So the Apostle declares Rom. 5.2 3 11. We rejoyce or glory in hope of the glory of God and not only so but we glory in tribulations also And he comes over with that word again ver 11. saying and not only so but we glory in God 't is the same word in the Greek in all the three Verses though differently rendred in our Translation How do they thus glory in God 'T is through Jesus Christ who hath brougâ—t in this righteousness for them and by whose Death they were when Enemies reconciled to God and by whom they have received that Atonement They do glory before God in him only in whom they are and who is of God made righteousness unto them 1 Cor. 1.30 31. and in the unchangeableness of the Love of God towards them in Christ they do triumph even while they have before their eyes their own guiltiness in themselves and how much matter for Eternal condemnation there is in them for it is upon Christ's not being spared or abated any thing but being delivered up and dying and God's justifying all which plainly speak them in themselves obnoxious to condemnation and worthy of Death upon these things it is that the Apostle bottoms that challenge and raiseth that triumphant persuasion and Song of assurance which he there uttereth in the Name of all Believers Rom. 8.32 33 34 35 38 39. Believers have given them beauty for ashes the oyl of joy for mourning the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness and they do greatly rejoyce in the Lord even in the Lord who was angry with them and their Souls are joyful in their God whom they know they have sinned against But how comes this to pass Is it because their sins are through tract of time out of Gods thoughts and Memory No a thousand years are with him but as one day He is an Eternal God and they are as fresh and present before him as if they were just then in committing Is it because God thinks better of their sins than formerly he did when he frown'd upon them and wrote bitter things against them No their sins are as distasteful to him as much hated by him as ever they were nor will he ever to Eternity have a better thought of any of them Is it because Believers are become more vain and senseless and slightly-spirited than they were in those former days of bitterness and anguish No verily they have more of the heart of Flesh than they then had and there is in them now a deeper sense of the evil of sin and a deeper work of the Spirit of Humiliation and more thorow thawings and meltings of heart before the face of God then ever Whence is it then and how comes it to pass that Believers are made even in the view of their own endless sin and guiltiness yet to triumph and rejoyce with Joy unspeakable and full of Glory It is hence God hath cloathed them with the Garments of Salvation he hath covered them with the robe of Righteousness as the Prophet speaks Isa 61.10 This righteousness of Christ is upon them and thence they have the consolations of God delighting their Souls and abounding in them Lastly There are not only such great and precious things injoyed by Believers while here but there are also things high and glorious laid up and reserved for them hereafter when they shall be here no more There shall be a Glory revealed in them far beyond all compare with any of the afflictions that they meet with in this World Rom. 8.18 They are now indeed the Sons of God and that is such manner of Love and so great that Men and Angels may stand and gaze and wonder at it But though now already they be thus loved nevertheless it doth not yet appear what they shall be Only we know that when the only begotten of God the Prince of Life and Lord of Glory shall appear then shall they appear with him in Glory and they shall see him as he is and they shall be made like him even these vile Bodies shall by him be fashioned like his own Glorious Body Colos 3.4 1 Joh. 3.1 2. Phil. 3.21 And in that day the world shall see and know and they themselves shall everlastingly feel that Christ is in his Father and they in Christ and he in them Joh. 14.20 And that both Christ and the Father too have loved them as the Father hath loved Christ and that very lo e wherewith the Father hath loved Christ himself shall be in them for ever John 15.19 Joh. 17.23 26. But now if you ask as she sometimes did concerning another great work of love and wonder Luke 1.34 How can these things ever be seeing they are such sinful such guilty such vile and loathsome and hateful Creatures in themselves This Text this Doctrine answers all in this one word The righteousness of Christ is through Faith unto them all and upon them all without difference who do believe Let your hearts answer and eccho back as Maâ—ries there did ver 38 45. Behold the handmaid of the Lord be it to me according to thy word Stagger not you at these great things as incredible as impossible ever to be done for you who are so ashamed of and do so exceedingly abhor your selves and who are worthy of nothing but to be rejected and abhorred of God eternally but believe take them in by Faith and by Faith receive the gift of this righteousness and then there shall most assuredly be a performance unto you even unto you of those things that have been told you from the Lord. ROM iii. 22. Even the Righteousness of God which is by Faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe for there is no difference THE Point of Doctrine observed from these words you may remember was to this purpose Doctrine There is a Righteousness of God which is by Faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all without difference who do believe Six things have been proposed to be spoken to for the clearing up of the Doctrine viz. 1. What is this Righteousness of God and why so called 2 How it is unto and upon all that believe 3. What is the import and meaning of that word without difference 4. What is this Faith of Jesus Christ 5. What reference hath this faith unto this Righteousness being on Believers 6. Whence is all this and how comes this about Of these particulars I have already gone through the three former and know not any need either to retract or to explain further what was then delivered so shall it go with your Souls so will God deal with every one of you as you receive or reject those Truths of his That which is now before me is those other three remaining particulars for the clearing up of the Doctrine and the further application of it And hereto I now address my self Q. 4. VVhat is this Faith of Jesus Christ Answ By Faith
of Jesus Christ is meant Faith upon him that Christ is the object not the subject of it Not that Christ is he that believes but he on whom we believe So is this manner of speaking used elsewhere Gal. 2.16 Knowing that a man is justified by the Faith of Jesus Christ we have believed in Jesus Christ that we might be justified by the Faith of Jesus Christ And so ver 20. I live by the Faith of the Son of God So in Acts 3.16 By Faith in his Name It is the same case and construction in the Greek as it is here in the Text and in the Galatians and might as well be rendred Faith of his Name You have the like Mark 11.22 Have Faith in God or as your Margins tell you Have the Faith of God It might as well be rendred here Faith in Jesus Christ as it is their Faith in God The Grammer and the meaning is the same in both places It is genitivus objecti not efficient is or subjecti It being then Faith on Christ let us next consider what this Faith is And I shall briefly touch on three things concerning it 1. The subject of Faith is the heart of a convinced broken-hearted humbled sinner Faith is seated and acted in the heart Rom. 10.10 VVith the heart man believeth unto Righteousness And it is the heart of a convinced contrite humbled Sinner Where there is not any conviction of Sin there is no Conviction of Righteousness For as the whole and well do not need so they do not see and feel themselves sick and wounded unto Death will not seek to a Physician nor commit themselves into his hands He that doth not see himself in danger of Death by the Avenger of Blood will not flee to Christ for refuge to lay hold upon him which is the work of Faith or that which the Soul doth in believing as the Apostle sets it forth Heb. 6.18 The very nature of Faith and the Acting of the Soul in it is such as doth imply and include a sight and sense of Sin and Misery and an over-powering practical lively heart-influencing Conviction of utter helplesness in a mans self and unworthiness to be helped by God In believing the Soul looks on it self as in a perishing Condition Luke 15.14 16 17 19. as a poor and needy Friendless and Fatherless Creature Hos 14.3 and betakes it self to Soveraign Grace and Mercy It believes that it may be justified Gal. 2.16 which implyes that it sees it self lyable to condemnation Yea it knows as the Apostle there speaks that men are not justified by the works of the Law that is in its believing it is under a particular and lively Conviction that by the works of the Law neither any other nor it self shall ever be justified and it is thereby influenced to seek to be justified by Christ in this way of believing Not but that after Faith and Pardon and a sense of it too there are deep humblings and meltings of God according to that promise Ezek. 16.61 63. and we see was in her Luke 7.38 Nevertheless a truth it is that Unhumbledness and Pride are inconsistent with true Faith Joh. 5.44 and so also is impenitency and hardness of Heart the Seed of the word of the Gospel will never take root and grow up in such an heart Matth. 21.32 and 13.20 21. 2. The object of Faith is Jesus Christ that is the anointed Saviour or the Name of Christ as 1 Joh. 3.23 and Joh. 1.12 that is Christ as made known and set forth and declared in the Gospel And in the Gospel he is set forth as the Ordinance and Servant of God for saving Sinners of the Sons of Men. Christ is the next and immediate object of Faith God is the ultimate Object of it For by him we come to God Heb. 7.25 and by him we do believe in God 1 Pet. 1.21 3. The hearts acting towards this object in its believing is most properly in a way of trust and dependence and affiance The Holy Ghost who is the Author and worker of Faith and who best knows the Nature of it doth in Scripture set it forth by great variety of expressions some proper some metaphorical Trusting and believing in are among the proper expressions whereby the Holy Ghost declares the Nature of Faith and the acting of the Heart therein towards Christ and God by him The former is used by him Eph. 1.12 13. Isa 50.10 and 26.3 4. and often elsewhere The latter is used Gen. 15.6 Joh. 1.12 and 6.29 and 14. 1. Gal. 2.16 2 Tim. 1.12 and in many other places There are also some Metaphorical Expressions used by the Holy Ghost to the same purpose And as they are in their Nature apt and fit to let in a Light of Understanding into our Minds and to guide them in their conceivings concerning the Nature of this Faith through which the Righteousness of Christ comes to be unto all and upon all that believe So the Holy Ghosts using them warrants us to use them in speaking of and describing Faith To give some instances Believing is called looking unto Christ Isa 45.22 and it implyes a looking to him with earnest desire and expectation For that expression in the Prophet is taken from that Ordinance in Moses Numb 21.8 where you find the Israelites directed when stung by the Fiery Serpents to took to the Brazen Serpent that they might not dye but live and be healed Christ shows us that himself was shadowed and prefigured by that Brazen Serpent John 3.14 and his death by the lifting of it up John 12.32 33. and accordingly by their looking to it was believing taught as Christ plainly intimates John 3.15 And therefore as an Israetite who felt himself stung by the Fiery Serpents and dying looked with earnestness of expectation to the Brazen Serpent in like manner doth the Heart of a convinced Sinner work towards Christ in believing Again Believing is called coming to Christ Matth. 11.28 John 6.37 44 45. for in ver 35. he had explained coming to him by believing on him But what manner of coming is it Is it a dead cold careless coming No it is a coming with appetite and affection as an hungry man comes to his Meat and a thirsty man to drink which also is Christs comparison there And thence elsewhere the same Spirit who is the worker of Faith in us and under whose hand the Soul is conducted and doth act in its believing calls it a fleeing unto Christ for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us Heb. 6.18 All the expression sets forth earnestness in the Heart in its believing For they are taken from the practise of one who finding himself in danger of Death from the Avenger of Blood fled unto the City of Refuge the Ordinance for which you may see Numb 35.13 15. or from the practice of a self-convicted self-condemned Criminal among the Jewes who fled to the Tabernacle and caught hold on the Horns
certain perpetuity of a Believers State and the ground thereof The Righteousness of Christ is upon him through Faith His Estate therefore is not cannot be undecided and in suspense They who deny or consider not that this Righteousness of Christ is through Faith upon all that believe and look only to the falseness and slipperiness of our hearts and either imagin some other way then through Faith for its being upon us or hold that we stand not in it but in our own Obedience or Faith as our Righteousness before God it is no marvel if they be for Believers falling away from Grace Their Darkness and Error in those other great Principles of the Gospel naturally leads and betrays them to this uncomfortable unevangelical and racking Error also that a Believers State is in suspense and undecided But 't is a plain case They upon whom the Righteousness of Christ is they are not in a State of suspense their State is not undecided But so it is with all that believe It is true indeed if Believers stood in their own Obedience and in their persevering therein so as to have their State depend on them it might well be uncertain and must be in suspense and undecided till their last breath But their continuance in Obedience and the not failing of their Faith is one of the Priviledges of their Estate and the Effect or Fruit of their having this Righteousness of Christ upon them and not the means or cause thereof But it may be you will ask if it be not in suspense and undecided where is it decided I answer It is not always decided in their own Consciences they may possibly be in the dark about it and wofully tossed with weary fluctuations between hope and fear concerning their own Estate Neither do I mean that it is decided before Men. The work and walk of a true Believer may possibly under the prevailing of Corruption and Temptation and under Gods Dereliction be such as to make him look in the Eyes of Men like a graceless Cast-away Nor is it so publickly and so solemnly decided before all the World of Men and Angels as it shall be at the great Day But yet decided it is and put out of suspense Where In the Court of Heaven where God sits as a Judge passing Sentence concerning the Spiritual Estate of all Men. I mean his word his written word that 's the Court of Heaven there are Men condemned and there they are justifyed in the word God sits as a Judge pronouncing and passing Sentence concerning Mens Estates There he pronounceth a Sentence of Condemnation upon all that are out of Christ and there he pronounceth a Sentence of Justification unto all and upon all that are in Christ by Faith This I mean by the Court of Heaven We should take heed in this matter of having our thoughts vanish into Airy Speculations and Imaginations of I know not what Voices and Proclamations made in Heaven in the hearing of Saints and Angels just as there is here on Earth among Men when Persons arraigned are acquitted The Scripture tells us not of any such thing though it tells us indeed there is Joy in Heaven over a Sinner that repents and though it be made known to Angels when the Estate of an Elect here below is changed yet this is not Gods justifying of him but his revealing to them his being justified Gods justifying us is in and by his word what the Word speaks God speaks and there is the Estate of every one that believes in Christ put out of suspense for ever and immutably and eternally decided For there is an Unchangeable Everlasting Constitution that the Righteousness of Christ is and shall be upon every one that believeth in him Now he with whom God is immutably and everlastingly well-pleased his State certainly is not in suspence and undecided But so is God pleased in Christ with every one that is in him by Faith for this Righteousness of Christ is unto and upon every Believer USE 2. This Doctrine speaks Conviction unto all that are in their Vnbelief You may here see you should here read that your Estate is wretched and woful for the Righteousness of Christ is not upon you it is only upon those who do believe and upon none else And it is upon them through Faith but you are without Faith and therefore have not this Righteousness of Christ upon you And if his Righteousness be not upon you the Wrath of God and the Curse of the Law even of the violated broken Law are upon you Gal. 3 10. For if this Righteousness of Christ be not upon you your Sins are upon you the guilt of them all is upon you As it is said of those Tyrants and Terrors in the Land of the Living in their day that they lay down in their Graves with their Iniquities upon their Bones Ezek. 32.27 So it must be said of you and it should be believed by you of you selves that you walk up and down among the Living with all your Iniquities upon you and if you dye in this Faithless Condition your Souls shall go down to Hell with all the uncircumcised and wicked of the World and the guilt of your Iniquities will be upon you for ever and ever And it is very fearful and overwhelming guilt that is upon you For there is the guilt of innumerable actual sins of thy own perpetration in Deed in Word in Thought and some of them are hainous and amazing Ask thy Conscience else And there is upon thee moreover the guilt of a depraved defiled Nature by that exceeding sinful sin which dwelleth in thee a sort of sin that hath a fulness of evil in it and excessive madness of heart Eccles 9.3 it hath in it Infidelity and Atheisme and Blasphemy and Contempt of God and Enmity a gainst him and also all the flagitious atrocious wickedness against the second Table that ever was committed by any of the Children of Men and moreover all that audaciousness and outrage which ever broke forth in any of the Sons of Belial in their sinning Such an one art thou in thy Heart and Nature before God and therefore in his judgment and his judgment is according to truth guilty before him concerning all these things though perhaps thou hast never felt many of them stirring in thy bosom And moreover there is upon thee the guilt of thy first Fathers sinning and disobedience when he turned Rebel against God thou wast involved in that woful deed of his and guilt and condemnation is upon the thereby Rom. 5.18 19. and from that sin of thy first Father thou canst never be discharged and justified unless this Righteousness of Christ be upon thee through Faith Isa 43.27 And lastly over and above the guilt of all these sins there is also upon thee the guilt of disobeying the Gospel in refusing and despising this Righteousness of Christ tender'd and brought near unto thee when thou art in such a
THE Righteousness of God THROUGH FAITH UPON All without Difference who believe In Two Sermons on Romans 3.22 By NATHANIEL MATHER Preacher of the Gospel LONDON Printed for Nathaniel Hiller at the Princes-Arms in Leaden-Hall-Street over against St. Mary Axe 1694. To the READER I Must acknowledge that when I was called to Preach in that Audience where these Sermons were delivered I had some Debates rolling in my Mind what kind of Subject I should pitch upon There were enow offered to my Thoughts wherein I might have more gratified or at least have less displeased our Neonomians as they are lately named but as truly and justly Semisocinians as the antient Church and all Posterity since hath called the off-spring of Pelagius his Heresie Semi-Pelagians But I saw with grief and detestation the Blessed Gospel of our Salvation craftily and insolently assaulted by them in the very Vitals and Fundamentals of it In publico discrimine omnis homo miles est Every Christian much more every Minister is set for the defence of the Gospel especially at such a time when the Truth labours under guileful and impetuous opposition I doubted my Quiet would be attempted and my Doctrine and Reputation would be angrily reflected on As to the last though I value it and believe I ought to do so yet I can truly say convictions that I ought to sacrifice both that and my Quiet to the service of the labouring Truth of God had their weight with me My Heart hath been long fixed in this Principle that Reputation is little to be valued save only so far as it may be of service unto Christ and if he have any use to make of it he will preserve it while I walk before him in Integrity With him I have thus left it and having so done my Heart is secure and at rest about it As to my Quiet I confess I do prize and love it as remembring Prov. 17.14 and 18.6 but to Maintain and Preach that Precious and Saving Truth which the Churches of Christ have been in possession of ever since the Reformation is not entring into contention especially when some abandon it and others indeavour to wrest it from us And there is a contending and that earnestly for the Faith once delivered to the Saints which is a Duty Besides I am not far from that place where the weary are at rest and the wicked cease from troubling the thoughts whereof I confess are sweeter to me because I have very sadning apprehensions of the portendency of that apostasie from the Truth which hath invaded so many of the rising Generation not among Conformists only but Dissenters also As to my Quiet I have this relief that it is not in the power of any mortal to interrupt or disturb my inward composedness of Spirit or to lay me under any law of unquietness within my self I know and am assured that a due exercise of Faith Meekness Self-denyedness and such like Graces will establish my Heart in a just and holy unconcernedness though such representations should still be made of me for these Sermons sake as to fill my Friends in other Lands to whom I am known with trouble and consternation I use the very words of a Letter wherein I am informed that such Reports have been sent even so far As to the Doctrine delivered in these Sermons it hath been of use to me for the direction and guidance of my Heart in transacting with God about Pardon and Acceptance to Eternal Life I hope it may be so unto others My Hope my Life my Salvation my All is therein I have not delivered any thing but what I know and am assured is according to the Eternal Truth of God and wherein I have going before me as great Lights as any that God in these latter Ages hath set up in his Church How little or rather nothing I have varied in what is Printed from what was delivered in Preaching I must leave to those that shall read and did hear them I have heard of two Passages that have been taxed Of them therefore I have in a short Postscript given a further account As to the Publishing of them in Print if the Doctrine delivered in them be the Truth of God as I believe it is I need not make any Apology Many that know me know my backwardness to appear in Print Nevertheless in thus Publishing these Sermons my Heart condemns me not knowing that I have therein only indeavoured to communicate in a more diffusive and induring way that Truth the Faith whereof I have received and wherein I have many Years lived and in which I hope and am perswaded I shall dye and which it is of concernment to have preserved and propagated The Blessing of him whose Truth it is go along therewith London this 14th of the 2d Month 1694. Nath. Mather ERRATA PAge 20. line 3. for in is read is in l. 9. a fine r. 1 John 2.1 l. 6. a fine f not p. 21. l. 7. a fine r. comprizing under them his Graces p. 25. l. 4. put the comma after is p. 26. l. 2. dele of p. 27. l. 4. a fine r. 2 Pet. 3.11 p. 31. f. namely r. only p. 36. l. 9. a fine f. John 15.19 r. John 15.9 p. 39. l. 14. their r. there l. 10. a fine f. they do not r. they who do not p. 42. l. 16. r. â— 28 p. 43. l. 7. f. might r. weight f. Psal 88.8 r. Psal 88.7 p. 59. l. 20. r. Phil. 3.12 ROM 3.22 Even the Righteousness of God which is by Faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe for there is no difference IN the first five Chapters of this Epistle the Apostle sets himself to declare and clear up the great Doctrine of Justification And he first speaks to it Negatively shewing and evincing that by the deeds of the Law there shall no Flesh be justified in the sight of God which is the conclusion and sum of all his foregoing Discourse as you may see at the 20th Verse of this Chapter Having made out that neither Jew nor Gentile can ever be justified by the Deeds of the Law he declares affirmatively in the Verse before the Text and so onward how it is then that men may be Justified and he shews that it is by the righteousness of God manifested without the Law yet witnessed to by the Law and by the prophets that is by the Books of Moses and the rest of the Old Testament But how come men to be justified by this Righteousness manifested without the Law and thus witnessed unto This the Apostle declares in the words of the Text telling us that this righteousness is through faith upon all that beleeve and that without difference There is no need in order to what I intend to say any thing for explaining of the meaning of any of the words of the Text. The Doctrine which I design to speak to from them is plain and obvious and it is
Eternal Life On account of this Righteousness being thus made theirs it is as I conceive that they are said to be Worthy Rev. 3.4 to walk with Christ in white worthy of Joyful Communion with Christ not in themselves but as in him and having his Righteousness upon them in whom they are made the Righteousness of God 3. This Righteousness is upon Believers not only for the change of their Estate at first from a State of Wrath and Condemnation to a State of Favour with God and Justification but also for the continuing of them in that Estate for ever This is that which the Apostle saith Rom. 5.21 Grace reigneth through Righteousness unto Eternal Life So that Believers stand before God in this Righteousness having it upon them all their Life as well as at their first believing and being translated into a justified Estate It is in this Righteousness in which they stand justified and not in their own Graces of Sanctification or in any of their own new obedience Thus the Holy Ghost teacheth us to judge and believe when he saith 1 Joh. 2.12 If any man sin that is if any Believer sin for of them he speaks we have an Advocate with the Father Jesus Christ the righteous and he is no only was or hath been but he is a propitiation for our sins And 1 Job 1.7 If we walk in the light as God is in the light the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all Sin Our walking in the Light hath no influence at all to cleanse us from the filth contracted by the least Sin that is found with us This I take to be one reason why it is called Everlasting Righteousness Dan. 9.24 The Righteousness of the first Adam in which he was created was not so no he sinn'd and forfeited and lost it it lasted no longer than while he continued in all things contained in the Law to do them But it is not so with the Righteousness which the Messiah brings in if it be once upon us through Faith it is upon us everlastingly Thence Believers are said to be b fore the Throne of God without fault Rev. 14.5 which is much too high an expression to be used of the best Saint under Heaven on the account of his Obedient and Holy Walking nothing but the Righteousness of Christ being upon them can set them before the Throne of God without fault Of this mind was the Holy Apostle Paul when with so much vehemency and patheticalness he renounceth his own Righteousness and shuns standing in it for Justification unto Life Phil. 3.9 as dross that was of no wortlh as loss that would undoe him yea as dung which would defile him and render him abhorred This he speaks of his own Righteousness and thus his heart stood affected towards it in the business of his Justification even then when he had been converted and sanctified many years and done and suffered much for Christ in an excellent manner and with a choice and Evangelical Spirit Bellarmin indeed would have Paul there by his own Righteousness to mean nothing but his own Hypocrisie or formality and is so very angry with Chemnitius for interpreting Paul's own Righteousness there and the all things which he renounceth as comprizing them under his Grace of Sanctification and his new Obedience that he chargeth him for it with blasphemy And indeed 't is no wonder if depreciating and crying down a Man 's own Righteousness be resented as Blasphemy by a proud Cardinal an haughty Jesuit and blind Papist But the Light and Pregnancy of the Apostles Expressions are so strong and clear that it is somewhat surprizing that any pretending to be a Protestant (a) Such as Dr. Sherl See Antisoz p. 547 to 568 and Mr. Williams See Pref. p. 9. and p. 202 203 204 209. Grotius indeed goes the same way Annot. in loc And I learn by Mr. Rutherf of the Cov. p. 171. that Arminians and Socinians do so too But I do not reckon him or them among Protestants It is like Grotius and the Arminians might have it from the Racovian Catechisme cap. 9. p. 194. should lick up that Popish Self-justiciaries vomit But vain Man would be wise though he be born like the wild Asses Colt There is in us an obstinate adherency to our own Righteousness and a desperate lothness to foregoe it and be beaten off utterly from it And thence if we see we cannot have any thing of our own before Conversion to bring us into a justified State yet we struggle as for Life that somewhat of our own something done by us or inhering in us may some way or other be our Justifying Righteousness or a part of it may have some band in continuing us in that Estate though it could do nothing to bring us into it But doubtless Holy David's heart was under the conduct of the Blessed Spirit of Wisdom and Grace when he resolved to make mention of the Righteousness of God and of it only for his acceptance as well as to walk in the strength of the Lord God for his Assistance Psal 71.16 And this was not at first Conversion only that he might be put into a State of Justification but it was when he was old and gray-headed and had been sanctified and done much for God and been in a justified Estate many Years See ver 9. 4. This free effectual valid abiding imputation of this righteousness unto Believers is such and it is through Faith so upon them that they are thereby constituted as righteous as Christ is righteous as their Surety When I say they are by its being upon them made as Righteous as Christ is Righteous as he is their Surety I mean it not in a way of Similitude only but in a way of Equality I am well aware that this is looked on as a monstrous absurdity and horrid impossibility by Papists and others who contend against the Imputation of the Righteousness of Christ unto us at all And no wonder for Christ and his Righteousness are a stumbling stone and rock of offence to many in Israel it was so of old Rom. 9.32 33. and it will be to as long as that word 1 Pet. 2.8 stands firm that there are any in the World who are appointed to stumble at that stumbling stone But we must not foregoe a truth so certain so clear so comfortable though all the Unbelievers in the World stumble and quarrel at it That I may if possible prevent the offence I desire you would observe that I do not make comparison between the Righteousness of Christ and the Righteousness of Believers by their being sanctified and their Holy walking In this regard there is only a similitude to dream of an Equality would be prodigious Ignorance and blasphemous Madness Nor is the comparison between the Righteousness of Believers by Imputation and their Righteousness in point of Sanctification These are not the things compared together To make these equal would be foolish in
〈◊〉 Gal. 2.16 and Faith is called a coming to him a phrase which implyes and holds forth not onely that while we continue in Unbelief we are at a distance from Christ and that Christ is the Object of Faith but also that by believing Christ and the Believer are brought together if I may so express it As Believers dwell in Christ and Christ in them so this is by their eating his flesh and drinking his blood or eating him Joh. 6.47 with ver 54 56. In eating and drinking the Food and the drink are incorporated and made one with the Body By eating and drinking Christs Flesh and Blood he there means believing on him The Metaphor is taken from their eating the Manna and drinking of the Rook in the Wilderness or from their eating and drinking of their Sacrifices as you know they were by a positive Ordinance to do of some of them Christ indeed first lays hold on us and joyns himself to us and we being laid hold on and drawn by him do close with him and so come to co-alesce into one mystical Person with Christ This our vital Union with him is indeed begun on his part in his laying hold on us in a preventing way but it is compleated and accomplished and becomes mutual by our believing Now being thus made one with Christ his righteousness comes to be upon us unto the Justification of Life by the Ordinance Constitution and Donation of God It is as we are thus in him and made Members of him that his righteousness is upon us As a base-born Beggar and Criminal comes to have the Honour of a Princess upon her by being Married and becoming one Flesh with an high born Prince Propos 6. Nevertheless this Righteousness of Christ hath some operation on us as well as for us antecedently to our believing It hath an operation for us For it did make Atonement procure our Peace and accomplish our Reconciliation unto God These things were done and finished they were perfected by Christ in his bringing in this righteousness It hath also an operation upon us before our believing To say nothing of Gods forbearing us and showing forth all long suffering toward us during all the days of our vanity and madness of heart nor of any other excellent Mercies given to us then which when Grace comes to be grafted on them become very serviceable for the furtherance of our Salvation because it is not altogether so clear that these things which are not of a saving Nature and which are injoyed by us while we are not under the bond of the Covenant nor living Members of Christ are procured for us by his righteousness This is certain and plain that the Spirit and Faith it self are procured for us by and given to us for this righteousness which is unto Justification upon us through Faith Phil. 1.29 Faith is purchased for us by it and our justification is purchased by it and both of them absolutely obtained And it may also be said that because Justification is absolutely procured by this righteousness therefore also Faith being procured for us by the same righteousness is for the sake of it given to us that being the way ordained of God for our being justified and it being a Mercy peculiar to the Elect and a Mercy that hath Salvation accompanying it and a leading part of the application of Christ This possibly may be one thing that hath occasioned some to say that our Justification is rather the condition of our having Faith given us than our Faith the condition of our Justification I conceive they mean that if Justification had not been absolutely procured and obtained for the Elect Faith would never have been either given them or obtained for them However most certain and undeniable it is that this Righteousness operates on us antecedently unto our believing because that preventing Grace and work of the Spirit whereby Faith is wrought in us are the effects of this Righteousness as being procured by it From what hath been said Two Things follow which I will briefly note for the further clearing up this whole Matter and then pass on to the last Enquiry proposed 1. Our being justified is not the next or immediate effect or consequence of our believing but of Christs Righteousness being upon us For between our believing and our being justified there comes in our co-alescing into one Mystical Person with Christ by this Vital Union and our having his righteousness upon us unto the Justification of Life Which latter is the next fruit and consequent of that our union to him or being in him His righteousness is upon us as we are Members of him and do stand in him And this our union to him is brought about and accomplished upon and by our believing Union to Christ goes before Communion with him Union is the immediate consequent of Faith Our having this righteousness upon us is one of the first things in our Communion with Christ We are first in Christ and so have him made righteousness to us 1 Cor. 1.30 2. Our Faith hath no hand in working out this righteousness for us nor is it any part thereof The righteousness of Christ is a garment a robe wherewith Believers are cloathed Psal 45.13 14. Isa 61.10 Rev. 19.8 But our Faith neither is a part of it nor ever took stitch in it The Apostle here in the Text doth not say this righteousness of God is by or through Faith or that it consists either in whole or in part in Faith but that it is upon us through faith Wherein he plainly distinguisheth between this righteousness and our believing and tells us it is the former namely this righteousness of God which is upon us unto justification of life whereas the latter namely faith is within us not upon us Quest 6 How comes this about and whence is it that this righteousness is through faith unto and upon all that believe Answ This Enquiry leads me to lay open before you something of the deep Counsels of the Wisdom and Grace of God in the Plot of our Salvation I shall content my self onely to point a little at the Heads of Things telling you the Story of it from its first and highest Original in these Seven Steps 1. God the Father from Eternity begat his Son the second Person in the Trinity and loving him with an infinite Love designed a special Revenue of Glory and Honour and Praise unto him as from all his Creatures in their kind and way so more eminently from and in a certain number of Mankind Even those whom he chose in him before the Foundation of the World that they should be holy and without blame before him in love having predestinated them unto the Adoption of Children by Jesus Christ to himself according to the good pleasure of his Will unto the praise of the Glory of his Grace Eph. 1.3 4 5 6. Prov. 8.22 23 24-30 The End and Upshot and last issue that all his