The state of the person to be justified is a state of sin and wrath, wliercin he is liable unto death and condemnation. This is that
S3 6 ON JUSTIFICATION.
which a convinced sinner is sensible of, and which alone, in the first place, he seeks for deliverance from : " What shall we do to be saved ?" This, in the first place, is represented unto him in the doctrine and promise of the gospel ; which is the rule and instrument of its appli- cation. And this is [by] the death of Christ. Without this no actual righteousness imputed unto him, not the obedience of Christ himself, will give him relief; for he is sensible that he hath sinned, and thereby come short of the glory of God, and under the sentence condemnatory of the law. Until he receives a deliverance from hence, it is to no purpose to propose that unto him which should give him right unto life eternal. But upon a supposition hereof, he is no less concerned in what shall yet farther give him title thereunto, that he may reign in life through righteousness. Herein, I say, in its order, conscience is no less concerned than in deliverance from con- demnation. And this order is expressed in the declaration of the fruit and effects of the mediation of Christ, Dan. ix. 24, " To make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness." Neither is there any force in the objection against it, that actually the obedience of Christ did precede his suffering: for the method of their application is not prescribed thereby ; and the state of sinners to be justified, with the nature of their justification, requires it should be otherwise, as God also hath ordained. But because the obedi- ence and sufferings of Christ were concomitant from first to last, both equally belonging unto his state of exinanition, and cannot in any act or instance be separated, but only in notion or imagination, see- ing he suffered in all his obedience and obeyed in all his sufferings, Heb. v. 8 ; and neither part of our justification, in freedom firom con- demnation and right unto life eternal, can be supposed to be or exist Avithout the other, according unto the ordinance and constitution of God; the whole effect is jointly to be ascribed unto the whole media- tion of Christ, so far as he acted towards God in our behalf, wherein he fulfilled the whole law, both as to the penalty exacted of sinners and the righteousness it requires unto life as an eternal reward. And there are many reasons why our justification is, in the Scripture, by way of eminency, ascribed unto the death and blood-shedding of Christ
For, — 1. The grace and love of God, the principal, efficient cause of our justification, are therein made most eminent and conspicuous ; for this is most frequently in the Scripture proposed unto us as the highest instance and undeniable demonstration of divine love and grace. And this is that which principally we are to consider in our justification, the glory of them being the end of God therein. He " made us accepted in the Beloved, to the praise of the glory of his grace/' Eph. i. 6. Wherefore, this being the fountain, spring, and
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sole cause, both of tlie obedience of Clii'ist and of the miputation thereof unto us, with the pardon of sin and righteousness thereby, it is everywhere in the Scripture proposed as the prime object of our faitli in our justification, and opposed directly unto all our own works whatever. The whole of God's design herein is, that " gi^ace may reign through righteousness unto eternal life.'" Whereas, therefore, this is made most evident and conspicuous in the death of Christ, our justification is in a peculiar manner assigned thereunto.
2. The love of Christ himself and his grace are peculiarly exalted in our justification : " That all men may honour the Son even as they honour the Father." Frequently are they expressed unto this purpose, 2 Cor. viii. 9 ; Gal. ii. 20 ; Phil. ii. 6, 7 ; Rev. i. 5, 6. And those also are most eminently exalted in his death, so as that all the effects and fruits of them are ascribed thereunto in a peculiar manner ; as nothing is more ordinary than, among many things that concur to the same effect, to ascribe it unto that which is most eminent among them, especially if it cannot be conceived as separated from the rest.
o. This is the clearest testimony that what the Lord Christ did and suffered was for us, and not for himself ; for without the consi- deration hereof, all the obedience which he yielded unto the law might be looked on as due only on his own account, and himself to have been such a Saviour as the Socinians imagine, who should do all with us from God, and nothing with God for us. But the suffer- ing of the curse of the law by him who was not only an innocent man, but also the Son of God, openly testifies that Avhat he did and suffered was for us, and not for himself It is no wonder, therefore, if our faith as unto justification be in the first place, and principally, directed unto his death and blood-shedding.