Altar and yet by that he was justified as well as by his first Faith and obedience Iam. 2. 21. pardon of sin is our Justification from sin Act. 13. 39. And this we are directed by the Lords Prayer to pray for daily all our dayes And the continuance of Justification is promised upon Condition of continuance of Faith and Obedience to the Gospel Col. 1. 21 22 23. and a discontinuance of it threatned in case of disobedience according to the Tenour of the Parable Mat. 18. from ver 23. to ver 35. By all which we may see what need there is for all Christians to work out to work through their own Salvation with fear and trembling to which they are earnestly exhorted Phil. 2. 12. and to run so that they may obtain 1 Cor 9. 24. 4. Some to evil affect their own and others minds with prejudice against Discourses of this nature do suggest That the laying so great a stress upon Duty as to esteem any thing of it necessary to Justification save believing only doth derogate from the Glory of Christ's great Undertaking in the business of Mans Salvation and that it is a trusting in our own Righteousness But it will appear far otherwise if they will but impartially consider in what sence and upon what account such stress is laid upon Duty which I shall open in two particulars 1. They that rightly understand themselves in this matter do not look that any of their Duties of what nature soever should of themselves as such be available to their Justification or Salvation but that it is for the sake of Christ and upon account of his undertaking for us that God accepts and imputes for Righteousness to us such Duty as Faith Repentance and Obedience is and that he doth make promise of Justification upon Condition of these Since the fall we say all our Duties that are acceptable to God or available to us become so through Christ and for his sake And therefore so long as we Attribute and Ascribe the benefit we expect upon our Repentance and sincere Obedience or Belief unto Christ and to his great and worthy undertaking for us we are far from derogating from the Glory of it and from trusting in our own Righteousness in that Notion in which mens trusting in their own Righteousness is condemned in Scripture or any otherwise than as our Duty is made a Condition without which we shall have no part in Christ nor be qualified for glory 2. When we lay such stress upon Repentance Obedience c. as a condition or part of a Condition of the Promise of Justification and Salvation as without which we say we cannot be justified or saved by Christ's undertaking for us yet then this stress is laid and depends upon the Will and appointment of God by which these Duties are thus made the Condition and not on the intrinsick worth or value of the Duties themselves simply considered without reference to God's Ordination appointing them to that use For if God had not made a new Covenant promising pardon for Christ's sake to such as do repent and acceptance and reward to such as sincerely obey him they would have had no sufficient ground to have been confident of Pardon Acceptance or Reward though they should have repented and so obeyed And the reason is because Men are not justified in the Eye of the Natural or Moral Law upon any such account as that is So that all the stress which is laid on Duty by them that rightly understand their Duty in this matter doth terminate partly in Christ's undertaking for them and partly in God's Institution and Appointment who hath made his Promise of justifying us for Christ's sake so as that he hath made our Duty of Repentance and sincere Obedience a necessary Condition of it And he that trusteth to be pardoned accepted and rewarded for Christ's sake upon his repentance and sincere Obedience because God hath promised that he shall trusteth in God and in the fidelity of his Word and Promise And in doing so what more stress doth he lay upon Duty in this kind than they that trust to be justified and saved upon their believing For their believing is matter of Duty as wel as their Repenting and Obeying And their believing would no more have entitled them to the benefit without the Promise which gives them that title than other Acts of Duty would do And other Acts of Duty do entitle to the same benefits as fully as Faith it self doth where there is promise of the same benefits annexed to them as Faith hath And that they have I have shewed before So long then as the stress which is laid on Duty terminates in Christ and in God's Will and Appointment in the new Covenant and is regulated by his Word and Promise there is no danger of overcharging Duty It 's true indeed if we should expect that Duty should do that for us which is proper only to Christ as to expiate our sin or the like we should sinfully overcharge it as the Pharisaical Iews did their Sacrifices and other Legal Observances in expecting remission of Sin by them without Christ's Atonement Which Righteousness of theirs is for that cause called their own Righteousness which was by the Law as being no method of Justification of God's appointment but of their own devising which in that respect was indeed but as filthy Rags and loathsome to God But this is not the case with Protestant Christians who lay no such stress upon Duty no not upon Faith it â—elf but do acknowledge that all the power and virtue it hath to justifie depends wholly upon and is derived from the Will and Ordinâ—tion of God in Christ Ioh. 6. 40. 1. 12. Ephes. 2. 8. And we say the same of Repentance and sincere Obedience also And a confidence of being saved in a way of Duty upon such terms is represented in Scipture as trusting in the Righteousness of God through Faith in opposition to ones trusâ—ing in his own Rightâ—ousnâ—ss Phil. 3. 9. â—o 〈◊〉 is it 〈◊〉 trusting in our own Righteoâ—sness â—r from 〈◊〉 from Christ in the Glory 〈…〉 Natural or Moral Law upon any such account as that is So that all the stress which is laid on Duty by them that rightly understand their Duty in this matter doth terminate partly in Christ's undertaking for them and partly in God's Insitution and Appointment who hath made his Promise of justifying us for Christ's sake so as that he hath made our Duty of Repentance and sincere Obedience a necessary Condition of it And he that trusteth to be pardoned accepted and rewarded for Christ's sake upon his repentance and sincere Obedience because God hath promised that he shall trusteth in God and in the fidelity of his Word and Promise And in doing so what more stress doth he lay upon Duty in this kind than they that trust to be justified and saved upon their believing minds thirst more after Discourses Consolatory
sometimes described by an assenting to the truth of one single Proposition yet then it implies the belief of many more and such a belief as draws in the Will to act according to the import and concernment of the thing believed As for instance The belief of this Proposition That Christ Iesus is the Son of God by which Faith is sometimes described doth include in it a belief of the truth of his whole Doctrine both concerning God's Grace and Mans Duty and the Will 's concurrence as to its concernment in it For if he be the Son of God then he cannot lye or deceive in any thing he hath said And again the belief of this Proposition That God raised Christ from the Dead by which Faith is also described Rom. 10. 9. includes in it a belief that all that Doctrine which he taught is undoubtedly true For if it had not God would never have wrought such a Miracle as to raise Christ from the dead to confirm it The belief then of such single Propositions include a belief of the whole Doctrine of the Gospel which is the Proper Object of the Christian Faith and for that cause is frequently stiled Faith or the Faith in the New Testament But if we respect the nature of Faith in general as answering the different degrees of God's Revelation of his Will in several Ages of the World both under the Gospel and before I do not know how better to define it than thus Faith is such a hearty belief of God's Declaration concerning his own Grace and Man's Duty as doth effectually cause a man to expect from God and to act in a way of sincere Obedience according to the Tenour and Import of such a Declaration Or if you will take in the belief of God's threatnings against sinners into the definition then it will be thus Faith is such a hearty belief of God's Declaration concerning his own Grace and Displeasure and Man's Duty as doth effectually cause a man to expect from God and to act in a way of sincere Obedience according to the Tenour and Import of such a Declaration Faith thus defined we have already seen exemplified in Abraham who is the great Exemplar of believing and the Father of Believers And that it was his belief of God's Promise or Declaration of grace and favour to him as it was practical in producing Repentance Self-denial and sincere Obedience by which he was justified and made happy appears farther not only in that it 's said by St. Iames that his Faith wrought with his Works and was made perfect by them and that he was justified by Works as well as by Faith of which more anon but also in that it 's said that he received the sign of Circumcision which was the Condition upon which God covenanted with him to be his God and upon the same terms to be the God of his Seed a Seal of the Righteousness of the Faith which he had while he was yet uncircumcised For supposing which is not denied Circumcision to be an outward Sign of inward Grace of the Circumcision of the Heart consisting in Mortification or a Penitential change of the Heart which is the effect of Faith his Circumcision as such was a Seal of confirmation to Abraham that it was upon his former so believing God upon his Promise as thereby to be induced to leave the evil Customs of his Countrey and his Countrey it self with his Kindred his Fathers house that God would be his God indeed In which Promise was implicitly promised all that would make him eternally happy And God's further design of giving to Abraham this Covenant of Circumcision as a Seal to assure him the enjoyment of the benefit wrapt up in that Promise upon the terms aforesaid was that he might be the Father of all them that believe whether literally circumcised or not that is that he might be a great Example and Pattern to all others of obtaining the same benefits in the same way and so might be a means of begetting others to believe in God and to obey him as he had done to be a great Instrument to propagate the kind of new Creatures of Men renewed to God to the end they might be blessed as he was This or somewhat to this effect is doubtless the meaning of Rom. 4. 11 12. And he received the sign of Circumcision a Seal of the Righteousness of the Faith which he had being yet uncircumcised That he might be the Father of all them that believe though they be not circumcised that Righteousness might be imputed to them also And the Father of Circumcision to them who are not of the Circumcision only but also walk in the steps of that Faith of our Father Abraham which he had being yet uncircumcised and it is not unlikely but that as Heart-Circumcision under the figure of Literal-Circumcision was together with Faith made the condition of the Covenant then so Spiritual Baptism which is a death unto sin and a living unto God is under the Figure of Water-Baptism joyned with believing as the condition of the Promise of Salvation now Mark 16. 16. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved According to which St. Peter having spoken of Noah's Ark saith The like figure whereunto Baptism now saveth us not the putting away of the filth of the flesh but the answer of a good conscience towards God 1 Pet. 3. 21. Now as it was in Abraham such a belief of God's Declaration of Grace and Favour as did effectually induce him to love and obey God by which he was justified so I shall shew afterwards it was the very same kind of Faith working after the same manner by which the Saints under the Law of Moses were saved But Faith as Evangelical and Christian is such a hearty assent and consent unto God's Declartion in the Gospel by his Son concerning Christ himself and his Grace and Favour towards Men by him and concerning their own duty as causeth a man to expect from God and to act in a way of duty according to the Tenour of such a Declaration and his own concerns in it And Faith thus defined is fully agreeable to the Tenour of the Gospel Mark 16. 15 16. Go ye into all the world and preach the Gospel to every Creature He that believeth and is Baptized shall be saved He that believeth What Why he that believeth that Gospel which was to be preached to every Creature Which Gospel contains a Declaration of God's Grace Man's Duty of his Wrath against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of Men. For 1. It declares from God that he hath given his Son Jesus Christ to be the Saviour of the World by being a Propitiation for the sin of it in becoming a Sacrifice to expiate sin 2. It declares that God upon account of his Sons giving himself a Ransom for all hath made and doth establish a New Covenant with the World to pardon and eternally to save as
many as shall believe in his Son and repent of their sinfulness in changing their Minds and reforming their Lives and becoming new men in yielding sincere obedience to the Precepts of the Gospel 3. It declares that those that believe not shall be damned and such as repent not shall perish and that the unrighteous shall not inherit the Kingdom of God This summarily is that which the Gospel declares concerning God's grace and displeasure and Mans duty Now it is the Practical belief of all this that is the saving Faith It is not the bare belief that God hath given his Son to be the Saviour of the World and a Propitiation for the sin of it Nor is it a bare belief that he will for Christ's sake pardon and save as many as truly repent and amend their lives and become new Creatures unless they so believe all this as seriously and heartily to Repent themselves of their former folly and to return to their duty in new Evangelial Obedience For otherwise for a Man barely to believe all this and not to act according to his own concerns in it will be so far from being a believing to the saving of the Soul as that it will rather plunge him the deeper in destruction for living and acting contrary to his own light and belief as holding the truth in unrighteousness the wrath of God being revealed from heaven against all such Rom. 1. 18. A man of this practical Faith which I have described eyes as well the condition upon which the saving Benefits are Promised through Christ as the Promise it self of those benefits and expects the enjoyment of those benefits upon God's Promise and Christ's purchase no otherwise than as he with the assistance of God's grace is careful to perform the condition Which belief of his makes him as careful to perform the condition in discharge of his own duty therein as ever he hopes to enjoy the promised pardon of Salvation by Christ and to escape the damnation threatned against those who perform not the condition So that a Man by this Practical Faith belives one part of God's Declaration in the Gospel as well as the other and his own duty to be as well necessary to his Justification as the condition appointed by God as the Grace of God through Christ it self is upon another account And by this belief he is effectually moved as well to act in a way of duty to God as to expect mercy from him considering how his happiness is concerned in both when he hath the whole of God's Declaration in all the parts taken together in prospect as the Object of his Faith When he hears that God so loved the World that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life When he hears that God hath set forth Christ to be a Propitiation through Faith in his Blood And when he hears again that God was in Christ reconciling the World unto himself not imputing their trespasses unto them he believes all this to be true as coming from God that cannot lye and accordingly is incouraged to hope in God's mercy and is comforted thereby But then when he hears again that except we repent we shall all perish that except a man be born again he cannot see the Kingdom of God That without holiness no man shall see the Lord and that the pure in heart shall see God That not every one that saith Lord Lord shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven but he that doth the will of the Father which is in Heaven That the Lord Iesus shall be revealed from Heaven with his mighty Angels in flaming fire to render vengeance to all those that know not God and which obey not the Gospel of our Lord Iesus Christ But that he is the Author of eternal Salvation to all those that obey him I say when he hears all this he as verily believes this part of Gods Declaration in the Gospel to be the faithful and true sayings of God as he accounted the other to be And accordingly doth as seriously and sincerely set upon the work of Repentance and as carefully useth God's appointed means for the changing of his Heart and renewing of his Nature for the purifying of himself as God is pure and doth as carefully obey all the Precepts of the Gospel as he hopes upon the account of Christ's sufferings and God's Promise to be pardoned and saved as believing that those Benefits are neither promised nor can be obtained but in this way of performing the Condition And I doubt not to say this practical Faith as it respects God's Declaration touching Mans duty in conjunction with his own Grace in Christ is where the Gospel comes the only saving justifying Faith 3. Come we now to shew Reason why Faith is made the Condition of the Promise 1. It is of Faith that it might be of Grace saith the Apostle Rom. 4. 16. It is that the Grace of God to miserable Men might the more shew it self For so it doth not only in promising unspeakably great things through Christ to Man who is not only un-deserving but ill-deserving also but also in that these are promised upon such a possible practicable easie condition as Faith is considering the means and assistance promised by God to work it And considering also that the Promise is made to the truth unfeignedness and sincerity and not to perfection of Faith Repentance and new Obedience in their utmost degree So that Christ might well say my Yoke is easie and my Burden light Matth. 11. 30. Whereas the old way of promising the Inheritance on the Law terms would have been to have promised it upon impossible conditions as the case now is with fallen Man And if God should Promise never so great things to Man in his impotent and miserable state upon an impossible condition he would have been so far from manifesting abundance of Grace Compassion and Love to him in that condition as that he would rather have seemed to insult over him in it And therefore if the Promise should have run upon the Law-terms and not of Faith it would utterly have frustrated God's design of manifesting his grace to Man and of recovering Man's Love and Loyalty to him thereby Rom. 4. 14. If they which are of the Law be Heirs Faith is made void and the Promise made of none effect But it is of Faith that it might be by grace to the end the Promise might be sure to all the Seed not to that only which is of the Law but to that also which is of the Faith of Abraham ver 16. 2. This may be another reason why such a Faith as I have described is made the condition of the Covenant of Salvation viz. Because it best answers God's design in this Covenant of renewing the nature of Man in Holiness and Righteousness and by that means restoring it to happiness For by Faith Men are born of God or
obey him For otherwise those Scriptures and these would be inâ—onsistent For if men cannot be pardoned nor delivered from the curse nor be safe from destruction until they have repented are regenerate do love Christ and obey the Gospel as the forecited Scriptures do assure us they cannot then no Faith whatsoever is justifying or can entitle them to Pardon and Salvation acording to the Tenour of God's Promise until it hath produced that Repentance Regeneration Love and Obedience Which is a full and an undenyable proof of the necessity of such a consent of the Will as aforesaid to render Faith justifying and saving Now this consent and resolutionof the Will to repent and obey Christ and to forsake all for him is the Moral change of the Soul and the new life in its first beginning And so a mans first effectual Belief is his whole Christian life in its beginning And a mans first Faith is perfected afterwards by Works Iam. 2. 22. as a Child is perfected in his manly state as he grows up to manly actions or as the Seed is perfected when it grows to a full Ear. By this first consent of the Will we restipulate and strike Covenant with God and not only so but we thereby begin also to keep and perform Covenant with him on our part When this consent is first wrought in the Will then the Laws of the new Covenant are first put into the mind and written in the heart And by this we first begin to become savingly a people unto God to believe in him to love and serve him as he by Covenant and Promise becomes a God unto us to make us happy Heb. 8. 10. This is the Convenant that I will make I will put my Laws into their mind and write them in their hearts and I will be to them a God and they shall be to me a people 3. The other act of the Soul which I call the act of the Understanding of the Will conjunct is an affiance in God through Christ a trusting in him or a relying on him for the fulfilling of his Promise of saving Benefits while we continue sincerely to consent resolve and endeavour to perform the Condition on our part This is that or part of that which is called a believing on God a believing on Christ and a trusting in him Noting the Souls dependence upon Christ â—or the saving benefits which accrue to Men by his Mediation Office and Undertaking and on the Truth and Faithfulness Power Wisdom and Goodness of God to perform all that he hath promised them through his Son and upon the terms he hath promised and not otherwise For the Promise of saving Benefits being made but upon the Condition before mentioned a true Believer or he that is rational wise considers as well upon what terms the benefits are promised as who hath promised them and what they are and expects the one no otherwise than as he sincerely resolves and endeavours to perform the other And therefore if any shall rely on God and Christ for those benefits in whom yet the qualifying condition of the Promise of them is not found Such a relyance is but a groundless presumption and not Faith or Affiance duly so called For such do not only rely on Christ for that for which they have no Promise but for that which God hath expresly declared they shall have no share in whilst they remain destitute of that qualification which is the Condition upon which and not without it the promise of those benefites is made These three acts of the Soul exercised on their Objects do make up that Faith which is justifying and saving And when justifying Faith in the compleat nature of it is spoken of in Scripture all these three acts of the Soul are to be understood and especially the two first though perhaps they are many times mentioned severally and apart Faith being described sometimes by one of them and sometimes by another As God himself is represented to us sometimes by one Attribute sometimes by another II. Wherein the Defect lyes of that Faith which is not saving By what hath been discoursed touching the nature of that Faith which is saving it is easie to disâ—ern wherein the defect lies of that Faith which is not so And the defect lyes chiefly in the Will in its not consenting to perform the condition of the Promise in repenting and in receiving Christ as Lord to be governed by his Laws I will not deny but the defect in part may be in the Understanding when its assent unto the Truth of Divine Revelation is so weak as that it can make but a too weak and â—aint impression upon the Will to procure its consent unto the Condition of the Promise But then that defect in the assent of the Understanding doth usually at least in great part proceed from the Will as I shall shew afterwards Now that the defect lyes mainly in the Will 's not consenting to the Condition of the Promise appears by this because unregenerate men may assent unto the truth of God's Testimony and may trust that they shall be saved by Christ which contain the other two acts of the Soul but no man truly consents to perform the Condition of the Promise but in doing so he is regenerate in the first Act and justified 1. Unregenerate men may have the same Faith of assent in the Understanding to a degree as the regenerate may They may believe God to be the Father Almighty Maker of Heaven and Earth and Jesus Christ to be his only Son and the rest of the Articles of the Creed and they may believe in great part that to be their duty both towards God and Man which is so indeed and yet hold that truth in unrighteousness which they do believe Rom. 1. 18. Many of the chief Rulers believed on Christ who yet loved the praise of Men more than the praise of God and durst not confess him Joh. 12. 42 43. As also did many others when they saw his Miracles who yet were such as Christ had no mind to commit himself to Ioh. 2. 23 24. And Simon Maguâ— believed wondering and being astonished at the signes which were done by Philip who yet remained in the bond of iniquity Acts 8. Such as are resembled by the stony ground believed who yet loved their ease and worldly interest more than Christ And those that St. Iames expostulates with Chap. 2. were thus far believers also 2. Excepting the consent of the Will to the Condition of the Promise unregenerate Men may hope to be saved by Christ and rely on him for Salvation as well as the Regenerate Only for want of their performing the Condition of the Promise their hopes and confidence are groundless and will deceive them But otherwise men that are but carnal and live in some known sin may and oftimes do perswade themselves that they shall be saved by Christ Jesus because they believe that he dyed for sinners and
Justification is suspended and are both constituted so by the same means and that is by promise of pardon to such as do believe to such as do repent and by threatning the contrary to those that do not both And if they are a joynt Condition of the Promise of Justification then Justification proceeds not upon either of them alone but upon both together 6. Whereas it is said in the Similitude that a man sees with his Eye alone though not with his Eye which is alone or when it is alone I doubt this is no more true than that which is intended to be illustrated by it For Naturalists will tell them the contrary that it is not the Eye alone by which a Man sees but that it is the Soul that sees by the Eye as its Organ The Eye sees not when the Soul is departed though it be not then alone I confess I cannot possibly conceive either how the Soul should not concur with the Eye in the act of seeing when the Eye cannot see without it nor yet that Repentance should not concur with Faith in the act of Justification so long as men cannot be justified by Faith it self without it or in the absence of it as they themselves grant 3. This lyes in the way of some they cannot conceive how Justification by Evangelical Obedience as well as Faith should consist with the possibility of somes being justified by believing who yet may not live so long after as to have an oppertunity of doing good Works How rare Instances of this kind are I shall not dispute But doubtless when ever men so believe Gods Promise of pardon through Christ upon their Repentance and the necessity of their own Repentance for the obtaining of it as that they in Will and a fixed and lasting Resolution become new men then they first believe unto Justification And it is not impossible but that some may so believe that may never after they do so have opportunity to be much active in External Acts of Obedience But though this should so fall out yet such are not justified without Evangelical Obedience as wel as Faith For 1. These Motions and Acts of the Will are themselves Acts of present Evangelical Obedience 2. They are in the Root and Cause Evangelical Obedience future and to come I. They are in themselves Acts of present Evangelical Obedience For by these Motions and Acts of the Will Men do when ever they take place turn from sin to God and their Duty out of hatred to that they turn from and out of love to that they turn to And these Acts of the Will which consist in affection and resolution are proper effects and fruits of Faith in the Understanding and Acts of Heart-Obedience in the sight of God and a conformity of Soul to his declared Will and Commandment And they may as well and as truly be called Works as evil Acts of the Will may such as are a love to evil and desires and resolutions of perpetrating it Which evil Acts of the Will are yet in Scripture called Works and a working of wickedness Psal. 58. 2. Ye work wickedness in your hearts Micah 2. 1. He that looketh upon a Woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart Matth. 5. 28. And envy wrath and hatred which are Internal Acts of the Soul are called Works of the flesh Gal. 5. 19 20 21. And if such inward fixed resolutions in Men of obeying God in External Acts if ever they have opportunity and a Call to it did not pass in God's account for Obedience and were not accepted in stead of the Deed when opportunity for the Deed is wanting the best Man in the World could be no Disciple of Christ who doth not actually forsake all that he hath and lay down his life for him Whosoever of you forsaketh not all that he hath cannot be my Disciple saith he Luke 14. 26 33. Whereas Christ pronounceth the poor in spirit blessed many of whom never became actually poor for his sake as not being called to it But if they are poor in Spirit if they firmly resolve to become poor in forsaking all for Christs sake when called to it these are capable of blessedness in Christ's account as well as those that suffer the loss of all for Righteousness sake Matth. 5. 3. II. Those Acts of the Will are in the Root and Cause Evangelical Obedience future and to come Because those resolutions against evil for good when they are of a fixed and lasting nature as they alwayes are when together with Faith they make men capable of Justification will certainly produce External Acts of sincere Obedience as opportunity doth occur When the Tree is made good it will bring forth good Fruit in the season of Fruit if it be not cut down before When the heart is renewed in affection and resolution the course of a Mans Life will certainly be answerable to it if ever he have opportunity of shewing it A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth good things Mat. 12. 35. And God who knows the heart doth judge of and estimate men according to what they are in the inward frame of their heart and prevalent bent of their Wills If there be first a willing mind it is accepted according to that a man hath and not according to that he hath not 2 Cor. 8. 12. We judge of the Cause by the Effects of the goodness of mens hearts by the goodness of their lives to us the Tree is known by its Fruit But God who is greater than our hearts and knows them better than we do judges of the effect by the Cause and knows what a Mans Life will be by what his heart is upon its first conversion to him and so confers on him the benefit of Justification when the Foundation of a good Life is laid in the conversion and renewing of the heart The Understanding of this Part of Discourse will serve not only to satisfie the foresaid doubt but also to inform us what Evangelical Obedience is necessary to Justification in its beginning Not but that actual Obedience in Life is necessary to the continuance of Justification where Life is continued And therefore we find that Abraham was justified by his after-believing and after-obedience as well as by his first and so was Noah before him Noah was a righteous Man and justified before he became heir of the Righteousness which is by Faith by his believing and obeying God in preparing the Ark Gen. 6. 9. Heb. 11. 7. It was by Faith in God's Promise that Abraham left his Countrey to obey God at the first and by that he was first justified Heb. 11. 8. And yet his believing God's Promise so shall thy Seed be which was not made till some years after was imputed to him also for righteousness Gen. 15. 6. It was many years after that again that by Faith he offered his son Isaac upon the
because they ask God forgiveness and perform some acts of Religion Our Saviour saith Many will say unto me in that day Lord Lord open unto us Have we not prophesied in thy Name and in thy Name have cast out Devils and done many wonderful works We have eaten and drunk in thy presence and thou hast taught in our streets To whom he will say for all that Depart from me ye workers of iniquity Matth. 7. 22 23. Luke 13. 25 26. These had some kind of Faith in Christ by which they propheâ—ied in his Name and cast out Devils and did many wonderful works They were such as were hearers of his Word and Preachers of it too and had eaten and drunken in his presence And because of this Faith and these Works they had a Hope and Confidence that Christ would open unto them and receive them into his Kingdom and would not be easily beaten off from this confidence But the true reason why their Faith will stand them in no stead nor their Religious performances neither is because for all that they were workers of iniquity they never heartily consented to the terms of the Promise of Salvation by Christ in repenting They did not first heartily resolve and after sincerely endeavour to turn from every known sin unto every known duty And in this very thing doth the defect of that Faith lye which is short of saving Which will yet further appear in that St. Iames when he would state the difference between that Faith which is saving and that which is not fixeth it here The dead Faith is denominated such by him from its being alone without Works Iam. 2. 17. Even so Faith if it hath not Works is dead being alone or by it self And again vers 20. But wilt thou know O vain Man that Faith without Works is dead And again ver 26. For as the body without the Spirit is dead so Faith without Works is dead also Meaning by its being dead that it avails a Man no more to his Justification and Salvation than a dead Corps avails to the produceing the useful and serviceable effects of a living Man or than a Tree that is dead avails to the bringing forth fruit or than a few good words Depart in peace be ye filled and warmed will avail poor people when nothing is given which is needful to the body ver 15 16 17. In all this I do not deny but that there may be in such as do not savingly believe some consent of the Will to do something towards performing the Condition of the Promise in repenting and obeying Such Men may consent and resolve to forsake some sins and to do some yea many duties who yet never savingly consent because they do not heartily consent and resolve to forsake all known sin and to do all known duties in which the sincerity of Repentance and Obedience doth consist to which the Promise is made Such men may not be far from the Kingdom of God but yet must go farther if ever they would have any good ground of hope to enter into it But of this more afterwards III. Whence this defect doth proceed I have shewed before that there is the Faith of assent in the Understanding unto the truth of God's Testimony in some unregenerate men as well as in the regenerate And in whomsoever the Faith of Consent in the Will to perform the Condition of the Promise is found it always proceeds from the Faith of Assent in the Understanding A Man always in order of nature at least believes that the promised benefits shall be made good to him in case he perform the Condition before he consents to perform it and doth consent to perform the Condition in hope and confidence of obtaining the promised benefits Now then the Question is whence is it ' and what is the reason that the Faith of assent in the Understanding doth not always produce the same consent in the Will in one as well as in another and as it always doth when it becomes effectual to Justification and Salvation Why doth this Faith remain alone in some when as it is accompanied with Works in others I shall offer what I conceive to be the reason of this First in general and then more particularly The difference sometimes may procâ—ed from the different measures and degrees of the evidence upon which the same Truth is believed One man may have a clearer discerning of the evidence than another which causeth a stronger assent in the discerning faculty and that stronger assent in the Understanding may well cause a stronger consent in the Will and a firm and lasting resolution As on the contrary a weak and partial consent and resolution in the Will to the Condition sometimes proceds from a weak assent in the Mind to the Truth of God's Testimony or Promise and that from the weakness of the faculty in the discerning the evidence of that Truth which is the Object of Faith But the reason most commonly why the assent in the Understanding unto the Truth of God's Testimony doth not work a consent in the Will to the Condition of the Promise is to be taken I conceive from the opposition which the lower faculties of the Soul the Will Affections assisted and influenced by the sensual Appetites make against the superiour Faculty the Mind or Understanding so that they do not hearken to its Notices nor obey its Dictates The Will which is the Spring of Action is a middle Faculty between the Understanding and the sensitive Affections or Appetites and is sollicited by both As the Understanding calls upon it to obey its rational Dictates in chusing the means which tend to the best end both which the Understanding represents to it from the Word of God so on the other hand the sensitive Affections sollicite it to be on their side and to be active in making provision for the flesh in chusing such things as tend to satisfie its cravings and lusts And because the Will hath usually been pre-ingaged to the flesh and had a share in its gratifications it 's not without much difficulty prevailed with to be coÌ„senting to active in the crucifixion of those affections and lusts Which until the Will do and herein obey the enlightned Understanding the Faith of assent in the Understanding abideth alone The Will 's obstinate adherence then to Mens fleshly lusts and carnal interests in opposition to that belief in the Understanding which puts it upon destroying them as absolutely necessary to the Man's Salvation as believing God touching the necessity of this as a means as well as it doth believe him touching the blessedness of the end this obstinate opposition in the Will I say is the true reason why the Faith which is in some men is but a dead Faith How can ye believe saith our Saviour which seek honour one of another and seek not the honour that cometh from God only Joh. 5. 44. Yes some of them could and did
upon account of believing only Which may serve instead of an Apology for writing this and the forgoing Discourse Saint Paul charged Titus to affirm this constantly that they which have believed be careful to maintain good Works Tit. 3. 8. 〈…〉 pointment in the new Covenant and is regulated by his Word and Promise there is no danger of overcharging Duty It 's true indeed if we should expect that Duty should do that for us which is proper only to Christ as to expiate our sin or the like we should sinfully overcharge it as the Pharisaical Iews did their Sacrifices and other Legal Observances in expecting remission of Sin by them without Christ's Atonement Which Righteousness of theirs is for that cause called their own Righteousness which was by the Law as being no method of Justification of God's appointment but of their own devising which in that respect was indeed but as filthy Rags and loathsome to God But this is not the case with Protestant Christians who lay no such stress upon Duty no not upon Faith it self but do acknowledge that all the power and virtue it hath to justifie depends wholly upon and is derived from the Will and Ordination of God in Christ Ioh. 6. 40. 1. 12. Ephes. 2. 8. And we say the same of Repentance and sincere Obedience also And a confidence of being saved in a way of Duty upon such terms is represented in Scripture as trusting in the Righteousness of God through Faith in opposition to ones trusting in his own Righteousness Phil. 3. 9. so far is it from trusting in our own Righteousness or from derogating from Christ in the Glory of his undertaking for us And now for a Conclusion It would be considered whether such as are educated in Christianity are not hardlier brought to live as becomes the Gospel in point of practice than to believe that Christ Jesus came into the World to save Sinners and that he dyed for them and rose again And whether there is not cause to fear that very many more such do eternally miscarry through neglect of the former than for want of the latter And if there be as doubtless there is Then practical discourses among such must needs be highly necessary however some of weak minds thirst more after Discourses Consolatory upon account of believing only Which May serve instead of an Apology for writing this and the forgoing Discourse Saint Paul charged Titus to affirm this constantly that they which have believed be careful to maintain good Works Tit. 3. 8. FINIS ERRATA PAge 2â— Line 35 read 25. P. 40 l. 6. for of r. and. P 42. l. 29. f. should promise r. should have promised P. 43. l. 28. f. were r. are P. 45. l. 32. dele of P. 49. l. 10. dele a. p. 56. l. 24. f. and r. but. P. 59. l. 2. f. these r. those P. 60. l. 24. f. Law r. Land P. 61. l. 6. f. these r. those â— 28. f. these r. those P. 62. l. 5 6. dele from that P. 65. l. 17. dele from that P. 67. l. 14. f. wherefore r. therefore P. 83. l 30. f. would r. will l. ibid. f. should r. shall P. 84. l. 11. f. seem r. seems P. 87. l. 25. r. the. P. 89. l. 27. f. of r. from P. 91. l. 9. f. sactifieth r. sanctifieth P. 93. l. 14. f. until r. unless P. 95. l. 8. dele as P 97. l. 19. r. to be P. 99. l. 8. r. as he did P. 120. l. 30. r. is P. 133. l. 18. r. such P. 154. l. 8. r. freed l. 18. f. me r. we P. 157. l. 16. f. injurious r. injured P. 180. l. 27. f. a r. as P. 183. l. 10. dele in that l. 14. f. choaked r. choak l. 24. f and r. to P. 189. l 30. f. immoderate r. inordinate P. 193. l. 27. f. expressed r. apprâ—hended P. 202. l. 11. r. without P. 208. l. 2. r. and.