as it beleeves the blood of Christ to be it and it alone that is in it self and by the ordination of God fully sufficient to take away sin the guilt of it or the condemning power or destroying nature of it so accordingly does it relye upon this blood of Christ under the gracious appointment of the Father to do this great thing for him to particular in whom this Faith dwells Rom 8.25 Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through Faith in his blood In this Scripture there are three things that are especially to be marked in relation to the point in hand 1. That Christs blood is the blood of propitiation or that Christ himself is the propitiation by means of his blood i. e. the reconciler the procurer of savour in pardon or remission 2. That God hath ordained him in his blood thus to be and accordingly hath proposed and offered him to all the world as a publick propitiation but yet so and upon condition that men have Faith in his blood i. e. do believe it to be of it self and by the appointment of the Father of sufficient efficacy force and vertue to purge them from their sins Which Faith also must be of the right kind or else it will not interesse any man in this great benefit 3. That which is moreover implyed is that the Faith of a man feeling so good a foundation and ground under it as is the blood of Christ in conjunction with the Fathers will as by which to be confident of a plenary purgation from all sins how great or how many soever they have been does accordingly safely and securely build thereupon Sect. 7 4. Christ as being risen from the dead is the object of justifying Faith Rom. 10.9 If then shalt confess with thy meuth the Lord Iesus and shalt beleeve in thy heart that God raised him from the dead thou shalt be saved Rom. 4.25 Who was delivered for our offences and was raised again for our Iustification And no marvel that the Resurrection of Christ should be the object of saving Faith inasmuch as in it is included the beleef of the main foundation Doctrines of the Gospel and without it Faith could have no firm footing to rest upon touching other great Gospel-truths As 1. The beleeving of him to be the Son of God which is an ingredient absolutely necessary in the Gospel-faith doth at least in great part depend upon the Faith of his Resurrection For Faith can ground its belief touching his being the Son of God upon nothing else than that which declares him to be so But now he is declared to be the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness by the Resurrection from the dead Rom. 1.4 2. The keeping promise and Covenant with the holy Patriarchs and their Seed which Faith must needs eye did depend upon Gods raising Christ from the dead Acts 13.32 33. And we declare unto you glad tidings how that the promise which was made unto the Fathers God hath fulfilled the same unto us their children in that he hath raised up Iesus again as it is also written in the second Psalm Thou art my Son this day have I begotten thee And again Acts 2.30 31. Therefore being a Prophet and knowing that God hath sworn with an Oath to him that of the fruit of his loyns according to the flesh he would raise up Christ to sit upon his throne he seeing this before spake of the Resurrection of Christ that his soul was not left in hell neither his flesh did see corruption 3. The Resurrection of Christ is so necessary to Justification and to the Faith of it that take away this and Justification and the beleef of it are all laid in the dust 1 Cor. 15.14 17. And if Christ be not risen then is our preaching vain and your Faith is also vain And again vers 17. And if Christ be not raised your Faith is vain ye are yet in your sins Without beleeving is no justification and if there had been no Resurrection of Christ there could have been no Faith touching that attonement that is now made by his death For could men have beleeved that the death of Christ had been of sufficient force and vertue to expiate sin had it not been manifested by his Resurrection surely no. For so long as he was under the power of death he was under the power of sin of which death is but the wages For in that he dyed he dyed unto sin saith the Apostle Rom. 6.10 The sting of Death to wit that which gives it power of prevailing over the creature is sin 1 Cor. 15.56 And the time when that saying O death where is thy sting O grave where is thy victory shall be brought to passe is not till the day of Resurrection When this corruptible shall have put on incorruption and this mortal immortality 1 Cor. 15.54 And therefore as the Saints shall not actually and perfectly be delivered from all the effects of sin till the day of their Resurrection so neither was Christ delivered from that burden of other mens sins which he bore in his own body untill he rose from the dead And if sin had been too hard for him in keeping him under the power of death it would much more have been too hard for us But in that God raised Christ from the dead he did as it were thereby acknowledge satisfaction for the debt of mens sins which he by his death as a surety had discharged While he lay in the grave he was detained as a prisoner for other mens debts but when the prison doors were opened and he let out the Father acknowledged satifaction and did as it were seal him in the behalf of those for whom he undertook a release and discharge By his entring into suffering he took the sins of the world upon him but by his Resurrection by which he came out of his suffering-state he put them off As in his suffering he was made sin for us and dealt with as if he had been a sinner so by his Resurrection he was justified from those sins which were imputed to him And unlesse he had been first justified from our sins which were imputed to him all the while he suffered we could not have been justified from them our selves And therefore no marvel that the Apostle should attribute our Justification with a Rather unto the Resurrection of Christ than to his Death as he does Rom. 8.33 34. Who is he that condemneth it is God that justifieth it is Christ that dyed yea rather that is risen again He seems to feel a firmer footing for his Faith in the Resurrection of Christ than in his death more to bear him out against the accusations of any that had a mind to condemn him the answer which a good conscience makes it is by the Resurrection of Christ from the dead 1 Pet. 3.21 4. I might here add that the beleef of the Resurrection of our bodies
said consider the persons and their opinions against which the Apostle disputes The persons against whom the Apostle was ingaged in this dispute of his were the unbeleeving Jews or at least such as did judaiz it that is in a great measure comply with them in their opinion touching the necessity of Circumcision and other Mosaical Rites to Justification For the Jews then being scattered among the Gentiles here and there in the Roman Cities and Provinces and particularly here at Rome Acts 28.17.24 did vehemently oppose the doctrine of the Apostles especially in their preaching Salvation to the Gentiles upon their beleeving without the works of the Law forbidding them to speak to the Gentiles or to declare unto them that they might be saved upon any such termes 1 Thes 2.16 forbidding us to speak to the Gentiles that they might be saved c. To fortifie the beleevers whether Jews or Gentiles against their insinuations and oppositions in this kind the Apostle at large debates the case in difference between them both in this Epistle to the Romans and in that to the Galatians which Churches viz. of Rome and Galatia it is like were then pestered more than others in this kind The unsound opinions held by them and which this Apostle in his doctrine of Justification doth oppose in this and other of his Epistles were such as these Sect. 3 1. That the Messiah or Christ which God had promised they expected should whenever he came abide for ever and not die John 12.34 We have heard out of the Law say they that Christ abideth for ever and how sayest thou the son of man must be lift up This was a doctrine which it seems past for current among them their guides mis-interpreting some one or more passage in the Old Testament to that purpose that the Messiah should never dye but abide for ever without any change by death which doctrine they took as inconsistent with Jesus his being the Christ indeed and yet suffering death by being lift up upon the Cross which he Prophetically fore-told 1 Cor. 2.7.8 But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery even the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the world unto our glory Which none of the Princes of this world knew for had they known it they would not have crucified the Lord of glory What was that wisdom of God in a mystery which he sayes they preached why it was this that God had offered Salvation to the world by Christ as crucified which both to the Jews and Greeks was such a mystery as but few of them understood but was their occasion of stumbling at Christ 1 Cor. 1.23 24. But we preach Christ crucified unto the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness but unto them which are called both Jews and Greeks Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God Which mystery saith he 1 Cor. 2.7 8. viz. that the counsel of God was so laid to bring about the life of men by the death of the Messias None of the Princes of this world knew viz. the chief of those that had their hands in his death for had they known it they would not have crucified the Lord of glory No surely they would not but it was their ignorance touching those Scriptures which fore-told his humiliation and death that proved a snare to them first to reject him because of his low condition and afterward to crucifie him so saith the Text in effect Acts 13.27 For they that dwell at Jerusalem and their rulers because they knew him not nor yet the voices of the Prophets which are read every Sabbath day they have fulfilled them in condemning him Sect. 4 2. The next damnable opinion which they held into which they were led by the hand of the former was this that Jesus was not the Christ For they concluded him therefore not to be the Christ because he suffered and was crucified they holding the former opinion that such a thing was impossible to befall the Christ of God This is clear from 1 Cor. 1.23 it was his being crucified that caused them to stumble at him and not believe him to be the Christ as it is still unto this day In opposition to which opinion it is that the Apostle hath that saying Heb. 9.16 For where a Testament is there must also of necessity be the death of the Testator Where he argues the necessity of the death of the true Christ for the ratification of the New Testament of which he is Mediatour in opposition to some of another mind Therefore we shall find that to prove the necessity of the Death and Resurrection of the true Christ as also to prove that Christ his being Crucified did not at all argue him not to be the true Christ but the contrary was a great part of the Apostles dispute against the Jews who as it thereby appears held the contrary Acts 17.2 3. And Paul as his manner was went in unto them viz. the Jews in their Synagogue ver 1. and three Sabbath dayes reasoned with them out of the Scriptures opening and alledging that Christ must needs have suffered and risen again from the dead and that Jesus whom I preach unto you is Christ Sect. 5 3. Another thing which they held also was this that their Sacrifices in conjunction with Circumcision and other observances did take away sin For 1. In that they offered Sacrifices for sin they thereby acknowledged themselves to be sinners and such as stood in need of attonement for saith the Apostle Heb. 10.3 In those Sacrifices there is a remembrance again made of sins every year 2. In that they held the true Christ should never dye as we heard before they must therefore needs hold withall that sin was not to be purged by his death and Sacrifice And then 3ly If not by that by what then but by those very Sacrifices of Bulls and Goats which were offered for sin which indeed was the naughty opinion against which the Apostle saith so much in the Epistle to the Hebrews Heb. 10.1 For the law having a shaddow of good things to come and not the very image of the things can never with those Sacrifices which they offered year by year continually make the comers thereunto perfect as some it seems on the contrary did hold Again ver 4. For it is not possible that the blood of Bulls and of Goats should take away sins What shall we think that the Apostle sets up a man of Straw and then fights with it or that he beats only the aire with his word shall we think that he so solemnly over and over and over denies that which no man affirmed or would he make such a business of it to argue the inefficaciousness the unavailablenes of those sacrifices to take away sin if no body had asserted their power and efficacy in that behalf surely he would not such a thing is much below the wisdom of an ordinary man and much more below
any more to be found in the dress of his own righteousness which was of the Law the first Covenant righteousness that righteousness in the Law touching which as he sayes he was blameless vers 6. Which whilst he expected Salvation by it was a righteousness or way of justification of his own setting up never of Gods appointing In opposition whereto he desires now to be found in that righteousness which is of God through Faith in that state of justification and salvation which God in the Gospel hath setled and established upon beleeving in Jesus So that here in this Contexture of Scripture you have the Jews righteousness or justification and the Christians through both which this Apostle had passed and of both which he had made tryal the Jews claim was by the Law and the works thereof but the Christians by the Gospel and the Faith and obedience thereof the act of his conversion was his renouncing of the former and cleaving to the latter Romans Chapter 9. Verse 30 31 32. What shall we say then that the Gentiles which followed not after righteousnesse have attained to righteousnesse even the righteousnesse which is of Faith but Israel which followed after the Law of righteousnesse hath not attained to the Law of righteousnesse Wherefore because they sought it not by Faith but as it were by the works of the Law for they stumbled at that stumbling-stone Here we have two manner of people the Gentiles and the Jews and two sorts of righteousness the one of the Law the other of Faith or of the Gospel The Gentiles who had not followed after righteousness but lived in Idolatry Sin and Wickedness and without God in the World being altogether strangers to the Common-wealth of Israel and that Covenant of Promise yet attained to righteousness a state of justification and acceptation before God upon their receiving the Gospel the doctrine of life and salvation when it was brought among them The Jews though they followed after the law of righteousness those laws wherein a righteous conversation was commanded by God and did many of the things that were commanded therein having a zeal towards God yet for all that did not arrive at that justification and acceptation with God which the Gentiles attained and the reason was because they did not seek it in the Gospel-way in which the Gentiles found it they should have let go the doctrine of Moses and have imbraced the doctrine of Christ and have reckoned themselves but in the same capacity with the Gentiles for all their Works of the Law and have said as some of them did We beleeve that through the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved even as they Acts 15.11 But instead of this they stumbled at that stumbling-stone Christ Jesus and him crucified and the offer of salvation by him and did adhere unto the works of the Law for all things pertaining to salvation and would have Justification upon the Law termes this ran in their mind if a man do those things he shall live in them and so ventured all upon that score It was quite beyond their expectation that the Messiah when ever he should come should turn them out of their way of Sacrificing by becoming a Sacrifice himself or that their expectation of remission of sin should be taken off the former and placed on the latter and therefore they cleaving to the letter of the Law for eternal salvation which so far was ordained by God but for a temporal and rejecting Christ and the termes of salvation by him which the Law pointed them to in the spiritual signification of it of which they were wholly ignorant hence it came to pass that for all their labouring seeking and striving after righteousness justification and salvation yet they missed it as seeking it out of Gods way upon their own termes not Gods Gal. 2.21 For if righteousnesse come by the Law then Christ is dead in vain How could that be but that they did attribute and ascribe the same attoning virtue and sin-purging efficacy unto the works of the Law which the Gospel does attribute unto the blood of Jesus And then indeed if it had been so as they supposed it was that sacrifices or any other works of the Law could have purged sin so as Christ does by his death and blood then the death of Christ would have been in vain God would never have put himself to that charge as to give his Son to death to take away the sin of men if the works of the Law had been a competent means to bring it about If there had been a Law saith the same Apostle which could have given life verily righteousnesse should have been by the Law Gal. 3.21 If the Law and the Wotks therein commanded could have done the same thing towards the conferring of life and salvation upon men which is now brought to passe by the coming and dying of Jesus then righteousness and life should have been by that But now inasmuch as that God hath given his Son to dye for here he writes to those that did acknowledge Christ and his death but withall inclined to that opinion Acts 15. that except men kept the law of Moses they could not be saved since God hath given his Son to dye it is as if he should say manifest that the Law fell short in ability of doing that for men for the doing of which God sent his own Son Rom. 8.3 For what the Law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh God sent his own Son in the similitude of sinfull flesh and for sin or by a sacrifice for sin as it is in the margent condemned sin in the flesh What the Law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh that is I conceive through or by reason of the sins of the flesh the sinful condition of man was so great as that it quite over-topt the purging power of the Law the disease was too strong to be cured with such a purge the sins of the flesh overmatched the Law in this kind and rendred it weak and therefore God was fain to send his own Son to condemn sin to take away the destroying power of sin by the sacrifice of himself for that the Law could not do it by its sacrifice In that the Apostle writes so much and in so many places for there are many more besides these touching the weaknesse and dis-ability of the Law to do that for men which God sent Christ to do for them it is in opposition to those who magnified the Law as if it had been able to do all that for them which the Apostle doth ascribe to Christ as done by him By what hath been now said I think it doth fully appear in what sence the Jews asserted the Works of their Law in the point of Justification and likewise in what sence the Apostle denies them Sect. 5 And now if any man shall say that Love Iustice and
hav confidence of Salvation because they believe though they do not indeed believe with that belief unto which Salvation is promised do directly tread in the steps of some in the Apostles dayes who would needs be confident of salvation though all the Faith they had was not of that power as to produce a holy life and the Apostles knowing the danger of such a confidence laboured exceedingly to take them off it and to build them upon a better bottom This is the business in which the Apostle Iames labours so mightily in his Epistle And we may easily perceive what Disease was among the Christians by the remedies which this servant of the Lord applyed for their cure viz. an inordinate love of the world which manifested it self in an adulterous and too near a complyance therewith Chap. 4. beginning And thereupon they despised the poor Saints and preferred men less worthy if they were rich chap. 2. Their want of the true christian humility and love brake out into bitter envying and strife and an undue judging and censuring one of another chap. 3. throughout And yet for all these unchristian and unsaint-like deportments they were ready to glory as if they were the knowing men and men of the right Religion wherein salvation was to be had and that it did belong to them In opposition to which vain-confidence and confident boasting he expresseth himself thus chap. 3.14 15. But if ye have bitter envying and strife in your hearts glory not and lie not against the truth this wisdom descendeth not from above but is earthly sensual develish For them to glory of their Religion and of their wisdom and knowledg and yet to be men of such an unchristian carriage they did but lye against the truth which they pretended to have on their side but indeed was point blank against them But if any man would approve himself a wise man indeed endued with the christian knowledge of the right kind the Apostle tells them it must be by shewing out of a good conversation his works with meekness of wisdom v. 13. Again chap. 1.26 he had likewise encountred that vain-confidence that was built upon a form of Knowledge Faith and Profession without the life and power of it saying If any man among you seem to be religious and bridleth not his tongue but deceiveth his own heart this mans religion is vain Men that should give way to the flesh though but in one thing as for instance a licensious liberty to the tongue not endeavouring by watchfulness heed and circumspection to conform to the doctrine of the Lord which forbids not only lying reviling back-biting slaundering corrupt and unclean communication but also foolish talking and jesting yea every idle word how religious soever they might otherwise seem to themselves upon account of their formal knowledg and Faith of external devotion to the Ordinances yet the Apostle testifieth as from the Lord that such do but deceive their own hearts befool themselves with a vain confidence of being religious men and of being accepted with God as such and that such mens Religion is vain that is as to the end for which the true Religion serves Not as if all their Religion were made up of vain notions but though they had never so sound a knowledg and right belief of many excellent Gospel-truths and though they added thereto the doing of many things yea how seemingly religious soever they were upon what account soever yet the want but of this one thing a care to bridle the tongue would render all a mans Religion and all his confidence of salvation built thereupon but vain unprofitable touching the end of Religion the end of Faith which is the salvation of the soul as if he had never had any Religion nor seeming shew of it at all Yet once more Iames 2.14 to the same purpose thus What doth it profit my brethren though a man say he hath Faith and have not Works can Faith save him that is can such a Faith save him a form of speech emphatically denying the thing interogated like unto that afterwards chap. 3.11 12. Doth a fountain send forth at the same place sweet water and bitter Can the figg-tree my brethren bear Olive berries either a Vine Figgs Why no it cannot no more can that Faith save that hath not Works Though a man may say and say truly though a man be able to say he hath Faith yet if he have not Works can his Faith save him do you think it can He is not blaming their Faith as if not placed upon a right object or as if there were not a real closing with that object in point of assent in the beginning of this Chapter he clearly supposeth them to have the Faith of our Lord Iesus Christ only there cautions them not to yoke or couple their Faith with an unchristian carriage assuring them by the tenour of his discourse throughout this Chapter especially from the fourteenth verse to the end that a Faith so yoked and wanting its true yoke-fellow and companion the Gospel conversation which he calls by the name of Works will not profit him that hath it Which unprofitableness of that Faith which hath not Works he further illustrates by way of comparison verse 15 16. If a Brother or Sister be naked or destitute of daily food and one of you say unto them depart in peace be ye warmed and filled notwithstanding ye give them not those things which are needful to the body what doth it profit Nothing at all that is to the filling or warming of the necessitous person Even so saith he ver 17. Faith if it hath nor works is dead being alone Though a man should give God Christ never such good words though he shall be able to speak at never so high a rate of the grace of God of the love of Christ of the power of his death of the efficacy of his blood and prevalency of his intercession and shall have some kind of belief of what he sayes yet if it do not sincerely engage the soul to serve the interest of the glory of God in a vertuous life answerable to such a profession Faith it will no more profit to the justification of the Soul in the sight of God than a parcel of good words would feed and cloath fill and warm the needy Brother and indigent Sister when a contribution of a real relief is wanting Though I could speak with the tongue of men and Angels and had all Faith so that I could remove mountains and have not Love it would profit me nothing 1 Cor. 13.1 2. And whereas he saith that Faith is dead being alone he plainly supposeth that Faith may be alone without the company of Works a Faith that is truly so in its kind a Faith that is acted on a right object But where ever it is alone there it is dead that is it is unprofitable as to the end for which Faith is appointed viz. to justifie
the state and condition of sensual and carnal Christians who live in such times and places as we now do in which Men may believe in Jesus Christ and publickly own their Faith especially if it put them upon no extraordinary strains of self-denyal without running any hazzard of persecution but shall rather expose themselves to suffering in case they should not own the Faith which is the Religion of the Country And in such places Faith such as it is is as common as silver was in the dayes of Solomon All men in a manner do believe that Christ dyed for sinners and that Salvation is to be had by believing in his Name that their believing wil justifie them without Works too as they have been generally taught which is their snare Hereupon they live they dye in hope of salvation upon this very account that they do believe though there is too much cause to fear that the conversations and tempers I would I could not say of far the greatest part even of these do give too loud a testimony that their Faith is but the dead Faith they being not renewed to God and born again by it and consequently that their confidence of Salvation by Christ is but a vain confidence and such as will deceive them I profess it is a very sad thing so to say and that which occasions many a sorrowful thought to my Soul and my love to Men and my desire after their Salvation exceedingly inclines me to hope better things concerning these men of whom I speak if I had but any Scriptural ground to relieve such a hope But I am either quite mistaken in the nature of holiness and of the New Creature or else such Scriptures as do positively affirm that without holiness no man shall see the Lord and that except a man be born again he cannot see the Kingdom of God that neither Circumcision nor uncircumcision avail but a New Creature with many the like I fear do fast barr the door of life against the confidence of a vast multitude of professors of belief in Jesus unless the generality of those I know not be better than very many of those I know Sect. 8 Not to multiply more Scriptures to demonstrate that mens belief in Christ and relyance upon him for Salvation will not avail them unless it draw the Soul in love and reverence to him carefully to obey him and to avoid such things as he hates for a close seriously lay to heart those piercing words of Christ which are worthy our utmost consideration hereabout Mat. 7.21 22 23. Not every one that saith unto me Lord Lord shall enter into the kingdom of Heaven but he that doth the will of my Father which is in Heaven Many will say to me in that day Lord Lord have we not prophesied in thy Name and in thy Name cast out Devils and in thy Name done many wonderful Works And then will I profess unto them I never knew you depart from me ye that work iniquity By Luke thus chap. 13.23 24 25 26 27. Then said one unto him Lord are there few that be saved And he said unto them strive to enter in at the strait gate for many I say unto you will seek to enter in and shall not be able When once the master of the house is risen up and hath shut to the door and ye begin to stand without and to knock at the door saying Lord Lord open unto us and he shall answer and say unto you I know you not whence you are then shall ye begin to say we have eaten and drunk in thy presence and thou hast taught in our streets But he shall say I tell you I knew you not whence you are depart from me all ye workers of Iniquity That which I first observe from these wakening words of our Lord as to this present occasion is that the persons of whom Christ here speaks had Faith which appears by this in that as they themselves will plead they cast out Devils in the Name of Christ and in his Name did many other wonderous Works which according to Christs words were signes which he promised should follow those that should believe Mark 16.17 Though all that did believe did not do such wonders yet none but such as did believe did Neither is it any wise likely but that they whose Faith was so strong as in the Name of Christ to do such wonders had a particular knowledge and belief that Christ was the Son of God and Saviour of the World Neither was this Faith of theirs wholly destitute of Works you see they made such a profession of Christ as that they instructed others in his Religion they Prophecied in his Name and did Works which caused Men to wonder they heard Christ preach and had so much familiarity with him as to eat and drink in his presence greater matters than I fear thousands of thousands will have to plead for themselves who now bear the Name of Christians and profess belief in Christ and hope of salvation by him Secondly that which I further note hence is this that these men of whom Christ speaks because of this Faith they had and those Works which proceeded from it take unto themselves a kind of confidence that they shall be admitted by Christ into his Kingdom For though they are brought in by Christ here as pleading for admittance at the last day and not taking Christs first denial but following him with earnest vehement solicitations backed with arguments and pleas from what they had received from him and done for him as if they wondered that Christ should refuse them yet it is not to be thought but that in their life and at their death they were possessed with hopes of being owned by Christ at the Last day upon these very grounds upon which they are brought in as building their plea. For surely they do not meet with any new confidence or grounds of hope in the Grave or state of Death Me thinks these words of Christ give a kind of cast as if many Men shall dye with so strong a confidence of being owned and received by Christ at the Resurrection and Judgement day as that they shall exceedingly wonder and stand amazed to find themselves so strangely deceived and disappointed as they will be when they shall be turned off by Christ with I tel you I know you not I profess I never knew you As if Christ could hardly possess them with such a thought that he should not acknowledg and own them and therefore he is fain not only once plainly to tell them I know you not but again with more earnestness to affirm the same thing and to say I tell you I know you not whence you are as if he should say will you not believe me I tell you again I know you not whence you are Yea as Matthew hath it he will then professe unto them that he never knew them which stil argues how hard
needest no better security for it than the Scriptures And God forbid that I should make the strait gate straiter than it is or the narrow way to life narrower than it is all my designe is to preserve my self and others from conceiting this strait gate to be wider and this narrow way to be broader than indeed God hath made them as knowing an error herein is of a dangerous tendency and such as in all likelihood hath betrayed many a man into the broad way of death whilst he hath strongly fancied himself to be in the path of life The safest and best way therefore to be kept from stumbling at the Word and from wresting these promises of grace to our own destruction will be to understand all Scriptures that promise justification and life to beleeving indefinitely as still meant of such a Faith for kinde as does directly fall in with and not cross Gods general design in offering Salvation to men by Jesus Christ For it is not to be imagined that the Lord will prevaricate his own scope and drift or clogg his design by any the least overture that may leave men under hope of attaining Salvation in any way or upon any termes which do not directly comport with his designe that reverence which we owe to the wisdom of God does with a high hand prohibit any such thought All the words of God in the Scripture in all the variety of expression whether they be promises or precepts or threatnings they all wait on Gods great design towards man and they all march on the same way like the living Creatures in Ezekiels vision who went every one straight forward whither the spirit was to go and turned not when they went Ezek. 1.12 they do neither justle nor hinder nor turn one upon another but strengthen each other in seeking the prize for which they run the Word of God in the several parts of it as relating to the Lords designe is not yea and nay 2 Cor. 1.18 19. but all agreeing to serve the great purpose of God And what is this general design of God I speak of Surely ultimately it is his own glory in the Salvation of men his honour and the Creatures good in conjunction And if his design had been to provide only for the magnifying of his grace and mercy without respect unto his holiness it 's like he would have saved all men without any more ado for the same ransom to wit Christ Jesus would have been and is sufficient for all But then would not wretched sinners have thought God to be like them according to that in Psalm 50.21 These things hast thou done and I kept silence and thou thoughtest that I was altogether such a one as thy self would they not have thought that he could endure wickedness well enough in his Creature and hold fellowship with the workers of iniquity and what then would have become of the glory of his great Name how would he have been known to be glorious in holinesse as well as in grace and power And therefore that he might bring such a people unto himself in whom he might delight and whom he might prefer to glory with himself without disparagement unto his holiness he hath in his infinite wisdom so contrived the method and termes of bringing men to his Salvation glory as that thereby his love of holiness in the Creature might be conspicuous and visible as well as his love of the happiness of the Creature And therefore all the means set on foot by God to bring about the salvation of men do all tend to promote holiness in men as well as the happiness of men The whole and intire body of means of mans salvation is called the Mystery of godliness 1 Tim. 3.16 Christ the principal Agent or rather author of eternal salvation the holy one Acts 3.14 the Gospel which is the Word of Life or glad tidings of salvation is called the doctrine according to godliness 1 Tim. 6.3 Tit. 1.1 The Covenant of grace an holy Covenant Luke 1.72 the Faith by which men imbrace the Prince of Life the promise of Life and Word of Salvation is called the most holy Faith Iude 20. the calling of christians an holy calling 2 Tim. 1.9 for they are called unto holiness 1 Thes 4.7 the Spirit by which the means are made effectual and through which by his Workmanship men are formed into vessels of glory is the holy Spirit Ephes 4.30 In a word the very end and scope of Christ his giving himself for his Church and vouchsafeing all the means of Salvation is That he might present it to himself a glorious Church not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing but that it should be holy and without blemish Ephes 5.27 meet for the company of the holy God and the holy Angels in the most holy place the holy Ierusalem as it is called Rev. 21.10 Now this is that which I say then that seeing Gods design is to magnifie his holiness as well as his mercy in mens salvation and to shew that he as well desires and loves their holiness as their happiness and that all subordinate means are appointed and shaped to reach the one as well as the other hence we may well conclude that the believing unto which God hath made promise of life however indefinitely exprest is yet no other than a most holy Faith and such as does dispose that soul where it is unto holiness because salvation being the great motive to perswade men unto holiness God would loose that part of his designe if he should make promise of life unto any other than the most holy Faith And therefore it is neither prudent nor safe for any man to understand or take the word BELEEVING to which the promise is made in the narrowest and strictest sence or lowest signification of the word as it imports a naked bare and barren assent for if it might the Faith of the Rulers that durst not own Christ the Faith of Simon Magus yet such a Faith as the Devils have of which you heard before would carry salvation before it But if you would lay a sure foundation then understand the word BELEEVING or the phrase beleeving Christ to be the Son of God in a more copious and comprehensive sence for such an assent of the mind as carries the will and affections along with it to reverence and love him as such as a Wife who believes her Husband to be her Husband or as a Child who believes his Father to be his Father For whosoever believes Christ to be the Son of God if his Faith be not contradictious in it self does believe all his sayings as certain verities whether precepts promises or threatnings consequently his Faith does dispose the soul to love and fear him and hearken to him In this large sence I conceive Christ is to be understood Iohn 5.44 when he sayes to the Jews how can ye believe which receive honour of one another and seek
does not carry them the same way in which the Elect have been all travelling towards that heavenly Country which is the hope of all the Saints This Doctrine touching the Saints dependance upon Gods Counsels and Commands for a guide as the proper effect and inseparable companion of their dependance upon his grace and power for the upshot of their desires might be further exemplified by its contrary viz. That mens turning aside from Gods Counsels and Wayes hath been wont to proceed from a secret jealousie and mistrust either of Gods power or love and that a mistrust of Gods way in which he hath enjoyned men to walk as if that were not the very best but another of a mans own choice to be preferred before it clearly argues a mistrustful opinion of God as if either there were not so much love in him to men as is in men to themselves or so much wisdom care and providence in God to direct them the best way to happiness as is found in their own heads or so much constancy or power as to carry thorow his design of Grace towards them in his own propounded method and way All the turnings aside runings out lustings temptings of God murmurings complainings and rebellions of the people of Israel in the Wilderness are charged upon their unbelief Deut. 1.32 Yet in this thing ye did not beleeve the Lord your God Though God had gone before them though he had born them as a man bears his Son yet when they came but a little into straits they had so ill an opinion of God were so void of confidence of his care and love as that they rather enclined to think that because he hated them and bore them ill-will that therefore he had brought them out of Egypt to deliver them into worse hands and that which followed hereupon was their refusing to venture themselves under Gods conduct they refused to go up when God commanded them so to do vers 26 27 31. The spring of all is this Yet in this thing ye did not beleeve the Lord your God Again Deut. 9.23 Likewise when the Lord sent you from Kadesh-Barnea saying Go up and possess the Land which I have given you then you rebelled against the Commandment of the Lord your God and ye beleeved him not nor hearkned to his voice Either they did not beleeve that God could or else that he would carry them safe into the promised land they distrusted his power or love or both and therefore durst not trust themselves in his hands which appeared in this That they hearkned not unto his voice to do what he bid them do in order thereunto See the like Psal 78.17 19 22. In short the whole of the mis-carriage of that people in the Wilderness for which God destroyed them though it consisted in a great variety of faults is summed up in their unbelief Jude 5. I will therefore put you in remembrance though ye once knew this how that the Lord having saved the people out of the Land of Egypt afterward destroyed them that beleeved not All their other sins it seems were in the bowels of this and did indeed proceed from it as we heard before See 2 King 17.14 Heb. 3.17 18. Numb 14.11 Which things are not written for their sakes only but recorded for admonition to the Churches now under the new Testament 1 Cor. 10.1 2 3 4 5. Moreover brethren I would not have you ignorant how that all our Fathers were under the cloud and all passed through the Sea and were all Baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the Sea and did all eat the same spiritual meat and did all drink the same spiritual drink for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them that Rock was Christ But with many of them God was not well pleased for they were over-thrown in the Wilderness Why would not the Apostle have the Church of Corinth ignorant of those things Surely he well knew That there is too much aptness in very many Professors of Christianity to bear so much upon the external Priviledges of the Gospel as because of them to think themselves in good condition though otherwise indulging themselves in some un-saint-like behaviour or other in their lives And therfore to the end none might think that because they have been Baptized are Members of the Church have some knowledge of Christ have been partakers of the Supper of the Lord that therefore they must needs be the favourites of the Lord and the people of his love he gives them to understand that the Israelites who were Gods people by Profession enjoyed that Priviledge than to which our Baptism answers now did eat and drink of that which was then a Figure of Christ as we now do in the Supper that yet for all this God was not well pleased with many of them but that because of their lusting after evil things their communion with Idolaters their defiling themselves with Fornication their tempting of Christ their murmuring and other like provocations they were so over-thrown in the Wilderness as that of six hundred thousand and three thousand and five hundred and fifty of the men of War that came out of Egypt there were but only two that entred the Land of Canaan Numb 1.46 32.11 12. And that which is much to be heeded is this That all these things happened unto them for ensamples or Types as in the margin and are written for our admonition upon whom the ends of the world are come Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall 1 Cor. 10.11 12. And let us therefore fear lest a Promise being left us of entring into his rest any of you should seem to come short of it for unto us was the Gospel preached as well as unto them but the Word preached did not profit them not being mixed with Faith in them that heard it Heb. 4.1 2. Wakening items and loud warnings to carnal Gospellers and formal Church-men the Lord grant that such may be rouzed by them out of their drouse of death CHAP. X. Shewing That the power of Gods grace the strength and fulness that is in Christ the presence power and influence of the Spirit being that by which the new and spiritual Life in a Christian is maintained it is the Property of true Faith to depend upon the Lord for these And herein is an excellent difference to be seen between the Living and the dead Faith The want of this the cause of manies Apostacie A great defect in this the cause of manies dryness and barrenness in grace Sect. 1 AS in the former Chapter I have shewed you that it hath been alwayes the property of the saving Faith in all the Saints to depend upon Gods direction for the way to happiness as well as upon his grace and Promise for happiness it self So now I would also shew you that it 's another property of the same Faith in the Saints to depend upon the
Lord for ability and strength to follow those directions and to walk in those wayes of God which they beleeve do lead to life And there is good reason why they should depend upon him for this as well as the other because as the way of Life is not of mans contrivance but Gods nor yet of his findding out being contrived but of Gods revealing So neither is the ability or power to walk in that way of man himself but is the gracious donation or gift of God Whereupon it is that the Scriptures deny the power of acting in this way to be of man himself without the preventing or concurrent grace of God or both Joh. 15.5 2 Cor. 3.5 1 Cor. 15.10 12.3 Gal. 2.20 But on the other hand they ascribe both will and deed purpose and performance unto Gods working them in men of his own good pleasure Phil. 2.13 2 Cor. 8.16 1 Chron. 29.14 2 Chron. 30.12 Ezra 1.1 5. 7.27 Nehem. 2.12 7.5 Hag. 1.14 Prov. 16.1 Heb. 13.21 It would be beside the business I have in hand here to enquire how far the Lord hath prevented all men with that which is called common grace and in what capacity they are thereby put of receiving special grace but that which concerns what I have in hand is to shew That as no man hath power of himself to walk in that way which he is convinced to be the way of life but that who soever hath it hath it of Gods special gift and working in him so the way of Gods communicating this ability unto the Soul is by Faith exercised on himself thereabout and consequently that it is the property of their Faith who have this power to be thus exercised And this I would shew in some Particulars Sect. 2 1. Though it is indeed by the same almighty power that raised Christ from the dead by which men are raised to their new and spiritual state and are enabled to live act and walk as those that are alive from the dead yet when this power is drawn forth into act for the effecting hereof it is by or through their Faith towards whom this power is thus acted Col. 2.12 Buried with him in Baptisme wherein also ye are risen with him through the Faith of the operation of God who raised him from the dead Observe here on the by â—hat mens burial with Christ in Baptisme pre-supposeth their being dead with him or made conformable to his death by their being dead unto sin before even as Christs burial pre-supposed his death which went before And therefore to bury such by Baptisme who are not dead unto sin and death unto sin pre-supposeth a living in sin before is in common cases as incongruous in reference to the right use of Baptisme as it would be to bury men alive in reference to the right use of civil burial But this I note only by the way as most worthy their consideration whom it most concerns to take light from it touching the right subject and form of the New Testament Baptisme But that other thing signified by the baptized parties rising out of the water is a living a new life unto God in conformity to Christs new life after his resurrection to which the Christian solemnly engages by his Baptisme But the power and ability mark this thus to live is through the Faith of the operation of God who raised Christ from the dead not through the operation of God simply but through the Faith of it Though a man were he not releeved by this Faith might think it an impossible thing for him having been so long accustomed to vain company and vain courses and an enemy to the strict lives and holy wayes of the Saints that now he should be able to throw off all those vanities which he esteemed the joy and pleasure of his life and to subject himself unto the self-same course which was to him a scorn dirision before yet when he remembers that that which is impossible to men is possible with God and that the same power which raised up Christ from the dead and put him into possession of immortality now no more to return to corruption can with like ease raise him up from that sinful condition into which he was sunk and strengthen him with strength in his soul to live that Gospel-life that life of God to which he is called by the Gospel and now no more to return to his former corrupt state and shall thereupon depend upon that grace and power of his for this very thing and under an expectation of divine assistance and armed with resolution shall humbly undertake this new life he shall certainly meet with power and strength from God to effect and carry through this great and notable change Christ Jesus himself who in his death burial and Resurrection is the Christians patern is prophetically brought in rejoycing under the hope and confidence he had in his Fathers power and love as that he would not leave him in the grave under the power of corruption and death Acts 2.25 26 27. For David speaketh concerning him I foresaw the Lord alwayes before my face for he is on my right hand that I should not be moved Therefore did my heart rejoyce and my tongue was glad Moreover also my flesh shall rest in hope because thou wilt not leave my Soul in Hell neither wilt thou suffer thine holy One to see corruption And in this confidence he undertaking the work which his Father had given him to finish all came to pass accordingly as the new life and deliverence from the old state of corruption and death is accordingly effected and accomplished in all those that in dependance upon the divine power and grace undertake it It is the operation or working of God that raises up the poor creature from his impotent state of spiritual death unto spiritual life and yet this great effect is attributed to the Faith of it And why But because it then works actually this way when the creature once depends upon it for this end 2 Pet. 1.3 According as his divine power hath given us all things pertaining to life and godliness through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and vertue The Lord he calls he invites to glory but it is by the way of vertue and therefore he exhorts them afterward vers 5. To give all diligence to add to their Faith Vertue to their Faith of Salvation by Christ as the end at which they aimed the vertue of a godly life as the direct way thereto And the divine power saith he hath given us all things pertaining to both both to glory and vertue both to life and godliness it hath made such provision and put things into such a way as that all things may be and are had of him by the Saints that necessarily appertain to both but mark how through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and vertue He does not communicate
in point of Estate it 's an ill sign that those men are behind-hand in the World and that they themselves are under jealousie and suspition that in case they should narrowly look into things and come to ballance their accounts they should not find all things well And so between hope and fear presuming the best they blindly go on till Suits and Arrests make them thorowly sensible of their bad condition And truly when men are backward and indisposed to cast up their Accounts and to see how matters stand with them in this great concernment of their Souls and to be curious and exact in it but go on from year to year carelesly presuming the best it 's a thousand to one but they are spiritually Bankerupts in a breaking condition which when death comes to Arrest them it may be they shall perceive unless carried away in a spiritual Lethargie which is worst of all Solomon saith He that despiseth his wayes shall dye Prov. 19.16 He that makes light how things stand with him which yet do exceeding neerly concern him such as are matters of eternal life and death it 's next to a demonstration that eternal ruine and destruction are not far from that man unless he recover himself from that careless posture Whereas on the contrary as men that are thriving in the World and in good case in point of Estate take pleasure in casting up their Estates So he that doeth truth cometh to the light that his deeds may be made manifest that they are wrought in God Jo. 3.21 But however let things be how they will be as bad with you as Jealousie it self can suspect yet there 's reason why you should make the more hast to find out the worst because as yet there is opportunity of keeping all from going to ruine of mending a bad Estate of coming to understand things that belong to your peace Now is the accepted time now is the day of Salvation 2 Cor. 6.2 the door is not yet shut the Market-day of the Soul is not yet over Christ is yet calling upon such as have thought themselves rich and abounding in Goods and to have need of nothing and yet upon tryal have been found miserable and poor and blind and naked he is yet calling upon them to buy of him gold tryed in the fire that they may be rich and white raiment that they may be clothed and that the shame of their nakedness may not appear Rev. 3.18 Truly I exceedingly fear that that which was the case of this Laodicean Church is the condition of vast numbers of Christians by profession in these dayes who think all is very well with them in that they have some knowledg of the Scriptures and a beleef of the Gospel touching Christs dying for sinners and being the Saviour of Man-kind and because they frequent the places of his publick worship and in a formal though liveless powerless way perform some duties when as they in the mean time are workers of iniquity in bondage to their lusts have no experience of the new birth or work of Regeneration in their Souls presuming it may be to the sad deceiving of their Souls that they were Regenerate and born again in their Infant Baptisme but indulge themselves in such things as please the flesh thinking that Christ as he is able so will be willng to pay all their scores as long as they do but depend upon him for it But alass such if they will be but perswaded to try themselves by that Doctrine of Faith here laid before them they will find themselves in an ill case O but let not that discourage any to be trying how it is with them the Lord is calling upon you saying Awake thou that sleepest and stand up from the dead and Christ shall give thee light Ephes 5.14 Though you have been all this while asleep and have dreamed you have been believers and that you are justified when it 's no such matter like the hungry man the Prophet speaks of Who dreameth and behold he eateth but he awaketh and his Soul is empty or as when a thirsty man dreameth and behold he drinketh but he awaketh and behold he is faint and his Soul hath appetite Isai 29.8 Yet now if with this jogg you may be but awakened out of this sleep and so come to see that that which pleased you so was indeed but a dream Christ is ready to give you light not only in making known to you the true and certain terms of his Salvation but also in shewing you how you may be indued with power and strength to observe the same and finally to attain Salvation it self which through your mistakes hitherto you have been in great danger to miss of he will guide you with his counsel and afterwards receive you unto glory Psalm 73.24 Only be diligent in this work make no longer delay thou art not master of thy time and thou knowest not what a day may bring forth remember it is for thy life the life of thy Soul there 's no dallying and trifling in matters of this moment What man is he that expects shortly to be tryed for his life this mortal life who out of the sence of the consequence of it is not restless in his labours pains and endeavours day and night till if such a thing be attainable he have got together the evidences of his defence and hath put himself into a good posture of vindication And shall men be penny-wise and pound-foolish shall they be solicitous about a mortal temporal life which for ought they know shall expire with the day of their tryal and shall men be rechless negligent and careless in their preparations and provisions for such a tryal wherein their everlasting condition life or death lies at stake God forbid Therefore I beseech you in the Name of the Lord and for the sake of your Souls that you give your selves no rest till you know what ground you stand on till you come to know that your plea and defence which you have to make in the great day of your tryal before Christ the Judge of Quick and Dead is such as will then carry the Day on your side Sect. 2 You may know now how things will go with you then when that great and notable day of Judgement and Tryal comes You have the rule of that dayes proceeding before you now The word which Christ hath spoken the Doctrine which he either by himself or his Apostles hath delivered the same shall judge you that 's it by which you shall be tryed in that day John 12.48 That word which you read that Word which you hear from day to day that 's it by which you must stand or fall So that if you will but make a business of it by laying things together and comparing one thing with another Scripture with Scripture and the temper of your heart and tenour of your life therewith you may be able to Prophesie upon supposition that
you remain in the same condition until death what judgment you shall have There 's no fear of the Judges awarding of any sentence contrary to Law contrary to the Doctrine of the Scriptures If your cause be good by that you do not need to fear the Judges being made against you if your cause be naught in the account of that there 's no hopes of deceiving or bribing the Judge as your cause is in the eye of the Law so and no otherwise will it be in the sentence of the Judg. And for your ease and accomodation in this great and weighty affair of your Souls and to the end you may not be mistaken in your own cause by mistaking the nature terms and true intent of the rule of your tryal by which you must be justified or condemned ignorance wherein and mistakes whereabout are wonderful dangerous I have in this Book laboured to fit things to your hands by opening the Doctrine of Justification especially in those parts of it that are most liable to mens mistakes and to deliver it from the incombrance of those crooked notions and mis-apprehensions by which men are in danger of making that to become a snare to them which God hath prepared for a Table That therefore to which I exhort you is that you put your selves upon the tryal now before-hand as men who are to run a race or to try masteries otherwise are wont to be proving their ability by a more private running of the Race or enuring of their bodies to other exercise before the day of publick striving for mastery comes Deal faithfully with your own Souls in trying your selves before the Barr of your own Conscience now for the present by that Doctrine of Faith here laid before you The Conscience is as it were Christs Delegate deputed by him to make Judgement by the rule of his Word of a mans spiritual condition in the interim before the solemn Assize and day of publick tryal come And therefore mens thoughts are said in the mean while mark that word in the mean while to accuse or excuse one another Rom. 2.15 that is to justifie or condemn as it finds a man guilty or not guilty according to that rule by which he is to be tryed by Chaist It is true the Conscience does not alwayes make that infallible Judgement in a mans case as Christ himself will do either for want of a right understanding of the rule of Judgement or the true state of a mans cause as being defiled and darkened and the eye of it made dim by too much communion with sinful lusts which it may be have corrupted and bribed it partially to favour the mans cause or at least to be neuteral as not to justifie so not to condemn but to leave things in doubt But to what degree it is truly enlightened in the nature of Christs Law and the nature of a mans cause that is to be tryed by it so far it will and can hardly do otherwise than make the same judgement and determination concerning a mans condition if a man will bring his cause before it as Christ himself will do Otherwise there would not be that ground of spiritual triumph and rejoycing in the verdict of Conscience which was found in Paul and his Christian companions upon that account 2 Cor. 1.12 For our rejoycing is this the testimony of our Conscience that in simplicity and godly sincerity not with fleshly wisdom but by the grace of God we have had our conversation in the world Sect. 3 The Devil as he makes it his work and business to accuse the very servants of God themselves before God day and night Rev. 12.10 so at certain times and seasons which he watches for on purpose as after some notable slip in the Christian walk or in time of some deep affliction and especially towards the hour of death he will accuse them at the Judgement-seat of their own Consciences and bring their cause to a tryal there to force them if possible to despair of any good issue when they shall come to be tryed before the Lord which he will say hard to if he can but confound and puzzle them in the evidences of their Justification and defence in the Court of their conscience And you shall find still in the issue and upshot that the stress and pinch will lye upon the evidence of the goodness of a mans Faith for if a man be but sure he have a right shield of Faith in the hand of his Soul he will easily be able to quench all the fiery darts of the Devil Ephes 6.16 If he lay to their charge and set before them the greatness and multitude of the sins and miscarriages which they have been guilty of at times heightened with all the provoking circumstances of aggravation the plea and defence will be that Christ the lamb of God taketh away the sin of the world John 1.29 That the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin 1 Joh. 1.7 That he is the propitiation for our sin and not for ours only but also for the sin of the whole world 1 John 2.2 And that not only few and small offences but even all manner of sin and blasphemy that against the Holy Ghost excepted shall be forgiven unto men Mat. 12.31 If he tell you though that be granted yet it will not follow that therefore your sins are forgiven or that you are actually cleansed by the blood of Christ because though Christ gave himself a ransom for all yet all shall not be saved by him for that wide is the gate broad the way that leads to destruction and many there be that go in thereat Mat. 7.14 And so put you upon proving your title to the promise of Remission of Sin by his Blood your plea will be your belief in him as that to which the promise of Justification and eternal Salvation is made in whomsoever found John 3.16 Mark 16.16 Acts 16.31 Rom. 3.25 But then its like he will go further with you and argue against you that it does not follow that because you have some Faith in Christ as that he is the Son of God that he dyed was buried and rose again that therefore you are justified and shall be acquitted before the Lord because there is a certain kind of formal feigned and dead Faith which will not save James 2.14 And that Simon Magus did believe though for all that he were in the gall of bitterness and bond of iniquity Acts 8.13 and so did others who for all that were in no very good condition John 2.23 and 12.42 43. If therefore he shall lay to your charge that yours is but a Faith of this sort and kind and consequently that it will not avail you nor render your title to the promise valid you have no other way to deal with him and so defend your selves against this Article of Indictment but by producing such proofs and evidences of the truness goodness