committed they shall not be mentioned unto him in his Righteousness which he hath done he shall live Ezek. 18.22 And when I say that our conformity to the terms of the Law of Grace is our Righteousness it is to be understood of such a conformity as is hearty and sincere and in the inward man as well as the outward though otherwise it be not indefective in respect of extent and degree For therein lies the difference between the perfect Legal Righteousness and the Evangelical The Legal Righteousness stood in a perfect and indefective conformity to whatever God commanded or the Law of Nature required of man But the Evangelical Righteousness stands in a hearty and sincere desire resolution and endeavour in a man to conform to all that God requires in conjunction with repentance for defects and in affiance in Gods Mercy through Christ for forgiveness Although the best man living does not perhaps keep any one of Gods Commandments in a Legal sense yet the meanest sincere Christian keeps them all in an Evangelical sense that is in sincerity of resolution and endeavour He prepares him self to doe his Masters will as our Saviour speaks Luke 12.47 by resolving and endeavouring to do it as well as he can and by making use of all due means and helps to that end And in this sense good men are in Scripture said to keep Gods Charge his Commandments his Statutes and his Laws Gen. 26.5 2 Sam. 22.22 1 Kings 14.8 2 Kings 18.6 Job 23.11 Psal 119.22 55 56 67 68. Luk. 1.6 Not that they did so in the Legal sense For so there is not a just man upon earth that doeth good and sinneth not Eccles 7.10 But they are said to keep the Commandments in respect of the sincerity of their endeavour doing as well as they can They follow after Righteousness and by this good men are described in Scripture and God is said to love such as do so Pro. 15.9 and 21.21 Isa 51.1 They still labour to do and to grow better and better and this sincerity of endeavour proceeding from a Principle of Faith is it by which men in Scripture are denominated Righteous for more than this I cannot-say is found in any man and less than this I cannot say will denominate any man to be a good tnd Righteous man Our endeavours do not indeed of themselves and without the assistance of Gods Holy Spirit make us of unrighteous to become Righteous But when ever men are persuaded in their own minds to begin with honest endeavours to do their duty as well as they can and to make use of Gods appointed means to help them therein they will be sure of the assistance of Gods Holy Spirit to carry the work through For God will give the Holy Spirit to those that ask him Luke 11.13 and will work in them to will and to do well while they are working out their own Salvation by their endeavours Phil. 2.12 13. To him that hath a heart thus to begin well in using his first Talents which he hath from God to him more shall be given by the Spirit of God and he shall have abundance Mat. 25.29 This kind of Righteousness which we call Evangelical is mentioned in Scripture under several forms of speech yet all signifying the same thing in the main to wit the truth and reality of Grace in the sight of God It is called unfeigned Faith godly Sincerity holiness of Truth a labouring to have always a Conscience void of offence toward God and toward men uprightness of Heart truth in the inward parts integrity perfectness of heart and the like And when we find in Scripture the promises of Pardon and Salvation made to Faith repentance and obedience indefinitely I think we may safely conclude they are made to such in whom these are realy and indeed though but in the lowest degree of sincerity and consequently sequently that such are in the number of Righteous persons But then though the truth and sincerity of Grace in the lowest degree will denominate those that have it Righteous men yet that which is truly such how weak soever it be in the beginning is of a growing nature And the reason hereof is evident because where men do their best endeavours from time to time use and exercise will make them more and more perfect in their way the repetition of acts first begetting and then increasing habits and both together tending to more and more perfection in the Christian course Just as it is with persons in their learning any Art or Trade though the beginning be but small yet the latter end will greatly increase to allude to that in Job The Divine Principle of Grace which is the seed of God in the Soul which brings forth the Harvest of a good Life being in the nature of it contrary to fleshly lusts will be still heaving at them to extirpate and drive them out and aspiring after a perfect state in holiness hungering and thirsting after Righteousness upon which account the way of the Just is as the shining light which shineth more and more unto the perfect day Prov. 4.18 By the way then let it be observed how easie the Yoke of Christ our Saviour is and how light his Burden when he hath made the condition of obtaining the pardon of sin and Eternal Life no harder than to repent that we have been in Rebellion against our Maker to our own undoing and seriously to resolve and sincerely to endeavour to desist from all acts of disobedience for the future and to do the best we can to please him in observing those reasonable Laws of his Kingdom and Government that are ordained for our own good for the peace and satisfaction of our own minds for the preservation of the health of our bodies and for the innocent injoyments of other the comforts of this life for the peace likewise order and concord of publick Communities of men both in Church and State while every one is thereby ordered to keep his own rank and to act in his own Sphere and to prepare us by observing them for the enjoyment of a blessed immortality after all this And likewise observe how unreasonable and void of all judgment and discretion it is for men to deprive themselves of all these advantages and wilfully and desperately to run upon their own ruin when all might so easily be prevented as by subjecting to the easie Yoke and gentle Government of Christ who reckons our hearty and sincere endeavours in obeying him for obedience 3. How this Righteousness comes to be such to be accounted and accepted for Righteousness and it is so upon a double account at least 1. It is of the Grace of God and of our Lord Jesus Christ that it is so it is by way of donation or free gift without consideration had of any thing in us that should render us worthy of such a favour but the contrary It doth not make the benefit the less of Grace to us in that it is bestowed on us through Christ or for his sake nor the less of Grace in God because the Righteousness of Christ his obedient suffering upon account whereof this gift or
grant is made us was the effect of Gods gratious design of benefit unto us It was by the grace of God that he tasted death for every man as we are told Heb. 2.9 and consequently all the good that does accrue to us by it must be of Grace That the introduction of this Evangelical Righteousness we speak of was of meer Grace and free gift appears Rom. 5.17 where this effect of Gods Grace is called the gift of Righteousness And in that Verse and in the Verse before and after it is called the gift or free gift no less than four times Not as it was by one that sinned so is the gift for the judgment was by one unto condemnation but the free gift was of many offences unto justification For if by one mans offence death reigned by one much more they that receive abundance of Grace and of the gift of Righteousness shall reign in life by one Jesus Christ Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation even so by the Righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto the justification of life And in vers 21. Grace is said to reign through Righteousness to life as sin had reigned unto death In these Verses St. Paul shews that if the offence of Adam were of force to involve his whole Race in condemnation that then the Grace of God and the gift by Grace through Christ the second Adam and upon account of his Righteousness will be much more available to the justification and pardon of all men upon supposition they receive this gift of being Righteous with that Righteousness And let it be noted that the free gift here mentioned and the Righteousness of one Jesus Christ are not the same but the one the effect of the other it is by the Righteousness of one Christ Jesus that the free gift of Righteousness came upon all men unto justification of life That is as I conceive this free gift of accounting men Righteous if they receive it upon the terms of the giver is granted unto all men otherwise sinners upon the account of the Righteousness of Christ Rom. 3.24 Being justified freely by his Grace through the Redemption that is in Christ Jesus Here also we see that it is of free Grace that God approves of men as Just and does adjudg them Righteous which is his Justifying of them it is freely of Grace though it be through the Redemption that is in Christ Jesus or for the sake of his Mediatory obedience Tit. 3.6 Being justified by his Grace c. And when this Righteousness of Faith is said as it is to be a Righteousness imputed or a Righteousness that is accounted for such it implies nay argues that it is so in a way of grace and favour and not in stirctness of justice As on the contrary not to impute sin when sin hath been committed signifies to deal with such persons in a way of grace and favour and not according to the rigor of strict justice 2 Sam. 19.19 2 Cor. 5.19 As not to impute our trespasses to us when we repent of them and strive against them though otherwise we are not without all sin is purely an act of grace and of high favour in God even so for him to impute Righteousness to us when we sincerely endeavour to be Righteous though otherwise we be not without all sin is an act of the same grace likewise This Righteousness of Faith it is not a natural Righteousness as Adams was while he kept his integrity but it is so meerly in the account of grace and favour It is a Righteousness by Divine institution not otherwise of it self so its being so depends upon the grace and good will of God that hath appointed it so to be and to be accepted and to pass in account for such For which reason I conceive it is frequently called the Righteousness of God Rom. 1.17 and 3.21 2 Cor. 5.21 The Righteousness of God which is by Faith Rom. 3.22 Phil. 3.9 as noting it to be a Righteousness of his ordaining proceeding from his Grace in opposition to mens own Righteousness which is or is conceited to be a Righteousness Naturally and of it self as the Pharisaical Jews fancied their Righteousness of the Law to be By grace are ye saved through faith and that not of your selves it is the gift of God Eph. 2.8 That is it is by Grace and by virtue of the donation of God that we are saved by Faith or the Righteousness of Faith and that we have such a Faith or Righteousness of Faith to be saved by 2. It is by the Gospel or Covenant of Grace that this Righteousness of Faith is revealed and conveyed to us for such and stated and settled for such as by a Law This way of accounting men that have been and are sinners to be Righteous upon their believing is not known by any Natural Light because it is not a Natural Righteousness but is purely matter of supernatural Revelation as it is in it self supernatural Grace I am not ashamed of the Gospel saith St. Paul For therein is the Righteousness of God revealed from Faith to Faith as it is written the just shall live by Faith Rom. 1.17 And again Now is the Righteousness of God manifested without the Law to wit by the Gospel Rom. 3.21 It is by this Gospel or Covenant that Faith is ordained to be our Righteousness and settled for such as by a Law which therefore is called the Law of Faith Rom. 3.27 And the Gospel which conveys this Grace to us is frequently called the Grace of God the word of his Grace and the Gospel of the Grace of God Tit. 2.11 Acts 14.3 and 20.24 The Messias according to what was Prophesied hath brought in everlasting Righteousness by the everlasting Covenant the everlasting Gospel which was not in the world after the fall but by his bringing in Dan. 9.24 By all this it appears that the Covenant operates to our Justification as it gives being from God and our Lord Jesus Christ unto that Covenant Righteousness which is the matter of our Justification it is that by which God doth institute this Righteousness for it is a Righteousness by institution and not naturally such as I have shewed What it does in this kind it does it by virtue of Gods designation of it to that Office and not by its own innate virtue and intrinsick worth or merit When I say this Righteousness of Faith is not naturally and of it self such I do not mean that those fruits of the Spirit of which it doth consist have not in them the true nature of goodness and holiness for that they have but that these are not in Righteous men themselves that yet are Evangelically
Dr. Hammond renders it thus But the mercy was by occasion of many offences unto Justification Agreeable to this reading is that note of Grotius upon the place in these words Occasion being taken from many sins and so is that of Piscator and Simplicius in these words Occasion being taken not only from the sin of Adam but also from the proper sins of all believers So that the sense of the place according to this rendering of the words seems to be to this effect That from the sad condition into which men were fallen not only by the one offence of Adam but also by their own many personal offences God took occasion to manifest his own Grace and Mercy through Christ to miserable men in giving and granting them new terms by which they might attain unto Justification or a being approved of by God as Righteous their many offences notwithstanding And this in Verse 17. is called the gift of Righteousness and in Verse 18. the free gift unto Justification of life through the Righteousness of one to wit Christ And accordingly the grant which God hath made us of being saved by Faith in Jesus Christ is said to be of Grace and to be the gift of God By Grace are ye saved through Faith and that not of yourselves it is the gift of God Ephes 2.8 Now according to this rendering of the words by all these great men of Learning there is not the least appearance of any such thing as that Justification is by Remission of sin None of those worthy persons abovementioned do say the free gift is of many offences but all of them say it is from many offences So that if we read it thus according to the Translation I first mentioned the free gift is unto Justification from many offences the sense will be this I conceive That through the free gift we are by Justification secured from suffering the desert of our many offences and is the same in sense with the interpretation of Acts 13.39 last suggested Where was shewed that though Remission of sin is by Justification that is a benefit accruing to us thereby yet we cannot therefore say that Justification is by Remission of sin The terms are not convertible we cannot so well say that Justification is by Remission of sin as we can that Remission of sin is by Justification The other Scripture which is much insisted on to prove Remission of sin is Justification or that Justification stands in Remission of sin is Rom. 4.6 7. Even as David also describeth the blessedness of the man unto whom God imputeth Righteousness without works saying blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven and whose sins are covered In which words as it is argued Justification is described by Gods forgiving iniquity But then it is counter-argued that this description by David seems not to be a description of the Justification of the man to whom God imputeth Righteousness without works but a description of his happy state and condition in having his sins Pardoned St. Paul doth not say even as David describeth the Justification of the man to whom God imputeth Righteousness but the Blessedness of the man Now the blessedness of having sin Pardoned is a benefit consequent upon a mans believing and so of his being Justified by that belief for Pardon is promised but on that condition Acts 10.43 And the promise and the condition of the promise cannot be the same Which very consideration if there were no more were enough to shew that Justification is not described by Forgiveness of sin It appears at first sight that these words of the Psalmist were brought to prove somwhat said by St. Paul a little before And if they should be brought to prove that Faith is counted to a man for Righteousness which was the thing St. Paul had asserted in the next precedent Verse then they could not be brought to prove that Forgiveness of sin is counted to him for Righteousness for Faith and Forgiveness of sin are two different things By this it appears already that these words of David were not alledged to prove Justification to be by Remission of sin as it will further appear by and by To the end then we may the better understand for what purpose these words of David are here recited by St. Paul we will consider his words in the two next precedent Verses Now to him that worketh saith he is the reward not reckoned of Grace but of Debt Verse 4. In which words St. Paul seems to have stated the opinion of the Pharisaical Jews against whom he disputed They held as it seems that the reward to wit all the benefit all the happiness they expected from God to be due to them as a debt for their observing the Law of Moses They did not expect that their obedience should be accepted or counted to them for Righteousness for the sake of another and upon the account of the Death and Sacrifice of the Messias for they held that he when he should come should never die John 12.34 and that therefore their sin was not to be expiated by the Sacrifice of his death but by their own legal Sacrifices and that the blood of Bulls and Goats did take away sin Heb. 10.4 and that those Sacrifices with their other legal observances were of themselves their Righteousness and that upon account hereof Justification and Life were due to them in the nature of a debt in opposition to Grace and that the Gentiles were ungodly and uncapable of Righteousness and Justification until they were Proselytes to their way of worship This is that St. Paul calls their own Righteousness in opposition to that which is of God by Faith of Jesus Christ Phil. 3.9 By all which they rendred the death of Christ of none effect and Justification to be of Works and not of Grace as appears by Gal. 2.21 and 5.4 In Verse 5. St. Paul asserts the contrary to wit That to him that worketh not but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly his Faith is counted to him for Righteousness Which assertion of St. Paul if true proves the reward to be of Grace and not of Debt whether by Reward you understand only Justification or also the benefits subsequent to it For if God count such mens Faith for Righteousness which work not which have no such works as by which to reckon the reward to be of Debt and not of Grace yea such mens Faith for Righteousness which had been ungodly then the reward must needs be of Grace and not of Debt This being a self-evident truth That after a man by sin hath once made a forfeiture of all to God whatever good he after receives from him must needs be of Grace Which made St. Paul say All have sinned and come short of the glory of God being Justified freely by his Grace and that too through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus Rom. 3.23.24 These words of David then in Verse 6 7. seem to be
THE CHRISTIANS JUSTIFICATION STATED SHEWING How the Righteousness of Christ the Gospel-Covenant Faith and God himself do operate to our Justification By W. A. 2 Cor. 5.17 18. Old things are past away behold all things are become new and all things are of God who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ LONDON Printed by A. C. for Walter Kettilby at the Bishops-Head in St. Paul's Church-Yard 1678. THE PREFACE TO THE Reader THere hath I confess been so much already written about the Doctrine of Justification as may probably incline some to think the publication of these Papers to be superfluous But when it shall be considered how much of what hath been written on this subject hath been done in a way of Controversie about some particular branches of the Doctrine of Justification and how little to state and explain the whole of it and yet how necessary this is for the ending of such Controversies it 's possible they may be of another mind Some Christians when they find in the holy Scriptures that sometimes we are said to be justified by the Blood of Christ and by his Obedience to be made righteous at another time that we are justified by Faith at another that we are justified freely by Grace at another that we are not justified by Faith only but by Works also and at another time that it is God that justifieth they become somewhat confounded in their own minds with this variety of things to which our Justification is attributed And although all such as are well minded may be the Gospel in which these things are revealed come so to believe and so live as to be justified yet many of them are at a great loss how to understand in what respect we are said to be justified by the one and by the other of these And for want of a right stating and explaining how and in what different respects these severals do concur to the producing one and the same effect which is our Justification some have confounded them and attributed that to one of these causes which is proper to another As for instance this hath been done when they have ascribed to Christ to his Blood and to his Obedience and Righteousness not only what is proper to these but also what is proper to Faith it self and so have drowned the personal Righteousness of Faith as necessary to Justification in the Righteousness of Christ whereas these are distinct in themselves and in the nature and manner of their operation and the personal Righteousness by Faith as really necessary to our Justification in one respect as the Righteousness of Christ his Blood and his obedience is in another though in a way indeed subordinate to and dependent upon this Some good men have indeed thought they could not attribute too much to the Righteousness of Christ in reference to our Justification and in some sense perhaps we cannot and that it derogates from it and from Free Grace to interess our own personal Righteousness by Faith therein at all as if to do so did imply or suppose his Righteousness not sufficient unless it were eked out by ours as they are wont to speak When as the question is not about the sufficiency of the Righteousness of our Saviour for all those ends to which the Father and himself have designed it but the question is whether it were designed by them to justifie any actually in their rebel state or before they repent of it and become reconciled to God in mind and heart and doubtless there is great reason to say it was not since to justifie the wicked is an abomination to the Lord and since also the actual collation of all saving benefits upon the account of Christs Mediatory performance is suspended upon our being reconciled to God by obedience of Faith which is our personal Righteousness as is shewed in the following Discourse It is a great mistake to think that the Righteousness of Christ and our personal Righteousness of Faith stand in opposition to one another as if what is ascribed to the later were taken from the former Whereas our personal Righteousness of Faith is so far subservient to the end and design of the Righteousness of Christ as that his Righteousness loseth its end upon men for which it was designed until they become personally Evangelically righteous For the Righteousness of Christ was never designed for the Justification Pardon or Salvation of men without personal righteousness but through the righteousness of Faith If we did ascribe that to our personal righteousness of Faith which is proper only to the mediatorial and meritorious Righteousness of Christ we should indeed set the one in opposition to the other which we are far enough from doing But so long as our personal Righteousness of Faith doth but serve under the Righteousness of Christ unto our Justification it no more eclipseth the glory of it than the shining of the Moon doth the glory of the Sun when it borrows its light from it But how these two Righteousnesses do differ and yet concur to our Justification you will see further in the Tractate it self Nor does it at all derogate from the Grace of God and our Lord Jesus Christ to say our personal Righteousness of Faith is one ingredient in our Justification or that it is that without which we are not qualified for it but that contrarily it doth illustriously set forth the Grace of God in being so And the reason hereof is because its being imputed or counted to us for righteousness and their being reckoned righteous that have it is altogether of grace and favour for it does not of it self make a man righteous according to the original law of strict justice It is therefore another great mistake to oppose the Grace of God to our personal righteousness by Faith in reference to our Justification When as it is the very act of grace it self to reckon or impute Faith to us for Righteousness instead of a perfect legal righteousness upon account of Christs mediatory performance St. Paul saith It is therefore of Faith that it might be by Grace It is spoken so as if it could not have been by Grace unless it had been by Faith Grace reigns through righteousness saith St. Paul through Jesus Christ our Lord. So very far is it from derogating from Grace to interess our personal righteousness of Faith as an ingredient in our Justification We are justified freely by Grace and yet we are justified by Faith also And if the Scripture thus joyns them together in the same work though in different respects we shall not do well I think to separate them much less to oppose them to one another in it By grace are ye saved through faith saith St. Paul in another place It does not lessen Grace at all that Faith is interessed in the same work under Grace in the salvation of men For Grace shews it self as well in ordaining Faith to be a righteousness entitling a
man to life as it does in conferring life upon him that hath that righteousness being otherwise a sinner So that we can no more truly say that we are not justified by a personal righteousness of Faith because we are justified by Grace and by Christ than we can say a man is not born again of the incorruptible seed of the Word because he is born of God To say as many have been wont to say that St. Paul renounced his own personal inherent Righteousness from having any thing to do in his Justification because he said that he desired to be found in Christ not having his own Righteousness which is of the Law is so far from proving that he did so as that the contrary is plainly his scope and intent in the place where those words of his are found It was only his own Righteousness which was by the Law and which he trusted in while he was a Pharisee which he here renounced when he became a Christian Which Righteousness is elsewhere called the Jews own Righteousness which they went about to establish as being ignorant of the Righteousness of God Which Righteousness of theirs and of St. Paul while a Pharisee stood in an opinion and conceit First that the legal Sacrifices the Blood of Bulls and of Goats did of themselves expiate and take away sin and that there was no need of the Blood of Christ to do it Secondly that an external Righteousness without an internal was all that was necessary to their Justification the circumcision of the flesh and in the letter without that which is of the heart and in the spirit Thirdly in an opinion that for God to approve of them and to justifie them as righteous upon this account was but a due debt not a matter of meer grace and favour Now Justification by the righteousness of the Law in this sense this Apostle does indeed not only here renounce in himself but also every where in his Epistles disputeth against as any matter of mens justification before God And when he became a Christian he desired no longer to be found in this righteousness which was of the Law but to be found in Christ as having that Righteousness which is through the Faith of Christ the Righteousness of God by Faith The which Righteousness of Faith is opposed to this Righteousness which was of the Law and does summarily consist in a firm belief and practice of those things which are contrary to those in which the Pharisaical Righteousness which was of the Law did consist As first in a belief that the Blood of Christ only does expiate sin Secondly in inward purity of heart by Faith as well as external Righteousness Thirdly in a hearty perswasion that it is meerly of grace and favour that God through Christ will accept this for righteousness and that pardon of sin and eternal life are promised upon this only condition And this is the Righteousness of Faith which this Apostle opposeth in his Epistles to the other Righteousness of the Law as the Righteousness by which men shall be justified and in which he himself desired to be found And this Righteousness of Faith is said to be of God not only for that it is of his working in us but also and more especially because it is of his meer grace and favour to ordain by the Gospel that this shall be reckoned to us for Righteousness and that we shall be approved of as Righteous if it be found in us and dealt withal as righteous not only in not being punished as sinners but on the contrary rewarded as righteous The other Righteousness by which St. Paul while a Pharisee and other Pharisaical Jews expected to be justified is said to be their own Righteousness not only because what it did consist of was wholly within their own power to perform without any supernatural assistance but also and especially because it was the true Righteousness only in their own opinion and of their own making but never of Gods appointing or ordaining When some good men heretofore did exclude all personal Righteousness of Faith from having any hand in our Justification for fear they should otherwise detract from the fulness and sufficiency of the Righteousness of Christ they little considered what a door they thereby opened for Libertinism to enter in among us as after experience shewed they did For many from that Doctrine thought themselves so righteous in the sight of God by the Righteousness of Christ imputed to them upon a speculative Faith as that they needed no other Righteousness and thought it a disparagement to the Righteousness of Christ for any to say they did They would at first pretend indeed that the sense of Christs love would in a way of gratitude produce a good life but abhorred it should be made necessary to our Justification This I my self had experience of above forty years ago which with their neglect of Christian Duties first brought me under suspicion concerning the Doctrine of the imputation of the Righteousness of Christ unto Justification otherwise than in the blessed effects of it At that time the pressing the necessity of Repentance Mortification and a sincere keeping of the Commandments of God begun to be called Legal preaching as the like is still counted but Moral preaching by some others After this the foresaid notion was improved to the breaking out of the grossest Antinomian and Ranting practices under pretence of magnifying Free Grace to the great dishonour of the Christian profession and the apparent hazard of mens Salvation Vpon the observation of all which some worthy men were stirred up to encounter by writing not only such abuses and miscarriages of men but also those Doctrines out of which they sprang In which they were opposed by some patrons of unsound Principles which hath since occasioned many Disputes about some points in the Doctrine of Justification In which Disputes many School-nicities have been agitated which the generality of Christians little understand and which the Scriptures themselves meddle not in By means whereof such have been puzled rather than edified by much of what of this nature hath been done whose edification yet they being by far the greater number ought to be endeavoured as well at least if not rather than the edification and satisfaction of those of more refined apprehensions All which things considered some more discourses than have been yet extant tending to state and explain from the Scriptures the whole business of our Justification and to level it to the understanding of Christians of ordinary capacities without incumbring it with disputable questions and arguments pro and con seems to me no more than in some sort is needful It happens in reference to the Doctrine of Justification as it doth with many dark providences of God in the world they are dark and obscure and to us seem unaccountable because we do not see from the beginning to the end of them but only a part which otherwise would
Righteous without all mixture of that which deserves not the name of holiness and goodness nor they without unrighteousness antecedent to this and before they had repented and therefore is not such a compleat Righteousness as would hold measure according to the standard of the Law of innocency if we were to be tried by that to be Justified or Condemned by that In this regard the best of us have cause with the Psalmist to cry out and say If thou Lord shouldst work iniquity O Lord who shall stand Psal 130.3 It is indeed a growing Righteousness that is by degrees growing up towards a perfect state such in whom it is are perfecting holiness in the fear of God But before it is grown to this perfect state it is in the account of grace and by way of favour and for Christs sake accepted and approved by God for such Righteousness as unto which he hath promised the pardon of all past offences and of all such after infirmities as are consistent with this Covenant-Righteousness in its lower degree and also eternal Life it self So that in a word this thing we call everlasting Righteousness by which we are Justified owes it self its very being such a Righteousness as it is unto the Covenant of Grace or that Grace of God and of our Lord Jesus Christ which is put into a Covenant for us 3. The Covenant operates to our Justification as being the rule by which those are justified in judgment to be Righteous persons such as to whom the promise of pardon and eternal life is made that are justified at all Righteousness as I have formerly shewed receives its denomination as it doth its nature from its conformity to some Law And this Covenant-Righteousness the Righteousness of Faith receives its denomination from its Conformity to the Covenant of Grace as being that qualification in the person on condition of which the promises of the Covenant are made and therefore every man that is Justified is Justified by this Law to be such a person as to whom the promises are made It is by this Law that such a person is Justified in his cause if a man be not a Just and Righteous person in the sense of this Law he will not be Justified by God for he judgeth of men and their cause by this Law Jam. 2.12 So speak ye and so do as they that shall be judged by the Law of liberty that is the Gospel or Covenant of Grace And our Saviour saith The word that I have spoken the same shall judg you in the last day John 12.48 4. The Covenant operates to our Justification as an instrument of making us to become Righteous and so capable subjects of Justification And this it doth by way of motive or persuasion The great and precious promises made to men in this Covenant of pardon of sin and eternal Life on condition of the Righteousness of Faith Sobriety Righteousness and Godliness and not otherwise they out of a desire and love to the benefits promised are persuaded to imbrace the condition without which they cannot enjoy them that is to become Righteous The Gospel ministration is called the ministration of Righteousness 2 Cor. 3.9 And it is so both as it ministers to us the knowledg that there is another Righteousness than that which is of the Law and also as it ministers to us powerful motives and assistances to follow after Righteousness by which they become Righteous and so to be Justified St. Paul saith The Gospel is the power of God to Salvation in as much as therein the Righteousness of God is revealed from Faith to Faith Rom. 1.16 17. the terms on which God will account them Righteous and the motives to make them so these are revealed by the Gospel by which it becomes the power of God to Salvation to those that believe it The Gospel is a ministration of Righteousness and of Justification as it is the ministration of Reconciliation of reconciling us to God of reconciling our nature to the holy nature of God and to his holy Laws by making us partakers of a Divine Nature a God-like Nature in Holiness and Goodness which is done by the great and precious promises of the Gospel of pardon and eternal Life as powerful motives persuading men to become new creatures in order to the obtaining these great benefits promised and attainable only upon condition of such our reconciliation to God which puts us into a perfect capacity of Justification that is of being approved of as those who have performed the condition of the foresaid promised benefits Thus the Gospel is called the word of reconciliation which was committed to the Apostles and others and their Ministry the ministry of reconciliation 2 Cor. 5.18.19 And by a practical knowledg and belief of these things revealed by the Gospel men come to be justified that is approved of as those that have known believed and obeyed the Gospel By his knowledg saith God concerning Christ shall my righteous servant justifie many Isa 53.11 That is by the knowledg of him in what he is hath done and suffered revealed and taught What the Law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh as to free us from the Law of sin and to bring us to that Righteousness which it did design but could not effect that is now done by the Law of the spirit of Life which is in Christ Jesus to wit the Gospel The Law without the Gospel could not give us that assurance of Gods willingness to be reconciled to us and of pardon upon repentance which the Gospel does much less of a glorious reward of new obedience For the promise of pardon for Christs sake upon our repentance the promise of the Resurrection of the Body and of the Celestial Glory are brought to light by the Gospel being matters of supernatural Revelation Now it is the great assurance which the Gospel gives us of these things upon the account of Christs death that is the powerful motive of prevailing with men to be reconciled to God and to become Evangelically Righteous that they may be Justified And therefore the preaching of the Cross is said to be to them that are saved the power of God and for wisdom of God 1 Cor. 1.18 24. That is it contains and lays open Gods most wise contrivance of reconciling sinners to himself and by that means becomes his powerful motive of drawing men to it that so they may be Justified Pardoned and Glorified The Law made nothing perfect it is the bringing in of this better hope by the Gospel that doth it Heb. 7.19 The Law which laid a burden of strict obedience upon men backt with severe threatnings in case of transgression prevailed little upon men but to keep them under a spirit of bondage to fear while they were unacquainted with the rich grace and indulgence of the Gospel by which the Yoke of Christ is rendered easie and his burden light The Gospel prevails much
in his word To say God did give such men power in Adam will not salve the business For we cannot say that any such power was given to Adam himself before his fall much less that all his Posterity had such a power in him We cannot say that Adam had power to do more than what was necessary to continue him in that state in which God created him and consequently we cannot say that God gave him power to repent when he had no occasion for it or power to believe the Gospel when there was no Revelation of it nor occasion for such a Revelation No this power depends upon an after-work of Grace through our Blessed Redeemer Nor is this doctrine touching the power which God hath given unto men of acting towards their own believing at all contrary to that where men are said to have believed through grace Acts 18.27 or to that where Faith is said to be the gift of God For it is through the preventive and antecedent Grace of God as I have said that they are enabled to act towards their believing For though what they do towards their own believing is by a free use of their natural faculties yet it is by means of the preventive and antecedent Grace of God to wit the Gospel that those faculties act any thing towards their believing the Gospel For without such an object of Faith as the Gospel is mens faculties could act nothing towards the believing of it And then further though men do exercise their natural faculties upon the objective Grace of God and thereby act somthing towards their own believing Yet in that hereupon more power is given them to believe hâ—â—â—lie effectually and fully to Righteousness and Salvation this power is from the subsequent Grace of God So that the whole business of believing from the beginning to the end of it is of Grace first of Grace antecedent and then of Grace subsequent There is only so much of man in raising Faith in him as belongs to the free use of his natural powers and faculties The Grace of God in working Faith does not put new faculties into man nor destroy that freedom which is proper to the will as such It only rectifies and regulates the motions and operations of the will in reference to its objects So that the change is not natural but moral And this moral change in rectifying and regulating the acts and motions of the will is made partly by opening the understanding and enlightening the mind better to discern the nature of things and whereto they tend And this is done partly by holding the thoughts more frequenâ—â—y and more intently upon things that concern the soul and another life and partly by assisting and strengthening the understanding in making a right judgment of things And then the will is prevailed upon to chuse the right end and the way to it by having the great motives of the Gospel kept upon it by a more frequent and constant consideration For by that more frequent consideration and by the illumination of the mind about the great motives of the Gospel the power and force of those motives is better felt by the Will So that as a man comes to have other apprehensions of things by illumination of the mind so he comes to have other affections for them in the acts and motions of his will This change thus made in the mnid and will is called the renewing of the Holy Ghost because it is his work upon and by both Tit. 3.5 and a being renewed in the spirit of the mind Eph. 4.23 It is a restoring the natural faculties that were depraved in their operations to their right use and exercise for which they were made which was to act for the honor of their maker and for their own happiness and not contrarywise as they do when perverted by the power of sin This renovation in the natural faculties therefore tends to the perfecting of our nature For which cause perhaps men thus renewed are in Scripture stiled perfect in the favourable sense of Grace This one thing is further to be noted That whatever is done upon the natural faculties of mind and will by the Gospel or by the Spirit of God to change and renew them is also done by those faculties Men are not made to understand or believe the Gospel which they did not before otherwise than by exercising their mind and will about it By all this then it appears I hope that what is ascribed unto man in acting towards his own believing is no ways contrary to Grace unless you will say an effect cannot be of Grace if the natural faculties have any thing to do in the producing of it as they must if it be mans act I might shew how that the Gospel by the giving of which God hath been aforehand with us and prevented all endeavours of ours is of it self and in the very nature of it so apt to work upon the human faculties and to incline men to embrace it if they would but a little attend to it and consider it which one would think they might easily do if they would before their natures are debauched by a custom of sinning I say it is so apt to gain upon them that it hardly fails to do so more or less but where it meets with such as wilfully call off their natural faculties from attending to it and the things it treats of and that imploy them about objects of another nature as those did who in the Parable of our Saviour are said to be invited to the Supper which a King made for his Son when they made their several excuses This is well represented by our Saviour when he says of such that they closed their eyes lest at any time they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears and should understand with their hearts and should be converted and I should heal them Mat. 13.15 These are words which seem to signifie more than a bare omission or neglect and denote a kind of opposition a striving with themselves not to think upon or to be affected with things of that nature as those of a spiritual concern are And such people do not only not incline their ears to hear nor give ear to hear as the Scripture speaks but they turn away their ear from hearing they reject the word of the Lord and the counsel of God against themselves We do not therefore attribute any such great matter unto men when we say that they by the advantage of the Gospel may do so much towards their own believing if they will as would through the help of Gods Holy Spirit who is always ready to assist mens honest and good endeavours issue and end in an effectual believing Nay there is so much of the Grace of God vouchsafed towards the calling of men by the very sending of the Gospel to them as will in all probability prevail upon them if they do not much oppose resist and