the first saving gift of God Christ and the Promises go together There are special marks of distinction whereby persons in Covenant are differenced from the World which agree to none that are out of Christ Heb. 9. 15. they are called ones that receive the Promise Abraham that famous Covenanter was not actually so till the time of his effectual calling from thence the four hundred and thirty years do commence which give the first date to the Covenant or Promise as made with him Gen. 12. Gal. 3. 17. not from the day of his Nativity much less from Eternity although then he was an Elect Vessel by becoming Christs men become Abrahams Seed and Heirs of Promise ver 9. 14 26 29. So the New Covenant runneth to the House of Israel and Judah Heb. 8 13. and none are the spiritual Israel for Life and Salvation till in him Rom. 2. 28 29. Till then they are so far from a Covenant state which is of Life Peace Mercy Salvation Mal. 25. Isa 54. 10. and 55. 3. Luk. 1. 71 72. Rom. 11. 26 27. That they are declared to be in an opposite state they are at enmity dead in trespasses and sins and children of wrath as well as others Ephes 2. 1 2 3 5 8 15 16. Col. 1 21. This may appear further by an enumeration of the principal blessings of the New Covenant it is promised there that he will write his Law in their hearts and be to them a God Heb. 8. 10. but till in Christ they are without God in the World Ephes 2. 12. The greatest difficulty is as to the great priviledge of Pardon or Remission of sin under which the whole of Justification is signified Heb. 8. 10 12. Rom. 11. 27. Some think that we are justified from Eternity others at the death of Christ but actual personal Justification of a sinner before God is at his union with Jesus Christ and the gift of Faith not before For 1. None are actually interested in the righteousness of Jesus Christ before union with him and the gift of Faith it is he that is made unto us righteousness 1 Cor. 1. 30. 2 Cor. 5. 21. if without Christ then without his righteousness Rom. 5. 18. By the righteousness of one upon all unto Justification of Life none therefore ever attain Justification without a righteousness For it consisteth in a Divine declaration of a persons being righteous and if he were not so it were a false Sentence which is incompatible to the true God Neither will a righteousness of his own working out though by the help of Grace serve for this end of Justification but of that one Jesus Christ hence ver 19. By the obedience of one many are made righteous As his suffering and death did make satisfaction for sin so his obedience is a righteousness meriting blessings even Eternal Life ver 21. and it is called the righteousness of Faith Phil. 3. 9. that being a means for our application of that righteousness which is given Rom. 3. 22 25 26. Not that Faith is the meritorious procuring cause of our Justification it hath not the same causality therein that Jesus Christ hath No more is required to the release of our obligation it self than what the Law by which we are obliged doth exact which is satisfaction as to Duty and Penalty the solution thereof was by Jesus Christ alone but more is required partly to make way for this viz. a compact or new Covenant concerning it without which all sufferings by another had been of no advantage to us partly as a means of application viz. Faith Rom. 10. 10. with the heart man believeth unto i. e. as a means unto righteousness and hence Justification is often said to be by Faith Rom. 3. 28. Rom. 5. 1. And the Question then was not how are men manifested and declared in their own Consciences to be justified but how are they justified before God and in his fight and that is not before but by Faith Gal. 3. 11. The scope of the Apostle Rom. 4. is to prove that we are justified by Faith and the righteousness thereof and not by works of the Law without cause of glorying ver 2. from the instances of Abraham and David ver 3. for what saith the Scripture Abraham believed God and it was counted unto him for righteousness and ver 6. David deseribeth the blessedness of the man unto whom God imputeth righteousness without Works And here note Pardon of sin is not the whole of Justification there is also necessary unto that end a righteousness if it were of our own working out then we were justified and saved by our own works which the Scripture generally denyeth this were to confound Justification and Sanctification as if Jesus Christ only satisfied for the sins and defects of a righteousness which we perform so as that is accepted unto Life whereas it is by a righteousness of Faith which is not of our own working out but wrought out for us by Jesus Christ The false Prophets themselves from among the Jews that urged these works of the Law upon the Romans and Galatians insisted much upon the ceremonials which plainly implieth an acknowledgement of sin and argueth that they did not expect Justification without pardon but carnally looked for pardon in the way of their own works and the Apostle in opposition to them excludeth out of Justification not only works wrought by their own natural power but even those which were by sanctifying Grace for the works of Abraham and David who were believers are here excluded Some think the righteousness of Jesus Christ or his active obedience in our stead needless unless as a part of his satisfaction for sin because say they the Law requireth not of us both suffering and obedience I Answer The Law as a Covenant of Works required suffering in satisfaction for sin and as it belongeth to the Covenant of Grace so it requireth perfect obedience to be fulfilled by Jesus Christ as the condition of the Justification and Life of sinners and new obedience which referreth to sanctification is to be performed by Christians as the fruit and effect of their spiritual Life Rather it was needless that Jesus Christ should fulfill righteousness or yield active obedience to the Law as part of a satisfaction for sin when by his passive obedience he underwent death which was the very same and all that the Law threatned against the sinner If man had never violated or broken the Covenant of Works or had never sinned then the Law would have required only righteousness of him for Life the tenour of it being Do and Live When man had sinned then the Law at a Covenant of Works required only suffering and threatned death Gen. 2. 17. but ceased in its promise of Life that immediately became null and void It is true the Law as a natural rule of righteousness required still perfect obedience that was due to God by right of Creation and his sinning could not
before they did believe else the Apostles argument were not cogent for the false Prophets might easily have answered that now in Gospel times we are not justified as Abraham and David were and so they might have waved whatever is urged from these instances seeing all that he saith is built upon this very foundation that we are justified as they were only this can hardly be evaded that David who lived under the Sinai Covenant yet is denied to be justified by works of his own Yea the Apostle excludeth them even from the nature of a Covenant of works which is such a ground as denieth lapsed man in any Age to be saved by his own obedience vers 4. Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace but of debt Therefore unless it could be said that those under the Sinai Law had Eternal Life not of grace but of debt it must be said that they had it not in the way of a Covenant of works 2. Moses and the Children of Israel were antecedently under a Covenant of grace or before the making that at mount Sinai therefore that could not be a Covenant of works In the very Preface he saith Exod. 20. vers 2 5. I am the Lord thy God the Lord did not first become their God by that but was so before as they were the seed of Abraham and under that with him Exod. 2. vers 24. and 3. vers 6 7. I have seen the affliction of my people vers 15 16. And Moses himself entred into the same Sinai Covenant with the people Exod. 34. vers 27. I have made a Covenant with thee and with Israel Not only with Israel but with him also Now it is not imaginable that the Lord would reduce them and Moses himself from Covenant of Grace back to that of Works Surely the Lord would advance them highor rather than bring them lower He is ever one and the same in his Grace and Promises unto souls no such unconstancy and changeableness is found with him 3. The Sinai Testament typically revealed mercy for sinful men and therefore was not a Covenant of Works For that being once violated and broken holdeth forth nothing of mercy to the smner whatever his Repentance be giveth no hope of Salvation but denounedth Judgement Death and utter destruction against him Adam having eaten the forbidden Fruit that saith Gen. 2. 17. Dying thou shalt die Whereas the Sinai Covenant includeth the Ceremonial Law as well as the Moral as is plain Heb. 9. vers 1 2 3 c. The first Testament had Ordinances of Divine Service and a worldly Sanctuary a Tabernacle Priests and Sacrifices offerings for the errors of the people c. Although these services did not of themselves expiate sin and purge the Conscience yet they did point out a way wherein they might have an expiation of and freedom from sin which a Covenant of Works giveth not the least intimation of Yea the Sinai Covenant was ordained by Angels Gal. 3. vers 19. in the hands of Moses a typical Mediator and this argued a variance between God and Israel else no need of any and there is grace in a Covenant that doth admit of any way for the making up of such differences there was abundance of Grace wrapt up in many Types and Ordinances in the Sinai Covenant yea it was confirmed by blood and sprinkling called the blood of the Covenant Exod. 24. vers 3 4 5. Which typified the blood of Jesus Christ and therefore it was no Covenant of Works for that speaketh nothing thereof 4. There had been an utter impossibility for Israel or any other to have attained unto Eternal Life and Salvation if they had been under that at Sinai as a Covenant of Works For they could never have performed the works which were the condition of it and so must have been hopeless of the benefit which was promised thereupon Gal. 3. vers 21. If there had been a Law that could have given life righteousness had been by the Law This clearly concludeth that righteousness did not come by the Law i. e. as performed by us in our own persons and also that the Law could not give Life no Eternal Life to be expected by it and he speaketh of the Sinai Law as is clear vers 17. and therefore that could not be a Covenant of Works to Israel or us for Eternal Life Rom. 8. 3. also proveth the Law could not free from condemnation in that it was weak through the flesh and so no Eternal Life was attainable thereby 5. That way which the Lord had established with Israel for Life and Salvation before the Sinai Covenant was utterly inconsistent with that of Works and therefore that could not be a Covenant of Works Gal. 3. vers 18. For if the inheritance be of the Law it is no more of Promise These two waies cannot stand together if it be by one of them then it is not by the other they carry a contradiction each to other If Israel had the inheritance by the Law i. e. by works performed by themselves then it could not be by the obedience of another of Jesus Christ for them if it were by their own righteousness of the Law then it could not be by the righteousness of Jesus Christ entertained in the Promise by Faith one of these waies doth necessarily subvert overthrow and destroy the other so as the same person at the same time cannot have it both waies Now such an opposite way of a Gospel Promise was established with Israel long before the Sinai Covenant Gal. 3. ver 16 17. They were the seed of Abraham and be concludeth that the Sinai Law coming so long after could not disanul the Abrahamatical Covenant or Promise wherein they had interest which was so long before it and consequently it was no Covenant of Works to Israel for then it must necessarily have disanulled the foregoing Promise as that demonstration vers 18. doth evidence SECT II. Prop. 2. THat the Sinai Law was not a mixt Covenant for Eternal Life to Israel It was not partly a Covenant of Works to them and partly of Grace For 1. It is an undoubted obstacle or hindrance in the way of Salvation to be seeking it in a Covenant of works by personal performances and therefore that at Sinai could not be so much as in part such a one to Israel The reason why Israel obtained not righteousness and so life was because they sought it not by Faith i. e. in another in Jesus Christ but as it were by the Works of the Law Rom. 9. vers 31 32. He doth not say they sought it altogether by their own Works but after a sort as it were and this obstructed and hindred their arriving at it Thus their coming short of Salvation is resolved into the same cause Rom. 10. vers 1 3. They going about to establish their own righteousness have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God A seeking Salvation then by
performance the Apostle telleth them the least sin would lay them under the curse yea they thereby would frustrate and make void to themselves the whole undertaking of Jesus Christ so as they should have no profit or advantage by him Gal. 5. vers 2. 4. The Lord exacted perfect obedience without any abatement in order to Eternals it was a strict Covenant of works there But as to Temporals it was otherwise although these were promised in the Sinai Covenant upon condition of Israels perfect obedience yet when there was coming short of it and so a forfeiting them yet there was provision made for the forgiveness of many sins so as the Lord would not take the forfeiture or deal with them upon such strict terms as in the Covenant of Works for in case they duly offored sacrifices they should not lose their temporal mercies and thus it was an administration with some grace in it unto Israel This appeareth these ways 1. The Laws and Ordinances for the Publick worship of God among the Children of Israel were contained in the Sinai Covenant as part of its Condition and therefore it did belong to the administration of the Covenant of grace there is a description of the Tabernacle which was for the worship of God Exod. 26. and in Levitieus many sacrifices and services are required of the Children of Israel burnt offerings trespass offerings peace offerings c. and the Rules and directions left by the Lord must be exactly pursued by them in their several places at their utmost peril that they die not or be not cut off Exod. 28. vers 35. 30. vers 20 21 33. Levit. 7. vers 21 25 27. 15. vers 31. 16. vers 2 13. 17. vers 4 9. and many others The Lord would never so punctually have laid out the way of his worship if he had not intended that Israel should find acceptation in keeping close to him in those his appointments The free-will offering must be brought to the door of the Tabernacle Lev. 1. vers 3 4. and it shall be accepted for him i. e. for him that bringeth it he shall have acceptance with the Lord to some end and many of those ceremonial services are said to be for a sweet savour unto the Lord Lev. 4. vers 31. 6. vers 15. 23. vers 18. which implyeth their acceptation with God in those acts of worship at least to the affording promised temporals and so speak their appertaining to the administration of the Covenant of grace for sinners cannot be accepted but in that way of grace in any service yea the Lord owned them with eminent tokens of his presence when they duly acted therein Lev. 9. vers 23. The glory of the Lord appeared unto all the people 2. Israels obedience was not to be that righteousness which was the procuring cause of those temporal blessings promised in the Sinai Covenant and therefore that was an administration of grace the procurement even of those was by the righteousness of another by the perfect obedience of Jesus Christ and therefore of grace In the Covenant of Works man might have expected blessings for his own obedience but it is otherwise in the Sinai dispensation Deut 9. vers 4 5 6. Speak not thou in thy heart saying for my righteousness the Lord hath brought me in to possess this Land but for the wickedness of these Nations the Lord doth drive them out from before thee and again vers 5. Not for thy righteousness or the uprightness of thy heart c. and a third time vers 6. The sruition of Canaan was a great mercy promised in the Sinai Covenant and with what vehemency doth the Lord deny that it was afforded for the righteousness of Israel three times over he doth inculcate this and therefore they must needs have it in a way of grace and favour 3. There is an intimation in the Sinai Covenant of a provision made against the sins and transgressions of persons under it and therefore it was an administration of grace for a Covenant of Works revealeth no relief or succour in case of sinning nothing but death and a divine course is there to be expected Gen. 2. 17. But it was otherwise in the Sinai Covenant the Children of Israel came exceedingly short of the obedience required therein yet behold divine indulgence even in the bowels of that very Covenant there is pardoning mercy represented in the ceremonial Law thus in case the Priest the Rulers and the whole Congregation or any of the common people became guilty of sins through ignorance against any of the Commandments of the Lord there was a sin offering provided Levit. 4. throughout and pursuing the directions therein it is said they shall be forgiven vers 20 26 31 35. so in case of sinning wittingly there were trespass offerings Levit. 6. Also there were days of attonement and many washings all which intimated that the Lord would not deal with them in a way of strict justice according to the rigor of a Covenant of Works and therefore that was to Israel a ministration of grace Indeed Israel had stood under an impossibility of reaping any temporal blessings by the Sinai Covenant if they had been held strictly by the Lord to the condition of perfect obedience without any way to be freed from their sin for Israel could never have answered the condition of it and so would have missed and come short of all the good of it and consequently this Covenant for temporal blessings would have been vain and useless which were an impeachment to the wisdom of God the maker of it to assert there must therefore be grace in it 4. Considerations of mercy are made great inducements to the obedience of Israel in the Sinai Covenant and therefore it was an administration of grace to them A Covenant of Works runneth upon perfect obedience as the condition of it urgeth duty in a way of Justice as in that with Adam in innocency the inforcement to obedience was primarily the danger of failing thereof viz. dying thou shalt die Gen. 2. vers 17. Or on the other hand the hope of a reward of debt Adam perfectly obeying the Lord in justice would be obliged to afford what he had promised Whereas in the Sinai Covenant a grand motive and provocation to Israels obedience was mercy in the very preface to the Decalogue Exod. 20. vers 2. I am the Lord thy God that noteth Covenant interest in him a choice mercy to a sinful people which brought thee out of the land of Egypt out of the house of bondage there was mercy in their redemption and this is mentioned to urge their observation of the following Commandments vers 3 4 c. so that covenant mercy and redeeming mercy are grand arguments unto Israels obedience in this Sinai Covenant and therefore there was grace in that ministration Likewise Deut. 27. ver 9 10. Thou are become the people of the Lord thy God here is their
short of all its blessings No I will not turn away from them to do them good but I will put my fear in their hearts that they shall not depart from me If there were any danger of forfeiting and losing these it must be either on Gods part by his leaving of them or on their part by their departing from him and here the Lord hath undertaken to secure against both these and so the matter is out of Question it was not thus in the Old Covenant Indeed what the Lord hath absolutely promised yet he hath appointed means in order to the attaining of it internal as Faith and external as Ordinances and commands utmost attendance upon him ordinarily in the use thereof this is necessary as a duty and sin ariseth upon the neglect of it Thus the Lord is unalterably determined to vouchsafe a frame of obedience Ezek. 36. 25 to 30. Yet obedience is to be performed by us we are to be the Agents and we may sin about the means in the way to the injoyment of such mercy as is laid up in absolute promises Faith is to be exercised in these else what use are they of and we may be faulty in not attending to it 3. If there be any such condition of the New Covenant it were most like to be precious Faith but that is not A condition properly taken is influential into right if performed it giveth right to the benefit promised if not performed there is no right and therefore is a cause it giveth jus ad rem which a man may have and yet be forced after to Sue for possession If it be only in a Mode or accident it is thus as if a great Estate be granted upon paying a white Lilly if a person bringeth a yellow Lilly and not a white he hath no right all is null and void upon such a tickle point are they who stand upon such conditions for Eternal mercies Now Faith giveth no right Joh. 1. 12. To as many as received him gave he power to become the Sons of God even to them that believe on his Name Jesus Christ is offered in the free Promise of the Gospel Faith that consenteth or receiveth him and a right and title in him to the blessings of the Covenant it doth not give one The Father offereth righteousness in a way of gift Rom. 5. 17. Faith accepteth the offer receiveth Jesus Christ for righteousness and so conduceth to Justification Rom. 4. 3. Abraham believed God and it was counted to him for righteousness i. e. it was reckoned a means unto righteousness so ver 5. Not that Faith it self was reckoned the least of that righteousness whereby we are justified but a means for the applying of Jesus Christ who is our righteousness The Covenant as to that priviledge of it Justification is not so absolute as to be without all means yet may be absolute without any condition properly so called As condemnation without any new act of receiving is the resultancy from the Law upon disobedience to all under the Covenant of Works so Justification is the resultancy of a Divine Promise upon the obedience of Jesus Christ to all those that are under the New Covenant That unbelievers are not justified by it is because they are not actually under it Not because they have not fulfilled the condition of it but because they are not interested in the obediential righteousness of Jesus Christ which is the condition of it Rom. 10. 10. The act of God in justifying is to be answered by the act of Faith consenting to the offer of the Gospel As the death and satisfaction of Jesus Christ is enough to answer if the accusation be that we are sinners and deserve Eternal wrath so if the accusation be that we have no interest or portion in this satisfaction any thing that can evidence our interest in Christ is a sufficient plea to answer that be it Faith or other Graces they may be pleaded as evidences but not as titles as fruits and effects of a right given but not as causes and conditions fulfilled by us giving us that right It is a great mistake to think that there is no plea in this case but from the performance of a condition For an evidence may be from the effects as well as from causes even in civils a meer witness may carry it in such a charge when he can testifie I saw the person put into peaceable possession of such an Estate Besides if this charge he drawn up against those out of Christ many things may make it good if against those that are in Christ then who draweth this up Not God for he it is that justifieth and therefore he will not condemn Rom. 8. 33 34. if Satan or their own hearts then as gracious effects are enough to answer so by direct acts of Faith there ought to be a stedfast resisting and withstanding of Satan and he will flee from them 1 Pet. 5. 9. Jam. 4. 7. No necessity of pleading the performance of a condition to help against this 4. Our obedience though evangelical is no such condition of the New Covenant as there was of the Old unto Israel For the Lord hath undertaken that his people shall obey Ezek. 36. 25 to 30. I will put my spirit within you and cause you to walk in my ways Heb. 8. 10. obedience is as absolutely promised as any other blessings in the New and therefore it cannot be the condition thereof The Apostle having asserted and largely proved Rom. 3. that justification is by faith not by the works of the Law he further cleareth it from the instances of Abraham and David Rom. 4. 3. Abraham believed c. and vers 4. Now to him that worketh the reward is not reckoned of grace but of debt This strongly implieth that the reward must be reckoned of grace but of debt This strongly implieth that the reward must be reckoned of grace and not of debt the emphasis is upon this so as if it were otherwise the whole force of his argument were taken away and the stress is not upon the word reckoned yet if it were the same word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 being applied to both must signifie a true judgement and just estimation as Rom. 8. 18. 9. 8. 1 Cor. 4. 1. for really and in true account the reward is of grace and it is as firmly asserted that if it were of works it were in the same account of debt Say some only meritorious works would make it so but let it be considered that works can be meritorious only one of these two ways either 1. By being of such value and worth as that in justice such a recompence is deserved by them yea though there were no contract that way and dare any say that any works of men even in innocency could thus merit at the hands of God is not all obedience due to God so as when we have done all we are unprofitable servants Luk. 17. 10.
life for none can duly keep them before believing and then they have it but that their right to it may be evidenced by such good effects For these were already in a state of grace and were before interested in Jesus Christ unto eternal life on which account they are opposed to those that are without vers 15. without are dogs c. The use of the tree of life was the confirming in life Gen. 3. 22 23. So this keeping his Commandments of which believing is chief is the way to a confirmation in a living state or to give a further testimony of their right to life So Jam. 2. 24. By works a man is justified and not by faith only Not that love or evangelical works come in the least into justification it self as a cause or condition thereof the Epistles to the Romans and Galatians are full against this but are the fruits and effects of it They as evidences testifie to a mans self or to others that he is justified as vers 18. I will shew thee my faith by my works We are then not properly but only declaratively justified by works they as precious effects do argue a lively saith which is a means unto imputed righteousness and justification not a syllable that it is a condition thereof So 1 John 1. 9. If we confess our sins he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness Not that our confession is properly a condition ingaging the faithfulness and justice of God to forgive I proved before that is not suspended till our confessing but a way and means to our gaining a sense a fresh application an evidence and manifestation of our interest in forgiving grace And as evidences so they may promote comfort only we are to take heed that we do not ground and bottom our consolation on the qualifications within but on the promise it self or the Lord therein without Many are drawing and fetching their comfort from their faith and other graces and lay the stress of it there and accordingly are up and down ebbing and flowing therein in stead of fetching it from the Lord in the promise an immutable thing Heb. 6. 18. by the means of faith and taking that and other graces only as evidences of interest in it Some because they are weary and heavy laden thence take their rest and refreshment whereas they are called out of themselves to come for it to Jesus Christ Matth. 11. 28. When qualifications lie most dark or are most clearly discerned yet we should not look so much to these as to Jesus Christ in the promise for Consolation Thus I have endeavoured to open the nature of the Old and New Covenant As to the Mediatorial Office of Jesus Christ it is largely handled by others and so shall not be insisted upon by me at present Only I would say thus much when Jesus Christ was upon Earth he performed the Office of a Mediator as to satisfaction and now he is in Heaven he doth it still as to intercession Heb. 7. 25. He presenteth his obedience continually to the Father for our obtainment of what he hath purchased Would we have any soederal blessings thè Law written in our heart in more lively characters the Lord witnessed more fully to be our God or sin to be pardoned let our faith be acting upon him as one that mediateth for our obtainment of all for he is the Mediator not of the Old but of the New and Better Testament which is established upon better Promises FINIS Books Printed and are to be sold by Elizabeth Calvert at the Black-spread Eagle at the West end of St. Pauls Folio THe Scripture Directory for Church Offices and People Or a Practical Commentary upon the whole Third Chapter of the first Epistle of St. Paul to the Corinthians To which is annexed The Godly and the Natural Mans Choyce upon Psal 4. vers 6 7 8. By Anthony Burgesse Pastor of the Church of Sutton Coldfield in Warwick-shire IEPON 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Temple of Solomon Pourtrayed by Scripture Light wherein all its famous Buildings the Pompous Worship of the Jews with its Attending Rites and Ceremonies the several Officers imployed in that Work with their Ample Revenues And the Spiritual Mysteries of the Gospel vailed under all are treated of at large by Samuel Lec The History of Diodorus Siculus containing all that which is most memorable and of greatest Antiquity in the first Ages of the World until the War of Troy Renodaeus his Dispensatory containing the whole body of Physick discovering the Natures and Properties and Vertues of Vegetals Minerals and Animals Burgess on the Corinthians Wrighton the Pentateuch Quarto Christopher Goad his Sermons Entituled Refreshing Drops and Scorching Vials Samuel Gorton his Exposition on the fifth Chapter of James Samuel Hartlib of Bees and Silkworms Large Octavo Owen of In-dwelling Sin Steels Anditote His Husbandmans Calling Gales Idea of Jansenism Conversion Exemplified Heaven Realiz'd FINIS
thus reasoneth That cannot be a justifying righteousness in our present fallen estate 1. Which is not perfect for the least sin is enough to condemn Rom. 3. 20. Gal. 3. 10. Nor 2. which is our own of our own working out Rom. 10. 3 5. Nor 3. Which leaves any place for boasting Ephes 2. 9. Rom. 4. 2. Nor 4. which is opposite unto grace Rom. 4. 4. And upon these accounts all Evangelical Works are excluded out of Justification for they are imperfect they are our own subjectively they would leave room for some boasting if acceptance to life were upon these seeing it should be by our giving unto God also the way were opposite to grace for if the condition were never so small yet being performed the reward might be claimed upon our act and so would be of debt not of Gospel-grace Rom. 4. 4. The works of Abraham and David after conversion are excluded out of justification vers 2 3 6. which argueth that although Evangelical obedience kept in its due place doth not derogate from the grace of God yet it doth and is opposite to it if introduced into justification So that Gospel-grace doth not consist in a bare abatement of the rigor of the Law nor in making a bargain with us for the sake of Christ to accept of our faith repentance and sincere obedience instead of that which is perfect but it standeth in excusing us from a personal performance of that righteousness which is the condition of life and admitting Jesus Christ to answer the Law in our stead For the grand difference between the Law and the Gospel is the one justifieth by our own the other by anothers righteousness If man himself be the Doer for life that is the righteousness of the Law which saith Rom. 10. 5. the man that doth them shall live in them In opposition to it that of the Gospel is called the righteousness of faith vers 6. and of God vers 3. because it is to be sought out of our selves in another in the free promise and that which we are the subjects of is to be disclaimed here Phil. 3. 9. Rom. 10. 3. The asserting it to be by any of our personal performances giveth them the very place of works in the Covenant of Works which is anti-evangelical and introduceth some merits as well as perfect works would have done The being enabled by grace to them doth not hinder meriting any more than as one saith my furnishing a man with my tools to work with hinders his deserving a reward All ability that Adam had in innocency was from the favour of God and what he was to do was duty Faith it self is not the least of that righteousness it is an act of obedience but as such it is not said to justifie nor as it worketh by love although it doth so work Gal. 5. 6. Nor as a condition of life as I have elsewhere manifested but only as a means for the applying Christ and his righteousness much less can any works of ours be a part thereof The new creature availeth to being crucified to the world Gal. 6. 14 15. i. e. as a means but it is not said that it availeth to justification To justifie is to declare a person to be righteous the true God cannot pass a false sentence therefore we cannot have justification without having a righteousness this cannot consist in any act of ours as faith repentance or obedience as is already manifested therefore it must be of anothers working out the very righteousness of Jesus Christ Rom. 5. 18 19. 1 Cor. 1. 30. And if his obedience being to the Law may be called a legal righteousness yet as the same is applied by faith it is to us an evangelical righteousness All the question then is whether evangelical works are not of the same use in justification that faith is of have they not the same place and office there that faith hath I answer negatively they have not for often we read of the righteousness of faith never of the righteousness of love in that business We are said to be justified by faith not in the same sense to be justified by love or works It 's true there is a necessity of Evangelical works to testifie our faith obedience and thankfulness to God but they are required not as conditions but as effects and declarations of our justification Things are said to be done when they are manifested as Rom. 3. 7. 4. 15. A tree is known by the fruits And thus not only open acts but those that are secret when regular have an aptitude to evidence faith and that a person is justified even when they are not actually seen Paul speaketh of being justified before God by receiving or applying the righteousness of Jesus Christ in the free promise this is only by faith James speaketh of being justified by manifesting to a mans self or others that it is applied this is by Evangelical works and not by faith only Thus by offering up Isaac the person of Abraham was declaratively justified as it did shew his faith to be true vers 18. Gen. 22. 12. and not his working but his believing is said to be imputed to righteousness Jam. 2. 23. if this be justification in the sense of Paul yet it is by faith and he was called the friend of God there is justification declared by works as God acted kindly towards him so he acted in a friendly way towards God He is a vain man that contenteth himself with a faith that standeth in a bare assent to some propositions of truth without the power of them upon his heart vers 14 19 20. That is a dead faith which doth not profit is not attended with salvation which remaineth without works vers 17 20 26. therefore it is not the same true faith which any are justified by but another thing That unfruitful faith which is blamed here certainly was as far from justifying them as it was from saving them and so is not the faith which Paul insisteth upon for by that men were justified and that in order before works for they cannot be performed in an instant though they certainly follow but the justification and faith which they are put upon and called to declare by works these are of a Gospel stamp The Lord Jesus having fully performed the Law as the condition of the New-Testament hence it becometh absolute to us If improperly a duty a way or means to the enjoyment of some blessings of it be called a Condition I contend not But a Condition properly is more than a causa sine qua non it is a cause that hath a moral efficiency in it for the fulfilling of it is that which giveth right and upon which a man hath a title to what is promised and without it none and so it is a moral efficient cause of the enjoyment of the good promised in a Covenant Faith and repentance are great duties but nothing performed by us can be such
a cause or condition in the New Covenant There is Absoluteness 1. In the form of the New Covenant 2. In the actual admission into it 3. In the freedom of those under it from the curse of the Old and in their participation of the blessings of the New 1. Wherever the form of the New Testament is given forth it is in an Absolute way I will and ye shall Heb. 10. 16 17. Heb. 8. 8. to the end He insisteth upon it that now Jerem. 31. 31 32. was made good and this purposely to draw off the Hebrews from the Old Covenant which they did too much take up in and to put them upon looking unto the New Other Scriptures may discover what is our duty before and after being actually interested in the blessings of it but the nature of the Covenant is most fully expressed here in these Texts which speak of the great matters or promises contained in it of the Mediator and subjects of it The tenure thereof must be fetched from these places where the Covenant is purposely insisted upon rather than from others where only one promise is named and it not so much as mentioned And here it is not called a purpose or prophecie but a Covenant or rather Testament and is so absolutely held forth as God undertaketh all He promiseth as well that they shall be his people as that he will be their God He promiseth not only that he will remember their sins and iniquities no more but also that he will write hiâ— Laws in their hearts i. e. give a frame of faith and new obedience these are as absolutely promised here as any other matters and therefore believing and obeying cannot properly becauses or conditions but are fruits and effects of the Covenant by its being accomplished upon them Their duty iâ— necessarily implied yet as it standeth here in the Covenant the design of iâ— plainly is to express the work of God what he will do for them how he with furnish and capacitate them to discharge it towards him 2. The actual admission of all that Jesus Christ stood for into the New Covenant or the bringing them under it is absolutely determined he had an absolute assurance that his undertaking should take effect on all those that he designed therein Isai 53. 10 11. He shall see his seed all that he travelled for and therefore they must be effectually brought into Covenant with him There was no condition that his obedience had dependence upon or upon which it was to be accepted for such souls otherwise not He did not suffer at any such uncertainty but for those which were assuredly to become the heirs of promise Yea the making Covenant with us is challenged by the Lord as his work Isai 53. 3. 61. 8. I will make or cut an everlasting Covenant with you so Jer. 31. 31 32. Jer. 22. 40. Ezek. 16. 8. Heb. 8. 10. God hath undertaken to bring under the promise and make an application of it Attendance upon means is duty but it is not said that men do make the Covenant with God or bring themselves into it by an act of theirs but God maketh it with them they do but take hold of Gods Covenant Isai 56. 4 6. The will of God is not determined by any act of man When God will work who shall lett him what he undertaketh shall be absolutely accomplished hence as those under the Old Covenant who were to be redeemed are represented under the name of Israel so also are those under the New to whom all is to be applied the same are the subjects of both 3. Those that are actually in Covenant have an absolute freedom from the curse of the Old and a like Promise of the blessings of the New Jesus Christ hath not only suspended but redeemed us from the curse of the Law being made a curse for us Gal. 3. 13. Hence we are said not to be under the Law and to be dead to it Rom. 6. 14. 7. 4. Gal. 2. 19. Christians then have not only a conditional freedom from the curse of the Law in this life but such as is absolute and if they should believe themselves to be under it they should believe a lie Rom. 8. 1. Yet Divine threatnings are of great use not only to the unregenerate but even to believers to strike them into a filial fear so as to deter them from sin which hath such punishment annexed to it and this when they see themselves secured from it even as an ingenuous Child will be afraid upon hearing his father threaten another for a fault and will beware of committing it The non-elect are formally under the curse of the Law and vindictive Justice The Elect before conversion are not only materially under it but the Laws sentence of condemnation is against them Believers are so freed from it as their sicknesses death c. are but materially the same mentioned in the curse and turned into blessings to them Also all the Promises of the New Covenant are absolute to all that are under it Heb. 8. 6 c. No act of ours induceth an obligation upon God to vouchsafe salvation to us That great blessing of the Covenant Justification is by faith not said to be by it as a condition and the same may be said of other blessings thereof yet I deny not but figuratively that may be ascribed to faith which belongeth to Jesus Christ alone The absoluteness of the Covenant is not attended with any such consequence as that then man is at liberty but God is not for such as are yet out of Covenant or want a personal interest in the blessings of it even all men are under a Divine Law and an obligation to obedience else they could not be charged with sin as they are Rom. 3. 23. 5. 12. where there is no Law there is no transgression seeing sin is the transgression of the Law 1 Joh. 3. 4. So then the obligation unto duty doth not arise meerly from entring or coming into Covenant and that is so far from taking off the tie that it superaddeth strength to it but no man is at liberty whether he be in or out of Covenant As to the way of the Lords entring into Covenant with men it is thus He by his Spirit in the Gospel revealeth and giveth Jesus Christ for he is the first saving gift and all the Promises are vouchsafed in and with him Coloss 2. 6. 1 Joh. 5. 12. Rom. 8. 32. Eph. 3. 6. 2 Cor. 1. 30. 2 Pet. 1. 4. The same New Covenant or Testament hath various effects As the Spirit worketh effectually by the Promise of it upon the souls of men so it is a Covenant of life and grace to them it is by the New-Testament that the Lord saith to any souls live and that first grace is wrought in them Ezek. 16. 8. 36. 26. Heb. 8. 10. 2 Cor. 3. 6. As the Lord by giving and promulging the Promises obligeth or putteth