God as just So that to be justified by God and to be approved of by him as just and so adjudged is all one Wisdome is justified of her children that is approved of and defended against the accusations and quarrels of her adversaries Lu. 7.29 The Publican went down to his house justified that is approved rather than the Pharisee Luk. 18.14 Ye see then how that by works a man is justified that is approved of by God as a good and righteous man as Abraham was and not by faith only Jam. 2.24 By thy words thou shalt be justified and by thy words thou shalt be condemned By these as well as by other things persons are and will be adjudged by God to be good and righteous or wicked and ungodly men Matth. 12.37 Again Rom. 8.33 34. It is God that justifieth who is he that condemneth Where Gods approbation of his people is opposed to others disapprobation of them he approves of them as good while their adversaries condemn them as bad they charge them as bad but God absolves and dischargeth them as good And in this judicial sense is the word justification generally taken throughout the Scripture By Sanctification men are constituted and made evangelically righteous but in Justification they are approved of by God as such and adjudged to be so which is the proper difference between Sanctification and Justification If then we make our estimate of evangelical Justification according to the usual signification of the word as that implies in it the Cause of the party tried the Act of God as Judge and the law and rule on which the trial proceeds and by which the cause is determined for him that is justified then Justification may be thus described It is that whereby God for the sake and upon the account of the Righteousness of Christ doth approve of a true believer as one that hath perfermed the condition on which God in the Gospel hath promised pardon of sin and eternal life and doth impute that performance to him for righteousness and accordingly adjudgeth him to be righteous in the sense and according to the tenor of the law of Grace and such an one as hath a Covenant right and title to the blessings promised in that Covenant pardon of Sin and eternal life This description of Justification as it best agrees with the use and signification of the word and phrase so it does also with the doctrine of the Gospel as we shall afterwards see Which that we may the better do I shall open the whole to you by opening it in its several parts and so shall shew 1. How the Righteousness of Christ doth operate to our Justification 2. How the Covenant of Grace doth it 3. How Faith doth it and 4. How God himself doth it And thus to open the whole nature of Justification by shewing the operation of the several causes of it is I conceive the best and most likeliest way to come to the clearest knowledge and best insight into it that we can attain unto The want of which distinctness in proceeding hath been I conceive an occasion in great part of obscuring the doctrine of Justification while the parts have been confounded and the operation proper to one cause hath been attributed to another The whole of the description which I have given of Justification is the result of the operation of the righteousness of our Blessed Saviour of the Covenant of Grace of faith and of the whole action of Gods dijudication in justifying true believers to the opening of which I shall now proceed And I shall begin with the righteousness of our Redeemer Christ Jesus and shall enquire into the nature and operation of it in reference to our justification CHAP. II. Of the nature of the righteousness of Christ and how it operates to our Justification IN shewing what influence our Saviours righteousness hath into our Justification two things will come under consideration 1. What we are to understand by the Righteousness of our Saviour 2. How it operates to our Justification First of the former what we are to understand by the righteousness of Christ Righteousness is the conformity of a person to some Law or Rule And therefore when we speak of the righteousness of Christ it supposeth some Law in his conformity whereunto this righteousness of his whereof we speak doth consist Which Law is the Law of his Mediation which he received from his Father and which he voluntarily and most willingly undertook to observe and fulfil The mutual agreement between the Father and the Son about this Law of Mediation between God and man and the Sons undertaking to fulfil it in order to our Redemption Divines are wont to call the Covenant of Redemption And as the great office of Mediator is peculiar to him alone for there is but one Mediator between God and man even the man Christ Jesus 1 Tim. 2.5 So the Law of this Mediation was peculiar to him And as the law and office of Mediation were peculiar to our Saviour so is his righteousness which consisteth in his conformity to that law it is a Mediatory Righteousness The benefit of it belongs to believers as I shall afterwards shew but the righteousness it self which is Mediatorial can be no more transferred to any other than his office of Mediation can for his righteousness consists in those acts of conformity to the Law of Mediation by which he doth execute his office of Mediation Now that there was such a Law of Mediation between God and man given by God the Father to Christ his Son and which he did most readily accept of execute and obey is plainly made known to us by our Saviour himself by many of his sayings As in John 6.38 when he says I came down from heaven not to do my own will but the will of him that sent me And again the Father which sent me he gave me commandment what I should say and what I should speak Whatsoever I speak therefore even as the Father said unto me so I speak John 12.49.50 Our Saviour speaking of his laying down his life for his sheep saith No man taketh it from me but I lay it down of my self I have power to lay it down and I have power to take it again this commandment have I received of my Father mark that John 10.18 To fulfil this Law was the design of our Saviours coming into the world Heb. 10.7 Then said I Lo I come in the volume of thy book it is written of me to do thy will O God And of the fulfilling of this law our Saviour spake when in his prayer to his Father he said I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do John 17.4 These with other like Scriptures acquaint us with these two things First that there was a Law given by the Father and chosen by the Son to be observed in managing the office and work of Mediator between God and man which we call the Law
eternal Life but such a practical Faith as I have described consider these following particulars 1. If none can be pardoned but such as repent nor see the Kingdom of God except they be born again as the Scripture assures us they cannot then no Faith can entitle us to Pardon and Salvation as it is a fulfilling the condition of the promises of the Covenant but such as is a penitential regenerating Faith such as works repentance and regeneration in men nor till it hath wrought these effects at least as begun I cannot imagine what can be said with any shew of reason against this argument 2. St. James argues that Faith which hath not works cannot save Ver. 12. and concludes his reasoning Ver. 24. with saying Ye see then how that by Works a man is Justified and not by Faith only 3. Faith and Obedience are so much the same or at least so inseparable when saving as that the same Greek word is indifferently translated to believe or to obey and so on the contrary the same word is translated unbelief or disobedience Instances of this nature you have in Acts 5.36 Rom. 11.30 31. Ephes 5.6 Heb. 4.11 and 11.31 in all which you have the same word translated one way in the line reading and another in the margin And belief and disobedience are likewise opposed to each other as contraries as well as faith and unbelief are and as well as obedience and disobedience are as you may see for instance in Rom. 10.16 1 Pet. 2.7 2 Thes 2.12 By all which we may reasonably judg that when Faith only is mentioned as the condition on which pardon and eternal Life are promised yet then it is to be understood of a practical obediential Faith 4. The same benefits pardon of sin and eternal Life are promised upon the condition of obedience in some Scriptures which are promised on condition of believing in others As for instance If we walk in the light as he is in the light we have fellowship one with another and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin 1 John 1.7 Here assurance is given us of being purged from the guilt of sin by the blood of Christ in case we walk in the light as God is in the light labouring to be holy as God is holy in all manner of conversation And Christ is the Author of eternal Salvation to all them that obey him Heb. 5.9 And blessed are they that do his Commandments that they may have right to the Tree of Life and may enter through the gates into the City Revel 22.14 Not every one that saith Lord Lord shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven but he that doth the will of my Father which is in Heaven Mat. 7.21 Now if holy obedience be made the condition of the promise of Pardon and Life as well as Faith as we see it is then none but an obediential Faith can be a performance of the condition of that promise By an obediential Faith I mean such a Faith as by which a man is moved and inclined and in some sort enabled to do what is his present duty so far as he understands it to be so And in this sense a mans Faith and his obedience are of the same date and commence together And therefore it is no marvel that the same promise of the same benefits is made to the one which is made to the other and that both are joyned in the condition 5. In Heb. 8.10 11 12. where we have the tenour of the new Covenant declared God promiseth to be a God only to such and to forgive the iniquities only of such as have his Law put into their minds and written in their hearts Where Faith is not at all mentioned as the condition of receiving those benefits but the having the Law written in the heart Though the having the Law written in the heart supposeth Faith I grant as a productive cause of it yet we see it is not the condition of the promised benefits otherwise than as it produceth such an effect which effect is only here mentioned and not Faith which is the cause 6. When saving Faith is described by the nature of its operation upon a man himself and not only as it acteth upon its object without him then we are told it purifieth the heart Act. 15.9 worketh by love Gal. 5.6 overcometh the world 1 John 5.4 and sanctifieth the whole man Acts 26.18 And therefore we have no good reason to think Faith is a fulfilling the condition of the promise only as it acteth upon its object by way of credence or assent or affiance either without its transforming operation upon the Soul 3. The next thing to be enquired into is the reason why Faith is made the condition of the promises of the Gospel-Covenant And the reasons hereof seem to be such as these 1. Faith is made the condition of the promise that it might appear to be of grace that such promise is made and made upon such a condition as faith is St. Paul having spoken of the promise being made through the Righteousness of Faith and not through the Righteousness of the Law Rom. 4.13 He gives the reason of it Verse 16. when he says It is therefore of Faith that it might be by grace to the end the promise might be sure to all the seed not to that only which is of the Law but to that also which is of the Faith of Abraham In which words we have a general reason why Faith is made the condition of the Promise and that is that it might be by Grace And another is given in a particular instance viz. that the promise might be sure to all the seed There is a double reason why it must needs be of Grace that the great Promises of the Gospel are made to mens believing the Gospel The one is taken from the nature of the thing that is of Faith it self in reference and relation to its object For he that believes the Gospel believes that the great blessings and benefits promised therein are promised not for any merit of his to whom they are promised but for the sake of another to wit Christ Jesus whom God hath set forth for a propitiation through faith in his blood Rom. 3.25 And he that believes the Gospel according to what it reveals believes also that it was of Grace that he was thus made a propitiation for it was by the Grace of God that he tasted death for every man Heb. 2.9 Not by works of Righteousness which we have done but according to his mercy he saved us Tit. 3.5 And whoever believes all this exalts the grace of God in so believing St. Paul who believed and taught this in opposition to the misbelieving Jews who thought to be justified by the works of the Law without the death of the Messias to obtain that and all other benefits said I do not frustrate the grace of God for if righteousness come
THE CHRISTIANS JUSTIFICATION STATED SHEWING How the Righteousness of Christ the Gospel-Covenant Faith and God himself do operate to our Justification By W. A. 2 Cor. 5.17 18. Old things are past away behold all things are become new and all things are of God who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ LONDON Printed by A. C. for Walter Kettilby at the Bishops-Head in St. Paul's Church-Yard 1678. THE PREFACE TO THE Reader THere hath I confess been so much already written about the Doctrine of Justification as may probably incline some to think the publication of these Papers to be superfluous But when it shall be considered how much of what hath been written on this subject hath been done in a way of Controversie about some particular branches of the Doctrine of Justification and how little to state and explain the whole of it and yet how necessary this is for the ending of such Controversies it 's possible they may be of another mind Some Christians when they find in the holy Scriptures that sometimes we are said to be justified by the Blood of Christ and by his Obedience to be made righteous at another time that we are justified by Faith at another that we are justified freely by Grace at another that we are not justified by Faith only but by Works also and at another time that it is God that justifieth they become somewhat confounded in their own minds with this variety of things to which our Justification is attributed And although all such as are well minded may be the Gospel in which these things are revealed come so to believe and so live as to be justified yet many of them are at a great loss how to understand in what respect we are said to be justified by the one and by the other of these And for want of a right stating and explaining how and in what different respects these severals do concur to the producing one and the same effect which is our Justification some have confounded them and attributed that to one of these causes which is proper to another As for instance this hath been done when they have ascribed to Christ to his Blood and to his Obedience and Righteousness not only what is proper to these but also what is proper to Faith it self and so have drowned the personal Righteousness of Faith as necessary to Justification in the Righteousness of Christ whereas these are distinct in themselves and in the nature and manner of their operation and the personal Righteousness by Faith as really necessary to our Justification in one respect as the Righteousness of Christ his Blood and his obedience is in another though in a way indeed subordinate to and dependent upon this Some good men have indeed thought they could not attribute too much to the Righteousness of Christ in reference to our Justification and in some sense perhaps we cannot and that it derogates from it and from Free Grace to interess our own personal Righteousness by Faith therein at all as if to do so did imply or suppose his Righteousness not sufficient unless it were eked out by ours as they are wont to speak When as the question is not about the sufficiency of the Righteousness of our Saviour for all those ends to which the Father and himself have designed it but the question is whether it were designed by them to justifie any actually in their rebel state or before they repent of it and become reconciled to God in mind and heart and doubtless there is great reason to say it was not since to justifie the wicked is an abomination to the Lord and since also the actual collation of all saving benefits upon the account of Christs Mediatory performance is suspended upon our being reconciled to God by obedience of Faith which is our personal Righteousness as is shewed in the following Discourse It is a great mistake to think that the Righteousness of Christ and our personal Righteousness of Faith stand in opposition to one another as if what is ascribed to the later were taken from the former Whereas our personal Righteousness of Faith is so far subservient to the end and design of the Righteousness of Christ as that his Righteousness loseth its end upon men for which it was designed until they become personally Evangelically righteous For the Righteousness of Christ was never designed for the Justification Pardon or Salvation of men without personal righteousness but through the righteousness of Faith If we did ascribe that to our personal righteousness of Faith which is proper only to the mediatorial and meritorious Righteousness of Christ we should indeed set the one in opposition to the other which we are far enough from doing But so long as our personal Righteousness of Faith doth but serve under the Righteousness of Christ unto our Justification it no more eclipseth the glory of it than the shining of the Moon doth the glory of the Sun when it borrows its light from it But how these two Righteousnesses do differ and yet concur to our Justification you will see further in the Tractate it self Nor does it at all derogate from the Grace of God and our Lord Jesus Christ to say our personal Righteousness of Faith is one ingredient in our Justification or that it is that without which we are not qualified for it but that contrarily it doth illustriously set forth the Grace of God in being so And the reason hereof is because its being imputed or counted to us for righteousness and their being reckoned righteous that have it is altogether of grace and favour for it does not of it self make a man righteous according to the original law of strict justice It is therefore another great mistake to oppose the Grace of God to our personal righteousness by Faith in reference to our Justification When as it is the very act of grace it self to reckon or impute Faith to us for Righteousness instead of a perfect legal righteousness upon account of Christs mediatory performance St. Paul saith It is therefore of Faith that it might be by Grace It is spoken so as if it could not have been by Grace unless it had been by Faith Grace reigns through righteousness saith St. Paul through Jesus Christ our Lord. So very far is it from derogating from Grace to interess our personal righteousness of Faith as an ingredient in our Justification We are justified freely by Grace and yet we are justified by Faith also And if the Scripture thus joyns them together in the same work though in different respects we shall not do well I think to separate them much less to oppose them to one another in it By grace are ye saved through faith saith St. Paul in another place It does not lessen Grace at all that Faith is interessed in the same work under Grace in the salvation of men For Grace shews it self as well in ordaining Faith to be a righteousness entitling a
I might further shew how that our title to the heavenly inheritance ariseth out of our adoption to it as joint-heirs with Christ and from Gods free and bounteous donation as eternal Life is the gift of God through Jesus Christ our Lord and from our performance of the condition on which it is promised Blessed are they that do his Commandments that they may have right to the Tree of Life From all which Remission of sin differs and is another thing 5. Our right and title to Remission of sin it self depends upon the same terms as our right to glory does and yet that depends upon our Justification For God first Justifies whom he after glorifies Rom. 8.30 And if our right to Remission of sin depends upon the same terms as right to glory does then Remission of sin can be no more the same thing with Justification than glorification is but depends upon it as an effect upon a cause without which none can receive it Our right to Remission of sin depends upon our believing as the condition on which God hath promised it as well as our right to glory does To him give all the Prophets witness that through his name whosoever believes in him shall receive Remission of sins Acts 10.43 And this right to Remission of sins depends as much also upon Gods adjudging us to have performed the condition on which he hath promised Pardon as our right to glory does For God does no more actually Pardon any then he glorifies them until he first adjudgeth them to have performed the condition on which he promised Pardon which dijudication of his is his Justifying of them And therefore Remission of sin does as really differ from Justification as Glorification does and is as certainly subsequent to it as Glorification is and therefore cannot be the same thing properly and strictly considered 6. God does not forgive all a mans sins at once nor before they are committed and repented of but multiplies Pardons as his servants multiply sins of infirmity and their repentances and petitions for Pardon And if so and if God do not multiply as many Justifications as he does Pardons to the same person then here is another difference between Justification and Remission of sin 7. Justification is Gods imputing Righteousness to us or our Faith for Righteousness But Pardon of sin is his non-imputation of sin to us God by not imputing sin to us does not reckon us not to have sinned nor not to have deserved eternal destruction but he then does not impute sin when he does not inflict the punishment deserved by and due for sin But when he imputes Righteousness or Faith for Righteousness to us he adjudgeth us to have answered the terms of his new Law of Grace by believing by which Law that Faith becomes our Righteousness Now there is a great difference between Gods adjudging us to have answered the terms of his new Law and his not inflicting the deserved penalty of the Old between his awarding us a recompence of our sincere conformity to the one and his not exacting of us what we had deserved to suffer for transgressing the other And yet so much difference there is between Justification and Remission of sin As for those who place Justification in Gods pardoning of sin they may please to consider that the benefit of Remission of sin does not signifie the less by being called only by its proper name Pardon or Forgiveness and not Justification if by Justification be meant only Remission of sin as they hold it is who limit Justification only to that And if Remission of sin signifie no more when we call it Justification then it does when we call it Pardon or Forgiveness I see little reason why two or three or some small number of Texts of Scripture which speak of Justification fomwhat obscurely should be so much strained as they are to make them seem to mean only Remission of sin when they may be fairly understood in another sense and that too perhaps with more congruity to the signification of the word Justification and to the nature of the thing and to the Scriptures themselves elsewhere Nor can I discern what would be gained by it if it should be granted that Remission of sin were Justification and Justification Remission of sin For yet then the same thing the same benefit would signifie no more when we call it Justification than it does when we call it only Remission of sins as we all agree the Scriptures doe Nor does the placing of Justification in Gods Judicial act in approving and adjudging men to be Righteous in a Gospel sense who have performed the condition on which Pardon of sin and eternal Life are promised make the priviledg of having our sins forgiven the less beneficial to us or the less of Grace from God and our Lord Jesus Christ For Gods approving us to be Righteous in a Gospel sence does not suppose or imply that we stand in no need of Pardon nor of that mercy of God and merit of Christ from which Pardon flows it only supposeth us to be Righteous with such a Righteousness of Faith on condition of which the promise of Pardon of all our sins is made through the blood of Christ But Gods Justifying of us or his approving of us to be Righteous in such a sence does not make our sins to become no sins nor is it I conceive Gods Pardoning act but yet it is that which doth judicially qualifie us for Pardon and which as it were opens the door and lets us into the possession of it For Pardon is the next and immediate act that in order follows Gods adjudging us to have performed the condition on which he promised us Pardon Having said this much of the difference between judicial Justification and Remission of sin it seems requisite to make some enquiry into the sense and meaning of those Scriptures on which some ground an assertion limiting Justification to Remission of sin only And those Scriptures which above all others seem most to countenance such an assertion and which are most relyed on by those of that persuasion are Acts 13.39 Rom. 5.16 and 4.6 7. To an enquiry into the meaning of which I will only premise this That if we should find cause to think that it may be proved from these or any other Scriptures That we are pardoned by being Justified yet we can have no good reason thence to conclude that we are Justified only by being Pardoned no nor yet in the properest sense neither when we consider how express the Scriptures are elsewhere for a judicial Justification to wit Gods Justifying us by Faith and by accounting or adjudging Faith to us for Righteousness or for a performance of the terms of the Gospel our conformity whereto is as truly our Evangelical Righteousness as our conformity to the terms of the Law would have been a legal Righteousness if it had been found in us To begin now with Acts 13.39
unexpectedly without any labour or industry of theirs But will any man in hopes it may so fall out with him neglect to labour in his calling for a lively-hood To be sure no man worthy the name of a man will What folly then is to be compared with that which such men commit that despise their own souls in taking less care for them though of eternal duration than for this short and transitory life But yet although God hath not promised that any shall have but those that ask nor find except they seek nor have it opened to them unless they knock to the end that none might promise themselves an obtaining without so doing And although God vouchsafeth unto men the Gospel as a means sufficient of it self to persuade them to consider their eternal concerns and to look after them more than any thing that concerns only this present life and to learn them without all excuse if they do not Yet when I consider the exceeding riches of the goodness of God and how full of compassion he is and how unwilling he is that any should perish I cannot I confess but think that he does more to prevent the destruction even of those that do perish than what is absolutely necessary and barely sufficient to prevent it if men did not through their own obstinacy and wilfulness receive such Grace of God in vain I cannot but think that God does more to bring men to repentance both those that do and those that do not actually and eventually repent than what he ever promised or engaged himself to do by his spirits striving with them by many inward and secret motions and operations upon their minds and consciences until by long and obstinate resistance the good spirit is caused to withdraw his applications by which withdrawing that which they before had is taken from them according to what is threatned to such as will not improve their Talent and they delivered up to a reprobate mind to be hardened Why should we not think but that God is as ready by his Holy Spirit to excite and stir up men to that which tends to their happiness as evil spirits are to tempt them to that which tends to their destruction When all the methods whereby God seeketh to bring men to repentance are thwarted and withstood the Holy Ghost is in Scripture then said to be resisted Which shews that the Holy Ghost is much concerned in those methods I doubt not but that when the Scripture saith that God would have all men to be saved we may safely conclude that he useth all means both internal and external to effect it so far as is agreeable to his perfect and unerring wisdom when all circumstances in the case are weighed and considered and that it is really better and will appear so one day that such men should perish which do perish rather than any more should be done by God to prevent it than he hath done before destruction befal them And it is better not because God takes more pleasure in the damnation than in the salvation of such as perish simply and in it self considered For he himself hath told us and sworn it lest we should not firmly believe it That he hath no pleasure in the death of the wicked but that the wicked turn from his way and live Ezek. 33.11 But it is better in reference to the publick good of his Creation in general the peace and good order whereof is thereby secured which otherwise was and still would be disquieted and put into confusion by them as it is now by the Devils while they are not shut up in Prison as hereafter they will be This reason of the punishment of such as have neglected their own Salvation as it refers to this publick good is implyed in those words of our Saviour Mat. 13.41 Where he says The Son of man shall send forth his Angels and they shall gather out of his Kingdom all things that offend and in those likewise Ver. 49. where he says so shall it be at the end of the world the Angels shall come forth and sever the wicked from among the just And another reason among others of such mens punishment referring to the publick good is That virtue and goodness on the one hand and wickedness and vice on the other might the better appear to be what they are in their own nature by their sensible effects and so be loved or hated accordingly which we cannot conceive they would ever be so effectually as now they are and will be if they were not attended with rewards and punishments by the wise ordering of the Author and Governor of all beings It was by the sensible effects of eating of the forbidden Tree that Adam had that knowledg of evil as differing from good which he had not before Now such knowledg of the the difference between good and evil by rewards and punishments is of great use in the universal Kingdom and Government of God And if it were not better in reference to the general good that men should perish for their wilful neglect and refusal to make use of such means to prevent their destruction as God hath vouchsafed them and by the use whereof they might have prevented it if they would we could not well conceive how there should be any such thing as the destruction of wicked men other than what lies in the very nature of their sin it self it putting the course of nature into disorder confusion and torture so long as God takes no pleasure in their destruction for their destruction sake So much may suffice to shew in what capacity men are of performing the condition on which the pardon of sin and eternal life are promised which performance is of absolute and indispensible necessity to their justification And if in doing this I have said more than was barely necessary to this end yet perhaps not more than was necessary to prevent mens misunderstanding misinterpretation and misimprovement of what was necessarily said on that head of discourse considering how apt some of weak minds are to suspect if not to cry out Pelagianism where any ability in men to work out their own salvation is mentioned though there be not the least ground for it 5. The last thing I proposed to inquire into concerning Faith is how we may conceive that Faith does more immediately operate to our justification And what hath been said already touching Faith in the forementioned particulars may with a little reflection upon them satisfie us in this enquiry For such a Faith as I have described a Faith that is a vital and vigorous principle of Regeneration and of a holy life does Operate to our Justification as it is our Covenant-Righteousness as it is the performance of the condition on which pardon of sin and eternal Life are promised For as it is such and as it comprehends in it its proper effects it doth constitute those in whomsoever it is found Righteous
persons according to the tenor of the Gospel-Covenant and so qualifies them to be so adjudged by God against all accusations to the contrary by what or by whomsoever It is that which makes their cause good when they come to be tried and judged by the Law of Liberty because it is all which that Law requires to denominate them Righteous and to entitle them to the benefit of that Law This Righteousness of Faith is the essential matter or material cause of our Justification without which no such thing could be and supposing which it cannot but be so long as the Gospel-Covenant stands in force It makes those that have it the proper subjects of Justification for as God will condemn the wicked so he will most certainly Justifie the Righteous such as are made so by his own Grace without respect of persons he judgeth acocrding to every mans work and the nature of his cause In these and the like respects doth the Righteousness of Faith operate to our Justification These things stand proved in what hath been said before in opening the nature of the Covenant of Grace and the nature of Faith and the reason of its designation by God to its Office and work And may be yet further confirmed by those Scriptures where Faith is said to be counted and imputed to us for Righteousness as it was to Abraham Rom. 4.3 6 11 22 24. Gal. 3.6 Gen. 15.6 Jam. 2.23 For if God count it to us for Righteousness then it is our Righteousness for God accounts of things but as they are when they are what they are of his own making as this Righteousness of Faith is And if this Faith be our Righteousness in Gods account then they must needs be Righteous in his account that are Righteous with this Righteousness and be approved of and adjudged such by him And thus Faith operates to our Justification as it is the essential and intrinsical matter of our Justification CHAP. V. How God himself operates to our Justification I Come now in the last place to enquire in what respects Justification is attributed to God and what his operation is in producing this great effect of Justifying such as have been sinners That he doth Justifie believers by some acts proper to him is no Christians doubt It is one God which shall Justifie the Circumcision by Faith and the Vncircumcision through Faith Rom. 3.30 Who shall lay any thing to the charge of Gods elect it is God that justifieth Rom. 8.33 Now God may be said to Justifie in several respects some more remote and some more proximate and immediate God is the Author Spring and Fountain and principal efficient cause of all other causes that any way concur or cooperate to our Justification Christ himself which is the foundation stone in this building by virtue of whose Mediatorial Righteousness we are Justified he is made to us of God Wisdom and Righteousness 1 Cor. 1.30 It is also God which hath given being to the new Covenant which is the Covenant of his Grace by virtue of which also we are Justified And the Righteousness of Faith which is the matter of our Justification is of Gods working in us by his Spirit Whence it is that both our Sanctification and Justification are attributed to the Holy Ghost 1 Cor. 6.11 But ye are sanctified but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God But that which we have now principally to consider is what that last act is or those last acts are by which God Justifies us And his operation herein is judicial for he Justifies as a Judg and therein proceeds by his own Law of Grace as the rule of judging of men and their cause And Gods judicial Justification of men doth stand I conceive in these two things principally 1. God in justifying of men approves of them for such as have performed the condition on which he in the Covenant of Grace promised pardon of sin and eternal Life That is he approves of them for true believers and such as have given up themselves to obey the Gospel to live according to the doctrine of their Saviour and adjudgeth them to be such 2. Those whom God approveth of as true and sincere observers of the new Law the Gospel or Covenant of Grace those he adjudgeth to be Righteous persons and that Faith of theirs by which they have fulfilled it to be their Righteousness True believers and such as have given up themselves to obey the Gospel they are Justified by the Gospel that is they are Righteous in the sense and meaning of that Law For that practical obediential Faith of theirs is their conformity to this Law of Christ the Gospel and therefore it must needs be their Evangelical Righteousness But there is this difference between being justified by the Gospel as it is the new Law of Grace and by being justified by God The Gospel-Covenant pronounceth all true believers in General to be Righteous persons but doth not determine whether this or that person in particular be a true believer and so a Righteous man or woman But God in justifying men determineth and adjudgeth this and that man in special to be a true believer and therefore a Righteous man in the sence of the Law of Grace It is the work of a Judg to apply the Law as a general rule to the special cases of particular men and to justifie or condemn men in particular in reference to their particular cases by and according to the general rule of the Law And so doth God the Judg of all in the case before us He knows and considers every man in particular whether he be a true believer or not And those whom he finds to be so those he adjudgeth to be Righteous according to the tenor of the Gospel which is his justifying of them Now that God justifieth men this way and after this manner does I conceive plainly and fully appear by those Scriptures which tell us that God doth justifie us by Faith and that he doth impute or account Faith to us for Righteousness One vein of Scriptures acquaints us that God justifieth us by Faith and through Faith Rom. 3.28 30. and 5.1 Gal. 2.16 and 3.8 By another vein of Texts we are told that God imputes accounts and reckons Faith to us for Righteousness Gen. 15.6 Rom. 4.3 5 11 22 24. Gal. 3.6 Jam. 2.23 Now these two veins of Scripture put together the sense that results out of them is I think plainly this That God justifies us by accounting our Faith to us for Righteousness This is so plain as that I know not what can well be plainer In the one vein it 's said that God justifieth us by Faith in the other that he imputes and reckons Faith to us for Righteousness And for God to account Faith to us for Righteousness and to reckon and adjudg us to be Righteous upon the account of our Faith signifies I think the same