Ans. 1. All these reasons prove not that it is the same to be
132 ON JUSTIFICATION.
sanctified and to be justified; which must be, if that be the sense of the latter which is here pleaded for. But the apostle makes an express distinction between them, and, as this author observes, pro- ceeds from one to another, by an ascent from the lesser to the greater. And the infusion of a habit or principle of grace, or righteousness evangelical, whereby we are inherently righteous, by which he ex- plains our being justified in this place, is our sanctification, and nothing else. Yea, and sanctification is here distinguished from washing, — " But ye are washed, but ye are sanctified;" so ks that it peculiarly in this place denotes positive habits of grace and holiness: neither can he declare the nature of it any way different from what he would have expressed by being justified.
2. Justificaiion is ascribed unto the Spirit of God, as the principal efficient cause of the application of the grace of God and blood of Christ, whereby we are justified, unto our souls and consciences; and he is so also of the operation of that faith whereby we are justified : whence, although we are said to be justified by him, yet it doth not follow that our justification consists in the renovation of our natures.
3. The change and mutation that was made in these Corinthians, so far as it was physical, in effects inherent (as such there was), the apostle expressly ascribes unto their washing and sanctification; so that there is no need to suppose this change to be expressed by their being justified. And in the real change asserted — that is, in the renovation of our natures — consists the true entire work and nature of our sanctification. But Avhereas, by reason of the vicious habits and practices mentioned, they were in a state of condemnation, and such as had no right unto the kingdom of heaven, they were by their justification changed and transferred out of that state into another, wherein they had peace with God, and right imto life eternal.
4. The third reason proceeds upon a mistake, — namely, that to be justified is only to be " freed from the punishment due unto sin ;" for it compriseth both the non-imputation of sin and the vmputation of righteousness, with the privilege of adoption, and right unto the heavenly inheritance, which are inseparable from it. And although it doth not appear that the apostle, in the enumeration of these privi- leges, did intend a process from the lesser unto the greater; nor is it safe for us to compare the unutterable effects of the grace of God by Christ Jesus, such as sanctification and justification are, and to determine which is greatest and which is least; yet, following the conduct of the Scripture, and the due consideration of the things themselves, we may say that in this life we can be made partakers of no greater mercy or privilege than what consists in our justification. And the reader may see from hence how impossible it is to produce any one place wherein the words "justification," and •' to justify," do
THE MEANING OF JUSTIFICATION. 133
signify a real internal work and plij'sical operation, in that this learned man, a person of more than ordinary perspicacity, candour, and judgment, designing to prove it, insisted on such instances as give so little countenance unto what he pretended. He adds, Tit. iii. 5-7, " Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost; which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour; that, being justified by his gTace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life." The argument which he alone insists upon to prove that by justifica- tion hei'e, an infusion of internal grace is intended, is this: — that the apostle affirming first, that " God saved us, according unto his mercy, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost," and afterward affirming that we are "justified by his grace," he supposes it necessary that we should be regenerate and renewed, that we ma}^ be justified ; and if so, then our justification contains and compriseth our sanctification also.
Ans. The plain truth is, the apostle speaks not one word of the necessity of our sanctification, or regeneration, or renovation by the Holy Ghost, antecedently unto our justification; a supposition whereof contains the whole force of this argument. Indeed he as- signs our regeneration, renovation, and justification, all the means of our salvation, all equally unto grace and mercy, in opposition unto any works of our own; which we shall afterwards make use of. ,Nor' is there illtjmatp<j_by \\\v(\_^x}j_jm]^r^_c^^_^-ecp.dency or connection between the things that he mentions, but only between justification and adoption, justification having the priority in order ^TliaEureT " That, being justified by his grace, we should be heirs according to the hope of eternal life." All thejbhings he ment.inn^nrp irisppnyRblp^ No man is regenerate or renewed by the Holy Ghost, but withal he is justified;- — no man is justified, but withal he is renewed by the Holy Ghost. And they are all of them equally of sovereign grace in God, in opposition unto any works of righteousness that we have wrought. And we plead for the freedom of God's grace in sanctifica- tion no less than in justification. But that it is necessary that we should be sanctified, that we may be justified before God, who justi- fieth the ungodly, the apostle says not in this place, nor any thing to that pui-pose; neither yei, if he did so, would it at all prove that the signification of that expression, " to be justified," is " to be sanctified," or to have inherent holiness and righteousness wrought in us : and these testimonies would not have been produced to prove it, wherein these things are so expressly distinguished, but that there are none to be found of more force or evidence.