performance of any or all those religious services but that they should believe in him who was prefigured in all those services which was Christ and cast themselves wholly upon God in him for Righteousnesse both unto justification and fanctification But now Christ being come in the flesh and having in himself ended all those significations it is the will of God that both Jewes and Gentiles should believe in him and rest confidently assured that God is graciously well pleased with them in him having for his sake forgiven them all their trespasses so that the will of God being the ruleof mens obedience it is the will of God that they should not act according to the letter of the Law for life but that they should believe on the name of his Sonne Jesus Christ in whom is eternall life Q. But is not the Law even in the terrors of it a good meanes to drive men to Christ A. The Law as it was delivered to Israel on Mount Sinai was so holy so pure and of such transcendent righteousnesse that all the wisdome and power of men could not devise any meanes nor perform any action that might in the least be suteable to the will of God herein they being by nature acted by a spirit or principle quite contrary to the most pure holy and righteous will of God hereupon the Law was a ministration of death threatning wrath upon every disobedience so that in this respect the Law was and is so far from being a meanes to drive men to God that is was and is rather an occasion to drive them from him either first into despair if he should turn their consciences loose upon them Or else secondly by stirring up the enmity that is in the minds of men to make them hate God and all the holy wayes of God Or thirdly men being ignorant of the righteousnesse of God are hereby stirred up to invent some way or worship of their own whereby they may appear righteous before God Q. How could the Law being so pure and holy occasion or stir up the enmity that is in mens minds against God A. A man in the state of innocency was able to look upon God and to converse with him every appearance and discovery of God unto him was pleasant and delightful and the more the Lord was pleased to manifest himself unto man the more mans heart was enlarged to love him and his commandments were not grievous in this condition there was neither cause nor occasion of discontent much lesse of enmity or hatred between God and him But when man by sin was fallen from God and was become one with Satan who hated God then he who before was like unto God and loved God was now become like the Devil and hated God and this enmity or hatred was not against God as he was a good and loving God for that man was not now able to apprehend but in that he was a just and a righteous God for so he was pleased to appear unto him Before the Law was given the Lord manifested himself to men very seldome and very low and they knew but very little of him except in the outward creation all this while men were exceeding sinful and death had dominion over them yet neverthelesse God did not impute every transgression unto them though he often plagued them for their grosse and greivous sinnes for there was no written precept and the Law of nature was by sin so blotted and blurred that no man was able thereby to read or know his duty and now men were alive at least in their own conceits they thought themselves to be very happy and their conditions to be very good so long as they abstained from such grossenesse as very nature abhorred because they did not know sin many things that were very sinful went currant for morall vertues and many things that were duties were not looked upon as any thing at all sin was as it were dead men were so benummed in it But now when the Commandement on the Law came when God was pleased to appear in a most righteous Law whereby every sin and transgression was brought to light it being through the power of God a discerner of the thoughts and purposes of the heart now sin revived for now sin was discovered whatsoever was contrary to the holy will of God was known to be a sin and every duty was now known to be a duty so that by the Law men were become sinful that is they were now made acquainted with their sinful dispositions which before the Law came they did not know But this was not all for the Law did not onely discover sin to be sin but also did occasion sin to be more sinful That corruption of nature wherewith every man is tainted and whereby every man is become prone to evil that sinning sin took occasion by the Law or Commandement to work in natural men all manner of evil for the Law was so holy and so high that no man was able to attain to the perfection of it in the least degree and it was also the ministration of condemnation threatening wrath and curse upon every disobedience Now men perceiving that they were neither able to attain to that purity which the Law required nor yet to escape that wrath which the Law threatened that natural corruption that sinful disposition that is in every mans heart by nature was hereby quickened and stirred up through the working of Satan to hate God and to oppose him in all his holy and righteous wayes and appearances and yet the Law is not sin nor the cause of death unto any man but holy and just and good But sin or the vicious disposition of every mans heart being carried on by the Devil did so rage and swell against the purity and righteousnesse of God revealed in the Law that they sinned the more and acted all manner of wickednesse with greater violence even as a mighty stream being stopped rages and swells and breakes down all dammes and stops whatsoever and hence it is that the Commandement which was ordained to life was to them an occasion of death and thus sinne by the Commandement became exceeding sinfull Q. Doth the Law occasion such an enmity or hatred in the Elect also A. The Elect and they that are predestinated to be conformed unto the Image of Christ come under a two-fold consideration First as they are in the state of nature and secondly as they are in a state of grace As they are in the state of nature so they are in the state of enmity and there is no difference herein between them and all other men but onely in the account of God they hate God as much as any oppose him as much as any and had a hand and gave their voyce in the crucifying of Christ as much as any men whatsoever and in this condition
away that Covenant Again it is called a new Covenant though it be the same with the former Covenant which was made with Abraham and with the Israelites at the giving of the Law for even the Covenant of grace was very dark and mystical made forth under types and significations and therefore very imperfect and weak and yielded very little or no strength and therefore was disanulled because of the weaknesse and unprofitablenesse thereof But the new Covenant namely Christ or that better hope in the Gospel-dayes is strong in the Spirit and brings in life and power into the hearts of them who are entred therein whereby they are enabled to serve acceptably with reverence and godly fear Again under the services of the Law Christ the sum and substance of the Covenant was vailed and hidden very few knew but little of him But now under the new Covenant the Saints all know him from the least to the greatest they of weak faith and they of strong every one in their measure for they all with open face as in a glasse behold him and are thereby changed into his image from one degree of glory to another Thus and in other respects the Covenant of grace in the dayes of the Gospel is called a new Covenant Q. But doth not God promise in the new Covenant to write his Lawes in their hearts and in their mindes How then are the Saintsfreed from the Law Jer. 31. 33. A. The Law delivered on Mount Sinai was indeed a revelation of the most perfect righteousnesse of God but it was but outward it was but figured in stones and came not near the heart and therefore yeilded no strength to further them in their obedience and Christ who was the sum and substance of the Law was revealed or made known but in a very small measure the Spirit in those dayes run very low the Lord being pleased to vail and cover his glory until an appointed time But the Law which God promised to put into their mindes is Christ who indeed is the Law and the Covenant for now Christ being glorified and having received of God authority and power or the promise of the Spirit iâ— now returned in spirit and power into the hearts of the Saints and is become to them and in them a Law of the Spirit and a Law of life that is where Christ comes in the Spirit indeed he brings in power and life eternal life and transformes the soul and makes it like himself and enables it to walk as he hath walked Again the Law was a ministration of condemnation and threatened wrath upon every disobedience which caused terrors and fears even in the best of them But Christ who is the new Covenant is a ministration of righteousnesse that is in the Gospel Christ is made known to be the righteousnesse of God which the Law required he having perfectly fulfilled the Law in all the high demands thereof by walking exactly in all the particular commands of the same and not so alone but also hath stopped the mouth of the accusing and condemning power of the Law by yeilding and submitting himself in the flesh to death and curse and thus Christ is the Saints righteousnesse to justification fulfilling the righteousnesse of the Law for them And Christ in the new Covenant is also a ministration of life and peace in the Saints fulfilling daily the righteousnesse of the Law in them that is the Saints being now united and made one with Christ and one with God in Christ are thereby enabled to act righteousnesse and holinesse and doe not look unto the Law for their pattern but unto Christ the truth of that pattern for he is the way the truth and the life and thus the Law as it comes from Sinai is silenced to believers they being neither under commanding nor yet the condemning power of it But as the Law comes from Mount Sion as Christ is both the Law and the Covenant so the Saints are not without Law to God but under the Law to Christ he being a Law of the Spirit and a Law of life in their hearts freeing them from the Law of sin and death and quickening and raising their hearts to life and glory by and in himself In short the Law as it comes from Sinai and is figured in stones ceaseth to the Saints and the duties and commands thereof cease to be the duties of the Law but are the duties and commands of the Gospel even the commands of Christ new commands or the Law of Christ Q. What is the Gospel A. The Gospel is glad tydings of good things good tydings of great joy a message of peace a ministry of reconciliation a ministration of the Spirit the word of salvation the word of faith the word of life the power of God to salvation the immortal seed the sword of the Spirit the word of God c. In a word the Gospel is Christ and Christ is the Gospel Christ is he that answers all the types and significations of the Law and in whom is fulfilled all the prophecies of the Prophets it is Christ alone in whom God is well pleased and it is onely Christ who enables the Saints to walk in all well pleasing Q. How comes it to passe seeing believers under the Law were under the same Covenant for life and salvation with believers under the Gospel and they that were saved under the Law were saved by faith in Christ as well as under the Gospel or what may be the reason that the Saints or true Believers act now more lively and chearfully and are quickened up to a more close and holy walking with God in these Gospel-dayes more than under the Law A. The Covenant of grace was the same indeed under the Law as it is under the Gospel but it was very mystical and obscure even to them that did believe for it pleased God to cloud himself so that they could not see him or but very little of him When they came out of Aegypt he went before them in a cloud in a very dark and obscure manner At the giving of the Law he appeared in smoak and thick darknesse When Solomon had built the Temple which was a figure or type of Christ as they were performing religious services therein it is said that the Lord discovered himself in a cloud a cloud filled the house By all which it appears that the appearences of God unto them in those dayes were very much clouded they saw very little of him even what he was pleased to let out in a few outward services suspending of purpose the manifestation of his glory untill the fulnesse of time Now while the Lord was pleased thus darkly to reveal himself then he was pleased to accept of weak faith and mean services Besides the Israelites were under a mixt Covenant partly inward and
any man as he is a man as he is a Jew nor as he is a Gentile as he is rich or as he is poor bond or free but as he is in Christ and Christ in him In this sence the Lord doth accept persons for he accepts of these in Christ and as for others who are not in Christ he regards them not be they Jew or Gentile high or low noble or base he accepts of none but in whom he appeares and manifests himself by Jesus Christ Q. But is not God in all men Is not he one and the same and doth not he infinitely comprehend all things in himself All come from his fulnesse and he dwells in all and every one in his fulnesse for he cannot be divided a piece in one and a piece in another but he is all and in all and to all onely there is not the same manifestations in some he lies hid and in others he shines forth and we are said to be the off spring of God and to live move and have our being in him How then can it be but that all must be saved seeing God is in all and all are in him A. That God doth infinitely comprehend all things in himself and that all things even the whole creation proceeded from his fullnesse is a truth yea that God is in all men in some sence or respect is also granted Man being created in the Image of God was thereby able to act according to God but having by sinne defaced this Image he was now become more like Satan than God And though he had lost all his wisdome and strength to act according to the will of God in things spiritual yet there remained so much of the light of nature in him namely his natural understanding and reason which served him and whereby he was enabled to act in moral and civill things and to leave him without excuse For without understanding and reason he could not be able to glorify God as God in the outward creation Now this natural understanding and reason as it is purely natural so God ownes it as a sparke of his Image but as it is corrupted and defiled with sinne so he disowns it and this is that which doth accuse or excuse When naturall men led on by the light of nature did act according to reason or judgement then their conscience did excuse them But when they acted contrary to reason even from corrupt and carnal principles then their naturall conscience was against them and accused them And this naturall principle hath many names even in Scripture somtimes it is called a knowing of God or a knowledge of God Sometimes mans righteousnesse Rom. 10. 3. And sometimes mans wisdome and the spirit of the World c. And by this spirit or principle of nature God is in all and acts in all rationall men yet in some in a higher and in others in a lower degree For it is by this spirit or principle that all natural and civill men act lawfully in all natural and civil things For there is not any action in the world that is naturally and civilly good but in this respect it is of God Neither can God ly hid in this respect in the most wicked or carnal men For even they many times do act things in themselves that are naturally and civilly good And thus all men may be said to be the off-spring of God not onely because they all came from him as their original but also as they are acted by him through a spirit or principle of nature to walk honestly and civilly in things of outward concernment But now there is a more special and spiritual in-dwelling of God in the Saints namely the eternal in-dwelling of his love in Jesus Christ wherely he hath from all eternity chosen them and made them one with himself in Christ And in due time in their several generations hath manifested and doth manifest and reveal this love which is Christ in their hearts which doth assure them of their adoption and of their union with him And whereby they are carried forth to live up to him yea to live in him being transformed more and more into his own glorious Image even by his spirit dwelling in them Now that God is not thus in all men namely in his love in Jesus Christ is clear both from Scripture and common experience The Apostle in the eighth Chapter of the Romanes and the first Verse layes this down as a firme conclusion That there is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus But who are they Such as walk not after the flesh but after the spirit Now to walk after the spirit is to be led forth by the same to mortifie the deeds of the body that henceforth they might not serve sin For Jesus Christ who is in them a law of the Spirit which is a law of Life doth free them first from sinne and then from death But there are some that walk after the flesh and mind or are led onely by a naturall principle and this tends onely to death because this spirit or carnal principle is at enmity against God and neither is nor can be subject or obedient to Christ who is the Law of life or power of God to salvation in all that do believe but is full of self-righteousnesse acting by legall and fleshly performances for life and happiness And being thus earnal in their minds cannot please God because partaking not of Christ or of that spirit wherewith he is annointed they are not nor cannot be any of his But walk in the vanity of their own minds having nothing but darknesse in their understandings and by reason of that ignorance are estranged from the glorious Light and Life of God even Jesus Christ and being hardned by continual custome in sinne become at length insensible and give themselves over unto lasciviousness and wantonness to act all manner of uncleannesse and that with greedinesse But the Saints have better learned Christ for they being annointed with and receiving of his Spirit do therefore mind the things thereof and are led forth thereby into all well pleasing actions Christ who is the Life being risen in their hearts the old man or body of sinne is destroyed mortified and put off by little and little even as he is pleased to manifest himself But the wicked even the children of disobedience or unbeliefe they have no fellowship in Christs Kingdome which is Spiritual nor no inheritance in the Kingdome of God which is in glory eternal though they deceive themselves For the wrath of God cometh and abideth on them And thus it is clear from Scripture that God is not in all men in his love in Jesus Christ for he is where he comes in Christ both Light and Life and where he is thus he acts like himself And
all temporal blessings were made to the outward conformity and literal observations of the Law the Lord being pleased to deal with them as with children even to hire them to an outward conformity unto the same by giving them outward prosperity But the Covenant as it was inward and spiritual respected onely spiritual Israel believers both Jewes and Gentiles in all ages and in all nations to the end of the world Yet notwithstanding the Ordinances of the Law or Covenant were to continue but for a season namely until the promised seed should come which is Christ Q. What were those Ordinances and Services of the Law or Covenant A. First there was the Tabernacle and afterward the Temple which were representations of the flesh of Christ and also of the Saints in whom God would please to dwell and manifest himself And then there was the Priesthood of Aaron signifying the eternal Priesthood of Christ And there were also many Sacrifices and Offerings which did betoken the Sacrifice of Christ who should by that one offering of himself to God obtain eternal redemption for them And there were many and divers washings and cleansings which did shew forth the bloud of Christ which can onely wash and cleanse away all sin These and many others being visible representations and significations of Christ in the flesh his perfect fulfilling of the Law his making satisfaction to divine Justice c. All which were to be fulfilled and accomplished in him which being done the significations were to cease and to be of no more use Q. The Gentiles or Heathen had no fellowship or communion at all with the Israelites but were utter enemies unto them and hated them and sought their ruine continually How or in what respect then did the Law or the Covenant therein contained concern the Gentiles or belong to them A. The Lord having in his eternal purpose chosen to himself a people to be heires of life by Christ Jesus did yet notwithstanding for many generations suspend the manifestation of his love and favour unto all the people of the world except the seed of Abraham or the Israelites onely whom he had brought near to himself and to whom he manifested his great love not onely in outward and temporal blessings but chiefly in spiritual administrations withall forbidding them to have any communion with any nation whatsoever unlesse they would be circumcised and worship God according as he had commanded them which thing occasioned such an enmity and hatred in all nations against the Israelites that they would not be reconciled unto them at any hand yea though the enemies were very different in Religion and Idol-worship and hated one another even unto death yet they could agree together against the Israel of God to root out their name from the earth And this enmity or hatred was not against them as they were men or because they were of different nations but herein lay the enmity because the Israelites did worship the true God with such holy worship as he had commanded the seed of the Serpent or the Devil in all false worships and religions persecuting the seed of the woman or Christ and the Saints in the true Religion and pure worship of God in all agés and so the hatred was not onely against the Israelites in their persons but even against the good wayes of God in his pure worship and herein against God himself The great mystery that the Gentiles should be heires of life with the Jewes partakers of the same promises and of the same body was not yet revealed but kept secret But now they who were sometimes afarre off were made nigh by the bloud of Christ for Christ by subjecting himself in the flesh to death did break down that partition wall and that enmity that was between Jewes and Gentiles being slain thereby so that although they before were twain and hated one another yet now by the death of Christ they were united and made one and not onely reconciled to one another but also to God through faith in Jesus Thus the Gentiles by the preaching of the Gospel came to know that which before they did not know even to believe their Son-ship and their interest in the Covenant by Jesus Christ yet notwithstanding they were not under the Law as it was a Covenant of works for temporal blessings for so it concerned the Israelites onely and according as they acted to the command so they prospered in their temporal estates and this part of the Covenant was peculiar onely unto them But as the Law was spiritual and contained in it a Covenant of grace so all the elect both Jewes and Gentiles were concluded in it it being an eternal Covenant made with all the Saints in Jesus Christ in the eternal purpose of God before the world began and in due time manifested according to the dispensation of God who worketh all things according to the counsel of his own will that is who revealeth and discovereth himself in Jesus to whomsoever after what way soever and in what time soever he himself pleaseth But yet the Gentiles were not under those legall services and formal observations of the Covenant as the Passeover Circumcision all those Sacrifices and Offerings those legall washings and cleansings in a word all that Temple-worship whatsoever they being all fulfilled consummated and ended in Christ for now in this way of Temple-worship neither Jewes nor Gentiles were to worship God he having withdrawn himself in his appearances out of all these things but now both Jewes and Gentiles were to look unto God in Christ in whom and by whose most precious death and bloud-shedding he declared himself to be fully satisfied for all those transgressions and disobediences from which they could not be justified by the workes of the Law Q. The Gentiles indeed were not to observe those legall Worships and Services which the Jewes did But were they not to make the Law of God the rule of their obedience A. The Law as it was delivered to Israel upon the Mount so it was a revelation of the most holy and perfect will of God and so it was the rule of their obedience Now the Law being of a twofold consideration it was the will of God that their obedience should be suteable thereto First As the Law was outward and respected onely the outward man so it was his will that they should be obedient in all things to the very letter and form of all his commands and herein they were to act with all their strength in case they would be outwardly happy But secondly As the Law was spirituall and concerned the inward man so their obedience was to be answerable to the will of God herein Now it was not the will of God that they should act herein according to the letter and think to attain Righteousnesse by a strict
the Law is to them the ministration of death and their hearts rise against it and they cannot endure to hear of the purity and equity thereof But when they are once brought into the state of grace when they once apprehend the love of God manifested to them in Jesus Christ who is become their righteousnesse then they are delivered from the Law as it did occasion hatred between God and them for in this respect Christ took it away and nailed it to his Crosse so that sin which was the cause of enmity and the Law which by occasion did quicken and stirre up this enmity were both nailed to the Crosse of Christ and slain together in his flesh and now the Elect or Believers are delivered from the Law that they should no longer serve in the oldnesse of the letter in feares and terrors but in the newnesse of the Spirit with comfort and delight Q. The Law or Commandement being ordained of God unto life How then did it become uselesse and void A. God did indeed ordain or appoint the Law unto life but not that any man should attain unto life by any performance or outward observation of the same whatsoever but that by believing in God through him who was held forth and prefigured in and by the Law they might have eternal life neither is the Law become uselesse and void for heaven and earth shall sooner passe away than that one word of the Law should fail for it is a revelation of Gods perfect righteousnesse commanding perfect obedience of all men who are not in Christ and it is a ministration of death and condemnation and bindes over every unbeliever to answer for every disobedience before the tribunal of Christ It serves still to discover sin and thereby leaves wicked men without excuse In these and the like respects the Law is holy and just and good and shall not be dissolved till all be fulfilled Q. Is the Law then of no use to Believers or the Elect A. The Elect while they are in the state of nature and untill they be regenerated and born anew of that incorruptible seed which lives and abides for ever so long they are under the Law and it threatens them and curses them but it cannot condemn them because they are in Christ in the purpose of God it commands their obedience but doth not assist them to obey it kills them but cannot make them alive yet it is in some sence a Schoolmaster unto them to lead them to Christ though not in the terrors of it yet in the true ends and right understanding of it for Christ is the end of the Law for Righteousnesse that is the main end why the Law was given was that men should look to Christ for righteousnesse The Law therefore to the Elect while they are in the state of nature being rightly expounded to them and truly apprehended by them doth instruct them that they must lay down all their own righteousnesse which is as they think attained by the performance of the duties of the Law and rest onely and wholly upon Christ for righteousnesse for while they remain in unregeneracie they verily think that they are bound to act according to the Law for life or else they shall be damned they being shut up all this while under the Law as in prison unto the faith which is afterward to be revealed yea and many times also when they are quickened and made alive and are set at liberty or when they doe believe in Jesus Christ in some measure yet they are so held under a spirit of bondage that they still serve in the oldnesse of the letter in great fears and many doubts and go heavily and mourning under the easie and light yoak of Christ because they apprehend in themselves and are perswaded by others also that although they do believe in Jesus Christ for justification yet it is their duty to walk in a strict conformity to the Law or else they cannot be saved and then finding in themselves that they are not able to walk so exactly as the Law requireth it being weak and yeilding them no assistance in the work are many times so cast down and filled with fear that they refuse to be comforted and the best they can attain unto in this condition is this that when they apprehend their walking to be somewhat or in any good measure answerable to the holinesse which the Law requireth especially if they find their hearts to be upright in the same as they are able to judge then they think that God will accept of them for their uprightnesse although they cannot attain to that perfection which the Law requireth But when they come to believe indeed when they are enabled to rest confidently upon Jesus Christ for righteousnesse unto life and salvation then they see and know that they are delivered from the Law and that the Law as it is the Law hath nothing to doe with them and that they are neither under the command of it nor yet under the threats nor curses of it the Law in this respect being dead unto them and they dead unto it and that they are to serve now no longer in weaknesse and fear but in power and with delight for they are under the new Covenant which is a Covenant of grace and being under grace are thereby enabled and accepted Q. Was not the Covenant of grace contained in the Law and were not the believing Israelites under the Covenant of grace What then is this new Covenant Or why is it called a new Covenant A. The Law did contain in ita Covenant of works and a Covenant of grace The Covenant of works was outward and respected onely the outward man and in this they acted for temporal things But the Covenant of grace was inward and in this they were not to act but to believe to eternal life The Covenant of works was very literal and largely expressed and they were all very well acquainted with it But the Covenant of grace was spiritual and very little of it expressed but shadowed out under divers Ordinances and observations and therefore very few of them did understand it or had any knowledge of it but imagined that by their outward observations they had done all that was commanded Now this Covenant as it was thus outward and respected onely outward and temporal things so it is an old Covenant and is vanished away and in this respect the Covenant of grace is called a better Covenant because it consists of better promises which are life and glory in Christ Jesus And a new Covenant and not like the Covenant which God made with them when he brought them out of the Land of Aegypt which Covenant they brake that is they understood not his meaning in the very outward Covenant but served themselves and their own lusts in the same therefore he would utterly abolish and take
partly outward the inward part of the Covenant which was Christ was clouded and very dark as was said before and very little notice taken of it by the greatest part of them But the outward part of it was very plain and easie and they all knew it very well and acted generally according unto it and minded earthly Canaan long life and outward prosperity therein more than heavenly Canaan or the sweet and comfortable enjoyment of God in the lively apprehension of his love and favour But now Christ who indeed is the new Covenant for he is the substance of all those former Covenants being come and having acted his part in the flesh is now revealed in the Spirit for he is that Spirit or power of Gods infinite love proceeding eternally from the Father upon the Son and from the Son upon the Saints and into their hearts and now the Saints look not for Christ in outward observations but in inward and spiritual demonstrations of infinite love shed abroad in their hearts whereby they are transformed and conformed unto Christ their head more and more Neither doe the Saints now look to any outward Covenant for there is no promise made unto them of any outward or temporal things but with persecution and that they shall be contented with their conditions But the Saints look unto Jesus who is the author and finisher of their faith and count it all joy when they are accounted worthy to suffer rebuke for his name And this is the true reason why the Saints walk with God so chearfully and joyfully because they clearly see that they are not justified by or for any work or merit or worth of their own but meerly by the free grace and love of God in and for the righteousnesse of Christ Jesus who is the Lord our righteousnesse both unto justification and also unto sanctification Q. What is justification Or how may sinfull men be said to be justified or made righteous before God A. Justification is an act of Gods free grace and love whereby he through the redemption that is in Jesus Christ hath freely forgiven the sinnes of all his elect and accepts of them in him as perfectly just and righteous But more plainly Justification is that whereby God himself is pleased to condiscend and to cloath himself with our flesh and in our nature and our flesh to fulfill all the righteousnesse of the Law for us and also to subject himself in the flesh to death and curse hereby paying all our debts and satisfying divine Justice on our behalf and so became our righteousnesse for justification All which he hath done freely without any desert or desire on our part Q. But doth not the Scripture say that we are justified by faith What is faith And how are we justified by the same A. There be in Scripture divers kinds of faith mentioned by reason whereof many think that they believe to justification and are deceived for justification is free on Gods part and without any condition at all on our part for if faith were a condition of our justification then it were not free justification being an act of God in his eternal counsell and purpose before the world began if faith were a condition thereof then are we justified for some fore-seen grace in us and not freely by his grace Now faith is neither a meanes nor yet any condition of justification but rather an evidence or demonstration thereof for true faith is that whereby we close with God in the promise of life and salvation in and by Jesus Christ Now this faith is not in us by nature but is wrought in the heart by the manifestation of God in the soul When the Lord is pleased to reveal Christ in the soul and to discover to the same that he is well pleased with him in Jesus and that he hath freely forgiven all his sinnes meerly for the merit and righteousnesse of Jesus and that now he accepts of him as righteous in his beloved Son and that in Christ he hath adopted him to himself to be his Son now when the soul apprehends this then it is thereby enabled to believe it and rests upon it And thus true faith doth not act in the workes of justification but onely believes it when it is revealed in the soul and then believing hath peace with God and can look upon him with comfort and can joy in him in all tribulations Now no man can believe in Jesus Christ untill he be revealed unto him by the Father and according to the measure or degrees whereby God is pleased to discover himself to any man so he can believe or confide in him more or lesse so that it is plain that faith is no meanes or condition of our justification but by faith we believe it and rest confidently assured of it when it is revealed and so have joy and peace in believing Q. But doth not the Scripture say that Abraham was justified by works what say you then of good workes as prayer reading and hearing the word repentance and all other duties of piety and charity are not they required as good meanes of our justification A. The scope of that Scripture is not to declare that Abraham did act any thing in the work of justification for it is said that Abraham believed God and it was accounted to him for righteousnesse and those good works whereby Abraham is said to be justified doe rather declare him to believe and his faith to be a live than any way to act in the matter of justification For faith as is said before doth not justifie but believes it and applies it true faith works by love and shewes what house it comes of by actions of piety and mercy There is a faith which is dead it being nothing else but a perswasion of a carnal heart which is deceitfull and of this many men brag and boast and cry religion religion but they doe not walk in love neither toward God nor men and this faith profiteth nothing or profitable to no man and is no better than the faith of Devils But true faith where it is indeed it proceeds from a holy seed being begotten by the manifestation or discovery of God in the soul and hath for its ground a word of promise not onely without but especially within and is reall and not in imagination so also it acts like it self and is profitable every way First toward God it gives him the glory of all his wisdome power justice mercy and goodnesse when men can say indeed In the Lord have I righteousnesse and in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength when a man can say now I live yet not I but Christ lives in me yea I can doe all things be any thing suffer any thing through Christ that strengthens me I can be abased and I
can abound I can as well be content to be hungry as to be full fed to be poor as to be rich to suffer as to raign to dye as to live when a man can live in God and unto God above all this world and esteem all things but drosse and dung in comparison of the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus And true faith is also profitable to men when it is exercised in godly conference building up one another comforting one another and if need require reproving one another when it works in feeding the hungry clothing the naked releiving the oppressed and by doing to every man as we would be done unto This is living faith and it is thus evidenced to be alive Thus we are not justified by nor for our good workes for we are his workmanship created a new in Christ Jesus unto good workes that we should walk inthem Justification where it is indeed will evidence it self by acts of sanctification Q. What is sanctification And how is it wrought A. As Christ is made of God righteousnesse unto us for justification so also for sanctification as he is our justification because he perfectly fulfilled the righteousnesse of the Law for us and paid all our debts yeilding up himself to death for us so also he is become our sanctification by fulfilling the righteousnesse of the Law in our hearts even by living in us As we are justified by his death so we are saved or sanctified by his â—sfe Sanctification is an act of Gods infinite love whereby he takes us out of Adam or the old man and puts us into Christ or the new man and this is the new creation or the new creature when a man that before was unholy profane and to every good work void of judgement is now become through the power of Christ living in him holy unblameable and ready to every good work and this is wrought by the power of God revealing Christ in the soul when Christ is revealed in the soul to be white and ruddy the most excellent the most amiable one in whom God is well pleased and in whom his soul delighteth yea and by whom and in whom he is well pleased with poor sinners and delights in them then that soul is ravished with his beauty which is his love and with beholding or apprehending of it is transformed into the same Image of love more and more Christ is the Saints life and this life is hid in God untill it be revealed and when Christ who is our life doth appear in the soul then the soul lives in his life and appeares with him in glory Now every one in whom Christ lives indeed he conformes them to himself First in death if Christ be risen in the soul then the old man is crucified that the body of sin might be destroyed and the soul is dead indeed unto sin but alive unto God in holinesse through Jesus Christ who lives in him Secondly Where Christ is risen indeed there is a conformity in life Christ being the life living in the soul the soul must needs live indeed and live unto God and not any longer to the flesh for to be carnally minded is death but to be spiritually minded is life and peace and thus is Christ our sanctification when he arises and appeares in our hearts whereby he transformes and changes us into his own Image even his Image of glory more and more Q. But doth not the Lord in Scripture call men to repentance and promise them life upon condition of the same yea the Lord doth solemnly protest that he delights not in the death of him that dieth but rather that he should repent and turn and live And again why will yee die repent and turn and live yee And our Saviour saith except yee repent yee shall all perish and the Apostles exhort them in the Acts to repent for the remission of sinnes and that their sinnes might be blotted out And again if we confesse our sinnes he is faithfull and just to forgive us our sinnes and to cleanse us from all unrighteousnesse Doth it not from all these places appear very plain that repentance is necessarily required as a meanes or at least a condition of life A. There is in Scripture a twofold repentance spoken of a repentance of the Law and a repentance of the Gospel The repentance which is of the Law is suteable to that Covenant of workes which the Israelites were under for temporal blessings when they at any time acted contrary to the command then the Lord plagued them sometimes with famine pestilence warre captivity c. untill they did repent and when they repented or ceased from their wicked wayes and works then the Lord would also repent or remove the judgement for temporal blessings were promised upon condition of outward obedience and temporal punishments were diverted or turned away upon their legal repentance and ceasing from their evill wayes In the time of Ezekiels prophesie the Israelites were many of them in captivity already and the rest of them were threatened and when the Lord by the Prophet called for repentance the people thought it was to small purpose to repent seeing their fathers had eaten sour grapes and their teeth were set on edge and that it was but a light businesse to promise them any good upon condition of repentance seeing they did but pine away in their fathers sinnes To which the Lord commands the Prophet to tell them that it was no such matter it was their own sin which was the cause of their misery and that if they would return from their idolatries and other abominations he would cease from punishing of them and hereupon uses that solemn oath As I live I have no delight in plaguing you I had rather yee would turn from your evill wayes and live in your own land why will yee die or why will yee be slain or die by famine or pestilence c. And so our Saviour tells those which spake to him of Pilates cruelty that unlesse they did repent they should likewise perish meaning that some temporal judgement would overtake them and thus legal repentance served onely for the preventing or diverting of temporal punishments But repentance which is of the Gospel is not any meanes or condition of life for eternal life is the gift of God through Jesus Christ our Lord and it is a free gift and not purchased by repentance nor yet promised nor given upon condition of repentance for it is not sin nor Satan nor death it self can make a separation between them that are elected and the love of God in Christ Jesus which is eternal life The Lord who hath promised is not a man that he should lie or the son of man that he should repent in this respect Now this repentance is called godly sorrow and it is wrought by the working power of
of the Gospel A. Whatsoever was practised by the Apostles and Primitive Christians is already declared how they to prevent contention and strife did condescend to the weaknesse of many knowing that in time the Baptisme of the Spirit which is a Baptisme of Fire would eat up the Baptisme of Water as the fire that came down upon Elijahs Sacrifice did lick up all the water that was in the Trench But whatsoever hath been done in Water-Baptisme since that time it is hard to say is or was done with warrant from Scripture but is to be feared was rather a part of that mistery of iniquity which began to work even in the Apostles time And that Baptisme is come in the room of Circumcision was never yet made good by Scripture nor never will It is true God made a Covenant with Abraham and gave him also Circumcision as a sign or seal thereof But the Covenant which God made was twofold Inward and Outward The Inward part respected his soul in the sweet enjoyment of Gods love and favour by Christ Jesus both in this life and in eternall glory The Outward part of it respected the outward man the enjoyment of the land of Canaan with long life and prosperity therein Now so farre as the Covenant was inward and respected his soul so farre Circumcision could not be a seal thereof for nothing could seal the true spirituall love and favour of God to his soul but the Spirit whereby all believers were and still are sealed to the day of redemption But as the Covenant was more outward that he should be the Father of many nations that in Isaac should his seed be called and that he would give the land of Canaan to his seed for an everlasting Possession so farre Circumcision was a seal of the Covenant But now in the daies of the Gospel the new Covenant is a single Covenant that old weak part of it being vanished away and it is now established upon better promises than earthly Canaan For the Covenant which God makes with his people now is altogether inward and Spirituall which is Christ and there is no seal of this Covenant but that Spirit or the Lord Jesus called the Spirit of promise And to make Water-Baptisme or a Carnall thing to be a seal of a Spiritual Covenant which is Christ in the soul sealing up the love of God to the same to all eternity argues much ignorance in the mistery of God and carnall mindednesse in the things of God in a great measure And whereas the Apostle tells the Corinthians their Fathers were baptized in the Cloud and in the Sea That is no warrant for Baptisme at all But he speaks it rather to take them off from depending upon outward Ordinance c. For thus he seems to speak Your Fathers were high in outward Ordinances but they were not very high in Gods favour for they were overthrown in the wildernesse and these things were written for your example c. And for that of the Apostle Peter where he is speaking of the Floud and that in the Arke but a few even eight souls were saved by water and that by a figure Baptisme doth not save us First we must understand that the Ark saved those eight soules from the water And then that the figure here spoken of is not between the floud and water-baptisme But between the Ark which saved them from those great waves and Christ who saves us from the sea even the red sea of Gods fierce wrath as they that did believe and obeyed and prepared an Ark were put into it by God and so saved from death So all that do believe are shut up in Christ and made one with him and so saved from wrath For so saith the Apostle Baptisme doth now save us but not the washing away of the filth of the flesh with water but the answer of a good conscience to God by the resurrection of Christ from the dead If Christ be not risen in the soul and if he raise not the soul from death that man is not baptized indeed though he be washed in water a thousand times And as for Infants that they should be baptized there is not the least intimation in all the Scriptures that they whiles they are such ever were or ever should be baptized If Water-Baptisme were any thing or had any thing in it yet infants are in no capacity at all to apprehend it no not so much as in signification yet they which make a prop of it to hold up their tottering kingdome can see good reason for it and draw goodly consequences from Scripture to help forward the practise of it Q. Though there be nothing in it as indeed there is not it being an outward signe may we not use it therefore in obedience to Christs command as a sign of our ingrafting into him and as an ordinance that gives us admission into Curch-fellowship with the Saints A. The commands of Christ are not empty and barren commands but full of power and efficacy When Christ coms forth in a command then there is a work wrought indeed If Christ say to a dead man live then is he quickned indeed If he command a man to believe then there is faith and confidence wrought indeed If he command the Saints to love one another then it is effected indeed Christs commands where they come and he himself come along in them or else they are not his commands they never return in vaine but do certainly accomplish their work not in imagination but in reality and truth Now if Christ had commanded to Baptize a man or an infant in water certainly some notable work would have been wrought thereby But we see in experience that to dip or to sprinckle in or with a little cold water produceth no effect in the inward man Therefore to Baptize with water as a command of Christ is to offer injury to Christ and to make the commands of Christ which are full of power and life to be empty and fruitless commands which is not safe to imagine Moreover Christs Kingdome is a Spirituall Kingdome and is altogether inward And as it is not attained so neither is it enjoyed with any outward observations Indeed under the Law they had their outward Ordinances and Services and all of them had their significations shewing forth something of Christ of his death and resurrection c. And this Kingdome was more Carnal than Spiritual and they were led on in it by outward and carnal observations But now Christ having finished all his work in the flesh and being come again in the spirit he exerciseth all his Kingly power in the soul and this Kingdome of Christ is the Kingdome of Heaven and there is no signification in it at all but all is reall For it is the glory of God begun in the soul not in imagination but in deed and in