perish may thank your selves for it how speechless will sinners be then as to remain in impenitency under the outward Light of the Gospel does argue the height of unbelief so to be brought to Repentance by the Preaching of the Gospel does necessarily imply Faith in the Gospel 't is impossible that a Tender of Grace should work Repentance till 't is believed 't is of no force makes no impression upon the Mind of a Man till then therefore Faith must be presupposed I make it out thus That which is brought as a motive for the doing of a thing must be first understood received and believed before the thing can be done upon that motive there is in the Gospel a general offer of Mercy to sinners this proves an effectual means to beget Faith in all that are ordained unto life upon their believing this general offer of Grace their hearts begin to melt under it and some inclination to Repentance is wrought in them this Faith and this Repentance wrought in a more general way at first do form themselves into more particular and distinct acts afterwards thus the principles of the Doctrine of Christ viz. Repentance from dead works and Faith towards God are first laid and then there is in the light and power of these principles a going on unto perfection Heb. 6. 1. Our first Faith is a more general Faith and so is our first Repentance rather an inclination and tendency to believe and repent then actual Faith or actual Repentance Our first Faith wrought in us upon the general proposal of Gospel Grace contains in it a saving Conviction of Sin 't is impossible to receive grace without it grace is nothing to us of no signification to us but as it gives relief against sin which we must have some sense of before we apply our selves to the grace of God for Pardon we must see something in our selves that wants a pardon and which we are willing to repent of and forsake in Case of a pardon Repentance is as true an effect of Faith as Pardon and Comfort Faith first brings a sinner to Christ under some hope of Pardon and then busies it self in working Repentance in order to a comfortable sense of Pardon The Spirit lets in some sense of Gospel Grace tendred unto sinners and affects the heart with it as very desireable as a very seasonable offer by no means to be slighted the Soul begins to be taken with it conceives some hope from it and this is the begining of Faith and with our first Faith Light comes in giving us some Gospel Conviction of sin in order to Repentance I call it a Gospel Conviction because it is wrought by means of the Gospel all after acts of Faith and Repentance have their rise from this first work which brings me to the second Point viz. That Faith is not only joyned with Repentance in the first production of it as has been shewed but in all the subsequent acts of it ever after which I make out thus Faith and Repentance do constantly refer to each other in their several actings Faith to Repentance and Repentance to Faith he that believes repents because he believes and he that repents believes because he repents i. e. as Faith is the cause of Repentance so Repentance is the reason of every particular act of Faith put forth upon Christ for Pardon 't is impossible to make up the full sense of an act of Faith on our part if you fetch not the reason of it from Repentance Why do we go to the Physitian is it not because we are sick weary and faint ready to die of such a Disease So why does a weary Soul come to Christ is it not to be eased of his Burden that insupportable burden of sin that is ready to sink him into Hell. If Faith and Repentance be thus always joyned together does it not follow that we are justified by our Repentance as well as by Faith I Answer No. Though we are not saved without Repentance it does not therefore follow that we are justified by our Repentance but some to make good this Assertion have coyned many subtle distinctions relating to both Before I give a particular reply to this let me say something in general Religion may be considered either in its primitive purity and simplicity as it was laid down in the Fundamental Principles of it by Christ and his Apostles Or as it has since been drawn through the various Discourses Reasonings and Writings of Men for so many Centuries past this has so much overcharged Religion with so many nice distinctions intricate questions and endless disputes that it seems to be quite another thing then it was in the Apostles dayes The best way is to return to the primitive simplicity of the Gospel especially in judging of Fundamentals which are plainly and clearly laid down there in Terms very intelligible Though Faith be the Gift of God and is given of meer Grace but to a few yet all who live under the Light of the Gospel may know what they ought to believe which will render their unbelief more inexcusable did we dwell more upon what is plainly revealed as fundamentally necessary to Salvation we should better discern by the light of those Fundamentals the just consequences of them in any deductions from them which may not be so particularly and expresly spoken unto in Scripture But now to answer the query whether we may not be said to be justified by our Repentance as well as by Faith since we are not saved without Repentance Answ. There is a great deal of difference between Justification and Salvation Salvation includes all qualifications belonging to that state Justification lets us into that state gives us right to Life from whence spring all Qualifications becoming that Life Besides Saving Graces are so called not that they are the Causes of Salvation but because they accompany it we cannot be saved without them Faith it self as a Grace inherent in us is no meritorious Cause of our Justification 't is that which carries us out of our selves to Christ for Righteousness upon the account of which we are justified in the sight of God when we say we are justified by Faith we don't mean we are justified by any thing in our selves we can't understand it so but the contrary that we must be beholding to Christ for all He that receives all from another gives nothing to himself he does indeed apply to himself to his own use and benefit what is freely given to him by another but he cannot in any propriety of Speech be said to ascribe any thing to himself or to owe himself thanks for what he receives from another Faith in its justifying act does not look to it self as our grace but unto Christ as our Righteousness the inherent grace of Faith is not our justifying Righteousness though it lead us out to him who is Faith is the hand but Christ is the gift nay the hand
to justifie us that we might be justified without him or at least not only and solely by him which is highly derogatory to the death of Christ neither will their owning Christ to be the meritorious cause of our Justification salve the matter while they do in any sense require another Righteousness distinct from that of Christs for the justification of our Persons in the sight of God. And having given you this brief account of the matter in difference I shall now proceed The Point in General which I am to speak to is this That though good works are highly necessary in a justified person yet they not required in any way of causality to the Justification of the Person Or thus no part of our inherent Righteousness can be any part of our justifying Righteousness This I might prove to you many ways First From the subject of Justification an ungodly Person a believing Sinner flying in the sense of Sin unto Jesus Christ for Life and Pardon Sin is that from which we are Justified the Righteousness of Christ is that for which or by which we are Justified Act. 13. 39. Secondly Because there must be a change of state in Justification and by Justification before we can derive any saving Grace from Christ to enable us to the least good work I might also Thirdly Argue from the weakness and imperfection of all Inherent Holiness which is not able to justifie it self much less the Person And many Arguments may be brought but my design is to contract this general to a particular point concerning the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 credere or the act of believing and I shall shew that that part of our inherent Righteousness that flows from our doing the Word of God that is the Work of Faith as done by us in an act of believing is no part of our justifying Righteousness This is that which seems to have the fairest claim to and interest in our Justification and if this be disproved the Argument will hold a fortiori against all the inferiour branches of our inherent Righteousness they must be forced to quit their claim also That which seems to intitle Faith to such an Interest in our Justification as is pleaded for by some is the phrase and manner of expression which the Scripture uses in speaking of Faith telling us that Faith is imputed to us for Righteousness that we are justified by Faith that he that believes shall be saved and the like The question is in what sense these Scriptures are to be understood whither we are to take up our standing partly in the act of Faith and partly in the object of Faith making up a Righteousness partly from our selves and partly from Christ or whether we are by Faith to go out of our selves unto Christ for our whole sole and only justifying Righteousness and this is that which I affirm and shall endeavour to make good and shew you that the Scriptures alledged do not ascribe our Justification to the Act but wholly to the Object of Faith not to our believing but to Christ believed on which I prove thus First From those Expressions of Scripture peculiar to Holy Writ by which the Holy Ghost doth of set purpose limit Faith to its Object Iohn 6. 47. Rom. 9. 33. Ephes. 1. 13. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to believe in into or upon Christ which plainly points out this that Faith is alwayes to be taken in relation to its Object that by Faith is meant Christ apprehended by Faith. Life is promised not simply to believing but to believing in in whom in Christ or nothing Faith is a relative term as to its whole sense and signification to the Object Christ. It must be Faith in Christ or Faith in nothing Believing is a Scripture Phrase setting forth our leaning upon Christ. Faith as our Act adds nothing to Christ doth not make his Death satisfactory it was so in its self before though by an applicatory act of Faith it is made so to us that is we do reap the benefits of his Death and satisfaction we are not united to Faith but by Faith we are united to Christ. Faith is the Medium uniens we do not trust in our Faith but by Faith we trust in Christ all that Faith signifies is in relation to Christ all that it doth is in the Name of Christ without Christ it signifies nothing it doth nothing it is nothing When we are said to be justified by the Faith of Christ or justified by Faith in Christ Gal 2. 16. pray must the meaning be that we are justified by Faith and Christ as some would have it giving the priority to Faith and making Christ but a remote cause of our Justification and our inherent Righteousness to be the next and immediate cause Were Men more willing to exalt Christ and debase themselves this would be English plain enough Faith in Christ would then signifie but one Righteousness it would not be Faith and Christ. Let Men have a care how they speak unadvisedly of Christ to the lessening and diminution of his Honour God hath said he is our Righteousness without any Limitation without any restriction Now for Men to say ay but not all our Righteousness not our only Righteousness I say 't is a bold word thus to distinguish whatever remote inferences they may gather out of Scripture to justifie their meaning yet since God hath not thought fit to drop any such diminutive expression of Christ in Scripture I say it is a bold word for Men to speak You may see how severely speaking against God was punished Numb 21. 5 6. And God complains of it Ezek. 35. 13. With your mouths ye have boasted against me and have multiplyed your words against me I have heard them We may safely deny any thing of God that implies weakness or imperfection but to deny that of Christ which tends to the Exaltation of his Name and riches of his Grace let Men distinguish how they will it is dangerous meddling here This is a tender point that is the first Secondly If the bare act of Faith without any relation to the object justifies then any act of Divine Faith will justifie us as well as Faith in Christ for the Act is specified by the Object Take away the Object and all Acts of Faith are alike equally insignificant But I proceed Thirdly To the third Argument that shall be drawn from the Nature of Faith which consists in receiving As it is the Act of a Believer it implies doing but properly as an Act of believing it consists in receiving and that with an empty hand Now the question is whether by this receiving Act of Faith there do redound to us a Righteousness of our own distinct from that which we receive from Christ I say no We are not justified by a Righteousness that we do but by a Righteousness that we receive Now the bare Act of receiving in a common Natural way is not counted morally meritorious
it self is the gift of God as well as that which is put into it God gives us not only what we believe but he gives us to believe the habit and act of faith are both from God that he that glories may glory in the Lord only And if it be so with faith if that be shut out from being any part of our justifying Righteousness 't will hold true much more in all other saving graces that spring from faith whether Hope Love Fear Repentance c. Repentance proves our Faith to be saving such a faith as gives us an Interest in Christ faith adds nothing to the Righteousness of Christ but applies it as it is it only gives us an Interest in it and makes it ours by vertue of the Promise tendring it to us by receiving the Promise we have a sure interest in the thing promised and may ever after count it our own and if we are not justified by our graces themselves much less by our good works which are the fruits and issues of them we must resolve all our graces into faith and faith it self into Christ and his Righteousness before we can be clear in the matter of our Justification 4. The real distinction that is between them notwithstanding this necessary Connection Faith and Repentance are frequently joyned together in Scripture and sometimes each of them singly put for the whole work of Conversion and then they do alwayes include each other and imply the whole work of grace in the Soul as Luk. 13. 5. Luk. 15. 10. Acts 3. 19. Acts 11. 18. Though they cannot be separated yet they may be distinguished not only nominally but really they are spoken of Act. 20. 21. as two distinct things as Faith and Hope are inseparable yet two distinct Graces so 't is with Faith and Repentance they grow together as different Branches from the same Root that bears and feeds them both they are the two Vital Constituent parts of a Christian which have their distinct Offices and Influences Repentance is the same in Principle with Faith though they receive different denominations from the different objects and occasions about which they act A principle of Grace is that immortal Seed or that Spirit that is born of the Spirit the fruits of the Spirit are not the Spirit it self but something produced by him all Graces are the fruits of the Spirit and are specified by their different objects All Graces are but so many expressions of that holy Disposition that is wrought in us by the Holy Ghost To Repent of Sin is as true Holiness as not to sin at all a sinner has no other way to express his Love to Holiness than by a declared Hatred of his Sins They differ in their Objects faith as justifying hath Christs Righteousness for its Object Repentance has mans unrighteousness for its Object as Faith acts upon Christ for an Interest in his Righteousness so Repentance acts towards God acknowledging our own Unrighteousness and bewailing it we cannot rejoyce in the Righteousness of Christ till we mourn for our own sins Christ reconciles God to us by the attonement offer'd 2 Cor. 5. 20 21. and us to God by working Repentance in us who were Enemies to him in our Minds by wicked works Col. 1. 21. alienated from the life of God Col. 4. 18. This Enmity against God and alienation from him is removed by Repentance Faith works upwards to appease Gods Wrath by holding up the Blood of Christ Repentance works downwards upon our selves changing our Minds towards God that we may be conformable to his Will and rebel no more against him Besides All Graces do not imploy at least equally the same Affections there is more joy and hope in Faith more sorrow and fear in Repentance faith lists up and comforts a guilty sinner upon one account Repentance humbles him and lays him low upon another account filling him with godly sorrow for his sins 5. Reasons why the Professors of this Age who are so much for Faith do mind Repentance so little are so seldom found in the Exercise of it 1. Because they rest in general Notions of Faith and of Justification by Grace through Christ they say they have faith and think this will save them we may have right notions of faith in our Heads and yet be under no real actings of faith in our Hearts we may be Orthodox in our Judgements sound in the Doctrine of Faith and yet be strangers to the Grace of Faith we may hold the Truth dispute for it preach it up maintain it in our Discourses as our Opinion and yet be rotten at Heart for all this under the power of unbelief if you know these things happy are ye if ye do them Faith must be done as well as talked of it must be really acted by us in our own case 't is not the doctrine of faith but your faith in or according to that doctrine that saves you the just shall live by his own faith the doctrine of faith is an external thing laid down in the letter of the word but the grace of faith is an inward living principle found only in the hearts of real Saints this is that I am inquiring after and pressing upon you as that that will certainly produce Repentance Zach. 12. 10. 'T is one thing to have a Notional Knowledge of the doctrine of faith as contained in the letter of the word another thing to be under the power of the grace of faith as it passes thorow the heart in the lively actings of it Notions of things may be separated from those effects that alwayes attend the things themselves when they are in being we may shake and freeze under our notions of fire but we cannot stand before fire it self and not be warmed by it were there more real faith I mean of the grace of faith among professors there would be more Repentance let us not flatter our selves in the good opinion we have of our faith and of our supposed Interest in Christ 't is all false our faith is vain and we are yet in our sins if Repentance do not accompany our faith The visible neglect of Repentance in the Professors of this age has brought a reproach upon the doctrine of faith and caused it to be evil spoken of that faith that does not sanctifie will never justifie and without Repentance there can be no Sanctification not that we make Repentance any Meritorious Cause of Pardon or that it is to be rested in as any satisfaction for sin only we affirm that justifying faith alwayes works Repentance 2. Because they rest in a general Repentance which they took up at their first Conversion and that must serve all their lives long 't is enough they have once repented that work is over they have done with it now and care not to return to it again but because you have once repented you must always repent you entred into Covenant with God for your whole lives to repent of
believe as Christ is gone before you as surely escape Hell and overcome Death as Christ is risen from the dead and the only way to get an Interest in Christ is to attend to the word of Faith that is preached ver 8. when once that prevails and brings you to confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God hath raised him from the dead you shall be saved ver 9. this proved out of Isa. 28. 16. Whosoever believes on him shall not be ashamed whether Iew or Gentile ver 11 12. and because Prayer is the principal part of that outward Confession made with the Mouth and the best indication of Faith in the Heart he concludes ver 13. Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved Whence Observe Observ. The chiefest thing we should now pray for is that we may have an Interest in Christ and his Righteousness desiring to be found in him c. Having spoken so much of the Righteousness of Faith he does in a certain gradation shew the way and means of attaining it it is not a Righteousness that is to be done by us to be wrought out with our own hands but prepared for us by another freely promised and given to us therefore it must be askt it must be earnestly pray'd for we must beg hard of God to impute it to us v. 13. the Law propounds the work of Righteousness to be done by us the Gospel Rom. 5. 17. propounds the Gift of Righteousness to be pray'd for and thankfully received v. 14. there can be no Prayer without Faith no Faith without Hearing no Hearing without a Preacher no Preachers unless they be sent from all which he draws this Conclusion viz. that the next immediate Cause of Faith is Hearing There is much Preaching and much Hearing in this City but what comes on 't Truely if Faith does not come nothing comes that will turn to any good Account to you The Apostles in the Primitive times so spake that many believed Acts 14. 1. with that evidence and power their words had a special Accent in the Ears and Hearts of those that heard them God gave a signal testimony to the word of his Grace than fear came upon every Soul Acts 2. 43. Those who were not savingly wrought upon were greatly astonished at the Doctrine of the Gospel 't is otherwise now how little of this astonishment does appear in our Assemblies where is this fear that came upon every Soul 't was short of Faith yet I am perswaded when Faith comes in some open eminent Conversion that the whole Assembly is usually struck with some present fear the Word comes like a mighty rushing Wind into the Congregation shakes all when 't is about to Convert one something like this may be observed in the Acts of the Apostles and other passages in the New Testament it is sit that Grace should be solemnly attended when it goes forth to the publick Conversion though but of one Soul If God intend the coming of Faith into any of your hearts this day he 'l come along with his Work he will prepare the way he 'l bless your hearing and speak something inwardly to you from himself that shall incline your hearts to believe the Gospel though God speaks by the Ministry of man yet his voice is distinct from ours and begins where that ends carrying the Word from the Ear to the Heart there leaving it under those mixtures of Faith that make it work effectually Hear I beseech you with diligence least you obstruct the coming of Faith by not attending to what shall be spoken to you in the name of the Lord. So then faith cometh by hearing c. Doct. Hearing the Word of God Preached to us is the ordinary means of begetting faith in us First What are we in a more special manner to understand by Faith here in the Text. The general Object of Faith is the whole Doctrine of God laid down in the Scriptures the special object of Saving Faith is the Free-promise of Grace in Christ Jesus this supports the former we must believe the Divine Narrative of the whole Will of God revealed in the Bible before we can pitch our Faith in any suitable actings upon any part of it 't is one thing to assent to the Truth of the Word in General a further and indeed another thing to apply the Promises he believes a Promise who do's fiducially rely upon it this is properly Trusting we believe something in reference to our selves living in a comfortable Hope and Expectation of it respecting not only the Truth of the thing but also the Goodness of it in reference to our selves under that possibility probability or certainty of obtaining it which our Faith according to its various Degrees may represent unto us Faith in the Righteousness of Christ for justification is here principally intended Secondly Why must this Faith come by hearing Hearing is alwayes antecedent to Faith though Faith be not always the consequent of Hearing ver 16. 18. all Hearers are not believers though all Believers are first Hearers I shall evince the necessity of Hearing in order to Faith from these following grounds I. Hearing is Sensus Discipline the Sense by which all Knowledge is let into the Soul. There is a two-fold Knowledge belonging to Faith one leading to it the other found in it arising from it and is the same with Faith it self The First is Litteral or Historical 't is rather notitia then cognitio a notice or particular information given us of the Contents of the Bible especially of the report which the Gospel makes of the way of Salvation by Christ we must know what we are to believe before we can be supposed to believe any thing How shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard and how shall they hear without a Preacher Words are the proper Object of this Sense of Hearing where nothing is spoken nothing can be heard the sound of Words must reach the ear before the sense of those Words can enter into the Understanding This Historical Knowledge do's not lye in Learning the Scriptures by roat without any Rational Knowledge of the Litteral Sense and Meaning of those Propositions of Truth that are contained therein this would be only Memory without any Understanding A Natural Man does not dis-believe the Scripture because he has not a Rational Conception of the common Notion of things spoken of there but because he has and finding them so uncouth so seemingly contrary to Humane Reason he rejects them as Foolishness The Second Is a Knowledge more than Historical and is of the Essence of Faith all one with it it is that which we call a Saving Knowledge it lies in the Use and Application of Gospel Truths to our own Souls when we shape our selves to a real Conformity to the Call of God in every Gospel Truth acting in a way of Duty what the Word of God
I shall now shew you how God thus appearing to us in hearing the Word does open the heart enlighten the mind and throughly perswade the will to a through closure with Christ upon Gospel Terms Naturally our hearts are shut up against the Gospel our Minds are blinded 2 Cor. 4. 4. till God shines into our hearts to give the light of the Knowledge of the Glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ ver 6. Enlightning the eyes of our Understandings Eph. 1. 17 18. Quest. What is this Light of Faith and how does it differ from the Light of Reason Answ. The Light of Reason lies in the evidence of the thing it self as it falls under a Humane Understanding arguing from the cause to the effect drawing certain conclusions from undeniable premises granted and acknowledged by all men to be Truths in Nature Upon such Concessions they build all their acquired Knowledge and do put the stamp of Truth upon all fair inferences from thence which they judge agreeable to those first principles and notions of Truth that pass for currant under that name among credulous men who do but think they know and do rather ghess than judge so great is the uncertainty of all humane Knowledge we have little cause to glory in it The light of Faith lies in the infallible certainty of Divine Testimony faith sees not the causes of things in the things themselves but in God alone to whom all things are possible faith excells all other knowledge in as much as it sees and knows all things in their first Cause God and takes hold of them by the very root from whence they first spring arguing from the Veracity of God to the Truth of all his sayings we know that God has spoken thus and thus as Ioh. 9. 29. we know the Doctrine is of God Ioh. 7. 17. and that no prophesie of the Scripture is of private Interpretation 2 Pet. 1. 20 21. under this conviction we cannot but yield the obedience of faith to every word of God I do not deny but experience may and does give Believers some Evidence of the things themselves but this belongs rather to their after Edification then to the first act of Faith in their Conversion by which they close in with Christ upon the credit of a bare word of promise from him who cannot lie Object Since these sublime supernatural Misteries of the Gospel are so much above and so seemingly contrary to humane Reason how comes it to pass that any man should own them for Truths and be brought under the power of them Answ. 'T is by a Divine Faith I call it Divine because 't is the work of God that we believe his Testimony Ioh. 6. 29. Quest. Does not this Operation of God upon the Hearts of men in working faith in us offer violence to mans Nature and force the Will to consent to that which is above the Understanding Or how can the efficacy of Gods Grace in determining Mans Will to such a Spiritual Act of Faith in Christ Jesus be consistent with the liberty of the Will. Answ. Many intricate disputes there are about this Point managed by subtil heads not without some shew and appearance of Reason who to secure the liberty of Mans Will have denied the efficacy of Gods Grace placing the power of believing in man himself to avoid the force that otherwise they think must be offered to his Will. But to clear the efficacy of Gods Grace from this imputation I need say no more but this viz. That the Grace of God enters the Soul of man as a New Nature and therefore cannot put any force upon him Nature works kindly in all by Inclination not by Violence as Nature is from Generation so the new Nature is from Regeneration one is the birth of the Flesh the other of the Spirit as we are born Men by our first birth so we are born Christians by our second birth Artificial Christians are all name without any living Nature answerable to it being not truly born of God and thereby made partakers of his Divine Nature The breathing in of this new Nature into the Soul of man by the Spirit of God is that new Creation spoken of in the Gospel 't is the first Act of God in our Conversion 't is solely the Act of God without any concurrence of ours we have only a passive obediential power to receive the impression 'T is God that makes it upon this supernatural Principle are grounded all after proceedings in bringing the Soul forward to an actual closure with Christ all the natural powers and faculties of the Soul are gathered into this supernatural Principle do act under it are moved by it and directed in all their free motions to a supernatural end which they could not of themselves tend unto and let it not seem incredible to us that God should do this he can do no evil from the perfection of his Nature and for the same reason all good must needs be in the power of his hand the greatest good that can be done to fallen Man is thus to restore him In this new Nature are wrapped up the seeds of all Grace which by the efficacy of the Spirit are drawn out into act with the free consent of Mans Will Should God determine the Will of Man to a good act whilst it is in a bad state and under a corrupt nature this would imply force and violence but to lead out a man according to his new Nature is not to put a force upon him If Sin had that efficacy upon Man in his perfect state to encline his Will to Evil why should not Grace have the like efficacy upon Man fallen to encline his Will to good Though an inclination to Evil in Man standing was possible from the liberty of his Will in which he was created yet such an actual inclination was inconsistent with his perfect state and left such an inherent crookedness in his perverted Nature that nothing but Grace can rectifie and make streight again What is a principle of Grace but liberty to Good restored to fallen man from whence an actual inclination to choose what is good do's follow of course when God calls and excites him thereunto here is no force put upon mans Will it acts freely in the choice of good and it cannot be otherwise since Grace enters as a new Nature ingenerating a powerful Principle of Holiness in the Soul that do's incline a man freely to comply which the efficacious grace of God exciting him to those acts of Holiness so agreeable to the Nature of the new Creature as Sin reigns unto Death so Grace will reign through Righteousness unto Eternal Life Rom. 5. 21. Shall not he that raises the dead be able to quicken a dead Soul but we are more sensible of that power that God puts forth upon the bodies of Men then of that which he puts forth upon their Souls that you may know that the Son of man
our Understandings and Knowledge he hath appointed Faith as a fit means by which the soul not only doth the thing but also le ts in a sense of what is done upon the soul and therefore saith the Apostle it is of faith that it might be of grace God will be understood in all the acts of his Grace towards us Now that there might be in us a sense of reception of so great a benefit God resolves to put it into the hand of Faith which hath a natural sutableness in it and fitness to receive what free Grace tenders to it and so it doth when it is in any strength Christ and our Souls would never meet were it not for Faith. There is no letting down any thing spiritual and supernatural into the soul but by Faith Faith is our modus habendi it is the way the means by which we come to have God and Christ and an Interest in the things of Heaven We have what we have from Christ by Faith and we hold it by Faith. Faith and Repentance as acted by us and reflected upon are very good Evidences of our Justifications for it is in that reflection only that they do give evidence of themselves and of any thing produced from them Therefore I say as they are reflected upon they have retrospection to our Justification of which they are very good and evident proofs but they have no antecedent causality to produce the thing signified because they signifie it as a thing already done past and perfect 3. And lastly Justification is frequently set down in Scripture without any relation to these acts of Grace in us to shew that it wholly flowes from Christ and that by our believing we add nothing to our Justifying Righteousness but do only apply it as wholly derived from Christ alone 1 Ioh. 5. 12. He that hath the Son hath life they that are in Christ there is no Condemnation to them Rom. 8. 1. Now because we cannot admit sinners to be in Christ but by faith therefore what flows from Christ is attributed unto faith which is I say our modus habendi but still the real cause of our Justification that which makes us just in the sight of God is our being in Christ and our having the Son. There is no mention made of having any thing else but faith is our modus habendi we cannot have the Son but by faith nor be in Christ but by Believing Therefore God speaks to our Understanding and hath attributed that to the act of faith which is only derivable from the Object I shall now shew you the weakness of those grounds and reasons they go upon who differ from us in this point 1. They speak much of a Charge of Infidelity Impenitency and Unholiness to be drawn up against us at the last day and therefore it concerns us to muster up all our good works all our acts of Grace and every part of our inherent Righteousness that we may be in a readiness to answer to this Charge and clear our selves A specious Argument enough to amuse the World and fright men back into the Popish Doctrine of Justification by Works Brethren I do not deny that unbelieving impenitent and ungodly Persons shall be charged with infidelity impenitency and ungodliness and be condemned but to talk of a charge of Infidelity against a Believer at the last day I say it is a groundless unscriptural Notion I do not deny that the faith of the Saints that draws them to Christ and its efficacy afterwards in all its fruits will be taken notice of by Christ when they are admitted into the Kingdom Mat. 25. 34. Come ye blessed and when that blessedness is fixed Christ doth not put them upon the proof of their faith but helps them himself to understand the former actings of their faith and love to God which they were ignorant of before When saw we thee an hungred and fed thee or thirsty and gave thee drink c. In as much as ye have done it to one of the least of these ye have done it to me I see more Grace in you saith Christ than ever you saw in your selves so and so appearing in your lives Come ye blessed Brethren Good Works are good Evidences to us to make out the Truth of Grace in us but the All-knowing God needs no such Evidences for his Information he knows what is in man and needs not that any should tell him He searches the Heart Though we see Grace only in the Fruit yet God sees it in the Root and Principle Besides I conceive the last Judgment is not to prove who is and who is not in a state of Grace but rather to pronounce the Sentence according to the state that every one shall appear in at the Resurrection There will be no doubting of any mans state at the Resurrection the method and manner of the Resurrection will decide it Christ himself will separate the Sheep from the Goats and he will do this before the Judgement Mat. 25. 32 33. You shall know a Believer then by his Station at the right hand of Christ by his Company among the Sheep The Angels are sent forth Mat. 24. 31. to gather up the Elect from the four Winds from the one end of Heaven to the other They will ransack every corner of the World to find out every Saint not only the Ninety and Nine but the whole Hundred shall be presented to God not one missing we shall all stand together Now after they are thus ranked by Christ and the Angels have declared them to be Sheep to be true Believers must they come under a charge of infidelity Who must draw up this charge and manage this false Indictment Either God or good Angels or Conscience or the Devil God he hath justified them here sealed them by the Spirit of Adoption to the day of Redemption and he will never reverse his judgment The judgment of God at the last day will be pursuant to the judgment already past by his Word and Spirit in the Hearts and Consciences of Believers here Good Angels are imployed to gather up the Elect and consequently they have a true discerning who they are Our Consciences are sprinkled with the Blood of Jesus and have an answer in readiness by the Resurrection of Christ from the dead And the Devil will have something else to do in that day when he stands at the head of the wicked to receive his sentence with them the time of his torment being then come Though he be now the accuser of the brethren day and night before God he must then Eternally be cast down True he is now our accuser and we must labour to overcome him by the Blood of the Lamb as Rev. 12. 10 11. that is by Arguments drawn from the Blood of Jesus yet I say fear him not after death The last enemy that shall be destroyed is Death saith the Apostle and must we have an after rancounter with
Words will not do it till you make it appear that the Grace of God that hath brought Life and Immortality to light through the Gospel hath taught you to deny all Ungodliness and Worldly Lusts. This is the way to promote the Doctrine of Justification by Faith alone You that are built upon the right Foundation had need be careful and circumspect The House is not yet finished we do all of us lie open more or less to Storms and Tempests here below though they cannot throw down the house yet they may shake the house the rain may beat into the house may soak through every room of the house may foul the house may greatly incommode us and distress us Therefore keep your Souls in good repair keep them as tite as you can against Wind and Weather And for your Comfort I would have told you that Heaven will mend all the Errors in the Superstructure if the Foundation be right God will then take away and separate all those weaknesses and sinful mixtures that now run along with all our Graces all Cracks and Flawes the sinkings and failings the bendings and leanings this way and that way in any part of the building Heaven will mend all will set all right and straight when we are Sanctified throughout and the Top-stone is laid FINIS A DISCOURSE OF REPENTANCE SHEWING The Difference between Legal and Evangelical Repentance AND The Necessary Connection between Evangelical Repentance and Saving Faith. By Thomas Cole Minister of the Gospel LONDON Printed for Thomas Cockerill at the Three Legs over against the Stocks-Market 1689. A DISCOURSE OF Repentance MARK 1. 15. Repent ye and believe the Gospel THE summe of the Gospel lies in Faith and Repentance which alwayes go together and cannot be separated though they may and ought to be distinguished one from the other I have chosen this Text to show the necessary connection that is between Faith and Repentance that I may be the better understood I shall observe this method 1. Distinguish between Legal and Evangelical Repentance 2. Shew the nature of Evangelical Repentance what it is and wherein it does consist how it rises our of faith what its use and end is 3. Shew the necessary connection that is between Evangelical Repentance and saving Faith. 4. The real difference that is between them notwithstanding this necessary connection 5. Inquire into the true cause and reason why the Professors of this Age who are so much for Faith do mind Repentance so little 6. Apply all First Distinguish between Legal and Evangelical Repentance You see the Repentance and Faith spoken of in the Text have both of them a reference to the Gospel Repent and believe the Gospel We shall better understand the nature of Evangelical Repentance by comparing it with Legal Repentance observing as we go how they differ from each 1. Legal Repentance is the work of the Law i. e. The work of the Spirit by the Law for the Law works but faintly under the influence of meer Natural Light unless the Spirit awaken the Conscience and set home the Law little will be done such a work of the Law you have Rom. 2. 15. letting in a Spirit of Bondage upon the Conscience accusing us for what we have done against the Law and leaving us so convicted without any plea for our selves Evangelical Repentance is the work of the Gospel sweetly melting the Heart by Arguments drawn from the Love of God and his free Grace in Christ towards Sinners it encourages a trembling Soul to plead with God for Mercy as the Publican Lord be Merciful to me a Sinner 2. Legal Repentance is all terrour and no hope it rises from the revelation of Gods Wrath against Sinners 't is a despairing Repentance without any hope of pardon the Curse of the Law lies hard upon a Man he knows not how to get from under it but lives in a fearful expectation of fiery indignation to devour him he is a terrour to himself But Evangelical Repentance leaves not an affrighted sinner altogether without hope as I shall shew under the next head 3. Legal Repentance is from worldly sorrow not so much for the sin as the penalty incurred thereby the apprehension of which is very dreadful to a convinced sinner he is more affected with the evil of punishment then with the evil of sin in it self 't is not for Gods sake but his own that he repents of sin he could love it well enough if it did not damn him Though I do not deny but a Repentance purely legal may have some sense of the evil of sin as sin not only as malum prohibitum but as malum in se as evil in its own nature where common notions of good and evil are not utterly extinguished it must needs be so especially under a higher conviction from the Spirit of God that gives us a farther discerning of the evil of sin then the meer light of nature under its greatest elevation can possibly do It was so in Iudas Matt. 27. 34. he was convinced not only that he had broken the Law of God but that he had sinned in so doing I have sinned in that I have betrayed the innocent blood He knew he had a hand in murdering a Man a good Man a great Man who was more then Man no doubt all this came up into his mind concerning Christ yet the knowledge of Christ that Iudas had did not reach so far as to beget the least hope of Mercy from him and here lay the legality of his Repentance it was a despairing Repentance he conversed only with the Law and so sunk under the wrath of God and the curse of the Law he had none to accuse him but his own Conscience the Rulers and chief Priests were for him had set him a work and rewarded him but seeing him under such horror of Conscience he had done their business what care they see thou to that unconvinced sinners do slight the convictions of others they may go hang themselves for all them they have no pity for them I speak this to shew that legal Repentance may take in something of the evil of sin in it self as well as the destructive nature of it to us though these legal convictions of the evil of sin in it self are far short of those more through convictions that accompany true Evangelical Repentance Though the sorrow that is in legal Repentance be but worldly yet 't is very pungent it pierces us thorow and pretends to some Devotion too as if it were for Gods sake when self is only at the bottom Pharaoh confessed his sins and desired the Prayers of Gods People Exod. 9. 27 28. Saul wept for his sins 1 Sam. 24. 16. The effects of Gods wrath are very dreadful upon convinced sinners may draw Tears from their Eyes when they see what mischief they have brought upon themselves they repent but how Not of the sin but of the punishment Alas What does that signifie how ineffectual