GENERAL CONSIDERATIONrj. 89
pcrfecta est, quos Dei sustinere conspectum potest, ita iinam pro no- bis sisti oportet tribunali divini judicii et veluti causae nostrse inter- cessorem eidem repra^sentari : qua subnixi etiam Lie obtinerenius remissionem peccatorum nostrorum assiduam: cujus puritate velatse non imputantur nobis sordes nostras, imperfectionum immunditia3, sed veluti sepultse conteguntur, ne in judicium Dei veniant: donee confecto in nobis, et plane extincto veteri homine, divina bonitas nos in beatam pacem cum novo Adam recipiat;" — "' God was in Christ,' saith the apostle, ' reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing unto men their sins,' [' and hath committed to us the word of recon- ciliation/] In him, therefore, we are justified before God ; not ui ourselves, not by our own, but by his righteousness, which is im- puted unto us, now communicating with him. Wanting righteous- ness of our own, we are taught to seek for righteousness without our- selves, in him. So he saith, ' Him who knew no sin, he made to be sin for us' (that is, an expiatory sacrifice for sin), 'that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.' We are made righteous in Christ, not with our own, but with the righteousness of God. By what right? the right of friendship, which makes all common among friends, according unto the ancient celebrated proverb. Being in- grafted into Christ, fastened, united unto him, he makes his things ours, communicates his riches unto us, interposeth his righteousness between the judgment of God and our unrighteousness: and under that, as under a shield and buckler, he hides us from that divine wrath which we have deserved, he defends and protects us there- with ; yea, he communicates it unto us and makes it ours, so as that, being covered and adorned therewith, we may boldly and securely place ourselves before the divine tribunal and judgment, so as not only to appear righteous, but so to be. For even as the apostle aflSrmeth, that by one man's fault we were all made sinners, so is the righteousness of Christ alone efficacious in the justification of us all : ' And as by the disobedience of one man many were made shi- ners, so by the obedience of one man,' saith he, ' many are made righteous.' This is the righteousness of Christ, even his obedience, whereby in all things he fulfilled the will of his Father ; as, on the other hand, our unrighteousness is our disobedience and our trans- gression of the commands of God. But that our righteousness is placed in the obedience of Christ, it is from hence, that we being in- corporated into him, it is accounted unto us as if it were ours ; so as that therewith we are esteemed righteous. And as Jacob of old, whereas he was not the first-bom, being hid under the habit of his brother, and clothed with his garment, which breathed a sweet savour, presented himself unto his father, that in the person of another he might receive the blessing of the primogeniture; so it is necessary that we should lie hid under the precious purity of the First-born, our
40 ON JUSTIFICATION.
eldest brother, be fragrant with his sweet savour, and have our sin buried and covered with his perfections, that we may present our- selves before our most holy Father, to obtain from him the blessing of righteousness." And again: " God, therefore, doth justify us by his free grace or goodness, wherewith he embraceth us in Christ Jesus, when he clotheth us with his innocency and righteousness, as we are ingrafted into him ; for as that alone is true and perfect which only can endure in the sight of God, so that alone ought to be presented and pleaded for us before the divine tribunal, as the advocate of or l^lea in our cause. Resting hereon, we here obtain the daily pardon of sin; with whose purity being covered, our filth, and the uncleanness of our imperfections are not imputed unto us, but are covered as if they were biuied, that they may not come into the judgment of God; until, the old man being destroyed and slain in us, divine goodness re- ceives us into peace with the second Adam.^' So far he, expressing the power which the influence of divine truth had on his mind, contrary to the interest of the cause wherein he was engaged, and the loss of his reputation with them; for whom in all other things he was one of the fiercest champions. And some among the Roman church, who cannot bear this assertion of the commutation of sin and righteous- ness by imjnttation between Christ and believers, no more than some among ourselves, do yet affirm the same concerning the righteousness of other men : " Mercaturam quandam docere nos Paulus videtur. Abundatis, inquit, vos pecunia, et estis inopes justitise; contra, illi abundant justitia, et sunt inopes pecuniae; fiat quffidam commutatio; date vos piis egentibus pecuniam quae vobis affluit, et illis deficit; sic futurum est, ut illi vicissim justitiam suam qua abundant, et qua vos estis destituti, vobis communicent." Hosius,^ De Expresso Dei Verbo, tom. ii. p. 21. But I have mentioned these testimonies, principally to be a relief unto some men's ignorance, who are ready to speak evil of what they understand not.
This blessed permutatio7i as unto sin and righteousness is repre- sented unto us in the Scripture as a principal object of our faith, — as that whereon our peace with God is founded. And although both these (the imputation of sin unto Christ, and the imputation of right- eousness unto us) be the acts of God, and not ours, yet are we by faith to exemplify them in our own souls, and really to perform what on our part is required unto their application unto us ; whereby we receive " the atonement," Rom. v. 11. Christ calls unto him all those that " labour and are heavy laden," Matt. xi. 28. The weight that is uj)on the consciences of men, wherewith they are laden, is the burden