God's method but our own Not by works of righteousness which we have done but according to his mercy hath he saved us Will we reject the way and method that all the cloud of witnesses were sav'd in and will we be saved in that way never one was sav'd in they attain not unto the Law of righteousness because they sought it or as it were by the works of the Law Christ is the true and living way is there any fault we can find in him is he not able to save to the uttermost is there any righteousness like his it's everlasting Can we give any satisfaction to divine Government like what he hath given Can we bear the Curse and drink the Cup that he did is he not altogether lovely in himself and altogether fit for us infinite Wisdom and infinite Goodness fitted and prepared him and is he not willing that we should share of his righteousness doth not his offer speak it Come unto me all ye that are heavy laden doth not his tears and his sorrows over them that refuse and defer speak it doth not that eternal Chearfulness he undertook his Work with speak it Lo I come in the volume of thy Book 't is written of me thy Law is within my Heart the bent of my Heart is to do thy will and that desire left him not nor ever was abated under the heat of the day and heaviest of the curse I have a baptism to be baptized with and how am I straightned till it be accomplisht with desire have I desired to eat this passover having lov'd his own he lov'd them to the end And will not all this Love towards us kindle some sparks of desire in our frozen breasts don 't we think they deserve an Anathema Maranatha that love not this Lord Jesus Christ The depth and height the breadth and length of his Love passeth all knowledge he was full of Love as he was a man he lov'd Lazarus so and he lov'd the young man in the Gospel so he was full of love as he was a Mediator Such was that love whose dimensions our narrow minds cannot span but he was more full of love as he was God God is love and God so lov'd the World to give his Son is not this Emanuel worthy of our acceptation Gods infinite Wisdom found him can we find a better or do without him have we no self-love for our souls what will become of us without a pardon can we bear the curse of the Law or wrath of God is it not worthy acceptance on any terms but what terms can be better it 's come to God and beg Repentance the Almighty makes the heart soft I will pour down the spirit of Grace and supplication and they shall look on him whom they have pierced and mourn Obj. But coming to God is believing and I cannot believe until he gives me faith which is not yet Resp Put that to Tryal what if the Spirit of God be now directing and quickning thy conscience to this Work and the Language of thy heart is stay until time for Prayer at night or to morrow you will think of it Alas Alas this is the common answer to Gods Spirit himself what wonder the Prophets cry To whom is the Arm of the Lord revealed Lord bless this for better fruits SERMON II. ROM IV. 5 6. His Faith is counted for Righteousness Even as David also describeth the blessedness of the Man unto whom God imputeth righteousness without works IN the Former Discourse you have an account of the condition and disposition of the subject of Justification in this I propose an account of the Gospel-method how God justifies the ungodly it is a different Question from that of the convicted Jews Acts 2. Men and Brethren what shall we do to be saved This is What doth God do to save a sinner that has contemn'd his Authority brought disorder into his Government violated his holy just and good Laws and goes on frowardly without repenting of what he has done the Rebel doth not will not yield shall the Governour yield doth God need us how is it possible to reconcile God's justice and Man's enmity how can a just God justifie an ungodly person The Apostle makes but two sentences of the Answer 1. He imputes his Faith to Righteousness 2. He says that Righteousness is imputed to Blessedness The nature of the Discourse is didactick instructive and there are these three Questions that are matters of no small Moment nor mean Contraversies 1. Whos 's this Righteousness is 2. What is the importance of the imputation of righteousness to a man for blessedness 3. What is the meaning of Faiths being imputed to righteousness I shall only propose what I am most perswaded of to be the true sense of them and what perswades me to be of that mind without using means to confute others I shall leave them to the same liberty I presume on As to the first there are but two general Opinions viz. Either Christs or our own though each are subdivided in what righteousness of Christs it is or of ours My Business is to confirm and establish this truth that this Righteousness in the Text imputed for blessedness is the righteousness inherent in our blessed Mediator and if this one Character of being without works were to be understood abstracted from the Apostles design which is not to exclude works from righteousness but our works and our righteousness I should think it a distinguishing Mark between Christ's righteousness and any mans else for the righteousness of Works consists in a conformity to the preceptive part of the Law but Christs Righteousness consists also in a conformity to the sanction of the Law He was made a curse for us and that is not to work in the Scripture phrase but to suffer though in it self hard work even Soul-travel but doubting the solidity of this I shall propose others of greater stability 1. That Righteousness that is the cause of Blessedness and whose fruit is the remission of sin is the righteousness of Christ for there is no other name given under Heaven and therefore no other righteousness by which a Man can be saved but the righteousness in the Text is the cause of blessedness and pardon there must be some near connexion between pardon and imputation of righteousness else the Apostle did mistake the Prophets sence saying he meant imputation of righteousness unto blessedness when he said Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven the connexion is either pretended to be that of the cause to the effect or some kind of requisite condition They who say this is our own righteousness are for the latter who say it s Christ's are for the former and with reason for our own righteousness wants not works our justifying faith is not without works but this is 2ly The righteousness of Christ and our pardon are more necessarily united than our faith for pardon is as soon given as it These
every creature Mark 16.15 And that commission stands a Directory to every one that is a Servant of Christ in the Office of the Gospel and as Christ invites so the Church of Christ invites also the Language of a sanctified Soul over a Brother or Sister according to the flesh is like that of the Spouse We have a little Sister and she hath no breasts what shall we do for our Sister in the day she shall be spoken for The Bride saith come and the Spirit saith come Rev. 22.17 And their joint voice is Whosoever will let him come Beware of being guilty of quenching or provoking the Spirit may be your Consciences bear witness that there is a higher Messenger sent to offer you a pardon this day than the voice of any clay Trumpet but whether you find any such quickner and enabler rendring you willing and desirous to say Whether shall we go for thou hast the words of eternal life in thee have we righteousness and strength by thee only will we make mention of thy Name Thy face Lord we will seek Cast the skirts of thy Garments over us I say whether you feel this influence or not it is this external offer that both gives you right to come to a pardoning God for forgiveness of sins thorough the righteousness of Christ only and makes it your duty however torn the Garments of your own Righteousness are or your consciences thereby to depend upon our Lord Jesus Christ and his Righteousness by which the Law gains its end and the Government full satisfaction and in this trust and dependance to come to the Throne of Grace and sue in his name for the forgiveness of your sin and justification of your persons I say the offer gives you a right In other transactions with men there are these three ways of conveyance of a right 1. The Offer of his Estate or Goods or Priviledge 2. The price that I pay him for it 3. The Writings that contain its Extent and Title 4. The Ceremonies of seizing or taking possession all these go to compleat the right but if we had to do with an Unchangeable Person full of goodness and kind designs towards us he would never go back from his first Offer that would bring him on to compleat the Title in all the rest Now here you have the offer of a Pardon and the offer of a Sonship and Inheritance with it the God that cannot lye nor change has made it Here you have the tenour and extent of the blessing in the Covenant of Grace the Spirit of God has penn'd it and you may see the blessing is great and the tenour so ordered that it may reach you sinners He tells you the price is paid already it is 1600 years since 't was laid down the invitation is All things are ready come unto the feast The Question is only Whether the World or this is worth your Choice Is not a Pardon desirable Have we no longings to come out of this prison where there 's no water will we adventure the paying the utmost farthing our selves rather than to be obliged to Christ for a full payment but this offer comprehends a Command in its bosome if our Unworthiness renders us asham'd and our Guiltiness afraid and makes us apt to say Depart from me for I am a sinful man Let conscience of duty oblige us to draw nigh for this is his Commandment that we should believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ And none of us can say but this command reaches us else unbelief would not be the condemnation of the World Christ was griev'd for the hardness of their hearts that believ'd not and wept over an obstinate jerusalem saying Oh if thou hadst known at least in this thy day the things which belong unto thy peace Now which of these two doth your Hearts conclude will be the issue of this offer either They would not come to me that they might have life or Thine they are and thou gavest them me and they have kept thy Word I have given to them the words which thou gavest me and they have received them Holy Father keep thro' thine own Name those whom thou hast given me The grand Offence that we stumble at commonly if our Consciences answer one another is the particular circumstances and aggravations of our particular sins And yet 't is a very unreasonable Objection it savours rather of the darkness of Hell than the light of Heaven above or Faith below Should we delay the looking after a Pardon because we are very guilty should sinners not accept of the Son of God Jesus Christ because God sent him to bless us in turning us from our Iniquities did we ever read of any that Christ threw off as incurable because his Satisfaction or the Tenour of the Gospel could not reach them is our Condition worse than Manasse's or Saul's has our delay been longer than the Thief on the Cross or our filthiness viler than Mary Magdalen's There are these four Conditions that Christ has specified in his Gospel to prevent Exceptions 1. Prophane Persons Mat. 21.32 The Publicans and the Harlots believ'd in him 2. Secure Persons like lukewarm Laodicea that was insensible of her own misery yet he stands knocking at their door and offering that if any of them the worst of them would open he would come into them and sup with them His fullness should have a feast of Glory and Honour and their emptiness should sup on his fullness 3. The Hypocrites Of all Conditions that seems to be the most dangerous such were the Scribes and Pharisees Mat. 23. Hypocrites yet how often would Christ have gathered these under the Wings of his Righteousness Ver. 37. Yet these Invitations were not altogether fruitless Saul was a Pharisee Nichodemus was a Pharisee The Balm of Gilead is a Medicine can cure this desperate distemper and the Blood of Christ can cover the guilt of it Another gauling circumstance to a tender or a wounded conscience is backsliding falling away from first Love and walking unsuitably to pregnant preventive mercies but in Isaiah 1. Jer. 3. How many invitations to a backsliding-Church backslidden from the greatest Priviledges ever Church received in the World backslidden into the vilest abominations that ever people were guilty of Idolatry worshipping a Stock or Stone for their God and yet with what earnest intreaties and what perswasive arguments does he plead with them How shall I give thee up Ephraim I remember thee still the love of thy espousal was pleasant to me O Israel I am married to thee why should there be a divorce Come and let us reason together though thy Iniquities were as crimson and thy transgressions as scarlet I will heal thy backslidings I will love thee freely and receive thee graciously To expect to come any other way or upon our delay to come on better terms were to pervert the very Nature of the Gospel and say we would not be saved in
and Governour of all the creatures Secondly To pass the Oeconomy of Angels above us let us suppose by the conjunct Counsel of God the Father and this now suppos'd Immanuel existing only in the divine nature but a relative dignity and honour belonging to him as such a person and in such an office which was a glory John 17. Glorifie me with that glory which I had with thee before the foundation of the World viz. To be Lord and end of the Creatures is a great glory all others being made for him Col. 1.16 All things were created for him but now as Mediator and in a state of humiliation he is made a mean and they the end out of the species of men some design'd and chosen to be the more immediate train and fellows of this great Lord and end of all Psal 45.7 They are called Fellows With the oyl of gladness above all thy Fellows We may read the designs and contrivance in Christs intercession for the compleat execution John 17.24 Father I will that they also whom thou hast given me be with me where I am that they may behold my glory which thou hast given me How they do it we may read Rev. 5.11 12. c. There being elect Angels as well as Men renders this very consistent antecedent to the fall But Thirdly These being in the loyns of Adam and under the common Lot of Man as to their Creature state are permitted to fall with the whole mass of humane nature Elective Grace and Love show'd it self in their redemption but to Angels prevention and their fall gives occasion to a New Work and Office to this Immanuel and New Discoveries of his Love and Grace to these elected fellows John 12.24 Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and dye it abideth alone but if it dye it bringeth forth much fruit He compares his death to seed says he if I dye not I shall lose all my fellows design'd my Company and Train in heaven will not only be fewer but I shall loose one whole kind of them and that of next kindred to my own nature I will never suffer it I have power over my own Life to lay it down and take it up I am resolv'd to take their burden on my shoulders the curse they are under shall strike thorough my Soul but I will redeem them I will give them a singular evidence of the goodness of their Lord and Master they are to serve On the other hand God the Father with whom I should have begun the God of all Grace that he might manifest it in all its variety and render the difference between the Creature and Creator more lustrious and the degrees and steps of Happiness more numerous and tasteful suffered them permitted them to fall but knew of one among the number a noble elect vessel that could not fall yea that could give satisfaction for their transgression to glorifie his soveraignity in showing what a subject was in his dominion he commands him Psal 40. I come to do thy will thy Law is within my heart And to glorifie his goodness he gives this Lord of all to be their Priest Sacrifice Redeemer and Surety the whole transaction we may read in the Covenant of Redemption Isa 50.20 Psalm 89.3 19 20 27. The Redeemer shall come to Zion This is my Covenant with them my spirit that is upon thee c. shall not depart from thy seed It 's a Covenant with him concerning them I have made a covenant with my chosen one chosen out of the people I have laid help on one that is mighty Zach. 6.13 A Counsel of peace between the Lord of Hosts and the man the branch By vertue of this Covenant the Creditor may pursue him for his voluntary undertaking and Christ may sue out deliverance for his performance therefore it becomes us to carry our petitions first to him that in his right we may be delivered 2. By vertue of this Covenant and that relation that gave foundation to it their arises a most strict union between Christ and us Now the more they are one the more reason for his righteousness to be imputed to us they are one seed Gal. 3.16 29. and to thy seed which is Christ You may pursue any of the Brothers that share of the Fathers estate any of the Members of the body may be punish'd for what another has done We are all Members of one body When a Society would give sufficient ground of Credit they put it in their constitution that you may pursue one for all here thorough the oneness of nature all became Bankerupt thorough Adam but much more united is that Society one in Christ Ruther par 2. p. 251. 1. One and the same legal party the same object of justice he that pursues the surety pursues the Debtor 2. The Debt is one It 's but one Debt that Christ suffer'd for and sinners suffer for 3. The satisfaction or payment is one it cannot be required of the principal debtor what the surety has paid 4. The acceptation is one if he accept of payment from the Surety he cannot pursue the Debtor and the Discharge is one as Christ was deliver'd for our Offences he rose again for our Justification If a sinner was assur'd that he were an elect vessel he might say I have paid all in my surety but as we have the priviledge of minors so have we the folly and therefore are treated as them who have not wisdom to manage their own Estate 3. The Office that Christ was put in thorough this Covenant for us is a just foundation for imputation Heb. 7.22 He was made surety of a better covenant Whatever the word signifies there it is for us as a Priest towards God that he exerts it as to the signification of the word tho' its but this once in the New-Testament yet several times the seventy use it as the proper translation of Gharab which Prov. 6.1 and 17.19 signifieth surety so Gen. 43.9 I will be surety for him let me bear the blame for ever 44.32 Thy servant became surety for the lad The end of suretyship is to be a ground of Trust Dum curant homines ut diligentius sibi cautum sit I have laid help on one that is mighty 2. One becomes so for another by contract if in his own power Fidejussor fit per stipulationem be not thou one of them that strike hands or that are sureties for Debts 3. It legally unites the persons Fidejussor propriè dicitur debitor He was made under the Law Singuli in solidum tenentur each are bound for the whole He was made sin that knew no sin 4. T is of several kinds either it may preceed or follow the Obligation it may either be for debt or for persons indemnity or good behaviour or for performance of condition Isa 36.8 Give pledges I pray thee to my Master the King of Assyria There is something of each of these in Christs