Christ. If we would have comfort therefore let us mark the knocking of the spirit and not grieve him by withstanding holy motions and then we shall find him sealing up our salvation witnessing with our spirits that we are the children of God Men you see wait for the wind and not the wind for them otherwise they may wait long enough before they reach home so must we watch the knocking 's of Christ and let him in that his spirit may seal us up to the day of Redemption Thirdly Another thing the true witness of the spirit leaves behind it is Love It makes a man more inflam'd with love to God If a man do not love God more after such an enlightening it is false and counterfeit Psalm 116. I will love thee dearly O Lord my God because thou hast heard my voice And says the Apostle 2 Cor. 5.14 The love of Christ constraineth us And therefore if we be obedient Sons we will shew it in loving and honouring our Father more and more as the Prophet speaks Malach. 6. A Son honoureth his Father and a servant his Master if then I be a Father where is mine honour These are the trials before and after a true illumination to try it from the counterfeit which that we may always find and observe in our selves Let us pray O Lord our God c. FINIS A TABLE TO THE SERMONS A ACceptation and Affiance two acts of Faith 95 Active Obedience See Obedience Aggravations of sin 37 A temporary Believer desires Christ only in Affliction 119 120 Assurance no part of justifying faith 97. It is attainable 150. Why so many Christians want it 141 B. BAptism what it obliges to 23. It hath not its full effect till the day of our death ibid. To believe is a hard matter 22 96 To believe is our duty 88 Five words or Scripture-ways that God uses to perswade sinners to Believe in Christ viz. General Proclamation 86. Special invitations 87. Entreaties 87. Commands 88. Threatnings 89 To Believe is to come to Christ 111 It is exprest by Hungring and Thirsting 113 A Believer's case like the Beggars 114 A true Believer distinguished from a Temporary 1. by the ground of his desires 119. 2. by his desiring Grace as well as Mercy 122. 3. by his Love to God 122 A Believer's privilege 150 C. GOd Calls sinners to Christ by five words 86 Christ's equality with God 68. It renders his Humiliation the greater and more meritorious 68 Christ's Humiliation the extent degrees and particulars of it 69 72. Part of his Humiliation to be God's Servant 74. He was a Servant on earth in respect of men 70. Vsed and valued at the rate of a bondman 71 Christ's sufferings the more meritorious because voluntary 74 Christ's Active Obedience in the course of his life 74. his Humiliation and sufferings from his Conception to his death described 75 c. Christ's death described in the Accursedness of it 78. in the shame of it 78. in the painfulness of it 78 Christ suffered not the pains of Hell proved 80. yet he suffered in his Soul immediately from God 80 Whether Christ takes away all the sins of the world 83 Christ's being offered for us no comfort unless he be offered to us 66 That Christ died sufficiently for all is an improper speech 66 To receive Christ what 84. Christ offered freely 83 86. He that hath a will to receive Christ hath a warrant to receive him 86 Christ the proper and immediate Object of justifying Faith 93. Christ loved and valued above all by true believers 96. Christ and the Cross go together in this life 96 Christ very compassionaee 111 Christ is our peace 149 To be a Christian indeed is no easie maâ—ter 96 Civil Righteousness See Morality Men deceived by Comparing themselves with others 20. and with themselves 20 The Conditions of Faith and Obedience required hinder not the freedom of Gospel Grace 80 92 Confession of sin necessary and why 114 Carnal Confidence as to our spiritual estate dangerous the vain grounds of it discovered 19 Conscience one of the Tormentors in Hell 62 Peace of Conscience See Peace Conviction necessary to Conversion 17 33 Conviction a work of Gods Spirit 109 Two hindrances of Conversion 2 A limited time for it 4 Crucifying a Cursed Shameful Painful death 77. The manner of it 79 The Curse follows sin 40 The Curses attending an unregenerate man in this life 48 c. The Curses on his Soul 51 The Curses at his death 53 Custom in sin hardens the heart 12 D. DAy of grace limited 45 15. The folly and danger of neglecting it 13 Death the wages of sin 45. The comprehensiveness of the word Death 48 Death terrible 45. The terribleness of Bodily Death set forth in three particulars 53 c. What the first and second Death is 48 The Death of Christ described 78 c. Death-bed Repentance See Repentance Deferring Repentance dangerous 7. The reasons of Carnal mens Deferring Râ—pentance 9 c. The vanity of them ibid. Desires after Christ may be stronger in Tâ—mporaries than in true believers 119 120 The Devil takes possession of those whom God leaves 43 44 The Reason of Christians Doubting 141 E WHat use to make of the Doctrine of Election and Reprobation 15 Encouragements for sinners to come to Christ 86 Examination of a mans self See Self-Examination F. FAith why required to the receiving of Christ since he is a free gift 84 Faith consists not in a mans being perswaded that God is his God and that his sins are pardoned 86 91. It s proper and immediate Object is not that forgiveness of sins but Christ 93 Faith must have a ground for it out of the word 91. What Faith justifies 118 c. Faith justifies not as a vertue but in respect of its object 93. Faith justifies not as a Habit but as an act 132. The Acts of Faith 94. By what sins the Acts of Faith are hindred 92. How those obstructions are removed ibid. Faith an instrument to receive Justification not to procure it 135 140 Why Faith chosen for an instrument of justification rather than any othâ—r grace 141. A weak Faith justifies as much as a strong 140. yet a strong Faith is to be laboured for and why 140 How Faith alone justifies 140 Faith may be certainly known There may be Faith where there is no feeling 90 96 113 128. Faith strongest when sense least 147 Encouragements to Faith 86 Carnal Fear its sinfulness and danger 56 57 Men apt to Flatter themselves as to their spiritual estate 18 Five false glasses that cause this self Flattery 18 c. Forgiveness of sins not a distinct thing from Imputation of Righteousness 85 c. Forgiveness is properly of sins past only 125. It is one continued act 131. and therefore may be prayed for by a justified person ibid. Forgiveness frees from guilt and punishment 133 God forsakes none till they forsake him 44 True believers forsake
crucified and God by him We come now to declare 2. The Acts of faith what they are and there is some intricacy in that too There is much ado made in what part and power of the soul faith is We must not proportionate the Act of faith according to our own fancy For it 's no faith but as it hath relation to the Word now look how is the Word presented After you heard the Word of Truth the Gospel of your salvation Now the word is presented under a double respect 1. It s presented Sub ratione veri After you had heard the Word of Truth and there comes in the Vnderstanding 2. Then Sub ratione boni as a good word that so we should lay hold on it and here comes in the Will For the Will we say challenges that which is good for its Object Now the Gospel of salvation is a good Word its glad tydings worthy of all acceptation that Christ Jesus came into the World to save sinners 1 Tim. 1.15 And now as the Word is presented as a good Word so must my Act of faith be answerable unto it See in Heb. 11.13 The act of faith answering hereto These all dyed in faith not having received the Promises What did their faith to them It made them see the Promises afar off and they were perswaded of them and embraced them and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims in the earth So that by comparing place with place it appears that first this Gospel was presented as the word of Truth they were perswaded of it It is the first Act of Faith to perswade men of the truth of the Word and then as it is a good word they embraced it These are the two arms of faith as true it perswades me as good I embrace it We must not now be too curious in bringing in Philosophical Disputes whether one Vertue may reside in two Faculties whether Faith may reside in the Understanding and the Will The truth is these things are not yet agreed upon and shall we trouble our selves with things not yet decided in the Schools as whether the practical Vnderstanding and the Will be distinct faculties or no The Word of God requires that I should believe with my whole heart Act. 8.37 As Philip told the Eunuch If thou believest with all thy heart thou mayest If with the heart but with what faculties may you say Why I tell thee believe with thy whole heart And what shall I piece and divide the heart when the whole is required Now to come to those two The Word is presented 1. As a true Word 2. Then as a good Word a word like Gospel like salvation 1. As a true Word And the Act of faith answering thereto is called in Scripture 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Knowledge and Acknowledgement Tit. 1.1 2 Pet. 1.3 and 2.18 1. Knowledge that is a thing requisite Why because if there be a Remedy able to cure a man's disease if he do not know it what is he the better for it Knowledge is so essential unto Faith that without it there can be no faith In Joh. 17.3 the terms are confounded the one put for the other This is life eternal to know thee to be the true God and whom c. to know thee that is to believe in thee because knowledge is so essential to belief as one cannot be without the other thou canst not believe what thou hast never heard of I know saith Job that my Redeemer liveth that is I believe he liveth Job 19 25. And hereupon it is said in Isa. 53.11 By his knowledge shall my righteous servant justifie many Knowledge is an Act primarily requisite to Faith to be justified by his knowledge is to be justified by faith in his blood This then is the first thing that I know it to be as true as Gospel then comes the acknowledgement 2. The Acknowledgment Joh. 6.69 We know and are assured that thou art that Christ. This is an assurance I say not the assurance of my salvation for that is another kind of thing But an assurance that God will keep touch with c. will not delude me but that if I take his Son I shall have life I shall have his favour When God illuminates me I find all things in him when I have him I am made When the Understanding clearly apprehends this then comes the next word it is the Gospel of salvation there being a knowing and acknowledging the Act of the Understanding then comes the Will and it being 2. Propounded as a good word then follows 1. Acceptation 2. Affiance 1. Acceptation which receives Christ Joh. 1.12 As many as received him to them he gave power to become the sons of God even to them that believe on his name Then a man resolves I will take God on his word and thereupon follows A resting or relying on God which is a proper act of faith I need no other place than Rom. 10.13 Whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved But how shall they call on him on whom they have not believed that is on whom they have not reposed their confidence Mark the Apostle How shall they call on him on whom they have not believed That Faith which was the Antecedent must be in the conclusion therefore our faith is a relying on God and so in this place this trust is made the same with faith as it is in the Text in whom you trusted after you had received the word of Truth for our trust and belief there is the self same word Nimium ne crede colori this Credo is to have a great confidence in fleeting and fading things and so it is in justifying faith With respect to the unshaken truths of the incorruptible and unchangeable Word of his which liveth and abideth for ever 1 Pet. 1.23 If I have a knowledge of God and acknowledgment of him and from my knowing my will is conformed to accept Christ and if when I have accepted him I will not part from him this is faith and if thou hast this faith thou wilt never perish Suppose thou never hadst one day of comfort all thy life long yet my life for thine thou art saved Perhaps by reason of thy ignorance thou hast no feeling yet if thou consent thou art justified it is the consent makes the match If thou consent to the Father and take Christ the Son know it or know it not thou hast him though thou knowest not whether thy sins are forgiven yet as long as thou keepest thy hold all the Devil's temptations shall never drive thee from him thou art justified and in a safe case though ignorance and other things in thee cause thee not to feel it if thou layest hold on him for his sake thou art apprehended Object Now then this is an easie matter you will say Sol. Not so easie a matter as you guess it to be It were
The next action is The pouring out of the wine This is my blood saith Christ Drink you all of this Dost thou see the wine poured out at that very instant consider how much blood Christ spilt how much he poured forth and that not only in the very time of his passion when he hung upon the Cross when the spears pierced his sides when the nails bored and digged his hands and feet But that which he shed in the garden in the cold Winter time when he shed great drops great clots of blood thickest blood that pierc'd his garment and ran down upon the ground Consider how much blood he lost when he was whipped and lashed When the spear came to the very Pericardium thus let us weigh his torments and it will be a means to make us much affected with his sufferings for us But this is not all there is another thing yet in the blood This was but the outward part of his sufferings Yet some there are who are against Christ sufferings in his soul If it were so say they then something either in the sacrifices of the old-Testament or in the new Testament should signifie it What ever such persons object against it I am sure there was as much in the sacrifices of the old Testament as could possibly be in a Type to signifie it Now that I may make this to appear know that in every sacrifice there were two parts or two things considerable and those were the Body and the Blood The whole was to be made a sacrifice viz. both Body and blood the body was to be burned the blood to be poured forth Now nothing in a beast can signifie the sufferings of Christ in soul better then the pouring out of the blood Lev. 17.11 The blood was the life and this is that which had a relation to the soul and was therefore as in the same place appears poured out as an attonement for the soul. And to this in our common prayers there is an allusion viz. Grant us gracious Lord so to eat the flesh of thy dear Son Jesus Christ and to drink his blood that our sinful bodies may be made clean by his body and our souls washed through his most precious blood And in Isa. 53.12 The Metaphor holds He poured out his soul unto death for us So that whatever some have fondly thought its evident and manifest that Christ suffered both in soul and body Both soul and body were made an offering for sin in the fashion of sin who knew no sin I should have gone further but the time cuts me off HEB. 4.16 Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need IN handling heretofore the Doctrine of the conversion of a sinner I declared and shewed you what man's misery was and what that great hope of mercy is that the Lord proposeth to the greatest sinner in the world I shewed unto you â—he means whereby we may be made partakers of Christ and thâ—t waâ— by the grace of faith which doth let fall all other things in a man's self and comes with an open and empty hand to lay hold on Christ and fill it self with him I shewed you also the acts of Faith as it justâ—fies And now because it is a point of high moment wherein all our comfort stands and in which it lies I thought good to resume it all again so far as may concern our practice that we may see what the work of God's Spirit is from the first to the last and the conversion of a sinner from the corruptions and pollutions of the flesh in which he wallowed and to this purpose have I chosen this place of Scripture wherein we are encouraged by God's blessed Word that whatever we are though accursed and the greatest sinners in the world and that whatever we want we should come to God's throne of grace And we are to think that whatever sins are or have been committed and though our sins are never so great yet that they are not so great as the infiniteness of God's mercy especially having such not only an Intercessor but Advocate to plead the right of our cause so that Christ comes and he pleads payment and that however our debts are great and we run far in score yet he is our ransome and therefore now God's justice being satisfied why should not his mercy have place and free course This is the great comfort that a Christian hath that he may come freely and boldly to God because he comes but as for an acquittance of what is already paid As a debtor will appear boldly before his creditor when he knows his debt is discharged he will not then be afraid to look him in the face Now we may come and say Blessed Father the debt is paid I pray give me pardon of my sins give me my acquittance And this is that boldness and access spoken of Rom. 5.2 In whom we have access by faith Now that I may not spend too much time needlesly come we to the ground and matter in the words Wherein there is 1. A preparative for grace 2. The act it self whereby we are made partakers of the grace of God First the preparatives are two The Law and the Gospel and wrought by them The first preparative 1. Wrought by the Law The Law works in a time of great need or rather by the operative power of the Law convincing us of sin we are made sensible of our need and deep poverty This is the first preparative for a man to be brought to see he stands in great need of God's mercy and Christ's blood so that the sinner cries out Lord I stand in great want of mercy His eyes being thus opened he is no longer a stranger at home but he sees the case is wondrous hard with him so that he concludes unless God be merciful unto me in Christ I am lost and undone for ever This is the first preparative and till we come to it we can never approach the throne of grace The second is 2. Wrought by the Gospel I see I stand in great need but by this second preparative we see a Throne of grace set up and that adds comfort unto me If God had only a throne and seat of Justice I were utterly undone I see my debt is extremely great but the Gospel reveals unto me that God of his infinite mercy hath erected a Throne of grace a City of refuge that finding my self in need my soul may fly unto And now to fit us for this God's blessed Spirit works by his Word to open unto us the rigour and strictness of the Law and our wants to enlighten our understandings that we stand in great need to win our affection and open the Gospel and its comforts Therefore first for the time of need The Law reveals unto us our woful condition to be born in sin as the Pharisee said and yet not
in his heart to do it he saith not with Joseph How can I do this great wickedness and sin against my God The other saith I could do this evil well enough but I will not Thou canst not beâ—n those that are evil saith Christ in his Epistle to the Church of Ephesus This was her great commendation Revel 2.2 Now he that is born of God cannot sin there is that seed that spring in him that for his life he cannot sin but it turns his heart from it for his life he cannot tell how to swear lye c. or joyn with others in wickedness but this must be understood of the constant course of their lives I speak not what they may do in temptations when they are surprised but in the course of their lives they commit sin as if they knew not how to do it the other doth it skilfully these coblingly and bunglingly they do it ill-favouredly thus it is with a wicked man in doing a good work he cobles it up This is intimated unto us in the very Phrase of the Apostle Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin It is not the same thing to sin in St. John's acception and to commit sin committing sin is the action of the Artist and Practitioner in the Trade From this the seed of God which abideth in the regenerate secureth him 1 Joh. 3.9 Psal. 32.12 Thy faith then must be a faith that worketh by love Canst thou do those good works thou doest out of love then my soul for thine thou art saved Get me any temporary that loves God and I shall say something to you Hast thou then a faith that causeth thee to love God a working faith and a faith that will not suffer thee to do any thing displeasing to him if thou hast such a faith thou art justified before God 2. And so I come now to the point of justification the greatest of all blessings Blessed is he saith David whose transgression is forgiven and whose sin is covered blessed is the man to whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity It is the most blessed condition that can be it is set down by way of Exclamation O the blessedness of the man to whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity or as the Original imports O the blessedness of the man discharged from sin Here are many blessings conceived in our justification from sin For justification see what it is the Scripture in St. Paul's Epistles speaks of justification by faith and in St James of justification by works Now it will be useful to us in this point to know whence justification comes it comes from justice Tsedeck as the Original hath it and Hitsdiq to justifie so that justification and righteousness depend one upon the other for what is justification but the manifestation of the righteousness that is in a man And therefore in Gal. 3.21 they are put for one the same thing For if there had been a Law given which could have given life verily righteousness had been by the Law that is justification had been by the Law Again If righteousness be by the Law then Christ is dead in vain Gal. 2. that is also if justification had been by the Law c. Justification is a manifestation of righteousness and as many ways as righteousness is taken so many ways is justification which is a declaration of righteousness so that if there be a double righteousness there must be also a double justification Beloved I bring you no new doctrine be not afraid of that but I shew you how to reconcile places of Scripture against the Church of Rome and those things which the Papists bring against us in this point It stands by reason seeing justification is a declaration of righteousness that there must be so many sorts of justification as there be of righteousness Now there is a double sort of righteousness Rom. 8.4 That the righteousness of the Law may be fulfilled in us see then there is a double righteousness there is a righteousness fulfilled in us and a righteousness fulfilled by us that is walking in the Spirit The righteousness fulfilled in us is fulfilled by another and is made ours by imputation so we have a righteousness without us and a righteousness inherent in us the righteousness without us is forgiveness of sins and pardon of them which is a gracious act of God letting fall all actions againsts me and accounting of me as if I had never sinned against him all my life time then there is a righteousness within me an inherent righteousness And if a righteousness then justification for that is but a declaration of righteousness And so that which the Fathers call justification is taken generally for sanctification that which we call justification they call forgiveness of sins that which we call sanctification they call justification so that the difference is only in the terms Justification we must know is not taken only as opposed to condemnation which is the first kind of righteousness Rom. 6.7 He that is dead is freed from sin if you look to the Greek or to the Margent it is he that is dead is justified from sin This is not took in the first sense as opposed to condemnation but in the other sense as it hath relation to final grace The perfection of sanctification is wrought in me for where there is final grace there is a supersedeas from all sin so Rev. 22.11 Let him that is righteous be righteous still the Greek is let him that is righteous be justified still See then the difference between St. Paul and St. James St. Paul speaks of that which consists in remission of sins as in comparing the Apostle with David will appear Blessed is the man whose sins are forgiven St. James speaks of justification in the second acception You need not fly to that distinction of justification before God and justification before men Think not that St. James speaks only of justification before men Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up Isaac on the Altar What justified by killing his Son this was a proper work indeed to justifie him before man to be a parricide to kill his son though it were not so before God So Psal. 106. we read how God accounted the act of Phineas for righteousness Thus you see how works are accounted righteousness in the second kind of righteousness In the former righteousness we are justified by faith for in righteousness inherent there is goodly chain of vertues Add to your faith vertue c. add one grace to another Add to vertue knowledge Faith is but one part of the Crown Now this justification in the first sense whereby my sins are forgiven is called the righteousness of God because of Christ which is God because it is wrought by Christ Dan. 9. he is called an everlasting righteousness which continueth for ever world without end for do not think the Saints in heaven have only the second kind
to him for righteousness But doth God justifie the ungodly that 's a hard speech we read in the Proverbs 17.15 He that justifieth the wicked and condemneth the just even they both are abomination to the Lord. But here we must understand this as we do some other Scriptures we read in S. Luke 7.22 that the blind see the lame walk the dumb speak It 's impossible for a man to be blind and see to be dumb and speak all at once yet take the chief of sinners suppose Paul and he was so in his own account but the act of justification alters him God justifies the ungodly that is him that was even now so but by the imputation of Christ's righteousness he is made righteous that is righteous in God's account And indeed justification in S. Paul's acception importing the remission of sins the person justified must of necessity be supposed to have been a sinner otherwise remission of sins would no more concern him than repentance doth the holy Angels which never offended But in proceeding in this point I did reflect a little back God finds a man with a number of sins full of sin and forgives these sins now I demanded this how far doth this justification and forgiveness extend to sins past alone or to sins past and to come And I answered that we must consider this matter two ways First to justifie a mans person simply and then to justifie a man from this or that particular act The phrase is used in Scripture Acts 13.39 And by him all that believe are justified from all things from which ye could not be justified by the Law of Moses There is justification from this or that thing There is first Justification of a man's person he that was an enemy is now made a friend he is now no longer a stranger at home but is in the list of God's houshold Now this we say no sooner doth a man receive it but the self-same hour that he receiveth it the bond is cancell'd the evidence is torn and fastened to the Cross of Christ and hangs up among the Records whereas before it was an evidence against us and would have lain heavy on us at the bar but now it is fastened to the Cross as a cancell'd Record the bond is become void Secondly but now when we consider justification from this or that particular act I declared that so a man is only justified from sins past for it is contrary to reason and Scripture that a man should be justified from sins to come For Scripture the Apostle hath it Rom. 3.25 Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past through the forbearance of God and it is clear also from the nature of the thing A thing cannot be remitted before it be committed nor covered before it had an existence nor blotted out before it be written Therefore justification from such or such a fault must have relation to that which is past but for justification for the time to come I will speak anon there I left the last time I have now faith and I believe in Christ I have now relation to him and remission of sins past But why then do I pray for it to what end is that Bellarmine objects that it is an act of infidelity to pray for it afterwards but we do it and we ought to do it see Psal. 51. David made that Psalm after the Prophet Nathan had told him his sin was pardoned See the title of it and we must know that the title is a part of God's word as well as the rest A Psalm of David when Nathan came unto him after he had gone in unto Bathsheba Nathan told him that God had took away his sin Yet he cryeth here throughout the whole Psalm to have his sin pardoned and blotted out so that though there were faith and assurance yet he still prays for it Now Bellarmine saith this cannot be but doth he dispute against our opinion no he disputes against the Holy Ghost for David having received a message of forgiveness yet prays Therefore if the Jesuit had grace he would joyn with us to salve the matter rather than through our sides to strike at God But it is a Fallacy to joyn these two together for a man to pray for a thing past it is an act of infidelity as to pray that God would create the world and incarnate his Son I answer there is difference between an act done and an act continued when the World was made by God God had finished that work And when Christ took our flesh upon him the act was done but the forgiveness of sin is a continued act which holds to day and to morrow and world without end God is pleased not to impute thy sins but cover them Now this covering is no constant act but upon a supposition of constant indulgence which ought to be solicited by constant prayer I may cover a thing now and uncover it again now forgiveness of sin being an act not complete but continued and continued world without end and therefore we say the Saints in Heaven are justified by imputative righteousness God's continuance of his act of mercy The point then is this As long as we continue in the world and by contrary acts of disobedience continue to provoke God to discontinue his former acts of mercy and our sins being but covered therefore so long must we pray for forgiveness When the servant had humbled himself before his Lord it is said The Lord of that servant loosed him and forgave him the debt Mat. 18.27 But though he forgave him yet he did another act that caused his Lord to discontinue his pardon Matth. 18.33 Shouldst not thou also have had compassion on thy fellow-servant as I had pity on thee He had pity on him yet since he doth another act which turns his Lord's heart against him therefore he is now cast into prison and he must not come out thence till he hath paid the utmost farthing He had forgave him to day and to morrow and would have continued his forgiveness if he had not thus provoked him we must pray to God to continue his acts of mercy because we continually provoke him by new acts of rebellion Add to this The King grants a pardon to a man In all Patents of pardon there is a clause that the man must renew his Patent If forgiveness may be renewed then those things are to be renewed again by which the renovation of my remission may be wrought God would have me renew my acts of faith and if of faith why not of repentance and of prayer There is a singular place in Ezek. 36.29 35 37. that makes it plain That though God intends to do the thing yet he appoints this to be the means Thus saith the Lord God I will yet for this be enquired of by the house of Israel to
do it for them i.e. though I have done it and intend to do it yet will I do it by the means of prayer Howsoever that God had promised Eliah that rain should come upon the face of the earth yet he goes upon the Mount and saw no shew of a cloud The Text saith not what he did but he put his head between his knees Saint James saith he prayed and â—he opened Heaven and brought down rain It was an humble secret gesture A man may be more free in private than in publick He prayed and the heavens opened God had promised it and would do it but yet he would be sought to So we see the mediate cause is prayer so though the Lord will do this yet for all this he will be enquired of It is not with God as with men men who have promised would be loth to be sued to not to break their promise they account that a dishonour to them but it is not so with God God hath promised yet thou shalt have no benefit of it until thou sue to him for it therefore thou must go to God and say Lord fulfil thy promise to thy servant wherein thou hast caused me to trust God loves to have his bond sued out Lord make good this word perform that good word that thou hast spoken God would have his bond thus sued out And as thy faith repentance prayer is renewed so is thy pardon renewed When God will make a man possess the sins of his youth when a man is careless this way it pleaseth God to awaken him Thou writest bitter things against me and makest me to possess the iniquity of my youth Job 13.26 When a man forgetteth the iniquities of his youth and reneweth not his repentance and hath not new acts of faith and petition then God maketh him to possess the iniquities of his youth he makes his sins stand up and cry out against him and by this means his old evidences are obliterated When a man hath a pardon and it 's almost obliterated the letters almost worn out that they cannot be read he would be glad to have it renewed to have a new exemplification Every sin it puts a great blur upon thine old evidences that thou canst not read them They may be firm in Heaven and yet perhaps be so blurr'd that thou canst not read them and therefore if thou wouldst get them clear'd again thou must go to God by prayer and renew them again so that whether our evidences be blur'd or whether it be that God will make us possess the iniquities of our youth it is necessary to pray for the forgiveness of those sins which have been before forgiven But now you will say when I have sinned afterward how come I then to be justified Then a man would think repentance only doth it and without repentance a man cannot be justified But you must understand repentance is not an instrument at all faith only is the instrument faith justifyeth me from sin hereafter as well as before The case is this faith brings lifâ— The righteous shall live by his faith as the Prophet Habakkuk speaks 2.4 What do then new sins do There are two sorts of sins one of ordinary incursion which cannot be avoided these break no friendship betwixt God and us these only weaken our faith and make us worse at ease But there are other sins which waste a mans conscience A man that hath committed murder adultery and lives in covetousness which in the Apostles is Idolatry as long as a man is in this case he cannot exercise the acts of faith we must know faith justifieth not as an habit but as an act applying Christ to the comfort of the soul. Now a wasting sin it stops the passage of faith it cannot act till it be opened by repentance Physicians give instances for it Those that have Apoplexies Epilepsies and the Falling sickness are thought to be dead for the time as it was with Eutichus yet saith Saint Paul his spirit was in him Act. 20.13 Every one thought him dead yet his spirit is in him however in regard of the operation of his senses it did appear he was dead So if thou art a careless man and lookst not to thy watch and to thy guard but art overtaken in some gross and grievous sin thou art taken for dead I say not a man can lose his life that once hath it but yet in the apprehension of others and of himself too he may appear to be dead As in Epilepsies the nerves are hindred by obstructions so sin obstructs the nerves of the soul that there cannot be that life and working till these sins be removed Now what is repentance why it clears the passages that though faith could 〈◊〉 before yet now it gives him dispositions unto it As a man in a 〈◊〉 cannot do the acts of a living man till he be refreshed again so 〈◊〉 its repentance which clears the spirits and makes the life of faith pass throughout Now when repentance clears the passages then faith acts and now there is a new act of faith faith justifies me from my new sins faith at first and at last is that whereby I am justified from my sins which I commit afterwards But this forgiveness of sins what doth it free us from In sin we must consider two things the fault and the punishment Now consider sin as it is in it self and as it respects the sinner as acted by him as respecting the fault of the sinner it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a transgression of the Law The punishment is death as it respects the sinner it is guilt The sin is not guilt but the guilt the sinners For instance a man that hath told a lye or sworn an oath the act is past but a thing remains which we call the guilt At if a man commit murder or adultery the act is past but yet if he sleep or walk or wake the guilt follows him If he live an hundred years he is a murderer still and an adulterer still the guilt follows him and nothing can take away the murder or adultery from the soul but the blood of Christ applied by faith First God takes away the punishment There is now saith the Apostle no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus who walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit Rom. 8.1 what nothing in him worthy condemnation God knows we are worthy of a thousand condemnations There are two Judges there is a double guilt when a man is brought to the bar first the Jury judge the fact and then the Judge that sits on the Bench he judgeth the punishment one saith guilty or not guilty The other saith guilty then he judgeth him Now when we are justified we are freed from both these guilts sin when it is accomplish't it bringeth forth death Jam. 1.15 You know the natural work of sin 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it labours with death now God will stop the acts
all for Christ 96 97 Free grace in bringing sinners to Christ 84 No Free will to good 86 G. TO be given up to our selves a more fearful thing than to be given up to Satan 44 52 The Gospel not seasonable nor savoury till the Law hath been preached 33. How the Gospel differs from the Law 36 The fulness and freedom of the Grace of the Gospel not hindred by the conditions of Faith and Obedience 84 85 Guilt of sin taken away in Justification 133 134 H. HArdness of heart a hindrance to Conversion 2 3 Hell for whom provided 56 Hell described 157 c. That Christ suffered not the pains of Hell proved 80 Christians rejoyce in Hope 151 The Humiliation of Christ v. Christ. I. IMputation of Righteousness See Righteousness To be given up to Insensibleness a woful thing 52 53 Joy in the sense of God's love surpasseth all worldly joy 98. It is attainable ibid. The reason why many believers are strangers to it 98. Some Joy may be in a Temporary 121. How to try true Joy 151. Means to get it 151 152 Justification what it signifies 123. How the Fathers used the Word 123. Justification one simple act of God 124 How we are said to be justified by Faith and how by Christ's blood 93 134 In what sense we are Justified by Faith according to Paul and in what sense by Works according to James 124 Impossible to be justified but by imputed Righteousness 125 129 130. In the instant of Justification no sins are remitted but those that are past 130. A twofold Justification 127 Why a justified person may and must pray for the remission of sins past 131 Justification frees from the punishment and guilt too 133 134 Justification confounded by the Papists with sanctification 125. The difference between them 135 137 No Justification before Faith 142 How we are Justified by Faith alone 141 Judgment in Scripture sometime taken for Righteousness inherent 139 How men are deceived in Judging of of their spiritual estate 18 K. KNowledge one act of Faith 95 L. THe use of the Law 33 65 112 It is necessary to be preached before the Gospel 33 112 Men are under the Law till they come to Christ 35. how fearful a thing it is to be under the Law 35 36. the difference between the Law and the Gospel in three particulars 36 Love of God twofold 91. No temporary believer loves God 123 To be given up to our own Lusts a more fearful thing than to be given up to Satan 43 44 M WAnt of Meditation one cause most believers have so little joy in God 98 Mistakes in judging our spiritual estates See Judging Morality too much trusted to 21. It 's insufficient to bring men to heaven ibid. N. NAtural reason not to be trusted to 21. Too short to convince of sin throughly 22 Mans condition by Nature described 25. The Natural man dead in sin 29. His best works cannot please God and why 29.30 The Curses attending a Natural man in this world 49 c. Two blows that God gives a Natural mans soul in this life the one sensible 51. the other insensible 52. The Curses attending him at Death 53 c. O. CHrists active Obedience mixed with his passive 73 Wherein his active Obedience consisted 74 c. Wherein his passive 75 Partial Obedience a false glass to judge our estates by 21 To design only our Old age for God is dishonourable to him 9 10 Old age most unfit for Repentance 11 12 Men apt to have too good Opinion of themselves 17. The causes of it 1â— c. Men deceived in judging of their estates by the good Opinions of others 19 P. PArtial Obedience see Obedience Passive Obedience see Obedience Peace a fruit of Faith 143 147. Why many Christians want the sense of it 143 144 147 The differences between a true and a false Peace 148 The Causes of a Carnal Peace 147 148 Christ is our Peace 149 Spirit of Prayer what 115 116 1. The Importunity and efficacy of it 116 Why a person already justified may and must Pray for the forgiveness of sins past 130 131 R. NAtural Reason see Natural To Receive Christ what 85 What Reformation may be in a natural man 120 121 Repentance prevents ruine 3 Repentance not in our own power but in Gods gift 6. The sinfulness of deferring it 5 Death-bed Repentance the hindrances of it 13. Not to be trusted to 14. Hard to prove it sound 14 Superficial Repentance is vain 24 Repentance in what respects necessary to justification 132 Remission of sin See Forgiveness Resting or Relying upon God a proper Act of Faith 96 Righteousness two fold 123 129 Imputative Righteousness what it is 125 129. Impossible to be justified without it and why 129 130 S Sanctification a distinct thing from Justification 127 Satan See Devil A difficult thing to be Saved 22. Sealing a distinct thing from Faith 137. The Causes of Security 149. Self-Examination necessary to Conversion 17. a mark of a sound believer 128. Self flattery See flattery Self-Love how it deceives men in judging their estates 18. Sin continued in hastens Gods judgements 2.3 Sin compared to a weight 11. to Cords 12 Sin gets strength by continuance 12. The Sinfulness of Sin set forth in 6. considerations 37.38 c. The dreadful fruits and consequence of Sin It pollutes the Soul 41. It makes men loathsom to God 42 It brings the Devil into the heart 43. It calls for wages 45. The greatness of Sin should be no bar against believing in Christ 85. No Sin overtops the value of Christs blood ibid. Encouragements for Sinners to come to Christ 85. Sin not discovered throughly but by the spirit 109 Sin may be cast away and yet no true Conversion 121 Sin is only a Privation and no positive being 124 Sins not pardoned before they be committed 115. The guilt and punishment of Sin taken away in Justification 133 Spirit of Bondage what 109 Spirit of Prayer see Prayer T. A Temporary Faith how far it may go 117 c. How to know it from true faith 120 Temporary Believers desire Christ only in affliction 120. They do but only tast of Christ 121. They desire mercy but not grace 122. They do nothing out of love to God 122 The sinfulness of thoughts 42 The end of Gods Threatnings 3 U. UNregenerate Men See Natural Our unworthiness should not keep us from coming to Christ. 84 W. THe Will wrought by God as well as the deed 112. The Will more than the Deed 112. How God takes the Will for the deed 113 He that hath a Will to receive Christ hath a warrant to receive him 86 God alone enclines the Will to receive Christ ibid. A woful thing to be suffered by God to have our own Wills in this world 66 Our Wills must be crossed here or for ever hereafter ibid. The Willingness of Christs sufferings rendred them the more meritorious 74 The Word presented to our faith
of righteousness for they have the same covering by justication by Christ in heaven that they had before God covers their sins not here only but there also justification follows them for ever Quest. But now what parts hath justification in it we are wont to say that there are two parts one imputation of righteousness the other forgiveness of sins Sol. I answer for my own part I think Justification is one simple act of God and that it is improperly distinguished as parts but rather as terminus a quo is distinct from terminus ad quem And this I shall shew unto you both by reason and authority that faith is but one act Let none say that I take away the imputation of the righteousness of Christ No the bringing in of light and the expulsion of darkness is not two acts but one but there is terminus à quo and terminus ad quem We are accounted righteous and that is we have our sins forgiven And the reason is this if sin were a positive thing and had a being in it self then the forgiveness of sin must be a thing distinct from the imputation of righteousness Scholars know the difference between adversa and privantia white and black are both existent but darkness and light are not but only a privation one of another Darkness is nothing of it self but the absence of light The bringing in of light is the suppression of it You must understand sin hath no being no entity it is only an absence of righteousness the want of that light which should be in the subject Which want is either in our nature and then it is called original or in our person and actions and then it is called actual transgression Sin is an absence of that positive being which is as I said either in our nature or works Then thus I will resolve you in another point viz. If sin were a positive thing all the world cannot avoid it but God must be the Author of it for there is nothing can have a being but it must derive its being from the first being God Now how can we avoid God's being the Author of sin Why thus It is nothing But what is sin nothing Will God damn a man and send him to hell for nothing I answer it is not such a nothing as you make it a man is not damned for nothing It is a nothing privative an absence of that that should be and that a man ought to have As when a Scholar is whipped for not saying his lesson is he whipped think you for nothing Indeed he hath nothing he cannot say a word of his lesson and therefore it is he is whipped it is for a thing he ought to have and hath not Well if you will say there are two parts of justification do if you please but this I take to be the more proper and genuine explanation Besides it appears by testimony of the Apostle Rom. 4.6 As David describeth the blessedness of the man to whom the Lord imputeth righteousness without works c. Saying blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven and whose sins are covered The Apostle cites the Prophet David Psal. 32. Mark the Apostle's conclusion and how he proves it His conclusion is That man is blessed unto whom the Lord imputeth righteousness without works His argument then must needs be thus framed He whom God forgives is blessed But Him to whom God imputeth righteousness without works God forgives Therefore he is blessed Now how could this assumption hold if imputation of righteousness and remission of sins were two distinct acts for not imputing righteousness is not to bring in a light which keeps out darkness But observe the Apostle to the Colossians and Ephesians makes this forgiveness of sins the whole work nay foundation of our redemption But here remember I deny not the imputation of righteousness for that is the foundation of the other here is the point How is Christ's righteousness imputed to me that positive thing which expels the other Not so as if Christ's righteousness were in me subjectively for it was wrought by his passion as well as his action The Apostle calls it faith in his blood by faith in Christ Christ's passive obedience is imputed to me What do you think the meaning is that God doth esteem me as if I had hanged on the Cross and as if I had my side pierced No that would not stead me or do me any good that which was meritorious and singular in him did reach to us So that the meaning is this as it is in the Articles of the Church of England That we are accounted righteous before God only for the merit of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ by faith and not for our own works and deservings that is for the merits of Jesus Christ God is well pleased with the obedience of his Son both active and passive He is so far satisfied as that he takes us to be in that state for his sake as if we had fulfilled all his Laws and never broken them at any time and as if we owed him not a farthing This is imputative righteousness however the Papists may scoff at it And this kind of justification must of necessity be by imputation Why because when a man hath committed a sin it cannot be undone again God by his absolute power cannot make a thing done undone for it implies a contradiction The act past cannot be revoked nor the nature thereof changed murther will be murther still c. How then can I be justified the sin being past and the nature of it still remaining I say how can I be justified in the first sense any other way than by imputation It is said in 2 Cor. 5.19 God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself not imputing their trespasses unto them c. This kind of justification which consists in remission of sins cannot be imputative sin cannot be changed nor the thing done undone But now cometh a greater question if by justification our sins be forgiven us what sins are forgiven I pray sins past or sins to come we are taught by some that in the instant of justification all our sins past and to come are remitted which is in my mind an unsound doctrine For if we look narrowly into it we shall find that in propriety of speech remission of sins hath relation to that which is past it is said therefore Rom. 3.25 Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past through the forbearance of God And remission of sins hath relation to those that are past as appears by inevitable reason for what is remission of sins but sin covered Now can a thing be covered before it be blot out mine iniquities c. Psal. 51.1 saith David can a thing be blotted out before it is written this is the thing makes the Pope so ridiculous that
he will forgive sins for the time before they are committed but what do we get nothing for the time to come yes yes when the sin is past by faith we have a new access unto God and having risen by repentance we get a new act not of universal justification but of a particular justification from this and that particular sin But if there be forgiveness of sins past already and I know that I am justified and my sin remitted may I now pray for forgiveness of sins past The Papists say it is active infidelity and as absurd as to pray to God to create the world anew or incarnate his Son again But there is no remission where there is no praying and there is need of praying for the remission of sins past and against sin for the time to come as I shall shew next time as also consider whether there be any interruption of the act of justification by falling into great sins There is no man hath a mind more against quierks and quillets than I yet for the opening of these things and staying and setling the mind and clearing the understanding give me leave the next time to clear these things unto you ROM 5.1 Therefore being justified by faith we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ c. IN this Chapter especially in the beginning thereof I shewed unto you that the Apostle sets down unto us those special comforts that a man receives after God hath wrought that supernatural grace of faith in his heart so that here is set down The Mother-Grace Justification by faith and then the blessed issues or daughters thereof and those are a free access to God a joyful hope of the glory to come and not only a patient but a joyful suffering of all afflictions that shall befall us in this life Concerning justification by faith I laboured to open it unto you the last day three things may well be considered therein 1. What that faith is whereby we are justified 2. What that justification is we have by faith 3. What relation the one of these hath to the other Concerning the first of these I told you that it was not every faith that justifieth nor every kind of faith that a man can live by There is a dead faith and a man cannot live by a dead thing And there is a living faith and that is called a faith unfeigned And though it be in Scripture called the faith yet it is with some restriction it is the faith of God's elect and common to none besides There is a faith also which is but temporary that being touch'd with the sense of sin and seeing there is no deliverance from the curse due to sin but by Christ and that there is no part to be had in Christ but by renouncing all corruptions the consideration of the desperateness of his case without Christ makes him long after him and since he cannot have Christ without leaving sin he will resolve on that too he will make towards Christ and perhaps he comes to taste of the sweetness of Christ and feels the power of the world to come he forsakes sin and thereby comes so near the true believer that a man must as it were cut a hair to divide between them And this is a thing very necessary to be considered of And I shewed unto you also that these are not moral things not a faith that is wrought by the power of men but by a work of God's Spirit for it humbles a man for sin and makes him make toward Christ and seek him above all things and having laid some hold on him he escapes the pollutions of the world and yet this faith is but temporary a thing supernatural it is yet it is without root Now as I noted unto you this is not different in the circumstance of time for time alters not the thing A child that liveth but half an hour doth as properly and truly live as one that liveth a hundred years But it is called temporary not that therein stands the difference but therein it is shewn and that proves the man to have something wanting Our being united to Christ and being nigh unto him is as a graft or scyons put into a Tree there are two grafts put into one stock and each of them have all the several things necessary done unto them as cutting binding c. yet time discovers that the one thrives and the other withers so that there was a fault unseen though he that put in the graâ—â—s never saw it yet time discovers it Now the difference is not in the time but in the foundation of the thing it sâ—lf Now what the difference is between these I laboured to declare unto you the last day The use of it is in brief this faith I mean the sâ—und faith is not in all these All have not faith the faith I say of God's 〈◊〉 yet some come so near and have faith so like it that it will trouble a wiâ—â— man to make the distinction These are like the foolish Virgins that lived very civilly and kept their maiden-heads in regard of the world none could accuse them for any evil they had done yet they are at length shut out Many think themselves in a good way and a safe condition yea and go out of the world in this conceit and think they are entring into the gate of Heaven till they in a moment are cast down to hell Try we therefore search and sift our selves if this grace were as grass that grows in every field it were something but it is a precious flower which if we have not Christ prefiteth us nothing This is the means of Christs being applied unto thee how doth it therefore behove every one of us to look to it and not to slubber over the matter slightly but to search and try and examine our selves And in the marks I shewed before that it was such a thing as may be likened to a conception which never comes to the birth such a thing is this temporary faith Among others let me add the tokens of love it is twice set down in the Galatians neither circumcision nor uncircumcision c. but faith which worketh by love and again neither circumcision c. but the new creature They that have a temporary faith want nothing but the new creature what 's that it's faith that worketh by love They that love God it 's a sure token that God hath loved them first and God never giveth this love to any but they have faith unfeigned The next thing is he is ever careful to try himself to prove himself The temporary cannot endure to be brought to the touch or trial He accounts every beginning of grace in himself very great every Mole-hill to be a Mountain Now God's children know that they may be deceived with counterfeits and therefore they try themselves Mark the speech of the Apostle 1 Cor. 16.5 Examine your selves prove your own