VOL. V. 18
274 ON JUSTIFICATION.
James i. 25; but to yield perfect obedience unto it: the same that our Saviour calls -rX^ipwca; 'xacrav dixatosljvriv, Matt. iii. 15, " to fulfil all righteousness;" that is, by obedience unto all God's commands and institutions, as is evident in the place. So the apostle useth the same expression, Kom. xiii. 8, " He that loveth another hath fulfilled the law."
2. It is a vain exception, that Christ fulfilled the law by his doctrine, in the exposition of it. The opposition between the words 'ttXtipcosui and TcaraXica/, — "to fulfid" and " to destroy," — will admit of no such sense ; and our Saviour himself expounds this " fulfilling of the law," by doing the commands of it. Matt. v. 19. Wherefore, the Lord Christ as our mediator and surety fulfilling the law, by yielding perfect obe- dience thereunto, he did it for us; and to us it is imputed.
This is plainly affirmed by the apostle, E.om. v. 18, 19, " There- fore, as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to con- demnation ; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life. For as by one man's disobe- dience many were made sinners; so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous." The full plea from, and vindication of, this testimony, I refer unto its proper place in the testimonies given unto the imputation of the righteousness of Christ unto our justifica- tion in general. Here I shall only observe, that the apostle expressly and in terms affirms that " by the obedience of Christ we are made righteous," or justified; which we cannot be but by the imputation of it unto us. I have met with nothing that had the appearance of any sobriety for the eluding of this express testimony, but only that by the obedience of Christ his death and sufferings are intended, where- in he was obedient unto God; as the apostle saith, he was " obedient unto death, even the death of the cross," Phil. ii. 8. But yet there is herein no colour of probability. For, — (1.) It is acknowledged that there was such a near conjunction and alliance between the obedience of Christ and his sufferings, that though they may be distinguished, yet can they not be separated. He suffered in the whole course of his obedience, from the womb to the cross; and he obeyed in all his sufferings unto the last moment wherein he expired. But yet are they really things distinct, as we have proved ; and they were so in him who " learned obedience by the things that he suffered," Heb. v. 8. (2.) In this place, [Rom. v.] u'xaxorj, verse 19, and 6/xa/w/xa, verse 18, are the same, — obedience and righteousness. " By the righteousness of one," and " by the obedience of one," are the same. But suffering, as suffering, is not 5/xa/w/xa, is not righteousness; for if it were, then every one that suffers what is due to him should be righteous, and so be justified, even the devil himself. (3.) The righteousness and obedience here intended are opposed r<p '7rafavru/j,ari, — to the of-
THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE TWO COVENANTS. 275
fence : " By the offence of one." But the offence intended was an actual transgression of the law; so is <rapa-Trw/xa, a fall from, or a fall in, the course of obedience. Wherefore the S/%a/w/xa, or righte- ousness, must be an actual obedience unto tlie commands of the law, or the force of the apostle's reasoning and antithesis cannot be under- stood. (4.) Particularly, it is such an obedience as is opposed unto the disobedience of Adam, — " one man's disobedience," " one man's obedience ; " — but the disobedience of Adam was an actual transgres- sion of the law : and therefore the obedience of Christ here intended was his active obedience unto the law; — which is that we plead for. And I shall not at present fartlier pursue the argument, because the force of it, in the confirmation of the truth contended for, will be in- cluded in those that follow.
CHAPTER XIII.
The nature of justification proved from the clitFerence of the covenants.
That which we plead in the third place unto our purpose is, the difference heUueen the two covenants. And herein it may be ob- served,—
1. That by the two covenants I understand those which were absolutely given unto the whole church, and were all to bring it ug TiXiiorriTa, — unto a complete and perfect state; that is, the covenant of works, or the law of our creation as it was given unto us, with pro- mises and threatenings, or rewards and punishments, annexed unto it; and the covenant of grace, revealed and proposed in the first pro- mise. As unto the covenant of Sinai, and the new testament as actually confirmed in the death of Christ, with all the spiritual privi- leges thence emerging, and the differences between them, they belong not unto our present argument.
2. The whole entire nature of the covenant of works consisted in this, — that upon our personal obedience, according unto the laiu and rule of it, we should he accepted with God, and rewarded with him. Herein the essence of it did consist; and whatever covenant proceedeth on these terms, or hath the nature of them in it, however it may be varied with additions or alterations, is the same covenant still, and not another. As in the renovation of the promise wherein the essence of the covenant of grace was contained, God did ofttimes make other additions unto it (as unto Abraham and David), yet was it still the same covenant for the substance of it, and not another; so