eternal Life but such a practical Faith as I have described consider these following particulars 1. If none can be pardoned but such as repent nor see the Kingdom of God except they be born again as the Scripture assures us they cannot then no Faith can entitle us to Pardon and Salvation as it is a fulfilling the condition of the promises of the Covenant but such as is a penitential regenerating Faith such as works repentance and regeneration in men nor till it hath wrought these effects at least as begun I cannot imagine what can be said with any shew of reason against this argument 2. St. James argues that Faith which hath not works cannot save Ver. 12. and concludes his reasoning Ver. 24. with saying Ye see then how that by Works a man is Justified and not by Faith only 3. Faith and Obedience are so much the same or at least so inseparable when saving as that the same Greek word is indifferently translated to believe or to obey and so on the contrary the same word is translated unbelief or disobedience Instances of this nature you have in Acts 5.36 Rom. 11.30 31. Ephes 5.6 Heb. 4.11 and 11.31 in all which you have the same word translated one way in the line reading and another in the margin And belief and disobedience are likewise opposed to each other as contraries as well as faith and unbelief are and as well as obedience and disobedience are as you may see for instance in Rom. 10.16 1 Pet. 2.7 2 Thes 2.12 By all which we may reasonably judg that when Faith only is mentioned as the condition on which pardon and eternal Life are promised yet then it is to be understood of a practical obediential Faith 4. The same benefits pardon of sin and eternal Life are promised upon the condition of obedience in some Scriptures which are promised on condition of believing in others As for instance If we walk in the light as he is in the light we have fellowship one with another and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin 1 John 1.7 Here assurance is given us of being purged from the guilt of sin by the blood of Christ in case we walk in the light as God is in the light labouring to be holy as God is holy in all manner of conversation And Christ is the Author of eternal Salvation to all them that obey him Heb. 5.9 And blessed are they that do his Commandments that they may have right to the Tree of Life and may enter through the gates into the City Revel 22.14 Not every one that saith Lord Lord shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven but he that doth the will of my Father which is in Heaven Mat. 7.21 Now if holy obedience be made the condition of the promise of Pardon and Life as well as Faith as we see it is then none but an obediential Faith can be a performance of the condition of that promise By an obediential Faith I mean such a Faith as by which a man is moved and inclined and in some sort enabled to do what is his present duty so far as he understands it to be so And in this sense a mans Faith and his obedience are of the same date and commence together And therefore it is no marvel that the same promise of the same benefits is made to the one which is made to the other and that both are joyned in the condition 5. In Heb. 8.10 11 12. where we have the tenour of the new Covenant declared God promiseth to be a God only to such and to forgive the iniquities only of such as have his Law put into their minds and written in their hearts Where Faith is not at all mentioned as the condition of receiving those benefits but the having the Law written in the heart Though the having the Law written in the heart supposeth Faith I grant as a productive cause of it yet we see it is not the condition of the promised benefits otherwise than as it produceth such an effect which effect is only here mentioned and not Faith which is the cause 6. When saving Faith is described by the nature of its operation upon a man himself and not only as it acteth upon its object without him then we are told it purifieth the heart Act. 15.9 worketh by love Gal. 5.6 overcometh the world 1 John 5.4 and sanctifieth the whole man Acts 26.18 And therefore we have no good reason to think Faith is a fulfilling the condition of the promise only as it acteth upon its object by way of credence or assent or affiance either without its transforming operation upon the Soul 3. The next thing to be enquired into is the reason why Faith is made the condition of the promises of the Gospel-Covenant And the reasons hereof seem to be such as these 1. Faith is made the condition of the promise that it might appear to be of grace that such promise is made and made upon such a condition as faith is St. Paul having spoken of the promise being made through the Righteousness of Faith and not through the Righteousness of the Law Rom. 4.13 He gives the reason of it Verse 16. when he says It is therefore of Faith that it might be by grace to the end the promise might be sure to all the seed not to that only which is of the Law but to that also which is of the Faith of Abraham In which words we have a general reason why Faith is made the condition of the Promise and that is that it might be by Grace And another is given in a particular instance viz. that the promise might be sure to all the seed There is a double reason why it must needs be of Grace that the great Promises of the Gospel are made to mens believing the Gospel The one is taken from the nature of the thing that is of Faith it self in reference and relation to its object For he that believes the Gospel believes that the great blessings and benefits promised therein are promised not for any merit of his to whom they are promised but for the sake of another to wit Christ Jesus whom God hath set forth for a propitiation through faith in his blood Rom. 3.25 And he that believes the Gospel according to what it reveals believes also that it was of Grace that he was thus made a propitiation for it was by the Grace of God that he tasted death for every man Heb. 2.9 Not by works of Righteousness which we have done but according to his mercy he saved us Tit. 3.5 And whoever believes all this exalts the grace of God in so believing St. Paul who believed and taught this in opposition to the misbelieving Jews who thought to be justified by the works of the Law without the death of the Messias to obtain that and all other benefits said I do not frustrate the grace of God for if righteousness come
man to life as it does in conferring life upon him that hath that righteousness being otherwise a sinner So that we can no more truly say that we are not justified by a personal righteousness of Faith because we are justified by Grace and by Christ than we can say a man is not born again of the incorruptible seed of the Word because he is born of God To say as many have been wont to say that St. Paul renounced his own personal inherent Righteousness from having any thing to do in his Justification because he said that he desired to be found in Christ not having his own Righteousness which is of the Law is so far from proving that he did so as that the contrary is plainly his scope and intent in the place where those words of his are found It was only his own Righteousness which was by the Law and which he trusted in while he was a Pharisee which he here renounced when he became a Christian Which Righteousness is elsewhere called the Jews own Righteousness which they went about to establish as being ignorant of the Righteousness of God Which Righteousness of theirs and of St. Paul while a Pharisee stood in an opinion and conceit First that the legal Sacrifices the Blood of Bulls and of Goats did of themselves expiate and take away sin and that there was no need of the Blood of Christ to do it Secondly that an external Righteousness without an internal was all that was necessary to their Justification the circumcision of the flesh and in the letter without that which is of the heart and in the spirit Thirdly in an opinion that for God to approve of them and to justifie them as righteous upon this account was but a due debt not a matter of meer grace and favour Now Justification by the righteousness of the Law in this sense this Apostle does indeed not only here renounce in himself but also every where in his Epistles disputeth against as any matter of mens justification before God And when he became a Christian he desired no longer to be found in this righteousness which was of the Law but to be found in Christ as having that Righteousness which is through the Faith of Christ the Righteousness of God by Faith The which Righteousness of Faith is opposed to this Righteousness which was of the Law and does summarily consist in a firm belief and practice of those things which are contrary to those in which the Pharisaical Righteousness which was of the Law did consist As first in a belief that the Blood of Christ only does expiate sin Secondly in inward purity of heart by Faith as well as external Righteousness Thirdly in a hearty perswasion that it is meerly of grace and favour that God through Christ will accept this for righteousness and that pardon of sin and eternal life are promised upon this only condition And this is the Righteousness of Faith which this Apostle opposeth in his Epistles to the other Righteousness of the Law as the Righteousness by which men shall be justified and in which he himself desired to be found And this Righteousness of Faith is said to be of God not only for that it is of his working in us but also and more especially because it is of his meer grace and favour to ordain by the Gospel that this shall be reckoned to us for Righteousness and that we shall be approved of as Righteous if it be found in us and dealt withal as righteous not only in not being punished as sinners but on the contrary rewarded as righteous The other Righteousness by which St. Paul while a Pharisee and other Pharisaical Jews expected to be justified is said to be their own Righteousness not only because what it did consist of was wholly within their own power to perform without any supernatural assistance but also and especially because it was the true Righteousness only in their own opinion and of their own making but never of Gods appointing or ordaining When some good men heretofore did exclude all personal Righteousness of Faith from having any hand in our Justification for fear they should otherwise detract from the fulness and sufficiency of the Righteousness of Christ they little considered what a door they thereby opened for Libertinism to enter in among us as after experience shewed they did For many from that Doctrine thought themselves so righteous in the sight of God by the Righteousness of Christ imputed to them upon a speculative Faith as that they needed no other Righteousness and thought it a disparagement to the Righteousness of Christ for any to say they did They would at first pretend indeed that the sense of Christs love would in a way of gratitude produce a good life but abhorred it should be made necessary to our Justification This I my self had experience of above forty years ago which with their neglect of Christian Duties first brought me under suspicion concerning the Doctrine of the imputation of the Righteousness of Christ unto Justification otherwise than in the blessed effects of it At that time the pressing the necessity of Repentance Mortification and a sincere keeping of the Commandments of God begun to be called Legal preaching as the like is still counted but Moral preaching by some others After this the foresaid notion was improved to the breaking out of the grossest Antinomian and Ranting practices under pretence of magnifying Free Grace to the great dishonour of the Christian profession and the apparent hazard of mens Salvation Vpon the observation of all which some worthy men were stirred up to encounter by writing not only such abuses and miscarriages of men but also those Doctrines out of which they sprang In which they were opposed by some patrons of unsound Principles which hath since occasioned many Disputes about some points in the Doctrine of Justification In which Disputes many School-nicities have been agitated which the generality of Christians little understand and which the Scriptures themselves meddle not in By means whereof such have been puzled rather than edified by much of what of this nature hath been done whose edification yet they being by far the greater number ought to be endeavoured as well at least if not rather than the edification and satisfaction of those of more refined apprehensions All which things considered some more discourses than have been yet extant tending to state and explain from the Scriptures the whole business of our Justification and to level it to the understanding of Christians of ordinary capacities without incumbring it with disputable questions and arguments pro and con seems to me no more than in some sort is needful It happens in reference to the Doctrine of Justification as it doth with many dark providences of God in the world they are dark and obscure and to us seem unaccountable because we do not see from the beginning to the end of them but only a part which otherwise would
God as just So that to be justified by God and to be approved of by him as just and so adjudged is all one Wisdome is justified of her children that is approved of and defended against the accusations and quarrels of her adversaries Lu. 7.29 The Publican went down to his house justified that is approved rather than the Pharisee Luk. 18.14 Ye see then how that by works a man is justified that is approved of by God as a good and righteous man as Abraham was and not by faith only Jam. 2.24 By thy words thou shalt be justified and by thy words thou shalt be condemned By these as well as by other things persons are and will be adjudged by God to be good and righteous or wicked and ungodly men Matth. 12.37 Again Rom. 8.33 34. It is God that justifieth who is he that condemneth Where Gods approbation of his people is opposed to others disapprobation of them he approves of them as good while their adversaries condemn them as bad they charge them as bad but God absolves and dischargeth them as good And in this judicial sense is the word justification generally taken throughout the Scripture By Sanctification men are constituted and made evangelically righteous but in Justification they are approved of by God as such and adjudged to be so which is the proper difference between Sanctification and Justification If then we make our estimate of evangelical Justification according to the usual signification of the word as that implies in it the Cause of the party tried the Act of God as Judge and the law and rule on which the trial proceeds and by which the cause is determined for him that is justified then Justification may be thus described It is that whereby God for the sake and upon the account of the Righteousness of Christ doth approve of a true believer as one that hath perfermed the condition on which God in the Gospel hath promised pardon of sin and eternal life and doth impute that performance to him for righteousness and accordingly adjudgeth him to be righteous in the sense and according to the tenor of the law of Grace and such an one as hath a Covenant right and title to the blessings promised in that Covenant pardon of Sin and eternal life This description of Justification as it best agrees with the use and signification of the word and phrase so it does also with the doctrine of the Gospel as we shall afterwards see Which that we may the better do I shall open the whole to you by opening it in its several parts and so shall shew 1. How the Righteousness of Christ doth operate to our Justification 2. How the Covenant of Grace doth it 3. How Faith doth it and 4. How God himself doth it And thus to open the whole nature of Justification by shewing the operation of the several causes of it is I conceive the best and most likeliest way to come to the clearest knowledge and best insight into it that we can attain unto The want of which distinctness in proceeding hath been I conceive an occasion in great part of obscuring the doctrine of Justification while the parts have been confounded and the operation proper to one cause hath been attributed to another The whole of the description which I have given of Justification is the result of the operation of the righteousness of our Blessed Saviour of the Covenant of Grace of faith and of the whole action of Gods dijudication in justifying true believers to the opening of which I shall now proceed And I shall begin with the righteousness of our Redeemer Christ Jesus and shall enquire into the nature and operation of it in reference to our justification CHAP. II. Of the nature of the righteousness of Christ and how it operates to our Justification IN shewing what influence our Saviours righteousness hath into our Justification two things will come under consideration 1. What we are to understand by the Righteousness of our Saviour 2. How it operates to our Justification First of the former what we are to understand by the righteousness of Christ Righteousness is the conformity of a person to some Law or Rule And therefore when we speak of the righteousness of Christ it supposeth some Law in his conformity whereunto this righteousness of his whereof we speak doth consist Which Law is the Law of his Mediation which he received from his Father and which he voluntarily and most willingly undertook to observe and fulfil The mutual agreement between the Father and the Son about this Law of Mediation between God and man and the Sons undertaking to fulfil it in order to our Redemption Divines are wont to call the Covenant of Redemption And as the great office of Mediator is peculiar to him alone for there is but one Mediator between God and man even the man Christ Jesus 1 Tim. 2.5 So the Law of this Mediation was peculiar to him And as the law and office of Mediation were peculiar to our Saviour so is his righteousness which consisteth in his conformity to that law it is a Mediatory Righteousness The benefit of it belongs to believers as I shall afterwards shew but the righteousness it self which is Mediatorial can be no more transferred to any other than his office of Mediation can for his righteousness consists in those acts of conformity to the Law of Mediation by which he doth execute his office of Mediation Now that there was such a Law of Mediation between God and man given by God the Father to Christ his Son and which he did most readily accept of execute and obey is plainly made known to us by our Saviour himself by many of his sayings As in John 6.38 when he says I came down from heaven not to do my own will but the will of him that sent me And again the Father which sent me he gave me commandment what I should say and what I should speak Whatsoever I speak therefore even as the Father said unto me so I speak John 12.49.50 Our Saviour speaking of his laying down his life for his sheep saith No man taketh it from me but I lay it down of my self I have power to lay it down and I have power to take it again this commandment have I received of my Father mark that John 10.18 To fulfil this Law was the design of our Saviours coming into the world Heb. 10.7 Then said I Lo I come in the volume of thy book it is written of me to do thy will O God And of the fulfilling of this law our Saviour spake when in his prayer to his Father he said I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do John 17.4 These with other like Scriptures acquaint us with these two things First that there was a Law given by the Father and chosen by the Son to be observed in managing the office and work of Mediator between God and man which we call the Law
of Mediation Secondly that our Saviour did exactly observe obey and fulfil this Law And if so we may know what that Law was by what he hath done spoken and suffered in the execution of his Mediatorial office Now what he did spake and suffered in conformity to this Law is that which we call his Righteousness his Mediatorial Righteousness His coming into the world and his taking our nature upon him was an act of obedience to this Law I am not saith he come of myself but he that sent me c. John 7.28 A body hast thou prepared me Heb. 10.5 What he did and preached here in the world was in obedience to this Law I can saith he of mine own self do nothing as I hear I judge and my judgment is just because I seek not mine own will but the will of him that sent me John 5.30 Lo I come to do thy will yea thy law is in my heart Heb. 10.7 with Psal 40.8 His conformity and obedience to the natural Law as a man and to the Law of Moses as a Jew was part of his Mediatorial obedience For he was made under the Law to redeem them that were under the Law Gal. 4.4 5. His preaching the Gospel was an act of obedience to this Law I do nothing of my self but as my father hath taught me I speak these things John 8.28 I have not spoke of my self but the Father which sent me he gave me a commandment what I should say and what I should speak Whatsoever I speak therefore even as the Father said unto me so I speak John 12.49 50. His laying down his life was another eminent act of obedience to this law He humbled himself and became obedient unto death even the death of the cross Phil. 2.8 I lay down my life and I take it again this commandment have I received of my Father John 10.18 By these and other like acts of obedience and conformity to this law of Mediation did our Saviour fulfil all righteousness And by this righteousness of his we are made righteous and so justified Rom. 5.19 As by one mans disobedience many were made sinners so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous By these things we may know what we are to understand by the righteousness of Christ which was the first thing I was to enquire into about it 2. The next thing I am to enquire into is how this Righteousness of Christ doth operate to our Justification In doing of which I shall enquire into two things by the understanding of which we may come to know how the righteousness of our Saviour operates to our Justification 1. The reason and end of this law of Mediation and of the acts of our Mediator in conformity to it from which this righteousness of Christ doth result 2. Upon what the efficacy and operative virtue of this righteousness doth depend in reference to this end For the first of these The end in general of the law of Mediation and of our Saviours obedience to it was to deliver us from the wrath to come and to bring us to everlasting life The subordinate end was Reconciliation between God and men And as a means to this end the obtaining and granting a Conditional pardon for all the world and a new Covenant containing that condition and the promise made upon it 1. The first and last end next to Gods glory of the law of Mediation and of the obedience of the Mediator to it was to recover us from the dolefull condition into which our sin had brought us and to restore us to a capacity of enjoying everlasting life When our Saviour had said I have not spoken of my self but the Father which sent me he gave me a commandment what I should say and what I should speak this we see was one part of the Law given to the Mediator he presently adds this and I know that his commandment is everlasting Life meaning that to that end it was designed and to that end it doth directly tend John 12.49.50 And again I am come saith our Saviour that they might have life and that they might have it more abundantly this was the great end of his coming John 10.10 2. The next end of it in subordination and subserviency to the former was to Reconcile us to God by altering our nature by altering the frame and temper of the mind and heart and so of a mans ways and life from carnal to Spiritual without which there is no reconciliation wrought in us to God nor consequently of God to us For S. Paul saith that the carnal mind is enmity against God because it is not subject to the Law of God neither indeed can be Rom. 8.7 And he that is at enmity against God is far from being reconciled to him and from a capacity of being made happy by him For except a man be born again he cannot see the Kingdom of God nor without holiness shall see God till then he is no capable subject of such happiness And therefore to effect this to make us capable of the former end our Saviour in obedience to the Mediatorial Law gave himself for us to redeem us from all iniquity and to purifie to himself a peculiar people zealous of good works Tit. 2.14 He suffered for us the Just for the unjust that he might bring us unto God by way of return from our revolt 1 Pet. 3.18 He loved his Church and gave himself for it that he might sanctifie and cleanse it that he might present it unto himself a glorious Church not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing but that it should be holy and without blemish Eph. 5.25 26. 3. The next end of our Saviours Mediatorial obedience or Righteousness and as a means to accomplish and bring about the former end last mentioned was the obtaining the forming and granting of a Conditional pardon for all mankind In him we have Redemption through his blood even the forgiveness of Sins Eph. 1.7 He is the Lamb of God that taketh away the Sins of the world John 1.29 The propitiation for the Sins of the whole world 1 Joh. 2.2 He gave his flesh for the life of the world John 6. and himself a Ransom for all 1. Tim. 2.6 I will not deny but that this giving himself a Ransom for all and tasting death for every man may in one respect be said to be absolute and unconditional and did extend as far and to as many as ever the sin of Adam did in its effects and that is in Redeeming all men from obnoxiousness to eternal misery meerly upon the account of Adams sin or the sin of any other save their own personal sins The soul that sinneth it shall die the son shall not bear the iniquity of the father in this respect Ezek. 18.20 In respect of the extent and universality of this effect of Christs death Adam might be said to be the figure of him that was to come
him a God keeping Covenant and Mercy with them that love him and keep his Commandments or that walk before with all their hearts And though the hearers of the Law were not just before God yet the doers of Law were justified when they depended upon the Grace and Mercy of God for acceptation in doing their duty Rom. 2.13 Conclude we then that there is nothing in these Scriptures to prove the Natural Law and the Law of Grace not to consist without the one being altered by the other And thus we see how the Law of Grace operates to our Justification by reconciling the Original Law to us upon our repentance that was against us it is reconciled to us because we are reconciled to it by the Law of Grace By the way then it is remarkable how greatly it conduceth to the consolation of all truly repentant sinners and of how great a ground of their confidence towards God it is that the Natural Law as well as the Law of Grace is now on their side it is not only not against them but is made to be for them by the blessed undertaking and performance of our Saviour for them when once they are persuaded to be sincerely for it 2. The Covenant of Grace operates to our Justification as it is an act of Grace by which God doth institute and ordain that Faith as it is an operative principle of sincerity of repentance of love to God and man and of all holy obedience shall be accepted and accounted for Righteousness upon the account of our Saviours Mediatory Righteousness And for our better understanding and satisfaction in this matter I shall endeavour these three things 1. To shew that there is a Righteousness found among men which the Scripture calls so and calls those Righteous that have it their having sinned notwithstanding 2. To shew what it is and in what it consisteth 3. How it comes to be such 1. That there is a Righteousness found among men which the Scripture calls so and calls those Righteous which have it notwithstanding all the world stand guilty before God of unrighteousness and are concluded under sin according to the first Law we were under This is a thing so well known to those that read the Scriptures or hear them read that it 's needless to cite particular Texts to prove it We shall find that good men such as are justified are called the Righteous or the Just no less I think than fourscore times in the Books of Psalms and Proverbs besides so many other places as are not easily to be numbered 2. That which is more necessary is to shew what this Righteousness is and wherein it doth consist In general it consisteth in our conformity to the terms of the Gospel the new Covenant or Law of Grace As mans Natural and Original Righteousness stood in a conformity in his nature and actions to the Original Law of Righteousness from which we are fallen And as the Mediatorial Righteousness of Christ consisteth in his conformity to the Law of Mediation so doth the Evangelical Righteousness of a Christian stand in his conformity to the terms of the new Law of Grace And therefore as the Gospel it self is frequently called the Faith and somtimes the Law of Faith as being both the Object and the Rule of the Christian Faith so is a Christians conformity to it frequently stiled likewise the Righteousness of Faith and the Righteousness by Faith and the obedience of Faith Rom. 3.22 and 4.11 13. and 9.30 and 10.6 Gal. 5.5 Phil. 3.9 Rom. 16.26 Now this conformity to the Gospel which God counts to us for Righteousness doth consist in a hearty belief or firm persuasion that God upon the account of what Christ our Mediator hath suffered and done for sinners will receive such into his favour pardon and save them as upon such a belief do truly repent them of their sins and seriously resolve and sincerely endeavour to please God for the future in the whole course of their lives and in actual resolutions and endeavours suitable to this belief This belief or persuasion when it becomes thus practical in operations proper to the nature of such a persuasion as it is then the true Christian Faith so it is then also the Christians Righteousness for it is imputed reckoned and counted to them for Righteousness as the Scripture shews It 's true Abraham is said to have had this Righteousness Rom. 4.11 and Noah to be an heir of it Heb. 11.7 And yet we cannot say that they had any such explicite Faith in reference to Christ the Mediator as the meanest Christian has under the Gospel Revelation And yet their Faith in the general nature of it was the same then with the Christians now For they had such Revelations made by God one way or other by which they did believe him to be reconcileable and propitious to all such as fear and love him and sincerely endeavour to please him And upon this Principle doubtless it was that they and other good men in those elder times lived such holy and virtuous lives as hath procured them upon publick Record honour and renown for Righteous men unto all Generations For so saith that sacred Author speaking of them Heb. 11.39 These all received a good report through Faith Thus Abel obtained witness even from God himself that he was Righteous by reason of his Faith in God in conjunction with what he did by virtue of his Faith Heb. 11.4 And when the Scripture saith Jam. 2. of some of these that they were justified not only by their Faith but also by their Works the meaning I doubt not is that they were approved of by God as Righteous men upon the account of both It 's true indeed Righteous and Holy men are frequently described by their fear of God and by their love and obedience to him without mentioning their Faith as at other times they are described by their Faith without mentioning their fear love or obedience And the reason seems to be this because where any one of these is in truth there are the other also No man truly fears God or loves and obeys him but he that hath first Faith towards God that he is Gracious Merciful and ready to forgive the repenting and reforming sinner without which Faith it is impossible to love him or reverence him with an awful love There is forgiveness with him that he may be feared feared with a fear mixed with love as the right fear of God always is Psal 130.4 Now this their fear of God love to him and care to please him which grows out of their Faith is as I say their Righteousness as well as their Faith it self more strictly considered because their conformity to the Law of Grace which is their Righteousness consists in these as well as in that and the same promises are made to these as to that He that doth Righteousness is Righteoas 1 Joh. 3.7 All his transgressions which he hath