Selected quad for the lemma: sin_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
sin_n	apostle_n	law_n	transgression_n	5,619	5	10.4785	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A41483	The banner of justification displayed: or; a discourse, concerning the deep, and important mystery of the justification of a sinner wherein the severall causes thereof, being both numerous and various, are from the first to the last diligently enquired after, and their severall contributions towards so great and happy a work, clearly distinguished, and assigned to their proper causes (respectively.) and more particularly is shewed, how God, how the grace of God, how the decree of God, how the soveraign authority of God; how Christ, how the active obedience [of] Christ, how the passive obedience of Christ, how the resurrection of Christ, how the knowledge of Christ; how the spirit of God, how faith, how repentance, how works, how remission of s[in,] how the word, how the minister of the word, how the P[ope?] himself which is justified, may all truly, though upon severall accounts, and after different manners, be sayed to justifie.	Goodwin, John, 1594?-1665.	1659 (1659)	Wing G1150A; ESTC R221574	62,441	91

of the Doctrine But I judge it very incongruous for any Minister of the Gospel to set up a Doctrine as it were in defiance of or in Contest against any thing so frequently and so directly in terminis affirmed in the Scriptures as Justification by Faith And doubtlesse men need not be at all tender or afraid to deliver this positively for a Doctrine of Evangelical Truth that men are justified by Faith yea or by Faith alone if they do but declare or signifie withall 1. What the Scripture means by that Justification which it ascribeth unto Faith 2 What it means by that Faith unto which it ascribeth Justification For 1. that Justification which the Scripture attributeth unto Faith is precisely that which consisteth in Remission of sins as the Apostle plainly teacheth Rom. 3. 25. but more largely Rom. 4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8. to omit other places Now certain it is that no kinde of works whatsoever enjoyned in the Moral Law have any thing at all little or much to doe about Remission of Sins or in the procurement or obtaining of it For in case a man should transgresse the Law or sin only once and this in the lightest manner and should for ten thousand years together afterwards with all possible exactnesse observe and keep this Law yet this long Tract or Series of Obedience or good Works would not make his Attonement for that Sin nor bring him off from the Guilt of it with Peace and Safety The reason is signified by the Apostle Heb. 9. 22. Without shedding of Bloud there is no Remission The Wisdome and Righteousnesse of God did not judge it reasonable or meet that the payment of one Debt by the Creature though amounting to never so great a Summe should satisfie for the Non-payment of another Now the most exact Obedience that can be performed or yielded unto the Law of God by any Creature whilest it hath any being is but a debt due from this Creature unto God Therefore no Obedience in this kinde can satisfie for or attone either in whole or in part the least Disobedience or Transgression So that Justification from sin as the Scripture phrase is Act. 13. 39. i. which standeth in Remision of sins cannot be purchased or procured but by the Death or Blood-shed of him that should undertake the Redemption of Sinners Only God was pleased to decree or make this for a Law which the Apostle calleth the Law of Faith Rom 3. 27. that Faith or believing in him through Christ should interess men in the benefit or blessing of the Death and Bloud-shed of Christ i. in that Remission of Sins which was purchased by his Death And in this consideration Faith justifieth viz. by vertue of the Soveraign Authority of that most Gracious Decree or Law of God wherein he hath said or decreed that it shall intitle men unto or in-right them in part and fellowship of that benefit of the Death of Christ which consisteth in Forgivenesse of Sins or which comes much to the same as it is a Qualification or condition ordained covenanted or appointed by God to bring upon those in whom it shall be found the great Blessing of that Pardon of Sin which Christ hath obtained for Men by his Blood And because God hath not passed any such Decree nor made any such Law concerning good works as viz. that these shall bring men into Communion of the benefit of Remission of Sins purchased by the Death of Christ therefore they have nothing to doe to justifie men in this notion or sense of the word Justification If by Justification we mean approbation commendation acquitting from blame or the like in which sense also the word is frequently used in the Scriptures * Good Works are proper and necess ry thus to justifie us both in the sight of God and Men only with this Explication or Proviso viz. that men live to meet with Opportunities for the doing of such works after their true believing For otherwise if the case should so happen that a true Believer should be taken away by Death the next moment to that in which he first believed it is not to be thought but that he should die not simply with his sins pardoned but under the approbation of God also Therefore Good Works in actu exercito as the Schoolmen speak or actually performed are not absolutely universally or in every case that may possibly happen necessary no not to that Justification it self which simpathizeth as hath been said in import with Approbation Commendation Vindication from blame imputed or the like It is true in actu signato or as they are Radically Seminally or Vertually included in that Faith which justifieth by Remission of sins of which more presently so they are universally and in all cases possible if we speak of persons capable by Years and Discretion of Believing necessary thereunto And God who accepteth the Will for the Deed when men want opportunity or means for Action looketh upon those good Works which are conceived in the Womb of a true and unfeigned Faith as actually performed and done when such a Faith wants means time or opportunity to bring forth In this notion our Saviour himself must be understood to speak at least in reference unto many of those to whom he speaketh if he be conceived to speak unto all standing on his right hand which I judge to be the more rational to suppose Mat. 25. 34 35 36. Come ye Blessed of my Father For I was an hungred and ye gave me meat I was thirsty and ye gave me drink I was a Stranger and ye took me in Naked and ye cloathed me I was sick and ye visited me I was in Prison and ye came unto me Doubtlesse some yea a considerable party of those to whom the Lord Christ will expresse himself thus in that Great Day will be such who had been poor in the dayes of their Flesh and afflicted and stood in need of being relieved by their Christian Brethren better accommodated in the World then they and in whose relief Christ will acknowledge himself relieved v. 40. Therefore such as these had not been in a condition or capacity to minister actually unto the wants and necessities of other poor Christians in those respective Supplies and Accommodations here specified and yet we finde according to our late supposition that Christ gives the same testimony unto them for these services of Charity which he gives unto those that had actually performed them His meaning then must be that even these poor distressed Saints who had not wherewith either to cloath the naked or to give entertainment unto Strangers actually yet had both one and other the same works and services of Christian commiseration and charity here mentioned in the Bowels of the same kinde of Faith out of which they actually proceeded from their better World-provided Brethren and were performed by them But this occasionally here and by the way for the better Explication

nature and so weighty a consequence as the Doctrine of justification is it is safest and best for edification to use such terms which do with greatest propriety and strictness of notion answer and unsold the words and phrases wherein God himself hath in the Scriptures delivered his mind and counsell in such things unto us If it be here Objection-wise demanded But if Christ made a full and compleat satisfaction by his death for the sins of men and hereby satisfied the justice and wisdome of God so that he cannot justly or equitably require any thing further either from men themselves or from any other on their behalf in order to their discharge absolution or justification from their sins how or upon what account doth he still capitulate with men about their justification imposing Faith upon them a Faith working or apt to work by love yea and works themselves too according to the judgment of some whose words in this case are not guilty if their sense be innocent in the nature of a condition without the performance whereof no justification is to be had notwithstanding the satisfaction made by Christ for their sins Or how is the satisfaction made by Christ compleat and full if justification be not given upon it without the addition or intervening of some qualification or performance in men And if God having received full satisfaction from Christ in his death for the respective debts or sins of men should yet require satisfaction at their hands also in punishment for the same debt whether they believe in him or no should he not be unjust Or is it consistent with Justice to demand the same debt twice or to exact a second satisfaction when one hath been given already and this every wayes compleat and full and so acknowledged by the Creditor and Receiver himself I answer 1. The compleatners or fulness of Christ's satisfaction is not to be o● imated by the will or counsell of God about the application of it or actuall communication of the vertue o● benefit of it unto particular men but by the proportion which it beaneth unto the ●n unto which it relateth in the nature of a p●i e ransome consideration or satisfaction If it be commensurable in rationall worth or value unto these i. If it be a matter or thing of that Nature consequence and consideration that God may with the salvage or sufficient demonstration of the glory of his Justice or perfect hatred of sin wisdome c. pardon the sins and transgressions of men without any thing added thereunto by way of satisfaction or punishment it is in reason to be ●udged a sufficient or compleat satisfaction although upon some other account he suspend the benefit or actuall application of it unto particular men upon reasonable requirements of them otherwise In case a Prince or Nobleman charitably and bountifully disposed should intend the redemption of a company of persons out of captivity and in order hereunto should freely give unto him under whom they are in bondage and who hath power to set them at liberty a summ of money fully answerable according to the usuall rate in such cases to the liberty of these persons but should withall desire of or covenant with him to whom he hath given or payd the sayd money and who is the present Lord of these Captives that he should not actually discharge or set at liberty any man of them untill they had tendered or made a thankfull acknowledgment of his Grace and bounty towards them In this case I say the condition of acknowledgment required of these Captives by their great Benefactors before they are permitted actually to partake of the benefit of the price of their redemption doth no waies argue any scantness or insufficiency in this price but only declares the will and pleasure of him that ransometh them concerning their behaviour before their actuall redemption If it be here demanded But what if any or all the C p●ives in this case should so far forget themselves or be neglective of their own welfare as not to tender or make such an acknowledgment to their Benefactor what becomes of that money or price layd down by him for their redemption would it not argue want of wisdome o● providence in him that should lay down a vast summ of money for the redemption of such persons the far greater part of which he knew before-hand would be never the better for it nor accept of their liberty upon such terms as he meant to impose on them in order thereunto I answer 1. to the former of these demands in case any or all the Captives mentioned should be so desperately careless of their own welfare as not to accept of their deliverance upon those equitable and easie terms on which it is offered them and may be enjoyed by them their Benefactor may notwithstanding have consideration for his money satisfactory unto him as viz. both the conscience and honour of his most worthy and heroick Act in sparing no cost to being men out of misery and th●aldome Nor doth the Scripture anywhere suspend the glorious and high contentment which God takes in that transcendent Act of his Grace in the gift of his Son for the redemption of the world upon the Faith of those who believe on him by means thereof or upon the great benefit which by means of their Faith they actually receive from it but upon the intrinsecall and divine worth and adorableness of the Act it self Yea the Scripture seems to make that great Act of Grace we speak of of one and the same consideration or contentment unto God whethermen reap benefit by it or no For we are unto God sayth the Apostle 2 Cor. 2. 15. the sweet savour of Christ in them that are saved and in them that perish So that Christ i. His Grace vouchsafed unto the world by Christ for their salvation is of the same or like savour sweet and pleasing unto God whether men accept it and so are saved by it or whether they reject it and perish notwithstanding it It is true upon another account God is highly oftended with men when they reject his Grace as viz. Because herein they act most foolishly and irrationally not because they diminish or make any breach upon his contentment in vouchsafing such Grace unto them 2. To the latter demand whether it would not argue want of wisdome or providence c. I answer 1. That it argues neither want of wisdome or providence in him that shall part with a great summ of money for the ransome of many thousand Captives although he should know before-hand that the greater part would be never the better for it nor accept of their freedome upon the terms imposed on them in order thereunto in case it be supposed that he knew that a considerable part of them however would accept of the favour to the unspeakable benefit of their enlargement Yea as was lately argued though he had fore-known that none of them

else to find out some other person to suffer for them whose punishment or sufferings might be altogether as considerable and argue as great respects to his Authority Wisdome and Righteousness as the punishment of Adam and all that were now Delinquents in his Loyns i. His whole Posterity the second Adam only excepted up to the line of their transgression and guilt would have done And thus the Apostle as we lately heard layeth it down indefinitely and in the generall that if God meant to save and glorifie any number of Adams Posterity it concerned him in point of glory to provide that he who ever he should be by whom they were to be saved should suffer to perfection i. Proportionably to what they ought to have suffered whom he intended to save by him For this I conceive to be the sense and import of these words For it became him for whom are all things and by whom are all things in bringing many Sons unto glory to perfect or make perfect the Captain of their salvation through sufferings Heb. 2. 10. That Description or Periphrasis of God For whom are all things and by whom are all things importing his transcendent Soveraignty and greatness seems to imply that these were considerations that made it necessary and comely for him in case he intended salvation to Adam and his Posterity to take that course which now he hath taken for the effecting it viz. To impose such sufferings upon him by whom it should or was to be atchieved which might in a rationall estimation answer the sufferings which they had deserved and that had it been any but God or had God been any but himself the omission of such exactness of severity or justice in or about the accomplishment of the Design would not have been so uncomly for them as now it seems it would have been for God to dispense with it his Augustissimall and unparralleld Majesty and Greatness being as hath been sayd considered For it no wayes at no hand becomes him to whom the whole Creation Heaven and Earth with all the Hosts of them stand bound to do the deepest homage and service and whose wisdome and power have so gloriously quitted themselves in the beautifull Fabrick of the Universe and in all the parts and parcels of it either to confess himself either unadvised or over-severe in making a Law for the Nurture and Government of his Creature or to minister any occasion in the least unto his Creature so to judge or conceive of him which he should have done had he taken a company of his Creatures who had despised and broken this Law into his Bosome yea into part and fellowship with himself in his own blessedness and glory without a just compensation for these transgressions and fully commensurable in one kind or other thereunto Now there being no Creature no person to be found either in Heaven or in Earth nor any to be framed nor made by any appropriate or new Act of Creation at least as far as the understandings of men are well able to reach capable of suffering upon the terms mentioned in regard of the unpreventible inconsiderableness of their beings Comparatively and of their sufferings accordingly and so not competent to make a just satisfaction for the high misdemeanour or provocation of so many hence there arose a necessity a necessity I mean for Divine conveniency and a salvage of Honour either that the Son of God being first put into a suffering capacity by being made flesh should willingly undertake and perform this suffering Service for the Transgressors or otherwise that the Transgressors themselves from the first to the last should have born their own sin and fallen under it and have perished by it for ever 2. Suppose we that some Creature might have been either found or made yea suppose we that some man might have been made upon like terms with Adam whose sufferings might have amounted to a satisfactory consideration for Adams transgression together with all theirs who sinned in him and with him yet first if he in one respect or other had not really and truly descended from Adam as Christ did the satisfaction made by him had not been so proper or so clearly salvant of the Glory of the Wisdome and Soveraignty of God in the Threatning or Law mentioned In that day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt dye the death as that now made by the death of Christ For Christ was not only of the same nature with Adam but also lineally though not according to the course of common propagation descended from Adam Luk. 3. 23. compared with vers 38. and the Verses intermediate In which respect the threatning or penalty of the Law In the day that thou eatest c. was inflicted upon him to whom the Law was given though not upon his Person personally considered but as subsisting and having a Being in that speciall Branch of his Posterity Christ as he had a Being likewise in every other Member of this his Posterity even as they also in a reciprocall consideration had a being in him whilst as yet they actually were not In this kind of Dialect God kept Covenant with Abraham when he performed those Promises unto him as subsisting in his Posterity or Seed which yet he made unto him personally unless we shall say which haply may be true and proper enough that this and such like promises made unto Abraham remain yet to be performed and made good unto him personally in the first Resurrection and during the Reign of Christ and of the Saints on earth for a thousand years Thus he promised unto him yet personally subsisting and present that he would give him the Land of Canaan Arise walk through the Land in the length of it and in the breadth of it for I will give it unto thee Gen. 13 17. So elsewere And in thee shall all the Families of the Earth be blessed Gen. 12. 3. which yet was not verified in him personally considered but as subsisting in that most glorious and flourishing Branch of his Posterity Christ In like manner Christ assuming the humane Nature wherein he suffered from one of Adams naturall Race and consequently from Adam himself though in an appropriate and supernaturall way the penalty of the Law In the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt dye the death being inflicted upon Christ may in a sense and this not much remote from that which is literall o● proper be sayd to have been inflicted upon Adam himself The Apostle having as we lately heard affirmed that it became God in bringing i. pu posing or designing and accordingly attempting to being many Sons as viz. His Son Adam Luk 3. 38. and all his Sons which were many and who by reason of their descent from Adam may properly enough be tearmed the Sons of God also the Scripture frequently giving the appellation of Sons or Children to all lineally descending from the same Progenitors unto glory to consecrate for so the word

{non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} very often signifieth ot to make perfect i. Compleatly to qualifie the Captain of their salvation Christ that was to procure their deliverance from death by making Attonement for them through sufferings proportionable to so great ●n Atchievement and consequently to put him into a capacity of suffering by investing him with the humane Nature as is plainly layd down v. 14. the Apostle I say having asserted this he gives this account of it in the words following For both he that sanctifieth and they that are sanctified are all of one meaning that the one and the other are both of one and the same Original or Descent as viz. From God by the Line of Adam and likewise of one and the same nature or blood as Act. 17. 26. And hath made of one blood all Nations of men And withall that it was meet that thus it should be for conformity sake unto the Leviticall Type where the high Priest and those that were Legally purified or sanctified by him were both of one and the same nature and likewise descended from one and the same Progenitors 2. It was very agreeable both to the goodness and wisdome of God that he who by his appointment and at his instance should serve Adam and his posterity in so arduous and difficult an undertaking as by his own death to re-instate them in a condition of life and peace should be satisfied with and enjoy this sore travail of his Soul and not sink or be wholly crushed under it and consequently that he should not only suffer death but overcome death or which is the same be raised again from the dead that so he might be capable of that great recompence of Reward which so transcendent a Service both unto God and men well deserved Upon this account also the Lord Jesus Christ was the only person either in actuall being or in possibility of being that was accomplished or meetly qualified for that great undertaking of raising up the Tabernacle of Adam which was fallen and of saving that which was lost For were it granted or supposed which yet I cannot encourage any man to suppose that some Creature might have been found or else made so holy harmless undefiled and separate from sinners the shedding of whose blood or whose death for Adam and his posterity might have been so considerable in the sight of God as that he could have judg'd it competently salvant of the glory of his wisdome and of the awfulness and dread of his Soveraignty to have remitted the transgression of Adam and his upon the account thereof yet is it no wayes probable that the considerableness or worth of this Sacrifice would or could have ab●unded so high above the purchase or procurement of the redemption of Adam and his posterity as to in-title or to in-right him that should have offered it to a glorious Resurrection also such as was meet for him that had been the Author of salvation to a lost World And if the Glory wherein Christ appeared upon Tabor was so exceeding great that it only became the only begotten Son of God being a Garment too above measure rich for any person to wear but the only Son of the King of Kings to which sense many of the Expositors carry that of the Evangelist Joh. 1. 14 much more would such a transcendency in Glory wherewith God hath judged it meet to invest and dignifie him that is now the Saviour of the World As the making him higher then the Heavens placing him at his own right hand giving him a Name above every Name that is named c. have been vastly disproportionable to the Line of any meer created Being whatsoever And yet the Apostle plainly declareth that such an high Priest became us i. Was necessary for us to have in respect of those high and vast Concernments which were to pass through his hands and to be transacted by him who amongst other glorious Prerogatives should be made higher then the Heavens Heb. 7. 26. In these Considerations and haply in some others like unto them the contributions of the passive Obedience and Sufferings of Christ were soveraignly necessary to render the high transaction or dispensation of God the justification of sinners worthy of him and of a regular and cleer consistence with his Glory As for the Tenent of those who resolve this great Act or Dispensation of God we speak of I mean Justification partly into the Soveraignty of his Greatness or Authority and partly into the abundance of his Grace and Goodness and liberty of his Will and partly into the Obedience and regular Conversation of men themselves excluding the death of Christ from any part or fellowship therein at least by way of Attonement or satisfaction for sin I conceive it to be broadly inconsistent with the tenor and purport of the Scriptures in places and passages without number 8. The Resurrection or raising of Christ from the dead Sect. 8 in conjunction with his Glorification which followed upon it advanceth the business of Justification by the assurance given hereby from God unto the Souls and Consciences of men that he is well a paid and fully satisfied concerning that great Debt of the sin of the World the discharge whereof was undertaken by Christ in his death hereby encouraging men who had incur'd his displeasure by sinning to believe in him accordingly for their justification This is the express Doctrine of the Apostle Peter Who verily was fore-ordained speaking of Christ before the foundation of the World but was manifested in these last times for you who by him do believe in God that raised him up from the dead and gave him Glory that your Faith and hope might be in God and consequently that you might be found or put into a state of justification without which Faith and hope in God were little available 1 Pet. 1. 20. And in this consideration doubtless it was that the Apostle Paul affirmed Christ to be raised again for our justification Who was sayth he speaking of Christ delivered viz. unto death for our sins and was raised again for our justification Rom 4. 25. meaning that he was raised again from the dead including in his Resurrection by a kind of Synecdoche the great Glory and Dignity given him by God upon it that hereby a rationall way might be made for sinners to believe in him or in God for the Gospel indifferently useth the one expression and the other to the same effect in order to their justification Whilst the Surety o● he that hath undertaken the payment of a Debt is kept in Prison there is no likelyhood that the debt is payd or the Creditor satisfied And upon this ground the Apostle Paul reasoneth first thus But if Christ be not risen then is our Preaching vain and your Faith is also vain 1 Cor. 15. 14. And again vers. 17. And if Christ be not raised your Faith is vain yee are yet in your sins

when he was a Child That the one hath Justification or Remission of sins annexed unto it by promise from God and the other not doth no more prove them to differ specie no nor yet individuo then Pauls proving in time a great and faithfull Apostle and chosen Vessel unto God proveth him to have been either of another species or another individuum when he was a fierce Persecutor and as himself acknowledgeth of sinners the chief But this Circle of Discourse is I confesse somewhat Eccentrical to our businesse in hand which is not to distinguish Repentance as preceding and as accompanying Faith but to inquire out and declare as God shall inable and direct what or how Repentance as included in or accompanying Faith operateth towards Justification or Remission of sins That which I conceive is this God not judging it meet to invest a person who yet retains the love and liking of sinfull and wicked wayes with so great and sacred a priviledge and Grace as Forgiveness of sins was pleased to establish it for a Law that no Man or Woman remaining impenitent and without unfeigned remorse of Soul for their sins past should ever be admitted into part and fellowship of that unspeakable Grace of his in Jesus Christ which consists in pardon or Remission of sins Again being highly pleased with that most regular generous and worthy deportment of Soul in whomsoever it should be found which consists in a genuine and real hatred and abhorrency of all unrighteousnesse and of whatsoever is sinfull or unclean enacted another Law in honour of this Heroick Act and Deportment viz. that whosoever should with his whole heart and soul repent of all his sinfull miscarriages and misdoings and stand resolved in heart for wayes of purity and uprightnesse for the future should be translated by him into that blessed state which standeth in Remission of all sin So that Repentance seems to operate two wayes towards Justification or Remission of sins First in the nature or after the manner of that kinde of cause which Logicians call Removens prohibens i. e. which contributeth towards an effect by removing that out of the way which being not removed would have hindered it Thus the taking away of the Dignity place and power of the Roman Emperors was the cause of the discovery or rising up of the Anti-Christian Race and their power 2 Thess. 2 7 8. So Repentance by removing that wretched and wicked habit or frame of soul which being un-removed would have obstructed the Grace and Blessing of pardon of sin contributeth towards the obtaining of it Secondly as Repentance includes in the nature and constituting Principles of it a disposition or frame of heart so highly pleasing unto God that he judgeth it no wayes unworthy of him to honour and reward it with so great a reward as Remission of sins so it may be conceived to contribute or operate towards Remission of sins or Justification tanquam causa dispositiva i. e. as regularly qualifying the subject for the reception of the form to be brought into it By this I suppose the interest of Repentance or that which it acteth towards in or about Justification may be clearly distinguished from the Interest of Faith and that which it acteth in reference to the same end When God in Scripture is said to justifie the ungodly the meaning is not that he justifies ungodly persons whilest they are or remain ungodly but he is said to justifie the ungodly in like form of speech as our Saviour useth Mat. 11. 5. {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} c. That is The blinde see the lame walke the Leapers are cleansed and the deaf hear The meaning clearly enough is not that the Blinde whilest blinde did see or the Lame whilest they remained Lame did walk or that the Lepers whilest their Leprosie was yet upon them were cleansed c. but that such who had been formerly and untill Christ relieved them Blinde Lame Lepers Deaf were by him miraculously restored such as had been Blinde to their Sight such as had been Lame to the usefulnesse of their Limbs for walking c. In like manner God is said to justifie the ungodly when he justifies or makes such persons righteous by the pardon of their sins who had formerly been ungodly prophane c. But he doth not justifie them or make them righteous by the Forgivenesse of their sins whilest they remain ungodly but upon the alteration and change of the sinfull frame of their hearts by believing he conferres this Justification upon them viz. the Forgivenesse of their sins And the reason why God doth not judge it meet to justifie men or forgive them their sins whilest they remain ungodly unrighteous wicked prophane or the like may be partly to cut off all occasion from his Creature to conceive of him as a friend to sin or to impenitent and obdurate sinners partly also to contrive his Grace and high favour in Justification into an alluring Argument and strong motive to perswade men out of the love and liking of sin and sinfull wayes into the love and practise of Righteousnesse and true Holinesse The Apostle Paul was put to Apologize for his Doctrine of the Grace of God in Forgivenesse of sins because according to it this Grace is promised and given unto sinners though unto such sinners only who repent and bring forth fruits meet for Repentance But if saith he whilest we seek to be justified by Christ we our selves also are found sinners is therefore Christ the Minister of sin i. e. doth Christ by justifying such Sinners as he justifieth viz. such who believe and repent countenance abet or promote sin in the world God forbid Gal. 2. 17. If then inconsiderate and unworthy men conceive that God would be liable to an imputation of favouring or cherishing sin in men in case he should justifie or pardon all Sinners upon their Repentance which now he doth how much more obnoxious would he have been in such mens opinions to this imputation and charge in case he should have indulged this high Priviledge of Justification unto sinners without Repentance Upon this account then it is most probable that God hath not judged it meet to admit or allow any other kinde of Faith to bring men into communion of the Death of Christ for the Forgivenesse of their sins but only that which is accompanyed with an unfeigned Repentance or which purifieth and cleanseth the heart or at least is apt so to doe from the love and liking of all unrighteousnesse and uncleannesse If it be thus then the interposure or interest of Repentance about Justification is by way of Qualification or of rendering the subject the sinner regularly capable of that high and sacred Priviledge And though it doth not perform the office or work of Faith about Justification which is as hath been said to bring men into the fellowship of the Death of Christ where and where only Justification or Remission of

from Joshua God entreated her as a justified or righteous person by preserving her and her Fathers house for her sake with all that she had when the City she dwelt in with all that was in it both man and woman young and old besides were utterly destroyed with the edge of the Sword Josh. 6. 21 22 23 c. So that the word {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} to be justified in this Coutexture of Discourse doth not signifie the proper effect of that Act of God by which he constitutes or makes men righteous or just or by which he justifies them but the effect one or more of some such Act of his by which he expresseth himself lovingly graciously and bountifully towards such persons who are or have been justified and made righteous by him and hereby declares and after a sort pronounceth them righteous But he doth not judge it fitting or meet thus to countenance them or to entreat them as righteous or justified persons untill they have first given a good Testimony of the reality and soundness of that Faith upon and by which he justifieth them The expression wherein a person is sayd to be justified when he is only respected or dealt with as being justified i. As a justified person is metonymicall and frequent in Scripture the Antecedent being oft put for the Consequent Thus by Hunting Gen. 27. 3. is meant taking or getting by hunting and Deut. 21. 16. to make a Son the first-born signifies to respect him as the first-born or to confer upon him the Priviledge of the first-born So also Rom. 5. 19. to be made sinners imports a being made lyable unto punishment or such a Condition which belongs unto sinners to omit many the like In this sense and notion of the word justifie the Lord Christ may be sayd to justifie those that shall stand at his right hand in the great day in saying thus unto them Come yee blessed of my Father inherit the Kingdome prepared for you from the Foundation of the World The reason or ground in equity of this justification is declared in the words next following For I was an hungry and yee gave me meat I was thirsty and yee gave me drink c. Mat. 25. 34 35 c. This most gracious address and application of Christ unto those that shall be saved especially in conjunction with that most dreadfull and Soul-confounding address immediatly following unto those that shall eternally perish Depart from me yee Cursed into everlasting fire c. together with the reason hereof in the next words For I was an hungred and yee gave me no meat c. I say these respective Decisions or Adjudications of Christ plainly evince and prove that no person whatsover of years of discretion and actually capable of knowing Good and Evill shall receive the great benefit and blessing of justification by means of any such Faith which shall not utter and approve it self before God and men by fruitfulness in well-doing according to such means and opportunities as shall have been afforded unto them And this also is the apparant drift and scope of the Apostle James in that Discourse some passages whereof we lately sifted and insisted upon out of his second Chapter Thus we see what the interest and part of good works is in the great business of justification according to the Scriptures 14. That Remission of sins likewise is no Alien or Sect. 14 stranger unto Justification but in some neer imployment about it is of ready demonstration from the Scriptures The discourse of the Apostle Rom. 4. from v. 1. to v. 8. inclusivè is pregnant to this purpose But to him saith he v. 5. that worketh not Viz. With an intent or hope of being justified by his working or that worketh not i. That wanteth works competent or sufficient to justifie him but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly meaning God who justifieth even those that have been ungodly and so must needs be without works meritorious of Justification upon their believing his Faith is counted for Righteousness i. He is made a righteous or just man by means of his believing and is accordingly looked upon by God Even as David also describeth the blessedness i. Either the justification or the blessedness accruing by it Of the man unto whom God imputeth righteousness i. Whom he justifieth Without works Viz. Which are any wayes meritorious of Justification For this Apostle by works in opposition unto Faith in the business of Justification constantly understandeth The Merit of Works In which sense also his Adversaries the Jews understood and urged it saying Blessed are they whose Iniquities are forgiven and whose sins are covered Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin By this Description from the Pen of David Of the blessedness of the man unto whom God imputeth Righteousness i. Justifieth as hath been been shewed It appears that his Righteousness or Justification passively taken which is the cause or means of his Blessedness consists in the forgiveness of his Iniquities or which is the same in substance though differing in consideration or respect in the non-imputation of sin unto him By means as well of the one as of the other of these the mans sins are sayd to be covered that is I conceive to pass unpunished Indempnity from punishment being a kind of Veyl by which the sins of Transgressors are kept from being much minded or taken notice of by men As on the other hand when God openly judgeth or punisheth men for their sins he is sayd to un-cover or dis-cover them Ezek. 16. 37. 57. Ezek. 23. 10. and elsewhere Now by that Description as the Apostle termeth it which David giveth as we have heard of the blessedness of the justified Person placing it in this that his Iniquities or sins are remitted or forgiven It is a clear Case that Remission of sins justifieth Per modum causae formalis as the form or formall Cause is sayd to give being to that which is caused by it When a Painter maketh a Wall white Whiteness is the Form or formall Cause by which the Wall is made white or which maketh the Wall white Nor can it be with reason reduced to any of the other kinds of Causes as is evident it being no Efficient or materiall or ●●…all Cause hereof nor carrying the least semblance of any of these In like manner when God justifieth a sinner that which he doth to him or for him is precisely this He forgiveth him his sins this is the very form of that his Action i. The form which by his Act of justifying he introduceth anew upon the sinner Nor doth he any other thing directly and immediatly unto a person when and as he justifieth him but only forgive him his sins Of one and the same Act or Action there cannot be a plurality of Effects immediate and direct really differing the one from the other It is true as there may be sundry collaterall