To obtain mercy is another term fignifying jufti- S ER M. fication; and what doth that import but having the VIII. remiffion of fins in mercy beftowed on us? 1 Pet. ii. 10. Again, juftification is oppofed directly to condemn Rom. xi. ation: As, faith he, by the offence of one man (judg- 30, 31, 32. ment came) upon all men to condemnation; fo by the Rom. v. 16, righteousness of one man (the free gift came) upon all 18. men to juftification of life; (juftification of life, that is, a juftification fo relating to life, or beftowing a promife thereof, as the condemnation oppofite thereto refpected death, which it threatened.) In which place St. Paul comparing the first Adam with his actions, and their confequences, to the fecond Adam with his performances, and what refulted from them, teacheth us, that as the tranfgreffion of the first did involve mankind in guilt, and brought confequently upon men a general fentence of death, (forasmuch as all men did follow him in commiffion of fin;) fo the obedience of the second did abfolve all men from guilt, and restored them confequently into a state of im mortality, (all men, under the condition prefcribed, who, as it is faid, shall receive the abundance of grace, Rom. v. 17. and of the gift of righteousness tendered to them;) the juftification therefore he fpeaketh of doth fo import an abfolution from guilt and punishment, as the condemnation fignifieth a being declared guilty, and adjudged to punishment. i. 1. Bellarmine indeed (who, in answering to this place Bellarm. de objected against his doctrine, blunders extremely, and Juftif. ii. 3. is put to his trumps of fophiftry) telleth us, that in this place, to maintain the parallel or antithefis between Adam and Chrift, juftification muft fignify infufion of grace, or putting into a man's foul an inherent righteousness; because Adam's fin did constitute us unjuft with an inherent unrighteousness: but (with his favour) juftification and condemnation being both of them the acts of God, and it being plain, that God condemning doth not infuse any inherent unrighteousness into man, neither doth VOL. I. M he SER M. he justifying, formally (if the antithefis must be pat) VIII. put any inherent righteousness into him; inherent unrighteousness in the former cafe may be a confequent of that condemnation, and inherent righteoufness may be connected with this juftification; but neither that nor this may formally fignify thofe qualities respectively: as the inherent unrighteousness confequent upon Adam's fin is not included in God's condemning, fo neither is the inherent righteousness proceeding from our Saviour's obedience contained in God's juftifying men. Rom viii. 33, 34. u xar But however moft plainly (and beyond all evafions) juftification and condemnation are oppofed otherwhere in this Epiftle: Who, faith St. Paul, Shall lay any thing to the charge of God's elect? (or criminate against them.) It is God who juftifieth; who is he that condemneth? What can be more clear, than that there juftification fignifieth abfolution from all guilt and blame? 4. Farther, this notion may be confirmed, by excluding that fenfe, which in oppofition thereto is affigned, according to which juftification is faid to import, not only remiffion of fin, and acceptance with God, but the making a man intrinfecally rightBell. i. 3. cous, by infufing into him, as they speak, a habit of grace, or charity; the putting into a man a righteousnefs, by which (as the Council of Trent expreffeth it) Juftitiam in we are renewed in the spirit of our mind, and are not nobis recipi- only reputed, but are called, and become truly righteous, receiving righteousness in ourselves. entes. Now admitting this to be true, as in a fenfe it furely is, that whoever (according to St. Paul's meaning in this Epiftle) is juftified, is also really at the fame time endued with fome measure of that intrinfic righteousness, which those men speak of, (for as much as that faith, which is required to juf. tification, (being a gift of God, managed by his providence, and wrought by his preventing grace,) doth include a fincere and fteadfaft purpose of forfaking all impiety, of amendment of life, of obedience to God, 16. VIII. Eph. iv. 23, 24. God, which purpose cleanfeth the heart, and is apt to s ER M. produce as well inward righteousness of heart, as outward righteousness of practice; for that alfo to Rom. viii. every found believer upon his faith is beftowed the 9. fpirit of God, as a principle of righteoufnefs, dwell- 1 Cor. iii. ing in him, directing, admonishing, exciting him to Acts ii. 38. do well; affifting and enabling him fufficiently to the performance of thofe conditions, or thofe duties, 2 Cor. v. which Christianity requireth, and the believer thereof1• undertaketh; which, the man's honeft and diligent endeavour concurring, will furely beget the practice of all righteoufnefs, and in continuance of fuch practice will render it habitual;)-avowing, I fay, willingly, that fuch a righteoufnefs doth ever accompany the juftification St. Paul fpeaketh of, yet that fort of righteousness doth not feem implied by the word Juftification, according to St. Paul's intent, in those places, where he difcourfeth about juftification by faith; for that fuch a fenfe of the word doth not well confift with the drift and efficacy of his reafoning, nor with divers paffages in his difcourfe. For, 1. Whereas St. Paul, from the general depravation of manners in all men, both Jews and Gentiles, argueth the neceffity of fuch a juftification, as the Chriftian Gofpel declareth and exhibiteth, if we fhould take juftification for infufing an inherent quality of righteoufnefs into men, by the like difcourfe we might infer the imperfection and insufficiency of Chriftianity itself, and confequently the neceffity of another difpenfation befide it; for that even all Chriftians, as St. James faith, do offend often, and James iii. 2. commiffion of fin doth alfo much reign among them; fo that St. Paul's difcourfe (juftification being taken in this fenfe) might ftrongly be retorted against himself. 2. Suppofing that fenfe of juftification, a Jew might eafily invalidate St. Paul's ratiocination, by faying, that even their religion did plainly enough declare fuch a juftification, which God did beftow VIII. Pf. li. 10. cxliii. 10. 36. SER M. upon all good men in their way, as by their frequent acknowledgments and devotions is apparent; such as those of the Pfalmift: Create in me a clean heart, O God, renew a right spirit within me. Teach me to do cxix. 35, thy will, for thou art my God. Make me to go in the path of thy commandments; incline my heart unto thy teftimonies. Which fort of prayers God hearing did infuse righteousness, and juftified thofe perfons in this sense; fo that Chriftianity herein could not challenge any thing peculiar, or could upon this fcore appear fo neceffary as St. Paul pretendeth. 3. From the juftification St. Paul fpeaketh of, all refpect to any works, and to any qualifications in men, (fuch as might beget in them any confidence in themselves, or yield occafion of boasting,) is excluded; it cannot therefore well be understood for a conftituting man intrinfecally righteous, or infufing worthy qualities into him; but rather for an act of God terminated upon a man as altogether unworthy of God's love, as impious, as an enemy, as a pure object of mercy; fo it is moft natural to understand Rom. iv. 5. thofe expreffions, importing the fame thing; God juftifieth the ungodly; we being finners, Chrift died for us; (purchafing, as the following words imply, juftificaRom. v. 10. tion for us;) being yet enemies, we by his death were reconciled, or juftified, for reconciliation and juftification, as we before noted, do there fignify the fame. v. 8. 4. Abraham is brought in as an inftance of a perfon juftified in the fame manner, as Chriftians are according to the Gospel: but his juftification was merely the approving and efteeming him righteous, in regard (not to any other good works, but) to his steadfast faith, and ftrong perfuafion concerning the Rom. iv. power and faithfulness of God-because he was fully perfuaded, that what God had promised he was able to perform; to which faith and juftification confequent thereon, St Paul comparing thofe of Chriftians, fubRom. iv. joineth; Now it was not written for his fake alone, that it was imputed to him, but for us alfo, to whom it 21. 23, 24. Shall fhall be imputed, if we believe on him that raifed up s ERM. Jefus our Lord from the dead. As then it were an VIII. idle thing to fancy a righteousness, upon the fcore of that belief, dropt into Abraham; and as his being juftified is exprefsly called, having righteousness, upon the account of his faith, imputed, or afcribed, to him; fo our juftification (like and anfwerable to his) fhould correfpondently be understood, the approving and accounting us, notwithstanding our former tranfgreffions, as righteous perfons, in regard to that honeft and steadfast faith, wherein we refemble that Father of the faithful. Even St. James himself, when he faith that Abraham and Rahab were juftified by works, it is evident that he meaneth not that they had certain righteous qualities infufed into them, or were made thence by God intrinfecally more righteous than they were before, but that they were approved and accepted by God, because of the good works they performed, (in faith and obedience to God,) one of them offering to facrifice his fon, the other preferving the spies fent from God's people. 5. The fo often ufing the word imputation of righteoufnefs, inftead of juftification, doth imply this act not to be a tranfient operation upon the foul of man, but an act immanent to God's mind, refpecting man only as its object, and tranflating him into another relative ftate: with this fenfe that word excellently well agreeth, otherwise it were obscure, and fo apt to perplex the matter, that probably St. Paul would not have used it. 6. Again, when it is faid again and again, that faith is imputed for righteousness, it is plain enough, that no other thing in man was required thereto; to fay, that he is thereby fanctified, or hath gracious habits infused, is uncouth and arbitrarious: the obvious meaning is, that therefore he is graciously accepted and approved, as we said before. M 3 7. We |