Precious faith considered in its nature, working, and growth

Secondly, There must be a perfect righteousness fully answering the holy Law. God cannot deny himself, he cannot deny his holiness, so as to justify us without a righteousness, therefore there must be one; he cannot deny his truth, so as to account that a righteousness which is none, therefore it must be perfect, fully answering the Law; all-fair without any spot in it, all-pure without any mixture in it, all-perfect without and defect in it, such a thing as is not to be found in any mere man. The Jews (as it seems by Josephus) thought a mere outward righteousness enough; but alas, what is this without a pure heart? The Popish Doctors look upon inherent graces as our very righteousness in justification: indeed these (because the denomination ⟨p. 96⟩is à meliore part) denominate men righteous, but they are but inchoate and imperfect, and therefore are short of that perfect and absolute righteousness requisite to justification. They denominate men righteous, but they do it but in their own weak degree, and not in full proportion to the holy Law; a gracious man is not all grace, there is flesh as well as spirit, dross as well as gold, water as well as wine in him; his mind is not all Light his will is not all love, his affections are not all harmony; what of grace he hath is but in part, and if this be his righteousness, he can be justified but in part, or rather not at all. Neither can our good works, no not those which flow from grace, ever be our righteousness in justification. Those are good as they flow from the pure fountain of the spirit, but as they proceed from us (in whom there is much of the old Adam) they smell of the cask and soil in the channel, and contract a great deal of dross from the indwelling sin: Hence they are so far from justifying us, that they themselves need a justification. Hence holy Nehemiah prays that his good works may be remembered, with a spare me O Lord, according to the greatness of thy mercy, Neh, 13.22. Neither will it suffice to justification, if our good works are more then our evil. The Papists fable that Henry the second Emperor was weighed in the balance, to see whether he were worthy of heaven or hell; his good works were put into one scale, his evil into the other, and these were like to out weigh and sink him to hell, but that St.

Secondly, There must be a perfect righteousness fully answering the holy Law. God cannot deny himself, he cannot deny his holiness, so as to justifie us without a righteousness, therefore there must be one; he cannot deny his truth, so as to account that a righteousness which is none, therefore it must be perfect, fully answering the Law; all-fair without any spot in it, all-pure without any mixture in it, all-perfect without and defect in it, such a thing as is not to be found in any meer man. The Jews (as it seems by Josephus) thought a meer outward righteousness enough; but alass, what is this without a pure heart? The Popish Doctors look upon inherent graces as our very righteousness in justification: indeed these (because the denomination