THE FAITH BY WHICH We are Justified IN Scripture-Sense According to Scripture Opened Explained and Applied on Rom. 5. 1. In Six Sermons Published as Preached with little or no Alteration at the Desire of some of the Hearers Esaiah 55. 1. Ho every on that Thirsteth come ye to the Waters and He that hath no Money come ye Buy and Eat without Money and without Price LONDON Printed for W. Marshal at the Bible in Newgate-street 1695. THE FAITH BY WHICH We are Justified c. The First Sermon Rom. 5. 1. Therefore being justified by Faith we have Peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ INtending to Treat of Faith whereby we are Justified I have taken this Weighty Text as the Foundation of the Discourse wherein we have these Four remarkable Points concerning Faith as we are Justified by it 1. This plain Point first comes before us That we are Justified by Faith expressed thus Being Justified by Faith 2. That we are Justified by Faith is a conclusion resulting from a strong nervous and vehement Reasoning of the Apostles that had gone before in the foregoing Chapters signifyed in that Particle Therefore assuring to us this great Truth 3. The Blessed consequence of being Justified by Faith we have peace with God the Judg of all This gives full Peace Rest and Quiet to Conscience Peace and Assurance for ever according to the Nature of a full and perfect Righteousness 4. The supreme Principal Cause of our being Justified by Faith and having Peace from it is our Lord Jesus Christ by whom as the Apostle goes on we have access unto this Grace wherein we stand This then is the grand Proposition of the Apostle That being Justified by Faith we have Peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ I shall at this time therefore propose to open the great Grace of Gospel Faith to you by which we are Justified because indeed it is one of the greatest Points that can be spoken of And therefore these Heads of Discourse I will now undertake to handle to you concerning it First To shew you that the Supreme and Highest and Original Account or Description of Faith is to be taken by its Relation to Jesus Christ the Mediator And it is nothing at all if you remove that If you take away that Respect that great Respect that it looks upon and Eyes Jesus Christ the Mediator In the second place I shall come to consider how Faith even in its relation to Christ and as it looks upon him is said to be Justifying Faith or that whereby we are Justified For if we did not rightly state this as the Gospel doth as it is said the last Error might be worse then the first And therefore I would particularly guide your Thoughts and Apprehensions how Faith as it looks to Christ Justifies I shall therefore shew you that it is not Faith it self but only the great Righteousness of Jesus Christ received by Faith that Justifies In the Third place I shall comâ—… consider that great certainty that Faith is to obtain in every point wherein it so Acts which it ought to reach after and to aspire to in every point wherein it hath to do with Christ that we may have Peace by it through our Lord Jesus Christ as Christ saith John 17. 7 8. They have surely known and have believed that I came forth from thee and that thou didst send me So in every thing Faith is surely to know And then In the Fourth place I shall shew you the Life and the Power and the Activity of this Faith and compare thein Heb. 11. and James 2 where that Apostle speaks of Faith being Dead that is without Works And I shall endeavour to shew you that there is no such Commentary no such way of Reconciling the Apostle James with the Apostle Paul The Apostle Paul speaking of Faith Justifying without Works And the Apostle James speaking that a Man is not Justifyed by Faith only but by Works also I say the great Reconciliation will be by laying Heb. 11. and James 2. together Now I begin at this time with the first of these And I 'll lay down with great assurance this Assertion concerning the respect Faith hath to Christ That there never had been such a thing as the sound of Faith in the World there had never been the Name Not the Air and much less the Thing had not God brought the first Begotten as the Apostle saith into the World Had not Jesus Christ given a Being to Faith there had never been such a thing as Faith And therefore it is very observable that the Apostle calls Christ by this very Name Gal. 3. 23. Before Faith came saith he we were under Tutors and Governors We were kept under the Law shut up unto the Faith which should afterward be revealed Before Faith came It is certain Faith was in the World before the Gospel before the New Testament For it is said Abraham was Justified by Faith and Abraham believed God and it was imputed to him for Righteousness and yet saith the Apostle before Faith came that is before Christ came because Faith is so Essentially Dependent upon Christ and Respective unto him Christ is such a real Foundation and support of Faith that he is worthily and properly called by the very Naâ—… or by the word Faith before Faith came But for the clearer opening and making out of this to you I shall insist upon these three Heads First That Jesus Christ is the highest Revelation of God Now Faith it is described by almost all in part at least to be an Assent to a Divine Revelation upon the Credit that we give to the Revealer upon the Authority and Veracity and Certainty of the Truth of the Revealer For Faith you know properly is a believing the Report of another or the Witness of another We cannot properly be said to Believe when we do know the thing our selves and have seen it by our own Eyes but when we Trust and Credit that Assurance that another gives us of it Now therefore I shall endeavour to make out to you That Jesus Christ is He Faith must needs Live and Die with him as I may so express it in familiar Language it is as Essential to Faith to have the Manifestation and Revelation of Christ as it is for the Eye to have Light And then In the Second place Whereas the notion of Faith is a Trust and a depending upon some great Good that is offered to us from the Supreme Good that we have no Right nor Title to in our selves I shall shew you that Jesus Christ is that Great and Rich Good that is given to us from the Father And that tho we have no Right to the thing in our selves yet we come to Trust and to Depend and to Rely upon it as if we had a Title And then In the Third Place Whereas Faith is very truely tho not in the first Account of it described to be a Power
Pardon of Sin in his Blood Righteousness and Justification as I shall after shew you and therefore we should always look to his Person And then In the third and last place I shall desire if we love Christ let us love these Truths of Christ and these Manifestations of Christ Because they are gloomy there 's a great gloom upon them you may plainly perceive not only among the Heathens Mahometans Antichristians and Papists But there is a gloom among Protestants they are not so clear so bright so lively and excellent among us as in themselves For if these things I have spoken of be true It is certain here 's the Oriency of the Gospel here 's the Pearl of great Price Jesus Christ And our Souls should close with and cling to Him Now because there is a Fog and Mist about these things how earnestly should we pray for the Kingdom of Jesus Christ For then these things will come into their Glory into their Beauty into their Perfection And therefore I say if we love Christ our Souls should earnestly desire that this Kingdom of Christ should appear For then as I have often told you the New Song shall be sung as it were a New Song It was as it were lost and shall be recovered again and therefore it is as it were a new Song The first thing in the Kingdom of Christ I beseech you remember it remember it is spoken to you this day and I hope that many of us may live to see the thing the first thing that shall be after the Kingdom of Christ shall be known shall be the Voice of Harpers with their Harps so loud as it were the Voyce of Thunder this As it were a New Song of the Redempiion of Jesus Christ c. The End of the First Sermon THE FAITH BY WHICH We are Iustified c. The Second Sermon Rom. 5. 1. Therefore being justified by Faith we have Peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ THE great point of Discourse that I have singled from these words is to open to you the Nature of that Eminent and Transcendant Grace of the Gospel the Grace of Faith which our Lord hath an especial respect to in these words John 17. 7 8. They have known that all things whatsoever thou hast given me are of thee For I have given unto them the words which thou gavest me and they have receied them that is they have received them by Faith and have known surely that I came out from thee and they have believed them that thou didst send me They have known surely and they have believed that thou didst send me They have Believed Knowing and Believing are here United one with another because of that sure Knowledg and that strong demonstration of Faith gives to the Souls of his People And then Secondly Here 's the great Object of this Faith For they have known that all things whatsoever thou hast given me are of thee Whatsoever thou hast given me the things are of thee And the words which thou gavest me they have received them And they have known surely that I came out from thee and that thou did'st send me Jesus Christ is the Supreme Object of Faith as he is one with the Father and hath come into the World as the Mediator and Redeemer of lost and undone Sinners Thereforâ— I have undertaken in the first Place to make out this to you that the proper Object of Faith is the Mediator and that Faith came in with the Mediator and subsisted wholly in him and upon him And if you take away the Mediator Faith becomes a meer Nullity a meer nothing There is the same and far greater Conjunction betwixt Christ and Faith than there is between the Eye and Light As you know the Eye is nothing without Light so Faith is nothing without that great Light the Mediator This I began to open to you First In that Jesus Christ is the Supreme Revelation of God For Faith by those that strictly Define it or Describe it it is an Assent to Divine Revelation Now the great Revelation of God it is Jesus Christ He is the great Truth the Alpha and Omega of Truth And all Truth as I shew'd you depends upon him For there comes in with Jesus Christ a Notion of Truth proper and peculiar to himself All the great Truths of Scripture Indeed there are notable Intimations and great Representations in all the Holy ways of God in which the Soul of Man was at first Created But the great Subject of Truth it is the Truth that comes in with Christ As I shew'd you he saith of himself He is The Truth And even Natural Truth as I abundantly shew'd you it comes under Christ Natural Truth that Truth that there is an everlasting Being That God is This comes under Christ It removes as it were from being a Natural Truth and it comes under Christ Tho it is true there are great Arguments to prove it yet it chooses as it were and delights to come under Christ And so the Truths of Eternity as I shall speak more presently they come under Christ In the Second place as Faith it pitches upon some good upom some grace that is shew'd to the Children of Men so Jesus Christ he is the great object of Faith because all Good it is in him The Promises of Grace they are all in him And therefore that is a great Scripture that I did not mention to you the last day and therefore I beseech you now to take it into great consideration 2 Cor. 1. 20. All the promises of God are in him yea and in him Amen to the Glory of God In him yea and in him Amen All that God hath spoken of Grace and of good will to the Children of Men it is all in Christ All the promises in him are yea and in him they are Amen And he is The Deliverer as I shew'd you from the Wrath to come Christ in you the hope of Glory Col. 1. 27. It is wonderful how all Good is Treasured up in Christ Faith runs to a Promise it runs especially to Grace and to a Revelation of the Infinite Riches of Grace And all is in Jesus Christ Christ in you the hope of Glory I come now to go on In the Third place As Faith is a mighty active Power of Holiness and of New Obedience so it s whole Rest and Trust is in Jesus Christ As the Trust of Faith in whom ye trusted as the Apostle speaks the Trust of Faith in regard of Eternal Life and Salvation so the Activity of Faith flows from the Mediator And as all the Promises or Hopes that we can have of God are in Christ as I shew'd you they come under Christ now as the Redeemer As I instanced to you in that expression That you would saith the Apostle give up your selves unto him as a Faithful Creator That is as a Redeemer So it is in this point All the Holiness of a Christian
here only to this purpose to shew you that Faith it immediately goes out to the Person of Christ even in the point of Revelation This is That it principally goes on and touches there closest and fastest upon the very person of Christ O therefore that our Souls now might find something of this going out to the person of Christ A Tender of the Person of Christ to us that Jesus Christ the Word would come and shew himself to us That in a Spiritual sense we might see him with our Eyes and handle him with our hands we might have all assurance of a real Union of a real Touch betwixt Christ and our Souls And then I would desire you to take notice also of this that when this great Revelation of Jesus Christ hath come in and has a Reception in the Soul then all the Truths that flow in along with him they come in also into the Soul and the Soul receives according to all the Knowledg of God and Jesus Christ it receives all Truth when this great Revelation hath first of all entred and taken place in it All the Truths of God they come in by Jesus Christ as he is said to be The Truth and the Son of the Father in Truth It is a very great consideration this no Truth is indeed truly taken in till Christ is taken in If you would but apprehend this I confess there are many Learned and Wise and Great Men in Discourse they insist very much upon the Proof by Natural Demonstration Argument and Reason of the Being of a God I am very far from Detracting or Derogating from what they do For it is very worthy in its own kind and place But this I do assure you that there 's no man in the whole Universe that hath taken in truly the Knowledg of the One God But he hath taken it in and through Christ and by Christ Or else he hath it not savingly if he hath it not in and through Christ So there are great Arguments to Distinguish between Good and Evil the Law and Natural Conscience go far in it But I assure you no Man has taken in any of the Principles of Natural Conscience in a saving way till he hath taken in Jesus Christ All Truth it comes in by Jesus Christ John 1. 17. The Evangelist there hath it expresly The Law came by Moses saith he There was a measure of Light given by the Law But saith he Grace and Truth came by Jesus Christ And I 'll give you one great Scripture that will make this very plain Heb. 11. 6. Saith the Apostle there Without Faith it is impossible to please him For he that cometh to God must believe that he is A great many of the Rationalists that are in this very Age at this very time carry it as if they would not thank the Gospel as I may so express it they are ready to say they would not thank the Revelation of it for the Proof that there is a God that is One God But as it may be true in their sense too that is It is Demonstrable by the Light of Nature and by Reason and by Argument I acknowledg with all my Heart it is so And yet notwithstanding I say no man that savingly believes that there is a God But he that doth it by that Faith that hath taken in the Lord Jesus Christ And therefore saith the Apostle If any Man hath not the Son he hath not the Father If he doth not come to the Knowledg of the Father by the Son he hath not the true and the right Knowledg the true Evangelical Spiritual saving Knowledg so much as of a God So concerning Eternal Happiness and Misery there may be great Light of Truth offered from Natural Argument We never come to see and know Truths indeed till we come to know them by the Eternal Word that word of God coming in to us who is the Truth Therefore I beseech you That you would retain these things in your Minds and Judgments and that you might be able when you hear Disputes concerning Faith and concerning Justification by Faith that you would remember that this is the true excellency of Faith To touch the Person of the Son of God to come to Him to see Him to be united to Him as the Great Truth It is true all the Truths that we have in the Word of God they are All of great Excellency and of great necessity But they all Centre in Christ the Truth who 〈◊〉 the Truth They Centre in him who is the Truth they are all but Lines flowing from him and Return to him I know every one will easily grant that the Knowledg of the Angels is much greater than the Knowledg of any Man or of all men put together Now you shall find that the Angels notwithstanding the great Orb of Light that they make or are notwithstanding they are great Intelligences yet notwithstanding the Knowledg of Christ is the Supreme Knowledg that they have saith the Apostle To the intent that now unto the Principalities and Powers in Heavenly places might be known by the Church the manifold Wisdom of God according to the eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord Eph. 3. 10 11. And therefore indeed tho Angels and Men were Created with very large measures of knowledg I make no doubt and excellency of an Intellectual Being yet that God hath so ordred things that the great Knowledg the great Manifestation of his manifold Wisdom should come in by Jesus Christ that hath given occasion to such wonderful Explication of that Infinite Essential Truth That God is I say it hath given the occasion That indeed I may say there had never been such a thing as Faith that is an higher understanding than Natural Understanding is a greater Comprehension of Truth than all Natural Comprehension of Truth is O Infinite Treasures of Truth that will be found to have flown from the bringing in of Jesus Christ the great Mediator This is that which hath broken up the great Deep of Truth I say the great Deep of Truth is broken up by the Manifestation of Christ The great Cataracts as they call them of Heaven are opened by this very Wisdom The great flowings in and Cataracts of Truth have flown by the Manifestation of Christ Indeed I am not able to conceive the greatness of this Truth or to speak to you How greatly Rich will Heaven and Saints and Angels be made by knowing this great Truth of the Manifestation of Christ And therefore it is not Truth Rivetted into their Natural Understandings But it is properly called Faith tho indeed all Truth will be Demonstrated so really in the Future State that it will make that kind of Faith to cease that is an Evidence of things not seen tho it may still properly be called Faith in regard of that Infinite Knowledg Flowing from God through Influence by and in Jesus Christ So I have spoken of
shall shew you in every respect how the Father the VVord and the Spirit and the VVater and the Blood do VVitness First therefore concerning the full Assurance of understanding Concerning Jesus Christ in the first place And then concerning all the Truths of the Gospel in the second place And I desire you to remember a distinction I gave you the last day I told you there are immanent Acts of Faith as they say those that remain and stay within that 's the meaning of the Word There are Acts then and Motions of Faith when Faith stays within in that great point of taking Christ And then There are Truths of the Gospel that are Ad Extra as they say or without that do not immediately concern that great point of the Redemption of Christ but flow from it No I 'll make this plain to you by setting two points of Scripture before you of which Faith has an assurance But one is like Faith staying at home and within it self and within Christ in the great point of Redemption and Justification As Now Here 's this great Truth That Jesus Christ came into the World to save the chief of Sinners Sinners of whom every one may say I am chief Now when Faith Acts upon this Truth Jesus Christ came to save sinners of whom I am chief And so That he shed his Blood for sinners and gave himself a Sacrifice and an Attonement All these are Truths properly within Faith and Christ And when the Soul is upon them it is at home with it self And Faith is also at home with Christ and with the Soul in them But now here 's another great Truth That whoever it is that does not Cut off his Right Hand or Pull out his Right Eye and cut off his Right Foot he shall be cast into Hell where their VVorm dies not and their Fire is not quenched Now this is a great Truth of Christ And Faith hath assurance of this Truth But yet when it acts upon this Truth Pray observe it does not stay within properly with Christ and within it self in the point of Believing But it goes out to a Truth that lyes without as to the great point of Justification So that if you say wherein is Faith Justifying Faith in Relation to Truth I desire that I may be understood I say when it is ask'd wherein is Faith Justifying Faith as to the point of Truth It is not in believing that whosoever doth not cut off his Right hand or pluck out his right Eye shall be cast into Darkness It is true this always is together with Justifying Faith But it is not that wherein Faith properly Justifies But all the Truths concerning the Blood and Righteousness of Christ they are Truths that Faith acts upon when it is in the great point of Justification as it is acted by Christ and his Spirit Now this being not many times well Considered It makes a great Confusion in the point of Justifying Faith For though it is true It is said and I desire it may be carefully remembred that no one may any way take offence or mention what I say to give offence I say that that Truth that a man that does not cut off his hand or pluck out his Right Eye which means any Lust shall be cast into Hell is never separated from true Justifying Faith But I say again that Faith acting upon that Truth does not Justify But acting upon the great Truth wherein Jesus Christ is held forth as a sacrifice a propitiation a Mediator an Intercessor and Redeemer But yet this is certainly true that the Father Son and Spirit give a mighty power to these great Truths and to every Truth that is delivered in the Gospel but especially with this great Principal Truth that Jesus is the Son of God and hath layd down his life for sinners For you see very plainly in this place that I have quoted to you Pray Consider it who is he that overcometh the world but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God Faith is therefore in its Immanent action when it is upon this point that Jesus is the Son of God and gave himself for Sinners This is the Immanent Truth that Faith fixes upon But then when it comes to that Truth that without Holiness no man shall see the Lord that can never be separated from this Truth that Jesus is the Son of God when Faith acts upon that Truth or any like it Without Holiness no man shall see the Lord It does not act like Justifying Faith strictly taken in that point of believing Because Justification flows onely from the Righteousness from the Blood from the Obedience from the Redemption of Jesus Christ And therefore to Find a mighty power To find the Soul Impregnated and fill'd out in all the Truths that concern Jesus Christ and in all the other great Truths of the Gospel that Christ hath spoken Here 's the strength and the assurance of Faith And it flows from God in and through Christ For Jesus Christ is the great and Principal Actor in the Soul 's Receiving all Truth I say the great and the principal Actor As you may find the stability of Faith the great Ballance and Poize of Faith that keeps it steady and even Heb. 13. 8. Jesus Christ the same yesterday and to day for ever Be not carryed about with diverse and strange Doctrines Jesus Christ the same yesterday and to day for ever It is he that is the Alpha and Omega As he saith himself The Truth the way the Truth and the Life He is the Truth And the Son of the Father in Truth And Truth came by Jesus Christ But I would a little further clear to you this distinction of the Immanent acts of Faith and shew you whence I take the word You know in that great mystery of the Father Son and Spirit Divines when they treat of it they say that those actions between the Father and the Son and the Spirit themselves and no Created Bing comes between they call them Immanent actions of the Father the Word and the Spirit As the Father begat and knoweth the Son so the Son knoweth the Father and that he is begotten of him The holy Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son And the holy Spirit knows and Glorifieth in every thing the Father and the Son as proceeding from them Now while they are acting within in the Divine Being the Father the Son and Spirit one with another Those are called Immanent acts But when they go outward either to Angels or men or any of the Creatures then they are called extra-acts Or ad extra or Transient acts because they go out from the Divine being to the Creature I make use of it to explain the Immanent acts of Faith The Immanent acts of Faith are upon Christ's Righteousness and Blood and not upon the Points of Repentance or obedience or Love or self Resignation to Christ But wholly and solely in
that point of Pardon of sin Peace of Conscience and deliverance from wrath to come But as I said before Take any of the great Truths of Scripture and they are never separated from that Justifying Faith All the actions of Creation and Government of Providence are never separated from the Divine Being the Father Word and Spirit Creation and Providence you know are attributed to them all And I am perswaded that this may much help your thoughts Because men discourse promiscuously As if we were as well Justified by love to Christ and by mortifying a Lust as by taking hold of the sacrifice and Ransom of Jesus Christ and as if one Truth were as essential to Justifying Faith as another Now I acknowledge they are never separated To take off all Scandal and offence from men And yet I say there 's an Immanence in the act of Faith when it is acting upon Jesus Christ I come now to the Second Point that I would be something more large in And that is concerning full assurance of Faith in point of Conscience or the peace of Conscience and the Pardon of Sin and the assurance that God is ours Now if I could here make out to you how that Assurance comes into the Soul and how it is born up by Christ and by the Father and by the Spirit I should think it were to great Edification I say if I were in any measure able to make it out according to the Excellency of the thing I shall therefore go as far as the Lord shall please to assist by his Spirit in it Therefore the first thing that I shall say to you by which a man comes to have an Assurance of the Pardon and Forgiveness of his Sins I shall speak it in the very Scripture Language It is First of all By an immediate Voice of the Blood I say by an immediate Voice of the Blood And then I shall shew you it is by the Voice of the VVater from Christ And then In the Third piace By the Spirit And then In the Fourth place that the Father from Heaven comes and Ratifies and Assures this Testimony of the Son and of the Spirit in the Blood and in the VVater First I say it proceeds immediately For I would speak of the things in the Order of Nature from the Blood For nothing doth so immediately speak Peace to a Sinner as the Blood of Jesus Christ the Sufferings of Christ And therefore so many things are spoken of Christ of his Sacrifice and of his Death and of his Sufferings I may give you many places of Scripture that put most upon the Blood of his Sacrifice as to our Sense and Apprehension than upon any thing I say upon the Blood of Christ How much more shall the Blood Offered by the Eternal Spirit you know Heb. 9 And the blood of Sprinkling that speaketh better things than that of Abel c. 12. And Heb. 10 24. Having boldness by the blood of Jesus to enter into the Holiest It is put upon the blood the blood of the Everlasting Covenant Heb. 13. The blood of Christ cleanseth from all unrighteousness 1 John 1. VVho loved us and washed in his blood Rev. 1. and Rev. c. 7. They have washed their robes white in the blood of the Lamb And so the Apostle speaks proportionably in this 1 John 5. There are Three that bear witness in Heaven the Father the VVord and the Spirit And then there is the Spirit the VVater and the Blood The Blood it hath an immediate Voice And this is he saith the Apostle that came by water and by blood not by water only Pray observe that it puts an Emphasis upon the Blood Not by VVater only but by VVater and Blood So I say whenever our Souls come indeed to have the Assurance of the Pardon of Sin and of Peace with God it is by Blood The Blood of Jesus which is carried into the Holy Place not made with hands We are Purged by the Blood Offered by the Eternal Spirit We have Confidence by the Blood of Jesus O! therefore when Christ is pleased to send out the mighty Effluxes the Efluviums of his blood when he sends them out and draws and twists and brings back the Conscience and the Heart upon the Blood of Christ when he is pleased to do thus Those strong Acts upon the blood of Christ they do as it were Recoil and come back upon the Soul and upon the Conscience with the assurance of the pardon of sin in that blood Therefore blessed is he that hears the voice of the blood of Christ that hears in his own Conscience the blood of sprinkling speaking better things than that of Abel And this is the first thing Because I treat as briefly as I can of it I come to the second thing and that is To give you an account of the forgiveness of sins comeing in by the Water Now I confess I shall give somewhat another Interpretation than I have known given concerning Water For I look upon the water not as some would very Chilly and Coldly understand it of Baptism except that spiritual Baptism of the Gospel which I always desire to magnify or that it is meerly Sanctification which the Generality of Interpreters give it to be But by water I understand the very obedience and Righteousness of Christ separated from his sufferings That great obedience which was like a River Pure as Christal that ran through the whole obedience of Jesus Christ from the very beginning to the end And the Reason why I take it so and not to be sanctification is this because saith the Apostle in this 5 Chapter of the 1st Epistle of John This is he that came by water and by blood Not by water onely but by water and blood He came himself by water and by blood He himself came This He take notice of him He came by water and he came by blood He came by the water of a pure and perfect Righteousness in which there was nothing at all of Imperfection or soil or the least of blemish He came by this water And so you find the obedience of Christ is often mentioned in Scripture I shall give you that place for all Rom. 5. v. 18. Saith the Apostle there By the obedience He speaks often of the obedience of Christ But by the obedience of one shall many be made Righteous ver 19 And by the Righteousness of one The offence of one and the Righteousness of one The Disobedience of one and the obedience of one So Obedience and Righteousness they are of one and the same import And the comeing by water I say is comeing by the perfect obedience Righteousness of the whole nature and action and performance of Jesus Christ Now therefore when the Soul is saluted as I may so express it by Christ with this obedience in his hand when he comes saith Christ to the Soul I have obeyed I have fulfilled all Righteousness I have done always the