avoyded are discovered Lex est divinum speculū in quo facienda fugienda refulgent Aug. but it will sentence us to death for the least spot or wrinkle which it doth discover so that it is impossible that a man should see himselfe justified in the glasse of the Law But thou wilt say he may look upon his love sinceritie and works in the glasse of the Gospel And to this I answer that if he look upon them in the glasse of the Gospel which is Jesus Christ then he must put himselfe under the Gospel and look upon himselfe as a man in Christ that so he may see his works good by Jesus Christ which he will never be able to see without the eye of faith which seeth things invisible Heb. 11. and by which wee look upon Christ 1 Joh. 2.1 dwell in Christ Ephes 3.17 Live in Christ Gal. 2.19 And doe living works acceptable to God by the life of Christ in us Heb. 11.4 By faith with open face wee behold as in a glasse the glory of the Lord and are changed into the same Image from glory to glory 2 Cor. 3.18 and see that our good works are the effects of Christs love discovered in himselfe and in his Gospel to our soules And therefore when John doth informe us that we shall know that wee know him if we keep his Commandement He doth propose beleeving as the first Commandement of God without which we cannot assure our selves that we are obedient to his other commands 1 Joh. 3.23 This is his commandement that we beleeve in him whom he hath sent Good works after a man hath faith are not the cause of justification but the consequent they follow a mans justification they doe not precede the act of justification they neither precede the act of Gods grace by which he justifieth a sinner neither doe they precede justification in the Court of Conscience But being justified by faith we have peace Rom. 5.1 in our Consciences This was the doctrine which was frequently preached by those heavenly Carpenters which did first strike at the hornes of the beast Vt dilectio oriatur necesse est praecedere fidem hoe est fiducia misericordiae It is necessary saith Melancthon that faith which is a confidence of Gods mercy doe precede love And in another place Non nititur fides nostra dilectione sed tantum misericordia promissa ut constat nec existere dilectio potest nisi sit apprehensa remissio Faith is not grounded upon our love but the promised mercy of God so that it is manifest that there cannot be true love unlesse remission of sinnes be first apprehended Another reason is from the imperfection of workes wrought by a man after he is justified If any man that is justified look on his works and doe not behold them in the glasse of the Gospel he shall reade his own condemnation for his works There is an imperfection in our works seeing wee doe not love God so perfectly as we should with all our heart all our minde and all our spirit but while the regenerate part through the power of the Spirit runs after God and loves God the fleshly part runneth after sinne and hates God Therefore seeing there is such imperfection in the works that we performe that the best of us are unprofitable servants and that the most holy amongst us doe that for which he may be damned every day if God should not deale with us in the Gospel but in the Law it will follow that a man cannot be justified by the works that he doth after he hath faith and is converted doth works which are wrought by the Spirit of grace It may here be objected that the good works of Saints are perfect For an answer to this I referre the Reader to what shall be delivered from those words That he which is borne of God sinneth not I come now to the next Consideration which is this That wee are not justified by the practise of any Gospel-Ordinances which are commanded by the Lord Jesus Christ There are some who it may be are convinced that they are not justified by works yet I know not what new kinde of Popery they have found out for they thinke to please God by submitting to Ordinances and finding out the true Discipline and government of Christs Church therefore you shall finde a kinde of spirit of bondage in them if they be not satisfied concerning the true discipline government Ordinances of the Lord Jesus Christ Wherefore I shall endeavour to demonstrate this and shew clearly that as we are not justified by works before or after conversion so we are not justified and saved by the submitting to any Ordinance of the Lord Jesus Christ Salvation is not in these there is nothing to be found in these availeable to justification Formes of government and Ordinances doe not make men Christians but a lively faith in the Lord Jesus When Caius Marius Victorinus told Simplicianus that he was turned from Heathenisme to Christianisme and he replyed that he would not beleeve him unlesse he saw him in the Congregation of Christians He wittily thus reprehended the rashnesse of his speech Ergone parietes faciunt Chrisiianos Doe your walls then make Christians So to those that say men are of the world until they are under this or that forme of government and ordinance I may thus speak do these things make Christians Presbytery all government is nothing Independency is nothing dipping is nothing but faith which worketh by love The Apostle clearly proves this poynt Gal. 5.3 I testifie againe to every man that is circumcised that he is a debtor to do the whole Law Christ is become of none effect to you he shall profit you nothing Wee know that Paul circumcised Timothy after he was a preacher of the Gospel and submitted himselfe to many of the rites Ceremonies of the Jewes shaved his head put himselfe under a Jewish vow yet here he saith if a man be circumcised he is a debtor to the whole Law His meaning is this that if a man submit to circumcision as thinking it will any whit availe him to his justification and salvation that man shall not be saved by Jesus Christ but he is a debtor to the whole Law he is not under grace but under the curse of the Law Act. 15.1 When some preached that there was a necessitie for men to be circumcised and keepe the Law of Moses that they might be justified see how the doctrine was disrellished by the Apostles Peter calleth it a tempting of God and laying a yoke upon the necks of the disciples which they nor their fathers were able to beare Paul though as a spiritual man he could become all things to all men to the Jew as a Jew to the Gentile as a Gentile 1 Cor. 9.20 21 22. That by all means he might save some yet how doth he thunder and lighten in the face of those that laid too much upon
ungodlinesse wordly lusts He doth not say that grace in the first place teaches us to deny ungodlines worldly lusts but in the first place it brings justificatioÌ„ salvation through beleeving then secondarily the same grace teacheth us to deny ungodlines worldly lusts After we have believed for salvation the holy spirit is given Ephes 1.13 In beleeving we enter into our rest Heb. 4.3 keep the yeare of Iubile see our selves instated in happines and keep a christian Sabbath It is only in beleeving that wee are brought to the enjoyment of that felicity which is by the grace of God in Jesus Christ The Apostles in their Epistles doe not hold forth any truth more frequently then this Gal 5.6 In Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth any thing nor uncircumcision but faith which worketh by Love And Ro. 5.1 Being justified by faith we have peace with God through Jesus Christ our Lord. When the Keeper of the Prison asked Paul Silas what they should doe to be saved suppofing salvation was only attainable by working they did at one discover unto him his error blindnesse acquainted him with the soul saving truth of the Gospel assuring him that if he beleeved on the Lord Jesus he should be saved Acts â—6 31 We find not rest in our spirits by the â—â—ght of our works love sincerity labours envours but by the sight of Gods grace in Christ Having by these places of Scripture confirmed to you this truth I shall now amplyfie it by shewing unto you more fully how it may be in truth affirmed that we are saved through faith In the first place it is by faith and by faith alone not by faith joyned with workes but by faith without workes I deny not but where true faith is workes will follow yet salvation is through faith without workes When wee are brought into the bosome of the Lord Iesus wee enter not into the bosome of his love by our love and faith together but by faith which produceth Love Our eyes are shut to the beholding all things in our selves and the eyes of our spirits are enlightned to behold what is in Gods Grace and the Lord Iesus Consonant to this is Pauls sweete and comfortable conclusion Rom. 3.28 Wee conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the Law Love to God and his people is a worke commanded by the Law but according to Pauls conclusion of truth wee are justified by faith without the deedes of the Law therefore we are justified by faith without love to God or his people When God discovers his Grace to a man for his justification hee shewes him that as his evill workes cannot bring damnation unto him so his good workes cannot bee availeable for his justification That assurance of Gods love which some professors have got by the sight of their owne workes being never illuminated in their understandings to behold Gods Grace in the light and beames of Grace is not the true assurance of the gospell but the deceit and lying divination of their owne spirits concerning their owne happinesse for salvation is by faith without workes God doth not require us to doe good workes for salvation in the conscience but doth positively and absolutely exclude them as things which have no influence at al upon that first assurance which he doth give unto his people of his love which is by a pure simple unmixed act of faith The spirit of Grace is never given to comfort us untill God hath stripped us of our owne righteousnesse workes and performances and hath brought us to the Throne of Grace to bee justified by free Grace without any thing in our selves that may make us fit for justification and salvation The Apostle doth lay downe this as a truth seconded by his owne experience and the experience of all true Saints Gal. 2.16 asserting that a man is not justified by the workes of the Law but by the faith of Iesus Christ even wee saith he have beleeved in Iesus Christ that we might bee justified by the faith of Christ and not by the workes of the Law for by the workes of the Law shall no flesh bee justified It is not as the Papists say that faith which hath love joyned with it which they make the forme of faith by which wee are justified but it is by faith without any workes at all by which wee are justified and have peace of conscience Augustine doth plainely lay downe his judgement in this point according to truth Noli presumere de operibus ante fidem quia peccatorem te fides invenit etsi te fides data facit justum impium invenit quem faceret justum Presume not upon thy workes done before faith because faith findeth thee a sinner faith hath made thee just it found thee wicked whom it should make just The second reason why it is thus by faith alone is because it is by grace unlesse we were justified by faith we were not we could not be justified by Grace This reason the Apostle lays downe Rom. 4.16 Therefore it is of faith that it might bee by Grace As if he should have said unlesse you hold that there is a justification by faith alone without workes you deny Grace if you will bee justified by faith and workes conjoyned you destroy Grace Therefore it is by faith alone that it may be by Grace When we have a true sight of Grace wee see a sufficiency in that Grace to doe us good for our justification and salvation soe that there is nothing needfull necessary besides grace In which respect Luther saith that workes are not necessary to justification but pernitious to salvation the gospell requiring faith only according to that of the Apostle Gal. 3.12 The Law is not of faith the law hath nothing to doe with beleeving that doctrine which bids a man to beleeve that he may bee saved that is the doctrine of the gospell the law biddeth us not to beleeve but the man that doth it shall live in it The law bids us worke but the Gospell bids us beleeve not worke and beleive but beleive only We confound the Covenant of workes and the Covenant of Grace if wee presse an absolute necessity of doing good workes for justification This was the Divinity of the blood-sucker Bishop Bonner who in a Sermon propounding this quest How grace is to be applyed to us for justification doth answer by beleeving rightly and living uprightly joyning faith and holinesse for justification by grace whereas by the Scripture of truth it is manifest that faith alonedoth lay hold of Christ and doth appropriate him unto us And that holinesse doth flow and streame from the apprehension of our free justification by grace through faith alone though faith is not alone but is accompanyed with other fruits of the Spirit which follow it This must be well understood or else we shall nullifie the grace of God wherefore God enableth true beleevers
indulgence is our righteousnesse Thus the Psalmist doth describe the Blessed man Psal 32. Blessed is the man whose iniquities are paraoned and whose sinnes are covered Hierome doth sweetly paraphrase't upon those words Quod tegitur non videtur quod non videtur non imputatur quod non imputatur non punietur that which is covered is not seen that which is not seen is not imputed that which is not imputed shall not be punished But by what is it that man beholdeth himselfe in this happinesse It is onely by beleeving and therefore wee are saved through faith Wee cannot see a nonimputation of sin by the grace of God but by the work of the spirit in an act of beleeving by which wee are assured that it shall goe well with our soules to all eternity And the great controversie is decided and determined in the spirit of a man whether he shall be saved or whether he shall be damned No other foundation can be laid then the grace of God in Jesus Christ our Lord 1 Cor. 3.11 And we cannot see this foundation that wee may be built upon it but by beleiving Moses by faith saw him that was invisible Abraham by faith saw the day of Christ and was glad As by the eye of the body wee see materiall objects so by the eye of faith wee see spirituall objects The Philosopher saith that prudence is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the eye of the Morall man so faith is the eye of the spirituall man By which alone God and the things of God are beheld 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Justin Martyr The Sun was not changed when the blinde man in the Gospel that never saw before received his sight and beheld it It was the same before and after his blindnesse so Jesus Christ the Sun of righteousnesse is the same yesterday and to day and for ever in himself and unchangeable in his love in reference unto us The change is onely in us by faith whom now we see though formerly wee beheld not his beauty and because the righteousnesse and salvation of God is revealed by faith Rom. 1.17 therefore wee are saved by faith Fiftly wee are saved by grace through a worke of beleeving because if it were not onely in an act of beleeving the people of God could not have that firme constant and unquestionable assurance of their salvation which now they enjoy in a way of beleeving When a man is to goe unto a place by many severall wayes which are not found out without some difficulty he doth often doubt whether he is in the right way or whether hee is out of his way but when he is to goe in one plaine way he is confident that he is not out of his way So when a man goeth by the way of the Law and workes for justification he is in doubt whether he is in his right way for justification the Law pointing out many wayes and requiring many duties of him that would be justified under it but the Gospel pointeth onely at Christ and faith in him for justification so that those who walke in this way for justification are confident that they are in the right way The Apostle doth lay downe this plainly Rom. 4.16 where he saith it is by grace and that by faith to the end the promise might be sure to all the seed not to that onely which is of the Law but to that that is of the faith of Abraham the Father of us all God hath not made the promise of salvation to the seed under the Law or that doe any workes of the Law But he hath made the promise to be gracious to poore sinners in beleeving without the workes of the Law to the end the promise might be sure If there had been any thing else required beside faith the soule would be alwayes restlesse and unsatisfied If God should tie justification to workes men would be unsatisfied because they would doubt whether some workes were not undone and then they would doubt of their justification Therefore God hath not promised justification to any man who doth good workes or submitts to any outward Ordinance but onely unto him who closeth with his grace in a pure act of beleeving For God knowes that so long as there is any thing joyned with faith for justification wee shall be ready to question our justification wee may observe that such professors who are not acquainted with the Gospel are unsetled in their spirits when they doubt which is the true Government or externall Ordinances of the Lord Jesus If they doubt whether they are baptized in a right way or manner they doubt whether they are justified their comforts and assurance doe vanish away when they are not fully assured that they know and are obedient unto all the Commandements of the Lord Jesus The cause of this legallnesse in their spirits is because they doe not see salvation firmly setled upon him that beleeveth The spirituall man beholdeth justifing grace in beleeving without his obedience to commands for externall worship and good workes and doth live joyfully and comfortably in the sight of his justification though he knoweth that it is possible that he may be ignorant of many things which other Christians may have the knowledge of And in these dayes of darkenesse contention confusion and disorder what man can have solid and lasting joy who is ignorant of free grace for justification If it were necessary to the assurance of justification to know whether the Episcopall Presbyteriall or Independent Government were the Ordinance of the Lord Jesus whether sprinckling of Children or dipping of professing beleevers were the institution of Christ in the Labyrinth of the controversies of our times how few would attaine to an assurance of their justification How would poore creatures be perplexed and disquieted in their consciences not certainly knowing in which of these wayes they should walke for their justification and salvation But that the promise might be sure to all the seed Rom. 4.16 To those who lived in the times of the Law as well as to those who live in these times of the Gospel salvation is promised not to workers but beleevers to all true beleevers in all ages and places to us who live in the time of the Babylonish Apostacy as well as to those who were hearers of the Apostles and Members of those Congregations which were gathered and governed by them Sixtly By faith the grace of God in Christ is applyed unto us and we are justified by it as the spirituall instrument formed by God in the Spirit for the application of Christs benefits to our consciences A man that lived in the time of the Law looking upon the blood of his sacrifices did behold himselfe purged purified and sanctified in his flesh by it Heb. 9.13 So a sinner looking upon the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ is applyed unto him and his conscience is purged from dead workes to serve the living God ver 14. Faith though it
affirming that a man is not justified by faith onely but by faith and works together These deny justification by the Grace of God and the righteousnesse of the Lord Jesus Christ through faith and set up a justification by inherent righteousnesse in themselves holding that wee are then justified from sinne when it is removed out of our sight sence feeling lives spirits and conversations The strongest Argument which they bring for the confirming of their assertion and in which they doe most triumph as though they had obtained a victory over the truth of Gods Grace is in the 2 Jam. 24. Yee see then how that by work 's a man is justified and not by faith onely Doth not James say they lay down our assertion in so many words joyning faith and good workes as con-causes of justification Some to escape the edge of this Argument have denied this Epistle to be Canonicall like him who being unable to unty the Gordian knott did cut it in pieces Thus Lucius Osiander proposing this objection of his Antagonists doth thinke that he hath for ever cut it to pieces by their answer But secondly others yea most of those whom wee call Protestant writers for the reconciling of James to Paul and his fellow Apostles with one consent give in this answer to this objection distinguishing of a twofole justification First a justification before God secondly a justification before men Paul as they apprehend doth speake of the former of these James of the latter supposing this to be the genuine sence and meaning of James that wee are justified by works that is declaratively before men But with respect and due reverence to the piety and learning of these men who give in this answer give me leave being not sworn in verba magistri or obliged to justifie what any man or many men though godly and learned have apprehended to be the meaning of a place to shew my reasons why I dissent from them and secondly to give in mine own answer to the place First I apprehend that James doth not speake of a justification before men because his proofe is from Abrahams being justified by works when he offered up his sonne Isaac as it is evident by the preceding words which action of Abrahams would not have justified him before men They would have looked upon him rather as a cruell malefactor then a Saint in offering up his onely Sonne Secondly This businesse was so transacted between God and Abraham that it was not visible to men that they should justifie him for it When he went to performe this act of obedience to his God he left his servants behind him and carried no man with him but his Sonne who was to be sacrificed Thirdly If wee view the place Gen. 22.11 12. out of which James doth prove his Argument it will be evident that it proveth not a justification towards men but towards God And the Angel said Lay not thy hand upon the Lad for now I know that thou fearest God seeing thou hast not withheld thy sonne thine onely sonne from mee This Angel was Christ as it doth appeare by his calling of himselfe God and he is justified by him as a man that feared him And in the 16 17 and 18. verses By my selfe have I sworn saith the Lord because thou hast done this thing that in blessing I will blesse thee and in thy seed shall all the Nations of the Earth be blessed It is cleare by this that the justification spoken of is not a justification before men but before God Lastly I shall therefore give in what I doe conceive to be the meaning of the holy Spirit in these words James doth not speake of justification as it is taken properly and used by Paul but doth speake of justification as it is taken improperly He speaketh not of it as an act by which wee are reconciled and our iniquities pardoned but he speaketh of it as an act by which God doth approve a man to be justified by his works which he doth after his justification Abraham was a justified man by faith before Isaac was borne now God doth beare witnesse to the works and fruits of his faith and doth justifie him by his works in this sence that is he doth approve him to be a man that feareth and loveth him And this is the Answer which is given by the learned Melancthon Non intelligatur verbum justifieari pro reconciliari sed ut alias saepe dicitur pro approbari Justificatur homo ex operibus id est habens justitiam operum approbatur placet Deo The word justification is not to be taken for reconciliation but approbation man is justified by his works that is having a righteousnesse of works or samctification God doth approve him his works doe please God And as when wee see good fruit upon a tree we use to say this is a good tree Not that the good fruit doth make the tree good but the tree being good doth bring forth the good fruit So God having made us good trees by justifying of us by his Grace doth enable us to bring forth good fruit and speaking 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 after the manner of men to us men doth approve us to be good trees bringing forth good fruit And thus much for the reproofe of these men and in answer to their objection Secondly This doth serve to discover and reprove such who would seeme to be no Papists who yet in a more refined and subtle way do preach forth the same doctrine which the others doe maintaine and preferre some Popish bookes which are wrought with a fine and curious thread before any bookes which have been published by any who have been eminent for the knowledge of Gods Grace in Christ through faith for justification These are they who if it were possible would deceive the very Elect laying siege against the Gospel and the doctrine of justification while they pretend that they are fighters for it And these preach that wee are not to looke so much upon a Christ without us for justification as a Christ within us And that we are not justified by a Christ that is in heaven but by Christ within us which Christ of theirs is nothing else when yee are well acquainted with him but the workings of their own spirits in zeale and love to God and when they have high thoughts of God their will is conformable to the will of God and they thinke the same things that God thinkes and submit to God in their wayes They looke upon these workings as their perfection and justification and this is Christ within them Such kinde of Doctrines as this is are the first rudiments and principles by which the Politique and Civilized Familists doe leaven their pupills leading them from the plaine and simple doctrine of the Gospel The spirit of error and delusion which was in H. N. the first father of the Familists which have lived of late or are yet living did worke
if workes and faith were to be conjoyned for justification Gratia non est gratia ullo modo si non sit gratuit a omni modo Grace is not Grace in any way unlesse it be free and undeserved every way Grace is not free and undeserved unlesse it be reached forth without any consideration of our owne workes which is onely through faith trye whether God hath taught thee this lesson of truth Fourthly faith doth take the glory of justistification from the creature and giveth it unto grace Hast thou learned to sing the new song of the Saints and redeemed ones before the Throne crying Salvation onely to God who sitteth upon the Throne of grace and to the Lamb. Fifthly art thou fully perswaded of Gods power and faithfulnesse who hath left Promises of grace upon record for the salvation of poore sinners Art thou with Abraham fully perswaded of the truth of Gods Promises of grace in reference to thy selfe I remember what one of the Ancients saith That to professe Christ without assurance is to be without faith living in the houshold of faith Fidem in dome fidei non habere Cypr. A spirituall man is that which he believeth himselfe to be Id esse incipit quod se esse credit He beleeves that he is positively and negatively righteous in Christ freed from finne and made a partaker of a glorious righteousnesse for his justification and so he is of a Leper by believing in an instant made whole Hee believeth that he oweth nothing to his creditour and his creditour believeth so too Sixthly A believing man is bone of the bone flesh of the flesh and one spirit with the Lord Jesus There is a close neere union application of Christ to the soule by faith Dost thou in believing see thy selfe a member of Christ as thy hand or foot is a part of thy body Is Christ the quickning spirit of thy spirit to enliven that as thy spirit is the spirit which doth enliven thy body 7 ly Dost thou so live by faith that thou lookest upon Christ as thy life and righteousnesse more then faith Not suffering any perswasion which thou callest thy righteousnesse to sit in the uppermost roome of thy heart to the prejudice of Gods glory in Christ A spirituall heart is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mac the throne of the Deity where God in Christ is exalted as the chiefe righteousnesse of the soule is it so in thine Iohn 14.1 8ly Hast thou by faith as an instrument touched the hem of Christs garment for the healing of the bloudy issue of thy own soule Hee that is wise and good is wise and good for himselfe And if thou art truly wise and good thou art wise in applying Christ to make thy selfe wise and good Lastly Is thy faith such a faith through which Christ hath inwardly discovered himselfe unto thee formed and created himselfe in thee Job 32.8 The inspiration of the Almighty giveth understanding If thy faith be true it is by inward inspiration Quer. But must we have such a faith if wee will be the children of believing Abraham Answ Every true believer hath such a faith for the nature of it though not for the perfection of the degrees of it There is a perfect faire copy of faith in those who have beene presented unto thee Thou art to have the same copy written forth upon thy heart though it may not be so fairly written forth at the first But if it be a true copy of faith thou hast no cause to question thy assurance though thou dost finde it very weake at the present A palsey-shaken hand may receive a gift and a weake faith may receive the grace of God in Jesus Christ A Dwarfe is a man as well as a Giant though not so tall and one who is but a dwarfe and low in Christianity by the weakenesse of his faith may be a Christian as well as those who are of a taller stature in the Schoole of Christ Thirdly this which hath been delivered may be for the strengthning of the faith and the encreasing the comforts of those who have laid hold of salvation by a lively faith on Jesus Christ Comforts are encreased by the same meanes by which they are wrought at the first And therefore the Apostle prayeth for the Romans that the Lord would fill them with all joy and peace in believing Rom. 15.13 Our comforts are low because our faith is weake Comfort floweth in by renewed acts of faith Sathan would rob us of our comfort by wresting faith which is our shield from us Ephes 6.16 And this is one way in which he doth labour to weaken the faith of the Saints by suggesting this unto the Saints that Salvation is not only through faith But against this temptation and all his other fierie darts we may hold forth this buckler of truth That wee are saved by grace through faith Answer him therefore from this truth and he will be silenced Resist him in believing this trueth and hec will flee from thee Jam. 4.7 And the spirit will flie into thy soule to comfort thee So long as Abraham lived he lived as a justified man by faith So long as Paul lived he lived by faith in the Son of God Gal. 2. We dye rather then live when we are not under the power of the spirit enabling us to beleeve We lye downe either in the bed of carnall security or Familisticall Antichristianisme or fal under the bondage of the Law when we step aside from the plaine Doctrine of salvation by faith in our Lord Jesus And therefore the flesh and the Devill the great enemies to a Saints comfort doe joyne themselves together to oppose the doctrine of faith Sathan knoweth that faith and works are inconsistent in point of justification And when hee observeth that we are in some measure convinced that salvation is by faith he endeavours to perswade us that it is by faith and workes And would divide our Justification between faith and works As the harlot cryed out 1 King 3.26 concerning the child Neither mine nor thine but divide it So the Devill would have us divide our Justification attribute halfe of it to faith and give the other part to workes But the beleeving man seeth that there is salvation in Christ and not in any other and that no other name under heaven is given among men whereby they must be saved Acts 4.12 And that we rest upon this name for salvation only by faith In Christ we have boldness accesse with confidence by the faith of him Ephesians 3.12 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Wee are manuduced and lead by the hand as it were with perswasion of Christs goodness to us by faith in Christ Continue in that faith by which Paul was justified who believed that Christ loved him and gave himselfe for him and thy comforts and peace shall be continued unto the. It it Melancthons observation that the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉
of no drawing But ye see that God must compell us to come in to Jesus or else wee will never come in unto him nor submit unto his will I would not here be mistaken I do not think that when a man doth take Christ that he is unwilling to take him but hee receiveth him willingly Yet it is not by the strength of the naturall will that a man is made willing but by the power of grace Ex nolentibus volentes facit God maketh us who are unwilling to entertaine his Sonne by nature willing to entertaine him by grace and the will acted by the strength of supernaturall grace doth act in a contrary way to it selfe when it acteth in the strength of corrupt nature By which it is plainly proved that the will of a naturall man is insufficient of it selfe to bring about the salvation of a naturall man We are changed into the Image of the Lord by the Spirit of the Lord 2 Cor. 3.18 From whence one doth draw this rationall conclusion that if we are changed by the strength of the spirit that then it is not by the strength of free will Si a domini spiritu jam non a libero arbitrio And we may draw the same conclusion from the words of Paul Phil. 2.13 where he affirmeth that it is God that worketh in us both to will and to doe of his owne good pleasure If God doth work in us to will what is good then we doe not work it in our selves By which it is clearely demonstrated that if faith be looked upon as a work in the will by which it is made willing to receive Christ and his righteousnesse for Justification that then faith cannot be looked upon as from our selves but it is the gift of God A second argument for the confirmation of this may be drawn from the considering the disability of men already converted to doe any good of themselves And thus I frame my argument If men already converted are not able to think a good thought or to put forth one act of faith of themselves then men unconverted are not able to believe of themselves before conversion But men already converted are not able to think one good thought or to put forth one act of faith of themselves Therefore unconverted men are not able to believe of themselves There is that strength in the first proposition that I suppose no man pretending to bee a Schollar in the Schoole of the spirit will question the truth of it For should a man question it he should by his questioning of it attribute a greater strength to unconverted then converted men which is such an absurdity in Divinity that I think no spiritual man would be guilty of it And for the minor or second Proposition it is backed with such plaine authority of Scripture that it is in vaine for any man to deny it How plainly doth Paul deliver selfe in this point 2 Cor. 3.5 Where speaking of Saints he saith That wee are not sufficient of our selves to think any thing as of our selves but our sufficiecy is of God What spirituall act is more easie then to thinke a good thought It is easier to thinke well then to speake well or doe well we often think good thoughts that never come out upon the tongue or appeare in the action Yet holy Paul is not affraid to professe that the best of us all cannot thinke any thing as of our selves Which may be a sufficient proof of that which followeth in the same proposition where wee say that he cannot put forth one act of faith In believing our spirits are placed and fixed upon God and we are filled with high thoughts of his grace in his Sonne to his glory and therefore if we cannot think well certainly we cannot believe well And that wee cannot believe of our selves after we do believe will be evident by the Petition of the Apostles Luke 17.5 Lord encrease our Faith What necessity was there that they should have prayed to their Mr. for the increasing of their faith if by their owne strength they could have believed when they had pleased And thus I have at once both proved my argument and the point in hand that true faith is not of our selves This argument is a majore ad minus as we speake in Logicke from the greater to the lesse if the greater can doe nothing the lesse cannot if converted men be able to do nothing toward this excellent work of faith then unconverted men are able to doe nothing Men who have a life in Christ can do nothing of themselves therefore such who are dead in sins and trespasses can doe nothing of themselves but God must doe all in us by his grace The third argument may be drawne from this consideration that if there were any thing in the reason or understanding of man which might further him in this work of faith then it would follow that those men who are the most acute men the most learned men the wisest and most rationall men would prove the best Christians and the most faithful men but we finde it quite contrary There are none commonly more ignorant of Christ then they who are most learned The worlds wise-man is Gods foole It were an easie matter to prove this by running over the severall ages of the world It was the complaint of a good man long since The unlearned saith hee doe arise and take heaven by force while we learned men are cast into hell surgunt indocti rapiunt coelum dum nos docti detrudimur ad gehennam but I shall confine my selfe to Scripture This is proved 1 Cor. 1.26 27. You see your calling brethren how that not many wise men after the flesh not many mighty not many noble are called But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise and the weake things of the world to confound the things which are mighty The wise men and great men of the world have not generally embraced Christ but rather the worlds fools have been made wise by the knowledge of him The learned Pharisees did reproach Christ and his Doctrine with this Ioh. 7.48 Have any of the Rulers or Pharisees beleeved on him but this people who knoweth not the Law are cursed They looked upon his followers as a cursed company of ignorant people unacquainted with the Law which they taught for Justification and supposed that the Rulers and Pharisees had so much wit wisedome and learning that they would give no credite to his Doctrine Therefore seeing those who are most learned wise and acute by rationall parts gifts and abilities are commonly most averse and opposite to the knowledge of the Gospell it follows that it is not by any thing that is in the reason or understanding of man by which one man is made more capable of faith then any other man but God giveth the gift of faith freely to whom hee pleaseth The fourth may be drawne from
mightily in him to pervert the Gospel and to bring in Antichristianisme in this way of flaming zeale love and holinesse And if he were now alive he would wonder at his numerous off-spring and progeny which he hath now amongst us But that you may avoid this first rock before yee be engulfed into the deepe and bottomlesse pit of Familisticall Atheisme and Antichristianisme let what hath been spoken to reprove them establish you in the truth of the Gospel and looke upon the best piece of Familisme but as upon refined Popery For wee are not saved by Christ working in us and making us obedient to his Fathers holy will but wee are saved by the righteousnesse of Christ who hath shed his bloud for us And though we deny not but that wee have Christ within us and the Spirit of Grace to subdue our sinnes Yet this is denied that the workings of the Spirit are our justification for wee are justified before wee have these workings which wee feele within us Wee are not justified because we love God and Christ and desire to walke in sinceritie to glorifie God but because wee apprehend the Grace of God in Christ and therefore we love God and Christ and destre in sincerity to walke in all the wayes that God hath made knowne to us in Christ Wee are not justified by the conformitie of our will to Gods will or the onenesse of our will with his but wee are justified by faith before any of those works are wrought in our hearts by the Spirit of Grace He that denies this is ignorant of Christ and the Gospel and is not an honourer of Christ but a Minister of Satan and Antichrist and a deluder of the people Thirdly This is for the reproose of the hypocriticall Protestant who professeth the doctrine of justification by faith without works with his tongue but denieth it with his heart not daring to trust his soule in the armes of a Saviour unlesse he brings good works along with him to procure his welcome and entertainment This man stumbles at the thresh-hold of the doore of Grace being never able to enter into the house of love because he will not adventure his salvation upon the promises of Grace which are made to sinners that have no workes or righteousnesse inherently in themselves He will not goe to God or close with a promise of Grace unlesse he have the sight of righteousnesse in himselfe in the first place He will tell you that good works are not the matter of our justification and yet he will not conclude that he is a justified man untill he see good works in himselfe This man following the law of righteousnesse doth not attaine to the law of righteousnesse because he seeketh it not by faith but as it were by the works of the Law Rom. 9.31 32. The Apostle speaks against this pharisaicall opinion when he saith Wee are justified by Grace through beleeving not through working I am not bound to love God and the brethren that I may be beloved of God but I must beleeve that I may love God and my brother The preposterous preaching of sanctification before justification for the evidencing of justification is that which keepeth many poore creatures in bondage for many yeares and ruines many soules How many are gone to Hell who thought they were going to Heaven deceiving themselves with false and unsound assurances And fetching their comforts from the sight of their own works and not from the Grace of God in Christ by a pure act of beleeving If this were the right path to justification we should not be justified in beleeving but in loving and working For I seeing my love to God should conclude Gods love to me But herein is love not that wee loved God but that God loved us and sent his Sonne to be the propitiation for our sinnes 1 Joh. 4.10 And true love is wrought in us by the sight of Gods free love to us in an act of beleeving Therefore if thou hast no assurance of the love of God but that which thou hast gotten from the sight of thine own works and from the conclusions of thine own base and deceitfull heart as the ordinary way of some hath been thou hast no assurance at all When thou shalt lie under a great temptation thou wilt finde no comfort in this assurance And thou shalt finde at the great day when thou shalt appeare before God and Christ that this assurance will not be worth a Rush This building upon thy love to God and not upon Gods free love to thee is to build upon a sandy foundation and not upon Christ by faith And if the Lord convince thee of thy folly thou wilt lay a better foundation of joy and comfort then this can be unto thee For other foundation can no man lay then that which is laid which is Jesus Christ 1 Cor. 3. Though a spirituall man can make a good use of marks and signes as of love to God and Saints when he seeth them in the light of the Spirit as fruits proceeding from faith as the roote yet by drawing a conclusion from the sight of such things which we apprehend to be in our selves of our happinesse and good estate before God wee shall not so truely comfort as certainly deceive our selves Fourthly This is for the reprehension of blind ignorant Formalists who place Religion rather in conformity to outward formes of Government and submission to externall Ordinances then in the faith of the Gospel which is operative by love Justification doth not lye in our obedience to the Ordinances of Jesus Christ but in Jesus Christ Wee are not made Saints by being made members of any Church or Congregation but by faith in the head of the Church Woe to him that maketh his obedience and submission to any Ordinance the ground of his comfort as too many zealous Formalists do who run from Congregation to Congregation from one Ordinance to another to get solid comfort to their soules apprehending that they are undone creatures and cannot be true Saints unlesse they be under the true practise of all Ordinances whereas it is a plaine truth revealed in the Gospel of truth that neither submitting to an Ordinance can make a true Saint nor the want of Ordinances un-saint any man that is made one with Christ in beleeving He is not a Jew which is one outwardly neither is that Circumcision which is outward in the flesh But he is a Jew which is one inwardly and Circumcision is that of the heart in the Spirit and not in the Letter whose praise is not of men but of God Rom. 2.28 29. So he is a true Saint who is not a visible member of a Congregation but he whose life of faith is hidden in Jesus Christ He is baptized not whose body is washed with water but whose soule is washed in the bloud of Christ 1 Pet. 3.21 He is a good Communicant and breaks bread who doth not breake bread
so wee are saved by grace Wee are made happy brought from a cursed condition into a blissfull condition from horror to joy from hell to heaven from the state of nature to the state of Glory onely by the grace of God It is onely by Grace that wee are what wee are By Grace our sins are pardoned by Grace wee have an inheritance with the Saints by Grace wee are the high born sonnes of the great King of heaven and earth by Grace wee are blessed and loaded with all spirituall and temporall blessings in Jesus Christ and are brought to the enjoyment of eternall felicity happinesse and blissfulnesse Thus wee are saved by grace and by grace alone One of the Ancients doth speake excellently to this purpose Nemo se palpet de suo Satanas est de deo beatus est quid est enim de suo nisi peccatum suum Let no man boast of himselfe for of a mans selfe he is a Devill by God a man is made happy What is a man of himselfe but sin Yee are saved by grace Againe salvation in Scripture is taken for salvation before God in the Court of heaven And it is taken for the saving of a partie in his own spirit and conscience if wee take it in the first sence a man is saved in the Court of heaven onely by grace What is the Reason that the accusing mouth of the Law being stopped no Bill no enditement can be brought against the Elect in the Court of Heaven Is it not this because God in his grace justifieth them This is the Apostles argument Rom. 8.33 Who shall lay any thing to the charge of Gods Elect It is God that justifieth them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 who can implead or bring an action against them before God for breaking his Law He that is the Judge of the Elect is their justifier Grace hath cast out of Heaven the accuser of the Brethren which accused them before God night and day Rev. 12.10 The accuser can bring no enditement complaint or accusation against the Saints there There is no sin in our consciences that can be heard to accuse us in heaven because there is grace for our justification God beholds his Sonne Jesus Christ before his eve upon whom he hath laid all our sins The bloud of Christ doth with powerfull and undeniable arguments plead for those for whom it was shed The straying and stragling sheep which are within the reach of Gods eternall Grace cannot be condemned because the good Shepheard hath given his life for the sheep Joh. 10.11 God knoweth that he hath received satisfaction before hand for their sins by the hand of the Lord Jesus who is not now to pay any thing but hath already made payment for all their debts and is become the Mediator of the new Covenant of Grace which is sealed in his own bloud under which Covenant upon this consideration there can be no remembrance of sin Heb. 10.14 God beholding his Elect in their propitiation and alwayes hearing the sweet voice of their wrath-appeasing advocate making an heavenly melody in his eares And alwayes beholding our happinesse before himselfe in heaven lying wrapt up in his own grace doth acquaint us in his word of truth That wee are saved by grace Secondly If we take salvation in the other sence for salvation in our spirits and consciences and in this sence we are saved by grace There can be no salvation brought home to our hearts but by the sight of grace If wee had the sanctification of all the Saints which have lived since the fall of Man and should looke upon it all as ours to give comfort to our soules and to assure us that wee are in a state of salvation and should not looke above it to behold Gods grace and our sanctification in it and from it it would not give us any solid comfort or assurance of our salvation Nothing can shine in the heart to give it any comfort but what doth shine and give light in the light and beames of this grace Wee never come to see our selves in a condition of safety till wee see the grace of God Looke unto mee and be saved all the ends of the earth for I am God and there is none else Isaiah 45.22 None but God can save us and nothing but the sight of God can bring salvation to us Still wee have some objection or other against salvation and justification till God silence all objections by the sight of his own grace There is that onely in God and in Jesus Christ that will silence all objections If our conscience flie in our faces and tell us that wee have committed many thousands of sins more then wee can reckon or number up yet when God gives us a sight of himselfe his sonne and grace the mouth of conscience is stopped and wee see all our sins swallowed up in his love Shew us the Father and it sufficeth us saith Philip. Joh. 14.8 When God sheweth us himselfe our spirits are at rest When Grace is discovered and Gods light doth shine upon the soule Sin death damnation cannot terrifie the soule But they are filled with a spirit of joy in beleeving their free justification who before through feare of death were subject to bondage Heb. 2.15 Grace appeareth greater and stronger to bring salvation then sinne powerful to bring damnation Our sins the sins of all the men of the world being the acts of creatures are finite but grace that justifieth us is the grace of an infinite God and is boundlesse and infinite Men are unassured of their salvation unlesse this Grace be presented to the eye of their spirits And men and Devills cannot prevaile against us to enforce us to question our justification and salvation when wee looke upon it That peace which the world cannot take from us nor give unto us that joy which neither the Law nor the workes of the Law can convey unto us nor bereave us off that salvation which damned Feinds can never rob us of is communicated to us by the beholding of Gods grace in the face of the Lord Jesus The soule when it hath a sight of this grace it stands with boldnesse at the Throne of Grace and though it feele hellish sin in it selfe yet it is able to dispute with all the Divels in Hell and to maintaine the freenesse fulnesse and compleatnesse of its own justification from all sin by the grace of God in Jesus Christ If the Divell shall then suggest this to a man that he is a sinner The beleeving soule will make this answer It is true I am a sinner but I am not terrified to desparation because I am ungodly but I rejoyce in this that God justifieth the ungodly by his grace Rom. 4.5 If the Divell shall reply But thou art a great sinner and there is a great damnation The believing soule will returne I am not tormented by the great damnation prepared for great sinners but
he intends to save thus he comes not only in the preaching of the Word in the language of man but in the power of heaven And though the former worke of the Spirit may be resisted this latter cannot be resisted Though wee may reject the Word of God preached in the letter and some common workings of the spirit in our owne hearts and not give entertainement to Jesus Christ when hee knockes at the doore of our hearts in the preaching of the Word yet when it comes downe with power to open the heart as he did Lydia's we are not able to prevail against him when God intends powerfully to open the doore of our spirits we are not able to keepe it lockt he will sweetly force us to open the door and by his spirit and grace break in upon us and not suffer us to shut him out of our hearts and wee are bound to blesse God that it is so for unlesse it were so no man in the world should ever be saved no man in the world should ever receive Christ unlesse God did come with an infinite power and pleasing violence force him to believe If it were not thus that God did worke this unresistable way in those whom he intends to save there must of necessity be an uncertainty whether ever any man or woman should ever be saved by Jesus Christ For if every man and woman in the world had power to resist grace offered not to believe at all then this must follow that it might be impossible after the fall that never a man or woman in the world should ever be saved by Christ And this absurdity will follow from it that God after mans fall could not be certaine that any man should be saved by Christ and so it would take away the fore-knowledge of God because he could not know but that every man in the world might resist reject Jesus Christ Thirdly This may give in some support to some trembling hearers who are convinced by the spirit of unbeliefe and are not able to believe in Jesus Christ Thou art ready to despaire when thou apprehendest that it is impossible for thee truly to believe of thy selfe but let thy spirit be upheld with this consideration that God is able to give thee faith while I am speaking of faith and shewing thee the worker of it It may be thou thinkest that thou shalt never have joy comfort and assurance of salvation but by believing and yet thou are not able to believe and therefore comfort thy selfe in this though thou canst doe nothing God is able to enable thee to doe all things Phil. 4.13 As the Martyr when some told him that when he came to suffer he wold rather deny his tenets then burn It is true said he I of my selfe should doe so but God is able to enable me So though thou knowest that thou of thy selfe canst not believe know that God is able to enable thee presently to believe Thou that hast had experience of thy unbelieving heart and of that mountaine of infidelity that lies upon thy spirit and that thou art able to say I shall never be able to believe of my selfe while the world stands know that God is ablde in this momentt to give thee faith Fourthly This may informe us concerning the nature of true faith by which it may bee distinguished from the faith of hypocriticall Formalists The hypocrite not being acquainted with his owne disability for the working of saving faith in his owne heart doth apprehend that he can doe the worke of God by himselfe in his own strength like the carnall hearers of our Saviour John 6.28 What shall wee doe that wee may worke the worke of God And when he apprehendeth that he doth believe he gloryeth more in his owne actings labourings and endeavours by which hee conceiveth that he hath obtainned faith then in the grace of the Lord Jesus having no spiritual knowledg of that faith which is wrought by the Almightines of Gods powerful irresistable grace But if it is otherwise with a true sonne of Abraham his faith is of another nature having a spirituall and heavenly tincture in it from that spirit by whom it is wrought He prizeth not his faith of the naturall spirit but the faith of his heavenly spirit He can set his seale to that truth of our Saviour John 6.65 That no man can come unto him except it were give a unto him of his Father he is not proud of his faith because hee looking upon it in the glasse of Gods free grace doth account it rather Gods worke then his owne According to that of our Saviour John 6. This is the worke of God that ye believe Vpon which words one of the Ancients hath this observation Non dixit hoc est opus vestrum sed hoc est opus Dei He said not this is your worke but the worke of God Our Saviour speaking to his Disciples Mar. 4.11 To you saith he it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God but unto them that are without all those things are done in parables The Gospell of the Lord Jesus is a mystery and parable unto many untill the Lord doth give us the precious gift of faith by which we understand these mysteries of God so that he that truly understands the mysterie of the Kingdome doth look upon his spirituall knowledge as a gift What is compleat and perfect faith but the gift of God by which we believe that all our spirituall good things and faith it selfe is freely given unto us by God Quae est plena et perfecta fides Quae credit ex Deo et omnia bona nostra et ipsam fidem Aug. Fifthly This may convince those of their errour who being convinced of sinne do refuse to turne into the true way of salvation by believing supposing in the pride and ignorance of their hearts that this is too short and neare a way to Justification and happinesse These will first doe good workes get strength against all their corruptions be made holy sanctified men and then they thinke that they may safely make bold to lay hold of some promise of grace for justification and salvation It was thus with me when God did at first begin to awaken my conscience with the dreadfull sight of my sins and course of prophanenesse in which I had lived and some months I went in this way never in the spirit considering that the object of Gods justifying grace was an ungodly man and a sinner and not knowing that spirituall regeneration is not by the workes of the Law but the doctrine of the Gospel though I could then in a carnall way as many blind Protestants now can have spoken and preached more gloriously with thetoricall words and flourishing expressions of justification by faith without workes then now I can or will But as God who from all eternity had singled me out unto salvation by Jesus Christ was pleased to convince
the Scripture by which errour is hewen down and truth exalted Wherfore I shall give you more fully my plaine and naked meaning in this point and then shall shew you what Scripture will come in to beare witnesse to the truth which I have received from the Lord. First We are to take notice that man in Scripture is considered physically as he hath a rationall spirit joyned to an humane body And when we thus speake of man wee doe acknowledge that every man sinneth Lot David Peter Paul and the like according to that of James Jam. 3.2 In many things we offend all Secondly We may looke upon man theologically And if we thus consider him 〈◊〉 shall finde that in a spirituall sense every Christian man hath two men in him a new man and and an olde man and these two of contrary natures and operations And as sometimes we speake of a man as having two physicall beings in him and doe attribute unto him what is proper to his corporall and spirituall part as when we say a man heareth seeth walketh understandeth and the like And then again doe distinguish these two attributing to the body what is proper to the body and to the soule what is proper to the soule So somtimes the Scripture doth speak of man as having two contrary natures and then doth againe attribute that to the new or divine nature which is proper unto that and that unto the sinfull and fleshly nature which is proper unto it In the olde and unregenerated nature there is nothing but sin and the seed and spawn of all filthinesse and uncleannesse And in the regenerated part or new man there is nothing but purity and holinesse In this nature he doth not sin nor cannot sin as he cannot doe good in the other nature So that I apprehend that the man borne of God is not sinfull in his nature or in any of his actings workings or operations Hee is light in his understanding holy in his will pure in his thoughts sanctified in his affections It is well observed by Bullinger That God doth allude to the nature o◠seede the nature of which is retained by those things which spring out of it Alludit ad seminis naturam quam ea referunt quae ex eo nascuntur The seed being holy that which ariseth from it is likewise holy as our Saviour doth informe us John 3.6 That which is borne of theflesh is flesh and that which is borne of the spirit i◠spirit Not that the new-born man is wholly turned into the eternall spirit and is nothing else but the spirit as some deluded and deluding soiries have affirmed but the abstract is taken for the concrete which manner of speech is very frequent in Scripture That which is borne of the Spirit is said to be spirit because it is made spirituall by the presence of the holy Spirit in it Having acquainted you with my meaning and given you the spirituall interpretation of the words I shall draw the marrow and substance of the particulars which I named into one Conclusion which I shall endeavour to make good by spirituall arguments which I shall draw from Scripture and spirituall reason The conclusion is this The spiritual man or the man born of God in his spirituall and godly nature motions actings towards God in Christ doth not nor cannot sin Arg. 1. His seed is holy in him therefore his fruit is holy this is the argument of the Apostle His seed abideth in him and therefore he cannot sin Christ is the seed in us 1 Pet. 1.23 Every true Christian can say with Paul Gal. 2.20 That Christ liveth in him and Christ in us doth not suffer us to live sinfully but maketh us to live holily he becomming the principle of an holy life and sanctification in us A Christian is powerfully acted by an holy principle and therefore his actings are holy Christ is a pure fountaine of holinesse in us as well to fill our souls with the streames of holinesse by the Spirit as to wash away the uncleaness of our souls in our Justification And this fountaine cannot send forth at the same place sweet water and bitter Jam. 3.11 The streames doe retaine the pure nature of the fountain from whence they flow Reader I must inform thee that since I Preached this Sermon I received objections from my learned friend Mr. R. L. against my arguments which I thought good to print with my Arguments Ob. Against this argument this is objected The argument from the seed to the fruit wil not follow unlesse the soyl be also answerable otherwise sorry fruit may come from good seed Answ As there is good seed so there is a good soile the spirituall heart and therefore the argument will follow This I prove Ezek. 36.26 A new heart will I give you and a new spirit will I put within you and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh and will give you an heart of flesh And I will put my Spirit within you and cause you to walke in my Statutes and ye shall keepe my judgements and doe them The new heart of flesh is a good soile And because God doth promise his Spirit and a new heart therefore see what shall follow the good fruit spoken of We shall keep his judgements and doe them Arg. 2. God cannot be the Author worker of that which is sin but God doth professe himselfe to bee the Author of good workes wrought in the Saints and therefore these workes are not sin Isa 26.12 The Saints doe profes that God hath wrought all their works in them And this likewise is the argument of the Apostle who doth prove that doing of evill is sinne because it is of the Devill and that working of righteousnesse is good because it is of God Object These things are not sinne in their whole morall nature but per accidens by accident through the defect of some circumstance Answ Every morall action commanded or forbidden of God is either good or evill If these are good and no sinne then I have what I contend for If evill acquit God from being the author of evill who doth professe himselfe to be the Author of these things in opposition to Satan and his workes If you say that they are neither good nor evill or both good and evill and prove it by Scipture I shall hearken unto you But you say they are sin by accident and if they are so by accident they are sin and still you make God the Author of sin but I affirme that they are neither sin in their nature nor by accident but good and therefore untill you prove what you say I doe not see but that my argument is unshaken by this objection Object 2. Faith and love in their whole morall abstract nature are not sin but considered in the Concrete and acted by us Answ The Apostle doth speake of them in the Concrete as acted by us and doth bid us try
sanctification at the resurrection and yet you will not say that we shall be acquitted from our sinnes by it which wee have committed upon earth but by the grace of God in the blood of Christ 2. We are justified before sanctification and therefore it will not follow that we are justified by it Because that is done before the other is wrought in us 3. That a man may be justified by his sanctification It is necessary that a man should be so wholy sanctified that there should be no sin in the man Our good works will not make satisfaction for our bad works A Traytor for an act of treason might be condemned by his Prince though he hath done him much good service If a man would seeke justification by the law who is sanctified in part the law would condemn him for his sin in his unregenerated part taking no notice of any sufficiency in his sanctification to free him from condemnation for his sinne in the unregenerated part Arg. 19. This opinion that the good works of the justified man are sin or sinfull do make divers places of Scripture irreconcileable Men shall never be well able to reconcile many places of Scripture who swallow this as a trueth that whatsoever workes are now done in the Saints are nothing but sinne or sinfull For instance in one place we are bound to disclaime our works and to account all our righteousnesses as filthy ragges to believe in him that justifieth the ungodly And in another place we are said to be redeemed from all iniquity that we might be zealous of good workes Tit. 2. And we are the work-manship of God created in Christ Jesus to good workes Eph. 2. By what I have delivered they are easily reconcileable To wit by distinguishing as the Scripture doth concerning good works thus That all the works of man under the Law are but splendid and shining sins and that the spirituall workes of a spirituall man are good and not sin or sinfull in their nature Not that the Scripture makes these good workes that flow from the spirituall man the cause or the matter of our justification but the fruits of the Spirit and the consequents of our justification It is a speech of Luthers worthy to be written in letters of gold that the whole world with all the riches of it are of no worth in comparison of good works flowing from faith and wrought by the Spirit of God in the hearts of his people Which how it can be made good I know not if that be true which he and some other Protestant Writers affirme that Omne bonum secundum judicium dei est mortale peccatum every good worke of a regenerate man according to the judgment of God is a mortall sin That which is morally evill is not so good as any thing which is not morally evill That being the greatest evill which is morally evill I have known some professors of the Gospel who have fallen to Familisme and Atheisticall opinions and being asked why they did leave the Gospel they have answered that they could never reconcile the Scriptures concerning works to other places while they were professors of the Gospel Their meaning is while they were professor upon these principles by which they were taught to look upon the works of the spirit in them as sin and sinfull That which is frequently afferted by some Mr. Eatoon Honycomb and others that they are good to men-ward will not make up the breach The Apostle Peter speaking of a meeke quiet spirit which is the ornament of the hidden man of the heart saith that it is of great price in the sight of God 1 Pet. 3.4 The Apostle speaking of his fincerity in preaching the Gospel is not affraid to bring it into the sight of God 2 Cor. 2.17 And John saith 1 Joh. 3.22 That whatsoever we aske we receive of him because wee keepe his Commandements and doe those things which are pleasing in his sight And that he doth not meane believing only is plain by the next verse where he saith That this is his Commandement that wee believe on the name of his Sonne Jesus Christ and love one another And to stop the mouth of the objection which is usually brought against this truth to wit that he speaketh of doing as in Gods precept or command and not as done by us He saith that we receive what we aske because wee doe what is pleasing in his sight I must professe to the glory of God that this distinction hath given me a great light in the understanding of the Scripture And by this I am informed that I am justified without holiness or sanctification and yet that without holiness no man shall see the Lord Heb. 12.14 Arg. 20. This opinion that the good works of a man born of God are sin or sinfull doth overthrow the distinction which is warranted by many thousand places of Scripture between good works and bad works and doth draw a curse upon the doer of it Can evill be good or good evill Woe unto them that call evil good and good evill that put darkenesse for light and light for darkenesse that put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter Isa 5.20 What else doe they doe who plainley averre that every good work is evill Object Doe we deny the difference betweene white and blacke because we say that in most white bodies there is a mixture of some blacknesse with the whitenesse c. Answ If it could be proved that there were a mixture of that which is of the spirit and that which is of the flesh that that which is spirituall should be made fleshly by it there would seeme to be some strength in this objection But untill that such a mixture bee proved by plaine Scriptures we shall think it sufficient to affirme that such similitudes which have not their foundation upon a principle of truth do prove nothing Arg. 21. It taketh away the difference between a sanctified and unsanctified man which is a distinction which doth stand firme upon the basis of the Scripture of truth The Apostle doth plainly lay downe this distinction 1 Cor. 6.11 Where hee informeth us of the condition of the Corinthians before conversion to wit that they were thieves adulteresses and the like such were some of you and then setteth forth their blessed condition after conversion But ye are washed but ye are sanctified And doth second this truth with his owne experience acknowleding that there was a real change wrought in himself after conversion by sanctification 1 Tim. 1. I was saith he a persecuter a blasphemer injurious but the grace of our Lord was exceeding abundant with 〈…〉 love which is in Christ Jesus not with 〈…〉 but love also If God hath pulled you out of the fire of sinne and drawne you as fire-brands out of Hell and brought you into the glorious kingdome of his Son ye are able to professe the same sanctified change in your selves It is a dead