generous obediential Disposition of Soul towards the true God ready and prepared cheerfully to receive and execute all his Commands though never so difficult at all times And as he was then justified by that pious Temper of Heart manifesting it self in actual Obedience to the Commands of God then laid upon him So shall we Christians saith St. Paul if we be of the same pious Temper of Soul with Abraham exerting it self in an actual Obedience to the Laws of God now declared and enjoyned by Jesus Christ Nay we may add That the Jews themselves though they little understood it were all along justified upon the same Condition too Not so much by the Observance of the particular Laws of Moses as sent from God by Moses as they stiffly contend most of which were but temporary and fitted for the particular Circumstances of that People as by that devout Temper of Love Reverence and Obedience to God declaring his Will for that time by Moses And where-ever that Temper was among the Jews it had the same effect of actual Obedience to God by Jesus Christ when he was sufficiently preached and made known to them True sincere Piety the Love of Truth and Goodness prevailing against all worldly Interest and Prejudices brought the Jews themselves most certainly over to Christianity If we would know more of this Temper by Example we may see the 119 Psalm the History of Cornelius those of the New Covenant into whose Hearts and Minds God will put and write his Laws Heb. 10. 16. those whom our Saviour calls his Sheep who know hear his Voice and follow him And what is said of the Son of God himself Heb. 10. 7. Lo I come in the volume of thy book it is written of me to do thy Will O God These are the Persons this the Qualification Condition and Capacity for God's Favour Approbation Commendation and Reward or in one word for his Justification A submissive obediential Temper of Heart to God I say a Qualification or Condition of God's Favour in general and particularly expressed in remission of sins which by no means excludes the Consideration of Christ's Obedience and Sacrifice which ever was another Cause of Justification from the beginning and ever will be This sense of Faith viz. Piety will not be thought strange by those who have observed the Hebrew way of speaking Thus we read Exod. 14. ult that the Israelites believed in the Lord and his Servant Moses 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. they submitted themselves to God's Laws and Government by Moses Their belief or faith in God and Moses was a disposition of mind in them to observe the Commands of God by Moses For it is of the same general Importance with the Phrase immediately before The people feared the Lord. The Israelites were as they professed ready to hear and do the Will of the Lord by Moses So they express themselves Exod. 19. 8. All that the Lord hath spoken we will do to obey the Voice of the Lord and to keep his Covenant Nor is it to be doubted but that the Israelites if they were really in their hearts what they professed with their mouths were then also justifiâ—d and in the Favour of God before they had heard any one particular Command of the Law from God by Moses either Ceremonial as Circumcision Festivals Sacrifice c. or Moral and if any of them then died as no doubt some did they were also saved Nor is the reason of this signification of faith when it is joined with Justification and Salvation less easie 'T is because Faith in its strict and primary Sense of assent to some Truths necessarily preceeds this Religiousness of Heart this habitual Piety A Man must firmly believe that there is right and wrong moral good and evil that the Will and Laws of God are the most infallible Rules of it that he will reward and punish the Observers or Transgressors of them before he is effectually resolved or habitually disposed universally to be obedient to God and to please him as the Authour to the Hebrews hath it Chap. 11. In like manner the love and fear of God are every where used in the Scriptures Synecdochically for all Religion and Vertue because those Affections in their strict and proper Sense produce in us a disposition of Soul to universal Obedience to him and consequently all Instances of Righteousness Such may be the first Notion of justifying or saving Faith Secondly A second is more particular and limited and that is an obedient Temper of Heart to God making known his Will and Laws to us by Jesus of Nazareth the true Christ or by being a Christian It was one of the principal Errours of the Jews against whom St. Paul in various places disputes about the Point of Justification that they would admit no other Condition of it than the Observance of the Mosaical Law which he calls the Law and the Works of the Law St. Paul maintains against them that it was not but a vertuous and holy Temper of Soul which loved Righteousness and hated Iniquity and consequently most desirous to know and do the Will of God when and in whatsoever Instances he should please to declare and reveal it But more especially and particularly now by Jesus of Nazareth the true Messias described foretold and promised to their own Nation He was now appointed by God to be his Vicegerent and Legislator under himself to all Mankind to the End of the World as Moses was for a certain time only to the Jews Now God expects and requires Submission and Obedience to his Laws by this Jesus from all Men every where All I say to whom this Declaration of his Will shall come and particularly from the Jews to whom he was preached by himself and other Disciples Which if they did and persever'd they should be justified by God and in his Favour particularly receive from him remission of sins the Holy Ghost and Eternal Salvation Thirdly and lastly Some have named a third Sense of faith and that is Faith objectively taken or the Doctrine of Christianity or if you please the Christian Religion For Religion objectively taken I would call a Doctrine revealed from God or a System of revealed Doctrines and that which is by Jesus Christ the Christian Doctrine or Religion so that Justification by Faith is the same with Justification according to the Doctrine of the Gospel or according to the Christian Religion and Justification by the Law or Works of the Law is Justification according to the Doctrine of the Mosaical Law Not that which Moses himself really taught or delivered but that which the Jewish Doctors the Interpreters of that Law and the generality of the Jews taught and believed in St. Paul's Time Such may be the sense of Rom. 3. 22. The Righteousness of God by faith i. e. taught by the Gospel and then fitly follows the particulars of that Doctrine in the four next Verses and v. 28. We
conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the Law and v. 30. It is one God which shall justifie the Circumcision by faith and Uncircumcision through faith See also Gal 3. 17. and Rom. 10. 6. And truly such a kind of Language and Speaking seems agreeable enough to that of the most Ancient and Modern Jews Nay I think to one who never so little considers it is plain For the Righteousness of God and the Righteousness which is of Faith or by the Faith of Jesus Christ Rom. 10. 3 6. and Rom. 3. 21 22. are the same thing But the Righteousness of God is manifestly that way or method of Justification all the Causes of Justification together which God had appointed after the Coming of Christ under the Gospel and which Saint Paul and the rest of the Apostles taught For 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 there as frequently elsewhere Gal. 5. 5. Rom. 3. 21 22. 30. compared with Rom. 9. 31. is put for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as appears from the opposition of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Righteousness of God Rom. 10. 2. to that of the Jews own Righteousness To interpret that of inherent or imputed Righteousness is not probable though it may be a possible sense which sense of the word is yet more plain from v. 10. with the heart man believeth to righteousness i. e. to justification From hence it follows that the Righteousness of Faith is the way of Justification by God's Appointment and Command preached by the Apostles the Ministers of the Gospel or Christian Doctrine Again the Righteousness of God and of Faith is opposed to the Righteousness of the Law of the Works of the Law of their own Righteousness and St. Paul's own Righteousness of the Law Phil. 3. 9. and therefore must have the same kind of sense But these Righteousnesses are all manifestly no other thing than Justification according to the Doctrine and Belief of the Jewish Doctors of the Law the Generality of the Jews and St. Paul himself before his Conversion to Christianity And what if we should reduce the other two Senses of justifying Faith to this last and say That Faith where it signifies primarily the Condition or qualifying Cause in us of Justification as hath been explained may be taken Synecdochically a part for the whole one part of the Christian Doctrine concerning Justification and that which was more earnestly contested by the Jews for the whole of that Doctrine A thing ordinary enough in the Style of the Holy Scripture Nor do I see it besides the mind of the Apostle Beside if this sense be but equally probable it will be the best taken because it comprehends the other two Now to know what were the principal Differences between the Doctors of the Jews and Christians concerning Justification we are to consult both the Scriptures and the Jewish Authors themselves And as I think we may therein observe these Five First The Jews were of opinion that there were some men who needed no Justification at all no favour of God in that particular of remission of sins Some of these they thought had never sinned in all their lives the other again by their own study and exercise became without all faults and their exact Righteousness made recompence for their past Transgression These they called perfectly Righteous 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as they had two sorts more to appear in the Day of Judgment viz. perfectly wicked and a middle between both when as Mahomet's Disciples fansie God will make use of Poc. ad por Mos not cap. 6. Tal. Rosch hasch c. 1. Scales to weigh good and bad Works one against the other and if the Scales happen to be even mercy will weigh it down on the favourable side Of this sort among the Jews might be the Pharisee who went to the Temple with the Publican to pray for he recites only his religious Actions but saith not a word of any thing ever ill done And it is said Luke 18. that our Saviour spake that Parable against certain which trusted in themselves that they were Righteous And the occasion of the Parable Luke 11. and Matth. 8. 13. is some Argument that it was an opinion among the Jews that there were some men who needed no repentance Perhaps St. Paul might once reckon himself among these perfectly Righteous when he knew no better for he saith of himself That touching the Righteousness which was in the Law i. e. in Vogue and Reputation among the Lawyers or Doctors of the Law he was blameless Phil. 3. And I remember some-where in the Talmud to have read of some Masters of such perfect Sanctity as never to have committed one sin and to have been such from and in their Mother's Wombs as Jeremiah is said to be which there signifies no more than his being so early by God designed and separated to his Prophetical Office and Employment Now this opinion of theirs St. Paul denies affirming that all Men except the Blessed Jesus the true Messias have been and still continue in some Degree or other Sinners and that all Men therefore stood in need of continual Repentance and Remission That Jews and Gentiles have all fallen short of the Glory of God and were guilty before him That even the best of the Jews themselves were not exact Observers of their own Law especially in the inward and moral part of it This St. Paul proves out of their own sacred Authors which he quotes Rom. 3. Secondly b The Jews held generally that there was no need of the Merits or consideration of any other no not of the Messias himself for whose sake Justification or Remission of Sins particularly should be granted by God But that Repentance good Works Fastings Prayers Sacrifices Oblations temporal Punishments or finally corporeal Death were sufficient for the expiation of all sin whatsoever Or if any thought that there were any sins to be forgiven for the Messias's sake as some few of the Ancients thought c yet these were but few and restrained the Privilege to those of their own Nation and Religion and lastly however they would not hear of such a thing as that it was for the sake of Jesus of Nazareth whom they denied to be their Messias and rejected with an obstinate scorn To this St. Paul opposeth three things and maintains First That God ever did and ever would justifie and forgive sinners upon Consideration of and with regard to the perfect Obedience and Sacrifice of the Messias and not without it Secondly That this great Favour and Indulgence of Heaven was extended to all mankind And Thirdly That Jesus of Nazareth was this true Messias And that all this as it was in it self most reasonable so was it agreeable to Moses and the Prophets and now with such undeniable Proof and clear Evidence declared to be the Will of God that it was not indeed any longer to be disputed Thirdly The Jews advanced yet further and affirmed that
not in the least to doubt it being an exceeding manifest and plain thing but that this Jesus is this Messias but are to believe it firmly and profess it boldly and consequently to become his Disciples particularly shewing their Piety to God and their most religious Disposition of Heart Submission and Obedience to him by the Observance of his Will and Laws by this Jesus the Christ if they intend to be saved Obedience to God by Moses was now Obedience to Jesus Christ is and ever hence-forward will be as the Jews falsly imagine concerning their Law the Condition of and Qualification for the Divine Favour Justification Remission of Sins and finally Salvation Such may be the Sense of St. Paul so we may suppose him to have spoken to us in those obscure words The only thing of moment which the Jews had to object and which converted and unconverted to Christianity were very fond of was the perpetuity of the Law of Moses clearly as they thought affirmed in their Law and Prophets But this St. Paul every where absolutely denies with the rest of the Apostles and with great reason For besides that that Law is impossible to be observed by all mankind neither Moses himself nor any of the Prophets ever affirmed it Nay they have intimated the contrary Jer. 31. 31. with Heb. 8. Moses himself promiseth the Jews That the Lord their God would raise up a Prophet like him whom they should hear Deut. 18. with Acts 7. This as it may promise a Succession of Prophets so it had a principal Respect to the Messias who was a Person sent immediately from God with larger Authority than Moses and to be heard by them Not as they too meanly thought of him as if he were to be only the Servant and second of Moses No he was to be a Law-giver from God like Moses and to take and leave what he thought fit in his Law And so the Prophecy is only compleatly fulfilled in the Messias None of the Prophets were so like Moses as he The Messias only was a Legislator from God like Moses 'T is true none of the Talmudists Paraphrasts or Rabbins that I remember have apply'd this place to the Messias but neither have they done that by many other places where they fairly might and with much more reason than where oft-times they have But it is enough if Moses and the Prophets never really and in truth affirmed the perpetual Duration of the Law For now God hath given abundantly more ample Proof of his Mission of Jesus than ever he did of Moses by his Doctrine Life Miracles Resurrection Ascension Mission of the Holy Ghost upon them who believed in Jesus and not upon the Jews and from this Jesus I have learned saith St. Paul that a great part of the Mosaical Law should be abolished principally in order to the uniting all Mankind into one Body by Religion That Circumcision and Uncircumcision now availeth nothing to Justification but Faith working by Love A religious and obedient Heart to God by Jesus Christ producing all the substantial Actions of Piety and Charity to God and our Neighbour the summ and end even of the Mcsaical Law it self that no man who now believeth in Jesus ought to oblige himself by Circumcision to the observance of all the little temporary and now useless things of the Mosaical Law Nay if he doth Christ shall profit him nothing as being disobedient to one express Command of Christ liberty and freedom from that comparatively mean institution Such then is the fourth false Doctrine of the Jews concerning Justification Fifthly and lastly In few words The Jewish Doctors taught that they might perform and fulfill all the Commandments of their Law by their own natural Strength and Power e but St. Paul and the Divine Writers teach a contrary Doctrine viz. That the grace of God is absolutely necessary for our performance of good Works or rather for being good men the Condition of our Acceptance and Justification f These are all of the most considerable Opinions and Doctrines of the Jewish Doctors or Expounders of the Mosaical Law concerning Justification that I at present remember Now all these Doctrines of the Jewish Doctors put together are the Justification by the Law or the Works of the Law as I conceive Which in not many words are to this effect Some men needed no Justification but those who did were justified without any Merits but their own viz. for the due Observance of the Law of Moses by their own Strength Care and Industry Justification then by Faith or according to the Christian Doctrine as opposed to the Law must be on the contrary That all men being sinners are justified and particularly receive remission of sins the Holy Spirit and Everlasting Salvation from the free and undeserved goodness of God upon the consideration of the perfect Righteousness and the meritorious Sacrifice of Jesus Christ and upon the Condition or Qualification of a pious Temper of Heart for the future to obey the Will of God and consequently to do the thing that is right and just howsoever he shall be pleased to declare it but particularly by the Lord Jesus Christ which very Condition too we had never been able to perform without the assistance of the grace of God This as I think may be the comprehensive Sense of Justification by Faith but if it should prove otherwise it is but a mistake in the signification of a Phrase I confess obscurely enough delivered to us now at this distance of time and of so different a way of speaking from the Apostolical Age. However that be certain it is that the Doctrine it self is taken out of and according to the Holy Scriptures in which I see nothing but what is plain easie and reasonable After this we may in very short observe that if any of the three Senses of justifying faith mentioned viz. A general Piety or a Christian Obedience or according to the Christian Doctrine be that of the Holy Scripture then justifying Faith is not a meer assent to the whole Doctrine of the Gospel nor Secondly is it a bare reliance upon God and Christ and trust in their promises or as others express it a rolling and throwing our selves upon Christ for pardon and salvation nor Thirdly is it a confident persuasion that our sins are pardoned in Jesus Christ nor Fourthly is it whatsoever men have confusedly meant by those Metaphors of going to Christ or embracing Christ or eying him by Faith as an instrument as if such a thin 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Exile Relation of Faith were a thing for which Faith should be so much predicated and to which no less than Justification and Eternal Salvation should be attributed Besides if Faith should thus justifie because it apprehends takes hold of and embraces Christ how much more should love be said to do it which more properly may be said to take hold of and embrace Christ Finally There is no mention in
this because they are always or ought to be conjoined and because that the pronouncing just is for that very End that a Person may be so dealt with and used in all the above-named Respects This is most ordinary in all Languages and particularly 1 Kings 8. 32. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 are of the same importance 2 It is certain that the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Septuagint Apocryphal Books and the New Testament in above twenty Places signifies our Sense For Example we may consult these Gen. 44. 16. Exod. 23. 7. Deut. 25. 1. 1 King 8. 32. Jes 5. 23. and 50. 8. Prov. 17. 15. c. In two or three Places 2 Sam. 15. 4. Mic. 7. 9. Psal 81. 3. it signifies to judge or give sentence either on the good or bad side but rather on the good and then it answers to be Hebrew words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Twice it signifies to be just neutrally not to make just actively Gen. 38. 26. Psal 19. 10. In one or two places it may be equally taken in our sense or the Pontifician of making just Finally in two places only the Pontifician and Socinian sense cannot be denied viz. Psal 73. and Apoc. 22. but that may very well happen because it answering to the Hebrew 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the grammatical Force of that Conjugation may take place so rarely But the sense of a word surely is to be taken from its most common use from twenty places rather than one or two 3 The Hebrew word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to which 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 answers in the Septuagint manifestly signifies our sense of Justification in above twenty places Nor can Bellarmine or any other find any more than two places where it is used in their sense of making righteous The one is Jes 53. 11. By his knowledge shall my righteous servant justifie many But the Forensick sense seems there more proper because it follows for he shall bear their iniquities My righteous Servant shall bring many into a Condition of Grace and Favour with God by his bearing their Iniquities the Chal. Parap here useth the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which generally signifies forensically and R. Selom gives the same sense The other place which Bellarmine quotes is Dan. 12. 3. they that turn many unto righteousness 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But the Septuagint otherwise read the Hebrew Copy viz. for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they read 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 rendring it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But suppose this reading doth not give so good a sense and finally granting this single Instance of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifying Justification or making righteous is there any proportion between one place and twenty to determine the otherwise dubious signification of a Word 4 The Chaldee Syriack and Rabbinical words which interpret the Hebrew 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the Hellenistical 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 are certainly much oftner used in the forensick Sense such as are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as any one will find who reads the Targums The Syriack Version and the Talmudists and Rabbins particularly the Treatise Sanhedrim 5 The opposite Hebrew word to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 viz. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 most commonly signifies to condemn or to afflict vex use ill as wicked men are wont and ought to be used This signification we may find above twenty times in the Old Testament and the last particularly 1 Sam. 14. 47. but it never signifies to make a Man wicked in a double active Sense 6 This sense we have given is plainly to be collected out of the Apostle St. Paul's own words compared Thus Rom. 5. 9. justified by his Blood 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is the same sense with that in Verse 10. We have been reconciled by the Death of his Son 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Justification and Reconciliation were the same viz. to be restored to Grace and Favour with God to be delivered from punishment for sin and to be used generally by God as those use to be to whom he is favourable and kind as he always certainly is to a just Man Again Rom. 4. from the 2 d. to the 9th Verse it is manifest that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to be justified and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to justifie are of the same meaning with having Faith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 imputed for righteousness and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to impute for righteousness But the phrase of imputing for righteousness c. is of the same importance with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the remission and covering of sins Therefore 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is of the same importance too And what is remission of sins or to be freed from punishment for them but only one instance of the more general divine Favour and of being used and regarded by God as a good and just Man useth to be Finally Rom. 4. 16. 18. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Condemnation and justification are opposed therefore what is the sense of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which no doubt is the judging pronouncing and treating a Man as wicked such on the contrary must be the sense of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I think therefore enough is here said to establish and fix the notion of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or to justifie when conjoined with the word Faith 7 There is abundant proof of this out of their own Writings most ancient nor is it to be doubted but that the general Opinions of their Doctors in our Saviour's time were the same with those we now find among them especially who were nearest to it In the Treatise Sanh cap 6. Misna 2. Expiation of sin and a portion in the World to come as they speak is attributed to Confession from the Example of Achan It is without doubt they supposed Repentance too as they expresly mention in the next quotation By which we may see how Judaical that Synecdochical way of speaking is used also by St. Paul Rom. 10. 9 10. If thou shalt confess with thy mouth c. In the Gemara of Cod. Joma cap. 8. we have two leaves filled with the Elogies of Repentance Among other things they say that there are three divisions or kinds of Expiation with each of which Repentance is to be joined If any one should sin against an affirmative Precept Repentance alone would be sufficient for Expiation But if against a negative one then Repentance suspended the Punishment till the Day of Expiation expiated it If any one committed a sin which deserved Excision or Death by the hands of the Magistrate then Repentance and the Day of Expiation did only suspend Punishment till Affliction and Chastisements expiated and wiped away Guilt and Punishment I suppose Finally if any had been guilty of Blasphemy against the Name of God nothing could expiate
pray that he went away rather justified than the other or justified and not the other according to a known Hebraism justified i. e. accepted approved by God in that particular Act of his Prayer to God as useth or ought to be done to him who is just and doth well The same is the Sense of the word Rom. 8. 33. 'T is God that justifieth who is he that condemneth We know the World doth condemn reproach hate us Christians for our Religion for our believing upon Jesus but that we despise because we know too that we have the favour and approbation of God for so doing Thus also it is recorded of Phinehas Psalm 106. 30 31. that he executed judgment slew Zimri and Cozbi in the Act of Uncleanness and it was counted to him for righteousness or for justification or the effect of it was justification for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 have often the same signification as Gal. 2. 21. i. e. he was and ought to be and ever shall be unto all Generations greatly approved and highly praised for that Action in so eminent a degree righteous and just done with so much Zeal and Courage for the Honour of his God and the good of his People And we read too how he was rewarded by God for it with the high Priest-hood in his Family Nay the justification of Abraham himself is said sometimes to be in the same sense for some one particular eminent Act of Obedience to God Rom. 3. 18. Heb. 11. 8 17. Jam. 2. 21. though at other times for his general Faith and Piety or obediential Temper to God And of this justification he is set forth as an eminent and extraordinary Example Rom. 4. So it is in like manner with all good men who walk in the steps of the Faith of Abraham as the Apostle phraseth it viz. who are religious obsequious to the Will of God in what manner and whensoever he shall sufficiently make it known to them and consequently men of sincere Probity of Spirit devoted to all that is good and just Of which hereafter This usage of a just man or justification may be distinguished into 1 negative or doing him no harm 2 positive doing good to him bestowing certain benefits and positive favours upon him But there are three more remarkable instances of both these and frequently mentioned in the Scripture The first is remission of sins upon repentance or an omission of punishment for them like as one that hath been just and never committed any sin useth to be treated He suffers no evil from God for sin and this is negative The second is the Holy Spirit 's influences operations in the Souls of Men. And the third is Eternal Salvation upon perseverance in a good and holy life All these are more particularly regarded by St. Paul in the Text As if he had said Therefore being by Faith of which presently restored to the Favour of God particularly expressed in the forgiveness of sins the gift of the Holy Spirit the promises and assurances of Eternal life we have peace with God We are in a state of Amity and Friendship with him and we have Peace and Tranquility in our own Consciences which do not now threaten us with God's Anger or Punishment and that through our Lord Jesus Christ Now if this be the true notion of justification when it is joined with Faith as I think it is Then first it is not the same with sanctification or making a man inherent holy and just Justifying the ungodly through Faith in the Scripture-style is not making an ungodly man godly as the Papists Socinians and Grotius would have it A mistake in that learned Man which hath led him into many other Misinterpretations of Scripture Nor 2 is it in a strict Sense an accounting or reckoning a Man perfectly just or more than he really and truly is for that were to say that God may be deceived and judge things otherwise than they are It is true the Church of England in one of her Articles hath used the words accounting righteous for the merits of Jesus Christ by faith and not for our works But there needs no force to make them signifie the treating or using as righteous for the Merit of Christ upon the condition of Faith without any Merit on our part which is the true Christian Doctrine of Justification as we shall presently see Nor 3 is Justification to pronounce or declare a Man inherently just as it were in a solemn Sentence who is not so for this were to make God give a false sentence Nor 4 is it to cover or cloth a Man even a penitent sinner with the pure Robes of Christ's perfect Righteousness and then to appear to God pure and spotless as Jesus Christ himself For this were to suppose God to look no further than the outside and represent him like old Isaac deceived by Rebekah and Jacob. These are the notions of men who seem never to attend to the proper Nature of things but are content to talk only in Figures And in truth they might do much more harm if they were not antidoted by other plain Scripture Doctrines such as that of the necessity of Holiness of heart and life for the forgiveness of sins and everlasting Salvation Nor 5 is Justification God's imputing the Righteousness of Christ to Man who lives in any sinfull Breach or Neglect of God's Law There is indeed a comfortable and true notion under those phrases and that is That sinners fare the better for the compleat Righteousness or perfect Obedience of Christ Great and many indeed were the benefits God was pleased to afford sinfull mankind for the sake of Jesus Christ No less than such as these his long suffering and forbearance all sorts of temporal Blessings all the inward and outward means of Vertue and Goodness All this even to sinners while sinners which some learned men have called degrees of remission of sins I should rather say instances of justification or dealing by men as useth to be done to the innocent and just who had never offended Then further upon true repentance entire pardon for all past sins All in the other life and all in this except what God in his fatherly Wisdom may think fit for our discipline and means of further improvement in Vertue and Holiness constant forgiveness upon constant repentance for the interfering faults of good Men and finally Everlasting life All this Men owe to the compleat Righteousness of Jesus Christ from the beginning to the End of his life It was for his sake God was pleased to have any regard to or compassion upon the degenerate Race of Mankind that God might by so eminently rewarding him shew the World how acceptable to him Holiness and Vertue were and encourage to the Attainment of the highest Degree of them possible All this is true and a reasonable Administration of God in the Government of the World But yet it is not
their Repentance Prayers Sacrifices and all other their good Works and Qualities were not barely a capacitating Condition of Justification forgiveness of Sins and the happy Life to come but meritorious and that God was obliged in Justice to give these for them And as for the perfectly Righteous who needed no Repentance no question but that God was strictly bound to reward them with a future happy State of Life especially at the Resurrection of the Dead and the Day of the great Judgment Nay when they wanted Merits of their own they had recourse to those of their Ancestours Abraham Isaac and Jacob and others like the Works of Supererogation among the Papists Nay some were so besotted with vain Conceit and Arrogance that they thought God chose their Ancestors for their Merit and was in love with their Posterity for it too And still there remains among them an Enthusiastical and Arrogant strain beyond all this probably older than St. Paul That God created the World for their sakes foreseeing I suppose what a lovely and excellent People they would prove We need but look into both Ancient and Modern Jewish Authors to learn all this Though if we knew nothing of this their Arrogant Opinion and Temper from themselves yet the Holy Scripture would sufficiently inform us d Now St. Paul so zealous for the Honour of God and Jesus Christ most deservedly in his disputes with them about Justification represseth and refutes such insolent and false Opinion and Language And therefore asserts the Righteousness or Justification of God or of God's Appointment by Faith of Jesus Christ described and taught in the Gospel to all them that believe This way of Justification of God's Appointment was first to believers i. e. real Christians in their hearts and lives And then through the Redemption that is in Christ Jesus the propitiation and lastly freely by the grace of God This God's way of Justification being thus upon the Condition of our Christian Obedience and Consideration of perfect Obedience and Death of Jesus and of the free grace of God every way excludes the boasting of the Jews which they thought in their way they had so much reason for This Righteousness of God was neither without the interposition of the perfect Obedience and Sacrifice of Jesus the true Messias nor by any Merit of theirs by which they may claim Justification as a Debt from God Nor was it so much as upon Condition of the Observation of the Law of Moses of which presently much less upon the Account of its Merit Rom. 3. 22. And because the Jews had so great an Opinion of the Merit of their Father Abraham He affirms that Abraham himself was justified in the same manner too He was justified by Faith too taking Faith first for a godly religious Temper of Heart as the Condition and then this one part of the Gospel-doctrine of Justification for the whole of it by a Figure ordinary enough with St. Paul and other Holy Writers as hath been before observed But he denies peremptorily that Abraham was justified by his Works of any sort i. e. that he was justified either according to their Doctrine in general or more particularly by the Merit of his Works He doth not deny Justification by good Works as a Qualification or Condition which is the Sense of St. James writing against an Errour of some Christians who taught a bare Belief in Jesus and Profession of it enough And it is likely they had it from the Jews too the Vulgar of whom thought their mere being Jews sufficient for Salvation Nor hath either the Jewish or Christian Church ever wanted such sort of People and very numerous too especially in times and places of great ignorance when their idle ignorant and corrupt guides themselves have taught them as much St. Aug. tells us that there were some in his time who believed all to be saved Civ Dei lib. 21. cap. 22. who gave Alms who said daily in the Lord's Prayer Forgive us our Trespasses c. and did forgive when asked sometimes who remained in the Church however they lived otherwise And he believes there were many in St. Paul's time too who not rightly Lib. 80. quaest understanding St. Paul's Justification by Faith without Works did really think that having once believed in Christ they should be saved by that Faith though they lived wicked and flagitious Lives Those Christians in St. James seem such a sort of People And if the Epistle to the Romans was written before that of St. James they also might be led into such a Conceit by St. Paul himself misunderstood not minding what he had otherwise by word or writing every where taught and particularly in Rom. 10. 9 10. That if thou shalt confess with thy Mouth the Lord Jesus and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead thou shalt be saved For with the heart man believeth unto Righteousness i. e. Justification and with the mouth Confession is made unto Salvation Here it is observable how one Circumstance of the Persons who are written to and their Opinion may determine the sense of words St. Paul wrote to the Jews who affirmed that their good Works merited Justification St. James to Christians who believed and taught that they were not so much as a qualification or condition and no way necessary to it They both wrote true Justification was and was not by good Works It was by them as a qualification and condition it was not by them as meritorious in the most received and common sense of that word But to return to St. Paul he flatly denies that Abraham himself was justified by the Merits of his Works so as that God was in manner of a Debtour obliged to it much less was his Posterity Abraham indeed was a Person extraordinary and so might justly pretend to some privilege amongst Men but had no reason to claim or challenge any thing particularly so great things as remission of sins and salvation from God merely for his own sake or in such manner as a Creditour or Servant may do from his Debtour or Master Rom. 4. This Doctrine of his so directly opposite to theirs he proves from Moses and David for one saith that Abraham's Faith his Piety and Obedience was imputed to him for Righteousness or Justification and the other blessed is the Man to whom the Lord will not impute sin Now this word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 impute imports in God nothing of payment of a Debt nor of Merit from him but an Act of Discretion Liberty Choice Goodness though most wise and reasonable too in pursuance of the one great End of all his Counsels and Actions This was the Doctrine of St. Paul and the other Apostles else-where as if it were a matter they much desire Christians should be well instructed in And in truth it is most agreeable to natural Reason For to talk of Merit in its proper sense and so as it
the Scripture of Faith's justifying or saving as such a kind of instrument nor of any thing which infers it or would so much as give any hint or suspicion of it but as a necessary Condition or Qualification every where in the same manner as Repentance Obedience Confession of Sins and believing him to be raised from the Dead Rom. 10. 9 10. Both these last are Synecdochically taken for being true Christians or Obedience to God by Jesus Christ These notions I conceive have been invented and received principally in opposition to the Pontifician sense and then for want of the knowledge of the Oriental way of speaking or from former prejudices Such notions and language would have seemed very strange and unintelligible to the Greek the Roman and especially the Jew the Adversary of St. Paul whom he endeavours to convince and confute and when understood very mean and improbable And yet there may be truth under all these expressions if they be taken figuratively with some sort of explication and we may be so charitable as to believe that pious and good Men have so understood them and that others sometimes can better tell and explain their thoughts than they themselves As for example if we take Faith first strictly for an Assent but then add so firm repeated attentive and deliberate an one like that of Thomas as to produce in us profound veneration and submission of Soul to God and Christ and an actual Obedience to their Will and Commands and consequently a true Vertue and real Sanctity of Heart and Life I say if this be the Sense of justifying Faith it is true and good and so if believing and relying upon Christ and trust in him for pardon of sin and acceptance be not a presumptuous one but well grounded upon a true Repentance the real Change and Conversion of the Heart and supposing and comprehending that it may pass for a justifying Faith So may receiving and embracing whole Christ as they phrase it as King Priest and Prophet because it includes Obedience to Christ's Laws as a King And on the other hand to receive Christ as a Priest and Prophet may be included in Obedience because we are commanded to believe Christ's Doctrine and to trust in God for the remission of sins procured by him upon repentance finally when they call their justifying Faith a lively Faith or Faith working by love and bringing forth the Fruits of Holiness and good Works it may do very well tho' it is an odd kind of expression of what some contend for That Faith alone justifies without Works or Obedience which is like as if a Man should say That the Root and the Fruit of a Tree nourisheth to signifie that the Root only doth it We have now gone through the explication of the words promised For the application of them let the Apostles own inference suffice at present to recommend unto us a justified State We that are justified by Faith saith the Apostle have peace with God that is we are in a State of Amity and Friendship with God so that we not only have no reason to fear any harm from that Terrible and Almighty Power which the Confederation of all Heaven and Earth cannot secure us from but we have all reason to hope for and be assured of all Instances of Favour and Bounty which his infinite Wisdom shall think fit more and greater than we can conceive What can intercept or restrain his Magnificent goodness to his Friends whom he delights in and delights to honour And then our Consciences will not terrify us or make us uneasie with Menaces or Suspicions of our Guilt and his Justice one Day and drive us from all thoughts of God But on the contrary they will invite encourage command us to make use of him to make him our Refuge our Trust our Solace in all Conditions at all times Then when all the World as kindly as it may now look upon us shall neglect us or forsake us or hate us or which is certain to come to pass sooner or later shall not be able in the least to help us though it would then when Death shall envisage and summon us to an appearance before that Sovereign Tribunal and when we shall stand there to receive our final Doom and irreversible Sentence Oh most desirable and happy of all Conditions without the assurance of which if we would draw our Curtains about us and be serious but one hour we could not be quiet or easie in our selves We proclaim the Person most happy and fortunate who hath the Eye the Ear the Heart of a Prince but what can the greatest Potentates do for us more than heap upon us Riches and Honors for a few Days which many to one we had better have wanted Even the continuance of bodily Life and Health the greatest bodily Blessings are out of their Power but how much more the goods of the mind and the Treasures of Heaven Whereas the Eternal Sovereign Lord of the Universe hath all things perfectly at his own disposal to bestow upon whom he pleaseth and that here with the Wisdom and Care of a Father but hereafter certainly Fullness of Joy and Pleasures for ever more Besides where God fixes his Affection and vouchsafes his Friendship we are sure there is true Worth and something of real and good Value though of his own gift when Earthly greatness through ignorance misinformation humour or necessity may misplace them And the belief of and reflection upon God's Approbation who is the best Judge is at all times extreamly gratefull and satisfactory to us naturally This is certain that a wise and just Man takes more pleasure in not being unworthy of Favour which he doth not enjoy than in enjoying what he doth not deserve We conclude all in turning St. Paul s Doctrine and Inference into an exhortation and motive Let us use our utmost Care and Endeavour on our part and God will not fail to perform what is to be done on his to get into the Number of those who are Evangelically justified our Sins pardoned our Souls inhabited and sanctified by the Holy Spirit and our Eternal Salvation assured that so we may enjoy the great Honour and the unspeakable Comfort of being the Friends of God and at peace with him through our Lord Jesus Christ To whom with the Father and Holy Spirit be all Honour and Praise both now and for evermore Amen Annotations and Additions On the Discourse of Justification a FOR the ample Proof of the Notion and Sense of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sometimes which I have given I think what follows will be abundantly sufficient 1 Let it be premised that though 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in its most precise Notion signifies to pronounce just to discharge acquit and absolve from Fault and Punishment yet in its more general Use it signifies more generally Viz. to treat or use as just in our Opinions Words or Actions and
the spirit mortifie the deeds of the flesh Most plainly Phil. 2. 12. Work out your own salvation for it is God that worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure Nay the same Doctrine may seem fairly intimated in several places of the Old Testament as Deut. 30. 16. God promiseth to circumcise the hearts of the Israelites and their Posterity c. where we may observe a spiritual promise in the body of the Law And Jerem. 13. 23. Can an Aethiopian change his skin c. and David prays in his penitential Psalm that God would not take his holy Spirit from him as supposed necessary to his perseverance much more than to Repentance Although it is to be acknowledged that this Doctrine of the Necessity of Divine Grace Influence and Operation and especial Providence to make and keep Men inwardly holy and good was only reached by some of the Prophets or most eminent Saints or of a sublimer genius among the Jews the generality never thinking of any such thing and when by Christianity taught denied by them Nor was it scarce ever dreamt of among the Gentiles except here and there a Philosopher or Poet may have dropt something that looks that way But hardly any Doctrine more common and known in the Christian Church where every Child learns it before its Letters And certainly the Belief and frequent Attention to so near especially and constant Presence of the Deity to the Souls of Men as it is true so is it many ways a great Cherisher of Piety and Religion It were to be wished that the Fathers supposed by some to know best the mind of the Apostles as being nearest to them had enlightned us here in this obscurely to us delivered Doctrine But these next of all to the Apostles were content to speak simply and little varying from the Apostolical words Clem. Epist to the Cor. p. 41. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And we therefore being called by the Will of God in Jesus Christ are not justified by our own Wisdom or Understanding or Piety or Works which we have done in Sanctity of Heart but by Faith by which the Almighty hath ever justified all Men from the beginning which differs little in words nothing in sense from the Apostle Rom. 4. in the case of Abraham And the Author to the Hebrews Chap. 11. explain'd in the Discourse above But if we go further downward among the Fathers I do not know whether we shall learn much concerning this point Those who please may try themselves Just Martyr the Philosopher seems to me to have taken the Notion of it best and St. Augustine and St. Jerome in some places at least though worst with a prejudice and narrowness common to Persons of Wit Eloquence and Zeal in their own Religion especially when flourishing in Power and Reputation Such a zeal in so truly excellent Religion as the Christian even when mistaken is pardonable But more acceptable to the wiser sort of Men when attended with Judgment and a just regard to Truth St. Jerome seems to have been a greater Master in the Language of the Jews so far as Biblical Hebrew and Chaldee went than in their Opinions and their Books in which they are contained And though he may sometimes mention some-what he had learned in conversation with his Masters as in his Epistle to Algasia the Collection called Misna as I think against Morinus and a Custom or two of the Jews and their opinion concerning Melchisedeck in his Epistle to the Evangelists Yet I do not know perhaps others may know better whether he hath quoted any one Sentence out of any Jewish Book in its own Language But without doubt there were enough of them in his time to have quoted and which contained the same Opinions concerning Justification which we have cited in these Annotations and the Jews teach to this day Or if St. Jerome had read such Books it seems it was not in his thoughts to compare St. Paul's Doctrine in this matter with that of the Jews Let any one read St. Jerome on Gal. 3. St. Aug. quaest 80. quaest 73. and de spir litera ad Marcell and his Expos of the Epistle to the Gal. and his Book de fide operibus and others There may be some things very good now and then dropt But generally what they say is of such confused and uncertain Sense and sometimes not true that a man is little the better but only to know that such men have said so I would not be here thought by this to desire the Abatement of the just Esteem of so great a Name as the Fathers For I believe them to have been generally of exceeding Piety and the greatest men of their Ages for knowledge some in one thing some in another some in all but it cannot be allowed that they were equal either in Philosophy the true knowledge and distance of the Natures of things or in the skill of expounding and interpreting the Holy Scriptures which this present Age by the good Providence of Almighty God doth enjoy We shall I think be very unjust to it if we do not acknowledge so much May the effect of this our advantage in knowledge be also our improvement in a substantially religious and vertuous Temper and Practice without which it is but diversion not business that which may please the Speculators but profit no body and nothing mend the State of the World ADVERTISEMENT BY reason of the Affinity of the Subjects of Justification and Satisfaction I had thoughts of adding a Discourse of this last and that under these general Heads I. What was the Doctrine of the Scriptures concerning that which is so called viz. Satisfaction by the death and merits of Jesus Christ II. What was the distinct Nature Ends and Uses of a Sacrifice and particularly of an Hylastick or Expiatory one III. How they operated or what they contributed toward the procuring securing or recovering the Favour of God in general and particularly that instance of his Favour Remission of Sins upon Repentance and how IV. Whether Jesus Christ dying was not a proper Expiatory Sacrifice V. Whether he was not in many respects a more excellent Expiatory Sacrifice than the Patriarchal or Mosaical VI. What is the true and distinct Notion of a Merit and how the Merits of Jesus Christ might obtain in general the Favour of God to sinfull Mankind and particularly Remission of Sins to Penitents and the reasonableness thereof VII Whether the Act of God's forgiving Sins to penitent Sinners in Consideration of the Sacrifice and Merits of Christ Jesus instead of the Act of punishing them might not be called properly and according to the Original and received use of the word Satisfaction i. e. of as much value of equal or more good Effects to the Community or rather in the World which God governs In all which I think much would be said which hath not been said before or not so clearly and distinctly But