Cor. 15.24 28. that this State I say of our Redeemer's Humiliation is entirely look'd upon by God as the valuable Consideration wherein his Justice with Honour acquiesceth and rests satisfied It hath two Parts First His taking the form of a Servant at his Incarnation Secondly His management of and deportment in that State First His Incarnation and this presents God with a double Satisfaction whereby he may with Honour entertain Thoughts of Love to Mankind 1. In that Humane Nature is in Christ unstained with either Original or Actual Sin for by his Divine Conception by the Holy Ghost he received of his Virgin-mother a pure undeflowred Virgin Humane Nature the second Adam revives the Innocency of the first those Eyes could without Disparagement behold his Manhood which are purer than to behold Iniquity and even in their sight though no other Flesh living could yet this Flesh must be justified 2. In that Humane Nature is in him dignified with Union to the Divine and is become the Seat and Mansion of the Godhead so that how loathsom soever Sin hath rendred it in us yet in him it is highly exalted even as highly as the Divine Nature in him was abased for the Humane Nature ascends just in the same proportion as the Divine descended that is to the utmost possibility for God could stoop no lower than to become a Man nor Man rise higher than to be personally one with God Thus you see Christ's entring into his State of Humiliation hath rendred the Nature of Man very considerable again in the fight of God so that he can now with Honour exercise good Will towards it Secondly His management of this State consists in his active and passive Righteousness By his active Righteousness I mean his Obedience to the whole Law to the Ceremonial in being Circumcised Baptized keeping the three yearly Feasts c. To the Moral in not committing one Sin or neglecting one commanded Duty even to Subjection to his Parents and paying Tribute to Caesar By his passive Righteousness I mean all that he suffered in his Life time as the meanness of his Birth and Education his Persecution by Herod in his Infancy after by the Scribes and Pharisees his Hunger and Temptation in the Wilderness his Poverty and Straits he had not where to lay his Head in a word He was all his life long in all things tempted as we are yet without sin Heb. 4.15 but especially what he suffered at his Death First In his Body he was scourged spit upon crowned with Thorns and at length Crucified which was 1. A cruel Death the Latin Cruciari to be tormented is derived à cruce from being crucified 2. A reproachful one Gal. 3.13 Heb. 13.13 it was the Roman Death for Slaves and Malefactors But Secondly Most of all he suffered in his Soul witness those Expressions 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Matth. 26.37 Mark 14.33 add his bemoaning himself to his Disciples in the following words and his passionate Prayer thrice repeated Abba Father if it be possible let this cup pass Add further yet his sweating drops of Blood in that bitter Agony which so spent him in the Garden that an Angel was sent to comfort him but above all his desertion upon the Cross witnesseth that he suffered unutterably in his Soul when he cryed My God my God why hast thou forsaken me The Socinians are here puzzled to give any tollerable Account how the infinitely good God could find in his Heart to exercise his only begotten Son that never sinned with all these Horrours in his Soul for certainly it stood not with his Goodness had not Christ as the second Adam been a publick Person a Representative on whom the Lord hath laid the iniquities of us all Isa 53.6 But if we consider which they deny that Christ was then satisfying his Father's Justice we need not wonder at those Horrours and Consternations of the Manhood for he knew the vastness of his Undertaking the numberless Numbers and aggravations of Sins the dreadful weight of his Father's Wrath the sharpness of that Sword Zech. 13.7 which he was going now to feel not that God was angry with Christ upon the Cross quoad affectum no he never more dearly loved him but quoad effectum and Christ's infinite Abhorrence of the Sins he bore and that infinite Zeal wherewith he was inflam'd to vindicate the Honour of Divine Justice Now his infinite love to his Church struggling with all these produc'd those Agonies and overcame them all when he said It is finished Joh. 19.30 we meet him next triumphing in his Resurrection But here to resolve that great Question whether Christ's passive Righteousness alone or Active and Passive jointly are the matter of Christ's Satisfaction which Believers plead at God's Bar for their Justification and which being accepted by God as a Plea good in Law is said to be imputed viz. in a Law-sense for Righteousness Let these Reasons be weighed by such as do disjoyn them First Each of them hath its proper Interest in and its respective Contribution towards the satisfying the injur'd Honour of God's Law For the Honour of God's Law is the Equity of both its Parts its Command and its Threatning Christ's active Righteousness honours the Equity of the first which Man had dishonoured by his Disobedience but the great God-man hath repaired the Honour of God's Commandments by yielding a most perfect Obedience to every one of them and therein proclaimed the Law to be holy just and good Then Christ's passive Righteousness in like manner honours the Equity of the Threatning for as by Obeying he acknowledged God's Authority to make a Law and his unexceptionable Righteousness in every single Branch of the Law made so by Suffering he proclaimeth that Man is bound to keep it or if he do not to bear the Penalty He himself dies to justifie that the Sinner is worthy of Death and offers himself upon the Cross as a Sacrifice to the Divine Justice and hereby he hath proclaimed Sin to be exceeding sinful and God to be so jealous a God as rather than Sin should go unpunish'd and his Justice wants its Glory the Righteous Eternal Son of God must be made an Example what guilty Man had deserved Thus God by two equal Miracles of everlasting Astonishment to be adored hath satisfied both his contending Attributes and rendred each of them Triumphant in making his Righteous Son an Example of his Sin-avenging Justice that guilty Sinners repenting and believing might be made Examples of his Sin-pardoning goodness In the second place as each hath its respective Interest in satisfying the injur'd Law so neither of them can be any where severed from the other and those which God hath so indissolubly joyned let none part asunder for Christ's active Righteousness was every where passive because all of it done in the form of a Servant for in our Nature he obeyed the Law but in his very Incarnation he was Passive for therein he suffered
THE NATURE OF JUSTIFICATION OPENED IN A SERMON On ROMANS V. 1. BY Mr. GIBBONS sometime Preacher at Black-Fryers LONDON LONDON Printed for Tho. Parkhurst at the Bible and Three Crowns in Cheapside near Mercer's Chappel 1695. The NATURE of Iustification opened ROMANS V. 1. Therefore being justified by faith we have peace with God c. THE Words present us for the Argument of this Morning-Exercise with the great Doctrine of Justification first to be Opened and then Improved 1. To be Opened And that we may not with Aquinas and the Papists In ipso limine impingere Stumble the very first Step we take and so quite ever after lose our way by confounding Justification with Sanctification I shall only premise That as in Sanctification the change is Absolute and Inherent so in Justification the change is Relative and Juridical the former is wrought in the Sinner's Person he becomes a new Creature but this latter is wrought in his State he becomes Absolved at the Bar of Divine Justice for Justification is a Law-state 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it abolisheth the convincing Power of Sin or its Guilt Our Business therefore is to discover the Process at God's Bar in the justification of a Sinner which will be best done by comparing it with that at Man's which we are familiarly acquanted with To be Justified therefore implies in general three things 1. The Person is charg'd with Guilt 2. Pleads to the Charge 3. Upon that Plea is discharged by the Judge 1. A justified Person must be charg'd with Guilt Now Guilt is the Relation which Sin hath to Punishment for Sin is the breach of the Law and Punishment is the Vengeance which the Law threatens for that breach And as the threatning it self is in the nature of it a Guard to the Law to prevent the breach of it bidding as it were the Transgressor come at his Peril break the Law if he dare be wiâ—e before hand lest he rue it too late so the Punishment in the very nature of it is a vindication of the Equity of the injur'd Law the Reparation and Amends it makes it self for the wrong done it by damnifying the Person injuring her proportionally to the Injury Now that a justified Person must be charg'd with Guilt i. e. with the breach of Law and by consequence with desert of Punishment appears because otherwise if a Man be pronounced Righteous whom no body ever accused or questioned he is only praised not justified 2. The Person to be justified must plead for himself either in Person or by his Advocate who sustains his Person for to refuse to Plead is to despair quite of being justified and to abandon ones self over unto Punishment Silence gives conâ—â—â—t it argues the accused Person hath nothing to say for himself why he should not be Condemned Our Law you know sheweth no Mercy to one that will not Plead he is to be Prest to Death An Indicted person must plead therefore something in his own behalf why he should be Justified if he would be Now either the Man is Guilty of the Charge or not Guilty I must speak to both Cases and shew what Pleas are requisite in each and which of them is the Plea upon which a Sinner is justified at the Bar of God Case 1. If the Indicted person be not Guilty of the Charge Justice it self must justifie him upon that Plea Si accusasse sufficiat quis erit innocens An innocent Person may be accused he can never be convinced for that that is not can never be demonstrated the Judge or Jury were themselves Guilty if they found Innocence Guilty Now to be Justified thus is to be purely and meerly Justified not at all to be Pardoned for such a one stands upon his Terms bears himself upon his own Righteousness begs no Mercy 'T is no favour to justifie him 't is his due he is not beholding to the Judge a jot the exact rigor of the Law acquits him To bring this to the present Business I shall demonstrate that we can never be justified at the Bar of God by pleading not Guilty For First The Plea is false Altho' in a very restrained Sense there is none so wicked but he may plead not Guilty and be justified as to this or that particular Fact charged upon him Nimrod was not Guilty of Abel's Murther Nay a Saint may be guilty of some Sins which the Devil may plead not Guilty to as grieving the comforting the sealing Spirit abusing the Redeemer's Grace c. yet nothing short of Universal Innocence nothing but a perfect Righteousness a total exemption from all manner of Guilt will entitle us before God's Tribunal to this Plea For whosoever shall keep the whole Law and yet offend in one point is guilty of all Jam. 2.10 1. Because the Punishment due to the breach of the whole Law viz the Curse of God is due to every breach of every part Cursed is he that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the Law to do them Gal. 3.10 Deut. 27.26 The wages of sin 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of every single sin is death Rom. 6.23 2. Because He that offends in one point affronteth the Authority of all as is excellently observed in the next Verse For he that said Do not commit adultery said also Do not steal Jam. 2.11 Every Sin hath Atheism in it it denies the God that is above to trample upon the Majesty of God shining in one Commandment is at once to trample upon that Majesty which enacted all 3. Because therby he becomes infected with a contagious Disposition to be guilty of all the same Principle which emboldned him now will another time if but excited with equal Strengths of Temptation to commit any other Sin or to repeat the same Sins again and again though excited with still weaker and weaker Temptations for as frequent Acts strengthen the habit of Sin so the habit facilitates the Acts. From hence it appears That the holy Angels that Adam in Innocency that the Man Christ Jesus might indeed plead not Guilty before God and be justified upon that Plea but now impossible forms Rom. 3.20 23. Psal 1â— â— 1 Joh. 1.8 Secondly The Plea being false there is no hâ—â—e â—pon this Issue to be justified unless there were some defect in the Judge or in the Evidence In the Judge either of Prudence in not Understanding or of Integrity or Poweâ— in not executing the Law might But in our Case these are a like that is infinitely impossible for we have to do with the All wise Legislator himself who is also the Holy Holy Holy Lord God Almighty and shall not this â—udge of all the earth do right Gen. 18 2â— Nor can there be any defect in the Evidence for the bâ—â—â—ks shall be opened at the last day and the dead shall be judged out â—f these things which are written in the books according to their works
an Eclipse of the Glory of his God-head And his passive Righteousness was every where active because what he suffered was not by constraint or against his Will no it was his own voluntary Act and Deed all along let me instance in the greatest of his Sufferings his very dying was the Product both of the freeness of his Love and the Majesty of his Power John 10.17 18. Rev. 1.5 In the third place Both Christ's active and passive Righteousness what he did and what he suffered partake in common of the form of satisfaction therefore they are both integral parts or joynt Ingredients thereof for forma dat esse but this brings me to the second Enquiry 2. Query What is the form of Christ's Satisfaction or that which renders it Satisfactory I answer the infinite Merit of what he did and suffered which infinite Merit stands 1. In the dignity of his Person the fullness of the God-head dwelt in him bodily Col. 2.9 John 1.14 Now for the work of a Servant to be done by the Lord of all renders his Active and for him to suffer as a Malefactor between Malefactors who was God blessed for evermore renders also his passive Righteousness infinitely Meritorious no wonder the Blood of Christ cleanseth from all Sin for it is the Blood of God Acts 20.28 1 John 1.7 And this is the Reason why the Righteousness of one redounds unto all for the justification of life Rom. 5.18 19. because his active and passive Righteousness is infinitely of more value than all that the Creatures in Heaven and Earth could have done or suffered to Eternity the very Man Christ Jesus is above all the Angels Heb. 1.6 for he is the Man that is God's fellow Zech. 13.7 And this infinite Worthiness of the Redeemer's Person you have excellently described as irradiating and infinitely exalting all he did and suffered Phil. 2.6 7 8 9. Heb. 7.24 25 28. 2. The active and passive Righteousness of Christ are of infinite Merit because not at all due but both meer supererrogations of an infinitely glorious Person And First For his active Righteousness it stood in his Obedience to the Ceremonial and Moral Laws 1. His Obedience to the Ceremonial Law was a meer supererrogation for the Substance to comply with the Shadows the Antitype to do homage to its own Types besides he submitted to those very Ordinances whose End and Institution supposeth Guilt and whose Nature argues them designed only for the use of Sinners what foreskin of Impurity had he to be cut off in Circumcision what Filth to be wash'd away in Baptism Did the holy Child Jesus defile his Mother's Womb. as common Mortals do that are conceived in Sin and brought forth in Iniquity And yet he was Circumcised and Baptized and his Mother offered for her Purification Luke 1.21 22. chap. 3.21 No imaginable Obligation lay on him to these Submissions being to him meer Ciphers wholly insignificant 2. His Obedience to the Moral Law Although it must be granted that as Man it was his Duty Gal. 4.4 yet was it not his Duty to become Man True a Creature 's homage was due from him when a Creature a Servant's Work when in the form of a Servant but the whole was free and Arbitrary because his entring into that State was so for what but his own infinite Love could ever move the Eternal Word to pitch his Tent in our Nature What Obligation lay on the Heir of all things to take the form of a Servant Who bound the Eternal Son of God to become in the fullness of time the Son of Man And as his active Righteousness so Secondly His Passive too was a meer Supererrogation for his Almighty Father's Holy All-seeing Eye could never espy the least Iniquity in him to punish What had the Divine Justice to do with him for he was a sinless Person he suffered not for himself Dan. 9.26 No for us 2 Cor. 5.21 And therefore since no Obligation lay on him to do what he did or to suffer what he suffered he may impute the Merit both of the one and the other to whomsoever and upon what terms soever he and his Father please But before I come to consider the terms upon which Christ's Satisfaction is applied I must answer some Questions and clear the Scruples in the way 1. Object 1. What is become of the Law of that first Covenant made with Adam in Paradise Gen. 2.17 repeated again to the Jews Deut. 27.26 The summe of which you have fully expressed Ezek. 18.4 The soul that sinneth it shall dye I answer It is not fully executed nor abrogated but released or dispensed with First It is not fully executed for there is no Condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus c. Rom. 8.1 Secondly It is not abrogated for it is in part executed upon Believers they are liable to the first or natural Death which is the wages of sin although the second death hath no power over them besides all manner of Chastisements and Afflictions Psal 89.30 31 32. And also that Law is totally executed upon finally Impenitent Unbelievers over whom not the first only but the second Death also hath Power 2 Thess 1.8 For he that believeth not is condemned already John 3.18 That is the Gospel finds him and every one in a state of Condemnation but those who believe it proclaims Deliverance to those who through Unbelief reject it judging themselves unworthy of everlasting Life see Acts 13.46 it leaves such as it found them viz under the Condemnation of the old Covenant since they refuse the pardoning Mercy of the New Thirdly I answer therefore positively That the first Covenant is released and dispensed with by super-inducing a New Covenant of Grace over it That whosoever closeth with and comes into the terms of the New should be exempted from the Rigor and Extremity i. e. from the Eternal Condemnation of the old John 3.16 It is not said He that believes shall not be Sick shall not be Afflicted shall not Die No but he shall not perish Thus you see the Covenant of Works as to its Execution upon such as are in the Covenant of Grace is in the chief part restrained but yet in some part inflicted They never shall complain under the Eternal and Destructive yet they do complain under the Temporal and Corrective Punishment of their Sins Lam. 3.39 Yet more particularly for the clearer understanding of this we must consider that the first Covenant lays a double Obligation on sinful Man First In reference to what is past and here it requires Satisfaction and Reparation from us for our Sin in breaking it And Secondly In reference to the future after such Satisfaction and amends made it requires perfect Conformity still as at first absolute Obedience to all God's Commands being the Eternal Debt of the reasonable Creature to that God that made it in his own Image if therefore we could which hath already been proved to be impossible ever