A47542:1346
A golden mine opened, or, The glory of God's rich grace displayed in the…
A golden mine opened, or, The glory of God's rich grace displayed in the mediator to believers, and his direful wrath against impenitent sinners containing the substance of near forty sermons upon several subjects / by Benjamin Keach.
London: printed by the author, 1694
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
1st. There is a Righteousness that is a Man's own, such as Paul had when a Pharisee; a Righteousness which ariseth from a Man's own Reason, Will, and natural Improvements; or by common Grace, Godly Education, awed by Fear and legal Terror, and maintained by some failing Spring; which as our Annotators observe, may easily be dried up; these Righteous Ones may totally and finally fall away: Pray read Ezek. 33. 13. When I say to the Righteous, that he shall surely live: if he trust to his own Righteousness, and commits Iniquity, all his Righteousness shall not be remembered: but for his Iniquity that he hath committed, he shall die for it.
1st. There is a Righteousness that is a Man's own, such as Paul had when a Pharisee; a Righteousness which ariseth from a Man's own Reason, Will, and natural Improvements; or by common Grace, Godly Education, awed by Fear and legal Terror, and maintained by some failing Spring; which as our Annotators observe, may easily be dried up; these Righteous Ones may totally and finally fall away: Pray read Ezek. 33. 13. When I say to the Righteous, that he shall surely live: if he trust to his own Righteousness, and commits Iniquity, all his Righteousness shall not be remembred: but for his Iniquity that he hath committed, he shall die for it.
Pray observe that here are two things expressed for which he must die: First, If he trust to his own Righteousness; and secondly, If he turn from his Moral Righteousness, and committed Iniquity; the first is damning as well as the second: But if he hath a Moral Righteousness, and yet after all doth not trust to it, but flies to the Righteousness of Christ, he shall live; but if he be Righteous, and trusteth to it, he must die in his Sin, as the Righteous Jews and Pharisees did; who being ignorant of the Righteousness of God, went 1about to establish their own Righteousness. Now from hence it appears, contrary to what our Opponents say, That that Righteousness which these Men turn from, could not save them; though it is true, it is said, If the wicked Man turneth from his Wickedness he hath committed, and doth that which is lawful and right, he shall save his Soul alive. A doing that which is right, is to renounce all his own Righteousness in point of Justification, and by Faith to throw himself upon Jesus Christ; and he that doth thus, shall save his Soul alive. Therefore let all Men know that this Text only shows, that a Man that has attained to no more than to a Moral and Legal Righteousness, must perish as well as he that turns from it and committeth Wickedness.