in Christ yet they walked not uprightly according to the truth of the Gospell but lived as did the Jewes These labouring a compliance betweene Moses and Christ did teach and professe that the Law and the Gospel the Old and New Testament were all one and the same or at the most that the latter was but an addition or supplement to the former and that there was no coming unto Christ and to the Gospell but by passing first through Moses and the Law These were Operaries and Rituaries i. e. so much for the Workes and Ceremonies of the Law that they made Workes the cause conservant to continue justification and therefore after their faith and justification in Christ to the end that they might continue and abide in that state they continued in the Workes of the Law as in practising the use of Circumcision in abstaining from divers meates both of Flesh Fish and Fowle and especially from all meates that had beene offered unto Idolls in observing divers seasons of dayes moneths times and yeares And proceeding yet further at last they came to this that they made Workes also the cause procreant of justification to constitute create and begin the state of it for therefore they urged their Workes especially Circumcision upon the Gentiles as necessary unto salvation Of this Sect were they who are mentioned Acts. 15.1 And certain men which came down frō Judea taught the brethren and sayd Except ye bee circumcised after the maner of Moses ye cannot be saved Certain men i. e. certain Judaizers And they who are mentioned here in this cap. v. 12. For before that certain came from James i. e. certain Judaizers Also they in the Church of Rome and of Colossa whom Paul notes in his Epistles to the Romans and Colossians and they Phil. 3.2 whom Paul there cals Dogs evill workers and the Concision and they in the Epistles to Timothy and Titus who were given to Jewish Fables to endles Genealogies and strivings about the Law The Cause of this their Judaisme was at first partly their zeal to the Law of Moses whereof they acknowledged God himself the Author partly their envy and hatred against the Gentiles that they should be made partakers of Gods grace in Christ from which by this meanes they endeavoured to discourage the Gentiles But afterward this Judaisme was advanced partly out of vain-glory to insult over the Gentiles in forcing them to the Laws and Customs of the Jews and partly out of policy that living as did the Jews they might enjoy the Priviledges of the Jews and thereby not become liable to that persecution which lay upon the sincere Christian The Effect of this Judaisme was that the walking therein was not onely an errour against the truth of the Gospel but also a scandall against the growth of it a damage and mischiefe to the planting and spreading of it for heereby it came to passe that the unbelieving Gentiles were unwilling to receive it and the believing Gentiles were ready to desert it 3. The third party of Christians were the Gentilizers for so they may bee called seeing here in this verse Paul denotes them by this phrase 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. to Gentilize or as our English Translation renders it to live after the maner of the Gentiles These also in respect of their faith were Christians for they believed in Christ but in respect of their life they were Heathenish because they walked not uprightly according to the truth of the Gospel but lived after the maner of the Gentiles For these labouring a compliance betweene Philosophy and Christianity interserted mingled and blended the Gospel of Christ with Pythagorisme and Platonisme with Epicurisme and Stoicisme The severall Sectaries or followers heereof either turning the grace of God into wantonnesse or pretending to exercise their Christian liberty were somewhat divided amongst themselves not onely in their Doctrines and Opinions but also in their practice and conversation For some as the Pythagorists abstained from Wine drinking onely water they abstained from all kinde of flesh eating onely herbes and they abstained from mariage disallowing that state holding it good for a man especially a Philosopher not to touch a woman Others as the Epicures were heerto so contrary that they would abstain from nothing not from bloud nor things strangled nor any kinde of flesh eating meats offered unto Idolls not from fornication nor incest nor other uncleannesse not from drunkennesse at the Communion 1. Cor. 11.21 For in eating every one took before other his supper and one the Pythagorist was hungry and another the Epicure was drunken Yet these different sects agreeing all in the fayth of Christ tolerated one another in other matters as anciently they had done before their conversion that in the maine they might all side against the Judaizer Wherefore taking advantage of Pauls doctrine against works and boasting that Paul was their Apostle as indeed he was they became Fiduciaries and Libertines i. e. They were only for faith and liberty neglecting despising and disgracing works as no way necessary to salvation as no cause at all of Justification neither procreant to constitute or build the state of it nor conservant to continue and maintaine it Of this sect were they Rom. 14. who did eat only hearbs and they who did eat all things They 1. Cor. 1. who made divisions and contentions saying I am of Paul and I of Apollo and I of Cephas and I of Christ They 1. Cor. 5. who were puffed up in the behalfe of the incestuous Corinth They 1. Cor. 6. who held fornication lawfull They 1. Cor. 7. who held mariage unlawfull or unexpedient They 1. Cor. 8. who would eat meat offered unto Idols and would eat it in the Idols temple They 1. Cor. 15. who denyed the Resurrection to come and they at Ephesus who affirmed that it was already past They Coloss 2. who spoyled men through Philosophy beguiling them in a voluntary humility and worshipping of Angels In a word they in generall who are censured and taxed in the Generall Epistles of James Peter John and Jude The Cause of this their Gentilisme was partly their vaine-glory in being gifted men and puffed up with the gifts of the Holy Ghost as the gift of fayth of knowledge of tongues and of prophesie partly their Sensuality in abusing their Christian liberty unto licentiousnesse and loosenesse following their carnall appetite and walking after the flesh partly their Animosity in opposing and crossing the Judaizer whose doctrines and practises especially that of Circumcision they detested and abhorred The Effect of this Gentilisme was the very same with that of Judaisme for this walking or living thus after the maner of the Gentiles was not only an error against the truth of the Gospel but also a scandall against the growth of it a damage and mischiefe to the planting and spreading of it especially amongst the Jewes for heerupon the event was that the unbeleeving Jewes were unwilling to
of that right which it first created if fayth it selfe bee conserved but fayth cannot conserve it selfe without workes because by workes fayth lives and breaths but without workes is frustrate and dead as the body is without breath Workes therefore being efficient to conserve our faith must consequently needes bee efficient to conserve that right which by the efficiency of our fayth was created unto us for though fayth alone bee efficient to create our right yet faith alone is not sufficient to conserve or declare it without the co-efficiency of workes Wherefore workes are not only a signe of our right to declare it but also a cause to conserve it because they are a cause to conserve our faith which without them would be dead And this jurall sense of the Verb Justified may be further illustrated and confirmed from divers other words which carry a jurall construction and are referred to Justifying which words for better order may be distributed into fowre sorts 1. Words of Circumstance whereof some doe create or constitue a Right or Interest as Grace Gift Goodwill Will and Testament Covenant and Promise all which are jurall words signifying the principall motives and causes of our Justification some doe confirme or assure a Right as Seale and Earnest for the holy Spirit is sayd to be the Seal and Earnest of that Inheritance whereto wee are justified and some other words doe specifie a Right constituted and assured as Liberty Freedome Communion Fellowship Inheritance and Peculiar all which and many more are the results and effects of our Justification 2. Words of Contrariety which are opposite to Justifying as Injurying and Condemning for the two Greeke words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifie Injurying and Condemning are both contrary and opposite to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is Justifying As therefore he who is Injuried is against Law made to lose some right which he had before and which by Law was due unto him and as he who is Condemned is according to Law made to lose some right which he had before and which by Law hee was to lose for all Condemnation effecteth on the condemned eyther the abolition or the abatement of some right which the party had before eyther in deed or in pretence so contrarily he who is justified is beyond or above Law made to have some right which before hee had not and which by Law was not due unto him And as Condemnation is the Imputation of a present sin to a future punishment so Justification is the Imputation of a present right to a future blessing for although Justifyng and Condemning be opposite and contrary one to another yet they agree in this that both are under one and the same genus which is Imputation Seeing then Injurying and Condemning are jurall words therefore so is Justifying because it is opposite and contrary to them both 3. Words of Affinity or nearenesse which are subordinate to justifying and comprehended under it as Naturalizing Legitimating Manumising Redeeming Pardoning Adopting and such like all which are severall kindes or sorts of justifying which is the genus to them all For Naturalizing is the Justifying of an Alien by imputing or giving the right of a Native to him that was borne in a forraigne Countrey Legitimating is the Justifying of a Bastard by imputing or giving the right of Birth to him that was born misbegotten Manumising or Infranchising is the Justifying of a Villaine or Bondman by imputing or giveing the right of freedome to him that was borne a Slave Redeeming is the Justifying of a Captive by giving the right of Liberty to him who before was a Prisoner to his Enemy Pardoning is the Justifying of an Offender by imputing or giving the right of impunity to him who stands by Law condemned Adopting is the Justifying of a Stranger by imputing or giving the right of a Sonne and Heire to him who was borne in another Family Any one of these acts severally is justifying and all of them concurring joyntly for concur they may upon one and the same person are no more saving that then the justifying is exceeding gracious for when an Alien a Bastard a Bondslave and a Captive and so much worse beside as to bee a Malefactor is made an Heire to some Kingdome such a Justifying in regard it passeth from one extreame to another is extreamely gratious and so gratious is our Justification by Christ as to an observant Reader will afterwards appeare 4. Words of Attribute whereby the justified are in Scripture stiled and called as Sonnes and Heires of God Gal. 4.7 Wherefore thou art no more a Servant but a Sonne and if a Sonne then an Heire of God through Christ Co-heires or joynt-heires with Christ Rom. 8.16.17 The spirit it selfe beareth witnesse with our spirit that wee are the Children of God and if Children then Heires Heires of God and joynt-heires with Christ Fellow-citizens and Domesticks of God Ephes 2.19 Now therefore yee are no more Strangers and Forraigners but Fellow-citizens with the Saints and of the Houshold of God The Lords Freemen 1. Cor. 7.22 For hee that is called in the Lord being a servant is the Lords Freeman Which last Attribute of Freeman is a generall word including all the former for Citizens Sonnes and Heires are but severall sorts and rankes of Freemen and it is a word so jurall that the state of Liberty or Freedome is the Primitive Originall or Fundamentall Right whereon all other Rights and Priviledges are raised and without which none can subsist for a Bondman during his bondage hath no right at all neither can hee have any till first hee bee infranchised or made free seeing all the right hee hath before is onely a crooked right to accept or refuse freedome for a will to refuse freedome was by the Law of God allowed to a Bondman who otherwise hath no freedom of will Exod. 21.5 If the servant shall plainely say I love my Master my Wife and my Children I will not go out free then his Master shall bring him to the Judges c. And the word Freeman is so intimate genuine proper unto Justified that those 2 words are reciprocall adequate to denote the same person for Freeman is the proper name whereby a person justified is called a person justifyed is the proper essence or differēce which defines a Freeman seeing a Freeman is a person justified or made to have some right for hereby he is absolutely opposed to a bōdman who absolutely is not justified or hath no right at all heereby hee is respectively opposed to an Alien a Forraigner or Stranger who locally is not justified or hath no right in this or that place as none in such a Kingdome such a City or such a Family Hence in the Scripture the word Justified is sometime put for freed as Act. 13.39 and by Christ all that believe are justified i. e. freed from all things from which yee could not
but are made so by the Will and Testament of God And wee are adopted by his Will Ephes 1.5 Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himselfe according to the good pleasure of his Will i. e. of his Will and Testament whereto the like saying followeth afterward in the same Chapter vers 13. And wee are begotten by his Will James 1.18 Of his owne Will begat hee us with the word of truth i. e. by his owne Will and Testament Thus having premised the Meaning of the word Justified that it signifies the conveying of a present right to man that the Matter of that Right is a right of state or permanent condition wherein man resteth that the quality of that state is a spirituall franchise or alliance to become the friend son and heyre of God that the priviledges incident to that alliance are the future Remission of his sins the Resurrection of his body and Life everlasting that the degree of his right to these priviledges is a right of Institution or a present right to the future possession of them that the Maner how man hath this state is factively by a testamentary act of God We come now to the Means whereby man hath this state or to that fact of man whereby the fact of God is effected or to the Title whereby man receives and enters this state for on mans part there is required an Act as the Meanes or Title for his reception of this state and concerning this Means or Title was all the controversie between Paul and the false teachers of Galatia against whom hee layes downe this Negative that It is not by the works of the Law as it followeth in the next words Text. Not by the workes of the Law The wrong title to the former state The particle By argues a Cause or Meanes The Nature of a Title exemplified in Lysias and in Paul and of speciall consideration 3. Maine heads of the Law 3. Judgements Two other heads of the Law It was Gods Testament and his Covenant Workes meane good workes Man worketh and the Law worketh in Condemning and Justifying conservantly but not procreantly neither doe mans works so The Law hath two senses 1. The History or letter of it which was well understood and so the Promises were terrene the Precepts were childish as their Moralities and much more their Ceremonies The workes were servile 2. The mystery or spirit of it which was not fully understood And so the Promises were heavenly the Precepts were virile and manly The works to be Cordial Liberall and Perfect No works justifie Procreantly to the heavenly promises nor to the earthly The wrong or false title of man to his spirituall right of franchise and alliance with God that hee hath not that state by the works of the Law For in any right whatsoever whether it be a Right of state of power of honour or of profit a man must have a speciall regard to his Title especially in a Right of this moment which is divine and concernes everlasting blessednesse The particle By doth imply a Meanes and thereby doth intimate unto man that unlesse on his part some Meanes be used or some Act done for his reception of this spirituall and divine state the testamentary acts of God in predestinating or instituting him thereto may become ineffectuall as ineffectuall they must needs become unto all who despise refuse or reject that state as manifest it is that too many have done both of Jewes and Gentiles for all testamentary acts doe leave unto the party instituted a liberty to accept or refuse the Legacy therein devised to him because a Testament carrieth not the force of a Law to constrayne and much lesse of fate to necessitate but passeth in the forme of grace to offer and tender the good will of the Testator And the Meanes heere understood is the meanes acquisitive or cause procreant whereby a right is first acquired initiated commenced entred and had which meanes or cause is commonly called a Title For a Title is that cause or formality whereby a mans right is declared or proved to be true and just whereby it is assured unto the party that hath it and is defended against any that shall impugne it or lay a clayme to dispossesse the possessor of it For in case another man should make a doubt of my right whatsoever it be or question me whether I have and hold it justly if thereupon I shall alleadge unto him the Meanes acquisitive or cause procreant whereby I first acquired entred and had that my right as that I had it by my Birth in inheriting it or by my Worke in earning it or by my Money in buying it or by my Acceptance in receiving the gift of it then such meanes or cause being justly approoved is my Title whereby I have that right and whereby I defend my having of it Lysias the Colonell and Governour of the Temple at Jerusalem had a right of freedome to the City of Rome and his title to that state was by his money for saith he Act. 22.28 with a great summe obtayned I this freedome And Paul his prisoner had the same right of freedome to the very same City but Pauls right came not to him by the same title for when Lysias made a doubt of Pauls freedome and questioned him about it Paul in the defence of his right alleadged his title that it was by Birth and sayd I was free borne In mans Justification therefore wee are to consider his title whereby he hath his right of spirituall State in his divine franchise and alliance with God whereby procreantly and acquisitively the reception of that state is initiated commenced or begun in him But that his title is not by Birth was proved before in the Maner how man hath this state namely not natively in being borne in it but factively in being made to have it and that fact on Gods part was Gods testamentary act in Predestinating or devising it unto man It remaineth therefore that mans title on mans part must bee by some act of his owne whereof the Apostle determineth heere that it is not by the works of the Law The Law was the whole body of those orders and rules for life which God by the meanes of Moses inacted in the Wildernesse for the people of Israel contayning three maine heads 1. Promises of divers blessings which God freely conferred upon that Nation as his owne peculiar people 2. Precepts of divers duties which the people on their part were to performe in respect of those promises of which precepts some were Moralities contayning duties naturall whereto the light of nature binds towards God and man as the ten Commandements of the Decalogue and others of their nature others were Ceremonies imposing duties positive which had little ground in nature but only in Gods pleasure of these the principall was Circumcision which though it were long before inacted in the time of Abraham yet
calls it Rom. 2.29 and Rom. 7.6 and 2. Cor. 3.6 the spirit of the Law according to the tacit intent true meaning and purpose of the Law-giver for times and things future above and beyond the common construction which the words and clauses of the Law afford This mysticall sense for the spirit of the Law was not understood at least not plainly and fully by the people of Israel to whom the Law was given neither could it be understood of any unlesse God revealed it from Heaven in a way extraordinary as privately was done in some measure unto some speciall persons but publickly it was never revealed untill it was Preached and published by Christ who was the first that did away the vaile of the Law and brought to light that true sense and minde of the Law whereof the former sense which even unto this day 2. Cor. 3.15 is a vaile upon the heart of the Jew was a figure and a shadow in foreshewing some representment of those things which should have a future existence under the new covenant which is little else but the new and true sense of the old For according to this sense of the spirit the Promises of the Law were to be Celestiall and eternall blessings in the Kingdome of Heaven whereof the principall and finall is a divine holinesse like that of the Angels pure and perfect without any spot or staine of sin and the accessories to that blessed state in Heaven are eternall life eternall rest eternall joy and eternall glory in the eternall company of eternall persons The judgements penalties or curses of the Law for the spirit of it were to be infernall and eternall death with all the losses and miseries thereto incident quite contrary to the former blessings The Precepts of the Law for the spirit of it were to be all Moralities for the legall moralities and all the ceremonies excepting onely those which were especiall figures of Christ were to be refined and exalted into the evangelicall moralities of poorenesse of spirit purenesse of heart mourning meekenesse hunger and thirst after righteousnes mercifulnes peaceablenes and gladnes under persecution for none of all these are Counsels or advises left unto mans choyse to be done or not done but all of them are Precepts or commands injoyned by Christ who thereupon assureth heavenly blessednes Mat. 5.3 And unto all these the generall or capitall morality is the new Commandement of Love refined also and exalted above and beyond the legall love yea above and beyond that love which moves and workes by the Law of nature as to love mine enemies to blesse them that curse me to benefit them that hate me to pray for them that despite me and persecute me to lay downe my life for my Brother and therefore much more for my heavenly Father whensoever a just cause shall require it Lastly the workes of the Law for the spirit of it were to be Cordiall wrought inwardly in and upon my heart by Circumcising of my heart by Sacrificing of my heart by Expiating of my heart in cutting killing and cleansing away the lusts motions and affections of sin And the workes were to be Liberall done in the free and noble way of love answerable to that love and kindnes which appeareth in God in condescending to this divine alliance of being my heavenly Father and of promising me an heavenly Inheritance and answerable to that love and duty which is due from me who am made the son of God and his heyre to eternall blessednes And finally the works were to be Perfect so exact and compleat as to performe an universall and perpetuall obedience to every precept not transgressing any one at any time so sinlesse and blamelesse that none of them should need any pardon or forgivenesse so upright and holy in the sight of God as to merit and deserve those divine and heavenly blessings as their proper and due wages The full meaning therefore of the Apostles Negative in this verse is this A man is not justified by any workes whatsoever no not by the spirituall workes of the Law i. e. his Moralities or morall workes by poorenes of spirit meekenes purenes of heart meeknes mercifulnes c. being measured by the spirituall sense of Gods Law are not cordiall liberall and perfect enough to make him a title whereby to acquire and have a true right of divine alliance with God and of the heavenly Inheritance consequent to that state This Negative the Apostle proves in this Chapter by three severall arguments which are not to be here anticipated but shall be specified in their due places in all which he mentions workes with restraint of them to the Law but his arguments hold against works in generall and in his Epistle to the Romans he handles the very same Doctrine of workes in generall without any restraint of them to the Law proving it there by the same arguments alleaged heere yet because there he produceth two arguments which here are omitted I shall therefore mention those two and but onely mention them One is Rom. 3.27 and the same is also alleaged Ephes 2.9 If mans title or cause procreant whereby he acquireth or hath a right of divine alliance and inheritance with God come by his owne workes then all boasting on mans part cannot be excluded for man doth naturally boast of his works particularly of such workes whereby he acquires some great alliance and inheritance especially of such as would make him a divine alliance to be the son and heire of God The other is Rom. 4.4 If mans title c. be by his workes then by the Law of equity heavenly blessednes becomes a debt and is due unto him as his wages which he hath earned by his worke Now these two respects that man should be able either to boast of his blessednes or to earne it are both derogatory to the love grace mercy and kindnes of God for where is Gods grace and his kindnes when either I can boast of my earnings or he is drawne to pay his debt But concerning the literall workes of the Law there may hereupon be inferred these two consequences 1. That the literall workes of the Law are no title whereby a man is justified procreantly or acquisitively to the spirituall promises thereof For if the spirituall workes which are farre more sublime and more pleasing to God make man no title to the spirituall promises as was proved before much lesse can the literall workes doe it which are farre lesse 2. That the literall workes of the Law were no title whereby the Israelites were acquisitively justified to the temporall promises thereof For when God gave them the Land of Canaan to possesse it hee utterly disclaymes their workes and their uprightnes from being any title whereby they acquired their right of possession Deut. 9.5 Not for thy righteousnesse or for the uprightnesse of thy heart doest thou goe to possesse their Land but for the wickednesse of these Nations the
latter act all promises are finished to have their finall and last effect for the verity or truth of the promiser which is concealed and may bee doubted in the grant of the promise doth cleerly and fully appear in the performance Unlesse therefore there bee a full performance of Gods promise by a future delivery and possession of that inheritance whereto by faith we have now a present right then both God failes of his truth and wee of our right For when a promise is conveyed unto mee in the best and surest manner by being devised or bequeathed unto mee by way of Legacy or Gift in a Will and the Will bee also confirmed Yet if it bee not performed what benefit have I by a promise so devised Now the person who performes the promises of Gods last Will and Testament is Jesus Christ for by and through him all the promises of God have the verity and truth of their performance 2. Cor. 1.20 For all the promises of God in him are yea and in him Amen i. e. are performed and fullfilled by Christ who thereby doth perfect the verity and truth of them Yea Christ was raised from the dead that hee might bee inabled with full power to performe the promises of our Justifying Rom. 4.25 And was raised againe for our Justification i. e. to performe the promises whereto wee are justified for as hee was delivered unto death to Confirme the promises So hee was raised againe to performe them The Reason why Christ doth Performe Gods last Will and Testament and the Promises or Legacies therein contained is because as was before shewed Christ is the Executor thereof It is the office of the Executor to execute or performe the will of the Testator for as it is his office to declare the nature of the will and to Prove the verity of it So his finall office whereto the former are but mediall is to Performe the Legacies of it Otherwise the Faithfull who are the Legataries in Gods Will and Testament and who therein are Co-heires with the Executor have no meanes nor hope to attaine and possesse the precious Legacies therein devised and bequeathed unto them Because although they have their right and claime by the good will and gift of the Testator Yet of themselves they have no ability to take or seize upon their Legacies For what ability have the Dead to raise themselves from the dust of their corruption and rottennesse unto celestiall and glorious bodies whereby to ascend into Heaven and take possession of that Kingdome Or what ability have the Living to transforme or change their bodies earthly and mortall into bodies heavenly and immortall Or suppose that the Legatary hath ability to take his Legacy of himself as in humane wills hee many times hath Yet regularly hee hath no authority to doe it for if hee doe hee doth in many cases forfeit it The course therefore of the Legatary is to addresse himselfe unto the Executor to whom hee must make suit for the Legacy that in due manner hee may receive the possession of it from him who is to deliver it according to the will and minde of the Testator Partly because the Executor being the Mediator or mediall person betweene the Testator and the Legatary must first be possessed of the Testators estate that thereby he may be enabled to deliver the Legacies thence issuing and partly because a Legacy according to the definition and nature of it is a gift left by the Testator to be delivered or performed by the Executor Seeing then Christ is the Executor of Gods last Will and Testament therefore his Office it is to execute and performe it by delivering unto the Faithfull the possession of those blessed Legacies whereto by vertue of Gods Will they are justified Thus Christ is the Beginner of our faith by working in us our acceptance of Gods Promises and he is the Finisher of our faith by performing unto us the Promises which we have accepted for hence he is called Hebr. 12.2 the Athour and Finisher of our faith Text. Even we have believed in Jesus Christ. Reason An Inference from the former assertion Because a man is justified not by the workes of the Law but by the faith of Jesus Christ therefore we who are Jewes by nature or native Jewes knowing the verity and certainty hereof have believed in Jesus Christ for these words are to be referred unto the 15. verse before as was there noted Wee who before the comming of Christ did believe in God for before the comming of Christ we were the peculiar people of God to whom appertained the adoption and the glory and the Covenants and the giving of the Law and the service of God and the promises even we have relinquished all these carnall Priviledges and have accounted them but losse that we might gaine the promises and priviledges which come by Christ For because Gods former Will and Testament wherof Moses was the Mediatour is now expired and that God is pleased to declare a new Testament whereof Jesus Christ is the Mediatour therefore now even we have relinquished the former Testament and have adhered to the latter by accepting the promises of it and by receiving Christ for the mediator of it now placing all our faith and hope in God by and through Jesus Christ For it is great reason we should now adhere to that Will and Testament of God which God now appointeth to stand in force Justifying is the effect of faith but not of workes The Reason of it From a testimony of Scripture The Proposition of the Reason the Assumption and the Conclusion much pressed by the Judaizing Christians for 2 Inconveniences That wee might be justified by the faith of Christ. The finall cause end or effect of our beliefe or faith in Christ namely our Justification that we might have a present right to those future blessings which are promised devised and bequeathed unto us in Gods last Will and Testament For if it be true as it is that faith is the Meanes of our Justification then also this truth must needs follow that Justification is the end of our saith seeing we believe to this end that by meanes of our faith we might be justified And because of that Will and Testament wherein we are Justified Christ is the Mediatour by whose meanes wee have our present right to those blessings and by whose meanes we shall enjoy the future possession of them therefore our faith is limitted and restrained unto Christ 1. Because Christ is the Conveyer of our faith by and through whom we believe in God 2. Because Christ is the Authour or Beginner of our Faith by declaring the contents of Gods Will and Testament and by proving the verity of it by his Witnesses his Miracles his Holines his Death and Resurrection 3. Because faith in Christ is the Title or appellation whereby we are instituted or nominated in Gods last Will and Testament which is a Testament ad pias causas
wherein Christ is the Precedent or Patterne according to whose right we are made to have our right in being made co-heires with him 4. Because Christ is the Person who by our faith doth Ministerially justifie us by Confirming unto us Gods last Will and Testament and by performing unto us the promises thereof for of Gods last Will Christ is the whole and sole Executor to publish prove and performe it And not by the workes of the Law Seeing the title whereby we are justified is our faith in Christ therefore all title by the workes of the Law is hereby excluded for where two titles unto any right are incompatible and cannot stand together he that claymeth by the one must necessarily relinquish the other No workes therefore of the Law in what sense soever we take it whether in the literall sense as it was delivered by Moses and understood by the Israelites or in the spirituall sense as it was declared by Christ and is now understood by the faithfull are of that efficacy and vertue to make us a true title whereby to acquire and have a true right and claym unto heavenly blessednesse And consequently seeing the finall cause or end of our faith in Christ is to be justified therefore a further end of our faith in Christ subordinate unto the former is no longer to rest in the literall works of the Law but wholy to relinquish it as an act of God which now unto us is expired and dead for so the Apostle would be here understood as appeareth by his reasoning at the 19. verse next following And seeing God by Christ hath declared and published his new Will and Testament of the Gospel therefore hereby his former Will of the Law though for the time of it very good and usefull is utterly infringed cancelled and voyd For by the works of the Law shall no flesh be justified The particle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Greek which is heer rendred For being a Conjunction causall doth playnly shew that the truth of this clause is the cause or reason of that truth which was delivered in some former clause For the principall Doctrine of this whole epistle concernes the title whereby a man is justified which for the clearer evidence thereof the Apostle delivers bipartitely in two severall assertions Whereof the first is a Negative that A man is not justified by the works of the Law and the second an Affirmative that He is justified by the faith of Jesus Christ These being thus proposed his next businesse is to produce arguments or reasons for the confirmation and proofe of these two severall assertions but first he begins with the first which is the Negative that A man is not justified by the workes of the Law And this Negative he proveth in the following verses of this chapter by three severall arguments or reasons whereof the first is contained in this clause For by the workes of the Law shall no flesh be justified No flesh i. e. No living man whose life is mortall For to call man flesh is an Hebraisme to put man in minde of his mortality because seeing hee is framed of flesh and blood which are materialls but weake and fraile therefore hee must needes decay and dye Be justified i. e. bee declared upright No mortall man whose life is tryed by the Law shall by his worke in observance thereof bee found so compleat and perfect as to bee pronounced upright and sinlesse For his workes shall never appeare so cordiall so liberall and so perfect as to have performed an universall and perpetuall obedience to every Precept of the Law in every sense thereof without transgressing any one at any time Formerly it hath beene shewed that the word Justified hath in the Scripture severall senses the Apostle therefore haveing in the former parts of this verse taken this word in a jurall sence for the imputing or conveying of a right interest or claim doth now in this last clause take the same word in a legall sense for declaring or pronouncing upright innocent or sinlesse For when a word doth beare severall senses and the Apostle hath expressed it in some one sense hee loves for the greater elegancy to repeate the same word againe in another sense if the matter will admit it as heere it will and doth for otherwise wee faile of the Apostles intent and lose all the force of his argument If therefore in this last clause of the verse the word Justified bee taken in the very same sense which it carryed in the first clause then is this last clause but a bare repetition of the first and no confirmation of it at all For of this assertion that A man is not justified by the workes of the Law how can this bee a reason or proofe For by the workes of the Law no flesh shall bee justified if in both clauses the word justified carry one and the same sense But if the sense be varied as we have glossed it then will this latter clause bee a pregnant proofe of the former and consequently it will excellently suit with the scope and minde of the Apostle And the Greeke particle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which elsewhere is constantly rendred Because doth both require and inforce this sense And that this Proofe or reason may carry the greater authority for the confirmation of his former Negative hee seemes to ground it on a testimony of Scripture and to produce it from Psalm 143.2 Enter not into judgement with thy servant i. e. Doe not arraigne mee before thy Tribunall or Seat of Judgement to try my workes by the rigour of the Law and then to handle mee according to my deserts For in thy sight shall no man living bee justified i. e. Because if thou in thine owne person or before thy selfe shalt take the cognisance of any mans workes to examine them throughly by the rule of thy Law and to give sentence upon him according to his workes no man living can by thy mouth bee declared or pronounced upright or innocent So that Paul hath in a manner explained the sense of Davids saying in adding these words by the workes of the Law The reason therefore whereby the Apostle argues heere seemes to runne thus If a man will bee jurally justified by the workes of the Law i. e. If hee will clayme from God a present right to the future Inheritance of Heaven by the title of his workes then God entring into judgement with him and in the sight or knowledge of God hee must by his workes bee legally justified i. e. Hee must bee declared or pronounced upright and innocent never to have beene an offendor against any Law of God For supposing but not granting that it is an effect or worke of the Law to Justifie a man jurally i. e. To give him a present right to the future Inheritance of Heaven Yet certainely the Law cannot produce this effect but onely in those who by the workes of the Law are legally
to bee and bee called the friend of God was it not afterward continued by his worke in offering his son for was not that worke wrought by his faith and was not his faith and the Scripture mentioning it fulfilled by that worke The other example is of Rahab Likewise also was not Rahab the harlot justified by workes when she had received the Messengers and had sent them out another way i. e. The Justification of Rahab constituted long before by her faith whereby she became a Proselyte and an Israelite in beleeving that the God of Israel was God in Heaven above and in earth beneath was it not afterward continued by her worke in Receiving the Messengers For was not that worke wrought by her faith and at the sacke of Jericho was not she and her family preserved by that worke and thereby continued Proselites unto Gods People Now from these Examples and Similies of James but especially from his two reasons it evidently followes that workes doe justifie in the sense alleadged namely conservantly For because Faith without workes is dead and working with workes is by workes made perfect or effectuall therefore workes doe preserve and continue the life perfection and efficacy of Faith and consequently they preserve and continue the state of Justification which is the effect of faith and whatsoever doth preserve and continue Justification that doth Justifie True it is that Neither faith nor works are the principall and prime efficients of my Justifying because God is the personall principall and prime efficient who makes mee to have my right and who makes mee to hold it but faith and workes are the reall mediall or meane efficients on my part For God willeth and ordayneth that fayth should bee my title whereby I acquire and have this right and that workes should be my tenure whereby to continue and hold it From my title I wholly exclude my workes allowing them neyther efficiency to justifie nor presence in my person at my Justifying For faith alone without any efficiency or any presence of workes within mee doth make me to have this right Because when I am to bee justified I have not within me any workes at all that any way qualifie me or can bee truely sayd to be resident in mee For manifest it is that I am then in the state and condition of a sinner if not legally of a transgressor against the Law yet morally of one somewhat improbous who was many wayes peccant in the rules of morality equity decency and mercy and jurally of one calamitous who must suffer and die like a sinner for the proper subject of Justification is a sinner But from my Tenure I exclude not faith but include and suppose it adding and adjoyning my workes unto it Because in my Justification faith hath a double efficiency first a procreant to constitute it and secondly a conservant to continue it Yet that degree of conservancy which flowes from faith is so imperfect that unlesse it be perfected by the accesse of works fayth alone is not able to conserve it selfe for without workes shee is dead Yet from my Tenure I exclude the solitarinesse both of my faith and of my workes for neither faith alone without workes nor workes alone without faith but both concurring and joyned together viz. faith conducting and co-operating with workes and workes accompanying and seconding faith doe justifie me conservantly as my Tenure making mee to continue and hold that state of divine alliance which faith alone did create and constitute And heerein I give the preeminence to faith for I say not thus Workes with faith but thus Faith with workes doth make up my Tenure faith as the principall and workes as accessories thereto to animate enable and render faith effectuall unto that effect which alone without workes it can not performe Because faith without workes is imperfect and dead but working with workes is by workes made perfect and effectuall And true it is that Workes doe also justifie declaratively because they declare manifest and shew that faith which doeth justifie efficiently and which alone without workes is efficient procreantly and which being alone without workes can not be declared For words will not serve the turne to declare the existence of faith but this service must be done by works And therefore the existence of that faith which is solitary alone and without workes can by no meanes bee sufficiently declared Hence saith the Apostle Jam. 2.18 Shew mee thy faith without thy workes Shew me if thou canst or thou canst not shew mee that faith of thine which is without workes or which is solitary or alone by it selfe for by thy words in saying thou hast faith it is not sufficiently shewed and by thy workes it cannot possibly be shewed because as thou acknowledgest it is a solitary faith which is alone by it selfe destitute of workes And I will shew thee my faith by my workes i. e. But I will shew thee my operary faith which worketh with workes for I will and doe declare it by my workes because I acknowledge that my faith is seconded and accompanied with workes Now because faith is declared or shewed by workes therfore workes are a Signe of faith and consequently they are a Signe of Justification to declare and shew the state of it because faith is a cause whereof Justification is the effect and whatsoever is a Signe of the cause is also a Signe of the effect Yet this is not all and the whole influence which workes have unto Justification that they are a Signe of faith to declare it But moreover workes are a cause of faith to effect it yet not a cause procreant to constitute and produce it but a cause conservant to continue and maintaine it For Jam. 2.26 As the body without the spirit is dead so faith without workes is dead also Now the Spirit whereby the body respireth and breatheth is a cause of the body yet not a cause procreant to give the body life and being but a cause conservant to continue and maintaine the life and being of it And consequently workes are also a cause conservant of that Justification whereof faith is a cause wholly procreant and partly conservant and to conserve Justification is to justifie For seeing that unto many words I willingly allow severall senses not only modall but reall I cannot with equity deny the like courtesie unto the Verbe Justified for the honour of those two great Apostles Paul and James who were planters of the Gospel and pillars of the Church especially when I consider the severall parties with whom they had to deale For Paul by his assertion opposeth the Judaizers who as was formerly shewed upon the 14. verse of this Chapter were Operaries and Rituaries standing so much for the workes and Ceremonies of the Law that they made workes the sole and whole efficient cause of Justification both the cause conservant to continue and maintaine the state of it and also the cause procreant to
constitute and produce the being of it And therefore against the Infirmity of these Paul in his Epistles to the Romans Galatians and elsewhere stoutly maintaines this doctrine that A man is not justified by the workes of the Law but by faith only Wherin according to the quicknesse and shortnesse of his speech hee intends these two points 1. That no workes at all are the cause procreant to constitute and build mans Justification as was largely explicated verse 16.2 That no workes of the Law are a cause conservant to continue and maintaine mans Justification as shall bee discovered in the next verity For in these two points the Judaizers held the contrary as it plainly appeares partly by their practise and partly by his arguments against them But James in his assertion opposeth the Gentilizers who were a party quite contrary to the former and in opposition of them were Fiduciaries and Libertines standing onely for fayth and liberty neglecting despising and disgracing all maner of works as no cause at all of Justification neyther procreant to constitute or build the state of it nor conservant to continue and maintayne it as before was intimated after the 14. verse And therefore against the vanity of these James maintaynes this doctrine that A man is justified by workes and not by faith onely Wherein his meaning is as it was well enough understood of the Gentilizers that good workes â—ot of the Law but of Grace love and kindnesse were necessary both to faith and Justification as causes conservant to continue and maintaine both untill Justification bee consummated determined and finished into salvation for without such workes faith is dead but with and by them is made perfect Allowing therfore unto the word Justified being a Verbe efficient or factive these two senses of efficiency procreant and conservant and thereupon affirming that Faith only without workes doth justifie procreantly to constitute the state of Justification But faith with workes and by workes doth justifie conservantly to continue that state Then it will plainly appeare concerning Paul and James that neyther of their doctrines is a paradoxe that neyther is to other repugnant but each with the other is consistent and both are conducent to the verity and sanctity of Christianity Nay more the doctrine of James is to that of Paul a necessary consequent borrowing from Paul those principles whereby it is both raysed and proved For because as Paul teacheth my faith only without works doth procreate or build my Justification and because evill workes destroy the state of it and build againe my state of sinne therefore it must needs follow as Saint James teacheth that good workes doe continue and maintaine the state of it For although they doe not procreate or build that state yet they preserve and uphold it from that destruction and ruine which evill works would bring upon it Againe because as Paul teacheth my continuance in sin is the cause corrumpent and destruent to decay destroy my Justification which is to unjustifie me therefore as James teacheth my continuance in good workes is the cause conservant and restituent to preserve the state and to restore the decayes of it For in case I should fall my faith alone cannot restore mee but if I recover my faith working by workes of Repentance must be the meanes of my Recovery Besides because as Paul teacheth 1. Cor. 13.2 Though I have all faith so that I could remove mountaines and have no charity I am nothing Therefore as James teacheth faith without workes is dead because the acts of charity are good workes and of all other the greatest Lastly because as Paul teacheth Gal. 5.6 In Christ Jesus neither Circumcision availeth any thing nor uncircumcision but faith which worketh by love Therefore as James teacheth Faith working with workes is by workes made perfect that it may finally availe in Jesus Christ Thus James in his doctrine and in his reasons thereof secondeth Paul not differing from him in sense and truth but onely in words and tearmes and for that verball difference there was a just occasion For Paul being an Apostle to the Gentiles tempereth his doctrine with such words and tearmes that hee might give no offence either to the unbelieving Gentiles who thereupon would continue in their unbeliefe or to the believing Gentiles who thereupon might recede from their beliefe For hee made it his rule not to offend any party but to please all seeking to save as many as hee could labouring to plant the Gospel and to increase the Church of God as much as might bee And James being an Apostle to the Jewes and writing to the twelve dispersed Tribes doth correspondently carry himselfe with the like temper that hee likewise might give no offence either to the unbelieving Jew or to the believing Judaizer Yet let no Christian presume to censure this temperate carriage with temporizing seeing heerein these two great Apostles practized the great rule of Charity which is To walke without scandall or giving of offence especially to parties opposite but rather to please both A rule by Paul both taught and practised as appeares 1 Cor 10.32 Give no offence neither to the Jewes nor to the Gentiles nor to the Church of God even as I please all men in all things not seeking mine owne profit but the profit of many that they may be saved And seeing under the tearmes of Justifying by workes taken in different senses opposite Errours did trouble the Church who can say to the contrary but that these two Apostles might bee moved to use these very termes either by the spirit of God or by their owne agreement that each should confute those severall errours within his severall line namely James within the line of Circumcision and Paul elsewhere Concerning this seeming opposition between Paul and James whereof I spake somewhat before but not enough there are extant divers other Reconciliations whereof I oppose none but leave every man to that sense whereby hee may bee most edified 4. The fourth verity is this The workes which continue my Justification are acts of Love The tenure whereby the Israelites continued their Justification to the kingdome of Canaan to hold and enjoy it were the workes of the Law in the literall sense For thus speakes Moses to the people Deut. 5.33 You shall walke in all the wayes which the Lord your God hath commanded you and that you may prolong your dayes in the Land which ye shall possesse i. e. Your walking in Gods Lawes shall continue and prolong your possession in the Land whereto yee are justified or have a right And in after-ages when their children should aske them the meaning of these Lawes they must answer their children thus Deut. 6.24 The Lord commanded us to doe all these statutes to feare the Lord our God for our good alwayes that hee might preserve us alive as it is this day and it shall be our righteousnesse if wee observe to doe all these commandements before
in the lusts of our flesh fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the minde and were by nature the children of wrath even as others but God who is rich in mercy for his great love wherewith hee loved us even when wee were dead in sinnes hath quickned us together with Christ by grace yee are saved and hath raised us up together and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus that in the Ages to come hee might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindnesse towards us through Christ Jesus Certainely such love as heere is mentioned so exceeding rich in grace mercy and kindnesse must needes bee free from wrath and anger unlesse wee are content to say that at one and the same time in respect of the same action and of the same persons God was exceeding loving and yet exceeding angry which at last will come to this that at the same time the same God loved and loved not 2. God was not angry with Christ when he dyed For would God bee angry with his onely begotten Son of whom hee gave this publick testimony from Heaven Mat. 3.17 This is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased With his Son who was so obedient that hee tooke upon him the forme of a servant and God calls him his chosen servant in whom his soule was well pleased Mat. 12.18 Behold my servant whom I have chosen my beloved in whom my soule is well pleased With his Son who was so Innocent that in all his life hee knew no sin and therefore could bee no subject of Gods anger And could God bee angry with his Sonne then when hee was about Gods owne worke a worke to God so pleasing that God therefore loved him because he undertook it John 10.17 Therefore doth my Father love me because I lay down my life that I might take it againe A worke to God so agreeable that Ephes 5.2 it was an Offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling savour A worke to God so acceptable that for his undergoing of it God hath highly exalted him and caused every knee to bow unto him Phil. 2.8 Hee humbled himselfe and became obedient unto death even the death of the Crosse wherefore God also hath highly exalted him and given him a name which is above every name that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow c. 3. God was not angry with us when Christ dyed for us For could God bee angry with us then when wee were the objects of his admirable and infinite love when hee did a worke for our sakes whereby hee especially intended to free us wholly from his anger a work wherein he playnly declared the exceeding riches of his grace and the abundance of his mercy and kindnesse towards us a worke wherein hee spared not his own most dearly beloved Son but delivered him up for us all and thereby manifested that hee would freely give us all things a worke whereby hee conveyed unto us a right interest and clayme to the eternall possession of Heavenly blessednes Or if God were then angry with us when to settle upon us eternall life hee exposed his owne Son to a bitter death what sufficient argument can wee draw from his death whereby to assure our soules that God remaines not angry with us still even unto this very day True it is that God was angry with the Jewes who put Christ to death for his bloud was upon them and upon their children and afterward God punished their wickednes with a sin all desolation Yet if wee consider that anger of God according to the right course of causality we shall easily perceive that Gods anger against the Jewes was not the cause of Christs death but contrarily Christs death was the cause of Gods anger against the Jewes For God whose anger caused not the worke was justly angry with the workemen who did it because they on their part made it a wicked worke for they did it not as Gods worke not as his Will not for his sake not for his end nor by his authority Gods anger therefore against the Jewes for the death of Christ maketh nothing against the verities by mee premised that his anger was not the cause why Christ dyed For the like may bee sayd of every Martyr whose death is a just cause of Gods anger against his Persecutors though Gods anger bee no cause at all of his death But some man may say that the truth of these words who loved me and gave himselfe for me being spoken by Paul of himselfe and in his person of every Christian might be certainely knowne unto Paul Because hee might bee assured of this truth by the meanes of some revelation made unto him thereof for either Christ whom hee had heard and seen or God who revealed Christ unto him might also reveale this truth unto him But you that were borne some hundred yeares since the death of Christ and have no revelation touching any such love of Christ toward you how can you for your part certainely know and bee assured concerning your selfe that Christ loved you and gave himselfe for you Hereto I answer That this saying is also true of mee I certainely know and am assured from hence because my name is written in Gods last Will and Testament that Christ loved mee and gave himselfe for mee Yet I find not my name written there by my proper Christian and sir-name but by an appellative or common name of mine which unto mee is farre better and more certaine then my proper name For I certainely know of my selfe that I am a Believer in Christ and am truely called by that name and under that name I finde it written of mee that Christ loved me and dyed for me John 3.16 God so loved the world that he gave to death his onely begotten Son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life And againe Rom. 3.21 But now the righteousnes i. e. the kindnes of God without the Law is manifested being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets even the righteousnesse or kindnes of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Jesus Christ whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his bloud Christ then dyed for all Believers whatsoever of what Nation and what age soever not onely for those who lived in that age wherein hee dyed but for all those also who should afterwards live in any age whatsoever Now because Christ for certaine dyed for all Believers and I for certaine am a Believer therefore for certaine Christ dyed for mee And if this Reasoning be not right there is no reason why man should bee accounted a reasonable creature or if this Reasoning breed not certainty man can have no certainty in any knowledge and consequently he cannot bee certaine that himselfe is a
grace 3 Respective to the New Testament and so they are chiefly 3. which was very necessary done very sufficiently and very solemnly and why so from ReasoÌ„ and testimonies of Scripture 2. To Confirme it which also was necessary Effected Yet not by the Testator in his owne person But in the person of his owne Son Which assures my Right and argues the love of God and of Christ Hence is the Bloud of the New Testament opposed to that of Abel and to that of the Old Testament and is farre more holy 3. To Execute it for this is the Life of a Testament and a Bond upon the Executor who of the New Testament was Christ whereof the Reasons and the Testimonies from Scripture Christ a vested Executor for his Inheritance Power Honour and Office But upon the Condition of his Death a Condition strange Yet Possible and Necessary for 2 reasoÌ„s 1. For his owne Inheritance which otherwise he could not enter 2. For discharge of Legacies Hence he is the Captain of Salvation and Author of Salvation Hence at his Ascention he fulfilled Gods Will in giving gifts to men Hence our Expiation our Consolation our Resurrection and Glorification Hence Christs doctrine for the Necessity of his death whereof the causes remote were many yet all subordinate to the three forementioned But the Remission of sins is most mentioned and the Reason The force of Pauls argument The effect of a Testament Gods two Testaments are different and therefore are Repugnant The Old not in force because it was faulty or else Pauls argument is so and Christ dyed without cause Arguments of Gods grace for the Effect of it and the Meanes which was Rich Requiring my Faith and Hope and Love It comes not by the Law but is opposed to it I Doe not frustrate the grace of God The Greeke is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. I doe not despise reject disanul or bring to nothing the the grace of God for these foure ways the word is Englished elswhere and in this place only is rendred frustrate As Luke 10.16 Hee that heareth you heareth mee and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hee that despiseth you despiseth mee And Marc. 7.9 And hee sayd unto them full well 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 yee reject the commandement of God And Gal. 3.15 Though it bee but a mans Testament yet if it bee confirmed no man 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 disanulleth or addeth thereto And 1. Cor. 1.19 I will destroy the wisdome of the wise and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I will bring to nothing the understanding of the Prudent And all these foure wayes the word signifieth heere Because these severall senses are not really different but are either in a maner the same or else one consequent to the other For what I despise that also I reject and what I reject that I disanull or bring to nothing in effect by making it frustrate or void in respect of any use or benefit to my selfe If therefore I frustrate or make voyd the grace of God from having that effect upon mee which God purposed towards mee I disanul his grace or bring it to nothing which argues my refusall of it to reject it and my rejection argues my contempt of it that I disesteeme or despise it Concerning the nature of Gods grace what it is wee have spoken somewhat before cap. 1. vers 6. where the Reader may peruse it Heere therefore wee shall consider that effect of it from which the Apostle argueth and reasoneth in this place for heere the word is put by way of metonymy or transnomination for all those effects both mediall and finall whereof Gods grace is the originary and primary cause The Right whereto I am justified is a divine state of alliance and inheritance to bee the sonne and heire of God for this is the Matter of my right The Title whereby I acquire or have this Right is only my Faith to accept it for my Faith is a meane procreant cause on my part whereby I receive this Right The Tenure whereby I continue or hold it are the Duties and Services of holinesse or the good workes of love for these are a meane cause conservant on my part that my right may not escheat or bee forfeited The principall person who imputeth deriveth or conveyeth this right unto mee is God the Father for who but God as the principall Agent can make mee the sonne and heire of God The Motive inducing God to impute or convey this Right unto mee is his meere Grace I meane that inward affection residing in God which is his goodwill love favour mercy and kindnesse for all these are really the same but rationally different in respects So that my title on Gods part is Gods meere grace which is the supreame or prime cause having no other cause above or beyond it The cause why every Believer is the sonne and heire of God is because God in his last Will and Testament hath so devised or promised it And the cause why God in his Will made this devise or promise is his meere Grace i. e. his love or goodwill to dignifie a person who deserves it not For Gods love is his good-will to benefie or doe good and when the benefit done is a dignity or honour to the receiver and the receiver a person who deserves it not then such Love of God is his Grace My alliance with God to bee his sonne and heire hath it not in it there â—o qualities The one that it is an high dignity and honour unto me the other that it is far beyond my desert For no man can deserve to bee borne of his Father or after hee is borne to bee made the sonne of another But the onely cause of a sonne is love and the onely cause to bee made the sonne of God is the grace of God Because to bee made the sonne of God is the greatest dignity and honour in the Wold for thereby mans dignity approacheth to the Majesty of the most high God who though by reason of his power hee bee the Father of all yet by way of grace he is not so My Justifying therefore unto this alliance with God is by the Scriptures attributed to the grace of God Rom. 3.24 Being satisfied freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Jesus Christ And Rom. 4.16 Therefore it is of faith that it might bee by grace to the end the promise might bee sure to all the seed what is the thing that is of faith The divine inheritance to bee made the heires of God as it appeares in the words preceding vers 13. and 14. And Ephes 1.6 To the praise of the glory of his grace wherein or whereby hee hath made us accepted in the beloved i. e. Whereby hee hath justified us or made us co-heires with his beloved sonne And Ephes 2.4.5 But God who is rich in mercy for his great love wherewith hee loved us even when wee were dead in sinnes hath
mercy hee saved us by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost i. e. Our finall salvation which God hath decreed or devised unto us and our Sanctification in regenerating or renewing us by his holy Spirit which is the meanes to the former end proceedes not from any workes of ours which wee had done before according to any righteousnesse that was in us But our right thereunto proceedes from Gods worke as an act of his mercy And 1. Pet. 1.3 Blessed bee the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us againe unto a lively hope by the Resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead to an inheritance incorruptible c. i. e. Blessed bee God who by the Resurrection of Christ hath begotten and wrought in us a lively hope of eternall life which is an inheritance incorruptible All which proceedes from the abundance of his mercy Now all Mercy is Grace though all Grace bee not Mercy But when grace is so affected with the misery of a miserable person that thereby she is moved to relieve him from his misery then grace becomes mercy Because all mercy is grace to a person in misery 5. Because it comes by Gods Will and Testament John 1.13 Who were borne not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man but of God i. e. Believers are made the sonnes of God not by generation or birth from the will of flesh and blood Nor by any adoption from the will of man But by that adoption which is from the Will and Testament of God And Ephes 1.5 Haveing predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himselfe according to the good pleasure of his Will i. e. Our adoption to bee the sonnes of God and the co-heires with Christ by meanes of Christ is predestinated ordained or devised unto us according to that good pleasure of God which hee hath expressed in his Will and Testament And in the same Chapter vers 11. In whom also wee have obtained an inheritance being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsell of his owne Will i. e. In or through Christ we are made co-heires with Christ unto blessednes wherto we are predestinated instituted and ordained by God who performeth all things according to that purpose counsell or meaning of his which he hath expressed in his Will and Testament Now things conveyed or devised by Will and Testament are not debts and duties whereto the Testator is bound by Law and justice but are gifts and Legacies proceeding from his grace favour and kindnes towards those Legataries unto whom they are devised for hence it is that Wills require a favourable construction or interpretation because they containe matters of favour And Gods grace wherby I am justified unto this Right is rich grace For that is a frequent attribute wherby the Scripture doth commend and magnifie the greatnes plenty and abundance of Gods grace by stiling it the riches of his grace As Rom. 11.12 Now if the fall of them be the richesse of the World and the diminishing of them the richesse of the Gentiles i. e. The fall of the Jewes is the occasion of Gods grace and of the riches or abundance thereof unto the Gentiles and unto all the world besides And Ephes 1.7 In whom wee have redemption through his bloud according to the riches of his grace wherein he hath abounded towards us And Ephes 2.7 That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindnesse towards us through Jesus Christ i. e. the exceeding plenty and abundance of his grace for although grace and kindnesse be really one and the same thing yet after the word grace the Apostle addeth the word kindnesse that by the abundance of his words he might signifie the abundance of Gods grace Certainely sin aboundeth in the world and hath done so in all ages yet grace doth over-abound it Rom. 3.20 The Law entred that the offence might abound but where sinne abounded grace did much more abound i. e. After the Law was given the event was that sin abounded and after sin had abounded the event was that grace did super-abound by over-reigning over-ruling and overcomming sin because God by his grace doth not only forgive eternall death which is the punishment of sin but over and above he doth give us a right unto eternall life by justifying us thereunto through Christ as it there followeth in the next verse That as sinne hath reigned unto death even so might grace reigne through righteousnesse through a Right unto eternall life And this richnesse or greatnesse of Gods grace appeares from three grounds 1. Because Gods grace is without a cause There was no cause moving God to justifie me for as we sayd before his grace is hereof the supreame or prime cause having no other cause above or beyond it to actuate or move it What moved God to bee so gracious unto mee as to predestinate or devise unto mee in his last Will and Testament this divine state of alliance and inheritance with him Certainely no Merit or desert of mine moved him for it was not for any worke or other act of mine which I had done or which God foresaw I would doe that could deserve this grace Because Gods grace and my workes are in respect of causality so inconsistent and contrary that they cannot both concurre as causes procreant of the same blessing But the claime by one doth necessarily exclude the other For if it bee by workes it is of debt and then it cannot bee of grace Rom. 4.4 Now to him that worketh is the reward reckoned not of grace but of debt But if it bee by grace it is of gift and then it cannot bee of workes Rom. 11.6 And if by grace then it is no more of workes otherwise grace is no more grace No Petition or Request of mine moved him for I never made any motion or suit for it neither was it my counsell or advice that God should devise this Legacy unto mee for Rom. 11.34 Who hath knowne the minde of the Lord or who hath beene his counsellour Neither had I any existence when Gods Will was framed Lastly no inquiry or seeking of mine moved him heereto for I never asked after it nor desired it and I had no desire to it because I had no knowledge of it hence saith God in respect of his grace Rom. 10.20 I was found of them that sought mee not I was made manifest unto them that asked not after mee And when by the preaching of the Gospel God sought mee asked after mee and called mee to accept his grace I was hardly perswaded to believe and receive it And unto this day many Nations cannot bee perswaded of it yea some Christians are not rightly and fully perswaded of it But God was heereto moved of his owne meere and proper motion wherein
the will of his grace was the prime cause or first mover For according to the good pleasure purpose and counsell of his owne Will hee predestinated or devised this Legacy unto mee Ephes 1.11 In whom wee have obtained an inheritance being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsell of his owne Will For in all Testaments what other cause is there of the Legacies therein devised but only the will and purpose of the Testator whose Testament is in that respect called his Will But if the Legacies proceed from the Will of the Legataries then to speake properly the Testament is their Will and not the Will of the Testator And although among men it may fall out that the Testator may bee moved to some Legacy by the Petition of the Legatary or by the intercession of some friend Yet with God it cannot bee thus because his Will was made from the foundation of the World before the existence of any person interessed who could sollicite or move him thereupon Now that Grace which hath no cause moving it but moves of its owne free accord is farre more rich and gracious then that grace which hath a cause which is sollicited and moved by the importunities and petitions of the Receiver For as an Injury done without cause is the more malicious so a kindnesse without cause is the more gracious whereas grace begged is but beggerly grace 2. Because the Effect of Gods grace is rich That effect is my divine Alliance and inheritance to bee the son and heyre of God and certaynely such a state must needes bee a rich condition For when David was sollicited to an alliance with King Saul his Answer was 1. Sam. 18.23 Seemeth it to you a light thing to be a Kings sonne in law seeing that I am a poore man and lightly esteemed And can it seeme a light thing to mee to bee made the sonne and heyre of God seeing that I am a sinfull man who stand condemned to death Is not the grace infinitely greater for man to bee made the sonne of God then for David to bee made the sonne of Saul And the future Inheritance which God hath prepared for mee is so glorious that the plenty or richnesse therof is both ineffable which no tongue can expresse and incomprehensible which no heart can imagine for it cannot enter the eye or the care which are the senses that should convey it to the heart 1. Cor. 2.9 Eye hath not seene nor eare heard neither have entred into the heart of man the things that God hath prepared for them that love him Yet of the City wherein I shall bee seated John had a vision wherein hee saw the richnesse of it Revel 21.10 That the walls were made of pretious stones the gates of pearle the streets of pure gold transparant as glasse the light of the City was the glory of God and of the Lambe and they two were also the Temple of it Certainly the Inhabitants of such a City must needs be not only rich but very glorious and therefore Gods grace in translating mee from the grave which is the den of death and rottennesse to seat mee in heaven which is the mansion of joy and blessednes must needs be very gracious 3. Because the Meanes was rich whereby the former effect is wrought That meanes was the Death of Christ upon the Crosse for the Meanes of his death my alliance and inheritance with God is conveyed unto me a Meanes certaynly very gracious arguing the admirable and singular love of God towards me For it cost God that person who was most deare unto him even his owne and only begotten sonne whose bloud was spilt and spent out to convey the effect of this grace unto mee and that bloud was expended not by an ordinary death but by the bitter painfull and shamefull death of the Crosse whereon he suffered in the condition of a malefactour and of a cursed person Hence we are sayd to be Gods Purchase which he bought at a price 1. Cor. 6.20 Ye are not your owne for ye are bought with a price And for the purchase of us hee payd very deare for the price wherewith wee were bought was the price of bloud Ephes 1.7 In whom we have redemption through his bloud And the bloud of our redemption was precious bloud 1. Pet. 18.19 Ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things as silver and gold from your vaine conversation received by tradition from your fathers but with the precious bloud of Christ. For the bloud of Christ must needs bee precious because it was the bloud of God Act. 20.28 Take heed therefore unto your selves to feede the Church of God which he hath purchased with his owne bloud And the cause why God expended that bloud was his meere grace according to the richesse and abundance of it Ephes 1.7 In whom wee have redemption through his bloud the forgivenesse of sinnes according to the riches of his grace wherein hee hath abounded towards us Now that grace which is so chargeable to the donour that it costeth bloud must needs be rich and costly My workes then are not the cause of Gods grace because his grace is heerein the supreame and prime cause that hath no cause but is without cause and because grace is not grace if it be of workes though it bee grace when it is granted upon request and because the poorenesse of my workes can never cause the richnesse of his grace But contrarily Gods grace is the cause of my workes if I have any that are good for his grace is the cause of my alliance with him and my alliance with him is or should be the cause of my good workes Neyther is my will the cause of Gods grace because God had first a will to give it me before I had any will to have it and he first called me to take it before I ever called upon him to aske it For in order both of nature and time Gods grace is first and is first given me for this purpose namely to prepare and produce in me those workes of holinesse which is my gratefulnesse or thankefulnesse for his grace for hence John 1.16 Gods grace is called grace for grace i. e. grace for thankes for the word grace doth signifie an antecedent kindnesse done and the subsequent thankefulnesse due for that kindnesse and it is a frequent elegancy in Scripture to repeat sometime in one sentence the same word in another sense when it commonly beareth two senses Which thankfulnesse to God for his grace I can no otherwise really expresse but by my workes of holinesse for that holinesse which in respect of his Law that commands it is my obedience the very same in respect of his grace which requires it is my thankfulnesse Likewise Gods love was first and first shewed to prepare and produce my love for God loves mee not therefore because I first loved him But contrarily because God
first loved mee therefore I must and doe love him 1. John 4.19 Wee love him because he first loved us And it goeth very well and happily with mee if Gods grace have this effect upon mee to bee seconded and followed with my workes of holinesse by way of gratefulnesse for his grace For this effect doth not follow necessarily but onely contingently which may bee or may bee not Seeing too manifest it is that in some men it followeth not Because otherwise Gods grace could not bee frustrated which the Apostle heere supposeth Yet I must constantly note that although my workes of holinesse bee not the cause procreant to produce the existence of Gods grace towards mee Yet they are the cause conservant to maintaine the continuance of it because otherwise his grace will bee frustrated Seeing then Gods grace is on Gods part the cause of my Justification unto this divine alliance and inheritance with him if therefore unto my workes I ascribe that cause which belongs unto his grace doe I not heereby frustrate the grace of God by denying it that effect which properly it doth produce Am I not heereby a Rejector and a Despiser of Gods grace as a thing superfluous and needlesse And consequently am I not an ungratefull and an ungracious wretch to magnifie the poorenesse of my workes above the richnesse of his grace Seeing unto workes of holinesse I stood bound before by the Law of nature as I am Gods Creature though hee had conferred upon mee no such grace of alliance as to make me his son and heir For if righteousnesse come by the Law A further confirmation and illustration of this last argument in the former clause of this verse comprising withall a prevention of a tacit objection An Obje ∣ ction For by reason of his former words some man might say why doe you speake of frustrating the grace of God Should you frustrate his grace if your right of inheritance should bee conveyed unto you by Gods Law and not by faith in Christ The An ∣ swer Heereto his Answer is affirmative that thereby he should frustrate Gods grace for saith hee if the right of inheritance come by the Law then Christ dyed without a cause and consequently the riches of Gods grace which appeared by the meanes of Christs death should bee made frustrate and void The word Righteousnesse in reference to God doth often signifie that vertue of God which is his Uprightnesse whereby all his actions are just and right according to that holinesse which unto him is naturall Sometime it signifieth his faithfulnesse in keeping and performing that promise which hee hath made But more frequently it signifieth his kindnesse which went before his promise and was the cause why hee made it For why doth God keep his promise The reason is because he is just faithful but why did he first make his promise the reason is because he is kind and gracious Of the word Righteousnesse in this latter sense we spake somewhat largely before in this Chapter verse 16. But heere in this verse the word signifies jurally for that right of alliance and inheritance which on my part is the effect or consequent of Gods kindnesse to mee and whereto his righteousnesse or kindnesse doth justifie mee All which amount in one word unto Justification as if the Apostle had expressed it thus if my Justification or the right whereto Gods kindnesse doth justifie come by the Law For Gods kindnesse his Justfying and my Right thence resulting are in this respect either put for the other Because they are all concurrent unto one and the same purpose for his righteousnesse or kindnesse is the cause whereof my Right is the effect and his Justifying is the act whereby through the meanes of my faith his kindnesse doth convey this Right unto me That therefore wee may heere performe what was before intimated in this Chapter vers 16. Wee are to observe that the Hebrew word Zedakah in the Old Testament and the Greeke 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the New which in our Translations are commonly Englished by the word Righteousnesse doe many times signifie the Latine word Jus whereof the English is a Right Interest or Claime As Gen. 15.6 And Abraham believed in the Lord and hee counted it to him Zedakah for righteousnesse or a Right i. e. God upon Abrahams faith conveyed unto Abraham a right to the blessing which God had promised And Gen. 30.33 So shall Zidkathi my righteousnesse or right answer for mee in time to come when it shall come for my hire before thy face q. d. All the yong ones of the flock which shall fall out to bee spotted shall bee my hire for keeping the flock and my Right to these shall answer your question concerning my future wages for if you finde with mee any other then such let it bee theft in mee And Psal 35.27 Let them shout for joy and bee glad that favour Zidki my righteousnesse i. e. my right or as it is there translated my righteous cause And Proverb 16.8 Better is a little Bizdekah with righteousnesse i. e. with right for the words following require that sense then great revenues without right And Esay 5.23 Which justifie the wicked for reward and take away Zedakah Zaddikim the righteousnesse of the righteous from him i. e. the right of the righteous from him for no man can take away the uprightnesse or morall righteousnesse of the righteous from him but his jurall right may be and many times is taken from him Likewise in the New Testament the Greeke word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 doth many times signifie a right As Heb. 11.7 And Noah became Heire 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the righteousnesse which is by faith i. e. of the right which hee accepted by his faith For the matter whereto a man becomes heire is some right interest or claime and not uprightnesse or morall righteousnesse because such righteousnesse is not inheritable or deviseable to bee conveyed from one person to another as Rights and Interests may and doe And Rom. 4.4.5 Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace but of debt but to him that worketh not but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly his faith is counted 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for righteousnesse i. e. for a Right for it hath reference to the thine former words Reward Grace and Debt which are jurall tearmes concerning matters of Right and plainely teach us this comparison betweene the Laborer and the Believer who agree in this that both have a good right interest or claime the Labourer to his wages and the Believer to his promise But in this they differ that the Labourer by title of his worke hath a right to his wages and his right is of debt But the Believer by title of his faith hath a right to his promise and his right is of grace And in the same Chapter vers 11. And Abraham received the signe of circumcision a seale 〈◊〉
Cor. 5.15 And that hee dyed for all that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves but unto him which dyed for them and rose againe And 1. Thess 4.14 For if wee believe that Jesus dyed and rose againe even so them also which sleepe in Jesus will God bring with him Yet heere and sometimes elsewhere the Apostle doth mention onely the death of Christ Because above all his other actions his Death was the hardest worke and the greatest argument of his love and therefore his death should most strongly move us to the workes of love and waies of holinesse The Effects and Benefits of Christs death were specified before upon these words of the former verse Who gave himselfe for mee Heere therefore wee shall mention the Causes or Reasons of his death Partly because there is much difference betweene the causes and the effects of the same thing though sometime these to them may bee subordinate Partly because it much conduceth to our understanding and beliefe of a thing to know the causes and reasons of it especially a thing of such moment as is the death of Christ But chiefely because the force of the Apostles argument lyeth in these words that then Christ dyed without a cause Yet heere wee intend not to meddle with the Naturall cause of his death for manifest it is that naturally his Crucifying caused it Nor yet with the voluntary causes of it on the Jewes part For so the causes of it were partly the sentence of Pilate whose will it was to condemne him partly the Malice of the Jewes whose will it was to importune that sentence and partly the Treachery of Judas whose will it was to betray him But our meaning is to declare the voluntary causes of it on Gods part why God had a will to decree the death of Christ and actually to subject him thereunto And the Causes thereof on Gods part if they bee rightly alleadged according to the Scriptures must needes have in them these three qualities 1. They must bee repugnant unto Justifying by the Law for otherwise wee lose the force of the Apostles argument which runnes thus For if righteousnesse or the right whereto a man is justified come by the Law then Christ dyed without a cause i. e. If the Law have this effect to justifie then there is no just cause why Christ dyed and therefore there must bee such a repugnancy betweene that effect of the Law and the cause of Christs death that hee who supposeth the former doth thereby overthrow the latter and contrarily if there bee a cause of Christs death the Law must needes bee without that effect 2. They must bee Consequent to the love and grace of God for otherwise againe wee lose another force of the Apostles reasoning whereby hee inferreth that if Christ dyed without cause then I frustrate the grace of God But I doe not frustrate the grace of God who by the death of Christ conveyeth that grace unto mee For indeede the supreame inward impulsive cause or prime motive of Christs death was the love and grace of God towards us and not his hatred or wrath but of this remote cause wee spake before upon the former verse and therefore shall not insist upon it any further 3. They must bee Respective unto the New Testament Partly because the New Testament is both repugnant to Gods Law and also consequent to Gods grace Partly because the New Testament is that solemne Will and Act of God wherein his love and grace is conveyed and whereon all the actions of Christ reflected Repugnantly therefore to the effect of the Law and consequently to the love and grace of God and respectively to the New Testament the immediate proper finall causes or reasons of Christs death are chiefely three 1. To testifie or prove the truth of the New Testament Every Testament ought to bee sufficiently and solemnly testified for hence by way of eminency it is called a Testament Partly because actively it doth testifie the minde or will of the Testator as the Civill Law delivers it which thereupon saith Testamentum ex eo appellatur quod sit testatio mentis But chiefely under correction because passively it is solemnly testified by the Testimony of severall testable persons who are to attest the truth of it and in case it bee a written Testament actually doe attest it under their hands and seales For the ancient solemnity whereof there are extant severall rules in the Civill Law But unto the New Testament a solemne Testimony was especially requisite Because it was to encounter with strong opposition which Gods people would and did raise against it in defence of the Law which was Gods Testament also and had a solemne Testimony on Mount Sinai wherewith lightning and thunder and the shrill sound of a Trumpet it was testified by an Angel in the audience of all the Nation And besides this solemne testimony the Law had the prescription of being in force for the space of fifteene hundred yeares The New Testament therefore which was to infringe the Old wherein a whole Nation had beene so long interessed had neede of good testimony because men will struggle hard for their Lawes Customes and Religion wherein the graver sort will hardly endure any change And the New Testament though it were not written as was the Old but was nuncupative declared by God onely to Christ Yet it had very sufficient testimony as good and better then the Old For the certainty and truth therof was testified by the Son of God a greater person then any Angel and hee testified it by greater meanes not with lightning and thunder but with workes of wonder such as never were done in the World before such as had they been in Sodome it would have remained untill this day as the strangenesse of his Miracles the holinesse of his life and the solemnity of his death Which solemnity was performed upon Mount Calvary in the view of all the Nation then assembled to eate the passover in a greater Congregation then was at Mount Sinai And that solemnity was attended with greater wonders then were at Mount Sinai for there onely the Ayre was rent with lightnings thunders and the sound of a Trumpet But at the death of Christ there were farre greater and stranger rents for Mat. 27.51 The vaile of the Temple was rent in twaine from the toppe to the bottome and the Earth did quake and the Rocks rent and the Graves were opened and many bodies of the Saints which slept arose For because Christ could not gaine beliefe for Gods New Testament neither by the constancy of his Doctrine nor by the strangenesse of his Miracles nor by the holinesse of his life therefore hee testified it by the solemnity of his death and afterward further attested it by the glory of his Resurrection for thereby his Disciples who stood doubtfull before gave full faith to his testimony and have since co-attested it over all the World Hence Christ
and gave gifts unto men and partly by the words immediately following vers 11. And hee gave some Apostles and some Prophets and some Evangelists and some Pastors and Teachers for the perfecting of the Saints for the worke of the Ministery for the edifying of the body of Christ Now to doe these things was to execute and fulfill the last Will of God Hence the Apostle teacheth the conveniency of Christs death through the meanes whereof hee was fitted and perfected for the executing and doing of those things which according to the last Will of God conduce to our finall salvation For hence is our Expiation whereby wee are absolved and acquitted from our sinnes for Christ through his death was made a mercifull and faithfull high Priest to performe this gracious Office unto us Heb. 2.17 Wherefore in all things it behoved him to bee made like unto his brethren that hee might bee a mercifull and faithfull high Priest in things pertaining to God to make reconciliation for the sinnes of the people for in that hee himselfe hath suffered being tempted hee is able to succour them that are tempted And whereas at the Legall Expiation the Priest entred the Tabernacle after hee had shed the blood of Goates and Calves But Christ first shed his owne blood and thereupon entred the Sanctuary of Heaven once for all to make an eternall Expiation Heb. 9.12 Neither by the blood of Goates and Calves but by his owne blood hee entred in once into the holy place having obtained eternall redemption Hence is our Consolation whereby wee are succoured in all our sufferings and distresses for seeing Christ suffered and was tryed in all poynts as wee are therefore hee hath a sense of our infirmities and thereupon wee may confidently come to him for helpe in time of neede Heb. 4.15 For wee have not an high Priest which cannot bee touched with the feeling of our infirmities but was in all points tempted as wee are yet without sinne let us therefore come boldly unto the Throne of Grace that wee may obtaine mercy and finde grace to helpe in time of neede Hence is our Resurrection whereby wee are raised from death for Christ through his death destroyes the Divell who had the power of death and delivers us from our death whereof though wee feele the pressure yet wee need not feare the bondage that it will bee eternall Heb. 2.14 Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood hee also himselfe likewise tooke part of the same that through death hee might destroy him that had the power of death that is the Divell and deliver them who through feare of death were all their life time subject to bondage And hence is our Glorification whereby the possession of our eternall inheritance is delivered unto us for Christ was the Executor of the New Testament for this very cause that through the meanes of his death wee might receive the possession of that eternall inheritance to the present right whereof wee are called and justified Heb. 9.15 And for this cause hee is the Mediatour of the New Testament that by meanes of death for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first Testament they which are called might receive the promise the promised possession of eternall inheritance Hence also Christ himselfe before his death taught his Disciples the Expediency of his death that it was expedient for them hee should dye for otherwise the Comforter which was the holy Ghost would not come unto them John 16.7 Neverthelesse I tell you the truth it is expedient for you that I goe away for if I goe not away the Comforter will not come unto you But if I depart I will send him unto you By his going away and departing hee meanes his dying for wee commonly expresse dying by the words of going away and departing And after his death hee taught them the Necessity of his death that it behoved him to die and rise again from the dead that thereupon the Gospel might be preached in his name Luk. 24.46 And hee sayd unto them thus it is written and thus it behoved Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day and that repentance and remission of sinnes should bee preached in his name among all Nations beginning at Jerusalem Thus the immediate proper finall causes or reasons why Christ dyed are chiefely three namely to Testifie the truth of the New Testament to Confirme the force of it and to Execute the decrees of it for unto a Testament once constituted what acts more do necessarily belong then the Testification the Confirmation and the Execution of it But the remote causes of his death might bee many and various For all the actions done by Christ as Mediatour of the New Testament were causes of his death whether wee respect his Prophetick Office in publishing Gods Will preaching his Doctrine and working Miracles or his Priestly Office in sanctifying Believers and expiating their sinnes or his Kingly Office in governing his people and subduing their enemies And all benefits redounding to Believers as the Legacies and Promises of the New Testament were causes of his death as their Justification the Remission of their sinnes their Resurrection and Glorification And all Duties to bee done by Believers as the conditions without which they are not to enjoy their Legacies are the causes of his death as their sanctity or holynesse their dying to sinne and newnesse of life in all the good workes of love But all these and the like are not opposite or repugnant to the three causes by us assigned but are comprehended and included in them are subordinate and consequent to them are collected and inferred from them For because Christ dyed to testifie confirm and execute the New Testament and my sanctity or holinesse is a Precept thereof and a duty by me to be done therefore Christ dyed for my Sanctification that I might dye unto sin and live unto holinesse and consequently he dyed for my patience temperance mercifulnesse c. because these and the like are branches of holinesse And because Christ dyed to testifie confirme and execute the New Testament wherein Remission of sins the Resurrection from the dead and Glorification were devised and promised as Legacies unto Believers therfore Christ also dyed for the Remission of my sins for my Resurrection and Glorification Yet among the remote Causes of Christs death the Scripture doth most frequently mention the Remission of sins Because my sins have the greatest force upon me to bereave or at least to hinder me from the hope of their forgivenes For according to the evidence of reason if I looke upon my sins to consider the custome and foulenesse of them how can I chuse but feare that I have deserved a fearfull punishment and that God in his Justice will inflict it on me Or if I looke upon my death to consider my dissolution and rottennesse in the Grave how can I hope that God whom I