Grace to us in that it is bestowed on us through Christ or for his sake nor the less of Grace in God because the Righteousness of Christ his obedient suffering upon account whereof this gift or grant is made us was the effect of Gods gratious design of benefit unto us It was by the grace of God that he tasted death for every man as we are told Heb. 2.9 and consequently all the good that does accrue to us by it must be of Grace That the introduction of this Evangelical Righteousness we speak of was of meer Grace and free gift appears Rom. 5.17 where this effect of Gods Grace is called the gift of Righteousness And in that Verse and in the Verse before and after it is called the gift or free gift no less than four times Not as it was by one that sinned so is the gift for the judgment was by one unto condemnation but the free gift was of many offences unto justification For if by one mans offence death reigned by one much more they that receive abundance of Grace and of the gift of Righteousness shall reign in life by one Jesus Christ Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation even so by the Righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto the justification of life And in vers 21. Grace is said to reign through Righteousness to life as sin had reigned unto death In these Verses St. Paul shews that if the offence of Adam were of force to involve his whole Race in condemnation that then the Grace of God and the gift by Grace through Christ the second Adam and upon account of his Righteousness will be much more available to the justification and pardon of all men upon supposition they receive this gift of being Righteous with that Righteousness And let it be noted that the free gift here mentioned and the Righteousness of one Jesus Christ are not the same but the one the effect of the other it is by the Righteousness of one Christ Jesus that the free gift of Righteousness came upon all men unto justification of life That is as I conceive this free gift of accounting men Righteous if they receive it upon the terms of the giver is granted unto all men otherwise sinners upon the account of the Righteousness of Christ Rom. 3.24 Being justified freely by his Grace through the Redemption that is in Christ Jesus Here also we see that it is of free Grace that God approves of men as Just and does adjudg them Righteous which is his Justifying of them it is freely of Grace though it be through the Redemption that is in Christ Jesus or for the sake of his Mediatory obedience Tit. 3.6 Being justified by his Grace c. And when this Righteousness of Faith is said as it is to be a Righteousness imputed or a Righteousness that is accounted for such it implies nay argues that it is so in a way of grace and favour and not in stirctness of justice As on the contrary not to impute sin when sin hath been committed signifies to deal with such persons in a way of grace and favour and not according to the rigor of strict justice 2 Sam. 19.19 2 Cor. 5.19 As not to impute our trespasses to us when we repent of them and strive against them though otherwise we are not without all sin is purely an act of grace and of high favour in God even so for him to impute Righteousness to us when we sincerely endeavour to be Righteous though otherwise we be not without all sin is an act of the same grace likewise This Righteousness of Faith it is not a natural Righteousness as Adams was while he kept his integrity but it is so meerly in the account of grace and favour It is a Righteousness by Divine institution not otherwise of it self so its being so depends upon the grace and good will of God that hath appointed it so to be and to be accepted and to pass in account for such For which reason I conceive it is frequently called the Righteousness of God Rom. 1.17 and 3.21 2 Cor. 5.21 The Righteousness of God which is by Faith Rom. 3.22 Phil. 3.9 as noting it to be a Righteousness of his ordaining proceeding from his Grace in opposition to mens own Righteousness which is or is conceited to be a Righteousness Naturally and of it self as the Pharisaical Jews fancied their Righteousness of the Law to be By grace are ye saved through faith and that not of your selves it is the gift of God Eph. 2.8 That is it is by Grace and by virtue of the donation of God that we are saved by Faith or the Righteousness of Faith and that we have such a Faith or Righteousness of Faith to be saved by 2. It is by the Gospel or Covenant of Grace that this Righteousness of Faith is revealed and conveyed to us for such and stated and settled for such as by a Law This way of accounting men that have been and are sinners to be Righteous upon their believing is not known by any Natural Light because it is not a Natural Righteousness but is purely matter of supernatural Revelation as it is in it self supernatural Grace I am not ashamed of the Gospel saith St. Paul For therein is the Righteousness of God revealed from Faith to Faith as it is written the just shall live by Faith Rom. 1.17 And again Now is the Righteousness of God manifested without the Law to wit by the Gospel Rom. 3.21 It is by this Gospel or Covenant that Faith is ordained to be our Righteousness and settled for such as by a Law which therefore is called the Law of Faith Rom. 3.27 And the Gospel which conveys this Grace to us is frequently called the Grace of God the word of his Grace and the Gospel of the Grace of God Tit. 2.11 Acts 14.3 and 20.24 The Messias according to what was Prophesied hath brought in everlasting Righteousness by the everlasting Covenant the everlasting Gospel which was not in the world after the fall but by his bringing in Dan. 9.24 By all this it appears that the Covenant operates to our Justification as it gives being from God and our Lord Jesus Christ unto that Covenant Righteousness which is the matter of our Justification it is that by which God doth institute this Righteousness for it is a Righteousness by institution and not naturally such as I have shewed What it does in this kind it does it by virtue of Gods designation of it to that Office and not by its own innate virtue and intrinsick worth or merit When I say this Righteousness of Faith is not naturally and of it self such I do not mean that those fruits of the Spirit of which it doth consist have not in them the true nature of goodness and holiness for that they have but that these are not in Righteous men themselves that yet are Evangelically
strive against its prevailing upon them as I have shewed For the Gospel is the power of God to Salvation Now then if this be true that God by means of his antecedent Grace hath given such power unto men of acting towards their believing unto Righteousness as hath been said there is then there is very great reason this should be made known to them and that they should not be made believe that they have no more power of acting towards their own Salvation than there is in a dead man to raise himself to life I say there is great reason for this because their Salvation or Damnation are much concerned in it For to persuade men that they have no power to act towards their believing is the direct way to take them off from the use of means tending thereto For what greater discouragement can be given unto men to attempt a thing than to persuade them that they have no power of accomplishing it if they do As good never a whit as never the better as the Proverb runs The quite contrary is doubtless to be done by such as would not betray mens souls to destruction nor lay a stumbling block in their way nor cramp their endeavours in seeking to be saved They should be throughly acquainted with what power God hath put into their hands of being saved if they will by having given them his Gospel and power to hear and consider the terms of Salvation that are therein offered to them and the powerful motives that tend to persuade them to believe and obey it They should be brought to a great sense that God is not nor will be wanting to them in his Grace and assistance nor in the matter of their salvation if they be not greatly wanting to themselves in not doing what they may and can do towards it That God hath set life and death before them and persuaded them to chuse life and that he hath given them power to do so much towards it by the helps wherewith he hath prevented them as that he will not fail to give them so much more as shall put them into an immediate capacity of salvation if they will but make such use as they may and can of that which he hath already given them And that therefore if they perish it is of their own choice because they judg themselves unworthy of everlasting life And that for this cause they will be left without all excuse if they perish and that God will be justified in their condemnation in that he hath done that which was sufficient on his part to have prevented it It was not the manner of our Saviour to persuade men that they could do nothing towards their own salvation but complains of them saying ye will not come to me that ye might have life how oft would I have gathered you as a Hen gathereth her Chickens under her wings and ye would not and expostulates the matter with them saying yea and why even of your selves judg ye not what is right And from time to time cryed to them in his doctrin with an extended voice saying whosoever hath ears to hear let them hear meaning that if they would make use of their teachable and considerative faculties in any thing then about those things he preached among them And upbraided those that would not when they had eyes to see and ears to hear other things wherein they were nothing so much concerned as they were in his doctrine saying they seeing see not and hearing hear not neither do they understand And can any man that thinks well of our Saviour wisely think also that he upbraided them for not doing that which they had no power to do Nevertheless although it be Gods ordinary declared method of proceeding with men in reference to their salvation to add a subsequent power to enable such to believe unto Righteousness who had not grosly neglected to use and improve the antecedent power and Grace which had been vouchsafed them before yet doubtless God always reserves unto himself a liberty of acting extraordinarily in a way of Grace towards men where and when and to what degree he pleaseth though they have not improved but grosly neglected their first talents Several instances of this nature there have been in men whose natures and lives have been debauched with a custom of sinning who yet have been surprised as it were on a suddain and their consciences awakened and let loose upon them either by a Sermon or some great affliction or some other providence and such a change presently wrought that they have afterward become very good men And so God hath been found of those that sought him not as the Prophet speaks as he was by the extraordinary Conversion of those of the Gentile Nations upon the first going out of the Gospel among them many of whom till then had lived without God in the world as the Apostle speaks Now this liberty of shewing more Grace and favour to some than to othres God may well make use of and yet no man have cause to complain that he does so so long as he is not wanting to the rest in that which is sufficient unto their Salvation but puts it within their own power to be saved if they will So that if they perish it is through their own wilful neglect to do what they might have done Indeed God can no more wrong one creature than another because he cannot but do right to all But in dispensing favours it is nowise unbecoming his wisdom and goodness to do more for one creature than for anotheer no more than it was in the work of Creation when he did not make all Men Angels nor all Brutes Men. Is it not lawful for me to do what I will with mine own Is thy eye evil because I am good saith the Housholder in the Parable to him that murmured for that he that laboured but one hour in the Vineyard had as much as the hire of another for a whole day came to Mat. 20.15 Since then it is but Gods unusual and extraordinary way to convert some such men by surprising them with the mighty operations of his Grace as had in a manner wholly neglected the improvement of their first Talents the antecedent Grace of God And since he hath made no promise of doing so for any man but rather on the contrary threatened to take away from such that which they had received before It remains then that no man presume or take any encouragement to neglect Gods ordinary and prescribed way and means of attaining to Grace and Salvation in hope that God should go out of his usual way to meet with them and to convert them in a way and manner that is unusual and extraordinary No man in his wits will act by such measures in things pertaining to this present life and the outward man Some men we now and then see have strange and fortunate hits in the world Estates conferred on them
shew in what respects this Covenant operates to our Justification And this it doth 1. By reconciling the Natural Law to the terms of the Law of Grace in the behalf of Repentant sinners in virtue of the death of Christ for them whose Justification and Pardon the Natural Law was against while they remained impenitent By the Natural Law I mean that eternal reason or wisdom by which Almighty God does always that which is fit and becoming him towards his creatures and that by which his creatures do or ought to do what is fit and becoming them towards God towards themselves and one another And this is said to be the Natural Law because its determinations and awards are suited to the nature of things As when innocent creatures are used as such and obstinate sinners dealt with as such and repentant sinners treated as such and when creatures are more or less punished or rewarded according as they have been and done more or less wickedly or worthily or as when God does render to every one according to his works without respect of persons as the Scripture speaks Now to do according to the nature of things is to do according to right reason and to do so is always well becoming the Agent whether it be God or man and cannot be otherwise To this Law that of St. Paul refers when he saith Whatsoever things are true honest just pure lovely of good report if there be any virtue and praise think on these things Phil. 4.8 This then being the Natural Law it must needs be always against the Justification and Pardon of impenitent obstinate sinners and irreconcilable enemies for it would not be according to the nature of things not according to right reason and so not becoming the Agent if the bad should be treated as well as the good But then on the other hand the Natural Law cannot be against the justifying and pardoning of such repentant sinners for whom Christ died Because the case of such is quite different from theirs who continue in their rebellion and who have no share in the satisfaction which Christ hath made in the behalf of repentant sinners Now the case of such being thus different it would not be according to the nature and reason of things and so not according to the Natural Law if they should be no more pardoned than the impenitent Considering what our blessed Saviour hath done and suffered to atone God and to obtain pardon and happiness for repentant sinners such as are greatly displeased with themselves for having displeased God and that judg and condemn themselves as guilty of folly and worthy of death that deprecate Gods displeasure beg forgiveness and return to their duty it cannot but be agreeable to the nature and reason of the thing and very well becoming so good a being as God is for him for Christs sake to pardon such and to reward their future Faithfulness and sincere obedience with everlasting happiness And so much the rather it is so because by the death of Christ for such as return to God after their apostacy from him the great and wise ends of Gods Government over all intelligent beings which center in the publick good are secured as well yea better as I have shewed before than they would been by punishing repentant sinners themselves for their Offences By the securing of which ends of Gods Government the reason of the Natural Law is fully answered and satisfied The publick good in Gods Dominions is a great end of his Government and this publick good is promoted by Gods justifying and pardoning repentant sinners for Christs sake because by his doing so sinners are prevailed with and persuaded to repent amend and reform and of bad to become good and of unprofitable and disserviceable to become useful and profitable members in Gods Kingdom to the increasing and multiplying of such in it to the great joy and satisfaction of the whole For which cause it 's said There is joy in heaven over every one sinner that repenteth Luke 15. Again it must needs be agreeable to the Natural Law for God for Christs sake to justifie and pardon repentant and reformed sinners because it is agreeable to his own nature For that which is agreeable to the nature of God must needs agree to the Natural Law because the Natural Law is founded in the Nature of God Now for God to shew mercy to his creatures in all compassionable cases is as natural to him as to do justly mercy being as essential to God as justice or any other attribute of his is And there is no opportunity for mercy to shew it self but in compassionable cases And if the case of repenting and reformed sinners for whom Christ died being at first made but fallible be not a compassionable case I know not what is or where any will be found for God to exercise his mercy in Furthermore the Law of Grace does not nor indeed can Cancel or Relax the Natural Law in any part though I confess I with others have some time thought otherwise and the reason is because the Natural Law is naturally what it is and cannot be otherwise That which is in it self fitest to be done can never be otherwise under the same circumstances in which it is so The change or alteration is not in the Law when it favours the same persons at one time whom it disfavoured yea condemned before but the change is made in the persons themselves and in the change of the circumstances of their Case by reason of their interest in Christs performance for them and of their interest in the promise of the Law of Grace they having performed the condition on which their interest in the benefit of Christs death and in the promises of the Gospel were suspended The Law curseth all transgressors of it as such and they remain under it until they are redeemed from it and removed from under it by Christs having born it for them So that the Sanction of the Law is not Cancelled but undergon by our Redeemer for us He hath redeemed us from the curse of the Law by being made a curse for us not by altering the Law for us Gal. 3.13 Our Saviour hath told us that he which believeth not is condemned already because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God because he hath not received the remedy by which he might have been delivered from that condemnation into which he was fallen John 3.18 He was under the condemnation of the Law Natural before as a transgressor of that and is now under the condemnation of the Gospel as a rejecter of the Grace offered by that But when such an one comes to believe he is no longer under the condemnation of either Law or Gospel but both are reconciled to him through Christ because by his believing he is reconciled to them not because they are in the least altered but because the man himself is altered and
the circumstances of his case are altered upon the account of Christs performance for him We cannot say that the Natural Law was ever against the justification and pardoning of such repentant sinners for whom Christ undertook to suffer for if it had it would be so still now he hath suffered for that Law is intirely unalterable and inflexible Till heaven and earth pass one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the Law saith our Saviour until all be fulfilled Mat. 5.18 Now if the Law were never against the justification and pardon of such penitents as aforesaid then there needed no alteration to be made in it to make way for their justification and pardon And as all this appears as we see from reasons taken from the nature of God and from the nature of the Law it self as reconciled by the death of Christ to penitent sinners So it appears also by express Testimony of Scripture St. Paul speaking of such repentant sinners as in whom were found the fruits of the Spirit saith that against such there is no Law Gal. 5.23 and if no Law then not the Natural Law And when in another place the question is put whether it may be said that the Law is against the promise of God He rejects it with a kind of indignation saying God forbid Gal. 3.21 To conclude then for God to justifie pardon and make men happy when in vouchsafing this favour to repentant persons upon account of the death of his Son his Authority Law and Government is not left unvindicated nor the ends of his Government unsecured nor any creature hurt by it it is doubtless agreeable to the highest reason and therefore congruous to the Law Natural and infinitely becoming so good a being as God is And it may very well be that upon this account God is said to be just in justifying him that believeth in Jesus Rom. 3.26 and faithful and just to forgive us our sins 1 John 1.9 And this doubtless is the satisfaction which God the Father receives by the suffering of his Son for our sins about which there have been so many disputes in the world It is doubtless infinitely satisfactory and well pleasing to Almighty God that by means of his Sons suffering he can now shew Mercy to repentant sinners in justifying pardoning and saving them without suffering the least dishonor or suspition of dishonor in reference either to his Nature Law or Government and in full compliance with the immutable Law of Righteousness and Reason Nor will it follow from what hath been discoursed as some perhaps may object that the Natural Law and the Law of Grace are all one For although the Natural Law is not against the favour exhibited by the Law of Grace upon the reason and the terms on which it is done yet the Revelation of that reason which is the Mediatorial performance of Christ is not made by the Natural Law but by the Gospel or Law of Grace For no man can merely by any natural light know it but is knowable only by the Gospel Revelation or Law of Grace The natural man cannot know the things of the spirit of God because they are spiritually discerned that is by means purely spiritual or supernatural 1 Cor. 2.14 For this reason and by reason of all the honor which redounds to the Eternal Father and to our Lord Jesus Christ and all the benefit which accrues to men by this Revelation which is exceeding great it was necessary that this Law of Grace should be constituted and published as a Law distinct from the Natural Law But whereas the Scripture in some places seems to represent the Law and the Promise as inconsistent so that if one take place upon a person the other must in some sort give way according as I my self have somtimes thought I shall now look a little more narrowly into those Texts In Rom. 4.14 i'ts said If they which are of the Law be heirs faith is made void and the promise made of none effect And again Gal. 3.18 If the inheritance be of the Law it is no more of Promise but God gave it unto Abraham by promise For a right understandnig of these and such like Scriptures we must consider that the Apostle doth not in them represent the inconsistency of the Law and the Promise as they are in themselves and in their proper use and rightly understood but he therein represents the erroneousness of their opinion against whom he disputes upon the account of the absurd consequence of it as rendring the Law and the Promise inconsistent For otherwise when St. Paul speaks his own sense of the Law and Promise he with great vehemency denies the Law to be against the Promises when he says Is the Law then against the Promises God forbid Gal. 3.21 The case was this the Pharisaical Jews held Righteousness or Justification to be by the Law in opposition to its being by Grace I do not frustrate the grace of God saith St. Paul meaning that he did not do it by his doctrine as they did by theirs for if righteousness come by the Law saith he then Christ is dead in vain Gal. 2.21 They held their legal performances were of themselves a Righteousness that would of themselves Justifie them before God But St. Paul taught that it was meerly by grace and by virtue of Christs death that the faith and sincere though otherwise imperfect obedience of such as have been once sinners is imputed or counted to them for Righteousness So that their opinion of Righteousness coming by the Law if admitted would have rendred the death of Christ to be in vain and the Promise of none effect or useless which yet proceeded from Grace and was in it self an act of Gods Grace And if righteousness had been by works in their sense then it would not have been of Grace otherwise Grrace would have no more Grace as St. Paul reasons But if it was of Grace as the Apostle affirmed that it was then it could not be of works in their sence otherwise work would be no more work Rom. 11.6 So that the drift of St. Paul in his writings was to shew that their opinion of Justification by the Law was pernicious for that it opposed the Law to the Promise as rendering the Promise useless But that his doctrine of Justification by Grace through Faith did not evacuate the Law nor make it useless in the matter of our Justification but rendered both very well consistent Do we then make void the Law through Faith saith he God forbid yea we establish the Law Rom. 3.31 The good men among the Jews under the Law were Justified by Grace even then when they were approved of for Righteous upon the account of their sincere obedience to the Law of Moses and accordingly they depended upon the Grace and Mercy of God for acceptation and approbation in their sincere observation of all his Laws And therefore they from time to time stiled
eternal Life but such a practical Faith as I have described consider these following particulars 1. If none can be pardoned but such as repent nor see the Kingdom of God except they be born again as the Scripture assures us they cannot then no Faith can entitle us to Pardon and Salvation as it is a fulfilling the condition of the promises of the Covenant but such as is a penitential regenerating Faith such as works repentance and regeneration in men nor till it hath wrought these effects at least as begun I cannot imagine what can be said with any shew of reason against this argument 2. St. James argues that Faith which hath not works cannot save Ver. 12. and concludes his reasoning Ver. 24. with saying Ye see then how that by Works a man is Justified and not by Faith only 3. Faith and Obedience are so much the same or at least so inseparable when saving as that the same Greek word is indifferently translated to believe or to obey and so on the contrary the same word is translated unbelief or disobedience Instances of this nature you have in Acts 5.36 Rom. 11.30 31. Ephes 5.6 Heb. 4.11 and 11.31 in all which you have the same word translated one way in the line reading and another in the margin And belief and disobedience are likewise opposed to each other as contraries as well as faith and unbelief are and as well as obedience and disobedience are as you may see for instance in Rom. 10.16 1 Pet. 2.7 2 Thes 2.12 By all which we may reasonably judg that when Faith only is mentioned as the condition on which pardon and eternal Life are promised yet then it is to be understood of a practical obediential Faith 4. The same benefits pardon of sin and eternal Life are promised upon the condition of obedience in some Scriptures which are promised on condition of believing in others As for instance If we walk in the light as he is in the light we have fellowship one with another and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin 1 John 1.7 Here assurance is given us of being purged from the guilt of sin by the blood of Christ in case we walk in the light as God is in the light labouring to be holy as God is holy in all manner of conversation And Christ is the Author of eternal Salvation to all them that obey him Heb. 5.9 And blessed are they that do his Commandments that they may have right to the Tree of Life and may enter through the gates into the City Revel 22.14 Not every one that saith Lord Lord shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven but he that doth the will of my Father which is in Heaven Mat. 7.21 Now if holy obedience be made the condition of the promise of Pardon and Life as well as Faith as we see it is then none but an obediential Faith can be a performance of the condition of that promise By an obediential Faith I mean such a Faith as by which a man is moved and inclined and in some sort enabled to do what is his present duty so far as he understands it to be so And in this sense a mans Faith and his obedience are of the same date and commence together And therefore it is no marvel that the same promise of the same benefits is made to the one which is made to the other and that both are joyned in the condition 5. In Heb. 8.10 11 12. where we have the tenour of the new Covenant declared God promiseth to be a God only to such and to forgive the iniquities only of such as have his Law put into their minds and written in their hearts Where Faith is not at all mentioned as the condition of receiving those benefits but the having the Law written in the heart Though the having the Law written in the heart supposeth Faith I grant as a productive cause of it yet we see it is not the condition of the promised benefits otherwise than as it produceth such an effect which effect is only here mentioned and not Faith which is the cause 6. When saving Faith is described by the nature of its operation upon a man himself and not only as it acteth upon its object without him then we are told it purifieth the heart Act. 15.9 worketh by love Gal. 5.6 overcometh the world 1 John 5.4 and sanctifieth the whole man Acts 26.18 And therefore we have no good reason to think Faith is a fulfilling the condition of the promise only as it acteth upon its object by way of credence or assent or affiance either without its transforming operation upon the Soul 3. The next thing to be enquired into is the reason why Faith is made the condition of the promises of the Gospel-Covenant And the reasons hereof seem to be such as these 1. Faith is made the condition of the promise that it might appear to be of grace that such promise is made and made upon such a condition as faith is St. Paul having spoken of the promise being made through the Righteousness of Faith and not through the Righteousness of the Law Rom. 4.13 He gives the reason of it Verse 16. when he says It is therefore of Faith that it might be by grace to the end the promise might be sure to all the seed not to that only which is of the Law but to that also which is of the Faith of Abraham In which words we have a general reason why Faith is made the condition of the Promise and that is that it might be by Grace And another is given in a particular instance viz. that the promise might be sure to all the seed There is a double reason why it must needs be of Grace that the great Promises of the Gospel are made to mens believing the Gospel The one is taken from the nature of the thing that is of Faith it self in reference and relation to its object For he that believes the Gospel believes that the great blessings and benefits promised therein are promised not for any merit of his to whom they are promised but for the sake of another to wit Christ Jesus whom God hath set forth for a propitiation through faith in his blood Rom. 3.25 And he that believes the Gospel according to what it reveals believes also that it was of Grace that he was thus made a propitiation for it was by the Grace of God that he tasted death for every man Heb. 2.9 Not by works of Righteousness which we have done but according to his mercy he saved us Tit. 3.5 And whoever believes all this exalts the grace of God in so believing St. Paul who believed and taught this in opposition to the misbelieving Jews who thought to be justified by the works of the Law without the death of the Messias to obtain that and all other benefits said I do not frustrate the grace of God for if righteousness come
by the Law then Christ is dead in vain Gal. 2.21 Thus he by his Faith and Doctrine according to it in believing and teaching Justification by the death of Jesus Christ did not frustrate but exalt the grace of God Faith then in the very nature of it does own the promise of all benefits to be of Grace when made to such as by sin had forfeited all The other reason why it must needs be of Grace that the Promise is made upon condition of Faith is this because our believing that another to wit Christ hath by his own suffering and intercession for us obtained pardon and life upon condition of our being reconciled to God cannot without believing a contradiction be thought to merit these benefits but that the Promise and the benefits promised and their being promised on such a condition as an obediential Faith is must needs be all of Grace and cuts off all occasion of boasting For Christ is made to us of God Wisdom Righteousness Sanctification and Redemption to the end that he that glorieth may glory in the Lord 1 Cor. 1.30 31. And it is by grace that we are saved through faith and not of works lest any man should boast Ephes 2.8 9. Where is boasting then It is excluded by what Law Of works Nay but by the Law of faith Rom. 3.27 Again the Promise is therefore of Faith that it might be by Grace to the end that the promise might be sure to all the seed as well of the Uncircumcision as of the Circumcision The Promise of Pardon and Life to the Gentiles the greatest sinners upon condition of repentance is secured and made sure to them by their believing because the Promise so believed is founded in the death of Jesus Christ in whom all the promises are Yea and Amen For no man can with the least appearance of reason imagine that the great God would ever expose one so great and so greatly beloved by him as his holy Son is to such sufferings as he underwent to procure Pardon and Life for repentant sinners were he not fully and perfectly resolved to Pardon and save them upon their repentance notwithstanding all their sins they were guilty of before how hainous soever they may have been Upon which account our Saviour thus given by the Father to such an end is said to be surety of the new Covenant Heb. 7.22 that is he is the great security which the great God hath given to the world of performing whatever he hath promised us upon his Sons account in that Covenant God that spared not his own Son but delivered him up for us all how shall he not with him freely give us all things Rom. 8.31 And now who sees not but that this is an act of exceeding rich Grace in God not only to resolve to bestow upon the children of men such great things as he hath promised but also to give them such a security for it as he hath done by giving his Son to prepare the way for it Now the sense and comfort of all this Grace and so our ascribing the glory of it unto God and our Lord Jesus Christ depends upon our believing these things And therefore God hath entailed the Promise of benefits upon that Faith as a condition without which we can have no sense of all that grace of God exprest in the Promise And therefore well might the Apostle say It is therefore of Faith that it might be by Grace Besides the Promise appears to be of grace in reference to the condition on which it is made whether we consider the vast disproportion between the things promised and the condition on which they are promised or the easiness of the condition it self Considering what by sin we have deserved it would have been matter of Grace in God and great Grace too if he had promised us no more but a deliverance from the wrath to come and that upon any possible condition though otherwise never so rigorous or hard to have been performed as suppose it had been the greatest severity the nature of man could undergo to be exercised by us on our own bodies If this had been the case yet herein there would have been as much grace and favour shewed us as such temporary severities would come short of eternal torments in Hell And if this would have been matter of grace as most certain it would how much more doth it appear to be so when God hath promised not only exemption from the vengeance of eternal fire but also to exalt our nature and to prefer us to an immortal happiness and glory far greater probably than the happiness of an earthly Paradise would have been in case we had never sinned at all and yet all this too upon so easie a condition as Faith is For easie it is in the attaining to it if we consider what provision God hath made and what assistances he is ready to afford to enable us to believe And it 's easie in its exercise and work if we consider what we are to do by vertue of it which besides affiance in God and our Saviour is but to abstain from that we had better be without than have though we should not be concerned in a future state in another world and to do no more but what tends to the perfecting of our nature and the comfort of our lives besides the future glory except in the case of persecution for Righteousness sake In such respects as these I have mentioned it plainly appears that Gods making of Faith to be the condition upon which his great benefits are promised us tends greatly to manifest the grace of God and our Lord Jesus Christ and to fill us with a sense of it for which cause we see he hath chosen it to that office of being the condition of pardon of sin and eternal Life through Jesus Christ our Lord. And one reason why God would have his own grace so manifest in all these his proceedings and dealings with us and why he would have us possessed with so great a sense of it is I conceive because he knows this is the direct way of reconciling us to himself of making us to have good and honourable thoughts of him such as incline and dispose us to be reconciled to him And this brings me to another reason why Faith is made the condition of the great and precious promises aforesaid which is this 2. Such a Faith as I have described does best accommodate Gods design of Grace towards us in reconciling us to himself by Jesus Christ in order to our happiness which may be another reason why Faith is made the condition of the promised benefits There is a certain aptitude in Faith to reconcile us to God and to produce that in us which is the matter of our Justification as well as of our reconciliation to God And the reason hereof is because the motives by which men come to be persuaded to be reconciled to God