by Rev. John Willison, Dundee
(Continued from Vol 98, page 310).
“But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other Gospel to you, than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed.” Gal. 1: 8.
Seventh Argument.
That religion which errs in the fundamental doctrine of justification, (being articulus stantis aut cadentis ecclesae) and overturns the doctrine of free grace in justifying and saving sinners by the obedience and sufferings of Christ in their room, and would ascribe the glory of man’s salvation to man himself, is another gospel, which falls under the anathema of the text; but Popery is such a religion; and therefore, &c.
Protestants hold, according to the scriptures, that God freely justifies sinners, or pardons and accepts their persons as righteous, not for any thing wrought in them, or done by them, but for Christ’s sake alone, and his obedience and suffering imputed to them, and rested on by their faith, which faith also is freely given; so that their justification is only of free grace: and there is no place left for glorying or boasting in the creature, or in a man’s own works or doings; all our glorying and rejoicing should be in the Lord Jesus only, and in God’s free love through him; see Rom. 3: 24, 25, 27, 28; Tit. 3: 5, 7; Eph. 1: 7, 2: 9; 1 Cor. 1: 31, 32; Phil. 3: 3; Jer. 23: 6.
But this scripture-way of free grace in justifying sinners doth not please the Papists; they will needs have man to have something to glorify of in himself, expressly contrary to the will and mind of the Spirit of God: and therefore they will add their own merits and satisfactions to Christ’s merits; their own sufferings; their own daily sacrifice of the mass, to Christ’s one sacrifice on the cross; the mediation of saints and angels, to Christ’s mediation and intercession. And though they speak of Christ’s merits, yet they lay the main stress on the man himself; for they deny the imputation of Christ’s righteousness to us for our justification, and assert that a man is justified by his own inherent righteousness, and that his own good works merit eternal life, and that in a proper sense, not only de congruo sed de condigno; that is, not only by virtue of God covenant and acceptance, but also by reason of the work itself, and its intrinsic worth.
Quest.
“Seeing Papists speak much of the merits of Christ in obtaining our salvation, how make they Christ’s merits and their own consist together?”
Ans.
Moderate Papists take this away: they say, Christ by his merits procured God’s promise to give life and salvation to our merits; in short, that Christ merited a new covenant of works to us, and also new grace and strength to us for to keep it, providing that by our free will we duly improve it. And thus every man is to stand or fall, in obtaining the promised life, according to his fulfilling the condition of works in the use of the grace given him. So it is not Christ’s Surety righteousness that is imputed to us for our justification and salvation; no, it is the man’s own inherent righteousness, and his right use of his own free will in improving the grace given him, that merits salvation to himself: and so a man’s hope of salvation is properly founded upon his own merits and doings. By this scheme, Christ is spoiled of his glory, and men bring guilt and wrath upon themselves.
Object.
“But,” say Papists, “we acknowledge Christ’s merits in obtaining a new covenant and new promises to us, and in procuring the first grace to us, in order to our justification and salvation.”
Ans.
This is nothing but a sly way, under pretext of paying a compliment to Christ, to deprive him of the glory of our salvation, and to ascribe it to man: for it is by the right use of his free will, and his performing a righteousness of his own, that he is to merit and purchase life for himself, so that a man may still boast of his own doings. “But”, say some Papists, “it is God that gives us,” upon Christ’s account, “the inherent grace and righteousness whereby we are justified.” They may as well say, that God gives us wherewith we may redeem ourselves; for we are both redeemed and justified by the same price, namely, Christ’s Surety-righteousness and blood. As our inherent righteousness cannot redeem us, so neither can it justify or acquit us before God. It is only Christ’s perfect righteousness and satisfaction, imputed to us, that can do this. By grace we are justified, and saved through faith, not of ourselves, but of and by him alone who is the Lord our righteousness. It is in him only that all the seed of Israel shall be justified, and in him that they shall glory, Isa. 45: 25. So that, by the revealed gospel-scheme of salvation, Jesus Christ is immediately made our righteousness by imputation, in the merit whereof only, we can have confidence to appear before God, and expect pardon and salvation from him; according to 1 Cor. 1: 30, “He is made to us of God, wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption.” 2 Cor. 5: 21, “He hath made him to be sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.” Col. 3: 11, “Christ is all and in all.”
We see then how dangerously Papists err in this cardinal point of justification, which of all others is most important to our salvation; and how carefully we should avoid all Popish doctrine in the matter of justification, though even some called Protestants should teach it. Popery quite perverts the gospel of Christ, and overturns the covenant of grace, the only way now to be saved, and lays down a way of salvation upon the same terms as it stood in the covenant of works, though this way of access be for ever blocked up by the fall. Yet, say Papists, obedience to the commands, and the merit of good works, is the only way to life still; and for this they cite Mat. 19: 17, “If thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments.” But it is plain, that Christ there intends to convince and humble a self-righteous Pharisee, by holding him to the covenant of works to which he leaned, in order to bring him to an affecting view of his impotency to keep it, of his miserable and hopeless case while under it, and of his absolute need of a surety to fulfil the demands of that covenant in his stead. Thus God makes the law a schoolmaster to lead sinners to Christ.
Popery then is evidently another gospel; and a damnable one it is: for it draws away sinners from the true remedy for sin, to a false one; from the only ground of their justification, the imputed righteousness of Christ, to their own inherent righteousness which is naught. It takes them from the lowly self-denying way of salvation of Christ’s teaching, to the proud self-exalting way of antichrist’s devising. Christ will have the creature humbled, but antichrist will have him puffed up. Now, whether shall Christ’s word or his enemy’s stand? “Let God be true, but every man a liar.” O how damnably do Romanists err in the way of justifying and saving sinners! They are guilty of dreadful blasphemy and abominable idolatry, and have no solid way for removing such heinous guilt; nothing but their own merits, filthy rags! Alas! when the disease is deadly, and the remedy naught, what can be looked for but death to follow? God saith, it is only by a covenant of grace and a Mediator’s righteousness we must be saved. No, say Papists, it is by a covenant of works and our own righteousness. Now, if they live and die in such a belief and dependence, they make their salvation impossible. Why? They are “fallen from grace, and Christ shall profit them nothing,” Gal. 5: 4. Which awful consideration should make every thinking Christian tremble at the remotest approach of Popery.
My friends, let me then exhort you to have your hearts sound, and your minds well instructed, in this great article of a sinner’s justification, seeing it is of the utmost importance to your salvation; it is highly provoking to God, and dangerous to your souls to err in this matter. O has God in his wonderful love given the world his dear Son, as their only surety, to save them when perishing; and will men slight such a glorious gift, and pretend to save themselves? How is it possible they can do it, after God hath declared there is no salvation in any other, and none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved, but that of the blessed Jesus? Will any that names the name of Christ be so foolish as to betake himself to another way of salvation than what he hath proclaimed to us in his gospel? Let me beseech you, as ye love your souls, to believe the Lord Jesus, and go not back with Papists to a covenant of works for salvation; for your salvation that way is impossible, your damnation inevitable.
You have need to guard with great caution and care against such a dangerous and damnable mistake, and the rather that your hearts are all naturally inclined to it. There is ingrained in every man something of a natural Popery; we would all fain stand upon our own legs, and have something of our own to found our hopes of heaven upon. This was the first way of salvation when we were in Adam’s loins, and hence all his posterity have a natural hankering after it, and are with great difficulty brought off from going about to establish their own righteousness, and persuaded to submit to the righteousness of God, Rom. 10: 3.
But however backward men’s hearts are to it, God will have all the seed of Israel brought to this humble submissive way, and made willing to quit all dependence upon any righteousness of their own, and betake themselves entirely to an imputed righteousness for justification and acceptance with God. This is the way that God hath fixed for saving fallen sinners of Adam’s race; and all the elect of God will go into it, yea, rejoice in it, as a noble contrivance for advancing the glory of the Creator, and securing the happiness of the creature. And seeing God declares himself well pleased with the righteousness and satisfaction of Christ for sinners, it is highly our wisdom to declare ourselves well pleased with it too, and so put honour upon his dear Son; for God will never accept of those who dishonour him, by seeking to join their merits with his, or their polluted duties with his most perfect obedience, as if they would add perfection to Christ’s sacrifice and blood, which is infinite. What is it else but blasphemy, to charge his sacrifice with lameness, or his satisfaction with deficiency, and to think to make it up by adding something of ours? yet this all do practically, who would mix their own righteousness with Christ’s in the point of justification: but this will never do; Christ will either be our whole Saviour, or no Saviour. Blessed be God for Jesus Christ. Amen.