Brown - BS2685 B86 1695

C 11A P. I, The words of the Test explained. 7 faith , in oppofition to works. As for a juflification of our fell/es againft the falfe Accufations of Satan, the unjuti Strmifes of our own treacherous Hearts, & rnis- informed Confciences , & the groundlefs Alleigances of men, judging not according to truth , but according to their owne mis- apprehenuions ( whereof lob's friends were guilty , in an high meafure) It is not that juftification, whereof the Aponle treateth. And whatever ln- tereft good works may have herein , as real fruites of an upright working faith, & confequenly as evidences of our Iutereft in Çhritt , & of our being in a flare of juftification ; Yet they a{ e utterly excluded from having an In- teretl in that juitification , which is before God , & in His fight : & he- re, Chrift's Righteoufnefs, Laid hold on by faith, only taketh place. The Argument , whereby the Apostle difproveth this juftification by the works of Law , in the fight of God, is in the following words , .where he ufhereth -in the argument with an , It is Ivlanifeß, T.oy; to Phew, That the Argument was irrefragable, & that the truth thereby was cer- taine , & beyond Contradiction. Now , the Argument is taken from the oppofition , that is betwixt Faith,. & the Law , or , the works of the Law, itt the matter of ;unification : A ground,. whereupon they Apoftle goeth, in his whole Difpure, upon this matter; as we fee íZom. 3: 27, 28. & 4: I, 2, 3, 4, 5. & 9: 32, Gal. 2: 16. and therefore it mutt be acertaine truth, That if ;uftification before God be by faith , it can not be by works; çt confequently, whoever át%tt juflificaupn by works , deftroy Gofpel- jufii- ñcation by faith : and hence , it is alfo Manifeft , That juftificatton can- not be by both together, Faith & works conjoined; becaufe what is of faith cannot be of works ; thefe two being here inconfifténtlkorrt. ii: 6. That Gofpel- juftification is by faith , the Apoflle proveth from that known fentence , the juil 'hall live by faith ; a fentence , which the A poftle adduced firul of all , when he was to handle this queftion , in his Epiftle xo the Romans Chap. 1. vers 17. laying; for therein (i. e. in the Gofpel) it the R,rghteoufnefs of God revealed from faith to faith,, as it is written, the lull (hall live by faith, Where we fee , that this Sentence confirmeth the whole nature & contents of the Gofpel, that is , That the Righteoufnefs of God, i. e. the Righteoufnefs, which only will ftand in Gods Court, & be ac- cepted of him , in order to the ¡unifying of (inners ; & which is the Righ- teoufnefs of one, who is God , is revealed from faith to faith ; that is to fay, is held forth to be embraced byfinners through faith , firft & 'raft; & this Righteoufnefs , thus embraced & laid hold on by faith , is the onely ground of the life of jutltfication fo that beleevers their living by faith, faith their faith laith hold on the Righteoufnefs of God, revealed in the Gofpel, as the onely ground of their life. As to the paffage it felf, it is cited oui of Ilabakuh chap. z. vers 4. where the Prophet being told vers 3. that howbeit fometime would paire , ere the promifed delivery Ihould come; Yet it would come ; & that there- fore he & all the People of God, Ihould waste fork, & live in the cer- taine expectation thereof, addeth thefe words, as being told him of the Lord, that his Soul, which is lifted up, is not upright in him (how varioul- Iy S.

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