Mark 16.15 16. 2 Thes 1.10 and 2.13 And it is no marvail the same Faith should be thus diversly exprest since a believing of any one of these includes in it a belief of them all and so does a belief of the Resurrection of Christ by which this Faith is also somtimes described Rom. 10.9 For he that believes the Record of God concerning Christ cannot but believe him to be the Son of God because that is the thing which the Father Almighty hath more than once testified by a voice from Heaven Mat. 3.17 and 17.5 And he who believes Christ to be the Son of God must needs believe his doctrine which is the Gospel to be true As on the other hand whoever believes the Gospel must needs believe Christ to be the Son of God because it testifies so much of him and likewise because it sets forth those many stupendious Miracles which he wrought and how the ancient predictions of the Prophets concerning the Messias were fulfilled in him and also his Miraculous Resurrection from the dead by all which he is demonstrated to be the Son of God Now then whosoever rightly believes the doctrine of our Saviour contained in the Gospel and of his Apostles concerning him do believe that he died for our sins and rose again and that repentance or amend ment of life and obedience to the Precepts of our Saviour are indispensibly necessary to the obtaining of remission of sin and eternal Life by his Death Resurrection and Intercession And the reason hereof is because these things are declared to be so in that Gospel which is so believed And therefore whosoever does believe he shall be saved by Christs death from the wrath to come though he does not truly and sincerely make it his business to amend his life according to the Precepts of our Saviour believes not the Gospel but believes that which is a flat contradiction to it and is like those of whom the Apostle says they profess that they know God but in works they deny him Tit. 1.16 Or if any man should believe this amendment of life to be necessary to the obtaining Remission of sin and Salvation by the death of Christ Yet what would this belief avail him if he himself should not by this belief become a new man in holiness righteousness and sobriety of living It is not any mans believing the most important and concerning truth that will avail him before God further than it tends to make him better to make him a good man The Devils we find confessed Christ saying thou art Christ the Son of God Luke 4.41 the same form of words almost verbatim in which the Apostles of our Saviour made confession of their Faith John 6.69 And St. James saith the Devils believe and tremble Chap. 2.19 But what are they the better for it so long as they retain the same devilish nature which they had before Nor can we say that mens Faith will any more save them than the Devils Faith saves Devils whatever it is which is believed unless that belief makes them better men in heart and Life If a man believe aright and understands what it is he believes he can hardly be any more careless of acting according to his belief than he is careless of obtaining the pardon of his sin and the Salvation of his Soul A right saving belief of the Gospel then hath in it the spirit and seed of a good life it hath in it virtually and potentially all pious and vertuous actions And all pious and vertuous actions that proceed from Faith are as I may so say but Faith diversified in several acts and are a part of Faith as the fruit that grows upon a Tree is part of the Tree And to make this appear in some instances all those noble and generous acts of the Patriarchs and other Worthies mentioned in Hebrews the 11th Chapter did all grow out of their Faith for by Faith they did them all All the good report which they obtained upon account of their Heroick actions is attributed to their Faith by which they did atchieve them these all having obtained a good report through Faith c. Ver. 39. More particularly the Author of this Epistle to the Hebrews in Ver. 5. of this 11th Chapter proves that it was by Faith that Enoch was translated because he had this testimony that before he was translated he pleased God or walked with God as his History relates it Gen. 5. which as he shews was impossible for him to have done if he had not had Faith for saith he without Faith it is impossible to please God So that we see the same thing is attributed to the Righteousness of his life in walking with God as is to his Faith which produced that effect viz. that thereby he pleased God And so it is said of Noah Ver. 7. that by faith he being warned of God of things not seen as yet moved with fear prepared an Ark to the saving of his house by which action of his in conjunction with his Faith he became heir of the Righteousness which is by Faith It is said of Abraham also Ver. 17. that by Faith he offered up Isaac And it is said by St. James that by this good work of his the fruit of his Faith among others he was Justified Jam. 2.21 And not only so but that therein the Scripture was fulfilled which saith Abraham believed God and it was counted to him for Righteousness Ver. 23. which shews that when the Scripture saith Gen. 15.6 that Abrahams believing God was counted to him for Righteousness it was meant of his Faith as it was a vital principle of sincere obedience to God in whatever he commanded him else that Scripture would not have been fulfilled in Abrahams offering up Isaac and in his being justified thereby as well as by his Faith The like is said of Rahab that by faith she perished not with them that believed not when she had received the spies in peace Heb. 11.31 And St. James saith that she was Justified by this work which was the fruit of her Faith Jam. 2.25 So that we see in the Scripture-notion of Faith to have Faith counted to us for Righteousness and to have acts of obedience proceeding from Faith to be counted for Righteousness in conjunction with the Faith it self is the same thing And to be Justified by Faith and to be Justified by those acts of obedience which are the issue of Faith in conjunction with the Faith it self is still the same thing in the sense of holy Scripture All this is to shew what and what manner of Faith it is that is the condition on the which pardon of sin and eternal Life are promised in the Gospel-Covenant and by which we are Justified and which is counted for Righteousness And for our greater confirmation in this and to shew further that no Faith can entitle us to the promises of the Covenant the promise of pardon and the promise of
transcendent worthiness of his person and the exceeding great interest he had in his Fathers love he did thereby sufficiently declare and manifest as well as by inflicting punishment on sinners themselves how odious a thing sin is in his sight how contrary to his nature and how irreconcilable he is to it Sin was condemned for as vile a thing as it is as well by our Saviour's suffering in the flesh for it in our stead as it would have been by our suffering for it our selves Rom. 8.3 he condemned sin in the flesh by being a Sacrifice for it 2. By the Son of God's thus suffering in the sinners stead for their transgressing the righteous Law of God the authority of this Law is as sufficiently maintained and the goodness of it as sufficiently vindicated as it would have been by punishing those sinners themselves that are now saved by his sufferings For when God would not so much as give any hopes of pardon to such as have transgress'd that law of his no not upon condition of their repentance without the suffering of such an one as his own dear Son no creature that knows this can have any occasion or place left to despise or slight that Law or the authority of the Law-giver and not to be awed by it nor to expect or hope for impunity in contemning of it 3. No creature can take any encouragement to commit sin or to continue in sin who considers how severely the Son of God himself was dealt with by his merciful and most loving Father in delivering him up to be crucified by wicked hands besides his other sufferings when he put himself in the sinners place to undergo whatever his Father would please to inflict upon him so that he might but thereby obtain a pardon for them and that too but upon condition of their reformation and reconciliation to God 4. As the end of inflicting punishment is either for the reformation of the persons themselves that suffer or of others by their example of suffering so this end of sinners suffering was much better attained by our Saviour's suffering for our sins than if we our selves that are saved by his death had suffered for them what we had deserved And the reason hereof is because those that are saved by our Saviours death are by his death first reconciled to God in their nature and life they are reformed and of rebels made loyal subjects which they never would have been if they had suffered themselves the desert of their sin And is it not much better that disloyal and disobedient subjects be made dutiful loyal obedient and useful than to be cut off for obstinacy in rebellion God had said concerning wicked men that he had much rather that they should return and live than that they should die in and for their iniquities and our Lord his Son hath answered him in the joy of his heart in that by his suffering for them in conjunction with other his performances on their behalf he hath fulfilled his Fathers wish and brought his desire to pass in reference to many such sinners And most certain it is that this is infinitely more pleasing and satisfactory to God than if all mankind had suffered the pains of eternal death for their iniquities This hath occasioned and will still cause infinitely more joy in Heaven and on Earth and more triumphant thanksgigiving unto God than there would have been if every sinner had born his own burden On this account our Saviour's giving himself for us was indeed emphatically an offering and a sacrifice of a sweet smelling savour unto God as St. Paul calls it Ephes 5.1 All these things considered and put together it appears upon a very rational account that there was a very great aptitude in this act of our Saviour's mediatorial obedience to reconcile God to men when he delivered up himself to suffer for them on the terms he did and so to operate to our Justification 2. As there is an aptitude in our Blessed Saviour's Mediatorial Righteousness to reconcile God to men in order to their Justification so there is in another respect an aptitude in it likewise to reconcile men to God in order to the same end And that act of Obedience to the law of Mediation which hath an aptitude in it this way consists at least very much in a faithful discharge of his Prophetical Office as Mediator For by a faithful discharge of this trust and in obedience to this Law he persuades men by the great arguments and motives of the Gospel to be reconciled to God To this end he published the Gospel which he brought down from Heaven Prophetically called his declaring the decree Psal 2.7 And this was done in obedience to the Law of Mediation given by his Father as I have shewed from John 12.49 I have not spoken of my self saith he but the Father which sent me he gave me a Commandment what I should say and what I should speak As the Law was given in the hand of a Mediator Moses so was the Gospel by Christ the Mediator of a better Testament And he confirmed it to be from God by many signs and wonders and mighty deeds which accompanied the publication of it by him and his Apostles having sealed it with his own Blood For after he had set it on foot himself while he was on earth and then sealed to it by his death he afterwards when he left the world and ascended up on high left behind him by way of gift to the world Apostles Prophets Evangelists Pastors and Teachers to Minister the things of the Gospel in his name which Ministry is called the Ministry of Reconciliation and the Gospel committed to their trust the Word of Reconciliation and that which they were to do by it as his Ambassadors was to pray beseech persuade men in Christ's stead to be reconciled to God 2 Cor. 5.18 19 20. This first done by our Saviour in his Ministry is continued by his Ministers in his name by persuading men to repentance and amendment of life and to become sincerely obedient unto God in which their being reconciled to him doth consist And the way and means used by our Saviour and his Embassadors to persuade men to be thus reconciled to God was by possessing them with a strong and vigorous Belief of three things especially as great parts of the Gospel our Saviour brought from Heaven with him 1. That God would certainly be reconciled to all sinners provided they would but be reconciled to him and not still persist in their rebellion that he will certainly pardon them and treat them as friends if they would desist from carrying it any longer as enemies to him He hath sent them word by his Messengers that he is not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance 2 Pet. 3.9 that he would have all men to be saved and come to the knowledg of the truth 1 Tim. 2.4 And because guilt
thing That God justifies men by approving and adjudging them to be Righteous by being true believers and therein conformable to the terms of the Gospel on which the promises of it are made will further appear if we consider Justification in a notion opposite to condemnation In condemnation or when men are condemned by God they are convicted of a double guilt First of a guiltiness of fault that they are guilty of such transgression of the Law by which they are tryed as is damnable in the sense of that Law Secondly of the guilt of penalty upon which they are adjuged and sentenced to suffer that penalty The guilt of fault of which they are convicted and for which they are condemned to suffer the penalty is final infidelity impenitence and wilful disobedience to the Gospel Now God in justifying men does as Judg vindicate and defend them against all accusations from being guilty of such unbelief impenitency and disobedience which vindication and defence is the same thing with his adjudging them to be true believers penitent and such as have delivered up themselves sincerely to obey the Laws of their Saviour which is his justifying of them And now having thus endeavoured to open and explain the doctrine the nature and notion of Justification in its several causes I shall now recapitulate or rehearse in a few words the sum and substance of what hath been more largely discoursed about it to the end the whole of it may come under our view at once The obedience of Christ to the Law of Mediation in dying for us does operate to our Justification by obtaining terms of Gods being reconciled to us and his obedience to the same Law in publishing the Gospel does operate to the same end by persuading us by it to be reconciled to God in observing those terms upon the observation of which we become justified by God as well as reconciled to him and justified because reconciled The new Covenant operates to our Justification by virtue of the death of Christ by which it was obtained as it is a new Law of Grace stating setling and setting forth the benefits therein promised pardon of sin and eternal Life and also the terms on which these benefits are to be conferred and received to wit a vigorous and operative Faith and this Covenant further operates to our Justification as by the promise of the foresaid benefits it is Gods great instrument to persuade men to observe and perform those terms or that condition in believing on which they are promised which performance is that which qualifies us for the blessing of being Justified Faith operates to our Justification as it is the performance of the condition on which the promise of the Pardon of sin and eternal Life is made through Christ and as that Faith is the new Covenant-Righteousness and so the matter of our Justification Almighty God himself operates to our Justification as he reckons imputes and counts this Faith to us for Righteousness and as he does approve each one that hath this Faith as a Righteous person according to the tenor of his own Law of Grace and as he doth adjudg him to be so Having as I conceive now competently proved that Gods judicial Justifying of us stands in his adjudging us to have performed the condition on which he hath promised Pardon of sin and eternal Life in that we have believed the Gospel and delivered up ourselves to the conduct of it and likewise in accounting this Faith to us for Righteousness and in approving of us as Righteous hereupon I shall now proceed to shew somewhat of the difference that is between Justification and Remission of Sins at least as I apprehend it CHAP. VI. Of the difference between Justification and Remission of sin THere is doubtless such a thing as a real difference between Justification and Remission of sin For when St. Paul saith that Christ is made to us of God Righteousness Sanctification and Redemption 1 Cor. 1.30 he certainly means somthing else by Redemption than he doth by Righteousness That by Righteousness in this place he means Justification I think none will deny By Redemption doubtless he means a deliverance first and last from all the evils and miseries we suffer or have deserved by reason of sin deliverance and exemption from which is properly pardon in act And indeed St. Paul in another place explains Redemption by Pardon when he says in whom we have Redemption through his blood even the forgiveness of sins Col. 1.14 We see then that St. Paul did reckon Justification and Remission of sins to be two distinct things benefits of a different nature I shall now name to you some of those things wherein they differ 1. Justification is Gods adjudging us to have performed the condition in believing on which he hath made promise of Pardon But Pardon it self is his conferring that benefit upon us which he conditionally had promised By the one God approves of us as having done our part and duty in keeping Covenant with him By the other he keeps Covenant with us in performing what he promised And therefore Justification and Remission of sin seem to differ as much as Gods adjudging us to have performed the condition on which he promised Pardon differs from actual Pardon it self and as much as his adjudging us to have kept Covenant with him differs from his keeping Covenant with us 2. By Justification we are acquitted and absolved from being guilty of infidelity impenitency and insincerity of obedience But we are not thereby acquitted and absolved from being guilty of all other sins but come to be discharged from them by way of Pardon whether they be sins against the Law or against the Gospel whether wilful and presumptuous sins before conversion yea former infidelity and impenitency or of human frailty and infirmity after together with all defects and imperfections of duty towards God and towards man A pardon of all these is promised on condition of that Faith with its effects by which God Justifies us and approves of us as Righteous and good men according to the tenor of the Gospel or new Covenant But then Gods pardoning these sins and his Justifying us as not guilty of present infidelity impenitency and insincerity of obedience on which he promised Pardon are things greatly different Some because they cannot understand how we can be justified by any Righteousness but such as is commensurate and adequate to the demands of the Law and because there is none to be found in any man but in our Saviour himself therefore they think we cannot be Justified any other way than by having his personal numerical Righteousness transferred to us and so made ours as that we by it may be accounted to have fulfilled the whole Law and answered all the demands of it But such should consider that we do not come off from the charge that lies against us for not answering the demands of the Law by our fulfilling it by
of Mediation Secondly that our Saviour did exactly observe obey and fulfil this Law And if so we may know what that Law was by what he hath done spoken and suffered in the execution of his Mediatorial office Now what he did spake and suffered in conformity to this Law is that which we call his Righteousness his Mediatorial Righteousness His coming into the world and his taking our nature upon him was an act of obedience to this Law I am not saith he come of myself but he that sent me c. John 7.28 A body hast thou prepared me Heb. 10.5 What he did and preached here in the world was in obedience to this Law I can saith he of mine own self do nothing as I hear I judge and my judgment is just because I seek not mine own will but the will of him that sent me John 5.30 Lo I come to do thy will yea thy law is in my heart Heb. 10.7 with Psal 40.8 His conformity and obedience to the natural Law as a man and to the Law of Moses as a Jew was part of his Mediatorial obedience For he was made under the Law to redeem them that were under the Law Gal. 4.4 5. His preaching the Gospel was an act of obedience to this Law I do nothing of my self but as my father hath taught me I speak these things John 8.28 I have not spoke of my self but the Father which sent me he gave me a commandment what I should say and what I should speak Whatsoever I speak therefore even as the Father said unto me so I speak John 12.49 50. His laying down his life was another eminent act of obedience to this law He humbled himself and became obedient unto death even the death of the cross Phil. 2.8 I lay down my life and I take it again this commandment have I received of my Father John 10.18 By these and other like acts of obedience and conformity to this law of Mediation did our Saviour fulfil all righteousness And by this righteousness of his we are made righteous and so justified Rom. 5.19 As by one mans disobedience many were made sinners so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous By these things we may know what we are to understand by the righteousness of Christ which was the first thing I was to enquire into about it 2. The next thing I am to enquire into is how this Righteousness of Christ doth operate to our Justification In doing of which I shall enquire into two things by the understanding of which we may come to know how the righteousness of our Saviour operates to our Justification 1. The reason and end of this law of Mediation and of the acts of our Mediator in conformity to it from which this righteousness of Christ doth result 2. Upon what the efficacy and operative virtue of this righteousness doth depend in reference to this end For the first of these The end in general of the law of Mediation and of our Saviours obedience to it was to deliver us from the wrath to come and to bring us to everlasting life The subordinate end was Reconciliation between God and men And as a means to this end the obtaining and granting a Conditional pardon for all the world and a new Covenant containing that condition and the promise made upon it 1. The first and last end next to Gods glory of the law of Mediation and of the obedience of the Mediator to it was to recover us from the dolefull condition into which our sin had brought us and to restore us to a capacity of enjoying everlasting life When our Saviour had said I have not spoken of my self but the Father which sent me he gave me a commandment what I should say and what I should speak this we see was one part of the Law given to the Mediator he presently adds this and I know that his commandment is everlasting Life meaning that to that end it was designed and to that end it doth directly tend John 12.49.50 And again I am come saith our Saviour that they might have life and that they might have it more abundantly this was the great end of his coming John 10.10 2. The next end of it in subordination and subserviency to the former was to Reconcile us to God by altering our nature by altering the frame and temper of the mind and heart and so of a mans ways and life from carnal to Spiritual without which there is no reconciliation wrought in us to God nor consequently of God to us For S. Paul saith that the carnal mind is enmity against God because it is not subject to the Law of God neither indeed can be Rom. 8.7 And he that is at enmity against God is far from being reconciled to him and from a capacity of being made happy by him For except a man be born again he cannot see the Kingdom of God nor without holiness shall see God till then he is no capable subject of such happiness And therefore to effect this to make us capable of the former end our Saviour in obedience to the Mediatorial Law gave himself for us to redeem us from all iniquity and to purifie to himself a peculiar people zealous of good works Tit. 2.14 He suffered for us the Just for the unjust that he might bring us unto God by way of return from our revolt 1 Pet. 3.18 He loved his Church and gave himself for it that he might sanctifie and cleanse it that he might present it unto himself a glorious Church not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing but that it should be holy and without blemish Eph. 5.25 26. 3. The next end of our Saviours Mediatorial obedience or Righteousness and as a means to accomplish and bring about the former end last mentioned was the obtaining the forming and granting of a Conditional pardon for all mankind In him we have Redemption through his blood even the forgiveness of Sins Eph. 1.7 He is the Lamb of God that taketh away the Sins of the world John 1.29 The propitiation for the Sins of the whole world 1 Joh. 2.2 He gave his flesh for the life of the world John 6. and himself a Ransom for all 1. Tim. 2.6 I will not deny but that this giving himself a Ransom for all and tasting death for every man may in one respect be said to be absolute and unconditional and did extend as far and to as many as ever the sin of Adam did in its effects and that is in Redeeming all men from obnoxiousness to eternal misery meerly upon the account of Adams sin or the sin of any other save their own personal sins The soul that sinneth it shall die the son shall not bear the iniquity of the father in this respect Ezek. 18.20 In respect of the extent and universality of this effect of Christs death Adam might be said to be the figure of him that was to come
makes men full of fears and jealousies of the avenger and not apt to believe that such as they have highly affronted injured and provoked can be reconciled to them until they have avenged themselves on them if they have power to do it therefore our Saviour to assure sinners of the reality of God's desire and intention of being reconciled to them and to pardon them if they will but be reconciled to him hath not only given them his word for it but a wonderful and great proof of it in what he hath done towards such a thing before ever any such favour was desired or sought for on their parts God he so loved the world and was so unwilling to avenge himself on them as that he hath given his only begotten Son not only to tell them so but also to suffer for them to prepare the way of reconciliation between them All this hath been done on God and his holy Sons part towards this reconciliation before there was ever any inclination on mans part of being reconciled to God God hath commended his love towards us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us Rom. 5.8 In this was manifested the love of God towards us because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world that we might live through him Herein is love not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be a propitiation for our sins 1 John 4.9 10. And doubtless this way of proceeding with enemies if any will make them willing to be reconciled to God and it is indeed that which doth take with all but desperate contumacious wretches We love him saith St. John because he first loved us 1 John 4.19 Our thoughts and inclinations of returning to God and of being reconciled to him of any love or good will towards him take their first rise from intimations yea more than so from manifestations of Gods love to us first and especially of such love as the giving of his Son for us bespeaks him to have to us Hence the preaching of the Cross the declaration not only that Christ hath suffered but upon what account he hath suffered is said to be the power of God to them that are saved that is it is Gods powerful motive by which he persuades men of his willingness to be reconciled to them and by that means prevails with them to be willing to be reconciled to him The preaching of the Cross is to them that perish foolishness but unto us which are saved it is the power of God 1 Cor. 1.18 All things saith St. Paul are of God who hath reconciled us unto himself by Jesus Christ and hath given unto us the ministry of reconciliation what 's that to wit that God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself not imputing their trespasses unto them and hath committed to us the word of reconciliation 2 Cor. 5.18 19. This is we see Gods way and method of reconciling the world unto himself by making known to them that upon account of his Son 's undertaking and suffering for them he is freely willing to pardon them and not to impute their trespasses but to be reconciled to them provided they will be reconciled to him Hence it is that our reconciliation to God and not only God's reconciliation to us is so frequently as it is attributed in Scripture to the death of Christ 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 Rom. 5.10 And that he might reconcile both Jews and Gentiles unto God in one body by the Cross having slain the enmity thereby and came and preached peace c. Eph. 2.16 17. And again having made peace by the Blood of his Cross it pleased the Father by him to reconcile all things to himself And you that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works yet now hath he reconciled in the body of his flesh through death Col. 1.19 20 21 22. By these and other like Scriptures we see that one of God's great designs in giving his Son to die for us was the reconciling us to himself by assuring us that upon condition of our being reconciled we should not have any the least cause to question his willingness to be reconciled to us and that it is by this that he procures a willingness in us to be reconciled to him This great transaction between the Father and the Son in behalf of the world the Father's giving and the Son 's undertaking to die for the world in order to this great work of reconciliation is the great and certain security unto men that what was said in the Gospel touching Gods being reconcilable to sinners and his forgiving them provided they will be reconciled to him shall be really performed and made good to them Hence it is that in regard that Christ was made Priest by the Oath of God to offer himself in Sacrifice to expiate sin and then in vertue of that Sacrifice to make intercession for us that he is said to be made surety of the better Testament that is he by that means becomes a surety for God unto men of the reality of his proffers and promises in the Gospel to them and of the performance of them upon the condition of their being reconciled to him Heb. 7.20 22. The Apostles inference is very natural and strongly conclusive when he says He that spared not his own Son but delivered him up for us all how shall he not with him freely give us all things Rom. 8.32 Gods giving his Son to die for us is more than the bestowing a pardon and eternal life upon us And therefore he having done the greater already to procure our reconciliation to him it is an earnest and a pledg that he will not stick to pardon and to save us which is a less matter for him to give if we become reconciled to him indeed 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 Rom. 5.10 This assurance which God hath given to the world of his willingness to pardon and save sinners by the death of his Son as an earnest and a pledg of it if they wilfully refuse not to become reconciled to him is that which in the first times in which this was divulged to the wrrld brought in a considerable part of it to Christ who by him yielded up themselves to God In prospect of which success of this gracious design of God upon the world by the death of his Son it was that our Saviour said John 12.32 And I if I he lifted up from the earth will draw all men unto me So powerful a motive to reconcile sinners to God is God's declaration by giving his Son to die for them of his willingness to be reconciled to them if they will but answer him
Grace to us in that it is bestowed on us through Christ or for his sake nor the less of Grace in God because the Righteousness of Christ his obedient suffering upon account whereof this gift or grant is made us was the effect of Gods gratious design of benefit unto us It was by the grace of God that he tasted death for every man as we are told Heb. 2.9 and consequently all the good that does accrue to us by it must be of Grace That the introduction of this Evangelical Righteousness we speak of was of meer Grace and free gift appears Rom. 5.17 where this effect of Gods Grace is called the gift of Righteousness And in that Verse and in the Verse before and after it is called the gift or free gift no less than four times Not as it was by one that sinned so is the gift for the judgment was by one unto condemnation but the free gift was of many offences unto justification For if by one mans offence death reigned by one much more they that receive abundance of Grace and of the gift of Righteousness shall reign in life by one Jesus Christ Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation even so by the Righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto the justification of life And in vers 21. Grace is said to reign through Righteousness to life as sin had reigned unto death In these Verses St. Paul shews that if the offence of Adam were of force to involve his whole Race in condemnation that then the Grace of God and the gift by Grace through Christ the second Adam and upon account of his Righteousness will be much more available to the justification and pardon of all men upon supposition they receive this gift of being Righteous with that Righteousness And let it be noted that the free gift here mentioned and the Righteousness of one Jesus Christ are not the same but the one the effect of the other it is by the Righteousness of one Christ Jesus that the free gift of Righteousness came upon all men unto justification of life That is as I conceive this free gift of accounting men Righteous if they receive it upon the terms of the giver is granted unto all men otherwise sinners upon the account of the Righteousness of Christ Rom. 3.24 Being justified freely by his Grace through the Redemption that is in Christ Jesus Here also we see that it is of free Grace that God approves of men as Just and does adjudg them Righteous which is his Justifying of them it is freely of Grace though it be through the Redemption that is in Christ Jesus or for the sake of his Mediatory obedience Tit. 3.6 Being justified by his Grace c. And when this Righteousness of Faith is said as it is to be a Righteousness imputed or a Righteousness that is accounted for such it implies nay argues that it is so in a way of grace and favour and not in stirctness of justice As on the contrary not to impute sin when sin hath been committed signifies to deal with such persons in a way of grace and favour and not according to the rigor of strict justice 2 Sam. 19.19 2 Cor. 5.19 As not to impute our trespasses to us when we repent of them and strive against them though otherwise we are not without all sin is purely an act of grace and of high favour in God even so for him to impute Righteousness to us when we sincerely endeavour to be Righteous though otherwise we be not without all sin is an act of the same grace likewise This Righteousness of Faith it is not a natural Righteousness as Adams was while he kept his integrity but it is so meerly in the account of grace and favour It is a Righteousness by Divine institution not otherwise of it self so its being so depends upon the grace and good will of God that hath appointed it so to be and to be accepted and to pass in account for such For which reason I conceive it is frequently called the Righteousness of God Rom. 1.17 and 3.21 2 Cor. 5.21 The Righteousness of God which is by Faith Rom. 3.22 Phil. 3.9 as noting it to be a Righteousness of his ordaining proceeding from his Grace in opposition to mens own Righteousness which is or is conceited to be a Righteousness Naturally and of it self as the Pharisaical Jews fancied their Righteousness of the Law to be By grace are ye saved through faith and that not of your selves it is the gift of God Eph. 2.8 That is it is by Grace and by virtue of the donation of God that we are saved by Faith or the Righteousness of Faith and that we have such a Faith or Righteousness of Faith to be saved by 2. It is by the Gospel or Covenant of Grace that this Righteousness of Faith is revealed and conveyed to us for such and stated and settled for such as by a Law This way of accounting men that have been and are sinners to be Righteous upon their believing is not known by any Natural Light because it is not a Natural Righteousness but is purely matter of supernatural Revelation as it is in it self supernatural Grace I am not ashamed of the Gospel saith St. Paul For therein is the Righteousness of God revealed from Faith to Faith as it is written the just shall live by Faith Rom. 1.17 And again Now is the Righteousness of God manifested without the Law to wit by the Gospel Rom. 3.21 It is by this Gospel or Covenant that Faith is ordained to be our Righteousness and settled for such as by a Law which therefore is called the Law of Faith Rom. 3.27 And the Gospel which conveys this Grace to us is frequently called the Grace of God the word of his Grace and the Gospel of the Grace of God Tit. 2.11 Acts 14.3 and 20.24 The Messias according to what was Prophesied hath brought in everlasting Righteousness by the everlasting Covenant the everlasting Gospel which was not in the world after the fall but by his bringing in Dan. 9.24 By all this it appears that the Covenant operates to our Justification as it gives being from God and our Lord Jesus Christ unto that Covenant Righteousness which is the matter of our Justification it is that by which God doth institute this Righteousness for it is a Righteousness by institution and not naturally such as I have shewed What it does in this kind it does it by virtue of Gods designation of it to that Office and not by its own innate virtue and intrinsick worth or merit When I say this Righteousness of Faith is not naturally and of it self such I do not mean that those fruits of the Spirit of which it doth consist have not in them the true nature of goodness and holiness for that they have but that these are not in Righteous men themselves that yet are Evangelically
strive against its prevailing upon them as I have shewed For the Gospel is the power of God to Salvation Now then if this be true that God by means of his antecedent Grace hath given such power unto men of acting towards their believing unto Righteousness as hath been said there is then there is very great reason this should be made known to them and that they should not be made believe that they have no more power of acting towards their own Salvation than there is in a dead man to raise himself to life I say there is great reason for this because their Salvation or Damnation are much concerned in it For to persuade men that they have no power to act towards their believing is the direct way to take them off from the use of means tending thereto For what greater discouragement can be given unto men to attempt a thing than to persuade them that they have no power of accomplishing it if they do As good never a whit as never the better as the Proverb runs The quite contrary is doubtless to be done by such as would not betray mens souls to destruction nor lay a stumbling block in their way nor cramp their endeavours in seeking to be saved They should be throughly acquainted with what power God hath put into their hands of being saved if they will by having given them his Gospel and power to hear and consider the terms of Salvation that are therein offered to them and the powerful motives that tend to persuade them to believe and obey it They should be brought to a great sense that God is not nor will be wanting to them in his Grace and assistance nor in the matter of their salvation if they be not greatly wanting to themselves in not doing what they may and can do towards it That God hath set life and death before them and persuaded them to chuse life and that he hath given them power to do so much towards it by the helps wherewith he hath prevented them as that he will not fail to give them so much more as shall put them into an immediate capacity of salvation if they will but make such use as they may and can of that which he hath already given them And that therefore if they perish it is of their own choice because they judg themselves unworthy of everlasting life And that for this cause they will be left without all excuse if they perish and that God will be justified in their condemnation in that he hath done that which was sufficient on his part to have prevented it It was not the manner of our Saviour to persuade men that they could do nothing towards their own salvation but complains of them saying ye will not come to me that ye might have life how oft would I have gathered you as a Hen gathereth her Chickens under her wings and ye would not and expostulates the matter with them saying yea and why even of your selves judg ye not what is right And from time to time cryed to them in his doctrin with an extended voice saying whosoever hath ears to hear let them hear meaning that if they would make use of their teachable and considerative faculties in any thing then about those things he preached among them And upbraided those that would not when they had eyes to see and ears to hear other things wherein they were nothing so much concerned as they were in his doctrine saying they seeing see not and hearing hear not neither do they understand And can any man that thinks well of our Saviour wisely think also that he upbraided them for not doing that which they had no power to do Nevertheless although it be Gods ordinary declared method of proceeding with men in reference to their salvation to add a subsequent power to enable such to believe unto Righteousness who had not grosly neglected to use and improve the antecedent power and Grace which had been vouchsafed them before yet doubtless God always reserves unto himself a liberty of acting extraordinarily in a way of Grace towards men where and when and to what degree he pleaseth though they have not improved but grosly neglected their first talents Several instances of this nature there have been in men whose natures and lives have been debauched with a custom of sinning who yet have been surprised as it were on a suddain and their consciences awakened and let loose upon them either by a Sermon or some great affliction or some other providence and such a change presently wrought that they have afterward become very good men And so God hath been found of those that sought him not as the Prophet speaks as he was by the extraordinary Conversion of those of the Gentile Nations upon the first going out of the Gospel among them many of whom till then had lived without God in the world as the Apostle speaks Now this liberty of shewing more Grace and favour to some than to othres God may well make use of and yet no man have cause to complain that he does so so long as he is not wanting to the rest in that which is sufficient unto their Salvation but puts it within their own power to be saved if they will So that if they perish it is through their own wilful neglect to do what they might have done Indeed God can no more wrong one creature than another because he cannot but do right to all But in dispensing favours it is nowise unbecoming his wisdom and goodness to do more for one creature than for anotheer no more than it was in the work of Creation when he did not make all Men Angels nor all Brutes Men. Is it not lawful for me to do what I will with mine own Is thy eye evil because I am good saith the Housholder in the Parable to him that murmured for that he that laboured but one hour in the Vineyard had as much as the hire of another for a whole day came to Mat. 20.15 Since then it is but Gods unusual and extraordinary way to convert some such men by surprising them with the mighty operations of his Grace as had in a manner wholly neglected the improvement of their first Talents the antecedent Grace of God And since he hath made no promise of doing so for any man but rather on the contrary threatened to take away from such that which they had received before It remains then that no man presume or take any encouragement to neglect Gods ordinary and prescribed way and means of attaining to Grace and Salvation in hope that God should go out of his usual way to meet with them and to convert them in a way and manner that is unusual and extraordinary No man in his wits will act by such measures in things pertaining to this present life and the outward man Some men we now and then see have strange and fortunate hits in the world Estates conferred on them
Dr. Hammond renders it thus But the mercy was by occasion of many offences unto Justification Agreeable to this reading is that note of Grotius upon the place in these words Occasion being taken from many sins and so is that of Piscator and Simplicius in these words Occasion being taken not only from the sin of Adam but also from the proper sins of all believers So that the sense of the place according to this rendering of the words seems to be to this effect That from the sad condition into which men were fallen not only by the one offence of Adam but also by their own many personal offences God took occasion to manifest his own Grace and Mercy through Christ to miserable men in giving and granting them new terms by which they might attain unto Justification or a being approved of by God as Righteous their many offences notwithstanding And this in Verse 17. is called the gift of Righteousness and in Verse 18. the free gift unto Justification of life through the Righteousness of one to wit Christ And accordingly the grant which God hath made us of being saved by Faith in Jesus Christ is said to be of Grace and to be the gift of God By Grace are ye saved through Faith and that not of yourselves it is the gift of God Ephes 2.8 Now according to this rendering of the words by all these great men of Learning there is not the least appearance of any such thing as that Justification is by Remission of sin None of those worthy persons abovementioned do say the free gift is of many offences but all of them say it is from many offences So that if we read it thus according to the Translation I first mentioned the free gift is unto Justification from many offences the sense will be this I conceive That through the free gift we are by Justification secured from suffering the desert of our many offences and is the same in sense with the interpretation of Acts 13.39 last suggested Where was shewed that though Remission of sin is by Justification that is a benefit accruing to us thereby yet we cannot therefore say that Justification is by Remission of sin The terms are not convertible we cannot so well say that Justification is by Remission of sin as we can that Remission of sin is by Justification The other Scripture which is much insisted on to prove Remission of sin is Justification or that Justification stands in Remission of sin is Rom. 4.6 7. Even as David also describeth the blessedness of the man unto whom God imputeth Righteousness without works saying blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven and whose sins are covered In which words as it is argued Justification is described by Gods forgiving iniquity But then it is counter-argued that this description by David seems not to be a description of the Justification of the man to whom God imputeth Righteousness without works but a description of his happy state and condition in having his sins Pardoned St. Paul doth not say even as David describeth the Justification of the man to whom God imputeth Righteousness but the Blessedness of the man Now the blessedness of having sin Pardoned is a benefit consequent upon a mans believing and so of his being Justified by that belief for Pardon is promised but on that condition Acts 10.43 And the promise and the condition of the promise cannot be the same Which very consideration if there were no more were enough to shew that Justification is not described by Forgiveness of sin It appears at first sight that these words of the Psalmist were brought to prove somwhat said by St. Paul a little before And if they should be brought to prove that Faith is counted to a man for Righteousness which was the thing St. Paul had asserted in the next precedent Verse then they could not be brought to prove that Forgiveness of sin is counted to him for Righteousness for Faith and Forgiveness of sin are two different things By this it appears already that these words of David were not alledged to prove Justification to be by Remission of sin as it will further appear by and by To the end then we may the better understand for what purpose these words of David are here recited by St. Paul we will consider his words in the two next precedent Verses Now to him that worketh saith he is the reward not reckoned of Grace but of Debt Verse 4. In which words St. Paul seems to have stated the opinion of the Pharisaical Jews against whom he disputed They held as it seems that the reward to wit all the benefit all the happiness they expected from God to be due to them as a debt for their observing the Law of Moses They did not expect that their obedience should be accepted or counted to them for Righteousness for the sake of another and upon the account of the Death and Sacrifice of the Messias for they held that he when he should come should never die John 12.34 and that therefore their sin was not to be expiated by the Sacrifice of his death but by their own legal Sacrifices and that the blood of Bulls and Goats did take away sin Heb. 10.4 and that those Sacrifices with their other legal observances were of themselves their Righteousness and that upon account hereof Justification and Life were due to them in the nature of a debt in opposition to Grace and that the Gentiles were ungodly and uncapable of Righteousness and Justification until they were Proselytes to their way of worship This is that St. Paul calls their own Righteousness in opposition to that which is of God by Faith of Jesus Christ Phil. 3.9 By all which they rendred the death of Christ of none effect and Justification to be of Works and not of Grace as appears by Gal. 2.21 and 5.4 In Verse 5. St. Paul asserts the contrary to wit That to him that worketh not but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly his Faith is counted to him for Righteousness Which assertion of St. Paul if true proves the reward to be of Grace and not of Debt whether by Reward you understand only Justification or also the benefits subsequent to it For if God count such mens Faith for Righteousness which work not which have no such works as by which to reckon the reward to be of Debt and not of Grace yea such mens Faith for Righteousness which had been ungodly then the reward must needs be of Grace and not of Debt This being a self-evident truth That after a man by sin hath once made a forfeiture of all to God whatever good he after receives from him must needs be of Grace Which made St. Paul say All have sinned and come short of the glory of God being Justified freely by his Grace and that too through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus Rom. 3.23.24 These words of David then in Verse 6 7. seem to be