3. Effectual calling, or the conversion of man, reconcileth it with his holiness; for a sinner, as a sinner, is not justified, but a penitent believer. It is true, it is said, ' God justifieth the ungodly,' Eom. iv. 5 ; those that were once so, but not those that continue so. Certainly he sanctifieth before he justifieth : Acts xxvi. 18, ' To open their eyes, and turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them that are sanctified by faith that is in me ; ' and in many other places. No man is freed from the guilt of sin, which rendereth us obnoxious to God's wrath, who is not freed from the filth of sin, which tainteth our faculties ; for Christ is made to us both ' righteousness and sanctification,' 1 Cor. i. 30. By losing God's image, we lost his favour ; and in the order wherein we lost it, we recover it. God regenerateth that he may pardon and justify, and restoi'eth first our holiness, and then our happiness. It is not consistent with God's holi- ness to give us pardon, and let us alone in our sins. A man would not put a toad in his bosom. But more fully to give you a prospect into this matter, let us take notice of the several things which are mentioned in scripture as belonging to our justification, as, for instance, sometimes we are said to be justified by grace, as Kom. iii. 24, ' Being justified freely by his grace;' sometimes by the blood of Christ, as Eom. V. 9, ' Being justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him ;' sometimes by faith, as Eom. v. 1, ' Being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ ; ' some- times by works : James ii. 24, ' Ye see then how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only.' All these things concur to our justification, and do not contradict, but imply one another. The first moving cause of all is grace ; the meritorious cause is Christ's blood ; the means of applying, or the condition on our part upon which we are capable at first of receiving so great a privilege, is faith ; and the means of continuing in our justified estate is by good works, or new obedience. I say, our first actual pardon, justification, and right to life, is given upon condition of our first faitli and repentance ; but this estate is continued to us both by faith, Eom. i. 17, and new obedience ; these fairly accord. The grace of God will do nothing without the intervention of Christ's merits ; and Christ's merits doth not profit us till it be applied by faith ; and sound believers will live in a course of new obedience. Let us consider them severally — ■
VOL. XII. Z
354 SKRMONS UPON' ROMANS VIH. [SeR. XLIII,
[1.] The first moving cause that inclined God to show us inerc)- ia our undone and lost estate was merely his grace. , Grod might have left us obnoxious to the curse without any offer of peace, as he did the fallen angels ; but such was his grace, that he thought of the way of our recovery, how we might be redeemed, renewed, and justified ; surely all tliis is of grace : Titus iii. 5-7, ' Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his miercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and the renewing of the Holy Ghost ; which he shed on us abundantly, through Jesus Christ our Saviour, that, being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.' The rise of all is the love and good-will of God.
[2.] We ai-e justified by the blood of Christ. Blood is not exclu- sive of the other jiarts of his obedience, but doth imply them rather, as the consummate act thereof: Phil. ii. 7, 'He became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.' It is by the merit of his sacrifice and obedience, God took this course to exalt the glory of his justice, as well as his grace ; and in the mystery of our salvation there is such a temperament of both, that they shine with an equal glory.
[3.] We are justified by faith : Acts xiii. 39, ' And by him all that believe are justified from all things, from which ye could not be justified by the laAv of Moses.' Certainly none are justified in a state of impeni- tency and unbelief ; it is not enough to look to the first moving cause, the grace of God, or the impetration of it by the blood of Christ, but how it is applied to ourselves, and what right we have ; for the right- eousness of Christ is none of ours, till we do repent and believe. Let us see how our title doth arise : When we thankfully, seriously, and broken-heartedly accept Christ as our Lord and Saviour, then we are fouud in him, not having our own righteousness.
[4.] We are justified by works, and not by faith only, by which are meant the fruits of sanctification. For true faith and true holiness ■will show itself by good works ; faith givetli us the first right, but works continue it, for otherwise a course of sin would put us into a state of damnation again ; therefore at the last judgment these are considered : Kev. xx. 12, ' And the dead were judged out of those tilings which were written in the books, according to their works ;' Mat. XXV. 35, 3G, ' For I was an hungry, and ye gave me meat ; I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink ; I was a stranger, and ye took me in ; naked, and ye clothed me ; I was sick, and ye visited me ; I was in prison, and ye came unto me.' Faith is our consent, but obedience verifieth it, or is our performance of what we consented unto, the one as covenant-making, the other as covenant-keeping ; we are admitted by covenant-making, but continued in our privileges by covenant- keeping : Ps. XXV. 10, ' All the paths of the Lord are mercy, and truth, unto such as keep his covenant.'