N00802:1790
The truly blessed man
The truly blessed man: or, The way to be happy here, and for ever: being the substance of divers sermons preached on, Psalm XXXII. / By Samuel Willard, teacher of a church in Boston. N.E. ; [Five lines from Isaiah]
printed by B. Green for Michael Perry, 1700
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.
A. In a word, they are all whose sins are pardoned, and whose persons are Justified. The word of God doth frequently put this title upon men, with a proper respect to their pardoned and Justified state. There are many men, who, in the Word of God, are called Righteous: this title can be truly ascribed to none on a Law account, with respect to a perfect inherent Righteousness of their own, excepting the man Christ, who is for that reason restrainedly called, the Righteous, 1 Joh 2.1. Because there is none else without sin. Now the Spirit of God would not call men so, if they were not so, it must be with respect to a righteousness which completely answers the Rule of righteousness: for we are sure that our defect or coming short of that, is enough to denominate a man unrighteous, Jam. 2.10. It must then respect a Righteousness that hath no failure in it, which cannot be their own, but must be that of Christ: & that they may be reputed righteous by it, it must on a Law account be theirs, and that can be only by •mputation: and this is only done in their Justification; nor can there be any other sense put upon those words, Numb. 23.31. God hath seen no iniquity ⟨p. 587⟩in Jacob, &c. When once the Robe of Christ's Righteousness is cast over them, though God's Omniscience cannot but know all their spots and de•ects, yet as a Judge, he seeth the Law satisfied •n their account, and they are forensically righteous by virtue thereof; but this will be more clear•y evident in the next. Hence,
A. In a word, they are all whose sins are pardoned, and whose persons are Justified. The word of God doth frequently put this title upon men, with a proper respect to their pardoned and Justified state. There are many men, who, in the Word of God, are called Righteous: this title can be truly ascribed to none on a Law account, with respect to a perfect inherent Righteousness of their own, excepting the man Christ, who is for that reason restreinedly called, the Righteous, 1 Joh 2.1. Because there is none else without sin. Now the Spirit of God would not call men so, if they were not so, it must be with respect to a righteousness which compleatly answers the Rule of righteousness: for we are sure that our defect or coming short of that, is enough to denominate a man unrighteous,