would not be chastisements or corrections for it is of the essence of chastisement that it be a punishment for punishment is the genus and the whole nature of it is in every species in every chastisement Punishment is truly defined the infliction of a natural evil for a moral evil and this is in every chastisement If a Father should whip his Child not for any fault but only to do him good we might possibly call it blood-letting but not chasâ—isement because it is not pe 〈…〉 If â—e tye up his Child not for any 〈◊〉 but left he run into dangers in his absence you cannot call this correction or chastisement though grievous to the Child because it is not for a fault And if God do punish his people with temporal chastisements then they are so far and as to those temporal chastisements unpardoned so far as they are punished so far they are unpardoned If a Traytor be pardoned but must lose some part of his Goods he is then pardoned as to his Life and Lands but not as to that part of his Goods It is not less absurd to speak of chastening for a fault never committed than for a fault perfectly and every way pardoned You may see how this answers these difficulties If it be a Satisfaction he may pardon the offenders as to their ruin and destruction by their sins and yet leave some part of the penalty on them that may make their hearts ake and eyes weep though they be as brands plucked out of the fire yet he may chuse not to make them immediately in this life be like those whose garments smelled not of it without any shew of injustice 3. If the Sufferings of Christ were a Satisfaction a refusable payment then As God is bound no further to acquit the parties for whom it is paid than he accepting it and Christ paying it agreed so which is the main thing I have spoken all this to answer He is bound only in such a way and on such terms and conditions to acquit the Offender as the party paying the price and the party accepting of it agreed on Now God did not set forth Christ a Propitiation and Christ did not give himself a Pr 〈…〉 ion that sinners should immediately be acquitted without any more ado only be sinners for the Father and Son had a care not only of the offender's good but also of their own honourâ— for if we shall suppose that through this Satisfaction it might now well have consisted with God's Justice yet it is certain it was not consistent with his wisdom and prudence in Government to pardon and deliver those that should slight deliverance so to reâ—eem Creatures as to have them lawless to lose his Rule and Government over them that they may say We are delivered to commit all these abominations to be like School-boys that have their orders that they may do well if they will but if they will not the Master cannot justly according to those Temporary Laws punish them Christ was not properly a Surety though Metaphorically once so called who hath only a care of one party to get deliverance for the Debtor and careth not for the Creditor but he was a Mediator a middle person and had care of both would have their redemption and deliverance only in such a way as should no way dishonour God He had a care of the Worship Service and Honour of God as well as of man's impunity and deliverance and he would also have a care that he should not be reproached as an unholy Saviour to have redeemed one to live as if the Blood of the Covenant was an unholy thing and would allow them impunity in all sin He would not for his part have his unspotted Righteousness to serve as a covering to wrap and cover wilfully continuing running sores Nay Christ was so far from meerly designing and bargaining for the salvation of them that should continue wilful contemners of God and his Laws from intending his death for a Sanctuary where wilful continuing enemies might find refuge and safety that his design was to bring Religion into the World and to fetch it back from that swoon wherein it must needs have lain had not Christ dyed had there been no hope for repenting returning sinners He was so far from meerly purchasing the pardon of any live they as they list that one of the great ends of his death was That purchasing such hope for them that returned they might purifie themselves purchasing such Promises they might cleanse themselves from all pollutions of flesh and spirit Who gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all iniquity and purifie unto himself Tit. 2. 14. a peculiar people zealous of good works He bare our sins that is the 〈◊〉 Pet. 2. 24 punishment of our sins in his own body on a tree that we being dead unto sin might live unto righteousness That whereas God would have had no service no obedience there being no forgiveness with him that he might be feared but Earth would have been like Hell now God might have such poor shattered service as our degenerate estate is capable of Therefore be sure He would not use such an unlikely means as this to bargain for and purchase of his Father pardon of sinners so absolutely that should they wilfully slight their Redeemer they should yet have the benefit of his death and he should be unjust in denying them pardon and therefore wish them only to repent believe reform out of good nature and ingenuity and by way of thankfulness but if they should refuse he should be unjust according to such an Oeconomy if he deny to them the pardon and justification procured by Christ Nay let any man that is not forsaken of Reason as well as Religion that is not giddy and drunk with error and is not ignorant of the wickedness of man's nature judg Whether this would be as likely a means for Christ to bring Religion into the World to obtain that they should have the fruit and benefit of his death to justification and salvation whether they repent return or noâ— you shall have these things live as you list only I beseech you by way â—f gratitude repent reform Or for God to give his Son and Christ give himself that whosoever should believe repent return should have 〈◊〉 benefit of it and otherwise 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 short Whether of these are 〈…〉 lier way to lay such a sound 〈…〉 the world judg 〈◊〉 Would 〈…〉 pardoning sins against the first 〈…〉 nant shew so dreadfully by the death of his Son how hardly and difficultly he dispensed with his Law that men might after go on in sin without danger Surely one of the ends of Christ's dying was to shew that if he would not pardon sinners against the first Covenant without such a stupendious Satisfaction how hopeless will their condition be that perform not the terms of this second Covenant founded in the blood of Christ
28. new Covenant shed for the remission of sins And this justification of sinners or forgiveness of sins is reckon'd as one Article of the Creed as essentially necessary to salvation to be believed And indeed the Justification in law of faln man is all one with the pardon of sin And as for the respective difference of pardon being a discharge from the obligation of the Law to punishment and justification from the condemnation and accusation of the Law it is so little that it is not worth while to clear it to you for the obligation of the Law to punishment and the condemnation and accusation of the Law are one and the same act Justification of one guilty is all one with pardon of sin Yet there is this difference between Justification taken at large and pardon viz. None can be pardoned but an offender but a man that was never an offender is capable of being justified as Adam would have been had he stood against any charge pleaded or pleadable against him But if once a man be guilty of the breach of a Law his Pardon and Justification are all one for there can be no justification of offenders but by a legal discharge of the sinner from the obligation to punishment which is pardon So that Justification actively taken is an act of God whereby he pardoneth our sins or dischargeth us from condemnation or giveth right to salvation notwithstanding our sins All these are the same and only differ in words If you should define Justification An act of God whereby he pardoneth our sins and constituteth us righteous all the fault here is only this You do tautologize for there needeth no more to righteousness than pardon of sin for that which putteth an offender into such a state as if he had performed the Law in all things that doth perfectly justifie or constitute him righteous but pardon of all sins both of omission and commission doth put a man into that state as if he had performed the Law in all things for it putteth him into that estate as if he had transgressed the Law in nothing therefore as if he had performed the Law in all things It is impossible to find a middle I say there needeth no more to righteousness than pardon of sin If all his sins be pardoned he is ipso facto non reus not guilty and if not guilty he is justus just It is impossible to find any medium 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in capaci in a capable Subject In a subject uncapable where there is not debitum inessendi there may be not-guilty not-unjust and yet not-just as in a Brute or Stone If a man by his sin be guilty be obliged to lose Heaven and go to Hell if his sin be once pardoned this obligation once dissolved he is in statu quo prius hath right to Heaven and to be free from Hell If right to any good thing that a man should have if innocent should yet be wanting to a man pardoned as you may see I did yield such a thing before as to this liâ—e the want of that good thing is part of punishment and therefore he is not wholly pardoned no more than wholly justified as yet except the right to that good thing be restored If the poena damni the loss of the enjoyment of God be punishmentâ— then pardon of sin restoreth right to the enjoyment of God else not fully pardoned no more than justified If a Traytor be pardoned but must lose his Goods he is then pardoned and justified as to his Life and Lands but not as to his Goods So that they are the same thing his pardon and justification and there is no more in the justification of an offender than pardon of sin Those learned men that oppose this constantly grant That if pardon of sin put an offender into such an estate as if he had performed the Law in every thing then it would apparently be the whole of Justification and also that pardon of sin putteth him into such an estate as if he had offended the Law in nothing and also that the satisfaction of Christ is enough for pardon of sin But they maintain that it is possible for a man not to have offended the Law in any thing and yet not to have fulfilled the Law in every thing which I should by no means tell them that know it not was it not in duty to instruct you that it is opposed without shew of reason And by the way you may see how contrary to Reason as well as Scriture that way of theirs is who hold That Christ's fulfilling of and Christ's obedience to the Law is accounted imputed as if believers had fulfilled and obeyed the Law in his so doing You may hold the active and passive righteousness of Christ a satisfaction to Justice for our breach of the Law both of them a valuable consideration on which God will acquit the offenders so they do but perform the Gospel-conditions and I can easily answer all the Arguments I have read to exclude his active obedience from being part of the satisfaction to Justice for the breach of the Law But to hold over and beside such a satisfaction for our disobedience that there is made over to us a right to his obedience so as God to account us as if we had obeyed the Law in him beside the danger of making God account men as perfect as Christ and accounting that which is not true First It is altogether needless for the Law requireth not of us both suffering and obedience in respect of the same time and actions but only one of them either our obedience or our undergoing the penalty And it is vainly alledged that it requireth suffering for the time past and obedience for the future It is in effect to deny Christ hath satisfied for future sins Ere long those future sins will be past and if we do not obey for the future we sin and if we sin the Law requireth only our suffering for expiation and that Christ's Satisfaction Expiation Propitiation hath satisfied for Secondly It maketh the death and sufferings of Christ needless for if we obeyed the Law in him he being in our stead so as God accounted us to have obeyed in him then there was no need of his death for though we obeyed not in our selves yet we obeyed in Christ If a Soldier be by the Martial Law to watch his hour or dye if another be accepted to watch for him so as it may be said another hath watched for him though he did not watch what Must this other Soldier dye for him as well as watch for him No Law requires both It was not Do this and dye If his obedience was so formally for us as to be accepted by God for us as if we had fulfilled the Law in every thing What need was there of a Satisfaction to make as if we had bâ—oken the Law in nothing vice versâ Thirdly If Christ fulfilled
order of Nature before the King or any else know or account them pardoned God doth not account men's sins pardoned till first they be so by his own Law of Grace They that justifie the wicked or condemn the righteous are both an abomination to the Lord. As God did not account Adam guilty condemned till first he was so by his own Law through sin so he doth not will not account any justified pardoned till first they are so by his own Law of Grace made in the Blood of Christ which is upon their performing of the Condition of it Thirdly Justification is not God's knowing we shall be justified God indeed doth know men shall be justified when they believe but this is not Justification It doth not follow that a man is justified and his sin pardoned who is going on in all villany because he belongeth to the Election of Grace because God knoweth he will believe and so will be justified when brought home For 1. God knoweth till he believe he is unjustified his sin not pardoned he is under the curse of the Law and under the Rectoral displeasure of God for Without Faith it is impossible to please God God hateth all workers of iniquity with this Rectoral hatred He that believeth not is condemned already he is so far from being justified You cannot say of such a man he is justified his sins pardoned but he knoweth it not No till a man believe the wrath of God abideth on him Hell is yet his due by God's own Laws of Government though Heaven will be so when he believes 2. Else Justification and pardon of â—in would be from Eternity which we are sure is contrary to all Scripture that maketh them consequent of Faith Repentance and Conversion whatsoever some have said to the contrary turn them from darkness to light that they may receive forgiveness of sins and inheritance c. We have believed Gal. 2. 16. that we may be justified by the faith of Christ To whom righteousness shall Rom. 4. 24. be imputed if we believe That they may return every man from his evil Jer. 36. 3. way that I may forgive their iniquity and their sin lest they should see with their eyes and be converted Mar. 4. 12 and their sin be forgiven them Fourthly Justification is not God's intending decreeing willing that men should be justified when they believe 1. Then it would be from Eternity which is repugnant to all Scripture God speaketh of it as a thing future God intended from Eternity That our King should be King of England but he was not King of England till his Father was dead and then h◠〈◊〉 the legal Title 3. God's intending from Eternity to condemn men for their sins is not Condemnation else men would be condemned from Eternity but then men are condemned when they sin and the Law condemns them So God's intending to justifie sinners upon believing is not Justification But when men believe then God justifieth them by his Law of Faith 3. To say This is meant by Justification is to make non-sense of all those places of Scripture that make it future When he saith God will justifie we must then say the meaning is He will willjustifie We must double the word will Fifthly Some tell us That Justification is properly and formally Christ's suffering or obedience or properly God's laying our sins on Christ But then we must say Christ never merited our pardon or justification we are not forgiven for Christ's sake for Christ never merited thâ—se things which they call Justification viz. his own sufferings or our sins laying on him Could you think of any other thing to call Justification beside what I have here taught you I could with much ease shew you the absurdity of it These are the likeliest of any I can think of to pretend to be it that are not it and are pretended by some to be it You now see or may see Justification is God's Juridical Act by his Gospel by his Law of Grace If an Act of Oblivion be made on these terms That whosoever of such Rebels shall go and promise before some Justice of Peace they will be loyal Subjects for the future as soon as ever they have thus promised this Law justifieth pardoneth them They did not pardon themselves that is a foolish pretence of some weak men contrary to the knowledg of all Lawyers and Divines yea of any rational men but the Law-giver did pardon them by this Rectoral Act of Pardon upon their promise If there be a Law in force that every Felon should dye but there is also another remedying Law That if the Felon read he shall not dye When he readeth the Law pardoneth him the Law-giver by this Law justifieth him from the charge and condemnation of the other Law It is by this Gospel this perfect Law of Liberty that we are justified this is that new Law that Ministers are sent to preach Go preach the Gospel to every creature He that believeth shall be saved He that believeth not shall be damned This is our great business To tell men the condition on which they shall be pardoned justified and so saved And should any Ministers be ignorant of their great Message yea so ignorant as to say These are no conditions no terms nothing required of us in order to attaining the benefit of Christ's death How sad should this be to us Men are justified or condemned here in this life by this Gospel in a Law-sense and in this sense Scripture for the most part useth the word Justifie and men shall hereafter be justified or condemn'd sententially according to this Gospel Thus I have told you what Justification is which was the first Question propounded to be answered and I have tacitly slidden into the second Question What the Covenant is and answered that The third propounded was To tell you what the Condition is Thirdly What is meant by this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Him that believeth in Jesus or Him that is of the faith of Jesus This is the Question now to be answered What is the Condition of the Covenant of Grace of the Law of Grace on the performance of which this Propitiation this price of Redemption shall be ours for our justification and salvation Ours I say with this limitation For our justification and salvation or to speak more strictly The condition of our justification and salvation by it For God never giveth us interest in his Son's Merits and Satisfaction in its essential nature but only in the fruits and effects of it He giveth us his Merit only in such a sense as a man be said figuratively to give a Captive a sum of money which it may be the Captive never handled never had it given to him at all properly but only it was paid to the King of that Countrey for his ransome I answer What would you wish or desire it should be Think of that a little for that is it I dare
Heaven and whosoever shall do any other duty or act for these ends seeks to be justified by works in the Apostle Paul's sense They make it a certain damning sin to do any other act that we may be pardoned justified obtain right to Salvation For that certainly was it which the Apostle wrote against Now quae nimium probant nihil probant that which will prove more than they upon deliberate thoughts dare grant that use the argument that answers it self as to them Surely they dare not own what inevitably follows from this Then it follows that no man must pray for pardon of sin upon pain of damnation for this is to do one act more for Justification than that one act No man must repent for this end That his iniquities may be blotted out that is for Justification No man must by patient continuance in well-doing seek for glory and immortality for then he must be damned for surely well-doing comprehends more than believing when they take it for one act but God hath said To such only he will give eternal life No man must do the Commands of God for this end That he may have right to salvation If he do he shall be accursed whereas God saith Blessed Rev. ult 14. are they that do his commandments that they may have right to the tree of life What hath God made promise to repentance returning sincere Obedience of Pardon Justification Heaven and shall we provoke God if we perform the condition for attaining the benefit and expect the benefit upon performing the condition Would not this be as rational to threaten death for sin and yer be angry at us for fearing his threat for avoiding the sin upon the account of his threat as to be angry at us yea according to this principle damn us for performing the condition of the Promise that we may have right to the thing promised There is no possible avoiding this consequence for if you may act for reward then for right to the reward for you are not as I shewed before to act for Possession any further than for right to it And if any should object But you must not expect Justification and Salvation to come by these this would be to say You must think God unfaithful and his Promises nullities and we are apt to be too distrustful herein without bidding or but you must not think to merit by these things Very true but is it impossible to perform them for these ends but we think to merit by them Do they that say they may do the one act of Believing for Justification think they merit Justification by it Sure I am that many that held these things notionally did not hold them practically for many of the worthiest men both Prelates and others that ever England had held these things notionally yet so as to deny the consequence but never any good man held them practically I mean except just in a sudden fit of temptation I shall now yet more fully make out to you what this Gospel-condition the Covenant-terms of Justification and Salvation and all other benefits by Christ are for they have all the same condition every Covenant-benefit or any Covenant-benefit by reciting some of the most eminent Names the Gospel-condition is called by which is an easie matter to do and some may think it as well let alone as needless But the thing I am speaking of seems to me to be as weighty a matter as any point in Divinity and is opposed by many and therefore it shall not be grievous or burdensome to me and for you I think it safe and needful and let the more intelligent pardon my using so many words yea and Tautologies since I do it that the lowest-parted may understand me and doubt no more That Condition which we are to be justified and saved by is called by many Names which yet always mean the same thing for substance 1. It is called Knowledg By his Isa 53 11. knowledg shall my righteous servant justifie many Knowledg here is taken objectively not subjectively viz. for our knowledg of Christ not his knowledg whereby he knows So This is life eternal i. e. the condition of life to know thee and thy Son but it meaneth also Love Believe Obey and carry suitably to such Knowledg 2. The Gospel-condition is called Confession If we confess he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins So if any man say I have sinned and perverted that which is right it profiteth me not he will deliver his soul But the meaning is Si caetera sint paria Confess so as to forsake obey c. Else if God meant no more by these Promises we should have right and he would be unfaithful in denying us possession though we forsake not our sins 3. Sometime it is called Faith The righteousness of Faith speaketh on this wise that is the Gospel the Law of Faith in opposition to the Covenant of Works If thou confess with Rom. 10. 9. thy mouth and believe in thy heart that God hath raised him from the dead thou shalt be saved What doth he mean no more than you must believe Christ is risen Nay you must believe he is ascended into Heaven also yea and believe the whole Gospel and obey and carry suitably to the Gospel also The Gospel-condition which is a sincere endeavour according to the best of our knowledg to perform the whole duty of man is frequently called by the name of Believing in the New Testament because it was the great business at that time to perswade the Jews and Gentiles that Christ was the Messiah and that he rose again There were new Articles now added to the old ones new Conditions to the old They take it for granted as a thing known that they were to repent and obey that they knew the duty of repentance toward God But this was the great difficult Doctrine to perswade them there was a necessity of Faith in the Lord Jesus and to believe his death and resurrection Try the spirits for many false prophets are gone out into the world and 1 Joh. 4. 1 2 3. gives this as a trial of the Prophets every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God but he that confesseth it not is not of God We may take this as a probable interpretation of the place He takes it for granted that they knew they that taught wickedness and idolatry were not of God whatever confession they made of Christ But his meaning may be If any coming as a Prophet seeming to be a man teaching Holiness he is not of God if he deny Christ come in the flesh but if he add to other such virtues Faith in the Lord Jesus he is of God You may easily apply it to the case in hand And whatever interpretation else you will give of this as confessing Christ in time of trial yet it must be meant and teach suitably to such confession
word ungodly in this verse is implied that Abraham was once an Idolater as the Gentiles are This plainly proves his justification was by pardon of sin and that he was a man God might justly have refused to have thus justified and that he was not righteous in God's sight in the primary strict and properest sense of the word but meerly of grace and pardon Ver. 6. And David fully proveth this in his describing blessedness and wherein it lies for he taketh for granted that blessedness comes not by unsinning obedience or meritorious works which are inconsistent with pardon else he would have said Blessed are they that never sinned or have made full satisfaction for their sins But he tells us it lies in not imputing iniquity and imputing accounting righteousness is nothing else but pardon of sin imputing righteousness and not imputing sin are all one and signifie the same because to impute or account righteous signifieth as he proved before graciously to impute and that can be nothing but pardon of sin and so the meaning is God pardoned Abraham's sin upon his believing God Which sheweth he was no such worthy man as you think your selves so as to need no forgiveness Ver. 9. Now will this blessedness of Justification come only on you Jews Are not the wicked Gentiles capable of it if they turn from sin and Idols to God and believe his testimony of his Son and obey him though they never be circumcised for we say his faith was reckoned for righteousness it was not from his worthiness but by pardon of his sin upon believing Ver. 10. He yet improveth this Scripture-citation as further cogent thus Was this justification conferred on Abraham when he was circumcised or when he was uncircumcised You will find this was said concerning Abraham before he was circumcised when he was as yet uncircumcised when he could not pretend to this high meritorious priviledg you boast of viz. Circumcision but when he was as the Gentile-believers now are that are confessedly void of such accomplishments Why may not they therefore be justified in such a Gospel-way as he was having their sin pardoned through the Propitiation upon their only believing and obeying the Gospel For though you look upon Faith and Obedience as low things in comparison of Circumcision yet these were graciously accepted from him by God and his sins pardoned thereon and why may they not be accepted from them without meritorious works if it be granted such are so which you account so Ver. 11. And he received the sign of circumcision the seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had being uncircumcised that he might be the father of all them that believe though they be not circumcised that righteousness might be imputed unto them also I shall here take a liberty not allowed me by my designed method to speak largely of these words because they are difficult and there is a strange disagreement about the meaning of them The words that these are coupled unto are these It was counted to him in uncircumcision then follows and he received the sign of circumcision And that is and then or and after it is ordinal as it is frequently The sign of circumcision or Sacrament of Circumcision it is an ordinary manner of speaking the genitivus specie as we use to say the sacrament of Baptism for the sacrament Baptism so the sign of Circumcision for the sign Circumcision and Beza saith he found it so in the Accusative case in an ancient Copy By receiving the sign of circumcision is not only or chiefly meant his receiving it in his body though he did so but his receiving it in the institution or law of it from God as John may be said to have received baptism being the first to whom it was delivered by God as an Ordinance to be by him as a Minister administred And as Moses is said Acts 7. 28. to receive the lively oracles of God to give to the Jews and John 7. 22. Moses gave unto you circumcision i. e. the Ordinance of it Without doubt he is said here to receive circumcision in the sense that God is said Acts 7. 8. to give him the covenant of circumcision not in the sense wherein he gave it to himself circumcised himself I grant it doth connote secondarily his receiving it in his body yet still as in the law and ordinance of it so as to begin it to others And that which makes it further appear to be so meant is this because the stress of his becoming the father of all that believe c. seemeth to be laid here For if it should have the other sense all circumcised might on the same account be called Fathers of them that believe And else it is probable the Apostle would have used the ordinary word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and have said he was circumcised and not he received circumcision Abraham was honoured by God to be the first receiver of this Institution Indeed the promise or covenant that this sealed had been made known to the world long before viz. That whosoever of faln man should repent and believe God and obey him sincerely should be saved and all that were justified before Abraham were justified by this law of grace made in the blood of Christ but Abraham was the first that received from God this visible seal to confirm it to the world The seal of the rightsousness of the faith which he had being uncircumcised These words seem an exegetical Parenthesis or a Parenthetical explication of the former words received the sign of circumcision For these words that he might be the father seem to have their dependance on and respect to the former words received the sign of circumcision In these words here is a definition of that and also of every other Sacramental Institution Circumcision is called a sign or token of the Covenant Gen. 17. 11. and it is called figuratively the Covenant v. 10. and Acts 17. 8. even as the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper is also called the Covenant This is the new covenant in my blood that is the sign or seal of the Covenant founded in my blood By the faith of Abraham is not here to be understood that personal individual faith which he had but a faith of that sort or kind which he had even in such a sense as that faith which dwelt first in his Grandmother Lois and Mother Eunice is said to dwell in Timothy to wit not the same individual act or habit but a faith of the same sort or species i. e. faith unfeigned as he explains it 2 Tim. 1. 5. and so these words the faith of Abraham ver 16. of this Chapter must necessarily be understood to this sense Again Circumcision is not said by the Apostle to be a sign or seal of his faith or any one's else no that is a mistake though I know in another sense Circumcision was and Baptism and the Lord's Supper are a seal or seals
would not be true arguing If Christ died for the good of all then were all dead But this way that I am speaking of is good and cogent If in the stead and room of all they all were judicially dead Again the word used in the Original for us is not only 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which may when there is fit subject matter signifie only the final cause but it is also 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which as Grotius well observes always imports either contrariety or commutation and it can by no means signifie contrariety therefore it signifies commutation compensation He gave himself 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a ransom for many like 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mat. 20. 28. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. vice So 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And they were called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 who devoted themselves to death in the stead of others 3. He is said in many places to redeem us Gave himself for us that he 2 Tit. 2. 14. might redeem us from our iniquities To ransom us to be a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a ransom He gave himself 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a ransom for all 1 Tim. 2. 6. Now the proper import of redeem and such words is by way of price And what if as they object the word redeem sometime be used Metaphorically for our deliverance from any evil whether with price or without for redemption by power as when he saith I will redeem you with stretched-out arm and with great judgment Doth it therefore follow that it can possibly so signifie redemption by power when we are said to be redeemed with price and bought with a price and with a price of great value and when we are told with what price we are redeemed Not with corruptible things as silver and gold but 1 Pet. 1. 18 19. Act. 20. 28. with the precious blood of Christ And when we read it was done by bearing the punishment due unto us His own self bare our sins in his body on a tree 2. This is plainly proved by the peculiarity of his Death We will readily grant He died for us as none in the world else ever died for us therefore not only for our good Socinus and his Followers tell us that Christ having taught as a Prophet sent from God a Doctrine of holiness and piety and that they that imbrace it believe repent return shall be saved notwithstanding all their former sins He died only to confirm the truth of his Doctrine and to leave the world an example of patience and submission courage in suffering but not for expiation satisfaction Certainly Christ did some singular thing by his Death and if this be all we may ask What singular thing hath he done Have not all Martyrs done the same by their Death they taught true Doctrine and died to give Witness to the Truth and to encourage us in sufferings Did not the Apostles do the same the Apostle speaketh of his sufferings for their good in Col. 1. 24. this sense Who now rejoyce in my sufferings for you for the Church Therefore I endure all things for the Elects 2 Tim. 2. 10. sake that they also may obtain the Salvation by Jesus Christ And yet he speaketh it with abhorrence Was Paul crucified for you Do we suffer 1 Cor. â—1 13. for you in the sense that Christ suffered for you as a Satisfaction as an Expiation And if this be all the meaning of our Redemption by his blood and Justification by his blood then we may as well say We are redeemed and justified by the blood of Martyrs however as really though not fully his death and sufferings being at most but a greater attestation of the truth and encouragement of us in our suffering for it If Christ died only for the Confirmation of the Gospel which he preached and for our encouragement and imitation in suffering for the truth we may say Where is the Lamb for the Burnt-offering We are guilty and want atonement Captives and want a ransom If we should look on Christ's Death as one saith through Socinus his Spectacles we should look on it as neither satisfactory to God nor us we have yet no help meet for us there is no days-man between us he that was to come is not come And yet we look not for another 3. I shall prove it from the Sacrifices under the Old Testament which typified and shadowed out these things The Law had a shadow of good Heb. 10. 1 2. things to come not the very image implying Christ's Sacrifice was the very reality The blood of Bulls and Goats could not expiate moral guilt but only shadowed out that which could do it Every Priest standeth daily Heb. 10. 11 12. ministring and offering often times the same Sacrifices which can never take away sins But this Man after he had offered one Sacrifice for sins c. They were but dumb shews of this Tragedy to be acted Consider these three things 1. These Sacrifices did take away did expiate typical guilt in some sense took away the typical punishment of being excluded the congregation and society and such temporal punishment as was to be inflicted by God or Man for such faults as they were appointed Offerings for For the Apostle saith The blood of bulls and goats did sanctifie thus far to the purifying of the flesh Now by sanctifie he meaneth expiate which will appear by perusing how this Author useth this word in other places of that Epistle and not taking away the fault it self But these Sacrifices were Heb. 9. 14 Lev. 10. 14 but only typical of that which took away the eternal punishment and moral guilt and obligation Now since these typical Sacriâ—ices were expiatory satisfactory in respect of typical guilt What similitude can there be what relation of Types can they have if Christ's offering up Himself was no expiation for real moral guilt for Types were not ordained for their own sakes but for the sake of those things they did shadow out Why would God put them upon typical propitiatory Sacrifices if they did signifie nothing of real Propitiation 2. The Sacrifices were offered in Men's stead in the Sinners stead to make atonement for his Soul for his Life that he died not for such typical guilt He shall put his hand on the Lev. 1. 4. head of the Burnt-offering and it shall be accepted for him They were offered for Man's good indeed but how for his good why in his stead When a man was to die they died for him and he was kept alive And that which yet maketh it more plain is this because in capital offences where men were absolutely to die without remedy there were as is well observed by many no private Sacrifices instituted because the man himself was to die for his fault and so a beast could not die in his stead And if Sacrifices were only offered for the good of Men and not by way
Christ never agreed for the salvation of final impenitent Unbelievers never satisfied for that though he did for impenitency and unbelief and rejection of Christ for a time provided they came in at last He obtained of God not to take every denial every rejection for an utter loss of all for then we had all perished but obtained that God would wait and be long-suffering to sinners and accept them to righteousness and life provided they come in before death They that have a mind to it notwithstanding Christ's bearing their sins may bear them themselves and many will do so even they that knowing the terms of Justification and Salvation by Christ do chuse rather his eternal wrath and displeasure than to accept him on the condition of his love and favour They agreed that they and they only shall have benefit by this Propitiatory death of Christ that shall in this life perform the conditions whereon it is offered and if they finally refuse it on these terms they shall have no benefit by it but the wrath of God shall abide on them yea and they shall perish with heavier perdition with soâ—â—r punishment because of their treading under foot the blood of the Covenant slighting of it as not worthy their acceptance upon the terms of it Which is this new Covenant this second Covenant made in the blood of Christ So that I may say Though immediately and antecedently to the consideration of fixing the terms and making this second Covenant Christ dyed as I told you before that God might be just though he should pardon sinners yet he dyed eventually and the new Covenant being considered that God might be just and the justifier of him that is of the faith of Jesus He so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believed c. And for this cause he is the Mediator of the new Covenant that by means of death for the redemption of Transgressions they which are called that is Heb. 9. 15 effectually called converted might receive the promise of the eternal Inheritance Now it is necessary for your instruction herein that I make out to you these three things 1. What Justification is 2. What the Covenant 3. What the Condition First What Justification and to justifie â—s If you know what Condemnation is you may by it know what Justification is for contraries are mutually known by one another Now Condemnation is contrary to Justification Who shall lay any thing to Rom. 8. 33 the charge of Gods Elect it is God that justifieth Who is he that condemneth If there be a controversie between men Deu. 25. 1 and they come unto judgment that the Judges may judg them then they shall justifie the righteous and condemn the wicked Now there is a two fold Condemnation viz. by the Law and according to the Law that is by the Law and by the sentence of the Judg. A man that transgresseth a Law is immediately condemned by the Law Adam in the very moment he transgressed the Law was condemned in Law that is made guilty the death threatned was made due to him And again when an offender is proceeded against according to the Law and by the sentence of the Judg sentenced according to the Law then he is Sententially condemned First the Law condemns him and then the Judg according to the Law So there is a Justification in Law and a Justification by the Sentence of the Judg. And these two senses of the word can only challenge any kind of propriety one is called Sentential Justification by the sentence of the Judg pronouncing him righteous and one that ought to be acquitted according to the Law The other is called * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Constitutive Rom. 5. 19 Justification or Justification in Law which is of one that hath right to be acquitted when accused When the Scripture speaketh of Justification by Christ by faith or to life it constantly useth it in one of these senses He that is a believer that hath performed the Gospel-condition is justified immediately ipso jure in Law-title by the Law of Grace he is constitutively justified by that Covenant or Gospel-grant He that believeth shall be saved hath right to not-perishing and a right to eternal life by this promise though he is not sententially justified till the day of Judgment The Lord grant he may find mercy at that day saith the Apostle By the Law of Grace or Promise immediately the sinner upon his believing hath right to impunity as to Hell and right to the Inheritance by Promise and at the last day shall be adjudged to it to the immediate possession of all those Immunities which were given by the Law of Grace or Promise Not the hearers but the doer of the Law shall be justified In the Gal. 5. 5. day when God shall judg the secrets of all men according to my Gospel We through the spirit do wait for the hope of righteousness by faith that is for justification by faith at the last day But this Sentential justification is to come Therefore whensoever the Scripture speaketh of justification in this life as for the most part it doth being justified by faith we have peace with God But you are sanctified you are justified it is to be understood of justification in Law-title and in this sense it is to be understood here We may say of a man whose case is good according to the Law that ought to be acquitted when it cometh to trial The Law justifieth him the Law acquits him he is justified already in Law and so are believers in this life There is no condemnation to those that are in Christ Jesus who walk not after the flesh but after the spirit The justification here spoken of is expressed by another word in the Text viz. Remission of sins And the Scripture constantly useth Justification in the Gospel-way and pardon or remission of sins as equipollent terms and the Apostle proveth there is no justification now by works but by pardon of sins Rom. 4. 7 8. citing it out of the Psalms Blessed are they whose iniquities are pardoned and whose siâ—â— are covered Blessed is the man to whâ—â— the Lord doth not impute iniquity Observe the place and you will see he useth imputing righteousness without works and not imputing iniquity as the very same Again in the Text justified freely by his grace through the 〈…〉 pt 〈…〉 â—hat is in Christ is thâ—s 〈…〉 Scriptures Redemption through his Eph. 1. 7. blood the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of his grace And redemption through his blood even Col. 1. 14. the remission of sins Be it known unto Acts 13. 38 39. you therefore brethren that through this Man is preached unto you the remission of sins and by him all that believe are justified from those things from which they could not be justified by the Law of Moses The blood of the Matt. 26.
Contraries are of the same general nature As condemnation is by a Law-threat so Justification of a sinner must be by a Law-promise It is a Law-rule that Obligations are dissolved by the same way whereby they are made The Apostle speaking of boasting being excluded in Justification asketh By what Law and answers By the Law of Faith implying plainly Men are justified by the Law of Faith 4. We may clearly see it by the tenour of the Covenants Rom. 10. 5 6 9 Moses describeth the righteousness of the Law the tenour of the Covenant of Works which would have justified men had they performed the condition of it The man which doth these things shall live in them But the righteousness of faith the tenour of the Covenant of Grace the word which we preach is this If thou confess with thy mouth and believe with thy heart that God hath raised him from the dead thou shalt be saved Had man performed the Legal Condition perfect and perpetual obedience the Law of Works would have justified him Therefore now if a man perform the Gospel-condition the Gospel this Law of Faith will justifie him See also Gal. 3. 16 17 21 22 of the two Covenants To Abraham and his seed were the Promises made that is to Abraham and all true Believers that are of the Faith of Abraham as he fully explains himself in other places of the Chapter especially the last verse And is the Law against the Promises of God against this Covenant confirmed of God in Christ That he that believeth shall live Had there been a Law which could have given life verily righteousness should have been by that Law but the Scripture hath concluded all under sin that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe We may argue plainly thus This Law this Covenant-Promise Believe and live can give life that is right to life for some do perform the Condition of this Law Therefore verily Righteousness is and must be by this Law Can any man possibly give a reason why that Law would have justified would have given right to life and so righteousness have been by it to a man that had performed perfect obedience and not this Believe and live perform the Gospel-conditions and live and not this justifie give right to life and so righteousness be by it 5. To deny this is to say the Gospel-Promises are meer Cyphers and Nullities they have no effect if they do not give right to Impunity and eternal life which is Justification to those that perform the conditions Nay it is to deny that they are Promises for if Promises they must have the common nature of Promises which is to give right To deny the efficacy of them is to deny they are gracious Promises it is to say they are useless as to giving the right we should have had right without them It is no Act of Oblivion much less a very gracious Act of Oblivion that doth not pardon and justifie properly them that perform the Conditions of it no Act of Oblivion to him that would be justified by doing that which is the condition of it without it And this by the way They that say Faith attaineth right as an Instrument and not as a condition make all the Promises Nullities they in effect say We should have had right had we performed that thing which is the condition without such a promise Thus you see Justification must be by some Law of Grace and indeed Protestants seem agreed it is a Juridical Act. Now what Law of Grace is it What names is it to be called by You may call it The Promise the Covenant the Law of Grace the Law of Faith the Gospel by these names it is called in Scripture The tenour of it is this He that turneth shall live He that believeth shall be saved He that accepteth Christ in the Gospel-way on the Gospel terms shall have the benefit of this Propitiation to his justification and salvation though never so great a sinner This is the Gospel the Law of Faith the Law or Covenant of Grace founded in the blood of Christ These Promises are Yea and Amen in Christ are the Covenant confirmed of God in Christ as the Apostle calls them And by this all were justified and saved that ever were saved by the blood of Christ You shall all be judged that is justified or condemned sententially according to this Gospel And as you shall be sententially judged according to this Law of Liberty at the last day so you are here in this life constitutively justified or condemned here in law The word which Christ spake shall John 1â— 48. condemn 〈◊〉 at 〈◊〉 last day shall justifie or 〈◊〉 So it doth in Law 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 them that obey the Gospel here For not the hearers of the 〈◊〉 are just before God he speaketh Rom. 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the Law of Grace it is like that Not every one that saith unto me Lord Lord but he that doth the will of my Father shall inherit the Kingdom of Heaven but the doers of the Law shall be justified in the day when God shall judg the secrets of all hearts according to my Gospel I hope you now begin to see into the nature of Justification and by seeing what it is you see what it is not Only these things following to my best remembrance are and can with any shew be pretended to be called Justification except what the Pupists pretend That it is nothing else but Sanctification which I pretermit as ridiculous He would not be an abomination to God that could justifie the wicked that is sanctifie them according to thâ—ir interpretation First It is not Our knowing we are justified which some call Justification in Conscience For 1. The Scripture never calleth Assurance our knowing we are justified Justification 2. We may be justified in Scripture-sense by this Gospel having the condition of Justification and yet not know it yea think we are not justified and have no right to salvation else wo to troubled souls And we may not be justified and think we are 3. In this sense we should be properly said to justifie our selves and not God to justifie us for it is we that know we are justified by the act whereby we know it and not God though God enable us to know we are justified Secondly Justification is not God's knowing we are justified and have right to Impunity right to Heaven it is not God's knowing accounting us judging us justified for we are first justified pardoned in order of Nature though not of Time before he knows accounts us so be We first have this right to Impunity Salvation before He knows or accounts us to have it The Object is in order of Nature before the Act a thing is before it be known If there be an Act of Oblivion made upon condition of Rebels laying down their Weapons Offenders are pardoned justified in Law-title upon laying down their Weapons in
explicite knowledg and belief of Christ's death and satisfaction though God did pardon them upon their returning unto him upon the account only of that to come Satisfaction And that which is like a Mathematical demonstration to me that it was not an essential condition of pardon and salvation is this viz. If it was an essentially necessary condition of Justification then then no man could be in a state of justification and salvation without an explicite knowledg of Christ's death and satisfaction to come But the Disciples of Christ at least some of them were truly regenerate men truly children of God and in a justified estate before Christ's Resurrection and believed it not That they were truly the people of God and in a justified estate before his resurrection is clear for saith Christ before that You are clean through the word I have spoken to you And it is said of Nathaniel A true Israelite in whom is no guile And else we must say God had no people in the world at that day for you will confess they were the best And again it is apparent they did not believe any such thing as his death and paying a price of blood Nay they were so far from believing he should so dye that they rather believed that he should not so dye When ever he spake any thing of his death it is said They understood Mat. 16. 23. Mark 9. 31 32 Luke 9. 44 45 Luke 18. 34. none of these things and Far be it from thee and when dead they thought it unlikely that he should be a Redeemer We trusted this was he that should have redeemed Israel They looked on him as the promised Messiah but thought he was to be some great Temporal Deliverer and his Redemption should be with Power and not with Price How then could they be saved if they had then died I answer That they as others before them believed God would pardon sinners upon their repentance and returning from sin unto God but for whose sake or merit they knew not I do not here deny but some before them might and did know something of Christ's death and Propitiation and I do not deny it was their fault they knew no more and understood no more the Types and Prophesies of him but all that I contend for is this that it was not a necessary condition of salvation else the Disciples had not been in a justified estate And I may add this John Baptist was under a clearer dispensation than they before him and the least in the Kingdom of Heaven in a clearer than John and so the Disciples in a clearer than John Hence it is very probable If the Disciples knew not any thing of it very few before them did that lived under more obscure Dispensations and had not the helps they had Now such repentance sincere obedience and turning is still a part of the Gospel-condition for this is not taken away now under the Gospel it is as much a condition of the Covenant as ever That we take God for our God and turn from sin Will any man say That Ministers are not to preach from those Texts If the wicked turn from his wickedness he shall live And If you live after the flesh you shall dye but if you through the spirit do mortifie c. These things are as much a condition as ever But there is something added under the Gospel something required of us as necessary that was not so to them Now if you believe not I am He you shall dye in your sins It might be replied to continue the former Dialogue You have well said in propounding this to be a condition Nonnulla hic desiderari Habes confitentem reum sed quae mihi solutionem alienarum quaestionum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 imponerent In quibus quidem aqua mihi non multum haeret At harum enodatio plusculum insumeret chartae paucis enim expedire non licet Et forsan invidiam mihi conciliaret quae tu hujus generis ad populum conatibus maximopere cavenda est Dumque necessitas rerum in confesso est unde oritur non adeo laborandum nec est tanti nobis clarâ— evangelii luce agentiâ—â—s nostra enim res non ageretur â—uare fereâ—at animus hâ—c ut vides aliquantulum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hâ—antia relinquere proculdubio praestat operasis de rebus explicatu difficilibus tacere quam pauca dicere but there is something more yet is fit to be required of those that live under the clear Dispensation of the Gospel viz. That we after Christ is thus come should explicitely know believe trust in and honour our Redeemer It is sit there should be faith in our Lord Jesus Christ as well as repentance toward God That he should save only those that come to God by him and ask in his Name That over and above being true Israelites in whom is no guile there should be a belief of Christ and his death and resurrection And so indeed there are new Articles essential to our Creed Except you believe I am he you shall dye in your sins To conclude This is the Gospel-condition God saith to us as Solomon to Adonijah when fled to the horns of the Altar He deserves to dye but if he will shew himself a worthy man not a hair of his head shall fall to the ground but if iniquity be found in him if he will be false and treacherous to me and my Government he shall dye It is seemingly too high an Allusion but the New Testament often useth the word worthy for carrying in our weak measure suitably I mean however no more but this Be but Christians in good earnest believe the truth of the Gospel stedfastly in such a degree as to venture all upon it and love God and Christ heartily and serve them according to your weak shattered ability faithfully so that it shall be the real grief of your soul when you fall short and this shall serve your turn So the terms are the whole of Christianity the whole duty of man so far as integrity and sincerity What doth Solomon mean when he saith Fear God and keep his Commandments for this is the whole duty of man but the whole condition of happiness Doth he set us on any thing not required under the gospel These are the terms of the Covenant of Grace established in the Blood of Christ which you shall be judged justified or condemned by and they are just before God are justified in Law that do thus and shall be sententially pronounced just that do thus in sincerity though not perfectly and they that do not shall be condemned notwithstanding Christ's death Such only are of the Christian Faith I understand Faith thus largely and it is plain the Scripture doth when ever any promise of Justification is made to it Do but well consider these few things following to remove prejudice and to let you see into the nature
of things and I hope you will easily be convinced what are the terms 1. There are the same terms and conditions of Justification and of Salvation Whatsoever is the condition of the one is also of the other For the Apostle argueth in the same manner against salvation by works as justification by works Yea it is apparent in the nature of the thing for Justification passively taken as I told you before is nothing else but right to salvation and we need no more for Heaven than right to it Do but get and keep right to Heaven which is Justification and we need no more on our part As for possession that is God's work by his Angels carrying away souls raising bodies Many worthy men have said That Repentance sincere Obedience are only for Possession and not for Right But we are not to work for Possession at all we need not get upon a Hill when about to dye to save the Angels a labour of carrying our souls too far Do but get and keep Right and to deny Possession to us if we have right to it by Promise would be unfaithfulness in God which we need not to fear Therefore if you will grant that all the things I have spoken of are required necessary to salvation then they are also to justification Only still it is here as in all other things of like nature Consent hearty consent to the Gospel-terms immediately instateth us in Justification and right to Heaven But if we would have continuance of our Justification and right to Heaven we must continue to consent to those terms as to the sincerity of our hearts and endeavours else we should lose our Justification and right to Heaven and the reason why we cease not to be justified is because God keeps us from departing from him by keeping in us care and watchfulness Thus we see whatsoever we may lawfully do for Salvation the same we may lawfully do for Justification 2. Whatsoever duty there is that if we do not we should have no right to salvation or justification that is a condition of our salvation and justification It is too common a saying and a great upholder of the Antinomian way Do but believe say some and by believing they do not mean as I do the whole of Christianity but some one act as believing my sins are pardoned or reliance or accepting Christ for my Saviour and such acts as accepting Christ for Lord and sincere obedience will follow but they are not conditions of Justification and Salvation but put that one act and they will naturally and inevitably follow But ask them Suppose they do not follow They will answer You must not suppose it they will for they dare not ordinarily say That if they do not follow it you will yet have right to Heaven I will shew you the vanity of such talk This is virtually to say God never made promise to these as conditions never suspended salvation on them but they will follow faith naturally This is to say Godliness hath not the promise of this life or however not of that to come else it would be a condition of the promise The instance that is usually brought of it is this There cannot be a seeing-eye without the body yet it is the eye that only sees So Faith only is the Condition only attains right but cannot be without works Now I will bring this to make it like the case in hand Suppose one promise you such a reward if you bring him and give him the seeing eye of such a Beast we are sure if the meaning be according to the words you would have right to the reward if you brought him a seeing-eye without the body though indeed you cannot yet we are sure if you did you would have right and he would be unjust in denying you the reward though you brought not the body And on the contrary Suppose we be sure this is a truth If you should bring him a seeing-eye it would not attain right without the body Then we are equally sure that we mistook his words or meaning he spake synecdochically for then it is equally a condition that the body be brought as that the seeing-eye be brought and it is equally influential into right for come to those things that do naturally and universally accompany and follow one another and where but one of them is made the condition and the other not the absence of that which is not a condition would no way hinder right and so not right to Justification and Salvation If a man become a Christian indeed it naturally and inevitably follows he shall be hated of wicked men but God never suspending Justification and Salvation upon it never making this a Condition we may truly say If a man be a sincere Christian it would not hinder his justification and salvation though the wicked did not hate him So if it be true that a man cannot be a true Christian but he must eat drink and breathe these are natural Concomitants yet these not being made Conditions though he did never eat drink nor breathe he shall be saved If you can say of any Grace or any measure of Grace as Assurance or Joy That it is not necessary to justification and salvation Then only you may say They are not Conditions of these If any one beloved sin knowingly and wilfully continued in would hinder a man's pardon justification or right to Heaven then a sincere desire and endeavour according to his ability to get rid of that beloved sin is a Condition of his Pardon and Justification 3. All Conditions of Justification and Salvation are equally Conditions equally influential into right If only an accident or mode of a thing be made a Condition with the thing it is equally a Condition with the thing it self If one promise to bring me a white Horse and you shall have such a reward It is equally a condition and as much influential into right that it be White as that it be a Horse so in any instance you can bring either in fact or fiction If I promise something upon condition you bring me a Hundred and you bring only Ninety-nine you have no more right than if you brought none and the odd one is as much a Condition as Ninety-nine If any shall say The Condition is a working Faith then that it be working is equally a Condition and equally influential into right as that it be Faith 4. There is no such thing as receiving Righteousness or Justification or Pardon Many make this their great strong hold Repentance and sincere Obedience are not receptive receiving Graces as Faith is and so cannot receive Justification and Righteousness Now this falls for there is no act of receiving these Justification Right to Heaven Righteousness cometh on Men. The free gift came upon all to justification As by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation As condemnation cometh upon men without any act of receiving it
it is a resultancy from the Law upon disobedience so Justification Right to Heaven is a resultancy from a Law-promise the condition being performed I know you may object that place turned from darkness to light that they may receive remission of sins But one of an ordinary capacity may perceive it is a figurative expression because in natural things where there is giving there is receiving for if once men be turned from sin to God Pardon comes by virtue of God's Promise and Right to the Inheritance cometh on them And we may figuratively say Adam received his condemnation by eating And so we read in Scripture of receiving condemnation but there was in propriety no act of receiving it If I make a promise upon such a condition as soon as the condition is performed Right to him results without any act of receiving it Right comes upon the Felon that reads Right to have his Life spared Justification Pardon to Life comes upon him by the Law by reading without any act of receiving it Many tell us of applying Christ's Righteousness to Justification and this is all It is an obscure speech and it is you see by this impossible there should be any such thing properly I will tell you what I guess they mean by the word apply viz. Meditating upon any Truth you believe And they mean the same by acting faith viz. Meditating upon Truth we believe This is a great duty to meditate on his Death to act Faith upon his Satisfaction and the fulness of it to draw our hearts to consent and chear our hearts after consent But if once they understand it is Meditation they mean they will not surely pretend it is the only Condition of Justification You may say indeed That Faith receiveth Christ But then you must not mean by Faith Assurance or Reliance for Why doth not Love or Fear or Hope as much receive as reliance But you must mean the moral receiving performed by the natural act of consent acceptance As one receives morally such a man to be his Master that desires his service by consenting and if you will say Faith is Consent why is not Consent to be ruled by him giving up our selves to be ruled by him as much a receiving Christ as Consent to be saved and pardoned by Him And then if you will but grant this this is to grant all I am pleading for For Consent to have him for Lord and Saviour is to consent to be Christians indeed to consent to perform the whole duty of man which is as comprehensive a word as can be spoken to be made the condition of salvation and justification and if consenting to the whole duty of man to the best of our power and knowledg be the condition of begun-Justification and Salvation then you will readily see that continuing this Consent continuing to be Christians indeed and to perform the whole duty of Man to the best of our knowledg and power in the integrity of our hearts and wherein we fail to lament it is the condition of our continued justification and right to salvation If a King grants a Pardon to Rebels on condition they will become Loyal Subjects Consent is enough at the first to attain right to all the benefits of it But continued Consent and continual loyal carriage in the main towards him is the condition of their continued right to Impunity and every moment of continued Loyalry is in order of nature before their continued Right So whereas before we consented to the Gospel-terms our Pardon and Justification and Right to Heaven were only offered to us upon condition and were not actually existent at all now when we have heartily consented they are really existent and actual not meerly conditional so that should we dye in that moment we should be saved whereas had we dyed before we should have perished But yet the continuance of our Justification and pardon of future sins is still conditional 5. It is a gross mistake that many take up with thinking it would be a more gracious liberal and free speech and promise to say Only believe rely accept Christ for Saviour and you shall have right to Heaven and be justified and I will require nothing else of you for right to Heaven This believing shall only be influential into your right but yet except you repent turn from sin to God and obey you shall have no right shall not be justified than to say Turn from sin to God repent believe obey and you shall have right to salvation For such a speech as the first instead of being a more noble free promise is non-sense is untruth and a contradiction in the very words It is to say and unsay it is to say All shall be equally influential into right all shall be Conditions and yet they shall not all be Conditions and equally influential into right For a Condition is that which if we do not we shall have no right to the thing promised This is a Condition as much as any Condition and as influential into right as any condition in the world that is not the whole condition for every condition is only a sine quâ— non and altogether only sine quibus non cum quibus And therefore for any to speak thus is weakly to lye for God pretending to keep up the honour of God's free grace ignorantly thinking that if God require us to repent return or no mercy then it is not free then we merit our pardon it is not of grace contrary to all Reason and Scripture God hath made the Condition required from us as little as small a matter as he thought would stand with his Honour Wisdom and Government in the World and they that would make the conditions of Grace Mercy and Salvation through Christ less than God hath made them what ever good intention they have to honour God by it do really dishonour him as an unholy God for God thought it would not stand with the honour of his Holiness to accept unto favour and life any but they that should return from sin unto God Ministers are to tell the whole terms that men may sit down and consider the cost and if men will be offended and say it is a hard saying and like not Christ and Life on these terms Let them be offended they have their choice to let him alone but they shall know they had life and death set before them on gracious easie terms and they have rewarded their own souls evil for good Again if a necessity of Repentance and sincere Obedience to Justification would hinder it from being free then such as say thus and tell us these things are only for possession do virtually grant that possession of Salvation is not free But what Christian-ears can endure this that Possession is not equally free with Right that both are not of free-grace 6. They that say There is only one act to be done by us for Pardon Justification and Right to
What do you think the wicked Jews meant when they said If we let this man alone all men will believe on him What did they mean some one act and that one act that many now hold to be only necessary to salvation though not agreed ordinarily what it is Surely they meant They will believe he is the Messiah and so love him obey him stick to him If one bid you believe in such a Physician trust in him and he will cure you cannot you easily understand he means also Take his Counsel follow his directions by believing in him So when he saith Believe and thou shalt be saved he meaneth Believe and carry as one that believeth love obey turn 4. Sometime called Repentance Repent that your iniquities may be blotted John preached repentance for the remission of sin Surely you will grant that is for Justification And Christ did not take away this Condition nay he preached it himself Except you repent you shall perish He meant believe obey also 5. Called Conversion Turn them from darkness to light that they Mar. 4. 12 may receive remission Lest they should see with their eyes and be converted and their sins should be forgiven them Implying the terms that God hath bound himself to by promise through Christ's death to the world so as he cannot in faithfulness break If converted he must forgive having made this new Law of Grace 6. Called Obedience Being made perfect through suffering having fully satisfied he became the Author of eternal salvation to those that obey him Surely this holdeth out the terms on which men shall have the justifying saving benefit of Christ's death But there is implied in this also the belief of the truth of the Gospel So Hear and your souls shall live That is obey for life for justification for right to salvation 7. Keeping the Commandments Blessed are they that do his Commandments that they may have right to the tree of life Not the hearers of the Law are just before God but the doers of the Law shall be justified Not every one that saith unto me Lord Lord but he that doth the will of my Father shall inherit the Kingdom If the Erek 18. 21. wicked turn from all his sins which he hath committed and keep all my statutes he shall live all the transgressions that he hath done shall not be mentioned This is not the Law of Works but the Gospel for the Law promiseth no mercy to the returning wicked Consider these three places In Jesus Christ neither circumcision nor uncircumcision availeth any thing but Gal. 5. 6. faith which worketh by love In Jesus Gal. 6. 15. Christ neither circumcision c. but a new creature Again In Jesus Christ 1 Cor. 7. 19. neither circumcision nor uncircumcision availeth any thing but the keeping the Commandments of God Do not these three expressions mean the same thing the same Gospel-condition 8. Regeneration New Creature Except a man be born again c. Not by works of righteousness which we have Tit. 3. 15. done but according to his mercy hath he saved us by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost One would think you might gather hence what the Apostle Paul means by Works and what by Faith the Gospel-condition 9. Sanctification Except I wash thee thou canst have no part in me And without holiness none shall see the Lord. Godliness hath the promise of this life and that which is to come Is not Justification right to Heaven among the number of those things Wash you make you clean put away the evil of your doings learn to do well Come now though your sins be as scarlet they shall be white as snow though red like crimson they shall be as wool I could name many other Names as Fearing God Hoping in him Trusting in him c. But I will name but one more 10. Sometime it is expressed by words that import a Continuance and this is indeed the condition of the continued Justification and right to Heaven To them he will give eternal Col. 1. 21 22 23. life who by patient continuance in well-doing seek for immortality Yet now hath he reconciled in the body of his flesh through death to present you blameless and unreproved in his sight if you continue in the faith grounded and setled and be not removed away from the hope of the Gospel which you have heard and was preached to every creature under Heaven That is upon condition that as you have received the Christian Faith so you continue in it to the end notwithstanding all sufferings by the encouragement of that hope which this Gospel supplies unto you If we 1 Joh. 1. 7 walk in the light as he is in the light the blood of Christ cleanseth us from all sin There is no condemnation to Rom. 1. 8. them that are in Christ Jesus who walk not after the flesh but after the spirit Whose house are we if we hold Heb. 3. 6. fast our confidence unto the end But yet believers are justified at present But you are sanctified but you are justified saith the Apostle you are so upon your first cordialconsent to the Gospel-terms It is here as in all other things of the like nature What makes a Servant but Consent When the Master is willing to have him and propounds the terms he consents to the terms I have set Life and Death before you and told you the condition of Life by Christ Would we go and consider this condition and the reasonableness of it and the glorious things that would come by it and would we go and in the strength of God and Christ call Heaven and Earth to record yea and Hell to witness That we consent give up our selves to be ruled and saved by Christ would we enter into Covenant to be the Lord's people and his Christ's to walk in all well-pleasing and not to allow our selves in any known sin or in the neglect of any known duty and to use the means God hath appointed to know his will and for the destruction of sin and this as honest men really intending performance even till death being so far from designing treacherously to turn aside in difficulties that it is our greatest fear and dread lest we should deal falsly in this Covenant From this time you are justified by this Law of Grace and have right to Heaven though you should have black and sad thoughts and think you are not and you may pray with encouragement Keep this in the thoughts of our heart for ever and confirm our hearts unto thee and God will keep those that thus commit themselves unto him But yet this is true if you should fall utterly away this Law of Grace would cease to justifie you because you withdraw this consent and so cease to have the condition of it and the reason why we do not lose Justification and right to Salvation is Because God keepeth his fear in our
imagine when the Apostle saith Gal. 2. 16. Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the Law but by the faith of Christ we have believed that we might be justified c. That he means we did not repent that we might be justified did not obey turn from sin that we might be justified or not be condemned All that I will do here further shall be to speak so as to keep you from dangers on both sides if you will observe this distinction and it will be plain I hope to the meanest capacity There is in this Justification by Christ spoken of there being two Laws or Covenants one of Works and the other of Grace a lex remedians and both in force else if the old Law as a Law with its penalty was repealed it would be no sin not to obey perfectly and we might say Christ his death had not satisfied for our sins and the legal desert of them but prevented them from being sins and from legally deserving damnation there is in this Justification as it were a two-fold Righteousness or Justification and the distinction of these two is so necessary to any competent measure of understanding this Doctrine of Justification and would be so helpful to make us understand it and speak intelligibly of it that I desire you would never forget it Passive Justification the effect of active is our right constituted as I have shewed you But to speak of active Justification It is essentially from some Charge pleaded or possibly pleadable against us 1. Suppose the Accusation be We are sinners have offended God deserved wrath broken the first Covenant the Law of Works and under this are comprehended sins against the Gospel for they are sins against the Moral Law which Christ hath satisfied for all the breaches of that ever were or shall be For the Original Law of Nature is this Keep all my Commandments which I have or shall reveal to thee any way whatsoever whether by Nature or any other way of making my will known the eating of the forbidden fruit was against this Moral Law though immediately against a particular Revelation or thou shalt dye Now if this be the Accusation thou art a sinner hast deserved death transgressed the Law refused Christ and the Gospel a long time yea and hast notoriously sinned since conversion Here nothing will justifie nothing will answer this Accusation but this Christ hath dyed satisfied God hath set him forth to be a Propitiation It would be improper and vain here to plead We have repented believed for thou art a cursed Creature and there is no blood or satisfaction in these thou wilt rather be damned for thy failings in these they are imperfect at best and however cannot buy off thy former sins Here we must plead nothing in our selves to this Accusation nay we must confess we have nothing in our selves to justifie us against this Accusation of being sinners deserving wrath That that must answer this Accusation is altogether without us To plead to justifie from this Accusation something within us is to spit in Christ's face is damnable for whatever we plead must be a Righteousness or it is no way pleadable If we have a Righteousness to answer this Christ dyed in vain 2. But now suppose another Accusation which is possibly pleadable against us suppose the accusation be But thou hast no lot or portion in this Satisfaction for all have not interest in it but there was a second Covenant made wherein God made it over only upon Gospel-terms and conditions of repenting believing obeying sincerely upon sincerity and uprightness and truth in the inward parts for it was enacted that none should have the benefit of it to justifie them against the old Law but they that performed the condition Here now is no danger of pleading to answer this Accusation something in our selves nay it is duty and we wrong our selves if we have the condition and do not Ye must say Yea through grace I have repented believed endeavoured to obey God sincerely and have lamented when I have faln short I have received Christ for my Lord and Saviour endeavoured to serve him and do at this day And this will be your righteousness against this Accusation will justifie you against this Accusation It would be foolishly impertinent to plead here Christ hath dyed hath made satisfaction to the Law when the Charge the Accusation is Thou hast no interest in him and his death and the purchased benefits And it would be false and ridiculous to plead what they that falsly are called the only Preachers of Free-grace would have you plead viz. That Christ hath repented for thee performed the Gospel-conditions for thee Here you may and must plead something in your selves even the performance of the Gospel-condition You must not confess you have nothing to plead except you have not and then I would say Are you mad wilfully to refuse Christ I know men may think they have not and yet have this condition and then God knows there is this good thing in them toward God and Christ though they think not so and so they are justified and know not But if you say I have nothing in me to answer this Accusation and say true and continue in this estate you will be condemned upon this Accusation at the last day when judged according to the Gospel and are at present under condemnation in law But if you be sincere Christians and in some comfortable measure know it you may in this sense rejoyce in your selves you may say I have proved my own work and so have joy in my self and not in another This is our rejoycing the testimony of our Conscience that in simplicity and godly sincerity not with fleshly wisdom but by the grace of God we have had our conversation in this world You may say of a godly man he hath that within him that will bear him out and mean by it the sincerity of his heart but then you must not mean it to satisfie for his ill deeds or against the first accusation but against this only of having no part in Christ Here a man may glory Let him that glorieth glory in this that he understandeth and knoweth me Jer. 9. 24. We may say in the Apostle John's sense and words Our hearts our consciences acquit us and condemn us not 1 John 3. 20 21. If our hearts truly condemn us God is greater than our hearts and knoweth all things Beloved if our hearts condemn us not then have we confidence toward God and whatsoever we ask we receive of him because we keep his commandments and do those things that are pleasing in his sight So that you may now see that 1. God justifieth as the principal Efficient 2. The Promise or Covenant of God If thou believe thou shalt be saved as the instrument or less principal efficient for an Instrument is essentially an efficient and the act of the principal and instrument are
essentially one and the same act and both proper Efficients of the effect If one strike with a rod he strikes and the rod strikes though less principally yet both truly If a man promise he gives right and the promise gives right properly 3. Christ's Death and Merits justifie as a Satisfaction to God's Justice that he might pardon with safety to his honour and government 4. The faith of Christ or true Christianity as the condition Now a condition is a causa sine quâ non and it is agreed that a causa sine quâ non is no cause but only so necessarily called for want of a better word just as we are forced to speak always of non-entities as if they were entities whenever we speak of them as Tenebrae sunt Nihil fuit So I was wittingly forced sometimes before to use the word of Faith's influence into right And it is almost impossible to speak otherwise but any intelligent man may see though the performance of the Gospel-condition seemeth at the first view to have something like influence into right like causality yet it hath not but that influence which it seemeth to have is to be ascribed in propriety only to God and the Promise When a Felon reads it was not his reading that pardoned him but the Legislators by the Law upon his reading So that they err that use to tell us that Faith is a cause of Justification and not other graces for it is no cause it doth not in propriety justifie and pardon our sins at all If Faith did merit then it would be a moral efficient of our right Methinks none should say Faith is an Instrument of Justification for then it would be a true proper saying in the strictest sense Faith pardoneth our sins Faith acquitteth us You have seen upon what honourable terms God hath dispensed with his Law in not executing it however not fully executing it upon offenders 1. He doth execute some of it in this life upon his pardoned ones pardoned as to the great matters for Christ did not bargain that the curse should in every part be taken off immediately upon their believing No God makes sin evil and bitter to them in this life many ways and they must dye and their bodies rot in the grave for a time God told Moses he had pardoned the Israelites that is so as not to cut them off from being a people but as truly as I live all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the Lord their carkasses shall fall in the wilderness And I doubt not but this tends to the honour of God's Justice to leave some drops of this curse upon us in this life and we ought to take notice of his righteousness as well as mercy in afflicting us Some will object But the Sufferings of Believers are not satisfactory Ans I know they are not in the strict sense of the word for that signifieth compensation enough for the fault or in the sense the Papists use the word For little Sufferings buying off other Sufferings yea the great or eternal suffering And some object They are not vindictive and when they explain the word they mean they are not eternal or totally destructive which is true indeed But if any by the words Satisfactory or Vindictive mean that they are not inflicted by the Rector by virtue of the Law for a fault in token of his displeasure and for the honour of his Justice and warning of others I must deny it and say So far as they are for sin they are satisfactory and vindictive in this sense and can plainly prove it 2. That which God hath and will take off as indeed all will be clear taken off at the great full executive Redemption the Resurrection of the body Christ hath paid deer for it 3. Though Christ hath paid this great Price yet we shall have this benefit by it only upon such terms of honour to God as acknowledging in deep sense of our unworthiness God's righteousness if he had condemned us and turning from sin accepting the Redeemer Methinks we should be so far from quarrelling at that we should see high reason for and admire the wisdom of God in this whole Transaction and while we see some of his ways are rational conclude all are so and our ignorance is the cause they appear no more amiable to us Here is no shadow of injustice in the Universal Magistrate of the World neither to Christ nor to Christians nor to the Commonwealth of the World nor to his old Law that was not executed 1. No wrong done to Christ for he underwent it willingly Et violenti non fit injuria No wrong can be done to a mind willing of the damage 2. Not to Christians The highest praises are due to God from them and given by them for this very transaction 3. Not to the World It was to reform it and lay a new foundation of Religion in it 4. Not to his Law For the repute of that hath been as well secured and kept as inviolable by the revelation of this to be adored Justice of God as if it had been executed upon all offenders to all Eternity I will answer but one Objection more before I come to apply all Some will expect to hear how this whole Doctrine is consistent with Election and Special Grace If you ask men of different perswasions concerning general and special Grace How it comes to pass that any of the degenerate sons of Adam are saved They will answer Only by Grace and Mercy through Christ If you ask them further How comes it about that some are saved and some perish notwithstanding this Grace They will further answer Because some believe perform the Gospel-condition others not If you demand How comes this that some perform the Gospel-condition and not others They will still concent in answering Some will and some will not some chuse mercy on the terms of it and others chuse rather to perish than to accept Christ and Mercy on the Gospel-terms Thus far they agree commonly so that it doth not properly concern me to speak in this Discourse of the things wherein they differ both granting all that I affirm But if you enquire further of them How comes it to pass that some are thus willing and others not Here they disagree Some will say this of man's willingness it is to be ascribed to man himself or give such answer that it inevitably follows from it and that God doth no more in this case for one than for another helps one as much as another and then consequently it follows that a man converted is not a jo◠more beholden to God than one not converted God doing no more for him than the other And some doctrinally hold That God giveth men only free-will and the Gospel or objective Evidence and will go no further with any I cannot understand how such can pray for Grace or for God's giving them to improve the Gospel and his
meant of those that are actually Believers or fore-seen and looked on as such by him for he saith they shall come unto me shall believe on me and this belief and coming is named as the effect of God's giving men to Christ and so the giving is antecedent to the coming in all consideration So Ver. 44. No man can come unto me except the Father which hath sent me draw him Ver. 45. It is written They shall all be taught of God every man therefore that hath heard and learned of the Father commeth unto me Ver. 65. No man can come unto me except it be given him of my Father This he said knowing that there were some that believed not Such is the wilful wickedness of the world that all would reject Christ yea and they cannot do otherwise in some sense though they can in another sense which senses I could make plain to you but it would take up too much time and be too large a digression so that the working the Condition the first Grace the first difference is to be ascribed to Election 4. Though the common saying is That Christ's death merited no Volitions no Decrees and so his fore-seen death merited not that God should will such and such things and the most build much upon Aquinas his saying Deus vult hoc propter hoc sed non propter hoc vult hoc meaning there are reasons and motives causes of the things willed but not of the willing of those things yet I look upon this saying as meer words and void of truth and we ought to have other conceptions or else we shall have conceptions unworthy of God Yet many go in such a method in speaking of God's Decrees that they make this such a main Pillar of their Fabrick that for one to hold that God's love or pity or man's misery was any motive to God to send his Son to dye which God forbid any should deny would destroy their whole method for it is impossible that any thing should be or be considered as ratio rei volitae a reason of the thing willed but it must be and must be considered as ratio actus voluntatis as the reason of the willing For a reason or motive is essentially a motive to the will of the principal Agent for what can it possibly be conceived to move but the Will Can it be a Motive and move nothing or can it be actually a prevailing-reason and not prevail with the Will What ever God doth in time for the Merits of Christ he decreed and willed from eternity to do it in time for the Merits of Christ for whatsoever God doth now in time for any end whatsoever or upon any motive whatsoever he decreed and willed for that end and upon that motive from eternity to do it If God in time created rain to make the earth fruitful then the reason why he decreed and willed to cause rain was that the earth might be fruitful And for us to conceive otherwise of God would be for us to conceive him to act irrationally as willing things for no end and would put a stop to all admiration of the wisdom of God seen in his Providence and therefore such a conception of him would be offensive to him for we ought to conceive of him in the most honourable way we are able and that is the most pleasing to Him who is above our best conceptions If he condemn men in time for their refusal of Christ then he decreed to condemn them because he foresaw that they would refuse Christ If he save none justifie none in time but for their believing then he willed and decreed from eternity to save none with any decree or violence that we are to conceive of as distinct from his Will or Decree to work the Condition in men that they might be justified and saved but those he foresaw should believe And it seems plain that as he absolutely and without condition justifieth and saveth none so neither did he absolutely and without condition decree to justifie and save any But God foreseeing what an order and concatenation of things he would make and was bound in Honour to make notwithstanding Christ's death As in time without Condition though not without means He worketh Faith and Repentance worketh the Condition in the Elect that they may be justified and saved by Christ So he willed and decreed absolutely and without condition to work the condition the first Grace that they might be justified and saved by Christ 5. Though Christ's death as a satisfaction expiation was the cause of no more to us than this That if we repent and believe we shall be justified and saved Satisfaction and Propitiation being only for sin yet considering this suffering of Christ as a highly pleasing meritorious act as a worthy voluntary undertaking for the Honor of God we may say Christ did merit that God should give this Faith work this Condition and keep it in the Elect for all would notwithstanding this and the easie reasonable terms made of their interest in it through their own wilful wickedness have perished and he deserved that his blood should not thus far be lost as water spilt on the ground but that he should have some fruit of the travel of his soul in seeing a Seed actually to honour venerate and adore their Redeemer Though I must say for the honour of our Redeemer in this great affair He will have some reward in those that perish in that he did a wonderful kindness for them it being only through their own chosen refusal that they had no benefit by it His Goodness and Grace is not therefore no Grace because men reject it And to do a good and gracious act is a reward and satisfaction in it self And you may as well maintain That except God be ignorant and know not that men will reject his mercy he cannot be righteous and just in punishing them for it which is contrary to the knowledg of the whole world as to say Except God be ignorant and know not that they will through their wicked wilfulness refuse his Mercy his Grace and Mercy is no Grace and Mercy If one of you take a long tedious and hazzardous journey to disswade your friend from something you hear he designs to do which you know will undo him though he wilfully persist and will not be perswaded by you and so is undone by it yet he is bound to thank you all his life after and your kindness ceaseth not to be kindness and you have this satisfaction and reward You did a kind act though he reap no benefit And suppose you might have prevailed with him if you had there stayed longer with him and taken more pains yet your kindness ceaseth not to be a kindness because you did no greater kindness since that which you did would have been enough had it not been for his wilful obstinacy And his after-ruing of his own folly bears a loud testimony to
and tends to the honour of your kindness Oh that I had hearkened to my Friend How have I hated instruction and would not incline mine ear to him that instructed me They in Hell if they would and could do as befits them or as Christ hath deserved from them would spend time as well in admiring the love of God and the Redeemer in this wonderful once offered and urged Kindness as in ruing that they lost it through their own chosen wilful madness Some go on such grounds in speaking of these things that holding to their way they must necessarily deny that sinners in Hell will ever rue and befool themselves for their loss of salvation by Christ But if any will hold so much power in man to receive Christ as that they will rue it as their madness and folly and sin to reject him and perish by so doing I can from that demonstrate as clearly as I can do any thing that this I now speak in this digression inevitably follows Let me but ask you this Was there no cause for Adam when faln from the benefit to thank God for making that promise Obey and Live when as God might have annihilated him notwithstanding his obedience had it not been for that promise And do you never thank God for it though God knew he would fall But to return As Christ's sufferings did not as an expiation or satisfaction but as a highly meritorious act deserve or obtain that God should give greater things to those that believe than Adam lost for the honour of the Redeemer and of this great work of Redemption so he did deserve that God should cause some to believe and so from eternity his death foreseen or undertaken was a cause a meritorious cause or motive why God would that is decreed to make some and so though more remotely such particular persons the Elect to accept offered mercy and Christ which they would otherwise as others have rejected Some call this the Covenant of Redemption but it is an immanent act and from eternity and an elicite act of the will and therefore is properly a Decree and belongeth to the Will of Purpose and not to his Legislative Will his Rectoral Will Methinks you may see hence how it cometh to pass that we sometimes read of Christ's dying for the world and in other places that he laid down his life for his sheep sometime tasted death for every man dyed for all sometime again gave himself for the Church in one place a Saviour of the Body in another a Saviour of the world He dyed for the Elect and World both so far that whosoever should believe on him should not perish but for the Elect as they which were much in his eye being those who certainly should believe and so be actually saved Though God and Christ did as one saith aequè intend this satisfaction a propitiation conditionally applicable to every one yet he did not ex aequo as fully intend it for to be actually applied to every man There is much of truth in that frequently cited passage of Ambrose Christus passus est pro omnibus pro nobis tamen specialiter passus est Like that a Saviour of all men especially of them that believe Will any dare to say Here is nothing of grace or kindness to the World Joh. 3. 16. He so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life V. 17. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world but that the world through him might be saved Cannot you see plainly here what is meant by the World and that his first coming was to save it though his second will be to take a severe account V. 18. He that believeth on him is not condemned but he that believeth not is condemned already because he believeth not Can you say a sick man dyed because he took not such a Medicine when if he had taken it it would not have cured him You cannot say the Devils continue to be condemned because they reject Christ because if they should accept him they would still perish for there was no satisfaction made for them And may not the same be said of them that perish if no satisfaction be made for them So John 12. 47. If any man hear my words and believe not surely you will say this is meant of a non-elect man I judg him not for I came not into the world to condemn the world but to save the world Which reason would have no shew of reason except Christ came to save that man except he be one of that World he came to save If Election and Redemption were of the same latitude and strictness you might as well say to sinners Repent for you are elected for you are foreknown in the Scripture-sense for you are given to Christ by the Father in that special sense as Repent for you are redeemed Christ dyed for you you are bought with a price therefore glorifie God with your bodies and spirits which are his But the Apostle would not venture to speak thus You are elected therefore repent glorifie God for he should have spoken what he knew not to to be true I will say no more but this here Whether is it a more likely way to lay a foundation for Religion in the World to encourage and draw mens hearts to repent return to tell them Christ hath dyed for you and hath obtained this of the Father for you That if you return you shall live notwithstanding all your former sins or to say Repent return for for any thing you know Christ hath dyed for you for any thing you know he hath obtained this from God That if you turn you shall live though it is ten to one he hath not or however we cannot tell whether he hath or no. And if he hath not then as this is true that if the Devils should repent and return they should yet perish because no Satisfaction was made for them so if you should repent and believe you should yet perish because no Satisfaction made for you Application FRom all that hath been spoken we may learn these things Vse 1. This informeth us That God could not in Justice without a Satisfaction pardon our sins I know such moral things consist not in a point I dare not therefore say He could not pardon the least offence without a Satisfaction or such a great Satisfaction It is enough to say He could not pardon such and so great sins as ours and the worlds upon repentance without Satisfaction Many men of renown of late days have in this too much symbolized with Socinus and have maintained that God could if he had so pleased have pardoned the world and received them on the Gospel-terms into favour without a Satisfaction and that the death of Christ was from the Will of God and not from his Justice and some of the Ancients have thus
spoken Now to prove that we must not conceive his punishing-Justice as meerly a free act of his Will and Wisdom that he might as well do otherwise but as a virtue or rectitude inherent in his nature Let these things be considered 1. Express Scripture Hab. 1. 13. Thou art of purer eyes than to behold evil that is without being angry at it without punishing it Now what can be meant by the purity of his eyes but the holiness justice and righteousness of his Nature Psal 11. 5. The wicked his soul hateth Ver. 8. For the righteous Lord loveth righteousness not meerly because he will Josh 24. 19. He will not forgive your trespasses for he is a jealous God 2. A man cannot imagine God indifferent or almost indifferent whether he punish or pardon sinners but in so doing he fancies him very little abhorring sin very indifferent whether men obey or disobey which is to have more unworthy thoughts of him than we have of some men It is as necessary for us to conceive God to do that which we cannot better conceive and express than by saying and conceiving He crossed a strong inclination in not executing the Law upon Offenders themselves through a stronger inclination of love and pity to man not to execute but to provide and accept an offering as it is necessary for us to conceive of God as one crossing a strong inclination of affection to his Son in offering up his dear Son And whatever vain and bold disputers may say to the contrary it is our duty so to conceive and we please God in so conceiving and there is truth in the main in our conception notwithstanding the inadequateness of our Conceptions for we should have sinful and false apprehensions if we should conceive it was all one to God and that it was altogether or almost indifferent to him whether he punish the Offender himself or no or whether he offer up his Son or no or whether man perish or no. 3. The very Heathens knew something of the Natural Justice of God by the light of Nature as we read Rom. 1. 32. which could not be if the deserved Condemnation there mentioned came meerly from the free-will of God and not from his nature for things of his Free-will can only be known by a Revelation of his Will and not by Nature 4. How can his Justice be demonstrated By an act which his Justice requires not What weakness would it be for a Prince to affect a name of Justice and Righteousness in doing those things he might indeed justly do but to the doing of which he was no way bound in Justice and Honour If he could well enough and justly and honourably enough have pardoned offenders without but chose to shew his Justice and hatred of sin in the death of his Son it would be to demonstrate and make a shew of something that is not in reallity To affirm this would be to accuse him of Pageantry Socinus and Crellius themselves that deny God's essential Justice yet say that he cannot with safety to his Justice and Sanctity save impenitent sinners What is this but to grant what they deny even an essential Justice They grant in this so much that it seemeth wilfulness in them not to grant all To let go that which is with much shew of reason insisted on by some That all would have been impenitent without the Satisfaction surely the reason why He cannot pardon impenitent sinners is because this mode of sin contumacy in it is sin and where then will any fix and say Hither he may go in pardoning without Satisfaction and no further See the Apostle here going further implying that he could not have justified saved repenting believing sinners without this Propitiation that he might be just and the justifier of him that believeth c. And the Apostle argueth a necessity of satisfaction by Christ's death because sin could not otherwise have been taken away plainly implying that repentance would not have taken it away Heb. 10. 1 4. And how weak would his Argument be to prove a necessity of this Expiation because it was impossible the blood of Bulls and Goats should take it away If it might be taken away without any expiation at all why then not with such low things 5. God is said to commend his love and kindness to us in that when we were sinners Christ dyed for us but what great love could there be shewed if there was no necessity of such an Expiation There was indeed wonderful love if Justice required our blood for his love and pity to overcome and swallow up such inexorable fury to find out and give for us such a Ransom But if Justice no way required it What great Love would it be In such a case it might indeed be Love but not eminent stupendious Love To pardon for he obliges less by pardoning that may easily pardon without diminishing the repute of his Justice or doing himself as it were any injury and he obligeth and engageth the more that forgiveth that which is so contrary to his Holiness Justice and Honour that there needs so great and atrocious a Satisfaction as putting out or tormenting the Apple of his own Eye his dear Son to make Expiation But if no such thing was necessary then to pardon in such a dreadful way as by the death of his Son would not be an act of mercy or of love but of wisdom if of any thing if that indeed may be called wisdom to give up thus his Son without necessity 6. It seems contrary to the Wisdom and Goodness of God when he might go so easie and near and plain a way in pardoning sinners to go in so difficult a way and in a way so far about for then it was a large digression to flee to a Satisfaction And surely God that doth not afflict men meerly because he will would not afflict his innocent Lam. 3. 33 beloved Son meerly because he will if he could without reluctancy without grating on his Justice Holiness and Honour have scattered our sins as a Cloud with an easie breath of his mouth Object But may not one justly part with his own right Can there be any injustice in pardoning a Debtor without Satisfaction And is not he more to be commended that doth it without any Satisfaction May not a party offended forgive a wrong against him If one threaten to beat a man that deserves it may he not justly pass it over without any satisfaction Ans He may and I grant all But the things I am treating of are not Debts but Offences and these not offences against private persons as such God is as most hold the Governour of the World necessarily and essentially however we are sure he hath taken on him the government of it and although it had been a free act at the first to undertake it yet when he hath once undertaken it he by so doing obligeth himself to govern it wisely holily and
righteously to punish offences and not to let things run at random And God is not to be considered as a private person that pardoneth as a party offended or as a Creditor that parteth with his own right but as the publick Judg and Governour of the World who is by taking this place upon him engaged to judg and rule righteously and to render to men according to their works There is a wide difference between Pecuniary debts which one forgives as a private man or injuries done to a man in particular which he forgives as a private man and Criminal offences against Law and Government A Magistrate being also in another respect a private man having a private interest of his own may as other men forgive things which belong to his profit as Debts and may forgive injuries and affronts done to him so far as they prejudice his private Interest But he may not justly however ordinarily forgive things which belong to his Office and Duty incumbent on him as Governour to punish in vindictive Justice for hereby he would be wanting in his duty and also guilty of violating the authority of his own Law and Rule and of undoing of the Commonwealth by lenity and indulgence I know a Rector or Governour may in some cases dispense with and not execute his Law For sometimes Laws are unjustly made sometime about low petty matters that do not much concern the Common-weal to have them executed sometime it would tend to the destruction of the Community to execute them though not unwisely made at first and sometime he wants power to execute them the offenders being too numerous or too potent and so it may be his duty to pardon and dispense with the penalty without any more ado e. g. Saul intentionally made a good Law threatned death to any that should eat before the evening that he might obtain the greater conquest over his flying Enemies Jonathan his Son transgresseth it Saul resolves to execute the Law the people hinder him and rescue Jonathan now Saul could not execute the Law for want of strength for the people are the strength of the King And there seemeth to be much reason in what Jonathan said It was an ill Law and proved a hinderance to the slaughter of his enemies and in what the people plead to wit That he might well dispence with this Law as to Jonathan because he had wrought with God that day a great salvation There was indeed such a deed done by him that day such a high meritorious act as would amount to a partial if not a total satisfaction So that it would not much weaken Government encourage Offendors take off from the repute of Saul's Rectoral Justice to pardon one in such a circumstance But a Rector cannot without injustice ordinarily and in weighty causes dispense with his Laws since it would be To be wanting to his duty and it would certainly tend to the debauching and ruin of the Community by breaking the reins of Government and encouraging Offenders It is ordinarily as much the duty of the supream Magistrate to execute good Laws or some way to keep them sacred and honourable as it is to make good Laws for both duties are built upon the same foundation Who will say That Parents may justly lawfully and honestly cast off all care of correcting their Children for their faults and leave all things to their wills This would be not so much a parting with their right as the Objection speaks as a ceasing from and being wanting in their duty and office and God's Rectorship and Government is to be conceived of by us analogically to an Office 2. Hence learn the Excellency and Satisfactoriness of the Christian Religion and our great felicity in living in these last days and shiningdays of the Son of Man wherein the Earth is and hath been filled with the glory of the Grace and Mercy and of the Justice and Holiness of God in comparison of former days The Christian Religion discovers plainly to us that which the Heathens were fearfully bewildred about They had Convictions of sin and terrors and consternations of mind for sin and fearful lookings for of judgment and fiery indignation They knew that they that did such things as they did were worthy of death they saw need of Rom. 1. 31 attoning God need of an Expiation and some of them saw the blood of Bulls and Goats could not take away sin Some offered not knowing what they did the fruit of their body for the sin of their soul when they might be flying and hovering about in their meditations and enquiries after these things like Noah's Dove and find no rest We have this safe Ark of the Righteousness and Satisfaction of Christ discovered and opened to us where there is Rest for the sole of the foot of our souls When their soul drew near to the grave and their life to the Destroyer they had none to tell them of such a Righteousness such a Ransome The Heathens had indeed some obscure wavering knowledg of this fundamental Article of Religion the Remission of sins partly by Tradition which in ancient times was more convincing in after and corrupter days more obscure and doubtful partly by the Law of Nature in the Book of Providence seeing the goodness and benignity of God to them notwithstanding their great provocations they might and did thence waveringly gather That God was merciful and would be found in mercy of them that did turn and seek him diligently He left not himself without witness in that he did them good and gave them rain from Heaven and fruitful seasons filling their hearts with food and gladness and this was that Acts 14. 17. 17. 27. they should seek the Lord if haply they might feel after him and find him But this knowledg was so weakned by the contrary arguments that militate against it That that very deep apprehension of God's Holiness and Justice and those very consternations of mind for sins which were likely to conduce in working this repentance and reformation would be very apt much to weaken if not almost to blot out this notion That there was hope for them and forgiveness with him that he might be served and feared That it is no wonder if it was ineffectual to work this change and these diligent enquiries after God and that Salvation which they were not fully sure was attainable though yet it was their hainous sin and high irrationality and madness not thus to seek him though to the undoing of themselves in this life upon these probabilities and half-promises if haply and it may be if we turn we shall live and this will be their greatest condemnation It is no wonder if never any did sincerely and thoroughly turn from sin to God amongst them since Tradition was quite worn out or rendred suspicious and unconvincing without some supernatural Revelation as by the Prophets and their Writings I say since Tradition lost or corrupted for in
thing that hath no sting no great hurt in it Let not my soul come into your secrets You do in your hearts blaspheme this great and stupendious transaction of Heaven and that worthy name of Christ wherewith you are called You despise God in your hearts and say as David to Saul After whom doth the King of Israel pursue after a dead dog after a flea As if he should say Methinks the great King of Israel should never be so vain as to trouble himself about such an inconsiderable fellow as I am A dead dog cannot bite a flea can bite but a flea-biting is a small matter you that think sin but like a flea and its hurt like a flea-biting you do charge the God of Israel in your hearts foolishly as if he made all this ado in Christ's death about nothing you in effect maintain as if God did magno conatu magnas nugas agere as if these things were but Childrens play as if Christ dyed as a fool dyeth to no purpose for if sin be such a slight matter then Christ died in vain How far are your thoughts from God's thoughts You shall see it an evil and bitter thing and of dreadful desert and admire at instead of contemning this Justice of God manifested in this wise plot of the Trinity for man's salvation before ever you come to have this great benefit of it 6. This speaks dreadfully to all unbelieving impenitent Christ-refusing sinners What will become of them that slight their Redeemer that shall have no part in his blood because they tread it under foot If Christ died for this end because else God could not with safety to his Justice pardon believing repenting returning sinners what will become of them that believe not repent not return not The death of Christ is to incorrigible sinners the dreadfullest story they can read it setteth convincingly forth before their eyes and thundereth out to their ears the inexorable Justice of God and what a fearful thing it is to fall into the offended hands of the living God It may make a man sweat may put a man into an agony to tell of those things that are by the sufferings of Christ proclaimed aloud to the World to befall wilful contemners of this offer of Christ and Grace If these things were done to the green tree what shall be done to the dry If he whose judgment was not to have drunk this Cup hath drunk so deeply of it Art thou he that shalt go unpunished Jer. 49. 12. How shall they escape that neglect so great salvation You that say you cannot believe God will be so severe to impenitent sinners as the Scripture and your Ministers tell you See here dreadful Justice and believe see here how severely God dealt with his only beloved Son when he had undertaken to satisfie for our sins to be as it were our Substitute If any should now escape surely he should he was but as a Surety How little encouragement hast thou to think he will dispence again with his threat that hast seen how hardly he hath dispensed with it before God hath once indeed accepted of a great Sacrifice for sin but if men now once finally refuse him that thus speaketh from Heaven There remains no more sacrifice for sin If any man when he hears the words of this curse that fell on Christ being made a Curse for us shall bless himself in his heart saying I shall have peace though I walk in the way of my own heart and not after the appointment of my Lord-Redeemer surely the wrath of God shall smoak against that man and God shall blot out his name from under heaven and he shall bear his iniquity himself for ever and ever What remaineth for such but a fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation that shall devour such adversaries such enemies that would not have this man the Lord Jesus to rule over them 7. This speaks comfort to true Believers to repenting returning sinners notwithstanding their great sins they have been guilty of before conversion and since conversion God hath you see set forth Christ a Propitiation You need not fear that you should feel what he felt such expiatory Hell-sorrows or eternal and destructive punishments Yours shall be common to men common to Christians leight afflictions and for a moment and sanctified and well rewarded When your hearts ake and consciences accuse and the Law and Justice and Holiness of God seem to urge for Satisfaction look here at Christ made a Propitiation Do not say It is we that have sinned and we must suffer the sins were committed by us and must lye on us for ever What did God lay the punishment of our sins on Christ for It would have been thus if Christ had not dyed if it must yet be thus Christ dyed in vain Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's elect It is God that justifieth who is he that condemneth it is Christ that dyed yea rather is risen again who is at the right hand of God who also maketh intercession for us who will make it his business to see you have the fruit of his death God is well-pleased with you through him that loved us and gave himself an offering and satisfaction to God for a sweet-smelling savour Thou art often it may be saying within thy self I want Righteousness The righteous Lord loveth righteousness Heaven is a place only of righteous ones How can such an unworthy Creature stand before him without righteousness If I had not sinned or not so hainously sinned how well it would have been with me O happy Angels and Saints in glory they have righteousness Why notwithstanding our unrighteousness yet in the Lord Christ we have righteousness whereby we are made acceptable in the Beloved So that now Justice it self is become your friend Now because God is just the penitent true Believer is and must be justified Now God is faithful and just to forgive you your sins it would not be justice and faithfulness to do otherwise when he hath made this Righteousness over to the World by this Law of Grace this second Covenant and you have the condition of the Covenant You that are sensible of the great wrong you have done the Lord here you may comfortably see it made up and satisfied for Lord thou art well paid thou hast greater Satisfaction in saving than in damning me in damning me thou hast only my blood for Satisfaction but in saving me the blood of Christ God hath been dishonoured by you but look here and see Christ giving him as much honour as you deprived him of The price is paid yea and accepted by God and he hath declared his Satisfaction therewith and made a Law of Grace upon it and cannot go back and now saith Fury is not in me This should be health to our bones and wine to our hearts And that which hath satisfied God for the sins of Thousands now in Heaven may well
will do more for thee let them take thee Say then I love my Master Sin and Satan and will not go out free But study how thou wilt answer it to God and look thy Redeemer in the face Do you mock God and your Redeemer and say You might have spared your self as Peter bade you Who bade you thus love me You might have let the loving me alone God will not be mocked Be you not mockers lest your bonds be made strong And Christ will yet have some reward in well-doing and honour in thy ruin thy refusal and punishment for it But these are secondary Ends and Ends only upon supposition of rejection of his Grace The primary End of his Death and Law of Grace is your Salvation for he came not into the world primarily to condemn the world but that the world through him might be saved God sweareth he desires not the death of the wicked but rather that he would turn and live The primary End of the Gospel and Law of Grace is your Obedience and Salvation and secondarily upon supposition of your refusal Condemnation It cannot be said of a Governour making a Law It was weakly done of him when he foresaw many would break it except he want Power or Justice to vindicate it Dare you say It was not wisely done of God to make the first Covenant with Promise to Adam because he foresaw he would lose the benefit of it and incur the curse And dare you say It was no kindness Suppose God had not known Would that have made any change in the thing by making the sin greater and God's kindness more This is to say God's Omniscience hinders him from being Rector of the World from being able to make gracious Promises to the obedient and just Threatnings to the disobedient Take heed of such Doctrines as would in their own nature cause you to have hard thoughts of God and discourage your return to him and conclude they are false that are so expresly contrary to the whole tenour of the Gospel Though you know not how to answer the Objections I dare confidently tell you others can and have answered in the main such difficulties satisfactorily and that in a way well agreeing with special grace And I could do it satisfactorily to you I think and should now if I thought it not inconvenient to turn to an alien subject But suppose I could not no nor the ablest men must we therefore deny plain Scripture-truths because men know but in part and can answer many difficulties but imperfectly But to return Shall Christ fall short of the primary End of the travel of his soul This is the reward and fruit Christ waits for To see the travel of his soul to see his seed a generation of sinners turning and accepting his offered salvation and then he will say My blood was well shed indeed I am well paid well satisfied so Israel be but thus gathered and this he waits for and strives with thee about Again Is this thy kindness to thy own soul Not to hearken to the cry of its necessity for a Saviour It is in your power to reject the counsel of God against your selves to your hurt it is in your power to frustrate all and to make your selves of those that shall have neither lot nor portion in this matter But if you perish it is not long of Christ but of your selves you chuse it Would you be wise you should be wise for your selves but if you be scorners you alone shall bear it Once all was lost hopeless and helpless you were but through this Propitiarion it is once more brought to your choice whether you will perish or no. Why will you dye If you will dye who can help it I cannot I can only witness I called and you refused to come And I hereby call you Noverint universi c. Be it known therefore unto you Men and Brethren That through this Man and this Name is preached to you the forgiveness of sins and by him all that shall believe all that shall receive him shall be justified And there is no other Name under Heaven given whereby you can be justified and saved and if you refuse him it is in vain to look for another Are you willing to comply with this design of God for your eternal welfare Or must I say you refuse to come Will you or will you not accept Christ for your Lord Redeemer to sanctifie and save you If you will indeed you shall certainly be saved If you will not why will you not What displeasure have you taken against Christ What blemish do you see in him What is there that offends you in this wise stupendious dispensation of Christ crucified What prejudice have you entertained against this Counsel of God What do you think his terms too hard so that all things considered it would not be for your good Then you think Christ If any doubt of the truth of the Scripture Doctrine let them if they judg their souls worth so much pains read those learned Books lately written in English on this Subject and doubt if they can counselleth you for your hurt if so you have interpretatively worse thoughts of Christ than you ought to have of the Devil for you ought to think the Devil no worse than he is and if you think Christ calleth you for your hurt and loss and tells you what you shall never find true you think Christ envies your good and would deceive and cheat you by perswading you out of it and what is this but to think him worse than the Devil for the Devil though he would deceive you yet he never dyed and shed his blood to deceive you but if it be for your hurt to turn from sin and deny your selves and take up his yoke Christ hath dyed to undo you which would be strange maliciousness O the hainousness of this sin of refusing Christ It is virtually to esteem him the horrid'st Impostor that ever the Sun saw What a dreadful thing it is to stay a day or a night under the guilt of this refusal of Christ He that thus believeth not is condemned already and is yet under the curse and if he do but walk up and down the few more days and sleep out the few more nights of his life he will be remediless for there is no more sacrifice for sin But yet there is Balm in Gilead there is a Physician there why is not our health recovered There are Treasures in Christ Treasures of Righteousness he would fain part with Oh say These and these neglect Christ despise his Riches It may be thy Master if thou be a servant sleights this great and honourable One's Treasures and will not receive at his hands the things which he hath bought and brought but say thou as Gehazi As the Lord liveth I will run after him and take something of him and I can assure thee in his Name whose Messenger I am That
he will be as ready to part with it to thee as ever Naaman was to Gehazi 5. Have nothing to do with Sin The Philistines would not tread on the threshold they thought brake their Idol Dagon's neck The Jews would not put the Thirty pieces given for betraying Christ into the Treasury because it was the price of blood Mat. 27. 6. Will you look on sin as gain on that which you have gotten by sin as gain It is the price of blood Should that be pleasing to thee which was so bitter to Christ David would not drink of the water his Worthies had ventured their lives for but poured it out and said Is not this the blood of the men that went in jeopardy of their lives 2 Sam. 23. 17. Wilt thou put that Serpent into thy bosome that hath stung to death thy dearest Relation A strange sight for a Child to delight in that Sword or Knife that killed his Father Some will break God's Law for the gain of two-pence God made not such a leight matter of the breach of his Law Let this conspicuous Justice of God be as a flaming-sword to keep you from sin Since Christ hath dy'd for sin let us dye unto sin yea let us rather chuse to dye than to sin Lastly Live to your Lord Redeemer walk as they that are bought with such a price say to Christ as the people â—o Gideon Rule thou over us for thou hast delivered us from the hand of our enemies He died that they which live might not live to themselves A strong and constraining bond of obedience and thankfulness is laid upon us Offer up Souls and Bodies a living sacrifice to him that offered up himself a dead sacrifice for us Be cheerful in suffering for him grudg not at suffering any thing for him that suffered so much for thee Christ loved not his life unto the death for our sakes A Discourse concerning the Apostle Paul's meaning by Justification by Faith occasioned by some passages in the Sermons An Endeavour to make apparent That the Apostle Paul by Justification by works and by the Law means justification for mens deserts and merits or by unsinning obedience without pardon And by Justification by Faith means pardon of sin upon mens believing and turning from sin to God And that it is not in the least his design to exclude Repentance and sincere Obedience from being a condition of our justification but that he includes them in the word Faith FIrst We are sure whatever the Apostle teacheth is consistent with himself and the whole tenour of Scripture Therefore his meaning cannot be That it is not necessary or that it is dangerous for any to repent and turn from sin for pardon or justification and salvation But this I have already cleared Secondly We are sure Whatever the Apostle saith is true and his arguing cogent as when he tells us Rom. 4. 4. To him that worketh the reward is not reckoned of grace but of debt and Rom. 11. 6. If by grace then it is no more of works but if it be of works then it is no more of grace Now this would not be true for a reward may be of works and yet of grace unless by works he understand meritorious works or full and compleat innocency If there be a promise made of a reward to a work yet if the work be inconsiderable in value to the reward this reward is to be ascribed to the grace and favour and kindness of him that promiseth and giveth the reward and not to the merit of his work that receives it It would be in this case of Grace as the Cause though of Works as the Condition the Works not being meritorious Else it would be impossible for any promise to be a gracious promise that hath any duty for the condition of it which to affirm would be the abhorring of any rational soul yea though the condition was to be performed by the man 's own strength whatever any say to the contrary which yet is not in the case-in-hand I willingly grant yea a conditional promise would not be one jot less gracious if the condition was to be performed by man of himself and is not more gracious because God causeth us to perform it only this causing us to perform it is more of grace Dare any deliberately say these conditional promises were not of grace because a work made the condition viz. If the wicked turn he shall live Repent that your iniquities may be blotted out Nay do we not expresly read Such are of grace Jer. 3. 1 12. Thou hast playd the harlot with many lovers yet return and I will not cause mine anger to fall on you For I am gracious and merciful 2 Chron. 30 19. The good Lord pardon every one that prepareth his heart to seek c. though he be not cleansed according c. Nehem. 13. 22. Remember me my God concerning this also and spare me according to the greatness of thy mercy Jonah knew if God spared Nineveh upon repentance it would be an act of grace I know thou art a gracious God and merciful Jonah 4. 2. Whatsoever any one gives or promises to another who works more than the merit of the work amounts to is of grace and the justification of any man upon any terms less than the obedience of the Law in every thing is of Gospel-grace to wit of pardon Thirdly The opposition of the Apostle is good and true if by works be meant meritorious works deserving the reward or full and compleat obedienee to the Law in every thing viz. If of meritorious works then not of grace then the reward is no more than what is owing in strict Justice and one need not cry gratias grace grace need not give thanks for such a reward And if of compleat unsinning obedience one needs not pardon cannot be pardoned cannot give thanks for the reward as having of it upon the account of sin pardoned Object But would not Adam's justification have been of grace if he had continued in his innocency though it would have been of works This some object against this Tenent That the Apostle meant it of meritorious works or full obedience and I never saw this well cleared and many are much puzled with it therefore I will speak the more largely to it Ans I distinguish here between justification simply taken as justification of an innocent man accused or accusable though falsly and between the justification of a man with the resultancies from it which though immediate resultancies yet come on him upon his meer justification by virtue of some gracious Law Promise or Covenant made on condition of his innocency First Suppose there had been no promise made of everlasting happiness to Adam on condition of continued innocency but only a threatning That if he sinned he should dye be damned First In this case while he had continued innocent it would have been of debt not to have condemned him as a
did in their own nature stir up teach and oblige you to holiness Ver. 9. But what were not we Jews better than the Gentiles so as they to be sinners and we holy worthy men No we confess on all hands the Gentiles were great sinners and so I will prove from the Scripture were the Jews also None righteous no not one none that doth good their throat is an open sepulcher Ver. 19. Now whatever the Law saith it saith to them under the Law that is whatever the Scripture speaketh it speaketh of them that lived in Scripture-places and this was written by David a Jew and so he meant it of the wickedness of the Jews So that all are sinners and under condemnation you Jews as well as others whatever your thoughts are to the contrary And no flesh can be justified in his sight by the deeds of the law no man shall be justified as being a man that deserves it or as having no need to have his sin pardoned so as his justification to be of debt and not to be of grace favour and pardon Ver. 25. But thus man's justification comes about God hath set forth Christ a Propitiation since all are sinners and God justifieth men by this for his sake pardoning their sins Ver. 27. Where is boasting then it is excluded but is not excluded by the Law of Works for if a man was justified that way he might boast God pardoned him nothing but by this Law of Faith by this Gospel-way of pardoning sinners without merits or strict Law-righteousness And therefore the Gentiles may be saved if they become Christians and have this heart-circumcision though they have not these outward priviledges which you account things of such great worth God pardoning their sins upon their believing the Gospel and having their hearts purified by it which you account such low ignoble things Chap. 4. This Chapter is accounted by the opposers of the doctrine I taught to have the greatest appearance against it but I shall manifest it doth not in the least oppose it The design of this Chapter as you will see is to prove the whole business That the Gentiles may be justified and saved by grace and pardon of sin upon their turning from idolatries and believing and obeying the Gospel without Circumcision and he proveth it by this argument viz. Abraham was a sinner and was not justified for any original righteousness as having never sinned nor for any meritorious works or priviledges of his that in Justice deserved the reward by making satisfaction for his sins for that would still be of debt from natural Law and Equity if a man could do something after great Crimes that satisfies for them all it would be so of Justice to acquit him as not to be of Grace it would however be as the Apostle expresseth it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as it were by the works of the law Rom. 9. 31. as it were by the works of the Law though not wholly or altogether yet in a sort or as it were They that grant they are sinners and yet suppose they make amends by some strict observance so that it would be hard and severe if God should condemn them do esteem their salvation due as it were by the works of the Law they esteem it not of grace But when it is said Abraham was justified the meaning is he was pardoned and if so God may justifie the Gentiles on that manner viz. by pardoning them Ver. 1. Shall we say that Abraham found i. e. all that kindness favour and justification from the flesh i. e. from works as we see in the following verse for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 according to the flesh is in the following verse repeated and expounded by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by works So Gal. 3. 3. made perfect by the flesh he expounds v. 2 5. by the works of the law and so by the flesh may signifie unsinning obedience to the law or by the flesh might be meant some such meritorious priviledges as those the Jews boasted of for Phil. 3. 3. 4. in expounding what is meant by the flesh he reckons up Hebrew of Hebrews circumcised the eighth day a Pharisee We may here understand either but rather both for his arguing excludes both equally Ver. 〈◊〉 No sure For if he was justified in such a way by the law of works as having never been a sinner or by some high merits deserving such things from God then he had whereof to boast and say he was not pardoned and that his justification was of merit and not of grace But not before God i. e. but he could not boast and say God never pardoned his sins and that he was one of such worth and merits that whatever God did for him was due debt whatever glorying he might make of his innocency toward men Ver. 3. He proves it from Scripture that Abraham could not thus boast What saith the Scripture Abraham believed God and it was counted to him for righteousness Now this very word counted proveth this fully that i◠was not due debt from God and also that his believing did not merit it For the word counting is like the Law-word acceptilatio which word acceptilatio is used in such cases as when a man accepts from his debtor a penny for a hundred pound and acquits him upon it So this very word implieth that his believing was so low a thing as not to be any way meritorious of those great things God rewarded him with upon it He lays all the stress as you will see by the following verses upon this word counted that it signifieth graciously acquitted him and not as a just man that deserved it Ver. 4. If Abraham had been a man of high merits and deserts or his faith any thing meritorious it would not have been said God accounted it which signifies God graciously accounted it For to him that worketh i. e. that meriteth by his works the reward is reckoned of debt and not reckoned of grace as this word signifieth This very word implies that God might justly have refused to have justified him upon his believing This is the same argument with that Rom. 11. 6. If it be of grace then it is not of works i. e. of meritorious works otherwise grace is not grace and mercy but if it be of works i. e. meritorious works then it is no more of grace and mercy else works is not works that is merit is not merit merit doth not deserve which is a contradiction Ver. 5. Counted it to him for righteousness It cannot be said that a man's believing or repenting or any other duty is counted that is graciously counted for righteousness except the man be and these things be void of merit Therefore it implies That Abraham believed one that justified an ungodly man an undeserving man a sinner a man unjust justified a man in the strict sense of the law unjust by pardoning his sins his unrighteousness Yea it is probable that by the
token to seal and oblige himself to and assure others of this promise That whatsoever offender or offenders shall do as he did before his receiving of it he or they shall be acquitted from all penalties Here 1. The first receiving this Livery to be worn by him and his is given as a reward to him and not by way of sealing and as a peculiar token of the Royal favour and the same may be said of his exploits being mentioned in the promise to describe the condition by For it is to reward and cast an honour on him to make them a pattern to others These two agree to none else and therefore herein must the fatherhood lye 2. As a seal of the promise his Livery sealeth his particular acquittal only secondarily even by sealing the general promise primarily and immediately viz. That whoever do as he did shall be acquitted whether they have the Livery or no. That it is more assuring and comforting c. to his Family having the Livery and performing the condition I grant but pass it by as alien 3. The King by thus honouring him by giving him this Livery as a reward and also in giving him it first and also asâ— seal with this â—ignification thaâ— whosoever shall do such exploits c. also by making his exploits the pattern the regula and mensura hath put this honour on him to make him as it were a father of all after thus acquitted as receiving this honour to be the first and chief pattern of the acquitting of all that do as he did they being acquitted after him in like manner only as he was 4. He may also be called a causative father in the sense I have explained it of men after him doing as he did and consequently being acquitted as he was his exploits being morally influential to incline men to attempt to express and copy them out because so taken notice of by the King as to be propounded by him to notifie what kind and what manner of exploits they must be that this acquittal is promised to First A father or pattern of the manner of the justification of the Gentile-Christians representing that as he was graciously pardoned not justified for any worthiness of his own being a sinner and an idolater but pardoned upon his believing and obeying God and following his call yea while uncircumcised so may the idolatrous uncircumcised Gentiles that have none of the outward priviledges you Jews boast of be received into favour upon their turning from their idolataies and believing and obeying the Gospel and so he is their father Ver. 12. And secondly A father or pattern of the manner of the justification of us Jews that have these outward priviledges in that we must be justified as he was He was indeed circumcised as we are but his justification was not by that or any merit of that but the condition of his justification was his heart-circumcision his believing obeying fearing God and so must be and always was the justification of any Jew not by or by the merit of any outward priviledges but by God's pardoning their great sins in a Gospel-way upon their heart-circumcision or walking in the steps of that faith of our father Abraham Ver. 13. For the promise that he should be heir of the world that is have great things have great temporal and spiritual mercies Canaan and Heaven the world to come typified by it was not made to him and his seed that is such as he obedient believers as you may see by the places after cited through the law Obey perfectly and live without pardon and so not of Gospel-grace but through the righteousness of faith by a promise of forgiveness in a gracious Evangelical way upon their repenting believing obeying God See Rom. 10. 6. what is meant by the righteousness of faith to wit a law of grace Gal. 3. v. 14 15 16 17 18. is a place parallel to this where the Covenant confirmed of God in Christ to Abraham and his seed that is of an inheritance and blessedness to men walking in the steps of his faith is called the promise whereby he gave the inheritance to Abraham and by his seed there are meant believers as you may see plainly by v. 29. and by Christ v. 16. is meant Christ mystical viz. Believers as Expositors agree So also Heb. 9. 15. A Mediator of the new testament or covenant that they which are called i. e. effectually called obedient believers might receive the promise of the eternal inheritance Ver. 14. For if only they that are of the law that is they that are righteous without pardon that perfectly obey see Gal. 3. 10. be heirs are to have great things then faith is made void and the promise made of none effect that is then there is no place no reward for faith repentance and turning from sin to God for those that have been sinners or obey not the Law perfectly and that implied promise which is implied in God's justifying Abraham upon believing God not being partial but whosoever feareth God and worketh righteousness shall be accepted and that promise which was sealed in circumcision That whosoever should believe and obey God as he did shall find great reward as he did is made of none effect if men be to attain the reward by the Law of works without pardon And the Law given Four hundred thirty years after if it require perfect obedience so as to accept nothing less hath disannulled this promise Then none can be justified unless they be men of such merits as you suppose such outward observances and priviledges make you that it is due of strict Justice and not from a gracious promise made to sinners And also I will shew that you that are of the Law and stick to that cannot be justified or saved whatever you think to the contrary Ver. 15. For the law worketh wrath for where there is no law there is no transgression This proveth what he affirmeth before That happiness comes not by the Moral Law and so neither by any subordinate revelation which is reductively comprehended in it not by the whole system or body of precepts given by Moses as for instance by the command of circumcision which reductively belongs to the Moral Law for that is Obey whatever I shall any way command you or dye and none perfectly obey That place Gal. 3. 10. is like this As many as are of the works of the law i. e. stick to that for justification are under a curse for it is written Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things written in the law to do them Which consequence of the Apostle's would be inconsequent but that it leans upon this implied foundation that none do so viz. all things written So here the meaning is this these laws take them as laws and commands they only work wrath and make sins more by multiplying commands more and so make the Jews more guilty than any and further from
justification than any having more laws and more clearly revealed A man that would look to be justified by exact obedience to every precept and will look for no pardon will find these laws will be so far from justifying him and conferring right to any reward that they work only wrath and oblige him the more to condemnation For where there is no law there is no transgression Many of these things which you Jews sinned in omitting would have been no sins had not God thus revealed his will to you in such multitudes of commands and others not so great sins Ver. 16. Therefore happiness is not by the law that is by unsinning obedience or making all up by meritorious works but by faith that is in a Gospel-way by some promise made of pardon to sinners called the law of faith by some promise made to sinners to whom justification cannot be of debt upon their repentance belief and sincere endeavour of obedience And it is thus of faith that it might be of grace and mercy And it is thus of faith that the promise might be sure to all the seed that is to all that walk in the steps of Abraham's faith that believe repent obey God in difficulties whether they have those great priviledges you boast of as the Jews or none such as the Gentiles And so he is the father of us all both Jews and Gentiles i. e. a pattern of our justification both being justified the same way as he was Ver. 17. As it is written I have made thee a father of many nations Either this is a remote meaning of these words cited or it is an allusive accommodative making use of this citation which seemeth frequent with this Apostle The meaning however of the Apostle is this As I have received thee into favour upon thy believing me in every thing and obeying and following my call so many of several Nations both Jews and Gentils shall receive grace and favour and blessedness from me in thus turning from sin and believing and obeying me as thou hast and so be justified in such a way as thou art and so thou shalt be their Father a prime example or pattern of their justification Ver. 18 19 20 21. He sheweth the faith of Abraham was a great and strong faith he believed the most unlikely things upon God's credit believed against hope believed God was able to do what he promised though never so unlikely he never considered the difficulty it was a faith that carried him out to trust and obey God in every thing So would the Gentiles believe the resurrection of Christ which he compares there to Abraham's believing God could quicken the dead the dead womb and also dead Isaac Heb. 11. 19. and the almost-incredible things of the Gospel and be carried on by such belief to obey and follow God and Christ notwithstanding all their sufferings and discouragements they may be justified and saved without being circumcised and keeping the Ceremonial Law or perfectly the Moral Law as he applies this belief of God's raising the dead to his raising Christ from the dead v. 24. Ver. 22. And therefore it was imputed to him for righteousness That is as I have again and again explained it he was graciously accepted and acquitted and rewarded upon it and treated as if he had been an innocent just person though he was not so in the strict sense of the law or natural equity Ver. 23 24. Now it was not written for his sake alone that it was imputed to him but we may make use of it it was written for some great end and therefore sheweth that though the Gentiles be unworthy persons and have no merits by such priviledges or observances as the Pharisaical opposers of their reception suppose themselves to have yet if they do as Abraham did they shall fare as he fared if they believe this great difficulty of raising Christ from the dead and carry sutable to such a faith righteousness shall be imputed to them also that is they shall be pardoned their sins shall not be imputed to them which was the thing to be proved 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chap. 10. v. 11. The Apostle reassumes the same and here are some passages some may think make against what I have preached Ver. 2. The Jews have a zeal for God but not according to knowledg Ver. 3. For they being ignorant of God's righteousness i. e. his way of justifying sinners by pardon and going about to establish their own righteousness of perfect obedience or meritorious works have not submitted themselves to the righteousness of God that is God's way of pardoning sinners by the Gospel as he explains it v. 6. Ver. 4. For Christ is the end of the Law for righteousness to every one that believeth It is to be acknowledged that the Law as every Law doth require as its end perfect obedience primarily and upon default of that secondarily the punishment of the transgressors But Christ hath satisfied this as much to God's honour and its content as if it had been perfectly obeyed or the penalty suffered by us And this Propitiation is for those that believe that perform the Gospel condition So that there is no necessity now of our unsinning obedience or our making satisfaction by meritorious works in order to our justification but only of our performing the Gospel-condition and they are ignorant of this way of God Ver. 5. For Moses describeth the righteousness of the law the Covenant of Works the way that they stick to for justification thus That the man that doth these things shall live by them i. e. without pardon Lev. 18. 5. Gal. 3. 12. Moses describeth that is these words of Moses taken in the strict law-sense as a law and in the sense you understand them represent that way you stick to for justification I say represent that way For it is apparent that those very words and the whole body of the Mosaical law were a Gospel-covenant of grace as they were given by Moses and understood and ought to be understood by the people The meaning was If you endeavour to do all these sincerely and lament your falling short you shall be justified blessed live otherwise you shall perish I could make this fully apparent that it was a gracious Covenant for it was spoken to sinners and with such words I am the Lord thy God and If you will obey my voice and Moses sprinkleth blood and saith Behold the blood of the Covenant which Covenant they restipulated to when they promised to obey his voice and God saith I have heard the words of this people and they have well said in all that they have said which he would not have said if the meaning had been We promise to do things impossible to make that it should be said We never have been sinners and we will perfectly obey in every thing without the least remisness in thought word or deed But to be short see Mr. Ant. Burgess
Vindiciae Legis 24 Lect. proving by six Arguments That though the Law given by Moses taken strictly and abstractly as a rule holdeth forth life on no terms but perfect obedience yet take it as it was given and administred by Moses to the people as a Covenant and so it was a Covenant of Grace made in the blood of Christ promising justification and happiness upon sincere endeavours of obedience And Mr. Ball on the Covenant proveth the same of these very words and that the people did so understand it if you sincerely endeavour and ought so to understand it So Calvin l. 2. Instit c. 9. These Jews were for justification by it meerly as a Law and strict Covenant of Works as if there was no justification to be expected from it but by reaching the preceptive part in every thing and if so then there was an end of the Gospel preached to Abraham then this Law that was 430 years after it would have disannulled the promise made of God in Christ That whosoever should believe repent obey sincerely should be saved Whereas as it was given by Moses it was the Law of Grace and Faith as the following verse shews the same for substance that was made to Abraham and is now made to us But take it as a law a strict law of works and it is represented by that The man that doth these things shall live by them which is indeed essential to every law any law justifieth the doers of it and in this sense there can be no justification that is justification without pardon but by doing every thing if you be guilty of the least omission or negligence you are out of its justification and under its condemnation or curse Ver. 6. But the righteousness which is of faith speaketh on this wise Say not in thy heart c. That is the tenour of the covenant or law of grace speaketh thus c. But now come to the Mosaical dispensation as it was a covenant of grace to be understoost with that Gospel 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and moderation as it was given by Moses and is explained Deut. 30. 12 13 14 c. and in many other places and you will find it is the word of faith which we preach the same for substance with it For the Gospel-rule of justification the righteousness of faith in that Chapter mentioned saith Say not in thy heart Who shall ascend c. that is Be not now sollicitous do not perplex your selves in saying Alas I am hopeless for I have broken the law or I shall never be able exactly to obey it for the future in every thing Do not trouble your selves as if God required any thing of you that you could not perform though you was really desirous to do it with the prevailing-bent of your soul for as for those failings which are consistent with this though they be sins yet they should not cause despairing trouble For Christ by his satisfaction hath procured they shall not hinder your happiness he is the end of the Law as was said But all that is required of you for life and justification is a thing very easie was there but a willing mind God will not require what you have not as some troubled souls are apt to think what is so out of your power that you cannot do it though you fain would but will if there be a willing mind accept of what you have such poor stuff as our degenerate state is capable of performing if willing It is now brought to your own choice I have set life and death before you therefore chuse life v. 19. you cannot now chuse it on the terms of it and yet miss it Say not in thy heart Who shall asscend into heaven as if the obtaining of justification to thee a sinner was such a thing as could not be come by was set before thee on an impossible condition this is in effect to deny Christ is risen and ascended into Heaven for our justification for to bring Christ from Heaven is to do what in thee lies to deny to hinder his ascending into Heaven and you do it by this saying which is virtually to deny he hath finished his work to think you must do some impossible thing your selves as keep the law perfectly your selves for salvation Say not Who shall descend into the deep do some impossible thing to fetch up righteousness and life for us sinners This is in effect to deny Christ to have dyed for our sins What did he dye for if some difficult impossible thing be required of us Ver. 8. But what saith the Gospel-rule of righteousness the righteousness of Faith The thing is easie to come by that is required of thee it is nigh thee even in thy heart and mouth And this is the word of faith the Gospel that we preach do but confess with thy mouth and believe in thy heart that God hath raised him from the dead and carry suitably to such a belief and thou shalt be saved without the laborious and innumerable observances of the Jews which they can never perfectly observe whatever they pretend and so can never be justified their way These two it is probable he names as the most generally difficult parts of the Gospel-condition at that day To believe God hath testified him to be the Messiah by raising him from the dead notwithstanding all scoffs at the resurrection and endeavours to perswade you to the contrary and confessing him in the times of danger and difficulty when like to lose all by it and many apostatizing Christians maintained it was not necessary to confess but that they might deny him when danger approached so they but kept their hearts right which seemeth to be implyed in those ironical expressions 1 Cor. 4. 8 9 10 11. Ver. 10. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness c. True hearty yeelding to the obedience of the Gospel is enough at first for justification but if you would have your justification so to continue as to reach salvation you must hold out to the end in confessing him though with the danger of your lives Ver. 11. For the Scripture saith Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed Ver. 12. For there is no difference between the Jew and Gentile For the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him Ver. 13. For whosoever shall call on the Name of the Lord shall be saved It is all one as if he had said Whosoever believeth and carrieth suitably to such belief shall be saved and he useth calling on God and believing God promiscuously which would not be sense if they did not mean the same thing the same Gospel-condition And indeed as many promises of Justification and Pardon are made to Prayer as to Believing but the meaning is carry suitably to such prayer believe obey repent I am weary of easie work and so give over All those other places in this Apostle's Epistles that have any shew to
oppose the Doctrine delivered are to be interpreted in pursuance of this design That men are justified only by pardon of sin through the Propitiation upon performing those conditions pardon is promised to and so may the Gentiles be justified without such perfect obedience to the Law or meritorious priviledges or satisfactions If I should proceed I can only repeat the same again and again with very little variation upon the places following Gal. 2. 11 12 13 14 15 16. Gal. 3. Gal. 5. 2. Paul once circumcised Timothy yet here saith Behold I Paul say unto you If you be circumcised that is upon this account else he would not have spoken so severely to make you such worthy persons as to need no pardon Christ shall profit you nothing Ver. 3. For I testifie again to every man that shall now be thus or on this account circumcised he is a debtor to the whole Law He must look to it that he fail not in the least for he virtually disclaims all pardon by Christ and so shall not have it So Tit. 3. 5. Not by works of righteousness which we have done but according to his mercy he saved us by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost Ver. 7. That being justified by his grace c. This Scripture tells us what is meant by work and what by faith and plainly to any considering man James 2. 14 to the end When some had it is probable mis-understood such expressions in St. Paul's Epistles as if only believing the truth was enough for salvation the Apostle James shews that by Abraham's faith was meant his faith and obedience and saith that those words believed God mean believed God and obeyed him in offering up his son and other difficulties like that 1 Maccab. 2. 52. Was not Abraham found faithful in temptation and it was imputed to him for righteousness As Phineas executed judgment and it was counted to him for righteousness throughout all generations that is God rewarded him graciously with an everlasting Priesthood as if he had been a righteous man a deserving man when yet he was not by the Apostle Paul's argument that the word counted implieth it was not due to him so doing but of grace Ver. 22 23. When he offered up his son then the Scripture was fulfilled perfectly explained that saith Abraham believed God and it was imputed to him for righteousness that is God acquitted and rewarded him upon his faith and obedience as if he had been a righteous man in the strictest sense when indeed he was not And you may observe it would as much serve the Apostle Paul's arguing and support what he builds upon it if the very words had run thus Abraham believed and obeyed and it was counted c. and it is plain that was the meaning as you may see Gen. 22. 8. In thy seed shall all nations be blessed because thou hast obeyed my voice or if they had run thus He walked before God and was upright and it was counted c. and this is said in effect in saying If he did so God would do great things for him cap. 17. 2. Or if the words had been expresly thus Abraham feared God and it was accounted to him for righteousness and we do read as much in sense though not in express words Gen. 22. 12. For now I know thou fearest God seeing thou hast not with-held c. Ver. 16. By my self have I sworn For because thou hast done this thing and hast not with held thy son that in blessing I will bless thee It would be a poor blessing if it did not include justification I say had the words run so the Apostle is so far from excluding these things from being a condition of justification that such words would as well have proved what he is proving only they would not so occasionally have served to press them to the great difficult duty of that day the believing Christ's Resurrection FINIS