THE CONTINUANCE OF JUSTIFICATION. 14.5
the procurement thereof. [5.] Tliere is hereon nothing to he laid unto the charge of them that are so justified; for " he that beheveth hath everlasting Hfe, and shall not come into condemnation, but is passed from death unto life," John v. 24. And " who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth ; it is Christ that died," Rom. viii. 33, 34. And " there is no condemnation unto them that are in Clurist Jesus," verse 1 ; for, " being justified by faith, we have peace with God," chap. v. 1. And, [6.] We have that blessedness hereon whereof in this life we are capable, chap, iv. 5, 6. From all which it appears that our justification is at once complete. And, [7.] It must be so, or no man can be justified in this world. For no time can be assigned, nor measure of obedience be limited, whereon it may be supposed that any one comes to be justi- fied before God, who is not so on his first believing; for the Scrip- ture doth nowhere assign any such time or measure. And to say that no man is com-pletely justified in the sight of God in this life, is at once to overthrow all that is taught in the Scriptures concerning justification, and therewithal all peace with God and comfort of be- lievers. But a man acquitted upon his legal trial is at once dis- charged of all that the law hath against him.
(2.) Upon this complete justification, believers are obliged unto universal obedience unto God. The law is not abolished, but estab- lished, by faith. It is neither abrogated nor dispensed withal by such an interpretation as should take off its obligation in any thing that it requires, nor as to the degree and manner wherein it requires it. Nor is it possible it should be so; for it is nothing but the rule of that obedience which the nature of God and man makes necessary from the one to the other. And that is an Antinomianism of the worst sort, and most derogatory unto the law of God, which affirms it to be divested of its power to oblige unto perfect obedience, so as that what is not so shall (as it were in despite of the law) be accepted as if it were so, unto the end for which the law requires it. There is no medium, but that either the law is utterly abolished, and so there is no sin, for where there is no law there is no transgression ; or it must be allowed to require the same obedience that it did at its first institution, and unto the same degree. Neither is it in the power of any man living to keep his conscience from judging and condemning that, whatever it be, wherein he is convinced that he comes short of the perfection of the law. Wherefore, —
(3.) The commanding power of the law in positive precepts and prohibitions, which justified persons are subject unto, doth make and constitute all then- inconformities unto it to be no less truly and pro- perly sins in their own nature, than they would be if their persons were obnoxious unto the curse of it. This they aie not, nor can be;
VOL. V. " 10
146 ON JUSTIFICATION.
for to be obnoxious iiiito the curse of the laiu, and to be justified, are contradictory; but to be subject to the comif)iands of the law, and to be justified, are not so. But it is a subjection to tlie commanding power of the law, and not an obnoxiousness unto the curse of the law, that constitutes the nature of sin in its transgression. Where- fore, that complete justification which is at once, though it dissolve the obligation on the sinner unto punishment by the cu7'se of the law, yet doth it not annihilate the commanding authority of the law unto them that are justified, that what is sin in others should not be so in them. See Rom. viii. 1, 33, 34.
Hence, in the first justification of believing sinners, all yi^^^^re sins are remitted as unto any actual obligation unto the curse of the law, unless they should fall into such sins as should, ipso facto, forfeit their justified estate, and transfer them from the covenant of gi-ace into the covenant of works; which we believe that God, in his faith- fulness, will preserve them from. And although sin cannot be ac- tually pardoned before it be actually committed, yet may the obli- gation unto the curse of the law be virtually taken away from such sins in justified persons as are consistent with a justified estate, or the terms of the covenant of grace, antecedently unto their actual commission. God at once in this sense " forgiveth all their iniquities, and healeth all their diseases, redeemeth their life from destruction, and crowneth them with loving-kindness and tender mercies," Ps. ciii. 8, 4. Future sins are not so pardoned as that, when they are com- mitted, they should be no sins; which cannot be, unless the com- manding power of the law be abrogated : but their respect unto the curse of the law, or their power to oblige the justified person there- unto, is taken away.