Applied ROM 3.23 24 25 26. 23 For all have sinned and come short of the Glory of God 24 Being justified freely by his Grace through the Redemption that is in Jesus Christ 25 Whom God hath set forth for a Propitiation through Faith in his Blood to declare his Righteousness for the remission of Sins that are past through the forbearance of God 26 To declare I say at this time his righteousness that he might be just and the justifier of him who believeth in Jesus THE Apostle having confuted and overthrown all Justification of either Jew or Gentile by Works in the foregoing Discourse is now proving what he Asserted ver 21 22. viz. that the righteousness of God without the law is manifested being witnessed by the law and the Prophets even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe for there is no difference Shewing that now in the Gospel times there is no difference between Jew and Gentile but that in the justification of both the Righteousness of God without the Law is manifested This he proveth by shewing what the Gospel teacheth concerning the way of Justification for the Gospel only reveals the Righteousness of God Rom. 1.16 17. I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ ver 17. For therein is the Righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith So the Words are a declaration of the Gospel way of Justification by the Righteousness of God and that so clearly and fully and the benefit spoken of so great and glorious being the first benefit that we receive by Union with Christ and the foundation of all other benefits that my Text is accounted to be Evangelium Evangelii a principal part of the written Gospel as briefly and yet fully expressing this excellent point more then any other Text. Note in the words particularly 1. The Subject declared and explained viz. Justification of Persons or their being justified and the meaning of it here is to be cleared and freed from all Ambiguities and Mis-understanding Justification signifieth making just as Sanctification is making holy Glorification making glorious But not making just by infusion of grace and holiness into a Person as the Papists teach consounding Justification and Sanctification together but making just in trial and judgment by a judicial Sentence discharging of guilt freeing from blame and accusation approving judging owning and pronouncing a person to be righteous Use alters the signification from the Notation It is a Juridical word or Law Term and hath reference to Trial and Judgement 1. Cor. 4.3 4. It is with me a very small thing that I should be judged of you or of man's judgment Yea I judge not mine own self For I know nothing of my self yet am I not hereby justified but he that judgeth me is the Lord. And it s so opposed to condemnation in Judgment Deut. 25.1 If there be a controversie between men and they come unto judgment that the Judges may judge them then they shall justify the Righteous and condemn the wicked And Mat. 12.37 By thy words thou shalt be justified and by thy words thou shalt be condemned And it 's opposed both to Accusation and Condemnation Rom. 8 33 34. Who shall lay any thing to the charge of Gods Elect ver 34. Who is he that condemneth And so Job 9.20 If I justify my self mine own mouth shall condemn me Job 13.15 I will maintain mine own ways before him ver 18. I have ordered my cause and I know I shall be justified ver 19. Who is he that will plead with me Here Justification is plainly opposed unto the Accusation or Fault and it 's as plainly opposed to the passing Sentence of Condemnation 1 Kings 8.32 Do and judge thy Servants condemning the wicked to bring his way upon his head and justifying the righteous to give him according to his Righteousness In this sence it is a sin to justify the Wicked Isa 5.23 Prov. 17.15 Job 27.5 Actions must be existent already and brought to trial that they may be justified Job 33.32 Isa 43.9 26. Justice or Righteousness consists not in the Intrinsick nature of an Action but in its agreeableness to a rule of Judgment So that Actions are called just and righteous by an Extrinsecal Denomination with relation to Gods rule of Judging and this Righteousness appears by trying the Action according to the rule and by making an estimate of it which estimate is either approving or disproving justifying or condemning finding it to be sin or no sin or breach of the Law so we may say of the righteousness of Persons with reference to such habits or actings And because Righteousness of righteous Persons appears when they are brought to trial and judgment therefore they are said then to be in a special manner justified as if they were then made righteous Viz. when their Righteousness is declared as Christ was said to be begotten the Son of God at the Resurrection Acts 13 33. because he was then declared to be the Son of God Rom. 1.4 and in the same sense we that are adopted at present are said to wait for our adoption i. e. the manifestation of it Rom. 8.23 And thus even God is said to be justified when we judge of his Actions as we ought to do and deem them to be righteous Job 32.2 Psal 51.4 Luke 7.29 though nothing can be added to the Infinite Righteousness of God And Wisdom is said to be justified by her Children Matth. 11.19 So Justification is not a real change of a Sinner in himself though a real change is annexed to it but only a Relative change with reference to Gods Judgment And thus the word is used in the Text and so also in matters of Judicature throughout the scripture yea some contend against the Papists that it is no where in Scripture otherwise except by a Trope borrowed from this as the proper sense And in the Text it 's beyond all doubt meant of being deemed and accounted just in the sight of God for such a Justification is here only treated of as appears in the Text and before ver 19 20. And I have been the longer Explaining the sense of the word because the mistaking of it by reason of its composition occasioned that popish error whereby the benefit signified by it is obscured yea overthrown so that we had need contend for the sense of the Word 2. In the Text we have First the Persons justified 1. Sinners 2. Such Sinners of all sorts that shall believe whether Jews or Gentiles 2. The Justifier or Efficient Cause God 3. The Impulsive Cause Grace 4. The means effecting or Material Cause The Redemption of Christ 5. The Formal Cause The Remission of Sins 6. The Instrumental Cause Faith 7. The Time of declaring The present Time 8. The End That God may appear just From hence therefore will arise several useful Observations all tending to explain the nature of Justification which shall
be laid down and cleared out of the Text and confirmed particularly and then I shall make use of them all together Observ I. They who are justified are Sinners such who are come short of the Glory of God i. e. of God's Approbation Joh. 5.44 of Gods Image of Holiness 2 Cor. 3.1 Eph. 4.24 Eternal Happiness 1 Thess 2.12 Rom. 5.2 2 Cor. 4.17 1. The Law condemns all Sinners and strikes them dead as with a Thunderbolt Rom. 3.20 and adjudgeth them to Shame Confusion and Misery instead of Glory and Happiness by the strict terms of it Rom. 2.6 9.11 12. which none fulfils neither can do Rom. 8.7 neither Jews nor Gentiles there is no hope if free Grace restore them not 2. Christ came only to save Sinners and died for this end Rom. 5.6 when we were yet without strength in due time Christ dyed for the Ungodly and 1 Tim. 1.15 This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation that Jesus Christ came into the World to save Sinners of whom I am the chief Mat. 9.13 I am not come to call the Righteous but Sinners to Repentance Mat. 18.11 The Son of man is come to save that which is lost And God must be believed on to Salvation as a God that justifieth the Ungodlsy he must believe as one that worketh not on him that justifieth the Ungodly Rom. 4.5 Observ II. Sinners of all sorts without difference whether Jews or Gentiles that believe are the Subjects of this Justification This is the Scope of the Apostle to shew that whereas Jews and Gentiles were universally condemned by the Light and Law of Nature or the Law written so the Righteousness of God is upon them all that believe ver 21 22. without difference This was a great point to be defended against the Jews in the Apostles times who appropriated Justification to themselves in a legal way and such were Proselites to the Law and Circumcision and therefore the Apostle Paul vehemently urged it Rom. 10.11 12. and it was a point newly revealed to the Apostles that the Gentiles might be accepted without turning Jews and much prized as a very Glorious Revelation Act. 10.28 45. Eph. 3.4 5 18. Col. 1.25 26 27. and it is confirmed 1. Because notwithstanding the Jews priviledg of the Law by reason of breaking the law they had as much need of Free Justification as the Gentiles and no worthyness above the Gentiles by their works but rather greater sinners Rom. 2.23 24. and when there is equal need and worth God might righteously justify one as well as another Rom. 3.9 2. God is the God of the Gentiles as well as the Jews Rom. 3.29 as he promised Rom. 13.9 12. Gal. 3.8 Isa 19.25 Zach. 14.9 3. Abraham was justified before he was circumcised that he might be the Father of those that believe though uncircumcised that they might inherit the same Blessing Rom. 4.10 11 12. 4. This will appear further by shewing that Justification is only by Faith and without dependance upon the Law meerly by the righteousness of another and so Jews and Gentiles are alike capable of it Observ III. That the Justifier or efficient cause of Justification is God It 's an Act of God Rom. 8.33 It is God that justifieth he only can justify Authoritatively and Irreversibly 1. Because he is the Lawgiver and hath power to save and destroy Jam. 4.12 this Case concerns God's Law and can only be tried at his Tribunal he is the Judge of the World Gen. 18.25 It is a small worthless thing to be justified by Man or by our selves meerly 1 Cor. 4.3 4. 2. To Him the Debt of suffering for Sin and acting Righteousness is owed And therefore he only can give a discharge for payment or release of the Debtor Psal 51.4 Mar. 2.7 Observ IV. God Justifieth Souls freely by his Graec. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 freely by his Grace one of these Expressions had been enough but this redoubling of it sheweth the Importance of the truth to quicken our attention the more Here is the Impulsive cause of Justification and his free manner of bestowing it accordingly And this signifies Gods free undeserved Favour in opposition to any works of our Righteousness whereby it might be challenged as a Debt to us Rom. 4.4 Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace but of debt Chap. 11.6 if by Grace then it is no more of works otherwise Grace is no more Grace but if it be of Works then it is no more Grace otherwise Work is no more Work Eph. 2.8 9. By Grace are ye saved through Faith and that not of your selves it is the Gift of God Not of works least any man should boast 2 Tim. 1.9 Who hath saved us and called us with an Holy Calling not according to our works but according to his own purpose and grace which he hath given us in Christ Jesus before the World began Ver. 10. But is now made manifest by the appearing c. Grace is mercy and love shewed freely out of Gods proper motion shewing mercy because he will shew mercy and loving us because he will love us Rom. 9.15 and this is confirmed 1. Because there was not nor is any thing in us but what might move God to condemn us for we have all sinned Eph. 2.3 Ezek. 16.6 2. Because God would take away boasting and have his Grace Glorified and Exalted in our Salvation He will have all the Praise and Glory though we have the Blessedness Eph. 2.7 9. that in the Ages to come he might shew the exceeding Riches of his Grace in his kindness toward us through Jesus Christ and so Rom. 3.27 Observ V. God Justifieth Sinners through the Redemption that is in Jesus Christ whom God hath set forth for a Propitiation through Faith in his Blood This is the effecting means or material cause of our Justification viz. Redemption and Propitiation through the Blood of Christ which is the Righteousness of God treasured up in him By Redemption is meant properly such a deliverance as is by paying of a Price and so the Words Redeem and Redemption are frequently used Exod. 13.13 Numb 3.48 49 51. Lev. 5.24 51 52. Jer. 32.7 8 Neh. 5.8 from this proper Signification it is borrowed to signifie a deliverance without Price Luke 21.28 Eph. 1.14 Chap 4.30 or rather by a Metonimy of the Cause put for the highest effect the state of Glory so that state of Glory is called Redemption as being the compleating and crowning effect of Christs Redemption therefore it 's called the purchased Possession By a Propitiation is meant that which appeaseth the wrath of God for Sin and wins his Favour and this Propitiation of Christ was two ways typified First in the propitiatory Sacrifices whose Blood was shed and the Mercy-seat which was called the Propitiation because it covered the Ark wherein was the Law and the Blood of the Sacrifices for Atonement was sprinkled by the High Priest before it and
this Mercy-seat was a sign of God's Favourableness to a sinful People in residing among them and was called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Heb. 9.5 Now this Doctrine appears confirmed for these Reasons 1. Because Christ by the will of God gave himself a Ransom for us to redeem us from Sin and Punishment Wrath and Curse Tit. 2.14 He gave himself for us to redeem us from all iniquity He gave himself to Death for us was delivered for our Offences his Death was the Price of our Redemption that we might be justified in Gods Sight God gave him up to Death he spared him not that he might be made Righteousness 1 Cor. 1.30 and Mat. 20.28 He gave his own life a Ransome for many And so 1 Tim. 2.6 He hereby bought us by this Price 1 Cor. 6.6 He Redeemed us not with Silver and Gold but with his precious Blood as of a Lamb without spot 1 Pet. 1.18 19. 2 Pet 2.1 Rev. 5.9 He suffering the Penalty due to us for Sin 1 Pet. 2.24 He bare our Sins in his Body on the Tree Gal. 3.13 He was made a Curse for us thereby redeemed us from the Curse of the Law and that he might be made a Curse he was made sin for us 2 Cor. 5.21 Isa 53.5 6. He subjected himself to the Law both in active as well as passive Obedience Gal. 4 4. And obeyed his Father even to Death doing and suffering at his Commandment John 14.31 Heb. 10.7 And his Obedience was for our Justification Compare Rom. 5.19 with Phil. 2.8 So Christ satisfied both for our Debt of Righteousness and Debt of Punishment for our Faultiness taint of Sin and want of Righteousness as well as for our guilt and obnoxiousness to punishment that we might be free from Wrath and deemed Righteous in God's Sight His Suffering was the consummating Act of Redemption and so all is attributed to it Heb. 2.9 10. Even to his Blood though other doings and sufferings concur 2 Cor. 8.9 We are righteous by him as we were guilty by Adam Rom. 5.12 2 God accepted this Price as a Satisfaction to his Justice which he shewed in raising Christ from the Dead and so acquitting him from all our Sins He was justified by the Spirit 1 Tim. 3. ult for us Rom. 4. ult raised for our Justification see Rom. 8.34 It is God that Justifieth Who is he that condemneth It is Christ that dyed yea rather that is risen from the Dead And Heb. 10.5 14. By one Offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified And Eph. 5.1 2. This Sacrifice was a sweet smelling savour unto God If Christ had sunk under the weight of our sins and not been raised the Payment had not been finished and so the Debt not discharged John 16.10 Of Righteousness because I go to my Father 3. This Righteousness is in Christ as to the benefit of it So that it can't be had except we be in Christ and have Christ So the Text expresseth and sheweth that he is the Propitiation and as so he is our Righteousness 1 Cor. 1.30 We have Redemption and Righteousness in him Eph. 1.7 2 Cor. 5.21 And therein our freedom from Condemnation Rom. 5.1 Christ dyed that his Seed might be justified Isa 53.10 11. Those that are in him by Spiritual Regeneration 1 Cor. 4.15 Observ VI. The formal cause of Justification or that wherein it consists is the Remission of Sin i. e. not only the Guilt and Punishment is removed but fault because it 's a Pardon grounded on Justice which cleareth the fault also By him we are justified from all things that the Law chargeth us with Act. 13.39 In Men subject to a Law there is no middle condition between not Imputing of Sin and Imputing of Righteousness and so these terms are used as Equivalent Act. 13.36 39. Through this Man is Preached Forgiveness of sins And by him all that believe are justified c. Rom. 4.6 8. 2 Cor. 15.19 21. Rom 5.17 This is through the Bloodshed of Christ Eph. 1.7 Mat. 26.28 Observ VII God Justifieth a Sinner through Faith in Christs Blood Faith is the Instrumental Cause of receiving this Benefit Faith in the Blood of Christ 1. This Faith is believing on Christ that we may be justified by him Gal. 2.16 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 Christ that we might be justified by the Faith of Christ and not by the works of the Law we believe in Christ for Justification out of a sence of our inability to obtain Justification by Works 2. This Faith doth not justify us as an Act of Righteousness earning and procuring our Justification by the work of it for this would have been Justification by works as under the Law diametrically opposite to Grace and free Gift which excludes all consideration of any works of ours to be our Righteousness under any denomination or diminutive terms whatever whether you 'l call it Legal or Evangelical though you reckon it no more then the payment of a Pepper-corn Rom. 11.6 Faith in this case is counted a Not working Rom. 4.5 And it 's not Faith that stands in stead of the Righteousness of the Law but the Righteousness of Christ which satisfieth for what we ought to have done or suffered as hath been shewed 3. God Justifieth by Faith as the Instrument whereby we receive Christ and his Righteousness by which we are Justified properly and we are justified by Faith only Metonymically by reason of the Righteousness received by it and to be justified by Faith and Christ is all one Gal. 3.8 Rom. 5.1 By Faith we receive remission of sins Act. 26.18 and Chap. 10 43. It s effect is the reception of Justification not the working of it as a man may be said to be maintained by his hands or nourished by his mouth when those do but receive that which nourisheth his food and drink the Cup is put for the Liquor in the Cup 1 Cor. 11.26 27. See Rom. 1.17 and 13.22 Christ is in us by Faith Eph. 3.17 perceived eat drunk Joh. 1.12 Chap. 9.49 53. 4. This Faith is to be understood Exclusively to all our works for Justification we defend against the Papists Justification by faith only and there is nothing more sully expressed in Scripture Phrase Rom. 3.28 Gal. 2.16 Phil. 3.8 9. Rom. 4.16 5. We must understand faith in a full sence of receiving Remission of the sault as well as of the punishment we believe that God accounts not the fault to us of the least sin and where faith is said to be accounted for Righteousness it is because of the object it receives Rom. 4.6 7 8. 2 Cor. 5.19 21. We believe Christs Righteousness imputed to us as our sins to him or else we receive not remission of Sins by believing which is contrary to charging us with sin and condemnation which charging signifieth imputing sin Rom. 8.33 34 together
by meer conviction of the Truth such as wicked Men and Devils may be brought to when they had rather it were false Neither must our believing on Christ be only constrained for fear of Damnation without any hearty Love and Desire towards the enjoyment of him but we must receive the Love of the Truth by relishing the Goodness and Excellency of it and we must account all things loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus our Lord and count them but dung that we may win Christ and be found in him 2 Thess 2.10 Phil. 3.8 9. esteeming Christ to be all our Salvation and Happiness Col. 3.11 in whom all fulness doth dwell Col. 1.19 And this Love must be to every part of Christ's Salvation to Holiness as well as Forgiveness of Sins We must desire earnestly that God would create in us a clean Heart and right Spirit as well as hide his face from our sins Psal 51.9 10. not like many that care for nothing in Christ but only Deliverance from Hell Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after righteousness for they shall be filled Mat. 5.6 The former of these Acts doth not immediately unite us to Christ because it is terminated only on the means of Conveyance the Gospel yet it is a saving Act if it be rightly performed because it enclineth and disposeth the Soul to the latter Act whereby Christ himself is immediately received into the Heart He that believeth the Gospel with hearty love and liking as the most Excellent Truth will certainly with the like heartiness believe on Christ for his Salvation They that know the name of the Lord will certainly put their trust in him Psal 9.10 Therefore in Scripture Saving-Faith is sometimes described by the former of these Acts as if it were a meer believing the Gospel sometimes by the latter as a believing on Christ or in Christ Rom. 10.9 If thou believe in thine heart that God raised him from the dead thou shalt be saved 11 the Scripture saith Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed 1 John 5.1 Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God 13 These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God that you may know ye have eternal life and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God For the better understanding of the nature of Faith let it be further observed that the Second and Principal of it believing on Christ includeth believing on God the Father Son and Holy Ghost because they are one and the same infinite God and they all concurr in our Salvation by Christ as the only Mediator betwixt God and us in whom all the promises of God are yea and amen 2 Cor. 1.20 By him as mediator we believe on God that raised him from the dead and gave him glory that our faith and hope might be in God 1 Pet. 1.21 And it is the same thing with trusting on God or on the Lord which is so highly commended in the whole Scripture especially in the Old Testament as may easily appear by considering that it hath the same Causes Effects Objects Adjuncts Opposites and all the same Circumstances excepting only that it had a respect to Christ as promised before his Coming and now it respecteth him as already come in the Flesh Believing in the Lord and trusting on his Salvation are equivalent terms that explain one another Psal 78.22 I confess that trusting on things seen or known by the meer Light of Reason as on our own Wisdom Power Riches on Princes or any Arm of Flesh may not so properly be called believing on them but trusting on a Saviour as discovered by a Testimony is properly believing on him It is also the same thing that is expressed by the terms of resting relying leaning staying our selves on the Lord because it is the Ground of that Expectation that is the proper Act of Hope though our Believing and Trusting be for the present as well as future benefit of this Salvation The reason why it is so commonly expressed in the Scriptures of the New Testament by the terms of believing on Christ might be probably because when that part of Scripture was written there was cause in a special manner to urge believing the Testimony that was then newly revealed by the Gospel Having thus explained the nature of Faith I come now to assert its proper Use and Office in our Salvation That it is the Means and Instrument whereby we receive Christ and all his Fulness actually into our Hearts This excellent Use and Office of Faith is encountered by a multitude of Errors men naturally esteem that it is too small and slight a thing to produce so great effects as Naaman thought washing in Jordan too small a matter for the cure of his Leprosie They contemn the true means of entring in at the streight Gate because they seem too easie for such purpose and thereby they make the Entrance not only difficult but impossible to themselves Some will allow that Faith is the sole Condition of our Justification and the Instrument to receive it according to the Doctrine maintained formerly by the Protestants against the Papists but they account that it is not sufficient or effectual to Sanctification but that it rather tendeth to Licentiousness if it be not joyned with some other means that may be powerful and effectual to procure an holy Practice They commend this great Doctrine of Protestants as a comfortable Cordial for Persons upon their Death-beds or in Agonies under Terrors of Conscience but they account that it is not good for ordinary Food and that it is Wisdom in Ministers to preach it seldom and sparingly and not without some Antidote or Corrective to prevent the licentiousness to which it tendeth Their common Antidote or Corrective is That Sanctification is necessary to Salvation as well as Justification and that though we be justified by Faith yet we are sanctified by our own performance of the Law and so they set up Salvation by works and make the Grace of Justification to be of none effect and not at all comfortable If it had indeed such a malignant influence upon Practice it could not be owned as a Doctrine proceeding from the most holy God and all the Comfort that it affords must needs be ungrounded and deceitful This Consequence is well understood by some late Refiners of the Protestant Religion and therefore they have thought fit to new-model this Doctrine and to make Saving-Faith to be only a Condition to procure a Right and Title to our Justification by the Righteousness of Christ which must be performed before we can lay any good claim to the enjoyment of it and before we have any right to the actual receiving of it and this they call an accepting of or receiving Christ And that they may the better secure the practice of Holiness by their Conditional Faith they will not have trusting on God
in three particulars 1st The Grace of Faith is as well fitted for the Souls receiving of Christ and Union with him as any Instrument of the Body is for receiving and closing with things needful for it By the very act of hearty trusting or believing on Christ for all Salvation and Happiness the Soul heaveth and putteth away from itself every thing that keepeth it at a distance from Christ as all confidence in our own Strength Endeavours Works Privileges or in any Worldly Pleasures Profits Honours or in any humane Helps and Succours for our Happiness and Salvation Because such Confidences are inconsistent with our Confidence in Christ for all Salvation Paul by his Confidence in Christ was taken off from all Considence in the Flesh he suffer'd the loss of glorying in his Privileges legal Righteousness and counted all other Enjoyments in matters of the World or of Religion to be but Dung that he might win Christ and be found in him Phil. 3.3 6 7 8 9. the voice of Faith is Ashur shall not save us neither will we ride upon Horses neither will we say any more to the work of our hands ye are our God for in thee the Fatherless find mercy Hos 14.3 We have no might against this great company of our spiritual Enemies neither know we what to do but our eyes are upon thee 2 Chron. 20.12 I might multiply places of Scripture to shew what a self emptying Grace Faith is and how it casteth other Considences out of the Soul by getting above them to Christ as the only Happiness and Salvation The same act of trusting or believing on Christ or on God is the very manner of our Souls coming to Christ Joh. 6.35 drawing near to the Lord Psal 73.28 fleeing unto the Lord to hide us Psal 143.9 making our resuge in the shadow of his wings Psal 57.1 staying our selves and our minds upon the Lord Isa 50.10 26.3 laying hold of eternal life 1 Tim. 6.12 lifting up our selves to the Lord Psal 51.1 2. rolling our way and casting our burden upon the Lord Psal 37.5 55.22 and of our eating and drinking Christ as hath already appeared Let us consider that Christ and his Salvation cannot be seen or handled or attained to by any bodily motion but are revealed and promised to us in the Word Now let any invent if they can any way for the Soul to exercise any motion or activeness in receiving of this unseen promised Salvation besides believing the Word and trusting on Christ for the Benefit promised If Christ were to be earned by Works or any other kind of Conditional Faith than this yet a Faith must be instrumental to receive him Some think Love as sit to be the uniting Grace but I have shewed that Love to Christ's Salvation is an Ingredient into Faith And though Love be an Appetite unto Union yet we have no other likely way to fill this Appetite while we are in this World besides trust on Christ for all his Benefits as he is promised in the Gospel 2dly There is in this Saving-Faith a natural Tendency to furnish the Soul with an holy Frame and Nature and all Endowments necessary thereunto out of the Fulness of Christ An hearty affectionate trussing on Christ for all his Salvation as freely promised to us hath naturally enough to work in our Souls a rational bent and inclination to and ability for the Practise of all Holiness because it comprehendeth in it a trusting that through Christ we are dead to sin and alive to God and that our old man is crucified Rom. 6.2 6 4. and that we live by the spirit Gal. 5.25 and that we have forgiveness of sin and that God is our God Psal 31.14 and that we have in the Lord righteousness and strength whereby we are able to do all things Isa 45.24 Phil. 4.13 and that we shall be glortensly happy in the anjoyment of Christ to all eternity Phil. 3.20 21. When the Saints in Scripture speak so highly of such glorious spiritual Privileges as I have here named they acquaint us with the familiar fence and language of their Faith trusting on God and Christ and they give us but an Explication of the nature and contents of it and they speak of nothing more than what they receive out of the Fulness of Christ And how can we otherwise judge but that those that have an hearty Love to Christ and can upon a good ground think and speak such high things concerning themselves must needs be heartily disposed and mightily strengthened for the practice of Holiness 3dly Because Faith hath such a natural tendency to dispose and strengthen the Soul for the practise of Holiness we have cause to judge it a meet Instrument to accomplish every part of that Practice in an acceptable manner Those that with a due affection believe stedfastly on Christ for the free Gift of all his Salvation may find by experience that they are carried forth by that Faith according to the measure of its Strength or Weakness to love God heartily because God hath loved them first 1 Joh. 4.19 to praise him to pray unto him in the name of Christ Ephes 5.26 John 16.26 27. to be patient with cheerfulness under all afflictions giving thanks to the Father that hath called them to his heavenly inheritance Col. 1.11 12. to love all the children of God out of love to their heavenly Father 1 John 5.1 to walk as Christ walked 1 John 2.6 and to give themselves up to live to Christ in all things as constrained by his love in dying for them 2 Cor. 5.14 We have a Cloud of Witnesses concerning the excellent works that were produced by Faith Heb. 11. And though trusting on Christ be accounted such a slight and contemptible thing yet I know no Work of Obedience which it is not able to produce And note the excellent manner of working by Faith by it we live and act in all good Works as People in Christ as raised above our selves and our natural state by partaking of him and his Salvation and we do all in his name and on his account This is the Practice of that mysterious manner of living to God in Holiness which is peculiar to the Christian Religion wherein we live and yet not we but Christ liveth in us Gal. 2.20 And who can imagine any other way but this for such a Practice while Christ and his Salvation is known to us only by the Gospel The explanation that I have made of the Nature and Office of true Faith and of its Aptitude for its Office is sufficient to evidence that it is a most holy Faith as it is called Jude 20. and that such a trusting on Christ as I have described in its own nature cannot have any tendency to Licentiousness but only to Holiness and that it rooteth and groundeth us in Holiness more than the meer accepting of any terms of Salvation and consenting to have Christ for our Lord can do
and is more powerful to secure an holy Practice than any of those Resolutions of Obedience or resignating Acts that some would have to be the great conditions of our salvation which are indeed no better than hypocritical Acts if they be not produc'd by this Faith There is indeed a counterfeit dead Faith such as wicked men may have and if that tend to Licentiousness let not true Faith be blamed but rather mark the Description of it which I have given that you may not be deceived with a counterfeit Faith instead of it I shall add something concerning the efficient cause of this excellent Grace and of our Union with Christ by it whereby it may appear that it is not so slight and easie a way of Salvation as some may imagine The Author and Finisher of our Faith and of our Union and Fellowship with Christ by Faith is no less than the infinite Spirit of God and God and Christ himself by the Spirit for by one Spirit we are all baptized into one body of Christ and are all made to drink into one Spirit 1 Cor 12.12 13. God granteth us according to the Riches of his glory to be strengthened with all might by his spirit in the inner man that Christ may dwell in our hearts by Faith Ephes 3.16 17. If we do but consider the great effect of Faith that by it we are raised to live above our natural condition by Christ and his Spirit living in us we cannot rationally conceive that it should be within the power of Nature to do any thing that advanceth us so high If God had done no more for us in our Sanctification than to restore us to our first natural Holiness yet this could not have been done without putting forth his own Almighty Power to quicken those that are dead in Sin How much more is this Almighty Power needful to advance us to this wonderful new kind of Frame wherein we live and act above all the power of Nature by an higher Principle of Life than was given to Adam in Innocency even by Christ and his Spirit living and acting in us The natural man bringeth forth his Off-spring according to his Image by that natural Power of multiplying with which God blessed him at his first Creation but the second Adam bringeth forth his Off-spring new born according to his Image only by the Spirit Joh. 3.5 As many as receive him even those that believe on his name are born not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man but of God Joh. 1.12 13. Christ took his own Humane Nature into personal Union with himself in the Womb of the Virgin Mary by the Holy Ghost coming upon her and the power of the Highest overshadowing her the same Power whereby the World was created Luke 1.35 So He taketh us into mystical Union and Fellowship with himself by no less than an Infinite Creating Power For we are the workmanship of God created in Christ Jesus unto good works Ephes 2.10 And if any man be in Christ he is a new creature 2 Cor. 5.17 For the accomplishing of this great Work of our new Creation in Christ the Spirit of God doth first work upon our Hearts by and with the Gospel to produce in us the Grace of Faith for if the Gospel should come to us in Word only and not in Power and in the Holy Ghost Paul might labour to plant and Apollos to water without any success because we cannot receive the things of the Spirit of God yea we shall account them foolishness until the Spirit of God enable us to discern them 1 Thess 1.5 1 Cor. 3.6 2.14 We shall never come to Christ by any teaching of Man except we also hear and learn of the Father and be drawn to Christ by his spirit John 6.44 45. And when Saving Faith is wrought in us the same Spirit giveth us fast hold of Christ by it As he openeth the Mouth of Faith to receive Christ so he filleth it with Christ or else the acting of Faith would be like a Dream of one that thinketh that he eateth and drinketh and when he awaketh he findeth himself empty The same Spirit of God did both give that Faith whereby Miracles were wrought and did work also the Miracles by it So also the same Spirit of Christ doth work Saving Faith in us and doth answer the aim and end of that Faith by giving us Union and Fellowship with Christ by it So that none of the Glory of this Work belongeth to Faith but only to Christ and his Spirit And indeed Faith is of such an humble self-denying nature that it ascribeth nothing that it receiveth to itself but all to the Grace of God and therefore God saveth us by Faith that all the Glory may be ascribed to his Free-Grace Rom. 4.16 If Adam had Strength enough in Innocency to perform the Duty of Faith as well as we yet it will not follow that he had Strength enough to raise himself above his natural state into Union with Christ because Faith doth not unite us to Christ by its own Vertue but by the Power of the Spirit working by it and with it Thus we are first passive and then active in this great work of mystical Union we are first apprehended of Christ and then we apprehend Christ Christ entereth first into the Soul to joyn himself to it by giving it the Spirit of Faith and so the Soul receiveth Christ and his Spirit by their own Power As the Sun first enlighteneth our Eyes and then we can see it by its own light We may note further to the Glory of the Grace of God that this Union is fully accomplished by Christ giving the Spirit of Faith to us even before we act that Faith in the reception of him because by this Grace or Spirit of Faith the Soul is enclined and disposed to an active receiving of Christ And no doubt Christ is thus united to many Infants who have the Spirit of Faith and yet cannot act Faith because they are not come to the use of their Understandings but those of riper years that are joyned passively to Christ by the Spirit of Faith will also joyn themselves with him actively by the Act of Faith and until they act this Faith they cannot know or enjoy their Union with Christ and the Comfort of it or make use of it in acting any other Duties of Holiness acceptably in this Life DIRECT V. We cannot attain to the Practice of true Holiness by any of our Endeavours while we continue in our natural State and are not Partakers of a new State by Vnion and Fellowship with Christ through Faith EXPLICATION IT it evident all have not that precious Faith whereby Christ dwelleth in our Hearts yea the number of those that have it is small comparatively to the whole World that lieth in Wickedness 1 Joh. 5.19 20. and many of those that at length attain unto it do
that we may live And they plead not for doing of Duties as obliged thereunto by the Authority of the Law given of God by Moses but only in obedience to the Commands of Christ in the Gospel Neither do they plead for Salvation by sincere Obedience without Christ but only by Christ and through his Merit and Righteousness and they acknowledge that both Salvation itself and sincere Obedience are given to them freely by the Grace of Christ so that all is of Grace They acknowledge also that their Salvation is by Faith because sincere Obedience is wrought in them by believing the Gospel and is included in he nature of that Faith which is the entire Condition of our Salvation And some call it the resignating Act of Faith but all these Reasons are but a fallacious Vizard upon a legal way of Salvation to make it look like pure Gospel as I shall evince by the following particulars First All that seek Salvation by the sincere performance of good Works as the procuring Condition are condemned by the Apostle Paul for seeking Righteousness by the Works of the Law and not by Faith Rom. 9.32 and for seeking to be justified by the Law and falling from the Grace of Christ Gal. 5.4 This one Assertion if it can be proved is enough to pluck off the fallacious Vizard from the Condition of sincere Obedience and to make men abhor it as a damning legal Doctrine that bereaveth its Followers of all Salvation by Christ And the proof of it is not difficult to persons that warily consider a point of so great moment for their Salvation The Jews and Judaizing Christians against whom the Apostle chiefly disputeth in this whole Controversie did not profess any hope of being justified by perfect Obedience according to the rigour of the Law but only by such Obedience as they accounted to be sincere and not hypocritical And we have no cause to doubt but that the Judaizing Galatians had learned by the Gospel to distinguish sincere Obedience from Hypocrisie The Jewish Religion bound all that professed it to acknowledge themselves to be Sinners as appeareth by their anniversary Humiliation at the day of atonement and several other Rights of the Law and many clear Testimonies in the Oracles of God that were committed to them Psal 143.2 Prov. 10.9 Eccles 7.20 Yet they knew they were bound to turn to the Lord with all their Hearts in Sincerity and Uprightness and that God would accept of sincere Obedience for which Cause they might better put it for the Condition of the Law than we can of the Gospel Psal 51.6 10. Deut. 6.5 Deut. 30.10 So that if the Apostle had disputed against those that held only perfect Obedience to be the Condition of Justification he had contended with his own shadow And they might as readily judge sincere obedience to be the condition of Justification under the Law as we can judge it to be the condition under the Gospel Neither doth the Apostle condemn them meerly for accounting sincere Obedience to the Law as given by Moses to be the Condition of their Justification but more generally for seeking Salvation by their own Works And he alledgeth against them That Abrabam who lived before the Law of Moses was not justified by any of his Works though he did perform sincere Obedience and that David who lived under the Law of Moses was not justified by his Works though he performed sincere Obedience and was as much bound to obey the Law given by Moses as we are to obey any Commands of Christ in the Gospel Rom. 4.2 3 5 6. Neither doth he condemn them for seeking their Salvation only by Works without respecting at all the Grace and Salvation that is by Christ for the Judaizing Galatians were yet Professors of the Grace and Salvation of Christ though they thought Obedience to the Law a necessary Condition for the partaking of it as also many other Judaising Believers did And doubtless they accounted themselves obliged thereunto not only by the Authority of Moses but of Christ also whom they owned as their Lord and Saviour And we may be sure it was no damning Error to account Moses's Law obliging at that time for many thousands of the Jews that were sound Believers held the Ceremonies of Moses to be in force at that time and Paul was tender towards them in it Acts 20.20 21. Acts 15.5 And other Jews sought Justification not only by their sincere Works but also by trusting on the Promise made to Abraham and on their Priesthood and Sacrifices which were Types of Christ And the most legal Pharisees would thank God for their good Works as proceeding from his Grace Luke 18.11 And they could as well acknowledge their Salvation to be by Faith as the Assertors of Salvation by sincere Obedience can in these days for they accounted that their sincere Obedience was wrought in them by believing the Word of God which contained Gospel as well as legal Doctrin in it and therefore that it must be included in the nature of Faith if Faith were taken for the Condition of their whole Salvation Let the Assertors of the Condition of sincere Obedience learn from hence that they are building again that Judaism which the Apostle Paul destroyed whereby the Jews stumbled at Christ Rom. 9.32 And the Galatians were in danger of falling from Christ and Grace Gal. 5.2 4. And let them beware of falling under that Curse which he hath denounced on this very occasion against any Man or Angel that shall preach any other Gospel than that which he hath preached Gal. 1.8 9. Secondly The difference betwixt the Law and Gospel doth not at all consist in this that the one requireth perfect doing the other only sincere doing but in this that the one requireth doing the other no doing but believing for Life and Salvation Their terms are different not only in degree but in their whole nature The Apostle Paul opposeth the Believing required in the Gospel to all doing for Life as the Condition proper to the Law Gal. 3.12 The Law is not of Faith but the man that doth them shall live in them Rom. 4.5 To him that worketh not but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly his Faith is counted for righteousness If we seek Salvation by never so easie and mild a Condition of Works we do thereby bring our selves under the Terms of the Law and do become Debtors to fulfill the whole Law in perfection though we intended to engage our selves only to fulsill it in part Gal. 5.3 for the Law is a compleat Declaration of the only Terms whereby God will judge all that are not brought to despair of procuring Salvation by any of their own Works and to receive it as a Gift freely given to them by the Grace of God in Christ So that all that seek Salvation right or wrong knowingly or ignorantly by any works less or more whether invented by their own Superstition or commanded of God in
Gospel though they own it in Profession never so highly They act contrary to the way of Salvation by Christ for they would heal themselves and save themselves from the Power and Pollution of Sin and prooure God's Favour by performing sincere Obedience before they are come to Christ the only Physician and Saviour They lay their own Obedience lowest in the Foundation of their Salvation and build the Enjoyment of Christ upon it who ought to be the only Foundation They would sanctifie themselves before they have a sure Interest in Christ and going about to establish their own Righteousness they do not submit themselves to the Righteousness of God in Christ Rom. 10.3,4 Sometimes they will call the Righteousness of Christ their Legal Righteousness that they may make room for an Evangelical Righteousness of their own Works to be the immediate procuring cause of their Justification by Christ whereas the Apostle Paul knew no Evangelical Righteousness but that of Christ which he calleth the righteousness of faith without the law Rom. 3.21 22. and not of the law Phil. 3.9 Thus they make void Christ's Salvation while they pretend to own it and Christ profiteth them nothing Christ is become of none effect to them while they would be justified by the Law Gal. 5.2 4. If we would be saved by Christ we must own our selves dead lost Sinners that can have no Righteousness for Justification but his no life or ability to do Good until God bring us to Union and Fellowship with him They do also act contrary to Salvation by Grace according to the true meaning of the Gospel For we are not saved by Grace as the supreme Cause of Salvation by the Intervention of Works given and accepted by Grace as the procuring Cause in which sence we might be saved by Grace though by a Covenant of Works As a Servant that hath Monies given him by his Master to purchase an Annuity of his Master at a low rate may profess that he had an Annuity given him freely and yet that he hath purchased it and may claim it as a due Debt But we are saved by Grace as the immediate and complete cause of our whole Salvation excluding procurement of our Salvation by the condition of Works and claiming it by any Law as a due Debt The Scripture teacheth us that there is a perfect Opposition and utter Irreconcileableness betwixt Salvation by Grace and Works If by grace then it is no more of works otherwise grace is no more grace but if it be of works then it is no more of grace otherwise work is no more work Rom. 11.6 So also there is an Opposition betwixt a Reward reckoned of grace and of debt Rom. 4.4 Betwixt a Promise of Happiness by the law and by grace Rom. 4.13.16 God is so jealous of the Glory of his Free-grace that he will not save us by any Works though of his own working in us lest any man should boast Ephes 2.9 He knoweth that when he healeth Men by Physick or maintaineth them by the Labour of their hands they are prone to attribute the Glory rather to the means they use than to his sole Bounty and Goodness 3dly They do also act contrary to the way of Salvation by Faith For as I have shewed already the Faith which is required for our Salvation in the Gospel is to be understood in a sense contrary to doing good Works as a Condition to procure our Salvation that so the true difference between the Terms of the Law and of the Gospel may be maintain'd Believing is opposed to all working for Salvation and the Law of Works to the Law of Faith Rom. 4.5 3.27 against Antinomian Errours by making it the procuring Condition of their Salvation when after all this ado the Remedy is found to be as bad as the Disease equally unserviceable and destructive to that great end for which they designed it and that it hath an Antimonian Effect and Operation contrary to the Power of Godliness Much more might be said for the Confutation of this novel Doctrine but if this one thing be well proved it may be sufficient to make the zealous Contrivers of it to be ashamed of their Crast and angry with themselves and sorry that they have taken so much Pains and stretched their Wits to maintain such an unprofitable unsanctifying Opinion It will be sufficient for the Proof of it if I shew that the practice of true holiness cannot possibly be attain'd unto by seeking to be saved by the Works of the Law because I have already proved that this Doctrine of Salvation by sincere Obedience is according to the Terms of the Law and not of the Gospel And hereby those also may see their Errour that ascribe Justification only to the Gospel and Sanctification to the Law Yet because those Assertors of the Condition of sincere Obedience will hardly be perswaded by what hath been said that it is the way of the Law of Works I shall for their more full Conviction sufficiently manifest that it is of no other nature and operation than any other Doctrine that is proper to the Law and hath no better Fruit as I proceed to prove by the following Arguments that holiness cannot be attained by seeking it by the Law of Works that so it may appear not worthy to be called Gospel Doctrine First The way of Salvation by the Works of the Law is contrary and destructive to those necessary means of an holy Practice that have been laid down in the foregoing Directions and manifestly proved out of the holy Scripture I have made it appear that a hearty Propensity to an holy Practice cannot be attained without some good Perswasion of our Reconciliation with God by Justification and of our everlasting Happiness and of sufficient strength both to will and to perform our Duty and that these and all other Endowments necessary to the same end are to be had only in Christ by Union and Fellowship with him and that Christ himself with all his Fulness is united to us by Faith which is not a Condition to procure a Right or Title to Christ but an Instrument whereby we receive him actually into our Hearts by trusting on him for all Salvation freely promised to us in the Gospel All these means of an holy Practice are things wherein our spiritual Life and Happiness doth consist so that if we have them everlasting Life is begun in us already and because they are the necessary means of an holy Practice therefore the beginning of everlasting Life in us must not be placed after such a Practice as the fruit and consequent of it but must go before it as the Cause before the Effect Now the Terms of the Law are directly contrary to this Method they place the Practice of Holiness before Life and make it to be the means and procuring cause of Life as Moses describeth them Rom. 10.5 The man that doeth these things shall live by them By these
Terms you are first to do the holy Duties commanded before you have any Interest in the Life promised or any Right to lay hold of it as yours by Faith and you must practice Holiness without the forementioned means or else you can never attain to them Thus the true means are turned out of their Office and instead of being Causes they are made to be Effects and Fruits of an holy Practice And it will be in vain ever to expect such Effects and Fruits for Holiness it self with all its Effects must needs be destroyed when its necessary Causes are taken away Therefore the Apostle Paul testifieth that the way of salvation by the works of the law maketh faith void and promises of none effect And frustrateth the grace of God as if Christ died in vain and maketh Christ to be of no profit and of none effect to us as those that are fallen from grace Rom. 4.14 Gal. 2.21 5.2 4. Let us now examine the modern Doctrine of Salvation by the Condition of sincere Obedience to all the Commands of Christ and we shall quickly find it to be a chip of the same block with the former legal way of Salvation in the same manner destructive to the means of Holiness and to Holiness it self It requireth of us the Performance of sincere Obedience before we have the means necessary to produce it by making it antecedent to our Justification and Perswasion of eternal Happiness and our actual Enjoyment of Union and Fellowship with Christ and of that new Nature which is to be had only in him by Faith It destroyeth the nature of that saving Faith whereby we actually receive and enjoy Christ and all his Benefits and knocketh off our Hands from laying hold of Christ and his Salvation by telling us still as Christ told the Legalworker after all his Labour that yet we lack something Mat. 10.21 That it is Presumption to take him as our own until we have performed the Condition for our Right and Title to him which is another kind of saving Faith otherwise called sincere Obedience By this devised conditional Faith Satan keepeth many poor Souls at a bay poreing upon their own Hearts for many years together to find whether they have performed the Condition and whether they have as yet any Right to Christ for their Salvation not daring to venture to take him as their own It is a strong Partition-wall that will certainly hinder the Soul from coming to Christ until it be thrown down by the Knowledge of Salvation by grace without any procuring Condition of Works And though it be accounted but as the Payment of a Pepper-corn for a great Estate yet it is enough to break the ablest Man in the World because it debarreth him from laying hold of the only effectual means of Holiness whereby that Pepper-corn may be obtained 2dly Those that seek Salvation by the Works of the Law do therein act according to their natural State they live and walk according to the Flesh or Old-man not according to the New-state by Christ living in them I doubt not but several of them that live under the light of the Gospel are Partakers of a new State in Christ and do walk holily in it but the best in this World have in them Flesh as well as Spirit and may act according to either State in some measure and in this matter they do act only according to their carnal natural State When the believing Galatians were seduced to a Legal way of Salvation the Apostle Paul chargeth it upon them as their Folly that having begun in the spirit they would now be made perfect in the flesh Gal. 3.3 And he resembleth those that desire to be under the Law to Abraham's Son born of Hagar the Bondwoman to shew that such do walk as those that are born after the flesh not after the spirit Gal. 4.19 23 29. The Law was first given to Adam in his pure natural State to prescribe Terms for his continuance in Happiness which he then enjoyed and ever since that time the Flesh or Natural-man is married to the Law and the Law hath Dominion over a Man as long as he liveth i. e. until he be dead to his fleshly State by the Body of Christ and married to him that is risen from the dead Rom. 7.1 4. We are not at all under the Law as a Covenant of Works according to our new State in Christ as the Apostle testifieth Rom. 6.14 Ye are not under the law but under grace And Gal. 3.18 If ye be led by the spirit ye are not under the law From hence we may firmly conclude that none can possibly attain to true Godliness by acting according to Legal-terms because I have fully proved already that it is impossible to be godly while we are in the flesh or in a natural State and that as far as we act according to it we can do nothing but sin The Law is weak through the Flesh that it cannot bring us to fulfil its own Righteousness Rom. 8.3 4. It is married to a cross piece of flesh that is Enmity to it and can never be subject to it Rom. 8.8 It sueth the Natural-man for an old Debt of Obedience that he is utterly unable to pay since the Fall and the Success is according to the Proverb Sue a beggar and catch a louse Neither do those take a better Course that would bring themselves to Holiness by making sincere Obedience to Christ's Commands the Condition of their Salvation Their way is the same for Substance with that of the Calatians before mentioned who would be made perfect in the Flesh not by perfect Obedience but sincere as hath been shewed before Their Eudeavours to procure an Interest in Christ by their sincere Obedience do testifie against themselves that they do not act as People that are in Christ but rather as People that judge themselves to be without an Interest in Christ and to be yet to seek for it And sincere Obedience is as impossible to be attained unto as perfect Obedience if we act according to our dead natural State 3dly As the Law bereaveth of all strengthning means that are to be had by Faith in Christ and findeth us without strength in our natural State so of it self it affordeth us no Strength to fulfil its own Commandments If there had been a law given that could have given life verily righteousness should have been by the law Gal. 3.21 It doth not so much as promise us life until we have performed the Obedience required by it The man that doth these things shall live by them Rom. 6.5 It is well called a voice of words Heb. 12.19 because its high and big words are not acompanied with any enlivening Power and the Doctrine of Life and Salvation by sincere Obedience is not better natur'd or more bountiful to us For it exacteth of us the Performance of the Condition before it alloweth us any Life or Salvation by Christ
the Spirit whereby we are made good Trees that we may bring forth good Fruit. Though they are given before the sincere Practice of the Law yet they are not given to us in our corrupt sinful Nature but in and with the new holy Nature which immediately produceth a holy Practice though it must necessarily go before as the Cause before the Effect and they are no other than Comforts of those spiritual Benefits by which our new Estate and Nature is produced and of which it is constituted and made up as the Comforts of Redemption Justification Adoption the Gift of the Spirit and the like Neither do I intend here any Transport or Ravishment of Joy and Delight but only such manner of Comfort as rationally strengthens in some measure against the Oppression of Fear Grief and Despair which we are liable unto by reason of our natural Sinfulness and Misery This Explanation of the Sense of my Assertion is sufficient to answer some common Objections against it and I hope the Truth of it will be fully evidenced by the following Arguments First This Truth is a clear Consectary from those Principles of Holiness that have been already confirmed I have shewed that we must have a good Perswasion of our Reconciliation with God and of our Happiness in Heaven and of our sufficient Strength both to will and to do that which is acceptable to God through Jesus Christ that we may be rationally inclined and bent to the Practice of Holiness and that these Endowments must be had by receiving of Christ himself with his Spirit and all his Fulness by trusting on him for all his Salvation as he is freely promised to us in the Gospel and that by this Faith we do as really receive Christ as our Food by eating and drinking Now let right Reason judge can we be perswaded of the Love of God of our everlasting Happiness and our Strength to serve God and yet be without any Comforts Can the glad Tidings of the Gospel of Peace be believed and Christ and his Spirit actually believed into the Heart without any Relief to the Soul from oppressing Fear Grief Despair Can the Salvation of Christ be comfortless or the Bread and Water of Life without any sweet Relish to those that feed on him with hungring and thirsting Appetites God will not give such Benefits as these to those that do not desire and esteem them above the World and certainly the very receiving of them will be comfortable to such except they receive them blindfold which they cannot do when the very giving and bestowing of them openeth the Eyes of a Sinner and turns him from Darkness to Light whereby he doth at least in some measure see and perceive Spiritually the things that concern his present and future Peace and reap some encouraging and strengthning Comfort thereby to the Practice of Holiness Secondly Peace Joy Hope are recommended to us in Scripture as the Spring of other holy Duties and Fear and oppressing Grief forbidden as Hinderances to true Religion The peace of God keepeth our hearts and minds through Christ Jesus Phil. 4.7 Be ye not sorry for the joy of the Lord is your strength Nehem. 8.10 Every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself even as he is pure 1 John 3.3 Fear hath torment he that feareth is not made perfect in Love 1 John 4.18 This is the Reason why the Apostle doubleth his Exhortation to rejoyce in the Lord always as a Duty of exceeding weight and necessity Phil. 4.4 What are such Duties but Comfort it self and can we think that these Duties are necessary to our continuance in an holy Practice and yet not to the beginning of it where the Work is most difficult and Encouragement most needful Therefore we must make haste in the first place to get a comfortable Frame of Spirit if we would make hastâ— and not delay to keep Gods holy Commandments Thirdly The usual Method of Gospel-Doctrine as it is delivered to us in the holy Scriptures is first to comfort our Hearts and thereby to establish us in every good Word and Work 2 Thess 2.17 And it appears how clearly this method is adjusted in several Epistles written by the Apostles wherein they first acquaint the Churches with the rich Grace of God toward them in Christ and the spiritual Blessings which they are made Partakers of for their strong Consolation and then they exhort them to an holy Conversation answerable to such Priviledges and it is not only the Method of whole Epistles but of many particular Exhortations to Duty wherein the comfortable Benefits of the Grace of God in Christ are made use of as Arguments and Motives to stir up the Saints to a holy Practice which comfortable Benefits must be first believed and the Comfort of them applyed to our own Souls or else they will not be forcible to engage us to the Practice for which they are intended To give you a few Instances out of a Multitude that might be alledged we are exhorted to practice holy Duties because we are dead to sin and alive to God through Jesus Christ our Lord Rom. 6.11 And because sin shall not have dominion over us for we are not under the law but under grace Rom. 6.14 Because we are not in the flesh but in the spirit and God will quicken our mortal bodies by his spirit dwelling in us Rom. 8.9.11 12. Because our bodies are the members of Christ and the temples of the Holy Ghost 1 Cor. 6.15 19. Because God hath made him sin for us who knew no sin that we might be the righteousness of God in him 2 Cor. 5.20 21. And hath promised that he will dwell in us and walk in us and be to us a Father and we shall be to him sons and daughters 2 Cor. 7.1 Because God hath forgiven us for Ghrist's sake and accounteth us his dear children and Christ hath loved us and given himself for us and we that were sometimes darkned are now lightened in the Lord Ephes 4.32 5.1 2 8. Because we are risen with Christ and when Christ who is our Life shall appear then we shall also appear with him in glory Col. 3.1.4 Because God hath said I will never leave thee nor forsake thee Heb. 13.5 Because of the many promises made to us 2 Cor. 7.1 Search the Scriptures and you may with delight see that is this the Vein that runneth through Gospel Exhortations and you may find the like Vein of Comfort running through the Prophetical Exhortations in the Old Testament Some may object that the Apostles used this Method in their Writings to Saints that had practised Holiness already that so they might continue and increase therein But to that I may easily reply If it be a Method needful for grown Saints much more then for Beginners that find the Work of Obedience most difficult and have most need of strong Consolation and I hope to shew how we may be able to lay hold
our Salvation Therefore I conclude that we must necessarily have some Assurance of our Salvation in the direct Act of Faith whereby we are justified sanctified and saved before we can upon any good ground assure our selves that we are already in a state of Salvation by that which they call the Reflect Act. Give me such a saving Faith as will produce such Fruits as these No other Faith will work by Love and therefore will not avail to Salvation in Christ Gal. 5.6 The Apostle James putteth thee upon shewing thy Faith by thy Works James 2.18 And in this Trial this Faith of Assurance cometh off with high Praise and Honour When God calleth his People to work outward Miracles by it all things have been possible to them and it hath frequently brought forth such Works of Righteousness as may be deservedly esteemed great Spiritual Miracles from hence hath proceeded that Heroick Fortitude of the People of God whereby their absolute Obedience to God hath shined forth in doing and suffering those great things which are recorded in the holy Scriptures and in the Histories of the Church And if we be ever called to the fiery Trial as Protestants formerly were we shall find their Doctrine of Assurance to encourage us in suffering for the sake of Christ Seventhly The contrary Doctrine which excludeth Assurance out of the Nature of Saving Faith bringeth forth many evil Fruits it tendeth to bereave our Souls of all Assurance of our Salvation and solid Comfort which is the Life of Religion by placing it after sincere universal Obedience whereas if we have them not first we can never attain to this Obedience and to any Assurance that dependeth on it as hath been proved and this as far as it prevails makes us subject to continual Doubtings concerning our Salvation and to tormenting Fears of Wrath which casteth out true Love to God and can produce no better than slavish hypocritical Service It is one of the principal Pillars whereby manifold Superstitions in Popery are supported as their Monkish Orders their Satisfactions for Sin by Works of Penance Bodily Macerations Whippings Pilgrimages Indulgences trusting on the Merits of Saints c. When once Men have lost the Knowledge of the right way to assure themselves of Salvation they will catch at any Straw to avoid Drowning in the Gulph of Despair There is no way to administer any solid Comfort to the wounded Spirits of those that see themselves void of all Holiness under the Wrath and Curse of God dead in Sin not able so much as to think a good Thought you do but increase their Terror and Anguish if you tell them they must first get Faith and Obedience and when they find they have done that they may perswade themselves that God will receive them into his Grace and Favour Alass they know that they cannot believe nor obey except God prevent them with his Grace and Favour and what if they be even at the Point of Death strugling with Death's Pangs so that they have no time or leisure to get good Qualifications and examine the Goodness of them you must have a more speedy way to comfort such by discovering to them the Free-Promises of Salvation to the worst of Sinners by Faith in Christ and by exhorting them to apply those Promises and trust on Christ confidently for Remission of Sins Holiness and Glory assuring them also that God will help them to believe sincerely on Christ if they desire it with all their Hearts and that it is their Duty to believe because God commands it Several other Evils are occasioned by the same Doctrine Men are unwilling to know the worst of themselves and prone to think their Qualifications better than they are that they may avoid Despair others please and content themselves without any Assurance of their Interest in Christ because they think that is not necessary to Salvation and that but few attain to it and in this they shew little Love to Christ or to their own Souls some foster Doubtings of Salvation as Signs of Humility though they will hypocritically complain of them many mispend their time in poring upon their own Hearts to find out some Evidence of their Interest in Christ when they should rather be imployed in receiving Christ and walking in him by a confident Faith Some are troubled with Doubts whether they should call God Father and what Apprehensions they should have of him in Prayer and are offended at Ministers that in their Publick Prayers use any Expressions that the People cannot joyn in as if they do own God as their God and Father and Christ as their Saviour and upon the same Account they are offended at the Publick singing of many of David's Psalms and avoid partaking of the Lord's Supper because they are not satisfied about their Interest in Christ Though true Believers have some Assurance of Salvation in Saving Faith it self yet it is much weakned in many by this contrary Doctrine and assaulted with many Doubtings and then other good Qualifications must needs be low and weak together with it and so obscure that it is very hard to discern them how hard a thing then will it be for true Believers to assure themselves by the certain Knowledge of their own Sincerity that they are in a state of Grace already which is the only Assurance of Faith Some prescribe Marks and Signs to distinguish Sincerity from Hypocrisie that Believers cannot sufficiently try themselves by them except they have more Knowledge and Experience than Ordinary Thus many Believers walk heavily in the Bitterness of their Souls conflicting with Fears and Doubtings all their Days and this is the Cause that they have so little Courage and Fervency of Spirit in the ways of God and that they so much mind earthly things and are so afraid of Sufferings and Death And if they get some Assurance by the Reflect Act of Faith they often soon lose it again by Sins and Temptations The way to avoid these Evils is to get your Assurance and to maintain it and renew it upon all Occasions by the direct Act of Faith by trusting assuredly on the Name of the Lord and staying your self upon your God when you walk in Darkness and see no light in any of your own Qualifications Isa 50.10 I doubt not but the Experience of many choice Christians will bear witness to this Truth DIRECT XI Endeavour diligently to perform the great work of believing on Christ in a right manner without any delay and then also to continue and increase in your most holy Faith that so your enjoyment of Christ Vnion and Fellowship with him and all holiness by him may be begun continued and increased in you EXPLICATION HAving already discovered to you the powerful and effectual means of an holy practice my remaining work is to lead you to the actual Exercise and Improvement of them for the immediate attainment of the End and I think it may be clearly perceived by the
from your evil ways for why will ye die O house of Israel Ezek. 33.11 Christ testifieth that he would often have gathered the Children of Jerusalem as a hen c. and they would not Mat. 23.37 And the Apostle Paul testifieth that God will have all men to be saved c. 1 Tim. 1.4 you are to reject and abandon all thoughts that are contrary to this persuasion What if few be saved Thy Salvation will not make the number too great for few will follow thee in the Duty of Believing What if the Wrath of God be revealed from Heaven against thee in many terrible Judgments and the Word and thine own Conscience condemn thee and Christ seem to reckon thee no better than a Dog as he did the Woman of Canaan Mat. 15.26 Thou art to make a good interpretation of all these things that the end of them is to drive thee to Christ as this was the End of the Curses of the Law and all the terrible Dispensations of them Rom. 10.4 If a Prophet or Angel from Heaven sent of God on purpose to declare that the Sentence of Everlasting Damnation is declared against thee it would be thy Duty to believe that God sent him to give thee timely warning for this very end that thou mightest Believe and turn to God by Faith and Repentance Jeremiah prophesied against the Jews that God would pluck them up pull them down and destroy them for their sins yet he himself taught them If they turned from their evil ways God would repent of the evil Jer. 18.7 8 11. Jonah preached nothing but certain Destruction of Nineveh to be executed upon them within 40 days Chap. 3.4 yet the intent of that terrible message was that those Heathenish People might escape Destruction by Repentance The most absolute and peremptory denunciations of Divine Vengeance against us while we are in this World must be always understood with a secret reserve of Salvation for us upon our Faith and Repentance And we are to account that the reason why God doth so terribly denounce his Judgments against us by his Word is that we may escape them by flying for Refuge to his free Mercy in Christ Take heed of fostering any thoughts that God hath absolutely decreed to shew no saving Mercy to you or that you have already committed the unpardonable sin or that it is in vain for you to attempt the work of Believing because God will not help you in it If such thoughts prevail in your hearts they will do you more hurt than the worst blasphemous thoughts that terrifie you or any of the grossest Abominations that ever you were guilty of because they obstruct your Believing on Christ for Salvation The Spirit and the Bride say Come Christ saith Whosoever will let him take of the water of Life freely Rev. 22.17 Therefore we are to abandon all thoughts that hinder our coming to Christ as very sinful and pernicious arising in us from our own Corruptions and Satan's Delusions and utterly opposite to the mind of Christ and teachings of the Spirit and what ground can we have to entertain such unbelieving thoughts Hath God made us of his Privy-Council that we should be able to know that God hath decreed us to Damnation before it be manifest by our final unbelief and impenitence As for the unpardonable sin it consisteth in renouncing the way of Salvation by Christ with the whole heart after we have attained to the knowledge of it and are convinced of the Truth of it by the Gospel It s the sin that the Christian Hebrews would have bin guilty of if they had revolted from Christianity to the Religion of the unbelieving Jews that accounted Christ to be an Impostor and were most rancorous persecutors of him and his ways Heb. 6.4 5. They that have committed that sin continue implacable malicious Enemies to Christ and his ways to the end without any repentance Therefore if you can but find that you desire seriously to get an interest in Christ and to be better Christians than you are if you be troubled and grieved that your Hearts and Lives are so wicked and that you want Faith Love and true Obedience yea if your Hearts be not maliciously bent to persecute the Gospel and prefer Atheism Licentiousness or any false Religion before it you have no cause to suspect your selves to be guilty of this unpardonable sin 6. Add to all these a full persuasion of the incomparable glorious Excellency of Christ and of the way of Salvation by him You are to esteem the enjoyment of Christ as the only Salvation and true happiness and such an happiness as hath in it unsearchable Riches of Glory and will make our Cup to run over with exceeding abundance of Peace and Joy and full of Glory to all Eternity We must account all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus our Lord c. Phil. 3.8 Incline your Wills and Affections to choose and embrace Christ as the Chief Good and never to rest satisfied without the Enjoyment of him and to reject every thing that stands in Competition with him or the Enjoyment of him Christ is precious in the esteem of all true Believers 1 Pet. 2.7 Their high esteem of his incomparable preciousness and excellency induceth them to sell all that they may buy this Pearl of great price Mat. 13.46 this maketh them to say Lord evermore give us of this Bread that cometh down from Heaven and giveth Life to the World Lord to whom shall we go thou hast the Words of Eternal Life Joh. 6.32 33 68. because of the savour of his good Ointments his Name is as Ointment poured forth therefore do the Virgins love him Cant. 1.3 They are sick of love to him because he is in their Eyes the chiefest of ten thousand Cant. 5.8 10. As the Glory of God that appeared in the wonderful Beauty of the Temple and in the Wisdom and Glory of Solomon drew Worshipers to God from the utmost parts of the Earth so the unparallel'd excellency of Christ which was prefigured by the Glory of Solomon and the Temple doth more powerfully draw Believers in these Gospel-days The Devil who is the God of this World knows how necessary it is for our Salvation to discern all the Glory and Excellency of Christ and therefore where the Gospel is preached he maketh it his great work to Eclypse the Glory of Christ in the Ministry and to blind the minds of the People lest the Light of the glorious Gospel of Christ should shine into them 2 Cor. 4.4 One that is convinced of the truth of the Gospel may be averse to the embracing of it until he see also the goodness of it that Christ is altogether lovely and excellent I come now to the second principal Act of Faith whereby Christ himself and his Spirit and all his saving Benefits are actually received into the Heart which is Believing on Christ as revealed and freely
Conversation in the World not with fleshly Wisdom but by the Grace of God 2 Cor. 1.12 having or holding fast Grace that we may serve God acceptably labouring abundantly in such a manner as that the whole work is not performed by us but by the Grace of God that is with us 1 Cor. 15.10 By Grace therefore we may well understand the priviledges of our new state given to us in Christ whereby we ought to be influenced and guided in the performance of holy Duties 4. It is also signified when we are to put off the old and put on the new Man yea to continue in so doing tho we have done it in a measure already and that we avoid our former sinful Conversation Ephes 4.21 22 24. and to avoid sin because we have put off the old and put on the new Man Col. 3.9 10 11. I have already shewed that by this twofold man is not meant merely sin and holiness but by the former meant our natural Estate with all its Endowments whereby we are furnished only to the practice of sin and by the later or new Estate in Christ that whereby we are furnished with all means necessary for the practice of Holiness 5. We are to understand the same thing when we are taught not to walk after the Flesh but after the Spirit that we may be free from the Law of sin and that the righteousness of the Law may be fulfilled in us Rom. 8.1 2 3. and through the Spirit to mortifie the deeds of the body and to be led by the Spirit because we live by the Spirit and have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts Gal. 5.24 The Apostle doth shew by these expressions not only that we are to practise holiness but also by what means we may do it effectually By the Flesh is meant our old Nature derived from the first Adam And by the Spirit is meant the Spirit of Christ and that new Nature which we have by him dwelling in us We are said to walk after either of these Natures when we make the Properties or Qualifications of either of them to be the principles of our Practice So when we are taught to serve in newness of the spirit and not in the oldness of the Letter that so we may bring forth fruits unto God The meaning is that we must endeavour to bring forth the fruits of holiness not by vertue of the Law that killing Letter to which the Flesh is married and by which the motions of sin are in us but by vertue of the Spirit and his manifold Riches which we partake of in our new state by a mystical marriage with Christ Rom. 7.4 5 6. and by vertue of such Principles as belong to the New State declared in the Gospel whereby the holy spirit is ministred to us 6. This is the manner of walking which the Apostle Paul directeth us unto when he teacheth us by his own Example That the continual work of our lives should be to know Christ and the power of his Resurrection and the fellowship of his Sufferings being made conformable to his Death if by any means we may attain to the Resurrection of the dead and to encrease and press forward in this kind of knowledge Phil. 3.10 11 12 15. Certainly he meaneth such an experimental knowledge of Christ and his Death and Resurrection as effectually makes us conformable thereunto in dying to sin and living to God And he would hereby guide us to make use of Christ and his Death and Resurrection by Faith as the powerful means of all Holiness in Heart and Life and to encrease in this manner of walking until we attain unto perfection in Christ 2. The second thing proposed was to lay before you some necessary Instructions that your steps may be guided aright to continue and go forward in this way of Holiness until you be made perfect in Christ And seeing we are naturally prone to mistake this way and are utterly unable to find it out or discern it by our own Reason and Understanding we should the more diligently attend to these Instructions taken out of the Holy Scriptures And we should pray earnestly that God would give unto us the Spirit of Wisdom and Revelation that we may discern the way of Holiness thereby and walk aright in it according to that gracious promise The wayfaring men tho Fools shall not err therein Isa 35.8 1. Observe and consider diligently in our whole Conversation That tho you are partakers of a new holy state by Faith in Christ yet our natural state doth remain in a measure with all its corrupt Principles and Properties as long as we live in this present World our apprehension of Christ and his perfection in this Life is only by Faith whereas by Sense and Reason we may apprehend much in our selves contrary to Christ and this Faith is imperfect So that true Believers have cause to pray to God to help their Unbelief Mar. 9.24 Therefore tho we receive perfect Christ by Faith yet the measure and degree of enjoying him is imperfect and we hope still so long as we are in this World to enjoy him in a higher degree of perfection than we have done we are yet but weak in Christ 2 Cor. 13.4 Children in comparison to the perfection we expect in another World 1 Cor. 13.10 11. and we must grow still till we come to the perfect man Eph. 4.13 and some are less Babes than others and have received Christ in so small a measure that they may be accounted carnal rather than spiritual 1 Cor. 3.1 And because all the Blessings and Perfections of our new state as Justification the gift of the Spirit and of the holy Nature and the Adoption of Children are seated and treasured up in Christ and joyned with him inseparably we can receive them no further than we receive Christ himself by Faith which we do in an imperfect measure and degree in this Life The Apostle Paul proposeth himself as a pattern for all those that are perfect in the truth of Grace to imitate And yet he professeth That he was not yet made so perfect in the degree or measure of saving Endowments but that he did still press forward towards the mark of the prize of the high-calling of God in Christ Jesus labouring still to apprehend and win Christ more perfectly and to be found in him not having his own Righteousness but that which is of God by Faith and to gain more experimental knowledge of Christ and of the fellowship of his sufferings and the power of his Resurrection being made conformable thereunto Phil 3.8 10. Believers are Justified already yet wait for the hope of Righteousness by Faith i. e. for the full enjoyment of the Righteousness of Christ Gal. 5.5 They have received but the first-fruits of the spirit and must wait for a more full enjoyment of it The Spirit witnesseth now to them that they are the Children of God and yet they groan
thing that 's contrary to an Holy Life and the Graces and holy Desires to be acted for your selves or others Col. 4.12 Rom. 15.30 Stir up your selves to the Duty Col. 2.1 2. Isa 64.7 Though the Flesh be cross and reluctant we must not yield but resist by the Spirit Mat. 26.41 And thus we shall find the Spirit helping our Infirmities Rom. 8.26 27. Though God seem to defer long we must not faint or be discouraged Luk. 18.1 7. The greater our Agonies be the more earnestly we are to pray Psal 22.1 2. Luk. 22.42 This is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rom. 12.12 Eph. 6.18 Thus you will find Prayer a great Heart-work and not such a thing as may be done while you think on other things and that it requireth all the Strength of Faith and Affection that you can possibly stir up Thus you may get a holy Frame 7. You must make a good use of the whole matter and all the manner of Prayer as ordinary and extraordinary Exigencies may require to stir up Grace in you by wrestling and to bring your Hearts into a holy Frame As in Confession you must condemn your self according to the Flesh but not as you are in Christ You must not deny that Grace that you have as if you were only wicked hitherto and now to begin again which hinders Praise for Grace received in those that are already converted In Supplication you must endeavour to work up your Heart to a godly Sorrow Psal 38.18 and a holy sense of your own Sin and Misery and lay before you the Aggravations thereof Psal 51.3 Psal 102. Complaint and Lamentation are one great part of Prayer as Lamentations of Jeremiah And you must add pleading to your Petitions with such Arguments as may serve to strengthen Faith and to stir up and kindle Affection Job 23.4 which pleadings are taken from Attributes Num. 14.17 18. Promises 2 Sam. 7.27 28 c. Gen. 32.9 12. the equity of our cause Psal 17.2 3. the advantage and benefit of the thing to the glory of God and our comfort Psal 115.1 2. Psal 79.9.10 13. Naked Petitions are not sufficient when the Soul findeth special cause of strugling and wrestling against Corruptions and Dangers and for Mercies Christs large Prayer is made up Joh. 17. of pleading and very few Petitions And we must make use also of Praise and Thanksgiving for to stir up Peace Joy Love c. Gen. 33.10 Psal 18.1 2 3. and 33.1 and 74.14 and 104.34 Especially be much in praising God for Mercies of the new State in Christ Eph. 1.3 and then you will the better give thanks for all benefits on his account Eph. 5.20 1 Thess 5.18 and plead those Benefits to stir up to Faith and Duty That brief Ejaculation Lord have mercy on me is very good to be used but it will not answer the end and use of the whole Duty of Prayer as some lazy carnal People would have it and so harden themselves in the neglect of the Duty Though the large Improvement and use of all the matter of Prayer at all times is not required but only as ordinary or extraordinary Occasions may require 8. You must not confine and limit your Prayers by any prescribed Form seeing it is impossible that any such Forms should be contrived as should answer and fit all the various Conditions and Necessities of the Soul at all times I do not condemn all Forms as that made by Christ the Lords Prayer though it were easie to shew that Christ never intended it for a Form of Prayer so as to bind any to the precise Form of Words and it 's plain the Spirit of God hath expressed it in different Words Mat. 6. Luk. 11. But better to pray by that Form or other Forms than not at all It is uncharitable to take away Crutches or Woodden Leggs from lame People yet none will look upon them but as dead helps I say it is utterly unlawful to bind our selves to any Form because none can answer the Duty fitly and suitably to particular occasions Eph. 6.18 Phil. 4.6 Joh. 15.7 1 Thess 5.18 Eph. 5.20 You must make the whole Scripture your Common-Prayer-Book as the Primitive Church did being the Language of the Spirit reaching all Occasions and Conditions and sittest to speak to God in And if you use a Form you must follow it by the Spirit further than the Form goes according as he shall guide you by the Word or else you quench the Spirit 1 Thess 5.19 If you know the Principles of Prayer and have a lively sense of your Necessities and hearty Desires of Gods Grace and Mercies you will be able to pray without Forms and your Affections will bring forth words out of the fulness of your Heart And you need not be over-solicitous and timorous about words for doubtless the Spirit who is the help to us in speaking to Men will also much more help us to speak to God if we desire it 1 Cor. 1.5 Mar. 13.11 Luk. 12.12 And God regards not eloquent Words nor artificial Composure neither need we regard it in private Prayer Isa 38.14 If you limit your self to Forms you will thereby grow formal and limit the Spirit 7. Another means appointed of God is Singing of Psalms i. e. Songs of any sacred Subject composed to a Tune are Hymns or Songs of Praise and spiritual Songs of any sublime spiritual Matter as Psal 45. and the Song of Solomon God hath commanded it Col. 3.16 Eph. 5.19 in the New Testament Though now in these days many question whether it be an Ordinance or no and there were many Commands for it under the Old Testament Psal 149.2 3. and 96.1 and 100. Moses and the Children of Israel sang before David's time Exod. 15. David composed Psalms by the Spirit to be sung publickly 2 Sam. 23.1 2. yea privately too Psal 40.3 2 Chron. 29.30 Psal 105.2 Other Songs also were made upon several Occasions and used whether they were parts of the Scripture or no as Solomon made 1005. 1 King 4.32 And they made Songs upon occasion which teacheth that it is lawful for us to do so so they be according to the Word Isa 38.9 14. The matter of Scripture may be sung Psal 119.54 Christ and his Disciples sang a Hymn Mat. 26.30 supposed to be one of David's Psalms and they were written for our Instruction as well as other parts of Scripture Rom. 15. and so to be used now in singing They speak of the things of the New Testament either figuratively or clearly and we may understand them better now than the Jews could under the Old Testament 2 Cor. 3.16 Col. 2.7 Christians heretofore practised this Duty as well as Jews Act. 16.25 Hence their Antelucani Hymni were noted by Pliny a Heathen These Songs or Hymns may be used at all times especially for holy Mirth or Rejoycing Jam. 5.13 But is not to be taken exclusively in Singing any more than in Prayer Psal 38.18 2 Chron. 35.25