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
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
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
in their willingness to be reconciled to him This is the first of the three things I mentioned which have a great aptness in them to persuade men to be reconciled to God for which end our Saviour does by the Gospel as he is Mediator of the New Testament not only reveal this but labours to possess men with a strong belief of it without which it will not operate on them at all towards such an end as the reconciling them to God is 2. Another of those motives by which our Saviour by setting the Gospel on foot seeks to reconcile men to God is by giving them great assurance that God is so far from desiring to revenge himself on them notwithstanding all their provocations if they were but as willing as he is to be reconciled as that in case they will be but persuaded to be reconciled to God by repentance for their former rebellion and by becoming really obedient to their power for the future as that then he will bestow upon them everlasting life advance them to such a state of happiness as that greater than which the heart of man cannot wish for or desire And surely this if it be throughly believed will if any thing will persuade men to be reconciled to God To this end our Saviour hath brought life and immortality to light by the Gospel 2 Tim. 1.10 And by this motive he doth almost every where in the Gospel persuade to Faith Love Repentance Obedience and Holiness which is the same with persuading men to be reconciled to God for in such things as these doth our reconciliation to God consist St. John speaks of this in a magnifying way as the great motive to man to entertain and obey the Gospel This saith he is the promise which he hath promised us even eternal life 1 John 2.25 And indeed it was this that did invite men to receive the Gospel to profess the Christian Religion at first and which did animate them to suffer any thing rather than to renounce and forsake it and the hope of eternal life which they had received by it They took joyfully the spoiling of their goods knowing in themselves that they had in Heaven a better and an enduring substance Heb. 10.34 3. There is a great aptitude in our Saviours setting the Gospel on foot to reconcile men to God because he thereby convinceth them that if after God's gracious offer of being reconciled to them in case they will be reconciled to him and if after all that hath been done by God and suffered by his Son to prepare the way for a mutual reconciliation between them they shall yet obstinately refuse to be reconciled to God and persist still in their rebellion and disobedience That then God will be so far from being reconciled to them and from pardoning them notwithstanding all the willingness he hath declared to be reconciled to them upon condition of their reconciliation to him and notwithstanding all that Christ hath done and suffered to bring this about as that this offer of God and undertaking of Christ shall turn but to their heavier doom and greater condemnation in the next world This is the condemnation that light is come into the world and men loved darkness more than light John 3.19 How shall we escpe if we neglect so great salvation which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord himself and was confirmed to us by them that heard him Heb. 2.3 It shall be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrah and for Tyre and Sydon in the day of Judgment than for them that have refused to be reconciled to God when by the Gospel sent to them he hath offered to be reconciled to them on condition that they would be reconciled unto him And lest any should flatter themselves with vain hopes of being saved from the goodness of the nature of God and the death of Jesus Christ for sinners who yet take a liberty to live in known sin without reconciling themselves to God by leaving it off and returning to their duty as too many alas do there are two or three things revealed by Christ to take from them such vain hopes and to put them upon a necessity of chusing either to reconcile themselves to God or to be eternally miserable 1. The first is taken from the nature of God The nature of God is so pure and holy and so contrary to sin that it is as impossible for him to be reconciled to sin or to sinners while by it they are in open rebellion against him as it is for him to change his nature and cease to be God This is the message saith St. John which we have heard of him that is of Christ and declare unto you that God is light and in him is no darkness at all If we say that we have fellowship with him and walk in darkness we lie and do not the truth 1 John 1.5 So that according to this message which Christ hath sent to sinners by his Messengers it is as possible to reconcile light and darkness as God and such as walk in darkness that is in wilful sin And St. Paul would make men themselves judges in the case and appeals to their own reason saying What communion hath light with darkness and what concord hath Christ with Belial 2 Cor. 6.14 15. and plainly intimates that if light and darkness are irreconcilable and can have no communion so is Christ and Belial or a lawless man 2. He hath taken away such vain hopes from sinners by declaring by his Gospel That God without respect of persons judgeth according to every mans work that is he will judg every man according to the right of his cause without favouring or dis-favouring the persons of men against the nature and right of their cause He that hath done good shall come forth to the resurrection of life and he that hath done evil unto the resurrection of damnation Even there where the Lord hath declared from heaven that he is merciful and gracious forgiving iniquity transgression and sin even there he hath declared also to the end men might not mistake that he will by no means clear the guilty no by no means not upon any account whatsoever will he clear such as are finally guilty by persisting in rebellion Exod. 34.6 7. All such persons therefore as will not be persuaded to be reconciled to God by becoming obedient to his government by his laws have no more reason to hope that they shall be saved upon the account of God's merciful nature or the merits of Christ's death than they have to hope that God for their sakes will go contrary to all his declarations in his word and contrary to the whole fixed frame of his government by which he rules and will judg the world And what sinner is there that can but give himself the liberty to consider things that is or can be so vain in his expectation as to promise himself any such thing since
by the Law then Christ is dead in vain Gal. 2.21 Thus he by his Faith and Doctrine according to it in believing and teaching Justification by the death of Jesus Christ did not frustrate but exalt the grace of God Faith then in the very nature of it does own the promise of all benefits to be of Grace when made to such as by sin had forfeited all The other reason why it must needs be of Grace that the Promise is made upon condition of Faith is this because our believing that another to wit Christ hath by his own suffering and intercession for us obtained pardon and life upon condition of our being reconciled to God cannot without believing a contradiction be thought to merit these benefits but that the Promise and the benefits promised and their being promised on such a condition as an obediential Faith is must needs be all of Grace and cuts off all occasion of boasting For Christ is made to us of God Wisdom Righteousness Sanctification and Redemption to the end that he that glorieth may glory in the Lord 1 Cor. 1.30 31. And it is by grace that we are saved through faith and not of works lest any man should boast Ephes 2.8 9. Where is boasting then It is excluded by what Law Of works Nay but by the Law of faith Rom. 3.27 Again the Promise is therefore of Faith that it might be by Grace to the end that the promise might be sure to all the seed as well of the Uncircumcision as of the Circumcision The Promise of Pardon and Life to the Gentiles the greatest sinners upon condition of repentance is secured and made sure to them by their believing because the Promise so believed is founded in the death of Jesus Christ in whom all the promises are Yea and Amen For no man can with the least appearance of reason imagine that the great God would ever expose one so great and so greatly beloved by him as his holy Son is to such sufferings as he underwent to procure Pardon and Life for repentant sinners were he not fully and perfectly resolved to Pardon and save them upon their repentance notwithstanding all their sins they were guilty of before how hainous soever they may have been Upon which account our Saviour thus given by the Father to such an end is said to be surety of the new Covenant Heb. 7.22 that is he is the great security which the great God hath given to the world of performing whatever he hath promised us upon his Sons account in that Covenant God that spared not his own Son but delivered him up for us all how shall he not with him freely give us all things Rom. 8.31 And now who sees not but that this is an act of exceeding rich Grace in God not only to resolve to bestow upon the children of men such great things as he hath promised but also to give them such a security for it as he hath done by giving his Son to prepare the way for it Now the sense and comfort of all this Grace and so our ascribing the glory of it unto God and our Lord Jesus Christ depends upon our believing these things And therefore God hath entailed the Promise of benefits upon that Faith as a condition without which we can have no sense of all that grace of God exprest in the Promise And therefore well might the Apostle say It is therefore of Faith that it might be by Grace Besides the Promise appears to be of grace in reference to the condition on which it is made whether we consider the vast disproportion between the things promised and the condition on which they are promised or the easiness of the condition it self Considering what by sin we have deserved it would have been matter of Grace in God and great Grace too if he had promised us no more but a deliverance from the wrath to come and that upon any possible condition though otherwise never so rigorous or hard to have been performed as suppose it had been the greatest severity the nature of man could undergo to be exercised by us on our own bodies If this had been the case yet herein there would have been as much grace and favour shewed us as such temporary severities would come short of eternal torments in Hell And if this would have been matter of grace as most certain it would how much more doth it appear to be so when God hath promised not only exemption from the vengeance of eternal fire but also to exalt our nature and to prefer us to an immortal happiness and glory far greater probably than the happiness of an earthly Paradise would have been in case we had never sinned at all and yet all this too upon so easie a condition as Faith is For easie it is in the attaining to it if we consider what provision God hath made and what assistances he is ready to afford to enable us to believe And it 's easie in its exercise and work if we consider what we are to do by vertue of it which besides affiance in God and our Saviour is but to abstain from that we had better be without than have though we should not be concerned in a future state in another world and to do no more but what tends to the perfecting of our nature and the comfort of our lives besides the future glory except in the case of persecution for Righteousness sake In such respects as these I have mentioned it plainly appears that Gods making of Faith to be the condition upon which his great benefits are promised us tends greatly to manifest the grace of God and our Lord Jesus Christ and to fill us with a sense of it for which cause we see he hath chosen it to that office of being the condition of pardon of sin and eternal Life through Jesus Christ our Lord. And one reason why God would have his own grace so manifest in all these his proceedings and dealings with us and why he would have us possessed with so great a sense of it is I conceive because he knows this is the direct way of reconciling us to himself of making us to have good and honourable thoughts of him such as incline and dispose us to be reconciled to him And this brings me to another reason why Faith is made the condition of the great and precious promises aforesaid which is this 2. Such a Faith as I have described does best accommodate Gods design of Grace towards us in reconciling us to himself by Jesus Christ in order to our happiness which may be another reason why Faith is made the condition of the promised benefits There is a certain aptitude in Faith to reconcile us to God and to produce that in us which is the matter of our Justification as well as of our reconciliation to God And the reason hereof is because the motives by which men come to be persuaded to be reconciled to God
the words are these And by him all that believe are justified from all things from which ye could not be justified by the Law of Moses To be Justified from sin sometimes signifies to be freed from the power and dominion of it Thus in Rom. 6.7 St. Paul having said in Verse 6. Knowing this that our old man is crucified with him that the body of sin might be destroyed that henceforth we should not serve sin adds in Verse 7. for he that is dead is Justified from sin For so it is according to the marginal reading and so the Dutch Translation Englished reads it though in our Translation it is rendred freed instead of Justified from sin And in this sense St. Austin understood this Acts 13.39 as I find him quoted And to this sence of the word Justifie agrees the reading of Revel 22.11 which some upon occasion use Let him that is filthy be filthy still and he that is Righteous let him be Justified still To the same sence of the word Justifie some alledg Rom. 8.30 Tit. 3.5 compared with Verse 7. and 1 Cor. 6.11 But ye are washed but ye are sanctified but ye are Justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the spirit of our God Where Justification seems to be ascribed unto the Spirit of God in one respect as to the Lord Jesus in another And doubtless Justification is the effect of the operation of all the Blessed Trinity though the manner of their operation be different Now that to be Justified from all things from which ye could not be Justified by the Law of Moses may be understood in this sense there are two things to be said to render it probable The one is the good agreement which this sence has with other places of Scripture which shew that men are freed from sin through Christ by his Gospel so as they could not be freed from it by the Law of Moses Thus Heb. 7.18 19. There is verily a disannulling of the Commandment going before for the weakness and unprofitableness thereof For the Law made nothing perfect but the bringing in of a better hope did And again Rom. 8.2 3 4. For the Law of the Spirit of Life which is in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the Law of sin and of death For what the Law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin condemned sin in the flesh that the Righteousness of the Law might be fulfilled in us who walk not after the flesh but after the spirit So likewise Rom. 6.14 Sin shall not have dominion over you for ye are not under the Law but under grace By all which we see that the Law of Moses could not Justifie men from sin as Christ by the Gospel-dispensation does if by being Justified from sin we understand a being freed from sin it self as to its dominion The other thing which may incline us to understand the words under consideration in this sense is what may be observed from the context St. Paul had said in Verse 38. the words immediately before Be it known to you men and brethren that through this man Christ is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins Now then if in Verse 39. he should mean no more by being Justified than a being Pardoned he would seem but to say over the same thing again in other words which he had said before which is not usual with him But if this should not be the meaning of those words and should we suppose that by being Justified from all things from which they could not be Justified by the Law of Moses should be meant a being Justified from the guilt of sin as that signifies a being freed from the punishment deserved by it yet let us consider whether it will necessarily follow that the Apostle in those words defines Justification by Remission of sin or whether rather he does not thereby only set forth the subsequent benefits that would accrue to them by being Justified by believing which could not be obtained by their observing the Law of Moses And if so then the meaning would be only this That by their being Justified by their believing they should be delivered from or secured against the evil effects of their sin from which they could be not secured by observing the Law of Moses Now that to be Justified by believing by vertue of the blood of Christ and to be freed from the punishment of sin which is Pardon are two different things seems to be very plain from those words of St. Paul Rom. 5.9 where he saith much more than being now justified by his blood we shall be saved from wrath through him He infers the certainty of their being Pardoned or saved from wrath from their being Justified and the inference and that from which it is made are doubtless two things We see then that men may be Pardoned by vertue of their being Justified and so be Justified from sin and yet not Justified by their being Pardoned It will no more follow that because by Justification we are Pardoned that therefore Pardon is our Justification than it will follow that because by believing we are Pardoned that therefore our Pardon is our believing and our believing our Pardon And now if we should understand the words Justified from all things from which ye could not be Justified by the Law of Moses in both the forementioned sences for a being delivered both from the guilt of sin and from the power and pollution of it I know no inconvenience in it both being true But if we do so yet we do not thereby necessarily conclude Pardon of sin to be Justification but only that Pardon of sin is by Justification as depending upon it For Gods adjudging of us to have performed the condition in believing on which he promised Pardon which is his Justifying of us together with his imputing that Faith to us for Righteousness intervenes comes between our believing and our being actually Pardoned and is that which gives the immediate right to it as I shewed before What hath been said then may suffice I suppose to shew that in all probability no such thing can be concluded from those words in Acts 13. as that we are Justified by being Pardoned The next Scripture I shall enquire into is Rom. 5.16 the words these Not as it was by one that sinned so is the gift for the judgment was by one or by one offence to condemnation but the free gift is of many offences unto Justification That which is first necessary to be done here is to consider the Translation because these words the free gift of many offences unto Justification seem as we have them in our Translation a little uncouth and somwhat unintelligible I have seen the matter in this part of the Verse Translated from the Original thus But the free gift is unto Justification from many offences not of many offences
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
Rom. 5. But otherwise and in reference to such as have contracted ill habits by their own actual sin the pardon obtained by our Saviour for the whole world or which he came to obtain was but Conditional it was upon condition of their being prevailed withal to be reconciled unto God Otherwise and if this were not so all would have been saved whether they believed and repented or no. Whereas our Saviour hath said it he that believeth not shall be damned and that repenteth not shall perish Though God so loved the world as to give his only begotten Son yet he loved it but so as to promise salvation by him only to those that believe John 3.16 Now this pardon thus obtained and granted upon account of our Saviours obedience unto death but upon condition of mens being persuaded to be reconciled to God and yet certain to be conferred upon that condition is a most powerful motive and means to persuade men to be reconciled to God when it comes to be divulged and made known and when it is believed that pardon is certainly to be obtained this way and no way without it And therefore the Scripture speaks of it as the Method used by God to reconcile the world to himself 2. Cor. 5.19 God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself not imputing their trespasses that is provided they would not wilfully persist in them 4. Another end of the Mediatorial obedience of our Saviour subordinate to the former that last mentioned and as a means to effect it was the obtaining and founding of a new Law of Grace the new Covenant promising both pardon and eternal life upon condition and stating and declaring that condition to be published to the world as Gods great instrument of prevailing with men to be reconciled to God in order to their obtaining pardon and Salvation Upon which account the Gospel which is this new Law of Grace is said to be the power of God to Salvation to every one that believes it Rom. 1.16 Now all having sinned no flesh living could be justified but in a way of grace and mercy And therefore there was a kind of necessity of a new Law a Law of Grace by virtue of which men should be justified if justified at all But it did not seem meet to the divine wisdom to make such a Law of Grace but upon condition that some such thing should be undergone and suffered by our blessed Saviour on our bebehalf as would as well answer the end of the penalty of the original Law transgressed as if that penalty had been inflicted on the transgressors of it themselves But this being done by the sufferings of our Saviour as I shall shew afterward a fair way was thereby prepared for the Constituting a new Covenant promising pardon and eternal life upon new terms and conditions such as are not only possible but also feisable as well as reasonable in our state and condition Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the Law being made a curse for us that the blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles through Jesus Christ that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through Faith that is that we might receive the blessing and benefits of a new Covenant Gal. 3.13 14. And accordingly the Scripture frequently represents to us that the new Covenant is made with mankind upon account of what Christ did and suffered for us It was not only ratified and confirmed by the Sacrifice of his death but also thereby procured This I say saith S. Paul that the Covenant that was confirmed before of God in Christ c. Gal. 3.17 And all the promises of God are in him Yea and in him Amen 2 Cor. 1.20 And the New Testament is called the New Testament in his bloud Mat. 26.28 and his blood the bloud of the Everlasting Covenant Heb. 13.20 And when the Scriptures speak of Gods promising eternal life before the world began Tit. 1.2 and of Gods purpose and grace which was given us in Christ before the world began 2 Tim. 1.9 they seem to refer to what God the Father promised Christ on the behalf of mankind upon his Mediatory undertaking for them even then when this was resolved on and concluded by the Father and the Son before the world began For a conclusion of this matter and to shew that the Covenant of Grace was granted upon the account of the righteousness of Christ hear what S. Peter saith 2 Pet. 1.1 To them saith he that have obtained like precious Faith with us through the Righteousness of God and our Saviour Jesus Christ Whether you take Faith here for the act of believing the Gospel or the Gospel it self as the object of Faith which seems most likely or for both yet this is given through or upon account of the righteousness of him who is both God and our Saviour If you ask how the Mediatory righteousness of our Saviour in this subordination of ends doth operate to our Justification I answer Our reconciliation to God by being renewed in heart and life is the matter of our Evangelical Righteousness upon which we are justified For God justifies none that are not reconciled to him nor which are not Evangelically righteous But then our reconciliation to God and our becoming Evangelically righteous thereby and our being justified thereupon as I shall after shew we are are all owing to the Mediatory obedience or Righteousness of Christ for from that it is that they are what they are And so far as these operate to our Justification they do it in Virtue of Christs Mediatory performance And so do those two great motives the hopes of the forgiveness of sin and eternal life by which we are persuaded to be reconciled to God and to become Evangelically righteous for these also are founded in the Mediatorial obedience of our Saviour without which we could have had no such hopes and therefore Christ is well and worthily said to be our hope 1 Tim. 1.1 And then for the new Covenant as that operates to our Justification as it is a new Law constituting a new Righteousness and as it is the rule according to which we are approved as righteous and adjudged to be righteous when God justifies us so this operation receives its life and being and virtue from another operation and that is from the operation of the Mediatorial obedience and righteousness of our Saviour by which the Covenant it self was obtained Indeed all that any ways operates to our Justification and Salvation depends upon our Saviours Mediatorial performance except what God himself doth and yet what he himself doth in relation thereto is still done with reference to the undertaking and performance of his Son Jesus Christ for us Christ is the foundation which God himself hath laid which bears up the whole fabrick of our Redemption and Salvation which indeed is built upon it Isa 28.16 Behold I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone a tried stone