FIVE DISCOURSES,

        ON

  IMPORTANT SUBJECTS

    NEARLY CONCERNING THE GREAT AFFAIR

        OF THE

SOUL'S ETERNAL SALVATION,

   viz.

   i. justification by faith alone.

   ii. pressing into the kingdom of god.

   iii. ruth's resolution.

   iv. the justice of god in the damnation of sinners.

   v. the excellency of jesus christ.

      DELIVERED AT NORTHAMPTON,

        CHIEFLY AT THE TIME OF THE LATE WONDERFUL POURING OUT OF THE SPIRIT OF
        GOD THERE.

   Deut. iv. 9.-Take heed to thyself, and keep thy soul diligently, lest
   thou forget the things which thine eyes have seen, and lest they depart
   from thy heart all the days of thy life.
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  PREFACE.

   the following discourses were all, excepting the last, delivered in the
   time of the late wonderful work of God's power and grace in this place,
   and are now published [653] on the earnest desire of those to whom they
   were preached. These particular discourses are fixed upon, and designed
   for the press, rather than others that were delivered in that
   remarkable season, by their election. What has determined them in their
   choice, is the experience they hope they have had of special benefit to
   their souls from these discourses. Their desire to have them in their
   hands from the press has been long manifested, and often expressed to
   me; their earnestness in it is evident from this, that though it be a
   year of the greatest public charge of them that ever has been, by
   reason of the expense of building a new meeting-house, yet they chose
   rather to be at this additional expense now, though it be very
   considerable, than to have it delayed another year. I am fully sensible
   that their value for these discourses has arisen more from the frame in
   which they hear them, and the good which, through the sovereign
   blessing of God, they have received, than any real worth in them. And
   whatever the discourses are in themselves, yet those who heard them are
   not to be blamed or wondered at, if that is dear to them, which they
   hope God has made a means of saving and everlasting benefit. They have
   much insisted on this argument with me, to induce me to comply with
   their desire, viz. that they hoped the reading of these discourses
   would have a tendency in some measure to renew the same effect in them
   that was wrought in the hearing, and revive the memory of that great
   work of God, which this town has so much cause ever to remember; which
   argument has been of principal weight with me, to incline me to think
   it to be my duty to comply with their desire; though I cannot say there
   are no other considerations concurring to induce me to it.

   With respect to the discourse on justification, besides the desire of
   my people to make it public, I have been advised to it by certain
   reverend gentlemen, my fathers, that happened to be the hearers of it
   (or, at least, part of it) when preached, whose opinions and advice, in
   such an affair, I thought should be of as great weight with me as of
   most that I was acquainted with.

   The beginning of the late work of God in this place was so
   circumstanced, that I could not but look upon it as a remarkable
   testimony of God's approbation of the doctrine of justification by
   faith alone, here asserted and vindicated.-By the noise that had a
   little before been raised in this country concerning that doctrine,
   people here seemed to have their minds put into an unusual ruffle; some
   were brought to doubt of that way of acceptance with God, which from
   their infancy they had been taught to be the only way; and many were
   engaged more thoroughly to look into the grounds of those doctrines in
   which they had been educated.-The following discourse of justification,
   that was preached (though not so fully as it is here printed) at two
   public lectures, seemed to be remarkably blessed, not only to establish
   the judgments of many in this truth, but to engage their hearts in a
   more earnest pursuit of justification, in that way that had been
   explained and defended; and at that time, while I was greatly
   reproached for defending this doctrine in the pulpit, and just upon my
   suffering a very open abuse for it, God's work wonderfully brake forth
   amongst us, and souls began to flock to Christ, as the Saviour in whose
   righteousness alone they hoped to be justified. So that this was the
   doctrine on which this work in its beginning was founded, as it
   evidently was in the whole progress of it.

   A great objection that is made against the old protestant doctrine of
   justification by faith alone, and the scheme of those divines that have
   chiefly defended it, by those that value themselves upon the new
   fashioned divinity, is, that the scheme is too much incumbered with
   speculative niceties, and subtle distinctions, that, they say, serve
   only to involve the subject in endless controversy and dispute;
   whereas, their scheme, they suppose, is a plain, easy, and natural
   account of things. But their prejudice against distinctions in
   divinity, I humbly conceive, is carried to a great extreme. So great,
   so general, and loud a cry has been raised by modern philosophers and
   divines against the subtle distinctions of the schoolmen, for their
   learned impertinence, that many are ready to start at any thing that
   looks like nice distinction, and to condemn it for nonsense without
   examination. Upon the same account, we might expect to have St. Paul's
   epistles, that are full of very nice distinctions, called nonsense and
   unintelligible jargon, had not they the good luck to be universally
   received by all Christians as part of the Holy Scriptures.

   Our discovering the absurdity of the impertinent and abstruse
   distinctions of the school divines, may justly give us a distaste of
   such distinctions as have a show of learning in obscure words, but
   convey no light to the mind; but I can see no reason why we should also
   discard those that are clear and rational, and can be made out to have
   their foundation in truth, although they may be such as require some
   diligence and attention of mind clearly to apprehend them. So much of
   the Scripture scheme of justification as is absolutely necessary to
   salvation, may be very plain, and level with the understandings of the
   weakest Christians; but it does not therefore follow, that the
   Scripture teaches us no more about it that would be exceeding
   profitable for us to know, and by gaining the knowledge of which, we
   may obtain a more full and clear understanding of this doctrine, and be
   better able to solve doubts that may arise concerning it, and to defend
   it from the sophistry and cavils of subtle opposers.

   It is so in most of the great doctrines of Christianity, that are
   looked upon as first principles of the christian faith, that though
   they contain something that is easy, yet they also contain great
   mysteries; and there is room for progress in the knowledge of them, and
   doubtless will be to the end of the world. But it is unreasonable, to
   expect that this progress should be made in the knowledge of things
   that are high and mysterious, without accurate distinction and close
   application of thought: and it is also unreasonable, to think that this
   doctrine, of the justification of a sinner by a mediator, should be
   without mysteries. We all own it to be a matter of pure revelations,
   above the light of natural reason, and that it is what the infinite
   wisdom of God revealed in the gospel mainly appears in, that he hath
   found out such a way of reconciliation of which neither men nor angels
   could have thought. And after all, shall we expect that this way, when
   found out and declared, shall contain nothing but what is obvious to
   the most cursory and superficial view, and may be fully and clearly
   comprehended without some diligence, accuracy, and careful distinction?

   If the distinctions I have made use of in handling this subject are
   found to be inconsistent, trivial, and unscriptural niceties, tending
   only to cloud the subject, I ought to be willing that they should be
   rejected; but if on due examination they are found both scriptural and
   rational, I humbly conceive that it will be unjust to condemn them,
   merely because they are distinctions, under a notion that niceness in
   divinity never helps it, but always perplexes and darkens it. It is to
   God's own revelation that I make my appeal, by which alone we can know
   in what way he will be pleased again to receive into favour those who
   have offended him and incurred his displeasure. If there be any part of
   the scheme here laid down, or any distinction here used, not warranted
   by Scripture, let it be rejected; and if any opposite scheme can be
   found that is more easy and plain, having fewer and more rational
   distinctions, and not demonstrably inconsistent with itself, and with
   the word of God, let it be received. Let the Arminian scheme of
   justification by our own virtue be as plain and natural as it will, if
   at the same time it is plainly contrary to the certain and demonstrable
   doctrine of the gospel, as contained in the Scriptures, we are bound to
   reject it, unless we reject the Scriptures themselves as perplexed and
   absurd, and make ourselves wiser than God, and pretend to know his mind
   better than himself.

   This discourse on justification is printed much larger than it was
   preached; but the practical discourse that follow have but little added
   to them, and now appear in that very plain and unpolished dress in
   which they were first prepared and delivered; which was mostly at a
   time when the circumstances of the auditory they were preached to, were
   enough to make a minister neglect, forget, and despise such ornaments
   as politeness and modishness of style and method, when coming as a
   messenger from God to souls deeply impressed with a sense of their
   danger of God's everlasting wrath, to treat with them about their
   eternal salvation.--However unable I am to preach or write politely, if
   I would, yet I have this to comfort me under such a defect, that God
   has showed us he does not need such talents in men to carry on his own
   work, and that he has been pleased to smile upon and bless a very plain
   unfashionable way of preaching. And have we not reason to think, that
   it ever has been, and ever will be, God's manner, to bless the
   foolishness of preaching to save them that believe, let the elegance of
   language and excellency of style be carried to never so great a height,
   by the learning and wit of the present and future ages?

   What is published at the end, concerning the excellency of Christ, is
   added on my own motion; thinking that a discourse on such an
   evangelical subject would properly follow others that were chiefly
   awakening, and that something of the excellency of the Saviour was
   proper to succeed those things that were to show the necessity of
   salvation. I pitched upon that particular discourse, partly because I
   had been earnestly importuned for a copy of it for the press, by some
   in another town in whose hearing it was occasionally preached.

   I request every reader's candid acceptance and due improvement of what
   is here offered; and especially would earnestly beseech the people of
   my own charge, not to fail of improving these discourses to those
   purposes that they have mentioned to me as the ends for which they
   desired to have them published, that I may have no cause to repent of
   my labour in transcribing, nor they of their cost in printing them.
   Happy would it be for us, and an unspeakable mercy of heaven, if God
   should bless what is here printed, so to revive the memory of the past
   great work of God amongst us, and the lively impressions and sense of
   divine things that persons then had on their minds, and to cause us to
   lament our declensions, so that the same work might renewedly break
   forth and go on amongst us! Surely we have seen much to excite our
   longings after such a mercy, and to encourage us to cry to God for it!
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   [653] Viz. at Boston 1738.
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      DISCOURSE I

   justification by faith alone

   Rom. iv. 5.

   But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the
   ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness.

   The following things may be noted in this verse:

   1. That justification respects a man as ungodly. This is evident by
   these words,--that justifieth the ungodly; which cannot imply less,
   than that God, in the act of justification, has no regard to any thing
   in the person justified, as godliness, or any goodness in him; but that
   immediately before this act, God beholds him only as an ungodly
   creature; so that godliness in the person to be justified is not so
   antecedent to his justification as to be the ground of it. When it is
   said that God justifies the ungodly, it is absurd to suppose that our
   godliness, taken as some goodness in us, is the ground of our
   justification; as, when it is said that Christ gave sight to the blind,
   to suppose that sight was prior to, and the ground of, that act of
   mercy in Christ; or as, if it should be said that such an one by his
   bounty has made a poor man rich, to suppose that it was the wealth of
   this poor man that was the ground of this bounty towards him and was
   the price by which it was procured.

   2. It appears, that by him that worketh not, in this verse, is not
   meant one who merely does not comform to the ceremonial law; because he
   that worketh not and the ungodly, are evidently synonymous expressions,
   or what signify the same, as appears by the manner of their connexion;
   if not, to what purpose is the latter expression, the ungodly, brought
   in? The context gives no other occasion for it, but to show, that by
   the grace of the gospel, God in justification has no regard to any
   godliness of ours. The foregoing verse is, "Now to him that worketh, is
   the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt." In that verse, it is
   evident, gospel grace consists in the reward being given without works;
   and in this verse, which immediately follows it, and in sense is
   connected with it, gospel-grace consists in a man's being justified as
   ungodly. By which it is most plain, that by him that worketh not, and
   him that is ungodly, are meant the same thing; and that therefore not
   only works of the ceremonial law are excluded in this business of
   justification, but works of morality and godliness.

   3. It is evident in the words, that by the faith here spoken of, by
   which we are justified, is not meant the same thing as a course of
   obedience or righteousness, since the expression by which the faith is
   here denoted, is believing on him that justifies the ungodly.--They
   that oppose the Solifidians, as they call them, greatly insist on it,
   that we should take the words of Scripture concerning this doctrine in
   their most natural and obvious meaning; and how do they cry out, of our
   clouding this doctrine with obscure metaphors, and unintelligible
   figures of speech? But is this to interpret Scripture according to its
   most obvious meaning, when the Scripture speaks of our believing on him
   that justifies the ungodly, or the breakers of his law, to say, that
   the meaning of it is performing a course of obedience to his law, and
   avoiding the breaches of it? Believing on God as a justifer, certainly
   is a different thing from submitting to God as a lawgiver; especially
   believing on him as a justifier of the ungodly, or rebels against the
   lawgiver.

   4. It is evident that the subject of justification is looked upon as
   destitute of any righteousness in himself, by that expression, it is
   counted or imputed to him for righteousness.--The phrase, as the
   apostle uses it here and in the context, manifestly imports, that God
   of his sovereign grace is pleased, in his dealings with the sinner, so
   to regard one that has no righteousness, that the consequence shall be
   the same as if he had. This however may be from the respect it bears to
   some thing that is indeed righteous. It is plain that this is the force
   of the expression in the preceding verses. In the last verse but one,
   it is manifest, the apostle lays the stress of his argument for the
   free grace of God--from that text of the Old Testament about
   Abraham--on the word counted or imputed; and this is the thing that he
   supposed God to show his grace in, viz. in this counting something for
   righteousness, in his consequential dealings with Abraham, that was no
   righteousness in itself. And in the next verse which immediately
   precedes the text, "Now to him that worketh, is the reward not reckoned
   of grace, but of debt," and word there translated reckoned, is the same
   that in the other verses is rendered imputed, and counted: and it is as
   much as if the apostle had said, "As to him that works, there is no
   need of any gracious reckoning or counting it for righteousness, and
   causing the reward to follow as if it were a righteousness; for if he
   has works, he has that which is a righteousness in itself, to which the
   reward properly belongs." This if further evident by the words that
   follow, Rom. iv. 6., "Even as David also described the blessedness of
   the man unto whom God imputeth righteousness without works." What can
   here be meant by imputing righteousness without works, but imputing
   righteousness to him that has none of his own? Rom. iv. 7, 8. "Saying,
   Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are
   covered: blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin." How
   are these words of David to the apostle's purpose? or how do they prove
   any such thing, as that righteousness is imputed without works, unless
   it be because the word imputed is used, and the subject of the
   imputation is mentioned as a sinner, and consequently destitute of a
   moral righteousness? For David says no such thing, as that he is
   forgiven without the works of the ceremonial law; there is no hint of
   the ceremonial law, or reference to it, in the words.---I will
   therefore venture to infer this doctrine from the words, for the
   subject of my present discourse, viz.

   That we are justified only by faith in Christ, and not by any manner of
   virtue or goodness of our own.

   Such an assertion as this, I am sensible, many would be ready to call
   absurd, as betraying a great deal of ignorance, and containing much
   inconsistence; but I desire every one's patience till I have done.

   In handling this doctrine, I would,

   I. Explain the meaning of it, and show how I would be understood by
   such an assertion.

   II. Proceed to the consideration of the evidence of the truth of it.

   III. Show how evangelical obedience is concerned in this affair.

   IV. Answer objections.

   V. Consider the importance of the doctrine.

   I. I would explain the meaning of the doctrine, or show in what sense I
   assert it, and would endeavor to evince the truth of it: which may be
   done in answer to these two inquiries, viz. 1. What is meant by being
   justified? 2. What is meant when it is said, that this is, "by faith
   alone, without any manner of virtue or goodness of our own?"

   First, I would show what justification is, or what I suppose is meant
   in Scripture by being justified.

   A person is said to be justified, when he is approved of God as free
   from the guilt of sin and its deserved punishment, and as having that
   righteousness belonging to him that entitles to the reward of life.
   That we should take the word in such a sense, and understand it as the
   judge's accepting a person as having both a negative and positive
   righteousness belonging to him, and looking on him therefore as not
   only free from any obligation to punishment, but also as just and
   righteous, and so entitled to a positive reward, is not only most
   agreeable to the etymology and natural import of the word, which
   signifies to pass one for righteousness in judgment, but also
   manifestly agreeable to the force of the word as used in Scripture.

   Some suppose that nothing more is intended in Scripture by
   justification, than barely the remission of sins. If so, it is very
   strange, if we consider the nature of the case; for it is most evident,
   and none will deny, that it is with respect to the rule or law of God
   we are under, that we are said in Scripture to be either justified or
   condemned. Now what is it to justify a person as the subject of a law
   or rule, but to judge him as standing right with respect to that rule?
   To justify a person in a particular case, is to approve of him as
   standing right, as subject to the law in that case; and to justify in
   general is to pass him in judgment, as standing right in a state
   correspondent to the law or rule in general: but certainly, in order to
   a person's being looked on as standing right with respect to the rule
   in general, or in a state corresponding with the law of God, more is
   needful than not having the guilt of sin; for whatever that law is,
   whether a new or an old one, doubtless something positive is needed in
   order to its being answered. We are no more justified by the voice of
   the law, or of him that judges according to it, by a mere pardon of
   sin, that Adam, our first surety, was justified by the law, at the
   first point of his existence, before he had fulfilled the obedience of
   the law, or had so much as any trial whether he would fulfill it or no.
   If Adam had finished his course of perfect obedience, he would have
   been justified: and certainly his justification would have implied
   something more than what is merely negative; he would have been
   approved of, as having fulfilled the righteousness of the law, and
   accordingly would have been adjudged to the reward of it. So Christ,
   our second surety, (in whose justification all whose surety he is, are
   virtually justified,) was not justified till he had done the work the
   Father had appointed him, and kept the Father's commandments through
   all trials; and then in his resurrection he was justified. When he had
   been put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the spirit, 1 Pet.
   iii. 18., then he that was manifest in the flesh was justified in the
   spirit, 1 Tim. iii. 16.; but God, when he justified him in raising him
   from the dead, did not only release him from his humiliation for sin,
   and acquit him from any further suffering or abasement for it, but
   admitted him to that eternal and immortal life, and to the beginning of
   that exaltation that was the reward of what he had done. And indeed the
   justification of a believer is no other than his being admitted to
   communion in the justification of this head and surety of all
   believers; for as Christ suffered the punishment of sin, not as a
   private person, but as our surety; so when after this suffering he was
   raised from the dead, he was therein justified, not as a private
   person, but as the surety and representative of all that should believe
   in him. So that he was raised again not only for his own, but also for
   our justification, according to the apostle, Rom. iv. 25. "Who was
   delivered for our offences, and raised again for our justification."
   And therefore it is that the apostle says, as he does in Rom. viii. 34.
   "Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is
   risen again."

   But that a believer's justification implies not only remission of sins,
   or acquittance from the wrath due to it, but also an admittance to a
   title to that glory which is the reward of righteousness, is more
   directly taught in the Scripture, particularly in Rom. v.1, 2. where
   the apostle mentions both these as joint benefits implied in
   justification: "Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with
   God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom also we have access into
   this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God."
   So remission of sin, and inheritance among them that are sanctified,
   are mentioned together as what are jointly obtained by faith in Christ,
   Acts xxvi. 18. "That they may receive forgiveness of sins, and
   inheritance among them that are sanctified, through faith that is in
   me." Both these are without doubt implied in that passing from death to
   life, which Christ speaks of as the fruit of faith, and which he
   opposes to condemnation, John v. 24. "Verily I say unto you, he that
   heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting
   life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death
   unto life." I proceed now,

   Secondly, To show what is meant when it is said, that this
   justification is by faith only, and not by any virtue or goodness of
   our own.

   This inquiry may be subdivided into two, viz.

   1. How it is by faith. 2. How it is by faith alone, without any manner
   of goodness of ours.

   1. How justification is by faith.--Here the great difficulty has been
   about the import and force of the particle by, or what is that
   influence that faith has in the affair of justification that is
   expressed in Scripture by being justified by faith.

   Here, if I may humbly express what seems evident to me, though faith be
   indeed the condition of justification so as nothing else is, yet this
   matter is not clearly and sufficiently explained by saying that faith
   is the condition of justification; and that because the word seems
   ambiguous, both in common use, and also as used in divinity. In one
   sense, Christ alone performs the condition of our justification and
   salvation; in another sense, faith is the condition of justification;
   in another sense, other qualifications and acts are conditions of
   salvation and justification too. There seems to be a great deal of
   ambiguity in such expressions as are commonly used, (which yet we are
   forced to use,) such as condition of salvation, what is required in
   order to salvation or justification, the terms of the covenant, and the
   like; and I believe they are understood in very different sense by
   different persons. And besides, as the word condition is very often
   understood in the common use of language, faith is not the only thing
   in us that is the condition of justification; for by the word
   condition, as it is very often (and perhaps most commonly) used, we
   mean any thing that may have the place of a condition in a conditional
   proposition, and as such is truly connected with the consequent,
   especially if the proposition holds both in the affirmative and
   negative, as the condition is either affirmed or denied. If it be that
   with which, or which being supposed, a thing shall be, and without
   which, or it being denied, a thing shall not be, we in such a case call
   it a condition of that thing. But in this sense faith is not the only
   condition of salvation or justification; for there are many things that
   accompany and flow from faith, with which justification shall be, and
   without which it will not be, and therefore are found to be put in
   Scripture in conditional propositions with justification and salvation
   in multitudes of places; such are love to God, and love to our
   brethren, forgiving men their trespasses, and many other good
   qualifications and acts. And there are many other things besides faith,
   which are directly proposed to us, to be pursued or performed by us, in
   order to eternal life, which if they are done, or obtained, we shall
   have eternal life, and if not done, or not obtained, we shall surely
   perish. And if faith was the only condition of justification in this
   sense, I do not apprehend that to say faith was the condition of
   justification, would express the sense of that phrase of Scripture, of
   being justified by faith. There is a difference between being justified
   by a thing, and that thing universally, necessarily, and inseparably
   attending justification; for so do a great many things that we are not
   said to be justified by. It is not the inseparable connexion with
   justification that the Holy Ghost would signify (or that is naturally
   signified) by such a phrase, but some particular influence that faith
   has in the affair, or some certain dependence that effect has on its
   influence.

   Some, aware of this, have supposed, that the influence or dependence
   might well be expressed by faith's being the instrument of our
   justification; which has been misunderstood, and injuriously
   represented, and ridiculed by those that have denied the doctrine of
   justification by faith alone, as though they had supposed faith was
   used as an instrument in the hand of God, whereby he performed and
   brought to pass that act of his, viz. approving and justifying the
   believer. Whereas it was not intended that faith was the instrument
   wherewith God justifies, but the instrument wherewith we receive
   justification; not the instrument wherewith the justifier acts in
   justifying, but wherewith the receiver of justification acts in
   accepting justification. But yet, it must be owned, this is an obscure
   way of speaking, and there must certainly be some impropriety in
   calling it an instrument wherewith we receive or accept justification;
   for the very persons who thus explain the matter, speak of faith as
   being the reception or acceptance itself; and if so, how can it be the
   instrument of reception or acceptance? Certainly there is a difference
   between the act and the instrument. Besides, by their own descriptions
   of faith, Christ, the mediator by whom, and his righteousness by which,
   we are justified, is more directly the object of this acceptance and
   justification, which is the benefit arising there from more indirectly;
   and therefore, if faith be an instrument, it is more properly the
   instrument by which we receive Christ, than the instrument by which we
   receive justification.

   But I humbly conceive we have been ready to look too far to find out
   what that influence of faith in our justification is, or what is that
   dependence of this effect on faith, signified by the expression of
   being justified by faith, overlooking that which is most obviously
   pointed forth in the expression, viz. that (there being a mediator that
   has purchased justification) faith in this mediator is that which
   renders it a meet and suitable thing, in the sight of God, that the
   believer, rather than others, should have this purchased benefit
   assigned to him.--There is this benefit purchased, which God sees it to
   be a more meet and suitable thing that it should be assigned to some
   rather than others, because he sees them differently qualified; that
   qualification wherein the meetness to this benefit, as the case stands,
   consists, is that in us by which we are justified. If Christ had not
   come into the world and died, &c. to purchase justification, no
   qualification whatever in us could render it a meet or fit thing that
   we should be justified. But the case being as it now stands, viz. that
   Christ has actually purchased justification by his own blood for
   infinitely unworthy creatures, there may be certain qualifications
   found in some persons, which, either from the relation it bears to the
   mediator and his merits, or on some other account, is the thing that in
   the sight of God renders it a meet and condecent thing, that they
   should have an interest in this purchased benefit, and of which if any
   are destitute, it renders it an unfit and unsuitable thing that they
   should have it. The wisdom of God in his constitutions doubtless
   appears much in the fitness and beauty of them, so that those things
   are established to be done that are fit to be done, and that those
   things are connected in his constitution that are agreeable one to
   another. So God justifies a believer according to his revealed
   constitution, without doubt, because he sees something in this
   qualification that, as the case stands, renders it a fit thing that
   such should be justified; whether it be because faith is the
   instrument, or as it were the hand, by which he that has purchased
   justification is apprehended and accepted, or because it is the
   acceptance itself, or whatever else. To be justified, is to be approved
   by God as a proper subject of pardon, with a right to eternal life; and
   therefore, when it is said that we are justified by faith, what else
   can be understood by it, than that faith is that by which we are
   rendered approvable, fitly so, and indeed, as the case stands, proper
   subjects of this benefit?

   This is something different from faith being the condition of
   justification, though inseparably connected with justification. So are
   many other things besides faith; and yet nothing in us but faith
   renders it meet that we should have justification assigned to us; as I
   shall presently show in answer to the next inquiry, viz.

   2. How this is said to be by faith alone, without any manner of virtue
   or goodness of our own. This may seem to some to be attended with two
   difficulties, viz. how this can be said to be by faith alone, without
   any virtue or goodness of ours, when faith itself is a virtue, and one
   part of our goodness, and is not only some manner of goodness of ours,
   but is a very excellent qualification, and one chief part of the
   inherent holiness of a Christian? And if it be a part of our inherent
   goodness or excellency (whether it be this part or any other) that
   renders it a condecent or congruous thing that we should have this
   benefit of Christ assigned to us, what is this less than what they mean
   who talk of a merit of congruity? And moreover, if this part of our
   christian holiness qualifies us, in the sight of God, for this benefit
   of Christ, and renders it a fit or meet thing, in his sight, that we
   should have it, why should not other parts of holiness, and conformity
   of God, which are also very excellent, and have as much of the image of
   Christ in them, and are no less lovely in God's eyes, qualify us as
   much, and have as much influence to render us meet, in God's sight, for
   such a benefit as this? Therefore I answer,

   When it is said, that we are not justified by any righteousness or
   goodness of our own, what is meant is, that it is not out of respect to
   the excellency or goodness of any qualifications or acts in us
   whatsoever, that God judges it meet that this benefit of Christ should
   be ours; and it is not, in any wise, on account of any excellency or
   value that there is in faith, that it appears in the sight of God a
   meet thing, that he who believes should have this benefit of Christ
   assigned to him, but purely from the relation faith has to the person
   in whom this benefit is to be had, or as it unites to that mediator, in
   and by whom we are justified. Here, for the greater clearness, I would
   particularly explain myself under several propositions.

   (1.) It is certain that there is some union or relation that the people
   of Christ stand in to him, that is expressed in Scripture, from time to
   time, by being in Christ, and is represented frequently by those
   metaphors of being members of Christ, or being united to him as members
   to the head, and branches to the stock, [654] and is compared to a
   marriage union between husband and wife. I do not now pretend to
   determine of what sort this union is; nor is it necessary to my present
   purpose to enter into any manner of disputes about it. If any are
   disgusted at the word union, as obscure and unintelligible, the word
   relation equally serves my purpose. I do not now desire to determine
   any more about it, than all, of all sorts, will readily allow, viz.
   that there is a peculiar relation between true Christians and Christ,
   which there is not between him and others; and which is signified by
   those metaphorical expressions in Scripture, of being in Christ, being
   members of Christ, &c. [655]

   (2.) This relation or union to Christ, whereby Christians are said to
   be in Christ, (whatever it be,) is the ground of their right to his
   benefits. This needs no proof; the reason of the thing, at first blush,
   demonstrates it. It is exceeding evident also by Scripture, 1 John
   v.12. "He that hath the Son, hath life; and he that hath not the Son,
   hath not life." 1 Cor. i.30. "Of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God
   is made unto us-righteousness." First we must be in him, and then he
   will be made righteousness or justification to us. Eph. i.6. "Who hath
   made us accepted in the beloved." Our being in him is the ground or our
   being accepted. So it is in those unions to which the Holy Ghost has
   thought fit to compare this. The union of the members of the body with
   the head, is the ground of their partaking of the life of the head; it
   is the union of the branches to the stock, which is the ground of their
   partaking of the sap and life of the stock; it is the relation of the
   wife to the husband, that is the ground of her joint interest in his
   estate; they are looked upon, in several respects, as one in law. So
   there is a legal union between Christ and true Christians; so that (as
   all except Socinians allow) one, in some respects, is accepted for the
   other by the Supreme Judge.

   (3.) And thus it is that faith is the qualification in any person that
   renders it meet in the sight of God that he should be looked upon as
   having Christ's satisfaction and righteousness belonging to him, viz.
   because it is that in him which, on his part, makes up this union
   between him and Christ. By what has been just now observed, it is a
   person's being, according to scripture phrase, in Christ, that is the
   ground of having his satisfaction and merits belong to him, and a right
   to the benefits procured thereby. The reason of it is plain; it is easy
   to see how our having Christ's merits and benefits belonging to us,
   following from our having (if I may so speak) Christ himself belonging
   to us, or our being united to him. And if so, it must also be easy to
   see how, or in what manner, that in a person, which on his part makes
   up the union between his soul and Christ, should be the thing on the
   account of which God looks on it as meet that he should have Christ's
   merits belonging to him. It is a very different thing for God to assign
   to a particular person a right to Christ's merits and benefits from
   regard to a qualification in him in this respect, from his doing it for
   him out of respect to the value or loveliness of that qualification, or
   as a reward of its excellency.

   As there is nobody but what will allow that there is a peculiar
   relation between Christ and his true disciples, by which they are in
   some sense in Scripture said to be on; so I suppose there is nobody but
   what will allow, that there may be something that the true Christ does
   on his part, whereby he is active in coming into this relation or
   union; some uniting act, or that which is done towards this union or
   relation (or whatever any please to call it) on the Christian's part.
   Now faith I suppose to be this act.

   I do not now pretend to define justifying faith, or to determine
   precisely how much is contained in it, but only to determine thus much
   concerning it, viz. That it is that by which the soul, which before was
   separate and alienated from Christ, unites itself to him, or ceases to
   be any longer in that state of alienation, and comes into that
   forementioned union or relation to him; or to use the scripture phrase,
   it is that by which the soul comes to Christ, and receives him; and
   this is evident by the Scriptures using these very expressions to
   signify faith. John vi. 35-39. "He that cometh to me, shall never
   hunger; and he that believeth on me, shall never thirst. But I said
   unto you, that ye also have seen me and believe not. All that the
   Father giveth me, shall come to me; and him that cometh to me, I will
   in no wise cast out. For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own
   will, but the will of him that sent me." Ver. 40. "And this is the will
   of him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth
   on him, may have everlasting life; and I will raise him up at the last
   day." . Chap. 5.38-40. "Whom he hath sent, him ye believe not. Search
   the Scriptures, for--they are they which testify of me. And ye will not
   come unto me, that ye might have life." Ver. 43, 44. "I am come in my
   Father's name, and ye receive me not: if another shall come in his own
   name, him ye will receive. How can ye believe, which receive honour one
   of another--?" Chap. i.12. "But as many as received him, to them gave
   he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his
   name." If it be said that these are obscure figures of speech, which,
   however, they might be well understood of old among those who commonly
   used such metaphors, are with difficulty understood now. I allow, that
   the expressions of receiving Christ and coming to Christ, are
   metaphorical expressions; and if I should allow them to be obscure
   metaphors, yet thus much at least is certainly plain in them, viz. that
   faith is that by which those who before were separated, and at a
   distance from Christ, (that is to say, were not so related and united
   to him as his people are,) cease to be any longer at such a distance,
   and come into that relation and nearness; unless they are so
   unintelligible, that nothing at all can be understood by them.

   God does not give those that believe an union with or an interest in
   the Saviour as a reward for faith, but only because faith is the soul's
   active uniting with Christ, or is itself the very act of unition, on
   their part. God sees it, that in order to an union being established
   between two intelligent active beings or persons, so as that they
   should be looked upon as one, there should be the mutual act of both,
   that each should receive other, as actively joining themselves one to
   another. God, in requiring this in order to an union with Christ as one
   of his people, treats men as reasonable creatures, capable of act and
   choice; and hence sees it fit that they only who are one with Christ by
   their own act, should be looked upon as one in law. What is real in the
   union between Christ and his people, is the foundation of what is
   legal; that is, it is something really in them, and between them,
   uniting them, that is the ground of the suitableness of their being
   accounted as one by the Judge. And if there be any act or qualification
   in believers of that uniting nature, that it is meet on that account
   the Judge should look upon them and accept them as one, no wonder that
   upon the account of the same act or qualification, he should accept the
   satisfaction and merits of the one for the other, as if these were
   their own satisfaction and merits. This necessarily follows, or rather
   is implied.

   And thus it is that faith justifies, or gives an interest in Christ's
   satisfaction and merits, and a right to the benefits procured thereby,
   viz. as it thus makes Christ and the believer one in the acceptance of
   the Supreme Judge. It is by faith that we have a title to eternal life,
   because it is by faith that we have the Son of God, by whom life is.
   The apostle John in these words, 1 John v.12. "He that hath the Son,
   hath life," seems evidently to have respect to those words of Christ of
   which he gives an account in his gospel, . chap. iii. 36. "He that
   believeth on the Son, hath everlasting life; and he that believeth not
   the Son, shall not see life." And where the Scripture speaks of faith
   as the soul's receiving or coming to Christ, it also speaks of this
   receiving, coming to, or joining with, Christ, as the ground of an
   interest in his benefits. To as many as received him, "to them gave he
   power to become the sons of God. [656] " Ye will not come unto me that
   ye might have life. [657] " And there is a wide difference between its
   being suitable that Christ's satisfaction and merits should be theirs
   who believe, because an interest in that satisfaction and merit is a
   fit reward of faith--or a suitable testimony of God's respect to the
   amiableness and excellency of that grace--and its being suitable that
   Christ's satisfaction and merits should be theirs, because Christ and
   they are so united, that in the eyes of the Judge they may be looked
   upon and taken as one.

   Although, on account of faith in the believer, it is in the sight of
   God fit and congruous, both that he who believes should be looked upon
   as in Christ, and also as having an interest in his merits, in the way
   that has been now explained; yet it appears that this is very wide from
   a merit of congruity, or indeed any moral congruity at all to either.
   [658] There is a twofold fitness to a state; I know not how to give
   them distinguishing names, otherwise than by calling the one a moral,
   and the other a natural fitness. A person has a moral fitness for a
   state, when his moral excellency commends him to it, or when his being
   put into such a good state is but a suitable testimony of regard to the
   moral excellency, or value, or amiableness of any of his qualifications
   or acts. A person has a natural fitness for a state, when it appears
   meet and condecent that he should be in such a state or circumstances,
   only from the natural concord or agreeableness there is between such
   qualifications and such circumstances; not because the qualifications
   are lovely or unlovely, but only because the qualifications and the
   circumstances are like one another, or do in their nature suit and
   agree or unite one to another. And it is on this latter account only
   that God looks on it fit by a natural fitness, that he whose heart
   sincerely unites itself to Christ as his Saviour, should be looked upon
   as united to that Saviour, and so having an interest in him; and not
   from any moral fitness there is between the excellency of such a
   qualification as faith, and such a glorious blessedness as the having
   an interest in Christ. God's bestowing Christ and his benefits on a
   soul in consequence of faith, out of regard only to the natural concord
   there is between such a qualification of a soul, and such an union with
   Christ, and interest in him, makes the case very widely different from
   what it would be, if he bestowed this from regard to any moral
   suitableness. For, in the former case, it is only from God's love of
   order that he bestows these things on the account of faith; in the
   latter, God doth it out of love to the grace of faith itself. God will
   neither look on Christ's merits as ours, nor adjudge his benefits to
   us, till we be in Christ; nor will he look upon us as being in him,
   without an active unition of our hearts and souls to him; because he is
   a wise being, and delights in order, and not in confusion, and that
   things should be together or asunder according to their nature; and his
   making such a constitution is a testimony of his love of order. [659]
   Whereas if it were out of regard to any moral fitness or suitableness
   between faith and such blessedness, it would be a testimony of his love
   to the act or qualification itself. The one supposes this divine
   constitution to be a manifestation of God's regard to the beauty of the
   act of faith; the other only supposes it to be a manifestation of his
   regard to the beauty of that order that there is in uniting those
   things that have a natural agreement, and congruity, and unition of the
   one with the other. Indeed a moral suitableness or fitness to a state
   includes a natural; for, if there be a moral suitableness that a person
   should be in such a state, there is also a natural suitableness; but
   such a natural suitableness as I have described, by no means
   necessarily includes a moral.

   This is plainly what our divines intend when they say, that faith does
   not justify as a work, or a righteousness, viz. that it does not
   justify as a part of our moral goodness or excellency, or that it does
   not justify as man was to have been justified by the covenant of works,
   which was, to have a title to eternal life given to him of God, in
   testimony of his pleasedness with his works, or his regard to the
   inherent excellency and beauty of his obedience. And this is certainly
   what the apostle Paul means, when he so much insists upon it, that we
   are not justified by works, viz. that we are not justified by them as
   good works, or by any goodness, value, or excellency of our works. For
   the proof of this I shall at present mention but one thing, and that
   is, the apostle from time to time speaking of our not being justified
   by works, as the thing that excludes all boasting, Eph. ii. 9. Rom.
   iii. 27. and chap iv. 2. Now which way do works give occasion for
   boasting, but as good? What do men use to boast of, but of something
   they suppose good or excellent? And on what account to they boast of
   any thing, but for the supposed excellency that is in it?

   From these things we may learn in what manner faith is the only
   condition of justification and salvation. For though it be not the only
   condition, so as alone truly to have the place of a condition in an
   hypothetical proposition, in which justification and salvation are the
   consequent, yet it is the condition of justification in a manner
   peculiar to it, and so that nothing else has a parallel influence with
   it; because faith includes the whole act of unition to Christ as a
   Saviour. The entire active uniting of the soul, or the whole of what is
   called coming to Christ, and receiving of him, is called faith in
   Scripture; and however other things may be no less excellent than
   faith, yet it is not the nature of any other graces or virtues directly
   to close with Christ as a mediator, any further than they enter into
   the constitution of justifying faith, and do belong to its nature.

   Thus I have explained my meaning, in asserting it as a doctrine of the
   gospel, that we are justified by faith only, without any manner of
   goodness of our own.

   I now proceed,

   II. To the proof of it; which I shall endeavour to produce in the
   following arguments.

   First, Such is our case, and the state of things, that neither faith,
   nor any other qualifications, or act or course of acts, does or can
   render it suitable that a person should have an interest in the
   Saviour, and so a title to his benefits, on account of any excellency
   therein, or any other way, than as something in him may unite him to
   the Saviour. It is not suitable that God should give fallen man an
   interest in Christ and his merits, as a testimony of his respect to any
   thing whatsoever as a loveliness in him; and that because it is not
   meet, till a sinner is actually justified, that any thing in him should
   be accepted of God, as any excellency or amiableness of his person; or
   that God, by any act, should in any manner or degree testify any
   pleasedness with him, or favour towards him, on the account of any
   thing inherent in him: and that for two reasons:

   1. The nature of things will not admit of it. And this appears from the
   infinite guilt that the sinner till justified is under; which arises
   from the infinite evil or heinousness of sin. But because that is what
   some deny, I would therefore first establish that point, and show that
   sin is a thing that is indeed properly of infinite heinousness; and
   then show the consequence, that it cannot be suitable, till the sinner
   is actually justified, that God should by any act testify pleasedness
   with or acceptance of any excellency or amiableness of his person.

   That the evil and demerit of sin is infinitely great, is most
   demonstrably evident, because what the evil or iniquity of sin consists
   in, is the violating of an obligation, or doing what we should not do;
   and therefore by how much the greater the obligation is that is
   violated, by so much the greater is the iniquity of the violation. But
   certainly our obligation to love or honour any being is great in
   proportion to the greatness or excellency of that being, or his
   worthiness to be loved and honoured. We are under greater obligations
   to love a more lovely being than a less lovely; and if a being be
   infinitely excellent or lovely, our obligations to love him are therein
   infinitely great. The matter is so plain, it seems needless to say much
   about it.

   Some have argued exceeding strangely against the infinite evil of sin,
   from its being committed against an infinite object, that then it may
   as well be argued, that there is also an infinite value or worthiness
   in holiness and love to God, because that also has an infinite object;
   whereas the argument, from parity of reason, will carry it in the
   reverse. The sin of the creature against God is ill deserving in
   proportion to the distance there is between God and the creature; the
   greatness of the object, and the meanness of the subject, aggravates
   it. But it is the reverse with regard to the worthiness of the respect
   of the creature to God; it is worthless (and not worthy) in proportion
   to the meanness of the subject. So much the greater the distance
   between God and the creature, so much the less is the creature's
   respect worthy of God's notice or regard. The unworthiness of sin or
   opposition to God rises and is great in proportion to the dignity of
   the object and inferiority of the subject; but on the contrary, the
   value of respect rises in proportion to the value of the subject; and
   that for this plain reason, viz. that the evil of disrespect is in
   proportion to the obligation that lies upon the subject to the object;
   which obligation is most evidently increased by the excellency and
   superiority of the object. But on the contrary, the worthiness of
   respect to a being is in proportion to the obligation that lies on him
   who is the object, (or rather the reason he has,) to regard the
   subject, which certainly is in proportion to the subject's value or
   excellency. Sin or disrespect is evil or heinous in proportion to the
   degree of what it denies in the object, and as it were takes from it,
   viz. its excellency and worthiness of respect; on the contrary, respect
   is valuable in proportion to the value of what is given to the object
   in that respect, which undoubtedly (other things being equal) is great
   in proportion to the subject's value, or worthiness of regard; because
   the subject in giving his respect, can give no more than himself: so
   far as he gives his respect, he gives himself to the object; and
   therefore his gift is of greater or lesser value in proportion to the
   value of himself.

   Hence, (by the way,) the love, honour, and obedience of Christ towards
   God, has infinite value, from the excellency and dignity of the person
   in whom these qualifications were inherent; and the reason why we
   needed a person of infinite dignity to obey for us, was because of our
   infinite comparative meanness, who had disobeyed, whereby our
   disobedience was infinitely aggravated. We needed one, the worthiness
   of whose obedience might be answerable to the unworthiness of our
   disobedience; and therefore needed one who was as great and worthy as
   we were unworthy.

   Another objection (that perhaps may be thought hardly worth mentioning)
   is, that to suppose sin to be infinitely heinous, is to make all sins
   equally heinous; for how can any sin be more than infinitely heinous?
   But all that can be argued hence is, that no sin can be greater with
   respect to that aggravation, the worthiness of the object against whom
   it is committed. One sin cannot be more aggravated than another in that
   respect, because the aggravation of every sin is infinite; but that
   does not hinder, that some sins may be more heinous than others in
   other respects: as if we should suppose a cylinder infinitely long, it
   cannot be greater in that respect, viz. with respect to the length of
   it; but yet it may be doubled and trebled, and made a thousand-fold
   more, by the increase of other dimensions. Of sins that are all
   infinitely heinous, some may be more heinous than others; as well as of
   divers punishments that are all infinitely dreadful calamities, so that
   there is no finite calamity, however great, but what is infinitely less
   dreadful, or more eligible, than any of them, yet some of them may be a
   thousand times more dreadful than others. A punishment may be
   infinitely dreadful by reason of the infinite duration of it; and
   therefore cannot be greater with respect to that aggravation of it,
   viz. its length of continuance, but yet may be vastly more terrible on
   other accounts.

   Having thus, as I imagine, made it clear, that all sin is infinitely
   heinous, and consequently that the sinner, before he is justified, is
   under infinite guilt in God's sight; it now remains that I show the
   consequences, or how it follows from hence, that it is not suitable
   that God should give the sinner an interest in Christ's merits, and so
   a title to his benefits, from regard to any qualifications, or act, or
   course of acts in him, on the account of any excellency or goodness
   whatsoever therein, but only as uniting to Christ; or (which fully
   implies it) that it is not suitable that God, by any act, should, in
   any manner or degree, testify any acceptance of, or pleasedness with,
   any thing, as any virtue, or excellency, or any part of loveliness, or
   valuableness in his person, until he is actually already interested in
   Christ's merits. From the premises it follows, that before the sinner
   is already interested in Christ, and justified, it is impossible God
   should have any acceptance of or pleasedness with the person of the
   sinner, as in any degree lovely in his sight, or indeed less the object
   of his displeasure and wrath. For, by the supposition, the sinner still
   remains infinitely guilty in the sight of God; for guilt is not removed
   but by pardon: but to suppose the sinner already pardoned, is to
   suppose him already justified; which is contrary to the supposition.
   But if the sinner still remains infinitely guilty in God's sight, that
   is the same thing as still to be beheld of God as infinitely the object
   of his displeasure and wrath, or infinitely hateful in his eyes; and if
   so, where is any room for any thing in him, to be accepted as some
   valuableness or acceptableness of him in God's sight, or for any act of
   favour of any kind towards him, or any gift whatsoever to him, in
   testimony of God's respect to an acceptance of something of him lovely
   and pleasing? If we should suppose that a sinner could have faith, or
   some other grace in his heart, and yet remain separate from Christ; and
   that he is not looked upon as being in Christ, or having any relation
   to him, it would not be meet that such true grace should be accepted of
   God as any loveliness of his person in the sight of God. If it should
   be accepted as the loveliness of the person as in some degree lovely to
   God; but this cannot be consistent with his still remaining under
   infinite guilt, or infinite unworthiness in God's sight, which that
   goodness has no worthiness to balance. While God beholds the man as
   separate from Christ, he must behold him as he is in himself; and so
   his goodness cannot be beheld by God, but as taken with his guilt and
   hatefulness, and as put in the scales with it; an so his goodness is
   nothing; because there is a finite on the balance against an infinite
   whose proportion to it is nothing. In such a case, if the man be looked
   on as he is in himself, the excess of the weight in one scale above
   another, must be looked upon as the quality of the man. These
   contraries being beheld together, one takes from another, as one number
   is subtracted from another; and the man must be looked upon in God's
   sight according to the remainder. For here, by the supposition, all
   acts of grace or favour, in not imputing the guilt as it is, are
   excluded, because that supposes a degree of pardon, and that supposes
   justification, which is contrary to what is supposed, viz. that the
   sinner is not already justified; and therefore things must be taken
   strictly as they are; and so the man is still infinitely unworthy and
   hateful in God's sight, and he was before, without diminution, because
   his goodness bears no proportion to his unworthiness, and therefore
   when taken together is nothing.

   Hence may be more clearly seen the force of that expression in the
   text, of believing on him that justifieth the ungodly; for though there
   is indeed something in man that is really and spiritually good, prior
   to justification, yet there is nothing that is accepted as any
   godliness or excellency of the person, till after justification.
   Goodness or loveliness of the person in the acceptance of God, in any
   degree, is not to be considered as prior but posterior in the order and
   method of God's proceeding in this affair. Though a respect to the
   natural suitableness between such a qualification, and such a state,
   does go before justification, yet the acceptance even of faith, as any
   goodness or loveliness of the believer, follows justification. The
   goodness is on the forementioned account justly looked upon as nothing,
   until the man is justified; and therefore the man is respected in
   justification, as in himself altogether hateful.-Thus, the nature of
   things will not admit of a man having an interest given him in the
   merits or benefits of a Saviour, on the account of any thing as a
   righteousness, or a virtue, or excellency in him.

   2. A divine constitution antecedent to that which establishes
   justification by a Saviour, (and indeed to any need of a Saviour,)
   stands in the way of it, viz. that original constitution or law which
   man was put under; by which constitution or law the sinner is
   condemned, till he has actually an interest in the Saviour, through
   whom he is set at liberty from that condemnation. But to suppose that
   God gives a man an interest in Christ in reward for his righteousness
   or virtue, is inconsistent with his still remaining under condemnation
   till he has an interest in Christ; because he supposes, that the
   sinner's virtue is accepted, and he accepted for it, before he has an
   interest in Christ; inasmuch as an interest in Christ is given as a
   reward of his virtue. But the virtue must first be accepted, before it
   is rewarded, and the man must first be accepted for his virtue, before
   he is rewarded for it with so great and glorious a reward; for the very
   notion of a reward, is some good bestowed in testimony of respect to
   and acceptance of virtue in the person rewarded. It does not consist
   with the honour of the majesty of the King of heaven and earth, to
   accept of any thing from a condemned malefactor, condemned by the
   justice of his own holy law, till that condemnation be removed. And
   then, such acceptance is inconsistent with, and contradictory to, such
   remaining condemnation; for the law condemns him that violates it, to
   be totally rejected and case off by God. But how can a man continue
   under this condemnation, i.e. continue utterly rejected and case off by
   God. But how can a man continue under this condemnation, i.e. continue
   utterly rejected and case off by God, and yet his righteousness or
   virtue be accepted, and he himself accepted on the account of it, so as
   to have so glorious a reward as an interest in Christ bestowed as a
   testimony of that acceptance?

   I know that the answer will be, that we now are not subject to that
   constitution which mankind were at first put under; but that God, in
   mercy to mankind, has abolished that rigorous constitution, and put us
   under a new law, and introduced a more mild constitution; and that the
   constitution or law itself not remaining, there is no need of supposing
   that the condemnation of it remains, to stand in the way of the
   acceptance of our virtue. And indeed there is no other way of avoiding
   this difficulty. The condemnation of the law must stand in force
   against man, till he is actually interested in the Saviour who has
   satisfied and answered the law, so as effectually to prevent any
   acceptance of his virtue, either before, or even in order to, such an
   interest, unless the law or constitution itself be abolished. But the
   scheme of those modern divines by whom this is maintained, seems to
   contain a great deal of absurdity and self-contradiction: they hold,
   that the old law given to Adam, which requires perfect obedience, is
   entirely repealed, and that instead of it we are put under a new law,
   which requires no more than imperfect sincere obedience, in compliance
   with our poor, infirm, impotent circumstances since the fall, whereby
   we are unable to perform that perfect obedience that was required by
   the first law; for they strenuously maintain, that it would be unjust
   in God to require any thing of us that is beyond our present power and
   ability to perform; and yet they hold, that Christ died to satisfy for
   the imperfections of our obedience, that so our imperfect obedience
   might be accepted instead of perfect. Now, how can these things hang
   together? I would ask, What law these imperfections of our obedience
   are a breach of? If they are not a breach of no law, then they are not
   sins; and if they be not sins, what need of Christ's dying to satisfy
   for them? but if they are sins, and so the breach of some law, what law
   is it? They cannot be a breach of their new law, for that requires no
   other than imperfect obedience, or obedience with imperfections; and
   they cannot be a breach of the old law, for that they say is entirely
   abolished, and we never were under it; and we cannot break a law that
   we never were under. They say it would not be just in God to exact of
   us perfect obedience, because it would not be just in God to require
   more of us than we can perform in our present state, and to punish us
   for failing of it; and therefore, by their own scheme, the
   imperfections of our obedience do not deserve to be punished. What need
   therefore of Christ's dying to satisfy for them? What need of Christ's
   suffering to satisfy for that which is no fault, and in its own nature
   deserves no suffering? What need of Christ's dying to purchase that our
   imperfect obedience should be accepted, when according to their scheme
   it would be unjust in itself that any other obedience than imperfect
   should be required? What need of Christ's dying to make way for God's
   accepting such an obedience, as it would in itself be unjust in him not
   to accept? Is there any need of Christ's dying to persuade God not to
   do unjustly? If it be said, that Christ died to satisfy that law for
   us, that so we might not be under that law, but might be delivered from
   it, that so there might be room for us to be under a more mild law;
   still I would inquire, What need of Christ's dying that we might not be
   under a law that (according to their scheme) it would in itself be
   unjust that we should be under, because in our present state we are not
   able to keep it? What need of Christ's dying that we might not be under
   a law that it would be unjust that we should be under, whether Christ
   died or no?

   Thus far I have argued principally from reason, and the nature of
   things:--I proceed now to the

   Second argument, which is, That this is a doctrine which the Holy
   Scriptures, the revelation that God has given us of his mind and
   will--by which alone we can never come to know how those who have
   offended God can come to be accepted of him, and justified in his
   sight--is exceeding full. The apostle Paul is abundant in teaching,
   that "we are justified by faith alone, without the works of the law!"
   There is no one doctrine that he insists so much upon, and that he
   handles with so much distinctness, explaining, giving reasons, and
   answering objections.

   Here it is not denied by any, that the apostle does assert, that we are
   justified by faith, without the works of the law, because the words are
   express; but only it is said that we take his words wrong, and
   understand that by them that never entered into his heart, in that when
   he excludes the works of the law, we understand him of the whole law of
   God, or the rule which he has given to mankind to walk by; whereas all
   that he intends is the ceremonial.

   Some that oppose this doctrine indeed say, that the apostle sometimes
   means that it is by faith, i.e. a hearty embracing the gospel in its
   first act only, or without any preceding holy life, that persons are
   admitted into a justified state; but, say they, it is by a persevering
   obedience that they are continued in a justified state, and it is by
   this that they are finally justified. But this is the same thing as to
   say, that a man on his first embracing the gospel is conditionally
   justified and pardoned. To pardon sin, is to free the sinner from the
   punishment of it, or from that eternal misery that is due to it; and
   therefore if a person is pardoned, or freed from this misery, on his
   first embracing the gospel, and yet not finally freed, but his actual
   freedom still depends on some condition yet to be performed, it is
   inconceivable how he can be pardoned otherwise than conditionally; that
   is, he is not properly actually pardoned, and freed from punishment,
   but only he has God's promise that he shall be pardoned on future
   conditions. God promises him, that now, if he perseveres in obedience,
   he shall be finally pardoned, or actually freed from hell; which is to
   make just nothing at all of the apostle's great doctrine of
   justification by faith alone. Such a conditional pardon is no pardon or
   justification at all, any more than all mankind have, whether they
   embrace the gospel or no; for they all have a promise of final
   justification on conditions of future sincere obedience, as much as he
   that embraces the gospel. But not to dispute about this, we will
   suppose that there may be something or other at the sinner's first
   embracing the gospel, that may properly be called justification or
   pardon, and yet that final justification, or real freedom from the
   punishment of sin, is still suspended on conditions hitherto
   unfulfilled; yet they who hold that sinners are thus justified on
   embracing the gospel, suppose that they are justified by this, no
   otherwise than as it is a leading act of obedience, or at least as
   virtue and moral goodness in them, and therefore would be excluded by
   the apostle as much as any other virtue or obedience, if it be allowed
   that he means the moral law, when he excludes works of the law. And
   therefore, if that point be yielded, that the apostle means the moral,
   and not only the ceremonial, law, their whole scheme falls to the
   ground.

   And because the issue of the whole argument from those texts in St.
   Paul's epistles depends on the determination of this point, I would be
   particular in the discussion of it.

   Some of our opponents in this doctrine of justification, when they
   deny, that by the law the apostle means the moral law, or the whole
   rule of life which God has given to mankind, seem to choose to express
   themselves thus, that the apostle only intends the Mosaic dispensation.
   But this comes to just the same thing as if they said, that the apostle
   only means to exclude the works of the ceremonial law; for when they
   say, that it is intended only that we are not justified by the works of
   the Mosaic dispensation, if they mean any thing by it, it must be, that
   we are not justified by attending and observing what is Mosaic in that
   dispensation, or by what was peculiar to it, and wherein it differed
   from the christian dispensation; which is the same as that which is
   ceremonial and positive, and not moral, in that administration. So that
   this is what I have to disprove, viz. that the apostle, when he speaks
   of works of the law in this affair, means only works of the ceremonial
   law, or those observances that were peculiar to the Mosaic
   administration.

   And here it must be noted, that nobody controverts it with them,
   whether the works of the ceremonial law be not included, or whether the
   apostle does not particularly argue against justification by
   circumcision, and other ceremonial observances; but all in question is,
   whether, when he denies justification by works of the law, he is to be
   understood only of the ceremonial law, or whether the moral law be not
   also implied and intended; and therefore those arguments which are
   brought to prove that the apostle meant the ceremonial law, are nothing
   to the purpose, unless they prove that the apostle meant those only.

   What is much insisted on is, that it was the judaizing Christians being
   so fond of circumcision, and other ceremonies of the law, and depending
   so much on them, which was the very occasion of the apostle's writing
   as he does against justification by the works of the law. But supposing
   it were so, that their trusting in works of the ceremonial law were the
   sole occasion of the apostle's writing, (which yet there is no reason
   to allow, as may appear afterwards,) if their trusting in a particular
   work, as a work of righteousness, was all that gave occasion to the
   apostle to write, how does it follow, that therefore the apostle did
   not upon that occasion write against trusting in all works of
   righteousness whatsoever? Where is the absurdity of supposing that the
   apostle might take occasion, from his observing some to trust in a
   certain work as a work of righteousness, to write to them against
   persons trusting in any works or righteousness at all, and that it was
   a very proper occasion too? Yea, it would have been unavoidable for the
   apostle to have argued against trusting in a particular work, in the
   quality of a work of righteousness, which quality was general, but he
   must therein argue against trusting in works of righteousness in
   general. Supposing it had been some other particular sort of works that
   was the occasion of the apostle's writing, as for instance, works of
   charity, and the apostle should hence take occasion to write to them
   not to trust in their works, could the apostle by that be understood of
   no other works besides works of charity? Would it have been absurd to
   understand him as writing against trusting in any work at all, because
   it was their trusting to a particular work that gave occasion to his
   writing?

   Another thing alleged, as an evidence that the apostle means the
   ceremonial law--when he says, we cannot be justified by the works of
   the law--is, that he uses this argument to prove it, viz. that the law
   he speaks of was given so long after the covenant with Abraham, in Gal.
   iii. 17. "And this I say, that the covenant that was confirmed before
   of God in Christ, the law which was four hundred and thirty years
   after, cannot disannul." But, say they, it was only the Mosaic
   administration, and not the covenant of works, that was given so long
   after. But the apostle's argument seems manifestly to be mistaken by
   them. The apostle does not speak of a law that began to exist four
   hundred and thirty years after; if he did, there would be some force in
   their objection; but he has respect to a certain solemn transaction,
   well known among the Jews by the phrase "the giving of the law," which
   was at mount Sinai, (Exod. xix. xx.) consisting especially in God's
   giving the ten commandments (which is the moral law) with a terrible
   voice, which law he afterwards gave in tables of stone. This
   transaction the Jews in the apostle's time misinterpreted; they looked
   upon it as God's establishing that law as a rule of justification.
   Against this conceit of theirs the apostle brings this invincible
   argument, viz. that God would never go about to disannul his covenant
   with Abraham, which was plainly a covenant of grace, by a transaction
   with his posterity, that was so long after it, and was plainly built
   upon it. He would not overthrow a covenant of grace that he had long
   before established with Abraham, for him and his seed, (which is often
   mentioned as the ground of God's making them his people,) by now
   establishing a covenant of works with them at mount Sinai, as the Jews
   and judaizing Christians supposed.

   But that the apostle does not mean only works of the ceremonial law,
   when he excludes works of the law in justification, but also of the
   moral law, and all works of obedience, virtue, and righteousness
   whatsoever, may appear by the following things.

   1. The apostle does not only say, that we are not justified by the
   works of the law, but that we are not justified by works, using a
   general term; as in our text, "to him that worketh not, but believeth
   on him that justifieth," &c.; and in the 6th verse, Rom. iv. 6."God
   imputeth righteousness without works;" and chap. xi.6. "And if by
   grace, then is it no more of works, otherwise grace is no more grace:
   but if it be of works, then it is no more grace; otherwise work is no
   more work." So, Eph. ii. 8, 9. "For by grace are ye saved, through
   faith,--not of works;" by which, there is no reason in the world to
   understand the apostle of any other than works in general, as
   correlates of a reward, or good works, or works of virtue and
   righteousness. When the apostle says, we are justified or saved not by
   works, without any such term annexed, as the law, or any other
   addition, to limit the expression, what warrant have any to confine it
   to works of a particular law or institution, excluding others? Are not
   observances of other divine laws works, as well as of that? It seems to
   be allowed by the divines in the Arminian scheme, in their
   interpretation of several of those texts where the apostle only
   mentions works without any addition, that he means our own good works
   in general; but then, they say, he only means to exclude any proper
   merit in those works. But to say the apostle means one thing when he
   says, we are not justified by works, and another when he says, we are
   not justified by the works of the law, when we find the expressions
   mixed and used in the same discourse, and when the apostle is evidently
   upon the same argument, is very unreasonable; it is to dodge, and fly
   from Scripture, rather than open and yield ourselves to its teachings.

   2. In the third chapter of Romans, our having been guilty of breaches
   of the moral law, is an argument that the apostle uses, why we cannot
   be justified by the works of the law. Beginning with the 9th verse, he
   proves out of the Old Testament, that all are under sin: Rom. iii.
   9-15."There is none righteous, no not one: their throat is an open
   sepulchre; with their tongues they have used deceit: their mouth is
   full of cursing and bitterness; and their feet swift to shed blood."
   And so he goes on, mentioning only those things that are breaches of
   the moral law; and then when he has done, his conclusion is, in the
   19th and 20th verses, "Now we know that whatsoever things the law
   saith, it saith to them that are under that law, that every mouth may
   be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God. Therefore,
   by the deeds of the law, shall no flesh be justified in his sight."
   This is most evidently his argument, because all had sinned, (as it was
   said in the 9th verse,) and been guilty of those breaches of the moral
   law that he had mentioned, (and it is repeated over again, verse 23.)
   "For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;" therefore
   none at all can be justified by the deeds of the law. Now if the
   apostle meant only, that we are not justified by the deeds of the
   ceremonial law, what kind of arguing would that be, Rom. iii. 14, 15.
   "Their mouth is full of cursing and bitterness, their feet are swift to
   shed blood?" therefore they cannot be justified by the deeds of the
   Mosaic administration. They are guilty of the breaches of the moral
   law; and therefore they cannot be justified by the deeds of the
   ceremonial law! Doubtless, the apostle's argument is, that the very
   same law they have broken, can never justify them as observers of it,
   because every law necessarily condemns its violators. And therefore our
   breaches of the moral law argue no more, than that we cannot be
   justified by the law we have broken.

   And it may be noted, that the apostle's argument here is the same that
   I have already used, viz. that as we are in ourselves, and out of
   Christ, we are under the condemnation of that original law or
   constitution that God established with mankind; and therefore it is no
   way fit that any thing we do, any virtue or obedience of ours, should
   be accepted, or we accepted on the account of it.

   3. The apostle, in all the preceding part of this epistle, wherever he
   has the phrase, the law, evidently intends the moral law principally.
   As in the 12th verse of the foregoing chapter: Rom. ii. 12."For as many
   as have sinned without law, shall also perish without law." It is
   evidently the written moral law the apostle means, by the next verse
   but one. Rom. ii. 14. "For when the Gentiles, which have not the law,
   do by nature the things contained in the law;" that is, the moral law
   that the Gentiles have by nature. And so the next verse, Rom. ii. 15.
   "Which show the work of the law written in their hearts." It is the
   moral law, and not the ceremonial, that is written in the hearts of
   those who are destitute of divine revelation. And so in the 18th verse,
   "Thou approvest the things that are more excellent, being instructed
   out of the law." It is the moral law that shows us the nature of
   things, and teaches us what is excellent; 20th verse, "Thou hast a form
   of knowledge and a truth in the law." It is the moral law, as is
   evident by what follows, verse 22, 23. Rom. ii. 22, 23. "Thou that
   sayest a man should not commit adultery, dost thou commit adultery?
   Thou that abhorrest idols, does thou commit sacrilege? Thou that makest
   thy boast of the law, through breaking the law, dishonourest thou God?"
   Adultery, idolatry, and sacrilege, surely are the breaking of the
   moral, and not the ceremonial law. So in the 27th verse, "And shall not
   uncircumcision which is by nature, if it fulfil the law, judge thee,
   who by the letter and circumcision dost transgress the law?" i.e. the
   Gentiles, that you despise because uncircumcised, if they live moral
   and holy lives, in obedience to the moral law, shall condemn you though
   circumcised. And so there is not one place in all the preceding part of
   the epistle, where the apostle speaks of the law, but that he most
   apparently intends principally the moral law; and yet when the apostle,
   in continuance of the same discourse, comes to tell us, that we cannot
   be justified by the works of the law, then they will needs have it,
   that he means only the ceremonial law. Yea, though all this discourse
   about the moral law, showing how the Jews as well as Gentiles have
   violated it, is evidently preparatory and introductory to that
   doctrine, chap. iii. 20. "That no flesh," that is, none mankind,
   neither Jews nor Gentiles, "can be justified by the works of the law."

   4. It is evident that when the apostle says, we cannot be justified by
   the works of the law, he means the moral as well as ceremonial law, by
   his giving this reason for it, that "by the law is the knowledge of
   sin," as Rom. iii. 20. "By the deeds of the law shall no flesh be
   justified in his sight; for by the law is the knowledge of sin." Now
   that law by which we come to the knowledge of sin, is the moral law
   chiefly and primarily. If this argument of the apostle be good, "that
   we cannot be justified by the deeds of the law" chiefly and primarily.
   If this argument of the apostle be good, "that we cannot be justified
   by the deeds of the law, because it is by the law that we come to the
   knowledge of sin;" then it proves that we cannot be justified by the
   deeds of the moral law, nor by the precepts of Christianity; for by
   them is the knowledge of sin. If the reason be good, then where the
   reason holds, the truth holds. It is a miserable shift, and a violent
   force put upon the words, to say that the meaning is, that by the law
   of circumcision is the knowledge of sin, because circumcision
   signifying the taking away of sin, puts men in the mind of sin. The
   plain meaning of the apostle is, that as the law most strictly forbids
   sin, it tends to convince us of sin, and bring our own consciences to
   condemn us, instead of justifying of us; that the use of it is to
   declare to us our own guilt and unworthiness, which is the reverse of
   justifying and approving of us as virtuous or worthy. This is the
   apostle's meaning, if we will allow him to be his own expositor; for he
   himself, in this very epistle, explains to us how it is that by the law
   we have the knowledge of sin, and that it is by the law's forbidding
   sin, chap. vii. 7. "I had not known sin, but by the law; for I had not
   known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet." There the
   apostle determines two things; first, That the way in which "by the law
   is the knowledge of sin," is by the law's forbidding sin: and secondly,
   which is more directly still to the purpose, he determines that it is
   the moral law by which we come to the knowledge of sin; "for," says he,
   "I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet."
   Now it is the moral, and not the ceremonial law, that says, "Thou shalt
   not covet." Therefore, when the apostle argues, that by the deeds of
   the law no flesh living shall be justified, because by the law is the
   knowledge of sin, his argument proves, (unless he was mistaken as to
   the force of his argument,) that we cannot be justified by the deeds of
   the moral law.

   5. It is evident that the apostle does not mean only the ceremonial
   law, because he gives this reason why we have righteousness, and a
   title to the privilege of God's children, not by the law, but by faith,
   "that the law worketh wrath." Rom. iv. 13-16. "For the promise that he
   should be the heir of the world, was not to Abraham, or to his seed
   through the law, but through righteousness of faith. For if they which
   are of the law be heirs, faith is made void, and the promise made of
   none effect. Because the law worketh wrath; for where no law is, there
   is no transgression. Therefore it is of faith, that it might be by
   grace." Now the way in which the law works wrath, by the apostle's own
   account, in the reason he himself annexes, is by forbidding sin, and
   aggravating the guilt of the transgression; Rom. iv. 15."for," says he,
   "where no law is, there is no transgression:" And so, chap. vii. 13.
   "That sin by the commandment might become exceeding sinful." If,
   therefore, this reason of the apostle be good, it is much stronger
   against justification by the moral law than the ceremonial law; for it
   is by transgressions of the moral law chiefly that there comes wrath;
   for they are most strictly forbidden, and most terribly threatened.

   6. It is evident that when the apostle says, we are not justified by
   the works of the law, that he excludes all our own virtue, goodness, or
   excellency, by that reason he gives for it, viz. "That boasting might
   be excluded." Rom. iii. 26, 27, 28. "To declare, I say, at this time
   his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him
   which believeth in Jesus. Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By
   what law? of works? Nay; but by the law of faith. Therefore we
   conclude, that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the
   law." Eph. ii. 8, 9. "For by grace are ye saved, through faith; and
   that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God: not of works, lest any
   man should boast." Now what are men wont to boast of, but what they
   esteem their own goodness and excellency? If we are not justified by
   works of the ceremonial law, yet how does that exclude boasting, as
   long as we are justified by our own excellency, or virtue, and goodness
   of our own, or works of righteousness which we have done?

   But it is said, that boasting is excluded, as circumcision was
   excluded, which was that the Jews especially used to glory in, and
   value themselves upon, above other nations.

   To this I answer, that the Jews were not only used to boast of
   circumcision, but were notorious for boasting of their moral
   righteousness. The Jews of those days were generally admirers and
   followers of the Pharisees, who were full of their boasts of their
   moral righteousness; as we may see by the example of the Pharisee
   mentioned in the 18th of Luke, which Christ mentions as describing the
   general temper of that sect: Luke xviii. 11. "Lord," says he, "I thank
   thee, that I am not as other men, an extortioner, nor unjust, nor an
   adulterer." The works that he boasts of were chiefly moral works: he
   depended on the works of the law for justification; and therefore
   Christ tells us, that the publican, that renounced all his own
   righteousness, Luke xviii. 14. "went down to his house justified rather
   than he." And elsewhere, we read of the Pharisees praying in the
   corners of the streets, and sounding a trumpet before them when they
   did alms. But those works which they so vainly boasted of were moral
   works. And not only so, but what the apostle in this very epistle
   condemns the Jews for, is their boasting of the moral law. Chap. ii.
   22, 23. "Thou that sayest a man should not commit adultery, dost thou
   commit adultery? Thou that abhorrest idols, dost thou commit sacrilege?
   Thou that makest thy boast of the law, through breaking the law,
   dishonourest thou God?" The law here mentioned that they made their
   boast of, was that of which adultery, idolatry, and sacrilege, were the
   breaches, which is the moral law. So that this is the boasting which
   the apostle condemns them for; and therefore, if they were justified by
   the works of this law, then how comes he to say that their boasting is
   excluded? And besides, when they boasted of the rites of the ceremonial
   law, it was under a notion of its being a part of their own goodness or
   excellency, or what made them holier and more lovely in the sight of
   God than other people; and if they were not justified by this part of
   their own supposed goodness or holiness, yet if they were by another,
   how did that exclude boasting? How was their boasting excluded, unless
   all goodness or excellency of their own was excluded?

   7. The reason given by the apostle why we can be justified only by
   faith, and not by the works of the law, in the 3d chapter of Gal. viz.
   Gal. iii. 10. "That they that are under the law, are under the curse,"
   makes it evident that he does not mean only the ceremonial law. In that
   chapter the apostle had particularly insisted upon it, that Abraham was
   justified by faith, and that it is by faith only, and not by the works
   of the law, that we can be justified, and become the children of
   Abraham, and be made partakers of the blessing of Abraham: and he gives
   this reason for it in the 10th verse: "For as many as are of the works
   of the law, are under the curse; for it is written, Cursed is every one
   that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the
   law to do them." It is manifest that these words, cited from
   Deuteronomy, are spoken not only with regard to the ceremonial law, but
   the whole law of God to mankind, and chiefly the moral law; and that
   all mankind are therefore as they are in themselves under that curse,
   not only while the ceremonial law lasted, but now since that has
   ceased. And therefore all who are justified, are redeemed from that
   curse, by Christ's bearing it for them; as in verse 13. "Christ hath
   redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for
   it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree." Now
   therefore, either its being said, that he is cursed who continueth not
   in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them, is a
   good reason why we cannot be justified by the works of that law of
   which it is so said; or it is not; if it be, then it is a good reason
   why we cannot be justified by the works of the moral law, and of the
   whole rule which God has given to mankind to walk by; for the words are
   spoken of the moral as well as the ceremonial law, and reach every
   command or precept which God has given to mankind; and chiefly the
   moral precepts, which are most strictly enjoined, and the violations of
   which in both the New Testament and the Old, and in the books of Moses
   themselves, are threatened with the most dreadful curse.

   8. The apostle in like manner argues against our being justified by our
   own righteousness, as he does against being justified by the works of
   the law; and evidently uses the expressions, of our own righteousness,
   and works of the law, promiscuously, and as signifying the same thing.
   It is particularly evident by Rom. x.3. "For they being ignorant of
   God's righteousness, and going about to establish their own
   righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of
   God." Here it is plain that the same thing is asserted as in the two
   last verses but one of the foregoing chapter. Rom. ix. 31."But Israel,
   which followed after the law of righteousness, hath not attained to the
   law of righteousness. Wherefore? because they sought it, not by faith,
   but as it were by the works of the law." And it is very unreasonable,
   upon several accounts, to suppose that the apostle, by their own
   righteousness, intends only their ceremonial righteousness. For when
   the apostle warns us against trusting our own righteousness for
   justification, doubtless it is fair to interpret the expression in an
   agreement with other scriptures, where we are warned, not to think that
   it is for the sake of our own righteousness that we obtain God's favour
   and blessing; as particularly in Deut. ix. 4-6. "Speak not thou in
   thine heart, after that the Lord thy God hath cast them out from before
   thee, saying, For my righteousness the Lord hath brought me in to
   possess this land: but for the wickedness of these nations the Lord
   doth drive them out from before thee. Not for thy righteousness, or for
   the uprightness of thine heart, dost thou go to possess their land: but
   for the wickedness of these nations, the Lord thy God doth drive them
   out from before thee, and that he may perform the word which he sware
   unto thy fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Understand therefore, that
   the Lord thy God giveth thee not this good land to possess it, for thy
   righteousness; for thou art a stiff-necked people." None will pretend
   that here the expression thy righteousness, signifies only a ceremonial
   righteousness, but all virtue or goodness of their own; yea, and the
   inward goodness of the heart, as well as the outward goodness of life;
   which appears by the beginning of the 5th verse, Deut. ix. 5. "Not for
   thy righteousness, or for the uprightness of thy heart;" and also by
   the antithesis in the 6th verse, Deut. ix. 6. "Not for thy
   righteousness, for thou art a stiff-necked people." Their
   stiff-neckedness was their moral wickedness, obstinacy, and
   perverseness of heart. By righteousness, therefore, on the contrary, is
   meant their moral virtue, and rectitude of heart and life. This is what
   I would argue from hence, that the expression of our own righteousness,
   when used in Scripture with relation to the favour of God--and when we
   are warned against looking upon it as that by which that favour, or the
   fruits of it, are obtained--does not signify only a ceremonial
   righteousness, but all manner of goodness of our own.

   The Jews also, in the New Testament, are condemned for trusting in
   their own righteousness in this sense; Luke xviii. 9, &c. "And he spake
   this parable unto certain that trusted in themselves that they were
   righteous." This intends chiefly a moral righteousness; as appears by
   the parable itself, in which we have an account of the prayer of the
   Pharisee, wherein the things that he mentions as what he trusts in, are
   chiefly moral qualifications and performances, viz. That he was not an
   extortioner, unjust, nor an adulterer, &c.

   But we need not go to the writings of other penmen of the Scripture. If
   we will allow the apostle Paul to be his own interpreter, he--when he
   speaks of our own righteousness as that by which we are not justified
   or saved--does not mean only a ceremonial righteousness, nor does he
   only intend a way of religion and serving God, of our own choosing,
   without divine warrant or prescription; but by our own righteousness he
   means the same as a righteousness of our own doing, whether it be a
   service or righteousness of God's prescribing, or our own unwarranted
   performing. Let it be an obedience to the ceremonial law, or a gospel
   obedience, or what it will, if it be a righteousness of our own doing,
   it is excluded by the apostle in this affair, as is evident by Titus
   iii.5. "Not by works of righteousness which we have done."--But I would
   more particularly insist on this text; and therefore this may be the

   9th argument, That the apostle, when he denies justification by works,
   works of the law, and our own righteousness, does not mean works of the
   ceremonial law only. Tit. iii.3-7. "For we ourselves also were
   sometimes foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving divers lusts and
   pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful, and hating one another.
   But after that the kingdom and love of God our Saviour toward man
   appeared, 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; which he shed on us abundantly, through
   Jesus Christ our Saviour: that being justified by his grace we should
   be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life." Works of
   righteousness that we have done are here excluded, as what we are
   neither saved nor justified by. The apostle expressly says, we are not
   saved by them; and it is evident that when he says this, he has respect
   to the affair of justification. And that he means, we are not saved by
   them in not being justified by them, as by the next verse but one,
   which is part of the same sentence, Titus iii. 7."That being justified
   by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal
   life."

   It is several ways manifest, that the apostle in this text, by "works
   of righteousness which we have done," does not mean only works of the
   ceremonial law. It appears by the 3d verse, Titus iii. 3. "For we
   ourselves also were sometimes foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving
   divers lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful, and
   hating one another." These are breaches of the moral law, that the
   apostle observes they lived in before they were justified: and it is
   most plain that it is this which gives occasion to the apostle to
   observe, as he does in the 5th verse, that it was not by works of
   righteousness which they had done, that they were saved or justified.

   But we need not go to the context, it is most apparent from the words
   themselves, that the apostle does not mean only works of the ceremonial
   law. If he had only said, it is not by our own works of righteousness;
   what could we understand by works of righteousness, but only righteous
   works, or, which is the same thing, good works? And to say, that it is
   by our own righteous works that we are justified, though not by one
   particular kind of righteous works, would certainly be a contradiction
   to such an assertion. But, the words are rendered yet more strong,
   plain, and determined in their sense, by those additional words, which
   we have done; which shows that the apostle intends to exclude all our
   own righteous or virtuous works universally. If it should be asserted
   concerning any commodity, treasure, or precious jewel, that it could
   not be procured by money, and not only so, but, to make the assertion
   the more strong, it should be asserted with additional words, that it
   could not be procured by money that men possess; how unreasonable would
   it be, after all, to say, that all that was meant was, that it could
   not be procured with brass money.

   And what renders the interpreting of this text, as intending works of
   the ceremonial law, yet more unreasonable, is, that these works were
   indeed no works of righteousness at all, but were only falsely supposed
   to be so by the Jews. And this our opponents in this doctrine also
   suppose is the very reason why we are not justified by them, because
   they are not works of righteousness, or because (the ceremonial law
   being now abrogated) there is no obedience in them. But how absurd is
   it to say, that the apostle, when he says we are not justified by works
   of righteousness that we have done, meant only works of the ceremonial
   law, and that for that very reason, because they are not works of
   righteousness? To illustrate this by the forementioned comparison: If
   it should be asserted, that such a thing could not be procured by money
   that men possess, how ridiculous would it be to say, that the meaning
   only was, that it could not be procured by counterfeit money, and that
   for that reason, because it was not money. What scripture will stand
   before men, if they will take liberty to manage scripture thus? Or what
   one text is there in the Bible that may not at this rate be explained
   all away, and perverted to any sense men please?

   But further, if we should allow that the apostle intends only to oppose
   justification by works of the ceremonial law in this text, yet it is
   evident by the expression he uses, that he means to oppose it under
   that notion, or in that quality, of their being works of righteousness
   of our own doing. But if the apostle argues against our being justified
   by works of the ceremonial law, under the notion of their being of that
   nature and kind, viz. works of our own doing; then it will follow, that
   the apostle's argument is strong against, not only those, but all of
   that nature and kind, even all that are of our own doing.

   If there were no other text in the Bible about justification but this,
   this would clearly and invincibly prove, that we are not justified by
   any of our own goodness, virtue, or righteousness, or for the
   excellency of righteousness of any thing that we have done in religion;
   because it is here so fully and strongly asserted; but this text
   abundantly confirms other texts of the apostle, where he denies
   justification by works of the law. No doubt can be rationally made, but
   that the apostle, when he shows, that God does not save us by "works of
   righteousness that we have done," verse 5. and that so we are
   "justified by grace," verse 7. herein opposing salvation by works, and
   salvation by grace--means the same works as he does in other places,
   where he in like manner opposes works and grace: as in Rom. xi. 6. "And
   if by grace, then it is no more of works: otherwise grace is no more
   grace. But if it be of works, then is it no more grace: otherwise work
   is not more work." And the same works as in Rom. iv. 4. "Now to him
   that worketh, is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt." And
   the same works that are spoken of in the context of the 24th verse of
   the foregoing chapter, which the apostle there calls "works of the law,
   being justified freely by his grace." And of the 4th chapter, 16th
   verse, "Therefore it is of faith, that it might be by grace." Where in
   the context the righteousness of faith is opposed to the righteousness
   of the law; for here God's saving us according to his mercy, and
   justifying us by grace, is opposed to saving us by works of
   righteousness that we have done; in the same manner as in those places,
   justifying us by his grace, is opposed to justifying us by works of the
   law.

   10. The apostle could not mean only works of the ceremonial law, when
   he says, we are not justified by the works of the law, because it is
   asserted of the saints under the Old Testament as well as New. If men
   are justified by their sincere obedience, it will then follow that
   formerly, before the ceremonial law was abrogated, men were justified
   by the works of the ceremonial law, as well as the moral. For if we are
   justified by our sincere obedience, then it alters not the case,
   whether the commands be moral or positive, provided they be God's
   commands, and our obedience be obedience to God. And so the case must
   be just the same under the Old Testament, with the works of the moral
   law and ceremonial, according to the measure of the virtue of obedience
   there was in either. It is true, their obedience to the ceremonial law
   would have nothing to do in the affair of justification, unless it was
   sincere; and so neither would the works of the moral law. If obedience
   was the thing, then obedience to the ceremonial law, while that stood
   in force, and obedience to the moral law, had just the same sort of
   concern, according to the proportion of obedience that consists in
   each; as now under the New Testament, if obedience is what we are
   justified by, that obedience must doubtless comprehend obedience to all
   God's commands now in force, to the positive precepts of attendance on
   baptism and the Lord's supper, as well as moral precepts. If obedience
   be the thing, it is not because it is obedience to such a kind of
   commands, but because it is obedience. So that by this supposition, the
   saints under the Old Testament were justified, at least in part, by
   their obedience to the ceremonial law.

   But it is evident that the saints under the Old Testament were not
   justified, in any measure, by the works of the ceremonial law. This may
   be proved, proceeding on the foot of our adversaries' own
   interpretation of the apostle's phrase, "the works of the law," and
   supposing them to mean by it only the works of the ceremonial law. To
   instance in David, it is evident that he was not justified in any wise
   by the works of the ceremonial law, by Rom. iv. 6-8. "Even as David
   also describeth the blessedness of the man unto whom God imputeth
   righteousness without works, saying, Blessed are they whose iniquities
   are forgiven, and whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man to whom
   the Lord will not impute sin." It is plain that the apostle is here
   speaking of justification, from the preceding verse, and all the
   context; and the thing spoken of, viz. forgiving iniquities and
   covering sins, is what our adversaries themselves suppose to be
   justification, and even the whole of justification. This David,
   speaking of himself, says (by the apostle's interpretation) that he had
   without works. For it is manifest that David, in the words here cited,
   from the beginning of the 32d Psalm, has a special respect to himself:
   he speaks of his own sins being forgiven and not imputed to him; as
   appears by the words that immediately follow. Psalm xxxii. 3-5."When I
   kept silence, my bones waxed old; through my roaring all the day long.
   For day and night thy hand was heavy upon me; my moisture is turned
   into the drought of summer. I acknowledged my sin unto thee, and mine
   iniquity have I not hid; I said, I will confess my transgressions unto
   the Lord; and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin." Let us therefore
   understand the apostle which way we will respecting works, when he
   says, Romans iv .6. "David describes the blessedness of the man to whom
   the Lord imputes righteousness without works," whether of all manner of
   works, or only works of the ceremonial law, yet it is evident at least,
   that David was not justified by works of the ceremonial law. Therefore
   here is the argument: if our own obedience be that by which men are
   justified, then under the Old Testament, men were justified partly by
   obedience to the ceremonial law (as has been proved); but the saints
   under the Old Testament were not justified partly by the works of the
   ceremonial law; therefore men's own obedience is not that by which they
   are justified.

   11. Another argument that the apostle, when he speaks of the two
   opposite ways of justification, one by the works of the law, and the
   other by faith, does not mean only the works of the ceremonial law, may
   be taken from Rom. x. 5, 6. "For Moses describeth the righteousness
   which is of the law, that the man which doth those things, shall live
   by them. But the righteousness which is of faith, speaking on this
   wise," &c.--Here two things are evident.

   First, That the apostle here speaks of the same two opposite ways of
   justification, one by the righteousness which is of the law, the other
   by faith, that he had treated of in the former part of the epistle; and
   therefore it must be the same law that is here spoken of. The same law
   is here meant as in the last verses of the foregoing chapter, where he
   says, the Jews had Rom. ix. 31, 32."not attained to the law of
   righteousness. Wherefore? Because they sought it, not by faith, but as
   it were by the works of the law;" as is plain, because the apostle is
   still speaking of the same thing; the words are a continuation of the
   same discourse, as may be seen at first glance, by any one that looks
   on the context.

   Secondly, It is manifest that Moses, when he describes the
   righteousness which is of the law, or the way of justification by the
   law, in the words here cited, Gal. iii. 12. "He that doth those things,
   shall live in them," does not speak only, nor chiefly, of the works of
   the ceremonial law; for none will pretend that God ever made such a
   covenant with man, that he who kept the ceremonial law should live in
   it, or that there ever was a time, that it was chiefly by the works of
   the ceremonial law that men lived and were justified. Yea, it is
   manifest by the forementioned instance of David, mentioned in the 4th
   of Romans, that there never was a time wherein men were justified in
   any measure by the works of the ceremonial law, as has been just now
   shown. Moses therefore, in those words which the apostle says, are a
   description of the righteousness which is of the law, cannot mean only
   the ceremonial law. And therefore it follows, that when the apostle
   speaks of justification by the works of the law, as opposite to
   justification by faith, he does not mean only the ceremonial law, but
   also the works of the moral law, which are the things spoken of by
   Moses, when he says, Gal. iii. 12. "He that doth those things, shall
   live in them." And these are the things which the apostle in this very
   place is arguing that we cannot be justified by; as is evident by the
   last verses of the preceding chapter; Rom. ix. 31, 32."But Israel,
   which followed after the law of righteousness, hath not attained to the
   law of righteousness. Wherefore? Because they sought it, not by faith,
   but as it were by the works of the law," &c. And in the 3d verse of
   this chapter, Rom. x. 3. "For they being ignorant of God's
   righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness,
   have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God."

   And further, how can the apostle's description that he here gives from
   Moses, of this exploded way of justification by the works of the law,
   consist with the Arminian scheme, of a way of justification by the
   virtue of a sincere obedience, that still remains as the true and only
   way of justification under the gospel? It is most apparent that it is
   the design of the apostle to give a description of both the legal
   rejected and the evangelical valid ways of justification, in that
   wherein they are distinguished the one from the other. But how is it,
   that "he who doth those things, shall live in them," that wherein the
   way of justification by the works of the law is distinguished from that
   in which Christians under the gospel are justified, according to their
   scheme; for still, according to them, it may be said, in the same
   manner, of the precepts of the gospel, he that doth these things, shall
   live in them. The difference lies only in the things to be done, but
   not at all in that the doing of them is not the condition of living in
   them, just in the one case, as in the other. The words, Gal. iii. 12.
   "He that doth them, shall live in them," will serve just as well for a
   description of the latter as the former. By the apostle's saying, the
   righteousness of the law is described thus, he that doth these things,
   shall live in them; but the righteousness of faith saith thus, plainly
   intimates that the righteousness of faith saith otherwise, and in an
   opposite manner. Besides, if these words cited from Moses are actually
   said by him of the moral law as well as ceremonial, as it is most
   evident they are, it renders it still more absurd to suppose them
   mentioned by the apostle, as the very note of distinction between
   justification by a ceremonial obedience, and a moral sincere obedience,
   as the Arminians must suppose.

   Thus I have spoken to a second argument, to prove that we are not
   justified by any manner of virtue or goodness of our own, viz. that to
   suppose otherwise, is contrary to the doctrine directly urged, and
   abundantly insisted on, by the apostle Paul in his epistles.

   I now proceed to a

   Third argument, viz. That to suppose that we are justified by our own
   sincere obedience, or any of our own virtue or goodness, derogates from
   gospel grace.

   That scheme of justification that manifestly takes from or diminishes
   the grace of God, is undoubtedly to be rejected; for it is the declared
   design of God in the gospel to exalt the freedom and riches of his
   grace, in that method of justification of sinners, and way of admitting
   them to his favour, and the blessed fruits of it, which it declares.
   The Scripture teaches, that the way of justification appointed in the
   gospel-covenant, is appointed for that end, that free grace might be
   expressed, and glorified; Rom. iv. 16. "Therefore it is of faith, that
   it might be by grace." The exercising and magnifying of free grace in
   the gospel-contrivance for the justification and salvation of sinners,
   is evidently the chief design of it. And this freedom and riches of
   grace in the gospel is every where spoken of in Scripture as the chief
   glory of it. Therefore that doctrine which derogates from the free
   grace of God in justifying sinners, as it is most opposite to God's
   design, so it must be exceedingly offensive to him.

   Those who maintain, that we are justified by our own sincere obedience,
   pretend that their scheme does not diminish the grace of the gospel;
   for they say, that the grace of God is wonderfully manifested in
   appointing such a way and method of salvation by sincere obedience, in
   assisting us to perform such an obedience, and in accepting our
   imperfect obedience, instead of perfect.

   Let us therefore examine that matter, whether their scheme, of a man's
   being justified by his own virtue and sincere obedience, does derogate
   from the grace of God or no; or whether free grace is not more exalted
   in supposing, as we do, that we are justified without any manner of
   goodness of our own. In order to this, I will lay down this
   self-evident

   Proposition, that whatsoever that be by which the abundant benevolence
   of the giver is expressed, and gratitude in the receiver is obliged,
   that magnifies free grace. This I suppose none will ever controvert or
   dispute.--And it is not much less evident, that it doth both show a
   more abundant benevolence in the giver when he shows kindness without
   goodness or excellency in the object, to move him to it; and that it
   enhances the obligation to gratitude in the receiver.

   1. It shows a more abundant goodness in the giver, when he shows
   kindness without any excellency in our persons or actions that should
   move the giver to love and beneficence. For it certainly shows the more
   abundant and overflowing goodness, or disposition to communicate good,
   by how much the less loveliness or excellency there is to entice
   beneficence. The less there is in the receiver to draw good-will and
   kindness, it argues the more of the principle of good-will and kindness
   in the giver. One that has but little of a principle of love and
   benevolence, may be drawn to do good, and to show kindness, when there
   is a great deal to draw him, or when there is much excellency and
   loveliness in the object to move good-will; when he whose goodness and
   benevolence is more abundant, will show kindness where there is less to
   draw it forth; for he does not so much need to have it drawn from
   without, he has enough of the principle within to move him of itself.
   Where there is most of the principle, there it is most sufficient for
   itself, and stands in least need of something without to excite it. For
   certainly a more abundant goodness more easily flows forth with less to
   impel or draw it, than where there is less; or, which is the same
   thing, the more any one is disposed of himself, the less he needs from
   without himself, to put him upon it, or stir him up to it. And
   therefore his kindness and goodness appears the more exceeding great,
   when it is bestowed without any excellency or loveliness at all in the
   receiver, or when the receiver is respected in the gift, as wholly
   without excellency. And much more still when the benevolence of the
   giver not only finds nothing in the receiver to draw it, but a great
   deal of hatefulness to repel it. The abundance of goodness is then
   manifested, not only in flowing forth without any thing extrinsic to
   put it forward, but in overcoming great repulsion in the object. And
   then does kindness and love appear most triumphant, and wonderfully
   great, when the receiver is not only wholly without all excellency or
   beauty to attract it, but altogether, yea infinitely, vile and hateful.

   2. It is apparent also that it enhances the obligation to gratitude in
   the receiver. This is agreeable to the common sense of mankind, that
   the less worthy or excellent the object of benevolence, or the receiver
   of kindness, is, the more he is obliged, and the greater gratitude is
   due. He therefore is most of all obliged, that receives kindness
   without any goodness or excellency in himself, but with a total and
   universal hatefulness. And as it is agreeable to the common sense of
   mankind, so it is agreeable to the common sense of mankind, so it is
   agreeable to the word of God. How often does God in the Scripture
   insist on this argument with men, to move them to love him, and to
   acknowledge his kindness! How much does he insist on this as an
   obligation to gratitude, that they are so sinful, and undeserving, and
   ill deserving!

   Therefore it certainly follows, that the doctrine which teaches, that
   God, when he justifies a man, and shows him such great kindness as to
   give him a right to eternal life, does not do it for any obedience, or
   any manner of goodness, of his; but that justification respects a man
   as ungodly, and wholly without any manner of virtue, beauty, or
   excellency. I say, this doctrine does certainly more exalt the free
   grace of God in justification, and man's obligation to gratitude for
   such a favour, than the contrary doctrine, viz. That God, in showing
   this kindness to man, respects him as sincerely obedient and virtuous,
   and as having something in him that is truly excellent and lovely, and
   acceptable in his sight, and that this goodness or excellency of man is
   the very fundamental condition of the bestowment of that kindness on
   him, or of distinguishing him from others by that benefit. But I hasten
   to a

   Fourth argument for the truth of the doctrine, That to suppose a man is
   justified by his own virtue or obedience, derogates from the honour of
   the Mediator, and ascribes that to man's virtue which belongs only to
   the righteousness of Christ: it puts man in Christ's stead, and makes
   him his own saviour, in a respect in which Christ only is his Saviour.
   And so it is a doctrine contrary to the nature and design of the
   gospel, which is to abase man, and to ascribe all the glory of our
   salvation to Christ the Redeemer. It is inconsistent with the doctrine
   of the imputation of Christ's righteousness, which is a
   gospel-doctrine.

   Here I would explain what we mean by the imputation of Christ's
   righteousness. Prove the thing intended by it to be true. Show that
   this doctrine is utterly inconsistent with the doctrine of our being
   justified by our own virtue or sincere obedience.

   First, I would explain what we mean by the imputation of Christ's
   righteousness. Sometimes the expression is taken by our divines in a
   larger sense, for the imputation of all that Christ did and suffered
   for our redemption, whereby we are free from guilt, and stand righteous
   in the sight of God; and so implies the imputation both of Christ's
   satisfaction and obedience. But here I intend it in a stricter sense,
   for the imputation of that righteousness or moral goodness that
   consists in the obedience of Christ. And by that righteousness being
   imputed to us, is meant no other than this, that the righteousness of
   Christ is accepted for us, and admitted instead of that perfect
   inherent righteousness which ought to be in ourselves. Christ's perfect
   obedience shall be reckoned to our account, so that we shall have the
   benefit of it, as though we had performed it ourselves. And so we
   suppose that a title to eternal life is given us as the reward of this
   righteousness. The Scripture uses the word impute in this sense, viz.
   for reckoning any thing belonging to any person, to another person's
   account: as Philemon 18. Philemon i.18. "If he hath wronged thee, or
   oweth thee ought, put that on mine account." In the original it is NOT
   ENGLISH : impute that to me. It is a word of the same root with that
   which is translated impute, Rom. iv .6. "To whom God imputeth
   righteousness without works." And it is the very same word that is
   used, Rom. v.13., that is translated impute, "sin is not imputed when
   there is no law."

   The opposers of this doctrine suppose that there is an absurdity in
   supposing that God imputes Christ's obedience to us, it is to suppose
   that God is mistaken, and thinks that we performed that obedience which
   Christ performed. But why cannot that righteousness be reckoned to our
   account, and be accepted for us, without any such absurdity? Why is
   there any more absurdity in it, than in a merchant's transferring debt
   or credit from one man's account to another, when one man pays a price
   for another, so that it shall be accepted as if that other had paid it?
   Why is there any more absurdity in supposing that Christ's obedience is
   imputed to us, that that his satisfaction is imputed? If Christ has
   suffered the penalty of the law in our stead, then it will follow, that
   his suffering that penalty is imputed to us, that is accepted for us,
   and in our stead, and is reckoned to our account, as though we had
   suffered it. But why may not his obeying the law of God be as
   rationally reckoned to our account, as his suffering the penalty of the
   law? Why may not a price to bring into debt, be as rationally
   transferred from one person's account to another, as a price to pay a
   debt? Having thus explained what we mean by the imputation of Christ's
   righteousness, I proceed,

   Secondly, To prove that the righteousness of Christ is thus imputed.

   1. There is the very same need of Christ's obeying the law in our
   stead, in order to the reward, as of his suffering the penalty of the
   law in our stead, in order to our escaping the penalty; and the same
   reason why one should be accepted on our account, as the other. There
   is the same need of one as the other, that the law of God might be
   answered; one was as requisite to answer the law as the other. It is
   certain, that was the reason why there was need that Christ should
   suffer the penalty for us, even that the law might be answered; for
   this Scripture plainly teaches. This is given as the reason why Christ
   was made a curse for us, that the law threatened a curse to us, Gal.
   iii. 10, 13. But the same law that fixes the curse of God as the
   consequence of not continuing in all things written in the law to do
   them, verse 10. has as much fixed doing those things as an antecedent
   of living in them, ( as verse 12.) There is as much connexion
   established in one case as in the other. There is therefore exactly the
   same need, from the law, of perfect obedience being fulfilled in order
   to our obtaining the reward, as there is of death being suffered in
   order to our escaping the punishment; or the same necessity by the law,
   of perfect obedience preceding life, as there is of disobedience being
   succeeded by death. The law is, without doubt, as much of an
   established rule in one case as in the other.

   Christ by suffering the penalty, and so making atonement for us, only
   removes the guilt of our sins, and so sets us in the same state that
   Adam was in the first moment of his creation; and it is no more fit
   that we should obtain eternal life only on that account, than that Adam
   should have the reward of eternal life, or of a confirmed and
   unalterable state of happiness, the first moments of his existence,
   without any obedience at all. Adam was not to have the reward merely on
   account of his being innocent; if so, he would have had it fixed upon
   him at once, as soon as ever he was created; for he was as innocent
   then as he could be. But he was to have the reward on account of his
   activeness in obedience; not on account merely of his not having done
   ill, but on account of his doing well.

   So on the same account we have not eternal life merely as void of
   guilt, which we have by the atonement of Christ; but on the account of
   Christ's activeness in obedience, and doing well. Christ is our second
   federal head, and is called the second Adam, 1 Cor. xv. 22. because he
   acted that part for us which the first Adam should have done. When he
   had undertaken to stand in our stead, he was looked upon and treated as
   though he were guilty with our guilt; and by his bearing the penalty,
   he did as it were free himself from this guilt. But by this the second
   Adam did only bring himself into the state in which the first Adam was
   on the first moment of his existence, viz. a state of mere freedom from
   guilt; and hereby indeed was free from any obligation to suffer
   punishment; but this being supposed, there was need of something
   further, even a positive obedience, in order to his obtaining, as our
   second Adam, the reward of eternal life.

   God saw meet to place man first in a state of trial, and not to give
   him a title to eternal life as soon as he had made him; because it was
   his will that he should first give honour to his authority, by fully
   submitting to it, in will and act, and perfectly obeying his law. God
   insisted upon it, that his holy majesty and law should have their due
   acknowledgement and honour from man, such as became the relation he
   stood in to that Being who created him, before he would bestow the
   reward of confirmed and everlasting happiness upon him; and therefore
   God gave him a law that he might have opportunity, by giving due honour
   to his authority in obeying it, to obtain this happiness. It therefore
   became Christ--seeing that, in assuming man to himself, he sought a
   title to this eternal happiness for him after he had broken the
   law--that he himself should become subject to God's authority, and be
   in the form of a servant, that he might do that honour to God's
   authority for him, by his obedience, which God at first required of man
   as the condition of his having a title to that reward. Christ came into
   the world to render the honour of God's authority and law consistent
   with the salvation and eternal life of sinners; he came to save them,
   and yet withal to assert and vindicate the honour of the lawgiver, and
   his holy law. Now, if the sinner, after his sin was satisfied for, had
   eternal life bestowed upon him without active righteousness, the honour
   of his law would not be sufficiently vindicated. Supposing this were
   possible, that the sinner himself could, by suffering, pay the debt,
   and afterwards be in the same state that he was in before his
   probation, that is to say, negatively righteous, or merely without
   guilt; if he now at last should have eternal life bestowed upon him,
   without performing that condition of obedience; then God would recede
   from his law, and would give the promised reward, and his law never
   have respect and honour shown to it, in that way of being obeyed. But
   now Christ, by subjecting himself to the law, and obeying it, has done
   great honour to the law, and to the authority of God who gave it. That
   so glorious a person should become subject to the law, and fulfil it,
   has done much more to honour it, than if mere man had obeyed it. It was
   a thing infinitely honourable to God, that a person of infinite dignity
   was not ashamed to call him his God, and to adore and obey him as such.
   This was more to God's honour than if any mere creature, of any
   possible degree of excellence and dignity, had so done.

   It is absolutely necessary, that in order to a sinner's being
   justified, the righteousness of some other should be reckoned to his
   account; for it is declared, that the person justified is looked upon
   as (in himself) ungodly; but God neither will nor can justify a person
   without a righteousness; for justification is manifestly a forensic
   term, as the word is used in Scripture, and a judicial thing, or the
   act of a judge. So that if a person should be justified without a
   righteousness, the judgment would not be according to truth. The
   sentence of justification would be a false sentence, unless there be a
   righteousness performed that is by the judge properly looked upon as
   his. To say, that God does not justify the sinner without sincere,
   though an imperfect, obedience, does not help the case; for an
   imperfect righteousness before a judge is no righteousness. To accept
   of something that falls short of the rule, instead of something else
   that answers the rule, is not judicial act, or act of a judge, but a
   pure act of sovereignty. An imperfect righteousness is no righteousness
   before a judge; for "righteousness (as one observes) is a relative
   thing, and has always relation to a law. The formal nature of
   righteousness, properly understood, lies in a conformity of actions to
   that which is the rule and measure of them." Therefore that only is
   righteousness in the sight of a judge that answers the law. [660] The
   law is the judge's rule: if he pardons and hides what really is, and so
   does not pass sentence according to what things are in themselves, he
   either does not act the part of a judge, or else judges falsely. The
   very notion of judging is to determine what is, and what is not, in any
   one's case. The judge's work is twofold; it is to determine first what
   is fact, and then whether what is in fact be according to rule, or
   according to the law. If a judge has no rule or law established
   beforehand, by which he should proceed in judging, he has no foundation
   to go upon in judging, he has no opportunity to be a judge; nor is it
   possible that he should do the part of a judge. To judge without a law
   or rule by which to judge, is impossible; for the very notion of
   judging, is to determine whether the object of judgment be according to
   rule; and therefore God has declared, that when he acts as a judge, he
   will not justify the wicked, and cannot clear the guilty; and, by
   parity of reason, cannot justify without righteousness.

   And the scheme of the old law's being abrogated, and a new law
   introduced, will not help at all in this difficulty; for an imperfect
   righteousness cannot answer the law of God we are under, whether that
   be an old or a new one; for every law requires perfect obedience to
   itself. Every rule whatsoever requires perfect conformity to itself; it
   is a contradiction to suppose otherwise. For to say, that there is a
   law that does not require perfect obedience to itself, is to say that
   there is a law that does not require all that it requires. That law
   that now forbids sin, is certainly the law that we are now under, (let
   that be an old or a new one,) or else it is not sin. That which is not
   forbidden, and is the breach of the law, is no sin. But if we are now
   forbidden to commit sin, then it is by a law that we are now under; for
   surely we are neither under the forbiddings nor commanding of a law
   that we are not under. Therefore, if all sin is now forbidden, then we
   are now under a law that requires perfect obedience; and therefore
   nothing can be accepted as a righteousness in the sight of our Judge,
   but perfect righteousness. So that our Judge cannot justify us, unless
   he sees a perfect righteousness, some way belonging to us, either
   performed by ourselves, or by another, and justly and duly reckoned to
   our account.

   God doth, in the sentence of justification, pronounce a man perfectly
   righteousness, or else he would need a further justification after he
   is justified. His sins being removed by Christ's atonement, is not
   sufficient for his justification; for justifying a man, as has been
   already shown, is not merely pronouncing him innocent, or without
   guilt, but standing right with regard to the rule that he is under, and
   righteous unto life: but this, according to the established rule of
   nature, reason, and divine appointment, is a positive, perfect
   righteousness.

   As there is the same need that Christ's obedience should be reckoned to
   our account, as that his atonement should; so there is the same reason
   why it should. As if Adam had persevered, and finished his course of
   obedience, we should have received the benefit of his obedience, as
   much as now we have the mischief of his disobedience; so in like
   manner, there is reason that we should receive the benefit of the
   second Adam's obedience, as of his atonement of our disobedience.
   Believers are represented in Scripture as being so in Christ, as that
   they are legally one, or accepted as one, by the Supreme Judge: Christ
   has assumed our nature, and has so assumed all in that nature that
   belongs to him, into such an union with himself, that he is become
   their head, and has taken them to be his members. And therefore, what
   Christ has done in our nature, whereby he did honour to the law and
   authority of God by his acts, as well as the reparation to the honour
   of the law by his sufferings, is reckoned to the believer's account; so
   as that the believer should be made happy, because it was so well and
   worthily done by his Head, as well as freed from being miserable,
   because he has suffered for our ill and unworthy doing.

   When Christ had once undertaken with God to stand for us, and put
   himself under our law, by that law he was obliged to suffer and by the
   same law he was obliged to obey: by the same law, after he had taken
   man's guilt upon him, he himself, being our surety, could not be
   acquitted till he had suffered, nor rewarded till he had obeyed: but he
   was not acquitted as a private person, but as our head, and believers
   are acquitted in his acquittance; nor was he accepted to a reward for
   his obedience, as a private person, but as our head, and we are
   accepted to a reward in his acceptance. The Scripture teaches us, that
   when Christ was raised from the dead, he was justified; which
   justification, as I have already shown, implies both his acquittance
   from our guilt, and his acceptance to the exaltation and glory that was
   the reward of his obedience; but believers, as soon as they believe,
   are admitted to partake with Christ in this his justification: hence we
   are told, that he was "raised again for our justification," Rom. iv.
   25. which is true, not only of that part of his justification that
   consists in his acquittance, but also his acceptance to his reward. The
   Scripture teaches us, that he is exalted, and gone to heaven to take
   possession of our glory in our name, as our forerunner, Heb. vi. 20. We
   are, as it were, both raised up together with Christ, and also made to
   sit together with Christ in heavenly places, and in him, Eph. ii. 6.

   If it be objected here, that there is this reason, why what Christ
   suffered should be accepted on our account, rather than the obedience
   he performed, that he was obliged to obedience for himself, but was not
   obliged to suffer but only on our account; to this I answer, That
   Christ was not obliged, on his own account, to undertake to obey.
   Christ, in his original circumstances, was in no subjection to the
   Father, being altogether equal with him: he was under no obligation to
   put himself in man's stead, and under man's law; or to put himself into
   any state of subjection to God whatsoever. There was a transaction
   between the Father and the Son, that was antecedent to Christ's
   becoming man, and being made under the law, wherein he undertook to put
   himself under the law, and both to obey and to suffer; in which
   transaction these things were already virtually done in the sight of
   God; as is evident by this, that God acted on the ground of that
   transaction, justifying and saving sinners, as if the things undertaken
   had been actually performed long before they were performed indeed. And
   therefore, without doubt, in order to estimate the value and validity
   of what Christ did and suffered, we must look back to that transaction,
   wherein these things were first undertaken, and virtually done in the
   sight of God, and see what capacity and circumstances Christ acted in
   them, and we shall find that Christ was under no manner of obligation,
   either to obey the law, or to suffer its penalty. After this he was
   equally under obligation to both; for henceforward he stood as our
   surety or representative: and therefore this consequent obligation may
   be as much of an objection against the validity of his suffering the
   penalty, as against his obedience. But if we look to that original
   transaction between the Father and the Son, wherein both these were
   undertaken and accepted as virtually done in the sight of the Father,
   we shall find Christ acting with regard to both, as one perfectly in
   his own right, and under no manner of previous obligation to hinder the
   validity of either.

   2. To suppose that all Christ does is only to make atonement for us by
   suffering, is to make him our Saviour but in part. It is to rob him of
   half his glory as a Saviour. For if so, all that he does is to deliver
   us from hell; he does not purchase heaven for us. The adverse scheme
   supposes that he purchases heaven for us, in that he satisfies for the
   imperfections of our obedience, and so purchases that our sincere
   imperfect obedience might be accepted as the condition of eternal life;
   and so purchases an opportunity for us to obtain heaven by our own
   obedience. But to purchase heaven for us only in this sense, is to
   purchase it in no sense at all; for all of it comes to no more than a
   satisfaction for our sins, or removing the penalty by suffering in our
   stead. For all the purchasing they speak of, that our imperfect
   obedience should be accepted, is only to pay a debt for us; there is no
   positive purchase of any good. We are taught in Scripture that heaven
   is purchased for us; it is called the purchased possession, Eph. i. 14.
   The gospel proposes the eternal inheritance, not to be acquired, as the
   first covenant did, but as already acquired and purchased. But he that
   pays a man's debt for him, and so delivers him from slavery, cannot be
   said to purchase an estate for him, merely because he sets him at
   liberty, so that henceforward he has an opportunity to get an estate by
   his own hand-labour. So that according to this scheme, the saints in
   heaven have no reason to thank Christ for purchasing heaven for them,
   or redeeming them to God, and making them kings and priests, as we have
   an account that they do, in Rev. v. 9.

   3. Justification by the righteousness and obedience of Christ, is a
   doctrine that the Scripture teaches in very full terms; Rom. v.18, 19.
   "By the righteousness of one, the free gift came upon all men unto
   justification of life. For as by one man's disobedience many were made
   sinners; so, by the obedience of one, shall many be made righteous."
   Here in one verse we are told, that we have justification by Christ's
   righteousness; and, that there might be no room to understand the
   righteousness spoken of, merely of Christ's atonement by his suffering
   the penalty, in the next verse it is put in other terms, and asserted,
   that it is by Christ's obedience we are made righteous. It is scarcely
   possible any thing should be more full and determined: the terms, taken
   singly, are such as fix their own meaning, and taken together, they fix
   the meaning of each other. The words show that we are justified by that
   righteousness of Christ which consists in his obedience, and that we
   are made righteous or justified by that obedience of his, that is, his
   righteousness, or moral goodness before God.

   Here possibly it may be objected, that this text means only, that we
   are justified by Christ's passive obedience.

   To this I answer, whether we call it active or passive, it alters not
   the case as to the present argument, as long as it is evident by the
   words, that it is not merely under the notion of an atonement for
   disobedience, or a satisfaction for unrighteousness, but under the
   notion of a positive obedience, and a righteousness, or moral goodness,
   that it justifies us, or makes us righteous; because both the words
   righteousness and obedience are used, and used too as the opposites to
   sin and disobedience, and an offence. Rom. iv. 18. "Therefore as by the
   offence of one, judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so, by
   the righteousness of one, the free gift came upon all men to
   justification of life. For as by one man's disobedience many were made
   sinners; so, by the obedience of one, shall many be made righteous."
   Now, what can be meant by righteousness, when spoken of as the opposite
   to sin, or moral evil, but moral goodness? What is the righteousness
   that is the opposite of an offence, but the behaviour that is well
   pleasing? and what can be meant by obedience, when spoken of as the
   opposite of disobedience, or going contrary to a command, but a
   positive obeying and an actual complying with the command? So that
   there is no room for any invented distinction of active and passive, to
   hurt the argument from this scripture; for it is evident by it, as any
   thing can be, that believers are justified by the righteousness and
   obedience of Christ, under the notion of his moral goodness;--his
   positive obeying, and actual complying with the commands of God, and
   that behaviour which, because of its conformity to his commands, was
   well-pleasing in his sight. This is all that ever any need to desire to
   have granted in this dispute.

   By this it appears, that if Christ's dying be here included in the
   words righteousness and obedience, it is not merely as a propitiation,
   or bearing a penalty of a broken law in our stead, but as his voluntary
   submitting and yielding himself to those sufferings, was an act of
   obedience to the Father's commands, and so was a part of his positive
   righteousness, or moral goodness.

   Indeed all obedience considered under the notion of righteousness, is
   something active, something done in voluntary compliance with a
   command; whether it may be done without suffering, or whether it be
   hard and difficult; yet as it is obedience, righteousness, or moral
   goodness, it must be considered as something voluntary and active. If
   any one is commanded to go through difficulties and sufferings, and he,
   in compliance with this command, voluntarily does it, he properly obeys
   in so doing; and as he voluntarily does it in compliance with a
   command, his obedience is as active as any whatsoever. It is the same
   sort of obedience, a thing of the very same nature, as when a man, in
   compliance with a command, does a piece of hard service, or goes
   through hard labour; and there is no room to distinguish between such
   obedience of it, as if it were a thing of quite a different nature, by
   such opposite terms as active and passive: all the distinction that can
   be pretended, is that which is between obeying an easy command and a
   difficult one. But is there from hence any foundation to make two
   species of obedience, one active and the other passive? There is no
   appearance of any such distinction ever entering into the hearts of any
   of the penmen of Scripture.

   It is true, that of late, when a man refuses to obey the precept of a
   human law, but patiently yields himself up to suffer the penalty of the
   law, it is called passive obedience: but this I suppose is only a
   modern use of the word obedience; surely it is a sense of the word that
   the Scripture is a perfect stranger to. It is improperly called
   obedience, unless there be such a precept in the law, that he shall
   yield himself patiently to suffer, to which his so doing shall be an
   active voluntary conformity. There may in some sense be said to be a
   conformity of the law in a person's suffering the penalty of the law;
   but no other conformity to the law is properly called obedience to it,
   but an active voluntary conformity to the precepts of it. The word obey
   is often found in Scripture with respect to the law of God to man, but
   never in any other sense.

   It is true that Christ's willingly undergoing those sufferings which he
   endured, is a great part of that obedience of righteousness by which we
   are justified. The sufferings of Christ are respected in Scripture
   under a twofold consideration, either merely as his being substituted
   for us, or put into our stead, in suffering the penalty of the law; and
   so his sufferings are considered as a satisfaction and propitiation for
   sin; or as he, in obedience to a law or command of the Father,
   voluntarily submitted himself to those sufferings, and actively yielded
   himself up to bear them; and so they are considered as his
   righteousness, and a part of his active obedience. Christ underwent
   death in obedience to the command of the Father, Psalm xl. 6, 7, 8.
   "Sacrifice and offering thou didst not desire, mine ears hast thou
   opened: burnt-offering and sin-offering hast thou not required. Then
   said I, Lo, I come: in the volume of the book it is written of me: I
   delight to do thy will, O my God; yea, thy "law is within my heart."
   John x.17, 18. "I lay down my life, that I might take it again. No man
   taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself: I have power to lay it
   down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I
   received of my Father." John xviii. 11. "The cup which my Father hath
   given me, shall I not drink it?" And this is part, and indeed the
   principal part, of that active obedience by which we are justified.

   It can be no just objection against this, that the command of the
   Father to Christ that he should lay down his life, was no part of the
   law that we had broken; and therefore, that his obeying this command
   could be no part of that obedience that he performed for us, but only
   that which we had broken or failed of obeying. For although it must be
   the same legislative authority, whose honour is repaired by Christ's
   obedience, that we have injured by our disobedience; yet there is no
   need that the law which Christ obeys should be precisely the same that
   Adam was to have obeyed, in that sense, that there should be no
   positive precepts wanting, nor any added. There was wanting the precept
   about the forbidden fruit, and there was added the ceremonial law. The
   thing required was perfect obedience. It is no matter whether the
   positive precepts were the same, if they were equivalent. The positive
   precepts that Christ was to obey, were much more than equivalent to
   what was wanting, because infinitely more difficult, particularly the
   command that he had received to lay down his life, which was his
   principal act of obedience, and which, above all other, is concerned in
   our justification. As that act of disobedience by which we fell, was
   disobedience to a positive precept that Christ never was under, viz.
   that of abstaining from the tree of knowledge of good and evil; so that
   act of obedience by which principally we are redeemed, is obedience to
   a positive precept that Adam never was under, viz. the precept of
   laying down his life. It was suitable that it should be a positive
   precept, that should try both Adam's and Christ's obedience. Such
   precepts are the greatest and most proper trial of obedience; because
   in them, the mere authority and will of the legislator is the sole
   ground of the obligation, (and nothing in the nature of the things
   themselves,) and therefore they are the greatest trial of any person's
   respect to that authority and will.

   The law that Christ was subject to, and obeyed, was in some sense the
   same that was given to Adam. There are innumerable particular duties
   required by the law only conditionally; and in such circumstances, are
   comprehended in some great and general rule of that law. Thus, for
   instance, there are innumerable acts of respect and obedience to men,
   which are required by the law of nature, (which was a law given to
   Adam,) which yet are not required absolutely, but upon many
   pre-requisite conditions; as, that there be men standing in such
   relations to us, and that they give forth such commands, and the like.
   So many acts of respect and obedience to God are included, in like
   manner, in the moral law conditionally, or such and such things being
   supposed; as Abraham's going about to sacrifice his son, the Jews'
   circumcising their children when eight days old, and Adam's not eating
   the forbidden fruit; they are virtually comprehended in that great
   general rule of the moral law, that we should obey God, and be subject
   to him in whatsoever he pleases to command us. Certainly the moral law
   does as much require us to obey God's positive commands, as it requires
   us to obey the positive commands of our parents. And thus all that
   Adam, and all that Christ was commanded, even his observing the rites
   and ceremonies of the Jewish worship, and his laying down his life, was
   virtually included in this same great law. [661]

   It is no objection against the last-mentioned thing, even Christ's
   laying down his life, it being included in the moral law given to Adam,
   because that law itself allowed of no occasion for any such thing; for
   the moral law virtually includes all right acts, on all possible
   occasions, even occasions that the law itself allows not: thus we are
   obliged by the moral law to mortify our lusts, and repent of our sins,
   though that law allows of no lust to mortify, of sin to repent of.

   There is indeed but one great law of God, and that is the same law that
   says, "if thou sinnest, thou shalt die;" and "cursed is every one that
   continues not in all things contained in this law to do them." All
   duties of positive institution are virtually comprehended in this law:
   and therefore, if the Jews broke the ceremonial law, it exposed them to
   the penalty of the law, or covenant of works, which threatened, "thou
   shalt surely die." The law is the eternal and unalterable rule of
   righteousness between God and man, and therefore is the rule of
   judgment, by which all that a man does shall be either justified or
   condemned; and no sin exposes to damnation, but by the law. So now he
   that refuses to obey the precepts that require an attendance on the
   sacraments of the New Testament, is exposed to damnation, by virtue of
   the law or covenant of works. It may moreover be argued, that all sins
   whatsoever are breaches of the law or covenant of works, because all
   sins, even breaches of the positive precepts, as well as others, have
   atonement by the death of Christ: but what Christ died for, was to
   satisfy the law, or to bear the curse of the law; as appears by Gal.
   iii. 10-13. and Rom. vii. 3, 4.

   So that Christ's laying down his life might be part of that obedience
   by which we are justified, though it was a positive precept not given
   to Adam. It was doubtless Christ's main act of obedience, because it
   was obedience to a command that was attended with immensely the
   greatest difficulty, and so to a command that was the greatest trial of
   his obedience. His respect shown to God in it, and his honour to God's
   authority, was proportionably great. It is spoken of in Scripture as
   Christ's principal act of obedience. Philip. ii. 7 ,8. "But made
   himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and
   was made in the likeness of man: and being found in fashion as a man,
   he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of
   the cross." Heb. v. 8. "Though he were a son, yet learned he obedience
   by the things that he suffered." It was mainly by this act of obedience
   that Christ purchased so glorious a reward for himself; Philip. ii. 8,
   9. "He became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.
   Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which
   is above every name." And it therefore follows from what has been
   already said, that it is mainly by this act of obedience that believers
   in Christ also have the reward of glory, or some to partake with Christ
   in his glory. We are as much saved by the death of Christ, as his
   yielding himself to die was an act of obedience, as we are, as it was a
   propitiation for our sins: for as it was not the only act of obedience
   that merited, he having performed meritorious acts of obedience through
   the whole course of his life; so neither was it the only suffering that
   was propitiatory; all his sufferings through the whole course of his
   life being propitiatory, as well as every act of obedience meritorious.
   Indeed this was his principal suffering; and it was as much his
   principal act of obedience.

   Hence we may see how that the death of Christ did not only make
   atonement, but also merited eternal life; and hence we may see how by
   the blood of Christ we are not only redeemed from sin, but redeemed
   unto God; and therefore the Scripture seems every where to attribute
   the whole of salvation to the blood of Christ. This precious blood is
   as much the main price by which heaven is purchased, as it is the main
   price by which we are redeemed from hell. The positive righteousness of
   Christ, or that price by which he merited, was of equal value with that
   by which he satisfied; for indeed it was the same price. He spilled his
   blood to satisfy, and by reason of the infinite dignity of his person,
   his sufferings were looked upon as of infinite value, and equivalent to
   the eternal sufferings of a finite creature. And he spilled his blood
   out of respect to the honour of God's majesty, and in submission to his
   authority, who had commanded him so to do: and his obedience therein
   was of infinite value; both because of the dignity of the person that
   performed it, and because he put himself to infinite expense to perform
   it, whereby the infinite degree of his regard to God's authority
   appeared.

   One would wonder what Arminians mean by Christ's merits. They talk of
   Christ's merits as much as any body, and yet deny the imputation of
   Christ's positive righteousness. What should there be that any one
   should merit or deserve any thing by, besides righteousness or
   goodness? If any thing that Christ did or suffered, merited or deserved
   any thing, it was by virtue of the goodness, or righteousness, or
   holiness of it. If Christ's sufferings and death merited heaven, it
   must be because there was an excellent righteousness and transcendent
   moral goodness in that act of laying down his life. And if by that
   excellent righteousness he merited heaven for us; then surely that
   righteousness is reckoned to our account, that we have the benefit of
   it, or, which is the same thing, it is imputed to us.

   Thus, I hope, I have made it evident, that the righteousness of Christ
   is indeed imputed to us. I proceed now to the

   Third and last thing under this argument, That this doctrine, of the
   imputation of Christ's righteousness, is utterly inconsistent with the
   doctrine of our being justified by our own virtue or sincere obedience.
   If acceptance to God's favour, and a title to life, be given to
   believers as the reward of Christ's obedience, then it is not given as
   the reward of our own obedience. In what respect soever Christ is our
   Saviour, that doubtless excludes our being our own saviours in that
   same respect. If we can be our own saviours in the same respect that
   Christ is, it will thence follow, that the salvation of Christ is
   needless in that respect; according to the apostle's reasoning, Gal. v.
   4. "Christ is rendered of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are
   justified by the law." Doubtless, it is Christ's prerogative to be our
   Saviour in that sense wherein he is our Saviour. And therefore, if it
   be by his obedience that we are justified, then it is not by our own
   obedience.

   Here perhaps it may be said, that a title to salvation is not directly
   given as the reward of our obedience; for that is not by any thing of
   ours, but only by Christ's satisfaction and righteousness; but yet an
   interest in that satisfaction and righteousness if given as a reward of
   our obedience.

   But this does not at all help the case; for this is to ascribe as much
   to our obedience as if we ascribed salvation to it directly, without
   the intervention of Christ's righteousness. For it would be as a great
   thing for God to give us Christ, and his satisfaction and
   righteousness, in reward for our obedience, as to give us heaven
   immediately; it would be as great a reward, and as great a testimony of
   respect to our obedience. And if God gives as great a thing as
   salvation for our obedience, why could he not as well give salvation
   itself directly? and then there would have been no need of Christ's
   righteousness. And indeed if God gives us Christ, or an interest in
   him, properly in reward of our obedience, he does really give us
   salvation in reward for our obedience: for the former implies the
   latter; yea, it implies it, as the greater implies the less. So that
   indeed it exalts our virtue and obedience more, to suppose that God
   gives us Christ in reward of that virtue and obedience, than if he
   should give salvation without Christ.

   The thing that the Scripture guards and militates against, is our
   imagining that it is our own goodness, virtue, or excellency that
   instates us in God's acceptance and favour. But to suppose that God
   gives us an interest in Christ in reward for our virtue, is as great an
   argument that it instates us in God's favour, as if he bestowed a title
   to eternal life as its direct reward. If God gives us an interest in
   Christ as a reward of our obedience, it will then follow, that we are
   instated in God's acceptance and favour by our own obedience,
   antecedent to our having an interest in Christ. For a rewarding any
   one's excellency, evermore supposes favour and acceptance on the
   account of that excellency: it is the very notion of a reward, that it
   is a good thing, bestowed in testimony of respect and favour for the
   virtue or excellency rewarded. So that it is not by virtue of our
   interest in Christ and his merits, that we first come into favour with
   God, according to this scheme; for we are in God's favour before we
   have any interest in those merits; in that we have an interest in those
   merits given as a fruit of God's favour for our own virtue. If our
   interest in Christ be the fruit of God's favour, then it cannot be the
   ground of it. If God did not accept us, and had no favour for us for
   our own excellency, he never would bestow so great a reward upon us, as
   a right in Christ's satisfaction and righteousness. So that such a
   scheme destroys itself; for it supposes that Christ's satisfaction and
   righteousness are necessary for us to recommend us to the favour of
   God; and yet supposes that we have God's favour and acceptance before
   we have Christ's satisfaction and righteousness, and have these given
   as a fruit of God's favour.

   Indeed, neither salvation itself, nor Christ the Saviour, are given as
   a reward of any thing in man: they are not given as a reward of faith,
   nor any thing else of ours: we are not united to Christ as a reward of
   our faith, but have union with him by faith, only as faith is the very
   act of uniting or closing on our part. As when a man offers himself to
   a woman in marriage, he does not give himself to her as a reward of her
   receiving him in marriage. Her receiving him is not considered as a
   worthy deed in her for which he rewards her by giving himself to her;
   but it is by her receiving him that the union is made, by which she
   hath him for her husband. It is on her part the unition itself. By
   these things it appears how contrary to the gospel of Christ their
   scheme is, who say that faith justifies as a principle of obedience, or
   as a leading act of obedience; or (as others) the sum and comprehension
   of all evangelical obedience. For by this, the obedience or virtue that
   is in faith gives it its justifying influence; and that is the same
   thing as to say, that we are justified by our own obedience, virtue, or
   goodness.

   Having thus considered the evidence of the truth of the doctrine, I
   proceed now to the

   III. Thing proposed, viz. "To show in what sense the act of a christian
   life, or of evangelical obedience, may be looked upon to be concerned
   in this affair."

   From what has been said already, it is manifest that they cannot have
   any concern in this affair as good works, or by virtue of any moral
   goodness in them; not as works of the law, or as that moral excellency,
   or any part of it, which is the fulfilment of that great, universal,
   and everlasting law or covenant of works which the great lawgiver has
   established, as the highest and unalterable rule of judgment, which
   Christ alone answers, or does any thing towards it.

   It having been shown out of the Scripture, that it is only by faith, or
   the soul's receiving and uniting to the Saviour who has wrought our
   righteousness, that we are justified; it therefore remains, that the
   acts of a christian life cannot be concerned in this affair any
   otherwise than as they imply, and are the expressions of, faith, and
   may be looked upon as so many acts of reception of Christ the Saviour.
   But the determining what concerns acts of christian obedience can have
   in justification in this respect, will depend on the resolving of
   another point, viz. Whether any other act of faith besides the first
   act, has any concern in our justification, or how far perseverance in
   faith, or the continued and renewed acts of faith, have influence in
   this affair. And it seems manifest that justification is by the first
   act of faith, in some respects, in a peculiar manner, because a sinner
   is actually and finally justified as soon as he has performed one act
   of faith; and faith in its first act does, virtually at least, depend
   on God for perseverance, and entitles to this among other benefits. But
   yet the perseverance of faith is not excluded in this affair; it is not
   only certainly connected with justification, but it is not to be
   excluded from that on which the justification of a sinner has a
   dependence, or that by which he is justified.

   I have shown that the way in which justification has a dependence on
   faith, is, that it is the qualification on which the congruity of an
   interest in the righteousness of Christ depends, or wherein such a
   fitness consists. But the consideration of the perseverance of faith
   cannot be excluded out of this congruity or fitness, for it is
   congruous that he that believes in Christ should have an interest in
   Christ's righteousness, and so in the eternal benefits purchased by it,
   because faith is that by which the soul hath union or oneness with
   Christ; and there is a natural congruity in it, that they who are one
   with Christ should have a joint interest with him in his eternal
   benefits; but yet this congruity depends on its being an abiding union.
   As it is needful that the branch should abide in the vine, in order to
   its receiving the lasting benefits of the root; so it is necessary that
   the soul should abide in Christ, in order to its receiving those
   lasting benefits of God's final acceptance and favour. John xv. 6, 7.
   "If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch. If ye abide in
   me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall
   be done unto you." Ver. 9, 10. "Continue ye in my love. If ye keep (or
   abide in) my commandments, ye shall abide in my love: even as I have
   kept my Father's commandments, and abide in his love." There is the
   same reason why it is necessary that the union with Christ should
   remain, as why it should be begun; why it should continue to be, as why
   it should once be. If it should be begun without remaining, the
   beginning would be in vain. In order to the soul's being now in a
   justified state, and now free from condemnation, it is necessary that
   it should now be in Christ, and not merely that it should once have
   been in him. Rom. viii. 1. "There is no condemnation to them which are
   in Christ Jesus." The soul is saved in Christ, as being now in him,
   when the salvation is bestowed, and not merely as remembering that it
   once was in him. Philip. iii. 9. "That I may be found in him, not
   having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is
   through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by
   faith." 1 John ii. 28. "And now, little children, abide in him; that
   when he shall appear, we may have confidence, and not be ashamed before
   him at his coming." In order to persons being blessed after death, it
   is necessary not only that they should once be in him, but that they
   should die in him. Rev. xiv. 13. "Blessed are the dead that die in the
   Lord."--And there is the same reason why faith, the uniting
   qualification, should remain, in order to the union's once being.

   So that although the sinner is actually and finally justified on the
   first acts of faith, yet the perseverance of faith, even then, comes
   into consideration, as one thing on which the fitness of acceptance to
   life depends. God, in the act of justification, which is passed on a
   sinner's first believing, has respect to perseverance, as being
   virtually contained in that first act of faith; and it is looked upon,
   and taken by him that justifies, as being as it were a property in that
   faith. God has respect to the believer's continuance in faith, and he
   is justified by that, as though it already were, because by divine
   establishment it shall follow; and it being by divine constitution
   connected with that first faith, as much as if it were a property in
   it, it is then considered as such, and so justification is not
   suspended; but were it not for this, it would be needful that is should
   be suspended, till the sinner had actually persevered in faith.

   And that it is so, that God in the act of final justification which he
   passes at the sinner's conversion, has respect to perseverance in
   faith, and future acts of faith, as being virtually implied in the
   first act, is further manifest by this, viz. That in a sinner's
   justification, at his conversion there is virtually contained a
   forgiveness as to eternal and deserved punishment, not only of all past
   sins, but also of all future infirmities and acts of sin that they
   shall be guilty of; because that first justification is decisive and
   final. And yet pardon, in the order of nature, properly follows the
   crime, and also follows those acts of repentance and faith that respect
   the crime pardoned, as is manifest both from reason and Scripture.
   David, in the beginning of Psalm xxxii. speaks of the forgiveness of
   sins which were doubtless committed long after he was first godly, as
   being consequent on those sins, and on his repentance and faith with
   respect to them; and yet this forgiveness is spoken of by the apostle
   in the 4th of Romans, as an instance of justification by faith.
   Probably the sin David there speaks of is the same that he committed in
   the matter of Uriah, and so the pardon the same with that release from
   death, or eternal punishment, which the prophet Nathan speaks of , 2
   Sam. xii. 13. "The Lord also hath put away thy sin; thou shalt not
   die." Not only does the manifestation of this pardon follow the sin in
   the order of time, but the pardon itself, in the order of nature,
   follows David's repentance and faith with respect to this sin; for it
   is spoken of in the Psalm xxxii., as depending on it.

   But inasmuch as a sinner, in his first justification, is for ever
   justified and freed from all obligations to eternal punishment; it
   hence of necessity follows, that future faith and repentance are
   beheld, in that justification, as virtually contained in that first
   faith and repentance; because repentance of those future sins, and
   faith in a Redeemer, with respect to them, or, at least, the
   continuance of that habit and principle in the heart that has such an
   actual repentance and faith in its nature and tendency, is now made
   sure by God's promise.--If remission of sins, committed after
   conversion, in the order of nature, follows that faith and repentance
   that is after them, then it follows that future sins are respected in
   the first justification, no otherwise than as future faith and
   repentance are respected in it. And future repentance and faith are
   looked upon by him that justifies, as virtually implied in the first
   repentance and faith, in the same manner as justification from future
   sins is virtually implied in the first justification; which is the
   thing that was to be proved.

   And besides, if no other act of faith could be concerned in
   justification but the first act, it will then follow, that Christians
   ought never to seek justification by any other act of faith. For if
   justification is not to be obtained by after acts of faith, then surely
   it is not a duty to seek it by such acts: and so it can never be a duty
   for persons after they are once converted, by faith to seek to God, or
   believingly to look to him, for the remission of sin, or deliverance
   from the guilt of it, because deliverance from the guilt of sin is part
   of what belongs to justification. And if it be not proper for converts
   by faith to look to God through Christ for it, then it will follow,
   that it is not proper for them to pray for it; for christian prayer to
   God for a blessing, is but an expression of faith in God for that
   blessing; prayer is only the voice of faith. But if these things are
   so, it will follow that the petition of the Lord's prayer, forgive us
   our debts, is not proper to be put up by disciples of Christ, or to be
   used in christian assemblies; and that Christ improperly directed his
   disciples to use that petition, when they were all of them, except
   Judas, converted before. The debt that Christ directs his disciples to
   pray for the forgiveness of, can mean nothing else but the punishment
   that sin deserves, or the debt that we owe to divine justice, the ten
   thousand talents we owe our Lord. To pray that God would forgive our
   debts, is undoubtedly the same thing as to pray that God would release
   us from obligation to due punishment; but releasing from obligation to
   the punishment due to sin, and forgiving the debt that we owe to divine
   justice, is what appertains to justification.

   And then to suppose that no after acts of faith are concerned in the
   business of justification, and so that it is not proper for any ever to
   seek justification by such acts, would be for ever to cut off those
   Christians that are doubtful concerning their first act of faith, from
   the joy and peace of believing. As the business of a justifying faith
   is to obtain pardon and peace with God, by looking to God, and trusting
   in him for these blessings; so the joy and peace of that faith is in
   the apprehension of pardon and peace obtained by such a trust. This a
   Christian that is doubtful of his first act of faith cannot have from
   that act, because, by the supposition, he is doubtful whether it be an
   act of faith, and so whether he did obtain pardon and peace by that
   act. The proper remedy, in such a case, is now by faith to look to God
   in Christ for these blessings; but he is cut off from this remedy,
   because he is uncertain whether he has warranted so to do; for he does
   not know but that he has believed already; and if so, then he has no
   warrant to look to God by faith for these blessings now, because, by
   the supposition, no new act of faith is a proper means of obtaining
   these blessings. And so he can never properly obtain the joy of faith;
   for there are acts of true faith that are very weak, and the first act
   may be so as well as others: it may be like the first motion of the
   infant in the womb; it may be so weak an act, that the Christian, by
   examining it, may never be able to determine whether it was a true act
   of faith or no; and it is evident from fact, and abundant experience,
   that many Christians are for ever at a loss to determine which was
   their first act of faith. And those saints who have had a good degree
   of satisfaction concerning their faith, may be subject to great
   declensions and falls, in which case they are liable to great fears of
   eternal punishment; and the proper way of deliverance, is to forsake
   their sin by repentance, and by faith now to come to Christ for
   deliverance from the deserved eternal punishment; but this it would not
   be, if deliverance from that punishment was not this way to be
   obtained.

   But what is a still more plain and direct evidence of what I am now
   arguing for, is, that the act of faith which Abraham exercised in the
   great promise of the covenant of grace that God made to him, of which
   it is expressly said, Gal. iii. 6. "It was accounted to him for
   righteousness"--the grand instance and proof that the apostle so much
   insists upon throughout the 4th chapter of Romans, and 3d chapter of
   Galatians, to confirm his doctrine of justification by faith alone--was
   not Abraham's first act of faith, but was exerted long after he had by
   faith forsaken his own country, Heb. xi. 8. and had been treated as an
   eminent friend of God.

   Moreover, the apostle Paul, in the 3d chapter of Philip. tells us how
   earnestly he sought justification by faith, or to win Christ and obtain
   that righteousness which was by the faith of him, in what he did after
   his conversion. Verse 8, 9. "For whom I have suffered the loss of all
   things, and do count them but dung that I may win Christ, and be found
   in him, not having mine own righteousness which is of the law, but that
   which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God
   by faith." And in the two next verses he expresses the same thing in
   other words, and tells us how he went through sufferings, and became
   conformable to Christ's death, that he might be a partaker with Christ
   in the benefit of his resurrection; which the same apostle elsewhere
   teaches us, is especially justification. Christ's resurrection was his
   justification; in this, he that was put to death in the flesh, was
   justified by the Spirit; and he that was delivered for our offences,
   rose again for our justification. And the apostle tells us in the
   verses that follow in that 3d chapter of Philippians, that he thus
   sought to attain the righteousness which is through the faith of
   Christ, and so to partake of the benefit of his resurrection, still as
   though he had not already attained, but that he continued to follow
   after it.

   On the whole, it appears, that the perseverance of faith is necessary,
   even to the congruity of justification; and that not the less, because
   the sinner is justified, and perseverance promised, on the first act of
   faith, but God, in that justification, has respect, not only to the
   past act of faith, but to his own promise of future acts, and to the
   fitness of a qualification beheld as yet only in his own promise. And
   that perseverance in faith is thus necessary to salvation, not merely
   as a sine qua non, nor as an universal concomitant of it, but by reason
   of such an influence and dependence, seems manifest by many scriptures:
   I would mention two or three; Heb. iii. 6. "Whose house are we, if we
   hold fast the confidence, and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the
   end." Verse 14. "For we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the
   beginning of our confidence stedfast unto the end." Chap. vi. 12. "Be
   ye followers of them, who through faith and patience inherit the
   promises." Rom. xi. 20. "Well, because of unbelief they were broken
   off; but thou standest by faith. Be not high minded, but fear."

   And, as the congruity to a final justification depends on perseverance
   in faith, as well as the first act, so oftentimes the manifestation of
   justification in the conscience, arises as great deal more from after
   acts, than the first act. And all the difference whereby the first act
   of faith has a concern in this affair that is peculiar, seems to be, as
   it were, only an accidental difference, arising from the circumstance
   of time, or its being first in order of time; and not from any peculiar
   respect that God has to it, or any influence it has of a peculiar
   nature, in the affair of our salvation.

   And thus it is that a truly christian walk, and the acts of an
   evangelical, child-like, believing obedience, are concerned in the
   affair of our justification, and seem to be sometimes so spoken of in
   Scripture, viz. as an expression of a persevering faith in the Son of
   God, the only Saviour. Faith unites to Christ, and so gives a congruity
   to justification, not merely as remaining a dormant principle in the
   heart, but as being and appearing in its active expressions. The
   obedience of a Christian, so far as it is truly evangelical, and
   performed with the Spirit of the Son sent forth into the heart, has all
   relation to Christ, the Mediator, and is but an expression of the
   soul's believing unition to Christ. All evangelical works are works of
   that faith that worketh by love; and every such act of obedience,
   wherein it is inward, and the act of the soul, is only a new effective
   act of reception of Christ, and adherence to the glorious Saviour.
   Hence that of the apostle, Gal. ii.20. "I live; yet not I, but Christ
   liveth in me; and the life that I now live in the flesh, is by the
   faith of the Son of God." And hence we are directed, in whatever we do,
   whether in word or deed, to do all in the name of the Lord Jesus
   Christ, Col. iii.17.

   And that God in justification has respect, not only to the first act of
   faith, but also to future persevering acts, as expressed in life, seems
   manifest by Rom. i. 17. For therein is the righteousness of God
   revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, "The just shall live by
   faith." And Heb. x.38, 39. "Now the just shall live by faith; but if
   any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him. But we are
   not of them who draw back unto perdition; but of them that believe, to
   the saving of the soul."

   So that as was before said of faith, so may it be said of a child-like
   believing obedience, it has no concern in justification by any virtue
   or excellency in it; but only as there is a reception of Christ in it.
   And this is no more contrary to the apostle's frequent assertion of our
   being justified without the works of the law, than to say that we are
   justified by faith; for faith is as much a work, or act of christian
   obedience, as the expressions of faith, in spiritual life and walk. And
   therefore, as we say that faith does not justify as a work, so we say
   of all these effective expressions of faith.

   This is the reverse of the scheme of our modern divines, who hold, that
   faith justifies only as an act or expression of obedience; whereas, in
   truth, obedience has no concern in justification, any otherwise than as
   an expression of faith.

   I now proceed to the

   IV. Thing proposed, viz. To answer objections.

   Object. 1. We frequently find promises of eternal life and salvation,
   and sometimes of justification itself, made our own virtue and
   obedience. Eternal life is promised to obedience, in Rom. ii.7. "To
   them, who by patient continuance in well doing, seek for glory, honour,
   and immortality; eternal life:" and the like in innumerable other
   places. And justification itself is promised to that virtue of a
   forgiving spirit or temper in us, Matt. vi.14. "For, if ye forgive men
   their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you: but if ye
   forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your
   trespasses." All allow that justification in great part consists in the
   forgiveness of sins.

   To this I answer,

   1. These things being promised to our virtue and obedience, argues no
   more, that that there is a connexion between them and evangelical
   obedience; which, I have already observed, is not the thing in dispute.
   All that can be proved by obedience and salvation being connected in
   the promise, is, that obedience and salvation are connected in fact;
   which nobody denies; and whether it be owned or denied, is, as has been
   shown, nothing to the purpose. There is no need that an admission to a
   title to salvation, should be given on the account of our obedience, in
   order to the promises being true. If we find such a promise, that he
   that obeys shall be saved, or he that is holy shall be justified; all
   that is needful, in order to such promises being true, is, that it be
   really so, that he that obeys shall be saved, and that holiness and
   justification shall indeed go together. That proposition may be a
   truth, that he that obeys shall be saved; because obedience and
   salvation are connected together in fact; and yet an acceptance to a
   title to salvation not be granted upon the account of any of our own
   virtue or obedience. What is a promise, but only a declaration of
   future truth, for the comfort and encouragement of the person to whom
   it is declared? Promises are conditional propositions; and, as has been
   already observed, it is not the thing in dispute, whether other things
   besides faith may not have the place of the condition in such
   propositions wherein pardon and salvation are the consequent.

   2. Promises may rationally be made to signs and evidences of faith, and
   yet the thing promised not be upon the account of the sign, but the
   thing signified. Thus, for instance, human government may rationally
   make promises of such and such privileges to those that can show such
   evidences of their being free of such a city, or members of such a
   corporation, or descended of such a family; when it is not at all for
   the sake of that which is the evidence or sign, in itself considered,
   that they are admitted to such a privilege, but only and purely for the
   sake of that which it is an evidence of. And though God does not stand
   in need of signs to know whether we have true faith or not, yet our own
   consciences do; so that it is much for our comfort that promises are
   made to signs of faith. Finding in ourselves a forgiving temper and
   disposition, may be a most proper and natural evidence to our
   consciences, that our hearts have, in a sense of our own utter
   unworthiness, truly closed and fallen in with the way of free and
   infinitely gracious forgiveness of our sins by Jesus Christ; whence we
   may be enabled, with the greater comfort, to apply to ourselves the
   promises of forgiveness by Christ.

   3. It has been just now shown, how that acts of evangelical obedience
   are indeed concerned in our justification itself, and are not excluded
   from that condition that justification depends upon, without the least
   prejudice to that doctrine of justification by faith, without any
   goodness of our own, that has been maintained; and therefore it can be
   no objection against this doctrine, that we have sometimes in Scripture
   promises of pardon and acceptance made to such acts of obedience.

   4. Promises of particular benefits implied in justification and
   salvation, may especially be fitly made to such expressions and
   evidences of faith as they have a peculiar natural likeness and
   suitableness to. As forgiveness is promised to a forgiving spirit in
   us; obtaining mercy is fitly promised to mercifulness in us, and the
   like; and that upon several accounts, they are the most natural
   evidences of our heart's closing with those benefits by faith; for they
   do especially show the sweet accord and consent that there is between
   the heart and these benefits; and by reason of the natural likeness
   that there is between the virtue and the benefit, the one has the
   greater tendency to bring the other to mind; the practice of the virtue
   tends the more to renew the sense, and refresh the hope, of the
   blessing promised; and also to convince the conscience of the justice
   of being denied the benefit, if the duty be neglected. Besides the
   sense and manifestation of divine forgiveness in our own
   consciences--yea, and may exercises of God's forgiving mercy, (as it
   respects God's fatherly displeasure,) granted after justification,
   through the course of a Christian's life--may be given as the proper
   rewards of a forgiving spirit, and yet this not be at all to the
   prejudice of the doctrine we have maintained; as will more fully
   appear, when we come to answer another objection hereafter to be
   mentioned.

   Object. 2. Our own obedience, and inherent holiness, is necessary to
   prepare men for heaven; and therefore is doubtless what recommends
   persons to God's acceptance, as the heirs of heaven.

   To this I answer,

   1. Our own obedience being necessary in order to a preparation for an
   actual bestowment of glory, is no argument that it is the thing upon
   the account of which we are accepted to a right to it. God may, and
   does do many things to prepare the saints for glory, after he has
   accepted them as the heirs of glory. A parent may do much to prepare a
   child for an inheritance in its education, after the child is an heir;
   yea, there are many things necessary to fit a child for the actual
   possession of the inheritance, yet not necessary in order to its having
   a right to the inheritance.

   2. If every thing that is necessary to prepare men for glory must be
   the proper condition of justification, then perfect holiness is the
   condition of justification. Men must be made perfectly holy, before
   they are admitted to the enjoyment of the blessedness of heaven; for
   there must in no wise enter in there any spiritual defilement. And
   therefore, when a saint dies, he leaves all his sin and corruption when
   he leaves the body.

   Object. 3. Our obedience is not only indissolubly connected with
   salvation, and preparatory to it, but the Scripture expressly speaks of
   bestowing eternal blessings as rewards for the good deeds of the
   saints. Matt. x. 42. "Whosoever shall give to drink unto one of these
   little ones a cup of cold water only, in the name of a disciple, he
   shall in no wise lose his reward." 1 Cor. iii. 8. "Every man shall
   receive his own reward, according to his own labour." And in many other
   places. This seems to militate against the doctrine that has been
   maintained, two ways: (1.) The bestowing a reward, carries in it a
   respect to a moral fitness in the thing rewarded to the reward; the
   very notion of a reward being a benefit bestowed in testimony of
   acceptance of, and respect to, the goodness or amiableness of some
   qualification or work in the person rewarded. Besides, the Scripture
   seems to explain itself in this matter, in Rev. iii. 4. "Thou hast a
   few names, even in Sardis, which have not defiled their garments; and
   they shall walk with me in white; for they are worthy." This is here
   given as the reason why they should have such a reward, "because they
   were worthy;" which, though we suppose it to imply no proper merit, yet
   it at least implies a moral fitness, or that the excellency of their
   virtue in God's sight recommends them to such a reward; which seems
   directly repugnant to what has been supposed, viz. that we are
   accepted, and approved of God, as the heirs of salvation, not out of
   regard to the excellency of our own virtue or goodness, or any moral
   fitness therein to such a reward, but only on account of the dignity
   and moral fitness of Christ's righteousness. (2.) Our being eternally
   rewarded for our own holiness and good works, necessarily supposes that
   our future happiness will be greater or smaller, in some proportion as
   our own holiness and obedience is more or less; and that there are
   different degrees of glory, according to different degrees of virtue
   and good works, is a doctrine very expressly and frequently taught us
   in Scripture. But this seems quite inconsistent with the saints all
   having their future blessedness as a reward of Christ's righteousness:
   for if Christ's righteousness be imputed to all, and this be what
   entitles each one to glory, then it is the same righteousness that
   entitles one to glory which entitles another. But if all have glory as
   the reward of the same righteousness, why have not all the same glory?
   Does not the same righteousness merit as much glory when imputed to one
   as when imputed to another?

   In answer to the first part of this objection, I would observe, that it
   does not argue that we are justified by our good deeds, that we shall
   have eternal blessings in reward for them; for it is in consequence of
   our justification, that our good deeds become rewardable with spiritual
   and eternal rewards. The acceptableness, and so the rewardableness, of
   our virtue, is not antecedent to justification, but follows it, and is
   built entirely upon it; which is the reverse of what those in the
   adverse scheme of justification suppose, viz. that justification is
   built on the acceptableness and reward of our virtue. They suppose that
   a saving interest in Christ is given as a reward of our virtue, or,
   (which is the same thing,) as a testimony of God's acceptance of our
   excellency in our virtue. But the contrary is true; that God's respect
   to our virtue as our amiableness in his sight, and his acceptance of it
   as rewardable, is entirely built on our interest in Christ already
   established. So that the relation to Christ, whereby believers in
   scripture language are said to be in Christ, is the very foundation of
   our virtues and good deeds being accepted of God, and so of their being
   rewarded; for a reward is a testimony of acceptance. For we, and all
   that we do, are accepted only in the beloved, Eph. i.6. Our sacrifices
   are acceptable, only through our interest in him, and through his
   worthiness and preciousness being, as it were, made ours. 1 Pet. ii. 4,
   5. "To whom coming, as unto a living stone, disallowed indeed of men,
   but chosen of God, and precious. Ye also as lively stones, are built up
   a spiritual house, an holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices,
   acceptable to God by Jesus Christ." Here being actually built on this
   stone, precious to God, is mentioned as all the ground of the
   acceptableness of our good works to God, and their becoming also
   precious in his eyes. So, Heb. xiii. 21. "Make you perfect in every
   good work to do his will, working in you that which is well pleasing in
   his sight, through Jesus Christ." And hence we are directed, whatever
   we offer to God, to offer it in Christ's name, as expecting to have it
   accepted no other way, than from the value that God has to that name.
   Col. iii. 17. "And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name
   of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him." To act
   in Christ's name, is to act under him as our head, and as having him to
   stand for us, and represent us to God-ward.

   The reason of this may be seen from what has been already said, to show
   it is not meet that any thing in us should be accepted of God as any
   excellency of our persons, until we are actually in Christ, and
   justified through him. The loveliness of the virtue of fallen creatures
   is nothing in the sight of God, till he beholds them in Christ, and
   clothed with his righteousness. 1. Because till then we stand condemned
   before God, by his own holy law, to his utter rejection and abhorrence.
   And, 2. Because we are infinitely guilty before him; and the loveliness
   of our virtue bears no proportion to our guilt, and must therefore pass
   for nothing before a strict judge. And, 3. Because our good deeds and
   virtuous acts themselves are in a sense corrupt; and the hatefulness of
   the corruption of them, if we are beheld as we are in ourselves, or
   separate from Christ, infinitely outweighs the loveliness of the good
   that is in them. So that if no other sin was considered but only that
   which attends the act of virtue itself, the loveliness vanishes into
   nothing in comparison of it; and therefore the virtue must pass for
   nothing, out of Christ. Not only are our best duties defiled, in being
   attended with the exercises of sin and corruption which precede,
   follow, and are intermingled with them; but even the holy acts
   themselves, and the gracious exercises of the godly, are defective.
   Though the act most simply considered is good, yet take the acts in
   their measure and dimensions, and the manner in which they are exerted,
   and they are sinfully defective; there is that defect in them that may
   well be called the corruption of them. That defect is properly sin, an
   expression of a vile sinfulness of heart, and what tends to provoke the
   just anger of God: not because the exercise of love and other grace is
   not equal to God's loveliness; for it is impossible the love of
   creatures (men or angels) should be so; but because the act is so very
   disproportionate to the occasion given for love or other grace,
   considering God's loveliness, the manifestation that is made of it, the
   exercises of kindness, the capacity of human nature, and our advantages
   (and the like) together.--A negative expression of corruption may be as
   truly sin, and as just cause of provocation, as a positive. Thus if a
   worthy and excellent person should, from mere generosity and goodness,
   exceedingly lay out himself, and with great expense and suffering save
   another's life, or redeem him from some extreme calamity; and if that
   other person should never thank him for it, or express the least
   gratitude any way; this would be a negative expression of his
   ingratitude and baseness; but is equivalent to an act of ingratitude,
   or positive exercise of a base unworthy spirit; and is truly an
   expression of it, and brings as much blame as if he by some positive
   act had much injured another person. And so it would be (only in a
   lesser degree) if the gratitude was but very small, bearing no
   proportion to the benefit and obligation: as if, for so great and
   extraordinary a kindness, he should express no more gratitude than
   would have been becoming towards a person who had only given him a cup
   of water when thirsty, or shown him the way in a journey when at a
   loss, or had done him some such small kindness. If he should come to
   his benefactor to express his gratitude, and should do after this
   manner, he might truly be said to act unworthily and odiously; he would
   show a most ungrateful spirit. His doing after such a manner might
   justly be abhorred by all; and yet the gratitude, that little there is
   of it, most simply considered, and so far as it goes, is good. And so
   it is with respect to our exercise of love, and gratitude, and other
   graces, towards God; they are defectively corrupt and sinful, and, take
   them as they are, in their manner and measure, might justly be odious
   and provoking to God, and would necessarily be so, were we beheld out
   of Christ. For in that this defect is sin, it is infinitely hateful;
   and so the hatefulness of the very act infinitely outweighs the
   loveliness of it; because all sin has infinite hatefulness and
   heinousness; but our holiness has but little value and loveliness, as
   has been elsewhere demonstrated.

   Hence, though it be true that the saints are rewarded for their good
   works, yet it is for Christ's sake only, and not for the excellency of
   their works in themselves considered, or beheld separately from Christ;
   for so they have no excellency in God's sight, or acceptableness to
   him, as has now been shown. It is acknowledged that God, in rewarding
   the holiness and good works of believers, does in some respect give
   them happiness as a testimony of his respect to the loveliness of their
   holiness and good works in his sight; for that is the very notion of a
   reward. But it is in a very different sense from what would have been
   if man had not fallen; which would have been to bestow eternal life on
   man, as a testimony of God's respect to the loveliness of what man did,
   considered as in itself, and as in man separately by himself, and not
   beheld as a member of Christ. In which sense also, the scheme of
   justification we are opposing necessarily supposes the excellency of
   our virtue to be respected and rewarded; for it supposes a saving
   interest in Christ itself to be given as a reward of it.

   Two things come to pass, relating to the saints' reward for their
   inherent righteousness, by virtue of their relation to Christ. 1. The
   guilt of their persons is all done away, and the pollution and
   hatefulness that attends and is in their good works, is hid. 2. Their
   relation to Christ adds a positive value and dignity to their good
   works in God's sight. That little holiness, and those faint and feeble
   acts of love, and other grace, receive an exceeding value in the sight
   of God, by virtue of God's beholding them as in Christ, and as it were
   members of one so infinitely worthy in his eyes; and that because God
   looks upon the persons as of greater dignity on this account. Isa.
   xliii .4. "Since thou was precious in my sight, thou hast been
   honourable." God, for Christ's sake, and because they are members of
   his own righteousness and dear Son, sets an exceeding value upon their
   persons; and hence it follows, that he also sets a great value upon
   their good acts and offering. The same love and obedience in a person
   of greater dignity and value in God's sight, is more valuable in his
   eyes than in one of less dignity. Love is valuable in proportion to the
   dignity of the person whose love it is; because, so far as any one
   gives his love to another, he gives himself, in that he gives his
   heart. But this is a more excellent offering, in proportion as the
   person whose self is offered is more worth. Believers are become
   immensely more honourable in God's esteem by virtue of their relation
   to Christ, than man would have been considered as by himself, though he
   had been free from sin; as a mean person becomes more honourable when
   married to a king. Hence God will probably reward the little weak love,
   and poor and exceeding imperfect obedience of believers in Christ, with
   more glorious reward than he would have done Adam's perfect obedience.
   According to the tenor of the first covenant, the person was to be
   accepted and rewarded, only for the work's sake; but by the covenant of
   grace, the work is accepted and rewarded, only for the person's sake;
   the person being beheld antecedently as a member of Christ, and clothed
   with his righteousness. So that though the saints' inherent holiness is
   rewarded, yet this very reward is indeed not the less founded on the
   worthiness and righteousness of Christ. None of the value that their
   works have in his sight, nor any of the acceptance they have with him,
   is out of Christ, and out of his righteousness; but his worthiness as
   mediator is the prime and only foundation on which all is built, and
   the universal source whence all arises. God indeed doth great things
   out of regard to the saints' loveliness, but it is only as a secondary
   and derivative loveliness. When I speak of a derivative loveliness, I
   do not mean only, that the qualifications themselves accepted as
   lovely, are derived from Christ, from his power and purchase; but that
   the acceptance of them as a loveliness, and all the value that is set
   upon them, and all their connexion with the reward, is founded in, and
   derived from, Christ's righteousness and worthiness.

   If we suppose that not only higher degrees of glory in heaven, but
   heaven itself, is in some respect given in reward for the holiness and
   good works of the saints, in this secondary an derivative sense, it
   will not prejudice the doctrine we have maintained. It is no way
   impossible that God may bestow heaven's glory wholly out of respect to
   Christ's righteousness, and yet in reward for man's inherent holiness,
   in different respects, and different ways. It may be only Christ's
   righteousness that God has respect to, for its own sake, the
   independent acceptableness and dignity of it being sufficient of itself
   to recommend all that believe in Christ to a title to this glory; and
   so it may be only by this that persons enter into a title to heaven, or
   have their prime right to it: and yet God may also have respect to the
   saints' own holiness, for Christ's sake, and as deriving a value from
   Christ's merit, which he may testify in bestowing heaven upon them. The
   saints being beheld as members of Christ, their obedience is looked
   upon by God as something of Christ's, it being the obedience of the
   members of Christ; as the sufferings of the members of Christ are
   looked upon, in some respect, as the sufferings of Christ. Hence the
   apostle, speaking of his sufferings, says, Col. i.24. "Who now rejoice
   in my suffering for you, and fill up that which is behind of the
   afflictions of Christ in my flesh." To the same purpose is Matt. xxv.
   35, &c. I was an hungred, naked, sick, and in prison, &c. And so that
   in Rev. xi. 8. "And their dead bodies shall lie in the street of the
   great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our
   Lord was crucified."

   By the merit and righteousness of Christ, such favour of God towards
   the believer may be obtained, as that God may hereby be already, as it
   were, disposed to make them perfectly and eternally happy. But yet this
   does not hinder, but that God in his wisdom may choose to bestow this
   perfect and eternal happiness in this way, viz. in some respect as a
   reward of their holiness and obedience. It is not impossible but that
   the blessedness may be bestowed as a reward for that which is done
   after that an interest is already obtained in that favour, which (to
   speak of God after the manner of men) disposes God to bestow the
   blessedness. Our heavenly Father may already have that favour for a
   child, whereby he may be thoroughly ready to give the child an
   inheritance, because he is his child; which he is by the purchase of
   Christ's righteousness: and yet that the Father may choose to bestow
   the inheritance on the child in a way of reward for his dutifulness,
   and behaving in a manner becoming a child. And so great a reward may
   not be judged more than a meet reward for his dutifulness; but that so
   great a reward is judged meet, does not arise from the excellency of
   the obedience absolutely considered, but from his standing in so near
   and honourable a relation to God, as that of a child, which is obtained
   only by the righteousness of Christ. And thus the reward, and the
   greatness of it, arises properly from the righteousness of Christ;
   though it be indeed in some sort the reward of their obedience. As a
   father might justly esteem the inheritance no more than a meet reward
   for the obedience of his child, and yet esteem it more than a meet
   reward for the obedience of a servant. The favour whence a believer's
   heavenly Father bestows the eternal inheritance, and his title as an
   heir, is founded in that relation he stands in to him as a child,
   purchased by Christ's righteousness; though he in wisdom chooses to
   bestow it in such a way, and therein to testify his acceptance of the
   amiableness of his obedience in Christ.

   Believers having a title to heaven by faith antecedent to their
   obedience, or its being absolutely promised to them before, does not
   hinder but that the actual bestowment of heaven may also be a testimony
   of God's regard to their obedience, though performed afterwards. Thus
   it was with Abraham, the father and pattern of all believers: God
   bestowed upon him that blessing of multiplying his seed as the stars of
   heaven, and causing that in his seed all the families of the earth
   should be blessed, in reward for his obedience in offering up his son
   Isaac, Gen. xxii. 16, 17, 18. "And said, By myself have I sworn, saith
   the Lord, for because thou hast done this thing, and hast not withheld
   thy son, thine only son; that in blessing I will bless thee, and in
   multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of heaven, and as the
   sand which is upon the sea shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate
   of his enemies; and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be
   blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice." And yet the very same
   blessings had been from time to time promised to Abraham, in the most
   positive terms, and the promise, with great solemnity, confirmed and
   sealed to him; as chap. xii. 2, 3. chap. xiii. 16. chap. xv. 1, 4-7,
   &c. chap. xvii. throughout; chap. xviii. 10, 18.

   From what has been said we may easily solve the difficulty arising from
   that text in Rev. iii. 4. "They shall walk with me in white, for they
   are worthy;" which is parallel with that text in Luke xx. 35. "But they
   which shall be accounted worthy to obtain that world, and the
   resurrection from the dead." I allow (as in the objection) that this
   worthiness does doubtless denote a moral fitness to the reward, or that
   God looks on these glorious benefits as a meet testimony of his regard
   to the value which their persons and performances have in his sight.

   1. God looks on these glorious benefits as a meet testimony of his
   regard to the value which their persons have in his sight. But he sets
   this value upon their persons purely for Christ's sake. They are such
   jewels, and have such preciousness in his eyes, only because they are
   beheld in Christ, and by reason of the worthiness of the head they are
   the members of, and the stock they are grafted into. And the value that
   God sets upon them on this account is so great, that God thinks meet,
   from regard to it, to admit them to such exceeding glory. The saints,
   on account of their relation to Christ, are such precious jewels in
   God's sight, that they are thought worthy of a place in his own crown.
   Mal. iii. 17. Zech. ix. 16. So far as the saints are said to be
   valuable in God's sight, on whatever account, so far may they properly
   be said to be worthy, or meet for that honour which is answerable to
   the value or price which God sets upon them. A child or wife of a
   prince is worthy to be treated with great honour; and therefore if a
   mean person should be adopted to be a child of a prince, or should be
   espoused to a prince, it would be proper to say, that she was worthy of
   such and such honour and respect, and there would be no force upon the
   words in saying, that she ought to have such respect paid her, for she
   is worthy, though it be only on account of her relation to the prince
   that she is so.

   2. From the value God sets upon their persons, for the sake of Christ's
   worthiness, he also sets a high value on their virtue and performances.
   Their meek and quiet spirit is of great price in his sight. Their
   fruits are pleasant fruits, their offerings are an odour of sweet smell
   to him; and that because of the value he sets on their persons, as has
   been already observed and explained. This preciousness or high
   valuableness of believers is a moral fitness to a reward; and yet this
   valuableness is all in the righteousness of Christ, that is the
   foundation of it. The thing respected is not excellency in them
   separately by themselves, or in their virtue by itself, but the value
   in God's account arises from other considerations; which is the natural
   import of Luke xx. 35. "They which shall be accounted worthy to obtain
   that world," &c. and Luke xxi. 36. "That ye may be accounted worthy to
   escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before
   the Son of man." 2 Thess. i.5. "That ye may be counted worthy of the
   kingdom of God, for which ye also suffer."

   There is a vast difference between this scheme, and what is supposed in
   the scheme of those that oppose the doctrine of justification by faith
   alone. This lays the foundation of first acceptance with God, and all
   actual salvation consequent upon it, wholly in Christ and his
   righteousness. On the contrary, in their scheme, a regard to man's own
   excellency or virtue is supposed to be first, and to have the place of
   the first foundation in actual salvation, though not in that
   ineffectual redemption, which they suppose common to all. They lay the
   foundation of all discriminating salvation in man's own virtue and
   moral excellency. This is the very bottom stone in this affair; for
   they suppose that it is from regard to our virtue, that even a special
   interest in Christ itself is given. The foundation being thus contrary,
   the whole scheme becomes exceeding diverse and contrary; the one is
   utterly inconsistent with our being justified by Christ's
   righteousness, the other not at all.

   From what has been said, we may understand, not only how the
   forgiveness of sin granted in justification is indissolubly connected
   with a forgiving spirit in us, but how there may be many exercises of
   forgiving mercy granted in reward for our forgiving those who trespass
   against us. For none will deny but that there are many acts of divine
   forgiveness towards the saints, that do not presuppose an unjustified
   state immediately preceding that forgiveness. None will deny, that
   saints who never fell from a justified state, yet commit many sins
   which God forgives afterwards, by laying aside his fatherly
   displeasure. This forgiveness may be in reward for our forgiveness,
   without any prejudice to the doctrine that has been maintained, as well
   as other mercies and blessings consequent on justification.

   With respect to the second part of the objection, that relates to the
   different degrees of glory, and the seeming inconsistence there is in
   it, that the degrees of glory in different saints should be greater or
   lesser according to their inherent holiness and good works, and yet,
   that every one's glory should be purchased with the price of the very
   same imputed righteousness,--I answer, That Christ, by his
   righteousness, purchased for every one complete and perfect happiness,
   according to his capacity. But this does not hinder but that the
   saints, being of various capacities, may have various degrees of
   happiness, and yet all their happiness be the fruit of Christ's
   purchase. Indeed it cannot be properly said, that Christ purchased any
   particular degree of happiness, so that the value of Christ's
   righteousness in the sight of God, is sufficient to raise a believer so
   high in happiness, and no higher, and so that if the believer were made
   happier, it would exceed the value of Christ's righteousness; but in
   general, Christ purchased eternal life, or perfect happiness for all,
   according to their several capacities. The saints are as so many
   vessels of different sizes, cast into the sea of happiness, where every
   vessel is full; this Christ purchased for all. But after all, it is
   left to God's sovereign pleasure to determine the largeness of the
   vessel; Christ's righteousness meddles not with this matter. Eph. iv.
   4, 5, 6, 7. "There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called
   in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism,"
   &c.--"But unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure
   of the gift of Christ." God may dispense in this matter according to
   what rule he pleases, not the less for what Christ has done: he may
   dispense either without condition, or upon what condition he pleases to
   fix. It is evident that Christ's righteousness meddles not with this
   matter; for what Christ did was to fulfill the covenant of works; but
   the covenant of works did not meddle at all with this. If Adam had
   persevered in perfect obedience, he and his posterity would have had
   perfect and full happiness; every one's happiness would have so
   answered his capacity, that he would have been completely blessed; but
   God would have been at liberty to have made some of one capacity, and
   others of another, as he pleased.--The angels have obtained eternal
   life, or a state of confirmed glory, by a covenant of works, whose
   condition was perfect obedience; but yet some are higher in glory than
   others, according to the several capacities that God, according to his
   sovereign pleasure, hath given them. So that it being still left with
   God, notwithstanding the perfect obedience of the second Adam, to fix
   the degree of each one's capacity by what rule he pleases, he hath been
   pleased to fix the degree of capacity, and so of glory, by the
   proportion of the saints' grace and fruitfulness here. He gives higher
   degrees of glory, in reward for higher degrees of holiness and good
   works, because it pleases him; and yet all the happiness of each saint
   is indeed the fruit of the purchase of Christ's obedience. If it had
   been but one man that Christ had obeyed and died for, and it had please
   God to make him of a very large capacity, Christ's perfect obedience
   would have purchased that his capacity should be filled, and then all
   his happiness might properly be said to be the fruit of Christ's
   perfect obedience; though, if he had been of a less capacity, he would
   not have had so much happiness by the same obedience; and yet would
   have had as much as Christ merited for him. Christ's righteousness
   meddles not with the degree of happiness, any otherwise than as he
   merits that it should be full and perfect, according to the capacity;
   and so it may be said to be concerned in the degree of happiness, as
   perfect is a degree with respect to imperfect; but it meddles not with
   the degrees of perfect happiness.

   This matter may be yet better understood, if we consider that Christ
   and the whole church of saints are, as it were, one body, of which he
   is the Head, and they members of different place and capacity: now the
   whole body, head, and members, have communion in Christ's
   righteousness; they are all partakers of the benefit of it; Christ
   himself the Head is rewarded for it, and every member is partaker of
   the benefit and reward. But it does by no means follow, that every part
   should equally partake of the benefit, but every part in proportion to
   its place and capacity; the Head partakes of far more than other parts,
   and the more noble members partake of more than the inferior. As it is
   in a natural body that enjoys perfect health, the head, and the heart,
   and lungs, have a greater share of this health, they have it more
   seated in them, than the hands and feet, because they are parts of
   greater capacity; though the hands and feet are as much in perfect
   health as those nobler parts of the body. So it is in the mystical body
   of Christ, all the members are partakers of the benefit of the Head;
   but it is according to the different capacity and place they have in
   the body; and God determines that place and capacity as he pleases; he
   makes whom he pleases the foot, and whom he pleases the hand, and whom
   he pleases the lungs, &c. 1 Cor. xii. 18. "God hath set the members
   every one of them in the body, as it hath pleased him." God
   efficaciously determines the place and capacity of every member, by the
   different degrees of grace and assistance in the improvement of it in
   this world. Those that he intends for the highest place in the body, he
   gives them most of his Spirit, the greatest share of the divine nature,
   the Spirit and nature of Christ Jesus the Head, and that assistance
   whereby they perform the most excellent works, and do most abound in
   them.

   Object. 4. It may be objected against what has been supposed, (viz.
   That rewards are given to our good works, only in consequence of an
   interest in Christ, or in testimony of God's respect to the excellency
   or value of them in his sight, as built on an interest in Christ's
   righteousness already obtained,) That the Scripture speaks of an
   interest in Christ itself, as being given out of respect to our moral
   fitness. Matt. x.37, 38, 39. "He that loveth father or mother more than
   me, is not worthy of me: he that loveth son or daughter more than me,
   is not worthy of me: he that taketh not up his cross, and followeth
   after me, is not worthy of me: he that findeth his life, shall lose
   it," &c. Worthiness here at least signifies a moral fitness, or an
   excellency that recommends. And this place seems to intimate as though
   it were from respect to a moral fitness that men are admitted even to
   an union with Christ, and interest in him; and therefore this
   worthiness cannot be consequent on being in Christ, and by the
   imputation of his worthiness, or from any value that is in us, or in
   our actions in God's sight, as beheld in Christ.

   To this I answer, That though persons when they are accepted, are not
   accepted as worthy, yet when they are rejected, they are rejected as
   unworthy. He that does not love Christ above other things, but treats
   him with such indignity, as to set him below earthly things, shall be
   treated as unworthy of Christ; his unworthiness of Christ, especially
   in that particular, shall be marked against him, and imputed to him.
   And though he be a professing Christian, and live in the enjoyment of
   the gospel, and has been visibly ingrafted into Christ, and admitted as
   one of his disciples, as Judas was; yet he shall be thrust out in
   wrath, as a punishment of his vile treatment of Christ. The
   forementioned words do not imply, that if a man does love Christ above
   father and mother, &c. that he would be worthy; the most they imply is,
   that such a visible Christian shall be treated and thrust out as
   unworthy. He that believes is not received for the worthiness or moral
   fitness of faith; but yet the visible Christian is cast out by God, for
   the unworthiness and moral unfitness of unbelief. A being accepted as
   one of Christ's, is not the reward of believing; but being thrust out
   from being one of Christ's disciples, after a visible admission as
   such, is properly a punishment of unbelief. John iii. 18, 19. "He that
   believeth on him, is not condemned; but he that believeth not, is
   condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only
   begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation, that light is come
   into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their
   deeds were evil." Salvation is promised to faith as a free gift, but
   damnation is threatened to unbelief as a debt, or punishment due to
   unbelief. They who believed while in the wilderness, did not enter into
   Canaan, because of the worthiness of their faith; but God sware in his
   wrath, that they that believed not should not enter in, because of the
   unworthiness of their unbelief. Admitting a soul to an union with
   Christ is an act of free and sovereign grace; but excluding at death,
   and at the day of judgment, those professors of Christianity who have
   had the offers of a Saviour, and enjoyed great privileges as God's
   people, is a judicial proceeding, and a just punishment of their
   unworthy treatment of Christ. The design of this saying of Christ is to
   make them sensible of the unworthiness of their treatment of Christ,
   who professed him to be their Lord and Saviour, and set him below
   father and mother, &c. and not to show the worthiness of loving him
   above father and mother. If a beggar should be offered any great and
   precious gift, but as soon as offered, should trample it under his
   feet, it might be taken from him, as unworthy to have it. Or if a
   malefactor should have his pardon offered him, that he might be freed
   from execution, and should only scoff at it, his pardon might be
   refused him, as unworthy of it; though if he had received it, he would
   not have had it for his worthiness, or as being recommended to it by
   his virtue; for his being a malefactor supposes him unworthy, and its
   being offered him to have it only on accepting, supposes that the king
   looks for no worthiness, nothing in him for which he should bestow
   pardon as a reward. This may teach us how to understand Acts xiii. 46.
   "It was necessary that the word of God should first have been spoken
   unto you; but seeing ye put it from you, and judge yourselves unworthy
   of everlasting life, lo, we turn to the Gentiles."

   Object. 5. It is objected against the doctrine of justification by
   faith alone, That repentance is evidently spoken of in Scripture as
   that which is in a special manner the condition of remission of sins;
   but remission of sins is by all allowed to be that wherein
   justification does (at least) in great part consist.

   But it must certainly arise from a misunderstanding of what the
   Scripture says about repentance, to suppose that faith and repentance
   are two distinct things, that in like manner are the conditions of
   justification. For it is most plain from the Scripture, that the
   condition of justification, or that in us by which we are justified, is
   but one, and that is faith. Faith and repentance are not two distinct
   conditions of justification, nor are they two distinct things that
   together make one condition of justification; but faith comprehends the
   whole of that by which we are justified, or by which we come to have an
   interest in Christ, and there is nothing else has a parallel concern
   with it in the affair of our salvation. And this the divines on the
   other side themselves are sensible of, and therefore they suppose that
   the faith the apostle Paul speaks of, which he says we are justified by
   alone, comprehends in it repentance.

   And therefore, in answer to the objection, I would say, That when
   repentance is spoken of in Scripture as the condition of pardon,
   thereby is not intended any particular grace, or act, properly distinct
   from faith, that has a parallel influence with it in the affair of our
   pardon or justification; but by repentance is intended nothing distinct
   from active conversion, (or conversion actively considered,) as it
   respects the term from which. Active conversion is a motion or exercise
   of the mind that respects two terms, viz. sin and God; and by
   repentance is meant this conversion, or active change of the mind, so
   far as it is conversant about the term from which, or about sin. This
   is what the word repentance properly signifies; which, in the original
   of the New Testament, is NOT ENGLISH, and signifies a change of the
   mind, or, which is the same thing, the turning or the conversion of the
   mind. Repentance is this turning, as it respects what is turned from.
   Acts xxvi. 20. "Whereupon, O king Agrippa, I showed unto them of
   Damascus, and at Jerusalem, and throughout all the coasts of Judea, and
   then to the Gentiles, that they should repent, and turn to God." Both
   these are the same turning, but only with respect to opposite terms: in
   the former, is expressed the exercise of mind about sin in this
   turning; in the other, the exercise of mind turning towards God.

   If we look over the scriptures that speak of evangelical repentance, we
   shall presently see that repentance is to be understood in this sense;
   as Matt. ix. 13. "I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to
   repentance." Luke xiii. 3. "Except ye repent, ye shall all likewise
   perish." And chap. xv. 7, 10. "There is joy in heaven over one sinner
   that repenteth," i.e. over one sinner that is converted. Acts xi. 18.
   "Then hath God also to the Gentiles granted repentance unto life." This
   is said by the Christians of the circumcision at Jerusalem, upon
   Peter's giving an account of the conversion of Cornelius and his
   family, and their embracing the gospel, though Peter had said nothing
   expressly about their sorrow for sin. And again, Acts xvii. 30. "But
   now commandeth all men every where to repent." And Luke xvi. 30. "Nay,
   father Abraham, but if one went to them from the dead, they would
   repent." 2 Pet. iii. 9. "The Lord is not slack concerning his promise,
   as some men count slackness, but is long-suffering to us-ward, not
   willing that any should perish, but that all should come to
   repentance." It is plain that in these and other places, by repentance
   is meant conversion.

   Now it is true, that conversion is the condition of pardon and
   justification: but if it be so, how absurd is it to say, that
   conversion is one condition of justification, and faith another, as
   though they were two distributively distinct and parallel conditions!
   Conversion is the condition of justification, because it is that great
   change by which we are brought from sin to Christ, and by which we
   become believers in him: agreeable to Matt. xxi. 32. "And ye, when ye
   had seen it, repented not afterward, that ye might believe him." When
   we are directed to repent, that our sins may be blotted out, it is as
   much as to say, Let your minds and hearts be changed, that your sins
   may be blotted out. But if it be said, Let your hearts be changed, that
   you may be justified; and believe, that you may be justified; does it
   therefore follow, that the heart being changed is one condition of
   justification, and believing another? But our minds must be changed,
   that we may believe, and so may be justified.

   And besides, evangelical repentance, being active conversion, is not to
   be treated of as a particular grace, properly and entirely distinct
   from faith, as by some it seems to have been. What is conversion, but
   the sinful, alienated soul's closing with Christ, or the sinner's being
   brought to believe in Christ? That exercise of soul in conversion that
   respects sin, cannot be excluded out of the nature of faith in Christ:
   there is something in faith, or closing with Christ, that respects sin,
   and that is evangelical repentance. That repentance which in Scripture
   is called, repentance for the remission of sins, is that very principle
   or operation of the mind itself that is called faith, so far as it is
   conversant about sin. Justifying faith in a Mediator is conversant
   about two things: it is conversant about sin or evil to be rejected and
   to be delivered from, and about positive good to be accepted and
   obtained by the Mediator; as conversant about the former of these, it
   is evangelical repentance, or repentance for remission of sins. Surely
   they must be very ignorant, or at least very inconsiderate, of the
   whole tenor of the gospel, who think that the repentance by which
   remission of sins is obtained, can be completed, as to all that is
   essential to it, without any respect to Christ, or application of the
   mind to the Mediator, who alone has made atonement for sin. Surely so
   great a part of salvation as remission of sins, is not to be obtained
   without looking or coming to the great and only Saviour. It is true,
   repentance, in its more general abstracted nature, is only a sorrow for
   sin, and forsaking of it, which is a duty of natural religion; but
   evangelical repentance, or repentance for remission of sins, hath more
   than this essential to it; a dependence of soul on the Mediator for
   deliverance from sin, is of the essence of it.

   That justifying repentance has the nature of faith, seems evident by
   Acts xix. 4. "Then said Paul, John verily baptized with the baptism of
   repentance, saying unto the people, that they should believe on him
   which should come after him, that is, on Christ Jesus." The latter
   words, "saying unto the people, that they should believe on him," &c.
   are evidently exegetical of the former, and explain how he preached
   repentance for the remission of sins. When it is said, that he preached
   repentance for the remission of sin, saying, that they should believe
   on Christ, it cannot be supposed but that his saying, that they should
   believe on Christ, was intended as directing them what to do that they
   might obtain the remission of sins. So, 2 Tim. ii .25. "In meekness
   instructing those that oppose themselves; if God peradventure will give
   them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth." That acknowledging
   of the truth which there is in believing, is here spoken of as what is
   retained in repentance. And on the other hand, that faith includes
   repentance in its nature, is evident by the apostle's speaking of sin
   as destroyed in faith, Gal. ii. 18.--In the preceding verses the
   apostle mentions an objection against the doctrine of justification by
   faith alone, viz. that it tends to encourage men in sin, and so to make
   Christ the minister of sin. This objection he rejects and refutes with
   this, "If I build again the things that I destroyed, I make myself a
   transgressor." If sin be destroyed by faith, it must be by repentance
   of sin included in it; for we know that it is our repentance of sin, or
   the NOT ENGLISH , or turning of the mind from sin, that is our
   destroying our sin.

   That in justifying faith which directly respects sin, or the evil to be
   delivered from by the Mediator, is as follows: a sense of our own
   sinfulness, and the hatefulness of it, and a hearty acknowledgement of
   its desert of the threatened punishment, looking to the free mercy of
   God in a Redeemer, for deliverance from it and its punishment.

   Concerning this, here described, three things may be noted: 1. That it
   is the very same with that evangelical repentance to which remission of
   sins is promised in Scripture. 2. That it is of the essence of
   justifying faith, and is the same with that faith, so far as it is
   conversant about evil to be delivered from by the Mediator. 3. That
   this is indeed the proper and peculiar condition of remission of sins.

   1. All of it is essential to evangelical repentance, and is indeed the
   very thing meant by that repentance, to which remission of sins is
   promised in the gospel. As to the former part of the description, viz.
   a sense of our own sinfulness, and hatefulness of it, and a hearty
   acknowledgement of its desert of wrath, none will deny it to be
   included in repentance: but this does not comprehend the whole essence
   of evangelical repentance; but what follows does also properly and
   essentially belong to its nature, looking to the free mercy of God in a
   Redeemer, for deliverance from it, and the punishment of it. That
   repentance to which remission is promised, not only always has this
   with it, but it is contained in it, as what is of the proper nature and
   essence of it: and respect is ever had to this in the nature of
   repentance, whenever remission is promised to it; and it is especially
   from respect to this in the nature of repentance, that it has that
   promise made to it. If this latter part be missing, it fails of the
   nature of that evangelical repentance to which remission of sins is
   promised. If repentance remains in sorrow for sin, and does not reach
   to a looking to the free mercy of God in Christ for pardon, it is not
   that which is the condition of pardon, neither shall pardon be obtained
   by it. Evangelical repentance is an humiliation for sin before God; but
   the sinner never comes and humbles himself before God in any other
   repentance, but that which includes hoping in his mercy for remission:
   if sorrow be not accompanied with that, there will be no coming to God
   in it, but a flying further from him. There is some worship of God in
   justifying repentance; but that is not in any other repentance which
   has not a sense of and faith in the divine mercy to forgive sin; Psalm
   cxxx .4. "There is forgiveness with thee, that thou mayest be feared."
   The promise of mercy to a true penitent, in Prov. xxviii. 13. is
   expressed in these terms, "Whoso confesseth and forsaketh his sins,
   shall have mercy." But there is faith in God's mercy in that
   confessing. The psalmist, (Psalm xxxii.) speaketh of the blessedness of
   the man whose transgression is forgiven--and whose sin is covered, to
   whom the Lord imputes not sin--says, that while he kept silence his
   bones waxed old: but he acknowledged his sin unto God, his iniquity he
   did not hide; he said, he would confess his transgression to the Lord,
   and then God forgave the iniquity of his sin. The manner of expression
   plainly holds forth, that then he began to encourage himself in the
   mercy of God, but his bones waxed old while he kept silence; and
   therefore the apostle Paul, in the 4th of Romans, brings this instance,
   to confirm the doctrine of justification by faith alone, that he had
   been insisting on. When sin is aright confessed to God, there is always
   faith in that act. That confessing of sin which is joined with despair,
   as in Judas, is not the confession to which the promise is made. In
   Acts ii. 38. the direction given to those who were pricked in their
   heart with a sense of the guilt of sin, was to repent, and be baptized
   in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of their sins. Being
   baptized in the name of Christ for the remission of sins, implied faith
   in Christ for the remission of sins. Repentance for the remission of
   sins was typified of old by the priest's confessing the sins of the
   people over the scape-goat, laying his hands on him, Lev. xvi. 21.
   denoting it is that repentance and confession of sin only that obtains
   remission, which is made over Christ the great sacrifice, and with
   dependence on him. Many other things might be produced from the
   Scripture, that in like manner confirm this point; but these may be
   sufficient.

   2. All the forementioned description is of the essence of justifying
   faith, and not different from it, so far as it is conversant about sin,
   or the evil to be delivered from by the Mediator. For it is doubtless
   of the essence of justifying faith, to embrace Christ as a Saviour from
   sin and its punishment; and all that is contained in that act is
   contained in the nature of faith itself. But in the act of embracing
   Christ as a Saviour from our sin and its punishment, is implied a sense
   of our sinfulness, and a hatred of our sins, or a rejecting them with
   abhorrence, and a sense of our desert of punishment. Embracing Christ
   as a Saviour from sin, implies the contrary act, viz. a rejecting sin.
   If we fly to the light to be delivered from darkness, the same act is
   contrary to darkness, viz. a rejecting of it. In proportion to the
   earnestness with which we embrace Christ as a Saviour from sin, in the
   same proportion is the abhorrence with which we reject sin, in the same
   act. Yea, suppose there be in the nature of faith, as conversant about
   sin, no more than the hearty embracing of Christ as a Saviour from the
   punishment of sin, this act will imply in it the whole of the
   above-mentioned description. It implies a sense of our own sinfulness.
   Certainly in the hearty embracing of a Saviour from the punishment of
   our sinfulness, there is the exercise of a sense that we are sinful. We
   cannot heartily embrace Christ as a Saviour from the punishment of that
   which we are not sensible we are guilty of. There is also in the same
   act, a sense of our desert of the threatened punishment. We cannot
   heartily embrace Christ as a Saviour from that which we are not
   sensible that we have deserved. For if we are not sensible that we have
   deserved the punishment, we shall not be sensible that we have any need
   of a Saviour from it, or, at least, shall not be convinced but that God
   who offers the Saviour, unjustly makes him needful; and we cannot
   heartily embrace such an offer. And further, there is implied in a
   hearty embracing Christ as a Saviour from punishment, not only a
   conviction of conscience, that we have deserved the punishment, such as
   the devils and damned have; but there is a hearty acknowledgment of it,
   with the submission of the soul, so as, with the accord of the heart,
   to own that God might be just in the punishment. If the heart rises
   against the act or judgment of God, in holding us obliged to the
   punishment, when he offers us his Son as a Saviour from the punishment,
   we cannot with the consent of the heart receive him in that character:
   but if persons thus submit to the righteousness of so dreadful a
   punishment of sin, this carries in it a hatred of sin.

   That such a sense of our sinfulness, and utter unworthiness, and desert
   of punishment, belongs to the nature of saving faith, is what the
   Scripture from time to time holds forth; as particularly in Matt. xv.
   26-28. "But he answered and said, It is not meet to take the children's
   bread, and to cast it to dogs. And she said, Truth, Lord; yet the dogs
   eat of the crumbs which fall from their master's table. Then Jesus
   answered, and said unto her, O woman, great is thy faith."--And Luke
   vii. 6-9. "The centurion sent friends to him, saying unto him, Lord,
   trouble not thyself, for I am not worthy that thou shouldst enter under
   my roof. Wherefore neither thought I myself worthy to come unto thee;
   but say in a word, and my servant shall be healed: for I also am a man
   set under authority," &c.--"When Jesus heard these things, he marvelled
   at him, and turned him about, and said unto the people that followed
   him, I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in
   Israel." And also ver. 37, 38. "And behold, a woman in the city, which
   was a sinner, when she knew that Jesus sat at meat in the Pharisee's
   house, brought an alabaster-box of ointment, and stood at his feet
   behind him weeping, and began to wash his feet with tears, and did wipe
   them with the hairs of her head, and kissed his feet, and anointed them
   with the ointment." Together with ver. 50. "He said unto the woman, Thy
   faith hath saved thee; go in peace."

   These things do not necessarily suppose that repentance and faith are
   words of just the same signification; for it is only so much in
   justifying faith as respects the evil to be delivered from by the
   Saviour, that is called repentance. Besides, both repentance and faith,
   take them only in their general nature, are entirely distinct;
   repentance is a sorrow for sin, and forsaking of it; and faith is a
   trusting in God's sufficiency and truth. But faith and repentance, as
   evangelical duties, or justifying faith, and repentance for remission
   of sins, contain more in them, and imply a respect to a mediator, and
   involve each other's nature; [662] though they still bear the name of
   faith and repentance, from those general moral virtues--that
   repentance, which is a duty of natural religion, and that faith, which
   was a duty required under the first covenant--that are contained in
   this evangelical act; which severally appear, when this act is
   considered with respect to its different terms and objects.

   It may be objected here, that the Scripture sometimes mentions faith
   and repentance together, as if they were entirely distinct things; as
   in Mark i. 15. "Repent ye, and believe the gospel." But there is no
   need of understanding these as two distinct conditions of salvation,
   but the words are exegetical one of another. It is to teach us after
   what manner we must repent, viz. as believing the gospel, and after
   what manner we must believe the gospel, viz. as repenting. These words
   no more prove faith and repentance to be entirely distinct, than those
   fore-mentioned, Matt. xxi. 32. "And ye, when ye had seen it, repented
   not afterwards, that ye might believe him." Or those, 2 Tim. ii. 25.
   "If peradventure God will give them repentance to the acknowledging of
   the truth." The apostle, in Acts xix. 4. seems to have reference to
   these words of John the Baptist, "John baptized with the baptism of
   repentance, saying unto the people, that they should believe," &c.
   where the latter words, as we have already observed, are to explain how
   he preached repentance.

   Another Scripture where faith and repentance are mentioned together, is
   Acts xx. 21. "Testifying both to the Jews, and also to the Greeks,
   repentance towards God, and faith towards the Lord Jesus Christ." It
   may be objected, that in this place, faith and repentance are not only
   spoken of as distinct things, but having distinct objects.

   To this I answer, That faith and repentance, in their general nature,
   are distinct things; and repentance for the remission of sins, or that
   in justifying faith that respects the evil to be delivered from, so far
   as it regards that term, which is what especially denominates it
   repentance, has respect to God as the object, because he is the Being
   offended by sin, and to be reconciled, but that in this justifying act,
   whence it is denominated faith, does more especially respect Christ.
   But let us interpret it how we will, the objection of faith being here
   so distinguished from repentance, is as much of an objection against
   the scheme of those that oppose justification by faith alone, as
   against this scheme; for they hold that the justifying faith the
   apostle Paul speaks of, includes repentance, as has been already
   observed.

   3. This repentance that has been described, is indeed the special
   condition of remission of sins. This seems very evident by the
   Scripture, as particularly, Mark i. 4. "John did baptize in the
   wilderness, and preach the baptism of repentance for the remission of
   sins." So, Luke iii. 3. "And he came into all the country about Jordan,
   preaching the baptism of repentance, for the remission of sins." Luke
   xxiv. 47. "And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached
   in his name among all nations." Acts v. 31. "Him hath God exalted with
   his right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour, for to give repentance
   unto Israel, and forgiveness of sins." Chap. ii. 38. "Repent, and be
   baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ, for the
   remission of sins." And, chap. iii. 19. "Repent ye therefore, and be
   converted, that your sins may be blotted out." The like is evident by
   Lev. xxvi. 40-42. Job xxxiii. 27, 28. Psal. xxxii. 5. Prov. xxviii. 13.
   Jer. iii. 13. And 1 John i.9. and other places.

   And the reason may be plain from what has been said. We need not wonder
   that what in faith especially respects sin, should be especially the
   condition of remission of sins; or that this motion or exercise of the
   soul, as it rejects and flies from evil, and embraces Christ as a
   Saviour from it, should especially be the condition of being free from
   that evil; and in like manner, as the same principle or motion, as it
   seeks good, and cleaves to Christ as the procurer of that good, should
   be the condition of obtaining that good. Faith with respect to good is
   accepting, and with respect to evil it is rejecting. Yea this rejecting
   evil is itself an act of acceptance; it is accepting freedom or
   separation from that evil; and this freedom or separation is the
   benefit bestowed in remission. No wonder that what in faith immediately
   respects this benefit, and is our acceptance of it, should be the
   special condition of our having it. It is so with respect to all the
   benefits that Christ has purchased. Trusting in God through Christ for
   such a particular benefit that we need, is the special condition of
   obtaining that benefit. When we need protection from enemies, the
   exercise of faith with respect to such a benefit, or trusting in Christ
   for protection from enemies, is especially the way to obtain that
   particular benefit, rather than trusting in Christ for something else;
   and so of any other benefit that might be mentioned. So prayer (which
   is the expression of faith) for a particular mercy needed, is
   especially the way to obtain that mercy. [663] So that no argument can
   be drawn from hence against the doctrine of justification by faith
   alone. And there is that in the nature of repentance, which peculiarly
   tends to establish the contrary of justification by works: for nothing
   so much renounces our own worthiness and excellency, as repentance; the
   very nature of it is to acknowledge our own utter sinfulness and
   unworthiness, and to renounce our own goodness, and all confidence in
   self; and so to trust in the propitiation of the Mediator, and ascribe
   all the glory of forgiveness to him.

   Object. 6. The last objection I shall mention, is that paragraph in the
   3d chapter of James, where persons are said expressly to be justified
   by works: Ver. 21. "Was not Abraham our father justified by works?"
   Ver. 24. "Ye see then how that by works a man is justified, and not by
   faith only." Ver. 25. "Was not Rahab the harlot justified by works?"

   In answer to this objection, I would,

   1. Take notice of the great unfairness of the divines that oppose us,
   in the improvement they make of this passage against us. All will
   allow, that in that proposition of St. James, "By works a man is
   justified, and not by faith only," one of the terms, either the word
   faith, or else the word justify, is not to be understood precisely in
   the same sense as the same terms when used by St. Paul; because they
   suppose, as well as we, that it was not the intent of the apostle James
   to contradict St. Paul in that doctrine of justification by faith
   alone, in which he had instructed the churches. But if we understand
   both the terms, as used by each apostle, in precisely the same sense,
   then what one asserts is a precise, direct, and full contradiction of
   the other, the one affirming and the other denying the very same thing.
   So that all the controversy from this text comes to this, viz. which of
   these two terms shall be understood in a diversity from St. Paul. They
   say that it is the word faith; for they suppose, that when the apostle
   Paul uses the word, and makes faith that by which alone we are
   justified, that then by it is understood a compliance with and practice
   of Christianity in general; so as to include all saving christian
   virtue and obedience. But as the apostle James uses the word faith in
   this place, they suppose thereby is to be understood only an assent of
   the understanding to the truth of gospel doctrines, as distinguished
   from good works, and that may exist separate from them, and from all
   saving grace. We, on the other hand, suppose that the word justify is
   to be understood in a different sense from the apostle Paul. So that
   they are forced to go as far in their scheme, in altering the sense of
   terms from Paul's use of them, as we. But yet at the same time that
   they freely vary the sense of the former of them, viz. faith, yet when
   we understand the latter, viz. justify, in a different sense from St.
   Paul, they exclaim against us. What necessity of framing this
   distinction, but only to serve an opinion? At this rate a man may
   maintain any thing, though never so contrary to Scripture, and elude
   the clearest text in the Bible! though they do not show us why we have
   not as good warrant to understand the word justify in a diversity from
   St. Paul, as they the word faith. If the sense of one of the words must
   be varied on either scheme, to make the apostle James's doctrine
   consistent with the apostle Paul's; and if varying the sense of one
   term or the other be all that stands in the way of their agreeing with
   either scheme; and if varying the sense of the latter be in itself as
   fair as of the former, then the text lies as fair for one scheme as the
   other, and can no more fairly be an objection against our scheme than
   theirs. And if so, what becomes of all this great objection from this
   passage in James?

   2. If there be no more difficulty in varying the sense of one of these
   terms than another, from any thing in the text itself, so as to make
   the words suit with either scheme, then certainly that is to be chosen
   that is most agreeable to the current of Scripture, and other places
   where the same matter is more particularly and fully treated of; and
   therefore that we should understand the word justify in this passage of
   James, in a sense in some respects diverse from that in which St. Paul
   uses it. For by what has been already said, it may appear, that there
   is no doctrine in the whole Bible more fully asserted, explained, and
   urged, than the doctrine of justification by faith alone, without any
   of our own righteousness.

   3. There is a very fair interpretation of this passage of St. James, no
   way inconsistent with this doctrine of justification, which I have
   shown that other scriptures abundantly teach, which the words
   themselves will as well allow of, as that which the objectors put upon
   them, and much better agrees with the context; and that is, that works
   are here spoken of as justifying as evidences. A man may be said to be
   justified by that which clears him, or vindicates him, or makes the
   goodness of his cause manifest. When a person has a cause tried in a
   civil court, and is justified or cleared, he may be said in different
   senses to be justified or cleared, by the goodness of his cause, and by
   the goodness of the evidences of it. He may be said to be cleared by
   what evidences his cause to be good; but not in the same sense as he is
   by that which makes his cause to be good. That which renders his cause
   good, is the proper ground of his justification; it is by that that he
   is himself a proper subject of it; but evidences justify, only as they
   manifest that his cause is good in fact, whether they are of such a
   nature as to have any influence to render it so or no. It is by works
   that our cause appears to be good; but by faith our cause not only
   appears to be good, but becomes good; because thereby we are united to
   Christ. That the word justify should be sometimes understood to signify
   the former of these, as well as the latter, is agreeable to the use of
   the word in common speech; as we say such an one stood up to justify
   another, i.e. he endeavoured to show or manifest his cause to be
   good.-And it is certain that the word is sometimes used in this sense
   in Scripture, when speaking of our being justified before God; as where
   it is said, we shall be justified by our words, Matt. xii. 37. "For by
   thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be
   condemned." It cannot be meant that men are accepted before God on the
   account of their words; for God has told us nothing more plainly, than
   that it is the heart that he looks at; and that when he acts as judge
   towards men, in order to justifying or condemning, he tries the heart,
   Jer. xi. 20. "But, O Lord of hosts, that judgest righteously, that
   triest the reins and the heart, let me see thy vengeance on them; for
   unto thee have I revealed my cause." Psalm vii. 8, 9. "The Lord shall
   judge the people: judge me, O Lord, according to my righteousness, and
   according to mine integrity that is in me. O let the wickedness of the
   wicked come to an end; but establish the just; for the righteous God
   trieth the hearts and reins." Ver. 11. "God judgeth the righteous." And
   many other places to the like purpose. And therefore men can be
   justified by their words, no otherwise than as evidences or
   manifestations of what is in the heart. And it is thus that Christ
   speaks of the words in this very place, as is evident by the context,
   ver. 34, 35. "Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh. A
   good man out of the good treasure of the heart," &c. The words, or
   sounds themselves, are neither parts of godliness nor evidences of
   godliness, but as signs of what is inward.

   God himself, when he acts towards men as judge, in order to a
   declarative judgment, makes use of evidences, and so judges men by
   their works. And therefore, at the day of judgment, God will judge men
   according to their works: for though God will stand in no need of
   evidence to inform him what is right, yet it is to be considered, that
   he will then sit in judgment, not as earthly judges do, to find out
   what is right in a cause, but to declare and manifest what is right:
   and therefore the day is called by the apostle, "the day of the
   revelation of the righteous judgment of God." Rom. ii. 5.

   To be justified, is to be approved of and accepted: but a man may be
   said to be approved and accepted in two respects; the one is to be
   approved really, and the other to be approved and accepted
   declaratively. Justification is twofold; it is either the acceptance
   and approbation of the judge itself, or the manifestation of that
   approbation, by a sentence or judgment declared by the judge, either to
   our own consciences, or to the world. If justification be understood in
   the former sense, for the approbation itself, that is only that by
   which we become fit to be approved: but if it be understood in the
   latter sense, for the manifestation of this approbation, it is by
   whatever is a proper evidence of that fitness. In the former, only
   faith is concerned; because it is by that only in us that we become fit
   to be accepted and approved: in the latter, whatever is an evidence of
   our fitness, is alike concerned. And therefore, take justification in
   this sense, and then faith, and all other graces and good works, have a
   common and equal concern in it: for any other grace, or holy act, is
   equally an evidence of a qualification for acceptance or approbation,
   as faith.

   To justify has always, in common speech, signified indifferently,
   either simply approbation, or testifying that approbation; sometimes
   one, and sometimes the other; because they are both the same, only as
   one is outwardly what the other is inwardly. So we, and it may be all
   nations, are wont to give the same name to two things, when one is only
   declarative of the other. Thus sometimes judging, intends only judging
   in our thoughts; at other times, testifying and declaring judgment. So
   such words as justify, condemn, accept, reject, prize, slight, approve,
   renounce, are sometimes put for mental acts, at other times, for an
   outward treatment. So in the sense in which the apostle James seems to
   use the word justify for manifestative justification, a man is
   justified not only by faith, but also by works; as a tree is manifested
   to be good, not only by immediately examining the tree, but also by the
   fruit, [664] Prov. xx. 11. "Even a child is known by his doing, whether
   his work be pure, and whether it be right."

   The drift of the apostle does not require that he should be understood
   in any other sense; for all that he aims at, as appears by a view of
   the context, is to prove that good works are necessary. The error of
   those that he opposed was this, That good works were not necessary to
   salvation; that if they did but believe that there was but one God, and
   that Christ was the Son of God, and the like, and were baptized, they
   were safe, let them live how they would; which doctrine greatly tended
   to licentiousness. The evincing the contrary of this is evidently the
   apostle's scope.

   And that we should understand the apostle, of works justifying as an
   evidence, and in a declarative judgment, is what a due consideration of
   the context will naturally lead us to.-For it is plain, that the
   apostle is here insisting on works, in the quality of a necessary
   manifestation and evidence of faith, or as what the truth of faith is
   made to appear by: as ver. 18. "Show me thy faith without thy works,
   and I will show thee my faith by my works." And when he says, ver. 26.
   "As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead
   also." It is much more rational and natural to understand him as
   speaking of works, as the proper signs and evidences of the reality,
   life, and goodness of faith. Not that the very works or actions done
   are properly the life of faith, as the spirit in the body; but it is
   the active, working nature of faith, of which the actions or works done
   are the signs, that is itself the life and spirit of faith. The sign of
   a thing is often in scripture language said to be that thing; as it is
   in that comparison by which the apostle illustrates it. Not the actions
   themselves of a body, are properly the life or spirit of the body; but
   the active nature, of which those actions or motions are the signs, is
   the life of the body. That which makes men pronounce any thing to be
   alive, is, that they observe it has an active operative nature; which
   they observe no otherwise than by the actions or motions which are the
   signs of it. It is plainly the apostle's aim to prove, that if faith
   hath not works, it is a sign that it is not a good sort of faith; which
   would not have been to his purpose, if it was his design to show that
   it is not by faith alone, though of a right sort, that we have
   acceptance with God, but that we are accepted on the account of
   obedience as well as faith. It is evident, by the apostle's reasoning,
   that the necessity of works, is not from their having a parallel
   concern in our salvation with faith; but he speaks of works only as
   related to faith, and expressive of it; which, after all, leaves faith
   the alone fundamental condition, without any thing else having a
   parallel concern with it in this affair; and other things conditions,
   only as several expressions and evidences of it.

   That the apostle speaks of works justifying only as a sign, or
   evidence, and in God's declarative judgment, is further confirmed by
   verse 21. "Was not Abraham our father justified by works, when he had
   offered up Isaac his son upon the altar?" Here the apostle seems
   plainly to refer to that declarative judgment of God concerning
   Abraham's sincerity, manifested to him, for the peace and assurance of
   his own conscience, after his offering up Isaac his son on the altar,
   Gen. xxii. 12. "Now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not
   withheld thy son, thine only son, from me." But here it is plain, and
   expressed in the very words of justification or approbation, that this
   work of Abraham offering up his son on the altar, justified him as an
   evidence. When the apostle James says, we are justified by works, he
   may and ought to be understood in a sense agreeable to the instance he
   brings for the proof of it: but justification in that instance appears
   by the words of justification themselves, to be by works as an
   evidence. And where this instance of Abraham's obedience is elsewhere
   mentioned in the New Testament, it is mentioned as a fruit and evidence
   of his faith. Heb. xi. 17. "By faith Abraham, when he was tried,
   offered up Isaac; and he that had received the promises, offered up his
   only-begotten son."

   And in the other instance when the apostle mentions, ver. 25. "Likewise
   also we not Rahab the harlot justified by works, when she had received
   the messengers, and had sent them out another way?" The apostle refers
   to a declarative judgment, in that particular testimony which was given
   of God's approbation of her as a believer, in directing Joshua to save
   her when the rest of Jericho was destroyed, Josh. vi. 25. "And Joshua
   saved Rahab the harlot alive, and her father's household, and all that
   she had; and she dwelleth in Israel even unto this day: because she hid
   the messengers which Joshua sent to spy out Jericho." This was accepted
   as an evidence and expression of her faith. Heb. xi. 31. "By faith the
   harlot Rahab perished not with them that believed not, when she had
   received the spies with peace." The apostle in saying, "Was not Rahab
   the harlot justified by works?" by the manner of his speaking has
   reference to something in her history; but we have no account in her
   history of any other justification of her but this.

   4. If, notwithstanding, any choose to take justification in St. James's
   precisely as we do in Paul's epistles, for God's acceptance or
   approbation itself, and not any expression of that approbation; what
   has been already said concerning the manner in which acts of
   evangelical obedience are concerned in the affair of our justification,
   affords a very easy, clear, and full answer. For it we take works as
   acts or expressions of faith, they are not excluded; so a man is not
   justified by faith only, but also by works; i.e., he is not justified
   only by faith as a principle in the heart, or in its first and more
   immanent acts, but also by the effective acts of it in life, which are
   the expressions of the life of faith, as the operations and actions of
   the body are of the life of that; agreeable to verse 26.

   What has been said in answer to these objections, may also, I hope,
   abundantly serve for an answer to another objection, often made against
   this doctrine, viz. that it encourages licentiousness in life. For,
   from what has been said, we may see that the Scripture doctrine of
   justification by faith alone, without any manner of goodness or
   excellency of ours, does in no wise diminish either the necessity or
   benefit of a sincere evangelical universal obedience. Man's salvation
   is not only indissolubly connected with obedience, and damnation with
   the want of it, in those who have opportunity for it, but depends upon
   it in many respects. It is the way to salvation, and the necessary
   preparation for it; eternal blessings are bestowed in reward for it,
   and our justification in our own consciences and at the day of
   judgment, depends on it, as the proper evidence of our acceptable
   state; and that even in accepting of us as entitled to life in our
   justification, God has respect to this, as that on which the fitness of
   such an act of justification depends: so that our salvation does as
   truly depend upon it, as if we were justified for the moral excellency
   of it. And besides all this, the degree of our happiness to all
   eternity is suspended on, and determined by, the degree of this. So
   that this gospel-scheme of justification is as far from encouraging
   licentiousness, and contains as much to encourage and excite to strict
   and universal obedience, and the utmost possible eminency of holiness,
   as any scheme that can be devised, and indeed unspeakably more.

   I come now to the

   V. And last thing proposed, which is to consider the "importance of
   this doctrine."

   I know there are many who make as though this controversy was of no
   great importance; that it is chiefly a matter of nice speculation,
   depending on certain subtle distinctions, which many that make use of
   them do not understand themselves; and that the difference is not of
   such consequence as to be worth being zealous about; and that more hurt
   is done by raising disputes about it than good.

   Indeed I am far from thinking that it is of absolute necessity persons
   should understand, and be agreed upon, all the distinctions needful
   particularly to explain and defend this doctrine against all cavils and
   objections. Yet all Christians should strive after an increase of
   knowledge; and none should content themselves without some clear and
   distinct understanding in this point. But we should believe in the
   general, according to the clear and abundant revelations of God's word,
   that it is none of our own excellency, virtue, or righteousness, that
   is the ground of our being received from a state of condemnation into a
   state of acceptance in God's sight, but only Jesus Christ, and his
   righteousness and worthiness, received by faith. This I think to be of
   great importance, at least in application to ourselves; and that for
   the following reasons.

   1. The Scripture treats of this doctrine, as a doctrine of very great
   importance. That there is a certain doctrine of justification by faith,
   in opposition to justification by the works of the law, which the
   apostle Paul insists upon as of the greatest importance, none will
   deny; because there is nothing in the Bible more apparent. The apostle,
   under the infallible conduct of the Spirit of God, thought it worth his
   most strenuous and zealous disputing about and defending. He speaks of
   the contrary doctrine as fatal and ruinous to the souls of men, in the
   latter end of the 9th chapter of Romans, and beginning of the 10th. He
   speaks of it as subversive of the gospel of Christ, and calls it
   another gospel, and says concerning it, if any one, "though an angel
   from heaven, preach it, let him be accursed;" Gal. i. 6-9. compared
   with the following part of the epistle. Certainly we must allow the
   apostles to be good judges of the importance and tendency of doctrines;
   at least the Holy Ghost in them. And doubtless we are safe, and in no
   danger of harshness and censoriousness, if we only follow him, and keep
   close to his express teachings, in what we believe and say of the
   hurtful and pernicious tendency of any error. Why are we to blame, for
   saying what the Bible has taught us to say, or for believing what the
   Holy Ghost has taught us to that end that we might believe it?

   2. The adverse scheme lays another foundation of man's salvation than
   God hath laid. I do not now speak of that ineffectual redemption that
   they suppose to be universal, and what all mankind are equally subjects
   of; but, I say, it lays entirely another foundation of man's actual,
   discriminating salvation, or that salvation wherein true Christians
   differ from wicked men. We suppose the foundations of this to be
   Christ's worthiness and righteousness: on the contrary, that scheme
   supposes it to be men's own virtue; even so, that this is the ground of
   a saving interest in Christ itself. It takes away Christ out of the
   place of the bottom stone, and puts in men's own virtue in the room of
   him: so that Christ himself in the affair of distinguishing actual
   salvation, is laid upon this foundation. And the foundation being so
   different, I leave it to every out to judge whether the difference
   between the two schemes consists only in punctilios of small
   consequence. The foundation being contrary, makes the whole scheme
   exceeding diverse and opposite; the one is a gospel scheme, the other a
   legal one.

   3. It is in this doctrine that the most essential difference lies
   between the covenant of grace and the first covenant. The adverse
   scheme of justification supposes that we are justified by our works, in
   the very same sense wherein man was to have been justified by his works
   under the first covenant. By that covenant our first parents were not
   to have had eternal life given them for any proper merit in their
   obedience; because their perfect obedience was a debt that they owed
   God. Nor was it to be bestowed for any proportion between the dignity
   of their obedience, and the value of the reward; but only it was to be
   bestowed from a regard to a moral fitness in the virtue of their
   obedience, to the reward of God's favour; and a title to eternal life
   was to be given them, as a testimony of God's pleasedness with their
   works, or his regard to the inherent beauty of their virtue. And so it
   is the very same way that those in the adverse scheme suppose that we
   are received into God's special favour now, and to those saving
   benefits that are the testimonies of it. I am sensible the divines of
   that side entirely disclaim the popish doctrine of merit; and are free
   to speak of our utter unworthiness, and the great imperfections of all
   our services. But after all, it is our virtue, imperfect as it is, that
   recommends men to God, by which good men come to have a saving interest
   in Christ, and God's favour, rather than others; and these things are
   bestowed in testimony of God's respect to their goodness. So that
   whether they will allow the term merit or no, yet they hold, that we
   are accepted by our own merit, in the same sense, though not in the
   same degree, as under the first covenant.

   But the great and most distinguishing difference between that covenant
   and the covenant of grace is, that by the covenant of grace we are not
   thus justified by our own works, but only by faith in Jesus Christ. It
   is on this account chiefly that the new covenant deserves the name of a
   covenant of grace, as is evident by Rom. iv. 16. "Therefore it is of
   faith, that it might be by grace." And chap. iii. 20, 24. "Therefore by
   the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his
   sight;"-"Being justified freely by his grace, through the redemption
   that is in Jesus Christ." And chap xi. 6. "And if by grace, then it is
   no more of works; otherwise grace is no more grace; but if it be of
   works, then it is no more grace; otherwise work is no more work." Gal.
   v.4. "Whosoever of you are justified by the law, ye are fallen from
   grace." And therefore the apostle, in the same epistle to the
   Galatians, speaking of the doctrine of justification by works as
   another gospel, adds, "which is not another," chap. 1. verse 6, 7. It
   is no gospel at all; it is law. It is no covenant of grace, but of
   works; not an evangelical, but a legal doctrine. Certainly that
   doctrine wherein consists the greatest and most essential difference
   between the covenant of grace and the first covenant, must be a
   doctrine of great importance. That doctrine of the gospel by which all
   others it is worthy of the name of gospel, is doubtless a very
   important doctrine of the gospel.

   4. This is the main thing for which fallen men stood in need of divine
   revelation, to teach us how we who have sinned may come to be again
   accepted of God; or, which is the same thing, how the sinner may be
   justified. Something beyond the light of nature is necessary to
   salvation chiefly on this account. Mere natural reason afforded no
   means by which we could come to the knowledge of this, it depending on
   the sovereign pleasure of the Being that we had offended by sin. This
   seems to be the great drift of that revelation which God has given, and
   of all those mysteries it reveals, all those great doctrines that are
   peculiarly doctrines of revelation, and above the light of nature. It
   seems to have been very much on this account, that it was requisite the
   doctrine of the Trinity itself should be revealed to us; that by a
   discovery of the concern of the several divine persons in the great
   affair of our salvation, we might the better understand and see how all
   our dependence in this affair is on God, and our sufficiency all in
   him, and not in ourselves; that he is all in all in this business,
   agreeable to 1 Cor. i. 29-31. "That no flesh should glory in his
   presence. But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us
   wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption: that,
   according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the
   Lord." What is the gospel, but only the glad tidings of a new way of
   acceptance with God unto life, a way wherein sinners may come to be
   free from the guilt of sin, and obtain a title to eternal life? And if,
   when this way is revealed, it is rejected, and another of man's
   devising be put in the room of it, without doubt, it must be an error
   of great importance, and the apostle might well say it was another
   gospel.

   5. The contrary scheme of justification derogates much from the honour
   of God and the Mediator. I have already shown how it diminishes the
   glory of the Mediator, in ascribing that to man's virtue and goodness,
   which belongs alone to his worthiness and righteousness. By the
   apostle's sense of the matter it renders Christ needless. Gal. v.4.
   "Christ is become of not effect to you, whosoever of you are justified
   by the law." If that scheme of justification be followed in its
   consequences, it utterly overthrows the glory of all the great things
   that have been contrived, and done, and suffered in the work of
   redemption. Gal. ii. 21. "If righteousness come by the law, Christ is
   dead in vain." It has also been already shown how it diminishes the
   glory of divine grace, (which is the attribute God hath especially set
   himself to glorify in the work of redemption,) and so that it greatly
   diminishes the obligation to gratitude in the sinner that is saved.
   Yea, in the sense of the apostle, it makes void the distinguishing
   grace of the gospel. Gal. v. 4. "Whosoever of you are justified by the
   law, are fallen from grace." It diminishes the glory of the grace of
   God and the Redeemer, and proportionably magnifies man. It makes the
   goodness and excellency of fallen man to be something, which I have
   shown are nothing. I have also already shown, that it is contrary to
   the truth of God in the threatening of his holy law, to justify the
   sinner for his virtue. And whether it were contrary to God's truth or
   no, it is a scheme of things very unworthy of God. It supposes that
   God, when about to lift up a poor forlorn malefactor condemned to
   eternal misery for sinning against his Majesty, and to make him
   unspeakably and eternally happy by bestowing his Son and himself upon
   him, as it were, sets all this to gale, for the price of his virtue and
   excellency. I know that those whom we oppose acknowledge, that the
   price is very disproportionate to the benefit bestowed; and say, that
   God's grace is wonderfully manifested in accepting so little virtue,
   and bestowing so glorious a reward for such imperfect righteousness.
   But seeing we are such infinitely sinful and abominable creatures in
   God's sight, and by our infinite guilt have brought ourselves into such
   wretched and deplorable circumstances-and all our righteousnesses are
   nothing, and ten thousand times worse than nothing, if God looks upon
   them as they are in themselves-is it not immensely more worthy of the
   infinite majesty and glory of God, to deliver and make happy such
   wretched vagabonds and captives, without any money or price of theirs,
   or any manner of expectation of excellency or virtue in them, in any
   wise to recommend them? Will it not betray a foolish exalting opinion
   of ourselves, were a mean one of God, to have thought of offering any
   thing of ours, to recommend us to the favour of being brought from
   wallowing, like filthy swine, in the mire of our sins, and from the
   enmity and misery of devils in the lowest hell, to the state of God's
   dear children in the everlasting arms of his love in heavenly glory; or
   to imagine that it is the constitution of God, that we should bring our
   filthy rags, and offer them to him as the price of this?

   6. The opposite scheme does most directly tend to lead men to trust in
   their own righteousness for justification, which is a thing fatal to
   the soul. This is what men are of themselves exceeding prone to do,
   (and that though they are never so much taught the contrary,) through
   the partial and high thoughts they have of themselves, and their
   exceeding dullness of apprehending any such mystery as our being
   accepted for the righteousness of another. But this scheme directly
   teaches men to trust in their own righteousness for justification; in
   that it teaches them that this is indeed what they must be justified
   by, being the way of justification which God himself has appointed. So
   that if a man had naturally no disposition to trust in his own
   righteousness, yet if he embraced this scheme, and acted consistently,
   it would lead him to it. But that trusting in our own righteousness, is
   a thing fatal to the soul, is what the Scripture plainly teaches us. It
   tells us, that it will cause that Christ shall profit us nothing, and
   be of no effect to us, Gal. v. 2-4. For though the apostle speaks there
   particularly of circumcision, yet it is not merely being circumcised,
   but trusting in circumcision as a righteousness, that the apostle has
   respect to. He could not mean, that merely being circumcised would
   render Christ of no profit or effect to a person; for we read that he
   himself, for certain reasons, took Timothy and circumcised him, Acts
   xvi. 3. And the same is evident by the context, and by the rest of the
   epistle. And the apostle speaks of trusting in their own righteousness
   as fatal to the Jews, Rom. ix. 31, 32. "But Israel, which followed
   after the law of righteousness, hath not attained to the law of
   righteousness. Wherefore? Because they sought it not by faith, but as
   it were by the works of the law; for they stumbled at the
   stumbling-stone." Together with chap. x. verse 3. "For they being
   ignorant of God's righteousness, and going about to establish their own
   righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of
   God." And this is spoken of as fatal to the Pharisees, in the parable
   of the Pharisee and the publican, which Christ spake to them in order
   lo reprove them for trusting in themselves that they were righteous.
   The design of the parable is to show them, that the very publicans
   shall be justified, rather than they; as appears by the reflection
   Christ makes upon it, Luke xviii. 14. "I tell you, this man went down
   to his house justified rather than the other;" that is, this and not
   the other. The fatal tendency of it might also be proved from its
   inconsistence with the nature of justifying faith, and with the nature
   of that humiliation that the Scripture often speaks of as absolutely
   necessary to salvation; but these scriptures are so express, that it is
   needless to bring any further arguments.

   How far a wonderful and mysterious agency of God's Spirit may so
   influence some men's hearts, that their practice in this regard may be
   contrary to their own principles, so that they shall not trust in their
   own righteousness, though they profess that men are justified by their
   own righteousness--or how far they may believe the doctrine of
   justification by men's own righteousness in general, and yet not
   believe it in a particular application of it to themselves--or how far
   that error which they may have been led into by education, or cunning
   sophistry of others, may yet be indeed contrary to the prevailing
   disposition of their hearts, and contrary to their practice--or how far
   some may seem to maintain a doctrine contrary to this gospel-doctrine
   of justification, that really do not, but only express themselves
   differently from others; or seem to oppose it through their
   misunderstanding of our expressions, or we of theirs, when indeed our
   real sentiments are the same in the main--or may seem to differ more
   than they do, by using terms that are without a precisely fixed and
   determinate meaning--or to be wide in their sentiments from this
   doctrine, for want of a distinct understanding of it; whose hearts, at
   the same time, entirely agree with it, and if once it was clearly
   explained to their understandings, would immediately close with it, and
   embrace it:--how far these things may be, I will not determine; but am
   fully persuaded that great allowances are to be made on these and such
   like accounts, in innumerable instances; though it is manifest, from
   what has been said, that the teaching and propagating contrary
   doctrines and schemes, is of a pernicious and fatal tendency.
     __________________________________________________________________

   [654] "Our Saviour compares his mystical body, that is his church, to a
   vine, which his Father, whom he compares to a husbandman, hath planted;
   John xv. 1 I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman. To
   represent to us the union that is betwixt Christ and all true
   Christians, and the influence of grace and spiritual life, which all
   that are united to him do derive and receive from him, he sets it forth
   to us by the resemblance of a vine and branches. As there is a natural
   vital union between the vine and the branches, so there is a spiritual
   union between Christ and true Christians: and this union is the cause
   of our fruitfulness in the works of obedience and a good life. There
   are some indeed that seem to be grafted into Christ by an outward
   profession of Christianity, who yet derive no influence from him, so as
   to bring forth fruit, because they are not vitally united to him"--Dr.
   Tillotson in his 3rd vol. of Serm., p. 307 By this it appears that the
   vital union between Christ and true Christians, which is much more of a
   mystery than the relative union, and necessarily implies it, was not
   thought an unreasonable doctrine by one of the greatest divines on the
   other side of the question in hand.

   [655] The word "union," in this connexion, is both more intelligible
   and more appropriate, than the word relation; since in this connexion
   the latter is the consequence of the former. As the doctrine of a vital
   union to Christ is fundamentally important in Christianity, and
   inseparable from the doctrine of justification; and as our author
   passes it over with so much brevity, a few observations upon it in this
   place may appear the more needful. 1. The Scriptures are not only full
   of the fact, but they abound with illustrations of it. The first part
   of John xv. is full and explicit to this purpose. 2. What the
   Scriptures assert, and illustrate, is abundantly corroborated by the
   reasonableness of the thing. To suppose the reality of vital religion
   without a corresponding vital union, is to suppose an important effect
   without as adequate cause, as shall be further shown 3. The question
   then is, What is the immediate cause of this vital union? Now as the
   union subsisting is between the Spirit of Christ, and man, the
   immediate cause must be in the one or the other of these, or in both at
   the same instant, or in neither. If the immediate cause be in man, he
   makes his approach to Christ either as a carnal or spiritual man, for
   these is no conceivable medium. But the idea of a carnal man uniting
   himself to Christ in order to form a vital union, is both unscriptural
   and unreasonable. It is unscriptural; for the scripture asserts that
   "The carnal mind is enmity against God;" how then can it be the cause
   of a vital union? "Of him are ye in Christ Jesus; "--" and you hath he
   quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins; "--it is not therefore
   the carnal man that unites himself to Christ, or quickens himself in
   order to effect it. It is also unreasonable; for it supposes a glorious
   effect without an adequate cause. The effect is spiritual, while the
   cause is carnal, which are not only different but even directly
   opposite. What ideas can be more contradictory, or sentiment more
   unreasonable? 4. The supposition of two simultaneous causes, the one
   being the Spirit of Christ, and the other the carnal man, involves the
   same inconsistency. For how can the mere circumstance of time,
   irrespective of causal influence, make any difference? If the carnal
   mind be adequate to unite itself to Christ at one time, why not at
   another time as well, except some causal influence makes the
   difference? For surely no one can suppose that some individual moment
   of time, as distinguished from others preceding, constitutes the cause
   of difference. powerful, the quickening, and uniting presence, the
   vital and 5 To suppose a spiritual man whether by the exercise of his
   faith or by any other mental act, in the cause of a vital union, is no
   less inconsistent than the former supposition. For how can he be a
   spiritual man, without a spiritual casual influence? But if such
   influence be admitted as a predisposing cause of his vital acts, it is
   incumbent on the objector to show that such casual influence may take
   place without vital union. This I am persuaded no one can do. It is
   contrary to all analogy, and to every sound principle of true
   philosophy. It is contrary to christian experience and revealed
   statements. What effect in physical nature can be produced, which does
   not imply a casual union? Does not the divine energy pervade all second
   causes in the way of union with them, in order to the production of
   their effects? and what miraculous effects have ever been produced
   without a present uniting causal influence to produce the change? For
   instance, when Lazarus came forth from death to life, was there not a
   uniting causual interest to produce the change? and if we appeal to an
   experienced intelligent Christian, will he not own, will he not
   maintain, according to his views of revealed truth, that the
   transforming energy of the Spirit of God or of Christ in him, was the
   cause of his own vitality? Nay, would he not be shocked to hear any one
   maintain the contrary? 6. Perhaps it may be thought, that--though in
   the great laboratory of physical nature, in the bowels of the earth and
   in the surrounding atmosphere, a causal union be necessary to produce
   chemical effects; and that though in all works of mechanism a causal
   union is requisite to the existence of mechanical effects; and that,
   moreover, though the sun by his light and heat produces an effect upon
   objects by a causal union with them; yet, what shall we say of one body
   affecting a change of situation in another, at an immense distance?
   Does not the sun powerfully attract all the planets that surround him,
   however distant? and how can this be by causal union? This objection
   admits of two answers. 7. First, it has never been proved, that there
   is no causal union between these bodies adequate to the effect; while
   on the contrary several philosophers have at least attempted to show
   its existence. The solar system, for ought we know, may be perfectly
   mechanical, though we should never be able to perceive the intermediate
   parts. 8. Secondly, as to the universe in general depends on the causal
   presence of the first cause, so must every part of it; Scripture and
   reason assure us that in god we live, and move, and have our being.
   Therefore, whether there be any intermediate cause of gravitation or
   not, between the effect and the first cause, a causal union is still
   necessary to the effect. What difference there is, lies against the
   objector. For if there be no intermediate cause of gravitation, the
   presence, the energy, the causal union of the first cause is
   proportionally the more immediate. 9. Having shown that neither the
   carnal man nor the spiritual man is the immediate cause of the union
   subsisting between Christ and the Christian, it remains to be
   ascertained, what else is the cause? If it be not man it must be the
   divine spirit, either as the Spirit of the Father or of Christ. In one
   view this difference is not very material, but in another it is of
   considerable importance. Allow it to be from the Holy Spirit, in either
   sense, it secures the great point of salvation by grace, in opposition
   to our own merit. But, as it respects the nature of Christ's mediation,
   and particularly his federal headship and suretiship, it is of moment
   to ascertain, whether he or the Father, economically, be the immediate
   cause of the vital union. 10. The Scripture fully declares that the
   influence of the Spirit on the minds of men is from Christ. The Lord
   from heaven is a quickening Spirit--he quickeneth whom he will--he
   sends the Holy Ghost--he gives repentance, or the spirit of
   repentance--in him was life (without whom nothing was created,) and
   this life is the true light of men--he shines into the heart--his grace
   and strength constitute our sufficiency - &c. These and other passages
   innumerable show, that quickening influence proceeds from his fullness
   of life and grace. 11. That other passages ascribe spiritual effects to
   the Holy Spirit, or the Spirit of God, is of no force, except with such
   as deny the divine nature of Christ, who are confuted on other grounds.
   But supposing his divine nature in union with humanity, the Spirit of
   God is the Spirit of Christ, and vice versa. And in the divine economy
   of grace, Christ is the head or source of influence to the church. It
   is he who gives gifts to the rebellious, who endows with the spirit of
   life, and who bestows the living water to which divine influence is
   compared. 12. And how beautifully consistent must this appear when we
   consider, that as a covenant head he is the surety of his chosen
   people! The office of a surety engages to perform what is requisite in
   behalf of a person or persons as required by another. Thus Jesus not
   only brought in an everlasting righteousness in behalf of his people as
   their federal perfection, in lieu of those who could never attain to it
   by any obedience of their own; but it also belonged to his office to
   secure for them a voluntary, penitential, believing obedience to the
   equitable requisitions of the divine Governor. This can be effected
   only by divine influence, and that influence must needs proceed from
   him as the immediate cause; otherwise we make the creditor and surety
   to be the very same. God, as governor, demands obedience from all the
   subjects of his government; and Christ, as the surety of those who were
   given him, enables them to comply with those demands, that is, to
   submit, to repent, to believe with the heart, to love God, and to walk
   with him. 13. From the premises it follows plainly, that the immediate
   cause of vital union is the spirit of christ, which he bestows in the
   exercise of his office as the federal head of influence, and in virtue
   of his suretiship for his church and people. He as the true vine
   communicates life to the branches, and as the head of his church brings
   dead souls to be his living members. Faith is a fruit of the Spirit,
   and not the cause of a spiritual existence. Yet, 14. We maintain that
   faith forms a consequent union. Man being a subject of moral
   government, and therefore a free agent, at liberty to choose his end
   and means of happiness for which he is accountable; and God in infinite
   mercy proposing Jesus as the way, the truth, and the life; the
   all-sufficient and only Saviour of sinners--in whom we are required to
   believe and to trust with confidence, and whom we are encouraged to
   receive into our hearts, that he may dwell there by faith--the
   regenerate soul, by believing, unites itself to this object. 15. The
   former union is the immediate effect of sovereign favour; the latter
   union is the immediate effect of exercised grace; in the performance of
   an incumbent duty, or the discharge of moral obligation. Now since men
   are exhorted, warned, directed, reasoned, and expostulated with, on the
   ground of what they ought to do or abstain from doing, the Scripture
   abounds with such addresses. But lest any false inferences should be
   drawn, derogatory from the honours of sovereign grace, we are assured
   that every good and perfect gift cometh from the Father of lights. When
   we have done all we are unprofitable servants. Work out your own
   salvation, says Paul, with fear and trembling; for it is God who
   worketh in you both to will and to do of his own good pleasure. No one
   can come unto me except the Father who hath sent me draw him, that is,
   without divine influence; and whosoever cometh unto me, I will in no
   wise cast out. Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you. Ye are
   saved by grace, through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the
   gift of God. Among many other parts of Scripture where grace and
   obligation are strikingly intermixed, and illustrative of the preceding
   remarks, the reader is particularly referred to the sixth and fifteenth
   chapters of St. John's Gospel. 16. Coroll. The old mode, adopted by
   many orthodox divines, of distinguishing the vital union between Christ
   and his people, first, on his part, and secondly, on their part, is
   founded on Scripture and the reason of the thing; and the former is the
   cause of the latter. And therefore, as the cause must ever precede the
   effect, the first union not only may be prior to the second, as in the
   case of happy infants, but also must be so in the case of adults.-W

   [656] John i. 12.

   [657] John v. 40.

   [658] The term here used, "moral congruity," is not happily chosen.
   Indeed our author, in the next sentence, professes himself to be at a
   loss what terms to use which may clearly convey the necessary
   distinction. By "moral" congruity or fitness he seems to mean personal
   perfection, or a perfection of state personally considered, without
   relation to a surety, or the righteousness which God has provided. But
   this is an acceptation of the term "moral" so unusual as to throw great
   perplexity into the argument. Beside, when contrasted with believing,
   it leaves the reader to suppose that to believe is not a moral act. But
   the supposition that "believing with the heart unto righteousness" is
   not a moral act, as contradistinguished from a natural one, leads to an
   endless confusion of ideas. Surely, to believe God's testimony
   concerning the Son and his righteousness is, if any thing be, a moral
   act of obedience to divine authority. How then can it be called a
   natural fitness only, as contrasted with what is moral? Nor is the
   distinction at all necessary in order to avoid the apprehended
   consequence of assigning to faith any merit of congruity. A few
   observations on this intricate subject may probably assist the reader
   in seeking scriptural and consistent notions. 1. Justification implies
   a charge, a plea, and a virtual declaration of approval. 2. The charge
   against Adam and all his posterity is twofold, including a breach of
   covenant, or a failure in federal perfection; and also disobedience in
   transgressing a divine rule. These considerations are perfectly
   distinct in their nature. A rule may be momentarily transgressed for a
   long series of years, as it was by Adam, and constantly is by his
   rebellious descendants, but a federal failure was, from the nature of
   perfect righteousness, the very first act of delinquency. 3. No plea
   can be valid against a federal delinquency, as was the case in Adam,
   but a participation of a federal perfection. Nothing less can answer
   the charge, and nothing more is requisite. This averts condemnation,
   and entitles to a virtual approval in reference to that part of the
   charge. 4. No plea can be valid against disobedience to divine
   authority, or the rule of moral government, but a personal, voluntary,
   actual compliance with that authoritative rule of government; which we
   find by divine revelation to be, in reference to fallen man, submission
   to the righteousness of God; or, as differently expressed, believing on
   the Son of God, receiving him as the Lord our righteousness, &c. 5. No
   man has possessed a federal perfection, except by imputation, beside
   the first Adam while he obeyed without failure, and the second Adam
   when he completed his work of humiliation. For no eminence of grace in
   a mere descendant of Adam could possibly attain to federal perfection,
   from the very nature of such perfection. Nor indeed can the perfect
   obedience of glorified saints rise higher than a conformity to the
   divine law as a rule; their federal perfection is still derived from
   their union to Christ, and a consequent imputation, which implies a
   virtual approval. Hence, 6. The federal perfection of Messiah is the
   proper and sole ground of an actual interest in reconciliation and
   justification. In other words, the righteousness of Christ, his perfect
   obedience unto death as our substitute, is that alone on account of
   which we can stand before God with acceptance, in reference to the
   charge of a federal failure in Adam. 7. An actual interest in this
   federal perfection is obtained only by a vital or an effectual union to
   the Lord our righteousness. This is plain from Scripture, and is
   perfectly rational. It is compared to the union of a vine and its
   branches, the head and members of the human body, &c. That a
   participation of nature between Christ and us, or an effectual union,
   is requisite for a ground of imputation is evident, not only from
   scriptural comparisons, and the rational consistence of such an idea,
   but also from the fact of the Saviour's incarnation. Without this union
   to us, our sin could not have been imputed to him; and without a vital
   union, his righteousness could not be imputed to us. This is fairly and
   fully implied in many parts of Scripture, as might be shown if
   necessary.--From whence it is plain, that union is the indispensable
   ground of imputation. 8. Whoever is the subject of a vital union to
   Christ, is in a justified state, as partaker of a federal perfection,
   prior to the performance of any moral duty whatever. But in order to
   explain and prove this it is requisite to attend to the following
   particulars. 9. Union to Christ is of two kinds, on his part by his
   spirit; and on our part by faith, as explained in a preceding note. In
   the former, we are passive; and in the latter, we are active. In the
   one he acts as a sovereign dispenser of benefits; in the other we act
   as accountable creatures. 10. By the order both of nature and of time,
   the union begins with him who is a quickening Spirit; and that of faith
   is consequent upon the other, and is the proper effect of it. 11. By
   his uniting act, which may be termed effectual calling, the enmity of
   sin is destroyed in the soul, and the Spirit of Christ is imparted,
   which as occasion offers, will manifest itself as the Spirit of faith,
   or love, &c. Hence, 12. To the soul thus in Christ, whether infant or
   adult, there is no condemnation arising from federal delinquency; for
   this charge is answered by the union on his part; and righteousness is
   imputed. 13. From the premises it follows, that the generally received
   theological maxim is perfectly just and plain, viz. that justification
   and regeneration are simultaneous.--Union is the immediate cause of
   both; and because the one is a relative and the other a vital effect,
   there is no interference as to the order of time. Thus an union of a
   tree and a branch by ingrafture, is attended with two simultaneous
   effects, the one relative and the other vital; it is related to the
   tree as a branch, and at the same time partakes of the vital sap. The
   union, however, must precede both, as to nature and time. 14. But where
   two effects are both real, as distinguished from relative, the one must
   precede the other, both as to nature and time. Thus union precedes
   vitality, and this of necessity must precede vital acts; and
   regeneration, as the act of the Spirit of Christ, must necessarily
   precede believing, which is one mode by which a vital principle
   operates. For to suppose that the operation produces, or is prior to
   the principle, either in nature or in time, is a direct contradiction.
   15. If the preceding steps of these remarks be thoroughly weighed, it
   will be found, that justification, according to Scripture, and just
   reasoning upon it, has for its foundation the federal perfection of
   Messiah, and takes place as the immediate result of union to him. 16.
   But since this union is twofold, the one as the effect of the other,
   that is, union by faith is the effect of union by the Spirit of Christ,
   and these, cause and effect, cannot possibly be simultaneous, there
   must necessarily be a twofold justification as the result of the
   corresponding unions. Though in that union which is first in the order
   of nature and of time, the person, whether infant or adult, is passive;
   the result however is the imputation of righteousness, which is
   Messiah's federal perfection, and which entitles to life eternal. And
   by that union which is the effect of the other, and consequently
   posterior in it in the order both of nature and of time, (and of which
   infants cannot be partakers,) this is, by the union effected by
   believing, the result is the imputation of the same righteousness in
   circumstances totally different. 17. These two different circumstances,
   clearly perceived, will developed the seeming difficulty. In the first,
   the person, whether infant or adult, is the passive possessor of
   decreed benefits, union righteousness, and life; in the second
   circumstance, the adult person, as a free and accountable agent, is
   required to determine for himself on what to found his plea of
   acceptance with God. If he found his plea on his own obedience past or
   intended, whether moral, ceremonial, or both; he shows at once both
   ignorance and rebellion. Ignorance, that he supposes it even possible
   for him, by his own obedience, to attain to that federal perfection
   which is justly required by the righteous Governor; and also in that he
   does not perceive the love and wisdom, the super abounding grace and
   wonderful mercy, of God as a sovereign Benefactor in providing the
   needful remedy. Rebellion, in that he rejects the counsel of God, and
   resists, by obstinate unbelief, the divine authority requiring
   submission to this righteousness as the way to favour and life. Hence,
   18. As all reasonings, expostulations, threats, promises and
   encouragements; all testimonies, declarations, appeals, inducements,
   and sanctions, are addressed to men as moral agents, with whom, in the
   business of accountability, it rests, what mode they will adopt for
   obtaining acceptance with God--whether by doing the work themselves, or
   by believing his testimony and receiving his gift--it fully accounts
   for justification by faith being the great point argued in the
   apostolic writings. 19. And it further appears, that justification by
   faith alone should be strenuously urged by all gospel ministers, while
   they have to do continually with persons whose inquiry is, "What shall
   we do to be saved?" To such as thus inquire after the way of salvation,
   who seek acceptance with God, who are about to choose for themselves
   "the way they will take," what answer can be given, in effect, but what
   is contained in the apostle's words? Romans 4:5 "To him that worketh
   not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is
   counted for righteousness." The above statement not only agrees with
   these words, but also, as I humbly conceive, explains their import; and
   the embarrassment respecting the office and influence of faith in
   justification is removed, without expunging faith, or the act of
   believing, from the class of moral duties. 20. It may be objected, if
   there by any justification before believing, then an unbeliever may be
   justified; whereas the Scripture saith, "He that believeth not is
   condemned already." This objecting arises from a mistaken notion of the
   true meaning of such passages of Scripture. Condemnation, in the real
   import of Scripture, is leveled against the rejecters of Christ, or of
   the divine testimony, and these only, considered as free agents in
   seeking acceptance with God and final happiness. These, not believing
   in Christ, while prevailingly devoted to Moses or Mahomet, moral
   obedience or ceremonies, or indeed any other object whatever, reject in
   fact the testimony of God and his righteousness, and expose themselves
   to a double condemnation. They are condemned as being destitute of a
   perfect righteousness, and also for their actual disobedience to the
   divine authority. The sentence of the law is against them both as a
   covenant and as a rule; and the gospel which they reject will be a
   witness to prove the wickedness of their heart. But this can never take
   place in one who is vitally united to Christ. All allow that infants
   not believing are not to be ranked with unbelievers. To them no
   testimony is proposed, and therefore no testimony is rejected by them.
   Nor does any adult united to Christ reject the divine testimony, even
   before he believes. Let but the object of faith be presented to him,
   and his vital union secures the exercise of the living principle
   towards the proposed object in proportion as the terms are understood.
   A testimony not presented, or one presented in an unknown tongue,
   cannot be believed, notwithstanding the principle of faith. The
   existence of a principle does not necessarily imply its exercise,
   whether it be sense, reason, or faith. Men are not necessarily
   conversant with the objects of sense, because they possess the senses
   requisite for these purposes; nor are they always exercising the powers
   of the mind, however essential these powers are to human nature. In
   like manner, not exercising faith is a very different thing from not
   possessing the principle. A vital union and the spirit of faith are
   inseparably and essentially connected; but a vital union and believing
   are connected secundum quid, in certain circumstances. Without the
   circumstances of adult age, or a capacity of understanding, believing
   is impracticable. But how absurd would it be to say, that a sinner
   cannot be justified because he has not arrived at a certain advanced
   portion of understanding, or has not learned some language; as if a
   title to heaven depended on age, or knowing a language! And equally
   absurd is it to suppose that Christ cannot effect a vital union because
   the sinner's voluntary consent to it is wanting; as if God's high
   sovereignty were bound by the human will! That God requires the
   sinner's consent, as a matter of obligation, is a solemn fact; but God
   has not laid himself under any obligation that he will never unite a
   soul to Christ for justification of life but by the sinner's previous
   consent. He has declared, however, that the continued unbeliever, who
   is properly a willful rejecter of Christ and his righteousness, shall
   be condemned. Hence it is evident, that to make believing essential to
   a vital union, on the part of Christ; and to make the exercise of faith
   on a divine testimony essential to its existence, are erroneous
   conclusions, derogatory to gospel grace, and founded on wrong notions
   of moral government. 21. To make this, if possible, still more plain,
   the gospel finds men, as apostatized with Adam, in a state of
   condemnation; infants and adults alike are under the condemnatory
   sentence which is the result of a breach of covenant. This evil can be
   removed, and a restoration to favour be effected, only by an act of
   sovereign grace, whereby Christ becomes vitally united to the soul.
   Without this vital union there is, there can be, no faith. This being
   the case, a vital union is formed before faith can have any ground of
   existence; and consequently a justification which is a necessary result
   of this union takes place. For to him who is thus in Christ Jesus there
   is no condemnation; but he is passed from death unto life, as an object
   of mere grace and mercy. In this respect, an adult and in infant are
   perfectly on a par, while justified and regenerated for the kingdom of
   God. But God, in the character of a moral governor, has a further claim
   on every free agent; he exhibits to the view, and solicits, yea
   demands, a voluntary compliance with the plan of mercy through the
   blessed Redeemer, who was delivered for our offences, and was raised
   again for our justification. The regenerate person that is capable of
   acting for him self, as the subject of commands and invitations,
   complies; he becomes an active recipient of the appointed
   righteousness, which he now pleads in opposition to all charges
   presented against him. By faith, or believing God's testimony, he makes
   his appeal, and by faith alone he is justified. An investigation of the
   rationale of christian doctrines is not necessary for popular use, but
   may be peculiarly useful as a guard against inconsistencies, and a
   means of strengthening our attachment to those doctrines.--W.

   [659] This order, however, is a law to us, and compliance with it
   necessarily imports moral obedience; though the object received is the
   obedience of another. No one has room to expect success in his
   endeavors, but by complying with the divine requisition; and that
   requisition is, that we submit to the perfection of Messiah. And an act
   of submission to the righteousness of faith may well be an act of moral
   excellence, though that excellence has nothing meritorious on account
   of which a perfect righteousness should be imputed. A thing may have
   moral goodness without moral perfection. But in order to deny to faith
   the latter, it is not necessary to deprive it of the former. If we
   consistently maintain, that the moral excellence of faith constitutes
   no part of our justifying righteousness, it is all that the argument
   requires, in order to establish the conclusion intended.--W

   [660] That perfect obedience, is what is called righteousness in the
   New Testament, and that this righteousness, or perfect obedience, is by
   God's fixed unalterable rule the condition of justification, is, from
   the plain evidence of truth, confessed by a certain great man, whom
   nobody will think to be blinded by prejudice in favour of the doctrine
   we are maintaining, and one who did not receive this doctrine. M.
   Locke, in his Reasonableness of Christianity, as delivered in the
   Scriptures, vol. 2 of his works, p. 474, writes thus: "To one that thus
   unbiased reads the Scripture, what Adam fell from, is visible, was the
   state of perfect obedience, which is called justice in the New
   Testament, though the word, which in the original signifies justice, be
   translated righteousness." Ibid. p. 476, 477. "For righteousness, or an
   exact obedience to the law, seems by the Scripture to have a claim of
   right to eternal life; Rom. iv. 4. To him that worketh, i.e., does the
   works of the law, is the reward not reckoned of grace but of debt. - On
   the other side, it seems the unalterable purpose of divine justice,
   that no unrighteous person, no one that is guilty of any breach of the
   law, should be in paradise; but that the wages of sin should be to
   every man, as it was to Adam, an exclusion of him out of that happy
   state of immortality, and bring death upon him. And this is so
   conformable to the eternal and established law of right and wrong, that
   it is spoke of too as it could not be otherwise. - Here then we have
   the standing and fixed measures of life and death; immortality and
   bliss belong to the righteous. Those who have lived in an exact
   conformity to the law of God are out of the reach of death; but an
   exclusion from paradise and loss of immortality, is the portion of
   sinners, of all those who have any way broke that law, and failed of a
   complete obedience to it, by the guilt of any one transgression. And
   thus mankind, by the law, are put upon the issues of life or death, as
   they are righteous or unrighteous, just or unjust, i.e. exact
   performers or transgressors of the law." Again, in p. 477. "The way of
   works then in short is, that law which requires perfect obedience,
   without any remission or abatement; so that by that law a man cannot be
   just or justified, without an exact performance of every tittle. Such a
   perfect obedience in the New Testament, is termed ??????????, which we
   translate righteousness." In which last passage it is also to be noted,
   that Mr. Locke, by the law of works, does not understand the ceremonial
   law, but the covenant of works; as he more fully expresses himself in
   the next paragraph but one. "Where this law of works was to be found,
   the New Testament tells us, viz. in the law delivered by Moses; John
   i.17.The law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus
   Christ. Chap. vii. 19. Did not Moses give you the law, says our
   Saviour, and yet none of you keep the law? And this is the law which he
   speaks of- verse 28. This do, and thou shalt live. This is that which
   St. Paul so often styles the law, without any other distinction; Rom.
   ii. 13.. Not the hearers of the law are just before God, but the doers
   of the law are justified. It is needless to quote any more places, his
   epistles are all full of it, especially this to the Romans."

   [661] Thus Mr. Locke in his Reasonableness of Christianity, as
   delivered in the Scriptures, vol. 2d of his works, p. 478. "Nay,
   whatever God requires anywhere to be done, without making any allowance
   for faith, that is a part of the law of works. So that forbidding Adam
   to eat of the tree of knowledge, was part of the law of works. Only we
   must take notice here, that some of God's positive commands being for
   peculiar ends, and suited to particular circumstances of times, places,
   and persons, have a limited and only temporary obligation, by virtue of
   God's positive injunction: such was that part of Moses's law which
   concerned the outward worship of political constitution of the Jews,
   and is called the ceremonial and judaical law. Again, p. 479. "Thus
   then, as in the law in short, the civil and ritual part of the law
   delivered by Moses obliges not Christians, though to the Jews it were a
   part of the law of works; it being a part of the law of nature, that
   men ought to obey every positive law of God, whenever he shall please
   to make any such addition to the law of his nature."

   [662] Agreeable to this is what Mr. Locke says in his second
   Vindication of the Reasonableness of Christianity, &c. vol. ii. of his
   works. p. 630, 631. "The believing him therefore to be the Messiah is
   very often, with great reason, put both for faith and repentance too,
   which are sometimes set down singly, where on is put for both, as
   implying the other."

   [663] If repentance justifies, or be that by which we obtain pardon of
   sin any other way than this, it must be either as a virtue or
   righteousness, or something amiable in us; or else it must be, that our
   sorrow and condemning what is past, is accepted as some atonement for
   it; both which are equally contrary to the gospel-doctrine of
   justification by Christ.

   [664] This distinction is just and scriptural as far as it goes, but it
   does not reach the bottom of the difficulty, since believing in order
   to justification is itself a part of obedience, and is expressly called
   "the obedience of faith." Hence justification by faith, in comparison
   of what precedes it, is only manifestative. The tree must be good, that
   is, the person must be vitally united to Christ, as the adequate cause
   of believing, otherwise he would be still carnal. The faith of a man
   spiritually dead or carnal, must needs be a dead faith; but to suppose
   that such faith unites to Christ, has neither Scripture nor any
   plausible reason to support it. To him that is in Christ Jesus by a
   vital union, there is no condemnation; and as there is no medium
   between condemnation and justification, he who is in Christ is
   justified, or "accepted in the beloved" Saviour. That union which
   Christ effects by his quickening Spirit, makes the tree good, and
   believing with the heart, in order to receive the promised
   righteousness, is the fruit of a good tree. Therefore the justification
   which is received as the consequence of believing is only manifestative
   of union; even as justification by works, as asserted by St. James, is
   manifestative of a living faith. As without works there is no
   sufficient evidence of union to Christ on our part, so without faith in
   Christ as our complete righteousness, there is no sufficient evidence
   of union with him on his part. The true Christian's works, are "works
   of faith and labours of love," performed in obedience to God's
   authority, directed to his glory, and inspired by gratitude for the
   blessings of his grace, and this is the first of all such works, called
   "the work of God," even to believe on Jesus Christ in whom alone is
   righteousness and life. By believing we receive the divine testimony
   respecting a gratuitous righteousness, and renounce all hope of
   obtaining justification by any other way. The justifying righteousness
   is only one, but the appointed ways of becoming interested in it are
   divers. One way is by the will of God our Saviour, the other by the
   will of man the accountable agent, each in its own order. The will of
   God gives the fundamental interest, and the will of man the consequent
   and manifestative interest. In the first way, we are interested in
   Christ's righteousness by one act continued, commencing with, and
   permanent as, the primary vital union; in the other way, it is by
   repeated acts, commencing with the first act of faith in Christ, and
   repeated with every succeeding reception of him. Among persons who have
   made any, even the smallest, progress in christian knowledge, there can
   be no dispute respecting the fundamental cause of justification. All
   such acknowledge, that the righteousness, or federal perfection of
   Jesus Christ, is that for the sake of which any of the fallen race of
   Adam can be justified. The difference of sentiment arises from the
   appointed method of obtaining an interest in this meritorious cause.
   For want of consideration, we too hastily infer, that if the Scripture
   states one appointed method, that it must be an exclusive
   appointment.--Hence one pleads from Scripture, and especially St.
   James's epistle, that this appointed method is by works, that is,
   evangelical obedience, of which faith is a leading part. Another pleads
   from Scripture, that it is by faith, not as an act of moral obedience,
   but as a suitable bond of union, to the exclusion of all works. And a
   third, from the same Scripture, pleads, that we are justified by an
   eternal immanent act of God, and that faith only brings us to enjoy a
   privilege which belongs to the elect from eternity. Now each of these
   schemes overlooks the important truth, that the immediate ground of
   justification is the vital union between Christ and the soul.
   Justification from eternity precedes vital union; justification by
   works denies the fact of a vital union being an adequate ground of a
   justifying sentence; and justification by faith alone, or believing in
   Christ, to the exclusion of a prior vital union on the part of the
   Spirit, confounds the work of man and the work of God. This last being
   the most difficult part of the subject, I beg leave to make a few
   observations upon it. 1. The claims of God, in reference to
   justification, are twofold. In the first instance, he claims from a man
   a federal perfection; and in the second instance, he claims compliance
   with his method of bestowing an interest in it. The former claim may be
   answered by the surety, and in fact is answered by his act of a vital
   union on his part. For by this he gives an interest in himself to the
   soul he savingly adopts. Thus there is no condemnation to you that are
   in Christ Jesus. But the latter claim can be answered only by the
   believer himself, when he actually receives Christ as his
   righteousness, and so answers the divine requisition. Thus, he that
   believeth in Christ is justified from all things. In the first
   instance, Christ pleads his own righteousness in behalf of the adopted
   sinner; in the last instance, the believer pleads the same
   righteousness in his own behalf. 2. The obligations of man, in
   reference to justification, are also of two kinds. In the first place,
   he stands obliged to be conformed to the law as a covenant, which
   demands a sinless perfection; and, in the second place, he is obliged
   to conform to the law as a rule. Now whatever God enjoins as a duty, is
   a part of this rule; whether it be to hate sin, to love God, to believe
   in Christ, or to observe whatever Christ hath commanded. Our obligation
   to be conformed to the law as a covenant, is discharged by Christ only
   as our surety; and our ability to discharge our obligation of being
   conformed to the law as a rule is from him. We are obliged to believe
   on him as our justifying righteousness, under pain of God's
   displeasure, but man will ever continue in unbelief until Christ slays
   his enmity, and enables him to believe. But to slay a sinner's enmity,
   to change his nature, or to give him ability to believe, is the effect
   of a vital union; for as there is no such ability without gracious
   influence, so there is no gracious influence without union to the
   source of spiritual life. When thus enabled, man exercises repentance
   towards God, and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. Receiving him by faith
   alone, as our righteousness and life, the law is obeyed as the voice of
   God, requiring the obedience of faith. 3. The method of mercy, in
   reference to justification, includes the substitution of the Saviour,
   and our acceptance in him, without any works of righteousness on our
   part. In this respect, not by works of righteousness which we have
   done, whether faith, repentance, or any kind of obedience, but
   according to his mercy he saveth us--provides a Saviour and gives us a
   saving interest in him. Grace provides, and grace applies the remedy.
   Mercy imputes to Jesus our sins, and imputes to us his righteousness.
   He who knew no sin was by sovereign mercy made a sin-offering for us,
   that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. Mercy laid the
   foundation, and placed us on it, that we might become living stones on
   him; and in consequence find him to be precious. 4. The rule of moral
   government, in reference to justification, is, that we believe on the
   Lord Jesus Christ as the end of the law for righteousness. For this end
   is the gospel proclaimed to all nations, even for "the obedience of
   faith." This is the language of divine government, "He that believeth
   shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be condemned." The
   unbeliever is condemned already, because he rejects the counsel of God,
   and neglects so great salvation. Mercy hath provided an adequate and
   all-sufficient remedy, and government requires our closing with it as
   the only ground of hope left us. An endeavour to set up our own
   obedience instead of the righteousness of Christ, is rebellion against
   the authority of God, and undervaluing his wisdom and grace. None
   deserve condemnation more than those who reject the only remedy. And
   even they who believe have no ground of boasting. For we are saved by
   grace, and justified by faith, and that is not of ourselves, but is the
   gift of God.--The influence of works in justification our author has
   well explained.--W
     __________________________________________________________________

      DISCOURSE II

   pressing into the kingdom of god.

   luke xvi. 16.

   The law and the prophets were until John: since that time the kingdom
   of God is preached, and every man presseth into it.

   In these words two things may be observed: First, Wherein the work and
   office of John the Baptist consisted, viz. in preaching the kingdom of
   God, to prepare the way for its introduction to succeed the law and the
   prophets. By the law and the prophets, in the text, seems to be
   intended the ancient dispensation under the Old Testament, which was
   received from Moses and the prophets. These are said to be until John;
   not that the revelations given by them are out of use since that time,
   but that the state of the church, founded and regulated under God by
   them, the dispensation of which they were the ministers, and wherein
   the church depended mainly on light received from them, fully continued
   till John. He first began to introduce the New-Testament dispensation,
   or gospel-state of the church; which, with its glorious, spiritual, and
   eternal privileges and blessings, is often called the kingdom of
   heaven, or kingdom of God. John the Baptist preached, that the kingdom
   of God was at hand. "Repent," says he, "for the kingdom of heaven is at
   hand:" --"Since that time," says Christ, "the kingdom of God is
   preached." John the Baptist first began to preach it; and then after
   him, Christ and his disciples preached the same. Thus Christ preached,
   Matt. iv. 17. "From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say,
   Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." So the disciples were
   directed to preach, Matt. x. 7. "And, as ye go, preach, saying, the
   kingdom of heaven is at hand." It was not John the Baptist, but Christ,
   that fully brought in, and actually established, this kingdom of God;
   but he, as Christ's forerunner to prepare his way before him, did the
   first thing that was done towards introducing it. The old dispensation
   was abolished, and the new brought in by degrees; as the night
   gradually ceases, and gives place to the increasing day which succeeds
   in its room. First the day-star arises; next follows the light of the
   sun itself, but dimly reflected, in the dawning of the day; but this
   light increases, and shines more and more, and the stars that served
   for light during the foregoing night, gradually go out, and their light
   ceases, as being now needless, till at length the sun rises, and
   enlightens the world by his own direct light, which increases as he
   ascends higher above the horizon, till the day-star itself gradually
   disappears; agreeable to what John says of himself, John iii. 30. "He
   must increase, but I must decrease." John was the forerunner of Christ,
   and harbinger of the gospel-day; much as the morning-star is the
   forerunner of the sun. He had the most honourable office of any of the
   prophets; the other prophets foretold Christ to come, he revealed him
   as already come, and had the honour to be that servant who should come
   immediately before him, and actually introduce him, and even to be the
   instrument concerned in his solemn inauguration, as he was in baptizing
   him. He was the greatest of the prophets that came before Christ, as
   the morning-star is the brightest of all the stars, Matt. xi. 11. He
   came to prepare men's hearts to receive that kingdom of God which
   Christ was about more fully to reveal and erect. Luke i. 17. "To make
   ready a people prepared for the Lord."

   Secondly, We may observe wherein his success appeared, viz. in that
   since he began his ministry, every man pressed into that kingdom of God
   which he preached. The greatness of his success appeared in two things:

   1. In the generalness of it, with regard to the subject, or the persons
   in whom the success appeared; every man. Here is a term of
   universality; but it is not to be taken as universal with regard to
   individuals, but kinds; as such universal terms are often used in
   Scripture. When John reached, there was an extraordinary pouring out of
   the Spirit of God that attended his preaching. An uncommon awakening,
   and concern for salvation, appeared on the minds of all sorts of
   persons; and even in the most unlikely persons, and those from whom
   such a thing might least be expected; as the Pharisees, who were
   exceeding proud, and self-sufficient, and conceited of their own wisdom
   and righteousness, and looked on themselves fit to he teachers of
   others, and used to scorn to be taught; and the Sadducees, who were a
   kind of infidels, that denied any resurrection, angel, or spirit, or
   any future stale. So that John himself seems to be surprised to see
   them come to him, under such concern for their salvation; as in Matt.
   iii. 7. " But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees come to
   his baptism, he said unto them, O generation of vipers, who hath warned
   you to flee from the wrath to come?" And besides these, the publicans,
   who were some of the most infamous sort of men, came to him, inquiring
   what they should do to be saved. And the soldiers, who were doubtless a
   very profane, loose, and profligate sort of persons, made the same
   inquiry, Luke iii. 12, and 14. "Then came also publicans to be
   baptized, and said

      DISCOURSE I

   justification by faith alone

   Rom. iv. 5.

   But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the
   ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness.

   The following things may be noted in this verse:

   1. That justification respects a man as ungodly. This is evident by
   these words,--that justifieth the ungodly; which cannot imply less,
   than that God, in the act of justification, has no regard to any thing
   in the person justified, as godliness, or any goodness in him; but that
   immediately before this act, God beholds him only as an ungodly
   creature; so that godliness in the person to be justified is not so
   antecedent to his justification as to be the ground of it. When it is
   said that God justifies the ungodly, it is absurd to suppose that our
   godliness, taken as some goodness in us, is the ground of our
   justification; as, when it is said that Christ gave sight to the blind,
   to suppose that sight was prior to, and the ground of, that act of
   mercy in Christ; or as, if it should be said that such an one by his
   bounty has made a poor man rich, to suppose that it was the wealth of
   this poor man that was the ground of this bounty towards him and was
   the price by which it was procured.

   2. It appears, that by him that worketh not, in this verse, is not
   meant one who merely does not comform to the ceremonial law; because he
   that worketh not and the ungodly, are evidently synonymous expressions,
   or what signify the same, as appears by the manner of their connexion;
   if not, to what purpose is the latter expression, the ungodly, brought
   in? The context gives no other occasion for it, but to show, that by
   the grace of the gospel, God in justification has no regard to any
   godliness of ours. The foregoing verse is, "Now to him that worketh, is
   the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt." In that verse, it is
   evident, gospel grace consists in the reward being given without works;
   and in this verse, which immediately follows it, and in sense is
   connected with it, gospel-grace consists in a man's being justified as
   ungodly. By which it is most plain, that by him that worketh not, and
   him that is ungodly, are meant the same thing; and that therefore not
   only works of the ceremonial law are excluded in this business of
   justification, but works of morality and godliness.

   3. It is evident in the words, that by the faith here spoken of, by
   which we are justified, is not meant the same thing as a course of
   obedience or righteousness, since the expression by which the faith is
   here denoted, is believing on him that justifies the ungodly.--They
   that oppose the Solifidians, as they call them, greatly insist on it,
   that we should take the words of Scripture concerning this doctrine in
   their most natural and obvious meaning; and how do they cry out, of our
   clouding this doctrine with obscure metaphors, and unintelligible
   figures of speech? But is this to interpret Scripture according to its
   most obvious meaning, when the Scripture speaks of our believing on him
   that justifies the ungodly, or the breakers of his law, to say, that
   the meaning of it is performing a course of obedience to his law, and
   avoiding the breaches of it? Believing on God as a justifer, certainly
   is a different thing from submitting to God as a lawgiver; especially
   believing on him as a justifier of the ungodly, or rebels against the
   lawgiver.

   4. It is evident that the subject of justification is looked upon as
   destitute of any righteousness in himself, by that expression, it is
   counted or imputed to him for righteousness.--The phrase, as the
   apostle uses it here and in the context, manifestly imports, that God
   of his sovereign grace is pleased, in his dealings with the sinner, so
   to regard one that has no righteousness, that the consequence shall be
   the same as if he had. This however may be from the respect it bears to
   some thing that is indeed righteous. It is plain that this is the force
   of the expression in the preceding verses. In the last verse but one,
   it is manifest, the apostle lays the stress of his argument for the
   free grace of God--from that text of the Old Testament about
   Abraham--on the word counted or imputed; and this is the thing that he
   supposed God to show his grace in, viz. in this counting something for
   righteousness, in his consequential dealings with Abraham, that was no
   righteousness in itself. And in the next verse which immediately
   precedes the text, "Now to him that worketh, is the reward not reckoned
   of grace, but of debt," and word there translated reckoned, is the same
   that in the other verses is rendered imputed, and counted: and it is as
   much as if the apostle had said, "As to him that works, there is no
   need of any gracious reckoning or counting it for righteousness, and
   causing the reward to follow as if it were a righteousness; for if he
   has works, he has that which is a righteousness in itself, to which the
   reward properly belongs." This if further evident by the words that
   follow, Rom. iv. 6., "Even as David also described the blessedness of
   the man unto whom God imputeth righteousness without works." What can
   here be meant by imputing righteousness without works, but imputing
   righteousness to him that has none of his own? Rom. iv. 7, 8. "Saying,
   Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are
   covered: blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin." How
   are these words of David to the apostle's purpose? or how do they prove
   any such thing, as that righteousness is imputed without works, unless
   it be because the word imputed is used, and the subject of the
   imputation is mentioned as a sinner, and consequently destitute of a
   moral righteousness? For David says no such thing, as that he is
   forgiven without the works of the ceremonial law; there is no hint of
   the ceremonial law, or reference to it, in the words.---I will
   therefore venture to infer this doctrine from the words, for the
   subject of my present discourse, viz.

   That we are justified only by faith in Christ, and not by any manner of
   virtue or goodness of our own.

   Such an assertion as this, I am sensible, many would be ready to call
   absurd, as betraying a great deal of ignorance, and containing much
   inconsistence; but I desire every one's patience till I have done.

   In handling this doctrine, I would,

   I. Explain the meaning of it, and show how I would be understood by
   such an assertion.

   II. Proceed to the consideration of the evidence of the truth of it.

   III. Show how evangelical obedience is concerned in this affair.

   IV. Answer objections.

   V. Consider the importance of the doctrine.

   I. I would explain the meaning of the doctrine, or show in what sense I
   assert it, and would endeavor to evince the truth of it: which may be
   done in answer to these two inquiries, viz. 1. What is meant by being
   justified? 2. What is meant when it is said, that this is, "by faith
   alone, without any manner of virtue or goodness of our own?"

   First, I would show what justification is, or what I suppose is meant
   in Scripture by being justified.

   A person is said to be justified, when he is approved of God as free
   from the guilt of sin and its deserved punishment, and as having that
   righteousness belonging to him that entitles to the reward of life.
   That we should take the word in such a sense, and understand it as the
   judge's accepting a person as having both a negative and positive
   righteousness belonging to him, and looking on him therefore as not
   only free from any obligation to punishment, but also as just and
   righteous, and so entitled to a positive reward, is not only most
   agreeable to the etymology and natural import of the word, which
   signifies to pass one for righteousness in judgment, but also
   manifestly agreeable to the force of the word as used in Scripture.

   Some suppose that nothing more is intended in Scripture by
   justification, than barely the remission of sins. If so, it is very
   strange, if we consider the nature of the case; for it is most evident,
   and none will deny, that it is with respect to the rule or law of God
   we are under, that we are said in Scripture to be either justified or
   condemned. Now what is it to justify a person as the subject of a law
   or rule, but to judge him as standing right with respect to that rule?
   To justify a person in a particular case, is to approve of him as
   standing right, as subject to the law in that case; and to justify in
   general is to pass him in judgment, as standing right in a state
   correspondent to the law or rule in general: but certainly, in order to
   a person's being looked on as standing right with respect to the rule
   in general, or in a state corresponding with the law of God, more is
   needful than not having the guilt of sin; for whatever that law is,
   whether a new or an old one, doubtless something positive is needed in
   order to its being answered. We are no more justified by the voice of
   the law, or of him that judges according to it, by a mere pardon of
   sin, that Adam, our first surety, was justified by the law, at the
   first point of his existence, before he had fulfilled the obedience of
   the law, or had so much as any trial whether he would fulfill it or no.
   If Adam had finished his course of perfect obedience, he would have
   been justified: and certainly his justification would have implied
   something more than what is merely negative; he would have been
   approved of, as having fulfilled the righteousness of the law, and
   accordingly would have been adjudged to the reward of it. So Christ,
   our second surety, (in whose justification all whose surety he is, are
   virtually justified,) was not justified till he had done the work the
   Father had appointed him, and kept the Father's commandments through
   all trials; and then in his resurrection he was justified. When he had
   been put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the spirit, 1 Pet.
   iii. 18., then he that was manifest in the flesh was justified in the
   spirit, 1 Tim. iii. 16.; but God, when he justified him in raising him
   from the dead, did not only release him from his humiliation for sin,
   and acquit him from any further suffering or abasement for it, but
   admitted him to that eternal and immortal life, and to the beginning of
   that exaltation that was the reward of what he had done. And indeed the
   justification of a believer is no other than his being admitted to
   communion in the justification of this head and surety of all
   believers; for as Christ suffered the punishment of sin, not as a
   private person, but as our surety; so when after this suffering he was
   raised from the dead, he was therein justified, not as a private
   person, but as the surety and representative of all that should believe
   in him. So that he was raised again not only for his own, but also for
   our justification, according to the apostle, Rom. iv. 25. "Who was
   delivered for our offences, and raised again for our justification."
   And therefore it is that the apostle says, as he does in Rom. viii. 34.
   "Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is
   risen again."

   But that a believer's justification implies not only remission of sins,
   or acquittance from the wrath due to it, but also an admittance to a
   title to that glory which is the reward of righteousness, is more
   directly taught in the Scripture, particularly in Rom. v.1, 2. where
   the apostle mentions both these as joint benefits implied in
   justification: "Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with
   God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom also we have access into
   this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God."
   So remission of sin, and inheritance among them that are sanctified,
   are mentioned together as what are jointly obtained by faith in Christ,
   Acts xxvi. 18. "That they may receive forgiveness of sins, and
   inheritance among them that are sanctified, through faith that is in
   me." Both these are without doubt implied in that passing from death to
   life, which Christ speaks of as the fruit of faith, and which he
   opposes to condemnation, John v. 24. "Verily I say unto you, he that
   heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting
   life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death
   unto life." I proceed now,

   Secondly, To show what is meant when it is said, that this
   justification is by faith only, and not by any virtue or goodness of
   our own.

   This inquiry may be subdivided into two, viz.

   1. How it is by faith. 2. How it is by faith alone, without any manner
   of goodness of ours.

   1. How justification is by faith.--Here the great difficulty has been
   about the import and force of the particle by, or what is that
   influence that faith has in the affair of justification that is
   expressed in Scripture by being justified by faith.

   Here, if I may humbly express what seems evident to me, though faith be
   indeed the condition of justification so as nothing else is, yet this
   matter is not clearly and sufficiently explained by saying that faith
   is the condition of justification; and that because the word seems
   ambiguous, both in common use, and also as used in divinity. In one
   sense, Christ alone performs the condition of our justification and
   salvation; in another sense, faith is the condition of justification;
   in another sense, other qualifications and acts are conditions of
   salvation and justification too. There seems to be a great deal of
   ambiguity in such expressions as are commonly used, (which yet we are
   forced to use,) such as condition of salvation, what is required in
   order to salvation or justification, the terms of the covenant, and the
   like; and I believe they are understood in very different sense by
   different persons. And besides, as the word condition is very often
   understood in the common use of language, faith is not the only thing
   in us that is the condition of justification; for by the word
   condition, as it is very often (and perhaps most commonly) used, we
   mean any thing that may have the place of a condition in a conditional
   proposition, and as such is truly connected with the consequent,
   especially if the proposition holds both in the affirmative and
   negative, as the condition is either affirmed or denied. If it be that
   with which, or which being supposed, a thing shall be, and without
   which, or it being denied, a thing shall not be, we in such a case call
   it a condition of that thing. But in this sense faith is not the only
   condition of salvation or justification; for there are many things that
   accompany and flow from faith, with which justification shall be, and
   without which it will not be, and therefore are found to be put in
   Scripture in conditional propositions with justification and salvation
   in multitudes of places; such are love to God, and love to our
   brethren, forgiving men their trespasses, and many other good
   qualifications and acts. And there are many other things besides faith,
   which are directly proposed to us, to be pursued or performed by us, in
   order to eternal life, which if they are done, or obtained, we shall
   have eternal life, and if not done, or not obtained, we shall surely
   perish. And if faith was the only condition of justification in this
   sense, I do not apprehend that to say faith was the condition of
   justification, would express the sense of that phrase of Scripture, of
   being justified by faith. There is a difference between being justified
   by a thing, and that thing universally, necessarily, and inseparably
   attending justification; for so do a great many things that we are not
   said to be justified by. It is not the inseparable connexion with
   justification that the Holy Ghost would signify (or that is naturally
   signified) by such a phrase, but some particular influence that faith
   has in the affair, or some certain dependence that effect has on its
   influence.

   Some, aware of this, have supposed, that the influence or dependence
   might well be expressed by faith's being the instrument of our
   justification; which has been misunderstood, and injuriously
   represented, and ridiculed by those that have denied the doctrine of
   justification by faith alone, as though they had supposed faith was
   used as an instrument in the hand of God, whereby he performed and
   brought to pass that act of his, viz. approving and justifying the
   believer. Whereas it was not intended that faith was the instrument
   wherewith God justifies, but the instrument wherewith we receive
   justification; not the instrument wherewith the justifier acts in
   justifying, but wherewith the receiver of justification acts in
   accepting justification. But yet, it must be owned, this is an obscure
   way of speaking, and there must certainly be some impropriety in
   calling it an instrument wherewith we receive or accept justification;
   for the very persons who thus explain the matter, speak of faith as
   being the reception or acceptance itself; and if so, how can it be the
   instrument of reception or acceptance? Certainly there is a difference
   between the act and the instrument. Besides, by their own descriptions
   of faith, Christ, the mediator by whom, and his righteousness by which,
   we are justified, is more directly the object of this acceptance and
   justification, which is the benefit arising there from more indirectly;
   and therefore, if faith be an instrument, it is more properly the
   instrument by which we receive Christ, than the instrument by which we
   receive justification.

   But I humbly conceive we have been ready to look too far to find out
   what that influence of faith in our justification is, or what is that
   dependence of this effect on faith, signified by the expression of
   being justified by faith, overlooking that which is most obviously
   pointed forth in the expression, viz. that (there being a mediator that
   has purchased justification) faith in this mediator is that which
   renders it a meet and suitable thing, in the sight of God, that the
   believer, rather than others, should have this purchased benefit
   assigned to him.--There is this benefit purchased, which God sees it to
   be a more meet and suitable thing that it should be assigned to some
   rather than others, because he sees them differently qualified; that
   qualification wherein the meetness to this benefit, as the case stands,
   consists, is that in us by which we are justified. If Christ had not
   come into the world and died, &c. to purchase justification, no
   qualification whatever in us could render it a meet or fit thing that
   we should be justified. But the case being as it now stands, viz. that
   Christ has actually purchased justification by his own blood for
   infinitely unworthy creatures, there may be certain qualifications
   found in some persons, which, either from the relation it bears to the
   mediator and his merits, or on some other account, is the thing that in
   the sight of God renders it a meet and condecent thing, that they
   should have an interest in this purchased benefit, and of which if any
   are destitute, it renders it an unfit and unsuitable thing that they
   should have it. The wisdom of God in his constitutions doubtless
   appears much in the fitness and beauty of them, so that those things
   are established to be done that are fit to be done, and that those
   things are connected in his constitution that are agreeable one to
   another. So God justifies a believer according to his revealed
   constitution, without doubt, because he sees something in this
   qualification that, as the case stands, renders it a fit thing that
   such should be justified; whether it be because faith is the
   instrument, or as it were the hand, by which he that has purchased
   justification is apprehended and accepted, or because it is the
   acceptance itself, or whatever else. To be justified, is to be approved
   by God as a proper subject of pardon, with a right to eternal life; and
   therefore, when it is said that we are justified by faith, what else
   can be understood by it, than that faith is that by which we are
   rendered approvable, fitly so, and indeed, as the case stands, proper
   subjects of this benefit?

   This is something different from faith being the condition of
   justification, though inseparably connected with justification. So are
   many other things besides faith; and yet nothing in us but faith
   renders it meet that we should have justification assigned to us; as I
   shall presently show in answer to the next inquiry, viz.

   2. How this is said to be by faith alone, without any manner of virtue
   or goodness of our own. This may seem to some to be attended with two
   difficulties, viz. how this can be said to be by faith alone, without
   any virtue or goodness of ours, when faith itself is a virtue, and one
   part of our goodness, and is not only some manner of goodness of ours,
   but is a very excellent qualification, and one chief part of the
   inherent holiness of a Christian? And if it be a part of our inherent
   goodness or excellency (whether it be this part or any other) that
   renders it a condecent or congruous thing that we should have this
   benefit of Christ assigned to us, what is this less than what they mean
   who talk of a merit of congruity? And moreover, if this part of our
   christian holiness qualifies us, in the sight of God, for this benefit
   of Christ, and renders it a fit or meet thing, in his sight, that we
   should have it, why should not other parts of holiness, and conformity
   of God, which are also very excellent, and have as much of the image of
   Christ in them, and are no less lovely in God's eyes, qualify us as
   much, and have as much influence to render us meet, in God's sight, for
   such a benefit as this? Therefore I answer,

   When it is said, that we are not justified by any righteousness or
   goodness of our own, what is meant is, that it is not out of respect to
   the excellency or goodness of any qualifications or acts in us
   whatsoever, that God judges it meet that this benefit of Christ should
   be ours; and it is not, in any wise, on account of any excellency or
   value that there is in faith, that it appears in the sight of God a
   meet thing, that he who believes should have this benefit of Christ
   assigned to him, but purely from the relation faith has to the person
   in whom this benefit is to be had, or as it unites to that mediator, in
   and by whom we are justified. Here, for the greater clearness, I would
   particularly explain myself under several propositions.

   (1.) It is certain that there is some union or relation that the people
   of Christ stand in to him, that is expressed in Scripture, from time to
   time, by being in Christ, and is represented frequently by those
   metaphors of being members of Christ, or being united to him as members
   to the head, and branches to the stock, [665] and is compared to a
   marriage union between husband and wife. I do not now pretend to
   determine of what sort this union is; nor is it necessary to my present
   purpose to enter into any manner of disputes about it. If any are
   disgusted at the word union, as obscure and unintelligible, the word
   relation equally serves my purpose. I do not now desire to determine
   any more about it, than all, of all sorts, will readily allow, viz.
   that there is a peculiar relation between true Christians and Christ,
   which there is not between him and others; and which is signified by
   those metaphorical expressions in Scripture, of being in Christ, being
   members of Christ, &c. [666]

   (2.) This relation or union to Christ, whereby Christians are said to
   be in Christ, (whatever it be,) is the ground of their right to his
   benefits. This needs no proof; the reason of the thing, at first blush,
   demonstrates it. It is exceeding evident also by Scripture, 1 John
   v.12. "He that hath the Son, hath life; and he that hath not the Son,
   hath not life." 1 Cor. i.30. "Of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God
   is made unto us-righteousness." First we must be in him, and then he
   will be made righteousness or justification to us. Eph. i.6. "Who hath
   made us accepted in the beloved." Our being in him is the ground or our
   being accepted. So it is in those unions to which the Holy Ghost has
   thought fit to compare this. The union of the members of the body with
   the head, is the ground of their partaking of the life of the head; it
   is the union of the branches to the stock, which is the ground of their
   partaking of the sap and life of the stock; it is the relation of the
   wife to the husband, that is the ground of her joint interest in his
   estate; they are looked upon, in several respects, as one in law. So
   there is a legal union between Christ and true Christians; so that (as
   all except Socinians allow) one, in some respects, is accepted for the
   other by the Supreme Judge.

   (3.) And thus it is that faith is the qualification in any person that
   renders it meet in the sight of God that he should be looked upon as
   having Christ's satisfaction and righteousness belonging to him, viz.
   because it is that in him which, on his part, makes up this union
   between him and Christ. By what has been just now observed, it is a
   person's being, according to scripture phrase, in Christ, that is the
   ground of having his satisfaction and merits belong to him, and a right
   to the benefits procured thereby. The reason of it is plain; it is easy
   to see how our having Christ's merits and benefits belonging to us,
   following from our having (if I may so speak) Christ himself belonging
   to us, or our being united to him. And if so, it must also be easy to
   see how, or in what manner, that in a person, which on his part makes
   up the union between his soul and Christ, should be the thing on the
   account of which God looks on it as meet that he should have Christ's
   merits belonging to him. It is a very different thing for God to assign
   to a particular person a right to Christ's merits and benefits from
   regard to a qualification in him in this respect, from his doing it for
   him out of respect to the value or loveliness of that qualification, or
   as a reward of its excellency.

   As there is nobody but what will allow that there is a peculiar
   relation between Christ and his true disciples, by which they are in
   some sense in Scripture said to be on; so I suppose there is nobody but
   what will allow, that there may be something that the true Christ does
   on his part, whereby he is active in coming into this relation or
   union; some uniting act, or that which is done towards this union or
   relation (or whatever any please to call it) on the Christian's part.
   Now faith I suppose to be this act.

   I do not now pretend to define justifying faith, or to determine
   precisely how much is contained in it, but only to determine thus much
   concerning it, viz. That it is that by which the soul, which before was
   separate and alienated from Christ, unites itself to him, or ceases to
   be any longer in that state of alienation, and comes into that
   forementioned union or relation to him; or to use the scripture phrase,
   it is that by which the soul comes to Christ, and receives him; and
   this is evident by the Scriptures using these very expressions to
   signify faith. John vi. 35-39. "He that cometh to me, shall never
   hunger; and he that believeth on me, shall never thirst. But I said
   unto you, that ye also have seen me and believe not. All that the
   Father giveth me, shall come to me; and him that cometh to me, I will
   in no wise cast out. For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own
   will, but the will of him that sent me." Ver. 40. "And this is the will
   of him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth
   on him, may have everlasting life; and I will raise him up at the last
   day." . Chap. 5.38-40. "Whom he hath sent, him ye believe not. Search
   the Scriptures, for--they are they which testify of me. And ye will not
   come unto me, that ye might have life." Ver. 43, 44. "I am come in my
   Father's name, and ye receive me not: if another shall come in his own
   name, him ye will receive. How can ye believe, which receive honour one
   of another--?" Chap. i.12. "But as many as received him, to them gave
   he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his
   name." If it be said that these are obscure figures of speech, which,
   however, they might be well understood of old among those who commonly
   used such metaphors, are with difficulty understood now. I allow, that
   the expressions of receiving Christ and coming to Christ, are
   metaphorical expressions; and if I should allow them to be obscure
   metaphors, yet thus much at least is certainly plain in them, viz. that
   faith is that by which those who before were separated, and at a
   distance from Christ, (that is to say, were not so related and united
   to him as his people are,) cease to be any longer at such a distance,
   and come into that relation and nearness; unless they are so
   unintelligible, that nothing at all can be understood by them.

   God does not give those that believe an union with or an interest in
   the Saviour as a reward for faith, but only because faith is the soul's
   active uniting with Christ, or is itself the very act of unition, on
   their part. God sees it, that in order to an union being established
   between two intelligent active beings or persons, so as that they
   should be looked upon as one, there should be the mutual act of both,
   that each should receive other, as actively joining themselves one to
   another. God, in requiring this in order to an union with Christ as one
   of his people, treats men as reasonable creatures, capable of act and
   choice; and hence sees it fit that they only who are one with Christ by
   their own act, should be looked upon as one in law. What is real in the
   union between Christ and his people, is the foundation of what is
   legal; that is, it is something really in them, and between them,
   uniting them, that is the ground of the suitableness of their being
   accounted as one by the Judge. And if there be any act or qualification
   in believers of that uniting nature, that it is meet on that account
   the Judge should look upon them and accept them as one, no wonder that
   upon the account of the same act or qualification, he should accept the
   satisfaction and merits of the one for the other, as if these were
   their own satisfaction and merits. This necessarily follows, or rather
   is implied.

   And thus it is that faith justifies, or gives an interest in Christ's
   satisfaction and merits, and a right to the benefits procured thereby,
   viz. as it thus makes Christ and the believer one in the acceptance of
   the Supreme Judge. It is by faith that we have a title to eternal life,
   because it is by faith that we have the Son of God, by whom life is.
   The apostle John in these words, 1 John v.12. "He that hath the Son,
   hath life," seems evidently to have respect to those words of Christ of
   which he gives an account in his gospel, . chap. iii. 36. "He that
   believeth on the Son, hath everlasting life; and he that believeth not
   the Son, shall not see life." And where the Scripture speaks of faith
   as the soul's receiving or coming to Christ, it also speaks of this
   receiving, coming to, or joining with, Christ, as the ground of an
   interest in his benefits. To as many as received him, "to them gave he
   power to become the sons of God. [667] " Ye will not come unto me that
   ye might have life. [668] " And there is a wide difference between its
   being suitable that Christ's satisfaction and merits should be theirs
   who believe, because an interest in that satisfaction and merit is a
   fit reward of faith--or a suitable testimony of God's respect to the
   amiableness and excellency of that grace--and its being suitable that
   Christ's satisfaction and merits should be theirs, because Christ and
   they are so united, that in the eyes of the Judge they may be looked
   upon and taken as one.

   Although, on account of faith in the believer, it is in the sight of
   God fit and congruous, both that he who believes should be looked upon
   as in Christ, and also as having an interest in his merits, in the way
   that has been now explained; yet it appears that this is very wide from
   a merit of congruity, or indeed any moral congruity at all to either.
   [669] There is a twofold fitness to a state; I know not how to give
   them distinguishing names, otherwise than by calling the one a moral,
   and the other a natural fitness. A person has a moral fitness for a
   state, when his moral excellency commends him to it, or when his being
   put into such a good state is but a suitable testimony of regard to the
   moral excellency, or value, or amiableness of any of his qualifications
   or acts. A person has a natural fitness for a state, when it appears
   meet and condecent that he should be in such a state or circumstances,
   only from the natural concord or agreeableness there is between such
   qualifications and such circumstances; not because the qualifications
   are lovely or unlovely, but only because the qualifications and the
   circumstances are like one another, or do in their nature suit and
   agree or unite one to another. And it is on this latter account only
   that God looks on it fit by a natural fitness, that he whose heart
   sincerely unites itself to Christ as his Saviour, should be looked upon
   as united to that Saviour, and so having an interest in him; and not
   from any moral fitness there is between the excellency of such a
   qualification as faith, and such a glorious blessedness as the having
   an interest in Christ. God's bestowing Christ and his benefits on a
   soul in consequence of faith, out of regard only to the natural concord
   there is between such a qualification of a soul, and such an union with
   Christ, and interest in him, makes the case very widely different from
   what it would be, if he bestowed this from regard to any moral
   suitableness. For, in the former case, it is only from God's love of
   order that he bestows these things on the account of faith; in the
   latter, God doth it out of love to the grace of faith itself. God will
   neither look on Christ's merits as ours, nor adjudge his benefits to
   us, till we be in Christ; nor will he look upon us as being in him,
   without an active unition of our hearts and souls to him; because he is
   a wise being, and delights in order, and not in confusion, and that
   things should be together or asunder according to their nature; and his
   making such a constitution is a testimony of his love of order. [670]
   Whereas if it were out of regard to any moral fitness or suitableness
   between faith and such blessedness, it would be a testimony of his love
   to the act or qualification itself. The one supposes this divine
   constitution to be a manifestation of God's regard to the beauty of the
   act of faith; the other only supposes it to be a manifestation of his
   regard to the beauty of that order that there is in uniting those
   things that have a natural agreement, and congruity, and unition of the
   one with the other. Indeed a moral suitableness or fitness to a state
   includes a natural; for, if there be a moral suitableness that a person
   should be in such a state, there is also a natural suitableness; but
   such a natural suitableness as I have described, by no means
   necessarily includes a moral.

   This is plainly what our divines intend when they say, that faith does
   not justify as a work, or a righteousness, viz. that it does not
   justify as a part of our moral goodness or excellency, or that it does
   not justify as man was to have been justified by the covenant of works,
   which was, to have a title to eternal life given to him of God, in
   testimony of his pleasedness with his works, or his regard to the
   inherent excellency and beauty of his obedience. And this is certainly
   what the apostle Paul means, when he so much insists upon it, that we
   are not justified by works, viz. that we are not justified by them as
   good works, or by any goodness, value, or excellency of our works. For
   the proof of this I shall at present mention but one thing, and that
   is, the apostle from time to time speaking of our not being justified
   by works, as the thing that excludes all boasting, Eph. ii. 9. Rom.
   iii. 27. and chap iv. 2. Now which way do works give occasion for
   boasting, but as good? What do men use to boast of, but of something
   they suppose good or excellent? And on what account to they boast of
   any thing, but for the supposed excellency that is in it?

   From these things we may learn in what manner faith is the only
   condition of justification and salvation. For though it be not the only
   condition, so as alone truly to have the place of a condition in an
   hypothetical proposition, in which justification and salvation are the
   consequent, yet it is the condition of justification in a manner
   peculiar to it, and so that nothing else has a parallel influence with
   it; because faith includes the whole act of unition to Christ as a
   Saviour. The entire active uniting of the soul, or the whole of what is
   called coming to Christ, and receiving of him, is called faith in
   Scripture; and however other things may be no less excellent than
   faith, yet it is not the nature of any other graces or virtues directly
   to close with Christ as a mediator, any further than they enter into
   the constitution of justifying faith, and do belong to its nature.

   Thus I have explained my meaning, in asserting it as a doctrine of the
   gospel, that we are justified by faith only, without any manner of
   goodness of our own.

   I now proceed,

   II. To the proof of it; which I shall endeavour to produce in the
   following arguments.

   First, Such is our case, and the state of things, that neither faith,
   nor any other qualifications, or act or course of acts, does or can
   render it suitable that a person should have an interest in the
   Saviour, and so a title to his benefits, on account of any excellency
   therein, or any other way, than as something in him may unite him to
   the Saviour. It is not suitable that God should give fallen man an
   interest in Christ and his merits, as a testimony of his respect to any
   thing whatsoever as a loveliness in him; and that because it is not
   meet, till a sinner is actually justified, that any thing in him should
   be accepted of God, as any excellency or amiableness of his person; or
   that God, by any act, should in any manner or degree testify any
   pleasedness with him, or favour towards him, on the account of any
   thing inherent in him: and that for two reasons:

   1. The nature of things will not admit of it. And this appears from the
   infinite guilt that the sinner till justified is under; which arises
   from the infinite evil or heinousness of sin. But because that is what
   some deny, I would therefore first establish that point, and show that
   sin is a thing that is indeed properly of infinite heinousness; and
   then show the consequence, that it cannot be suitable, till the sinner
   is actually justified, that God should by any act testify pleasedness
   with or acceptance of any excellency or amiableness of his person.

   That the evil and demerit of sin is infinitely great, is most
   demonstrably evident, because what the evil or iniquity of sin consists
   in, is the violating of an obligation, or doing what we should not do;
   and therefore by how much the greater the obligation is that is
   violated, by so much the greater is the iniquity of the violation. But
   certainly our obligation to love or honour any being is great in
   proportion to the greatness or excellency of that being, or his
   worthiness to be loved and honoured. We are under greater obligations
   to love a more lovely being than a less lovely; and if a being be
   infinitely excellent or lovely, our obligations to love him are therein
   infinitely great. The matter is so plain, it seems needless to say much
   about it.

   Some have argued exceeding strangely against the infinite evil of sin,
   from its being committed against an infinite object, that then it may
   as well be argued, that there is also an infinite value or worthiness
   in holiness and love to God, because that also has an infinite object;
   whereas the argument, from parity of reason, will carry it in the
   reverse. The sin of the creature against God is ill deserving in
   proportion to the distance there is between God and the creature; the
   greatness of the object, and the meanness of the subject, aggravates
   it. But it is the reverse with regard to the worthiness of the respect
   of the creature to God; it is worthless (and not worthy) in proportion
   to the meanness of the subject. So much the greater the distance
   between God and the creature, so much the less is the creature's
   respect worthy of God's notice or regard. The unworthiness of sin or
   opposition to God rises and is great in proportion to the dignity of
   the object and inferiority of the subject; but on the contrary, the
   value of respect rises in proportion to the value of the subject; and
   that for this plain reason, viz. that the evil of disrespect is in
   proportion to the obligation that lies upon the subject to the object;
   which obligation is most evidently increased by the excellency and
   superiority of the object. But on the contrary, the worthiness of
   respect to a being is in proportion to the obligation that lies on him
   who is the object, (or rather the reason he has,) to regard the
   subject, which certainly is in proportion to the subject's value or
   excellency. Sin or disrespect is evil or heinous in proportion to the
   degree of what it denies in the object, and as it were takes from it,
   viz. its excellency and worthiness of respect; on the contrary, respect
   is valuable in proportion to the value of what is given to the object
   in that respect, which undoubtedly (other things being equal) is great
   in proportion to the subject's value, or worthiness of regard; because
   the subject in giving his respect, can give no more than himself: so
   far as he gives his respect, he gives himself to the object; and
   therefore his gift is of greater or lesser value in proportion to the
   value of himself.

   Hence, (by the way,) the love, honour, and obedience of Christ towards
   God, has infinite value, from the excellency and dignity of the person
   in whom these qualifications were inherent; and the reason why we
   needed a person of infinite dignity to obey for us, was because of our
   infinite comparative meanness, who had disobeyed, whereby our
   disobedience was infinitely aggravated. We needed one, the worthiness
   of whose obedience might be answerable to the unworthiness of our
   disobedience; and therefore needed one who was as great and worthy as
   we were unworthy.

   Another objection (that perhaps may be thought hardly worth mentioning)
   is, that to suppose sin to be infinitely heinous, is to make all sins
   equally heinous; for how can any sin be more than infinitely heinous?
   But all that can be argued hence is, that no sin can be greater with
   respect to that aggravation, the worthiness of the object against whom
   it is committed. One sin cannot be more aggravated than another in that
   respect, because the aggravation of every sin is infinite; but that
   does not hinder, that some sins may be more heinous than others in
   other respects: as if we should suppose a cylinder infinitely long, it
   cannot be greater in that respect, viz. with respect to the length of
   it; but yet it may be doubled and trebled, and made a thousand-fold
   more, by the increase of other dimensions. Of sins that are all
   infinitely heinous, some may be more heinous than others; as well as of
   divers punishments that are all infinitely dreadful calamities, so that
   there is no finite calamity, however great, but what is infinitely less
   dreadful, or more eligible, than any of them, yet some of them may be a
   thousand times more dreadful than others. A punishment may be
   infinitely dreadful by reason of the infinite duration of it; and
   therefore cannot be greater with respect to that aggravation of it,
   viz. its length of continuance, but yet may be vastly more terrible on
   other accounts.

   Having thus, as I imagine, made it clear, that all sin is infinitely
   heinous, and consequently that the sinner, before he is justified, is
   under infinite guilt in God's sight; it now remains that I show the
   consequences, or how it follows from hence, that it is not suitable
   that God should give the sinner an interest in Christ's merits, and so
   a title to his benefits, from regard to any qualifications, or act, or
   course of acts in him, on the account of any excellency or goodness
   whatsoever therein, but only as uniting to Christ; or (which fully
   implies it) that it is not suitable that God, by any act, should, in
   any manner or degree, testify any acceptance of, or pleasedness with,
   any thing, as any virtue, or excellency, or any part of loveliness, or
   valuableness in his person, until he is actually already interested in
   Christ's merits. From the premises it follows, that before the sinner
   is already interested in Christ, and justified, it is impossible God
   should have any acceptance of or pleasedness with the person of the
   sinner, as in any degree lovely in his sight, or indeed less the object
   of his displeasure and wrath. For, by the supposition, the sinner still
   remains infinitely guilty in the sight of God; for guilt is not removed
   but by pardon: but to suppose the sinner already pardoned, is to
   suppose him already justified; which is contrary to the supposition.
   But if the sinner still remains infinitely guilty in God's sight, that
   is the same thing as still to be beheld of God as infinitely the object
   of his displeasure and wrath, or infinitely hateful in his eyes; and if
   so, where is any room for any thing in him, to be accepted as some
   valuableness or acceptableness of him in God's sight, or for any act of
   favour of any kind towards him, or any gift whatsoever to him, in
   testimony of God's respect to an acceptance of something of him lovely
   and pleasing? If we should suppose that a sinner could have faith, or
   some other grace in his heart, and yet remain separate from Christ; and
   that he is not looked upon as being in Christ, or having any relation
   to him, it would not be meet that such true grace should be accepted of
   God as any loveliness of his person in the sight of God. If it should
   be accepted as the loveliness of the person as in some degree lovely to
   God; but this cannot be consistent with his still remaining under
   infinite guilt, or infinite unworthiness in God's sight, which that
   goodness has no worthiness to balance. While God beholds the man as
   separate from Christ, he must behold him as he is in himself; and so
   his goodness cannot be beheld by God, but as taken with his guilt and
   hatefulness, and as put in the scales with it; an so his goodness is
   nothing; because there is a finite on the balance against an infinite
   whose proportion to it is nothing. In such a case, if the man be looked
   on as he is in himself, the excess of the weight in one scale above
   another, must be looked upon as the quality of the man. These
   contraries being beheld together, one takes from another, as one number
   is subtracted from another; and the man must be looked upon in God's
   sight according to the remainder. For here, by the supposition, all
   acts of grace or favour, in not imputing the guilt as it is, are
   excluded, because that supposes a degree of pardon, and that supposes
   justification, which is contrary to what is supposed, viz. that the
   sinner is not already justified; and therefore things must be taken
   strictly as they are; and so the man is still infinitely unworthy and
   hateful in God's sight, and he was before, without diminution, because
   his goodness bears no proportion to his unworthiness, and therefore
   when taken together is nothing.

   Hence may be more clearly seen the force of that expression in the
   text, of believing on him that justifieth the ungodly; for though there
   is indeed something in man that is really and spiritually good, prior
   to justification, yet there is nothing that is accepted as any
   godliness or excellency of the person, till after justification.
   Goodness or loveliness of the person in the acceptance of God, in any
   degree, is not to be considered as prior but posterior in the order and
   method of God's proceeding in this affair. Though a respect to the
   natural suitableness between such a qualification, and such a state,
   does go before justification, yet the acceptance even of faith, as any
   goodness or loveliness of the believer, follows justification. The
   goodness is on the forementioned account justly looked upon as nothing,
   until the man is justified; and therefore the man is respected in
   justification, as in himself altogether hateful.-Thus, the nature of
   things will not admit of a man having an interest given him in the
   merits or benefits of a Saviour, on the account of any thing as a
   righteousness, or a virtue, or excellency in him.

   2. A divine constitution antecedent to that which establishes
   justification by a Saviour, (and indeed to any need of a Saviour,)
   stands in the way of it, viz. that original constitution or law which
   man was put under; by which constitution or law the sinner is
   condemned, till he has actually an interest in the Saviour, through
   whom he is set at liberty from that condemnation. But to suppose that
   God gives a man an interest in Christ in reward for his righteousness
   or virtue, is inconsistent with his still remaining under condemnation
   till he has an interest in Christ; because he supposes, that the
   sinner's virtue is accepted, and he accepted for it, before he has an
   interest in Christ; inasmuch as an interest in Christ is given as a
   reward of his virtue. But the virtue must first be accepted, before it
   is rewarded, and the man must first be accepted for his virtue, before
   he is rewarded for it with so great and glorious a reward; for the very
   notion of a reward, is some good bestowed in testimony of respect to
   and acceptance of virtue in the person rewarded. It does not consist
   with the honour of the majesty of the King of heaven and earth, to
   accept of any thing from a condemned malefactor, condemned by the
   justice of his own holy law, till that condemnation be removed. And
   then, such acceptance is inconsistent with, and contradictory to, such
   remaining condemnation; for the law condemns him that violates it, to
   be totally rejected and case off by God. But how can a man continue
   under this condemnation, i.e. continue utterly rejected and case off by
   God. But how can a man continue under this condemnation, i.e. continue
   utterly rejected and case off by God, and yet his righteousness or
   virtue be accepted, and he himself accepted on the account of it, so as
   to have so glorious a reward as an interest in Christ bestowed as a
   testimony of that acceptance?

   I know that the answer will be, that we now are not subject to that
   constitution which mankind were at first put under; but that God, in
   mercy to mankind, has abolished that rigorous constitution, and put us
   under a new law, and introduced a more mild constitution; and that the
   constitution or law itself not remaining, there is no need of supposing
   that the condemnation of it remains, to stand in the way of the
   acceptance of our virtue. And indeed there is no other way of avoiding
   this difficulty. The condemnation of the law must stand in force
   against man, till he is actually interested in the Saviour who has
   satisfied and answered the law, so as effectually to prevent any
   acceptance of his virtue, either before, or even in order to, such an
   interest, unless the law or constitution itself be abolished. But the
   scheme of those modern divines by whom this is maintained, seems to
   contain a great deal of absurdity and self-contradiction: they hold,
   that the old law given to Adam, which requires perfect obedience, is
   entirely repealed, and that instead of it we are put under a new law,
   which requires no more than imperfect sincere obedience, in compliance
   with our poor, infirm, impotent circumstances since the fall, whereby
   we are unable to perform that perfect obedience that was required by
   the first law; for they strenuously maintain, that it would be unjust
   in God to require any thing of us that is beyond our present power and
   ability to perform; and yet they hold, that Christ died to satisfy for
   the imperfections of our obedience, that so our imperfect obedience
   might be accepted instead of perfect. Now, how can these things hang
   together? I would ask, What law these imperfections of our obedience
   are a breach of? If they are not a breach of no law, then they are not
   sins; and if they be not sins, what need of Christ's dying to satisfy
   for them? but if they are sins, and so the breach of some law, what law
   is it? They cannot be a breach of their new law, for that requires no
   other than imperfect obedience, or obedience with imperfections; and
   they cannot be a breach of the old law, for that they say is entirely
   abolished, and we never were under it; and we cannot break a law that
   we never were under. They say it would not be just in God to exact of
   us perfect obedience, because it would not be just in God to require
   more of us than we can perform in our present state, and to punish us
   for failing of it; and therefore, by their own scheme, the
   imperfections of our obedience do not deserve to be punished. What need
   therefore of Christ's dying to satisfy for them? What need of Christ's
   suffering to satisfy for that which is no fault, and in its own nature
   deserves no suffering? What need of Christ's dying to purchase that our
   imperfect obedience should be accepted, when according to their scheme
   it would be unjust in itself that any other obedience than imperfect
   should be required? What need of Christ's dying to make way for God's
   accepting such an obedience, as it would in itself be unjust in him not
   to accept? Is there any need of Christ's dying to persuade God not to
   do unjustly? If it be said, that Christ died to satisfy that law for
   us, that so we might not be under that law, but might be delivered from
   it, that so there might be room for us to be under a more mild law;
   still I would inquire, What need of Christ's dying that we might not be
   under a law that (according to their scheme) it would in itself be
   unjust that we should be under, because in our present state we are not
   able to keep it? What need of Christ's dying that we might not be under
   a law that it would be unjust that we should be under, whether Christ
   died or no?

   Thus far I have argued principally from reason, and the nature of
   things:--I proceed now to the

   Second argument, which is, That this is a doctrine which the Holy
   Scriptures, the revelation that God has given us of his mind and
   will--by which alone we can never come to know how those who have
   offended God can come to be accepted of him, and justified in his
   sight--is exceeding full. The apostle Paul is abundant in teaching,
   that "we are justified by faith alone, without the works of the law!"
   There is no one doctrine that he insists so much upon, and that he
   handles with so much distinctness, explaining, giving reasons, and
   answering objections.

   Here it is not denied by any, that the apostle does assert, that we are
   justified by faith, without the works of the law, because the words are
   express; but only it is said that we take his words wrong, and
   understand that by them that never entered into his heart, in that when
   he excludes the works of the law, we understand him of the whole law of
   God, or the rule which he has given to mankind to walk by; whereas all
   that he intends is the ceremonial.

   Some that oppose this doctrine indeed say, that the apostle sometimes
   means that it is by faith, i.e. a hearty embracing the gospel in its
   first act only, or without any preceding holy life, that persons are
   admitted into a justified state; but, say they, it is by a persevering
   obedience that they are continued in a justified state, and it is by
   this that they are finally justified. But this is the same thing as to
   say, that a man on his first embracing the gospel is conditionally
   justified and pardoned. To pardon sin, is to free the sinner from the
   punishment of it, or from that eternal misery that is due to it; and
   therefore if a person is pardoned, or freed from this misery, on his
   first embracing the gospel, and yet not finally freed, but his actual
   freedom still depends on some condition yet to be performed, it is
   inconceivable how he can be pardoned otherwise than conditionally; that
   is, he is not properly actually pardoned, and freed from punishment,
   but only he has God's promise that he shall be pardoned on future
   conditions. God promises him, that now, if he perseveres in obedience,
   he shall be finally pardoned, or actually freed from hell; which is to
   make just nothing at all of the apostle's great doctrine of
   justification by faith alone. Such a conditional pardon is no pardon or
   justification at all, any more than all mankind have, whether they
   embrace the gospel or no; for they all have a promise of final
   justification on conditions of future sincere obedience, as much as he
   that embraces the gospel. But not to dispute about this, we will
   suppose that there may be something or other at the sinner's first
   embracing the gospel, that may properly be called justification or
   pardon, and yet that final justification, or real freedom from the
   punishment of sin, is still suspended on conditions hitherto
   unfulfilled; yet they who hold that sinners are thus justified on
   embracing the gospel, suppose that they are justified by this, no
   otherwise than as it is a leading act of obedience, or at least as
   virtue and moral goodness in them, and therefore would be excluded by
   the apostle as much as any other virtue or obedience, if it be allowed
   that he means the moral law, when he excludes works of the law. And
   therefore, if that point be yielded, that the apostle means the moral,
   and not only the ceremonial, law, their whole scheme falls to the
   ground.

   And because the issue of the whole argument from those texts in St.
   Paul's epistles depends on the determination of this point, I would be
   particular in the discussion of it.

   Some of our opponents in this doctrine of justification, when they
   deny, that by the law the apostle means the moral law, or the whole
   rule of life which God has given to mankind, seem to choose to express
   themselves thus, that the apostle only intends the Mosaic dispensation.
   But this comes to just the same thing as if they said, that the apostle
   only means to exclude the works of the ceremonial law; for when they
   say, that it is intended only that we are not justified by the works of
   the Mosaic dispensation, if they mean any thing by it, it must be, that
   we are not justified by attending and observing what is Mosaic in that
   dispensation, or by what was peculiar to it, and wherein it differed
   from the christian dispensation; which is the same as that which is
   ceremonial and positive, and not moral, in that administration. So that
   this is what I have to disprove, viz. that the apostle, when he speaks
   of works of the law in this affair, means only works of the ceremonial
   law, or those observances that were peculiar to the Mosaic
   administration.

   And here it must be noted, that nobody controverts it with them,
   whether the works of the ceremonial law be not included, or whether the
   apostle does not particularly argue against justification by
   circumcision, and other ceremonial observances; but all in question is,
   whether, when he denies justification by works of the law, he is to be
   understood only of the ceremonial law, or whether the moral law be not
   also implied and intended; and therefore those arguments which are
   brought to prove that the apostle meant the ceremonial law, are nothing
   to the purpose, unless they prove that the apostle meant those only.

   What is much insisted on is, that it was the judaizing Christians being
   so fond of circumcision, and other ceremonies of the law, and depending
   so much on them, which was the very occasion of the apostle's writing
   as he does against justification by the works of the law. But supposing
   it were so, that their trusting in works of the ceremonial law were the
   sole occasion of the apostle's writing, (which yet there is no reason
   to allow, as may appear afterwards,) if their trusting in a particular
   work, as a work of righteousness, was all that gave occasion to the
   apostle to write, how does it follow, that therefore the apostle did
   not upon that occasion write against trusting in all works of
   righteousness whatsoever? Where is the absurdity of supposing that the
   apostle might take occasion, from his observing some to trust in a
   certain work as a work of righteousness, to write to them against
   persons trusting in any works or righteousness at all, and that it was
   a very proper occasion too? Yea, it would have been unavoidable for the
   apostle to have argued against trusting in a particular work, in the
   quality of a work of righteousness, which quality was general, but he
   must therein argue against trusting in works of righteousness in
   general. Supposing it had been some other particular sort of works that
   was the occasion of the apostle's writing, as for instance, works of
   charity, and the apostle should hence take occasion to write to them
   not to trust in their works, could the apostle by that be understood of
   no other works besides works of charity? Would it have been absurd to
   understand him as writing against trusting in any work at all, because
   it was their trusting to a particular work that gave occasion to his
   writing?

   Another thing alleged, as an evidence that the apostle means the
   ceremonial law--when he says, we cannot be justified by the works of
   the law--is, that he uses this argument to prove it, viz. that the law
   he speaks of was given so long after the covenant with Abraham, in Gal.
   iii. 17. "And this I say, that the covenant that was confirmed before
   of God in Christ, the law which was four hundred and thirty years
   after, cannot disannul." But, say they, it was only the Mosaic
   administration, and not the covenant of works, that was given so long
   after. But the apostle's argument seems manifestly to be mistaken by
   them. The apostle does not speak of a law that began to exist four
   hundred and thirty years after; if he did, there would be some force in
   their objection; but he has respect to a certain solemn transaction,
   well known among the Jews by the phrase "the giving of the law," which
   was at mount Sinai, (Exod. xix. xx.) consisting especially in God's
   giving the ten commandments (which is the moral law) with a terrible
   voice, which law he afterwards gave in tables of stone. This
   transaction the Jews in the apostle's time misinterpreted; they looked
   upon it as God's establishing that law as a rule of justification.
   Against this conceit of theirs the apostle brings this invincible
   argument, viz. that God would never go about to disannul his covenant
   with Abraham, which was plainly a covenant of grace, by a transaction
   with his posterity, that was so long after it, and was plainly built
   upon it. He would not overthrow a covenant of grace that he had long
   before established with Abraham, for him and his seed, (which is often
   mentioned as the ground of God's making them his people,) by now
   establishing a covenant of works with them at mount Sinai, as the Jews
   and judaizing Christians supposed.

   But that the apostle does not mean only works of the ceremonial law,
   when he excludes works of the law in justification, but also of the
   moral law, and all works of obedience, virtue, and righteousness
   whatsoever, may appear by the following things.

   1. The apostle does not only say, that we are not justified by the
   works of the law, but that we are not justified by works, using a
   general term; as in our text, "to him that worketh not, but believeth
   on him that justifieth," &c.; and in the 6th verse, Rom. iv. 6."God
   imputeth righteousness without works;" and chap. xi.6. "And if by
   grace, then is it no more of works, otherwise grace is no more grace:
   but if it be of works, then it is no more grace; otherwise work is no
   more work." So, Eph. ii. 8, 9. "For by grace are ye saved, through
   faith,--not of works;" by which, there is no reason in the world to
   understand the apostle of any other than works in general, as
   correlates of a reward, or good works, or works of virtue and
   righteousness. When the apostle says, we are justified or saved not by
   works, without any such term annexed, as the law, or any other
   addition, to limit the expression, what warrant have any to confine it
   to works of a particular law or institution, excluding others? Are not
   observances of other divine laws works, as well as of that? It seems to
   be allowed by the divines in the Arminian scheme, in their
   interpretation of several of those texts where the apostle only
   mentions works without any addition, that he means our own good works
   in general; but then, they say, he only means to exclude any proper
   merit in those works. But to say the apostle means one thing when he
   says, we are not justified by works, and another when he says, we are
   not justified by the works of the law, when we find the expressions
   mixed and used in the same discourse, and when the apostle is evidently
   upon the same argument, is very unreasonable; it is to dodge, and fly
   from Scripture, rather than open and yield ourselves to its teachings.

   2. In the third chapter of Romans, our having been guilty of breaches
   of the moral law, is an argument that the apostle uses, why we cannot
   be justified by the works of the law. Beginning with the 9th verse, he
   proves out of the Old Testament, that all are under sin: Rom. iii.
   9-15."There is none righteous, no not one: their throat is an open
   sepulchre; with their tongues they have used deceit: their mouth is
   full of cursing and bitterness; and their feet swift to shed blood."
   And so he goes on, mentioning only those things that are breaches of
   the moral law; and then when he has done, his conclusion is, in the
   19th and 20th verses, "Now we know that whatsoever things the law
   saith, it saith to them that are under that law, that every mouth may
   be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God. Therefore,
   by the deeds of the law, shall no flesh be justified in his sight."
   This is most evidently his argument, because all had sinned, (as it was
   said in the 9th verse,) and been guilty of those breaches of the moral
   law that he had mentioned, (and it is repeated over again, verse 23.)
   "For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;" therefore
   none at all can be justified by the deeds of the law. Now if the
   apostle meant only, that we are not justified by the deeds of the
   ceremonial law, what kind of arguing would that be, Rom. iii. 14, 15.
   "Their mouth is full of cursing and bitterness, their feet are swift to
   shed blood?" therefore they cannot be justified by the deeds of the
   Mosaic administration. They are guilty of the breaches of the moral
   law; and therefore they cannot be justified by the deeds of the
   ceremonial law! Doubtless, the apostle's argument is, that the very
   same law they have broken, can never justify them as observers of it,
   because every law necessarily condemns its violators. And therefore our
   breaches of the moral law argue no more, than that we cannot be
   justified by the law we have broken.

   And it may be noted, that the apostle's argument here is the same that
   I have already used, viz. that as we are in ourselves, and out of
   Christ, we are under the condemnation of that original law or
   constitution that God established with mankind; and therefore it is no
   way fit that any thing we do, any virtue or obedience of ours, should
   be accepted, or we accepted on the account of it.

   3. The apostle, in all the preceding part of this epistle, wherever he
   has the phrase, the law, evidently intends the moral law principally.
   As in the 12th verse of the foregoing chapter: Rom. ii. 12."For as many
   as have sinned without law, shall also perish without law." It is
   evidently the written moral law the apostle means, by the next verse
   but one. Rom. ii. 14. "For when the Gentiles, which have not the law,
   do by nature the things contained in the law;" that is, the moral law
   that the Gentiles have by nature. And so the next verse, Rom. ii. 15.
   "Which show the work of the law written in their hearts." It is the
   moral law, and not the ceremonial, that is written in the hearts of
   those who are destitute of divine revelation. And so in the 18th verse,
   "Thou approvest the things that are more excellent, being instructed
   out of the law." It is the moral law that shows us the nature of
   things, and teaches us what is excellent; 20th verse, "Thou hast a form
   of knowledge and a truth in the law." It is the moral law, as is
   evident by what follows, verse 22, 23. Rom. ii. 22, 23. "Thou that
   sayest a man should not commit adultery, dost thou commit adultery?
   Thou that abhorrest idols, does thou commit sacrilege? Thou that makest
   thy boast of the law, through breaking the law, dishonourest thou God?"
   Adultery, idolatry, and sacrilege, surely are the breaking of the
   moral, and not the ceremonial law. So in the 27th verse, "And shall not
   uncircumcision which is by nature, if it fulfil the law, judge thee,
   who by the letter and circumcision dost transgress the law?" i.e. the
   Gentiles, that you despise because uncircumcised, if they live moral
   and holy lives, in obedience to the moral law, shall condemn you though
   circumcised. And so there is not one place in all the preceding part of
   the epistle, where the apostle speaks of the law, but that he most
   apparently intends principally the moral law; and yet when the apostle,
   in continuance of the same discourse, comes to tell us, that we cannot
   be justified by the works of the law, then they will needs have it,
   that he means only the ceremonial law. Yea, though all this discourse
   about the moral law, showing how the Jews as well as Gentiles have
   violated it, is evidently preparatory and introductory to that
   doctrine, chap. iii. 20. "That no flesh," that is, none mankind,
   neither Jews nor Gentiles, "can be justified by the works of the law."

   4. It is evident that when the apostle says, we cannot be justified by
   the works of the law, he means the moral as well as ceremonial law, by
   his giving this reason for it, that "by the law is the knowledge of
   sin," as Rom. iii. 20. "By the deeds of the law shall no flesh be
   justified in his sight; for by the law is the knowledge of sin." Now
   that law by which we come to the knowledge of sin, is the moral law
   chiefly and primarily. If this argument of the apostle be good, "that
   we cannot be justified by the deeds of the law" chiefly and primarily.
   If this argument of the apostle be good, "that we cannot be justified
   by the deeds of the law, because it is by the law that we come to the
   knowledge of sin;" then it proves that we cannot be justified by the
   deeds of the moral law, nor by the precepts of Christianity; for by
   them is the knowledge of sin. If the reason be good, then where the
   reason holds, the truth holds. It is a miserable shift, and a violent
   force put upon the words, to say that the meaning is, that by the law
   of circumcision is the knowledge of sin, because circumcision
   signifying the taking away of sin, puts men in the mind of sin. The
   plain meaning of the apostle is, that as the law most strictly forbids
   sin, it tends to convince us of sin, and bring our own consciences to
   condemn us, instead of justifying of us; that the use of it is to
   declare to us our own guilt and unworthiness, which is the reverse of
   justifying and approving of us as virtuous or worthy. This is the
   apostle's meaning, if we will allow him to be his own expositor; for he
   himself, in this very epistle, explains to us how it is that by the law
   we have the knowledge of sin, and that it is by the law's forbidding
   sin, chap. vii. 7. "I had not known sin, but by the law; for I had not
   known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet." There the
   apostle determines two things; first, That the way in which "by the law
   is the knowledge of sin," is by the law's forbidding sin: and secondly,
   which is more directly still to the purpose, he determines that it is
   the moral law by which we come to the knowledge of sin; "for," says he,
   "I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet."
   Now it is the moral, and not the ceremonial law, that says, "Thou shalt
   not covet." Therefore, when the apostle argues, that by the deeds of
   the law no flesh living shall be justified, because by the law is the
   knowledge of sin, his argument proves, (unless he was mistaken as to
   the force of his argument,) that we cannot be justified by the deeds of
   the moral law.

   5. It is evident that the apostle does not mean only the ceremonial
   law, because he gives this reason why we have righteousness, and a
   title to the privilege of God's children, not by the law, but by faith,
   "that the law worketh wrath." Rom. iv. 13-16. "For the promise that he
   should be the heir of the world, was not to Abraham, or to his seed
   through the law, but through righteousness of faith. For if they which
   are of the law be heirs, faith is made void, and the promise made of
   none effect. Because the law worketh wrath; for where no law is, there
   is no transgression. Therefore it is of faith, that it might be by
   grace." Now the way in which the law works wrath, by the apostle's own
   account, in the reason he himself annexes, is by forbidding sin, and
   aggravating the guilt of the transgression; Rom. iv. 15."for," says he,
   "where no law is, there is no transgression:" And so, chap. vii. 13.
   "That sin by the commandment might become exceeding sinful." If,
   therefore, this reason of the apostle be good, it is much stronger
   against justification by the moral law than the ceremonial law; for it
   is by transgressions of the moral law chiefly that there comes wrath;
   for they are most strictly forbidden, and most terribly threatened.

   6. It is evident that when the apostle says, we are not justified by
   the works of the law, that he excludes all our own virtue, goodness, or
   excellency, by that reason he gives for it, viz. "That boasting might
   be excluded." Rom. iii. 26, 27, 28. "To declare, I say, at this time
   his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him
   which believeth in Jesus. Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By
   what law? of works? Nay; but by the law of faith. Therefore we
   conclude, that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the
   law." Eph. ii. 8, 9. "For by grace are ye saved, through faith; and
   that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God: not of works, lest any
   man should boast." Now what are men wont to boast of, but what they
   esteem their own goodness and excellency? If we are not justified by
   works of the ceremonial law, yet how does that exclude boasting, as
   long as we are justified by our own excellency, or virtue, and goodness
   of our own, or works of righteousness which we have done?

   But it is said, that boasting is excluded, as circumcision was
   excluded, which was that the Jews especially used to glory in, and
   value themselves upon, above other nations.

   To this I answer, that the Jews were not only used to boast of
   circumcision, but were notorious for boasting of their moral
   righteousness. The Jews of those days were generally admirers and
   followers of the Pharisees, who were full of their boasts of their
   moral righteousness; as we may see by the example of the Pharisee
   mentioned in the 18th of Luke, which Christ mentions as describing the
   general temper of that sect: Luke xviii. 11. "Lord," says he, "I thank
   thee, that I am not as other men, an extortioner, nor unjust, nor an
   adulterer." The works that he boasts of were chiefly moral works: he
   depended on the works of the law for justification; and therefore
   Christ tells us, that the publican, that renounced all his own
   righteousness, Luke xviii. 14. "went down to his house justified rather
   than he." And elsewhere, we read of the Pharisees praying in the
   corners of the streets, and sounding a trumpet before them when they
   did alms. But those works which they so vainly boasted of were moral
   works. And not only so, but what the apostle in this very epistle
   condemns the Jews for, is their boasting of the moral law. Chap. ii.
   22, 23. "Thou that sayest a man should not commit adultery, dost thou
   commit adultery? Thou that abhorrest idols, dost thou commit sacrilege?
   Thou that makest thy boast of the law, through breaking the law,
   dishonourest thou God?" The law here mentioned that they made their
   boast of, was that of which adultery, idolatry, and sacrilege, were the
   breaches, which is the moral law. So that this is the boasting which
   the apostle condemns them for; and therefore, if they were justified by
   the works of this law, then how comes he to say that their boasting is
   excluded? And besides, when they boasted of the rites of the ceremonial
   law, it was under a notion of its being a part of their own goodness or
   excellency, or what made them holier and more lovely in the sight of
   God than other people; and if they were not justified by this part of
   their own supposed goodness or holiness, yet if they were by another,
   how did that exclude boasting? How was their boasting excluded, unless
   all goodness or excellency of their own was excluded?

   7. The reason given by the apostle why we can be justified only by
   faith, and not by the works of the law, in the 3d chapter of Gal. viz.
   Gal. iii. 10. "That they that are under the law, are under the curse,"
   makes it evident that he does not mean only the ceremonial law. In that
   chapter the apostle had particularly insisted upon it, that Abraham was
   justified by faith, and that it is by faith only, and not by the works
   of the law, that we can be justified, and become the children of
   Abraham, and be made partakers of the blessing of Abraham: and he gives
   this reason for it in the 10th verse: "For as many as are of the works
   of the law, are under the curse; for it is written, Cursed is every one
   that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the
   law to do them." It is manifest that these words, cited from
   Deuteronomy, are spoken not only with regard to the ceremonial law, but
   the whole law of God to mankind, and chiefly the moral law; and that
   all mankind are therefore as they are in themselves under that curse,
   not only while the ceremonial law lasted, but now since that has
   ceased. And therefore all who are justified, are redeemed from that
   curse, by Christ's bearing it for them; as in verse 13. "Christ hath
   redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for
   it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree." Now
   therefore, either its being said, that he is cursed who continueth not
   in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them, is a
   good reason why we cannot be justified by the works of that law of
   which it is so said; or it is not; if it be, then it is a good reason
   why we cannot be justified by the works of the moral law, and of the
   whole rule which God has given to mankind to walk by; for the words are
   spoken of the moral as well as the ceremonial law, and reach every
   command or precept which God has given to mankind; and chiefly the
   moral precepts, which are most strictly enjoined, and the violations of
   which in both the New Testament and the Old, and in the books of Moses
   themselves, are threatened with the most dreadful curse.

   8. The apostle in like manner argues against our being justified by our
   own righteousness, as he does against being justified by the works of
   the law; and evidently uses the expressions, of our own righteousness,
   and works of the law, promiscuously, and as signifying the same thing.
   It is particularly evident by Rom. x.3. "For they being ignorant of
   God's righteousness, and going about to establish their own
   righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of
   God." Here it is plain that the same thing is asserted as in the two
   last verses but one of the foregoing chapter. Rom. ix. 31."But Israel,
   which followed after the law of righteousness, hath not attained to the
   law of righteousness. Wherefore? because they sought it, not by faith,
   but as it were by the works of the law." And it is very unreasonable,
   upon several accounts, to suppose that the apostle, by their own
   righteousness, intends only their ceremonial righteousness. For when
   the apostle warns us against trusting our own righteousness for
   justification, doubtless it is fair to interpret the expression in an
   agreement with other scriptures, where we are warned, not to think that
   it is for the sake of our own righteousness that we obtain God's favour
   and blessing; as particularly in Deut. ix. 4-6. "Speak not thou in
   thine heart, after that the Lord thy God hath cast them out from before
   thee, saying, For my righteousness the Lord hath brought me in to
   possess this land: but for the wickedness of these nations the Lord
   doth drive them out from before thee. Not for thy righteousness, or for
   the uprightness of thine heart, dost thou go to possess their land: but
   for the wickedness of these nations, the Lord thy God doth drive them
   out from before thee, and that he may perform the word which he sware
   unto thy fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Understand therefore, that
   the Lord thy God giveth thee not this good land to possess it, for thy
   righteousness; for thou art a stiff-necked people." None will pretend
   that here the expression thy righteousness, signifies only a ceremonial
   righteousness, but all virtue or goodness of their own; yea, and the
   inward goodness of the heart, as well as the outward goodness of life;
   which appears by the beginning of the 5th verse, Deut. ix. 5. "Not for
   thy righteousness, or for the uprightness of thy heart;" and also by
   the antithesis in the 6th verse, Deut. ix. 6. "Not for thy
   righteousness, for thou art a stiff-necked people." Their
   stiff-neckedness was their moral wickedness, obstinacy, and
   perverseness of heart. By righteousness, therefore, on the contrary, is
   meant their moral virtue, and rectitude of heart and life. This is what
   I would argue from hence, that the expression of our own righteousness,
   when used in Scripture with relation to the favour of God--and when we
   are warned against looking upon it as that by which that favour, or the
   fruits of it, are obtained--does not signify only a ceremonial
   righteousness, but all manner of goodness of our own.

   The Jews also, in the New Testament, are condemned for trusting in
   their own righteousness in this sense; Luke xviii. 9, &c. "And he spake
   this parable unto certain that trusted in themselves that they were
   righteous." This intends chiefly a moral righteousness; as appears by
   the parable itself, in which we have an account of the prayer of the
   Pharisee, wherein the things that he mentions as what he trusts in, are
   chiefly moral qualifications and performances, viz. That he was not an
   extortioner, unjust, nor an adulterer, &c.

   But we need not go to the writings of other penmen of the Scripture. If
   we will allow the apostle Paul to be his own interpreter, he--when he
   speaks of our own righteousness as that by which we are not justified
   or saved--does not mean only a ceremonial righteousness, nor does he
   only intend a way of religion and serving God, of our own choosing,
   without divine warrant or prescription; but by our own righteousness he
   means the same as a righteousness of our own doing, whether it be a
   service or righteousness of God's prescribing, or our own unwarranted
   performing. Let it be an obedience to the ceremonial law, or a gospel
   obedience, or what it will, if it be a righteousness of our own doing,
   it is excluded by the apostle in this affair, as is evident by Titus
   iii.5. "Not by works of righteousness which we have done."--But I would
   more particularly insist on this text; and therefore this may be the

   9th argument, That the apostle, when he denies justification by works,
   works of the law, and our own righteousness, does not mean works of the
   ceremonial law only. Tit. iii.3-7. "For we ourselves also were
   sometimes foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving divers lusts and
   pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful, and hating one another.
   But after that the kingdom and love of God our Saviour toward man
   appeared, 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; which he shed on us abundantly, through
   Jesus Christ our Saviour: that being justified by his grace we should
   be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life." Works of
   righteousness that we have done are here excluded, as what we are
   neither saved nor justified by. The apostle expressly says, we are not
   saved by them; and it is evident that when he says this, he has respect
   to the affair of justification. And that he means, we are not saved by
   them in not being justified by them, as by the next verse but one,
   which is part of the same sentence, Titus iii. 7."That being justified
   by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal
   life."

   It is several ways manifest, that the apostle in this text, by "works
   of righteousness which we have done," does not mean only works of the
   ceremonial law. It appears by the 3d verse, Titus iii. 3. "For we
   ourselves also were sometimes foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving
   divers lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful, and
   hating one another." These are breaches of the moral law, that the
   apostle observes they lived in before they were justified: and it is
   most plain that it is this which gives occasion to the apostle to
   observe, as he does in the 5th verse, that it was not by works of
   righteousness which they had done, that they were saved or justified.

   But we need not go to the context, it is most apparent from the words
   themselves, that the apostle does not mean only works of the ceremonial
   law. If he had only said, it is not by our own works of righteousness;
   what could we understand by works of righteousness, but only righteous
   works, or, which is the same thing, good works? And to say, that it is
   by our own righteous works that we are justified, though not by one
   particular kind of righteous works, would certainly be a contradiction
   to such an assertion. But, the words are rendered yet more strong,
   plain, and determined in their sense, by those additional words, which
   we have done; which shows that the apostle intends to exclude all our
   own righteous or virtuous works universally. If it should be asserted
   concerning any commodity, treasure, or precious jewel, that it could
   not be procured by money, and not only so, but, to make the assertion
   the more strong, it should be asserted with additional words, that it
   could not be procured by money that men possess; how unreasonable would
   it be, after all, to say, that all that was meant was, that it could
   not be procured with brass money.

   And what renders the interpreting of this text, as intending works of
   the ceremonial law, yet more unreasonable, is, that these works were
   indeed no works of righteousness at all, but were only falsely supposed
   to be so by the Jews. And this our opponents in this doctrine also
   suppose is the very reason why we are not justified by them, because
   they are not works of righteousness, or because (the ceremonial law
   being now abrogated) there is no obedience in them. But how absurd is
   it to say, that the apostle, when he says we are not justified by works
   of righteousness that we have done, meant only works of the ceremonial
   law, and that for that very reason, because they are not works of
   righteousness? To illustrate this by the forementioned comparison: If
   it should be asserted, that such a thing could not be procured by money
   that men possess, how ridiculous would it be to say, that the meaning
   only was, that it could not be procured by counterfeit money, and that
   for that reason, because it was not money. What scripture will stand
   before men, if they will take liberty to manage scripture thus? Or what
   one text is there in the Bible that may not at this rate be explained
   all away, and perverted to any sense men please?

   But further, if we should allow that the apostle intends only to oppose
   justification by works of the ceremonial law in this text, yet it is
   evident by the expression he uses, that he means to oppose it under
   that notion, or in that quality, of their being works of righteousness
   of our own doing. But if the apostle argues against our being justified
   by works of the ceremonial law, under the notion of their being of that
   nature and kind, viz. works of our own doing; then it will follow, that
   the apostle's argument is strong against, not only those, but all of
   that nature and kind, even all that are of our own doing.

   If there were no other text in the Bible about justification but this,
   this would clearly and invincibly prove, that we are not justified by
   any of our own goodness, virtue, or righteousness, or for the
   excellency of righteousness of any thing that we have done in religion;
   because it is here so fully and strongly asserted; but this text
   abundantly confirms other texts of the apostle, where he denies
   justification by works of the law. No doubt can be rationally made, but
   that the apostle, when he shows, that God does not save us by "works of
   righteousness that we have done," verse 5. and that so we are
   "justified by grace," verse 7. herein opposing salvation by works, and
   salvation by grace--means the same works as he does in other places,
   where he in like manner opposes works and grace: as in Rom. xi. 6. "And
   if by grace, then it is no more of works: otherwise grace is no more
   grace. But if it be of works, then is it no more grace: otherwise work
   is not more work." And the same works as in Rom. iv. 4. "Now to him
   that worketh, is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt." And
   the same works that are spoken of in the context of the 24th verse of
   the foregoing chapter, which the apostle there calls "works of the law,
   being justified freely by his grace." And of the 4th chapter, 16th
   verse, "Therefore it is of faith, that it might be by grace." Where in
   the context the righteousness of faith is opposed to the righteousness
   of the law; for here God's saving us according to his mercy, and
   justifying us by grace, is opposed to saving us by works of
   righteousness that we have done; in the same manner as in those places,
   justifying us by his grace, is opposed to justifying us by works of the
   law.

   10. The apostle could not mean only works of the ceremonial law, when
   he says, we are not justified by the works of the law, because it is
   asserted of the saints under the Old Testament as well as New. If men
   are justified by their sincere obedience, it will then follow that
   formerly, before the ceremonial law was abrogated, men were justified
   by the works of the ceremonial law, as well as the moral. For if we are
   justified by our sincere obedience, then it alters not the case,
   whether the commands be moral or positive, provided they be God's
   commands, and our obedience be obedience to God. And so the case must
   be just the same under the Old Testament, with the works of the moral
   law and ceremonial, according to the measure of the virtue of obedience
   there was in either. It is true, their obedience to the ceremonial law
   would have nothing to do in the affair of justification, unless it was
   sincere; and so neither would the works of the moral law. If obedience
   was the thing, then obedience to the ceremonial law, while that stood
   in force, and obedience to the moral law, had just the same sort of
   concern, according to the proportion of obedience that consists in
   each; as now under the New Testament, if obedience is what we are
   justified by, that obedience must doubtless comprehend obedience to all
   God's commands now in force, to the positive precepts of attendance on
   baptism and the Lord's supper, as well as moral precepts. If obedience
   be the thing, it is not because it is obedience to such a kind of
   commands, but because it is obedience. So that by this supposition, the
   saints under the Old Testament were justified, at least in part, by
   their obedience to the ceremonial law.

   But it is evident that the saints under the Old Testament were not
   justified, in any measure, by the works of the ceremonial law. This may
   be proved, proceeding on the foot of our adversaries' own
   interpretation of the apostle's phrase, "the works of the law," and
   supposing them to mean by it only the works of the ceremonial law. To
   instance in David, it is evident that he was not justified in any wise
   by the works of the ceremonial law, by Rom. iv. 6-8. "Even as David
   also describeth the blessedness of the man unto whom God imputeth
   righteousness without works, saying, Blessed are they whose iniquities
   are forgiven, and whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man to whom
   the Lord will not impute sin." It is plain that the apostle is here
   speaking of justification, from the preceding verse, and all the
   context; and the thing spoken of, viz. forgiving iniquities and
   covering sins, is what our adversaries themselves suppose to be
   justification, and even the whole of justification. This David,
   speaking of himself, says (by the apostle's interpretation) that he had
   without works. For it is manifest that David, in the words here cited,
   from the beginning of the 32d Psalm, has a special respect to himself:
   he speaks of his own sins being forgiven and not imputed to him; as
   appears by the words that immediately follow. Psalm xxxii. 3-5."When I
   kept silence, my bones waxed old; through my roaring all the day long.
   For day and night thy hand was heavy upon me; my moisture is turned
   into the drought of summer. I acknowledged my sin unto thee, and mine
   iniquity have I not hid; I said, I will confess my transgressions unto
   the Lord; and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin." Let us therefore
   understand the apostle which way we will respecting works, when he
   says, Romans iv .6. "David describes the blessedness of the man to whom
   the Lord imputes righteousness without works," whether of all manner of
   works, or only works of the ceremonial law, yet it is evident at least,
   that David was not justified by works of the ceremonial law. Therefore
   here is the argument: if our own obedience be that by which men are
   justified, then under the Old Testament, men were justified partly by
   obedience to the ceremonial law (as has been proved); but the saints
   under the Old Testament were not justified partly by the works of the
   ceremonial law; therefore men's own obedience is not that by which they
   are justified.

   11. Another argument that the apostle, when he speaks of the two
   opposite ways of justification, one by the works of the law, and the
   other by faith, does not mean only the works of the ceremonial law, may
   be taken from Rom. x. 5, 6. "For Moses describeth the righteousness
   which is of the law, that the man which doth those things, shall live
   by them. But the righteousness which is of faith, speaking on this
   wise," &c.--Here two things are evident.

   First, That the apostle here speaks of the same two opposite ways of
   justification, one by the righteousness which is of the law, the other
   by faith, that he had treated of in the former part of the epistle; and
   therefore it must be the same law that is here spoken of. The same law
   is here meant as in the last verses of the foregoing chapter, where he
   says, the Jews had Rom. ix. 31, 32."not attained to the law of
   righteousness. Wherefore? Because they sought it, not by faith, but as
   it were by the works of the law;" as is plain, because the apostle is
   still speaking of the same thing; the words are a continuation of the
   same discourse, as may be seen at first glance, by any one that looks
   on the context.

   Secondly, It is manifest that Moses, when he describes the
   righteousness which is of the law, or the way of justification by the
   law, in the words here cited, Gal. iii. 12. "He that doth those things,
   shall live in them," does not speak only, nor chiefly, of the works of
   the ceremonial law; for none will pretend that God ever made such a
   covenant with man, that he who kept the ceremonial law should live in
   it, or that there ever was a time, that it was chiefly by the works of
   the ceremonial law that men lived and were justified. Yea, it is
   manifest by the forementioned instance of David, mentioned in the 4th
   of Romans, that there never was a time wherein men were justified in
   any measure by the works of the ceremonial law, as has been just now
   shown. Moses therefore, in those words which the apostle says, are a
   description of the righteousness which is of the law, cannot mean only
   the ceremonial law. And therefore it follows, that when the apostle
   speaks of justification by the works of the law, as opposite to
   justification by faith, he does not mean only the ceremonial law, but
   also the works of the moral law, which are the things spoken of by
   Moses, when he says, Gal. iii. 12. "He that doth those things, shall
   live in them." And these are the things which the apostle in this very
   place is arguing that we cannot be justified by; as is evident by the
   last verses of the preceding chapter; Rom. ix. 31, 32."But Israel,
   which followed after the law of righteousness, hath not attained to the
   law of righteousness. Wherefore? Because they sought it, not by faith,
   but as it were by the works of the law," &c. And in the 3d verse of
   this chapter, Rom. x. 3. "For they being ignorant of God's
   righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness,
   have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God."

   And further, how can the apostle's description that he here gives from
   Moses, of this exploded way of justification by the works of the law,
   consist with the Arminian scheme, of a way of justification by the
   virtue of a sincere obedience, that still remains as the true and only
   way of justification under the gospel? It is most apparent that it is
   the design of the apostle to give a description of both the legal
   rejected and the evangelical valid ways of justification, in that
   wherein they are distinguished the one from the other. But how is it,
   that "he who doth those things, shall live in them," that wherein the
   way of justification by the works of the law is distinguished from that
   in which Christians under the gospel are justified, according to their
   scheme; for still, according to them, it may be said, in the same
   manner, of the precepts of the gospel, he that doth these things, shall
   live in them. The difference lies only in the things to be done, but
   not at all in that the doing of them is not the condition of living in
   them, just in the one case, as in the other. The words, Gal. iii. 12.
   "He that doth them, shall live in them," will serve just as well for a
   description of the latter as the former. By the apostle's saying, the
   righteousness of the law is described thus, he that doth these things,
   shall live in them; but the righteousness of faith saith thus, plainly
   intimates that the righteousness of faith saith otherwise, and in an
   opposite manner. Besides, if these words cited from Moses are actually
   said by him of the moral law as well as ceremonial, as it is most
   evident they are, it renders it still more absurd to suppose them
   mentioned by the apostle, as the very note of distinction between
   justification by a ceremonial obedience, and a moral sincere obedience,
   as the Arminians must suppose.

   Thus I have spoken to a second argument, to prove that we are not
   justified by any manner of virtue or goodness of our own, viz. that to
   suppose otherwise, is contrary to the doctrine directly urged, and
   abundantly insisted on, by the apostle Paul in his epistles.

   I now proceed to a

   Third argument, viz. That to suppose that we are justified by our own
   sincere obedience, or any of our own virtue or goodness, derogates from
   gospel grace.

   That scheme of justification that manifestly takes from or diminishes
   the grace of God, is undoubtedly to be rejected; for it is the declared
   design of God in the gospel to exalt the freedom and riches of his
   grace, in that method of justification of sinners, and way of admitting
   them to his favour, and the blessed fruits of it, which it declares.
   The Scripture teaches, that the way of justification appointed in the
   gospel-covenant, is appointed for that end, that free grace might be
   expressed, and glorified; Rom. iv. 16. "Therefore it is of faith, that
   it might be by grace." The exercising and magnifying of free grace in
   the gospel-contrivance for the justification and salvation of sinners,
   is evidently the chief design of it. And this freedom and riches of
   grace in the gospel is every where spoken of in Scripture as the chief
   glory of it. Therefore that doctrine which derogates from the free
   grace of God in justifying sinners, as it is most opposite to God's
   design, so it must be exceedingly offensive to him.

   Those who maintain, that we are justified by our own sincere obedience,
   pretend that their scheme does not diminish the grace of the gospel;
   for they say, that the grace of God is wonderfully manifested in
   appointing such a way and method of salvation by sincere obedience, in
   assisting us to perform such an obedience, and in accepting our
   imperfect obedience, instead of perfect.

   Let us therefore examine that matter, whether their scheme, of a man's
   being justified by his own virtue and sincere obedience, does derogate
   from the grace of God or no; or whether free grace is not more exalted
   in supposing, as we do, that we are justified without any manner of
   goodness of our own. In order to this, I will lay down this
   self-evident

   Proposition, that whatsoever that be by which the abundant benevolence
   of the giver is expressed, and gratitude in the receiver is obliged,
   that magnifies free grace. This I suppose none will ever controvert or
   dispute.--And it is not much less evident, that it doth both show a
   more abundant benevolence in the giver when he shows kindness without
   goodness or excellency in the object, to move him to it; and that it
   enhances the obligation to gratitude in the receiver.

   1. It shows a more abundant goodness in the giver, when he shows
   kindness without any excellency in our persons or actions that should
   move the giver to love and beneficence. For it certainly shows the more
   abundant and overflowing goodness, or disposition to communicate good,
   by how much the less loveliness or excellency there is to entice
   beneficence. The less there is in the receiver to draw good-will and
   kindness, it argues the more of the principle of good-will and kindness
   in the giver. One that has but little of a principle of love and
   benevolence, may be drawn to do good, and to show kindness, when there
   is a great deal to draw him, or when there is much excellency and
   loveliness in the object to move good-will; when he whose goodness and
   benevolence is more abundant, will show kindness where there is less to
   draw it forth; for he does not so much need to have it drawn from
   without, he has enough of the principle within to move him of itself.
   Where there is most of the principle, there it is most sufficient for
   itself, and stands in least need of something without to excite it. For
   certainly a more abundant goodness more easily flows forth with less to
   impel or draw it, than where there is less; or, which is the same
   thing, the more any one is disposed of himself, the less he needs from
   without himself, to put him upon it, or stir him up to it. And
   therefore his kindness and goodness appears the more exceeding great,
   when it is bestowed without any excellency or loveliness at all in the
   receiver, or when the receiver is respected in the gift, as wholly
   without excellency. And much more still when the benevolence of the
   giver not only finds nothing in the receiver to draw it, but a great
   deal of hatefulness to repel it. The abundance of goodness is then
   manifested, not only in flowing forth without any thing extrinsic to
   put it forward, but in overcoming great repulsion in the object. And
   then does kindness and love appear most triumphant, and wonderfully
   great, when the receiver is not only wholly without all excellency or
   beauty to attract it, but altogether, yea infinitely, vile and hateful.

   2. It is apparent also that it enhances the obligation to gratitude in
   the receiver. This is agreeable to the common sense of mankind, that
   the less worthy or excellent the object of benevolence, or the receiver
   of kindness, is, the more he is obliged, and the greater gratitude is
   due. He therefore is most of all obliged, that receives kindness
   without any goodness or excellency in himself, but with a total and
   universal hatefulness. And as it is agreeable to the common sense of
   mankind, so it is agreeable to the common sense of mankind, so it is
   agreeable to the word of God. How often does God in the Scripture
   insist on this argument with men, to move them to love him, and to
   acknowledge his kindness! How much does he insist on this as an
   obligation to gratitude, that they are so sinful, and undeserving, and
   ill deserving!

   Therefore it certainly follows, that the doctrine which teaches, that
   God, when he justifies a man, and shows him such great kindness as to
   give him a right to eternal life, does not do it for any obedience, or
   any manner of goodness, of his; but that justification respects a man
   as ungodly, and wholly without any manner of virtue, beauty, or
   excellency. I say, this doctrine does certainly more exalt the free
   grace of God in justification, and man's obligation to gratitude for
   such a favour, than the contrary doctrine, viz. That God, in showing
   this kindness to man, respects him as sincerely obedient and virtuous,
   and as having something in him that is truly excellent and lovely, and
   acceptable in his sight, and that this goodness or excellency of man is
   the very fundamental condition of the bestowment of that kindness on
   him, or of distinguishing him from others by that benefit. But I hasten
   to a

   Fourth argument for the truth of the doctrine, That to suppose a man is
   justified by his own virtue or obedience, derogates from the honour of
   the Mediator, and ascribes that to man's virtue which belongs only to
   the righteousness of Christ: it puts man in Christ's stead, and makes
   him his own saviour, in a respect in which Christ only is his Saviour.
   And so it is a doctrine contrary to the nature and design of the
   gospel, which is to abase man, and to ascribe all the glory of our
   salvation to Christ the Redeemer. It is inconsistent with the doctrine
   of the imputation of Christ's righteousness, which is a
   gospel-doctrine.

   Here I would explain what we mean by the imputation of Christ's
   righteousness. Prove the thing intended by it to be true. Show that
   this doctrine is utterly inconsistent with the doctrine of our being
   justified by our own virtue or sincere obedience.

   First, I would explain what we mean by the imputation of Christ's
   righteousness. Sometimes the expression is taken by our divines in a
   larger sense, for the imputation of all that Christ did and suffered
   for our redemption, whereby we are free from guilt, and stand righteous
   in the sight of God; and so implies the imputation both of Christ's
   satisfaction and obedience. But here I intend it in a stricter sense,
   for the imputation of that righteousness or moral goodness that
   consists in the obedience of Christ. And by that righteousness being
   imputed to us, is meant no other than this, that the righteousness of
   Christ is accepted for us, and admitted instead of that perfect
   inherent righteousness which ought to be in ourselves. Christ's perfect
   obedience shall be reckoned to our account, so that we shall have the
   benefit of it, as though we had performed it ourselves. And so we
   suppose that a title to eternal life is given us as the reward of this
   righteousness. The Scripture uses the word impute in this sense, viz.
   for reckoning any thing belonging to any person, to another person's
   account: as Philemon 18. Philemon i.18. "If he hath wronged thee, or
   oweth thee ought, put that on mine account." In the original it is NOT
   ENGLISH : impute that to me. It is a word of the same root with that
   which is translated impute, Rom. iv .6. "To whom God imputeth
   righteousness without works." And it is the very same word that is
   used, Rom. v.13., that is translated impute, "sin is not imputed when
   there is no law."

   The opposers of this doctrine suppose that there is an absurdity in
   supposing that God imputes Christ's obedience to us, it is to suppose
   that God is mistaken, and thinks that we performed that obedience which
   Christ performed. But why cannot that righteousness be reckoned to our
   account, and be accepted for us, without any such absurdity? Why is
   there any more absurdity in it, than in a merchant's transferring debt
   or credit from one man's account to another, when one man pays a price
   for another, so that it shall be accepted as if that other had paid it?
   Why is there any more absurdity in supposing that Christ's obedience is
   imputed to us, that that his satisfaction is imputed? If Christ has
   suffered the penalty of the law in our stead, then it will follow, that
   his suffering that penalty is imputed to us, that is accepted for us,
   and in our stead, and is reckoned to our account, as though we had
   suffered it. But why may not his obeying the law of God be as
   rationally reckoned to our account, as his suffering the penalty of the
   law? Why may not a price to bring into debt, be as rationally
   transferred from one person's account to another, as a price to pay a
   debt? Having thus explained what we mean by the imputation of Christ's
   righteousness, I proceed,

   Secondly, To prove that the righteousness of Christ is thus imputed.

   1. There is the very same need of Christ's obeying the law in our
   stead, in order to the reward, as of his suffering the penalty of the
   law in our stead, in order to our escaping the penalty; and the same
   reason why one should be accepted on our account, as the other. There
   is the same need of one as the other, that the law of God might be
   answered; one was as requisite to answer the law as the other. It is
   certain, that was the reason why there was need that Christ should
   suffer the penalty for us, even that the law might be answered; for
   this Scripture plainly teaches. This is given as the reason why Christ
   was made a curse for us, that the law threatened a curse to us, Gal.
   iii. 10, 13. But the same law that fixes the curse of God as the
   consequence of not continuing in all things written in the law to do
   them, verse 10. has as much fixed doing those things as an antecedent
   of living in them, ( as verse 12.) There is as much connexion
   established in one case as in the other. There is therefore exactly the
   same need, from the law, of perfect obedience being fulfilled in order
   to our obtaining the reward, as there is of death being suffered in
   order to our escaping the punishment; or the same necessity by the law,
   of perfect obedience preceding life, as there is of disobedience being
   succeeded by death. The law is, without doubt, as much of an
   established rule in one case as in the other.

   Christ by suffering the penalty, and so making atonement for us, only
   removes the guilt of our sins, and so sets us in the same state that
   Adam was in the first moment of his creation; and it is no more fit
   that we should obtain eternal life only on that account, than that Adam
   should have the reward of eternal life, or of a confirmed and
   unalterable state of happiness, the first moments of his existence,
   without any obedience at all. Adam was not to have the reward merely on
   account of his being innocent; if so, he would have had it fixed upon
   him at once, as soon as ever he was created; for he was as innocent
   then as he could be. But he was to have the reward on account of his
   activeness in obedience; not on account merely of his not having done
   ill, but on account of his doing well.

   So on the same account we have not eternal life merely as void of
   guilt, which we have by the atonement of Christ; but on the account of
   Christ's activeness in obedience, and doing well. Christ is our second
   federal head, and is called the second Adam, 1 Cor. xv. 22. because he
   acted that part for us which the first Adam should have done. When he
   had undertaken to stand in our stead, he was looked upon and treated as
   though he were guilty with our guilt; and by his bearing the penalty,
   he did as it were free himself from this guilt. But by this the second
   Adam did only bring himself into the state in which the first Adam was
   on the first moment of his existence, viz. a state of mere freedom from
   guilt; and hereby indeed was free from any obligation to suffer
   punishment; but this being supposed, there was need of something
   further, even a positive obedience, in order to his obtaining, as our
   second Adam, the reward of eternal life.

   God saw meet to place man first in a state of trial, and not to give
   him a title to eternal life as soon as he had made him; because it was
   his will that he should first give honour to his authority, by fully
   submitting to it, in will and act, and perfectly obeying his law. God
   insisted upon it, that his holy majesty and law should have their due
   acknowledgement and honour from man, such as became the relation he
   stood in to that Being who created him, before he would bestow the
   reward of confirmed and everlasting happiness upon him; and therefore
   God gave him a law that he might have opportunity, by giving due honour
   to his authority in obeying it, to obtain this happiness. It therefore
   became Christ--seeing that, in assuming man to himself, he sought a
   title to this eternal happiness for him after he had broken the
   law--that he himself should become subject to God's authority, and be
   in the form of a servant, that he might do that honour to God's
   authority for him, by his obedience, which God at first required of man
   as the condition of his having a title to that reward. Christ came into
   the world to render the honour of God's authority and law consistent
   with the salvation and eternal life of sinners; he came to save them,
   and yet withal to assert and vindicate the honour of the lawgiver, and
   his holy law. Now, if the sinner, after his sin was satisfied for, had
   eternal life bestowed upon him without active righteousness, the honour
   of his law would not be sufficiently vindicated. Supposing this were
   possible, that the sinner himself could, by suffering, pay the debt,
   and afterwards be in the same state that he was in before his
   probation, that is to say, negatively righteous, or merely without
   guilt; if he now at last should have eternal life bestowed upon him,
   without performing that condition of obedience; then God would recede
   from his law, and would give the promised reward, and his law never
   have respect and honour shown to it, in that way of being obeyed. But
   now Christ, by subjecting himself to the law, and obeying it, has done
   great honour to the law, and to the authority of God who gave it. That
   so glorious a person should become subject to the law, and fulfil it,
   has done much more to honour it, than if mere man had obeyed it. It was
   a thing infinitely honourable to God, that a person of infinite dignity
   was not ashamed to call him his God, and to adore and obey him as such.
   This was more to God's honour than if any mere creature, of any
   possible degree of excellence and dignity, had so done.

   It is absolutely necessary, that in order to a sinner's being
   justified, the righteousness of some other should be reckoned to his
   account; for it is declared, that the person justified is looked upon
   as (in himself) ungodly; but God neither will nor can justify a person
   without a righteousness; for justification is manifestly a forensic
   term, as the word is used in Scripture, and a judicial thing, or the
   act of a judge. So that if a person should be justified without a
   righteousness, the judgment would not be according to truth. The
   sentence of justification would be a false sentence, unless there be a
   righteousness performed that is by the judge properly looked upon as
   his. To say, that God does not justify the sinner without sincere,
   though an imperfect, obedience, does not help the case; for an
   imperfect righteousness before a judge is no righteousness. To accept
   of something that falls short of the rule, instead of something else
   that answers the rule, is not judicial act, or act of a judge, but a
   pure act of sovereignty. An imperfect righteousness is no righteousness
   before a judge; for "righteousness (as one observes) is a relative
   thing, and has always relation to a law. The formal nature of
   righteousness, properly understood, lies in a conformity of actions to
   that which is the rule and measure of them." Therefore that only is
   righteousness in the sight of a judge that answers the law. [671] The
   law is the judge's rule: if he pardons and hides what really is, and so
   does not pass sentence according to what things are in themselves, he
   either does not act the part of a judge, or else judges falsely. The
   very notion of judging is to determine what is, and what is not, in any
   one's case. The judge's work is twofold; it is to determine first what
   is fact, and then whether what is in fact be according to rule, or
   according to the law. If a judge has no rule or law established
   beforehand, by which he should proceed in judging, he has no foundation
   to go upon in judging, he has no opportunity to be a judge; nor is it
   possible that he should do the part of a judge. To judge without a law
   or rule by which to judge, is impossible; for the very notion of
   judging, is to determine whether the object of judgment be according to
   rule; and therefore God has declared, that when he acts as a judge, he
   will not justify the wicked, and cannot clear the guilty; and, by
   parity of reason, cannot justify without righteousness.

   And the scheme of the old law's being abrogated, and a new law
   introduced, will not help at all in this difficulty; for an imperfect
   righteousness cannot answer the law of God we are under, whether that
   be an old or a new one; for every law requires perfect obedience to
   itself. Every rule whatsoever requires perfect conformity to itself; it
   is a contradiction to suppose otherwise. For to say, that there is a
   law that does not require perfect obedience to itself, is to say that
   there is a law that does not require all that it requires. That law
   that now forbids sin, is certainly the law that we are now under, (let
   that be an old or a new one,) or else it is not sin. That which is not
   forbidden, and is the breach of the law, is no sin. But if we are now
   forbidden to commit sin, then it is by a law that we are now under; for
   surely we are neither under the forbiddings nor commanding of a law
   that we are not under. Therefore, if all sin is now forbidden, then we
   are now under a law that requires perfect obedience; and therefore
   nothing can be accepted as a righteousness in the sight of our Judge,
   but perfect righteousness. So that our Judge cannot justify us, unless
   he sees a perfect righteousness, some way belonging to us, either
   performed by ourselves, or by another, and justly and duly reckoned to
   our account.

   God doth, in the sentence of justification, pronounce a man perfectly
   righteousness, or else he would need a further justification after he
   is justified. His sins being removed by Christ's atonement, is not
   sufficient for his justification; for justifying a man, as has been
   already shown, is not merely pronouncing him innocent, or without
   guilt, but standing right with regard to the rule that he is under, and
   righteous unto life: but this, according to the established rule of
   nature, reason, and divine appointment, is a positive, perfect
   righteousness.

   As there is the same need that Christ's obedience should be reckoned to
   our account, as that his atonement should; so there is the same reason
   why it should. As if Adam had persevered, and finished his course of
   obedience, we should have received the benefit of his obedience, as
   much as now we have the mischief of his disobedience; so in like
   manner, there is reason that we should receive the benefit of the
   second Adam's obedience, as of his atonement of our disobedience.
   Believers are represented in Scripture as being so in Christ, as that
   they are legally one, or accepted as one, by the Supreme Judge: Christ
   has assumed our nature, and has so assumed all in that nature that
   belongs to him, into such an union with himself, that he is become
   their head, and has taken them to be his members. And therefore, what
   Christ has done in our nature, whereby he did honour to the law and
   authority of God by his acts, as well as the reparation to the honour
   of the law by his sufferings, is reckoned to the believer's account; so
   as that the believer should be made happy, because it was so well and
   worthily done by his Head, as well as freed from being miserable,
   because he has suffered for our ill and unworthy doing.

   When Christ had once undertaken with God to stand for us, and put
   himself under our law, by that law he was obliged to suffer and by the
   same law he was obliged to obey: by the same law, after he had taken
   man's guilt upon him, he himself, being our surety, could not be
   acquitted till he had suffered, nor rewarded till he had obeyed: but he
   was not acquitted as a private person, but as our head, and believers
   are acquitted in his acquittance; nor was he accepted to a reward for
   his obedience, as a private person, but as our head, and we are
   accepted to a reward in his acceptance. The Scripture teaches us, that
   when Christ was raised from the dead, he was justified; which
   justification, as I have already shown, implies both his acquittance
   from our guilt, and his acceptance to the exaltation and glory that was
   the reward of his obedience; but believers, as soon as they believe,
   are admitted to partake with Christ in this his justification: hence we
   are told, that he was "raised again for our justification," Rom. iv.
   25. which is true, not only of that part of his justification that
   consists in his acquittance, but also his acceptance to his reward. The
   Scripture teaches us, that he is exalted, and gone to heaven to take
   possession of our glory in our name, as our forerunner, Heb. vi. 20. We
   are, as it were, both raised up together with Christ, and also made to
   sit together with Christ in heavenly places, and in him, Eph. ii. 6.

   If it be objected here, that there is this reason, why what Christ
   suffered should be accepted on our account, rather than the obedience
   he performed, that he was obliged to obedience for himself, but was not
   obliged to suffer but only on our account; to this I answer, That
   Christ was not obliged, on his own account, to undertake to obey.
   Christ, in his original circumstances, was in no subjection to the
   Father, being altogether equal with him: he was under no obligation to
   put himself in man's stead, and under man's law; or to put himself into
   any state of subjection to God whatsoever. There was a transaction
   between the Father and the Son, that was antecedent to Christ's
   becoming man, and being made under the law, wherein he undertook to put
   himself under the law, and both to obey and to suffer; in which
   transaction these things were already virtually done in the sight of
   God; as is evident by this, that God acted on the ground of that
   transaction, justifying and saving sinners, as if the things undertaken
   had been actually performed long before they were performed indeed. And
   therefore, without doubt, in order to estimate the value and validity
   of what Christ did and suffered, we must look back to that transaction,
   wherein these things were first undertaken, and virtually done in the
   sight of God, and see what capacity and circumstances Christ acted in
   them, and we shall find that Christ was under no manner of obligation,
   either to obey the law, or to suffer its penalty. After this he was
   equally under obligation to both; for henceforward he stood as our
   surety or representative: and therefore this consequent obligation may
   be as much of an objection against the validity of his suffering the
   penalty, as against his obedience. But if we look to that original
   transaction between the Father and the Son, wherein both these were
   undertaken and accepted as virtually done in the sight of the Father,
   we shall find Christ acting with regard to both, as one perfectly in
   his own right, and under no manner of previous obligation to hinder the
   validity of either.

   2. To suppose that all Christ does is only to make atonement for us by
   suffering, is to make him our Saviour but in part. It is to rob him of
   half his glory as a Saviour. For if so, all that he does is to deliver
   us from hell; he does not purchase heaven for us. The adverse scheme
   supposes that he purchases heaven for us, in that he satisfies for the
   imperfections of our obedience, and so purchases that our sincere
   imperfect obedience might be accepted as the condition of eternal life;
   and so purchases an opportunity for us to obtain heaven by our own
   obedience. But to purchase heaven for us only in this sense, is to
   purchase it in no sense at all; for all of it comes to no more than a
   satisfaction for our sins, or removing the penalty by suffering in our
   stead. For all the purchasing they speak of, that our imperfect
   obedience should be accepted, is only to pay a debt for us; there is no
   positive purchase of any good. We are taught in Scripture that heaven
   is purchased for us; it is called the purchased possession, Eph. i. 14.
   The gospel proposes the eternal inheritance, not to be acquired, as the
   first covenant did, but as already acquired and purchased. But he that
   pays a man's debt for him, and so delivers him from slavery, cannot be
   said to purchase an estate for him, merely because he sets him at
   liberty, so that henceforward he has an opportunity to get an estate by
   his own hand-labour. So that according to this scheme, the saints in
   heaven have no reason to thank Christ for purchasing heaven for them,
   or redeeming them to God, and making them kings and priests, as we have
   an account that they do, in Rev. v. 9.

   3. Justification by the righteousness and obedience of Christ, is a
   doctrine that the Scripture teaches in very full terms; Rom. v.18, 19.
   "By the righteousness of one, the free gift came upon all men unto
   justification of life. For as by one man's disobedience many were made
   sinners; so, by the obedience of one, shall many be made righteous."
   Here in one verse we are told, that we have justification by Christ's
   righteousness; and, that there might be no room to understand the
   righteousness spoken of, merely of Christ's atonement by his suffering
   the penalty, in the next verse it is put in other terms, and asserted,
   that it is by Christ's obedience we are made righteous. It is scarcely
   possible any thing should be more full and determined: the terms, taken
   singly, are such as fix their own meaning, and taken together, they fix
   the meaning of each other. The words show that we are justified by that
   righteousness of Christ which consists in his obedience, and that we
   are made righteous or justified by that obedience of his, that is, his
   righteousness, or moral goodness before God.

   Here possibly it may be objected, that this text means only, that we
   are justified by Christ's passive obedience.

   To this I answer, whether we call it active or passive, it alters not
   the case as to the present argument, as long as it is evident by the
   words, that it is not merely under the notion of an atonement for
   disobedience, or a satisfaction for unrighteousness, but under the
   notion of a positive obedience, and a righteousness, or moral goodness,
   that it justifies us, or makes us righteous; because both the words
   righteousness and obedience are used, and used too as the opposites to
   sin and disobedience, and an offence. Rom. iv. 18. "Therefore as by the
   offence of one, judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so, by
   the righteousness of one, the free gift came upon all men to
   justification of life. For as by one man's disobedience many were made
   sinners; so, by the obedience of one, shall many be made righteous."
   Now, what can be meant by righteousness, when spoken of as the opposite
   to sin, or moral evil, but moral goodness? What is the righteousness
   that is the opposite of an offence, but the behaviour that is well
   pleasing? and what can be meant by obedience, when spoken of as the
   opposite of disobedience, or going contrary to a command, but a
   positive obeying and an actual complying with the command? So that
   there is no room for any invented distinction of active and passive, to
   hurt the argument from this scripture; for it is evident by it, as any
   thing can be, that believers are justified by the righteousness and
   obedience of Christ, under the notion of his moral goodness;--his
   positive obeying, and actual complying with the commands of God, and
   that behaviour which, because of its conformity to his commands, was
   well-pleasing in his sight. This is all that ever any need to desire to
   have granted in this dispute.

   By this it appears, that if Christ's dying be here included in the
   words righteousness and obedience, it is not merely as a propitiation,
   or bearing a penalty of a broken law in our stead, but as his voluntary
   submitting and yielding himself to those sufferings, was an act of
   obedience to the Father's commands, and so was a part of his positive
   righteousness, or moral goodness.

   Indeed all obedience considered under the notion of righteousness, is
   something active, something done in voluntary compliance with a
   command; whether it may be done without suffering, or whether it be
   hard and difficult; yet as it is obedience, righteousness, or moral
   goodness, it must be considered as something voluntary and active. If
   any one is commanded to go through difficulties and sufferings, and he,
   in compliance with this command, voluntarily does it, he properly obeys
   in so doing; and as he voluntarily does it in compliance with a
   command, his obedience is as active as any whatsoever. It is the same
   sort of obedience, a thing of the very same nature, as when a man, in
   compliance with a command, does a piece of hard service, or goes
   through hard labour; and there is no room to distinguish between such
   obedience of it, as if it were a thing of quite a different nature, by
   such opposite terms as active and passive: all the distinction that can
   be pretended, is that which is between obeying an easy command and a
   difficult one. But is there from hence any foundation to make two
   species of obedience, one active and the other passive? There is no
   appearance of any such distinction ever entering into the hearts of any
   of the penmen of Scripture.

   It is true, that of late, when a man refuses to obey the precept of a
   human law, but patiently yields himself up to suffer the penalty of the
   law, it is called passive obedience: but this I suppose is only a
   modern use of the word obedience; surely it is a sense of the word that
   the Scripture is a perfect stranger to. It is improperly called
   obedience, unless there be such a precept in the law, that he shall
   yield himself patiently to suffer, to which his so doing shall be an
   active voluntary conformity. There may in some sense be said to be a
   conformity of the law in a person's suffering the penalty of the law;
   but no other conformity to the law is properly called obedience to it,
   but an active voluntary conformity to the precepts of it. The word obey
   is often found in Scripture with respect to the law of God to man, but
   never in any other sense.

   It is true that Christ's willingly undergoing those sufferings which he
   endured, is a great part of that obedience of righteousness by which we
   are justified. The sufferings of Christ are respected in Scripture
   under a twofold consideration, either merely as his being substituted
   for us, or put into our stead, in suffering the penalty of the law; and
   so his sufferings are considered as a satisfaction and propitiation for
   sin; or as he, in obedience to a law or command of the Father,
   voluntarily submitted himself to those sufferings, and actively yielded
   himself up to bear them; and so they are considered as his
   righteousness, and a part of his active obedience. Christ underwent
   death in obedience to the command of the Father, Psalm xl. 6, 7, 8.
   "Sacrifice and offering thou didst not desire, mine ears hast thou
   opened: burnt-offering and sin-offering hast thou not required. Then
   said I, Lo, I come: in the volume of the book it is written of me: I
   delight to do thy will, O my God; yea, thy "law is within my heart."
   John x.17, 18. "I lay down my life, that I might take it again. No man
   taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself: I have power to lay it
   down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I
   received of my Father." John xviii. 11. "The cup which my Father hath
   given me, shall I not drink it?" And this is part, and indeed the
   principal part, of that active obedience by which we are justified.

   It can be no just objection against this, that the command of the
   Father to Christ that he should lay down his life, was no part of the
   law that we had broken; and therefore, that his obeying this command
   could be no part of that obedience that he performed for us, but only
   that which we had broken or failed of obeying. For although it must be
   the same legislative authority, whose honour is repaired by Christ's
   obedience, that we have injured by our disobedience; yet there is no
   need that the law which Christ obeys should be precisely the same that
   Adam was to have obeyed, in that sense, that there should be no
   positive precepts wanting, nor any added. There was wanting the precept
   about the forbidden fruit, and there was added the ceremonial law. The
   thing required was perfect obedience. It is no matter whether the
   positive precepts were the same, if they were equivalent. The positive
   precepts that Christ was to obey, were much more than equivalent to
   what was wanting, because infinitely more difficult, particularly the
   command that he had received to lay down his life, which was his
   principal act of obedience, and which, above all other, is concerned in
   our justification. As that act of disobedience by which we fell, was
   disobedience to a positive precept that Christ never was under, viz.
   that of abstaining from the tree of knowledge of good and evil; so that
   act of obedience by which principally we are redeemed, is obedience to
   a positive precept that Adam never was under, viz. the precept of
   laying down his life. It was suitable that it should be a positive
   precept, that should try both Adam's and Christ's obedience. Such
   precepts are the greatest and most proper trial of obedience; because
   in them, the mere authority and will of the legislator is the sole
   ground of the obligation, (and nothing in the nature of the things
   themselves,) and therefore they are the greatest trial of any person's
   respect to that authority and will.

   The law that Christ was subject to, and obeyed, was in some sense the
   same that was given to Adam. There are innumerable particular duties
   required by the law only conditionally; and in such circumstances, are
   comprehended in some great and general rule of that law. Thus, for
   instance, there are innumerable acts of respect and obedience to men,
   which are required by the law of nature, (which was a law given to
   Adam,) which yet are not required absolutely, but upon many
   pre-requisite conditions; as, that there be men standing in such
   relations to us, and that they give forth such commands, and the like.
   So many acts of respect and obedience to God are included, in like
   manner, in the moral law conditionally, or such and such things being
   supposed; as Abraham's going about to sacrifice his son, the Jews'
   circumcising their children when eight days old, and Adam's not eating
   the forbidden fruit; they are virtually comprehended in that great
   general rule of the moral law, that we should obey God, and be subject
   to him in whatsoever he pleases to command us. Certainly the moral law
   does as much require us to obey God's positive commands, as it requires
   us to obey the positive commands of our parents. And thus all that
   Adam, and all that Christ was commanded, even his observing the rites
   and ceremonies of the Jewish worship, and his laying down his life, was
   virtually included in this same great law. [672]

   It is no objection against the last-mentioned thing, even Christ's
   laying down his life, it being included in the moral law given to Adam,
   because that law itself allowed of no occasion for any such thing; for
   the moral law virtually includes all right acts, on all possible
   occasions, even occasions that the law itself allows not: thus we are
   obliged by the moral law to mortify our lusts, and repent of our sins,
   though that law allows of no lust to mortify, of sin to repent of.

   There is indeed but one great law of God, and that is the same law that
   says, "if thou sinnest, thou shalt die;" and "cursed is every one that
   continues not in all things contained in this law to do them." All
   duties of positive institution are virtually comprehended in this law:
   and therefore, if the Jews broke the ceremonial law, it exposed them to
   the penalty of the law, or covenant of works, which threatened, "thou
   shalt surely die." The law is the eternal and unalterable rule of
   righteousness between God and man, and therefore is the rule of
   judgment, by which all that a man does shall be either justified or
   condemned; and no sin exposes to damnation, but by the law. So now he
   that refuses to obey the precepts that require an attendance on the
   sacraments of the New Testament, is exposed to damnation, by virtue of
   the law or covenant of works. It may moreover be argued, that all sins
   whatsoever are breaches of the law or covenant of works, because all
   sins, even breaches of the positive precepts, as well as others, have
   atonement by the death of Christ: but what Christ died for, was to
   satisfy the law, or to bear the curse of the law; as appears by Gal.
   iii. 10-13. and Rom. vii. 3, 4.

   So that Christ's laying down his life might be part of that obedience
   by which we are justified, though it was a positive precept not given
   to Adam. It was doubtless Christ's main act of obedience, because it
   was obedience to a command that was attended with immensely the
   greatest difficulty, and so to a command that was the greatest trial of
   his obedience. His respect shown to God in it, and his honour to God's
   authority, was proportionably great. It is spoken of in Scripture as
   Christ's principal act of obedience. Philip. ii. 7 ,8. "But made
   himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and
   was made in the likeness of man: and being found in fashion as a man,
   he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of
   the cross." Heb. v. 8. "Though he were a son, yet learned he obedience
   by the things that he suffered." It was mainly by this act of obedience
   that Christ purchased so glorious a reward for himself; Philip. ii. 8,
   9. "He became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.
   Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which
   is above every name." And it therefore follows from what has been
   already said, that it is mainly by this act of obedience that believers
   in Christ also have the reward of glory, or some to partake with Christ
   in his glory. We are as much saved by the death of Christ, as his
   yielding himself to die was an act of obedience, as we are, as it was a
   propitiation for our sins: for as it was not the only act of obedience
   that merited, he having performed meritorious acts of obedience through
   the whole course of his life; so neither was it the only suffering that
   was propitiatory; all his sufferings through the whole course of his
   life being propitiatory, as well as every act of obedience meritorious.
   Indeed this was his principal suffering; and it was as much his
   principal act of obedience.

   Hence we may see how that the death of Christ did not only make
   atonement, but also merited eternal life; and hence we may see how by
   the blood of Christ we are not only redeemed from sin, but redeemed
   unto God; and therefore the Scripture seems every where to attribute
   the whole of salvation to the blood of Christ. This precious blood is
   as much the main price by which heaven is purchased, as it is the main
   price by which we are redeemed from hell. The positive righteousness of
   Christ, or that price by which he merited, was of equal value with that
   by which he satisfied; for indeed it was the same price. He spilled his
   blood to satisfy, and by reason of the infinite dignity of his person,
   his sufferings were looked upon as of infinite value, and equivalent to
   the eternal sufferings of a finite creature. And he spilled his blood
   out of respect to the honour of God's majesty, and in submission to his
   authority, who had commanded him so to do: and his obedience therein
   was of infinite value; both because of the dignity of the person that
   performed it, and because he put himself to infinite expense to perform
   it, whereby the infinite degree of his regard to God's authority
   appeared.

   One would wonder what Arminians mean by Christ's merits. They talk of
   Christ's merits as much as any body, and yet deny the imputation of
   Christ's positive righteousness. What should there be that any one
   should merit or deserve any thing by, besides righteousness or
   goodness? If any thing that Christ did or suffered, merited or deserved
   any thing, it was by virtue of the goodness, or righteousness, or
   holiness of it. If Christ's sufferings and death merited heaven, it
   must be because there was an excellent righteousness and transcendent
   moral goodness in that act of laying down his life. And if by that
   excellent righteousness he merited heaven for us; then surely that
   righteousness is reckoned to our account, that we have the benefit of
   it, or, which is the same thing, it is imputed to us.

   Thus, I hope, I have made it evident, that the righteousness of Christ
   is indeed imputed to us. I proceed now to the

   Third and last thing under this argument, That this doctrine, of the
   imputation of Christ's righteousness, is utterly inconsistent with the
   doctrine of our being justified by our own virtue or sincere obedience.
   If acceptance to God's favour, and a title to life, be given to
   believers as the reward of Christ's obedience, then it is not given as
   the reward of our own obedience. In what respect soever Christ is our
   Saviour, that doubtless excludes our being our own saviours in that
   same respect. If we can be our own saviours in the same respect that
   Christ is, it will thence follow, that the salvation of Christ is
   needless in that respect; according to the apostle's reasoning, Gal. v.
   4. "Christ is rendered of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are
   justified by the law." Doubtless, it is Christ's prerogative to be our
   Saviour in that sense wherein he is our Saviour. And therefore, if it
   be by his obedience that we are justified, then it is not by our own
   obedience.

   Here perhaps it may be said, that a title to salvation is not directly
   given as the reward of our obedience; for that is not by any thing of
   ours, but only by Christ's satisfaction and righteousness; but yet an
   interest in that satisfaction and righteousness if given as a reward of
   our obedience.

   But this does not at all help the case; for this is to ascribe as much
   to our obedience as if we ascribed salvation to it directly, without
   the intervention of Christ's righteousness. For it would be as a great
   thing for God to give us Christ, and his satisfaction and
   righteousness, in reward for our obedience, as to give us heaven
   immediately; it would be as great a reward, and as great a testimony of
   respect to our obedience. And if God gives as great a thing as
   salvation for our obedience, why could he not as well give salvation
   itself directly? and then there would have been no need of Christ's
   righteousness. And indeed if God gives us Christ, or an interest in
   him, properly in reward of our obedience, he does really give us
   salvation in reward for our obedience: for the former implies the
   latter; yea, it implies it, as the greater implies the less. So that
   indeed it exalts our virtue and obedience more, to suppose that God
   gives us Christ in reward of that virtue and obedience, than if he
   should give salvation without Christ.

   The thing that the Scripture guards and militates against, is our
   imagining that it is our own goodness, virtue, or excellency that
   instates us in God's acceptance and favour. But to suppose that God
   gives us an interest in Christ in reward for our virtue, is as great an
   argument that it instates us in God's favour, as if he bestowed a title
   to eternal life as its direct reward. If God gives us an interest in
   Christ as a reward of our obedience, it will then follow, that we are
   instated in God's acceptance and favour by our own obedience,
   antecedent to our having an interest in Christ. For a rewarding any
   one's excellency, evermore supposes favour and acceptance on the
   account of that excellency: it is the very notion of a reward, that it
   is a good thing, bestowed in testimony of respect and favour for the
   virtue or excellency rewarded. So that it is not by virtue of our
   interest in Christ and his merits, that we first come into favour with
   God, according to this scheme; for we are in God's favour before we
   have any interest in those merits; in that we have an interest in those
   merits given as a fruit of God's favour for our own virtue. If our
   interest in Christ be the fruit of God's favour, then it cannot be the
   ground of it. If God did not accept us, and had no favour for us for
   our own excellency, he never would bestow so great a reward upon us, as
   a right in Christ's satisfaction and righteousness. So that such a
   scheme destroys itself; for it supposes that Christ's satisfaction and
   righteousness are necessary for us to recommend us to the favour of
   God; and yet supposes that we have God's favour and acceptance before
   we have Christ's satisfaction and righteousness, and have these given
   as a fruit of God's favour.

   Indeed, neither salvation itself, nor Christ the Saviour, are given as
   a reward of any thing in man: they are not given as a reward of faith,
   nor any thing else of ours: we are not united to Christ as a reward of
   our faith, but have union with him by faith, only as faith is the very
   act of uniting or closing on our part. As when a man offers himself to
   a woman in marriage, he does not give himself to her as a reward of her
   receiving him in marriage. Her receiving him is not considered as a
   worthy deed in her for which he rewards her by giving himself to her;
   but it is by her receiving him that the union is made, by which she
   hath him for her husband. It is on her part the unition itself. By
   these things it appears how contrary to the gospel of Christ their
   scheme is, who say that faith justifies as a principle of obedience, or
   as a leading act of obedience; or (as others) the sum and comprehension
   of all evangelical obedience. For by this, the obedience or virtue that
   is in faith gives it its justifying influence; and that is the same
   thing as to say, that we are justified by our own obedience, virtue, or
   goodness.

   Having thus considered the evidence of the truth of the doctrine, I
   proceed now to the

   III. Thing proposed, viz. "To show in what sense the act of a christian
   life, or of evangelical obedience, may be looked upon to be concerned
   in this affair."

   From what has been said already, it is manifest that they cannot have
   any concern in this affair as good works, or by virtue of any moral
   goodness in them; not as works of the law, or as that moral excellency,
   or any part of it, which is the fulfilment of that great, universal,
   and everlasting law or covenant of works which the great lawgiver has
   established, as the highest and unalterable rule of judgment, which
   Christ alone answers, or does any thing towards it.

   It having been shown out of the Scripture, that it is only by faith, or
   the soul's receiving and uniting to the Saviour who has wrought our
   righteousness, that we are justified; it therefore remains, that the
   acts of a christian life cannot be concerned in this affair any
   otherwise than as they imply, and are the expressions of, faith, and
   may be looked upon as so many acts of reception of Christ the Saviour.
   But the determining what concerns acts of christian obedience can have
   in justification in this respect, will depend on the resolving of
   another point, viz. Whether any other act of faith besides the first
   act, has any concern in our justification, or how far perseverance in
   faith, or the continued and renewed acts of faith, have influence in
   this affair. And it seems manifest that justification is by the first
   act of faith, in some respects, in a peculiar manner, because a sinner
   is actually and finally justified as soon as he has performed one act
   of faith; and faith in its first act does, virtually at least, depend
   on God for perseverance, and entitles to this among other benefits. But
   yet the perseverance of faith is not excluded in this affair; it is not
   only certainly connected with justification, but it is not to be
   excluded from that on which the justification of a sinner has a
   dependence, or that by which he is justified.

   I have shown that the way in which justification has a dependence on
   faith, is, that it is the qualification on which the congruity of an
   interest in the righteousness of Christ depends, or wherein such a
   fitness consists. But the consideration of the perseverance of faith
   cannot be excluded out of this congruity or fitness, for it is
   congruous that he that believes in Christ should have an interest in
   Christ's righteousness, and so in the eternal benefits purchased by it,
   because faith is that by which the soul hath union or oneness with
   Christ; and there is a natural congruity in it, that they who are one
   with Christ should have a joint interest with him in his eternal
   benefits; but yet this congruity depends on its being an abiding union.
   As it is needful that the branch should abide in the vine, in order to
   its receiving the lasting benefits of the root; so it is necessary that
   the soul should abide in Christ, in order to its receiving those
   lasting benefits of God's final acceptance and favour. John xv. 6, 7.
   "If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch. If ye abide in
   me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall
   be done unto you." Ver. 9, 10. "Continue ye in my love. If ye keep (or
   abide in) my commandments, ye shall abide in my love: even as I have
   kept my Father's commandments, and abide in his love." There is the
   same reason why it is necessary that the union with Christ should
   remain, as why it should be begun; why it should continue to be, as why
   it should once be. If it should be begun without remaining, the
   beginning would be in vain. In order to the soul's being now in a
   justified state, and now free from condemnation, it is necessary that
   it should now be in Christ, and not merely that it should once have
   been in him. Rom. viii. 1. "There is no condemnation to them which are
   in Christ Jesus." The soul is saved in Christ, as being now in him,
   when the salvation is bestowed, and not merely as remembering that it
   once was in him. Philip. iii. 9. "That I may be found in him, not
   having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is
   through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by
   faith." 1 John ii. 28. "And now, little children, abide in him; that
   when he shall appear, we may have confidence, and not be ashamed before
   him at his coming." In order to persons being blessed after death, it
   is necessary not only that they should once be in him, but that they
   should die in him. Rev. xiv. 13. "Blessed are the dead that die in the
   Lord."--And there is the same reason why faith, the uniting
   qualification, should remain, in order to the union's once being.

   So that although the sinner is actually and finally justified on the
   first acts of faith, yet the perseverance of faith, even then, comes
   into consideration, as one thing on which the fitness of acceptance to
   life depends. God, in the act of justification, which is passed on a
   sinner's first believing, has respect to perseverance, as being
   virtually contained in that first act of faith; and it is looked upon,
   and taken by him that justifies, as being as it were a property in that
   faith. God has respect to the believer's continuance in faith, and he
   is justified by that, as though it already were, because by divine
   establishment it shall follow; and it being by divine constitution
   connected with that first faith, as much as if it were a property in
   it, it is then considered as such, and so justification is not
   suspended; but were it not for this, it would be needful that is should
   be suspended, till the sinner had actually persevered in faith.

   And that it is so, that God in the act of final justification which he
   passes at the sinner's conversion, has respect to perseverance in
   faith, and future acts of faith, as being virtually implied in the
   first act, is further manifest by this, viz. That in a sinner's
   justification, at his conversion there is virtually contained a
   forgiveness as to eternal and deserved punishment, not only of all past
   sins, but also of all future infirmities and acts of sin that they
   shall be guilty of; because that first justification is decisive and
   final. And yet pardon, in the order of nature, properly follows the
   crime, and also follows those acts of repentance and faith that respect
   the crime pardoned, as is manifest both from reason and Scripture.
   David, in the beginning of Psalm xxxii. speaks of the forgiveness of
   sins which were doubtless committed long after he was first godly, as
   being consequent on those sins, and on his repentance and faith with
   respect to them; and yet this forgiveness is spoken of by the apostle
   in the 4th of Romans, as an instance of justification by faith.
   Probably the sin David there speaks of is the same that he committed in
   the matter of Uriah, and so the pardon the same with that release from
   death, or eternal punishment, which the prophet Nathan speaks of , 2
   Sam. xii. 13. "The Lord also hath put away thy sin; thou shalt not
   die." Not only does the manifestation of this pardon follow the sin in
   the order of time, but the pardon itself, in the order of nature,
   follows David's repentance and faith with respect to this sin; for it
   is spoken of in the Psalm xxxii., as depending on it.

   But inasmuch as a sinner, in his first justification, is for ever
   justified and freed from all obligations to eternal punishment; it
   hence of necessity follows, that future faith and repentance are
   beheld, in that justification, as virtually contained in that first
   faith and repentance; because repentance of those future sins, and
   faith in a Redeemer, with respect to them, or, at least, the
   continuance of that habit and principle in the heart that has such an
   actual repentance and faith in its nature and tendency, is now made
   sure by God's promise.--If remission of sins, committed after
   conversion, in the order of nature, follows that faith and repentance
   that is after them, then it follows that future sins are respected in
   the first justification, no otherwise than as future faith and
   repentance are respected in it. And future repentance and faith are
   looked upon by him that justifies, as virtually implied in the first
   repentance and faith, in the same manner as justification from future
   sins is virtually implied in the first justification; which is the
   thing that was to be proved.

   And besides, if no other act of faith could be concerned in
   justification but the first act, it will then follow, that Christians
   ought never to seek justification by any other act of faith. For if
   justification is not to be obtained by after acts of faith, then surely
   it is not a duty to seek it by such acts: and so it can never be a duty
   for persons after they are once converted, by faith to seek to God, or
   believingly to look to him, for the remission of sin, or deliverance
   from the guilt of it, because deliverance from the guilt of sin is part
   of what belongs to justification. And if it be not proper for converts
   by faith to look to God through Christ for it, then it will follow,
   that it is not proper for them to pray for it; for christian prayer to
   God for a blessing, is but an expression of faith in God for that
   blessing; prayer is only the voice of faith. But if these things are
   so, it will follow that the petition of the Lord's prayer, forgive us
   our debts, is not proper to be put up by disciples of Christ, or to be
   used in christian assemblies; and that Christ improperly directed his
   disciples to use that petition, when they were all of them, except
   Judas, converted before. The debt that Christ directs his disciples to
   pray for the forgiveness of, can mean nothing else but the punishment
   that sin deserves, or the debt that we owe to divine justice, the ten
   thousand talents we owe our Lord. To pray that God would forgive our
   debts, is undoubtedly the same thing as to pray that God would release
   us from obligation to due punishment; but releasing from obligation to
   the punishment due to sin, and forgiving the debt that we owe to divine
   justice, is what appertains to justification.

   And then to suppose that no after acts of faith are concerned in the
   business of justification, and so that it is not proper for any ever to
   seek justification by such acts, would be for ever to cut off those
   Christians that are doubtful concerning their first act of faith, from
   the joy and peace of believing. As the business of a justifying faith
   is to obtain pardon and peace with God, by looking to God, and trusting
   in him for these blessings; so the joy and peace of that faith is in
   the apprehension of pardon and peace obtained by such a trust. This a
   Christian that is doubtful of his first act of faith cannot have from
   that act, because, by the supposition, he is doubtful whether it be an
   act of faith, and so whether he did obtain pardon and peace by that
   act. The proper remedy, in such a case, is now by faith to look to God
   in Christ for these blessings; but he is cut off from this remedy,
   because he is uncertain whether he has warranted so to do; for he does
   not know but that he has believed already; and if so, then he has no
   warrant to look to God by faith for these blessings now, because, by
   the supposition, no new act of faith is a proper means of obtaining
   these blessings. And so he can never properly obtain the joy of faith;
   for there are acts of true faith that are very weak, and the first act
   may be so as well as others: it may be like the first motion of the
   infant in the womb; it may be so weak an act, that the Christian, by
   examining it, may never be able to determine whether it was a true act
   of faith or no; and it is evident from fact, and abundant experience,
   that many Christians are for ever at a loss to determine which was
   their first act of faith. And those saints who have had a good degree
   of satisfaction concerning their faith, may be subject to great
   declensions and falls, in which case they are liable to great fears of
   eternal punishment; and the proper way of deliverance, is to forsake
   their sin by repentance, and by faith now to come to Christ for
   deliverance from the deserved eternal punishment; but this it would not
   be, if deliverance from that punishment was not this way to be
   obtained.

   But what is a still more plain and direct evidence of what I am now
   arguing for, is, that the act of faith which Abraham exercised in the
   great promise of the covenant of grace that God made to him, of which
   it is expressly said, Gal. iii. 6. "It was accounted to him for
   righteousness"--the grand instance and proof that the apostle so much
   insists upon throughout the 4th chapter of Romans, and 3d chapter of
   Galatians, to confirm his doctrine of justification by faith alone--was
   not Abraham's first act of faith, but was exerted long after he had by
   faith forsaken his own country, Heb. xi. 8. and had been treated as an
   eminent friend of God.

   Moreover, the apostle Paul, in the 3d chapter of Philip. tells us how
   earnestly he sought justification by faith, or to win Christ and obtain
   that righteousness which was by the faith of him, in what he did after
   his conversion. Verse 8, 9. "For whom I have suffered the loss of all
   things, and do count them but dung that I may win Christ, and be found
   in him, not having mine own righteousness which is of the law, but that
   which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God
   by faith." And in the two next verses he expresses the same thing in
   other words, and tells us how he went through sufferings, and became
   conformable to Christ's death, that he might be a partaker with Christ
   in the benefit of his resurrection; which the same apostle elsewhere
   teaches us, is especially justification. Christ's resurrection was his
   justification; in this, he that was put to death in the flesh, was
   justified by the Spirit; and he that was delivered for our offences,
   rose again for our justification. And the apostle tells us in the
   verses that follow in that 3d chapter of Philippians, that he thus
   sought to attain the righteousness which is through the faith of
   Christ, and so to partake of the benefit of his resurrection, still as
   though he had not already attained, but that he continued to follow
   after it.

   On the whole, it appears, that the perseverance of faith is necessary,
   even to the congruity of justification; and that not the less, because
   the sinner is justified, and perseverance promised, on the first act of
   faith, but God, in that justification, has respect, not only to the
   past act of faith, but to his own promise of future acts, and to the
   fitness of a qualification beheld as yet only in his own promise. And
   that perseverance in faith is thus necessary to salvation, not merely
   as a sine qua non, nor as an universal concomitant of it, but by reason
   of such an influence and dependence, seems manifest by many scriptures:
   I would mention two or three; Heb. iii. 6. "Whose house are we, if we
   hold fast the confidence, and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the
   end." Verse 14. "For we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the
   beginning of our confidence stedfast unto the end." Chap. vi. 12. "Be
   ye followers of them, who through faith and patience inherit the
   promises." Rom. xi. 20. "Well, because of unbelief they were broken
   off; but thou standest by faith. Be not high minded, but fear."

   And, as the congruity to a final justification depends on perseverance
   in faith, as well as the first act, so oftentimes the manifestation of
   justification in the conscience, arises as great deal more from after
   acts, than the first act. And all the difference whereby the first act
   of faith has a concern in this affair that is peculiar, seems to be, as
   it were, only an accidental difference, arising from the circumstance
   of time, or its being first in order of time; and not from any peculiar
   respect that God has to it, or any influence it has of a peculiar
   nature, in the affair of our salvation.

   And thus it is that a truly christian walk, and the acts of an
   evangelical, child-like, believing obedience, are concerned in the
   affair of our justification, and seem to be sometimes so spoken of in
   Scripture, viz. as an expression of a persevering faith in the Son of
   God, the only Saviour. Faith unites to Christ, and so gives a congruity
   to justification, not merely as remaining a dormant principle in the
   heart, but as being and appearing in its active expressions. The
   obedience of a Christian, so far as it is truly evangelical, and
   performed with the Spirit of the Son sent forth into the heart, has all
   relation to Christ, the Mediator, and is but an expression of the
   soul's believing unition to Christ. All evangelical works are works of
   that faith that worketh by love; and every such act of obedience,
   wherein it is inward, and the act of the soul, is only a new effective
   act of reception of Christ, and adherence to the glorious Saviour.
   Hence that of the apostle, Gal. ii.20. "I live; yet not I, but Christ
   liveth in me; and the life that I now live in the flesh, is by the
   faith of the Son of God." And hence we are directed, in whatever we do,
   whether in word or deed, to do all in the name of the Lord Jesus
   Christ, Col. iii.17.

   And that God in justification has respect, not only to the first act of
   faith, but also to future persevering acts, as expressed in life, seems
   manifest by Rom. i. 17. For therein is the righteousness of God
   revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, "The just shall live by
   faith." And Heb. x.38, 39. "Now the just shall live by faith; but if
   any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him. But we are
   not of them who draw back unto perdition; but of them that believe, to
   the saving of the soul."

   So that as was before said of faith, so may it be said of a child-like
   believing obedience, it has no concern in justification by any virtue
   or excellency in it; but only as there is a reception of Christ in it.
   And this is no more contrary to the apostle's frequent assertion of our
   being justified without the works of the law, than to say that we are
   justified by faith; for faith is as much a work, or act of christian
   obedience, as the expressions of faith, in spiritual life and walk. And
   therefore, as we say that faith does not justify as a work, so we say
   of all these effective expressions of faith.

   This is the reverse of the scheme of our modern divines, who hold, that
   faith justifies only as an act or expression of obedience; whereas, in
   truth, obedience has no concern in justification, any otherwise than as
   an expression of faith.

   I now proceed to the

   IV. Thing proposed, viz. To answer objections.

   Object. 1. We frequently find promises of eternal life and salvation,
   and sometimes of justification itself, made our own virtue and
   obedience. Eternal life is promised to obedience, in Rom. ii.7. "To
   them, who by patient continuance in well doing, seek for glory, honour,
   and immortality; eternal life:" and the like in innumerable other
   places. And justification itself is promised to that virtue of a
   forgiving spirit or temper in us, Matt. vi.14. "For, if ye forgive men
   their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you: but if ye
   forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your
   trespasses." All allow that justification in great part consists in the
   forgiveness of sins.

   To this I answer,

   1. These things being promised to our virtue and obedience, argues no
   more, that that there is a connexion between them and evangelical
   obedience; which, I have already observed, is not the thing in dispute.
   All that can be proved by obedience and salvation being connected in
   the promise, is, that obedience and salvation are connected in fact;
   which nobody denies; and whether it be owned or denied, is, as has been
   shown, nothing to the purpose. There is no need that an admission to a
   title to salvation, should be given on the account of our obedience, in
   order to the promises being true. If we find such a promise, that he
   that obeys shall be saved, or he that is holy shall be justified; all
   that is needful, in order to such promises being true, is, that it be
   really so, that he that obeys shall be saved, and that holiness and
   justification shall indeed go together. That proposition may be a
   truth, that he that obeys shall be saved; because obedience and
   salvation are connected together in fact; and yet an acceptance to a
   title to salvation not be granted upon the account of any of our own
   virtue or obedience. What is a promise, but only a declaration of
   future truth, for the comfort and encouragement of the person to whom
   it is declared? Promises are conditional propositions; and, as has been
   already observed, it is not the thing in dispute, whether other things
   besides faith may not have the place of the condition in such
   propositions wherein pardon and salvation are the consequent.

   2. Promises may rationally be made to signs and evidences of faith, and
   yet the thing promised not be upon the account of the sign, but the
   thing signified. Thus, for instance, human government may rationally
   make promises of such and such privileges to those that can show such
   evidences of their being free of such a city, or members of such a
   corporation, or descended of such a family; when it is not at all for
   the sake of that which is the evidence or sign, in itself considered,
   that they are admitted to such a privilege, but only and purely for the
   sake of that which it is an evidence of. And though God does not stand
   in need of signs to know whether we have true faith or not, yet our own
   consciences do; so that it is much for our comfort that promises are
   made to signs of faith. Finding in ourselves a forgiving temper and
   disposition, may be a most proper and natural evidence to our
   consciences, that our hearts have, in a sense of our own utter
   unworthiness, truly closed and fallen in with the way of free and
   infinitely gracious forgiveness of our sins by Jesus Christ; whence we
   may be enabled, with the greater comfort, to apply to ourselves the
   promises of forgiveness by Christ.

   3. It has been just now shown, how that acts of evangelical obedience
   are indeed concerned in our justification itself, and are not excluded
   from that condition that justification depends upon, without the least
   prejudice to that doctrine of justification by faith, without any
   goodness of our own, that has been maintained; and therefore it can be
   no objection against this doctrine, that we have sometimes in Scripture
   promises of pardon and acceptance made to such acts of obedience.

   4. Promises of particular benefits implied in justification and
   salvation, may especially be fitly made to such expressions and
   evidences of faith as they have a peculiar natural likeness and
   suitableness to. As forgiveness is promised to a forgiving spirit in
   us; obtaining mercy is fitly promised to mercifulness in us, and the
   like; and that upon several accounts, they are the most natural
   evidences of our heart's closing with those benefits by faith; for they
   do especially show the sweet accord and consent that there is between
   the heart and these benefits; and by reason of the natural likeness
   that there is between the virtue and the benefit, the one has the
   greater tendency to bring the other to mind; the practice of the virtue
   tends the more to renew the sense, and refresh the hope, of the
   blessing promised; and also to convince the conscience of the justice
   of being denied the benefit, if the duty be neglected. Besides the
   sense and manifestation of divine forgiveness in our own
   consciences--yea, and may exercises of God's forgiving mercy, (as it
   respects God's fatherly displeasure,) granted after justification,
   through the course of a Christian's life--may be given as the proper
   rewards of a forgiving spirit, and yet this not be at all to the
   prejudice of the doctrine we have maintained; as will more fully
   appear, when we come to answer another objection hereafter to be
   mentioned.

   Object. 2. Our own obedience, and inherent holiness, is necessary to
   prepare men for heaven; and therefore is doubtless what recommends
   persons to God's acceptance, as the heirs of heaven.

   To this I answer,

   1. Our own obedience being necessary in order to a preparation for an
   actual bestowment of glory, is no argument that it is the thing upon
   the account of which we are accepted to a right to it. God may, and
   does do many things to prepare the saints for glory, after he has
   accepted them as the heirs of glory. A parent may do much to prepare a
   child for an inheritance in its education, after the child is an heir;
   yea, there are many things necessary to fit a child for the actual
   possession of the inheritance, yet not necessary in order to its having
   a right to the inheritance.

   2. If every thing that is necessary to prepare men for glory must be
   the proper condition of justification, then perfect holiness is the
   condition of justification. Men must be made perfectly holy, before
   they are admitted to the enjoyment of the blessedness of heaven; for
   there must in no wise enter in there any spiritual defilement. And
   therefore, when a saint dies, he leaves all his sin and corruption when
   he leaves the body.

   Object. 3. Our obedience is not only indissolubly connected with
   salvation, and preparatory to it, but the Scripture expressly speaks of
   bestowing eternal blessings as rewards for the good deeds of the
   saints. Matt. x. 42. "Whosoever shall give to drink unto one of these
   little ones a cup of cold water only, in the name of a disciple, he
   shall in no wise lose his reward." 1 Cor. iii. 8. "Every man shall
   receive his own reward, according to his own labour." And in many other
   places. This seems to militate against the doctrine that has been
   maintained, two ways: (1.) The bestowing a reward, carries in it a
   respect to a moral fitness in the thing rewarded to the reward; the
   very notion of a reward being a benefit bestowed in testimony of
   acceptance of, and respect to, the goodness or amiableness of some
   qualification or work in the person rewarded. Besides, the Scripture
   seems to explain itself in this matter, in Rev. iii. 4. "Thou hast a
   few names, even in Sardis, which have not defiled their garments; and
   they shall walk with me in white; for they are worthy." This is here
   given as the reason why they should have such a reward, "because they
   were worthy;" which, though we suppose it to imply no proper merit, yet
   it at least implies a moral fitness, or that the excellency of their
   virtue in God's sight recommends them to such a reward; which seems
   directly repugnant to what has been supposed, viz. that we are
   accepted, and approved of God, as the heirs of salvation, not out of
   regard to the excellency of our own virtue or goodness, or any moral
   fitness therein to such a reward, but only on account of the dignity
   and moral fitness of Christ's righteousness. (2.) Our being eternally
   rewarded for our own holiness and good works, necessarily supposes that
   our future happiness will be greater or smaller, in some proportion as
   our own holiness and obedience is more or less; and that there are
   different degrees of glory, according to different degrees of virtue
   and good works, is a doctrine very expressly and frequently taught us
   in Scripture. But this seems quite inconsistent with the saints all
   having their future blessedness as a reward of Christ's righteousness:
   for if Christ's righteousness be imputed to all, and this be what
   entitles each one to glory, then it is the same righteousness that
   entitles one to glory which entitles another. But if all have glory as
   the reward of the same righteousness, why have not all the same glory?
   Does not the same righteousness merit as much glory when imputed to one
   as when imputed to another?

   In answer to the first part of this objection, I would observe, that it
   does not argue that we are justified by our good deeds, that we shall
   have eternal blessings in reward for them; for it is in consequence of
   our justification, that our good deeds become rewardable with spiritual
   and eternal rewards. The acceptableness, and so the rewardableness, of
   our virtue, is not antecedent to justification, but follows it, and is
   built entirely upon it; which is the reverse of what those in the
   adverse scheme of justification suppose, viz. that justification is
   built on the acceptableness and reward of our virtue. They suppose that
   a saving interest in Christ is given as a reward of our virtue, or,
   (which is the same thing,) as a testimony of God's acceptance of our
   excellency in our virtue. But the contrary is true; that God's respect
   to our virtue as our amiableness in his sight, and his acceptance of it
   as rewardable, is entirely built on our interest in Christ already
   established. So that the relation to Christ, whereby believers in
   scripture language are said to be in Christ, is the very foundation of
   our virtues and good deeds being accepted of God, and so of their being
   rewarded; for a reward is a testimony of acceptance. For we, and all
   that we do, are accepted only in the beloved, Eph. i.6. Our sacrifices
   are acceptable, only through our interest in him, and through his
   worthiness and preciousness being, as it were, made ours. 1 Pet. ii. 4,
   5. "To whom coming, as unto a living stone, disallowed indeed of men,
   but chosen of God, and precious. Ye also as lively stones, are built up
   a spiritual house, an holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices,
   acceptable to God by Jesus Christ." Here being actually built on this
   stone, precious to God, is mentioned as all the ground of the
   acceptableness of our good works to God, and their becoming also
   precious in his eyes. So, Heb. xiii. 21. "Make you perfect in every
   good work to do his will, working in you that which is well pleasing in
   his sight, through Jesus Christ." And hence we are directed, whatever
   we offer to God, to offer it in Christ's name, as expecting to have it
   accepted no other way, than from the value that God has to that name.
   Col. iii. 17. "And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name
   of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him." To act
   in Christ's name, is to act under him as our head, and as having him to
   stand for us, and represent us to God-ward.

   The reason of this may be seen from what has been already said, to show
   it is not meet that any thing in us should be accepted of God as any
   excellency of our persons, until we are actually in Christ, and
   justified through him. The loveliness of the virtue of fallen creatures
   is nothing in the sight of God, till he beholds them in Christ, and
   clothed with his righteousness. 1. Because till then we stand condemned
   before God, by his own holy law, to his utter rejection and abhorrence.
   And, 2. Because we are infinitely guilty before him; and the loveliness
   of our virtue bears no proportion to our guilt, and must therefore pass
   for nothing before a strict judge. And, 3. Because our good deeds and
   virtuous acts themselves are in a sense corrupt; and the hatefulness of
   the corruption of them, if we are beheld as we are in ourselves, or
   separate from Christ, infinitely outweighs the loveliness of the good
   that is in them. So that if no other sin was considered but only that
   which attends the act of virtue itself, the loveliness vanishes into
   nothing in comparison of it; and therefore the virtue must pass for
   nothing, out of Christ. Not only are our best duties defiled, in being
   attended with the exercises of sin and corruption which precede,
   follow, and are intermingled with them; but even the holy acts
   themselves, and the gracious exercises of the godly, are defective.
   Though the act most simply considered is good, yet take the acts in
   their measure and dimensions, and the manner in which they are exerted,
   and they are sinfully defective; there is that defect in them that may
   well be called the corruption of them. That defect is properly sin, an
   expression of a vile sinfulness of heart, and what tends to provoke the
   just anger of God: not because the exercise of love and other grace is
   not equal to God's loveliness; for it is impossible the love of
   creatures (men or angels) should be so; but because the act is so very
   disproportionate to the occasion given for love or other grace,
   considering God's loveliness, the manifestation that is made of it, the
   exercises of kindness, the capacity of human nature, and our advantages
   (and the like) together.--A negative expression of corruption may be as
   truly sin, and as just cause of provocation, as a positive. Thus if a
   worthy and excellent person should, from mere generosity and goodness,
   exceedingly lay out himself, and with great expense and suffering save
   another's life, or redeem him from some extreme calamity; and if that
   other person should never thank him for it, or express the least
   gratitude any way; this would be a negative expression of his
   ingratitude and baseness; but is equivalent to an act of ingratitude,
   or positive exercise of a base unworthy spirit; and is truly an
   expression of it, and brings as much blame as if he by some positive
   act had much injured another person. And so it would be (only in a
   lesser degree) if the gratitude was but very small, bearing no
   proportion to the benefit and obligation: as if, for so great and
   extraordinary a kindness, he should express no more gratitude than
   would have been becoming towards a person who had only given him a cup
   of water when thirsty, or shown him the way in a journey when at a
   loss, or had done him some such small kindness. If he should come to
   his benefactor to express his gratitude, and should do after this
   manner, he might truly be said to act unworthily and odiously; he would
   show a most ungrateful spirit. His doing after such a manner might
   justly be abhorred by all; and yet the gratitude, that little there is
   of it, most simply considered, and so far as it goes, is good. And so
   it is with respect to our exercise of love, and gratitude, and other
   graces, towards God; they are defectively corrupt and sinful, and, take
   them as they are, in their manner and measure, might justly be odious
   and provoking to God, and would necessarily be so, were we beheld out
   of Christ. For in that this defect is sin, it is infinitely hateful;
   and so the hatefulness of the very act infinitely outweighs the
   loveliness of it; because all sin has infinite hatefulness and
   heinousness; but our holiness has but little value and loveliness, as
   has been elsewhere demonstrated.

   Hence, though it be true that the saints are rewarded for their good
   works, yet it is for Christ's sake only, and not for the excellency of
   their works in themselves considered, or beheld separately from Christ;
   for so they have no excellency in God's sight, or acceptableness to
   him, as has now been shown. It is acknowledged that God, in rewarding
   the holiness and good works of believers, does in some respect give
   them happiness as a testimony of his respect to the loveliness of their
   holiness and good works in his sight; for that is the very notion of a
   reward. But it is in a very different sense from what would have been
   if man had not fallen; which would have been to bestow eternal life on
   man, as a testimony of God's respect to the loveliness of what man did,
   considered as in itself, and as in man separately by himself, and not
   beheld as a member of Christ. In which sense also, the scheme of
   justification we are opposing necessarily supposes the excellency of
   our virtue to be respected and rewarded; for it supposes a saving
   interest in Christ itself to be given as a reward of it.

   Two things come to pass, relating to the saints' reward for their
   inherent righteousness, by virtue of their relation to Christ. 1. The
   guilt of their persons is all done away, and the pollution and
   hatefulness that attends and is in their good works, is hid. 2. Their
   relation to Christ adds a positive value and dignity to their good
   works in God's sight. That little holiness, and those faint and feeble
   acts of love, and other grace, receive an exceeding value in the sight
   of God, by virtue of God's beholding them as in Christ, and as it were
   members of one so infinitely worthy in his eyes; and that because God
   looks upon the persons as of greater dignity on this account. Isa.
   xliii .4. "Since thou was precious in my sight, thou hast been
   honourable." God, for Christ's sake, and because they are members of
   his own righteousness and dear Son, sets an exceeding value upon their
   persons; and hence it follows, that he also sets a great value upon
   their good acts and offering. The same love and obedience in a person
   of greater dignity and value in God's sight, is more valuable in his
   eyes than in one of less dignity. Love is valuable in proportion to the
   dignity of the person whose love it is; because, so far as any one
   gives his love to another, he gives himself, in that he gives his
   heart. But this is a more excellent offering, in proportion as the
   person whose self is offered is more worth. Believers are become
   immensely more honourable in God's esteem by virtue of their relation
   to Christ, than man would have been considered as by himself, though he
   had been free from sin; as a mean person becomes more honourable when
   married to a king. Hence God will probably reward the little weak love,
   and poor and exceeding imperfect obedience of believers in Christ, with
   more glorious reward than he would have done Adam's perfect obedience.
   According to the tenor of the first covenant, the person was to be
   accepted and rewarded, only for the work's sake; but by the covenant of
   grace, the work is accepted and rewarded, only for the person's sake;
   the person being beheld antecedently as a member of Christ, and clothed
   with his righteousness. So that though the saints' inherent holiness is
   rewarded, yet this very reward is indeed not the less founded on the
   worthiness and righteousness of Christ. None of the value that their
   works have in his sight, nor any of the acceptance they have with him,
   is out of Christ, and out of his righteousness; but his worthiness as
   mediator is the prime and only foundation on which all is built, and
   the universal source whence all arises. God indeed doth great things
   out of regard to the saints' loveliness, but it is only as a secondary
   and derivative loveliness. When I speak of a derivative loveliness, I
   do not mean only, that the qualifications themselves accepted as
   lovely, are derived from Christ, from his power and purchase; but that
   the acceptance of them as a loveliness, and all the value that is set
   upon them, and all their connexion with the reward, is founded in, and
   derived from, Christ's righteousness and worthiness.

   If we suppose that not only higher degrees of glory in heaven, but
   heaven itself, is in some respect given in reward for the holiness and
   good works of the saints, in this secondary an derivative sense, it
   will not prejudice the doctrine we have maintained. It is no way
   impossible that God may bestow heaven's glory wholly out of respect to
   Christ's righteousness, and yet in reward for man's inherent holiness,
   in different respects, and different ways. It may be only Christ's
   righteousness that God has respect to, for its own sake, the
   independent acceptableness and dignity of it being sufficient of itself
   to recommend all that believe in Christ to a title to this glory; and
   so it may be only by this that persons enter into a title to heaven, or
   have their prime right to it: and yet God may also have respect to the
   saints' own holiness, for Christ's sake, and as deriving a value from
   Christ's merit, which he may testify in bestowing heaven upon them. The
   saints being beheld as members of Christ, their obedience is looked
   upon by God as something of Christ's, it being the obedience of the
   members of Christ; as the sufferings of the members of Christ are
   looked upon, in some respect, as the sufferings of Christ. Hence the
   apostle, speaking of his sufferings, says, Col. i.24. "Who now rejoice
   in my suffering for you, and fill up that which is behind of the
   afflictions of Christ in my flesh." To the same purpose is Matt. xxv.
   35, &c. I was an hungred, naked, sick, and in prison, &c. And so that
   in Rev. xi. 8. "And their dead bodies shall lie in the street of the
   great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our
   Lord was crucified."

   By the merit and righteousness of Christ, such favour of God towards
   the believer may be obtained, as that God may hereby be already, as it
   were, disposed to make them perfectly and eternally happy. But yet this
   does not hinder, but that God in his wisdom may choose to bestow this
   perfect and eternal happiness in this way, viz. in some respect as a
   reward of their holiness and obedience. It is not impossible but that
   the blessedness may be bestowed as a reward for that which is done
   after that an interest is already obtained in that favour, which (to
   speak of God after the manner of men) disposes God to bestow the
   blessedness. Our heavenly Father may already have that favour for a
   child, whereby he may be thoroughly ready to give the child an
   inheritance, because he is his child; which he is by the purchase of
   Christ's righteousness: and yet that the Father may choose to bestow
   the inheritance on the child in a way of reward for his dutifulness,
   and behaving in a manner becoming a child. And so great a reward may
   not be judged more than a meet reward for his dutifulness; but that so
   great a reward is judged meet, does not arise from the excellency of
   the obedience absolutely considered, but from his standing in so near
   and honourable a relation to God, as that of a child, which is obtained
   only by the righteousness of Christ. And thus the reward, and the
   greatness of it, arises properly from the righteousness of Christ;
   though it be indeed in some sort the reward of their obedience. As a
   father might justly esteem the inheritance no more than a meet reward
   for the obedience of his child, and yet esteem it more than a meet
   reward for the obedience of a servant. The favour whence a believer's
   heavenly Father bestows the eternal inheritance, and his title as an
   heir, is founded in that relation he stands in to him as a child,
   purchased by Christ's righteousness; though he in wisdom chooses to
   bestow it in such a way, and therein to testify his acceptance of the
   amiableness of his obedience in Christ.

   Believers having a title to heaven by faith antecedent to their
   obedience, or its being absolutely promised to them before, does not
   hinder but that the actual bestowment of heaven may also be a testimony
   of God's regard to their obedience, though performed afterwards. Thus
   it was with Abraham, the father and pattern of all believers: God
   bestowed upon him that blessing of multiplying his seed as the stars of
   heaven, and causing that in his seed all the families of the earth
   should be blessed, in reward for his obedience in offering up his son
   Isaac, Gen. xxii. 16, 17, 18. "And said, By myself have I sworn, saith
   the Lord, for because thou hast done this thing, and hast not withheld
   thy son, thine only son; that in blessing I will bless thee, and in
   multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of heaven, and as the
   sand which is upon the sea shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate
   of his enemies; and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be
   blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice." And yet the very same
   blessings had been from time to time promised to Abraham, in the most
   positive terms, and the promise, with great solemnity, confirmed and
   sealed to him; as chap. xii. 2, 3. chap. xiii. 16. chap. xv. 1, 4-7,
   &c. chap. xvii. throughout; chap. xviii. 10, 18.

   From what has been said we may easily solve the difficulty arising from
   that text in Rev. iii. 4. "They shall walk with me in white, for they
   are worthy;" which is parallel with that text in Luke xx. 35. "But they
   which shall be accounted worthy to obtain that world, and the
   resurrection from the dead." I allow (as in the objection) that this
   worthiness does doubtless denote a moral fitness to the reward, or that
   God looks on these glorious benefits as a meet testimony of his regard
   to the value which their persons and performances have in his sight.

   1. God looks on these glorious benefits as a meet testimony of his
   regard to the value which their persons have in his sight. But he sets
   this value upon their persons purely for Christ's sake. They are such
   jewels, and have such preciousness in his eyes, only because they are
   beheld in Christ, and by reason of the worthiness of the head they are
   the members of, and the stock they are grafted into. And the value that
   God sets upon them on this account is so great, that God thinks meet,
   from regard to it, to admit them to such exceeding glory. The saints,
   on account of their relation to Christ, are such precious jewels in
   God's sight, that they are thought worthy of a place in his own crown.
   Mal. iii. 17. Zech. ix. 16. So far as the saints are said to be
   valuable in God's sight, on whatever account, so far may they properly
   be said to be worthy, or meet for that honour which is answerable to
   the value or price which God sets upon them. A child or wife of a
   prince is worthy to be treated with great honour; and therefore if a
   mean person should be adopted to be a child of a prince, or should be
   espoused to a prince, it would be proper to say, that she was worthy of
   such and such honour and respect, and there would be no force upon the
   words in saying, that she ought to have such respect paid her, for she
   is worthy, though it be only on account of her relation to the prince
   that she is so.

   2. From the value God sets upon their persons, for the sake of Christ's
   worthiness, he also sets a high value on their virtue and performances.
   Their meek and quiet spirit is of great price in his sight. Their
   fruits are pleasant fruits, their offerings are an odour of sweet smell
   to him; and that because of the value he sets on their persons, as has
   been already observed and explained. This preciousness or high
   valuableness of believers is a moral fitness to a reward; and yet this
   valuableness is all in the righteousness of Christ, that is the
   foundation of it. The thing respected is not excellency in them
   separately by themselves, or in their virtue by itself, but the value
   in God's account arises from other considerations; which is the natural
   import of Luke xx. 35. "They which shall be accounted worthy to obtain
   that world," &c. and Luke xxi. 36. "That ye may be accounted worthy to
   escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before
   the Son of man." 2 Thess. i.5. "That ye may be counted worthy of the
   kingdom of God, for which ye also suffer."

   There is a vast difference between this scheme, and what is supposed in
   the scheme of those that oppose the doctrine of justification by faith
   alone. This lays the foundation of first acceptance with God, and all
   actual salvation consequent upon it, wholly in Christ and his
   righteousness. On the contrary, in their scheme, a regard to man's own
   excellency or virtue is supposed to be first, and to have the place of
   the first foundation in actual salvation, though not in that
   ineffectual redemption, which they suppose common to all. They lay the
   foundation of all discriminating salvation in man's own virtue and
   moral excellency. This is the very bottom stone in this affair; for
   they suppose that it is from regard to our virtue, that even a special
   interest in Christ itself is given. The foundation being thus contrary,
   the whole scheme becomes exceeding diverse and contrary; the one is
   utterly inconsistent with our being justified by Christ's
   righteousness, the other not at all.

   From what has been said, we may understand, not only how the
   forgiveness of sin granted in justification is indissolubly connected
   with a forgiving spirit in us, but how there may be many exercises of
   forgiving mercy granted in reward for our forgiving those who trespass
   against us. For none will deny but that there are many acts of divine
   forgiveness towards the saints, that do not presuppose an unjustified
   state immediately preceding that forgiveness. None will deny, that
   saints who never fell from a justified state, yet commit many sins
   which God forgives afterwards, by laying aside his fatherly
   displeasure. This forgiveness may be in reward for our forgiveness,
   without any prejudice to the doctrine that has been maintained, as well
   as other mercies and blessings consequent on justification.

   With respect to the second part of the objection, that relates to the
   different degrees of glory, and the seeming inconsistence there is in
   it, that the degrees of glory in different saints should be greater or
   lesser according to their inherent holiness and good works, and yet,
   that every one's glory should be purchased with the price of the very
   same imputed righteousness,--I answer, That Christ, by his
   righteousness, purchased for every one complete and perfect happiness,
   according to his capacity. But this does not hinder but that the
   saints, being of various capacities, may have various degrees of
   happiness, and yet all their happiness be the fruit of Christ's
   purchase. Indeed it cannot be properly said, that Christ purchased any
   particular degree of happiness, so that the value of Christ's
   righteousness in the sight of God, is sufficient to raise a believer so
   high in happiness, and no higher, and so that if the believer were made
   happier, it would exceed the value of Christ's righteousness; but in
   general, Christ purchased eternal life, or perfect happiness for all,
   according to their several capacities. The saints are as so many
   vessels of different sizes, cast into the sea of happiness, where every
   vessel is full; this Christ purchased for all. But after all, it is
   left to God's sovereign pleasure to determine the largeness of the
   vessel; Christ's righteousness meddles not with this matter. Eph. iv.
   4, 5, 6, 7. "There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called
   in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism,"
   &c.--"But unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure
   of the gift of Christ." God may dispense in this matter according to
   what rule he pleases, not the less for what Christ has done: he may
   dispense either without condition, or upon what condition he pleases to
   fix. It is evident that Christ's righteousness meddles not with this
   matter; for what Christ did was to fulfill the covenant of works; but
   the covenant of works did not meddle at all with this. If Adam had
   persevered in perfect obedience, he and his posterity would have had
   perfect and full happiness; every one's happiness would have so
   answered his capacity, that he would have been completely blessed; but
   God would have been at liberty to have made some of one capacity, and
   others of another, as he pleased.--The angels have obtained eternal
   life, or a state of confirmed glory, by a covenant of works, whose
   condition was perfect obedience; but yet some are higher in glory than
   others, according to the several capacities that God, according to his
   sovereign pleasure, hath given them. So that it being still left with
   God, notwithstanding the perfect obedience of the second Adam, to fix
   the degree of each one's capacity by what rule he pleases, he hath been
   pleased to fix the degree of capacity, and so of glory, by the
   proportion of the saints' grace and fruitfulness here. He gives higher
   degrees of glory, in reward for higher degrees of holiness and good
   works, because it pleases him; and yet all the happiness of each saint
   is indeed the fruit of the purchase of Christ's obedience. If it had
   been but one man that Christ had obeyed and died for, and it had please
   God to make him of a very large capacity, Christ's perfect obedience
   would have purchased that his capacity should be filled, and then all
   his happiness might properly be said to be the fruit of Christ's
   perfect obedience; though, if he had been of a less capacity, he would
   not have had so much happiness by the same obedience; and yet would
   have had as much as Christ merited for him. Christ's righteousness
   meddles not with the degree of happiness, any otherwise than as he
   merits that it should be full and perfect, according to the capacity;
   and so it may be said to be concerned in the degree of happiness, as
   perfect is a degree with respect to imperfect; but it meddles not with
   the degrees of perfect happiness.

   This matter may be yet better understood, if we consider that Christ
   and the whole church of saints are, as it were, one body, of which he
   is the Head, and they members of different place and capacity: now the
   whole body, head, and members, have communion in Christ's
   righteousness; they are all partakers of the benefit of it; Christ
   himself the Head is rewarded for it, and every member is partaker of
   the benefit and reward. But it does by no means follow, that every part
   should equally partake of the benefit, but every part in proportion to
   its place and capacity; the Head partakes of far more than other parts,
   and the more noble members partake of more than the inferior. As it is
   in a natural body that enjoys perfect health, the head, and the heart,
   and lungs, have a greater share of this health, they have it more
   seated in them, than the hands and feet, because they are parts of
   greater capacity; though the hands and feet are as much in perfect
   health as those nobler parts of the body. So it is in the mystical body
   of Christ, all the members are partakers of the benefit of the Head;
   but it is according to the different capacity and place they have in
   the body; and God determines that place and capacity as he pleases; he
   makes whom he pleases the foot, and whom he pleases the hand, and whom
   he pleases the lungs, &c. 1 Cor. xii. 18. "God hath set the members
   every one of them in the body, as it hath pleased him." God
   efficaciously determines the place and capacity of every member, by the
   different degrees of grace and assistance in the improvement of it in
   this world. Those that he intends for the highest place in the body, he
   gives them most of his Spirit, the greatest share of the divine nature,
   the Spirit and nature of Christ Jesus the Head, and that assistance
   whereby they perform the most excellent works, and do most abound in
   them.

   Object. 4. It may be objected against what has been supposed, (viz.
   That rewards are given to our good works, only in consequence of an
   interest in Christ, or in testimony of God's respect to the excellency
   or value of them in his sight, as built on an interest in Christ's
   righteousness already obtained,) That the Scripture speaks of an
   interest in Christ itself, as being given out of respect to our moral
   fitness. Matt. x.37, 38, 39. "He that loveth father or mother more than
   me, is not worthy of me: he that loveth son or daughter more than me,
   is not worthy of me: he that taketh not up his cross, and followeth
   after me, is not worthy of me: he that findeth his life, shall lose
   it," &c. Worthiness here at least signifies a moral fitness, or an
   excellency that recommends. And this place seems to intimate as though
   it were from respect to a moral fitness that men are admitted even to
   an union with Christ, and interest in him; and therefore this
   worthiness cannot be consequent on being in Christ, and by the
   imputation of his worthiness, or from any value that is in us, or in
   our actions in God's sight, as beheld in Christ.

   To this I answer, That though persons when they are accepted, are not
   accepted as worthy, yet when they are rejected, they are rejected as
   unworthy. He that does not love Christ above other things, but treats
   him with such indignity, as to set him below earthly things, shall be
   treated as unworthy of Christ; his unworthiness of Christ, especially
   in that particular, shall be marked against him, and imputed to him.
   And though he be a professing Christian, and live in the enjoyment of
   the gospel, and has been visibly ingrafted into Christ, and admitted as
   one of his disciples, as Judas was; yet he shall be thrust out in
   wrath, as a punishment of his vile treatment of Christ. The
   forementioned words do not imply, that if a man does love Christ above
   father and mother, &c. that he would be worthy; the most they imply is,
   that such a visible Christian shall be treated and thrust out as
   unworthy. He that believes is not received for the worthiness or moral
   fitness of faith; but yet the visible Christian is cast out by God, for
   the unworthiness and moral unfitness of unbelief. A being accepted as
   one of Christ's, is not the reward of believing; but being thrust out
   from being one of Christ's disciples, after a visible admission as
   such, is properly a punishment of unbelief. John iii. 18, 19. "He that
   believeth on him, is not condemned; but he that believeth not, is
   condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only
   begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation, that light is come
   into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their
   deeds were evil." Salvation is promised to faith as a free gift, but
   damnation is threatened to unbelief as a debt, or punishment due to
   unbelief. They who believed while in the wilderness, did not enter into
   Canaan, because of the worthiness of their faith; but God sware in his
   wrath, that they that believed not should not enter in, because of the
   unworthiness of their unbelief. Admitting a soul to an union with
   Christ is an act of free and sovereign grace; but excluding at death,
   and at the day of judgment, those professors of Christianity who have
   had the offers of a Saviour, and enjoyed great privileges as God's
   people, is a judicial proceeding, and a just punishment of their
   unworthy treatment of Christ. The design of this saying of Christ is to
   make them sensible of the unworthiness of their treatment of Christ,
   who professed him to be their Lord and Saviour, and set him below
   father and mother, &c. and not to show the worthiness of loving him
   above father and mother. If a beggar should be offered any great and
   precious gift, but as soon as offered, should trample it under his
   feet, it might be taken from him, as unworthy to have it. Or if a
   malefactor should have his pardon offered him, that he might be freed
   from execution, and should only scoff at it, his pardon might be
   refused him, as unworthy of it; though if he had received it, he would
   not have had it for his worthiness, or as being recommended to it by
   his virtue; for his being a malefactor supposes him unworthy, and its
   being offered him to have it only on accepting, supposes that the king
   looks for no worthiness, nothing in him for which he should bestow
   pardon as a reward. This may teach us how to understand Acts xiii. 46.
   "It was necessary that the word of God should first have been spoken
   unto you; but seeing ye put it from you, and judge yourselves unworthy
   of everlasting life, lo, we turn to the Gentiles."

   Object. 5. It is objected against the doctrine of justification by
   faith alone, That repentance is evidently spoken of in Scripture as
   that which is in a special manner the condition of remission of sins;
   but remission of sins is by all allowed to be that wherein
   justification does (at least) in great part consist.

   But it must certainly arise from a misunderstanding of what the
   Scripture says about repentance, to suppose that faith and repentance
   are two distinct things, that in like manner are the conditions of
   justification. For it is most plain from the Scripture, that the
   condition of justification, or that in us by which we are justified, is
   but one, and that is faith. Faith and repentance are not two distinct
   conditions of justification, nor are they two distinct things that
   together make one condition of justification; but faith comprehends the
   whole of that by which we are justified, or by which we come to have an
   interest in Christ, and there is nothing else has a parallel concern
   with it in the affair of our salvation. And this the divines on the
   other side themselves are sensible of, and therefore they suppose that
   the faith the apostle Paul speaks of, which he says we are justified by
   alone, comprehends in it repentance.

   And therefore, in answer to the objection, I would say, That when
   repentance is spoken of in Scripture as the condition of pardon,
   thereby is not intended any particular grace, or act, properly distinct
   from faith, that has a parallel influence with it in the affair of our
   pardon or justification; but by repentance is intended nothing distinct
   from active conversion, (or conversion actively considered,) as it
   respects the term from which. Active conversion is a motion or exercise
   of the mind that respects two terms, viz. sin and God; and by
   repentance is meant this conversion, or active change of the mind, so
   far as it is conversant about the term from which, or about sin. This
   is what the word repentance properly signifies; which, in the original
   of the New Testament, is NOT ENGLISH, and signifies a change of the
   mind, or, which is the same thing, the turning or the conversion of the
   mind. Repentance is this turning, as it respects what is turned from.
   Acts xxvi. 20. "Whereupon, O king Agrippa, I showed unto them of
   Damascus, and at Jerusalem, and throughout all the coasts of Judea, and
   then to the Gentiles, that they should repent, and turn to God." Both
   these are the same turning, but only with respect to opposite terms: in
   the former, is expressed the exercise of mind about sin in this
   turning; in the other, the exercise of mind turning towards God.

   If we look over the scriptures that speak of evangelical repentance, we
   shall presently see that repentance is to be understood in this sense;
   as Matt. ix. 13. "I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to
   repentance." Luke xiii. 3. "Except ye repent, ye shall all likewise
   perish." And chap. xv. 7, 10. "There is joy in heaven over one sinner
   that repenteth," i.e. over one sinner that is converted. Acts xi. 18.
   "Then hath God also to the Gentiles granted repentance unto life." This
   is said by the Christians of the circumcision at Jerusalem, upon
   Peter's giving an account of the conversion of Cornelius and his
   family, and their embracing the gospel, though Peter had said nothing
   expressly about their sorrow for sin. And again, Acts xvii. 30. "But
   now commandeth all men every where to repent." And Luke xvi. 30. "Nay,
   father Abraham, but if one went to them from the dead, they would
   repent." 2 Pet. iii. 9. "The Lord is not slack concerning his promise,
   as some men count slackness, but is long-suffering to us-ward, not
   willing that any should perish, but that all should come to
   repentance." It is plain that in these and other places, by repentance
   is meant conversion.

   Now it is true, that conversion is the condition of pardon and
   justification: but if it be so, how absurd is it to say, that
   conversion is one condition of justification, and faith another, as
   though they were two distributively distinct and parallel conditions!
   Conversion is the condition of justification, because it is that great
   change by which we are brought from sin to Christ, and by which we
   become believers in him: agreeable to Matt. xxi. 32. "And ye, when ye
   had seen it, repented not afterward, that ye might believe him." When
   we are directed to repent, that our sins may be blotted out, it is as
   much as to say, Let your minds and hearts be changed, that your sins
   may be blotted out. But if it be said, Let your hearts be changed, that
   you may be justified; and believe, that you may be justified; does it
   therefore follow, that the heart being changed is one condition of
   justification, and believing another? But our minds must be changed,
   that we may believe, and so may be justified.

   And besides, evangelical repentance, being active conversion, is not to
   be treated of as a particular grace, properly and entirely distinct
   from faith, as by some it seems to have been. What is conversion, but
   the sinful, alienated soul's closing with Christ, or the sinner's being
   brought to believe in Christ? That exercise of soul in conversion that
   respects sin, cannot be excluded out of the nature of faith in Christ:
   there is something in faith, or closing with Christ, that respects sin,
   and that is evangelical repentance. That repentance which in Scripture
   is called, repentance for the remission of sins, is that very principle
   or operation of the mind itself that is called faith, so far as it is
   conversant about sin. Justifying faith in a Mediator is conversant
   about two things: it is conversant about sin or evil to be rejected and
   to be delivered from, and about positive good to be accepted and
   obtained by the Mediator; as conversant about the former of these, it
   is evangelical repentance, or repentance for remission of sins. Surely
   they must be very ignorant, or at least very inconsiderate, of the
   whole tenor of the gospel, who think that the repentance by which
   remission of sins is obtained, can be completed, as to all that is
   essential to it, without any respect to Christ, or application of the
   mind to the Mediator, who alone has made atonement for sin. Surely so
   great a part of salvation as remission of sins, is not to be obtained
   without looking or coming to the great and only Saviour. It is true,
   repentance, in its more general abstracted nature, is only a sorrow for
   sin, and forsaking of it, which is a duty of natural religion; but
   evangelical repentance, or repentance for remission of sins, hath more
   than this essential to it; a dependence of soul on the Mediator for
   deliverance from sin, is of the essence of it.

   That justifying repentance has the nature of faith, seems evident by
   Acts xix. 4. "Then said Paul, John verily baptized with the baptism of
   repentance, saying unto the people, that they should believe on him
   which should come after him, that is, on Christ Jesus." The latter
   words, "saying unto the people, that they should believe on him," &c.
   are evidently exegetical of the former, and explain how he preached
   repentance for the remission of sins. When it is said, that he preached
   repentance for the remission of sin, saying, that they should believe
   on Christ, it cannot be supposed but that his saying, that they should
   believe on Christ, was intended as directing them what to do that they
   might obtain the remission of sins. So, 2 Tim. ii .25. "In meekness
   instructing those that oppose themselves; if God peradventure will give
   them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth." That acknowledging
   of the truth which there is in believing, is here spoken of as what is
   retained in repentance. And on the other hand, that faith includes
   repentance in its nature, is evident by the apostle's speaking of sin
   as destroyed in faith, Gal. ii. 18.--In the preceding verses the
   apostle mentions an objection against the doctrine of justification by
   faith alone, viz. that it tends to encourage men in sin, and so to make
   Christ the minister of sin. This objection he rejects and refutes with
   this, "If I build again the things that I destroyed, I make myself a
   transgressor." If sin be destroyed by faith, it must be by repentance
   of sin included in it; for we know that it is our repentance of sin, or
   the NOT ENGLISH , or turning of the mind from sin, that is our
   destroying our sin.

   That in justifying faith which directly respects sin, or the evil to be
   delivered from by the Mediator, is as follows: a sense of our own
   sinfulness, and the hatefulness of it, and a hearty acknowledgement of
   its desert of the threatened punishment, looking to the free mercy of
   God in a Redeemer, for deliverance from it and its punishment.

   Concerning this, here described, three things may be noted: 1. That it
   is the very same with that evangelical repentance to which remission of
   sins is promised in Scripture. 2. That it is of the essence of
   justifying faith, and is the same with that faith, so far as it is
   conversant about evil to be delivered from by the Mediator. 3. That
   this is indeed the proper and peculiar condition of remission of sins.

   1. All of it is essential to evangelical repentance, and is indeed the
   very thing meant by that repentance, to which remission of sins is
   promised in the gospel. As to the former part of the description, viz.
   a sense of our own sinfulness, and hatefulness of it, and a hearty
   acknowledgement of its desert of wrath, none will deny it to be
   included in repentance: but this does not comprehend the whole essence
   of evangelical repentance; but what follows does also properly and
   essentially belong to its nature, looking to the free mercy of God in a
   Redeemer, for deliverance from it, and the punishment of it. That
   repentance to which remission is promised, not only always has this
   with it, but it is contained in it, as what is of the proper nature and
   essence of it: and respect is ever had to this in the nature of
   repentance, whenever remission is promised to it; and it is especially
   from respect to this in the nature of repentance, that it has that
   promise made to it. If this latter part be missing, it fails of the
   nature of that evangelical repentance to which remission of sins is
   promised. If repentance remains in sorrow for sin, and does not reach
   to a looking to the free mercy of God in Christ for pardon, it is not
   that which is the condition of pardon, neither shall pardon be obtained
   by it. Evangelical repentance is an humiliation for sin before God; but
   the sinner never comes and humbles himself before God in any other
   repentance, but that which includes hoping in his mercy for remission:
   if sorrow be not accompanied with that, there will be no coming to God
   in it, but a flying further from him. There is some worship of God in
   justifying repentance; but that is not in any other repentance which
   has not a sense of and faith in the divine mercy to forgive sin; Psalm
   cxxx .4. "There is forgiveness with thee, that thou mayest be feared."
   The promise of mercy to a true penitent, in Prov. xxviii. 13. is
   expressed in these terms, "Whoso confesseth and forsaketh his sins,
   shall have mercy." But there is faith in God's mercy in that
   confessing. The psalmist, (Psalm xxxii.) speaketh of the blessedness of
   the man whose transgression is forgiven--and whose sin is covered, to
   whom the Lord imputes not sin--says, that while he kept silence his
   bones waxed old: but he acknowledged his sin unto God, his iniquity he
   did not hide; he said, he would confess his transgression to the Lord,
   and then God forgave the iniquity of his sin. The manner of expression
   plainly holds forth, that then he began to encourage himself in the
   mercy of God, but his bones waxed old while he kept silence; and
   therefore the apostle Paul, in the 4th of Romans, brings this instance,
   to confirm the doctrine of justification by faith alone, that he had
   been insisting on. When sin is aright confessed to God, there is always
   faith in that act. That confessing of sin which is joined with despair,
   as in Judas, is not the confession to which the promise is made. In
   Acts ii. 38. the direction given to those who were pricked in their
   heart with a sense of the guilt of sin, was to repent, and be baptized
   in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of their sins. Being
   baptized in the name of Christ for the remission of sins, implied faith
   in Christ for the remission of sins. Repentance for the remission of
   sins was typified of old by the priest's confessing the sins of the
   people over the scape-goat, laying his hands on him, Lev. xvi. 21.
   denoting it is that repentance and confession of sin only that obtains
   remission, which is made over Christ the great sacrifice, and with
   dependence on him. Many other things might be produced from the
   Scripture, that in like manner confirm this point; but these may be
   sufficient.

   2. All the forementioned description is of the essence of justifying
   faith, and not different from it, so far as it is conversant about sin,
   or the evil to be delivered from by the Mediator. For it is doubtless
   of the essence of justifying faith, to embrace Christ as a Saviour from
   sin and its punishment; and all that is contained in that act is
   contained in the nature of faith itself. But in the act of embracing
   Christ as a Saviour from our sin and its punishment, is implied a sense
   of our sinfulness, and a hatred of our sins, or a rejecting them with
   abhorrence, and a sense of our desert of punishment. Embracing Christ
   as a Saviour from sin, implies the contrary act, viz. a rejecting sin.
   If we fly to the light to be delivered from darkness, the same act is
   contrary to darkness, viz. a rejecting of it. In proportion to the
   earnestness with which we embrace Christ as a Saviour from sin, in the
   same proportion is the abhorrence with which we reject sin, in the same
   act. Yea, suppose there be in the nature of faith, as conversant about
   sin, no more than the hearty embracing of Christ as a Saviour from the
   punishment of sin, this act will imply in it the whole of the
   above-mentioned description. It implies a sense of our own sinfulness.
   Certainly in the hearty embracing of a Saviour from the punishment of
   our sinfulness, there is the exercise of a sense that we are sinful. We
   cannot heartily embrace Christ as a Saviour from the punishment of that
   which we are not sensible we are guilty of. There is also in the same
   act, a sense of our desert of the threatened punishment. We cannot
   heartily embrace Christ as a Saviour from that which we are not
   sensible that we have deserved. For if we are not sensible that we have
   deserved the punishment, we shall not be sensible that we have any need
   of a Saviour from it, or, at least, shall not be convinced but that God
   who offers the Saviour, unjustly makes him needful; and we cannot
   heartily embrace such an offer. And further, there is implied in a
   hearty embracing Christ as a Saviour from punishment, not only a
   conviction of conscience, that we have deserved the punishment, such as
   the devils and damned have; but there is a hearty acknowledgment of it,
   with the submission of the soul, so as, with the accord of the heart,
   to own that God might be just in the punishment. If the heart rises
   against the act or judgment of God, in holding us obliged to the
   punishment, when he offers us his Son as a Saviour from the punishment,
   we cannot with the consent of the heart receive him in that character:
   but if persons thus submit to the righteousness of so dreadful a
   punishment of sin, this carries in it a hatred of sin.

   That such a sense of our sinfulness, and utter unworthiness, and desert
   of punishment, belongs to the nature of saving faith, is what the
   Scripture from time to time holds forth; as particularly in Matt. xv.
   26-28. "But he answered and said, It is not meet to take the children's
   bread, and to cast it to dogs. And she said, Truth, Lord; yet the dogs
   eat of the crumbs which fall from their master's table. Then Jesus
   answered, and said unto her, O woman, great is thy faith."--And Luke
   vii. 6-9. "The centurion sent friends to him, saying unto him, Lord,
   trouble not thyself, for I am not worthy that thou shouldst enter under
   my roof. Wherefore neither thought I myself worthy to come unto thee;
   but say in a word, and my servant shall be healed: for I also am a man
   set under authority," &c.--"When Jesus heard these things, he marvelled
   at him, and turned him about, and said unto the people that followed
   him, I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in
   Israel." And also ver. 37, 38. "And behold, a woman in the city, which
   was a sinner, when she knew that Jesus sat at meat in the Pharisee's
   house, brought an alabaster-box of ointment, and stood at his feet
   behind him weeping, and began to wash his feet with tears, and did wipe
   them with the hairs of her head, and kissed his feet, and anointed them
   with the ointment." Together with ver. 50. "He said unto the woman, Thy
   faith hath saved thee; go in peace."

   These things do not necessarily suppose that repentance and faith are
   words of just the same signification; for it is only so much in
   justifying faith as respects the evil to be delivered from by the
   Saviour, that is called repentance. Besides, both repentance and faith,
   take them only in their general nature, are entirely distinct;
   repentance is a sorrow for sin, and forsaking of it; and faith is a
   trusting in God's sufficiency and truth. But faith and repentance, as
   evangelical duties, or justifying faith, and repentance for remission
   of sins, contain more in them, and imply a respect to a mediator, and
   involve each other's nature; [673] though they still bear the name of
   faith and repentance, from those general moral virtues--that
   repentance, which is a duty of natural religion, and that faith, which
   was a duty required under the first covenant--that are contained in
   this evangelical act; which severally appear, when this act is
   considered with respect to its different terms and objects.

   It may be objected here, that the Scripture sometimes mentions faith
   and repentance together, as if they were entirely distinct things; as
   in Mark i. 15. "Repent ye, and believe the gospel." But there is no
   need of understanding these as two distinct conditions of salvation,
   but the words are exegetical one of another. It is to teach us after
   what manner we must repent, viz. as believing the gospel, and after
   what manner we must believe the gospel, viz. as repenting. These words
   no more prove faith and repentance to be entirely distinct, than those
   fore-mentioned, Matt. xxi. 32. "And ye, when ye had seen it, repented
   not afterwards, that ye might believe him." Or those, 2 Tim. ii. 25.
   "If peradventure God will give them repentance to the acknowledging of
   the truth." The apostle, in Acts xix. 4. seems to have reference to
   these words of John the Baptist, "John baptized with the baptism of
   repentance, saying unto the people, that they should believe," &c.
   where the latter words, as we have already observed, are to explain how
   he preached repentance.

   Another Scripture where faith and repentance are mentioned together, is
   Acts xx. 21. "Testifying both to the Jews, and also to the Greeks,
   repentance towards God, and faith towards the Lord Jesus Christ." It
   may be objected, that in this place, faith and repentance are not only
   spoken of as distinct things, but having distinct objects.

   To this I answer, That faith and repentance, in their general nature,
   are distinct things; and repentance for the remission of sins, or that
   in justifying faith that respects the evil to be delivered from, so far
   as it regards that term, which is what especially denominates it
   repentance, has respect to God as the object, because he is the Being
   offended by sin, and to be reconciled, but that in this justifying act,
   whence it is denominated faith, does more especially respect Christ.
   But let us interpret it how we will, the objection of faith being here
   so distinguished from repentance, is as much of an objection against
   the scheme of those that oppose justification by faith alone, as
   against this scheme; for they hold that the justifying faith the
   apostle Paul speaks of, includes repentance, as has been already
   observed.

   3. This repentance that has been described, is indeed the special
   condition of remission of sins. This seems very evident by the
   Scripture, as particularly, Mark i. 4. "John did baptize in the
   wilderness, and preach the baptism of repentance for the remission of
   sins." So, Luke iii. 3. "And he came into all the country about Jordan,
   preaching the baptism of repentance, for the remission of sins." Luke
   xxiv. 47. "And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached
   in his name among all nations." Acts v. 31. "Him hath God exalted with
   his right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour, for to give repentance
   unto Israel, and forgiveness of sins." Chap. ii. 38. "Repent, and be
   baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ, for the
   remission of sins." And, chap. iii. 19. "Repent ye therefore, and be
   converted, that your sins may be blotted out." The like is evident by
   Lev. xxvi. 40-42. Job xxxiii. 27, 28. Psal. xxxii. 5. Prov. xxviii. 13.
   Jer. iii. 13. And 1 John i.9. and other places.

   And the reason may be plain from what has been said. We need not wonder
   that what in faith especially respects sin, should be especially the
   condition of remission of sins; or that this motion or exercise of the
   soul, as it rejects and flies from evil, and embraces Christ as a
   Saviour from it, should especially be the condition of being free from
   that evil; and in like manner, as the same principle or motion, as it
   seeks good, and cleaves to Christ as the procurer of that good, should
   be the condition of obtaining that good. Faith with respect to good is
   accepting, and with respect to evil it is rejecting. Yea this rejecting
   evil is itself an act of acceptance; it is accepting freedom or
   separation from that evil; and this freedom or separation is the
   benefit bestowed in remission. No wonder that what in faith immediately
   respects this benefit, and is our acceptance of it, should be the
   special condition of our having it. It is so with respect to all the
   benefits that Christ has purchased. Trusting in God through Christ for
   such a particular benefit that we need, is the special condition of
   obtaining that benefit. When we need protection from enemies, the
   exercise of faith with respect to such a benefit, or trusting in Christ
   for protection from enemies, is especially the way to obtain that
   particular benefit, rather than trusting in Christ for something else;
   and so of any other benefit that might be mentioned. So prayer (which
   is the expression of faith) for a particular mercy needed, is
   especially the way to obtain that mercy. [674] So that no argument can
   be drawn from hence against the doctrine of justification by faith
   alone. And there is that in the nature of repentance, which peculiarly
   tends to establish the contrary of justification by works: for nothing
   so much renounces our own worthiness and excellency, as repentance; the
   very nature of it is to acknowledge our own utter sinfulness and
   unworthiness, and to renounce our own goodness, and all confidence in
   self; and so to trust in the propitiation of the Mediator, and ascribe
   all the glory of forgiveness to him.

   Object. 6. The last objection I shall mention, is that paragraph in the
   3d chapter of James, where persons are said expressly to be justified
   by works: Ver. 21. "Was not Abraham our father justified by works?"
   Ver. 24. "Ye see then how that by works a man is justified, and not by
   faith only." Ver. 25. "Was not Rahab the harlot justified by works?"

   In answer to this objection, I would,

   1. Take notice of the great unfairness of the divines that oppose us,
   in the improvement they make of this passage against us. All will
   allow, that in that proposition of St. James, "By works a man is
   justified, and not by faith only," one of the terms, either the word
   faith, or else the word justify, is not to be understood precisely in
   the same sense as the same terms when used by St. Paul; because they
   suppose, as well as we, that it was not the intent of the apostle James
   to contradict St. Paul in that doctrine of justification by faith
   alone, in which he had instructed the churches. But if we understand
   both the terms, as used by each apostle, in precisely the same sense,
   then what one asserts is a precise, direct, and full contradiction of
   the other, the one affirming and the other denying the very same thing.
   So that all the controversy from this text comes to this, viz. which of
   these two terms shall be understood in a diversity from St. Paul. They
   say that it is the word faith; for they suppose, that when the apostle
   Paul uses the word, and makes faith that by which alone we are
   justified, that then by it is understood a compliance with and practice
   of Christianity in general; so as to include all saving christian
   virtue and obedience. But as the apostle James uses the word faith in
   this place, they suppose thereby is to be understood only an assent of
   the understanding to the truth of gospel doctrines, as distinguished
   from good works, and that may exist separate from them, and from all
   saving grace. We, on the other hand, suppose that the word justify is
   to be understood in a different sense from the apostle Paul. So that
   they are forced to go as far in their scheme, in altering the sense of
   terms from Paul's use of them, as we. But yet at the same time that
   they freely vary the sense of the former of them, viz. faith, yet when
   we understand the latter, viz. justify, in a different sense from St.
   Paul, they exclaim against us. What necessity of framing this
   distinction, but only to serve an opinion? At this rate a man may
   maintain any thing, though never so contrary to Scripture, and elude
   the clearest text in the Bible! though they do not show us why we have
   not as good warrant to understand the word justify in a diversity from
   St. Paul, as they the word faith. If the sense of one of the words must
   be varied on either scheme, to make the apostle James's doctrine
   consistent with the apostle Paul's; and if varying the sense of one
   term or the other be all that stands in the way of their agreeing with
   either scheme; and if varying the sense of the latter be in itself as
   fair as of the former, then the text lies as fair for one scheme as the
   other, and can no more fairly be an objection against our scheme than
   theirs. And if so, what becomes of all this great objection from this
   passage in James?

   2. If there be no more difficulty in varying the sense of one of these
   terms than another, from any thing in the text itself, so as to make
   the words suit with either scheme, then certainly that is to be chosen
   that is most agreeable to the current of Scripture, and other places
   where the same matter is more particularly and fully treated of; and
   therefore that we should understand the word justify in this passage of
   James, in a sense in some respects diverse from that in which St. Paul
   uses it. For by what has been already said, it may appear, that there
   is no doctrine in the whole Bible more fully asserted, explained, and
   urged, than the doctrine of justification by faith alone, without any
   of our own righteousness.

   3. There is a very fair interpretation of this passage of St. James, no
   way inconsistent with this doctrine of justification, which I have
   shown that other scriptures abundantly teach, which the words
   themselves will as well allow of, as that which the objectors put upon
   them, and much better agrees with the context; and that is, that works
   are here spoken of as justifying as evidences. A man may be said to be
   justified by that which clears him, or vindicates him, or makes the
   goodness of his cause manifest. When a person has a cause tried in a
   civil court, and is justified or cleared, he may be said in different
   senses to be justified or cleared, by the goodness of his cause, and by
   the goodness of the evidences of it. He may be said to be cleared by
   what evidences his cause to be good; but not in the same sense as he is
   by that which makes his cause to be good. That which renders his cause
   good, is the proper ground of his justification; it is by that that he
   is himself a proper subject of it; but evidences justify, only as they
   manifest that his cause is good in fact, whether they are of such a
   nature as to have any influence to render it so or no. It is by works
   that our cause appears to be good; but by faith our cause not only
   appears to be good, but becomes good; because thereby we are united to
   Christ. That the word justify should be sometimes understood to signify
   the former of these, as well as the latter, is agreeable to the use of
   the word in common speech; as we say such an one stood up to justify
   another, i.e. he endeavoured to show or manifest his cause to be
   good.-And it is certain that the word is sometimes used in this sense
   in Scripture, when speaking of our being justified before God; as where
   it is said, we shall be justified by our words, Matt. xii. 37. "For by
   thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be
   condemned." It cannot be meant that men are accepted before God on the
   account of their words; for God has told us nothing more plainly, than
   that it is the heart that he looks at; and that when he acts as judge
   towards men, in order to justifying or condemning, he tries the heart,
   Jer. xi. 20. "But, O Lord of hosts, that judgest righteously, that
   triest the reins and the heart, let me see thy vengeance on them; for
   unto thee have I revealed my cause." Psalm vii. 8, 9. "The Lord shall
   judge the people: judge me, O Lord, according to my righteousness, and
   according to mine integrity that is in me. O let the wickedness of the
   wicked come to an end; but establish the just; for the righteous God
   trieth the hearts and reins." Ver. 11. "God judgeth the righteous." And
   many other places to the like purpose. And therefore men can be
   justified by their words, no otherwise than as evidences or
   manifestations of what is in the heart. And it is thus that Christ
   speaks of the words in this very place, as is evident by the context,
   ver. 34, 35. "Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh. A
   good man out of the good treasure of the heart," &c. The words, or
   sounds themselves, are neither parts of godliness nor evidences of
   godliness, but as signs of what is inward.

   God himself, when he acts towards men as judge, in order to a
   declarative judgment, makes use of evidences, and so judges men by
   their works. And therefore, at the day of judgment, God will judge men
   according to their works: for though God will stand in no need of
   evidence to inform him what is right, yet it is to be considered, that
   he will then sit in judgment, not as earthly judges do, to find out
   what is right in a cause, but to declare and manifest what is right:
   and therefore the day is called by the apostle, "the day of the
   revelation of the righteous judgment of God." Rom. ii. 5.

   To be justified, is to be approved of and accepted: but a man may be
   said to be approved and accepted in two respects; the one is to be
   approved really, and the other to be approved and accepted
   declaratively. Justification is twofold; it is either the acceptance
   and approbation of the judge itself, or the manifestation of that
   approbation, by a sentence or judgment declared by the judge, either to
   our own consciences, or to the world. If justification be understood in
   the former sense, for the approbation itself, that is only that by
   which we become fit to be approved: but if it be understood in the
   latter sense, for the manifestation of this approbation, it is by
   whatever is a proper evidence of that fitness. In the former, only
   faith is concerned; because it is by that only in us that we become fit
   to be accepted and approved: in the latter, whatever is an evidence of
   our fitness, is alike concerned. And therefore, take justification in
   this sense, and then faith, and all other graces and good works, have a
   common and equal concern in it: for any other grace, or holy act, is
   equally an evidence of a qualification for acceptance or approbation,
   as faith.

   To justify has always, in common speech, signified indifferently,
   either simply approbation, or testifying that approbation; sometimes
   one, and sometimes the other; because they are both the same, only as
   one is outwardly what the other is inwardly. So we, and it may be all
   nations, are wont to give the same name to two things, when one is only
   declarative of the other. Thus sometimes judging, intends only judging
   in our thoughts; at other times, testifying and declaring judgment. So
   such words as justify, condemn, accept, reject, prize, slight, approve,
   renounce, are sometimes put for mental acts, at other times, for an
   outward treatment. So in the sense in which the apostle James seems to
   use the word justify for manifestative justification, a man is
   justified not only by faith, but also by works; as a tree is manifested
   to be good, not only by immediately examining the tree, but also by the
   fruit, [675] Prov. xx. 11. "Even a child is known by his doing, whether
   his work be pure, and whether it be right."

   The drift of the apostle does not require that he should be understood
   in any other sense; for all that he aims at, as appears by a view of
   the context, is to prove that good works are necessary. The error of
   those that he opposed was this, That good works were not necessary to
   salvation; that if they did but believe that there was but one God, and
   that Christ was the Son of God, and the like, and were baptized, they
   were safe, let them live how they would; which doctrine greatly tended
   to licentiousness. The evincing the contrary of this is evidently the
   apostle's scope.

   And that we should understand the apostle, of works justifying as an
   evidence, and in a declarative judgment, is what a due consideration of
   the context will naturally lead us to.-For it is plain, that the
   apostle is here insisting on works, in the quality of a necessary
   manifestation and evidence of faith, or as what the truth of faith is
   made to appear by: as ver. 18. "Show me thy faith without thy works,
   and I will show thee my faith by my works." And when he says, ver. 26.
   "As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead
   also." It is much more rational and natural to understand him as
   speaking of works, as the proper signs and evidences of the reality,
   life, and goodness of faith. Not that the very works or actions done
   are properly the life of faith, as the spirit in the body; but it is
   the active, working nature of faith, of which the actions or works done
   are the signs, that is itself the life and spirit of faith. The sign of
   a thing is often in scripture language said to be that thing; as it is
   in that comparison by which the apostle illustrates it. Not the actions
   themselves of a body, are properly the life or spirit of the body; but
   the active nature, of which those actions or motions are the signs, is
   the life of the body. That which makes men pronounce any thing to be
   alive, is, that they observe it has an active operative nature; which
   they observe no otherwise than by the actions or motions which are the
   signs of it. It is plainly the apostle's aim to prove, that if faith
   hath not works, it is a sign that it is not a good sort of faith; which
   would not have been to his purpose, if it was his design to show that
   it is not by faith alone, though of a right sort, that we have
   acceptance with God, but that we are accepted on the account of
   obedience as well as faith. It is evident, by the apostle's reasoning,
   that the necessity of works, is not from their having a parallel
   concern in our salvation with faith; but he speaks of works only as
   related to faith, and expressive of it; which, after all, leaves faith
   the alone fundamental condition, without any thing else having a
   parallel concern with it in this affair; and other things conditions,
   only as several expressions and evidences of it.

   That the apostle speaks of works justifying only as a sign, or
   evidence, and in God's declarative judgment, is further confirmed by
   verse 21. "Was not Abraham our father justified by works, when he had
   offered up Isaac his son upon the altar?" Here the apostle seems
   plainly to refer to that declarative judgment of God concerning
   Abraham's sincerity, manifested to him, for the peace and assurance of
   his own conscience, after his offering up Isaac his son on the altar,
   Gen. xxii. 12. "Now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not
   withheld thy son, thine only son, from me." But here it is plain, and
   expressed in the very words of justification or approbation, that this
   work of Abraham offering up his son on the altar, justified him as an
   evidence. When the apostle James says, we are justified by works, he
   may and ought to be understood in a sense agreeable to the instance he
   brings for the proof of it: but justification in that instance appears
   by the words of justification themselves, to be by works as an
   evidence. And where this instance of Abraham's obedience is elsewhere
   mentioned in the New Testament, it is mentioned as a fruit and evidence
   of his faith. Heb. xi. 17. "By faith Abraham, when he was tried,
   offered up Isaac; and he that had received the promises, offered up his
   only-begotten son."

   And in the other instance when the apostle mentions, ver. 25. "Likewise
   also we not Rahab the harlot justified by works, when she had received
   the messengers, and had sent them out another way?" The apostle refers
   to a declarative judgment, in that particular testimony which was given
   of God's approbation of her as a believer, in directing Joshua to save
   her when the rest of Jericho was destroyed, Josh. vi. 25. "And Joshua
   saved Rahab the harlot alive, and her father's household, and all that
   she had; and she dwelleth in Israel even unto this day: because she hid
   the messengers which Joshua sent to spy out Jericho." This was accepted
   as an evidence and expression of her faith. Heb. xi. 31. "By faith the
   harlot Rahab perished not with them that believed not, when she had
   received the spies with peace." The apostle in saying, "Was not Rahab
   the harlot justified by works?" by the manner of his speaking has
   reference to something in her history; but we have no account in her
   history of any other justification of her but this.

   4. If, notwithstanding, any choose to take justification in St. James's
   precisely as we do in Paul's epistles, for God's acceptance or
   approbation itself, and not any expression of that approbation; what
   has been already said concerning the manner in which acts of
   evangelical obedience are concerned in the affair of our justification,
   affords a very easy, clear, and full answer. For it we take works as
   acts or expressions of faith, they are not excluded; so a man is not
   justified by faith only, but also by works; i.e., he is not justified
   only by faith as a principle in the heart, or in its first and more
   immanent acts, but also by the effective acts of it in life, which are
   the expressions of the life of faith, as the operations and actions of
   the body are of the life of that; agreeable to verse 26.

   What has been said in answer to these objections, may also, I hope,
   abundantly serve for an answer to another objection, often made against
   this doctrine, viz. that it encourages licentiousness in life. For,
   from what has been said, we may see that the Scripture doctrine of
   justification by faith alone, without any manner of goodness or
   excellency of ours, does in no wise diminish either the necessity or
   benefit of a sincere evangelical universal obedience. Man's salvation
   is not only indissolubly connected with obedience, and damnation with
   the want of it, in those who have opportunity for it, but depends upon
   it in many respects. It is the way to salvation, and the necessary
   preparation for it; eternal blessings are bestowed in reward for it,
   and our justification in our own consciences and at the day of
   judgment, depends on it, as the proper evidence of our acceptable
   state; and that even in accepting of us as entitled to life in our
   justification, God has respect to this, as that on which the fitness of
   such an act of justification depends: so that our salvation does as
   truly depend upon it, as if we were justified for the moral excellency
   of it. And besides all this, the degree of our happiness to all
   eternity is suspended on, and determined by, the degree of this. So
   that this gospel-scheme of justification is as far from encouraging
   licentiousness, and contains as much to encourage and excite to strict
   and universal obedience, and the utmost possible eminency of holiness,
   as any scheme that can be devised, and indeed unspeakably more.

   I come now to the

   V. And last thing proposed, which is to consider the "importance of
   this doctrine."

   I know there are many who make as though this controversy was of no
   great importance; that it is chiefly a matter of nice speculation,
   depending on certain subtle distinctions, which many that make use of
   them do not understand themselves; and that the difference is not of
   such consequence as to be worth being zealous about; and that more hurt
   is done by raising disputes about it than good.

   Indeed I am far from thinking that it is of absolute necessity persons
   should understand, and be agreed upon, all the distinctions needful
   particularly to explain and defend this doctrine against all cavils and
   objections. Yet all Christians should strive after an increase of
   knowledge; and none should content themselves without some clear and
   distinct understanding in this point. But we should believe in the
   general, according to the clear and abundant revelations of God's word,
   that it is none of our own excellency, virtue, or righteousness, that
   is the ground of our being received from a state of condemnation into a
   state of acceptance in God's sight, but only Jesus Christ, and his
   righteousness and worthiness, received by faith. This I think to be of
   great importance, at least in application to ourselves; and that for
   the following reasons.

   1. The Scripture treats of this doctrine, as a doctrine of very great
   importance. That there is a certain doctrine of justification by faith,
   in opposition to justification by the works of the law, which the
   apostle Paul insists upon as of the greatest importance, none will
   deny; because there is nothing in the Bible more apparent. The apostle,
   under the infallible conduct of the Spirit of God, thought it worth his
   most strenuous and zealous disputing about and defending. He speaks of
   the contrary doctrine as fatal and ruinous to the souls of men, in the
   latter end of the 9th chapter of Romans, and beginning of the 10th. He
   speaks of it as subversive of the gospel of Christ, and calls it
   another gospel, and says concerning it, if any one, "though an angel
   from heaven, preach it, let him be accursed;" Gal. i. 6-9. compared
   with the following part of the epistle. Certainly we must allow the
   apostles to be good judges of the importance and tendency of doctrines;
   at least the Holy Ghost in them. And doubtless we are safe, and in no
   danger of harshness and censoriousness, if we only follow him, and keep
   close to his express teachings, in what we believe and say of the
   hurtful and pernicious tendency of any error. Why are we to blame, for
   saying what the Bible has taught us to say, or for believing what the
   Holy Ghost has taught us to that end that we might believe it?

   2. The adverse scheme lays another foundation of man's salvation than
   God hath laid. I do not now speak of that ineffectual redemption that
   they suppose to be universal, and what all mankind are equally subjects
   of; but, I say, it lays entirely another foundation of man's actual,
   discriminating salvation, or that salvation wherein true Christians
   differ from wicked men. We suppose the foundations of this to be
   Christ's worthiness and righteousness: on the contrary, that scheme
   supposes it to be men's own virtue; even so, that this is the ground of
   a saving interest in Christ itself. It takes away Christ out of the
   place of the bottom stone, and puts in men's own virtue in the room of
   him: so that Christ himself in the affair of distinguishing actual
   salvation, is laid upon this foundation. And the foundation being so
   different, I leave it to every out to judge whether the difference
   between the two schemes consists only in punctilios of small
   consequence. The foundation being contrary, makes the whole scheme
   exceeding diverse and opposite; the one is a gospel scheme, the other a
   legal one.

   3. It is in this doctrine that the most essential difference lies
   between the covenant of grace and the first covenant. The adverse
   scheme of justification supposes that we are justified by our works, in
   the very same sense wherein man was to have been justified by his works
   under the first covenant. By that covenant our first parents were not
   to have had eternal life given them for any proper merit in their
   obedience; because their perfect obedience was a debt that they owed
   God. Nor was it to be bestowed for any proportion between the dignity
   of their obedience, and the value of the reward; but only it was to be
   bestowed from a regard to a moral fitness in the virtue of their
   obedience, to the reward of God's favour; and a title to eternal life
   was to be given them, as a testimony of God's pleasedness with their
   works, or his regard to the inherent beauty of their virtue. And so it
   is the very same way that those in the adverse scheme suppose that we
   are received into God's special favour now, and to those saving
   benefits that are the testimonies of it. I am sensible the divines of
   that side entirely disclaim the popish doctrine of merit; and are free
   to speak of our utter unworthiness, and the great imperfections of all
   our services. But after all, it is our virtue, imperfect as it is, that
   recommends men to God, by which good men come to have a saving interest
   in Christ, and God's favour, rather than others; and these things are
   bestowed in testimony of God's respect to their goodness. So that
   whether they will allow the term merit or no, yet they hold, that we
   are accepted by our own merit, in the same sense, though not in the
   same degree, as under the first covenant.

   But the great and most distinguishing difference between that covenant
   and the covenant of grace is, that by the covenant of grace we are not
   thus justified by our own works, but only by faith in Jesus Christ. It
   is on this account chiefly that the new covenant deserves the name of a
   covenant of grace, as is evident by Rom. iv. 16. "Therefore it is of
   faith, that it might be by grace." And chap. iii. 20, 24. "Therefore by
   the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his
   sight;"-"Being justified freely by his grace, through the redemption
   that is in Jesus Christ." And chap xi. 6. "And if by grace, then it is
   no more of works; otherwise grace is no more grace; but if it be of
   works, then it is no more grace; otherwise work is no more work." Gal.
   v.4. "Whosoever of you are justified by the law, ye are fallen from
   grace." And therefore the apostle, in the same epistle to the
   Galatians, speaking of the doctrine of justification by works as
   another gospel, adds, "which is not another," chap. 1. verse 6, 7. It
   is no gospel at all; it is law. It is no covenant of grace, but of
   works; not an evangelical, but a legal doctrine. Certainly that
   doctrine wherein consists the greatest and most essential difference
   between the covenant of grace and the first covenant, must be a
   doctrine of great importance. That doctrine of the gospel by which all
   others it is worthy of the name of gospel, is doubtless a very
   important doctrine of the gospel.

   4. This is the main thing for which fallen men stood in need of divine
   revelation, to teach us how we who have sinned may come to be again
   accepted of God; or, which is the same thing, how the sinner may be
   justified. Something beyond the light of nature is necessary to
   salvation chiefly on this account. Mere natural reason afforded no
   means by which we could come to the knowledge of this, it depending on
   the sovereign pleasure of the Being that we had offended by sin. This
   seems to be the great drift of that revelation which God has given, and
   of all those mysteries it reveals, all those great doctrines that are
   peculiarly doctrines of revelation, and above the light of nature. It
   seems to have been very much on this account, that it was requisite the
   doctrine of the Trinity itself should be revealed to us; that by a
   discovery of the concern of the several divine persons in the great
   affair of our salvation, we might the better understand and see how all
   our dependence in this affair is on God, and our sufficiency all in
   him, and not in ourselves; that he is all in all in this business,
   agreeable to 1 Cor. i. 29-31. "That no flesh should glory in his
   presence. But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us
   wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption: that,
   according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the
   Lord." What is the gospel, but only the glad tidings of a new way of
   acceptance with God unto life, a way wherein sinners may come to be
   free from the guilt of sin, and obtain a title to eternal life? And if,
   when this way is revealed, it is rejected, and another of man's
   devising be put in the room of it, without doubt, it must be an error
   of great importance, and the apostle might well say it was another
   gospel.

   5. The contrary scheme of justification derogates much from the honour
   of God and the Mediator. I have already shown how it diminishes the
   glory of the Mediator, in ascribing that to man's virtue and goodness,
   which belongs alone to his worthiness and righteousness. By the
   apostle's sense of the matter it renders Christ needless. Gal. v.4.
   "Christ is become of not effect to you, whosoever of you are justified
   by the law." If that scheme of justification be followed in its
   consequences, it utterly overthrows the glory of all the great things
   that have been contrived, and done, and suffered in the work of
   redemption. Gal. ii. 21. "If righteousness come by the law, Christ is
   dead in vain." It has also been already shown how it diminishes the
   glory of divine grace, (which is the attribute God hath especially set
   himself to glorify in the work of redemption,) and so that it greatly
   diminishes the obligation to gratitude in the sinner that is saved.
   Yea, in the sense of the apostle, it makes void the distinguishing
   grace of the gospel. Gal. v. 4. "Whosoever of you are justified by the
   law, are fallen from grace." It diminishes the glory of the grace of
   God and the Redeemer, and proportionably magnifies man. It makes the
   goodness and excellency of fallen man to be something, which I have
   shown are nothing. I have also already shown, that it is contrary to
   the truth of God in the threatening of his holy law, to justify the
   sinner for his virtue. And whether it were contrary to God's truth or
   no, it is a scheme of things very unworthy of God. It supposes that
   God, when about to lift up a poor forlorn malefactor condemned to
   eternal misery for sinning against his Majesty, and to make him
   unspeakably and eternally happy by bestowing his Son and himself upon
   him, as it were, sets all this to gale, for the price of his virtue and
   excellency. I know that those whom we oppose acknowledge, that the
   price is very disproportionate to the benefit bestowed; and say, that
   God's grace is wonderfully manifested in accepting so little virtue,
   and bestowing so glorious a reward for such imperfect righteousness.
   But seeing we are such infinitely sinful and abominable creatures in
   God's sight, and by our infinite guilt have brought ourselves into such
   wretched and deplorable circumstances-and all our righteousnesses are
   nothing, and ten thousand times worse than nothing, if God looks upon
   them as they are in themselves-is it not immensely more worthy of the
   infinite majesty and glory of God, to deliver and make happy such
   wretched vagabonds and captives, without any money or price of theirs,
   or any manner of expectation of excellency or virtue in them, in any
   wise to recommend them? Will it not betray a foolish exalting opinion
   of ourselves, were a mean one of God, to have thought of offering any
   thing of ours, to recommend us to the favour of being brought from
   wallowing, like filthy swine, in the mire of our sins, and from the
   enmity and misery of devils in the lowest hell, to the state of God's
   dear children in the everlasting arms of his love in heavenly glory; or
   to imagine that it is the constitution of God, that we should bring our
   filthy rags, and offer them to him as the price of this?

   6. The opposite scheme does most directly tend to lead men to trust in
   their own righteousness for justification, which is a thing fatal to
   the soul. This is what men are of themselves exceeding prone to do,
   (and that though they are never so much taught the contrary,) through
   the partial and high thoughts they have of themselves, and their
   exceeding dullness of apprehending any such mystery as our being
   accepted for the righteousness of another. But this scheme directly
   teaches men to trust in their own righteousness for justification; in
   that it teaches them that this is indeed what they must be justified
   by, being the way of justification which God himself has appointed. So
   that if a man had naturally no disposition to trust in his own
   righteousness, yet if he embraced this scheme, and acted consistently,
   it would lead him to it. But that trusting in our own righteousness, is
   a thing fatal to the soul, is what the Scripture plainly teaches us. It
   tells us, that it will cause that Christ shall profit us nothing, and
   be of no effect to us, Gal. v. 2-4. For though the apostle speaks there
   particularly of circumcision, yet it is not merely being circumcised,
   but trusting in circumcision as a righteousness, that the apostle has
   respect to. He could not mean, that merely being circumcised would
   render Christ of no profit or effect to a person; for we read that he
   himself, for certain reasons, took Timothy and circumcised him, Acts
   xvi. 3. And the same is evident by the context, and by the rest of the
   epistle. And the apostle speaks of trusting in their own righteousness
   as fatal to the Jews, Rom. ix. 31, 32. "But Israel, which followed
   after the law of righteousness, hath not attained to the law of
   righteousness. Wherefore? Because they sought it not by faith, but as
   it were by the works of the law; for they stumbled at the
   stumbling-stone." Together with chap. x. verse 3. "For they being
   ignorant of God's righteousness, and going about to establish their own
   righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of
   God." And this is spoken of as fatal to the Pharisees, in the parable
   of the Pharisee and the publican, which Christ spake to them in order
   lo reprove them for trusting in themselves that they were righteous.
   The design of the parable is to show them, that the very publicans
   shall be justified, rather than they; as appears by the reflection
   Christ makes upon it, Luke xviii. 14. "I tell you, this man went down
   to his house justified rather than the other;" that is, this and not
   the other. The fatal tendency of it might also be proved from its
   inconsistence with the nature of justifying faith, and with the nature
   of that humiliation that the Scripture often speaks of as absolutely
   necessary to salvation; but these scriptures are so express, that it is
   needless to bring any further arguments.

   How far a wonderful and mysterious agency of God's Spirit may so
   influence some men's hearts, that their practice in this regard may be
   contrary to their own principles, so that they shall not trust in their
   own righteousness, though they profess that men are justified by their
   own righteousness--or how far they may believe the doctrine of
   justification by men's own righteousness in general, and yet not
   believe it in a particular application of it to themselves--or how far
   that error which they may have been led into by education, or cunning
   sophistry of others, may yet be indeed contrary to the prevailing
   disposition of their hearts, and contrary to their practice--or how far
   some may seem to maintain a doctrine contrary to this gospel-doctrine
   of justification, that really do not, but only express themselves
   differently from others; or seem to oppose it through their
   misunderstanding of our expressions, or we of theirs, when indeed our
   real sentiments are the same in the main--or may seem to differ more
   than they do, by using terms that are without a precisely fixed and
   determinate meaning--or to be wide in their sentiments from this
   doctrine, for want of a distinct understanding of it; whose hearts, at
   the same time, entirely agree with it, and if once it was clearly
   explained to their understandings, would immediately close with it, and
   embrace it:--how far these things may be, I will not determine; but am
   fully persuaded that great allowances are to be made on these and such
   like accounts, in innumerable instances; though it is manifest, from
   what has been said, that the teaching and propagating contrary
   doctrines and schemes, is of a pernicious and fatal tendency.
     __________________________________________________________________

   [665] "Our Saviour compares his mystical body, that is his church, to a
   vine, which his Father, whom he compares to a husbandman, hath planted;
   John xv. 1 I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman. To
   represent to us the union that is betwixt Christ and all true
   Christians, and the influence of grace and spiritual life, which all
   that are united to him do derive and receive from him, he sets it forth
   to us by the resemblance of a vine and branches. As there is a natural
   vital union between the vine and the branches, so there is a spiritual
   union between Christ and true Christians: and this union is the cause
   of our fruitfulness in the works of obedience and a good life. There
   are some indeed that seem to be grafted into Christ by an outward
   profession of Christianity, who yet derive no influence from him, so as
   to bring forth fruit, because they are not vitally united to him"--Dr.
   Tillotson in his 3rd vol. of Serm., p. 307 By this it appears that the
   vital union between Christ and true Christians, which is much more of a
   mystery than the relative union, and necessarily implies it, was not
   thought an unreasonable doctrine by one of the greatest divines on the
   other side of the question in hand.

   [666] The word "union," in this connexion, is both more intelligible
   and more appropriate, than the word relation; since in this connexion
   the latter is the consequence of the former. As the doctrine of a vital
   union to Christ is fundamentally important in Christianity, and
   inseparable from the doctrine of justification; and as our author
   passes it over with so much brevity, a few observations upon it in this
   place may appear the more needful. 1. The Scriptures are not only full
   of the fact, but they abound with illustrations of it. The first part
   of John xv. is full and explicit to this purpose. 2. What the
   Scriptures assert, and illustrate, is abundantly corroborated by the
   reasonableness of the thing. To suppose the reality of vital religion
   without a corresponding vital union, is to suppose an important effect
   without as adequate cause, as shall be further shown 3. The question
   then is, What is the immediate cause of this vital union? Now as the
   union subsisting is between the Spirit of Christ, and man, the
   immediate cause must be in the one or the other of these, or in both at
   the same instant, or in neither. If the immediate cause be in man, he
   makes his approach to Christ either as a carnal or spiritual man, for
   these is no conceivable medium. But the idea of a carnal man uniting
   himself to Christ in order to form a vital union, is both unscriptural
   and unreasonable. It is unscriptural; for the scripture asserts that
   "The carnal mind is enmity against God;" how then can it be the cause
   of a vital union? "Of him are ye in Christ Jesus; "--" and you hath he
   quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins; "--it is not therefore
   the carnal man that unites himself to Christ, or quickens himself in
   order to effect it. It is also unreasonable; for it supposes a glorious
   effect without an adequate cause. The effect is spiritual, while the
   cause is carnal, which are not only different but even directly
   opposite. What ideas can be more contradictory, or sentiment more
   unreasonable? 4. The supposition of two simultaneous causes, the one
   being the Spirit of Christ, and the other the carnal man, involves the
   same inconsistency. For how can the mere circumstance of time,
   irrespective of causal influence, make any difference? If the carnal
   mind be adequate to unite itself to Christ at one time, why not at
   another time as well, except some causal influence makes the
   difference? For surely no one can suppose that some individual moment
   of time, as distinguished from others preceding, constitutes the cause
   of difference. powerful, the quickening, and uniting presence, the
   vital and 5 To suppose a spiritual man whether by the exercise of his
   faith or by any other mental act, in the cause of a vital union, is no
   less inconsistent than the former supposition. For how can he be a
   spiritual man, without a spiritual casual influence? But if such
   influence be admitted as a predisposing cause of his vital acts, it is
   incumbent on the objector to show that such casual influence may take
   place without vital union. This I am persuaded no one can do. It is
   contrary to all analogy, and to every sound principle of true
   philosophy. It is contrary to christian experience and revealed
   statements. What effect in physical nature can be produced, which does
   not imply a casual union? Does not the divine energy pervade all second
   causes in the way of union with them, in order to the production of
   their effects? and what miraculous effects have ever been produced
   without a present uniting causal influence to produce the change? For
   instance, when Lazarus came forth from death to life, was there not a
   uniting causual interest to produce the change? and if we appeal to an
   experienced intelligent Christian, will he not own, will he not
   maintain, according to his views of revealed truth, that the
   transforming energy of the Spirit of God or of Christ in him, was the
   cause of his own vitality? Nay, would he not be shocked to hear any one
   maintain the contrary? 6. Perhaps it may be thought, that--though in
   the great laboratory of physical nature, in the bowels of the earth and
   in the surrounding atmosphere, a causal union be necessary to produce
   chemical effects; and that though in all works of mechanism a causal
   union is requisite to the existence of mechanical effects; and that,
   moreover, though the sun by his light and heat produces an effect upon
   objects by a causal union with them; yet, what shall we say of one body
   affecting a change of situation in another, at an immense distance?
   Does not the sun powerfully attract all the planets that surround him,
   however distant? and how can this be by causal union? This objection
   admits of two answers. 7. First, it has never been proved, that there
   is no causal union between these bodies adequate to the effect; while
   on the contrary several philosophers have at least attempted to show
   its existence. The solar system, for ought we know, may be perfectly
   mechanical, though we should never be able to perceive the intermediate
   parts. 8. Secondly, as to the universe in general depends on the causal
   presence of the first cause, so must every part of it; Scripture and
   reason assure us that in god we live, and move, and have our being.
   Therefore, whether there be any intermediate cause of gravitation or
   not, between the effect and the first cause, a causal union is still
   necessary to the effect. What difference there is, lies against the
   objector. For if there be no intermediate cause of gravitation, the
   presence, the energy, the causal union of the first cause is
   proportionally the more immediate. 9. Having shown that neither the
   carnal man nor the spiritual man is the immediate cause of the union
   subsisting between Christ and the Christian, it remains to be
   ascertained, what else is the cause? If it be not man it must be the
   divine spirit, either as the Spirit of the Father or of Christ. In one
   view this difference is not very material, but in another it is of
   considerable importance. Allow it to be from the Holy Spirit, in either
   sense, it secures the great point of salvation by grace, in opposition
   to our own merit. But, as it respects the nature of Christ's mediation,
   and particularly his federal headship and suretiship, it is of moment
   to ascertain, whether he or the Father, economically, be the immediate
   cause of the vital union. 10. The Scripture fully declares that the
   influence of the Spirit on the minds of men is from Christ. The Lord
   from heaven is a quickening Spirit--he quickeneth whom he will--he
   sends the Holy Ghost--he gives repentance, or the spirit of
   repentance--in him was life (without whom nothing was created,) and
   this life is the true light of men--he shines into the heart--his grace
   and strength constitute our sufficiency - &c. These and other passages
   innumerable show, that quickening influence proceeds from his fullness
   of life and grace. 11. That other passages ascribe spiritual effects to
   the Holy Spirit, or the Spirit of God, is of no force, except with such
   as deny the divine nature of Christ, who are confuted on other grounds.
   But supposing his divine nature in union with humanity, the Spirit of
   God is the Spirit of Christ, and vice versa. And in the divine economy
   of grace, Christ is the head or source of influence to the church. It
   is he who gives gifts to the rebellious, who endows with the spirit of
   life, and who bestows the living water to which divine influence is
   compared. 12. And how beautifully consistent must this appear when we
   consider, that as a covenant head he is the surety of his chosen
   people! The office of a surety engages to perform what is requisite in
   behalf of a person or persons as required by another. Thus Jesus not
   only brought in an everlasting righteousness in behalf of his people as
   their federal perfection, in lieu of those who could never attain to it
   by any obedience of their own; but it also belonged to his office to
   secure for them a voluntary, penitential, believing obedience to the
   equitable requisitions of the divine Governor. This can be effected
   only by divine influence, and that influence must needs proceed from
   him as the immediate cause; otherwise we make the creditor and surety
   to be the very same. God, as governor, demands obedience from all the
   subjects of his government; and Christ, as the surety of those who were
   given him, enables them to comply with those demands, that is, to
   submit, to repent, to believe with the heart, to love God, and to walk
   with him. 13. From the premises it follows plainly, that the immediate
   cause of vital union is the spirit of christ, which he bestows in the
   exercise of his office as the federal head of influence, and in virtue
   of his suretiship for his church and people. He as the true vine
   communicates life to the branches, and as the head of his church brings
   dead souls to be his living members. Faith is a fruit of the Spirit,
   and not the cause of a spiritual existence. Yet, 14. We maintain that
   faith forms a consequent union. Man being a subject of moral
   government, and therefore a free agent, at liberty to choose his end
   and means of happiness for which he is accountable; and God in infinite
   mercy proposing Jesus as the way, the truth, and the life; the
   all-sufficient and only Saviour of sinners--in whom we are required to
   believe and to trust with confidence, and whom we are encouraged to
   receive into our hearts, that he may dwell there by faith--the
   regenerate soul, by believing, unites itself to this object. 15. The
   former union is the immediate effect of sovereign favour; the latter
   union is the immediate effect of exercised grace; in the performance of
   an incumbent duty, or the discharge of moral obligation. Now since men
   are exhorted, warned, directed, reasoned, and expostulated with, on the
   ground of what they ought to do or abstain from doing, the Scripture
   abounds with such addresses. But lest any false inferences should be
   drawn, derogatory from the honours of sovereign grace, we are assured
   that every good and perfect gift cometh from the Father of lights. When
   we have done all we are unprofitable servants. Work out your own
   salvation, says Paul, with fear and trembling; for it is God who
   worketh in you both to will and to do of his own good pleasure. No one
   can come unto me except the Father who hath sent me draw him, that is,
   without divine influence; and whosoever cometh unto me, I will in no
   wise cast out. Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you. Ye are
   saved by grace, through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the
   gift of God. Among many other parts of Scripture where grace and
   obligation are strikingly intermixed, and illustrative of the preceding
   remarks, the reader is particularly referred to the sixth and fifteenth
   chapters of St. John's Gospel. 16. Coroll. The old mode, adopted by
   many orthodox divines, of distinguishing the vital union between Christ
   and his people, first, on his part, and secondly, on their part, is
   founded on Scripture and the reason of the thing; and the former is the
   cause of the latter. And therefore, as the cause must ever precede the
   effect, the first union not only may be prior to the second, as in the
   case of happy infants, but also must be so in the case of adults.-W

   [667] John i. 12.

   [668] John v. 40.

   [669] The term here used, "moral congruity," is not happily chosen.
   Indeed our author, in the next sentence, professes himself to be at a
   loss what terms to use which may clearly convey the necessary
   distinction. By "moral" congruity or fitness he seems to mean personal
   perfection, or a perfection of state personally considered, without
   relation to a surety, or the righteousness which God has provided. But
   this is an acceptation of the term "moral" so unusual as to throw great
   perplexity into the argument. Beside, when contrasted with believing,
   it leaves the reader to suppose that to believe is not a moral act. But
   the supposition that "believing with the heart unto righteousness" is
   not a moral act, as contradistinguished from a natural one, leads to an
   endless confusion of ideas. Surely, to believe God's testimony
   concerning the Son and his righteousness is, if any thing be, a moral
   act of obedience to divine authority. How then can it be called a
   natural fitness only, as contrasted with what is moral? Nor is the
   distinction at all necessary in order to avoid the apprehended
   consequence of assigning to faith any merit of congruity. A few
   observations on this intricate subject may probably assist the reader
   in seeking scriptural and consistent notions. 1. Justification implies
   a charge, a plea, and a virtual declaration of approval. 2. The charge
   against Adam and all his posterity is twofold, including a breach of
   covenant, or a failure in federal perfection; and also disobedience in
   transgressing a divine rule. These considerations are perfectly
   distinct in their nature. A rule may be momentarily transgressed for a
   long series of years, as it was by Adam, and constantly is by his
   rebellious descendants, but a federal failure was, from the nature of
   perfect righteousness, the very first act of delinquency. 3. No plea
   can be valid against a federal delinquency, as was the case in Adam,
   but a participation of a federal perfection. Nothing less can answer
   the charge, and nothing more is requisite. This averts condemnation,
   and entitles to a virtual approval in reference to that part of the
   charge. 4. No plea can be valid against disobedience to divine
   authority, or the rule of moral government, but a personal, voluntary,
   actual compliance with that authoritative rule of government; which we
   find by divine revelation to be, in reference to fallen man, submission
   to the righteousness of God; or, as differently expressed, believing on
   the Son of God, receiving him as the Lord our righteousness, &c. 5. No
   man has possessed a federal perfection, except by imputation, beside
   the first Adam while he obeyed without failure, and the second Adam
   when he completed his work of humiliation. For no eminence of grace in
   a mere descendant of Adam could possibly attain to federal perfection,
   from the very nature of such perfection. Nor indeed can the perfect
   obedience of glorified saints rise higher than a conformity to the
   divine law as a rule; their federal perfection is still derived from
   their union to Christ, and a consequent imputation, which implies a
   virtual approval. Hence, 6. The federal perfection of Messiah is the
   proper and sole ground of an actual interest in reconciliation and
   justification. In other words, the righteousness of Christ, his perfect
   obedience unto death as our substitute, is that alone on account of
   which we can stand before God with acceptance, in reference to the
   charge of a federal failure in Adam. 7. An actual interest in this
   federal perfection is obtained only by a vital or an effectual union to
   the Lord our righteousness. This is plain from Scripture, and is
   perfectly rational. It is compared to the union of a vine and its
   branches, the head and members of the human body, &c. That a
   participation of nature between Christ and us, or an effectual union,
   is requisite for a ground of imputation is evident, not only from
   scriptural comparisons, and the rational consistence of such an idea,
   but also from the fact of the Saviour's incarnation. Without this union
   to us, our sin could not have been imputed to him; and without a vital
   union, his righteousness could not be imputed to us. This is fairly and
   fully implied in many parts of Scripture, as might be shown if
   necessary.--From whence it is plain, that union is the indispensable
   ground of imputation. 8. Whoever is the subject of a vital union to
   Christ, is in a justified state, as partaker of a federal perfection,
   prior to the performance of any moral duty whatever. But in order to
   explain and prove this it is requisite to attend to the following
   particulars. 9. Union to Christ is of two kinds, on his part by his
   spirit; and on our part by faith, as explained in a preceding note. In
   the former, we are passive; and in the latter, we are active. In the
   one he acts as a sovereign dispenser of benefits; in the other we act
   as accountable creatures. 10. By the order both of nature and of time,
   the union begins with him who is a quickening Spirit; and that of faith
   is consequent upon the other, and is the proper effect of it. 11. By
   his uniting act, which may be termed effectual calling, the enmity of
   sin is destroyed in the soul, and the Spirit of Christ is imparted,
   which as occasion offers, will manifest itself as the Spirit of faith,
   or love, &c. Hence, 12. To the soul thus in Christ, whether infant or
   adult, there is no condemnation arising from federal delinquency; for
   this charge is answered by the union on his part; and righteousness is
   imputed. 13. From the premises it follows, that the generally received
   theological maxim is perfectly just and plain, viz. that justification
   and regeneration are simultaneous.--Union is the immediate cause of
   both; and because the one is a relative and the other a vital effect,
   there is no interference as to the order of time. Thus an union of a
   tree and a branch by ingrafture, is attended with two simultaneous
   effects, the one relative and the other vital; it is related to the
   tree as a branch, and at the same time partakes of the vital sap. The
   union, however, must precede both, as to nature and time. 14. But where
   two effects are both real, as distinguished from relative, the one must
   precede the other, both as to nature and time. Thus union precedes
   vitality, and this of necessity must precede vital acts; and
   regeneration, as the act of the Spirit of Christ, must necessarily
   precede believing, which is one mode by which a vital principle
   operates. For to suppose that the operation produces, or is prior to
   the principle, either in nature or in time, is a direct contradiction.
   15. If the preceding steps of these remarks be thoroughly weighed, it
   will be found, that justification, according to Scripture, and just
   reasoning upon it, has for its foundation the federal perfection of
   Messiah, and takes place as the immediate result of union to him. 16.
   But since this union is twofold, the one as the effect of the other,
   that is, union by faith is the effect of union by the Spirit of Christ,
   and these, cause and effect, cannot possibly be simultaneous, there
   must necessarily be a twofold justification as the result of the
   corresponding unions. Though in that union which is first in the order
   of nature and of time, the person, whether infant or adult, is passive;
   the result however is the imputation of righteousness, which is
   Messiah's federal perfection, and which entitles to life eternal. And
   by that union which is the effect of the other, and consequently
   posterior in it in the order both of nature and of time, (and of which
   infants cannot be partakers,) this is, by the union effected by
   believing, the result is the imputation of the same righteousness in
   circumstances totally different. 17. These two different circumstances,
   clearly perceived, will developed the seeming difficulty. In the first,
   the person, whether infant or adult, is the passive possessor of
   decreed benefits, union righteousness, and life; in the second
   circumstance, the adult person, as a free and accountable agent, is
   required to determine for himself on what to found his plea of
   acceptance with God. If he found his plea on his own obedience past or
   intended, whether moral, ceremonial, or both; he shows at once both
   ignorance and rebellion. Ignorance, that he supposes it even possible
   for him, by his own obedience, to attain to that federal perfection
   which is justly required by the righteous Governor; and also in that he
   does not perceive the love and wisdom, the super abounding grace and
   wonderful mercy, of God as a sovereign Benefactor in providing the
   needful remedy. Rebellion, in that he rejects the counsel of God, and
   resists, by obstinate unbelief, the divine authority requiring
   submission to this righteousness as the way to favour and life. Hence,
   18. As all reasonings, expostulations, threats, promises and
   encouragements; all testimonies, declarations, appeals, inducements,
   and sanctions, are addressed to men as moral agents, with whom, in the
   business of accountability, it rests, what mode they will adopt for
   obtaining acceptance with God--whether by doing the work themselves, or
   by believing his testimony and receiving his gift--it fully accounts
   for justification by faith being the great point argued in the
   apostolic writings. 19. And it further appears, that justification by
   faith alone should be strenuously urged by all gospel ministers, while
   they have to do continually with persons whose inquiry is, "What shall
   we do to be saved?" To such as thus inquire after the way of salvation,
   who seek acceptance with God, who are about to choose for themselves
   "the way they will take," what answer can be given, in effect, but what
   is contained in the apostle's words? Romans 4:5 "To him that worketh
   not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is
   counted for righteousness." The above statement not only agrees with
   these words, but also, as I humbly conceive, explains their import; and
   the embarrassment respecting the office and influence of faith in
   justification is removed, without expunging faith, or the act of
   believing, from the class of moral duties. 20. It may be objected, if
   there by any justification before believing, then an unbeliever may be
   justified; whereas the Scripture saith, "He that believeth not is
   condemned already." This objecting arises from a mistaken notion of the
   true meaning of such passages of Scripture. Condemnation, in the real
   import of Scripture, is leveled against the rejecters of Christ, or of
   the divine testimony, and these only, considered as free agents in
   seeking acceptance with God and final happiness. These, not believing
   in Christ, while prevailingly devoted to Moses or Mahomet, moral
   obedience or ceremonies, or indeed any other object whatever, reject in
   fact the testimony of God and his righteousness, and expose themselves
   to a double condemnation. They are condemned as being destitute of a
   perfect righteousness, and also for their actual disobedience to the
   divine authority. The sentence of the law is against them both as a
   covenant and as a rule; and the gospel which they reject will be a
   witness to prove the wickedness of their heart. But this can never take
   place in one who is vitally united to Christ. All allow that infants
   not believing are not to be ranked with unbelievers. To them no
   testimony is proposed, and therefore no testimony is rejected by them.
   Nor does any adult united to Christ reject the divine testimony, even
   before he believes. Let but the object of faith be presented to him,
   and his vital union secures the exercise of the living principle
   towards the proposed object in proportion as the terms are understood.
   A testimony not presented, or one presented in an unknown tongue,
   cannot be believed, notwithstanding the principle of faith. The
   existence of a principle does not necessarily imply its exercise,
   whether it be sense, reason, or faith. Men are not necessarily
   conversant with the objects of sense, because they possess the senses
   requisite for these purposes; nor are they always exercising the powers
   of the mind, however essential these powers are to human nature. In
   like manner, not exercising faith is a very different thing from not
   possessing the principle. A vital union and the spirit of faith are
   inseparably and essentially connected; but a vital union and believing
   are connected secundum quid, in certain circumstances. Without the
   circumstances of adult age, or a capacity of understanding, believing
   is impracticable. But how absurd would it be to say, that a sinner
   cannot be justified because he has not arrived at a certain advanced
   portion of understanding, or has not learned some language; as if a
   title to heaven depended on age, or knowing a language! And equally
   absurd is it to suppose that Christ cannot effect a vital union because
   the sinner's voluntary consent to it is wanting; as if God's high
   sovereignty were bound by the human will! That God requires the
   sinner's consent, as a matter of obligation, is a solemn fact; but God
   has not laid himself under any obligation that he will never unite a
   soul to Christ for justification of life but by the sinner's previous
   consent. He has declared, however, that the continued unbeliever, who
   is properly a willful rejecter of Christ and his righteousness, shall
   be condemned. Hence it is evident, that to make believing essential to
   a vital union, on the part of Christ; and to make the exercise of faith
   on a divine testimony essential to its existence, are erroneous
   conclusions, derogatory to gospel grace, and founded on wrong notions
   of moral government. 21. To make this, if possible, still more plain,
   the gospel finds men, as apostatized with Adam, in a state of
   condemnation; infants and adults alike are under the condemnatory
   sentence which is the result of a breach of covenant. This evil can be
   removed, and a restoration to favour be effected, only by an act of
   sovereign grace, whereby Christ becomes vitally united to the soul.
   Without this vital union there is, there can be, no faith. This being
   the case, a vital union is formed before faith can have any ground of
   existence; and consequently a justification which is a necessary result
   of this union takes place. For to him who is thus in Christ Jesus there
   is no condemnation; but he is passed from death unto life, as an object
   of mere grace and mercy. In this respect, an adult and in infant are
   perfectly on a par, while justified and regenerated for the kingdom of
   God. But God, in the character of a moral governor, has a further claim
   on every free agent; he exhibits to the view, and solicits, yea
   demands, a voluntary compliance with the plan of mercy through the
   blessed Redeemer, who was delivered for our offences, and was raised
   again for our justification. The regenerate person that is capable of
   acting for him self, as the subject of commands and invitations,
   complies; he becomes an active recipient of the appointed
   righteousness, which he now pleads in opposition to all charges
   presented against him. By faith, or believing God's testimony, he makes
   his appeal, and by faith alone he is justified. An investigation of the
   rationale of christian doctrines is not necessary for popular use, but
   may be peculiarly useful as a guard against inconsistencies, and a
   means of strengthening our attachment to those doctrines.--W.

   [670] This order, however, is a law to us, and compliance with it
   necessarily imports moral obedience; though the object received is the
   obedience of another. No one has room to expect success in his
   endeavors, but by complying with the divine requisition; and that
   requisition is, that we submit to the perfection of Messiah. And an act
   of submission to the righteousness of faith may well be an act of moral
   excellence, though that excellence has nothing meritorious on account
   of which a perfect righteousness should be imputed. A thing may have
   moral goodness without moral perfection. But in order to deny to faith
   the latter, it is not necessary to deprive it of the former. If we
   consistently maintain, that the moral excellence of faith constitutes
   no part of our justifying righteousness, it is all that the argument
   requires, in order to establish the conclusion intended.--W

   [671] That perfect obedience, is what is called righteousness in the
   New Testament, and that this righteousness, or perfect obedience, is by
   God's fixed unalterable rule the condition of justification, is, from
   the plain evidence of truth, confessed by a certain great man, whom
   nobody will think to be blinded by prejudice in favour of the doctrine
   we are maintaining, and one who did not receive this doctrine. M.
   Locke, in his Reasonableness of Christianity, as delivered in the
   Scriptures, vol. 2 of his works, p. 474, writes thus: "To one that thus
   unbiased reads the Scripture, what Adam fell from, is visible, was the
   state of perfect obedience, which is called justice in the New
   Testament, though the word, which in the original signifies justice, be
   translated righteousness." Ibid. p. 476, 477. "For righteousness, or an
   exact obedience to the law, seems by the Scripture to have a claim of
   right to eternal life; Rom. iv. 4. To him that worketh, i.e., does the
   works of the law, is the reward not reckoned of grace but of debt. - On
   the other side, it seems the unalterable purpose of divine justice,
   that no unrighteous person, no one that is guilty of any breach of the
   law, should be in paradise; but that the wages of sin should be to
   every man, as it was to Adam, an exclusion of him out of that happy
   state of immortality, and bring death upon him. And this is so
   conformable to the eternal and established law of right and wrong, that
   it is spoke of too as it could not be otherwise. - Here then we have
   the standing and fixed measures of life and death; immortality and
   bliss belong to the righteous. Those who have lived in an exact
   conformity to the law of God are out of the reach of death; but an
   exclusion from paradise and loss of immortality, is the portion of
   sinners, of all those who have any way broke that law, and failed of a
   complete obedience to it, by the guilt of any one transgression. And
   thus mankind, by the law, are put upon the issues of life or death, as
   they are righteous or unrighteous, just or unjust, i.e. exact
   performers or transgressors of the law." Again, in p. 477. "The way of
   works then in short is, that law which requires perfect obedience,
   without any remission or abatement; so that by that law a man cannot be
   just or justified, without an exact performance of every tittle. Such a
   perfect obedience in the New Testament, is termed ??????????, which we
   translate righteousness." In which last passage it is also to be noted,
   that Mr. Locke, by the law of works, does not understand the ceremonial
   law, but the covenant of works; as he more fully expresses himself in
   the next paragraph but one. "Where this law of works was to be found,
   the New Testament tells us, viz. in the law delivered by Moses; John
   i.17.The law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus
   Christ. Chap. vii. 19. Did not Moses give you the law, says our
   Saviour, and yet none of you keep the law? And this is the law which he
   speaks of- verse 28. This do, and thou shalt live. This is that which
   St. Paul so often styles the law, without any other distinction; Rom.
   ii. 13.. Not the hearers of the law are just before God, but the doers
   of the law are justified. It is needless to quote any more places, his
   epistles are all full of it, especially this to the Romans."

   [672] Thus Mr. Locke in his Reasonableness of Christianity, as
   delivered in the Scriptures, vol. 2d of his works, p. 478. "Nay,
   whatever God requires anywhere to be done, without making any allowance
   for faith, that is a part of the law of works. So that forbidding Adam
   to eat of the tree of knowledge, was part of the law of works. Only we
   must take notice here, that some of God's positive commands being for
   peculiar ends, and suited to particular circumstances of times, places,
   and persons, have a limited and only temporary obligation, by virtue of
   God's positive injunction: such was that part of Moses's law which
   concerned the outward worship of political constitution of the Jews,
   and is called the ceremonial and judaical law. Again, p. 479. "Thus
   then, as in the law in short, the civil and ritual part of the law
   delivered by Moses obliges not Christians, though to the Jews it were a
   part of the law of works; it being a part of the law of nature, that
   men ought to obey every positive law of God, whenever he shall please
   to make any such addition to the law of his nature."

   [673] Agreeable to this is what Mr. Locke says in his second
   Vindication of the Reasonableness of Christianity, &c. vol. ii. of his
   works. p. 630, 631. "The believing him therefore to be the Messiah is
   very often, with great reason, put both for faith and repentance too,
   which are sometimes set down singly, where on is put for both, as
   implying the other."

   [674] If repentance justifies, or be that by which we obtain pardon of
   sin any other way than this, it must be either as a virtue or
   righteousness, or something amiable in us; or else it must be, that our
   sorrow and condemning what is past, is accepted as some atonement for
   it; both which are equally contrary to the gospel-doctrine of
   justification by Christ.

   [675] This distinction is just and scriptural as far as it goes, but it
   does not reach the bottom of the difficulty, since believing in order
   to justification is itself a part of obedience, and is expressly called
   "the obedience of faith." Hence justification by faith, in comparison
   of what precedes it, is only manifestative. The tree must be good, that
   is, the person must be vitally united to Christ, as the adequate cause
   of believing, otherwise he would be still carnal. The faith of a man
   spiritually dead or carnal, must needs be a dead faith; but to suppose
   that such faith unites to Christ, has neither Scripture nor any
   plausible reason to support it. To him that is in Christ Jesus by a
   vital union, there is no condemnation; and as there is no medium
   between condemnation and justification, he who is in Christ is
   justified, or "accepted in the beloved" Saviour. That union which
   Christ effects by his quickening Spirit, makes the tree good, and
   believing with the heart, in order to receive the promised
   righteousness, is the fruit of a good tree. Therefore the justification
   which is received as the consequence of believing is only manifestative
   of union; even as justification by works, as asserted by St. James, is
   manifestative of a living faith. As without works there is no
   sufficient evidence of union to Christ on our part, so without faith in
   Christ as our complete righteousness, there is no sufficient evidence
   of union with him on his part. The true Christian's works, are "works
   of faith and labours of love," performed in obedience to God's
   authority, directed to his glory, and inspired by gratitude for the
   blessings of his grace, and this is the first of all such works, called
   "the work of God," even to believe on Jesus Christ in whom alone is
   righteousness and life. By believing we receive the divine testimony
   respecting a gratuitous righteousness, and renounce all hope of
   obtaining justification by any other way. The justifying righteousness
   is only one, but the appointed ways of becoming interested in it are
   divers. One way is by the will of God our Saviour, the other by the
   will of man the accountable agent, each in its own order. The will of
   God gives the fundamental interest, and the will of man the consequent
   and manifestative interest. In the first way, we are interested in
   Christ's righteousness by one act continued, commencing with, and
   permanent as, the primary vital union; in the other way, it is by
   repeated acts, commencing with the first act of faith in Christ, and
   repeated with every succeeding reception of him. Among persons who have
   made any, even the smallest, progress in christian knowledge, there can
   be no dispute respecting the fundamental cause of justification. All
   such acknowledge, that the righteousness, or federal perfection of
   Jesus Christ, is that for the sake of which any of the fallen race of
   Adam can be justified. The difference of sentiment arises from the
   appointed method of obtaining an interest in this meritorious cause.
   For want of consideration, we too hastily infer, that if the Scripture
   states one appointed method, that it must be an exclusive
   appointment.--Hence one pleads from Scripture, and especially St.
   James's epistle, that this appointed method is by works, that is,
   evangelical obedience, of which faith is a leading part. Another pleads
   from Scripture, that it is by faith, not as an act of moral obedience,
   but as a suitable bond of union, to the exclusion of all works. And a
   third, from the same Scripture, pleads, that we are justified by an
   eternal immanent act of God, and that faith only brings us to enjoy a
   privilege which belongs to the elect from eternity. Now each of these
   schemes overlooks the important truth, that the immediate ground of
   justification is the vital union between Christ and the soul.
   Justification from eternity precedes vital union; justification by
   works denies the fact of a vital union being an adequate ground of a
   justifying sentence; and justification by faith alone, or believing in
   Christ, to the exclusion of a prior vital union on the part of the
   Spirit, confounds the work of man and the work of God. This last being
   the most difficult part of the subject, I beg leave to make a few
   observations upon it. 1. The claims of God, in reference to
   justification, are twofold. In the first instance, he claims from a man
   a federal perfection; and in the second instance, he claims compliance
   with his method of bestowing an interest in it. The former claim may be
   answered by the surety, and in fact is answered by his act of a vital
   union on his part. For by this he gives an interest in himself to the
   soul he savingly adopts. Thus there is no condemnation to you that are
   in Christ Jesus. But the latter claim can be answered only by the
   believer himself, when he actually receives Christ as his
   righteousness, and so answers the divine requisition. Thus, he that
   believeth in Christ is justified from all things. In the first
   instance, Christ pleads his own righteousness in behalf of the adopted
   sinner; in the last instance, the believer pleads the same
   righteousness in his own behalf. 2. The obligations of man, in
   reference to justification, are also of two kinds. In the first place,
   he stands obliged to be conformed to the law as a covenant, which
   demands a sinless perfection; and, in the second place, he is obliged
   to conform to the law as a rule. Now whatever God enjoins as a duty, is
   a part of this rule; whether it be to hate sin, to love God, to believe
   in Christ, or to observe whatever Christ hath commanded. Our obligation
   to be conformed to the law as a covenant, is discharged by Christ only
   as our surety; and our ability to discharge our obligation of being
   conformed to the law as a rule is from him. We are obliged to believe
   on him as our justifying righteousness, under pain of God's
   displeasure, but man will ever continue in unbelief until Christ slays
   his enmity, and enables him to believe. But to slay a sinner's enmity,
   to change his nature, or to give him ability to believe, is the effect
   of a vital union; for as there is no such ability without gracious
   influence, so there is no gracious influence without union to the
   source of spiritual life. When thus enabled, man exercises repentance
   towards God, and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. Receiving him by faith
   alone, as our righteousness and life, the law is obeyed as the voice of
   God, requiring the obedience of faith. 3. The method of mercy, in
   reference to justification, includes the substitution of the Saviour,
   and our acceptance in him, without any works of righteousness on our
   part. In this respect, not by works of righteousness which we have
   done, whether faith, repentance, or any kind of obedience, but
   according to his mercy he saveth us--provides a Saviour and gives us a
   saving interest in him. Grace provides, and grace applies the remedy.
   Mercy imputes to Jesus our sins, and imputes to us his righteousness.
   He who knew no sin was by sovereign mercy made a sin-offering for us,
   that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. Mercy laid the
   foundation, and placed us on it, that we might become living stones on
   him; and in consequence find him to be precious. 4. The rule of moral
   government, in reference to justification, is, that we believe on the
   Lord Jesus Christ as the end of the law for righteousness. For this end
   is the gospel proclaimed to all nations, even for "the obedience of
   faith." This is the language of divine government, "He that believeth
   shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be condemned." The
   unbeliever is condemned already, because he rejects the counsel of God,
   and neglects so great salvation. Mercy hath provided an adequate and
   all-sufficient remedy, and government requires our closing with it as
   the only ground of hope left us. An endeavour to set up our own
   obedience instead of the righteousness of Christ, is rebellion against
   the authority of God, and undervaluing his wisdom and grace. None
   deserve condemnation more than those who reject the only remedy. And
   even they who believe have no ground of boasting. For we are saved by
   grace, and justified by faith, and that is not of ourselves, but is the
   gift of God.--The influence of works in justification our author has
   well explained.--W
     __________________________________________________________________

      DISCOURSE II

   pressing into the kingdom of god.

   luke xvi. 16.

   The law and the prophets were until John: since that time the kingdom
   of God is preached, and every man presseth into it.

   In these words two things may be observed: First, Wherein the work and
   office of John the Baptist consisted, viz. in preaching the kingdom of
   God, to prepare the way for its introduction to succeed the law and the
   prophets. By the law and the prophets, in the text, seems to be
   intended the ancient dispensation under the Old Testament, which was
   received from Moses and the prophets. These are said to be until John;
   not that the revelations given by them are out of use since that time,
   but that the state of the church, founded and regulated under God by
   them, the dispensation of which they were the ministers, and wherein
   the church depended mainly on light received from them, fully continued
   till John. He first began to introduce the New-Testament dispensation,
   or gospel-state of the church; which, with its glorious, spiritual, and
   eternal privileges and blessings, is often called the kingdom of
   heaven, or kingdom of God. John the Baptist preached, that the kingdom
   of God was at hand. "Repent," says he, "for the kingdom of heaven is at
   hand:" --"Since that time," says Christ, "the kingdom of God is
   preached." John the Baptist first began to preach it; and then after
   him, Christ and his disciples preached the same. Thus Christ preached,
   Matt. iv. 17. "From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say,
   Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." So the disciples were
   directed to preach, Matt. x. 7. "And, as ye go, preach, saying, the
   kingdom of heaven is at hand." It was not John the Baptist, but Christ,
   that fully brought in, and actually established, this kingdom of God;
   but he, as Christ's forerunner to prepare his way before him, did the
   first thing that was done towards introducing it. The old dispensation
   was abolished, and the new brought in by degrees; as the night
   gradually ceases, and gives place to the increasing day which succeeds
   in its room. First the day-star arises; next follows the light of the
   sun itself, but dimly reflected, in the dawning of the day; but this
   light increases, and shines more and more, and the stars that served
   for light during the foregoing night, gradually go out, and their light
   ceases, as being now needless, till at length the sun rises, and
   enlightens the world by his own direct light, which increases as he
   ascends higher above the horizon, till the day-star itself gradually
   disappears; agreeable to what John says of himself, John iii. 30. "He
   must increase, but I must decrease." John was the forerunner of Christ,
   and harbinger of the gospel-day; much as the morning-star is the
   forerunner of the sun. He had the most honourable office of any of the
   prophets; the other prophets foretold Christ to come, he revealed him
   as already come, and had the honour to be that servant who should come
   immediately before him, and actually introduce him, and even to be the
   instrument concerned in his solemn inauguration, as he was in baptizing
   him. He was the greatest of the prophets that came before Christ, as
   the morning-star is the brightest of all the stars, Matt. xi. 11. He
   came to prepare men's hearts to receive that kingdom of God which
   Christ was about more fully to reveal and erect. Luke i. 17. "To make
   ready a people prepared for the Lord."

   Secondly, We may observe wherein his success appeared, viz. in that
   since he began his ministry, every man pressed into that kingdom of God
   which he preached. The greatness of his success appeared in two things:

   1. In the generalness of it, with regard to the subject, or the persons
   in whom the success appeared; every man. Here is a term of
   universality; but it is not to be taken as universal with regard to
   individuals, but kinds; as such universal terms are often used in
   Scripture. When John reached, there was an extraordinary pouring out of
   the Spirit of God that attended his preaching. An uncommon awakening,
   and concern for salvation, appeared on the minds of all sorts of
   persons; and even in the most unlikely persons, and those from whom
   such a thing might least be expected; as the Pharisees, who were
   exceeding proud, and self-sufficient, and conceited of their own wisdom
   and righteousness, and looked on themselves fit to he teachers of
   others, and used to scorn to be taught; and the Sadducees, who were a
   kind of infidels, that denied any resurrection, angel, or spirit, or
   any future stale. So that John himself seems to be surprised to see
   them come to him, under such concern for their salvation; as in Matt.
   iii. 7. " But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees come to
   his baptism, he said unto them, O generation of vipers, who hath warned
   you to flee from the wrath to come?" And besides these, the publicans,
   who were some of the most infamous sort of men, came to him, inquiring
   what they should do to be saved. And the soldiers, who were doubtless a
   very profane, loose, and profligate sort of persons, made the same
   inquiry, Luke iii. 12, and 14. "Then came also publicans to be
   baptized, and said unto him, Master, what shall we do? And the soldiers
   likewise demanded of him, saying, And what shall we do?"

   2. His success appeared in the manner in which his hearers sought the
   kingdom of God; they pressed into it. It is elsewhere set forth by
   their being violent for the kingdom of heaven, and taking it by force.
   Matt. xi. 12. "From the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom
   of heaven suffers violence, and the violent take it by force."

   The doctrine that I observe from the words is this.--"It concerns every
   one that would obtain the kingdom of God, to be pressing into it."--In
   discoursing on this subject, I would,

   First, Show what is that way of seeking salvation that seems to be
   pointed forth in the expression of pressing into the kingdom of God.

   Secondly, Give the reasons why it concerns every one that would obtain
   the kingdom of God, to seek it in this way.--And then make application.

   I. I would show what manner of seeking salvation seems to be denoted by
   "pressing into the kingdom of God."

   1. This expression denotes strength of desire. Men in general who live
   under the light of the gospel, and are not atheists, desire the kingdom
   of God; that is, they desire to go to heaven rather than to hell. Most
   of them indeed are not much concerned about it; but on the contrary,
   live a secure and careless life. And some who are many degrees above
   these, being under some degrees of the awakenings of God's Spirit, yet
   are not pressing into the kingdom of God. But they that may be said to
   be truly so, have strong desires to get out of a natural condition, and
   to get an interest in Christ. They have such a conviction of the misery
   of their present state, and of the extreme necessity of obtaining a
   better, that their minds are as it were possessed with and wrapped up
   in concern about it. To obtain salvation is desired by them above all
   things in the world. This concern is so great that it very much shuts
   out other concerns. They used before to have the stream of their
   desires after other things, or, it may be, had their concern divided
   between this and them; but when they come to answer the expression in
   the text, of pressing into the kingdom of God, this concern prevails
   above all others; it lays other things low, and does in a manner
   engross the care of the mind. This seeking eternal life should not only
   be one concern that our souls are taken up about with other things; but
   salvation should be sought as the one thing needful, Luke x. 42. And as
   the one thing that is desired, Psalm xxvii. 4.

   2. Pressing into the kingdom of heaven denotes earnestness and firmness
   of resolution. There should be strength of resolution, accompanying
   strength of desire, as it was in the psalmist, in the place just now
   referred to; "one thing have I desired, and that will I seek after." In
   order to a thorough engagedness of the mind in this affair, both these
   must meet together. Besides desires after salvation, there should be an
   earnest resolution in persons to pursue this good as much as lies in
   their power; to do all that in the use of their utmost strength they
   are able to do, in an attendance on every duty, and resisting and
   militating against all manner of sin, and to continue in such a
   pursuit.

   There are two things needful in a person, in order to these strong
   resolutions; there must be a sense of the great importance and
   necessity of the mercy sought, and there must also be a sense of
   opportunity to obtain it, or the encouragement there is to seek it. The
   strength of resolution depends on the sense which God gives to the
   heart of these things. Persons without such a sense, may seem to
   themselves to take up resolutions; they may, as it were, force a
   promise to themselves, and say within themselves, "I will seek as long
   as I live, I will not give up till I obtain," when they do but deceive
   themselves. Their hearts are not in it; neither do they indeed take up
   any such resolution as they seem to themselves to do. It is the
   resolution of the mouth more than of the heart; their hearts are not
   strongly bent to fulfil what their mouth says. The firmness of
   resolution lies in the fulness of the disposition of the heart to do
   what is resolved to be done. Those who are pressing into the kingdom of
   God, have a disposition of heart to do every thing that is required,
   and that lies in their power to do, and to continue in it. They have
   not only earnestness, but steadiness of resolution: they do not seek
   with a wavering unsteady heart, by turns or fits, being off and on; but
   it is the constant bent of the soul, if possible, to obtain the kingdom
   of God.

   3. By pressing into the kingdom of God is signified greatness of
   endeavour. It is expressed in Eccles. ix. 10. by doing what our hand
   finds to do with our might. And this is the natural and necessary
   consequence of the two forementioned things. Where there is strength of
   desire, and firmness of resolution, there will be answerable
   endeavours. Persons thus engaged in their hearts will "strive to enter
   in at the strait gate," and will be violent for heaven; their practice
   will be agreeable to the counsel of the wise man, in Prov. ii. at the
   beginning, "My son, if thou wilt receive my words, and hide my
   commandments with thee; so that thou incline thine ear unto wisdom, and
   apply thine heart to understanding; yea, if thou criest after
   knowledge, and liftest up thy voice for understanding; if thou seekest
   her as silver, and searchest for her as for hid treasures; then shalt
   thou understand the fear of the Lord, and find the knowledge of God."
   Here the earnestness of desire and strength of resolution is signified
   by inclining the ear to wisdom, and applying the heart to
   understanding; and the greatness of endeavour is denoted by crying
   after knowledge, and lifting up the voice for understanding; seeking
   her as silver, and searching for her as for hid treasures: such desires
   and resolutions, and such endeavours, go together.

   4. Pressing into the kingdom of God denotes an engagedness and
   earnestness, that is directly about that business of getting into the
   kingdom of God. Persons may be in very great exercise and distress of
   mind, and that about the condition of their souls; their thoughts and
   cares may be greatly engaged and taken up about things of a spiritual
   nature, and yet not be pressing into the kingdom of God, nor towards
   it. The exercise of their minds is not directly about the work of
   seeking salvation, in a diligent attendance on the means that God hath
   appointed in order to it, but something else that is beside their
   business; it may be about God's decrees and secret purposes, prying
   into them, searching for signs whereby they may determine, or at least
   conjecture, what they are before God makes them known by their
   accomplishment. They distress their minds with fears that they be not
   elected, or that they have committed the unpardonable sin, or that
   their day is past, and that God has given them up to judicial and final
   hardness, and never intends to show them mercy; and therefore, that it
   is in vain for them to seek salvation. Or they entangle themselves
   about the doctrine of original sin, and other mysterious doctrines of
   religion that are above their comprehension. Many persons that seem to
   be in great distress about a future eternal state, get much into a way
   of perplexing themselves with such things as these. When it is so, let
   them be never so much concerned and engaged in their minds, they cannot
   be said to be pressing towards the kingdom of God; because their
   exercise is not in their work, but rather that which tends to hinder
   them in their work. If they are violent, they are only working
   violently to entangle themselves, and lay blocks in their own way;
   their pressure is not forwards. Instead of getting along, they do but
   lose their time, and worse than merely lose it; instead of fighting
   with the giants that stand in the way to keep them out of Canaan, they
   spend away their time and strength in conflicting with shadows that
   appear by the way-side.

   Hence we are not to judge of the hopefulness of the way that persons
   are in, or of the probability of their success in seeking salvation,
   only by the greatness of the concern and distress that they are in; for
   many persons have needless distresses that they had much better be
   without. It is thus very often with persons overrun with the distemper
   of melancholy; whence the adversary of souls is wont to take great
   advantage. But then are persons in the most likely way to obtain the
   kingdom of heaven, when the intent of their minds, and the engagedness
   of their spirits, is about their proper work and business, and all the
   bent of their souls is to attend on God's means, and to do what he
   commands and directs them to. The apostle tells us, 1 Cor. ix. 26.
   "that he did not fight as those that beat the air." Our time is short
   enough; we had not need to spend it in that which is nothing to the
   purpose. There are real difficulties and enemies enough for persons to
   encounter, to employ all their strength; they had not need to waste it
   in fighting with phantoms.

   5. By pressing into the kingdom of God is denoted a breaking through
   opposition and difficulties. There is in the expression a plain
   intimation of difficulty. If there were no opposition, but the way was
   all clear and open, there would be no need of pressing to get along.
   They therefore that are pressing into the kingdom of God, go on with
   such engagedness, that they break through the difficulties that are in
   their way. They are so set for salvation, that those things by which
   others are discouraged, and stopped, and turned back, do not stop them,
   but they press through them. Persons ought to be so resolved for
   heaven, that if by any means they can obtain, they will obtain. Whether
   those means be difficult or easy, cross or agreeable, if they are
   requisite means of salvation, they should be complied with. When any
   thing is presented to be done, the question should not be, Is it easy
   or hard? is it agreeable to my carnal inclinations or interest, or
   against them? But is it a required means of my obtaining an interest in
   Jesus Christ, and eternal salvation? Thus the apostle, Philip. iii. 11.
   "If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead." He
   tells us there in the context what difficulties he broke through, that
   he suffered the loss of all things, and was willingly made conformable
   even to Christ's death, though that was attended with such extreme
   torment and ignominy.

   He that is pressing into the kingdom of God, commonly finds many things
   in the way that are against the grain; but he is not stopped by the
   cross that lies before him, but takes it up, and carries it. Suppose
   there be something incumbent on him to do, that is cross to his natural
   temper, and irksome to him on that account; suppose something that he
   cannot do without suffering in his estate, or that he apprehends will
   look odd and strange in the eyes of others, and expose him to ridicule
   and reproach, or any thing that will offend a neighbour, and get his
   ill-will, or something that will be very cross to his own carnal
   appetite-- he will press through such difficulties. Every thing that is
   found to be a weight that hinders him in running this race he casts
   from him, though it be a weight of gold or pearls; yea, if it be a
   right hand or foot that offends him, he will cut them off, and will not
   stick at plucking out a right eye with his own hands. These things are
   insuperable difficulties to those who are not thoroughly engaged in
   seeking their salvation; they are stumbling-blocks that they never get
   over. But it is not so with him that presses into the kingdom of God.
   Those things (before he was thoroughly roused from his security) about
   which he was wont to have long parleyings and disputings with his own
   conscience--employing carnal reason to invent arguments and pleas of
   excuse--he now sticks at no longer; he has done with this endless
   disputing and reasoning, and presses violently through all
   difficulties. Let what will be in the way, heaven is what he must and
   will obtain, not if he can without difficulty, but if it be possible.
   He meets with temptation: the devil is often whispering in his ear,
   setting allurements before him, magnifying the difficulties of the work
   he is engaged in, telling him that they are insuperable, and that he
   can never conquer them, and trying all ways in the world to discourage
   him; but still he presses forward. God has given and maintains such an
   earnest spirit for heaven, that the devil cannot stop him in his
   course; he is not at leisure to lend an ear to what he has to say.--I
   come now,

   II. To show why the kingdom of heaven should be sought in this
   manner.--It should be thus sought,

   1. On account of the extreme necessity we are in of getting into the
   kingdom of heaven. We are in a perishing necessity of it; without it we
   are utterly and eternally lost. Out of the kingdom of God is no safety;
   there is no other hiding-place; this is the only city of refuge, in
   which we can be secure from the avenger that pursues all the ungodly.
   The vengeance of God will pursue, overtake, and eternally destroy, them
   that are not in this kingdom. All that are without this enclosure will
   be swallowed up in an overflowing fiery deluge of wrath. They may stand
   at the door and knock, and cry, Lord, Lord, open to us, in vain; they
   will be thrust back; and God will have no mercy on them; they shall be
   eternally left of him. His fearful vengeance will seize them; the
   devils will lay hold of them; and all evil will come upon them; and
   there will be none to pity or help; their case will be utterly
   desperate, and infinitely doleful. It will be a gone case with them;
   all offers of mercy and expressions of divine goodness will be finally
   withdrawn, and all hope will be lost. God will have no kind of regard
   to their well-being; will take no care of them to save them from any
   enemy, or any evil; but himself will be their dreadful enemy, and will
   execute wrath with fury, and will take vengeance in an inexpressibly
   dreadful manner. Such as shall be in this case will be lost and undone
   indeed! They will be sunk down into perdition, infinitely below all
   that we can think. For who knows the power of God's anger? And who
   knows the misery of that poor worm, on whom that anger is executed
   without mercy?

   2. On account of the shortness and uncertainty of the opportunity for
   getting into this kingdom. When a few days are past, all our
   opportunity for it will be gone. Our day is limited. God has set our
   bounds, and we know not where. While persons are out of this kingdom,
   they are in danger every hour of being overtaken with wrath. We know
   not how soon we shall get past that line, beyond which there is no
   work, device, knowledge, nor wisdom; and therefore we should do what we
   have to do with our might, Eccles. ix. 10.

   3. On account of the difficulty of setting into the kingdom of God.
   There are innumerable difficulties in the way; such as few conquer:
   most of them that try have not resolution, courage, earnestness, and
   constancy enough; but they fail, give up, and perish. The difficulties
   are too many and too great for them that do not violently press
   forward. They never get along, but stick by the way; are turned aside,
   or turned back, and ruined. Matt. vii. 14. "Strait is the gate, and
   narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find
   it." Luke xiii. 24. "Strive to enter in at the strait gate; for many, I
   say unto you, will seek to enter in, and shall not be able."

   4. The possibility of obtaining. Though it be attended with so much
   difficulty, yet it is not a thing impossible. Acts viii. 22. "If
   perhaps the thought of thine heart may be forgiven thee." 2 Tim. ii.
   25. "If peradventure God will give them repentance to the acknowledging
   of the truth." However sinful a person is, and whatever his
   circumstances are, there is, notwithstanding, a possibility of his
   salvation. He himself is capable of it, and God is able to accomplish
   it, and has mercy sufficient for it; and there is sufficient provision
   made through Christ, that God may do it consistent with the honour of
   his majesty, justice, and truth. So that there is no want either of
   sufficiency in God, or capacity in the sinner, in order to this. The
   greatest and vilest, most blind, dead, hard-hearted sinner living, is a
   subject capable of saving light and grace. Seeing therefore there is
   such necessity of obtaining the kingdom of God, and so short a time,
   and such difficulty, and yet such a possibility, it may well induce us
   to press into it. Jonah iii. 8, 9.

   5. It is meet that the kingdom of heaven should be thus sought, because
   of the great excellency of it. We are willing to seek earthly things,
   of trifling value, with great diligence, and through much difficulty;
   it therefore certainly becomes us to seek that with great earnestness
   which is of infinitely greater worth and excellence. And how well may
   God expect and require it of us, that we should seek it in such a
   manner, in order to our obtaining it!

   6. Such a manner of seeking is needful to prepare persons for the
   kingdom of God. Such earnestness and thoroughness of endeavours, is the
   ordinary means that God makes use of to bring persons to an
   acquaintance with themselves, to a sight of their own hearts, to a
   sense of their own helplessness, and to a despair in their own strength
   and righteousness. And such engagedness and constancy in seeking the
   kingdom of heaven, prepare the soul to receive it the more joyfully and
   thankfully, and the more highly to prize and value it when obtained. So
   that it is in mercy to us, as well as for the glory of his own name,
   that God has appointed such earnest seeking, to be the way in which he
   will bestow the kingdom of heaven.

      APPLICATION.

   The use I would make of this doctrine, is of exhortation to all
   Christless persons to press into the kingdom of God. Some of you are
   inquiring what you shall do? You seem to desire to know what is the way
   wherein salvation is to be sought, and how you may be likely to obtain
   it. You have now heard the way that the holy word of God directs to.
   Some are seeking, but it cannot be said of them that they are pressing
   into the kingdom of heaven. There are many that in time past have
   sought salvation, but not in this manner, and so they never obtained,
   but are now gone to hell. Some of them sought it year after year, but
   failed of it, and perished at last. They were overtaken with divine
   wrath, and are now suffering the fearful misery of damnation, and have
   no rest day nor night, having no more opportunity to seek, but must
   suffer and be miserable throughout the never-ending ages of eternity.
   Be exhorted, therefore, not to seek salvation as they did, but let the
   kingdom of heaven suffer violence from you.

   Here I would first answer an objection or two, and then proceed to give
   some directions how to press into the kingdom of God.

   Object. 1. Some may be ready to say, We cannot do this of ourselves;
   that strength of desire, and firmness of resolution, that have been
   spoken of, are out of our reach. If I endeavour to resolve and to seek
   with engagedness of spirit, I find I fail; my thoughts are presently
   off from the business, and I feel myself dull, and my engagedness
   relaxed, in spite of all I can do.

   Ant. 1. Though earnestness of mind be not immediately in your power,
   yet the consideration of what has been now said of the need of it, may
   be a means of stirring you up to it. It is true, persons never will be
   thoroughly engaged in this business, unless it be by God's influence;
   but God influences persons by means. Persons are not stirred up to a
   thorough earnestness without some considerations that move them to it.
   And if persons can but be made sensible of the necessity of salvation,
   and also duly consider the exceeding difficulty of it, and the
   greatness of the opposition, and how short and uncertain the time is,
   but yet are sensible that they have an opportunity, and that there is a
   possibility of their obtaining, they will need no more in order to
   their being thoroughly engaged and resolved in this matter. If we see
   persons slack and unresolved, and unsteady, it is because they do not
   enough consider these things.

   2. Though strong desires and resolutions of mind be not in your power,
   yet painfulness of endeavours is in your power. It is in your power to
   take pains in the use of means, yea very great pains. You can be very
   painful and diligent in watching your own heart, and striving against
   sin. Though there is all manner of corruption in the heart continually
   ready to work, yet you can very laboriously watch and strive against
   these corruptions; and it is in your power, with great diligence to
   attend the matter of your duty towards God and towards your neighbour.
   It is in your power to attend all ordinances, and all public and
   private duties of religion, and to do it with your might. It would be a
   contradiction to suppose that a man cannot do these things with all the
   might he has, though he cannot do them with more might than he has. The
   dulness and deadness of the heart, and slothfulness of disposition, do
   not hinder men being able to take pains, though it hinders their being
   willing. That is one thing wherein your laboriousness may appear, even
   striving against your own dulness. That men have a dead and sluggish
   heart, does not argue that they be not able to take pains; it is so far
   from that, that it gives occasion for pains. It is one of the
   difficulties in the way of duty, that persons have to strive with, and
   that gives occasion for struggling and labour. If there were no
   difficulties attended seeking salvation, there would be no occasion for
   striving; a man would have nothing to strive about. There is indeed a
   great deal of difficulty attending all duties required of those that
   would obtain heaven. It is an exceeding difficult thing for them to
   keep their thoughts; it is a difficult thing seriously, or to any good
   purpose, to consider matters of the greatest importance; it is a
   difficult thing to hear, or read, or pray attentively. But it does not
   argue that a man cannot strive in these things because they are
   difficult; nay, he could not strive therein if there were not
   difficulty in them. For what is there excepting difficulties that any
   can have to strive or struggle with in any affair or business?
   Earnestness of mind, and diligence of endeavour, tend to promote each
   other. He that has a heart earnestly engaged, will take pains; and he
   that is diligent and painful in all duty, probably will not be so long
   before he finds the sensibleness of his heart and earnestness of his
   spirit greatly increased.

   Object. 2. Some may object, that if they are earnest, and take a great
   deal of pains, they shall be in danger of trusting to what they do;
   they are afraid of doing their duty for fear of making a righteousness
   of it.

   Ans. There is ordinarily no kind of seekers that trust so much to what
   they do, as slack and dull seekers. Though all seeking salvation, that
   have never been the subjects of a thorough humiliation, do trust in
   their own righteousness; yet some do it much more fully than others.
   Some though they trust in their own righteousness, yet are not quiet in
   it. And those who are most disturbed in their self-confidence, (and
   therefore in the likeliest way to be wholly brought off from it,) are
   not such as go on in a remiss way of seeking, but such as are most
   earnest and thoroughly engaged; partly because in such a way conscience
   is kept more sensible. A more awakened conscience will not rest so
   quietly in moral and religious duties, as one that is less awakened. A
   dull seeker's conscience will be in a great measure satisfied and
   quieted with his own works and performances; but one that is thoroughly
   awakened cannot be stilled or pacified with such things as these. In
   this way persons gain much more knowledge of themselves, and
   acquaintance with their own hearts, than in a negligent, slight way of
   seeking; for they have a great deal more experience of themselves. It
   is experience of ourselves, and finding what we are, that God commonly
   makes use of as the means of bringing us off from all dependence on
   ourselves. But men never get acquaintance with themselves so fast, as
   in the most earnest way of seeking. They that are in this way have more
   to engage them to think of their sins, and strictly to observe
   themselves, and have much more to do with their own hearts, than
   others. Such a one has much more experience of his own weakness, than
   another that does not put forth and try his strength; and will
   therefore sooner see himself dead in sin. Such a one, though he hath a
   disposition continually to be flying to his own righteousness, yet
   finds rest in nothing; he wanders about from one thing to another,
   seeking something to ease his disquieted conscience; he is driven from
   one refuge to another, goes from mountain to hill, seeking rest and
   finding none; and therefore will the sooner prove that there is no rest
   to be found, nor trust to be put, in any creature whatsoever.

   It is therefore quite a wrong notion that some entertain, that the more
   they do, the more they shall depend on it. Whereas the reverse is true;
   the more they do, or the more thorough they are in seeking, the less
   will they be likely to rest in their doings, and the sooner will they
   see the vanity of all that they do. So that persons will exceedingly
   miss it, if ever they neglect to do any duty either to God or man,
   whether it be any duty of religion, justice, or charity, under a notion
   of its exposing them to trust in their own righteousness. It is very
   true, that it is a common thing for persons, when they earnestly seek
   salvation, to trust in the pains that they take: but yet commonly those
   that go on in a more slight way, trust a great deal more securely to
   their dull services, than he that is pressing into the kingdom of God
   does to his earnestness. Men's slackness in religion, and their trust
   in their own righteousness, strengthen and establish one another. Their
   trust in what they have done, and what they now do, settles them in a
   slothful rest and ease, and hinders their being sensible of their need
   of rousing up themselves and pressing forward. And on the other hand,
   their negligence genre tends so to benumb them, and keep them in such
   ignorance of themselves, that the most miserable refuges are stupidly
   rested in as sufficient. Therefore we see, that when persons have been
   going on for a long time in such a way, and God afterwards comes more
   thoroughly to awaken them, and to stir them up to be in good earnest,
   he shakes all their old foundations, and rouses them out of their old
   resting-places; so that they cannot quiet themselves with those things
   that formerly kept them secure.

   I would now proceed to give some directions how you should press into
   the kingdom of God.

   1. Be directed to sacrifice every thing to your soul's eternal
   interest. Let seeking this be so much your bent, and what you are so
   resolved in, that you will make every thing give place to it. Let
   nothing stand before your resolution of seeking the kingdom of God.
   Whatever it be that you used to look upon as a convenience, or comfort,
   or ease, or thing desirable on any account, if it stands in the way of
   this great concern, let it be dismissed without hesitation; and if it
   be of that nature that it is likely always to be a hinderance, then
   wholly have done with it, and never entertain any expectation from it
   more. If in time past you have, for the sake of worldly gain, involved
   yourself in more care and business than you find to be consistent with
   your being so thorough in the business of religion as you ought to be,
   then get into some other way, though you suffer in your worldly
   interest by it. Or if you have heretofore been conversant with company
   that you have reason to think have been and will be a snare to you, and
   a hinderance to this great design in any wise, break off from their
   society, however it may expose you to reproach from your old
   companions, or let what will be the effect of it. Whatever it be that
   stands in the way of your most advantageously seeking
   salvation--whether it be some dear sinful pleasure, or strong carnal
   appetite, or credit and honour, or the good-will of some persons whose
   friendship you desire, and whose esteem and liking you have highly
   valued--and though there be danger, if you do as you ought, that you
   shall be looked upon by them as odd and ridiculous, and become
   contemptible in their eyes--or if it be your ease and indolence, and
   aversion to continual labour; or your outward convenience in any
   respect, whereby you might avoid difficulties of one kind or other--let
   all go; offer up all such things together, as it were, in one
   sacrifice, to the interest of your soul. Let nothing stand in
   competition with this, but make every thing to fall before it. If the
   flesh must be crossed, then cross it, spare it not, crucify it, and do
   not be afraid of being too cruel to it. Gal. v. 24. "They that are
   Christ's, have crucified the flesh, with the affections and lusts."
   Have no dependence on any worldly enjoyment whatsoever. Let salvation
   be the one thing with you. This is what is certainly required of you:
   and this is what many stick at; this giving up other things for
   salvation, is a stumbling-block that few get over. While others pressed
   into the kingdom of God at the preaching of John the Baptist, Herod was
   pretty much stirred up by his preaching. It is said, he heard him, and
   observed him, and did many things; but when he came to tell him that he
   must part with his beloved Herodias, here he stuck; this he never would
   yield to, Mark vii. 18-20. The rich young man was considerably
   concerned for salvation; and accordingly was a very strict liver in
   many things: but when Christ came to direct him to go and sell all that
   he had, and give to the poor, and come and follow him, he could not
   find in his heart to comply with it, but went away sorrowful. He had
   great possessions, and set his heart much on his estate, and could not
   bear to part with it. It may be, if Christ had directed him only to
   give away a considerable part of his estate, he would have done it;
   yea, perhaps, if he had bid him part with half of it, he would have
   complied with it: but when he directed him to throw up all, he could
   not grapple with such a proposal. Herein the straitness of the gate
   very much consists; and it is on this account that so many seek to
   enter in, and are not able. There are many that have a great mind to
   salvation, and spend great part of their time in wishing that they had
   it, but they will not comply with the necessary means.

   2. Be directed to forget the things that are behind; that is, not to
   keep thinking and making much of what you have done, but let your mind
   be wholly intent on what you have to do. In some sense you ought to
   look back; you should look back on your sins. Jer. ii. 23. "See thy way
   in the valley, know what thou hast done." You should look back on the
   wretchedness of your religious performances, and consider how you have
   fallen short in them; how exceedingly polluted all your duties have
   been, and how justly God might reject and loathe them, and you for
   them. But you ought not to spend your time in looking back, as many
   persons do, thinking how much they have done for their salvation; what
   great pains they have taken, how that they have done what they can, and
   do not see how they can do more; how long a time they have been
   seeking, and how much more they have done than others, and even than
   such and such who have obtained mercy. They think with themselves how
   hardly God deals with them, that he does not extend mercy to them, but
   turns a deaf ear to their cries; and hence discourage themselves, and
   complain of God. Do not thus spend your time in looking on what is
   past, but look forward, and consider what is before you; consider what
   it is that you can do, and what it is necessary that you should do, and
   what God calls you still to do, in order to your own salvation. The
   apostle, in the 3d chapter to the Philippians, tells us what things he
   did while a Jew, how much he had to boast of, if any could boast; but
   he tells us, that he forgot those things, and all others that were
   behind, and reached forth towards the things that were before, pressing
   forwards towards the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in
   Christ Jesus.

   3. Labour to get your heart thoroughly disposed to go on and hold out
   to the end. Many that seem to be earnest have not a heart thus
   disposed. It is a common thing for persons to appear greatly affected
   for a little while; but all is soon past away, and there is no more to
   be seen of it. Labour therefore to obtain a thorough willingness and
   preparation of spirit, to continue seeking, in the use of your utmost
   endeavours, without limitation; and do not think your whole life too
   long. And in order to this, be advised to two things.

   (1.) Remember that if ever God bestows mercy upon you, he will use his
   sovereign pleasure about the time when. He will bestow it on some in a
   little time, and on others not till they have sought it long. If other
   persons are soon enlightened and comforted, while you remain long in
   darkness, there is no other way but for you to wait. God will act
   arbitrarily in this matter, and you cannot help it. You must even be
   content to wait, in a way of laborious and earnest striving, till his
   time comes. If you refuse, you will but undo yourself; and when you
   shall hereafter find yourself undone, and see that your case is past
   remedy, how will you condemn yourself for foregoing a great probability
   of salvation, only because you had not patience to hold out, and was
   not willing to be at the trouble of a persevering labour! And what will
   it avail before God or your own conscience to say, that yon could not
   bear to be obliged to seek salvation so long, when God bestowed it on
   others that sought it but for a very short time? Though God may have
   bestowed the testimonies of his favour on others in a few days or hours
   after they have begun earnestly to seek it, how does that alter the
   case as to you, if there proves to be a necessity of your laboriously
   seeking many years before you obtain them? Is salvation less worth
   taking a great deal of pains for, because, through the sovereign
   pleasure of God, others have obtained it with comparatively little
   pains? If there are two persons, the one of which has obtained
   converting grace with comparative ease, and another that has obtained
   it after continuing for many years in the greatest and most earnest
   labours after it, how little difference does it make at last, when once
   salvation is obtained! Put all the labour and pains, the long-continued
   difficulties and strugglings, of the one in the scale against
   salvation, and how little does it subtract; and put the ease with which
   the other has obtained in the scale with salvation, and how little does
   it add! What is either added or substituted is lighter than vanity, and
   a thing worthy of no consideration, when compared with that infinite
   benefit that is obtained. Indeed if you were ten thousand years, and
   all that time should strive and press forward with as great earnestness
   as ever a person did for one day, all this would hear no proportion to
   the importance of the benefit; and it will doubtless appear little to
   you, when once you come to he in actual possession of eternal glory,
   and to see what that eternal misery is which you have escaped. You must
   not think much of your pains, and of the length of time; you must press
   towards the kingdom of God, and do your utmost, and hold out to the
   end, and learn to make no account of it when you have done. You must
   undertake the business of seeking salvation upon these terms, and with
   no other expectations than this, that if ever God bestows mercy it will
   be in his own time; and not only so, but also that when you have done
   all, God will not hold himself obliged to show you mercy at last.

   (2.) Endeavour now thoroughly to weigh in your mind the difficulty, and
   to count the cost of perseverance in seeking salvation. You that are
   now setting out in this business, (as there are many here who have very
   lately set about it;--Praised be the name of God that he has stirred
   you up to it!) be exhorted to attend this direction. Do not undertake
   in this affair with any other thought but of giving yourself wholly to
   it for the remaining part of your life, and going through many and
   great difficulties in it. Take heed that you do not engage secretly
   upon this condition, that you shall obtain in a little time, promising
   yourself that it shall be within this present season of the pouring out
   of God's Spirit, or with any other limitation of time whatsoever. Many,
   when they begin, (seeming to set out very earnestly,) do not expect
   that they shall need to seek very long, and so do not prepare
   themselves for it. And therefore, when they come to find it otherwise,
   and meet with unexpected difficulty, they are found unguarded, and
   easily overthrown. But let me advise you all who are now seeking
   salvation, not to entertain any self-flattering thoughts; but weigh the
   utmost difficulties of perseverance, and be provided for them, having
   your mind fixed in it to go through them, let them be what they will.
   Consider now beforehand, how tedious it would be, with utmost
   earnestness and labour, to strive after salvation for many years, in
   the mean time receiving no joyful or comfortable evidence of your
   having obtained. Consider what a great temptation to discouragement
   there probably would be in it; how apt you would be to yield the case;
   how ready to think that it is in vain for you to seek any longer, and
   that God never intends to show you mercy, in that he has not yet done
   it; how apt you would be to think with yourself, "What an uncomfortable
   life do I live! how much more unpleasantly do I spend my time than
   others that do not perplex their minds about the things of another
   world, but are at ease, and take the comfort of their worldly
   enjoyments!" Consider what a temptation there would probably be in it,
   if you saw others brought in that began to seek the kingdom of heaven
   long after you, rejoicing in a hope and sense of God's favour, after
   but little pains and a short time of awakening; while you, from day to
   day, and from year to year, seemed to labour in vain. Prepare for such
   temptations now. Lay in beforehand for such trials and difficulties,
   that you may not think any strange thing has happened when they come.

   I hope that those who have given attention to what has been said, have
   by this time conceived, in some measure, what is signified by the
   expression in the text, and after what manner they ought to press into
   the kingdom of God. Here is this to induce you to a compliance with
   what you have been directed to; if you sit still, you die; if you go
   backward, behold you shall surely die; if you go forward, you may live.
   And though God has not bound himself to any thing that a person does
   while destitute of faith, and out of Christ, yet there is great
   probability, that in a way of hearkening to this counsel you will live;
   and that by pressing onward, and persevering, you will at last, as it
   were by violence, take the kingdom of heaven. Those of you who have not
   only heard the directions given, but shall through God's merciful
   assistance, practise according to them, are those that probably will
   overcome. These we may well hope at last to see standing with the Lamb
   on mount Sion, clothed in white robes, with palms in their hands; when
   all your labour and toil will be abundantly compensated, and you will
   not repent that you have taken so much pains, and denied yourself so
   much, and waited so long. This self-denial, this waiting, will then
   look little, and vanish into nothing in your eyes, being all swallowed
   up in the first minute's enjoyment of that glory that you will then
   possess, and will uninterruptedly possess and enjoy to all eternity.

   4th direction. Improve the present season of the pouring out of the
   Spirit of God on this town. Prudence in any affair whatsoever consists
   very much in minding and improving our opportunities. If you would have
   spiritual prosperity, you must exercise prudence in the concerns of
   your souls, as well as in outward concerns when you seek outward
   prosperity. The prudent husbandman will observe his opportunities; he
   will improve seed-time and harvest; he will make his advantage of the
   showers and shines of heaven. The prudent merchant will discern his
   opportunities; he will not be idle on a market-day; he is careful not
   to let slip his seasons for enriching himself: So will those who
   prudently seek the fruits of righteousness, and the merchandise of
   wisdom, improve their opportunities for their eternal wealth and
   happiness.

   God is pleased at this time, in a very remarkable manner, to pour out
   his Spirit amongst us; (glory be to his name!) You that have a mind to
   obtain converting grace, and to go to heaven when you die, now is your
   season! Now, if you have any sort of prudence for your own salvation,
   and have not a mind to go to hell, improve this season! Now is the
   accepted time! Now is the day of salvation! You that in time past have
   been called upon, and have turned a deaf ear to God's voice, and long
   stood out and resisted his commands and counsels, hear God's voice
   to-day, while it is called to-day! Do not harden your hearts at such a
   day as this! Now you have a special and remarkable price put into your
   hands to get wisdom, if you have but a heart to improve it.

   God hath his certain days or appointed seasons of exercising both mercy
   and judgment. There are some remarkable times of wrath, laid out by God
   for his awful visitation, and the executions of his anger; which times
   are called days of vengeance, Prov. vi. 34. Wherein God will visit for
   sin, Exod. xxxii. 34. And so, on the contrary, God has laid out in his
   sovereign counsels seasons of remarkable mercy, wherein he will
   manifest himself in the exercises of his grace and loving-kindness,
   more than at other times. Such times in Scripture are called by way of
   eminency, accepted times, and days of salvation, and also days of God's
   visitation; because they are days wherein God will visit in a way of
   mercy; as Luke xix. 44. "And shall lay thee even with the ground, and
   thy children within thee; and they shall not leave in thee one stone
   upon another; because thou knewest not the time of thy visitation." It
   is such a time now in this town; it is with us a day of God's gracious
   visitation. It is indeed a day of grace with us as long as we live in
   this world, in the enjoyment of the means of grace; but such a time as
   this is especially, and in a distinguishing manner, a day of grace.
   There is a door of mercy always standing open for sinners; but at such
   a day as this, God opens an extraordinary door.

   We are directed to seek the Lord while he may be found, and to call
   upon him while he is near, Isa. lv. 6. If you that are hitherto
   Christless, be not strangely besotted and infatuated, you will by all
   means improve such an opportunity as this to get heaven, when heaven is
   brought so near, when the fountain is opened in the midst of us in so
   extraordinary a manner. Now is the time to obtain a supply of the
   necessities of your poor perishing souls! This is the day for sinners
   that have a mind to be converted before they die, when God is dealing
   forth so liberally and bountifully amongst us; when conversion and
   salvation work is going on amongst us from sabbath to sabbath, and many
   are pressing into the kingdom of God! Now do not stay behind, but press
   in amongst the rest! Others have been stirred up to be in good earnest,
   and have taken heaven by violence; be entreated to follow their
   example, if you would have a part of the inheritance with them, and
   would not be left at the great day, when they are taken!

   How should it move you to consider that you have this opportunity now
   in your hands! You are in the actual possession of it! If it were past,
   it would not be in your power to recover it, or in the power of any
   creature to bring it back for you; but it is not past; it is now, at
   this day. Now is the accepted time, even while it is called to-day!
   Will you sit still at such a time? Will you sleep in such a harvest?
   Will you deal with a slack hand, and stay behind out of mere sloth, or
   love to some lust, or lothness to grapple with some small difficulty,
   or to put yourself a little out of your way, when so many are flowing
   to the goodness of the Lord? You are behind still; and so you will be
   in danger of being left behind, when the whole number is completed that
   are to enter in, if you do not earnestly bestir yourself! To be left
   behind at the close of such a season as this, will be awful--next to
   being left behind on that day when God's saints shall mount up as with
   wings to meet the Lord in the air--and will be what will appear very
   threatening of it.

   God is now calling you in an extraordinary manner: and it is agreeable
   to the will and word of Christ, that I should now, in his name, call
   you, as one set over you, and sent to you to that end; so it is his
   will that you should hearken to what I say, as his voice. I therefore
   beseech you in Christ's stead now to press into the kingdom of God!
   Whoever you are, whether young or old, small or great; if you are a
   great sinner, if you have been a backslider, if you have quenched the
   Spirit, be who you will, do not stand making objections, but arise,
   apply yourself to your work! Do what you have to do with your might.
   Christ is calling you before, and holding forth his grace, and
   everlasting benefits, and wrath is pursuing you behind; wherefore fly
   for your life, and look not behind you!

   But here I would particularly direct myself to several sorts of
   persons.

   I. To those sinners who are in a measure awakened, and are concerned
   for their salvation. You have reason to be glad that you have such an
   opportunity, and to prize it above gold. To induce you to prize and
   improve it, consider several things.

   1. God has doubtless a design now to deal forth saving blessings to a
   number. God has done it to some already, and it is not probable that he
   has yet finished his work amongst us: we may well hope still to see
   others brought out of darkness into marvellous light. And therefore,

   2. God comes this day, and knocks at many persons' doors, and at your
   door among the rest. God seems to be come in a very unusual manner
   amongst us, upon a gracious and merciful design; a design of saving a
   number of poor miserable souls out of a lost and perishing condition,
   and of bringing them into a happy state and eternal glory! This is
   offered to you, not only as it has always been in the word and
   ordinances, but by the particular influences of the Spirit of Christ
   awakening you! This special offer is made to many amongst us; and you
   are not passed over. Christ has not forgot you; but has come to your
   door; and there as it were stands waiting for you to open to him. If
   you have wisdom and discretion to discern your own advantage, you will
   know that now is your opportunity.

   3. How much more easily converting grace is obtained at such a time,
   than at other times! The work is equally easy with God at all times;
   but there is far less difficulty in the way as to men at such a time,
   than at other times. It is, as I said before, a day of God's gracious
   visitation; a day that he has as it were set apart for the more
   liberally and bountifully dispensing of his grace; a day wherein God's
   hand is opened wide. Experience shows it. God seems to be more ready to
   help, to give proper convictions, to help against temptations, and let
   in divine light. He seems to carry on his work with a more glorious
   discovery of his power, and Satan is more chained up than at other
   times. Those difficulties and temptations that persons before stuck at,
   from year to year, they are soon helped over. The work of God is
   carried on with greater speed and swiftness, and there are often
   instances of sudden conversion at such a time. So it was in the
   apostles' days, when there was a time of the most extraordinary pouring
   out of the Spirit that ever was. How quick and sudden were conversions
   in those days! Such instances as that of the jailer abounded then, in
   fulfilment, of that prophecy, Isa. lxvi. 7, 8. "Before she travailed,
   she brought forth: before her pain came, she was delivered of a
   man-child. Who hath heard such a thing? Who hath seen such things? For
   as soon as Zion travailed, she brought forth her children." So it is in
   some degree, whenever there is an extraordinary pouring out of the
   Spirit of God; more or less so, in proportion to the greatness of that
   effusion. There is seldom such quick work made of it at other times.
   Persons are not so soon delivered from their various temptations and
   entanglements; but are much longer wandering in a wilderness, and
   groping in darkness. And yet,

   4. There are probably some here present that are now concerned about
   their salvation, that never will obtain. It is not to be supposed that
   all that are now moved and awakened, will ever be savingly converted.
   Doubtless there are many now seeking that will not be able to enter.
   When has it been so in times past, when there has been times of great
   outpourings of God's Spirit, but that many who for a while have
   inquired with others, what they should do to be saved, have failed, and
   afterwards grown hard and secure? All of you that are now awakened,
   have a mind to obtain salvation, and probably hope to get a title to
   heaven, in the time of this present moving of God's Spirit: but yet,
   (though it be awful to be spoken, and awful to be thought,) we have no
   reason to think any other, than that some of you will burn in hell to
   all eternity. You all are afraid of hell, and seem at present disposed
   to take pains to be delivered from it; and yet it would be unreasonable
   to think any other, than that some of you will have your portion in the
   lake that burns with fire and brimstone. Though there are so many that
   seem to obtain so easily, having been but a little while under
   convictions, yet, for all that, some never will obtain. Some will soon
   lose the sense of things they now have; though their awakenings seem to
   be very considerable for the present, they will not hold; they have not
   hearts disposed to hold on through very many difficulties. Some that
   have set out for heaven, and hope as much as others to obtain, are
   indeed but slighty and slack, even now, in the midst of such a time as
   this. And others, who for the present seem to be more in earnest, will
   probably, before long, decline and fail, and gradually return to be as
   they were before. The convictions of some seem to be great, while that
   which is the occasion of their convictions is new; which, when that
   begins to grow old, will gradually decay and wear off. Thus, it may be,
   the occasion of your awakening has been the hearing of the conversion
   of some person, or seeing so extraordinary a dispensation of Providence
   as this in which God now appears amongst us; but by and by the newness
   and freshness of these things will be gone, and so will not affect your
   mind as now they do; and it may be your convictions will go away with
   it.

   Though this be a time wherein God doth more liberally bestow his grace,
   and so a time of greater advantage for obtaining it; yet there seems to
   be, upon some accounts, greater danger of backsliding, than when
   persons are awakened at other times. For commonly such extraordinary
   times do not last long; and then when they cease, there are multitudes
   that lose their convictions as it were together.

   We speak of it as a happy thing, that God is pleased to cause such a
   time amongst us, and so it is indeed: but there are some to whom it
   will be no benefit; it will be an occasion of their greater misery;
   they will wish they had never seen this time; it will be more tolerable
   for those that never saw it, or any thing like it, in the day of
   judgment, than for them. It is an awful consideration, that there are
   probably those here, whom the great Judge will hereafter call to a
   strict account about this very thing, why they no better improved this
   opportunity, when he set open the fountain of his grace, and so loudly
   called upon them, and came and strove with them in particular, by the
   awakening influences of his Spirit; and they will have no good account
   to give to the Judge, but their mouths will be stopped, and they will
   stand speechless before him.

   You had need therefore to be earnest, and very resolved in this affair,
   that you may not be one of those who shall thus fail, that you may so
   fight, as not uncertainly, and so run, as that you may win the prize.

   5. Consider in what sad circumstances times of extraordinary effusion
   of God's Spirit commonly leave persons, when they leave them
   unconverted. They find them in a doleful, because in a natural,
   condition; but commonly leave them in a much more doleful condition.
   They are left dreadfully hardened, and with a great increase of guilt,
   and their souls under a more strong dominion and possession of Satan.
   And frequently seasons of extraordinary advantage for salvation, when
   they pass over persons, and they do not improve them, nor receive any
   good in them, seal their damnation. As such seasons leave them, God for
   ever leaves them, and gives them up to judicial hardness. Luke xix. 41,
   42. "And when he was come near, he beheld the city, and wept over it,
   saying, If thou hadst known, even thou, the things which belong unto
   thy peace! but now they are hid from thine eyes."

   6. Consider, that it is very uncertain whether you will ever see such
   another time as this. If there should be such another time, it is very
   uncertain whether you will live to see it. Many that are now concerned
   for their salvation amongst us, will probably be in their graves, and
   it may be in hell, before that time; and if you should miss this
   opportunity, it may be so with you. And what good will that do you, to
   have the Spirit of God poured out upon earth, in the place where you
   once lived, while you are tormented in hell? What will it avail you,
   that others are crying, What shall I do to be saved? while you are shut
   up for ever in the bottomless pit, and are wailing and gnashing your
   teeth in everlasting burnings?

   Wherefore improve this opportunity, while God is pouring out his
   Spirit, and you are on earth, and while you dwell in that place where
   the Spirit of God is thus poured out, and you yourself have the
   awakening influences of it, that you may never wail and gnash your
   teeth in hell, but may sing in heaven for ever, with others that are
   redeemed from amongst men, and redeemed amongst us.

   7. If you should see another such time, it will be under far greater
   disadvantages than now. You will probably then be much older, and will
   have more hardened your heart; and so will be under less probability of
   receiving good. Some persons are so hardened in sin, and so left of
   God, that they can live through such a time as this, and not be much
   awakened or affected by it; they can stand their ground, and be but
   little moved. And so it may be with you, by another such time, if there
   should be another amongst us, and you should live to see it. The case
   in all probability will be greatly altered with you by that time. If
   you should continue Christless and graceless till then, you will be
   much further from the kingdom of God, and much deeper involved in
   snares and misery; and the devil will probably have a vastly greater
   advantage against you, to tempt and confound you.

   8. We do not know but that God is now gathering in his elect, before
   some great and sore judgment. It has been God's manner before he casts
   off a visible people, or brings some great and destroying judgments
   upon them, first to gather in his elect, that they may be secure. So it
   was before the casting off the Jews from being God's people. There was
   first a very remarkable pouring out of the Spirit, and gathering in of
   the elect, by the preaching of the apostles and evangelists, as we read
   in the beginning of the Acts: but after this harvest and its gleanings
   were over, the rest were blinded, and hardened; the gospel had little
   success amongst them, and the nation was given up, and cast off from
   being God's people, and their city and land was destroyed by the Romans
   in a terrible manner; and they have been cast off by God now for a
   great many ages, and still remain a hardened and rejected people. So we
   read in the beginning of the 7th chapter of the Revelations, that God,
   when about to bring destroying judgments on the earth, first sealed his
   servants in the forehead. He set his seal upon the hearts of the elect,
   gave them the saving influences and indwelling of his Spirit, by which
   they were sealed to the day of redemption. Rev. vii. 1-3. "And after
   these things, I saw four angels standing on the four corners of the
   earth, holding the four winds of the earth, that the wind should not
   blow on the earth, nor on the sea, nor on any tree. And I saw another
   angel ascending from the east, having the seal of the living God: and
   he cried with a loud voice to the four angels, to whom it was given to
   hurt the earth and the sea, saying, Hurt not the earth, neither the
   sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God in
   their foreheads."

   And this may be the case now, that God is about, in a great measure, to
   forsake this land, and give up this people, and to bring most awful and
   overwhelming judgments upon it, and that he is now gathering in his
   elect, to secure them from the calamity. The state of the nation, and
   of this land, never looked so threatening of such a thing as at this
   day. The present aspect of things exceedingly threatens vital religion,
   and even those truths that are especially the foundation of it, out of
   this land. If it should be so, how awful will the case be with those
   that shall be left, and not brought in, while God continues the
   influences of his Spirit, to gather in those that are to be redeemed
   from amongst us!

   9. If you neglect the present opportunity, and be finally unbelieving,
   those that are converted in this time of the pouring out of God's
   Spirit will rise up in judgment against you. Your neighbours, your
   relations, acquaintance, or companions that are converted, will that
   day appear against you. They will not only be taken while you are left,
   mounting up with joy to meet the Lord in the air--at his right hand
   with glorious saints and angels, while you are at the left with
   devils--but how they will rise up in judgment against you. However
   friendly you have been together, and have taken pleasure in one
   another's company, and have often familiarly conversed together, they
   will then surely appear against you. They will rise up as witnesses and
   will declare what a precious opportunity you had, and did not improve;
   how you continued unbelieving, and rejected the offers of a Saviour,
   when those offers were made in so extraordinary a manner, and when so
   many others were prevailed upon to accept of Christ; how you was
   negligent and slack, and did not know the things that belonged to your
   peace, in that your day. And not only so, but they shall be your
   judges, as assessors with the great Judge; and as such will appear
   against you; they will be with the Judge in passing sentence upon you.
   1 Cor. vi. 2. "Know ye not that the saints shall judge the world?"
   Christ will admit them to the honour of judging the world with him:
   "They shall sit with him in his throne," Rev. iii. 21. They shall sit
   with Christ in his throne of government, and they shall sit with him in
   his throne of judgment, and shall be judges with him when you are
   judged, and as such shall condemn you.

   10. And lastly, You do not know that you shall live through the present
   time of the pouring out of God's Spirit. You may be taken away in the
   midst of it, or you may be taken away in the beginning of it; as God in
   his providence is putting you in mind, by the late instance of death in
   a young person in the town. [676] God has of late been very awful in
   his dealings with us, in the repeated deaths of young persons amongst
   us. This should stir every one up to be in the more haste to press into
   the kingdom of God, that so you may be safe whenever death comes. This
   is a blessed season and opportunity; but you do not know how little of
   it you may have. You may have much less of it than others; may by death
   be suddenly snatched away from all advantages that are here enjoyed for
   the good of souls. Therefore make haste, and escape for thy life. One
   moment's delay is dangerous; for wrath is pursuing, and divine
   vengeance hanging over every uncovered person.

   Let these considerations move every one to be improving this
   opportunity, that while others receive saving good, and are made heirs
   of eternal glory, you may not be left behind, in the same miserable
   doleful circumstances in which you came into the world, a poor captive
   to sin and Satan, a lost sheep, a perishing, undone creature, sinking
   down into everlasting perdition; that you may not be one of them spoken
   of, Jer. xvii. 6. "That shall be like the heath in the desert, and
   shall not see when good comes." If you do not improve this opportunity,
   remember I have told you, you will hereafter lament it; and if you do
   not lament it in this world, then I will leave it with you to remember
   it throughout a miserable eternity.

   II. I would address myself to such as yet remain unawakened. It is an
   awful thing that there should be any one person remaining secure
   amongst us at such a time as this; but yet it is to be feared that
   there are some of this sort. I would here a little expostulate with
   such persons.

   1. When do you expect that it will be more likely that you should be
   awakened and wrought upon than now? You are in a Christless condition;
   and yet without doubt intend to go to heaven; and therefore intend to
   be converted some time before you die; but this is not to be expected
   till you are first awakened, and deeply concerned about the welfare of
   your soul, and brought earnestly to seek God's converting grace. And
   when do you intend that this shall be? How do you lay things out in
   your own mind, or what projection have you about this matter? Is it
   ever so likely that a person will be awakened, as at such a time as
   this? How do we see many, who before were secure, now roused out of
   their sleep, and crying, What shall I do to be saved? But you are yet
   secure! Do you flatter yourself that it will be more likely you should
   be awakened when it is a dull and dead time? Do you lay matters out
   thus in your own mind, that though you are senseless when others are
   generally awakened, that yet you shall be awakened when others are
   generally senseless? Or do you hope to see another such time of the
   pouring out of God's Spirit hereafter? And do you think it will be more
   likely that you should be wrought upon then, than now? And why do you
   think so? Is it because then you shall be so much older than you are
   now, and so that your heart will be grown softer and more tender with
   age? or because you will then have stood out so much longer against the
   calls of the gospel, and all means of grace? Do you think it more
   likely that God will give you the needed influences of his Spirit then,
   than now, because then you will have provoked him so much more, and
   your sin and guilt will be so much greater? And do you think it will be
   any benefit to you, to stand it out through the present season of
   grace, as proof against the extraordinary means of awakening there are?
   Do you think that this will be a good preparation for a saving work of
   the Spirit hereafter?

   2. What means do you expect to be awakened by? As to the awakening
   awful things of the word of God, you have had those set before you
   times without number, in the most moving manner that the dispensers of
   the word have been capable of. As to particular solemn warnings,
   directed to those that are in your circumstances, you have had them
   frequently, and have them now from time to time. Do you expect to be
   awakened by awful providences? Those also you have lately had, of the
   most awakening nature, one after another. Do you expect to be moved by
   the deaths of others? We have lately had repeated instances of these.
   There have been deaths of old and young: the year has been remarkable
   for the deaths of young persons in the bloom of life; and some of them
   very sudden deaths. Will the conversion of others move you? There is
   indeed scarce any thing that is found to have so great a tendency to
   stir persons up as this: and this you have been tried with of late in
   frequent instances; but are hitherto proof against it. Will a general
   pouring out of the Spirit, and seeing a concern about salvation amongst
   all sorts of people, do it? This means you now have, but without
   effect. Yea, you have all these things together; you have the solemn
   warnings of God's word, and awful instances of death, and the
   conversion of others, and see a general concern about salvation: but
   all together do not move you to any great concern about your own
   precious, immortal, and miserable soul. Therefore consider by what
   means it is that you expect ever to be awakened.

   You have heard that it is probable some who are now awakened, will
   never obtain salvation; how dark then does it look upon you that remain
   stupidly unawakened! Those who are not moved at such a time as this,
   come to adult age, have reason to fear whether they are not given up to
   judicial hardness. I do not say they have reason to conclude it, but
   they have reason to fear it. How dark doth it look upon you, that God
   comes and knocks at so many persons' doors, and misses yours! that God
   is giving the strivings of his Spirit so generally amongst us, while
   you are left senseless!

   3. Do you expect to obtain salvation without ever seeking it? If you
   are sensible that there is a necessity of your seeking in order to
   obtaining, and ever intend to seek, one would think you could not avoid
   it at such a time as this. Inquire therefore, whether you intend to go
   to heaven, living all your days a secure, negligent, careless
   life.--Or,

   4. Do you think you can bear the damnation of hell? Do you imagine that
   you can tolerably endure the devouring fire, and everlasting burnings?
   Do you hope that you shall be able to grapple with the vengeance of God
   Almighty, when he girds himself with strength, and clothes himself with
   wrath? Do you think to strengthen yourself against God, and to be able
   to make your part good with him? 1 Cor. x. 22. "Do we provoke the Lord
   to jealousy? are we stronger than he?" Do you flatter yourself that you
   shall find out ways for your ease and support, and to make it out
   tolerably well, to bear up your spirit in those everlasting burnings
   that are prepared for the devil and his angels? Ezek. xxii. 14. "Can
   thine heart endure, or can thine hands be strong, in the days that I
   shall deal with thee?"--It is a difficult thing to conceive what such
   Christless persons think, that are unconcerned at such a time.

   III. I would direct myself to them who are grown considerably into
   years, and are yet in a natural condition. I would now take occasion
   earnestly to exhort you to improve this extraordinary opportunity, and
   press into the kingdom of God. You have lost many advantages that once
   you had, and now have not the same advantages that others have. The
   case is very different with you from what it is with many of your
   neighbours. You, above all, had need to improve such an opportunity.
   Now is the time for you to bestir yourself, and take the kingdom of
   heaven!--Consider,

   1. Now there seems to be a door opened for old sinners. Now God is
   dealing forth freely to all sorts: his hand is opened wide, and he does
   not pass by old ones so much as he used to do. You are not under such
   advantages as others who are younger; but yet, so wonderfully has God
   ordered it, that now you are not destitute of great advantage. Though
   old in sin, God has put a new and extraordinary advantage into your
   hands. O! improve this price you have to get wisdom! You that have been
   long seeking to enter in at the strait gate and yet remain without, now
   take your opportunity and press in! You that have been long in the
   wilderness, fighting with various temptations, labouring under
   discouragements, ready to give up the case, and have been often tempted
   to despair, now, behold the door that God opens for you! Do not give
   way to discouragements now; this is not a time for it. Do not spend
   time in thinking, that you have done what you can already, and that you
   are not elected, and in giving way to other perplexing, weakening,
   disheartening temptations. Do not waste away this precious opportunity
   in such a manner. You have no time to spare for such things as these;
   God calls you now to something else. Improve this time in seeking and
   striving for salvation, and not in that which tends to hinder it.-- It
   is no time now for you to stand talking with the devil; but hearken to
   God, and apply yourself to that which he does now so loudly call you
   to.

   Some of you have often lamented the loss of past opportunities,
   particularly, the loss of the time of youth, and have been wishing that
   you had so good an opportunity again; and have been ready to say, "O!
   if I was young again, how would I improve such an advantage!" That
   opportunity which you have had in time past is irrecoverable; you can
   never have it again: but God can give you other advantages of another
   sort, that are very great, and he is so doing at this day. He is now
   putting a new opportunity into your hands; though not of the same kind
   with that which you once had, and have lost, yet in some respects as
   great of another kind. If you lament your folly in neglecting and
   losing past opportunities, then do not be guilty of the folly of
   neglecting the opportunity which God now gives you. This opportunity
   you could not have purchased, if you would have given all that you had
   in the world for it. But God is putting it into your hands himself, of
   his own free and sovereign mercy, without your purchasing it. Therefore
   when you have it, do not neglect it.

   2. It is a great deal more likely with respect to such persons than
   others, that this is their last time. There will be a last time of
   special offer of salvation to impenitent sinners--"God's Spirit shall
   not always strive with man," Gen. vi. 3. God sometimes continues long
   knocking at the doors of wicked men's hearts; but there are the last
   knocks, and the last calls that ever they shall have. And sometimes
   God's last calls are the loudest; and then if sinners do not hearken,
   he finally leaves them. How long has God been knocking at many of your
   doors that are old in sin! It is a great deal more likely that these
   are his last knocks. You have resisted God's Spirit in times past, and
   have hardened your heart once and again; but God will not be thus dealt
   with always. There is danger, that if now, after so long a time, you
   will not hearken, he will utterly desert you, and leave you to walk in
   your own counsels.

   It seems by God's providence, as though God had yet an elect number
   amongst old sinners in this place, that perhaps he is now about to
   bring in. It looks as though there were some that long lived under Mr.
   Stoddard's ministry, that God has not utterly cast off, though they
   stood it out under such great means as they then enjoyed. It is to be
   hoped that God will now bring in a remnant from among them. But it is
   the more likely that God is now about finishing with them, one way or
   other, for their having been so long the subjects of such extraordinary
   means. You have seen former times of the pouring out of God's Spirit
   upon the town, when others were taken and you left, others were called
   out of darkness into marvellous light, and were brought into a glorious
   and happy state, and you saw not good when good came. How dark will
   your circumstances appear, if you shall also stand it out through this
   opportunity, and still be left behind! Take heed that you be not of
   those spoken of, Heb. vi. 7, 8. that are like the "earth that has rain
   coming oft upon it, and only bears briers and thorns." As we see there
   are some pieces of ground, the more showers of rain fall upon them, the
   more fruitful seasons there are, the more do the briers, and other
   useless and hurtful plants, that are rooted in them, grow and flourish.
   Of such ground the apostle says, "it is rejected, and is nigh unto
   cursing, whose end is to be burned." The way that the husbandman takes
   with such ground, is, to set fire to it, to burn up the growth of
   it.--If you miss this opportunity, there is danger that you will be
   utterly rejected, and that your end will be to be burned. And if this
   is to be, it is to be feared, that you are not far from, but nigh unto,
   cursing.

   Those of you that are already grown old in sin, and are now under
   awakenings, when you feel your convictions begin to go off, if ever
   that should be, then remember what you have now been told; it may well
   then strike you to the heart!

   IV. I would direct the advice to those that are young, and now under
   their first special convictions. I would earnestly urge such to improve
   this opportunity, and press into the kingdom of God.--Consider two
   things,

   1. You have all manner of advantages now centering upon you. It is a
   time of great advantage for all; but your advantages are above others.
   There is no other sort of persons that have now so great and happy an
   opportunity as you have--You have the great advantage that is common to
   all who live in this place, viz. That now it is a time of the
   extraordinary pouring out of the Spirit of God. And have you not that
   great advantage, the awakening influences of the Spirit of God on you
   in particular? and besides, you have this peculiar advantage, that you
   are now in your youth. And added to this, you have another unspeakable
   advantage, that you now are under your first convictions. Happy is he
   that never has hardened his heart, and blocked up his own way to heaven
   by backsliding, and has now the awakening influences of God's Spirit,
   if God does but enable him thoroughly to improve them! Such above all
   in the world bid fair for the kingdom of God. God is wont on such,
   above any kind of persons, as it were easily and readily to bestow the
   saving grace and comforts of his Spirit. Instances of speedy and sudden
   conversion are most commonly found among such. Happy are they that have
   the Spirit of God with them, and never have quenched it, if they did
   but know the price they have in their hands!

   If you have a sense of your necessity of salvation, and the great worth
   and value of it, you will be willing to take the surest way to it, or
   that which has the greatest probability of success: and that certainly
   is, thoroughly to improve your first convictions. If you do so, it is
   not likely that you will fail; there is the greatest probability that
   you will succeed.--What is it not worth, to have such an advantage in
   one's hands for obtaining eternal life? The present season of the
   pouring out of God's Spirit, is the first that many of you who are now
   under awakenings have ever seen, since you came to years of
   understanding. On which account, it is the greatest opportunity that
   ever you have had, and probably by far the greatest that ever you will
   have. There are many here present who wish they had such an
   opportunity, but they never can obtain it; they cannot buy it for
   money; but you have it in your possession, and can improve it if you
   will. But yet,

   2. There is on some accounts greater danger that such as are in your
   circumstances will fail of thoroughly improving their convictions, with
   respect to stedfastness and perseverance, than others. Those that are
   young are more unstable than elder persons. They who never had
   convictions before, have less experience of the difficulty of the work
   they have engaged in; they are more ready to think that they shall
   obtain salvation easily, and are more easily discouraged by
   disappointments; and young persons have less reason and consideration
   to fortify them against temptations to backsliding. You should
   therefore labour now the more to guard against such temptations. By all
   means make but one work of seeking salvation! Make thorough work of it
   the first time! There are vast disadvantages that they bring themselves
   under, who have several turns of seeking with great intermissions. By
   such a course, persons exceedingly wound their own souls, and entangle
   themselves in many snares. Who are those that commonly meet with so
   many difficulties, and are so long labouring in darkness and
   perplexity, but those who have had several turns at seeking salvation;
   who have one while had convictions, and then have quenched them, and
   then have set about the work again, and have backslidden again, and
   have gone on after that manner? The children of Israel would not have
   been forty years in the wilderness, if they had held their courage, and
   had gone on as they set out; but they were of an unstable mind, and
   were for going back again into Egypt.--Otherwise, if they had gone
   right forward without discouragement, as God would have led them, they
   would have soon entered and taken possession of Canaan. They had got to
   the very borders of it when they turned back, but were thirty-eight
   years after that, before they got through the wilderness. Therefore, as
   you regard the interest of your soul, do not run yourself into a like
   difficulty, by unsteadiness, intermission, and backsliding; but press
   right forward, from henceforth, and make but one work of seeking,
   converting, and pardoning grace, however great, and difficult, and long
   a work that may be.+
     __________________________________________________________________

   [676] Joseph Clark's wife, a young woman lately married, that died
   suddenly the week before this was delivered.
     __________________________________________________________________

      DISCOURSE III.

   ruth's resolution

   Ruth i. 16.

   And Ruth said, Entreat me not to leave thee, or to return from
   following after thee: for whither thou goest, I will go: and where thou
   lodgest, I will lodge: thy people shall be my people, and thy God my
   God.

   The historical things in this book of Ruth, seem to be inserted in the
   canon of the Scripture, especially on two accounts:

   First, Because Christ was of Ruth's posterity. The Holy Ghost thought
   fit to take particular notice of that marriage of Boaz with Ruth,
   whence sprang the Saviour of the world. We may often observe it, that
   the Holy Spirit who indited the Scriptures, often takes notice of
   little things, or minute occurrences, that do but remotely relate to
   Jesus Christ.

   Secondly, Because this history seems to be typical of the calling of
   the Gentile church, and indeed of the conversion of every believer.
   Ruth was not originally of Israel, but was a Moabitess, an alien from
   the commonwealth of Israel: but she forsook her own people, and the
   idols of the Gentiles, to worship the God of Israel, and to join
   herself to that people. Herein she seems to be a type of the Gentile
   church, and also of every sincere convert. Ruth was the remote mother
   of Christ; he came of her posterity: so the church is Christ's mother,
   as she is represented, at the beginning. And so also is every true
   Christian his mother. Matt. xii. 50. "Whosoever shall do the will of my
   Father which is in heaven, the same is my brother, and sister, and
   mother." Christ is what the soul is in travail with, at the new birth.
   Ruth forsook all her natural relations, and her own country, the land
   of her nativity, and all her former possessions there, for the sake of
   the God of Israel; as every true Christian forsakes all for Christ.
   Psalm xlv. 10. "Hearken, O daughter, and consider, and incline thine
   ear; forget also thine own people, and thy father's house."

   Naomi was now returning out of the land of Moab, into the land of
   Israel, with her two daughters-in-law, Orpah and Ruth; who will
   represent to us two sorts of professors of religion: Orpah, those who
   indeed make a fair profession, and seem to set out well, but continue
   only for a while, and then turn back; Ruth, those who are sound and
   sincere, and therefore are stedfast and persevering in their way.
   Naomi, in the preceding verses, represents to her daughters the
   difficulties of their leaving their own country to go with her. And in
   this verse may be observed,

   1. The remarkable conduct and behaviour of Ruth on this occasion; with
   what inflexible resolution she cleaves to Naomi, and follows her. When
   Naomi first arose to return from the country of Moab into the land of
   Israel, Orpah and Ruth both set out with her; and Naomi exhorts them
   both to return. And both wept, and seemed as if they could not bear the
   thoughts of leaving her, and appeared as if they were resolved to go
   with her. Verse 10. "And they said unto her, Surely we will return with
   thee unto thy people." Then Naomi says to them again, "Turn again, my
   daughters, go your way," &c. And then they were greatly affected again,
   and Orpah returned and went back. Now Ruth's stedfastness in her
   purpose had a greater trial, but yet is not overcome: Ruth i. 14."She
   clave unto her," verse 14. Then Naomi speaks to her again, verse 15.
   "Behold, thy sister-in-law is gone back unto her people, and unto her
   gods; return thou after thy sister-in-law." And then she shows her
   immovable resolution in the text and following verse.

   2. I would particularly observe that wherein the virtuousness of this
   her resolution consists, viz. that it was for the sake of the God of
   Israel, and that she might be one of his people, that she was thus
   resolved to cleave to Naomi: Ruth i. 16. "Thy people shall be my
   people, and thy God my God." It was for God's sake that she did thus;
   and therefore her so doing is afterwards spoken of as a virtuous
   behaviour in her, chap. ii. 11, 12. "And Boaz answered and said unto
   her, It hath fully been showed me, all that thou hast done unto thy
   mother-in-law since the death of thine husband; and how thou hast left
   thy father, and thy mother, and the land of thy nativity, and art come
   unto a people which thou knewest not heretofore. The Lord recompense
   thy work, and a full reward be given thee of the Lord God of Israel,
   under whose wings thou art come to trust." She left her father and
   mother, and the land of her nativity, to come and trust under the
   shadow of God's wings; and she had indeed a full reward given her, as
   Boaz wished; for besides immediate spiritual blessings to her own soul,
   and eternal rewards in another world, she was rewarded with plentiful
   and prosperous outward circumstances in the family of Boaz. And God
   raised up David and Solomon of her seed, and established the crown of
   Israel (the people that she chose before her own people) in her
   posterity; and, which is much more, of her seed he raised up Jesus
   Christ, in whom all the families of the earth are blessed.

   From the words thus opened, I observe this for the subject of my
   present discourse:--"When those that we have formerly been conversant
   with, are turning to God, and joining themselves to his people, it
   ought to be our firm resolution, that we will not leave them; but that
   their people shall be our people, and their God our God."

   It sometimes happens, that of those who have been conversant one with
   another--who have dwelt together as neighbours, and have been often
   together as companions, or united in their relation, and have been
   together in darkness, bondage, and misery, in the service of
   Satan--some are enlightened, and have their minds changed, are made to
   see the great evil of sin, and have their hearts turned to God. They
   are influenced by the Holy Spirit of God, to leave their company that
   are on Satan's side, and to join themselves with that blessed company
   that are with Jesus Christ. They are made willing to forsake the tents
   of wickedness, to dwell in the land of uprightness with the people of
   God.

   And sometimes this proves a final parting or separation between them
   and those with whom they have been formerly conversant. Though it may
   be no parting in outward respects, they may still dwell, and converse
   one with another; yet in other respects, it sets them at a great
   distance. One is a child of God, and the other his enemy; one is in a
   miserable, and the other in a happy, condition; one is a citizen of the
   heavenly Zion, the other is under condemnation to hell. They are no
   longer together in those respects wherein they used to be together.
   They used to be of one mind to serve sin, and do Satan's work; now they
   are of contrary minds. They used to be together in worldliness and
   sinful vanity; now they are of exceeding different dispositions. They
   are separated as they are in different kingdoms; the one remains in the
   kingdom of darkness, the other is translated into the kingdom of God's
   dear Son. And sometimes they are finally separated in these respects:
   while one dwells in the land of Israel, and in the house of God; the
   other, like Orpah, lives and dies in the land of Moab.

   Now it is lamentable, it is awful being parted so. It is doleful, when
   of those who have formerly been together in sin, some turn to God, and
   join themselves with his people, that it should prove a parting between
   them and their former companions and acquaintance. It should be our
   firm and inflexible resolution in such a case, that it shall be no
   parting, but that we will follow them, that their people shall be our
   people, and their God our God; and that for the following reasons:

   I. Because their God is a glorious God. There is none like him, who is
   infinite in glory and excellency. He is the most high God, glorious in
   holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders. His name is excellent in
   all the earth, and his glory is above the heavens. Among the gods there
   is none like unto him; there is none in heaven to be compared to him,
   nor are there any among the sons of the mighty that can be likened unto
   him. Their God is the fountain of all good, and an inexhaustible
   fountain; he is an all-sufficient God, able to protect and defend them,
   and do all things for them. He is the King of glory, the Lord strong
   and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle: a strong rock, and a high tower.
   There is none like the God of Jeshurun, who rideth on the heaven in
   their help, and in his excellency on the sky: the eternal God is their
   refuge, and underneath are everlasting arms. He is a God who hath all
   things in his hands, and does whatsoever he pleases: he killeth and
   maketh alive; he bringeth down to the grave and bringeth up; he maketh
   poor and maketh rich: the pillars of the earth are the Lord's. Their
   God is an infinitely holy God; there is none holy as the Lord. And he
   is infinitely good and merciful. Many that others worship and serve as
   gods, are cruel beings, spirits that seek the ruin of souls; but this
   is a God that delighteth in mercy; his grace is infinite, and endures
   for ever. He is love itself, an infinite fountain and ocean of it.

   Such a God is their God! Such is the excellency of Jacob! Such is the
   God of them who have forsaken their sins and are converted! They have
   made a wise choice who have chosen this for their God. They have made a
   happy exchange indeed, that have exchanged sin, and the world, for such
   a God!

   They have an excellent and glorious Saviour, who is the only-begotten
   Son of God; the brightness of his Father's glory; one in whom God from
   eternity had infinite delight; a Saviour of infinite love; one that has
   shed his own blood, and made his soul an offering for their sins, and
   one that is able to save them to the uttermost.

   II. Their people are an excellent and happy people. God has renewed
   them, and stamped his own image upon them, and made them partakers of
   his holiness. They are more excellent than their neighbours, Prov. xii.
   26. Yea, they are the excellent of the earth, Psalm xvi. 3. They are
   lovely in the sight of the angels; and they have their souls adorned
   with those graces that in the sight of God himself are of great price.

   The people of God are the most excellent and happy society in the
   world. That God whom they have chosen for their God, is their Father;
   he has pardoned all their sins, and they are at peace with him; and he
   has admitted them to all the privileges of his children. As they have
   devoted themselves to God, so he has given himself to them. He is
   become their salvation, and their portion: his power and mercy, and all
   his attributes, are theirs. They are in a safe state, free from all
   possibility of perishing: Satan has no power to destroy them. God
   carries them on eagle's wings, far above Satan's reach, and above the
   reach of all the enemies of their souls. God is with them in this
   world; they have his gracious presence. God is for them; who then can
   be against them? As the mountains are round about Jerusalem, so Jehovah
   is round about them. God is their shield, and their exceeding great
   reward; and their fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus
   Christ: and they have the divine promise and oath, that in the world to
   come they shall dwell for ever in the glorious presence of God.

   It may well be sufficient to induce us to resolve to cleave to those
   that forsake their sins and idols to join themselves with this people,
   that God is with them, Zech. viii. 23. "Thus saith the Lord of hosts,
   in those days it shall come to pass, that ten men shall take hold out
   of all languages of the nations, even shall take hold of the skirt of
   him that is a Jew, saying, We will go with you; for we have heard that
   God is with you." So should persons, as it were, take hold of the skirt
   of their neighbours and companions that have turned to God, and resolve
   that they will go with them, because God is with them.

   III. Happiness is no where else to be had, but in their God, and with
   their people. There are that are called gods many, and lords many. Some
   make gods of their pleasures; some choose Mammon for their god; some
   make gods of their own supposed excellences, or the outward advantages
   they have above their neighbours: some choose one thing for their god,
   and others another. But men can be happy in no other but the God of
   Israel: he is the only fountain of happiness. Other gods cannot help in
   calamity; nor can any of them afford what the poor empty soul stands in
   need of. Let men adore those other gods never so much, and call upon
   them never so earnestly, and serve them never so diligently, they will
   nevertheless remain poor, wretched, unsatisfied, undone creatures. All
   other people are miserable, but that people whose God is the Lord.--The
   world is divided into two societies: the people of God, the little
   flock of Jesus Christ, that company that we read of, Rev. xiv. 4.
   "These are they which were not defiled with women; for they are
   virgins: these are they which follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth:
   these were redeemed from among men, being the first-fruits unto God,
   and to the Lamb:" and, those that belong to the kingdom of darkness,
   that are without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel,
   strangers from the covenant of promise, having no hope, and without God
   in the world. All that are of this latter company are wretched and
   undone; they are the enemies of God, and under his wrath and
   condemnation. They are the devil's slaves, that serve him blindfold,
   and are befooled and ensnared by him, and hurried along in the broad
   way to eternal perdition.

   IV. When those that we have formerly been conversant with are turning
   to God and to his people, their example ought to influence us. Their
   example should be looked upon as the call of God to us, to do as they
   have done. God, when he changes the heart of one, calls upon another;
   especially does he loudly call on those that have been their friends
   and acquaintance. We have been influenced by their examples in evil;
   and shall we cease to follow them, when they make the wisest choice
   that ever they made, and do the best thing that ever they did? If we
   have been companions with them in worldliness, in vanity, in
   unprofitable and sinful conversation, it will be a hard case, if there
   must be a parting now, because we are not willing to be companions with
   them in holiness and true happiness. Men are greatly influenced by
   seeing one another's prosperity in other things. If those whom they
   have been much conversant with, grow rich, and obtain any great earthly
   advantages, it awakens their ambition, and eager desire after the like
   prosperity: how much more should they be influenced, and stirred up to
   follow them, and be like them, when they obtain that spiritual and
   eternal happiness, that is of infinitely more worth, than all the
   prosperity and glory of this world!

   V. Our resolutions to cleave to and follow those that are turning to
   God, and joining themselves to his people, ought to be fixed and
   strong, because of the great difficulty of it. If we will cleave to
   them, and have their God for our God, and their people for our people,
   we must mortify and deny all our lusts, and cross every evil appetite
   and inclination, and for ever part with all sin. But our lusts are many
   and violent. Sin is naturally exceeding dear to us; to part with it is
   compared to plucking out our right eyes. Men may refrain from wonted
   ways of sin for a little while, and may deny their lusts in a partial
   degree, with less difficulty; but it is heart-rending work, finally to
   part with all sin, and to give our dearest lusts a bill of divorce,
   utterly to send them away. But this we must do, if we would follow
   those that are truly turning to God: yea, we must not only forsake sin,
   but must, in a sense, forsake all the world, Luke xiv. 33. "Whosoever
   he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my
   disciple." That is, he must forsake all in his heart, and must come to
   a thorough disposition and readiness actually to quit all for God, and
   the glorious spiritual privileges of his people, whenever the case may
   require it; and that without any prospect of any thing of the like
   nature, or any worldly thing whatsoever, to make amends for it; and all
   to go into a strange country, a land that has hitherto been unseen;
   like Abraham, who being called of God, Gen. xii. 1. "went out of his
   own country, and from his kindred, and from his father's house, for a
   land that God should show him, not knowing whither he went."

   Thus, it was a hard thing for Ruth to forsake her native country, her
   father and mother, her kindred and acquaintance, and all the pleasant
   things she had in the land of Moab, to dwell in the land of Israel,
   where she never had been. Naomi told her of the difficulties once and
   again. They were too hard for her sister Orpah; the consideration of
   them turned her back after she was set out. Her resolution was not firm
   enough to overcome them. But so firmly resolved was Ruth, that she
   brake through all; she was stedfast in it, that, let the difficulty be
   what it would, she would not leave her mother-in-law. So persons had
   need to be very firm in their resolution to conquer the difficulties
   that are in the way of cleaving to them who are indeed turning from sin
   to God.

   Our cleaving to them, and having their God for our God, and their
   people for our people, depends on our resolution and choice; and that
   in two respects.

   1. The firmness of resolution in using means in order to it, is the way
   to have means effectual. There are means appointed in order to our
   becoming some of the true Israel, and having their God for our God; and
   the thorough use of these means is the way to have success; but not a
   slack or slighty use of them. And that we may be thorough, there is
   need of strength of resolution, a firm and inflexible disposition and
   bent of mind to be universal in the use of means, and to do what we do
   with our might, and to persevere in it. Matt. xi. 12. "The kingdom of
   heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force."

   2. A choosing of their God, and their people, with a full
   determination, and with the whole soul, is the condition of an union
   with them. God gives every man his choice in this matter: as Orpah and
   Ruth had their choice, whether they would go with Naomi into the land
   of Israel, or stay in the land of Moab. A natural man may choose
   deliverance from hell; but no man doth ever heartily choose God and
   Christ, and the spiritual benefits that Christ has purchased, and the
   happiness of God's people, till he is converted. On the contrary, he is
   averse to them; he has no relish of them; and is wholly ignorant of
   their inestimable worth and value.

   Many carnal men seem to choose these things, but do it not really; as
   Orpah seemed at first to choose to forsake Moab to go into the land of
   Israel: but when Naomi came to set before her the difficulty of it, she
   went back; and thereby showed that she was not fully determined in her
   choice, and that her whole soul was not in it as Ruth's was.

      APPLICATION.

   The use that I shall make of what has been said, is to move sinners to
   this resolution, with respect to those amongst us that have lately
   turned to God, and joined themselves to the flock of Christ. Through
   the abundant mercy and grace of God to us in this place, it may be said
   of many of you that are in a Christless condition, that you have lately
   been left by those that were formerly with you in such a state. Some of
   those with whom you have formerly been conversant, have lately forsaken
   a life of sin and the service of Satan, and have turned to God, and
   fled to Christ, and joined themselves to that blessed company that are
   with him. They formerly were with you in sin and in misery; but now
   they are with you no more in that state or manner of life. They are
   changed, and have fled from the wrath to come; they have chosen a life
   of holiness here, and the enjoyment of God hereafter. They were
   formerly your associates in bondage, and were with you in Satan's
   business; but now you have their company no longer in these things.
   Many of you have seen those you live with, under the same roof, turning
   from being any longer with you in sin, to be with the people of Jesus
   Christ. Some of you that are husbands, have had your wives; and some of
   you that are wives, have had your husbands; some of you that are
   children, have had your parents; and parents have had your children;
   many of you have had your brothers and sisters; and many your near
   neighbours, and acquaintance, and special friends; many of you that are
   young have had your companions: I say, many of you have had those that
   you have been thus concerned with, leaving you, forsaking that doleful
   life and wretched state in which you still continue. God, of his good
   pleasure and wonderful grace, hath lately caused in this place
   multitudes to forsake their old abodes in the land of Moab, and under
   the gods of Moab, and go into the land of Israel, to put their trust
   under the wings of the Lord God of Israel. Though you and they have
   been nearly related, and have dwelt together, or have been often
   together and intimately acquainted, they have been taken, and you
   hitherto left! O let it not be the foundation of a final parting! But
   earnestly follow them; be firm in your resolution in this matter. Do
   not as Orpah did, who, though at first she made as though she would
   follow Naomi, yet when she had the difficulty set before her, went
   back: but say as Ruth, Ruth i. 16. "I will not leave thee; but where
   thou goest, I will go: thy people shall be my people, and thy God my
   God." Say as she said, and do as she did. Consider the excellency of
   their God, and their Saviour, and the happiness of their people, the
   blessed state that they are in, and the doleful state you are in.

   You are old sinners, who have lived long in the service of Satan, have
   lately seen some that have travelled with you in the paths of sin these
   many years, turning to God. They with you enjoyed great means and
   advantages, had calls and warnings with you, and with you passed
   through remarkable times of the pouring out of God's Spirit in this
   place, and hardened their hearts and stood it out with you, and with
   you have grown old in sin; yet you have seen some of them turning to
   God, i. e. you have seen those evidences of it in them, whence you may
   rationally judge that it is so. O! let it not be a final parting! You
   have been thus long together in sin, and under condemnation; let it be
   your firm resolution, that, if possible, you will be with them still,
   now they are in a holy and happy state, and that you will follow them
   into the holy and pleasant land.--You that tell of your having been
   seeking salvation for many years, (though, without doubt, in a poor
   dull way, in comparison of what you ought to have done,) have seen some
   old sinners and old seekers, as you are, obtaining mercy. God has
   lately roused them from their dulness, and caused them to alter their
   hand, and put them on more thorough endeavours; and they have now,
   after so long a time, heard God's voice, and have fled for refuge to
   the rock of ages. Let this awaken earnestness and resolution in you.
   Resolve that you will not leave them.

   You who are in your youth, how many have you seen of your age and
   standing, that have of late hopefully chosen God for their God, and
   Christ for their Saviour! You have followed them in sin, and have
   perhaps followed them into vain company; and will you not now follow
   them to Christ?--And you who are children, know that there have lately
   been some of your sort who have repented of their sins, loved the Lord
   Jesus Christ, and trusted in him, and are become God's children, as we
   have reason to hope: let it stir you up to resolve to your utmost to
   seek and cry to God, that you may have the like change made in your
   hearts, that their people may be your people, and their God your God.

   You who are great sinners, who have made yourselves distinguishingly
   guilty by the wicked practices you have lived in, know that there are
   some of your sort who have lately (as we have reason to hope) had their
   hearts broken for sin, and have forsaken it, and trusted in the blood
   of Christ for the pardon of it. They have chosen a holy life, and have
   betaken themselves to the ways of wisdom: let it excite and encourage
   you resolutely to cleave to them, and earnestly to follow them.

   Let the following things be considered:

   1. That your soul is as precious as theirs. It is immortal as theirs
   is; and stands in as much need of happiness, and can as ill bear
   eternal misery. You was born in the same miserable condition that they
   were, having the same wrath of God abiding on you. You must stand
   before the same Judge; who will be as strict in judgment with you as
   with them; and your own righteousness will stand you in no more stead
   before him than theirs; and therefore you stand in as absolute
   necessity of a Saviour as they. Carnal confidences can no more answer
   your end than theirs; nor can this world or its enjoyments serve to
   make you happy without God and Christ, more than them. When the
   bridegroom comes, the foolish virgins stand in as much need of oil as
   the wise, Matt. xxv. at the beginning.

   2. Unless you follow them in their turning to God, their conversion
   will be a foundation of an eternal separation between you and them. You
   will be in different interests, and in exceeding different states, as
   long as you live; they the children of God, and you the children of
   Satan; and you will be parted in another world; when you come to die,
   there will be a vast separation made between you. Luke xvi. 26. "And
   besides all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed: so
   that they which would pass from hence to you, cannot; neither can they
   pass to us, that would come from thence." And you will be parted at the
   day of judgment. You will be parted at Christ's first appearance in the
   clouds of heaven. While they are caught up in the clouds to meet the
   Lord in the air, to be ever with the Lord, you will remain below,
   confined to this cursed ground, that is kept in store, reserved unto
   fire, against the day of judgment, and perdition of ungodly men. You
   will appear separated from them, while you stand before the great
   judgment-seat, they being at the right hand, while you are set at the
   left. Matt. xxv. 32, 33. "And before him shall be gathered all nations;
   and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his
   sheep from the goats; and he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but
   the goats on the left." And you shall then appear in exceeding
   different circumstances: while you stand with devils, in the image and
   deformity of devils, and in ineffable horror and amazement, they shall
   appear in glory, sitting on thrones, as assessors with Christ, and as
   such passing judgment upon you, 1 Cor. vi. 2. And what shame and
   confusion will then cover you, when so many of your contemporaries,
   your equals, your neighbours, relations, and companions, shall be
   honoured, and openly acknowledged, and confessed by the glorious Judge
   of the universe, and Redeemer of saints, and shall be seen by you
   sitting with him in such glory. You shall appear to have neglected your
   salvation, and not to have improved your opportunities, and rejected
   the Lord Jesus Christ, the same person that will then appear as your
   great Judge, and you shall be the subjects of wrath, and, as it were,
   trodden down in eternal contempt and disgrace. Dan. xii. 2. "Some shall
   rise to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt."
   And what a wide separation will the sentence then passed and executed
   make between you and them! When you shall be sent away out of the
   presence of the Judge with indignation and abhorrence, as cursed and
   loathsome creatures they shall be sweetly accosted and invited into his
   glory as his dear friends, and the blessed of his Father! When you,
   with all that vast throng of wicked and accursed men and devils, shall
   descend with loud lamentings, and horrid shrieks, into that dreadful
   gulf of fire and brimstone, and shall be swallowed up in that great and
   everlasting furnace; they shall joyfully, and with sweet songs of glory
   and praise, ascend with Christ, and all that beauteous and blessed
   company of saints and angels, into eternal felicity, in the glorious
   presence of God, and the sweet embraces of his love. You and they shall
   spend eternity in such a separation, and immensely different
   circumstances! You have been intimately acquainted and nearly related,
   closely united and mutually conversant in this world; and you have
   taken delight in each other's company! And shall it be--after you have
   been together a great while, each of you in undoing yourselves,
   enhancing your guilt, and heaping up wrath--that their so wisely
   changing their minds and their course, and choosing such happiness for
   themselves, should now at length be the beginning of such an exceeding
   and everlasting separation between you and them? How awful will it be
   to be parted so!

   3. Consider the great encouragement that God gives you, earnestly to
   strive for the same blessing that others have obtained. There is great
   encouragement in the word of God to sinners to seek salvation, in the
   revelation we have of the abundant provision made for the salvation
   even of the chief of sinners, and in the appointment of so many means
   to be used with and by sinners, in order to their salvation; and by the
   blessing which God in his word connects with the means of his
   appointment. There is hence great encouragement for all, at all times,
   that will be thorough in using of these means. But now God gives
   extraordinary encouragement in his providence, by pouring out his
   Spirit so remarkably amongst us, and bringing savingly home to himself
   all sorts, young and old, rich and poor, wise and unwise, sober and
   vicious, old self-righteous seekers, and profligate livers: no sort are
   exempt. There is at this day amongst us the loudest call, and the
   greatest encouragement, and the widest door opened to sinners, to
   escape out of a state of sin and condemnation, that perhaps God ever
   granted in New England. Who is there that has an immortal soul, so
   sottish as not to improve such an opportunity, and that will not bestir
   himself with all his might? How unreasonable is negligence, and how
   exceeding unreasonable is discouragement, at such a day as this! Will
   you be so stupid as to neglect your soul now? Will any mortal amongst
   us be so unreasonable as to lag behind, or look back in discouragement,
   when God opens such a door? Let every person be thoroughly awake! Let
   every one encourage himself now to press forward, and fly for his life!

   4. Consider how earnestly desirous they that have obtained are that you
   should follow them, and that their people should be your people, and
   their God your God. They desire that you should partake of that great
   good which God has given them, and that unspeakable and eternal
   blessedness which he has promised them. They wish and long it. If you
   do not go with them, and are not still of their company, it will not be
   for want of their willingness, but your own. That of Moses to Hobab is
   the language of every true saint of your acquaintance to you. Numb. x.
   29. "We are journeying unto the place of which the Lord said, I will
   give it you: come thou with us, and we will do thee good; for the Lord
   hath spoken good concerning Israel." As Moses, when on his journey
   through the wilderness, following the pillar of cloud and fire, invited
   Hobab--with whom he had been acquainted in the land of Midian, where
   Moses had formerly dwelt with him--to go with him and his people to
   Canaan, to partake with them in the good that God had promised them; so
   do those of your friends and acquaintance invite you, out of a land of
   darkness and wickedness, where they have formerly been with you, to go
   with them to the heavenly Canaan. The company of saints, the true
   church of Christ, invite you. The lovely bride calls you to the
   marriage supper. She hath authority to invite guests to her own
   wedding; and you ought to look on her invitation and desire, as the
   call of Christ the bridegroom; for it is the voice of his Spirit in
   her, Rev. xxii. 17. "The Spirit and the bride say, Come." Where seems
   to be a reference to what has been said, chap. xix. 7-9. "The marriage
   of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready. And to her
   was granted, that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white;
   for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints. And he saith unto
   me, Write, blessed are they which are called to the marriage-supper of
   the Lamb." It is with respect to this her marriage-supper that she,
   from the motion of the Spirit of the Lamb in her, says, Come. So that
   you are invited on all hands; all conspire to call you. God the Father
   invites you: this is the King who has made a marriage for his Son; and
   he sends forth his servants, the ministers of the gospel, to invite the
   guests. And the Son himself invites you: it is he that speaks, Rev.
   xxii. 17. "And let him that heareth say, Come; and let him that is
   athirst, come; and whosoever will, let him come." He tells us who he is
   in the foregoing verse, Rev. xxii. 16. "I Jesus, the root and offspring
   of David, the bright and morning star." And God's ministers invite you,
   and all the church invites you; and there will be joy in the presence
   of the angels of God that hour that you accept the invitation.

   5. Consider what a doleful company will be left after this
   extraordinary time of mercy is over. We have reason to think that there
   will be a number left. We read that when Ezekiel's healing waters
   increased so abundantly, and the healing effect of them was so very
   general; yet there were certain places, where the waters came, that
   never were healed. Ezek. xlvii. 9-11. "And it shall come to pass, that
   every thing that liveth, which moveth, whithersoever the rivers shall
   come, shall live. And there shall be a very great multitude of fish,
   because these waters shall come thither: for they shall be healed, and
   every thing shall live whither the river cometh. And it shall come to
   pass, that the fishers shall stand upon it, from En-gedi even unto
   En-eglaim; they shall be a place to spread forth nets: there fish shall
   be according to their kinds, as the fish of the great sea, exceeding
   many. But the miry places thereof, and the marshes thereof, shall not
   be healed, they shall be given to salt." And even in the apostles'
   times, when there was such wonderful success of the gospel wherever
   they came, there were some that did not believe. Acts xiii. 48. "And
   when the Gentiles heard this, they were glad, and glorified the word of
   the Lord: and as many as were ordained to eternal life, believed." And
   chap, xxviii. 24. "And some believed, and some believed not." So we
   have no reason to expect but there will be some left amongst us. It is
   to be hoped it will be but a small company: but what a doleful company
   will it be! How darkly and awfully will it look upon them! If you shall
   be of that company, how well may your friends and relations lament over
   you, and bemoan your dark and dangerous circumstances! If you would not
   be one of them, make haste, delay not, and look not behind you. Shall
   all sorts obtain, shall every one press into the kingdom of God, while
   you stay loitering behind in a doleful undone condition? Shall every
   one take heaven, while you remain with no other portion but this world?
   Now take up that resolution, that if it be possible you will cleave to
   them that have fled for refuge to lay hold of the hope set before them.
   Count the cost of a thorough, violent, and perpetual pursuit of
   salvation, and forsake all, as Ruth forsook her own country, and all
   her pleasant enjoyments in it. Do not do as Orpah did; who set out, and
   then was discouraged, and went back: but hold out with Ruth through all
   discouragement and opposition. When you consider others that have
   chosen the better part, let that resolution be ever firm with you:
   "Where thou goest, I will go; where thou lodgest, I will lodge: thy
   people shall be my people, and thy God my God."
     __________________________________________________________________

      DISCOURSE IV.

   the justice of god in the damnation of sinners.

   Rom. iii. 19.

   --That every mouth may be stopped.--

   The main subject of the doctrinal part of this epistle, is the free
   grace of God in the salvation of men by Jesus Christ; especially as it
   appears in the doctrine of justification by faith alone. And the more
   clearly to evince this doctrine, and show the reason of it, the
   apostle, in the first place, establishes that point, that no flesh
   living can be justified by the deeds of the law. And to prove it, he is
   very large and particular in showing, that all mankind, not only the
   Gentiles, but Jews, are under sin, and so under the condemnation of the
   law; which is what he insists upon from the beginning of the epistle to
   this place. He first begins with the Gentiles; and in the first chapter
   shows that they are under sin, by setting forth the exceeding
   corruptions and horrid wickedness that overspread the Gentile world:
   and then through the second chapter, and the former part of this third
   chapter, to the text and following verse, he shows the same of the
   Jews, that they also are in the same circumstances with the Gentiles in
   this regard. They had a high thought of themselves, because they were
   God's covenant people, and circumcised, and the children of Abraham.
   They despised the Gentiles as polluted, condemned, and accursed; but
   looked on themselves, on account of their external privileges, and
   ceremonial and moral righteousness, as a pure and holy people, and the
   children of God; as the apostle observes in the second chapter. It was
   therefore strange doctrine to them, that they also were unclean and
   guilty in God's sight, and under the condemnation and curse of the law.
   The apostle therefore, on account of their strong prejudices against
   such doctrine, the more particularly insists upon it, and shows that
   they are no better than the Gentiles; as in the 9th verse of this
   chapter, "What then? are we better than they? No, in no wise; for we
   have before proved both Jews and Gentiles, that they are all under
   sin." And, to convince them of it, he produces certain passages out of
   their own law, or the Old Testament, (to whose authority they pretended
   a great regard,) from the 9th verse to our text. And it may be
   observed, that the apostle, first, cites certain passages to prove that
   all mankind are corrupt, (ver. 10-12.) "As it is written, There is none
   righteous, no not one: There is none that understandeth, there is none
   that seeketh after God: They are all gone out of the way, they are
   together become unprofitable, there is none that doeth good, no not
   one." Secondly, The passages he cites next, are to prove, that not only
   are all corrupt, but each one wholly corrupt, as it were all over
   unclean, from the crown of the head to the soles of his feet; and
   therefore several particular parts of the body are mentioned, the
   throat, the tongue, the lips, the mouth, the feet, (ver. 13-15. "Their
   throat is an open sepulchre; with their tongues they have used deceit;
   the poison of asps is under their lips; whose mouth is full of cursing
   and bitterness: their feet are swift to shed blood." And, Thirdly, He
   quotes other passages to show, that each one is not only all over
   corrupt, but corrupt to a desperate degree, (ver. 16-18.) by affirming
   the most pernicious tendency of their wickedness; "Destruction and
   misery are in their ways." And then by denying all goodness or
   godliness in them; "And the way of peace have they not known: There is
   no fear of God before their eyes." And then, lest the Jews should think
   these passages of their law do not concern them, and that only the
   Gentiles are intended in them, the apostle shows in the text, not only
   that they are not exempt, but that they especially must be understood:
   (Rom. iii. 19."Now we know that whatsoever things the law saith, it
   saith to them who are under the law." By those that are under the law
   are meant the Jews; and the Gentiles by those that are without law; as
   appears by the 12th verse of the preceding chapter. There is special
   reason to understand the law, as speaking to and of them, to whom it
   was immediately given. And therefore the Jews would be unreasonable in
   exempting themselves. And if we examine the places of the Old Testament
   whence these passages are taken, we shall see plainly that special
   respect is had to the wickedness of the people of that nation, in every
   one of them. So that the law shuts all up in universal and desperate
   wickedness, that every mouth, may be stopped; the mouths of the Jews,
   as well as of the Gentiles, notwithstanding all those privileges by
   which they were distinguished from the Gentiles.

   The things that the law says, are sufficient to stop the mouths of all
   mankind, in two respects.

   1. To stop them from boasting of their righteousness, as the Jews were
   wont to do; as the apostle observes in the (23d verse of the preceding
   chapter.--That the apostle has respect to stopping their mouths in this
   respect, appears by the ( 27th verse of the context, "Where is boasting
   then? It is excluded." The law stops our mouths from making: any plea
   for life, or the favour of God, or any positive good, from our own
   righteousness.

   2. To stop them from making any excuse for ourselves, or objection
   against the execution of the sentence of the law, or the infliction of
   the punishment that it threatens. That this is intended, appears by the
   words immediately following, Rom. ii. 19. "That all the world may
   become guilty before God." That is, that they may appear to he guilty,
   and stand convicted before God, and justly liable to the condemnation
   of his law, as guilty of death, according to the Jewish way of
   speaking.

   And thus the apostle proves, that no flesh can be justified in God's
   sight by the deeds of the law; as he draws the conclusion in the
   following verse; and so prepares the way for establishing the great
   doctrine of justification by faith alone, which he proceeds to do in
   the following part of the chapter, and of the epistle.

      DOCTRINE.

   "It is just with God eternally to cast off and destroy sinners."--For
   this is the punishment which the law condemns to--The truth of this
   doctrine may appear by the joint consideration of two things, viz.
   Man's sinfulness, and God's sovereignty.

   I. It appears from the consideration of man's sinfulness. And that
   whether we consider the infinitely evil nature of all sin, or how much
   sin men are guilty of.

   1. If we consider the infinite evil and heinousness of sin in general,
   it is not unjust in God to inflict what punishment is deserved; because
   the very notion of deserving any punishment is, that it may be justly
   inflicted. A deserved punishment and a just punishment are the same
   thing. To say that one deserves such a punishment, and yet to say that
   he does not justly deserve it, is a contradiction; and if he justly
   deserves it, then it may be justly inflicted.

   Every crime or fault deserves a greater or less punishment, in
   proportion as the crime itself is greater or less. If any fault
   deserves punishment, then so much the greater the fault, so much the
   greater is the punishment deserved. The faulty nature of any thing is
   the formal ground and reason of its desert of punishment; and therefore
   the more any thing hath of this nature, the more punishment it
   deserves. And therefore the terribleness of the degree of punishment,
   let it be never so terrible, is no argument against the justice of it,
   if the proportion does but hold between the heinousness of the crime
   and the dreadfulness of the punishment; so that if there be any such
   thing as a fault infinitely heinous, it will follow that it is just to
   inflict a punishment for it that is infinitely dreadful.

   A crime is more or less heinous, according as we are under greater or
   less obligations to the contrary. This is self-evident; because it is
   herein that the criminalness or faultiness of any thing consists, that
   it is contrary to what we are obliged or bound to, or what ought to be
   in us. So the faultiness of one being hating another, is in proportion
   to his obligation to love him. The crime of one being despising and
   casting contempt on another, is proportionably more or less heinous, as
   he was under greater or less obligations to honour him. The fault of
   disobeying another, is greater or less, as any one is under greater or
   less obligations to obey him. And therefore if there be any being that
   we are under infinite obligations to love, and honour, and obey, the
   contrary towards him must be infinitely faulty.

   Our obligation to love, honour, and obey any being, is in proportion to
   his loveliness, honourableness, and authority; for that is the very
   meaning of the words. When we say any one is very lovely, it is the
   same as to say, that he is one very much to be loved. Or if we say such
   a one is more honourable than another, the meaning of the words is,
   that he is one that we are more obliged to honour. If we say any one
   has great authority over us, it is the same as to say, that he has
   great right to our subjection and obedience.

   But God is a being infinitely lovely, because he hath infinite
   excellency and beauty. To have infinite excellency and beauty, is the
   same thing as to have infinite loveliness. He is a being of infinite
   greatness, majesty, and glory; and therefore he is infinitely
   honourable. He is infinitely exalted above the greatest potentates of
   the earth, and highest angels in heaven; and therefore he is infinitely
   more honourable than they. His authority over us is infinite; and the
   ground of his right to our obedience is infinitely strong; for he is
   infinitely worthy to be obeyed himself, and we have an absolute,
   universal, and infinite dependence upon him.

   So that sin against God, being a violation of infinite obligations,
   must be a crime infinitely heinous, and so deserving infinite
   punishment.--Nothing is more agreeable to the common sense of mankind,
   than that sins committed against any one, must be proportionably
   heinous to the dignity of the being offended and abused; as it is also
   agreeable to the word of God, 1 Sam. ii. 25. "If one man sin against
   another, the Judge shall judge him;" (i. e. shall judge him, and
   inflict a finite punishment, such as finite judges can inflict;) "but
   if a man sin against the Lord, who shall entreat for him?" This was the
   aggravation of sin that made Joseph afraid of it, Gen. xxxix. 9. "How
   shall I commit this great wickedness, and sin against God?" This was
   the aggravation of David's sin, in comparison of which he esteemed all
   others as nothing, because they were infinitely exceeded by it. Psalm
   li. 4. "Against thee, thee only have I sinned."--The eternity of the
   punishment of ungodly men renders it infinite; and it renders it no
   more than infinite; and therefore renders no more than proportionable
   to the heinousness of what they are guilty of.

   If there be any evil or faultiness in sin against God, there is
   certainly infinite evil: for if it be any fault at all, it has an
   infinite aggravation, viz. that it is against an infinite object. If it
   be ever so small upon other accounts, yet if it be any thing, it has
   one infinite dimension; and so is an infinite evil. Which may be
   illustrated by this: if we suppose a thing to have infinite length, but
   no breadth and thickness, (a mere mathematical line,) it is nothing:
   but if it have any breadth and thickness, though never so small, and
   infinite length, the quantity of it is infinite; it exceeds the
   quantity of any thing, however broad, thick, and long, wherein these
   dimensions are all finite.

   So that the objections made against the infinite punishment of sin,
   from the necessity, or rather previous certainty, of the futurition of
   sin, arising from the unavoidable original corruption of nature, if
   they argue any thing, argue against any faultiness at all: for if this
   necessity or certainty leaves any evil at all in sin, that fault must
   be infinites by reason of the infinite object.

   But every such objector as would argue from hence, that there is no
   fault at all in sin, confutes himself, and shows his own insincerity in
   his objection. For at the same time that he objects, that men's acts
   are necessary, and that this kind of necessity is inconsistent with
   faultiness in the act, his own practice shows that he does not believe
   what he objects to be true: otherwise why does he at all blame men? Or
   why are such persons at all displeased with men, for abusive,
   injurious, and ungrateful acts towards them? Whatever they pretend, by
   this they show that indeed they do believe that there is no necessity
   in men's acts that is inconsistent with blame. And if their objection
   be this, that this previous certainty is by God's own ordering, and
   that where God orders an antecedent certainty of acts, he transfers all
   the fault from the actor on himself; their practice shows, that at the
   same time they do not believe this, but fully believe the contrary: for
   when they are abused by men, they are displeased with men, and not with
   God only.

   The light of nature teaches all mankind, that when an injury is
   voluntary, it is faulty, without any consideration of what there might
   be previously to determine the futurition of that evil act of the will.
   And it really teaches this as much to those that object and cavil most
   as to others; as their universal practice shows. By which it appears,
   that such objections are insincere and perverse. Men will mention
   others' corrupt nature when they are injured, as a thing that
   aggravates their crime, and that wherein their faultiness partly
   consists. How common is it for persons, when they look on themselves
   greatly injured by another, to inveigh against him, and aggravate his
   baseness, by saying, "He is a man of a most perverse spirit: he is
   naturally of a selfish, niggardly, or proud and haughty temper: he is
   one of a base and vile disposition." And yet men's natural and corrupt
   dispositions are mentioned as an excuse for them, with respect to their
   sins against God, as if they rendered them blameless.

   2. That it is just with God eternally to cast off wicked men, may more
   abundantly appear, if we consider how much sin they are guilty of. From
   what has been already said, it appears, that if men were guilty of sin
   but in one particular, that is sufficient ground of their eternal
   rejection and condemnation. If they are sinners, that is enough. Merely
   this, might be sufficient to keep them from ever lifting up their
   heads, and cause them to smite on their breasts, with the publican that
   cried," God be merciful to me a sinner." But sinful men are full of
   sin; principles and acts of sin: their guilt is like great mountains,
   heaped one upon another, till the pile is grown up to heaven. They are
   totally corrupt, in every part, in all their faculties; in all the
   principles of their nature, their understandings, and wills; and in all
   their dispositions and affections. Their heads, their hearts, are
   totally depraved; all the members of their bodies are only instruments
   of sin; and all their senses, seeing, hearing, tasting, &c. are only
   inlets and outlets of sin, channels of corruption. There is nothing but
   sin, no good at all. Rom. vii. 18. "In me, that is, in my flesh, dwells
   no good thing." There is all manner of wickedness. There are the seeds
   of the greatest and blackest crimes. There are principles of all sorts
   of wickedness against men; and there is all wickedness against God.
   There is pride; there is enmity; there is contempt; there is
   quarrelling; there is atheism; there is blasphemy. There are these
   things in exceeding strength; the heart is under the power of them, is
   sold under sin, and is a perfect slave to it. There is hard-hearted
   ness, hardness greater than that of a rock, or an adamant-stone. There
   is obstinacy and perverseness, incorrigibleness and inflexibleness in
   sin, that will not be overcome by threatenings or promises, by
   awakenings or encouragements, by judgments or mercies, neither by that
   which is terrifying nor that which is winning. The very blood of God
   our Saviour will not win the heart of a wicked man.

   And there are actual wickednesses without number or measure. There are
   breaches of every command, in thought, word, and deed: a life full of
   sin; days and nights filled up with sin; mercies abused and frowns
   despised; mercy and justice, and all the divine perfections, trampled
   on; and the honour of each person in the Trinity trod in the dirt. Now
   if one sinful word or thought has so much evil in it, as to deserve
   eternal destruction, how do they deserve to be eternally cast off and
   destroyed, that are guilty of so much sin!

   II. If with man's sinfulness, we consider God's sovereignty, it may
   serve further to clear God's justice in the eternal rejection and
   condemnation of sinners, from men's cavils and objections. I shall not
   now pretend to determine precisely, what things are, and what things
   are not, proper acts and exercises of God's holy sovereignty; but only,
   that God's sovereignty extends to the following things.

   1. That such is God's sovereign power and right, that he is originally
   under no obligation to keep men from sinning; but may in his providence
   permit and leave them to sin. He was not obliged to keep either angels
   or men from falling. It is unreasonable to suppose, that God should be
   obliged, if he makes a reasonable creature capable of knowing his will,
   and receiving a law from him, and being subject to his moral government
   at the same time to make it impossible for him to sin, or break his
   law. For if God be obliged to this, it destroys all use of any
   commands, laws, promises, or threatenings, and the very notion of any
   moral government of God over those reasonable creatures. For to what
   purpose would it be, for God to give such and such laws, and declare
   his holy will to a creature, and annex promises and threatenings to
   move him to his duty, and make him careful to perform it, if the
   creature at the same time has this to think of, that God is obliged to
   make it impossible for him to break his laws? How can God's
   threatenings move to care or watchfulness, when, at the same time, God
   is obliged to render it impossible that he should be exposed to the
   threatenings? Or, to what purpose is it for God to give a law at all?
   For according to this supposition, it is God, and not the creature,
   that is under law. It is the lawgiver's care, and not the subject's, to
   see that his law is obeyed; and this care is what the lawgiver is
   absolutely obliged to! If God be obliged never to permit a creature to
   fall, there is an end of all divine laws, or government, or authority
   of God over the creature; there can be no manner of use of these
   things.

   God may permit sin, though the being of sin will certainly ensue on
   that permission: and so, by permission, he may dispose and order the
   event. If there were any such thing as chance, or mere contingence, and
   the very notion of it did not carry a gross absurdity, (as might easily
   be shown that it does,) it would have been very unfit that God should
   have left it to mere chance, whether man should fall or no. For chance,
   if there should be any such thing, is undesigning and blind. And
   certainly it is more fit that an event of so great importance, and
   which is attended with such an infinite train of great consequences,
   should be disposed and ordered by infinite wisdom, than that it should
   be left to blind chance.

   If it be said, that God need not have interposed to render it
   impossible for man to sin, and yet not leave it to mere contingence or
   blind chance neither; but might have left it with man's free will, to
   determine whether to sin or no: I answer, if God did leave it to man's
   free will, without any sort of disposal, or ordering [or rather,
   adequate cause] in the case, whence it should be previously certain how
   that free will should determine, then still that first determination of
   the will must be merely contingent or by chance. It could not have any
   antecedent act of the will to determine it; for I speak now of the very
   first act or motion of the will, respecting the affair that may be
   looked upon as the prime ground and highest source of the event. To
   suppose this to be determined by a foregoing act is a contradiction.
   God's disposing this determination of the will by his permission, does
   not at all infringe the liberty of the creature. It is in no respect
   any more inconsistent with liberty, than mere chance or contingence.
   For if the determination of the will be from blind, undesigning chance,
   it is no more from the agent himself, or from the will itself, than if
   we suppose, in the case, a wise, divine disposal by permission.

   2. It was fit that it should be at the ordering of the divine wisdom
   and good pleasure, whether every particular man should stand for
   himself, or whether the first father of mankind should be appointed as
   the moral and federal head and representative of the rest. If God has
   not liberty in this matter to determine either of these two as he
   pleases, it must be because determining that the first father of men
   should represent the rest, and not that every one should stand for
   himself, is injurious to mankind. For if it be not injurious, how is it
   unjust? But it is not injurious to mankind; for there is nothing in the
   nature of the case itself, that makes it better that each man should
   stand for himself, than that all should be represented by their common
   father; as the least reflection or consideration will convince any one.
   And if there be nothing in the nature of the thing that makes the
   former better for mankind than the latter, then it will follow, that
   they are not hurt in God's choosing and appointing the latter, rather
   than the former; or, which is the same thing, that it is not injurious
   to mankind.

   3. When men are fallen, and become sinful, God by his sovereignty has a
   right to determine about their redemption as he pleases. He has a right
   to determine whether he will redeem any or not. He might, if he had
   pleased, have left all to perish, or might have redeemed all. Or, he
   may redeem some, and leave others; and if he doth so, he may take whom
   he pleases, and leave whom he pleases. To suppose that all have
   forfeited his favour, and deserved to perish, and to suppose that he
   may not leave any one individual of them to perish, implies a
   contradiction; because it supposes that such a one has a claim to God's
   favour, and is not justly liable to perish; which is contrary to the
   supposition.

   It is meet that God should order all these things according to his own
   pleasure. By reason of his greatness and glory, by which he is
   infinitely above all, he is worthy to be sovereign, and that his
   pleasure should in all things take place. He is worthy that he should
   make himself his end, and that he should make nothing but his own
   wisdom his rule in pursuing that end, without asking leave or counsel
   of any, and without giving account of any of his matters. It is fit
   that he who is absolutely perfect, and infinitely wise, and the
   Fountain of all wisdom, should determine every thing [that he effects]
   by his own will, even things of the greatest importance. It is meet
   that he should be thus sovereign, because he is the first being, the
   eternal being, whence all other beings are. He is the Creator of all
   things; and all are absolutely and universally dependent on him; and
   therefore it is meet that he should act as the sovereign possessor of
   heaven and earth.

      APPLICATION.

   In the improvement of this doctrine, I would chiefly direct myself to
   sinners who are afraid of damnation, in a use of conviction. This may
   be matter of conviction to you, that it would be just and righteous
   with God eternally to reject and destroy you. This is what you are in
   danger of. You who are a Christless sinner, are a poor condemned
   creature: God's wrath still abides upon you; and the sentence of
   condemnation lies upon you. You are in God's hands, and it is uncertain
   what he will do with you. You are afraid what will become of you. You
   are afraid that it will be your portion to suffer eternal burnings; and
   your fears are not without grounds; you have reason to tremble every
   moment. But be you never so much afraid of it, let eternal damnation be
   never so dreadful, yet it is just. God may nevertheless do it, and be
   righteous, and holy, and glorious. Though eternal damnation be what you
   cannot bear, and how much soever your heart shrinks at the thoughts of
   it, yet God's justice may be glorious in it. The dreadfulness of the
   thing on your part, and the greatness of your dread of it, do not
   render it the less righteous on God's part. If you think otherwise, it
   is a sign that you do not see yourself, that you are not sensible what
   sin is, nor how much of it you have been guilty of. Therefore for your
   conviction, be directed,

   First, To look over your past life: inquire at the mouth of conscience,
   and hear what that has to testify concerning it. Consider what you are,
   what light you have had, and what means you have lived under: and yet
   how you have behaved yourself! What have those many days and nights you
   have lived been filled up with? How have those years that have rolled
   over your heads, one after another, been spent? What has the sun shone
   upon you for, from day to day, while you have improved his light to
   serve Satan by it? What has God kept your breath in your nostrils for,
   and given you meat and drink, that you have spent your life and
   strength, supported by them, in opposing God, and rebellion against
   him?

   How many sorts of wickedness have you not been guilty of! How manifold
   have been the abominations of your life! What profaneness and contempt
   of God has been exercised by you! How little regard have you had to the
   Scriptures, to the word preached, to sabbaths, and sacraments! How
   profanely have you talked, many of you, about those things that are
   holy! After what manner have many of you kept God's holy day, not
   regarding the holiness of the time, nor caring what you thought of in
   it! Yea, you have not only spent the time in worldly, vain, and
   unprofitable thoughts, but immoral thoughts; pleasing yourself with the
   reflection on past acts of wickedness, and in contriving new acts. Have
   not you spent much holy time ingratifying your lusts in your
   imaginations; yea, not only holy time, but the very time of God's
   public worship, when you have appeared in God's more immediate
   presence? How have you not only not attended to the worship, but have
   in the mean time been feasting your lusts, and wallowing yourself in
   abominable uncleanness! How many sabbaths have you spent, one after
   another, in a most wretched manner! Some of you not only in worldly and
   wicked thoughts, but also a very wicked outward behaviour! When you on
   sabbath-days have got along with your wicked companions, how has holy
   time been treated among you! What kind of conversation has there been!
   Yea, how have some of you, by a very indecent carriage, openly
   dishonoured and cast contempt on the sacred services of God's house,
   and holy day! And what you have done some of you alone, what wicked
   practices there have been in secret, even in holy time, God and your
   own consciences know.

   And how have you behaved yourself in the time of family prayer! And
   what a trade have many of you made of absenting yourselves from the
   worship of the families you belong to, for the sake of vain company!
   And how have you continued in the neglect of secret prayer! therein
   wilfully living in a known sin, going abreast against as plain a
   command as any in the Bible! Have you not been one that has cast off
   fear, and restrained prayer before God?

   What wicked carriage have some of you been guilty of towards your
   parents! How far have you been from paying that honour to them which
   God has required! Have you not even harboured ill-will and malice
   towards them? and when they have displeased you, have wished evil to
   them? yea, and shown your vile spirit in your behaviour? and it is well
   if you have not mocked them behind their backs; and, like the accursed
   Ham and Canaan, as it were, derided your parents' nakedness instead of
   covering it, and hiding your eyes from it. Have not some of you often
   disobeyed your parents, yea, and refused to be subject to them? Is it
   not a wonder of mercy and forbearance, that the proverb has not before
   now been accomplished on you, Prov. xxx. 17. "The eye that mocketh at
   his father, and refuseth to obey his mother, the ravens of the valley
   shall pick it out, and the young eagles shall eat it?"

   What revenge and malice have you been guilty of towards your
   neighbours! How have you indulged this spirit of the devil, hating
   others, and wishing evil to them, rejoicing when evil befell them, and
   grieving at others' prosperity, and lived in such a way for a long
   time! Have not some of you allowed a passionate furious spirit, and
   behaved yourselves in your anger more like wild beasts than like
   Christians?

   What covetousness has been in many of you! Such has been your
   inordinate love of the world, and care about the things of it, that it
   has taken up your heart; you have allowed no room for God and religion;
   you have minded the world more than your eternal salvation. For the
   vanities of the world you have neglected reading, praying, and
   meditation; for the things of the world you have broken the sabbath;
   for the world you have spent a great deal of your time in quarrelling.
   For the world you have envied and hated your neighbour; for the world
   you have cast God, and Christ, and heaven, behind your back; for the
   world you have sold your own soul. You have as it were drowned your
   soul in worldly cares and desires; you have been a mere earth-worm,
   that is never in its element but when grovelling and buried in the
   earth.

   How much of a spirit of pride, has appeared in you, which is in a
   peculiar manner the spirit and condemnation of the devil! How have some
   of you vaunted yourselves in your apparel! others in their riches!
   others in their knowledge and abilities! How has it galled you to see
   others above you! How much has it gone against the grain for you to
   give others their due honour! And how have you shown your pride by
   setting up your wills in opposing others, and stirring up and promoting
   division, and a party spirit in public affairs.

   How sensual have you been! Are there not some here that have debased
   themselves below the dignity of human nature, by wallowing in sensual
   filthiness, as swine in the mire, or as filthy vermin feeding with
   delight on rotten carrion? What intemperance have some of you been
   guilty of! How much of your precious time have you spent away at the
   tavern, and in drinking companies, when you ought to have been at home
   seeking God and your salvation in your families and closets!

   And what abominable lasciviousness have some of you been guilty of! How
   have you indulged yourself from day to day, and from night to night, in
   all manner of unclean imaginations! Has not your soul been filled with
   them, till it has become a hold of foul spirits, and a cage of every
   unclean and hateful bird? What foul-mouthed persons have some of you
   been, often in lewd and lascivious talk and unclean songs, wherein were
   things not fit to be spoken! And such company, where such conversation
   has been carried on, has been your delight. And with what unclean acts
   and practices have you defiled yourself! God and your own consciences
   know what abominable lasciviousness you have practised in things not
   fit to be named, when you have been alone; when you ought to have been
   reading, or meditating, or on your knees before God in secret prayer.
   And how have you corrupted others, as well as polluted yourselves! What
   vile uncleanness have you practised in company! What abominations have
   you been guilty of in the dark! Such as the apostle doubtless had
   respect to in Eph. v. 12. " For it is a shame even to speak of those
   things that are done of them in secret." Some of you have corrupted
   others, and done what in you lay to undo their souls, (if you have not
   actually done it,) and by your vile practices and example have made
   room for Satan, invited his presence, and established his interest, in
   the town where you have lived.

   What lying have some of you been guilty of, especially in your
   childhood! And have not your heart and lips often disagreed since you
   came to riper years? What fraud, and deceit, and unfaithfulness, have
   many of you practised in your own dealings with your neighbours, of
   which your own heart is conscious, if you have not been noted by
   others.

   And how have some of you behaved yourselves in your family relations!
   How have you neglected your children's souls! And not only so, but have
   corrupted their minds by your bad examples; and instead of training
   them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord, have rather brought
   them up in the devil's service!

   How have some of you attended that sacred ordinance of the Lord's
   supper without any manner of serious preparation, and in a careless
   slighty frame of spirits, and chiefly to comply with custom! Have you
   not ventured to put the sacred symbols of the body and blood of Christ
   into your mouth, while at the same time you lived in ways of known
   sins, and intended no other than still to go on in the same wicked
   practices? And, it may be, have sat at the Lord's table with rancour in
   your heart against some of your brethren that you have sat therewith.
   You have come even to that holy feast of love among God's children,
   with the leaven of malice and envy in your heart; and so have eat and
   drank judgment to yourself.

   What stupidity and sottishness has attended your course of wickedness:
   which has appeared in your obstinacy under awakening dispensations of
   God's word and providence. And how have some of you backslidden after
   you have set out in religion, and quenched God's Spirit after he had
   been striving with you! And what unsteadiness, and slothfulness, and
   long misimprovement of God's strivings with you, have you been
   chargeable with!

   Now, can you think when you have thus behaved yourself, that God is
   obliged to show you mercy? Are you not after all this ashamed to talk
   of its being hard with God to cast you off? Does it become one who has
   lived such a life to open his mouth to excuse himself, to object
   against God's justice in his condemnation, or to complain of it as hard
   in God not to give him converting and pardoning grace, and make him his
   child, and bestow on him eternal life? or to talk of his duties and
   great pains in religion, as if such performances were worthy to be
   accepted, and to draw God's heart to such a creature? If this has been
   your manner, does it not show how little you have considered yourself,
   and how little a sense you have had of your own sinfulness?

   Secondly, Be directed to consider, if God should eternally reject and
   destroy you, what an agreeableness and exact mutual answerableness
   there would be between God so dealing with you, and your spirit and
   behaviour. There would not only be an equality, but a similitude. God
   declares, that his dealings with men shall be suitable to their
   disposition and practice. Psalm xviii. 25, 26. "With the merciful man,
   thou wilt show thyself merciful; with an upright man, thou wilt show
   thyself upright: with the pure thou wilt show thyself pure; and with
   the froward, thou wilt show thyself froward." How much soever you dread
   damnation, and are affrighted and concerned at the thoughts of it; yet
   if God should indeed eternally damn you, you would be met with but in
   your own way; you would be dealt with exactly according to your own
   dealing. Surely it is but fair that you should be made to buy in the
   same measure in which you sell.

   Here I would particularly show,--1. That if God should eternally
   destroy you, it would be agreeable to your treatment of God. 2. That it
   would be agreeable to your treatment of Jesus Christ. 3. That it would
   be agreeable to your behaviour towards your neighbours. 4. That it
   would be according to your own foolish behaviour towards yourself.

   I. If God should for ever cast you off, it would be exactly agreeable
   to your treatment of him. That you may be sensible of this, consider,

   1. You never have exercised the least degree of love to God; and
   therefore it would be agreeable to your treatment of him if he should
   never express any love to you. When God converts and saves a sinner, it
   is a wonderful and unspeakable manifestation of divine love. When a
   poor lost soul is brought home to Christ, and has all his sins forgiven
   him, and is made a child of God, it will take up a whole eternity to
   express and declare the greatness of that love. And why should God be
   obliged to express such wonderful love to you, who never exercised the
   least degree of love to him in all your life? You never have loved God,
   who is infinitely glorious and lovely; and why then is God under
   obligation to love you, who are all over deformed and loathsome as a
   filthy worm, or rather a hateful viper? You have no benevolence in your
   heart towards God; you never rejoiced in God's happiness; if he had
   been miserable, and that had been possible, you would have liked it as
   well as if he were happy; you would not have cared how miserable he
   was, nor mourned for it, any more than you now do for the devil's being
   miserable. And why then should God be looked upon as obliged to take so
   much care for your happiness, as to do such great things for it, as he
   doth for those that are saved? Or why should God be called hard, in
   case he should not be careful to save you from misery? You care not
   what becomes of God's glory; you are not distressed how much soever his
   honour seems to suffer in the world: and why should God care any more
   for your welfare? Has it not been so, that if you could but promote
   your private interest, and gratify your own lusts, you cared not how
   much the glory of God suffered? And why may not God advance his own
   glory in the ruin of your welfare, not caring how much your interest
   suffers by it? You never so much as stirred one step, sincerely making
   the glory of God your end, or acting from real respect to him; and why
   then is it hard if God do not do such great things for you, as the
   changing of your nature, raising you from spiritual death to life,
   conquering the powers of darkness for you, translating you out of the
   kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of his dear Son, delivering you
   from eternal misery, and bestowing upon you eternal glory? You were not
   willing to deny yourself for God; you never cared to put yourself out
   of your way for Christ; whenever any thing cross or difficult came in
   your way, that the glory of God was concerned in, it has been your
   manner to shun it, and excuse yourself from it. You did not care to
   hurt yourself for Christ, whom you did not see worthy of it; and why
   then must it be looked upon as a hard and cruel thing, if Christ has
   not been pleased to spill his blood and be tormented to death for such
   a sinner.

   2. You have slighted God; and why then may not God justly slight you?
   When sinners are sensible in some measure of their misery, they are
   ready to think it hard that God will take no more notice of them; that
   he will see them in such a lamentable distressed condition, beholding
   their burdens and tears, and seem to slight it, and manifest no pity to
   them. Their souls they think are precious: it would be a dreadful thing
   if they should perish, and burn in hell for ever. They do not see
   through it, that God should make so light of their salvation. But then,
   ought they not to consider, that as their souls are precious, so is
   God's honour precious? The honour of the infinite God, the great King
   of heaven and earth, is a thing of as great importance, (and surely may
   justly be so esteemed by God,) as the happiness of you, a poor little
   worm. But yet you have slighted that honour of God, and valued it no
   more than the dirt under your feet. You have been told that such and
   such things were contrary to the will of a holy God, and against his
   honour; but you cared not for that. God called upon you, and exhorted
   you to be more tender of his honour; but you went on without regarding
   him. Thus have you slighted God! And yet, is it hard that God should
   slight you? Are you more honourable than God, that he must be obliged
   to make much of you, how light soever you make of him and his glory?

   And you have not only slighted God in time past, but you slight him
   still. You indeed now make a pretence and show of honouring him in your
   prayers, and attendance on other external duties, and by sober
   countenance, and seeming devoutness in your words and behaviour; but it
   is all mere dissembling. That downcast look and seeming reverence, is
   not from any honour you have to God in your heart, though you would
   have God take it so. You who have not believed in Christ, have not the
   least jot of honour to God; that show of it is merely forced, and what
   you are driven to by fear, like those mentioned in Psalm lxvi. 3.
   "Through the greatness of thy power shall thine enemies submit
   themselves to thee." In the original it is, "shall lie unto thee;" that
   is, yield feigned submission, and dissemble respect and honour to thee.
   There is a rod held over you that makes you seem to pay such respect to
   God. This religion and devotion, even the very appearance of it, would
   soon be gone, and all vanish away, if that were removed. Sometimes it
   may be you weep in your prayers, and in your hearing sermons, and hope
   God will take notice of it, and take it for some honour; but he sees it
   to be all hypocrisy. You weep for yourself; you are afraid of hell; and
   do you think that that is worthy of God to take much notice of you,
   because you can cry when you are in danger of being damned; when at the
   same time you indeed care nothing for God's honour.

   Seeing you thus disregard so great a God, is it a heinous thing for God
   to slight you, a little, wretched, despicable creature; a worm, a mere
   nothing, and less than nothing; a vile insect, that has risen up in
   contempt against the Majesty of heaven and earth?

   3. Why should God be looked upon as obliged to bestow salvation upon
   you, when you have been so ungrateful for the mercies he has bestowed
   upon you already? God has tried you with a great deal of kindness, and
   he never has sincerely been thanked by you for any of it. God has
   watched over you, and preserved you, and provided for you, and followed
   you with mercy all your days; and yet you have continued sinning
   against him. He has given you food and raiment, but you have improved
   both in the service of sin. He has preserved you while you slept; but
   when you arose, it was to return to the old; trade of sinning. God,
   notwithstanding this ingratitude, has still continued his mercy; but
   his kindness has never won your heart, or brought you to a more
   grateful behaviour towards him. It may be you have received many
   remarkable mercies, recoveries from sickness, or preservations of your
   life when exposed by accidents, when if you had died, you would have
   gone directly to hell; but you never had any true thankfulness for any
   of these mercies. God has kept you out of hell, and continued your day
   of grace, and the offers of salvation, so long a time; while you did
   not regard your own salvation so much as in secret to ask God for it.
   And now God has greatly added to his mercy to you, by giving you the
   strivings of his Spirit, whereby a most precious opportunity for your
   salvation is in your hands. But what thanks has God received for it?
   What kind of returns have you made for all this kindness? As God has
   multiplied mercies, so have you multiplied provocations.

   And yet now are you ready to quarrel for mercy, and to find fault with
   God, not only that he does not bestow more mercy, but to contend with
   him, because he does not bestow infinite mercy upon you, heaven with
   all it contains, and even himself, for your eternal portion. What ideas
   have you of yourself, that you think God is obliged to do so much for
   you, though you treat him ever so ungratefully for his kindness
   wherewith you have been followed all the days of your life.

   4. You have voluntarily chosen to be with Satan in his enmity and
   opposition to God; how justly therefore might you be with him in his
   punishment! You did not choose to be on God's side, but rather chose to
   side with the devil, and have obstinately continued in it, against
   God's often repeated calls and counsels. You have chosen rather to
   hearken to Satan than to God, and would be with him in his work. You
   have given yourself up to him, to be subject to his power and
   government, in opposition to God; how justly therefore may God also
   give you up to him, and leave you in his power, to accomplish your
   ruin! Seeing you have yielded yourself to his will, to do as he would
   have you, surely God may leave you in his hands to execute his will
   upon you. If men will be with God's enemy, and on his side, why is God
   obliged to redeem them out of his hands, when they have done his work?
   Doubtless you would be glad to serve the devil, and be God's enemy
   while you live, and then to have God your friend, and deliver you from
   the devil, when you come to die. But will God be unjust if he deals
   otherwise by you? No, surely! It will be altogether and perfectly just,
   that you should have your portion with him with whom you have chosen to
   work; and that you should be in his possession to whose dominion you
   have yielded yourself; and if you cry to God for deliverance, he may
   most justly give you that answer, Judges x. 14. "Go to the gods which
   you have chosen."

   5. Consider how often you have refused to hear God's calls to you, and
   how just it would therefore be, if he should refuse to hear you when
   you call upon him. You are ready, it may be, to complain that you have
   often prayed, and earnestly begged of God to show you mercy, and yet
   have no answer of prayer: One says, I have been constant in prayer for
   so many years, and God has not heard me. Another says, I have done what
   I can; I have prayed as earnestly as I am able; I do not see how I can
   do more; and it will seem hard if after all I am denied. But do you
   consider how often God has called, and you have denied him? God has
   called earnestly and for a long time; he has called and called again in
   his word, and in his providence, and you have refused. You was not
   uneasy for fear you should not show regard enough to his calls. You let
   him call as loud and as long as he would; for your part, you had no
   leisure to attend to what he said; you had other business to mind; you
   had these and those lusts to gratify and please, and worldly concerns
   to attend; you could not afford to stand considering of what God had to
   say to you. When the ministers of Christ have stood and pleaded with
   you, in his name, sabbath after sabbath, and have even spent their
   strength in it, how little was you moved! It did not alter you, but you
   went on still as you used to do; when you went away, you returned again
   to your sins, to your lasciviousness, to your vain mirth, to your
   covetousness, to your intemperance, and that has been the language of
   your heart and practice, Exod. v. 2. "Who is the Lord, that I should
   obey his voice?" Was it no crime for you to refuse to hear when God
   called? And yet is it now very hard that God does not hear your earnest
   calls, and that though your calling on God be not from any respect to
   him, but merely from self-love? The devil would beg as earnestly as
   you, if he had any hope to get salvation by it, and a thousand times as
   earnestly, and yet be as much of a devil as he is now. Are your calls
   more worthy to be heard than God's? Or is God more obliged to regard
   what you say to him, than you to regard his commands, counsels, and
   invitations to you? What can be more justice than this, Prov. i. 24,
   &c. " Because I have called, and ye refused, I have stretched out my
   hand, and no man regarded; but ye have set at nought all my counsel,
   and would none of my reproof: I will also laugh at your calamity, I
   will mock when your fear cometh; when your fear cometh as desolation,
   and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind; when distress and anguish
   cometh upon you. Then shall they call upon me, but I will not answer;
   they shall seek me early, but they shall not find me."

   6. Have you not taken encouragement to sin against God, on that very
   presumption, that God would show you mercy when you sought it? And may
   not God justly refuse you that mercy that you have so presumed upon?
   You have flattered yourself, that though you did so, yet God would show
   you mercy when you cried earnestly to him for it: how righteous
   therefore would it be in God, to disappoint such a wicked presumption!
   It was upon that very hope that you dared to affront the Majesty of
   heaven so dreadfully as you have done; and can you now be so sottish as
   to think that God is obliged not to frustrate that hope?

   When a sinner takes encouragement to neglect secret prayer which God
   has commanded, to gratify his lusts, to live a carnal vain life, to
   thwart God, to run upon him, and contemn him to his face, thinking with
   himself, "If I do so, God would not damn me; he is a merciful God, and
   therefore when I seek his mercy he will bestow it upon me;" must God be
   accounted hard because he will not do according to such a sinner's
   presumption?

   Cannot he be excused from showing such a sinner mercy when he is
   pleased to seek it, without incurring the charge of being unjust; if
   this be the case, God has no liberty to vindicate his own honour and
   majesty; but must lay himself open to all manner of affronts, and yield
   himself up to the abuses of vile men, though they disobey, despise, and
   dishonour him, as much as they will; and when they have done, his mercy
   and pardoning grace must not be in his own power and at his own
   disposal, but he must be obliged to dispense it at their call. He must
   take these bold and vile contemners of his Majesty, when it suits them
   to ask it, and must forgive all their sins, and not only so, but must
   adopt them into his family, and make them his children, and bestow
   eternal glory upon them. What mean, low, and strange thoughts have such
   men of God, who think thus of him! Consider, that you have injured God
   the more, and have been the worse enemy to him, for his being a
   merciful God. So have you treated that attribute of God's mercy! How
   just is it therefore that you never should have any benefit of that
   attribute!

   There is something peculiarly heinous in sinning against the mercy of
   God more than other attributes. There is such base and horrid
   ingratitude, in being the worse to God because he is a being of
   infinite goodness and grace, that it above all things renders
   wickedness vile and detestable. This ought to win us, and engage us to
   serve God better; but instead of that, to sin against him the more, has
   something inexpressibly bad in it, and does in a peculiar manner
   enhance guilt, and incense wrath; as seems to be intimated, Rom. ii. 4,
   5. "Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness, and forbearance, and
   long-suffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to
   repentance? But after thy hardness and impenitent heart, treasurest up
   unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath, and revelation of the
   righteous judgment of God."

   The greater the mercy of God is, the more should you be engaged to love
   him, and live to his glory. But it has been contrariwise with you; the
   consideration of the mercies of God being so exceeding great, is the
   thing wherewith you have encouraged yourself in sin. You have heard
   that the mercy of God was without bounds, that it was sufficient to
   pardon the greatest sinner, and you have upon that very account
   ventured to be a very great sinner. Though it was very offensive to
   God, though you heard that God infinitely hated sin, and that such
   practices as you went on in were exceeding contrary to his nature,
   will, and glory, yet that did not make you uneasy; you heard that he
   was a very merciful God, and had grace enough to pardon you, and so
   cared not how offensive your sins were to him. How long have some of
   you gone on in sin, and what great sins have some of you been guilty
   of, on that presumption! Your own conscience can give testimony to it,
   that this has made you refuse God's calls, and has made you regardless
   of his repeated commands. Now, how righteous would it be if God should
   swear in his wrath, that you should never be the better for his being
   infinitely merciful!

   Your ingratitude has been the greater, that you have not only abused
   the attribute of God's mercy, taking encouragement from it to continue
   in sin, but you have also presumed that God would exercise infinite
   mercy to you in particular; which consideration should have especially
   endeared God to you. You have taken encouragement to sin the more, from
   that consideration, that Christ came into the world and died to save
   sinners; such thanks has Christ had from you, for enduring such a
   tormenting death for his enemies! Now, how justly might God refuse that
   you should ever be the better for his Son's laying down his life! It
   was because of these things that you put off seeking salvation. You
   would take the pleasures of sin still longer, hardening yourself
   because mercy was infinite, and it would not be too late, if you sought
   it afterwards; now, how justly may God disappoint you in this, and so
   order it that it shall be too late.

   7. How have some of you risen up against God, and in the frame of your
   minds opposed him in his sovereign dispensations! And how justly upon
   that account might God oppose you, and set himself against you! You
   never yet would submit to God; never willingly comply, that God should
   have dominion over the world, and that he should govern it for his own
   glory, according to his own wisdom. You, a poor worm, a potsherd, a
   broken piece of an earthen vessel, have dared to find fault and quarrel
   with God. Isaiah xlv. 9. "Woe to him that strives with his Maker. Let
   the potsherd strive with the potsherds of the earth: shall the clay say
   to him that fashioned it, What makest thou?" But yet you have ventured
   to do it. Rom. ix. 20. "Who art thou, O man, that repliest against
   God?" But yet you have thought you was big enough; you have taken upon
   you to call God to an account, why he does thus and thus; you have said
   to Jehovah, What dost thou?

   If you have been restrained by fear from openly venting your opposition
   and enmity of heart against God's government, yet it has been in you;
   you have not been quiet in the frame of your mind; you have had the
   heart of a viper within, and have been ready to spit your venom at God.
   It is well if sometimes you have not actually done it, by tolerating
   blasphemous thoughts and malignant risings of heart against him; yea,
   and the frame of your heart in some measure appeared in impatient and
   fretful behaviour.--Now, seeing you have thus opposed God, how just is
   it that God should oppose you! Or is it because you are so much better,
   and so much greater than God, that it is a crime for him to make that
   opposition against you which you make against him? Do you think that
   the liberty of making opposition is your exclusive prerogative, so that
   you may be an enemy to God, but God must by no means be an enemy to
   you, but must be looked upon under obligation nevertheless to help you,
   and save you by his blood, and bestow his best blessings upon you?

   Consider how in the frame of your mind you have thwarted God in those
   very exercises of mercy towards others that you are seeking for
   yourself. God exercising his infinite grace towards your neighbours,
   has put you into an ill frame, and it may be, set you in a tumult of
   mind. How justly therefore may God refuse ever to exercise that mercy
   towards you! Have you not thus opposed God showing mercy to others,
   even at the very time when you pretended to be earnest with God for
   pity and help for yourself? yea, and while you was endeavouring to get
   something wherewith to recommend yourself to God? And will you look to
   God still with a challenge of mercy, and contend with him for it
   notwithstanding? Can you who have such a heart, and have thus behaved
   yourself, come to God for any other than mere sovereign mercy?

   II. If you should for ever be cast off by God, it would be agreeable to
   your treatment of Jesus Christ. It would have been just with God if he
   had cast you off for ever, without ever making you the offer of a
   Saviour. But God hath not done that; he has provided a Saviour for
   sinners, and offered him to you, even his own Son Jesus Christ, who is
   the only Saviour of men. All that are not forever cast off are saved by
   him. God offers men salvation through him, and has promised us, that if
   we come to him, we shall not be cast off. But if you have treated, and
   still treat, this Saviour after such a manner, that if you should be
   eternally cast off by God, it would be most agreeable to your behaviour
   towards him; which appears by this, viz. "That you reject Christ, and
   will not have him for your Saviour."

   If God offers you a Saviour from deserved punishment, and you will not
   receive him, then surely it is just that you should go without a
   Saviour. Or is God obliged, because you do not like this Saviour, to
   provide you another? He has given an infinitely honourable and glorious
   person, even his only-begotten Son, to be a sacrifice for sin, and so
   provided salvation; and this Saviour is offered to you: now if you
   refuse to accept him, is God therefore unjust if he does not save you?
   Is he obliged to save you in a way of your own choosing, because you do
   not like the way of his choosing? Or will you charge Christ with
   injustice because he does not become your Saviour, when at the same
   time you will not have him when he offers himself to you, and beseeches
   you to accept of him as your Saviour?

   I am sensible that by this time many persons are ready to object
   against this. If all should speak what they now think, we should hear a
   murmuring all over the meeting-house, and one and another would say, "I
   cannot see how this can be, that I am not willing that Christ should be
   my Saviour, when I would give all the world that he was my Saviour: how
   is it possible that I should not be willing to have Christ for my
   Saviour, when this is what I am seeking after, and praying for, and
   striving for, as for my life?"

   Here therefore I would endeavour to convince you, that you are under a
   gross mistake in this matter. And, 1st, I would endeavour to show the
   grounds of your mistake. And, 2dly, To demonstrate to you, that you
   have rejected, and do wilfully reject, Jesus Christ.

   1st, That you may see the weak grounds of your mistake, consider,

   1. There is a great deal of difference between a willingness not to be
   damned, and a being willing to receive Christ for your Saviour. You
   have the former; there is no doubt of that: nobody supposes that you
   love misery so as to choose an eternity of it; and so doubtless you are
   willing to be saved from eternal misery. But that is a very different
   thing from being willing to come to Christ: persons very commonly
   mistake the one for the other, but they are quite two things. You may
   love the deliverance, but hate the deliverer. You tell of a
   willingness; but consider what is the object of that willingness. It
   does not respect Christ; the way of salvation by him is not at all the
   object of it; but it is wholly terminated on your escape from misery.
   The inclination of your will goes no further than self, it never
   reaches Christ. You are willing not to be miserable; that is, you love
   yourself, and there your will and choice terminate. And it is but a
   vain pretence and delusion to say or think, that you are willing to
   accept of Christ.

   2. There is certainly a great deal of difference between a forced
   compliance and a free willingness. Force and freedom cannot consist
   together. Now that willingness, whereby you think you are willing to
   have Christ for a Saviour, is merely a forced thing. Your heart does
   not go out after Christ of itself, but you are forced and driven to
   seek an interest in him. Christ has no share at all in your heart;
   there is no manner of closing of the heart with Him. This forced
   compliance is not what Christ seeks of you; he seeks a free and willing
   acceptance, Psalm cx. 3. "Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy
   power." He seeks not that you should receive him against your will, but
   with a free will. He seeks entertainment in your heart and choice.--And
   if you refuse thus to receive Christ, how just is it that Christ should
   refuse to receive you! How reasonable are Christ's terms, who offers to
   save all those that willingly, or with a good will, accept of him for
   their Saviour! Who can rationally expect that Christ should force
   himself upon any man to be his Saviour? Or what can be looked for more
   reasonable, than that all who would be saved by Christ, should heartily
   and freely entertain him? And surely it would be very dishonourable for
   Christ to offer himself upon lower terms.--But I would now proceed,

   2dly, To show that you are not willing to have Christ for a Saviour. To
   convince you of it, consider,

   1. How it is possible that you should be willing to accept of Christ as
   a Saviour from the desert of a punishment that you are not sensible you
   have deserved. If you are truly willing to accept of Christ as a
   Saviour, it must be as a sacrifice to make atonement for your guilt.
   Christ came into the world on this errand, to offer himself as an
   atonement, to answer for our desert of punishment. But how can you be
   willing to have Christ for a Saviour from a desert of hell, if you be
   not sensible that you have a desert of hell? If you have not really
   deserved everlasting burnings in hell, then the very offer of an
   atonement for such a desert is an imposition upon you. If you have no
   such guilt upon you, then the very offer of a satisfaction for that
   guilt is an injury, because it implies in it a charge of guilt that you
   are free from. Now therefore it is impossible that a man who is not
   convinced of his guilt can be willing to accept of such an offer;
   because he cannot be willing to accept the charge which the offer
   implies. A man who is not convinced that he has deserved so dreadful a
   punishment, cannot willingly submit to be charged with it. If he thinks
   he is willing, it is but a mere forced, feigned business; because in
   his heart he looks upon himself greatly injured; and therefore he
   cannot freely accept of Christ, under that notion of a Saviour from the
   desert of such a punishment; for such an acceptance is an implicit
   owning that he does deserve such a punishment.

   I do not say, but that men may be willing to be saved from an
   undeserved punishment; they may rather not suffer it than suffer it.
   But a man cannot be willing to accept one at God's hands, under the
   notion of a Saviour from a punishment deserved from him which he thinks
   he has not deserved; it is impossible that any one should freely allow
   a Saviour under that notion. Such an one cannot like the way of
   salvation by Christ; for if he thinks he has not deserved hell, then he
   will think that freedom from hell is a debt; and therefore cannot
   willingly and heartily receive it as a free gift.--If a king should
   condemn a man to some tormenting death, which the condemned person
   thought himself not deserving of, but looked upon the sentence as
   unjust and cruel, and the king, when the time of execution drew nigh,
   should offer him his pardon, under the notion of a very great act of
   grace and clemency, the condemned person never could willingly and
   heartily allow it under that notion, because be judged himself unjustly
   condemned.

   Now by this it is evident that you are not willing to accept of Christ
   as your Saviour; because you never yet had such a sense of your own
   sinfulness, and such a conviction of your great guilt in God's sight,
   as to be indeed convinced that you lay justly condemned to the
   punishment of hell. You never was convinced that you had forfeited all
   favour, and was in God's hands, and at his sovereign and arbitrary
   disposal, to be either destroyed or saved, just as he pleased. You
   never yet was convinced of the sovereignty of God. Hence are there so
   many objections arising against the justice of your punishment from
   original sin, and from God's decrees, from mercy shown to others, and
   the like.

   2. That you are not sincerely willing to accept of Christ as your
   Saviour, appears by this, That you never have been convinced that he is
   sufficient for the work of your salvation. You never had a sight or
   sense of any such excellency or worthiness in Christ, as should give
   such great value to his blood and his mediation with God, as that it
   was sufficient to be accepted for such exceeding guilty creatures, who
   have so provoked God, and exposed themselves to such amazing wrath.
   Saying it is so, and allowing it to be as others say, is a very
   different thing from being really convinced of it, and a being made
   sensible of it in your own heart. The sufficiency of Christ depends
   upon, or rather consists in, his excellency. It is because he is so
   excellent a person that his blood is of sufficient value to atone for
   sin, and it is hence that his obedience is so worthy in God's sight; it
   is also hence that his intercession is so prevalent; and therefore
   those that never had any spiritual sight or sense of Christ's
   excellency, cannot be sensible of his sufficiency.

   And that sinners are not convinced that Christ is sufficient for the
   work he has undertaken, appears most manifestly when they are under
   great convictions of their sin, and danger of God's wrath. Though it
   may be before they thought they could allow Christ to be sufficient,
   (for it is easy to allow any one to be sufficient for our defence at a
   time when we see no danger,) yet when they come to be sensible of their
   guilt and God's wrath, what discouraging thoughts do they entertain!
   How are they ready to draw towards despair, as if there were no hope or
   help for such wicked creatures as they! The reason is, They have no
   apprehension or sense of any other way that God's majesty can be
   vindicated, but only in their misery. To tell them of the blood of
   Christ signifies nothing, it does not relieve their sinking, despairing
   hearts. This makes it most evident that they are not convinced that
   Christ is sufficient to be their Mediator.--And as long as they are
   unconvinced of this, it is impossible they should be willing to accept
   of him as their Mediator and Saviour. A man in distressing fear will
   not willingly betake himself to a fort that he judges not sufficient to
   defend him from the enemy. A man will not willingly venture out into
   the ocean in a ship that he suspects is leaky, and will sink before he
   gets through his voyage.

   3. It is evident that you are not willing to have Christ for your
   Saviour, because you have so mean an opinion of him, that you durst not
   trust his faithfulness. One that undertakes to be the Saviour of souls
   had need be faithful; for if he fails in such a trust, how great is the
   loss! But you are not convinced of Christ's faithfulness; as is
   evident, because at such times as when you are in a considerable
   measure sensible of your guilt and God's anger, you cannot be convinced
   that Christ is willing to accept of you, or that he stands ready to
   receive you, if you should come to him, though Christ so much invites
   you to come to him. and has so fully declared that he will not reject
   you, if you do come; as particularly, John vi. 37. "Him that cometh to
   me, I will in no wise cast out." Now, there is no man can be heartily
   willing to trust his eternal welfare in the hands of an unfaithful
   person, or one whose faithfulness he suspects.

   4. You are not willing to be saved in that way by Christ, as is
   evident, because you are not willing that your own goodness should be
   set at nought. In the way of salvation by Christ men's own goodness is
   wholly set at nought; there is no account at all made of it. Now you
   cannot be willing to be saved in away wherein your own goodness is set
   at nought, as is evident, since you make much of it yourself. You make
   much of your prayers and pains in religion, and are often thinking of
   them; how considerable do they appear to you, when you look back upon
   them! And some of you are thinking how much more you have done than
   others, and expecting some respect or regard that God should manifest
   to what you do. Now, if you make so much of what you do yourself, it is
   impossible that you should be freely willing that God should make
   nothing of it. As we may see in other things; if a man is proud of a
   great estate, or if he values himself much upon his honourable office,
   or his great abilities, it is impossible that he should like it, and
   heartily approve or it, that others should make light of these things
   and despise them.

   Seeing therefore it is so evident, that you refuse to accept of Christ
   as your Saviour, why is Christ to be blamed that he does not save you?
   Christ has offered himself to you to be your Saviour in time past, and
   he continues offering himself still, and you continue to reject him,
   and yet complain that he does not save you.--So strangely unreasonable,
   and inconsistent with themselves, are gospel sinners!

   But I expect there are many of you that still object. Such an objection
   as this, is probably now in the hearts of many here present.

   Object. If I am not willing to have Christ for my Saviour, I cannot
   make myself willing.--But I would give an answer to this objection by
   laying down two things, that must be acknowledged to be exceeding
   evident.

   1. It is no excuse, that you cannot receive Christ of yourself, unless
   you would if you could. This is so evident of itself, that it scarce
   needs any proof. Certainly if persons would not if they could, it is
   just the same thing as to the blame that lies upon them, whether they
   can or cannot. If you were willing, and then found that you could not,
   your being unable would alter the case, and might be some excuse;
   because then the defect would not be in your will, but only in your
   ability. But as long as you will not, it is no matter, whether you have
   ability or no ability.

   If you are not willing to accept of Christ, it follows that you have no
   sincere willingness to be willing; because the will always necessarily
   approves of and rests in its own acts. To suppose the contrary would be
   to suppose a contradiction; it would be to suppose that a man's will is
   contrary to itself, or that he wills contrary to what he himself wills.
   As you are not willing to come to Christ, and cannot make yourself
   willing, so you have no sincere desire to be willing; and therefore may
   most justly perish without a Saviour. There is no excuse at all for
   you; for say what you will about your inability, the seat of your blame
   lies in your perverse will, that is an enemy to the Saviour. It is in
   vain for you to tell of your want of power, as long as your will is
   found defective. If a man should hate you, and smite you in the face,
   but should tell you at the same time, that he hated you so much, that
   he could not help choosing and willing so to do, would you take it the
   more patiently for that? Would not your indignation be rather stirred
   up the more?

   2. If you would be willing if you could, that is no excuse, unless your
   willingness to be willing be sincere. That which is hypocritical, and
   does not come from the heart, but is merely forced, ought wholly to be
   set aside, as worthy of no consideration; because common sense teaches,
   that what is not hearty, but hypocritical, is indeed nothing, being
   only a show of what is not; but that which is good for nothing, ought
   to go for nothing. But if you set aside all that is not free, and call
   nothing a willingness, but a free hearty willingness, then see how the
   case stands, and whether or no you have not lost all your cause for
   standing out against the calls of the gospel. You say you would make
   yourself willing to accept if you could; but it is not from any good
   principle that you are willing for that. It is not from any free
   inclination, or true respect to Christ, or any love to your duty, or
   any spirit of obedience. It is not from the influence of any real
   respect, or tendency in your heart, towards any thing good, or from any
   other principle than such as is in the hearts of devils, and would make
   them have the same sort of willingness in the same circumstances It is
   therefore evident, that there can be no goodness in that would be
   willing to come to Christ: and that which has no goodness, cannot be an
   excuse for any badness. If there be no good in it, then it signifies
   nothing, and weighs nothing, when put into the scales to counterbalance
   that which is bad.

   Sinners therefore spend their time in foolish arguing and objecting,
   making much of that which is good for nothing, making those excuses
   that are not worth offering. It is in vain to keep making objections.
   You stand justly condemned. The blame lies at your door: Thrust it off
   from you as often as you will, it will return upon you. Sew fig-leaves
   as long as you will, your nakedness will appear. You continue wilfully
   and wickedly rejecting Jesus Christ, and will not have him for your
   Saviour, and therefore it is sottish madness in you to charge Christ
   with injustice that he does not save you.

   Here is the sin of unbelief! Thus the guilt of that great sin lies upon
   you! If you never had thus treated a Saviour, you might most justly
   have been damned to all eternity: it would but be exactly agreeable to
   your treatment of God. But besides this, when God, notwithstanding, has
   offered you his own dear Son, to save you from this endless misery you
   had deserved, and not only so, but to make you happy eternally in the
   enjoyment of himself, you have refused him, and would not have him for
   your Saviour, and still refuse to comply with the offers of the gospel;
   what can render any person more inexcusable? If you should now perish
   for ever, what can you have to say?

   Hereby the justice of God in your destruction appears in two respects:

   1. It is more abundantly manifest that it is just that you should be
   destroyed. Justice never appears so conspicuous as it does after
   refused and abused mercy. Justice in damnation appears abundantly the
   more clear and bright, after a wilful rejection of offered salvation.
   What can an offended prince do more than freely offer pardon to a
   condemned malefactor? And if he refuses to accept of it, will any one
   say that his execution is unjust?

   2. God's justice will appear in your greater destruction. Besides the
   guilt that you would have had if a Saviour never had been offered. You
   bring that great additional guilt upon you, of most ungratefully
   refusing offered deliverance. What more base and vile treatment of God
   can there be, than for you, when justly condemned to eternal misery,
   and ready to be executed, and God graciously sends his own Son, who
   comes and knocks at your door with a pardon in his hand, and not only a
   pardon, but a deed of eternal glory; I say, what can be worse, than for
   you, out of dislike and enmity against God and his Son, to refuse to
   accept those benefits at his hands? How justly may the anger of God be
   greatly incensed and increased by it! when a sinner thus ungratefully
   rejects mercy, his last error is worse than the first; this is more
   heinous than all his former rebellion, and may justly bring down more
   fearful wrath upon him.

   The heinousness of this sin of rejecting a Saviour especially appears
   in two things:

   1. The greatness of the benefits offered: which appears in the
   greatness of the deliverance, which is from inexpressible degrees of
   corruption and wickedness of heart and life, the least degree of which
   is infinitely evil; and from misery that is everlasting; and in the
   greatness and glory of the inheritance purchased and offered. Heb. ii.
   3. "How shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation."

   2. The wonderfulness of the way in which these benefits are procured
   and offered. That God should lay help on his own Son, when our case was
   so deplorable that help could be had in no mere creature; and that he
   should undertake for us, and should come into the world, and take upon
   him our nature, and should not only appear in a low state of life, but
   should die such a death, and endure such torments and contempt for
   sinners while enemies, how wonderful is it! And what tongue or pen can
   set forth the greatness of the ingratitude, baseness, and perverseness
   there is in it, when a perishing sinner that is in the most extreme
   necessity of salvation, rejects it, after it is procured in such a way
   as this! That so glorious a person should be thus treated, and that
   when he comes on so gracious an errand! That he should stand so long
   offering himself and calling and inviting, as he has done to many of
   you, and all to no purpose, but all the while be set at nought! Surely
   you might justly be cast into hell without one more offer of a Saviour!
   yea, and thrust down into the lowest hell! Herein you have exceeded the
   very devils; for they never rejected the offers of such glorious mercy;
   no, nor of any mercy at all. This will be the distinguishing
   condemnation of gospel-sinners, John iii. 18. "He that believeth not,
   is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the
   only-begotten Son of God."--That outward smoothness of your carriage
   towards Christ, that appearance of respect to him in your looks, your
   speeches, and gestures, do not argue but that you set him at nought in
   your heart. There may be much of these outward shows of respect, and
   yet you be like Judas, that betrayed the Son of man with a kiss; and
   like those mockers that bowed the knee before him, and at the same time
   spit in his face.

   III. If God should for ever cast you off and destroy you, it would be
   agreeable to your treatment of others--It would be no other than what
   would be exactly answerable to your behaviour towards your
   fellow-creatures, that have the same human nature, and are naturally in
   the same circumstances with you, and that you ought to love as
   yourself. And that appears especially in two things.

   1. You have many of you been opposite in your spirit to the salvation
   of others. There are several ways that natural men manifest a spirit of
   opposition against the salvation of souls. It sometimes appears by a
   fear that their companions, acquaintance, and equals, will obtain
   mercy, and so become unspeakably happier than they. It is sometimes
   manifested by an uneasiness at the news of what others have hopefully
   obtained. It appears when persons envy others for it, and dislike them
   the more, and disrelish their talk, and avoid their company, and cannot
   bear to hear their religious discourse, and especially to receive
   warnings and counsels from them. And it oftentimes appears by their
   backwardness to entertain charitable thoughts of them, and by their
   being brought with difficulty to believe that they have obtained mercy,
   and a forwardness to listen to any thing that seems to contradict it.
   The devil hated to own Job's sincerity, Job i. 7, &c. and Job. ii. 3,
   4, 5. There appears very often much of this spirit of the devil in
   natural men. Sometimes they are ready to make a ridicule of others'
   pretended godliness: they speak of the ground of others' hopes, as the
   enemies of the Jews did of the wall that they built. Neh. iv. 3. "Now
   Tobiah the Ammonite was by him, and he said, That which they build, if
   a fox go up, he shall even break down their stone-wall." There are many
   that join with Sanballat and Tobiah, and are of the same spirit with
   them. There always was, and always will be, an enmity betwixt the seed
   of the serpent and the seed of the woman. It appeared in Cain, who
   hated his brother, because he was more acceptable to God than himself;
   and it appears still in these times, and in this place. There are many
   that are like the elder brother, who could not bear that the prodigal
   when he returned should be received with such joy and good
   entertainment, and was put into a fret by it, both against his brother
   that had returned, and his father that made him so welcome. Luke xv. .

   Thus have many of you been opposite to the salvation of others, who
   stand in as great necessity of it as you. You have been against their
   being delivered from everlasting misery, who can bear it no better than
   you; not because their salvation would do you any hurt, or their
   damnation help you, any otherwise than as it would gratify that vile
   spirit that is so much like the spirit of the devil, who, because he is
   miserable himself, is unwilling that others should be happy. How just
   therefore is it that God should be opposite to your salvation! If you
   have so little love or mercy in you as to begrudge your neighbour's
   salvation, whom you have no cause to hate, but the law of God and
   nature requires you to love, why is God bound to exercise such infinite
   love and mercy to you, as to save you at the price of his own blood?
   you, whom he is no way bound to love, but who have deserved his hatred
   a thousand and a thousand times? You are not willing that others should
   be converted, who have behaved themselves injuriously towards you; and
   yet, will you count it hard if God does not bestow converting grace
   upon you that have deserved ten thousand times as ill of God, as ever
   any of your neighbours have of you? You are opposite to God's showing
   mercy to those that you think have been vicious persons, and are very
   unworthy of such mercy. Is others' unworthiness a just reason why God
   should not bestow mercy on them? and yet will God be heard, if,
   notwithstanding all your unworthiness, and the abominableness of your
   spirit and practice in his sight, he does not show you mercy? You would
   have God bestow liberally on you, and upbraid not; but yet when he
   shows mercy to others, you are ready to upbraid as soon as you hear of
   it: you immediately are thinking with yourself how ill they have
   behaved themselves; and it may be your mouths on this occasion are
   open, enumerating and aggravating the sins they have been guilty of.
   You would have God bury all your faults, and wholly blot out all your
   transgressions; but yet if he bestows mercy on others, it may be you
   will take that occasion to rake up all their old faults that you can
   think of. You do not much reflect on and condemn yourself for your
   baseness and unjust spirit towards others, in your opposition to their
   salvation; you do not quarrel with yourself, and condemn yourself for
   this; but yet you in your heart will quarrel with God, and fret at his
   dispensations, because you think he seems opposite to showing mercy to
   you. One would think that the consideration of these things should for
   ever stop your mouth.

   2. Consider how you have promoted others' damnation. Many of you, by
   the bad examples you have set, by corrupting the minds of others, by
   your sinful conversation, by leading them into or strengthening them in
   sin, and by the mischief you have done in human society other ways that
   might be mentioned, have been guilty of those things that have tended
   to others' damnation. You have heretofore appeared on the side of sin
   and Satan, and have strengthened their interest, and have been many
   ways accessary to others' sins, have hardened their hearts, and thereby
   have done what has tended to the ruin of their souls.--Without doubt
   there are those here present who have been in a great measure the means
   of others' damnation. One man may really be a means of others'
   damnation as well as salvation. Christ charges the scribes and
   Pharisees with this, Matt. xxiii. 13. "Ye shut up the kingdom of heaven
   against men; for ye neither go in yourselves, neither suffer ye them
   that are entering, to go in." We have no reason to think that this
   congregation has none in it who are cursed from day to day by poor
   souls that are roaring out in hell, whose damnation they have been the
   means of, or have greatly contributed to.-- There are many who
   contribute to their own children's damnation, by neglecting their
   education, by setting them bad examples, and bringing them up in sinful
   ways. They take some care of their bodies, but take little care of
   their poor souls; they provide for them bread to eat, but deny them the
   bread of life, that their famishing souls stand in need of. And are
   there no such parents here who have thus treated their children? If
   their children be not gone to hell, no thanks to them; it is not
   because they have not done what has tended to their destruction. Seeing
   therefore you have had no more regard to others' salvation, and have
   promoted their damnation, how justly might God leave you to perish
   yourself!

   IV. If God should eternally cast you off, it would but be agreeable to
   your own behaviour towards yourself; and that in two respects:

   1. In being so careless of your own salvation. You have refused to take
   care for your salvation, as God has counselled and commanded you from
   time to time; and why may not God neglect it, now you seek it of him?
   Is God obliged to be more careful of your happiness, than you are
   either of your own happiness or his glory? Is God bound to take that
   care for you, out of love to you, that you will not take for yourself,
   either from love to yourself, or regard to his authority? How long, and
   how greatly, have you neglected the welfare of your precious soul,
   refusing to take pains and deny yourself, or put yourself a little out
   of your way for your salvation, while God has been calling upon you!
   Neither your duty to God, nor love to your own soul, were enough to
   induce you to do little things for your own eternal welfare; and yet do
   you now expect that God should do great things, putting forth almighty
   power, and exercising infinite mercy for it? You was urged to take care
   for your salvation, and not to put it off. You was told that was the
   best time before you grew older, and that it might be, if you would put
   it off, God would not hear you afterwards; but yet you would not
   hearken; you would run the venture of it. Now how justly might God
   order it so, that it should be too late, leaving you to seek in vain!
   You was told, that you would repent of it if you delayed; but you would
   not hear: how justly therefore may God give you cause to repent of it,
   by refusing to show you mercy now! If God sees you going on in ways
   contrary to his commands and his glory, and requires you to forsake
   them, and tells you that they tend to the destruction of your own soul,
   and therefore counsels you to avoid them, and you refuse; how just
   would it be if God should be provoked by it, henceforward to be as
   careless of the good of your soul as you are yourself!

   2. You have not only neglected your salvation, but you have wilfully
   taken direct courses to undo yourself. You have gone on in those ways
   and practices which have directly tended to your damnation, and have
   been perverse and obstinate in it. You cannot plead ignorance: you had
   all the light set before you that you could desire. God told you that
   you was undoing yourself; but yet you would do it. He told you that the
   path you was going in led to destruction, and counselled you to avoid
   it; but you would not hearken. How justly therefore may God leave you
   to be undone! You have obstinately persisted to travel in the way that
   leads to hell for a long time, contrary to God's continual counsels and
   commands, till it may be at length you are got almost to your journey's
   end, and are come near to hell's gate, and so begin to be sensible of
   your danger and misery; and now account it unjust and hard if God will
   not deliver you! You have destroyed yourself, and destroyed yourself
   wilfully, contrary to God's repeated counsels, yea, and destroyed
   yourself in fighting against God. Now therefore, why do you blame any
   but yourself if you are destroyed? If you will undo yourself in
   opposing God, and while God opposes you by his calls and counsels, and,
   it may be too, by the convictions of his Spirit, what can you object
   against it, if God now leaves you to be undone? You would have your own
   way, and did not like that God should oppose you in it, and your way
   was to ruin your own soul; how just therefore is it, if, now at length,
   God ceases to oppose you, and falls in with you, and lets your soul be
   ruined; and as you would destroy yourself, so should put to his hand to
   destroy you too! The ways you went on in had a natural tendency to your
   misery: if you would drink poison in opposition to God, and in contempt
   of him and his advice, who can you blame but yourself if you are
   poisoned, and so perish? If you would run into the fire against all
   restraints both of God's mercy and authority, you must even blame
   yourself if you are burnt.

   Thus I have proposed some things to your consideration, which, if you
   are not exceeding blind, senseless, and perverse, will stop your mouth,
   and convince you that you stand justly condemned before God; and that
   he would in no wise deal hardly with you, but altogether justly, in
   denying you any mercy, and in refusing to hear your prayers, though you
   pray never so earnestly, and never so often, and continue in it never
   so long. God may utterly disregard your tears and moans, your heavy
   heart, your earnest desires, and great endeavours; and he may cast you
   into eternal destruction, without any regard to your welfare, denying
   you converting grace, and giving you over to Satan, and at last cast
   you into the lake that burns with fire and brimstone, to be there to
   eternity, having no rest day or night, for ever glorifying his justice
   upon you in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the
   Lamb.

   Object. But here many may still object, (for I am sensible it is a hard
   thing to stop sinners' mouths,) "God shows mercy to others that have
   done these things as well as I, yea, that have done a great deal worse
   than I."

   Ans. 1. That does not prove that God is any way bound to show mercy to
   you, or them either. If God bestows it on others, he does not so
   because he is bound to bestow it: he might if he had pleased, with
   glorious justice, have denied it them. If God bestows it on some, that
   does not prove that he is bound to bestow it on any; and if he is bound
   to bestow it on none, then he is not bound to bestow it on you. God is
   in debt to none; and if he gives to some that he is not in debt to,
   because it is his pleasure, that does not bring him into debt to
   others. It alters not the case as to you, whether others have it, or
   have it not: you do not deserve damnation the less, than if mercy never
   had been bestowed on any at all. Matt. xx. 15. "Is thine eye evil,
   because mine is good?"

   2. If this objection be good, then the exercise of God's mercy is not
   in his own right, and his grace is not his own to give. That which God
   may not dispose of as he pleases, is not his own; for that which is
   one's own, is at his own disposal: but if it be not God's own, then he
   is not capable of making a gift or present of it to any one; it is
   impossible to give what is a debt.--What is it that you would make of
   God? Must the great God be tied up, that he must not use his own
   pleasure in bestowing his own gifts, but if he bestows them on one,
   must be looked upon obliged to bestow them on another? Is not God
   worthy to have the same right, with respect to the gifts of his grace,
   that a man has to his money or goods? Is it because God is not so
   great, and should be more in subjection than man, that this cannot be
   allowed him? If any of you see cause to show kindness to a neighbour,
   do all the rest of your neighbours come to you, and tell you, that you
   owe them so much as you have given to such a man? But this is the way
   that you deal with God, as though God were not worthy to have as
   absolute a property in his goods, as you have in yours.

   At this rate God cannot make a present of any thing; he has nothing of
   his own to bestow: if he has a mind to show peculiar favour to some, or
   to lay some particular persons under peculiar obligations to him, he
   cannot do it; because he has no special gift at his own disposal. If
   this be the case, why do you pray to God to bestow saving grace upon
   you? If God does not do fairly to deny it you, because he bestows it on
   others, then it is not worth your while to pray for it, but you may go
   and tell him that he has bestowed it on others as bad or worse than
   you, and so demand it of him as a debt. And at this rate persons never
   need to thank God for salvation, when it is bestowed; for what occasion
   is there to thank God for that which was not at his own disposal, and
   that he could not fairly have denied? The thing at bottom is, that men
   have low thoughts of God, and high thoughts of themselves; and
   therefore it is that they look upon God as having so little right, and
   they so much. Matt. xx. 15. "Is it not lawful for me to do what I will
   with mine own?"

   3. God may justly show greater respect to others than to you, for you
   have shown greater respect to others than to God. You have rather
   chosen to offend God than men. God only shows a greater respect to
   others, who are by nature your equals, than to you; but you have shown
   a greater respect to those that are infinitely inferior to God than to
   him. You have shown a greater regard to wicked men than to God; you
   have honoured them more, loved them better, and adhered to them rather
   than to him. Yea, you have honoured the devil, in many respects, more
   than God: you have chosen his will and his interest, rather than God's
   will and his glory: you have chosen a little worldly self, rather than
   God: you have set more by a vile lust than by him: you have chosen
   these things, and rejected God. You have set your heart on these
   things, and cast God behind your back: and where is the injustice if
   God is pleased to show greater respect to others than to you, or if he
   chooses others and rejects you? You have shown great respect to vile
   and worthless things, and no respect to God's glory; and why may not
   God set his love on others, and have no respect to your happiness? You
   have shown great respect to others, and not to God, whom you are laid
   under infinite obligations to respect above all; and why may not God
   show respect to others, and not to you, who never have laid him under
   the least obligation?

   And will you not be ashamed, notwithstanding all these things, still to
   open your mouth, to object and cavil about the decrees of God, and
   other things that you cannot fully understand. Let the decrees of God
   be what they will, that alters not the case as to your liberty, any
   more than if God had only foreknown. And why is God to blame for
   decreeing things? Especially since he decrees nothing but good. How
   unbecoming an infinitely wise Being would it have been to have made a
   world, and let things run at random, without disposing events, or
   fore-ordering how they should come to pass? And what is that to you,
   how God has fore-ordered things, as long as your constant experience
   teaches you, that it does not hinder your doing what you choose to do.
   This you know, and your daily practice and behaviour amongst men
   declares that you are fully sensible of it, with respect to yourself
   and others. Still to object, because there are some things in God's
   dispensations above your understanding, is exceedingly unreasonable.
   Your own conscience charges you with great guilt, and with those things
   that have been mentioned, let the secret things of God be what they
   will. Your conscience charges you with those vile dispositions, and
   that base behaviour towards God, that you would at any time most highly
   resent in your neighbour towards you, and that not a whit the less for
   any concern those secret counsels and mysterious dispensations of God
   may have in the matter. It is in vain for you to exalt yourself against
   an infinitely great, and holy, and just God. If you continue in it, it
   will be to your eternal shame and confusion, when hereafter you shall
   see at whose door all the blame of your misery lies.

   I will finish what I have to say to natural men in the application of
   this doctrine, with a caution not to improve the doctrine to
   discouragement. For though it would be righteous in God for ever to
   cast you off, and destroy you, yet it would also be just in God to save
   you, in and through Christ, who has made complete satisfaction for all
   sin. Rom. iii. 25, 26. "Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation,
   through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the
   remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; to
   declare, I say, at this time his righteousness, that he might be just,
   and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus." Yea, God may,
   through this Mediator, not only justly, but honourably, show you mercy.
   The blood of Christ is so precious, that it is fully sufficient to pay
   the debt you have contracted, and perfectly to vindicate the Divine
   Majesty from all the dishonour cast upon it, by those many great sins
   of yours that have been mentioned. It was as great, and indeed a much
   greater thing, for Christ to die, than it would have been for you and
   all mankind to have burnt in hell to all eternity. Of such dignity and
   excellency is Christ in the eyes of God, that, seeing he has suffered
   so much for poor sinners, God is willing to be at peace with them,
   however vile and unworthy they have been, and on how many accounts
   soever the punishment would be just. So that you need not be at all
   discouraged from seeking mercy, for there is enough in Christ.

   Indeed it would not become the glory of God's majesty to show mercy to
   you, so sinful and vile a creature, for any thing that you have done;
   for such worthless and despicable things as your prayers, and other
   religious performances. It would be very dishonourable and unworthy of
   God so to do, and it is in vain to expect it. He will show mercy only
   on Christ's account, and that, according to his sovereign pleasure, on
   whom he pleases, when he pleases, and in what manner he pleases. You
   cannot bring him under obligation by your works; do what you will, he
   will not look on himself obliged. But if it be his pleasure, he can
   honourably show mercy through Christ to any sinner of you all, not one
   in this congregation excepted.--Therefore here is encouragement for you
   still to seek and wait, notwithstanding all your wickedness; agreeable
   to Samuel's speech to the children of Israel, when they were terrified
   with the thunder and rain that God sent, and when guilt stared them in
   the face, 1 Sam. xii. 20. "Fear not; ye have done all this wickedness;
   yet turn not aside from following the Lord, but serve the Lord with all
   your heart."

   I would conclude this discourse by putting the godly in mind of the
   freeness and wonderfulness of the grace of God towards them. For such
   were the same of you.--The case was just so with you as you have heard;
   you had such a wicked heart, you lived such a wicked life, and it would
   have been most just with God for ever to have cast you off: but he has
   had mercy upon you; he hath made his glorious grace appear in your
   everlasting salvation. You had no love to God; but yet he has exercised
   unspeakable love to you. You have contemned God, and set light by him;
   but so great a value has God's grace set on you and your happiness,
   that you have been redeemed at the price of the blood of his own Son.
   You chose to be with Satan in his service; but yet God hath made you a
   joint heir with Christ of his glory. You was ungrateful for past
   mercies; yet God not only continued those mercies, but bestowed
   unspeakably greater mercies upon you. You refused to hear when God
   called; yet God heard you when you called. You abused the infiniteness
   of God's mercy to encourage yourself in sin against him; yet God has
   manifested the infiniteness of that mercy, in the exercises of it
   towards you. You have rejected Christ, and set him at nought; and yet
   he is become your Saviour. You have neglected your own salvation; but
   God has not neglected it. You have destroyed yourself; but yet in God
   has been your help. God has magnified his free grace towards you, and
   not to others; because he has chosen you, and it hath pleased him to
   set his love upon you.

   O! what cause is here for praise! What obligations you are under to
   bless the Lord who hath dealt bountifully with you, and magnify his
   holy name! What cause for you to praise God in humility, to walk humbly
   before him. Ezek. xvi. 63. "That thou mayest remember and be
   confounded, and never open thy mouth any more because of thy shame,
   when I am pacified toward thee for all that thou, saith the Lord God."
   You shall never open you mouth in boasting, or self-justification; but
   lie the lower before God for his mercy to you. You have reason, the
   more abundantly, to open your mouth in God's praises, that they may be
   continually in your mouth, both here and to all eternity, for his rich,
   unspeakable, and sovereign mercy to you, whereby he, and he alone, hath
   made you to differ from others.
     __________________________________________________________________

      DISCOURSE V.

   the excellency of christ.

   And one of the elders saith unto me, Weep not: behold, the Lion of the
   tribe of Juda, the Root of David, hath prevailed to open the book, and
   to loose the seven seals thereof. And I beheld, and, lo, in the midst
   of the throne, and of the four beasts, and in the midst of the elders,
   stood a Lamb as it had been slain--.

   The visions and revelations the apostle John had of the future events
   of God's providence, are here introduced with a vision of the book of
   God's decrees, by which those events were fore-ordained. This is
   represented (ver. 1.) as a book in the right hand of him who sat on the
   throne, "written within and on the back side, and sealed with seven
   seals." Books, in the form in which they were wont of old to be made,
   were broad leaves of parchment or paper, or something of that nature,
   joined together at one edge, and so rolled up together, and then
   sealed, or some way fastened together, to prevent their unfolding and
   opening. Hence we read of the roll of a book, Jer. xxxvi. 2. It seems
   to have been such a book that John had a vision of here; and therefore
   it is said to be "written within and on the back side," i. e. on the
   inside pages, and also on one of the outside pages, viz. that which was
   rolled in, in rolling the book up together. And it is said to be
   "sealed with seven seals," to signify that what was written in it was
   perfectly hidden and secret; or that God's decrees of future events are
   sealed, and shut up from all possibility of being discovered by
   creatures, till God is pleased to make them known. We find that seven
   is often used in Scripture as the number of perfection, to signify the
   superlative or most perfect degree of any thing; which probably arose
   from this, that on the seventh day God beheld the works of creation
   finished, and rested and rejoiced in them, as being complete and
   perfect.

   When John saw this book, he tells us, he Rev. v. 2-5. "saw a strong
   angel proclaiming with a loud voice, Who is worthy to open the book,
   and to loose the seals thereof? And no man in heaven, nor in earth,
   neither under the earth, was able to open the book, neither to look
   thereon." And that he wept much, because "no man was found worthy to
   open and read the book, neither to look thereon." And then tells us how
   his tears were dried up, viz. that "one of the elders said unto him,
   Weep not; Behold the Lion of the tribe of Judah hath prevailed," &c. as
   in the text. Though no man nor angel, nor any mere creature, was found
   either able to loose the seals, or worthy to be admitted to the
   privilege of reading the book; yet this was declared, for the comfort
   of this beloved disciple, that Christ was found both able and worthy.
   And we have an account in the succeeding chapters how he actually did
   it, opening the seals in order, first one, and then another, revealing
   what God had decreed should come to pass hereafter. And we have an
   account in this chapter, of his coming and taking the book out of the
   right hand of him that sat on the throne, and of the joyful praises
   that were sung to him in heaven and earth on that occasion.

   Many things might be observed in the words of the text; but it is to my
   present, purpose only to take notice of the NOT ENGLISH appellations
   here given to Christ.

   1. He is called the Lion. Behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah. He
   seems to the Lion of the tribe of Judah, in allusion to what Jacob said
   in his blessing of the tribes on his death-bed; who, when he came to
   bless Judah, compares him to a lion, Gen. xlix. 9. "Judah is a lion's
   whelp; from the prey, my son, thou art gone up: he stooped down, he
   couched as a lion, and as an old lion; who shall rouse him up?" And
   also to the standard of the camp of Judah in the wilderness, on which
   was displayed a lion, according to the ancient tradition of the Jews.
   It is much on account of the valiant acts of David that the tribe of
   Judah, of which David was, is in Jacob's prophetical blessing compared
   to a lion; but more especially with an eye to Jesus Christ, who also
   was of that tribe, and was descended of David, and is in our text
   called "the Root of David;" and therefore Christ is here called "the
   Lion of the tribe of Judah."

   2. He is called a Lamb. John was told of a Lion that had prevailed to
   open the book, and probably expected to see a lion in his vision; but
   while he is expecting, behold a Lamb appears to open the book, an
   exceeding diverse kind of creature from a lion. A lion is a devourer,
   one that is wont to make terrible slaughter of others; and no creature
   more easily falls a prey to him than a lamb. And Christ is here
   represented not only as a Lamb, a creature very liable to be slain, but
   a "Lamb as it had been slain," that is, with the marks of its deadly
   wounds appearing on it.

   That which I would observe from the words, for the subject of my
   present discourse, is this, viz.--

   "There is an admirable conjunction of diverse excellencies in Jesus
   Christ."

   The lion and the lamb, though very diverse kinds of creatures, yet have
   each their peculiar excellencies. The lion excels in strength, and in
   the majesty of his appearance and voice: the lamb excels in meekness
   and patience, besides the excellent nature of the creature as good for
   food, and yielding that which is fit for our clothing, and being
   suitable to be offered in sacrifice to God. But we see that Christ is
   in the text compared to both; because the diverse excellencies of both
   wonderfully meet in him,--In handling this subject I would,

   First, Show wherein there is an admirable conjunction of diverse
   excellencies in Christ.

   Secondly, How this admirable conjunction of excellencies appear in
   Christ's acts.

   And then make application.

   First, I would show wherein there is an admirable conjunction of
   diverse excellencies in Jesus Christ. Which appears in three things:

   I. There is a conjunction of such excellencies in Christ, as, in our
   manner of conceiving, are very diverse one from another.

   II. There is in him a conjunction of such really diverse excellencies,
   as otherwise would have seemed to us utterly incompatible in the same
   subject.

   III. Such diverse excellencies are exercised in him towards men that
   otherwise would have seemed impossible to be exercised towards the same
   object.

   I. There is a conjunction of such excellencies in Christ, as, in our
   manner of conceiving, are very diverse one from another. Such are the
   various divine perfections and excellencies that Christ is possessed
   of. Christ is a divine person; and therefore has all the attributes of
   God. The difference between these is chiefly relative, and in our
   manner of conceiving them. And those which, in this sense, are most
   diverse, meet in the person of Christ. I shall mention two instances

   1. There do meet in Jesus Christ infinite highness and infinite
   condescension. Christ, as he is God, is infinitely great and high above
   all. He is higher than the kings of the earth, for he is King of kings,
   and Lord of lords. He is higher than the heavens, and higher than the
   highest angels of heaven. So great is he, that all men, all kings and
   princes, are as worms of the dust before him; all nations are as the
   drop of the bucket, and the light dust of the balance; yea, and angels
   themselves are as nothing before him. He is so high, that he is
   infinitely above any need of us; above our reach, that we cannot be
   profitable to him; and above our conceptions, that we cannot comprehend
   him. Prov. xxx. 4. "What is his name, and what is his Son's name, if
   thou canst tell?" Our understandings, if we stretch them never so far,
   cannot reach up to his divine glory. Job xi. 8. "It is high as heaven,
   what canst thou do?" Christ is the Creator and great Possessor of
   heaven and earth. He is sovereign Lord of all. He rules over the whole
   universe, and doth whatsoever pleaseth him. His knowledge is without
   bound. His wisdom is perfect, and what none can circumvent. His power
   is infinite, and none can resist him. His riches are immense and
   inexhaustible. His majesty is infinitely awful.

   And yet he is one of infinite condescension. None are so low or
   inferior, but Christ's condescension is sufficient to take a gracious
   notice of them. He condescends not only to the angels, humbling himself
   to behold the things that are done in heaven, but he also condescends
   to such poor creatures as men; and that not only so as to take notice
   of princes and great men, but of those that are of meanest rank and
   degree, "the poor of the world," James ii. 5. Such as are commonly
   despised by their fellow-creatures, Christ does not despise. 1 Cor. i.
   28. "Base things of the world, and things that are despised, hath God
   chosen." Christ condescends to take notice of beggars, Luke xvi. 22.
   and people of the most despised nations. In Christ Jesus is neither
   "Barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free," Col. iii. 11. He that is thus
   high, condescends to take a gracious notice of little children, Matt.
   xix. 14. "Suffer little children to come unto me." Yea, which is more,
   his condescension is sufficient to take a gracious notice of the most
   unworthy, sinful creatures, those that have no good deservings, and
   those that have infinite ill-deservings.

   Yea, so great is his condescension, that it is not only sufficient to
   take some gracious notice of such as these, but sufficient for every
   thing that is an act of condescension. His condescension is great
   enough to become their friend; to become their companion, to unite
   their souls to him in spiritual marriage. It is enough to take their
   nature upon him, to become one of them, that he may be one with them.
   Yea, it is great enough to abase himself yet lower for them, even to
   expose himself to shame and spitting; yea, to yield up himself to an
   ignominious death for them. And what act of condescension can be
   conceived of greater? Yet such an act as this, has his condescension
   yielded to, for those that are so low and mean, despicable and
   unworthy!

   Such a conjunction of infinite highness and low condescension, in the
   same person, is admirable. We see, by manifold instances, what a
   tendency a high station has in men, to make them to be of a quite
   contrary disposition. If one worm be a little exalted above another, by
   having more dust, or a bigger dunghill, how much does he make of
   himself! What a distance does he keep from those that are below him!
   And a little condescension is what he expects should be made much of,
   and greatly acknowledged. Christ condescends to wash our feet; but how
   would great men, (or rather the bigger worms,) account themselves
   debased by acts of far less condescension!

   2. There meet in Jesus Christ, infinite justice and infinite grace. As
   Christ is a divine person, he is infinitely holy and just; hating sin,
   and disposed to execute condign punishment for sin. He is the Judge of
   the world, and the infinitely just Judge of it, and will not at all
   acquit the wicked, or by any means clear the guilty.

   And yet he is infinitely gracious and merciful. Though his justice be
   so strict with respect to all sin, and every breach of the law, yet he
   has grace sufficient for every sinner, and even the chief of sinners.
   And it is not only sufficient for the most unworthy to show them mercy,
   and bestow some good upon them, but to bestow the greatest good; yea,
   it is sufficient to bestow all good upon them, and to do all things for
   them. There is no benefit or blessing that they can receive, so great
   but the grace of Christ is sufficient to bestow it on the greatest
   sinner that ever lived. And not only so, but so great is his grace,
   that nothing is too much as the means of this good. It is sufficient
   not only to do great things, but also to suffer in order to it; and not
   only to suffer, but to suffer most extremely even unto death, the most
   terrible of natural evils; and not only death, but the most ignominious
   and tormenting, and every way the most terrible that men could inflict;
   yea, and greater sufferings than men could inflict, who could only
   torment the body. He had sufferings in his soul, that were the more
   immediate fruits of the wrath of God against the sins of those he
   undertakes for.

   II. There do meet in the person of Christ such really diverse
   excellencies, which otherwise would have been thought utterly
   incompatible in the same subject; such as are conjoined in no other
   person whatever, either divine, human, or angelical; and such as
   neither men nor angels would ever have imagined could have met together
   in the same person, had it not been seen in the person of Christ. I
   would give some instances.

   1. In the person of Christ do meet together infinite glory and lowest
   humility. Infinite glory, and the virtue of humility, meet in no other
   person but Christ. They meet in no created person; for no created
   person has infinite glory; and they meet in no other divine person but
   Christ. For though the divine nature be infinitely abhorrent to pride,
   yet humility is not properly predicable of God the Father, and the Holy
   Ghost, that exists only in the divine nature; because it is proper
   excellency only of a created nature; for it consists radically in a
   sense of a comparative lowness and littleness before God, or the great
   distance between God and the subject of this virtue; but it would be a
   contradiction to suppose any such thing in God.

   But in Jesus Christ, who is both God and man, those two diverse
   excellencies are sweetly united. He is a person infinitely exalted in
   glory and dignity. Phil. ii. 6. "Being in the form of God, he thought
   it not robbery to be equal with God." There is equal honour due to him
   with the Father. John v. 23.--"That all men should honour the Son, even
   as they honour the Father." God himself says to him, "Thy throne, O
   God, is for ever and ever," Heb. i. 8. And there is the same supreme
   respect and divine worship paid to him by the angels of heaven, as to
   God the Father, Heb. i. 6. "Let all the angels of God worship him."

   But however he is thus above all, yet he is lowest of all in humility.
   There never was so great an instance of this virtue among either men or
   angels, as Jesus. None ever was so sensible of the distance between God
   and him, or had a heart so lowly before God, as the man Christ Jesus.
   Matt. xi. 29. What a wonderful spirit of humility appeared in him, when
   he was here upon earth, in all his behaviour! In his contentment in his
   mean outward condition, contentedly living in the family of Joseph the
   carpenter, and Mary his mother, for thirty years together, and
   afterwards choosing outward meanness, poverty, and contempt, rather
   than earthly greatness; in his washing his disciples' feet, and in all
   his speeches and deportment towards them; in his cheerfully sustaining
   the form of a servant through his whole life, and submitting to such
   immense humiliation at death!

   2. In the person of Christ do meet together infinite majesty and
   transcendent meekness. These again are two qualifications that meet
   together in no other person but Christ. Meekness, properly so called,
   is a virtue proper only to the creature: we scarcely ever find meekness
   mentioned as a divine attribute in Scripture; at least not in the New
   Testament; for thereby seems to be signified, a calmness and quietness
   of spirit, arising from humility in mutable beings that are naturally
   liable to be put into a ruffle by the assaults of a tempestuous and
   injurious world. But Christ being both God and man, hath both infinite
   majesty and superlative meekness.

   Christ was a person of infinite majesty. It is he that is spoken of,
   Psalm xlv. 3. "Gird thy sword upon thy thigh, O most mighty, with thy
   glory and thy majesty." It is he that is mighty, that rideth on the
   heavens, and his excellency on the sky. It is he that is terrible out
   of his holy places; who is mightier than the noise of many waters, yea,
   than the mighty waves of the sea: before whom a fire goeth, and burneth
   up his enemies round about; at whose presence the earth quakes, and the
   hills melt; who sitteth on the circle of the earth, and all the
   inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers; who rebukes the sea, and
   maketh it dry, and drieth up the rivers; whose eyes are as a flame of
   fire; from whose presence, and from the glory of whose power, the
   wicked shall be punished with everlasting destruction; who is the
   blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings, and Lord of lords, who
   hath heaven for his throne, and the earth for his footstool, and is the
   high and lofty One who inhabits eternity, whose kingdom is an
   everlasting kingdom, and of whose dominion there is no end.

   And yet he was the most marvellous instance of meekness, and humble
   quietness of spirit, that ever was; agreeable to the prophecies of him,
   Matt. xxi. 4, 5. "All this was done, that it might be fulfilled which
   was spoken by the prophet, saying, Tell ye the daughter of Sion,
   Behold, thy King cometh unto thee, meek, and sitting upon an ass, and a
   colt the foal of an ass." And, agreeable to what Christ declares of
   himself, Matt. xi. 29. "I am meek and lowly in heart." And agreeable to
   what was manifest in his behaviour: for there never was such an
   instance seen on earth, of a meek behaviour, under injuries and
   reproaches, and towards enemies; who, when he was reviled, reviled not
   again. He had a wonderful spirit of forgiveness, was ready to forgive
   his worst enemies, and prayed for them with fervent and effectual
   prayers. With what meekness did he appear in the ring of soldiers that
   were contemning and mocking him; he was silent, and opened not his
   mouth, but went as a lamb to the slaughter. Thus is Christ a Lion in
   majesty, and a Lamb in meekness.

   3. There meet in the person of Christ the deepest reverence towards God
   and equality with God. Christ, when on earth, appeared full of holy
   reverence towards the Father. He paid the most reverential worship to
   him, praying to him with postures of reverence. Thus we read of his
   "kneeling down and praying," Luke xxii. 41. This became Christ, as one
   who had taken on him the human nature; but at the same time he existed
   in the divine nature; whereby his person was in all respects equal to
   the person of the Father. God the Father hath no attribute or
   perfection that the Son hath not, in equal degree, and equal glory.
   These things meet in no other person but Jesus Christ.

   4. There are conjoined in the person of Christ infinite worthiness of
   good, and the greatest patience under sufferings of evil. He was
   perfectly innocent, and deserved no suffering. He deserved nothing from
   God by any guilt of his own; and he deserved no ill from men. Yea, he
   was not only harmless and undeserving of suffering, but he was
   infinitely worthy; worthy of the infinite love of the Father, worthy of
   infinite and eternal happiness, and infinitely worthy of all possible
   esteem, love, and service from all men. And yet he was perfectly
   patient under the greatest sufferings that ever were endured in this
   world. Heb. xii. 2. "He endured the cross, despising the shame." He
   suffered not from his Father for his faults, but ours; and he suffered
   from men not for his faults, but for those things on account of which
   he was infinitely worthy of their love and honour; which made his
   patience the more wonderful and the more glorious. 1 Pet. ii. 20, &c.
   "For what glory is it, if when ye be buffeted for your faults, ye shall
   take it patiently, but if when ye do well, and suffer for it, ye take
   it patiently; this is acceptable with God. For even hereunto were ye
   called; because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example,
   that we should follow his steps: who did no sin, neither was guile
   found in his mouth: who when he was reviled, reviled not again; when he
   suffered, he threatened not; but committed himself to him that judgeth
   righteously: who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the
   tree, that we being dead to sin, should live unto righteousness: by
   whose stripes ye were healed." There is no such conjunction of
   innocence, worthiness, and patience under sufferings, as in the person
   of Christ.

   5. In the person of Christ are conjoined an exceeding spirit of
   obedience, with supreme dominion over heaven and earth. Christ is the
   Lord of all things in two respects: he is so, as God-man and Mediator;
   and thus his dominion is appointed, and given him of the Father. Having
   it by delegation from God, he is as it were the Father's vicegerent.
   But he is Lord of all things in another respect, viz. as he is (by his
   original nature) God; and so he is by natural right the Lord of all,
   and supreme over all as much as the Father. Thus, he has dominion over
   the world, not by delegation, but in his own right. He is not an under
   God, as the Arians suppose, but, to all intents and purposes, supreme
   God.

   And yet in the same person is found the greatest spirit of obedience to
   the commands and laws of God that ever was in the universe; which was
   manifest in his obedience here in this world. John xiv. 31. "As the
   Father gave me commandment, even so I do." John xv. 10. "even as I have
   kept my Father's commandments, and abide in his love." The greatness of
   his obedience appears in its perfection, and in his obeying commands of
   such exceeding difficulty. Never any one received commands from God of
   such difficulty, and that were so great a trial of obedience, as Jesus
   Christ. One of God's commands to him was, that he should yield himself
   to those dreadful sufferings that he underwent. See John x. 18. "No man
   taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself."--" This commandment
   received I of my Father." And Christ was thoroughly obedient to this
   command of God. Heb. v. 8. "Though he were a Son, yet he learned
   obedience by the things that he suffered." Philip. ii. 8. "He humbled
   himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross."
   Never was there such an instance of obedience in man or angel as this,
   though he was at the same time supreme Lord of both angels and men.

   6. In the person of Christ are conjoined absolute sovereignty and
   perfect resignation. This is another unparalleled conjunction. Christ,
   as he is God, is the absolute sovereign of the world; the sovereign
   disposer of all events. The decrees of God are all his sovereign
   decrees; and the work of creation, and all God's works of providence,
   are his sovereign works. It is he that worketh all things according to
   the counsel of his own will. Col. i. 16, 17. "By him, and through him,
   and to him, are all things.". John v. 17. "The Father worketh hitherto,
   and I work." Matt. viii. 3. "I will, be thou clean."

   But yet Christ was the most wonderful instance of resignation that ever
   appeared in the world. He was absolutely and perfectly resigned when he
   had a near and immediate prospect of his terrible sufferings, and the
   dreadful cup that he was to drink. The idea and expectation of this
   made his soul exceeding sorrowful, even unto death, and put him into
   such an agony, that his sweat was as it were great drops or clots of
   blood, falling down to the ground. But in such circumstances he was
   wholly resigned to the will of God. Matt. xxvi. 39. "O my Father, if it
   be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless, not as I will,
   but as thou wilt." Verse 42. "O my Father, if this cup may not pass
   from me, except I drink it, thy will be done."

   7. In Christ do meet together self-sufficiency, and an entire trust and
   reliance on God; which is another conjunction peculiar to the person of
   Christ. As he is a divine person, he is self-sufficient, standing in
   need of nothing. All creatures are dependent on him, but he is
   dependent on none, but is absolutely independent. His proceeding from
   the Father, in his eternal generation or filiation, argues no proper
   dependence on the will of the Father; for that proceeding was natural
   and necessary, and not arbitrary. But yet Christ entirely trusted in
   God: his enemies say that of him, "He trusted in God that he would
   deliver him," Matt. xxvii. 43. And the apostle testifies, 1 Pet. ii.
   23. "That he committed himself to God."

   III. Such diverse excellencies are expressed in him towards men, that
   otherwise would have seemed impossible to be exercised towards the same
   object; as particularly these three, justice, mercy, and truth. The
   same that are mentioned Psalm lxxxv. 10. "Mercy and truth are met
   together, righteousness and peace have kissed each other." The strict
   justice of God, and even his revenging justice, and that against the
   sins of men, never was so gloriously manifested as in Christ. He
   manifested an infinite regard to the attribute of God's justice, in
   that, when he had a mind to save sinners, he was willing to undergo
   such extreme sufferings, rather than that their salvation should be to
   the injury of the honour of that attribute. And as he is the Judge of
   the world, he doth himself exercise strict justice; he will not clear
   the guilty, nor at all acquit the wicked in judgment. Yet how
   wonderfully is infinite mercy towards sinners displayed in him! And
   what glorious and ineffable grace and love have been and are exercised
   by him, towards sinful men! Though he be the just Judge of a sinful
   world, yet he is also the Saviour of the world. Though he be a
   consuming fire to sin, yet he is the light and life of sinners. Rom.
   iii. 25, 26 "Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation, through
   faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of
   sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; to declare, I say,
   at this time his righteousness, that he might be just, and the
   justifier of him which believeth in Jesus."

   So the immutable truth of God, in the threatenings of his law against
   the sins of men, was never so manifested as it is in Jesus Christ; for
   there never was any other so great a trial of the unalterableness of
   the truth of God in those threatenings, as when sin came to be imputed
   to his own Son. And then in Christ has been seen already an actual
   complete accomplishment of those threatenings, which never has been nor
   will be seen in any other instance; because the eternity that will be
   taken up in fulfilling those threatenings on others, never will be
   finished. Christ manifested an infinite regard to this truth of God in
   his sufferings. And, in his judging the world, he makes the covenant of
   works, that contains those dreadful threatenings, his rule of judgment.
   He will see to it, that it is not infringed in the least jot or tittle:
   he will do nothing contrary to the threatenings of the law, and their
   complete fulfilment. And yet in him we have many great and precious
   promises, promises of perfect deliverance from the penalty of the law.
   And this is the promise that he hath promised us, even eternal life.
   And in him are all the promises of God, yea, and Amen.

   Having thus shown wherein there is an admirable conjunction of
   excellencies in Jesus Christ, I now proceed,

   Secondly, To show how this admirable conjunction of excellencies
   appears in Christ's acts.

   1. It appears in what Christ did in taking on him our nature. In this
   act, his infinite condescension wonderfully appeared, that he who was
   God should become man; that the word should be made flesh, and should
   take on him a nature infinitely below his original nature! And it
   appears yet more remarkably in the low circumstances of his
   incarnation: he was conceived in the womb of a poor young woman, whose
   poverty appeared in this, when she came to offer sacrifices of her
   purification, she brought what was allowed of in the law only in case
   of poverty; as Luke ii. 24. "According to what is said in the law of
   the Lord, a pair of turtle-doves, or two young pigeons." This was
   allowed only in case the person was so poor that she was not able to
   offer a lamb. Lev. xii. 8.

   And though his infinite condescension thus appeared in the manner of
   his incarnation, yet his divine dignity also appeared in it; for though
   he was conceived in the womb of a poor virgin, yet he was conceived
   there by the power of the Holy Ghost. And his divine dignity also
   appeared in the holiness of his conception and birth. Though he was
   conceived in the womb of one of the corrupt race of mankind, yet he was
   conceived and born without sin; as the angel said to the blessed
   Virgin, Luke i. 35. "The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power
   of the Highest shall overshadow thee; therefore also that holy thing
   which shall be born of thee, shall be called the Son of God."

   His infinite condescension marvellously appeared in the manner of his
   birth. He was brought forth in a stable, because there was no room for
   them in the inn. The inn was taken up by others, that were looked upon
   as persons of greater account. The blessed Virgin, being poor and
   despised, was turned or shut out. Though she was in such necessitous
   circumstances, yet those that counted themselves her betters would not
   give place to her; and therefore, in the time of her travail, she was
   forced to betake herself to a stable; and when the child was born, it
   was wrapped in swaddling-clothes, and laid in a manger. There Christ
   lay a little infant; and there he eminently appeared as a lamb. But yet
   this feeble infant, born thus in a stable, and laid in a manger, was
   born to conquer and triumph over Satan, that roaring lion. He came to
   subdue the mighty powers of darkness, and make a show of them openly;
   and so to restore peace on earth, and to manifest God's good-will
   towards men, and to bring glory to God in the highest; according as the
   end of his birth was declared by the joyful songs of the glorious hosts
   of angels appearing to the shepherds at the same time that the infant
   lay in the manger; whereby his divine dignity was manifested.

   II. This admirable conjunction of excellencies appears in the acts and
   various passages of Christ's life. Though Christ dwelt in mean outward
   circumstances, whereby his condescension and humility especially
   appeared, and his majesty was veiled; yet his divine dignity and glory
   did in many of his acts shine through the veil, and it illustriously
   appeared, that he was not only the Son of man, but the great God.

   Thus, in the circumstances of his infancy, his outward meanness
   appeared; yet there was something then to show forth his divine
   dignity, in the wise men's being stirred up to come from the east to
   give honour to him, their being led by a miraculous star, and coming
   and falling down and worshipping him, and presenting him with gold,
   frankincense, and myrrh. His humility and meekness wonderfully appeared
   in his subjection to his mother and reputed father when he was a child.
   Herein he appeared as a lamb. But his divine glory broke forth and
   shone when, at twelve years old, he disputed with doctors in the
   temple. In that he appeared, in some measure, as the Lion of the tribe
   of Judah.

   And so, after he entered on his public ministry, his marvellous
   humility and meekness was manifested in his choosing to appear in such
   mean outward circumstances; and in being contented in them, when he was
   so poor that he had not where to lay his head, and depended on the
   charity of some of his followers for his subsistence; as appears by
   Luke viii. at the beginning. How meek, condescending, and familiar his
   treatment of his disciples; his discourses with them, treating them as
   a father his children; yea, as friends and companions. How patient,
   bearing such affliction and reproach, and so many injuries from the
   scribes and Pharisees, and others. In these things he appeared as a
   Lamb. And yet he at the same time did in many ways show forth his
   divine majesty and glory, particularly in the miracles he wrought,
   which were evidently divine works, and manifested omnipotent power, and
   so declared him to be the Lion of the tribe of Judah. His wonderful and
   miraculous works plainly showed him to be the God of nature; in that it
   appeared by them that he had all nature in his hands, and could lay an
   arrest upon it, and stop and change its course as he pleased. In
   healing the sick, and opening the eyes of the blind, and unstopping the
   ears of the deaf, and healing the lame; he showed that he was the God
   that framed the eye, and created the ear, and was the author of the
   frame of man's body. By the dead's rising at his command, it appeared
   that he was the author and fountain of life, and that "God the Lord, to
   whom belong the issues from death." By his walking on the sea in a
   storm, when the waves were raised, he showed himself to be that God
   spoken of in Job ix. 8. "That treadeth on the waves of the sea." By his
   stilling the storm, and calming the rage of the sea, by his powerful
   command, saying, "Peace, be still," he showed that he has the command
   of the universe, and that he is that God who brings things to pass by
   the word of his power, who speaks and it is done, who commands and it
   stands fast; Psalm lxv. 7. "Who stilleth the noise of the seas, the
   noise of their waves." And Psalm cvii. 29. "That maketh the storm a
   calm, so that the waves thereof are still." And Psalm lxxxix. 8, 9. "O
   Lord God of hosts, who is a strong Lord like unto thee, or to thy
   faithfulness round about thee? Thou rulest the raging of the sea: when
   the waves thereof arise, thou stillest them." Christ, by casting out
   devils, remarkably appeared as the Lion of the tribe of Judah, and
   showed that he was stronger than the roaring lion, that seeks whom he
   may devour. He commanded them to come out, and they were forced to
   obey. They were terribly afraid of him; they fall down before him, and
   beseech him not to torment them. He forces a whole legion of them to
   forsake their hold, by his powerful word; and they could not so much as
   enter into the swine without his leave. He showed the glory of his
   omniscience, by telling the thoughts of men; as we have often an
   account. Herein he appeared to be that God spoken of, Amos iv. 13.
   "That declareth unto man what is his thought." Thus, in the midst of
   his meanness and humiliation, his divine glory appeared in his
   miracles, John ii. 11. "This beginning of miracles did Jesus in Cana of
   Galilee, and manifested forth his glory."

   And though Christ ordinarily appeared without outward glory, and in
   great obscurity, yet at a certain time he threw off the veil, and
   appeared in his divine majesty, so far as it could be outwardly
   manifested to men in this frail state, when he was transfigured in the
   mount. The apostle Peter, 2 Pet. i. 16, 17. was an "eye-witness of his
   majesty, when he received from God the Father honour and glory, when
   there came such a voice to him from the excellent glory, This is my
   beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; which voice that came from
   heaven they heard, when they were with him in the holy mount."

   And at the same time that Christ was wont to appear in such meekness,
   condescension, and humility, in his familiar discourses with his
   disciples, appearing therein as the Lamb of God; he was also wont to
   appear as The Lion of the tribe of Judah, with divine authority and
   majesty, in his so sharply rebuking the scribes and Pharisees, and
   other hypocrites.

   III. This admirable conjunction of excellencies remarkably appears in
   his offering up himself a sacrifice for sinners in his last sufferings.
   As this was the greatest thing in all the works of redemption, the
   greatest act of Christ in that work; so in this act especially does
   there appear that admirable conjunction of excellencies that has been
   spoken of. Christ never so much appeared as a lamb, as when he was
   slain: "He came like a lamb to the slaughter," Isaiah liii. 7. Then he
   was offered up to God as a lamb without blemish, and without spot: then
   especially did he appear to be the anti-type of the lamb of the
   passover: 1 Cor. v. 7. "Christ our Passover sacrificed for us." And yet
   in that act he did in an especial manner appear as "the Lion of the
   tribe of Judah;" yea, in this above all other acts, in many respects,
   as may appear in the following things.

   1. Then was Christ in the greatest degree of his humiliation, and yet
   by that, above all other things, his divine glory appears. Christ's
   humiliation was great, in being born in such a low condition, of a poor
   virgin, and in a stable. His humiliation was great, in being subject to
   Joseph the carpenter, and Mary his mother, and afterwards living in
   poverty, so as not to have where to lay his head; and in suffering such
   manifold and bitter reproaches as he suffered, while he went about
   preaching and working miracles. But his humiliation was never so great
   as it was in his last sufferings, beginning with his agony in the
   garden, till he expired on the cross. Never was he subject to such
   ignominy as then; never did he suffer so much pain in his body, or so
   much sorrow in his soul; never was he in so great an exercise of his
   condescension, humility, meekness, and patience, as he was in these
   last sufferings; never was his divine glory and majesty covered with so
   thick and dark a veil; never did he so empty himself and make himself
   of no reputation, as at this time. And yet, never was his divine glory
   so manifested, by any act of his, as in yielding himself up to these
   sufferings. When the fruit of it came to appear, and the mystery and
   ends of it to be unfolded in its issue, then did the glory of it
   appear; then did it appear as the most glorious act of Christ that ever
   he exercised towards the creature. This act of his is celebrated by the
   angels and hosts of heaven with peculiar praises, as that which is
   above all others glorious, as you may see in the context, Rev. v. 9-12.
   "And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book,
   and to open the seals thereof: for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed
   us to God by thy blood, out of every kindred, and tongue, and people,
   and nation; and hast made us unto our God kings and priests: and we
   shall reign on the earth. And I beheld, and I heard the voice of many
   angels round about the throne, and the beasts, and the elders: and the
   number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of
   thousands; saying with a loud voice, Worthy is the Lamb that was slain,
   to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and
   glory, and blessing."

   2. He never in any act gave so great a manifestation of love to God,
   and yet never so manifested his love to those that were enemies to God,
   as in that act. Christ never did any thing whereby his love to the
   Father was so eminently manifested, as in his laying down his life,
   under such inexpressible sufferings, in obedience to his command, and
   for the vindication of the honour of his authority and majesty; nor did
   ever any mere creature give such a testimony of love to God as that
   was. And yet this was the greatest expression of his love to sinful men
   who were enemies to God; Rom. v. 10. "When we were enemies, we were
   reconciled to God, by the death of his Son." The greatness of Christ's
   love to such, appears in nothing so much as in its being dying love.
   That blood of Christ which fell in great drops to the ground, in his
   agony, was shed from love to God's enemies, and his own. That shame and
   spitting, that torment of body, and that exceeding sorrow, even unto
   death, which he endured in his soul, was what he underwent from love to
   rebels against God, to save them from hell, and to purchase for them
   eternal glory. Never did Christ so eminently show his regard to God's
   honour, as in offering up himself a victim to justice. And yet in this
   above all, he manifested his love to them who dishonoured God, so as to
   bring such guilt on themselves, that nothing less than his blood could
   atone for it.

   3. Christ never so eminently appeared for divine justice, and yet never
   suffered so much from divine justice, as when he offered up himself a
   sacrifice for our sins. In Christ's great sufferings, did his infinite
   regard to the honour of God's justice distinguishingly appear; for it
   was from regard to that that he thus humbled himself. And yet in these
   sufferings, Christ was the mark of the vindictive expressions of that
   very justice of God. Revenging justice then spent all its force upon
   him, on account of our guilt; which made him sweat blood, and cry out
   upon the cross, and probably rent his vitals--broke his heart, the
   fountain of blood, or some other blood vessels--and by the violent
   fermentation turned his blood to water. For the blood and water that
   issued out of his side, when pierced by the spear, seems to have been
   extravasated blood; and so there might be a kind of literal fulfilment
   of Psalm xxii. 14. "I am poured out like water, and all my bones are
   out of joint: my heart is like wax, it is melted in the midst of my
   bowels." And this was the way and means by which Christ stood up for
   the honour of God's justice, viz. by thus suffering its terrible
   executions. For when he had undertaken for sinners, and had substituted
   himself in their room, divine justice could have its due honour no
   other way than by his suffering its revenges.--In this the diverse
   excellencies that met in the person of Christ appeared, viz. his
   infinite regard to God's justice, and such love to those that have
   exposed themselves to it, as induced him thus to yield himself a
   sacrifice to it.

   4. Christ's holiness never so illustriously shone forth as it did in
   his last sufferings; and yet he never was to such a degree treated as
   guilty. Christ's holiness never had such a trial as it had then; and
   therefore never had so great a manifestation. When it was tried in this
   furnace, it came forth as gold, or as silver purified seven times. His
   holiness then above all appeared in his stedfast pursuit of the honour
   of God, and in his obedience to him. For his yielding himself unto
   death was transcendently the greatest act of obedience that ever was
   paid to God by any one since the foundation of the world.

   And yet then Christ was in the greatest degree treated as a wicked
   person would have been. He was apprehended and bound as a malefactor.
   His accusers represented him as a most wicked wretch. In his sufferings
   before his crucifixion, he was treated as if he had been the worst and
   vilest of mankind; and then, he was put to a kind of death, that none
   but the worst sort of malefactors were wont to suffer, those that were
   most abject in their persons, and guilty of the blackest crimes. And he
   suffered as though guilty from God himself, by reason of our guilt
   imputed to him; for he who knew no sin, was made sin for us; he was
   made subject to wrath, as if he had been sinful himself. He was made a
   curse for us.

   Christ never so greatly manifested his hatred of sin, as against God,
   as in his dying to take away the dishonour that sin had done to God;
   and yet never was he to such a degree subject to the terrible effects
   of God's hatred of sin, and wrath against it, as he was then. In this
   appears those diverse excellencies meeting in Christ, viz. love to God,
   and grace to sinners.

   5. He never was so dealt with, as unworthy, as in his last sufferings;
   and yet it is chiefly on account of them that he is accounted worthy.
   He was therein dealt with as if he had not been worthy to live: they
   cry out, "Away with him! away with him! Crucify him." John xix. 15. And
   they prefer Barabbas before him. And he suffered from the Father, as
   one whose demerits were infinite, by reason of our demerits that were
   laid upon him. And yet it was especially by that act of his subjecting
   himself to those sufferings, that he merited, and on the account of
   which chiefly he was accounted worthy of the glory of his exaltation.
   Philip. ii. 8, 9. "He humbled himself, and became obedient unto death;
   wherefore God hath highly exalted him." And we see that it is on this
   account chiefly, that he is extolled as worthy by saints and angels in
   the context; Rev. v. 12. "Worthy," say they," is the Lamb that was
   slain." This shows an admirable conjunction in him of infinite dignity,
   and infinite condescension and love to the infinitely unworthy.

   6. Christ in his last sufferings suffered most extremely from those
   towards whom he was then manifesting his greatest act of love. He never
   suffered so much from his Father, (though not from any hatred to him,
   but from hatred to our sins,) for he then forsook him, or took away the
   comforts of his presence; and then "it pleased the Lord to bruise him,
   and put him to grief," as Isaiah liii. 10. And yet never gave so great
   a manifestation of love to God as then, as has been already observed.
   So Christ never suffered so much from the hands of men as he did then;
   and yet never was in so high an exercise of love to men. He never was
   so ill treated by his disciples; who were so unconcerned about his
   sufferings, that they would not watch with him one hour, in his agony;
   and when he was apprehended, all forsook him and fled, except Peter,
   who denied him with oaths and curses. And yet then he was suffering,
   shedding his blood, and pouring out his soul unto death for them. Yea,
   he probably was then shedding his blood for some of them that shed his
   blood; for whom he prayed while they were crucifying him; and who were
   probably afterwards brought home to Christ by Peter's preaching.
   (Compare Luke xxiii. 34. Acts ii. 23, 36, 37, 41. Acts iii. 17. and
   Acts iv. 4. ) This shows an admirable meeting of justice and grace in
   the redemption of Christ.

   7. It was in Christ's last sufferings, above all, that he was delivered
   up to the power of his enemies; and yet by these, above all, he
   obtained victory over his enemies. Christ never was so in his enemies'
   hands, as in the time of his last sufferings. They sought his life
   before; but from time to time they were restrained, and Christ escaped
   out of their hands; and this reason is given for it, that his time was
   not yet come. But now they were suffered to work their will upon him;
   he was in a great degree delivered up to the malice and cruelty of both
   wicked men and devils. And therefore when Christ's enemies came to
   apprehend him, he says to them, Luke xxii. 53. "When I was daily with
   you in the temple, ye stretched forth no hand against me: but this is
   your hour, and the power of darkness."

   And yet it was principally by means of those sufferings that he
   conquered and overthrew his enemies. Christ never so effectually
   bruised Satan's head, as when Satan bruised his heel. The weapon with
   which Christ warred against the devil, and obtained a most complete
   victory and glorious triumph over him, was the cross, the instrument
   and weapon with which he thought he had overthrown Christ, and brought
   on him shameful destruction. Col. ii. 14, 15. "Blotting out the
   handwriting of ordinances,--nailing it to his cross: and having spoiled
   principalities and powers, he made a show of them openly, triumphing
   over them in it." In his last sufferings, Christ sapped the very
   foundations of Satan's kingdom; he conquered his enemies in their own
   territories, and beat them with their own weapons; as David cut off
   Goliath's head with his own sword. The devil had, as it were, swallowed
   up Christ, as the whale did Jonah; but it was deadly poison to him; he
   gave him a mortal wound in his own bowels. He was soon sick of his
   morsel, and was forced to do by him as the whale did by Jonah. To this
   day he is heart-sick of what he then swallowed as his prey. In those
   sufferings of Christ was laid the foundation of all that glorious
   victory he has already obtained over Satan, in the overthrow of his
   heathenish kingdom in the Roman empire, and all the success the gospel
   has had since; and also of all his future and still more glorious
   victory that is to be obtained in the earth. Thus Samson's riddle is
   most eminently fulfilled, Judges xiv. 14. "Out of the eater came forth
   meat, and out of the strong came forth sweetness." And thus the true
   Samson does more towards the destruction of his enemies at his death
   than in his life; in yielding up himself to death, he pulls down the
   temple of Dagon, and destroys many thousands of his enemies, even while
   they are making themselves sport in his sufferings; and so he whose
   type was the ark, pulls down Dagon, and breaks off his head and hands
   in his own temple, even while he is brought in there as Dagon's
   captive.

   Thus Christ appeared at the same time, and in the same act, as both a
   lion and a lamb. He appeared as a lamb in the hands of his cruel
   enemies; as a lamb in the paws, and between the devouring jaws, of a
   roaring lion; yea, he was a lamb actually slain by this lion: and yet
   at the same time, as the Lion of the tribe of Judah, he conquers and
   triumphs over Satan, destroying his own devourer; as Samson did the
   lion that roared upon him, when he rent him as he would a kid. And in
   nothing has Christ appeared so much as a lion, in glorious strength
   destroying his enemies, as when he was brought as a lamb to the
   slaughter. In his greatest weakness he was most strong; and when he
   suffered most from his enemies, he brought the greatest confusion on
   his enemies.--Thus this admirable conjunction of diverse excellencies
   was manifest in Christ, in his offering up himself to God in his last
   sufferings.

   IV. It is still manifest in his acts, in his present state of
   exaltation in heaven. Indeed, in his exalted state, he most eminently
   appears in manifestation of those excellencies, on the account of which
   he is compared to a lion; but still he appears as a lamb; Rev. xiv. 1.
   "And I looked, and lo, a Lion stood on mount Sion;" as in his state of
   humiliation he chiefly appeared as a Lamb, and yet did not appear
   without manifestation of his divine majesty and power, as the Lion of
   the tribe of Judah. Though Christ be now at the right-hand of God,
   exalted as King of heaven, and Lord of the universe; yet as he still is
   in the human nature, he still excels in humility. Though the man Christ
   Jesus be the highest of all creatures in heaven, yet he as much excels
   them all in humility as he doth in glory and dignity; for none sees so
   much of the distance between God and him as he does. And though he now
   appears in such glorious majesty and dominion in heaven, yet he appears
   as a lamb in his condescending, mild, and sweet treatment of his saints
   there; for he is a Lamb still, even amidst the throne of his
   exaltation; and he that is the Shepherd of the whole flock is himself a
   Lamb, and goes before them in heaven as such. Rev. vii. 17. "For the
   Lamb, which is in the midst of the throne, shall feed them, and shall
   lead them unto living fountains of waters, and God shall wipe away all
   tears from their eyes." Though in heaven every knee bows to him, and
   though the angels fall down before him adoring him, yet he treats his
   saints with infinite condescension, mildness, and endearment. And in
   his acts towards the saints on earth, he still appears as a lamb,
   manifesting exceeding love and tenderness in his intercession for them,
   as one that has had experience of affliction and temptation. He has not
   forgot what these things are; nor has he forgot how to pity those that
   are subject to them. And he still manifests his lamb-like excellencies,
   in his dealings with his saints on earth, in admirable forbearance,
   love, gentleness, and compassion. Behold him instructing, supplying,
   supporting, and comforting them; often coming to them, and manifesting
   himself to them by his Spirit, that he may sup with them, and they with
   him. Behold him admitting them to sweet communion, enabling them with
   boldness and confidence to come to him, and solacing their hearts. And
   in heaven Christ still appears, as it were with the marks of his wounds
   upon him; and so appears as a Lamb as it had been slain; as he was
   represented in vision to St. John, in the text, when he appeared to
   open the book sealed with seven seals, which is part of the glory of
   his exaltation.

   5. And lastly, this admirable conjunction of excellencies will be
   manifest in Christ's acts at the last judgment. He then, above all
   other times, will appear as the Lion of the tribe of Judah in infinite
   greatness and majesty, when he shall come in the glory of his Father,
   with all the holy angels, and the earth shall tremble before him, and
   the hills shall melt. This is he (Rev. xx. 11.) "that shall sit on a
   great white throne, before whose face the earth and heaven shall flee
   away." He will then appear in the most dreadful and amazing manner to
   the wicked. The devils tremble at the thought of that appearance; and
   when it shall be, the kings, and the great men, and the rich men, and
   the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bond-man, and every
   free-man, shall hide themselves in the dens, and in the rocks of the
   mountains, and shall cry to the mountains and rocks to fall on them, to
   hide them from the face and wrath of the Lamb. And none can declare or
   conceive of the amazing manifestations of wrath in which he will then
   appear towards these; or the trembling and astonishment, the shrieking
   and gnashing of teeth, with which they shall stand before his
   judgment-seat, and receive the terrible sentence of his wrath.

   And yet he will at the same time appear as a Lamb to his saints; he
   will receive them as friends and brethren, treating them with infinite
   mildness and love. There shall be nothing in him terrible to them; but
   towards them he will clothe himself wholly with sweetness and
   endearment. The church shall be then admitted to him as his bride; that
   shall be her wedding-day. The saints shall all be sweetly invited to
   come with him to inherit the kingdom, and reign in it with him to all
   eternity.

      APPLICATION.

   I. From this doctrine we may learn one reason why Christ is called by
   such a variety of names, and held forth under such a variety of
   representations, in Scripture. It is the better to signify and exhibit
   to us that variety of excellencies that meet together and are conjoined
   in him. Many appellations are mentioned together in one verse, Isaiah
   ix. 6. "For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given, and the
   government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called
   Wonderful, Counsellor, the mighty God, the everlasting Father, the
   Prince of Peace." It shows a wonderful conjunction of excellencies,
   that the same person should be a Son, born and given, and yet be the
   everlasting Father, without beginning or end; that he should be a
   Child, and yet be he whose name is Counsellor, and the mighty God; and
   well may his name, in whom such things are conjoined, be called
   Wonderful.

   By reason of the same wonderful conjunction, Christ is represented by a
   great variety of sensible things, that are on some account excellent.
   Thus in some places he is called a Sun, as Mal. iv. 2. in others a
   Star, Numb. xxiv. 17. And he is especially represented by the
   Morning-star, as being that which excels all other stars in brightness,
   and is the forerunner of the day, Rev. xxii. 16. And, as in our text,
   he is compared to a lion in one verse, and a lamb in the next, so
   sometimes he is compared to a roe or a young hart, another creature
   most diverse from a lion. So in some places he is called a rock, in
   others he is compared to a pearl. In some places he is called a man of
   war, and the Captain of our Salvation, in other places he is
   represented as a bridegroom. In the second chapter of Canticles, the
   1st verse, he is compared to a rose and lily, that are sweet and
   beautiful flowers; in the next verse but one, he is compared to a tree
   bearing sweet fruit .In Isaiah liii. 2. he is called a Root out of a
   dry ground; but elsewhere, instead of that, he is called the Tree of
   Life, that grows (not in a dry or barren ground, but) "in the midst of
   the paradise of God," Rev. ii. 7.

   II. Let the consideration of this wonderful meeting of diverse
   excellencies in Christ induce you to accept of him, and close with him
   as your Saviour. As all manner of excellencies meet in him, so there
   are concurring in him all manner of arguments and motives, to move you
   to choose him for your Saviour, and every thing that tends to encourage
   poor sinners to come and put their trust in him: his fulness and
   all-sufficiency as a Saviour gloriously appear in that variety of
   excellencies that has been spoken of.

   Fallen man is in a state of exceeding great misery, and is helpless in
   it; he is a poor weak creature, like an infant cast out in its blood in
   the day that it is born. But Christ is the Lion of the tribe of Judah;
   he is strong, though we are weak; he hath prevailed to do that for us
   which no creature else could do. Fallen man is a mean despicable
   creature, a contemptible worm; but Christ, who has undertaken for us,
   is infinitely honourable and worthy. Fallen man is polluted, but Christ
   is infinitely holy; fallen man is hateful, but Christ is infinitely
   lovely; fallen man is the object of God's indignation, but Christ is
   infinitely dear to him. We have dreadfully provoked God, but Christ has
   performed that righteousness which is infinitely precious in God's
   eyes.

   And here is not only infinite strength and infinite worthiness, but
   infinite condescension, and love and mercy, as great as power and
   dignity. If you are a poor, distressed sinner, whose heart is ready to
   sink for fear that God never will have mercy on you, you need not be
   afraid to go to Christ, for fear that he is either unable or unwilling
   to help you. Here is a strong foundation, and an inexhaustible
   treasure, to answer the necessities of your poor soul; and here is
   infinite grace and gentleness to invite and imbolden a poor, unworthy,
   fearful soul to come to it. If Christ accepts of you, you need not fear
   but that you will be safe; for he is a strong Lion for your defence.
   And if you come, you need not fear but that you shall be accepted; for
   he is like a Lamb to all that come to him, and receives them with
   infinite grace and tenderness. It is true he has awful majesty; he is
   the great God, and infinitely high above you; but there is this to
   encourage and imbolden the poor sinner, that Christ is man as well as
   God; he is a creature, as well as the Creator; and he is the most
   humble and lowly in heart of any creature in heaven or earth. This may
   well make the poor unworthy creature bold in coming to him. You need
   not hesitate one moment; but may run to him, and cast yourself upon
   him. You will certainly be graciously and meekly received by him.
   Though he is a lion, he will only be a lion to your enemies; but he
   will be a lamb to you. It could not have been conceived, had it not
   been so in the person of Christ, that there could have been so much in
   any Saviour, that is inviting and tending to encourage sinners to trust
   in him. Whatever your circumstances are, you need not be afraid to come
   to such a Saviour as this. Be you never so wicked a creature, here is
   worthiness enough; be you never so poor, and mean, and ignorant a
   creature, there is no danger of being despised; for though he be so
   much greater than you, he is also immensely more humble than you. Any
   one of you that is a father or mother, will not despise one of your own
   children that comes to you in distress: much less danger is there of
   Christ despising you, if you in your heart come to him. Here let me a
   little expostulate with the poor, burdened, distressed soul.

   1. What are you afraid of, that you dare not venture your soul upon
   Christ? Are you afraid that he cannot save you; that he is not strong
   enough to conquer the enemies of your soul? But how can you desire one
   stronger than the "mighty God?" as Christ is called, Isa. ix. 6. Is
   there need of greater than infinite strength? Are you afraid that he
   will not be willing to stoop so low as to take any gracious notice of
   you? But then, look on him, as he stood in the ring of soldiers,
   exposing his blessed face to be buffeted and spit upon by them! Behold
   him bound with his back uncovered to those that smote him! And behold
   him hanging on the cross! Do you think that he that had condescension
   enough to stoop to these things, and that for his crucifiers, will be
   unwilling to accept of you if you come to him? Or, are you afraid that
   if he does accept of you, that God the Father will not accept of him
   for you? But consider, will God reject his own Son, in whom his
   infinite delight is, and has been, from all eternity, and who is so
   united to him, that if he should reject him he would reject himself?

   2. What is there that you can desire should be in a Saviour, that is
   not in Christ? Or, wherein should you desire a Saviour should be
   otherwise than Christ is? What excellency is there wanting? What is
   there that is great or good; what is there that is venerable or
   winning; what is there that is adorable or endearing; or, what can you
   think of that would be encouraging, which is not to be found in the
   person of Christ? Would you have your Saviour to be great and
   honourable, because you are not willing to be beholden to a mean
   person? And, is not Christ a person honourable enough to be worthy that
   you should be dependent on him; is he not a person high enough to be
   appointed to so honourable a work as your salvation? Would you not only
   have a Saviour of high degree, but would you have him, notwithstanding
   his exaltation and dignity, to be made also of low degree, that he
   might have experience of afflictions and trials, that he might learn by
   the things that he has suffered, to pity them that suffer and are
   tempted? And has not Christ been made low enough for you? and has he
   not suffered enough? Would you not only have him possess experience of
   the afflictions you now suffer, but also of that amazing wrath that you
   fear hereafter, that he may know how to pity those that are in danger,
   and afraid of it? This Christ has had experience of, which experience
   gave him a greater sense of it, a thousand times, than you have, or any
   man living has. Would you have your Saviour to be one who is near to
   God, that so his mediation might be prevalent with him? And can you
   desire him to be nearer to God than Christ is, who is his only-begotten
   Son, of the same essence with the Father? And would you not only have
   him near to God, but also near to you, that you may have free access to
   him? And would you have him nearer to you than to be in the same
   nature, united to you by a spiritual union, so close as to be fitly
   represented by the union of the wife to the husband, of the branch to
   the vine, of the member to the head; yea, so as to be one spirit? For
   so he will be united to you, if you accept of him. Would you have a
   Saviour that has given some great and extraordinary testimony of mercy
   and love to sinners, by something that he has done, as well as by what
   he says? And can you think or conceive of greater things than Christ
   has done? Was it not a great thing for him, who was God, to take upon
   him human nature; to be not only God, but man thenceforward to all
   eternity? But would you look upon suffering for sinners to be a yet
   greater testimony of love to sinners, than merely doing, though it be
   ever so extraordinary a thing that he has done? And would you desire
   that a Saviour should suffer more than Christ has suffered for sinners?
   What is there wanting, or what would you add if you could, to make him
   more fit to be your Saviour? But further, to induce you to accept of
   Christ as your Saviour, consider two things particularly.

   (1.) How much Christ appears as the Lamb of God in his invitations to
   you to come to him and trust in him. With what sweet grace and kindness
   does he, from time to time, call and invite you; as Prov. viii. 4.
   "Unto you, O men, I call, and my voice is to the sons of men." And
   Isaiah lv. 1, 2, 3. "Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the
   waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy and eat; yea, come, buy
   wine and milk without money, and without price." How gracious is he
   here in inviting every one that thirsts, and in so repeating his
   invitation over and over, Isa. 55:1."Come ye to the waters; come, buy
   and eat; yea, come!" Mark the excellency of that entertainment which he
   invites you to accept of, "Come, buy wine and milk!" your poverty,
   having nothing to pay for it, shall be no objection,--"Come, he that
   hath no money, come without money, and without price!" What gracious
   arguments and expostulations he uses with you! Isaiah lv. 2. "Wherefore
   do ye spend money for that which is not bread? and your labour for that
   which satisfieth not? Hearken diligently unto me, and eat ye that which
   is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness." As much as to
   say, It is altogether needless for you to continue labouring and
   toiling for that which can never serve your turn, seeking rest in the
   world, and in your own righteousness:--I have made abundant provision
   for you, of that which is really good, and will fully satisfy your
   desires, and answer your end, and stand ready to accept of you: you
   need not be afraid; if you will come to me, I will engage to see all
   your wants supplied, and you made a happy creature. As he promises in
   the third verse, Isaiah lv. 3."Incline your ear, and come unto me:
   Hear, and your soul shall live, and I will make an everlasting covenant
   with you, even the sure mercies of David." And so, Prov. ix. at the
   beginning. How gracious and sweet is the invitation there! "Whoso is
   simple, let him turn in hither;" let you be never so poor, ignorant,
   and blind a creature, you shall be welcome. And in the following words,
   Christ sets forth the provision that he has made for you, Prov. ix. 5.
   "Come, eat of my bread, and drink of the wine which I have mingled."
   You are in a poor famishing state, and have nothing wherewith to feed
   your perishing soul; you have been seeking something, but yet remain
   destitute. Hearken, how Christ calls you to eat of his bread, and to
   drink of the wine that he hath mingled! And how much like a lamb does
   Christ appear in Matt. xi. 28-30. "Come unto me, all ye that labour and
   are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and
   learn of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart; and ye shall find rest
   to your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light." O thou
   poor distressed soul! whoever thou art, consider that Christ mentions
   thy very case, when he calls to them who labour and are heavy laden!
   How he repeatedly promises you rest if you come to him! In the 28th
   verse he says, "I will give you rest." And in the 29th verse, "Ye shall
   find rest to your souls." This is what you want. This is the thing you
   have been so long in vain seeking after. O how sweet would rest be to
   you, if you could but obtain it! Come to Christ, and you shall obtain
   it. And hear how Christ, to encourage you, represents himself as a
   lamb! He tells you, that he is meek and lowly in heart; and are you
   afraid to come to such a one? And again, Rev. iii. 20. "Behold, I stand
   at the door and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I
   will come in to him, and I will sup with him, and he with me." Christ
   condescends not only to call you to him, but he comes to you; he comes
   to your door, and there knocks. He might send an officer and seize you
   as a rebel and vile malefactor; but instead of that, he comes and
   knocks at your door, and seeks that you would receive him into your
   house, as your Friend and Saviour. And he not only knocks at your door,
   but he stands there waiting, while you are backward and unwilling. And
   not only so, but he makes promises what he will do for you, if you will
   admit him, what privileges he will admit you to; he will sup with you,
   and you with him. And again, Rev. xxii. 16, 17. "I am the root and the
   offspring of David, and the bright and morning star. And the Spirit and
   the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth, say, come. And let him
   that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take of the water of
   life freely." How does Christ here graciously set before you his own
   winning attractive excellency! And how does he condescend to declare to
   you not only his own invitation, but the invitation of the Spirit and
   the bride, if by any means he might encourage you to come! And how does
   he invite every one that will, that they may "take of the water of life
   freely," that they may take it as a free gift, however precious it be,
   and though it be the water of life!

   (2.) If you do come to Christ, he will appear as a Lion, in his
   glorious power and dominion, to defend you. All those excellencies of
   his, in which he appears as a lion, shall be yours, and shall be
   employed for you in your defence, for your safety, and to promote your
   glory; he will be as a lion to fight against your enemies. He that
   touches you, or offends you, will provoke his wrath, as he that stirs
   up a lion. Unless your enemies can conquer this Lion, they shall not be
   able to destroy or hurt you; unless they are stronger than he, they
   shall not be able to hinder your happiness. Isa. xxxi. 4. "For thus
   hath the Lord spoken unto me, Like as the lion and the young lion
   roaring on his prey, when a multitude of shepherds is called forth
   against him, he will not be afraid of their voice, nor abase himself
   for the noise of them; so shall the Lord of hosts come down to fight
   for mount Zion, and for the hill thereof."

   III. Let what has been said be improved to induce you to love the Lord
   Jesus Christ, and choose him for your friend and portion. As there is
   such an admirable meeting of diverse excellencies in Christ, so there
   is every thing in him to render him worthy of your love and choice, and
   to win and engage it. Whatsoever there is or can be desirable in a
   friend, is in Christ, and that to the highest degree that can be
   desired.

   Would you choose for a friend a person of great dignity? It is a thing
   taking with men to have those for their friends who are much above
   them; because they look upon themselves honoured by the friendship of
   such. Thus, how taking would it be with an inferior maid to be the
   object of the dear love of some great and excellent prince. But Christ
   is infinitely above you, and above all the princes of the earth; for he
   is the King of kings. So honourable a person as this offers himself to
   you, in the nearest and dearest friendship.

   And would you choose to have a friend not only great but good? In
   Christ infinite greatness and infinite goodness meet together, and
   receive lustre and glory one from another. His greatness is rendered
   lovely by his goodness. The greater any one is without goodness, so
   much the greater evil; but when infinite goodness is joined with
   greatness, it renders it a glorious and adorable greatness. So, on the
   other hand, his infinite goodness receives lustre from his greatness.
   He that is of great understanding and ability, and is withal of a good
   and excellent disposition, is deservedly more esteemed than a lower and
   lesser being, with the same kind inclination and good will. Indeed
   goodness is excellent in whatever subject it be found; it is beauty and
   excellency itself, and renders all excellent that are possessed of it;
   and yet most excellent when joined with greatness. The very same
   excellent qualities of gold render the body in which they are inherent
   more precious, and of greater value, when joined with greater than when
   with lesser dimensions. And how glorious is the sight, to see him who
   is the great Creator and supreme Lord of heaven and earth, full of
   condescension, tender pity and mercy, towards the mean and unworthy!
   His almighty power, and infinite majesty and self-sufficiency, render
   his exceeding love and grace the more surprising. And how do his
   condescension and compassion endear his majesty, power, and dominion,
   and render those attributes pleasant, that would otherwise be only
   terrible! Would you not desire that your friend, though great and
   honourable, should be of such condescension and grace, and so to have
   the way opened to free access to him, that his exaltation above you
   might not hinder your free enjoyment of his friendship?--And would you
   choose not only that the infinite greatness and majesty of your friend
   should be, as it were, mollified and sweetened with condescension and
   grace; but would you also desire to have your friend brought nearer to
   you? Would you choose a friend far above you, and yet as it were upon a
   level with you too? Though it be taking with men to have a near and
   dear friend of superior dignity, yet there is also an inclination in
   them to have their friend a sharer with them in circumstances. Thus is
   Christ. Though he be the great God, yet he has, as it were, brought
   himself down to be upon a level with you, so as to become man as you
   are, that he might not only be your Lord, but your brother, and that he
   might be the more fit to be a companion for such a worm of the dust.
   This is one end of Christ's taking upon him man's nature, that his
   people might be under advantages for a more familiar converse with him,
   than the infinite distance of the divine nature would allow of. And
   upon this account the church longed for Christ's incarnation, Cant.
   viii. 1. "O that thou wert my brother, that sucked the breasts of my
   mother! when I should find thee without, I would kiss thee, yea, I
   should not be despised." One design of God in the gospel, is to bring
   us to make God the object of our undivided respect, that he may engross
   our regard every way, that whatever natural inclination there is in our
   souls, he may be the centre of it; that God may be all in all. But
   there is an inclination in the creature, not only to the adoration of a
   Lord and Sovereign, but to complacence in some one as a friend, to love
   and delight in some one that may be conversed with as a companion. And
   virtue and holiness do not destroy or weaken this inclination of our
   nature. But so hath God contrived in the affair of our redemption, that
   a divine person may be the object even of this inclination of our
   nature. And in order hereto, such an one is come down to us; and has
   taken our nature, and is become one of us, and calls himself our
   friend, brother, and companion. Psal. cxxii. 8. "For my brethren and
   companions' sake, will I now say, Peace be within thee."

   But is it not enough in order to invite and encourage you to free
   access to a friend so great and high, that he is one of infinite
   condescending grace, and also has taken your own nature, and is become
   man? But would you, further to imbolden and win you, have him a man of
   wonderful meekness and humility? Why, such an one is Christ! He is not
   only become man for you, but far the meekest and most humble of all
   men, the greatest instance of these sweet virtues that ever was, or
   will be. And besides these, he has all other human excellencies in the
   highest perfection. These, indeed, are no proper addition to his divine
   excellencies. Christ has no more excellency in his person, since his
   incarnation, than he had before; for divine excellency is infinite, and
   cannot be added to. Yet his human excellencies are additional
   manifestations of his glory and excellency to us, and are additional
   recommendations of him to our esteem and love, who are of finite
   comprehension. Though his human excellencies are but communications and
   reflections of his divine; and though this light, as reflected, falls
   infinitely short of the divine fountain of light in its immediate
   glory; yet the reflection shines not without its proper advantages, as
   presented to our view and affection. The glory of Christ in the
   qualifications of his human nature, appears to us in excellencies that
   are of our own kind, and are exercised in our own way and manner; and
   so, in some respects, are peculiarly fitted to invite our acquaintance
   and draw our affection. The glory of Christ as it appears in his
   divinity, though far brighter, more dazzles our eyes, and exceeds the
   strength of our sight or our comprehension; but, as it shines in the
   human excellencies of Christ, it is brought more to a level with our
   conceptions, and suitableness to our nature and manner, yet retaining a
   semblance of the same divine beauty, and a savour of the same divine
   sweetness. But as both divine and human excellencies meet together in
   Christ, they set off and recommend each other to us. It tends to endear
   the divine majesty and holiness of Christ to us, that these are
   attributes of one in our nature, one of us, who is become our brother,
   and is the meekest and humblest of men. It encourages us to look upon
   these divine perfections, however high and great; since we have some
   near concern in, and liberty freely to enjoy them. And on the other
   hand, how much more glorious and surprising do the meekness, the
   humility, obedience, resignation, and other human excellencies of
   Christ appear, when we consider that they are in so great a person, as
   the eternal Son of God, the Lord of heaven and earth!

   By your choosing Christ for your friend and portion, you will obtain
   these two infinite benefits.

   1. Christ will give himself to you, with all those various excellencies
   that meet in him, to your full and everlasting enjoyment. He will ever
   after treat you as his dear friend; and you shall ere long be where he
   is, and shall behold his glory, and dwell with him, in most free and
   intimate communion and enjoyment.

   When the saints get to heaven, they shall not merely see Christ, and
   have to do with him as subjects and servants with a glorious and
   gracious Lord and Sovereign, but Christ will entertain them as friends
   and brethren. This we may learn from the manner of Christ's conversing
   with his disciples here on earth: though he was their sovereign Lord,
   and did not refuse, but required, their supreme respect and adoration,
   yet he did not treat them as earthly sovereigns are wont to do their
   subjects. He did not keep them at an awful distance; but all along
   conversed with them with the most friendly familiarity, as a father
   amongst a company of children, yea, as with brethren. So he did with
   the twelve, and so he did with Mary, Martha, and Lazarus. He told his
   disciples, that he did not call them servants, but friends; and we read
   of one of them that leaned on his bosom: and doubtless he will not
   treat his disciples with less freedom and endearment in heaven. He will
   not keep them at a greater distance for his being in a state of
   exaltation; but he will rather take them into a state of exaltation
   with him. This will be the improvement Christ will make of his own
   glory, to make his beloved friends partakers with him, to glorify them
   in his glory, as he says to his Father, John xvii. 22, 23. "And the
   glory which thou hast given me, have I given them, that they may be
   one, even as we are one; I in them," &c. We are to consider, that
   though Christ is greatly exalted, yet he is exalted, not as a private
   person for himself only, but as his people's head; he is exalted in
   their name, and upon their account, as the first fruits, and as
   representing the whole harvest. He is not exalted that he may be at a
   greater distance from them, but that they may be exalted with him. The
   exaltation and honour of the head is not to make a greater distance
   between the head and the members; but the members have the same
   relation and union with the head they had before, and are honoured with
   the head; and instead of the distance being greater, the union shall be
   nearer and more perfect. When believers get to heaven, Christ will
   conform them to himself; as he is set down in his Father's throne, so
   they shall sit down with him on his throne, and shall in their measure
   be made like him.

   When Christ was going to heaven, he comforted his disciples with the
   thought, that after a while, he would come again and take them to
   himself, that they might be with him. And we are not to suppose that
   when the disciples got to heaven, they found him keeping a greater
   distance than he used to do. No, doubtless, he embraced them as
   friends, and welcomed them to his and their Father's house, and to his
   and their glory. They who had been his friends in this world, who had
   been together with him here, and had together partaken of sorrows and
   troubles, are now welcomed by him to rest, and to partake of glory with
   him. He took them and led them into his chambers, and showed them all
   his glory; as he prayed, John xvii. 24. "Father, I will that they also
   whom thou hast given me, be with me, that they may behold the glory
   which thou hast given me." And he led them to his living fountains of
   waters, and made them partake of his delights; as he prays, John xvii.
   13. "That my joy may be fulfilled in themselves;" and set them down
   with him at his table in his kingdom, and made them partake with him of
   his dainties, according to his promise, Luke xxii. 30. and led them
   into his banqueting house, and made them to drink new wine with him in
   the kingdom of his heavenly Father, as he foretold them when he
   instituted the Lord's supper, Matt. xxvi. 29.

   Yea, the saints' conversation with Christ in heaven shall not only be
   as intimate, and their access to him as free, as of the disciples on
   earth, but in many respects much more so; for in heaven, that vital
   union shall be perfect, which is exceeding imperfect here. While the
   saints are in this world, there are great remains of sin and darkness,
   to separate or disunite them from Christ, which shall then all be
   removed. This is not a time for that full acquaintance, and those
   glorious manifestations of love, which Christ designs for his people
   hereafter; which seems to be signified by his speech to Mary Magdalene,
   when ready to embrace him, when she met him after his resurrection;
   John xx. 17. "Jesus saith unto her, Touch me not; for I am not yet
   ascended to my Father."

   When the saints shall see Christ's glory and exaltation in heaven, it
   will indeed possess their hearts with the greater admiration and
   adoring respect, but will not awe them into any separation, but will
   serve only to heighten their surprise and joy, when they find Christ
   condescending to admit them to such intimate access, and so freely and
   fully communicating himself to them. So that if we choose Christ for
   our friend and portion, we shall hereafter be so received to him, that
   there shall be nothing to hinder the fullest enjoyment of him, to the
   satisfying the utmost cravings of our souls. We may take our full swing
   at gratifying our spiritual appetite after these holy pleasures. Christ
   will then say, as in Cant. v. 1. "Eat, O friends, drink, yea, drink
   abundantly, O beloved." And this shall be our entertainment to all
   eternity! There shall never be any end of this happiness, or any thing
   to interrupt our enjoyment of it, or in the least to molest us in it!

   2. By your being united to Christ, you will have a more glorious union
   with and enjoyment of God the Father, than otherwise could be. For
   hereby the saints' relation to God becomes much nearer; they are the
   children of God in a higher manner than otherwise could be. For, being
   members of God's own Son, they are in a sort partakers of his relation
   to the Father: they are not only sons of God by regeneration, but by a
   kind of communion in the sonship of the eternal Son. This seems to be
   intended, Gal. iv. 4, 5, 6. "God sent forth his Son, made of a woman,
   made under the law, to redeem them that are under the law, that we
   might receive the adoption of sons. And because ye are sons, God hath
   sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba,
   Father." The church is the daughter of God, not only as he hath
   begotten her by his word and Spirit, but as she is the spouse of his
   eternal Son.

   So we being members of the Son, are partakers in our measure of the
   Father's love to the Son, and complacence in him. John xvii. 23. "I in
   them, and thou in me,-- Thou hast loved them as thou hast loved me."
   And John xvii. 26. "That the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be
   in them." And John xvi. 27. "The Father himself loveth you, because ye
   have loved me, and have believed that I came out from God." So we
   shall, according to our capacities, be partakers of the Son's enjoyment
   of God, and have his joy fulfilled in ourselves, John xvii. 13. And by
   this means we shall come to an immensely higher, more intimate and full
   enjoyment of God, than otherwise could have been. For there is
   doubtless an infinite intimacy between the Father and the Son; which is
   expressed by his being in the bosom of the Father. And saints being in
   him, shall, in their measure and manner, partake with him in it, and of
   the blessedness of it.

   And thus is the affair of our redemption ordered, that thereby we are
   brought to an immensely more exalted kind of union with God, and
   enjoyment of him, both the Father and the Son, than otherwise could
   have been. For Christ being united to the human nature, we have
   advantage for a more free and full enjoyment of him, than we could have
   had if he had remained only in the divine nature. So again, we being
   united to a divine person, as his members, can have a more intimate
   union and intercourse with God the Father, who is only in the divine
   nature, than otherwise could be. Christ, who is a divine person, by
   taking on him our nature, descends from the infinite distance and
   height above us, and is brought nigh to us; whereby we have advantage
   for the full enjoyment of him. And, on the other hand, we, by being in
   Christ a divine person, do as it were ascend up to God, through the
   infinite distance, and have hereby advantage for the full enjoyment of
   him also.

   This was the design of Christ, that he, and his Father, and his people,
   might all be united in one. John xvii. 21-23. "That they all may be
   one, as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee; that they also may be
   one in us; that the world may believe that thou hast sent me. And the
   glory which thou hast given me, I have given them, that they may be
   one, even as we are one; I in them and thou in me, that they may be
   made perfect in one." Christ has brought it to pass, that those whom
   the Father has given him should be brought into the household of God;
   that he and his Father, and his people, should be as one society, one
   family; that the church should be as it were admitted into the society
   of the blessed Trinity.
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