shall shew you in every respect how the Father the VVord and the Spirit and the VVater and the Blood do VVitness First therefore concerning the full Assurance of understanding Concerning Jesus Christ in the first place And then concerning all the Truths of the Gospel in the second place And I desire you to remember a distinction I gave you the last day I told you there are immanent Acts of Faith as they say those that remain and stay within that 's the meaning of the Word There are Acts then and Motions of Faith when Faith stays within in that great point of taking Christ And then There are Truths of the Gospel that are Ad Extra as they say or without that do not immediately concern that great point of the Redemption of Christ but flow from it No I 'll make this plain to you by setting two points of Scripture before you of which Faith has an assurance But one is like Faith staying at home and within it self and within Christ in the great point of Redemption and Justification As Now Here 's this great Truth That Jesus Christ came into the World to save the chief of Sinners Sinners of whom every one may say I am chief Now when Faith Acts upon this Truth Jesus Christ came to save sinners of whom I am chief And so That he shed his Blood for sinners and gave himself a Sacrifice and an Attonement All these are Truths properly within Faith and Christ And when the Soul is upon them it is at home with it self And Faith is also at home with Christ and with the Soul in them But now here 's another great Truth That whoever it is that does not Cut off his Right Hand or Pull out his Right Eye and cut off his Right Foot he shall be cast into Hell where their VVorm dies not and their Fire is not quenched Now this is a great Truth of Christ And Faith hath assurance of this Truth But yet when it acts upon this Truth Pray observe it does not stay within properly with Christ and within it self in the point of Believing But it goes out to a Truth that lyes without as to the great point of Justification So that if you say wherein is Faith Justifying Faith in Relation to Truth I desire that I may be understood I say when it is ask'd wherein is Faith Justifying Faith as to the point of Truth It is not in believing that whosoever doth not cut off his Right hand or pluck out his right Eye shall be cast into Darkness It is true this always is together with Justifying Faith But it is not that wherein Faith properly Justifies But all the Truths concerning the Blood and Righteousness of Christ they are Truths that Faith acts upon when it is in the great point of Justification as it is acted by Christ and his Spirit Now this being not many times well Considered It makes a great Confusion in the point of Justifying Faith For though it is true It is said and I desire it may be carefully remembred that no one may any way take offence or mention what I say to give offence I say that that Truth that a man that does not cut off his hand or pluck out his Right Eye which means any Lust shall be cast into Hell is never separated from true Justifying Faith But I say again that Faith acting upon that Truth does not Justify But acting upon the great Truth wherein Jesus Christ is held forth as a sacrifice a propitiation a Mediator an Intercessor and Redeemer But yet this is certainly true that the Father Son and Spirit give a mighty power to these great Truths and to every Truth that is delivered in the Gospel but especially with this great Principal Truth that Jesus is the Son of God and hath layd down his life for sinners For you see very plainly in this place that I have quoted to you Pray Consider it who is he that overcometh the world but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God Faith is therefore in its Immanent action when it is upon this point that Jesus is the Son of God and gave himself for Sinners This is the Immanent Truth that Faith fixes upon But then when it comes to that Truth that without Holiness no man shall see the Lord that can never be separated from this Truth that Jesus is the Son of God when Faith acts upon that Truth or any like it Without Holiness no man shall see the Lord It does not act like Justifying Faith strictly taken in that point of believing Because Justification flows onely from the Righteousness from the Blood from the Obedience from the Redemption of Jesus Christ And therefore to Find a mighty power To find the Soul Impregnated and fill'd out in all the Truths that concern Jesus Christ and in all the other great Truths of the Gospel that Christ hath spoken Here 's the strength and the assurance of Faith And it flows from God in and through Christ For Jesus Christ is the great and Principal Actor in the Soul 's Receiving all Truth I say the great and the principal Actor As you may find the stability of Faith the great Ballance and Poize of Faith that keeps it steady and even Heb. 13. 8. Jesus Christ the same yesterday and to day for ever Be not carryed about with diverse and strange Doctrines Jesus Christ the same yesterday and to day for ever It is he that is the Alpha and Omega As he saith himself The Truth the way the Truth and the Life He is the Truth And the Son of the Father in Truth And Truth came by Jesus Christ But I would a little further clear to you this distinction of the Immanent acts of Faith and shew you whence I take the word You know in that great mystery of the Father Son and Spirit Divines when they treat of it they say that those actions between the Father and the Son and the Spirit themselves and no Created Bing comes between they call them Immanent actions of the Father the Word and the Spirit As the Father begat and knoweth the Son so the Son knoweth the Father and that he is begotten of him The holy Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son And the holy Spirit knows and Glorifieth in every thing the Father and the Son as proceeding from them Now while they are acting within in the Divine Being the Father the Son and Spirit one with another Those are called Immanent acts But when they go outward either to Angels or men or any of the Creatures then they are called extra-acts Or ad extra or Transient acts because they go out from the Divine being to the Creature I make use of it to explain the Immanent acts of Faith The Immanent acts of Faith are upon Christ's Righteousness and Blood and not upon the Points of Repentance or obedience or Love or self Resignation to Christ But wholly and solely in
whether we have been right in the first Act But there has been as they say an Error in the Foundation an Error in the first Concoction as Physitians speak and cannot be mended So there has been an Error in taking Christ and Error in the Foundation becomes Error in the whole course of a Mans Building A man says he has taken Christ and lives under the Power of his Lusts and the Power of the World Because he never look Christ aright Men will say Here you are mistaken in your Profession That you cannot live Holily which your Profession binds you to But I say if the thing were but well traced and enquired into it would be found here was the great miss that your first Action flew off and did not rightly take Christ The 2d Chapter of John is a Scripture that will clear this that a Man may take Christ by a false Action and lose him in the very first Rudiments and the first beginnings by a mistake As now it is in Nature in the forming of an Embrio in the Womb If there be a false formation a monstrous formation in the VVomb there 's an irregularity all along the Life So if Faith be mistaken in its first Act in supposing it takes Christ and does not that Error cannot be mended The Latter Errors may be more apparent than the first but the first is the cause of all John 2. 23 24 25. Now when he was in Jernsalem at the Passover in the Feast-day many believed in his name when they saw the Miracles that he did One would have thought this was true Faith as the great Men of Reason say because they were brought over to believe by seeing the Miracles of Christ But Jesus did not commit himself unto them because he knew all men And needed not that any should Testify of man for he knew what was in man If he did not commit himself to them we may very well understand he did not Unite himself to them He knew it was not that Faith to which he United himself and his Righteousness Christ does not commit himself to a Faith that is not indeed as I said before a Faith of God's Elect and the like pretious Faith and that is not given by that Divine Lot of Grace as the Expression is 2 Pet. 1. 1. that I have formerly spoken to you of To them who have obtained by Lot by this Divine Lot like precious Faith with us according to the Righteousness of God and our Saviour Jesus Christ I know we cannot look into this but by the Divine Spirit and by feeling the twistings of the Soul about Christ through that great Opperation of God upon us But this we may see plainly Christ did not commit himself to them So he does not commit his Righteousness his Propitiation his Redemption he does not commit it but where he sees a Faith which he himself hath given that is indeed of the true and excellent Alloy For he knows at the very first He sees many that pretend to Believe and that think they Believe but he knows very well where their Faith is wrong and where it loses that great Prize that Pearl of Price that it is to obtain He himself not committing or giving himself knows a true Action of Faith in Receiving him will not follow for that 's the first Action of Faith to Receive Christ giving himself The Second kind of the Actions of Faith they are those that though they are not immediately as the first Acts of taking of Christ by Faith yet they immediately Result and Rise up When any Man hath taken Christ there are some Actions that do immediately Result and Arise They bear the Hiew they carry the Complexion they have upon them the Lineaments of the Death of the Dying of our Lord Jesus Christ They have such peculiar Respects to his Blood to his Death to his Redemption I would instance in two of these we find in Scripture-Saints And then I shall draw out in brief Expressions the general Actions of Christians according to their pattern The first is that in the 11 Chapter of the Epistle to the Hebrews it is said of Moses v. 28. Through Faith he kept the Passover and the sprinkling of Blood lest he that destroyed the first born should touch them This he did by faith God commanded him indeed to keep the Passover But Moses had an Eye upon the Redemption of Christ in it And by Faith he kept the Passover So every Act of the Soul by which it makes Recourse to Christ upon all occasions after it hath taken him it is like keeping the Passover Every Act I say wherein we do especially depend upon the Blood of Christ and make close Recourse and Application to it it is an Action Resulting from true saving Justifying faith that true faith by which we are Saved and Justified For so indeed I observe tho we call it Justifying faith the Scripture never calls it so But the faith by which we are Justified To make good that point that I have always press'd upon you that we are not Justified by Faith as an Act But we are Justified only as the Righteousness of Christ is given to it for that Righteousness alone is our Justification But this I say there are Acts of the Soul by which it does make recourse to Christ and to his Blood Another Example and I choose to give it you because it is Seated in that of the Apostle James that is made the great Objection against the faith by which we are Justified through the Righteousness and Propitiation of Christ James 2. 21. saith the Apostle Was not Abraham our Father Justified by works when he had offered Isaac his Son upon the Altar Seest thou how faith wrought with his Works and by works was faith made perfect Now this is the thing that I observe to you The Offering of Isaac it was as great a Conversant Act about the Death Blood and Sâ—crifice of Christ as any could possibly be represented in Scripture to us For there could not be a greater Type and Representation of the Father giving his Son to Die for Sinners and to become a Sacrifice for them than that of Abraham the Affectionate Father of Isaac Offering up his Son Isaac Therefore the Apostle uses this for an Argument of a Working faith This was a Work of Faith indeed it was not a work of Faith taking Christ but it was a work of Faith conversant about the Death and Sacrifice of Christ And therefore the Apostle is express in it Seest thou how Faith wrought with his works This was a great act in which Faith wrought mightily when Abraham offered up Isaac But 't was not so properly a work of Moral obedience as the work of Faith in Christ if we Consider the Greatness and excellency of it and the Eye it had to Christ though it was a high act of obedience of self Resigning also So I say there are many acts which are
It is true Because as God saith they were his Servants in the doing of them And they were as the Axe and as the Saw in his hand he gave them great strength And so now what is done and has been done by the French Potentate certainly it is because God hath had a great End and Design in it And I am very sure it is well known that God hath set him up to do all that he has done for special purposes of his own and According to all that Frame of Prophesy that is given But now here 's a great Difference As here do but observe it As God speaks in the Prophet Isaiah There 's great difference between David and Nebuchadnezzar Between Joshua and such a one as Nebucadnezzar or such a one as Alexander or such a one as Julius Caesar that History makes so famous I say here 's the great difference As God saith They are but like the saw in his hand Isa 10. 15. Shall the Ax boast it self against him that heweth therewith Or shall the Saw magnify it self against him that shaketh it That is These are things without Sense You know an Ax or a Saw whatever it doth it does without any Sense of what it does So these have done great things because they have been in God's hand to do by But they had no sense at all of the things they did They had no Faith Here 's the great difference Now I say if we could receive it this I look upon to be the great Reconciliation between the Apostle Paul and the Apostle James This 11th to the Hebrews it Expounds what the Apostle means by a Faith of Works He does not speak of the ordinary Works of Holiness but he speaks of extraordinary As Abraham Sacrificing his Son and Rahab leaving the Int'rest of his Country from a sight that God was pleased to Exalt that People of Israel These were the Heroick Acts of Faith And these the Apostle properly speaks of And therefore to Argue the ordinary Duties Practice and Conversation and Holiness to Justification is not according to the sense and intention of the Apostles meaning not in Justifying Abraham as I shall speak particularly to that wherein and how Faith comes to Justify But still I go on further Lest any one should say why then are not the ordinary ways of Holiness under the Power of Faith and so Derived by Christ Yes by all means as I have spoken to you before He is our Sanctification But I speak of it only now as under this Head the Heroick Acts of Faith For all the ordinary Acts of Faith come under him As now suppose any one is called out either as a General in this very Age if he be truly a Believer in Christ tho he does but the things that are Accountable according to the Law of Arms if I may so speak according to the Law of a General and the great use and office of a General yet still even those ordinary Actions where they are Believers are done by the Power of Faith You 'll say Why when others do the same thing I Answer as I did before They are but Axes and Hammers As God calls Nebuchadnezzar the Hammer of all the Earth And his Empire was the Hammer of all the Earth They do things but as Hammers There 's a great deal of difference I 'll assure you in this thing tho the outward Action be the same yet the inward is not the same When a Man as a General leads an Army in the Cause and Interest of God and when another does it by his own Prowess The one does it by Faith the other by an Instrument There is a living Spirit in Believers and therefore God does many times raise them up to greater Actions than Ordinary But I only speak when God calls Men to Deny to be the Son of Pharaoh's Daughter as Moses when he calls Joshua to be so great a Warriour in the World And David and those Worthies to do extraordinary Works It is by Faith through the Mediator it is all upon his Account and is managed for him and by his strength by Faith The Fifth thing in which I would open to you the great excellency of the Nature of Faith That in the obtaining of Wonderful things it is a Wonderful thing how God hath enlarged Faith to the obtaining of extraordinary things in several Ages of the World Indeed you may say such things are ceased now But as I have endeavoured to shew you there shall be a Revival of them But now when such great things as we read of at any time in the Scripture Extraordinary Appearances of God in a way of Deliverance of his Saints When Elijah prayed and shut the Heavens When great Deliverances were obtained by Prayer in Fights When there has been great Answers of Prayer extraordinary Answers of Prayer in any case That God hath Appeared in the Mount This hath been from the Power of Faith And therefore the Apostle Heb. 11 one of the things that he puts into the great Record of Faith it is this That they obtained promises vers 33. They stopt the Mouths of Lyons When the Fire could not burn upon those three Shadrach Meshach and Abednego Why this was by the Power of Faith they quenched the Violence of the Fire And Women received their Dead raised to Life again This was by the power of Faith All these things are extraordinary things given to the Mediator to do for his Servants according to the season that he sees fit And they are conveyed to But I would very earnestly desire to add something concerning the Kingdom of Christ What is the Reason that the Scripture is so abundant of such a World to come Whereof as the Apostle saith we speak In such a new Heaven in such a new Earth In such a Sabbattism that remains for the people of God In such a glorious Inheritance as shall he What is the Reason we are so hard to believe it It is only the want of Faith I 'll give you one Scripture concerning this Heb. 11. 39 40. These all having obtained a good report through Faith receiving not the promise God having provided some better thing for us that they without us should not be made perfect This place of Scripture if it were but well pursued followed and Argued from would prove to you That the great Point of Faith is the Kingdom of Jesus Christ Undoubtedly there should have been an Eternal Life an Eternal Happiness for Adam If he had stood in Innocency There had been a preparation and a provision But this very state of things comes in by the Mediator by his entring into Rest for us this great Sabbattism comes in But now the thing that I would urge I wouid help you in this thro' Faith they obtained a good Report A great Fame as I told you before a great Renown But they received not the Promise How can it be said They received not the
him Just as the Load stone fetches in the Iron and calls it to it self And so when Christ comes near to the Soul He draws it near to himself c. THE FAITH BY WHICH We are Iustified c. The Fifth Sermon Rom. 5. 1. Therefore being justified by Faith we have Peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ FRom what I have discours'd in the last Sermon That we are Justified by Faith in such a sense only as that Nothing can be attributed to Faith but only to Christ Two Objections may arise which I would answer before I pass on to the main Point I now intend Object 1. What then is it may it be said in Faith upon which Justification is attributed to Faith rather then to any other Grace Answ I Answer it is like taking possession the having Livery and Seizin in an Estate become ours or like the consent of a mean person in Marriage to a Prince Or indeed to speak yet more plain to our apprehension if any one will give us a Gift before we come to be really invested in that Gift we must take it and have it in possession And we have not a true Title to it else tho it does not depend upon our taking But it is only a Consummative and Perfecting thing that we take it into our possession we accept it from the giver as his gift and we take it into possession as our own And thus I say it is and that we are Justifyed by Faith And it seems to me except any one shall shew me wherein I am in a mistake in thus saying I shall conclude it to be the very sense of the Spirit of God in all those Expressions that we are Justifyed by Faith and live by Faith These things I say shew to us the worthlessness of Faith in it self And yet that it is Consummative and a Consummation of our Title to Christ and to his Righteousness I would only first answer one more seeming great objection against this representation of Faith I have given as if it were only the Imprint of Christ's gift of himself and his Righteousness to the Soul why is it then so often said Repent and believe the Gospel And whoever believes in him c. And we are called on as if it were our act to believe Now to this I Answer that it is true we are so Though I am fully by the grace of God of that Judgment that I have declared to you concerning the nature of Faith And that it is Christ Imprinting his gift the gift of his Righteousness and of himself upon us And yet for all that I think my self bound in all the Discourses of this grace of Faith to move you to perswade you to Exhort you to receive to press you to Believe in Jesus Christ Because this is the Rational way that God doth deal with those as I have said he giveth understanding and Rationality to and because this is that Ordinance of God and for great and wise Reasons both to his Servants whom he draws thus to believe by the obedience 〈◊〉 Faith to the preaching of the Gospel And in regard of those that do not believe That he may Justify and vindicate himself that he hath gone that way which is proper unto the Soul of man He hath drawn with the Cords of a man and with the Bands of his Love in offering Christ to them I now come to what I proposed in the next place To shew you the great assuâ—…nce of Faith the assurance of it from these words of our Lord They have known They have known And they have surely known And yet wheâ— it comes to be Explained what this knowledge is It comes to this it is Believing For Pray observe the course of the words Jo. 17. 7. They have known To know is of great Certainty and of great Assurance And again in the latter part of the verese They have known surely that I came out from thee and they have believed that thou didst send me They have known surely And yet when it comes to the issue they have believed Therefore I shall endeavour I say to make out to you the great Assurance of Faith And I shall propose these four kinds of assurance that Faith hath And there are Scriptures very full for each of them I 'll lay them first before you together The first assurance of Faith is the assurance of understanding So you find Col. 2. 2. That their hearts might be comforted being knit together in love and unto all riches of the full assurance of understanding in the acknowledgment of the mystery of God and of the father and of Christ There 's the first assurance of Faith the assurance of understanding when all the great truths of the Gospel that men are ready to say how do you prove them How will you make them out either by sense or by Reason How shall we know that these things are indeed true Why now when Christ and his Spirit do fix these truths upon Souls they have Riches of the full assurance of understanding The second full assurance of Faith it is in that great Point of Pardon of sin and peace of Conscience by Jesus Christ For if a man comes and says to another As you know men are ready to do you talk at a strange Rate Do you know that your sins are pardoned Do you know that God and Christ have Done this and that you shall be saved from wrath for ever Observe now what the Apostle saith to this in Heb. 10. 22. Let us draw near with a true heart You know it is a phrase in our English such a man when we do speak of him as fearful or a person of no valour we say he is a false-hearted man And that man that is Resolved and valiant and great in Prowess we say he is a man of a true heart of a true valour Now whereas some are apt to think that every man should stand trembling and doubting and say I don't know whether my sins are pardoned or not I dare not be so bold or presumptuous as once to say I am sure that I am freed from wrath to come Why now saith the Apostle Let us draw near with a true heart having our heart sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water So here 's a second great assurance of Faith A Third assurance of Faith is in this O what shall become of me for ever What shall become of me when I dye Where will be my dwelling Where will be my Reception my Receptacle for ever when I go out of the world Can I hope for such a state as the Scripture Describes Heaven to be Can I bear up in those hopes Why then Consider what the Apostle saith Heb. 6. latter part of the 11 ver We desire that every one of you do shew the same diligence to the full assurance of hope unto the end So here you see is another assurance the
Blood O! consider how your Souls are Acted to him And so go from thence to All Truth for there 's no separation as I have shewn you The same Omnipotency of God that is in the Father and the Son and the Spirit is that strength that went out and Created this World Acts ad extra or without the Father Son and Spirit Why so the Faith which in its immanent Acts stays upon Christ and his Blood it also passes and goes out upon all the Truths of Holiness and Obedience But then The second thing with which I would conclude is this That you mind these mighty Powers that Act Faith O! mind all the greatness of the Blood and of the Water and the Witness of the Father and the Word and the Spirit It is a great Scripture that I led you to the last day and with which I 'll close 〈◊〉 Discourse which shews you that the mighty Power of Faith is from God and from Christ Ephes 3. 14. For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ of whom the whole Family in Heaven amd Earth is Named That he would grant unto you according to the riches of his Glory to be strength'ned with Might by his Spirit in the inner man that Christ may dwell in your Hearts by Faith Here you have the Father the Word and the Spirit joyned in this great Power of Faith that ye being rooted and grounded in Love that is in the Love of Jesus Christ may be able to comprehend In your Love to him I understand that first groundedness in Love to Christ A Love that constrains us to live to him that dyed for us and then may be able to comprehend with all Saints what is the breadth and length and heigth And to know the love of Christ which passeth Knowledg O! That great Mistery of the Gospel And partâ—cularly that we may know the love of Christ which passeth Knowldg And hereby we may come to be filled with all the fulness of God O! who is able to bring this great work into our Hearts VVhy the Apostle therefore concludes Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think according to the Power that worketh in us It is he that works in us Pray take notice of that Rememember that he works above all that we ask or think And yet it is a Power works in us that we may find and see it and have experience of it Vnto him be Glory saith he in the Church by Jesus Christ throughout all Ages World without end Amen The End of the fifth Sermon THE FAITH BY WHICH We are Iustified c. The Sixth Sermon Rom. 5. 1. Therefore being justified by Faith we have Peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ FRom these words I have pitch'd upon that great point and Doctrine of Justifying Faith Or of that Faith by which we are Justifyed And this Faith it eyes Christ in a Peculiar manner As I prov'd from John 17. 7 8. Far they have known concerning me that all things whatsoever thou hast given me are of thee For I have given unto them the words which thou gavest me and they have received them as so given unto me and have known surely that I came out from thee and they have believed that thou didst send me So here is a Constant Eye of Faith upon Christ As I told you there had never been such a Notion of Faith in Scripture-sense in Gospel sense if it had not been for Christ if he the Mediator had not been given I have spoken of it as it is Faith by which we are justified And the Grounds why it is Faith that justifies here meant which I had not mentioned before to you but rather depended upon other Scriptures for I shall give you now viz. Why this Faith or believing is to be understood of the Faith that justifies Even out of that John 17. 7 8. And the Reason I give for it is because it is the Faith upon which Christ intercedes Pray observe it Christ Intercedes for believers upon the Faith that believers know surely and believe concerning Jesus Christ For in the very next words you may observe it I pray for them saith he I pray not for the world So he intercedes for them They have known and believed that Christ did surely come forth from God and that all things of Christ are Divine infinitely Divine Originally Divine Now therefore upon whatsoever Christ intercedes Pray Consider In the very same line our foundation for Righteousness and acceptance through Christ rests His justifying Righteousness and Redemption and his intercession run all upon one line together That 's a plain point they go together I 'll give you but two places of Scripture because I would not prevent my self in what I have especially to discourse of One is Heb. 9. It is plain by all Scripture that the blood of Christ is that great price of our Redemption And that we are justified freely by the Grace of God God Setting forth Christ as a Propitiaton through Faith in his blood Now you shall find that Christ entred by his blood into Heaven Heb. 9. 12. But by his own blood he entred in once into the holy place having obtained eternal redemption for us Christ intercedes now in Heaven and in the Holy place into that Holy place made without hands He entred to interceed And again ver 24. Christ entred not into the holy places made with hands which are the figures of the true but into heaven it self now to appear in the presence of God for us So that he intercedes plainly upon his blood For where he intercedes he entered by his blood And in 1 John 2. 1. You also have the advocateship and the Propitiation of Christ Joyn'd together My little children these things write I unto you that ye sin not And if any man sin we have an advocate with the Father viz. Jesus Christ the Righteous And he is the Propitiation for our Sins c. Therefore this is the clear ground I bottom this Truth upon Upon what Christ intercedes That is certainly Justifying Now he intercedes upon the Faith of Believers I pray for them I pray not for the World viz. For them who know surely and believe in me I have endeavoured to open Faith also to you so that you may have a right understanding that Faith does not Justify as it is an Act of ours or a Grace in us or any thing in us but only by its receiving the Righteousness of Christ I came to speak of the Assurance of Faith They have known And they have surely known And they have believed that thou didst send me Knowledg or as the Learned speak and the great Men of Reason call it Science is the highest degree of Understanding Now this our Lord attributes to Faith in that John 17. They have known For Christ did not come meanly down when he had said They have