it freely imputed to us so as to stand in it before God for the present and everlasting acceptance of our Persons as righteous by it unto Eternal Life It may be and indeed is upon us as to some effects of it and this not be through Faith but unto Faith For Faith is obtained for us by it and bestowed on us for the sake of it But it s having an efficacy for us so as to have some effects of it communicated to us is indeed its operating for us and on us but it is not its being upon us which the Text speaks of This righteousness is one thing the saving effects of it are another The thing I am to speak to is not what reference Faith hath to any of the effects of this righteousness being wrought on us but what reference it hath unto the being on us of this righteousness it self and that by the free gift and valid imputation of God unto Justification of Lite Having premised these two things I shall deliver my self touching this matter in Six Propositions Propos 1. There is a reference or respect of connexion between Faith and this Righteousness being upon us unto Justification of Life And this connexion is inviolable and holds in all persons I speak of such as are adult for how it is upon Infants I now consider not Insomuch as it is a certain Truth that whosoever believeth not this righteousness is not upon him and whosoever hath it upon him is a Believer Having believed and having this righteousness are so inseparably connected and linked together that where-ever there is one the other also is and if there be not both there is neither If thou hast not believed with the Faith of Gods Elect thy own Conscience ought to pass this Judgment on thee for God in his Word doth it that thou hast not this righteousness upon thee And on the other hand if thou hast indeed believed with this Faith of the operation of God and thy Conscience know it thou mayst then conclude assuredly that whatever thy Sins have been or whatever thy defects and corruptions now be yet this righteousness of God is upon thee thou hast it and thou dost stand in it Propos 2. There is a reference of order between a mans believing and this righteousness being thus upon him I do not speak of an order of Time but an order onely of Nature and Consecution of the one upon the other And such an order there is among the Blessings and Benefits of the Covenant For it is ordered in all things 2 Sam. 23.5 all the concernments and blessings and benefits of it are wisely and graciously disposed and ranked by God You may see it in other Instances We are not first made Children and then pardon'd but first pardoned and then adopted to be Children We are not first sanctified and then justified but first justified and then being justified we are sanctified Not that there is any space of time between them no they are as to time done together and at once but yet there is an order of dependance and causality Our being sanctified is the Effect not the Cause of our being justified and our being justified the Cause not the Effect of our being sanctified In like manner it is between our believing and this righteousness being upon us for our Justification or the change of our state It is through Faith that this righteousness is upon us as the Text expresly saith and the Scripture every where speaks not contrarily Propos 3. There is between our believing and this righteousness's being upon as a reference of causality For Faith is a means thereof by the Ordination of God and whatever God hath ordained as a means hath some causal influence towards that whereof it is by him made a means Those Expressions of the Holy Ghost that we are justified by Faith and through Faith and this in the Text that this righteousness is upon Believers through Faith do imply some kind of causality nor do I see how they can be satisfied or a just account given of them without admitting some kind of causal influence and efficiency to be in Faith towards our having this righteousness or its being upon us I hope you will not stumble at the word causality All that call Faith an instrument do speak as much as I mean for instrumenta etiam in causis adjuvantibus connumerantur Instruments are a sort of Causes Those who are very tender in this Point and greatly averse and watchful against ascribing too much in our Justification unto any thing in us or done by us yet do concerning the hand of Faith herein freely use those words Causality Efficiency and instrumental cause See Dr. Owen of Justification pag. 148 149 150 151 152 153. Mr. Durham on Rev. digres 11. and indeed it is the common language of all Protestants who own the imputation of the righteousness of Christ unto us I shall indeavour to clear it further in the following Propositions Propos 4. This Causality of Faith unto the righteousness of Christ being upon us is of the least and lowest kind It is not at all by way of Merit or Desert nor is it by way of sole Efficiency no nor principal but all its Efficiency or Influence herein is from Gods Constitution or Ordination and wholly by virtue thereof And this Ordination or Constitution of God is not that we should have the righteousness of Christ upon us either for or as a reward of our believing No far be such a thought from us But God having in Wisdom and Grace made this inviolable Constitution that this righteousness shall be upon every one that believes it doth actually take place upon particular persons at their believing and so this righteousness is upon them through Faith He that removes out of the shade into the shine of the Sun hereby comes to have the Sun beams fall upon him But that removal of his hath no influence upon the Sun nor doth any thing to draw down the beams of it upon him So our believing hath no influence upon the righteousness of Christ it hath an influence onely unto its being upon us Though our unbelief makes us unworthy of it or of any the least mercy yet our believing is as far from making us worthy to have this righteousness of Christ upon us as our defective and defiled Obedience is from making us worthy of Eternal Glory Propos 5. The next and immediate influence of Faith in this matter is that by it according to the constitution of God our mystical vital union with Christ is accomplished Such an Union there is between Christ and Believers They are ingrafted into him Joh. 15.4 5. Rom. 11.17 23 24. Betrothed and married unto him Hos 2.20 Rom. 7.4 They do dwell in Christ and have Christ dwelling in them Joh. 6.56 This Union is brought about effected and accomplished by our believing and therefore we are said to believe into Christ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉
of the Altar as you see Joab did 1 King 3.28 even in like manner doth the Soul act in believing it comes it flees to Christ for refuge it lays hold upon him Moreover Believing is called by the Holy Ghost committing our Selves and Souls and Concerns unto Christ and God in him Psal 31.5 1 Pet. 4.19 Psal 37.5 and 10.14 Prov. 16.3 I know the word in the Original in those places is different but so it is rendred by our Translators and that not amiss And the Apostle Paul plainly shows that believing on Christ is a committing of our Souls unto him when speaking of himself he saith I know whom I have believed and know that he is able to keep that which I have committed to him 2 Tim. 1.12 Lastly for I will mention no more Believing is called leaning staying resting viz. on Christ and on God Isa 50.10 This I conceive was taught them and us by that Ordinance which injoyned him that brought the Sacrifice to lay his hand or lean with his hand upon his Sacrifice Exod. 29.10 Lev. 1.4 and 3.2 8 33. and 4.4 15 24 29 33. and 16.21 I know that Rite is by many interpreted as signifying the transferring or translating of the Sin of him that brought the Sacrifice unto or upon the Sacrifice which was to be offer'd for him But the laying of our Sins upon Christ is not our act but Gods Isa 53.6 and the word used in Exodus and Leviticus doth signify a leaning with stress and might and is rendred Psal 88.8 lyeth hard and Ezek. 24.2 beset that is pressed upon with force and strength And the Apostle if I mistake not the meaning of the place which I think I do not tells us Heb. 6.1 2. that Faith towards God or on God is the doctrine of laying on of hands that is the thing taught by that Rite or Ceremony even as repentance from dead works is the doctrine of or thing taught by their Levitical washings which I take to be there meant by Baptisms However it is manifest that the Holy Ghost frequently sets forth believing by leaning staying resting and words of like import And very apposite and lively Metaphors they are for they do hold forth both the nature and the tendency of Faith The Nature of Faith inasmuch as in believing the Soul doth make an adventure of it self and all its concernments for Eternity upon Christ and this Righteousness of his Such an Adventure that if Christ and his righteousness should fail it it hath no other hopes or expectations but must fall and perish and sink it self for ever And the tendency of Faith namely that it tends to bring in ease and peace repose and tranquillity yea Assurance and humble holy Security into the Soul Or as the Apostle expresseth it Rom. 15.13 it tends to the Souls being filled with all peace and joy for the end of Faith to which it tends is joy unspeakable and full of Glory 1 Pet. 1.8 9. The word used in that forementioned Rite which I said signifies to lean upon with stress and weight doth also signify to susteyn support uphold and is often so translated It is such a leaning and relying as brings in relief and support and on that account it very aptly sets forth believing Quest 5. VVhat is the reference that Faith hath unto this Righteousness of Christs being upon them that believe For the Text and Doctrine say it is through Faith unto them and upon them Answer 1. Some there are who possibly out of a godly fear of giving too much in this matter to man or any thing done by him seem to deny that Faith hath any reference unto Christs Righteousness being upon us save onely by way of discerning or evidence And accordingly they seem to make Justification to be nothing else but Gods speaking peace in the Conscience of the Sinner and causing it to see and hear what was done for him in Heaven long before Possibly they might be led into that mistake by the Expression of some great Divines Rutherf Exerc. de gr cap. 2. p. 24. Owen Append. against Biddle p. 19. Bradsh of Justific C. 23. To. 6. C. 24. To. 15. Nort. Orth. Evang. pag. 311 315 317 318 322. who are far from being Antinomians that the Sentence of Justification is terminated on the sinners Conscience Wherein I conceive they mean no more but that it is a sentence of God so declared in his Word as that the Conscience may and ought to receive it and sit down satisfied and acquiescing in it For surely to confound Justification and Assurance and make them one and the same must needs be a wide mistake when the Scripture plainly declares that they may be separated Isa 50.10 Though it is true that Faith if it be sound and saving doth tend towards Assurance or Peace of Conscience and that there is some kind of Assurance in all Faith if it be the Faith of Gods Elect Faith of the operation of God Namely there is an assured satisfying perswasion in the heart concerning the Object of Faith or the thing believed on This kind of Assurance God requires in all acceptable Worship Heb. 10.22 and the Apostle tells us there was this Assurance in the Thessalonians at their first believing 1 Thes 1.5 Nevertheless to make Faith to have no other influence unto our Justification or Christs Righteousness being upon us than to discern and see it doth not come up unto the expression of the Holy Ghost in the Text where he saith it is upon us through Faith not it is seen or discerned to be upon us 2. Of late some chiefly Socinians and Semi-socinians who reject the Imputation of Christ's Righteousness allowing only the benefits or effects of it to be upon us and communicated to us but not the Righteousness it self find much fault with that word instrument in this matter and contend eagerly that the respect which Faith hath to the Righteousness of Christ being on us and to our Justification must be expressed by the word condition But this is not a Scriptural Word and therefore we are at liberty to receive or to refuse it as it agrees or disagrees with what the Scripture speaks in this business And the truth is that word Condition is ambiguous and of an uncertain sound and signification and therefore there is danger in using it for there may be deadly Poyson under it Because there are many sorts of Conditions Some are valuable considerations yea some that are the price and procuring Causes of that whereof they are the Conditions Grevinchovius the Arminian will have Faith to be such a condition as that the foresight thereof moves the Will of God as a Judge to give us the reward of Life And another among our selves asserts that all the benefits of the Covenant of Grace among which surely Justification Adoption the Righteousness of Christ being upon us and our being united to him are none of the least are rewards given not indeed
THE Righteousness of God THROUGH FAITH UPON All without Difference who believe In Two Sermons on Romans 3.22 By NATHANIEL MATHER Preacher of the Gospel LONDON Printed for Nathaniel Hiller at the Princes-Arms in Leaden-Hall-Street over against St. Mary Axe 1694. To the READER I Must acknowledge that when I was called to Preach in that Audience where these Sermons were delivered I had some Debates rolling in my Mind what kind of Subject I should pitch upon There were enow offered to my Thoughts wherein I might have more gratified or at least have less displeased our Neonomians as they are lately named but as truly and justly Semisocinians as the antient Church and all Posterity since hath called the off-spring of Pelagius his Heresie Semi-Pelagians But I saw with grief and detestation the Blessed Gospel of our Salvation craftily and insolently assaulted by them in the very Vitals and Fundamentals of it In publico discrimine omnis homo miles est Every Christian much more every Minister is set for the defence of the Gospel especially at such a time when the Truth labours under guileful and impetuous opposition I doubted my Quiet would be attempted and my Doctrine and Reputation would be angrily reflected on As to the last though I value it and believe I ought to do so yet I can truly say convictions that I ought to sacrifice both that and my Quiet to the service of the labouring Truth of God had their weight with me My Heart hath been long fixed in this Principle that Reputation is little to be valued save only so far as it may be of service unto Christ and if he have any use to make of it he will preserve it while I walk before him in Integrity With him I have thus left it and having so done my Heart is secure and at rest about it As to my Quiet I confess I do prize and love it as remembring Prov. 17.14 and 18.6 but to Maintain and Preach that Precious and Saving Truth which the Churches of Christ have been in possession of ever since the Reformation is not entring into contention especially when some abandon it and others indeavour to wrest it from us And there is a contending and that earnestly for the Faith once delivered to the Saints which is a Duty Besides I am not far from that place where the weary are at rest and the wicked cease from troubling the thoughts whereof I confess are sweeter to me because I have very sadning apprehensions of the portendency of that apostasie from the Truth which hath invaded so many of the rising Generation not among Conformists only but Dissenters also As to my Quiet I have this relief that it is not in the power of any mortal to interrupt or disturb my inward composedness of Spirit or to lay me under any law of unquietness within my self I know and am assured that a due exercise of Faith Meekness Self-denyedness and such like Graces will establish my Heart in a just and holy unconcernedness though such representations should still be made of me for these Sermons sake as to fill my Friends in other Lands to whom I am known with trouble and consternation I use the very words of a Letter wherein I am informed that such Reports have been sent even so far As to the Doctrine delivered in these Sermons it hath been of use to me for the direction and guidance of my Heart in transacting with God about Pardon and Acceptance to Eternal Life I hope it may be so unto others My Hope my Life my Salvation my All is therein I have not delivered any thing but what I know and am assured is according to the Eternal Truth of God and wherein I have going before me as great Lights as any that God in these latter Ages hath set up in his Church How little or rather nothing I have varied in what is Printed from what was delivered in Preaching I must leave to those that shall read and did hear them I have heard of two Passages that have been taxed Of them therefore I have in a short Postscript given a further account As to the Publishing of them in Print if the Doctrine delivered in them be the Truth of God as I believe it is I need not make any Apology Many that know me know my backwardness to appear in Print Nevertheless in thus Publishing these Sermons my Heart condemns me not knowing that I have therein only indeavoured to communicate in a more diffusive and induring way that Truth the Faith whereof I have received and wherein I have many Years lived and in which I hope and am perswaded I shall dye and which it is of concernment to have preserved and propagated The Blessing of him whose Truth it is go along therewith London this 14th of the 2d Month 1694. Nath. Mather ERRATA PAge 20. line 3. for in is read is in l. 9. a fine r. 1 John 2.1 l. 6. a fine f not p. 21. l. 7. a fine r. comprizing under them his Graces p. 25. l. 4. put the comma after is p. 26. l. 2. dele of p. 27. l. 4. a fine r. 2 Pet. 3.11 p. 31. f. namely r. only p. 36. l. 9. a fine f. John 15.19 r. John 15.9 p. 39. l. 14. their r. there l. 10. a fine f. they do not r. they who do not p. 42. l. 16. r. â— 28 p. 43. l. 7. f. might r. weight f. Psal 88.8 r. Psal 88.7 p. 59. l. 20. r. Phil. 3.12 ROM 3.22 Even the Righteousness of God which is by Faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe for there is no difference IN the first five Chapters of this Epistle the Apostle sets himself to declare and clear up the great Doctrine of Justification And he first speaks to it Negatively shewing and evincing that by the deeds of the Law there shall no Flesh be justified in the sight of God which is the conclusion and sum of all his foregoing Discourse as you may see at the 20th Verse of this Chapter Having made out that neither Jew nor Gentile can ever be justified by the Deeds of the Law he declares affirmatively in the Verse before the Text and so onward how it is then that men may be Justified and he shews that it is by the righteousness of God manifested without the Law yet witnessed to by the Law and by the prophets that is by the Books of Moses and the rest of the Old Testament But how come men to be justified by this Righteousness manifested without the Law and thus witnessed unto This the Apostle declares in the words of the Text telling us that this righteousness is through faith upon all that beleeve and that without difference There is no need in order to what I intend to say any thing for explaining of the meaning of any of the words of the Text. The Doctrine which I design to speak to from them is plain and obvious and it is
no less validly and effectually given and imputed to one than it is unto another 'T is true indeed there is a difference in the degree and measure wherein different Believers are made partakers of some of the Effects and Fruits of this righteousness yea there is a difference as to this in the same Believer at different times Sanctification and Comfort are the Effects of this righteousness and they are in different measures in different Believers and in the same Believer at different times But yet this righteousness it self is as much upon one Believer all Believers are equally justified or constituted righteous by it They that have been the greatest Sinners and are most guilty have it upon them through Faith and are as well and as much made righteous by it as lesser Sinners one who hath done evil innumerable times and whose days have been prolonged so that he is a sinner of an hundred years old hath it upon him through Faith and stands as righteous in it as an Infant of days doth All that believe are alike and equally justified gospel-Gospel-Justification admits not of any degrees that one should be more or less justified than another and therefore in this regard also there is no difference 3. This righteousness is upon all that believe in the same way viz. through Faith No more no other is required of one than of another that this righteousness may be upon him namely Faith true Faith though this true Faith may possibly be weaker in one stronger in another It is true indeed that on other accounts and for other ends and from other grounds some things may be required of some which are not required of others In some cases Restitution and in some cases Confession unto men even of secret Sins are required and insisted upon by God Levit. 6.5 Jam. 5.16 And in some Cases deeper Humiliation and greater breakings of Heart than in others are called for and requisite But this is rather for the evidencing to a Man 's own Conscience or unto others the sincerity and soundness of his own Faith and Repentance and so the assuring of that and clearing it up to them or to a mans self then that this righteousness of Christ may be upon him unto the Justification of Life If a Man have true Faith if he do truely believe this righteousness of Christ is upon him though he be possibly both weak in Faith and very defective in other graces of the Spirit and in new Obedience Nay all our New Obedience and all the graces of the Spirit comprized under that one word love are the effects and fruits of our being justified having this Righteousness upon us and not at all the means thereof It is a great and dangerous mistake to think that either our New Obedience or any other Grace but Faith hath any hand in this righteousnesses being upon us No it is through Faith and Faith only Vse This Doctrine shows you the reason and spring of that precious acceptance and sweet communion with God which Believers are admitted into and do injoy and also of their humble rejoycings and gloryings and triumphings before God notwithstanding their guiltiness and vileness in themselves by their many and great sinnings against him and notwithstanding their abasing Convictions and heart-wounding heart-breaking sense thereof They have sinned against God they are guilty before him as well as others for this is the Condition and State of all the World Rom 3.19 Every Mouth is stopped and can have nothing to speak against God when he judgeth and condemneth them for all the World is become guilty They are involved in the common Guilt and Misery and Ruine wherein all the Seed of Adam are plunged and they have that exceeding sinful sin dwelling in them which hath invaded all Adams posterity And moreover they have in their own Persons sinned against God some of them more than many others Yea they are all of them laid under Everlasting Convictions of it in their own Consciences which can never be blotted out that they are worthy of Eternal Death And some of them do with Paul 1 Tim. 1.15 walk up and down under such Convictions that they are amongst the very chief of Sinners and with David Psal 86.13 That they have deserved the very lowest Hell But yet nevertheless they have all of them precious acceptance with God all their sins are blotted out God remembers them no more for ever Heb. 8.12 Their trespasses are done away as if they had never been Isa 44.22 Jer. 50.20 and they do stand without fault before the Throne of God Rev. 14.5 The reason of this wonderful abounding of Grace towards them is this Righteousness of Christ is upon them Nay they are not only pardoned and pronounced righteous notwithstanding they have done so much and such vile things against God but they are also taken into special favour with him they are made the Friends and Favourites of the God of Heaven as their Father Abraham is styled by Jehosaphat 2 Chron. 20.7 and by God himself Ifa 41.8 and all Believers by Christ Cant. 5. 1. Joh. 15.14 15. yea which is somewhat higher they are made Sons and Daughters unto the Lord God Almighty 2 Cor. 6.18 Gal. 3.26 Joh 1.12 Psal 45.10 Heirs of God and of Glory Co-heirs with Christ Rom. 8.17 Well may themselves be ravished with admiration and sweetest delight and call upon others to gaze and wonder at this love as the Apostle doth 1 Joh. 3.1 that ever they who were by Nature Heirs of Hell and Children of Wrath and of the Devil and who had by their sinful hateful doings made themselves manifold times more so should ever have such love bestowed upon them as to be the Sons of God But this gives the account of it they are made thus highly accepted in that Beloved whose righteousness is upon them Nor doth the Love and Favour of God rest here in having conferred such Priviledges and Dignities upon them but it goes on still so mighty is the Torrent of Love which is let out upon them it doth bring them into a living and near Communion with God Father Son and Holy Ghost 1 Joh. 1.3 2 Cor. 13 14. Though they were afar off yet they are made nigh Ephes 2.13 and they have boldness and access with confidence unto the Father Eph. 3.12 And God even the Father doth let out his heart-love and manifest it and himself unto them Joh. 14.21 22 23. Smiling upon their Souls making them to go into his House of Wine and there in a victorious and triumphant manner displaying over them his Love sometimes even to an overwhelming Cant. 2.4 5. Now if you ask whence is this and how comes it to pass that God deals with them in a way of such marvellous Grace this Doctrine tells you the righteousness of Christ is upon them Moreover The hearts of Believers are sometimes raised up unto and filled with enlarged rejoycings humble gloryings and triumphings and that before God
for our believing saith he not by way of Merit not of Debt yet in way of reward Another who speaks clearly and less covertly saith expresly that God justifies and saves none but for their believing And another who searched and saw as far as either of them and speaks out saith plainly that we are Pardon'd Justified and Adopted to Eternal Life as a reward to Believers for their Faith and Obedience And withal tells us in the same Book that Reward and Merit are Relatives so as that wherever there is Reward following there Merit went before and that there is no Reward but it is a Reward of Merit 'T is true indeed he will have the Merit of our repenting and believing but a subordinate Merit and Christ's the principal But what is this better than the old Popish Notion that Christ Merited that we might Merit and we Merit in the virtue of his Blood and by Gods Grace And indeed he expresly owns this Tenet of theirs But surely this is another Gospel that we are pardoned justified adopted and vested in the Priviledges of the New Covenant Estate as a reward of or for our believing repenting or new obedience and a Doctrine grosser than many Learned Papists hold as great Merit-mongers as they are For they insist upon it as one condition requisite unto Merit that the Person Meriting the Reward must first be in a State of Grace and Favour with God and therefore Justification and Adoption cannot be Merited by us nor are conferred upon us as a reward of any thing that we do Yea methinks it is a very pernicious and Soul-destroying Error if there be or ever have been any such in the World For if a Mans Heart be influenced by it and moulded according to it in all his treating with God and applications to him for pardon of Sin and Justification and adoption he is wholly led aside quite off from the way of the Gospel and it is utterly impossible he should ever truely believe For Faith receives and looks for Union to Christ interest in this righteousness of his pardon of Sin Justification and Adoption not as a reward for or of any thing that we do but meerly of Free Grace and wholly for the sake of Christ and his righteousness I conclude therefore that though this Word Condition may be used and is so by some in a sound sense and with a good meaning concerning Faith and its reference to the righteousness of Christ being upon us yet it is neither convenient nor safe For it may occasion an unhappy stumbling and a Soul-ruining mistake And therefore I cannot but joyn with that great Divine Dr. Tho. Goodwin on Eph. 2. Serm. 22. p. 301. who wisheth it were laid aside and wholly disused because there is danger in it or at least if men be impotently fond of the word that it were both more soundly meant and better explained than it is by our present Contenders for it 3. The generality of all those that own the righteousness of Christ being upon us as that wherein we stand justified have used to express the influence of Faith thereunto by that word Instrument So the Westminster Assembly do both in their Confession and in their Catechism Nor have I seen any thing alledged against expressing it by that word that amounts to any more but that the word is not strictly and precisely proper in the same sense wherein it is used in other cases which for my part I will easily grant But what then Ars posterior prioris utitur operâ Artes in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 concrescunt We must of necessity and are warranted by the practise of the Holy Ghost to use Figures and Tropes in speaking of and declaring the Truths of God It is al 's readily granted that the word instrument is not found in Scripture used matter But yet for all that it may be a word of the Holy Ghosts Teaching for it is suited and apt to declare and let in into our Minds the true Notion and conception of what the Scripture declares to be the reference of Faith unto our Justification The Scripture saith it is by and through and of Faith yea it saith that God justifies us by Faith and through Faith I know no word that doth so well express the work and use of Faith in this matter which the Holy Ghost sets forth by receiving Joh. 1.11 12. Rom. 5.11 17. where we are said to receive Christ and to receive his Righteousness and the Atonement made thereby An expression that speaks both our having it or being possessed of it and the means or way on our part wherein it is effected or brought about viz. that it is by and in such a like acting of our Hearts towards Christ and his Righteousness as answers the work of the Hand in taking and receiving a corporeal thing offer'd to us and by our taking it made ours For my part as on the one hand I would not be needlesly tenacious of a word where we can as well retain and express the Truth without it so on the other hand I cannot but observe that all those even to a Man not one as far as I remember to be excepted who quarrel with that word instrument and wrangle to bring in the word condition in this business of our Justification and Christs Righteousness being upon us do labour under that Covert to bring in withal a very weighty and momentous alteration in the substance of the Doctrine of the Gospel For they would also bring in other things viz. Repentance and Love and new Obedience as Conditions of our Justification as well as Faith and as the Righteousness which is imputed to us and wherein we stand And they are generally for a conditional Redemption also and many of them for a conditional Election too 4. I shall therefore waving those dissatisfying words set before you what I conceive to be the Truth of God in this matter briefly in a few Propositions concerning the reference that Faith hath unto the Righteousness of Christ being upon us Onely premising two things First That I am speaking of possession or actual injoyment of this righteousness of Christ not of right or title to it Right and Possession are different things and therefore things of a different Nature and may be one without the other Rutherf of the Covenants p. 231 232. Faith hath no influence no not so much as in a way of instrumentality to confer upon us a right and title to Christs Righteousness all the influence that Faith hath in this matter is onely unto our actual Possession of it which the Holy Ghost calls our having it Phil. 3.9 and here in the Text its being upon us Secondly This Possession or having this Righteousness of Christ the reference of Faith whereunto I am speaking of is that having it which is unto Justification of Life and that as the next and immediate effect of this Righteousness being thus upon us It is having
〈◊〉 Gal. 2.16 and Faith is called a coming to him a phrase which implyes and holds forth not onely that while we continue in Unbelief we are at a distance from Christ and that Christ is the Object of Faith but also that by believing Christ and the Believer are brought together if I may so express it As Believers dwell in Christ and Christ in them so this is by their eating his flesh and drinking his blood or eating him Joh. 6.47 with ver 54 56. In eating and drinking the Food and the drink are incorporated and made one with the Body By eating and drinking Christs Flesh and Blood he there means believing on him The Metaphor is taken from their eating the Manna and drinking of the Rook in the Wilderness or from their eating and drinking of their Sacrifices as you know they were by a positive Ordinance to do of some of them Christ indeed first lays hold on us and joyns himself to us and we being laid hold on and drawn by him do close with him and so come to co-alesce into one mystical Person with Christ This our vital Union with him is indeed begun on his part in his laying hold on us in a preventing way but it is compleated and accomplished and becomes mutual by our believing Now being thus made one with Christ his righteousness comes to be upon us unto the Justification of Life by the Ordinance Constitution and Donation of God It is as we are thus in him and made Members of him that his righteousness is upon us As a base-born Beggar and Criminal comes to have the Honour of a Princess upon her by being Married and becoming one Flesh with an high born Prince Propos 6. Nevertheless this Righteousness of Christ hath some operation on us as well as for us antecedently to our believing It hath an operation for us For it did make Atonement procure our Peace and accomplish our Reconciliation unto God These things were done and finished they were perfected by Christ in his bringing in this righteousness It hath also an operation upon us before our believing To say nothing of Gods forbearing us and showing forth all long suffering toward us during all the days of our vanity and madness of heart nor of any other excellent Mercies given to us then which when Grace comes to be grafted on them become very serviceable for the furtherance of our Salvation because it is not altogether so clear that these things which are not of a saving Nature and which are injoyed by us while we are not under the bond of the Covenant nor living Members of Christ are procured for us by his righteousness This is certain and plain that the Spirit and Faith it self are procured for us by and given to us for this righteousness which is unto Justification upon us through Faith Phil. 1.29 Faith is purchased for us by it and our justification is purchased by it and both of them absolutely obtained And it may also be said that because Justification is absolutely procured by this righteousness therefore also Faith being procured for us by the same righteousness is for the sake of it given to us that being the way ordained of God for our being justified and it being a Mercy peculiar to the Elect and a Mercy that hath Salvation accompanying it and a leading part of the application of Christ This possibly may be one thing that hath occasioned some to say that our Justification is rather the condition of our having Faith given us than our Faith the condition of our Justification I conceive they mean that if Justification had not been absolutely procured and obtained for the Elect Faith would never have been either given them or obtained for them However most certain and undeniable it is that this Righteousness operates on us antecedently unto our believing because that preventing Grace and work of the Spirit whereby Faith is wrought in us are the effects of this Righteousness as being procured by it From what hath been said Two Things follow which I will briefly note for the further clearing up this whole Matter and then pass on to the last Enquiry proposed 1. Our being justified is not the next or immediate effect or consequence of our believing but of Christs Righteousness being upon us For between our believing and our being justified there comes in our co-alescing into one Mystical Person with Christ by this Vital Union and our having his righteousness upon us unto the Justification of Life Which latter is the next fruit and consequent of that our union to him or being in him His righteousness is upon us as we are Members of him and do stand in him And this our union to him is brought about and accomplished upon and by our believing Union to Christ goes before Communion with him Union is the immediate consequent of Faith Our having this righteousness upon us is one of the first things in our Communion with Christ We are first in Christ and so have him made righteousness to us 1 Cor. 1.30 2. Our Faith hath no hand in working out this righteousness for us nor is it any part thereof The righteousness of Christ is a garment a robe wherewith Believers are cloathed Psal 45.13 14. Isa 61.10 Rev. 19.8 But our Faith neither is a part of it nor ever took stitch in it The Apostle here in the Text doth not say this righteousness of God is by or through Faith or that it consists either in whole or in part in Faith but that it is upon us through faith Wherein he plainly distinguisheth between this righteousness and our believing and tells us it is the former namely this righteousness of God which is upon us unto justification of life whereas the latter namely faith is within us not upon us Quest 6 How comes this about and whence is it that this righteousness is through faith unto and upon all that believe Answ This Enquiry leads me to lay open before you something of the deep Counsels of the Wisdom and Grace of God in the Plot of our Salvation I shall content my self onely to point a little at the Heads of Things telling you the Story of it from its first and highest Original in these Seven Steps 1. God the Father from Eternity begat his Son the second Person in the Trinity and loving him with an infinite Love designed a special Revenue of Glory and Honour and Praise unto him as from all his Creatures in their kind and way so more eminently from and in a certain number of Mankind Even those whom he chose in him before the Foundation of the World that they should be holy and without blame before him in love having predestinated them unto the Adoption of Children by Jesus Christ to himself according to the good pleasure of his Will unto the praise of the Glory of his Grace Eph. 1.3 4 5 6. Prov. 8.22 23 24-30 The End and Upshot and last issue that all his