of impenitency and unbelief That full satisfaction which Christ made to the Law ratifieth the Authority of the Law and proclaimeth to the world that the Law spareth none that are under the Law and so are all that are not in Christ and so under grace and therefore rest not one day in this condition sin lieth at the door he avenger of blood is at thy back the voice of the Law is pay that thou owest It is a groundless plea to say Christ hath paid all if thou remainest out of Christ. Secondly If sin were so exceeding grievous and bitter unto Christ Oh let it not be sweet and delightful unto thee It sin imputed were such an unspeakable torment to the Lord Jesus Christ What a shame is it for any that pretend to be members of Christ to make it the matter of their contentment Dost thou call thy self a Christian and canst thou see the Son of God abased for sin put to an open shame buffetted spit upon crowned with thorns and sweating drops of blood exceedingly afflicted in soul bleeding and dying upon the Cross for sin and yet canst thou hold up thy head take a pride in sin glory in it despise reproof gain by it thrive by it rise by it get preferment by it sport and solace thy seâ—f with it and still own the name of a Christian What is this but to be an Enemy to the Cross of Christ harbouring in thy bosom that Enemy which fastned and nailed him to the Cross Thirdly Here'i 's ground of sound comfort for them that are in Christ He hath made full satisfaction to the Law he hath paid the debts of his people cancelled the bond of the Law redeemed them from the Curse the Law can exact no satisfaction from them he hath fully cleared all accounts There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Iesus who walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit But of this somewhat may be spoken upon the next point The third particular followeth viz. That the Lord Iesus Christ established the Law by communicating his perfect righteousness to Believers where as in the former points there are two Branches 1. That the perfect righteousness of Christ is communicated to Believers 2. That hereby the Law is established Concerning the former ye heard before of the perfect Righteousness of Christ who both was a Lamb without spot knew no sin and performed compleat obedience to the Law and also did undergo the punishment and Curse of the Law due to the sins of men and women and so made full satisfaction to the Law Now that which is to be cleared is this That this perfect Righteousness of Christ is communicated to Believers 2. How it is received by Believers 3. What are the effects and consequents of the righteousness of Christ thus communicated and received For the first 1. The righteousness of Christ is communicated to Believers not by infusion but by imputation not so as to be inherent in them but so as to be imputed to them so as to be accounted theirs for he hath made him to be sin for us that knew no sin that we might be made the righteousness of God in him As the sins of men were not infused into Christ so as to be inherent in him but imputed to him so the Righteousness of Christ is not infused into Believers so as to be inherent in them but is imputed to them and accounted theirs The satisfaction which Christ hath made to the Law is imputed to them that is reckoned to belong unto them as if they had satisfied the Law in their own persons So it is said of Abraham it was imputed unto him for Righteousness Now it was not written for his sake alone that it was imputed to him but for us also to whom it shall be imputed if we believe on him who raised up Iesus our Lord from the dead As if a King should pardon a great Malefactour for his Fathers sake who had done some eminent service to the State his Fathers deservings might be said to be imputed to him accounted his as if they had been his own and when a surety payeth anothers debt the payment is imputed to the debtour and accounted as done by him and he is as fully discharged and esteemed out of debt as if he had paid it with his own mony so Believers have no Righteousness of their own to satisfie the justice of God but the Righteousness of Christ is imputed to them that is accounted theirs as if they had been perfâ—ctly righteous by performing perfect obedience and making full satisfaction in their own persons to the Law and here ye may observe who it is that imputeth the Righteousness of Christ to Believers 2. Of what nature this act of imputation is 1. It is God that imputeth the Righteousness of Christ to Believers saith the Apostle David describeth the blessedness of the man unto whom God imputeth Righteousness without works it is God who imputeth Righteousness unto justification and it properly belongeth to him as the supream Judge Who shall lay any thing to the charge of Gods Elect It is God that justifieth Who is he that condemneth it is Christ that died yea rather that is risen again who is even at the right hand of God who also maketh intercession for us Here the Apostle seemeth to set before us a representation of the highest Tribunal or Court of Judicature intimating or supposing the persons indicted the Accuser the Judge the Advocate the Persons indicted or arraigned the Elect of God true believers the Accuser implied in those words Who shall lay any thing to the charge of Gods Elect the Judge God it is God that justifieth the Advocate Christ who first died and so made satisfaction for the sins of his people 2. Rose again and by this his deliverance out of the grave the prison of Death made it evident that their debts were fully discharged 3. He is at the right hand of God which is a sure argument that he is highly in the Judges favour 4. He improveth his interest in the Judge by making intercession for his people presenting his merit and Righteousness to his Father to be imputed to them and accounted theirs and therein pleading his satisfaction made in their stead for their pardon and justification But the thing for which I bring this place at the present is to shew that it is God who imputeth the righteousness of Christ to Believers it is he that justifieth God is the efficient cause the Authour of the imputation of Christ his righteousness to his people and so of their justification It is one God which shall justifie the circumcision by faith and the uncircumcision through faith scil all sincere Believers whether Israelites or Gentiles Now the works of God toward the Creatures are the works of all the three persons of the God-head Father Son and holy Ghost and therefore Christ
oâ— Christs gloriouâ— appearing especially considering that the day of death was to them as the last day not that he did peremtorily determine any thing concerning the time which was unknown now compare this with what he writeth to the same Church in the next Epistle Now we beseech you Brethren by the coming of our Lord Iesus Christ and by our gathering together unto him that ye be not shaken in mind or be troubled neither by spirit or word nor by letter as from us as that the day of Christ is at hand Let no man deceive you by any means for that day shall not come except there come a falling away first and that man of sin be revealed the son of Perdition c. It seemeth some went about to deceive them under pretence of Revelation implied in the word Spirit some by word of Mouth as if the day of the Lord should come in that age and these might abuse those words of the Apostle in his former Epistle therefore he saith by Letter or Epistle as from us Now Satan might have this pollicy and set a certain day and that within a short time that when they saw it did not come to pass at the time foretold they might doubt of the thing it self whether ever it would come to pass but the Apostle shews them that there must be a great change before that day a general Apostacy or falling away and the revealing that man of sin the Son of perdition Secondly by drawing false inferences and conclusions from some places of Scripture So in the present Text from that â—ound doctrine of the Apostle concerning free justification of sinners through the righteousness of Christ without any respect at all to the works of the Law it seemeth some drew this inference or conclusion that the Law was made void and do not the Antinomians the very same â—t this day yea do not many among us harbour the same conceits in their minds as if it were enough only to pray to God to pardon their sins for Christ his sake as if they â—eed not labour after conformity to the Law â—n righteousness and holiness On the other â—â—de whereas Christ saith Except ye repent ye shall likewise perish Except a man be born again he cannot see the Kingdom of God Follow Holiness without which no man shall see the Lord. From these and the like Scriptures some it seemeth draw false conclusions as if by repentance by holiness by prayers and other duties they might in part satisfie for their former sins and as if Repentance Regeneration Holiness were not only things accompanying justification and salvation but proper causes But ye must consider First that Christ his satisfaction and righteousness is the full perfect and only cause of â—ustification and pardon of sin and that no holiness no duties of the persons justified do help any thing at all towards their justification it is the Righteousness of Christ imputed to them which maketh up the whole matter of their Righteousness in the sight of God and covereth all their sins Secondly on the other side Regeneration Repentance Holiness are concomitants things accompanying justification and salvation and evidences of it So that although none can procure pardon of sin nor justification in the least degree by any graces or duties of their own yet none can have any â—ound hope that their sins are forgiven or their persons accepted of God as righteous without Repentance Regeneration and Holiness because none have their sins pardoned and their persons justified but such as receive Christ into their hearts by Faith Now Christ alwaies cometh by water and blood by his holy graces to wash and sanctifie the Soul as by his blood and merit to justifie and procure forgiveness of sin As the light of the fire giveth no heat and the heat of the fire giveth no light yet the heat and light are joyned together in the fire so righteousness imputed to the soul for justification and forgiveness of sin do not sanctifie and on the other side Repentance Regeneration holiness in Believers do not justifie yet they are joyned together and where one is there is the other and the latter is an evidence of the former I conceive it is a common case with many to mistake in this kind because they want judgement rightly to draw inferences from Scripture groâ—nds so the Anabaptists because they read of persons baptized when they made profession of faith and repentance hereupon they draw conclusions against Infant-baptisme whereas the case is not alike for those examples are of converted Jews or Heathens not of such as are born of Christian-parents whereas they should rather argue that because Infants born of Church-members under the old Testament were circumcised as Church-members by the Lord command therefore Infants born of Church-members under the new Testament are to be baptized as Church-members now Thirdly prejudicate opinions false conceits sutable to corrupt Nature and carnal reason forestalling the mind and being entertained aforehand make people very apt to deprave or deny the Truth when it is presented to them I conceive this was the cause why the Jews were so obstinate in rejecting Christ and his doctrine not receiving and obeying him as Christ because their carnal minds were forestalled with conceits of a Messias that should come in state as an earthly Prince and erect a glorious worldly Kingdom amongst them and this prejudice moved them to corrupt the Prophecies of the old Testament and to distaste the doctrines of the New they liked not to hear of a crucified Redeemer the doctrine of the Cross was to them a stumbling-block they did not close with a spiritual Kingdom of Christ attended with persecution yea Christ his Disciples were not free from this disease and therefore when Christ foretold his own sufferings Peter presumed to rebuke him and there was a contention among them for the chiefe place as if they expected great worldly honours and dignities by following Christ On the other side the Grecians were prepossessed with the rational principles of worldly wisdom and Philosophy and so despised the Gospel as foolishness though indeed there were such heights and depths of divine wisdom in the mysteries of the Gospel as never came into the head of the wisest men amongst them The carnal Israelites were forestalled with an opinion of their own righteousness and so rejected the doctrine of justification by the righteousness of Christ For they being ignorant of Gods righteousness and going about to establish their own righteousness have not submitted themselves to the righteousness of God Ignorance and prejudice the fruit of ignorance caused them to disrelish the Truth of the Gospel Secondly the love of sin is a cause why men pervertor reject the Truths of the Gospel The Gospel and word of grac teacheth to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts c. This is distastful to a soul wherein sin raigneth The Gospel requireth Christians to
which Believers are accepted as righteous with God so saith is that grace whereby it is applied to the soul the Father of the distressed child cryed out and said with tears Lord I believe help mine unbelief and the Apostles said unto the Lord Increase our Faith Pray earnestly for faith and for strength and increase of Faith that ye may be established in the faith and confirmed in the assurance of your interest in Christ and his perfect righteousness this is the Sheild which quenched the fiery darts of the Devil What may Christians expect that the Devil should rather aim at than the destroying or weakning of their faith to divide them from Christ to dissolve the marriage bond between him and them to strip them of their wedding garment the robe of Christ's Righteousness And what should Christians endeavour more than the strengthning of their faith Fifthly Let all that are in Christ justified by the Righteousness of Christ labour to walk as becometh those that are partakers of so rich a blessing This was one great end of Christ his coming into the world and performing this glorious work of Redemption that he would grant unto us That we being delivered out of the hand of our Enemies might serve him without fear in holiness and righteousness before him all the days of our life and therefore the Apostle having spoken at large of this doctrine of justification by faith in Christ his Righteousness exhorteth Believers thus I beseech you therefore Brethren by the mercies of God that ye present your bodies as a Sacrifice living holy acceptable unto God c. of him are ye in Christ Iesus who of God is made unto us wisdom righteousness and sanctification and redemption those to whom Christ is made righteousness for their justification to them he is made sanctification conforming them to himself in holiness Justification and Sanctification are 1. Distinct. 2. Unseparable neither to be confounded together nor separated from each other They are distinct Sanctification is no cause nor part of justification No man is justified for his holiness but only for the righteousness of Christ. On the other side sanctification and holiness is unseparably joyned with justification whosoever is justified is also sanctified when sin is forgiven it is also mortified Do not flatter your selves with a perswasion of the pardon of your sins and the justification of your persons while ye want the beginning of sanctification Saith the Apostle Ye are washed ye are sanctified ye are justified in the name of the Lord Iesus and by the spirit of our God All that are washed from the guilt of sin in the name of Christ and by the virtue of his blood being made partakers of righteousness unto justification are also washed by his sanctifying spirit and grace from the filth and pollution of sin and made partakers of his holiness In the next place we have the fourth particular That the Lord Iesus Christ established the Law by making it a rule of obedience to his people 1. Christ made the Law a rule of obedience to his people 2. Hereby he established the Law 1. Concerning the former the Lord Christ saith Think not that I am come to destroy the Law and the Prophets I am not come to destroy but to fulfill for verily I say unto you till Heaven and Earth pass one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the Law till all be fulfilled the Law is established as a perpetual rule to direct Christians in the ordering of themselves all the powers of their souls affections of their hearts their thoughts words and actions and therefore Christ himself in divers passages following presseth not only the outward but also the inward observation of the Law a certain man asked Christ this question Which is the great Commandment in the Law Iesus said unto him Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul and with all thy mind This is the first and great Commandment and the second is like unto it Thou shalt love thy Neighbour as thy self on these two Commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets I conceive the Lord Christ in this answer doth clearly confirm the Law as a Rule of obedience by his Authority 1. He doth as it were open the bowels of the Law and discover the soul and spirit of it shewing that it consisteth in two things 1. Intire and perfect love to God 2. As subordinate hereunto sincere love to our Neighbour 1. Because all things commanded in the Law are either love to God and man or such things as love supposeth as the knowledge of God or such affections thoughts words actions as accompany or flow from love 2. All sins of omission or commission towards God or man are either want of love or such as proceed from the want of love Now in that Christ doth so highly extol these two Commandments which comprehend the substance of the Law he established the Law as a rule of obedience for his people Secondly In this speech he had respect not only to the ten Commandments delivered Exod. 20. but also to the doctrine of the Prophets throughout the old Testament saying On these two c. The Prophets opening and enlarging in particulars what is generally comprized in the ten Commandments and if we compare this with what we had before where he saith he came to fulfill the Law and the Prophets we may gather that he established the Law delivered by Moses and expounded by the Prophets as a Rule of obedience to his people Again how frequently doth the spirit of Christ in his Apostles establish the Law as a rule of obedience for his people What are those things which the Apostles by the Authority of Christ and his Name require of Christians but things commanded in the Law And what are those sins which they call upon Christians to shun but sins forbidden in the Law Let Love be without dissimulation abhor that which is evil cleave to that which is good c. What multitudes of instances might be given in this kind and therefore saith the Apostle The end of the Commandments is Charity out of a pure heart and of a good Conscience and of faith unfeigned These are things required in the Law The grace of God which bringeth salvation to all men hath appeared teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts we should live soberly righteously and godly in this present world The Gospel and word of grace which Christ hath revealed to the world and confirmed by his death teacheth those things which are the substance of the Law and therefore Christ hath established the Law for a Rule by which his people are to act and walk As he which hath called you is holy so be ye holy in all manner of conversation because it is written be ye holy for I am holy The spirit of Christ in the
covered and ye may have holy boldness and confidence before the Lord. What a blessed priviledge hath the soul which can say with the Apostle I am crucified with Christ nevertheless I live yet not I but Christ liveth in me and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me How happy shalt thou be if finding thy self in Christ and finding Christ dwelling in thine heart thou canst assure thy self that thou art washed in his bloud from all thy sins that he hath crossed all thy sins out of the Debt Book of Gods justice that he is thine Advocate with the Father and the propitiation for thy sins pleading thy cause at the right hand of God and bearing thy name among the rest of the Israel of God upon his breast-plate for a memorial continually Bend thy care and endeavour to the uttermost toward this one thing necessary to make sure of Christ and his most perfect Righteousness 5. Renounce all trust abhor any degree of confidence in thine own Graces duties services Grow in grace and in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ watch alwayes fear alwaies bring forth much fruit labour to do holy duties in sincerity with servency of spirit strive after perfection more more that thou maist fill thy mouth with arguments abundance of evidence that thou art truly united unto Christ by a lively principle of faith unfeigned and so justified by his Righteousness but do not entertain the least thought that way as if all that thou hast done or canst do should make the least satisfaction to the justice of God for any of thy sins or any way help toward thy justification In a word Take heed of splitting thy soul against either of these two Rocks either on the one side deceiving thy self with a dead faith without holiness and fruits of faith and so thinking thy sins to be pardoned and thy person justified when it is nothing so Or on the other side resting with any confidence upon any graces or duties Labour after these and look upon them as evidences of the soundness of thy faith but lean not upon them as grounds to support thy faith So much for the Negative Let us now consider the Affirmative whereby it may appear how and in what regard the moral Law is declared to be established by the doctrine of Faith I conceive the Law is established in five respects First By that full obedience performed to the Law by the Lord Iesus Christ. Secondly By that full satisfaction which he made to the Law in bearing the penalty of it Thirdly In the imputation of his perfect Righteousness to Believers Fourthly In that he establisheth the Law as a Rule of obedience for his people Fifthly In that he conformeth his people to the Law and these may be so many branches of the general point and therefore so many special points of doctrine 1. Then observe this point That the Lord Iesus Christ did establish the Law by fulfilling it or He did perform full and perfect obedience to the Law and so establish the Law Wherein you may note two particulars First That Christ did fulfill the Law Secondly That in fulfilling it he did establish it 1. Of the former So he said Think not that I am come to destroy the Law and the Prophets I am not come to destroy but to fulfill I conceive this speech was delivered soon after the Lord Christ began publickly to preach and this was seasonable to prevent or remove dangerous prejudices or mistakes For besides that general expectation of the Messias about that time the Scepter being departed from Iudah and they being subject to a Forreign yoak there were many extraordinary things which happened at the Birth of Christ Then the Testimony which Iohn Baptist gave him the Heavens opening the holy Ghost descending upon him in the visible form of a Dove God the Father by an audible voice from Heaven proclaiming this is my beloved Son in whom I am well-pleased His fasting forty days and forty nights when he was led of the spirit into the Wilderness to be tempted of the Divel His wonderful diligence in preaching in divers places His glorious miracles in healing all manner of sickness and diseases especially in delivering those that were possessed with Divels The great multitudes of people following him from Galilee Decapolis Hierusalem Iudea and from beyond Iordan in somuch that his fame was spread abroad suddenly beyond the borders of the Land of Israel throughout all Syria These and the like things might well raise the peoples expectation and give them occasion to look for some notable change to be wrought by him and as men are lead by divers principles are upon such occasions apt to fancy some one thing some another so it is likely the most did expect that he should set up an earthly Kingdom some might think that he would take away the Law which God delivered to their Fathers by Moses and the doctrine of the Prophets and hereupon some might seek advantage to disparage his person and his doctrine others might hope that he would open a door for carnal liberty as in our dayes upon occasion of far lesser changes some have embraced strange fancies as if the time were come to cast off those ordinances which Christ hath appointed to be used until the end of the world as if an universal liberty must be granted to all corrupt opinions Heresies Blasphemies under colour of favouring tender Consciences Now the Lord to remedy these things telleth plainly that He came not to destroy but fulfill the Law and the Prophets 1. He fulfilled the Ceremonial Law by exhibiting the substance of those Types and accomplishing those things which were signified and represented by them 2. He fulfilled the Prophets verifying their prophesies teaching doing and suffering that which they foretold 3. He fulfilled the Moral Law 1. Doctrinally rejecting the â—orrupt interpretations then received and giving the true and full sense of the Law 2. He fulfilled the Law practically by performing full and perfect obedience to the Law which is the thing in hand So he said before It becometh us to fulfill all Righteousness God sent forth his Son made of a woman under the Law He was made under the Law by his own voluntary act taking upon him the Nature of man and the office of a Mediatour between God and men though as God he was the Lawgiver and therefore having put himself into this estate he was bound to obey the Law fully in every particular and could not have failed in one jot or tittle without being guilty of sin and therefore all those Texts which declare his perfect Righteousness being compared with this do prove that he performed perfect obedience to the Law So where Stephen calleth him the just one and Paul saith He knew no sin scil no sin either original or