8. The sixth cause why God will have our righteousness to be apprehended by faith, is found in his truth and promise, on which our faith entirely rests, and by which God declared and promised righteousness to Abraham, and to all his faithful seed. Whence St. Paul argues, that “our righteousness must be of faith, that it might be by grace; to the end that the promise might be sure.” Rom. 4: 16. Upon this promise of grace, fulfilled in Christ, has God established our righteousness and salvation, as the same apostle in another place more fully asserts: “Even as Abraham,” says he, “believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness. Know ye therefore that they [pg 171] which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham.” And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham: saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed (Gen. 12:3). “So then they which be of faith, are blessed with faithful Abraham.” Gal. 3:6-9. And thus “grace and truth are come by Jesus Christ.” John 1:17.
9. Seventhly, God has made his grace, and the merit of Christ, the foundation of our righteousness, that Christ alone may have the honor of it. Isa. 45:22-24; 53:11. “In him alone is our help.” Hos. 13:9. He is the beginning, middle, and end of our righteousness and salvation, so that “every mouth may be stopped.” Rom. 3:19. For we are “saved by grace through faith; not of works, lest any man should boast.” Eph. 2:8, 9. But if our righteousness were founded on our own works and merits, there would then be no room for grace, nor should we have occasion for mercy or pardon of sin, “for which every one that is godly doth pray.” Ps. 32:6. Moreover, there would be no place for humility, nor for the fear of God; neither would faith and prayer turn to any great account; yea, we should have no need of a Mediator, Redeemer, and Saviour. Christ would have then died in vain; and we should be obliged, both by an external and an internal obedience, perfectly to fulfil the whole law. We should remain under the curse, have fallen from grace, and have lost Christ; as St. Paul expressly testifies in Gal. 5:3, 4. So that the doctrine of justification by works, in the sight of God, is altogether inconsistent with the whole Scripture, both of the Old Testament and the New, and with our holy Christian faith.
10. In short, our salvation and righteousness are founded entirely upon the eternal grace of God, and the eternal Person and office of Christ; and in Christ alone we are made righteous, holy, alive, blessed, sons and heirs of God. The righteousness of Christ is ours, his goodness ours, his holiness ours; his life ours, his happiness ours, and lastly, the sonship and inheritance of Christ are ours; and so the whole Christ, both according to his divine and his human nature, is ours; (for God gives us the whole Christ for a Saviour, that he with his Person, office, grace, glory, and blessedness, may be wholly appropriated to us). That all this is our own, is our highest consolation, glory, praise, honor, love, joy, and peace before God and all the angels and elect; it is our sublimest wisdom, strength, might, victory, and triumph over sin and death, the devil and hell, the world and all our enemies. For which God be praised to all eternity! Amen.
Chapter IV.
Showing That Saving Faith In The True Christian Produces Manifold Fruits Of Righteousness, And That These Must Proceed From The Depth Of The Heart; Also, That The Character Of Our Outward Works, Depends, In The Judgment Of God, Upon The State Of The Heart.
And this I pray, that ye may be sincere and without offence till the day of Christ: being filled with the fruits of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ, unto the glory and praise of God.—Phil. 1:9-11.
The true Christian is not only justified by faith in Christ, but is also made a temple and habitation of Christ and of the Holy Spirit. To this end the good Spirit of God purifies his heart by faith: and it is fit that Christ should live in his temple, together with his love, humility and meekness. 1 Cor. 6:19; Eph. 3:17; Acts 15:9. To this end also thy Redeemer has bestowed upon thee his Holy Spirit, that he might create in thee a new heart, and endue thee with so cheerful and ready a mind, as to do the will of God freely, without any unwillingness or compulsion. Jer. 31:32, 33; Heb. 10:16. This new and holy obedience proceeds not from the law, or any legal commandment; but from a lively faith. Hence, “the law is not made for a righteous man” (1 Tim. 1:9), to compel him to do good; though it is in other respects an excellent rule by which to regulate a Christian's life and manners. For a true and living faith does everything freely and of its own accord: it renews the man, it purifies the heart, it produces fervent love to our neighbor, it hopes and considers such things as are not yet seen. Faith prays, praises, fears, and confesses God. It is also patient, humble, merciful, loving, meek, easy to be reconciled, compassionate, and peaceful. Faith readily forgives offences; hungers and thirsts after righteousness; embraces God with all his grace, and Christ with all his merit; and obtains a complete remission of all sins. Now if any one does not perceive in his heart these fruits of the Spirit, and the indwelling of Christ by faith, let him humbly entreat the Lord, and that with tears and groans, that he may obtain them. I would not be understood, however, as saying that a Christian in this life could attain to perfect and absolute holiness; for even the greatest saints are still sensible of their infirmities; of which the book of Psalms and the Lord's Prayer fully convince us. God therefore requires that our righteousness, by which we are to please him, should be entirely apprehended by faith; and lest we should act the hypocrite he wills that his righteousness should be stamped on our very heart, and on the inmost centre of our souls; and likewise that all the fruits of faith and righteousness should proceed from a living and sound principle seated within the mind. According to this inward and leading principle, [pg 173] God judges all our works, whether they be true and genuine, or false and hypocritical.
2. Here again, we do not assert that perfection can be found in this present world, but only require that a Christian should walk in newness of life, and approve himself by such works as are cleared from guile and hypocrisy. For it is by no means possible that the fruits of the Spirit enumerated by St. Paul, in Gal. 5:22, 23, should not be found in that man in whom the Spirit of God himself dwells (Gal. 5:22); or that a good tree should not be known by its fruits, though they may not be altogether so perfect and angelic as could be wished, but be stained and often obscured by various frailties and imperfections. Nevertheless, all hypocrisy and insincerity, are utterly to be banished from a regenerate state; nor are the fruits of a Christian to proceed from an empty profession, or a lifeless appearance of things, but possess truth and reality. I do not deny, on the one hand, that the Christian Church may be fitly compared to a hospital crowded with all manner of sick; or to a house inhabited by sinners as well as by saints. I believe also that many, like feeble children, have not yet attained to the ability of walking alone; but that they gradually learn to walk steadily. Hence it is necessary to “bear one another's burdens” (Gal. 6:2), and never rashly to judge or condemn those who by reason of their weakness halt behind. Rom. 14:1. We ought rather to restore in the spirit of meekness those that stumble, and with great tenderness to rectify what is amiss in them. Thus we learn to read our own imperfections in the infirmities of our brother. But on the other hand, Christians ought to labor to make continual advances in the spiritual life. They ought not to continue always in a state of infancy and weakness, how difficult soever it be to conquer the carnal mind that obstructs our growth. They ought to be fervent in the practice of “charity, out of a pure heart, and of a good conscience, and of faith unfeigned” (1 Tim. 1:5); and bear this in perpetual remembrance, that all outward performances are valued by God according to the inward disposition of the heart. If the heart be good, thou mayest then be assured, that whatever thou doest is also good before God: but if the heart be evil, corrupt, and envious, then all thy works are evil and hateful. Such as thou art inwardly, and in thy heart, such art thou accounted to be before God; and such are thy prayers, thy public worship, thy giving of alms, thy receiving the Sacrament, and all thy other performances.