of the Benefits promised by it which as it is now revealed is the Gospel Justification is a Law-term And no Man shall be Justified in Judgment or upon Tryal but he that is Just in the Eye of this New Law of Grace as every one that rightly Believes Repents and sincerely Obeys is because that is all that it requires of a Man himself to his Justification and Salvation And yet every Believer's Justification will be all of Grace because the Law by which they are Justified is wholly of Grace is wholly a Law of Grace and was Enacted in meer Grace and Favour to undone Man that was utterly undone by the Fall There are two things which I conceive do constitute and make up the Righteousness of the Law of Grace presupposing all to be procured by the Purchase which Christ hath made first The Righteousness which consisteth in the forgiveness of sins and secondly The Righteousness of sincere Obedience And in reference to both these Faith is imputed for Righteousness by virtue of the Law of Grace First Faith as practical is imputed to a Man for Righteousness as it is That and all That which is required of him himself by the Law of Grace to entitle him to the Righteousness which consisteth in the Remission of sins through Christ Now that remission of Sins is part of the Righteousness which is by Faith is evident from Rom. 4.5 6 7 8. Where the Apostle to prove that a Man's Faith in God who justifyeth the ungodly is counted to him for Righteousness he citeth a passage out of Psalm the 32d Even as David also saith he describeth the blessedness of the man to whom God imputeth Righteousness without Works saying Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven and whose sins are covered Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin The Righteousness imputed in this sense doth consist in the non-imputation of sin Not to impute sin is not to reckon a Man not to have sinned but it is to deal with him not according to the demerit of his sin it is to pardon him for Christ's sake upon his penitential Faith and not to punish him for his sin and this by vertue of a New Law or Act of Indemnity or Covenant of Grace For although pardon of sin is obtained for Man by Christ's Sufferings for sin In whom we have redemption through his blood the forgiveness of sins Ephes .1 7. and though God for Christ's sake doth forgive us Ephes 4.32 yet the actual collation of this great Benefit is not promised but upon condition of Man's Faith Him hath God set forth to be a Propitiation but it is through Faith in his blood Rom. 3.25 By him all that believe are justified from all things from which ye could not be justified by the Law of Moses Acts 13.39 and 10.43 Although Christ is the Propitiation for the sins of the whole World 1 Joh. 2.2 yet that saying of Christ must and will take place If ye believe not that I am he ye shall dye in your sins Joh. 8.24 And that also Mark 16.16 He that believeth not shall be damned So that Faith is imputed for Righteousness partly as it is the Condition upon which Pardon of sin is granted Secondly That Faith is imputed for Righteousness which is practical or productive of sincere Obedience without which property it is not a fulfilling of the Law of Grace as a Condition of the promised Benefits and consequently cannot justifie a Man in the Eye of that Law For 1st Repentance and likewise forgiving Men their Injuries for instance are such Acts of Obedience as without which a Man cannot be Pardoned and if not Pardoned then not Justified And therefore Faith is not imputed for Righteousness unless it be productive of Obedience 2dly No Faith is available to Justification but such as worketh by Love Gal. 5.6 Which to say is all one as to say no Faith is imputed for Righteousness but such as worketh by keeping the Commandments of God and fulfilling the Law for that is the interpretation of Love both to God and Men 1 Joh. 5.3 Rom. 13.10 3dly Abraham who was set forth by God for a Pattern of his justifying Men by Faith was Justified by such Works as were the fruits of his Faith and not only by his Faith which was the Root of them And therefore his Faith as practical was imputed to him for Righteousness And such must be the Faith of all others that shall obtain Justification upon their Believing as he did Jam. 2.21 22 23. Was not Abraham our Father justified by Works when he had offered Isaac his Son upon the Altar Seest thou how Faith wrought with his Works and by Works was Faith made perfect And the Scripture was fulfilled which saith Abraham Believed God and it was imputed to him for Righteousness Where note these four things 1. That Abraham's Faith wrought with his Works about the same End as a Condition of obtaining it to wit his Justification 2. That by his Works his Faith was made perfect to wit in its aptitude by God's Institution to justifie him without which it would not have reached that End 3. Note further That it was his Faith as it wrought with his Works and as it was compleated and made perfect by them that was imputed to him for Righteousness 4. Note That in the Imputation of his Faith for Righteousness as it was thus accompanied with and perfected by Works was the Scripture fulfilled which saith Abraham Believed God and it was imputed to him for Righteousness And if so then the Justification by Works together with Faith of which St. James speaks here is a Justification before God and not before Men only and to a Man 's own Conscience For of such a Justification doth the Scripture in Gen 15.6 speak which is here cited by St. James Nor doth this that Faith accompanied with Obedience is imputed for Righteousness at all derogate from the Obedience and Sufferings of Christ in reference to the Ends for which they serve Because the whole Covenant and all the parts and terms of it both promises of Benefits and the Condition on which they are promised are all founded in Christ his undertaking for us and all the Benefits of it accrue to us upon our Believing and Obeying upon his account and for his sake We are in him who of God is made unto us Wisdom Righteousness Sanctification and Redemption 1 Cor. 1.30 For which cause also he is called the Lord our Righteousness Not as if his Personal Obedience to the Law was so formally imputed to us as that we should be reckoned to have kept the Law in his keeping of it which hath been the Opinion of some for if that had been so there would have been no more need that Christ should have Suffered for us than there was that he should have Suffered for himself who had no sin for neither should we if we had perfectly kept the Law in him
of the Gospel proceeding from and produced by Faith or Works by which our Faith is demonstrated to be a true and real Faith c. 2.18 And the occasion of these Discourses of St. Paul and St. James was different which also was the reason they did so differently express themselves in this matter St. Paul had to deal with Jews Pharisees and false Teachers who pleaded the necessity of Observing the Law of Moses and also those Works and Deeds it prescrib'd which gave occasion to him to preach the Abrogation or Cancelling of that Law S. Paul having to deal with Pharisaical Jews boasting of their own Righteousness according to the Law and the substitution of the Gospel in its stead as a Rule of Righteousness the Believing of which in such a manner as has been spoke he declared would be sufficient through God's Mercy in Christ to their Justification And tho' he took all care that was requisite to prevent the misunderstanding of him as if a meer Opinionative Faith would serve the turn by assuring them at the same time he told 'em that in Christ neither Circumcision nor Vncircumcision would avail any thing yet that Faith which worketh by Love would Gal 5.6 That is that it must be such a Faith as must be made perfect by the addition of those Duties which we owe to God and our Neighbour yet Men of corrupt Minds reprebate concerning the Faith or void of Judgment concerning the Faith as St. Paul complains of some 2 Tim. 3.8 perverted his meaning in this his excellent Doctrine and turn'd all to this sence That a meer Assent of the Mind to the Truth of the Gospel tho' they were careless in the subduing of their Passions and bridling of their Tongues and regulating of their Actions S. James having to do with Solifidiant Libertines pleading their Faith separated from Gospel Righteousness was all that was necessary to their Justification And thereupon they thought themselves safe upon the Account of their Barren Faith though they were Proud and Conceited of their Knowledge and Attainments Censorious and Contentious Unmerciful and Uncharitable which Error concerning Faith prevailing much in those Early Times occasion'd St. James with a great deal of Earnestness to plead and to prove the Necessity of Good Works to our being justify'd before God And that neither Faith nor good Works alone but both jointly were the Condition now under the Gospel upon which we shall be justify'd and approved of by God as Just and Righteous Persons And he proves it by the Instance of Abraham's Faith Jam. 2.21 22 and 23. Was not Abraham our Father justify'd by Works when he had offer'd his Son Isaac upon the Altar See'st thou how Faith wrought with his Works and by Works his Faith was made perfect And the Scripture was fulfill'd which saith Abraham Believed God and it was imputed to him for Righteousness and he was called the Friend of God So that St. James's Doctrine of Justification is not a contradiction but a vindication of St. Paul's from the False Glosses of Solifidian Libertines And it were happy for these latter Ages if St. James's Doctrine concerning the necessary Conjunction of Faith and good Works to our Justification could have put a stop to Men's Mis-interpretations of the other Great Apostle in this Point But alas to the grievous Scandal of the Reformation too many amongst us have heretofore and do to this day earnestly contend for those Mistakes which our Adversaries make great Advantages of who greedily catching at any thing of Error profess'd by any Party of Men under the Denomination of Protestants are never backward to lay the Scandal of it to the whole Reformation to the very great hindrance of its Progress But above all the Mischief of this Opinion reacheth directly to the Destruction of Men's Souls whilst being deceiv'd in the Nature of Justifying Faith and thinking it to be a meer Assent of the Mind to the Great Truths of Christianity which is but the Act only of one Faculty of the Soul and not looking upon it as implying a Consent also of the Will to act agreeably to the Nature of such practical Truths they do most fatally presume themselves to be Christians indeed and such as shall be saved by Christ tho' their Lives declare them to be far from being New Creatures from being renewed in the Spirit of their Minds as those are who have been taught as the Truth is in Jesus Eph. 4 21 23. And therefore since so much depends upon a right Understanding of this great Doctrine of Justifying Faith it will not appear to you to be without Reason that I have been so large in the Explication thereof In speaking to which having 1. shew'd you in general what it is to Believe together with the Effects and Fruits of True Believing and 2. having more particularly explain'd unto you the Nature of Justifying and Saving Faith 3. Now it remains only that by way of Inference I should lay before you 3. The several sorts of Defective Faith mention'd in Scripture wherein the defect of several sorts of Faith does lie which we find both by Scripture and Experience that many do relie upon but yet will by no means justifie and save ' em And from what has been said it does appear that the Faith which will not Justifie and Save us must be some way or other defective and lame as to those several Acts which I have shew'd must go to compleat the Nature of Justifying Faith And there are several sorts of Believers we find mention made of in the Scripture which fall short of having that Faith which will alone Justifie and Save us And 1. We have the Faith of Devils mention'd Jam. 2.19 1. The Faith of Devils which is no more than a bare Assent of the Mind that there is a God One who is Merciful to them that serve Him but terrible in Judgment to those who disobey Him and the like of the other Articles Thou Believest there is one God thou dost well the Devils also Believe and tremble But wilt thou know O vain Man that Faith without Works is dead Jam. 2.19 20. The Devils though they do Believe and are throughly perswaded and do know that there is a God infinitely Merciful Just and Holy who cannot endure Iniquity nor Sin yet out of Enmity to Him or because they will not conform themselves to that Holy Being which they so much hate or because no Promise is made to them of Pardon and Happiness that should encourage them to Repent of their Apostacy from God and to conform themselves to his Holy Laws whatever is the reason this is certain that they are utterly disobedient and though they do Believe yet because their Faith is only a meer Assent of the Mind to the Truths of Religion and does not render 'em Obedient their Believing therefore will avail 'em nothing to Pardon and Happiness 2. Another sort of Lame and Defective Faith
the several Points both Doctrinal and Moral How can it be expected any Minister should sufficiently discharge his Duties by thus instructing them without the Supplies of such Books written on the several Subjects both general and particular No it is not possible out of the mean Profits of most Parishes scarce sufficient to provide the mere Necessaries of Life he should be capable to buy himself such necessary Helps It was for these Reasons thought a great Work of Piety or Charity to the Souls of Men not the least wanted in this Nation where there are more Cures of Souls unprovided of necessary Maintenance than in any Establish'd Church perhaps throughout Christendom to furnish as many as possible with Parochial Libraries Some of which tho' slenderly provided of Books at first may probably in time become well replenish'd And as such Parochial Libraries are form'd in the main Part thereof the Didactical on the Plan of the Doctrine of the Covenant consider'd both in its general Nature and its particular Terms both Mercies on God's Part and Conditions to be perform'd on ours on the Means by which we shall be enabled to perform our Covenant Engagement On the Seals of the Covenant and on Repentance after Breach thereof And the first general Doctrine in such Plan being the Doctrine of the Two Covenants on which Subject Mr. ALLEN having written so judiciously in the following Tracts as not to be omitted in any one Library and is therefore so material an Ingredient in the whole Collection so it was thought not improper here to give some Account thereof and with what View it has been publish'd so as to appear Introductory as it were to all that follows As to the Discourse on Faith annext to his Discourse on the Two Covenants that also has its peculiar Excellency as coming from the Pen of so judicious a Person And being so stated by him as not to exclude Conditions in the Covenant necessary to be perform'd on our Part in order to our Justification through CHRIST is very requisite to be perus'd in order to the better understanding the Covenant it self and was therefore annex'd by the Author himself to his former Discourse on the Two Covenants A DISCOURSE OF THE Nature Ends and Difference OF THE Two Covenants THE mistake of the unbelieving Jews about the true import of God's Promise to Abraham and of the Law of Moses was a principal cause of the rejecting Christ and his Gospel and their own Salvation thereby To rectifie which mistake the Apostle St. Paul used various Reasonings according to the various Errors contained in it In which Reasonings of his there being some things hard to be understood there are others again which probably mistaking the Apostles reasonings against the Jewish Notion of Justification by Works ran into a contrary Extream thinking they might be Saved by Faith without Works as on the conrary the incredulous Jews thought they might be Saved by Works without Faith And if many in our days had not run into somewhat alike Extream through a misunderstanding also of the Apostles Writings labour and pains would not have been so necessary as now they are to rectifie their mistake and to prevent it in others To the end therefore that the plain Truth may the better appear touching God's Promise to Abraham touching the Law of Moses and the Apostles arguings about these I shall very briefly endeavour these seven Things I. To open the Nature and Design of God's Promise to Abraham And to shew II. For what end the Law was added to the Promise III. By what Faith and Practice the Iews under the Law were saved IV. That the Law contained a Covenant different from that with Abraham V. The grand mistakes of the unbelieving Iews and St. Paul's counter-arguings touching both the Law and the Promise VI. The Mistake of some pretended Christians in the Apostles days Touching the Doctrine of Justification by Faith without Works VII That the Doctrine of St. Paul and St. James about Faith and Works in reference to Justification do not differ I shall begin with the first of these CHAP. I. The Nature and Design of God's Promise to Abraham I Shall endeavour to open the Nature and Design of God's Promise to Abraham Which Promise is also called the Covenant Act. 3.25 Gal. 3.17 In doing of which these eight things will come under consideration 1. What the Nature of this Promise is in general 2. What the Design of it is 3. What are the special Benefits promised 4. What the Extent of it is 5. The Security given by God for the performance of it 6. That this Promise was Conditional 7. What the Condition of it was 8. What we are to understand by God's accounting Abraham's Faith to him for Righteousness Sect. 1. Of the Nature of it in general This Promise I take to be of the same nature with that which in the Gospel is called the New-Covenant It 's true indeed they greatly differ in the Administration the one being but general implicite and obscure and the other more particular express and perspicuous But though in this they differ yet in their general nature they agree in one and are the same For 1. This Covenant as delivered to Abraham was confirmed in Christ as well as the Gospel afterwards Gal. 3.17 and that 's a Character of the New-Covenant Mat. 26.28 2. The Gospel is said to have been Preached to Abraham in the Promise that was made him Gal. 3.8 3. He was justified by Faith which he could not have been but by vertue of a New-Covenant And it was by Faith in the Promise made to him by God by which he was justified Which two things supposed it necessarily follows That that Promise was of the Nature of the New-Covenant 4. St. Paul argues against the erroneous Jews in his Epistles to the Romans and Galatians the necessity of Evangelical Faith unto Justification now under the Gospel from Abraham's being justified by Faith and from God's setting him forth for a Pattern and Example to all after-Ages of his justifying both Jews and Gentiles upon the Condition of Believing The strength of which arguing seems to depend upon this supposition That the Promise by the belief of which Abraham was then justified and the Promise in the Gospel by the belief of which Men are now justified do both agree and are one in the general nature of them And upon these grounds and under this notion of the Promise to Abraham I intend to discourse of it But when I consider for what reason he that is least in the Kingdom of God is said to be greater than John the Baptist though not Abraham himself nor any of the Prophets were greater than he and when I consider likewise how ignorant the Apostles were for a time touching the necessity of the Death and Resurrection of Christ notwithstanding the many plainer Revelations thereof in the Prophets than we find Abraham had I cannot I confess think that Abraham had or
to Abraham as it was a Promise of sending Christ to be the Saviour of the World was expressive of the greatest love For in this was the love of God manifested towards us because God sent his only begotten Son into the world that we might live through him Herein is love not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins 1 Joh. 4.9 10. A Propitiation for our sins That is one that by his Death hath procured favour having taken off that sore displeasure which God by his Law had declared against all the transgressors of it For the wise and just God did not think the Righteousness of his Government and the Honour and Reputation of his Law would be sufficiently saved and his great hatred of Sin sufficiently manifested without some considerable satisfaction given for the dishonour done to Him and his Law by Mans Transgression And yet that this might not be exacted at the hands of the Guilty in executing the Curse of the Law on themselves he was most graciously pleased to accept of the Sufferings of his own dear Son instead of what the sinners themselves were to have undergone He hath redeemed us from the curse of the Law being made a curse for us Gal. 3.13 Christ suffered for sins the just for the unjust or in their stead 1 Pet. 3.18 Upon account of which undertaking of Christ for us all the benefits of the Covenant do accrue to Man Whatever is required of Man by way of condition of his acceptation with God becomes accepted to that end upon account of Christ's suffering And his Intercession in Heaven through which all our sincere though otherwise imperfect performances become acceptable to God and rewardable by him is made in the virtue of it For the whole Covenant itself is founded in the Blood of Christ which he shed for the remission of sins Therefore it is called the New Testament in his Blood Mat. 26.28 And his Blood the Blood of the Everlasting Covenant Hebr. 13.20 2. It contained a Promise of Justification or Remission of sin through Christ unto all that should so believe as thereupon to repent of their former folly and become sincerely obedient for the future For that is necessarily implyed in the Promise of Blessedness to the Nations in Abraham's Seed it being impossible Men should be Blessed without Remission of sin which consisteth in removing the Curse of the Law in remitting the penalty Blessed is the Man whose iniquity is forgiven and whose sin is covered Psal 32.1 St. Paul acquaints us that this Blessing of the New Covenant was declared to Abraham in the Promise Gal. 3.8 The Scripture foreseeing that God would justifie the Heathen through Faith preached the Gospel before unto Abraham saying In thee shall all Nations be blessed 3. It contained in it tacitly a Promise of Divine Assistance unto Men in their endeavours to fulfil the condition of the Promise For God in promising Blessedness to the Nations through Abraham's Seed therein promised all that was absolutely necessary for him to vouchsafe to make them blessed and without which they could not be blessed And if so then he therein implicitly promised to assist the endeavours of Men to perform the condition of the Promise without the assistance of whose Grace they cannot savingly Believe Repent and Obey And so it should seem the Old Testament-Church understood God's subduing of sin as well as his pardoning of sin to be comprized in the Promise to Abraham Mich. 7.19 20. He will subdue our iniquities and thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the Sea Thou wilt perform the truth to Jacob and the mercy to Abraham which thou hast sworn to our Fathers from the days of old And Christ his turning Men from their iniquities which he doth accomplish by appointing them means and by assisting them in the use of them to that end is part of the Blessing contained in the Promise made to Abraham and was so reckoned by St. Peter Act 3.25 26. Ye are the Children of the Prophets and of the Covenant which God made with our Fathers saying unto Abraham And in thy seed shall all the kindreds of the earth be blessed Vnto you first God having raised up his Son Jesus Christ sent him to bless you in turning every one of you from his iniquities 4. It implicitly or somewhat obscurely contained in it a Promise of Eternal Life I say implicitly For I do not find that Eternal Life was expresly promised to Abraham But yet that was expresly promised him from which the hope of Eternal Life might well be inferred As first Blessedness through his Seed the Messias And secondly That God would be a God to him and his Seed For Blessedness is a Happiness that runs parallel with the duration of Man's Immortal Soul And God's Promise of being a God to Abraham carried in it a Promise of a Happiness worthy of God to bestow such as Everlasting Life or Happiness is And therefore he was not ashamed to be called their God meaning Abraham Isaac and Jacob because he had prepared for them a City meaning that in so doing he had answered that title of relation of being their God and done like himself Heb. 11.16 And upon these and the like Revelations of God's mind to him Abraham looked for a City which hath Foundations whose Builder and Maker is God and a Heavenly Country Heb. 11.10 16. If Abraham did but use his reason about these Promises as he did about reconciling God's Promise that in Isaac his Seed should be called with his command to Sacrifice him Heb. 11.17 18 19. he might discern Eternal Life in them though but very obscurely in comparison of what is now revealed in the Gospel by which Life and Immortality is brought to light 2 Tim. 1.10 But how obscurely soever a future Happiness was promis'd to Abraham yet promised it was for which we have the testimony of St. Paul Gal. 3.18 If the inheritance be of the Law it is no more of Promise But God gave it to Abraham by Promise He was here proving against the Pharisaical Jews and Judaizing Christians that Justification unto Life was to be had by the Promise and not by the Law by Faith and not by Works of the Law that the Just should live by Faith as vers 12. And therefore by Inheritance here which he saith God gave to Abraham by Promise he doubtless means Eternal Life which elsewhere he calls the Promise of eternal Inheritance Heb. 9.15 Consider now how God carry'd on his design of restoring Man by the promise of those benefits For if expressions of the greatest Grace and Love in God to Men is the way to beget in them a love to God again and in begetting that to beget all the desirable effects of Love which are no less than a sincere conformity in Man's Nature and Life to the Divine Law and if the giving of great and
do not know how better to define it than thus Faith is such a hearty belief of God's Declaration concerning his own Grace and Man's Duty as doth effectually cause a Man to expect from God and to act in a way of sincere Obedience according to the Tenour and Import of such a Declaration Or if you will take in the Belief of God's Threatnings against sinners into the definition then it will be thus Faith is such a hearty belief of God's Declaration concerning his own Grace and Displeasure and Man's Duty as doth effectually cause a Man to expect from God and to act in a way of sincere Obedience according to the Tenour and Import of such a Declaration Faith thus defined we have already seen exemplified in Abraham who is the great Exemplar of Believing and the Father of Believers And that it was his belief of God's Promise or Declaration of Grace and Favour to him as it is practical in producing Repentance Self-denial and sincear Obedience by which he was justified and made happy appears farther not only in that it 's said by St. James That his Faith wrought with his Works and was made perfect by them and that he was justified by Works as well as by Faith of which more anon but also in that it 's said that he received the sign of Circumcision which was the Condition upon which God Covenanted with him to be his God and upon the same terms to be the God of his Seed a Seal of the Righteousness of the Faith which he had while he was yet uncircumcised For supposing which is not denied Circumcision to be an outward Sign of inward Grace of the Circumcision of the Heart consisting in Mortification or a Penitential change of the Heart which is the effect of Faith his Circumcision as such was a Seal of confirmation to Abraham that it was upon his former so believing God upon his Promise as thereby to be induced to leave the evil Customs of his Country and his Country it self with his Kindred and his Father's House that God would be his God indeed In which Promise was implicitly promised all that would make him Eternally Happy And God's farther design of giving to Abraham this Covenant of Circumision as a Seal to assure him the enjoyment of the benefit wrapt up in that Promise upon the terms aforesaid was that he might be the Father of all them that Believe whether literally Circumcised or not that is that he might be a great Example and Pattern to all others of obtaining the same benefits in the same way and so might be a means of begetting others to Believe in God and to Obey him as he had done to be a great Instrument to propagate the kind of New Creatures of Men renewed to God to the end they might be Blessed as he was This or somewhat to this effect is doubtless the meaning of Rom. 4.11 12. And he received the sign of Circumcision a Seal of the Rightousness of the Faith which he had being yet uncircumcised That he might be the Father of all them that Believe though they be not circumcised that Rightousness might be imputed to them also And the Father of Circumcision to them who are not of the Circumcision only but also walk in the steps of that Faith of our Father Abraham which he had being yet uncircumcised and it is not unlikely but that as Heart-Circumcision under the figure of Literal-Circumcision was together with Faith made the condition of the Covenant then so Spiritual Baptism which is a Death unto sin and a living unto God is under the Figure of Water-Baptism joyned with Believing as the condition of the Promise of Salvation now Mark 16.16 He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved According to which St. Peter having spoken of Noah's Ark saith The like figure whereunto Baptism now saveth us not the putting away of the filth of the flesh but the answer of a good conscience towards God 1 Pet. 3.21 Now as it was in Abraham such a belief of God's Declaration of Grace and Favour as did effectually induce him to Love and Obey God by which he was Justified so I shall shew afterwards it was the very same kind of Faith working after the same manner by which the Saints under the Law of Moses were Saved But Faith as Evangelical and Christian is such a hearty assent and consent unto God's Declaration in the Gospel by his Son concerning Christ himself and his Grace and Favour towards Men by him and concerning their own Duty as causeth a Man to expect from God and to act in a way of duty according to the Tenour of such a Declaration and his own concerns in it And Faith thus defined is fully agreeable to the Tenour of the Gospel Mark 16.15 16. Go ye into all the world and Preach the Gospel to every Creature He that Believeth and is Baptized shall be saved He that believeth What Why he that believeth that Gospel which was to be Preâ—â—hed to every Creature Which Gospel contains a Declaration of God's â—â—â—â—e and Man's Duty and of his Wrath against all Ungodliness and Unrighteousness of Men. For 1. It declares from God that he hath given his Son Jesus Christ to be the Saviour of the World by being a Propitiation for the sin o fit in becoming a Sacrifice to expiate sin 2. It declares That God upon account of his Son's giving himself a Ransom for all hath made and doth establish a New Covenant with the World to Pardon and Eternally to Save as many as shall Believe in his Son and Repent of their sinfulness in changing their Minds and reforming their Lives and becoming New Men in yielding sincere Obedience to the Precepts of the Gospel 3. It declares That those that believe not shall be damned and such as repent not shall perish and that the unrighteous shall not inherit the Kingdom of God This summarily is that which the Gospel declares concerning God's Grace and Displeasure and Man's Duty Now it is the practical belief of all this that is the saving Faith It is not the bare belief that God hath given his Son to be the Saviour of the World and a Propitiation for the sin of it Nor is it a bare belief that he will for Christ's sake pardon and save as many as truly Repent and amend their lives and become New Creatures unless they so believe all this as seriously and heartily to Repent themselves of their former folly and to return to their duty in new Evangelical Obedience For otherwise for a Man barely to believe all this and not act according to his own concerns in it will be so far from being a believing to the saving of the Soul as that it will rather plunge him the deeper in Destruction for living and acting contrary to his own light and belief as holding the truth in unrighteousness the wrath of God being revealed from heaven against all such Rom. 1.18 A Man of this
there are some passages in the Law of Moses if you take the Law of Moses in a large sense which look somewhat like a renewal of the antient Covenant with Abraham to his Seed As when for instance God made a conditional Promise to the Israelites in Moses's time to be their God and that they should be his People as in Levit. 26.12 Deut. 29.13 Which form of words is interpreted sometimes to imply a future Happiness in another World Heb. 11.16 Matth. 21.31 32. And I do not deny but the Jews had by Moses as express a Promise of the Messias as Abraham had Deut. 18.15 19. But St. Paul doth not speak of the Law in this large sense when he opposeth the Law and the Promise the Law and Faith one to another But if we understand by the Law of Moses the Law as Political the Law of the Commonwealth so the Promises of it were not Promises of Eternal Life For Promises of this nature did pertain to another Covenant to wit that made with Abraham and his Spiritual Seed as such First Therefore St. Paul doth downrightly deny that the Promise of thâ— Inheritance which in Heb. 9.15 is called the Eternal Inheritance was by the Law which yet it would have been if by Law he had meant the Law in that large sense in which the Law and Promise to Abraham are conjoyned and not in that strict sense by which he means the Political Law distinctly And if the Inheritance had been promised upon the same terms as temporal Blessings were in the temporal Covenant the Inheritance might have been obtained by the Law as well as temporal Blessings were Rom. 4.13 For the Promise that he should be Heir of the World was not through the Law but through the Righteousness of Faith Secondly St. Paul evinceth the badness of that Opinion to think that Eternal Life was promised upon the Law-terms from the absurd consequence of it shewing that if it were that then it would make void the Promise of God to Abraham and the way of saving Men by Faith in that Promise of none effect Gal. 3.18 For if the inheritance be of the Law it is no more of Promise But God gave it to Abraham by Promise Rom. 4.14 For if they which are of the Law be Heirs Faith is made void and the Promise made of none effect It was altogether unreasonable to think that the Inheritance should be promised upon such distant and inconsistent terms as are Faith in the Promise and by Works of the Law Thirdly The Law saith the Apostle is not of Faith but the man that doth them shall live in them Gal. 3.12 meaning that what the Law promised it did not promise it upon condition of Believing but upon condition of Doing And Eternal Life is not since the Fall promised upon condition of Doing without Faith but upon condition of Believing For the Just shall live by Faith Vers 11. And therefore Eternal Life is promised by the Law Fourthly Wherefore else are the Promises of that better Covenant Heb. 8.6 said to be better Promises But because they are Promises of better things than were promised in the first Covenant which yet they could not be if Eternal Life had been promised in that Covenant because that is the best of all Promises To say they are better only in respect of Administration and clearness of Revelation will not satisfie such as shall well consider That if the betterness of the Covenant and Promises lay only in that the difference would not be so great as to denominate them two Covenants and two so vastly distant as the Scripture represents them to be The difference then would be but only gradual as that is which is found in the same Covenant of Grace in the several Editions of it to Adam to Abraham to David and now to all Nations since Christ's coming and not Essential as that between the two Covenants seems to be as it is represented in Gal. 4.24 Besides St. Paul represents the Administration of the two Covenants to differ as much as Righteousness and Condemnation Life and Death differ which sure is more than a gradual difference The one is the Ministration of Death and Condemnation the other the Ministration of Righteousness and Life 2 Cor. 3.6 7 8 9. The Law made nothing perfect but the bringing in of a better hope did Heb. 7.19 By which it appears again that the hope of the Gospel in which the things hoped for upon the Promises of the Gospel are not the least is better than what the Law promised the observers of it This is the Promise which he hath promised us even Eternal Life John 2.25 2. And Affirmatively It was then a long and prosperous Life in the Land of Canaan that was promised in the first Covenant Deut. 28.11 The Lord shall make thee plenteous in Goods in the fruit of thy Body and in the fruit of thy Cattel and in the fruit of thy Ground in the Land which the Lord sware unto thy Fathers to give thee Deut. 11.21 That your days may be multiplied and the days of your Children as the days of Heaven upon Earth A great variety of outward Blessings is promised as the Reward of keeping that Covenant And therefore Wisdom under that Dispensation is described as having length of days in her right hand and in her left hand Riches and Honour whose ways are ways of pleasantness and all her paths peace Prov. 3.17 And as this Covenant was National so there were Promises of National Blessings such as was the setting them on high above all the Nations of the Earth making them the Head and not the Tail The giving them victory over enemies multiplying the Nation and bestowing on it Health Peace and Plenty Deut. 28. Lev. 26. When it 's said once by Moses thrice by Ezekiel and twice by St. Paul that the Man that doth them shall live in them Lev. 18.5 Ezek. 20.11 13 21. Rom. 10.5 Gal. 3.12 thereby Epitomizing the first Covenant I conceive that by Living is meant a long and prosperous Life in this World As on the contrary the condition of one greatly afflicted is in Scripture-Dialect a kind of Death and such an one said to be free among the Dead Psal 88. â— And that which inclines me so to think is not only the reasons already given to prove that no other Life was promised in the first Covenant but also the congruity of this sense with other passages in the Writings of Moses As Deut. 30 15. See I have set before you this day Life and Good Death and Evil. If you would know what is meant by Life here the next Verse will inform you That thou mayest live and multiply and the Lord thy God shall bless thee in the Land whither thou goest to possess it The contrary whereunto is the Death he had set before them saying I denounce unto you this day that ye shall surely perish and that ye shall not prolong your
which the Apostle made against them in it For they did still oppose another Covenant as the Covenant of Justification and Eternal Life unto this Mosaical Covenant and Faith as the Conditon of that in opposition to Works as the Condition of this as will appear if we come to Instances 1. St. Paul argues it with them that the Promise of God to Abraham and his Seed was not through the Law but through the righteousness of Faith Rom. 4.13 Not through the Law that is not upon the terms upon which the benefits of the first Covenant were promised to the Nation of the Jews but upon quite other terms express'd by the Righteousness of Faith 2. He argues it farther with them That God's way of accounting Men Righteous by Faith and their way of seeking Righteousness upon the terms of the first Covenant were utterly inconsistent and the one destructive of the other and that but one of these ways could possibly stand For if they which are of the Law be Heirs Faith is made void and the Promise made of none effect Rom. 4.14 And again If the Inheritance be of the Law it is no more of Promise But God gave it to Abraham by Promise Gal. 3.18 And if by Grace then it is no more of Works otherwise Grace is no more Grace c. Rom. 11.6 3. And that the Law did not exclude the Promise to Abraham he farther argues in that the Covenant with Abraham was confirmed and unalterably setled and established in the Messias 430 Years before the Law by Moses was given and that therefore for them to go about to introduce the Law in the room of the Promise to Abraham so confirmed would be as unreasonable and unjust as for one Man to alter or make void anothers Covenant after he hath confirmed it Gal. 3.15 17. Brethren I speak after the manner of men though it be but a Mans Covenant yet if it be confirmed no Man disannulleth or addeth thereto And this I say that the Covenant that was confirmed before of God in Christ the Law which was 430 Years after cannot disannul that it should make the Promise of none effect 4. St. Paul argues it impossible in the nature of the thing that they should be justified by the Law because one main end of God's promulging the Law of Nature which yet was a great part of the first Covenant was to convince Men of their Guilt and of their obnoxiousness to Wrath and to stop their Mouthes and to leave them without any plea of defence as from it Rom. 3.19 20. Now we know that what things soever the Law saith it saith to them who are under the Law That every mouth may be stopt and all the world may become guilty before God Therefore by the deeds of the Law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight for by the Law is the knowledge of sin And if the Law doth convict Men it cannot justifie them For the same Law cannot both Condemn and Justifie the same person in reference to the same Charge If all are Cast and Condemned by the Original Law as they are for he hath concluded all under sin that he might have mercy upon all Gal. 3. then so many as come to be justified after this must needs be justified by another Law superceding that and that is none other than the Law of Grace The Law of Nature Curseth every one that hath broken it though but once and therefore it cannot justifie them too Out of the same mouth in this case doth not proceed Blessing and Cursing 5. He argues this Opinion of theirs to be contrary to the Doctrine of the Prophets many hundred years after as well as contrary to the Promise to Abraham long before the Law That no man is justified by the Law in the sight of God it is evident For the just shall live by Faith and the Law is not of Faith but the man that doth them shall live in them Gal. 3.11 12. from Heb. 2.4 The Law is not of Faith that is it doth not promise Pardon or any other Blessing upon Believing but upon condition of Doing the things therein required the man that doth them shall live in them Levit. 18.5 6. The insufficiency of the first Covenant to make Men Eternally Happy and the necessity and validity of the second to that end as further argued in Heb. 8. from another famous Prophecy in Jer. 31.31 c. of God's making a New Covenant with Israel and Judah in the latter days not according to that he made with their Fathers when he brought them out of Egypt 1. It 's argued that the first Covenant was but Temporary and being old was ready to vanish and to give place tâ— a New and Everlasting Covenant Chap. 8.13 2. That the first Covenant was faulty or defective or else there would have been no place sought for a second ver 7. 3. That the Promises of that first Covenant were not of such things as Men stand in need of to make them everlastingly Happy as those better Promises of the second Covenant are ver 6. 4. And yet more particularly that in this New Covenant there is promise of such a forgiveness of sins as that iniquity shall be remembred no more ver 12. whereas the first Covenant did not promise any such Pardons All that it promised was a forgiveness only as to the concerns of this Life otherwise their sins were still kept upon the File to be taken away if ever taken away by the Mediator of the New Testament by means of his Death for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first Testament Chap. 9.15 But in those Sacrifices which were but the Sacrifices of the first Covenant there was a remembrance again made of sins every year Heb. 10.3 And now by all these reasonings of the Apostle put together it sufficiently appears that the unbelieving Jews did expect Justification and Eternal Life only upon the terms of the first Covenant and that they held that Covenant as comprehending the Covenant of Circumcision to be the Covenant of Eternal Life And indeed this last mentioned Error of theirs in holding the first Covenant to be the Covenant of Salvation did in a manner contain in it all the rest mentioned before which did naturally grow out of it For if that had been the Covenant of Salvation then it would have followed that the Sacrifices of that Covenant had been sufficient and the Death of Christ needless and that Circumcision and keeping the Law of Moses would have been necessary to the Salvation of the Gâ—ntiles c. And now after all this considering what Erroneous Opinions the incredulous Jews held about the Law and about Circumcision and considering in what sense they asserted Justification by the Law and by Circumcision it will be no difficult thing to understand exactly in what sense the Apostle doth every where deny Justification to be by the Law or by the Works of the Law
hereto that to be justified and to be saved is the same thing with St. James as well as it is with St. Paul according to the tenour of his Reasoning Chap. 2. from ver 14. to the end What doth it profit my brethren saith he though a man say he hath Faith and have not Works Can Faith save him Vers 14. This Interrogation implies an Emphatical Negation and the meaning is that such a Faith can by no means save a Man and he gives the reason of it twice over in vers 17 20. because Faith without Works is dead And then afterwards argues the necessity of Works together with Faith unto Justification or unto Salvation which was the thing he began with by God's justifying Abraham by Works together with his Faith who was the great Pattern or Example of God's justifying all others If then to be justified and to be saved amounts to the same in St. James's Discourse here then by the way they do not rightly understand St. James who think he doth not speak of a Justification before God in this his Discourse about Justification by Works together with Faith but of a Justification before Men and to their own Conscience only Which supposition of theirs doth directly thwart the very scope and design of his whole Discourse which is to set forth what will and what will not avail a Christian-Professor in the sight of God to the saving of his Soul as abundantly appears So that the Scripture which saith Abraham believed God and it was accounted to him for Righteousness and which St. James saith was fulfilled in Abraham's being justified by Works as well as by Faith was not fulfilled in Abraham's being justified to others and to his own Conscience but in his being justified before God and so St. Paul understood it Rom. 4.3 Gal. 3.6 But this was touched before in Chap. 1. The result then of what hath been argued in Answer to the Objection is this viz. That all that are justified are thereby put regularly into an immediate capacity of Salvation so that if they should dye the very next moment after they are once justified they would undoubtedly be saved And therefore Evangelical Obedience can be no more necessary to Salvation than it is to Justification and it is as necessary to the one as to the other And if to say Evangelical Obedience is necessary to Justification be injurious to Christ and to the Grace of God as some would pretend how comes it to pass then that to say Evangelical Obedience is necessary to Salvation is not so too For our final Salvation is as much the effect of God's Grace and of Christ's Undertaking for us as our Justification it self is and of as much Value And therefore if the one be not injurious in this kind neither is the other 8. As the Promise of forgiveness of sins by the Blood of Christ or the Promise of an interest in his Blood to the pardon of Sin is sometimes made unto Believing so sometimes again it is made unto Evangelical Obedience or a holy Life as in 1 Joh. 1.7 If we walk in the light as he is in the light that is endeavouring to be holy as God is holy then have we fellowship one with another and the Blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all Sin but otherwise it doth not And so the Christians to whom St. Peter wrote were said to be elect according to the fore-knowledge of God the Father through Sanctification of the Spirit unto obedience and sprinkling of the Blood of Jesus Christ 1 Pet. 1.2 But they were not elect to the benefit of being sprinkled with the Blood of Christ without Obedience And therefore by this we see also that Evangelical Obedience is part of the Condition of the Promise of Justification by the Blood of Christ 9. To forgive Injuries is an act of Evangelical Obedience to that Precept of our Lord Mar. 11.25 And yet without this act of Obedience Men that have been injured cannot be justified because they cannot be pardoned according to the Word of our Lord Mark 11.26 Mat. 6.15 and 18.35 Therefore Evangelical Obedience must needs be part of the Condition of Justification 10. Repentance is an eminent Act of Evangelical Obedience Acts 17.30 and yet pardon of sin which is essential to Justification is not to be obtained without it Luke 13.3 5. Therefore again it follows that Evangelical Obedience is necessary to Justification and part of the Condition of it And now by this time I suppose it fully appears to any unprejudiced Reader that the Doctrine of St. Paul yea and of St. Peter and John too do fully accord with the Doctrine of St. James touching the necessity of Evangelical Obedience unto Justification The opposition then which some have made between Faith and all Internal and External Works in reference to Justification as well Evangelical as Mosaical hath not been only without Scripture-ground but against Scripture-evidence and looks more like that which was made by the Gnosticks or other Solisidians opposed by St. James if it be not the very same than any the Scripture any where maketh And how much injury the Christian Religion and the Souls of Men may have suffered thereby is a thing to be thought on and sadly laid to Heart It is a pleasant Doctrine and the worst of Men called Christians are glad to hear that they may be justify'd by Christ only upon their Believing in him without any Works of Righteousness or Self-denial of their own And upon that account presuming verily that they do Believe they are confident that they are justify'd though they are unsanctify'd But those especially are in great danger of deceiving their own Souls by building their Confidence upon this Doctrine who together with this Belief have more of the form of Godliness than the other have and are found much more in the use and exercise of the external Devotional part of Religion and are zealous for this or that Opinion Party or Way which they think most Orthodox though they be greatly destitute of Love to the Nature of God and of Humility Charity strict Justice Fidelity Peaceableness Sobriety Temperance Modesty and Meekness and of that renewed frame of Soul which would make them like Christ Jesus wherein the power of Christianity doth consist The external Duties of Hearing Reading Praying and the rest being in great part but means referring to the other as the end So that no Man is to account himself truly Religious further than he attains to these truly Christian Qualifications by the use of the External Mâ—ans and Internal Aids Yea the â—â—â—shly part even in Mâ—n good in the main is very apt to make an advantage of such a Doctrine as aforesaid to the lessening of their Care Dilience and Zeal in working out their Salvation in striving to enter in at the straight Gate in governing their own Spirits and Appetites in cleansing themselves from all filthiness of Flesh and Spirit and
2. The faith without Works which we find mention made of in the Scriptures as that which will as little avail us as the former is a Dead Faith And this we are told in the same Scriptures what it is that it is also a bare Assent of the Mind only which does not stir up the Will to chuse nor the Affections to delight in the Laws of God but is utterly barren and fruitless in Good Works Faith if it hath not Works is dead being alone Jam. 2.17 And so far is such a Faith as this which does not move and stir us up to Good Works from being acceptable to God to our Justification and Salvation that v. 19 20. it is compared to the Faith of Devils and is reckon'd no better 3. A little Faith and Faith which has not taken deep root in the Heart 3. Again We find mention in the Scriptures of a Little Faith Matth. 6.30 and of Faith that has not taken root Luke 8.13 Either of which is a Faith which will carry Men to something of Religious Performances but is not strong enough to bear 'em up under the Difficulties of Religion and through all the Temptations of the World the Flesh and the Devil Thus those who in the use of honest means cannot trust in God for the providing themselves of all things necessary for this Life but are full of carking Thoughts for the morrow that is for the future are upbraided by our Saviour Matth. 6.30 as Persons of Little Faith Why take you thought for Raiment If God so cloath the Grass of the Field which to day is and to morrow is cast into the Oven shall he not much more cloath you O ye of little Faith And those who when shockt with any Temptations do thereupon yield because their Faith hath taken no root they are compared to stony Ground of which it is said that when they hear they receive the Word with Joy but not having root these do but for a while Believe and in time of Temptation fall away Luke 8.13 4. Even the Faith of Miracles will prove insufficient to Justification if not accompany'd with Obedience 4. As to that which may be defective and fall short of a Justifying and Saving Faith this we are told even the Faith of Miracles will do if it be not accompany'd with Good Works This Miraculous Faith we find often mention'd in the Scriptures And it was a strong Perswasion wrought in the Party by the Spirit of God that by the Power and Authority of Jesus he should do such a Miracle beyond the Power of Nature to be perform'd as the casting out Devils by the Word of his Mouth But even this Faith of Miracles if it is not accompany'd with Good Works of which Charity and Love to one another is the chief will signifie nothing so says St. Paul 1 Cor. 13.2 Tho' I have all Faith so that I could remove Mountains and have no Charity I am nothing Especially accompany'd with Pride Many we are told Matth. 7. will presume much upon their excellent Gifts of Prophecying or Preaching fluently and of their Power even to cast out Devils but yet our Saviour protests he will not so much as know them if they have been wicked Livers if proud and full of themselves and contemptuous of others as Gifted Persons are apt to be Many will say unto me in that day Lord Lord have we not prophecy'd in thy Name and in thy Name cast out Devils and in thy Name done many wonderful Works And then will I profess unto them I never knew you depart from me ye that work Iniquity vers 22 23. No nothing he assures us will ever avail us to Happiness and Salvation less than such a Faith as will procure a sincere Obedience to his Holy Will and Commandments Not every one that saith unto me Lord Lord shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven but he that doth the Will af my Father which is in Heaven v. 21. 5. The Faith of Hypocrites Lastly Another sort of Faith which will not Justifie nor Save us may be stiled the Faith of Hypocrites and this is the Faith of such who expect to be Justified and Sav'd meerly for Believing or rather for Relying and Recumbing upon Christ without performing the other Conditions of Repentance and Obedience which are the necessary Effects or Ingredients rather of Justifying and Saving Faith and without which it is not our Believing alone which will at all avail us Of this sort were many among the Jews of old of whom the Prophets do often complain that looking upon themselves as a Chosen Nation as a peculiar People whom God had Elected out of all the Nations of the Earth to bestow his Favours upon Such was the Faith of many among the Jews presuming that they were a chosen People they would confidently lean and depend upon him that he would assuredly be their God and that they should be his People notwithstanding that they gave themselves up to work all Unrighteousness and were cruel Extortioners Oppressors and the like Thus Micah 3.9 11. They abhor Judgment and pervert Equity yet they will lean upon the Lord and say Is not the Lord among us None Evil can come upon us And Isaiah complains that tho' they would swear falsly by the Name of the Lord yet they had the Confidence to call themselves the Holy City and to stay themselves upon the God of Israel Isai 48.1 2. And there are too many also amongst us Christians And such is the Faith also of many Christians presuming likewise that they are the Elect. who confidently presuming that they are the Elect Children of GOD do undoubtedly hope for all that Pardon and Happiness which Christ with the Price of his most Precious BLOOD hoth obtained for us meerly upon the account of their firmly Believing that Christ hath done all for 'em and if they can but Believe this they fondly perswade themselves they shall certainly be Justify'd let them be never so Wicked and Disobedient to God's most Righteous Laws yea tho' they are Proud Boasters Covetous Envious and Bitter Revilers of those who are much better than themselves And in this their wholly depending upon Christ without any Good in themselves they think they shall most Honour Christ and set forth the Greatness of his Redemption of us whereas to preach the necessity of our own Righteousness tho' wrought by his Grace and accompany'd with many Defects were to teach Men to depend as they foolishly enough imagine not upon the Merits of Christ but their own Deserts which are none at all and so would derogate from and lessen the Grace of Christ and the Greatness of that Redemption he hath wrought for us And this sort of Faith or Dependence upon Christ alone as those before mention'd Micah 3.11 and Isai 48.1 2. So our Christian Hypocrites likewise call Leaning upon the Lord and casting themselves upon the God of Israel a
For doubtless St. Paul's denial of Justification and Salvation to be by the Law or Works of the Law is to be understood in the very same sense in which the incredulous Jews against whom he Disputed did hold these to be attainable thereby For else his Reasonings would have been beside the Question under debate between them And therefore we must take our measure of St. Paul's sense in the Negative part of the Question by his Adversaries sense of it in the Affirmative And if so then in his denying Justification and Salvation to be by the Law or by Works of the Law we must understand him to deny a freedom from the Eternal Punishment to be attainable by Legal Sacrifices And also to deny that the promise of Eternal Life was made upon condition of Literal Circumcision and a Literal observation of the Mosaical Law without being by Faith renewed in the inward frame and moral constitution of the Soul and likewise to deny Eternal Life to be attainable by the terms of their Political Covenant the Promises whereof were not made upon condition of Believing but of Doing The Law is not of Faith but the man that doth those things shall live in them Gal. 3.12 For these and such-like were the Opinions which those Jews did hold as I have shewed and these were the things in which St. Paul opposed them They divided and separated Circumcision and the Law in the Letter of them from the Spirit of them both claiming Justification by the Letter alone And they divided the Law from the Promise rightly understood and looked to be Justified by Works of the Law without Faith in the Promise rightly understood They looked for the Messias indeed but not to become a Propitiation for Sin or to establish a New Covenant of Salvation but to further their Temporal and Eternal Felicity in the way of their Obedience to the Political Law But then it doth not in the least appear that St. Paul in denying Justification to be by the Law in the sense thus explained doth also thereby deny Works of sincere Obedience to God to concur with Faith in Man's Justification in all respects And if any shall yet suppose that St. Paul in denying Justification by Works in the Jews corrupt sense doth also on the by deny all Works of Evangelical Obedience to bear any part of the Condition on which God promiseth to justifie Men through Christ such a Supposition if admitted would make his Doctrine herein inconsistent not only with the Faith of the holy Men of Old who were wont to express the Condition of the Covenant of Mercy by loving God and keeping his Commandments but it would also make him inconsistent with himself and his own Doctrine and the Doctrine of other Apostles as I doubt not but plainly to make appear before I have done with this Discourse There is one Character of Works given by which you may certainly know what Works they were which St. Paul denied Men were justified by and they were such Works which were apt to occasion boasting Ephes 2.9 Not of Works lest any man should boast Rom. 4.2 For if Abraham were justified by Works to wit in the Jews sense by Circumcision in the Flesh to which St. Paul alludes ver 1. he hath whereof to glory but not before God but only before Men who were not Circumcised as he was For the unbelieving Jews who sought and expected Justification by Circumcision and other Legal Observations did glory over the poor Gentiles that were destitute of those Works which consisted in the outward Privileges which the Jews had and looked down upon them with contempt though some of them were much better than themselves such as Cornelius whom they looked upon as unclean This boasting humor of the Jews over the Gentiles is described and reproved Rom. 2. from ver 17. to 29. Now the Doctrine of Justification by Faith of obtaining pardon by anothers Undertaking for us to wit Christ Jesus and of being accepted with God through him upon our sincere though otherwise imperfect Obedience which sincere Obedience too is not performed without his special Grace and Assistance takes away all occasion of boasting in reference both to God and Men and laid the Jews as low as the Gentiles and made St. Peter a Jew to say But we believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved even as they Acts 15.11 And therefore vvheâ— St. Paul had said that now the righteousness of God without the Law is manifested even the righteousness of God which is by Faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe for there is no difference meaning betvveen Jews and Gentiles Rom. 3.21 22. he thereupon demands in ver 27. saying Where is boasting then It is excluded By what Law Of Works Nay but by the Law of Faith Therefore we find the holy Men of old among the Jews who expected Acceptance with God upon other terms than the Pharisaical Jews did who placed their Confidence called trusting in the flesh Phil. 3.4 in their External Privileges and Performances alone were so far from glorying in such a Righteousness as that that they cryed out in reference to that All our righteousnesses are as filthy rags Isa 64.6 Thus Regenerating Grace made David so far from boasting either of Privileges or of his Performances that he said unto God Who am I and what is my people that we should be able to offer so willingly after this sort for all things come of thee and of thine own have we given thee 1 Chron. 29.14 This made St. Paul to say We are not sufficient of our selves as of our selves to think any thing but our sufficiency is of God 2 Cor. 3.5 And by the grace of God I am what I am 1 Cor. 15.10 And of him are we in Christ Jesus who of God is made unto us Wisdom Righteousness Sanctification and Redemption that he that gloriet h may glory in the Lord having nothing but what he hath received from him gratis and without all desert yea contrary to his demerits 1 Cor. 1.30 31. The good Works which the Saints do they do them by vertue of their being created in Christ Jesus in order thereunto Ephes 2.10 and all that is good is through Christ strengthening them Phil. 4.13 From whence therefore we may well conclude that if the Works which St. Paul wholly excludes in the matter of Justification were only such as were apt to occasion boasting that then Acts of Evangesical Obedience were none of those Works According to the sense explained then I presume we may well understand that Text Rom. 3.28 which of all others seems in the Phrase and Expression to be most Exclusive of Works in the point of Justification the Words are these Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by Faith without the deeds of the Law Which words if you consider the context seem to import no more but this viz. That a Man
That Christ hath redeemed us from the Curse of the Law being made a Curse for us Gal. 3.13 And that he Blotted out the Hand-writting of Ordinances that was against us which was contrary to us and took it out of the way nailing it to his Cross Col. 2.14 and that He is the Mediator of a Better Covenant Heb. 8.6 In short the Case is this All Mankind having Rebell'd against God and by their Breach of Covenant with Him made it impossible for 'em to be Justify'd by that Original Law of Righteousness which requir'd an Unsinning Obedience and whilst Vnjustified they must of necessity be in a State of Damnation that to the Honour of God's Government his Justice might be satisfied for the Violation of his Laws and yet that we might be reinstated in a Capacity of being Justified and Sav'd by virtue of a more Gracious Covenant consisting of Terms and Conditions performable by us our Saviour Jesus Christ did Satisfie for our Transgressions and moreover Purchase with the Price of his Most PRECIOUS BLOOD such Terms and Conditions for us as by His Grace and Assistance we might be able to perform and upon such Performance God being always ready to Approve of us and to Judge us as having Obey'd his Gospel Therefore it must be that through Jesus Christ it is that God does accordingly Justifie and Adjudge us as Righteous Persons And therefore in this sence it is true and none other that Christ's Righteousness is imputed to us Christ's Righteousness imputed to us no otherwise than in its Effects and Consequences It is not possible that his Personal Righteousness should be imputed to us as ours so that we shall be look'd upon as having perfectly kept the Law in him an Opinion that has no Foundation in Scripture is absurd in Reason and is dangerous with respect to Practice it being a very great Temptation to Persons to cease their Endeavours to be inherently Righteous themselves which at best cannot be but in imperfect degrees when they are perswaded that they shall be accounted such by having the unspotted Righteousness of Christ thus imputed to 'em But let no Man deceive you saith St. John he that doth Righteousness is Righteous as he is Righteous 1 John 3.7 Yet however the Righteousness of Christ is imputed to us in its Effects and Consequences for by his fulfilling the Law of Mediation and those Conditions concluded upon betwixt Him and the Father in which consisted his Mediatorial Righteousness he procur'd and purchas'd for us that Inestimable Favour that our imperfect Righteousness such as we by his Grace are enabled to perform according to the Terms of the Gospel should be accepted to our Justification and thereupon that we should be Approved as Just and should stand recti in Curia according to Evangelical Terms the Gospel Rules and Measures of Righteousness Thus all having sinned and come short of the Glory of God we are Justified freely by his Grace through the Redemption that is in Jesus Christ whom God hath set forth to be a Propitiation for our Sins through Faith in his Blood to declare his Righteousness for the Remission of Sins that are past through the Forbearance of God Rom. 3.23 24 25. That is all Mankind both Jews and Gentiles being found Sinners neither Justification nor Salvation could be had for 'em according to the Terms of the First Covenant Whensoever therefore any are Justify'd it must be freely by the undeserved Favour of God through the Great Work which Jesus Christ hath wrought for the Redemption of Man accepting of their imperfect Righteousness instead of an unsinning Obedience and pardoning their Sins through the same Christ Which brings me to the last Particular to be accounted for in my Description of Justification but makes it unnecessary to add much more explication of it And that is this Fifthly 5. Justification an Acquitting of all sincere Penitents from the Punishments of all those Sins of which according to the Terms of any preceeding Covenant there was Remission That Justification is an Acquitting of all sincere Penitents from the Punishment of those Sins of which according to the Terms of any former Covenant there was no place for Pardon By what has been already said you see that the First Covenant which requir'd a Righteousness not performable by us in our fallen State being cancell'd through Christ there is place for Repentance in this Covenant of Grace And as under this our Repentance is a great part of our Evangelical Righteousness so the Acquitting us upon our Repentance from the Punishment of our Sins is a great part of God's Justification of us through our Saviour Christ And that God's Acquitting of us from the Punishment of those Sins we have Repented of is one Notion of a Christian's Justification appears from that eminent Place Acts 13.38 39. Be it known unto you Brethren that through this Man is preached unto you the Forgiveness of Sins and by him all that Believe are Justify'd from all things from which ye could not be Justify'd by the Law of Moses In which words as it is evident that the Gospel of Christ allows Pardon upon our Repentance for those Sins for which the First Covenant that of Moses and much less that made with Adam allow'd no Mercy So it is also manifest from hence that the Justification which is now declar'd from Christ consists in God's pardoning such Sins Acquitting the Penitent Believer that now comes into the Obedience of Christ whatsoever his past Sins have been And this part of Justification the Pardoning of our Sins is that which the Apostle means by not Imputing of our Sins Rom. 4.7 8. Blessed are they whose Iniquities are Forgiven and whose Sins are Covered Blessed is the Man unto whom the Lord will not impute Sin In which place he who considers the drift and force of St. Paul's Discourse will easily perceive that Justification Forgiveness of Sins Covering of Sin and not Imputing of Sin are equivalent Phrases and signifie the same thing And thus at length I think I have fully and sufficiently declar'd unto you the meaning of Justification And from what has been said it does appear that to the Praise and Glory of his Grace he hath made us acceptable in the Beloved in whom we have Redemption through his Blood the Forgiveness of Sins according to the Riches of his Grace Eph. 1.6 7. That is from what has been said in the Explication of this Point of Justification it is manifest that as it consists in God's Adjudging of us as Righteous according to the Terms of the Second Covenant and in his Acquitting of us from the Punishment of such Sins as would not be pardon'd under any other So the Favour of being thus Justify'd by God in both its parts is owing to the Mediation of his Beloved Son our Saviour Christ in whom he is so well pleased as to be pleased also with us upon his Account And thus having given you