JUSTIFICATION BY FAITH OR A CONFUTATION Of that ANTINOMIAN ERROR That Justification is before Faith BEING The SUM SUBSTANCE Of a SERMON Preached at SARUM By Benjamin Woodbridge Minister of Newberry in BARKSHIRE May 26. 1652. Imprimatur Edmund Calamy GAL. 3. 16. We have believed in Jesus Christ that we might be justified by the Faith of Christ London Printed by John Field for Edmund Paxton and are to be sold at his Shop in Pauls-Chain over against the Castle-Tavern near to the Doctors Commons 1652. Christian Reader THe Doctrine of the Gospel concerning the Justification of a believing Sinner because it exceedingly illustrates the glorious riches of Gods free Grace and magnifies his Justice because it is the onely support of comfort to a wounded conscience and takes away from man the cause of boastings and is so much above the invention and credulity of reason is most plainly delivered and often inculcated by the holy Ghost in Scripture in that we learn all the causes of Justification The efficient Rom. 3. 24 25. 26. God The inwardly movings his rich mercy great love The meritorious Jesus Christ The material the obedience of Christ The formal the imputation of Righteousness without Works The instrumental by which it is received Faith The final the glory of the grace of God and the salvation of the believing sinner This Doctrine hath in all ages been opposed obscured sometimes by manifest enemies and that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 professedly sometimes by professed friends and such as would be accounted the great pleaders for free Grace What errors Papists Socinians Arminians erre in this weighty Doctrine I relate not This short and learned discourse which thou art presented with deals not with these but with Antinomian Error It is a true observation of godly Mr. Shepheard Mark Sound believer p. 96. those men that deny the use of the Law to lead unto Christ if they do not fall in time to oppose some main point of the Gospel For it is a righteous thing but a heavy plague for the Lord to suffer such men to obscure the Gospel that in their judgements zealously dislike the use of the Law This thing these men have done asserting That all the elect before their Conversion and Faith stand actually reconciled to God and justified before him A strange Assertion as reverend Dr. Downam rightly terms it to be uttered by a godly man Covenant of Grace p. 292. This is the Opinion in this Treatise confuted and proved contradictory to Scripture fit onely 1. To sew pillows under the elbows of prophane men 2. To overthrow the comfort of Believers destroying the ground nature use and end of Faith Curcellaeus judges the differences amongst Christians Prefat in op Episcopij in this Point of Justification of so small concernment as that they ought not to breed a controversie But Reader When the glory of God and comfort of thy soul lies at stake as in these matters do not thou think either that men wrangle about a Goats wool or that the matter doth not concern thee Thou art beholding to the learned Author for the penning of this Tract but for the publishing of it to another into whose hands it came That thou mayest read it and weigh it without prejudice and profit by it is the Prayer of James Cranford Justification by Faith Worthy Sir ACcording to your desire and my own promise I here send you the Copy of the Sermon which I Preached lately at Salisbury against the Opinion so much prevailing amongst you of Justification before Faith I have made several additions to several Arguments and annexed a large Answer to the two Arguments which Mr. Eyre made use of against me after the Sermon was ended The Introduction to the Text and the Applicatory part of the Sermon I shall not trouble you with but onely with that which is Doctrinal and Controversal HAving then read those words in Rom. 5. 1. The Point observed was this That we are justified by Faith To write down all the places that give evidence to this truth were to Transcribe almost the whole New Testament Gal. 2. 16. We have believed in Jesus Christ that we may be justified by the Faith of Christ where Justification is expresly made a consequent of Faith And as Glory follows Justification so doth Justification follow Vocation unto Faith Rom. 8. 30. and Righteousness saith the Apostle shall be imputed unto us if we believe Rom. 4. 24. so Acts 10. 43. and 13. 39. and 26. 18. with multitudes of other places The onely Answer which is given to these and the like Texts is this That by Justification we are to understand a Justification in the Court of Conscience or the Evidence and Declaration of a Justification already past before God so that Faith is said to justifie us not because it doth justifie us before God but because it doth declare to our Consciences that we are justified Against which Gloss I have several things to oppose 1. That it is a contradiction of the Holy Ghost It is well known that the Apostle in the Epistle to the Romans and to the Galatians sets himself on purpose to assert the Doctrine of Justification by Faith in opposition to Works The question between him and the Jews was not Whether we were declared to be justified by Faith or Works but Whether we were justified by Faith or Works in the sight of God or before God and he concludes that it is by Faith and not by Works Thus Rom. 3. 20 21. Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested c. The righteousness of God without the Law is the righteousness of Faith and by this we are Justified in the sight of God and not by the deeds of the Law Again Gal. 3. 11. But that no man is justified by the Law in the sight of God it is evident For the just shall live by Faith where the Argument is clearly this If we are justified by Faith in the sight of God then we are not justified by Works in the sight of God But we are justified by Faith in the sight of God For the Just shall live by Faith Ergo not by Works From which places we may safely infer that where else the Apostle speaks of Justification by Faith in opposition to Justification by Works he is to be understood of Justification before God or in the sight of God and not onely of Justification in our own Consciences 2. It is also a most unsound assertion that Faith doth Evidence our Justification before Faith The word Evidence may be taken improperly as signifying no more then an Argument and so Faith may be said to Evidence Justification as an effect doth argue the cause As laughing and crying may be said to evidence reason in a childe not that it is necessary they should evidence it to the childe it self
everlasting flames 3. The condemnation with which the unbeliever is condemned is expressed verse 36. by the abiding of the wrath of God upon him 4. It is also opposed unto salvation verse 17. God sent not his Son to condemn the world but to save it and surely the condemnation which is opposed to Salvation is more then the condemnation of a mans own conscience for that may very well consist with Salvation yea they that are saved are for the most part more subject to it in this life then they that perish 3. A third Argument is drawn from the several comparisons by which justification by Faith is illustrated Sometimes 't is compared to the Israelites looking up to the Brazen Serpent for healing Joh. 3. 14. Num. 21. 8 9. As then they were not first healed and then looked up to see what healed them but they did first look upon the Serpent and then they were healed Even so is it the will of God That whosoever seeth and believeth the Son shall be justified John 6. 40. He is not first justified and then seeth the Son sometimes Faith is compared to eating and Justification to the nourishment which we receive by our meat John 6. 51 52 53 54. We are not first nourished and then eat the meat that nourisheth us but we eat our meat that we may be nourished by it In like maner we are not first justified and then believe on Christ that hath justified us but we believe in Christ that we may be justified 4. A fourth Argument is drawn from the perpetual opposition between Faith and Works from whence the Argument is this What place and order Works had to justification in the Covenant of Works the same place and order Faith hath to our justification in the Covenant of Grace But Works were to go before our Justification in the Covenant of Works Ergo Faith is to go before our Justification in the Covenant of Grace To the minor I say nothing because there is not a man in the world that doth deny it as I know of and that being granted the major also must be out of question If the tenor of the first Covenant Do this and live by the consent of all People and Nations Jews and Gentiles will undeniably evince that Works were necessary Antecedents of justification in that Covenant why then should not Believe in the Lord Jesus and thou shalt be saved which is the tenor of the New Covenant Rom. 10. 6 9. plead as strongly for the like necessity of the Antecedency of Faith to justification in this Covenant 2. Faith and Works have the like order to justification in their respective Covenants or else justification by Faith and justification by Works are not opposed for Opposita sunt circa idem The Jews looked after Righteousness by the works of the Law The Apostle tells them they must seek it by Faith Now if they say we must be justified by Works to wit formally and before God and the Apostle say Nay but we must be justified by Faith to wit declaratively and before Conscience then the establishing of justification by Faith will not destroy justification by Works and so there will be nothing but falshoods and equivocations in all the Apostles Disputations against Justification by Works And how easily might the Jews and the Apostle have been reconciled They say We must be justified by Works and he says We must be justified by Faith it is but distinguishing Works do justifie us before God but Faith must evidence and declare this to us and they are agreed 5. Adde further what the Apostle says 1 Cor. 6. 11. Such were some of you but you are washed but you are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Where the opposition between the time past and the time present doth evidently argue that the words have this sense Such and such you were in time past Fornicators Idolaters c. and therefore must have been shut out of the Kingdom of God verse 10. But Now you are washed Now and not before you are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus that is through Faith in his name compare Acts 3. 16. and 10. 43. If then the Corinthians were not justified before Faith Why are Englishmen It is to no purpose to say here That now they were declared in their own Consciences to be justified and so they were not before whiles they lived in those abominable sins For 1. Why may not we understand the word Sanctified in the same sense seeing we are said to be sanctified by Faith Acts 26. 18. and 15. 9. 1 Pet. 1. 22. as well as justified by Faith And so suppose that these Corinthians had a seed of Grace before but buried under the dirt and rubbish of vile sins till by Faith they came to see that they were sanctified There is nothing can be alledged for Justification before believing which will not hold as strongly for Sanctification before believing nor any reason why Sanctification should not be understood for a Sanctification declared as well as Justification for a Justification declared 2. The Justification which they now had was that which gave them right and title to the Kingdom of God which right and title they had not before no more then others that did yet continue in Idolatry Fornication Uncleanness and the other sins specified It is acknowledged of all hands that Justification includes an adjudging of us unto life or a giving us a right to the Heavenly Kingdom if then these Corinthians had this right before they believed then did their Faith give them no more security of Salvation in point of right then they had before or then might be affirmed of them who did yet abide in their sins and by consequence if they had lived and dyed in their sins they might have gone to Heaven notwithstanding though for want of Faith to see this their right they could not have departed with so much comfort of Spirit For if faith do onely declare that we have a Title to the Heavenly Kingdom then it makes no relative change in our condition from a state of death into a state of life and so whether we believe or no all is one as to the certainty of our Salvation though we want the evidence and perswasion of it If it be here said that all whom God in his secret justification hath adjudged unto life shall have the evidence thereof by Faith I Answer This evidence is of such necessity as that if they have it not they shall lose that life to which they are adjudged or no If not then whether they believe or do not believe they shall be saved If it be then is there no absolute justification before Faith and justification must be conditional and the immediate and absolute right to life must be acknowledged to be a consequent of Faith which will at once overthrow Mr. Eyres Opinion and confirm this Argument without any more ado What remains to be done is to
promised in Scripture peradventure they may grant that Justification in this or that place is meant of justification before God but their grant doth neither make nor mar if the evidence of the Text do not compel and convince the understanding Having thus cleared the coast of this Exception which for ought I can see is the onely Obstruction in the way I pass on to propound some Arguments by which it may be proved That we are justified by Faith in the sight of God and not before The first is drawn from the nature of Justification which is an Absolution of a Sinner from Condemnation by that gracious Sentence and signal Promise in the Gospel He that believes shall not enter into condemnation We are not to conceive of Justification as an internal immanent act of God resolving privatly in his own brest not to prosecute his right against a Sinner but it must be some declared promulged act which may be our legal discharge from the accusation condemnation of the Law for as sin is not imputed where there is no Law Rom. 5. 13. so neither is Righteousness imputed without Law And as our condemnation is no secret act or resolution of God to condemn but the very voice and sentence of the Law Cursed is he that sinneth and therefore he whom God in his eternal Decree hath purposed to save may yet for the present be under the sentence of condemnation as the Ephesians whom God had chosen to eternal Life Eph. 1. 4. were yet sometimes the children of Wrath chap. 2. 3. so on the contrary our Justification must be some declared promulged act or sentence of God which may stand good in Law for the discharge of the sinner from condemnation Indeed to our private forgiveness one of another it being meerly an act of Charity there is no more required then a Resolution within our selves to lay aside our thoughts of revenge and not to prosecute our right against him that hath injured us But the forgiveness of a Magistrate being an act of Authority must be by some formal Act of Oblivion by which all former Acts and Orders against Delinquents may be invalidated A Vote in the House or a Declaration that such an Act shall come forth is no legal security to a Delinquent So then Gods forgiveness being an Act of Authority must neither be an hidden secret purpose in his own heart nor a meer promise or Declaration of an Act of Pardon that shall be made hereafter but a formal Act of Pardon it must be that shall make the Law of condemnation to be of no force against him that pleads it And this formal Act of Pardon can be no other then the sentence of the Gospel He that believes shall be saved which is sometimes called the Law of Faith Rom. 3. 27. sometimes the Law of Righteousness Rom. 9. 31. in reference to which it is that the Lord says He that believes is passed from death to life John 5. 24. so that as every man is then condemned when the Law condemns him whatsoever the purposes of God may be unknown to us so on the contrary a man is then justified when the Gospel justifies him and not before The Argument then is in sum this If there be no Act of Grace declared and published in the word which may be a legal discharge of the Sinner while he is in unbelief then no unbelieving Sinner is justified The reason is because Justification imports a legal discharge of the Sinner by some Act of Grace declared and published in the Gospel But there is no Act of Grace declared and published in the Word which may be a legal discharge of the sinner whiles he remains in unbelief Ergo. If there be any such Act let it be produced 2. The second Argument is this They that are under condemnation cannot at the same time be justified but all the world is under condemnation before Faith Ergo none of the world are justified before Faith The major must needs be true because Justification and Condemnation are contraries and contraries cannot be verified of the same subject at the same time Justification is a moral life and Condemnation a moral death a man can no more be in a justified Estate and a state of Condemnation both at once then he can be alive or dead both at once or a blessed man and a cursed man both at once What that the Apostle describes justification by non-condemnation Rom. 8. 1. and opposeth it unto condemnation as inconsistent with the same person at the same time ver 33 34. and are at as mortal enmity one with another as good and evil light and darkness But now that all the world is under condemnation before Faith which is the minor are the very words of the Lord Jesus John 3. 18. He that believeth not is condemned already The Lord is proving that he came not into the world to condemn the world he proves it by a disjunction thus Then either he must condemn them that believe or them that do not believe not them that believe For he that believeth is not condemned nor them that do not believe For he that believeth not is condemned already to wit by the sentence of the Law Cursed is every one that sinneth so that Christ should not need to come into the world to condemn it which is also the meaning of that other phrase verse 36. He that believeth not the wrath of God abideth on him that is the wrath of God by the Law is upon every sinner yet not so necessarily but that by believing he may escape it but if he believeth not then the wrath of God abideth on him the sentence of the Law shall stand good against him for ever If then it be objected that when it is said He that believeth not is condemned condemnation must be understood of the condemnation of Conscience not before God I Answer 1. The condemnation here spoken of is the condemnation of the Law and that pronounceth all men guilty not onely in their own conscience but before God Rom. 3. 19. That all the world may become guilty before God 2. The condemnation in conscience of the unbelieving world is either true or false If true then it is according to the judgement of God and speaks as the thing is and so God condemns as well as the conscience and in this case we may say as John doth 1 John 3. 20. If our hearts condemn us God is greater then our hearts and knoweth all things and by consequence doth much more condemn us If false then seeing all the unbelieving world is under the same condemnation the conscience of an unbeliever when it condemns him for drunkenness adultery swearing c. is erroneous and the way to comfort them is to perswade them so and thereby to blinde their eyes and harden their hearts and sear up their consciences that they may never see nor be affected with sin till they fall irrecoverably into
the effects of Election In the mean time what a miserable circle is the poor restless doubting soul conjured into through the want of its Evidence and knows not where to finde it his Faith must first evidence his Justification by his Election and then it must evidence his Election by his Justification till in the issue this new Gospel leave him without all Evidence of Eternal Life 2. But the very truth is it is not Faith which doth evidence Syllogistically and it is most absurd to say we are justified by Faith because Faith doth evidence our Justification Syllogistically let the Argument be this If we are said to be justified by Faith because Faith doth evidence Justification Syllogistically then we may be said to be justified by sense and reason as well as by Faith which is absurd The reason is because sense reason concur with Faith in a Syllogistical evidence for clearing of which let us again set before us the former Syllogism He that believeth is justified But I believe Therefore I am justified The major onely is the assent or act of Faith The Assumption an act of sense or spiritual Experience The Conclusion an act of Reason That he that believes is justified this Faith doth evidence That I believe is evidenced to me by mine own Spiritual Experience That therefore I am justified is the evidence of reason inferring the Conclusion out of the premises wherefore Faith must be said to justifie in some other respect then that it doth evidence Justification or else we cannot be said to be justified by Faith at all A third Argument to prove that the Justification by Faith is not meerly a Justification in our Consciences is this That Interpretation of the Phrase which makes us at least concurrent causes with God in the formal act of our own Justification is not true The reason is because our Justification by Faith in regard of the formal act of pronouncing us just is in Scripture attributed wholly unto God It is God that justifieth Rom. 8. 33. that imputeth Righteousness Rom. 4. 6 8. We do no more justifie our selves then we glorifie our selves It is God alone doth both and we are passive in both Rom. 8. 30. But to interpret our justification by Faith meerly for a justification in our own Conscienes is to make us at least concurrent causes with God in the formal act of our own Justification This is so clear that it needs no proof For us to be justified in our own Consciences what is it but for our own Consciences to pronounce us just and what is this but for our selves to justifie our selves And so our Justification by Faith is not Gods act onely but our own also in part It is true that the Spirit of God doth justifie us in our own Consciences but not without the concurrent testimony and justification of our Consciences The Spirit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 beareth witness not to our Spirits but with our Spirits verily if our hearts condemn us we can have no evidence nor assurance before God 1 John 3. 19 20 21. You know what was here excepted viz. That if we were altogether passive in being justified then we are justified before we believe An Exception so childish That if all Error were not a piece of witchery I should wonder it should proceed out of that mouth To believe is indeed a formal vital act of the soul in genere physico but the use of it in Justification is to qualifie us passively that we may be morally and orderly capable of being justified by another even by God the great Judge of life and death Will any sober man impute to us that because we maintain Justification by Faith in this sense therefore we set up our selves as Judges together with God of our own souls or that we have therefore a joynt concurrence with him in making that gracious Law by and according to which we are justified or in pronouncing a sentence of Absolution upon our selves He would be thought more worthy to be derided then disputed with that should infer Because some Offenders against our Laws are not capable of Pardon unless they can read the Book therefore he that reads must needs be one of the State in making that Law or a Judge with his Judge in absolving himself according to that Law If a Magistrate grant a pardon to an Offender upon condition that he accept it his acceptance is indeed his own act yet in a Moral consideration 't is onely a passive condition making him capable of being pardoned according to the Magistrates will though a man have in himself more ability to read and accept of a Pardon then a sinner hath to believe and no man I trow will say that by his acceptance he is a concurrent cause in the formal act of his own Absolution In like maner we say we are not social causes with God either in making the law of Grace or in pronouncing our selves just according to that law and therefore Justification by Faith cannot be onely justification in Conscience yet Faith is required on our part which though Physically it be an act yet morally it is but a passive condition by which we are made capable of being justified according to the order and constitution of God It is God that glorifies us and not we our selves yet surely God doth not glorifie us before we believe I shall adde but one thing more which I wish may be seriously considered If justification by Faith must be understood of justification in our Consciences then is not the word Justification taken properly for a justification before God in all the Scriptures from the beginning to the end We read of no justification in Scripture but by Faith or Works when the Scriptures speak of justification by Works Mr. Eyre says it must be understood of a justification before men when it speaks of justification by Faith he says in like maner it must be understood of a justification before our own Consciences and neither of these the justification before God and verily neither of them of much worth in the Apostles judgement 1 Cor. 4. 3. And yet of any other justification before God which is neither of these two we do not read in all the Scripture The Antinomians may read their eyes out before they produce us one Text for it And what a most incredible thing is it that a word so often used should never be read in its most natural and true signification and that so glorious a Blessing as Justification before God should never be mentioned by its own name in all the Bible yea verily the whole comfort of this inestimable Blessing will be utterly taken from us for if the Scripture doth not say that any man is justified before God then no mans Faith can evidence to him that he is justified before God And if justification by Faith be not justification before God then is there no justification before God for any man living
compare them with other places of Scripture we shall finde three things of distinct consideration the conclusion of which is the only support of this feeble Argument 1. There is the matter and blessings of the Covenant on Gods part I will be their God and they shall be my people In which words as many blessings temporal and eternal are promised so peculiarly pardon of sin mentioned in the words next following for which the Covenant on Mount Sinai to which this opposed made no provision and therefore when the Apostle mentioneth this Covenant again he leaves out those words I will be their God c. and takes notice of the great blessing contained in them namely Pardon of sin Heb. 10. 17. 2. There is expressed the bond and condition of it on our part and that is Faith which is confessedly signified in those words of putting Gods Laws in our mindes and writing them in our hearts In these two things is the tenor and formality of the New Covenant They that believe the Lord will be their God and they shall be his people and this is the Covenant so long before promised but most expresly Enacted in the days of the New Testament But thirdly There is also a Promise and Declaration that God will work this condition by which men shall have an interest in this Covenant and a right and title to the blessings thereof I will put my laws into their mindes that is I will give them Faith which Faith is not promised as an effect of the Covenant already made but as the means by which we are brought into Covenant and thereby invested in a right to all the blessings of it So that the words are in this sense This is the Covenant which I will make with the house of Israel when I shall write my Laws in their hearts I will be their God c. I do not herein give the Grammatical Translation of the words though if a man should read the words thus This is the Covenant which I will make saith the Lord that giveth his Laws into their mindes and writeth them in their heart c. he would be so far from offering violence either to the Greek Translation of the LXX which the Apostle follows or to the Hebrew Text in the Prophet as that he might justifie it by many examples But the matter is of no consequence at all to either side You see the sense which I give of the words And that this is the true sense of the place is most evident if we compare it with other Scriptures where this Covenant is mentioned For example Jer. 24. 7. I will give them an heart to know me that I am the Lord and they shall be my people and I will be their God for or when they shall return unto me with their whole heart where we have the very same Arguments as here viz. The blessings promised I will be their God The condition on the peoples part which is their returning with their whole heart and the cause of this return I will give them an heart The Apostle is yet more distinct Heb. 10. 14 15 16 17. He proves that Christ hath for ever perfected them that are sanctified whereof saith he the holy Ghost is a witness to us for after that he had said before This is the Covenant that I will make with them I will put my laws into their heart And their sins and their iniquities I will remember no more Before which last words must be repeated these Then he saith or Then it followeth and so the whole sentence runneth thus For after he had said before I will put my laws into their hearts then he saith Their sins and their iniquities I wil remember no more which clause as is already observed is one of the special and noble blessings contained in that general promise I will be their God and they shall be my people from which distribution of the words of the Covenant we may as before observe 1. Where begins the grand promise of the Covenant to wit in those words I will be their God and they shall be my people 2. The Qualification of the persons to whom this promise is made They are such in whose hearts Gods Laws are written that is such as believe 3. The efficient cause of this their Faith and that is God himself I will write my laws in their hearts The same Covenant is delivered in other terms in Scripture in all which the giving of the first Grace is promised not as a part of the Covenant but as the means and qualification on mans part for his entrance into Covenant as Ezek. 11. 19 20. I will put a new spirit within them that they may walk in my statutes and do them and they shall be my people and I will be their God which is the sum of the Covenant on Gods part so in Ezek. 36. 25 26 27 28. Again the Lord promiseth That he will cleanse and purifie them and so they shall be his people and he will be their God Ezek. 37. 23. which is the grand promise of the New Testament as the context makes it manifest And after he had promised that they should walk in his judgements and observe in his statutes it follows Moreover I will make a Covenant of peace with them it shall be an everlasting Covenant which in sum is this I will be their God and they shall be my people verse 24. 26 27. The premises being considered it is an easie matter to take the elevation of all the strength which our opponents can gather out of this Text If they will argue rightly they must cast their Argument into some such form as this They concerning whom God hath promised that he will give them Faith they are in Covenant before they believe But concerning the elect God hath promised that he will give them Faith Ergo. Here the major is utterly untrue for the promise of Faith which in reference to us is rather a Declaration de futuro of what God will do then a promise is the promise of the condition by which we are brought into Covenant and therefore though God hath declared that he will give Faith it will by no means follow that we are in Covenant before Faith But let them frame their Argument how they please it concerns not me to be solicitous about that I shall advance one Argument against them from this their place of refuge and pass on If God be not the God of any nor they his people before they believe then none are in Covenant with God before they believe But God is not the God of any before they believe Ergo. For the proposition he is destitute of common sense that shall deny it The being of the Covenant consists in that properly which God hath in us and we in him The Assumption is proved thus If God promise to give Faith that we may be his people and he our God then till that Faith