1 All our sins past present and to come were at once imputed unto and laid upon Jesus Christ in what sense we shall afterwards enquire He was wounded for our Transgressions He was bruised for our Iniquities the chastisement of our peace was upon him and with his stripes are we healed All we like Sheep have gone astray we have turned every one to his own way and the Lord hath made to meet on Him the Iniquities of us all Isa. 53.6 7. Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the Tree 1 Pet. 2.24 The Assertions being indefinite without exception or limitation are equivalent unto Vniversals All our sins were on him he bare them All at once and therefore once died for all 2 He did therefore at once finish Transgression made an End of sin made Reconciliation for Iniquity and brought in everlasting Righteousness Dan. 9.24 At once he expiated all our sins for by himself he purged our sins and then sate down at the right hand of the Majesty on high Heb. 1.3 And we are sanctified or dedicated unto God through the offering of the Body of Christ once for all for by one Offering he hath perfected consummated compleated as unto their spiritual state them that are sanctified Heb. 10.10.14 He never will do more than he hath actually done already for the Expiation of all our sins from first to last for there remaineth no more sacrifice for sin I do not say that hereupon our Justification is compleat but only that the meritorious procuring cause of it was at once compleated and is never to be renewed or repeated any more All the enquiry is concerning the renewed Application of it unto our Souls and Consciences whether that be by Faith alone or by the works of Righteousness which we do 3 By our actual Believing with Justifying Faith believing on Christ or his Name we do receive him and thereby on our first Justification become the Sons of God Joh. 1.12 That is joynt heirs with Christ and heirs of God Rom. 8.17 Hereby we have a Right unto and an Interest in all the Benefits of his Mediation which is to be at once compleatly justified For in him we are compleat Col. 2.10 For by the Faith that is in him we do receive the forgiveness of sins and a lot or inheritance among all them that are sanctified Act. 26.18 being immediately justified from all things from which we could not be justified by the Law Act. 13.39 yea God thereon blesseth us with all spiritual Blessings in heavenly things in Christ Ephes. 1.3 All these things are absolutely inseparable from our first believing in him and therefore our Justification is at once compleat In particular 4 On our Believing all our sins are forgiven He hath quickened you together with him having forgiven you all Trespasses Col. 2.13 14 15. For in him we have Redemption through his Blood even the forgiveness of sins according unto the riches of his Grace Ephes. 1.7 which one place obviates all the petulant exceptions of some against the consistency of the free Grace of God in the pardon of sins and the satisfaction of Christ in the procurement thereof 5 There is hereon nothing to be laid unto the charge of them that are so justified For he that believeth hath Everlasting Life and shall not come into Condemnation but is passed from Death unto Life Joh. 5.24 And who shall lay any thing unto the charge of Gods Elect it is God that Justifieth it is Christ that died Rom. 8.33 34. and there is no condemnation unto them that are in Christ Jesus ver 1. For being justified by Faith we have peace with God chap. 5.1 And 6 we have that Blessedness hereon whereof in this life we are capable Rom. 4.5 6. From all which it appears that our Justification is at once compleat And 7 it must be so or no man can be justified in this world For no time can be assigned nor measure of Obedience be limited whereon it may be supposed that any one comes to be Justified before God who is not so on his first Believing For the Scripture doth no where assign any such time or measure And to say that no man is compleatly justified in the sight of God in this life is at once to overthrow all that is taught in the Scriptures concerning Justification and therewithall all peace with God and comfort of Believers But a man acquitted upon his legal trial is at once discharged of all that the Law hath against him 2. Upon this compleat Justification Believers are obliged unto universal Obedience unto God The Law is not abolished but established by Faith It is neither abrogated nor dispensed withall by such an Interpretation as should take off its obligation in any thing that it requires nor as to the degree and manner wherein it requires it Nor is it possible it should be so For it is nothing but the Rule of that Obedience which the nature of God and man make necessary from the one to the other And that is an Antinomianism of the worst sort and most derogatory unto the Law of God which affirms it to be divested of its power to oblige unto perfect Obedience so as that what it is not so shall as it were in despight of the Law be accepted as if it were so unto the End for which the Law requires it There is no medium but that either the Law is utterly abolished and so there is no sin for where there is no Law there is no Transgression or it must be allowed to require the same Obedience that it did at its first Institution and unto the same degree Neither is it in the power of any man living to keep his Conscience from judging and condemning that whatever it be wherein he is convinced that he comes short of the perfection of the Law Wherefore 3. The Commanding Power of the Law in positive precepts and prohibitions which Justified Persons are subject unto doth make and constitute all their inconformities unto it to be no less truly and properly sins in their own nature than they would be if their persons were obnoxious unto the Curse of it This they are not nor can be for to be obnoxious unto the Curse of the Law and to be justified are contradictory but to be subject to the Commands of the Law and to be justified are not so But it is a subjection to the commanding power of the Law and not an obnoxiousness unto the Curse of the Law that constitutes the nature of sin in its Transgression Wherefore that compleat Justification which is at once though it dissolve the Obligation on the sinner unto punishment by the Curse of the Law yet doth it not annihilate the commanding Authority of the Law unto them that are justified that what is sin in others should not be so in them See Rom. 8.1.33 34. Hence in the first Justification of believing sinners all future sins are remitted as unto
Arguments For 1 without the due consideration and supposition of it the true nature of Faith can never be understood For as we have shewed before Justification is Gods way of the Deliverance of the convinced sinner or one whose mouth is stopped and who is guilty before God obnoxious to the Law and shut up under Sin A sense therefore of this estate and all that belongs unto it is required unto Believing Hence Le Blanc who hath searched with some diligence into these things commends the Definition of Faith given by Mestrezat that it is the flight of a penitent sinner unto the mercy of God in Christ. And there is indeed more Sense and Truth in it than in twenty other that seem more accurate But without a supposition of the Conviction mentioned there is no understanding of this definition of Faith For it is that alone which puts the Soul upon a flight unto the mercy of God in Christ to be saved from the wrath to come Heb. 6.18 fled for Refuge 2 ly The Order Relation and use of the Law and the Gospel do uncontroulably evince the necessity of this Conviction previous unto Believing For that which any man hath first to deal withall with respect unto his Eternal Condition both naturally and by Gods Institution is the Law This is first presented unto the Soul with its Terms of Righteousness and Life and with its Curse in case of failure Without this the Gospel cannot be understood nor the Grace of it duely valued For it is the Revelation of Gods way for the relieving the Souls of men from the sentence and curse of the Law Rom. 1.17 That was the Nature that was the Use and End of the first Promise and of the whole work of Gods Grace revealed in all the ensuing Promises or in the whole Gospel Wherefore the Faith which we treat of being Evangelical that which in its especial nature and use not the Law but the Gospel requireth that which hath the Gospel for its Principle Rule and Object it is not required of us cannot be acted by us but on a supposition of the work and effect of the Law in the conviction of sin by giving the knowledge of it a sense of its Guilt and the state of the sinner on the Account thereof And that Faith which hath not respect hereunto we absolutely deny to be that Faith whereby we are justified Gal. 3.22 23 24. Rom. 10.4 3 ly This our Saviour himself directly teacheth in the Gospel For he calls unto him only those who are weary and heavy laden affirms that the whole have no need of the Physician but the sick and that he came not to call the Righteous but sinners to Repentance In all which he intends not those who were really sinners as all men are for he makes a difference between them offering the Gospel unto some and not unto others but such as were convinced of sin burdened with it and sought after deliverance So those unto whom the Apostle Peter proposed the Promise of the Gospel with the pardon of sin thereby as the Object of Gospel Faith were pricked to the Heart upon the conviction of their sin and cried what shall we do Act. 2.37 38 39. Such also was the state of the Jaylor unto whom the Apostle Paul proposed Salvation by Christ as what he was to believe for his Deliverance Act. 16.30 31. 4 ly The state of Adam and Gods dealing with him therein is the best Representation of the order and method of these things As He was after the Fall so are we by nature in the very same state and condition Really he was utterly lost by sin and convinced he was both of the nature of his sin and of the effects of it in that Act of God by the Law on his mind which is called the the opening of his Eyes For it was nothing but the communication unto his mind by his conscience of a sense of the nature guilt effects and consequents of sin which the Law could then teach him and could not do so before This fills him with shame and fear against the former whereof he provided by Figg-leaves and against the latter by hiding himself among the Trees of the Garden Nor however they may please themselves with them are any of the contrivances of men for freedom and safety from sin either wiser or more likely to have success In this condition God by an immediate Inquisition into the matter of fact sharpeneth this Conviction by the Addition of his own Testimony unto its Truth and casteth him actually under the Curse of the Law in a juridical denunciation of it In this lost forlorn hopeless condition God proposeth the Promise of Redemption by Christ unto him And this was the Object of that Faith whereby he was to be justified Although these things are not thus eminently and distinctly transacted in the minds and consciences of all who are called unto Believing by the Gospel yet for the substance of them and as to the previousness of the Conviction of sin unto Faith they are found in all that sincerely believe These things are known and for the substance of them generally agreed unto But yet are they such as being duely considered will discover the vanity and mistakes of many definitions of Faith that are obtruded on us For any definition or description of it which hath not express or at least virtual respect hereunto is but a deceit and no way answers the Experience of them that truly believe And such are all those who place it meerly in an Assent unto divine Revelation of what Nature soever that Assent be and whatever Effects are ascribed unto it For such an Assent there may be without any respect unto this work of the Law Neither do I to speak plainly at all value the most accurate Disputations of any about the Nature and Act of Justifying Faith who never had in themselves an Experience of the work of the Law in Conviction and Condemnation for sin with the Effects of it upon their Consciences or do omit the due consideration of their own Experience wherein what they truly believe is better stated than in all their Disputations That Faith whereby we are justified is in general the acting of the Soul towards God as revealing himself in the Gospel for deliverance out of this state and condition or from under the Curse of the Law applied unto the Conscience according to his mind and by the ways that he hath appointed I give not this as any definition of Faith but only express what hath a necessary influence into it whence the nature of it may be discerned 2. The Effects of this Conviction with their respect unto our Justification real or pretended may also be briefly considered And whereas this Conviction is a meer work of the Law it is not with respect unto these Effects to be considered alone but in conjunction with and under the conduct of that temporary Faith of the Gospel
before described And these two Temporary Faith and Legal Conviction are the principles of all Works or Duties in Religion antecedenr unto Justification and which therefore we must deny to have in them any Causality thereof But it is granted that many Acts and Duties both internal and external will ensue on real Convictions Those that are internal may be reduced unto three Heads 1 Displicency and Sorrow that we have sinned It is impossible that any one should be really convinced of sin in the way before declared but that a dislike of sin and of himself that he hath sinned shame of it and sorrow for it will ensue thereon And it is a sufficient Evidence that he is not really convinced of sin whatever he profess or whatever confession he make whose mind is not so affected Jer. 36.24 2 Fear of punishment due to sin For Conviction respects not only the instructive and preceptive part of the Law whereby the Being and Nature of sin are discovered but the Sentence and Curse of it also whereby it is judged and condemned Gen. 4.13 14. Wherefore where fear of the punishment threatned doth not ensue no person is really convinced of sin nor hath the Law had its proper Work towards him as it is previous unto the Administration of the Gospel And whereas by Faith we fly from the wrath to come where there is not a Sense and Apprehension of that wrath as due unto us there is no Ground or Reason for our Believing 3 A desire of Deliverance from that state wherein a convinced sinner finds himself upon his Conviction is unavoidable unto him And it s naturally the first thing that Conviction works in the minds of men and that in various degrees of care fear solicitude and restlessness which from Experience and the conduct of Scripture Light have been explained by many unto the great benefit of the Church and sufficiently derided by others 2 These internal Acts of the mind will also produce sundry external Duties which may be referred unto two Heads 1 Abstinence from known sin unto the utmost of mens power For they who begin to find that it is an evil thing and a bitter that they have sinned against God cannot but endeavour a future Abstinence from it And as this hath respect unto all the former internal Acts as Causes of it so it is a peculiar exurgency of the last of them or a desire of deliverance from the state wherein such persons are For this they suppose to be the best expedient for it or at least that without which it will not be And herein usually do their Spirits act by Promises and Vows with renewed sorrow on surprisals into sin which will befall them in that condition 2 The Duties of Religious Worship in prayer and hearing of the Word with diligence in the use of the Ordinances of the Church will ensue hereon For without these they know that no deliverance is to be obtained Reformation of Life and Conversation in various degrees doth partly consist in these things and partly follow upon them And these things are always so where the Convictions of men are real and abiding But yet it must be said that they are neither severally nor joyntly though in the highest degree either necessary dispositions preparations previous congruities in a way of merit nor conditions of our Justification For 1. They are not Conditions of Justification For where one thing is the Condition of another that other thing must follow the fulfilling of that Condition Otherwise the Condition of it it is not But they may be all found where Justification doth not ensue Wherefore there is no Covenant Promise or Constitution of God making them to be such Conditions of Justification though in their own nature they may be subservient unto what is required of us with respect thereunto But a certain infallible connexion with it by virtue of any Promise or Covenant of God as it is with Faith they have not And other Condition but what is constituted and made to be so by divine compact or promise is not to be allowed For otherwise Conditions might be endlesly multiplied and all things natural as well as moral made to be so So the meat we eat may be a Condition of Justification Faith and Justification are inseparable but so are not Justification and the things we now insist upon as Experience doth evince 2. Justification may be where the outward Acts and Duties mentioned proceeding from Convictions under the conduct of temporary Faith are not For Adam was Justified without them so also were the Converts in the Acts chap. 2. For what is reported concerning them is all of it Essentially included in Conviction ver 37. And so likewise was it with the Jaylor Acts 16.30 31. And as unto many of them it is so with most that do believe Therefore they are not Conditions For a Condition suspends the Event of that whereof it is a Condition 3. They are not formal dispositions unto Justification because it consisteth not in the Introduction of any new form or inherent Quality in the Soul as hath been in part already declared and shall yet afterwards be more fully evinced Nor 4 are they moral preparations for it for being antecedent unto Faith Evangelical no man can have any design in them but only to seek for Righteousness by the Works of the Law which is no preparation unto Justification All Discoveries of the Righteousness of God with the Souls adherence unto it belong to Faith alone There is indeed a Repentance which accompanieth Faith and is included in the nature of it at least radically This is required unto our Justification But that legal Repentance which precedes Gospel Faith and is without it is neither a Disposition Preparation nor Condition of our Justification In brief The order of these things may be observed in the dealing of God with Adam as was before intimated And there are three degrees in it 1 The Opening of the Eyes of the sinner to see the filth and guilt of sin in the Sentence and Curse of the Law applied unto his Conscience Rom. 7. 9 10. This effects in the mind of the sinner the things before mentioned and puts him upon all the Duties that spring from them For Persons on their first Convictions ordinarily judge no more but that their state being evil and dangerous it is their Duty to better it and that they can or shall do so accordingly if they apply themselves thereunto But all these things as to a Protection or Deliverance from the sentence of the Law are no better then Figg-leaves and hiding 2 Ordinarily God by his Providence or in the Dispensation of the Word gives life and power unto this Work of the Law in a peculiar manner in answer unto the charge which he gave unto Adam after his Attempt to hide himself Hereby the mouth of the sinner is stopped and he becomes as throughly sensible of his Guilt before God so satisfied that
23 24. 2. We suppose herein a sincere Assent unto all Divine Revelations whereof the Promises of Grace and Mercy by Christ are an especial part This Paul supposed in Agrippa when he would have won him over unto Faith in Christ Jesus King Agrippa believest thou the Prophets I know that thou believest Act. 26.27 And this Assent which respects the Promises of the Gospel not as they contain propose and exhibit the Lord Christ and the Benefits of his Mediation unto us but as Divine Revelations of infallible Truth is true and sincere in its kind as we described it before under the notion of Temporary Faith But as it proceeds no farther as it includes no Act of the Will or Heart it is not that Faiâ—h whereby we are Justified However it is required thereunto and is included therein 3. The proposal of the Gospel according unto the Mind of God is hereunto supposed That is that it be preached according unto Gods Appointment For not only the Gospel it self but the Dispensation or Preaching of it in the Ministry of the Church is ordinarily required unto Believing This the Apostle asserts and proves the necessity of it at large Rom. 10.11 12 13 14 15 16 17. Herein the Lord Christ and his Mediation with God the only way and means for the Justification and Salvation of lost convinced sinners as the product and effect of Divine Wisdom Love Grace and Righteousness is revealed declared proposed and offered unto such sinners For therein is the Righteousness of God revealed from Faith unto Faith Rom. 1.17 The Glory of God is represented as in a Glass 2 Cor. 3.18 and Life and Immortality are brought to Light through the Gospel 2 Tim. 1.10 Heb. 2.3 Wherefore 4. The Persons who are required to believe and whose immediate Duty it is so to do are such who really in their own Consciences are brought unto and do make the Enquiries mentioned in the Scripture What shall we do What shall we do to be saved How shall we fly from the wrath to come Wherewithall shall we appear before God How shall we answer what is laid unto our Charge Or such as being sensible of the Guilt of sin do seek for a Righteousness in the sight of God Act. 2.38 Act. 16.30 31. Micah 6.6 7. Isa. 35.4 Heb. 6.18 On these suppositions the Command and Direction given unto men being Believe and you shall be saved the Enquiry is what is that Act or Work of Faith whereby the may obtain a real interest or propriety in the Promises of the Gospel and the things declared in them unto their Justification before God And 1. It is evident from what hath been discoursed that it doth not consist in that it is not to be fully expressed by any one single habit or Act of the Mind or Will distinctly whatever For there are such Descriptions given of it in the Scripture such things are proposed as the Object of it and such is the Experience of all that sincerely believe as no one single Act either of the Mind or Will can answer unto Nor can an exact method of those Acts of the Soul which are concurrent therein be prescribed Only what is Essential unto it is manifest 2. That which in order of Nature seems to have the precedency is the Assent of the Mind unto that which the Psalmist betakes himself unto in the first place for relief under a sense of sin and trouble Psal. 130.3 4. If thou Lord shouldst mark Iniquity O Lord who shall stand The Sentence of the Law and Judgment of Conscience lye against him as unto any Acceptation with God Therefore he despairs in himself of standing in Judgment or being acquitted before him In this state that which the Soul first fixeth on as unto its relief is that there is forgiveness with God This as declared in the Gospel is that God in his Love and Grace will pardon and justifie guilty sinners through the blood and Mediation of Christ So it is proposed Rom. 3.23 24. The Assent of the Mind hereunto as proposed in the Promise of the Gospel is the root of Faith the foundation of all that the Soul doth in believing Nor is there any Evangelical Faith without it But yet consider it abstractedly as a meer Act of the Mind the Essence and Nature of Justifying Faith doth not consist solely therein though it cannot be without it But 2. This is accompanied in sincere Believing with an Approbation of the way of Deliverance and Salvation proposed as an effect of Divine Grace Wisdom and Love whereon the Heart doth rest in it and apply it self unto it according to the Mind of God This is that Faith whereby we are justified which I shall farther evince by shewing what is included in it and inseparable from it 1. It includeth in it a sincere Renunciation of all other ways and means for the attaining of Righteousness Life and Salvation This is Essential unto Faith Act. 4.12 Hos. 14.2 3. Jerem. 3.23 Psal. 71.16 I will make mention of thy Righteousness of thine only When a person is in the condition before described and such alone are called immediately to believe Math. 9.13 chap. 11.28 1 Tim. 1.15 many things will present themselves unto him for his relief particularly his own Righteousness Rom. 10.3 A Renunciation of them all as unto any hope or expectation of Relief from them belongs unto sincere Believing Isa. 50.10 11. 2. There is in it the Wills consent whereby the Soul betakes it self cordially and sincerely as unto all its expectation of pardon of sin and Righteousness before God unto the way of Salvation proposed in the Gospel This is that which is called coming unto Christ and receiving of him whereby true Justifying Faith is so often expressed in the Scripture or as it is peculiarly called believing in him or believing on his name The whole is expressed Joh. 14.6 Jesus saith unto him I am the Way the Truth and the Life no Man cometh unto the Father but by me 3. An Acquiescency of the Heart in God as the Author and principal Cause of the way of Salvation prepared as acting in a way of Soveraign Grace and Mercy towards sinners Who by him do believe in God who raised him up from the dead and gave him Glory that your faith and hope might be in God 1 Pet. 1.21 The Heart of a sinner doth herein give unto God the Glory of all those holy properties of his Nature which he designed to manifest in and by Jesus Christ. See Isa. 42.1 chap. 49.3 And this Acquiescency of the Heart in God is that which is the immediate root of that waiting patience long-suffering and hope which are the proper Acts and Effects of Justifying Faith Heb. 6.12 15 18 19. 4. Trust in God or the Grace and Mercy of God in and through the Lord Christ as set forth to be a propitiation through Faith in his Blood doth belong hereunto or necessarily ensue hereon For the person called
being supplied by some to comply with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that ensues And this phrase of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is peculiar unto this Apostle being no where used in the New Testament nor it may be in any other Author but by him And he useth it expresly 1 Epist. 2.29 and Chap. 3.7 where those words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 do plainly contain what is here expressed 2 To be justified as the word is rendred by the vulgar let him be justified more as it must be rendred if the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 be retained respects an act of God which neither in its beginning nor continuation is prescribed unto us as a duty nor is capable of increase in degrees as we shall shew afterwards 3 Men are said to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 generally from inherent Righteousness and if the Apostle had intended Justification in this place he would not have said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 All which things prefer the Complutensian Syriack and Arabick before the vulgar reading of this place If the vulgar reading be retained no more can be intended but that he who is Righteous should so proceed in working Righteousness as to secure his justified estate unto himself and to manifest it before God and the World Now whereas the words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 are used 36 times in the New Testament these are all the places whereunto any exception is put in against their Forensick signification And how ineffectual these exceptions are is evident unto any impartial Judge Some other Considerations may yet be made use of and pleaded to the same purpose Such is the opposition that is made between Justification and Condemnation So is it Isa. 50.8 9. Prov. 17.15 Rom. 5.16 18. Chap. 8.33 34. and in sundry other places as may be observed in the preceding enumeration of them Wherefore as Condemnation is not the infusing of an habit of wickedness into him that is condemned nor the making of him to be inherently wicked who was before Righteous but the passing a sentence upon a man with respect unto his wickedness no more is Justification the change of a person from inherent unrighteousness unto Righteousness by the infusion of a principle of Grace but a sentential Declaration of him to be Righteous Moreover the thing intended is frequently declared in the Scripture by other aequivalent terms which are absolutely exclusive of any such sense as the infusion of an habit of Righteousness So the Apostle expresseth it by the Imputation of Righteousness without Works Rom. 4.6 11. And calls it the Blessedness which we have by the pardon of sin and the covering of Iniquity in the same place So it is called Reconciliation with God Rom. 5.9 10. To be justified by the Blood of Christ is the same with being Reconciled by his Death Being now justified by his Blood we shall be saved from wrath by him For if when we were Enemies we were reconciled to God by the Death of his Son much more being reconciled we shall be saved by his life See 2 Cor. 5.20 21. Reconciliation is not the infusion of an habit of Grace but the effecting of peace and love by the removal of all enmity and causes of offence To save and Salvation are used to the same purpose He shall save his people from their sins Matth. 1.21 is the same with by him all that believe are justified from all things from which they could not be justified by the Law of Moses Act. 13.39 That of Gal. 2.16 We have believed that we might be justified by the Faith of Christ and not by the Works of the Law is the same with Act. 15.11 But we believe that through the Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved even as they Ephes. 2.8 9. By Grace ye are saved through Faith and not of Works is so to be justified So it is expressed by pardon or the Remission of Sins which is the effect of it Rom. 4.5 6. By receiving the Atonement Chap. 5.11 not coming into Judgment or Condemnation Joh. 5.24 Blotting out sins and Iniquities Isa. 43.25 Psal. 51.9 Isa. 44.22 Jer. 18.23 Act. 3.19 Casting them into the bottom of the Sea Micah 7.19 and sundry other expressions of an alike importance The Apostle declaring it by its effects says 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Many shall be made Righteous Rom. 5.19 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 who on a juridical Trial in open Court is absolved and declared Righteous And so it may be observed that all things concerning Justification are proposed in the Scripture under a juridical Scheme or Forensick Tryal and Sentence As 1 A judgment is supposed in it concerning which the Psalmist prays that it may not proceed on the terms of the Law Psal. 143.2 2 The Judge is God himself Isa. 50.7 8. Rom. 8.33 3 The Tribunal whereon God sits in Judgment is the Throne of Grace Heb. 4.16 Therefore will the Lord wait that he may be gracious unto you and therefore vvill he be exalted that he may have mercy upon you for the Lord is a God of Judgment Isa. 30.18 4 A Guilty person This is the Sinner who is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so guilty of sin as to be obnoxious to the Judgment of God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rom. 3.19 Chap. 1.32 whose mouth is stopped by Conviction 5 Accusers are ready to propose and promote the charge against the guilty person These are the Law Joh. 5.45 and Conscience Rom. 2.15 and Sathan also Zach. 3.2 Rev. 12.10 6 The Charge is admitted and drawn up into an Hand-vvriting in form of Law and is laid before the Tribunal of the Judge in Bar to the Deliverance of the Offender Col. 2.14 7 A Plea is prepared in the Gospel for the guilty person And this is Grace through the Blood of Christ the Ransome paid the Atonement made the Eternal Righteousness brought in by the Surety of the Covenant Rom. 3.23 24 25. Dan. 9.24 Eph. 1.7 8 Hereunto alone the Sinner betakes himself renouncing all other Apologies or defensatives whatever Psal. 130.2 3. Psal. 143.2 Job 9.2 3. Chap. 42.5 6 7. Luk. 18.13 Rom. 3.24 25. Chap. 5.11 16 17 18 19. Chap. 8.1 2 3. ver 32.33 Isa. 53.5 6. Heb. 9.13 14 15. Chap. 10.1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13. 1 Pet. 2.24 1 Joh. 1.7 Other Plea for a Sinner before God there is none He who knoweth God and himself will not provide or betake himself unto any other Nor will he as I suppose trust unto any other defence were he sure of all the Angels in Heaven to plead for him 9 To make this Plea effectual we have an Advocate with the Father and he pleads his own propitiation for us 1 Joh. 2.1 2. 10 The Sentence hereon is Absolution on the account of the Ransome Blood or Sacrifice and Righteousness of Christ with Acceptation into favour as persons approved of God Job
any actual Obligation unto the Curse of the Law unless they should fall into such sins as should ipso facto forfeit their justified estate and transfer them from the Covenant of Grace into the Covenant of Works which we believe that God in his Faithfulness will preserve them from And although sin cannot be actually pardoned before it be actually committed yet may the obligation unto the Curse of the Law be virtually taken away from such sins in justified persons as are consistent with a justified estate or the Terms of the Covenant of Grace antecedently unto their actual commission God at once in this sense forgiveth all their Iniquities and healeth all their Diseases redeemeth their life from Destruction and crowneth them with loving kindness and mercies Psal. 103.2 3. Future sins are not so pardoned as that when they are committed they should be no sins which cannot be unless the commanding power of the Law be abrogated But their respect unto the Curse of the Law or their power to oblige the justified person thereunto is taken away Still there abideth the true nature of sin in every inconformity unto or transgression of the Law in justified persons which stands in need of daily actual pardon For there is no man that liveth and sinneth not and if we say that we have no sin we do but deceive our selves None are more sensible of the Guilt of sin none are more troubled for it none are more earnest in supplications for the pardon of it than justified persons For this is the effect of the Sacrifice of Christ applyed unto the Souls of Believers as the Apostle declares Heb. 10.1 2 3 4 10 14. that it doth take away Conscience condemning the Sinner for sin with respect unto the Curse of the Law But it doth not take away Conscience condemning sin in the Sinner which on all considerations of God and themselves of the Law and the Gospel requires Repentance on the part of the sinner and actual pardon on the part of God Whereas therefore one Essential part of Justification consisteth in the pardon of our sins and sins cannot be actually pardoned before they are actually committed our present enquiry is whereon the continuation of our Justification doth depend notwithstanding the Interveniency of sin after we are justified whereby such sins are actually pardoned and our persons are continued in a state of Acceptation with God and have their right unto Life and Glory uninterrupted Justification is at once compleat in the Imputation of a perfect Righteousness the Grant of a Right and Title unto the heavenly Inheritance the actual pardon of all past sins and the virtual pardon of future sins but how or by what means on what terms and conditions this state is continued unto those who are once justified whereby their Righteousness is everlasting their Title to Life and Glory indefeazable and all their sins are actually pardoned is to be enquired For answer unto this enquiry I say 1 It is God that Justifieth and therefore the continuation of our Justification is his Act also And this on his part depends on the immutability of his Counsel the unchangeableness of the everlasting Covenant which is ordered in all things and sure the Faithfulness of his Promises the Efficacy of his Grace his complacency in the Propitiation of Christ with the power of his Intercession and the irrevocable Grant of the Holy Ghost unto them that do believe which things are not of our present enquiry 2. Some say that on our part the continuation of this state of our Justification depends on the Condition of Good works that is that they are of the same consideration and use with Faith it self herein In our Justification it self there is they will grant somewhat peculiar unto Faith but as unto the continuation of our Justification Faith and Works have the same influence into it Yea some seem to ascribe it distinctly unto Works in an especial manner with this only proviso that they be done in Faith For my part I cannot understand that the continuation of our Justification hath any other dependencies than hath our Justification it self As Faith alone is required unto the one so Faith alone is required unto the other although its operations and effects in the discharge of its duty and office in Justification and the continuation of it are divers nor can it otherwise be To clear this Assertion two things are to be observed 1. That the continuation of our Justification is the continuation of the Imputation of Righteousness and the pardon of sins I do still suppose the imputation of Righteousness to concur unto our Justification although we have not yet examined what Righteousness it is that is imputed But that God in our Justification imputeth Righteousness unto us is so expresly affirmed by the Apostle as that it must not be called in question Now the first act of God in the imputation of Righteousness cannot be repeated And the actual pardon of sin after Justification is an effect and consequent of that imputation of Righteousness If any man sin there is a Propitiation deliver him I have found a Ransome Wherefore unto this actual pardon there is nothing required but the application of that Righteousness which is the cause of it and this is done by Faith only 2. The Continuation of our Justification is before God or in the sight of God no less than our absolute Justification is We speak not of the sense and evidence of it unto our own Souls unto peace with God nor of the evidencing and manifestation of it unto others by its effects but of the continuance of it in the sight of God Whatever therefore is the means condition or cause hereof is pleadable before God and ought to be pleaded unto that purpose So then the enquiry is What it is that when a Justified person is guilty of Sin as guilty he is more or less every day and his Conscience is pressed with a sense thereof as that only thing which can endanger or intercept his justified Estate his Favour with God and Title unto Glory he betakes himself unto or ought so to do for the continuance of his State and pardon of his Sins what he pleadeth unto that purpose and what is available thereunto That this is not his own Obedience his personal Righteousness or fulfilling the condition of the new Covenant is evident from 1 the experience of Believers themselves 2 Testimony of Scripture and 3 the Example of them whose cases are recorded therein 1. Let the experience of them that do believe be enquired into for their Consciences are continually exercised herein What is it that they betake themselves unto what is it that they plead with God for the continuance of the pardon of their Sins and the acceptance of their persons before him Is it any thing but Soveraign Grace and Mercy through the Blood of Christ Are not all the Arguments which they plead unto this end taken from the
they would quickly discern such an imperfection in the best of their Duties such a frequency of sinful irregularities in their Minds and disorders in their Affections such an unsuitableness in all that they are and do from the inward frames of their Hearts unto all their outward actions unto the Greatness and Holiness of God as would abate their confidence in placing any Trust in their own Righteousness for their Justification By means of these and the like presumptuous conceptions of unenlightened minds the Consciences of men are kept off from being affected with a due sense of sin and a serious consideration how they may obtain acceptance before God Neither the consideration of the Holiness or Terrour of the Lord nor the severity of the Law as it indispensibly requireth a Righteousness in compliance with its commands nor the promise of the Gospel declaring and tendring a Righteousness the Righteousness of God in answer thereunto nor the uncertainty of their own minds upon Trials and Surprizals as having no stable ground of Peace to Anchor on nor the constant secret disquietment of their Consciences if not seared or hardened through the deceitfulness of sin can prevail with them whose thoughts are prepossessed with such slight conceptions of the state and guilt of sin to fly for Refuge unto the only hope that is set before them or really and distinctly to comport with the only way of Deliverance and Salvation Wherefore if we would either teach or learn the Doctrine of Justification in a due manner a clear apprehension of the Greatness of our Apostasie from God a due sense of the Guilt of sin a deep Experience of its power all with respect unto the Holiness and Law of God are necessary unto us We have nothing to do in this matter with men who through the Feavor of Pride have lost the Understanding of their own miserable condition For Natura sic apparet vitiata ut hoc majoris vitij sit non videre Austin The whole need not the Physician but the sick Those who are pricked unto the Heart for sin and cry out what shall we do to be saved will understand what we have to say Against others we must defend the Truth as God shall enable And it may be made good by all sorts of Instances That as men rise in their notions about the extenuation of sin so they fall in their regard unto the Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. And it is no less true also on the other hand as Unbelief worketh in men a disesteem of the Person and Righteousness of Christ they are cast inevitably to seek for countenance unto their own Consciences in the extenuation of sin So insensibly are the minds of men diverted from Christ and seduced to place their confidence in themselves Some confused respect they have unto him as a Relief they know not how nor wherein but they live in that pretended height of humane Wisdom to trust to themselves So they are instructed to do by the best of the Philosophers Vnum bonum est quod beatae vitae causa firmamentum est tibi fidere Senec. Epist. 31. Hence also is the internal sanctifying Grace of God among many equally despised with the Imputation of the Righteousness of Christ. The sum of their Faith and of their Arguments in the confirmation of it is given by the Learned Roman Oratour and Philosopher Virtutem saith he nemo unquam Deo acceptam retulit nimirum recte Propter virtutem enim jure laudamur in virtute recte gloriamur quod non contingeret si donum a Deo non a nobis haberemus Tull. de nat Deor. 4. The opposition that the Scripture makes between Grace and Works in general with the Exclusion of the one and the Assertion of the other in our Justification deserves a previous consideration The opposition intended is not made between Grace and Works or our own Obedience as unto their Essence Nature and Consistency in the order and method of our Salvation but only with respect unto our Justification I do not design herein to plead any particular Testimonies of Scripture as unto their especial sense or declaration of the mind of the Holy Ghost in them which will afterwards be with some Diligence enquired into but only to take a view which way the Eye of the Scripture guides our Apprehensions and what compliance there is in our own Experience with that Guidance The Principal seat of this Doctrine as will be confessed by all is in the Epistles of Paul unto the Romans and Galatians whereunto that also of the Hebrews may be added But in that unto the Romans it is most eminently declared For therein is it handled by the Apostle ex professo at large and that both Doctrinally and in the way of controversie with them by whom the Truth was opposed And it is worth our consideration what process he makes towards the Declaration of it and what principles he proceeds upon therein 1. He lays it down as the fundamental maxime which he would proceed upon or as a general Thesis including the substance of what he designed to explain and prove that in the Gospel the Righteousness of God is revealed from Faith to Faith as it is written the Just shall live by Faith chap. 1.17 All sorts of men who had any knowledge of God and themselves were then as they must be always enquiring and in one Degree or other labouring after Righteousness For this they looked on and that justly as the only means of an Advantagious Relation between God and themselves Neither had the Generality of men any other thoughts but that this Righteousness must be their own inherent in them and performed by them as Rom. 10.3 For as this is the Language of a natural Conscience and of the Law and suited unto all Philosophical notions concerning the nature of Righteousness so whatever Testimony was given of another kind in the Law and the Prophets as such a Testimony is given unto a Righteousness of God without the Law chap. 3.21 there was a Veil upon it as to the understanding of all sorts of men As therefore Righteousness is that which all men seek after and cannot but seek after who design or desire Acceptance with God so it is in vain to enquire of the Law of a natural Conscience of Philosophical Reason after any Righteousness but what consists in inherent Habits and Acts of our own Neither Law nor natural Conscience nor Reason do know any other But in opposition unto this Righteousness of our own and the necesssity thereof testified unto by the Law in its Primitive constitution by the natural Light of Conscience and the apprehension of the nature of things by Reason the Apostle declares that in the Gospel there is revealed another Righteousness which is also the Righteousness of another the Righteousness of God and that from Faith to Faith For not only is the Righteousness it self revealed aliene from those other Principles
pleased to observe that I am not debating these things argumentatively in such propriety of Expressions as are required in a Scholastical Disputation which shall be done afterwards so far as I judge it necessary But I am doing that which indeed is better and of more Importance namely declaring the Experience of Faith in the Expressions of the Scripture or such as are analogous unto them And I had rather be instrumental in the communication of light and knowledge unto the meanest Believer then to have the clearest success against prejudiced Disputers Wherefore by Faith thus acting are we justified and have peace with God Other Foundation in this matter can no man lay that will endure the Trial. Nor are we to be moved that men who are unacquainted with these things in their Reality and Power do reject the whole work of Faith herein as an easie effort of Fancy or Imagination For the preaching of the Cross is foolishness unto the best of the natural wisdom of men Neither can any understand them but by the spirit of God Those who know the Terrour of the Lord who have been really convinced and made sensible of the Guilt of their Apostasie from God and of their actual sins in that state and what a fearful thing it is to fall into the hands of the living God seeking thereon after a real solid Foundation whereon they may be accepted with him have other thoughts of these things and do find Believing a thing to be quite of another nature then such men suppose It is not a work of Fancy or Imagination unto men to deny and abhor themselves to subscribe unto the Righteousness of God in denouncing Death as due to their sins to renounce all hopes and expectations of Relief from any Righteousness of their own to mix the Word and Promise of God concerning Christ and Righteousness by him with Faith so as to receive the Attonement and therewithall to give up themselves unto an universal Obedience unto God And as for them unto whom through Pride and Self-conceit on the one hand or Ignorance on the other it is so we have in this matter no concernment with them For unto whom these things are only the work of Fancy the Gospel is a Fable Something unto this purpose I had written long since in a practical Discourse concerning Communion with God And whereas some men of an inferiour condition have found it useful for the strengthening themselves in their dependencies on some of their superiours or in compliance with their own Inclinationt to cavil at my Writings and revile their Author that Book hath been principally singled out to exercise their faculty and Good intentions upon This course is steered of late by one Mr. Hotchkisse in a Book about Justification wherein in particular he falls very severely on that Doctrine which for the substance of it is here again proposed pag. 81. And were it not that I hope it may be somewhat useful unto him to be a little warned of his Immoralities in that Discourse I should not in the least have taken notice of his other Impertinencies The Good man I perceive can be angry with Persons whom he never saw and about things which he cannot or will not understand so far as to revile them with most opprobious Language For my part although I have never written any thing designedly on this subject or the Doctrine of Justification before now yet he could not but discern by what was occasionally delivered in that Discourse that I maintain no other Doctrine herein but what is the common Faith of the most Learned men in all Protestant Churches And the Reasons why I am singled out for the object of his petulancy and spleen are too manifest to need Repetition But I shall yet inform him of what perhaps he is ignorant namely That I esteem it no small honour that the Reproaches wherewith the Doctrine opposed by him is reproached do fall upon me And the same I say concerning all the reviling and contemptuous Expressions that his ensuing pages are filled withall But as to the present occasion I beg his excuse if I believe him not that the reading of the passages which he mentions out of my Book filled him with Horrour and Indignation as he pretends For whereas he acknowledgeth that my words may have a sense which he approves of and which therefore must of necessity be good and sound what honest and sober person would not rather take them in that sense then wrest them unto another so to cast himself under the disquietment of a fit of horrible Indignation In this fit I suppose it was if such a fit indeed did befall him as one Evil begets another that he thought he might insinuate something of my denial of the necessity of our own personal Repentance and Obedience For no man who had read that Book only of all my Writings could with the least regard to Conscience or Honesty give countenance unto such a surmise unless his mind was much discomposed by the unexpected invasion of a fit of Horrour But such is his dealing with me from first to last nor do I know where to fix on any one instance of his Exceptions against me wherein I can suppose he had escaped his pretended fit and was returned unto himself that is unto honest and ingenuous thoughts wherewith I hope he is mostly conversant But though I cannot miss in the Justification of this charge by considering any Instance of his Reflections yet I shall at present take that which he insists longest upon and filleth his Discourse about it with most scurrility of Expressions And this is in the 164 th page of his Book and those that follow For there he disputeth fiercely against me for making this to be an undue End of our serving God namely that we may flee from the wrath to come And who would not take this for an inexpiable crime in any especially in him who hath written so much of the nature and use of Threatnings under the Gospel and the Fear that ought to be ingenerated by them in the hearts of men as I have done Wherefore so great a Crime being the object of them all his Revilings seem not only to be Excused but Hallowed But what if all this should prove a wilful prevarication not becoming a Good man much less a Minister of the Gospel my words as reported and transcribed by himself are these Some there are that do the Service of the House of God as the drudgery of their Lives the principle they yield Obedience upon is Spirit of Bondage unto fear the Rule they do it by is the Law in its dread and rigour exacting it of them to the utmost without mercy or mitigation the End they do it for is to fly from the Wrath to come to pacifie Conscience and to seek for Righteousness as it were by the works of the Law What follow unto the same purpose he omits and what he adds as my
that which might be more safely trusted unto as more according unto the mind of God and unto his Glory So did the Jews generally the frame of whose minds the Apostle represents Rom. 10.3 4. And many of them assented unto the Doctrine of the Gospel in general as true howbeit they liked it not in their Hearts as the best way of Justification and Salvation but sought for them by the works of the Law Wherefore Vnbelief in its formal nature consists in the want of a spiritual discerning and Approbation of the way of salvation by Jesus Christ as an Effect of the infinite Wisdom Goodness and Love of God For where these are the Soul of a convinced sinner cannot but embrace it and adhere unto it Hence also all Acquiescency in this Way and Trust and Confidence in committing the Soul unto it or unto God in it and by it without which whatever is pretended of Believing is but a shadow of Faith is impossible unto such persons For they want the foundation whereon alone they can be built And the consideration hereof doth sufficiently manifest wherein the nature of true Evangelical Faith doth consist 2. The Design of God in and by the Gospel with the Work and Office of Faith with respect thereunto farther confirms the Description given of it That which God designeth herein in the first place is not the Justification and Salvation of sinners His utmost compleat End in all his Counsels is his own Glory he doth all things for himself nor can he who is infinite do otherwise But in an especial manner he expresseth this concerning this way of Salvation by Jesus Christ. Particularly He designed herein the Glory of his Righteousness To declare his Righteousness Rom. 3.25 Of his Love God so loved the world Joh. 3.16 Herein we perceive the Love of God that he laid down his life for us 1 Joh. 3.16 Of his Grace accepted to the praise of the Glory of his Grace Ephes. 1.5 6. Of his Wisdom Christ Crucified the Wisdom of God 1 Cor. 1.24 might be known by the Church the manifold wisdom of God Ephes. 3.10 Of his Power It is the Power of God unto Salvation Rom. 1.16 Of his Faithfulness Rom. 4.16 For God designed herein not only the Reparation of all that Glory whose Declaration was impeached and obscured by the Entrance of sin but also a farther Exaltation and more eminent Manifestation of it as unto the Degrees of its Exaltation and some especial Instances before concealed Ephes. 3.9 And all this is called the Glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ whereof Faith is the beholding 2 Cor. 4.6 3. This being the principal Design of God in the way of Justification and Salvation by Christ proposed in the Gospel that which on our part is required unto a participation of the Benefits of it is the Ascription of that Glory unto God which he designs so to Exalt The Acknowledgment of all these glorious properties of the Divine Nature as manifested in the provision and proposition of this way of life Righteousness and Salvation with an Approbation of the way it self as an effect of them and that which is safely to be trusted unto is that which is required of us and this is Faith or Believing Being strong in Faith he gave Glory to God Rom. 4.22 And this is in the nature of the weakest degree of sincere Faith And no other Grace Work or Duty is suited hereunto or firstly and directly of that tendency but only consequentially and in the way of Gratitude And although I cannot wholly Assent unto him who affirms that Faith in the Epistles of Paul is nothing but Existimatio magnifice sentiens de Dei Potentia Justitia Bonitate si quid promiserit in eo praestando constantia because it is too general and not limited unto the way of Salvation by Christ his Elect in whom he will be glorified yet hath it much of the Nature of Faith in it Wherefore I say that hence we may both learn the Nature of Faith and whence it is that Faith alone is required unto our Justification The Reason of it is because this is that Grace or Duty alone whereby we do or can give unto God that Glory which he designeth to manifest and exalt in and by Jesus Christ. This only Faith is suited unto and this it is to believe Faith in the sense we enquire after is the Hearts Approbation of and consent unto the way of Life and Salvation of sinners by Jesus Christ as that wherein the Glory of the Righteousness Wisdom Grace Love and Mercy of God is exalted the praise whereof it ascribes unto him and resteth in it as unto the Ends of it namely Justification Life and Salvation It is to give Glory to God Rom. 4.20 to behold his Glory as in a Glass or the Gospel wherein it is represented unto us 2 Cor. 3.18 To have in our Hearts the Light of the Knowledge of the Glory of God in the Face of Jesus Christ 2 Cor. 4.6 The contrary whereunto makes God a liar and thereby despoileth him of the Glory of all those holy properties which he this way designed to manifest 1 Joh. 5.10 And if I mistake not this is that which the Experience of them that truly believe when they are out of the Heats of Disputation will give Testimony unto 4. To understand the Nature of Justifying Faith aright on the Act and Exercise of saving Faith in order unto our Justification which are properly enquired after we must consider the order of it first the things which are necessarily previous thereunto and then what it is to believe with respect unto them As 1. The state of a Convinced sinner who is the only Subjectum capax Justificationis This hath been spoken unto already and the necessity of its precedency unto the orderly proposal and receiving of Evangelical Righteousness unto Justification demonstrated If we lose a respect hereunto we lose our best Guide towards the Discovery of the Nature of Faith Let no man think to understand the Gospel who knoweth nothing of the Law Gods constitution and the nature of the things themselves have given the Law the precedency with respect unto sinners for by the Law is the knowledge of sin And Gospel Faith is the Souls acting according to the mind of God for deliverance from that state and condition which it is cast under by the Law And all those Descriptions of Faith which abound in the Writings of Learned men which do not at least include in them a virtual respect unto this state and condition or the Work of the Law on the Consciences of sinners are all of them vain speculations There is nothing in this whole Doctrine that I will more firmly adhere unto than the necessity of the Convictions mentioned previous unto true Believing without which not one line of it can be understood aright and men do but beat the Air in their contentions about it See Rom. 3.21 22
not able to preserve its station in the minds of men the Popish Doctrine of Justification must and will return upon the world with all the concomitants and consequences of it Whilst any knowledge of the Law or Gospel is continued amongst us the Consciences of men will at one time or other living or dying be really affected with a sense of sin as unto its guilt and danger Hence that Trouble and those Disquietments of mind will ensue as will force men be they never so unwilling to seek after some Relief and Satisfaction And what will not men attempt who are reduced to the condition expressed Micah 6.7 8. Wherefore in this case if the true and only relief of distressed Consciences of sinners who are weary and heavy laden be hid from their eyes if they have no apprehension of nor trust in that which alone they may oppose unto the sentence of the Law and interpose betweens Gods Justice and their Souls wherein they may take shelter from the storms of that wrath which abideth on them that believe not they will betake themselves unto any thing which confidently tenders them present ease and relief Hence many persons living all their days in an ignorance of the Righteousness of God are oftentimes on their sick Beds and in their dying hours proselyted unto a confidence in the ways of Rest and Peace which the Romanists impose upon them For such seasons of advantage do they wait for unto the Reputation as they suppose of their own Zeal in truth unto the scandal of Christian Religion But finding at any time the Consciences of men under disquietments and ignorant of or disbelieving that Heavenly relief which is provided in the Gospel they are ready with their Applications and Medicines having on them pretended Approbations of the experience of many Ages and an innumerable company of devout Souls in them Such is their Doctrine of Justification with the Addition of those other Ingredients of Confession Absolution Penances or Commutations Aids from Saints and Angels especially the blessed Virgin all warmed by the Fire of Purgatory and confidently Administred unto Persons sick of Ignorance Darkness and Sin And let none please themselves in the Contempt of these things If the truth concerning Evangelical Justification be once disbelieved among us or obliterated by any Artifices out of the minds of men unto these things at one time or other they must and will betake themselves For the new Schemes and Projections of Justification which some at present would supply us withal they are now way suited nor able to give Relief or Satisfaction unto a Conscience really troubled for Sin and seriously enquiring how it may have Rest and Peace with God I shall take the boldness therefore to say whoever be offended at it that if we lose the antient Doctrine of Justification through Faith in the Blood of Christ and the Imputation of his Righteousness unto us publick profession or Religion will quickly issue in Popery or Atheism or at least in what is the next door unto it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The second principal Controversie is about the formal cause of Justification as it is expressed and stated by those of the Roman Church And under these terms some Protestant Divines have consented to debate the matter in difference I shall not interpose into a strife of words So the Romanists will call that which we enquire after Some of ours say the Righteousness of Christ imputed some the Imputation of the Righteousness of Christ is the formal cause of our Justification some that there is no formal cause of Justification but this is that which supplies the place and use of a formal cause which is the Righteousness of Christ. In none of these things will I concern my self though I judge what was mentioned in the last place to be most proper and significant The substance of the enquiry wherein alone we are concerned is what is that Righteousness whereby and wherewith a Believing sinner is justified before God or whereon he is accepted with God hath his sins pardoned is received into Grace and Favour and hath a Title given him unto the Heavenly Inheritance I shall no otherwise propose this enquiry as knowing that it contains the substance of what convinced sinners do look after in and by the Gospel And herein it is agreed by all the Socinians only excepted that the Procatarctical or procuring cause of the pardon of our sins and acceptance with God is the satisfaction and merit of Christ. Howbeit it cannot be denied but that some retaining the names of them do seem to renounce or disbelieve the things themselves But we need not to take any notice thereof until they are free more plainly to express their minds But as concerning the Righteousness it self enquired after there seems to be a difference among them who yet all deny it to be the Righteousness of Christ imputed unto us For those of the Roman Church plainly say that upon the infusion of an habit of Grace with the expulsion of sin and the Renovation of our natures thereby which they call the first Justification we are actually justified before God by our own works of Righteousness Hereon they dispute about the merit and satisfactoriness of those works with their condignity of the Reward of eternal life Others as the Socinians openly disclaim all merit in our works only some out of Reverence as I suppose unto the Antiquity of the word and under the shelter of the Ambiguity of its signification have faintly attempted an accommodation with it But in the substance of what they assent unto this purpose to the best of my understanding they are all agreed For what the Papists call Justitia Operum the Righteousness of works they call a personal inherent Evangelical Righteousness whereof we have spoken before And whereas the Papists say that this Righteousness of Works is not absolutely perfect nor in it self able to justifie us in the sight of God but owes all its worth and dignity unto this purpose unto the merit of Christ they affirm that this Evangelical Righteousness is the condition whereon we enjoy the Benefits of the Righteousness of Christ in the pardon of our sins and the acceptance of our Persons before God But as unto those who will acknowledge no other Righteousness wherewith we are justified before God the meaning is the same whether we say that on the Condition of this Righteousness we are made partakers of the Benefits of the Righteousness of Christ or that it is the Righteousness of Christ which makes this Righteousness of ours accepted with God But these things must afterwards more particularly be enquired into 3. The third Enquiry wherein there is not an Agreement in this matter is upon a supposition of a necessity that he who is to be justified should one way or other be interessed in the Righteousness of Christ what it is that on our part is required thereunto This some say to be Faith
However I know not of any that say we are accounted of God in Judgment personally to have done what Christ did and it may have a sense that is false namely that God should judge us in our own persons to have done those Acts which we never did But what Christ did for us and in our stead is imputed and communicated unto us as we coalesce into one mystical person with him by Faith and thereon are we justified And this absolutely overthrows all Justification by the Law or the Works of it though the Law be established fulfilled and accomplished that we may be justified Neither can any on the supposition of the Imputation of the Righteousness of Christ truly stated be said to merit their own Salvation Satisfaction and Merit are Adjuncts of the Righteousness of Christ as formally inherent in his own person and as such it cannot be transfused into another Wherefore as it is imputed unto individual Believers it hath not those properties accompanying of it which belong only unto its existence in the person of the Son of God But this was spoken unto before as much also of what was necessary to be here repeated These Objections I have in this place taken notice of because the answers given unto them do tend to the farther explanation of that Truth whose confirmation by Arguments and Testimonies of Scripture I shall now proceed unto CHAP. X. Arguments for Justification by the Imputation of the Righteousness of Christ. The first Argument from the Nature and Vse of our own Personal Righteousness THere is a Justification of convinced sinners on their Believing Hereon are their sins pardoned their persons accepted with God and a Right is given unto them unto the Heavenly Inheritance This state they are immediately taken into upon their Faith or Believing in Jesus Christ. And a state it is of actual peace with God These things at present I take for granted and they are the Foundation of all that I shall plead in the present Argument And I do take notice of them because some seem to the best of my understanding to deny any real actual Justification of sinners on their Believing in this life For they make Justification to be only a general conditional sentence declared in the Gospel which as unto its Execution is delayed unto the day of Judgment For whilst men are in this world the whole Condition of it being not fulfilled they cannot be partakers of it or be actually and absolutely justified Hereon it follows that indeed there is no real state of assured Rest and Peace with God by Jesus Christ for any persons in this life This at present I shall not dispute about because it seems to me to overthrow the whole Gospel the Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and all the comfort of Believers about which I hope we are not as yet called to contend Our Enquiry is how convinced sinners do on their Believing obtain the Remission of sins Acceptance with God and a Right unto Eternal Life And if this can no other way be done but by the Imputation of the Righteousness of Christ unto them then thereby alone are they justified in the sight of God And this Assertion proceedeth on a supposition that there is a Righteousness required unto the Justification of any person whatever For whereas God in the Justification of any person doth declare him to be acquitted from all crimes laid unto his charge and to stand as Righteous in his sight it must be on the consideration of a Righteousness whereon any man is so acquitted and declared for the Judgment of God is according unto Truth This we have sufficiently evidenced before in that juridical procedure wherein the Scripture represents unto us the Justification of a Believing sinner And if there be no other Righteousness whereby we may be thus justified but only that of Christ imputed unto us then thereby must we be justified or not at all And if there be any such other Righteousness it must be our own inherent in us and wrought out by us For these two kinds inherent and imputed Righteousness our own and Christs divide the whole nature of Righteousness as to the End enquired after And that there is no such inherent Righteousness no such Righteousness of our own whereby we may be justified before God I shall prove in the first place And I shall do it first from express Testimonies of Scripture and then from the consideration of the thing it self And two things I shall premise hereunto 1. That I shall not consider this Righteousness of our own absolutely in it self but as it may be conceived to be improved and advanced by its Relation unto the satisfaction and merit of Christ For many will grant that our inherent Righteousness is not of it self sufficient to justifie us in the sight of God But take it as it hath value and worth communicated unto it from the merit of Christ and so it is accepted unto that End and judged worthy of Eternal Life We could not merit Life and Salvation had not Christ merited that Grace for us whereby we may do so and merited also that our Works should be of such a Dignity with respect unto Reward We shall therefore allow what worth can be reasonably thought to be communicated unto this Righteousness from its respect unto the Merit of Christ. 2. Whereas persons of all sorts and parties do take various ways in the assignation of an interest in our Justification unto our own Righteousness so as that no parties are agreed about it nor many of the same mind among themselves as might easily be manifested in the Papists Socinians and others I shall so far as it is possible in the ensuing Arguments have respect unto them all For my design is to prove that it hath no such Interest in our Justification before God as that the Righteousness of Christ should not be esteemed the only Righteousness whereon we are justified And first we shall produce some of those many Testimonies which may be pleaded unto this purpose Psal. 130.3 4. If thou Lord shouldst mark Iniquities O Lord who should stand But there is Forgiveness with thee that thou maist be feared There is an Enquiry included in these words how a man how any man may be justified before God how he may stand that is in the presence of God and be accepted with him How he shall stand in Judgment as it is explained Psal. 1.5 The wicked shall not stand in the Judgment shall not be acquitted on their Trial. That which first offereth it self unto this End is his own Obedience For this the Law requires of him in the first place and this his own Conscience calls upon him for But the Psalmist plainly declares that no man can thence manage a plea for his Justification with any success And the Reason is because notwithstanding the best of the Obedience of the best of men there are Iniquities found with them against the Lord
ever Wherefore it is only thus far broke as a Covenant that all Mankind having sinned against the Commands of it and so by Guilt with the Impotency unto Obedience which ensued thereon defeated themselves of any Interest in its Promise and possibility of attaining any such interest they cannot have any Benefit by it But as unto its power to oblige all mankind unto Obedience and the unchangeable Truth of its Promises and Threatnings it abideth the same as it was from the Beginning 2 ly Take away this Law and there is left no standard of Righteousness unto mankind no certain boundaries of Good and Evil but those pillars whereon God hath fixed the Earth are left to move and flote up and down like the Isle of Delos in the Sea Some say the Rule of Good and Evil unto men is not this Law in its original constitution but the Light of Nature and the Dictates of Reason If they mean that Light which was primogenial and concreated with our natures and those Dictates of Right and Wrong which Reason originally suggested and approved they only say in other words that this Law is still the unalterable Rule of Obedience unto all mankind But if they intend the remaining Light of Nature that continues in every individual in this depraved state thereof and that under such additional Depravations as Traditions Customs Prejudices and Lusts of all sorts have affixed unto the most there is nothing more irrational and it is that which is charged with no less inconvenience than that it leaves no certain Boundaries of Good and Evil. That which is Good unto one will on this Ground be in its own nature evil unto another and so on the contrary and all the Idolaters that ever were in the World might on this pretence be excused 3 ly Conscience bears witness hereunto There is no Good nor Evil required or forbidden by this Law that upon the Discovery of it any man in the World can perswade or bribe his Conscience not to comply with it in Judgment as unto his concernment therein It will accuse and excuse condemn and free him according to the sentence of this Law let him do what he can to the contrary In brief it is acknowledged that God by virtue of his supream Dominion over all may in some Instances change the nature and order of things so as the Precepts of the Divine Law shall not in them operate in their ordinary efficacy So was it in the case of his command unto Abraham to slay his Son and unto the Israelites to rob the Aegyptians But on a supposition of the continuance of that order of things which this Law is the preservative of such is the intrinsick nature of the Good and Evil commanded and forbidden therein that it is not the subject of divine Dispensation as even the School-men generally grant 10. From what we have discoursed two things do unavoidably ensue 1. That whereas all mankind have by sin fallen under the Penalty threatned unto the Transgression of this Law and suffering of this Penalty which is Eternal Death being inconsistent with Acceptance before God or the enjoyment of Blessedness it is utterly impossible that any one individual person of the posterity of Adam should be justified in the sight of God accepted with him or blessed by him unless this Penalty be answered undergone and suffered by them or for them the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 herein is not to be abolished but established 2. That unto the same End of Acceptation with God Justification before him and Blessedness from him the Righteousness of this Eternal Law must be fulfilled in us in such a way as that in the Judgment of God which is according unto Truth we may be esteemed to have fulfilled it and be dealt with accordingly For upon a supposition of a failure herein the sanction of the Law is not Arbitrary so as that the Penalty may or may not be inflicted but necessary from the Righteousness of God as the supream Governour of all 11. About the first of these our Controversie is with the Socinians only who deny the satisfaction of Christ and any necessity thereof Concerning this I have treated elsewhere at large and expect not to see an Answer unto what I have disputed on that Subject As unto the latter of them we must enquire how we may be supposed to comply with the Rule and answer the Righteousness of this unalterable Law whose Authority we can no way be exempted from And that which we plead is that the Obedience and Righteousness of Christ imputed unto us His Obedience as the surety of the New Covenant granted unto us made ours by the gracious Constitution Soveraign Appointment and Donation of God is that whereon we are judged and esteemed to have answered the Righteousness of the Law By the Obedience of One many are made Righteous Rom. 5.19 That the Righteousness of the Law might be fulfilled in us Rom. 8.4 And hence we argue If there be no other way whereby the Righteousness of the Law may be fulfilled in us without which we cannot be justified but must fall inevitably under the Penalty threatned unto the Transgression of it but only the Righteousness of Christ imputed unto us then is that the sole Righteousness whereby we are justified in the sight of God But the former is true and so therefore is the latter 12. On the supposition of this Law and its original obligation unto Obedience with its Sanction and Threatnings there can be but one of three ways whereby we may come to be justified before God who have sinned and are no way able in our selves to perform the Obedience for the future which it doth require And each of them have a respect unto a Soveraign Act of God with reference unto this Law The first is the Abrogation of it that it should no more oblige us either unto Obedience or Punishment This we have proved impossible and they will wofully deceive their own Souls who shall trust unto it The second is by transferring of its Obligation unto the End of Justification on a surety or common undertaker This is that which we plead for as the substance of the mystery of the Gospel considering the Person and Grace of this Undertakers or Surety And herein all things do tend unto the Exaltation of the Glory of God in all the holy properties of his nature with the fulfilling and establishing of the Law it self Math. 5.17 Rom. 3.31 chap. 8.4 chap. 10.3 4. The third way is by an Act of God towards the Law and another towards us whereby the nature of the Righteousness which the Law requireth is changed which we shall examine as the only reserve against our present Argument 3. It is said therefore that by our own personal Obedience we do answer the Righteousness of the Law so far as it is required of us But whereas no sober person can imagine that we can or that any one in our lapsed
condition ever did yield in our own persons that perfect sinless Obedience unto God which is required of us in the Law of Creation two things are supposed that our Obedience such as it is may be accepted with God as if it were sinless and perfect For although some will not allow that the Righteousness of Christ is imputed unto us for what it is yet they contend that our own Righteousness is imputed unto us for what it is not Of these things the one respecteth the Law the other our Obedience 14. That which respecteth the Law is not the Abrogation of it For although this would seem the most expedite way for the Reconciliation of this Difficulty namely that the Law of Creation is utterly abrogated by the Gospel both as unto its Obligation unto Obedience and Punishment and no Law to be continued in force but that which requires only sincere Obedience of us whereof there is as unto Duties the manner of their performance not any absolute Rule or Measure yet this is not by many pretended They say not that this Law is so abrogated as that it should not have the power and efficacy of a Law towards us Nor is it possible it should be so nor can any pretence be given how it should so be It is true it was broken by man is so by us all and that with respect unto its principal End of our Subjection unto God and dependance upon him according to the Rule of it But it is foolish to think that the fault of those unto whom a Righteous Law is rightly given should abrogate or disannul the Law it self A Law that is good and just may cease and expire as unto any power of Obligation upon the ceasing or expiration of the Relation which it did respect So the Apostle tells us that when the Husband of a Woman is dead she is free from the Law of her Husband Rom. 7.2 But the Relation between God and us which was constituted in our first Creation can never cease But a Law cannot be abrogated without a new Law given and made by the same or an equal power that made it either expresly revoking it or enjoyning things inconsistent with it and contradictory unto its observation In the latter way the Law of Mosaical Institutions was abrogated and disannulled There was not any positive Law made for the taking of it away but the Constitution and Introduction of a new way of Worship by the Gospel inconsistent with it and contrary unto it deprived it of all its obligatory power and efficacy But neither of these ways hath God taken away the obligation of the Original Law of Obedience either as unto Duties or Recompences of Reward Neither is there any direct Law made for its Abrogation nor hath he given any new Law of moral Obedience either inconsistent with or contrary unto it Yea in the Gospel it is declared to be established and fulfilled It is true as was observed before that this Law was made the Instrument of a Covenant between God and Man and so there is another Reason of it For God hath actually introduced another Covenant inconsistent with it and contrary unto it But yet neither doth this instantly and ipso facto free all men unto the Law in the way of a Covenant For unto the Obligation of a Law there is no more required but that the matter of it be Just and Righteous that it be given or made by him who hath just Authority so to give or make it and be sufficiently declared unto them who are to be obliged by it Hence the making and promulgation of a new Law doth ipso facto abrogate any former Law that is contrary unto it and frees all men from Obedience unto it who were before obliged by it But in a Covenant it is not so For a Covenant doth not operate by meer Soveraign Authority it becomes not a Covenant without the consent of them with whom it is made Wherefore no Benefit accrues unto any or freedom from the Old Covenant by the constitution of the new unless he hath actually complied with it hath chosen it and is interested in it thereby The first Covenant made with Adam we did in him consent unto and accept of And therein notwithstanding our sin do we and must we abide that is under the Obligation of it unto Duty and Punishment until by Faith we are made partakers of the new It cannot therefore be said that we are not concerned in the fulfilling of the Righteousness of this Law because it is abrogated 15. Nor can it be said that the Law hath received a new Interpretation whereby it is declared that it doth not oblige nor shall be construed for the future to oblige any unto sinless and perfect Obedience but may be complied with on far easier terms For the Law being given unto us when we were sinless and on purpose to continue and preserve us in that condition it is absurd to say that it did not oblige us unto sinless Obedience and not an Interpretation but a plain Depravation of its sense and meaning Nor is any such thing once intimated in the Gospel Yea the Discourses of our Saviour upon the Law are absolutely destructive of any such Imagination For whereas the Scribes and Pharisees had attempted by their false Glosses and Interpretations to accommodate the Law unto the Inclinations and Lusts of men a course since pursued both notionally and practically as all who design to burden the Consciences of men with their own commands do endeavour constantly to recompence them by an Indulgence with respect unto the commands of God He on the contrary rejects all such pretended Epikeia's and Interpretations restoring the Law unto its pristine Crown as the Jews Tradition is that the Messiah shall do 16. Nor can a Relaxation of the Law be pretended if there be any such thing in Rule For if there be it respects the whole being of the Law and consists either in the suspension of its whole Obligation at least for a season or the substitution of another person to answer its demands who was not in the original Obligation in the room of them that were For so some say that the Lord Christ was made under the Law for us by an Act of Relaxation of the original Obligation of the Law how properly ipsi viderint But here in no sense it can have place 17. The Act of God towards the Law in this case intended is a Derogation from its obliging power as unto Obedience For whereas it did originally oblige unto perfect sinless Obedience in all Duties both as unto their substance and the manner of their performance it shall be allowed to oblige us still unto Obedience but not unto that which is absolutely the same especially not as unto the compleatness and perfection of it For if it do so either it is fulfilled in the Righteousness of Christ for us or no man living can ever be justified in the sight
were necessary unto it And two things doth the Scripture testifie unto concerning this Law 1. That it was a perfect compleat Rule of all that internal spiritual and moral Obedience which God required of the Church The Law of the Lord is perfect converting the Soul the Testimony of the Lord is sure making Wise the Simple Psal. 19.7 And it was so of all the external Duties of Obedience for matter and manner time and season that in both the Church might walk acceptably before God Isa. 8.20 And although the Original Duties of the Moral Part of the Law are often preferred before the particular Instances of Obedience in Duties of outward Worship yet the whole Law was always the whole Rule of all the Obedience internal and external that God required of the Church and which he accepted in them that did believe 2. That this Law this Rule of Obedience as it was ordained of God to be the Instrument of his Rule of the Church and by Vertue of the Covenant made with Abraham unto whose Administration it was Adapted and which its Introduction on Sinai did not disanul was accompanied with a Power and Efficacy enabling unto Obedience The Law it self as meerly preceptive and commanding administred no Power or Ability unto those that were under its Authority to yield Obedience unto it no more do the meer Commands of the Gospel Moreover under the Old Testament it enforced Obedience on the Minds and Consciences of men by the manner of its first delivery and the severity of its Sanction so as to fill them with fear and bondage and was besides accompanied with such burthensom Rules of outward Worship as made it an heavy yoke unto the people But as it was Gods Doctrine Teaching Instruction in all acceptable Obedience unto himself and was adapted unto the Covenant of Abraham it was accompanied with an Administration of effectual Grace procuring and promoting Obedience in the Church And the Law is not to be looked on as separated from those Aids unto Obedience which God administred under the Old Testament whose effects are therefore ascribed unto the Law it self See Psal. 1. Psal. 19. Psal. 119. 2. This being the Law in the sense of the Apostle and those with whom he had to do our next enquiry is what was their sense of Works or Works of the Law And I say it is plain that they intended hereby the universal Sincere Obedience of the Church unto God according unto this Law And other Works the Law of God acknowledgeth not yea it expresly condemns all Works that have any such defect in them as to render them unacceptable unto God Hence notwithstanding all the Commands that God had positively given for the strict Observance of Sacrifices Offerings and the like yet when the people performed them without Faith and Love he expresly affirms that he Commanded them not that is to be observed in such a manner In these Works therefore consisted their personal Righteousness as they walked in all the Commandments and Ordinances of the Law blameless Luk. 1.6 wherein they did instantly serve God day and night Acts 26.7 And this they esteemed to be their own Righteousness their Righteousness according unto the Law as really it was Phil. 3.6 9. For although the Pharisees had greatly corrupted the Doctrine of the Law and put false glosses on sundry Precepts of it yet that the Church in those days did by the Works of the Law understand either Ceremonial Duties only or external Works or Works with a conceit of merit or Works wrought without an internal Principle of Faith and Love to God or any thing but their own personal sincere Obedience unto the whole Doctrine and Rule of the Law there is nothing that should give the least colour of Imagination For 1. All this is perfectly stated in the Suffrage which the Scribe gave unto the Declaration of the sense and design of the Law with the Nature of the Obedâ—ence which it doth require that was made at his request by our blessed Saviour Mark 12.28 29 30 31 32 33. And one of the Scribes came and having heard them reasoning together and perceiving that he had answered them well asked him which is the first Commandment of all or as it is Matth. 22.36 Which is the great Commandment in the Law And Jesus answered him the first of all the Commandments is Hear O Israel the Lord our God is One Lord and thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul and with all thy mind and with all thy strength this is the first Commandment and the second is like namely this Thou shalt love thy Neighbour as thy self And the Scribe said unto him Well Master thou hast said the Truth for there is one God and there is none but he And to love him with all the Heart and with all the Vnderstanding and with all the Soul and with all the Strength and to love his Neighbour as himself is more then all whole burnt Offerings and Sacrifices And this so expresly given by Moses as the Sum of the Law namely Faith and Love as the Principle of all our Obedience Deut. 6.4 5. that it is marvellous what should induce any learned sober Person to fix upon any other sense of it as that it respected ceremonial or external Works only or such as may be wrought without Faith or Love This is the Law concerning which the Apostle disputes and this the Obedience wherein the Works of it do consist And more then this in the way of Obedience God never did nor will require of any in this World Wherefore the Law and the Works thereof which the Apostle excludeth from Justification is that whereby we are obliged to believe in God as One God the only God and love him with all our Hearts and Souls and our Neighbours as our selves And what Works there are or can be in any Persons regenerate or not regenerate to be performed in the strength of Grace or without it that are acceptable unto God that may not be reduced unto these Heads I know not 2. The Apostle himself declareth that it is the Law and the Works of it in the sense we have expressed that he excludeth from our Justification For the Law he speaks of is the Law of Righteousness Rom 9.31 The Law whose Righteousness is to be fulfilled in us that we may be accepted with God and freed from Condemnation Chap. 8.3 That in Obedience whereunto our own personal Righteousness doth consist whether what we judg so before Conversion Rom. 10.3 or what is so after it Phil. 3.9 The Law which if a man observe he shall live and be justified before God Rom. 2.13 Gal. 3.12 Rom. 10.5 That Law which is Holy Just and Good which discovereth and condemneth all sin whatever Rom. 7.7 9. From what hath been discoursed these two things are evident in the Confirmation of our present Argument 1. That The Law intended by the Apostle
with a pretence of propriety and accuracy CHAP. XVII Testimonies out of the Evangelists considered THe Reasons why the Doctrine of Justification by the Imputation of the Righteousness of Christ is more fully and clearly delivered in the following Writings of the New Testament than it is in those of the Evangelists who wrote the History of the Life and Death of Christ have been before declared But yet in them also it is sufficiently attested as unto the state of the Church before the Death and Resurrection of Christ which is represented in them Some few of the many Testimonies which may be pleaded out of their Writings unto that purpose I shall consider 1. The principal design of our Blessed Saviours Sermon especially that part of it which is Recorded Matth. 5. is to declare the true nature of Righteousness before God The Scribes and Pharisees from a Bondage unto whose Doctrines he designed to vindicate the Consciences of those that heard him placed all our Righteousness before God in the Works of the Law or Mens own obedience thereunto This they taught the People and hereon they justified themselves as he chargeth them Luke 16.15 Ye are they which justifie your selves before men but God knoweth your hearts for that which is highly esteemed amongst men is abomination in the sight of God As in this Sermon he makes it evident And all those who were under their conduct did seek to establish their own Righteousness as it were by the works of the Law Rom. 9.33 Chap. 10.3 But yet were they convinced in their own Consciences that they could not attain unto the Law of Righteousness or unto that perfection of obedience which the Law did require Yet would they not forego their proud fond imagination of Justification by their own Righteousness but as the manner of all Men is in the same case sought out other inventions to relieve them against their convictions For unto this end they corrupted the whole Law by their false glosses and interpretations to bring down and debase the sense of it unto what they boasted in themselves to perform So doth he in whom our Saviour gives an instance of the principle and practice of the whole Society by way of a Parable Luk. 18.10 11 12. And so the young Man affirmed That he had kept the whole Law from his youth namely in their sense Matth. 19.20 To root out this pernicious Error out of the Church our Lord Jesus Christ in many instances gives the true spiritual Sense and intention of the Law manifesting what the Righteousness is which the Law requires and on what terms a Man may be justified thereby And among sundry others to the same purpose two things he evidently declares 1. That the Law in its Precepts and Prohibitions had regard unto the regulation of the heart with all its first motions and actings For he asserts that the inmost thoughts of the heart and the first motions of concupiscence therein though not consented unto much less actually accomplished in the outward deeds of sin and all the occasions leading unto them are directly forbidden in the Law This he doth in his holy Exposition of the Seventh Commandment Ver. 27 28 29 30. 2. He declares the penalty of the Law on the least sin to be Hell fire in his Assertion of causless anger to be forbidden in the Sixth Commandment If Men would but try themselves by these Rules and others there given by our Saviour it would it may be take them off from boasting in their own Righteousness and Justification thereby But as it was then so is it now also the most of them who would maintain a Justification by Works do attempt to corrupt the sense of the Law and accommodate it unto their own practice The Reader may see an eminent demonstration hereof in a late excellent Treatise whose title is The Practical Divinity of the Papists discovered to be destructive of Christianity and Mens souls The Spirituality of the Law with the severity of its Sanction extending it self unto the least and most imperceptible motions of sin in the heart are not believed or not aright considered by them who plead for Justification by Works in any sense Wherefore the principal design of the Sermon of our Saviour is as to declare what is the nature of that obedience which God requireth by the Law so to prepare the minds of his Disciples to seek after another Righteousness which in the cause and means of it was not yet plainly to be declared although many of them being prepared by the Ministery of John did hunger and thirst after it But he sufficiently intimates wherein it did consist in that he affirms of himself That he came to fulfil the Law Ver. 17. What he came for that he was sent for for as he was sent and not for himself He was born to us given unto us This was to fulfil the Law that so the Righteousness of it might he fulfilled in us And if we our selves cannot fulfil the Law in the proper sense of its commands which yet is not to be abolished but established as our Saviour declares if we cannot avoid the Curse and Penalty of it upon its transgression And if he came to fulfil it for us all which are declared by himself then is his Righteousness even which he wrought for us in fulfilling the Law the Righteousness wherewith we are justified before God And whereas here is a twofold Righteousness proposed unto us one in the fulfilling of the Law by Christ the other in our own perfect obedience unto the Law as the sense of it is by him declared and other middle Righteousness between them there is none it is left unto the Consciences of convinced sinners whether of these they will adhere and trust unto And their direction herein is the principal design we ought to have in the declaration of this Doctrine I shall pass by all those places wherein the foundations of this Doctrine are surely laid because it is not expresly mentioned in them But such they are as in their proper Interpretation do necessarily infer it Of this kind are they all wherein the Lord Christ is said to die for us or in our stead to lay down his life a ransom for us or in our stead and the like but I shall pass them by because I will not digress at all from the present Argument But the Representation made by our Saviour himself of the way and means whereon and whereby Men come to be justified before God in the Parable of the Pharisee and the Publican is a guide unto all Men who have the same design with them Luk. 18.9 10 11 12 13 14. And he spake this parable unto certain which trusted in themselves that they were righteous and despised others Two Men went up unto the Temple to pray the one a Pharisee and the other a Publican The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself God I thank thee that I am not as other