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
So the Apostle declares Rom. 5.2 3 11. We rejoyce or glory in hope of the glory of God and not only so but we glory in tribulations also And he comes over with that word again ver 11. saying and not only so but we glory in God 't is the same word in the Greek in all the three Verses though differently rendred in our Translation How do they thus glory in God 'T is through Jesus Christ who hath brougâ—t in this righteousness for them and by whose Death they were when Enemies reconciled to God and by whom they have received that Atonement They do glory before God in him only in whom they are and who is of God made righteousness unto them 1 Cor. 1.30 31. and in the unchangeableness of the Love of God towards them in Christ they do triumph even while they have before their eyes their own guiltiness in themselves and how much matter for Eternal condemnation there is in them for it is upon Christ's not being spared or abated any thing but being delivered up and dying and God's justifying all which plainly speak them in themselves obnoxious to condemnation and worthy of Death upon these things it is that the Apostle bottoms that challenge and raiseth that triumphant persuasion and Song of assurance which he there uttereth in the Name of all Believers Rom. 8.32 33 34 35 38 39. Believers have given them beauty for ashes the oyl of joy for mourning the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness and they do greatly rejoyce in the Lord even in the Lord who was angry with them and their Souls are joyful in their God whom they know they have sinned against But how comes this to pass Is it because their sins are through tract of time out of Gods thoughts and Memory No a thousand years are with him but as one day He is an Eternal God and they are as fresh and present before him as if they were just then in committing Is it because God thinks better of their sins than formerly he did when he frown'd upon them and wrote bitter things against them No their sins are as distasteful to him as much hated by him as ever they were nor will he ever to Eternity have a better thought of any of them Is it because Believers are become more vain and senseless and slightly-spirited than they were in those former days of bitterness and anguish No verily they have more of the heart of Flesh than they then had and there is in them now a deeper sense of the evil of sin and a deeper work of the Spirit of Humiliation and more thorow thawings and meltings of heart before the face of God then ever Whence is it then and how comes it to pass that Believers are made even in the view of their own endless sin and guiltiness yet to triumph and rejoyce with Joy unspeakable and full of Glory It is hence God hath cloathed them with the Garments of Salvation he hath covered them with the robe of Righteousness as the Prophet speaks Isa 61.10 This righteousness of Christ is upon them and thence they have the consolations of God delighting their Souls and abounding in them Lastly There are not only such great and precious things injoyed by Believers while here but there are also things high and glorious laid up and reserved for them hereafter when they shall be here no more There shall be a Glory revealed in them far beyond all compare with any of the afflictions that they meet with in this World Rom. 8.18 They are now indeed the Sons of God and that is such manner of Love and so great that Men and Angels may stand and gaze and wonder at it But though now already they be thus loved nevertheless it doth not yet appear what they shall be Only we know that when the only begotten of God the Prince of Life and Lord of Glory shall appear then shall they appear with him in Glory and they shall see him as he is and they shall be made like him even these vile Bodies shall by him be fashioned like his own Glorious Body Colos 3.4 1 Joh. 3.1 2. Phil. 3.21 And in that day the world shall see and know and they themselves shall everlastingly feel that Christ is in his Father and they in Christ and he in them Joh. 14.20 And that both Christ and the Father too have loved them as the Father hath loved Christ and that very lo e wherewith the Father hath loved Christ himself shall be in them for ever John 15.19 Joh. 17.23 26. But now if you ask as she sometimes did concerning another great work of love and wonder Luke 1.34 How can these things ever be seeing they are such sinful such guilty such vile and loathsome and hateful Creatures in themselves This Text this Doctrine answers all in this one word The righteousness of Christ is through Faith unto them all and upon them all without difference who do believe Let your hearts answer and eccho back as Maâ—ries there did ver 38 45. Behold the handmaid of the Lord be it to me according to thy word Stagger not you at these great things as incredible as impossible ever to be done for you who are so ashamed of and do so exceedingly abhor your selves and who are worthy of nothing but to be rejected and abhorred of God eternally but believe take them in by Faith and by Faith receive the gift of this righteousness and then there shall most assuredly be a performance unto you even unto you of those things that have been told you from the Lord. ROM iii. 22. Even the Righteousness of God which is by Faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe for there is no difference THE Point of Doctrine observed from these words you may remember was to this purpose Doctrine There is a Righteousness of God which is by Faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all without difference who do believe Six things have been proposed to be spoken to for the clearing up of the Doctrine viz. 1. What is this Righteousness of God and why so called 2 How it is unto and upon all that believe 3. What is the import and meaning of that word without difference 4. What is this Faith of Jesus Christ 5. What reference hath this faith unto this Righteousness being on Believers 6. Whence is all this and how comes this about Of these particulars I have already gone through the three former and know not any need either to retract or to explain further what was then delivered so shall it go with your Souls so will God deal with every one of you as you receive or reject those Truths of his That which is now before me is those other three remaining particulars for the clearing up of the Doctrine and the further application of it And hereto I now address my self Q. 4. VVhat is this Faith of Jesus Christ Answ By Faith
of Jesus Christ is meant Faith upon him that Christ is the object not the subject of it Not that Christ is he that believes but he on whom we believe So is this manner of speaking used elsewhere Gal. 2.16 Knowing that a man is justified by the Faith of Jesus Christ we have believed in Jesus Christ that we might be justified by the Faith of Jesus Christ And so ver 20. I live by the Faith of the Son of God So in Acts 3.16 By Faith in his Name It is the same case and construction in the Greek as it is here in the Text and in the Galatians and might as well be rendred Faith of his Name You have the like Mark 11.22 Have Faith in God or as your Margins tell you Have the Faith of God It might as well be rendred here Faith in Jesus Christ as it is their Faith in God The Grammer and the meaning is the same in both places It is genitivus objecti not efficient is or subjecti It being then Faith on Christ let us next consider what this Faith is And I shall briefly touch on three things concerning it 1. The subject of Faith is the heart of a convinced broken-hearted humbled sinner Faith is seated and acted in the heart Rom. 10.10 VVith the heart man believeth unto Righteousness And it is the heart of a convinced contrite humbled Sinner Where there is not any conviction of Sin there is no Conviction of Righteousness For as the whole and well do not need so they do not see and feel themselves sick and wounded unto Death will not seek to a Physician nor commit themselves into his hands He that doth not see himself in danger of Death by the Avenger of Blood will not flee to Christ for refuge to lay hold upon him which is the work of Faith or that which the Soul doth in believing as the Apostle sets it forth Heb. 6.18 The very nature of Faith and the Acting of the Soul in it is such as doth imply and include a sight and sense of Sin and Misery and an over-powering practical lively heart-influencing Conviction of utter helplesness in a mans self and unworthiness to be helped by God In believing the Soul looks on it self as in a perishing Condition Luke 15.14 16 17 19. as a poor and needy Friendless and Fatherless Creature Hos 14.3 and betakes it self to Soveraign Grace and Mercy It believes that it may be justified Gal. 2.16 which implyes that it sees it self lyable to condemnation Yea it knows as the Apostle there speaks that men are not justified by the works of the Law that is in its believing it is under a particular and lively Conviction that by the works of the Law neither any other nor it self shall ever be justified and it is thereby influenced to seek to be justified by Christ in this way of believing Not but that after Faith and Pardon and a sense of it too there are deep humblings and meltings of God according to that promise Ezek. 16.61 63. and we see was in her Luke 7.38 Nevertheless a truth it is that Unhumbledness and Pride are inconsistent with true Faith Joh. 5.44 and so also is impenitency and hardness of Heart the Seed of the word of the Gospel will never take root and grow up in such an heart Matth. 21.32 and 13.20 21. 2. The object of Faith is Jesus Christ that is the anointed Saviour or the Name of Christ as 1 Joh. 3.23 and Joh. 1.12 that is Christ as made known and set forth and declared in the Gospel And in the Gospel he is set forth as the Ordinance and Servant of God for saving Sinners of the Sons of Men. Christ is the next and immediate object of Faith God is the ultimate Object of it For by him we come to God Heb. 7.25 and by him we do believe in God 1 Pet. 1.21 3. The hearts acting towards this object in its believing is most properly in a way of trust and dependence and affiance The Holy Ghost who is the Author and worker of Faith and who best knows the Nature of it doth in Scripture set it forth by great variety of expressions some proper some metaphorical Trusting and believing in are among the proper expressions whereby the Holy Ghost declares the Nature of Faith and the acting of the Heart therein towards Christ and God by him The former is used by him Eph. 1.12 13. Isa 50.10 and 26.3 4. and often elsewhere The latter is used Gen. 15.6 Joh. 1.12 and 6.29 and 14. 1. Gal. 2.16 2 Tim. 1.12 and in many other places There are also some Metaphorical Expressions used by the Holy Ghost to the same purpose And as they are in their Nature apt and fit to let in a Light of Understanding into our Minds and to guide them in their conceivings concerning the Nature of this Faith through which the Righteousness of Christ comes to be unto all and upon all that believe So the Holy Ghosts using them warrants us to use them in speaking of and describing Faith To give some instances Believing is called looking unto Christ Isa 45.22 and it implyes a looking to him with earnest desire and expectation For that expression in the Prophet is taken from that Ordinance in Moses Numb 21.8 where you find the Israelites directed when stung by the Fiery Serpents to took to the Brazen Serpent that they might not dye but live and be healed Christ shows us that himself was shadowed and prefigured by that Brazen Serpent John 3.14 and his death by the lifting of it up John 12.32 33. and accordingly by their looking to it was believing taught as Christ plainly intimates John 3.15 And therefore as an Israetite who felt himself stung by the Fiery Serpents and dying looked with earnestness of expectation to the Brazen Serpent in like manner doth the Heart of a convinced Sinner work towards Christ in believing Again Believing is called coming to Christ Matth. 11.28 John 6.37 44 45. for in ver 35. he had explained coming to him by believing on him But what manner of coming is it Is it a dead cold careless coming No it is a coming with appetite and affection as an hungry man comes to his Meat and a thirsty man to drink which also is Christs comparison there And thence elsewhere the same Spirit who is the worker of Faith in us and under whose hand the Soul is conducted and doth act in its believing calls it a fleeing unto Christ for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us Heb. 6.18 All the expression sets forth earnestness in the Heart in its believing For they are taken from the practise of one who finding himself in danger of Death from the Avenger of Blood fled unto the City of Refuge the Ordinance for which you may see Numb 35.13 15. or from the practice of a self-convicted self-condemned Criminal among the Jewes who fled to the Tabernacle and caught hold on the Horns