Righteous without all mixture of that which deserves not the name of holiness and goodness nor they without unrighteousness antecedent to this and before they had repented and therefore is not such a compleat Righteousness as would hold measure according to the standard of the Law of innocency if we were to be tried by that to be Justified or Condemned by that In this regard the best of us have cause with the Psalmist to cry out and say If thou Lord shouldst work iniquity O Lord who shall stand Psal 130.3 It is indeed a growing Righteousness that is by degrees growing up towards a perfect state such in whom it is are perfecting holiness in the fear of God But before it is grown to this perfect state it is in the account of grace and by way of favour and for Christs sake accepted and approved by God for such Righteousness as unto which he hath promised the pardon of all past offences and of all such after infirmities as are consistent with this Covenant-Righteousness in its lower degree and also eternal Life it self So that in a word this thing we call everlasting Righteousness by which we are Justified owes it self its very being such a Righteousness as it is unto the Covenant of Grace or that Grace of God and of our Lord Jesus Christ which is put into a Covenant for us 3. The Covenant operates to our Justification as being the rule by which those are justified in judgment to be Righteous persons such as to whom the promise of pardon and eternal life is made that are justified at all Righteousness as I have formerly shewed receives its denomination as it doth its nature from its conformity to some Law And this Covenant-Righteousness the Righteousness of Faith receives its denomination from its Conformity to the Covenant of Grace as being that qualification in the person on condition of which the promises of the Covenant are made and therefore every man that is Justified is Justified by this Law to be such a person as to whom the promises are made It is by this Law that such a person is Justified in his cause if a man be not a Just and Righteous person in the sense of this Law he will not be Justified by God for he judgeth of men and their cause by this Law Jam. 2.12 So speak ye and so do as they that shall be judged by the Law of liberty that is the Gospel or Covenant of Grace And our Saviour saith The word that I have spoken the same shall judg you in the last day John 12.48 4. The Covenant operates to our Justification as an instrument of making us to become Righteous and so capable subjects of Justification And this it doth by way of motive or persuasion The great and precious promises made to men in this Covenant of pardon of sin and eternal Life on condition of the Righteousness of Faith Sobriety Righteousness and Godliness and not otherwise they out of a desire and love to the benefits promised are persuaded to imbrace the condition without which they cannot enjoy them that is to become Righteous The Gospel ministration is called the ministration of Righteousness 2 Cor. 3.9 And it is so both as it ministers to us the knowledg that there is another Righteousness than that which is of the Law and also as it ministers to us powerful motives and assistances to follow after Righteousness by which they become Righteous and so to be Justified St. Paul saith The Gospel is the power of God to Salvation in as much as therein the Righteousness of God is revealed from Faith to Faith Rom. 1.16 17. the terms on which God will account them Righteous and the motives to make them so these are revealed by the Gospel by which it becomes the power of God to Salvation to those that believe it The Gospel is a ministration of Righteousness and of Justification as it is the ministration of Reconciliation of reconciling us to God of reconciling our nature to the holy nature of God and to his holy Laws by making us partakers of a Divine Nature a God-like Nature in Holiness and Goodness which is done by the great and precious promises of the Gospel of pardon and eternal Life as powerful motives persuading men to become new creatures in order to the obtaining these great benefits promised and attainable only upon condition of such our reconciliation to God which puts us into a perfect capacity of Justification that is of being approved of as those who have performed the condition of the foresaid promised benefits Thus the Gospel is called the word of reconciliation which was committed to the Apostles and others and their Ministry the ministry of reconciliation 2 Cor. 5.18.19 And by a practical knowledg and belief of these things revealed by the Gospel men come to be justified that is approved of as those that have known believed and obeyed the Gospel By his knowledg saith God concerning Christ shall my righteous servant justifie many Isa 53.11 That is by the knowledg of him in what he is hath done and suffered revealed and taught What the Law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh as to free us from the Law of sin and to bring us to that Righteousness which it did design but could not effect that is now done by the Law of the spirit of Life which is in Christ Jesus to wit the Gospel The Law without the Gospel could not give us that assurance of Gods willingness to be reconciled to us and of pardon upon repentance which the Gospel does much less of a glorious reward of new obedience For the promise of pardon for Christs sake upon our repentance the promise of the Resurrection of the Body and of the Celestial Glory are brought to light by the Gospel being matters of supernatural Revelation Now it is the great assurance which the Gospel gives us of these things upon the account of Christs death that is the powerful motive of prevailing with men to be reconciled to God and to become Evangelically Righteous that they may be Justified And therefore the preaching of the Cross is said to be to them that are saved the power of God and for wisdom of God 1 Cor. 1.18 24. That is it contains and lays open Gods most wise contrivance of reconciling sinners to himself and by that means becomes his powerful motive of drawing men to it that so they may be Justified Pardoned and Glorified The Law made nothing perfect it is the bringing in of this better hope by the Gospel that doth it Heb. 7.19 The Law which laid a burden of strict obedience upon men backt with severe threatnings in case of transgression prevailed little upon men but to keep them under a spirit of bondage to fear while they were unacquainted with the rich grace and indulgence of the Gospel by which the Yoke of Christ is rendered easie and his burden light The Gospel prevails much
the words are these And by him all that believe are justified from all things from which ye could not be justified by the Law of Moses To be Justified from sin sometimes signifies to be freed from the power and dominion of it Thus in Rom. 6.7 St. Paul having said in Verse 6. Knowing this that our old man is crucified with him that the body of sin might be destroyed that henceforth we should not serve sin adds in Verse 7. for he that is dead is Justified from sin For so it is according to the marginal reading and so the Dutch Translation Englished reads it though in our Translation it is rendred freed instead of Justified from sin And in this sense St. Austin understood this Acts 13.39 as I find him quoted And to this sence of the word Justifie agrees the reading of Revel 22.11 which some upon occasion use Let him that is filthy be filthy still and he that is Righteous let him be Justified still To the same sence of the word Justifie some alledg Rom. 8.30 Tit. 3.5 compared with Verse 7. and 1 Cor. 6.11 But ye are washed but ye are sanctified but ye are Justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the spirit of our God Where Justification seems to be ascribed unto the Spirit of God in one respect as to the Lord Jesus in another And doubtless Justification is the effect of the operation of all the Blessed Trinity though the manner of their operation be different Now that to be Justified from all things from which ye could not be Justified by the Law of Moses may be understood in this sense there are two things to be said to render it probable The one is the good agreement which this sence has with other places of Scripture which shew that men are freed from sin through Christ by his Gospel so as they could not be freed from it by the Law of Moses Thus Heb. 7.18 19. There is verily a disannulling of the Commandment going before for the weakness and unprofitableness thereof For the Law made nothing perfect but the bringing in of a better hope did And again Rom. 8.2 3 4. For the Law of the Spirit of Life which is in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the Law of sin and of death For what the Law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin condemned sin in the flesh that the Righteousness of the Law might be fulfilled in us who walk not after the flesh but after the spirit So likewise Rom. 6.14 Sin shall not have dominion over you for ye are not under the Law but under grace By all which we see that the Law of Moses could not Justifie men from sin as Christ by the Gospel-dispensation does if by being Justified from sin we understand a being freed from sin it self as to its dominion The other thing which may incline us to understand the words under consideration in this sense is what may be observed from the context St. Paul had said in Verse 38. the words immediately before Be it known to you men and brethren that through this man Christ is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins Now then if in Verse 39. he should mean no more by being Justified than a being Pardoned he would seem but to say over the same thing again in other words which he had said before which is not usual with him But if this should not be the meaning of those words and should we suppose that by being Justified from all things from which they could not be Justified by the Law of Moses should be meant a being Justified from the guilt of sin as that signifies a being freed from the punishment deserved by it yet let us consider whether it will necessarily follow that the Apostle in those words defines Justification by Remission of sin or whether rather he does not thereby only set forth the subsequent benefits that would accrue to them by being Justified by believing which could not be obtained by their observing the Law of Moses And if so then the meaning would be only this That by their being Justified by their believing they should be delivered from or secured against the evil effects of their sin from which they could be not secured by observing the Law of Moses Now that to be Justified by believing by vertue of the blood of Christ and to be freed from the punishment of sin which is Pardon are two different things seems to be very plain from those words of St. Paul Rom. 5.9 where he saith much more than being now justified by his blood we shall be saved from wrath through him He infers the certainty of their being Pardoned or saved from wrath from their being Justified and the inference and that from which it is made are doubtless two things We see then that men may be Pardoned by vertue of their being Justified and so be Justified from sin and yet not Justified by their being Pardoned It will no more follow that because by Justification we are Pardoned that therefore Pardon is our Justification than it will follow that because by believing we are Pardoned that therefore our Pardon is our believing and our believing our Pardon And now if we should understand the words Justified from all things from which ye could not be Justified by the Law of Moses in both the forementioned sences for a being delivered both from the guilt of sin and from the power and pollution of it I know no inconvenience in it both being true But if we do so yet we do not thereby necessarily conclude Pardon of sin to be Justification but only that Pardon of sin is by Justification as depending upon it For Gods adjudging of us to have performed the condition in believing on which he promised Pardon which is his Justifying of us together with his imputing that Faith to us for Righteousness intervenes comes between our believing and our being actually Pardoned and is that which gives the immediate right to it as I shewed before What hath been said then may suffice I suppose to shew that in all probability no such thing can be concluded from those words in Acts 13. as that we are Justified by being Pardoned The next Scripture I shall enquire into is Rom. 5.16 the words these Not as it was by one that sinned so is the gift for the judgment was by one or by one offence to condemnation but the free gift is of many offences unto Justification That which is first necessary to be done here is to consider the Translation because these words the free gift of many offences unto Justification seem as we have them in our Translation a little uncouth and somwhat unintelligible I have seen the matter in this part of the Verse Translated from the Original thus But the free gift is unto Justification from many offences not of many offences
man to life as it does in conferring life upon him that hath that righteousness being otherwise a sinner So that we can no more truly say that we are not justified by a personal righteousness of Faith because we are justified by Grace and by Christ than we can say a man is not born again of the incorruptible seed of the Word because he is born of God To say as many have been wont to say that St. Paul renounced his own personal inherent Righteousness from having any thing to do in his Justification because he said that he desired to be found in Christ not having his own Righteousness which is of the Law is so far from proving that he did so as that the contrary is plainly his scope and intent in the place where those words of his are found It was only his own Righteousness which was by the Law and which he trusted in while he was a Pharisee which he here renounced when he became a Christian Which Righteousness is elsewhere called the Jews own Righteousness which they went about to establish as being ignorant of the Righteousness of God Which Righteousness of theirs and of St. Paul while a Pharisee stood in an opinion and conceit First that the legal Sacrifices the Blood of Bulls and of Goats did of themselves expiate and take away sin and that there was no need of the Blood of Christ to do it Secondly that an external Righteousness without an internal was all that was necessary to their Justification the circumcision of the flesh and in the letter without that which is of the heart and in the spirit Thirdly in an opinion that for God to approve of them and to justifie them as righteous upon this account was but a due debt not a matter of meer grace and favour Now Justification by the righteousness of the Law in this sense this Apostle does indeed not only here renounce in himself but also every where in his Epistles disputeth against as any matter of mens justification before God And when he became a Christian he desired no longer to be found in this righteousness which was of the Law but to be found in Christ as having that Righteousness which is through the Faith of Christ the Righteousness of God by Faith The which Righteousness of Faith is opposed to this Righteousness which was of the Law and does summarily consist in a firm belief and practice of those things which are contrary to those in which the Pharisaical Righteousness which was of the Law did consist As first in a belief that the Blood of Christ only does expiate sin Secondly in inward purity of heart by Faith as well as external Righteousness Thirdly in a hearty perswasion that it is meerly of grace and favour that God through Christ will accept this for righteousness and that pardon of sin and eternal life are promised upon this only condition And this is the Righteousness of Faith which this Apostle opposeth in his Epistles to the other Righteousness of the Law as the Righteousness by which men shall be justified and in which he himself desired to be found And this Righteousness of Faith is said to be of God not only for that it is of his working in us but also and more especially because it is of his meer grace and favour to ordain by the Gospel that this shall be reckoned to us for Righteousness and that we shall be approved of as Righteous if it be found in us and dealt withal as righteous not only in not being punished as sinners but on the contrary rewarded as righteous The other Righteousness by which St. Paul while a Pharisee and other Pharisaical Jews expected to be justified is said to be their own Righteousness not only because what it did consist of was wholly within their own power to perform without any supernatural assistance but also and especially because it was the true Righteousness only in their own opinion and of their own making but never of Gods appointing or ordaining When some good men heretofore did exclude all personal Righteousness of Faith from having any hand in our Justification for fear they should otherwise detract from the fulness and sufficiency of the Righteousness of Christ they little considered what a door they thereby opened for Libertinism to enter in among us as after experience shewed they did For many from that Doctrine thought themselves so righteous in the sight of God by the Righteousness of Christ imputed to them upon a speculative Faith as that they needed no other Righteousness and thought it a disparagement to the Righteousness of Christ for any to say they did They would at first pretend indeed that the sense of Christs love would in a way of gratitude produce a good life but abhorred it should be made necessary to our Justification This I my self had experience of above forty years ago which with their neglect of Christian Duties first brought me under suspicion concerning the Doctrine of the imputation of the Righteousness of Christ unto Justification otherwise than in the blessed effects of it At that time the pressing the necessity of Repentance Mortification and a sincere keeping of the Commandments of God begun to be called Legal preaching as the like is still counted but Moral preaching by some others After this the foresaid notion was improved to the breaking out of the grossest Antinomian and Ranting practices under pretence of magnifying Free Grace to the great dishonour of the Christian profession and the apparent hazard of mens Salvation Vpon the observation of all which some worthy men were stirred up to encounter by writing not only such abuses and miscarriages of men but also those Doctrines out of which they sprang In which they were opposed by some patrons of unsound Principles which hath since occasioned many Disputes about some points in the Doctrine of Justification In which Disputes many School-nicities have been agitated which the generality of Christians little understand and which the Scriptures themselves meddle not in By means whereof such have been puzled rather than edified by much of what of this nature hath been done whose edification yet they being by far the greater number ought to be endeavoured as well at least if not rather than the edification and satisfaction of those of more refined apprehensions All which things considered some more discourses than have been yet extant tending to state and explain from the Scriptures the whole business of our Justification and to level it to the understanding of Christians of ordinary capacities without incumbring it with disputable questions and arguments pro and con seems to me no more than in some sort is needful It happens in reference to the Doctrine of Justification as it doth with many dark providences of God in the world they are dark and obscure and to us seem unaccountable because we do not see from the beginning to the end of them but only a part which otherwise would
more upon men when they heartily believe it by proclaiming pardon to all repentant sinners and immense rewards to such as shall with honest minds give up themselves to Christ to be his Disciples to learn of him by his Doctrine and Example how to live a sober righteous and a godly Life And by promising Divine assistance as well as vast rewards and acceptance of honest and sincere endeavours and by making allowances for such frailties and defects both in knowledg and practice as will consist with uprightness of heart towards God And thus I have shewn how the Gospel operates to our Justification as a great and effectual means of bringing us to become Evangelically Righteous without which we cannot be Justified by having that Righteousness imputed to us and by being approved of as Righteous upon the account of it CHAP. IV. Of Faith and how that operates to our Justification THat Faith doth operate to our Justification we are perfectly assured by the frequent and express notice thereof we have from the Scriptures such as Rom. 3.30 and 5.1 Gal. 2.16 and others And Faith operates to our Justification as it is the performance of that condition upon which the great and precious promises of the Gospel Covenant are made For the Covenant consists chiefly of two parts to wit the promises which God makes of bestowing benefits on us through Christ and of the condition upon which these promises are made which condition is summarily comprised in Faith or believing But before I proceed further to speak of Faith I think it not inconvenient here to premise to what is to be said about Faith as the condition of the Gospel-Covenant somwhat to shew that the promises of pardon and eternal Life are conditional The Gospel-Covenant is directly suited to that Mediatory undertaking of Christ by which the Covenant it self was obtained and on which it was founded Now I have shewed formerly that Christ died for all men indeed but yet it was but to obtain a conditional pardon for all men and other benefits consequent upon it He did not die to procure that God should be reconciled to them that should always refuse to be reconciled to him but to obtain their pardon and restauration to the favour of God upon condition of their being persuaded to be reconciled to him And truly the Covenant of Grace holds an exact proportion to the Covenant of Redemption or Law of Mediation by the fulfilling of which by Christ the Gospel Covenant as I said was obtained As our Saviour died for all to put all into a capacity of being pardoned and saved in case they should not persist finally in rebellion against God so the Covenant of Grace promiseth pardon and salvation just upon the same terms and not otherwise For the Gospel denounceth a being punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and the glory of his power against all those that know not God and which obey not the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ So that when we compare the general promise and threatnings in the Gospel together we are put upon a necessity of understanding the promise in a conditional sense otherwise the promise and threatning would be inconsistent And indeed the promise of those great benefits seldom if ever are found without the condition annexed either expresly or by plain intimation The gracious declaration of the Gospel runs thus And you that were somtime alienated and enemies in your minds by wicked works yet now hath he reconciled in the body of his flesh through death to present you holy and unblamable and unreproveable in his sight if ye continue in the Faith grounded and settled and be not moved away from the hope of the Gospel Col. 1.21 22 23. If ye live after the flesh ye shall die but if ye through spirit do mortifie the deeds of the body ye shall live Rom. 8.13 If ye forgive men their trespasses your heavenly Father will forgive you but if ye forgive not men their trespasses neither will your heavenly Father forgive your trespasses Mat. 6.14 15. If we walk in the light as he is in the light then have we fellowship one with another and the blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth us from all sin 1 John 1.7 These conditional particles if plainly express the conditional nature of the promises yea and of the threatnings too The promises are not made to such or such men by name but to all men under such or such a qualification as to those that believe to those that repent to those that obey the truth Which qualification specifies the condition on which and so the persons to which such promises belong This is a thing so plain throughout the Scripture from end to end that more need not be said of it Having premised thus much I shall now proceed to shew how Faith operates to our Justification and in order to our better understanding what influence Faith hath in our Justification we will enquire into these particulars 1. How it appears that Faith is the condition of the promise of pardon and eternal Life 2. What that Faith is 3. Why it is made the condition of the promises 4. In what capacity men are to perform that condition 5. How more particularly it operates to our Justification 1. That Faith is the condition on which pardon of sin and eternal Life are promised in the Gospel is so plain that nothing more need to be said to make it evident than only to point to the express letter of the Scripture in this case For pardon of sin this is promised on condition of believing Acts 10.43 To him give all the Prophets witness that through his name whosoever believes in him shall receive remission of sins And so is eternal Life promised on the same terms John 3.16 God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlastiug Life If these promises are made to believers as such as we see they are then believing must needs be the condition on which they are made This is past contradiction Jo. 3.36 Acts 16.31 2. Consider we next then what that Faith or believing is which is the condition on which the promised benefits remission of sin and eternal Life are suspended And without all doubt it is not only a speculative but a practical belief It is a hearty assent of the mind to the truth of the Gospel and a sincere consent in the will to live according to the Laws and Precepts of it The same thing the same Faith for substance is in Scripture described by different Phrases Somtimes it is described by a believing the record of God concerning his Son Christ Jesus 1 John 5.10 11. Somtimes by a believing Jesus to be the Christ the Son of God John 20.31 1 John 5.1.5 And somtimes by a believing of the Gospel a believing of the truth a believing of the testimony of the Apostles of our Saviour
are sustained and assisted to operate according to what is proper to the nature of them So that if any man who enjoys the Gospel perish it is through his own neglect to do what he was able to have done towards his own believing It is indeed for his not believing but then the reason of his not believing and the fault of it is imputable only unto him and lies wholly at his door Because he might have believed and would certainly have been enabled to believe if he had not grosly neglected to do what he could and might have done towards it If this were not so that men might as certainly believe repent and make themselves new hearts if they can but be persuaded to do what they can do towards it as if they had all the power requisite thereto in their own hands then to what purpose are they required by God in Scripture as they are to believe to make themselves new hearts and to repent and turn themselves from all their transgressions to circumcise their hearts to wash their hearts from wickedness to cleanse themselves from all filthiness of flesh and Spirit or why and in what respect else can men be said to save themselves Which yet they are 1 John 3.23 Ezek. 18.30 31 32. and 14.6 Deut. 10.16 Jer. 4.14 2 Cor. 7.1 1 Tim. 4.16 It is from the certainty of Gods cooperating with mens endeavours to the producing of these effects if men fail not to do what they well may do that these effects are ascribed to men as well as unto God though God be indeed the principal Agent beyond all comparison and men but in a very inferior degree the subordinate Though salvation be of the Lord and that besides him there is no Saviour in a sense proper to him yet in a sense proper to mens endeavours St. Paul disdained not to assure Timothy that if he took heed to himself and to his doctrine and continued therein that then in so doing he should both save himself and those that heard him 1 Tim. 4.16 It is a common thing in Scripture where several free Agents concur to the producing of the same effect to attribute the effect to both though the Agency of the one of them be never so inferiour to the other Thus though God is said to give a new heart and a new spirit and to circumcise the heart Ezek. 36.26 Deut. 30.6 yet men are still supposed to be in some capacity to make themselves new hearts and to circumcise their own hearts in as much as they are required to do it as I have shewed That is they are supposed to be in a capacity to do somthing towards it though very little in comparison of what is done by God therein when it is done indeed Thus again men are required to work out their own salvation when yet it is God that worketh in them both to will and to do of his good pleasure Phil. 2.12 13. Which is not so to be understood as if God did work in them to will and to do exclusive of all endeavours of theirs for if that had been his meaning he would thereby have rendred his own exhortation and the reason of it useless in persuading them to work out their own salvation for that reason because it is God which worketh in them both to will and to do of his good pleasure Nor yet is it so to be understood on the other hand as if men could do all of themselves which is necessary for the working out or carrying the business of their salvation quite through without supernatural assistance But his meaning then seems to be that it is the good will and pleasure of God to work in such men both to will and to do to the saving of their souls who do endeavour through the preventive and concomitant Grace of God to do what they can do towards it When the work of Grace in man is ascribed to God and Christ it is not to be understood exclusively of all endeavours of men When our Saviour speaking of his Disciples bringing forth fruit saith without me ye can do nothing he does not say nor mean that with him they could do nothing When it was said to the Israelites Deut. 8. it is God that giveth you power to get wealth their own endeavours in that acquisition were not excluded but the meaning was I suppose that the means the opportunities and advantages on that behalf were of God and the ordering of his good providence towards them Though Solomon says in one place The blessing of the Lord maketh rich yet he saith in another The diligent hand maketh rich Though it be but very little which man doth towards his believing in comparison of what God doth yet the effect of that doing the act of believing is still from place to place ascribed unto men for it is they are ascribed unto men for it is they that are said to believe How much soever God doth in producing Faith in men yet therein still mans faculties are preserved in such a free use and exercise as is proper to such a creature as God hath made man to be and from thence it is denominated his act as I have said Now then if this were not so that God hath by advantage of the Gospel where it comes given so much power unto men of acting towards their own believing and so much assurance of his further assistance to enable them to believe unto Righteousness if they grosly neglect not to do what they can do towards it I say if this were not so how can it possibly stand with the infinite goodness of the nature of God for him to damn men for not believing or with the sincerity of such sayings of his in which he hath declared That he is not willing that any man should perish and that he would have all men to be saved 2 Pet. 3.9 1 Tim. 2.4 How will God be justified in this in the sight of Angels and men and in the consciences of condemned sinners themselves if their unbelief and perishing for it were not through their own neglect And how else could mens destruction be said as it is to be of themselves Hos 13.9 We see then from the nature of the thing and the honor of God as concerned in it as well as from the evidence of Scripture what reason we have to hold that all men under the Gospel are in such a capacity of performing the condition of the promise of Pardon and Life by believing as that if they do it not it is through their own gross and wilful neglect to do what they might have done towards it And for any to make God so the Author of mens destruction as to affirm that he never put them into a capacity of preventing it by believing is a daring undertaking whoever ventures upon it and tends to tempt men to think dishonorably of the goodness of God and of the truth and sincerity of his declarations
prove Justification by Faith to be of Grace and not of debt as I have shewed from Rom. 4. but never throughout the whole Scripture stiled Righteousness that ever I could find And if any think it is implyed in such Scriptures where the reward of Righteousness is stiled Righteousness by a Figure yet if it should be so it would no more prove Remission of sin to be Justification than it will prove Glorification to be Justification which yet in St. Pauls account is quite different from it For he says Whom he justified them he also glorified Rom. 8.30 And now for these reasons I hope it will not be thought unnecessary nor unprofitable to have endeavoured to shew that there is a difference between Justification and Remission of sin however what hath been done herein is submitted to the consideration and judgment of the judicious Reader But there is another opinion which I but now mentioned of worse consequence as I apprehend it of which I have said but little And that is the opinion of those who place our Justification in the imputation of the Righteousness of Christ to us not only in its effects as we all hold but in it self as if it were so transferred to us that we were Righteous with the very same personal and numerical Righteousness wherewith he himself is Righteous and that it is so reckoned ours as if we had wrought it in our own persons yea that indeed we have wrought it in and by him The nakedness of which opinion hath been plentifully exposed by others and I shall not concern my self with it now further than what I have already done in these papers Wherein I have shewed that the Righteousness of Christ operates to our Justification in quite another way And likewise that it is the Christian Faith as operative and practical that is imputed to us for Righteousness and that by virtue of Christs Righteousness and Gods act of Grace upon the account of it But then this which yet is the plain doctrine of the Holy Scripture is quite another thing than the transferring of Christs Righteousness it self to us Indeed this opinion excludes and shoulders out the Christian Evangelical Righteousness from the office and use to which God hath designed it and is attended with several dangerous consequences and absurdities otherwise as hath been set forth at large in several Books which treat of this subject which I shall forbear to repeat For my design in these papers was not to treat of Justification in a way of controversie nor so much to detect what is to be avoided as what is to be imbraced and held fast in this matter For I reckon that if that which is the truth be received into the mind upon satisfactory grounds that which is its contrary will fall off of it self The Conclusion WE have now seen how much hath been done by the Eternal Father and his Holy Son our Blessed Saviour that we might be Justified Pardoned and Glorified all things on their part are prepared and made ready The Father hath made and the Son hath fulfilled the Law of Mediation to bring about a Reconciliation between an offended God and us Rebel-Creatures Christ hath now no more sorrows nor pains nor deaths to undergo and suffer for us There are no terms of Grace and Mercy of Pardon and Peace of deliverance from Hell and of obtaining the Glory of Heaven which are not already obtained for us and by the Gospel plainly made known and freely offered to us For it is as I have shew'd of Grace in God and obtained by the Mediatorial Righteousness of Christ that Faith or the Righteousness by Faith is made the condition of Pardon of sin and eternal Life as well as the conferring of Pardon and Life is on that condition Since then such terms of happiness are obtained for us it remains on our part that we receive not this Grace of God in vain but that we be as careful to observe those terms as we are desirous to enjoy the benefits annexed to them because we cannot enjoy the one without observing the other We cannot enjoy the benefits of the new Covenant but by becoming new creatures and by living new lives For this is the new Righteousness by Faith on condition of which the great promises of the new Covenant are made Whoever will come to the Wedding Supper of the Lamb must come in his Wedding garment or else he will be excluded And the Wedding garment in which the Bride the Lambs Wife is said to be arayed is said to be the Righteousness of Saints Revel 19.8 And now Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us we must keep the Feast on this Sacrifice not with the old leaven of malice and wickedness but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth which is the Evangelical Righteousness I have been speaking so much of 1 Cor. 5.7 8. Old things are past away now and behold all things are become new Our old Righteousness in which man was first made is lost and a new Righteousness instituted In the room of the old terms of happiness perfect innocency now the new ones of Faith and godly Sincerity are introduced This new and living way into Heaven is now consecrated for us through the flesh and blood of Jesus Christ Nothing but a new man a new heart a new spirit and newness of life will correspond or suit with the new Covenant nor with the new Jerusalem which is above These are all of one piece there is no parting of them nor having an interest in the one without having the other And now considering that all this happiness of Pardon of sin and the Glory to come and the terms of obtaining both is brought about only by the Grace of our God and the Mediatorial Righteousness of our Lord Jesus Christ what can we do less than to joyn with those Redeemed of the Lord mentioned in Rev. 5. who are said to have sung a new song to the everlasting honor of our Redeemer saying Thou art worthy to take the Book and to open the Seals thereof for thou wast slain and hast Redeemed us to God by thy bloud out of every kindred and tongue and people and nation and hast made us unto our God kings and priests How much more cause have we to sound forth the praises of the Redeemer of the World than those Myriads of Holy Angels which have no such need of a Saviour as we have Who yet out of a grateful sense of it celebrate the memory of his most wonderful and worthy undertaking and performance for the Redemption of us poor miserable and lost men Saying with a loud voice worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength and honour and glory and blessing And well may we with those blessed spirits sing aloud of the riches wisdom and strength of the Lamb that was slain as most worthy to receive these because he useth them to so
worthy a purpose as to lift up a miserable world that was cast down and laid very low indeed He certainly is most worthy of his unsearchable riches since such is his goodness as that he was not content to be happy alone nor to see us lie in poverty and misery so long as he was able to relieve us and make us happy with his riches but rather than he would be wanting in this he chose for some time in some sort to empty himself to fill us Ye know saith St. Paul the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ that though he was rich yet for your sakes he became poor that ye through his poverty might be made rich 2 Cor. 8.9 This is not the manner of men indeed nor was it in the power of Angels and therefore his Glory is to be exalted above the earth and heavens and both made to ring with joyful acclamations and praises of and to our blessed Redeemer And it is very observable that those in Revel 14. who are said to have sung a new song before the throne are described by the Virginity of their Christianity as not being prevailed upon by any temptations whatsoever to be unfaithful to Christ but are said to be such as do follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth and in whose mouths is found no guile still denoting that sincerity by which the Evangelical Righteousness hath been described And it 's further observable also that it 's said there that no man could learn this new song but those which are Redeemed from the earth And the reason is evident because those who mostly and chiefly mind earthly things and set their affections upon them as those which are not Redeemed from the earth do neither have nor can have such a grateful sense of that stupendious ravishing and transporting love and goodness of our blessed Redeemer in what he hath done and suffered for us as is requisite to qualifie them to sound forth his praises with that feeling and affection which the Redeemed of the Lord do Our Saviour hath told us that the cares of this world the deceitfulness of riches and the lusts and pleasures of other things choke the word of the Kingdom and so hinder its operation Though men hear it and profess it yet the great sense which too many such have of these present things stifles their sense of Spiritual invisible and absent things so that they prevail not upon them to work any such deep sense in them of the unparallel'd love and goodness of our Saviour in procuring these things for us as they do upon them who have learned to sing that new song These that are Unredeemed from the earth they savour the things of the flesh and of the world more than the things which be of God and therefore they cannot sing this new Song with Grace in their hearts to him None then we see but new Covenant men such as are renewed in the spirit of their minds can learn this new song they are a peculiar sort of men and women a choice or chosen generation that can shew forth the praises of him who hath called them out of darkness into his marvelous light Those whom the Lamb that was slain hath Redeemed from Hell by his own bloud are such who are first Redeemed from the earth both from the earthly minds and evil manners of men of the earth whose portion is only in this life This blessed Redeemer whose high praises should be in our mouths is the Lord from Heaven and his Kingdom is not of this world as he himself said and they must be of a Heavenly extraction and born from above that can skill of the manner of his Kingdom and Government and of the nature of the work and business of that people The discourse of things proper to that spiritual state is to mere natural men almost like speaking to them in a language they do not understand Hence when Nicodemus heard our Saviour discourse of the necessity of being born again or from above his thoughts ran of a mans entering a second time into his mothers womb to be born again The things of the Spirit of God to the natural man are foolishness so far is he alienated from the life of God 1 Cor. 2.14 And the Scripture speaks of the sons of God such as are born from above as of persons whom the world knoweth not 1 John 3.1 All this still shews how absolutely necessary it is in order to our learning the new song which is sung before the throne to the honour of the Lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world that we become new men endued with new principles of living and with a new Righteousness And by being so we shall not only be qualified to offer spiritual Sacrifices of thanksgiving acceptable to our Saviour and to the Father by him but we shall thereby also recommend him to the world as altogether lovely which is the greatest honour we can do him For the new man is created after his likeness in purity humility and charity in universal Righteousness Gentleness and Goodness in which respect the followers of Christ are said to be partakers of a Divine nature and to have put on Christ And when men see that his Disciples become such by following his doctrine and example this redounds to the honour of their master from whom they learned it and greatly tends to reconcile mens thoughts and affections to him and to his Religion And thus they help forward his great design on which he set his heart of recovering those that were run from God and goodness and from their own happiness than in doing which we cannot gratifie him more or please him better By becoming such and by being in the world as he was in the world we shall shew forth the vertues of our Lord and what is venerable and praise-worthy in him In respect whereof his followers are said to be the glory of Christ And if we have any mind to make our blessed Saviour any other return of that stupendious Love which he hath exprest towards us besides songs of praise and thanksgiving to the honour of his name he hath told us how we may do it to his great satisfaction when he said If ye love me keep my Commandments John 14.15 As if he should have said if ye would express the grateful sense of my love to you by expressions of yours to me then keep my Commandments For saith he again Ye are my friends if ye do whatsoever I command you John 15.14 He that hath my Commandments and keepeth them he it is that loveth me Ver. 21. Our doing his Commandments tends to the full accomplishment of his design of reconciling God and us and so of making us happy For unless we keep his Commandments we cannot be reconciled to God and consequently God will not be reconciled to us So that if we will not keep his Commandments we frustrate and disappoint him of his