Gospel prescribes which is contained in the Sermons and Parables of Christ and consists in a sincere and universal obedience to the Commands of God That we may the better understand this we must observe farther that this Righteousness of God that which he commands and rewards is the Righteousness of Faith or Righteousness by the Faith of Christ Now Faith and Faith in Christ is often used objectively for the Gospel of Christ which is the object of our Faith or contains those matters which are to be believed and so the Righteousness of Faith or by the Faith of Christ is that Righteousness which the Gospel commands Thus in Acts 24. 24. Felix sent for Paul and heard him concerning the Faith of Christ that is concerning Righteousness Temperance and the judgment to come Ver. 25. which are the principal matters of the Gospel thus obedience to the Faith is obedience to the Gospel Rom. 1. 5. In this sense Faith and Works are opposed to each other in St. Pauls Epistles as hath been abundantly proved by others the great dispute in the Epistle to the Romans is whether we must be justified by the Law of Moses or by the Faith of Christ that is whether the observation of all the external Rites and Ceremonies of the Law and an external conformity of our Actions to the moral Precepts of it will justifie a man before God or that sincere and universal obedience which the Gospel of Christ requires which transforms our minds into the likeness of God and makes us new Creatures And that this Righteousness of Faith and this alone can recommend us to God the Apostle proves from the example of Abraham in the 4. Chapter who was accounted Righteous for the sake of his sincere and stedfast belief of Gods promises Abraham believed God and it was counted to him for Righteousness Ver. 3. and this while he was uncricumcised which is a convincing argument against the Jews that Circumcision and the observance of the Law of Moses is not necessary to justification because Abraham who was the Father of the faithful and is set forth for the Pattern of our justification was justified without it But that we may understand what this justification by Faith is and how the Apostle argues from Abrahams being justified by Faith to prove that we must now be justified by the Faith of Christ it is necessary to enquire what that Faith was whereby Abraham was justified and what agreement there is between the Faith of Abraham and Faith in Christ. For Abrahams Faith was not a Faith in Christ but Abraham believed God and it was counted to him for Righteousness Christ indeed was the Material object of Abrahams Faith that is he believed that promise which God made of sending Christ into the World upon which account our Saviour tells the Jews your Father Abraham rejoiced to see my day and he saw it and was glad Iohn 8 5 6. But no man could believe in Christ till he came that is could not believe any thing upon his Authority which is the true notion of believing in him as you shall hear more presently There is not a plainer argument how apt men are to pervert the Scriptures to reconcile them to their own prejudices and preconceived opinions than to observe what work they make with Abrahams Faith as if that Faith which was imputed to him for Righteousness were a fiducial reliance and recumbency on Christ for Salvation upon which the Righteousness of Christ apprehended by Faith was imputed to him for suppose this imputation of Christs Righteousness were revealed in the most plain and express words in the New Testament yet it is hard to conceive how Abraham should learn this great Mystery from that general and obscure promise In thy seed shall all the Nations of the Earth be blessed which is all that was ever revealed to Abraham concerning Christ This is such a train of thoughts from in thy seed shall all the Nations of the Earth be blessed to the imputation of Christs Righteousness as Mr. Hobs himself could never have hit on for is there no possible way for God to bless the World but by the imputation of Christs Righteousness or is there such a natural and necessary connexion between this blessing and the imputation of Christs Righteousness that we cannot understand the one without the other Pray let us consider how many things Abraham must distinctly know according to these mens own principles before he could come to the knowledge of the imputation of Christs Righteousness and he would be a wonderful man indeed who could learn all this from that general promise without some more particular revelation As first he must be well assured that the Blessings here meant are spiritual blessings pardon of sin and eternal life and that Christ should be a spiritual King and Saviour and though this be the least difficulty of all yet the promise is not so clear and express in this matter but that men might mistake it and so we know the whole Iewish Nation for many Ages did who had more particular promises concerning Christ than this was and yet expected only a Temporal Prince who should sit on the Throne of David and subdue their Enemies under their feet and this was the great prejudice which the Iews had against Christ and his Religion that he so much deceived their expectations by his mean appearance And secondly Abraham must know too that Christ was to die for the sins of the World without which according to the Doctor it is impossible God should forgive sin considering the naturalness of his vindictive Iustice to him and this was more than the Apostles of Christ themselves understood till after his Resurrection though Christ had expresly told them of it And Thirdly He must understand also the perfect Holiness and Innocency of Christs life and that he fulfilled all righteousness not for himself but for us Nay Fourthly He must understand that great Mystery of the Incarnation of the Son of God for without this it is impossible to understand the vertue and efficacy of his expiation and Sacrifice and Righteousness since the sufferings of a meer man could never expiate sin nor his Righteousness serve any more than himself And Fifthly He must understand also that intimate oneness and Conjunction which is betwixt Christ and his Church by vertue of which Union believers may challenge a right to all that Christ did and suffer'd which is such a riddle as these men explain it as is not understood to this day And Sixthly He must understand too the nature of Faith of rowling the Soul on Christ for Salvation and renouncing all Righteousness of his own and then possibly he might without any more ado understand this great Mystery of the imputation of Christs Righteousness and he that can believe that Abraham could learn all this from that general promise In thy seed shall all the Nations of the Earth be blessed may believe what he will and
Law of Moses the motions of sin which were by the Law which grew more boisterous and unruly by the prohibitions of the law v. 8. did work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death i. e. did betray us to those wicked actions which end in Death but now we are delivered from the law that being dead in which we were held that we should serve in newness of the Spirit and not in the oldness of the letter So that the reason why the Law of Moses was abrogated was because it could not make men good It nursed them up in a ritual and external Religion taught them to serve God in the letter by Circumcision and Sacrifices or an external Conformity to the letter of the law But the Gospel of Christ alone teacheth us to worship God with the Spirit to offer a reasonable Sacrifice to him to fulfil the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 all that internal Righteousness of which those legal Ceremonies were the Signs and Sacraments This is the plain meaning of the Apostle which can never be reconciled with an imputed Righteousness which would make his argument foolish and absurd and therefore in other places he tells us what little reason we have to be so zealous for the law of Moses since we have the perfection of it in the Gospel what need is there of the Circumcision of the flesh which the law required when in the Gospel we have that Circumcision made without hands in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the Circumcision of Christ which is the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the perfection of that fleshly Circumcision What need is there of legal washings and purifications when they are all eminently fulfilled in the washing of Regeneration in the Gospel Baptism Thus we are compleat in Christ who hath perfectly instructed us in the will of God and instituted such a Religion as is the perfection of all external Ceremonies Col. 2. Ver. 10 11 12. We must now offer a nobler Sacrifice than the law of Moses commanded not the Sacrifices of dead Beasts but of a living and active Soul Rom. 12. 1. Hence Christ is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the end of the law i. e. the perfection and accomplishment of the law as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies for righteousness to them that believe Rom. 10. 4. That is the Gospel of Christ requires that righteousness of us which the law did only typifie and represent that holiness and purity of mind which is the perfection of all legal righteousness for that Christ should be made the end of the law for righteousness by the imputation of his righteousness to us hath no foundation in the Text. The Apostle explains what he means by this in the following Verses where he gives us a description of the righteousness of the law and the righteousness of Faith The righteousness of the law is an external Conformity to the letter of the Law The man that doth them shall live in them i. e. shall enjoy all those temporal blessings of the Land of Canaan which were promised to the observance of the Law but the righteousness of Faith is a firm and stedfast belief of the Divine Authority of Christ that he is the Lord and more particularly a belief of his Resurrection from the dead as the last and great confirmation which God gave to the Divinity of Christs Person and Doctrine This is that Faith that overcomes the World and purifies the heart and transforms us into the likeness of God which is the perfection of all the ritual righteousness of the Law Upon this account Christ is said to be made unto us righteousness 1 Cor. 1. 20. But of him are you in Christ who of God is made unto us Wisdom and Righteousness and Sanctification and Redemption i. e. he is the Author of all this to us He is our Wisdom as he is our great Prophet and Teacher who instructs us in true Wisdom Our Righteousness as we are justified by Faith in him by a sincere belief of his Gospel which is the only Righteousness acceptable to God Our Sanctification because the law of the spirit of life in Christ Iesus makes us free from the law of sin and death that Divine and Spiritual law of Faith conquers the Power and Dominion of sin which the law of Moses could not do and our Redemption as by these means he hath deliver'd us from the bondage and pedagogie of the Jewish Law from the Idolatrous Customs of the Heathens and the Tyranny of wicked Spirits and from the wrath of God which is the just merit and desert of sin Thus you see how the Apostle opposes the righteousness of the law to the righteousness of Faith not as an Inherent and Personal to an Imputed Righteousness but as an External and Ritual to an Inherent real and substantial Righteousness this is the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the foundation of all other mistakes in this matter that by the righteousness of the law and the righteousness of works most men understand an internal holiness the Conformity of our hearts and lives to all moral Precepts and Rules of a good life and then conclude that if this Righteousness will not please God nothing but an Imputed Righteousness can though I should rather have concluded that nothing can but the truth is the Righteousness of the Law and of Works in the New Testament signifies only an external Righteousness which cannot please God and that internal holiness which they call the righteousness of the Law is that very Righteousness of Faith which the Gospel commands and which God approves and rewards and this Imputed Righteousness is no where to be found that I know of but in their own fancies Let us now consider in what sense the Apostle opposes his own Righteousness to the Righteousness of God not having mine own Righteousness but the Righteousness which is of God by Faith and there is no great difficulty in this for the Apostle himself tells us that by his own righteousness he means the righteousness of the law and by the Righteousness of God the Righteousness of Faith And be found in him not having mine own righteousness which is of the law but that which is through the Faith of Christ the Righteousness which is of God by Faith and what that is you have already heard thus in Rom. 10. 3. For they being ignorant of Gods Righteousness and going about to establish their own righteousness have not submitted to the Righteousness of God where their own righteousness which the Jews so obstinately adhered to was the righteousness of the law and the Righteousness of God which they were ignorant of and would not submit to was the Righteousness of Faith for this was the great controversie between the Jews and Apostles which is the subject of this Epistle whether men were to be justified by the law of Moses or by the Gospel of Christ by a legal or Evangelical Righteousness as
account with God than ignorance unless it be to aggravate their sins and their condemnation SECT II. Of acquaintance with the Person of Christ. AFter this plain account wherein the Knowledge of Christ consists the sum of which is that to know Christ is to understand his Gospel which contains all those revelations he made of God's will it will be necessary to examine another notion of the Knowledge of Christ very distinct from this which contains a greater secret than at first one would imagine and that is an acquaintance with the Person of Christ which if we will believe some men is the only fountain of saving knowledge I shall not envy the Author the glory of this discovery and therefore shall honestly confess where I had it viz. in a Book Entitled Communion with God the Father Son and Holy Ghost each Person distinctly Written by Iohn Owen D. D. And that I may not do this Author wrong I must tell you what he means by acquaintance with Christ's Person an account of which we have in digression 2. pag. 87. of the excellency of Christ Iesus Where he tells us that Christ is not only the Wisdom of God but made wisdom to us not only by teaching us wisdom that is by the Doctrines he preached and those revelations he hath made of God's will as he is the great Prophet of the Church but also because by the knowing of him we become acquainted with the wisdom of God which is our wisdom To which purpose he applies that Text which speaks of the Doctrines and Revelations of Christ to his Person Coll. 2. 3. For in him dwell all the Treasures of Wisdom and Knowledge So that our acquaintance with Christ's Person in this man's Divinity signifies such a knowledge of what Christ is hath done and suffered for us from whence we may learn those greater deeper and more saving Mysteries of the Gospel which Christ hath not expresly revealed to us for so he adds soon after that these properties of God his pardoning mercy c. Christ hath revealed in his Doctrine in that revelation he hath made of God and his will but the life of this knowledge lies in an acquaintance with his Person wherein the express image and beams of this glory of his Father doth shine forth that is that these things are clearly eminently and savingly only to be discovered in Iesus Christ as he explains himself So that it seems the Gospel of Christ makes a very imperfect and obscure discovery of the nature and Attributes and will of God and the methods of our recovery we may thoroughly understand whatever is revealed in the Gospel and yet not have a clear and saving knowledge of these things unless we gain a more intimate acquaintance with the Person of Christ. This indeed advances the Person of Christ very much but is no great commendation of his Gospel and prophetick office It sets up a new rule of Faith above the Gospel viz. an acquaintance with Christ's Person in whom dwell all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge But that you may better understand the whole mystery of this Acquaintance with the Person of Christ I shall first show you what additions these men make to the Gospel of Christ from an acquaintance with his Person and secondly show you what an unsafe way of arguing this is and how prejudicial to the Christian Religion First to show you what additions these men make to the Gospel of Christ from an acquaintance with his Person And I confess I am very much beholden to this Author for acknowledging whence they fetch all their Orthodoxy and Gospel Mysteries for I had almost pored my eyes out with seeking for them in the Gospel and could never find them but I learn now that indeed they are not to be found there unless we be first acquainted with the Person of Christ. This is an argument well worth considering and if this discourse should prove long as I fear it will I doubt not but the usefulness of it will be a sufficient reward both to the Writer and Reader And since I owe this discovery to Dr. Iohn Owen I shall confine my self to his method who in the place above-mentioned tells us that the sum of all true wisdom and knowledge may be reduced to these three heads First The knowledge of God his nature and properties Secondly The knowledge of our selves with reference to the will of God concerning us Thirdly Skill to walk in Communion with God In these three is summed up all true wisdom and knowledge and not any of them is to any purpose to be obtained or is manifested but only in and by the Lord Christ. Where By is fallaciously added to include the Revelations Christ hath made whereas his first undertaking was to show how impossible it is to understand these things savingly and clearly notwithstanding all those Revelations God hath made of himself and his will by Moses and the Prophets and by Christ himself without an acquaintance with his Person But to let that pass I shall begin with the knowledge of God his nature and properties and I shall not particularly examine every thing he says but principally take notice of those peculiar discoveries of the nature of God which the World was ignorant of before and of which Revelation is wholly silent but are now clearly and savingly learnt from an Acquaintance with Christ's Person The light of nature and the works of Creation and Providence and those manifold Revelations God hath made of himself to the World especially that last and most perfect Revelation by Iesus Christ our Lord assure us that God is infinite in all perfections that he is so powerful that he can do whatever he pleases so wise that he knows how to order every thing for the best so good that he desires and designs the happiness of all his Creatures according to the capacity of their natures so holy that he hath a natural love for all good men and will not fail to reward them but hates all sin and wickedness and will as certainly punish all obstinate and incorrigible Sinners but yet that he is very patient and long-suffering towards the worst of men and uses various methods of kindness and severity to reclaim them and is as ready to pardon them when they return to their duty as a kind Father is to receive an humble and penitent Prodigal These properties of God are plainly revealed in the Scripture without any further acquaintance with the Person of Christ And had Christ never appeared in the World yet we had reason to believe that God is thus wise and good and holy and merciful because not only the works of Nature and Providence but the word of God assure us that he is so the Appearance of Christ did not first discover the nature of God to us but only gave us a greater expression of God's goodness than ever we had before confirms us in the belief of what we had