THE Incomprehensibleness OF Imputed Righteousness BY HUMAN REASON c. BOOKS Published by the same AUTHOR and Sold by Tho. Cockerill 1. A Sermon at the Funeral of the late Reverend Divine Mr. Edward West 2. A Discourse of Regeneration Faith and Repentance 3. A Discourse of Christian Religion in Sundry Points THE Incomprehensibleness OF Imputed Righteousness FOR JUSTIFICATION BY HUMANE REASON Till Enlightned by the SPIRIT of GOD. Preached in TWO SERMONS at the Merchants-Lecture in Broadstreet By THOMAS COLE Minister of the Gospel in London And Published at the Instance of many who heard Them London Printed for Tho. Cockerill at the Three Legs in the Poultrey over-against the Stocks-Market 1692. TO THE Christian READER 'T IS a dangerous thing to stumble in Sion by taking offence at the Mystery of our Redemption by Christ because we cannot comprehend it by our own Reason We are commanded to believe it without consulting flesh and blood about it but humbly waiting for that anointing from the Holy One that teaches us of all things and is truth and no lie 1 Joh. 2. 20 27. Such blindness is hapned to us since the Fall that we cannot discern the deep things of God 'till we are spiritually enlightned yet how many are there in this disputing Age who leaning too much to their own Understanding decry all Supernatural Illumination as mere Enthusiasm counting Faith it self a blind irrational thing a bare act of the Will to which the Understanding contributes nothing as if Believers had no real knowledge or inward evidence of the things they believe Therefore to stop the mouths of Gain-sayers who discover their deplorable Ignorance of the Mystery of Faith by their frequent Mutterings artificial Reasonings and Sophistical Cavills against it I shall plainly declare what I believe to be true in this Case viz. That Supernatural Illumination which I affirm as absolutely necessary to a saving knowledge of God in Christ is a divine Light let down from Heaven into the Soul by which the mysterious Truths of the Gospel are made manifest to the eye of our Understanding as by the light of the Sun things bodily are made manifest to the eye of our Body so says Paul Baines on the Ephesians This Supernatural Light is called the Spirit of Wisdom and Revelation in the knowledge of Christ Eph. 1. 17 18. given to the Saints to instruct them in all Gospel Mysteries We may know this spiritual Illumination to be a true heavenly Light because it agrees in all things with the Word of God the same Spirit of God shining in our hearts that shines in the Word Should any pretend by a supposed inward Light to be wise above what is written and to know what is not revealed in the Scripture this were Enthusiasm indeed therefore to the Law and to the Testimony if they speak not according to this word it is because they have no light in them Isa. 8. 20. We must not believe every spirit but try the spirits whether they are of God because many false prophets are gone out into the world hereby we know the Spirit of God every one who confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God 1 Iohn 4. 1 2. They who thus confess Christ i. e. do from their hearts own and acknowledge both the Person and Doctrine of Christ to be Divine being inwardly perswaded of the Truth of the Gospel and brought under the power of it not by the wisdom of man or by the strength of human reason but by the inward demonstration of the Spirit enlightning the mind and leaving it under the evidence of things not seen nor understood by humane reason but plainly discerned by this higher light of Faith can such a Faith be the effect of blindness Can such a Faith be Enthusiasm A Faith grounded upon the Word of God and acting from the highest Wisdom the surest Knowledge and most undeceivable light that man can walk by if this be a blind belief then there is nothing reasonable in the whole world if this be a delusion where are we What can we trust in if not in that which we so know and are upon infallible grounds perswaded is truth and no lye That which renders Believers suspected by carnal men is because they cannot communicate that light to the hearts of others by which they themselves do see 'T is true all have not Faith and 't is as true that some have Faith pray whence should such a Persuasion come How should such a Faith be wrought in any I must come either from our selves from the Devil or from God From our selves it cannot come because Gospel-Truths are above our Reason contrary to our Lusts and to all the Inclinations of corrupt nature in fallen man who cannot by his own power dispose himself to believe the Gospel From the Devil it cannot be as any delusion of his we call not that a delusion which is above man's reason but that which is quite beside the Word of God or contrary to it and no man in his right wits can suppose the Devil either able or willing to instruct men in the Saving Knowledge of Gospel-Truths which are as contrary to him as they are to a natural man 't is his interest to suppress them and he doth his utmost to blind the minds of them who believe not lest the light of the glorious Gospel of Christ should shine unto them 2 Cor. 4. 4. Is not the whole Bible from one end to the other written against the Devil representing him as an adversary a hater and destroyer of mankind laying open his devices and stratagems against us exhorting us to resist him to trample him under our feet to figbt against him where-ever we meet him in any temptation and can we think that Satan is so divided against himself as to promote the knowledge of that among men which is so much to his disadvantage Whence I infer If Faith be not of our selves nor from the Devil it must be from God and God owns it to be his work his Operation his Gift therefore let men have a care they don't blaspheme this work of the Holy-Ghost in the hearts of the Saints setting up their own natural reason in the room and place of supernatural Illumination without which the Mysteries of the Gospel can never be rightly understood Christian Reader Having detained thee thus long from the ensuing Discourse I recommend both It and Thee to the Blessing of God T. C. THE Incomprehensibleness OF Imputed Righteousness c. Rom. IX 32 33 For they stumbled at that stumbling stone as it is written Behold I lay in Sion a stumbling-stone and rock of offence and whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed THE Apostle speaks at large in this Chapter of the Rejection of the Iews and the Calling of the Gentiles In the close of the Chapter he shews why so few Iews were converted by the Gospel to whom it was first Preached and how the
grace in his kindness towards us through Christ Eph. 2. 7. Not according to our Works as men are apt to think but according to his own purpose and grace 2 Tim. 1. 9. Man cannot say when he hears the Gospel that he thought before-hand that God would take this way no he is amazed at it astonished at it what manner of love is this Here is a new thing created in the Earth It is the glory of God to conceal a thing Prov. 25. 2. God never advised with Angels or Men about the way of a Sinner's Salvation but from Eternity contrived it in his own breast Who hath been his Counsellor Rom. 11. 34. This secret of the Lord is now revealed unto us in the Gospel O how great is the mystery of godliness God manifest in the flesh The Third Reason why God hath laid it so high c. viz. Because nothing keeps man in a closer dependance upon God than to see the way of his Eternal Salvation wrapped up in such a Mystery that none but God can reveal unto him Since this great undertaking of God to save Sinners is a business of that nature of that high concernment to us and also quite beyond our skill and above our knowledge to conceive a right of how should we humbly wait upon God for further light that he would open the eyes of our Understanding c. as the Apostle prays Eph. 1. 18. To whom should we go thou hast the words of eternal life Joh. 6. 68. q. d. None can teach us the way of Life but Thou alone O lead us in it and suffer us not to depart out of it God hath laid the way of a Sinner's Salvation so high in Christ Jesus that none would ever come to him if the Father did not draw them Ioh. 14. 6. The Iews those Builders of old they set at naught the Chief Corner-stone Jesus Christ built upon other Foundations till at last the House fell upon their heads How positive is Peter about the only way of Salvation by Christ Acts 4. 12. He saw that naturally men went the wrong way knocked at the wrong Door did not enquire for the right and only Saviour of Sinners no other Name under Heaven c. So much for the Second General Head viz. Why God hath laid the way of a Sinner's Salvation so high that no Humane Understanding can reach it 3. The Third General Head viz. Though the way of a Sinners Salvation by Christ be above the Capacity of a natural Man to reach and take in yet God can give us a true discerning of it and full saction about about it inclining our hearts readily to comply with it and acquiesce in it and this discerning God gives the Saints by his Spirit not in the Light of Humane Reason but in the Light of a Divine Faith grounded upon the Word of God Faith sees things as they are in God in lumine veritatis prima in the Light of the first Verity which is God himself all Gospel-truths are copied out from that Divine Original and revealed to us in the Scriptures so much truth as we have in us so much of the Image of God we have upon us and no more an enlightned Mind ascends upwards by that which is revealed to God himself the first Exemplar of all truth and sees sufficient grounds for our faith and hope in him God lets things into the Soul at another Door than Reason does which admits nothing but what first passes thorow our Senses Faith having to do with things Supernatural consults not with Flesh and Blood about them but takes them in by a higher Light God shining in our hearts and giving us that evidence of things not seen nor apprehended by the Light of Humane Reason It may here be queried Since the way of a Sinner's Salvation by faith in Christ is so mysterious so much above the reach of a mere Humane Understanding cannot be discerned but in the light of Faith and that Faith being not of our selves but the Gift of God The Query is Whether Man without offering violence to the Principles of his Nature as a Reasonable Creature be capable of such a Faith that lifts him up above his Reason and carries him out to those things which a Humane Understanding conceives not This is the Quere which I am to say something in answer to First God compels none to believe yet he makes things so clear to his Saints that they cannot but believe Though God gives Faith Eph. 2. 8. yet he forces it upon none Faith is voluntary A Mind spiritually enlightned sees sufficient grounds of faith in Christ himself and therefore out of choice and judgment relies upon him only rejecting all other confidences as vain Secondly Faith is either Humane or Divine We are naturally capable of both but with this difference We may bring our selves to a Humame Faith but not to a Divine Faith i. e. we may bring our selves to a Humane Faith about things we see hear and understand Reason and common Charity doth this there is no man but believes something I am not now speaking of a natural Faculty of believing in a humane way all men as men have this but I am speaking of a Divine Faith proper only to Christians a faith in God and Christ about those things that transcend our Reason I say no man can bring himself to such a Faith he hath no natural Faculty or Principle in him that leads him to such a Faith it is the work of God that he believes in God I grant Man as a Rational Creature is passively capable of a Divine Faith none else are but Reasonabe Creatures and yet I must tell you nothing doth more oppose Faith than Reason doth you must know that this natural Capacity that is in man for Faith doth arise from the necessary subjection of his Mind to the Creating Power of God they who would resist his Will cannot resist his Power else his Power would be no Power far from Omnipotency if it could be resisted by a Creature therefore he must needs have a passive Obediential Capacity or Receptivity of any higher Principle that God shall think fit to create in him he cannot refuse but must receive any further Light that God shall let in upon him and set up by his Almighty Spirit as a standing Supernatural Principle to guide and direct him in all his ways As it was in the first Creation Let there be light and there was light so 't is in the second Creation God commands light to shine out of darkness else there would be no possibility of a Sinner's Conversion for upon the Principles he now goes and the present Light he walks by 't is impossile to convert him but by putting higher Principles and a higher Light into him he may be converted this God can do and none else who calls things that are not as though they were and gives them a being he puts a new Supernatural Light into
the heart of a man and then sets Christ before him and by this Light by this new Eye or Principle of Faith he sees that in Christ he never saw before and willingly receives him notwithstanding all the Objections of Flesh and Blood to the contrary Though Faith be above Reason yet Faith hath its Reasons and Grounds too but such as are not of our finding out God shews them to us in himself what good grounds we have for our Faith in him from his Veracity and Truth from his Goodness and Mercy his Power and All-sufficiency his Ability to save to the utmost Though Faith be above Reason yet it is not against Reason nay allowing the first Principles of Religion viz. That there is a God of Infinite Perfection Power Goodness and Wisdom which may be discerned in some measure even by the Light of Nature it rationally follows that Omnipotency can do all things that Infinite Wisdom understands that which finite creatures cannot reach nor see any reason for so that though the deep things of God spoken of in Scripture be above our Reason yet still there is reason sufficient why we should believe 'em As for instance That God should become man is above Reason but not against it That God should assume the pure and perfect Nature of man and give it an Existence in the Divine Person of his Son this is a great honour to man and in the consequence of it doth much set forth the Glory of God both of his Justice and Mercy God made man at first after his own Image to shew how near a-kin man was to God what a likeness and agreement there was between them Now if God will veil himfelf and appear in this created Image of himself to man that there may be a more familiar Society and Fellowship between them this is great condescention in God and argues much love to us and delight in the children of men If God will draw in the bright beams of his essential Glory because it is too great a light too strong and dazling for any mortal eye to look upon that we may have free access unto him behold his face and live shall this offend us The more God lets us into himself the nearer he takes us to himself the more should we rejoice that we are admitted into his Presence and suffered to stand before so great a Glory which shines out upon us here as we are able to bear it If there were not some distance between God and our Faith in this state of absence we should be quite swallowed up of his Glory we can now bear the Conceptions of our Faith which is as much as we can do Though we cannot yet bear the Vision of the things themselves we shall be more strengthned more spiritualized in all our faculties in our bodies and souls when that day comes Now we have as much of God as is agreeable to this dispensation of Faith under which we live we shall see more hereafter face to face Thus much for that Query Let us now more particularly consider what there is in the Doctrine of Faith that poses natural men that they take such offence at is such a stumbling-block in their way that they cannot get over They stumble at many things in the Gospel but more especially at the Doctrine of Justification by Faith alone 't is said vers 32. They stumbled at that stumbling stone more especially at that 1. I have already told you Faith is not attainable by our own power we cannot persuade our selves nor bring over our own minds to close in with Gospel-Truths and what is not in our power we are apt to think absolutely impossible and shall think so till Faith comes Faith when it comes makes us sensible of the Power of God in working it and keeps us ever after in an humble dependance upon God for all that he hath promised Nothing is more unintelligible to a natural man than this That he who believes in Christ shall be saved and therefore he counts the Doctrine of Faith foolishness and rejects the whole Gospel or else the Devil runs him into Presumption persuades him that is Faith a false Faith doth the Devil as much service as down-right Infidelity Faith in Christ is a strange Doctrine to natural men Acts 17 18 19 20. Therefore they take offence at it 2. The Iustification of a sinner by Imputed Righteousness Here they stumble again they cannot see how the Righteousness of another should become theirs by God's act of Imputation supported in the equity of it by Christ's perfect obedience for us why should it seem strange if that which Christ out of mere love intended for us be graciously imputed to us for our use and benefit Certainly the best and only Plea for Justification in the sight of God is this That Christ is our perfect Righteousness The truth is 't is the greatness of God's Grace that puzzles them they except against that which makes most for them if they rightly considered their own case for there can be no justification of a sinner any other way according to Law requiring personal perfect obedience 't is impossible the soul that sins must dye but the soul that sins may live says the Gospel if he believe in Christ with a serious purpose of turning to God and repenting of all his sins which every true Believer doth and must do The Iustification of a sinner in the sight of God is a strange Paradox it sounds very high a great deal higher than the pardon of a sinner it implies the perfect Righteousness of a sinner imputed to him upon full Satisfaction given to Divine Justice for all his Offences the Righteousness of the Law calls for it Christ first deals with the offended Justice of God prevents the threatned Vengeance so making way for the Grace and Mercy of God to flow down upon us The Righteousness upon the account of which a sinner is justified must needs be an imputed Righteousness derived from another for he hath it not in himself he could not be a sinner if he had but all have sinned and come short of the Glory of God therefore all who are saved must go out of themselves to Christ for Righteousness without which we can never be justified we are justified from sin not in it much less by it If our Justification were not grounded upon perfect Righteousness it would look rather like a Justification of sin than of a sinner from sin Our great business is to understand by what Righteousness we are justified A sinner hath no Righteousness in himself and we shall never be persuaded that Righteousness without Works will be imputed to us till God persuades us but shall still go about to establish our own Righteousness till Faith hath better instructed us What is this Faith What is this Righteousness of Christ to me says a sinner He is equally ignorant of both till Faith comes then the dispute is at an end