of Evangelical obedience the greatest work the Gospel requires at our hands and that which produceth all other and 't is plainly made as such every where in Scripture the Condition of the New Law and that which it requires on our part to be performed in order to our Justification and Salvation And so the Apostle declares when he sayes We have believed that we might be justified That is We have performed the Condition required by the Gospel in order to Justification that so we might be justified thereby upon the terms thereof And for that reason as 't is the Condition of the New Law 't is accounted for Righteousness And so when God justified Abraham upon the terms of the New Covenant his Faith is said to be accounted for Righteousness because it was the performance of the Condition thereof And God was pleased to give an Instance in him what was to be the Condition of it which was a sincere Faith including a suitable obedience So far different was Abrahams Faith in its Nature and so far is all true gospel-Gospel-Faith from that Idea some men frame of it who ascribe no more to it then a Bare naked notional instrumentality Nor is there one Text in all the New Testament that excludes Gospel Works Evangelical obedience from being Conditionally necessary to our Justification and Salvation but they are universally made so as has been proved before For Whatever is requisite to constitute a man a good Christian is conditionally necessary to his Justification and no man can be interested in the Salvation purchased by Christ that does not subject himself to an universal obedience to all his Laws To distinguish as some do between Justification and Salvation and say that Gospel-works are necessary to the Latter but not to the Former is to distinguish where the Scripture makes no difference For The Apostles speak of a Justified person and a saved person as the same and of Justification and Salvation as so and they are both promiscuously promised to Believing St. James when he is discoursing of Justification asks this question can faith without works save you Where he means the same thing as if he had said can it justifie you Nor does it any more derogate from free Grace to make gospel-Gospel-works necessary to Justification then it does to ake them necessary to Salvation For they are both inseparably included each in other No man can be saved that is not Justified for whosoever is not justified at Gods Bar is condemned and whoever is justified is also glorified That Text of St. Paul Rom. 4. v. 5. duly considered does no way counenance any such Doctrine for the right understanding of which it wil be necessary to consider the whole Context In the first ver What shall we say then sayes the Apostle that Abraham our father from whom we derive our selves and who first received the Law of Circumcision the father of our Persons and of our Religion as pertaining to the flesh hath found 'T is an Interrogation importing a Negation Abraham did find nothing as pertaining to the flesh By flesh in Scripture besides the Corrupt acceptation it sometimes is meant the strength of natural abilities So Ismael is said to be born after the flesh that is by the meer and sole efficacy of nature in opposition to Isaacs being born 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 according to the spirit and after the promise And sometimes by Flesh is meant the Legal external priviledges of the Jews So in the 3d. of the Philip. 't is taken St. Paul sayes there If any other man thinketh he hath whereof he might trust in the flesh I more Circumcised the eighty day c. But 't is plain what St. Paul means here by flesh For what he calls flesh in the first ver he calls works in the second For if Abraham were justified by works he hath whereof to glory but not before God If Abraham were justified by the worth and value of his own performances of any works wrought in his own Strength and by his own Ability he had whereof to Glory But not before God which last clause is a positive Negation and comes in as a Minor proposition And so the the Apostles Argument is thus framed If Abraham were justified by works he had whereof to glory before God For 't is faith only that excludes glorying before God his reward would have been a debt But he had not whereof to glory before God Therefore he was not justified by works And that this is his meaning in those words But not before God is plain Because in the next words he applies himself in the proof of it For what saith the Scripture sayes he It does not say that Abraham was justified before God by works but Abraham believed God and it was accounted to him for Righteousness God out of favour and grace accepted his Faith for Righteousness which is implyed in the word Counted when he might justly have Refused so to do Abraham could not have claim'd it from any merit in strict rules of Justice Now to him that worketh in the 4th ver is the reward not reckoned of Grace but of Debt That is he that hath any thing due to his for what he has himself in his own strength done that Reward is a Debt and is not a reward of Grance And so if Abraham had been a man of such merits had done such works as would in their own nature have justified him and constituted him Righteous in the sight of God Gods justifying him and adjudging him righteous had been a debt due to him But Abraham was not so he was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Sinner and could claim nothing of Debt And God was pleased out of favour and grace to Reward Abrahams Faith and suitable obedience with an accounting it for Righteousness and to justifie him thereupon But to him that worketh not but believeth on him that justifyeth the ungodly his faith is accounted for Righteousness That is Dependeth not upon the strength of his own performances and such a sinless innocency as will in strict rules of Justice acquit him before God as Abraham did not but Believeth on God that justifies the ungodly That is a man that has not a Legal sinless perfection for that is meant by the ungodly his Faith is counted for Righteousness That is his Faith through Grace shall avail him as much to all intents and stand him in as much stead as a perfect sinless Righteousness would do Abrahm's Justification was not upon the terms of the Law or by perfection of Works which is inconsistent with Pardon for he was a great sinner and had lived for some time in Heathen Idolatry But he was justified upon the terms and conditions of another Covenant that is upon his believing God and reforming his Life was Pardoned and Accepted and his Faith and sincere reformation though the Grace of another Covenant was accounted to him for Righteousness Even so as the Idolatrous Gentiles though
longer be under a Law of works but under a Law of grace The Law could not attain its natural end by reason of mans impotency and so 't was a schoolmaster to bring us to Christ Nor did it in Christ for the Law required an unsinning righteousness from every particular person and not from Christ to satisfie for all others That depends purely upon Gods ordination To all unbelievers the Law remains still in force as it was first given and the wrath of God abides upon them thereby but to those that believe and so are within the Kingdom of the Mediator the Law is not in force as a Law of works but re-established by Him as part of the New Law and upon the same gracious terms that all other gospel-precepts are For the Apostle tells us we are not under the Law but under grace and yet tells us also the law is established by the Gospel All that discuss this point ought still to consider that our Justification is not Legal but Evangelical For we are justified with respect to the Law that is interested in Christs satisfaction upon performance of the Gospel-Condition and not otherwise 'T is not by the Law of Works any way considered that we are Actually and Personally justified The Apostle so concludes Rom. 3.38 A man is justified without the deeds of the law But 't is by the law of faith Whatever the Law of works requires God has accepted of satisfaction for our non-performance of it in our Surety and Representative and has impowered him to offer salvation upon the terms of a better covenant And the righteousness of God the Apostle tells us is now manifested without the law Our Justification is now upon the terms of a new recovering law of grace And 't is the righteousness of that we are now only obliged to perform When we are impleaded at the Bar of the Law we plead satisfaction in Christ for our Non-performance when we are impleaded at the Bar of the Gospel and put to prove our personal interest and propriety in that satisfaction then we are obliged to manifest our performance of the Gospel-condition and evidence the truth of our faith by which we are intituled to it Our Plea must then lye there So that with reference to the Law we are Justified that is Judicially pardoned and acquitted in judgment upon satisfaction made with reference to the Gospel upon performance of the condition And faith looks both wayes respects both the Law and the Gospel and comprizeth all that is requisite to our Justification with reference to both All the Charge of the Law it Answers ratione Objecti in respect of its Object which is Christ And all that is required by the Gospel ratione sui as being it self the performance of the Condition annexed thereunto To suppose that every Justified person as necessarily requisite to his Justification must be actually and personally possessed of all that unsinning obedience the strict rules of the Law required is a great mistake for none was ever so but Christ himself who became a Publick Satisfaction and Ransome for the whole Should any man now be Justified under the law of faith upon a strict performance of the law of works any way considered the Law would not then be relaxed but still strictly executed Now the truth is the Law is neither executed nor abrogated but relaxed and dispenced with Executed it is not for who then could be saved And the Apostle tells us Rom. 8. There is no 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus And abrogated it is not For 't is in full force a dreadful consideration to the wicked unbelieving part of the world with all its rigour against all those that do not believe and obey the Gospel and under the Gospel it self though we are freed from the curse of the Law yet we are still under the government of the Law in the sense before mentioned The condemning power is only taken off the commanding power is still continued And as some say though I think such ought well to consider what the Apostle sayes 1 Cor. ch 3. v. 22. not all the condemning power neither in matters temporal for the best men are still subjected to death natural and many sorrows And besides either a man must be possessed of such Legal Righteousness inherently or imputatively Inherently he cannot for the Scripture tells us that by the works of the Law no man living can be justified Nor can he be by way of imputation personally possessed of it For Christ himself did not nor could not in person perform all those individual acts the Law requires from every person that is Justified by it For when Christ is said to fulfill all righteousness 't is meant all made necessary by the law of his Mediatorship for himself to perform and not what every individual man was bound to perform And therefore no such imputation can ever be supposed unless we will suppose God to account me to have done that in Christ which Christ never did himself and in the Nature of the thing 't was impossible he should do Or else to account me to have done in mine own person all that Christ himself did in his person and so to be righteous in the very same spotless way and to the same transcendent degree that Christ was The only difference between those that assert the form of Justification to consist in the pardon of sin and those that say 't is requisite besides forgiveness of sin farther to take in the righteousness of Christ by imputation and that we should be pronounced righteous in judgment therein is this Whether Christs righteousness shall be reckoned and imputed to us in a way of Satisfaction made for our sins and disobedience upon a sincere belief of the Gospel and we reckoned righteous upon that account or whether it shall be so imputed as to be personally reckoned our own and to be adjudged righteous by God not for but in that very righteousness In both cases our Justification is bottom'd upon Christs alone righteousness and the imputation of it to us If the first be true then 't is undenyable contrary to what is objected that our Justification is our pardon and our pardon upon satisfaction made and accepted and the condition performed is that upon which we are constituted personally righteous For satisfaction made for an offender naturally and necessarily operates that way and cannot operate any other in judgment the vertue of it must needs be issued in pardon Now that the first is much likelier to be true and has much more of rational probability in it besides Scripture-testimony where we are said to be Ransom'd Redeem'd Purchased Bought with a price which all relate to satisfaction then the Later does from hence appear by that we are Justified as Sinners upon compensation made for our sins and are brought into a Righteous state by the pardon of them which is plainly the truth
Christ did and suffered in the effects and advantages of it should accrue to us and our account because he accepted him on our behalf and in our stead and that we should reap all the fruit and benefit of his Mediatorship And in this sense God is pleased to impute his whole Mediatory transaction unto us but no otherwise The whole of Christs satisfaction is imputed to us as made For us and so he is the Lord our righteousness but not as made By us but actually made by him And what can be more desired then to reap all the benefits of Christs whole undertaking and upon the account of it and its being accepted of God on our behalf to be pardoned justified sanctified and saved and as the Apostle expresseth it to have Christ made to us of God that is as the Fundamental cause procurer and spring of them a common head from whence they are all derived to us as his body wisdom righteousness sanctification and redemption Those that will press the point farther and insist upon personal imputation to every believer what Christ did ought well to consider these things First If every believer be personally righteous before God in the very individual Acts of Christs righteousness one of these two things will thence ensue Either that Christ in his own person did perform all the particular acts of righteousness required as due from each saved person or else that every is saved persons righteousness before God is identically and numerically the same with Christs in his publick capacity as Mediator and so every saved person is personally righteous with a righteousness that has a stock of merit in it sufficient to save the world unless you will say Christ had some righteousness that belong'd to him as Mediator and some that did not which is absurd to affirm for 't is plain all he did he did as Mediator nor had he any any concern in the world but as Mediator and none of his actions can be seperated from his Office being all pursuant of it The first will be granted was not nor had a possibility to be and yet no man can be personally righteous with respect to the Law but by an exact performance of every tittle and iota the Law required from him And the other has two very gross absurdities in it First That we should be accounted to have done that which was done long before we were in a capacity to do any thing And secondly That we should be reckoned personally righteous with the righteousness of God-man When first There is not a possibility that Man or Angel could perform any one Action with the Circumstances or in the Manner as he did Secondly Much of what he did was in its nature unlawfull for any else to undertake And thirdly The Whole of what he did was peculiarly appropriated and appurtenant to his Office as he was Mediator and cannot be suited to any other person nor is any part of it transferrable or imputable to any creature otherwise then in its operations and effects For he neither did nor suffered the very idem that we are obliged to for then he must have particularly done all the Law required from us and have suffered to eternity But he mad such a satisfaction to God for our Non-performance and on our behalf as became him as Mediator and such as that God is pleased thereupon to suspend the strict and rigorous execution of the Law and to bring us under a better Covenant Our case is not strictly that of a Debtor but of Rebellious Subjects nor stand we in our sins related to God as a Creditor but as a Supream Soveraign and Judge Nor did Christ sustain properly the place of a Surety to pay individually and identically our Debt but of a Mediator tomake reparation to divine Justice by another way then putting the Law in execution against us Secondly If every justified person be justified in judgment by the very acts of Christs personal righteousness accounted to him as his own it will then follow beyond any good answer that every man is justified by the works of the Law For Christs personal righteousness with respect to which he was justified as Mediator and approved of God to become a sufficient Saviour was a Legal righteousness and not an Evangelical This if sincere though imperfect will be accepted from us for Christs sake but would not so have been accepted from Christ for our Justification nor can it be well affirmed that Christ believed and obey'd his own Gospel That lyes on our part to perform Now that we should be justified by the works of the law is confuted by many Texts Rom. 3.28 the Apostle sayes Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law And Galat. 3.11 But that no nun is justified by the Law in the sight of God is evident for the just shall live by Faith and so in many other Texts And the whole scope of St. Paul in his discourses of Justification is to establish this point That no man is justified by an unsinning obedience perform'd to the Law and so Not by works but by believing and in the way of gospel-Gospel-faith which God is pleased out of Grace to accept and account for righteousness Nor will it be to any purpose to say it is one thing to be justified by our own obedience to the Law and another thing to be justified by Christs obedience imputed For if his obedience be so imputed as that we are accounted by God in judgment personally to have done what Christ did it is all one as to this matter and we are as much justified by the Law and do as much live in the works thereof as if we had in our own proper persons performed an unsinning obedience to it Thirdly if the rigid notion of imputation should be admitted as true then every particular person that is saved did merit his own salvation For if the very Acts of Christ be reckoned as ours and so imputed as if done by us the effects must needs be imputed so too If I am reckoned by God in my own person to have performed that righteousness that does merit my Justification I must of necessity be accounted to have merited my Justification And besides all this many the most dangerous and unsound principles of Antinomianism have their rise from this Doctrine I chuse to express it in the words of Reverend Mr. Gibbons in his Discourse of Justification I inferr says he that they are dangerously mistaken who think that a believer is righteous in the sight of God with the self-same Active and Passive righteousness wherewith Christ was righteous m though believers suffered in Christ and obeyed in Christ and were as righteous in Gods esteem as Christ himself having his personal righteousness made personally theirs by imputation This is their fundamental mistake and from hence tanquam ex equo Trojano issues out a throng of such false and corrupt
to works As Galat. 5.6 I or in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision availeth any thing but saith that worketh by love or that is wrought and perfected by love For so it is best rendered and sometimes opposeth evangelical obedience alone to the works of the Law as Galat. 6.15 Circumcision is nothing nor Vncircumcision but a new Creature And in the 1st of Cor. 7.19 Circumcision is nothing sayes he and Vncircumcision is nothing but the keeping the commands of God where by the commands of God is meant the Law of the Gospel And Circumcision as 't is often in other places is put for the whole Law For whosoever was circumcised the Apostle declares he was obliged to the whole Law By which it plainly appears that whenever St. Paul speaketh against Works in the matter of Justification 't is the works of the Law and not of the Gospel that he intends and so he is to be understood For by the works of the Gospel we come to have a right and title to Justification and Salvation as appears Rev. 22.14 Blessed are they that do his commandments that they may have right to the tree of life That Gospel Works are never excluded but are equally interested with faith in the matter of Justification will appear true beyond any good denyal by these two considerations First That faith that is said to justifie and does only so is a faith that worketh by love which is in other words to say 't is a faith that worketh by a sincere obedience and keeping all the Commands of God Secondly the promises of the Gospel are as well made and the rewards thereof equally annexed to our Gospel obedience as they are to our faith which plainly shews that faith and obedience are inseparably conjoyn'd in this matter and that faith is alwayes so to be understood as comprehensive thereof without it 't is dead is but a Karkass of faith and not such a living faith as the Gospel intends when it speaks of a justifying faith SECT IV. I Proceed to the third and last inquiry which is this How do we come to partake of the benefits of Justification before God and arrive at a justified estate To this the Scripture gives us a plain and ready Answer By peforming the Gospel-Condition For all the advantages that accrue to the world from Christs satisfaction are proposed conditionally to us and no man is actually justified till the condition be performed For whom he called them he justified And upon that account it is that we read in the New Testament of being justified by our faith of being justified by our words and works gospel-Gospel-faith and obedience being the condition required on our part to be performed and upon the performance of which we are justified and come to give up our account with joy at the great Judgement day men will be justified and condemned upon their performing or not performing the Gospel condition as we find by our Saviours own words Mat. 25. v. 35. That the Covenant of Grace is in the proposal of it conditional and that Christ with all his saving benefits is by the Gospel offered to us upon terms that we stand obliged personally to perform there needs no other proof then our Saviours own summary words about that matter He that believes shall be saved he that believes not shall be damned And we find Gen. 17. v. 1. When God first proposed the Covenant of Grace to Abraham he annexed sincere obedience to it as the condition of it Walk before me and be thou upright and I will make a Covenant with thee Nor do we find our Saviour ever encouraging any to come to him but upon the termes of taking his yoke and bearing his burden And indeed the Gospel is every where so express in this point and so very many Texts do affirm it that no man but one extreamly intoxicated with the phrenzy of Antinomianism can deny it and it were labour lost to prove it Now in regard the whole Conditionality of the Gospel is comprised in believing and in that one word Faith upon which account we are so often said to be justified by faith 'T is of great concern to arrive at the Scripture sense of this word and its intendment by it And to me it appears very evident That to be justified by faith in Scripture is generally taken to be Justified upon the terms of Christianity and the principles of the Gospel in opposition to Legal and Jewish Justification And by faith is comprehended whatever the Gospel requires of us in order to Justification The Gospel is stiled the Law of faith and whatever is required of us by it is called the obedience of faith Two Extreams are with great caution to be avoided in our conceptions of Gospel-faith First We must not on the one hand imagine that by faith and believing is meant only in the Gospel a bare Crediting of God and giving our assent to the Revelation of Jesus Christ and acquieseng therein For to be a Believer and to be a sincere practical Christian is all one in Scripture sense and When we are told that He that believeth shall be saved and are told in many other places by our Saviour and the Apostles that 't is those only that Obey him also and keep his commandments subduing their corrupt lusts and affections and working out their own salvation with fear and trembling that shall be saved and are generally told by the Gospel that without holiness no man shall see God 'T is a natural and necessary Inference that all that and whatever else is made conditionally necessary to a justified saving state and our continuance therein must be compriz'd in Faith and Believing Or else we shall make the Gospel not to be Correspondent with it self And indeed Faith is never spoke of in Scripture as bare believing and assenting in opposition to acting but as the grand principle of Action and so it is in it self The power of Belief is such that often it works physically and with great efficacy does it operate morally In the 11th to the Heb. the Apostle tells us All the great Actions of those noble Worthyes he mentions done before by faith God being not an object of sense since the world began Since Abels time the spring of all Religious and Godly actions has been faith But the world were never under the Law of faith till the Gospel was published That faith was nothing else and contained nothing farther then a bare Assent to the Revelation of the Gospel as true was that gross Delusion that led so many aside in the first publication of the Gospel Especiallly of St. Pauls Epistles For the Gnosticks and others unlearned and unstable as we find by Hegesyppus in Eusebius wrested the Scriptures and held That barely believing the truth of Christianity and professing it was enough without any thing farther done to save a man Against this it is That both St. John and St. James so fully
then wrote And St. John tells us positively That he that Doth righteousness is only truely righteous And not he that reckons himself so without righteous Doing upon the score of believing And St. James expresly sets himself to confute this dangerous Errour and to prove these two things First That Christianity Believed and Professed will profit no man unless the Ends of it be pursued and prosecuted And secondly That that Faith that the Scripture calls a Justifying faith is an operative working faith a Faith that includes in its nature a suitable acting and obedience Speaking of Abrahams faith and his Justification which the Scripture makes to be the pattern of gospel-Gospel-faith and Justification and the one to run parallel with the other And which St. Paul had made so much use of to prove Justification by faith against the Jews Seest thou sayes he 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 't is as plainly expressed as by words it can be That that faith that was accounted to Abraham for righteousness was such a faith as contained in the bowels of it a suitable obedience and subjection to all Gods revealed will and pleasure By works saith the Apostle faith was made perfect That is faith was in order to action and a suitable acting and obedience in pursuance of it was included in it and was that which when performed did compleat and perfect it and without which faith is altogether imperfect and is not such a faith as in the Scripture is said to be accounted for righteousness And therefore it was upon Abrahams suitable obedience in prosecution of his faith by which the Scripture was fulfilled when it sayes Araham believed God and that belief was accounted for righteousness By which it is plain that Abrahams faith was counted for righteousness with reference to that obedience that was virtually compriz'd in it and not otherwise And that his faith and his works wrought joyntly together to obtain the same end And this is no way contradicted by St. Paul who tells us that Abraham was not justified by works For the works that St. Paul means are plainly such as the Law required such perfect sinless works as would in strict rules of Justice make the reward to be Debt And therefore when he opposeth faith to works 't is but in other words to oppose the Gospel to the Law St. Pauls business is to prove Justification in the way of the Gospel against the Jews by faith in opposition to Justification by the works of the Law St. James his province is to prove that the faith that does justifie us under the Gospel is not a bare naked Assent but such a faith as Abrahams was that contains in it a suitable obedience The one Apostle asserts in opposition to the Jews Evangelical Justification against Legal under the general term faith The other Apostle for the confutation of Heretical Christians explains that term and tells us it imports not only believing of God but an obedient Acting in prosecution thereof That the Apostles do very well agree with each in their Doctrine that Abraham was justified by such a faith as was accompanied with works and not by faith only according to St. James And yet that Abraham was justified by faith and not by works according to St. Paul may be this made to appear First That Abrahams faith that was counted for righteousness included his suitable obedience according to St. James and that his works did compleat and perfect his faith And that the Scripture was thereby fulfilled that tells us the Act of his Believing was counted for righteousness is plain from the story it self in Genesis which St. James quotes Had not his Believing compriz d a suitable obedience instead of being counted for Righteousness it would no doubt have been esteemed of God as it had indeed been a great piece of hypocrisy For Abrahams upright walking was the terms upon which God at first proposed to enter into a Covenant with him Secondly That Abraham was not justified by works according to St. Paul though his faith that was counted for Righteousness included his obedience is thus evident St. Pauls business is to prove against the Jews that Abraham who came first under the Law of Circumcision and from whom they derived themselves for it appears by their discourses with our Saviour when they cryed out We have Abraham to our Father that they went no higher was justified before he came under the Law of Circumcision before he was obliged to the oeconomie of the Law upon Gospel-principles and so those had the precedence of legal even in Abraham their Father upon the terms of another Covenant the Condition of which was Faith upon such terms as both Jews and Gentiles were to be justified then under the Gospel Upon which account the Scripture stiles him the common Father of all the faithful Abrahant before that faith of his that was accounted to him for Righteousness had lived for some time in Heathen Idolatry and was a great sinner and so could not pretend to be justified by a sinless perfection which the Law required and the Jews insisted on and so not by works in that sense He was one of the ungodly St. Paul speaks of in 4th to the Rom. who had not Legal perfection had not such works to plead as would make the reward in strict rules Justice to be of debt His Justification was upon the very same terms that the Gentiles then might be justified upon though they had lived in the grossest Idolatry and that was by believing the revelation of God in Christ charging their course of life and becoming obedient to what God should require of them In short Abrahams faith and obedience was not such Righteousness as in its own nature and by its own intrinsick worth would justifle any man from the guilt of all his sin and denominate him perfectly a Righteous person for had it so been in it self it needed not any favour to have been accounted for Righteousness But God was pleased out of grace so to reckon and account it Abraham having blelieved God about the promises of the Messiah that was to spring out of his family by whom himself and all the world were to be saved for the sum of all Gods converse with Abraham was to shew him Christs day and reveal to him the Salvation that was to come by him God was pleased to give the world an instance in his imputing that faith of Abraham to him for Righteousness how and upon what terms men should be saved by the Messiah when he did come in a word what should be the condition he would require of us to perform by the Gospel that is By believing the revelation of Christ and acting suitably thereunto by a sincere though imperfect obedience This God would impute and account for Righteousness This
is all that he would require on our part conditionally to perform This should constitute us righteous upon the terms of the New Covenant This should legally intitle us by the Gospel to all the Advantages of Christ and to a righteous end justified state and this is so far from such a Justification by works as the Jews rested in and St. Paul disputes against that 't is a Justification that results wholly from grace and favour is the Effect of Christs purchase and of the terms of another Covenant And all merit and all reward that can be claimed out of debt is utterly excluded thereby And thus the two Apostles appear perfectly agreed in their doctrine Abraham was not justified upon terms of the Law and sinless perfection but he was justified as an ungodly person one that had sins and failings about him that needed forgiveness was justified by faith in way of the Gospel And that faith that justified Abraham then and justifies every person under the Gospel now and is by the tenour thereof accounted for righteousness is not a naked assent to the truth what God reveals but such a faith as implyes in its nature and comprizeth a suitable obedience to all he requires of us There is a wide difference as much as there is between the nature and terms of the two Covenants between such works as by an inherent vertue in themselves constitute just and so justifie from an innate perfection as to make the reward to be of debt and such works are in their own nature altogether imperfect and faulty and are accepted only thorough grace and favour and made but conditionally necessary to our Justification another way Works 't is true there are in the case both wayes but of very different natures upon very different Accounts and to very different Ends. Secondly On the other hand we must carefully avoid so to apprehend faith supposing it to comprehend all that the Gospel requires of us to believe and practice as if it had in it self any justifying vertue or were of any innate worth to acquit us before God from the guilt of sins The value of it is wholly from Gods gracious ordination as it is all the condition that is required on our part to be performed by the Law of grace And it is not of our selves neither but 't is the gift and bestowment of God We obtain the precious faith of the Gospel St. Peter tell us through the righteousness of God and our Saviour Jesus Christ Whenever we read of our Justification by faith 't is meant of our being justified in the Gospel way and that is by Christ alone meritoriously and by what he has done and suffered for the Apostle tells us that God for Christs sake hath freely forgiven us Nothing has the least meritorious interest in our forgiveness but Christ Grace and free forgiveness in Scripture is still opposed to our merit and by faith only with respect to its conditional relation to him and that Covenant which he hath purchased and proclaimed and in the method whereof we come to be actually pardoned and justified upon Believing To think otherwise is to subvert the grand design of the whole Gospel which we are often told is to declare Christs Righteousness for the remission of sins and to sot forth him as a propitiation through faith in his blood Faith is no part of the Propitiation but 't is he himself and his blood that is the Propitiation and faith but the conditional means by which we come to reap the fruit and benefit of it The whole Fabrick of the Gospel is bottom'd upon satisfaction made to the Justice of God on our behalf upon a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Our Savior sayes he came down to lay down his life 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a ransome for many And St. Paul to Timothy calls it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a price of redemption We are every where in Scripture said to be ransom'd redeem'd purchas'd bought with a price And that must needs be by a valuable consideration pay'd and by satisfaction made And St. Peter tells us what that price of redemption is that was payed for us and by which we were purchased and ransomed 't was not corruptible things such as gold and silver or any thing we had to offer to God but 't was with the precious blood of Christ as of a Lamb without spot No works nor performances of our own could ever have reached this purchase or so prevailed as to have been accepted for a satisfaction in this case For then a Justifying Righteousness might have subsequently resulted from the Law of Works which St. Paul denyes and tells us expressly Galat. 2.21 that it could not be that way it could not come by the Law For had there been a possibility of it he tells us it should so have been That is could men either pefectly have kept the Law or have sufficiently answered for the Breach of it ex post facto Righteousness would have been that way and Christ had not dyed for his death had been then in vain Two things still may be remembred about Faith by which we may receive some account of the use that is made by the Holy Ghost of this word in Scripture First By faith the Gospel is often denominated in opposition to the Law and the whole of it signified thereby And the Reason of this seems to be because the Gospel is in its nature a Revelation from God proposed to our belief and all that we are required by it to do flowes naturally from what we are first obliged to believe Belief is the spring of all Gospel obedience and does in its nature comprize all other Gospel-graces they being at first produced and ever after upheld and increased thereby Secondly by the tenour of the Gospel and Gods peculiar Ordination therein the whole condition required by it is at the first virtually performed by the bare act of believing as the representative of all other Graces and root of universal obedience 'T is all that at the first is made conditionally necessary to constitute a Justified state though to the after-continuance in it the exercise of every other grace is equally requisite He that sincerly believes in Christ as he is proposed is truely in a Justified state by such an Act of Faith and herein Faith hath the preference of all other Graces in point of Justification if we never live to perform any subsequent Act of Obedience And the Reasons of this may be these two First The grace of Faith has in its nature a Nearer relation to the satisfaction of Christ wherein the Essentials of our Justification consist then any other Grace whatsoever For all we can do with reference to that and the nearest approach we can make to it to receive the benefit and advantage of it is to believe it and to rely upon it Secondly A true and sincere faith and belief of the Gospel supposeth and includeth a firm resolution to
that we might gradually possess that Gift of God which is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Quest Secondly By this Doctrine how can we ever come to know we are carefully and compleatly Justified till we have fully perform'd and accomplished all the conditions made requisite to a justified state That is how can we upon good ground be assured of our Justification till our faith and obedience be consummuated Which is not till we dye Answ Every man is then Actually justified according to the Gospel-Law and Compleatly so when he believes in the Lord Jesus Christ with all his heart Because no more is at the first required Legally to constitute a justified state But Justification is a continued act of God and the constant performance of all those duties which a sincere reception of Christ as he is offered in the Gospel implyes are indispensibly necessary to the continuance of it 'T is in this case as 't is in Marriage A Marriage is perfected by a mutual consent But the performance of all matrimonial duties is implyed in that consent The Marriage continues valid till somwhat be done as 't is very possible there may be that does vertually Null and Revoke such consent and what was implyed therein and does ex natura rei Dissolve the Vinculum matrimonij 'T is plain the Apostles did look upon such as declared a firm assent to the Gospel and a sincere and hearty reception of Christ as he is there proposed to be in Christ That is to be in a Justified saved state admitted them to all Gospel-priviledges and never esteemed them otherwise till by their Lives or Professions they contradicted and denyed what by such a faith and consent they had before affirmed and thereby Apostatized from it And of such tergiversation the Gospel every where warns men That they should take heed of an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God And St. Paul tells the Corinthians I am jealous over you sayes he with a godly jealousie for I have espoused you to one husband that I may present you as a chaste Virgin to Christ But I fear least by any means as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ Whoever avows the faith of the Gospel and a sincere closure with Christ upon the Terms thereof and does after fall into an open Rebellion against him and lives in an allowed disobedience to his Laws such a man is as the Apostle speaks of an Heretick 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a man condemned by himself For he that in his Baptism and at his first admission into the Christian-Church had made a solemn Profession of the true Christian Doctrine and did after degenerate into Corrupt and Heretical Opinions contrary and destructive to it passed sentence upon himself So He that declares to close with Christ as a Prince and a Saviour which supposeth a general submission to all the Laws of his Kingdom and shall after Indulge himself in a course of open disobedience and choose a continued practice of sin against that grand fundamental Law of Christ That he that names his name must depart from iniquity gives Judgment against himself in this case Disowns Christ and the Gospel Dissolves the Relation that seem'd to be between them and publickly retracts what he before obliged himself to So that a man is at the first actually and legally according to the tenor of the Gospel justified by a true and sincere Faith But a constant prosecution of such a faith in all its proper Ends and Tendencies by an universal submission to all the Laws of Christs Kingdom is of absolute necessity to our continuance in a Justified state Quest 3. Do not divers Scriptures in the New Testament seem to establish Justification solely upon believing and upon Faith only as an instrument receiving and no more in opposition to all sort of working Especially that Text Rom. 4.5 But to him that worketh not but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly his faith is counted for righteousness Answ We are said to be justified in the New Testament by faith alone upon these three accounts First as faith intends the Gospel and the Principles of Christianity in opposition to the Law and the principles of Judaisme Secondly As 't is a comprehensive word for all that the Gospel requires at our hands For by Believing in Christ the Scripture intends such a closure with him as receives him in all his offices and sujects us to all those obligations which 〈◊〉 Prince and Saviour he thinks fit by the Gospel to lay upon us And upon that account to Believe and to obey are often in Scripture put one for the other promiscuously and so are unbelief and disobedience All obedience and subjection to Christ is originated in and flows from our Belief of that Revelation God makes to us of him and is naturally implyed and compriz'd in it And so it has by Gods appointment the precedence and preferrence of all other Graces in point of Justification and we do not find any other grace so related to Justification as this And upon that account it is that we are not said in Scripture to be justified by repentance or by love or any other single grace but only by Faith as comprehensive of all the rest And thirdly because we are actually brought into a justified state at first solely by Faith without the actual exercise of any other grace The very act of sincere believing by Gods peculiar and gracious ordination intitles us to Christ and all his Benefits And the reason of that Ordination is evidently this That who ever believes in Christ receives him as he is by God proposed and whoever does so obliges himself therey to all the duties of Christianity But upon no one of these accounts can Faith be said to justifi◠〈◊〉 barely as an Instrument but as 't is comprehensive and productive of all other Gospel-duties and by the subsequent performance of them Faith as St. James tells us is perfected 'T was the fear many good men had of interesting any Works or any thing of our own Justification and Ecclipsing free grace thereby that made them that they would neither allow Faith to be a condition nor a work When they ought to have considered that Gospel works are never opposed to Grace nor can any thing done by Divine assistance be so and when the Apostle opposeth Works to Grace he means such Works as are inconsistent with Grace and so justifie by their merit as to put us out of need of Grace and render it useless but invented that unscriptural notion of its instrumentality of no other use but to make way for metaphysical subtilties and to obscure a plain point when indeed Faith is both a work and a condition First 'T is a work so our Saviour himself calls it Joh. 6.29 This is the work of God that you believe Indeed 't is the chiefest part
never circumcised may now also be justified that is have their sins forgiven if they believe the Gospel and Reform their lives And that by Justifying and Imputing Righteousness is meant the pardon of sin and that Abraham was justified as an ungodly person by being Pardoned and not as an Innocent person the next words declare ver 6. Even as David also describeth the blessedness of the man unto whom God imputeth Righteousness without works whcih was Abrahams case And how is that Why 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 scope of the Apostle in this Chapter is to prove that Abraham was not Justified by any original Innocency or such a sinless perfection of life as would make the reward to be of Debt And so not upon the terms of the first Covenant but he was justified by having Righteousness without Works upon the terms of another Covenant He was justified as an ungodly person as a Sinner That is was Pardoned upon his sincere Faith and suit able obedience and so arrived at the Blessedness David describes who takes it for granted that Blessedness comes not by unsinning perfect obedience which is inconsistent with Pardon For then he would have said Blessed are the sinless perfect persons that never offended But he sayes Blessed are they to whom God will not impute sin and blessed are they whose sins are pardoned The plain intention of this great Apostle of the Gentiles is by the instance of Abraham to establish Evangelical Justification of which the Gentiles were as capable as the Jews in opposition to Legal By works he intends all along the Law and the first Covenant and what was required to justifie a man therein And by Faith he intends the Gospel and all that is conditionally required of us thereby which is a sincere belief accompanied with suitable obedience And Abraham who was justified by performing the Gospel condition and not the condition of the Covenant of Works had such a sincere Faith accompanied with such obedience as the Story it self and the Holy Ghost by St. James positively tells us His Works wrought with his Faith that is to obtain the same End with it and by his Works his Faith was perfected T is absurd to imagine St. Paul ever intended to exclude gospel-Gospel-works such a sincere obedience as is naturally appurtenant to Faith and is included in it and supposed by it and which is accepted out of meer Grace and cannot pretend to the least merit But he speaks only against such works as might claim Justification as a reward of Debt in opposition to Grace such as the Jews insisted on which would utterly exclude the Gentiles from all possibility of Justification and establish it upon a Legal bottom and thereby subvert the whole design of the Gospel By justifying therefore the ungodly upon believing he means no more then the justifying a person that has not sinless legal perfection which the first Covenant made necessary to Justification by his performing the condition of the second Covenant which condition performed is through Grace accepted for Righteousness and procures actual Pardon Quest 4. Has Christ satisfied for our Gospel-sins For the breach of his own Laws as Mediator or not Answ This Question is resolved by one Text of St. John who tells us that The blood of Jesus Christ his son cleanseth from all sin Against whatever Law committed if we perform the Gospel Condition Ever since the Fall and sin of man Christ hath been extant in Promises and Types till his full Appearance And all Pardon and Forgiveness has some way or other come through Him He has been the great medium by and through which all Divine favour and Grace has been in all times dispensed Under the Gospel whoever perform the Condition and comes within the compass of that Latitude Christ by his New Law allows his sins of partial unbelief and all other sorts of Gospel-disobedience are Pardoned upon the terms thereof by the tenor of this New Covenant which Christ hath purchased by his blood whose blood is called the blood of the Covenant By this gracious Covenant a renewed pardon is still granted to all believers for every sin at any time committed upon sincere repentance and reformation And Christ proposeth himself to the world upon those gracious terms That if they cordially close with him and receive him as Lord and Christ as their King and Saviour all their past sins shall be forgiven And whenever they shall sin for the future and come short of that Duty they are to pay to him upon their Repentance they shall be renewed and God through and by Him and for His sake will exercise continual acts of Pardon towards them in all such cases And this day of Grace is for ought we know of the same duration with every mans life Every man while he lives has an Opportunity of embracing the Gospel And whoever falls by Temptation and the power of Corruption after he has so done has yet a continued possibility while God spares him in this world to be restored to a Pardoned Justified state by Repentance But whoever fails and comes short in performing the Gospel-condition Whoever closeth not with the Redeemer who hath all power put by the father into his hands upon his own Terms not one of that mans sins will he ever Remit or Account for to the Father But is he left to answer to that most dreadful Charge of the Law and besides by neglecting so great salvation falls under the utmost condemnation of the Gospel Is left to God as supream Judge of the World in the highest exercise of Justice having refused the terms of his mercy Is left to God without the interposition of a Mediator the terrour of which condition the Apostle thus expresseth 'T is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God Where he means without a Mediator For 't is spoken in terrorem to the Converted Jews who were in great danger of Apostatizing from the Gospel and the faith of the Mediator and returning back to the old Cancelled dispensation of the Law the end of which was Christ To conclude this whole matter The making and redeeming of a man is originally founded in an eternal transaction of the blessed Trinity God saw it fit to Create man at the first with a mutable Will with an inherent freedom of choice though he perfectly knew and foresaw all the consequents and what use man would make of it The Reason of this is not to be inquired into For although God is pleased in Scripture to permit us to Treat with him about his Justice and to Discourse with us about the equity of his proceedings whether his wayes be not equal towards us and ours unequal towards Him Yet he never admits us to any conference with him about his Wisdom never suffers any humane inquiry to be made Whether he does Wisely
act and exercise of his Supream Justice according to that passage Rom. 3. v. 26. That God might be just and the iustifier of him that believeth in Jesus Secondly Gods justifying men stands in opposition to Accusation and Condemnation which we have plainly expressed in the forementioned 8th to the Rom. where the Apostle opposeth Gods justifying to Charging and Condemning Who shall lay any thing to the Charge of Gods elect It is God that justifieth Who is he that condemneth So that if you know what it is to Charge and Condemn you will know what it is to justifie it being naturally evidenced by its Contraries And as Condemnation is the result of a Law so is Justification We stand Condemned by the Law of works and are justified by the Law of faith Now what is it that Mankind is publickly accused of and charged with in Scripture 'T is Sin What is it that men stand condemned for at Gods Bar 'T is Sin And therefore their Justification must needs be a Clearing and Discharging some way or other from it And that which the Scripture every where intends by Justification is the Remission of Sin and Gods acquitting us in Judgment from the Charge Guilt Condemnaâ—ion and Punishment of it This is judiciously observed by Grotius Justificatio ut notum est passim in sacris literis sed maxime in Paulinis Epistolis Absolutionem significat quae presupposito peccatâ— consistit in peccatorum remissione ipso Paul semet clare explicante pr sâ—rtim Rom. 4. Pe Satis Chris chap. 1. pa 38. And this I shall endeavour to prove these several wayes First by producing divers Texts wherein the Foly Ghost speaks expresly of Justification and Forgiveness of sin in the Gospel way as one and the same thing Secondly by shewing that the whole Advantage of that satisfaction upon which as the Ground of it we are justified is generally issued in Scripture into the Forgiveness of sin Thirdly by shewing that whatever other expressions the Scripture at any time makes use of to signifie and Explain Justification to us by they all tend to give us this sense and signification of it and to express it to us as consisting in the forgiveness of sin And fourthly by shewing that the Grand Blessing that God still promised the world should partake of by the Covenant to his Grace and the sending of his Son from whence our Justification has its rise was the Pardon and forgiveness of sin And when I have done this there will be no need I hope to say more for the satisfaction of any under this Consideration For the first In the 4. chap. to the Rom. where St Paul treats more fully and more Critically of Justification then he does in any other place he there describes it in a Quotation out of the Psalms by the forgiveness of sin and the non imputation of iniquity But to him that worketh not but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly his faith is counted for righteousness Even as David describeth the blessedness of the man unto whom God imputeth righteousness without works saying Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven and whose sin is covered Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute iniquity Cometh this blessedness then upon the circumcision only or upon the uncircumcision also Where 't is not to be fairly denyed but that he describes the blessedness of a Justified person by the blessedness of a Pardoned person as being one and the same In the 9 ver Cometh this blessedness sayes the Apostle upon the Circumcision only or upon the uncircumcision also What blessedness Why the Blessedness he is treating of the Blessedness of being justified before God which he proves descends both upon Jew and Gentile in the Gospel way of faith and believing And what is that blessedness of being justified before God Wherein lyes it Why 't is the Blessedness he tells us that David describes of having our iniquities forgiven and our sins covered the Blessedness of having God not to impute sin to us 'T is plain the Apostles whole scope and drift is to prove that Abrahams justification was his pardon upon which acccount the Gentiles though great sinners might be justified as well as he and that Justification before God is not by works and so not from the merit of any inherent righteousness of our own but by Gods gracious Imputing righteousness without works which he makes to consist in the Pardon of sin and Not imputing of iniquity and to be the same thing with it In the 13th of the Acts the 38 and 39 verses we find the Apostle again expressing himself to the same purpose Be it known unto you therefore men and brethren that through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins And by him all that believe are justified from all things from which they could not be justified by the Law of Moses Where he speaks of remission of sins and Justification Equivolently as terms importing the same thing In the 18th of Luke where the Publican is said to smite upon his breast and seek for pardon and forgiveness in that expression God be merciful to me a sinner our Saviour says He went home to his house Justified that is Pardoned rather then the proud Pharisee The one justified himself and asked no forgiveness the other condemned himself and sought for the pardon of his sins And by our Saviours own determination took the right method of attaining Justification thereby In the 5th of the Rom. v. 16. The Apostle treating of the difference between Adams sin and the condemnation introduced thereby and the Salvation we have by that tells us And not as it was by one that sinned so is the gift for the judgement was by one to condemnation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but the free gift is of many offences unto justification By the free gift of many offences is meant the pardon of them and the pardon of them is unto Justification that is pardon of sin amounts to Justification and upon pardon we are actually justified We are often said in Scripture to have pardon and remission of sins by Christs blood And in the 5th of the Rom. and the 9 vers we are there said to be justified by his blood Much more now being justified by his blood shall we be saved from wrath through him By all which we are told that the scripture generally intends by justification and pardon one and the same thing Secondly The whole advantage and benefit of that satisfaction upon which we come to be justified before God is often issued into the pardon of sin and by the Scripture comprized therein If we look to the Types and Prefigurations of that satisfaction under the Law the grand end and signification of them was the removing and purging of sin This the Apostle tells us Heb. 9.22 Without shedding of blood is no remission And in the 26 ver he sayes Christ had once appeared in the end of the world
One being a voluntary act of Grace the other a necessary effect of Justice will not at all reach this case supposing it to be true For a sinners Justification results not from free and absolute Pardon nor consists in it but a sinner is pardoned and justified in a way judicial in pursuance of a Law by pleading an ample satisfaction made The greatest exercise of favour in such a case seems to lye in the acceptance of the satisfaction Now God who is the Party offended and the Judge declaring himself to be abundantly satisfied concerning the sins of the world by what Christ has suffered and done and it being perhaps highly requisite the Nature of Christs satisfaction considered in point of Justice too that he should so be the Pardon and Justification of a sinner are eminent effects of his Justice as well as of his Grace and Mercy And it becomes a Righteous thing now with God to pardon and justifie an offender so qualified in Judgement For it must be consider'd that although the Ground and Foundation of our Salvation and the whole of it in its contriving and effecting is nothing else but free and absolute grace and Divine goodness yet in such a Method and after such a Manner is Grace dispenced that in every Step that is taken toward the Salvation of a sinner God appears Righteous as well as Gracious and Justice and Mercy do kiss each other But still the Justification of such a one must exist in his Pardon by which he obtaines a Legal Discharge from all obligation to Punishment stands rectus in Curia no charge from the Law can be brought against him and he is upon even terms in the eye of the Law with those who never offended Nor can it be otherwise For no satisfaction be it never so Great can put an Offender out of need of forgiveness nor can it operate farther then to obtain forgiveness and so free him from condemnation and constitute him judicially righteous 'T is true that this is not such a Justification as an innocent person obtains in Judgment But 't is such a one as an offender is only capable of and has all in the effects and advantages that the other has and may be as truly and properly termed Justification And whoever denyes it makes the Justification of an offender utterly Impracticable and Impossible SECT II. ANd thus I have gone through the first Promise I obliged my self to which was to give an account of what is meant in Scripture by Justification We are not Justified as righteous and innocent persons by having Christs righteousness personally imputed to us as our own and we accounted in Judgment to have done what He did and acquitted as sinless thereupon Such apprehensions are vain and have no bottom in Scripture But we are Justified as in indeed and in truth we are as Sinners that is By pleading ample Satisfaction made for our sins in Christ and our own performance of that Gospel-condition which God has made necessary to our participation of the Benefits of it Upon which Plea God is graciously pleased judicially to pardon our sins to account of us as Righteous thereupon and to deal with us accordingly that is Legally to intitle us to all the grace and glory promised in the Gospel Divers Objections are raised against these Conceptions of Justification the value whereof seems to me to result rather from the Authors of them sundry Learned and Worthy men then from any weight in themselves The most Material are these three First It is Objected That when the Scripture describes Justification by Forgiveness of sin it speaks Synecdochically and expresseth the Whole by a Part. So in the 4th to the Rom. and other Texts And that Text Rom. 4. v. 25. is much insisted on to prove that Justification implyes more then Forgivenness of sin This Objection it will be acknowledged can be of no force unless it be proved that the Scripture does in other places ascribe some other distinct parts to Justification There can he but one more with any colour pretended and that is Adjudging Righteous upon the score of some righteousness Now it has been before proved That Pardoning of sin upon Christs satisfaction contains in it imputing righteousness without works and that in the Apostles sense they are all one When we are told in some Texts that we are justified by Christ in others That we obtain forgiveness of sin by Christ and in others That we are made righteous by Christ By an impartial comparing the Scripture with it selt it appears that one and the same thing is intended For whoever upon the performance of the Gospel-condition is legally Interested in Christs satisfaction and thereupon actually Pardoned is also thereby Justified and adjudged to be Righteous by the order and appointment of God in that case and in this the Scripture is every where very positive and plain That when the Scripture describes Justification by Forgiveness of sin it describes it Synecdochically expressing the whole by a part there is no good reason at all to believe but quite the contrary That it describes it comprehensively For it appears by Scripture-evidence that the whole form of Justification is compriz'd therein and the Scripture describes it most generally by pardon of sin and most fully in those places where it treats most largely and expressly of it In the forementioned 4th chap. to the Rom. 't will appear very plain to any impartial Reader That the Apostle there without any Synecdoche describes Justification in its full latitude if we consider these things First that he there fully and compleatly sets out the Justification of Abraham who in the manner of his Justification was to be the great pattern of Justification to all succeeding ages and the whole business of Gospel-Justification was compriz'd in the way and manner of his Justification Secondly he there states and determines the Grand and Deepest point about Justification whether it be by faith or works Now if he had not described it in its full extent and latitude and taken in the whole of Justification in that Quotation out of David by which he proves 't is not by works but by free forgiveness his Reasoning had not been Cogent For the Jews might well have replyed you speak but of one part of Justification and so conclude not about the whole That part indeed you prove to consist in the forgiveness of sin in the way of saith but it appears not but that there may be other parts also in Justification and they may result from works And so a man may be in part justified by free forgiveness and grace and in part by works Thirdly the Apostle very plainly makes the blessedness that David describes which in the blessedness of pardon and not imputing iniquity to be the blessedness of Justification For in the 9th ver Cometh this blessedness upon the circumcision only or upon the uncircumcision also that is the blessedness of Justification by faith which
12th ver of that Chapter to the end of it is evidently to prove these two things First That as sin came first into the world by Adam's disobedience and death by sin and did not only seize on him but descended upon all his Posterity even upon them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam's transgression that is against a Law promulgated as he did he begetting them in his image after his Fall in his apostate state and not in his innocncy So from Christs obedience and satisfaction for sin came righteousness life and salvation In three things the Apostle makes the Feadship of Adam and that of Christ to run parallel First As Adam had a publick Station and stood so related to others that he had power to involve them in his own condition So had Christ Secondly the Effect of Adams sin was Vniversal came upon all The Effect of Christs obedience is so comes upon all that is both upon Jews and Gentiles without distinction which is the grand point the Apostle is all along making good Thirdly the first Adam by his disobedience was the general Author of death Christ the second Adam by obedience is the Great Introducer of life And secondly That there is not and exact equality and even proportion between the Headship of Christ and the Headship of Adam So the Apostle tells us in the 15 and 16 ver But not as the offence so also is the free gift For if through the offence of One Many be dead much more the grace of God and the gift by grace by one man Jesus Christ hath abounded unto many And not as it was by one that sinned so is the gift I or the judgment was by one to condemnation but the free gift is of many offences unto Justification The Advantage lyes much on Christs side in the comparison and that in three respects First Christs spiritual seed Believers are not so like him in degrees of holiness as Adams natural posterity are like him in degrees of sin And yet Life reignes as triumphantly amongst them as Death did over the posterity of Adam Secondly it was one sin of Adam that introduced Death But Christs obedience and the gift brought in by him was not upon the occasion of that or any other one sin but of many is the abundance of grace and procures forgiveness not only for that sin but for all other sins whatsoever that have ensued thereupon And thirdly there is a disparity between Adam and Christ in this and the advantage lyes much on Christs side That one sin one act of disobedience was enough to condemn But more the one act of obedience was requisite to procure our pardon And so although Christ do not save by his obedience so many as Adam condemned by his disobedience yet the second Adam is much more potent then the first because there is much more efficacy required in the Saving of One then there was in the Condemning of Many As the restoring of One dead to life is much harder then the destroying of the lives of many Now How by one mans disobedience were many made sinners Why Adam who had all mankind vertually in himself turning a Rebel and an Apostate his natural state was thereby changed his nature was attainted and became sinful and so fell under the sentence of death and that was included in the penalty threatned In the day thou eatest thereof thou shalt dye Thy Natural state shall be changed and subjected to death And this falling out before he had propagated any of his kind he begat all his posterity in the same sinful Mortal state with himself So the Apostle tells us that in Adam all dye That is he becoming Mortal all were so propagated and Death reigned upon that account So on the contrary by one mans â—â—â—obedience many are made righteous As all meer men sinned in Adam being all in him and undergo the Effects of that sin So all Believers have virtually satisfied for sin in Christ By Christs obedience and satisfaction we come to be pardoned accounted of as righteous and saved But still 't is as an effect of Christs obedience that we come to be made righteous for the Apostle does not say In one mans obedience many shall be made righteous but By one mans obedience as a consequent and Effect of it many shall be made righteous As the effect of one mans disobedience many come to be shapen in iniquity and brought forth in a sinful condemned nature so as by the Effect of one mans obedience many come to be new born and brought forth in a righteous and a saving sfate A third Text insisted on is that in the 3d. chap. to the Philip. ver 9. 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 To this Text a short Answer will suffice No more is requisite then to read from the 4. v. where the Apostle is discoursing of his Attainments under the Law Though I might sayes he have confidence also in the flesh if any other man thinketh he hath whereof he might trust in the flesh I more circumcised the eighth day c. and so he goes on And in the 7th ver But what things were gain to me those I counted loss for Christ yea doubtless I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord for whom I have suffered the loss of all things and do count them but dung that I may win Christ 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 By which it is as plain as words can make it That the righteousness he desires Not to be found in was his own as he was a Jew and a Pharisee And to be found in Christ was no more then to be found ingraffed by Faith into the Christian Church to be found in that righteousness which is of God by faith which is the Gospel-righteousness No sober minded man can imagine the Apostle did not desire to be found in Gospel-righteousness or that by his own righteousness he meant that For 't is that alone can intitle us to the benefits of Christs righteousness And he himself every where so earnestly presseth men to strive for it as indispensably necessary to salvation and rejoyeeth in it telling us what comfort he had took to conling sider that he had fought a good fight had finished his course had kept the faith and that as a reward of so doing a crown of life was laid up for him in Heaven Nor is there any one passage of St. Pauls Epistles against works but 't is very plain from the context he intends the works of the Law and no other For as he opposeth faith to works so he also opposeth faith with Gospel-obedience
is Davids blessedness of pardon Now 't were absurd to imagine that the Apostle should tell us that the Blessedness of Justification which must needs relate to the whole of it does consist in imputing righteousness without works which he makes to be all one with the pardon of sin and not imputing iniquity unless Justification were fully compriz'd therein and if it were so the form of it that it did as we say dare esse to it For nothing else can properly contain the Blessedness of it If it be meant by those that thus Object That by Pardon of sin the Scripture does not express the whole Effects that accrue by Justification That will be readily granted for our Pardon and Justification is but our Title in Law to the Grace and Glory of the Gospel is not the very things themselves though they are all virtually contain'd therein and inseparably conjoyned to it by the institution of God For Whom he justifies them he sanctifies and whom he sanctifies he glorifies And the Apostle in the 26 of the Acts conjoynes as inseparable forgiveness of sin and having an inheritance amongst them that are sanctified But if the meaning be That the whole form of a sinners Justification properly taken and as we find it spoken of in Scripture be not compriz'd in the Forgiveness of sin 't will appear to be a Mistake Those that thus Object tell us our Justification consists of two distinct parts First Remission of sin Secondly Adjudging to be Righteous Each standing upon a distinct bottom the first upon Christs passive obedience and the other upon his Active though in the Scripture we read not one Syllable of any such thing These two I have proved before are in the Scripture-method conjoyned Whoever is by God upon the belief of the Gospel for the sake of Christ judicially pardoned is thereby Justified and accounted as Righteous and the satisfaction of Christ is reckoned and imputed by God to all Believers in those effects and for those ends and purposes nor can it be rationally supposed to be otherwise imputed For no other persons Righteousness performed or Satisfaction made on my behalf can come to be any other way justly accounted mine then in the effects and advantages of it It can never be a Just Judgment to adjudge me to have Personally performed my self what was actually done by another though it was done on my behalf and be reckoned to my account There is no other possible way by which any man can come to be accounted Righteous in Judgment but either by a righteousness inherent in our selves which does constitute us innocent or by the Righteousness of Christ made ours in a way of personal imputation which must make us also to be justified as innocents and not as offenders The first is affirmed by the Papists and the later by many Learned Protestants The Overthrow of both which opinions I shall hereafter endeavour in this Discourse and thereby fully return Answer to this and all other Objections of this nature That Text Rom. 4. v. 25. is much pressed and insisted on But upon great Mistake as will easily be made to appear The words are Who was delivered for our offences and was raised again for our Justification Which words are not to be taken as if there were two distinct ends in Christs Death and Resurrection the one to obtain pardon of sin and the other to justifie And so to divide between them two whereas in truth the Apostle makes them one and the same thing But the natural meaning and intendment of the Holy Ghost in that text is this That All that Christ did and suffered was upon our account He was delivered to death upon the account of our sins 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for our greatest sins and utmost Apostacy for that sense is included in the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and rose again upon the same account to justify us from the condemning power of them By being delivered for our offences and rising again for our Justification the Apostle intends the same thing which is to justifie and save us from our sins And the latter expression is exegetical of the former 'T is to instruct us that Christs Death and Resurrection the whole that he transacted had one tendency and was all in order to one and the same end For in some Texts we are said to be justified by his Death and by his Blood so that he Dyed for our justification as well as rose again for it The Scripture no where affords us the least warrant to assign one distinct end to Christs death and another to his resurrection Nay the Apostle himself upon another occasion Rom. 14. ver 9. positively conjoyns them as inseparable in their ends For this end says he Christ both dyed and rose again Whatever Christ dyed for he rose again for His Rising again did not induce any farther or other ends then were his Death but only compleat and perfect the whole Design and Intendment thereof For although Christ dyed for our sins yet if he had not Risen again we could not have reap't the Fruit and Effect of his Death His own Justification as Mediator and so ours depending upon his Resurrection as the supream and Glorious Effect of his Deity and that whereby he was declared to be the Son of God mightily from heaven Secondly 'T is Objected That Remission of sin doth only take away the guilt or ordination to punishment but doth not remove the Sin it self and therefore Justification cannot consist in it Although pardon of sin do make as if sin had never been in respect of the guilt of it yet not in respect of the denomination of the Subject Although David was pardoned yet his pardon did not make him a Just man in those acts of his Murder and Adultery He was truely a Murderer and an Adulterer notwithstanding Justification doth not denominate a man to be Just and a righteousness is requisite unto it A man is not Justified and therefore Just but must be Just and therefore Justified in the order of Justification To this I Answer in these three things First by Gods forgiving of sin in a Judicial way as much is done to obliterate and extinguish it in its proper denomination as is possible and nothing but Gods forgiveness could have done so much For he forgiveth as the Supream Soveraign and Lord of all And his forgiveness is not only the effect of his mercy but the result of all his infinite Attributes He is pleased with a redundancy of Grace to express himself in Scripture to us about this matter that we might have a strong consolation therein As first That he will turn his face from our sins Psal 51. Secondly That he will remember them no more Isa 42. Thirdly That he will not impute them Psal 32. Fourthly That he will cast them into the depths of the sea Mica 7. And fifthly that he will cast them behind his back Isa 38. Now I say