not mixed with Faith And that for making the Duty acceptable Faith is necessarily requisite we may clearly see Heb. 11.6 where it is expressly said that without Faith it is impossible to please God And how is it that Abel offers a more excellent Sacrifice than Cain it was nothing sure in Cain's Sacrifice it self that made it be casten nor any thing in Abel's that made it be received or acceptable but Faith in the Messiah to come that was found to be in the one and was a missing in the other Is there not reason then to press this Duty on you and to exhort you not to think this a common and easie thing though the most part think it to be so if we look to the benefites of it to the difficulty of it and to the rarity of it in the World there is no Duty had need more to be press'd than this even that Christ Jesus should get the Burthen of your immortal Souls cast on Him by this Saving Faith I shall therefore in the further prosecution of this First Shew what mainly ye would eshew and avoid as that whereat Folk more ordinarily stumble Secondly What it is we would press you to and on what Grounds For the first I know the deceits and mistakes in Men about the Exercise of Faith are so many that they are moe then can well or easily be reckoned up yet we shall in some generals spoken of before hint at a few of them for so long as ye continue in the same Snares they must be still pointed out to you and endeavours still used to undeceive and extract you out of them and therefore 1. Beware of resting on a Doctrinal Faith which before I called Historical We know it 's hard to convince some that they want Faith yet we would have you to consider that it is not every kind of Faith but Saving Faith that will do your turn it 's the want of that which the Prophet complains of And therefore to open this a little ye would consider That there may be really such a Faith as is an assent to the truth of the Word in a natural Man yea in a Reprobate but that Faith will never unite to Christ nor be waited with the Pardon of Sin First I do not say that every one that is in the visible Church hath this Doctrinal Faith to believe a Heaven and a Hell that the Scripture is the Word of God and that all that believe in Christ shall get Pardon of Sin and Life the carriage alace of many testifies that they have not this much whatever fleeting notions they may have of these things or whatever esteem they may seem to put on the Gospel and whatever profession they may make that they believe the truth of it yet in their deeds they deny it for if there were a fixedness in the Doctrinal Faith of the Gospel in Men they durst not for their Souls live as they do Neither yet Secondly Do we say that all they that have this Doctrinal Faith of the Gospel or somewhat of it do believe every passage in it alike but often as they please them they believe them Hence many believe what the Word speaks of Mercy and of Pardon of Sin and will not question that but what it speaks of Holiness and of the severity of God's reckoning with Men for Sin they do not so credit that part of the Word it 's true where the Faith of the one is the Faith of the other will some way be but because the one agrees better with their Corruption than the other therefore the one is not so so received as the other and it 's very frequent with such to be found diminishing from one place and adding to another of the Word of God Nor Thirdly Do we say that all Men do in a like and equal degree believe the truâ—h of the Word there is in some more Knowledge in some less in some moe Convictions in some fewer and though we preach to you all yet there are some that believe not this to be God's Ordinance albeit there are many who will not be saved that takes this Word to be the Word of God and believe what is the meaning of it because the Word it self says it is so And the reason of this is 1. Because there is nothing that is not Saving but a Natural Man may hâ—ve it now this Doctrinal Faith is not Saving and so a Natural Man may have it yea the Devils believe and tremble and James does not dispute with these to whom he writes on this account that they believe not thus but tells them that Historical Faith was not enough and we think a man in Nature may have a great perswasion of the truth of the Word of God and that what it says will come to pass and yet still continue but a Natural Man A second Reason is Because the Scripture speaks so often of many sorts of Faith that are not Saving as Exod. 14. at the close it 's said the People believed the Lord and Psal 106.12 then they believed His Word and sang His praise and John 2.23 many believed on Christ to whom He did not commit himself there was Faith in them which His Signs and Miracles extorted from them which was not Saving and Matth. 13. two or three such acts of Faith are spoken of in the Parable of the Sower that were not Saving however sound they might be in their own kind and 1 Cor. 13. we have such a Faith spoken of as a Man dare not deny the truth of the Word though he should bring his Body to be burnt by his avouching of the same A third Reason is Because as much credit may be given to the Word as is given to any other History that is creditably believed and it 's on this ground that we believe there was such Men as Cesar Pompey Wallace c. and it being certain that there may be impressions on the Consciences of Hearers that this is God's Word backed with some common work of the Spirit and that it is generally received to be the Word of God in the part of the World we live in what wonder is it that Folk believe thus and drink in this Historical or Doctrinal Faith of the Word so as they may even dare to suffer to Death for it and yet in the mean time they may want Saving Faith the Devils being as sure as any Natural Man is that God is true and that His Word will be performed and therefore they say to Christ Art thou come to torment us before the time the Paâ—gs of a Natural Conscience in Men will assure them of a Judgment coming though they tremble to think on it And therefore ere we proceed further take a word of Use from this and it may let you see the great and very general mistake of the most part of the Hearers of the Gospel in resting on this Doctrinal Faith If ye tell them that
affinity amongst many of the purposes delivered by the Prophet in this piece of his Prophesies if not a holy co-incidency of them and a profitable repetition now and then of the same thing in different expressions As there is in some other Scriptures without any the least imputation to them as that truly Noble and renowned Gentle-man Mr. Boyl sheweth in his elaborat eloquent and excellent Considerations touching the stile of the Holy Scriptures And that the same midses and nearby in the same expressions may very pertinently be made use of to clear and confirm different points of Doctrine It will be found that if there be in so many Sermons or Discourses on Subjects of such affinity any co-incidencies or repetitions they are at such a convenient distance and one way or other so diversified and appositely suited to the Subject of his present Discourse that the Readers will not readily nauseat nor think what is spoken in its place impertinent superfluous or needless though somewhat like it hath been said by him in some other place Or if there be any not only seeming but real repetitions of Purposes and Expressions as they have not been grievous to the Preacher Phil. 3.1 so he with he Apostle Paul judged them needful at the time for the Hearers And now as for you much Honoured Right Worthy and very dearly beloved Inhabitants of the City of Glasgow let me tell you that I have sometimes of late much coveted to be put and kept in some capacity to do the Churches of Christ and you in particular this piece of service in putting to the Press these sweet Sermons on this choice Scripture before I die And indeed after I had gone thorow a good number of them not without considerable toil and difficulty having all alongst had no Notes of his own but the Sermons as they were taken hastily with a current Pen from his mouth by one of his ordinary Hearers no Schollar who could not therefore so thorowly and distinctly take up several of the Purposes handled by the Preacher the Lord was pleased to give me a stop by a long continued sharp affliction not altogether without some little more remote and gentle threatnings of death But he to whom the issues from death do belong graciously condescended to spare me a little that I might gather some strength to go thorow the remainder of them I have much reason to think that if poor I had been Preaching the Gospel to you these twenty years past wherein we have been in holy providence separated which hath been the more afflicting to me that ye were in my heart to have lived and died with you and if it had so seemed good in the eyes of the Lord it would have been to me one of the most refreshing and joyful providences I could have been trâ—sted with in this World to have had fair access through his good hand upon me and his gracious presence with me to have Preached the Gospel to you a while before my going hence and being no more I would not by very very far have contributed so much to your edification as these few Sermons may and I hope through God's blessing shall Several of you heard them Preached by him when he was alive amongst you now when he is dead he is in a manner Preaching them over again to you O that such of you as then were not taken in the Preaching of them might be so now in the serious reading of them by them speaking to these of you that did not then hear them who as I suppose are now the far greatest part of the City-Inhabitants You will find your selves in them again and again ranked classed according to your different spiritual estates and the various cases and conditions of your souls and wonderful discoveries made of your selves to your selves that I something doubt if there be so much as one Soul amongst the several thousands that are in Glasgow but will find it self by the reading of these Sermons spoken to suitably to its state and case as if he had been particularly acquainted with the person and his spiritual condition as indeed he made it a considerable part of his work as the observing Reader will quickly and easily perceive to be acquainted very thorowly with the soul-state and condition of such at least of the Inhabitants as were more immediatly under his own inspection and charge and as if he had spoken to the person by name O! how inexcusable will such of you be as had your lot cast to live under the ministry of such an able Minister of the New Testement of such a Scribe very much instructed into the kingdom of Heaven who as a good housholder knew well how to bring out of his treasure things new and old Mat. 13.52 if you were not bettered and made to profite thereby God and Angels and your own Consciences will witness how often and how urgently the Lord Jesus called to you by him and ye would not hear and how inexcusable will ye also be that shall disdain or neglect to read these Sermons as I would fain hope none of you will that were sometime preached in that place by that faithful servant of Christ who was your own Minister which layeth some peculiar obligation on you beyond others to read them or if ye shall read them and not make Conscience to improve them to your souls edification and advantage which contain more genuine pure sincere solid and substantial Gospel then many thousands have heard it may be in an age though hearing Preachings much of the while even so much that if any of you should be providentially deprived of the liberty of hearing the Gospel any more preached or should have access to read no other Sermons or Comments on the Scriptures these Sermons through God's blessing will abundantly store and inrich you in the knowledge of the uncontravertably great mystery of Godliness God manifested in the flesh 1 Tim. 3.16 3 Tim. 3.15 according to the Scriptures make you wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus much insisted on in them I would therefore humbly advise wherein I hope ye will not mistake me as if by this advice I were designing some advantage to my self for indeed I am not at all that way concerned in the sate of them that every one of you that can read and is easily able to do it would buy a Copy of these Sermons at least that every Family that is able wherein there is any that can read would purchase one of them I nothing doubt but that ye will think that little Money very well bestowed and will find your old Minister desirable Durham delightful company to discourse with you by his Sermons now when he is dead and you can see his face and hear him speak to you by vive voce no more whose voice or rather the voice of Christ by him was I know very sweet to many there
and it pleads much for them that never heard the Gospel yea possibly for all if they be not obliged to believe the Gospel as it 's hard to say they are who never heard of it 4. There are many in hell this day who know and feel this to be an untruth being condemned for sins against the Covenant of Works therefore he undertook not their debt nor payed for them And when the Books shall be cast open there will be many other sins sound to be reckoned for then sins against the Gospel Are not Whoremongers Adulterers Murtherers Thieves c to to reckon for these sins It 's very sad that such things should take place with men otherwayes useful but is in other things so in this hurtful â—hich we should not speak of were it not that they are spread abroad in Books wherewith many may be leavened A 3d. Branch of this errour which this Doctrine refutes is that Christ died conditionally for all hearers of the Gospel to whom he is conditionally offered and this is also vented by the same Authors who say that though he hath not bought all men absolutely nor died to procure life absolutely to them yet that he did so conditionally and upon supposition that they should afterward believe on him But there can be no conditional satisfaction intended here for 1. If respect be had only to the sins of the Elect in Christs undertaking then none is had to the sins of all 2. If the Fathers acceptation of the price be absolute then there is no conditional buying 3. If it be conditional then he suspended the effect of his death the satisfaction for his Soul-travel on mans will And if this condition could not be fulfilled by man then it is an unwise bargain and nothing of it may fall to be fulfilled and then believing is no fruit of grace Again he hath either bought Faith to them as he hath done to the Elect or not If he hath then they reject it and so grace is not efficacious If not he hath bought the end without the midses leading to it Or thus if it be conditional it 's either on a condition which they can fulfil or on a condition that they cannot fulfil If it be on a condition which they can fulfil then it hangs Grace on mens free-will and suâ—pends the Decree of Election on their receiving of Christ If it be a condition that is not in their power to fulfil then either Christ hath bought that condition to them or not to say that he hath not bought the condition of Faith it will infer a strange assertion that he hath bought life and not the condition the end and not the midses And if it be said that he hath bought it it cannot be said that he hath done so absolutely because they never get it Or if absolutely then to the Elect only in whom it must be and is in due time fulfilled And so in effect it resolves in this that Christ's purpose is to be bounded and confined to say so to the Elect only There are some difficulties and objections that will readily here be moved which we will not enter upon only for preventing of mistakes It stands in the way of some to hinder their believing as they suppose that Christ hath died for some and not for all aad they know not if they be of that small number If we were to speak to such we would say 1. God hath not elected all and so who knows if he hath elected them I And he will not save all and who knows if he will save them And so the doubt will stick still If folks will thus break in upon Gods secret will and purpose which belongs not to them 2. Christs death for you is not the formal ground not warrand of your Faith not yet of the offer of the Gospel but the Lords will warranding you to believe and calling for it from you and his commanding you to rest upon Christ for the attaining of righteousness as he is offered in the Gospel We are invited by his command and promise and we are not first called to believe that Christ died for us but we are called â—â—â—st to believe in him that is offered to us in the Gospel that is our duty And folks are not condemned because Christ died not for them but because when he offered the benefit of his death and sufferings to them they slighted and rejected it We are to look first to what Christ calleth to and not to meddle with the other to wit whom Christ minded in his death till we have done the first The Word bids all believe that they may be saved and such as neglect this command will be found disobedient 3. Though Christ hath not died for all yet all that flee unto him by Faith shall be partakers of his death and from this ye should reason and not from his intention in dying If ye come not to him ye cannot have ground to think that he died for you but if ye go to him by Faith ye may expect that he will pray for you and own you for Believers Christ casts in that word John 17. They have believed thy word as well as that other Thine they were and thou gavest them me And if we put these two together the one will be found as sure a ground of consolation as the other But it were but a poor comfort to say that Christ died for all and yet that they may all or most or many of them perish for all that The 2d Use serves to stir them up to thankfulness for whom Christ hath satisfied and who are fled for refuge to him If there be any here to whom Christ hath manifested such love that they can say he hath loved me and given himself for me O! How are ye obliged to wonder and bless him Greater love than this cannot be and it should warm your hearts with love to him the more when ye reflect on God's design upon you in particular in the Covenant of Redemption Use 3d. If Christ intended his Death and Sufferings only for behove of the Elect Then as because few come to Heaven all should be the more diligent so because Christ died not for all every one should aim in Gods own way to have it made sure to himself that Christ died for him and should be the more watchful and diligent to make his Calling and Election sure because as it s not all that are elected so it s not all that are purchased by Christs death Redemption is sure in it self and free Grace kithes conspicuously in it yet Wisdom and Soveraignity do also appear in this that it s not of all therefore study ye to make it sure by fleeing to Christ by Faith and by the study of Holineâ—s and Mortification in his Strength and through the power of his Death which will be a proof of your Interest in it This were much more suitable than to be quarreling with God's
wickedness deliver these that are given to it the most powerful wicked man cannot prevail over it nor is he able to resist and withstand it these who conquer most of the World are constrained at length to be content with some few foots of ground and their Bodies are turned into dust Job in the 3d Chapter of his book speaks of it as common to all to rich and poor to high and low to the King and the Beggar all are there in one Category if any were freed from it it would readily be rich men but as it is Psal 49.6 7. their riches will nor be a ransom for them They that trust in their wealth and boast themselves in the multitude of their riches none of them can by any means redeem his brother nor give to God a ransom for him so precious is the soul thaâ— the redemption of it ceases for ever Amongst all Mortals there is none that can buy himself from coming to the Church-yard or from coming to the grave but were he never so rich and honourable he must be said in a hell as well as the poor man the bravest and best guided Tomb is but a grave that sentence past by God must stand and will stand Dust thou art and to dust thou shalt return The translation of Enoch and Elias who old not see death do not alter the common rule though it shew the soveraignty and power of God what he can do Use 1. O! think more on Death and on the Grave these sure would be much more profitable subjects of thoughts then many things which our thoughts run ordinarily on It 's appointed for men once to die and thereafter cometh the judgment As we walk over and trod on the Graves of others now so some will be walking over and troding on ours ere long and within a few years our bodies will be turned into dust and our dust will not be known from the dust of others that lived before us it were good to have the faith of this more rooted and that we did meditate more frequently and seriously on it Use 2. It reproves the pride of men and women and their lusting after earthly vanities When death and the grave come where will all their brave Houses and Cloaths and well drest Beds be And what will become of your Silver and Gold These things will not go to the grave with you As ye brought nothing into the world so its certain that ye shall carry nothing out of it The consideration whereof would be a restraint and aw band to mens exorbitant desires The time is coming when six or seven foot in length and two or three foot in breadth of ground will serve the richest and most honourable And within a few years the Lord Provost's dust will not be known from the dust of the poor body that got a share of the common Contribution the dust of both will be alike Dress and pamper the body as ye will that beauty will not abide with you Wherefore then serves all this pride â—anity and â—ravity Seing a very little whiles time will lay it all in the dust and when all our projects will take an end as Job saith Chap. 17. Mâ— purposes are broken and what did break them off The grave saith he is waiting for me I have said to corruption to the rottenness of the earth thou art my mother and to the worms ye are my brother and sisters they and I must ly together These that now cannot get their bed made fine and soft enough the worms and they will lye together ere long in the grave the Chest or Coffin will not be so closs but they will win in nay they will breed in their own bodies do we not see this daily Were it not then good that when ye are going to the burials and graves of others ye were thinking on your own lying down in the grave And what will be your thoughts in that day of all things in this world If dead Corpses could speak out of their graves they would preach sharp warning to them that are alive and would say to such as are carrying them thither Beware of putting off thoughts of death and of the grave Though this be a common point of truth yet few walk suitably to it but we are generally in our practice as if it were not a truth no more minding death and the grave than if we were eternally to live here Use 3. As this should make folks sober in prosperity so it should make them patient in adversity A iittle time will make us all equal and what is the matter what our condition be if our peace be made sure with God Heathens may shame many of us that are professing Chriâ—â—ians who by the consideration of death have been brought to be much more sober in their carriage then alace many of us are 2dly Observe That the Messiah behoved to come to the grave and be buried It was so designed fore-told and fore-prophesied of He made his grave with the wicked and with the rich in his death Hence the Apostle Acts 2.30 citing Psal 16 8. gathers that as there was a necessity of his being in the grave so there was a necessity of his resurrection out of it because he should not see corruption in it His foul was not left in hell or in the grave neither did his flesh see corruption And in all the Evangelists It's clear that after death he was remarkably laid in the grave and very particular and special notice is taken of it Take here shortly some few reasons of this necessity according to the Lords appointment and no further The 1. whereof is this that the unstainedness and purity of Divine Justice may appear and that thereby the compleatness and perfection of his satisfaction as Mediator to the Justice of God may be confirmed If he had not been buried it might have been questioned whether that which folk suffer after death be a reality or not But his three days lying in the grave is a greater evidence of the unstainedness and purity of Justice and of its impartiality then the imprisoning of many Creatures for many tâ—ousands of years would have been This shews him to be a just God when sinners Cautioner is not only pursued to death but to the grave And therefore this is alwayes accounted the lowest part or step of his suffâ—rings And in the Creed his descending into hell is spoken of which in our excellent Catechism is expounded to be his continuing under the power of death for a time 2 It is much for the manifestation of the great love of God and of the rich condescending grace of the Mediator who is not only content to die but to come to the grave and to suffer death to have a kind of dominion over him for a time So that as death had power to separate his soul from his body so it prorogats that power during his being in the grave His enemies