Sin but the Scripture seems to make them the same Rom. 4. 5 6 7. I think they are so inseparably joined together that no man who has obtained the Pardon of all his Sins ever was or can be at a loss for a Righteousness to compleat his Justification and entitle him to the reward of Eternal Life promised in the Law I conceive the Pardon of all our Sins is a Righteousness we may boldly appear before God in because it lays before God that full satisfaction that Christ made for Sin by his active and passive Obedience which is not only satisfactory for Sin but also meritorious of Eternal Life so that all the ends of Justification are accomplished in the Remission of Sin What precise conceptions we may have of Remission of Sin and imputation of Righteousness as differing in the notion will not argue any real difference in the things themselves We must have a care we do not separate what God has so intimately joined together This hath occasioned all those unhappy Controversies about Justification as I shall shew anon They who want a sufficient Justifying Righteousness after the full Remission of all their Sins do not rightly resolve Remission of Sin into the proper procuring causes of it viz. the satisfaction that Christ made for Sin by what he did and suffered for us from his Birth to his Death so it became him to fulfil all Righteousness that he might be the end of the Law for Righteousness to them who Believe So that Christ himself is our Righteousness the Lord Jehovah our Righteousness the Law is as well satisfied with what Christ hath Done and Suffered for us as if we our selves and perfectly kept the Law or Died by it for our Sins 'T is dangerous separating Christ and his Righteousness as if we were to derive a justifying-Righteousness from Christ distinct from the Person of Christ This notion has insensibly led men to seek a Righteousness in themselves not wrought out for them but wrought in them by Christ this indeed is the right way of Sanctification but not of our Justification The Scripture directs us to seek our Justification in the Person of Christ only by Receiving him Believing in him to them is Remission of Sin Promised and everlasting life John 1. 12. John 3. 15 16. John 6. 40 47. Rom. 4. 5. Rom. 3. 26. Acts 10. 43. Acts 26. 18. Some do too nicely distinguish between freedom from Punishment and a right to eternal Life as if one could be obtained without the other which is impossible Certainly not to Die is to Live not to Die eternally is to Live eternally the expulsion of Darkness is the bringing in of Light He who is counted worthy to escape the Punishment threatned by Law is worthy to receive the Reward promised by Law I see not what should hinder it since no fault of Omission or Commission can be charged upon him whose Sins are Pardoned If after the full Remission of all our Sins we were to receive eternal Life from the Law then some Righteousness distinct from Pardon a Righteousness wrought by our selves after Pardon would be antecedently necessary to our justification unto life But that is not so for every Pardoned Sinner receives eternal Life from the hand of Free-Grace as the Gift of God freely given without any consideration of any works of Righteousness done by us Gal. 2. 6. Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law but by the faith of Jesus Christ even we have believed in Jesus Christ that we might be justified by the faith of Christ and not by the works of the law for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified If there had been law which could have given life verily righteousness should have been by the law Gal. 3. 21. But since the Law does not give Life therefore that Righteousness that lets us into eternal Life is not of the Law but that of Faith Phil. 3. 9. The Law admits of no Pardon allows of none is not at all concerned about that matter but seeks its own satisfaction in a way of strict justice the Law is all for Justice Mercy comes in by another Covenant 'T was never in the nature and constitution of the Law to give life to a Sinner the Law can't do that Rom. 8. 3. It can give life to a Righteous man but not to a Sinner The Law will prosecute him to death 't would act contrary to it self to its own eternal Sanction and declared judgment if it should do otherwise and therefore the Law as a Covenant of Life and Death is fully determined in the Death of Christ towards all Believers who are no longer under the Law but under Grace Yet I say the rigour of the Law in it self is not relaxed by the Pardon of Sin only it does not exert its condemning power upon the persons of Believers because Christ has already Suffered for their Sins but still the Law remains and ever will remain a Sin-condemning and Sin-avenging Law it has as much power as ever to stay the Sinner but it can slay him but once and the stroke of the Law is so heavy in that case that it need not smite him a second time Christ indeed being God as well as Man recovered from that deadly blow the Law gave him for our Sins and so saved himself and us Here is no relaxation of the Law but a full execution of it full satisfaction given to it the whole debt is paid to the utmost farthing by Christ our surety Now all the Life Glory and Happiness that follows upon this comes in by Grace Christ having Redeemed us from the Curse of the Law and the Law being fully satisfied cannot be against any thing that Christ shall do for his Redeemed ones he may freely bestow what he will upon them having brought them under a Covenant of Grace he may and he will pursue that Covenant to the utmost towards them for their good till he has made them as happy as infinite Love and Grace can make them Sin being taken away and expiated by the Death of Christ Believers do pass over of course into his Life they Rise with him he who has called us into a Communion with him in his Death will not deny us Communion with him in his Life and Resurrection otherwise the benefits accruing to us by his Death in a freedom from Punishment would never have made us happy had we been quite shut out from his Life 't was for that end he Died for us that we might Live for ever in him by him and with him The Law and the works of the Law contribute nothing to this Life and for our Evangelical Holiness that is but the fruit and effect of this eternal Life derived from Christ already begun in us and exerting it self gradually according to the measure of our imperfect Sanctification here All our Evangelical works are but so many expressions of that new Life
God's grace comes to us we either receive it or put it from us and 't will be no joy of heart to us in a dying Hour to think how often we have refused our own Mercies offered to us which nothing but our final unbelief can hinder us of you who do not now believe know assuredly that you will never believe 'till God turn your hearts and he then begins to turn them when he puts you upon seeking earnestly to him for it as that which none can do besides I wish this sign of Conversion were more apparent in us all how diligently should we wait upon God for converting Grace in the use of means the reason why many receive so little benefit from the word is because they expect so little from it they do not come with raised expectations of a powerful Revelation of the Arm of God upon their hearts you that do have I doubt not seen and felt the mighty works of God upon your Souls Faith begins at the promises is raised from thence and ever after waits for the performance of them it shall be done according to your Faith Some think they must bring Faith to the Covenant as a preparatory Qualification for all the Grace that is there promised whereas we must come to the Covenant for our first Faith and fetch it thence the Spirit by the outward proposal of the Covenant kindles Faith in us by which we cast our selves upon the free Grace of God in Christ We have nothing to believe till then Do this and then look for the Law written in your hearts for the Spirit of God and all the fruits of the Spirit in your repentance Love Obedience and holy walking with God all Graces flow from the Covenant of Grace Pray that God will give you a heart to assent to and close with Christ upon the terms of the Covenant and then see if all be not made good to you God will do much for the Glory of his Grace but he will do nothing to nourish your Pride and Conceitedness of your selves and your own righteousness seek all from Grace and you have all but if you go about to establish your own righteousness you will never attain unto righteousness if you seek it not by Faith Rom. 9. 32. 3. How come we to discern God to be our God in Christ or what is there in Christ that makes out this unto us 1. Christ as Man does own God to be his God and the God of all who are in him My Father and your Father my God and your God John 20. 17. God is not only the God of Christ Personal but of Christ Mystical his Head both ways 1 Cor. 11. 3. When we are one in Christ then the God of Christ is our God we cannot since the fall have an Interest in God but through a Mediator he is the great Peace maker 't is Christ makes God to be ours who otherwise would be against us not for us God is in Christ reconciling the World unto himself As Christ owns God to be his God so God the Father owns Christ incarnate as his wellbelovedSon and the same love he beareth to him he beareth to all his Members John 17. 23 26. We can have no immediate Knowledg of God in his own Divine Essence So he is perfectly known only to himself all that concerns us to know of him he has revealed in Christ Without a personal knowledge of God in Christ we cannot act our Faith upon him nor have any real Communion with him Notions are not Persons or Subsistencies but Mental Conceptions neither can we apply our selves to those Speculations if we know not the Person to whom they belong all Divine Attributes relate to their proper Subject nay more all Divine Attributes are of the essence of God they are God himself neither do our thoughts of Omnipotency Allsufficiency c. signify any thing to our relief unless we know him who is all this we cannot know Omnipotency to be God himself unless we see it acted and expressed by him who is God 't is a hard matter to prove the reality of that which was never acted and 't is impossible to know that such Attributes have been exerted unless we know by whom None of the idol gods were ever able to act over any one of the essential Attributes of God by the help of the Devil they pretended something that way but it was a mere pretence easily disproved by any considering man strictly examining either their Predictions of future Events or their feigned Miracles which were all mere Delusions false and groundless Christ out-did them all he did the works of God indeed and for his work-sake ought to be believed to be God indeed 2. In Christ we see God's Wrath appeased his Justice satisfied for all our Offences all causes of Enmity between God and us are taken away by Christ Eph. 2. 13 14. The body of sin destroyed Rom. 6. 6. We Crucified to the World Gal. 6. 14. The Image of God restored his Law writ in our hearts 3. The Spirit of Christ dwelling in us tells us so teaches us to cry Abba Father As no man can say that Jesus is the Lord but by the Holy Ghost 1 Cor. 12. 3. So none can say that God is their God but by the Holy Ghost By the Spirit of Christ which is the Spirit of God Rom. 8. 9. When God himself tells you by his own Spirit that he is your God he makes you to understand what he says and to see how happy you are in having God for your God Till we come to some sense of this we lose the comfort of our Religion it has little Influence upon us whence does the power of godliness arise but from the power of God who is the Author of true Religion and puts that power into it that belongs to true godliness take away the relation that is between Godliness and God and you quite destroy the power of godliness Religion is a weak thing if it be not maintained and supported by the authority and power of God himself 4. We see that of God in Jesus Christ that makes us fall down and Worship him as our God crying out with Thomas John 20. 28. My Lord and my God When we look upon Christ with an eye of Faith we do with open face behold as in a glass the glory of the Lord 2 Cor. 3. 18. God causes his glory to pass before us le ts out some beams of his Divine Majesty that we may know him to be the Lord such Manifestations of God to the Soul through Christ have I hope fallen under your own experience many a time and that you are not now without such a sight of God in Christ as does create in you a holy Reverence towards him a holy trembling at his word if you receive it as the word of God of your God it must have this effect upon you any thing from our God that bears his
favour of God for us and a right to all the blessings promised in the Gospel and his Spirit effectually applies all this to us and works all this in us 3. Remission of sin as it is held forth and offered in the Gospel presupposes nothing in man as the cause and condition of it moving God to pardon him but only denotes God's gracious Indulgence towards him not reckoning his sin to him upon his believing in Christ see how pardoning Grace finds us Col. 2. 13. And you being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh hath he quickned together with him having forgiven you all trespasses So Heb. 8. 10 11 12. God does not eye any Qualifications in us but promises to do all himself I will and they shall c. 'T is objected That Faith is the beginning of Sanctification and if Faith be required unto Justification then some part at least of our Sanctification is required unto justification Answ. No part at all for though Faith be a supernatural Principle infused by God in order to our Sanctification as well as our Justification yet it first Justifies before it Sanctifies I speak of Faith now not in its first Principle but in its first actings I say it first acts upon Christ by receiving him before it begins actually to sanctify us there is a great difference between the Instrumentality of Faith in receiving Christ for our Justification and the efficacy of Faith applying Christ received for our Sanctification to speak properly 't is not God's working Faith but Faith working in us and upon us that Sanctifies God always gives Christ in and with our first Faith for Justification and Pardon this must be first finished and compleated before Faith will or can begin to sanctifie us because Faith fetches all its sanctifying Virtue from Christ received but our first act of receiving Christ is that that justifies Sanctification always follows upon it and is gradually carried on by a justifying Faith to our lives end in is not pardoned because it is mortified but because it is pardoned therefore it 's mortified Remission of sin presupposes no real change in the man himself as moving God thereunto Neither does remission of sin alter the nature of sin but only the state of the Sinner his sin is not imputed to him To forgive sin is not to remember it Jer. 31. 34. There 't is but God won't look towards it his thoughts are so taken up with the blood of Christ and the Interest that Believers have in that blood that he willingly forgets their sins he will not deal with them after their sins nor reward them according to their iniquities Psal 103. 10. And that they may be sure of this he casts their sins into the depths of the sea Mich. 7. 19. As far as the east is from the west so far hath he removed our transgression from us Psal. 103. 12. Not only from himself but from us he sees no iniquity in Jacob. If pardoning Grace does not presuppose but make a real change in a man for the better yet forasmuch as we are imperfectly Sanctified the Pardon of sin and the being and presence of sin may and do consist together in every true Believer here below provided they do not allow themselves in the practise of it 4. Remission of sin is an act of Mercy not Justice yet not contrary to Justice because the sins that are pardoned to us are punished in Christ 't is from God's Justice that he will not pardon sin without satisfaction 't is from his Mercy that he will accept of satisfaction from the hand of another This answers that plausible Objection that is commonly made against our Salvation by Grace viz. Wicked men are condemned for their evil works therefore Saints are justified for their good works Answ. This does not follow because one is an act of Justice and the other of Mercy Rom. 6. 23. The wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Death is wages due by Law eternal Life is a free gift through Jesus Christ. 5. Remission of sin as 't is an act of Mercy so 't is act of Power too God has Power to forgive sin none but the Creditor can forgive the Debtor God is the greater Creditor and we are all his Debtors against thee only have I sinned therefore God only has Power to forgive sin but yet it is not an act of mere absolute Power neither but an act of Divine Jurisdiction that carries in it a due respect unto the Law which God as the righteous Judge and most wise Governour of the world will not violate Therefore Remission of Sin under this provision that God has made in Christ for the satisfaction of his Law and Justice is called Justification Rom. 4. 5 6. God is Just as well as Merciful in Pardoning Sin Rom 3. 25 26. So that Pardon flows from the Love of God acting towards us for Christ's sake i. e. upon the account of his Merit and Satisfaction which respect the Justice of God The truth is the satisfaction of Christ is the foundation of Pardon this satisfaction lyes in the expiatory Sacrifice offered by Christ upon the Cross hence expiation or atonement is joyned with pardon in Scripture Numb 15. 25. Levit. 4. 20. The priest was to make an atonement that the sin should be forgiven An expiatory Sacrifice led the way to forgiveness under the Law and so it does now under the Gospel without shedding of Blood there is no remission of sin If you have not the Blood of Christ is your eye when you go to God for Pardon never think to speed CHAP. IV. The APPLICATION I Shall shut up all with a word of Exhortation urging every one of you to a frequent deep serious consideration of this grand fundamental truth concerning the only way of Salvation by the remission of sin through Faith in Christ Jesus I know the time will shortly come when all our Notions and Disputes must be resolved into our believing or not believing in Christ for Pardon of sin therefore be perswaded to begin your Religion in pure Faith trusting in Christ only for the remission of all your sins through the merit of his Blood begin here lay this as the Foundation of all your Religion make this sure and then you will more clearly see upon what account you stand righteous before God if you joyn any thing with Christ here and miss your way in the first setting out you 'll go wider and wider from the Gospel every stop you take and be forced to wrest the Scriptures all along to make good your first grand mistake therefore I say beg of God to bring your hearts to a true reliance upon the free-Grace and Mercy of God in Christ Jesus for the pardon of all your sins Take this as a clue in your hands to guide you into such an understanding of all other truths as is consonant to this
witness whom I serve with my spirit in the gospel of his Son and with a pure conscience 2 Tim. 1. 3. void of offence towards God Acts 24. 16. In simplicity and godly sincerity 2 Cor. 1. 12. When with our minds we serve the law of God Rom. 7. 25. God is a Spirit and will be Worshipped in spirit and truth You have reason to enure your selves to this Spiritual worship because ere long you will be all Spirit when you have laid down these earthly tabernacles I mean it is the will of God that the Souls of men should after death live a while out of the body in a separate state till the Resurrection conversing with an innumerable company of Angels and Spirits of just men made perfect Though Believers now are Spiritually joined to the general Assembly of the First-born and in the apprehensions of their Faith do rejoyce in that relation they stand in to the Church-triumphant yet after death they will have actual communion with those blessed Spirits above though we cannot so clearly apprehend what this happy Paradisical state is after death yet those who are spiritually minded conceive so much of it by Faith as makes them long to be dissolved and to be with Christ they grow weary of all earthly converses waiting till their change comes that they may enter into rest from all their Labours and from that hard travel of Soul which they cannot be freed from till their warfare be fully accomplish'd then they put off their Armour as more than Conquerors and sit down in an everlasting Peace with palms in their hands and crowns upon their heads triumphing in the Grace of Christ to all Eternity Could we look through the dark Entry of the Grace into Eternity lifting up our heads within the Vail we should see a Glorious Light that would dazzle our eyes we should have a stronger taste of the powers of the world to come The wiser sort of Heathens were not without some thoughts of a future happy estate they did praesentire in posterum They had some bodings in their minds of some great good or evil that should befal them after death What a shame is it for Christians to be so little affected with the future eternal state of their Immortal Souls Believers while they are in this world are joyned to the Lord in one Spirit i. e. in one spiritual body or in the same spiritual nature with Christ Heb. 2. 11. We live the life of Christ the Head and the Members being acted by the same Spirit Christians have not every one a diverse spirit as every man hath a divers Soul numerically distinct from the Soul of another man but as all Members of the Body have the same Soul though each of them divers operations Rom. 12. 4. so we have all of us one and the same Spirit though the operations of it be divers 1 Cor. 12. 4 13. Therefore if there be any fellowship of the Spirit let us glorifie God in our bodies and in our spirits which are God's CHRIST The ONLY MEDIATOR OF THE NEW COVENANT HEB. XII 24. And to Jesus the Mediator of the New Covenant BEfore I speak to the Words of the Text I shall premise Two Things 1. Compare the Covenant of Grace with the Covenant of Works shewing in what they agree and in what they differ 2. Compare the New Covenant with the Mount Sinai-Covenant CHAP. I. Christ the ONLY Mediator c. FIRST I shall Compare the Covenant of Works with the Covenant of Grace in sundry particulars 1. The Covenant of Grace frees a Sinner from two things which by the Covenant of Works are in force against him 1. From the Curse 2. From perfect Obedience as a Condition of life to be performed by man himself My meaning is That the Covenant of Grace does not take away the Condition of perfect obedience but only the Performance of it by us It is enough that Christ hath performed it for us by whose Obedience we are made Righteous 2. The Covenant of Grace is so far a friend to the Covenant of Works or rather to the Good Works commanded by that Covenant that it takes in all the moral Duties of that Covenant they are as much our Duty now under the Gospel as they were under the Law and our coming short in any of them is as much our sin now as then we ought as much to strive against it nay which is more than could be expected under the Law we are called to repent of it The Law neither gave Grace to repent neither did it admit of any Repentance You see how little countenance the Covenant of Grace rightly understood gives to Licentiousness how much it promotes Holiness even the perfection of Holiness For when all the Grace of that Covenant is given forth it will issue in Perfection then the Saints will be perfect The reason why under the Gospel imperfect Obedience is accepted is not because the Imperfections of it are approved but because they are pardoned and covered 3. The Covenant of Works shews what man must do to be justified The Covenant of Grace what a justified man ought to do how he should carry himself ever after towards God Holiness of life by the Covenant of Works went before Justification as the procuring meritorious cause of it but according to the Covenant of Grace it is the consequent or effect of Justification 4. The Covenant of Grace in the application of it to us begins in the pardon of sin No Grace reaches us till pardoning Grace begins with us we are under a curse till then concluded or shut up under wrath but pardoning Mercy opens the door for all manner of Mercies to enter in turns the whole stream and course of God's Grace towards us Blessed is the man whose transgression is forgiven c. Psalm 32. 1. This leads the way to all other blessings 5. In the Covenant of Grace God declares what he will be to us and do for us and also what he will enable us to be to him and to do for his Glory his free Grace undertakes both Parts of the Covenant 6. The Covenant of Grace presupposes full satisfaction made by Christ for all our sins against the Covenant of Works else God would not be just in justifying a Believer Rom. 3. 25 26. 7. The Covenant of Grace finds nothing in man to commed him to God but what it brings along with it To suppose any preparatory qualifications conditions causes or motives to make way for us into the favour of God does quite overthrow the nature of free Grace and take off greatly from the glory of it 1. None can have an interest in the Covenant of Grace or be said in a Gospel sence to be in Covenant in whom the essential parts of the Covenant are not already in some measure fulfilled viz. To have the Law written in their heart to have a right Spirit put into us to own God for our God to delight in
and Fear lest we should not walk worthy of it unto all well-pleasing Grace pleases a Believer so well that he cannot but study to please God in all things ever after the Law of Grace constrains him Obs. The clearer Gospel-Light we live under the more holy we should be in our lives and conversations not continuing in sin because Grace abounds Since we are delivered from the terror and bondage of the Law let us not desire to be under it Gal. 4. 21. We are not under the Law but under Grace or which is all one are not come unto Mount Sinai but unto Mount Sion God was very terrible upon Mount Sinai but very amiable and gentle upon Mount Sion sitting upon a Throne of Grace ready to shew Mercy to all who come unto him Heb. 7. 25. he will in no wise cast off any So that Believers now are in a far better case than they were under the Old Testament they enjoy now far greater Priviledges and among the rest we have a more powerful Mediator than Moses was even Jesus the Mediator of the New Covenant CHAP. III. Jesus the Mediator of the New Covenant IN opening these Words I shall speak to these following Heads viz. 1. What a Mediator is 2. The difference between Moses and Christ. 3. The necessity of a Mediator between God and fallen man 4. How Christ was fitted and qualified for the Office of a Mediator 5. What are those special Mediatory Acts that Christ puts forth 6. Answer some Popish Objections and open some Scriptures very much perverted by them 7. Shew what use we should make of Christ our Mediator First What a Mediator is viz. One who interposes himself as a middle person between two or more who are at variance that he may reconcile them and joyn them together in a New Covenant A Mediator is one coming between two parties at variance to take up the quarrel and reconcile them Medium refertur ad duo extrema the middle refers to two extremes so a Mediator is not of one Gal. 3. 20. There must be two at variance God is one there must be some other at variance with God else no need of a Mediator whilst God and man were one i. e. united in love and affection for then they are said to be one Joh. 17 21. 1 Cor. 6. 17. of the same nature 2 Pet. 1. 4. But there being a difference between God and man Christ is not the Mediator of one i. e. of God only but of God and man God and sinful man for God and a just man are not at variance The first Covenant in Innocency was made between persons perfectly united and agreed the second Covenant between persons mortally offended therefore this needed a Mediator extrema unjuntur in medio So here 2 Cor. 5 18 19. A Mediator stands in the middle to unite both extremes So Christ is the Prince of Peace Isa. 9 6. The Parties disagreeing are God and Man the cause of the difference is sin Isa. 59. 2. which cannot be expiated but by the blood of Christ and because God would not contend for ever Isa. 57. â—6 he sent his Son to dye for our sins and so to make Peace Rom. 5. 10. A Mediator is one who takes hold of both disagreeing Parties one with his right the other with his left hand so bringing them together in Love as Job 9. 33. Isa. 41. 10. God and Man agreeing in one Mediator do walk together Amos 3. 3. The Person of the Mediator as Mediator is inferior to the Father by a voluntary exinanition of himself in the form of a servant but he is above us 1. As God by his Divine Nature 2. As Man by the Purity of his Humane Nature 3. By vertue of his Office and high Prerogatives belonging to it Mediator and Saviour are all one for Mediation is in order to Salvation one the means the other the end He is our Saviour because he is our Mediator Heb. 7. 25. The knowledg of a Mediator is not from the Creatures but from the Scriptures 't is a point of revealed Religion to know who is our Mediator even the Son of God Secondly The difference between Moses and Christ as to their Mediation 1. Christ as Mediator of the new Covenant effectually wins and draws to it all those to whom the benefit of this Covenant belongs he undertakes for the full accomplishment of the Covenant on both sides So did not Moses He was mediator of the old covenant Gal. 3. 19. Exod. 20. 19. Deut. 5. 4 5. 2. The Mediator of the New Testament must die because he is the Testator as well as Mediator Heb. 9. 15 16 17. vide The Priests under the Law did offer Sacrifice but did not offer up themselves as Christ did Moses was only a Ministerial Mediator he was not the Author of the Covenant but only a Witness to the delivery and publication of it in God's Name by his Hand But Christ himself is the Author of the New Covenant and he stands engaged to make good the terms of it to take up the difference between God and us Eph. 2. 14. He is our peace Man's reconciliation with God was drawn into a Covenant therefore Christ is called the Mediator of the New Covenant he is both our Mediator and our Ransom he that is our 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is also our 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 John 2. 1 2. 3. The Priest and Sacrifices of old were tipes of Christ the great Mediator of the New Testament the only high Priest who is both Priest and Sacrifice 4. Under the Law many Sacrifices and they often repeated Heb. 10. 11. But in the Gospel but one Sacrifice and but once offered Heb. 9. 28. Heb. 10. 12 14 18. 5. Christ does not only intercede with the Father for us Joh. 16. 23. but promises to do it himself John 14. 14. He does not only intercede for us as an Advocate but himself hears our Prayers and grants our Petitions so could not Moses he is an extraordinary Mediator not only procuring remission from the Party offended but actually remitting the offence himself 6. The new Covenant comprehends both Jew and Gentile Eph. 2. 14 15. Eph. 1. 10. So did not the old 7. There was only Typical forgiveness in the old Covenant as pertaining to the conscience Heb. 9. 9 10 13 14. Heb. 10. 1 2 3. But real forgiveness in the new Heb. 10. 16 17. A real purging the Conscience Heb. 9 14. 8. Moses was not Surety of the new Covenant unto God on the part of the people but only an Internuncius or middle agent between them declaring the mind of God unto the people 9. The Sinai Covenant had relation to the Covenant of Grace and therefore the Ceremonial Law was annexed to it Circumcision was a Seal not of the Covenant of works as the Jews misconceived but of the second Covenant of Righteousness by Faith Rom. 4. 11. Confirmed before of God in Christ Gal. 3.
bear him out in this act then certainly we may safely rely upon this precious Blood for our Justification That which Justifies God in his act of Justifying a Believing sinner must needs be a sufficient cause of our Justification else it could not justifie God in his Justifying act there would be no equitable reason for it besides to say that the Blood of Christ is the only procuring Meritorious cause of our Justification i. e. of the acceptance of out Persons and Performances This is truth but not all the truth belonging to Justification For my next Query is What is it that gives us an interest in the Blood of Christ in the satisfaction he hath made for sin Here nothing must come in as instrumentally necessary to our receiving and applying Christ but Faith only Repentance and new Obedience are the effects of the Faith either they are the effects of Faith or of Unbelief None will say the latter then they must necessarily flow from the real interest that Faith gives us in Christ if not I don't see how we can attain to them At this rate they must be done in our own strength not in Christ's for being conditions as some say of our interest in Christ they must be performed before we can have an interest in him It is an excellent Note of Calvin in his Commentaries upon Rom. 8. 30. Whom he did predestinate them he called and whom he called them he justified c. Scimus enim ubi de salute agitur libenter homines à seipsis incipere fingeréque sibi praeparationes quibus Dei gratiam antevertant i. e. 'T is natural for men in the business of Salvation to begin at themselves fancying some preparatory Works by which they may prevent the Grace of God and do something for themselves in their own strength that may fit and qualifie them for an interest in Christ. In this rotten Principle do many begin their Religion which corrupts their minds ever after from the simplicity that is in Christ and puts them upon seeking Justification Not by Faith but as it were by the works of the law Rom. 9. 32. Supposing something in themselves to be the first cause of their acceptance with God I wish all who call themselves Calvinists would read that place and seriously consider the sense of that Holy man in this main point of our Religion Some through mistake have counted Luther an Antinomian but none call Calvin so 'T is good to be zealous in promoting practical Holiness and Gospel-Obedience but let us be sure it be Gospel-Obedience flowing from a principle of Faith in Christ Jesus For to Preach up Holiness from any other Principle then that of Faith in our Lord Jesus Christ is not to Preach like Ministers of the New Testament Faith only is required in Justification rather than to it I so phrase it because they are simultaneus Repentance and New Obedience do follow Faith let them be kept in their due place and be allowed no causal concurrence unto our Justification and we shall avoid all confusion else there will be a fundamental difference between us while some hold that Faith only gives us an interest in Christ others that Repentance and New Obedience do equally with Faith give us an interest in Christ. Some carry it as if the end of Christ's coming into the world was only to set up a New Covenant of Works upon milder and easier terms of sincere imperfect Obedience which all men are to be exhorted to and urged to the performance of upon a supposed general sufficient Grace purchased by Christ enabling all men who do not wilfully refuse to come up to the terms of this New Covenant This Opinion hath many ill consequences in it viz. Of a General Redemption taking away Original sin restoring man to a freedom of will in doing good setting him upon his own legs again to stand or fall as he comes up to or falls short of the terms of this New conditional Covenant So that all is resolved into mans own power and will all being now put into an equal capacity of Salvation by Christ and having said this they have done with Christ have all in their own hands may set up for themselves and love to be put upon duty as persons sufficiently furnished for it already But notwithstanding this specious new scheme of rational Divinity as some call it I must in faithfulness to God to my own Conscience and the Souls of them that hear me tell you plainly That they who trust in a general Redemption will fall short of their particular Salvation upon the Principles that those Universalists go upon We are all by nature dead in trespasses and sins reprobate to every good Word and Work and shall so remain till we do by a particular personal act of our own Faith come to Christ for life that we may be quickned by his Spirit and made alive unto Righteousness We must have life before we can live or put forth any vital operations we must be first quickned by Christ the great quickning Spirit before we can live to God or do any thing that is Spiritually good 'T is Faith that unites us to Christ which is the gift of God to some for all men have not Faith and till this Faith comes by hearing the Gospel we are dead in sin Christ came not only as a Lawgiver to prescribe rules of living to dead sinners but to create in us a principle of life to give us strength to perform what he requires of us as new Creatures created in Christ Jesus unto good Works All our own endeavours after Holiness while we are out of Christ will prove ineffectual we must be first engrafted into the true Olive-Tree deriving all our fruitfulness from the root that bears us else we shall quickly wither away and come to nothing No acceptable service ever was or can be done by man till Faith brings us to Christ without whom we can do nothing when Faith comes life comes strength comes a Spiritual ability to do the will of God in some measure And as this Faith increases by the daily exercise of it so we increase in Spiritual strength perfecting Holiness more and more in the fear of God Let no man think to be made perfect in the flesh Christ came not to reform corrupt Nature but to destroy it and utterly to extirpate it the old man will never learn to lead a new life die he must and be Crucified he must be put off that we may put on the New man which after God is created in Righteousness and true Holiness Eph. 4. 24. This is the only way to true Holiness here and to Eternal Happiness hereafter To as many as the Lord our God shall effectually call to this Faith to them and to them only doth the promise of Salvation by Christ belong 'T is the command of Christ that all should Believe on him they that do and they only shall be saved by him
with all manner of Salvation not only from Hell but from the power of sin that they may live no longer therein Paul knew no other way of Salvation according to his Gospel they that do must invent another Gospel to support their New Divinity I see no ground in Scripture for those preparatory Works that some urge as antecedently necessary to our first Faith in Christ because Faith brings all along with it viz. Conviction of Sin Humiliation Repentance c. Faith never comes to Christ but it shews us a reason why and that reason is drawn from our lost undone Condition by Nature which true Faith is never without some knowledge and sense of and therefore sends us to Christ for help By Nature all men are equally indisposed to Faith counting the Gospel foolishness when their time of their Coversion comes whether prepared or unprepared whatever their present practice or frame is whether legally Convinced or Unconvinced sitting in gross darkness and unbelief the Power of God by the Preaching of the Gospel works a convincing saving Faith in all those who are ordained unto life God calls one and not another of his meer good Pleasure being not moved thereunto by any thing in us that may render one man more capable of Conversion than another sometimes they who in an eye of reason seem furthest off from the Kingdom of God and are most unlikely to be Converted them doth God call by his Grace even Publicans and Harlots Before the stricter sort of formal Professors who notwithstanding their Preparations and seeming fitness for Conversion are left behind in their Natural State when others who sought not after God are found of him and brought into a state of Grace God doth this to shew that the Battel is not to the strong nor the Race to the swift not of him that runeth but of God that sheweth mercy to whom he will Rom. 9. 15 16. Many may outrun others in their acquired Qualifications and yet not so run as to obtain the prize 1 Cor. 9. 24. We are like to make but a sorry Market of it unless we come without Money many have been too rich too well qualified in their own opinion for Christ but none were ever too poor and wretched for Christ whose hearts were stirred up by the Preaching of the Word to come unto him and cast themselves upon him There is nothing required by way of Preparation as antecedently necessary to our first Faith in Christ but hearing the Word let the Hearer be who he will never so unprepared if he belong to God the Word will one time or other make it 's own way to the heart of that man and work Faith in him there is no resisting the Wisdom of the Holy-Ghost The Doctrine of Faith and the Doctrine of Good Works are both very sound Christian Doctrines agreeing very well in their proper place and order As no man can enter into a state of Grace by good Works so no man can conclude himself to be in a state of Grace without Good works 't is one thing to prove that I am already in a state of Grace another thing to shew how a Sinner may now enter into a state of Grace and what is first to be done in order thereunto 'T is not said he that worketh but he that believeth shall be saved and 't is the work of God that we believe and none but God can bring over the heart of a Sinner to trust in Christ and under such a Faith 't is impossible not to lead a holy life We had need be clear and distinct in our Conceptions of these things since our Salvation depends upon our right understanding this Point I say we had need consider what we mean and how we express our selves lest instead of trusting in Christ we trust in our selves and drop the Gospel whilst we seem to maintain it If any scoff at this Doctrine and count it foolishness I will only say that the foolishness of God is wiser than men and the weakness of God is stronger than men FINIS BOOKS Printed and Sold by THOMAS COCKERIL at the Three Legs ever-against the Stocks-Market HIstorical Collections The Third Part in Two Volumes Never Printed before Containing the Principal Matters which happened from the Meeting of the Parliament November the 3 d. 1640. To the End of the Year 1644. Wherein is a particular account of the Rise and Progress of the Civil War to that Period Impartially Related Setting forth only Matter of Fact in Order of Time without Observation or Reflection With Alphabetical Tables By John Rushworth late of Lincolns-Inn Esq Fitted for the Press in his Life-time The Works of the late Learned Divine Stephen Charnock B. D. In 2 Vol. Fol. A Demonstration of the First Principles of the Protestant Applications of the Apocalipse Together with the Consent of the Ancients concerning the Fourth Beast in the 7 th of Daniel and the Beast in the Revelations By Drue Cressener D D. The Morning Exercises at Cripplegate of several Cases of Conscience practically resolved by sundry Ministers in 4 to A Supplement to the Morning Exercise at Cripplegate or several more Cases of Conscience practically resolved by sundry Ministers in 4 to Speculum Theologia in Christo or a view of some Divine Truths which are either practically exemplified in Jesus Christ set forth in the Gospel or may be reasonably deduced from thence by Edward Polhil of Burwash in Sussex Esquire in 4 to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A Succinct and Seasonable Discourse of the Occasions Causes Nature Rise Growth and Remedies of Mental Errors Written some Months since and now made publick both for the healing and prevention of the Sins and Calamities which have broken in this way upon the Churches of Christ to the great scandal of Religion hardening of the Wicked and obstruction of Reformation Whereunto are subjoyned by way of Appendix I. Vindiciarum Vindex Being a Succinct but full Answer to Mr. Philip Cary's Weak Impertinent Exceptions to my Vindiciae Legis Faderis II. A Synopsis of Ancient and Modern Antinomian-Errors with Scriptural Arguments and Reasons against them III. A Sermon composed for the preventing and healing of Rents and Divisions of the Church by John Flavel Preacher of the Gospel at Dartmouth in Devon With an Epistle of several Divines relating to Dr. Crisp's Works A Discourse concerning Liturgys by the late Learned Divine Mr. David Clarkson Precious Faith considered in its nature working and growth by Edward Polhil Esq c. in 4 to Geography Rectified or a description of the World in all its Kingdoms Provinces Cities Towns Seas Rivers Bays Capes Forts their Ancient and Present Names Inhabitants Situations Histories Customs Governments c. And also their Commodities Coyns Weights and Measures compared with those of London Illustrated with above sixty new Maps The whole work performed according to the accurate Discoveries of Modern Authors The Third Edition Enlarged in 4 to The right use of an