Works he hath whereof to glory but not before God as if it were any thing whereof he could glory in himself for all Glorying and Boasting is excluded but Abraham's glorying is in God who freely justified him and he rejoiced from that Act of Faith concerning his Son evidencing the Soundness of the saving Faith and the Manifestation of his Justification thereby both to himself and other Men whereby he glorieth before Men and not before God And whereas it is said That Faith worketh by Love it cannot be understood that Acts of Love are Acts of Faith for they are Graces essentially distinct but that Faith is Man's Part of the Covenant whereby Love is given upon God's Part nor doth it follow that because Faith is perfected by Love therefore its Essence is not distinct from Love Man is perfected by Love yet it is no part of his Being That Historical Faith believing the Truth of the Gospel is specifically different from saving Faith and yet it is said That whosoever believeth Christ is come in the Flesh is born of God for no Man can call Jesus Lord but by the Spirit of God which imports no more than a Sign of saving Faith at that time when there was so general an Opposition against Christ when no Man did avow or own Christ hypocritically 7. The Church of Rome hath more exceeded in bringing Works as Man's Part of the Covenant of Grace than any other Society of Christians for they have made Works the whole and only Part of Man in the Covenant of Grace and have given no Preheminence to Faith but to Charity or Love consequently enough to that Principle As it is said of the three eminent Christian Vertues that of these the greatest is Charity so that if Faith did save as a good Work Love would much more save They acknowledg no Justification distinct from Sanctification they do not require good Works as the Condition of Salvation but as the meritorious Cause of Salvation that God in Justice could not deny Celestial Glory to those that live holily and which is yet more extravagant Supererrogation is the common Opinion publickly preached in that Church and when the Council of Trent was call'd on purpose to amend Errors in Doctrine and Manners that had crept into that Church not one Word in any of their Canons disapproving Works of Supererrogation and the Treasure thereof out of which the Pope by Assignment of the superfluous Merits of the Saints may supply the Merits of others and bring them to Heaven either immediately upon Death or shortning their purging by the purgatorial Fire as soon as he thinks fit and yet they dispute vehemently against the Imputation of the Holiness of Christ. They do acknowledg that Christ's Sufferings have satisfied the Justice of God that without encroaching thereupon he may give Pardon of Sin and they do not ascribe the Pardon of Sin to the Merit of their Holiness but only to the Expiation by Christ's Sufferings and inconsistently enough they require purging by the purgatorial Fire which cannot be thought Correction to amend them and therefore could only be to cleanse and expiate in which they derogate even from the Sufferings of Christ. But to give them the most benign Interpretation they think the Forgiveness of Sin could not exalt Men to heavenly Blessedness but that as in the Covenant of Works every one behoved to merit that Exaltation by their Works which could not be after the Fall because of Original Sin whereby the eating of forbidden Fruit did condemn all Mankind descending from Adam by Ordinary Generation until Christ's Suffering had satisfied that Debt and even the actual Transgressions of those in the Covenant of Grace yet tho Men be still sinful their Sins being pardoned as satisfied by Christ's Sufferings Mens good Works lose not their Effect to merit Heaven as well as Adam's which is the only Difference they make between the Covenant of Grace and the Covenant of Works Nothing can be more contrary to the Covenant of Grace and to the Way of Salvation inculcated in the Gospel wherein 1. All Glorying or Boasting of the Creature attributing any Part of its Salvation to it self is excluded Where is boasting then It is excluded by what Law of Works Nay but by the Law of Faith Therefore we conclude saith the Apostle That a Man is justified by Faith without the Deeds of the Law But God who is rich in Mercy for his great Love wherewith he loved us even when we were dead in Sin hath quickned us together with Christ where it is twice repeated by Grace you are saved through Faith not of Works lest any Man should boast Yea Boasting is so far excluded that Man cannot boast of Faith as it is his Part of the Covenant of Grace for it is said By Grace you are saved through Faith and that not of your selves it is the Gift of God What could be more said to exclude Works from Man's Part of the Covenant of Grace not only that there cannot be an equivalent Cause deserving Glory but not so much as the Terms upon which Glory was to be freely given For it is expressy said that we are God's Workmanship created in Christ to good Works which God hath before ordained or prepared that we should walk in them and God hath not predestinated Men to Salvation for their Works foreseen or performed For whom he did foresee them he did predestinate to be conformed to the Image of his Son which Image is Holiness which is not the Cause but the End and Effect of Predestination Good Works indeed are Via Regni but not Gausa Regnandi and they are the Evidences of true and saving Faith to be diligently followed not only by reason of the indispensible Law and Duty anterior in order to any Covenant but as the Means to evidence true Grace and give solid Peace and therefore it is said Strait is the Gate and narrow is the Way that leadeth unto Life and that the Kingdom of God is taken by Violence and the Violent enter it by Force which doth import no more than the Way to the Kingdom And where it is said Blessed are they that do his Commandments that they may have Right to the Tree of Life it doth not import Right by Merit the Word being 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so that Works can no more properly be called Right than the Evidence of Lands or Inheritance are called the Rights thereof as sighifying the same and therefore the explicatory Words are subjoined and may enter in through the Gates to the City All others but the Romanists that bring in Works to the Covenant of Grace bring them in as the Conditions of it but not as a deserving meritorious Cause much less as a superfluous supererrogatory Merit seeing Christ hath declared so clearly that the first and great Command of God is Thau shait love the Lord thy God with all thy Heart with all thy Soul and with all thy Mind
truly he so intended his Faithfulness also in so far only as that it is expected he will punctually and readily perform without Compulsion and he were unfaithful if he did not so perform untrue if he did not intend to perform when he engaged as well as unjust by not performing These may all concur in God but his Justice in performing his Promise and his Truth in intending to perform it can never be separated yet his Faithfulness may be without them in particular Acts so may his Justice in Rewards and Punishments be without any Word and consequently without Truth in that Word and both may be without exerting Faithfulness The Ground and Warrant of Faith is the excellent Disposition of the Person trusted whereby it were incongruous to him to disappoint the Expectation and Confidence which he knew were placed in him and were not rejected by him The Psalmist saith They that know thy Name will put their Trust in thee for thou Lord hast not forsaken them that seek thee Here the Knowledg of God's Name which signifies his excellent Nature is the ground of Trust and specially that Divine Perfection that he will not forsake them that seek him Here is no relation to a Promise the Psalmist founds his Prayer both on God's Faithfulness and on his Justice in performing his Promise and not on this alone when he saith Hear my Prayer O Lord give Ear to my Supplications in thy Faithfulness answer me and in thy Righteousness where these are clearly distinguished The same Psalmist saith in another place Thy Mercy O Lord is in the Heavens and thy Faithfulness reaches unto the Clouds Thy Righteousness is like the great Mountains where God's Faithfulness and his Righteousness are clearly diversified If one should trust in a powerful vertuous Person if he did not make his Trust known to that Person he could not be said to disappoint him or to fail in Faithfulness yet the Manifestation of Confidence may be without Words and sometimes it is unfit to be by Words and it may be abstract from Particulars and be left to the Discretion of the Person trusted So the Attendance the Dependance the humble and kindly Countenance may better express Confidence than Words which are more frequently false Courtiers do manifest their Confidence in Princes Souldiers in their Generals and Creatures may so express their Considence in God but it is more proper to pray to God in Faith for particular Favours as being more the Homage and Dependance of his Creature than the urging his Justice on general Promises It is not Faith but Folly to trust in any but those that are indued with Vertue and moral Perfections or in these for things that the Person trusted hath not or which were unbecoming for him to bestow therefore there is no Creature on which there can be laid entire and absolute Faith because the Inconveniency may occur that they cannot satisfy In this Sense God may be said to be only Faithful as well as only Wise and Good one may trust when he is not wise in trusting yet he may become unfaithful that admitted the Trust they were very unwise that would trust a Secret to a Liar or the managing of an Affair to an imprudent Person or Money to a Prodigal yet if they did admit of the Trust they were unfaithful if they failed It is very evident that it is highly congruous and worthy of the Divine Perfections to be faithful and it were inconsistent with these to disappoint the Faith of his Creatures trusting in him for things fit for him to give and them to receive without consideration of any Promise or Declaration of his purpose so to do It is fully evident that it were unsutable to him to give Happiness to them that love not Holiness or to pardon Sin to those whose Souls cleave to it or to give the highest Favour to such or Glory to any in the next Life to whom he never gave Grace in this in Act or Inclination which by the very Light of Nature do appear but by Revelation God hath clearly declared in what Things he will not allow of Trust or Faith in him or Hope from him especially for obtaining Reconciliation Forgiveness and Happiness and hath expresly declared when Faith is saving God bestows many good Things out of Commiseration or meer Goodness upon those that have not saving Faith nor can I say that he doth not bestow some good Things upon such even upon consideration of their trusting in him for them as by the Faith of Miracles upon whose Confidence he exerted his supernatural Power though at the great Day he rejects them who had that Faith Those who do not by Word or Sign signify that they allow not the Confidence or Hope of these who pertinently signify it do fail in their Faithfulness if they disappoint them My Thoughts upon God's Faithfulness do exceedingly clear me in that eminent Point that Faith is the only Consideration on which God gives Pardon Reconciliation and Happiness and not upon Love or any other good Work as never to be claimed upon rewarding Justice or Merit but of free Favour and Grace alone Albeit Love to God or Reverence and Obsequiousness to him be more excellent Perfections than Faith for in Faith the Creature hath Consideration of the return to it self and much more in Fear but Love is terminated alone upon God himself and upon no return from God which would make it defective The Love of Gratitude is for what is already received but the Love of God purely on consideration of his infinite Perfections is the highest moral Perfection of Creatures If Happiness had been by the Creatures Love Reverence or Obedience it would have been by Justice and Debt not by Grace as the Apostle says to him that worketh the Reward is not reckoned of Grace but of Debt but being by Faith there can be no pretence of Debt or Justice There is no more ground for him that hopes or trusts to attribute the Effect to himself as deserving it by his Faith than if the Miserable should imagine his Misery were the Cause of Mercy shown him I never find a Reward attributed to Faith for tho it be said cast not away your Confidence which hath great Recompence of Reward Confidence there is not Faith but Forwardness and Boldness for in the Original it is not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Though Faith were in the Power of fallen Man he could have little more ground to boast of Happiness on occasion of it than the Beggar of his Poverty which is the occasion of Alms or the Oppressed of Oppression as the Cause of his Relief or than the Infant or Idiot of his Salvation God could have given all good Things without either Prayer or Faith as he doth to Infants but it is a far greater Measure of Benignity to give that which is longed for and desired by Prayer and which is hoped and trusted by
know that God can make them willing in the Day of his Power Conversion and Regeneration when accurately considered are distinct for Conversion is wrought by that Inclination given of God to accept the Offer of Grace for thereby the Soul is no more addicted to Sin but Regeneration is the Infusion of the Habits of Grace the Pardon of Sin Justification or holding of the Believer as Just and thereby reconciling with him and adopting him as a Son which are God's Part of the Covenant of Grace and are always done together and the future Blessings of the Covenant for increasing Grace giving Perseverance exciting Repentance and renewing Pardon Direction Protection and Glory are not Parts but Effects of the Covenant of Grace proceeding from God's Bounty and Faithfulness and from his Engagement in the Covenant of Grace to give these things which Promise is a Part of the New Covenant There is a great deal of Debate and Noise between divers Churches and those of the same Church in what Justification doth consist And it is clear from comparing Paul and James that there is a Justification before Men and a Justification before God The former is but the Manifestation of Justification the latter is the being of it and this only is in God's Part of the Covenant of Grace so that the Question is in what Justification before God consists Some make it anterior to the Covenant of Grace with the Believer and so no Part of it but rather of that Covenant between the Persons of the Trinity accounting the Elect as just Persons Others hold Justification never to be till all Sin be purged and so not before Death Neither of these do agree with the golden Chain of Salvation the Order of which is not without great Moment wherein Foreknowledg is first Predestination second Vocation third Justification fourth and Glorification last So that Justification is after Vocation and before Glorification and so it is one of the two Links in Time Foreknowledg and Predestination being before Time and Glorification being after every particular Believer's Time when they are entred into Eternity Yet even those who hold Justification to be in Time and a Part of the Covenant of Grace differ in their Conceptions of the Nature of it Some hold it to differ nothing from the Forgiveness of Sin to which I cannot agree for then there behoved to be an Act of Justification whenever there is forgiveness of Sin which is often to be repeated and is a chief Article in the Lord's Prayer which bearing Give us this Day our daily Bread and forgive us our Sins must at least import a Prayer for these every Day By entring into the Covenant of Grace future Sins are not forgiven before they be committed which would be an Indulgence to Sin The Church of Rome maketh Justification to be nothing else but Sanctification which doth not consist with that golden Chain where Sanctification is put as the End or Effect of Predestination For whom he foreknew them he did predestinate to be conform to the Image of his Son That Conformity is Sanctity or Holiness not only in conformity to the Holiness of God which would not reach many Duties of Man's Holiness but conformity to his Son God-Man which comprehends them all Others make Justification a judicial Act whether before Time after Time or in Time supposing God to charge a Man as a Criminal with the Guilt of his Sin and that Christ for the Sinner or he for himself pleaded Christ's Satisfaction and thereupon God doth absolve But I conceive there is no such pleading by Man at the Entrance of the Covenant of Grace tho virtually that Absolution be implied but only his assenting to be converted and to be made holy and happy Therefore I conceive Justification to be God's holding and reputing the Believer to be as if he were intirely Just notwithstanding the Remainders of Sin seeing he is become an Adversary to Sin and so may say with Paul Not I but Sin that dwelleth in me In which Sense only it can be said That God seeth no Iniquity in Jacob nor Sin in Israel and that he that is born of God cannot Sin Seeing the indelible Habits of Grace do ever continue in him which is called the Seed of God Tho forgiveness of Sins past at Regeneration purge him and make him innocent yet thereby alone he cannot be accounted Just because the sinful Inclinations remain yet may he be reputed as Just seeing it is expresly said Happy is the Man to whom the Lord imputeth not Iniquity and whose Sin is covered It is an ordinary Expression that the Righteousness of Christ is imputed to Believers and that their Justification consisteth in that Imputation because Christ is said to be our Righteousness which is not a proper or accurate Expression but improper and metonymick whereby the Cause is put for the Effect as Christ is also our Wisdom and our Peace because he is the Cause of both And likewise Faith is said to be imputed for Righteousness which gave the Rise to that Error that Faith as a good Work is accepted in place of intire Righteousness and of all the good Works required for the fulfilling the Law Whereas the Apostle in the Fourth of the Romans saith Abraham believed and it was counted to him for Righteousness and Faith is counted for Righteousness to him that believeth on him that justifieth the Ungodly but is not imputed to him as Righteousness for the Original Word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 now 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifieth not to impute but to reckon account esteem or repute And therefore Christ's Righteousness can no more properly be imputed as our Righteousness than his Wisdom or his Peace can be our Wisdom or Peace of which he is the Cause not the Effect for if his fulfilling of the Law were our fulfilling of it we needed not also fulfil the same and the Antinomians would have too much to say that Believers are not obliged to fulfil the Law which Christ fulfilled in their Place and that all their good Works are only free Gratifications Christ's Rightousness is no otherwise imputed to Believers than as a necessary Accomplishment of the second Adam coming in the Place of the first Adam who if he had continued Righteous would have made effectual the Covenant of Works which was lost by his Failure The fifth Point proposed will now easily be cleared That the saving Act of Faith is not ordained to be Man's part of the Covenant of Grace upon Consideration of its own Worth and Value but as it relateth to and relieth on the Mercy and Faithfulness of God and the Merits and Satisfaction of Christ. It useth to be called the Eye of Faith looking to these the Hand of Faith laying hold upon them or the Instrument of the Soul whereby it obtains Salvation There are sharp Disputes under which of these Considerations it justifies but I like it much better to be conceived only as the
Person Hypostasis or Subsistence of the Divine Nature It is too great Presumption for any in the State of Mortality to determine the manner of the Oneness of the Father Son and Eternal Spirit which is so clearly declared a Mystery near the close of the Canon of Scripture never unfolded after in it The Trinity hath been asserted and owned with the greatest Firmness and Forwardness in the purest State of the antient Christian Church and the least Derogation attempted against it by the Arians hath been condemned with Abhorrence by the most Eminent and Orthodox Fathers and by the Determination and Solemn Confession of Faith by the Council of Nice and it is amongst the most incontestably Catholick Doctrines of the Universal Church owned by all National Societies of Christians in the World above the course of a thousand Years Augustine and some others of the Fathers have attempted to give some Resemblances of the Trinity in Unity though he still acknowledgeth it to be a Mystery they could not fully comprehend So Augustine in his 15th Book of that Treatise he wrote upon the Trinity saith That we have a Representation of the Generation of the Son by the Father in that he is called the Word of God as all Idea's are conceived by Words of the Mind so God's Idea of himself and his Decrees is his Word essential and substantial For all that is in God is God The Son is also the Character of his Person his Image the Brightness of his Glory his Wisdom that was with him from Eternity He says also That the Procession of the Holy Ghost is his Love to Himself by his Idea of Himself with his whole Decrees and that all the Persons of the Trinity are Wise and Powerful by the same Power and Wisdom because they have but one Godhead The Generation of a Son doth not import an Imperfection or Inequality of the Nature of the Son more than of the Father much less doth the Generation of the Eternal Son imply an Inequality of the Son with the Father or a dependance of his Being from the Father as if he needed Preservation like Creatures Yea all the Persons are increated without any Cause and so Self-existent and Coeternal The Errors of Socinians are much more abominable than those of the Arians the Socinians acknowledg nothing of the Son before he was conceived in the Womb of the Virgin The Light of Nature was ever sufficient to confute the Multiplicity of Gods and to convince that there could only be one God Albeit the Multiplicity of Gods did far prevail in the World it was long before it did prevail and not until God had given Men up to their own Ways because of their Wickedness against the clear Light of Nature for they were given up to believe Lies because they did not receive the Truth which by the Light of Nature they knew in Love to live according to it The knowledg of one God was not alone among the Hebrew or Jewish Nation as the Scripture maketh evident in Job and his Friends among whom there was so much clear Knowledg of the Divine Perfections and even of a Saviour and of a Resurrection which are not deducible from any inbred Principle by the Light of Nature and therefore they could not want Revelation yet we have no ground to know any Communication between the Hebrews and them Neither were there a few Persons indued with that Light but a City and Common-wealth having Judges and Counsellors that sate at their Gates Balaam also knew and acknowledged the only true God not by Communication with the Israelites there being a vast distance and no Communication between Aram and Egypt The three Wise Men of the East that were led by a Star to come to Bethlehem when Christ was born could not possibly by Astrology have discovered the Birth of the Mediator and therefore did neither want Revelation nor a miraculous Sign Neither is there any ground to believe that they were Idolaters but that they knew and worshipped the true God and it is highly probable that they were not the only Persons of their Country that did so Yet they did not desire for ought I know to become Proselytes of the Jews Neither is there ground to doubt that Moab or Ammon the Sons of Lot or Ishmael and Abraham's other Sons by Keturah or Esau their nearest Posterity were convinced that there was but one God nor could their Posterity be soon brought to believe a Plurality of Gods So that we have no ground to doubt that the Knowledg of the one God did long and largely propagate it self in the World though through defect of History the Particulars be little known I do not hear of Idolatry before the Flood the cause of it in God's just Judgment is attributed to Mens corrupting of their Ways and the wickedness of their Works After the Flood the Notion of one God did long remain as appears by the common Name of Baal or Lord which was long almost universal and the several Nations that worshipped Baal gave him different Epithets according to their apprehension of his Attributes of which there is frequent mention in the Scripture So the Moabites God was Baal without addition the Sidonians also called their God Baal so did the Canaanites Some Nations called their God Baal Berith that is cursing Baal others Baal Gad Baal Hamon Baal Meon Baal Peor Baal Hanan Baal Hazor Baal Hermon Baal Perazin Baal Zebub the God of Ekron Places also were denominated from Baal as Baal Perazin Baal Shalisha Baal Zebub Baal Zephon and Bell of the Babylonians is but a different Dialect of Baal but that which was the Name of one God with different Epithets did easily come to be apprehended as so many Gods yet the several Nations did not worship many Gods but their own So after the Captivity of the ten Tribes those that were planted in their places being plagued conceived it was by the Anger of the God of that Place and therefore sent for the Jewish Priests to appease him The Greeks were the first that worshipped many Gods and after them the Romans for then the Souls of Men eminent upon Earth were supposed to be cooptated among the Gods in different Orders and as the Nations and Places had Interest in them they had Confidence in them and became forgetful of the true God After arose Images and the relative Honour and Worship attributed to them not only to the Images and Pictures of these Deified Men but also to those Bodies wherein the Gods were supposed to delight and to reside It is not imaginable that so many Men of Discretion and Spirit could with direct Worship adore inanimate Creatures or the meanest Brutes or Plants but that they thought they were delightful to and resided in by Deities and so the Sun the Moon Planets came to be worshipped even by those who did not believe that they had Life or Understanding or were Bodies informed by a Deity but that
Unjust he openeth his bountiful Hand and bestows what is necessary for every living thing while he allows it Life He is merciful and pitieth the very Ravens when they cry for want of Food and much more supplies the Necessities of Men even when they do not trust or expect it All these Perfections respect his Creatures and it is evident that they are without Obligation and in that differ from his Justice and so is also his Providence and Government of the World but his Truth and his Wisdom are Perfections terminated on himself as their peculiar End they are free for none can be obliged to himself yet they are more necessary than the Acts of Bounty which he might forbear but they are comprehended under the Decency proper to God on his own account tho there had never been a Creature he would ever have been true his Thoughts being ever conform to their Objects The Faithfulness of God then is comprehended in his Bounty or Benignity respecting his Creature as warrantably trusting in him As the Term Faithfulness is variously taken so the thing is commonly very indistinctly and sometimes erroniously understood confounding Faithfulness with Justice and Truth and supposing there is no Warrant for Faithfulness but upon Promise and upon the Truth of God in that Promise which is a great Mistake for the Performance of a Promise is an Act of Justice and Truth is not an Object of Trust but when Words or Signs to express it are emitted but Faith may warrantably be where God hath made no Promise nor expressed any Word When God created Angels and Men before he made any Promise to them they did know from his excellent Nature and firmly trust that if they did not offend him he would never make them miserable and they might have trusted for particular Favours not in the way of Reward I know no clear Evidence from Scripture that God promised to Adam that he should never be annihilated only I see that he threatneth Death if he transgressed his Command in eating the forbidden Fruit whence it is collected that God promised him Eternal Life and even Immortality and that he entered into Covenant with him wherein Adam willingly ingaged himself to the Obedience of God and God did promise Life and Immortality to him to his Wife and their Posterity and to raise them from an Animal Life on Earth to an Angelical Life in Heaven without the Dissolution of Soul and Body by Death and as it is commonly believed the good Angels after they had given proof of their Obedience were confirmed that they should never fall There is no less ground to believe that the like Favour would have been granted to Man not only for himself that he should not fall but that a greater measure of Perfection should be given to his Posterity that they might not be under the Necessity of falling and it is evident and certain that by his Transgression in eating the forbidden Fruit he lost these Benefits both to himself and his Posterity but by the infinite Mercy and Benignity of God Christ the second Adam perfected and performed what the first Adam had lost Can any Man pretend that the particular Favours that the Saints have always prayed for from God were all promised by God or did he express his Purpose to give them No certainly and yet they did warrantably trust and prayed in Faith for them and obtained that which they prayed for whereof there are innumerable Examples in Scripture and Experience And therefore it is said that the fervent Prayer of the Godly availeth much If the Import of Mens Prayers should only be that God should be just in the performance of his Promise and be as good his Word I see not how Prayer could be said to avail much for God would be true and just whether any Creature prayed or not But God granteth many things upon the earnest Prayer of his People which were neither promised nor necessary and had no other Conveniency but to satisfy their longing Desire which if it be not incongruous for God to do or them to receive as being hurtful to them if Faith be not wanting the Effect will not fail Was there either Necessity or Promise for the Prophet's stopping the Clouds of Heaven for three Years and six Months and for obtaining Rain when there was no second Cause for it Is it not warrantable to pray to be inclined or directed in the Choice of a Calling a Match or any lawful Undertaking or for the Success of the Choice Is there any Promise for these Particulars Yea tho it be said by Christ to the Apostles That whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my Name he will do it I take it rather to be a Declaration of God's Faithfulness and of the Effect of faithful Prayer not signifying an Engagement but a Resolution And I think it were a very unbecoming manner of praying to say Lord Thou hast promised that whatsoever I demand in Christ's Name thou wilt grant it this I demand and therefore I claim it as due by thy Justice and Truth which thou canst not refuse With God's Grace that never shall be my strain God hath declared that he will give Salvation and Glory to all that shall have saving Faith trusting to obtain these with Sutableness which cannot be towards those who resolve to cleave to and pursue their Sins Suppose this were not only a Declaration but a proper Promise and that the Performance were an Act of God's Justice and Truth yet where hath he promised that he will give Faith to this or that Man that believeth And should he that believeth claim Salvation as an Act of Truth and Justice and not as a free Act of God's Mercy and Benevolence and specially as an Act of God's Faithfulness that he will not disappoint the becoming Hope or Trust of his Creature Trust among Men is not accounted when they obtain a clear Obligation tho it had been granted freely because the Obliged can be compelled to perform but it is accounted a Trust when there is no Promise but that from the Nature of the Deed it is to be presumed not to be a Donation in favour of the Person trusted but with Intention and Expectation that he would restore to the Truster or those who derive Right from him upon demand God of his Benignity to further the Faith of his Creatures does not only promise where no Promise was necessary but gives Seals and Oaths not so much to secure the Effect as to produce Faith and therefore the Effect should ever be attributed to God's Faithfulness and to the Creature 's Faith resting on that Faithfulness I know that God's Justice Truth and Faithfulness have been oftentimes joined as Man 's also may When a Man obtains a written valid Obligation suppose it were for a valuable Consideration there concurs the Justice of that Person who may be compelled to perform his Truth that as he expressed his Purpose to perform so
Manner which God hath freely chosen whereby to communicate Grace and Glory to the Elect. I like it not to be called properly an Instrument which is an inferiour Cause having some Influence with the principal Agent whereas God and Christ are the only Cause of Grace and Glory Neither yet to be properly a Condition upon which God is to give Grace and Glory seeing a Condition must be uncertain to him who makes it a Condition The being an Eye or Hand are certainly Metaphorical without doubt Causa Conditio Modus are different There is least to be attributed to the saving Act of Faith as it is only the Manner how God is pleased to save which is not a necessary Manner for God might have exerted all his Dispensations with Creatures without giving them the Honour to enter into Covenant with him and therefore he freely chose the way of a Covenant and so the manner of it and to magnify his free Grace and to exclude all glorying of Man in himself he hath chosen the manner of the Covenant of Grace wherein there could not be less of Man in a Covenant If God had proceeded only by Mercy to save Men there could have been no place for a Covenant and Man had not been so much dealt with as a Rational Creature proceeding by Reason Deliberation and Choice as by a Covenant Hence way is made to the last Point proposed What may be thought the Reason why God chose an Act of Faith rather than any other Act of Man to be Man's part in the Covenant of Grace wherein there needs no other Reason but the free Arbitrary Choice of God yet tho the matter had been indifferent his Wisdom appeareth much in this Choice and his Goodness also that he would honour Man to contract with him and to take his Consent to that and yet to give him no Cause and even no Pretext to glory in himself If any Person did obtain great things from another freely which he knew he expected from him and were sutable to the one to give and the other to get Could he without the highest Ingratitude and Impudence attribute the Gift to his own Hope and not wholly to the Goodness and Faithfulness of the Giver The Faithfulness of God is the chief Perfection exerted in the Covenant of Grace The Object of Mercy is Misery the Object of Faithfulness is a rational Hope or Trust which is far larger than Mercy and is extended to innocent Creatures who were never miserable This way of the Explication of the Covenant of Grace gives an easy Outgate to that bitter Contest in the Protestant Church of France and elsewhere whether only the active or also the passive Obedience of Christ were imputed by the Covenant of Grace As the Controversy was stated the Arguments on either side were hardly solvable for it was stated thus Whether Christ in his Sufferings stood in the place of Man or if he did also stand in his place in his Acts of Holiness The former was granted by both the latter affirmed by the one and denied by the other The main Reason for the Affirmative was That suffering could do no more than satisfy the Guilt of Sin and so could only bring Man to be free of Misery and Torment in which case Adam was before the Fall but could not raise Man from that Animal State being so much common with Brutes to an Angelical State in Heaven and yet that is frequently attributed to Christ. Therefore it behoved to be the Merit of Christ not by his Sufferings but by his Holiness as Adam would have merited Heaven for himself and his Posterity by his good Works as of Debt not of Grace For to him that worketh the Reward is not reckoned of Grace but of Debt so that Christ paid the Debt of the Elect and so advanceth them unto Glory And on the other part the chief Reason was that Christ by his Human Nature being a Creature was under an indispensable Obligation to the Creator to love him with all his Soul with all his Heart and with all his Strength beyond which there could be nothing by which he did deserve all that Glory that no other was capable of and therefore they could not conceive a Supererrogation in Christ's active Obedience meriting the Heavenly Glory which Merit was not only sufficient for the Elect but for the whole Race of Mankind altho it was free for the Son to become Man his becoming Man was a part of his Humiliation and Suffering and which is yet more pressing if in that way the active Obedience and Holiness of Christ were imputed to the Elect they were thereby intirely holy and their own Holiness were but Works of Supererrogation at least were not Works due by Justice but Works of Gratitude and the failing in them could never require Repentance which would agree to the Principles of none but of the Antinomians Nor did it magnify the free Grace of God if he gave nothing to the Elect in advancing them to Glory but that which in Recompence at least in Premiative Justice he was obliged to give There being small ground in a Creditor to glory that he had exacted all he could have required tho not from his Debtor but from an interposed Person I have already cleared my Thoughts that tho Christ's Satisfaction may by Resemblance be called the Payment of a Debt yet properly it is not Nor doth God crave Satisfaction as a Creditor or is Sin expiated by God's taking Pleasure in the Misery of his Creature to compense the Displeasure he had in their Sin seeing he declareth the contrary with so solemn an Asseveration As I live saith the Lord I delight not in the Death of a Sinner But the Satisfaction he requireth in Conformity to his Holiness is the Vindication of his Purity and of his infinite Aversion from Sin as by his Justice he proportions the Suffering requisite for the Vindication to the Sins deserving Therefore upon the foresight of Adam's Fall and thereby not only the loss of the Exaltation of himself and Posterity to Celestial Glory but falling into a sinful State which no Creature could expiate the Son did freely interpose to restore Mankind to what they had lost by Adam and to vindicate the Purity of God by Sufferings of as much Value as if all Mankind had been in eternal Misery and by Christ's performing what Adam was obliged to perform by a full Implement of the whole Will and Law of God and for that end assuming the Nature of Man I have also cleared my Mind that tho Adam had stood he could not have merited that Exaltation which he and his Posterity were to have had by the first Covenant for he might have continued innocent and sinless without great Advances in Holiness Can it then with any Reason be thought that his so continuing did in any way of Justice and Merit purchase Glory for himself and the Capacity of the like to all his Posterity