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
a power to justifie The efficacy justifying power and vertue of Faith depends not upon nor rises out of the excellency or dignity of its own nature but it depends upon and proceeds from the will good pleasure ordination or appointment of God digested and put into the Gospel as a standing Law and unchangeable decree As it was not the naturalness of proportion between the Israelites looking up to the Serpent of Brass and that effect of healing that was procured thereby Numb 21.9 that brought the thing to pass but the production of such an effect by such means depended upon the operativeness of Gods will so in the antitype of this Jo. 3.14 mens being healed justified by looking up to and beleeving in Jesus as lift up upon the Cross this is not brought to pass neither meerly by the act of Faith it self as such but by the efficacy of the divine will which hath ordained it to that end and use And therefore is it I suppose that the Scripture so frequently casts this great effect of mens being justified upon God as his act grant and gift though by or through Faith as subservient to his will herein calling it The righteousness of God which is by Faith and saying That it is one God which shall justifie the Circumcision by Faith and uncircumcision through Faith Rom. 3.22 30. Phil. 3.9 And if Christ himself is said to be unto us Righteousnesse because made so of God 1 Cor. 1.30 and salvation to be had through his Name because given for that end Acts 4.12 then much more certainly does the justifying office or work of Faith depend upon the divine will John 6.40 This is the will of him that sent me that every one that seeth the Son and beleeveth on him may have everlasting life This might be further argued from Rom. 3.25 John 1.12 and 3.16 but I forbear Sect. 6 But in the mean while a comfortable Doctrine surely it is to understand that our justification by Faith does not depend so much upon the nature of the grace it self as upon the will of him that hath appointed it to that office and upon the Gospel as that Charter by which such a priviledge is conferred upon it which is a thousand times richer and firmer foundation to bear such a building as the hope of Righteousness by Faith is than is the nature of the grace it self which is subject to ebbings and flowings and times of shaking and fits of feebleness and weaknesse If the justifying effect of Faith had depended meerly upon the nature and operation of the grace it self then the infiniteness of disproportion that is between such a cause and such an effect the inconsiderableness of the service and vastness of reward might have rendred the confident expectation of so great a benefit upon such terms matter of greater difficulty But now seeing that the weight and stresse of this great effect which is produced by or through Faith as that without which God will not have it take place does depend upon the powerful and operative will of God which is infinitely full of Grace and Kindness to the poor Creature and upon the everlasting and unalterable Covenant of his Grace and Love the confidence of Justification by Faith now becomes much more easie and pleasant as feeling firmness rockiness substantiality of ground under the feet of it He that holds an estate worth a thousand pounds by the year by Lease or Charter though he pay but a Pepper-corn by way of acknowledgment hath as good a Title in Law to that Estate as another that holds the like Estate from the same Landlord though he pay a thousand pound Rent by the year for it because the one Lease is the voluntary act of the Landlord as well as the other Even so though Faith amount but to little in comparison of that absolute perfection of holiness love and obedience that was found in Adam while he stood yet considering that the same Lord hath now graciously by an unchangeable act of his own will setled and entailed Justification and eternal life upon mens unfeigned beleeving in his Son Jesus Christ which once setled ever-living upon Adams absolute perfect holiness love and obedience it hereupon follows that whosoever doth in truth unfeignedly beleeve hath therefore as real as sure and as certain a title to eternal life as Adam himself had and would have kept in case he had kept his first integrity But then that which is the amountment of all this is that seeing there is now a new Law given by God a new Covenant established and that the sum and substance of it is this that God having sent his Son Jesus Christ into the world to save sinners he requires and enjoyns men to receive him and beleeve in him in that capacity in which he is sent and upon their so doing promises Justification and eternal life as on the contrary threatens eternal death to those that do not hereupon it follows that those that do thus beleeve in Christ do fulfill the terms of the Gospel and fulfilling the terms of it must needs be righteous in the account of it For what else is a mans righteousness but his conformity to that Law under which he lives or which is given him to live by As transgression of it is sin 1 John 3.4 so conformity to it is righteousness And therefore since Faith bears such a proportion of conformity to the Gospel as it does when it is sound and sincere well may it be counted for Righteousness to them that have it Sect. 7 Yet because this Righteousness which is called the Righteousnesse of Faith consists in great part at least in the forgivenesse of sins and since both that and all the gracious acceptation with God which does accrue to men upon their beleeving is vouchsafed them not for their Faith sake though not without it but upon the account of another to wit Jesus Christ Ephes 4.32 1 John 2.12 thence it may well be that though Faith be really and truly a mans righteousness in the Gospels account yet it is so only in the way of imputation reckoning or account of grace Which is a thing I would not have slightly passed over but diligently and carefully observed as having much of the Spirit of the Gospel and Doctrine of Grace in it For Faith though it be rich indeed and hath glorious things in it and signifies much in the reckoning or account of the Gospel yet it is rich with the riches of another Faith it is the borrowing Grace as the Moon borrows its light from the Sun so Faith borrows that by which it does such great things for the Soul from another from Christ It is true Faith is a worthy thing as it gives glory to God in beleeving all that he sayes as it carries the Soul and unites it to him as it purifies the heart and works by Love and the like but alass what would all this do towards the making of
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
Author and founder of it Rom. 3.21 and 10.3 Phil. 3.9 1. It was found out and contrived by his infinite wisdom Eph. 1.7.8.11 and therefore Christ whom he sent to put in execution that wonderfull profound contrivance of his is called the wisdom of God 1 Cor. 1 24. Christ the power of God and the wisdome of God 2. God the Father is the Author of it and object of our Faith about it because it issues and proceeds out of the womb of his grace where this blessed design was first conceived Rom. 3.24 Being justified freely by his grace The goodness and compassionateness of his nature meeting with the misery and necessity of his poor creature inclined him to set such a thing on foot disposed him to use both his Wisdom and Power to contrive and bring it to passe The creature neither did nor could put any obligation upon him to do this thing for him but by sin and unworthiness provoked him to that which was quite contrary and therefore the more wonderfull that it should make its way through so many and so mighty contrary provocations which it meets with from men This grace of God is so great a doer hath so mighty a hand so potent an influence in the whole and entire business of Mans Election Redemption Justification Adoption Sanctification Eternal Life and Salvation that all from first to last from the beginning to the end is worthily ascribed to the riches of his grace both in the things themselves and means of their accomplishment as might easily be shewn from Scripture but I will hasten on my way 3. The means by which this justification is effected and brought to passe are of and from God the Father and their power to justifie depends upon his will appointing them to that end 1. Christ is the great means of bringing this about but yet is given and sent by the Father for that purpose Whom God saith he hath set forth to be a propitiation for sin Rom. 3.25 In that Christ becomes righteousness or justification to men it is because God would have it so 1 Cor. 1.30 But of him are ye in Christ Jesus who of God is made unto us wisdom righteousness c. Again it is God that was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself not imputing trespasses 2 Cor. 5.19 It is he that hath made us accepted in the beloved Ephes 1.6 Then said he lo I come to do thy will O God by the which will we are sanctified through the offering up of the body of Jesus Christ once for all Heb. 10.9 10. Though we are sanctified by the offering up of the body of Jesus yet it is by vertue of the will of the Father which the Son came to do and to fulfill According to these Scriptures the attoneing purging power and vertue of Christs blood seems to depend upon the Divine will and good pleasure of the Father Else if it did not why should not the whole world be justified for Christ is the propitiation for the sins of the whole world 1 Iohn 2.2 and why then is not the whole world justified Surely it is not because the Sacrifice of Christ is not as sufficient to justifie all as some the whole world for whom he dyed as a few only which shall actually be justified and saved but it is because the Fathers will is such that the justifying saving benefit of his death shall be limited unto such only as do beleeve Iohn 3.16 God so loved the world as that he gave his only begotten Son viz. to or for the world or whole world 1 Iohn 2.2 but yet so and upon such termes as that whosoever beleeveth in him should not perish but have everlasting life The will of the Father piches the bounds how far the justifying vertue of his Sons blood shall extend and determines the termes upon which it shall be actually enjoyed And so 2. It is in respect of Faith another and compared with Christ an inferior means of mans justification it does not justifie in its own name or by its own power or vertue but its ability in this behalf to justifie and save depends meerly upon the will of him that hath appointed it to this office but of this afterwards So then the grace power and authority to justifie recides originally in the Father and what force and power there is in Faith or more remotely in Works to justifie they have it by way of designation and act what they do act in that kind not out of any intrinsical worth or merit but meerly in the strength and by the authority of the will of God And however there is in the blood of Christ a richness of intrinsical worth and vertue of it self to justifie as is clearly intimated when it 's said We are bought with a price 1 Cor. 6.20 Purchased with his blood Acts 20.28 c. yet since Christ did not glorifie himself to be made an High Priest and to offer himself a Sacrifice but was made so by the Father Heb. 5.5 thence it is that the Priestly offering and sacrifice it self in the effecting of that thing to which it is appointed by the Father viz. the purgation of sins and justification of sinners hath a dependance upon the Fathers will And therefore when men do beleeve in and depend upon Christ for justification they do ultimately beleeve in and depend upon the Father for it Iohn 12.44 Jesus cryed and said he that beleeveth on me believeth not on me but on him that sent me 1 Peter 1.21 Who by him do beleeve in God that raised him up from the dead and gave him glory that your Faith and hope might be in God The Father hath the power of life and death hath the power of giving Laws to his Creature Iames 4.12 it 's his Law that is transgressed by Sin and against him that the offence is committed Psal 51.4 and therefore it belongs to him to forgive sin Isai 43.25 Luke 5.21 and accordingly Christ directs us to pray the Father to forgive our Trespasses Mat. 6.12 It 's true also that the Son hath the same power of life and death of giving Laws and forgiving sins For all power both in Heaven and earth is given unto him that all men should honour the Son even as they that honour the Father But this he hath according to the order of his being from the Father Mat. 28.18 Iohn 3.35 and 17.2 Faith acts it self upon the Father as its object in three respects especially First by believing him to be the true God in opposition to Idols and all false gods Iohn 17.3 This is life eternal to know thee the only true God c. 1 Cor. 8.6 But to us there is but one God the Father of whom are all things and we in him Eph. 4.6 One God and Father of all Secondly by believing that notwithstanding the sin of men that he having received an attonement in his Sons blood is most willing to be favourable and
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
forgive Trespasses that their Faith whatever otherwise it be is not of the right kind neither such as will avail them to Justification for where there is no forgivenesse from God as there is not where there is not forgiving of men there 's no Justification and where there is no Justification there is no justifying Faith How then will they be able to evince their Faith to be of the justifying kind who are apt to render evil for evil and to bear grudges one against another upon account of injuries received and to ease themselves by throwing the burden of others weaknesses wholly upon them by spreading and aggravating them and that too before all due means on their part have been used to cure them I might but I will not enlarge this Sect. 18 9. There are other wayes and veins wherein Faith works by Love as viz. by doing to all men in point of Commerce and Dealing as they themselves would be done unto in like case Mat. 7.12 not using any deceit or fraud not taking advantage of others weaknesse not cruelly working upon others necessities for men would not be so served themselves but setting the law of Neighbourly and Brotherly love before them in all their civil transactions and affairs with others But I shall not enlarge further upon this Doctrine of Love as it is an effect of Faith having already dwelt longer on it than at first I intended Only let it be remembred for a close of this matter that mens love to God and men in these and other-like wayes of working holds proportion with their Faith so that where they are rich in Faith they abound in Love and where they are poor and low and narrow-spirited in acts of Love to God and of kindnesse mercy and bounty to men it 's a sure signe their Faith is not well thriven 2 Thes 1.3 We are bound to thank God alwayes for you Brethren as it is meet because that your Faith groweth exceedingly and the charity of every one of you all towards each other aboundeth Mark if you hear of their Faith growing exceedingly to be sure you will hear also of their love abounding also And thus I have now dispatched also the handling not only this property of Faith but also this branch of the Doctrine of Justification which concerns the nature of that Faith which shall be counted unto men for Righteousnesse CHAP. XII Shewing that Faith is counted for Righteousnesse both as it entitles men to the justifying virtue of Christs Blood and as it puts them under the protection and promise of the Gospel as it is a fulfilling of it And so discovers the opinion of Mens being justified before Beleeving and of being justified by beleeving only in the Court of Mans Conscience to be unsound Sect. 1 I Have already been shewing 1. The beleeving of what and 2. What beleeving it is that shall be counted for Righteousnesse Now I shall come in the 3. and last place to shew how or in what sence this Faith is counted unto men for Righteousnesse For counted for Righteousnesse it is so saith our Text. But to him that worketh not but beleeveth on him that justifieth the ungodly his Faith is counted for righteousnesse Or which is the same is reckoned to him for righteousnesse Rom. 4.9 Or imputed to him for righteousnesse Gal. 3.6 Rom. 4.22 23 24. For our Apostle useth this three-fold variety of expression to set out the same thing For the better understanding of this point I will shew you 1. Negatively how it is not counted for Righteousnesse or which is the same how it does not justifie It does not justifie or is not reckoned for Righteousnesse as Christ his Death and Blood is viz. by way of attonement Rom. 5.9 11. for that 's the incommunicable property of Christs blood Heb. 1.3 which is reckoned to us for Righteousnesse too in a sence proper to it for Christ is said to be made unto us righteousnesse 1 Cor. 1.30 and so he is when the attoneing virtue of his Blood the power and efficacy of his Death and Resurrection is made over conveyed reckoned or imputed to us for our Justification But this in a way infinitely superior to the Imputation of Faith for Righteousnesse for Faith it self and the activity of that and all other Graces in their Sphear become acceptable with God as built and bottomed upon that sure foundation Christ Jesus And therefore I exceeding much desire that the Lord Jesus may have all the glory of your confidence touching the merit of Remission of your sins and that your confidence about Justification have nothing to do with Faith but as that thing which God hath ordained to entitle you to the other and the gracious priviledges annexed to it nor with works further than they are appointed by God to render your Faith a substantial and not deceitful title 2. But come we then to shew in the affirmative how Faith is counted for Righteousnesse and this I shall according to my understanding lay out to you in two things Sect. 2 1. Faith is a means of our Justification or is reckoned toward our righteous-making as it is a means appointed by God to interesse us in the benefit of Christs death and the attoneing vertue of his Blood for our pardon and acceptation For though it 's true Christ gave himself a ransome for all 1 Tim. 2.6 and tasted death for every man Heb. 2.9 yet all are not thereupon delivered from their sins and why but because they have not that Faith which should give them a right and propriety in the justifying vertue of his Death For Christ was not given to dye for men upon such terms as that they should reap the benefit of his Blood in the pardon of their sins however they should carry themselves towards him well or ill And therefore the Apostle plainly declares how men by miscarriage towards Christ may cut themselves short of the benefit of his death Gal. 5.2 4. Behold I Paul say unto you that if ye be circumcised Christ shall profit you nothing And again verse 4. Christ is become of none effect unto you whosoever of you are justified by the Law Which could not be if Christ were not given if Christ did not dye for men conditionally See 2 Pet. 2.1 1 Cor. 8.11 Heb. 10.29 Sect. 3 Which condition or proviso is plainly laid down John 3.16 God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son but with this proviso mark it that whosoever beleeveth in him should not perish but have everlasting life Though Christ be given for the World yet mens not perishing by means of this gift but enjoying eternal life is suspended upon their beleeving in him So that it 's mens beleeving that does enstate them in the justifying saving vertue of Christs death Another like place is that Rom. 3.25 Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through Faith in his blood 1. God hath set him forth as a publick
the wisdom and gravity of a great Apostle It is a good rule by which to make judgement of the ill opinions and practices then reigning among men in the Apostles times viz. by their zealous and faithfull engagements against them as declared in their Epistles though they do not in so many words charge such and such men with holding or practising such or such things And so when we find the Apostle Heb. 10. so mightily labouring in this business when he hath to do with the beleeving Jews that were under temptations of looking back arguing from the Old Testament that it was never Gods intent to set up those Sacrifices under the Law to take away sin or to purge the conscience but that they served only unto an outward purification and to be as a School-master to bring to Christ by the offering of whom once for all are perfected for ever those that are sanctified it may be easily collected that certainly the unbeleeving Jews did firmly hold the contrary and that the beleeving Jews were in danger of being shaken in their Faith hereabout to prevent which and to establish them firmly in the truth is the prize for which the Apostle runs as in the Epistle in general so more especially in those passages of it in the ninth and tenth Chapters which do more immediately concern this business See more particularly hereabout Heb. 10.1 4 5 9 10 11 12 14.18 and 9.12 13 14 22 25 26. and 1.3 Acts 13.39 These three now mentioned most erronious and highly dangerous opinions held by the obstinate Jews I take to be wrapt up by the Apostle in Rom. 9.31 32 33. 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 as it is written behold I lay in Zion a stumbling-stone and a rock of offence and whosoever beleeveth on him shall not be ashamed That Christ was and is a stumbling-stone unto the Jews because of his being Crucified is that I shewed before such a thing falling crosse to their received opinion that the true Christ should never dye they thereupon thought they had good reason to reject him and those that taught in his name as being confident for that very reason he could not be the Messiah So that those two opinious 1. That the true Christ should never dye and secondly That Jesus was not the true Christ because he did suffer death are both implyed in that saying ver 32. They stumbled at that stumbling-stone and then the third thing viz. their expectation of remission of sins and acceptation with God by the legal Sacrifices and other Mosaical observances is that which in the 31 and 32. vers is called their following after or seeking the law of righteousness i. e. as I conceive that Law or Covenant by which God hath promised to count men righteous this indeed they sought to come under but missed it because they sought it not in Gods way of beleeving in Christ Jesus and him crucified for they stumbled at that stumbling-stone but as it were by the works of the Law i. e. I conceive they so sought it as if the termes of attaining it appointed by God had been the doing those works of the Law Sect. 6 4. Another erronious opinion of the unbeleeving Jews wherein some also of those who did in a sort believe did comply with them was this that the Gentiles could not be justified or saved unlesse they became prosylites to their Religion and were circumcised and so kept the law of Moses Acts 15.1 5. And certain men which came down from Judea taught the brethren and said except ye be circumcised after the manner of Moses ye cannot be saved Which yet is more fully exprest vers 5. But there rose up certain of the Sect of the Pharisees which beleeved saying that it was needfull to circumcise them and to command them to keep the Law of Moses Which dangerous opinion being obtruded upon the beleeving Gentiles to the great unsettlement of many of them thereupon the Apostle Paul who was the Apostle of the Gentiles to the end he might undeceive such as had been surprised with it and strengthen the Brethren against the infection of it wrote as to the Churches in Galatia so to this at Rome in both which Epistles he doth at large counter-argue this together with the other fore-mentioned soul-destroying opinions Sect. 7 In flat contradiction therefore unto these opinions aforesaid our Apostle in my Text doth affirm That to him that worketh not that is to the Gentile who never had observed or kept the Law of Moses who never had followed after righteousnesse Rom. 9.30 but had lived without God in the world and as an alien from the Common-wealth of Israel But beleeveth on him that justifieth the ungodly That is though he do not nor have done the former yet if he do the latter that is if he shall believe on him that came into the world to save sinners and which in due time dyed for the ungodly His Faith that is this faith of his and not those works of the Law shall be counted to him for righteousnesse This then is clearly the doctrine of the Text that a poor Idolatrous Heathen that had no precedent Works of the Law to commend him of which the Jews boasted and in which he trusted and though such as should never after his beginning to beleeve be either circumcised or offer the Sacrifices for sin commanded in the Law or perform other Jewish Rites yet in case he did but beleeve and should indeed really imbrace the Gospel the doctrine of Jesus he should most certainly be justified and persevering therein be undoubtedly saved the highest and most confident pretention of the Jew to the contrary notwithstanding That the fastning of this naile is the very scope and drift of the Apostle not only in the words of my Text but also in his precedent and subsequent discourse as well that which goes before as that which follows after my Text is that which I shall now as briefly as well as I may come plainly to set before you I shall carry you no further back then to Rom. 3.21 But now the righteousnesse of God without the Law is manifested being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets The righteousness of God that is I conceive Gods way and termes of making or accounting men righteous Without the Law is manifested that is in and by the Gospel it is declared published tendred and offered in the beleeving and imbracing of which Gospel and the termes of grace therein propounded a man may attain this righteousnesse though he had never heard of the Law Though its true also that the same way and termes of Justification is witnessed and asserted in the Law and the Prophets which is now published and tendered by the Gospel Which way of
gracious not only in forgiving but also in rewarding such who duly and diligently seek his favour grace and love in such wayes and by such means as he himself hath appointed for that end Heb. 11.6 But without Faith it is impossible to please him for he that cometh to God must believe that he is there 's the former act of Faith touching the truth of his being and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him Thirdly by trusting in and relying on his might mercy grace and love for pardon justification and eternal salvation Psalm 52.8 But I will trust in the mercy of the Lord for ever Rom. 4.5 But beleeveth on him that justifieth the ungodly Iohn 5.24 But all this at least since God was manifested in the flesh in and by Christ there being no coming to or believing in the Father but by him Iohn 14.6 1 Pet. 1.21 Though formerly he was worshipped and served under the name and title of the God of Abraham the God of Isaac the God of Iacob yet now in the New Testament under the Name and Title of the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ Eph. 1.17 and 3.14 Sect. 3 I might here shew also that the word promise or record of the Father concerning his Son is the object of Faith Yea Abrahams justification is cast upon his beleeving this word of God So shall thy seed be For Abraham beleeved God and it was counted to him for righteousnesse Gen. 15.6 Rom. 4.3.18 Gal. 3.6.8 Iames 2.23 Now the record which the Father hath given of Christ in the New Testament as the object of Faith is two-fold 1. That he is his beloved Son in whom he is well pleased and that he ought to be heard and obeyed Mat. 3.17 and 17.5 And 2. That in him is life and that salvation is now offered to the World by beleeving in and obeying of him 1 Iohn 5.9 10 11 12. If we receive the witnesse of men the witnesse of God is greater for this is the witnesse of God which he hath testified of his Son He that beleeveth on the Son hath the witnesse in himself he that beleeveth not God hath made him a lyar because he beleeveth not the record which God gave of his Son And this is the record which God hath given to us eternal life and this life is in his Son He that hath the Son hath life and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life This testimony which the Father gave of his Son was partly by voice from Heaven 2 Pet. 1.17 18. and partly by those Works which he gave him to finish by which men saw his glory as the glory of the only begotten of the Father Iohn 5.36 I have greater witnesse then that of Iohn for the works which the Father hath given me to finish the same works that do I bear witnesse of me that the Father hath sent me John 10.37 38. If I do not the works of my Father beleeve me not but if I do though ye beleeve not me yet beleeve the works that ye may know and beleeve that the Father is in me and I in him Sect. 4 II. As the Father so also Christ the Son is in Scripture set forth as the more immediate object of Faith Acts 16.31 And they said beleeve on the Lord Iesus Christ and thou shalt be saved and thy house Now ye must know that Christ is propounded as the object of Faith in several respects and under several considerations Sect. 5 1. As he is the Messias of which Moses and the Prophets wrote and said should come And therefore is Christ called the He that should come Mat. 11.3 Art thou he that should come or do we look for another John 13.19 Now I tell you before it come that when it is come to passe ye may beleeve that I am HE. It was one thing to beleeve in general according to the Prophets that Messiah should come which was the common Faith of the Jews and as it should seem of the Samaritans too Iohn 4.25 and another thing to beleeve in particular that Jesus which is come is the Christ This was the Faith of such as did receive him and cleave to him when he did come Iohn 11.27 She said yea Lord I beleeve that thou art the Christ the Son of God which should come into the world The want of which is the destroying sin that lies so heavy upon the Jews John 8.24 For if ye beleeve not that I am HE ye shall dye in your sins 2. Christ as he is the Son of God is made the object of Faith Joh. 20 31. But these are written that ye might beleeve that Iesus is the Christ the Son of God and that beleeving ye might have life through his name Acts 8.37.1 John 5.1 4 5. and 4.15 By Faith he is beleeved to be the Son of God not as Adam was the Son of God viz. by Creation Lu. 3. last in which sence we are all his Offspring Act. 17.28 Nor yet as the Saints are the Sons of God to wit by Adoption Gal 4.5 but that he is the begotten yea the only begotten Son of the Father so the Son and so begotten of the Father as none else is among all the creation of God John 1.14 and 3.18 He that beleeveth on him is not condemned but he that beleeveth not is condemned already because he hath not beleeved in the name of the only begotten Son of God Sect. 6 3. Christ as dying and shedding his blood is the object of Faith and that by which sinners become justified Rom. 5.9 Much more then being now justified by his blood we shall be saved from wrath through him Rom. 3.25 Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through Faith in his blood Faith eyes the blood of Christ as its object under a three-fold consideration First it believes that Christ did dye and shed his blood for our sins 1 Cor. 15.2 3. If ye keep in memory what I preached unto you unlesse ye have beleeved in vain For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received how that Christ dyed for our sins according to the Scriptures Mat. 26.28 For this is my blood of the New Testament which is shed for many for the remission of sins Secondly that this death and shedding of this blood of Christ is both the only and the all-sufficient means appointed by God to make an attonement for and to purge away sin Heb 1.3 When he had by himself purged our sins sat down on the right hand of the majesty on high Revels 1.5 Vnto him that loved us and washed us from our sins in his own blood c. Heb. 10.14 For by one offering hath he perfected for ever them that are sanctified Heb. 9.14 How much more shall the blood of Christ who through the eternal spirit offered himself without spot to God purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God Thirdly
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
which the faithful Prophets of the Lord threatned them with for transgressing the Covenant of the Lord and living in disobedience thereto Just as foolish men now do who because they find by the Scriptures that Christ dyed for sinners and hath commanded that remission of sins and salvation be preached in his name to every creature and hath given many precious encouragements for sinners of all sorts to look unto him from all the ends of the earth and be saved but with this Item that they repent and be baptized every one of them in the name of the Lord Iesus for the remission of sins that they be born again of water and of the Spirit that they deny themselves take up their Cross and follow him and forsake all that they have for his sake if they cannot faithfully obey him upon cheaper termes without which they cannot be his Disciples and that they diligently hearken to and carefully observe whatever Jesus that great Prophet hath spoken and commanded upon pain of being cut off from the number of the Lords redeemed ones they little minding or regarding the termes and conditions of the grace offered or thinking a few outward performances as the Jews aforesaid did of Circumcision Sacrifices and the like will serve for all when indeed the main of the matter the renewing them to God in the disposition and frame of their hearts and a faithful labouring to please the Lord in all all things and striving against all contrary motions and temptations is wholly wanting yet as if all the grace in the Gospel were theirs and designed for all those that will lay hold of it right or wrong they confidently perswade themselves or endeavour so to do that they are built upon a sure foundation that Christ remission of sins and salvation are all theirs and that they do them a great deal of wrong that offer but a word to shake this confidence of theirs Again see the like in another passage Isai 48.1 2. Hear ye this O house of Iacob which are called by the name of Israel and are come forth out of the waters of Iudah which swear by the name of the Lord and make mention of the God of Israel but not in truth nor in righteousnesse For they call themselves of the holy City and stay themselves upon the God of Israel the Lord of hosts is his name This people you see mention the name of the Lord as being called by it look upon themselves as his people call themselves of the holy City and thereupon stay themselves upon the God of Israel depend upon him for all good as their God and upon his promises as if made to them and thus they did but not in truth nor in righteousness for this profession and this confidence of theirs was accompanied with unfaithfulness in the main and therefore their dependance upon God was irregular and deceitful God having no where engaged to stand under such a trust but the contrary Iob 8.13 14 15. Sect. 2 And as it was thus with those under the Old so is it likewise after the same manner with too many now under the New Testament who because they have some knowledg and beleef of Gods gracious intention to save sinners by the death of his Son and the general promises of the Gospel especially if together herewith they have but a form of godliness and something of devotion towards the ordinances of God they perswade themselves that they are the believers to whom the promises of remission of sin and salvation of the soul are made though in the mean time they are under the power of some known sin or other either covetousness or cruelty and hard heartednes or pride or uncleannes or intemperance in word or deed or some other sin and are unrenewed in will and affections or if there be any change it is not so much as will turn the scale and give them in of the victory against the flesh on the Spirits side but though there be so much light as that they can talk of good things and so much conviction as in the general to approve of them yet the interest of the flesh clearly carries it when things come to be done and when temptation is upon them And the main reason I conceive why persons upon their generall belief of the Gospel have this confidence of Salvation though otherwise they are as yet but in the flesh and so cannot please God Rom. 8.8 is this because they are partial in the Scriptures and do not give one Scripture as well as another room in their judgements and affections their minds run upon such Scriptures as declare Christ Iesus to have come into the world to save sinners that God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever beleeveth in him should not perish but have everlasting life that he that confesseth with his mouth the Lord Iesus and beleeveth in his heart that God raised him from the dead shall be saved and the like and so far they do very well But then there are other Scriptures that declare that except men repent they shall perish that except they be born again they cannot see the kingdom of God that without holiness no man shall see the Lord that the Lord will come in flaming Fire rendring vengeance to those that obey not the Gospel that those that live after the flesh shall dye that if any man love the world the love of the Father is not in him that tribulation and wrath shall be upon every soul that doth evill with many the like which they slightly pass over and are not thorowly possest with an apprehension that those other Scriptures that entaile the promise of life to be beleeving are so to be understood as that these others must stand with them or to be understood of such a kind of believing as hath the substance of these other Scriptures working in the bowels of it which they must believe that will not deceive themselves in their Faith and is there not the same reason to believe the one as well as the other doth not the water of both sorts of Scripture proceed out of the same hole from the same fountain But now the carnal beleevers of whom I speak fansying to themselves that the promise of Salvation is made to believing indefinitely not considering that it is tyed up to that special kind of believing which works by love as other Scriptures interpret and they knowing in themselves that they do believe in one sence for so indeed they do with that general Faith of assent thence they conclude confidently that they are heirs of promise and heirs of salvation as well as any and do as verily think they are going to Heaven whereas indeed they are in the way to hell as ever the Syrians thought they were going to Dothan while they were blindly led to Samariah 2 King 6.19 Sect. 3 The men of this formal and dead Faith of which I speak that
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
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