imagine when the Apostle saith Gal. 2. 16. Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the Law but by the faith of Christ we have believed that we might be justified c. That he means we did not repent that we might be justified did not obey turn from sin that we might be justified or not be condemned All that I will do here further shall be to speak so as to keep you from dangers on both sides if you will observe this distinction and it will be plain I hope to the meanest capacity There is in this Justification by Christ spoken of there being two Laws or Covenants one of Works and the other of Grace a lex remedians and both in force else if the old Law as a Law with its penalty was repealed it would be no sin not to obey perfectly and we might say Christ his death had not satisfied for our sins and the legal desert of them but prevented them from being sins and from legally deserving damnation there is in this Justification as it were a two-fold Righteousness or Justification and the distinction of these two is so necessary to any competent measure of understanding this Doctrine of Justification and would be so helpful to make us understand it and speak intelligibly of it that I desire you would never forget it Passive Justification the effect of active is our right constituted as I have shewed you But to speak of active Justification It is essentially from some Charge pleaded or possibly pleadable against us 1. Suppose the Accusation be We are sinners have offended God deserved wrath broken the first Covenant the Law of Works and under this are comprehended sins against the Gospel for they are sins against the Moral Law which Christ hath satisfied for all the breaches of that ever were or shall be For the Original Law of Nature is this Keep all my Commandments which I have or shall reveal to thee any way whatsoever whether by Nature or any other way of making my will known the eating of the forbidden fruit was against this Moral Law though immediately against a particular Revelation or thou shalt dye Now if this be the Accusation thou art a sinner hast deserved death transgressed the Law refused Christ and the Gospel a long time yea and hast notoriously sinned since conversion Here nothing will justifie nothing will answer this Accusation but this Christ hath dyed satisfied God hath set him forth to be a Propitiation It would be improper and vain here to plead We have repented believed for thou art a cursed Creature and there is no blood or satisfaction in these thou wilt rather be damned for thy failings in these they are imperfect at best and however cannot buy off thy former sins Here we must plead nothing in our selves to this Accusation nay we must confess we have nothing in our selves to justifie us against this Accusation of being sinners deserving wrath That that must answer this Accusation is altogether without us To plead to justifie from this Accusation something within us is to spit in Christ's face is damnable for whatever we plead must be a Righteousness or it is no way pleadable If we have a Righteousness to answer this Christ dyed in vain 2. But now suppose another Accusation which is possibly pleadable against us suppose the accusation be But thou hast no lot or portion in this Satisfaction for all have not interest in it but there was a second Covenant made wherein God made it over only upon Gospel-terms and conditions of repenting believing obeying sincerely upon sincerity and uprightness and truth in the inward parts for it was enacted that none should have the benefit of it to justifie them against the old Law but they that performed the condition Here now is no danger of pleading to answer this Accusation something in our selves nay it is duty and we wrong our selves if we have the condition and do not Ye must say Yea through grace I have repented believed endeavoured to obey God sincerely and have lamented when I have faln short I have received Christ for my Lord and Saviour endeavoured to serve him and do at this day And this will be your righteousness against this Accusation will justifie you against this Accusation It would be foolishly impertinent to plead here Christ hath dyed hath made satisfaction to the Law when the Charge the Accusation is Thou hast no interest in him and his death and the purchased benefits And it would be false and ridiculous to plead what they that falsly are called the only Preachers of Free-grace would have you plead viz. That Christ hath repented for thee performed the Gospel-conditions for thee Here you may and must plead something in your selves even the performance of the Gospel-condition You must not confess you have nothing to plead except you have not and then I would say Are you mad wilfully to refuse Christ I know men may think they have not and yet have this condition and then God knows there is this good thing in them toward God and Christ though they think not so and so they are justified and know not But if you say I have nothing in me to answer this Accusation and say true and continue in this estate you will be condemned upon this Accusation at the last day when judged according to the Gospel and are at present under condemnation in law But if you be sincere Christians and in some comfortable measure know it you may in this sense rejoyce in your selves you may say I have proved my own work and so have joy in my self and not in another This is our rejoycing the testimony of our Conscience that in simplicity and godly sincerity not with fleshly wisdom but by the grace of God we have had our conversation in this world You may say of a godly man he hath that within him that will bear him out and mean by it the sincerity of his heart but then you must not mean it to satisfie for his ill deeds or against the first accusation but against this only of having no part in Christ Here a man may glory Let him that glorieth glory in this that he understandeth and knoweth me Jer. 9. 24. We may say in the Apostle John's sense and words Our hearts our consciences acquit us and condemn us not 1 John 3. 20 21. If our hearts truly condemn us God is greater than our hearts and knoweth all things Beloved if our hearts condemn us not then have we confidence toward God and whatsoever we ask we receive of him because we keep his commandments and do those things that are pleasing in his sight So that you may now see that 1. God justifieth as the principal Efficient 2. The Promise or Covenant of God If thou believe thou shalt be saved as the instrument or less principal efficient for an Instrument is essentially an efficient and the act of the principal and instrument are
not by the same natural person and if any Laws do lay any stress on the person of the Debtor so that it shall be judged as no payment except paid in person such are hard Laws and against natural equity so that though payment should justly according to such Munucipal Laws be refusable from another yet it is not fairly tefusable But it is quite otherwise in all Law and natural Equity in the case of obedience and punishment for here the Laws do justly and equitably determine the very person that shall obey or suffer and allow not any delegation as doing or suffering by another so that if another suffer it is not the same in Law if the penalty be suffered by another natural person it is suffered by another person in Law And here Dum alius solvit aliud solvitur therefore such suffering of another contrary to Law may be a satisfaction that the Rector may with honoâ—r not execute the Law but cannot possibly be an execution of the Law the idem the same threatned I will make all plain to you thus Suppose the Law-threat had run thus If any man sin he shall dye be damned or another for him he or another thus disjunctively either of these would have been the very thing threatned the same in Law as the Principal and Surety are and then all these after-mentioned inconveniences would have followed First In this case had God provided one to dye for us here would have been nothing of pardon Here indeed would have been grace and favour in thus procuring one but nothing of pardon remission of sin for it would not have been a refusable payment either of their deaths would have been the same in Law and so no act of Pardon or Grace to acquit upon it whereas God for Christ's sake forgiveth We have by Eph. 4. 32 his blood the remission of sins This would have been like proper solution and then the strictest Justice cannot deny an acquittance and justification to the party for whom it is paid and there need not be there cannot be in this case any such thing as pardon pardon and full satisfaction may stand together but not pardon and solution or payment e. g. If a Law be made that threatens That for such an offence the Delinquent shall sit in the Stocks or another for him thus disjunctively here would be grace and favour in the Prince to procure one to sit for the offender but nothing of pardon or remission for the utmost rigour of Justice could not refuse to acquit upon it here is no remitting any thing the Law requires no pardon at all for the Law never required the offender himself should suffer but he or another indifferently Secondly It would also in this case be injustice to inflict the least part of the penalty threatned upon the offender when the other hath suffered because it would be to inflict what was never threatned by the Law and so what is not due for the utmost Justice requires no more than the suffering of one of them Thirdly It would also in this case be non-sense or injustice to prescribe the Delinquent terms or conditions on which he should have justification the benefit of the other's death or of the other's sitting in the Stocks or else to have no benefit by them for the offender would have right without performing such conditions And therefore as a plain denying the offender the thing he hath right to would be injustice so to reduce back his absolute right to a conditional would be injustice in part To threaten damnation if men believe not repent not would be something of injustice being a partial denial Fourthly Also in this case the offender would be justified immediately by the other's death by the Law that threatned by the very Law of Works there would need no Covenant of Grace or Gospel-promise it would be injustice to prescribe terms of benefit by it as Faith Repentance as in the other case the Delinquent would have right to impunity for his offence by the other's sitting in the Stocks by the very Law that threatned it There needs no Law of Grace for requital for it is the idem in Law the very thing threatned and so not refusable by the strictest Justice to promise here would be to promise that which we have right to without promise and such promises would not be of Grace but meer Nullities But this death of Christ was a satisfaction much like a refusable payment for the threat was The soul that sinned should dye be damned not he or another The death of Christ was a satisfaction a refusable payment for God might have refused if Christ had interceded as Moses Blot me I pray thee out of the Book of Life for the people and save their souls their lives God might have answered Those that sin against me I have only threatned and those only I will punish but of thee will I require nothing and from thee will I accept nothing For the threat was not If a man sinned he should dye or some other for him for then either of them would have been the idem the same in Law and so not refusable but it was that the offender himself should dye so that whatsoever else than the offender's sufferings could be offered was refusable and so could be but a Satisfaction And then these things will suit and agree 1. Here is pardon and remission in accepting and acquitting for he might have refused to accept of Christ's death and to acquit us upon it It is plainly a not standing to his threat a dispensing with his Law notwithstanding Christ's death for him not to execute the Law upon us though an honourable dispensing with it 2. Being a Satisfaction a refusable payment God may take off what part of the penalty He and his Son agreed from the offender and leave on him what part they please and as long as they please and judg meet And indeed though they did agree and God hath promised for Christ's death-sake that they who perform the Gospel-condition shall not perish but shall have eternal life they shall not undergo eternal sorrows Hell-sorrows yet they never agreed and God never promised that Believers should not be afflicted for their sins in this life or that they should not dye temporally or that the ground as to them should be freed from that first curse or that believing Women should not undergo pain in Child-bearing for these things God doth inflict therefore the Son in paying the ransome and the Father in accepting never agreed they should be freed from them in this life though yet they did so to moderate and help in them and sanctifie by them that a Christian life in this World is worth living Phil. 1. 22. To live in the flesh is worth while 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 operae pretium And it is contrary to all Scripture to say Believers afflictions are not for sin and if they were not for sin they
Contraries are of the same general nature As condemnation is by a Law-threat so Justification of a sinner must be by a Law-promise It is a Law-rule that Obligations are dissolved by the same way whereby they are made The Apostle speaking of boasting being excluded in Justification asketh By what Law and answers By the Law of Faith implying plainly Men are justified by the Law of Faith 4. We may clearly see it by the tenour of the Covenants Rom. 10. 5 6 9 Moses describeth the righteousness of the Law the tenour of the Covenant of Works which would have justified men had they performed the condition of it The man which doth these things shall live in them But the righteousness of faith the tenour of the Covenant of Grace the word which we preach is this If thou confess with thy mouth and believe with thy heart that God hath raised him from the dead thou shalt be saved Had man performed the Legal Condition perfect and perpetual obedience the Law of Works would have justified him Therefore now if a man perform the Gospel-condition the Gospel this Law of Faith will justifie him See also Gal. 3. 16 17 21 22 of the two Covenants To Abraham and his seed were the Promises made that is to Abraham and all true Believers that are of the Faith of Abraham as he fully explains himself in other places of the Chapter especially the last verse And is the Law against the Promises of God against this Covenant confirmed of God in Christ That he that believeth shall live Had there been a Law which could have given life verily righteousness should have been by that Law but the Scripture hath concluded all under sin that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe We may argue plainly thus This Law this Covenant-Promise Believe and live can give life that is right to life for some do perform the Condition of this Law Therefore verily Righteousness is and must be by this Law Can any man possibly give a reason why that Law would have justified would have given right to life and so righteousness have been by it to a man that had performed perfect obedience and not this Believe and live perform the Gospel-conditions and live and not this justifie give right to life and so righteousness be by it 5. To deny this is to say the Gospel-Promises are meer Cyphers and Nullities they have no effect if they do not give right to Impunity and eternal life which is Justification to those that perform the conditions Nay it is to deny that they are Promises for if Promises they must have the common nature of Promises which is to give right To deny the efficacy of them is to deny they are gracious Promises it is to say they are useless as to giving the right we should have had right without them It is no Act of Oblivion much less a very gracious Act of Oblivion that doth not pardon and justifie properly them that perform the Conditions of it no Act of Oblivion to him that would be justified by doing that which is the condition of it without it And this by the way They that say Faith attaineth right as an Instrument and not as a condition make all the Promises Nullities they in effect say We should have had right had we performed that thing which is the condition without such a promise Thus you see Justification must be by some Law of Grace and indeed Protestants seem agreed it is a Juridical Act. Now what Law of Grace is it What names is it to be called by You may call it The Promise the Covenant the Law of Grace the Law of Faith the Gospel by these names it is called in Scripture The tenour of it is this He that turneth shall live He that believeth shall be saved He that accepteth Christ in the Gospel-way on the Gospel terms shall have the benefit of this Propitiation to his justification and salvation though never so great a sinner This is the Gospel the Law of Faith the Law or Covenant of Grace founded in the blood of Christ These Promises are Yea and Amen in Christ are the Covenant confirmed of God in Christ as the Apostle calls them And by this all were justified and saved that ever were saved by the blood of Christ You shall all be judged that is justified or condemned sententially according to this Gospel And as you shall be sententially judged according to this Law of Liberty at the last day so you are here in this life constitutively justified or condemned here in law The word which Christ spake shall John 1â— 48. condemn 〈◊〉 at 〈◊〉 last day shall justifie or 〈◊〉 So it doth in Law 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 them that obey the Gospel here For not the hearers of the 〈◊〉 are just before God he speaketh Rom. 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the Law of Grace it is like that Not every one that saith unto me Lord Lord but he that doth the will of my Father shall inherit the Kingdom of Heaven but the doers of the Law shall be justified in the day when God shall judg the secrets of all hearts according to my Gospel I hope you now begin to see into the nature of Justification and by seeing what it is you see what it is not Only these things following to my best remembrance are and can with any shew be pretended to be called Justification except what the Pupists pretend That it is nothing else but Sanctification which I pretermit as ridiculous He would not be an abomination to God that could justifie the wicked that is sanctifie them according to thâ—ir interpretation First It is not Our knowing we are justified which some call Justification in Conscience For 1. The Scripture never calleth Assurance our knowing we are justified Justification 2. We may be justified in Scripture-sense by this Gospel having the condition of Justification and yet not know it yea think we are not justified and have no right to salvation else wo to troubled souls And we may not be justified and think we are 3. In this sense we should be properly said to justifie our selves and not God to justifie us for it is we that know we are justified by the act whereby we know it and not God though God enable us to know we are justified Secondly Justification is not God's knowing we are justified and have right to Impunity right to Heaven it is not God's knowing accounting us judging us justified for we are first justified pardoned in order of Nature though not of Time before he knows accounts us so be We first have this right to Impunity Salvation before He knows or accounts us to have it The Object is in order of Nature before the Act a thing is before it be known If there be an Act of Oblivion made upon condition of Rebels laying down their Weapons Offenders are pardoned justified in Law-title upon laying down their Weapons in
What do you think the wicked Jews meant when they said If we let this man alone all men will believe on him What did they mean some one act and that one act that many now hold to be only necessary to salvation though not agreed ordinarily what it is Surely they meant They will believe he is the Messiah and so love him obey him stick to him If one bid you believe in such a Physician trust in him and he will cure you cannot you easily understand he means also Take his Counsel follow his directions by believing in him So when he saith Believe and thou shalt be saved he meaneth Believe and carry as one that believeth love obey turn 4. Sometime called Repentance Repent that your iniquities may be blotted John preached repentance for the remission of sin Surely you will grant that is for Justification And Christ did not take away this Condition nay he preached it himself Except you repent you shall perish He meant believe obey also 5. Called Conversion Turn them from darkness to light that they Mar. 4. 12 may receive remission Lest they should see with their eyes and be converted and their sins should be forgiven them Implying the terms that God hath bound himself to by promise through Christ's death to the world so as he cannot in faithfulness break If converted he must forgive having made this new Law of Grace 6. Called Obedience Being made perfect through suffering having fully satisfied he became the Author of eternal salvation to those that obey him Surely this holdeth out the terms on which men shall have the justifying saving benefit of Christ's death But there is implied in this also the belief of the truth of the Gospel So Hear and your souls shall live That is obey for life for justification for right to salvation 7. Keeping the Commandments Blessed are they that do his Commandments that they may have right to the tree of life Not the hearers of the Law are just before God but the doers of the Law shall be justified Not every one that saith unto me Lord Lord but he that doth the will of my Father shall inherit the Kingdom If the Erek 18. 21. wicked turn from all his sins which he hath committed and keep all my statutes he shall live all the transgressions that he hath done shall not be mentioned This is not the Law of Works but the Gospel for the Law promiseth no mercy to the returning wicked Consider these three places In Jesus Christ neither circumcision nor uncircumcision availeth any thing but Gal. 5. 6. faith which worketh by love In Jesus Gal. 6. 15. Christ neither circumcision c. but a new creature Again In Jesus Christ 1 Cor. 7. 19. neither circumcision nor uncircumcision availeth any thing but the keeping the Commandments of God Do not these three expressions mean the same thing the same Gospel-condition 8. Regeneration New Creature Except a man be born again c. Not by works of righteousness which we have Tit. 3. 15. done but according to his mercy hath he saved us by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost One would think you might gather hence what the Apostle Paul means by Works and what by Faith the Gospel-condition 9. Sanctification Except I wash thee thou canst have no part in me And without holiness none shall see the Lord. Godliness hath the promise of this life and that which is to come Is not Justification right to Heaven among the number of those things Wash you make you clean put away the evil of your doings learn to do well Come now though your sins be as scarlet they shall be white as snow though red like crimson they shall be as wool I could name many other Names as Fearing God Hoping in him Trusting in him c. But I will name but one more 10. Sometime it is expressed by words that import a Continuance and this is indeed the condition of the continued Justification and right to Heaven To them he will give eternal Col. 1. 21 22 23. life who by patient continuance in well-doing seek for immortality Yet now hath he reconciled in the body of his flesh through death to present you blameless and unreproved in his sight if you continue in the faith grounded and setled and be not removed away from the hope of the Gospel which you have heard and was preached to every creature under Heaven That is upon condition that as you have received the Christian Faith so you continue in it to the end notwithstanding all sufferings by the encouragement of that hope which this Gospel supplies unto you If we 1 Joh. 1. 7 walk in the light as he is in the light the blood of Christ cleanseth us from all sin There is no condemnation to Rom. 1. 8. them that are in Christ Jesus who walk not after the flesh but after the spirit Whose house are we if we hold Heb. 3. 6. fast our confidence unto the end But yet believers are justified at present But you are sanctified but you are justified saith the Apostle you are so upon your first cordialconsent to the Gospel-terms It is here as in all other things of the like nature What makes a Servant but Consent When the Master is willing to have him and propounds the terms he consents to the terms I have set Life and Death before you and told you the condition of Life by Christ Would we go and consider this condition and the reasonableness of it and the glorious things that would come by it and would we go and in the strength of God and Christ call Heaven and Earth to record yea and Hell to witness That we consent give up our selves to be ruled and saved by Christ would we enter into Covenant to be the Lord's people and his Christ's to walk in all well-pleasing and not to allow our selves in any known sin or in the neglect of any known duty and to use the means God hath appointed to know his will and for the destruction of sin and this as honest men really intending performance even till death being so far from designing treacherously to turn aside in difficulties that it is our greatest fear and dread lest we should deal falsly in this Covenant From this time you are justified by this Law of Grace and have right to Heaven though you should have black and sad thoughts and think you are not and you may pray with encouragement Keep this in the thoughts of our heart for ever and confirm our hearts unto thee and God will keep those that thus commit themselves unto him But yet this is true if you should fall utterly away this Law of Grace would cease to justifie you because you withdraw this consent and so cease to have the condition of it and the reason why we do not lose Justification and right to Salvation is Because God keepeth his fear in our
Abraham's time Abraham thought it probable there might be fifty righteous persons in Sodom though it proved indeed otherwise and he was better acquainted with the state of those times than we are at this distance And to come to the Jews before Christ's time that had the Oracles of God and to whom the Lord sent Messengers rising up betime and sending them because he had compassion on them saying Turn and live And If the wicked turn from his wickedness and keep all my Commandments be shall live Yet it is next to an impossibility but that those amongst them that knew little or nothing of this great price or Satisfaction that scarce understood any thing of their Prophesies Types and Sacrfices but that those should have muddied and fluctuating thoughts about this pardon of sin when deeply convinced of God's Holiness and hatred of sin and of the hainousness of their sins how it could stand with his Justice and Honour to give eternal life to such unworthy wretches upon their repentance and poor broken obedience Good hearts sensible of God's Holiness and the hainousness of sin would be apt to say Though he will pardon sin yet it may be not such great sins as ours What unanswerable Arguments taken from God's Justice and Holiness might they seem to have against it No wonder if they that knew so little of this great Transaction though sincere ones were all their lives subject to bondage through fear of death No wonder if they were as Servants and our condition the state of Sons in comparison of theirs though the almost visibly convincing knowledg they had of God and his placableness and mercy did prevail with them to perform the Gospel-condition to be true Israelites sincere servants of God Blessed be God that hath revealed those things to us that were hid comparatively from many wise prudent yea and holy men What helps have we which they wanted to turn to God! What helps to the love of God and to all cheerful obedience He so wonderfully loving us first even while ungodly as we may clearly and with open face comparatively to them now see Rom. 5. 8. God commendeth his love to us in that while we were sinners and enemies and ungodly Christ died for us And if so much more now when we are converted and so justified by his blood we may easily believe We shall be saved from wrath through him for then we have a Right by Promise ver 10. For if when we were enemies living in opposition to Heaven and so he as Rector an Enemy to us if then he found a ransome and we were then reconciled to God in the death of his Son quoad meritum so far as concerns the price and the conditional pardon made out thereupon much more being actually reconciled as we are upon the performing the Gospel-condition we shall be saved by his living to intercede for us and to see we have the fruit of his Death and our Faith the salvation of our souls v. 11. And not only so but when thus converted we joy in God as having now received the atonement There was an atonement in his death before but now we have interest in it having performed the Gospel-condition we are actually and not only quoad meritum justified by it What madness is in our hearts if we refuse to hear Him that hath thus convincingly spoken to us from Heaven O foolish Galatians who hath bewitched you that you should not obey the truth before whose eyes Jesus Christ was evidently held out crucified amongst you He means by the Ministry of the Gospel for Christ was crucified at Jerusalem and not at Galatia And the same may by the same reason be urged on us O foolish yea more than foolish even bewitched Creatures we to do such an unreasonable thing as to refuse to obey the Gospel even we before whose eyes Christ is evidently held forth crucified If we perish we may every one of us say with him in Terence Et prudens sciens vivus vidensque pereo I perish knowingly and with my eyes open We may say with the Apostle God in times past suffered yet not altogether but comparatively as the following words shew all Nations to walk in their own ways Acts 14. 16. yea and the Jewish Nation in comparison of us And God Acts 17. 30. neglected those times of ignorance as the words should be translated but now commands even with almost compelling-evidence and power all men every where where Christianity comes to repent 3. This informs us That fallen man could never have fulfilled the Law or satisfied Justice for the breach of it else Christ needed not to have died for this end That God might be just for God might then have been just and the justifier of faln man after their good deeds and sufferings or satisfactions without Christ's death whereas the Apostle tells All are concluded under sin and that therefore all that were or are justified were are and shall be justified were are and shall be justified only this way by the pardon of sin through this Propitiation upon their Faith Repentance and new Obedience To account our Reformations Humiliations Faith Obedience in the place of a Satisfaction Expiation for our evil deeds is to pervert the design of the whole Gospel Christ is become of Gal. 5. 4. none effect to you whosoever of you seek to be justified by the Law How contradictory to this whole Doctrine is the avowed Popish Tenent of Merits Though some of their deluded ones amongst us are kept so ignorant of their own Religion as to tell us Their Church holdeth no such thing as the meriting eternal life by their works I know they are all to pieces about this as well as about other things they hold it Heresie to deny But did these never hear or read them discoursing of their works of Super-erogation that they can not only merit but so over-merit as to supererogate and have much to spare for those that need Merits Many of them as Bellarmine confesseth speak at a higher rate for Merit than he himself and yet this moderate man is too high of all conscience Jam verò opera bona justorum Bellar. de Justif lib. 5. cap. 17. meritoria esse vitae aeternae ex condigno non solum ratione pacti acceptationis sed etiam ratione operis probatur his Argumentis c. He maintains here The good works of pious men are meritorious of eternal life ex condigno and that not only upon the account of God's Covenant and Acceptation which is a contradiction in the very words but upon the account of the very works themselves And he tells us Cap. 12 One drop of Christ's blood was of merit enough to have saved the whole World for the infinite Dignity of the Person and cites the Decretal Epistle of Clement the sixth to prove it and then adds At non dissimilis debet esse ratio meriti in Capite membris Igitur
sinner and so justification of him from any thing befalling him for the breach of the Law would have been of debt and not of grace no thanks Secondly But his justification in this case would have reached but a little way would have resulted no further than I have expressed For God might yet when he pleased have annihilated him for it seems not rational to affirm That if God make a rational Creature he may not lawfully and in equity unmake and annihilate it except it offend him this would be to impose hard terms on God But yet it would be of due debt that this annihilation should not be as a token of his displeasure and for the breach of the Law if he had not broken it as is supposed Secondly Suppose the Covenant ran thus If he obey he shall live eternally happy but if he sin he shall dye be damned as it is supposed it did First Here while man keeps his innocency That he be justified as innocent and not condemned as guilty is of natural equity and not of grace Which would have been enough had we no more to say to justifie the Apostle's speech if we take it not strictly but as we use to do other moral sayings the foundational and most immediately obvious part of justification being of debt Secondly But that this very justification should reach so far as right to continued life and happiness would be of grace because that promise that causes this right to result during him innocent was of grace and not of debt Thirdly Yet this justification thus resulting to continued life and happiness would not man continuing obedient have been of Gospel-grace of that kind of grace which the Apostle hath occasion mainly to speak of which is Mercy and Pardon it would not have been of Gospel-grace of forgiveness which is the thing the Apostle hath much in his eye No thanks would be due upon the account of forgiving him any thing Fourthly But to clear all beyond possibility of exception The Apostle only speaks ex hypothesi and on supposition for the Creature cannot possibly merit any thing of God but as above-said that if innocent he be not condemned as guilty and the Apostle knew their works were not meritorious that his opposers pretended were so Now suppose I say that obedience was meritorious of eternal life of the reward suppose man did any thing meritorious of Heaven then ex hypothesi salvation would not be of grace in any sense but properly of debt which is all the Apostle here affirmeth And it seems the Pharaisaical Jews went as high as some Papists do now as to hold their good works meritorious of eternal life and our Jewish Antiquaries manifest that this Tenent was common amongst them and you see if of meritorious works then not of grace in any sense And in this sense Adam's justification to life upon his unsinning obedience would not have been of meritorious works but of grace though not of pardon and Gospel-grace and Mercy It is easie to answer take it which way you will For if you will by works understand no more than perfect obedience to the Law then justification will not be of Gospel-grace which is pardon But if by works you will understand works properly meritorious of salvation then if of works not of grace at all And in some places the Apostle seems to take the words in one sense sometimes in the other For as here he seemeth to mean proper merit so Gal. 3. 10. As many as are of the works of the Law are under a curse for it is written Cursed is every one that continueth not c. implieth Man should have been blessed and not cursed as being justified by works had he fulfilled c. Here justification would have been of works not properly meritorious but being of Law-works it would not be by Gospel-grace and pardon though there would have been in such a case the Law-grace spoken of For to speak by way of anticipation if God was not bound in strict Justice to make such a promise If man obey perfectly he shall be happy if the making of it was of grace the making of it doth not hinder the performance of it from being of grace law-grace no more than God's making this law That sinner that repents and believes shall be saved maketh man's justification for being of Pardon and Gospel-grace Object The Jews Works and Priviledges were not meritorious nor perfect Therefore the Apostle doth not mean by works meritorious works or perfect Ans First It is true they were not meritorious else they would have been justified and saved of debt without Christ's satisfaction Secondly But they maintained and pretended their works such and this was to make Christ's death vain This very opinion made them slight Christ and kept them from submitting to the righteousness of God the Gospel-way of justification And by the way if any should now have this conceit concerning faith repentance sincere obedience works of charity viz. that they are meritorious of their justification and salvation a satisfaction for their sins recompence enough to Justice they would be in the same condemnation with these and Christ should profit them nothing For this was the reason why Circumcision and other observations of the Law would undo them Gal. 5. 2. not because they had that merit in them which they supposed for then they would have been justified and saved by them but because they conceited them meritorious making them worthy deserving men and so could not possibly during this conceit expect or desire justification in God's way of grace or Mercy through a Propitiation they could not but despise it as esteeming they had no need of it as indeed they had not if their conceit was true Fourthly Faith and Repentance are works it would move a man with pity to see the weakness of mens attempts to prove that faith is not a work when Christ himself calls it a work therefore his design is not to exclude every good work from any interest in justification else he would exclude Faith it self but only perfect or meritorious works or works conceited so to be which comes all to one for as works really compleat or meritorious would essentially hinder pardon by Christ's death being essentially inconsistent so a man conceiting his works meritorious is by God's Law of Grace excluded from any interest in this Propitiation For he hath made it a part of the condition That men be sensible of their unworthiness unrighteousness and undone estate without Christ and Pardon You see what the Apostle's meaning is not Now that you may see what his meaning is let these two things be well considered viz. What the Jews Opinions were and What the Apostle's Design was First What the Jews Opinions were which Paul opposed which are something plain from Scripture and are made more plain by the Writings of ancient Jewish Authors First They held their good works meritorious of eternal life yea some of
did in their own nature stir up teach and oblige you to holiness Ver. 9. But what were not we Jews better than the Gentiles so as they to be sinners and we holy worthy men No we confess on all hands the Gentiles were great sinners and so I will prove from the Scripture were the Jews also None righteous no not one none that doth good their throat is an open sepulcher Ver. 19. Now whatever the Law saith it saith to them under the Law that is whatever the Scripture speaketh it speaketh of them that lived in Scripture-places and this was written by David a Jew and so he meant it of the wickedness of the Jews So that all are sinners and under condemnation you Jews as well as others whatever your thoughts are to the contrary And no flesh can be justified in his sight by the deeds of the law no man shall be justified as being a man that deserves it or as having no need to have his sin pardoned so as his justification to be of debt and not to be of grace favour and pardon Ver. 25. But thus man's justification comes about God hath set forth Christ a Propitiation since all are sinners and God justifieth men by this for his sake pardoning their sins Ver. 27. Where is boasting then it is excluded but is not excluded by the Law of Works for if a man was justified that way he might boast God pardoned him nothing but by this Law of Faith by this Gospel-way of pardoning sinners without merits or strict Law-righteousness And therefore the Gentiles may be saved if they become Christians and have this heart-circumcision though they have not these outward priviledges which you account things of such great worth God pardoning their sins upon their believing the Gospel and having their hearts purified by it which you account such low ignoble things Chap. 4. This Chapter is accounted by the opposers of the doctrine I taught to have the greatest appearance against it but I shall manifest it doth not in the least oppose it The design of this Chapter as you will see is to prove the whole business That the Gentiles may be justified and saved by grace and pardon of sin upon their turning from idolatries and believing and obeying the Gospel without Circumcision and he proveth it by this argument viz. Abraham was a sinner and was not justified for any original righteousness as having never sinned nor for any meritorious works or priviledges of his that in Justice deserved the reward by making satisfaction for his sins for that would still be of debt from natural Law and Equity if a man could do something after great Crimes that satisfies for them all it would be so of Justice to acquit him as not to be of Grace it would however be as the Apostle expresseth it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as it were by the works of the law Rom. 9. 31. as it were by the works of the Law though not wholly or altogether yet in a sort or as it were They that grant they are sinners and yet suppose they make amends by some strict observance so that it would be hard and severe if God should condemn them do esteem their salvation due as it were by the works of the Law they esteem it not of grace But when it is said Abraham was justified the meaning is he was pardoned and if so God may justifie the Gentiles on that manner viz. by pardoning them Ver. 1. Shall we say that Abraham found i. e. all that kindness favour and justification from the flesh i. e. from works as we see in the following verse for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 according to the flesh is in the following verse repeated and expounded by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by works So Gal. 3. 3. made perfect by the flesh he expounds v. 2 5. by the works of the law and so by the flesh may signifie unsinning obedience to the law or by the flesh might be meant some such meritorious priviledges as those the Jews boasted of for Phil. 3. 3. 4. in expounding what is meant by the flesh he reckons up Hebrew of Hebrews circumcised the eighth day a Pharisee We may here understand either but rather both for his arguing excludes both equally Ver. 〈◊〉 No sure For if he was justified in such a way by the law of works as having never been a sinner or by some high merits deserving such things from God then he had whereof to boast and say he was not pardoned and that his justification was of merit and not of grace But not before God i. e. but he could not boast and say God never pardoned his sins and that he was one of such worth and merits that whatever God did for him was due debt whatever glorying he might make of his innocency toward men Ver. 3. He proves it from Scripture that Abraham could not thus boast What saith the Scripture Abraham believed God and it was counted to him for righteousness Now this very word counted proveth this fully that i◠was not due debt from God and also that his believing did not merit it For the word counting is like the Law-word acceptilatio which word acceptilatio is used in such cases as when a man accepts from his debtor a penny for a hundred pound and acquits him upon it So this very word implieth that his believing was so low a thing as not to be any way meritorious of those great things God rewarded him with upon it He lays all the stress as you will see by the following verses upon this word counted that it signifieth graciously acquitted him and not as a just man that deserved it Ver. 4. If Abraham had been a man of high merits and deserts or his faith any thing meritorious it would not have been said God accounted it which signifies God graciously accounted it For to him that worketh i. e. that meriteth by his works the reward is reckoned of debt and not reckoned of grace as this word signifieth This very word implies that God might justly have refused to have justified him upon his believing This is the same argument with that Rom. 11. 6. If it be of grace then it is not of works i. e. of meritorious works otherwise grace is not grace and mercy but if it be of works i. e. meritorious works then it is no more of grace and mercy else works is not works that is merit is not merit merit doth not deserve which is a contradiction Ver. 5. Counted it to him for righteousness It cannot be said that a man's believing or repenting or any other duty is counted that is graciously counted for righteousness except the man be and these things be void of merit Therefore it implies That Abraham believed one that justified an ungodly man an undeserving man a sinner a man unjust justified a man in the strict sense of the law unjust by pardoning his sins his unrighteousness Yea it is probable that by the
token to seal and oblige himself to and assure others of this promise That whatsoever offender or offenders shall do as he did before his receiving of it he or they shall be acquitted from all penalties Here 1. The first receiving this Livery to be worn by him and his is given as a reward to him and not by way of sealing and as a peculiar token of the Royal favour and the same may be said of his exploits being mentioned in the promise to describe the condition by For it is to reward and cast an honour on him to make them a pattern to others These two agree to none else and therefore herein must the fatherhood lye 2. As a seal of the promise his Livery sealeth his particular acquittal only secondarily even by sealing the general promise primarily and immediately viz. That whoever do as he did shall be acquitted whether they have the Livery or no. That it is more assuring and comforting c. to his Family having the Livery and performing the condition I grant but pass it by as alien 3. The King by thus honouring him by giving him this Livery as a reward and also in giving him it first and also asâ— seal with this â—ignification thaâ— whosoever shall do such exploits c. also by making his exploits the pattern the regula and mensura hath put this honour on him to make him as it were a father of all after thus acquitted as receiving this honour to be the first and chief pattern of the acquitting of all that do as he did they being acquitted after him in like manner only as he was 4. He may also be called a causative father in the sense I have explained it of men after him doing as he did and consequently being acquitted as he was his exploits being morally influential to incline men to attempt to express and copy them out because so taken notice of by the King as to be propounded by him to notifie what kind and what manner of exploits they must be that this acquittal is promised to First A father or pattern of the manner of the justification of the Gentile-Christians representing that as he was graciously pardoned not justified for any worthiness of his own being a sinner and an idolater but pardoned upon his believing and obeying God and following his call yea while uncircumcised so may the idolatrous uncircumcised Gentiles that have none of the outward priviledges you Jews boast of be received into favour upon their turning from their idolataies and believing and obeying the Gospel and so he is their father Ver. 12. And secondly A father or pattern of the manner of the justification of us Jews that have these outward priviledges in that we must be justified as he was He was indeed circumcised as we are but his justification was not by that or any merit of that but the condition of his justification was his heart-circumcision his believing obeying fearing God and so must be and always was the justification of any Jew not by or by the merit of any outward priviledges but by God's pardoning their great sins in a Gospel-way upon their heart-circumcision or walking in the steps of that faith of our father Abraham Ver. 13. For the promise that he should be heir of the world that is have great things have great temporal and spiritual mercies Canaan and Heaven the world to come typified by it was not made to him and his seed that is such as he obedient believers as you may see by the places after cited through the law Obey perfectly and live without pardon and so not of Gospel-grace but through the righteousness of faith by a promise of forgiveness in a gracious Evangelical way upon their repenting believing obeying God See Rom. 10. 6. what is meant by the righteousness of faith to wit a law of grace Gal. 3. v. 14 15 16 17 18. is a place parallel to this where the Covenant confirmed of God in Christ to Abraham and his seed that is of an inheritance and blessedness to men walking in the steps of his faith is called the promise whereby he gave the inheritance to Abraham and by his seed there are meant believers as you may see plainly by v. 29. and by Christ v. 16. is meant Christ mystical viz. Believers as Expositors agree So also Heb. 9. 15. A Mediator of the new testament or covenant that they which are called i. e. effectually called obedient believers might receive the promise of the eternal inheritance Ver. 14. For if only they that are of the law that is they that are righteous without pardon that perfectly obey see Gal. 3. 10. be heirs are to have great things then faith is made void and the promise made of none effect that is then there is no place no reward for faith repentance and turning from sin to God for those that have been sinners or obey not the Law perfectly and that implied promise which is implied in God's justifying Abraham upon believing God not being partial but whosoever feareth God and worketh righteousness shall be accepted and that promise which was sealed in circumcision That whosoever should believe and obey God as he did shall find great reward as he did is made of none effect if men be to attain the reward by the Law of works without pardon And the Law given Four hundred thirty years after if it require perfect obedience so as to accept nothing less hath disannulled this promise Then none can be justified unless they be men of such merits as you suppose such outward observances and priviledges make you that it is due of strict Justice and not from a gracious promise made to sinners And also I will shew that you that are of the Law and stick to that cannot be justified or saved whatever you think to the contrary Ver. 15. For the law worketh wrath for where there is no law there is no transgression This proveth what he affirmeth before That happiness comes not by the Moral Law and so neither by any subordinate revelation which is reductively comprehended in it not by the whole system or body of precepts given by Moses as for instance by the command of circumcision which reductively belongs to the Moral Law for that is Obey whatever I shall any way command you or dye and none perfectly obey That place Gal. 3. 10. is like this As many as are of the works of the law i. e. stick to that for justification are under a curse for it is written Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things written in the law to do them Which consequence of the Apostle's would be inconsequent but that it leans upon this implied foundation that none do so viz. all things written So here the meaning is this these laws take them as laws and commands they only work wrath and make sins more by multiplying commands more and so make the Jews more guilty than any and further from
Heaven and whosoever shall do any other duty or act for these ends seeks to be justified by works in the Apostle Paul's sense They make it a certain damning sin to do any other act that we may be pardoned justified obtain right to Salvation For that certainly was it which the Apostle wrote against Now quae nimium probant nihil probant that which will prove more than they upon deliberate thoughts dare grant that use the argument that answers it self as to them Surely they dare not own what inevitably follows from this Then it follows that no man must pray for pardon of sin upon pain of damnation for this is to do one act more for Justification than that one act No man must repent for this end That his iniquities may be blotted out that is for Justification No man must by patient continuance in well-doing seek for glory and immortality for then he must be damned for surely well-doing comprehends more than believing when they take it for one act but God hath said To such only he will give eternal life No man must do the Commands of God for this end That he may have right to salvation If he do he shall be accursed whereas God saith Blessed Rev. ult 14. are they that do his commandments that they may have right to the tree of life What hath God made promise to repentance returning sincere Obedience of Pardon Justification Heaven and shall we provoke God if we perform the condition for attaining the benefit and expect the benefit upon performing the condition Would not this be as rational to threaten death for sin and yer be angry at us for fearing his threat for avoiding the sin upon the account of his threat as to be angry at us yea according to this principle damn us for performing the condition of the Promise that we may have right to the thing promised There is no possible avoiding this consequence for if you may act for reward then for right to the reward for you are not as I shewed before to act for Possession any further than for right to it And if any should object But you must not expect Justification and Salvation to come by these this would be to say You must think God unfaithful and his Promises nullities and we are apt to be too distrustful herein without bidding or but you must not think to merit by these things Very true but is it impossible to perform them for these ends but we think to merit by them Do they that say they may do the one act of Believing for Justification think they merit Justification by it Sure I am that many that held these things notionally did not hold them practically for many of the worthiest men both Prelates and others that ever England had held these things notionally yet so as to deny the consequence but never any good man held them practically I mean except just in a sudden fit of temptation I shall now yet more fully make out to you what this Gospel-condition the Covenant-terms of Justification and Salvation and all other benefits by Christ are for they have all the same condition every Covenant-benefit or any Covenant-benefit by reciting some of the most eminent Names the Gospel-condition is called by which is an easie matter to do and some may think it as well let alone as needless But the thing I am speaking of seems to me to be as weighty a matter as any point in Divinity and is opposed by many and therefore it shall not be grievous or burdensome to me and for you I think it safe and needful and let the more intelligent pardon my using so many words yea and Tautologies since I do it that the lowest-parted may understand me and doubt no more That Condition which we are to be justified and saved by is called by many Names which yet always mean the same thing for substance 1. It is called Knowledg By his Isa 53 11. knowledg shall my righteous servant justifie many Knowledg here is taken objectively not subjectively viz. for our knowledg of Christ not his knowledg whereby he knows So This is life eternal i. e. the condition of life to know thee and thy Son but it meaneth also Love Believe Obey and carry suitably to such Knowledg 2. The Gospel-condition is called Confession If we confess he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins So if any man say I have sinned and perverted that which is right it profiteth me not he will deliver his soul But the meaning is Si caetera sint paria Confess so as to forsake obey c. Else if God meant no more by these Promises we should have right and he would be unfaithful in denying us possession though we forsake not our sins 3. Sometime it is called Faith The righteousness of Faith speaketh on this wise that is the Gospel the Law of Faith in opposition to the Covenant of Works If thou confess with Rom. 10. 9. thy mouth and believe in thy heart that God hath raised him from the dead thou shalt be saved What doth he mean no more than you must believe Christ is risen Nay you must believe he is ascended into Heaven also yea and believe the whole Gospel and obey and carry suitably to the Gospel also The Gospel-condition which is a sincere endeavour according to the best of our knowledg to perform the whole duty of man is frequently called by the name of Believing in the New Testament because it was the great business at that time to perswade the Jews and Gentiles that Christ was the Messiah and that he rose again There were new Articles now added to the old ones new Conditions to the old They take it for granted as a thing known that they were to repent and obey that they knew the duty of repentance toward God But this was the great difficult Doctrine to perswade them there was a necessity of Faith in the Lord Jesus and to believe his death and resurrection Try the spirits for many false prophets are gone out into the world and 1 Joh. 4. 1 2 3. gives this as a trial of the Prophets every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God but he that confesseth it not is not of God We may take this as a probable interpretation of the place He takes it for granted that they knew they that taught wickedness and idolatry were not of God whatever confession they made of Christ But his meaning may be If any coming as a Prophet seeming to be a man teaching Holiness he is not of God if he deny Christ come in the flesh but if he add to other such virtues Faith in the Lord Jesus he is of God You may easily apply it to the case in hand And whatever interpretation else you will give of this as confessing Christ in time of trial yet it must be meant and teach suitably to such confession
hearts lest we should draw back and his soul have no pleasure in us Do not say This is not to be supposed for you ought to put such suppositions to your selves viz. If I should now leave off to be wise and to do good I should perish For what else doth God threaten for If the righteous forsake his righteousness he shall dye As a man that never maketh this Supposition If Christ had not died I had perished or if God had not converted me cannot but be very unthankful which Suppositions are at least as equally impossible as the Supposition of your total Apostacy So a man that never maketh these Suppositions If I should fall away I should lose all cannot but be very unwary and remiss in care and watchfulness Concerning those several Names the Gospel-condition is called by let me add this Observation I know sometime these words may be and are used in Scripture in their proper sense for one act and no more And it may be sometimes by confess may be meant no more than confess And sometime Faith is used only for Faith as when he saith He that cometh to God must believe that God is There by believing is meant only assent And so when we read of Faith's operativeness it means only the belief of the Truth and so would I be understood when I at any time speak of Faith's operativeness as purifying their hearts by Faith yet whenever any Promise is made to any Grace or Act whatsoever of Justification Salvation Pardon there it implieth the whole Gospel-condition and all Graces essential to Christianity It must be understood caeteris paribus if other things answer thereto And this I can prove evidently to you by this argument else a man would have right by the Promise upon his Confessing though he did not forsake and by believing that Christ is risen from the dead though he should refuse to obey the Gospel and God would be unfaithful in denying him the things promised If you promise a Vintner so much money to send you such a Butt that stands in his Cellar and he sends you the empty Vessel if you can assure me that you are not by truth and promise bound to pay him then I am equally sure that you meant the Vessel and the Wine also you spake Synecdochically Methinks I may say as the Town-Clark of Ephesus once did with greater reason than he These things are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 things that cannot be spoken against Object Is not this working for Justification or Righteousness Is there no danger in seeking to be justified and saved by works Ans No danger at all in this sense and yet great danger in another sense but it is so far from being dangerous in this sense that it is indispensably necessary to salvation They only shall be blessed that keep his Commandments in Gospel-sincerity that they may have right to the tree of life that is that they may be justified And I dare confidently say that never any did sincerely obey God whatever confused notions some good men have had in their brains that they held only speculatively but for this end among others that they might have right to Heaven which is Justification for as humane nature now is and I think I may say the same concerning the state of Innocency it is not capable of undergoing the difficulties of obedience but for such ends To escape the curse and attain the blessing which is to attain Justification and escape Condemnation And to say otherwise is to say God hath indeed made promises of remission of sins and Heaven to those that repent turn from sin and obey the Gospel but I will not regard these promises I will not be moved by them I will do none of these things for these ends but I will only act out of love Which yet I could shew you would be impossible For how can I love him who I think hath done me no good and how can I think he hath done me any good when I think my own salvation is no good as I certainly do if I do not desire and endeavour it And God hath threatned those that go on in sin with a Curse and Hell But I will not refrain sin for these ends that I may escape Hell I will only act out of Love I will be above Scripture I will neither be moved with promises nor threats But there is another sense which the Apostle speaketh of as damnable The Pharisaical Jews would have Justification and Righteousness without pardon would purely and meerly be justified so as not to be pardoned that it should be no favour to justifie them but their due without grace and pardon and that maketh him prove out of David the necessity of pardon Rom. 4. and that would be in effect to say without the Satisfaction and Righteousness of Christ and if so Christ died in vain this would make void his death they would have their obedience to the Moral Law which they commonly interpreted as reaching only to the outward act either to be perfect or so little defective that the great meritoriousness of being Abraham's Seed and circumcised and their strict observance of the Ceremonial Law and other Traditions never commanded would make up what wanted And their Righteousness being compleat of it self their Justification would be of due debt from the old Law through Justice and not of Pardon and Grace through a Propitiation And so too many among us look upon their good works as meritorious though they be sinners and know it yet they think the good works of Alms and other things which they look upon as no duties will satisfie for those sins and think God would do them wrong if he do not for their good deeds pardon their evil deeds think their good works are very good and deserving much from God and their evil not very evil and so God would be very hard yea unjust if he should condemn them If this was true then no need of Christ he then dyed in vain then salvation would be of debt from natural Justice from the old Law and not of Grace and Mercy and Pardon through Christ Will any dare to say If what I have spoken be true that he will pardon none but repenting returning believing sinners that it is not of Pardon Mercy Grace but of debt from the old Covenant which allows no Pardon I confess Paul's Epistles about Justification are hard to be understood and I am confident many Expositors are and have been notoriously mistaken about these things and that by Faith he meaneth as I do Faith and Obedience to the Gospel I have written something to shew to my Acquaintants the meaning of these places which I think make them appear rational and plain to this sense and absit verbo invidia will do so to rational men But it is not fit to speak so largely here I wish you to read considerately Cap. 3. v. 5. of his Epistle to Titus Can you
justification than any having more laws and more clearly revealed A man that would look to be justified by exact obedience to every precept and will look for no pardon will find these laws will be so far from justifying him and conferring right to any reward that they work only wrath and oblige him the more to condemnation For where there is no law there is no transgression Many of these things which you Jews sinned in omitting would have been no sins had not God thus revealed his will to you in such multitudes of commands and others not so great sins Ver. 16. Therefore happiness is not by the law that is by unsinning obedience or making all up by meritorious works but by faith that is in a Gospel-way by some promise made of pardon to sinners called the law of faith by some promise made to sinners to whom justification cannot be of debt upon their repentance belief and sincere endeavour of obedience And it is thus of faith that it might be of grace and mercy And it is thus of faith that the promise might be sure to all the seed that is to all that walk in the steps of Abraham's faith that believe repent obey God in difficulties whether they have those great priviledges you boast of as the Jews or none such as the Gentiles And so he is the father of us all both Jews and Gentiles i. e. a pattern of our justification both being justified the same way as he was Ver. 17. As it is written I have made thee a father of many nations Either this is a remote meaning of these words cited or it is an allusive accommodative making use of this citation which seemeth frequent with this Apostle The meaning however of the Apostle is this As I have received thee into favour upon thy believing me in every thing and obeying and following my call so many of several Nations both Jews and Gentils shall receive grace and favour and blessedness from me in thus turning from sin and believing and obeying me as thou hast and so be justified in such a way as thou art and so thou shalt be their Father a prime example or pattern of their justification Ver. 18 19 20 21. He sheweth the faith of Abraham was a great and strong faith he believed the most unlikely things upon God's credit believed against hope believed God was able to do what he promised though never so unlikely he never considered the difficulty it was a faith that carried him out to trust and obey God in every thing So would the Gentiles believe the resurrection of Christ which he compares there to Abraham's believing God could quicken the dead the dead womb and also dead Isaac Heb. 11. 19. and the almost-incredible things of the Gospel and be carried on by such belief to obey and follow God and Christ notwithstanding all their sufferings and discouragements they may be justified and saved without being circumcised and keeping the Ceremonial Law or perfectly the Moral Law as he applies this belief of God's raising the dead to his raising Christ from the dead v. 24. Ver. 22. And therefore it was imputed to him for righteousness That is as I have again and again explained it he was graciously accepted and acquitted and rewarded upon it and treated as if he had been an innocent just person though he was not so in the strict sense of the law or natural equity Ver. 23 24. Now it was not written for his sake alone that it was imputed to him but we may make use of it it was written for some great end and therefore sheweth that though the Gentiles be unworthy persons and have no merits by such priviledges or observances as the Pharisaical opposers of their reception suppose themselves to have yet if they do as Abraham did they shall fare as he fared if they believe this great difficulty of raising Christ from the dead and carry sutable to such a faith righteousness shall be imputed to them also that is they shall be pardoned their sins shall not be imputed to them which was the thing to be proved 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chap. 10. v. 11. The Apostle reassumes the same and here are some passages some may think make against what I have preached Ver. 2. The Jews have a zeal for God but not according to knowledg Ver. 3. For they being ignorant of God's righteousness i. e. his way of justifying sinners by pardon and going about to establish their own righteousness of perfect obedience or meritorious works have not submitted themselves to the righteousness of God that is God's way of pardoning sinners by the Gospel as he explains it v. 6. Ver. 4. For Christ is the end of the Law for righteousness to every one that believeth It is to be acknowledged that the Law as every Law doth require as its end perfect obedience primarily and upon default of that secondarily the punishment of the transgressors But Christ hath satisfied this as much to God's honour and its content as if it had been perfectly obeyed or the penalty suffered by us And this Propitiation is for those that believe that perform the Gospel condition So that there is no necessity now of our unsinning obedience or our making satisfaction by meritorious works in order to our justification but only of our performing the Gospel-condition and they are ignorant of this way of God Ver. 5. For Moses describeth the righteousness of the law the Covenant of Works the way that they stick to for justification thus That the man that doth these things shall live by them i. e. without pardon Lev. 18. 5. Gal. 3. 12. Moses describeth that is these words of Moses taken in the strict law-sense as a law and in the sense you understand them represent that way you stick to for justification I say represent that way For it is apparent that those very words and the whole body of the Mosaical law were a Gospel-covenant of grace as they were given by Moses and understood and ought to be understood by the people The meaning was If you endeavour to do all these sincerely and lament your falling short you shall be justified blessed live otherwise you shall perish I could make this fully apparent that it was a gracious Covenant for it was spoken to sinners and with such words I am the Lord thy God and If you will obey my voice and Moses sprinkleth blood and saith Behold the blood of the Covenant which Covenant they restipulated to when they promised to obey his voice and God saith I have heard the words of this people and they have well said in all that they have said which he would not have said if the meaning had been We promise to do things impossible to make that it should be said We never have been sinners and we will perfectly obey in every thing without the least remisness in thought word or deed But to be short see Mr. Ant. Burgess
oppose the Doctrine delivered are to be interpreted in pursuance of this design That men are justified only by pardon of sin through the Propitiation upon performing those conditions pardon is promised to and so may the Gentiles be justified without such perfect obedience to the Law or meritorious priviledges or satisfactions If I should proceed I can only repeat the same again and again with very little variation upon the places following Gal. 2. 11 12 13 14 15 16. Gal. 3. Gal. 5. 2. Paul once circumcised Timothy yet here saith Behold I Paul say unto you If you be circumcised that is upon this account else he would not have spoken so severely to make you such worthy persons as to need no pardon Christ shall profit you nothing Ver. 3. For I testifie again to every man that shall now be thus or on this account circumcised he is a debtor to the whole Law He must look to it that he fail not in the least for he virtually disclaims all pardon by Christ and so shall not have it So Tit. 3. 5. Not by works of righteousness which we have done but according to his mercy he saved us by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost Ver. 7. That being justified by his grace c. This Scripture tells us what is meant by work and what by faith and plainly to any considering man James 2. 14 to the end When some had it is probable mis-understood such expressions in St. Paul's Epistles as if only believing the truth was enough for salvation the Apostle James shews that by Abraham's faith was meant his faith and obedience and saith that those words believed God mean believed God and obeyed him in offering up his son and other difficulties like that 1 Maccab. 2. 52. Was not Abraham found faithful in temptation and it was imputed to him for righteousness As Phineas executed judgment and it was counted to him for righteousness throughout all generations that is God rewarded him graciously with an everlasting Priesthood as if he had been a righteous man a deserving man when yet he was not by the Apostle Paul's argument that the word counted implieth it was not due to him so doing but of grace Ver. 22 23. When he offered up his son then the Scripture was fulfilled perfectly explained that saith Abraham believed God and it was imputed to him for righteousness that is God acquitted and rewarded him upon his faith and obedience as if he had been a righteous man in the strictest sense when indeed he was not And you may observe it would as much serve the Apostle Paul's arguing and support what he builds upon it if the very words had run thus Abraham believed and obeyed and it was counted c. and it is plain that was the meaning as you may see Gen. 22. 8. In thy seed shall all nations be blessed because thou hast obeyed my voice or if they had run thus He walked before God and was upright and it was counted c. and this is said in effect in saying If he did so God would do great things for him cap. 17. 2. Or if the words had been expresly thus Abraham feared God and it was accounted to him for righteousness and we do read as much in sense though not in express words Gen. 22. 12. For now I know thou fearest God seeing thou hast not with-held c. Ver. 16. By my self have I sworn For because thou hast done this thing and hast not with held thy son that in blessing I will bless thee It would be a poor blessing if it did not include justification I say had the words run so the Apostle is so far from excluding these things from being a condition of justification that such words would as well have proved what he is proving only they would not so occasionally have served to press them to the great difficult duty of that day the believing Christ's Resurrection FINIS