SECT. II.

Of the MANNER of Juftification.

Rom. iv. 6. i. 17. x. 10.

God imputeth righteoufnefs without works.-The righteoufnefs of God is revealed from faith to faith.With the heart man believeth unto righteousness.

THE

HE manner of justification is likewife to be confidered.

And this is two-fold; and has refpect, 1. Unto God. And, 2. Unto ourselves.

tation.

I. With refpect unto God, the manner of the juftification of a finner is by impuAnd this ftands, in God's reckoning, or accounting, and pronouncing of a finner righteous, in the righteousness of his Son. And thus it stands opposed to a perfon's being righteous by inhefion, and by his own performances, as Adam was before his fall. The law of God requires perfect righteousness, both in heart and life, in the creature that would be jufti

F

Sect. II. fied by it; and it can justify fuch an one, and no other. But fince the fall, neither Adam, nor any of his pofterity, were legally righteous in themselves; and fo could not be juftified by their own righteousness. For, in this sense, there is none righteous, [i. e. legally righteous in themfelves, and by their own performances] no not one, Rom. iii. 10. And therefore by the deeds of the law, no flesh can be juf tified in the fight of God, ver. 20. All have finned, and come short of the glory of God, ver. 23.; and so are shut up under the curse of his righteous law, aud bound over to his wrath, in the fentence thereof; and fo there is no life for a finner by the law: it cannot juftify, but muft condemn an unrighteous perfon. But the gospel reveals a righteoufnefs of God's providing*; wherein a finner may be perfectly righte cus in the eye of his holy law and ftrict juftice; and accordingly juftified and faved unto life eternal. And this, as was faid, is the righteousness of Chrift, which God the Father reckons, or imputes to a poor finner as its own. He puts, or placeth, Chrift's righteoufnefs to the finner's ac count; as he put, or placed, his fin unto *Rom. i. 16, 17.

Chrift's fcore: As 2 Cor. v. 21. For he hath made him to be fin for us, who knew no fin; that we might be made the righteoufness of God in him. Chrift knew no fin, either by inhefion, or commiffion; and yet God the Father put, or placed, the fins of his people to his account, imputed them unto him, and fo made him fin for us; that fo we, who know no righteousness, might be made the righteoufnefs of God in him, by having his righteousness put, or placed, to us as ours, and we pronounced righteous therein; even perfectly fo, merely by imputation. And as it was a righteous thing with God, to impute the fins of his people unto Chrift, because of his voluntary undertaking for them, as their Surety, in the everlasting covenant, to take their debts upon himself, and pay them to the full; fo likewise, it is a juft, and equitable thing with God, to impute the righteousness of his Son to his people; because it was performed by him for them, as their reprefentative, in their room and ftead: and accordingly, he doth impute it unto them, and thereby make them juft, and pronounce them righteous in his fight. And this is the

only way, whereby a finner can be made righteous before God, viz. by his imputing a complete righteousness to it, which the foul itself puts not so much as the leaft finger to the performance of; but is wholly wrought out for it by another. As Rom. iv. 6. Even as David alfo defcribeth the bleffedness of the man unto whom God IMPUTETH righteoufnefs without works.

And as God imputes the righteousness of his Son to poor finners, that have none in, or of themselves, and can be just in juftifying them in this way; in as much as this righteousness is fuch an one, that every way answers the perfect purity of his nature, and righteous law, and was wrought out on purpose for them; fo, in justifying a finner in this way, he displays the exceeding riches of his grace. It was free grace that contrived and appointed this righteoufnefs for a finner; free grace that accepted of it for him, when performed; and it is free grace that imputes it to him, puts it upon him, or makes him righteous therein. Hence we are faid to be juftified freely by his grace, through the redemption that is in Christ Jefus, Rom. iii. 24. And to have redemption through

his blood, the forgiveness of fins (which is one part of justification) according to the riches of his grace, Eph. i. 7.

The matter of juftification, or of the juftifying righteoufnefs of a finner before God, as was before observed, is the righteousness of Chrift, or his active and paffive obedience; and the manner of God's juftifying a finner, by the imputation of this righteoufnefs, regards both. God imputes the paffive obedience of Christ unto the foul, or his being obedient unto death, even the death of the cross; whereby he fatisfied juftice, and thereby discharges it from all guilt, and freely forgives all its fins. And he likewise imputes, his active obedience, or the obedience of Chrift's life, to the foul; whereby he makes, and declares it to be righteous in his fight: And in both respects, there is the most bright difplay of the exceeding riches of his grace.

And therefore the righteousness of Chrift, by which a finner is juftified, is faid to be a gift, a free gift, and a gift by grace: As Rom. v. 15, 16, 17. But not as the offence, fo alfo is the free gift. For if through the offence of one, many be dead; much more the grace of God, and the