Selected quad for the lemma: death_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
death_n	life_n	sin_n	true_a	9,048	5	4.9749	4	true

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A41483	The banner of justification displayed: or; a discourse, concerning the deep, and important mystery of the justification of a sinner wherein the severall causes thereof, being both numerous and various, are from the first to the last diligently enquired after, and their severall contributions towards so great and happy a work, clearly distinguished, and assigned to their proper causes (respectively.) and more particularly is shewed, how God, how the grace of God, how the decree of God, how the soveraign authority of God; how Christ, how the active obedience [of] Christ, how the passive obedience of Christ, how the resurrection of Christ, how the knowledge of Christ; how the spirit of God, how faith, how repentance, how works, how remission of s[in,] how the word, how the minister of the word, how the P[ope?] himself which is justified, may all truly, though upon severall accounts, and after different manners, be sayed to justifie.	Goodwin, John, 1594?-1665.	1659 (1659)	Wing G1150A; ESTC R221574	62,441	91

sins is to be had yet it legitimates or authorizeth the person for the reception of this blessed Accommodation from the hand of Faith And for this reason also it may well be conceived to have the promise of Justification or Remission of sins made unto it as well as Faith it self Sect. 13 13. That good works have their part also in the great businesse of Justification is the expresse affirmation of the Scripture Ye see then how that by works a man is justified and not by Faith only Jam. 2. 24. Again Was not Abraham our Father justified by Works when he had offered Isaac his Son upon the Altar Jam. 2. 21. We have already upon occasion argued and shewed the Interest of Works in or about Justification Peruse 11. We shall here partly adde and partly repeat 1. That that Justification which consists in Remission of sins and which enstates a person in a right of title and claim to Eternal Life is not attained but by sinners being brought into Communion with Christ in his Death or which is the same into part and fellowship in this Death which is the only procuring cause of this Justification by way of purchase 2. That whatsoever bringeth men hither I mean into Communion of or with the Death of Christ must be sealed and authorized by God hereunto 3. That a true and unfaigned Faith in God through Jesus Christ sometimes called Faith in Christ yea and several other wayes expressed as hath been already observed and this Faith only not any work or works of what kinde soever or in what number soever injoyned in the Moral Law hath a commission or power from God to bring men into or to give men part and fellowship in the Death of Christ Therefore Good works have thus farre no part or interest at all in Justification as it standeth in Remission of sins being excluded here-from by the same Law by which Boasting also is excluded which the Apostle termeth the Law of Faith Where is Boasting then It is excluded By what Law Of Works Nay but BY THE LAW OF FAITH Rom 3. 27. By this Law Faith hath the office or work of justifying men in this sense and with this kinde of Justification setled upon and confirmed unto it self alone There is another kinde of Justification which the Scripture also frequently speaks of under this name as was noted 11. which consists in the approbation commendation or vindication of a person from guilt or blame whether justly or unjustly imputed unto him Of this kinde of Justification when it is duely and justly given or pronounced Good Works in one kinde or other and for the most part those of the Moral Law have a special and particular interest in it being the only regular ground upon which the act or sentence of such a Justification can or ought to proceed And though God by means of his appropriate priviledge of {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} or knowing the heart can and doth upon a sufficient ground secretly and in himself approve of him who as yet only believeth I mean with a true and unfeigned Faith and before he hath any wayes justified or commended this his Faith by good works yet he is not wont to signifie or declare by one means or other this his approbation of any particular person untill he hath shewed the World his Faith by his Works Nor doth he require of any man to judge of any other person as a man justified in his sight by a true and unfaigned Faith who hath not given either unto him or unto some others from whom he may receive the information a fair and reasonable account by works suteable of such a Faith residing in him And questionlesse it was this kinde of Justification of which the Apostle James discourseth so largely in his Second Chapter as appeareth all along the Context from vers 14. to the end Therefore when he demands vers 21. Was not our Father Abraham justified by works when he had offered his Son Isaac upon the Altar Evident it is that by Abrahams being justified he doth not mean that Abraham had his sins pardoned for he had been thus justified long before And besides his offering up his Son Isaac upon the Altar could be no means of obtaining Remission of sins from God But when he is said to have been justified by works when he had offered c. the meaning is that upon this great testimony given by Abraham of the truth and effectualnesse of his Faith God highly approved of him loved him and dealt by him as by a person righteous and just and called him his Friend The tenour of the story in Genesis fully accordeth herewith For immediately upon Abrahams stretching forth his hand and taking the knife to slay his Son the Angel of the Lord called unto him ●ut of Heaven and sayd Lay not thine hand upon the Lad neither do thou any thing unto him for now I know that thou fearest God seeing that thou hast not with-held thy Son thine only Son from me Gen. 22. 11 12. A second time also the Angel upon this offering up of his Son called unto him out of Heaven and sayd By my self have I sworn saith the Lord for because thou hast done this thing and hast not with-held thy Son thine only S●n That in blessing I will bless thee and in multiplying I will multiply thy Seed as the Stars of the Heaven and as the Sand which is upon the Sea shore and thy Seed shall possess the Gate of his Enemies And in thy Seed shall all the Nations of the Earth be blessed because thou hast obeyed my Voyce Gen. 22. 15. 16 17 18. In these passages is that justification of Abraham expressed and contained whereof the Apostle James speaketh affirming him to have obtained it at the hand of God by Works as well as by his Faith which he sayth wrought together with them meaning towards the procuring or obtaining of this justification or approbation from God and was by them perfected or made perfect i. Was declared to be perfect that is sound and good or else was perfected {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} i. Became effectuall to the obtaining of its proper end Viz. The approbation and love of God with favourable and friendly respects from him which is the perfection Viz. Arguitivè or Argumentatively of any thing As on the contrary when any thing pretending to be a means for the compassing of such or such an end proves yet unable to effect it this argueth though haply not alwayes demonstratively the imperfection or weakness of it In much a like sense to that wherein Abraham as we have heard is sayd to have been justified by works is Rahab the Harlot also i. Who formerly had been an Harlot sayd to have been justified v. 25. The meaning is that upon Rahab's Demonstration of the reality and truth of her Faith in exposing her life to danger by entertaining and hiding the Spies sent

God in that behalf although it be a means or condition of the best and most proper complexion or consideration for God to entertain or pitch upon in a Decree for justification yet would it not be a proper or sufficient means to justifie any man because in such a consideration I mean as separated or divided from the justifying Decree of God as it hath neither any naturall nor morall dignity or worth commensurable to so high and sacred an effect as Justification so neither would or could it have any Instituted or Superadded authority from any other hand whatsoever wherby to carry or atchieve it whereas if it be meet to suppose that the justifying Decree of God could or would have joyned it self or taken into communion with it self any other thing habit or act as suppose love humility patience or what ever besides Faith in Christ for the work of Justification this by vertue of the soveraign Authority or force of the divine Institution or decree in conjunction with it would have justified all those in whom they had been found Those Ordinances Vestments Ceremonies and Observations recorded and described Levit. 8. and elsewhere as enjoyned by God under the Law for the creation and consecration of Aaron and his Successors together with the inferiour Priests of the Tribe of Levi into their respective Offices of the Leviticall Priesthood were simply and in themselves considered very comely and proper for the investiture and making of Priests of this Order yet would no use or application of them to any person or persons of what Tribe or Family soeve● have made any Priest to serve at Gods Altar either with acceptation unto him or benefit unto the people had there not a Divine Institution or Law from God interceded for the authorizing or validating of these things to the making o● constituting of such Priests In which respect the Law is sayd to make men high Priests Heb. 7. 28. and consequently may as well be sayd to make Priests of the inferiour Order likewise In like manner though the●e be an aptitude in Faith in Christ above any other Grace or qualification for the justification of a Sinner yet that which makes it actually and effectually justifying is the Decree or Will of God in that behalf Yea the death of Christ it self would not be justifying as now it is did not the Will of God interpose for the authorizing of it in that kind according to what we read Heb. 10. 10. By the which Will viz. of God we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all So that the Offering of it self of the body of Jesus Christ doth not sanctifie and by the same reason doth not justifie men but as appointed or ordained by the Will of God hereunto or to speak more warily and properly not without the authoritative concurrence of the Will of God with it for the exhibition of such a benefit or blessing unto the World Sect. 4 Fourthly The Authority of God being as hath been sayd soveraign and supream and so the act award and determination of it not obnoxious to any defeisance check or annulment by any other Authority whatsoever contributes unto the justification of a sinner I mean unto the Justification which himself hath contrived and declared for such in his word full and finall and irreversible ratification and establishment This is that which the Apostle cleerly supposeth or implies where he demands Who shall lay any thing to the charge of Gods Elect i. e. Of those who believe as is evident It is God that justifieth as if he should say If it were any other but God who should justifie them although in the same way wherein God now justifieth them yet might their Justification be repeatable at least by God and further matter of accusation might be layd to their charge But now God being he that justifieth them and there being none above him nor yet equall unto him in Authority the●e is no fear that their justification should be obstructed recinded or made invalid by any whosoever or that any further Crime or matter of guilt should be charged upon them that should be of force by any equitable Law whatsoever or otherwise to condemn them Sect. 5 Fifthly Christ as God may be sayd to justifie in all those considerations or respects wherein Justification hath been ascribed unto God yea being one and the same God in nature and essence with the Father he acteth and doeth all the same things in reference to the Creature in conjunctiou and communion with him Secondly Being {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} God and Man or Man subsisting in the humane Nature personally united to the Godhead by the willing offering up of himself as a Lamb without spot in Sacrifice unto God the Father he made Attonement for Sinners in such a sense wherein the Scripture is to be understood when it so speaketh notwithstanding his Justice and perfect hatred of sin yea notwithstanding his threatning of Adam and all his Posterity with death in case of his sinning The death of a Person of that transcendent worth and dignity was in true esteem and so judged by the un-erring understanding and wisdome of God a valuable and equitable consideration why he should actually and without any other thing intervening pardon the ●in of the world as it is called Joh. 1. 29. that is the sin of Adam as imputed or communicated in the guilt of it unto all his Posterity together with all the actuall sins of all such of his Posterity as should believe in him To say that Christ by his sufferings merited either the justification or salvation of those who should believe in him as it is no Scripture expression so neither is it exegeticall or explicative of any Scripture expression nor as far as at present my memory serveth me expressive of any Scripture notion and however it is too narrow and scant an expression of that Grace of of God in the death of Christ herein commended by him both unto men and Angels unless we shall exclude from this Grace all Infants dying in Infancy or before they are arriv'd at a capacity of believing And as it is not so proper to say that the blood of Bulls and Goats c. under the Law merited those Leviticall purgations or sanctifications which yet they who were ceremonially unclean obtained by them as to say that they were a competent and sufficient satisfaction and so esteemed by God for such uncleannesses and so dissolved the guilt contracted by them In like manner it is more agreeable to Scripture both notion and phrase and to the nature of the thing it self to say that Christ in or by his death being so highly considerable as it was made or gave satisfaction for the sins of men and hereby made way for the pardon and remission of them by God then to say that by his death he merited the pardon of these sins or the

would have accepted their liberty upon the terms required of them yet had the honour reputation and conscience of such an Act been a reasonable compensation for the money disbursed But 2. Such a demand as this is unproper to the case in hand For it cannot be truly sayd that God fore-knew or foresaw that the greater part of men would reject his Grace in Christ and so perish this notwithstanding before this Grace was given unto them at least in his unchangable counsell purpose and decree For his Decree of sending or giving Christ for the tansome of the world was from before the world began I mean from eternity and consequently there could nothing precede or be before it especially in order of time it being a Rule of unquestionable truth that In aeternis non est prius aut posterius But 2. To the first Objection or Demand I answer further That Gods purpose o● design in the death of Christ was not simply or absolutely either to justifie or save men by it neither did he judge it agreeable to his wisdome and righteousness so to do but to do both the one and the other conditionally and upon terms such as he judged meet to prescribe and impose upon them for the obtaining of these great priviledges and blessings by it So God loved the World sayth our Saviour himself that he gave his only begotten Son not that all men or that any man simply and without any more ado but that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life Joh. 3. 16. Now the Collation Application or actuall bestowing of the fruits or benefits of the death of Christ not depending so much upon the intrinsecall worth value or satisfactoriness thereof as upon the will and pleasure of him who voluntarily gave him to dye for the justification and salvation of men and consequently had a right of liberty to make the terms for the collation of these benefits what he pleased he cannot with any colour of reason be deemed unjust in case he denies them unto those who refuse or neglect to perform his terms notwithstanding they were by Christ purchased for them that is with a full and clear intent on his part that they should have possessed and enjoyed them upon their believing So that 3 And lastly for this When God constraineth those who belive not to pay their own Debts and to make satisfaction themselves for their sins by being eternally punished he cannot be sayd to require or take a double satisfaction or two satisfactions for one and the same debt although it be true in a sense viz. that lately declared That Christ satisfied for them For that satisfaction which Christ made for the sins of any person who believes not I mean who dies in unbelief was never received or accepted by God in the nature of an appropriate particular or actuall satisfaction for their sins but only as a potentiall satisfaction that is as a thing of compleat worth and value enough to have made a particular and actuall satisfaction even for such a mans sins as ●ell as for the sins of those who believe and which he as fully intended to accept for such a satisfaction on his behalf in case he had believed which he might have done as he did to accept it upon such terms for them or for their sins who do believe If it be objected But if Christ made satisfaction for the sins of him who never believeth and God accepteth it not as a satisfaction for their sins doth not God dis-approve or dis-allow either Christs doings or his intentions or both For if Christ in or by his death made or intended to make satisfaction for the sins of Unbelievers and God refuseth to accept this satisfaction or that which Christ intended for a satisfaction for their sins doth he not reject that which Christ desired and intended that he should accept To this I answer That an Answer in effect hath been already given For in such a consideration or sense as Christ either desired or intended that his death should be a satisfaction for the sins of Unbelievers dying in unbelief doth God the Father accept of it Christ neither desired nor intended to make satisfaction by his death for the sins of Unbelievers any otherwise nor upon any other terms then that God the Father should upon the account thereof justifie such persons from their sins in case they should have believed and in this sense he doth accept it as a satisfaction for them being for the sake thereof most ready and willing to pardon all the sins and so to justifie the persons of all men without exception as well theirs who never will believe in case they should believe as theirs who shall believe and be actually justified thereupon So that God in causing or compelling Unbelievers to suffer or to satisfie for their sins doth not require or exact a second satisfaction for them after a former received but only puts them upon payment of their debt themselves who despised his Grace in providing for them that which was indeed intended for the actuall and reall satisfaction hereof upon condition of their believing but was never upon these terms accepted by him by reason of their non-performance of the sayd Condition of believing 6. What tho active Obedience of Christ contributeth Sect. 6 towards the justification of sinners hath been in part declared already Under the Mosaicall Law the Beast that was to be offered in Sacrifice to make any of those Leviticall Expiations was to be perfect and without blemish it was neither to be blind nor broken nor maimed nor having a Wen nor seurvy nor scabbed not having any thing superfluous nor any thing lacking in his parts c. If it had any of these or the like imperfections in it it was not accepted See Lev. 22. 21 22 23. Now that which the soundness perfection and freedom from blemish in the Legal Sacrifices contributed towards their acceptation and consequently towards the efficacy of their respective Attonements or expiations the same or the like in proportion doth the active Obedience of Christ contribute towards the acceptation of his Sacrifice of himself in order to the efficaciousness hereof forthe justification of sinners This similitude or proportion is plainly taught and asserted by the Apostle Peter where he sayth Forasmuch as yee know yee were not redeemed with corruptible things as with Silver and Gold from the vain conversation received by tradition from your Fathers but with the pretious blood of Christ as of a Lamb without blemish and without spot i. As well without any Naturall Originall deficiency or imperfection signified in the word blemish as without any adventitious or actuall defilement intimated in the word spot 1 Pet. 1. 18 19. So John Baptist looketh towards the same Analogy saying unto the people concerning him Behold the Lamb of God that taketh away the sins of the world Joh. 1. 29. The Lamb of God i. A Person

highly acceptable with God as being every wayes qualified with Innocency Righteousness Holiness c. and so meet by his death to make Attonement for the sin of the World So then as that which the unblemishedness of the Beast for Sacrifice under the Law exhibited towards that Attonement which was made by the offering of it was the meetness of this offering of it for acceptance with God and consequently for this acceptance it self in order to his pardoning or passing by that ceremoniall impurity or uncleanness for which it was offered In like manner the active Obedience of Christ in conjunction with the absolute holiness and inward purity of his person rendered his death or the Oblation of himself a Sacrifice every wayes meet and worthy acceptance with God and consequently accepted with him for the expiation or Attonement of the sins of all men If Christ had been so much as touch'd with the least tincture of defilement with sin he had not been a Priest after the order of Melchisedech holy harmless undefiled separated from sinners c. but rather after the order of Aaron who needed to offer Sacrifice for their own sins Neither had he been in any condition or regular capacity to have made Attonement for the sins of others untill he had first fully expiated his own That the active Obedience of Christ doth not operate in or about or towards justification in that way or notion which some have conceived as viz. by an imputation of the particular acts thereof in the letter and formality of them unto those that believe whereby they should be constituted or made properly and formally righteous we have demonstrated at large in a just treatise upon that Subject where it is made good upon several accounts that the sayd notion hath neither countenance from the Scriptures nor any tolerable consistency wth the clearest Principles of reason Sect. 7 7. What place or interest the Death or passive Obedience of Christ hath in or about justification we have in like manner Briefly intimated in our Fifth Section It rendereth that great Act of God in the justification of a sinner every wayes comely and honourable unto him and worthy of him and consequently makes him most willing and free to it The Holy Ghost speaks plainly enough of that comeliness which the sufferings of Christ put upon the justification of a sinner by God giving some intimation withall that unless this Act had by one means or other been made thus comely for him he would never have lift up his heart or hand unto it For it became him for whom are all things and by whom are all things meaning God in bringing many Sons unto Glory to consecrate or make perfect the Captain of their salvation through sufferings Heb. 2. 10. That meetness or comeliness for God here spoken of intending the salvation and glorification of many to effect it in noother way then by the sufferings of him who was to be the Prince or Captain of their salvation respecteth mainly if not solely his Act in justifying them in order to their salvation and glorification For otherwise supposing them already justified there needed more the life then the death of Christ to save them according to that of the Apostle Paul But God commendeth his love towards us in that while we were yet sinners Christ dyed for us Much more then being now justified by his blood we shall be saved from wrath through him For if when we were Enemies we were reconciled unto God by the death of his Son much more being reconciled we shall be saved by his life Rom. 5. 8 9 10. We see here 1. That our justification is ascribed unto the blood or death of Christ and 2. That our salvation our justification or reconciliation unto God presupposed unto his life i. Unto that power which is given unto him in that life which now he lives in glory at the right hand of the Father to exercise for the saving of all those that believe in him Life frequently imports vigour activity liveliness of strength or power for action as death imports weakness and imbecility for action If you ask me But how or in what respect doth the passive Obedience or death of Christ render the act of justification as now it is exerted or performed by God so comely or honourable for him Or how may we conceive that either it would have been uncomely or less comely for him to have appeared in it in case his hand had not been strengthned by the death of Christ unto it Or doth it not well enough become the great God to forgive sin freely and without satisfaction I answer 1. Whether we conceive the import of those words spoken by God unto Adam and in him unto all his Posterity being yet in his Loyns In the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt dye the death either in the nature or notion of a dreadfull threatning in case of disobedience or of a most sacred and severe Law to restrain sin and disobedience the difference I confess is not much materiall as far as at present I apprehend it was no wayes honourable or comely for God to suffer either the one or the other to be trodden or trampled under foot by the Creature to whom they were given without looking after them or calling for some satisfactory account for the contempt measured out unto them It cannot reasonably be thought but that God by the denunciation of such a threatning or promulgation and sanction of such a Law awakened and amused both Heaven and Earth and raised great expectations in both what the issue or consequence would be Now then Adam and his Posterity being as was sayd now in him rising up in disobedience in the very face as it were and presence of so terrible a threatning if God should have passed by and made no words of this high mis-demeanour he might seem either on the one hand to repent that he had so sorely threatned them and therefore now proceeded not to execution or else on the other hand that he was content and willing enough to be neglected or affronted by his Creature both which would have been very uncomely and dishonourable unto him Nor would it have been of much more comely an interpretation had he accepted any thing of an inferiour value or less considerable instead of a Compensation or satisfaction and had not stood upon a just and full vindication of his Soveraign Authority his excellent Wisdome his Righteousness and Equity in his proceedings with his Creature the glory of all which were very injuriously handled and suffered deeply in Adams prevarication So then Adam and his mis-carrying with so high a hand of disobedience there devolved a necessity upon God if he meant to glorifie himself like himself and as God either to punish the whole brood of Transgressours according to the full exigency of their demerit or which is the same according to the tenor and import of the threatning or

{non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} very often signifieth ot to make perfect i. Compleatly to qualifie the Captain of their salvation Christ that was to procure their deliverance from death by making Attonement for them through sufferings proportionable to so great ●n Atchievement and consequently to put him into a capacity of suffering by investing him with the humane Nature as is plainly layd down v. 14. the Apostle I say having asserted this he gives this account of it in the words following For both he that sanctifieth and they that are sanctified are all of one meaning that the one and the other are both of one and the same Original or Descent as viz. From God by the Line of Adam and likewise of one and the same nature or blood as Act. 17. 26. And hath made of one blood all Nations of men And withall that it was meet that thus it should be for conformity sake unto the Leviticall Type where the high Priest and those that were Legally purified or sanctified by him were both of one and the same nature and likewise descended from one and the same Progenitors 2. It was very agreeable both to the goodness and wisdome of God that he who by his appointment and at his instance should serve Adam and his posterity in so arduous and difficult an undertaking as by his own death to re-instate them in a condition of life and peace should be satisfied with and enjoy this sore travail of his Soul and not sink or be wholly crushed under it and consequently that he should not only suffer death but overcome death or which is the same be raised again from the dead that so he might be capable of that great recompence of Reward which so transcendent a Service both unto God and men well deserved Upon this account also the Lord Jesus Christ was the only person either in actuall being or in possibility of being that was accomplished or meetly qualified for that great undertaking of raising up the Tabernacle of Adam which was fallen and of saving that which was lost For were it granted or supposed which yet I cannot encourage any man to suppose that some Creature might have been found or else made so holy harmless undefiled and separate from sinners the shedding of whose blood or whose death for Adam and his posterity might have been so considerable in the sight of God as that he could have judg'd it competently salvant of the glory of his wisdome and of the awfulness and dread of his Soveraignty to have remitted the transgression of Adam and his upon the account thereof yet is it no wayes probable that the considerableness or worth of this Sacrifice would or could have ab●unded so high above the purchase or procurement of the redemption of Adam and his posterity as to in-title or to in-right him that should have offered it to a glorious Resurrection also such as was meet for him that had been the Author of salvation to a lost World And if the Glory wherein Christ appeared upon Tabor was so exceeding great that it only became the only begotten Son of God being a Garment too above measure rich for any person to wear but the only Son of the King of Kings to which sense many of the Expositors carry that of the Evangelist Joh. 1. 14 much more would such a transcendency in Glory wherewith God hath judged it meet to invest and dignifie him that is now the Saviour of the World As the making him higher then the Heavens placing him at his own right hand giving him a Name above every Name that is named c. have been vastly disproportionable to the Line of any meer created Being whatsoever And yet the Apostle plainly declareth that such an high Priest became us i. Was necessary for us to have in respect of those high and vast Concernments which were to pass through his hands and to be transacted by him who amongst other glorious Prerogatives should be made higher then the Heavens Heb. 7. 26. In these Considerations and haply in some others like unto them the contributions of the passive Obedience and Sufferings of Christ were soveraignly necessary to render the high transaction or dispensation of God the justification of sinners worthy of him and of a regular and cleer consistence with his Glory As for the Tenent of those who resolve this great Act or Dispensation of God we speak of I mean Justification partly into the Soveraignty of his Greatness or Authority and partly into the abundance of his Grace and Goodness and liberty of his Will and partly into the Obedience and regular Conversation of men themselves excluding the death of Christ from any part or fellowship therein at least by way of Attonement or satisfaction for sin I conceive it to be broadly inconsistent with the tenor and purport of the Scriptures in places and passages without number 8. The Resurrection or raising of Christ from the dead Sect. 8 in conjunction with his Glorification which followed upon it advanceth the business of Justification by the assurance given hereby from God unto the Souls and Consciences of men that he is well a paid and fully satisfied concerning that great Debt of the sin of the World the discharge whereof was undertaken by Christ in his death hereby encouraging men who had incur'd his displeasure by sinning to believe in him accordingly for their justification This is the express Doctrine of the Apostle Peter Who verily was fore-ordained speaking of Christ before the foundation of the World but was manifested in these last times for you who by him do believe in God that raised him up from the dead and gave him Glory that your Faith and hope might be in God and consequently that you might be found or put into a state of justification without which Faith and hope in God were little available 1 Pet. 1. 20. And in this consideration doubtless it was that the Apostle Paul affirmed Christ to be raised again for our justification Who was sayth he speaking of Christ delivered viz. unto death for our sins and was raised again for our justification Rom 4. 25. meaning that he was raised again from the dead including in his Resurrection by a kind of Synecdoche the great Glory and Dignity given him by God upon it that hereby a rationall way might be made for sinners to believe in him or in God for the Gospel indifferently useth the one expression and the other to the same effect in order to their justification Whilst the Surety o● he that hath undertaken the payment of a Debt is kept in Prison there is no likelyhood that the debt is payd or the Creditor satisfied And upon this ground the Apostle Paul reasoneth first thus But if Christ be not risen then is our Preaching vain and your Faith is also vain 1 Cor. 15. 14. And again vers. 17. And if Christ be not raised your Faith is vain yee are yet in your sins

constructive vertuall or consequentiall Acts acted or done in the doing of some one so there may be nay there alwaies is an answerable variety of Effects produced by and so Attributable unto this one Act. When a Prince prefers some Head of a Family to a great place of profit and power in the State or any other person who is a Lover of his Friends and Relations in blood he may be sayd to cast honour upon this person to better his condition in the World to raise his Family to give every particular Member hereof hope of being better accommodated in matters of this life yea in case he doth bestow this preferment upon him for his Fathers or any of his Ancestors sake as for any worth in them or for any good Service done by them or the like in preferring him he may be sayd to impute the worth or faithfulness of such an Ancestor unto him But all such Acts as these are but mediate constructive or consequentiall and so are their respective effects to be interpreted likewise A Prince when he prefers a man in strict propriety of speaking doth nothing else but prefer him or which is the same confers some place of profit or of honour upon him In like manner when God justifieth a man he may be sayd to bless him to translate him from Death to Life to give him a lawfull Title or Claim to eternall life and his Heavenly Kingdome and because he doth it upon the account and for the sake of the Obedience of Christ as well active as passive although in a more peculiar manner upon the account of the latter the Scripture constantly ascribing Justification unto the blood death sufferings c. of Christ and never to my remembrance unto his active Obedience unless haply as presupposed unto his passive and as qualifying it for its high Service I say because God justifieth men for the sake of Christ and for what he hath done and suffered in serving his counsell and good pleasure he may when he justifieth any man be sayd to impute the righteousness or obedience of Christ unto him And because in order to this Act of his I mean his Act of justifying a man he requires Faith of him and Faith only in the sense formerly declared and asserted when he justifieth him he may be sayd to count or to impute his Faith unto him for righteousness Again when he justifieth a man because he graciously confers upon him a righteousness of his own Invention and Contrivance and doth not justifie him with for or upon any righteousness found in him whom he justifieth therefore when he justifieth him he is sayd to impute righteousness unto him i. as it were To gratifie him with a righteousness remission of sins being a righteousness properly enough so called in as much as he who is chargable with no sin which is his priviledge or case who hath all his sins justly and authoritatively remitted must needs be looked upon as an Observer of the whole Law But when God justifieth a person he doth none of these things to him in a direct formall or immediate way but constructively or consecutively only All that he doth upon such terms is only this he justifieth him i. He remitteth unto him all his sins remission of sins being that absolute and compleat righteousness wherewith a sinner is invested by God in his justification besides which such a person is not capable of any nor standeth in need of any for the attainment of any end or benefit of righteousness whatsoever And as for those that have been the greatest sinners and neither gave Meat unto Christ when he was an hungry nor Drink when he was thirsty nor cloathed him when he was naked c. If so be God should remit these and all other their sins unto them which yet he cannot without their timely repentance and contrary practising for a season because this would be to deny himself I mean his righteousness and truth they should hereby become as righteous and as capable of the reward of righteousness as the greatest Saints and those who continued for the longest time walking with God This concerning remission of sins and what part it beareth in the great and mysterious work of Justification 15. That the Scriptures or Word of God are not Sect. 15 meer Standers by neither or Lookers on in the business of Justification but have somewhat to do in reference unto it and for the promoting it sufficiently appears from these and such like sayings of the Holy Ghost in the Scriptures So then Faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God Rom. 10. 17. Send men to Joppa and call for Simon whose Sirname is Peter who shall tell the words whereby thou and all thy House shall be saved Act. 11. 13 14. Abraham believed God i. The word of God and it was counted unto him for righteousness Rom. 4. 3. True Faith whether in the Act or Habit or both having such an essentiall Connexion by the will and pleasure of God as we have heard with justification and never failing to obtain it whatsoever any wayes worketh Faith or contributeth towards the raising of it in the Soul must needs in that respect and so far have an hand in justification according to that known Principle in Reason formerly mentioned Quod est causa causae est etiam causa causati That which in any consideration gives being to the Cause is in that respect a Cause of the Effect produced by it Now the Scripture or the Word of God I mean the Mind Councell or Will of God which are the substance matter or truth contained and held forth in and by the Scriptures which we are taught in them to call the word of God which matter or truth are held forth likewise taught and declared in part other-wayes then in the Scriptures as by the light of Nature Works of Creation of Providence c. I say the Scripture or Word of God thus understood is the only object or subject matter of that hearing by which Faith ordinarily cometh as the Apostle even now informed us meaning that Faith by which men are justified And as Sanctification is ascribed unto the Word o● God Sanctifie them through thy truth thy word is the truth Joh. 17. 17. Mediante fide by the intervening and mediation of Faith or the belief of it Heb. 4. 2 So may Justification by the same mediation be ascribed unto it likewise Yea Faith it self which justifieth more immediatly and directly and consequently Justification may be ascribed unto it not only as it is the subject matter or object of that hearing by which the Faith which justifieth is produced as hath been already sayd but as it is such a word or the matter of it so qualified and conditioned that it is very apt pregnant and potent to work or raise that Faith in the hearts and minds of men which by Divine Institution as we have heard is justifying For it is