(2.) He is so, as he is the ordinance of God unto this end; which consideration is not to be separated from our faith in him : and this also is confirmed by several sorts of testimonies : —
[1.] All those wherein the love and grace of God are proposed as the only cause of giving Jesus Christ to be the way and means of our recovery and salvation ; ^^■hence they become, or God in them, the supreme efficient cause of our justification. John iii. 16, "God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." So Kom. V. 8; 1 John iv. 9, 10. " Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus," Rom. iii. 24; Eph. i. 6-8. This the Lord Christ directs our faith unto continually, referring all unto him that sent him, and whose will he came to do, Heb, x. 5.
[2.] All those wherein God is said to set forth and propose Christ, and to make him be for us and unto us, what he is so, unto the jus- tification of life. Rom. iii. 25, " Whom God hath proposed to be a propitiation." 1 Cor. i. 30, "■ Who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption." 2 Cor. v. 21, " He hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin ; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him." Acts xiii. 38, 39, etc. Wherefore, in the acting of faitli in Christ unto justification, we can no otherwise consider him but as the ordinance of God to that end; he brings nothing unto us, does nothing for us, but wliat God ap- pointed, designed, and made him to do. And this must diligently be considered, that by our regard by faith unto the blood, the sacri- fice, the satisfaction of Christ, we take off nothing from the free grace, favour, and love of God.
[3.] All those wherein the wisdom of God in the contrivance of this way of justification and salvation is proposed unto us. Eph. i. 7, 8, " In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgive-
92 ON JUSTIFICATION.
ness of sins, according to the riches of his grace ; wherein he hath abounded towards us in all wisdom and understanding." See chap, iii. 10, 11; 1 Cor. i. 24.
The whole is comprised in that of the apostle : " God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them," 2 Cor. v. 19. All that is done in our reconciliation unto God, as unto the pardon of our sins, and acceptance with him unto life, was by the presence of God, in his grace, wisdom, and power, in Christ, designing and effecting of it.
Wherefore, the Lord Christ, proposed in the promise of the gospel as the object of our faith unto the justification of life, is considered as the ordinance of God unto that end. Hence the love, the grace, and the wisdom of God, in the sending and giving of him, are com- prised in that object; and not only the actings of God in Christ to- wards us, but all his actings towards the person of Christ himself unto the same end, belong thereunto. So, as unto his death, " God set him forth to be a propitiation," Rom. iii. 25. " He spared him not, but delivered him up for us all," Rom. viii. 32 ; and therein " laid all our sins upon him," Isa. liii. 6. So he was '* raised for our justi- fication," Rom. iv. 25. And our faith is in God, who " raised him from the dead," Rom. x. 9. And in his exaltation, Acts v. 31. Which things complete " the record that God hath given of his Son," 1 John V. 10-12.
The whole is confirmed by the exercise of faith in prayer ; which is the soul's application of itself unto God for the participation of the benefits of the mediation of Christ. And it is called our "•' access through him unto the Father," Eph. ii. IS; our coming through him '•' unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need," Heb. iv. 15, 16; and through him as both " a high priest and sacrifice," Heb. x. 19-22. So do we " bow our knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ," Epk iii. 14. This answereth the experience of all who know what it is to pray. We come therein in the name of Christ, by him, through his mediation, unto God, even the Father ; to be, through his grace, love, and mercy, made partakers of what he hath designed and promised to communi- cate unto poor sinners by him. And this represents the complete object of our faith.
The due consideration of these things will reconcile and reduce unto a perfect harmony whatever is spoken in the Scripture concerning the object of justifying faith, or what we are said to believe therewith. For whereas this is affirmed of sundry things distinctly, they can none of them be supposed to be the entire adequate object of faith. But consider them all in their relation unto Christ, and they have all of them their proper place therein, — namely, the grace of God, which