Secondly, The second general means is to apply yourselves to the righteousness of Christ. There are many steps and progresses of the soul in this work - desire it, seek it, wait for it, take Christ upon any special offer, then upon the act of faith consider your privileges and make your claim; and that your claim may be warranted, there must be a care of holiness.
1. Desire it earnestly. Grace is wrought by knowledge, but it is first known by desire and spiritual esteem. Appetite follows life; so when God begins to infuse life in the soul, it is first discerned by desire: Mat. v. 5, 'Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after righteousness.' How passionately doth Paul speak, Phil. iii. 9, 'That I might be found in him, not having mine own righteousness.' All things else he accounted dung, dog's-meat, loss rather than gain.
2. You must seek it. Lazy wishes are only the fruits of conviction. Men could wish they were interested in so great comfort. But now serious desires will put you upon endeavours: Mat. vi. 33, 'Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and the righteousness thereof.' The great design and work of christians should be to get a part in Christ, in God's kingdom, and God's righteousness, as the way to it; seek it first, above all things, and above all pursuits. Men make it not their work, but their by-work, and regard it now and then in some pang of conscience. Oh, then for a garment to cover them, then for a righteousness to shelter them from wrath! but this should be the first thing; it is a worthy pursuit, and it will make amends for all the pains you are at in seeking it.
3. Wait for it. Grace is not at the creature's beck. Before ever God will show mercy, he will first declare his sovereignty: Isa. xxvi. 8, 'In the way of thy judgments have we waited for thee.' Though they meet with nothing but rough answers - though God seems to hide himself, yet in the midst of his judicial dispensations you should continue waiting. Nothing declares the creature's subjection to God so much as tarrying of his leisure; alas! otherwise it is a sign we ascribe to ourselves, when we prescribe to God, when we would have him come in at our time and pleasure. Remember the righteousness of Christ is a great blessing, and God doth not owe it you; God may give it to whom he will, and when he will. Impatience always shows there is some confidence in your own righteousness. You should say as the church doth: Lam. i. 16, 'My comforter that should relieve my soul is far from me;' 'but I have rebelled against him,' ver. 18. God suspends comfort, but it is not my due; but I have rather merited the contrary. Thoughts of merit beget murmuring. When the soul is possessed of its own guilt, it will tarry the Lord's leisure. Consider, God hath waited long ere you came to this, to look up to him for the righteousness of Christ; therefore you have good cause to wait upon him for his good pleasure.
4. When there is any special offer in the word, do not delay, but take Christ; do not draw back the hand of faith. I know a guilty creature will be full of suspicions; and the truth is, the grace of the gospel is so rich that we know not how to credit it. But when there is a fair offer, do not let suspicion take in the hand of faith, but receive Christ when he is tendered in the promises of the word. Sometimes God doth, as it were, call you by name: John x. 3, 'He calleth his own sheep by name;' he doth, as it were, point to you when he speaks to men in your case and condition. Oh! consider, these are fair seasons of grace, and you must not let them slip: 2 Cor. vi. 1, 2, 'We beseech you that you receive not the grace of God in vain;' 'for I have heard thee in an acceptable time. Now is the accepted time, now is the day of salvation.' There are certain beautiful seasons wherein God will be found, when you see yourselves to be as it were pointed at. Look, as wicked men neglect seasons of conviction, so do believers many times dispute away seasons of grace, those that are in the way of faith. Poor lost creatures are apt to be suspicious; but when the offer of grace is full and express to your case, do not neglect it; as Benhadads servants watched for the word 'brother,' so should you be asking for these gospel seasons. Jesus Christ will sometimes give a glimpse of his countenance, and look through the lattice.
5. Upon the act of faith consider your privileges, and humbly make your claim. Whenever you have taken Christ upon those seasonable offers, consider what a great privilege you enjoy: John v. 24, 'He that believeth in me hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation, but is passed from death to life.' Christians are wanting in their improving their spiritual interest; they are willing to prize Christ, but. do not consider what they have in him, if you cannot feel sensible consolation, yet act spiritual reason and discourse. Consider, such an act gives interest in Christ; why then should I not have Christ, and in Christ righteousness? Isa. xlv. 24: The church is brought in, speaking, 'Surely shall one say, In the Lord have I righteousness and strength, even to him shall men come.' This is glorying, or rejoicing in hope, Heb. iii. 6; that is, a reckoning upon our privilege, what we shall have and enjoy in Christ. Whosoever takes Christ, he puts him on; then he is interested and invested with all that is Christ's: Gal. iii. 27, 'As many of you as have been baptized into Christ, have put on Christ.' By the internal baptism we have an interest not only in his person, but in his righteousness, life, spirit, dignities, and merits; it is good to ampliate our thoughts according to the extent of our privileges.
6. That your claim may be warranted the more, there must be a care of holiness. Works are not the condition of justification, yet they are the evidence of it. Faith justifies, and works justify: James ii. 24, 'Ye see then how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only.' By the righteousness of faith we are acquitted from sin, and by the righteousness of works we are acquitted from guile and hypocrisy; therefore this is the evidence that will make all sure: 1 John iii. 21, 22, 'If our hearts condemn us not, then we have confidence towards God. And whatsoever we ask we receive of him, because we keep his commandments,' &c. This will increase the confidence of faith, when there is a train of graces. Though works have nothing to do in the court of heaven in matter of justification, yet they have a voice and testimony in the court of conscience. Seldom do we receive any solemn assurance but upon the evidence of sanctification. Faith gives us a title to Christ's righteousness, but works give an evidence of it. Our comfort indeed is founded upon Christ's righteousness and his satisfaction, but it is found in Christ's way; therefore consider how the promises are diversified: Mat. xi. 28, 'Come unto me,' saith Christ, 'all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest'; but then, ver. 29, 'Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and you shall find rest for your souls.' The act of faith gives us an interest; but that we may have the comfort of it, we must abide under his discipline. This is God's course; first he pours in the oil of grace, then the oil of gladness, when our sanctification is evidenced unto us. The apostle gathereth it out of the type of Melchisedec: Heb. vii. 2, 'First being, by interpretation, king of righteousness, and after that also king of Salem; that is, king of peace.' First he sanctifieth and disposeth the heart to righteousness, then gives peace of conscience and comfort; that is the order, he reconcileth us to God by his own righteousness, and then gives peace in our souls by working our hearts to a holy disposition.
Use 2. To condemn them that seek righteousness in themselves. Nature is prone to this, and none more apt than those that have least reason. Former duties do not discover weakness, and so are more apt to puff up. Give me leave a little to speak of this; partly because it is so natural to us, and partly because many decry resting in duties so far, that they decry the very performance of them, and instead of Papists turn Familists. This resting in our own righteousness is sometimes more gross and open, when men make it their plea; sometimes more secret and imperceptible; we may discover it by observing the disposition of the soul with reference to sins, mercies, duties, and comforts.
1. By observing the frame of the heart with reference to sin. Usually when men rest in duties, they make the performance of them to be the ground of an indulgence to sin, and take the more liberty to sin, out of a hope to make amends by their duties.
[1.] This indulgence is sometimes antedated before the performance, as when men allow themselves in present carnal practices by the purpose of an after-repentance. It is as if men should distemper the body by excess, and then think to mend all by giving themselves a vomit; or contract a sickness by drunkenness, hoping to cure all by physic. Tunc demum a peccatis desistam, cum baptizatus ero. Conviction would not let men sin so freely if they did not make fair promises of reformation: this is making a Christ of your repentance and prayers. So some men moil in the world, and dream of a devout retirement hereafter; thus rich they will be, and then they will live privately, and mind religion.
[2.] Sometimes the indulgence is post-dated, which is most grossly done by them that perform duties with an aim either to excuse or to promote sin: Prov. xxi. 27, 'The sacrifice of the wicked is abomination: how much more when he bringeth it with a wicked mind?' as Balaam's altars were built, and sacrifices made with this intent, that he might curse Israel, Num. xxiii.; or more closely, by others who would redeem their negligence in one duty by the frequent performance of another, and please God by what doth not displease themselves; as the Jews hoped to repair their want of mercy by the multitude of their sacrifices. The Pharisees tithed mint and cummin to excuse themselves from the weighty things of the law, Mat. xxiii. 23. Conscience, like the stomach, will be craving; and a man must do something to keep it quiet, as by a moral course, or some formal acts of piety. By others it is done yet more closely, that grow vain and wanton after some solemn duty: Ezek. xxxiii. 13, 'If he trust to his own righteousness, and commit iniquity,' &c. Many times we find that the heart groweth loose, licentious, vain, wanton, and proud after solemn duties, which argueth a secret confidence in what we have done; thus Josiah's breach with God was 'after his preparing the temple,' 2 Chron. xxxv. 20.
2. With respect to mercies; and so observe the frame of your hearts in the want of mercies, or in the enjoyment of them.
[1.] In the want of mercies. Men expect blessings out of a conceit of some worth that is in themselves, and ascribe too much to their own duties. We all disclaim it; but it may be known by this, if we murmur when God doth not come in at our times and seasons. Those that prescribe to God do ascribe to themselves: Isa. lviii. 3, 'Wherefore have we fasted, say they, and thou seest not? wherefore have we afflicted our soul, and thou takest no knowledge?' Luke xviii. 11, 12, 'I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican: I fast twice in a week, I give tithes of all that I possess.' Because we do not break out into such bold challenges, we think ourselves innocent; but murmuring argueth some thought of desert. Where nothing is due, we cannot complain if nothing be given. The plea of works may be plainly read in our discontents; if God be not a debtor, why do we then complain?
[2.] In the enjoyment of mercies, men secretly ascribe to themselves, as if God did see more in them than others: Deut. ix. 4, 'Speak not in thy 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.' It rather manifests itself in thoughts than words. Now because these thoughts are not always impressed on conscience, men evade it; but here you will discern it again by some disdain at providence. Spiritual pride, or conceit of our own worth, entertaineth crosses with anger, and blessings with disdain; discontent or disdain will discover it to you: Mal. i. 2, 'I have loved you, saith the Lord: yet ye say, Wherein hast thou loved us?' By a gracious, humble heart all mercies are received with admiration. Where sin is great nothing can be little, nothing is theirs but sin; therefore they wonder that anything should be theirs but punishment: Luke. i. 43, 'And. whence is this to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?' so 2 Sam. vii. 18, 'Who am I, O Lord God? and what is my house, that thou hast brought me hitherto?' Not, Wherefore have we fasted? but whence is it? and what am I that God should do thus and thus for me? Do but compare Mat. vii. 22, 'Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? ' - they plead their gifts and employments in the church - with Mat. xxv. 38, 39, 'Lord, when saw we thee an hungered, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink? when saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee? or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee?' The one wonder God should reject them, who had done him so much service; the other wonder Christ should take notice of such worthless services, though none perform duties with more care, none overlook them with more self-denial.
3. With respect to duties. Here also are two notes.
[1.] When men are not actually sensible of their own weakness, unprofitableness, and defects in duties. Men set a high value on their actions, and therefore reckon of the merit of them. The elder brother pleaded: Luke xv. 29, 'Lo, these many years do I serve thee; neither at any time transgressed I thy commandment.' We rest upon that of which we are conceited Formal men have least cause, and yet are most apt, to rest in duties, because they go on in a dead course, without feeling their defects or being sensible of their needing the supplies of the Spirit; as painted fire needeth no fuel. But the children of God perform them with more feeling of their own weakness and wretchedness; and so their hearts are kept humble and thankful, both which check merit. Thankful: 1 Chron. xxix. 14, 'Of thine own have we given thee.' Humble, for there may be a show of thankfulness, and yet the heart may be conceited: Luke xviii. 11, 'God, I thank thee I am not as other men are;' but 'all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags,' Isa. lxiv. 6. Now we must have actual distinct thoughts of this, or else it is impossible that such a proud creature as man should go out of himself. Christ requireth it in every duty: Luke xvii. 10, 'When ye shall have done all those things that are commanded you, say, We are unprofitable servants;' therefore you do not discern this secret vein of guilt by gross thoughts of merit, but by high thoughts of duty. When a man is not always sensible of the imperfections of his services, he is apt to build upon them. How do you come off from duty? You have more cause to be humble than to be lifted up; for what is God's be thankful, for what is your own be humbled, and pray, God be merciful to me!
[2.] When men are more careful of the work wrought than of the interest of the person; when we would have the person accepted for the work's sake rather than for Christ's sake, they lay the foundation of their comfort within themselves. Now this is not only by common people, who hope to be accepted for their prayers and their good meanings, but in those that are careless to get an interest in Christ: James v. 16, 'The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. Most men look to the qualification of the duty, not of the person; but the person must be righteous, as well as the prayer fervent. It is not duty that worketh out your atonement with God; our acceptation with God doth not depend upon the worth and merit of works. Do not think duties will serve the turn: 2 Cor. xiii. 5, 'Know ye not your own selves, how that Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates?' The word adokimoi, reprobate, is there taken in a mollified sense for those that are not in Christ; and therefore, before ditties, your great care should be not only to raise the heart, but to examine the state.
4. With respect to peace and comfort, take these notes.
[1.] If you were never driven to change your copy and tenure. All Adam's posterity is under a covenant of works, and seek to be saved by doing. Those that never saw they rested in works, and were never driven to settle their comfort upon gospel terms, are in a dangerous case. The voice of nature is, What shall we do? and till we are frighted out of ourselves we never look farther. When the Israelites heard the thunderings, they were affrighted. Nature is put to flight: Heb. vi. 18, 'Who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us;' Phil. iii. 9, '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;' Gal. ii. 19, 'For I through the law am dead to the law, that I might live to God.' A man goes not to chancery till he is cast at common law.
[2.] When conscience is awakened, if men fetch their comfort from their duties. The law leaveth men wounded and raw, and they lick themselves whole again by some offers of obedience. Carnal men are careful of worship only upon some gripes; they use their duties as men strong waters in a pang; duties should be a thank-offering, and they make them a sin-offering - a sleeping sop to allay conscience. As when men have offended their superiors for a while they become more pliant and obsequious. it is good in gripes of conscience to observe whence you fetch your comfort, and how it groweth upon you; the trial is most sensible: Ps. xciv. 19, 'In the multitude of my thoughts within me thy comforts delight my soul.' Though every child of God hath not peace of conscience, yet it would much undeceive our hearts if we did observe how we come to be satisfied with our estate, and from whence that peace which we have doth arise.
[3.] Upon what terms do you constantly maintain your life and peace with God; upon the foundation of works, or through the merits of Christ? I confess works are a good encouragement, by way of evidence and assurance; but still the foundation must be Christ: 1 Cor. iii. 11, 'For other foundation can no man lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.' The believing soul will never be diverted and taken off from Christ, but will still cry, What would become of me were it not for free grace? Neh. ix. 31, 'Nevertheless, for thy great mercies' sake thou didst not utterly consume them and forsake them, for thou art a gracious and merciful God;' 1 Cor. iv. 4, 'For I know nothing by myself, yet am I not thereby justified; but he that judgeth me is the Lord.' Christ must still lie as a bundle of myrrh with us: Cant. i. 13, 'A bundle cf myrrh is my well-beloved unto me; he shall lie all night betwixt my breasts.'
Use 3. Information; to direct us how to understand this great truth. For your better information, and because I will not perplex these discourses with disputes, I shall lay down several propositions; take them all together -
1. That to justify is to account or accept as righteous. -
2. None are accounted or accepted as righteous but those that indeed are so.
3. Every righteousness will not serve the turn, but such as will satisfy God's justice.
4. God's justice will never be satisfied till the law be satisfied.
5. The law will never be satisfied but by active and passive obedience.
6. This satisfaction is only to be had in Christ.
7. There is no having this righteousness in Christ but by imputation.
8. There is no imputation but by union.
9. There is no union but by faith.
[1.] To justify is not to make righteous, but to account or accept as righteous. This is the use and force of the word in scripture: Rom. ii. 13, 'Not the hearers of the law are just before God, but the doers of the law shall be justified.' It cannot be taken for the infusion of righteousness, because the doers of the law are therefore righteous in themselves because they do the law; but the meaning is, are accounted just. It is opposed to condemnation and accusation, therefore it must be taken for accounting righteous; as Rom. viii. 33, 'Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth, who is he that condemneth?' That which is opposed to accusation is justification; and that it is meant of an accepting in court is clear by Ps. cxliii. 2, 'Enter not into judgment with thy servant, O Lord, for in thy sight no man living shall be justified;' that is, in thy righteous and strict judgment none can be accepted as righteous.
[2.] None is accounted righteous before God but he that indeed is so; for otherwise the rule standeth good: Exodus xxxiv. 7, 'He will by no means clear the guilty.' It is part of God's name that he proclaimed before Moses: it must be such a righteousness as will endure God's sight; so that when God casts his eye upon it, he cannot choose but account you righteous, which cannot be by a fiction or an imaginary righteousness - ' For the judgment of God is according to truth,' Rom. ii. 2, be it in mercy or in judgment. And it is a thing God hates in man: Prov. xvii. 15, 'To condemn the just, and justify the wicked, are both an abomination to the Lord.' Therefore there must be such a righteousness as, God looking upon it, he must needs account you righteous.
[3.] Every righteousness will not serve the turn, but such only as will satisfy God's justice, because by the work of redemption the Lord is to suffer no loss; the repute of his justice is still to be kept up, otherwise the notions of the deity would be violated. In the work of redemption he is not unrighteous; therefore the apostle is very zealous: Rom. iii. 4, 'Yea, let God be true, and every man a liar; as it is written, That thou mightest be justified in thy sayings and mightest overcome when thou art judged,' &c; God is necessarily just as well as necessarily merciful. Now both attributes must shine with equal glory. If he did altogether spare, where were his justice? and if he did accept men upon ordinary terms, and did altogether save, where were his mercy? God's infinite wisdom hath determined the controversy, and the apostle gives us an account of it: Rom. iii. 24, 25, 'Him hath God set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins;' and it is again repeated - 'To declare, I say, at this time, his righteousness, that he may be just, and the justifier of him that believeth in Jesus.' God would not only glorify grace, but he would be just in justification; therefore, 1 John i. 9, 'If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness;' and again, chap. ii. 1, 'We have an advocate with the Father, even Jesus Christ the righteous.' God would not forgive sins, but so as that it might stand with his justice; for mercy and justice are to shine with an equal glory.
[4.] God's justice can never be satisfied till the law be satisfied. Why? because it is the outward rule of his justice, and the visible measure of his dealing with man; and therefore the satisfaction of his justice must be carried on according to the tenor and terms of the law; therefore was Christ made under the law. Now this was the great controversy how to salve the authority, power, and worth of the law. Christ professeth he came to fulfil it: Mat. v. 17, 18, 'Think not that I am come to destroy the law or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil,' &c. And the apostle shows plainly the doctrine of justification doth not make void the law: Rom. iii. 31, 'Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish the law;' therefore legal and gospel righteousness differ, because the one is not inherent in us, the other is; and in the manner of receiving it.
[5.] The law can never be satisfied, as for fallen man, but by an active and passive obedience - that is, by suffering what is imposed, or by doing what is commanded by the law; for in the law there were two things, the precept and the sanction, the duty and the penalty. The law doth not only say, Do, and live; but, Sin, and die. To Adam it was proposed in the primitive form, Gen. ii. 17. Now the law must be fulfilled in the threatening and precept, that there may be a freedom from the curse, and a right to eternal life. And indeed Jesus Christ, by being made under the law, by sustaining the penalty and performing the obedience of it, hath done both: 1 Thes. i. 10, there is one part - 'Even Jesus, who delivered us from the wrath to come;' and Ephes. i. 6, there is the other part - 'We are accepted in the beloved.' God freeth none from hell but those Christ suffered for; and accepts none to life but those Christ hath performed obedience for.
[6.] This satisfaction can be performed by none but Jesus Christ; for, alas! we could neither bear the penalty nor discharge the duty; - not bear the penalty, for we should have always been satisfying, always paying, but never, could be said to have satisfied; and we could never discharge the duty of it, for the law is 'become weak through the flesh,' Rom. viii. 3; that is, as the case stands now with man fallen. Those works that need pardon themselves can never satisfy: Acts iv. 12, 'Neither is there salvation in any other, for there is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved.'
[7.] There is no having of this righteousness from Christ but by imputation. I know here some boggle and say, Imputation is nowhere found in scripture. I answer, We do not stand upon words and syllables; but this is most proper, and it may be well gathered, for Christ is said 'to be made righteousness,' 1 Cor. i. 30; righteousness is said 'to be imputed without works,' Rom. iv. 6; and 'faith is imputed for righteousness,' Rom. iv. 22. To clear the proposition, it must needs be by imputation - (1.) Because this righteousness must be in justificato, in the justified person. This righteousness, one way or other, must belong to the person justified, otherwise the Lord cannot look upon us as righteous. The man was cast out 'that had not on him the wedding garment,' Mat. xxii. 11 - 13. Now by infusion it cannot be, all inherent righteousness being imperfect; therefore it must be by imputation. (2.) Consider what imputation is. To impute is - to reckon a thing to our score and account; and those things are said to be imputed to us which are accounted ours to all intents and purposes, as if they were our own Now in this sense our sins were imputed to Christ and Christ's righteousness is imputed to us. The apostle makes the parallel 2 Cor. v 21 'For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. Look, as Christ was so dealt with as if he had been a sinner, so we are as if we were righteous. Our iniquities were not infused into Christ, but imputed and laid upon him Isa. liii. 6, 'The Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all,' so is his righteousness upon all them that believe And the apostle useth another comparison, as Adam s guilt is laid upon us, so is Christ s righteousness, - 'As by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous Rom. v. 19 In short, the apostle saith, 1 Cor. i. 30 that Christ is 'made unto us of God righteousness,' and the whole righteousness is imputed to satisfy the obligation of the law and to repair Adam s loss, for we were guilty of death, and we came short of glory Gal iv 4 - 6 'When the fulness of time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law,' &c.
[8.] There is no imputation but by union. All interest is founded in union: Gal. iii. 27, 'As many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ;' all his merits and satisfaction are theirs, - as if performed in their own persons: 1 Cor. i. 30, 'Of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption.' We are interested in all, as we are in him; by being one with Christ we put him on.
[9.] There is no union but by faith; then God receives us into grace: Rom. x. 10, 'With the heart man believeth unto righteousness.' It is 'the ordination of God that this grace should unite us to Christ, and so give us a right to all that is in Christ; indeed it is the fittest grace to receive the fruits of union. I confess there is a moral union by love that gives comfort; but faith begins the mystical union, and so gives safety.
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