two of which there is great variety some more apt than others as for Instance the vertue is not in Faith but in Christ as appears in this a Ring which hath a precious stone in it which will staunch blood we say the Ring stauncheth blood but the vertue doth not barely lye in the Ring but in the stone in the Ring so Faith is the Ring Christ the precious stone all that Faith does is to bring home Christs merits to the Soul and so it justifies so that if you can but find out an improper and absurd form of speech in use among the vulgar or if you can but invent one as this Gentleman does for I never met with this before it is a sufficient reason to expound Scripture as improperly as unlearned men talk or think or if you can but fancy Faith a Ring and Christ a precious Stone it is enough to answer all those places of Scripture which speak of that legal and meritorious way of justification by Faith And thus Faith justifies as it is a receptive Grace it is the receiving the Gold that enriches so Faith receiving of Christs merits and filling the Soul with all the fulness of God must needs be an enriching Grace In the body there are Veins that suck the nourishment that comes into the Stomach and turns it into blood and Spirits Faith is such a sucking Vein that draws vertue from Christ and therefore is called a precious Faith Is not this very plain now to him who understands the nature of our Union to Christ which is like that of the Members of a natural body and that we are saved by Christ just as the body is nourished by the Stomach And now to make all clear we may give a Philosophical account why God chose Faith to be the Instrument of our Justification because it is a humble Grace and gives the glory of all to free Grace If repentance should fetch justification from Christ a man would be ready to say this was for my tears strange deserving Creatures these who can dream of meriting Heaven with a few tears but Faith is humble it is an empty hand and what merit can there be in that doth a poor mans reaching out his hand merit an Alms yes just as much as a few tears merit Heaven Faith is only a golden Bucket that draws Water out of the well of life But why may not those who are so apt to be conceited of merit grow as proud that they have a golden Bucket as if the whole Well were their own Thus you see how these men deal with the Scripture and poor humble Faith make what they please of them to fit them to their purpose that Faith is sometimes feet to go to Christ sometimes a hand to receive him a mouth to feed on him an eye to look fiducially on him a Ring to hold this precious Stone a Vein to suck justification out of the Spiritual Stomach which by the way is a very new conceit for though Christ is called the head I never before read that he was the Stomach a Bucket to draw water out of this Well Christ though in this they are very civil to Faith in making it a
Gospel prescribes which is contained in the Sermons and Parables of Christ and consists in a sincere and universal obedience to the Commands of God That we may the better understand this we must observe farther that this Righteousness of God that which he commands and rewards is the Righteousness of Faith or Righteousness by the Faith of Christ Now Faith and Faith in Christ is often used objectively for the Gospel of Christ which is the object of our Faith or contains those matters which are to be believed and so the Righteousness of Faith or by the Faith of Christ is that Righteousness which the Gospel commands Thus in Acts 24. 24. Felix sent for Paul and heard him concerning the Faith of Christ that is concerning Righteousness Temperance and the judgment to come Ver. 25. which are the principal matters of the Gospel thus obedience to the Faith is obedience to the Gospel Rom. 1. 5. In this sense Faith and Works are opposed to each other in St. Pauls Epistles as hath been abundantly proved by others the great dispute in the Epistle to the Romans is whether we must be justified by the Law of Moses or by the Faith of Christ that is whether the observation of all the external Rites and Ceremonies of the Law and an external conformity of our Actions to the moral Precepts of it will justifie a man before God or that sincere and universal obedience which the Gospel of Christ requires which transforms our minds into the likeness of God and makes us new Creatures And that this Righteousness of Faith and this alone can recommend us to God the Apostle proves from the example of Abraham in the 4. Chapter who was accounted Righteous for the sake of his sincere and stedfast belief of Gods promises Abraham believed God and it was counted to him for Righteousness Ver. 3. and this while he was uncricumcised which is a convincing argument against the Jews that Circumcision and the observance of the Law of Moses is not necessary to justification because Abraham who was the Father of the faithful and is set forth for the Pattern of our justification was justified without it But that we may understand what this justification by Faith is and how the Apostle argues from Abrahams being justified by Faith to prove that we must now be justified by the Faith of Christ it is necessary to enquire what that Faith was whereby Abraham was justified and what agreement there is between the Faith of Abraham and Faith in Christ. For Abrahams Faith was not a Faith in Christ but Abraham believed God and it was counted to him for Righteousness Christ indeed was the Material object of Abrahams Faith that is he believed that promise which God made of sending Christ into the World upon which account our Saviour tells the Jews your Father Abraham rejoiced to see my day and he saw it and was glad Iohn 8 5 6. But no man could believe in Christ till he came that is could not believe any thing upon his Authority which is the true notion of believing in him as you shall hear more presently There is not a plainer argument how apt men are to pervert the Scriptures to reconcile them to their own prejudices and preconceived opinions than to observe what work they make with Abrahams Faith as if that Faith which was imputed to him for Righteousness were a fiducial reliance and recumbency on Christ for Salvation upon which the Righteousness of Christ apprehended by Faith was imputed to him for suppose this imputation of Christs Righteousness were revealed in the most plain and express words in the New Testament yet it is hard to conceive how Abraham should learn this great Mystery from that general and obscure promise In thy seed shall all the Nations of the Earth be blessed which is all that was ever revealed to Abraham concerning Christ This is such a train of thoughts from in thy seed shall all the Nations of the Earth be blessed to the imputation of Christs Righteousness as Mr. Hobs himself could never have hit on for is there no possible way for God to bless the World but by the imputation of Christs Righteousness or is there such a natural and necessary connexion between this blessing and the imputation of Christs Righteousness that we cannot understand the one without the other Pray let us consider how many things Abraham must distinctly know according to these mens own principles before he could come to the knowledge of the imputation of Christs Righteousness and he would be a wonderful man indeed who could learn all this from that general promise without some more particular revelation As first he must be well assured that the Blessings here meant are spiritual blessings pardon of sin and eternal life and that Christ should be a spiritual King and Saviour and though this be the least difficulty of all yet the promise is not so clear and express in this matter but that men might mistake it and so we know the whole Iewish Nation for many Ages did who had more particular promises concerning Christ than this was and yet expected only a Temporal Prince who should sit on the Throne of David and subdue their Enemies under their feet and this was the great prejudice which the Iews had against Christ and his Religion that he so much deceived their expectations by his mean appearance And secondly Abraham must know too that Christ was to die for the sins of the World without which according to the Doctor it is impossible God should forgive sin considering the naturalness of his vindictive Iustice to him and this was more than the Apostles of Christ themselves understood till after his Resurrection though Christ had expresly told them of it And Thirdly He must understand also the perfect Holiness and Innocency of Christs life and that he fulfilled all righteousness not for himself but for us Nay Fourthly He must understand that great Mystery of the Incarnation of the Son of God for without this it is impossible to understand the vertue and efficacy of his expiation and Sacrifice and Righteousness since the sufferings of a meer man could never expiate sin nor his Righteousness serve any more than himself And Fifthly He must understand also that intimate oneness and Conjunction which is betwixt Christ and his Church by vertue of which Union believers may challenge a right to all that Christ did and suffer'd which is such a riddle as these men explain it as is not understood to this day And Sixthly He must understand too the nature of Faith of rowling the Soul on Christ for Salvation and renouncing all Righteousness of his own and then possibly he might without any more ado understand this great Mystery of the imputation of Christs Righteousness and he that can believe that Abraham could learn all this from that general promise In thy seed shall all the Nations of the Earth be blessed may believe what he will and
I suppose no man will trouble himself to confute him Now if you would know what the Faith of Abraham and of all good men in ancient times was the Apostle to the Hebrews gives us a full account of it in Hebr. 11. That he discourses there of a justifying Faith that is such a Faith as renders men approved of God which he will count for Righteousness appears from the whole tenour of this Chapter In the 2. Verse he tells us That by this the Elders obtained a good report i. e. the Fathers of the Old Testament were approved and rewarded by God for the sake of this Faith as he shows particularly that Abel obtained witness that he was Righteous v. 4. that Enoch had the testimony that he pleased God v. 5. that Noah became the Heir of Righteousness which is by Faith v. 7. c. Now this justifying Faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a firm and confident expectation of thâ—se things we hope for and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an argument of the being of those things which we do not see that is Faith is such a firm and stedfast perswasion of the truth of those things which are not evident to sense as makes us confidently hope for them The object of Faith must be unseen things as the Being or providence of God or a future state something past or to come the Creation of the World or the final dissolution of it or the accomplishment of any promises and predictions the nature of Faith consists in such a firm assent to these unseen things as produces some answerable effects in our lives This is the general notion of Faith by which the Elders obtained a good report and the different sorts of Faith result from the different objects and motives of it the Apostle takes notice of two kinds of Faith in this Chapter and Faith in Christ makes a third which are all the kinds of Faith the Scripture is acquainted with The first we may call a natural Faith i. e. a belief of the Principles of natural Religion which is founded upon natural demonstrations or moral arguments as that God is and that he is a Rewarder of them that diligently seek him which was the Faith of Abel and Enoch whereby they pleased God for there being no mention made of the Faith of Abel and Enoch in the old Testament the Apostle proves that they were true believers because they had this Testimony that they pleased God now it is impossible to be sincerely Religious or to do any acceptable service to God without the belief of his Being and Providence and care of good men These are the first Principles of all Religion and God required no more of those good men who had no other particular Revelations of his will Secondly There is a Faith in God or a belief of those particular Revelations which God made to the Fathers of the Old Testament of this the Apostle gives us many examples in this Chapter Thus Noah believed God when he fore-warned him of the Universal deluge and in obedience to him provided an Ark for the safety of himself and his Family and this was imputed to him for Righteousness He became the Heir of the Righteousness which is by Faith Thus Abraham in obedience to the Divine Revelation left his own Country and Fathers House and went into a strange Land thus Sarah by believing the promise of God received strength to conceive Seed and was deliver'd of a Child when she was past age because she judged him faithful who had promised Thus Abraham in obedience to God offered his Son Isaac which was as Heroical an Act of Faith as was ever done by Man for besides that great and passionate kindness he had for his only Son which made this a very difficult tryal this command of offering his Son seem'd to thwart that former promise In Isaac shall thy Seed be called i. e. that from Isaac should proceed that numerous Ofspring which God had promised to Abraham which was not very likely when this very Isaac must be offer'd in Sacrifice and die without leaving any Child to succeed him but yet Abraham was so well assured both of the faithfulness and power of God that whatever impossibilities humane reason suggested he would neither disobey Gods command nor distrust his promise but did believe in hope against hope the like examples we have of the Faith of Isaac and Iacob and Ioseph and Moses c. who firmly believed all those particular Revelations God made to them and confidently expected the performance of all his promises how unlikely soever they appear'd to be This is that Faith whereby Abraham and all the good men in those days were justified viz. Such a firm belief of the Being and Providence of God and all those particular Revelations God made to them as made them careful in all things to please God and to obey him From hence we learn thirdly What Faith in Christ is which is now imputed to us for Righteousness as Abrahams Faith was to him for to make our Faith in Christ answer to the Faith of Abraham and all good men in former Ages without which the Apostles argument from Abrahams being justified by Faith to our justification by Faith is of no force our Faith in Christ must signifie such a stedfast belief of all those Revelations which Christ hath made to the World as governs our lives and Actions Abraham was justified by believing those Revelations which God made to him and we are justified by believing those Revelations which Christ hath made of Gods will to us for if by the Righteousness of Faith you understand the Righteousness of Christ apprehended by Faith and imputed to us you utterly destroy the Apostles argument for our justification by Faith for Abraham and all the good men of old were not justified by such a Faith as this they never hear'd of the Righteousness of Christ imputed to us Noah was made Heir of Righteousness that is was accounted a Righteous Person because he believed that the World should be drown'd and prepared an Ark at Gods command for himself and his Family Abrahams Faith was imputed to him for Righteousness because he left his own Country and followed God into a strange land and believed that God would give him a Son and make him the Father of many Nations when he and his Wife were so old that according to the course of nature they could not expect any Child and when Sarah by Faith had conceived and brought forth this Son of the Promise he offers this Son at Gods command without distrusting the performance of the Promise Now what hath all this to do with an Imputation of Christs Righteousness how does it follow that because Abraham was justified by such noble and generous Acts of Faith therefore we shall be justified by the imputation of Christs Righteousness by rowling our Souls on
Christ for Salvation These two Faiths are of as different kinds as can well be imagined and therefore we cannot reason from one to the other and St. Paul certainly understood himself better than to argue at this weak rate And therefore to bring this discourse to an Head the difference between the Faith of Abraham and the Faith of Christians is this that Abraham believed God and it was counted to him for Righteousness and we believe in Christ and this is counted unto us for Righteousness Abraham believed those Revelations God made to him either immediately by himself or by the Ministry of Angels we believe all those Revelations God hath made to us by his own Son for God who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past to the Fathers by the Prophets hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son Hebr. 1. 1. So that the first notion of Faith in Christ is a firm belief of his Divine Authority which necessarily draws after it a belief of the whole Doctrine of the Gospel thus in Iohn 20. 31. The Christian Faith is described by believing that Iesus is the Christ the Son of God and 1 Iohn 5. 5. Who is he that overcometh the World but he that believeth that Iesus is the Son of God That is that he came from God with full power and Authority to declare his will and confirm and ratifie the new Covenant So that the difference between the Faith of Abraham and Faith in Christ is that Abrahams Faith was founded on the immediate inspirations of God or the Revelations of Angels but a Faith in Christ is founded on the Authority of Christ which is the first object of the Christian Faith and the reason and foundation of all other Acts of Faith Abraham had only some particular Revelations as the object of his Faith but now Christ hath made a perfect Revelation of the whole will of God which is the object of our Faith and thus the Christian Faith excells all other kinds of Faith as much as the Revelations of the Gospel excel all other Revelations made to Abraham and other good men but still the end of all Faith is the same to govern our lives and make us obedient in all things to God as Abraham was without which no Faith can justifie And the same difference there is between the Righteousness of Faith in a general notion as it is applyed to Noah and Abraham and those worthies of old and the Righteousness of God by the Faith of Iesus Christ Rom. 3. 22. and that Righteousness which is through the Faith of Christ the Righteousness which is of God by Faith Phil. 3. 9. The first signifies that Righteousness which is owing to an hearty belief of the Being and Providence of God and those particular Revelations which they received from God the latter is the effect of a sincere belief and obedience to the Gospel which is the most perfect Revelation which God ever made of his will to mankind This is so plain and easie an account of the rise and use of these phrases and of the force of the Apostles reasoning from the Faith of Abraham to the Faith of Christ which is unintelligible in any other way that could men be reconciled to plain sense it would need no other confirmation but the natural evidence of naked and simple truth But not to be wanting to a good cause let us now examine those Texts of Scripture which are abused by these men to set up the Personal Righteousness of Christ as the only formal cause of our justification as that alone which can make us righteous before God I shall begin and end with that famous place Phil. 3. 8 9. for the explication of this will give us occasion to consider all the material passages of Scripture which are applyed to this purpose yea doubtless and I account all things loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Iesus my Lord for whom I have suffer'd the loss of all things and I do account them but dung that I may win Christ and be found in him not having my own righteousness which is of the Law but that which is through the Faith of Christ the Righteousness which is of God by Faith by my own righteousness these men understand inherent righteousness whatever good St. Paul had done either while he was a Jew or after his Conversion to Christianity this he rejects and therefore the righteousness which is through the Faith of Christ must needs be an imputed Righteousness the Personal Righteousness of Christ apprehended by Faith and imputed to us This is fairly offer'd but what proof have they for it That I confess I cannot learn only it is taken for granted that my Righteousness signifies inherent Righteousness and the Righteousness of Faith imputed Righteousness and it is a sufficient answer to this to say they need not signifie so My own Righteousness can signifie no more than that in which he placed his Righteousness whatever it was and what necessity is there to understand this of Inherent Holiness an external Righteousness serves most mens turn very well and this is the righteousness by which the Pharisees and amongst the rest St. Paul while he was a Pharisee expected to be justified for what his Righteousness was he tells us in Ver. 6 7. Circumcised the eight day of the stock of Israel of the Tribe of Benjamin an Hebrew of the Hebrews as touching the Law a Pharisee who were mighty strict and punctual in observing all external Ceremonies and he exprest his zeal for the law of Moses by persecuting the Christian Church and touching the Righteousness which is in the Law he was blameless which last phrase touching the Righteousness of the law blameless signifies only an external blamelessness of Conversation as Mr. Calvin himself acknowledges for this was the Pharisees notion even of the moral law that the obligation of it did reach no farther than the outward man and Trypho the Iew in Iustin Martyr quarrels with the Gospel of our Saviour for this very reason that it requires the government of our thoughts and passions which he says is impossible for a man to do and thus we must understand this blamelessness here unless we will say that St. Paul while he was a Pharisee did perfectly observe the moral law was blameless before God as well as before men which I suppose those who talk so much of the impossibility of keeping Gods laws will be loath to owne So that my own Righteousness which is of the law is so far from signifying an inherent Righteousness an inward and vital principle of holiness that it signifies only an external Righteousness which consisted in some external Rites as Circumcision and Sacrifices c. or external priviledges as being of the Seed of Abraham and stock of Israel or an external Civility and blamelessness of Conversation and this Righteousness he had reason to reject because God will reject it This
never come And when the Soul hath this particular call suppose it should suspect this call for a delusion what course can it take to satisfie it self that this is the call of the spirit of God and not the cheat and imposture of an enthusiastick fancy truly none that I know of if this calling by name will not satisfie it there is no other way but to call for the Book of Election and see whether its name be enrolled there the best of it is that all that are called must come and therefore they need inquire no further But secondly Though we know not how to get into Christ it would be some comfort to know that we are in him but this is as impossible as the other as the only foundation of our Faith in coming to Christ according to these mens notions is this special and particular call of the Spirit so the only infallible assurance any one can have that he is in Christ is the testimony of the Spirit that Spirit of adoption which teaches us to cry Abba Father and yet God does not afford this testimony of the Spirit to all but suffers many good Christians to walk in darkness and hides his face from them and conceals the evidences of his eternal love for no other reason but because they are desirous of it and would be quiet if they should know it this is somewhat hard measure but suppose you have or think you have this testimony of the Spirit how can you be sure that it is not a cheat and delusion the imposture of the Devil or of your own self-flattering imaginations To satisfie this scruple we are directed to marks and evidences and thus this infallible assurance from the testimony of the Spirit must in its last resolve be founded upon some moral evidence as it is with the Church of Rome who after a great noise and cry of infallibility are at last forc't to resolve their Faith into some motives of credibility or to dance round in an endless circle Well but let us consider what are the marks and evidences of our being in Christ and now you must inquire whether you have the Spirit of Christ and it is just as easie to know this as whether you be in Christ But are you true Believers is your Faith of the right stamp is it wrought by the Almighty Power of God or is it such an easie common presumptuous false Faith as that which is in the generality of men and this is as easie to know as either of the former for if there be such a false presumptuous Faith as takes Christ when he does not belong to us and rests and relies on Christ only for pardon life and Salvation and yet shall never have Christ how shall we know whether our Faith be true and genuine such as will make Christ ours and the answer to this brings us to that great mark of sanctification you must consider the effects of Faith doth it purifie your heart doth it overcome the World doth it work by love if any man be in Christ he is a new Creature are you then new Creatures is the state of your person changed from a Child of wrath to an Heir of Grace which is the thing to be proved or is your nature changed do you not think speak act as you did before do ye walk in newness of life c. have you crucified the flesh with its affections and lusts do you bring forth fruit as every branch in Christ which is not rejected by him doth that is you must prove your justification by your sanctification your Faith by your Works It must be acknowledged that these are some of those marks and Characters which the Scripture gives of good Christians by which we may as certainly know what our state is as the Tree is known by its Fruit and since it is no better I am heartily glad it is no worse that good works and a holy life may at least put in for marks and evidences of a justified state though the truth is this is a meer complement to holiness and as they order the matter a holy life can no more be the sign of a justified state than it can justifie us For first since holiness is not necessary to our Union with Christ it can be no necessary sign of it we are united to Christ before we are holy as appears from what I have already discoursed and therefore an unholy man may be united to Christ and how then can holiness be the only sure mark of our Union to Christ indeed they tell us that holiness does necessarily follow our Union to Christ but no man knows how long it may be before it follows and yet all this while such a Person is united to Christ at best this gives evidence but to one part of the question a holy life may be a good evidence that such a man is in Christ but the want of it is no certain evidence that a man is not in Christ and therefore this mark may be rejected by any one who hath no mind to it Nay secondly According to these mens principles we cannot tell whether we are holy or not till we know whether we are in Christ or not our Union to Christ must be an evidence of our holiness not our holiness an evidence of our Union to Christ till we are united to Christ we can do nothing to please God the best actions of Christless and unregenerate men are but splendida peccata glittering impieties which may appear so fair and lovely that they may deceive both other men and themselves for the true fruits of the Spirit but yet are odious and abominable to God because the person who does them is out of Christ our persons must be first accepted in Christ and then our services we cannot judge of holiness by the external performance of any duty nor by the inward sense of our own minds but must first know whether we are in Christ whether our persons be accepted in him before we can tell whether any thing we do be good and acceptable to God and this is a plain demonstration that holiness cannot be an evidence of our Union to Christ because we must first know our Union to Christ before we can know that we are holy And thirdly At other times these men make the work of sanctification in this life so imperfect and so like an unsanctified state that it is impossible to distinguish a sanctified and unsanctified man and upon this account holiness and sanctification must needs be a very sorry evidence of our Union to Christ when it is so imperfect that it cannot be known for that which is an evidence of another thing ought to be very evident it self An unregenerate man is under the Law of Sin under the reigning power of it and a regenerate man as they describe him is in a state as like this as one Egg is like another for a regenerate man may