Chapter III: Part 3

5. And their labour was not in vain in the Lord. His _word ran and was glorified_. It _grew mightily and prevailed_. But so much the more did offences prevail also. The world in general were offended, _because they testified of it, that the works thereof were evil_. The men of pleasure were offended, not only because these men were _made_, as it were, _to reprove their thoughts_. (_He professeth_, said they, _to have the knowledge of God: he calleth himself the child of the Lord: his life is not like other mens; his ways are of another fashion: he abstaineth from our ways, as from filthiness: he maketh his boast, that God is his Father_.) But much more, because so many of their companions were taken away, and would no more _run with them to the same excess of riot_. The men of reputation were offended, because, as the gospel spread, they declined in the esteem of the people; and because many no longer dared to _give them flattering titles_, or to pay man the homage due to God only. The men of trade called one another together, and said, _Sirs, ye know that by this craft we have our wealth. But ye see and hear that these men have persuaded and turned away much people. So that this our craft is in danger to be set at nought._ Above all, the men of religion, so called, the men of _outside_ religion, “the saints of the world,” were offended and ready at every opportunity to cry out, _Men of Israel, help! We have found these men! Pestilent fellows, movers of sedition throughout the world. These are the men that teach all men, every where, against the people, and against the law._

6. Thus it was that the heavens grew black with clouds, and the storm gathered amain. For the more Christianity spread, _the more hurt was done_, in the account of those who received it not, and the number increased of those who were more and more enraged at these _men who_ thus _turned the world upside down_; insomuch that more and more cried out, _Away with such fellows from the earth; it is not fit that they should live_, yea, and sincerely believed, that _whosoever_ should _kill them, would do God service_.

7. Meanwhile they did not fail to _cast out their name as evil_: so that this _sect was every where spoken against. Men said all manner of evil of them_, even as had been done of the _prophets that were before them_. And whatsoever any would affirm, others would believe. So that offences grew as the stars of heaven for multitude. And hence arose, at the time foreordain’d of the Father, persecution in all its forms. Some, for a season, suffered only shame and reproach; some, _the spoiling of their goods_; some _had trial of mocking and scourging_; some _of bonds and imprisonment_; and others _resisted unto blood_.

8. Now it was that the pillars of hell were shaken, and the kingdom of God spread more and more. Sinners were every where _turned from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God_. He gave his children _such a mouth, and such wisdom, as all their adversaries could not resist_. And their lives were of equal force with their words. But, above all, their sufferings spake to all the world. They _approved themselves_ the servants of God, _in afflictions, in necessities; in distresses; in stripes, in imprisonments, in tumults, in labours; in perils in the sea, in perils in the wilderness; in weariness and painfulness, in hunger and thirst, in cold and nakedness_. And when having _fought the good fight_, they were _led as sheep to the slaughter, and offered up on the sacrifice and service of their faith_, then the blood of each found a voice, and the Heathen owned, _He being dead, yet speaketh_.

9. Thus did _Christianity_ spread itself in the earth. But how soon did the tares appear with the wheat? And the _mystery of iniquity_ work as well as the _mystery of godliness_! How soon did Satan find a seat, even _in the temple of God_! Till _the woman fled into the wilderness, and the faithful were_ again _minished from the children of men_. Here we tread a beaten path: the still increasing corruptions of the succeeding generations, have been largely described from time to time, by those witnesses God raised up, to shew that he had _built his church upon a rock, and the gates of hell should not_ wholly _prevail against her_.

III. 1. But shall we not see greater things than these? Yea, greater than have been yet from the beginning of the world. Can Satan cause the truth of God to fail, or his promises to be of none effect? If not, the time will come, when _Christianity_ will prevail over all, and cover the earth. Let us stand a little, and survey (the third thing which was proposed) this strange sight, a _Christian world. Of this the prophets of old enquired and searched diligently_: of this _the Spirit which was in them testified, It shall come to pass in the last days, that the Mountain of the Lord’s house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills, and all nations shall flow unto it. And they shall beat their swords into plough-shares, and their spears into pruning-hooks. Nation shall not lift up sword against nation; neither shall they learn war any more. In that day there shall be a Root of |Jesse|, which shall stand for an ensign of the people. To it shall the Gentiles seek, and his rest shall be glorious. And it shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord shall set his hand again to recover the remnant of his people; and he shall set up an Ensign for the nations, and shall assemble the outcasts of |Israel|, and gather together the dispersed of |Judah|, from the four corners of the earth. The wolf shall then dwell with the lamb and the leopard shall lie down with the kid: and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them. They shall not hurt nor destroy, saith the Lord, in all my holy mountain. For the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea._

2. To the same effect are the words of the great apostle, which it is evident have never yet been fulfilled. _Hath God cast away his people? God forbid. But through their fall salvation is come to the Gentiles. And if the diminishing of them be the riches of the Gentiles, how much more their fulness? For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery,――That blindness in part is happened to |Israel|, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in: and so all |Israel| shall be saved._

3. Suppose now the fulness of time to be come, and the prophecies to be accomplished, what a prospect is this? All is _peace, quietness, and assurance for ever_. Here is no din of arms, no _confused noise_, no _garments rolled in blood_. _Destructions are come to a perpetual end_: wars are ceased from the earth. Neither are there any intestine jars remaining; no brother rising up against brother; no country or city divided against itself, and tearing out its own bowels. Civil discord is at end for evermore, and none is left either to destroy or hurt his neighbour. Here is no oppression to _make_ even _the wise man mad_; no extortion to _grind the face of the poor_; no robbery or wrong; no rapine or injustice; for all are _content with such things as they possess_. Thus _righteousness and peace have kissed each other_; they have _taken root and filled the land_: righteousness flourishing out of the earth, and _peace looking down from heaven_.

4. And with righteousness or justice, mercy is also found. The earth is no longer _full of cruel habitations. The Lord hath destroyed both the blood-thirsty_ and malicious, the envious and revengeful man. Were there any provocation, there is none that now knoweth, to _return evil for evil_: but indeed there is none that doeth evil, no not one; for all are _harmless as doves_. And being _filled with peace and joy in believing_, and united in one body, by one spirit, they all _love as brethren_, they are all _of one heart and of one soul. Neither saith any of them, that ought of the things which he possesseth is his own._ There is none among them that lacketh; for every man loveth his neighbour as himself. And all walk by one rule, _Whatever ye would that men should do unto you, even so do unto them_.

5. It follows, that no unkind word can ever be heard among them: no _strife of tongues_, no contention of any kind, no railing or evil-speaking; but every one _opens his mouth with wisdom, and in his tongue there is the law of kindness_. Equally incapable are they of fraud or guile: their _love_ is _without dissimulation_: their words are always the just expression of their thoughts, opening a window into their breast, that whosoever desires may look into their hearts, and see that only love and God are there.

6. Thus, where _the Lord omnipotent taketh to himself his mighty power and reigneth_, doth he _subdue all things to himself_; cause every heart to overflow with love, and fill every mouth with praise. _Happy are the people that are in such a case; yea, blessed are the people who have the Lord for their God. Arise, shine_, (saith the Lord) _for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee. Thou hast known that I the Lord am thy Saviour, and thy Redeemer, the mighty God of |Jacob|. I have made thy officers peace, and thy exacters righteousness. Violence shall no more be heard in thy land, wasting nor destruction within thy borders: but thou shalt call thy walls salvation, and thy gates praise. Thy people are all righteous; they shall inherit the land for ever: the branch of my planting, the work of my hands, that I may be glorified. The sun shall no more be thy light by day; neither for brightness shall the moon give light unto thee: but the Lord shall be unto thee an everlasting light, and thy God thy glory._

IV. Having thus briefly considered _Christianity_, as beginning, as going on, and as covering the earth, it remains only that I should close the whole with a plain practical application.

1. * And first, I would ask, where does this _Christianity_ now exist? Where, I pray, do the _Christians_ live? Which is the country, the inhabitants whereof are _all_ thus _filled with the Holy Ghost_? Are _all of one heart and of one soul_? Cannot suffer one among them _to lack any thing_, but continually give _to every man as he hath need_? Who one and all have the love of God filling their hearts, and constraining them to love their neighbours as themselves? Who have all _put on bowels of mercy, humbleness of mind, gentleness, long-suffering_? Who offend not in any kind, either by word or deed, against justice, mercy, or truth? But in every point do unto all men, as they would these should do unto them. With what propriety can we term any a _Christian country_, which does not answer this description? Why then, let us confess we have never yet seen a _Christian country_ upon earth.

2. I beseech you, brethren, by the mercies of God, if ye do account me a madman or a fool, yet _as a fool bear with me_. It is utterly needful that some one should use great plainness of speech towards you. It is more especially needful at _this_ time; for who knoweth but it is the _last_? Who knoweth how soon the righteous Judge may say, _I will no more be intreated for this people? Tho’ |Noah|, |Daniel|, and |Job|, were in this land, they should but deliver their own souls._ And who will use this plainness, if I do not? Therefore I, even I, will speak. And I adjure you, by the living God, that ye steel not your breasts against receiving a blessing at _my_ hands. Do not say in your heart, “_Non persuadebis, etiamsi persuaseris_: Or, in other words, Lord, thou shalt not _send, by whom thou wilt send_. Let me rather perish in my blood, than be saved by this man!”

3. _Brethren I am persuaded better things of you, tho’ I thus speak._ Let me ask you then, in tender love, and in the spirit of meekness, is this city a _Christian_ city? Is _Christianity, Scriptural Christianity_, found here? Are we, considered as a community of men, so _filled with the Holy Ghost_, as to enjoy in our hearts, and shew forth in our lives, the genuine fruits of that spirit? Are all the magistrates, all heads and governors of colleges and halls, and their respective societies, (not to speak of the inhabitants of the town) _of one heart and one soul_? Is _the love of God shed abroad in our hearts_? Are our tempers the same that were in him? Are our lives agreeable thereto? Are we _holy as he who hath called us is holy, in all manner of conversation_?

4. I intreat you to observe, that here are no _peculiar notions_ now under consideration; that the question moved is not concerning _doubtful opinions_, of one kind or an other; but concerning the undoubted, fundamental branches (if there be any such) of our _common Christianity_. And for the decision thereof, I appeal to your own conscience, guided by the word of God. He therefore that is not condemned by his own heart, let him go free.

5. * In the fear then, and in the presence of the great God, before whom both you and I shall shortly appear, I pray you that are in authority over us, whom I reverence for your office sake, to consider, (and not after the manner of dissemblers with God) Are you _filled with the Holy Ghost_? Are ye lively portraitures of him, whom ye are appointed to represent among men? _I have said, ye are Gods_, ye magistrates and rulers; ye are by office so nearly allied to the God of heaven! In your several stations and degrees, ye are to shew forth unto us _the Lord our governor_. Are all the thoughts of your hearts, all your tempers and desires, suitable to your high calling? Are all your words like unto those which come out of the mouth of God? Is there in all your actions dignity and love? A greatness which words cannot express, which can flow only from an heart full of God――and yet consistent with the character of _man that is a worm, and the son of man that is a worm_!

6. * Ye venerable men, who are more especially called to form the tender minds of youth, to dispel thence the shades of ignorance and error, and train them up to be wise unto salvation, Are you _filled with the Holy Ghost_? With all those _fruits of the Spirit_, which your important office so indispensibly requires? Is your heart whole with God? Full of love and zeal to set up his kingdom on earth? Do you continually remind those under your care, that the one rational end of all our studies, is to know, love, and serve _the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom he hath sent_? Do you inculcate upon them, day by day, that _love_ alone _never faileth_? (Whereas, _whether there be tongues, they shall fail, or_ philosophical _knowledge, it shall vanish away_:) and that without love, all learning is but splendid ignorance, pompous folly, vexation of spirit. Has all you teach an actual tendency to the love of God, and of all mankind for his sake? Have you an eye to this end in whatever you prescribe, touching the kind, the manner, and the measure of their studies; desiring and labouring, that wherever the lot of these young soldiers of Christ is cast, they may be so many _burning and shining lights, adorning the gospel of Christ_ in all things? And permit me to ask, Do you put forth all your strength in the vast work you have undertaken? Do you labour herein with all your might? Exerting every faculty of your soul? Using every talent which God hath lent you, and that to the uttermost of your power?

7. Let it not be said, that I speak here, as if all under your care were intended to be clergymen. Not so: I only speak as if they were all intended to be Christians. But what example is set them by us who enjoy the beneficence of our forefathers; by fellows, students, scholars; more especially those who are of some rank and eminence? * Do ye, brethren, abound in the fruits of the spirit, in lowliness of mind, in self-denial and mortification, in seriousness and composure of spirit, in patience, meekness, sobriety, temperance, and in unwearied, restless endeavours, to do good, in every kind, unto all men: to relieve their outward wants, and to bring their souls to the true knowledge and love of God? Is this the general character of fellows of colleges? I fear it is not. Rather, have not pride and haughtiness of spirit, impatience and peevishness, sloth and indolence, gluttony and sensuality, and even a proverbial uselessness, been objected to us, _perhaps_ not always by our enemies, _nor wholly_ without ground? O that God would roll away this reproach from us, that the very memory of it might perish for ever!

8. * Many of us are more immediately consecrated to God, called to _minister in holy things_. Are we then patterns to the rest, _in word, in conversation, in charity; in spirit, in faith, in purity_? Is there written on our forehead and on our heart, _Holiness to the Lord_? From what motives did we enter upon this office? Was it indeed with a single eye _to serve God, trusting that we were inwardly moved by the Holy Ghost, to take upon us this ministration, for the promoting of his glory, and the edifying of his people_? And _have_ we _clearly determined, by God’s grace, to give ourselves wholly to this office? Do we forsake and set aside, as much as in us lies, all worldly cares and studies? Do we apply ourselves wholly to this one thing, and draw all our cares and studies this way?_ Are we _apt to teach_? Are we _taught of God_, that we may be able to teach others also? Do we know God? Do we know Jesus Christ? Hath God _revealed his Son in us_? And hath he _made us able ministers of the new covenant_? Where then are _the seals of our apostleship_? Who _that were dead in trespasses and sins_, have been quickened by our word? Have we a burning zeal to save souls from death, so that for their sake we often forget even to eat our bread? Do we speak plain, _by manifestation of the truth, commending ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God_? Are we dead to the world and the things of the world, _laying up all our treasure in heaven? Do we lord over God’s heritage?_ Or are we the least, _the servants of all_? When we bear the reproach of Christ, Does it sit heavy upon us? Or do we rejoice therein? When we are _smitten on the one cheek_, Do we resent it? Are we impatient of affronts? Or do we _turn the other also: not resisting the evil_, but _overcoming evil with good_? Have we a bitter zeal, inciting us to strive sharply and passionately with them _that are out of the way_? Or is our zeal the flame of love, so as to direct all our words with sweetness, lowliness, and meekness of wisdom?

9. Once more, what shall we say concerning the youth of this place? Have _you_ either the form or the power of _Christian_ Godliness? Are you humble, teachable, advisable; or stubborn, self-willed, heady, and high-minded? Are you obedient to your superiors as to parents? Or do you despise those to whom you owe the tenderest reverence? Are you diligent in your easy business, pursuing your studies with all your strength? Do you _redeem the time_, crowding as much work into every day as it can contain? Rather, are ye not conscious to yourselves, that you waste away day after day, either in reading what has no tendency to _Christianity_, or in gaming, or in――you know not what? Are you better managers of your fortune than of your time? Do you, out of principle, take care to _owe no man any thing_? Do you _remember the Sabbath-day to keep it holy_; to spend it in the more immediate worship of God? When you are in his House, Do you consider that God is there? Do you behave, _as seeing Him that is invisible_? Do you know how to _possess your bodies, in sanctification and honour_? Are not drunkenness and uncleanness found among you? Yea, are there not of you, who _glory in their shame_? Do not many of you _take the name of God in vain_, perhaps habitually, without either remorse or fear? Yea, * Are there not a multitude of you that are forsworn? I fear, a swiftly-increasing multitude. Be not surprized, brethren. Before God and this congregation; I own myself to have been of that number; solemnly swearing to _observe all those customs_, which I then knew nothing of; _and those statutes_, which I did not so much as read over, either then, or for some years after. What is perjury, if this is not? But if it be, O what a weight of sin, yea, sin of no common dye, lieth upon us! And doth not _the Most High regard it_?

10. * May it not be one of the consequences of this that so many of you are a generation of _Triflers_? Triflers with God, with one another, and with your own souls? For how few of you spend, from one week to another, a single hour in private prayer? How few have any thought of God in the general tenor of your conversation? Who of you is, in any degree, acquainted with the work of his Spirit, his supernatural work in the souls of men? Can you bear, unless now and then, in a church, any talk of the Holy Ghost? Would you not take it for granted, if one began such a conversation, that it was either _Hypocrisy_ or _Enthusiasm_? In the name of the Lord God Almighty, I ask, what religion are _you_ of? Even the talk of _Christianity_ ye cannot, will not bear. O my brethren! what a _Christian_ city is this? _It is time for thee, Lord, to lay to thine hand!_

11. For indeed, what probability, what possibility rather, (speaking after the manner of men) is there that _Christianity, Scriptural Christianity_, should be again the religion of this place? That all orders of men among us should speak and live as men _filled with the Holy Ghost_? By whom should this _Christianity_ be restored? By those of you that are in authority? Are you convinced then, that this is _Scriptural Christianity_? Are you desirous it should be restored? And do ye not count your fortune, liberty, life, dear unto yourselves, so ye may be instrumental in the restoring it? But suppose ye have this desire, who hath any power proportioned to the effect? Perhaps some of you have made a few faint attempts, but with how small success? Shall _Christianity_ then be restored by young, unknown, inconsiderable men? I know not whether ye yourselves could suffer it. Would not some of you cry out, “Young man, in so doing thou reproachest us?” But there is no danger of your being put to the proof; so hath _iniquity overspread us like a flood_. Whom then shall God send? The famine, the pestilence, (the last messengers of God to a guilty land) or the sword? _The armies of the |Romish| aliens_, to _reform_ us into our first love? Nay, _rather let us fall into thy hand, O Lord, and let us not fall into the hand of man_.

Lord, save or we perish! Take us out of the mire that we sink not! O help us against these enemies, for vain is the help of man. Unto thee all things are possible. According to the greatness of thy power, preserve thou those that are appointed to die; and preserve us in the manner that seemeth to thee good; not as we will, but as thou wilt.

SERMON V.

JUSTIFICATION BY FAITH.

ROMANS iv. 5.

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

1. HOW a sinner may be justified before God, the Lord and judge of all, is a question of no common importance, to every child of man. It contains the foundation of all our hope; in as much as while we are at enmity with God, there can be no true peace, no solid joy, either in time or in eternity. What peace can there be, while our own heart condemns us? And much more, he that _is greater than our heart and knoweth all things_? What solid joy, either in this world or that to come, while _the wrath of God abideth on us_?

2. And yet how little hath this important question been understood? What confused notions have many had concerning it? Indeed not only confused, but often utterly false; contrary to the truth, as light to darkness: notions absolutely inconsistent with the oracles of God, and with the whole analogy of faith. And hence, erring concerning the very foundation, they could not possibly build thereon: at least, not _gold, silver, or precious stones_, which would endure when _tried_ as _by fire_; but only _hay and stubble_, neither acceptable to God, nor profitable to man.

3. In order to do justice, as far as in me lies, to the vast importance of the subject, to save those that seek the truth in sincerity, from _vain jangling and strife of words_, to clear the confusedness of thought, into which so many have already been led thereby, and to give them true and just conceptions of this great mystery of godliness, I shall endeavour to shew,

_First_, What is the general ground of this whole doctrine of
justification.

_Secondly_, What justification is.

_Thirdly_, Who they are that are justified. And,

_Fourthly_, On what terms they are justified.

I. I am, first, to shew, What is the general ground of this whole doctrine of justification.

1. In the image of God was man made, holy as he that created him is holy; merciful as the Author of all is merciful, perfect as his Father in heaven is perfect. As God is love, so man dwelling in love, dwelt in God, and God in him. God made him to be _an image of his own eternity_, an incorruptible picture of the God of glory. He was accordingly pure, as God is pure, from every spot of sin. He knew not evil in any kind or degree, but was inwardly and outwardly sinless and undefiled. He _loved the Lord his God with all his heart, and with all his mind and soul and strength_.

2. To man thus upright and perfect, God gave a perfect law, to which he required full and perfect obedience. He required full obedience in every point, and this to be performed without any intermission, from the moment man became a living soul, till the time of his trial should be ended. No allowance was made for any falling short. As indeed there was no need of any; man being altogether equal to the task assigned, and thoroughly furnished for every good word and work.

3. To the entire law of love which was written in his heart (against which perhaps he could not sin directly) it seemed good to the sovereign wisdom of God, to superadd one positive law: _Thou shalt not eat of the fruit of the tree that groweth in the midst of the garden_: annexing that penalty thereto, _In the day thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die_.

4. Such then was the state of man in paradise. By the free, unmerited love of God, he was holy and happy; he knew, loved, enjoyed God, which is (in substance) life everlasting. And in this life of love, he was to continue for ever, if he continued to obey God in all things: but if he disobeyed him in any, he was to forfeit all. _In that day_, said God, _thou shalt surely die_.

5. Man did disobey God. He _ate of the tree, of which God commanded him, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it_. And in that day he was condemn’d, by the righteous judgment of God. Then also the sentence whereof he was warned before, began to take place upon him. For the moment he tasted that fruit, he died: his soul died, was separated from God; separate from whom the soul has no more life, than the body has when separate from the soul. His body likewise became corruptible and mortal; so that death then took hold on this also. And being already dead in spirit, dead to God, dead in sin, he hastened on to death everlasting; to the destruction both of body and soul, in the fire never to be quenched.

6. Thus _by one man, sin entered into the world, and death by sin. And so death passed upon all men_, as being contained in him who was the common father and representative of us all. Thus _through the offence of one_, all are dead, dead to God, dead in sin, dwelling in a corruptible, mortal body, shortly to be dissolved, and under the sentence of death eternal. For as _by one man’s disobedience, all were made sinners_; so by that offence of one, _judgment came upon all men to condemnation_, Rom. v. 12, _&c._

7. In this state we were, even all mankind, when _God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, to the end we might not perish but have everlasting life_. In the fulness of time, he was made man, another common head of mankind, a second general parent and representative of the whole human race. And as such it was that _he bore our griefs_, the Lord _laying upon him the iniquities of us all_. Then _was he wounded for our transgressions and bruised for our iniquities. He made his soul an offering for sin_: he poured out his blood for the transgressors: he _bare our sins in his own body on the tree_, that _by his stripes we_ might be _healed_: and by that one oblation of himself once offered, he hath redeemed me and all mankind; having thereby made a full, perfect and sufficient sacrifice and satisfaction, for the sins of the whole world.

8. In consideration of this, that the Son of God hath _tasted death for every man_, God hath now _reconciled the world to himself, not imputing to them their former trespasses_. And thus, _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 unto justification_. So that for the sake of his well-beloved Son, of what he hath done and suffered for us, God now vouchsafes on one only condition (which himself also enables us to perform) both to remit the punishment due to our sins, to reinstate us in his favour, and to restore our dead souls to spiritual life, as the earnest of life eternal.

9. This therefore is the general ground, of the whole doctrine of _justification_. By the sin of the first _Adam_, who was not only the father, but likewise the representative of us all, we all _fell short of the |favour| of God_: we all became _children of wrath_: or, as the apostle expresses it, _judgment came upon all men_ to _condemnation_. Even so, by the sacrifice for sin made by the second _Adam_, as the representative of us all, God is so far reconciled to all the world, that he hath given them a new covenant. The plain condition whereof being once fulfilled, _there is no more condemnation for us_, but we are _justified freely by his grace, through the redemption that is in Jesus Christ_.

II. 1. But what is it to be _justified_? What is _justification_? This was the second thing which I proposed to shew. And it is evident from what has been already observed, that it is not, the being made actually just and righteous. This is _sanctification_: which is indeed, in some degree, the immediate _fruit_ of justification: but nevertheless is a distinct gift of God, and of a totally different nature. The one implies, what God _does for us_ through his Son; the other what he _works in us_ by his Spirit. So that altho’ some rare instances maybe found, wherein the term _justified_, or _justification_, is used in so wide a sense as to include _sanctification_ also; yet in general use, they are sufficiently distinguished from each other, both by St. _Paul_ and the other inspired writers.

2. Neither is that far-fetch’d conceit, that justification is, the clearing us from accusation, particularly that of _Satan_, easily proveable from any clear text of holy writ. In the whole scriptural account of this matter, as above laid down, neither that accuser nor his accusation appears to be at all taken in. It cannot indeed be denied, that he is the _accuser of men_, emphatically so called. But it does in no wise appear, that the great apostle hath any reference to this, more or less, in all that he hath written touching justification, either to the _Romans_ or the _Galatians_.

3. It is also far easier to take for granted, than to prove from any clear scripture-testimony, that justification is, the clearing us from the accusation brought against us by _the law_. At least, if this forced, unnatural way of speaking, mean either more or less than this, that whereas we have transgressed the law of God, and thereby deserved the damnation of hell, God does not inflict on those who are justified, the punishment which they had deserved.

4. * Least of all does justification imply, that God is _deceived_ in those whom he _justifies_; that he thinks them to be what in fact they are not, that he accounts them to be otherwise than they are. It does by no means imply, that God judges concerning us, contrary to the real nature of things: that he esteems us better than we really are, or believes us righteous, when we are unrighteous. Surely no. The judgment of the all-wise God, is always according to truth. Neither can it ever consist with his unerring wisdom, to think that I am innocent, to judge that I am righteous or holy, because another is so. He can no more in this manner confound me with Christ, than with _David_ or _Abraham_. Let any man to whom God hath given understanding, weigh this without prejudice; and he cannot but perceive, that such a notion of justification, is neither reconcileable to reason, nor scripture.

5. The plain scriptural notion of justification is pardon, the forgiveness of sins. It is that act of God the Father, whereby for the sake of the propitiation made by the blood of his Son, he _sheweth forth his righteousness_ (or mercy) _by the remission of the sins that are past_. This is the easy, natural account of it given by St. _Paul_, throughout this whole epistle. So he explains it himself, more particularly in this, and in the following chapter. Thus in the next verses but one to the text, _Blessed are they_, saith he, _whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered: blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin_. To him that is justified or forgiven, God _will not impute sin_ to his condemnation. He will not condemn him on that account, either in this world or in that which is to come. His sins, all his past sins, in thought, word and deed, _are covered_, are blotted out: shall not be remembered or mentioned against him, any more than if they had not been. God will not inflict on that sinner what he deserved to suffer, because the Son of his love hath suffered for him. And from the time we are _accepted through the Beloved, reconciled to God through his blood_, he loves and blesses and watches over us for good, even as if we had never sinned.

Indeed the apostle in one place seems to extend the meaning of the word much farther; where he says, _Not the hearers of the law, but the doers of the law shall be justified_. Here he appears to refer our justification, to the sentence of the great day. And so our Lord himself unquestionably doth, when he says, _By thy words thou shalt be justified_: proving thereby, that _for every idle word men shall speak, they shall give an account in the day of judgment_. But perhaps we can hardly produce another instance, of St. _Paul’s_ using the word in that distant sense. In the general tenor of his writings, it is evident he doth not. And least of all in the text before us, which undeniably speaks, not of those who have already _finished their course_, but of those who are now just _setting out_, just _beginning to run the race which is set before him_.

III. 1. But this is the third thing which was to be considered, namely, who are they that are justified? And the apostle tells us expresly, _the ungodly_: He, that is, God, _justifieth the ungodly_: the ungodly of every kind and degree, and none but the ungodly. As _they that are righteous need no repentance_, so they need no forgiveness. It is only sinners that have any occasion for pardon: it is sin alone which admits of being forgiven. Forgiveness therefore has an immediate reference to sin, and (in this respect) to nothing else. It is our _unrighteousness_ to which the pardoning God is _merciful_: it is our _iniquity_ which he _remembereth no more_.

2. This seems not to be at all considered by those who so vehemently contend, that a man must be sanctified, that is, holy, before he can be justified: especially by such of them as affirm, that universal holiness or obedience must precede justification (unless they mean, that justification at the last day, which is wholly out of the present question) so far from it, that the very supposition, is not only flatly impossible (for where there is no love of God, there is no holiness; and there is no love of God, but from a sense of his loving us) but also grosly, intrinsically absurd, contradictory to itself. For it is not a _saint_ but a _sinner_ that is _forgiven_, and under the notion of a sinner. God _justifieth_ not the godly, but the _ungodly_; not those that are holy already, but the unholy. Upon what condition he doth this, will be considered quickly: but whatever it is, it cannot be holiness. To assert this, is to say, the Lamb of God takes away, only those sins which were taken away before.

3. Does then the good Shepherd seek and save only those that are found already? No. He seeks and saves that which is lost. He pardons those who _need_ his pardoning mercy. He saves from the guilt of sin (and at the same time from the power) sinners of every kind, of every degree: men who till then were altogether ungodly; in whom the love of the Father was not; and consequently, in whom dwelt no good thing, no good or truly Christian temper: but all such as were evil and abominable, pride, anger, love, of the world, the genuine fruits of that _carnal mind, which is enmity against God_.

4. These _who are sick, the burden of whose sins is intolerable_, are they that _need a physician_; these who are guilty, who groan under the wrath of God, are they that need a pardon. These who are _condemned already_, not only by God, but also by their own conscience, as by a thousand witnesses, of all their ungodliness, both in thought and word and work, cry aloud for him that _justifieth the ungodly, through the redemption that is in Jesus: the ungodly and him that worketh not_; that worketh not before he is justified; any thing that is good, that is truly virtuous or holy, but only evil continually. For his heart is necessarily, essentially evil, till the love of God is shed abroad therein. And while the tree is corrupt, so are the fruits; _for an evil tree cannot bring forth good fruit_.

5. If it be objected, “Nay, but a man, before he is justified, may feed the hungry, or clothe the naked; and these are good works:” the answer is easy. He _may_ do these, even before he is justified. And these are, in one sense, _good works_; they are _good and profitable to men_. But it does not follow, that they are, strictly speaking, good in themselves, or good in the sight of God. All truly _good works_ (to use the words of our church) _follow after justification_. And they are therefore good and _acceptable to God in Christ_, because they _spring out of a true and living faith_. By a parity of reason, all _works done before justification, are not_ good, in the Christian sense, _forasmuch as they spring not of faith in Jesus Christ_ (tho’ from some kind of faith in God they may spring) _yea rather, for that they are not done, as God hath willed and commanded them to be done, we doubt not_ (how strange soever it may appear to some) _but they have the nature of sin_.

6. Perhaps those who doubt of this, have not duly considered the weighty reason which is here assign’d, why no works done before justification, can be truly and properly good. The argument plainly runs thus:

No works are good which are not done as God hath willed and commanded them to be done:

But no works done before justification are done as God hath willed and commanded them to be done:

Therefore no works done before justification are good.

The first proposition is self-evident. And the second, that no works done before justification, are done as God hath willed and commanded them to be done, will appear equally plain and undeniable, if we only consider God hath willed and commanded, that _all our works_ should _be done in charity_, (ἐν ἀγάπη) in love, in that love to God, which produces love to all mankind. But none of our works can be done in this love, while the love of the Father (of God as our Father) is not in us. And this love cannot be in us, till we receive the _Spirit of adoption, crying in our hearts, Abba, Father_. If therefore God doth not _justify the ungodly_, and him that (in this sense) _worketh not_, then hath Christ died in vain; then notwithstanding his death, can no flesh living be justified.

IV. 1. But on what terms then is he justified, who is altogether _ungodly_, and till that time, _worketh not_? On one alone, which is faith. He _believeth in him that justifieth the ungodly_. And _he that believeth is not condemned_: Yea, he _is passed from death unto life_. For _the righteousness_ (or mercy) _of God is by faith of Jesus Christ, unto all and upon all them that believe:――Whom God hath set forth for a propitiation, through faith in his blood: that he might be just, and_ (consistently with his justice) _the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus: therefore we conclude, that a man is justified by faith, without the deeds of the law_: without previous obedience to the moral law, which indeed he could not till now perform. That it is the moral law, and that alone which is here intended, appears evidently from the words that follow. _Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid! Yea, we establish the law._ What law do we establish by faith? Not the ritual law: not the ceremonial law of _Moses_. In no wise; but the great unchangeable law of love, the holy love of God and of our neighbour.

2. * Faith in general is, a divine, supernatural ἔλεγχος, _evidence_ or conviction _of things not seen_, not discoverable by our bodily senses, as being either past, future or spiritual. Justifying faith implies, not only a divine evidence or conviction, that _God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself_ but a sure trust and confidence, that Christ died for _my_ sins, that he loved _me_ and gave himself for _me_. And at what time soever a sinner thus believes, be it in early childhood, in the strength of his years, or when he is old and hoary-hair’d, God justifieth that ungodly one: God for the sake of his Son; pardoneth and absolveth, him who had in him till then no good thing. Repentance indeed God had given him before: but that repentance was neither more nor less, than a deep sense of the want of all good, and the presence of all evil. And whatever good he hath or doth from that hour, when he first believes in God through Christ, faith does not _find_ but _bring_. This is the fruit of faith. First the tree is good, and then the fruit is good also.

3. I cannot describe the nature of this faith better, than in the words of our own church. “The only instrument of salvation” (whereof justification is one branch) “is faith: that is, a sure trust and confidence, that God both hath and will forgive our sins, that he hath accepted us again into his favour, for the merits of Christ’s death and passion.――But here we must take heed that we do not halt with God, through an inconstant, wavering faith. _Peter_ coming to Christ upon the water, because he fainted in faith, was in danger of drowning. So we, if we begin to waver or doubt, it is to be feared, that we should sink as _Peter_ did, not into the water, but into the bottomless pit of hell-fire.” Second sermon on the passion.

“Therefore have a sure and constant faith, not only that the death of Christ is available for all the world, but that he hath made a full and sufficient sacrifice for _thee_, a perfect cleansing of _thy_ sins, so that thou mayst say with the apostle, he loved _thee_ and gave himself for _thee_. For this is to make Christ _thine own_, and to apply his merits unto _thyself_.” Sermon on the sacrament, first part.

4. By affirming that this faith is the term or _condition of justification_, I mean, first, that there is no justification without it. _He that believeth not is condemned already_; and so long as he believeth not, that condemnation cannot be removed, but _the wrath of God abideth on him_. As _there is no other name given under heaven than that of Jesus of Nazareth_, no other merit _whereby_ a condemned sinner can ever _be saved_ from the guilt of sin; so there is no other way of obtaining a share in his merit, than _by faith in his name_. So that as long as we are without this faith, we are _strangers to the covenant of promise_, we are _aliens from the common-wealth of Israel, and without God in the world_. Whatsoever virtues (so call’d) a man may have (I speak of those unto whom the gospel is preached; for _what have I to judge them that are without_?) whatsoever good works (so accounted) he may do, it profiteth not; he is still a _child of wrath_, still under the curse, till he believes in Jesus.

5. * Faith therefore is the _necessary_ condition of justification. Yea, and the _only necessary_ condition thereof. This is the second point carefully to be observed; that the very moment God giveth faith (_for it is the gift of God_) to the _ungodly, that worketh not_, that _faith is counted to him for righteousness_. He hath no righteousness at all, antecedent to this, not so much as negative righteousness or innocence. But _faith is imputed to him for righteousness_, the very moment that he believeth. Not that God (as was observed before) thinketh him to be what he is not. But as _he made Christ to be sin for us, that_ is, treated him as a sinner, punishing him for our sins, so he counteth us righteous, from the time we believe in him: that is, he doth not punish us for our sins, yea, treats us as tho’ we were guiltless and righteous.

6. Surely the difficulty of assenting to this proposition, that faith is the _only condition_ of justification, must arise from not understanding it. We mean thereby thus much, that it is the only thing without which none is justified; the only thing that is immediately, indispensably, absolutely requisite in order to pardon. As on the one hand, tho’ a man should have every thing else, without faith, yet he cannot be justified; so on the other, tho’ he be supposed to want every thing else, yet if he hath faith, he cannot but be justified. For suppose a sinner of any kind or degree, in a full sense of his total ungodliness, of his utter inability to think, speak or do good, and his absolute meetness for hell-fire: suppose, I say, this sinner, helpless and hopeless, casts himself wholly on the mercy of God in Christ (which indeed he cannot do but by the grace of God) who can doubt, but he is forgiven in that moment? Who will affirm, that any more is _indispensably required_, before that sinner can be justified?

Now if there ever was one such instance from the beginning of the world. (And have there not been, and are there not ten thousand times ten thousand?) it plainly follows, that faith is, in the above sense, the sole condition of justification.

7. It does not become poor, guilty, sinful worms, who receive whatsoever blessings they enjoy, (from the least drop of water that cools our tongue, to the immense riches of glory in eternity) of grace, of mere favour, and not of debt, to ask of God the reasons of his conduct. It is not meet for us to call him in question, _who giveth account to none of his ways_; to demand, Why didst thou make faith the condition, the only condition of justification? Wherefore didst thou decree, _He that believeth_, and he only, _shall be saved_? This is the very point on which St. _Paul_ so strongly insists in the ninth chapter of this epistle, _viz_. That the terms of pardon and acceptance must depend, not on us, but _on him that calleth us_: that there is no _unrighteousness with God_, in fixing his own terms, not according to ours, but his own good pleasure: who may justly say, _I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy_, namely, on him who believeth in Jesus. So _then it is not of him that willeth, or of him that runneth_, to chuse the condition on which he shall find acceptance; _but of God that sheweth mercy_, that accepteth none at all, but of his own free love, his unmerited goodness. _Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy_, viz. on those who believe on the Son of his love: _and whom he will_, that is, those who believe not, _he hardeneth_, leaves at last to the hardness of their hearts.