for the sake of Repentance but because by Repentance a man becomes willing to receive Christ 't is a vain thing to pretend to Faith in Christ for Pardon unless we see the Fruits of Faith in our selves in the exercise of all other Graces and in those good works of Holiness that always accompany Saving-Faith Faith never speaks but in some act it never gives a comfortable sense of it self but in some present act now 't is impossible truly to act Faith without an universal consent of the Soul to this act it diffuses its influence all over the Soul touches the Soul in every part strikes upon every string puts the whole Soul in tune every thing in a man does answer and correspond to such an act of Faith you may see your Faith in your Hope Love fear Zeal Repentance c. All Graces rise or fall as Faith does 't is like the spring of a Watch it sets all the Wheels in motion We may have a clearer discerning of Faith by a reflex act whence all assurance springs then we can by a direct act though you cannot see your selves closing in with Christ for Pardon whilst you only intend that thing and would fain prove Faith by it self and by its own justfying act yet if you look through your Love your Repentance through all the fruits of Faith in your Lives you will more clearly discern it in its Saving Justifying Act that you do really and sincerely take Christ as your only Righteousness and to shew that you do so you produce those things as proofs of your sincerity which this Faith hath put you upon and which you could never bring your selves to till Faith came drawing the whole Soul after Christ and strongly inclining you to a holy life this is God's way of teaching his Children by putting Principles of Faith and Holiness into their Hearts powerfully inclining them to live to God this is set forth by God's teaching the Ants to provide their Meat in the Summer Prov. 6. 8. i. e. God inclines them naturally to do this so does God Spiritually incline his Children by his Spirit dwelling in them to act as Christians ought to do The sum of all is this The Justifying-Righteousness of a Believing sinner before God lies in the Remission of sin and God's Gracious acceptation of sinful man upon the sole account of the Obedience of Christ our Mediator apprehended by Faith and imputed to him for Righteousness thus the Righteousness of God without the Law is manifest In humane Judicatories Forgiveness implies a meer non-imputation of the fault only but no imputation of Righteousness because in our Courts a man is Tried for some particular Offence and if he be found Guilty and through the Favour of the Prince obtain his Pardon that Pardon looks no further than that time for the after-course of his life he is accountable to the Law and must be Judged by it he stands upon his good Behaviour and must be a doer of Righteousness to avoid the Condemnation of the Law if not he must answer for his misdoing and be judged according to Law But 't is not so in Divinity for when we obtain the Pardon of sin by Faith that Pardon is general and universal to a man's life's end 't is not only a Pardon of this or that sin to such a time but a Pardon of all sins for ever such a Pardon does necessarily imply in it an imputation of Righteousness because no sin can ever be imputed to him his Pardon is valid in all times to come though the Law be still a rule of Obedience yet he is no longer under the Law as a Covenant of life but under Grace and for all his miscarriages under the New Covenant he must apply himself to the Grace of that Covenant for Mercy and Pardon but he shall never be judged by the Law more the satisfaction of Christ is instead of all legal Righteousness to him and to that he stands the Law having accepted of it delivers him up to Christ untouched by the hand of Vengeance to be governed ever after by the Law of Grace which establishes the holiness of the Law though it shuts it out of our Justification yet not out of our lives but strictly enjoins it CHAP. VI. The APPLICATION SINCE God hath given us the knowledge of Salvation by the Remission of sin let us act according to that knowledge and begin our Religion with Remission of sin I mean let us first study that point well when we are over that are got into the Mystery of that great Gospel-Truth we shall more clearly see upon what account it is we are dealt with looked upon and accepted as Righteous in Christ unto Eternal Life Faith ought to have both the active and passive Obedience of Christ in its eye but I would not too nicely distinguish between them abstracting the active from the Passive ascribing the Remission of sin to one and our title to life to the other because I find some who do so apt to drop the Righteousness of Christ that will not serve the turn they must have a Righteousness of their own an Evangelical righteousness to strengthen their title to Life thus while they set up a Law of Grace requiring such and such things to be done by us in order to our Justification they turn Grace into Works set up a New Covenant of Works differing from the first only in this that whereas the first Covenant in Innocency justified upon the account of perfect Obedience this upon the account of our imperfect Obedience We know but in part there will be some difference among us in our Notions and Conceptions of these things and more in our Words and Expressions the same thoughts in one and another seldom come forth in the same words I have offered you what I take to be most agreeable to the Mind of God Do you search the Scriptures and judge I do conceive that the New Covenant of Grace requires as compleat and perfect a Righteousness nay a higher Righteousness for the Justification of a Sinner than the Law of Innocency did for the Justification of a sinless man That was but the Righteousness of man this must be the Righteousness of God reckoned or imputed to us not his essential Righteousness but that which is wrought out for us by him who is God and which God approves of and being thus justified God does graciously accept of our sincere imperfect Obedience together with our persons Let us not puzzle our selves about a second Justification get the Pardon of all your sins sealed to you in the Blood of Christ and fear no after-charge at the last day that will answer all I see no room for a Second Justification Can it be imagined that defects of our Grace here in this imperfect state should be brought in as proofs against the truth of Grace in our perfect state hereafter If Grace in its perfection cannot sufficiently evidence its Truth I see
favour of God for us and a right to all the blessings promised in the Gospel and his Spirit effectually applies all this to us and works all this in us 3. Remission of sin as it is held forth and offered in the Gospel presupposes nothing in man as the cause and condition of it moving God to pardon him but only denotes God's gracious Indulgence towards him not reckoning his sin to him upon his believing in Christ see how pardoning Grace finds us Col. 2. 13. And you being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh hath he quickned together with him having forgiven you all trespasses So Heb. 8. 10 11 12. God does not eye any Qualifications in us but promises to do all himself I will and they shall c. 'T is objected That Faith is the beginning of Sanctification and if Faith be required unto Justification then some part at least of our Sanctification is required unto justification Answ. No part at all for though Faith be a supernatural Principle infused by God in order to our Sanctification as well as our Justification yet it first Justifies before it Sanctifies I speak of Faith now not in its first Principle but in its first actings I say it first acts upon Christ by receiving him before it begins actually to sanctify us there is a great difference between the Instrumentality of Faith in receiving Christ for our Justification and the efficacy of Faith applying Christ received for our Sanctification to speak properly 't is not God's working Faith but Faith working in us and upon us that Sanctifies God always gives Christ in and with our first Faith for Justification and Pardon this must be first finished and compleated before Faith will or can begin to sanctifie us because Faith fetches all its sanctifying Virtue from Christ received but our first act of receiving Christ is that that justifies Sanctification always follows upon it and is gradually carried on by a justifying Faith to our lives end in is not pardoned because it is mortified but because it is pardoned therefore it 's mortified Remission of sin presupposes no real change in the man himself as moving God thereunto Neither does remission of sin alter the nature of sin but only the state of the Sinner his sin is not imputed to him To forgive sin is not to remember it Jer. 31. 34. There 't is but God won't look towards it his thoughts are so taken up with the blood of Christ and the Interest that Believers have in that blood that he willingly forgets their sins he will not deal with them after their sins nor reward them according to their iniquities Psal 103. 10. And that they may be sure of this he casts their sins into the depths of the sea Mich. 7. 19. As far as the east is from the west so far hath he removed our transgression from us Psal. 103. 12. Not only from himself but from us he sees no iniquity in Jacob. If pardoning Grace does not presuppose but make a real change in a man for the better yet forasmuch as we are imperfectly Sanctified the Pardon of sin and the being and presence of sin may and do consist together in every true Believer here below provided they do not allow themselves in the practise of it 4. Remission of sin is an act of Mercy not Justice yet not contrary to Justice because the sins that are pardoned to us are punished in Christ 't is from God's Justice that he will not pardon sin without satisfaction 't is from his Mercy that he will accept of satisfaction from the hand of another This answers that plausible Objection that is commonly made against our Salvation by Grace viz. Wicked men are condemned for their evil works therefore Saints are justified for their good works Answ. This does not follow because one is an act of Justice and the other of Mercy Rom. 6. 23. The wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Death is wages due by Law eternal Life is a free gift through Jesus Christ. 5. Remission of sin as 't is an act of Mercy so 't is act of Power too God has Power to forgive sin none but the Creditor can forgive the Debtor God is the greater Creditor and we are all his Debtors against thee only have I sinned therefore God only has Power to forgive sin but yet it is not an act of mere absolute Power neither but an act of Divine Jurisdiction that carries in it a due respect unto the Law which God as the righteous Judge and most wise Governour of the world will not violate Therefore Remission of Sin under this provision that God has made in Christ for the satisfaction of his Law and Justice is called Justification Rom. 4. 5 6. God is Just as well as Merciful in Pardoning Sin Rom 3. 25 26. So that Pardon flows from the Love of God acting towards us for Christ's sake i. e. upon the account of his Merit and Satisfaction which respect the Justice of God The truth is the satisfaction of Christ is the foundation of Pardon this satisfaction lyes in the expiatory Sacrifice offered by Christ upon the Cross hence expiation or atonement is joyned with pardon in Scripture Numb 15. 25. Levit. 4. 20. The priest was to make an atonement that the sin should be forgiven An expiatory Sacrifice led the way to forgiveness under the Law and so it does now under the Gospel without shedding of Blood there is no remission of sin If you have not the Blood of Christ is your eye when you go to God for Pardon never think to speed CHAP. IV. The APPLICATION I Shall shut up all with a word of Exhortation urging every one of you to a frequent deep serious consideration of this grand fundamental truth concerning the only way of Salvation by the remission of sin through Faith in Christ Jesus I know the time will shortly come when all our Notions and Disputes must be resolved into our believing or not believing in Christ for Pardon of sin therefore be perswaded to begin your Religion in pure Faith trusting in Christ only for the remission of all your sins through the merit of his Blood begin here lay this as the Foundation of all your Religion make this sure and then you will more clearly see upon what account you stand righteous before God if you joyn any thing with Christ here and miss your way in the first setting out you 'll go wider and wider from the Gospel every stop you take and be forced to wrest the Scriptures all along to make good your first grand mistake therefore I say beg of God to bring your hearts to a true reliance upon the free-Grace and Mercy of God in Christ Jesus for the pardon of all your sins Take this as a clue in your hands to guide you into such an understanding of all other truths as is consonant to this
his Law in the inward man these are so far from being conditions of the Covenant giving us an interest in it that they are rather the Covenant it self fulfilled in us which is an undeniable proof of our being in Covenant 9. The New Covenant does not so much imply an outward Law or Rule of government set before us as an inward Law or rather a spirit and principle of Love and Obedience inclining us to a willing performance of all those Duties that either Law or Gospel call for The Covenant of Grace brings forth a new creature created in Christ Jesus unto good works that he should walk in them you put a force upon the new creature if you turn him out of his walk By the Covenant of Grace our Justification hangs not upon doing but upon believing That which much perplexes the point of Justification is the separating of Faith and Justification too far asunder which hath many ill consequences in it 1. If you suppose Faith as a quality pre-existing in the Soul before Justification and standing a while alone by it self in order to our Justification this lets in previous qualifications in us as necessary to Justification And if Faith as a quality in us have any causal influence into our justification so must Repentance and all good Works which are linked to it This lets us into a justification by Works of our own doing and by qualities inherent in our selves which is downright Popery 2. If we place our personal Justification before Faith this runs us up to an actual Justification of our persons from eternity which is of as ill consequence as the former Therefore the safest way is to put them both togethet What God hath joined let no man put asunder He that believes is justified and he that is justified Believes there can be no justification without Faith nor no true Faith without justification God's act in justifying doth symphonize and correspond to our act in Believing There cannot be actual giving without actual receiving one is naturally necessary to the other I know Faith and Justification are different notions and may in our way of speaking and expression be put one before the other but the things themselves are always together God justifies us by working Faith in us The Covenant of Grace requires nothing to be done by us as an antecedent moral condition or procuring cause of our Justification it supposes Faith in all who actually partake of the Grace of this Covenant Nay the Covenant of Grace I mean the outward proposal of the terms of the New Covenant is an outward means appointed by God for the working or begetting of Faith in us Faith comes by hearing i. e. by hearing the Doctrine of our Redemption by Christ and this Faith so wrought by hearing the Word disposes the Soul ever after to Repentance and new obedience which are the inseparable effects of Faith in all who are justified He who doth not shew his Faith by his Works is no sound Believer Though it be commonly said by many That Repentance is in order to justification the sense cannot be that Repentance is instrumentally necessary to justification as Faith is Do but keep up the different relation that Faith hath to justification from all other Graces and good Works and we shall quickly understand one another and not confound Faith and Works together in our justification We may differ in our expressions but that should make no real difference if the same thing be meant and intended This account of Faith or to this effect for I will tie none to my words does answer all the ends of true Religion it exalts Christ ascribes our free Justification and Pardon to him and his Righteousness only it secures our own Souls it suppresses and discountenances all Vice all licentious loose living it establishes the Law as a Rule of life it promotes all practical Holiness by the most forcible motives that can be We can never keep up Religion in the power of it if we do not keep up the plain notion of it in the sense that is commonly received by all sober sincere Christians Arguings pro and con may have their use among the Learned but still let us be sure to sail by the Pole-Star to keep that in our Eye as a fixed point that governs all our motions My meaning is this let us ultimately resolve Religion in the main fundamentals of it into such naked simple truths as may fall under the capacity of all plain meaning Christians that they may know what we Believe and what we Profess That we all aim at the same thing in our Preaching and that the same Spirit may still appear in all the diversity of gifts that is among us The reason why the Apostle Gal. 3. 17. calls the Mount Sinai-Covenant a Law is because the Mount Sinai-Covenant is a mixt Covenant made up partly of the Law and partly of the Gospel and the Apostle in that place opposes the Legalities of the Sinai-Covenant to the promise made to Abraham There was no reason why he should oppose the Gospel part of the Sinai-Covennat to the Covenant with Abraham for they were both the same they were coincident there was no opposition between them therefore he calls the Mount Sinai-Covenant a Law in opposition to the Covenant of pure Grace made with Abraham The Covenant of Works made with Adam as to any benefit from it ceased at the entrance of sin which laid all mankind under a curse This curse cannot be taken away but by a New Covenant you see how sin disordered the whole world put all things out of frame God's Government of the world as to the outward administration of it must be altered or else the whole world must be destroyed there must be a new Constitution a new Covenant What havock did sin make in one day that put God upon a second Creation making all things new casting all into a new mould to prevent the utter destruction of all mankind that otherwise must have ensued This Covenant of Grace may be considered Four ways 1. In the promise of the seed of the Woman made to Adam at least in his hearing couched in the threatning denounced against the Serpent Gen. 3. 15. 2. In the Promise made to Abraham Gen. 17. 7. 3. In the Mount Sinai-Covenant with all Israel Exod. 19. 8. this Covenant had the nature of a Testament therefore confirmed by Death hence beasts slain in Sacrifice Heb. 9. 16 18. 4. In the New Covenant with Jews and Gentiles now under the Gospel CHAP. II. SEcondly See Mr. Petto â—n this Subject The comparison of the New Covenant made with Jews and Gentiles now under the Gospel with the Mount Sinai-Covenant made with the Jews only under the Law When Abraham's Posterity grew numerous even into a Nation then commenced the Mount Sinai-Covenant containing the moral judicial and ceremonial Laws given not with an intent to disannul the Promise made Four hundred and thirty
under continual influences from Christ. In the next place I shall speak of power and wisdom not as they relate to the Person of Christ but to his Doctrine or to Christ Preached we Preach Christ Crucified The Doctrine of Christ Crucifi'd is a powerful Doctrine able to save those who believe it Rom. 1. 16. 1 Cor. 1. 18. Heb. 4. 12. This Doctrine is called the Wisdom of God in a Mystery 1 Cor. 2. 7. 't is the revelation of a Mystery Rom. 16. 25. There are many Mysteries in this Doctrine The manifold wisdom of God Ephes. 3. 10. This way of saving sinners by Christ Crucified is called The wisdom of God because he doth thereby manifest his deep and unsearchable wisdom they who are spiritually enlightened do count it so they desire to know nothing else 1 Cor. 2. 2. The Gospel contains the Glorious method of a Sinner's Salvation by Christ who is therefore called the Wisdom of God Prov. 8. 12. In whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge Col. 2. 3. The Doctrine of the Gospel appears to be a powerful Doctrine because it is so effectually a means for the Conversion of sinners who are so much against Conversion certainly there is Wisdom and Power in it else it could never bring such a strange thing as that to pass Obj. The learned men of the world see not any Wisdom in the Gospel the Greeks seek after Wisdom but cannot find it there and therefore they count it foolishness They seek after Wisdom And why not Must we not speak reason in the Pulpit Answ. We speak wisdom among them that are perfect 1 Cor. 2. 6. i. e. That have a true solid judgment of Spiritual things But if you mean by reason that which falls under our understanding and is comprehensible by us as men I say we speak Mysteries above reason which we propound only to your Faith the Doctrine of the Gospel is worthy of all acceptation 1 Tim. 1. 15. Let not man oppose his wit to the Wisdom of God We speak Wisdom but not the Wisdom of this world but the Wisdom of God in a Mystery hidden Wisdom When our frail reason can do nothing in discerning this wisdom the Spirit comes and demonstrates the Truth to us with power by an invincible internal perswasion 1 Cor. 2. 5. Men may think by their Wit Learning and prompt Parts to run down the Doctrine of the Gospel But let them remember that Christ is the Power and Wisdom of God They who do not rely only upon Christ Crucisied for Justification unto life do despise the Gospel and count it foolishness they are ashamed of the Gospel Rom. 1. 16. Paul was not let us follow his Example and labour to promote it praying daily for the propagation of the Doctrine of the Gospel That the way of God may be known upon earth and his saving health among all nations Psalm 67. 2. Because the foolishness of God is wiser then men c. V. 25. The Power and Wisdom of God by anironical concession are here called weakness and foolishness i. e. admit this according to the opinion of the unconverted Jews and Gentiles Let them say what they will what they call foolishness is wiser then men i. e. then the wisdom of men and what they call weakness is stronger than men i. e. then the strength of men Any thing that belongs to God is to be preferred before that which is but Humane the least things of God do infinitely exceed the greatest of mens When we consider that the Name of God is upon such a thing it should create a reverence in us towards it whatever is in God is God The way that God has made choice of and the means he hath pitched upon must needs be the best for all things are great or little weak or strong as God makes them to be by putting more or less of his fulness into them Obj. They who count the Gospel foolishness are the wise men of the world therefore sure they are in the right Answ. Not many wife are called and when they are called they see the folly of their carnal wisdom by which they judged amiss of Christ before The APPLICATION LET us now consider seriously how we stand affected towards Christ and the Gospel whether we do receive the truth in the love of it viz. Whether we do indeed believe in the Lord Jesus and are persuaded that nothing is required as a Meritorious procuring cause of our Justification in the sight of God but Christ and his Righteousness received and applied by Faith And that all our Evangelical righteousness so much contended for is only to prove the truth and sincerity of our Faith from whence it springs though I think there will not be any formal proving of such matters then Yet if this be all I would not contend about it but leave others to their own methods schemes and expressions heartily wishing all may understand them as clearly and Orthodoxly as they profess to understand themselves Though I must tell you those words will prove the most wholesome and grow most in use among serious Professors which they best understand and which do most easily and plainly convey the Spiritual sense of the Gospel into their minds If any should say our own Evangelical Righteousness hath some causal influence into our Justification though I count it a very Unorthodox expression yet I would in Charity think that the reason why they say so is out of a zeal to promote practical Holiness by the strongest motive imaginable And if they who say Holiness of life is only an effect of Justification making it as indispensably necessary in all who are justified as the former Is not Holiness secured and promoted this way as well as the other way and without any suspicion of derogating from Christ Pray then Why should we contend so much for the former way laying stumbling-blocks before others who cannot get over them when all our ends are better answered the other way Let none say we are Solifidians who hold this We know very well that good works are required in the New Covenant as well as Faith but all that is required in the New Covenant is not required unto Justification Besides Justifying-Faith doth many things by its influence which must not be put into the justifying act of Faith for then we shall confound Justification and Sanctification and make them as the Papists do all one As the Apostle hath stated the point of Justification we are not only to consider how we are justified in God's sight but in the first place to consider how God himself is Just in his justifying-Justifying-act Rom. 3. 26. If God be just in that act and can Pardon sin without any impeachment of his Justice then sure there is sufficient ground and reason for it God can do no unjust thing and if God in justifying Believers be just i. e. if there be merit enough in the Blood of Christ to
bear him out in this act then certainly we may safely rely upon this precious Blood for our Justification That which Justifies God in his act of Justifying a Believing sinner must needs be a sufficient cause of our Justification else it could not justifie God in his Justifying act there would be no equitable reason for it besides to say that the Blood of Christ is the only procuring Meritorious cause of our Justification i. e. of the acceptance of out Persons and Performances This is truth but not all the truth belonging to Justification For my next Query is What is it that gives us an interest in the Blood of Christ in the satisfaction he hath made for sin Here nothing must come in as instrumentally necessary to our receiving and applying Christ but Faith only Repentance and new Obedience are the effects of the Faith either they are the effects of Faith or of Unbelief None will say the latter then they must necessarily flow from the real interest that Faith gives us in Christ if not I don't see how we can attain to them At this rate they must be done in our own strength not in Christ's for being conditions as some say of our interest in Christ they must be performed before we can have an interest in him It is an excellent Note of Calvin in his Commentaries upon Rom. 8. 30. Whom he did predestinate them he called and whom he called them he justified c. Scimus enim ubi de salute agitur libenter homines à seipsis incipere fingeréque sibi praeparationes quibus Dei gratiam antevertant i. e. 'T is natural for men in the business of Salvation to begin at themselves fancying some preparatory Works by which they may prevent the Grace of God and do something for themselves in their own strength that may fit and qualifie them for an interest in Christ. In this rotten Principle do many begin their Religion which corrupts their minds ever after from the simplicity that is in Christ and puts them upon seeking Justification Not by Faith but as it were by the works of the law Rom. 9. 32. Supposing something in themselves to be the first cause of their acceptance with God I wish all who call themselves Calvinists would read that place and seriously consider the sense of that Holy man in this main point of our Religion Some through mistake have counted Luther an Antinomian but none call Calvin so 'T is good to be zealous in promoting practical Holiness and Gospel-Obedience but let us be sure it be Gospel-Obedience flowing from a principle of Faith in Christ Jesus For to Preach up Holiness from any other Principle then that of Faith in our Lord Jesus Christ is not to Preach like Ministers of the New Testament Faith only is required in Justification rather than to it I so phrase it because they are simultaneus Repentance and New Obedience do follow Faith let them be kept in their due place and be allowed no causal concurrence unto our Justification and we shall avoid all confusion else there will be a fundamental difference between us while some hold that Faith only gives us an interest in Christ others that Repentance and New Obedience do equally with Faith give us an interest in Christ. Some carry it as if the end of Christ's coming into the world was only to set up a New Covenant of Works upon milder and easier terms of sincere imperfect Obedience which all men are to be exhorted to and urged to the performance of upon a supposed general sufficient Grace purchased by Christ enabling all men who do not wilfully refuse to come up to the terms of this New Covenant This Opinion hath many ill consequences in it viz. Of a General Redemption taking away Original sin restoring man to a freedom of will in doing good setting him upon his own legs again to stand or fall as he comes up to or falls short of the terms of this New conditional Covenant So that all is resolved into mans own power and will all being now put into an equal capacity of Salvation by Christ and having said this they have done with Christ have all in their own hands may set up for themselves and love to be put upon duty as persons sufficiently furnished for it already But notwithstanding this specious new scheme of rational Divinity as some call it I must in faithfulness to God to my own Conscience and the Souls of them that hear me tell you plainly That they who trust in a general Redemption will fall short of their particular Salvation upon the Principles that those Universalists go upon We are all by nature dead in trespasses and sins reprobate to every good Word and Work and shall so remain till we do by a particular personal act of our own Faith come to Christ for life that we may be quickned by his Spirit and made alive unto Righteousness We must have life before we can live or put forth any vital operations we must be first quickned by Christ the great quickning Spirit before we can live to God or do any thing that is Spiritually good 'T is Faith that unites us to Christ which is the gift of God to some for all men have not Faith and till this Faith comes by hearing the Gospel we are dead in sin Christ came not only as a Lawgiver to prescribe rules of living to dead sinners but to create in us a principle of life to give us strength to perform what he requires of us as new Creatures created in Christ Jesus unto good Works All our own endeavours after Holiness while we are out of Christ will prove ineffectual we must be first engrafted into the true Olive-Tree deriving all our fruitfulness from the root that bears us else we shall quickly wither away and come to nothing No acceptable service ever was or can be done by man till Faith brings us to Christ without whom we can do nothing when Faith comes life comes strength comes a Spiritual ability to do the will of God in some measure And as this Faith increases by the daily exercise of it so we increase in Spiritual strength perfecting Holiness more and more in the fear of God Let no man think to be made perfect in the flesh Christ came not to reform corrupt Nature but to destroy it and utterly to extirpate it the old man will never learn to lead a new life die he must and be Crucified he must be put off that we may put on the New man which after God is created in Righteousness and true Holiness Eph. 4. 24. This is the only way to true Holiness here and to Eternal Happiness hereafter To as many as the Lord our God shall effectually call to this Faith to them and to them only doth the promise of Salvation by Christ belong 'T is the command of Christ that all should Believe on him they that do and they only shall be saved by him