receive their strength from Faith in one respect as they do from the goodness of the nature of God and his veracity in another I have intimated before that it is from an apprehension which men have of Gods willingness to be reconciled to them that inclines them to be reconciled to him While men look upon God as a resolved irreconcileable enemy to them well they may dread him as the Devils do but cannot love him nor be reconciled to him no more perhaps than the Devils can All the good thoughts of God as of one that delights not in our destruction but concerns himself for our salvation and which any way incline us to be reconciled to him take their rise from those declarations which God hath made to us of his willingness and desire to be reconciled to us upon supposition of our willingness to be reconciled to him Hence it is that we are said to love God because he first loved us 1 John 4.19 and to be reconciled to God by the death of his Son because God thereby commended his love to us while we were yet sinners and gave us an ample and full proof of his willingness to be reconciled to us as making way thereby for it Rom. 5.8 9 10. And thus God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself by assuring us of a readiness in him to be reconciled to us and not to impute to us our trespasses supposing still that we refuse not to be reconciled to him 2 Cor. 5.19 By this declared willingness in God to be reconciled to us and by his declared resolution not only to pardon us but also to exalt us in immortal glory provided we refuse not to be reconciled to him but to punish us as obstinate rebels and irreconcileable enemies if we do I say it is by these motives that men are persuaded and prevailed withal to be reconciled to God or to his nature as when they become pleased with the same things which please him and displeased with what is displeasing to him and to his Law and Government as when they consent to the wisdom and goodness thereof and accordingly submit to it as best But then it is by means of Faith that these motives do affect us and operate to our reconciliation to God There is no other way to affect the soul with all the great things which God and Christ have done for us and conditionally promised to us but by means of this Faith For we do not know that Christ is the Son of God or for what end he died nor that God will both pardon and give eternal Life to sinners upon condition of their being reconciled to him but by Divine Revelation which Divine Revelation doth not affect us or operate upon us further than it is believed These motives not being sensible objects have no being in the soul and so no operation till Faith give them a being there by giving credit to that doctrine by which they are Revealed For Faith is the substance or confidence of things hoped for and the evidence or conviction of things not seen Heb. 11.1 We know and believe the love that God hath to us 1 John 4.16 Faith it is the great instrument of reconciling us to God both as it acts upon its object and as it acts upon its subject Divine Revelation is its object and by crediting that the foresaid motives are received into the soul as real things And then Faith acts upon its subject the soul it self in which Faith dwells by fixing the foresaid motives in the mind and working them into the will by which the work of reconciliation and conversion unto God is wrought and brought about In this way or in this respect love to God obedience to his Precepts and all divine virtues and holiness of Life flow from Faith And therefore it 's no marvel that Faith is mentioned in Scripture as the summary condition on which the Promises of the Gospel are made Hence we may see the reason why sanctification is attributed to Faith as it is Acts 26.18 and more particularly the purity of the heart love to God and men and victory over the world Acts 15.9 Gal. 5.6 1 John 5.4 Yea the whole of Evangelical Righteousness of Godly sincerity both in heart and life so often stiled the Righteousness of God is said to be by Faith as the next and immediate productive cause of it under the operation of the Spirit of God Phil. 3.9 Rom. 3.22 This Faith therefore having such an aptitude in it as I have shewed to reconcile us unto God by renewing our nature and conforming us to him without which Faith we could not by the great and precious promises themselves be made partakers of a divine nature we may see reason enough why it is made the condition of the promises of the Gospel 3. By affiance in God and in our Lord Jesus Christ which is one special act of Faith we give and ascribe unto God as much as in us lies the glory of his attributes and the perfections of his nature his truth and faithfulness power wisdom and goodness which may be another reason why this honour is by God put upon Faith so as to be accounted to us for Righteousness and to be made the condition of Gods making good to us the great promises of the Gospel forgiveness of sin and eternal Life By this affiance we venture our selves soul and body and our whole concern for all eternity upon the truth of Gods word and promise upon his faithfulness and power to perform it and upon the all-sufficiency of Christ Jesus to be our Saviour and Redeemer when we commit our selves and the conduct of our lives wholly to his Rule and Government out of a confident expectation of having Gods promise made good to us and of the sufficiency and prevalency of our Saviours performance for us This trust and confidence God is pleased to take as such a piece of honour done to him as that the Scripture calls our receiving Gods testimony a setting to our seal that God is true John 3.33 a justifying of God against the jealousies and suspitions of men and the reproach which their unbelief casts upon God Luke 7.29 For he that believeth not the record which God hath given of his Son hath made him a lier 1 John 5.10 Thus Abraham gave glory to God when he staggered not at his promise through unbelief but was fully persuaded that what he had promised he was able also to perform Rom. 4.20 21. And in that he did thus give glory to God in believing this in the next words is given as the reason why his Faith was imputed to him for Righteousness Therefore saith he it was imputed to him for Righteousness Ver. 22. And thus we see that God is pleased to honour that most in men to wit their Faith by which they most honour him 4. In what capacity those under the Gospel are to perform the condition of the promise by
him a God keeping Covenant and Mercy with them that love him and keep his Commandments or that walk before with all their hearts And though the hearers of the Law were not just before God yet the doers of Law were justified when they depended upon the Grace and Mercy of God for acceptation in doing their duty Rom. 2.13 Conclude we then that there is nothing in these Scriptures to prove the Natural Law and the Law of Grace not to consist without the one being altered by the other And thus we see how the Law of Grace operates to our Justification by reconciling the Original Law to us upon our repentance that was against us it is reconciled to us because we are reconciled to it by the Law of Grace By the way then it is remarkable how greatly it conduceth to the consolation of all truly repentant sinners and of how great a ground of their confidence towards God it is that the Natural Law as well as the Law of Grace is now on their side it is not only not against them but is made to be for them by the blessed undertaking and performance of our Saviour for them when once they are persuaded to be sincerely for it 2. The Covenant of Grace operates to our Justification as it is an act of Grace by which God doth institute and ordain that Faith as it is an operative principle of sincerity of repentance of love to God and man and of all holy obedience shall be accepted and accounted for Righteousness upon the account of our Saviours Mediatory Righteousness And for our better understanding and satisfaction in this matter I shall endeavour these three things 1. To shew that there is a Righteousness found among men which the Scripture calls so and calls those Righteous that have it their having sinned notwithstanding 2. To shew what it is and in what it consisteth 3. How it comes to be such 1. That there is a Righteousness found among men which the Scripture calls so and calls those Righteous which have it notwithstanding all the world stand guilty before God of unrighteousness and are concluded under sin according to the first Law we were under This is a thing so well known to those that read the Scriptures or hear them read that it 's needless to cite particular Texts to prove it We shall find that good men such as are justified are called the Righteous or the Just no less I think than fourscore times in the Books of Psalms and Proverbs besides so many other places as are not easily to be numbered 2. That which is more necessary is to shew what this Righteousness is and wherein it doth consist In general it consisteth in our conformity to the terms of the Gospel the new Covenant or Law of Grace As mans Natural and Original Righteousness stood in a conformity in his nature and actions to the Original Law of Righteousness from which we are fallen And as the Mediatorial Righteousness of Christ consisteth in his conformity to the Law of Mediation so doth the Evangelical Righteousness of a Christian stand in his conformity to the terms of the new Law of Grace And therefore as the Gospel it self is frequently called the Faith and somtimes the Law of Faith as being both the Object and the Rule of the Christian Faith so is a Christians conformity to it frequently stiled likewise the Righteousness of Faith and the Righteousness by Faith and the obedience of Faith Rom. 3.22 and 4.11 13. and 9.30 and 10.6 Gal. 5.5 Phil. 3.9 Rom. 16.26 Now this conformity to the Gospel which God counts to us for Righteousness doth consist in a hearty belief or firm persuasion that God upon the account of what Christ our Mediator hath suffered and done for sinners will receive such into his favour pardon and save them as upon such a belief do truly repent them of their sins and seriously resolve and sincerely endeavour to please God for the future in the whole course of their lives and in actual resolutions and endeavours suitable to this belief This belief or persuasion when it becomes thus practical in operations proper to the nature of such a persuasion as it is then the true Christian Faith so it is then also the Christians Righteousness for it is imputed reckoned and counted to them for Righteousness as the Scripture shews It 's true Abraham is said to have had this Righteousness Rom. 4.11 and Noah to be an heir of it Heb. 11.7 And yet we cannot say that they had any such explicite Faith in reference to Christ the Mediator as the meanest Christian has under the Gospel Revelation And yet their Faith in the general nature of it was the same then with the Christians now For they had such Revelations made by God one way or other by which they did believe him to be reconcileable and propitious to all such as fear and love him and sincerely endeavour to please him And upon this Principle doubtless it was that they and other good men in those elder times lived such holy and virtuous lives as hath procured them upon publick Record honour and renown for Righteous men unto all Generations For so saith that sacred Author speaking of them Heb. 11.39 These all received a good report through Faith Thus Abel obtained witness even from God himself that he was Righteous by reason of his Faith in God in conjunction with what he did by virtue of his Faith Heb. 11.4 And when the Scripture saith Jam. 2. of some of these that they were justified not only by their Faith but also by their Works the meaning I doubt not is that they were approved of by God as Righteous men upon the account of both It 's true indeed Righteous and Holy men are frequently described by their fear of God and by their love and obedience to him without mentioning their Faith as at other times they are described by their Faith without mentioning their fear love or obedience And the reason seems to be this because where any one of these is in truth there are the other also No man truly fears God or loves and obeys him but he that hath first Faith towards God that he is Gracious Merciful and ready to forgive the repenting and reforming sinner without which Faith it is impossible to love him or reverence him with an awful love There is forgiveness with him that he may be feared feared with a fear mixed with love as the right fear of God always is Psal 130.4 Now this their fear of God love to him and care to please him which grows out of their Faith is as I say their Righteousness as well as their Faith it self more strictly considered because their conformity to the Law of Grace which is their Righteousness consists in these as well as in that and the same promises are made to these as to that He that doth Righteousness is Righteoas 1 Joh. 3.7 All his transgressions which he hath
Mark 16.15 16. 2 Thes 1.10 and 2.13 And it is no marvail the same Faith should be thus diversly exprest since a believing of any one of these includes in it a belief of them all and so does a belief of the Resurrection of Christ by which this Faith is also somtimes described Rom. 10.9 For he that believes the Record of God concerning Christ cannot but believe him to be the Son of God because that is the thing which the Father Almighty hath more than once testified by a voice from Heaven Mat. 3.17 and 17.5 And he who believes Christ to be the Son of God must needs believe his doctrine which is the Gospel to be true As on the other hand whoever believes the Gospel must needs believe Christ to be the Son of God because it testifies so much of him and likewise because it sets forth those many stupendious Miracles which he wrought and how the ancient predictions of the Prophets concerning the Messias were fulfilled in him and also his Miraculous Resurrection from the dead by all which he is demonstrated to be the Son of God Now then whosoever rightly believes the doctrine of our Saviour contained in the Gospel and of his Apostles concerning him do believe that he died for our sins and rose again and that repentance or amend ment of life and obedience to the Precepts of our Saviour are indispensibly necessary to the obtaining of remission of sin and eternal Life by his Death Resurrection and Intercession And the reason hereof is because these things are declared to be so in that Gospel which is so believed And therefore whosoever does believe he shall be saved by Christs death from the wrath to come though he does not truly and sincerely make it his business to amend his life according to the Precepts of our Saviour believes not the Gospel but believes that which is a flat contradiction to it and is like those of whom the Apostle says they profess that they know God but in works they deny him Tit. 1.16 Or if any man should believe this amendment of life to be necessary to the obtaining Remission of sin and Salvation by the death of Christ Yet what would this belief avail him if he himself should not by this belief become a new man in holiness righteousness and sobriety of living It is not any mans believing the most important and concerning truth that will avail him before God further than it tends to make him better to make him a good man The Devils we find confessed Christ saying thou art Christ the Son of God Luke 4.41 the same form of words almost verbatim in which the Apostles of our Saviour made confession of their Faith John 6.69 And St. James saith the Devils believe and tremble Chap. 2.19 But what are they the better for it so long as they retain the same devilish nature which they had before Nor can we say that mens Faith will any more save them than the Devils Faith saves Devils whatever it is which is believed unless that belief makes them better men in heart and Life If a man believe aright and understands what it is he believes he can hardly be any more careless of acting according to his belief than he is careless of obtaining the pardon of his sin and the Salvation of his Soul A right saving belief of the Gospel then hath in it the spirit and seed of a good life it hath in it virtually and potentially all pious and vertuous actions And all pious and vertuous actions that proceed from Faith are as I may so say but Faith diversified in several acts and are a part of Faith as the fruit that grows upon a Tree is part of the Tree And to make this appear in some instances all those noble and generous acts of the Patriarchs and other Worthies mentioned in Hebrews the 11th Chapter did all grow out of their Faith for by Faith they did them all All the good report which they obtained upon account of their Heroick actions is attributed to their Faith by which they did atchieve them these all having obtained a good report through Faith c. Ver. 39. More particularly the Author of this Epistle to the Hebrews in Ver. 5. of this 11th Chapter proves that it was by Faith that Enoch was translated because he had this testimony that before he was translated he pleased God or walked with God as his History relates it Gen. 5. which as he shews was impossible for him to have done if he had not had Faith for saith he without Faith it is impossible to please God So that we see the same thing is attributed to the Righteousness of his life in walking with God as is to his Faith which produced that effect viz. that thereby he pleased God And so it is said of Noah Ver. 7. that by faith he being warned of God of things not seen as yet moved with fear prepared an Ark to the saving of his house by which action of his in conjunction with his Faith he became heir of the Righteousness which is by Faith It is said of Abraham also Ver. 17. that by Faith he offered up Isaac And it is said by St. James that by this good work of his the fruit of his Faith among others he was Justified Jam. 2.21 And not only so but that therein the Scripture was fulfilled which saith Abraham believed God and it was counted to him for Righteousness Ver. 23. which shews that when the Scripture saith Gen. 15.6 that Abrahams believing God was counted to him for Righteousness it was meant of his Faith as it was a vital principle of sincere obedience to God in whatever he commanded him else that Scripture would not have been fulfilled in Abrahams offering up Isaac and in his being justified thereby as well as by his Faith The like is said of Rahab that by faith she perished not with them that believed not when she had received the spies in peace Heb. 11.31 And St. James saith that she was Justified by this work which was the fruit of her Faith Jam. 2.25 So that we see in the Scripture-notion of Faith to have Faith counted to us for Righteousness and to have acts of obedience proceeding from Faith to be counted for Righteousness in conjunction with the Faith it self is the same thing And to be Justified by Faith and to be Justified by those acts of obedience which are the issue of Faith in conjunction with the Faith it self is still the same thing in the sense of holy Scripture All this is to shew what and what manner of Faith it is that is the condition on the which pardon of sin and eternal Life are promised in the Gospel-Covenant and by which we are Justified and which is counted for Righteousness And for our greater confirmation in this and to shew further that no Faith can entitle us to the promises of the Covenant the promise of pardon and the promise of
eternal Life but such a practical Faith as I have described consider these following particulars 1. If none can be pardoned but such as repent nor see the Kingdom of God except they be born again as the Scripture assures us they cannot then no Faith can entitle us to Pardon and Salvation as it is a fulfilling the condition of the promises of the Covenant but such as is a penitential regenerating Faith such as works repentance and regeneration in men nor till it hath wrought these effects at least as begun I cannot imagine what can be said with any shew of reason against this argument 2. St. James argues that Faith which hath not works cannot save Ver. 12. and concludes his reasoning Ver. 24. with saying Ye see then how that by Works a man is Justified and not by Faith only 3. Faith and Obedience are so much the same or at least so inseparable when saving as that the same Greek word is indifferently translated to believe or to obey and so on the contrary the same word is translated unbelief or disobedience Instances of this nature you have in Acts 5.36 Rom. 11.30 31. Ephes 5.6 Heb. 4.11 and 11.31 in all which you have the same word translated one way in the line reading and another in the margin And belief and disobedience are likewise opposed to each other as contraries as well as faith and unbelief are and as well as obedience and disobedience are as you may see for instance in Rom. 10.16 1 Pet. 2.7 2 Thes 2.12 By all which we may reasonably judg that when Faith only is mentioned as the condition on which pardon and eternal Life are promised yet then it is to be understood of a practical obediential Faith 4. The same benefits pardon of sin and eternal Life are promised upon the condition of obedience in some Scriptures which are promised on condition of believing in others As for instance If we walk in the light as he is in the light we have fellowship one with another and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin 1 John 1.7 Here assurance is given us of being purged from the guilt of sin by the blood of Christ in case we walk in the light as God is in the light labouring to be holy as God is holy in all manner of conversation And Christ is the Author of eternal Salvation to all them that obey him Heb. 5.9 And blessed are they that do his Commandments that they may have right to the Tree of Life and may enter through the gates into the City Revel 22.14 Not every one that saith Lord Lord shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven but he that doth the will of my Father which is in Heaven Mat. 7.21 Now if holy obedience be made the condition of the promise of Pardon and Life as well as Faith as we see it is then none but an obediential Faith can be a performance of the condition of that promise By an obediential Faith I mean such a Faith as by which a man is moved and inclined and in some sort enabled to do what is his present duty so far as he understands it to be so And in this sense a mans Faith and his obedience are of the same date and commence together And therefore it is no marvel that the same promise of the same benefits is made to the one which is made to the other and that both are joyned in the condition 5. In Heb. 8.10 11 12. where we have the tenour of the new Covenant declared God promiseth to be a God only to such and to forgive the iniquities only of such as have his Law put into their minds and written in their hearts Where Faith is not at all mentioned as the condition of receiving those benefits but the having the Law written in the heart Though the having the Law written in the heart supposeth Faith I grant as a productive cause of it yet we see it is not the condition of the promised benefits otherwise than as it produceth such an effect which effect is only here mentioned and not Faith which is the cause 6. When saving Faith is described by the nature of its operation upon a man himself and not only as it acteth upon its object without him then we are told it purifieth the heart Act. 15.9 worketh by love Gal. 5.6 overcometh the world 1 John 5.4 and sanctifieth the whole man Acts 26.18 And therefore we have no good reason to think Faith is a fulfilling the condition of the promise only as it acteth upon its object by way of credence or assent or affiance either without its transforming operation upon the Soul 3. The next thing to be enquired into is the reason why Faith is made the condition of the promises of the Gospel-Covenant And the reasons hereof seem to be such as these 1. Faith is made the condition of the promise that it might appear to be of grace that such promise is made and made upon such a condition as faith is St. Paul having spoken of the promise being made through the Righteousness of Faith and not through the Righteousness of the Law Rom. 4.13 He gives the reason of it Verse 16. when he says It is therefore of Faith that it might be by grace to the end the promise might be sure to all the seed not to that only which is of the Law but to that also which is of the Faith of Abraham In which words we have a general reason why Faith is made the condition of the Promise and that is that it might be by Grace And another is given in a particular instance viz. that the promise might be sure to all the seed There is a double reason why it must needs be of Grace that the great Promises of the Gospel are made to mens believing the Gospel The one is taken from the nature of the thing that is of Faith it self in reference and relation to its object For he that believes the Gospel believes that the great blessings and benefits promised therein are promised not for any merit of his to whom they are promised but for the sake of another to wit Christ Jesus whom God hath set forth for a propitiation through faith in his blood Rom. 3.25 And he that believes the Gospel according to what it reveals believes also that it was of Grace that he was thus made a propitiation for it was by the Grace of God that he tasted death for every man Heb. 2.9 Not by works of Righteousness which we have done but according to his mercy he saved us Tit. 3.5 And whoever believes all this exalts the grace of God in so believing St. Paul who believed and taught this in opposition to the misbelieving Jews who thought to be justified by the works of the Law without the death of the Messias to obtain that and all other benefits said I do not frustrate the grace of God for if righteousness come
alledged by St. Paul by way of confirmation of his aforesaid doctrine and to prove out of one of the sacred Books owned by his adversaries that their worthy Ancestors such as David whom they could not deny to be Justified men acknowledged themselves sinners such as stood in need of Pardon and such as counted it their great happiness to be Pardoned and that therefore they could not be looked upon as receiving the reward of Debt but of Grace For when he says even as David also describeth the blessedness of the man to whom God imputeth Righteousness without Works saying blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven c. it thereby appears that he looked upon those words of David to be fully agreeable to his own doctrine asserted in Verse 5. in opposition to his adversaries conceit and opinion touching the rewards being reckoned of Debt and not of Grace And indeed how could St. Paul think better to convince them of their error and to shame them out of their conceit of meriting the reward by observing the Law of Moses then by shewing them that their famous Ancestors who observed the Law of Moses as well as any were yet so far from claiming the reward of their obedience as a Debt by way of Merit that they acknowledged themselves sinners and therefore undeserving and counted it their great felicity to be Pardoned through the great mercy and favour of God We will yet consider this matter a little more particularly and distinctly The thing St. Paul asserts against his misbelieving adversaries is as I have said that the reward is of Grace and not of Debt which he makes out two ways 1. From the nature of that Righteousness which is rewarded 2. From the nature of that reward it self First from the nature of the Righteousness that is rewarded and this is described by the condition or quality of the person in whom this Righteousness is found he that worketh not that is though it be one that hath not observed the Law of Moses in being Circumcised and the like And that he means such an one by him that worketh not and yet may be Righteous appears by the instance he gives in Abrahams case who was Righteous with the Righteousness of Faith before ever he was Circumcised Verse 9 10. 2. It is described by the nature and property of that Faith which is the Christians Righteousness it is a believing in him that Justifieth the ungodly upon his repentance and belief in the Lord Jesus Which very belief contains in the nature of it a firm persuasion that Gods Justifying of such a person must needs be of Grace and not of Debt 3. It is described by that act of God by which such a Faith becomes a mans Righteousness and that is by way of imputation or account his Faith is counted to him for Righteousness which argues it to be of Grace and Favour because he to whom it is so imputed is otherwise a sinner ungodly and upon that account cannot merit it Now then if the Righteousness it self which is rewarded be of Grace then the reward of that Righteousness must needs be of Grace This we see is one way by which St. Paul makes out the reward to be of Grace and not of Debt Secondly the other way is from the nature of the reward of that Righteousness And this I call another way of proving the reward to be of Grace and not of Debt For when St. Paul saith Verse 6. even as David also describeth c. that word also seems to signifie an addition of proof of his assertion by another medium And this medium is taken from the nature of the reward of that Righteousness which God imputes to men in Justifying them as his former was from the nature of the Righteousness it self And the Apostles argument or proof is to this effect The reward of that Righteousness by which God Justifies men must needs be of Grace and not of Debt because in great part it consists in Remission of sins and Remission of sin is an act of Grace in the natural notion of it and in the common sense of mankind And that St. Pauls design in alledging this saying of David was not to shew that Remission of sin is the Righteousness by which men are Justified but the reward of it appears by the very tenor and purport of his words For he doth not say that David describeth the Righteousness or Justification of the man to whom God imputeth Righteousness as we have cause to think he would have done if he had known or thought that Remission of sin had been mens Righteousness or Justification but he says he describes the blessedness of that man to whom God imputeth Righteousness Now what doth blessedness in Scripture import when applied to men but some happiness vouchsafed them as an effect of Gods Grace yet so as by way of reward also of the performance of their duty Thus Blessed is the man that feareth the Lord. Blessed are they that hear the word of God and keep it Blessed are they that do his Commandments that they may have right to the Tree of Life and the like So here the blessedness of that man to whom God imputeth Faith for Righteousness seems to signifie the happiness that does accrue to such a man as a reward of that Faith which is imputed for Righteousness or of that Righteousness which is imputed and the happiness here specified which does accrue to such a man is the having his sins Pardoned Now to understand St. Paul here in this sense does fully agree with his scope and design in hand which was to prove the reward to be of Grace and not of Debt After he had opposed the Righteousness of Faith to the Pharisaical Jews Righteousness by works of the Law then he shews the reward of this Righteousness to be of Grace and not of Debt because it stands in Remission of sin And whereas he does not use the word reward here but the word blessedness which yet signifies the same thing it was probably but to accommodate his speech to Davids dialect whose words he recites And as the sense I have insisted on corresponds fully with the Apostles scope and design here So it does also with the tenor of the Covenant of Grace and the Scriptures elsewhere which promise Pardon of sin on condition of that Faith which is imputed for Righteousness as a reward of it and motive to it And if this sense now represented be the sense of St. Paul in these Verses or much what the same and you see what reason there is to think it is then his intent here was not to shew that we are Justified by being Pardoned he does not say it is Pardon of sin which is imputed for Righteousness but Faith Nor does he say that David describes the Righteousness of the Justified man in saying Blessed are they whose iniquities are Forgiven but the blessedness of that man or the reward of his
THE CHRISTIANS JUSTIFICATION STATED SHEWING How the Righteousness of Christ the Gospel-Covenant Faith and God himself do operate to our Justification By W. A. 2 Cor. 5.17 18. Old things are past away behold all things are become new and all things are of God who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ LONDON Printed by A. C. for Walter Kettilby at the Bishops-Head in St. Paul's Church-Yard 1678. THE PREFACE TO THE Reader THere hath I confess been so much already written about the Doctrine of Justification as may probably incline some to think the publication of these Papers to be superfluous But when it shall be considered how much of what hath been written on this subject hath been done in a way of Controversie about some particular branches of the Doctrine of Justification and how little to state and explain the whole of it and yet how necessary this is for the ending of such Controversies it 's possible they may be of another mind Some Christians when they find in the holy Scriptures that sometimes we are said to be justified by the Blood of Christ and by his Obedience to be made righteous at another time that we are justified by Faith at another that we are justified freely by Grace at another that we are not justified by Faith only but by Works also and at another time that it is God that justifieth they become somewhat confounded in their own minds with this variety of things to which our Justification is attributed And although all such as are well minded may be the Gospel in which these things are revealed come so to believe and so live as to be justified yet many of them are at a great loss how to understand in what respect we are said to be justified by the one and by the other of these And for want of a right stating and explaining how and in what different respects these severals do concur to the producing one and the same effect which is our Justification some have confounded them and attributed that to one of these causes which is proper to another As for instance this hath been done when they have ascribed to Christ to his Blood and to his Obedience and Righteousness not only what is proper to these but also what is proper to Faith it self and so have drowned the personal Righteousness of Faith as necessary to Justification in the Righteousness of Christ whereas these are distinct in themselves and in the nature and manner of their operation and the personal Righteousness by Faith as really necessary to our Justification in one respect as the Righteousness of Christ his Blood and his obedience is in another though in a way indeed subordinate to and dependent upon this Some good men have indeed thought they could not attribute too much to the Righteousness of Christ in reference to our Justification and in some sense perhaps we cannot and that it derogates from it and from Free Grace to interess our own personal Righteousness by Faith therein at all as if to do so did imply or suppose his Righteousness not sufficient unless it were eked out by ours as they are wont to speak When as the question is not about the sufficiency of the Righteousness of our Saviour for all those ends to which the Father and himself have designed it but the question is whether it were designed by them to justifie any actually in their rebel state or before they repent of it and become reconciled to God in mind and heart and doubtless there is great reason to say it was not since to justifie the wicked is an abomination to the Lord and since also the actual collation of all saving benefits upon the account of Christs Mediatory performance is suspended upon our being reconciled to God by obedience of Faith which is our personal Righteousness as is shewed in the following Discourse It is a great mistake to think that the Righteousness of Christ and our personal Righteousness of Faith stand in opposition to one another as if what is ascribed to the later were taken from the former Whereas our personal Righteousness of Faith is so far subservient to the end and design of the Righteousness of Christ as that his Righteousness loseth its end upon men for which it was designed until they become personally Evangelically righteous For the Righteousness of Christ was never designed for the Justification Pardon or Salvation of men without personal righteousness but through the righteousness of Faith If we did ascribe that to our personal righteousness of Faith which is proper only to the mediatorial and meritorious Righteousness of Christ we should indeed set the one in opposition to the other which we are far enough from doing But so long as our personal Righteousness of Faith doth but serve under the Righteousness of Christ unto our Justification it no more eclipseth the glory of it than the shining of the Moon doth the glory of the Sun when it borrows its light from it But how these two Righteousnesses do differ and yet concur to our Justification you will see further in the Tractate it self Nor does it at all derogate from the Grace of God and our Lord Jesus Christ to say our personal Righteousness of Faith is one ingredient in our Justification or that it is that without which we are not qualified for it but that contrarily it doth illustriously set forth the Grace of God in being so And the reason hereof is because its being imputed or counted to us for righteousness and their being reckoned righteous that have it is altogether of grace and favour for it does not of it self make a man righteous according to the original law of strict justice It is therefore another great mistake to oppose the Grace of God to our personal righteousness by Faith in reference to our Justification When as it is the very act of grace it self to reckon or impute Faith to us for Righteousness instead of a perfect legal righteousness upon account of Christs mediatory performance St. Paul saith It is therefore of Faith that it might be by Grace It is spoken so as if it could not have been by Grace unless it had been by Faith Grace reigns through righteousness saith St. Paul through Jesus Christ our Lord. So very far is it from derogating from Grace to interess our personal righteousness of Faith as an ingredient in our Justification We are justified freely by Grace and yet we are justified by Faith also And if the Scripture thus joyns them together in the same work though in different respects we shall not do well I think to separate them much less to oppose them to one another in it By grace are ye saved through faith saith St. Paul in another place It does not lessen Grace at all that Faith is interessed in the same work under Grace in the salvation of men For Grace shews it self as well in ordaining Faith to be a righteousness entitling a
God as just So that to be justified by God and to be approved of by him as just and so adjudged is all one Wisdome is justified of her children that is approved of and defended against the accusations and quarrels of her adversaries Lu. 7.29 The Publican went down to his house justified that is approved rather than the Pharisee Luk. 18.14 Ye see then how that by works a man is justified that is approved of by God as a good and righteous man as Abraham was and not by faith only Jam. 2.24 By thy words thou shalt be justified and by thy words thou shalt be condemned By these as well as by other things persons are and will be adjudged by God to be good and righteous or wicked and ungodly men Matth. 12.37 Again Rom. 8.33 34. It is God that justifieth who is he that condemneth Where Gods approbation of his people is opposed to others disapprobation of them he approves of them as good while their adversaries condemn them as bad they charge them as bad but God absolves and dischargeth them as good And in this judicial sense is the word justification generally taken throughout the Scripture By Sanctification men are constituted and made evangelically righteous but in Justification they are approved of by God as such and adjudged to be so which is the proper difference between Sanctification and Justification If then we make our estimate of evangelical Justification according to the usual signification of the word as that implies in it the Cause of the party tried the Act of God as Judge and the law and rule on which the trial proceeds and by which the cause is determined for him that is justified then Justification may be thus described It is that whereby God for the sake and upon the account of the Righteousness of Christ doth approve of a true believer as one that hath perfermed the condition on which God in the Gospel hath promised pardon of sin and eternal life and doth impute that performance to him for righteousness and accordingly adjudgeth him to be righteous in the sense and according to the tenor of the law of Grace and such an one as hath a Covenant right and title to the blessings promised in that Covenant pardon of Sin and eternal life This description of Justification as it best agrees with the use and signification of the word and phrase so it does also with the doctrine of the Gospel as we shall afterwards see Which that we may the better do I shall open the whole to you by opening it in its several parts and so shall shew 1. How the Righteousness of Christ doth operate to our Justification 2. How the Covenant of Grace doth it 3. How Faith doth it and 4. How God himself doth it And thus to open the whole nature of Justification by shewing the operation of the several causes of it is I conceive the best and most likeliest way to come to the clearest knowledge and best insight into it that we can attain unto The want of which distinctness in proceeding hath been I conceive an occasion in great part of obscuring the doctrine of Justification while the parts have been confounded and the operation proper to one cause hath been attributed to another The whole of the description which I have given of Justification is the result of the operation of the righteousness of our Blessed Saviour of the Covenant of Grace of faith and of the whole action of Gods dijudication in justifying true believers to the opening of which I shall now proceed And I shall begin with the righteousness of our Redeemer Christ Jesus and shall enquire into the nature and operation of it in reference to our justification CHAP. II. Of the nature of the righteousness of Christ and how it operates to our Justification IN shewing what influence our Saviours righteousness hath into our Justification two things will come under consideration 1. What we are to understand by the Righteousness of our Saviour 2. How it operates to our Justification First of the former what we are to understand by the righteousness of Christ Righteousness is the conformity of a person to some Law or Rule And therefore when we speak of the righteousness of Christ it supposeth some Law in his conformity whereunto this righteousness of his whereof we speak doth consist Which Law is the Law of his Mediation which he received from his Father and which he voluntarily and most willingly undertook to observe and fulfil The mutual agreement between the Father and the Son about this Law of Mediation between God and man and the Sons undertaking to fulfil it in order to our Redemption Divines are wont to call the Covenant of Redemption And as the great office of Mediator is peculiar to him alone for there is but one Mediator between God and man even the man Christ Jesus 1 Tim. 2.5 So the Law of this Mediation was peculiar to him And as the law and office of Mediation were peculiar to our Saviour so is his righteousness which consisteth in his conformity to that law it is a Mediatory Righteousness The benefit of it belongs to believers as I shall afterwards shew but the righteousness it self which is Mediatorial can be no more transferred to any other than his office of Mediation can for his righteousness consists in those acts of conformity to the Law of Mediation by which he doth execute his office of Mediation Now that there was such a Law of Mediation between God and man given by God the Father to Christ his Son and which he did most readily accept of execute and obey is plainly made known to us by our Saviour himself by many of his sayings As in John 6.38 when he says I came down from heaven not to do my own will but the will of him that sent me And again the Father which sent me he gave me commandment what I should say and what I should speak Whatsoever I speak therefore even as the Father said unto me so I speak John 12.49.50 Our Saviour speaking of his laying down his life for his sheep saith No man taketh it from me but I lay it down of my self I have power to lay it down and I have power to take it again this commandment have I received of my Father mark that John 10.18 To fulfil this Law was the design of our Saviours coming into the world Heb. 10.7 Then said I Lo I come in the volume of thy book it is written of me to do thy will O God And of the fulfilling of this law our Saviour spake when in his prayer to his Father he said I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do John 17.4 These with other like Scriptures acquaint us with these two things First that there was a Law given by the Father and chosen by the Son to be observed in managing the office and work of Mediator between God and man which we call the Law
Rom. 5. But otherwise and in reference to such as have contracted ill habits by their own actual sin the pardon obtained by our Saviour for the whole world or which he came to obtain was but Conditional it was upon condition of their being prevailed withal to be reconciled unto God Otherwise and if this were not so all would have been saved whether they believed and repented or no. Whereas our Saviour hath said it he that believeth not shall be damned and that repenteth not shall perish Though God so loved the world as to give his only begotten Son yet he loved it but so as to promise salvation by him only to those that believe John 3.16 Now this pardon thus obtained and granted upon account of our Saviours obedience unto death but upon condition of mens being persuaded to be reconciled to God and yet certain to be conferred upon that condition is a most powerful motive and means to persuade men to be reconciled to God when it comes to be divulged and made known and when it is believed that pardon is certainly to be obtained this way and no way without it And therefore the Scripture speaks of it as the Method used by God to reconcile the world to himself 2. Cor. 5.19 God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself not imputing their trespasses that is provided they would not wilfully persist in them 4. Another end of the Mediatorial obedience of our Saviour subordinate to the former that last mentioned and as a means to effect it was the obtaining and founding of a new Law of Grace the new Covenant promising both pardon and eternal life upon condition and stating and declaring that condition to be published to the world as Gods great instrument of prevailing with men to be reconciled to God in order to their obtaining pardon and Salvation Upon which account the Gospel which is this new Law of Grace is said to be the power of God to Salvation to every one that believes it Rom. 1.16 Now all having sinned no flesh living could be justified but in a way of grace and mercy And therefore there was a kind of necessity of a new Law a Law of Grace by virtue of which men should be justified if justified at all But it did not seem meet to the divine wisdom to make such a Law of Grace but upon condition that some such thing should be undergone and suffered by our blessed Saviour on our bebehalf as would as well answer the end of the penalty of the original Law transgressed as if that penalty had been inflicted on the transgressors of it themselves But this being done by the sufferings of our Saviour as I shall shew afterward a fair way was thereby prepared for the Constituting a new Covenant promising pardon and eternal life upon new terms and conditions such as are not only possible but also feisable as well as reasonable in our state and condition Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the Law being made a curse for us that the blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles through Jesus Christ that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through Faith that is that we might receive the blessing and benefits of a new Covenant Gal. 3.13 14. And accordingly the Scripture frequently represents to us that the new Covenant is made with mankind upon account of what Christ did and suffered for us It was not only ratified and confirmed by the Sacrifice of his death but also thereby procured This I say saith S. Paul that the Covenant that was confirmed before of God in Christ c. Gal. 3.17 And all the promises of God are in him Yea and in him Amen 2 Cor. 1.20 And the New Testament is called the New Testament in his bloud Mat. 26.28 and his blood the bloud of the Everlasting Covenant Heb. 13.20 And when the Scriptures speak of Gods promising eternal life before the world began Tit. 1.2 and of Gods purpose and grace which was given us in Christ before the world began 2 Tim. 1.9 they seem to refer to what God the Father promised Christ on the behalf of mankind upon his Mediatory undertaking for them even then when this was resolved on and concluded by the Father and the Son before the world began For a conclusion of this matter and to shew that the Covenant of Grace was granted upon the account of the righteousness of Christ hear what S. Peter saith 2 Pet. 1.1 To them saith he that have obtained like precious Faith with us through the Righteousness of God and our Saviour Jesus Christ Whether you take Faith here for the act of believing the Gospel or the Gospel it self as the object of Faith which seems most likely or for both yet this is given through or upon account of the righteousness of him who is both God and our Saviour If you ask how the Mediatory righteousness of our Saviour in this subordination of ends doth operate to our Justification I answer Our reconciliation to God by being renewed in heart and life is the matter of our Evangelical Righteousness upon which we are justified For God justifies none that are not reconciled to him nor which are not Evangelically righteous But then our reconciliation to God and our becoming Evangelically righteous thereby and our being justified thereupon as I shall after shew we are are all owing to the Mediatory obedience or Righteousness of Christ for from that it is that they are what they are And so far as these operate to our Justification they do it in Virtue of Christs Mediatory performance And so do those two great motives the hopes of the forgiveness of sin and eternal life by which we are persuaded to be reconciled to God and to become Evangelically righteous for these also are founded in the Mediatorial obedience of our Saviour without which we could have had no such hopes and therefore Christ is well and worthily said to be our hope 1 Tim. 1.1 And then for the new Covenant as that operates to our Justification as it is a new Law constituting a new Righteousness and as it is the rule according to which we are approved as righteous and adjudged to be righteous when God justifies us so this operation receives its life and being and virtue from another operation and that is from the operation of the Mediatorial obedience and righteousness of our Saviour by which the Covenant it self was obtained Indeed all that any ways operates to our Justification and Salvation depends upon our Saviours Mediatorial performance except what God himself doth and yet what he himself doth in relation thereto is still done with reference to the undertaking and performance of his Son Jesus Christ for us Christ is the foundation which God himself hath laid which bears up the whole fabrick of our Redemption and Salvation which indeed is built upon it Isa 28.16 Behold I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone a tried stone
the circumstances of his case are altered upon the account of Christs performance for him We cannot say that the Natural Law was ever against the justification and pardoning of such repentant sinners for whom Christ undertook to suffer for if it had it would be so still now he hath suffered for that Law is intirely unalterable and inflexible Till heaven and earth pass one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the Law saith our Saviour until all be fulfilled Mat. 5.18 Now if the Law were never against the justification and pardon of such penitents as aforesaid then there needed no alteration to be made in it to make way for their justification and pardon And as all this appears as we see from reasons taken from the nature of God and from the nature of the Law it self as reconciled by the death of Christ to penitent sinners So it appears also by express Testimony of Scripture St. Paul speaking of such repentant sinners as in whom were found the fruits of the Spirit saith that against such there is no Law Gal. 5.23 and if no Law then not the Natural Law And when in another place the question is put whether it may be said that the Law is against the promise of God He rejects it with a kind of indignation saying God forbid Gal. 3.21 To conclude then for God to justifie pardon and make men happy when in vouchsafing this favour to repentant persons upon account of the death of his Son his Authority Law and Government is not left unvindicated nor the ends of his Government unsecured nor any creature hurt by it it is doubtless agreeable to the highest reason and therefore congruous to the Law Natural and infinitely becoming so good a being as God is And it may very well be that upon this account God is said to be just in justifying him that believeth in Jesus Rom. 3.26 and faithful and just to forgive us our sins 1 John 1.9 And this doubtless is the satisfaction which God the Father receives by the suffering of his Son for our sins about which there have been so many disputes in the world It is doubtless infinitely satisfactory and well pleasing to Almighty God that by means of his Sons suffering he can now shew Mercy to repentant sinners in justifying pardoning and saving them without suffering the least dishonor or suspition of dishonor in reference either to his Nature Law or Government and in full compliance with the immutable Law of Righteousness and Reason Nor will it follow from what hath been discoursed as some perhaps may object that the Natural Law and the Law of Grace are all one For although the Natural Law is not against the favour exhibited by the Law of Grace upon the reason and the terms on which it is done yet the Revelation of that reason which is the Mediatorial performance of Christ is not made by the Natural Law but by the Gospel or Law of Grace For no man can merely by any natural light know it but is knowable only by the Gospel Revelation or Law of Grace The natural man cannot know the things of the spirit of God because they are spiritually discerned that is by means purely spiritual or supernatural 1 Cor. 2.14 For this reason and by reason of all the honor which redounds to the Eternal Father and to our Lord Jesus Christ and all the benefit which accrues to men by this Revelation which is exceeding great it was necessary that this Law of Grace should be constituted and published as a Law distinct from the Natural Law But whereas the Scripture in some places seems to represent the Law and the Promise as inconsistent so that if one take place upon a person the other must in some sort give way according as I my self have somtimes thought I shall now look a little more narrowly into those Texts In Rom. 4.14 i'ts said If they which are of the Law be heirs faith is made void and the promise made of none effect And again Gal. 3.18 If the inheritance be of the Law it is no more of Promise but God gave it unto Abraham by promise For a right understandnig of these and such like Scriptures we must consider that the Apostle doth not in them represent the inconsistency of the Law and the Promise as they are in themselves and in their proper use and rightly understood but he therein represents the erroneousness of their opinion against whom he disputes upon the account of the absurd consequence of it as rendring the Law and the Promise inconsistent For otherwise when St. Paul speaks his own sense of the Law and Promise he with great vehemency denies the Law to be against the Promises when he says Is the Law then against the Promises God forbid Gal. 3.21 The case was this the Pharisaical Jews held Righteousness or Justification to be by the Law in opposition to its being by Grace I do not frustrate the grace of God saith St. Paul meaning that he did not do it by his doctrine as they did by theirs for if righteousness come by the Law saith he then Christ is dead in vain Gal. 2.21 They held their legal performances were of themselves a Righteousness that would of themselves Justifie them before God But St. Paul taught that it was meerly by grace and by virtue of Christs death that the faith and sincere though otherwise imperfect obedience of such as have been once sinners is imputed or counted to them for Righteousness So that their opinion of Righteousness coming by the Law if admitted would have rendred the death of Christ to be in vain and the Promise of none effect or useless which yet proceeded from Grace and was in it self an act of Gods Grace And if righteousness had been by works in their sense then it would not have been of Grace otherwise Grrace would have no more Grace as St. Paul reasons But if it was of Grace as the Apostle affirmed that it was then it could not be of works in their sence otherwise work would be no more work Rom. 11.6 So that the drift of St. Paul in his writings was to shew that their opinion of Justification by the Law was pernicious for that it opposed the Law to the Promise as rendering the Promise useless But that his doctrine of Justification by Grace through Faith did not evacuate the Law nor make it useless in the matter of our Justification but rendered both very well consistent Do we then make void the Law through Faith saith he God forbid yea we establish the Law Rom. 3.31 The good men among the Jews under the Law were Justified by Grace even then when they were approved of for Righteous upon the account of their sincere obedience to the Law of Moses and accordingly they depended upon the Grace and Mercy of God for acceptation and approbation in their sincere observation of all his Laws And therefore they from time to time stiled
Grace to us in that it is bestowed on us through Christ or for his sake nor the less of Grace in God because the Righteousness of Christ his obedient suffering upon account whereof this gift or grant is made us was the effect of Gods gratious design of benefit unto us It was by the grace of God that he tasted death for every man as we are told Heb. 2.9 and consequently all the good that does accrue to us by it must be of Grace That the introduction of this Evangelical Righteousness we speak of was of meer Grace and free gift appears Rom. 5.17 where this effect of Gods Grace is called the gift of Righteousness And in that Verse and in the Verse before and after it is called the gift or free gift no less than four times Not as it was by one that sinned so is the gift for the judgment was by one unto condemnation but the free gift was of many offences unto justification For if by one mans offence death reigned by one much more they that receive abundance of Grace and of the gift of Righteousness shall reign in life by one Jesus Christ Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation even so by the Righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto the justification of life And in vers 21. Grace is said to reign through Righteousness to life as sin had reigned unto death In these Verses St. Paul shews that if the offence of Adam were of force to involve his whole Race in condemnation that then the Grace of God and the gift by Grace through Christ the second Adam and upon account of his Righteousness will be much more available to the justification and pardon of all men upon supposition they receive this gift of being Righteous with that Righteousness And let it be noted that the free gift here mentioned and the Righteousness of one Jesus Christ are not the same but the one the effect of the other it is by the Righteousness of one Christ Jesus that the free gift of Righteousness came upon all men unto justification of life That is as I conceive this free gift of accounting men Righteous if they receive it upon the terms of the giver is granted unto all men otherwise sinners upon the account of the Righteousness of Christ Rom. 3.24 Being justified freely by his Grace through the Redemption that is in Christ Jesus Here also we see that it is of free Grace that God approves of men as Just and does adjudg them Righteous which is his Justifying of them it is freely of Grace though it be through the Redemption that is in Christ Jesus or for the sake of his Mediatory obedience Tit. 3.6 Being justified by his Grace c. And when this Righteousness of Faith is said as it is to be a Righteousness imputed or a Righteousness that is accounted for such it implies nay argues that it is so in a way of grace and favour and not in stirctness of justice As on the contrary not to impute sin when sin hath been committed signifies to deal with such persons in a way of grace and favour and not according to the rigor of strict justice 2 Sam. 19.19 2 Cor. 5.19 As not to impute our trespasses to us when we repent of them and strive against them though otherwise we are not without all sin is purely an act of grace and of high favour in God even so for him to impute Righteousness to us when we sincerely endeavour to be Righteous though otherwise we be not without all sin is an act of the same grace likewise This Righteousness of Faith it is not a natural Righteousness as Adams was while he kept his integrity but it is so meerly in the account of grace and favour It is a Righteousness by Divine institution not otherwise of it self so its being so depends upon the grace and good will of God that hath appointed it so to be and to be accepted and to pass in account for such For which reason I conceive it is frequently called the Righteousness of God Rom. 1.17 and 3.21 2 Cor. 5.21 The Righteousness of God which is by Faith Rom. 3.22 Phil. 3.9 as noting it to be a Righteousness of his ordaining proceeding from his Grace in opposition to mens own Righteousness which is or is conceited to be a Righteousness Naturally and of it self as the Pharisaical Jews fancied their Righteousness of the Law to be By grace are ye saved through faith and that not of your selves it is the gift of God Eph. 2.8 That is it is by Grace and by virtue of the donation of God that we are saved by Faith or the Righteousness of Faith and that we have such a Faith or Righteousness of Faith to be saved by 2. It is by the Gospel or Covenant of Grace that this Righteousness of Faith is revealed and conveyed to us for such and stated and settled for such as by a Law This way of accounting men that have been and are sinners to be Righteous upon their believing is not known by any Natural Light because it is not a Natural Righteousness but is purely matter of supernatural Revelation as it is in it self supernatural Grace I am not ashamed of the Gospel saith St. Paul For therein is the Righteousness of God revealed from Faith to Faith as it is written the just shall live by Faith Rom. 1.17 And again Now is the Righteousness of God manifested without the Law to wit by the Gospel Rom. 3.21 It is by this Gospel or Covenant that Faith is ordained to be our Righteousness and settled for such as by a Law which therefore is called the Law of Faith Rom. 3.27 And the Gospel which conveys this Grace to us is frequently called the Grace of God the word of his Grace and the Gospel of the Grace of God Tit. 2.11 Acts 14.3 and 20.24 The Messias according to what was Prophesied hath brought in everlasting Righteousness by the everlasting Covenant the everlasting Gospel which was not in the world after the fall but by his bringing in Dan. 9.24 By all this it appears that the Covenant operates to our Justification as it gives being from God and our Lord Jesus Christ unto that Covenant Righteousness which is the matter of our Justification it is that by which God doth institute this Righteousness for it is a Righteousness by institution and not naturally such as I have shewed What it does in this kind it does it by virtue of Gods designation of it to that Office and not by its own innate virtue and intrinsick worth or merit When I say this Righteousness of Faith is not naturally and of it self such I do not mean that those fruits of the Spirit of which it doth consist have not in them the true nature of goodness and holiness for that they have but that these are not in Righteous men themselves that yet are Evangelically
persons according to the tenor of the Gospel-Covenant and so qualifies them to be so adjudged by God against all accusations to the contrary by what or by whomsoever It is that which makes their cause good when they come to be tried and judged by the Law of Liberty because it is all which that Law requires to denominate them Righteous and to entitle them to the benefit of that Law This Righteousness of Faith is the essential matter or material cause of our Justification without which no such thing could be and supposing which it cannot but be so long as the Gospel-Covenant stands in force It makes those that have it the proper subjects of Justification for as God will condemn the wicked so he will most certainly Justifie the Righteous such as are made so by his own Grace without respect of persons he judgeth acocrding to every mans work and the nature of his cause In these and the like respects doth the Righteousness of Faith operate to our Justification These things stand proved in what hath been said before in opening the nature of the Covenant of Grace and the nature of Faith and the reason of its designation by God to its Office and work And may be yet further confirmed by those Scriptures where Faith is said to be counted and imputed to us for Righteousness as it was to Abraham Rom. 4.3 6 11 22 24. Gal. 3.6 Gen. 15.6 Jam. 2.23 For if God count it to us for Righteousness then it is our Righteousness for God accounts of things but as they are when they are what they are of his own making as this Righteousness of Faith is And if this Faith be our Righteousness in Gods account then they must needs be Righteous in his account that are Righteous with this Righteousness and be approved of and adjudged such by him And thus Faith operates to our Justification as it is the essential and intrinsical matter of our Justification CHAP. V. How God himself operates to our Justification I Come now in the last place to enquire in what respects Justification is attributed to God and what his operation is in producing this great effect of Justifying such as have been sinners That he doth Justifie believers by some acts proper to him is no Christians doubt It is one God which shall Justifie the Circumcision by Faith and the Vncircumcision through Faith Rom. 3.30 Who shall lay any thing to the charge of Gods elect it is God that justifieth Rom. 8.33 Now God may be said to Justifie in several respects some more remote and some more proximate and immediate God is the Author Spring and Fountain and principal efficient cause of all other causes that any way concur or cooperate to our Justification Christ himself which is the foundation stone in this building by virtue of whose Mediatorial Righteousness we are Justified he is made to us of God Wisdom and Righteousness 1 Cor. 1.30 It is also God which hath given being to the new Covenant which is the Covenant of his Grace by virtue of which also we are Justified And the Righteousness of Faith which is the matter of our Justification is of Gods working in us by his Spirit Whence it is that both our Sanctification and Justification are attributed to the Holy Ghost 1 Cor. 6.11 But ye are sanctified but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God But that which we have now principally to consider is what that last act is or those last acts are by which God Justifies us And his operation herein is judicial for he Justifies as a Judg and therein proceeds by his own Law of Grace as the rule of judging of men and their cause And Gods judicial Justification of men doth stand I conceive in these two things principally 1. God in justifying of men approves of them for such as have performed the condition on which he in the Covenant of Grace promised pardon of sin and eternal Life That is he approves of them for true believers and such as have given up themselves to obey the Gospel to live according to the doctrine of their Saviour and adjudgeth them to be such 2. Those whom God approveth of as true and sincere observers of the new Law the Gospel or Covenant of Grace those he adjudgeth to be Righteous persons and that Faith of theirs by which they have fulfilled it to be their Righteousness True believers and such as have given up themselves to obey the Gospel they are Justified by the Gospel that is they are Righteous in the sense and meaning of that Law For that practical obediential Faith of theirs is their conformity to this Law of Christ the Gospel and therefore it must needs be their Evangelical Righteousness But there is this difference between being justified by the Gospel as it is the new Law of Grace and by being justified by God The Gospel-Covenant pronounceth all true believers in General to be Righteous persons but doth not determine whether this or that person in particular be a true believer and so a Righteous man or woman But God in justifying men determineth and adjudgeth this and that man in special to be a true believer and therefore a Righteous man in the sence of the Law of Grace It is the work of a Judg to apply the Law as a general rule to the special cases of particular men and to justifie or condemn men in particular in reference to their particular cases by and according to the general rule of the Law And so doth God the Judg of all in the case before us He knows and considers every man in particular whether he be a true believer or not And those whom he finds to be so those he adjudgeth to be Righteous according to the tenor of the Gospel which is his justifying of them Now that God justifieth men this way and after this manner does I conceive plainly and fully appear by those Scriptures which tell us that God doth justifie us by Faith and that he doth impute or account Faith to us for Righteousness One vein of Scriptures acquaints us that God justifieth us by Faith and through Faith Rom. 3.28 30. and 5.1 Gal. 2.16 and 3.8 By another vein of Texts we are told that God imputes accounts and reckons Faith to us for Righteousness Gen. 15.6 Rom. 4.3 5 11 22 24. Gal. 3.6 Jam. 2.23 Now these two veins of Scripture put together the sense that results out of them is I think plainly this That God justifies us by accounting our Faith to us for Righteousness This is so plain as that I know not what can well be plainer In the one vein it 's said that God justifieth us by Faith in the other that he imputes and reckons Faith to us for Righteousness And for God to account Faith to us for Righteousness and to reckon and adjudg us to be Righteous upon the account of our Faith signifies I think the same
thing That God justifies men by approving and adjudging them to be Righteous by being true believers and therein conformable to the terms of the Gospel on which the promises of it are made will further appear if we consider Justification in a notion opposite to condemnation In condemnation or when men are condemned by God they are convicted of a double guilt First of a guiltiness of fault that they are guilty of such transgression of the Law by which they are tryed as is damnable in the sense of that Law Secondly of the guilt of penalty upon which they are adjuged and sentenced to suffer that penalty The guilt of fault of which they are convicted and for which they are condemned to suffer the penalty is final infidelity impenitence and wilful disobedience to the Gospel Now God in justifying men does as Judg vindicate and defend them against all accusations from being guilty of such unbelief impenitency and disobedience which vindication and defence is the same thing with his adjudging them to be true believers penitent and such as have delivered up themselves sincerely to obey the Laws of their Saviour which is his justifying of them And now having thus endeavoured to open and explain the doctrine the nature and notion of Justification in its several causes I shall now recapitulate or rehearse in a few words the sum and substance of what hath been more largely discoursed about it to the end the whole of it may come under our view at once The obedience of Christ to the Law of Mediation in dying for us does operate to our Justification by obtaining terms of Gods being reconciled to us and his obedience to the same Law in publishing the Gospel does operate to the same end by persuading us by it to be reconciled to God in observing those terms upon the observation of which we become justified by God as well as reconciled to him and justified because reconciled The new Covenant operates to our Justification by virtue of the death of Christ by which it was obtained as it is a new Law of Grace stating setling and setting forth the benefits therein promised pardon of sin and eternal Life and also the terms on which these benefits are to be conferred and received to wit a vigorous and operative Faith and this Covenant further operates to our Justification as by the promise of the foresaid benefits it is Gods great instrument to persuade men to observe and perform those terms or that condition in believing on which they are promised which performance is that which qualifies us for the blessing of being Justified Faith operates to our Justification as it is the performance of the condition on which the promise of the Pardon of sin and eternal Life is made through Christ and as that Faith is the new Covenant-Righteousness and so the matter of our Justification Almighty God himself operates to our Justification as he reckons imputes and counts this Faith to us for Righteousness and as he does approve each one that hath this Faith as a Righteous person according to the tenor of his own Law of Grace and as he doth adjudg him to be so Having as I conceive now competently proved that Gods judicial Justifying of us stands in his adjudging us to have performed the condition on which he hath promised Pardon of sin and eternal Life in that we have believed the Gospel and delivered up ourselves to the conduct of it and likewise in accounting this Faith to us for Righteousness and in approving of us as Righteous hereupon I shall now proceed to shew somewhat of the difference that is between Justification and Remission of Sins at least as I apprehend it CHAP. VI. Of the difference between Justification and Remission of sin THere is doubtless such a thing as a real difference between Justification and Remission of sin For when St. Paul saith that Christ is made to us of God Righteousness Sanctification and Redemption 1 Cor. 1.30 he certainly means somthing else by Redemption than he doth by Righteousness That by Righteousness in this place he means Justification I think none will deny By Redemption doubtless he means a deliverance first and last from all the evils and miseries we suffer or have deserved by reason of sin deliverance and exemption from which is properly pardon in act And indeed St. Paul in another place explains Redemption by Pardon when he says in whom we have Redemption through his blood even the forgiveness of sins Col. 1.14 We see then that St. Paul did reckon Justification and Remission of sins to be two distinct things benefits of a different nature I shall now name to you some of those things wherein they differ 1. Justification is Gods adjudging us to have performed the condition in believing on which he hath made promise of Pardon But Pardon it self is his conferring that benefit upon us which he conditionally had promised By the one God approves of us as having done our part and duty in keeping Covenant with him By the other he keeps Covenant with us in performing what he promised And therefore Justification and Remission of sin seem to differ as much as Gods adjudging us to have performed the condition on which he promised Pardon differs from actual Pardon it self and as much as his adjudging us to have kept Covenant with him differs from his keeping Covenant with us 2. By Justification we are acquitted and absolved from being guilty of infidelity impenitency and insincerity of obedience But we are not thereby acquitted and absolved from being guilty of all other sins but come to be discharged from them by way of Pardon whether they be sins against the Law or against the Gospel whether wilful and presumptuous sins before conversion yea former infidelity and impenitency or of human frailty and infirmity after together with all defects and imperfections of duty towards God and towards man A pardon of all these is promised on condition of that Faith with its effects by which God Justifies us and approves of us as Righteous and good men according to the tenor of the Gospel or new Covenant But then Gods pardoning these sins and his Justifying us as not guilty of present infidelity impenitency and insincerity of obedience on which he promised Pardon are things greatly different Some because they cannot understand how we can be justified by any Righteousness but such as is commensurate and adequate to the demands of the Law and because there is none to be found in any man but in our Saviour himself therefore they think we cannot be Justified any other way than by having his personal numerical Righteousness transferred to us and so made ours as that we by it may be accounted to have fulfilled the whole Law and answered all the demands of it But such should consider that we do not come off from the charge that lies against us for not answering the demands of the Law by our fulfilling it by
I might further shew how that our title to the heavenly inheritance ariseth out of our adoption to it as joint-heirs with Christ and from Gods free and bounteous donation as eternal Life is the gift of God through Jesus Christ our Lord and from our performance of the condition on which it is promised Blessed are they that do his Commandments that they may have right to the Tree of Life From all which Remission of sin differs and is another thing 5. Our right and title to Remission of sin it self depends upon the same terms as our right to glory does and yet that depends upon our Justification For God first Justifies whom he after glorifies Rom. 8.30 And if our right to Remission of sin depends upon the same terms as right to glory does then Remission of sin can be no more the same thing with Justification than glorification is but depends upon it as an effect upon a cause without which none can receive it Our right to Remission of sin depends upon our believing as the condition on which God hath promised it as well as our right to glory does To him give all the Prophets witness that through his name whosoever believes in him shall receive Remission of sins Acts 10.43 And this right to Remission of sins depends as much also upon Gods adjudging us to have performed the condition on which he hath promised Pardon as our right to glory does For God does no more actually Pardon any then he glorifies them until he first adjudgeth them to have performed the condition on which he promised Pardon which dijudication of his is his Justifying of them And therefore Remission of sin does as really differ from Justification as Glorification does and is as certainly subsequent to it as Glorification is and therefore cannot be the same thing properly and strictly considered 6. God does not forgive all a mans sins at once nor before they are committed and repented of but multiplies Pardons as his servants multiply sins of infirmity and their repentances and petitions for Pardon And if so and if God do not multiply as many Justifications as he does Pardons to the same person then here is another difference between Justification and Remission of sin 7. Justification is Gods imputing Righteousness to us or our Faith for Righteousness But Pardon of sin is his non-imputation of sin to us God by not imputing sin to us does not reckon us not to have sinned nor not to have deserved eternal destruction but he then does not impute sin when he does not inflict the punishment deserved by and due for sin But when he imputes Righteousness or Faith for Righteousness to us he adjudgeth us to have answered the terms of his new Law of Grace by believing by which Law that Faith becomes our Righteousness Now there is a great difference between Gods adjudging us to have answered the terms of his new Law and his not inflicting the deserved penalty of the Old between his awarding us a recompence of our sincere conformity to the one and his not exacting of us what we had deserved to suffer for transgressing the other And yet so much difference there is between Justification and Remission of sin As for those who place Justification in Gods pardoning of sin they may please to consider that the benefit of Remission of sin does not signifie the less by being called only by its proper name Pardon or Forgiveness and not Justification if by Justification be meant only Remission of sin as they hold it is who limit Justification only to that And if Remission of sin signifie no more when we call it Justification then it does when we call it Pardon or Forgiveness I see little reason why two or three or some small number of Texts of Scripture which speak of Justification fomwhat obscurely should be so much strained as they are to make them seem to mean only Remission of sin when they may be fairly understood in another sense and that too perhaps with more congruity to the signification of the word Justification and to the nature of the thing and to the Scriptures themselves elsewhere Nor can I discern what would be gained by it if it should be granted that Remission of sin were Justification and Justification Remission of sin For yet then the same thing the same benefit would signifie no more when we call it Justification than it does when we call it only Remission of sins as we all agree the Scriptures doe Nor does the placing of Justification in Gods Judicial act in approving and adjudging men to be Righteous in a Gospel sense who have performed the condition on which Pardon of sin and eternal Life are promised make the priviledg of having our sins forgiven the less beneficial to us or the less of Grace from God and our Lord Jesus Christ For Gods approving us to be Righteous in a Gospel sence does not suppose or imply that we stand in no need of Pardon nor of that mercy of God and merit of Christ from which Pardon flows it only supposeth us to be Righteous with such a Righteousness of Faith on condition of which the promise of Pardon of all our sins is made through the blood of Christ But Gods Justifying of us or his approving of us to be Righteous in such a sence does not make our sins to become no sins nor is it I conceive Gods Pardoning act but yet it is that which doth judicially qualifie us for Pardon and which as it were opens the door and lets us into the possession of it For Pardon is the next and immediate act that in order follows Gods adjudging us to have performed the condition on which he promised us Pardon Having said this much of the difference between judicial Justification and Remission of sin it seems requisite to make some enquiry into the sense and meaning of those Scriptures on which some ground an assertion limiting Justification to Remission of sin only And those Scriptures which above all others seem most to countenance such an assertion and which are most relyed on by those of that persuasion are Acts 13.39 Rom. 5.16 and 4.6 7. To an enquiry into the meaning of which I will only premise this That if we should find cause to think that it may be proved from these or any other Scriptures That we are pardoned by being Justified yet we can have no good reason thence to conclude that we are Justified only by being Pardoned no nor yet in the properest sense neither when we consider how express the Scriptures are elsewhere for a judicial Justification to wit Gods Justifying us by Faith and by accounting or adjudging Faith to us for Righteousness or for a performance of the terms of the Gospel our conformity whereto is as truly our Evangelical Righteousness as our conformity to the terms of the Law would have been a legal Righteousness if it had been found in us To begin now with Acts 13.39
Righteousness And by this time I am thinking much more need not be said touching the difference between Justification and Remission of sin nor to show that Justification does not stand only in Remission of sin For whatever is the right in this matter there is the less need of contending about it since those who place Justification in Remission of sin do hold an effectual operative Faith the necessary condition of obtaining it as well as they do who place Justification in the Righteousness of Faith The one placeth the matter of our Justification in the performance of the same condition necessary to Justification upon which performance the greatest stress is to be laid in this matter because those who perform the condition of the promise of the Gospel shall be sure to be Justified whether their judgment about the nature of Justification be right or no whereas without this performance they cannot though their notion of the nature of Justification should be never so orthodox and sound But although the difference seems to be of no great moment yet in as much as there is Divine Wisdom in fitting means to ends and in appointing such or such a thing to such an use and not to another or rather than to another and that those which he hath pitch'd upon are in some respect or other better for the purpose than any we can substitute in their room it follows then that if God hath placed the matter of our Justification in the Righteousness which is by Faith rather than in Remission of sin that then we should not confine it to Remission of sin only And to speak plainly I cannot think it a matter of such indifferency whether we hold Remission of sin our only Justification or Gods adjudging us Righteous upon the account of the Righteousness of Faith but that it is well worthy our best endeavours to find out which of these opinions hath the Holy Scripture on its side if it were but for this reason if there were no more 1. The notion of Justification by the Righteousness of Faith is a more ready and more effectual way to detect the opinion of error and mistake which placeth Justification in the imputation of the Righteousness of Christ to us in it self and not only in its effects than the notion of Justification by Remission of sin is For so long as the Scripture doth so plentifully and expresly testifie as it does that it is a Righteousness by which we are Justified it is nothing so easie to satisfie the reason of mens minds either from the Scripture or from the nature of the thing it self why Remission of sin should be stiled our Righteousness rather than the Righteousness of Christ imputed to us as it is to convince them that neither the one nor the other is in Scripture stiled our Righteousness in their sense but that it is the Righteousness of Faith that is so stiled there While the question is only which is counted to us for Righteousness whether the Righteousness of Christ imputed in the sense usually opposed or Remission of sin the competition is nothing so unequal in respect of evidence from Scripture and from the nature of the thing as it is when the question is whether the Righteousness of Christ imputed or the Righteousness of Faith by virtue of his Righteousness is counted to us for Righteousness because the Scripture is express for this but not for either of the other Let this then be but once well proved that it is Faith it self as the principle of Evangelical Righteousness that is the thing which is imputed to us for Righteousness and that it is by it that God Justifies us and the opinion of being Justified by the imputation of Christs Righteousness in the sense usually impugned will soon fall to the ground If the former notion be but well seated in the mind the later will of it self fall out of it Considering then the dubiousness of both the foresaid opinions there is the less reason to wonder that the controversie should continue so long as it hath done between those who place Justification in the imputation of Christs Righteousness and those who place it only in Remission of sin For although the reasonings are as I think unanswerable which the one use against placing Justification in the imputation of Christs Righteousness in the sense in which they oppose it yet while their arguings have not perhaps been so irrefragable for placing it in Remission of sin it hath doubtless made the other the more tenacious in their opinion unless they could see better ground for that opinion which has been offered them in exchange for theirs than hath been tendered them Whereas had Justification been placed in the Righteousness of Faith and sincerity instead of being placed in Remission of sin and had those Scriptures been duly opened and applied by which it may with great strength and clear evidence be proved that it is Faith or the obedience of Faith which is imputed to us for Righteousness and by which we are Justified by God the controversie would have been managed with greater advantage for the convincing of those of opposite opinion than it hath been by asserting that we are Justified by being Pardoned and would sooner have inclined them in all probability to have exchanged their own notion of the Righteousness of Justification for this And the reason hereof is this because the Scripture is express and plain for this whereas so far as I can find there is no one Text in all the Bible that doth expresly affirm that Pardon of sin is our Righteousness or that it is counted to us for such no more than there is that the Righteousness of Christ is in it self imputed to us for Righteousness and formally and not only vertually made ours 2. Besides all this it is to be considered whether the doctrine touching the imputation of the Righteousness of Faith to Justification does not tend more and more directly to work in mens minds a sense of the necessity of a personal inherent Righteousness in order to their being approved of as Righteous than that does which teacheth that men are made or accounted Righteous when Justified by having their Unrighteousness forgiven For there seems to be more occasion and room left by the one notion than by the other for such as have a mind to be happy without being truly Righteous to hope that they may be so For when they apprehend that they may become Righteous by having their Unrighteousness Pardoned they will probably be more apt and prone to presume through the abundant mercy of God to be made or accounted Righteous this way upon their speculative Faith though not truly inherently Righteous then they would or could be were they but convinced that nothing less will pass for Righteousness in the account of God in Justifying of men then that which is real personal inherent Righteousness indeed We find in Scripture how apt and ready men have been to
hope to be Justified and Saved by Faith without works or inherent Righteousness upon the account of a speculative or notional Faith Jam. 2. Aagainst which deceitful notion St. John also warned the Christians when he said Little children let no man deceive you he that doth righteousness is righteous 1 John 3.7 as if he should have said you will be deceived if you suffer yourselves to be persuaded to think you may be Righteous any other way without doing Righteousness Those deluded people it 's probable were willing to interpret the doctrine concerning Faith when but generally and indefinitely exprest to a sense which would indulge them in a life not truly holy as alas too many do at this day who upon a general inoperate belief of the Articles of the Christian Faith doubt not but they shall be Justified by being Pardoned or by having Christs Righteousness so imputed to them as to be Righteous with his Righteousness And although they be told that such a Faith as works by love is necessary to their Justification as a condition of it yet so long as Justification is defined by that which is esteemed intrinsically essential to Justification without such a Righteousness of Faith and so long as they apprehend there is a way of being accounted Righteous by being Pardoned they will not so easily as otherwise they would be brought to a due sense of the necessity of a personal inherent Righteousness unto Justification Whereas were they but convinced that God will account none Righteous upon any account whatsoever nor Pardon their Unrighteousness who are not Righteous indeed with a personal inherent Righteousness they would be left without all hope of being Righteous or of being accepted as Righteous any way without this inherent Righteousness And by this means they would come under a more sensible obligation of becoming inherently Righteous indeed as ever they hope to be Justified as Righteous in one respect or Pardoned as sinners in another And it is a good rule that in all controversies about points of Christian doctrine which have an influence on practice as all generally have it is still safest to adhere to that sense which most obliges men to their duty and most directly and indubitably tends to their happiness as this touching Justification by the Righteousness of Faith rather then by Remission of sin I conceive does 3. Moreover to place Justification in Pardon disagrees to the natural notion which men have both of Pardon and Justification Pardon in the natural notion of it supposeth guilt as on the contrary Justification in the natural notion of it supposeth Guiltlesness or Righteousness in reference to the matter or cause wherein a person is Justified unless when the word Justification is used in an abusive seuse to signifie the perverting of justice by Justifying the wicked To say a person is Justified when we thereby only mean that he is Pardoned gives an uncertain sound in common sense and Ministers occasion for the notion of Justification to lie uneven and to remain unfixt in the mind What I recited out of Mr. Gataker in my first Chapter may here again be remembred who saith To Justifie is not to Pardon for the word is never found so used either in the Hebrew or Greek writers sacred or prophane nor in our common speech And if so why should it be made use of to signifie Pardon contrary to the use not only of Prophane but of Sacred Authors and common speech Nor can I conceive upon supposition of the truth of Mr. Gataker's assertion but to use the word Justification to signifie Pardon or the word Pardon to signifie that thing which is Justification must needs convey the true notion of Justification to the minds of men with disadvantage as tending to obscure it if not to drown the proper notion of it 4. Furthermore to place Justification in Remission of sin is to confound things of quite a different nature for so Justification and Remission of sin I conceive are The subject matter of a mans Justification is his Righteousness but the subject matter of his Pardon is his Unrighteousness The subject matter of a mans Justification is his present conformity to the terms of the Law of Grace but the subject matter of his Pardon is his past nonconformity to that Law and what other Law of God soever he hath transgressed It also confounds Gods Justifying act and his Pardoning act as if they were both one Nay more then so it excludes that which is most properly Gods Justifying act and introduceth his Pardoning act in the room of it For it supposeth God to account or to make a man Righteous by pardoning his Unrighteousness instead of his adjudging him Righteous in that he hath performed the terms of the Gospel on condition of which he promised him Pardon 5. Lastly the notion of Justification by Remission of sin does not so far as I can see upon the most serious consideration at all agree with St. Pauls stated notion of Evangelical Justification in opposition to the Jewish notion of Justification by the Law or works of the Law For he doth not represent the difference of the notion of Justification which he asserts and that which he opposeth to lie in this that the one stands in a pretended Righteousness and the other in the Pardon of mens Unrighteousness but in the different kinds of Righteousness the one standing in the Righteousness of Faith or by Faith the other in the Righteousness of the Law or by the works of the Law The Gentiles saith he which followed not after Righteousness have attained unto Righteousness even the Righteousness which is of Faith There is the Christian Justification But Israel which followed after the Law of Righteousness hath not attained to the Law of Righteousness wherefore because they sought it not by Faith but as it were by the works of the Law and there is the Jewish Justification Rom. 9.30 31 32. Not having mine own Righteousness which is of the Law but the Righteousness which is by Faith Phil. 3.9 Knowing that a man is not Justified by the works of the Law but by the Faith of Jesus Christ Gal. 2.16 The formal difference we see which St. Paul makes between the two notions of Justification lies in the different kinds of Righteousness The Christian or Evangelical Righteousness consisting in a belief of and obedience to the doctrine and precepts of the Gospel but the Jewish Righteousness as they conceited in their conformity to the Law of Moses But St. Paul and the Jews both held Justification to be by a Righteousness Now to say we are Justified by being Pardoned does not at all agree with St. Pauls notion of being Justified by an Evangelical Righteousness of Faith because Pardon of sin is no such Righteousness it is neither a believing of the Gospel nor act of obedience to it but is part of the reward promised to such a Righteousness And as such it is somtime alledged indeed to
prove Justification by Faith to be of Grace and not of debt as I have shewed from Rom. 4. but never throughout the whole Scripture stiled Righteousness that ever I could find And if any think it is implyed in such Scriptures where the reward of Righteousness is stiled Righteousness by a Figure yet if it should be so it would no more prove Remission of sin to be Justification than it will prove Glorification to be Justification which yet in St. Pauls account is quite different from it For he says Whom he justified them he also glorified Rom. 8.30 And now for these reasons I hope it will not be thought unnecessary nor unprofitable to have endeavoured to shew that there is a difference between Justification and Remission of sin however what hath been done herein is submitted to the consideration and judgment of the judicious Reader But there is another opinion which I but now mentioned of worse consequence as I apprehend it of which I have said but little And that is the opinion of those who place our Justification in the imputation of the Righteousness of Christ to us not only in its effects as we all hold but in it self as if it were so transferred to us that we were Righteous with the very same personal and numerical Righteousness wherewith he himself is Righteous and that it is so reckoned ours as if we had wrought it in our own persons yea that indeed we have wrought it in and by him The nakedness of which opinion hath been plentifully exposed by others and I shall not concern my self with it now further than what I have already done in these papers Wherein I have shewed that the Righteousness of Christ operates to our Justification in quite another way And likewise that it is the Christian Faith as operative and practical that is imputed to us for Righteousness and that by virtue of Christs Righteousness and Gods act of Grace upon the account of it But then this which yet is the plain doctrine of the Holy Scripture is quite another thing than the transferring of Christs Righteousness it self to us Indeed this opinion excludes and shoulders out the Christian Evangelical Righteousness from the office and use to which God hath designed it and is attended with several dangerous consequences and absurdities otherwise as hath been set forth at large in several Books which treat of this subject which I shall forbear to repeat For my design in these papers was not to treat of Justification in a way of controversie nor so much to detect what is to be avoided as what is to be imbraced and held fast in this matter For I reckon that if that which is the truth be received into the mind upon satisfactory grounds that which is its contrary will fall off of it self The Conclusion WE have now seen how much hath been done by the Eternal Father and his Holy Son our Blessed Saviour that we might be Justified Pardoned and Glorified all things on their part are prepared and made ready The Father hath made and the Son hath fulfilled the Law of Mediation to bring about a Reconciliation between an offended God and us Rebel-Creatures Christ hath now no more sorrows nor pains nor deaths to undergo and suffer for us There are no terms of Grace and Mercy of Pardon and Peace of deliverance from Hell and of obtaining the Glory of Heaven which are not already obtained for us and by the Gospel plainly made known and freely offered to us For it is as I have shew'd of Grace in God and obtained by the Mediatorial Righteousness of Christ that Faith or the Righteousness by Faith is made the condition of Pardon of sin and eternal Life as well as the conferring of Pardon and Life is on that condition Since then such terms of happiness are obtained for us it remains on our part that we receive not this Grace of God in vain but that we be as careful to observe those terms as we are desirous to enjoy the benefits annexed to them because we cannot enjoy the one without observing the other We cannot enjoy the benefits of the new Covenant but by becoming new creatures and by living new lives For this is the new Righteousness by Faith on condition of which the great promises of the new Covenant are made Whoever will come to the Wedding Supper of the Lamb must come in his Wedding garment or else he will be excluded And the Wedding garment in which the Bride the Lambs Wife is said to be arayed is said to be the Righteousness of Saints Revel 19.8 And now Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us we must keep the Feast on this Sacrifice not with the old leaven of malice and wickedness but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth which is the Evangelical Righteousness I have been speaking so much of 1 Cor. 5.7 8. Old things are past away now and behold all things are become new Our old Righteousness in which man was first made is lost and a new Righteousness instituted In the room of the old terms of happiness perfect innocency now the new ones of Faith and godly Sincerity are introduced This new and living way into Heaven is now consecrated for us through the flesh and blood of Jesus Christ Nothing but a new man a new heart a new spirit and newness of life will correspond or suit with the new Covenant nor with the new Jerusalem which is above These are all of one piece there is no parting of them nor having an interest in the one without having the other And now considering that all this happiness of Pardon of sin and the Glory to come and the terms of obtaining both is brought about only by the Grace of our God and the Mediatorial Righteousness of our Lord Jesus Christ what can we do less than to joyn with those Redeemed of the Lord mentioned in Rev. 5. who are said to have sung a new song to the everlasting honor of our Redeemer saying Thou art worthy to take the Book and to open the Seals thereof for thou wast slain and hast Redeemed us to God by thy bloud out of every kindred and tongue and people and nation and hast made us unto our God kings and priests How much more cause have we to sound forth the praises of the Redeemer of the World than those Myriads of Holy Angels which have no such need of a Saviour as we have Who yet out of a grateful sense of it celebrate the memory of his most wonderful and worthy undertaking and performance for the Redemption of us poor miserable and lost men Saying with a loud voice worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength and honour and glory and blessing And well may we with those blessed spirits sing aloud of the riches wisdom and strength of the Lamb that was slain as most worthy to receive these because he useth them to so