not by Faith chosen and used by us under the notion of a Mâ—diatour or Means to our first act of love and consent but is a Means to that of the Fathers chusing only but is in that first consent chosen by us for the standing means of our Justification and Glory and of all our following exercise and increase of love to God and our sanctification so that it is only the assenting act of faith and not the electing act which is the efficient cause of oâ— very first act of Love to God and of our first degree of sanctification and thus it is that Faith is called the seed and mother grace But it is not that saving Faith which is our Christianity and the condition of Justification and of Glory till it come up to a covenant-consent of heart and take in the foresaid acts of Repentance and Love to God as our God and ultimate end The observation of many written mistakes about the order of the work of grace and the ill and contentious consequents that have followed them hath made me think that this true and accurate decision of this case is not unuseful or unnecessary Direct 12. The Holy Ghost so far concurred with the eternal Word in our Redemption that he was the perfecting Operator in the Conception the Holiness the Miracles the Resurrection of Jesus Christ Of his Conception it is said Mat. 1.20 For that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost And vers 18. She was found with child of the Holy Ghost And of his holy perfection as it is said Luke 2.52 that he increased in wisdom and stature and favour with God and men meaning those positive perfections of his humane nature which were to grow up with nature it self and not the supply of any culpable or privative defects so when he was baptized the Holy Ghost descended in a bodily shape like a Dove upon him Luke 3.22 And Luke 4.1 it is said Jesus being full of the Holy Ghost c. Isa 11.2 And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him the Spirit of wisdom and understanding the Spirit of counsel and might the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord and shall make him quick of understanding in the fear of the Lord c. Joh. 3.34 For God giveth not the Spirit by measure to him Acts 1.2 After that he through the Holy Ghost had given commandments to the Apostles whom he had chosen Rom. 1.4 And was declared to be the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of Holiness that is the Holy Spirit by the resurrection from the dead Mat. 12.28 If I cast out Devils by the Spirit of God c. Luke 4.18 The Spirit of the Lord is upon me because he hath anointed me to preach the Gospel to the poor he hath sent me to heal c. Isa 61.1 In all this you see how great the work of the Holy Spirit was upon Christ himself to fit his humane nature for the work of our redemption and actuate him in it though it was the Word only which was made flesh and dwelt among us John 1.3 Direct 13. Christ was thus filled with the Spirit to be the Head or quickening Spirit to his body and accordingly to fit each member for its peculiar office And therefore the Spirit now given is called the Spirit of Christ as communicated by him Rom. 8.9 If any man have not the Spirit of Christ the same is none of hiâ— Joh. 7.37 This spake he of the Spirit which they that believe should receive viz. it is the water of life which Christ will give them 1 Cor. 15.45 The last Adam was made a quickening Spirit Gal. 4.6 God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into our hearts whereby we cry Abba Father Phil. 1.19 Through the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ See also Ephes 1.22 23. 3.17 18 19. 2.18 22. 4.3 12 16. 1 Cor. 12 c. Direct 14. The greatest extraordinary measure of the Spirit was given by him to his Apostles and the Primitive Christians to be the seal of his own truth and power and to fit them to found the first Churches and to convince unbelievers and to deliver his will on record in the Scriptures infallibly to the Church for future times It would be tedious to cite the proofs of this they are so numerous take but a few Matth. 28.20 Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you that 's the commission Mark 16.17 And these signs shall follow them that believe c. Joh. 20.22 Receive ye the Holy Ghost c. 14.26 But the Comforter the Holy Ghost whom the Father will send in my name he will teach you all things and bring all things to your remembrance whatsoever I have said unto you Joh. 16.13 When the Spirit of Truth is come he will guide you into all Truth c. Heb. 2.4 God also bearing them witness both with signs and wâ—nders and with divers miracles and gifts of the Holy Ghost according to his own will Direct 15. And as such gifts of the Spirit was given to the Apostles as their â—ffice required so thâ—se sanctifying graces or that spiritual Life Light and Love are given by it to all true Christians which their calling and salvation doth require John 3.5 6. Except a man be born of Water and of the Spirit he cannot enter into the Kingdom of Heaven That which is born of the flâ—sh is flesh and that which is born of the Spirit is Spirit Heb. 12.14 Without holiness none shall see God Rom. 8.8 9 10 14. They that are in the flesh cannot please God But ye are not in the flesh but in the Spirit if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ he is none of his See also v. 1 3 4 5 6 7 c. Titus 3.5 6 7. He saved us by the washing of Regeneration and the renewing of the Holy Ghost which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour that being justified by his grace we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life But the testimonies of thâ—s truth are more numerous than I may recite Direct 16. By all this it appeareth that the Holy Ghost is both Christs great witness objectively in the world by which it is that he is owned of God and proved to be true and also his Advocate or great Agent in the Church both to indite the Scriptures and to sanctifie souls So that no man can be a Christian indeed without these three 1. The objective witness of the Spirit to the truth of Christ 2. The Gospel taught by the Spirit in the Apostles 3. And the quickening illuminating and sanctifying work of the Spirit upon their souls Direct 17. It is therefore in these respects that we are baptizâ—d into the Name of the Holy Ghost as well as of the Father and the Son
such Adam had such Power and such necessary grace or help to have forborn his first sin which he did not forbear And no man can prove that no final unbelievers have had such power and help to have belâ—eved aâ— Adam had to have stood But it is certain that we 〈…〉 such powers and necessary grace to have perfectly 〈◊〉 all the Law Errour 20. That Faith justifieth as an instrument and only so Of this I have written at large heretofore An instrument properly so called is an efficient cause Faith is no efficient cause of our Justification neither Gods instrument nor ours for we justifie not our selves instrumentally The known undoubted instrument of our Justification is Gods Covenant or deed of gift which is his pardoning act They that say it is not a Physical but a Moral instrument either mean that its morally called an instrument that is reputatively and not really or that it is indeed a moral instrument that is effecteth our Justification morally But the latter is false for it effecteth it not at all and the former is false for as there is no reason so there is no Scripture to prove that God reputeth it to be what it is not All that remaineth to be said is that indeed Faith in Christ is an act whose nature partly that is one act of it consisteth in the Acceptance of Christ himself who is given to us for our Justification and Salvation by a Covenant which maketh this believing-acceptance its condition And so this accepting-act in the very essence of it is such as some call a receiving instrument or a passive which is indeed no instrument but an act metaphorically called an instrument And in disputes metaphors must not be used without necessity and to understand them properly is to erre So that such an improper instrument of Justification Faith is as my trusting my Physician and taking him for my Physician is the instrument of my cure And as my trusting my self to the conduct of such a Pilot is the instrument of my safe voyage or as my trusting my Tutor is the instrument of my learning or rather as a womans marriage-consent is the instrument of all the wealth and honour which she hath by her husband Indeed marriage may be better called the instrument of it that is not her own consent which is properly the receiving condition but the consent and actual marriage by her husband For he is the giver And so the Covenant is Gods justifying instrument as signifying his donative consent and Baptism is the instrument of it by solemn investiture or tradition as the delivering of a Key is the instrumental delivery of the house The case then is very plain to him that is but willing to understand viz. that Faith in its essence is bâ—sides the assenting acts an accepting of an offered Saviour for our Justification Sanctification and Salvation and a trusting in him That this act of Faith being its essence is the most apt for the use that God in his Covenant hath appointed it unto because he will give us a Saviour freely but yet not to be refused and neglected but to be thankfully and honourably received and used That this special aptitude of Faith or its very essence is the reason why it is chosen to be the condition of the Testament or Gift That this same essence and aptitude is that which some call its Receptive or Passive Instrumentality That this essence and aptitude is not the neerest reason why we are justified by it for then Faith as Faith and as such an act or wâ—rk of ours should justifie and that ex opere operato and that without or against Gods will For if Gods will have interposed the signifier of that will must needs be the chief and nearest reason Therefore this act so apt bâ—ing by God made the condition of the Gift or Covenant iâ—s nearest and chief interest I will not call it causaliâ—y in our Justification iâ— this office of a condition Therefore in a word we are justified by Faith directly as or because it is the conditio praestita the performance of the condition of the Justifying act and it was by God made the condition bâ—cause it was in its nature mâ—st apt thereto which aptitude may be metaphorically called its Receptive Instrumentality And that thus as it accepteth Christ for Justification Adoption Sanctification and Glorification so it is first the metaphorical instrument of our part in Christ and but consequently the metaphorical instrument of our title to pardon the Spirit and Heaven and in no tollerable sense at all how figurative soever is it any instrument of Gods sentence of Justification which yet is all the Justification acknowledged by the usual defenders of Instrumentality saving as it may be said to give us a right to it by giving us constitutive Justification in the pardon of our sins And the Scripture never saith that Faith justifieth us nor calleth it Justifying Faith but that we are justified by Faith and most commonly of Faith for the usuallest phrase is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ex fide as it is ex operibus when Justification by works is denyed which is not the meer Instrumentality of works So that here is a double errour 1. That Faith justifieth as a true and proper instrument 2. And no oâ—her way Errour 21. That Faith causeth Justification as it causeth Sanctification as much and as properly Contr. Faith causeth not Justification at all but only is the condition of it But Faith causeth the acts of other graces by a proper efficiency believing is a proper efficient cause of the wills volition complacency consent though but a moral efficient because the liberty of the will forbiddeth the Intellect to move it per modum naturae And the wills consent produceth other acts and physically exciteth other graces Because to love and desire and fear and seek and obey are acts of our own souls where one may properly cause another But to justifie or pardon is an act of God and therefore Faith equally procureth our right or title to Justification and to Sanctification and Glorification but it doth not equally effect them 2 Cor. 7.1 Let us cleanse our selves from all filthiness of flesh and Spirit perfecting holiness c. Not let us pardon and justifie our selves James 4.8 Cleanse your hearts you sinners c. Isa 1. Wash you make you clean put away the evil of your doings not your guilt and punishment So only Christ cleanseth us from all sin and unrighteousness 1 John 1.7 9. Jude 21. Keep your selves in the Love of God John 15. Abide in me c. 1 John 5.18 He that is begotten of God keepeth himself c. Errour 22. That the Faith by which we are justified is not many physical acts of the soul only but one Errour 23. That it is only an act of one faculty of the soul Contr. The contrary is fully opened before and proved at large elsewhere and through the Scripture Faith
those things that are not seen Or you may take the sense in this Proposition which I am next to open further and apply viz. That the nature and use of faith is to be as it were instead of presence possession and sight or to make the things that will be as if they were already in existence and the things unseen which God revealeth as if our bodily eyes beheld them 1. Not that faith doth really change its object 2. Nor doth it give the same degree of apprehensions and affections as the sight of present things would do But 1. Things invisible are the objects of our faith 2. And Faith is effectual instead of sight to all these uses 1. The apprehension is as infallible because of the objective certainty though not so satisfactory to our imperfect souls as if the things themselves were seen 2. The will is determined by it in its necessary consent and choice 3. The affections are moved in the necessary dâ—gree 4. It ruleth in our lives and bringeth us through duty and suffering for the sake of the happiness which we believe 3. This Faith is a grounded wise and justifiable act an infallible knowlâ—dge and often called so in Scripture John 6.69 1 Cor. 15.58 Rom. 8.28 c. And the constitutive and efficient causes will justifie the Name We know and are infallibly sure of the truth of God which we believe As it 's said John 6.69 We believe and are sure that thou art that Christ the Son of the living God 2 Cor. 5.1 We know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved we have a building of God an house not made with hands eternal in the Hâ—avens Rom. 8.28 We know that all things work together for good to them that love God 1 Cor. 15.58 You know that your labour is nâ—t in vain in the Lord Joh. 9.29 We knâ—w God spake to Moses c. 31. We know God heareth not sinners John 3.2 We know thou art a Teacher come from God So 1 John 3.5 15. 1 Pet. 3.17 and many other Scriptures tell you that Believing God is a certain infallible sort of knowledge I shall in justification of the work of Faith acquaint you briefly with 1. That in the Nature of it 2. And that in the causing of it which advanceth it to be an infallible knowledge 1. The Believer knows as sure as he knows there is a God that God is true and his Word is true it being impossible for God to lie Hâ—b 6.18 God that cannot lie hath promised Titus 1.2 2. He knows that the holy Scripture is the Word of God by his Image which it beareth and the many evidences of Divinity which it containeth and the many Miracles certainly proved which Christ and his Spirit in his servants wrought to confirm the truth 3. And therefore he knoweth assuredly the conclusion that all this Word of God is true And for the surer effecting of this knowledge God doth not only set before us the ascertaining Evidence of his own veracity and the Scriptures Divinity but moreover 1. He giveth us to believe Phil. 1.29 2 Pet. 1.3 For it is not of our selves but is the gift of God Ephes 2.8 Faith is one of the fruits of the Spirit Gal. 5.22 By the drawing of the Father we come to the Son And he that hath knowledge given from Heaven will certainly know and he that hath Faith given him from Heaven will certainly believe The heavenly Light will dissipate our darkness and infallibly illuminate Whilest God sets before us the glass of the Gospel in which the things invisible are revealed and also gives us eye sight to behold them Believers must needs be a heavenly people as walking in that light which proceedeth from and leadeth to the celestial everlasting Light 2. And that Faith may be so powerful as to serve instead of sight and presence Believers have the Spirit of Christ within them to excite and actuate it and help them against all temptations to unbelief and to work in them all other graces that concur to promote the works of Faith and to mortifie those sins that hinder our believing and are contrary to a heavenly life So that as the exercise of our sight and taste and hearing and feeling is caused by our natural life so the exercise of Faith and Hope and Love upon things unseen is caused by the holy Spirit which is the principle of our new life 1 Cor. 2.12 We have received the Spirit that we might know the things that are given us of God This Spirit of God acquainteth us with God with his veracity and his Word Heb. 10.30 We know him that hath said I will never fail thee nor forsake thee This Spirit of Christ acquainteth us with Christ and with his grace and will 1 Cor. 2.10 11 12. This heavenly Spirit acquainteth us with Heaven so that We know that when Christ appeareth we shall be like him for we shall see him as he is 1 Joh. 3.2 And we know that he was manifested to take away sin 1 Joh. 3.5 And will perfect his work and present us spotless to his Father Eph. 5.26 27. This heavenly Spirit possesseth the Saints with such heavenly dispositions and desires as much facilitate the work of Faith It bringeth us to a heavenly conversation and maketh us live as fellow-citizens of the Saints and in the houshold of God Phil. 3.20 Eph. 2.19 It is within us a Spirit of supplication breathing heaven-ward with sighs and groans which cannot be expressed and as God knoweth the meaning of the Spirit so the Spirit knows the mind of God Rom. 8.37 1 Cor. 2.11 3. And the work of Faith is much promoted by the spiritual experiences of Believers When they find a considerable part of the holy Scriptures verified on themselves it much confirmeth their Faith as to the whole They are really possessed of that heavenly disposition called The Divine Nature and have felt the power of the Word upon their hearts renewing them to the Image of God mortifying their most dear and strong corruptions shewing them a greater beauty and desirableness in the Objects of Faith than is to be found in sensible things They have found many of the Promises made good upon themselves in the answers of prayers and in great deliverances which strongly perswadeth them to believe the rest that are yet to be accomplished And experience is a very powerful and satisfying way of conviction He that feeleth as it were the first fruits the earnest and the beginnings of Heaven already in his soul will more easily and assuredly believe that there is a Heaven hereafter We know that the Son of God iâ— come and hath given us an understanding that we may know him that is true and we are in him that is true even in his Son Jesus Christ This is the true God and eternal life 1 Joh. 5.20 He that believeth on the Son hath the witness in himself Vers 10. There is so
after pardon that your faith may be firm and powerful and quieting especially consider the following grounds 1. Gods gracious Nature proclaimed even to Moses as abundant in mercy and forgiving iniquitys transgressions and sins to these and upon those terms that he promiseth forgiveness though he will by no means clear the guilty that is will neither take the unrighteous to be righteous nor forgive them or acquire them in judgment whom his Covenant did not first forgive 2. The merciful Nature and of our Redeemer Heb. 2.17 3. How deeply Christ harh engaged himself to shew mercy when he assumed our nature and did so much towards our salvation as he hath done Heb. 8 9. 4. That it is his very office and undertaking which therefore he cannot possibly neglect Luke 19.10 2.11 John 4.42 Acts 5.31 13.23 5. That God the Father himself did give him to us and appoint him to this saving office John 3.16 18. Acts 5.31 13.23 Yea God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself not imputing to them their trespasses 2 Cor. 5.18 19. And God made him sin that is a sacrifice for sin for us who knew no sin that we might be made the righteousness of God in him that is might be the publick instances of Gods merciful Justice as Christ was of his penal Justice and this by a righteousness given us by God himself and purchased or merited for us by Christ 2 Cor. 5.21 yea and be renewed in holiness and righteousness according to his Image 6. That now it is become the very interest of God and of Jesus Christ himself to justifie us as ever he would not lose either the glory of his grace or the obedience and suffering which he hath performed Isa 53.19 Rom. 5.12 13 18 19 c. Rom. 4. throughout 7. Consider the nearness of the Person of Christ both to the Father and to us Heb. 1 2 3. 8. Think of the perfection of his sacrifice and merit set out throughout the Epistle to the Hebrews 9. Think of the word of Promise or Covenant which he hath made and sealed and sworn Heb. 6.17 18. Titus 1.2 10. Think of the great seal of the Spirit which is more than a Promise even an earnest which is a certain degree of possession and is an executive pardon as after shall be declared Rom. 8.15 16. Gal. 4.6 11. Remember that Gods own Justice is now engaged for our Justification in these two respects conjunct 1. Because of the fulness of the merits and satisfaction of Christ 2. And because of his Veracity which must fulfil his promise and his governing or destributive Justice which must judge men according to his own Law of Grace and must give men that which he himself hath made their right 2 Tim. 4.7 8. 1 John 5.9 10 11 12. 12. Lastly Think of the many millions now in Heaven of whom many were greater sinners than you and no one of them save Christ came thither by the way of innocency and legal Justification There are no Saints in Heaven that were not redeemed from the captivity of the Devil and justified by the way of pardoning grace and were not once the heirs of death John 3.3 5. Rom. 3 4. Upon these considerations trust your selves confidently on the grace of Christ and take all your sins but as the advantages of his grace Direct 9. Remember that there is somewhat on your own parts to be done for the continuing as well as for the beginning of your Justification yea somewhat more than for the beginning even the faithful keeping of your baptismal Covenant in the essentials of it and also that you have continual need of Christ to continue your Justification Many take Justification to be one instantanious act of God which is never afterwards to be done And so it is if we mean only the first making of him righteous who was unrighteous As the first making of the world and not the continuance of it is called Creation but this is but about the name For the thing it self no doubt but that Covenant which first justified us doth continue to justifie us and if the cause should cease the effect would cease And he that requireth no actual obedience as the condition of our begun Justification doth require both the continuance of faith and actual sincere obedience as the condition of continuing or not losing our Justification as Davenant Bergius Blank c. have well opened and I have elsewhere proved at large As Matrimony giveth title to conjugal priviledges to the wife but conjugal fidelity and performance of the essentials of the contract is necessary to continue them Therefore labour to keep up your faith and to abide in Christ and he in you and to bring forth fruit lest ye be branches withered and for the fire John 15.2 3 7 8 9 c. And upon the former misapprehension the same persons do look upon all the faith which they exercise through their lives after the first instantanious act as no justifying faith at all but only a faith of the same kind but to what use they hardly know Yea they look upon Christ himself as if they had no more use for him either as to continue their Justification or to forgive their after-sins when as our continued faith must be exercised all our lives on the same Christ and trust on the same Covenant for the continuation and perfection of that which was begun at the time of our Regeneration Col. 1.23 1 John 2.24 Heb. 3.6.12 13. Heb. 6.11 12. 10.22 23. Direct 10. Vnderstand that every sin which you commit hath need of a renewed pardon in Christ and that he doth me prevent your necessity of such pardon And therefore you will have constant need of Christ and must daily come to God for pardon by him not only for the pardon of temporal chastisements but of everlasting punishments Of the sense of this I shall say more anon the proof of it is in the fore recited Promises and in all those texts of Scripture which tell us that death is the wages of sin and call us to ask pardon and tell us on what terms it may be had Direct 11. Yet do not think that every sin doth put you into a state of condemnation again or nullifie your former Justification For though the Law of nature is so far still in force as to make punishment by it your natural due yet the Covenant of Grace is a continually pardoning act and according to its proper terms doth dissolve the foresaid obligation and presently remit the punishment and as its moral action is not interrupted no more is our justified state There is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus c. Rom. 8.1 John 3.16 18. 1 John 5.11 12. If any man sin we have an Advocate with the Father Jesus Christ the righteous and he is the Propitiation for our sins 1 John 2.1 2. If we confess our sins be
Essence or that which streameth further to other creatures And this last is either that which it sendeth to us before its own appearing or rising or that which accompanieth its appearing or that which leaveth behind it as it setteth or passeth away so must we distinguish in the present case But all this is but One Light and One Spirit So then I should in order speak 1. Of that Spirit in the words and works of Christ himself which constituteth the Christian Religion 2. That Spirit in the Prophets and Fathers before Christ which was the antecedent light 3. That Spirit in Christs followers which was the concomitant and subsequent Light or witness And 1. In those next his abode on earth And 2. Of those that are more remote CHAP. IV. The Image of Gods Wisdom 1. AND first observe the three parts of Gods Image or impress upon the Christian Religion in it self as containing the whole work of mans Redemption as it is found in the works and doctrine of Christ 1. The WISDOM of it appeareth in these particular observations which yet shew it to us but very defectively for want of the clearness and the integrality and the order of our knowledge For to see but here and there a parcel of one entire frame or work and to see those few parcels as dislocated and not in their proper places and order and all this but with a dark imperfect sight is far from that full and open view of the manifold Wisdom of God in Christ which Angels and superiour intellects have 1. Mark how wisely God hath ordered it that the three Essentialitieâ— in the Divine Nature Power Intellection and Will Omnipotency Wisdom and Goodness and the three persons in the Trinity the Father the Word and the Spirit and the three Causalities of God as the Efficient Directive and final Cause of whom and through whom and to whom are all things should have three most eminent specimina or impressions in the world or three most conspicuous works to declare and glorifie them viz. Nature Grace and Glory And that God should accordingly stand related to man in three answerable Relations viz. as our Creatour our Redeemer and our Perfecter by Holiness initially and Glory finally 2. How wisely it is ordered that seeing Mans Love to God is both his greatest duty and his perfection and felicity there should be some standing emâ—nent means for the attraction and excitation of our Love And this should be the most eminent manifestation of the Love of God to us and withall of his own most perfect Holiness and Goodness And that as we have as much need of the sense of his Goodness as of his Power Loving him being our chief work that there should be as observable a demonstration of his Goodness extant as the world is of his Power 3. Especially when man had fallen by sin from the Love of God to the Love of his carnal self and of the creature and when he was fallen under vindictive Justice and was conscious of the displeasure of his Maker and had made himself an heir of Hell And when mans nature can so hardly love one that in Justice standeth engaged or resolved to damn him forsake him and hate him How wisely is it ordered that he that would recover him to his Love should first declare his Love to the offender in the fullest sort and should reconcile himself unto him and shew his readiness to forgive him and to save him yea to be his felicity and his chiefest good That so the Remedy may be answerable to the disease and to the duty 4. How wisely is it thus contrived that the frame and course of mans obedience should be appointed to consist in Love and Gratitude and to run out in such praise and chearful duty as is animated throughout by Love that so sweet a spring may bring forth answerable streams That so the Goodness of our Master may appear in the sweetness of our work and we may not serve the God of Love and Glory like slaves with a grudging weary mind but like children with delight and quietness And our work and way may be to us a foretaste of our reward and end 5. And yet how meet was it that while we live in such a dark material world in a body of corruptible flesh among enemies and snares our duty should have somewhat of caution and vigilancy and therefore of fear and godly sorrow to teach us to rellish grace the more And that our condition should have in it much of necessity and trouble to drive us homeward to God who is our rest And how aptly doth the very permission of sin it self subserve this end 6. How wisely is it thus contrived that Glory at last should be better rellished and that man who hath the Joy should give God the Glory and be bound to this by a double obligation 7. How aptly is this remedying design and all the work of mans Redemption and all the Precepts of the Gospel built upon or planted into the Law of natural perfection Faith being but the means to recover Love and Grace being to Nature but as Medicine is to the Body and being to Glory as Medicine is to Health So that as a man that was never taught to speak or to go or to do any work or to know any science or trade or business which must be known acquisitively is a miserable man as wanting all that which should help him to use his natural powers to their proper ends so it is much more with him that hath Nature without Grace which must heal it and use it to its proper ends 8. So that it appeareth that as the Love of Perfection is fitly called the Law of Nature because it is agreeable to man in his Natural state of Innocency so the Law of Grace may be now called the Law of depraved Nature because it is as suitable to lapsed man And when our pravity is undeniable how credible should it be that we have such a Law 9. And there is nothing in the Gospel either unsuitable to the first Law of Nature or contradictory to it or yet of any alien nature but only that which hath the most excellent aptitude to subserve it Giving the Glory to God in the highest by restoring Peace unto the Earth and Goodness towards men 10. And when the Divine Monarchy is apt in the order of Government to communicate some Image of it self to the Creature as well as the Divine Perfections have communicated their Image to the Creatures in their Natures or Beings how wisely it is ordered that mankind should have one universal Vicarious Head or Monarch There is great reason to believe that there is Monarchy among Angels And in the world it most apparently excelleth all other forms of Government in order to Vnity and Strength and Glory and if it be apter than some others to degenerate into oppressing Tyranny that is only caused by the great corruption of humane
agreed whether its acts should be called physical properly or not Nay they cannot tell what doth individuate an act of sense whether when my eye doth at once see many words and letters of my Book every word or letter doth make as many individual acts by being so many objects And if so whether the parts of every letter also do not constitute an individual act and where we shall here stop And must all these trifles be considered in our Faith Assenting to the truths is not one Faith unless when separated from the rest and consenting to the good another act Nor is it one Faith to believe the promise and another to believe the pardon of sin and another to believe salvation and another to believe in God and another to believe in Jesus Christ nor one to believe in Christ as our Ransom and another as our Intercessor and another as our Teacher and another as our King and another to believe in the Holy Ghost c. I deny not but some one of these may be separated from the rest and being so separated may be called Faith but not the Christian Faith but only a material parcel of it which is like the limb of a man or of a tree which cut off from the rest is dead and ceaseth when separated to be a part any otherwise than Logical a part of the description The Faith which hath the promise of salvation and which you must live by hath 1. God for the Principal Revealer and his Veracity for its formal object 2. It hath Christ and Angels and Prophets and Apostles for the sub-revealers 3. It hath the Holy Ghost by the divine attesting operations before described to be the seal and the confirmer 4. It hath the same Holy Ghost for the internal exciter of it 5. It hath all truths of known divine revelation and all good of known divine donation by his Covenant to be the material general object 6. It hath the Covenant of Grace and the holy Scriptures and formerly the voice of Christ and his Apostles or any such sign of the mind of God for the instrumental efficient cause of the object in esse cognito And also the instrumental efficient of the act 7. It hath the pure Deity God himself as he is to be known and loved inceptively here and perfectly in Heaven for the final and most necessary material object 8. It hath the Lord Jesus Christ entirely in all essential to him as God and Man and as our Redeemer or Saviour as our Ransome Intercessor Teacher and Ruler for the most necessary mediate material object 9. It hath the gifts of Pardon Justification the Spirit of Sanctification or Love and all the necessary gifts of the Covenant for the material never-final objects And all this is essential to the Christian Faith even to that Fath which hath the promise of pardon and salvation And no one of these must be totally left out in the definition of it if you would not be deceived It is Heresie and not the Christian Faith if it exclude any one essential part And if it include it not it is Infidelity And indeed there is such a connexion of the objects that there is no part in truth where there is not the whole And it is impiety if any one part of the offered good that is necessary be refused It is no true Faith if it be not a true composition of all these Direct 8. There is no nearer way to know what true Faith is than truly to understand what your Baptismal Covenanting did contain In Scripture phrase to be a Disciple a Believer and a Christian is all one Acts 11.26 Acts 5.14 1 Tim. 4.12 Matth. 10.42 27.57 Luke 14.26 27 33. Acts 21.16 Joh. 9.28 And to be a Believer and to have Belief or Faith is all one and therefore to be a Christian and to have Faith is all one Christianity signifieth either our first entrance into the Christian State or our progress in it As Marriage signifieth either Matrimony or the Conjugal State continued in In the latter sense Christianity signifieth more than Faith for more than Faith is necessary to a Christian But in the former sense as Christianity signifieth but our becoming Christians by our covenanting with God so to have Faith or to be a Believer and internally to become a Christian in Scripture sense is all one and the outward covenanting is but the profession of Faith or Christianity Not that the word Faith is never taken in a narrower sense or that Christianity as it is our heart-covenant or consent containeth nothing but Faith as Faith is so taken in the narrowest sense But when Faith is taken as ordinarily in Scripture for that which is made the condition of Justification and Salvation and opposed to Heathenism Infidelity Judaism or the works of the Law it is commonly taken in this larger sense Faith is well enough described to them that understand what is implyed by the usual shorter description as that it is a believing acceptance of Christ and relying on him as our Saviour or for salvation Or a belief of pardon and the heavenly Glory as procured by the Redemption wrought by Christ and given by God in the Covenant of Grace But the reason is because all the rest is connoted and so to be understood by us as if it were exprest in words But the true and full definition of it is this The Christian Faith which is required at Baptism and then professed and hath the promise of Justification and Glorification is a true Belief of the Gospel and an acceptance of and consent unto the Covenant of Grace Particularly a believing that God is our Creatour our Owner our Ruler and our Chief Good and that Jesus Christ is God and man our Saviour our Ransoms our Teacher and our King and that the Holy Ghost is the Sanctifier of the Church of Christ And it is an understanding serious consent that this God the Father Son and Holy Ghost be my God and reconciled Father in Christ my Saviour and my Sanctifier to justifie me sanctifie me and glorifie me in the perfect knowledge of God and mutual complacence in Heaven which belief and consent wrought in me by the Word and Spirit of Christ is grounded upon the Veracity of God as the chief Revealer and upon his Love and Mercy as the Donor and upon Christ and his Apostles as the Messengers of God and upon the Gospel and specially the Covenant of Grace as the instrumental Revelation and Donation it self And upon the many signal operations of the Holy Ghost as the divine infallible attestation of their truth Learn this definition and understand it throughly and it may prove a more solid useful knowledge to have the true nature of Faith or Christianity thus methodically printed on your minds than to read over a thousand volumes in a rambling and confused way of knowledge If any quarrel at this definition because the foundation is not first
and the everlasting miseries of the damned in Hell being the due effects or punishment of sin are the second cause of our necessity of pardon And therefore these also must be thought on seriously by him that will seriously believe in Christ 4. The Law of God which we have broken maketh this punishment our due Rom. 3. 5. 7. And the Justice of God is engaged to secure his own honour in the honour of his Law and Government Direct 2. Vnderstand well what Christ is and doth for the Justification of a sinner and how not one only but all the parts of his office are exercised hereunto In the dignity of his person and perfect original holiness of his natures divine and humane he is fitly qualified for his work of our Justification and Salvation His undertaking which is but the Divine Decree did from eternity lay the foundation of all but did not actually justifie any His Promise Gen. 3.15 and his new Relation to mâ—â— thereupon did that to the Fathers in some degree which his after-incarnation and performance and his Relation thereupon doth now to us His perfect Obedience to the Law yea to that Law of Mediation also peculiar to himself which he performed neither as Priest or Prophet or King but as a subject was the meritorious cause of that Covenant and Grace which justifieth us and so of our Justification And that which is the meritorious cause here is also usually called the material as it is that matter or thing which meriteth our Justification and so is called Our Righteousness it self As he was a sacrifice for sin he answered the ends of the Law which we violated and which condemned us as well as if we had been all punished according to the sense of the Law And therefore did thereby satisfie the Law-giver and thereby also merited our pardon and Justification so that his Obedience as such and his Sacrifice or whole humiliation as satisfactory by answering the ends of the Law are conjunctly the meritorious cause of our Justification His New Covenant which in Baptism is made mutual by our expressed consent is a general gift or act of oblivion or pardon given freely to all mankind on condition they will believe and consent to it or accept it so that it is Gods pardoning and adopting instrument And all are pardoned by it conditionally and every penitent Believer actually and really And this Covenant or Gift is the effect of the foresaid merit of Christ both founded and sealed by his blood As he merited this as a mediating subject and sacrifice so as our High Priest he offered this sacrifice of himself to God And as our King he being the Law-giver to the Church did make this Covenant as his Law of grace describing the terms of life and death And being the Judge of the world doth by his sentence justifie and condemn men as believers or unbelievers according to this Covenant And also executeth his sentence accordingly partly in this life but fully in the life to come As our Teacher and the Prophet or Angel of the Covenant he doth declare it as the Fathers will and promulgate and proclaim this Covenant and conditional Pardon and Justification to the world and send out his Embassadours with it to beseech men in his Name to be reconciled to God and to declare yea and by sacramental investiture to seal and deliver a Pardon and actual Justification to Believers when they consent And as our Mediating High Priest now in the Heavens he presenteth our necessity and his own righteousnesses and sacrifice as his meritâ— for the continual communication of all this grace by himself as the Head of the Church and Administrator of the Covenant So that Christ doth justifie us both as a subject meriting as a sacrifice meriting as a Priest offering that sacrifice as a King actually making the Justifying Law or enacting a general Pardon as a King sententially and executively justifying as a Prophet or Angel of the Covenant promulgating it as King and Prophet and Priest delivering a sealed Pardon by his Messengers And as the Priest Head and Administrator communicating this with the rest of his benefits By which you may see in what respects Christ must be believed in to Justification if Justifying Faith were as it is not only the receiving him as our Justifier It would not be the receiving him as in one part of his office only Direct 3. Vnderstand rightly how far it is that the righteousness of Christ himself is made ours or imputed to us and how far not There are most vehement controversies to this day about the Imputation of Christs Righteousness in which I know not well which of the extreams are in the greater errour those that plead for it in the mistaken sense or those that plead against it in the sober and right sense But I make no doubt but they are both of them damnable as plainly subverting the foundation of our faith And yet I do not think that they will prove actually damning to the Authors because I believe that they misunderstand their adversaries and do not well understand themselves and that they digest not and practise not what they plead for but digest and practise that truth which they doctrinally subvert not knowing the contrariety which if they knew they would renounce the errour and not the truth And I think that many a one that thus contradicteth fundamentals may be saved Some there be besides the Antinomians that hold that Christ did perfectly obey and satisfie not in the natural but in the civil or legal person of each sinner that is elect representing and bearing as many distinct persons as are elect so fully as that God doth repute every Elect person or say others every Believer to be one that in Law sense did perfectly obey and satisfie Justice himself and so imputeth Christs Righteousness and satisfaction to us as that which was reputatively or legally of our own performance and so is ours not only in its effects but in it self Others seeing the pernicious consequences of this opinion deny all imputed Righteousness of Christ to us and write many reproachful volumes against it as you may see in Thorndikes last works and Dr. Gell and Parker against the Assembly and abundance more The truth is Christ merited and satisfied for us in the person of a Mediator But this Mediator was the Head and Root of all Believers and the second Adam the fountain of spiritual life and the Surety of the New Covenant Heb. 7.22 1 Cor. 15.22 45. and did all this in the nature of man and for the sake and benefit of man suffering that we might not suffer damnation but not obeying that we might not obey but suffering and obeying that our sinful imperfection of obedience might not be our ruine and our perfect obedience might not be necessary to our own Justification or Salvation but that God might for the sake and merit of this his perfect obedience and
satisfaction forgive all our sins and adopt us for his Sons and give us his holy Spirit and glorifie us for ever so that Christs Righteousness both obediential and satisfactory is ours in the effects of it in themselves and ours relatively for those effects so far as to be purposely given for us to that end but not ours in it self simply or as if we were reputed the legal performers our selves or might be said in Law sense or by divine estimation or imputation to have our selves in and by Christ fulfilled the Law and suffered for our not fulfilling it which is a contradiction As he that both by a price and by some meritorious act doth redeem a captive or purchase pardon for a traitor doth give the money and merit in it self to the Prince and not to the Captive or Traitor himself He never saw it nor ever had propriety in the thing it self But the deliverance is the Prisâ—ners and not the Princes and therefore it is given to the Prisoner as to the effects though not in it self in that it was given for him And because Christ suffered what we should have suffered as to the value to save us from suffering and our sins were the cause of our guilt of punishment and so the remote cause of the sufferings of Christ his own sponsion being the nearer cause therefore it may be said truly that Christ did not only suffer for our benefit but in our stead or place and in a larger and less strict and proper sense that he suffered in the person of a sinner and as one to whom our sins were imputed meaning no more but that he suffered as one that by his own consent undertook to suffer for the persons of sinners and that as such an undertaker only he suffered and that thus our sins were imputed to him not in themselves as if he were in Law sense the committer of them or polluted by them or by God esteemed so to have been but as to the effects that is his suffering in that they were the occasion and the remote or assumed cause of his sufferings as his Righteousness is imputed to us as the meritorious cause of our Pardon and Justification But he could not be said no not in so large a sense as this to have obeyed in our stead considering it as obedience or holiness but only as merit because he did it not that we might not obey but that we might not suffer for disobeying More of this will follow in the next Chapter Direct 4. Vnderstand well what guilt it is that Christ doth remit in our Justification not the guilt of the fact nor of the fault in it self but the guilt of punishment and of the fault only so far as it is the cause of wrath and punishment 1. The guilt of fact is in the reality or truth of this charge that such a fact we did or omitted so far it is but Physically considered and would not come into legal consideration were it not for the following relation of it 2. The guilt of fault reatus culpae is the reality of this charge or the foundation of it in us that we are the committers or omitters of such an action contrary to the Law or that our act or omission was really a crime or fault 3. The guilt of punishment reatus poenae vel ad poenam is the foundation of this charge that we are by that Law which must judge us condemnable or obliged to punishment or it is our right for the sins so committed Now Christ doth not by justifying us or pardoning us make us either to be such as really did not do the fact or such as did not a culpable fact no nor such as did not deserve damnation or to whom it was not due by the first Law alone but to be such who are not now at all condemnable for it because the new Law which we must be judged by doth absolve us by forgiving us not making the fault no fault nor causing God to think that Christ committed it and not we or to esteem us to be such as never did commit it but remitting the punishment and that dueness of punishment and obligation to it which did before result from the fault and Law together and so the fault it self is remitted as it is the foundation from whence that obligation to punishment resulteth respectively but not simply nor as a fault in it self at all When I say the punishment and the dueness of it to us is forgiven I mean not only the punishment of sense but of loss also nor only the outward part which is executed by creatures but especially the first and great penalty of Gods own displeasure with the person and the withdrawing of his Spirit and complacential love and that which we may improperly call his obligation in Justice to condemn the sinner There was upon God before Christs satisfaction and our title to him that which we may so call a legal or relative obligation on God to punish us because else he should have done contrary to the due ends of Government and so contrary to the Wisdom and Justice of a Governour which is not consistent with his perfection But now the ends of Government are so answered and provided for that there is no such obligation on God to punish us but he may remit it without any dishonour at all nay with the honour of his Wisdom and Justice We are now non condemnandi not condemnable though we are sinners In Judgement we must confess the latter and deny the former only Direct 5. Vnderstand well what sins Christ justifieth men from or forgiveth to them and what not All sins which consist with true faith and repentance or true conversion to God in love by faith in Christ and all that went before But he forgiveth no man in a state of impenitency and unbelief nor any mans final impenitency and unbelief at all nor any other sins when those are final except it be with the common conditional forgiveness before mentioned or that absolute particular forgiveness of some present penalties which saveth no man from damnation Matth. 12.31 Acts 26.18 Rom. 8.1 30. Acts 5.31 Acts 2.38 39. Mark 16.16 John 3.16 18 36. 1 John 5.11 12. Mark 4 1â— Matth. 18.27 32. Direct 6. Vnderstand well the true nature of that Faith and Repentance which God hath made the condition of our Justification This is sufficiently opened before and the consulation of all the cavils against it would be tedious and unsavoury here Direct 7. Vnderstand well the Covenant and Promise of Justification and measure your belief and expectations by that Promise Expect no other pardon nor on any other conditions or terms than the Promise doth contain For it is Gods pardoning act or instrument and by it we must be justified or condemned And we know not but by it whom God will justifie Direct 8. Keep alwaies the assuring grounds of faith before your eyes when you look
is faithful and just to forgive us our sisn and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness If all need of pardon had been prevented by Christ what use were there of his advocation for our future forgiveness Direct 12. Remember that though unknown infirmities and unavoidable ones have an immediate pardon because the Believer hath an habitual Faith and Repentance yet great and known sins must have actual Repentance before the pardon will be plenary or perfect though the person is not in the mean time an unregenerate nor unjustified person 1. That great and known sins must have a particular repentance appeareth 1. In that it is utterly inconsistent with the sincerity of habitual Repentance not to be actual when sins are known and come into our deliberate remembrance 2. By all those texts which require such repentance confession and forsaking 1 John 2.1 2. 1 John 1.9 Prov. 18.13 Psal 32. 51. 2 Cor. 7.11 Rev 2.5 16. Luke 13.3 5. Jam. 5.14 15. Luke 6.37 11.4 Repentance consisteth chiefly in forsaking sin and if men forsake not such known wilful sins they are wicked men and therefore are not pardoned 2. That unavoidable frailties and meer infirmities and unknown faults are pardoned immediately to them that are truly godly and have a general and implicit Repentance is plain because else no man in the world could be saved because every man hath such infirmities and unknown sins 1 John 1.10 3. Yet David himself is not put by his sin into a meer graceless state and as a person that hath no former Justification for he prayeth God not to take his Spirit from him and he was not deprived of the true love to God which is the character of Gods children But he had incurred heinous guilt and put himself in the way towards utter damnation and caused a necessity of a more particular deep Repentance before he could be fully pardoned than else he needed Before the world had a Saviour we were all so far unpardoned that a satisfying Sacrifice was necessary to our Justification But afterward all men are so far pardoned that only the Acceptance of what is purchased and freely though conditionally given is necessary to it Before men are converted they are yet so far unpardoned that though no more Sacrifice be necessary yet a total conversion and renovation by turning from a life of sin to God by Faith in Christ is necessary to their actual justification and forgiveness When a man is turned from a life of sin to God and liveth in the state of grace all his following sins which consist with the loving of God and holiness above the world and sinful pleasures are so far forgiven immediately upon the committing that they need neither another Sacrifice nor another Regeneration or Justification quoad statum but only an acting of that Faith and Repentance which habitually he hath already But the unknown errours and faults of such godly persons are pardoned even without that actual repentance and infirmities without forsaking of the sin overcomingly in practice And so every one liveth and dyeth in some degree of sinful defectiveness and omission of his love to God and trust and hope and zeal and desire and love to men and care of his duty and watchfulness and fervency in prayer meditation c. And in some degree of sinful disorder in our ill governed thoughts and words and affections or passions and actions we are never sinless till we die Direct 13. Remember that you must neither think that every sin which is a cause of Repentance is a sufficient reason for you to doubt of your present state of Justification nor yet that no sin can be so great as to be a necessary cause of doubting If every sin should make us doubt of our Justification then all men must alwaies doubt And then it must be because no sin is consistent with sincerity and the knowledge of sincerity which is apparently false If no sin should cause our doubting then there is no sin which is not consistent both with sincerity and with the knowledge of it which is as false and much more dangerous to hold 1. There are many sins that are utterly inconsistent with true godliness otherwise the godly were ungodly and as bad as others And if you say that no godly man commiteth these it is true and therefore it is true that he that committeth them is not a godly man or justified And how shall a man know his godliness but by his life as the product of his inward graces It is arguing from an uncertainty against a certainty to say I am justified and godly and therefore my wilful sins of drunkenness fornication oppression lying malâ—ce c. are consistent with Justification and it is arguing from a certain truth against a doubted falshood to say I live in ordinary wilful heinous sin therefore I am not justified or sincere Ephes 5.5 6. For this ye know that no whoremonger nor unclean person nor covetous man who is an Idolater hath any inheritance in the Kingdom of Christ and of God Let no man deceive you with vain words for because of these things cometh the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience 1 Cor. 6 9 10. Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the Kingdom of God Be not deceived neither fornicators nor idolaters nor adulterers nor effeminate nor abusers of themselves with mankind nor thieves nor covetous nor drunkards nor revilers nor extortioners shall inherit the Kingdom of God And such were some of you but ye are washed but ye are sanctified but ye are justified c. Rom. 8.1 13. There is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus who walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit If ye live after the flesh ye shall die c. Gal. 5.20 21 22 23 24. 2. And there are many sins which consist with true grace which will not consist with the assurance of its sincerity And that 1. From the nature of the things because the least degree of grace conjunct with and clouded by the greatest degree of sin which may consist with it is not discernable to to him that hath it He that is so very near a state of death and so very like to an unjustified person can never be sure in that case that he is justified 2. And also God in Wisdom and Justice will have it so that sin may not be encouraged nor presumption cherished nor the comforts which are the reward of an obedient child be cast away on an uncapable child in his stubborn disobedience Psal 51. 32. 77. Therefore for a man that liveth in grost sin to say that he is sure that he is justified and therefore no sin shall make him question it is but to believe the Antinomian Devil transforming himself into an Angel of Light and his Ministers when they call themselves the Ministers of Righteousness and to deny belief to the Spirit of Holiness and Truth And if a
is as Davenant well noteth the act of the whole man I was wont to say of both faculties I now say of the three faculties which constitute the soul of man the Potestative the Intellective and the Volitive And the Assent it self is many acts as acts are physically specified by their objects as is shewed It is one moral act or work of the soul Like trusting a man as my Physician which is a fiducial consent that he be my Physician in order to the use of his remedies Oâ— as taking a man to be your Prince Husband Tutor Master c. where he that will tell people that taking signifieth but one physical act would be ridiculous And he that will tell people that only one physical act of one faculty is it that they must look to be justified by will be much worse than ridiculous Errour 24. That we are justified by Faith not as it receiveth Christs person but his benefits or righteousness Contr. The contrary is before and after proved and insisted on by Dr. Preston at large Indeed we receive not Christs person it self physically but his person in the office and relation of our Saviour as we must chuse what person shall be our Physician before we take his medicines or receive our health but it is only a consent that he and no other be our Physician which we call the taking of his person And so it is here Errour 25. That it is one act of Faith which giveth us right to Christ and another to his righteousness and another to his teaching and another to his Spirit and another to Adoption and to Heaven c. and not the same Contr. This is 1. Adding to the Word of God and that in a matter near our chiefest comfort and safety Prove it or affirm it not 2. It is corrupting and perverting and contradicting the Word and Covenant of God which unitedly makeeth the same Faith without any such distinction the condition of all the Covenant-gifts Mark 16.16 John 3.16 c. Errour 26. That though the same Faith which justifieth doth believe in him as a Teacher as a King and Judge c. yet it justifieth us only quatenus receptio justitiae as it is the receiving of Christs Righteousness Contr. See in my Dispute of Justification my Confutation of this Assertion in Mr. Warner Properly Faith justifieth not at all but we are justified of or by it as a condition by the tenour of Gods deed of gift And so far as it is the condition in that gift so far we are justified by it But it is one entire Faith in Christ which is the condition without such distinction therefore we are so justified by it 2. According to that Rule there must be as many acts of Faith as there are benefits to be received and the title to be ascribed to each one accordingly 3. The natural relation of the act to the object sheweth no more but what the nature or essence of that Faith is and not how we come to be justified by it 4. The sense containeth this false Proposition Haec fides qua talis or quae fides justificat Faith as Faith or as this Faith in specie justifieth which some call the To credere For it is the essence of Faith which they call its Reception of Christs Righteousness 5. The true passive Reception of Righteousness and Pardon is that of the person as he is the terminus of the donative or justifying act of the Covenant To receive Pardon properly is to be pardoned But our Active Receiving or Consent is but the condition of it and there is no proof or reason that the condition should be so parcelled 6. Yet if by your quatenus you intend no more than the description of the act of Faith as essentially related to its subsequent benefit and not at all to speak of its conditional nearest interest in our Justification the matter were less 7. But the truth is that if we might distinguish where God doth not distinguish it were much more rational to say that taking Christ for a true Messenger of God and a Teacher and Sanctifier and King hath a greater hand in our Justification than taking him to justifie us supposing that all be present Because the common way and reason of conditions in Covenants is that somewhat which the party is willing of is promised upon condition of something which he is unwilling of that for the one he may be drawn to consent unto the other As if the Physician should say If you will take me for your Physician and refuse none of my medicines I will undertake to cure you Here it is supposed that the Patient is willing of health and not willing of the Medicines but for healths sake and therefore consenting to the Medicines or receiving this man to be his Physician as a pâ—escriber of the Medicines is more the condition of his cure than his consenting to the cure it self or receiving the Physician as the cause of his health So here it is supposed that condemned sinners are already willing to be justified pardoned and saved from punishment but not willing to repent and follow the teaching and counsel of a Saviour and therefore that Pardon and Justification is given and offered them on condition that they accept of and submit to the teaching and government of Christ and of salvation from their sins But the truth is we must not presume beyond his revelation to give the reasons of Gods institutions We are sure that the entire Belief in Christ and accepting of himself as our perfect Saviour in order to all the ends of his Relation is made by God in his Covenant the condition of our title to the benefits of his Covenant conjunctly And it is not only the believing in Christ for pardon that as such is the condition of pardon nor is any one act the condition of any benefit but as it is a part of that whole Faith which is indeed the condition The occasion of their errour is that they consider only what it is in Christ the object of Faith which justifieth sanctifieth c. and they think that the act only which is exercised on that object must do it which is a gross mistake Because Faith is not like taking of mony jewels books c. into ones hand which is a physical act which taketh possession of them But it is a Jus or Debitum a Right and Relation which we are morally and passively to receive as constituting our first Justification and Pardon and as the condition of this we are to take Christ for our Saviour which is but a physicial active metaphorical receiving in order to the attainment of the said passive proper receiving For recipere proprie est pati If an Act be passed that all Traitors and Rebels who will give up themselves to the Kings Son as one that hath ransomed them to be taught and ruled by him and reduced to their obedience to be their
our duty towards them to do to them as we would have them do to us which is partly meant by loving them as our selves 12. That we love all mankind even Gods enemies much more our own as they are men for the dignity of humane nature and their capacity to become holy and truly amiable 13. That all means be chosen according to the end which is to be preferred before other ends and their suitableness and fitness for that end as they are to be preferred before other means III. And the order of practice is 1. That we be sure to begin with God alone and proceed to God in the creature and end in God alone It is the principal thing to be known for finding out the true method of Divinity and Religion that as in the great frame of Nature so in the frame of Morality the true motion is circular From 〈◊〉 the efficient by God the Dirigent to God the final Cause of all therefore as God is the first spring or cause of motion so the creature is the Recipient first and the Agent after in returning all to God again Therefore mark that our receiving Graces are our first graces in exercise and our receiving duties are our first duties and then our returning graces and duties come next in which we proceed from the lesser to the greater till we come up to God himself Therefore in point of practice the first thing that we have to do is to learn to know God himself as God and our God and to live as from him and upon him as our Benefactor from our hearts confessing that we have nothing but from him and shall never be at rest but with him and in him as our ultimate end and therefore to set our selves to seek him as our end accordingly which is but to seek to love him and be beloved by him in the perfection of knowledge and dâ—light 2. The whole frame of means appointed by God for the attainment of this end must be taken together and not broken asunder as they have all relation each to other And 1. The whole frame of Nature must be looked on as the first great means appointed to man in innocency for the preservation and exercise of his holiness and righteousness 2. And the Covenant or Law positive as conjoyned unto this 3. And the Spirit of God communicated only for such a meer sufficiency of necessary help as God saw meet to one in that condition And though these means the Creatures and the Spirit of the Creator in that degree be not now sufficient for lapsed man yet they are still to be looked on as delivered into the hand of Christ the Mediatour to be used by him on his terms and in order to his blessed ends 2. But it is the frame of the recovering and perfecting means which we are now to use And in this frame 1. Christ the Mediatour is the first and principal and the Author of our Faith or Religion and therefore from his Name it is called Christianity He is â—ow the first means used on Gods part for communicating mercy unto man and the first in dignity to be received and used by man himself but not the first in Time because the means of revealing him must go first 2. The second means in dignity under Christ is the operation of the Holy Spirit as sent or given by the Redeemer which Spirit being as the soul of outward means which are as the body is given variously in a suitableness to the several sorts of means of which more anon 3. The outward means for this Spirit to work by and with have been in three degrees 1. The lowest degree is the world or creatures called The Book of Nature alone 2. The second degree was the Law and Promises to the Jews and their fore-fathers together with the Law of Nature 3. The third and highest degree of outward means is the whole frame of Christian Institutions adjoyned to the Book of Nature and succeeding the foresaid Promises and Law Every one of these hath a sufficiency in its own kind and to its proper use 1. The Law of Nature is sufficient in its own kind to reveal a God in his Essential Principles and Relations and to teach man the necessity now of some supernatural Revelations and Institutions and so to direct him to enquire after them what and where they be 2. The Promises and Jewish Law of Types c. was sufficient in its own kind to acquaint men that a Saviour must be sent into the world to reveal the Will of God more fully and to be a sacrifice for sin and to make reconciliation between God and man and to give a greater measure of the Spirit and to renew mens souls and bring them to full perfection and to the blessed fruition of God The Jewish Scriptures teach them all this though it tell them not many of the Articles of our Christian Belief 3. The Christian Gospel is sufficient in its own kind to teach men first to believe aright in the Father Son and Holy Spirit and then to love and live aright When I say that each of these is sufficient in its own kind the meaning is not that these outward means are of themselves sufficient without the Holy Spirit for that were to be sufficient not only in suo genere but in alieno vel in omni genere not only for its own part and work but for the Spirits part also But other causes being supposed to concur it is sufficient for its own part As my Pen is a sufficient Pen though it be not sufficient to write without my hand Now the measure of the Spirits concourse with all these three degees of means is to be judged of by the nature of the means and by Gods ends in appointing them and by the visible effects And whereas the world is full of voluminous contentions about the doctrine of sufficient and effectual grace I shall here add thus much in order to their agreement 1. That certainly such a thing there is or hath been as is called sufficient not-effectual grace By sufficient they mean so much as giveth man all that Power which is necessary to the commanded act or forbearance so that man could do it without any other grace or help from God which supposeth that mans will in the Nature of it hath such a vital free self-determining power that sometimes at least it can act or not act when such bare power is given to it and sometimes doth and sometimes doth not But the word necessary is more proper than sufficient The latter being applicable to several degrees but necâ—ssary signifieth that degree without which the Act cannot be performed That there is such a thing is evident in Adams case who had that grace which was necessary to his forbearing the first sin or else farewell all Religion And there are few men will deny but that all men have still such a degree of help for many duties