his Mercy 2 Tim. 4.8 it is a Crown of Righteousness given by the Lord the righteous judge And as in our being glorified the righteousness of God is exerted and shineth forth so it is likewise in our being justified 1 Joh. 1.9 Rom. 3.25 26. and indeed throughout the whole of our Salvation he is a just God and a Saviour Isa 45.21 Hence appears the Necessity of this Suretiship-Righteousness of Christ It must be provided and brought in that God may be Just in showing Mercy and appear Righteous in extending Grace unto us and saving us with that great Salvation to which he hath appointed us For it is the unchangeable Constitution of the unchangeable God to glorifie the one Attribute as well as the other Justice as well as Grace in our Salvation Of this Suretiship-Righteousness of Christ there are two parts without either of which it would not be compleat and perfect and would not serve our turn And the reason thereof is because Christ being our Surety is thereby under an Obligation to pay our Debt and we owe a double Debt unto the Moral Law viz. a Debt of Satisfaction by suffering the penalty as transgressing guilty Creatures and a Debt of Service and Obedience to the Precept as rational Creatures constituted in the way to our Everlasting Condition Hence there are two parts of Christ's Suretiship-righteousness This is that which the Apostle saith and on which he puts so much Remark and Emphasis 1 John 5.6 This is he who came by water and by blood Jesus the Christ not in water only but in water and in blood The Language and Phrases are Levitical Conceive the meaning of them thus The first Adam came by Water in a Spotless Cleanness and Purity as to all that the Precept requir'd of him But Jesus Christ came not by Water only not only in such Purity and Cleanness as fully answered all the Demands of the Precept of the Law but he came by Blood also which neither Adam nor Angels did Jesus Christ the Son of God came in a way of satisfactory Sufferings to Expiate and make Atonement for the Sins against the Precept which we were guilty of this he did by his Blood The reason is he was made our Surety his Name was put not only into the Covenant of Works but into it as a broken Covenant 1. His subjection to and suffering of the penalty of the Law This is commonly called the Passive Obedience or Righteousness of Christ because it consists in his Suffering the penalty or curse of the Law The Scripture calls it the Blood of Christ Ephes 1.7 and the Death of Christ Rom. 5.10 under that eminent part including and intending the whole of his Sufferings And also Christ's being made Sin 2 Cor. 5.21 and being made a Curse Gal. 3.13 The ground and reason of this Suffering of Christ under the Curse of the Law is because our Guilt our Sins were upon him and thence he suffered in our stead for them Isa 53.5 6. God the Father with his own consent put upon him the Garments of us Sinners and then awaked his Sword against him even the Sword of his Revenging Justice and ran him through and poured out his Blood as if he had been a Sinner Zach. 13.7 The end of it with reference to God is the restoring to him the Honour of his Authority and Supremacy over us and of his other perfections which shine forth in the Law which we by disobeying him had robbed him of Psal 69.4 With reference to us the end and attainment of it is reconciling us to God Rom. 5.10 Thence Christ is said to reconcile us and make peace between God and us by the blood of his Cross Eph. 2.14 15 16. Colos 1.20 21. The necessity of this part of Christ's Suretiship-righteousness being brought in for us ariseth partly from the glorious Holiness and Justice of Gods Nature whence he cannot but maintain his own Supremacy and the Rational Creatures Moral dependance on and subjection to himself which being violated by Sin can no way be re by satisfaction nor satisfaction be made but by the suffering of Punishment and partly from the veracity of God in his threatning wherein he hath in Wisdom and Justice established a connexion between Sin and Death and made the latter to be the wages of the former Gen. 2.17 Deut. 27.26 Insomuch as in regard of the Sanction of the Law that of the Apostle Heb 9.22 takes place and holds true without blood there is no remission 2. His subjection to and fulfilling the precept of the Law is also a part of Christ's Suretiship-Righteousness This is commonly called Christ's active obedience and by the Apostle his Obedience Rom. 5.19 viz. Obedience not only in Suffering but Obedience to the precept of the Law as Adams Disobedience to which it is there opposed was a violation of the precept By Christ it is called his fulfilling all righteousness Matth. 3.15 and his doing the will of God Psal 40.8 Heb. 10.7 9. The reason and ground of Christs obligation to bring in this part of righteousness for us is because he is our Surety and we owe this Debt to the Law of God And there is a necessity of it because God will magnifie his Law and make it Honourable in his being well pleased in Christ with us for his righteousness sake Isa 42.21 And because it is the unchangeable constitution of God that all the saying Good and Blessing which shall be given us shall be given not only from Free Grace but by the hand of Justice and in the way of being purchased for us by a just price Thence as in the former part of Christ's Suretiship-righteousness God's vindictive justice appeared and was glorified so in this part of it his remunerative justice shines forth and is exerted For by this part of Christ's righteousness he hath obtained for us in a way of purchase or merit by paying down a just price Salvation and Eternal Life Heb. 9.14 Eph. 1.14 Under this Obedience or Conformity of Christ to the Precept of the Law I include both all the course of his Holy walking and also the habitual created inherent Holiness of his humane Nature for the precept of the Law requires Holiness both in heart and Life and therefore Christ paid both Heb. 7.26 28. Isa 53.9 1 Pet. 2.22 and 3.18 I mention this in the second place after the other part of his Suretiship-righteousness because though that was compleated and finished at his Death and his Active Obedience to the precept of the Moral Law was yielded in his Life yet the consideration of them and the Natural order of them as availing and accepted for us is that suffering under the penalty goes before Obedience to the precept because there is no room for merit or purchase till satisfaction be first made As among Men you cannot purchase of another till your Debt be paid and former Arrearages into which you have run with him be satisfied and
cleared Nevertheless you must not so understand this as if these two parts of this Suretiship-righteousness of Christ were brought in at several times and did not co-exist together For they did concur and meet in many if not in all the passages of his Life in the Flesh during the whole course thereof For though his Incarnation be not any part of this his Suretiship-righteousness as you heard yet the form of a Servant or that abased Condition wherein he was from the first moment of his Conception and wherein he acted all along his Life is a part of his Humiliation And on the other hand there was Active Obedience in his Death and Sufferings because his own Will was in it For he offered up himself and he laid down his own Life and this in obedience to the command which he had received from his Father Joh. 10.17 18. Joh. 14.31 Eph. 5.2 Heb. 9.14 Gal. 1.4 Thus I have gone through the first thing proposed to be spoken to namely what this righteousness of God is which is through Faith upon all that believe and you have seen that 1. It is the righteousness of Christ 2. It is his Mediatorial righteousness 3. It is the righteousness which is brought in by him as a Priest 4. It is hi◠Suretiship-righteousness 5. This Suretiship righteousness of Christ is his perfect answering in behalf of the Elect as our Surety all the demands of the justice of God by vertue of the Moral Law that they might in a way of justice as well as grace be brought unto that happiness whereto they are appointed and it contains both his bearing the Penalty and his fulfilling the Precept of the Law Let us now proceed to the remaining Enquiries wherein I shall be briefer Quest 2. How is this Righteousness unto and upon those that believe Answ As to these words unto and upon 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 there is somewhat a divers account given of them Some conceive they are here used by the Apostle in a different sense as if the first referred to the designment the second to the actual Donation of this Righteousness or as if the one were used and meant of the tender and promise the other of the actual giving and transferring of this Righteousness to and on Believers Others conceive the sense and intendment of them both is much what one and the same in this Text. as it is of by and through v. 30 and consequently that the Apostle here useth both these words that he may more fully and emphatically express our Interest in and Benefit by this Righteousness of Christ And I confess I doe rather incline to this latter account of these two Prepositions the reasons whereof I need not now to insist on but shall hasten to declare how this Righteousness is unto and upon Believers and I shall express it in four words only noting first that that being upon us of this Righteousness which the Apostle here speaks of is unto Justification of Life as appears from the whole Context See ver 20. and ver 24. and ver 28. and ver 30. 1. This righteousness it self is upon Believers by the free and gracious gift and imputation of God The Holy Ghost useth both these expressions in this matter You read of the gift of Righteousness Rom. 5.17 and of the imputation of Righteousness Rom. 4.6,11 With respect to us it is wholly free and gracious for those to whom it is given and imputed do no more deserve it than those who never shall be interested in it Though with respect to Christ it is just and equal that it should be imputed to us in as much as he did bring it in for us and that under an Expectation and Assurance built upon God the Fathers Covenant with him that it should be accepted and of avail for us and given and reckoned to us By being imputed I mean that it is looked on by God as belonging to us in order to our being judicially dealt withal according to the merit thereof This is the Notion of Imputation in the general be the thing imputed good or evil be it originally our own or anothers And hence it appears that it is this Righteousness of Christ it self which is imputed and not only the Effects or Benefits of it which are procured by it communicated to us for this is in truth no Imputation It cannot be said in any Congruity or Truth either that Justification and Adoption are imputed to us or that the Intercession of Christ in Heaven is imputed to us Yet the former are communicated to us through the imputation of this Righteousness and of the latter we do receive the benefit None that I know of ever said that the Resurrection and Ascension of Christ are imputed to us yet are we made partakers of the Effects and benefits of them To deny that Christ's Suretiship-Righteousness it self is imputed to us is to fall in with the Socinians and the very thing which they contend for And indeed the thing is plain that in our being justified either this Righteousness of Christ it self or a Righteousness of our own must be imputed to us For there cannot be Justification without the Imputation of a Righteousness any more than there can be Condemnation without the Imputation of a Crime and besides the Scripture speaks so much of Imputation in the Business of Justification that I know not any who would be called Christians that have denyed all Imputation in that matter And thence it is that those who have either out of Darkness or out of Hatred against standing in the Righteousness of Christ denyed the Imputation of that very Righteousness it self unto us have all of them substituted another Righteousness even a Righteousness of our own for us to stand in before God and be justified in 2. This gratious Imputation is valid and effectual to constitute Believers righteous So the Apostle tells us most expresly Rom. 5.19 As by one mans disobedience many were made Sinners so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous The word which the Apostle there useth and is rendred made signifies constituted and points to Imputation as the way how we are made Righteous And besides he tells us it is in the same manner as we are constituted Sinners by Adams disobedience so in like manner we were made Righteous by Christ's Obedience But the former namely our being made Sinners is by the Imputation to us of Adam's disobedience by it Judgment was or Criminalness came upon all Men to Condemnation as ver 16. and ver 18. and therefore by the free gift and gracious Imputation of this Righteousness of the Second Adam doth Justification even Justification unto life come upon us Such a validity and efficacy there in is Gods Gift and Imputation that by this Righteousness of Christ it being imputed to them Believers have a Title and Right to pardon to the Favour of God to Adoption and to
short of his blessed Pattern Even with reference to this Suretiship-righteousness of Christ and its being on Believers they cannot with any truth or sobriety be said to be in all respects righteous as Christ is righteous as he is their Surety For this very Suretiship-righteousness of Christ is upon him as the Original Native subject and efficient of it he wrought it out But it is on Believers by derivation from Christ as they are in him Hence the Glory of bringing it in is his even Christ's peculiar and wholly Due to him alone they share not at all with him therein though they do through his Grace participate in the righteousness thus brought in by Christ and in the precious Effects and Fruits of it Moreover as it is Christs and upon him it is a Publick or Common Righteousness for he is a publick or common Person being a Surety for all the Elect as performed by him it was performed for them all as accepted from him it was accepted for them all But now every Believer is made Righteous by it for himself only it is upon him not as a Publick but only as a Private Particular Single Person And therefore though Christ by this Righteousness be the Saviour and the Redeemer of the Church yet it cannot be inferr'd as both Papists and Socinians impotently argue and calumniate that if it be imputed to Believers and they stand righteous in it they are Saviours and Redeemers as well as Christ 2. Believers are nevertheless still under obligation to obey the Law and to walk in all Holy Conversation and Godliness unto all well-pleasing before God 2 Pet. 3.15 16. Colos 1.10 1 Thess 4.1 They are bound not only to do all that the Law requires but to do it in a way of subjection to the Authority of God in the Law and to put a respect of Obedience to his Command upon all that they doe as well as a respect of Love and Thankfulness upon all their Obedience Colos 3.17 Though withal it is true that Believers ought not to yield Obedience to the Law in a Legal manner and Spirit nor from Legal or Old-Covenant Principles nor unto Old-Covenant Ends. They ought not to obey in a servile manner with slavish fear ruling in their hearts nay they may not fear being cast out of Covenant and favour with God for every failure of theirs Nor are they to obey only in the strength of Grace received but to depend on Christ for continual Influences as well as constant acceptance Psal 71.16 Isa 45.24 Nor lastly may Believers obey the Law for the same end as under the Covenant of Works namely that their own Obedience should be their righteousness wherein to stand accepted before God 3. All the swervings of Believers from the rule of the Law and all their comings short of what the precept doth require are sins in them notwithstanding this righteousness is thus upon them Yea these sins of theirs do deserve Eternal Death as justly as much as the like sins in others do Nay they are worse in Believers being greatly aggravated and of deeper demerit by this very thing that the Grace of God hath thus appeared unto them and hath thus exceedingly abounded to them-ward 4. Hence it follows further That it is the Duty of Believers notwithstanding this righteousness is upon them and they are thus righteous by it to lament their sins and to loath themselves for them yea to arraign and condemn themselves as worthy of Eternal Death for even the least of them That promise Ezek. 16.61 63. holds out this to be a Duty and a Practise pleasing unto God Such also was the practice of that Converted pardoned Sinner Luke 7.37 38 47. Her Sins were pardoned and she was justified before and not for or by her so lamenting and condemning her self This righteousness therefore being thus upon Believers should not either incourage them unto Sin or harden their hearts under sin neither indeed doth it nor can it so work in a Believer The abounding of Grace to them much more than Sin hath abounded doth oblige and teach them to abhor continuing in Sin Rom. 5.21 with Rom. 6.1 Yea Believers should argue with and reprove themselves for their Sins as Nathan from God argues with David about his Sin and aggravates it upon him 2 Sam. 12.7 8 9. Even so should Believers aggravate their own sins upon themselves and load their own hearts with them from this Grace of God towards them that this righteousness of Christ is upon them Therefore when I said they should arraign and condemn themselves for their sins you must not understand it as if a Believer upon whom this righteousness of Christ is should judge himself to be in a state of wrath No that would be a false Judgment for there is no condemnation to those who are in Christ Rom. 8.1 But a Believer reflecting on his sins should lay his Mouth in the dust and his Neck down upon the block his Conscience should make this Judgment and pass this Sentence on him I am for such and such things which I have done against the Lord worthy of Eternal Death yea I am more worthy of Hell than others I do deserve a deeper place in it than those to whom Grace never so abounded over whom Grace never so reigned through this righteousness of Christ as it hath and will over me unto Eternal Life Quest 3. What is the import of that word without difference Answ I shall lay before you the intendment of it in three words 1. This righteousness of God is upon all Believers one as well as another Gentile as well as Jew greater as well as lesser Sinners even all who have sinned and are fallen short of the Glory of God as ver 23. all who are become guilty before God and whose mouths must be stopped even all the World as ver 19. All flesh who can never be justified in the sight of God by the deeds of the Law all who are in this common Condition of Mankind shall have this Righteousness upon them only provided they do believe Nothing shall hinder nothing in their outward Condition nothing in their Spiritual Condition shall hinder the being upon them of this righteousness in case they do believe That of the Apostle Gal. 3.28 and Colos 3.11 holds true and takes place in this matter that here there is neither Jew nor Greek Circumcision nor Uncircumcision Barbarian Scythian Bond or Free Male or Female but this righteousness is unto them all and upon them all one as well as another if they believe This Grace is extended to the greatest the foulest Sinners upon their believing as well as unto the least according to 1 Cor. 6.10 11. 2. This righteousness is equally and alike upon them all There is in this also no difference it is in the same measure and degree unto them all and upon them all One hath not more of it than another it is no less truely no less certainly
Counsels about them come to is this that they may be brought to the acknowledgment of the Son of God and he and his Father be Admired and Glorified by and in them Eph. 4.13 2 Thes 1.10 12. Rev. 5.11 12 13 14. For they were made for him Col. 1.16 Rev. 4.11 2. God hath ordained two more eminent ways for this end of bringing in a Revenue of Gl ry unto his Son in the salvation of his Elect viz. That he shall do all with God for them and that he shall be all from God unto them And hence as he had chosen them in Christ so he gave them unto Christ and that from Everlasting to be an Head and Saviour to them Joh. 17.2 6 9 10. and 6.37 39. And thence Christ stands engaged for them and charged with them before God Joh. 6.38 39 40. Joh. 10.16 And God beholding them in Christ is fully at rest and infinitely delighted and therefore speaks as glorying and triumphing in this counsel of his Psal 89.19 3. Though this was in the heart of God from Everlasting and thus consulted and agreed on between the Father and the Son y t God made mankind and among them the Elect in such an estate as that they needed not Christs so interposing between God and them nor indeed were they capable of it being constituted under another head and under another Covenant which had nothing in it of Christ and his Righteousness either to be brought in for them or to be apply'd to them And indeed it became God to put his rational Creature perfect out of his hand Eccles 7.29 Gen. 1.27 It was suitable to his Wisdom Holyness and Goodness that if he made a rational Creature he should be made sinless and holy and in a state of friendship with God For else sin would have been God's work which is impossible and the breach have begun on God's part which would not have been meet for then Mans destruction would not have been of himself nor could God have beheld the works of his hands and have pronounced concerning them all that they were very good nor could he have rested and rejoyced in them 4. All mankind even the Elect who are given to Christ as they were at first constituted under Adam so they as well as o hers fell in him and were plunged into ruine and death being involved in the guilt of his disobedience In him they sinned and in him they dyed though the Son of God had undertaken for them and stood charged with them from Eternity For his undertaking for them was not to keep them from falling into a state of Sin and Death but when fallen into it to bring them out of that Estate unto Eternal Life Neither was his being charged with them to operate upon them till the time appointed for it which was not till they should be plunged into Guilt and Death so as neither they themselves not any meer Creature could recover them out of that Estate and raise them up unto that happiness to which they were appointed This fall of the Elect into a state of Sin and Death and Wrath may possibly seem somewhat remote from the point in hand But it is not For hereby a Door is opened for the Son of God to step in and do all with God for them and be all unto them and that from God All I say that in this ruined perishing condition they need to bring them to that height of Happyness to which they were fore-ordained in the great Love of God to them and unto Christ his Son So that as Christ speaks of the blindness of him who was blind from the Womb Joh. 9.3 That it was that the works of God might be made manifest in him we may say of this fall of the Elect it was in the Counsel of God designed to this end that the depths of the Riches of the Knowledge and Wisdom and Grace and Power of God might be made manifest in them And as Christ speaks of Lazarus his sickness and dying Joh. 11.4 That it was not unto Death meaning it was not that he should abide in a state of Death so must we say of this falling of the Elect into a State of Spiritual Death in Sin and Trespasses it is not unto Death for ever but for the Glory of God that the Son of God might be glorified in recovering them 5. In order unto the recovery and Salvation of the Elect by Christ and his being glorified therein God hath in infinite wisdom ordained a double Vnion between Christ and them or two ways of their being in him The one that Christ may stand before God and transact for them with God in Redemption as a publick Person The other that he may be all to them from God wherein what he hath obtained and received for them comes to be unto them upon them and in them in the Application of that Redemption The one of these Unions between Christ and us I may call an Vnion in Law the other a Vital Vnion I confess the terms are not so apposite as I could wish But I know not any better and in that penury of words under which we labour we must sometimes take up with terms which are not altogether to our minds I call the one an V nion in Law because by it Christ and the Elect are after a sort made one Person in Law and he bears a relation to them so as that they are said to be in him in his reviving rising from the dead and sitting in Heavenly places Eph. 2.5 6. and that Grace which we in our own persons are in time made partakers of is said to have been given us in him before the World began 2 Tim. 1.9 The other I call a Vital Vnion because there is in it a mutual Living acting on each other between Christ and us Christ apprehends or lays hold on us Phil. 3.11 He draws us Joh. 12.32 and we being drawn do come to him and close in with him Both these Unions are Mystical that is Spiritual Sacred and Sublime both of them are of Grace free and meer Grace and therefore Supernatural and therefore of Supercreation Grace Both of them are for the Honour of Christ the Son of God and both of them make for insuring of Life unto all the Seed unto all that are given unto Christ unto all the Elect of God For these are but different adjuncts of the same subject Yet between these Unions there is a manifold and manifest difference The one was from everlasting 2 Tim. 1.9 the other in time Rom. 7.4 The one is of all the Elect at once and together the other is not so but brought about in the several seasons determined on between the Father and the Son namely when the day of their Power and the time of their Love dawns upon this and that particular Perfon for some are in Christ before others with that Vital Union Rom. 16.7 The one is compleated and perfected in