Mark 16.15 16. 2 Thes 1.10 and 2.13 And it is no marvail the same Faith should be thus diversly exprest since a believing of any one of these includes in it a belief of them all and so does a belief of the Resurrection of Christ by which this Faith is also somtimes described Rom. 10.9 For he that believes the Record of God concerning Christ cannot but believe him to be the Son of God because that is the thing which the Father Almighty hath more than once testified by a voice from Heaven Mat. 3.17 and 17.5 And he who believes Christ to be the Son of God must needs believe his doctrine which is the Gospel to be true As on the other hand whoever believes the Gospel must needs believe Christ to be the Son of God because it testifies so much of him and likewise because it sets forth those many stupendious Miracles which he wrought and how the ancient predictions of the Prophets concerning the Messias were fulfilled in him and also his Miraculous Resurrection from the dead by all which he is demonstrated to be the Son of God Now then whosoever rightly believes the doctrine of our Saviour contained in the Gospel and of his Apostles concerning him do believe that he died for our sins and rose again and that repentance or amend ment of life and obedience to the Precepts of our Saviour are indispensibly necessary to the obtaining of remission of sin and eternal Life by his Death Resurrection and Intercession And the reason hereof is because these things are declared to be so in that Gospel which is so believed And therefore whosoever does believe he shall be saved by Christs death from the wrath to come though he does not truly and sincerely make it his business to amend his life according to the Precepts of our Saviour believes not the Gospel but believes that which is a flat contradiction to it and is like those of whom the Apostle says they profess that they know God but in works they deny him Tit. 1.16 Or if any man should believe this amendment of life to be necessary to the obtaining Remission of sin and Salvation by the death of Christ Yet what would this belief avail him if he himself should not by this belief become a new man in holiness righteousness and sobriety of living It is not any mans believing the most important and concerning truth that will avail him before God further than it tends to make him better to make him a good man The Devils we find confessed Christ saying thou art Christ the Son of God Luke 4.41 the same form of words almost verbatim in which the Apostles of our Saviour made confession of their Faith John 6.69 And St. James saith the Devils believe and tremble Chap. 2.19 But what are they the better for it so long as they retain the same devilish nature which they had before Nor can we say that mens Faith will any more save them than the Devils Faith saves Devils whatever it is which is believed unless that belief makes them better men in heart and Life If a man believe aright and understands what it is he believes he can hardly be any more careless of acting according to his belief than he is careless of obtaining the pardon of his sin and the Salvation of his Soul A right saving belief of the Gospel then hath in it the spirit and seed of a good life it hath in it virtually and potentially all pious and vertuous actions And all pious and vertuous actions that proceed from Faith are as I may so say but Faith diversified in several acts and are a part of Faith as the fruit that grows upon a Tree is part of the Tree And to make this appear in some instances all those noble and generous acts of the Patriarchs and other Worthies mentioned in Hebrews the 11th Chapter did all grow out of their Faith for by Faith they did them all All the good report which they obtained upon account of their Heroick actions is attributed to their Faith by which they did atchieve them these all having obtained a good report through Faith c. Ver. 39. More particularly the Author of this Epistle to the Hebrews in Ver. 5. of this 11th Chapter proves that it was by Faith that Enoch was translated because he had this testimony that before he was translated he pleased God or walked with God as his History relates it Gen. 5. which as he shews was impossible for him to have done if he had not had Faith for saith he without Faith it is impossible to please God So that we see the same thing is attributed to the Righteousness of his life in walking with God as is to his Faith which produced that effect viz. that thereby he pleased God And so it is said of Noah Ver. 7. that by faith he being warned of God of things not seen as yet moved with fear prepared an Ark to the saving of his house by which action of his in conjunction with his Faith he became heir of the Righteousness which is by Faith It is said of Abraham also Ver. 17. that by Faith he offered up Isaac And it is said by St. James that by this good work of his the fruit of his Faith among others he was Justified Jam. 2.21 And not only so but that therein the Scripture was fulfilled which saith Abraham believed God and it was counted to him for Righteousness Ver. 23. which shews that when the Scripture saith Gen. 15.6 that Abrahams believing God was counted to him for Righteousness it was meant of his Faith as it was a vital principle of sincere obedience to God in whatever he commanded him else that Scripture would not have been fulfilled in Abrahams offering up Isaac and in his being justified thereby as well as by his Faith The like is said of Rahab that by faith she perished not with them that believed not when she had received the spies in peace Heb. 11.31 And St. James saith that she was Justified by this work which was the fruit of her Faith Jam. 2.25 So that we see in the Scripture-notion of Faith to have Faith counted to us for Righteousness and to have acts of obedience proceeding from Faith to be counted for Righteousness in conjunction with the Faith it self is the same thing And to be Justified by Faith and to be Justified by those acts of obedience which are the issue of Faith in conjunction with the Faith it self is still the same thing in the sense of holy Scripture All this is to shew what and what manner of Faith it is that is the condition on the which pardon of sin and eternal Life are promised in the Gospel-Covenant and by which we are Justified and which is counted for Righteousness And for our greater confirmation in this and to shew further that no Faith can entitle us to the promises of the Covenant the promise of pardon and the promise of
eternal Life but such a practical Faith as I have described consider these following particulars 1. If none can be pardoned but such as repent nor see the Kingdom of God except they be born again as the Scripture assures us they cannot then no Faith can entitle us to Pardon and Salvation as it is a fulfilling the condition of the promises of the Covenant but such as is a penitential regenerating Faith such as works repentance and regeneration in men nor till it hath wrought these effects at least as begun I cannot imagine what can be said with any shew of reason against this argument 2. St. James argues that Faith which hath not works cannot save Ver. 12. and concludes his reasoning Ver. 24. with saying Ye see then how that by Works a man is Justified and not by Faith only 3. Faith and Obedience are so much the same or at least so inseparable when saving as that the same Greek word is indifferently translated to believe or to obey and so on the contrary the same word is translated unbelief or disobedience Instances of this nature you have in Acts 5.36 Rom. 11.30 31. Ephes 5.6 Heb. 4.11 and 11.31 in all which you have the same word translated one way in the line reading and another in the margin And belief and disobedience are likewise opposed to each other as contraries as well as faith and unbelief are and as well as obedience and disobedience are as you may see for instance in Rom. 10.16 1 Pet. 2.7 2 Thes 2.12 By all which we may reasonably judg that when Faith only is mentioned as the condition on which pardon and eternal Life are promised yet then it is to be understood of a practical obediential Faith 4. The same benefits pardon of sin and eternal Life are promised upon the condition of obedience in some Scriptures which are promised on condition of believing in others As for instance If we walk in the light as he is in the light we have fellowship one with another and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin 1 John 1.7 Here assurance is given us of being purged from the guilt of sin by the blood of Christ in case we walk in the light as God is in the light labouring to be holy as God is holy in all manner of conversation And Christ is the Author of eternal Salvation to all them that obey him Heb. 5.9 And blessed are they that do his Commandments that they may have right to the Tree of Life and may enter through the gates into the City Revel 22.14 Not every one that saith Lord Lord shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven but he that doth the will of my Father which is in Heaven Mat. 7.21 Now if holy obedience be made the condition of the promise of Pardon and Life as well as Faith as we see it is then none but an obediential Faith can be a performance of the condition of that promise By an obediential Faith I mean such a Faith as by which a man is moved and inclined and in some sort enabled to do what is his present duty so far as he understands it to be so And in this sense a mans Faith and his obedience are of the same date and commence together And therefore it is no marvel that the same promise of the same benefits is made to the one which is made to the other and that both are joyned in the condition 5. In Heb. 8.10 11 12. where we have the tenour of the new Covenant declared God promiseth to be a God only to such and to forgive the iniquities only of such as have his Law put into their minds and written in their hearts Where Faith is not at all mentioned as the condition of receiving those benefits but the having the Law written in the heart Though the having the Law written in the heart supposeth Faith I grant as a productive cause of it yet we see it is not the condition of the promised benefits otherwise than as it produceth such an effect which effect is only here mentioned and not Faith which is the cause 6. When saving Faith is described by the nature of its operation upon a man himself and not only as it acteth upon its object without him then we are told it purifieth the heart Act. 15.9 worketh by love Gal. 5.6 overcometh the world 1 John 5.4 and sanctifieth the whole man Acts 26.18 And therefore we have no good reason to think Faith is a fulfilling the condition of the promise only as it acteth upon its object by way of credence or assent or affiance either without its transforming operation upon the Soul 3. The next thing to be enquired into is the reason why Faith is made the condition of the promises of the Gospel-Covenant And the reasons hereof seem to be such as these 1. Faith is made the condition of the promise that it might appear to be of grace that such promise is made and made upon such a condition as faith is St. Paul having spoken of the promise being made through the Righteousness of Faith and not through the Righteousness of the Law Rom. 4.13 He gives the reason of it Verse 16. when he says It is therefore of Faith that it might be by grace to the end the promise might be sure to all the seed not to that only which is of the Law but to that also which is of the Faith of Abraham In which words we have a general reason why Faith is made the condition of the Promise and that is that it might be by Grace And another is given in a particular instance viz. that the promise might be sure to all the seed There is a double reason why it must needs be of Grace that the great Promises of the Gospel are made to mens believing the Gospel The one is taken from the nature of the thing that is of Faith it self in reference and relation to its object For he that believes the Gospel believes that the great blessings and benefits promised therein are promised not for any merit of his to whom they are promised but for the sake of another to wit Christ Jesus whom God hath set forth for a propitiation through faith in his blood Rom. 3.25 And he that believes the Gospel according to what it reveals believes also that it was of Grace that he was thus made a propitiation for it was by the Grace of God that he tasted death for every man Heb. 2.9 Not by works of Righteousness which we have done but according to his mercy he saved us Tit. 3.5 And whoever believes all this exalts the grace of God in so believing St. Paul who believed and taught this in opposition to the misbelieving Jews who thought to be justified by the works of the Law without the death of the Messias to obtain that and all other benefits said I do not frustrate the grace of God for if righteousness come
receive their strength from Faith in one respect as they do from the goodness of the nature of God and his veracity in another I have intimated before that it is from an apprehension which men have of Gods willingness to be reconciled to them that inclines them to be reconciled to him While men look upon God as a resolved irreconcileable enemy to them well they may dread him as the Devils do but cannot love him nor be reconciled to him no more perhaps than the Devils can All the good thoughts of God as of one that delights not in our destruction but concerns himself for our salvation and which any way incline us to be reconciled to him take their rise from those declarations which God hath made to us of his willingness and desire to be reconciled to us upon supposition of our willingness to be reconciled to him Hence it is that we are said to love God because he first loved us 1 John 4.19 and to be reconciled to God by the death of his Son because God thereby commended his love to us while we were yet sinners and gave us an ample and full proof of his willingness to be reconciled to us as making way thereby for it Rom. 5.8 9 10. And thus God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself by assuring us of a readiness in him to be reconciled to us and not to impute to us our trespasses supposing still that we refuse not to be reconciled to him 2 Cor. 5.19 By this declared willingness in God to be reconciled to us and by his declared resolution not only to pardon us but also to exalt us in immortal glory provided we refuse not to be reconciled to him but to punish us as obstinate rebels and irreconcileable enemies if we do I say it is by these motives that men are persuaded and prevailed withal to be reconciled to God or to his nature as when they become pleased with the same things which please him and displeased with what is displeasing to him and to his Law and Government as when they consent to the wisdom and goodness thereof and accordingly submit to it as best But then it is by means of Faith that these motives do affect us and operate to our reconciliation to God There is no other way to affect the soul with all the great things which God and Christ have done for us and conditionally promised to us but by means of this Faith For we do not know that Christ is the Son of God or for what end he died nor that God will both pardon and give eternal Life to sinners upon condition of their being reconciled to him but by Divine Revelation which Divine Revelation doth not affect us or operate upon us further than it is believed These motives not being sensible objects have no being in the soul and so no operation till Faith give them a being there by giving credit to that doctrine by which they are Revealed For Faith is the substance or confidence of things hoped for and the evidence or conviction of things not seen Heb. 11.1 We know and believe the love that God hath to us 1 John 4.16 Faith it is the great instrument of reconciling us to God both as it acts upon its object and as it acts upon its subject Divine Revelation is its object and by crediting that the foresaid motives are received into the soul as real things And then Faith acts upon its subject the soul it self in which Faith dwells by fixing the foresaid motives in the mind and working them into the will by which the work of reconciliation and conversion unto God is wrought and brought about In this way or in this respect love to God obedience to his Precepts and all divine virtues and holiness of Life flow from Faith And therefore it 's no marvel that Faith is mentioned in Scripture as the summary condition on which the Promises of the Gospel are made Hence we may see the reason why sanctification is attributed to Faith as it is Acts 26.18 and more particularly the purity of the heart love to God and men and victory over the world Acts 15.9 Gal. 5.6 1 John 5.4 Yea the whole of Evangelical Righteousness of Godly sincerity both in heart and life so often stiled the Righteousness of God is said to be by Faith as the next and immediate productive cause of it under the operation of the Spirit of God Phil. 3.9 Rom. 3.22 This Faith therefore having such an aptitude in it as I have shewed to reconcile us unto God by renewing our nature and conforming us to him without which Faith we could not by the great and precious promises themselves be made partakers of a divine nature we may see reason enough why it is made the condition of the promises of the Gospel 3. By affiance in God and in our Lord Jesus Christ which is one special act of Faith we give and ascribe unto God as much as in us lies the glory of his attributes and the perfections of his nature his truth and faithfulness power wisdom and goodness which may be another reason why this honour is by God put upon Faith so as to be accounted to us for Righteousness and to be made the condition of Gods making good to us the great promises of the Gospel forgiveness of sin and eternal Life By this affiance we venture our selves soul and body and our whole concern for all eternity upon the truth of Gods word and promise upon his faithfulness and power to perform it and upon the all-sufficiency of Christ Jesus to be our Saviour and Redeemer when we commit our selves and the conduct of our lives wholly to his Rule and Government out of a confident expectation of having Gods promise made good to us and of the sufficiency and prevalency of our Saviours performance for us This trust and confidence God is pleased to take as such a piece of honour done to him as that the Scripture calls our receiving Gods testimony a setting to our seal that God is true John 3.33 a justifying of God against the jealousies and suspitions of men and the reproach which their unbelief casts upon God Luke 7.29 For he that believeth not the record which God hath given of his Son hath made him a lier 1 John 5.10 Thus Abraham gave glory to God when he staggered not at his promise through unbelief but was fully persuaded that what he had promised he was able also to perform Rom. 4.20 21. And in that he did thus give glory to God in believing this in the next words is given as the reason why his Faith was imputed to him for Righteousness Therefore saith he it was imputed to him for Righteousness Ver. 22. And thus we see that God is pleased to honour that most in men to wit their Faith by which they most honour him 4. In what capacity those under the Gospel are to perform the condition of the promise by
believing For Faith is mans act what ever the assistances are by which he is enabled to perform it With the heart man believeth unto Righteousness saith St. Paul Rom. 10.10 For our better understanding in what capacity men are of believing it will be necessary to consider 1. What God hath done towards the working of Faith in men antedecent to the act of believing 2. What man himself can do through the antecedent Grace of God towards his believing 3. What subsequent Grace God does and will vouchsafe for the perfecting the work of Faith and carrying it quite through unto such as do not grosly neglect to do what they may and well can do towards their own believing by using and improving the antecedent Grace of God 1. That which God hath done towards the raising of Faith in men antecedent to any act of Faith in them or of any endeavours of theirs towards such a thing is his vouchsafing unto them the Gospel and the evidence of its Divinity and by it to reveal to them the things which are to be believed And this we call the objective Grace of God as well as the antecedent and is that also which we call preventive Grace And in these respects the Gospel is sometimes stiled the Grace of God and somtimes the Faith for it is both the object of Faith and a means to raise it in men For Faith comes by hearing it Rom. 10.17 In respect of this preventive antecedent Grace God is said to have offered Faith to all men so it is in the margent in that he hath raised Christ from the dead that is to all to whom this is revealed by the Gospel Acts 17.31 By this Revelation God hath vouchsafed unto all such as to whom it comes means by which they may come to believe if they be not greatly wanting to themselves 2. Consider we next what men themselves can do towards the raising of this Faith in them by means of this antecedent objective Grace of God 1. They can hear this Gospel as well as any other subject of discourse which is offered to their consideration and this is one step towards their believing of it for Faith comes by hearing Rom. 10.17 2. They can consider the things they hear from it and that 's another step towards believing Thus the Bereans by considering of and searching into the things they heard came to believe Acts 17.11 12. They can consider whether they have not immortal souls to take care of as well as mortal bodies and whether there be not a future state after this life for of such things as these the Gospel treats They can consider of such reasons when they hear them as tend to satisfie the mind and reason of man that there is such a future state For Heathens by the Light of Nature without the Revelation of the Gospel came so far as to be persuaded of such a thing And when by considering they come to be persuaded either that there is such a future state or that it 's far more probable that there is than that there is not then they can hardly forbear to consider and think more or less what is like to become of them in that future state And upon supposition that they are persuaded in their own minds that there is such a future state they can no more put off a desire of being happy in it than they can put off nature it self and cease to be men They can discern a difference between moral good and evil in very many things and the different tendency of them to their happiness or misery in the future state They cannot though they would think that evil tends to the happiness and good to the misery of that future state but the contrary They can consider and think on such things as by which the Holy Scripture directs to this happiness as well as they can the Contents of other Books Before men have debauched their natures by a custom of sinning there is hardly any but have some such thoughts as these spring up more or less in their minds And to what degree they do so they have a tendency to bring men to a belief of the Gospel and a good life as I shall further shew afterwards 3. The subsequent Grace of God and work of the Holy Spirit is that by which the former considerations which had some tendency to Faith are heightned improved and carried on until such a Faith is produced in the soul as is a believing unto Righteousness And this seems to be done chiefly in some such way as this First by presenting the objective Grace of God the Gospel more frequently to their consideration and by holding their thoughts more intently upon the great and concerning matters contained therein Secondly by assisting the intellective faculties of the soul by more frequent and repeated considerations to understand and discern the nature and import of the great doctrines of the Gospel as containing Gods design of wisdom and goodness for the recovery of lost men from sin and destruction for sin by Jesus Christ And by this means a greater light breaks into the soul by which the evidence of the truth of what the Gospel reports is better discerned than it was before and so are a mans own great concerns for eternity which are therein laid open And thereby also is the mind prevailed upon to assent to the truth of our Saviours doctrine in the Gospel and the will to consent to act according to the great concerns of a mans soul And therefore mens conversion is in Scripture described by their being turned from darkness to light by their being enlightned and having the eyes of their understanding opened and the like And somtimes this work of Faith or Grace in the soul is ascribed to the former work of God upon the mind viz. the holding the mind and thoughts unto a more close serious and intent consideration of the great things of the Gospel and a mans own great concerns therein Thus in Jam. 1.25 Whoso looketh into the perfect Law of liberty and continues therein i.e. continues looking into it he being not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work this man shall be blessed in his deed Here we see one that continues his looking into the doctrine of the Gospel which is meant by the Law of Liberty and a forgetful hearer are opposed to each other and so is a forgetful hearer and a doer of the work By which it plainly appears that the reason why the ones hearing ends in the doing of the work and in being blessed in his deed and the other does not is for that the one considers and continues from time to time seriously to consider the weight and importance of what he hears and of his own great concern in it but the other does not but is a forgetful hearer as little minds it as if he were not concerned in it The same thing is doubtless meant by another Metaphor which
are sustained and assisted to operate according to what is proper to the nature of them So that if any man who enjoys the Gospel perish it is through his own neglect to do what he was able to have done towards his own believing It is indeed for his not believing but then the reason of his not believing and the fault of it is imputable only unto him and lies wholly at his door Because he might have believed and would certainly have been enabled to believe if he had not grosly neglected to do what he could and might have done towards it If this were not so that men might as certainly believe repent and make themselves new hearts if they can but be persuaded to do what they can do towards it as if they had all the power requisite thereto in their own hands then to what purpose are they required by God in Scripture as they are to believe to make themselves new hearts and to repent and turn themselves from all their transgressions to circumcise their hearts to wash their hearts from wickedness to cleanse themselves from all filthiness of flesh and Spirit or why and in what respect else can men be said to save themselves Which yet they are 1 John 3.23 Ezek. 18.30 31 32. and 14.6 Deut. 10.16 Jer. 4.14 2 Cor. 7.1 1 Tim. 4.16 It is from the certainty of Gods cooperating with mens endeavours to the producing of these effects if men fail not to do what they well may do that these effects are ascribed to men as well as unto God though God be indeed the principal Agent beyond all comparison and men but in a very inferior degree the subordinate Though salvation be of the Lord and that besides him there is no Saviour in a sense proper to him yet in a sense proper to mens endeavours St. Paul disdained not to assure Timothy that if he took heed to himself and to his doctrine and continued therein that then in so doing he should both save himself and those that heard him 1 Tim. 4.16 It is a common thing in Scripture where several free Agents concur to the producing of the same effect to attribute the effect to both though the Agency of the one of them be never so inferiour to the other Thus though God is said to give a new heart and a new spirit and to circumcise the heart Ezek. 36.26 Deut. 30.6 yet men are still supposed to be in some capacity to make themselves new hearts and to circumcise their own hearts in as much as they are required to do it as I have shewed That is they are supposed to be in a capacity to do somthing towards it though very little in comparison of what is done by God therein when it is done indeed Thus again men are required to work out their own salvation when yet it is God that worketh in them both to will and to do of his good pleasure Phil. 2.12 13. Which is not so to be understood as if God did work in them to will and to do exclusive of all endeavours of theirs for if that had been his meaning he would thereby have rendred his own exhortation and the reason of it useless in persuading them to work out their own salvation for that reason because it is God which worketh in them both to will and to do of his good pleasure Nor yet is it so to be understood on the other hand as if men could do all of themselves which is necessary for the working out or carrying the business of their salvation quite through without supernatural assistance But his meaning then seems to be that it is the good will and pleasure of God to work in such men both to will and to do to the saving of their souls who do endeavour through the preventive and concomitant Grace of God to do what they can do towards it When the work of Grace in man is ascribed to God and Christ it is not to be understood exclusively of all endeavours of men When our Saviour speaking of his Disciples bringing forth fruit saith without me ye can do nothing he does not say nor mean that with him they could do nothing When it was said to the Israelites Deut. 8. it is God that giveth you power to get wealth their own endeavours in that acquisition were not excluded but the meaning was I suppose that the means the opportunities and advantages on that behalf were of God and the ordering of his good providence towards them Though Solomon says in one place The blessing of the Lord maketh rich yet he saith in another The diligent hand maketh rich Though it be but very little which man doth towards his believing in comparison of what God doth yet the effect of that doing the act of believing is still from place to place ascribed unto men for it is they are ascribed unto men for it is they that are said to believe How much soever God doth in producing Faith in men yet therein still mans faculties are preserved in such a free use and exercise as is proper to such a creature as God hath made man to be and from thence it is denominated his act as I have said Now then if this were not so that God hath by advantage of the Gospel where it comes given so much power unto men of acting towards their own believing and so much assurance of his further assistance to enable them to believe unto Righteousness if they grosly neglect not to do what they can do towards it I say if this were not so how can it possibly stand with the infinite goodness of the nature of God for him to damn men for not believing or with the sincerity of such sayings of his in which he hath declared That he is not willing that any man should perish and that he would have all men to be saved 2 Pet. 3.9 1 Tim. 2.4 How will God be justified in this in the sight of Angels and men and in the consciences of condemned sinners themselves if their unbelief and perishing for it were not through their own neglect And how else could mens destruction be said as it is to be of themselves Hos 13.9 We see then from the nature of the thing and the honor of God as concerned in it as well as from the evidence of Scripture what reason we have to hold that all men under the Gospel are in such a capacity of performing the condition of the promise of Pardon and Life by believing as that if they do it not it is through their own gross and wilful neglect to do what they might have done towards it And for any to make God so the Author of mens destruction as to affirm that he never put them into a capacity of preventing it by believing is a daring undertaking whoever ventures upon it and tends to tempt men to think dishonorably of the goodness of God and of the truth and sincerity of his declarations
hope to be Justified and Saved by Faith without works or inherent Righteousness upon the account of a speculative or notional Faith Jam. 2. Aagainst which deceitful notion St. John also warned the Christians when he said Little children let no man deceive you he that doth righteousness is righteous 1 John 3.7 as if he should have said you will be deceived if you suffer yourselves to be persuaded to think you may be Righteous any other way without doing Righteousness Those deluded people it 's probable were willing to interpret the doctrine concerning Faith when but generally and indefinitely exprest to a sense which would indulge them in a life not truly holy as alas too many do at this day who upon a general inoperate belief of the Articles of the Christian Faith doubt not but they shall be Justified by being Pardoned or by having Christs Righteousness so imputed to them as to be Righteous with his Righteousness And although they be told that such a Faith as works by love is necessary to their Justification as a condition of it yet so long as Justification is defined by that which is esteemed intrinsically essential to Justification without such a Righteousness of Faith and so long as they apprehend there is a way of being accounted Righteous by being Pardoned they will not so easily as otherwise they would be brought to a due sense of the necessity of a personal inherent Righteousness unto Justification Whereas were they but convinced that God will account none Righteous upon any account whatsoever nor Pardon their Unrighteousness who are not Righteous indeed with a personal inherent Righteousness they would be left without all hope of being Righteous or of being accepted as Righteous any way without this inherent Righteousness And by this means they would come under a more sensible obligation of becoming inherently Righteous indeed as ever they hope to be Justified as Righteous in one respect or Pardoned as sinners in another And it is a good rule that in all controversies about points of Christian doctrine which have an influence on practice as all generally have it is still safest to adhere to that sense which most obliges men to their duty and most directly and indubitably tends to their happiness as this touching Justification by the Righteousness of Faith rather then by Remission of sin I conceive does 3. Moreover to place Justification in Pardon disagrees to the natural notion which men have both of Pardon and Justification Pardon in the natural notion of it supposeth guilt as on the contrary Justification in the natural notion of it supposeth Guiltlesness or Righteousness in reference to the matter or cause wherein a person is Justified unless when the word Justification is used in an abusive seuse to signifie the perverting of justice by Justifying the wicked To say a person is Justified when we thereby only mean that he is Pardoned gives an uncertain sound in common sense and Ministers occasion for the notion of Justification to lie uneven and to remain unfixt in the mind What I recited out of Mr. Gataker in my first Chapter may here again be remembred who saith To Justifie is not to Pardon for the word is never found so used either in the Hebrew or Greek writers sacred or prophane nor in our common speech And if so why should it be made use of to signifie Pardon contrary to the use not only of Prophane but of Sacred Authors and common speech Nor can I conceive upon supposition of the truth of Mr. Gataker's assertion but to use the word Justification to signifie Pardon or the word Pardon to signifie that thing which is Justification must needs convey the true notion of Justification to the minds of men with disadvantage as tending to obscure it if not to drown the proper notion of it 4. Furthermore to place Justification in Remission of sin is to confound things of quite a different nature for so Justification and Remission of sin I conceive are The subject matter of a mans Justification is his Righteousness but the subject matter of his Pardon is his Unrighteousness The subject matter of a mans Justification is his present conformity to the terms of the Law of Grace but the subject matter of his Pardon is his past nonconformity to that Law and what other Law of God soever he hath transgressed It also confounds Gods Justifying act and his Pardoning act as if they were both one Nay more then so it excludes that which is most properly Gods Justifying act and introduceth his Pardoning act in the room of it For it supposeth God to account or to make a man Righteous by pardoning his Unrighteousness instead of his adjudging him Righteous in that he hath performed the terms of the Gospel on condition of which he promised him Pardon 5. Lastly the notion of Justification by Remission of sin does not so far as I can see upon the most serious consideration at all agree with St. Pauls stated notion of Evangelical Justification in opposition to the Jewish notion of Justification by the Law or works of the Law For he doth not represent the difference of the notion of Justification which he asserts and that which he opposeth to lie in this that the one stands in a pretended Righteousness and the other in the Pardon of mens Unrighteousness but in the different kinds of Righteousness the one standing in the Righteousness of Faith or by Faith the other in the Righteousness of the Law or by the works of the Law The Gentiles saith he which followed not after Righteousness have attained unto Righteousness even the Righteousness which is of Faith There is the Christian Justification But Israel which followed after the Law of Righteousness hath not attained to the Law of Righteousness wherefore because they sought it not by Faith but as it were by the works of the Law and there is the Jewish Justification Rom. 9.30 31 32. Not having mine own Righteousness which is of the Law but the Righteousness which is by Faith Phil. 3.9 Knowing that a man is not Justified by the works of the Law but by the Faith of Jesus Christ Gal. 2.16 The formal difference we see which St. Paul makes between the two notions of Justification lies in the different kinds of Righteousness The Christian or Evangelical Righteousness consisting in a belief of and obedience to the doctrine and precepts of the Gospel but the Jewish Righteousness as they conceited in their conformity to the Law of Moses But St. Paul and the Jews both held Justification to be by a Righteousness Now to say we are Justified by being Pardoned does not at all agree with St. Pauls notion of being Justified by an Evangelical Righteousness of Faith because Pardon of sin is no such Righteousness it is neither a believing of the Gospel nor act of obedience to it but is part of the reward promised to such a Righteousness And as such it is somtime alledged indeed to
committed they shall not be mentioned unto him in his Righteousness which he hath done he shall live Ezek. 18.22 And when I say that our conformity to the terms of the Law of Grace is our Righteousness it is to be understood of such a conformity as is hearty and sincere and in the inward man as well as the outward though otherwise it be not indefective in respect of extent and degree For therein lies the difference between the perfect Legal Righteousness and the Evangelical The Legal Righteousness stood in a perfect and indefective conformity to whatever God commanded or the Law of Nature required of man But the Evangelical Righteousness stands in a hearty and sincere desire resolution and endeavour in a man to conform to all that God requires in conjunction with repentance for defects and in affiance in Gods Mercy through Christ for forgiveness Although the best man living does not perhaps keep any one of Gods Commandments in a Legal sense yet the meanest sincere Christian keeps them all in an Evangelical sense that is in sincerity of resolution and endeavour He prepares him self to doe his Masters will as our Saviour speaks Luke 12.47 by resolving and endeavouring to do it as well as he can and by making use of all due means and helps to that end And in this sense good men are in Scripture said to keep Gods Charge his Commandments his Statutes and his Laws Gen. 26.5 2 Sam. 22.22 1 Kings 14.8 2 Kings 18.6 Job 23.11 Psal 119.22 55 56 67 68. Luk. 1.6 Not that they did so in the Legal sense For so there is not a just man upon earth that doeth good and sinneth not Eccles 7.10 But they are said to keep the Commandments in respect of the sincerity of their endeavour doing as well as they can They follow after Righteousness and by this good men are described in Scripture and God is said to love such as do so Pro. 15.9 and 21.21 Isa 51.1 They still labour to do and to grow better and better and this sincerity of endeavour proceeding from a Principle of Faith is it by which men in Scripture are denominated Righteous for more than this I cannot-say is found in any man and less than this I cannot say will denominate any man to be a good tnd Righteous man Our endeavours do not indeed of themselves and without the assistance of Gods Holy Spirit make us of unrighteous to become Righteous But when ever men are persuaded in their own minds to begin with honest endeavours to do their duty as well as they can and to make use of Gods appointed means to help them therein they will be sure of the assistance of Gods Holy Spirit to carry the work through For God will give the Holy Spirit to those that ask him Luke 11.13 and will work in them to will and to do well while they are working out their own Salvation by their endeavours Phil. 2.12 13. To him that hath a heart thus to begin well in using his first Talents which he hath from God to him more shall be given by the Spirit of God and he shall have abundance Mat. 25.29 This kind of Righteousness which we call Evangelical is mentioned in Scripture under several forms of speech yet all signifying the same thing in the main to wit the truth and reality of Grace in the sight of God It is called unfeigned Faith godly Sincerity holiness of Truth a labouring to have always a Conscience void of offence toward God and toward men uprightness of Heart truth in the inward parts integrity perfectness of heart and the like And when we find in Scripture the promises of Pardon and Salvation made to Faith repentance and obedience indefinitely I think we may safely conclude they are made to such in whom these are realy and indeed though but in the lowest degree of sincerity and consequently sequently that such are in the number of Righteous persons But then though the truth and sincerity of Grace in the lowest degree will denominate those that have it Righteous men yet that which is truly such how weak soever it be in the beginning is of a growing nature And the reason hereof is evident because where men do their best endeavours from time to time use and exercise will make them more and more perfect in their way the repetition of acts first begetting and then increasing habits and both together tending to more and more perfection in the Christian course Just as it is with persons in their learning any Art or Trade though the beginning be but small yet the latter end will greatly increase to allude to that in Job The Divine Principle of Grace which is the seed of God in the Soul which brings forth the Harvest of a good Life being in the nature of it contrary to fleshly lusts will be still heaving at them to extirpate and drive them out and aspiring after a perfect state in holiness hungering and thirsting after Righteousness upon which account the way of the Just is as the shining light which shineth more and more unto the perfect day Prov. 4.18 By the way then let it be observed how easie the Yoke of Christ our Saviour is and how light his Burden when he hath made the condition of obtaining the pardon of sin and Eternal Life no harder than to repent that we have been in Rebellion against our Maker to our own undoing and seriously to resolve and sincerely to endeavour to desist from all acts of disobedience for the future and to do the best we can to please him in observing those reasonable Laws of his Kingdom and Government that are ordained for our own good for the peace and satisfaction of our own minds for the preservation of the health of our bodies and for the innocent injoyments of other the comforts of this life for the peace likewise order and concord of publick Communities of men both in Church and State while every one is thereby ordered to keep his own rank and to act in his own Sphere and to prepare us by observing them for the enjoyment of a blessed immortality after all this And likewise observe how unreasonable and void of all judgment and discretion it is for men to deprive themselves of all these advantages and wilfully and desperately to run upon their own ruin when all might so easily be prevented as by subjecting to the easie Yoke and gentle Government of Christ who reckons our hearty and sincere endeavours in obeying him for obedience 3. How this Righteousness comes to be such to be accounted and accepted for Righteousness and it is so upon a double account at least 1. It is of the Grace of God and of our Lord Jesus Christ that it is so it is by way of donation or free gift without consideration had of any thing in us that should render us worthy of such a favour but the contrary It doth not make the benefit the less of
more upon men when they heartily believe it by proclaiming pardon to all repentant sinners and immense rewards to such as shall with honest minds give up themselves to Christ to be his Disciples to learn of him by his Doctrine and Example how to live a sober righteous and a godly Life And by promising Divine assistance as well as vast rewards and acceptance of honest and sincere endeavours and by making allowances for such frailties and defects both in knowledg and practice as will consist with uprightness of heart towards God And thus I have shewn how the Gospel operates to our Justification as a great and effectual means of bringing us to become Evangelically Righteous without which we cannot be Justified by having that Righteousness imputed to us and by being approved of as Righteous upon the account of it CHAP. IV. Of Faith and how that operates to our Justification THat Faith doth operate to our Justification we are perfectly assured by the frequent and express notice thereof we have from the Scriptures such as Rom. 3.30 and 5.1 Gal. 2.16 and others And Faith operates to our Justification as it is the performance of that condition upon which the great and precious promises of the Gospel Covenant are made For the Covenant consists chiefly of two parts to wit the promises which God makes of bestowing benefits on us through Christ and of the condition upon which these promises are made which condition is summarily comprised in Faith or believing But before I proceed further to speak of Faith I think it not inconvenient here to premise to what is to be said about Faith as the condition of the Gospel-Covenant somwhat to shew that the promises of pardon and eternal Life are conditional The Gospel-Covenant is directly suited to that Mediatory undertaking of Christ by which the Covenant it self was obtained and on which it was founded Now I have shewed formerly that Christ died for all men indeed but yet it was but to obtain a conditional pardon for all men and other benefits consequent upon it He did not die to procure that God should be reconciled to them that should always refuse to be reconciled to him but to obtain their pardon and restauration to the favour of God upon condition of their being persuaded to be reconciled to him And truly the Covenant of Grace holds an exact proportion to the Covenant of Redemption or Law of Mediation by the fulfilling of which by Christ the Gospel Covenant as I said was obtained As our Saviour died for all to put all into a capacity of being pardoned and saved in case they should not persist finally in rebellion against God so the Covenant of Grace promiseth pardon and salvation just upon the same terms and not otherwise For the Gospel denounceth a being punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and the glory of his power against all those that know not God and which obey not the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ So that when we compare the general promise and threatnings in the Gospel together we are put upon a necessity of understanding the promise in a conditional sense otherwise the promise and threatning would be inconsistent And indeed the promise of those great benefits seldom if ever are found without the condition annexed either expresly or by plain intimation The gracious declaration of the Gospel runs thus And you that were somtime alienated and enemies in your minds by wicked works yet now hath he reconciled in the body of his flesh through death to present you holy and unblamable and unreproveable in his sight if ye continue in the Faith grounded and settled and be not moved away from the hope of the Gospel Col. 1.21 22 23. If ye live after the flesh ye shall die but if ye through spirit do mortifie the deeds of the body ye shall live Rom. 8.13 If ye forgive men their trespasses your heavenly Father will forgive you but if ye forgive not men their trespasses neither will your heavenly Father forgive your trespasses Mat. 6.14 15. If we walk in the light as he is in the light then have we fellowship one with another and the blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth us from all sin 1 John 1.7 These conditional particles if plainly express the conditional nature of the promises yea and of the threatnings too The promises are not made to such or such men by name but to all men under such or such a qualification as to those that believe to those that repent to those that obey the truth Which qualification specifies the condition on which and so the persons to which such promises belong This is a thing so plain throughout the Scripture from end to end that more need not be said of it Having premised thus much I shall now proceed to shew how Faith operates to our Justification and in order to our better understanding what influence Faith hath in our Justification we will enquire into these particulars 1. How it appears that Faith is the condition of the promise of pardon and eternal Life 2. What that Faith is 3. Why it is made the condition of the promises 4. In what capacity men are to perform that condition 5. How more particularly it operates to our Justification 1. That Faith is the condition on which pardon of sin and eternal Life are promised in the Gospel is so plain that nothing more need to be said to make it evident than only to point to the express letter of the Scripture in this case For pardon of sin this is promised on condition of believing Acts 10.43 To him give all the Prophets witness that through his name whosoever believes in him shall receive remission of sins And so is eternal Life promised on the same terms John 3.16 God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlastiug Life If these promises are made to believers as such as we see they are then believing must needs be the condition on which they are made This is past contradiction Jo. 3.36 Acts 16.31 2. Consider we next then what that Faith or believing is which is the condition on which the promised benefits remission of sin and eternal Life are suspended And without all doubt it is not only a speculative but a practical belief It is a hearty assent of the mind to the truth of the Gospel and a sincere consent in the will to live according to the Laws and Precepts of it The same thing the same Faith for substance is in Scripture described by different Phrases Somtimes it is described by a believing the record of God concerning his Son Christ Jesus 1 John 5.10 11. Somtimes by a believing Jesus to be the Christ the Son of God John 20.31 1 John 5.1.5 And somtimes by a believing of the Gospel a believing of the truth a believing of the testimony of the Apostles of our Saviour
in his word To say God did give such men power in Adam will not salve the business For we cannot say that any such power was given to Adam himself before his fall much less that all his Posterity had such a power in him We cannot say that Adam had power to do more than what was necessary to continue him in that state in which God created him and consequently we cannot say that God gave him power to repent when he had no occasion for it or power to believe the Gospel when there was no Revelation of it nor occasion for such a Revelation No this power depends upon an after-work of Grace through our Blessed Redeemer Nor is this doctrine touching the power which God hath given unto men of acting towards their own believing at all contrary to that where men are said to have believed through grace Acts 18.27 or to that where Faith is said to be the gift of God For it is through the preventive and antecedent Grace of God as I have said that they are enabled to act towards their believing For though what they do towards their own believing is by a free use of their natural faculties yet it is by means of the preventive and antecedent Grace of God to wit the Gospel that those faculties act any thing towards their believing the Gospel For without such an object of Faith as the Gospel is mens faculties could act nothing towards the believing of it And then further though men do exercise their natural faculties upon the objective Grace of God and thereby act somthing towards their own believing Yet in that hereupon more power is given them to believe hâ—â—â—lie effectually and fully to Righteousness and Salvation this power is from the subsequent Grace of God So that the whole business of believing from the beginning to the end of it is of Grace first of Grace antecedent and then of Grace subsequent There is only so much of man in raising Faith in him as belongs to the free use of his natural powers and faculties The Grace of God in working Faith does not put new faculties into man nor destroy that freedom which is proper to the will as such It only rectifies and regulates the motions and operations of the will in reference to its objects So that the change is not natural but moral And this moral change in rectifying and regulating the acts and motions of the will is made partly by opening the understanding and enlightening the mind better to discern the nature of things and whereto they tend And this is done partly by holding the thoughts more frequenâ—â—y and more intently upon things that concern the soul and another life and partly by assisting and strengthening the understanding in making a right judgment of things And then the will is prevailed upon to chuse the right end and the way to it by having the great motives of the Gospel kept upon it by a more frequent and constant consideration For by that more frequent consideration and by the illumination of the mind about the great motives of the Gospel the power and force of those motives is better felt by the Will So that as a man comes to have other apprehensions of things by illumination of the mind so he comes to have other affections for them in the acts and motions of his will This change thus made in the mnid and will is called the renewing of the Holy Ghost because it is his work upon and by both Tit. 3.5 and a being renewed in the spirit of the mind Eph. 4.23 It is a restoring the natural faculties that were depraved in their operations to their right use and exercise for which they were made which was to act for the honor of their maker and for their own happiness and not contrarywise as they do when perverted by the power of sin This renovation in the natural faculties therefore tends to the perfecting of our nature For which cause perhaps men thus renewed are in Scripture stiled perfect in the favourable sense of Grace This one thing is further to be noted That whatever is done upon the natural faculties of mind and will by the Gospel or by the Spirit of God to change and renew them is also done by those faculties Men are not made to understand or believe the Gospel which they did not before otherwise than by exercising their mind and will about it By all this then it appears I hope that what is ascribed unto man in acting towards his own believing is no ways contrary to Grace unless you will say an effect cannot be of Grace if the natural faculties have any thing to do in the producing of it as they must if it be mans act I might shew how that the Gospel by the giving of which God hath been aforehand with us and prevented all endeavours of ours is of it self and in the very nature of it so apt to work upon the human faculties and to incline men to embrace it if they would but a little attend to it and consider it which one would think they might easily do if they would before their natures are debauched by a custom of sinning I say it is so apt to gain upon them that it hardly fails to do so more or less but where it meets with such as wilfully call off their natural faculties from attending to it and the things it treats of and that imploy them about objects of another nature as those did who in the Parable of our Saviour are said to be invited to the Supper which a King made for his Son when they made their several excuses This is well represented by our Saviour when he says of such that they closed their eyes lest at any time they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears and should understand with their hearts and should be converted and I should heal them Mat. 13.15 These are words which seem to signifie more than a bare omission or neglect and denote a kind of opposition a striving with themselves not to think upon or to be affected with things of that nature as those of a spiritual concern are And such people do not only not incline their ears to hear nor give ear to hear as the Scripture speaks but they turn away their ear from hearing they reject the word of the Lord and the counsel of God against themselves We do not therefore attribute any such great matter unto men when we say that they by the advantage of the Gospel may do so much towards their own believing if they will as would through the help of Gods Holy Spirit who is always ready to assist mens honest and good endeavours issue and end in an effectual believing Nay there is so much of the Grace of God vouchsafed towards the calling of men by the very sending of the Gospel to them as will in all probability prevail upon them if they do not much oppose resist and
I might further shew how that our title to the heavenly inheritance ariseth out of our adoption to it as joint-heirs with Christ and from Gods free and bounteous donation as eternal Life is the gift of God through Jesus Christ our Lord and from our performance of the condition on which it is promised Blessed are they that do his Commandments that they may have right to the Tree of Life From all which Remission of sin differs and is another thing 5. Our right and title to Remission of sin it self depends upon the same terms as our right to glory does and yet that depends upon our Justification For God first Justifies whom he after glorifies Rom. 8.30 And if our right to Remission of sin depends upon the same terms as right to glory does then Remission of sin can be no more the same thing with Justification than glorification is but depends upon it as an effect upon a cause without which none can receive it Our right to Remission of sin depends upon our believing as the condition on which God hath promised it as well as our right to glory does To him give all the Prophets witness that through his name whosoever believes in him shall receive Remission of sins Acts 10.43 And this right to Remission of sins depends as much also upon Gods adjudging us to have performed the condition on which he hath promised Pardon as our right to glory does For God does no more actually Pardon any then he glorifies them until he first adjudgeth them to have performed the condition on which he promised Pardon which dijudication of his is his Justifying of them And therefore Remission of sin does as really differ from Justification as Glorification does and is as certainly subsequent to it as Glorification is and therefore cannot be the same thing properly and strictly considered 6. God does not forgive all a mans sins at once nor before they are committed and repented of but multiplies Pardons as his servants multiply sins of infirmity and their repentances and petitions for Pardon And if so and if God do not multiply as many Justifications as he does Pardons to the same person then here is another difference between Justification and Remission of sin 7. Justification is Gods imputing Righteousness to us or our Faith for Righteousness But Pardon of sin is his non-imputation of sin to us God by not imputing sin to us does not reckon us not to have sinned nor not to have deserved eternal destruction but he then does not impute sin when he does not inflict the punishment deserved by and due for sin But when he imputes Righteousness or Faith for Righteousness to us he adjudgeth us to have answered the terms of his new Law of Grace by believing by which Law that Faith becomes our Righteousness Now there is a great difference between Gods adjudging us to have answered the terms of his new Law and his not inflicting the deserved penalty of the Old between his awarding us a recompence of our sincere conformity to the one and his not exacting of us what we had deserved to suffer for transgressing the other And yet so much difference there is between Justification and Remission of sin As for those who place Justification in Gods pardoning of sin they may please to consider that the benefit of Remission of sin does not signifie the less by being called only by its proper name Pardon or Forgiveness and not Justification if by Justification be meant only Remission of sin as they hold it is who limit Justification only to that And if Remission of sin signifie no more when we call it Justification then it does when we call it Pardon or Forgiveness I see little reason why two or three or some small number of Texts of Scripture which speak of Justification fomwhat obscurely should be so much strained as they are to make them seem to mean only Remission of sin when they may be fairly understood in another sense and that too perhaps with more congruity to the signification of the word Justification and to the nature of the thing and to the Scriptures themselves elsewhere Nor can I discern what would be gained by it if it should be granted that Remission of sin were Justification and Justification Remission of sin For yet then the same thing the same benefit would signifie no more when we call it Justification than it does when we call it only Remission of sins as we all agree the Scriptures doe Nor does the placing of Justification in Gods Judicial act in approving and adjudging men to be Righteous in a Gospel sense who have performed the condition on which Pardon of sin and eternal Life are promised make the priviledg of having our sins forgiven the less beneficial to us or the less of Grace from God and our Lord Jesus Christ For Gods approving us to be Righteous in a Gospel sence does not suppose or imply that we stand in no need of Pardon nor of that mercy of God and merit of Christ from which Pardon flows it only supposeth us to be Righteous with such a Righteousness of Faith on condition of which the promise of Pardon of all our sins is made through the blood of Christ But Gods Justifying of us or his approving of us to be Righteous in such a sence does not make our sins to become no sins nor is it I conceive Gods Pardoning act but yet it is that which doth judicially qualifie us for Pardon and which as it were opens the door and lets us into the possession of it For Pardon is the next and immediate act that in order follows Gods adjudging us to have performed the condition on which he promised us Pardon Having said this much of the difference between judicial Justification and Remission of sin it seems requisite to make some enquiry into the sense and meaning of those Scriptures on which some ground an assertion limiting Justification to Remission of sin only And those Scriptures which above all others seem most to countenance such an assertion and which are most relyed on by those of that persuasion are Acts 13.39 Rom. 5.16 and 4.6 7. To an enquiry into the meaning of which I will only premise this That if we should find cause to think that it may be proved from these or any other Scriptures That we are pardoned by being Justified yet we can have no good reason thence to conclude that we are Justified only by being Pardoned no nor yet in the properest sense neither when we consider how express the Scriptures are elsewhere for a judicial Justification to wit Gods Justifying us by Faith and by accounting or adjudging Faith to us for Righteousness or for a performance of the terms of the Gospel our conformity whereto is as truly our Evangelical Righteousness as our conformity to the terms of the Law would have been a legal Righteousness if it had been found in us To begin now with Acts 13.39
alledged by St. Paul by way of confirmation of his aforesaid doctrine and to prove out of one of the sacred Books owned by his adversaries that their worthy Ancestors such as David whom they could not deny to be Justified men acknowledged themselves sinners such as stood in need of Pardon and such as counted it their great happiness to be Pardoned and that therefore they could not be looked upon as receiving the reward of Debt but of Grace For when he says even as David also describeth the blessedness of the man to whom God imputeth Righteousness without Works saying blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven c. it thereby appears that he looked upon those words of David to be fully agreeable to his own doctrine asserted in Verse 5. in opposition to his adversaries conceit and opinion touching the rewards being reckoned of Debt and not of Grace And indeed how could St. Paul think better to convince them of their error and to shame them out of their conceit of meriting the reward by observing the Law of Moses then by shewing them that their famous Ancestors who observed the Law of Moses as well as any were yet so far from claiming the reward of their obedience as a Debt by way of Merit that they acknowledged themselves sinners and therefore undeserving and counted it their great felicity to be Pardoned through the great mercy and favour of God We will yet consider this matter a little more particularly and distinctly The thing St. Paul asserts against his misbelieving adversaries is as I have said that the reward is of Grace and not of Debt which he makes out two ways 1. From the nature of that Righteousness which is rewarded 2. From the nature of that reward it self First from the nature of the Righteousness that is rewarded and this is described by the condition or quality of the person in whom this Righteousness is found he that worketh not that is though it be one that hath not observed the Law of Moses in being Circumcised and the like And that he means such an one by him that worketh not and yet may be Righteous appears by the instance he gives in Abrahams case who was Righteous with the Righteousness of Faith before ever he was Circumcised Verse 9 10. 2. It is described by the nature and property of that Faith which is the Christians Righteousness it is a believing in him that Justifieth the ungodly upon his repentance and belief in the Lord Jesus Which very belief contains in the nature of it a firm persuasion that Gods Justifying of such a person must needs be of Grace and not of Debt 3. It is described by that act of God by which such a Faith becomes a mans Righteousness and that is by way of imputation or account his Faith is counted to him for Righteousness which argues it to be of Grace and Favour because he to whom it is so imputed is otherwise a sinner ungodly and upon that account cannot merit it Now then if the Righteousness it self which is rewarded be of Grace then the reward of that Righteousness must needs be of Grace This we see is one way by which St. Paul makes out the reward to be of Grace and not of Debt Secondly the other way is from the nature of the reward of that Righteousness And this I call another way of proving the reward to be of Grace and not of Debt For when St. Paul saith Verse 6. even as David also describeth c. that word also seems to signifie an addition of proof of his assertion by another medium And this medium is taken from the nature of the reward of that Righteousness which God imputes to men in Justifying them as his former was from the nature of the Righteousness it self And the Apostles argument or proof is to this effect The reward of that Righteousness by which God Justifies men must needs be of Grace and not of Debt because in great part it consists in Remission of sins and Remission of sin is an act of Grace in the natural notion of it and in the common sense of mankind And that St. Pauls design in alledging this saying of David was not to shew that Remission of sin is the Righteousness by which men are Justified but the reward of it appears by the very tenor and purport of his words For he doth not say that David describeth the Righteousness or Justification of the man to whom God imputeth Righteousness as we have cause to think he would have done if he had known or thought that Remission of sin had been mens Righteousness or Justification but he says he describes the blessedness of that man to whom God imputeth Righteousness Now what doth blessedness in Scripture import when applied to men but some happiness vouchsafed them as an effect of Gods Grace yet so as by way of reward also of the performance of their duty Thus Blessed is the man that feareth the Lord. Blessed are they that hear the word of God and keep it Blessed are they that do his Commandments that they may have right to the Tree of Life and the like So here the blessedness of that man to whom God imputeth Faith for Righteousness seems to signifie the happiness that does accrue to such a man as a reward of that Faith which is imputed for Righteousness or of that Righteousness which is imputed and the happiness here specified which does accrue to such a man is the having his sins Pardoned Now to understand St. Paul here in this sense does fully agree with his scope and design in hand which was to prove the reward to be of Grace and not of Debt After he had opposed the Righteousness of Faith to the Pharisaical Jews Righteousness by works of the Law then he shews the reward of this Righteousness to be of Grace and not of Debt because it stands in Remission of sin And whereas he does not use the word reward here but the word blessedness which yet signifies the same thing it was probably but to accommodate his speech to Davids dialect whose words he recites And as the sense I have insisted on corresponds fully with the Apostles scope and design here So it does also with the tenor of the Covenant of Grace and the Scriptures elsewhere which promise Pardon of sin on condition of that Faith which is imputed for Righteousness as a reward of it and motive to it And if this sense now represented be the sense of St. Paul in these Verses or much what the same and you see what reason there is to think it is then his intent here was not to shew that we are Justified by being Pardoned he does not say it is Pardon of sin which is imputed for Righteousness but Faith Nor does he say that David describes the Righteousness of the Justified man in saying Blessed are they whose iniquities are Forgiven but the blessedness of that man or the reward of his