menu_book Chapter 23

chapter thirteen two things to be observed in gratuitous justification the divisions of this chapter are one the glory of god and peace of conscience both secured by gratuitous justification an insult to the glory of god to glory in ourselves and seek justification out of christ whose righteousness apprehended by faith is imputed to all the elect for reconciliation and eternal salvation section one and two two peace of conscience cannot be obtained in any other way than by gratuitous justification this fully proved sections three through five sections one the glory of god remains untarnished when he alone is acknowledged to be just this proved from scripture two those who glory in themselves glory against god objection answer confirmed by the authority of paul and peter free peace of conscience obtained by free justification only testimony of solomon of conscience itself and the apostle paul who contends that faith is made vain in righteousness come by the law

for the promise confirmed by faith in the mercy of christ this is confirmed by augustine and bernard is in accordance with what has been above stated and is illustrated by clear predictions of the prophets five farther demonstration by an apostle refutation of a sophism one here two ends must be kept specially in view namely that the glory of god be maintained unimpaired and that our consciences in the view of his tribunal be secured in peaceful rest and calm tranquillity when the question relates to righteousness we see how often and how anxiously scripture exhorts us to give the whole praise of it to god accordingly the apostle testifies that the purpose of the lord in conferring righteousness upon us in christ was to demonstrate his own righteousness the nature of this demonstration he immediately subjoins that is that he might be just and the justifier of him which believeth in jesus romans three twenty five observe that the righteousness of god is not sufficiently displayed unless he alone is held to be righteous and freely communicates righteousness to the undeserving

for this reason it is his will that every mouth may be stopped and all the world may become guilty before god romans three nineteen for so long as a man has anything however small to say in his own defence so long he deducts somewhat from the glory of god thus we are taught in ezekiel how much we glorify his name by acknowledging our iniquity then shall ye remember your ways and all your doings wherein ye have been defiled and ye shall loathe yourselves in your own sight for all your evils that ye have committed and ye shall know that i am the lord when i have wrought with you for my name's sake not according to your wicked ways nor according to your corrupt doings ezekiel twenty forty three forty four if part of the true knowledge of god consists in being oppressed by a consciousness of our own iniquity and in recognizing him as doing good to those who are unworthy of it why do we attempt to our great injury to steal from the lord even one particle of the praise of unmerited kindness in like manner when jeremiah exclaims let not the wise man glory in his wisdom neither let the mighty man glory in his might let not the rich man glory in his riches but let him that glorieth glory in the lord

jeremiah nine twenty three twenty four does he not intimate that the glory of the lord is infringed when man glories in himself to this purpose indeed paul accommodates the words when he says that all the parts of our salvation are treasured up with christ that we may glory only in the lord first corinthians one twenty nine for he intimates that whosoever imagines he has any thing of his own rebels against god and obscures his glory two thus indeed it is we never truly glory in him until we have utterly discarded our own glory it must therefore be regarded as an universal proposition that whoso glories in himself glories against god paul indeed considers that the whole world is not made subject to god until every ground of glorying has been withdrawn from men romans three nineteen accordingly isaiah when he declares that in the lord shall all the seed of israel be justified adds and shall glory isaiah forty five twenty five as if he had said that the elect are justified by the lord in order that they may glory in him and in none else the way in which we are to glory in the lord he had explained in the preceding verse unto me every knee shall bow every tongue shall swear

surely shall one say in the lord have i righteousness and strength even to him shall men come observe that the thing required is not simple confession but confession confirmed by an oath that it might not be imagined that any kind of fictitious humility might suffice and let no man here allege that he does not glory when without arrogance he recognizes his own righteousness such a recognition cannot take place without generating confidence nor such confidence without begetting boasting let us remember therefore that in the whole discussion concerning justification the great thing to be attended to is that god's glory be maintained entire and unimpaired since as the apostle declares it was in demonstration of his own righteousness that he shed his favour upon us it was that he might be just and the justifier of him which believeth in jesus romans three twenty six hence in another passage having said that the lord conferred salvation upon us in order that he might show forth the glory of his name ephesians one six he afterwards as if repeating the same thing adds by grace are ye saved through faith

and that not of yourselves it is the gift of god not of works lest any man should boast ephesians two eight and peter when he reminds us that we are called to the hope of salvation that ye should show forth the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his marvellous light first peter two nine doubtless intends thus to proclaim in the ears of believers only the praises of god that they may bury in profound silence all arrogance of the flesh the sum is that man cannot claim a single particle of righteousness to himself without at the same time detracting from the glory of the divine righteousness three if we now inquire in what way the conscience can be quieted as in the view of god we shall find that the only way is by having righteousness bestowed upon us freely by the gift of god let us always remember the words of solomon who can say i have made my heart clean i am free from my sin proverbs twenty nine undoubtedly there is not one man who is not covered with infinite pollutions let the most perfect man descend into his own conscience and bring his actions to account and what shall the result be

will he feel calm and quiescent as if all matters were well arranged between himself and god or will he not rather be stung with dire torment when he sees that the ground of condemnation is within him if he be estimated by his works conscience when it beholds god must either have sure peace with his justice or be beset by the terrors of hell we gain nothing therefore by discoursing of righteousness unless we hold it to be a righteousness stable enough to support our souls before the tribunal of god when the soul is able to appear intrepidly in the presence of god and receive his sentence without dismay then only let us know that we have found a righteousness that is not fictitious it is not therefore without cause that the apostle insists on this matter i prefer giving it in his words rather than my own if they which are of the law be heirs faith is made void and the promise made of no effect romans four fourteen the first infers that faith is made void if the promise of righteousness has respect to the merit of our works or depends on the observance of the law never could any one rest securely in it for never could he feel fully assured that he had fully satisfied the law

and it is certain that no man ever fully satisfied it by works not to go far for proof of this every one who will use his eyes aright may be his own witness hence it appears how deep and dark the abyss is into which hypocrisy plunges the minds of men when they indulge us securely as without hesitations to oppose their flattery to the judgment of god as if they were relieving him from his office as judge very different is the anxiety which fills the breasts of believers who sincerely examine themselves every mind therefore would first begin to hesitate and at length to despair while each determined for itself with how great a load of debt it was still oppressed and how far it was from coming up to the enjoined condition thus then faith would be oppressed and extinguished to have faith is not to fluctuate to vary to be carried up and down to hesitate remain in suspense vacillate in fine to despair it is to possess sure certainty and complete security of mind to have whereon to rest and fix your foot four paul moreover adds that the promise itself would be rendered null and void

for if its fulfilment depends on our merits when prey will we be able to come the length of meriting the favour of god nay the second clause is a consequence of the former since the promise will not be fulfilled unless to those who put faith in it faith therefore failing no power will remain in the promise therefore it is of faith that it might be by grace to the end the promise might be sure to all the seed romans four sixteen it was abundantly confirmed when made to rest on the mercy of god alone for mercy and truth are united by an insolubble tie that is whatever god has mercifully promised he faithfully performs thus david before he asks salvation according to the word of god first places the source of it in his mercy let i pray thee thy merciful kindness be my comfort according to thy word unto thy servant psalms one nineteen seventy six and justly for nothing but mere mercy induces god to promise here then we must place and as it were firmly fix our whole hope paying no respect to our works and asking no assistance from them

unless you should suppose that there is anything novel in what i say augustine also enjoins us so to act this god has promised god has spoken if this is not enough god has sworn therefore as the promise stands firm not in respect of our merits but in respect of his mercy no one ought to tremble in announcing that of which he cannot doubt thus bernard also who can be saved ask the disciples of christ he replies with men it is impossible but not with god this is our whole confidence this is our only consolation this the whole ground of our hope but being assured of the possibility what are we to say as to his willingness who knows whether he is deserving of love or hatred ecclesiastic's nine one who has known the mind of the lord that he may instruct him first corinthians two sixteen here it is plain faith must come to our aid here we must have the assistance of truth in order that the secret purpose of the father respecting us may be revealed by the spirit and the spirit testifying may persuade our hearts that we are the sons of god

but let him persuade by calling and justifying freely by faith in these there is a kind of transition from eternal predestination to future glory let us thus briefly conclude scripture indicates that the promises of god are not surer unless they are apprehended with full assurance of conscience it declares that wherever there is doubt or uncertainty the promises are made void on the other hand that they can only waver and fluctuate if they depend on our works therefore either our righteousness must perish or without any consideration of our works place must be given to faith alone whose nature it is to prick up the ear and shut the eye that is to be intent on the promise only to give up all idea of any dignity or merit in man thus is fulfilled the celebrated prophecy of zechariah i will remove the iniquity of that land in one day in that day saith the lord of hosts shall ye call every man his neighbor under the vine and under the fig tree zechariah three nine and ten here the prophet intimates that the only way in which believers can enjoy true peace is by obtaining the remission of their sins for we must attend to this peculiarity in the prophets that when they discourse of the kingdom of christ they set forth the external mercies of god as types of spiritual blessings

hence christ is called the prince of peace and our priests isaiah nine six and ephesians two fourteen because he calms all the agitations of conscience if the method is asked we must come to the sacrifice by which god was appeased for no man will ever cease to tremble until he hold that god is propitiated solely by that expiation in which christ endured his anger in short peace must be sought nowhere but in the agonies of christ our redeemer five but why employ a more obscure testimony paul uniformly declares that the conscience can have no peace or quiet joy until it is held for certain that we are justified by faith and he at the same time declares whence this certainty is derived that is when the love of god is shed abroad in our hearts by the holy ghost romans five five as if he had said that our souls cannot have peace until we are fully assured that we are pleasing to god hence he elsewhere exclaims in the person of believers in general who shall separate us from the love of christ romans eight thirty five

until we have reached that haven the slightest breeze will make us tremble but so long as the lord is our shepherd we shall walk without fear in the valley of the shadow of death psalms twenty three thus those who pretend that justification by faith consists in being regenerated and made just by living spiritually have never tasted the sweetness of grace in trusting that god will be hence also they know no more of praying aright than do the turks or any other heathen people for as paul declares faith is not true unless it suggest and dictate the delightful name of father nay unless it open our mouths and enable us freely to cry abba father this he expresses more clearly in another passage in whom we have boldness and access with confidence by the faith of him the visions three twelve this certainly is not obtained by the gift of regeneration which as it is always defective in the present state contains within it many grounds of doubt wherefore we must have recourse to this remedy we must hold that the only hope which believers have of their heavenly inheritance is that being ingrafted into the body of christ they are justified freely

for in regard to justification faith is merely passive springing nothing of our own to procure the favor of god but receiving from christ every thing that we want end of section twenty three