I answer; The righteousness of justification (which is true also of the righteousness of sanctification) as to the substance and being of it cannot be lost; But it may be lost as to the comfortable ⟨p. 440⟩enjoyments and fruits of it, or as to our apprehension of it; And the Lord is said to return to man the righteousness of his justification, not as if the grace it self were lost or taken away from him, but because the sight and sense of it, the sweetness and joy of it,1 the workings and effects of it having been lost, are now restored to him again. When the Lord by his Spirit gives the soul a clear and fresh evidence of it, or reneweth the testimony of his Spirit with our spirits, that our sins are forgiven, and that we are justified, beloved, and accepted in Christ, then the Lord is said to render unto man his righteousness; otherwise, neither the faith, by which this righteousness is applied, nor the righteousness it self which is applied to us by faith, is at any time lost or removed. Only in this sense, as in many other Scriptures, so in this, the Lord is said to render unto man his righteousness, both of sanctification and justification. For, when a believer through sin hath blotted his own evidences, and God hath left him under the darkness of his own spirit, for his negligent, unwatchful & unworthy walking, or when the Lord hideth his face, to try him what he will do, whether he will trust in his name while he walketh in darkness and seeth no light, when, I say, after withdrawings for either of these reasons or for any other the Lord gives him in a renewed evidence of his love, then he is said to render unto man his righteousness. It is in this case as with a man that labours under some strong and dangerous disease, which taketh away his senses, and leaves him half dead; we say, the man is gone, yet he recovers, his speech returns, and his spirits revive, and then we say, his life is rendered to him, or he is brought back from the grave, we have fetched him again; not that his life was quite taken away (for he was not a carcass in that condition, a body without a soul) but his life was, for that time, withdrawn, there was no appearance of it, no sensible breathing, no motion, no vital visible operation. Thus we may conceive what is meant by the rendering unto man his righteousness.
I answer; The righteousness of justification (which is true also of the righteousness of sanctification) as to the substance and being of it cannot be lost; But it may be lost as to the comfortable ⟨p. 440⟩enjoyments and fruits of it, or as to our apprehension of it; And the Lord is sayd to returne to man the righteousness of his justification, not as if the grace it selfe were lost or taken away from him, but because the sight and sence of it, the sweetness and joy of it,1 the workings and effects of it having been lost, are now restored to him againe. When the Lord by his Spirit gives the soule a cleare and fresh evidence of it, or reneweth the testimony of his Spirit with our spirits, that our sins are forgiven, and that we are justified, beloved, and accepted in Christ, then the Lord is sayd to render unto man his righteousness; otherwise, neither the faith, by which this righteousness is applyed, nor the righteousness it selfe which is applyed to us by faith, is at any time lost or removed. Only in this sence, as in many other Scriptures, so in this, the Lord is sayd to render unto man his righteousness, both of sanctification and justification. For, when a beleever through sin hath blotted his own evidences, and God hath left him under the darkness of his own spirit, for his negligent, unwatchfull & unworthy walking, or when the Lord hideth his face, to try him what he will doe, whether he will trust in his name while he walketh in darkness and seeth no light, when, I say, after withdrawings for either of these reasons or for any other the Lord gives him in a renewed evidence of his love, then he is sayd to render unto man his righteousness. It is in this case as with a man that labours under some strong and dangerous disease, which taketh away his sences, and leaves him halfe dead; we say, the man is gone, yet he recovers, his speech returnes, and his spirits revive, and then we say, his life is rendred to him, or he is brought back from the grave, we have fetched him againe; not that his life was quite taken away (for he was not a carkasse in that condition, a body without a soule) but his life was, for that time, withdrawne, there was no appearance of it, no sencible breathing, no motion, no vitall visible operation. Thus we may conceive what is meant by the rendring unto man his righteousness.
- 1Non enim ablata justitia redditur sed ablatae justitiae sensus. Coc:
