as it beleeves the blood of Christ to be it and it alone that is in it self and by the ordination of God fully sufficient to take away sin the guilt of it or the condemning power or destroying nature of it so accordingly does it relye upon this blood of Christ under the gracious appointment of the Father to do this great thing for him to particular in whom this Faith dwells Rom 8.25 Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through Faith in his blood In this Scripture there are three things that are especially to be marked in relation to the point in hand 1. That Christs blood is the blood of propitiation or that Christ himself is the propitiation by means of his blood i. e. the reconciler the procurer of savour in pardon or remission 2. That God hath ordained him in his blood thus to be and accordingly hath proposed and offered him to all the world as a publick propitiation but yet so and upon condition that men have Faith in his blood i. e. do believe it to be of it self and by the appointment of the Father of sufficient efficacy force and vertue to purge them from their sins Which Faith also must be of the right kind or else it will not interesse any man in this great benefit 3. That which is moreover implyed is that the Faith of a man feeling so good a foundation and ground under it as is the blood of Christ in conjunction with the Fathers will as by which to be confident of a plenary purgation from all sins how great or how many soever they have been does accordingly safely and securely build thereupon Sect. 7 4. Christ as being risen from the dead is the object of justifying Faith Rom. 10.9 If then shalt confess with thy meuth the Lord Iesus and shalt beleeve in thy heart that God raised him from the dead thou shalt be saved Rom. 4.25 Who was delivered for our offences and was raised again for our Iustification And no marvel that the Resurrection of Christ should be the object of saving Faith inasmuch as in it is included the beleef of the main foundation Doctrines of the Gospel and without it Faith could have no firm footing to rest upon touching other great Gospel-truths As 1. The beleeving of him to be the Son of God which is an ingredient absolutely necessary in the Gospel-faith doth at least in great part depend upon the Faith of his Resurrection For Faith can ground its belief touching his being the Son of God upon nothing else than that which declares him to be so But now he is declared to be the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness by the Resurrection from the dead Rom. 1.4 2. The keeping promise and Covenant with the holy Patriarchs and their Seed which Faith must needs eye did depend upon Gods raising Christ from the dead Acts 13.32 33. And we declare unto you glad tidings how that the promise which was made unto the Fathers God hath fulfilled the same unto us their children in that he hath raised up Iesus again as it is also written in the second Psalm Thou art my Son this day have I begotten thee And again Acts 2.30 31. Therefore being a Prophet and knowing that God hath sworn with an Oath to him that of the fruit of his loyns according to the flesh he would raise up Christ to sit upon his throne he seeing this before spake of the Resurrection of Christ that his soul was not left in hell neither his flesh did see corruption 3. The Resurrection of Christ is so necessary to Justification and to the Faith of it that take away this and Justification and the beleef of it are all laid in the dust 1 Cor. 15.14 17. And if Christ be not risen then is our preaching vain and your Faith is also vain And again vers 17. And if Christ be not raised your Faith is vain ye are yet in your sins Without beleeving is no justification and if there had been no Resurrection of Christ there could have been no Faith touching that attonement that is now made by his death For could men have beleeved that the death of Christ had been of sufficient force and vertue to expiate sin had it not been manifested by his Resurrection surely no. For so long as he was under the power of death he was under the power of sin of which death is but the wages For in that he dyed he dyed unto sin saith the Apostle Rom. 6.10 The sting of Death to wit that which gives it power of prevailing over the creature is sin 1 Cor. 15.56 And the time when that saying O death where is thy sting O grave where is thy victory shall be brought to passe is not till the day of Resurrection When this corruptible shall have put on incorruption and this mortal immortality 1 Cor. 15.54 And therefore as the Saints shall not actually and perfectly be delivered from all the effects of sin till the day of their Resurrection so neither was Christ delivered from that burden of other mens sins which he bore in his own body untill he rose from the dead And if sin had been too hard for him in keeping him under the power of death it would much more have been too hard for us But in that God raised Christ from the dead he did as it were thereby acknowledge satisfaction for the debt of mens sins which he by his death as a surety had discharged While he lay in the grave he was detained as a prisoner for other mens debts but when the prison doors were opened and he let out the Father acknowledged satifaction and did as it were seal him in the behalf of those for whom he undertook a release and discharge By his entring into suffering he took the sins of the world upon him but by his Resurrection by which he came out of his suffering-state he put them off As in his suffering he was made sin for us and dealt with as if he had been a sinner so by his Resurrection he was justified from those sins which were imputed to him And unlesse he had been first justified from our sins which were imputed to him all the while he suffered we could not have been justified from them our selves And therefore no marvel that the Apostle should attribute our Justification with a Rather unto the Resurrection of Christ than to his Death as he does Rom. 8.33 34. Who is he that condemneth it is God that justifieth it is Christ that dyed yea rather that is risen again He seems to feel a firmer footing for his Faith in the Resurrection of Christ than in his death more to bear him out against the accusations of any that had a mind to condemn him the answer which a good conscience makes it is by the Resurrection of Christ from the dead 1 Pet. 3.21 4. I might here add that the beleef of the Resurrection of our bodies
said consider the persons and their opinions against which the Apostle disputes The persons against whom the Apostle was ingaged in this dispute of his were the unbeleeving Jews or at least such as did judaiz it that is in a great measure comply with them in their opinion touching the necessity of Circumcision and other Mosaical Rites to Justification For the Jews then being scattered among the Gentiles here and there in the Roman Cities and Provinces and particularly here at Rome Acts 28.17.24 did vehemently oppose the doctrine of the Apostles especially in their preaching Salvation to the Gentiles upon their beleeving without the works of the Law forbidding them to speak to the Gentiles or to declare unto them that they might be saved upon any such termes 1 Thes 2.16 forbidding us to speak to the Gentiles that they might be saved c. To fortifie the beleevers whether Jews or Gentiles against their insinuations and oppositions in this kind the Apostle at large debates the case in difference between them both in this Epistle to the Romans and in that to the Galatians which Churches viz. of Rome and Galatia it is like were then pestered more than others in this kind The unsound opinions held by them and which this Apostle in his doctrine of Justification doth oppose in this and other of his Epistles were such as these Sect. 3 1. That the Messiah or Christ which God had promised they expected should whenever he came abide for ever and not die John 12.34 We have heard out of the Law say they that Christ abideth for ever and how sayest thou the son of man must be lift up This was a doctrine which it seems past for current among them their guides mis-interpreting some one or more passage in the Old Testament to that purpose that the Messiah should never dye but abide for ever without any change by death which doctrine they took as inconsistent with Jesus his being the Christ indeed and yet suffering death by being lift up upon the Cross which he Prophetically fore-told 1 Cor. 2.7.8 But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery even the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the world unto our glory Which none of the Princes of this world knew for had they known it they would not have crucified the Lord of glory What was that wisdom of God in a mystery which he sayes they preached why it was this that God had offered Salvation to the world by Christ as crucified which both to the Jews and Greeks was such a mystery as but few of them understood but was their occasion of stumbling at Christ 1 Cor. 1.23 24. But we preach Christ crucified unto the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness but unto them which are called both Jews and Greeks Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God Which mystery saith he 1 Cor. 2.7 8. viz. that the counsel of God was so laid to bring about the life of men by the death of the Messias None of the Princes of this world knew viz. the chief of those that had their hands in his death for had they known it they would not have crucified the Lord of glory No surely they would not but it was their ignorance touching those Scriptures which fore-told his humiliation and death that proved a snare to them first to reject him because of his low condition and afterward to crucifie him so saith the Text in effect Acts 13.27 For they that dwell at Jerusalem and their rulers because they knew him not nor yet the voices of the Prophets which are read every Sabbath day they have fulfilled them in condemning him Sect. 4 2. The next damnable opinion which they held into which they were led by the hand of the former was this that Jesus was not the Christ For they concluded him therefore not to be the Christ because he suffered and was crucified they holding the former opinion that such a thing was impossible to befall the Christ of God This is clear from 1 Cor. 1.23 it was his being crucified that caused them to stumble at him and not believe him to be the Christ as it is still unto this day In opposition to which opinion it is that the Apostle hath that saying Heb. 9.16 For where a Testament is there must also of necessity be the death of the Testator Where he argues the necessity of the death of the true Christ for the ratification of the New Testament of which he is Mediatour in opposition to some of another mind Therefore we shall find that to prove the necessity of the Death and Resurrection of the true Christ as also to prove that Christ his being Crucified did not at all argue him not to be the true Christ but the contrary was a great part of the Apostles dispute against the Jews who as it thereby appears held the contrary Acts 17.2 3. And Paul as his manner was went in unto them viz. the Jews in their Synagogue ver 1. and three Sabbath dayes reasoned with them out of the Scriptures opening and alledging that Christ must needs have suffered and risen again from the dead and that Jesus whom I preach unto you is Christ Sect. 5 3. Another thing which they held also was this that their Sacrifices in conjunction with Circumcision and other observances did take away sin For 1. In that they offered Sacrifices for sin they thereby acknowledged themselves to be sinners and such as stood in need of attonement for saith the Apostle Heb. 10.3 In those Sacrifices there is a remembrance again made of sins every year 2. In that they held the true Christ should never dye as we heard before they must therefore needs hold withall that sin was not to be purged by his death and Sacrifice And then 3ly If not by that by what then but by those very Sacrifices of Bulls and Goats which were offered for sin which indeed was the naughty opinion against which the Apostle saith so much in the Epistle to the Hebrews Heb. 10.1 For the law having a shaddow of good things to come and not the very image of the things can never with those Sacrifices which they offered year by year continually make the comers thereunto perfect as some it seems on the contrary did hold Again ver 4. For it is not possible that the blood of Bulls and of Goats should take away sins What shall we think that the Apostle sets up a man of Straw and then fights with it or that he beats only the aire with his word shall we think that he so solemnly over and over and over denies that which no man affirmed or would he make such a business of it to argue the inefficaciousness the unavailablenes of those sacrifices to take away sin if no body had asserted their power and efficacy in that behalf surely he would not such a thing is much below the wisdom of an ordinary man and much more below
the wisdom and gravity of a great Apostle It is a good rule by which to make judgement of the ill opinions and practices then reigning among men in the Apostles times viz. by their zealous and faithfull engagements against them as declared in their Epistles though they do not in so many words charge such and such men with holding or practising such or such things And so when we find the Apostle Heb. 10. so mightily labouring in this business when he hath to do with the beleeving Jews that were under temptations of looking back arguing from the Old Testament that it was never Gods intent to set up those Sacrifices under the Law to take away sin or to purge the conscience but that they served only unto an outward purification and to be as a School-master to bring to Christ by the offering of whom once for all are perfected for ever those that are sanctified it may be easily collected that certainly the unbeleeving Jews did firmly hold the contrary and that the beleeving Jews were in danger of being shaken in their Faith hereabout to prevent which and to establish them firmly in the truth is the prize for which the Apostle runs as in the Epistle in general so more especially in those passages of it in the ninth and tenth Chapters which do more immediately concern this business See more particularly hereabout Heb. 10.1 4 5 9 10 11 12 14.18 and 9.12 13 14 22 25 26. and 1.3 Acts 13.39 These three now mentioned most erronious and highly dangerous opinions held by the obstinate Jews I take to be wrapt up by the Apostle in Rom. 9.31 32 33. But Israel which followed after the law of righteousnesse hath not attained to the law of righteousnesse wherefore because they sought it not by faith but as it were by the works of the law for they stumbled at that stumbling-stone as it is written behold I lay in Zion a stumbling-stone and a rock of offence and whosoever beleeveth on him shall not be ashamed That Christ was and is a stumbling-stone unto the Jews because of his being Crucified is that I shewed before such a thing falling crosse to their received opinion that the true Christ should never dye they thereupon thought they had good reason to reject him and those that taught in his name as being confident for that very reason he could not be the Messiah So that those two opinious 1. That the true Christ should never dye and secondly That Jesus was not the true Christ because he did suffer death are both implyed in that saying ver 32. They stumbled at that stumbling-stone and then the third thing viz. their expectation of remission of sins and acceptation with God by the legal Sacrifices and other Mosaical observances is that which in the 31 and 32. vers is called their following after or seeking the law of righteousness i. e. as I conceive that Law or Covenant by which God hath promised to count men righteous this indeed they sought to come under but missed it because they sought it not in Gods way of beleeving in Christ Jesus and him crucified for they stumbled at that stumbling-stone but as it were by the works of the Law i. e. I conceive they so sought it as if the termes of attaining it appointed by God had been the doing those works of the Law Sect. 6 4. Another erronious opinion of the unbeleeving Jews wherein some also of those who did in a sort believe did comply with them was this that the Gentiles could not be justified or saved unlesse they became prosylites to their Religion and were circumcised and so kept the law of Moses Acts 15.1 5. And certain men which came down from Judea taught the brethren and said except ye be circumcised after the manner of Moses ye cannot be saved Which yet is more fully exprest vers 5. But there rose up certain of the Sect of the Pharisees which beleeved saying that it was needfull to circumcise them and to command them to keep the Law of Moses Which dangerous opinion being obtruded upon the beleeving Gentiles to the great unsettlement of many of them thereupon the Apostle Paul who was the Apostle of the Gentiles to the end he might undeceive such as had been surprised with it and strengthen the Brethren against the infection of it wrote as to the Churches in Galatia so to this at Rome in both which Epistles he doth at large counter-argue this together with the other fore-mentioned soul-destroying opinions Sect. 7 In flat contradiction therefore unto these opinions aforesaid our Apostle in my Text doth affirm That to him that worketh not that is to the Gentile who never had observed or kept the Law of Moses who never had followed after righteousnesse Rom. 9.30 but had lived without God in the world and as an alien from the Common-wealth of Israel But beleeveth on him that justifieth the ungodly That is though he do not nor have done the former yet if he do the latter that is if he shall believe on him that came into the world to save sinners and which in due time dyed for the ungodly His Faith that is this faith of his and not those works of the Law shall be counted to him for righteousnesse This then is clearly the doctrine of the Text that a poor Idolatrous Heathen that had no precedent Works of the Law to commend him of which the Jews boasted and in which he trusted and though such as should never after his beginning to beleeve be either circumcised or offer the Sacrifices for sin commanded in the Law or perform other Jewish Rites yet in case he did but beleeve and should indeed really imbrace the Gospel the doctrine of Jesus he should most certainly be justified and persevering therein be undoubtedly saved the highest and most confident pretention of the Jew to the contrary notwithstanding That the fastning of this naile is the very scope and drift of the Apostle not only in the words of my Text but also in his precedent and subsequent discourse as well that which goes before as that which follows after my Text is that which I shall now as briefly as well as I may come plainly to set before you I shall carry you no further back then to Rom. 3.21 But now the righteousnesse of God without the Law is manifested being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets The righteousness of God that is I conceive Gods way and termes of making or accounting men righteous Without the Law is manifested that is in and by the Gospel it is declared published tendred and offered in the beleeving and imbracing of which Gospel and the termes of grace therein propounded a man may attain this righteousnesse though he had never heard of the Law Though its true also that the same way and termes of Justification is witnessed and asserted in the Law and the Prophets which is now published and tendered by the Gospel Which way of
This he proves first by a clear Text of Scripture out of the Old Testament verse 3. For what saith the Scripture Abraham believed God and it was counted to him for righteousnesse If his believing God was the thing that was counted to him for righteousnesse which is the thing the Scripture affirms Gen. 15.6 then Circumcision and the rest of the Ceremonies of the Law could not be it and therefore could be no more necessary in the Gentiles to their justification than they were to Abraham but that they without Circumcision beleeving as Abraham did they also without cir cumcision might be justified as Abraham was And therefore accordingly from this example the Apostle doth assert in the words of my Text which are brought in upon this occasion That to him that workeeh not but beleiveth on him that justifieth the ungodly his faith is counted to him for righteousnesse Which doctrine of imputation of Faith unto men for Righteousnesse without Works the Apostle in ver 6 7 8. makes clearly agreeable to that passage of David in Psalm 32.1 2. where he sayes Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven and whose sins are covered blessed is the man unto whom the Lord will not impute sin Whereupon the Apostle to draw home this part of his discourse unto Abrahams case which is the chief thing he prosecutes throughout this Chapter in the ninth verse he makes this demand Cometh this blessednesse then upon the Circumcision only or upon the uncircumcision also for we say that Faith was reckoned unto Abraham for righteoasness V. 10. How then was it reckoned when he was in Circumcision or in uncircumcision not in circumcision but in uncircumcision Which way of arguing here used by the Apostle is of mighty force to evince the non-necessity of Circumcision unto justification a thing which the Jews would have imposed upon the Gentiles in order thereunto as I have oft said For if Abrahams Faith was reckoned to him for righteousnesse before ever he was Circumcised then was not his Circumcision necessary unto his justification which he had without it And if it were not necessary hereunto in Abraham their spiritual Father neither was it now necessary among the beleeving Gentiles his spiritual children For the Apostle seems to intimate in ver 11 12. that God had this designe in it that Abraham should receive his circumcision not before but after his justification to wit that he might be the Father the great exemplar copy or patern how or after what manner God would justifie the uncircumcised or Gentiles in time to come viz. by or upon their beleeving in him without Circumcision I might likewise shew you farther how the Apostle in ver 13. argues the non-necessity of keeping the Law of Commandements contained in ordinances in relation to salvation upon this ground because the promise of heirship was not made to Abraham or to his seed through the Law or upon condition of observing that but through the righteousnesse of Faith or upon condition of beleeving unto Justification Of which wise and gracious disposition of these things by God that the promise should be entailed upon beleeving rather than upon the observation of the Jewish Law the Apostle gives this account ver 16. It is by Faith saith he that it might be by grace to the end the promise might be sure to all the seed to wit of Abraham not to that only which is of the Law such as the Jews his Seed according to the flesh were but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham to wit the beleeving Gentiles who otherwise would have been excluded So that the grace of God and the good of men are best provided for in this way and that 's the reason why God hath chosen this and not the other Sect. 9 To draw to a conclusion of this matter which is capable as you see of a large confirmation from Scripture and to passe over what might be further enlarged to the same purpose from other passages in this Epistle I shall present you only with a Text or two more elsewhere Acts 15. where this very question is solemnly debated among the Apostles and Elders for that very purpose assembled at Jerusalem viz. to resolve and determine this case whether it were necessary for the Gentiles that beleeved to be Circumcised and to keep the Law of Moses or no ver 1.5 6 And when there had been much disputing touching this question at last Peter rose up and said unto them men and brethren ye know how that a good while ago God made choice among us that the Gentiles by my mouth should hear the word of the Gospel and beleeve And God which knoweth the hearts bare them witnesse giving them the Holy Ghost even as he did unto us and put no difference between us and them purifying their hearts by faith ver 7 8 9. Where he gives this undeniable reason why this question should be resolved in the negative why Circumcision and the Law should not be imposed upon the beleeving Gentiles in order to their justification and salvation viz. because God by his giving the holy Spirit to the Gentiles Cornelius the rest Act. 10. that were uncircumcised upon the same termes as he did unto the beleeving Jews that were Circumcised Acts 11.17 did bear them witnesse that he accepted them as well without the Law upon their beleeving as he did the Jews with their Law he bare them witnesse giving them the Holy Ghost even as he did unto us And that God made no difference at all between Jew and Gentile as to give the Jew more because he was Circumcised and kept the Law or the Gentile lesse because of his uncircumcision but their hearts and lives being purified reformed by Faith by their cleaving to Christs Doctrine God bestowed the same pledge of his love upon the one as upon the other the Law did not set the Jew higher in his savour nor the want of it keep the Gentile under in his love but being equall in Faith they were equally accepted and beloved of God He put no difference between us and them saies Peter who was a Jew And when Peter at another time was found by his Brother Paul not acting so evenly according to this his present Declaration but contrarily compelling the beleeving Gentiles to walk as did the Jews Gal. 2.14 he reproves him for it upon this ground that Peter himself knew this that they themselves who were by nature and birth Jews and not sinners of the Gentiles could not for all that be justified by the Law which they as Jews observed but must be glad to come by it in the same way and upon the same termes in which the sinners of the Gentiles did obtain it to wit the Faith of Jesus Christ Gal. 2.14 15 16. If thou being a Jew livest after the manner of the Gentiles and not as do the Iews why compellest thou the Gentiles to live as do the Iews We who are Iews by
but fairly construed and argued upon This by what I have but newly said doth plainly appear might be further evinced by other of their sayings wherein they do acknowledg That that Faith which is alone severed from charity and destitute of good Works doth neither justifie nor save but that there is a necessity of them a necessity of presence though not of efficiency and that they must concur with Faith in the subject or party justified though not in the act of Justification And what 's all this less than that which I have said I say Faith void of Works will not justifie They say that Faith which is alone severed from charity and destitute of good Works will not justifie nor save I say it 's not necessary to hold or say that the same justifying act office or power is placed in them as is in Faith They say they are not necessary by way of efficiency I say God denies the justifying priviledge unto a barren dead Faith and reserves it only for a lively working Faith they say there 's a necessity of presence and that they concur with Faith in the subject or party justified though not in the act of justifying So that a necessity of Gospel-obedience to accompany that Faith which shall justifie is acknowledged on all hands And if men had but laid out themselves as much to possess the people with a thorow sence of this as they have to preserve them from the errors of the Papists on the other hand it might I conceive have been much better with their Souls then now it is For while their ears and eyes have been filled so much with the doctrine of Justification by Faith without Works when they have meant it only in opposition to the Popish sence and so little with the Doctrine touching the unavailablenesse of that Faith unto Justification that does not knit the Soul to Christ with such love as by which men deny themselves of their Lusts and sinful pleasures and follow after righteousnesse and holinesse with them that call upon the Lord with a pure heart hence I fear it hath come to passe that the generality of men among us have had so little sence of the necessity of a godly life and have presumed so much upon their Faith touching Christ which yet hath been but the dead Faith James speaks of as that they have to the sad deceiving of their own Souls thought themselves in safe condition although they have lived sensual and carnal lives and have been strangers to the work of the new Creature the power of Godlinesse and the life of Holinesse without which for all their Faith no man shall see the Lord. But alass how should it be otherwise when as it is too manifest that the Leaders and Guides of the people themselves except here and there one have had little of this sence and savour but have built so much upon the act of beleeving and so little upon a faithful subjection to Christs Doctrine which for ought I can see is as necessary to render Faith available in its place as Faith is necessary to render the blood of Christ available in its place as to a mans personal Justification as if that subjection were not at all necessary unto the being of a mans justification before God but usefull onely to declare him to himself and unto men to be justified And under this Soul-deceiving apprehension and mistaken notion and principle the Ministers too many of them have indulged themselves and people too in a dull heavy cold partial flat and lesse than formal way of professing the Gospel to the hazard of their precious Souls And O that this might but awaken any of them that take upon them the care of Souls to lay this matter more to heart before it be too late and the opportunity past And thus I have now done with the first part of my Text wherein I have shewed in what sence Paul makes no reckoning of Works in the point of Justification Come we now to the handling of that which remains touching the imputation of his Faith for righteousnesse who beleeveth on him that justifieth the ungodly CHAP. IV. Setting forth the object of justifying Faith and shewing the beleeving in whom and the beleeving of what it is that will be counted for Righteousnesse Sect. 1 IN the handling of the latter part of these words But to him that worketh not but beleeveth on him that justifieth the ungodly his Faith is counted for righteousnesse I would open these three things 1. The believing in whom and the believing of what it is to which the promise of Justification or the Imputation of Righteousness is made 2. What or what manner of believing it is that hath the great promise of Justification annexed to it 3. How or in what sence this Faith in men is counted unto them for righteousness Which three things I conceive contain the sum and substance of the Doctrine of Justification Let us now begin with the first of these and see from the Scriptures who and what is the right object of saving Faith Him whom the Apostle here in the Text propounds as the object of this belief is said to be him who justifieth the ungodly Whether by him that justifieth the ungodly we should understand God the Father distinctly or his Son Jesus Christ it will not be so needfull to enquire since as both concur in justifying the ungodly so both are the object of justifying Faith For as in due time Christ dyed for the ungodly Rom. 5.6 that he might justifie them by his blood so God the Father hath set him forth to be a propitiation through Faith in his blood Rom. 3.25 And as to understand the Apostle as meaning the Father seems to suit best with the precedent verses so to understand him as not excluding the Son will well answer his general design in asserting attonement remission of sins or justification by Christ for the ungodly Gentiles upon their beleeving in opposition to those who appropriated these to the Works of Moses Law It 's true there is a great variety of expression used in Scripture to set forth the object of Faith sometimes making God the Father and his record concerning his Son the object and sometimes Christ as Messiah promised as Son of God as dying as rising again and sometimes the word or doctrine of Christ or his Apostles but all relating to and depending originally upon the Father I shall touch each of these particularly but with much brevity because I hope you are not so much unacquainted with these things as I fear you are in that upon which I principally intend enlargement Sect. 2 I. Justification is ascribed unto God the Father as him in whom we must beleeve and upon whom we must depend for it in many other Scriptures beside my Text Rom. 8.33 and 3.30 Gal. 3.8 Hence justification is called the righteousnesse of God and the righteousnesse which is of God as he being the
at the last day and the eternal judgement that will follow thereupon which are two great Arricles of the Christian Faith and fundamental Doctrines Heb. 6.2 does depend upon our beleef of the Resurrection of Christ For if Christ the Son of Gods love him in whom his soul delighteth more than in any man should not have been raised by the glory of the Father there would have been little reason for any other man to expect so great a favour But now is Christ risen from the dead and is become the first fruits of them that slept 1 Cor. 15.20 as a pledge of their Resurrection also In that any have a lively hope of being raised again to an inheritance uncorruptible and undefiled and that fadeth not away they are thereunto begotten by the resurrection of Iesus Christ from the dead so saith the Apostle 1 Pet. 1.3 4 And again verse 21. In that God raised him up from the dead and so gave him glory it was that our Faith and hope might be in God that he will do so to us likewise For God hath both raised up the Lord and will also raise up us by his own power 1 Cor. 6.14 For if we beleeve that Iesus dyed and rose again even so them also which sleep in Iesus will God bring with him 1 Thes 4.14 Because I live ye shall live also saith he who is the Resurrection and the life Iohn 14.19 and 11.25 And that there shall be a righteous Judgement following the Resurrection and that Christ Jesus shall be the Judge is such a thing of which the Father hath given assurance or offered Faith unto all men in that he hath raised him from the dead Acts 17.31 Sect. 8 5. The Word Gospel or Doctrine of Christ and of his Apostles is so the object of Faith as that salvation is promised unto the right beleef thereof Mark 16.15 16. Go ye into all the World and preach the Gospel to every Creature he that beleeveth and is baptized shall be saved 2 Thes 2.13 Because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and beleef of the truth 2 Thes 1.10 When he shall come to be glorified in his Saints and to be admired in all them that beleeve because our testimony among you was beleeved in that day The Doctrine of Christ and of his Apostles may well be counted the object of Faith inasmuch as to beleeve it is all one as to beleeve that the Father hath set forth his Son to be a propitiation for sin through Faith in his blood and so it is to beleeve that Christ dyed for our sins according to the Scriptures and that he rose again the third day according to the Scriptures because the Doctrine of the Gospel is a testimony and declaration of these things and he that beleeves the one beleeves the other also Gods giving his Son to dye and Christs dying and rising again without a declaration of the mind and counsel of God thereabout as viz. for what cause upon what account and for what end he did so as also upon what termes and conditions men shall reap the fruit of his Death Resurrection and Intercession I say the one without the other does not seem to be the adequate object of Faith but both together are For which cause the Doctrine of the Gospel in its Enunciations Precepts and Threatnings as well as in its Promises is the object of Faith And because the Doctrine of the Gospel contains declares and amply sets forth all these things together with those things which are to come viz. the Resurrection of the Dead and Eternal Judgement in order to which the former first take place as being all of them matters about which Faith is busied therefore is it that the Doctrine of the Gospel is frequently called the Faith Gal. 1.23 and 3.2 5 23. Acts 6.7 Romans 1.5 1 Tim. 4.1 Iude 3. And so now I have done with my first point touching Faith viz. the object of it or the beleeving of what it is that shall be imputed for righteousness CHAP. V. Shewing that that Faith which consists onely in assenting unto the truth of that report which the Gospel makes touching Christ his being the Son of God and of his coming into the World to save Sinners by dying for them will not availe to Iustification and Salvation as a Gospel-Faith of the right kind will do Sect. 1 HAving briefly shewed from the holy Scriptures the beleef of what it is objectively that hath the promise of Salvation annext to it I shall now in the next place come to enquire what and what manner of beleeving it is subjectively that hath the same promise or whether every act of beleeving that is placed on a right object hath this great priviledge of Justification entailed to it And upon due enquiry it will be found that not any act or acts of Faith one or more be they never so many of them that fall short of engaging the Soul in true Love and sincere obedience unto the Lord Jesus will avail the man in whom they are unto the saving of the soul If I mistake not all the acts of a saving Faith may be reduced to and comprehended under these three heads The first I call an act of Credence the second an act of Adherence and the third an act of Confidence in the exertion of which three acts of Faith having Christ for their object the whole soul mind will and affections are engaged which make up the beleeving with all the heart which the Gospel calls for Acts 8.37 By that act which I call an act of Credence I mean the assent of the mind unto the truth of what the Gospel reports especially touching Christ and Gods love to mankind in him as that he is the Son of God and Saviour of the world that he was sent of God the Father to shew unto men the way of salvation and then to dye rise again and after his ascension to make intercession to bring that salvation about and that remission of sins is to be had through his name By that act of Faith which I call an act of Adherence I understand the souls fast cleaving unto the Lord Jesus in affection and subjection as counting him more worthy of both than any Creature or thing in all the world as also taking hold of that grace and strength which is in Christ for deliverance from the power of sin and of bringing the soul back again to God in point of holiness And lastly by an act of Confidence I mean the Souls relyance rest or dependance upon Christ or on the Father through Christ for remission of sins acceptation and eternal salvation the committing of the Soul to his mercy the throwing it upon his grace These three acts of Faith relate to each other by way of dependance the second depending upon the first as the acts of the Will do upon the Understanding and the third upon both the
any more to be found in the dress of his own righteousness which was of the Law the first Covenant righteousness that righteousness in the Law touching which as he sayes he was blameless vers 6. Which whilst he expected Salvation by it was a righteousness or way of justification of his own setting up never of Gods appointing In opposition whereto he desires now to be found in that righteousness which is of God through Faith in that state of justification and salvation which God in the Gospel hath setled and established upon beleeving in Jesus So that here in this Contexture of Scripture you have the Jews righteousness or justification and the Christians through both which this Apostle had passed and of both which he had made tryal the Jews claim was by the Law and the works thereof but the Christians by the Gospel and the Faith and obedience thereof the act of his conversion was his renouncing of the former and cleaving to the latter Romans Chapter 9. Verse 30 31 32. What shall we say then that the Gentiles which followed not after righteousnesse have attained to righteousnesse even the righteousnesse which is of Faith but Israel which followed after the Law of righteousnesse hath not attained to the Law of righteousnesse Wherefore because they sought it not by Faith but as it were by the works of the Law for they stumbled at that stumbling-stone Here we have two manner of people the Gentiles and the Jews and two sorts of righteousness the one of the Law the other of Faith or of the Gospel The Gentiles who had not followed after righteousness but lived in Idolatry Sin and Wickedness and without God in the World being altogether strangers to the Common-wealth of Israel and that Covenant of Promise yet attained to righteousness a state of justification and acceptation before God upon their receiving the Gospel the doctrine of life and salvation when it was brought among them The Jews though they followed after the law of righteousness those laws wherein a righteous conversation was commanded by God and did many of the things that were commanded therein having a zeal towards God yet for all that did not arrive at that justification and acceptation with God which the Gentiles attained and the reason was because they did not seek it in the Gospel-way in which the Gentiles found it they should have let go the doctrine of Moses and have imbraced the doctrine of Christ and have reckoned themselves but in the same capacity with the Gentiles for all their Works of the Law and have said as some of them did We beleeve that through the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved even as they Acts 15.11 But instead of this they stumbled at that stumbling-stone Christ Jesus and him crucified and the offer of salvation by him and did adhere unto the works of the Law for all things pertaining to salvation and would have Justification upon the Law termes this ran in their mind if a man do those things he shall live in them and so ventured all upon that score It was quite beyond their expectation that the Messiah when ever he should come should turn them out of their way of Sacrificing by becoming a Sacrifice himself or that their expectation of remission of sin should be taken off the former and placed on the latter and therefore they cleaving to the letter of the Law for eternal salvation which so far was ordained by God but for a temporal and rejecting Christ and the termes of salvation by him which the Law pointed them to in the spiritual signification of it of which they were wholly ignorant hence it came to pass that for all their labouring seeking and striving after righteousness justification and salvation yet they missed it as seeking it out of Gods way upon their own termes not Gods Gal. 2.21 For if righteousnesse come by the Law then Christ is dead in vain How could that be but that they did attribute and ascribe the same attoning virtue and sin-purging efficacy unto the works of the Law which the Gospel does attribute unto the blood of Jesus And then indeed if it had been so as they supposed it was that sacrifices or any other works of the Law could have purged sin so as Christ does by his death and blood then the death of Christ would have been in vain God would never have put himself to that charge as to give his Son to death to take away the sin of men if the works of the Law had been a competent means to bring it about If there had been a Law saith the same Apostle which could have given life verily righteousnesse should have been by the Law Gal. 3.21 If the Law and the Wotks therein commanded could have done the same thing towards the conferring of life and salvation upon men which is now brought to passe by the coming and dying of Jesus then righteousness and life should have been by that But now inasmuch as that God hath given his Son to dye for here he writes to those that did acknowledge Christ and his death but withall inclined to that opinion Acts 15. that except men kept the law of Moses they could not be saved since God hath given his Son to dye it is as if he should say manifest that the Law fell short in ability of doing that for men for the doing of which God sent his own Son Rom. 8.3 For what the Law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh God sent his own Son in the similitude of sinfull flesh and for sin or by a sacrifice for sin as it is in the margent condemned sin in the flesh What the Law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh that is I conceive through or by reason of the sins of the flesh the sinful condition of man was so great as that it quite over-topt the purging power of the Law the disease was too strong to be cured with such a purge the sins of the flesh overmatched the Law in this kind and rendred it weak and therefore God was fain to send his own Son to condemn sin to take away the destroying power of sin by the sacrifice of himself for that the Law could not do it by its sacrifice In that the Apostle writes so much and in so many places for there are many more besides these touching the weaknesse and dis-ability of the Law to do that for men which God sent Christ to do for them it is in opposition to those who magnified the Law as if it had been able to do all that for them which the Apostle doth ascribe to Christ as done by him By what hath been now said I think it doth fully appear in what sence the Jews asserted the Works of their Law in the point of Justification and likewise in what sence the Apostle denies them Sect. 5 And now if any man shall say that Love Iustice and
Mercy yea or the act of Faith it self or any other work commanded in the Gospel does justifie as Christs blood justifies by way of attonement for sin let him be accursed It is the prerogative royal peculiarly and alone belonging to Christ thus to justifie in which no creature in Heaven or Earth or any action of any creature bears any the least share Heb. 1.3 When he had by himself purged our sins sat down on the right hand of the majesty on high To purge from sin is the self-work of Christ Heb. 7.27 and 9.26 28. and 10 12 14. When some of the Galatians were but about to attribute the same justifying power unto the Law which they had acknowledged to be in Christ Paul testifies to them that in doing so they would render Christ of none effect to them and fall from grace Gal. 5.4 So dangerous a thing is it to joyn any in competition or co-partnership with Christ in this work or to attribute the same justifying vertue to any beside him And if any among the Papists should ascribe any such operation or vertue to any of their works though as dipt in the blood of Christ and receiving their vertue from that it would doubtlesse be found a piece of high presumption and a sin of a daring nature before the Lord. But alass how far off are we from ascribing any such power operation or vertue unto any work which a Christian can do Nay Faith it self though it be so necessary unto justification as that without which the blood of Christ will not justifie and save men yet it is far from being necessary upon any such account as if it could in the least operate as Christs blood does or add any thing unto the saving vertue thereof and yet necessary it is because such is the Will of God as that the saving benefit of that blood shall not be made over unto any man but upon condition of his beleeving So I say of Works I mean Gospel-obedience though we say they are so necessary as that no mans Faith shall justifie him that is void of them or which is all one that no mans Faith shall justifie him without them yet we say also that they are far from being necessary upon any such score as Christs blood is necessary or as if they could contribute any thing unto its atoneing vertue Nor is it necessary in this case to suppose them to be formally of the nature of Faith nor to be essential to the act of beleeving nor that the same justifying act office or power is placed in them by God as is in Faith Yet necessary they are unto justification because such is the will and good pleasure of God as that though he will have Faith to entitle men to the justifying and saving benefit of Christs blood yet he will not interess an unprofitable dead barren fruitless formal Faith in that saving benefit and priviledges of the New Covenant but reserves this honour for that Faith only which is an active lively working Faith and which makes a man as well ready and desirous to give honour and glory unto the Lord in doing his will as to receive honour and glory from him in the way of beleeving his promise This God willing I shall make fully evident when I come to treat of the doctrine of Faith and Justification by it in the handling of the second part of my Text. Sect. 6 In the mean while if this burden any mans mind how to think or conceive that Faith in its first justifying act in closing with Christ should be accompanied with Works when as that first act is done in an instant but Faiths bearing of Fruit and producing of good works is a work of time and shal therefore think that sure Faith must needs be alone and without works in the first act of its justifying work whatever it be after I shall ease this burden and answer this objection by distinguishing of Works There are two sorts of Works 1. Such as consist in will purpose and desire 2. Such as consist in the actual execution of those resolutions and desires That those motions resolutions and desires that are transacted in the wil by way of preparation of turning them into actions of another nature when opportunity shall serve I say that these are works in Gods account who is as well privy to them as to external actions is most evident Mic. 2.1 Wo to them that devise iniquity and work evill upon their beds when the morning is light they practice it because it is in the power of their hand Their devising and resolving upon evill in the night in order to the practice of it in the day is called a working of evill upon their beds Again Psalm 58.2 Yea in heart ye work wickedness you weigh the violence of your hands in the earth The evill actions and motions of the mind and will are called a working of wickednesse in the heart as the looking on a Woman to lust after her is called the committing adultry with her in the heart Mat. 5.28 All which is as true of good intentions resolutions and desires as of evill the resolving upon good when opportunity presents is a working of good in the soul as well as the resolving upon evill upon like termes is the working of evill Now then that Faith which is not accompanied with good Works of this kind in the souls first fastening upon Christ by Faith for salvation I say that soul that does not come to Christ with a sence of such worthinesse in him as to desire and resolve through the strength of his grace to give up it self to him and to be commanded by him that Faith that soul by all the light that I can get from Scripture is never like to be accepted or to pass for currant in Christs account Nor will such desires and resolutions do it neither that are but airy and of the nature of false Conceptions and which spend themselves and languish and vanish in desiring and resolving like the sluggard Solomon speaks of Prov. 13.4 Whose soul desireth and hath nothing No unlesse they have that truth and reality that strength and substance as to be delivered of such conceptions and to bring forth fruit to perfection when opportunity comes and not like that corn that groweth upon the house-top that withereth before it come to maturity they are never like to obtain the honour and reputation of such desires and resolutions as will passe for good works in Gods account But if the soul in its first closing with Christ by Faith go armed and the Faith of the soul attended with real hearty and unfeigned desires and purposes to render unto the Lord in love honour and service according to the benefit it expects to receive from him and that nothing but lack of opportunity hinders the real acting and executing these desires and resolves with suitable endeavours doubtlesse that soul that faith is accepted with the Lord as