he will be as ready to part with it to thee as ever Naaman was to Gehazi 5. Have nothing to do with Sin The Philistines would not tread on the threshold they thought brake their Idol Dagon's neck The Jews would not put the Thirty pieces given for betraying Christ into the Treasury because it was the price of blood Mat. 27. 6. Will you look on sin as gain on that which you have gotten by sin as gain It is the price of blood Should that be pleasing to thee which was so bitter to Christ David would not drink of the water his Worthies had ventured their lives for but poured it out and said Is not this the blood of the men that went in jeopardy of their lives 2 Sam. 23. 17. Wilt thou put that Serpent into thy bosome that hath stung to death thy dearest Relation A strange sight for a Child to delight in that Sword or Knife that killed his Father Some will break God's Law for the gain of two-pence God made not such a leight matter of the breach of his Law Let this conspicuous Justice of God be as a flaming-sword to keep you from sin Since Christ hath dy'd for sin let us dye unto sin yea let us rather chuse to dye than to sin Lastly Live to your Lord Redeemer walk as they that are bought with such a price say to Christ as the people â—o Gideon Rule thou over us for thou hast delivered us from the hand of our enemies He died that they which live might not live to themselves A strong and constraining bond of obedience and thankfulness is laid upon us Offer up Souls and Bodies a living sacrifice to him that offered up himself a dead sacrifice for us Be cheerful in suffering for him grudg not at suffering any thing for him that suffered so much for thee Christ loved not his life unto the death for our sakes A Discourse concerning the Apostle Paul's meaning by Justification by Faith occasioned by some passages in the Sermons An Endeavour to make apparent That the Apostle Paul by Justification by works and by the Law means justification for mens deserts and merits or by unsinning obedience without pardon And by Justification by Faith means pardon of sin upon mens believing and turning from sin to God And that it is not in the least his design to exclude Repentance and sincere Obedience from being a condition of our justification but that he includes them in the word Faith FIrst We are sure whatever the Apostle teacheth is consistent with himself and the whole tenour of Scripture Therefore his meaning cannot be That it is not necessary or that it is dangerous for any to repent and turn from sin for pardon or justification and salvation But this I have already cleared Secondly We are sure Whatever the Apostle saith is true and his arguing cogent as when he tells us Rom. 4. 4. To him that worketh the reward is not reckoned of grace but of debt and Rom. 11. 6. If by grace then it is no more of works but if it be of works then it is no more of grace Now this would not be true for a reward may be of works and yet of grace unless by works he understand meritorious works or full and compleat innocency If there be a promise made of a reward to a work yet if the work be inconsiderable in value to the reward this reward is to be ascribed to the grace and favour and kindness of him that promiseth and giveth the reward and not to the merit of his work that receives it It would be in this case of Grace as the Cause though of Works as the Condition the Works not being meritorious Else it would be impossible for any promise to be a gracious promise that hath any duty for the condition of it which to affirm would be the abhorring of any rational soul yea though the condition was to be performed by the man 's own strength whatever any say to the contrary which yet is not in the case-in-hand I willingly grant yea a conditional promise would not be one jot less gracious if the condition was to be performed by man of himself and is not more gracious because God causeth us to perform it only this causing us to perform it is more of grace Dare any deliberately say these conditional promises were not of grace because a work made the condition viz. If the wicked turn he shall live Repent that your iniquities may be blotted out Nay do we not expresly read Such are of grace Jer. 3. 1 12. Thou hast playd the harlot with many lovers yet return and I will not cause mine anger to fall on you For I am gracious and merciful 2 Chron. 30 19. The good Lord pardon every one that prepareth his heart to seek c. though he be not cleansed according c. Nehem. 13. 22. Remember me my God concerning this also and spare me according to the greatness of thy mercy Jonah knew if God spared Nineveh upon repentance it would be an act of grace I know thou art a gracious God and merciful Jonah 4. 2. Whatsoever any one gives or promises to another who works more than the merit of the work amounts to is of grace and the justification of any man upon any terms less than the obedience of the Law in every thing is of Gospel-grace to wit of pardon Thirdly The opposition of the Apostle is good and true if by works be meant meritorious works deserving the reward or full and compleat obedienee to the Law in every thing viz. If of meritorious works then not of grace then the reward is no more than what is owing in strict Justice and one need not cry gratias grace grace need not give thanks for such a reward And if of compleat unsinning obedience one needs not pardon cannot be pardoned cannot give thanks for the reward as having of it upon the account of sin pardoned Object But would not Adam's justification have been of grace if he had continued in his innocency though it would have been of works This some object against this Tenent That the Apostle meant it of meritorious works or full obedience and I never saw this well cleared and many are much puzled with it therefore I will speak the more largely to it Ans I distinguish here between justification simply taken as justification of an innocent man accused or accusable though falsly and between the justification of a man with the resultancies from it which though immediate resultancies yet come on him upon his meer justification by virtue of some gracious Law Promise or Covenant made on condition of his innocency First Suppose there had been no promise made of everlasting happiness to Adam on condition of continued innocency but only a threatning That if he sinned he should dye be damned First In this case while he had continued innocent it would have been of debt not to have condemned him as a
oppose the Doctrine delivered are to be interpreted in pursuance of this design That men are justified only by pardon of sin through the Propitiation upon performing those conditions pardon is promised to and so may the Gentiles be justified without such perfect obedience to the Law or meritorious priviledges or satisfactions If I should proceed I can only repeat the same again and again with very little variation upon the places following Gal. 2. 11 12 13 14 15 16. Gal. 3. Gal. 5. 2. Paul once circumcised Timothy yet here saith Behold I Paul say unto you If you be circumcised that is upon this account else he would not have spoken so severely to make you such worthy persons as to need no pardon Christ shall profit you nothing Ver. 3. For I testifie again to every man that shall now be thus or on this account circumcised he is a debtor to the whole Law He must look to it that he fail not in the least for he virtually disclaims all pardon by Christ and so shall not have it So Tit. 3. 5. Not by works of righteousness which we have done but according to his mercy he saved us by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost Ver. 7. That being justified by his grace c. This Scripture tells us what is meant by work and what by faith and plainly to any considering man James 2. 14 to the end When some had it is probable mis-understood such expressions in St. Paul's Epistles as if only believing the truth was enough for salvation the Apostle James shews that by Abraham's faith was meant his faith and obedience and saith that those words believed God mean believed God and obeyed him in offering up his son and other difficulties like that 1 Maccab. 2. 52. Was not Abraham found faithful in temptation and it was imputed to him for righteousness As Phineas executed judgment and it was counted to him for righteousness throughout all generations that is God rewarded him graciously with an everlasting Priesthood as if he had been a righteous man a deserving man when yet he was not by the Apostle Paul's argument that the word counted implieth it was not due to him so doing but of grace Ver. 22 23. When he offered up his son then the Scripture was fulfilled perfectly explained that saith Abraham believed God and it was imputed to him for righteousness that is God acquitted and rewarded him upon his faith and obedience as if he had been a righteous man in the strictest sense when indeed he was not And you may observe it would as much serve the Apostle Paul's arguing and support what he builds upon it if the very words had run thus Abraham believed and obeyed and it was counted c. and it is plain that was the meaning as you may see Gen. 22. 8. In thy seed shall all nations be blessed because thou hast obeyed my voice or if they had run thus He walked before God and was upright and it was counted c. and this is said in effect in saying If he did so God would do great things for him cap. 17. 2. Or if the words had been expresly thus Abraham feared God and it was accounted to him for righteousness and we do read as much in sense though not in express words Gen. 22. 12. For now I know thou fearest God seeing thou hast not with-held c. Ver. 16. By my self have I sworn For because thou hast done this thing and hast not with held thy son that in blessing I will bless thee It would be a poor blessing if it did not include justification I say had the words run so the Apostle is so far from excluding these things from being a condition of justification that such words would as well have proved what he is proving only they would not so occasionally have served to press them to the great difficult duty of that day the believing Christ's Resurrection FINIS
Contraries are of the same general nature As condemnation is by a Law-threat so Justification of a sinner must be by a Law-promise It is a Law-rule that Obligations are dissolved by the same way whereby they are made The Apostle speaking of boasting being excluded in Justification asketh By what Law and answers By the Law of Faith implying plainly Men are justified by the Law of Faith 4. We may clearly see it by the tenour of the Covenants Rom. 10. 5 6 9 Moses describeth the righteousness of the Law the tenour of the Covenant of Works which would have justified men had they performed the condition of it The man which doth these things shall live in them But the righteousness of faith the tenour of the Covenant of Grace the word which we preach is this If thou confess with thy mouth and believe with thy heart that God hath raised him from the dead thou shalt be saved Had man performed the Legal Condition perfect and perpetual obedience the Law of Works would have justified him Therefore now if a man perform the Gospel-condition the Gospel this Law of Faith will justifie him See also Gal. 3. 16 17 21 22 of the two Covenants To Abraham and his seed were the Promises made that is to Abraham and all true Believers that are of the Faith of Abraham as he fully explains himself in other places of the Chapter especially the last verse And is the Law against the Promises of God against this Covenant confirmed of God in Christ That he that believeth shall live Had there been a Law which could have given life verily righteousness should have been by that Law but the Scripture hath concluded all under sin that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe We may argue plainly thus This Law this Covenant-Promise Believe and live can give life that is right to life for some do perform the Condition of this Law Therefore verily Righteousness is and must be by this Law Can any man possibly give a reason why that Law would have justified would have given right to life and so righteousness have been by it to a man that had performed perfect obedience and not this Believe and live perform the Gospel-conditions and live and not this justifie give right to life and so righteousness be by it 5. To deny this is to say the Gospel-Promises are meer Cyphers and Nullities they have no effect if they do not give right to Impunity and eternal life which is Justification to those that perform the conditions Nay it is to deny that they are Promises for if Promises they must have the common nature of Promises which is to give right To deny the efficacy of them is to deny they are gracious Promises it is to say they are useless as to giving the right we should have had right without them It is no Act of Oblivion much less a very gracious Act of Oblivion that doth not pardon and justifie properly them that perform the Conditions of it no Act of Oblivion to him that would be justified by doing that which is the condition of it without it And this by the way They that say Faith attaineth right as an Instrument and not as a condition make all the Promises Nullities they in effect say We should have had right had we performed that thing which is the condition without such a promise Thus you see Justification must be by some Law of Grace and indeed Protestants seem agreed it is a Juridical Act. Now what Law of Grace is it What names is it to be called by You may call it The Promise the Covenant the Law of Grace the Law of Faith the Gospel by these names it is called in Scripture The tenour of it is this He that turneth shall live He that believeth shall be saved He that accepteth Christ in the Gospel-way on the Gospel terms shall have the benefit of this Propitiation to his justification and salvation though never so great a sinner This is the Gospel the Law of Faith the Law or Covenant of Grace founded in the blood of Christ These Promises are Yea and Amen in Christ are the Covenant confirmed of God in Christ as the Apostle calls them And by this all were justified and saved that ever were saved by the blood of Christ You shall all be judged that is justified or condemned sententially according to this Gospel And as you shall be sententially judged according to this Law of Liberty at the last day so you are here in this life constitutively justified or condemned here in law The word which Christ spake shall John 1â— 48. condemn 〈◊〉 at 〈◊〉 last day shall justifie or 〈◊〉 So it doth in Law 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 them that obey the Gospel here For not the hearers of the 〈◊〉 are just before God he speaketh Rom. 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the Law of Grace it is like that Not every one that saith unto me Lord Lord but he that doth the will of my Father shall inherit the Kingdom of Heaven but the doers of the Law shall be justified in the day when God shall judg the secrets of all hearts according to my Gospel I hope you now begin to see into the nature of Justification and by seeing what it is you see what it is not Only these things following to my best remembrance are and can with any shew be pretended to be called Justification except what the Pupists pretend That it is nothing else but Sanctification which I pretermit as ridiculous He would not be an abomination to God that could justifie the wicked that is sanctifie them according to thâ—ir interpretation First It is not Our knowing we are justified which some call Justification in Conscience For 1. The Scripture never calleth Assurance our knowing we are justified Justification 2. We may be justified in Scripture-sense by this Gospel having the condition of Justification and yet not know it yea think we are not justified and have no right to salvation else wo to troubled souls And we may not be justified and think we are 3. In this sense we should be properly said to justifie our selves and not God to justifie us for it is we that know we are justified by the act whereby we know it and not God though God enable us to know we are justified Secondly Justification is not God's knowing we are justified and have right to Impunity right to Heaven it is not God's knowing accounting us judging us justified for we are first justified pardoned in order of Nature though not of Time before he knows accounts us so be We first have this right to Impunity Salvation before He knows or accounts us to have it The Object is in order of Nature before the Act a thing is before it be known If there be an Act of Oblivion made upon condition of Rebels laying down their Weapons Offenders are pardoned justified in Law-title upon laying down their Weapons in
it is a resultancy from the Law upon disobedience so Justification Right to Heaven is a resultancy from a Law-promise the condition being performed I know you may object that place turned from darkness to light that they may receive remission of sins But one of an ordinary capacity may perceive it is a figurative expression because in natural things where there is giving there is receiving for if once men be turned from sin to God Pardon comes by virtue of God's Promise and Right to the Inheritance cometh on them And we may figuratively say Adam received his condemnation by eating And so we read in Scripture of receiving condemnation but there was in propriety no act of receiving it If I make a promise upon such a condition as soon as the condition is performed Right to him results without any act of receiving it Right comes upon the Felon that reads Right to have his Life spared Justification Pardon to Life comes upon him by the Law by reading without any act of receiving it Many tell us of applying Christ's Righteousness to Justification and this is all It is an obscure speech and it is you see by this impossible there should be any such thing properly I will tell you what I guess they mean by the word apply viz. Meditating upon any Truth you believe And they mean the same by acting faith viz. Meditating upon Truth we believe This is a great duty to meditate on his Death to act Faith upon his Satisfaction and the fulness of it to draw our hearts to consent and chear our hearts after consent But if once they understand it is Meditation they mean they will not surely pretend it is the only Condition of Justification You may say indeed That Faith receiveth Christ But then you must not mean by Faith Assurance or Reliance for Why doth not Love or Fear or Hope as much receive as reliance But you must mean the moral receiving performed by the natural act of consent acceptance As one receives morally such a man to be his Master that desires his service by consenting and if you will say Faith is Consent why is not Consent to be ruled by him giving up our selves to be ruled by him as much a receiving Christ as Consent to be saved and pardoned by Him And then if you will but grant this this is to grant all I am pleading for For Consent to have him for Lord and Saviour is to consent to be Christians indeed to consent to perform the whole duty of man which is as comprehensive a word as can be spoken to be made the condition of salvation and justification and if consenting to the whole duty of man to the best of our power and knowledg be the condition of begun-Justification and Salvation then you will readily see that continuing this Consent continuing to be Christians indeed and to perform the whole duty of Man to the best of our knowledg and power in the integrity of our hearts and wherein we fail to lament it is the condition of our continued justification and right to salvation If a King grants a Pardon to Rebels on condition they will become Loyal Subjects Consent is enough at the first to attain right to all the benefits of it But continued Consent and continual loyal carriage in the main towards him is the condition of their continued right to Impunity and every moment of continued Loyalry is in order of nature before their continued Right So whereas before we consented to the Gospel-terms our Pardon and Justification and Right to Heaven were only offered to us upon condition and were not actually existent at all now when we have heartily consented they are really existent and actual not meerly conditional so that should we dye in that moment we should be saved whereas had we dyed before we should have perished But yet the continuance of our Justification and pardon of future sins is still conditional 5. It is a gross mistake that many take up with thinking it would be a more gracious liberal and free speech and promise to say Only believe rely accept Christ for Saviour and you shall have right to Heaven and be justified and I will require nothing else of you for right to Heaven This believing shall only be influential into your right but yet except you repent turn from sin to God and obey you shall have no right shall not be justified than to say Turn from sin to God repent believe obey and you shall have right to salvation For such a speech as the first instead of being a more noble free promise is non-sense is untruth and a contradiction in the very words It is to say and unsay it is to say All shall be equally influential into right all shall be Conditions and yet they shall not all be Conditions and equally influential into right For a Condition is that which if we do not we shall have no right to the thing promised This is a Condition as much as any Condition and as influential into right as any condition in the world that is not the whole condition for every condition is only a sine quâ— non and altogether only sine quibus non cum quibus And therefore for any to speak thus is weakly to lye for God pretending to keep up the honour of God's free grace ignorantly thinking that if God require us to repent return or no mercy then it is not free then we merit our pardon it is not of grace contrary to all Reason and Scripture God hath made the Condition required from us as little as small a matter as he thought would stand with his Honour Wisdom and Government in the World and they that would make the conditions of Grace Mercy and Salvation through Christ less than God hath made them what ever good intention they have to honour God by it do really dishonour him as an unholy God for God thought it would not stand with the honour of his Holiness to accept unto favour and life any but they that should return from sin unto God Ministers are to tell the whole terms that men may sit down and consider the cost and if men will be offended and say it is a hard saying and like not Christ and Life on these terms Let them be offended they have their choice to let him alone but they shall know they had life and death set before them on gracious easie terms and they have rewarded their own souls evil for good Again if a necessity of Repentance and sincere Obedience to Justification would hinder it from being free then such as say thus and tell us these things are only for possession do virtually grant that possession of Salvation is not free But what Christian-ears can endure this that Possession is not equally free with Right that both are not of free-grace 6. They that say There is only one act to be done by us for Pardon Justification and Right to
sinner and so justification of him from any thing befalling him for the breach of the Law would have been of debt and not of grace no thanks Secondly But his justification in this case would have reached but a little way would have resulted no further than I have expressed For God might yet when he pleased have annihilated him for it seems not rational to affirm That if God make a rational Creature he may not lawfully and in equity unmake and annihilate it except it offend him this would be to impose hard terms on God But yet it would be of due debt that this annihilation should not be as a token of his displeasure and for the breach of the Law if he had not broken it as is supposed Secondly Suppose the Covenant ran thus If he obey he shall live eternally happy but if he sin he shall dye be damned as it is supposed it did First Here while man keeps his innocency That he be justified as innocent and not condemned as guilty is of natural equity and not of grace Which would have been enough had we no more to say to justifie the Apostle's speech if we take it not strictly but as we use to do other moral sayings the foundational and most immediately obvious part of justification being of debt Secondly But that this very justification should reach so far as right to continued life and happiness would be of grace because that promise that causes this right to result during him innocent was of grace and not of debt Thirdly Yet this justification thus resulting to continued life and happiness would not man continuing obedient have been of Gospel-grace of that kind of grace which the Apostle hath occasion mainly to speak of which is Mercy and Pardon it would not have been of Gospel-grace of forgiveness which is the thing the Apostle hath much in his eye No thanks would be due upon the account of forgiving him any thing Fourthly But to clear all beyond possibility of exception The Apostle only speaks ex hypothesi and on supposition for the Creature cannot possibly merit any thing of God but as above-said that if innocent he be not condemned as guilty and the Apostle knew their works were not meritorious that his opposers pretended were so Now suppose I say that obedience was meritorious of eternal life of the reward suppose man did any thing meritorious of Heaven then ex hypothesi salvation would not be of grace in any sense but properly of debt which is all the Apostle here affirmeth And it seems the Pharaisaical Jews went as high as some Papists do now as to hold their good works meritorious of eternal life and our Jewish Antiquaries manifest that this Tenent was common amongst them and you see if of meritorious works then not of grace in any sense And in this sense Adam's justification to life upon his unsinning obedience would not have been of meritorious works but of grace though not of pardon and Gospel-grace and Mercy It is easie to answer take it which way you will For if you will by works understand no more than perfect obedience to the Law then justification will not be of Gospel-grace which is pardon But if by works you will understand works properly meritorious of salvation then if of works not of grace at all And in some places the Apostle seems to take the words in one sense sometimes in the other For as here he seemeth to mean proper merit so Gal. 3. 10. As many as are of the works of the Law are under a curse for it is written Cursed is every one that continueth not c. implieth Man should have been blessed and not cursed as being justified by works had he fulfilled c. Here justification would have been of works not properly meritorious but being of Law-works it would not be by Gospel-grace and pardon though there would have been in such a case the Law-grace spoken of For to speak by way of anticipation if God was not bound in strict Justice to make such a promise If man obey perfectly he shall be happy if the making of it was of grace the making of it doth not hinder the performance of it from being of grace law-grace no more than God's making this law That sinner that repents and believes shall be saved maketh man's justification for being of Pardon and Gospel-grace Object The Jews Works and Priviledges were not meritorious nor perfect Therefore the Apostle doth not mean by works meritorious works or perfect Ans First It is true they were not meritorious else they would have been justified and saved of debt without Christ's satisfaction Secondly But they maintained and pretended their works such and this was to make Christ's death vain This very opinion made them slight Christ and kept them from submitting to the righteousness of God the Gospel-way of justification And by the way if any should now have this conceit concerning faith repentance sincere obedience works of charity viz. that they are meritorious of their justification and salvation a satisfaction for their sins recompence enough to Justice they would be in the same condemnation with these and Christ should profit them nothing For this was the reason why Circumcision and other observations of the Law would undo them Gal. 5. 2. not because they had that merit in them which they supposed for then they would have been justified and saved by them but because they conceited them meritorious making them worthy deserving men and so could not possibly during this conceit expect or desire justification in God's way of grace or Mercy through a Propitiation they could not but despise it as esteeming they had no need of it as indeed they had not if their conceit was true Fourthly Faith and Repentance are works it would move a man with pity to see the weakness of mens attempts to prove that faith is not a work when Christ himself calls it a work therefore his design is not to exclude every good work from any interest in justification else he would exclude Faith it self but only perfect or meritorious works or works conceited so to be which comes all to one for as works really compleat or meritorious would essentially hinder pardon by Christ's death being essentially inconsistent so a man conceiting his works meritorious is by God's Law of Grace excluded from any interest in this Propitiation For he hath made it a part of the condition That men be sensible of their unworthiness unrighteousness and undone estate without Christ and Pardon You see what the Apostle's meaning is not Now that you may see what his meaning is let these two things be well considered viz. What the Jews Opinions were and What the Apostle's Design was First What the Jews Opinions were which Paul opposed which are something plain from Scripture and are made more plain by the Writings of ancient Jewish Authors First They held their good works meritorious of eternal life yea some of