generous obediential Disposition of Soul towards the true God ready and prepared cheerfully to receive and execute all his Commands though never so difficult at all times And as he was then justified by that pious Temper of Heart manifesting it self in actual Obedience to the Commands of God then laid upon him So shall we Christians saith St. Paul if we be of the same pious Temper of Soul with Abraham exerting it self in an actual Obedience to the Laws of God now declared and enjoyned by Jesus Christ Nay we may add That the Jews themselves though they little understood it were all along justified upon the same Condition too Not so much by the Observance of the particular Laws of Moses as sent from God by Moses as they stiffly contend most of which were but temporary and fitted for the particular Circumstances of that People as by that devout Temper of Love Reverence and Obedience to God declaring his Will for that time by Moses And where-ever that Temper was among the Jews it had the same effect of actual Obedience to God by Jesus Christ when he was sufficiently preached and made known to them True sincere Piety the Love of Truth and Goodness prevailing against all worldly Interest and Prejudices brought the Jews themselves most certainly over to Christianity If we would know more of this Temper by Example we may see the 119 Psalm the History of Cornelius those of the New Covenant into whose Hearts and Minds God will put and write his Laws Heb. 10. 16. those whom our Saviour calls his Sheep who know hear his Voice and follow him And what is said of the Son of God himself Heb. 10. 7. Lo I come in the volume of thy book it is written of me to do thy Will O God These are the Persons this the Qualification Condition and Capacity for God's Favour Approbation Commendation and Reward or in one word for his Justification A submissive obediential Temper of Heart to God I say a Qualification or Condition of God's Favour in general and particularly expressed in remission of sins which by no means excludes the Consideration of Christ's Obedience and Sacrifice which ever was another Cause of Justification from the beginning and ever will be This sense of Faith viz. Piety will not be thought strange by those who have observed the Hebrew way of speaking Thus we read Exod. 14. ult that the Israelites believed in the Lord and his Servant Moses 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. they submitted themselves to God's Laws and Government by Moses Their belief or faith in God and Moses was a disposition of mind in them to observe the Commands of God by Moses For it is of the same general Importance with the Phrase immediately before The people feared the Lord. The Israelites were as they professed ready to hear and do the Will of the Lord by Moses So they express themselves Exod. 19. 8. All that the Lord hath spoken we will do to obey the Voice of the Lord and to keep his Covenant Nor is it to be doubted but that the Israelites if they were really in their hearts what they professed with their mouths were then also justifiâ—d and in the Favour of God before they had heard any one particular Command of the Law from God by Moses either Ceremonial as Circumcision Festivals Sacrifice c. or Moral and if any of them then died as no doubt some did they were also saved Nor is the reason of this signification of faith when it is joined with Justification and Salvation less easie 'T is because Faith in its strict and primary Sense of assent to some Truths necessarily preceeds this Religiousness of Heart this habitual Piety A Man must firmly believe that there is right and wrong moral good and evil that the Will and Laws of God are the most infallible Rules of it that he will reward and punish the Observers or Transgressors of them before he is effectually resolved or habitually disposed universally to be obedient to God and to please him as the Authour to the Hebrews hath it Chap. 11. In like manner the love and fear of God are every where used in the Scriptures Synecdochically for all Religion and Vertue because those Affections in their strict and proper Sense produce in us a disposition of Soul to universal Obedience to him and consequently all Instances of Righteousness Such may be the first Notion of justifying or saving Faith Secondly A second is more particular and limited and that is an obedient Temper of Heart to God making known his Will and Laws to us by Jesus of Nazareth the true Christ or by being a Christian It was one of the principal Errours of the Jews against whom St. Paul in various places disputes about the Point of Justification that they would admit no other Condition of it than the Observance of the Mosaical Law which he calls the Law and the Works of the Law St. Paul maintains against them that it was not but a vertuous and holy Temper of Soul which loved Righteousness and hated Iniquity and consequently most desirous to know and do the Will of God when and in whatsoever Instances he should please to declare and reveal it But more especially and particularly now by Jesus of Nazareth the true Messias described foretold and promised to their own Nation He was now appointed by God to be his Vicegerent and Legislator under himself to all Mankind to the End of the World as Moses was for a certain time only to the Jews Now God expects and requires Submission and Obedience to his Laws by this Jesus from all Men every where All I say to whom this Declaration of his Will shall come and particularly from the Jews to whom he was preached by himself and other Disciples Which if they did and persever'd they should be justified by God and in his Favour particularly receive from him remission of sins the Holy Ghost and Eternal Salvation Thirdly and lastly Some have named a third Sense of faith and that is Faith objectively taken or the Doctrine of Christianity or if you please the Christian Religion For Religion objectively taken I would call a Doctrine revealed from God or a System of revealed Doctrines and that which is by Jesus Christ the Christian Doctrine or Religion so that Justification by Faith is the same with Justification according to the Doctrine of the Gospel or according to the Christian Religion and Justification by the Law or Works of the Law is Justification according to the Doctrine of the Mosaical Law Not that which Moses himself really taught or delivered but that which the Jewish Doctors the Interpreters of that Law and the generality of the Jews taught and believed in St. Paul's Time Such may be the sense of Rom. 3. 22. The Righteousness of God by faith i. e. taught by the Gospel and then fitly follows the particulars of that Doctrine in the four next Verses and v. 28. We
conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the Law and v. 30. It is one God which shall justifie the Circumcision by faith and Uncircumcision through faith See also Gal 3. 17. and Rom. 10. 6. And truly such a kind of Language and Speaking seems agreeable enough to that of the most Ancient and Modern Jews Nay I think to one who never so little considers it is plain For the Righteousness of God and the Righteousness which is of Faith or by the Faith of Jesus Christ Rom. 10. 3 6. and Rom. 3. 21 22. are the same thing But the Righteousness of God is manifestly that way or method of Justification all the Causes of Justification together which God had appointed after the Coming of Christ under the Gospel and which Saint Paul and the rest of the Apostles taught For 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 there as frequently elsewhere Gal. 5. 5. Rom. 3. 21 22. 30. compared with Rom. 9. 31. is put for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as appears from the opposition of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Righteousness of God Rom. 10. 2. to that of the Jews own Righteousness To interpret that of inherent or imputed Righteousness is not probable though it may be a possible sense which sense of the word is yet more plain from v. 10. with the heart man believeth to righteousness i. e. to justification From hence it follows that the Righteousness of Faith is the way of Justification by God's Appointment and Command preached by the Apostles the Ministers of the Gospel or Christian Doctrine Again the Righteousness of God and of Faith is opposed to the Righteousness of the Law of the Works of the Law of their own Righteousness and St. Paul's own Righteousness of the Law Phil. 3. 9. and therefore must have the same kind of sense But these Righteousnesses are all manifestly no other thing than Justification according to the Doctrine and Belief of the Jewish Doctors of the Law the Generality of the Jews and St. Paul himself before his Conversion to Christianity And what if we should reduce the other two Senses of justifying Faith to this last and say That Faith where it signifies primarily the Condition or qualifying Cause in us of Justification as hath been explained may be taken Synecdochically a part for the whole one part of the Christian Doctrine concerning Justification and that which was more earnestly contested by the Jews for the whole of that Doctrine A thing ordinary enough in the Style of the Holy Scripture Nor do I see it besides the mind of the Apostle Beside if this sense be but equally probable it will be the best taken because it comprehends the other two Now to know what were the principal Differences between the Doctors of the Jews and Christians concerning Justification we are to consult both the Scriptures and the Jewish Authors themselves And as I think we may therein observe these Five First The Jews were of opinion that there were some men who needed no Justification at all no favour of God in that particular of remission of sins Some of these they thought had never sinned in all their lives the other again by their own study and exercise became without all faults and their exact Righteousness made recompence for their past Transgression These they called perfectly Righteous 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as they had two sorts more to appear in the Day of Judgment viz. perfectly wicked and a middle between both when as Mahomet's Disciples fansie God will make use of Poc. ad por Mos not cap. 6. Tal. Rosch hasch c. 1. Scales to weigh good and bad Works one against the other and if the Scales happen to be even mercy will weigh it down on the favourable side Of this sort among the Jews might be the Pharisee who went to the Temple with the Publican to pray for he recites only his religious Actions but saith not a word of any thing ever ill done And it is said Luke 18. that our Saviour spake that Parable against certain which trusted in themselves that they were Righteous And the occasion of the Parable Luke 11. and Matth. 8. 13. is some Argument that it was an opinion among the Jews that there were some men who needed no repentance Perhaps St. Paul might once reckon himself among these perfectly Righteous when he knew no better for he saith of himself That touching the Righteousness which was in the Law i. e. in Vogue and Reputation among the Lawyers or Doctors of the Law he was blameless Phil. 3. And I remember some-where in the Talmud to have read of some Masters of such perfect Sanctity as never to have committed one sin and to have been such from and in their Mother's Wombs as Jeremiah is said to be which there signifies no more than his being so early by God designed and separated to his Prophetical Office and Employment Now this opinion of theirs St. Paul denies affirming that all Men except the Blessed Jesus the true Messias have been and still continue in some Degree or other Sinners and that all Men therefore stood in need of continual Repentance and Remission That Jews and Gentiles have all fallen short of the Glory of God and were guilty before him That even the best of the Jews themselves were not exact Observers of their own Law especially in the inward and moral part of it This St. Paul proves out of their own sacred Authors which he quotes Rom. 3. Secondly b The Jews held generally that there was no need of the Merits or consideration of any other no not of the Messias himself for whose sake Justification or Remission of Sins particularly should be granted by God But that Repentance good Works Fastings Prayers Sacrifices Oblations temporal Punishments or finally corporeal Death were sufficient for the expiation of all sin whatsoever Or if any thought that there were any sins to be forgiven for the Messias's sake as some few of the Ancients thought c yet these were but few and restrained the Privilege to those of their own Nation and Religion and lastly however they would not hear of such a thing as that it was for the sake of Jesus of Nazareth whom they denied to be their Messias and rejected with an obstinate scorn To this St. Paul opposeth three things and maintains First That God ever did and ever would justifie and forgive sinners upon Consideration of and with regard to the perfect Obedience and Sacrifice of the Messias and not without it Secondly That this great Favour and Indulgence of Heaven was extended to all mankind And Thirdly That Jesus of Nazareth was this true Messias And that all this as it was in it self most reasonable so was it agreeable to Moses and the Prophets and now with such undeniable Proof and clear Evidence declared to be the Will of God that it was not indeed any longer to be disputed Thirdly The Jews advanced yet further and affirmed that
Justification it self God's imputing Christ's Righteousness to us in such manner is one Cause of our Justification but Justification it self or the using of us in such favourable and kind manner is the effect of that imputation Nor 6 and lastly is Justification a bare remission of sins They who say so speak too little for the using a man as a Righteous and just man is not negative only or doing him no harm but positive also doing him good and therefore it contains not only security and exemption from the evil of suffering but the bestowing the good things of enjoyment the principal of which are spiritual and eternal the Assistances for Vertue here and Heaven hereafter or Grace and Glory as is usually said I will only here observe that although such as I have said be the general notion of Justification of sinners yet it must here in the Text be restrained to those instances of favour which follow Faith taken for a quality in us such as remission of sins c. because it is said justified by saith Faith is the Cause of Justification viz. a condition qualifying or capacitating Cause Justification or being used kindly by God is the effect of this our Faith And so much for the Explication of the Term Justification In summ this it is to use or treat a Person as useth to be done to a just and good man which is to do him no harm but to bear him good Will some way or other to do him good shew him favour and kindness For the second Term faith I mean justifying or saving Faith by which we are said to be justified it is as much contested and perhaps with more difficulty and less certainty resolved than the former of justification I for my part have observed these three significations of it The last of which I intend principally to enlarge my present Discourse upon First The first Sense of it may be Piety or Religion in general or rather religiousness i. e. Such an habitual Temper of mind whereby a man is disposed to obey the Will of God and consequently to do that which is right and just however made known to him from God It is this temper of Soul by which God estimates a good Man and by which he is qualified for God's Approbation Acceptance and Beneficence Particularly in those great Instances of Pardon Grace and Glory Which if vigorous and prevalent and constant enough to denominate us good men will certainly exert it self in all actual Obedience of inward Will and outward Action when it is not necessarily hindred as it may be by pure and invincible Ignorance by Diseases and Disorders of the Body or any external Impediments I say again because I think it wants and deserves Observation that it is according to the Degree and Constancy of this habitual Inclination of Soul that God estimates us and we shall be dealt withall by him Outward Actions especially and inward too are contingent may cease and are liable to an hundred Hindrances and Obstructions when the habitual Inclination of the Will is a constant thing and remains fixed in the Soul which God certainly knows though others and even our own selves sometimes may be ignorant of it so that the Jews from whom probably the Mahometans had it might save themselves and God the labour of casting up and weighing their good and bad Actions to know which Number weighs most and how the Case will stand with them in the Day of Judgment any further than they are signs of the Degree and Constancy of habitual Temper sometimes fallible enough But let this stand for a little Digression To return I cannot yet tell what better notion to fix upon faith when it is said The just shall live by faith quoted by Saint Paul Rom. 1. 17. and Gal. 3. 11. from Hab. 2. 4. to prove Justification not to be by the Law but by Faith and that too Synecdochically put viz. The Doctrine of the Condition of Justification for all the rest of the gospel-Gospel-doctrine concerning it as we shall presently more largely discourse The just shall live by faith i. e. A good and just Man by his Piety and Religiousness shall be in the Favour of God so as to be safe and happy when the proud and wicked Man forsaking God shall be forsaken by him An habitually Religious man which will certainly produce actual Obedience to God whensoever he sufficiently declares his Will and Laws ever was and ever will be approved accepted and favoured by God Which as he did once by Moses so hath he in these last days more evidently and perfectly by his Son the Lord Jesus Christ Wherefore it is not necessary that the just Man should live or be justified only by the actual Observance of the Mosaical Law which is what the Apostle proves by these words Let us examine a little the importance of the whole Verse in Heb. 10. 38. and Hab. 2. 4. The just shall live by faith but if he draws back so it is to be rendred there being no 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 there but supposed to be put in by our own Interpreters in favour of the Doctrines of absolute Election and Perseverance My Soul shall have no pleasure in him We shall not meddle with the difference of the Heb. in Habb and this quotation by the Author to the Hebrews but only observe That to live is to fare well from God to be approved by him and be in his favour so as to receive from him the Promise of Salvation and Deliverance from their suffering Condition here or after this Life the reward of a happy Condition or both or as it is expressed in the next Verse the saving of the Soul This I say is the sense of living as it is commonly of the Hebrew word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because God's having no pleasure in him i. e. God's disfavour is opposed to it Besides in the Gal. To live not only vivere but valere is plainly of the same importance with Justification in the latter part of the Verse And then for Faith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it is manifestly the believing of God's promises so effectually as to produce an entire submissive and obsequious Temper of Heart to God and consequently an actual Obedience and doing the Will of God in the profession and practice of the Christian Religion because it is opposed to a Man's withdrawing viz from that his Duty to God through fear or diffidence or any other evil Affection And it is of the same importance with that in the following Verse believing to the salvation of the Soul by which a good Man lives Faith by which a good Man lives cannot be either according to common reason or the Tenor of Revelation a bare Assent to God's Veracity Goodness and Power or the fulfilling of his Promises but the effect thereof a dutifull and obediential Heart to God It was in the same manner that Abraham was justified viz. by his Piety and
their Repentance Prayers Sacrifices and all other their good Works and Qualities were not barely a capacitating Condition of Justification forgiveness of Sins and the happy Life to come but meritorious and that God was obliged in Justice to give these for them And as for the perfectly Righteous who needed no Repentance no question but that God was strictly bound to reward them with a future happy State of Life especially at the Resurrection of the Dead and the Day of the great Judgment Nay when they wanted Merits of their own they had recourse to those of their Ancestours Abraham Isaac and Jacob and others like the Works of Supererogation among the Papists Nay some were so besotted with vain Conceit and Arrogance that they thought God chose their Ancestors for their Merit and was in love with their Posterity for it too And still there remains among them an Enthusiastical and Arrogant strain beyond all this probably older than St. Paul That God created the World for their sakes foreseeing I suppose what a lovely and excellent People they would prove We need but look into both Ancient and Modern Jewish Authors to learn all this Though if we knew nothing of this their Arrogant Opinion and Temper from themselves yet the Holy Scripture would sufficiently inform us d Now St. Paul so zealous for the Honour of God and Jesus Christ most deservedly in his disputes with them about Justification represseth and refutes such insolent and false Opinion and Language And therefore asserts the Righteousness or Justification of God or of God's Appointment by Faith of Jesus Christ described and taught in the Gospel to all them that believe This way of Justification of God's Appointment was first to believers i. e. real Christians in their hearts and lives And then through the Redemption that is in Christ Jesus the propitiation and lastly freely by the grace of God This God's way of Justification being thus upon the Condition of our Christian Obedience and Consideration of perfect Obedience and Death of Jesus and of the free grace of God every way excludes the boasting of the Jews which they thought in their way they had so much reason for This Righteousness of God was neither without the interposition of the perfect Obedience and Sacrifice of Jesus the true Messias nor by any Merit of theirs by which they may claim Justification as a Debt from God Nor was it so much as upon Condition of the Observation of the Law of Moses of which presently much less upon the Account of its Merit Rom. 3. 22. And because the Jews had so great an Opinion of the Merit of their Father Abraham He affirms that Abraham himself was justified in the same manner too He was justified by Faith too taking Faith first for a godly religious Temper of Heart as the Condition and then this one part of the gospel-Gospel-doctrine of Justification for the whole of it by a Figure ordinary enough with St. Paul and other Holy Writers as hath been before observed But he denies peremptorily that Abraham was justified by his Works of any sort i. e. that he was justified either according to their Doctrine in general or more particularly by the Merit of his Works He doth not deny Justification by good Works as a Qualification or Condition which is the Sense of St. James writing against an Errour of some Christians who taught a bare Belief in Jesus and Profession of it enough And it is likely they had it from the Jews too the Vulgar of whom thought their mere being Jews sufficient for Salvation Nor hath either the Jewish or Christian Church ever wanted such sort of People and very numerous too especially in times and places of great ignorance when their idle ignorant and corrupt guides themselves have taught them as much St. Aug. tells us that there were some in his time who believed all to be saved Civ Dei lib. 21. cap. 22. who gave Alms who said daily in the Lord's Prayer Forgive us our Trespasses c. and did forgive when asked sometimes who remained in the Church however they lived otherwise And he believes there were many in St. Paul's time too who not rightly Lib. 80. quaest understanding St. Paul's Justification by Faith without Works did really think that having once believed in Christ they should be saved by that Faith though they lived wicked and flagitious Lives Those Christians in St. James seem such a sort of People And if the Epistle to the Romans was written before that of St. James they also might be led into such a Conceit by St. Paul himself misunderstood not minding what he had otherwise by word or writing every where taught and particularly in Rom. 10. 9 10. That if thou shalt confess with thy Mouth the Lord Jesus and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead thou shalt be saved For with the heart man believeth unto Righteousness i. e. Justification and with the mouth Confession is made unto Salvation Here it is observable how one Circumstance of the Persons who are written to and their Opinion may determine the sense of words St. Paul wrote to the Jews who affirmed that their good Works merited Justification St. James to Christians who believed and taught that they were not so much as a qualification or condition and no way necessary to it They both wrote true Justification was and was not by good Works It was by them as a qualification and condition it was not by them as meritorious in the most received and common sense of that word But to return to St. Paul he flatly denies that Abraham himself was justified by the Merits of his Works so as that God was in manner of a Debtour obliged to it much less was his Posterity Abraham indeed was a Person extraordinary and so might justly pretend to some privilege amongst Men but had no reason to claim or challenge any thing particularly so great things as remission of sins and salvation from God merely for his own sake or in such manner as a Creditour or Servant may do from his Debtour or Master Rom. 4. This Doctrine of his so directly opposite to theirs he proves from Moses and David for one saith that Abraham's Faith his Piety and Obedience was imputed to him for Righteousness or Justification and the other blessed is the Man to whom the Lord will not impute sin Now this word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 impute imports in God nothing of payment of a Debt nor of Merit from him but an Act of Discretion Liberty Choice Goodness though most wise and reasonable too in pursuance of the one great End of all his Counsels and Actions This was the Doctrine of St. Paul and the other Apostles else-where as if it were a matter they much desire Christians should be well instructed in And in truth it is most agreeable to natural Reason For to talk of Merit in its proper sense and so as it
the Scripture of Faith's justifying or saving as such a kind of instrument nor of any thing which infers it or would so much as give any hint or suspicion of it but as a necessary Condition or Qualification every where in the same manner as Repentance Obedience Confession of Sins and believing him to be raised from the Dead Rom. 10. 9 10. Both these last are Synecdochically taken for being true Christians or Obedience to God by Jesus Christ These notions I conceive have been invented and received principally in opposition to the Pontifician sense and then for want of the knowledge of the Oriental way of speaking or from former prejudices Such notions and language would have seemed very strange and unintelligible to the Greek the Roman and especially the Jew the Adversary of St. Paul whom he endeavours to convince and confute and when understood very mean and improbable And yet there may be truth under all these expressions if they be taken figuratively with some sort of explication and we may be so charitable as to believe that pious and good Men have so understood them and that others sometimes can better tell and explain their thoughts than they themselves As for example if we take Faith first strictly for an Assent but then add so firm repeated attentive and deliberate an one like that of Thomas as to produce in us profound veneration and submission of Soul to God and Christ and an actual Obedience to their Will and Commands and consequently a true Vertue and real Sanctity of Heart and Life I say if this be the Sense of justifying Faith it is true and good and so if believing and relying upon Christ and trust in him for pardon of sin and acceptance be not a presumptuous one but well grounded upon a true Repentance the real Change and Conversion of the Heart and supposing and comprehending that it may pass for a justifying Faith So may receiving and embracing whole Christ as they phrase it as King Priest and Prophet because it includes Obedience to Christ's Laws as a King And on the other hand to receive Christ as a Priest and Prophet may be included in Obedience because we are commanded to believe Christ's Doctrine and to trust in God for the remission of sins procured by him upon repentance finally when they call their justifying Faith a lively Faith or Faith working by love and bringing forth the Fruits of Holiness and good Works it may do very well tho' it is an odd kind of expression of what some contend for That Faith alone justifies without Works or Obedience which is like as if a Man should say That the Root and the Fruit of a Tree nourisheth to signifie that the Root only doth it We have now gone through the explication of the words promised For the application of them let the Apostles own inference suffice at present to recommend unto us a justified State We that are justified by Faith saith the Apostle have peace with God that is we are in a State of Amity and Friendship with God so that we not only have no reason to fear any harm from that Terrible and Almighty Power which the Confederation of all Heaven and Earth cannot secure us from but we have all reason to hope for and be assured of all Instances of Favour and Bounty which his infinite Wisdom shall think fit more and greater than we can conceive What can intercept or restrain his Magnificent goodness to his Friends whom he delights in and delights to honour And then our Consciences will not terrify us or make us uneasie with Menaces or Suspicions of our Guilt and his Justice one Day and drive us from all thoughts of God But on the contrary they will invite encourage command us to make use of him to make him our Refuge our Trust our Solace in all Conditions at all times Then when all the World as kindly as it may now look upon us shall neglect us or forsake us or hate us or which is certain to come to pass sooner or later shall not be able in the least to help us though it would then when Death shall envisage and summon us to an appearance before that Sovereign Tribunal and when we shall stand there to receive our final Doom and irreversible Sentence Oh most desirable and happy of all Conditions without the assurance of which if we would draw our Curtains about us and be serious but one hour we could not be quiet or easie in our selves We proclaim the Person most happy and fortunate who hath the Eye the Ear the Heart of a Prince but what can the greatest Potentates do for us more than heap upon us Riches and Honors for a few Days which many to one we had better have wanted Even the continuance of bodily Life and Health the greatest bodily Blessings are out of their Power but how much more the goods of the mind and the Treasures of Heaven Whereas the Eternal Sovereign Lord of the Universe hath all things perfectly at his own disposal to bestow upon whom he pleaseth and that here with the Wisdom and Care of a Father but hereafter certainly Fullness of Joy and Pleasures for ever more Besides where God fixes his Affection and vouchsafes his Friendship we are sure there is true Worth and something of real and good Value though of his own gift when Earthly greatness through ignorance misinformation humour or necessity may misplace them And the belief of and reflection upon God's Approbation who is the best Judge is at all times extreamly gratefull and satisfactory to us naturally This is certain that a wise and just Man takes more pleasure in not being unworthy of Favour which he doth not enjoy than in enjoying what he doth not deserve We conclude all in turning St. Paul s Doctrine and Inference into an exhortation and motive Let us use our utmost Care and Endeavour on our part and God will not fail to perform what is to be done on his to get into the Number of those who are Evangelically justified our Sins pardoned our Souls inhabited and sanctified by the Holy Spirit and our Eternal Salvation assured that so we may enjoy the great Honour and the unspeakable Comfort of being the Friends of God and at peace with him through our Lord Jesus Christ To whom with the Father and Holy Spirit be all Honour and Praise both now and for evermore Amen Annotations and Additions On the Discourse of Justification a FOR the ample Proof of the Notion and Sense of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sometimes which I have given I think what follows will be abundantly sufficient 1 Let it be premised that though 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in its most precise Notion signifies to pronounce just to discharge acquit and absolve from Fault and Punishment yet in its more general Use it signifies more generally Viz. to treat or use as just in our Opinions Words or Actions and
use it And indeed the first is always attended with the other two For he that hath a great affection for truth will readily embrace it where ever he discovers it endeavour to recommend and make the best use of it he can shewing what influences it hath upon his heart and life This excellent quality of our Spirits is more than once commended and commanded in the Holy Scriptures 'T is this which our Saviour means in his Parable by the honest and good heart which having received the word keeps it and brings forth fruit with patience Luke 8. 15. It was the want of this which was one of the Causes of the seduction from the Verity of the Gospel in those who perished viz. Because they received not the love of the truth i. e. Not only the Gospel particularly called the truth but of truth in general 1 Thess 2. 10. And it was this our Saviour above all things required in men to become his Disciples And 't is for this reason together with the incomparable evidence of the truth of Christian Religion that it is to be believed that never an honest man of capacity who hath been rightly instructed in the principal Doctrines of it hath long held out against it and finally disbelieved it We may add to this natural effect of probity the extraordinary and supernatural one even in those who may be for some time doubtfull or erroneous in those greatest Verities so perhaps may God permit It procures God's especial care to enlighten and encline such to the reception of truth 3ly Another cure of this Infidelity is a branch of modesty that is but a just and true esteem and value for our selves and therefore particularly to be carefull we entertain not too great a Conceit of our own ability and sufficiency above other mens to find out the falsity or weakness or uncertainty in common receiv'd opinions of consequence If we seem to our selves to observe it let us still be diffident of our own Judgment and believe we may be mistaken and that there may be something in them or for them which we do not yet see and therefore reserve the alteration of our belief to further consideration Those who are strongly conceited of their knowledge and sufficiency in judgment above other men and are hugely pleased with it are very forward and ambitious to shew it to themselves first and then to other men more especially in contradicting and correcting what is generally taught and believed and that by the most esteem'd and of the best Reputation and Authority The Holy Scripture hath given us this general advice also Rom. 12. 3. Not to think too highly of our selves but soberly according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith But because some men in their Infidelity may rely more upon the Wit and Learning of one whom they much esteem than upon their own it is to be advised 4ly To have a great deference and respect to the most publick Testimony or to the most general received Opinion so much the more still by how much it is larger in respect of places and ages The least effect this consideration ought to have upon us is to make us cautious and suspicious when we are inclined to believe and advance any Opinion contrary because it appears true to our selves or some few other really knowing men We ought diligently and impartially to examine what it is in the common Opinion we cannot perswade our selves to be true and how such a general mistake should come to pass He that contradicts an Universal belief had need be the wisest of men and he that rejects a very general one should be very wise The first is not to be done without a Demonstration and even that which so appears to us is reasonably to be suspected though till we see otherwise it cannot be denied by us because in a thing a thousand times considered and debated it may seem much that none before hath light upon this Demonstration though I do not say it is impossible And as for those perswasions which are very general in things judged of great concern and consequently most frequently brought into conversation writing and practice it had need be a very great evidence and having lain long under variety of examination is at last also generally approved that should entirely remove or displace them Yet I deny not but a man may have sometime a reason sufficient at first to suspect to doubt to say that the new Opinion looks with a good countenance and seems not to want a fair probability And then it seems no more than Justice and a thing becoming the publick Care that it should have a fair hearing But here too that we be not imposed upon we are to take a true account of the Universality or Generality of received perswasions not call those of one Nation or Country or perhaps one quarter of the World introduced and maintained by mere interest cunning and force or of one or some few Ages I say we must not call these universal or more general than indeed they are This is the fault and folly of the Roman Church which will needs have Transubstantiation Purgatory Image and Saint Worship and an hundred others to be the Catholick Opinions and Practices in the Church of Christ when we can produce whole Countries and Nations greater than theirs now and many more Ages and the best even of their own Church which neither believed nor practised such things This remedy is proper against blameable singularity whether out of ignorance or affectation I will add but one more and so have done with this general head also And that is 5ly That as it hath been already a general Advice to possess our minds throughly with probity and plain honesty and consequently a prevalent love of the truth So it will much help and assure the effect thereof to purge them of all prejudices which may oppose it and to leave truth and honesty as few and as weak Enemies in our Breasts as it is possible for us We must therefore turn out and send away all unreasonable Inclinations Humours Appetites and Passions which may have any influence upon our understanding and judgment in our enquiring or assent to any truth We are to keep our minds sincere and upright This will prevent or repress the Influences of many Causes of Infidelity at once For in pursuance and application of this general Direction we shall free our minds from the love of any lusts from the extravagant and most unreasonable desire of liberty uncontroulableness and independency from pride vain self-conceit and affectation of singularity from the humour of setting our selves in good earnest to oppose and contradict from wrath and impatience against God Almighty and his Providence from spite and envy against knowledge and goodness and good men against their reputation and interest in the World and finally from Scepticism it self or as I now take the word from timidity
pray that he went away rather justified than the other or justified and not the other according to a known Hebraism justified i. e. accepted approved by God in that particular Act of his Prayer to God as useth or ought to be done to him who is just and doth well The same is the Sense of the word Rom. 8. 33. 'T is God that justifieth who is he that condemneth We know the World doth condemn reproach hate us Christians for our Religion for our believing upon Jesus but that we despise because we know too that we have the favour and approbation of God for so doing Thus also it is recorded of Phinehas Psalm 106. 30 31. that he executed judgment slew Zimri and Cozbi in the Act of Uncleanness and it was counted to him for righteousness or for justification or the effect of it was justification for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 have often the same signification as Gal. 2. 21. i. e. he was and ought to be and ever shall be unto all Generations greatly approved and highly praised for that Action in so eminent a degree righteous and just done with so much Zeal and Courage for the Honour of his God and the good of his People And we read too how he was rewarded by God for it with the high Priest-hood in his Family Nay the justification of Abraham himself is said sometimes to be in the same sense for some one particular eminent Act of Obedience to God Rom. 3. 18. Heb. 11. 8 17. Jam. 2. 21. though at other times for his general Faith and Piety or obediential Temper to God And of this justification he is set forth as an eminent and extraordinary Example Rom. 4. So it is in like manner with all good men who walk in the steps of the Faith of Abraham as the Apostle phraseth it viz. who are religious obsequious to the Will of God in what manner and whensoever he shall sufficiently make it known to them and consequently men of sincere Probity of Spirit devoted to all that is good and just Of which hereafter This usage of a just man or justification may be distinguished into 1 negative or doing him no harm 2 positive doing good to him bestowing certain benefits and positive favours upon him But there are three more remarkable instances of both these and frequently mentioned in the Scripture The first is remission of sins upon repentance or an omission of punishment for them like as one that hath been just and never committed any sin useth to be treated He suffers no evil from God for sin and this is negative The second is the Holy Spirit 's influences operations in the Souls of Men. And the third is Eternal Salvation upon perseverance in a good and holy life All these are more particularly regarded by St. Paul in the Text As if he had said Therefore being by Faith of which presently restored to the Favour of God particularly expressed in the forgiveness of sins the gift of the Holy Spirit the promises and assurances of Eternal life we have peace with God We are in a state of Amity and Friendship with him and we have Peace and Tranquility in our own Consciences which do not now threaten us with God's Anger or Punishment and that through our Lord Jesus Christ Now if this be the true notion of justification when it is joined with Faith as I think it is Then first it is not the same with sanctification or making a man inherent holy and just Justifying the ungodly through Faith in the Scripture-style is not making an ungodly man godly as the Papists Socinians and Grotius would have it A mistake in that learned Man which hath led him into many other Misinterpretations of Scripture Nor 2 is it in a strict Sense an accounting or reckoning a Man perfectly just or more than he really and truly is for that were to say that God may be deceived and judge things otherwise than they are It is true the Church of England in one of her Articles hath used the words accounting righteous for the merits of Jesus Christ by faith and not for our works But there needs no force to make them signifie the treating or using as righteous for the Merit of Christ upon the condition of Faith without any Merit on our part which is the true Christian Doctrine of Justification as we shall presently see Nor 3 is Justification to pronounce or declare a Man inherently just as it were in a solemn Sentence who is not so for this were to make God give a false sentence Nor 4 is it to cover or cloth a Man even a penitent sinner with the pure Robes of Christ's perfect Righteousness and then to appear to God pure and spotless as Jesus Christ himself For this were to suppose God to look no further than the outside and represent him like old Isaac deceived by Rebekah and Jacob. These are the notions of men who seem never to attend to the proper Nature of things but are content to talk only in Figures And in truth they might do much more harm if they were not antidoted by other plain Scripture Doctrines such as that of the necessity of Holiness of heart and life for the forgiveness of sins and everlasting Salvation Nor 5 is Justification God's imputing the Righteousness of Christ to Man who lives in any sinfull Breach or Neglect of God's Law There is indeed a comfortable and true notion under those phrases and that is That sinners fare the better for the compleat Righteousness or perfect Obedience of Christ Great and many indeed were the benefits God was pleased to afford sinfull mankind for the sake of Jesus Christ No less than such as these his long suffering and forbearance all sorts of temporal Blessings all the inward and outward means of Vertue and Goodness All this even to sinners while sinners which some learned men have called degrees of remission of sins I should rather say instances of justification or dealing by men as useth to be done to the innocent and just who had never offended Then further upon true repentance entire pardon for all past sins All in the other life and all in this except what God in his fatherly Wisdom may think fit for our discipline and means of further improvement in Vertue and Holiness constant forgiveness upon constant repentance for the interfering faults of good Men and finally Everlasting life All this Men owe to the compleat Righteousness of Jesus Christ from the beginning to the End of his life It was for his sake God was pleased to have any regard to or compassion upon the degenerate Race of Mankind that God might by so eminently rewarding him shew the World how acceptable to him Holiness and Vertue were and encourage to the Attainment of the highest Degree of them possible All this is true and a reasonable Administration of God in the Government of the World But yet it is not
usually signifies amongst us between God and the best of Men or the most excellent Angel is to give a very false Idea of the Case For to merit from any one is first to profit or advantage him some way and then it is to impart some-what of his own and lastly he that receives the Benefit is bound to requite it by some Law without and superiour to himself Now there is nothing of all this between God and his Creature For can a Man profit his Maker A Master indeed may be benefited by the labour and service of his Servant Next the strength industry and fidelity of the Servant is his own in respect of his Master he never had any of this from him But what have we which we have not received from God Our very Being Faculties Liberty all kind of Ability and Capacity are they not the free gifts of our great and good Creatour Finally what Law is there superiour to God's own Nature and Will to oblige him to any Action who can or ought to say to him What dost thou not so much in respect of his irresistible Power for there is no Tyranny in Heaven as his all comprehending Wisdom his immutable Righteousness and essential Goodness It is true there is such a thing as just and right eternal and unchangeable But it is therefore so because God is so It was eternally a property of the Divine Will if I may so speak as truth was of the Divine Understanding It is his own immutable Nature to do that which is right and fit That which we call right fit just is a due Relation or Habitude of all Will Action Power to its Object which Object is bonum good and that the greatest too in respect of intention extension and duration and there can be no more respects This is the ultimate due End and Object I say of all Will Action and Power whatsoever But this Relation or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is therefore eternal and immutable only because God is so It could never have existed without a Subject and that Subject the Divine Will exists necessarily The very Being or Existence therefore of any such thing depends upon the Existence of the Divine Will Besides this Relation which we call Right and Just is something wherefore it as all other somethings must have the Will of God or active Power or his Nature for its Cause But though Right and Just depend upon the Divine Will for its eternal Existence yet we cannot conceive it ever separated from them or without them We cannot but conceive it a pure perfection and therefore cannot but attribute it to God an All-perfect Being For an instance or application we say that the Object of God's will is always the Universal good the good of all Beings the greatest good either fit or possible and in order to this he wills benè bonis malè malis he justifies the Righteous and condemns the Wicked He orders and distributes respective recompences of rewards and punishments to the good and bad the quantity quality time and other Circumstances are to be left to the Divine Wisdom But this proceeds from no Cause without the Divine Will it self We cannot but conceive the Divine Will thus to act There is no Power or Will to determine or constrain it God's Nature is such that we cannot but conceive him to will and do that which is just and right for the greatest good of all reasonable Beings and yet most freely because it is his own immutable Nature for what can be more free than what is natural Liberty in God is not an indifferency for that would be an imperfection but that infinite force and delight with which he acts I have no better words to express my meaning by Liberty and Necessity therefore in God are not only consistent but inseparable It is right and just for God to reward the good who keep his Commandments and observe his Laws which are the infallible Rules and Instances of what is right and just but we must not say God is bound to it or that those who are good merit it from him in a strict and most received Sense and common Usage because that imports as if he must do it whether he would or no and there were some Law or Person without or superiour to himself We may and ought to say that God most certainly will do so because it is his own immutable Nature to do it The Righteous Lord loveth Righteousness and his Countenance beholdeth the upright 'T is true to put an end to this not useless or very impertinent Digression that worthy Qualities and Actions i. e. such as do effect or but tend to the common good that are usefull or beneficial to the World do justly entitle any Person to a Reward such as Honour Power Wealth or pleasurable Life because those same Qualities and Actions are thereby maintained increased and propagated and consequently the best and happiest State of the World furthered and advanced Every one in his place and according to his Ability is bound to this but especially all sorts of Governours And such qualities have and may with good reason obtain the Name of Merits amongst Men and in respect of them in its most common and received sense For they are the property of those who possess them they never received them from other Men they are beneficial and usefull to Men and there is a superiour Law and Power to oblige and compell Men to reward them none of which can be said in respect to God Though it being a congruous and reasonable thing as is above mentioned God always doth and always will necessarily from his own Nature will and act in such manner And if there be no more meant by meriting than that we may safely in such a sense be said to merit from God too And in this sense it is that St. Paul saith that God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labour of love Heb. 6. 9. And benceforth there is laid up for me a Crown of Righteousness which the Lord the Righteous Judge shall give me at that day and not to me only but unto all them also that love his appearing 2 Tim. 4. 8. i. e. It is a congruous and fitting thing of best effect certainly in God's Government of the World that good Men should be so used by him I have been some-what the longer in this Digression because I believe the whole Controversie about Merit between the Jews and St. Paul with his Christians and between the Pontificians and the Protestants may by the little that hath been here said be easily cleared and decided At last we conclude then with St. Paul and the gospel-Gospel-doctrine against the Jewish Doctors and the legal Doctrine which they taught viz. That we sinners are justified by God and more particularly upon our repentance and perseverance in Holiness of heart and life pardoned and saved not by Works of Righteousness which we have done not by any
Merit in us from him in its proper sense as hath been explained but according to his Mercy and by the free grace and undeserved goodness of God Rom. 2. 24. Eph. 2. 8. Tit. 3. 5. Fourthly Another Doctrine of the Law or of the Jewish Doctours concerning Justification was that admitting all Men to be sinners and God to justifie them with consideration of the perfect Righteousness and Sacrifice of the Messias and that this Messias was Jesus of Nazareth and that none of their own qualities and performances were truly meritorious of so great a favour from God yet the necessary qualification or condition of Justification to all Men those at least to whom the Mosaical Law was made known was the observance of all the particular Commands of that Law For that Law was certainly from God and as they deemed never to be changed Insomuch that the Messias himself was not to abolish the least Tittle of it but to cause it by his Authority and Power to be more punctually and strictly observed And here St. Paul had to do not only with the unconverted but converted Jews also For a multitude of them who believed Jesus of Nazareth to be the true Messias and remission of sins through his Name yet were zealous of the Law of Moses Acts 21. 20. And such were the whole Sect of Christians called Nazarenes as some of the Fathers report They believed the Messias was not to change the Law but to explain confirm and command it This opinion of the Jews St. Paul with much Zeal and Courage opposeth And one of his Arguments Rom. 2. four last Verses is to this effect If God justified sinners Abraham and the Patriarchs nay even you your selves Moses's Disciples upon the qualification of an obediential Temper and Disposition of Heart to the Commands of God in any instances and howsoever he shall be pleased to declare them and particularly those by Moses to you Jews till the coming of the true Messias to declare God's Will and give Laws in his Name to all Men granting you that the Doers of the Law shall be justified till that great Prophet the Messias shall come Rom. 2. I say if this be so as I have proved in the Case of Abraham and the Patriarchs then why may not God now also since the Messias is come even Jesus of Nazareth invincibly proved to be the Person by Prophecies Miracles Resurrection Ascension Mission of the Holy Ghost justifie all Sinners Jews and Gentiles upon the same condition of a Religious disposition of heart exerting it self in Obedience to his Will and Laws declared by this Jesus of Nazareth the true Messias Why may not God make an alteration in the particular Condition of his Favour i. e. his particular Laws the general one an obediential and pious Temper and Disposition of Soul to God and consequently to what is right and just remaining always the same why may he not do it now by the Messias after Moses as he did by Moses after all the Holy Men before Abraham and the Patriarchs your Ancestours why may not God make the Messias the Messenger of his Will and Pleasure with Alteration Addition Abolition c. as well as Moses And such I believe to be the purport of that obscure and unusual way of speaking to our Ears but perfectly of Jewish Style Rom. 10. v. 5. Say not c. Moses saith St. Paul did say indeed and that from God that the man which obeyed God's Law by him should live i. e. have his Favour and Blessing But now the same God saith by Jesus the Christ and by us his Apostles that he hath sent the Messias even this Jesus the great Prophet foretold and promised even to you and that if we believe and profess him to be the Christ and consequently be obedient to and hear him in the Name of God we shall be saved Or in short Terms God indeed did formerly command you if you would be happy to obey Moses in his Name now he commands you to obey Jesus the Christ himself sent now by him to you and all mankind Before the Coming and Appearance of Jesus the true Messias the Condition of Justification to you Jews was Believe in Moses to be the Disciples of Moses and the Observance of the Laws of Moses but now both to Jew and Gentile and all to whom Jesus is preached the Condition is believing in Jesus becoming his Disciples observing his Laws and keeping his Words It will not be amiss a little to paraphrase these few Verses to make the sense of the Apostle ease and clear beginning at the second Verse I believe saith St. Paul and openly declare it that many of my Brethren the Jews are truly zealous for God's Honour and their Duty But they are unhappily at this time ignorant and mistaken in both They do not think of or rightly conceive God's way of Justification part of which is doing it upon consideration of the perfect Righteousness and voluntary Oblation of Jesus of Nazareth the true Messias and this ever was and ever will be from the beginning to the end of mankind So is also another part of it viz. the general Condition and Qualification in us for it namely a pious and religious Temper of Heart to God But the Application of this general Condition is new namely Obedience to the particular Laws of God by Jesus Christ without any regard to the Laws of Moses any further than they are according to his primitive and universal Laws of Reason and Nature or repeated allowed and confirmed by this Jesus And being thus ignorant of God's Method of Justification they go about to continue and establish their own way without Jesus Christ and will have the particular Observance of the Laws given by Moses to be necessary and which they still imagine and believe now and ever to the End of the World ought to be retained But they ought to know that now Jesus Christ is come he hath put an end to the Law of Moses All who believe him to be the Messias and all should to whom he is preached are to have no more regard to Moses as their Legislator and Master now but to Jesus irrefragably proved and demonstrated to be the true Messias Moses did say and truly in his time and for so long time as it pleased God i. e. to the Revelation of the Messias that if the Jews his People hoped for God's Blessing Favour and Reward they must be of an obsequious and obedient Heart to God and with reverence observe those Laws in particular which God had most evidently commanded Moses to describe and enjoyn them as a Condition thereof But now Jesus the Messias hath been sent from God to you and all Mankind with infinitely greater proof of his Mission from God than ever Moses was both he and we commanded by him teach and preach that all Men who shall hear our Doctrine and have opportunity of sufficient instruction in it are
not in the least to doubt it being an exceeding manifest and plain thing but that this Jesus is this Messias but are to believe it firmly and profess it boldly and consequently to become his Disciples particularly shewing their Piety to God and their most religious Disposition of Heart Submission and Obedience to him by the Observance of his Will and Laws by this Jesus the Christ if they intend to be saved Obedience to God by Moses was now Obedience to Jesus Christ is and ever hence-forward will be as the Jews falsly imagine concerning their Law the Condition of and Qualification for the Divine Favour Justification Remission of Sins and finally Salvation Such may be the Sense of St. Paul so we may suppose him to have spoken to us in those obscure words The only thing of moment which the Jews had to object and which converted and unconverted to Christianity were very fond of was the perpetuity of the Law of Moses clearly as they thought affirmed in their Law and Prophets But this St. Paul every where absolutely denies with the rest of the Apostles and with great reason For besides that that Law is impossible to be observed by all mankind neither Moses himself nor any of the Prophets ever affirmed it Nay they have intimated the contrary Jer. 31. 31. with Heb. 8. Moses himself promiseth the Jews That the Lord their God would raise up a Prophet like him whom they should hear Deut. 18. with Acts 7. This as it may promise a Succession of Prophets so it had a principal Respect to the Messias who was a Person sent immediately from God with larger Authority than Moses and to be heard by them Not as they too meanly thought of him as if he were to be only the Servant and second of Moses No he was to be a Law-giver from God like Moses and to take and leave what he thought fit in his Law And so the Prophecy is only compleatly fulfilled in the Messias None of the Prophets were so like Moses as he The Messias only was a Legislator from God like Moses 'T is true none of the Talmudists Paraphrasts or Rabbins that I remember have apply'd this place to the Messias but neither have they done that by many other places where they fairly might and with much more reason than where oft-times they have But it is enough if Moses and the Prophets never really and in truth affirmed the perpetual Duration of the Law For now God hath given abundantly more ample Proof of his Mission of Jesus than ever he did of Moses by his Doctrine Life Miracles Resurrection Ascension Mission of the Holy Ghost upon them who believed in Jesus and not upon the Jews and from this Jesus I have learned saith St. Paul that a great part of the Mosaical Law should be abolished principally in order to the uniting all Mankind into one Body by Religion That Circumcision and Uncircumcision now availeth nothing to Justification but Faith working by Love A religious and obedient Heart to God by Jesus Christ producing all the substantial Actions of Piety and Charity to God and our Neighbour the summ and end even of the Mcsaical Law it self that no man who now believeth in Jesus ought to oblige himself by Circumcision to the observance of all the little temporary and now useless things of the Mosaical Law Nay if he doth Christ shall profit him nothing as being disobedient to one express Command of Christ liberty and freedom from that comparatively mean institution Such then is the fourth false Doctrine of the Jews concerning Justification Fifthly and lastly In few words The Jewish Doctors taught that they might perform and fulfill all the Commandments of their Law by their own natural Strength and Power e but St. Paul and the Divine Writers teach a contrary Doctrine viz. That the grace of God is absolutely necessary for our performance of good Works or rather for being good men the Condition of our Acceptance and Justification f These are all of the most considerable Opinions and Doctrines of the Jewish Doctors or Expounders of the Mosaical Law concerning Justification that I at present remember Now all these Doctrines of the Jewish Doctors put together are the Justification by the Law or the Works of the Law as I conceive Which in not many words are to this effect Some men needed no Justification but those who did were justified without any Merits but their own viz. for the due Observance of the Law of Moses by their own Strength Care and Industry Justification then by Faith or according to the Christian Doctrine as opposed to the Law must be on the contrary That all men being sinners are justified and particularly receive remission of sins the Holy Spirit and Everlasting Salvation from the free and undeserved goodness of God upon the consideration of the perfect Righteousness and the meritorious Sacrifice of Jesus Christ and upon the Condition or Qualification of a pious Temper of Heart for the future to obey the Will of God and consequently to do the thing that is right and just howsoever he shall be pleased to declare it but particularly by the Lord Jesus Christ which very Condition too we had never been able to perform without the assistance of the grace of God This as I think may be the comprehensive Sense of Justification by Faith but if it should prove otherwise it is but a mistake in the signification of a Phrase I confess obscurely enough delivered to us now at this distance of time and of so different a way of speaking from the Apostolical Age. However that be certain it is that the Doctrine it self is taken out of and according to the Holy Scriptures in which I see nothing but what is plain easie and reasonable After this we may in very short observe that if any of the three Senses of justifying faith mentioned viz. A general Piety or a Christian Obedience or according to the Christian Doctrine be that of the Holy Scripture then justifying Faith is not a meer assent to the whole Doctrine of the Gospel nor Secondly is it a bare reliance upon God and Christ and trust in their promises or as others express it a rolling and throwing our selves upon Christ for pardon and salvation nor Thirdly is it a confident persuasion that our sins are pardoned in Jesus Christ nor Fourthly is it whatsoever men have confusedly meant by those Metaphors of going to Christ or embracing Christ or eying him by Faith as an instrument as if such a thin 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Exile Relation of Faith were a thing for which Faith should be so much predicated and to which no less than Justification and Eternal Salvation should be attributed Besides if Faith should thus justifie because it apprehends takes hold of and embraces Christ how much more should love be said to do it which more properly may be said to take hold of and embrace Christ Finally There is no mention in
but corporal Death In the same place they tell us that Repentance was so great and excellent a thing that by its Vertue even sins of presumption 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. of the most hainous and atrocious Nature became merits In the Gemara of Rosch haschanah cap. 1. fol. 17. 2. and 18. 1. Repentance is said to undo and rescind the very Decree of Judgment And the iniquity of the House of Eli not to be expiated by Sacrifices or oblations but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by the Law and the Retributions of pious Men or of the Saints i. e. by Alms and Works of choice and Charity The sense of the phrase 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or by the Law seems to be either by the reading or studying of the Law as they elsewhere commonly speak or by the diligent general Practice of the Law and Observation of it or of its Commands And that of Retribution of the Saints or of the Religious signifies more than Observation of Command viz. Works of Charity Goodness Bounty Liberality beyond what is by any Divine Law required or due Now it was by both these for the future not by the first only that they say the Iniquities of Eli's House were to be expiated See also Windet de vitâ functorum statu pag. 193. We may here fitly observe that the phrase of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to be expiated or purged by the Law expresseth part of St. Paul s 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which he peremptorily denies to expiate sin as he doth also the other of their Works of Liberality and Charity He denies it I say not as a Condition but as meritorious of God's Favour and Forgiveness For we ought here further to observe that in these quotations two of the Jewish Opinions concerning Justification are contained The one the needlesness or exclusion of the consideration or regard to the Merits of any other even of the Messias himself least of all to the Sacrifice of him which they deeming him to be a great Prince to subjugate all Nations abhorred The other that their own good Works both of Duty and Choice of Precept and Charity were abundantly meritorious and by their Worth and Merit did expiate all their sins and oblige God in Justice to forgive them and receive them into his Favour again of which more in the next particular Wee 'll here add somewhat more In the Author of Eccles Cap. 18. 22. there is a footstep of expiation of sin by corporal Death Defer not saith that Author till Death to be justified And then for Alms or Works of Charity how much the Jews attribute to them we may abundantly learn from the Talmudists and Apocryphal Authors See Bav Bath Cap. 1. fol. 8 9 10 11. in Gemara we read also Ecclus. 3. 30. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Alms make an atonement for sin And Tob. 12. 9. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for Alms doth deliver from Death and shall purge away all sin The Holy Authors of the New Testament never express themselves in such manner but always attribute expiation of sin to Jesus Christ no doubt as a Sacrifice and a meritorious one by his voluntary oblation of himself So St. Paul Rom. 3. 25. calls Jesus Christ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a propitiation and Titus 3. 5. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. not by Works of or by Righteousness which we have done but according to his Mercy he saved us by the washing of Regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost And John 1. 7. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Blood of Christ cleanseth us from all sin in the forensick Sense it is to be confessed that some places in the Canonical Scriptures might give occasion to this opinion of the Jews Such as Prov. 16. 6. By mercy and truth iniquity is purged in the Hebrew 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by them iniquity shall be expiated as it is always said of Sacrifices And in the Septuagint 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And so Prov. 10. 2. and 11. 4. Righteousness delivereth from Death where 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Righteousness is most probably to be taken in the Hellenistical Sense for Alms. Because it is in both places opposed to Treasures and Riches which profit nothing in the Day of Wrath. But most probable it is that what the Canonical Writers and Apocryphal too perhaps looked upon as a condition and qualification only for Forgiveness and Divine Favour the Jews of the following Ages so mistook them as to stretch it to an Obligation of Justice upon God as much as upon a Master to pay his Servant his Wages or a Debtor his Creditor They improved their Repentance and good Works their observance of their Law and their Works of free Choice as Alms c. to a proper and strict Merit as some sort of Christians do their Repentance and sometimes that only which they call Penance Nor are we to think that they extended the effect of their Merit no farther than this corporal Life For they tell us it reached the future Life too In their Talmudical Tract Bav Bath before quoted fol. 10. 1. The question is asked why it is twice said Prov. 10. 2. and 11. 4. That Righteousness delivereth from Death The Answer is because it delivereth from two kinds of Death from a violent Death here and from the Judgment of Hell c Those who seem to have thought so were but few and of some extraordinary Sagacity or perhaps there might have been a touch of Revelation or Inspiration Nor do we know what or how many thoughts may by such means first come into the minds of men The generality of their Doctors thought of no such thing nor make any mention of the Merits of the Messias Nor did those few speak of it as necessary or certain and then they restrained the Privilege to their own Nation and People Finally they say nothing who this Messias was and it is certain the Apostles Adversaries the Bulk of the Jewish Doctors denied Jesus of Nazareth to be him Who these Ancient Jewish Authors were some of them see in the Preface to the first Volume of Lightfoot pag. 14 15. and L'empereur's Annotations on Jach on Dan. 9. which is enough to let a Jew see how far a Jew may go in believing this Christian Doctrine d The ancient wise Men saith Maiem Comm. on Pir. Anoth. Cap. 4. par 5. who taught the Law Gratis without any reward were believers of God and the Law 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by which a Man merits the Life of the World to come and again parag 16. Let a man get those Vertues here by which he may merit the World to come See also pir Anoth. cap. 6. And to prevent the Objection that the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which I render to merit or deserve signifies no more than to obtain as some have said of the word mereri used by the