Against such as these the doctrine of justification may be defended,
22 ON JUSTIFICATION.
as we are obliged to contend for the faith once dehvered unto the saints, and as the mouths of gainsayers are to be stopped; but to endeavour their satisfaction in it, whilst they are under the power of such appre- hensions, is a vain attempt. As our Saviour said unto them unto whom he had declared the necessity of regeneration, " If I have told you earthly things, and ye believe not, how shall ye believe if I tell you heavenly things?" so may we say, If men will not believe those things, whereof it would be marvellous, but that the reason of it is known, that they have not an undeniable evidence and experience in them- selves, how can they believe those heavenly mysteries which respect a supposition of that within themselves which they will not acknowledge? Hence some are so far from any concernment in a "perfect right- eousness to be imputed unto them, as that they boast of a 'perfection in themselves. So did the Pelagians of old glory in a sinless perfec- tion in the sight of God, even when they were convinced of sinful miscarriages m the sight of men; as they are charged by Jerome, lib. ii. Dialog.; and by Austin, lib. ii. contra Julian., cap. 8. Such persons are not " subjecta capacia auditionis evangelicse." Whilst men have no sense in their own hearts and consciences of the spirit- ual disorder of their souls, of the secret continual actings of sin with deceit and violence, obstructing all that is good, promoting all that is evil, defiling all that is done by them through the lusting of the flesh against the Spirit, as contrary unto it, though no outward perpetration of sin or actual omission of duty do ensue thereon, who are not encraged in a constant watchful conflict asrainst the first mo- tions of sin, — unto whom they are not the greatest burden and sorrow in this life, causing them to cry out for deliverance from them, — who can despise those who make acknowledgments in their confession unto God of their sense of these things, with the guilt wherewith they are accompanied, — [they] will, with an assured confidence, reject and contemn what is offered about justification through the obedience and righteousness of Christ imputed to us. For no man will be so fond as to be solicitous of a righteousness that is not his own, who hath at home in a readiness that which is liis own, which will serve his turn. It is, therefore, the ignorance of these things alone that can delude men into an apprehension of their justification before God by their own personal righteousness. For if they were ac- quainted with them, they would quickly discern such an imperfec- tion in the best of their duties, such a frequency of sinful irregu- larities in their minds and disorders in their afl'ections, such an unsuitableness in all that they are and do, from the inward frames of their hearts unto all their outward actions, unto the greatness and holiness of God, as would abate their confidence in placing any trust in their own righteousness for their justification.
GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS. 23
By means of these and the like presumptuous conceptions of un- enhghtened minds, the consciences of men are kept off from being affected with a due sense of sin, and a serious consideration how they may obtain acceptance before God. Neither the consideration of the hohness or terror of the Lord, nor the severity of the law, as it indis- pensably requireth a righteousness in compliance with its commands ; nor the promise of the gospel, declaring and tenderiag a righteous- ness, the righteousness of God, in answer thereunto; nor the un- certainty of their own minds upon trials and surprisals, as having no stable ground of peace to anchor on ; nor the constant secret dis- quietment of their consciences, if not seared or hardened through the deceitfulness of sin, can prevail with them whose thoughts are pre- possessed \vith such slight conceptions of the state and guilt of sin to fly for refuge unto the only hope that is set before them, or really and distinctly to comport with the only way of deliverance and salvation.
Wherefore, if we would either teach or learn the doctrine of justi- fication in a due manner, a clear apprehension of the greatness of our apostasy from God, a due sense of the guilt of sin, a deep ex- perience of its power, all with respect unto the holiness and law of God, are necessary unto us. We have nothing to do in this matter with men, who, through the fever of pride, have lost the understand- ing of their own miserable condition. For, " Natura sic apparet vitiata, ut hoc majoris vitii sit non videre," Austin. The whole need not the physician, but the sick. Those who are pricked unto the heart for sin, and cry out, " What shall we do to be saved?" will understand what we have to say. Against others we must defend the truth, as God shall enable. And it may be made good by all sorts of instances, that as men rise in their notions about the ex- tenuation of sin, so they fall in their regard unto the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. And it is no less true also, on the other hand, as unbelief worketh in men a disesteem of the person and righteousness of Christ, they are cast inevitably to seek for countenance unto their own consciences in the extenuation of sin. So insensibly are the minds of men diverted from Christ, and seduced to place their con- fidence in themselves. Some confused respect they have unto him, as a relief they know not how nor wherein; but they live in that pre- tended height of human wisdom, to trust to themselves. So they are instructed to do by the best of the philosophers: " Unum bonum est, quod beatae vitse causa et firmamentura est, sibi fidere," Senec. Epist. xxxi. Hence, also, is the internal sanctifying grace of God, among many, equally despised with the imputation of the righteous- ness of Christ. The sum of their faith, and of their arguments in the confirmation of it, is given by the learned Roman orator and philosopher. " Virtutem," saith he, " nemo unquam Deo acceptam