their obedience to their great Creator to restore them to the uprightness and integrity of their natures and thereby to a state of friendship with God This was the end of his holy Laws and precious Promises and exemplary Life and meritorious Death and glorious Resurrection and powerful Intercession for us to deliver us from the Power and Dominion of Sin to make us first holy as God is and then to receive us into that Blessed place where God dwells But now acquaintance with the Person of Christ makes just such a discovery of sin as it did of the naturalness of God's Justice to him i. e. that the desert and demerit of sin is such that it is impossible to make any atonement or satisfaction to the justice and wrath of God but only by the Death of Christ otherwise Christ had died in vain that is that God could not forgive it without full satisfaction which nothing but the Death of Christ could make Thus we learn our disability to answer the mind and will of God in all or any of the obedience he requireth that is that it is impossible for us to do any thing that is good but we must be acted like Machines by an external force by the irresistable power of the Grace and Spirit of God this I am sure is a new discovery we learn no such thing from the Gospel and I do not see how he proves it from an acquaintance with Christ. But still there is a more glorious discovery than this behind and that is the glorious end whereunto sin is appointed and ordained I suppose he means by God is discovered in Christ viz. for the demonstration of Gods vindictive justice in measuring out to it a meet recompence of reward and for the praise of God's glorious grace in the pardon and forgiveness of it That is it could not be known how just and severe God is but by punishing sin nor how good and gracious God is but by pardoning it and therefore lest his justice and mercy should never be known to the World he appoints and ordains sin to this end that is Decrees that men shall sin that he may make some of them the Vessels of his wrath and the examples of his fierce vengeance and displeasure and others the Vessels of his mercy to the praise and glory of his free Grace in Christ this indeed is such a discovery as nature and revelation could not make For nature would teach us that so infinitely a glorious Being as God is needs not sin and misery to recommend his glory and perfections and that so holy a God who so perfectly hates every thing that is wicked would not truckle and barter with Sin and the Devil for his glory And that so good a God had much rather be glorious in the happiness and perfection and obedience of his Creatures than in their sin and misery and Revelation tells us the same thing that as much as sin is for the glory of his vindictive justice yet God takes no pleasure in punishing delights not in the Death of a Sinner but rather that he should return and live that is he had rather there were no occasion for punishing than be made glorious by such acts of vengeance and therefore though God be so holy as to punish incorrigible Sinners and so merciful as to forgive all true Penitents through our Lord Jesus Christ yet he did not ordain and appoint and decree sin to this end for vindictive justice and pardoning mercy are but secondary Attributes of the Divine Nature and therefore God cannot primarily design the glorifying of them for that cannot be without primarily designing the sin and misery of his Creatures which would be inconsistent with the goodness and holiness of his Nature Thus Nature and Revelation teaches though these men pretend to have learn't otherwise from an acquaintance with Christ. Thus much for the knowledge of our selves with respect to sin which is hid only in the Lord Iesus But then we learn what our righteousness is wherewith we must appear before God from an acquaintance with Christ. We have already learnt how unable we are to make atonement for our sins without which they can never be forgiven and how unable we are to do any thing that is good and yet nothing can deliver us from the justice and wrath of God but a full satisfaction for our sins and nothing can give us a title to a reward but a perfect and unsinning righteousness what shall we do in this Case how shall we escape Hell or get to Heaven when we can neither expiate for our past sins nor do any good for the time to come why here we are relieved again by an acquaintance with Christ his Death expiates former iniquities and removes the whole guilt of sin but this is not enough that we are not guilty we must also be actually righteous not only all sin is to be answered for but all righteousness is to be fulfilled Now this righteousness we find only in Christ We are reconciled to God by his Death and saved by his life that actual obedience he yielded to the whole law of God is that righteousness whereby we are saved we are innocent by vertue of his Sacrifice and expiation and righteous with his righteousness Now this is a mighty comfortable discovery how we may be righteous without doing any thing that is good or righteous And I confess we could never have known this but by an acquaintance with his Person for his Gospel makes a different representation of it tells us expresly that he is righteous who doth righteousness that without holiness no man shall see God that the only way to obtain the pardon of our sins is to repent of them and forsake them and the only thing that gives a right to the promises of future glory is to obey the Laws and imitate the example of our Saviour and to be transformed into the nature and likeness of God and though our obedience be not in every thing exact and perfect if it be sincere we shall be accepted for the sake of Christ and by vertue of that Covenant of Grace which he hath sealed with his blood which admits of an Evangelical instead of a strict legal perfection such different discoveries doth an acquaintance with the Gospel and with the Person of Christ make The third part of our Wisdom is to walk with God and to that is required Agreement acquaintance a way strength boldness and aiming at the same end and all these with the Wisdom of them are hid in the Lord Iesus The sum of which in short is this that Christ having expiated our sins and fulfilled all righteousness for us though we have no personal righteousness of our own but are as contrary to God as darkness is to light and death to life and an universal pollution and defilement to an universal and glorious holiness and hatred to love yet the righteousness of Christ
is a sufficient nay the only foundation of our agreement and upon that of our walking with God though St. Iohn tells us If we say we have fellowship with him and walk in darkness we lye and do not the truth but if we walk in the light as God is in the light then have we fellowship one with another and then the blood of Iesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sins Iohn 1. Ch. 1. v. 6 7. And our only acquaintance with God and knowledge of him is hid in Christ which his word and works could not discover as you heard above And he is the only way wherein we must walk with God and we receive all our strength from him and he makes us bold and confident too having removed the guilt of sin that now we may look Justice in the face and whet our Knife at the Counter door all our Debts being discharged by Christ as these bold acquaintance and familiars of Christ use to speak And in Christ we design the same end that God doth which is the advancement of his own glory that is I suppose by trusting to the expiation and righteousness of Christ for Salvation without doing any thing our selves we take care that God shall not be robbed of the glory of his free Grace by a competition of any merits and deserts of our own These are those great Gospel Mysteries and Soul-saving truths which are learnt from an acquaintance with Christ's Person which his Gospel is so silent in or speaks so darkly and imperfectly of that it was impossible to understand them without being first acquainted with his Person And that you may the better understand the whole design and contrivance of it I shall put every thing into its just and natural order God then from the beginning designed to glorifie his justice and his mercy and because there had been no occasion either to punish or pardon unless man had sinned he appointed and ordained sin for the glory of his vindictive justice and pardoning Grace and accordingly since nothing can withstand the Decrees and appointments of God it pleaseth God that Man should sin but when he hath sinned he is extreamly displeased with it and now his Justice must be satisfied for it is impossible for God to forgive the the least sin without a compleat and perfect satisfaction this falls hard upon those miserable wretches whose ill fortune it was without any faults of theirs to be left out of the Roll of Election and who have no way to satisfie the Divine Justice but by their Eternal Torments by this it appears how rigorously just God is that he will never pardon the least sin when he can serve his own glory by the misery and confusion of Sinners But this is but one part of the glory of God to be just in punishing sin the other is to shew mercy in sparing and rewarding the Sinner now here was the great difficulty how God should be just and merciful too when Justice requires a full satisfaction and mercy excludes all desert For the demerit of sin being infinite no Creature can expiate sin but by enduring infinite that is endless Torments and those who must be always miserable can never be the subjects of God's mercy To unite these two extreams and reconcile such contradictions was a work of infinite Wisdom as well as goodness And it was effected thus God sends his only begotten Son our Lord Jesus Christ into the World to fulfil all righteousness in his life and to make a full satisfaction for sin by his Death For his blood being of infinite value as being the blood of the Son of God could expiate an infinite guilt and so make a compleat satisfaction to Justice which is more glorified by the Death of Christ than by the Eternal miseries of all the Sinners in the World because it discovers the naturalness of Justice to God which is the Position to be maintain'd that he could not pardon without full satisfaction that is that he is so just that he hath not one dram of goodness in him till his rage and vengeance be satisfied which is I confess a glorious kind of Justice But now the Iustice and vengeance of God having their actings assigned them to the full being glutted and satiated with the blood of Christ God may pardon as many and great sins as he pleases without fear of the least imputation of injustice and now a glorious and more comfortable Scene of mercy begins to appear now God embraces Sinners as a kind Father and accounts them perfectly innocent in vertue of that satisfaction Christ hath made for their sins but this is not enough the law of God must be fulfilled as well as his justice satisfied we must be righteous as well as innocent otherwise we may escape punishment but can expect no reward though I confess I should have thought that Christ had satisfied for sins of omission together with sins of Commission and as by his satisfaction for our doing what we ought not to do we are reputed by God as having never done any thing amiss so by his satisfaction for our neglecting what we ought to have done we might by the same reason be reputed by God perfectly righteous to have done all that we ought to have kept the whole Law but it seems this was not sufficient and therefore as the satisfaction of Christ is imputed to us for the forgiveness of sins so the righteousness of Christ is imputed to us to make us perfectly righteous and this makes the Grace of God perfectly free without any suspition of merit or desert in us And now God and Sinners may agree very well and walk comfortably together for though they have guilt enough and he Justice enough to destroy a World yet there is no danger since Christ hath satisfied Justice and though he be infinitely holy and pure perfect light and Sinners abominably filthy yet there is no fear he should loath and abhor them when they are Cloathed with the white and spotless Robes of Christs righteousness and they are so well acquainted now with the design of God to advance the glory of his free Grace in their Salvation that they are very secure that neither their past sins nor present habitual impurities can do them any hurt but they shall be saved with a notwithstanding their sins These are those fundamental Doctrines with which these men have blessed the World from a pretended acquaintance with Christ's Person which are so unlike the holy Religion of our Saviour that for distinction sake it ought to be called the Religion of Christ's Person in opposition to the Religion of his Gospel And since we have discovered the Principles of this new Religion of Christ's Person I cannot forbear inquiring briefly into the practical inferences from it that we may at once view the grand Mystery of this Religion both in its principles and practice Now the practice of this Religion consists in accepting of
out of the Christian Religion Our Union to Christ is perfected while we are unholy and when we are united to Christ there is less need of holiness than before for now the Merits and satisfaction of Christs death is imputed to us to remove the guilt of sin and to deliver us from the punishment of it and his actual obedience is imputed to us to make us righteous and to give us an actual right to Glory so that if men will obey Christ out of a principle of good nature and thankfulness to him they may but according to this notion there can be no necessity of it because they are delivered from the wrath of God and have a right to eternal life without it And this is a plain demonstration that these notions are so far from being an essential part of the Christian Religion that they overthrow all Religion by leaving it at every mans liberty whether he will worship and obey God or not but I have discoursed this at large already in the examination of Dr. Owens reasons for the necessity of Holiness and Obedience SECT V. That according to these Principles there is no certain way of getting into Christ or of knowing whether we are in Christ or not THus I have made good the first charge that according to this notion of our Union to Christ men may nay must be united to Christ if ever they be united while they continue in sin and this is a great reproach to the Person and Gospel of our Saviour the other thing which I charged upon this notion is a more immediate â—injury to men as exposing them to perpetual doubts and jealousies about their Salvation viz. that according to these principles no man can certainly tell how to get into Christ or know whether he be in Christ or not And if I can make this appear it will be a sufficient reason for every man to reject it who hath any care of his Salvation or any regard to the peace and quiet of his own mind First then according to these Principles there is no certain way to get into Christ Suppose a sinner who hears of those great Priviledges which are consequent upon our Union to Christ should inquire what course he should take to be united to Christ and to have a Right and Interest in all the Excellencies Preciousness Graces and Righteousness of the Lord Iesus the method prescribed in order to this is Conviction Compunction Humiliation and Faith which is the uniting Grace now I observe first that a man is passive in all this and can contribute nothing to it himself any otherwise than as he is acted by an irresistible power and it is a vain thing to give such rules and directions as no man can follow this only tells us by what methods God unites us to Christ not what we must do but what we must suffer in order to this Union A Sinner may stir up in himself some natural conviction of sin some natural fear and sorrow c. and in a sense of this may set upon the work of reformation of leaving his sins and performing duties but all this they tell us is to no purpose for unless this conviction and compunction and humiliation be wrought in us by the irresistible power of the Spirit of God which no man can possibly tell whether it be or not it is not of the right stamp and will avail us nothing So that the sinner hath nothing to do but to sit still and patiently expect till God will do all for him But secondly Suppose a man have this conviction compunction and humiliation is this a sufficient reason to lay hold on Christ by the hand of Faith by no means the end of conviction is compunction and the end of compunction is humiliation and all this carries us no nearer to Christ than quietly to lye down before God that he may do what he will with us turning the other cheek unto the Lord even smiting of us acknowledging that if the Lord show mercy it will be wonderful if not yet the Lord is Righteous and therefore we have no reason to quarrel against him for denying special mercy to those to whom he does not owe a bit of bread and now the Soul is indeed humbled because it submits to be disposed of as God pleases that is to be saved or damned so that this conviction compunction and humiliation contribute nothing to our Union with Christ but their whole vertue consists in bringing us to such a temper of mind as to be content either to have Christ or to go without him as God shall please humiliation makes the Soul in the sense of its own infinite vileness and unworthiness not to quarrel at the Lord and Devil-like grow fierce and impatient before and against the Lord in case he should never help it never pity it never succour it And now you shall see if the Lord intend good he will by this do thee good and this is all men get by humiliation that if the Lord intend to do them good this is the way in which he will do it but though they be humbled they cannot be sure whether God intend to do them good or not and therefore we are told that we are as much bound to submit to God whether he will save or damn us as we are to submit to the disposal of God as to any common mercy though you must pray for mercy it must be with submission to the good will of the Lord saying the Lords will is good whether it be to save or damn but mine is evil though it be to be saved and to have Jesus Christ nay we are much more bound to submit our selves to God whether he will save or damn us than we are to submit to him in the lesser concernments of this life For if it be pride to murmur in case the Lord deny you smaller matters the offals of this life doest thou not see that it is far greater pride for thee to sink and quarrel with him if he denies thee greater the things of another life is he bound to give thee greater who doth not owe thee the least the Lord gives you life blessed be his name but you ask for treasures of Grace and mercy now God hath given you life you would feign live for ever an unpardonable fault this thousands of pounds Christ himself and all that he is worth and the Lord seems to deny you and now you sink and grow sullen may not the Lord now say was there ever such pride and insolence as to be unwilling to be damned for ever though I dare say this is not the pride which cast the Apostate Angels out of Heaven So that though conviction and compunction and humiliation be the only way to come to Christ yet it is such a way as brings us never the nearer him when all this is done we are where we were before we were humbled
neither of them could relish that plain simple Doctrine of a crucified Christ but whatever these men thought of it the Apostle tells us that this Doctrine of a crucified Saviour is the Power of God and Wisdom of God That is the most powerful Method which was ever used by God for the reforming the World and the contrivance and effect of excellent Wisdom and thus the Gospel of Christ is called the Power of God to Salvation to them that believe Rom. 1. 16. and by this foolishness of Preaching that is by preaching this foolish Doctrine as it was accounted by the Wise-men of the World of a crucified Christ it pleased God to save them that believe Christ indeed being now exalted to the right hand of the Majesty on High may in a proper sense be called the Power of God because all power is given to him both in Heaven and Earth and he hath the supreme government of all the affairs of this spiritual Kingdom and this is a Personal Power inherent in him which all good men shall find the blessed effects of but then the exercise of this Power is confined to the Rules of the Gospel he hath power to save those who believe and obey him and he hath power to destroy his enemies to accomplish all the promises and to execute all the threatnings of his Gospel So that this Personal Power in Christ can give us no greater encouragement than the Gospel doth It cannot save any man whom the Gospel condemns we have no reason to trust to his Personal Power unless we first obey his Gospel for how omnipotent soever he be his Gospel is the measure of his Actings if that condemns us his omnipotent Power will not save us But the chief Personal Grace which these men most vehemently contend for is still behind viz. the Righteousness of Christ Now no Christian will deny that Christ was very righteous a great Example of universal Holiness and Purity and it must be confessed that his Righteousness was not an imaginary imputed Righteousness but Inherent and Personal but what comfort is this to us that Christ was Righteous if we continue wilful and incorrigible Sinners Yes says the Doctor Hast thou the sense of guilt upon thee Christ is compleat Righteousness the Lord our Righteousness This makes Christ suitable to the wants of a Sinner indeed that he hath a righteousness for him which God infinitely prefers before any home-spun Righteousness of his own This is a very comfortable notion for bad men and such as I would not part with for all the World did I resolve to live wickedly and yet intend to get to Heaven But it is good to be sure in a matter of such importance and therefore let us consider in what sense Christ is called our Righteousness and what the Scripture intends by these Phrases of the Righteousness of God or the Righteousness of Faith or the Righteousness of God by Faith To begin then with that famous place in the Old Testament Ierem. 23. 6. where Christ is expresly called the Lord our Righteousness In his days Judah shall be saved and Israel shall dwell safely and this is his name whereby he shall be called The Lord our Righteousness a very express place to prove that Christ is our Righteousness that is as these men expound it that the only righteousness wherewith we must appear before God is the righteousness of Christ imputed to us but is there no other possible sense to be made of this Phrase Righteousness in Scripture is a word of a very large use and sometimes signifies no more than Mercy kindness and beneficence and so the Lord our righteousness is the Lord who does good to us who is our Saviour and deliverer which is very agreeable to the Reason of this name that in his days Judah shall be saved and Israel shall dwell safely And righteousness signifies that part of Justice which consists in relieving the injured and opprest thus David speaks in Psalm 4. 1. Hear me when I call O God of my righteousness i. e. Thou O God who maintainest my right and my cause Psalm 9. 4. Thus in Isaiah 54. 17. No weapon that is formed against Thee shall prosper and every tongue that shall rise up against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn this is the heritage of the Servants of the Lord and their righteousness is of me saith the Lord. Which is a parallel expression to the Lord our righteousness and signifies no more than that God will avenge their cause and deliver them from all their Enemies The like we have in Isaiah 45. 24. Surely shall one say in the Lord have I Righteousness and strength even to him shall men come and all that are incensed against him shall be ashamed in the Lord shall all the Seed of Israel be justified and shall glory that is the Lord is that just and righteous judg who will justifie good men i. e. deliver them from the violence and injuries of their Enemies He is their righteousness and strength their righteous strong and powerful deliverer which agrees with that promise in Verse 14. In Righteousness thou shalt be established thou shalt be far from oppression thou shalt not fear and from terrour for it shall not come near thee And to name but one place more Isaiah 61. 10 11. I will greatly rejoice in the Lord my Soul shall be joyful in my God for he hath cloathed me with the garments of Salvation he hath cover'd me with the Robe of Righteousness as a Bridegroom decketh himself with Ornaments and as a Bride adorneth her self with Iewels for as the Earth bringeth forth her bud as the Garden causeth the things that are sown in it to spring forth so the Lord will cause Righteousness and Praise to spring forth before all Nations This sounds very like an Imputed Righteousness for what can be meant by the Robe of Righteousness but that pure and spotless Robe of Christs Righteousness which covers all our sins and deformities and makes us appear as beautiful and lovely in the eyes of God as a Bride does who adorns her self with Jewels This is the effect of our espousal with Christ that we are cover'd and adorn'd with his Righteousness but if we will attend to the circumstances of the place and not to the bare sound of words we need seek no farther for the confutation of this fancy for the Garment of Salvation and the Robe of Righteousness signifie those great deliverances God promised to Israel in the former Verses which should make them as glorious in the eyes of men as a splendid garment would that Righteousness and praise which God would cause to spring forth before all Nations even as the Earth bringeth forth her bud and as the Garden causeth those things which are sown in it to spring forth That is that God would work such great deliverances for them by such improbable means and in such plenty and abundance as if they sprang
it was at the Lords good pleasure whether we should have Christ or not and so it is still What then is to be done further in order to our closing with Christ by Faith for hitherto there is no foundation for our Faith why you must not catch at Christ but stay till God give Christ to you till God take you up in his arms that you may lean and rest upon the bosom of your beloved through Faith you must stay till God give you a particular call to come to Christ and whether that will be ever or never no man can tell many a wounded Sinner will be scrambling after Christ from some general reports of him such as his Gospel makes before the day and hour of Gods glorious and gracious call now for any man to receive Christ or to come to Christ before he is called is presumption I unpardonable presumption too to attempt impossibilities for no body can come till he is called no man should come unless first called and therefore no crime to stay away as it is in calling to an ordinary office so it is in our calling much more to special Grace no man takes this honour to himself but he that is called of God Hebr. 5. 4. it is great presumption to usurp the office of a Priest or Prophet or King without a lawful designation to such an office and therefore it is much greater presumption to attempt to be a good man and a good Christian without such a particular call for what hath any man to do with Christ to make himself a Son of God and Heir of Glory to take care to please God and to make himself happy but he that is called of God Well Sinner wait with patience till thou art called and so thy work is at an end for this time But how shall a poor humbled Sinner know when he is called that then he may come to Christ why you must have a care that you do not mistake the general offers of the Gospel for this special call for they are not a sufficient foundation for our Faith in comeing to Christ though they are made to the weary and the heavy laden too men cannot men will not come at such a call and indeed they have no reason to do it For Christ is not intended for all and therefore though he be offered to all in the Gospel yet it would be great presumption for every one to lay hold on him for Christ doth not immediately offer himself to all men as a Saviour whereby they may be encouraged to serve him as a King that is he does not promise Salvation and Eternal Life in the Gospel with a design that every one that will should take encouragement from these promises to obey and serve him but first as a King commanding them to cast away their Weapons and stoop under his Scepter acknowledging that if ever he save me I will bless him if he damn me his name is righteous in so dealing with me the meaning of which is that every man is invited in the Gospel to submit himself to the mercy of Christ but then Christ reserves a liberty to himself to save or damn as he pleases and this is all the encouragement the Gospel gives us These are hard terms and such as sound more like the arbitrary will of an haughty and imperious Lord than the conditions of a gracious and merciful Saviour What then must we do now why the only remedy is to venture and try God hath elected but few and Christ hath shed his blood for few and therefore we must venture and a hard venture it is where there is such great odds against us and yet our eternal happiness depends upon the success too great a stake for such a venture as many men among us do now who hearing of one good living fallen twenty of them will go and seek for it although they know only one shall have it though did they know it were irrevocably determined who should have it none of them would stir but wait till the news were brought them good God what Merchant-Adventurers are poor Sinners who after all their seeking for Christ are in such danger of missing him or as the Lepers in Samaria if we stay here we must die if we go out to the Camp of the Assyrians we may live which is the resolution of desperate men as it seems the Gospel condemns us all to be No previous disposition can give us any encouragement to come to Christ humiliation cannot do it after this we must expect a call still we are but probationers for Christ still and are in as great danger of missing him as any one of the twenty Competitors are of missing that living which only one can have and which is more wonderful assurance it self cannot do it For if you come to Christ because you have assurance that is if you come to Christ because you are sure you are already come or because you feel such and such graces and Heavenly impressions of Gods Spirit in you then you may many a day and year keep at a distance from Christ and live without Christ this is a hard saying that though we come to Christ we may keep at a distance from him nay though we come because we are sure we are come already it is time now to give over and despair of ever being sure when assurance it self is no security Nothing then but a particular call is a good reason to come to Christ when the Spirit of God makes the general call which signifies nothing particular when the Soul sees that the Lord in special means me singles out me in special to believe for otherwise the Souls of the elect will not be much moved with the call of God so long as they think that the Lord offers no more mercy to me than to any reprobate that is no more mercy than what will damn them and therefore the spirit of Christ makes the call particular I have called thee by name Isaiah 43. 1. He calleth all his Sheep by name Iohn 10. 5. not by their Christian name as he well observes for they cannot be Christians before they come to Christ and that must be after this call but as the Lord from before all Worlds wrote down their names in the Book of Life and loves them in special so in vocation the first opening of Election the Lord makes this call special and so special as if it were by name look saith the Lord Iesus how I have left thousand thousands in the World and have had greater cause so to have left thee this is free Grace indeed but behold I am come unto thee oh come thou unto me So that it is impossible for a Sinner to do any thing in order to his Union to Christ there is no foundation for our Faith in Christ but this particular call and we must wait patiently for it and be contented too if it