is not justified by workes or through workes by the Law or through the Law opposing faith and workes in the matter of Iustification but not in respect of their presence faith I say and works not faith and merits which could never be without doubt he excludes the efficiency and force of the Law and workes in justifying But the particles By and of doe not in the same sense take Iustification from the Law and workes in which they give it to faith For faith only doth behould and receive the promises of life and mercy but the Law and works respect the Commandements not the promises of meere grace When therfore Iustification and life is said to be by faith it is manifestly signified that faith receiving the promise doth receive righteousnesse and life freely promised Obedience to all Deut. 7. 1â— 10. 12. Ier. 7. 23. Lev. 19. 17 18. Luk. 10. 27 Mar. 12 30. Gods Commandements is covenanted not as the cause of life but as the qualification and effect of faith and as the way to life Faith that embraceth life is obedientiall and fruitfull in all good workes but in one sort faith is the cause of obedience and good workes and in another of Iustification and life eternall These it seeketh in the promises of the Covenant those it worketh and produceth as the cause doth the effect Faith was the efficient cause of that pretious oblation in Abell of reverence and preparing Heb. 11 4 7 c. the Arke in Noah of obedience in Abraham but it was the instrument only of their justification For it doth not justifie as it produceth good workes but as it receiveth Christ though it cannot receive Christ unlesse it brings forth good workes A disposition to good workes is necessary to justification being the qualification of an active and lively faith Good works of all sorts are necessary to our continuance in the state of justification and so to our finall absolution if God give opportunity but they are not the cause of but only a precedent qualification or condition to finall forgivenesse and eternall blisse If then when we speake of the conditions of the Covenant of grace by Condition we understand whatsoever is required on our part as precedent concomitant or subsequent to justification repentance faith and obedience are all conditions but if by Condition we understand what is required on our part as the cause of the good promised though only instrumentall faith or beliefe in the promises of free mercy is the only Condition Faith and workes are opposed in the matter of Justification and Salvation in the Covenant not that they cannot stand together in the same subject for they be inseperably united but because they cannot concurre or meete together in one the same Court to the Iustification or Absolution of Man For in the Court of Iustice according to the first Covenant either being just he is acquitted or unjust he is condemned But in the Court of Mercy if thou receive the promise of pardon which is done by a lively faith thou art acquitted and set free and accepted as just and righteous but if thou believe not thou art sent over to the Court of Justice Obedience is two-fold perfect in measure and degree this is so farre required that if it be not performed we must acknowledge our sinne in comming short And this God is pleased to exact at our hands that we might walke in humility before him strive after perfection and freely acknowledge his rich grace and mercy in accepting and rewarding the best service we can tender unto his Highnesse when in the Court of Iustice it deserveth to be rejected 2. Sincere uniforme and constant though imperfect in measure and degree and this is so necessary that without it there is no Salvation to be expected The Covenant of Grace calleth for perfection accepteth sincerity God in mercy pardoning the imperfections of our best performances If perfection was rigidly exacted no flesh could be saved if not at all commanded imperfection should not be sin nor perfection to be laboured after The faith that is lively to imbrace mercy is ever conjoyned with an unfained purpose to walke in all well pleasing and the sincere performance of all holy obedience as opportunity is offered doth ever attend that faith whereby we continually lay hold upon the promises once embraced Actuall good workes of all sorts though not perfect in degree are necessary to the continuance of actuall justification because faith can no longer lay faithfull claime to the promises of life then it doth vertually or actually leade us forward in the way to Heaven For if we say we have fellowship with God and walke in darknesse we lie and doe not the truth But if we walke in the light as he is in the light we have fellowship one with another 1 Joh. 1. 6 7. This walking in the light as he is in the light is that qualification wherby we become immediatly capable of Christs righteousnes or actuall participants of his propitiation which is the sole immediate cause of our justification taken for remission of sinnes or actuall approbation with God The truth of which Doctrine St John likewise ratifies in tearmes equivalent in the words presently following And the blood of 1 Ioh. 1. 7. Christ cleanseth us walking in the light as God is in the light from all sinne But of these things more largely in the severall degrees how this Covenant hath been revealed In this Covenant man doth promise to repent of his sinnes and repenting to cleave unto the promise of mercy made in Iesus Christ and in saith to yeeld willing cheerefull and continuall obedience In contracts amongst men one may aske more and the other bid lesse and yet they may strike agreement But it is altogether bootlesse for men to thinke of entring into Covenant with God if they be noâ— resolved to obey in all things The practise of all Gods people who ever made Covenant with his Highnesse doth expressely speake thus much when they solemnly entred into or renewed their Covenant for thus they promise Whatsoever the Lord saith that will we doe Exod 24. 3 7. The people said unto Joshua The Lord our God will we serve and his voice will we obey Josh 24. 23. And they entred into Covenant to seeke the Lord God of their Fathers with all their he art and with all thâ—eâ—r souâ—e That whosoever would not seâ—ke the Lord God of Israel should be put to death whether small or great whether man or woman 2 Chron. 15. 12 13. And the King stood by the pillar and made a Covenant before the Lord to walke after the Lord and to keepe his Commandements and his Testimonies and his statutes with all their heart and all their soule to performe the words of this Covenant that were written in this booke and all the people stood to the Covenant 2 Chron. 34. 31. 2 Kings 23. 3. They entred into a Curse and into
that they believe in him that justifieth the ungodly and walke before him in all wel-pleasing This may be gathered because the promise of forgivenesse cannot be received but by faith and by faith it is that we overcome the world and vanquish Sathan the enemy of our soules Thus we reade that by faith the Elders obtained a good report and that by faith Heb. 11. 2 4 6 Abel offered unto God a more excellent Sacrifice then Caine by which he obtained witnesse that he was righteous and that by faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death and that Noah became heire of the righteoussnesse which is by faith which is an argument sufficient that they understood how faith was required in this Covenant or promise And seeing it is the property of faith to worke by love and to be fruitfull in all good workes of necessity if faith be commanded obedience is required though not as the cause of life yet as the way to life and the fruit of faith If we must beleeve in God we must also walke with God and worke righteousnesse To whom God gives to believe in him to them he gives to obey and doe all his Commandements as he doth to all that be effectually and internally in Covenant with his Highnesse and of whom he requireth faith in his Promise of them he exacteth obedience to his Commandement scil of all them that be outwardly in Covenant Thus we find that by faith Enoch walked with God or walked before God in all well-pleasing Heb. 11. 5. 6. Gen. 5. 22 24. And to what end is remission from sinne promised that man set free from the curse of the Law and stroke of revenging justice should wallow in profanenesse No but that he should serve God in holinesse and righteousnesse all the dayes of his life But how doth God require these things at the hand of the reasonable creature fallen unlesse he give them sufficient grace to beleeve if they will The answer is man in the state of Innocency being made after the Image of God had power both to beleeve and obey which being lost by sinne God is not bound to repaire And though he had not justifying faith because it argueth imperfection and sinne and could not loose what he had not yet by transgression he brought himselfe into such a state of bondage and wrath which could not be removed but by faith in Christ 2. When God in justice doth shut men up in ignorance and unbeliefe and with-hold from them both the graces of his Spirit and the meanes thereof his judgements are just though secret And if for the sinne of man God may justly cast off millions and not vouchsafe so much as outward meanes of Salvation unto them he may also exact faith and obedience upon promise of pardon and eternall happinesse when he doth not deliver them from thraldome and bondage spirituall whereunto they plunged themselves Was it injustice in God tâ—â—â—â—mise acceptance to Cain if he did well when as yet he was not set free from the bondage of Sathan 3. God doth deny nothing to them that be outwardly in Covenant with his Highnesse that he is bound to give either in justice or by promise so that it will be in vaine for them to plead with God for if they come short of mercy promised it is through their own wilfull neglect or contempt 4. No man is hindred from beleeving through the difficulty or unreasonablenesse of the command or through his owne simple infirmity as being willing and desirous to beleeve but not able which inability deserves pitty but his inability is of corruption and wilfulnesse he doth not beleeve because he will not he is unable because he doth not covet or desire which is inexcusable 5. His inability to beleeve is joyned with the wilfull refusall of mercy promised and voluntary pursute of some inferiour good as more to be desired then Gods favour But of this more in the next degrees of the Covenant Under this Covenant outwardly administred were comprehended both Adam and his posterity even so many as he should dedicate unto God or should accept of the Covenant untill by wilfull departure from the faith and worship of God they discovenanted themselves and their posterity As the Covenant was after made with Abraham and his seed and is now made with beleeving Parents for themselves and their children after them so was it with Adam and those that should descend from his loynes They that lived under this administration of the Covenant did offer sacrifice unto God by divine institution and appointment as is manifest in the example of Abel and Noah We reade not Quemadmodum in terris quum famuluâ— aliquid agit quod non potest nisi jussâ— Domini nâ— est stultus omnes intelligunt eum habere mandatum etiamsi non dicat Bell. de Sacr. Conf. l. 2. c. â— indeed that God gave any Commandement touching burnt offerings or sacrifices but without question what they did was done by divine prescription What a faithfull servant doth on earth which he cannot doe but by command and appointment of his Master for that if he doe it we presume he hath the Commandement of his Master although he doe not say so But Abel and Noah faithfull Servants of God offered sacrifice which they could not well doe but by the Commandement of God therefore they were so commanded though so much be not expressed All Ceremonies which signifie grace are ordained of God or they be unlawfull But the Sacrifices were Ceremonies which signified grace It is written of Abel that by faith he offered a better sacrifice then Cain and that God had respect unto Abel and his sacrifice Of the sacrifice of Noah it is said that God smelled a savour of rest but in faith the sacrifice could not have been offered if it had not been prescribed it should not have been accepted if it had not carried the stamp of God For those Sacrifices were the types of Christ and seales of propitiation and remission of sinnes in and through the bloud of Jesus which must be perscribed or they cannot be accepted These Sacrifices then were instituted of God and may well be called seales of the Covenant as they did signifie remission of sins in and through the bloud of Christ our true Priest and Sacrifice Whether God was pleased to confirme his Covenant by any other visible signes or seales in that state of the Church is more then the Scripture hath revealed One question remaineth to be discussed scil Whether this Covenant of Promise was made in Adam with all and every Infant that should afterwards be born into the world There be some that hold the affirmative part viz. That all Infants whether borne of beleeving or infidell parents are comprehended under the Covenant of Grace according to the internall efficacy though not according to the externall administration so as they be truly and effectually partakers of the benefits promised therein
by faith without the works of the Law But that they might not seeme directly to crosse the Apostle they say we are not justified by the works of the Law that is exact and every way perfect whereunto wages is due by debt but by works of grace graciously esteemed for righteousnesse when in the rigour of the Law it is not exact and perfect righteousnesse But first we reade that God hath set forth Christ to be a propitiation Rom. 3. 24 25. by faith in his bloud that by the faith of Jesus we might receive remission of sinnes but we find not that he hath ordained Christ to be a propitation through works that by works we should be saved And if God have not taught any such manner of Justification it is not for us to receive it We reade of two waies of Justification by faith and works but of a third manner by faith and works both as joynt causes or con-causes we find nothing in Scripture Secondly By the doctrine of faith we are bound to acknowledge and confesse that Christ Jesus by his eternall Priest-hood is not only the sole meritorious cause of all grace or righteousnesse inherent requisite to finall absolution but these presupposed in the party to be absolved he is likewise the sole immediate cause of finall absolution or justification Without observation in some measure to all the Commandments of God we cannot enter into the kingdome of heaven but we enter not for the obedience we have performed To what use then doth our inherent righteousnesse or observance of Gods commandements serve us If it hath been sincere and â—â—fained though imperfect yet the faith that brought it forth will make a sincere and faithfull plea for mercy in the day of tryall in which he that hath been an hearer only and no doer of the Law or hath done in part what God would have done but not sincerely nor faithfully shall not be heard Our imperfect obedience then is not the immediate cause of our absolution but the obedience and righteousnesse of Christ By the immediate and next cause we understand such a cause as is necessarily accompanied by the effect and without whose participation the effect never doth nor can be-fall any such a cause as whosoever is partaker of is by participation of it forth-with absolved such a cause as who so can probably hope to be partaker of he may upon the same degrees of probability hope for finall absolution such a cause as who so doubts or feares least he shall never be partaker of in this life must upon the same termes doubt or despaire of his absolution or salvation But if workes be accounted for the exact righteousnesse of the Law unto us not the obedience of Christ received by faith but the works of holinesse in us are the absolute cause of remission of sins and acceptance unto life And what else doe the words sound as they be interpreted but that as exact obedience to the Law should have been the matter or cause of Justification from justice so sincere obedience by the estimation of grace is the matter of Justification by grace They will say I know faith and workes are onely the condition without which remission cannot be obtained but faith is not a bare condition without which the thing cannot be for that is no cause at all but an instrumentall cause and workes if they be any cause of Justification instrumentall they cannot be but the matter whereupon and for which we are justified or accounted righteous Workes doe not embrace Christ but if causes of Justification they must challenge to themselves and therefore how faith and workes should be conjoyned as con-causes in Justification it is impossible to conceive seeing the one that is faith attributes all In eo qâ—od solvimus est aliquâ—â—atio meriti to the free-grace of God the other that is workes challenge to themselves the one will aspire no higher but to be the instrumentall cause of free remission the other can sit no lower but to be the matter of Justification if any cause at all For if works be accounted to us in the roome or place of exact obedience in free Justification doe they not supply the place are they not advanced to the dignity of works compleate and perfect in Justification from justice 3. If faith with workes be accepted for righteousnesse to Justification then faith justifieth not as it imbraceth the promises of mercy and by it we partake in the merits of Christs death and obedience but as it doth give assent to the truth of the Gospell and adhere and sticke to the Commandements for in that sense it is an act or exercise commanded in the Gospell and not only as it doth receive Christ and the promise of forgivenesse But in Scripture every where faith in Christ in the Lord Jesus or the Gal. 3. 13. 1 Pet. 2. 24. bloud of Christ is said to justifie not faith in other promises threatnings or Commandements 4. How can it be proved that in the matter of Justification the Apostle doth oppose faith to workes exactly perfect and compleat only and not to the workes of grace done according to the prescription of the Law as it was given to the Jewes to be a rule how people in Covenant ought to walke To him that worketh Rom. 4. 4 saith he the wages is of debt but he that worketh is not only perfectly just but he that is mercenarie that is to him that worketh for his reward as if the reward should be given him for his worke For thus the Apostle argues When wages is given to an hireling or mercenary it is of debt But Justification or life is not given of debt but of grace Therefore it is not given to him that worketh or to the mercenary Properly God oweth nothing to him that fulfilleth the Law either exactly or sincerely when they doe nothing but their duty and there is no proportion betwixt God and them but because they seeke righteousnesse and life by workes if God should retribute to them a reward he should be thought to doe it as it were of debt The Law was given to be a rule of direction to them that be in Covenant and workes of the Law are workes done according to that prescription which the Apostle here excludes from being any cause of Justification though he that walkes according to this Law being not an hearer but a doer of the Law is blessed in his deed But of this more at large in the next Chapter 5. Consider the opposition which the Apostle makes betwixt his owne righteousnesse which is of the Law and the righteousnesse Phil. 3. 9. which is of God by faith I count all things saith he but as dâ—ng that I might winne Christ and be found in him not having mine owne righteousnesse which is of the Law but that which is through the faith of Christ the righteousnesse which is of God by faith If then the righteousnesse of
that cleaveth unto their best works being graciously pardoned I have sworne and I will performe it that I will keepe thy righteous Psal 119. 106. judgements Did the Prophet think himself able punctually to fulfill the Law How will that stand with his Prayer Enter not into judgement with thy servant for in thy sight shall no man living Psal 143. 2. be justified No but he knew sincere and willing obedience which he promised and would performe should be taken in good part And this is further apparent by the prayers of the faithfull Judge me O Lord for I have walked in mine integrity Remember Psal 26. 1 11. Isai 38. 3. Neh. 1. 5 9. Psal 25. 10. Dan. 9. 4. Jer. 31. 32. how I have walked before thee in truth and with a perfect heart and have done that which is good in thy sight It never came into the heart of these Worthies to conceit they had been able to justifie themselves before the barre of Gods justice in any particular action great or small as if it had been without all defect or staine being tried in the rigour of justice nor could their integrity ought availe them if no obedience did find acceptance with God but that which is every way compleat It is said of Josiah that he turned 2 Kin. 23. 25. to the Lord with all his heart and with all his soul and with all his might according to all the Law of Moses that he declined not to the right hand or to the left Of David that he kept the Commandements 2 King 21. 3. of God and his Statutes that he kept the Commandements of 1 Kin. 11. 34. 1 King 14. 8. 1 King 15. 5. God and followed him with all his heart to doe that only which was right in his eyes that he did that which was right in the sight of the Lord and turned not aside from any thing that he commanded him all the dayes of his life save only in the matter of Vriah the Hittite and 1 King 22. 43. of Jehoshaphat that he turned not aside from doing that which was right in the eyes of the Lord Of Asa that his heart was perfect before the 2 Chro. 15. 12. Lord all his dayes Of Asa and the people that they sought the Lord with all their heart and all their soule From these passages we cannot prove either that these servants of God did or that it is possible for men in this life to fulfill the Law exactly or that the Law is given with such moderation as that the imperfections which did cleave unto these and the best servants of God were no sinnes because in phrase of Scripture the words will not beare that weight it may be confuted by Text it selfe setting down severall imperfections even in them who are said not to have turned aside from the Commandements and it is directly contrary to divers other passages of holy writ But thence we may soundly gather that the Law as it was given to Israel doth admit and allow of sincere and unpartiall obedience though it be imperfect and answer not to that exactnesse which is required These words Doe this and live must not be interpreted as if they did promise life upon a condition of perfect obedience and for works done in such exactnesse as is required but they must be expounded Evangelically describing the subject capable of life eternall not the cause why life and salvation is conferred and by doing sincere uniforme unpartiall obedience not exact fulfilling of the Law in every title is to be understood Doe this and live what is it more then this If ye will obey my voice and doe my Commandements Psal 112. 1. ye shall be to me a peculiar treasure Blessed is the man that feareth the Lord and delighteth greatly in his Commandements Psal 106. 3. Blessed are they that keep judgement and he that doth righteousnesse at all times Blessed are the undefiled in the way who walk in the Law of Psal 119. 1 2. the Lord. Blessed are they that keep his testimonies and that seek him with the whole heart Who so looketh into the perfect law of liberty Jam. 1. 25. and continueth therein he being not a forgetfull hearer but a doer of the worke this man shall be blessed in his deed To them who by patient Rom. 2. 7. continuance in well-doing seeke for glory and honour eternall life which passages are to be understood of sincere and upright walking and shew who are justified and to whom the promises of life pertaine but not why they are justified And in like manner that of the Apostle The doers of the Law are justified may be expounded Rom. 2. 13. Evangelically not of them that fulfill the Law which should be justified by their works but of them that soundly obey who are justified of grace by faith not for their works And hence it appeares what works the Apostle opposeth to faith in the matter of justification not only perfect works done by the strength of nature of which sort there be none at all but works commanded in the Law as it was given to Israel such as Abraham and David walked in after they were effectually called such as without whose presence faith it self could not be existent such as are necessary in the person justified these works are opposed to faith in the matter of justification not that faith can be without them but because they cannot be causes together with faith in Justification And of necessity if faith be opposite to works exactly perfect it must be opposite to them that are imperfect and stained in part that be impurely pure because the Covenant of Grace calleth for perfection though it accept sincerity and in all reason perfect righteousnesse should rather be accepted for righteousnesse unto life than that which is imperfect and falleth short of that which is required For the better administration of this state and nationall Covenant it pleased God to ordaine sutable Ordinances for the teaching and applying of this Covenant scil of Ministery and Priesthood The first of these the Apostle openeth setting down the state of the Gentile and Jew before Christ came compared both together and how both stood in comparison to the Church after Christ in regard of this Ordinance of teaching As the Gentile Gal. 3. 23 24 25. before Christ was a man constrained to live without a shelter the Jew at the same time is better provided for for he had the Law taught to cover his head in a storme that it be not too violent But we after Châ—ist dwell in well-grounded yea seiled roomes that we need not to feare the blowing beating or flowing in of the Sea raine or wind for we have the Ordinances of the Gospell The Gentiles before Christ ran wild like beggarly bruits without all schooling the Jew a great deale better for the time being he had a Schoole-master to teach and nourture him even
to love them saith Moses and he chose their seed after them Deut. 10. 15. When I passed by thee and saw thee polluted in thine owne blood I said unto thee when thou wast in thy blood live Ezek. 16. 6. See Ezek. 36. 32. Luk. 1. 54 55 72 78. This Covenant was made in Christ in and through whom we are reconciled unto God for since God and man were separated by sinne no Covenant can passe betwixt them no reconciliation can be expected no pardon obtained but in and through a mediatour Sinnes were never remitted unto any man no man was ever adopted into the place and condition of a sonne by grace and adoption but in him alone who is the same yesterday to day and for ever Jesus Christ true God and true man Act. 4 12. Heb. 13. 8. The fall of our first parents was occasion of this Covenant for Actus nostrae liberationis divinam bonitatem causam habet Sed aliter actus exactio nimirum paenae per modum satisfactionis caâ—sam eam habet quae ad paenam exegendam irritat id autemest peccatum God suffered him to slip that he might manifest the riches of his mercy in mans recovery Mercy freeing man from misery possible might have taken place before transgression and have discovered it selfe in the preventing of sinne and so of misery but it seemed good unto Almighty God to suffer misery to enter upon man through sinne that he might make knowne the infinite riches of his mercy in succouring and lifting him up being fallen and plunged into a state remedilesse and desperate for ought he knew Besides we may conceive that Almighty God upon just grounds disdaining that such a base creature falne by pride should thus upon advantage of the mutability of his reasonable creature ruinate the whole frame of the Creation and trample the glory of his name under foot and withall looking upon the Chaos which sinne had brought and would further make if some speedy remedy was not provided did out of his infinite and boundlesse love to man though in the transgression and just and dreadfull indignation against Sathan give forth this gratious and free Covenant The forme of this Covenant stands in gratious and free promises of all good to be repaired restored augmented and a restipulation of such duties as will stand with free grace and mercy For the Covenant of Grace doth not exclude all conditions but such as will not stand with grace The Covenant which was made of free love when we lay wallowing in our blood and which calls for nothing at our hands but what comes from and shall be rewarded of meere grace is a Covenant of grace though it be conditionall So the pardon of sinne is given of grace and not for workes though pardon be granted only to the penitent and faith on our part a lively unfained and working faith be required to receive the promise The parties covenanting are two and so are the parts of the Covenant the one in respect of God the other in respect of man A Covenant there is betwixt God and man but no mutuall obligation of debt for such mutuall obligation is founded in some equality but there is no equality between the Creator and the creature much lesse betwixt the Lord most high and man a sinner If man had never offended God almighty who gave him his being and perfection could not have been indepted unto him but as he was pleased to recompence the good of obedience in the creature that never deserved punishment much lesse can God be indepted to the creature that hath offended who can neither endure his presence nor beare the weight of his wrath nor satisfie Justice nor deliver his soule from the thraldome of sinne The obligation of man to God is of double right and debt but it is of rich grace and abundant love that God doth bind himselfe unto man God doth promise in this Covenant to be God and Father by right of redemption and Christ to be Saviour of them that beleeve in God by him and in faith do yeild sincere uniforme willing upright and constant obedience unto his Commandements Jer. 31. 31 32 33 Deut. 31. 6. Ezek. 36. 25 26. Gen. 15. 1 4 5. Jer. 32. 40. 33. 9. Heb. 8. 10 11 12. Isa 54. 7. Hos 2. 19. The stipulation required is that we take God to be our God that is that we repent of our iniquities believe the promises of mercy and embrace them with the whole heart and yeeld love feare reverence worship and obedience unto him according to the prescript rule of his word Repentance is called for in this Covenant as it setteth forth the subject capable of Salvation by faith but is it selfe only an acknowledgement of sinne no healing of our wound or cause of our acquittance The feeling of Luke 13. 5. Act. 11. 18. 2 Cor. 7. 10. Ezek. 18. 27â— paine and sicknesse causeth a man to desire and seeke remedy but it is no remedy it selfe Hunger and thirst make a man to desire and seeke for food but a man is not fed by being hungry By repentance we know our selves we feele our sicknesse we hunger and thirst after grace but the hand which we stretch forth to receive it is faith alone without which repentance is nothing but darknesse and despaire Repentance is the condition of faith and the qualification of a person capable of Salvation but faith alone is the cause of Justification and Salvation on our part required It is a penitent and petitioning faith wherby we receive the promises of mercy but we are not justified partly by prayer partly by repentance and partly by faith but by that faith which stirreth up godly sorrow for sinne and enforceth us to pray for pardon and Salvation Faith is a necessary and lively instrument of Justification which is amongst the number of true causes not being a cause without which the thing is not done but a cause wherby it is done The cause without which a thing is not done is only present in the action and doth nothing therein But as the eye is an active instrument for seeing and the care for hearing so is faith also for justifying If it be demanded whose instrument it is It is the instrument of the Soule wrought therin by the Holy Ghost and is the free gift of God In the Covenant of workes workes were required as the cause of life and happinesse but in the Covenant of grace though repentance be necessary and must accompanie faith yet not repentance but faith only is the cause of life The cause not efficient as workes should have been if man had stood in the former Covenant but instrumentall only for it is impossible that Christ the death and blood of Christ and our faith should be together the efficient or procuring causes of Justification or Salvation When the Apostle Rom. 3. â—â— 22 28 30. Gal. 2. 16. 17. Rom. 4. 2 3. writeth that man
a restipulation 6. The end viz. the blessednesse of man and the glory of God manifested in his wisdome bounty and goodnesse 7. As Adam in the state of Innocency was made able to fulfill the Covenant made with him so is the Covenant of Grace written in the hearts of them that be heires of the Promise in Christ They differ 1. In the speciall consideration of the Authour cause and foundation of the Covenants God gave his Law to Adam as bountifull and gratious to his creature intire and perfect but in strict justice requiring obedience promising a reward and denouncing punishment But the Covenant of Grace he made as a loving Father in Jesus Christ of his meere Grace promising to receive them into favour that sincerely and unfainedly turne unto him The Creation of man and integrity of humane nature is the Foundation of the former Covenant but the Redemption of man by Christ is the Foundation of the Covenant of Grace 2. In the forme of Sanction In the Covenant of Nature there is no Mediatour but the Covenant of Grace is made in Christ in whom God hath made us accepted The Covenant of Nature was not promised before it was promulgated but the Covenant of Grace was first promised and long after promulgated and established or ratified in the bloud of his Sonne 3. In the speciall matter of the Covenants and that both in respect of the Promise and stipulation For the Covenant of Nature promised life but not righteousnesse but in the Covenant of Grace God promiseth to tread Satan under the feet and to write his Law in the hearts of them that be heires of Salvation That Covenant promiseth life to them that perfectly obey but not remission or forgivenesse of any even the least iniquity But this promiseth forgivenesse of sinnes and life eternall to the penitent sinner believing in Christ and embracing the free promise of mercy In that life eternall is promised as the reward of justice in this life and glory as the reward of free and rich grace and mercy To him that worketh the wages is of debt but to him that beleeves the reward is of Grace In that God as a Creatour doth exact his right of man pure but in this as a loving Father he doth offer himselfe to the sinner smitten with the conscience of his sinne In that life eternall and most blessed is promised but only animal to be enjoyed in Paradise or continuance in that good estate wherein he was set at first of the rich bounty of God but in the other translation out of ignominy and death into eternall happinesse and glory in Heaven In the Covenant of Nature perfect obedience is exacted so that if there be but the least failing in any jot or title and that but once a man can never be justified thereby nor can the breach be made up by any repentance But in the Covenant of Grace obedience is required repentance admitted and sincerity accepted If a man sinne and goe astray if he returne unfainedly he shall be received into favour In the Covenant of Nature obedience and workes were commanded as the cause of life and justification in the Covenant of Grace Faith is required as the instrumentall cause of Remission and Salvation obedience as the qualification of the party justified and the way leading to everlasting blessednesse The object of obedience in the Covenant of Nature was God in the Covenant of Grace God in Christ 4. They differ in the speciall consideration of the Subject The first Covenant was given to man pure perfect intire and sound able to do what God required But the Covenant following was made with man a sinner miserable and by nature the child of wrath And so that was a Covenant of friendship this of firme Reconciliation 5. In the speciall and peculiar respect of the end For the former Covenant was made for the praise of Gods wisdome goodnesse bounty and justice But the Covenant of Grace was made to declare and set forth the riches of Gods grace and mercy In it the wisdome goodnesse power and justice of God is more illustrious then in the former and the mercy long-suffering and rich grace of God is greatly magnified which did not appeare or shine forth at all in the former 6. And in their Effects and Properties For not the Covenant of Nature but of Grace doth exclude boasting By the Covenant of Nature Adam was not advanced above the condition of an honourable Servant In the Covenant of Grace man by nature the child of wrath is made the child of God by grace and adoption The Covenant of nature was neither the last nor everlasting but being first made way for a better and being broken was antiquated or disanulled to our singular comfort but the Covenant of Grace shall continue firme and immoveable for evermore The second thing to be gathered is That the Fathers before Christ ever since the fall of Adam and Christians in the times of the Gospell did live under the same Covenant for substance but not for manner of administration which is most cleare by evident Heb. 13. 8. Rev. 13. 8. Act. 4. 12. and 15. 11. Gal. 3. 29. Rom. 3. 30. Eph. 2. 12. Gen. 15. 1 and 17. 1 7. Lev. 26. 12. Exod. 3. 6. Matth. 22. 32. 2 Cor. 4. 13. Heb. 11. 6 7 8. Rom. 4. 12. Heb. 11. â— 19 23. testimonies of holy Scripture and by the very forme of the Covenant which was one before and after the comming of Christ The same God that calleth us called them to the hope of eternall life they were endued with the same spirit and lived by the same faith Their Sacraments for substance in signification agree with ours and they expected an Inheritance everlasting and undefiled Religion for substance was ever one and unchangeable and such as were truly religious walked in the same way and waited for the same heavenly Inheritance and everlasting crowne of glory The Church before Christ may be considered as an heire or as an Infant according to the substance of the Covenant or according to the manner of administration In the first respect the Church is under the Covenant or Promise and her people are called a free and willing people an heire of heavenly and spirituall blessings In the latter respect she is under the Covenant in respect of the different administration and her people are called a servile people in comparison an heire under Tutors and Governors not differing from a servant CHAP. IIII. Of the Covenant of Promise THe Covenant of Grace is either promised or promulgated Gen. 3. 15. Gen. 12. 1. and 15. 1. and established Promised to the Fathers first to Adam and afterwards to the Patriarchs and lastly to the people of Israel and that before their comming into the Land of Canaan and after Gal. 4. 4 1 Pet. 1. 20. Act. 3. 25. Gal. 3. 16. 1â— Eph. 2. 12. their returne from the Babylonish captivity Promulgated after the
God then made knowne to men And if we take the Land of Canaan properly and literally it was not the everlasting Inheritance of Israell absolute but relative not for ever but for a long time prescribed of God even untill the time of Reformation But if we looke to the thing signified it is an everlasting inheritance to the spirituall seed These promises were freely made of grace and of meere grace the blessings promised were conferred upon the seed Fot Abraham Josh 24. 2. himselfe was an Idolater when it pleased God to call him out of Vr of the Chaldees and to make these rich promises unto him And as Abrahams calling was of grace so are all the promises made unto him when he was first called The wages is due unto him Rom. 4. 4. that worketh upon desert but the inheritance was given to Abraham by promise Abraham believed God and it was imputed to him for righteousnesse Gen. 15. 6. And if faith be reckoned to Abraham for righteousnesse he hath not to glory before God We reade indeed the Lord said unto Rom. 4. 2. Abraham for because thou hast done this thing and hast not with-held Gen. 22. 16 17 thy Sonne thine only Sonne That in blessing I will blesse thee c. But the same promise God had formerly made to Abraham and faith in these promises was the cause of his obedience therfore his obedience was not the cause why God gave the promise An occasion or antecedent it might be of the renewing of the promise at this time but it was no cause of the promise it selfe nor of the accomplishment For that whitout which and before which the promise was could not be a cause of the promise or the good promised Besides the basis and foundation of this promise is Christ whose incarnation could not be merited by Abrahams obedience The particle because is a note of order and consequence shewing to whom the promise did pertaine not of the cause why it was made or the good promised should be performed If it be said the good promised to Abraham is called a reward Gen. 15. 1 2. The answer is the word reward sometimes doth import nothing but an absolute and free gift of God though no action went before to which recompence was due as Gen. 30. 18. Leah saith God hath given me my reward because I have given my handmaid to my husband Psal 127. 4. Children are the Inheritance of the Genbrard in Psal 126. Lord and the fruite of the wombe is his reward There is a reward of a debt such as is due to the workeman for his labour upon desert and a reward of grace such as God giveth to them who labour in well-doing according to promise A reward is given to the worker of free grace but not for his worke as the procuring or deserving cause There is a relation of order and consequence betwixt the worke and the reward that the one goeth before and the other followeth but not a proportion of equiparancie price Aliâ— est compeâ—satio quâ— prâ—â—no redditur aliud Alia qua propter unum redditur aliud Psal 18. 20. or degrees that the one should match or purchase the other A recompence is given to obedience as comfort and solace to them that suffer for well-doing but it is not given for their obedience as wages to the labourer or lands and possessions for the price paid in hand Reward is sometimes called retribution but in Scripture not only the reward of good or evill but simply good or evill done is thereby signified though nothing went before to deserve or procure it Thou hast shewed this day how thou hast dealt Gen. 50. 15. 1 Sam. 24. 18. well with me If I have rewarded evill unto him that was at peace with me The Lord hath dealt bountifully with me He hath Psal 7. â—â— Psal 1â— 6. Psal 103. 10. 116. 7. Psal 114. 17. 142. 7. Isa 3. 9. 2 Sam. 16. 36. Psal 103. 2. Judg. 9. 16. Verbum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quod vulgò redditur retribuere non semper significat parpari referre seu idem reponâ—re nimirum beneficium pro beneficio injuriam pro injuria sed etiam priorem conâ—erre in aliquem vel bonum hoc est benefacere c. Kinch ad vers 4 c. 3. Joâ—l Mius in Psal 13. 6. not dealt with us after our sinnes nor rewarded us after our iniquities Deale bountifully with thy servant And if a benefit freely vouchsafed be called a retribution the retribution promised and of grace conferred upon the workers of righteousnesse doth not inferre dignity or worth in the work rewarded For when God doth performe his promise of meere grace he is said to retribute not that he oweth any thing to any man or that he can receive any that hath the reason of a benefit but because he doth good unto them according as of his rich grace he was pleased to promise And if God be said to render or repay a reward thence it will not follow that good works can merit ought at the hands of God for the word is of farre larger signification and imports no more sometimes but to restore to one that which was his own before as Matth. 22. 21. Render to Caesar the things that are Caesars Luk. 9. 42. It is said of the child that our Saviour healed he restored him to his father Luk. 4. 20. He gave againe the booke to the Minister Sometimes it is to give without respect to merit or desert as Matth. 27. 58. Pilate commanded the body to be given unto him Acts 4. 33. With great power the Apostles gave testimony of the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ Numb 3. 3. 36. 2. 2 Chron. 6. 23. where the Hebrew hath nothing but give the Septuagint translate it render or repay Moreover it signifieth to repay according to vow or promise as is to be seen in many places of Scripture Deut. 23. 21. Psal 22. 26. Psal 50. 14. 116. 12 17. Hos 14. 2. Joh. 2. 10. Nah. 1. 15. That a company of miscreant wretches should be beloved saved and a Sonne shine reason cannot reach it religion doth not desire it nature doth not require it justiâ—e doth not exact it only love hath done it In brief there is a retribution of justice strictly taken which is according to desert Jud. 1. 7. Jer. 32. 18. Exod. 22. 5 6. and there is a retribution of grace and bounty which is of favour according to promise as Ruth 2. 12. Prov. 13. 21. and 25. 22. not to adde that he that first doth good or evill is said to retribute Psal 137. 8. Psal 35. 12. So that if God be said to render or retribute according to our righteousnesse it is not in respect of the worthinesse of our deeds as if they deserved it but of his free promise and rich mercy whereby he hath bound himself to accept of our sincere obedience
of Adam by the Law of nature written in his heart Confidence in God through Christ or the Messiah was required of the Israelites by the Law published upon the Mount Adam was to performe obedience to the Lord immediately without a Mediatour being himselfe pure and innocent But the Israelites being in themselves sinnerâ— â—ould not in their own names performe service pleasing and acceptable unto the Lord. Adam knew he was beloved of the Lord so long as he continued in obedience but had no warrant to wait upon his mercy when he had broken the Covenant of works But to the Israelites God bound himselfe in Covenant upon Mount Sinai promising to be their God and take them for his people notwithstanding they were sinners in themselves which could not be without forgivenesse and this Covenant they might and did renew by repentance after transgression The Law is not to be confounded with the Gospell but the sacred and inviolable knot of the one with the other is to be maintained unlesse we shall make God contrary to himselfe The Law doth not so directly and expressely teach faith in When Paul saith Faith came by the Gospell it is to be understood of the manner of propounding vvithout the invvrappings of types that the Doctrine vvas â— taught plainly vvithout types and figures Rom. 8. 3. Christ but require obedience yet doth it leade us to Christ and more obscurely command faith in him The Gospell doth more fully reveale Christ and the grace of God in him commanding faith by name but it doth also urge presse and exact obedience Thus sweetly doe the Law and Gospell consent together But here it is to be noted that faith is commanded in the Law which exacteth every thing that is good but it is given to us not by the Law but of the holy Ghost The distinction of the Law and Gospell as they are opposed one to another is cleare and evident but as the Law was given to the Jewes it is not opposite but subordinate to the Gospell The Law in it selfe considered exacted perfection of works as the cause of life but when that was impossible to man by reason of the infirmity of his flesh it pleased the Lord to make knowne to his people by the ministery of Moses that the Law was given not to detaine men in confidence of their own works but to leade them unto Christ Whatsoever the Law teacheth whatsoever it promiseth whatsoever it commandeth alwayes it hath Christ for the scope thereof For though the Law of righteousnesse promise a reward to the keepers thereof yet after it hath shut up all men under sinne it doth substitute another righteousnesse in Christ which is received by faith not purchased by the merit of works And therefore the Apostle doth reprehend the Jewes as perverters of the true sense and meaning Rom. 10. 4 5 6 c. of the Law when they sought to be justified by their works and sheweth that Moses taught them to look for Salvation in the Messiah and seek for that righteousnesse which is by faith Whereby it is manifest that the Law was given 〈◊〉 be a manuduction unto Christ in whom we have Redemption from all things from which by the Law of Moses we could not be justified and a rule to the faithfull according to which they must frame their conversation For what word was that which Moses saith was neere even in their hearts but the Law which the Lord gave upon Mount Sinai and promised to write in the hearts of his people under the Covenant of Grace And from this ground it is not hard to answer what is further objected against this truth as If faith be commanded in the Law then being justified by faith we are justified by the works of the Law For faith is not a work of the Law nakedly and absolutely considered as it exacteth perfect obedience of man in his own person but of the Law as it was given to the Jewes to direct them unto Christ who is the soule and life of the Law And though it be commanded in the Law as it is in the Gospel or new Covenant yet it justifieth not as a part of Regeneration or an act of obedience and work of Grace by it worth or dignity but in respect of that office whereunto it is assigned of God and as it receiveth the promises of mercy It is a sâ—phisticall forme of reasoning to say Faith is commanded in the Gospell therefore if we be justified by faith we are justified by the works of grace The arguments are like and both faultie For justification by faith in Christ is opposed to justification by the works of the Law because he only is justified before God by the Law whose acts being examined by the Law are found just and righteous according to that which the Law requireth but he is justified by faith who being in himself ungodly believeth in Christ for salvation So that according to the Apostles meaning wheresoever faith be commanded he is justified by faith without the works of the Law who is acquitted from sin by the meer and rich grace of God in Jesus Christ received by faith And to seek justification by works is to rest upon our works for salvation as they that answer in all things to that righteousnesse personall which the Law requireth Justification by faith and justification by workes are opposite and so is faith and workes but faith is not opposed to one act commanded whereby the promise is received for then it should be contrary to it selfe but to works whereby the Law is fulfilled in our owne persons to workes I say not to one work because no one worke can justifie but all are necessary If it be said the Apostle doth every where oppose the Law and the Gospel or the old and new Testament The answer is from the same ground that in the Scriptures of the new Testament the Law as well Ceremoniall as Morall is opposed to faith or the Gospel and yet the Ceremonies of the Law did prefigure Christ as all men acknowledge Therefore the Apostle doth not perpetually and absolutely oppose the Law and the Covenant of grace for he teacheth expresly that faith establisheth Rom. 3. 31. the Law For he understood the force and sentence of the Law to consist in faith but because the Jews addicted to the latter of the Law did pretermit the force and life of it Paul proves the Law so taken and separated from faith to be the cause not of life but of death as that which did not only want Christ who is the soul of the Law but is opposite to him And therefore Paul doth this because the Jews faith being let passe did seek righteousnesse in the dead works of the Law and did oppose the Law to the Gospel and Christ who was the end and scope of the Law This will be more plain if we shall examin the particular passages of Scripture wherein this matter is handled
â— 29. 1 Thes 4. 1â— Rom. 12. 1. in the sight of the Lord and what is pleasing in his sight are for substance one and the same and so a Exod. 15. 26. Deut. 6. 18. and 12. 25. and 13. 18. and 21. 9. 1 King 9. 12. Numb 23. 27. 1 King 9. 12. 2 Chro. 14. 15. translated by the Seventie The Scriptures mention an uprightnesse of heart and uprightnesse of life and conversation Uprightnesse of heart is an holy conformity of heart and soule to the good will and pleasure of God Thus we reade God saveth the upright in heart Psal 7. 10. The ungodly shoot privily at the upright in heart Psal 11. 2. Shout for joy all ye that are upright in heart Psal 32. 11. O continue thy righteousnesse to the upright in heart Psal 36. 10. All the upright in heart shall glory Psal 64. 10. Doe good O Lord unto them that be good and to them that are upright in their hearts Psal 125. 4. Good and upright is the Lord. Psal 25. 8. His will is the most certaine rule of equity and rectitude and our hearts are then upright when they stand in an holy conformity to the good pleasure of God This is sometimes expressed by the phrase of preparing the heart to seeke God 2 Chron. 19. 3. 2 Chron. 17. 6. or lifting up the heart in the wayes of God And herein is implied 1. An holy disposition of mind will and affections bending themselves to the good pleasure of God approving affecting exercising readily whatsoever he requireth I know also my God that thou tryest the heart and hast pleasure in uprightnesse As for me in 2 Chr. 29. 17. the uprightnesse of mine heart I have willingly offered all these things 2. A godly fervency of heart which maketh that in choosing and embracing good things it is equally more remisse or fiery and strong as the goodnesse of the things be greater or lesse of greater or lesse necessity and importance Thus an upright heart hath respect to every Commandement but his greatest care is about the weightie matters of the Law holinesse and justice and the more excellent the duty the more circumspect and forward is he in the performance of it The upright love thee or they love thee in uprightnesse Cant. 1. 4. that is with a strong and vehement love which is without dissimulation or guile Therfore saith David I esteeme all thy precepts concerning all things to be right and I hate every false way Psal 119. 128. 3. An upright mind in all purposes and actions doth aime directly at the right marke and propose the true end by just and approved meanes A right end never hath a crooked rule leading unto it and a right heart doth neither look awry nor goe by a crooked rule Thus it is said of Ezra that he had prepared his heart to seeke the Law of the Lord and to doe it and to teach in Israel Statutes and judgements Ezra 7. 10. Act. 8. 21. And on the contrary when Simon Magus would have bought the gifts of the holy Ghost with mony Peter rebukes him saying Thy heart is not right in the sight of God Uprightnesse of life is a conversation way or course of life agreeable to the word of God in that calling or vocation wherein God hath placed us Thus it is said of David That he walked psal 37. 14. 1 King 3. 6. Prov. 14 2. Pro. 29. 27. Isa 26. 7. with God in truth and uprightnesse of heart And he that walketh in his uprightnesse feareth the Lord. He that is upright in the way is an abhomination to the wicked The way of the just is uprightnesse He that speaketh uprightnesse shall dwell with the everlasting burning This is expressed by the phrase of going with a right foot Gal. 2. 14. of ordering our steps aright Prov. 4. 26. and making even pathes for our feet Heb. 12. 13. Uprightnesse is an universall and constant cleaving to the Lord notwithstanding all occurrences that might divert or turne us out of the way All the upright in heart shall follow it or shall follow Isa 33. 14 15. him that is they shall cleave to the Lord and goe after him continually and never forsake him although they endure many and great evils for his names sake An upright heart is an heart fixed and established in respect of the object or maine businesse Psal 94. 15. Psal 78. 37. Jam â— 6. 7. opposite to a double divided mind wavering between two different objects unstable inconstant turned with every blast resolving now this anon that one thing to day another to morrow this in one company that in another And the pathes of uprightnesse are contrary to all crooked wayes which leade unto death Doe good O Lord unto those that be good and to them that are Pro. 21. 8. Prov. 2. 13 15. Psal 25. 4 5. upright in their hearts As for such as turne aside unto their crooked waies the Lord shall leade them forth with the workers of iniquity We may take the description of an upright man from the Psalmist in other words He hath cleane hands and a pure Psal 24. 4. heart and hath not lift up his soul unto vanity A pure heart is the foundation of an holy life and words and works as it were the building setled upon it Uprightnesse is chiefly commanded most highly esteemed and principally commended in the Saints For this cause Israel was called Jeshurun Deut. 32. 15. 33. 5 26. Isa 44. 2. because uprightnesse is the thing which God requireth in every true Israelite God that trieth the hearts of all thâ— sons of men taketh pleasure in uprightnesse The froward and unstable are abomination to his highnes 1 Chro. 29. 17. but such as are upright in their way are his delight The offerings of an upright heart are free and voluntary which God graciously tendreth lovingly accepteth The Sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination Prov 15. 8. Job 8. 6. Psal 25. 21. to the Lord but the prayer of the upright is his delight God will not cast off the upright nor leave his soul in adversity If thou wert pure and upright surely now he would awake for thee and make the habitation of thy righteousnesse prosperous God will make it known that he doth regard the upright though for a time they be in affliction they shall not be forsaken or left desolate Marke the Psal 37. 37. end of the upright for the end of that man is peace The wicked may flourish for a time like the Bay-tree but suddenly they shall wither The upright may be kept under for a time but he shall bud and blossome apace in his season and his prosperity shall endure The upright shall dwell in the Land and the perfect shall Prov. 2. 21. Psal 37. 29. Prov. 14. 11. remaine in it The righteous shall inherit the Land and dwell therein for ever The Tabernacle of the upright
the Nations of the earth be blessed though no exclusion be expressed the Apostle is Gal. 3. 16. bold to interpret it as if it had been said In thy seed alone Whom he foreknew them he predestinated this proposition is not Rom. 8. 29 30. expressely exclusive is it not then exclusive in sense When David saith The Lord is my God he excludes not the faithfull from the same preeminence but when the Lord saith to his people I am the Lord thy God he excludes them that be not in Covenant Abraham beleeved God and it was accounted to him for righteousnesse Gen. 15. 6. here is not restriction added but the proposition is exclusive Whosoever beleeveth in Christ shall not perish but have everlasting Joh. 3. 16. life doth not this proposition exclude works from being a cause of Salvation because only is not added Some answer that these passages be exclusive because the Apostle expressely shuts forth works from the act of Justification Rom. 3. 28. whereas they rather teach that faith doth comprehend repentance conversion and new obedience and that works are not excluded from the act of Justification but only works done by the power of nature But leaving that the proposition is for the matter exclusive and that the Apostle shewes from the thing it self proving hereby that Abraham after he had followed the Lord a long time and yeelded obedience to his commandements was justified by faith without the works of the Law The words therefore may be exclusive though only be not added and that they be restrictive is plain by the thing signified for what is it for Christ to lay down his life for his sheep or to purchase his Church by his bloud but to bruise the serpents head to redeeme them from all iniquity and purifie them to be a peculiar people to himselfe â—o save his people from their sins to deliver them from the feare of hell and death and to blesse all Nations of the earth according to the promise made to Abraham This needs no further confirmation then the next answer which they make that the words be exclusive not in respect of the thing it selfe but of the modus which others expresse thus that Christ died for his sheep in respect of the application and event For if it be exclusive in the modus exclusive it is as well though only be not added as if it was And the question is not of the sufficiency of Christs death for all men in respect of the magnitude and excellency of the price nor of the efficiency of his death in some degrees for such as shall not inherit the crown of glory but of the modus whether he died sufficientèr efficientèr quantum in se for all and every man That this Modus is excluded will appeare in that we shall never reade that Christ died for any but for his sheep his Church his brethren his people or them that be considered as such in respect of present profession externall administration and application of his benefits Vnto you is borne this day in the City of David a Saviour which is Christ the Luke 2. 11. Luke 1. 68 69 70. Lord. Blessed be the Lord God of Israel because he hath visited and redeemed his people and hath raised up an borne of Salvation in the house of his servant David as he spake by the mouth of his holy Prophets which have been since the world began That we should be saved from our enemies and from the hands of all that hate us Mine eyes have seen thy salvation which thou hast prepared before the face of Luke 2. 30 31 32. all people A light to lighten the Gentiles and the glory of thy people Israel Wherefore in all things it behoved him to be made like unto his Heb. 2. 17. brethren that he might be a mercifull and faithfull high Priest in things pertaining to God to make reconciliation for the sâ—nnes of the people Thou art worthy to take the booke and to open the seales thereof for Rev. 5. 9. thou wast slaine and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kinred and tongue and people and nation And generally in every place they for whom Christ is said to die are called his elect his sheep his people his brethren not barely called into Covenant but received upon their acceptance thereof The severall passages alleadged to prove the universality of Christs death have been examined already and found to speake directly to this purpose But amongst them that be called into and accept of the Covenant some be elected simply others in comparison some be the sheep and brethren of Christ in truth and sincerity others in profession and externall administration or in some respect only And as we must distinguish of the elect and sheepe of Christ so of his dying for them For he died for all his elect as they apply and be partakers of the benefits of his death he died saving-effectually scil to bring them to grace and glory according to the election of grace for his simply elect and people in truth that is for them upon whom Salvation should be conferred and to whom it should be soundly applied So the Prophet telleth us Christ died that indeed and most certainely Isa 53. 10. he might see his seed and bring many brethren unto God And if Christ died not for his sheepe for this particular end that by his speciall grace and that which is given to none others they Rom. 9. 18. Job 10. 15. might injoy the fruit of his death we must confesse that Christ in this saying doth give no particular comfort to his sheepe and in that whole Chapter which is absurd And though sheepe and beleevers materially be the same formally in this place they be not for when Christ saith to the Pharisees Yee beleeve not for yee are not of my sheepe Joh. 10. 16. If to be a beleever and the sheep of Christ doe signifie the same thing he should say ye beleeve not and that which followeth My sheepe heare my voice and follow me Joh. 10. 27. should be the same as if it had been said the beleevers beleeve So that sheepe and beleevers are reciprocall but formally they are not made sheepe by faith but by election Moreover the acquisition of righteousnesse by the death of Christ and the application thereof are things to be distinguished but so inseperably conjoyned that for whomsoever it is acquired to them it is applied By his knowledge shall my righteous servant justifie many for he shall beare their iniquities Isa 5â— 11. He bare the sinne of many and made intercession for the transgressours Isa 33. 12. By his stripes are we healed Isa 53. 5. Who was delivered for our offences and was raised againe for our justification Rom. 4 25. As by the offence of one judgement came upon all men to condemnation even so by the righteousnesse of one the free gift came upon
by grace and adoption then he that was the Sonne of God by nature who fitter to repaire the Image of God decayed in us then he by whom at first man was made after the Image of God Thus Christ was a fit and equall middle person conjoyned by the bands of friendly society and peaceable agreement with both the parties God and men that he might be a Mediatour of reconciliation and peace betweene God and man He tooke unto him the sanctified nature of man that therein he might draw neere unto men and be the root of them that are sanctified and retained the nature of God that so he might not depart from God Here it is questioned according to which nature Christ is Mediatour whether as man only or as God and man That he is a Mediatour according to the concurrence of both natures in the unity of his person it is confessed by all for if he were not both God and man he could not mediate between God and man but whether he be a Mediatour according to both natures concurring in the worke of Mediation there be some that make question Our resolution is that Christ is Mediatour according to both natures the humane nature doing that which pertained to the humanity Bellar. de Christ lib. 5. cap. 7. § Potest tamen and the divine nature that which pertained to the divinity but the humane and divine both concurring to produce one act or work of Mediatorship As the divine and humane nature concurre to make one Christ so the acts of the divine and humane Plura principia ad operationem unam possunt concurrere Lun ibid. cap. 7. not 1. nature distinct in vertue and operation by co-operation concurre to make up the same work of Mediation Some of the works of Christ the Mediatour were the works of his humanity in respect of the thing done and had their efficacy dignity and value from his divinity in that they were the works of him that had the divinity dwelling bodily in him and some the works of his divinity the humane nature concurring only instrumentally as the remitting of sins the giving of the Spirit the raising of the dead and such like The works of Ministery the Sonne of God Iâ—n cont 2. l. 5. cap. 5. not 29. performed them in the nature of man It was the Sonne of God and Lord of life that died for us on the Crosse but it was the nature of man not of God wherein he died The works of Authority and power were all performed by the divine nature yet not without an instrumentall concurrence of the nature of man Christ suffered as man but the divine nature did support and sustaine the humane He died as man as God he overcame death conquered and rose againe as man he was made an offering for our sins the worth and value of the Sacrifice was from the divinity The two natures in Christ be distinct in their essence and Iâ—n Paral. lib. 3. in cap. 9. Hebr. properties and so in their operations that we must not imagine one action of both natures but as the natures be united in one person so the operations concurre to make up one work of a Mediatour Many chiefe necessary and essentiall acts concerning our Iun. animad in Bell. contr 2. l. 5. ca. 3. not 9 reconciliation with God are from the Deity of Christ as from the next proper immediate and formall beginning The Incarnation of Christ is from the Deity which did assume the humanity which when it was not could not assume it selfe The manifestation of God was a work truly divine from the humanity of Christ as an instrument from the Deity as the true cause Christ as Joh. 1. 18. Matt. 11. 27. man teacheth as an instrument and Christ the Word teacheth as Mediatour for he is not only Mediatour who supplyeth the roome of an instrument but the Deity did move the humanity as his instrument that is personally united and not as anothers Joh. 10. 18. To lay down his life passively belongs to the flesh to lay down his life or soule actively to the word The resurrection of Christ is Iun. ibid. cap. 6. not 1. Rom. 8. 34 and 4 25. Rom. 1. 4. Mar. 2. 10. Joh. 15. 26. and 16. 7. an essentiall part of our Redemption but Christ rose not by the propriety of his flesh but by the power of his Deity Christ as Mediatour performed many divine acts but the humanity alone cannot be the beginning of a divine act as Christ as Mediatour hath authority to forgive sins to send the holy Spirit not meritoriously alone as Bellarmine distinguisheth but efficiently to conjoyne us unto God and bring us to salvation Christ as Mediatour is the King and Head of his Church which dignity and office Meritum Meâ—â—ationâ—â— est Mediatio personae cannot agree to him that is meere man For the Head is to give influence of sence and motion unto the body and Christ gives supernaturall sence and motion unto his mysticall body and that both by way of efficiency and by way of disposition fitting us that an impression of grace may be made upon us He prepareth and fitteth men to the receipt of grace by the acts of his humanity A tâ—ta quidem Trinitate datur Spirituâ— sed ad personam Mediatoris haec actio terminatur quoad 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in which he suffered death and dying satisfied Gods wrath removed all matter of dislike procured the favour and acceptation of God and so made men fit to receive the grace of God and to enjoy his favour He imparteth and conferreth grace by the operation and working of his divine nature it being the proper worke of God to enlighten the understandings of men and to soften their hearts If it be alleadged that there is nothing that one person of the Trinity doth towards the creatures but they all doe it and consequently that those things which Christ did in his divine nature pertained not to the office of a Mediatour being common to all the Persons The answer is though the action be the same and the worke done by them yet they differ in the manner of doing it For the Father doth all things authoritativè and the Son subauthoritativè as the Schoole-men speake that is the Father as he from whom and of whom are all things the Son as he by whom are all things not as â—y an instrument but a principall efficient And in this sort to quicken give life and to impart the Spirit of Sanctification to whom he pleaseth especially with a kind of concurring of the humane nature meriting desiring and instrumentally assisting is proper to the Son of God manifested in our flesh and not common to the whole Trinity As the second person in Trinity did assume our nature and not the Father or the holy Ghost and as Christ is the Head of the Church not the Father or the holy Spirit so he
dispence with time nor grievousnesse of his punishments but to make the passion of one availeable for many Otherwise if it might have dispensed with one degree of extremity of punishment due to sin it might also have dispensed with two and consequently with all Others answer that the punishments of sin eternally remaining must according to the rules of divine justice be eternall but it is no way necessary neither doth the justice of God require that the punishments of sin repented of ceasing and forsaken should be everlasting For as Divines note there are three things to be considered in sin the aversion from an infinite and incommutable good the inordinate conversion to a finite good and the continuing in the same or ceasing from it and to these severall things in sin there are three severall things answering in the punishment of it For to the aversion which is objectively infinite there answereth the losse of God which is an infinite losse To the inordinate conversion of the sinner to things transitory there answereth a sensible smart and griefe intensively finite as the pleasure the sinner taketh in the transitory things he inordinately loveth is finite To the eternity of sin remaining everlastingly in staine or guilt or continuance of it for a time answereth the eternity of punishment or the suffering of the same but for a time Now our Saviour Christ suffered only for those sins which he meant to breake off by framing the sinners to repentance and therfore it was no way necessary for the satisfying of divine justice that he should endure eternall punishment A third answer is that Christ suffered for a time because he suffered to satisfie and so to overcome upon the crosse he triumphed meritoriously over principalities and powers therefore his sufferings could not continue for ever but must have an end For in suffering he had not satisfied justice nor conquered the enemies of our salvation if he had lien under the punishment of our sins eternally But this sheweth the reason why Christ suffered but for a time rather then how his suffering for a time could satisfie the justice of God for ever which had deserved eternall death The fourth answer is more full and free from exception that Christ suffered but for a time because it was impossible he should be held under of the sorrows of death Act. 2. 24. The wicked suffer eternally because they being cast under the curse they cannot deliver themselves and justice will not set them free but Christ in suffering did overcome and delivered himselfe so that his sufferings continued but for a time In kind his sufferings were the same with those which in us should have continued for ever Chamier Tom. 2. l. 5. cap. 12. Sect 4. although they did not continue wherefore because they had an end not of themselves or their owne nature but of the power of Christ He overcame those punishments which had been altogether eternall if he could not have overcome Lastly it is objected that if God did elect and choose some men to grace and glory in and through Jesus Christ Christ needed Synodal Dord ubi supra not nor yet could make satisfaction for them for in as much as they were beloved of God we cannot conceive how satisfaction should be needfull or could be made for them Thus some dispute with great confidence but little strength For this Proposition God loveth whom he hath chosen or to chuse is to love doth admit a double sence one this whom God doth elect them he loveth or willeth well unto them in time to make them actuall heires of grace and glory in Jesus Christ and thus it is most true Illi tantum à parte ante ratione Dei nâ—gant meritum Christi effectum electionis illud constituunt ita ut Deus prius homines elegisse postea sic absolutè electis Filium tanquaÌ„ salutis medium dâ—disse dicatur Stâ—gâ— pag. 49â— and doth not exclude but inferre the necessity of satisfaction another sence may be that whom God doth elect them he doth love as made actuall heires of grace and glory by the influence of his love and in this it should exclude the necessity of satisfaction but so it is not to be admitted It is not absurd to say the elect are in grace with God in respect of ordination or appointment but after are brought into grace by Christ in respect of the actuall collation and communication When Christ is said to reconcile us unto God the meaning is not that God did then first begin to love or will well unto us as if he did hate and will to damne us before for then we must admit a proper change in the purpose and internall will of God proceeding from an externall cause which is contrary both to Scripture and sound reason but whereas formerly we lay under wrath deserved by sin now we are received into favour and friendship with God For reconciliation is a transient act done in time which inferrs a change in the creature reconciled a change of state not of qualities and followes the obedience of Christ as the effect the cause and which God imparteth to believers Reconciliation as the Scripture speaks of it imports not any change in God nor the externall good will or love of God which remains in himselfe and worketh not any change in the creature but a blessing granted to us in time that we who were the children of wrath by nature should be the Sons of God by grace we who were enemies and hated in respect of the effects of wrath and desert of sin should be made friends and deare to God the enmity being taken away by the bloud of Christ And from hence we may learne how the new Covenant in many things hath the prerogative above the old For wherein Moses mediated it was by the power of Christ but Christ was that one Mediatour who mediated from his owne authority and immediate power Moses was called by God and the people but an imperfect Mediatour as not a right middle person but Christ was a fit middle person both God and man partaking the nature both of the offending and offended party and so a middle person not only in office but in nature willing and fitting to mediate Moses by reason of his weaknesse was neither powerfull with God nor yet fully compassionate and powerfull with the people But Christ was man for the whole body of his brethren to prevaile for them and man with his brethren to be fully sensible and compassionate Heb. 2. 17. Againe he was man with God to present a perfect ransome or price of reconciliation and he was God with man to bow them sufficiently to accept the reconciliation offered Moses stood in need to mediate for himselfe as for the people but Christ having no controversie for himselfe mediated only for the people and hath perfected wherin Moses wanted For he fully bowes and circumciseth the hearts of his brethren to
profitable and pleasant answerable in some sort to the nature excellency and use of the thing known And in this case the heart is not over-ruled contrary to the full spirituall and infallible evidence of divine truth seriously thought upon unto a practicall judgement This is the learning of Christ the teaching of the Father the knowing of things which passe knowledge Christ is not known if he be not acknowledged as he is propounded what perfect Si ignorare accipitur pro non attendere dici potest voluntatem humanam vix unquam peccare sine aliqua ignoratione quia quando voâ—untas peccat intellectus ut plurimum aliud agit nec attendit ad regimen voluntatis knowledge doth perfectly that imperfect knowledge doth imperfectly As the end acknowledged cannot be refused by like right neither can the meanes acknowledged the meanes I say necessary only necessary and without which there is no possibility or likelihood to obtaine the end For will is a reasonable appetite and therefore doth not stirre from such a good as is fully and spiritually represented unto it with evidence certainty profit and delight as the most universall adequate and unquestionable object of the desires and capacities of an humane soule and that both simply and in comparison for the freedome and willing consent of the heart is not lawlesse or without rules to moderate it but it is therefore said to be free because whether out of a true judgement it move one way or out of a false another yet in both it moveth naturally in a manner sutable to its owne condition If it be objected the heart being unregenerate is utterly averse unto any good The answer is that it is true the will must not only be moved but renewed and changed before it can yeeld to Christ But withall God doth never so fully and spiritually convince the judgement in that manner without a speciall work of grace upon the soule whereby the will is framed and fashioned to accept embrace and love those good things of which the minde is thus prepossessed The third help is a formall cause a free gracious disposition or Scimus non impetrari remissionem ante prece â—ed dicâ— decretam esse ante preces eam peti precibus quamvis sit decreta P. Malin de eâ—ect ex fide pag. 316. habite of faith by which the will is inclined agreeable to the disposition of it to come unto God This habite is necessary because without it the will being in bondage stained and defiled it is altogether unable to will or desire that which is spiritually good If there could be a will without such habite man might performe the act of a man spiritually alive before he was made alive So that the full answer to this question viz. what is that effectuall help whereby I come to God is this It is a mixt thing standing partly of that almighty power of his put forth for my good partly of that inward Word and inspiration by and with which his power is put forth partly in that spirit of faith and supernaturall life which his almighty power through his Word bringeth forth in my soule What was that help whereby Christ made Lazarus able to come to him out of the grave of naturall death The principall was Christs power the instrumentall his voyce the formall cause immediately helping to it or working it was the spirit of naturall life which the power of Christ by his Word restored to this dead corps which now was fallen And thus we have the effectuall help or grace by which we come actually to convert which are all given from Gods free grace and favour towards us And when God doth infuse the habite of faith into the minde of one of ripe age he doth cause him actually to beleeve as the nature of the thing it selfe and condition doth manifest For if the Spirit by inlightening the minde and renewing the heart doe perswade and move the soule effectually to embrace adhere unto and love the Lord Jesus Christ then the condition of the thing will not beare that grace should be given effectually but the act and motion of the soule must necessarily follow But though the connection of these two be indivisible yet the flexion or turning it selfe is not indivisible or in a point or moment but it may be sooner or slower more speedy in one more remisse in another The will is necessarily bowed or bended but more vehemently in one more slackly in another freely or willingly in all that are turned and yet necessarily And this first thing is well to be noted for from hence we may gather in what standeth the efficacy of grace effectuall to Conversion viz. In Gods effectuall power put forth to execute his intention which he hath of converting some actually before other some It Quaestio non est de irresistibilitate sed de insuperabilitate finali Nam quomodo traberemur gratia irresistibili cum id ipsum quod nolumus Deo resistere â—it ipsa Deigratia Illud ipsum velle resistere nihil aliâ—d est quam resistere doth not stand in any congruity or temperature of grace correspondent to our nature For this doth argue there is inward an incorrupted connaturall disposition to receive grace This maketh the effect of Conversion as much if not more to depend on the active capacity of the will as on the grace of God For it maketh the grace of God worke it morally and externally by perswasion only and the will of man from a power within it selfe which doth more inwardly enter the effect of Conversion then the other It may be questioned in what order doth the Spirit make us come unto God whether immediately or by some preparation going before wherein it is further to be considered what that preparation is or wherein it consisteth To the first branch of the Question it is truly answered that God doth use so to worke our comming to him by beliefe that he doth first for the most part prepare us thereunto As before we engraffe a Sciens we cut it and set it for incision and if a Timberlogg lie sunke in mudd men set to their tacklings first to draw it out of the mire before they lay it on a Cart to carry it away Thus God doth by his power often worke some preparative change in a sinner before he doth by his power and word worke the spirit of faith in them and make them come unto him So God by afflictions is said to boare the eare and prepare to conversion 2 Chron. 33. 11 12. Act 2. 37. When Manasseh was humbled in great misery he sought the Lord. Thus by conviction of sin others were pricked in heart and said What shall we doe to be saved and then speedily they received the Gospel beleeving Sometimes by extraordinary terrours rising from externall accidents yea hidden naturall causes God is pleased to bring men nearer unto him Thus the Jaylor Act. 16.
common cause doth not distinguish but if grace be common to them that believe and them that believe not it is only the common cause of conversion and doth not separate the believer from the unbeliever Men are said to sanctifie purge and free themselves as the instruments of God and free agents subordinate to grace predetermining but the Scripture never saith that man is the cause separating himselfe from the number of reprobates externally called in like manner with himselfe Conversion as it is an act supernaturall in us should be the effect of divine vocation but the cause of comparative vocation should be the meere will or pleasure of the creature Grace and liberty cannot be mixed together in the partiality of the cause because liberty as the Patrons of that opinion hold is a free indifferent elective cause but grace a cause determinate to produce one effect The use of grace is the application of actuall grace to act But if the efficacie of grace depend upon the liberty of mans will neither grace preventing nor co-operating doth apply grace to it worke not preventing grace because no meere power as such doth actuate it self nor co-operating because in order of causality it goeth not before the efficiency of the will If God give to believe and not only power Phil. 1. 19. to believe to believe and not only to believe when we will to believe then by grace he determineth the will to believe suffer will and the efficacie of grace is reduced unto God willing and determining And if he worke in us both to will and to doe Phil. 2. 13. Mat. 11. 27. not according to the liberty of our will but his own good pleasure if to will and doe inclinably rightly and well and not so as we may resist then he determineth the will to will and doe by his grace To what end doe the promises and threatnings tend may some man say if God doe worke all things by his effectuall power in them that believe To what end but that men might be saved But God doth that which pertaineth to a King and Law-giver towards many when that which pertaineth to the secret and unutterable dispensation of his grace he doth not doe that is he invites many in the Ministery of his Word and externall administration of the Covenant whom he doth not inwardly instruct and draw taking away the blindnesse and hardnesse of the heart But then the invitation is a giftlesse gift Not so neither but rather he is a most unthankfull servant of a perverse minde that he Deus sic movet hominem ad bona opera ut homo cognoscat vetit Deo monenti moventi ultrò morem gerat Nec tantum Deus agit cum voluntatibus nostris sed etiam per voluntates Isa 53. 10. Isa 45. â— 12. Psal 8. 8. Ps 72. 8 â— 10 Ps 100. 1 2 3. Jer. 23. 5 6. cannot obey For this inability is no cause of disobedience proceedeth from no fault of the faculties subject to the minde and will from no naturall quality of the matter necessitating but the meer wilfulnesse and perversenesse of the soul The invitation of God is not so hard that man cannot fulfill it if he would nor wicked that we cannot will to doe it without sinne but lawfull just honest and such as if man would he could not but execute so farre as he truly judgeth it ought to be willed and executed If the efficacie of grace depend upon the liberty of mans will to things opposite then the promises of God the Father made to his Sonne might all be frustrate That he should see his seed that the people should come unto him from the North and the West and from the Isles that he should possesse the Gentiles as his inheritance that his dominion should be from Sea to Sea that a willing people should come unto him c. But the Covenant of God with his Sonne cannot be made void and of none effect If some may object conversion be so the Determinatio Dei est externa aequivâ—ca noâ— vitalis principalis Humana verò interna univoca vitalis subordiâ—ata Deus ita utitur voluntate ut ipsa voluntas sese electivè vitaliter ex practico rationis judicio agat Deus prâ—mò principaliter ab aeterno actum liberum ut futurum liberè ponendum determinat sed non ad alium sed ad â—undem numero actum ad quem voluntas in tempore determinavit â—ese Causa actus liberi est potentia determinata non simpliciter potentia Deus sic movet res necessarias ut non fiant contingentes sic movet res coâ—tingentes ut voluntarias ut non adimit eis contingentiam voluntatem Quando superior causa est physica a legesoluta inferier moraâ—is legi subdita esto quod superior physica influit in inseriorem tamen si inâ—erior est libera rea esse potest inâ—erior non superior Virg. Aeneid 8. fatiâ— egere volentem worke of God then man doth not repent and believe but God But this followeth not for repentance is the gift of God but the act of man God is the cause of willing efficient but not formall the cause externall and effective but not vitally efficient The determination of God externall and vitall volition differ as cause and effect for he worketh in us to will but volition doth not worke to will the determination of God as efficient is externall and respecteth the will in the first act of its influx but vitall determination is internall and respecteth good to be chosen or to be desired In man not converted two things are to be considered native contumacy and the not curing of that native contumacy The native contumacy is of themselves as darknes from the earth the not curing of this coÌ„tumacy is of God as a cause physicall because he can cure it but doth not but not as a Morall cause because he is not bound to heale or cure it The effect of God not curing this native contumacy is only a negative non-conversion physicall or not culpable as a morall effect The absence of the sunne is the cause why the darknesse of the night is not removed but the darkenesse it selfe is not from the sunne Fault is a morall defect and cannot arise but from a morall cause and deficient Culpable non-conversion is a consequent of Gods not curing our native contumacy but no effect thereof as of a morall cause because God is not bound to remove it either by Law debt justice promise or Covenant and betwixt the resistance of the Spirit and Gods not-conversion the free willing of the corrupt will and voluntary love of native contumacy doth intercede Not only ability to believe but beliefe it selfe is merited by the death of Christ and for Christ vouchsafed to them who are called according to his purpose In this vocation of a sinner God doth so administer both