pray that he went away rather justified than the other or justified and not the other according to a known Hebraism justified i. e. accepted approved by God in that particular Act of his Prayer to God as useth or ought to be done to him who is just and doth well The same is the Sense of the word Rom. 8. 33. 'T is God that justifieth who is he that condemneth We know the World doth condemn reproach hate us Christians for our Religion for our believing upon Jesus but that we despise because we know too that we have the favour and approbation of God for so doing Thus also it is recorded of Phinehas Psalm 106. 30 31. that he executed judgment slew Zimri and Cozbi in the Act of Uncleanness and it was counted to him for righteousness or for justification or the effect of it was justification for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 have often the same signification as Gal. 2. 21. i. e. he was and ought to be and ever shall be unto all Generations greatly approved and highly praised for that Action in so eminent a degree righteous and just done with so much Zeal and Courage for the Honour of his God and the good of his People And we read too how he was rewarded by God for it with the high Priest-hood in his Family Nay the justification of Abraham himself is said sometimes to be in the same sense for some one particular eminent Act of Obedience to God Rom. 3. 18. Heb. 11. 8 17. Jam. 2. 21. though at other times for his general Faith and Piety or obediential Temper to God And of this justification he is set forth as an eminent and extraordinary Example Rom. 4. So it is in like manner with all good men who walk in the steps of the Faith of Abraham as the Apostle phraseth it viz. who are religious obsequious to the Will of God in what manner and whensoever he shall sufficiently make it known to them and consequently men of sincere Probity of Spirit devoted to all that is good and just Of which hereafter This usage of a just man or justification may be distinguished into 1 negative or doing him no harm 2 positive doing good to him bestowing certain benefits and positive favours upon him But there are three more remarkable instances of both these and frequently mentioned in the Scripture The first is remission of sins upon repentance or an omission of punishment for them like as one that hath been just and never committed any sin useth to be treated He suffers no evil from God for sin and this is negative The second is the Holy Spirit 's influences operations in the Souls of Men. And the third is Eternal Salvation upon perseverance in a good and holy life All these are more particularly regarded by St. Paul in the Text As if he had said Therefore being by Faith of which presently restored to the Favour of God particularly expressed in the forgiveness of sins the gift of the Holy Spirit the promises and assurances of Eternal life we have peace with God We are in a state of Amity and Friendship with him and we have Peace and Tranquility in our own Consciences which do not now threaten us with God's Anger or Punishment and that through our Lord Jesus Christ Now if this be the true notion of justification when it is joined with Faith as I think it is Then first it is not the same with sanctification or making a man inherent holy and just Justifying the ungodly through Faith in the Scripture-style is not making an ungodly man godly as the Papists Socinians and Grotius would have it A mistake in that learned Man which hath led him into many other Misinterpretations of Scripture Nor 2 is it in a strict Sense an accounting or reckoning a Man perfectly just or more than he really and truly is for that were to say that God may be deceived and judge things otherwise than they are It is true the Church of England in one of her Articles hath used the words accounting righteous for the merits of Jesus Christ by faith and not for our works But there needs no force to make them signifie the treating or using as righteous for the Merit of Christ upon the condition of Faith without any Merit on our part which is the true Christian Doctrine of Justification as we shall presently see Nor 3 is Justification to pronounce or declare a Man inherently just as it were in a solemn Sentence who is not so for this were to make God give a false sentence Nor 4 is it to cover or cloth a Man even a penitent sinner with the pure Robes of Christ's perfect Righteousness and then to appear to God pure and spotless as Jesus Christ himself For this were to suppose God to look no further than the outside and represent him like old Isaac deceived by Rebekah and Jacob. These are the notions of men who seem never to attend to the proper Nature of things but are content to talk only in Figures And in truth they might do much more harm if they were not antidoted by other plain Scripture Doctrines such as that of the necessity of Holiness of heart and life for the forgiveness of sins and everlasting Salvation Nor 5 is Justification God's imputing the Righteousness of Christ to Man who lives in any sinfull Breach or Neglect of God's Law There is indeed a comfortable and true notion under those phrases and that is That sinners fare the better for the compleat Righteousness or perfect Obedience of Christ Great and many indeed were the benefits God was pleased to afford sinfull mankind for the sake of Jesus Christ No less than such as these his long suffering and forbearance all sorts of temporal Blessings all the inward and outward means of Vertue and Goodness All this even to sinners while sinners which some learned men have called degrees of remission of sins I should rather say instances of justification or dealing by men as useth to be done to the innocent and just who had never offended Then further upon true repentance entire pardon for all past sins All in the other life and all in this except what God in his fatherly Wisdom may think fit for our discipline and means of further improvement in Vertue and Holiness constant forgiveness upon constant repentance for the interfering faults of good Men and finally Everlasting life All this Men owe to the compleat Righteousness of Jesus Christ from the beginning to the End of his life It was for his sake God was pleased to have any regard to or compassion upon the degenerate Race of Mankind that God might by so eminently rewarding him shew the World how acceptable to him Holiness and Vertue were and encourage to the Attainment of the highest Degree of them possible All this is true and a reasonable Administration of God in the Government of the World But yet it is not
inconstancy instability of judgment and assent in which there seems some passion and inclinations without reason as well as in all the rest Then shall we be clear and free to believe the truth merely because it is the truth as far as we can apprehend and for no other reason whatsoever Till we have thus cleansed our souls deposed and laid aside all these prejudices the more ingenious and witty we are the greater is our danger of error and unbelief and the common sort of men who have not so much Wit Haughtiness Self-conceit and Pride do with much more safety and security follow the easie and natural Sense of their own minds and the common belief of the World who are wiser than themselves And now what use shall we make of this whole Discourse I shall make but one inference from it and that is If what we have all this time been delivering be truth and reason as I hope it is then it is our Duty to contradict the Fool here in the Text and that two ways both in his Infidelity and in his consequent Practice Hath the vitious Fool said in his heart there is no God or no Providence Let us deliberately peremptorily and decretorily conclude in our hearts and confess it with our mouths that there is a God and verily that this God judgeth in the Earth But then let us be sure boldly to oppose and contradict him in the consequence of our Faith else our Faith and Profession will serve us to no purpose but to condemn us out of our own mouths or it will be suspected that our inward Faith and outward Profession do not agree that we say one thing as loud as any and think another At least that our Faith is very slight cold and rare and therefore little valued by us For a serious express firm and frequent Faith or actual Assent especially after deliberation or doubting is a great matter and very operative We see the settled Opinions of men in other Affairs of Life how sturdy and forcible they are They govern even their Passions and Persons and are difficultly mastered or hindered by any opposition So would it be also in Divine Faith if it were as well rooted in our hearts and as frequently made actual use of Is then this wicked Fool corrupt and vitious Hath he done abominable Works Let it be our firmest resolution and utmost care and endeavour to be of an incorrupt sound and strong Vertue and a laudable and amiable Practice and do good Works But more particularly and immediately the Vertue which our belief in God his Nature Attributes and Actions should produce and preserve is that of Piety and Religion or Divine Worship in which I comprehend all our Duty to this God Let us then spare him as many thoughts as we can and contemplate his Beauty and Glory as much as our frail Nature and Condition will bear let us conceive the most worthily of him let us honour him with all the force of our Souls love him with all our might above all things together both in Heaven and Earth rejoyce and be happy in his Favour and fear his displeasure put our ultimate trust in him alone and above all entirely resign up our Wills to his in whatever is to be done or undergone by us and all his Creatures that his Will may be done both in Heaven and Earth This which is the internal Worship of God we are at all fit Seasons and Circumstances to signifie by our Lauds Praises Prayers Thanksgivings solemn Profession of a sincere universal constant perpetual Obedience to all his Commands and Appointments and above all by the Tenor of our Life and Actions which is External Worship Behold a heart and life sutable to our Faith and to the God in whom we believe An employment worthy indeed of all reasonable Creatures from the highest to the lowest The perfection of all their noble Powers and Exercise of them This Religion and Conversation with the Deity is the highest Accomplishment and Felicity of any spiritual Nature All other objects do not fill their Capacities This State we are all here as much as we can which is but little to endeavour to attain to The rest we are to desire hope and prepare our selves for Now to this God whom the wicked Fool denies who made and upholds all things by the Omnipotent Word of his Power and governs all things by his All-wise Providence to this one most excellent infinite Nature in three Persons the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost be all this inward and outward Worship constantly rendred by Men and Angels from henceforth and for ever-more Amen SERMON V. ROM V. 1. Therefore being justified by faith we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ THere are hardly any words of the Holy Scripture more common in the Mouths of Christians especially reformed or uttered with more affection or more frequently made use of than these of Justification by Faith Nor is there any Doctrine of Christianity which hath of late been disputed with more Volumes or greater Heat than that which is said to be contained under them To which we may add that in truth it is a Doctrine both in matter and phrase in great measure new and proper to the Christian Religion and yet of a great importance honourable to God and comfortable to Men. For the most devout and even inspired by God among the Jews as far as appears knew little of the principal Part of it and the most learned among the Heathens nothing Nay it seems by what we read that it hath been defectively and but ill-understood even by Christians themselves till of late And although in a good part of this last Century it hath been much cleared and recovered by many learned Men who began better to understand the Style Phrase Occasion and other Circumstances of the New Testament and by none more perhaps than our own judicious pious Paraphrast yet me-thinks somewhat more may be done in the matter I shall at present only briefly and plainly endeavour the explication and application of the words The two things which deserve a particular explication are 1 Justification 2 Faith 1. For the word Justification I take the original and general Notion of it to be the doing by any Person for to that I now restrain it though it be spoken of Actions also as useth to be done to one who is just and righteous i e some way to shew favour or to do good to him whether by approbation commendation or beneficence Of this general sense of the word it is easie to see that the juridical Sense of acquitting absolving c. is but one instance or kind This usage may be in respect of some particular Act or Quality only or of a man's general Temper of Mind and Course of Life We have several Examples of the first It is said by our Saviour of the Publican who went up with the Pharisee to the Temple to
Justification it self God's imputing Christ's Righteousness to us in such manner is one Cause of our Justification but Justification it self or the using of us in such favourable and kind manner is the effect of that imputation Nor 6 and lastly is Justification a bare remission of sins They who say so speak too little for the using a man as a Righteous and just man is not negative only or doing him no harm but positive also doing him good and therefore it contains not only security and exemption from the evil of suffering but the bestowing the good things of enjoyment the principal of which are spiritual and eternal the Assistances for Vertue here and Heaven hereafter or Grace and Glory as is usually said I will only here observe that although such as I have said be the general notion of Justification of sinners yet it must here in the Text be restrained to those instances of favour which follow Faith taken for a quality in us such as remission of sins c. because it is said justified by saith Faith is the Cause of Justification viz. a condition qualifying or capacitating Cause Justification or being used kindly by God is the effect of this our Faith And so much for the Explication of the Term Justification In summ this it is to use or treat a Person as useth to be done to a just and good man which is to do him no harm but to bear him good Will some way or other to do him good shew him favour and kindness For the second Term faith I mean justifying or saving Faith by which we are said to be justified it is as much contested and perhaps with more difficulty and less certainty resolved than the former of justification I for my part have observed these three significations of it The last of which I intend principally to enlarge my present Discourse upon First The first Sense of it may be Piety or Religion in general or rather religiousness i. e. Such an habitual Temper of mind whereby a man is disposed to obey the Will of God and consequently to do that which is right and just however made known to him from God It is this temper of Soul by which God estimates a good Man and by which he is qualified for God's Approbation Acceptance and Beneficence Particularly in those great Instances of Pardon Grace and Glory Which if vigorous and prevalent and constant enough to denominate us good men will certainly exert it self in all actual Obedience of inward Will and outward Action when it is not necessarily hindred as it may be by pure and invincible Ignorance by Diseases and Disorders of the Body or any external Impediments I say again because I think it wants and deserves Observation that it is according to the Degree and Constancy of this habitual Inclination of Soul that God estimates us and we shall be dealt withall by him Outward Actions especially and inward too are contingent may cease and are liable to an hundred Hindrances and Obstructions when the habitual Inclination of the Will is a constant thing and remains fixed in the Soul which God certainly knows though others and even our own selves sometimes may be ignorant of it so that the Jews from whom probably the Mahometans had it might save themselves and God the labour of casting up and weighing their good and bad Actions to know which Number weighs most and how the Case will stand with them in the Day of Judgment any further than they are signs of the Degree and Constancy of habitual Temper sometimes fallible enough But let this stand for a little Digression To return I cannot yet tell what better notion to fix upon faith when it is said The just shall live by faith quoted by Saint Paul Rom. 1. 17. and Gal. 3. 11. from Hab. 2. 4. to prove Justification not to be by the Law but by Faith and that too Synecdochically put viz. The Doctrine of the Condition of Justification for all the rest of the Gospel-doctrine concerning it as we shall presently more largely discourse The just shall live by faith i. e. A good and just Man by his Piety and Religiousness shall be in the Favour of God so as to be safe and happy when the proud and wicked Man forsaking God shall be forsaken by him An habitually Religious man which will certainly produce actual Obedience to God whensoever he sufficiently declares his Will and Laws ever was and ever will be approved accepted and favoured by God Which as he did once by Moses so hath he in these last days more evidently and perfectly by his Son the Lord Jesus Christ Wherefore it is not necessary that the just Man should live or be justified only by the actual Observance of the Mosaical Law which is what the Apostle proves by these words Let us examine a little the importance of the whole Verse in Heb. 10. 38. and Hab. 2. 4. The just shall live by faith but if he draws back so it is to be rendred there being no 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 there but supposed to be put in by our own Interpreters in favour of the Doctrines of absolute Election and Perseverance My Soul shall have no pleasure in him We shall not meddle with the difference of the Heb. in Habb and this quotation by the Author to the Hebrews but only observe That to live is to fare well from God to be approved by him and be in his favour so as to receive from him the Promise of Salvation and Deliverance from their suffering Condition here or after this Life the reward of a happy Condition or both or as it is expressed in the next Verse the saving of the Soul This I say is the sense of living as it is commonly of the Hebrew word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because God's having no pleasure in him i. e. God's disfavour is opposed to it Besides in the Gal. To live not only vivere but valere is plainly of the same importance with Justification in the latter part of the Verse And then for Faith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it is manifestly the believing of God's promises so effectually as to produce an entire submissive and obsequious Temper of Heart to God and consequently an actual Obedience and doing the Will of God in the profession and practice of the Christian Religion because it is opposed to a Man's withdrawing viz from that his Duty to God through fear or diffidence or any other evil Affection And it is of the same importance with that in the following Verse believing to the salvation of the Soul by which a good Man lives Faith by which a good Man lives cannot be either according to common reason or the Tenor of Revelation a bare Assent to God's Veracity Goodness and Power or the fulfilling of his Promises but the effect thereof a dutifull and obediential Heart to God It was in the same manner that Abraham was justified viz. by his Piety and
conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the Law and v. 30. It is one God which shall justifie the Circumcision by faith and Uncircumcision through faith See also Gal 3. 17. and Rom. 10. 6. And truly such a kind of Language and Speaking seems agreeable enough to that of the most Ancient and Modern Jews Nay I think to one who never so little considers it is plain For the Righteousness of God and the Righteousness which is of Faith or by the Faith of Jesus Christ Rom. 10. 3 6. and Rom. 3. 21 22. are the same thing But the Righteousness of God is manifestly that way or method of Justification all the Causes of Justification together which God had appointed after the Coming of Christ under the Gospel and which Saint Paul and the rest of the Apostles taught For 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 there as frequently elsewhere Gal. 5. 5. Rom. 3. 21 22. 30. compared with Rom. 9. 31. is put for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as appears from the opposition of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Righteousness of God Rom. 10. 2. to that of the Jews own Righteousness To interpret that of inherent or imputed Righteousness is not probable though it may be a possible sense which sense of the word is yet more plain from v. 10. with the heart man believeth to righteousness i. e. to justification From hence it follows that the Righteousness of Faith is the way of Justification by God's Appointment and Command preached by the Apostles the Ministers of the Gospel or Christian Doctrine Again the Righteousness of God and of Faith is opposed to the Righteousness of the Law of the Works of the Law of their own Righteousness and St. Paul's own Righteousness of the Law Phil. 3. 9. and therefore must have the same kind of sense But these Righteousnesses are all manifestly no other thing than Justification according to the Doctrine and Belief of the Jewish Doctors of the Law the Generality of the Jews and St. Paul himself before his Conversion to Christianity And what if we should reduce the other two Senses of justifying Faith to this last and say That Faith where it signifies primarily the Condition or qualifying Cause in us of Justification as hath been explained may be taken Synecdochically a part for the whole one part of the Christian Doctrine concerning Justification and that which was more earnestly contested by the Jews for the whole of that Doctrine A thing ordinary enough in the Style of the Holy Scripture Nor do I see it besides the mind of the Apostle Beside if this sense be but equally probable it will be the best taken because it comprehends the other two Now to know what were the principal Differences between the Doctors of the Jews and Christians concerning Justification we are to consult both the Scriptures and the Jewish Authors themselves And as I think we may therein observe these Five First The Jews were of opinion that there were some men who needed no Justification at all no favour of God in that particular of remission of sins Some of these they thought had never sinned in all their lives the other again by their own study and exercise became without all faults and their exact Righteousness made recompence for their past Transgression These they called perfectly Righteous 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as they had two sorts more to appear in the Day of Judgment viz. perfectly wicked and a middle between both when as Mahomet's Disciples fansie God will make use of Poc. ad por Mos not cap. 6. Tal. Rosch hasch c. 1. Scales to weigh good and bad Works one against the other and if the Scales happen to be even mercy will weigh it down on the favourable side Of this sort among the Jews might be the Pharisee who went to the Temple with the Publican to pray for he recites only his religious Actions but saith not a word of any thing ever ill done And it is said Luke 18. that our Saviour spake that Parable against certain which trusted in themselves that they were Righteous And the occasion of the Parable Luke 11. and Matth. 8. 13. is some Argument that it was an opinion among the Jews that there were some men who needed no repentance Perhaps St. Paul might once reckon himself among these perfectly Righteous when he knew no better for he saith of himself That touching the Righteousness which was in the Law i. e. in Vogue and Reputation among the Lawyers or Doctors of the Law he was blameless Phil. 3. And I remember some-where in the Talmud to have read of some Masters of such perfect Sanctity as never to have committed one sin and to have been such from and in their Mother's Wombs as Jeremiah is said to be which there signifies no more than his being so early by God designed and separated to his Prophetical Office and Employment Now this opinion of theirs St. Paul denies affirming that all Men except the Blessed Jesus the true Messias have been and still continue in some Degree or other Sinners and that all Men therefore stood in need of continual Repentance and Remission That Jews and Gentiles have all fallen short of the Glory of God and were guilty before him That even the best of the Jews themselves were not exact Observers of their own Law especially in the inward and moral part of it This St. Paul proves out of their own sacred Authors which he quotes Rom. 3. Secondly b The Jews held generally that there was no need of the Merits or consideration of any other no not of the Messias himself for whose sake Justification or Remission of Sins particularly should be granted by God But that Repentance good Works Fastings Prayers Sacrifices Oblations temporal Punishments or finally corporeal Death were sufficient for the expiation of all sin whatsoever Or if any thought that there were any sins to be forgiven for the Messias's sake as some few of the Ancients thought c yet these were but few and restrained the Privilege to those of their own Nation and Religion and lastly however they would not hear of such a thing as that it was for the sake of Jesus of Nazareth whom they denied to be their Messias and rejected with an obstinate scorn To this St. Paul opposeth three things and maintains First That God ever did and ever would justifie and forgive sinners upon Consideration of and with regard to the perfect Obedience and Sacrifice of the Messias and not without it Secondly That this great Favour and Indulgence of Heaven was extended to all mankind And Thirdly That Jesus of Nazareth was this true Messias And that all this as it was in it self most reasonable so was it agreeable to Moses and the Prophets and now with such undeniable Proof and clear Evidence declared to be the Will of God that it was not indeed any longer to be disputed Thirdly The Jews advanced yet further and affirmed that
not in the least to doubt it being an exceeding manifest and plain thing but that this Jesus is this Messias but are to believe it firmly and profess it boldly and consequently to become his Disciples particularly shewing their Piety to God and their most religious Disposition of Heart Submission and Obedience to him by the Observance of his Will and Laws by this Jesus the Christ if they intend to be saved Obedience to God by Moses was now Obedience to Jesus Christ is and ever hence-forward will be as the Jews falsly imagine concerning their Law the Condition of and Qualification for the Divine Favour Justification Remission of Sins and finally Salvation Such may be the Sense of St. Paul so we may suppose him to have spoken to us in those obscure words The only thing of moment which the Jews had to object and which converted and unconverted to Christianity were very fond of was the perpetuity of the Law of Moses clearly as they thought affirmed in their Law and Prophets But this St. Paul every where absolutely denies with the rest of the Apostles and with great reason For besides that that Law is impossible to be observed by all mankind neither Moses himself nor any of the Prophets ever affirmed it Nay they have intimated the contrary Jer. 31. 31. with Heb. 8. Moses himself promiseth the Jews That the Lord their God would raise up a Prophet like him whom they should hear Deut. 18. with Acts 7. This as it may promise a Succession of Prophets so it had a principal Respect to the Messias who was a Person sent immediately from God with larger Authority than Moses and to be heard by them Not as they too meanly thought of him as if he were to be only the Servant and second of Moses No he was to be a Law-giver from God like Moses and to take and leave what he thought fit in his Law And so the Prophecy is only compleatly fulfilled in the Messias None of the Prophets were so like Moses as he The Messias only was a Legislator from God like Moses 'T is true none of the Talmudists Paraphrasts or Rabbins that I remember have apply'd this place to the Messias but neither have they done that by many other places where they fairly might and with much more reason than where oft-times they have But it is enough if Moses and the Prophets never really and in truth affirmed the perpetual Duration of the Law For now God hath given abundantly more ample Proof of his Mission of Jesus than ever he did of Moses by his Doctrine Life Miracles Resurrection Ascension Mission of the Holy Ghost upon them who believed in Jesus and not upon the Jews and from this Jesus I have learned saith St. Paul that a great part of the Mosaical Law should be abolished principally in order to the uniting all Mankind into one Body by Religion That Circumcision and Uncircumcision now availeth nothing to Justification but Faith working by Love A religious and obedient Heart to God by Jesus Christ producing all the substantial Actions of Piety and Charity to God and our Neighbour the summ and end even of the Mcsaical Law it self that no man who now believeth in Jesus ought to oblige himself by Circumcision to the observance of all the little temporary and now useless things of the Mosaical Law Nay if he doth Christ shall profit him nothing as being disobedient to one express Command of Christ liberty and freedom from that comparatively mean institution Such then is the fourth false Doctrine of the Jews concerning Justification Fifthly and lastly In few words The Jewish Doctors taught that they might perform and fulfill all the Commandments of their Law by their own natural Strength and Power e but St. Paul and the Divine Writers teach a contrary Doctrine viz. That the grace of God is absolutely necessary for our performance of good Works or rather for being good men the Condition of our Acceptance and Justification f These are all of the most considerable Opinions and Doctrines of the Jewish Doctors or Expounders of the Mosaical Law concerning Justification that I at present remember Now all these Doctrines of the Jewish Doctors put together are the Justification by the Law or the Works of the Law as I conceive Which in not many words are to this effect Some men needed no Justification but those who did were justified without any Merits but their own viz. for the due Observance of the Law of Moses by their own Strength Care and Industry Justification then by Faith or according to the Christian Doctrine as opposed to the Law must be on the contrary That all men being sinners are justified and particularly receive remission of sins the Holy Spirit and Everlasting Salvation from the free and undeserved goodness of God upon the consideration of the perfect Righteousness and the meritorious Sacrifice of Jesus Christ and upon the Condition or Qualification of a pious Temper of Heart for the future to obey the Will of God and consequently to do the thing that is right and just howsoever he shall be pleased to declare it but particularly by the Lord Jesus Christ which very Condition too we had never been able to perform without the assistance of the grace of God This as I think may be the comprehensive Sense of Justification by Faith but if it should prove otherwise it is but a mistake in the signification of a Phrase I confess obscurely enough delivered to us now at this distance of time and of so different a way of speaking from the Apostolical Age. However that be certain it is that the Doctrine it self is taken out of and according to the Holy Scriptures in which I see nothing but what is plain easie and reasonable After this we may in very short observe that if any of the three Senses of justifying faith mentioned viz. A general Piety or a Christian Obedience or according to the Christian Doctrine be that of the Holy Scripture then justifying Faith is not a meer assent to the whole Doctrine of the Gospel nor Secondly is it a bare reliance upon God and Christ and trust in their promises or as others express it a rolling and throwing our selves upon Christ for pardon and salvation nor Thirdly is it a confident persuasion that our sins are pardoned in Jesus Christ nor Fourthly is it whatsoever men have confusedly meant by those Metaphors of going to Christ or embracing Christ or eying him by Faith as an instrument as if such a thin 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Exile Relation of Faith were a thing for which Faith should be so much predicated and to which no less than Justification and Eternal Salvation should be attributed Besides if Faith should thus justifie because it apprehends takes hold of and embraces Christ how much more should love be said to do it which more properly may be said to take hold of and embrace Christ Finally There is no mention in
IMPRIMATUR Carolus Alston R. P. D. Hen. Episc Lond. Ã Sacris Febr. 12. 1694 5. SIX SERMONS Preached before the Late Incomparable PRINCESS QUEEN MARY AT WHITE-HALL WITH Several Additions and large Annotations to the Discourse of Justification by Faith By GEORGE BRIGHT D. D. Dean of St. Asaph and Chaplain in Ordinary to His Majesty LONDON Printed by J. H. for Walter Kettilby at the Bishop's-Head in St. Paul's Church-Yard MDCXCV TO THE KING's Most Excellent MAJESTY SIR THIS small Volume was designed humbly to crave the Acceptance of your late Royal Consort that most truly Excellent Princess who not only heard but relished Discourses proper for her Edification These present ones dare pretend only to an Attempt and endeavour for such a Purpose But she is for ever gone from hence where her vertuous and pious Soul had neither Books nor Company good enough for its Entertainment May her just Character be preserved fresh and fair to the last of Time may her goodly Presence strike the Imagination of every one who enters into your Royal Palaces that her exemplary Vertue Piety Prudence and Sweetness may never be forgotten there Forgive me Great Sir if I for once lightly touch the Wound not only of your own Royal Heart but also of the Hearts of all your Subjects except here and there a Self-interested weak and peevish thing or two in this matter whatever they may be else-where But as this severe Providence hath brought with it a mighty Loss and not reparable to Your Majesty one way so hath it given you a mighty Advantage another for all the Affections and Hopes which your People had divided between two are now publickly vested in and settled upon Your Majesty's Person alone And we hope and pray that as God will continue your own Portion of his Blessings to you so he will not withhold hers from you So that now your force being doubled and united too cannot probably be much longer resisted by your haughty and malicious though puissant Enemy That God would continue and multiply his Blessings upon Your Royal Head fill your Heart with Piety Wisdom and Integrity in all your Counsels prosper your Arms for the Chastisement of Tyranny Violence and Injustice for the Peace Safety and Universal Happiness of your People and all Europe is the constant Prayer of Your Majesty's Most obedient Subject and Chaplain George Bright THE PREFACE TO THE READER IT hath been my Aim in these ensuing Sermons as it hath been always my Endeavour in all Discourses of the like Nature to represent the Duties and Doctrines of our Religion plain and reasonable that the real and great Advantage which it hath above all others may be manifest and the Cavils and Contempts of irreligious Men may be put to silence and shame Nor can I think whatever some Difficulty may do that Vnintelligibility or Absurdity in any Religion ought to commend it to any I am sure it never will to inquisitive considerate and honest Men who are the best though infinitely the least part of the World Such I mean who ask Questions and examine things in Religion not to shew their Subtilty or pose Men not to disgrace anothers Profession or to get room and ease for Licentiousness or to make themselves and others greater Scepticks and doubt and droll more but like the Noble Beraeans to see whether things are so or no that they may know more and be satisfied in matters of so great Concernment that they may not be abused led into Errour and kept there by Force Confidence or bare Authority Such as these I think are to be taken care of that they be not justly scandalized or offended at Religion Nay they are in the first place to be regarded who are not only intended surely by God to be saved as well as the Vulgar but may also be great Instruments of the Instruction and Confirmation of others and the Establishment of the due Esteem and Reputation of Religion Strange it is that the weak the ignorant and the peevish should be treated with so much Tenderness but these should be rudely put off with the wise Application of Not many wise according to the Flesh c. And Where is the wise where is the Disputer of this World or perhaps with the Reproach and Backbites of Indifferents and Vnderminers of Religion This way of teaching and preaching the Christian Religion as it is at all times just and of solid Advantage to it so is it now become necessary There are very many in this Age more than formerly inquisitive knowing used to a more accurate Exercise of their Vnderstanding every where in Divine matters as well as Natural Moral and Political These will not be put off with general confused figurative and obscure Notions nor with false uncertain remote Reasonings they will know what and why they believe And hitherto is very well the present Age being happy in it whatever others may please to think And had it been thus for some Centuries before us a Thousand Falsehoods and Fopperies had never crept into Christian Religion which have already and yet will cost the World so vast an Expence of Labour and fill it with infinite Troubles and Vnquietnesses to drive them out again and restore our Excellent Religion to its native and primitive Beauty But as that Occasion of the Necessity of Clearness and true Reasoning in Religion is good so hardly any thing can be worse than the Licentiousness of our Time when the generality of Men especially of those who pretend to any Wit or Breeding have not only rescued themselves from the Slavery of Superstition and usurped Authority but shaken off even the natural Reverence of Mankind to true Religion the sublimest Perfection and Glory of Humane Nature Nay they have run further yet and pertly taken up a mean Opinion and Contempt of it and all that belongs to it as being nothing but Craft or Pedantry Now these Men must be knocked down by weighty Reason for they slight the Holy Scriptures and exposed to contempt themselves for gentler Dealing will not do It must be shewn that if they will make good their Title to the Man they must be Religious and Christians too And that there is nothing more Reasonable than a Christian's Belief and nothing in his genuine Religion not adulterated unbecoming of God and disagreeable to Reason if rightly sensed and understood that it is the weakness or ignorance of its Doctors and Commentators and perhaps ever will be in some Degree if any thing in it appear or be represented otherwise and that they have been infinitely to blame who have been the Causes of Grudges and Dissatisfactions in the minds of men between Religion and Reason and even made irreconcileable Quarrels between them which should cohabit with constant and mutual Endearments and Assistances I hope and am apt believe that such will be the next turn of Divine Providence which invisibly governs the World that the Holy Writings will every Day
generous obediential Disposition of Soul towards the true God ready and prepared cheerfully to receive and execute all his Commands though never so difficult at all times And as he was then justified by that pious Temper of Heart manifesting it self in actual Obedience to the Commands of God then laid upon him So shall we Christians saith St. Paul if we be of the same pious Temper of Soul with Abraham exerting it self in an actual Obedience to the Laws of God now declared and enjoyned by Jesus Christ Nay we may add That the Jews themselves though they little understood it were all along justified upon the same Condition too Not so much by the Observance of the particular Laws of Moses as sent from God by Moses as they stiffly contend most of which were but temporary and fitted for the particular Circumstances of that People as by that devout Temper of Love Reverence and Obedience to God declaring his Will for that time by Moses And where-ever that Temper was among the Jews it had the same effect of actual Obedience to God by Jesus Christ when he was sufficiently preached and made known to them True sincere Piety the Love of Truth and Goodness prevailing against all worldly Interest and Prejudices brought the Jews themselves most certainly over to Christianity If we would know more of this Temper by Example we may see the 119 Psalm the History of Cornelius those of the New Covenant into whose Hearts and Minds God will put and write his Laws Heb. 10. 16. those whom our Saviour calls his Sheep who know hear his Voice and follow him And what is said of the Son of God himself Heb. 10. 7. Lo I come in the volume of thy book it is written of me to do thy Will O God These are the Persons this the Qualification Condition and Capacity for God's Favour Approbation Commendation and Reward or in one word for his Justification A submissive obediential Temper of Heart to God I say a Qualification or Condition of God's Favour in general and particularly expressed in remission of sins which by no means excludes the Consideration of Christ's Obedience and Sacrifice which ever was another Cause of Justification from the beginning and ever will be This sense of Faith viz. Piety will not be thought strange by those who have observed the Hebrew way of speaking Thus we read Exod. 14. ult that the Israelites believed in the Lord and his Servant Moses 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. they submitted themselves to God's Laws and Government by Moses Their belief or faith in God and Moses was a disposition of mind in them to observe the Commands of God by Moses For it is of the same general Importance with the Phrase immediately before The people feared the Lord. The Israelites were as they professed ready to hear and do the Will of the Lord by Moses So they express themselves Exod. 19. 8. All that the Lord hath spoken we will do to obey the Voice of the Lord and to keep his Covenant Nor is it to be doubted but that the Israelites if they were really in their hearts what they professed with their mouths were then also justifiâ—d and in the Favour of God before they had heard any one particular Command of the Law from God by Moses either Ceremonial as Circumcision Festivals Sacrifice c. or Moral and if any of them then died as no doubt some did they were also saved Nor is the reason of this signification of faith when it is joined with Justification and Salvation less easie 'T is because Faith in its strict and primary Sense of assent to some Truths necessarily preceeds this Religiousness of Heart this habitual Piety A Man must firmly believe that there is right and wrong moral good and evil that the Will and Laws of God are the most infallible Rules of it that he will reward and punish the Observers or Transgressors of them before he is effectually resolved or habitually disposed universally to be obedient to God and to please him as the Authour to the Hebrews hath it Chap. 11. In like manner the love and fear of God are every where used in the Scriptures Synecdochically for all Religion and Vertue because those Affections in their strict and proper Sense produce in us a disposition of Soul to universal Obedience to him and consequently all Instances of Righteousness Such may be the first Notion of justifying or saving Faith Secondly A second is more particular and limited and that is an obedient Temper of Heart to God making known his Will and Laws to us by Jesus of Nazareth the true Christ or by being a Christian It was one of the principal Errours of the Jews against whom St. Paul in various places disputes about the Point of Justification that they would admit no other Condition of it than the Observance of the Mosaical Law which he calls the Law and the Works of the Law St. Paul maintains against them that it was not but a vertuous and holy Temper of Soul which loved Righteousness and hated Iniquity and consequently most desirous to know and do the Will of God when and in whatsoever Instances he should please to declare and reveal it But more especially and particularly now by Jesus of Nazareth the true Messias described foretold and promised to their own Nation He was now appointed by God to be his Vicegerent and Legislator under himself to all Mankind to the End of the World as Moses was for a certain time only to the Jews Now God expects and requires Submission and Obedience to his Laws by this Jesus from all Men every where All I say to whom this Declaration of his Will shall come and particularly from the Jews to whom he was preached by himself and other Disciples Which if they did and persever'd they should be justified by God and in his Favour particularly receive from him remission of sins the Holy Ghost and Eternal Salvation Thirdly and lastly Some have named a third Sense of faith and that is Faith objectively taken or the Doctrine of Christianity or if you please the Christian Religion For Religion objectively taken I would call a Doctrine revealed from God or a System of revealed Doctrines and that which is by Jesus Christ the Christian Doctrine or Religion so that Justification by Faith is the same with Justification according to the Doctrine of the Gospel or according to the Christian Religion and Justification by the Law or Works of the Law is Justification according to the Doctrine of the Mosaical Law Not that which Moses himself really taught or delivered but that which the Jewish Doctors the Interpreters of that Law and the generality of the Jews taught and believed in St. Paul's Time Such may be the sense of Rom. 3. 22. The Righteousness of God by faith i. e. taught by the Gospel and then fitly follows the particulars of that Doctrine in the four next Verses and v. 28. We
their Repentance Prayers Sacrifices and all other their good Works and Qualities were not barely a capacitating Condition of Justification forgiveness of Sins and the happy Life to come but meritorious and that God was obliged in Justice to give these for them And as for the perfectly Righteous who needed no Repentance no question but that God was strictly bound to reward them with a future happy State of Life especially at the Resurrection of the Dead and the Day of the great Judgment Nay when they wanted Merits of their own they had recourse to those of their Ancestours Abraham Isaac and Jacob and others like the Works of Supererogation among the Papists Nay some were so besotted with vain Conceit and Arrogance that they thought God chose their Ancestors for their Merit and was in love with their Posterity for it too And still there remains among them an Enthusiastical and Arrogant strain beyond all this probably older than St. Paul That God created the World for their sakes foreseeing I suppose what a lovely and excellent People they would prove We need but look into both Ancient and Modern Jewish Authors to learn all this Though if we knew nothing of this their Arrogant Opinion and Temper from themselves yet the Holy Scripture would sufficiently inform us d Now St. Paul so zealous for the Honour of God and Jesus Christ most deservedly in his disputes with them about Justification represseth and refutes such insolent and false Opinion and Language And therefore asserts the Righteousness or Justification of God or of God's Appointment by Faith of Jesus Christ described and taught in the Gospel to all them that believe This way of Justification of God's Appointment was first to believers i. e. real Christians in their hearts and lives And then through the Redemption that is in Christ Jesus the propitiation and lastly freely by the grace of God This God's way of Justification being thus upon the Condition of our Christian Obedience and Consideration of perfect Obedience and Death of Jesus and of the free grace of God every way excludes the boasting of the Jews which they thought in their way they had so much reason for This Righteousness of God was neither without the interposition of the perfect Obedience and Sacrifice of Jesus the true Messias nor by any Merit of theirs by which they may claim Justification as a Debt from God Nor was it so much as upon Condition of the Observation of the Law of Moses of which presently much less upon the Account of its Merit Rom. 3. 22. And because the Jews had so great an Opinion of the Merit of their Father Abraham He affirms that Abraham himself was justified in the same manner too He was justified by Faith too taking Faith first for a godly religious Temper of Heart as the Condition and then this one part of the Gospel-doctrine of Justification for the whole of it by a Figure ordinary enough with St. Paul and other Holy Writers as hath been before observed But he denies peremptorily that Abraham was justified by his Works of any sort i. e. that he was justified either according to their Doctrine in general or more particularly by the Merit of his Works He doth not deny Justification by good Works as a Qualification or Condition which is the Sense of St. James writing against an Errour of some Christians who taught a bare Belief in Jesus and Profession of it enough And it is likely they had it from the Jews too the Vulgar of whom thought their mere being Jews sufficient for Salvation Nor hath either the Jewish or Christian Church ever wanted such sort of People and very numerous too especially in times and places of great ignorance when their idle ignorant and corrupt guides themselves have taught them as much St. Aug. tells us that there were some in his time who believed all to be saved Civ Dei lib. 21. cap. 22. who gave Alms who said daily in the Lord's Prayer Forgive us our Trespasses c. and did forgive when asked sometimes who remained in the Church however they lived otherwise And he believes there were many in St. Paul's time too who not rightly Lib. 80. quaest understanding St. Paul's Justification by Faith without Works did really think that having once believed in Christ they should be saved by that Faith though they lived wicked and flagitious Lives Those Christians in St. James seem such a sort of People And if the Epistle to the Romans was written before that of St. James they also might be led into such a Conceit by St. Paul himself misunderstood not minding what he had otherwise by word or writing every where taught and particularly in Rom. 10. 9 10. That if thou shalt confess with thy Mouth the Lord Jesus and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead thou shalt be saved For with the heart man believeth unto Righteousness i. e. Justification and with the mouth Confession is made unto Salvation Here it is observable how one Circumstance of the Persons who are written to and their Opinion may determine the sense of words St. Paul wrote to the Jews who affirmed that their good Works merited Justification St. James to Christians who believed and taught that they were not so much as a qualification or condition and no way necessary to it They both wrote true Justification was and was not by good Works It was by them as a qualification and condition it was not by them as meritorious in the most received and common sense of that word But to return to St. Paul he flatly denies that Abraham himself was justified by the Merits of his Works so as that God was in manner of a Debtour obliged to it much less was his Posterity Abraham indeed was a Person extraordinary and so might justly pretend to some privilege amongst Men but had no reason to claim or challenge any thing particularly so great things as remission of sins and salvation from God merely for his own sake or in such manner as a Creditour or Servant may do from his Debtour or Master Rom. 4. This Doctrine of his so directly opposite to theirs he proves from Moses and David for one saith that Abraham's Faith his Piety and Obedience was imputed to him for Righteousness or Justification and the other blessed is the Man to whom the Lord will not impute sin Now this word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 impute imports in God nothing of payment of a Debt nor of Merit from him but an Act of Discretion Liberty Choice Goodness though most wise and reasonable too in pursuance of the one great End of all his Counsels and Actions This was the Doctrine of St. Paul and the other Apostles else-where as if it were a matter they much desire Christians should be well instructed in And in truth it is most agreeable to natural Reason For to talk of Merit in its proper sense and so as it
the Scripture of Faith's justifying or saving as such a kind of instrument nor of any thing which infers it or would so much as give any hint or suspicion of it but as a necessary Condition or Qualification every where in the same manner as Repentance Obedience Confession of Sins and believing him to be raised from the Dead Rom. 10. 9 10. Both these last are Synecdochically taken for being true Christians or Obedience to God by Jesus Christ These notions I conceive have been invented and received principally in opposition to the Pontifician sense and then for want of the knowledge of the Oriental way of speaking or from former prejudices Such notions and language would have seemed very strange and unintelligible to the Greek the Roman and especially the Jew the Adversary of St. Paul whom he endeavours to convince and confute and when understood very mean and improbable And yet there may be truth under all these expressions if they be taken figuratively with some sort of explication and we may be so charitable as to believe that pious and good Men have so understood them and that others sometimes can better tell and explain their thoughts than they themselves As for example if we take Faith first strictly for an Assent but then add so firm repeated attentive and deliberate an one like that of Thomas as to produce in us profound veneration and submission of Soul to God and Christ and an actual Obedience to their Will and Commands and consequently a true Vertue and real Sanctity of Heart and Life I say if this be the Sense of justifying Faith it is true and good and so if believing and relying upon Christ and trust in him for pardon of sin and acceptance be not a presumptuous one but well grounded upon a true Repentance the real Change and Conversion of the Heart and supposing and comprehending that it may pass for a justifying Faith So may receiving and embracing whole Christ as they phrase it as King Priest and Prophet because it includes Obedience to Christ's Laws as a King And on the other hand to receive Christ as a Priest and Prophet may be included in Obedience because we are commanded to believe Christ's Doctrine and to trust in God for the remission of sins procured by him upon repentance finally when they call their justifying Faith a lively Faith or Faith working by love and bringing forth the Fruits of Holiness and good Works it may do very well tho' it is an odd kind of expression of what some contend for That Faith alone justifies without Works or Obedience which is like as if a Man should say That the Root and the Fruit of a Tree nourisheth to signifie that the Root only doth it We have now gone through the explication of the words promised For the application of them let the Apostles own inference suffice at present to recommend unto us a justified State We that are justified by Faith saith the Apostle have peace with God that is we are in a State of Amity and Friendship with God so that we not only have no reason to fear any harm from that Terrible and Almighty Power which the Confederation of all Heaven and Earth cannot secure us from but we have all reason to hope for and be assured of all Instances of Favour and Bounty which his infinite Wisdom shall think fit more and greater than we can conceive What can intercept or restrain his Magnificent goodness to his Friends whom he delights in and delights to honour And then our Consciences will not terrify us or make us uneasie with Menaces or Suspicions of our Guilt and his Justice one Day and drive us from all thoughts of God But on the contrary they will invite encourage command us to make use of him to make him our Refuge our Trust our Solace in all Conditions at all times Then when all the World as kindly as it may now look upon us shall neglect us or forsake us or hate us or which is certain to come to pass sooner or later shall not be able in the least to help us though it would then when Death shall envisage and summon us to an appearance before that Sovereign Tribunal and when we shall stand there to receive our final Doom and irreversible Sentence Oh most desirable and happy of all Conditions without the assurance of which if we would draw our Curtains about us and be serious but one hour we could not be quiet or easie in our selves We proclaim the Person most happy and fortunate who hath the Eye the Ear the Heart of a Prince but what can the greatest Potentates do for us more than heap upon us Riches and Honors for a few Days which many to one we had better have wanted Even the continuance of bodily Life and Health the greatest bodily Blessings are out of their Power but how much more the goods of the mind and the Treasures of Heaven Whereas the Eternal Sovereign Lord of the Universe hath all things perfectly at his own disposal to bestow upon whom he pleaseth and that here with the Wisdom and Care of a Father but hereafter certainly Fullness of Joy and Pleasures for ever more Besides where God fixes his Affection and vouchsafes his Friendship we are sure there is true Worth and something of real and good Value though of his own gift when Earthly greatness through ignorance misinformation humour or necessity may misplace them And the belief of and reflection upon God's Approbation who is the best Judge is at all times extreamly gratefull and satisfactory to us naturally This is certain that a wise and just Man takes more pleasure in not being unworthy of Favour which he doth not enjoy than in enjoying what he doth not deserve We conclude all in turning St. Paul s Doctrine and Inference into an exhortation and motive Let us use our utmost Care and Endeavour on our part and God will not fail to perform what is to be done on his to get into the Number of those who are Evangelically justified our Sins pardoned our Souls inhabited and sanctified by the Holy Spirit and our Eternal Salvation assured that so we may enjoy the great Honour and the unspeakable Comfort of being the Friends of God and at peace with him through our Lord Jesus Christ To whom with the Father and Holy Spirit be all Honour and Praise both now and for evermore Amen Annotations and Additions On the Discourse of Justification a FOR the ample Proof of the Notion and Sense of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sometimes which I have given I think what follows will be abundantly sufficient 1 Let it be premised that though 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in its most precise Notion signifies to pronounce just to discharge acquit and absolve from Fault and Punishment yet in its more general Use it signifies more generally Viz. to treat or use as just in our Opinions Words or Actions and