to the nature of it, as a penny is as perfect silver | other but the obedience of Christ; the which he

performed in the days of his flesh, and can properly be called no man's righteousness, but the righteousness of Christ; because no man had a hand therein, but he completed it himself. And hence it is said, That by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous.' Ro. v. 19. By the obedience of one, of one man Jesus Christ, as you have it in ver. 15. for he came down into the world to this very end; that is, to make a generation righteous, not by making of them laws, and prescribing unto them rules: for this was the work of Moses, who said, 'And it shall be our righteousness, if we observe to do all these commandments before the Lord our God, as he hath commanded us.' De. vi. 25; xxiv. 18. Nor yet by taking away by his grace the imperfections of their righteousness, and so making of that perfect by additions of his own; but he makes them righteous by his obe

as a shilling; nor yet with respect to a comparative degree; for so a shilling arriveth more toward the perfection of the number twenty, than doth a two-penny or a three-penny piece: but it is a righteousness so perfect, that nothing can be added to it, nor can any thing be taken from it: for so implieth the words of the text, he is righteous, as Christ is righteous.' Yea, thus righteous before, and in order to his doing of righteousness. And in this he is like unto the Son of God, who was also righteous before he did acts of righteousness referring to a law of commandment: wherefore it is said, that as he is, so are we in this world. As he is or was righteous, before he did acts of righteousness among men by a law, so are HIS righteous, before they act righteousness among men by a law. He that doth righteousness is righteous, as HE is righteous.' Christ was righteous, before he did righteous-dience; not in them, but for them, while he perness, with a two-fold righteousness. He had a righteousness as he was God; his godhead was perfectly righteous; yea, it was righteousness itself.

His human nature was perfectly righteous, it was naturally spotless and undefiled. Thus his person was righteous, and so qualified to do that righteousness, that because he was born of a woman, and made under the law, he was bound by the law to perform.

Now, as he is, so are we: not by way of natural righteousness, but by way of resemblance thereunto. Had Christ, in order to his working of righteousness, a two-fold righteousness inherent in himself, the Christian, in order to his working of righteousness, hath belonging to him a two-fold righteousness. Did Christ's two-fold righteousness qualify him for that work of righteousness, that was of God designed for him to do? Why the Christian's two-fold righteousness doth qualify him for that work of righteousness, that God hath ordained, that he should do and walk in in this world.

But you may ask, what is that righteousness, with which a Christian is made righteous before he doth righteousness?

I answer, It is a two-fold righteousness. I. It is a righteousness put upon him. II. It is a righteousness put into him. I. For the first, It is righteousness put upon him, with which also he is clothed as with a coat or mantle, Ro. iii. 22. and this is called the robe of righteousness; and this is called the garments of salvation. Is. lxi. 10.* This righteousness is none

* When we had no righteousness of our own to cover us, he put on us naked beggars that rich robe, the righteousness of Christ. Though black in ourselves, we are comely in ('hrist's comeliness; but we never live upon his righteousness, only as we see none in ourselves.-Ryland.

sonally subjected himself to his Father's law on our behalf, that he might have a righteousness to bestow upon us. And hence we are said to be made righteous, while we work not; and to be justified while ungodly, Ro. iv. 5. which can be done by no other righteousness than that, which is the righteousness of Christ by performance, the righteousness of God by donation, and our righteousness by imputation. For, I say, the person that wrought this righteousness for us, is Christ Jesus; the person that giveth it to us, is the Father; who hath made Christ to be unto us righteousness, and hath given him to us for this very end, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him, 1 Co. i. 30. 2 Co. v. 21. And hence it is so often said, One shall say, surely in the Lord have I righteousness and strength. And again, In the Lord shall all the seed of Israel be justified, and shall glory.' This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and their righteousness is of me, saith the Lord.' Is. xlv. 24, 25; liv. 17.

This righteousness is that which justifieth, and which secureth the soul from the curse of the law; by hiding, through its perfection, all the sins and imperfections of the soul. Hence it follows, in that fourth of the Romans, 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.'

And this it doth, even while the person that by grace is made a partaker, is without good works, and so ungodly. This is the righteousness of Christ, Christ's personal performances, which he did when he was in this world; that is that, by which the soul while naked, is covered, and so hid as to its nakedness, from the divine sentence of the law;

'I spread my skirt over thee, and covered thy to wit, a righteousness, that is neither essential to nakedness.' Eze. xvi. 8. his god-head, nor to his manhood; but such as standeth in that glorious person, who was such, his obedience to the law. Which righteousness himself had, with reference to himself, no need of at all, for his god-head; yea, his manhood was perfectly righteous without it. This righteousness therefore was there, and there only, necessary, where Christ was to be considered as God's servant and our surety, to bring to God Jacob again, and to restore the preserved of Israel. For though Christ was a Son, yet he became a servant to do, not for himself, for he had no need, but for us, the whole law, and so bring in everlasting righteousness for us.

Now this obediential righteousness of Christ, consisteth of two parts. 1. In a doing of that which the law commanded us to do. 2. In a paying that price for the transgression thereof, which justice hath said, shall be required at the hand of man; and that is the cursed death. In the day that thou eatest thereof, thou shalt die the death; to wit, the death that comes by the curse of the law. So then, Christ having brought in that part of obedience for us, which consisteth in a doing of such obediential acts of righteousness which the law commands; he addeth thereto the spilling of his blood, to be the price of our redemption from that cursed death, that by sin we had brought upon our bodies and souls. And thus are the Christians made perfectly righteous; they have the whole obedience of Christ made over to them; to wit, that obedience that standeth in doing the law, and that obedience that standeth in paying of a price for our transgressions. So then, Doth the law call for righteousness? Here it is. Doth the law call for satisfaction for our sins? Here it is. And what can the law say any more to the sinner but that which is good, when he findeth in the personal obedience of Christ for him, that which answereth to what it can command, that which it can demand of us.

And hence it is said, that Christ did what he did for us: He became the end of the law for righteousness for us; he suffered for us; 1 Pe. ii. 21. he died for us; 1 Th. v. 10. he laid down his life for us, 1 Jn. iii. 16. and he gave himself for us. Ga. i. 4. The righteousness then that Christ did fulfil, when he was in the world, was not for himself simply considered, nor for himself personally considered, for he had no need thereof; but it was for the elect, the members of his body.

Christ then did not fulfil the law for himself, for he had no need thereof. Christ again did fulfil the law for himself, for he had need of the righteousness thereof; he had need thereof for Herein then standeth a Christian's safety, not the covering of his body, and the several members in a bundle of actions of his own, but in a righte- thereof; for they, in a good sense, are himself, ousness which cometh to him by grace and gift; members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones; for this righteousness is such as comes by gift, by and he owns them as parts of himself in many the gift of God. Hence it is called the gift of places of the holy scripture. Ep. v. 30. Ac. ix. 4, 5. Mat. righteousness, the gift by grace, the gift of righte-xxv. 45; x. 40. Mar. ix. 37. Lu. x. 16. 1 Co. xii. 12, 27. This righousness by grace, which is the righteousness of teousness then, even the whole of what Christ did one, to wit, the obedience of Jesus Christ. Ro.

v. 15-19.

And this is the righteousness by which, he that doth righteousness, is righteous as HE is righteous; because it is the very self-same righteousness, that the Son of God hath accomplished by himself. Nor has he any other or more excellent righteousness, of which the law taketh notice, or that it requireth, than this. For as for the righteousness of his god-head, the law is not concerned with that; for as he is such, the law is his creature, and servant, and may not meddle with him.

The righteousness also of his human nature, the law hath nothing to do with that; for that is the workmanship of God, and is as good, as pure, as holy and undefiled, as is the law itself. All then that the law hath to do with, is to exact complete obedience of him that is made under it, and a due satisfaction for the breach thereof, the which, if it hath, then Moses is content.

Now, this is the righteousness, with which the Christian, as to justification, is made righteous;

in answer to the law, it was for his, and God hath put it upon them, and they are righteous in it, even righteous as he is righteous. And this they have before they do acts of righteousness.

II. There is righteousness put into them, before they act righteous things. A righteousness, I say, put into them; or I had rather that you should call it a principle of righteousness; for it is a principle of life to righteousness. Before man's conversion, there is in him a principle of death by sin; but when he is converted to Christ, there is put into him a principle of righteousness, that he may bring forth fruit unto God. Ro. vii. 4—6.

Hence they are said to be quickened, to be made alive, to be risen from death to life, to have the Spirit of God dwelling in them; not only to make their souls alive, but to quicken their mortal bodies to that which is good. Ro. viii. 11.

Here, as I hinted before, they that do righteousness are said to be born of him, that is, antecedent to their doing of righteousness, 1 Jn. ii. 29. born of him,' that is, made alive with new spiri

.

tual and heavenly life. Wherefore the exhortation to them is, Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God.' Ro. vi. 13.

Now this principle must also be in men, before they can do that which is spiritually and gospelly good: For whatever seeming good thing any man doth, before he has bestowed upon him this heavenly principle from God, it is accounted nothing, it is accounted sin and abomination in the sight of God; for an evil tree cannot bring forth good fruit: Men do not gather grapes of thorns; neither of a bramble gather they figs. Either make the tree good and his fruit good, or the tree evil and his fruit evil. Lu. vi. 43—45 It is not the fruit that makes the tree, but the tree that makes the fruit. A man must be good, before he can do good, and evil before he can do evil.

These two things then, that man must have that will do righteousness. He must have put upon him the perfect righteousness of Christ; and he must have dwelling in him, as a fruit of the new birth, a principle of righteousness. Then indeed he is a tree of righteousness, and God is like to be glorified in, and by him; but this the Pharisee was utterly ignorant of, and at the remotest distance from it.

[The righteousness of Christ, unto justification, must be imputed to the Christian before he can attain the principle of righteousness unto sanctification.]

Quest. You may ask me next, But which of these are first bestowed upon the Christian, the perfect righteousness of Christ unto justification, or this gospel principle of righteousness unto sanctification?

Answ. The perfect righteousness of Christ unto They be not righteous actions that make a justification, must first be made over to him by an righteous man; nor be they evil actions that make | act of grace. This is evident, a wicked man: for a tree must be a sweeting tree before it yield sweetings;* and a crab tree before it bring forth crabs. †

This is that which is asserted by the Son of God himself; and it lieth so level with reason and the nature of things, that it cannot be contradicted. Mat. vii. 16-18. A good man out of the good treasure of his heart, bringeth forth that which is good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart, bringeth forth that which is evil.' Lu. vi. 45. But this, notwithstanding all that can be said, seemeth very strange to the carnal world; for they will not be otherwise persuaded, but that they be good deeds that make good men, and evil ones that make evil men: And so by such dotish apprehensions do what in them lieth to fortify their hearts with the mists of darkness against the clear shining of the word, conviction of the truth.

1. Because, he is justified as ungodly; that is, whilst he is ungodly: But it must not be said of them, that have this principle of grace in them, that they are ungodly; for they are saints and holy. But this righteousness, by IT God justifieth the ungodly, by imputing it to them, when, and while they, as to a principle of grace, are graceless.

This is further manifested thus: The person must be accepted before the performance of the person can; And the Lord had respect unto Abel, and to his offering.' Ge. iv. 4. If he had respect to Abel's person first, yet he must have respect unto it for the sake of some righteousness; but Abel, in that, had no righteousness; for that he acted after that God had had respect unto his person.‡ andAnd the LORD had respect unto Abel, and to his offering: But unto Cain, and to his offering, he had not respect.'

And thus it was from the beginning: Abel did his first services to God from this principle of righteousness; but Cain would have been made righteous by his deed; but his deed not flowing from the same root of goodness, as did Abel's, notwithstanding he did it with the very best he had, is yet called evil: For he wanted, I say, the principles, to wit, of grace and faith, without which no action can be counted good in a gospel

sense.

The prophet Ezekiel also shows us this; where, by the similitude of the wretched infant, and of the manner of God's receiving it to mercy, he shows how he received the Jews to favour. First, saith he, 'I spread my skirt over thee, and covered thy nakedness.' xvi. 8. There is justification; I covered thy nakedness.' But what manner of nakedness was it? Was it utter nakedness, nakedness in its perfection? Yes, it was then as naked as naked could be, even as naked as in the day that it was born. And as thus naked, it was

Christ; that is, with his robe of righteousness, with his obedience, that he performed by himself

* 'Sweeting,' an obsolete term for a sweet apple.-ED. This whole paragraph is omitted from all editions sub-covered, not with anything, but with the skirt of sequent to 1688, when the author died. It is the practical illustration of his whole theory. By their fruit ye shall know them; the fruit does not make them what they are by nature and sin or by grace and righteousness. The rebuke of the Saviour, Mat. xv. 16, falls heavily on the man who rejected this paragraph.-ED.

Abel possessed righteousness before his offering, which influenced him to make this acceptable sacrifice.-ED.

for that very purpose. For by the obedience of | otherwise than by faith, he accepted of his gift; one many are made righteous.

2. Righteousness unto justification must be first, because the first duty that a Christian performeth to God, must be accepted, not for the sake of the principle from which in the heart it flows, nor yet for the sake of the person that acts it; but for the sake of Christ, whose righteousness it is, by which, before the sinner, he stands just before God. And hence it is said, By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain.' He. xi. 4. By faith he did it; but faith hath respect to the righteousness that justifies. For we are justified by faith, not by faith as it is a grace, nor by faith as it is an acting grace; but by the righteousness of faith; that is, by that righteousness that faith embraceth, layeth hold of, and helpeth the soul to rest upon, and to trust to, for justification of life, which is the obedience of Christ. Besides, it is said, by faith he offered; faith then, faith in Christ, was precedent to his offering.

Now since faith was in being and in act before his offer, and since before his offer, he had no personal goodness of his own, faith must look out from home: I say, it must look out to another than to him in whom it resided for righteousness; and finding the righteousness of Christ to be the righteousness, which by God was designed to be performed for the justification of a sinner, it embraces it, and through it offereth to God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain.

by which acceptation, for so you may understand it also, God testified that he was righteous: For God receiveth not the gifts and offerings of those that are not righteous, for their sacrifices are an abomination unto him. Pr. xxi. 27.

Abel then was righteous before; he was, I say, made righteous first, as he stood ungodly in himself; God justifieth the ungodly. Ro. iv. Now being justified, he was righteous; and being righteous, he offered his sacrifice of praise to God, or other offerings which God accepted, because he believed in his Son, as also other scriptures manifest abundantly. But this our Pharisee understand

eth not.

3. Righteousness by imputation must be first, because we are made so, to wit, by another, By the obedience of one shall many be made righteous.' Now to be made righteous, implies a passiveness in him that is so made, and the activity of the work to lie in some body else; except he had said, they had made themselves righteous; but that it doth not, nor doth the text leave to any the least countenance so to insinuate: Nay, it plainly affirms the contrary, for it saith, by the obedience of one, of one man Jesus Christ, many are made righteous; by the righteousness of one, Ro. v. So then, if they be MADE righteous by the righteousness of one: I say, if many be made righteous by the righteousness of one, then are they that are so, as to themselves, passive and not active, with reference unto the working out of this righteousness. They have no hand in that; for that is the act of ONE, the righteousness of ONE, the obedience of ONE, the workmanship of ONE, even of Christ Jesus.

Again, if they are made righteous by this righteousness, then also they are passive, as to their first privilege by it; for they are made righteous by it; they do not make themselves righteous; no, they do not make themselves righteous by it.

Hence it follows, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous.' By which, not by his offering, but by his faith. For his offering, simply as an offering, could not have made him righteous, if he had not been righteous before; for an evil tree cannot bring forth good fruit.' Besides, if this be granted, why had not God respect to Cain's offering, as well as to Abel's? For, did Abel offer? so did Cain. Did Abel offer his best? so did Cain his. And if with this, we shall take notice of the order of their offering, Cain seemed to offer first, and so with the frankest will, and forwardest mind; but yet, saith the text, 'The Lord had respect to Abel and to his offering.' But why to Abel? Why, because his person was made righteous before he offered his gift: By which he obtained witness that he was righteous.' God testifying of his gifts, that they were good and acceptable, because they declared Abel's accepta-For he (God) hath made him to be sin for us, who tion of the righteousness of Christ, for his justice, through the riches of the grace of God.

6

By faith then, Abel offered to God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain. He shrouded himself under the righteousness of Christ, and so, as out of that righteousness, he offered to God; God also looking and finding him there, where also he could not have been, as to his own apprehension, no

Imputation is also the act of God. Even as David also describeth the blessedness of the man, unto whom God imputeth righteousness. The righteousness then is the work of Christ, his own obedience to his father's law; the making of it ours, is the act of his father, and of his infinite grace; 'But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness,'

knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.' And both these things God showed to our first parents, when he acted in grace towards them after the fall.

There it is said, the Lord God made unto Adam, and unto his wife, coats of skins, and clothed them. Ge. ii. 21.

Whence note,

VOL. II.

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