that we may live And they plead not for doing of Duties as obliged thereunto by the Authority of the Law given of God by Moses but only in obedience to the Commands of Christ in the Gospel Neither do they plead for Salvation by sincere Obedience without Christ but only by Christ and through his Merit and Righteousness and they acknowledge that both Salvation itself and sincere Obedience are given to them freely by the Grace of Christ so that all is of Grace They acknowledge also that their Salvation is by Faith because sincere Obedience is wrought in them by believing the Gospel and is included in he nature of that Faith which is the entire Condition of our Salvation And some call it the resignating Act of Faith but all these Reasons are but a fallacious Vizard upon a legal way of Salvation to make it look like pure Gospel as I shall evince by the following particulars First All that seek Salvation by the sincere performance of good Works as the procuring Condition are condemned by the Apostle Paul for seeking Righteousness by the Works of the Law and not by Faith Rom. 9.32 and for seeking to be justified by the Law and falling from the Grace of Christ Gal. 5.4 This one Assertion if it can be proved is enough to pluck off the fallacious Vizard from the Condition of sincere Obedience and to make men abhor it as a damning legal Doctrine that bereaveth its Followers of all Salvation by Christ And the proof of it is not difficult to persons that warily consider a point of so great moment for their Salvation The Jews and Judaizing Christians against whom the Apostle chiefly disputeth in this whole Controversie did not profess any hope of being justified by perfect Obedience according to the rigour of the Law but only by such Obedience as they accounted to be sincere and not hypocritical And we have no cause to doubt but that the Judaizing Galatians had learned by the Gospel to distinguish sincere Obedience from Hypocrisie The Jewish Religion bound all that professed it to acknowledge themselves to be Sinners as appeareth by their anniversary Humiliation at the day of atonement and several other Rights of the Law and many clear Testimonies in the Oracles of God that were committed to them Psal 143.2 Prov. 10.9 Eccles 7.20 Yet they knew they were bound to turn to the Lord with all their Hearts in Sincerity and Uprightness and that God would accept of sincere Obedience for which Cause they might better put it for the Condition of the Law than we can of the Gospel Psal 51.6 10. Deut. 6.5 Deut. 30.10 So that if the Apostle had disputed against those that held only perfect Obedience to be the Condition of Justification he had contended with his own shadow And they might as readily judge sincere obedience to be the condition of Justification under the Law as we can judge it to be the condition under the Gospel Neither doth the Apostle condemn them meerly for accounting sincere Obedience to the Law as given by Moses to be the Condition of their Justification but more generally for seeking Salvation by their own Works And he alledgeth against them That Abrabam who lived before the Law of Moses was not justified by any of his Works though he did perform sincere Obedience and that David who lived under the Law of Moses was not justified by his Works though he performed sincere Obedience and was as much bound to obey the Law given by Moses as we are to obey any Commands of Christ in the Gospel Rom. 4.2 3 5 6. Neither doth he condemn them for seeking their Salvation only by Works without respecting at all the Grace and Salvation that is by Christ for the Judaizing Galatians were yet Professors of the Grace and Salvation of Christ though they thought Obedience to the Law a necessary Condition for the partaking of it as also many other Judaising Believers did And doubtless they accounted themselves obliged thereunto not only by the Authority of Moses but of Christ also whom they owned as their Lord and Saviour And we may be sure it was no damning Error to account Moses's Law obliging at that time for many thousands of the Jews that were sound Believers held the Ceremonies of Moses to be in force at that time and Paul was tender towards them in it Acts 20.20 21. Acts 15.5 And other Jews sought Justification not only by their sincere Works but also by trusting on the Promise made to Abraham and on their Priesthood and Sacrifices which were Types of Christ And the most legal Pharisees would thank God for their good Works as proceeding from his Grace Luke 18.11 And they could as well acknowledge their Salvation to be by Faith as the Assertors of Salvation by sincere Obedience can in these days for they accounted that their sincere Obedience was wrought in them by believing the Word of God which contained Gospel as well as legal Doctrin in it and therefore that it must be included in the nature of Faith if Faith were taken for the Condition of their whole Salvation Let the Assertors of the Condition of sincere Obedience learn from hence that they are building again that Judaism which the Apostle Paul destroyed whereby the Jews stumbled at Christ Rom. 9.32 And the Galatians were in danger of falling from Christ and Grace Gal. 5.2 4. And let them beware of falling under that Curse which he hath denounced on this very occasion against any Man or Angel that shall preach any other Gospel than that which he hath preached Gal. 1.8 9. Secondly The difference betwixt the Law and Gospel doth not at all consist in this that the one requireth perfect doing the other only sincere doing but in this that the one requireth doing the other no doing but believing for Life and Salvation Their terms are different not only in degree but in their whole nature The Apostle Paul opposeth the Believing required in the Gospel to all doing for Life as the Condition proper to the Law Gal. 3.12 The Law is not of Faith but the man that doth them shall live in them Rom. 4.5 To him that worketh not but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly his Faith is counted for righteousness If we seek Salvation by never so easie and mild a Condition of Works we do thereby bring our selves under the Terms of the Law and do become Debtors to fulfill the whole Law in perfection though we intended to engage our selves only to fulsill it in part Gal. 5.3 for the Law is a compleat Declaration of the only Terms whereby God will judge all that are not brought to despair of procuring Salvation by any of their own Works and to receive it as a Gift freely given to them by the Grace of God in Christ So that all that seek Salvation right or wrong knowingly or ignorantly by any works less or more whether invented by their own Superstition or commanded of God in
When the Gentiles heard the Word of God they were glad and as many as were ordained to eternal Life believed The Apostle Paul was constrained by the Love of Christ to give up himself to live to Christ 2 Cor. 4.14 15. I dare appeal to the Experience of any that obey God out of hearty Love let them examine themselves and consider whither they were brought to give up themselves to serve God in love without comfortable apprehensions of the Love of God towards them I dare say there are no such Prodigies in the new Birth Seventhly What comfortless Religion do those make that allow People no comfort before hand to strengthen them for holy Performances that are very cross displeasing and grievous to their natural Inclinations as the plucking out of a right Eye cutting off of a right Hand but would have them first to do such things with love and delight under all their present Fears Despondencies and corrupt Inclinations and to hope that by doing the Work throughly and sincerely they shall at last attain to a more comfortable State All true spiritual Comfort as well as Salvation is indeed quite banished out of the World if it be suspended upon the Condition of our good Works which hath already appeared to be the Condition of the Law that worketh no Comfort but Wrath Rom. 4.15 This makes the ways of Godliness odious to many they think they shall never enjoy a pleasant hour in this World if they walk in them and they had rather comfort themselves with sinful Pleasures then have no Comfort at all Others labour a while in such a comfortless Religion with inward fretting and repining at the Bondage of it and at last grow wearry and throw of all Religion because they know none better They that bind such heavy burthens upon Men and grievous to be born will plead that they are not to be blamed because they do but preach the Gospel of God and Christ whereas indeed they preach a Gospel of Man 's own forging contrary to the nature of the true Gospel of Christ which is glad tidings of great joy to all People Luk. 2.10 An uncomfortable Gospel cannot proceed from God the Father who is the Father of Mercies and the God of all Comfort 2 Cor. 1.3 Nor from Christ who is the Consolation of Israel Luk. 2.25 nor from the Spirit who is the Comforter Joh. 14.16 17. God meeteth him that rejoyceth and worketh Righteousness Isa 64.5 He will be served with gladness and singing as he shewed by the Type of variety of Musick and great numbers of Musicians in the Temple Christ speaks to us by his Gospel that his joy may abide in us and that our joy may be full Job 15.11 No sorrow is approved of by God except Godly sorrow which can never be in us without some comfort of the Love of God towards us They that are offended at the Uncomfortableness of a Religious Life never yet knew the true way of Religion else they would find that the ways of Wisdom arâ— ways of pleasantness and all her Paths peace Prov 3.17 DIRECT X. That we may be prepared by the Comforts of the Gospel to perform sincerely the Duties of the Law we must get some assurance of our Salvation in that very Faith whereby Christ himself is received into our Hearts Therefore me must endeavoar to believe on Christ confidently perswading and assuring our selves in the Act of believing that God freely giveth to us an Interest in Christ and his Salvation according to his gracious Promise EXPLICATION IT is evident that these Comforts of the Gospel that are necessary to an Holy Practice cannot be truly received without some assurance of our Interest in Christ and his Salvation for some of those Comforts consist in a good Perswasion of our reconciliation with God and of our future Heavenly Happiness and of Strength both to will and to do that which is acceptable to God through Christ as hath been before shewed Hence it will clearly follow that this assurance is very necessary to enable us for the Practice of Holiness as those Comforts that must go before the Duties of the Law in order of nature as the Cause goeth before the Effect tho' not in any distance of time My present work is to shew what this assurance is that is so necessary unto Holiness and which I have here asserted that we must act in that very Faith whereby we receive Christ himself into our Hearts even in justifying saving Faith This Doctrine seemeth strange to many that profess themselves Protestants a late days whereas it was formerly highly owned by the chief Protestants whom God made use of to restore the Purity of the Gospel and to maintain it against the Papists for many Years they commonly taught that Faith was a Perswasion or Considence of our own Salvation by Christ and that we must be sure to apply Christ and his Salvation to our selves in believing And this Doctrine was one of the great Engines whereby they prevailed to overthrow the Popish Superstition whereto doubtfulness of Salvation is one of the principal Pillars But many of the Successors of those Protestants have deserted them and left their Writings to be shamefully insulted over by the Papists and this innovation hath been of longer standing amongst us than several other parts of our new Divinity and maintained by those that profess to abhor that corrupt Doctrine which the Papist have built upon such Principles Modern Divines may think they stand upon the Shoulders of their Predecessors whose Labours they enjoy and that they can see farther than they as the School-men might have like thoughts of the ancient Fathers but for all this they may not be able to see so far if the eyes of their Predecessors were better enlightned by the Spirit of God to understand the Mystery of the Gospel and why may we not judge that it is so in the present Case The Eyes of Men in these late Years have been blinded in this point of Assurance by many false Imaginations They think that because Salvation is not promised to us absolutely but upon condition of believing on Christ for it therefore we must first believe directly on Christ for our Salvation and after that we must reflect our Minds upon our Faith and examine it by several Marks and Signs especially by the Fruit of sincere Obedience and if upon this examination we find out certainly that it is true saving Faith then and not before we may believe assuredly that we in particular shall be saved On this account they say that our Salvation is by the direct and our assurance by the reflect act of Faith and that many have true Faith and shall be saved that never have any assurance of their Salvation as long as they live in this World they find by Scripture and Experience that many precious Saints of God are frequently troubled with doubtings whither they shall be saved and whither their Faith and Obedience
be sincere so that they cannot see assurance in themselves therefore they conclude that Assurance must not be accounted absolutely necessary to justifying Faith and Salvation lest we should make the Hearts of doubting Saints sad and drive them to despair They account that former Protestants were guilty of a manifest Absurdity in making assurance to be of the Nature and Definition of Saving-Faith because all that hear the Gospel are bound to Saving-Faith and yet they are not bound absolutely to believe that they themselves shall be saved for then many of them would be bound to believe that which is not declared in the Gospel concerning them in particular yea that which is a plain lye because the Gospel sheweth that many of those that are called are not chosen to Salvation and that perish for ever Mat. 20.16 No wonder if the appearance of so great an Absurdity move many to imagine that Saving-Faith is a trusting or resting on Christ as the only sufficient means of Salvation without any assurance or that it is a desiring and venturing to trust or rely upon him in a mere State of Suspence and Uncertainty concerning our Salvation or with a probable Opinion or conjectural Hope of it at best Another Objection against this Doctrine of Assurance is that it destroyeth Self-examination bringeth forth the evil Fruits of Pride and Arrogancy as if they knew their places in Heaven already before the Day of Judgment causeth carelesness of Duty carnal Security all manner of Licentiousness And this maketh them commend doubtfulness of our Salvation as necessary to maintain in us Humility Religious Fear Watchfulness much searching and trying our spiritual State and Ways diligence in good Works and all Deyotion Against all those contrary Imaginations I shall endeavour to maintain this ancient Protestant Doctrine of assurance as I have expressed in the Direction and first I shall lay down some Observations for the right understanding of it which will be sufficient to turn the edge of the strongest Objections that can be made against it First Observe diligently that the Assurance directed unto is not a Perswasion that we have already received Christ and his Salvation or that we have been already brought in to a State of Grace but only that God is pleased graciously to give Christ and his Salvation unto us and to bring us into a State of Grace though we have been altogether in a State of Sin and Death until this present time so that this Doctrine doth not at all tend to breed Presumption in wicked and unregenerate Men that their state is good already but only encourageth them to come to Christ confidently for a good State I acknowledge that we may yea many must be taught to doubt whether their present State be good and that it is Humility so to do and that we must find out the Certainty and Sincerity of our Faith and Obedience by Self-examination before we can have a well-grounded Assurance that we are in a State of Grace and Salvation already and that such an assurance belongeth to that which they call the reflect Act of Faith if any act of Faith can be made of it being spiritual Sence or feeling of what is in my self and is not of the Essence of that Faith whereby we are justified and saved and that many precious Saints are without it and subject to many Doubts that are contrary to it so that they may not know at all that it shall go well with them at the Day of Judgment and that it may be sometimes intermitted if not wholly lost after it is gotten and that we should strive to walk holily that we may attain to it because it is very useful for our growth and increase in Faith and in all Holiness Most Protestants amongst us when they speak or write of Assurance mean only that which is by Reflection and I have said enough briefly to shew that what I assert is consistent with the Doctrine which is commonly received concerning it and destructive to none of the good Fruits of it therefore not guilty of those Evils that some falsly charge it with This kind of Assurance which I speak of answereth not the Question Whither I am already in a state of Grace and Salvation There is another great Question that the Soul must answer that it may get into a state of Grace Whether God be graciously pleased now to bestow Christ and his Salvation upon me though I have been hitherto a very wicked Creature We must be sure to resolve this Question comfortably by another kind of Assurance in the direct act of Faith wherein we are to perswade our selves without reflecting upon any good Qualifications in our selves That God is ready graciously to receive us into the Arms of his saving Mercy in Christ notwithstanding all our former Wickedness according to the gracious Promise I will call them my people which were not my people and her beloved which was not beloved and it shall come to pass that in the place where it was said unto them Ye are not my people there shall they be called the children of the living God Rom. 9.25 26. Secondly The Assurance directed unto is not a Perswasion of our Salvation whatever we do or however we live and walk but only in a limited way through meer Free-grace in Christ by partaking of Holiness as well as Forgiveness and by walking in the way of Holiness to the Enjoyment of the Glory of God We shall not heartily desire or endeavour to assure our selves of such a Salvation as this if we be not brought first to see our own Sinfulness and Misery and to despair of our own Righteousness and Strength and to hunger and thirst for the sanctifying as well as justifying Grace of God in Christ that so we may walk in the ways of Holiness to the Enjoyment of Heavenly Glory The Faith whereby we receive Christ must have in it not only a Perswasion of Happiness but these and the like good Qualifications that will make it a most holy Faith Certainly an Assurance thus qualified will not beget any Pride in us but rather Humility and self-loathing except any account it Pride to rejoyce and glory in Christ when we have no Confidence in the Flesh Phil. 3.3 It will not destroy religious Fear and breed carnal Security but rather it will make us fear going aside from Christ our only Resuge and Security and walking after the Flesh Noah had cause to enter into the Ark and to abide there with Assurance of his Preservation yet he might well be afraid to venture out of the Ark because he was perswaded that Continuance in the Ark was his only Safery from perishing in the Flood And how can a Perswasion of Salvation in a way of Holiness breed Sloathfulness in Duty Carelesness and Licentiousness It doth rather mightily allure us and stir us up to be always abounding in the Work of the Lord for as much as we know that our labour
this be truly believed it will exclude Doubtfulness concerning your Salvation Secondly Several places of Scripture declare positively and expresly that we are to be assured of our Salvation in that Faith whereby we are justified and saved I shall produce some Instances We are exhorted to draw near to God with full assurance of faith Heb. 10.22 Many apply this Text to that which they call the reflect Act of Faith because they imagine that all Assurance must needs be by Reflection but the Words of the Text do clearly teach us to understand it of that Act of Faith whereby we draw near to God that is the direct Act and it is that very Faith whereby the Just do live even justifying saving Faith verse 38. And this Assurance must be full at least in the true and proper Nature of it in Opposition unto mere Doubtfulness and Uncertainty though we are yet further to labour for that which is full in the highest Degree of Perfection And the same Faith whereby we are exhorted to draw nigh unto God and whereby the Just liveth is a little after Chap. 11.1 affirmed to be the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen Why should saving Faith have these high Titles and Attributes given to it if it did not contain in it a sure Perswasion of the great things of our Salvation hoped for which maketh them to be evident to the Eyes of our Mind as if they were already present in their Substance though yet not visible to our bodily Eyes that Faith whereby we are made Partakers of Christ and to be Christ's House must be worthy to be called Confidence and accompanied with reioycing Hope Whose house are we if we hold fast the confidence and rejoycing of the hope firm unto the end Heb. 3.6.14 What is Confidence concerning any thing but trusting concerning it with a firm Perswasion of the Truth of it If we have only a strong Opinion concerning a thing without any absolute certainty we use to say that we are not altogether confident of it The Faith whereby we are justified must be in a measure like to the Faith whereby Abraham against Hope believed in Hope that his Seed should certainly be multiplyed according to the Promise of God though by reason of the Deadness of his own Body and of Sarah's Womb he could have no Evidence from his own Qualifications to assure himself of it but all Appearances were rather to the contrary as the Apostle teacheth clearly Rom. 4.18 19 23.24 As absolute as this Promise was thus made Abraham yet it was not to be fulfilled without this Assurance of Faith and by the like Faith the free Promises of Salvation by Christ will be absolutely fulfilled to us The Apostle James expresly requireth that we should ask good things of God in Faith nothing doubting which includeth Assurance manifestly and he telleth us plainly that without it a Man ought not to think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord therefore we may firmly conclude that without it we shall not receive the Salvation of Christ James 1.6 7. And that which the Apostle James requireth us not to doubt of is the obtaining the things that we ask as we may learn from an Instruction to the same purpose given to us by Christ himself What things soever ye desire when ye pray believe that ye receive them and ye shall have them Mark 11.24 More places of Scripture might be alledged to the same purpose but these are sufficient to evince that we are bound to assure our selves of our Salvation in Faith it self or else we are never likely to enjoy it and that it is not Humility but rather proud Disobedience to live in a state of mere Suspense and Doubtfulness concerning our Salvation and that this Assurance must be in the direct Act of Faith whereby we are justified and saved For as for that which is called the Reflect Act of Faith it is a certain Truth and generally owned that it is not absolutely necessary to Salvation to any and that it is sinful and pernicious to many to believe that they are already entred into a state of Grace and Salvation Thirdly God giveth us sufficient ground in Scripture to come to Christ with confident Faith at the very first trusting assuredly that Christ and his Salvation shall be given to us without any Failing and Delay however vile and sinful our Condition hath been hitherto The Scripture speaketh to the vilest Sinners in such a manner as if it were framed on purpose to beget Assurance of Salvation in them immediately Acts 2.39 Chap. 3.26 This Promise is unversal That whosoever believeth on Christ shall not be ashamed without making a Difference between Jew and Greek Rom. 10.11 12. And this Promise is confirmed by the Blood of Christ who was given for the World and lifted up upon the Cross for this very end that whosoever believeth on him should not perish but have everlasting life John 3.14 15 16. His Invitation is free to any If any man thirst let him come to me and drink and this Drink is promised to every one that believeth John 7.37 39. The Command of believing is propounded not only in general but in particular and the Promise of Salvation upon believing is also applyed personally and that to such as have been hitherto in a state of Sin and Wrath as to the wicked persecuting self-murdering Jaylor Acts 16.31 Believe on the Lord Jesus and thou shalt be saved and thine house God commanded them that walked altogether in Sin hitherto to call him their own Father in their very first returning Jer. 3.4 So Hos 2.23 God saith he will say Thou art my people and they shall say Thou art my God confidently averring their personal Interest in him God hath joyned Confidence and Salvation inseparably together In returning and rest ye shall be saved in quietness and in confidence shall be your strength Isai 30.15 What a poor slender Use and Improvement do many make of these Discoveries of the rich Grace of God towards Sinners who say that if we see that we have performed the Condition of believing then we may take Christ confidently as our own they skip over the first and principal Use they ought to make of them the very Performance of the Condition is to take Christ as our own immediately and to eat him and drink him by believing consiently on him for our Salvation If an honest rich Man say to a poor Woman I promise to be thy Husband if thou wilt have me say but the Word and I am thine may not she presently answer confidently Then thou art my Husband and I claim thee for my Husband and should she not rather say so then say I believe not what thou sayest If an honest Man say Do but take this Gift and it is your own do but eat and drink and you are freely welcome may not I take the Gift and eat and drink at first
our Salvation Therefore I conclude that we must necessarily have some Assurance of our Salvation in the direct Act of Faith whereby we are justified sanctified and saved before we can upon any good ground assure our selves that we are already in a state of Salvation by that which they call the Reflect Act. Give me such a saving Faith as will produce such Fruits as these No other Faith will work by Love and therefore will not avail to Salvation in Christ Gal. 5.6 The Apostle James putteth thee upon shewing thy Faith by thy Works James 2.18 And in this Trial this Faith of Assurance cometh off with high Praise and Honour When God calleth his People to work outward Miracles by it all things have been possible to them and it hath frequently brought forth such Works of Righteousness as may be deservedly esteemed great Spiritual Miracles from hence hath proceeded that Heroick Fortitude of the People of God whereby their absolute Obedience to God hath shined forth in doing and suffering those great things which are recorded in the holy Scriptures and in the Histories of the Church And if we be ever called to the fiery Trial as Protestants formerly were we shall find their Doctrine of Assurance to encourage us in suffering for the sake of Christ Seventhly The contrary Doctrine which excludeth Assurance out of the Nature of Saving Faith bringeth forth many evil Fruits it tendeth to bereave our Souls of all Assurance of our Salvation and solid Comfort which is the Life of Religion by placing it after sincere universal Obedience whereas if we have them not first we can never attain to this Obedience and to any Assurance that dependeth on it as hath been proved and this as far as it prevails makes us subject to continual Doubtings concerning our Salvation and to tormenting Fears of Wrath which casteth out true Love to God and can produce no better than slavish hypocritical Service It is one of the principal Pillars whereby manifold Superstitions in Popery are supported as their Monkish Orders their Satisfactions for Sin by Works of Penance Bodily Macerations Whippings Pilgrimages Indulgences trusting on the Merits of Saints c. When once Men have lost the Knowledge of the right way to assure themselves of Salvation they will catch at any Straw to avoid Drowning in the Gulph of Despair There is no way to administer any solid Comfort to the wounded Spirits of those that see themselves void of all Holiness under the Wrath and Curse of God dead in Sin not able so much as to think a good Thought you do but increase their Terror and Anguish if you tell them they must first get Faith and Obedience and when they find they have done that they may perswade themselves that God will receive them into his Grace and Favour Alass they know that they cannot believe nor obey except God prevent them with his Grace and Favour and what if they be even at the Point of Death strugling with Death's Pangs so that they have no time or leisure to get good Qualifications and examine the Goodness of them you must have a more speedy way to comfort such by discovering to them the Free-Promises of Salvation to the worst of Sinners by Faith in Christ and by exhorting them to apply those Promises and trust on Christ confidently for Remission of Sins Holiness and Glory assuring them also that God will help them to believe sincerely on Christ if they desire it with all their Hearts and that it is their Duty to believe because God commands it Several other Evils are occasioned by the same Doctrine Men are unwilling to know the worst of themselves and prone to think their Qualifications better than they are that they may avoid Despair others please and content themselves without any Assurance of their Interest in Christ because they think that is not necessary to Salvation and that but few attain to it and in this they shew little Love to Christ or to their own Souls some foster Doubtings of Salvation as Signs of Humility though they will hypocritically complain of them many mispend their time in poring upon their own Hearts to find out some Evidence of their Interest in Christ when they should rather be imployed in receiving Christ and walking in him by a confident Faith Some are troubled with Doubts whether they should call God Father and what Apprehensions they should have of him in Prayer and are offended at Ministers that in their Publick Prayers use any Expressions that the People cannot joyn in as if they do own God as their God and Father and Christ as their Saviour and upon the same Account they are offended at the Publick singing of many of David's Psalms and avoid partaking of the Lord's Supper because they are not satisfied about their Interest in Christ Though true Believers have some Assurance of Salvation in Saving Faith it self yet it is much weakned in many by this contrary Doctrine and assaulted with many Doubtings and then other good Qualifications must needs be low and weak together with it and so obscure that it is very hard to discern them how hard a thing then will it be for true Believers to assure themselves by the certain Knowledge of their own Sincerity that they are in a state of Grace already which is the only Assurance of Faith Some prescribe Marks and Signs to distinguish Sincerity from Hypocrisie that Believers cannot sufficiently try themselves by them except they have more Knowledge and Experience than Ordinary Thus many Believers walk heavily in the Bitterness of their Souls conflicting with Fears and Doubtings all their Days and this is the Cause that they have so little Courage and Fervency of Spirit in the ways of God and that they so much mind earthly things and are so afraid of Sufferings and Death And if they get some Assurance by the Reflect Act of Faith they often soon lose it again by Sins and Temptations The way to avoid these Evils is to get your Assurance and to maintain it and renew it upon all Occasions by the direct Act of Faith by trusting assuredly on the Name of the Lord and staying your self upon your God when you walk in Darkness and see no light in any of your own Qualifications Isa 50.10 I doubt not but the Experience of many choice Christians will bear witness to this Truth DIRECT XI Endeavour diligently to perform the great work of believing on Christ in a right manner without any delay and then also to continue and increase in your most holy Faith that so your enjoyment of Christ Vnion and Fellowship with him and all holiness by him may be begun continued and increased in you EXPLICATION HAving already discovered to you the powerful and effectual means of an holy practice my remaining work is to lead you to the actual Exercise and Improvement of them for the immediate attainment of the End and I think it may be clearly perceived by the
and is more powerful to secure an holy Practice than any of those Resolutions of Obedience or resignating Acts that some would have to be the great conditions of our salvation which are indeed no better than hypocritical Acts if they be not produc'd by this Faith There is indeed a counterfeit dead Faith such as wicked men may have and if that tend to Licentiousness let not true Faith be blamed but rather mark the Description of it which I have given that you may not be deceived with a counterfeit Faith instead of it I shall add something concerning the efficient cause of this excellent Grace and of our Union with Christ by it whereby it may appear that it is not so slight and easie a way of Salvation as some may imagine The Author and Finisher of our Faith and of our Union and Fellowship with Christ by Faith is no less than the infinite Spirit of God and God and Christ himself by the Spirit for by one Spirit we are all baptized into one body of Christ and are all made to drink into one Spirit 1 Cor 12.12 13. God granteth us according to the Riches of his glory to be strengthened with all might by his spirit in the inner man that Christ may dwell in our hearts by Faith Ephes 3.16 17. If we do but consider the great effect of Faith that by it we are raised to live above our natural condition by Christ and his Spirit living in us we cannot rationally conceive that it should be within the power of Nature to do any thing that advanceth us so high If God had done no more for us in our Sanctification than to restore us to our first natural Holiness yet this could not have been done without putting forth his own Almighty Power to quicken those that are dead in Sin How much more is this Almighty Power needful to advance us to this wonderful new kind of Frame wherein we live and act above all the power of Nature by an higher Principle of Life than was given to Adam in Innocency even by Christ and his Spirit living and acting in us The natural man bringeth forth his Off-spring according to his Image by that natural Power of multiplying with which God blessed him at his first Creation but the second Adam bringeth forth his Off-spring new born according to his Image only by the Spirit Joh. 3.5 As many as receive him even those that believe on his name are born not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man but of God Joh. 1.12 13. Christ took his own Humane Nature into personal Union with himself in the Womb of the Virgin Mary by the Holy Ghost coming upon her and the power of the Highest overshadowing her the same Power whereby the World was created Luke 1.35 So He taketh us into mystical Union and Fellowship with himself by no less than an Infinite Creating Power For we are the workmanship of God created in Christ Jesus unto good works Ephes 2.10 And if any man be in Christ he is a new creature 2 Cor. 5.17 For the accomplishing of this great Work of our new Creation in Christ the Spirit of God doth first work upon our Hearts by and with the Gospel to produce in us the Grace of Faith for if the Gospel should come to us in Word only and not in Power and in the Holy Ghost Paul might labour to plant and Apollos to water without any success because we cannot receive the things of the Spirit of God yea we shall account them foolishness until the Spirit of God enable us to discern them 1 Thess 1.5 1 Cor. 3.6 2.14 We shall never come to Christ by any teaching of Man except we also hear and learn of the Father and be drawn to Christ by his spirit John 6.44 45. And when Saving Faith is wrought in us the same Spirit giveth us fast hold of Christ by it As he openeth the Mouth of Faith to receive Christ so he filleth it with Christ or else the acting of Faith would be like a Dream of one that thinketh that he eateth and drinketh and when he awaketh he findeth himself empty The same Spirit of God did both give that Faith whereby Miracles were wrought and did work also the Miracles by it So also the same Spirit of Christ doth work Saving Faith in us and doth answer the aim and end of that Faith by giving us Union and Fellowship with Christ by it So that none of the Glory of this Work belongeth to Faith but only to Christ and his Spirit And indeed Faith is of such an humble self-denying nature that it ascribeth nothing that it receiveth to itself but all to the Grace of God and therefore God saveth us by Faith that all the Glory may be ascribed to his Free-Grace Rom. 4.16 If Adam had Strength enough in Innocency to perform the Duty of Faith as well as we yet it will not follow that he had Strength enough to raise himself above his natural state into Union with Christ because Faith doth not unite us to Christ by its own Vertue but by the Power of the Spirit working by it and with it Thus we are first passive and then active in this great work of mystical Union we are first apprehended of Christ and then we apprehend Christ Christ entereth first into the Soul to joyn himself to it by giving it the Spirit of Faith and so the Soul receiveth Christ and his Spirit by their own Power As the Sun first enlighteneth our Eyes and then we can see it by its own light We may note further to the Glory of the Grace of God that this Union is fully accomplished by Christ giving the Spirit of Faith to us even before we act that Faith in the reception of him because by this Grace or Spirit of Faith the Soul is enclined and disposed to an active receiving of Christ And no doubt Christ is thus united to many Infants who have the Spirit of Faith and yet cannot act Faith because they are not come to the use of their Understandings but those of riper years that are joyned passively to Christ by the Spirit of Faith will also joyn themselves with him actively by the Act of Faith and until they act this Faith they cannot know or enjoy their Union with Christ and the Comfort of it or make use of it in acting any other Duties of Holiness acceptably in this Life DIRECT V. We cannot attain to the Practice of true Holiness by any of our Endeavours while we continue in our natural State and are not Partakers of a new State by Vnion and Fellowship with Christ through Faith EXPLICATION IT it evident all have not that precious Faith whereby Christ dwelleth in our Hearts yea the number of those that have it is small comparatively to the whole World that lieth in Wickedness 1 Joh. 5.19 20. and many of those that at length attain unto it do
Can any Man rationally expect strength to obey sincerely by following a Doctrine that doth not so much as promise it The true Gospel is of a more benign Nature For it promiseth that God would pour out of his spirit upon all flesh Acts 2.17 And will put his law in our mind and write them in our bearts Heb. 8.10 And will cause us to walk in his statutes that we shall keep his judgments and do them Ezeck 36.27 This word of God's Grace that requireth not Holiness of us as a Condition but promiseth it to us as a Free-gift must needs be the only Doctrine that is able to build us up and to give us an inheritance amongst them that are sanctified Acts 20.32 Seeing it pleaseth God to bring us to Holiness by believing a Doctrine we may reasonably expect that God should work upon us suitably to the nature of the Doctrine which we believe that he should give by a giving Doctrine and exact by an exacting Doctrine 4thly The way of procuring Life and Happiness by the condition of perfect or sincere Works is not a rational method for the Recovery of fallen Man though it were good for the preserving of Life before the Fall it prescribeth the immediate Practice of Holiness to recover a Man dead in Sin As if one should say to the sick of the Palsie Arise up and walk and then you shall be whole and able to walk We sometimes say jestingly to a Child that is fallen on the ground Come hither and I will help thee up but if we should say to one that is cast on his Bed by a dead Palsie we should be guilty of mocking and cruel insulting over the Afflicted Those that are humbled and made sensible of their original Sin and natural Deadness know that they must first live by the Spirit before they can act holily Gal 5.25 They will enquire How shall we have strength to perform the Duty required If you answer that they must trust in God and Christ to help them they may readily reply They have no sure Ground to trust on God or Christ for any saving Grace according to this Doctrine before they have performed this Condition at least in a sincere Resolution of Obedience and that they are as unable to bring their Hearts to such a Resolution as a dead Man is to raise himself out of the Grave Take another Instance the method of the Doctrine of Works is you must love God first and then on that Condition he will love you again whereas on the contrary we love God because he loved us first 1 Joh. 4.19 and if God suspend his Love to us upon any condition our Love to him will not be absolute but suspended upon the same condition and no way contrary to an actual hating of him 5thly The Law is so far from healing our sinful Corruption that it proveth rather an Occasion of sinful motions and actings in those that seek Salvation by the Works of it This cometh to pass by reason of the Power of our natural Corruption which is stirred up and rageth the more when the holy and just Law of God is set in opposition against it so that the fault is not in the Law but in our own hearts Those that find not this by their own Experience should believe the Apostle Paul who teacheth it plainly and that from his own Experience Rom. 7.5 to the 14. He affirmeth that there are motions of Sin by the Law in a fleshly State and that Sin taketh occasion by the Commandment Thou shalt not covet wrought in him all manner of Concupiscence deceived him flew him became exceeding sinful and that without the Law he was alive and sin dead but when the Commandment came Sin revived and he died He sheweth that the cause of this irreconcileable enmity and contrariety betwixt his sinful Nature and the Law the law is spiritual but I am carnal sold under sin Take notice here that the Reason given by the Apostle that the Doctrine of Salvation by sincere Obedience will have the same event Corrupt Nature is contrary to sincere Obedience as well as perfect and if we make it the condition of our Salvation Sin will take the same occasion by it to become exceeding sinful in its motions and actings The Success of legal Doctrine upon the natural Man is according to the Proverb Reprove not a scorner lest he hate thee Prov. 9.8 Rebuking a mad Man is the way to enrage him and such is the natural Man in spiritual things since he fell out of his right Mind by the Sin of Adam We find by manifold Experience that though Men be generally addicted to the Principle of Salvation by Works yet multitudes of of them hate all strict Preachers and Professors of true Holiness because they are a Torment to their Consciences They endeavour to shelter themselves in Ignorance of the Law accounting that the less they know the less they shall answer for and therefore they would not have right things prophesied unto them Is 30.10 And they have prevailed generally in the World to darken the natural knowledge of moral Duties in such a Degree that there is a necessity of learning them by divine Revelation out of the Scriptures We may find how prone Legal-writers are to corrupt the Sense of the Law that they may leave starting holes for their Corruptions by the corrupt Glosses of the Scribes and Pharisees from which Christ did vindicate it Matth. 5. And as far as I have observed none more endeavour to discover the Purity and Perfection of the Law than those that seek Holiness and Salvation without any Legal Condition by the meer Free grace of God in Christ The Doctrine of Salvation by sincere Obedience is but a mincing of the Perfection required in the Law and yet how is this Doctrine minced again and again until it be come so small that the Substance of all true Obedience is lost without any farther Practice of Holiness A willingness to be saved according to Christ's terms or a Consent that Christ should be our Lord or a Resolution to obey his Commandments which is little more than ignorant men trust on when they say that they hope God will save them because they have a good meaning tho' they live in the neglect of all Religion shall pass with many for enough sincere Obedience both to enter them into a State of Salvation and to continue them in it so that they shall never be accounted Breakers of the Gospel-covenant while so much can be pretended The most that is made necessary for Salvation shall be only to endeavour to do what we can to obey Christ's Commands tho' all that the most can do is nothing that is truly good Those that have a little more Zeal for their Salvation by Works are prone to spend it in superstitious Observances because they suit better with their carnal Nature than the spiritual Commands of God and Christ I doubt not but this
and be your Friend if I can find that you believe it and that you take me for a Friend but their fallible Word is not sufficient ground to make us perswade our selves absolutely that we shall have their promised favour The Faith of Miracles gives us some light in this matter Christ assured them on whom they were wrought and who had Power given them of working them that the Miracles should be wrought if they believed without doubting of the Event Mark 11. And there is a Reason for this Resemblance because the end of working Miracles was to confirm the Doctrine of the Gospel of Salvation by Faith in Christ's Name as the Scriptures clearly shew and indeed the Salvation of a Sinner is a very great Miracle It is reported that Wizards do often require those that come to them that they should believe that they shall obtain what they desire of them or at least that they are able to fulfil their Desires whereby the Devil the Master of those Wizards sheweth himself to be God's Ape and that he would fain have that Honour and Glory ascribed to himself that is due to God alone Having thus explained the Nature of that Assurance which I have directed unto I shall now produce several Arguments to prove that there is and must necessarily be such an Assurance or Perswasion of our Salvation in Saving-Faith it self First This Assurance of Salvation is implyed in the Description before given of that Faith whereby we receive Christ and his Salvation into our Hearts I described Faith to be a Grace of the Spirit whereby we heartily believe the Gospel and also believe on Christ as he is revealed and freely promised to us therein for all his Salvation and I shewed in the Explanation that believing on Christ is the same with resting relying leaning staying our selves on Christ or God through Christ for our Salvation It may be some will like that Description the better because Faith was there described by Terms that are ordinarily used even by those that deny the necessity of Assurance but those ordinary Terms do sufficiently include Assurance in the nature of Faith and they cannot stand without it and this sheweth that many hold the Doctrine of Assurance implicitly and profess it though they think the contrary Believing on Christ for Salvation as freely promised to us must needs include a Dependance on Christ with a Perswasion that Salvation shall be freely given as it is freely promised to us Believing with a divine Faith grounded on the infallible Truth of the Free-promise if it did not in some measure exclude a mere Suspence and wavering Opinion or Conjecture were not worthy to be so called Some may be so absurd as to say that Faith is only a believing that we shall be saved by Christ if we perform such Conditions as he requireth and then indeed it will leave us where it found us as to any certainty of Salvation until those Conditions be performed but I have already prevented such an Absurdity by shewing that this believing on Christ is it self not only the Condition of our Salvation but also the Instrument whereby we actually receive it Believing being the proper Act of Faith must needs have the same contraries to it as staggering Rom. 4.20 Wavering Heb. 10.29 Doubting Matth. 14.31 Fear Mark 5.36 These contraries do much illustrate the nature of Faith and do shew that believing must have some Confidence in it else it would have doubting in the very nature of it for what Man that understandeth the Preciousness of his immortal Soul and his Danger of loosing it can ever avoid Fear Doubting and Trouble of Heart by any believing whereby he doth not at all assure himself of his Salvation The other Terms of trusting and resting on Jesus Christ c. whereby Faith is often described by orthodox Teachers must include Assurance of Salvation because they signifie the same thing with believing on Christ the Soul must have its sufficient Support to beat it up against Oppressing Fears Troubles Cares Despair that it may thus trust and rest The right manner of trusting and hoping in the Lord is by assuring our selves against all Fears and Doubtings That the Lord is our God and he is become our Salvation I trusted on thee O Lord I said thou art my God Psal 31.14 The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer my strength in whom I will trust Psal 18.2 Behold God is my salvation I will trust and not be afraid Isa 12.2 O my soul hope thou in God who is the health of my countenance and my God Psal 42.16 True hope is grounded on God only that he will bless us that it may be an anchor for the soul sure and stedfast Heb. 6.17.18 19. If you trust relie and stay your selves on Christ or hope in him without assuring your selves at all of Salvation by him you make no better use of him than if he were a broken reed and if you would stay your selves on the Lord you must look on him as your God as the Prophet teacheth Let him trust in the name of the Lord and stay upon his God Isai 50. 10. If you will rest in the Lord you must believe that he dealeth bountifully with you Psal 116.7 or else for ought you know you make your Bed in Hell and you will shew little regard of Christ and of your own Soul if you dare to rest under the Wrath of God without any Perswasion of a sure Interest in Christ People may please themselves with such a trusting or resting c. when they are at ease but in time of Temptation it vanisheth away and appeareth to be no true Faith but is turned into Shame The Soul that liveth in such wavering and doubting concerning Salvation doth not stay it self nor rest at all but is like a Wave of the Sea driven with the Wind and tossed he is a double minded man unstable in all his ways Jam. 1.6 If you continue in meer Suspence and Doubtfulness of Salvation by Christ your Desire to trust is but a lazy woulding without any fixed Resolution and you dare not yet venture to trust on him stedfastly If you call it only your desire to trust and relie on Jesus Christ I may answer that you cannot do thus much in a right manner except you desire and venture to perswade and assure your selves of your Salvation by Christ notwithstanding all the Causes that you have to doubt and fear the contrary If it be objected that we may trust on Christ only as a sufficient means of Salvation without any Assurance of the Effect I shall acknowledge that the sufficiency of God and Christ is a good ground for us to rest on but we must understand by it not only a sufficiency of Power but also of Good-will and Mercy towards us For what have we to do more with the Sufficiency of God's and Christ's Power than fallen Angels without his Good-will towards us and if
the new State in Christ They trust on low carnal things for Holiness and upon the acts of their own Will their Purposes Resolutions and Endeavours instead of Christ and they trust to Christ to help them in this carnal way whereas true Faith would teach them that they are nothing and that they do but labour in vain They may as well wash a Blackamoor white as purge the Flesh or Natural Man from its evil Lusts and make it pure and holy It is desperately wicked past all cure It will unavoidably lust against the Spirit of God even in the best Saints on Earth Gal. 17. its mind is enmity to the Law of God and neither is nor can be subject to it Rom. 8.7 They that would cure it and make it holy by their own Resolutions and Endeavours do act quite contrary to the design of Christ's Death for he dyed not that the Flesh or Old Natural Man might be made holy but that it might be crucifyed and destroyed out of us Rom. 6.6 and that we might live to God not to our selves or by any natural power of our own Resolutions or Endeavours but by Christ living in us and by his Spirit bringing forth the fruits of Righteousness in us Gal. 2.20 and 5.24 25. Therefore we must be content to leave the Natural Man vile and wicked as we found it until it be utterly abolished by Death though we must not allow its Wickedness but rather groan to be delivered from the Body of this Death thanking God that there is a Deliverance through Jesus Christ our Lord. Our way to mortify sinful Affections and Lusts must be not by purging them out of the Flesh but by putting off the Flesh it self and geting above into Christ by Faith and walking in that new Nature that is by him thus the way of Life is above to the Wise that he may depart from Hell beneath Prov. 15.24 Our willing resolving and endeavouring must be to do the best not that lyeth in our selves or in our own power but that Christ and the power of his Spirit shall be pleased to work in us for in us i. e. in our Flesh there dwelleth no good thing Rom. 7.18 we have no ground to trust in God and Christ for help in such Resolutions and Endeavours as in things that are agreeable to the design of Christ in our Redemption as to the way of acting and living by Faith It is likely that Peter sincerely resolved to dye with Christ rather than to deny him and to do all that he could by his own power for that end but Christ made him quickly to see the Weakness and Vanity of such Resolutions and we see by Experience what many Resolutions made in Sickness and other Dangers mostly come to It is not enough for us to trust on Christ to help us to act and endeavour so far only as Creatures for so the worst of Men are helped he is the Jehovah in whom they Live Move and have their Being Act. 17.28 and it 's likely the Pharisee would trust on God to help him in Duty as he would thank God for the performance of Duty Luk. 18.11 and this is all the Faith that many make use of to a holy Practice But we must trust on Christ to enable us above the strength of our own natural power by vertue of the new Nature which we have in Christ and by his Spirit dwelling and working in us or else our best endeavours will be altogether sinful and meer Hypocrisie notwithstanding all the help for which we trust upon him We must also take heed of depending for Holiness upon any Resolutions to walk in Christ or on any written Covenants or any Holiness that we have already received for we must know that the Vertue of these things continue no longer than we continue walking in Christ and Christ in us They must be kept up by the continual Presence of Christ in us as Light is maintained by the presence of the Sun and cannot subsist without it 3. You must not seek to procure forgiveness of sins the favour of God a new holy Nature Life and Happiness by any works of the Moral Law or by any Rites and Ceremonies whatever but rather you must work as those that have all these things already according to your new state in Christ as such who are only to receive them more and more by Faith as they are ready prepared and treasured up for you and freely given to you by your spiritual head the Lord Jesus Christ If we walk as those that are yet wholly to seek for the procurement of such enjoyments as these it is a manifest sign that at present we judge our selves to be without them and without Christ himself in whose fulness they are all contained And therefore we walk according to our own Natural State as those that are yet in the Flesh and that would get Salvation in it and by our carnal Works and Observances instead of living altogether on Christ by Faith This practice is according to the tenour of the Covenant of Works as I have before shewed And we have no ground to trust on Christ and his Spirit to work Holiness in us this way for we are dead to the Legal Covenant by the Body of Christ Rom. 7. And if we be led by the Spirit we are not under the Law Gal. 5.18 When the Galatians were seduced by false Teachers to seek the procurement of Justification and Life by Circumcision and other works of the Mosaical Law the Apostle Paul rebuketh them for seeking to be made perfect in the flesh directly contrary to their good beginning in the Spirit for rendring Christ of none effect to them and for falling from Grace Gal. 3.3 and 5.4 And when some of the Colossians sought perfection in the like manner by observation of Circumcision holy-meats holy-times and other Rudiments of the World The same Apostle blameth them for not holding the Head Jesus Christ and as such as were not dead and risen with Christ but living merely in the World Col. 2.19 20. and 3.1 He clearly sheweth that those who seek any saving enjoyments in such a way do walk according to their own Natural State And that the true manner of living by Faith in Christ is to walk as those that have all fulness and perfection of Spiritual Blessings in Christ by Faith and need not seek for them any other way to procure them for themselves In this sense it is a true saying That Believers should not act for Life but from Life They must act as those that are not procuring Life by their Works but as such who have already received and derived Life from Christ and act from the Power and Vertue received from him And hereby it appears that the Papists and all others that think to Justifie Purisie Sanctifie and save themselves by any of their own Works Rites or Ceremonies whatever do walk in a carnal way as those that are without
Applied ROM 3.23 24 25 26. 23 For all have sinned and come short of the Glory of God 24 Being justified freely by his Grace through the Redemption that is in Jesus Christ 25 Whom God hath set forth for a Propitiation through Faith in his Blood to declare his Righteousness for the remission of Sins that are past through the forbearance of God 26 To declare I say at this time his righteousness that he might be just and the justifier of him who believeth in Jesus THE Apostle having confuted and overthrown all Justification of either Jew or Gentile by Works in the foregoing Discourse is now proving what he Asserted ver 21 22. viz. that the righteousness of God without the law is manifested being witnessed by the law and the Prophets even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe for there is no difference Shewing that now in the Gospel times there is no difference between Jew and Gentile but that in the justification of both the Righteousness of God without the Law is manifested This he proveth by shewing what the Gospel teacheth concerning the way of Justification for the Gospel only reveals the Righteousness of God Rom. 1.16 17. I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ ver 17. For therein is the Righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith So the Words are a declaration of the Gospel way of Justification by the Righteousness of God and that so clearly and fully and the benefit spoken of so great and glorious being the first benefit that we receive by Union with Christ and the foundation of all other benefits that my Text is accounted to be Evangelium Evangelii a principal part of the written Gospel as briefly and yet fully expressing this excellent point more then any other Text. Note in the words particularly 1. The Subject declared and explained viz. Justification of Persons or their being justified and the meaning of it here is to be cleared and freed from all Ambiguities and Mis-understanding Justification signifieth making just as Sanctification is making holy Glorification making glorious But not making just by infusion of grace and holiness into a Person as the Papists teach consounding Justification and Sanctification together but making just in trial and judgment by a judicial Sentence discharging of guilt freeing from blame and accusation approving judging owning and pronouncing a person to be righteous Use alters the signification from the Notation It is a Juridical word or Law Term and hath reference to Trial and Judgement 1. Cor. 4.3 4. It is with me a very small thing that I should be judged of you or of man's judgment Yea I judge not mine own self For I know nothing of my self yet am I not hereby justified but he that judgeth me is the Lord. And it s so opposed to condemnation in Judgment Deut. 25.1 If there be a controversie between men and they come unto judgment that the Judges may judge them then they shall justify the Righteous and condemn the wicked And Mat. 12.37 By thy words thou shalt be justified and by thy words thou shalt be condemned And it 's opposed both to Accusation and Condemnation Rom. 8 33 34. Who shall lay any thing to the charge of Gods Elect ver 34. Who is he that condemneth And so Job 9.20 If I justify my self mine own mouth shall condemn me Job 13.15 I will maintain mine own ways before him ver 18. I have ordered my cause and I know I shall be justified ver 19. Who is he that will plead with me Here Justification is plainly opposed unto the Accusation or Fault and it 's as plainly opposed to the passing Sentence of Condemnation 1 Kings 8.32 Do and judge thy Servants condemning the wicked to bring his way upon his head and justifying the righteous to give him according to his Righteousness In this sence it is a sin to justify the Wicked Isa 5.23 Prov. 17.15 Job 27.5 Actions must be existent already and brought to trial that they may be justified Job 33.32 Isa 43.9 26. Justice or Righteousness consists not in the Intrinsick nature of an Action but in its agreeableness to a rule of Judgment So that Actions are called just and righteous by an Extrinsecal Denomination with relation to Gods rule of Judging and this Righteousness appears by trying the Action according to the rule and by making an estimate of it which estimate is either approving or disproving justifying or condemning finding it to be sin or no sin or breach of the Law so we may say of the righteousness of Persons with reference to such habits or actings And because Righteousness of righteous Persons appears when they are brought to trial and judgment therefore they are said then to be in a special manner justified as if they were then made righteous Viz. when their Righteousness is declared as Christ was said to be begotten the Son of God at the Resurrection Acts 13 33. because he was then declared to be the Son of God Rom. 1.4 and in the same sense we that are adopted at present are said to wait for our adoption i. e. the manifestation of it Rom. 8.23 And thus even God is said to be justified when we judge of his Actions as we ought to do and deem them to be righteous Job 32.2 Psal 51.4 Luke 7.29 though nothing can be added to the Infinite Righteousness of God And Wisdom is said to be justified by her Children Matth. 11.19 So Justification is not a real change of a Sinner in himself though a real change is annexed to it but only a Relative change with reference to Gods Judgment And thus the word is used in the Text and so also in matters of Judicature throughout the scripture yea some contend against the Papists that it is no where in Scripture otherwise except by a Trope borrowed from this as the proper sense And in the Text it 's beyond all doubt meant of being deemed and accounted just in the sight of God for such a Justification is here only treated of as appears in the Text and before ver 19 20. And I have been the longer Explaining the sense of the word because the mistaking of it by reason of its composition occasioned that popish error whereby the benefit signified by it is obscured yea overthrown so that we had need contend for the sense of the Word 2. In the Text we have First the Persons justified 1. Sinners 2. Such Sinners of all sorts that shall believe whether Jews or Gentiles 2. The Justifier or Efficient Cause God 3. The Impulsive Cause Grace 4. The means effecting or Material Cause The Redemption of Christ 5. The Formal Cause The Remission of Sins 6. The Instrumental Cause Faith 7. The Time of declaring The present Time 8. The End That God may appear just From hence therefore will arise several useful Observations all tending to explain the nature of Justification which shall
be laid down and cleared out of the Text and confirmed particularly and then I shall make use of them all together Observ I. They who are justified are Sinners such who are come short of the Glory of God i. e. of God's Approbation Joh. 5.44 of Gods Image of Holiness 2 Cor. 3.1 Eph. 4.24 Eternal Happiness 1 Thess 2.12 Rom. 5.2 2 Cor. 4.17 1. The Law condemns all Sinners and strikes them dead as with a Thunderbolt Rom. 3.20 and adjudgeth them to Shame Confusion and Misery instead of Glory and Happiness by the strict terms of it Rom. 2.6 9.11 12. which none fulfils neither can do Rom. 8.7 neither Jews nor Gentiles there is no hope if free Grace restore them not 2. Christ came only to save Sinners and died for this end Rom. 5.6 when we were yet without strength in due time Christ dyed for the Ungodly and 1 Tim. 1.15 This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation that Jesus Christ came into the World to save Sinners of whom I am the chief Mat. 9.13 I am not come to call the Righteous but Sinners to Repentance Mat. 18.11 The Son of man is come to save that which is lost And God must be believed on to Salvation as a God that justifieth the Ungodlsy he must believe as one that worketh not on him that justifieth the Ungodly Rom. 4.5 Observ II. Sinners of all sorts without difference whether Jews or Gentiles that believe are the Subjects of this Justification This is the Scope of the Apostle to shew that whereas Jews and Gentiles were universally condemned by the Light and Law of Nature or the Law written so the Righteousness of God is upon them all that believe ver 21 22. without difference This was a great point to be defended against the Jews in the Apostles times who appropriated Justification to themselves in a legal way and such were Proselites to the Law and Circumcision and therefore the Apostle Paul vehemently urged it Rom. 10.11 12. and it was a point newly revealed to the Apostles that the Gentiles might be accepted without turning Jews and much prized as a very Glorious Revelation Act. 10.28 45. Eph. 3.4 5 18. Col. 1.25 26 27. and it is confirmed 1. Because notwithstanding the Jews priviledg of the Law by reason of breaking the law they had as much need of Free Justification as the Gentiles and no worthyness above the Gentiles by their works but rather greater sinners Rom. 2.23 24. and when there is equal need and worth God might righteously justify one as well as another Rom. 3.9 2. God is the God of the Gentiles as well as the Jews Rom. 3.29 as he promised Rom. 13.9 12. Gal. 3.8 Isa 19.25 Zach. 14.9 3. Abraham was justified before he was circumcised that he might be the Father of those that believe though uncircumcised that they might inherit the same Blessing Rom. 4.10 11 12. 4. This will appear further by shewing that Justification is only by Faith and without dependance upon the Law meerly by the righteousness of another and so Jews and Gentiles are alike capable of it Observ III. That the Justifier or efficient cause of Justification is God It 's an Act of God Rom. 8.33 It is God that justifieth he only can justify Authoritatively and Irreversibly 1. Because he is the Lawgiver and hath power to save and destroy Jam. 4.12 this Case concerns God's Law and can only be tried at his Tribunal he is the Judge of the World Gen. 18.25 It is a small worthless thing to be justified by Man or by our selves meerly 1 Cor. 4.3 4. 2. To Him the Debt of suffering for Sin and acting Righteousness is owed And therefore he only can give a discharge for payment or release of the Debtor Psal 51.4 Mar. 2.7 Observ IV. God Justifieth Souls freely by his Graec. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 freely by his Grace one of these Expressions had been enough but this redoubling of it sheweth the Importance of the truth to quicken our attention the more Here is the Impulsive cause of Justification and his free manner of bestowing it accordingly And this signifies Gods free undeserved Favour in opposition to any works of our Righteousness whereby it might be challenged as a Debt to us Rom. 4.4 Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace but of debt Chap. 11.6 if by Grace then it is no more of works otherwise Grace is no more Grace but if it be of Works then it is no more Grace otherwise Work is no more Work Eph. 2.8 9. By Grace are ye saved through Faith and that not of your selves it is the Gift of God Not of works least any man should boast 2 Tim. 1.9 Who hath saved us and called us with an Holy Calling not according to our works but according to his own purpose and grace which he hath given us in Christ Jesus before the World began Ver. 10. But is now made manifest by the appearing c. Grace is mercy and love shewed freely out of Gods proper motion shewing mercy because he will shew mercy and loving us because he will love us Rom. 9.15 and this is confirmed 1. Because there was not nor is any thing in us but what might move God to condemn us for we have all sinned Eph. 2.3 Ezek. 16.6 2. Because God would take away boasting and have his Grace Glorified and Exalted in our Salvation He will have all the Praise and Glory though we have the Blessedness Eph. 2.7 9. that in the Ages to come he might shew the exceeding Riches of his Grace in his kindness toward us through Jesus Christ and so Rom. 3.27 Observ V. God Justifieth Sinners through the Redemption that is in Jesus Christ whom God hath set forth for a Propitiation through Faith in his Blood This is the effecting means or material cause of our Justification viz. Redemption and Propitiation through the Blood of Christ which is the Righteousness of God treasured up in him By Redemption is meant properly such a deliverance as is by paying of a Price and so the Words Redeem and Redemption are frequently used Exod. 13.13 Numb 3.48 49 51. Lev. 5.24 51 52. Jer. 32.7 8 Neh. 5.8 from this proper Signification it is borrowed to signifie a deliverance without Price Luke 21.28 Eph. 1.14 Chap 4.30 or rather by a Metonimy of the Cause put for the highest effect the state of Glory so that state of Glory is called Redemption as being the compleating and crowning effect of Christs Redemption therefore it 's called the purchased Possession By a Propitiation is meant that which appeaseth the wrath of God for Sin and wins his Favour and this Propitiation of Christ was two ways typified First in the propitiatory Sacrifices whose Blood was shed and the Mercy-seat which was called the Propitiation because it covered the Ark wherein was the Law and the Blood of the Sacrifices for Atonement was sprinkled by the High Priest before it and