Chapter 3, Section 1: The Difference Between Justification and Sanctification

Kind Jesus spent his life to spin
 My robe of perfect righteousness;
But by his Spirit's work within
 He forms my gracious holy dress.

He as a Priest me justifies,
 His blood does roaring conscience still;
But as a King he sanctifies,
 And subjugates my stubborn will.

He justifying by his merit,
 Imputes to me his righteousness;
But sanctifying by his Spirit,
 Infuses in me saving grace.

My justifying righteousness
 Can merit by condignity:
But nothing with my strongest grace
 Can be deserv'd by naughty me.

This justifying favour sets,
 The guilt of all my sin remote:
But sanctifying grace delets
 The filth and blackness of its blot.

By virtue of this righteousness
 Sin can't condemn nor justly brand:
By virtue of infused grace
 Anon it ceases to command.

The righteousness which I enjoy,
 Sin's damning pow'r will wholly stay;
And grace imparted will destroy
 Its ruling domineering sway.

The former is my Judge's act
 Of condonation full and free:
The latter his commenced fact,
 And gradual work advanc'd in me.

The former's instantaneous,
 The moment that I first believe:
The latter is, as Heav'n allows,
 Progressive while on earth I live.

The first will peace to conscience give,
 The last the filthy heart will cleanse;
The first effects a relative,
 The last a real inward change.

The former pardons ev'ry sin,
 And counts me righteous, free, and just;
The latter quickens grace within,
 And mortifies my sin and lust.

Imputed grace intitles me
 Unto eternal happiness;
Imparted grace will qualify
 That heav'nly kingdom to possess.

My righteousness is infinite,
 Both subjectively and in kind;
My holiness most incomplete,
 And daily wavers like the wind.

So lasting is my outer dress,
 It never wears nor waxes old;
My inner garb of grace decays
 And fades, if Heav'n do not uphold.

My righteousness and pardon is
 At once most perfect and complete;
But sancity admits degrees,
 Does vary, fluctuate, and fleet.

Hence fix'd, my righteousness divine
 No real change can undergo;
But all my graces wax and wane,
 By various turnings ebb and flow.

I'm by the first as righteous now,
 As e'er hereafter I can be:
The last will to perfection grow,
 Heav'n only is the full degree.

The first is equal, wholly giv'n,
 And still the same in ev'ry saint;
The last unequal and unev'n,
 While some enjoy what others want.

My righteousness divine is fresh,
 For ever pure and heav'nly both;
My sanctity is partly flesh,
 And justly term'd a menstrous cloth.

My righteousness I magnify,
 'Tis my triumphant lofty flag;
But, pois'd with this, my sanctity
 Is nothing but a filthy rag.

I glory in my righteousness,
 And loud extol it with my tongue;
But all my grace, compar'd with this,
 I under-rate as loss and dung.

By justifying grace I'm apt
 Of divine favour free to boast;
By holiness I'm partly shap'd
 Into his image I had los

The first to divine justice pays
 A rent to still the furious storm;
The last to divine holiness
 Instructs me duly to perform.

The first does quench the fiery law,
 Its rigid cov'nant fully stay;
The last its rule embroider'd draw,
 To deck my heart, and gild my way.

The subject of my righteousness
 Is Christ himself, my glorious Head;
But I the subject am of grace,
 As he supplies my daily need.

The matter of the former too
 Is only Christ's obedience dear;
But, lo! his helping me to do
 Is all the work and matter here.

I on my righteousness rely
 For Heav'n's acceptance free, and win;
But in this matter must deny
 My grace, ev'n as I do my sin.

Though all my graces precious are,
 Yea, perfect also in desire;
They cannot stand before the bar
 Where awful justice is umpire:

But in the robe that Christ did spin,
 They are of great and high request;
They have acceptance wrapt within
 My elder Brother's bloody vest.

My righteousness proclaims me great
 And fair, even in the sight of God;
But sanctity's my main off-set
 Before the gazing world abroad.

More justify'd I cannot be
 By all my most religious acts;
But these increase my sanctity,
 That's still attended with defects.

My righteousness the safest ark
 Midst ev'ry threat'ning flood will be;
My graces but a leaking bark
 Upon a stormy raging sea.

I see in justifying grace
 God's love to me does ardent burn;
But by imparted holiness
 I grateful love to love return.

My righteousness is that which draws
 My thankful heart to this respect;
The former then is first the cause,
 The latter is the sweet effect.

Christ is in justifying me,
 By name, The Lord my righteousness :
But as he comes to sanctify,
  The Lord my strength and help he is.

In that I have the patient's place,
 For there J EHOVAH 's act is all:
But in the other I'm through grace
 An agent working at his call.

The first does slavish fear forbid,
 For there his wrath revenging ends;
The last commands my filial dread,
 For here paternal ire attends.

The former does annul my woe,
 By God's judicial sentence past;
The latter makes my graces grow,
 Faith, love, repentance and the rest.

The first does divine pard'ning love
 Most freely manifest to me;
The last makes shining graces prove
 Mine int'rest in the pardon free.

My soul in justifying grace
 Does full and free acceptance gain:
In sanctity I heav'nward press
 By sweet assistance I obtain.

The first declares I'm free of debt,
 And nothing left for me to pay:
The last makes me a debtor yet,
 But helps to pay it ev'ry day.

My righteousness with wounds and blood
 Discharg'd both law and justice score;
Hence with the debt of gratitude
 I'll charge myself for evermore.
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