bee justified i. e. freed by the Law of Moses and sometime it is translated by the word freed as Rom. 6.7 Hee that is dead is freed from sinne where the Margin shewes that the Originall word is justified From all those former jurall words thus referred to Justifying it plainely appeares that Justifying is not onely a jurall but also a curiall or Court-word Yet not borrowed from a Court criminall or any other Civill Court of Justice or Law where the suite is contentious and the sentence a judgement in which jus dicitur i. e. in which that right which was in being before is declared to bee according to the letter or meaning of the Law as heere in England is done in the Courts of the Kings Bench and of the Common Pleas where the Judges represent the King for his Justice But Justifying in the sense of the Apostle is rather proper to a Court of favour or grace where the suite is voluntary and the sentence is a Decree in which jus fit datur i. e. in which that right which was not in being before is made to bee according to the kindenesse favour goodwill and grace of the Prince wherein the iniquities and rigours of the Law are rectified pardons for offences are granted Patents and Charters for the Rights of Honours Profits and Priviledges are issued as heere in England is done in the Courts of Requests and the Chancery where the persons President represent the King for his Mercy and Grace and therefore are not called Judges as that word is properly signified by Judex But to avoyd the rough sense of the word Judges they are called by other names In effect therefore Justifying is a right Chancery-word whereby not onely our sinnes are cancelled crossed out and blotted but our Patent for blessednesse is granted and sealed But if wee may borrow a little light from the Civill Law or from those Courts wherein Wills and Testaments receive their Debates and Probates wee shall easily perceive that Justification is a Testamentary word Yet not for the letter of it for wee finde it not expresly used in Testaments But for the sence of it which is the very same or very neare with the Testamentary word of Institution Not as Institution is distinguished from Substitution But as it is opposed to Exheridation or disinheriting and signifies indifferently either for the ordaining of an Heire or for the devising of a Legacy In which ample signification Instituting is co-incident or equivalent with Justifying Both words carrying a sense either really the same or rationally consequent each to other For whosoever in a Testament is Instituted as an Heire or a Legatary that person is Justified or made to have a right to that Inheritance or Legacy which is therein conveyed or devised unto him And whosoever in a Testament is Justified unto any Inheritance or Legacy that person is thereto Instituted And the co-incidence or resemblance betweene these two words is the more proper Partly because Justification is a most gratious act proceeding from the meere favour and free grace of God without any previous Petition Motion or Request made by the party Justified As commonly Institutions are made in Wills and Testaments which are or should bee acts of meere favour and grace But chiefely because Justification is also a Testamentary act of God arising from his Will and Testament wherein all Believers are Instituted Heires to the Inheritance of everlasting life i. e. wherein they are Justified Having hitherto shewed the meaning of the word let us now gather nearer toward the nature of the thing to specifie more particularly what Right that is wee are made to have according to the purpose of the Apostle heere in saying that a man is justified Man is jurally a Sinner and ungodly i. e. a Calamitous person who is unto God an Alien and a Stranger who by his birth heere on earth hath no right to the Kingdome of Heaven For if a Native of England by his birth heere can claime no Inheritance in France nor in any other Kingdome on earth much lesse can a Native of earth claime any Inheritance in the Kingdome of Heaven And man is legally and morally a Sinner and ungodly i. e. Hee is unto God a Transgressour an Offendour and a Malefactour and by reason of sinne man is a Bondman and a Captive held a Prisoner in the Grave under Death and under Sathan who hath the Dominion and power of Death for because of sinne man is not onely debarred from Heaven but condemned to that earth from whence hee was taken even the uprightest man on earth can never bee found upright if God enter into judgement with him to take the examination of his life and marke what is done amisse Contrarily God is jurally Just or righteous i. e. hee is a Lord and Owner for hee is the universall and supreame Lord and Owner of all the whole World over all Owners Lords and Kings having the Soveraigne Dominion and Possession both of Heaven and Earth the Sea and all things else for the whole World and all the Creatures thereof are the workes of his hands and every workeman especially if hee worke upon his owne materialls is the Lord and Owner of his owne workes Unto God therefore doe belong not onely the things that may bee no mans and the things that may bee any mans but also the very things that are each mans as the Lands Goods and Chattells which each man possesseth For although God hath given the Earth to the Children of men and some men in respect of others are great Lords and rich Owners Yet all men even the greatest Kings in respect of God are but meane Lords and petty Owners or rather Tenants at will who have but a precarious use of earthly things the supreme seigniory and property whereof doth rest in God who still retaines to himselfe an absolute and full power to dispose of all things at his pleasure by giving and taking them away at his will See and compare Deut. 10.14 and Job 1.21 and Psal 24.1 and Psal 115.16 and Hos 2.8.9 and 1. Cor. 10.26 And God is morally Just or Righteous i. e. Hee is kind free and bounteous for hee is universally and supreamly kind free and bounteous to bestow in abundance his blessings upon all Creatures but chiefely upon man in a surpassing maner above all the rest Hence the Scripture is very serious and copious in setting forth Gods kindenesse for she magnifies it with the Attributes of great kindenesse Joel 2.13 and Jonah 4.2 of loving kindenesse Esay 63.7 and Jer. 31.3 and Hos 2.19 and in the Psalmes above 20. places of mercifull kindenesse Psalm 117.2 and Psalm 119.76 of marvellous kindenesse Psalm 17.7 and Psalm 31.21 and of everlasting kindenesse Esay 54.8 Shee extolls it with the praises of being Gods title that hee is the God of kindenesse Nehem. 9.17 and of being Gods exercise that hee makes it his delight Jer. 9.24 And the kindnesses which God
God that God is their God i. e. their benefactor or patron and they the beneficiaries or friends of God for long after their death God acknowledged this their state of alliance unto him in saying unto Moses Exod. 3.6 I am the God of thy father the God of Abraham the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob. And from this their alliance unto God Christ proveth their Resurrection and not only theirs but of the dead in generall Luk. 20.38 because God is not a God of the dead i. e. he neyther is nor can be a benefactor to give a blessing to the dead who while they rest in the state of death are not capable of any benefit but he is a God of the living i. e. The persons to whom God is a benefactor to give them his blessing must be living or being dead must be raysed to life that therby they may be capable to receive his blessing for unto him all live i. e. all the dead in God by vertue of their state of alliance unto him which state dies not by their dying have a present right to a future life whereto God being their benefactor is able and willing to rayse them The Degree of mans Right to these future Priviledges is a right of Institution If we consider mans state of freedome and alliance with God man therein hath now a right in possession to become seized of that state ipso facto and to enjoy it actually in this life for in this life a man justified is actually the freed-man and friend the son and heyre of God But if wee consider the future priviledges consequent to this state as the Remission of sins the Resurrection of the body and Life everlasting man unto these hath not a right in possession for untill the day of Judgement no mans sins are actually forgiven no mans body is actually raysed no mans person is actually possessed of life everlasting But unto these future blessings man in this life hath a right of Institution i. e. he hath a present right to the future possession of them and a present right to petition for that future possession to clayme and make suit for it Such a degree of right had the Israelites during their bondage in Aegypt unto the Land of Canaan whereof then they were not in possession yet then they had a present right to the future possession of it whereto God by his promise unto Abraham had instituted or ordayned them Such a degree of right had David after his anointing by Samuel during the life of Saul unto the kingdome of Israel whereof then he was not in possession yet then hee had a present right to the future possession of it whereto God by his anointing had instituted and ordayned him Such a degree of right have the faithfull during their mortall life unto the Remission of their sinnes the Resurrection of their bodies and the Life everlasting of which blessings they are not now in possession yet now they have a present right to the future possession of them because thereto God by his Will and Testament hath predestinated instituted or ordained them And such a degree of right hath a legatary to his Legacy when the Testament is once confirmed and come to bee of force but a possessory and compleate right hee hath not untill the Executor make delivery or payment of the Legacy which being not done in due time the Legatary by his right of Institution may bring his action and sue for it For Testaments Promises and Covenants have two different effects according to the two differences of time present and future their present effect is an Institution to a right and their future effect is a possession of the thing So their whole effect conjoyned is to institute or ordaine a present right to some future possession The manner how a man hath this state is factively i. e. hee is made to have it This state of divine franchise and alliance with God man hath it not natively i. e. not by virtue of his birth for hee is not borne free nor borne the Sonne of God but is borne an Alien to the Kingdome of Heaven and a stranger to the Family of God for man who is borne on earth and borne the Sonne of man how should hee by virtue of his birth become free of Heaven and bee the Sonne and Heire of God When by his birth in one Kingdome on earth hee can claime no right in another But the Verbe Justified being a compound of Justus and facio doth intimate unto man not onely his seisure of haveing this state but also the maner how hee hath it namely factively by the fact or deede of God by whom hee is made to have this right of state by whom hee is translated from the state of an Alien and of a Stranger to bee made the friend and sonne of God For hence wee are sayd 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. to bee made the sonnes of God John 1.12 As many as received him to them gave hee power to become or bee made the sonnes of God and to bee made free John 8.36 If the sonne shall make you free yee shall bee free indeed and to bee made accepted Ephes 1.6 To the praise of the glory of his grace wherein hee hath made us accepted in the beloved and made to sit in heavenly places Ephes 2.6 And hath raised us up together and made us sit together in heavenly places and made nigh Ephes 2.13 Yee who sometimes were farre off are made nigh by the blood of Christ and made meet Col. 1.10 Which hath made us meete to bee partakers of the inheritance of the Saints in light So Moses was the sonne of Pharoahs Daughter not natively for shee bred him not in her wombe but factively for shee found him by the Rivers brinke floating in a boat of bulrushes and made him her sonne So Uriah the Husband of Bathsheba was an Israelite not natively for by Nation hee was an Hittite but factively in being made an Israelite So Araunah was natively a Jebusite but factively an Israelite and so every Proselite became free of Israel factively to bee made free And this fact of God in making man to have this state the Scripture calls Justifying which though it much resemble the fact of Adoption yet in the sense of Paul is farre more ample more noble and more gratious Because Justifying is extended to more acts then adopting for it includes pardoning redeeming naturalizing legitimating infranchising and adopting And this justifying fact of God is a Testamentary act whereby this state is predestinated ordained or devised unto man in the Will and Testament of God For wee are made the sonnes of God by his Will John 1.13 Which were borne not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man but of God i. e. Men are not borne the sonnes of God by flesh and blood nor made his sonnes by the Will and Testament of man
him For the Place whence it was written whether from Rome or from elsewhere there is as much uncertainty as for the time See the Poscript added at the end of the Epistle GAL. CHAP. 1. VERSE 1. Text. Paul an Apostle not of men neither by man but by Jesus Christ and God the Father who raised him from the dead Sense Not of men 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. Not from men men were not the authors from whom I had my Apostleship Neither by man i. e. Neither was any mortall man the secondary meanes by whom I was made an Apostle But by Jesus Christ .i. e. By the meanes of Jesus Christ And God the Father .i. e. And from God the Father who was the prime author from whom he had his Apostleship Reason These words shew the Author of this Epistle describing him by his name by his function that he was an Apostle and by his commission that his Apostleship was not humane from men or by men but altogether divine from God by Jesus Christ And this is therefore so done that his Epistle might carry with it the higher authority and be received with the greater reverence partly for the procuring assent unto the matters therin contained and partly for the vindicating of his Apostleship from the calumny of the Judaizers or false teachers among the Galatians who had traduced it to be but of humane authority Comment Paul first so called amōg the Romans Many persons are binomious The Apostles were founders planters of the Gospell Other Ministers but edifiers and waterers of it Why Paul here stiles himself an Apostle The authority of the Apostles was sacred The Judaizers calumny against Pauls Apostleship and the ground of it Pauls Apostleship not humane for the authour nor for the means of it either for his Instruction or for his Mission though for some dismission it were humane Another difference between the Apostles other Ministers Pauls Apostleship Divine Christ opposed unto man Man is some time put for an ordinary man Pauls calling equall to the rest of the Apostles for the meanes and the Authour grounded on Gods Mandate An Evangelicall Attribute of God as the sole Authour of the Gospel the Divinity whereof was to bee pressed Pauls Apostleship singularly divine PAUL an Apostle The Author who wrot this Epistle doth alwayes call himselfe by the name of Paul But Luke who in Acts of the Apostles wrot the acts of Pauls Ministery doth call him Saul while he preached the Gospel among the Jewes and Syrians Yet when he began to preach it among the Romans and amongst them he began in Cyprus where Sergius Paulus the Proconsul of the Island desired to heare it from him then and from that time ever afterward Luke mentions him by the name of Paul Which name being ordinary among the Romans might first be attributed unto him in the family of that Roman Proconsul whose name was also Paul But whether Saul and Paul be two different names given to one and the same person for among the Jewes as wel as other Nations many persons were binomious and some trinomious as appears by the three names of Simon Peter Cephas al denoting the same person or but one the same name in different languages like Silas and Silvanus as Beza conjectures I stand not to determine But his name of Paul he prefixeth before his Epistle because in those times it was the custome among most Nations especially the Romans not to subscribe their name under or after their Letters but to prescribe or prefixe it above or before them in the first place as Princes doe in these times And Paul stiles himselfe by the title of an Apostle i. e. of an Emissary Legate or Messenger universall sent forth by divine authority from God by Christ to be a founder and planter of the Gospell at large without restraint to any certaine City or Countrey For thus the Twelve were the Apostles of Christ and thus was Christ himselfe the Apostle of God for of the Gospel Christ was the originall Founder who by a mission immediate from his Father layd the first stone for the foundation of it and Christ in respect of his mission is therefore called Heb. 3.1 The Apostle and high Priest of our profession And heerein all other Ministers and Preachers of the Gospel are different from the Apostles because all other Ministers besides them are not founders and planters of the Gospel but are only Edifiers and Waterers upon that Foundation and plantation which was first layd and made by Christ and his Apostles Or they are only Teachers and Pastors to feed and rule that flocke which by Christ and his Apostles was first constituted and collected This title of Apostle according to his usuall maner Paul attributes to himselfe in all his Epistles but in this Epistle above any of the rest there was especiall reason for it Because by this title he would establish his authority in the Churches of Galatia and confirme his doctrine there planted which after the plantation of it was by false Teachers amongst them questioned and challenged of falshood For to reject or but to question the doctrine of an Apostle being a sacred messenger from God fortified with divine authority and for the most part armed with the power of miracles was lawfull for no man but for Christians to doe it was insufferable This abuse therefore must bee rectified by words that were proper to discountenance it Not of men The Greeke particle is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which heere must needs signifie from Because his meaning is that men were not the prime authours from whom hee received the Commission or Mandate for his Apostleship or that the authority from whence hee derived that Function was not humane And because his words are a vindication of his Apostleship and of his calling thereto from a malicious and subtle calumny cast upon his Function by the Judaizers and false Teachers amongst the Galatians For they allowed Paul to bee an Apostle sent forth to found and plant the Gospel But they questioned his authority therein pretending that his Calling was not Divine to come from God as from the prime authour of it Or if it were from God as from the prime authour yet that it was not by the meanes of Christ that hee had not his Instruction and Mission from God by Christ But that hee was taught his knowledge in the Gospel by some mortall man and preached it by the meanes of humane helpe and that in this respect hee was not comparable to the rest of the Apostles For which opinion or rather calumny of theirs this may seeme to be the ground Because Paul entred upon the office of his Apostleship after Christ was ascended into Heaven whereas the rest of the Apostles had their mission from Christ himselfe while hee yet remayned upon earth This calumny Paul removes by a flat negation that his authority or mandate to be an Apostle was not humane for
unto all other Christians Because these Churches had partly corrupted the grace of God and partly rejected the Meanes of it by Christ for they had sowred the liberty of the Gospel with the necessity of legall Ceremonies especially that of Circumcision Yet in saying unto the Churches of Galatia he allowes them the name of Churches because they yet retayned severall parts of Christianity As in like maner he doth to the Corinthians who were fowly tainted and stayned with divers corruptions both in doctrine and maners VERSE 3. Text. Grace be to you and peace from God the Father and from our Lord Jesus Christ Sense Grace i. e. All love favour and kindnesse be to you from God and Christ Peace i. e. All happinesse and blessednesse be to you from God and Christ Reason After the harsh Direction followes a kind Salutation in the best forme which is by way of Benediction and for the best Matter which is Grace and Peace from God and Christ In the former verse Paul had denied unto the Galatians that ordinary respect which usually accompanieth the Direction of Epistles and therefore hee doth heere bespeake them with a most pious and Christian Salutation that hee might seeme to recompence the flatnesse and sowrenesse of his former Direction with the kindnesse and sweetnesse of this Salutation For although hee were unwilling to vouchsafe them their Title yet he is ready to afford them his Prayer in the best and holiest maner And the prudent Apostle practiseth this variety of discourse that he might gaine some advantage by every forme of Arguing sometime by harshnesse and sometime by sweetnesse leaving no meanes unassayed whereby to recover the Galatians from their errour Comment The forme of salutation among the Jewes Grace what and Peace Of blessednesse God the Authour and Christ the meanes The title of the Father of Christ Yet neithers title exclude the others There are many Gods and many Lords yet to us but one so and but one supreamely so Invocation is due to Christ the Ground thereof the Command of it and Practice of it A mis-reading of the Text and a misconstruction of it GRace be to you and Peace This is the ordinary forme of Apostolicke Salutation and benediction in the Epistles of Paul Peter John and Jude And the verbe substantive Be which by Paul is silenced in the originall is by Peter expressed by the word Be multiplied 1. Pet. 1.2 Grace unto you and peace be multiplied The ancient forme of Salutation among the Hebrewes was Peace be unto you Which forme was also used by Christ himselfe and he commanded the use of it to his Apostles Luke 10.5 And into whatsoever house ye enter first say Peace bee to this house But afterward among the Christians in memory of that rich Grace which came by the meanes of Christ the word Grace was added and prefixed to the former ancient Salutation Grace then is the love favour or kindenesse of God by the meanes of Christ or that rich kindenesse of God towards us whereof Christ is the Messenger and Mediatour the Beginner and the Finisher who first published the truth and procureth the finall effect of it Peace denoteth unto us Christians all the effects events and issues of Grace for Peace includes all those blessings which are the fruit growing from Grace as from the roote Whether those blessings bee temporall and spirituall in this life or celestiall and eternall in the life to come according to the sence of the Hebrewes who by Peace understand all safety prosperity and happinesse whatsoever From God the Father and from our Lord Jesus Christ. The persons from whom Paul salutes them and prayes a benediction upon them are expressed to bee two namely God the Father as the originall and prime cause from whence all grace and peace doth arise and Christ our Lord as the instrumentall and meane cause wherby all Grace and Peace is conveyed For hee wisheth a blessing upon them from the very same persons in the very same order that hee had his Calling namely from God the Father by Jesus Christ Or to use the very same words wherein hee expresseth himselfe elsewhere 1 Cor. 8.6 From God of whom are all things and from Christ by whom are all things Unto each of these divine persons severally Paul attributes a peculiar dignity or title of honour For unto the Father hee gives the title of God in an eminent and transcendent sense because the Father is the supreame and most high God who of himselfe hath soveraigne dominion and power over all things over all persons and who of himselfe is that person from whom all other persons are descended And unto Christ he gives the title of our Lord because Christ is the person to whom the Father hath communicated the universal dominion governement over all things and persons excepting one onely who is the Father himselfe For the Father hath ordained Christ in a peculiar manner to bee the Lord or head over his Church in all matters thereto pertaining And heereby Christ in a peculiar relation unto us becomes our Lord in whom wee must believe and trust and whom wee must worship serve and obey Yet it is not Pauls meaning to make these titles so peculiar to each person as if Christ were not God or as if the Father were not our Lord for each person beares both these titles but that when they are mentioned both together these are the usuall formes to difference them Hence from these two attributes thus differenced and distributed unto these two divine persons of God unto the Father and of Lord unto Christ and because there is but one Father and one Christ therefore it is frequent with the Apostle Paul to call the Father one God and Christ one Lord. For although there bee extant many Gods and many Lords Yet there is extant but one God and one Lord to bee by us invocated and worshipded i. e. God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ Because there is but one person who unto us hath that relation of God which the Father hath and but one person who unto us hath that relation of Lord which Christ hath Hence it is sayd 1 Cor. 8.5 For though there bee that are called Gods whether in Heaven or in Earth as there bee Gods many and Lords many But to us there is but one God the Father of whom are all things and wee for him and one Lord Jesus Christ by whom are all things and wee by him Where by the way wee may note that there are made three degrees the first is of those who are called Gods but are not indeed so as the Sunne and Moone in Heaven Idolls and Images on Earth the next of those who are called so and are indeede so but not supreamely so as the Angels in Heaven and Rulers on Earth and the last of those who are called so and are really or indeed so and also are supreamely so to bee invocated and worshipped as
to him that teacheth it but it seldome troubles the soul that receives it whereas errour disquiets and distracts the conscience leaving her uncertaine of the issue pretended and troubling her about the means thereto leading And would pervert the Gospel of Christ The issue of their counterfeit Gospel which though it might not be the intent of the false teachers yet it would bee the event that the Gospel of Christ would thereby be perverted i. e. it would bee cast into a new mould or frame contrary to the forme it had before The addition of Circumcision and other legall Ceremonies doth adulterate and corrupt the Gospel of Christ by compounding it into a new nature contrary to the genuine simplicity and sincerity wherein it was originally planted and taught for they confound the Gospel who compound and complie it with the law because they who unto the Gospel of Christ would super-adde the law of Moses must consequently needs teach that Grace on Gods part and faith on our part make not a sufficient title to our right of inheritance unto blessednesse but that our title by grace and faith requires a further corroboration from our works according to the law of Moses such as Circumcision and difference of meats which are such servile works and such beggerly services unto God and so far from making us a title to have that right that they serve not for a tenure whereby to hold it but that right must bee held by our filiall works of love as wee are the sonnes and heires of God and as they are prescribed in the Gospel of Christ which works Evangelicall are of a more noble nature and more pleasing to God then the legall works under the law which were but beggerly and servile services VERSE 8. Text. But though we or an Angel from heaven preach any other Gospel unto you then that which we have preached unto you let him bee accursed Sense But though we i. e. Though I. Or an Angel from heaven i. e. an heavenly Angel Which we have preached i. e. Which I have preached Reason Though formerly the Apostle had sufficiently declared that the revolt of the Galatians from the Gospel of Christ was a foul errour and that they who obtruded another counterfeit gospel upon them were corrupters of the true Gospel and therefore not to be followed yet heere also hee further insisteth upon the same point shewing them what they are to thinke of any other person whatsoever that should presume to preach any doctrine contrary to his or different from it Comment Angels are some celestiall others infernall Doctrine may be false two wayes 1. Directly 2. Indirectly And such are humane Traditions The doome of false Doctrine BUt though we or an Angel from heaven Wee i. e. I Paul for he speaks only of or concerning himselfe using the plurall number for the singular as appears in the words in the verse following as we have sayd before for Paul only was the person who had sayd the words of this verse And the force of this argument is very moving because the Apostle argues for the truth of his owne doctrine even against himselfe q. d. Not only they who trouble you and would enforce a new gospel upon you are to bee wholly rejected but also I my selfe if I should attempt it am to bee repelled as an execrable person And not only I but if an Angel should come to you as an Evangelist or an Apostle with a message from Heaven contrary to the doctrine by me planted amongst you he is in like maner to be abandoned The words from heaven are not to be referred to the act of preaching but to the person of the Angel to whom they are an attribute and signifie only an heavenly Angel for there are Angels who in respect of their residence are celestiall and supernall in the highest Heaven and there are Angels who for their residence are aereall and infernall for in comparison of the highest Heaven which is most supernall the Ayre which makes the lowest Heaven is infernall Hence wicked spirits are called Princes of the Ayre and are sayd to bee in Heavenly Places i. e. in the Ayre for the Ayre though in respect of the highest Heaven above it it bee Hell yet in respect of the Earth below it it is Heaven and consequently the Ayre in a different and subalterne respect is both Heaven and Hell See and compare Mat. 6.26 and Luk. 13.19 and Ephes 2.2 and Ephes 3.10 and Ephes 6.12 and 2. Pet. 2.4 But to supply the Argument with the greater force the Apostle supposeth a condition altogether impossible seeing it could never come to passe that either hee himselfe should against himselfe or an Angel from Heaven against him should ever attempt to preach another Gospel Should preach any other Gospel unto you then that which wee have preached The Greeke is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. literally should preach unto you besides what wee have preached Heereby is excluded from the Gospel of Christ all such Doctrine that is either against his Gospel or besides it for whatsoever Doctrine is against it is also besides it and more then besides it and consequently all such Doctrine is excluded as alien from the Gospel of Christ which either doth wholly alter or partly subvert the way delivered by Paul for obtaining a true right and a right title to the Inheritance of Blessednesse And this is done either directly when any thing is taught manifestly contrary to that Doctrine which is necessary to salvation as to teach that Jesus is not the Christ or that there is no New Covenant Or indirectly when any thing not necessary is proposed and urged as necessary though it bee not contrary to the Gospel of Christ but onely disparate or diverse from it as to urge the Ceremonies either of Moses or of others as necessary to salvation for by this meanes the way to salvation is partly changed and assigned to some by-way whereto Christ and his Apostles assigned it not Yet because at that time the legall Ceremonies were urged as necessary to salvation especially by those Christians which were converted from Judaisme whose infirmity was tolerated by the rest of the Apostles and by Paul himselfe who Rom. 14. plainely declares that their opinion was no prejudice to their salvation Therefore wee must not affirme that it was the Apostles minde in this place to pronounce a curse upon all those who any manner of way should teach something as necessary to salvation besides what hee had taught if they taught it out of meere ignorance or errour but those onely hee pronounceth accursed who out of arrogance or some by-respect should presse as necessary to salvation those things which they knew the Apostle had taught to bee not necessary Doth not this Text reach unto the Church of Rome who urgeth as necessary to salvation the Traditions and Precepts of the Church as shee calls them which shee acknowledgeth not to bee comprised in the
God to undertake that journey which they had already determined upon him because Gods will is sometime subsequent to follow not only mans will but his act by approving and confirming afterward what man before hath willed and acted for hence Christ sayd to his Disciples Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall bee bound in heaven and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven Mat. 18.18 Now Paul mentions this Motive of his journey that he went it by revelation thereby to signifie that hee went then to Jerusalem chiefly as a Messenger sent from God lest his adversaries to diminish the authority of his Ministery should suggest to the Galatians that Paul went that journey as a meere Messenger and servant to the Church of Antioch And communicated unto them that Gospel which I preach among the Gentiles And communicated The Greek is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. I declared related or reported for in all the New Testament the word is used but in one place besides and that is by Luke who sayth that Festus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. reported Pauls cause unto King Agrippa where our last English Translation renders it declared Act. 25.14 The pronoune them is here a relative without an antecedent as the manner of the Hebrewes is sometimes to use it yet it is referred antecedently not to any persons mentioned before expresly but tacitly as they are couched in the word Jerusalem and it is referred subsequently to persons that shall be mentioned in the next following clause of this verse namely to them which were of reputation in Jerusalem The matter which unto them he related was not that whole Gospel wherein at his conversion Christ was revealed unto him but the summe of that Gospel or of that Doctrine which as part of the whole Gospel he preached among the Gentiles particularly to the point of circumcision and the rest of the legall ceremonies namely he preached that men are justified only by faith in Christ without either circumcision or other observances of the Law which he no where pressed upon the Gentiles or mentioned as necessary to salvation But privately to them which were of reputation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. secretly apart or aside for so also the word is commonly rendred elsewhere 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. to the principall or chiefe persons for among the Greekes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 are such who are personages of chiefe esteem or repute of whom other men hold a great opinion for their knowledge wisedome and integrity such among the Apostles were Peter James and John and whosoever else were principall persons in the Church of Jerusalem To the chiefe persons therefore of that Church Paul related the summe of his Doctrine for they were most concerned in the point because they were best able to examine it and to give their judgement in it And with these he first dealt privately at a secret meeting as in like cases commonly the maner is before he communicated the matter to the whole Church of Jerusalem to whom the matter was referred and to whom afterward Paul and Barnabas publickly delivered it in the Synod For when in a full audience of the Synod they two had rendred an account of that Doctrine which they had preached among the Gentiles and had declared the miracles and wonders which God by them had wrought among the Gentiles presently upon their silence James gave the sentence which was approved by the whole Synod and thereupon the Decrees were drawne up to be sent abroad among the Gentiles as Luke reports it Acts 15.12 13. Against which order of proceeding this makes nothing that here in this Epistle he mentions his conference with the chiefest persons secretly in the last place for he might therefore doe so because he would expresse the generall act of his message before that which therein was particular without respect to the order of time Yet if any man will urge the contrary I shall not much stand upon it Lest by any meanes I should run or had run in vaine The finall cause why he made this relation of his Doctrine to the Apostles Not that Paul made any doubt concerning the certainty of his Doctrine as if he would acknowledge the verity and certainty thereof from the approbation of those who were the chiefe in reputation for as we heard before the verity and certainty of his Doctrine was by God himselfe miraculously revealed unto him and every where confirmed by divers miracles But he therefore related it to avoyd the inconvenience of losing his labour q. d. Unlesse I had thus communicated my selfe at Jerusalem to the Apostles I might have lost all my labour in preaching of the Gospel for my adversaries would continually have clamoured against my Doctrine that the chiefest of the Apostles thought and taught otherwise by which meanes they would have subverted their Faith who had beleft it and consequently I should have run in vaine losing all the fruit of my labour in preaching VERSE 3. Text. But neither Titus who was with me being a Greeke was compelled to be circumcised Sense Neither i. e. Not indeed A Greeke i. e. A non-Jew or Gentile Compelled The Greeke is necessitated Reason The issue of the conference at Jerusalem that circumcision was not decreed necessary neither was Titus a Gentile necessitated to be circumcised Comment A Greeke who Why Titus was not circumcised and why afterward Timothy was BUT neither Titus who was with me being a Greeke We may now perceive from these words why Paul mentioned Titus before as the companion of his journey to Jerusalem and why he tooke him with him by Revelation namely that from his person he might draw an evident testimony against the necessity of circumcision upon the Gentiles The particle neither stands not here for a copulative but is put for the single negative firmely denying of not indeed A Greeke i. e. a non-Jew or a Gentile for by the Jew every non-Jew of what Nation soever is generally called sometime a Greeke sometime a Gentile or Heathen See Rom. 1.16 and Rom. 2.9 q. d. From the result of the Synod no not Titus a man of great repute in the Church of God and my frequent assistant in the Gospel who was then with me at Jerusalem and present in the Assembly although by nation and birth he was not a Jew but a Gentile was ordered to be circumcised no not although circumcision seemed of great moment in regard of his person that he might be a precedent and leading man to the rest of the Gentiles Compelled to bee circumcised Compelled the Greeke is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. necessitated to bee circumcised for the question was whether circumcision were necessary to salvation and to shew it not necessary Titus was not necessitated to bee circumcised An infallible argument that the judgement of the Apostles was that neither circumcision nor the rest of the legall Ceremonies were no way necessary neither
an upright man and of Zacharias and Elizabeth it is said Luke 1.6 They were both 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 righteous before God i.e. upright walking in all the commandements and ordinances of the Lord blamelesse and Rom. 2.13 Not the hearers of the Law are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 just before God i. e. upright before God And as in the concrete the righteous is put for the upright so in the abstract the word righteousnesse is put for uprightnesse Thus saith Jacob Gen. 30.33 So shall Zidkathi my righteousnesse answer for mee i. e. my uprightnesse And so Deut. 9.5 Not for thy righteousnesse i. e. not for thy uprightnesse And Psal 45.7 thou lovest Zedek righteousnesse i. e. uprightnesse And Prov. 16.8 Better is a little Bezedakah with righteousnesse i. e. with uprightnesse And Esay 5.7 and he looked Lizdakah for righteousnesse and behold a cry i. e. he looked for uprightnesse And Acts 17.31 He hath appointed a day in the which he will judge the World 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in righteousnesse i. e. in uprightnesse And 1 John 3.7 Hee that doth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 righteousnes is righteous i. e. he that dealeth in uprightnes is upright And in this sense the word righteous is opposed to the legall sinner who because he walketh not according to the Law but transgresseth it is therefore unjust and unrighteous 2. The word Righteous signifies morally quoad mores for one who is kinde and courteous liberall and bounteous by doing acts of benefit and mercy who is not onely ruled by the Law to give every man his due by Law but in many cases is over-ruled by his love to give men more then their due more good and lesse evill then by the Law is due unto them whose maner is to conferre and convey rights unto men by bestowing benefits and doing kindnesses by giving favours and forgiving trespasses For he who out of his love bestows some benefit favor or kindenesse upon me doth thereby create in me a right interest or claime unto the thing bestowed and consequently is thence rightly denominated a righteous man for if he be a righteous man who is upright and deales with me according to that right or claime which by Law I had before much more is he righteous and properly so called who by conferring some benefit or gift upon me doth create some right or claime which before by Law I had not and he that forgives my trespasse doth against the right of the Law give me a right of Release from that penalty which he by the Law might have exacted from me Now as all men ought to be legally righteous i. e. upright according to the Law so ought all men to be morally righteous i. e. kind and curteous according to good maners for no man upon earth is so indigent or poore as not to bee able some way or other to doe a kindenesse as at least to forgive a trespasse Yet eminently this vertue is required from persons of ability and principally from Princes whose Power and Offices lead them to give and forgive in many cases partly beyond the Law and partly against it So the word righteous is taken Psal 37.2 The wicked borroweth and payeth not againe Vezaddik 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But the righteous sheweth mercy and giveth i. e. the kinde and liberall man forgiveeth and giveth and Proverb 21.26 The slothfull coveteth greedily all the day long Vezaddik 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but the righteous giveth and spareth i. e. the kinde and liberall man and Mat. 1.19 Joseph the Spouse of the blessed Virgin is stiled 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a just man Then Joseph her Husband being a just man i. e. a just or righteous man morally in being kinde and curteous because hee was not onely upright in accustoming to doe that which was right according to the Law but also exceeded the rule of the Law in being kinde and curteous an example of which kindenesse hee shewed to his Wife in resolving to put her away privily when by the Law hee might justly have questioned her openly And Luk. 23.50 Joseph of Arimathea is stiled 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a good man and a just i. e. kinde and courteous Because hee was not onely upright in not consenting to the sentence of the Sanedrim when they condemned Christ But also further was so kinde and courteous that hee begged a kindnesse to bestow a kindenesse for hee begged the dead body of Christ to bestowe upon it an honourable buriall by wrapping it in linnen and laying it in his owne Sepulcher And Act. 10.22 Cornelius the Captaine is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a just man i. e. a kinde and courteous man for hee was not onely upright in fearing God but also toward men hee was kind and courteous liberall and bounteous in giving much Almes unto the Poore as in the same Chapter is specified at the second verse Furthermore as in the concrete the righteous is put for the kinde man so also in the abstract the word righteousnesse is many times in Scripture put for kindnesse As 1 Sam. 12.7 Samuel speakes thus unto the people Now therefore stand still that I may reason with you before the Lord eth col zedakoth of all the righteousnesses of the Lord which he did to you and to your Fathers i. e. of all the kindnesses which he did to you and to your Fathers where our last English translation in the margin renders it benefits and Psal 24.4 Hee that hath cleane hands c. shall receive the blessing from the Lord and righteousnesse from the God of his salvation i. e. Hee shall receive kindenesse from God and Psal 112.9 Hee hath dispersed hee hath given to the poore Zidkatho his righteousnesse endureth for ever i. e. his kindenesse and bounty shall bee alwayes commemorated And Esay 60.17 I will also make thy Officers peace and thy exactors Zedakah righteousnesse i. e. They who used exaction upon thee shall doe thee kindenesse for unto exaction which takes more then is due kindenesse which gives more then is due is extreamely contrary And Mich. 6.5 That yee may know Zidkoth the righteousnesse of the Lord i. e. the kindnesses of the Lord for the word is of the plurall number And Mat. 6.33 Seeke yee first the Kingdome of God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and his righteousnesse i. e. his kindnesse favour and mercy And Rom. 1.17 For therein 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the righteousnesse of God i. e. the kindenesse of God is revealed from faith to faith for so the righteousnesse of God must heere signifie because in the verse following it is opposed to the wrath of God the contrary whereof must bee his kindenesse And Rom. 3.21 But now 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the righteousnesse of God without the Law is manifested i. e. the kindenesse of God is manifested for Gods righteousnesse without the Law must needes bee his kindenesse in which sense also the word is often repeated in the following
bestowes upon man for the acts of kinde persons are also called kindnesses are divine blessings beseeming the goodnes and greatnes of God as a right of heavenly freedome a right of Alliance with God and a right of inheritance in his kingdome For God is so free that his will is to make man free of heaven by giving him a right of divine freedome as a Denizen or Citizen of the Kingdome of Heaven See John 8.32 36. and Rom. 6.22 and Rom. 8.2 and 1 Cor. 7.22 and Ephes 2.19 and Heb. 8.10 And God is so kinde as to make man his Kinsman by giving him a right of divine alliance in making him his Son and becomming a father to him which makes not a remote and distant alliance but the nearest and best degree of kindred See John 1.12 and Rom. 8.14 and 2 Cor. 6.18 and Phil. 2.15 and Gal. 4.5 and 1 John 3.1 2. So fatherly kinde as to make man his heire by giving him a right of inheritance in Heaven where God hath provided for him many Manors and Mansions so goodly and so glorious that the Manors and Mansions on earth are but the figures and shadowes of those in Heaven for God who hath feared man here upon earth will hereafter most gloriously settle him in Heaven whereof he hath already made him the Heire by giving him a present right to the future possession of it for this kinde of right makes the nature of an Heire See Mat. 5.3 and Mat. 25.34 and John 14.2 and Rom. 8.17 and Gal. 4.7 and Ephes 1.3 and Ephes 2.6 and Tit. 3.7 and James â— 5 and 1 Pet. 1.4 But for the better conveyance and settling of these Heavenly kindnesses God frames his Will into a Testament wherein more blessings are devised and bequeathed unto man by way of gifts and Legacyes for hence the holy Scriptures both New and Old are called Gods Testaments though at the first making neither of them were written but were nuncupative because God at first declared his will by the word of his mouth for hence the same Testaments are called the word of God but his Will being afterwards written became the Scriptures And God by publishing of his Testament reveales the Gifts and Legacies thereof into promises for Gods promises are but his Gifts and Legacyes declared he covenants with man for the performance of those Promises and confirmes his Covenant that it may be irrevocable Now the proper virtue and effect of Testaments Promises and Covenants especially being once confirmed is to constitute ordaine impute and convey unto the persons concerned rights interests and claymes to the things therein specified And the rights and claymes constituted ordained and conveyed in Gods Testament are no lesse precious then the inheritances of Heaven whereto man is instituted Heire for although among men here on earth some Lands and inheritances cannot be disposed by Will and Testament yet all the inheritances of Heaven are deviseable by the Will and Testament of God And Gods Testament argues Gods marvellous loving kindnes for can a man possibly shew greater love and kindnes then first to give away all his estate and at last to confirme that gift give up his life all which is done in the making of a Will because a Will is a Deed which makes away all and yet it selfe is not fully made at least not made of force untill the death of the maker And Gods Testament for the purpose of it is a Will ad pias causas i. e. for godly and charitable uses wherein Gods goods are all distributed for the reliefe of impotent poore and needy wretches for all the parties instituted in Gods Testament are miserable persons such as are the blind and lame the deafe and dumbe the dead and buried such as are strangers unto God as aliens bondslaves captives and prisoners unto Satan such as are Sinners against him as offendors and malefactors For hence the publishing of Gods last Will and Testament is called by Christ Luke 4.18 preaching of the Gospel to the poore sending to heale the broken-hearted preaching deliverance to the captives recovering of sight to the blind setting at liberty them that are bruised And this againe doth magnifie Gods marveylous loving kindnesse for can a Testament shew greater love and kindnesse then when it is all for charitable uses And the better to qualifie these miserable persons and to inable them for the possession of these blessings Gods will is yet further to performe all acts thereto conducing as to Illuminate and instruct them in heavenly knowledge that they may know God to be their gratious Father to Regenerate and sanctifie them by writing his divine Law in their hearts that they may carry themselves as the sons of God to Expiate pardon and forgive all their sins in generall past present and to come to Redeem from the grave their dead and vile bodies transforming them into heavenly and glorious bodies and lastly to Glorifie them at their entrance into their Lords joy where they shall be partakers of his divine nature and the freeholders of eternall blessednesse For such clauses there are in Gods will See Heb. 8.10 11 12. and Phil. 3.21 and 2. Pet. 1.4 Hence the nature of Justifying may easily appeare For when unto a Sinner and a stranger God by his Will and Testament deviseth or imputeth a present right to a future blessing then God justifieth the ungodly and when a Sinner hath that right then a man is justified And therefore actively and factively all the gifts and Legacies of Gods Will and all the promises of God doe justifie because it is the nature of a Legacy and of a promise to impute a present right to some future benefit or blessing And therefore againe passively and effectually all the free men of Gods kingdome and all the sonnes and heyres of God are justified because it is the nature of a freeman of a son and of an heyre to have a present right to a future estate When unto Abraham who at first was a sinner and a stranger God by his Will and Testament devised these earthly blessings That he should have an heyre from his owne body and should have the Kingdome of Canaan for his inheritance Gods will was that Abraham should have a present right to those blessings and when effectually Abraham had that right then was he justified When unto Rahab who was an harlot and a stranger God by the same Will imputed a present right to her future safety and consequently to make her free in Israel then was Rahab justified When unto the Jewes who were sinners God by his last Will and Testament which is his new Covenant devised and ordayned the kingdome of Heaven and those heavenly blessings wherof the Earthly kingdome of Canaan and her blessings were but figures and shadowes as their exemption from the Law the Priviledge and benefit of Repentance the Renovation of their mindes the Remission of their sins the Resurrection of their bodies and the Inheritance of
to bee and bee called the friend of God was it not afterward continued by his worke in offering his son for was not that worke wrought by his faith and was not his faith and the Scripture mentioning it fulfilled by that worke The other example is of Rahab Likewise also was not Rahab the harlot justified by workes when she had received the Messengers and had sent them out another way i. e. The Justification of Rahab constituted long before by her faith whereby she became a Proselyte and an Israelite in beleeving that the God of Israel was God in Heaven above and in earth beneath was it not afterward continued by her worke in Receiving the Messengers For was not that worke wrought by her faith and at the sacke of Jericho was not she and her family preserved by that worke and thereby continued Proselites unto Gods People Now from these Examples and Similies of James but especially from his two reasons it evidently followes that workes doe justifie in the sense alleadged namely conservantly For because Faith without workes is dead and working with workes is by workes made perfect or effectuall therefore workes doe preserve and continue the life perfection and efficacy of Faith and consequently they preserve and continue the state of Justification which is the effect of faith and whatsoever doth preserve and continue Justification that doth Justifie True it is that Neither faith nor works are the principall and prime efficients of my Justifying because God is the personall principall and prime efficient who makes mee to have my right and who makes mee to hold it but faith and workes are the reall mediall or meane efficients on my part For God willeth and ordayneth that fayth should bee my title whereby I acquire and have this right and that workes should be my tenure whereby to continue and hold it From my title I wholly exclude my workes allowing them neyther efficiency to justifie nor presence in my person at my Justifying For faith alone without any efficiency or any presence of workes within mee doth make me to have this right Because when I am to bee justified I have not within me any workes at all that any way qualifie me or can bee truely sayd to be resident in mee For manifest it is that I am then in the state and condition of a sinner if not legally of a transgressor against the Law yet morally of one somewhat improbous who was many wayes peccant in the rules of morality equity decency and mercy and jurally of one calamitous who must suffer and die like a sinner for the proper subject of Justification is a sinner But from my Tenure I exclude not faith but include and suppose it adding and adjoyning my workes unto it Because in my Justification faith hath a double efficiency first a procreant to constitute it and secondly a conservant to continue it Yet that degree of conservancy which flowes from faith is so imperfect that unlesse it be perfected by the accesse of works fayth alone is not able to conserve it selfe for without workes shee is dead Yet from my Tenure I exclude the solitarinesse both of my faith and of my workes for neither faith alone without workes nor workes alone without faith but both concurring and joyned together viz. faith conducting and co-operating with workes and workes accompanying and seconding faith doe justifie me conservantly as my Tenure making mee to continue and hold that state of divine alliance which faith alone did create and constitute And heerein I give the preeminence to faith for I say not thus Workes with faith but thus Faith with workes doth make up my Tenure faith as the principall and workes as accessories thereto to animate enable and render faith effectuall unto that effect which alone without workes it can not performe Because faith without workes is imperfect and dead but working with workes is by workes made perfect and effectuall And true it is that Workes doe also justifie declaratively because they declare manifest and shew that faith which doeth justifie efficiently and which alone without workes is efficient procreantly and which being alone without workes can not be declared For words will not serve the turne to declare the existence of faith but this service must be done by works And therefore the existence of that faith which is solitary alone and without workes can by no meanes bee sufficiently declared Hence saith the Apostle Jam. 2.18 Shew mee thy faith without thy workes Shew me if thou canst or thou canst not shew mee that faith of thine which is without workes or which is solitary or alone by it selfe for by thy words in saying thou hast faith it is not sufficiently shewed and by thy workes it cannot possibly be shewed because as thou acknowledgest it is a solitary faith which is alone by it selfe destitute of workes And I will shew thee my faith by my workes i. e. But I will shew thee my operary faith which worketh with workes for I will and doe declare it by my workes because I acknowledge that my faith is seconded and accompanied with workes Now because faith is declared or shewed by workes therfore workes are a Signe of faith and consequently they are a Signe of Justification to declare and shew the state of it because faith is a cause whereof Justification is the effect and whatsoever is a Signe of the cause is also a Signe of the effect Yet this is not all and the whole influence which workes have unto Justification that they are a Signe of faith to declare it But moreover workes are a cause of faith to effect it yet not a cause procreant to constitute and produce it but a cause conservant to continue and maintaine it For Jam. 2.26 As the body without the spirit is dead so faith without workes is dead also Now the Spirit whereby the body respireth and breatheth is a cause of the body yet not a cause procreant to give the body life and being but a cause conservant to continue and maintaine the life and being of it And consequently workes are also a cause conservant of that Justification whereof faith is a cause wholly procreant and partly conservant and to conserve Justification is to justifie For seeing that unto many words I willingly allow severall senses not only modall but reall I cannot with equity deny the like courtesie unto the Verbe Justified for the honour of those two great Apostles Paul and James who were planters of the Gospel and pillars of the Church especially when I consider the severall parties with whom they had to deale For Paul by his assertion opposeth the Judaizers who as was formerly shewed upon the 14. verse of this Chapter were Operaries and Rituaries standing so much for the workes and Ceremonies of the Law that they made workes the sole and whole efficient cause of Justification both the cause conservant to continue and maintaine the state of it and also the cause procreant to
all be made alive But of these words for me the meaning is that Christ delivered himselfe to death and actually died for my sake for my good and for my great benefit which benefit is no lesse unto me then first my Right and afterward my Possession of eternall Blessednesse For by or through his death I collect from Scripture these five benefits 1. Hee Certified mee of blessednesse That the Will and Testament which he published to the World concerning the future blessednesse of heaven was the true whole and last Will and Testament of God seeing hee testified this truth and made faith thereof by his death for because hee witnessed it with his bloud therefore his bloud is sayd to beare witnesse on earth 1 John 5.8 And there are three that beare witnesse on earth the spirit and the water and the bloud 2. He justified me to blessednes For the Will and Testament of God wherein the Legacies or Promises of blessednes are devised unto me was confirmed and established by the bloud and death of Christ who dyed instead of the Testator that the Testament might bee in force and that being in force I am upon my actuall faith actually justified to my Legacies therein for hence wee are sayd to bee justified by the bloud of Christ Rom. 5.9 Being now justified by his bloud we shall be saved from wrath through him 3. He sanctified me for blessednesse For those acts of holinesse which consist in dying to sin and in newnesse of life and which are the conditions and Precepts of Gods Will and Testament whereto the possession of blessednes is limited and without which I shall never possesse it were figured and shaddowed out unto mee by the death and resurrection of Christ For hee that had no sin himselfe how could hee otherwise represent unto me this duty of my death unto sin and newnes of life And that Christ dyed to doe this good upon mee is expresly taught in many places of the Scripture as Gal. 1.4 Who gave himselfe for our sins that he might deliver us from this present evill world And Ephes 5.25 Husbands love your Wives even as Christ also loved the Church and gave himselfe for it that he might sanctifie and cleanse it c. And Tit. 2.14 who gave himselfe for us that he might redeeme us from all iniquity and purifie unto himselfe a peculiar people zealous of good workes And Heb. 9.14 How much more shall the bloud of Christ who through the eternall spirit offered himselfe without spot to God purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God And 1 Pet. 1.18 Ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things as silver and gold from your vaine conversation received by tradition from your fathers but with the precious bloud of Christ. And 1 Pet. 2.24 Who his owne selfe bare our sins in his owne body on the tree that we being dead to sin should live unto righteousnesse 4. He exemplified unto me the way to blessednesse The way leading unto blessednesse is a hard rough and narrow lane beset with many troubles dangers and certaine death through all which hee commands mee to passe A way that unto flesh and bloud is exceeding fearfull and full of horrour for it seemes to lead mee unto utter destruction yet is indeed the right true and onely way to eternall blessednes Now seeing Christ by his death passing this way came thereby to his crowne of glory doth not hee by his example in taking the assay of death and in tasting it for mee encourage me to suffer death and assure unto mee the likenesse of his glory for may I not playnely see this in the death of my Saviour Jesus Christ Heb. 2.9 But we see Jesus who was made a little lower then the Angells for the suffering of death crowned with glory and honour that hee by the grace of God should taste death for every man 5. Hee will glorifie mee with the crowne of blessednesse The Legacies or promises of my future blessednes are to be performed unto me by Christ because he is the sole Executor of that Will and Testament wherein they are devised unto mee and therefore also he is the Captaine of my salvation Unto which Office hee was enabled and perfected through the sufferings of death that after his death he might possesse his owne glory and might also bring me to glory after mine because this was a way beseeming and becomming the good pleasure of God whereby to bring all his sons unto glory Heb. 2.10 For it became him for whom are all things and by whom are all things in bringing many sons unto glory to make the Captaine of their salvation perfect through sufferings Christ himselfe having been once dead and gained by his death the power over death doth the more commiserate my death and will be the readier first to succour me at it and hereafter to rayse me from it Heb. 2.18 for in that he himselfe hath suffered being tempted be is able to succour them that are tempted In a word hee therefore dyed and revived that hee might bee my gratious Lord in what state soever I am whether dead or alive Rom. 14.9 For to this end Christ both dyed and rose and revived that he might be Lord both of the dead and the living Yet I am further to conceive that these words Christ gave himselfe or dyed for mee must bee understood of him by way of eminency or excellency in a speciall and singular manner For although some other persons may dye for mee yet they cannot bee sayd to doe it in that maner or in that sense that hee did it Because Christ was the first person who dyed for mee in this kinde and by the meanes of whose death principally and chiefely according to the grace and mercy of God my salvation is established And because Christ was the onely person who dyed for mee to these speciall ends of Justifying Sanctifying and Glorifying of mee as hee was my sole and onely Mediatour without the conjunction of any other person heerein And because this deede of Christ in dying for mee is sometime in Scripture attributed unto Christ as a speciall property peculiar to him for hence it is sayd Rom. 14.15 Destroy not him with thy meate for whom Christ dyed viz. in an eminent and excellent manner And 1. Cor. 1.13 Was Paul crucified for you i. e. Neither Paul nor any other person was crucified for you principally and especially Otherwise besides Christ some other person may also dye for mee and may bee truely sayd to dye for the good of my salvation For touching himselfe Paul saith 2. Cor. 1.6 That hee was afflicted for the consolation and salvation of the Corinthians And 2. Cor. 12.15 That hee would very gladly spend and bee spent for their soules for so the Margin declares the Originall And Ephes 3.1 That hee was the Prisoner of Jesus Christ for the Gentiles and if consequently to his imprisonment hee had suffered
quickned us together with Christ by grace yee are saved i. e. The cause of your present right to future salvation is the grace of God And Tit. 3.7 That being justified by his grace wee should bee made heires according to the hope of eternall life i. e. The cause of our Justifying is Gods grace and the effect of it is that thereby wee are made heires of eternall life and because wee are heires wee have good reason to hope for it for who can have better hope of any thing then an heire hath of his inheritance These are the chiefe authorities from the Scriptures to testifie this truth that our inheritance is by grace Causes to prove it there are none for wee sayd that Gods grace was the highest cause which had none above it and therefore this verity must needes bee a principle and consequently cannot bee proved for hee abuseth a principle who attempteth to prove it Yet there are reasons that may argue and perswade it and they being grounded on Scripture are chiefely these five following 1. Because this Right comes from Gods gift John 4.10 If thou knewest the gift of God i. e. everlasting life which comes from Gods gift for so the Well of water is interpreted at the last words of the 14. verse following And Acts 11.18 Then hath God also to the Gentiles granted repentance unto life i. e. then hath God given them the benefit or fruit of repentance which is eternall life for the originall is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. given yet it is Englished well enough because every grant is a gift And Rom. 5.15 But not as the offence so also is the free gift for if through the offence of one many bee dead much more the grace of God and the gift by grace which is by one man Jesus Christ hath abounded unto many here unto eternall death the cause whereof was the offence or sin is opposed eternall life the cause whereof is grace for it is a gift by grace And Rom. 6.23 But the wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternall life through Jesus Christ our Lord. i. e. The cause of our present guiltinesse unto eternall death is sin whereof death is the wages but the cause of our present right unto eternall life is not our holinesse but Gods grace whereof life is the gift and that gift is conveyed unto us by the meanes of Jesus Christ And Heb. 6.4 It is impossible for those who were once inlightned and have tasted of the heavenly gift i. e. who have had the knowledge and have felt the joy of their inheritance to blessednes which is no earthly purchase but a heavenly gift proceeding from God Now the fountaine or cause from which gifts and grants proceed is not Law and justice but grace and favour for what else is a gift or grant but an act of grace 2. Because it commeth from Gods good pleasure Luk. 2.14 Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace good will towards men 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. good pleasure towards men q. d. Let the God of Heaven be glorified for that blessednesse on earth descended from his favour or good pleasure towards men which he hath abundantly testified by sending his son to be their Saviour And Luke 12.32 Feare not little flock for it is your Fathers good pleasure to give you the Kingdome i. e. feare not the want of food and raiment for God is your Father and therefore will give it you and more then so for he will also give you the Kingdome of Heaven for the blessing thereof comes from his gift and that gift proceeds from his good pleasure And Ephes 1.9 having made knowne unto us the mystery of his Will according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himselfe i. e. That Will and Testament of God wherein we are made heirs to the inheritance of Heaven was a long time a mystery and concealed in secret but is now published and made knowne unto us and this is according to his good pleasure which he purposed in himselfe first for the making of that Will and after for the publishing of it Now that which proceeds from the good pleasure of any person is not an act of Law and justice but of Grace and favour for matters of Law and justice leave not a man to his good pleasure but oblige him to that which Law and justice require to be done 3. Because it comes from Gods goodnes or kindnes Rom. 11.22 Behold therefore the goodnesse and severity of God on them which fell severity but towards thee goodnes if thou continue in his goodnes otherwise thou also shalt be cut off i. e. The Jews were once in the state of alliance with God to be his children and people but because they fell from their obedience God cut them off and their excision proceeded from Gods severity but Gods election of thee in their room proceeds from his goodnes or kindnes towards thee if thou cōtinue in that state wherinto his goodnes hath grafted thee otherwise thou also shalt be cut off with the like severity And Eph. 2.7 And hath raised us up together and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus that in the ages to come hee might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindnesse towards us through Christ Jesus i. e. God hath raised Christ from the dead and hath seated him in Heaven and in him he hath given us a precedent of our future possession there to be raised as he was and to be seated as he is for he was raised and seated there to him and his co-heirs i. e. to all believers in him that in the world to come after the Resurrection God might shew and impart unto us the exceeding riches or abundance of that blessednes which proceeds from the abundance of his grace and kindnes towards us through the means of Jesus Christ And Tit. 3.4 But after that the kindenesse and love of God our Saviour toward man appeared i. e. Those benefits whereby God is the Saviour of man proceeds from Gods kindnesse and love toward man Now Gods goodnesse or kindnesse is really the very same thing with his grace for his grace is that inward affection from whence his outward kindnesse floweth as the effect thereof 4. Because it comes from Gods Mercy or Pity Rom. 11.30 For as yee in times past have not believed God yet have now obtained mercy through their unbeliefe Even so have these also now not believed that through your mercy they also may obtaine mercy i. e. As heeretofore yee Gentiles were Infidells or Unbelievers yet now have believed upon the Jewes unbeliefe So now the Jewes are become unbelievers that upon your beliefe they may bee provoked to believe Hee calls beliefe mercy because the thing believed and the act of believing proceed from Gods mercy And Tit. 3.5 Not by workes of righteousnesse which wee have done but according to his
to the bloud of Abel and is sayd to speake better things then that of Abel Heb. 12.24 And to Jesus the Mediator of the New Testament and to the bloud of sprinkling that speaketh better things then that of Abel viz. Because the sprinkling of Christs bloud confirmed the New Testament which gives rights and claymes to blessednesse whereas the bloud of Abel clamors and cryes for vengeance Hence the New Testament is highly magnified above the Old in respect of the confirmation for although the Old Testament was confirmed by bloud yet that confirmation was made but by the bloud of beasts as of Oxen Calves and Goats for that with such bloud onely the Old Testament was established or confirmed it appeares playnely Exod. 24.8 which place we recited before and is further manifested Heb. 9.18 Whereupon neither the first Testament was dedicated or confirmed to be in force without bloud for when Moses had spoken every Precept to all the people according to the Law he tooke the bloud of Calves and of Goates with water and scarlet wooll and hysop and sprinkled both the Booke and all the people saying this is the bloud of the Testament which God hath enjoyned unto you And hence a contempt against the New Testament is farre more fearefull and dangerous then a despite against the Old because the New was sanctified confirmed or hallowed with holy bloud even with the bloud of the Son of God Heb. 10.28 Hee that despised Moses Law dyed without mercy under two or three witnesses Of how much sorer punishment suppose yee shall hee bee thought worthy who hath troden under foot the Son of God and hath counted the bloud of the covenant or New Testament wherewith hee it should be wherewith it viz. the New Testament was sanctified i. e. was ratified confirmed and established to be and to stand in force 3. To execute or performe the Decrees of the New Testament According to the rule of right reason and to the Law of naturall equity the will of the dead is to bee performed Because otherwise the will also is dead For it is a rule among the Civilians Voluntas Testatoris pro Lege habetâ—â— i. e. the Testators Will is a kinde of Law As therefore the Execution if the Law is the life of the Law So the Execution of a Will is the life of the Will and as the Law bindes the Magistrate to execute it So doth a Will binde the Executor But it is definitive and naturall to a Testament to bee a Will wherein an Executor is nominated that Will therefore wherein no Execution is nominated is no Testament or is not properly so called And to what purpose is an Executor nominated or nominated by the name of an Executor if hee execute not the Testament of the Testator And because it is definitive and naturall to a Testament to predestinate and pre-decree things to be executed after death that Testament therfore which after death is not executed is frustrated or frustrated to those particulars which are not executed And avested Executor who hath some benefit by the Testament wherin he is nominated may be compelled to accept the Executorship or else to lose his benefit by the Testament And although a nude or bare Executor who hath no benefit by the Testament bee not precisely bound to undertake the Executorship for if hee see cause hee may refuse it Yet when once hee hath accepted it he is then precisely bound to execute it Now of the New Testament the Executor was Christ For the New Testament was the last and best Will of God established upon better Promises better Inheritances and better Legacies then were ordained in the former Testament And therefore what better Executor could God nominate and depute for the performance of it then Christ Because Christ was the Son of God and by that relation above all persons in the World was nearest in alliance unto the Testator and fittest in ability to execute the Testament For who but Christ can execute the Office of that Priest who was to enter the Sanctuary of Heaven and there to sanctifie the people of God by expiating their sinnes and sending unto them the holy spirit of God to purifie and cleanse their conscience from sinne And who but Christ can execute the Office of that King who was to set on the Throne of Heaven there to governe the people of God to subdue all their enemies to raise them from death to invest them with heavenly bodies and to seate them in the possession of blessednesse For the Priestly and Kingly Office of Christ wherein else doth it chiefely consist but in the execution of the New Testament In a word who but Christ can discharge the Promises or Legacies of blessednesse which in the New Testament are made and devised unto Believers Hence Christ is called the Mediatour of the New Testament Heb. 9.15 And for this cause hee is the Mediatour of the New Testament And againe Heb. 12.24 And to Jesus the Mediatour of the New Covenant or Testament for that word stands in the Margin and should have beene in the Text. Now the Mediatour of a Testament is hee whom in these times wee call the Executor of it for although every Mediatour bee not the Executor of a Testament yet every Mediatour of a Testament is the Executor of it Because the Executor thereof is a Mediatour or middle person betweene the Testator and the Legataries and by Means of him the finall effect of the Testament is procured and therein in consisteth the finall execution of it But although this be not the onely respect wherein Christ is the Mediator of the New Testament for he mediated it by testifying the truth of it and he mediated it by confirming the force of it yet he also mediated it this way and chiefly this way namely by executing the decrees of it For albeit the Testament were of force upon the confirmation of it yet till the Execution of it it was of no effect But here we shall not further prosecute this verity that Christ is the Executor of the new Testament because we certified it before upon verse 16. And Christ was a vested Executor Because he was to receive an infinite benefit by the new Testament For therein he was appointed the universall heire of God Heb. 1.2 God in these last dayes hath spoken unto us by his Sonne whom he hath appointed heire of all things Now in a testamentary construction an heire and a vested Executor are really all one and the same although some rationall difference may be betweene them Thereby he was to receive universall Power over all the world both in heaven and earth for such power was given him and after his Resurrection he received it Mat. 28.18 And Jesus came and spake unto them saying All power is given unto me in Heaven and in Earth Thereby he was to receive universall honour from all persons in Heaven in earth or under the earth for all were to
worship and serve him with divine Honour for unto such honour God exalted him Phil. 2.9 Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him and given him a name which is above every name that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow of persons in Heaven and in earth and under the earth i. e. that Christ might have divine worship from all maner of persons whether they be Angels in Heaven or men on earth or the dead under the earth For if the Angels of Heaven have a command to worship him as they have Heb. 1.6 And let all the Angels of God worship him much more is worship due to him from men on earth And lastly thereby he was constituted and ordained to bee the High Priest of Gods Church and the King of Gods Kingdome to set upon the throne of Heaven as the highest person in the world excepting onely the most high God 1 Cor. 15.27 For hee hath put all things under his feet but when hee sayth all things are put under him it is manifest that hee is excepted which did put all things under him Thus Christ was a vested Executor But his Executorship was conditionall For it was charged with the condition of his owne death he must dye before he can enter it and therefore dye that he might performe it Every Testament is a decree of things to be done after death But the New Testament of God had this strange Prerogative that it was of things to be done after the death of the Executor who was to doe the things of it after his owne death A course quite contrary to the Testaments of men wherein the Executor after his owne death is able to doe nothing Although Gods Testament were in force upon the confirmation of it yet the effect of that force for the execution of it must necessarily be suspended untill this condition was accomplished But as the case stood one and the same death of one and the same person was both a Confirmation of that Testament and the condition for the execution of it A condition somewhat difficult and burthensome unto flesh and bloud for it is an hard case that an Executor must dye to compasse his Executorship Yet unto Christ the condition was possible and lay in his power to performe for unto a person who is mortall what is more possible then death And unto Christ it was very feasable for seeing he must dye for the testimony of Gods testament and for the confirmation of it the same death also would serve as the condition for the execution of it And unto Christ this condition was very Necessary for his death was the Meanes by or through which that testament must be executed and without this Meanes it could not be performed And for the Necessity of this Meanes these are two reasons 1. Because without his death he could not receive his owne Inheritance For by meanes of his death he was prepared fitted and perfected to receive that Inheritance which was ordained unto him in the testament whereof he was the Executor as his universall power honour and glory to set upon the throne of Heaven as the perpetuall Priest and King over the people of God Because 1 Cor. 15.50 flesh and bloud cannot inherite the kingdome of God much lesse can it set upon the throne of God That mortall person therefore that will enjoy immortality must first be devested of mortality and the mortality of a person mortall is devested onely by the meanes of death or of a sudden change instead of death as shall be done at the last day Christ at the first was made flesh John 1.14 And the word was made flesh but afterward he was made a spirit 1 Cor. 15.45 The last Adam was made a quickning spirit And Christ at the first was made mortall for he was made a little lower then the Angels but afterward hee was made immortall for hee was crowned with glory and honour above the Angels and the Meanes through which this change was made from his mortality to immortality was by or through the suffering of death Heb. 2.9 But we see Jesus who was made a little lower then the Angels for by or through the suffering of death crowned with glory and honour for the meaning of the Apostle is not that the death of Christ was the merit of his crowning but the meanes to it because betweene the two extreames of his mortality and immortality his death was the interposed Meane through which hee was to passe from one to the other 2. Because without his death hee could not discharge the Legacies given to Believers For through meanes of his death hee was prepared fitted and perfected to performe all the Promises of the New Testament For seeing every Testament is a Decree touching things to bee done after death and the New Testament was touching things to bee done after the death of Christ therefore Christ must needes dye before they can bee done and before hee can doe them that through his death hee might bee qualified and perfected for the doing of them God for the bringing of many sonnes unto glory will constitute Christ the Captaine of their salvation But for this Function hee will make Christ perfect through the suffering of death And this meanes of perfecting was so decent and comely that it became Almighty God to perfect him by this meanes Heb. 2.10 For it became him for whom are all things and by whom are all things in bringing many sonnes unto glory to make the Captaine of their salvation perfect through sufferings Christ was the sonne of God who learned obedience by the things which hee suffered and through that suffering hee was made perfect to become the authour of salvation to all who obey him Heb. 5.8 Though hee were a sonne yet learned hee obedience by the things which hee suffered and being made perfect hee became the authour of salvation unto all them that obey him Christ is ascended into the highest parts of the Heavens for this end and purpose that hee might execute and fulfill all things that were to bee done according to the last Will and Testament of God But thither hee could not ascend unlesse hee first dyed and descended into the Grave which is the lower part of the earth Ephes 4.9 Now that hee ascended what is it but that hee also descended first into the lower parts of the Earth Hee that descended is the same also that ascended up farre above all Heavens that hee might fill all things or rather fulfill all things for so it is in the Margin and should have beene so in the Text. Because in this place the word fulfill is a testamentary word which signifies the executing and performing of a Testament in distributing and discharging the Gifts and Legacies therein devised to fulfill the minde of the Testator For that heer the word beareth this sense it plainly appears partly by the words preceding ver 8. When hee ascended up on high hee led captivity captive