Righteous without all mixture of that which deserves not the name of holiness and goodness nor they without unrighteousness antecedent to this and before they had repented and therefore is not such a compleat Righteousness as would hold measure according to the standard of the Law of innocency if we were to be tried by that to be Justified or Condemned by that In this regard the best of us have cause with the Psalmist to cry out and say If thou Lord shouldst work iniquity O Lord who shall stand Psal 130.3 It is indeed a growing Righteousness that is by degrees growing up towards a perfect state such in whom it is are perfecting holiness in the fear of God But before it is grown to this perfect state it is in the account of grace and by way of favour and for Christs sake accepted and approved by God for such Righteousness as unto which he hath promised the pardon of all past offences and of all such after infirmities as are consistent with this Covenant-Righteousness in its lower degree and also eternal Life it self So that in a word this thing we call everlasting Righteousness by which we are Justified owes it self its very being such a Righteousness as it is unto the Covenant of Grace or that Grace of God and of our Lord Jesus Christ which is put into a Covenant for us 3. The Covenant operates to our Justification as being the rule by which those are justified in judgment to be Righteous persons such as to whom the promise of pardon and eternal life is made that are justified at all Righteousness as I have formerly shewed receives its denomination as it doth its nature from its conformity to some Law And this Covenant-Righteousness the Righteousness of Faith receives its denomination from its Conformity to the Covenant of Grace as being that qualification in the person on condition of which the promises of the Covenant are made and therefore every man that is Justified is Justified by this Law to be such a person as to whom the promises are made It is by this Law that such a person is Justified in his cause if a man be not a Just and Righteous person in the sense of this Law he will not be Justified by God for he judgeth of men and their cause by this Law Jam. 2.12 So speak ye and so do as they that shall be judged by the Law of liberty that is the Gospel or Covenant of Grace And our Saviour saith The word that I have spoken the same shall judg you in the last day John 12.48 4. The Covenant operates to our Justification as an instrument of making us to become Righteous and so capable subjects of Justification And this it doth by way of motive or persuasion The great and precious promises made to men in this Covenant of pardon of sin and eternal Life on condition of the Righteousness of Faith Sobriety Righteousness and Godliness and not otherwise they out of a desire and love to the benefits promised are persuaded to imbrace the condition without which they cannot enjoy them that is to become Righteous The Gospel ministration is called the ministration of Righteousness 2 Cor. 3.9 And it is so both as it ministers to us the knowledg that there is another Righteousness than that which is of the Law and also as it ministers to us powerful motives and assistances to follow after Righteousness by which they become Righteous and so to be Justified St. Paul saith The Gospel is the power of God to Salvation in as much as therein the Righteousness of God is revealed from Faith to Faith Rom. 1.16 17. the terms on which God will account them Righteous and the motives to make them so these are revealed by the Gospel by which it becomes the power of God to Salvation to those that believe it The Gospel is a ministration of Righteousness and of Justification as it is the ministration of Reconciliation of reconciling us to God of reconciling our nature to the holy nature of God and to his holy Laws by making us partakers of a Divine Nature a God-like Nature in Holiness and Goodness which is done by the great and precious promises of the Gospel of pardon and eternal Life as powerful motives persuading men to become new creatures in order to the obtaining these great benefits promised and attainable only upon condition of such our reconciliation to God which puts us into a perfect capacity of Justification that is of being approved of as those who have performed the condition of the foresaid promised benefits Thus the Gospel is called the word of reconciliation which was committed to the Apostles and others and their Ministry the ministry of reconciliation 2 Cor. 5.18.19 And by a practical knowledg and belief of these things revealed by the Gospel men come to be justified that is approved of as those that have known believed and obeyed the Gospel By his knowledg saith God concerning Christ shall my righteous servant justifie many Isa 53.11 That is by the knowledg of him in what he is hath done and suffered revealed and taught What the Law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh as to free us from the Law of sin and to bring us to that Righteousness which it did design but could not effect that is now done by the Law of the spirit of Life which is in Christ Jesus to wit the Gospel The Law without the Gospel could not give us that assurance of Gods willingness to be reconciled to us and of pardon upon repentance which the Gospel does much less of a glorious reward of new obedience For the promise of pardon for Christs sake upon our repentance the promise of the Resurrection of the Body and of the Celestial Glory are brought to light by the Gospel being matters of supernatural Revelation Now it is the great assurance which the Gospel gives us of these things upon the account of Christs death that is the powerful motive of prevailing with men to be reconciled to God and to become Evangelically Righteous that they may be Justified And therefore the preaching of the Cross is said to be to them that are saved the power of God and for wisdom of God 1 Cor. 1.18 24. That is it contains and lays open Gods most wise contrivance of reconciling sinners to himself and by that means becomes his powerful motive of drawing men to it that so they may be Justified Pardoned and Glorified The Law made nothing perfect it is the bringing in of this better hope by the Gospel that doth it Heb. 7.19 The Law which laid a burden of strict obedience upon men backt with severe threatnings in case of transgression prevailed little upon men but to keep them under a spirit of bondage to fear while they were unacquainted with the rich grace and indulgence of the Gospel by which the Yoke of Christ is rendered easie and his burden light The Gospel prevails much
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
appear lovely and beautiful as effects of a most wise contrivance for excellent ends Even so the Doctrine of Justification while handled and beheld only in this or that particular part of it remains comparatively obscure But when all which goes to the making up of the whole is put together in order and when it is discovered how one thing depends upon and answers another in it it will not be difficult at all to understand it And when the whole of Gods design in that way and method by which our Justification is brought about is laid open those things in it which have been apprehended by some not well to consist together but to bear hard upon one another will appear quite otherwise For then the grace of God the Righteousness of Christ and the personal Righteousness of him that is justified will appear not in opposition but in a lovely conjunction all operating in several respects to the same end The sense of these things hath I confess inclined me to offer at something of this nature in the ensuing discourse by way of essay Wherein I have endeavoured with what plainness I could to state and explain the nature and causes of our Justification and to shew how the Righteousness of Christ the Covenant of Grace Faith and God himself do both severally and joyntly operate to our Justification and how the grace of God is eminent in all And likewise to shew how that all that goes to our Justification is by the Grace of God founded on the Righteousness of Christ and immediately or remotely receives the vertue and efficacy of its operation from it in conjunction with Gods gracious ordination And particularly that out of this Righteousness of Christ and the Grace of God thereby doth arise the Covenant of Grace and from that Covenant the constitution of Faith for Righteousness and from that constitution Gods approving such for righteous which have that Faith and his adjudging them to be so For which cause our Blessed Saviour may well be said as he is to be made to us of God Righteousness These things will more fully appear in the discourse it self now before you to which I refer you for your more full satisfaction Hoping that the usefulness of what is thereby designed and endeavoured will so far appear as to stir up and engage some others to undertake the same work who may much better go through with it and compleat it than I have been able to do The Christians JUSTIFICATION STATED CHAP. I. Of the signification and use of the word Justification with a description of Justification it self THE design of the following discourse is to state the great Doctrin of Justification and so to represent it from the Holy Scriptures as that it may be adapted and fitted to the capacity of the meanest Christian that is inquisitive into a matter of that grand importance as his Justification before God is And as a guide herein I shall first enquire into the Notation and signification of the word Justification For the use of words being to convey to the mind the Idea and notion of things and the nature of them it is but reasonable to govern our selves in our notion of the nature of Justification by the signification of such words and phrases by which it is in Scripture exprest After this is done I shall enquire into the severals which operate to the producing this great effect Justification and how they do it By all which I hope any Christian of a very ordinary capacity shall be able to discern the true nature of justification what it is and in what it doth consist The word Justification in Scripture signifies either to make just or to approve as just or vindicate and adjudge as just or righteous The word is but sparingly used in Scripture as signifying to make just but another word more commonly which is Sanctification But to be made just is essentially or absolutely necessary to justification as we shall see afterward For God will not approve of or adjudge any man as just who is not so But about the more ordinary and common signification of the word I find that learned men are much of one mind and do conclude that the word generally in Scripture is used in a forensick or law sense and does imply a legal procedure in a Cause or with a person by a Judge and according to some law So the learned Dr. Hammond in his Annotations on Rom. 3.4 And so learned Mr. Tho. Gataker to name no more in the Assemblies Annotations on Isa 5.23 which I shall give you in his own words To justifie saith he is not to pardon as some would expound it in the doctrine of the Gospel for the word is never found so used either in the Hebrew or Greekwriters Sacred or prophane nor in our common speech Nor as it is a law-term doth it ever signifie to make just But to justifie in a legal way doth always signifie to defend or to deem as just and guiltless free from the offence wherewith the party called in question is charged To defend as just and so it is the office of an Advocate to deem as just and consequently assoil from guilt and so it is the part of a Judge As also in private carriages men are said to justifie others when they plead for them and avow their integrity and honesty against those that question it According to this usual sense and notion of the word when applied to God as Judge in justifying of men it signifies his approbation of such as are just in their Cause that is before him to be so his adjudging them to be righteous in the sense of that Lawby which they are tried Thus for instance we have it in King 8.31 32. If any man trespass against his neighbour and an oath be laid upon him to cause him to swear and the oath come before the altar in this house then hear thou in heaven and do and judge thy servants concerning the wicked to bring his way upon his head and justifying the righteous to give him according to his righteousness Where to justifie the righteous does not signifie to make them righteous but to appear for them in Judgment as those that are so and to determine for them accordingly To justifie the wicked in Scripture-phrase does not signifie to make them just but to approve of them and appear for them as if they were just Prov. 17.15 Exod. 23.7 Isa 5.23 And thus again to give some instances in the New Testament S. Paul saith I know nothing by my self yet am I not hereby justified but he that judgeth me is the Lord 1 Cor. 4.4 Where to be justified and to have God to judge for him signifies the same So likewise Rom. 2.13 Not the hearers of the law are just before God but the doers of the law shall be justified The meaning whereof is that not the hearers but the doers of the law shall be approved of by
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
by the Law then Christ is dead in vain Gal. 2.21 Thus he by his Faith and Doctrine according to it in believing and teaching Justification by the death of Jesus Christ did not frustrate but exalt the grace of God Faith then in the very nature of it does own the promise of all benefits to be of Grace when made to such as by sin had forfeited all The other reason why it must needs be of Grace that the Promise is made upon condition of Faith is this because our believing that another to wit Christ hath by his own suffering and intercession for us obtained pardon and life upon condition of our being reconciled to God cannot without believing a contradiction be thought to merit these benefits but that the Promise and the benefits promised and their being promised on such a condition as an obediential Faith is must needs be all of Grace and cuts off all occasion of boasting For Christ is made to us of God Wisdom Righteousness Sanctification and Redemption to the end that he that glorieth may glory in the Lord 1 Cor. 1.30 31. And it is by grace that we are saved through faith and not of works lest any man should boast Ephes 2.8 9. Where is boasting then It is excluded by what Law Of works Nay but by the Law of faith Rom. 3.27 Again the Promise is therefore of Faith that it might be by Grace to the end that the promise might be sure to all the seed as well of the Uncircumcision as of the Circumcision The Promise of Pardon and Life to the Gentiles the greatest sinners upon condition of repentance is secured and made sure to them by their believing because the Promise so believed is founded in the death of Jesus Christ in whom all the promises are Yea and Amen For no man can with the least appearance of reason imagine that the great God would ever expose one so great and so greatly beloved by him as his holy Son is to such sufferings as he underwent to procure Pardon and Life for repentant sinners were he not fully and perfectly resolved to Pardon and save them upon their repentance notwithstanding all their sins they were guilty of before how hainous soever they may have been Upon which account our Saviour thus given by the Father to such an end is said to be surety of the new Covenant Heb. 7.22 that is he is the great security which the great God hath given to the world of performing whatever he hath promised us upon his Sons account in that Covenant God that spared not his own Son but delivered him up for us all how shall he not with him freely give us all things Rom. 8.31 And now who sees not but that this is an act of exceeding rich Grace in God not only to resolve to bestow upon the children of men such great things as he hath promised but also to give them such a security for it as he hath done by giving his Son to prepare the way for it Now the sense and comfort of all this Grace and so our ascribing the glory of it unto God and our Lord Jesus Christ depends upon our believing these things And therefore God hath entailed the Promise of benefits upon that Faith as a condition without which we can have no sense of all that grace of God exprest in the Promise And therefore well might the Apostle say It is therefore of Faith that it might be by Grace Besides the Promise appears to be of grace in reference to the condition on which it is made whether we consider the vast disproportion between the things promised and the condition on which they are promised or the easiness of the condition it self Considering what by sin we have deserved it would have been matter of Grace in God and great Grace too if he had promised us no more but a deliverance from the wrath to come and that upon any possible condition though otherwise never so rigorous or hard to have been performed as suppose it had been the greatest severity the nature of man could undergo to be exercised by us on our own bodies If this had been the case yet herein there would have been as much grace and favour shewed us as such temporary severities would come short of eternal torments in Hell And if this would have been matter of grace as most certain it would how much more doth it appear to be so when God hath promised not only exemption from the vengeance of eternal fire but also to exalt our nature and to prefer us to an immortal happiness and glory far greater probably than the happiness of an earthly Paradise would have been in case we had never sinned at all and yet all this too upon so easie a condition as Faith is For easie it is in the attaining to it if we consider what provision God hath made and what assistances he is ready to afford to enable us to believe And it 's easie in its exercise and work if we consider what we are to do by vertue of it which besides affiance in God and our Saviour is but to abstain from that we had better be without than have though we should not be concerned in a future state in another world and to do no more but what tends to the perfecting of our nature and the comfort of our lives besides the future glory except in the case of persecution for Righteousness sake In such respects as these I have mentioned it plainly appears that Gods making of Faith to be the condition upon which his great benefits are promised us tends greatly to manifest the grace of God and our Lord Jesus Christ and to fill us with a sense of it for which cause we see he hath chosen it to that office of being the condition of pardon of sin and eternal Life through Jesus Christ our Lord. And one reason why God would have his own grace so manifest in all these his proceedings and dealings with us and why he would have us possessed with so great a sense of it is I conceive because he knows this is the direct way of reconciling us to himself of making us to have good and honourable thoughts of him such as incline and dispose us to be reconciled to him And this brings me to another reason why Faith is made the condition of the great and precious promises aforesaid which is this 2. Such a Faith as I have described does best accommodate Gods design of Grace towards us in reconciling us to himself by Jesus Christ in order to our happiness which may be another reason why Faith is made the condition of the promised benefits There is a certain aptitude in Faith to reconcile us to God and to produce that in us which is the matter of our Justification as well as of our reconciliation to God And the reason hereof is because the motives by which men come to be persuaded to be reconciled to God
receive their strength from Faith in one respect as they do from the goodness of the nature of God and his veracity in another I have intimated before that it is from an apprehension which men have of Gods willingness to be reconciled to them that inclines them to be reconciled to him While men look upon God as a resolved irreconcileable enemy to them well they may dread him as the Devils do but cannot love him nor be reconciled to him no more perhaps than the Devils can All the good thoughts of God as of one that delights not in our destruction but concerns himself for our salvation and which any way incline us to be reconciled to him take their rise from those declarations which God hath made to us of his willingness and desire to be reconciled to us upon supposition of our willingness to be reconciled to him Hence it is that we are said to love God because he first loved us 1 John 4.19 and to be reconciled to God by the death of his Son because God thereby commended his love to us while we were yet sinners and gave us an ample and full proof of his willingness to be reconciled to us as making way thereby for it Rom. 5.8 9 10. And thus God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself by assuring us of a readiness in him to be reconciled to us and not to impute to us our trespasses supposing still that we refuse not to be reconciled to him 2 Cor. 5.19 By this declared willingness in God to be reconciled to us and by his declared resolution not only to pardon us but also to exalt us in immortal glory provided we refuse not to be reconciled to him but to punish us as obstinate rebels and irreconcileable enemies if we do I say it is by these motives that men are persuaded and prevailed withal to be reconciled to God or to his nature as when they become pleased with the same things which please him and displeased with what is displeasing to him and to his Law and Government as when they consent to the wisdom and goodness thereof and accordingly submit to it as best But then it is by means of Faith that these motives do affect us and operate to our reconciliation to God There is no other way to affect the soul with all the great things which God and Christ have done for us and conditionally promised to us but by means of this Faith For we do not know that Christ is the Son of God or for what end he died nor that God will both pardon and give eternal Life to sinners upon condition of their being reconciled to him but by Divine Revelation which Divine Revelation doth not affect us or operate upon us further than it is believed These motives not being sensible objects have no being in the soul and so no operation till Faith give them a being there by giving credit to that doctrine by which they are Revealed For Faith is the substance or confidence of things hoped for and the evidence or conviction of things not seen Heb. 11.1 We know and believe the love that God hath to us 1 John 4.16 Faith it is the great instrument of reconciling us to God both as it acts upon its object and as it acts upon its subject Divine Revelation is its object and by crediting that the foresaid motives are received into the soul as real things And then Faith acts upon its subject the soul it self in which Faith dwells by fixing the foresaid motives in the mind and working them into the will by which the work of reconciliation and conversion unto God is wrought and brought about In this way or in this respect love to God obedience to his Precepts and all divine virtues and holiness of Life flow from Faith And therefore it 's no marvel that Faith is mentioned in Scripture as the summary condition on which the Promises of the Gospel are made Hence we may see the reason why sanctification is attributed to Faith as it is Acts 26.18 and more particularly the purity of the heart love to God and men and victory over the world Acts 15.9 Gal. 5.6 1 John 5.4 Yea the whole of Evangelical Righteousness of Godly sincerity both in heart and life so often stiled the Righteousness of God is said to be by Faith as the next and immediate productive cause of it under the operation of the Spirit of God Phil. 3.9 Rom. 3.22 This Faith therefore having such an aptitude in it as I have shewed to reconcile us unto God by renewing our nature and conforming us to him without which Faith we could not by the great and precious promises themselves be made partakers of a divine nature we may see reason enough why it is made the condition of the promises of the Gospel 3. By affiance in God and in our Lord Jesus Christ which is one special act of Faith we give and ascribe unto God as much as in us lies the glory of his attributes and the perfections of his nature his truth and faithfulness power wisdom and goodness which may be another reason why this honour is by God put upon Faith so as to be accounted to us for Righteousness and to be made the condition of Gods making good to us the great promises of the Gospel forgiveness of sin and eternal Life By this affiance we venture our selves soul and body and our whole concern for all eternity upon the truth of Gods word and promise upon his faithfulness and power to perform it and upon the all-sufficiency of Christ Jesus to be our Saviour and Redeemer when we commit our selves and the conduct of our lives wholly to his Rule and Government out of a confident expectation of having Gods promise made good to us and of the sufficiency and prevalency of our Saviours performance for us This trust and confidence God is pleased to take as such a piece of honour done to him as that the Scripture calls our receiving Gods testimony a setting to our seal that God is true John 3.33 a justifying of God against the jealousies and suspitions of men and the reproach which their unbelief casts upon God Luke 7.29 For he that believeth not the record which God hath given of his Son hath made him a lier 1 John 5.10 Thus Abraham gave glory to God when he staggered not at his promise through unbelief but was fully persuaded that what he had promised he was able also to perform Rom. 4.20 21. And in that he did thus give glory to God in believing this in the next words is given as the reason why his Faith was imputed to him for Righteousness Therefore saith he it was imputed to him for Righteousness Ver. 22. And thus we see that God is pleased to honour that most in men to wit their Faith by which they most honour him 4. In what capacity those under the Gospel are to perform the condition of the promise by
strive against its prevailing upon them as I have shewed For the Gospel is the power of God to Salvation Now then if this be true that God by means of his antecedent Grace hath given such power unto men of acting towards their believing unto Righteousness as hath been said there is then there is very great reason this should be made known to them and that they should not be made believe that they have no more power of acting towards their own Salvation than there is in a dead man to raise himself to life I say there is great reason for this because their Salvation or Damnation are much concerned in it For to persuade men that they have no power to act towards their believing is the direct way to take them off from the use of means tending thereto For what greater discouragement can be given unto men to attempt a thing than to persuade them that they have no power of accomplishing it if they do As good never a whit as never the better as the Proverb runs The quite contrary is doubtless to be done by such as would not betray mens souls to destruction nor lay a stumbling block in their way nor cramp their endeavours in seeking to be saved They should be throughly acquainted with what power God hath put into their hands of being saved if they will by having given them his Gospel and power to hear and consider the terms of Salvation that are therein offered to them and the powerful motives that tend to persuade them to believe and obey it They should be brought to a great sense that God is not nor will be wanting to them in his Grace and assistance nor in the matter of their salvation if they be not greatly wanting to themselves in not doing what they may and can do towards it That God hath set life and death before them and persuaded them to chuse life and that he hath given them power to do so much towards it by the helps wherewith he hath prevented them as that he will not fail to give them so much more as shall put them into an immediate capacity of salvation if they will but make such use as they may and can of that which he hath already given them And that therefore if they perish it is of their own choice because they judg themselves unworthy of everlasting life And that for this cause they will be left without all excuse if they perish and that God will be justified in their condemnation in that he hath done that which was sufficient on his part to have prevented it It was not the manner of our Saviour to persuade men that they could do nothing towards their own salvation but complains of them saying ye will not come to me that ye might have life how oft would I have gathered you as a Hen gathereth her Chickens under her wings and ye would not and expostulates the matter with them saying yea and why even of your selves judg ye not what is right And from time to time cryed to them in his doctrin with an extended voice saying whosoever hath ears to hear let them hear meaning that if they would make use of their teachable and considerative faculties in any thing then about those things he preached among them And upbraided those that would not when they had eyes to see and ears to hear other things wherein they were nothing so much concerned as they were in his doctrine saying they seeing see not and hearing hear not neither do they understand And can any man that thinks well of our Saviour wisely think also that he upbraided them for not doing that which they had no power to do Nevertheless although it be Gods ordinary declared method of proceeding with men in reference to their salvation to add a subsequent power to enable such to believe unto Righteousness who had not grosly neglected to use and improve the antecedent power and Grace which had been vouchsafed them before yet doubtless God always reserves unto himself a liberty of acting extraordinarily in a way of Grace towards men where and when and to what degree he pleaseth though they have not improved but grosly neglected their first talents Several instances of this nature there have been in men whose natures and lives have been debauched with a custom of sinning who yet have been surprised as it were on a suddain and their consciences awakened and let loose upon them either by a Sermon or some great affliction or some other providence and such a change presently wrought that they have afterward become very good men And so God hath been found of those that sought him not as the Prophet speaks as he was by the extraordinary Conversion of those of the Gentile Nations upon the first going out of the Gospel among them many of whom till then had lived without God in the world as the Apostle speaks Now this liberty of shewing more Grace and favour to some than to othres God may well make use of and yet no man have cause to complain that he does so so long as he is not wanting to the rest in that which is sufficient unto their Salvation but puts it within their own power to be saved if they will So that if they perish it is through their own wilful neglect to do what they might have done Indeed God can no more wrong one creature than another because he cannot but do right to all But in dispensing favours it is nowise unbecoming his wisdom and goodness to do more for one creature than for anotheer no more than it was in the work of Creation when he did not make all Men Angels nor all Brutes Men. Is it not lawful for me to do what I will with mine own Is thy eye evil because I am good saith the Housholder in the Parable to him that murmured for that he that laboured but one hour in the Vineyard had as much as the hire of another for a whole day came to Mat. 20.15 Since then it is but Gods unusual and extraordinary way to convert some such men by surprising them with the mighty operations of his Grace as had in a manner wholly neglected the improvement of their first Talents the antecedent Grace of God And since he hath made no promise of doing so for any man but rather on the contrary threatened to take away from such that which they had received before It remains then that no man presume or take any encouragement to neglect Gods ordinary and prescribed way and means of attaining to Grace and Salvation in hope that God should go out of his usual way to meet with them and to convert them in a way and manner that is unusual and extraordinary No man in his wits will act by such measures in things pertaining to this present life and the outward man Some men we now and then see have strange and fortunate hits in the world Estates conferred on them