one difficulty after another rose up to encounter his Faith yet they could not so much as make him to stagger so mighty was Gods Word in his soul And therfore was this Faith of his imputed to him for Righteousness Now this was not written for his sake alone that this Faith of his was imputed unto him but for us also to whom it shall be imputed if we beleeve on him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead saith the Apostle Rom. 4.23 24. It was written to give us to understand That if God be so magnified in the soul as that no difficulty or unlikelihood whatsoever can stand before or carry it against the Word and Promise of God there but beleeving first that God raised Christ from the dead for our Justification after he had been delivered for our offences and then beleeving also that God by the same power and grace by which he did that will certainly fulfil and perform all his Words and Promises in due time and according to his own terms and that this Faith do but dispose the frame of the heart God-ward as it did in Abraham that then this Faith of ours shall as assuredly be imputed to us for Righteousness as his was to him Hath God then Promised a free and full Pardon of all your sins upon your unfeigned Repentance and turning from them to God and taking hold of his Grace in Christ how great or many soever they have been and how unworthy soever they have rendered you of such a favour Hath he promised to such as have begun thus truly to turn to God that he will give them his Spirit to help in the Work to make them new hearts and to write his Law there and that humbly waiting and depending upon him in his own way and means he will keep them from falling and preserve them to his heavenly kingdom See then whether you do stedfastly beleeve these great and precious Promises and are encouraged and enabled by your belief of them to turn again to God from all your transgressions and in thus turning confidently to expect by degrees a real and faithful performance of them all notwithstanding the great distance you may possibly for the present perceive your selves to be from much of what is thus promised and notwithstanding those great mighty and violent oppositions which you do and are like to meet with from flesh World and Devil to encounter your confidence of these things Though difficulties in this kind are many great and sorely threatning your falling short of the enjoyment of these mighty Promises yet if your Faith be but firmly bottomed and built upon them and that the faithfulness and power of God to make them good be so eyed by you and your souls so centered therein as that all the difficulties and unlikelihoods that rise up in your way from what quarter soever cannot prevail in your soul against the Word of God but that you do indeed beleeve that the might and power of his Grace will make its way through them all and perform to a tittle what he hath promised and that this confidence of yours does but engage you still to be following of God step by step in his way method and means of fulfilling his Word as Abrahams Faith did then you may confidently assure your selves that your Faith is of the right breed and kind and of the same nature with Abrahams and walking in the same steps and such as will entitle you to and possess you of the same blessing which he attained by his Faith Sect. 3 2. Another step of his Faith was this As by it he stedfastly beleeved Gods Promises so by it he faithfully obeyed his Precepts call and counsel Heb. 11.8 By Faith Abraham when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an Inheritance obeyed and he went out not knowing whither he went An excellent grace indeed that is moulded and cast in the Will of God and receives its form and figure from thence The Word of God had the same force upon Abrahams soul by means of his Faith as the Wind hath upon a Weather-cock it still made it to stand with it If he promised him any thing his soul did securely acquiess in his Word if he commanded him any thing he readily obeys the Word of the Lord carries him before it He only depended upon the divine Will by his Faith what that gave him he received what that would have him do that he did He beleeved its like That the Lord was so good in himself and so much a friend to him as that he would not put him upon any thing command him any thing but what in the issue should clearly tend to his good and therefore upon this perswasion resolves to deliver up himself wholly to the Will of God and to be an absolute Servant thereunto and to wait upon it whither ever it would carry him He knew his Happiness was in Gods hand and was confident that the way to be possessed of it was still to wait upon God in beleeving what he said and in doing what he bade him The Will and Command of God then was the constant walk of Abrahams Faith Sect. 4 3. And Thirdly the nature of that Obedience which proceeded from his Faith was this It was an obedience of Self denyal wherein he crossed his own will to comply with the Will of God therein doing God that right which but few in the world do as actually to acknowledge the Lord and his most holy Will to be absolutely sovereign and supream and that his own Will must stoop to his without all disputes how contrary soever thereunto The Command of God comes to Abraham Gen. 12.1 2 3. saying Get thee out of thy Country and from thy Fathers house unto a Land that I will shew thee and I will make of thee a great Nation and I will Bless thee and make thy Name great and thou shalt be a blessing And I will bless them that bless thee and curse him that curseth thee and in thy Seed shall all Families of the Earth be blessed Here are great things promised indeed as an Argument and Motive to perswade him to obey this Call and Command of God which he confidently depended upon but in the mean time he must quit his Country bid a-dieu to his Kindred depart from his Fathers house make himself a laughing stock it's like to Neighbors Friends and Acquaintance as if some strange Chymera had struck his brain and must go he knew not whither So saith the Apostle He went out not knowing whither he went Heb. 11.8 Let 's make it our own case and we shall easily perceive that thus to do was a piece of great Self denial And yet his Faith led him out from amidst these ancient enjoyments the Command and Promise of God went before and he followed close after And this wonderful piece of Obedience is attributed to his Faith Heb. 11.8 By
before by a former and precedent act To this I likewise Answer That Justification taken in a large sence for a mans constant standing acceptable condition before God depends not only upon the first acts of a mans Faith when he begins to beleeve but upon the continuation and reitteration of the same and multiplication of the like and sometimes higher acts all along a mans life unto the end of his dayes which being a point of much consequence I pray you mark how I make it good 1. This clearly appears in Abrahams case for neither was that beleeving of Abraham of which we read Gen. 15.6 which was counted to him for Righteousness the first act of his effectual Faith and consequently not that which began his justification For this act of his Faith was the closing with a Promise which God made him after he had dwelt some years in the Land of Canaan probably near upon ten years as you will have cause to conceive if you compare the process of the history touching his leaving Charon and sojourning in the Land of Canaan with Gen. 16.3 where a period of time is mentioned at which he had dwelt ten years in the Land of Canaan and which so far as appears extended it self very little beyond that time when God appeared to Abraham after his slaughter of the Kings and made that Promise to him the beleeving of which is said to be counted to him for Righteousness But Abraham had a great measure of Faith before ever he left his native Country Vr of the Chaldees first and Charon after to come at Gods call into Canaan as we heard before from Heb. 11.8 where it 's told us That it was by his Faith that he obeyed God therein And by Faith he after sojourned in the Land of Promise Heb. 11.9 wherein by vertue of his Faith he devoutly worshiped and served that God which had called him thither building Altars for his Worship at several places where he pitched his Tent and there called on the Name of the Lord Gen. 12.7 8. and 13.4 18. And all this before that particular act of his Faith mentioned Gen. 15.6 which is there said to have been counted to him for Righteousness And can any man so much as imagine That Abraham having such a Faith so long before and making such proof of the life and power of it in his Love Obedience and Devotion to God as he did and God back again declaring his high approbation of him by a frequent appearing to him and making repeating and enlarging his Promises of the great things he was resolved to do for him that yet he all this while should not be justified and accepted with God upon his beleeving I say Can any such thought possibly enter into any mans heart If not then it is manifest that that act of Abrahams Faith Gen. 15.6 which was counted to him for Righteousness was but an after-act not the beginning-act of his Justification and consequently that a mans Justification does not depend only upon one transient act of Faith when he begins to beleeve but upon a continuation renewing and multiplication of the same or like acts Abraham though he beleeved in God before and was accepted with God before yet his after-after-Faith is imputed to him for Righteousness as well as his former and if he should not have beleeved God upon this renewing of his Promise as well as at the first making of it I see not how Righteousness could at this time have been imputed to him upon account of his former beleeving No it was imputed upon his present beleeving And seeing that we find that Abrahams justification is here in Gen. 15.6 attributed to an after act of his Faith there 's the same reason why his justification should again be ascribed unto that act of his Faith by which he offered up his Son though it be supposed to follow twenty years after the other as that did many years after the first These things considered it need not be looked upon as any paradox or wonder that James should attribute Abrahams Justification before God unto an act of his Faith which took not place till many years after he had been in the Faith of God We heard before from Rom. 4.12 that the Faith by which Abraham was justified was a walking Faith and had steps and now we see that the latter steps of the same Faith were necessary to his justification as well as the former he having and enjoying means motives and opportunities of exerting these latter acts as well as of the former And it 's of special note to this point That the Lord casts the performance of a Promise which he had made to Abraham many years before upon that act of his Faith and Obedience which took place but now when he would have offered Isaac Gen. 22.16 17 18. By my self have I sworn saith the Lord for because thou hast done this thing and hast not with-held thy Son thine only Son that in blessing I will bless thee and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the Stars of Heaven and as the Sand which is upon the Sea shore and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies and in thy seed shall all the Nations of the Earth be blessed because thou hast obeyed my voice Mark how God grounds this Promise noted in these two expressions because thou hast done this thing and because thou hast obeyed my voice And yet this Promise for substance had been made him more than once before he had done that thing and before he had herein obeyed his voice as is evident Gen. 12.2 3 13.15 16. 15.5 6. From which I gather That collateral or after acts of Faith and Obedience are as necessary to continue and make good a mans interest in the Promises for the future as the first acts of his Faith and Obedience were to entitle him to them at the first The Lord at the first makes his Promise to Abraham conditionally that in case he would get him out of his own Country and from his Kindred and from his Fathers house unto a Land which he would shew him that then he would make him a great Nation and bless him and make his name great and make him a blessing and bless them that should bless him and curse them that should curse him and that in him should all Families of the Earth be blessed Gen. 12.1 2 3. Afterward when Abraham upon belief of this Promise had actually obeyed God and was come into the Land to which he led him then God renews the same Promise to him once and again without expressing that Condition because he had now so far fulfilled it this we may see Gen. 13.15 16. 15.5 6. As if he renewed his Promise now by way of reward unto his former Faith and Obedience just as in this case of his offering of Isaac the Lord renews the same Promise with the addition of his Oath to bind it by way
This he proves first by a clear Text of Scripture out of the Old Testament verse 3. For what saith the Scripture Abraham believed God and it was counted to him for righteousnesse If his believing God was the thing that was counted to him for righteousnesse which is the thing the Scripture affirms Gen. 15.6 then Circumcision and the rest of the Ceremonies of the Law could not be it and therefore could be no more necessary in the Gentiles to their justification than they were to Abraham but that they without Circumcision beleeving as Abraham did they also without cir cumcision might be justified as Abraham was And therefore accordingly from this example the Apostle doth assert in the words of my Text which are brought in upon this occasion That to him that workeeh not but beleiveth on him that justifieth the ungodly his faith is counted to him for righteousnesse Which doctrine of imputation of Faith unto men for Righteousnesse without Works the Apostle in ver 6 7 8. makes clearly agreeable to that passage of David in Psalm 32.1 2. where he sayes Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven and whose sins are covered blessed is the man unto whom the Lord will not impute sin Whereupon the Apostle to draw home this part of his discourse unto Abrahams case which is the chief thing he prosecutes throughout this Chapter in the ninth verse he makes this demand Cometh this blessednesse then upon the Circumcision only or upon the uncircumcision also for we say that Faith was reckoned unto Abraham for righteoasness V. 10. How then was it reckoned when he was in Circumcision or in uncircumcision not in circumcision but in uncircumcision Which way of arguing here used by the Apostle is of mighty force to evince the non-necessity of Circumcision unto justification a thing which the Jews would have imposed upon the Gentiles in order thereunto as I have oft said For if Abrahams Faith was reckoned to him for righteousnesse before ever he was Circumcised then was not his Circumcision necessary unto his justification which he had without it And if it were not necessary hereunto in Abraham their spiritual Father neither was it now necessary among the beleeving Gentiles his spiritual children For the Apostle seems to intimate in ver 11 12. that God had this designe in it that Abraham should receive his circumcision not before but after his justification to wit that he might be the Father the great exemplar copy or patern how or after what manner God would justifie the uncircumcised or Gentiles in time to come viz. by or upon their beleeving in him without Circumcision I might likewise shew you farther how the Apostle in ver 13. argues the non-necessity of keeping the Law of Commandements contained in ordinances in relation to salvation upon this ground because the promise of heirship was not made to Abraham or to his seed through the Law or upon condition of observing that but through the righteousnesse of Faith or upon condition of beleeving unto Justification Of which wise and gracious disposition of these things by God that the promise should be entailed upon beleeving rather than upon the observation of the Jewish Law the Apostle gives this account ver 16. It is by Faith saith he that it might be by grace to the end the promise might be sure to all the seed to wit of Abraham not to that only which is of the Law such as the Jews his Seed according to the flesh were but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham to wit the beleeving Gentiles who otherwise would have been excluded So that the grace of God and the good of men are best provided for in this way and that 's the reason why God hath chosen this and not the other Sect. 9 To draw to a conclusion of this matter which is capable as you see of a large confirmation from Scripture and to passe over what might be further enlarged to the same purpose from other passages in this Epistle I shall present you only with a Text or two more elsewhere Acts 15. where this very question is solemnly debated among the Apostles and Elders for that very purpose assembled at Jerusalem viz. to resolve and determine this case whether it were necessary for the Gentiles that beleeved to be Circumcised and to keep the Law of Moses or no ver 1.5 6 And when there had been much disputing touching this question at last Peter rose up and said unto them men and brethren ye know how that a good while ago God made choice among us that the Gentiles by my mouth should hear the word of the Gospel and beleeve And God which knoweth the hearts bare them witnesse giving them the Holy Ghost even as he did unto us and put no difference between us and them purifying their hearts by faith ver 7 8 9. Where he gives this undeniable reason why this question should be resolved in the negative why Circumcision and the Law should not be imposed upon the beleeving Gentiles in order to their justification and salvation viz. because God by his giving the holy Spirit to the Gentiles Cornelius the rest Act. 10. that were uncircumcised upon the same termes as he did unto the beleeving Jews that were Circumcised Acts 11.17 did bear them witnesse that he accepted them as well without the Law upon their beleeving as he did the Jews with their Law he bare them witnesse giving them the Holy Ghost even as he did unto us And that God made no difference at all between Jew and Gentile as to give the Jew more because he was Circumcised and kept the Law or the Gentile lesse because of his uncircumcision but their hearts and lives being purified reformed by Faith by their cleaving to Christs Doctrine God bestowed the same pledge of his love upon the one as upon the other the Law did not set the Jew higher in his savour nor the want of it keep the Gentile under in his love but being equall in Faith they were equally accepted and beloved of God He put no difference between us and them saies Peter who was a Jew And when Peter at another time was found by his Brother Paul not acting so evenly according to this his present Declaration but contrarily compelling the beleeving Gentiles to walk as did the Jews Gal. 2.14 he reproves him for it upon this ground that Peter himself knew this that they themselves who were by nature and birth Jews and not sinners of the Gentiles could not for all that be justified by the Law which they as Jews observed but must be glad to come by it in the same way and upon the same termes in which the sinners of the Gentiles did obtain it to wit the Faith of Jesus Christ Gal. 2.14 15 16. If thou being a Jew livest after the manner of the Gentiles and not as do the Iews why compellest thou the Gentiles to live as do the Iews We who are Iews by
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
man have but cause to suspect those he hath he may provide himself of better before it is too late it will be no time for the foolish Virgins to seek to provide themselves of Oyl for their Lamps when the very pinch of time comes that they should use it CHAP. VIII Shewing that the Faith which shall justifie as Abrahams did is a Faith that walks in the steps of the Faith of Abraham Shewing also what those steps were and that Abraham was justified by the latter of them as well as the former and that the justification of his spiritual seed stands upon the same terms contrary to the Antinomian Doctrine and Libertine Principles Sect. 1 ALthough I have through the Lords assistance in some measure already opened the nature of Gospel-Faith of the right kind in comparing it with and thereby discovering the nature of the feigned dangerous and dead Faith and wherein it falls short of the true yet to the end you may have a fuller view of the nature properties and genuine operation of the Faith of Gods Elect I shall through the same assistance now proceed to shew you further how it hath from time to time wrought in them And thereby I shall give you opportunity to try your own Faith of what kind it is For if it be that Faith which the Scripture calls the Faith of Gods Elect Tit. 1.1 then it will work after the same manner as theirs generally hath been wont to do but if you cannot find your Faith to be of that kind by working as theirs did you will have small reason as yet to conclude your self one of their number I shall begin with Abraham who as the Scripture saith was Father of all them that beleeve and so he was because all true beleevers do partake of the same kind of Faith that dwelt eminently in him and are thereby justified and saved as he was He is the great instance pattern or example both in his Faith and Justification of Gods resolved method of saving all men that shall be saved whether Jewes or Gentiles As a Son who succeeds his Father comes to enjoy the same Inheritance and priviledge as his Father did so he that shall succeed Abraham in his Faith shall enjoy the same spiritual and eternal inheritance which was entailed on his Faith So saith the Apostle Gal. 3.9 So then they which be of Faith are blessed with faithful Abraham The same Apostle in another place declares them to be his spiritual Children and he a Father to such as walk in the steps of his Faith Rom. 4.12 And the Father of circumcision to them who are not of the circumcision only but also to those that walk in the steps of that Faith of our Father Abraham which he had being yet uncircumcised Where note first That the Faith which Abraham had and by which he was Justified was a Faith which had steps in it it did not consist in one transient act only but of a series of acts one following another and that he was Justified by the latter of these as well as the former I shall God willing afterwards shew That which I would further note in the second place is That the Faith which will render them that have it Children of Abraham and inheritors of the same blessing with him is such for kind as is found walking in the steps of his Faith influencing the life and disposing the heart in particular occurrences as his did It may well be indeed that every Child of Abraham may not be able to keep pace with their Father in this walk of Faith nor to follow him close at the heels nor are all his Children of the same growth or same strength but yet all following their Father in the same way though at some distance all treading in his steps It is most certain that the true Faith by which they become his Children will guide them into the same way put them upon the same behaviour for kind in which he was found Joh. 8.39 Jesus saith unto them If ye were Abrahams Children ye would do the works of Abraham For a tryal of our Faith therefore whether it be of the right breed and of the stock of Abraham let us a little trace out the walk of Abrahams Faith and see what the foot-steps of it were as we have the print of them in the Scriptures and then see whether our Faith walk in the same path or tread in the same steps or no. Sect. 2 1. This was one of the foot-steps of his Faith it gave God the glory of his truth power and goodness in being confidently perswaded that what he promised he was both able willing and faithful to perform how contrary soever to humane probability Rom. 4.18 19 20 21. Who against hope beleeved in hope that he might be the Father of many Nations according to that which was spoken so shall thy seed be And being not weak in Faith he considered not his own body now dead neither yet the deadness of Sarahs womb He staggered not at the Promise of God through Vnbelief but was strong in Faith giving glory to God and being fully perswaded that what he had promised he was able also to perform The word Promise or saying of God carried it in his soul against all contrary reasonings Sarah being old and it ceasing to be with her after the manner of Women and Abraham himself also being as good as dead Heb. 11.12 this incumbred the belief of the Promise in Sarah and at first set her Faith Gen. 18.11 12. But the Text saith Abraham considered neither the one nor the other he considered not his own body now dead nor yet the deadness of Sarahs womb Gods Promise did so wholly take up his soul and was of so great authority with him as that he did not judge the great improbabilities in Nature worthy in this case to be so much as considered nor at all to be heard when God had spoken Afterward God tryes his Faith again he had not only in general promised him a numerous Posterity like unto the stars for multitude as before Gen. 15.5 but now more particularly had told him that in Isaac should his seed be called Gen. 21.12 and yet for all this commands Abraham to slay and offer in Sacrifice to God this Son of his and how then should God make good his Promise might Abraham think Abraham here again measures Gods Word and Promise not by this and that difficulty but by his irresistable power Accounting that God was able to raise him up even from the dead from whence also he received him in a figure Heb. 11.19 You see he had so high an esteem of the goodness and truth of God that if he had but power enough to make good his word he made no question of his performance and was so all thoughts made touching the sufficiency of his power to go through with whatever he had a mind to or had undertaken to do as that though
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
atonement for sin without which the Creature is undone and without which Faith cannot justifie And therefore that which is impossible as to it self in this respect it hath from another from Christ Who is the propitiation for our sins So then righteousness coming upon or accruing to men upon or by means of their beleeving and yet proceeding or issuing principally by way of result from that which is extrinsical to Faith to wit the blood of Christ and unspeakable grace of God there is good reason why Faith though it be a mans righteousness or that upon or by means of which he enjoyes the priviledges of a just and righteous man yet he should have and hold this great and blessed benefit by way of imputation or altogether upon the account of Grace as having that transferred to his account in the result of it which resides in another and which indeed hath the greatest stroke in his Justification Sect. 8 Which Doctrine of Faiths being counted to men for Righteousness according to the explanation given if it be true then the opinion and Doctrine of some who hold and teach that men are justified before beleeving or when Christ suffered or from eternity must needs be false For if there be no Justification but by the blood of Christ and no application of this blood in the justifying vertue of it to persons of years of discretion for of such I speak but by Faith which is the thing ordained by God to interess them in the justifying vertue and saving benefit of it then there can be no actual justification of men till they do beleeve but that there is no Justification by the blood of Christ nor right to or saving application of that Blood without beleeving is that which from the Scriptures hath been asserted in the first head of explanation and might be abundantly further made out from the Scriptures if what hath been already said on this behalf were not sufficient And so again if that be true that whosoever shall be justified must be justified declaratively or sententially by the Gospel and acquitted by that and that the Gospel acquits no man but such as perform the termes and fulfill the condition of it upon which its promises of Justification do depend and that the Gospel-termes or condition upon which it promises Justification and eternal life is Beleeving then certainly till men do indeed Beleeve the Gospel does not will not cannot acquit and justifie any man but cast and condemn him But that no man shall be justified without the acquittance or discharge which the Gospel gives and that it gives this acquittance or discharge to none but such as perform its condition and fulfill its terms and that the said terms or condition is Beleeving are things that lye very fair and obvious in the Scriptures and are in part to be seen in the second head of explanation of the Doctrine of Faiths being counted for Righteousness Sect. 9 By the light of the same Doctrine of Faiths being imputed for Righteousness that opinion also which holds that the Justification by Faith which the Scripture speaks of is not meant of mens being justified in the sight of God but only in the Court of their own Conscience by way of evidence or assurance is proved to be darkness and not light For when Faith is said to be counted or imputed for Righteousness the meaning is not that when a man comes to Beleeve he thereby comes to know himself to be what indeed he was before viz. justified in the sight of God but that then indeed he comes to be that which till then he was not viz. a man acquitted and discharged from his sins and accepted in the sight of God as one reconciled by the Death of his Son which till then who not actually applyed for his Justification as one under the protection of the Gospel which till then thundred out wrath and judgement against him as it does against all while in the state of unbelief Mark 16.16 John 3.18 36. Which threatnings would be really inconsistent with their safe condition by Justification in the sight of God if there were such a thing as Justification in his sight before Believing For those threatnings are true or else they are false if true as most certainly they are then whosoever dyes before he believes and so before he is justified by Faith is damned and if damned then not justified in the sight of God Sect. 10 And I the rather mention these things as well for caution as confutation because the Doctrine of mens Justification before believing as grounded on the Doctrine of particular and personal Election before Faith hath I fear in these late years rendred the work of Faith with power in the heart and life of too many a matter not of that mighty importance which indeed it is in the Scripture account But hath been a temptation upon them to think that Faith hath not been absolutely and essentially necessary to the being of a Christian or a mans safe standing before God but necessary only unto his comfortable and well being in respect of evidence and assurance And so hath rendred their care and diligence about their proving themselves to be in the Faith proportionably less by how much an assurance of ones good condition is less than ones good condition it self CHAP. XIII Containing an Exhortation by way of vse for Men to behold themselves in this Glass of Iustification and by the help of the precedent Discourse to prove the goodness or badness of their title to life And shewing the ill abode of negligence and the real advantage of care and diligence herein and what must be done to obtain a good testimony from Conscience as Iudge Delegate under Christ touching the goodness of mens spiritual condition in the eye of the Gospel and in the sight of God Sect. 1 DEarly Beloved as you have heard some parts of the Doctrine of Justification more briefly opened so you have had the nature of that Faith by which you are to be Justified if ever justified more largely handled according to that measure of understanding in it which God hath given me By which means you have opportunity given you of beholding as in a Glass your own spiritual state and condition before the Lord whether justified or not and whether your title to that incomparable priviledg be tite and sound or crackt and flawed It remains now that according to the Apostles Exhortation 2 Cor. 13.5 You prove your own selves whether you be in the Faith or no whether you have that Faith in you which hath been discovered to you to be that only kind of Faith which will be counted to them that have it for righteousness As for such as shall be negligent careless and slight in a matter of this moment it 's a shrewd sign that all is not well with them When Trades-men are backward and unwilling to cast up their Books and to see how the case stands with them
and Saviour of the world alone not justifying faith the reason why 44 Antinomian Doctrine touching sins past present and to come being pardoned upon mens first being in Christ decryed as erronious and dangerous 95 Apostacy and decay the cause of it what 122 Alms-giving must answer the Estate of the Giver and what to be thought thereabout 145 B BLood of Christ nothing to be joyned with it in merit or atonement making 25 Believing and obeying put one for another 70 Believing and receiving of Christ equivalent 73 Bounty where wanting an argument there 's no right Faith 143 Badness of mens condition no reason why it should not be looked into 160 C COntinue to continue well is harder than to begin well Ep. S. 17 Covenant Attributing that to the blood and obedience of the first Covenant which properly belongs to the Blood Faith and obedience of the Second Covenant was the Jews grand mistake 21 22 Christ in what respects he is the object of justifying Faith 37 Confidence of Salvation without ground whence it proceeds 49 51 Confidence of being saved may be strong in men both while they live and when they dye and yet suffer disappointment in the Resurrection and judgement day 64 Conquer to conquer and more what 134 Conscience Christs Delegate and how to have it on ones side in time of tryal 166 D Decayes of spiritual sense and affection how repaired Ep. § 1 Deceive the Devils craft to deceive Ep. § 4. Dead Faiths being dead what 54 E Esteem of People to their Pastors the mischief of it when it grows low Ep. § 17 Epistle of Christ how the Church is so Ep. § 19 F Fruit upon what account due to God as procured by the labours of men Ep. § 2 Fruit Being yielded to God comes home to ones self Ep. § 2 Fruit yielding fruit the way to enjoy more cost and care from God Ep. § 3 And to be fenced from devourring temptations Ep. § 4 5 Fruit the want of it the cause of Apostacy and Church desolation Ep. § 6 7. Form the danger of turning Religion into Form Ep. § 8 9 Father how and in what respects Justification is ascribed to God the Father 33 154 Faith as it Justifies hath three acts credence adherence and confidence 43 Faith how acted on God the father in relation to Justification 36 Faith how acted on Christs death and bloud in relatioa to Justification 38 Faith a reprobate Judgment concerning it and a Form of godliness oft found in the same person 57 Faith and Love their near affinity 71 Faith without repentance cannot justifie 76 Faith without Love cannot justifie 77 Faith when found in Abrahams seed walks in the steps of Abrahams faith 84 Faith magnifies the word and power of God though crossed with greatest unlikelihood and humane improbability 84 Faith of right kind engageth to obey the hardest precepts 87 Faith eyes and adheres to Gods counsels for the way as well as his promise for the end 98 Faith depends on the Lord for supply of strength to do his will 109 Faith derives from Christ the power by which the Christian life is led 110 Faith how supported in dependance for supplies 114 Faith works by Love and how 127 Faith how it is not and how it is counted for Righteousness 150 Faith in its justifying office or power depends wholly on Gods will and its matter of great comfort that it does so 154 Faith not strictly and properly a mans Righteousness but does him the service of a Righteousness in the account and imputation of grace 156 Forgiving of wrong want of it an argument such have no justifying faith 148 G Grace the womb that bears justification 33 Ground what faith is resembled by the thorny ground hearers 59 H Holiness in men as well as the happiness of men Gods aim in contriving the terms of salvation 68 I Integrity not to be questioned meerly for difference of judgment in the point of Infant-Baptism Ep. § 13 Justification without Works the danger of mistaking the Scripture thereabout 2 Justification by Works in what sense opposed by the Apostle 12 to 17 Justification the necessity of Works thereunto not opposed by the Apostle no not among the Jews in all respects 21 Justification depends upon after acts of faith as well as the first 90 Justification attributed not only to faith but also to those works that flow from faith 94 Justification from eternity or before faith disproved 156 The ill consequence of that opinion touched 158 Judgment day the issue of that dayes proceeding in relation to ones felf to be known now 162 L Love to the Lord how known 121 Love how it casteth out fear 133 Love to men how known 137 M Ministers of the Nation how to be treated by the Baptists Ep. § 14. Maintenance for Gospel Ministers in what respect necessary Ep. § 16 Miscarriages in life proceed from want of faith 106 N Negative Christianity not to be rested in Ep. § 20 O Opinions four Opinions of the Jews contradictious to the Gospel opposed by Paul in opposing their seeking of Justification by Works 7 to 11 Opinion that holds Justification by Faith to be Justification not before God but in mens conscience proved rotten 157 Offence giving when shunned an argument of what 138 P Power to justifie by what means soever depends on the will of God 33 35. Promises indefinitely made to beleeving how to be understood 67 70. Perseverance in grace why found in persons of weak parts when many times those of greater parts fall 123 Power of the creature undue thoughts about it very dangerous 127 Q Quakers how deceitful Ep. § 4 R Reading or hearing how to profit by it Ep. § 1 Reflections unseemly and provoking in controversies condemned Ep. § 12. Relyance on Christ for Salvation not justifying without obedience 49 Resurrection of Christ how excellently it contributes to our Justification 39 Receiving Christ what it imports 73 Result of Scriptures duely compared a wise mans guid 79 S Scandals the mischief of them Ep. § 10 19 Study the necessity of it in order to the most profitable preaching Ep. § 15. Steps of Abrahams Faith what 84 Supplies from Christ how received by Faith 112 Spirit how received by Faith 118 T Terms of Salvation the danger of mistaking them 2 25 Tryal of ones state in Faith backwardness therein an ill sign 159 Temptations about ones present and future good condition not to be vanquished but by substanal evidences of a holy Faith 163 W Works that are the same in themselves differ in respect of different Covenants enjoyning them in different respects 19 Works of what sort they are that accompany true Faith in its first justifying acts 27 Works evangelical in what sense necessary to Justification 26 55. Works evangelical their necessity to Justification a Protestant Doctrine 28 30 Word or Gospel how the object of justifying Faith 36 41 Wresting the Scriptures to destruction what 3 ERRATA PAge 4.
at the last day and the eternal judgement that will follow thereupon which are two great Arricles of the Christian Faith and fundamental Doctrines Heb. 6.2 does depend upon our beleef of the Resurrection of Christ For if Christ the Son of Gods love him in whom his soul delighteth more than in any man should not have been raised by the glory of the Father there would have been little reason for any other man to expect so great a favour But now is Christ risen from the dead and is become the first fruits of them that slept 1 Cor. 15.20 as a pledge of their Resurrection also In that any have a lively hope of being raised again to an inheritance uncorruptible and undefiled and that fadeth not away they are thereunto begotten by the resurrection of Iesus Christ from the dead so saith the Apostle 1 Pet. 1.3 4 And again verse 21. In that God raised him up from the dead and so gave him glory it was that our Faith and hope might be in God that he will do so to us likewise For God hath both raised up the Lord and will also raise up us by his own power 1 Cor. 6.14 For if we beleeve that Iesus dyed and rose again even so them also which sleep in Iesus will God bring with him 1 Thes 4.14 Because I live ye shall live also saith he who is the Resurrection and the life Iohn 14.19 and 11.25 And that there shall be a righteous Judgement following the Resurrection and that Christ Jesus shall be the Judge is such a thing of which the Father hath given assurance or offered Faith unto all men in that he hath raised him from the dead Acts 17.31 Sect. 8 5. The Word Gospel or Doctrine of Christ and of his Apostles is so the object of Faith as that salvation is promised unto the right beleef thereof Mark 16.15 16. Go ye into all the World and preach the Gospel to every Creature he that beleeveth and is baptized shall be saved 2 Thes 2.13 Because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and beleef of the truth 2 Thes 1.10 When he shall come to be glorified in his Saints and to be admired in all them that beleeve because our testimony among you was beleeved in that day The Doctrine of Christ and of his Apostles may well be counted the object of Faith inasmuch as to beleeve it is all one as to beleeve that the Father hath set forth his Son to be a propitiation for sin through Faith in his blood and so it is to beleeve that Christ dyed for our sins according to the Scriptures and that he rose again the third day according to the Scriptures because the Doctrine of the Gospel is a testimony and declaration of these things and he that beleeves the one beleeves the other also Gods giving his Son to dye and Christs dying and rising again without a declaration of the mind and counsel of God thereabout as viz. for what cause upon what account and for what end he did so as also upon what termes and conditions men shall reap the fruit of his Death Resurrection and Intercession I say the one without the other does not seem to be the adequate object of Faith but both together are For which cause the Doctrine of the Gospel in its Enunciations Precepts and Threatnings as well as in its Promises is the object of Faith And because the Doctrine of the Gospel contains declares and amply sets forth all these things together with those things which are to come viz. the Resurrection of the Dead and Eternal Judgement in order to which the former first take place as being all of them matters about which Faith is busied therefore is it that the Doctrine of the Gospel is frequently called the Faith Gal. 1.23 and 3.2 5 23. Acts 6.7 Romans 1.5 1 Tim. 4.1 Iude 3. And so now I have done with my first point touching Faith viz. the object of it or the beleeving of what it is that shall be imputed for righteousness CHAP. V. Shewing that that Faith which consists onely in assenting unto the truth of that report which the Gospel makes touching Christ his being the Son of God and of his coming into the World to save Sinners by dying for them will not availe to Iustification and Salvation as a Gospel-Faith of the right kind will do Sect. 1 HAving briefly shewed from the holy Scriptures the beleef of what it is objectively that hath the promise of Salvation annext to it I shall now in the next place come to enquire what and what manner of beleeving it is subjectively that hath the same promise or whether every act of beleeving that is placed on a right object hath this great priviledge of Justification entailed to it And upon due enquiry it will be found that not any act or acts of Faith one or more be they never so many of them that fall short of engaging the Soul in true Love and sincere obedience unto the Lord Jesus will avail the man in whom they are unto the saving of the soul If I mistake not all the acts of a saving Faith may be reduced to and comprehended under these three heads The first I call an act of Credence the second an act of Adherence and the third an act of Confidence in the exertion of which three acts of Faith having Christ for their object the whole soul mind will and affections are engaged which make up the beleeving with all the heart which the Gospel calls for Acts 8.37 By that act which I call an act of Credence I mean the assent of the mind unto the truth of what the Gospel reports especially touching Christ and Gods love to mankind in him as that he is the Son of God and Saviour of the world that he was sent of God the Father to shew unto men the way of salvation and then to dye rise again and after his ascension to make intercession to bring that salvation about and that remission of sins is to be had through his name By that act of Faith which I call an act of Adherence I understand the souls fast cleaving unto the Lord Jesus in affection and subjection as counting him more worthy of both than any Creature or thing in all the world as also taking hold of that grace and strength which is in Christ for deliverance from the power of sin and of bringing the soul back again to God in point of holiness And lastly by an act of Confidence I mean the Souls relyance rest or dependance upon Christ or on the Father through Christ for remission of sins acceptation and eternal salvation the committing of the Soul to his mercy the throwing it upon his grace These three acts of Faith relate to each other by way of dependance the second depending upon the first as the acts of the Will do upon the Understanding and the third upon both the
Faith Abraham when he was called to go out unto a place which he should afterward receive obeyed Another like or rather more wonderful piece of Self denying Obedience which was acted by the power of his Faith was his carriage about the offering up of his Son Isaac in sacrifice unto God at his command Heb. 11.17 18. By Faith Abraham when he was tryed offered up Isaac and he that had received the Promises offered up his only begotten Son of whom it was said That in Isaac shall thy Seed be called Behold Abrahams will desire and delight swallowed up in the Will and good pleasure of God by means of his Faith His Son that had been so much desired and longed for before he had him that all he enjoyed in this world seemed little to him in the absence of such a Mercy Lord God what wilt thou give me seeing I go childless Gen. 15.2 That Son whom he so much loved when he had him yea and his only Son too and that Son in whom the Promise was made of the great things which God would do for Abraham this Son does God command him to offer for a burnt Offering this Son of his hopes this Son of his delights an action than which what lightly could be imagined more harsh and highly repugnant to his own will And yet notwithstanding all Debates and Reasonings of flesh and blood about this matter which one would think should be many and high and such which one should have much ado to get over yet so mighty was his Faith in God and confidence of a good issue of whatever he should do at the appointment and command of God as that he appears as forward in it as if it had been the most acceptable service which God could have put him upon For the Text saith That Abraham rose up early in the morning to go about it Gen. 22.3 And upon account of this very thing was he esteemed the friend of God Jam. 2.23 one that would forsake all and part with the dearest friend he had in all the world rather than not stick close to him in whatever he would have him do a true sign indeed of friendship to the Lord Joh. 15.14 Ye are my friends if ye do whatsoever I command you Mark whatsoever I command not only commands which it may be may bear little upon the flesh easie and cheap duties but such as will try a mans affection to the uttermost as this to Abraham did such as call for the cutting off the right hand and plucking out the right eye the parting with things that are as grateful to the flesh as these Members of the body are to Nature And not only so but such things also as are as useful and desireable as the right hand and right eye are as Isaac was to Abraham when the holding and enjoying of them will not consist with our intire love to the Lord to be exprest in the most difficult and most self-denying piece of Service when he calls for it He that loves Father or Mother Son or Daughter yea or his own life more than Christ is not worthy of him Matth. 10.37 38. as he does which chuses rather to displease Christ and dishonour his Truth in keeping these than to displease himself or them in parting with them This task which was put upon Abraham was indeed very hard and directly of the nature of that in the Gospel mentioned before and yet as hard and as difficult as it was if Abraham had stuck at it he could not have approved his Faith to God no more than such as love Son or Daughter more than Christ and thereby prove themselves unworthy of him can approve their Faith in him to be right or their Love to him to be true And therefore if you mark it Abraham was said to be justified by Works when he had offered Isaac upon the Altar Jam. 2.21 Implying that as this high act of his Obedience proceeding from his Faith rendred him highly approved in the sight of God Gen. 22.16 So by the rule of contraries had he bogled at this command his neglect herein would not only have deprived him of that high approbation of God which by his fiducial Obedience he had now obtained but also have gone very far in contributing towards the loss of those degrees of Gods approbation whereto he had before attained if not wholly bereaved him thereof until he had repented and done his duty Sect. 5 But here I must make a stand a little and Answer an Objection which is this That though this act of Abrahams offering Isaac was an act of that Faith by which he was justified yet it was not that act of Faith by which he was justified it was an act of his Faith it 's true but not such a one as was essential to his justification and the reason hereof seems to be this because Abraham was justified by or upon his beleeving long before this it 's said Gen. 15.6 And Abraham beleeved in the Lord and he counted it to him for Righteousness And this was before Ishmael was born unto Abraham at whose birth Abraham was but 86 years old Gen. 16.16 But when Isaac was born he was an hundred years old Gen. 21.5 which clearly proves it to be fourteen years or more from that time in which Righteousness was imputed to him upon his beleeving to the time of Isaac's birth And yet this act of his Faith did not take place till some years after the birth of Isaac neither for the Lad by that time Abraham was called upon to offer him was so far grown in years stature and strength as that Abraham made him carry the Wood for the burnt-Offering Gen. 22.6 Now then if Abraham were justified by that act of his Faith which was found in him it may be twenty years before How could it be that be should be justified by another act of his Faith viz. This by which he offered Isaac so long after To which I Answer First That this act of his Faith by which he offered Isaac did concur to his Justification is very plain and manifest by that of Jam. 2.21 24. Was not Abraham our Father justified by Works when he had offered Isaac his Son upon the Altar As if he should say Is it not manifest he was Do you not know this And after he had amplified this Instance a little concludes upon it thus vers 24. Ye see then how that by Works a man is justified and not by Faith only By which it is manifest That this was not only an act of that Faith by which he was Justified but that this act of his Faith was that by which he was justified as well as that precedent act before mentioned and was not irrelative to his justification as the Objection supposeth Sect. 6 But then Secondly as to the Reason of the Objection which supposeth that this collateral act of Abrahams Faith could not do that for him which was done long
of reward to this eminent act of his Faith and Obedience And when Abraham renews his Faith as God did his Promise Gen. 15.5 6. this was counted to him for Righteousness as well as his first Faith was And so again when God by another command of his to offer his Son as hard as the first tryes his Faith whether it would hold out to carry him through all difficulties to follow and obey him and finds his Faith enabling him to depend upon him still and to obey his Will in this as in his former Commands hereupon he counts this to him for Righteousness as well as his former Faith and graciously grounds his approbation of him from that act of his Faith which last occurred Jam. 2.21 Sect. 7 2. This may be made further manifest in Noahs case as well as Abrahams Noah we know was a righteous man before God admonished him to make an Ark for the saving of him and his houshold For the Scripture saith That Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations and that Noah walked with God Gen. 6.9 And because he was so therefore God directed him to make the Ark for the securing of him and his Family Gen. 7.1 And the Lord said unto Noah Come thou and all thy house into the Ark for thee have I seen righteous before me in this generation And yet for all this though Noah were in a justified accepted estate before God and highly approved of him before ever God commanded him to make the Ark yet his becoming an Heir of that Righteousness which is by Faith is attributed unto that act of his Faith by which he beleeved God when he declared to him his Resolution to drown the World and by means whereof he was moved to obey God in making an Ark for the salvation of himself and Family Heb. 11.7 By Faith Noah being warned of God of things not seen as yet moved with fear prepared an Ark to the saving of his house by the which he condemned the world and became Heir of the Righteousness which is by Faith A clear proof that justification depends upon after acts of Faith as well as the first and is and may be as well ascribed to the one as to the other And I pray you let it not be passed over un-observed That though these works that of Abrahams offering Isaac and this of Noahs preparing an Ark at the command of God be attributed unto the Faith of each respectively yet their justification before God hereupon is attributed unto these Works themselves as well as unto their Faith in the Scripture passages And therefore the Apostle James speaking of Abraham saith Seest thou how Faith wrought with his Works and by Works was Faith made perfect Jam. 2.22 His Faith and Works they wrought or laboured together as two Beasts in a yoke about the producing the same effect and that was the rendring him capable of the continuance of Gods Favour and Approbation his Faith alone would not have done it if these Works being called for should have been knowingly neglected 3. After acts of Faith are absolutely necessary to the continuance and carrying on of the work of Justification as the first act was to begin it and set it a foot and therefore the Author to the Hebrews speaking of the just man that lives by Faith saith of him That if he draw back the soul of the Lord shall have no pleasure in him Heb. 10.38 As his beleeving so long as he continues it renders him acceptable and well pleasing to God upon Christs account so his with-drawing those acts of Faith which interested him in Gods favourable acceptation provoke God to with-draw his delight in him and acceptation of him And when Christ in the Parable of the Debtor and Creditor sets forth this That a Servant who having had a great Debt forgiven him by his Lord yet afterward had it exacted of him again upon his cruel and unworthy carriage towards his fellow Servant with this Application of it to his Disciples to whom it was spoke So likewise shall my heavenly Father do also unto you if ye from your hearts forgive not every man his Brother their trespasses Matth. 18.35 Doth he not plainly teach that if such as do beleeve as they did and thereupon have their sins forgiven as they had shall yet for all that afterward come to want those after acts of Faith that should produce a merciful and loving carriage towards others for the right Faith works by love that then their Justification should become unjustification to them the pardon which till then had continued should then be recalled and withdrawn Sect. 8 By the way then note That this Doctrine which makes a mans standing and continuing in a justified state to depend upon after acts of his Faith as his enterance thereinto did upon the first doth discover that most dangerous Doctrine of the men called Antinomians to be rotten and stark nought which teacheth that when a man is once in Christ or which is the same when he does once beleeve all his sins are pardoned both past present and to come and that he alwayes stands accepted upon the account of his first beleeving A Doctrine which most assuredly hath proved an occasion of manies taking to themselves a great deal more liberty than that which is Christian and hath betrayed many hopeful Souls into a broader way than that narrow path that leads to life A fine Doctrine it would have been if it had been true To prove that Paul knew not what he said when he exhorted the Christians to work out or to work through their own Salvation with fear and trembling Phil. 2.12 And I do the rather here admonish all in the fear of the Lord to take heed of this snar for that I my self having above twenty years ago been taken in it did sadly experience the evil tendency of it and I verily think had not the Lord in much mercy pluck'd me out of it it would have proved no less than utter ruine and destruction to my poor Soul and how then should I upon this occasion refrain to warn all men of this deep ditch No sure it is not one act of beleeving that carries the business of a mans Justification quite through if there be opportunity of after acts afforded The Righteousness of God is revealed in the Gospel from Faith to Faith Rom. 1.17 The Gospel reveals Righteousness or Justification upon condition of the latter Faith as well as the former and therefore let no man think he hath done his whole dayes work when as he hath but only begun it for if he do it 's a thousand to one but he will grow idle and remiss before night And therfore as you desire expect that your Faith should do you the same service as Abrahams did him see to it that your Faith be found walking in his Faiths steps by which and not otherwise you will prove your selves his Children and Heirs to the
same Inheritance But alas If the fore-mentioned steps of Abrahams Faith as troden by his Children do discriminate the Faith of the right kind from that which is of another race how many mens Faith who call Abraham Father will hereby be discovered to be but Bastardly and such as will never make good their title to the Inheritance which God hath promised to Abraham and his spiritual seed Does the Call of God back'd with a Promise by means of Abrahams Faith taking hold of the Promise with one hand and of the Command with the other draw him out of his own Country from his ancient Acquaintance Kindred and Fathers house which otherwise were lawful enjoyments What then shall we think of their Faith who though the Lord give forth Command upon Command back'd with great and precious Promises on purpose to draw men not out of their own Country but out of their ill Company out of their Intemperance and Excess out of their Uncleanness out of their Covetous practices out of their Pride and ridiculous fashions out not only of prophane Swearing and filthy Talking but out of light vain frothy frivolous Discourse and Communication out of their lukewarmness heartlessness and deadness in Religion and yet for all that are not drawn out of these unprofitable sinful and vain wayes unto this day Can any thing be plainer than this That either they have no Faith at all or that the Faith they have is of a bastard kind and such as shall never inherit Both they and their Faith must be judged of by their Works If they were Abrahams Children they would do the Works of Abraham but seeing they do the Works of the Devil they thereby plainly prove themselves to be his Children and not Abrahams as Christ who could not be mistaken hath told them Joh. 8.39.44 These as the unregenerate Jews that lived under the Word and Ordinances of God and yet were not renewed to God by them would needs claim from Abraham but Christ you see hath found them out another Father O that all such would therefore be perswaded now while it is called to day to take fast hold of the Commands of Jesus Christ made very pleasant and acceptable by the huge Promises that are annexed to them which would then certainly draw them out of their vain Conversation Shall Abrahams Faith enable him at Gods Command to offer to him his only and beloved Son Isaac and shall not thine enable thee to part with thy only beloved Lust Doest thou think thou hast more to say why thou shouldest not part with thy sin than Abraham had why he should not part with his Son If not then either cease flattering thy self as if thou wert one of Abrahams Children and Heir to the same Promise or else cease from thy vain and sinful wayes that thou mayest be so indeed CHAP. IX Shewing that it hath been the common and universal Property of the Faith of Gods Elect both in former and latter Ages of the World as well to depend upon and so to be ordered by the counsels commands and directions of God touching the way to life as upon his grace power and promise for life it self and that it is the highest point of Wisdom in men so to do And that mens mistrust of the suparlative goodness of Gods wayes counsels and commands and putting more confidence in their own proceeds from their mistrust of his power wisdom or good-will towards them in relation to their happiness Sect. 1 HAving shewed the nature of Abrahams Faith in the Properties and Effects of it and after what manner it disposed him in his deportment towards God and how the same is set forth as a pattern unto all men of that kind of Faith by which Justification is to be had let us now also take a further view of the same grace of Faith as it hath shewed it self acting its part in other of the Saints alwayes carrying in our eye along with us our own Faith and comparing it with theirs to see whether it affects and acts us as theirs did them as undoubtedly it will if it be of the same nature and kind with theirs For as all men in all Nations and Generations are of one bloud Acts 17.26 so all Saints in all Nations and Generations are in the general of our Faith Ephes 4.5 And as the one hath the same motion and operation in reference to the life Natural in all men so hath the other the same influence and operation in reference to the life Spiritual in all Saints Now then that which hath been in a manner as Natural to the Faith of all the Saints as the motion of the bloud in the veins is to all living men is this viz. To be verily perswaded that as happiness and salvation are assuredly to be had from God so the certain way not to miss of it but to receive it upon his Promise is and hath been still to eye his counsels and to follow the guidance of his directions and commands in all things as the direct way leading thereunto And the truth is for the creature man to be thus acted and steered in his dependance upon his God is the most rational thing under heaven and most connatural to that principle of understanding and light which God hath placed in men For first God by his preventing grace in propounding gracious terms and vouchsafing convenient and sufficient means of salvation unsought for on mans part hath given a plentiful proof and clear demonstration of his love and good-will to men and of his desire of their salvation And then secondly Having so done what is more rational than for men to be fully confident that the Lord will put them upon nothing advise them nothing command them nothing but what doth certainly tend to and perfectly consist with their chief good Will any tender Mother put her dearly beloved Child upon any thing but what tends to his good Or if she should would it not argue either want of Wisdom or of Love in her or both A want of neither of which are in God And then Thirdly If men are or have cause to be confident that God will advise or enjoyn them nothing but what hath a true and real tendency to their salvation which is his design towards them and that which he seeks after Is it not then most reasonable and the greatest wisdom in men to commit themselves to the guidance of God and to acquiess in his wisdom and love As being confident that that being truly followed will lead and bring them to that salvation which God hath offered and they desire and seek after It hath been in this Faith and confidence That the Saints from time to time have sincerely followed God which way soever he hath led them and not been turned out of his way by the greatest dangers or sufferings that could befal them from the hand of men as judging his Will and Counsel made known to them as to be
observed to be the direct path leading to the promised and expected salvation of God Sect. 2 Among that cloud of Witnesses which the Author to the Hebrews in his 11 chap. produces as giving a lively testimony to this Truth let us for brevity sake hear only some of them And we will begin with Enoch vers 5. By Faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death and was not found because God had translated him for before his translation he had this testimony that he pleased God First we see his translation is ascribed unto his Faith though we cannot say that he by his Faith did beleeve he should after that manner be translated yet doubtless by his Faith he did expect to receive from God first or last that happy state into which he was so timely and extraordinarily translated Secondly we see likewise how and after what manner this his dependance upon God for happiness did dispose him in point of behaviour towards God it put him upon pleasing God that is of endeavouring alwayes to do such things as were well pleasing to the Lord which in Gen. 5.24 is called his walking with God And what was that but his being constantly found in that way and walk which God appointed and approved and in which he met with God and God with him His Faith dictated that to him that the road to that expected happiness which was in his eye was that walk which God had appointed him and that the way to receive it from God was carefully to please him in all things as he did faithfully endeavour to do for three hundred or more years together Noah's Faith wrought the same way Heb. 11.7 By Faith Noah being warned of God of things not seen as yet moved with fear prepared an Ark to the saving of his house As by his Faith he looked for safety and deliverance from God so by his Faith he was taught to observe and do what God appointed and commanded him in order thereunto His Faith eyed as well the means as the end and made him as careful to be faithful in the one as confidently to expect the other which is indeed the true nature and kindly working of the Faith of all Gods Elect. Let us here again take another sight of the Faith of our Father Abraham meeting with him in this road It is certain that his Faith had a perfect regard both to end and means he was confident of receiving the blessed Inheritance promised but he was also confident that the way to come to it was to follow Gods guidance and direction and that God was as much to be beleeved in his shewing the way and therein his counsels and commands to be embraced as he was in promising the end Heb. 11.14 15 16. There you have the end of the Faith of Abraham and Sara the mark at which they aimed For they that say such things declare plainly that they seek a Country And what Country Not such as they left For truly if they had been mindful of that Country from whence they came out they might have had opportunity to have returned but now they desire a better Country that is an heavenly wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God for he hath prepared for them a City God had given them hopes of a heavenly Country they beleeved him in his discovery and promise of this and therefore when God calls them out of their own native Country to set forward for this they presently obey They went out not knowing whither they went Heb. 11.8 but were resolved under the hope of the heavenly Country to follow the conduct of God and to deliver themselves up to his counsels and commands and to follow these whithersoever they would lead them as being fully perswaded that these would at last bring them to that heavenly Country which they sought Just as the wise men who following the guidance of the star were by it brought to the house where the young Child Jesus was whom they sought Sect. 3 See also the Faith of Moses running the same race Heb. 11.24 25 26. By Faith Moses when he was come to years refused to be called the Son of Pharaohs Daughter chusing rather to suffer affliction with the People of God than to enjoy the pleasures of Sin for a season esteeming the reproach of Christ greater Riches than the Treasures in Egypt for he had respect unto the recompence of the reward First That which his Faith had in its eye as the mark at which he aimed was the recompence of the reward the great prize for which all the Saints run he beleeved there was such a thing to be had from God Secondly The same Faith by which he depended upon God for this blessedness enabled him to wait upon God in his own way to be led to it And therefore rather then he would by sin displease him from whom he expected the recompence of reward he at once turns his back upon the honours pleasures and treasures of Egypt And seeing he could not joyn himself unto the People of God and with them to Worship the Lord but that in embracing them he must embrace reproach and affliction with them therefore rather than he would lose the advantage of the one in relation to his expected happiness he chuseth and espouseth the inconvenience of the other He by his Faith puts into the one ballance the Recompence of reward as the end and his Communion with the People of God in his Worship and Service as the way and means and together with these the Reproaches for Christ and the Affliction of the People of God And into the other ballance the Honours Pleasures and Treasures of Egypt but with them that Sin which the retaining of these would draw along with it and which would cut him short of the Recompence of reward and comparing his present enjoyments with his future loss and his present sufferings with his future gain he comes to this issue to prefer afflictions and reproaches as attending the right way to the Recompence of reward before the treasures pleasures and honours of Egypt when attended with that sin which would deprive him of it Behold here a lively Instance of Faiths overcoming the World His Faith carries him out of the midst of all the glory of the Court of Egypt and from thence into the midst of the scorn dirision oppression and persecution of the poor People of God And why But because this was the ready road to the Recompence of reward That which is noted Heb. 11.33 touching the power of Faith as that by it some have stopped the mouths of Lions respects Daniel the Prophet who was taken up out of the Lions Den and no manner of hurt was found upon him because he beleeved in his God Dan. 6.23 That which I would note concerning him as to my present purpose is first this That his Faith fixed him upon God to depend upon him for whatever was good in
propitiation unto all there 's the extent of the offer and tender of grace But then 2. He is set forth as such through Faith in his blood there 's the limitation of the propitiating vertue of his blood viz. to such as have Faith in it The Author to the Hebrews saith chap. 13.10 We have an altar whereof they have no right to eat that serve the Tabernacle meaning Christ of which they had no right to partake that did Judaiz it adhere to the Mosaical way and is parallel with Gal. 5.2.4 But that which I note hence is that men in order to their partaking of Christ must have a right to him Now what is that which gives men a right to Christ his Death Blood Resurrection and Intercession is it not this Faith of which I have been speaking so much surely it is Hence the Apostle suspends the beleeving Hebrews being made partakers of Christ upon their holding the beginning of their confidence stedfast unto the end Heb. 3.14 It was that Faith and confidence which they had by which they were made partakers of Christ when they first beleeved and they were to continue their right by continuing their Faith for thereto did his Exhortation tend Another-like place is that Cel. 1.21 22 23. And you who were sometimes alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works yet now hath he reconciled in the body of his Flesh through death to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in his sight if ye continue in the Faith grounded and setled and be not moved away from the hope of the Gospel If their final reconcileation by the death of Christ so as to be presented unreproveable in his sight depended upon their continuing in the Faith then certainly that which first invested them with that priviledge in which for the present they stood was their beleeving Sect. 4 And the reason why I conceive this right which Faith gives unto Christ and the justifying vertue of his blood is one cause or consideration for which it s said to be counted for Righteousness is this because Faith it self without this office and use is neither righteousnesse nor means of righteousnesse unto any man and consequently cannot be counted to him for Righteousnesse But for as much as though Faith is not virtually or meritoriously any mans righteousnesse as Christs blood is and yet by the grace and appointment of God becomes a means of possessing him with that which is hence Faith it self may well be said to be counted to him for Righteousnesse with like propriety of speech as when in Scripture the means bears the denomination of the end as John 4.22 2 Pet. 3.15 For that now I conceive may be a reason of the phrase counted reckoned or imputed for righteousnesse as it is applyed to Faith viz. because by it as it hath to do with Christ a man though he be not formally righteous with a personal and sin-lesse righteousnesse yet becomes possessed with the same priviledge of enjoying Gods favour and love and the blessed effects of it in respect of Justification which a personal and sin-less righteousnesse in the formality of it in case he had it would invest him with And therefore may well be said to be reckoned for or put to account instead of Righteousnesse because it does a man the self-same service as that would do Sect. 5 2. There is another notion or consideration in respect whereof Faith may be said to be counted for Righteousnesse to him that hath it And that is as it is a fulfilling of the termes of the Gospel or New Covenant For Faith in that latitude of which I have been speaking of it as it is a lively active working Grace and disposes the Soul in affection and subjection to the Lord as well as to depend upon him for what it would have is really the fulfilling of the condition or termes of the Gospel and consequently that which puts him that hath it under the great promises of Justification and eternal life contained therein For the Gospel declares who and what manner of persons shall have their sins pardoned for Christs sake shall be accepted and approved of God and are by him designed to eternal life viz. Beleevers no man by name but all under this qualification of effectual Faith For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from Faith to Faith Rom. 1.16 17. And whoever does accordingly beleeve does fulfill the Gospel and so is righteous in the account thereof As any man that lived under the first Covenant I mean the Mosaical Covenant had he but observed and kept the termes of it the man that doth those things shall live by them Rom. 10.5 he should have been righteous in the eye of that Law or Covenant Deut. 6.25 even so he that does but observe and keep the terms or condition of the Gospel or New Covenant which is Beleeve in the Lord Jesus and thou shalt be saved Acts 16.31 he also is righteous in the eye of that As it is in the common Law of Nations those that are justified are justified by that and those that are condemned are condemned by that if there be righteousnesse of proceeding John 7.51 If men be cast they are cast by the Law and if they are acquitted they are acquitted by the Law the Law cannot justifie the guilty nor condemn the innocent whatever men may do that have the handling of it Just so is it with the Gospel and those that are under the administration thereof all such shall be cast as guilty or acquitted as righteous by it The word that I have spoken said Christ the same shal judg him Jo. 12.48 The Doctrins of Christ are his Statute-laws which whosoever beleeves and sincerely obeyes shall be justified by their sentence All the holy word is on such a mans side against such as the Apostle saith there is no Law Gal. 5.23 but he hath as Demetrius had a good report even of the truth it self 3 John 12. Mica 2.7 As he hath been a true Friend to this to beleeve love and obey it in truth and uprightnesse though not without weaknesse so will it be a true Friend to him to stand by him to vindicate and justifie him against the accusations of the enemy So that mark we then Faith in the latitude of it being that very thing which doth answer the very mind and scope of the Gospel which is the Law of Faith Rom. 3.27 it must needs be counted to them for Righteousnesse that have it because by it they stand right in the eye and account of this law of life And indeed it is this heavenly and divine Law in the promisory part of it which furnishes Faith with that power which it hath to justifie As on the contrary the Law is said to be the strength of sin 1 Cor. 15.56 It arms sin with that power which it hath to condemn the Creature so is the Gospel the strength of Faith that which invests it with