Wherefore, notwithstanding the differences that have been among some in the various expression of their conceptions, the substance of the doctrine of the reformed churches is by them agreed upon and retained entire. For they all agree that God justifieth no sinner, — absolveth him not from guilt, nor declareth him righteous, so as to have a title unto the heavenly inheritance, — but with respect unto a true and perfect righteousness ; as also, that this righteousness is truly the righteousness of him that is so justified; that this righteousness becometh ours by God's free grace and donation, — the way on our part whereby we come to be really and effectually interested therein being faith alone ; and that this is the perfect obedience or righte- ousness of Christ imputed unto us : in these things, as they shall be afterward distinctly explained, is contained the whole of that truth whose explanation and confirmation is the design of the ensuing dis- course. And because those by whom this doctrine in the substance of it is of late impugned, derive more from the Socinians than the Papists, and make a nearer approach unto their principles, I shall chiefly insist on the examination of those original authors by whom their notions were first coined, and whose weapons they make use of in their defence.
Eighthly. To close these previous discourses, it is worthy our con- sideration what iveight ivas laid on this doctrine of justification at the first Reformation, and what influence it had into the whole work thereof However the minds of men may be changed as unto sundry doctrines of faith among us, yet none can justly own the name of
GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS. 65
Protestant, but he must highly vaKie the first Reformation: and they cannot well do otherwise whose present even temporal advan- tages are resolved thereinto. However, I intend none but such as own an especial presence and guidance of God with them who were eminently and successfully employed therein. Such persons cannot but grant that their faith in this matter, and the concurrence of their thoughts about its importance, are worthy consideration.
Now it is known that the doctrine of justification gave the first occasion to the whole work of reformation, and was the main hingfe whereon it turned. This those mentioned declared to be "Articulus stantis aut cadentis ecclesice," and that the vindication thereof alone deserved all the pains that were taken in the whole endeavour of reformation. But things are now, and that by virtue of their doctrine herein, much changed in the world, though it be not so understood or acknowledged. In general, no small benefit redounded unto the world by the Reformation, even among them by whom it was not, nor is received, though many bluster with contrary pretensions : for all the evils which have accidentally ensued thereon, arising most of them from the corrupt passions and interests of them by whom it hath been opposed, are usually ascribed unto it; and all the light, liberty, and benefit of the minds of men which it hath introduced, are ascribed unto other causes. But this may be signally observed with respect unto the doctrine of justification, with the causes and effects of its discovery and vindication. For the first reformers found their own, and the consciences of other men, so immersed in darkness, so pressed and harassed with fears, terrors, and disquietments under the power of it, and so destitute of any steady guidance into the ways of peace with God, as that Avith all diligence (like persons sensible that herein their spiritual and eternal interest was concerned) they made their inquiries after the truth in this matter; which they knew must be the only means of their deliverance. All men in those days were either kept in bondage under endless fears and anxieties of mind upon the convictions of sin, or sent for relief unto indulgences, priestly pardons, penances, pilgrimages, works satisfactory of their own, and supererogatory of others, or kept under chains of darkness for purgatory unto the last day. Now, he is no way able to compare things past and present, who sees not how great an alteration is made in these things even in the papal church. For before the Reforma- tion, whereby the light of the gospel, especially in this doctrine of justification, was diffused among men, and shone even into their minds who never comprehended nor received it, the whole almost of religion among them was taken up with, and confined unto, these things. And to instigate men unto an abounding sedulity in the observation of them, their minds were stuffed with traditions and
VOL. V. 5
GQ ON JUSTIFICATION,
stories of visions, apparitions, frightful spirits, and other imaginations that poor mortals are apt to be amazed withal, and which their rest- less disquietments gave countenance unto.
" Somnia, terrores magici, miracula, sagaj Nocturiii lemures, portentaque Thessala," — [Hor., Ep. ii. 2, 209.]
were the principal objects of their creed, and matter of their religious conversation. That very church itself is comparatively at ease from these things unto what it was before the Reformation ; though so much of them is still retained as to blind the eyes of men from discerning the necessity as well as the truth of the evangelical doctrine of justification. It is fallen out herein not much otherwise than it did at the first entrance of Christianity into the world. For there was an emanation of light and truth from the gospel which affected the minds of men, by whom yet the whole of it, in its general design, was opposed and persecuted. For from thence the very vulgar sort of men became to have better apprehensions and notions of God and his properties, or the original and rule of the universe, than they had arrived unto in the midnight of their paganism. And a sort of learned speculative men there were, who, by virtue of that light of truth which sprung from the gospel, and was now diffused into the minds of men, re- formed and improved the old philosophy, discarding many of those falsehoods and impertinencies wherewith it had been encumbered. But when this was done, they still maintained their cause on the old principles of the philosophers. And, indeed, their opposition unto the gospel was far more plaasible and pleadable than it was before. For after they had discarded the gross conceptions of the common sort about the divine nature and rule, and had blended the light of truth which brake forth in Christian religion with their own philosophical notions, they made a vigorous attempt for the reinforcement of hea- thenism against the main design of the gospel. And things have not, as I said, fallen out much otherwise in the Reformation. For as, by the light of truth which therein brake forth, the consciences of even the vulgar sort are in some measure freed from those childish affright- ments which they were before in bondage unto; so those who are learned have been enabled to reduce the opinions and practices of their church into a more defensible posture, and make their opposi- tion unto the truths of the gospel more plausible than they formerly were. Yea, that doctrine which, in the way of its teaching and prac- tice among them, as also in its effects on the consciences of men, was so horrid as to drive innumerable persons from their communion in that and other things also, is now, in the new representation of it, with the artificial covering provided for its former effects in practice, thought an argument meet to be pleaded for a return unto its entire communion.