them left their first estate, and loft their righteousness; and the true reason why the others stand in theirs is, because of confirming grace from Christ; but Chrift's righteoufnefs is an everlafting one, and cannot, nor will it, ever be loft.

It is a righteousness which juftice can find no fault with, but is entirely fatisfied with; it juftifies from all things, from which ye could not be justified by the law of Mofes; it fecures from all wrath and condemnation, and filences all accufations; for who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's elect? it is God that justifieth: It will answer for us in a time to come, and give us an admittance into God's kingdom and glory; when fuch that have no better righteousness than what the Scribes and Pharifees had, fhall not enter there; and all that are without this wedding garment, shall be shut out, and caft into outer darkness, where is weeping, wailing, and gnashing of teeth. But I proceed,

IV. To confider the form of juftification, which is by the imputation of this righteousness of Christ, I have been fpeaking of; even as David defcribeth the blessedness of the man, unto whom God imputeth righteousness without works. The Hebrew word awn', and the Greek words, agígoμai, innoyśw, ixxoyéμa, which are ufed to exprefs this act of imputation, fignify to reckon, repute, estimate, attribute, or place any thing to the account of another; as when the apoftle Paul faid to Philemon, concerning Onefimus, If he hath wronged thee, or oweth thee ought, put that on my account; TTô iμl óy, let it be reckoned or imputed to me; fo when God is faid to impute Chrift's righteoufnefs to us, the meaning is, that he reckons it as ours, being wrought out for us, and accounts us righteous by it, as though we had performed it in our own perfons. And now, that it may appear that we are justified by the righteousness of Christ imputed to us, observe,

1. That we are in our own perfons ungodly, who are justified, for God justifieth the ungodly"; if ungodly, then without a righteousness, as all Adam's pofterity are; and if without a righteoufnefs, then if we are justified, it must be by fome righteoufnefs imputed to us, or placed to our account; which can be no other than the righteoufness of Chrift.

2. We are juftified either by an inherent, or by an imputed righteousness; not by an inherent one, because that is imperfect, and nothing that is imperfect can justify us. Befides, this is a righteousness within us, whereas the righteousness by which we are justified is a righteousness without us; it is

• Rom. iv. 6.

unto an, putavit, imputavit, reputavit, æftimavit. Buxtorf. novicouay æftimo, reputo, item imputo & alicujus veluti rationibus infero, tribuo, Scapula.

Philem. ver. 18.

u Rom. iv. 5.

unto all, and upon all them that believe. And, if we are not justified by an inherent righteousness, then it must be by an imputed one, because there remains no other.

3. The righteousness by which we are justified is not our own righteousness, but the righteousness of another, even the righteousness of Chrift: That I may be found in Chrift, fays the apoftle, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Chrift". Now, the righteousness of another cannot be made ours, or we be juftified by it, any other way than by an imputation of it.

4. The fame way that Adam's fin becomes ours, or we are made finners by it, the fame way Chrift's righteousness becomes ours, or we are made righteous by it. Now, Adam's fin becomes ours by imputation, and so does Christ's righteousness, according to the apoftle2: As by one man's disobedience many were made finners, fo, by the obedience of one, shall many be made righteous.

5. The fame way that our fins became Chrift's, his righteousness becomes ours. Now our fins became Chrift's by imputation only; the Father laid them on him by imputation, and he took them to himself by voluntary fufception; they were placed to his account, and he looked upon himself as answerable to justice for them. Now, in the fame way his righteousness becomes ours: For be, who knew no fin, was made fin for us, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him, 2 Cor. v. 21. But I hasten,

V. To enquire into the date of juftification, concerning which there have been various fentiments. Some have thought that it will not be compleated until the day of judgment; others, that it commences at, or upon believing, and not before; others, that it took place at Christ's refurrection from the dead, when he was justified, and all the elect in him; others, that it bears date from the time that Chrift was first promised, as the Mediator, which was quickly after the fall; others carry it up as high as the covenant transactions between the Father and the Son, and the furetyfhip engagements of Chrift from eternity, which are the present sentiments of my mind. The method in which I fhall endeavour to reprefent them to others, fhall be as follows:

First, I fhall endeavour to prove that that which is properly juftification, is antecedent to any act of believing.

Secondly, That the justification, by, or at, or upon believing, is not properly juftification.

Thirdly, Anfwer the objections made against this doctrine.

First, I fhall endeavour to prove, that that which is properly justification, is before faith, or antecedent to any act of believing of ours; which, I apprehend, may be fairly concluded from the following confiderations.

1. Faith is not the cause, but the fruit and effect of juftification. The reason why we are justified, is not because we have faith; but the reason why we have faith is because we are justified. Was there no fuch bleffing of grace as juftification of life provided for the fons of men, there would be no fuch thing as faith in Christ bestowed upon them, nor, indeed, would there be any use for it; and though it is provided, yet fince not for all men, therefore all men have not faith. The reason why fome do not believe, is, because they are not of Christ's fheep; they never were chofen in him, nor justified by him, but are justly left in their fins, and fo to condemnation; the reason why others do believe, is, because they are ordained to eternal life, have a justifying righteouf nefs provided for them, and are justified by it, and shall never enter into condemnation: and, in afferting this, I say no more than what Dr Twife, the famous Prolocutor to the Affembly of Divines, has faid before me. His words are these "Before faith the righteousness of Chrift was ours, being in "the intention of God the Father, and Christ the Mediator, wrought out " for us; and, because wrought out for us, therefore God, in his own time, "gives us grace of every kind, and among others, faith itself, and, at last, the "crown of heavenly glory." And, a little after he fays: "Before faith and repentance the righteousness of Chrift is applied unto us; fince it is on the "account of that, that we obtain efficacious grace, to believe in Chrift and "repent." Likewise the judicious Pemble writes to the fame effect, when, observing a twofold justification, he says, the one is "In foro divino, in God's fight, and this goes before all our fanctification, for even whilft the elect are "unconverted, they are then actually justified, and freed from all fin, by the "death of Chrift, and God so esteems of them as free, and, having accepted “of that satisfaction, is actually reconciled to them. By this juftification, ..we are freed from the guilt of our fins; and because that is done away, God, "in due time, proceeds to give us the grace of fanctification, to free from fin's "corruption still inherent in our perfons '." The other is, “In foro confcientiæ,

¿ A&ts xiii. 48.

"in

* John x. 26. • Ante fidem hæc Chrifti juftitia noftra fuit, quatenus ex intentione Dei Patris & Chrifti Mediatoris pro nobis præftita; & quia pro nobis præftita, ideo fuo tempore Deus daturus eft nobis & gratiam cujufcunque generis, ipfamque etiam fidem inter alias, & tandem aliquando cœleftis gloriæ coronam Ante fidem & refipifcentiam applicatur. nobis juftitia Chrifti, utpote propter quam gratiam confequimur efficacem, ad credendum in Chriftum, & agendam pœnitentiam. Twiff. Vindicia Gratiæ, 1. 1. par. 2. §. 25. p. 197. Vid. Pemble's works, p. 24.

" in their own fenfe, which is but the revelation and certain declaration of "God's former fecret acts of accepting Chrift's righteousness to our justifi"cation." And Maccovius fays, "That because that God justifies us, there"fore he gives us faith, and other spiritual gifts." Now, if justification is the cause, and faith the effect; then, as every cause is before its effect, and every effect follows its own cause, justification must be before faith, and faith muft follow juftification.

2. Juftification is the object, and faith is the act, which is converfant with it. Now the object does not depend upon the act, but the act upon the object. Every object is prior to the act, which is converfant with it; unless it be when an act gives being to the object, which cannot be the cafe here; unless we make faith to be the cause or matter of our justification, which has been already difproved. Faith is the evidence, not the cause of juftification; and if it is an evidence, that of which it is an evidence must exist before it. Faith is indeed the evidence of things not feen; but it is not the evidence of things that are not: what the eye is in the body, that faith is in the foul. The eye, by virtue of its vifive faculty beholds fenfible objects, but does not produce them; and did they not previously exist, could not behold them. We fee the fun shining in its brightnefs, but did it not exist before, it could not be visible to us; the fame obfervation will hold good in ten thousand other inftances. Faith is the hand which receives the bleffing of justification from the Lord, and righteoufnefs, by which the foul is juftified from the God of its falvation; but then this bleffing must exist before faith can receive it. If any fhould think fit to distinguish between the act of justification, and the righteousness of Chrift, by which we are justified; and object, That not juftification, but the righteousness of Christ, is the object of faith: I reply, Either the righteousness of Christ, as justifying, is the object of faith, or it is not; if it is not, then it is ufelefs, and to be laid afide in the business of juftification; if, as justifying, it is the object of faith, what is it elfe but juftification? Chrift's righteoufness justifying me, is my justification before God, and as fuch, my faith confiders it, and fays with the church, Surely, in the Lord have I righteousness and strength".

3. The elect of God are juftified whilst ungodly, and therefore, before they believe; the reason of the consequence is plain, because a believer is not an ungodly perfon. That God's elect are, by nature, ungodly, will not be denied; as fuch, Chrift died for them: While we were yet without strength, in due time Chrift

Y 2

* Quia ex eo, quòd nos Deus juftificat, concedit nobis fidem & alia dona fpiritualia. Macco πρωτον ψεύδος Arminian, c. 10. ► Ifai. xlv. 24.

Christ died for the ungodly'. And it is as evident, that, as fuch, God juftifies them: But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that juftifieth the ungodly, bis faith is counted for righteoufnefs. Not that God juftifies the ungodly without a righteoufnefs; but he imputes and reckons to them the righteoufnefs of his Son; for otherwise he would do that himself which he abhors in others: For he that justifieth the wicked, and be that rondemneth the just, they both are an abomination to the Lord'. Nor does he justify them in their ungodliness, but from it; and, indeed, from all things, from which they could not be justified, by the law of Mofes, and yet he juftifies them being ungodly. Now, if it can be proved that a believer is, or may be, called an ungodly perfon, then there is no ftrength in my argument; but, I apprehend, it cannot be proved, from fcripture, that a believer is fo called; nor can any just reafon be given why he fhould; feeing an ungodly perfon is one that is without God, that is, without the grace and fear of God; and without Chrift, being deftitute of a true knowledge of him, faith in him, and love to him; all which is incompatible with the character of a believer. I conclude then, that if God justifies his elect when they are ungodly, then he juftifies them before they believe, which is the thing I have undertaken to prove.

4. All the elect of God were justified in, and with Chrift, their Head and Representative, when he rose from the dead, and therefore before they believe. The Lord Jefus Chrift having, from eternity engaged as a Surety for his peo-. ple, all their fins were laid upon him, imputed to him, and placed to his account; for all which he was refponsible to divine justice, and, accordingly, in the fulness of time gave full fatisfaction for them, by his fufferings and death; and, having done this, was acquitted and discharged: for, as he was put to death in the flesh, he was juftified in the Spirit. Now as he suffered. and died not as a private person, but as a public one, fo he rofe again, and was juftified as fuch. Hence, when he was juftified, all those for whom he made fatisfaction, and brought in a righteousness, were juftified in him; which feems to be the meaning of that fcripture, Who was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our juftification". This juftification of the elect, at the refurrection of Christ, and upon the foot of the oblation and facrifice, already offered up, is acknowledged by many excellent and judicious divines; fome of whom, though they only allow a decretive juftification from eternity; yet affert a real and complete one at the refurrection of Chrift, on the account of his actual oblation and facrifice. Dr Ames fays, that "The fentence of justi"fication was, 1. As it were conceived in the mind of God, by the decree " of

i Rom. v. 6.

* Rom. iv.

5.

1 Prov. xvii. 15.

- Rom. iv. 25.