justifiing grace through Christ as the cause of that faith by which he is justified and saved And doth know that his juificaticaon is perfected by grace and in the person of the Lord Jesus before it is completed and effected in him by faith Hee well understandeth that Christ and the soule are betrothed by faith and yet he is not ignorant that he is betrothed to God for ever in righteousnesse and in loving kindnesse and in mercy Hosea 2.19 He is enlightned to see a reconciliation by grace in the person of Christ before God before his reconciliation by faith in his spirit He considereth that when he was an enemie he was reconciled to God by the death of his Son Rom 5.10 Which reconciliation was before his faith and yet denyeth not reconciliation by faith He knoweth that what he beleeveth concerning Gods grace and his redemption and justification by the blood of Christ was true before hee beleeved it and yet hee beleeveth that faith is his righteousnesse for justification Hee confoundeth not the righteousnesse of faith with the righteousnes of God in Christ by whom he is justified But giveth unto God Christ what is to be attributed to God Christ for justification likewise attributeth to faith what is due to faith not looking upō faith as his righteousnes without the object of it but alwayes looketh upon faith for his justification as it hath reference relation to its object which is the favour of God in Jesus Christ And if he shall be asked whether hee bee more righteous by grace and Christ or by faith He will acknowledge that hee is rather justified by grace and the blood of Christ Ro. 5.19 Seeing more righteousnesse for him in the object o◠faith then in faith by which he beholdeth the object and yet still maintaineth that faith is his righteousnesse for justification according to the mind of the Apostle We are saved by faith Eightly We are saved by faith not for the purity and holynesse of it as it is a gift of the sanctifiing spirit For then upon the same ground we should take in Love and other fruits of the spirit which the Apostle doth shut out as having no influence upon us for our justification which the Apohle doth prove in the following words where he saith that we are saved not of workes Because we are Gods workemanship created to good workes Good workes are not the causes of our new creation and justification but the consequents of our new creation through faith So that it is clear that we are justified before sanctification is wrought in us or good workes done by us We are justified by faith without them By which it is evident that faith as an holy gift or quality doth not save us We are saved therfore by faith as that righteousnesse by which we do at the first lay hold upon his grace in his Son for justification by which wee are united unto God and are made one with him Ioh. 17.21 are puryfied from the guilt of sinne in our hearts Act. 15.9 And have peace with him through our Lord Iesus Rom. 5.1 Whom we see imbrace by faith as the Apostle setteh forth the nature of faith Heb. 12.13 And he that thus beleeveth shall be saved he that beleeveth not shall be damned Ninthly We are saved by faith Because by faith we are not onely enabled to beleeve the generall truth of the gospell concerning his grace to those who beleeve in him but because through faith we are enabled to give credit to Gods truth and to rest upon it in reference and relation to our selves Thus Abraham who for the excellency and exemplarinesse of his faith is worthily stiled the father of the faithfull did beleeve what God did speake unto him not onely as a truth which might be beneficial unto others but hee looked upon Christ in reference to himselfe Gen 15. And saw his day and seeing of it was glad Hee looked upon God not onely as a shield and great reward but his shield and great reward By true faith we receive Chrst and his benefits for our selves Paul doth informe us that his life in the flesh was by faith in the Lord Jesus who loved him and gave himselfe for him Faiths sweetenesse doth lye in this that by it we doe not beleeve Christ to be a Saviour and righteousnesse but our Saviour and righteousnesse Therefore Luther affirmed that the sweetnesse of Christianity lay in pronounes When a man can say my Lord and my God and my blessed Iesus This was the faith which the Apostles preached which will be manifest unto us if we consider their intentions when they exhorted men to beleeve They did not intend that their hearers should beleeve in generall that Christ was the Saviour of the world but that hee was a Saviour to them Thus Paul preached to the keeper of the prison Act. 16.31 Beleeve on the Lord Jesus and thou shalt be saved and thy house As when they preached the doctrine of repentance or changednesse of the mind their meaning was that every man ought to be changed so when they urge beleeving for salvation their meaning is that wee should beleeve for our owne salvation in particular The generall truth of faith and repentance is to beleeve by a power enabling us in particular for our selves to beleeve and repent Lastly We are saved through faith Because by faith we heare the inward word of salvation The word which soundeth to the outward eare without this inward word bringeth no salvation As the Philosopher told him who reprehended him for publishing and divulging a booke of philosophy that he had published it and he had not published it his meaning was this that it was so darke and mysticall that though it were published yet it was not published to the ignorant and unlearned so the Gospel in the letter is published to men and not published they heare and doe not heare they see and doe not see But by faith wee so heare that our soules live by hearing Isa 55.3 The dead saith our Saviour shall heare the voyce of the Sonne of God and they that heare shall live Fidei oculi sunt spiritus per quem spiritualia videntur Cypr The Spirit is an eye to a beleeving man by which he seeth and enjoyeth spirituall things wee receive not the Spirit by hearing the Law or doing the workes of the Law but by the hearing of faith Gal. 3.2 Eternall life and Salvation is by hearing the inward word of life salvation and grace God bids the Prophet Ezech 38.5 to prophesie over the drie bones that they might live The Lord Jesus is the great invisible Prophet who prophesieth over drie bones and dead-hearted sinners and by hearing inwardly the inward word of this Prophet they live in hearing and believing And therefore it is said that wee are saved by faith Having by these particulars acquainted you with my Judgement concerning our salvation through faith I shall now by
he intends to save thus he comes not only in the preaching of the Word in the language of man but in the power of heaven And though the former worke of the Spirit may be resisted this latter cannot be resisted Though wee may reject the Word of God preached in the letter and some common workings of the spirit in our owne hearts and not give entertainement to Jesus Christ when hee knockes at the doore of our hearts in the preaching of the Word yet when it comes downe with power to open the heart as he did Lydia's we are not able to prevail against him when God intends powerfully to open the doore of our spirits we are not able to keepe it lockt he will sweetly force us to open the door and by his spirit and grace break in upon us and not suffer us to shut him out of our hearts and wee are bound to blesse God that it is so for unlesse it were so no man in the world should ever be saved no man in the world should ever receive Christ unlesse God did come with an infinite power and pleasing violence force him to believe If it were not thus that God did worke this unresistable way in those whom he intends to save there must of necessity be an uncertainty whether ever any man or woman should ever be saved by Jesus Christ For if every man and woman in the world had power to resist grace offered not to believe at all then this must follow that it might be impossible after the fall that never a man or woman in the world should ever be saved by Christ And this absurdity will follow from it that God after mans fall could not be certaine that any man should be saved by Christ and so it would take away the fore-knowledge of God because he could not know but that every man in the world might resist reject Jesus Christ Thirdly This may give in some support to some trembling hearers who are convinced by the spirit of unbeliefe and are not able to believe in Jesus Christ Thou art ready to despaire when thou apprehendest that it is impossible for thee truly to believe of thy selfe but let thy spirit be upheld with this consideration that God is able to give thee faith while I am speaking of faith and shewing thee the worker of it It may be thou thinkest that thou shalt never have joy comfort and assurance of salvation but by believing and yet thou are not able to believe and therefore comfort thy selfe in this though thou canst doe nothing God is able to enable thee to doe all things Phil. 4.13 As the Martyr when some told him that when he came to suffer he wold rather deny his tenets then burn It is true said he I of my selfe should doe so but God is able to enable me So though thou knowest that thou of thy selfe canst not believe know that God is able to enable thee presently to believe Thou that hast had experience of thy unbelieving heart and of that mountaine of infidelity that lies upon thy spirit and that thou art able to say I shall never be able to believe of my selfe while the world stands know that God is ablde in this momentt to give thee faith Fourthly This may informe us concerning the nature of true faith by which it may bee distinguished from the faith of hypocriticall Formalists The hypocrite not being acquainted with his owne disability for the working of saving faith in his owne heart doth apprehend that he can doe the worke of God by himselfe in his own strength like the carnall hearers of our Saviour John 6.28 What shall wee doe that wee may worke the worke of God And when he apprehendeth that he doth believe he gloryeth more in his owne actings labourings and endeavours by which hee conceiveth that he hath obtainned faith then in the grace of the Lord Jesus having no spiritual knowledg of that faith which is wrought by the Almightines of Gods powerful irresistable grace But if it is otherwise with a true sonne of Abraham his faith is of another nature having a spirituall and heavenly tincture in it from that spirit by whom it is wrought He prizeth not his faith of the naturall spirit but the faith of his heavenly spirit He can set his seale to that truth of our Saviour John 6.65 That no man can come unto him except it were give a unto him of his Father he is not proud of his faith because hee looking upon it in the glasse of Gods free grace doth account it rather Gods worke then his owne According to that of our Saviour John 6. This is the worke of God that ye believe Vpon which words one of the Ancients hath this observation Non dixit hoc est opus vestrum sed hoc est opus Dei He said not this is your worke but the worke of God Our Saviour speaking to his Disciples Mar. 4.11 To you saith he it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God but unto them that are without all those things are done in parables The Gospell of the Lord Jesus is a mystery and parable unto many untill the Lord doth give us the precious gift of faith by which we understand these mysteries of God so that he that truly understands the mysterie of the Kingdome doth look upon his spirituall knowledge as a gift What is compleat and perfect faith but the gift of God by which we believe that all our spirituall good things and faith it selfe is freely given unto us by God Quae est plena et perfecta fides Quae credit ex Deo et omnia bona nostra et ipsam fidem Aug. Fifthly This may convince those of their errour who being convinced of sinne do refuse to turne into the true way of salvation by believing supposing in the pride and ignorance of their hearts that this is too short and neare a way to Justification and happinesse These will first doe good workes get strength against all their corruptions be made holy sanctified men and then they thinke that they may safely make bold to lay hold of some promise of grace for justification and salvation It was thus with me when God did at first begin to awaken my conscience with the dreadfull sight of my sins and course of prophanenesse in which I had lived and some months I went in this way never in the spirit considering that the object of Gods justifying grace was an ungodly man and a sinner and not knowing that spirituall regeneration is not by the workes of the Law but the doctrine of the Gospel though I could then in a carnall way as many blind Protestants now can have spoken and preached more gloriously with thetoricall words and flourishing expressions of justification by faith without workes then now I can or will But as God who from all eternity had singled me out unto salvation by Jesus Christ was pleased to convince
avoyded are discovered Lex est divinum speculū in quo facienda fugienda refulgent Aug. but it will sentence us to death for the least spot or wrinkle which it doth discover so that it is impossible that a man should see himselfe justified in the glasse of the Law But thou wilt say he may look upon his love sinceritie and works in the glasse of the Gospel And to this I answer that if he look upon them in the glasse of the Gospel which is Jesus Christ then he must put himselfe under the Gospel and look upon himselfe as a man in Christ that so he may see his works good by Jesus Christ which he will never be able to see without the eye of faith which seeth things invisible Heb. 11. and by which wee look upon Christ 1 Joh. 2.1 dwell in Christ Ephes 3.17 Live in Christ Gal. 2.19 And doe living works acceptable to God by the life of Christ in us Heb. 11.4 By faith with open face wee behold as in a glasse the glory of the Lord and are changed into the same Image from glory to glory 2 Cor. 3.18 and see that our good works are the effects of Christs love discovered in himselfe and in his Gospel to our soules And therefore when John doth informe us that we shall know that wee know him if we keep his Commandement He doth propose beleeving as the first Commandement of God without which we cannot assure our selves that we are obedient to his other commands 1 Joh. 3.23 This is his commandement that we beleeve in him whom he hath sent Good works after a man hath faith are not the cause of justification but the consequent they follow a mans justification they doe not precede the act of justification they neither precede the act of Gods grace by which he justifieth a sinner neither doe they precede justification in the Court of Conscience But being justified by faith we have peace Rom. 5.1 in our Consciences This was the doctrine which was frequently preached by those heavenly Carpenters which did first strike at the hornes of the beast Vt dilectio oriatur necesse est praecedere fidem hoe est fiducia misericordiae It is necessary saith Melancthon that faith which is a confidence of Gods mercy doe precede love And in another place Non nititur fides nostra dilectione sed tantum misericordia promissa ut constat nec existere dilectio potest nisi sit apprehensa remissio Faith is not grounded upon our love but the promised mercy of God so that it is manifest that there cannot be true love unlesse remission of sinnes be first apprehended Another reason is from the imperfection of workes wrought by a man after he is justified If any man that is justified look on his works and doe not behold them in the glasse of the Gospel he shall reade his own condemnation for his works There is an imperfection in our works seeing wee doe not love God so perfectly as we should with all our heart all our minde and all our spirit but while the regenerate part through the power of the Spirit runs after God and loves God the fleshly part runneth after sinne and hates God Therefore seeing there is such imperfection in the works that we performe that the best of us are unprofitable servants and that the most holy amongst us doe that for which he may be damned every day if God should not deale with us in the Gospel but in the Law it will follow that a man cannot be justified by the works that he doth after he hath faith and is converted doth works which are wrought by the Spirit of grace It may here be objected that the good works of Saints are perfect For an answer to this I referre the Reader to what shall be delivered from those words That he which is borne of God sinneth not I come now to the next Consideration which is this That wee are not justified by the practise of any Gospel-Ordinances which are commanded by the Lord Jesus Christ There are some who it may be are convinced that they are not justified by works yet I know not what new kinde of Popery they have found out for they thinke to please God by submitting to Ordinances and finding out the true Discipline and government of Christs Church therefore you shall finde a kinde of spirit of bondage in them if they be not satisfied concerning the true discipline government Ordinances of the Lord Jesus Christ Wherefore I shall endeavour to demonstrate this and shew clearly that as we are not justified by works before or after conversion so we are not justified and saved by the submitting to any Ordinance of the Lord Jesus Christ Salvation is not in these there is nothing to be found in these availeable to justification Formes of government and Ordinances doe not make men Christians but a lively faith in the Lord Jesus When Caius Marius Victorinus told Simplicianus that he was turned from Heathenisme to Christianisme and he replyed that he would not beleeve him unlesse he saw him in the Congregation of Christians He wittily thus reprehended the rashnesse of his speech Ergone parietes faciunt Chrisiianos Doe your walls then make Christians So to those that say men are of the world until they are under this or that forme of government and ordinance I may thus speak do these things make Christians Presbytery all government is nothing Independency is nothing dipping is nothing but faith which worketh by love The Apostle clearly proves this poynt Gal. 5.3 I testifie againe to every man that is circumcised that he is a debtor to do the whole Law Christ is become of none effect to you he shall profit you nothing Wee know that Paul circumcised Timothy after he was a preacher of the Gospel and submitted himselfe to many of the rites Ceremonies of the Jewes shaved his head put himselfe under a Jewish vow yet here he saith if a man be circumcised he is a debtor to the whole Law His meaning is this that if a man submit to circumcision as thinking it will any whit availe him to his justification and salvation that man shall not be saved by Jesus Christ but he is a debtor to the whole Law he is not under grace but under the curse of the Law Act. 15.1 When some preached that there was a necessitie for men to be circumcised and keepe the Law of Moses that they might be justified see how the doctrine was disrellished by the Apostles Peter calleth it a tempting of God and laying a yoke upon the necks of the disciples which they nor their fathers were able to beare Paul though as a spiritual man he could become all things to all men to the Jew as a Jew to the Gentile as a Gentile 1 Cor. 9.20 21 22. That by all means he might save some yet how doth he thunder and lighten in the face of those that laid too much upon
affirming that a man is not justified by faith onely but by faith and works together These deny justification by the Grace of God and the righteousnesse of the Lord Jesus Christ through faith and set up a justification by inherent righteousnesse in themselves holding that wee are then justified from sinne when it is removed out of our sight sence feeling lives spirits and conversations The strongest Argument which they bring for the confirming of their assertion and in which they doe most triumph as though they had obtained a victory over the truth of Gods Grace is in the 2 Jam. 24. Yee see then how that by work 's a man is justified and not by faith onely Doth not James say they lay down our assertion in so many words joyning faith and good workes as con-causes of justification Some to escape the edge of this Argument have denied this Epistle to be Canonicall like him who being unable to unty the Gordian knott did cut it in pieces Thus Lucius Osiander proposing this objection of his Antagonists doth thinke that he hath for ever cut it to pieces by their answer But secondly others yea most of those whom wee call Protestant writers for the reconciling of James to Paul and his fellow Apostles with one consent give in this answer to this objection distinguishing of a twofole justification First a justification before God secondly a justification before men Paul as they apprehend doth speake of the former of these James of the latter supposing this to be the genuine sence and meaning of James that wee are justified by works that is declaratively before men But with respect and due reverence to the piety and learning of these men who give in this answer give me leave being not sworn in verba magistri or obliged to justifie what any man or many men though godly and learned have apprehended to be the meaning of a place to shew my reasons why I dissent from them and secondly to give in mine own answer to the place First I apprehend that James doth not speake of a justification before men because his proofe is from Abrahams being justified by works when he offered up his sonne Isaac as it is evident by the preceding words which action of Abrahams would not have justified him before men They would have looked upon him rather as a cruell malefactor then a Saint in offering up his onely Sonne Secondly This businesse was so transacted between God and Abraham that it was not visible to men that they should justifie him for it When he went to performe this act of obedience to his God he left his servants behind him and carried no man with him but his Sonne who was to be sacrificed Thirdly If wee view the place Gen. 22.11 12. out of which James doth prove his Argument it will be evident that it proveth not a justification towards men but towards God And the Angel said Lay not thy hand upon the Lad for now I know that thou fearest God seeing thou hast not withheld thy sonne thine onely sonne from mee This Angel was Christ as it doth appeare by his calling of himselfe God and he is justified by him as a man that feared him And in the 16 17 and 18. verses By my selfe have I sworn saith the Lord because thou hast done this thing that in blessing I will blesse thee and in thy seed shall all the Nations of the Earth be blessed It is cleare by this that the justification spoken of is not a justification before men but before God Lastly I shall therefore give in what I doe conceive to be the meaning of the holy Spirit in these words James doth not speake of justification as it is taken properly and used by Paul but doth speake of justification as it is taken improperly He speaketh not of it as an act by which wee are reconciled and our iniquities pardoned but he speaketh of it as an act by which God doth approve a man to be justified by his works which he doth after his justification Abraham was a justified man by faith before Isaac was borne now God doth beare witnesse to the works and fruits of his faith and doth justifie him by his works in this sence that is he doth approve him to be a man that feareth and loveth him And this is the Answer which is given by the learned Melancthon Non intelligatur verbum justifieari pro reconciliari sed ut alias saepe dicitur pro approbari Justificatur homo ex operibus id est habens justitiam operum approbatur placet Deo The word justification is not to be taken for reconciliation but approbation man is justified by his works that is having a righteousnesse of works or samctification God doth approve him his works doe please God And as when wee see good fruit upon a tree we use to say this is a good tree Not that the good fruit doth make the tree good but the tree being good doth bring forth the good fruit So God having made us good trees by justifying of us by his Grace doth enable us to bring forth good fruit and speaking 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 after the manner of men to us men doth approve us to be good trees bringing forth good fruit And thus much for the reproofe of these men and in answer to their objection Secondly This doth serve to discover and reprove such who would seeme to be no Papists who yet in a more refined and subtle way do preach forth the same doctrine which the others doe maintaine and preferre some Popish bookes which are wrought with a fine and curious thread before any bookes which have been published by any who have been eminent for the knowledge of Gods Grace in Christ through faith for justification These are they who if it were possible would deceive the very Elect laying siege against the Gospel and the doctrine of justification while they pretend that they are fighters for it And these preach that wee are not to looke so much upon a Christ without us for justification as a Christ within us And that we are not justified by a Christ that is in heaven but by Christ within us which Christ of theirs is nothing else when yee are well acquainted with him but the workings of their own spirits in zeale and love to God and when they have high thoughts of God their will is conformable to the will of God and they thinke the same things that God thinkes and submit to God in their wayes They looke upon these workings as their perfection and justification and this is Christ within them Such kinde of Doctrines as this is are the first rudiments and principles by which the Politique and Civilized Familists doe leaven their pupills leading them from the plaine and simple doctrine of the Gospel The spirit of error and delusion which was in H. N. the first father of the Familists which have lived of late or are yet living did worke
mightily in him to pervert the Gospel and to bring in Antichristianisme in this way of flaming zeale love and holinesse And if he were now alive he would wonder at his numerous off-spring and progeny which he hath now amongst us But that you may avoid this first rock before yee be engulfed into the deepe and bottomlesse pit of Familisticall Atheisme and Antichristianisme let what hath been spoken to reprove them establish you in the truth of the Gospel and looke upon the best piece of Familisme but as upon refined Popery For wee are not saved by Christ working in us and making us obedient to his Fathers holy will but wee are saved by the righteousnesse of Christ who hath shed his bloud for us And though we deny not but that wee have Christ within us and the Spirit of Grace to subdue our sinnes Yet this is denied that the workings of the Spirit are our justification for wee are justified before wee have these workings which wee feele within us Wee are not justified because we love God and Christ and desire to walke in sinceritie to glorifie God but because wee apprehend the Grace of God in Christ and therefore we love God and Christ and destre in sincerity to walke in all the wayes that God hath made knowne to us in Christ Wee are not justified by the conformitie of our will to Gods will or the onenesse of our will with his but wee are justified by faith before any of those works are wrought in our hearts by the Spirit of Grace He that denies this is ignorant of Christ and the Gospel and is not an honourer of Christ but a Minister of Satan and Antichrist and a deluder of the people Thirdly This is for the reproose of the hypocriticall Protestant who professeth the doctrine of justification by faith without works with his tongue but denieth it with his heart not daring to trust his soule in the armes of a Saviour unlesse he brings good works along with him to procure his welcome and entertainment This man stumbles at the thresh-hold of the doore of Grace being never able to enter into the house of love because he will not adventure his salvation upon the promises of Grace which are made to sinners that have no workes or righteousnesse inherently in themselves He will not goe to God or close with a promise of Grace unlesse he have the sight of righteousnesse in himselfe in the first place He will tell you that good works are not the matter of our justification and yet he will not conclude that he is a justified man untill he see good works in himselfe This man following the law of righteousnesse doth not attaine to the law of righteousnesse because he seeketh it not by faith but as it were by the works of the Law Rom. 9.31 32. The Apostle speaks against this pharisaicall opinion when he saith Wee are justified by Grace through beleeving not through working I am not bound to love God and the brethren that I may be beloved of God but I must beleeve that I may love God and my brother The preposterous preaching of sanctification before justification for the evidencing of justification is that which keepeth many poore creatures in bondage for many yeares and ruines many soules How many are gone to Hell who thought they were going to Heaven deceiving themselves with false and unsound assurances And fetching their comforts from the sight of their own works and not from the Grace of God in Christ by a pure act of beleeving If this were the right path to justification we should not be justified in beleeving but in loving and working For I seeing my love to God should conclude Gods love to me But herein is love not that wee loved God but that God loved us and sent his Sonne to be the propitiation for our sinnes 1 Joh. 4.10 And true love is wrought in us by the sight of Gods free love to us in an act of beleeving Therefore if thou hast no assurance of the love of God but that which thou hast gotten from the sight of thine own works and from the conclusions of thine own base and deceitfull heart as the ordinary way of some hath been thou hast no assurance at all When thou shalt lie under a great temptation thou wilt finde no comfort in this assurance And thou shalt finde at the great day when thou shalt appeare before God and Christ that this assurance will not be worth a Rush This building upon thy love to God and not upon Gods free love to thee is to build upon a sandy foundation and not upon Christ by faith And if the Lord convince thee of thy folly thou wilt lay a better foundation of joy and comfort then this can be unto thee For other foundation can no man lay then that which is laid which is Jesus Christ 1 Cor. 3. Though a spirituall man can make a good use of marks and signes as of love to God and Saints when he seeth them in the light of the Spirit as fruits proceeding from faith as the roote yet by drawing a conclusion from the sight of such things which we apprehend to be in our selves of our happinesse and good estate before God wee shall not so truely comfort as certainly deceive our selves Fourthly This is for the reprehension of blind ignorant Formalists who place Religion rather in conformity to outward formes of Government and submission to externall Ordinances then in the faith of the Gospel which is operative by love Justification doth not lye in our obedience to the Ordinances of Jesus Christ but in Jesus Christ Wee are not made Saints by being made members of any Church or Congregation but by faith in the head of the Church Woe to him that maketh his obedience and submission to any Ordinance the ground of his comfort as too many zealous Formalists do who run from Congregation to Congregation from one Ordinance to another to get solid comfort to their soules apprehending that they are undone creatures and cannot be true Saints unlesse they be under the true practise of all Ordinances whereas it is a plaine truth revealed in the Gospel of truth that neither submitting to an Ordinance can make a true Saint nor the want of Ordinances un-saint any man that is made one with Christ in beleeving He is not a Jew which is one outwardly neither is that Circumcision which is outward in the flesh But he is a Jew which is one inwardly and Circumcision is that of the heart in the Spirit and not in the Letter whose praise is not of men but of God Rom. 2.28 29. So he is a true Saint who is not a visible member of a Congregation but he whose life of faith is hidden in Jesus Christ He is baptized not whose body is washed with water but whose soule is washed in the bloud of Christ 1 Pet. 3.21 He is a good Communicant and breaks bread who doth not breake bread
to see this truth plainly and clearly Vilesceret redemptio sanguinis Christi nec miserecordiae dei humanorum operum praerogativa succumberet si justificatio quae sit per gratiam meretis precedentibus deberetur Ambros Redemption by the blood of Christ would be vilified the prerogative of mans workes would not stoop to Gods mercy if justification which is by grace were due to preceding workes A man that truely beleives he sees not any holinesse or qualification in himselfe that makes him more worthy of salvation then another man he sees that he hath deserved damnation as well as any one who is now in the place of torment and yet hee sees that such is the Grace the unspeakeable grace of God to his poore soule that though he deserve to lye as low in hell as Iudas for his sin yet he shall be raised as high as heaven by the grace of the father made knowne to him in Iesus Christ Brethren if upon examination you finde that your joy comfort and assurance have in the first place proceeded from any workes which you have in your selves which make you conclude that you shall rather be saved then another man your assurance is not a right assurance But if your assurance be right it is by beleeving that which is reported concerning the grace of God that so salvation may be by grace It is possible for men to deceive themselves in obtaining an assurance of Gods love and their happinesse therefore I will a little digresse to open this to the ignorant It may be thou takest comfort to thy selfe by looking on workes wrought by thy selfe and not by looking on Christ it may be thou conceivest that thou lovest God and from thence concludest that God loveth thee though thou hast not seen his free love to sinners this is a bastardly assurance brought forth by thine owne lying spirit and not the true assurance of the Spirit of grace in beleeving In a true assurance by faith God hath the glory of his grace But in this kind of assurance God hath not the glory of his grace therefore it is not a true assurance Another deceiveth his soule and thinketh hee is in a good condition because he resteth upon a promise of God Christ saith Mat. 11.28 Come unto me all ye that labour and are heavy laden and I will give you rest A man doth apprehend himselfe to be heavy laden and from the sight of his burthen doth conclude hee hath rest and is in a good condition but hee deceiveth himselfe with a false perswasion for the promise is not made to the qualification of wearinesse but the promise is made to the commers to Jesus Christ Cain was heavy laden with his sin and it lay so heavy on him that he concluded that the punishment was greater then he was able to beare or else that his sin was greater then it could be forgiven and yet died miserable without mercy Wee find that the sin of Judas lay so heavy on him that he repented that he had shed innocent blood yet for all this hee went to his owne place Therefore if thy comfort and assurance come from a sight of what is in thy selfe and not from the discovery of grace as it is layd forth in the Spirit of grace thy assurance will not advantage thee in the day of wrath Though God hath convinced thee of sin and there may be some legall repentance reformation wrought in thee and something which thou mayst miscall a true love to God thou canst not from the sight of these things rightly conclude that thou art in the love of God before a discovery of free love be made forth to thee a sinner For God doth not apply his grace or his Sonne to any man for justification but through beleeving that justification may evidently appeare to the sons of men to bee by his owne grace Which will appeare if in the third place we doe more fully consider that God doth save us through beleeving that hee may have the glory of his grace God as hee is glorious in his grace by which hee justifies sinners so he will be glorified in the hearts and consciences of those who are justified by grace that he may have the ful glory of his grace when he hath justified them Non est quò gratia intret ubi jam meritum occupavit Bern. There is no roome for the glory of Gods grace where the worthinesse of our workes hath filled up the place Where the creature may have glory in his owne workes there God loseth the glory of his grace Where God doth any thing for the creature by grace there it is not of our works otherwise grace is no more grace If it be of workes then it is no more of grace otherwise work is no more work Rom. 11.6 Therefore God will not justifie us in doing the workes of the Law in giving us a sight of any thing that may make us more worthy of justification then other men but he makes knowne his grace to us in a way of beleeving The property of faith is to emptie the creature and to discover the fulnesse of the Creator Our owne workes they puff us up but faith empties us If wee could be justified and saved by that which we have done we might boast and rejoyce in it before God Rom. 4.2 But because God will humble us bring us low lay us upon our backs and tumble us in the dust that we may see our selves nothing and see his grace all in all to us for our justification therefore God justifies us onely in beleeving Faith layes the creature low and sets the grace of God on high that wee may goe to heaven admiring the grace of God to such sinners such base and vile wretches as wee are therefore God will not justifie and save us in the court of our owne Consciences by the sight of our owne workes but onely by the sight of his owne grace thus it is said of Abraham that he staggered not at the promise of God by unbeliefe but being strong in faith he gave glory to God Rom. 4.20 When God comes downe upon us and works faith in our hearts and wee stagger not at the promises of Grace by unbeliefe but give credit to what he hath spoken and promised God hath that glory from us that he will have from all those whom he intends to save Unbeleife robs man of his comfort God of his glory By faith the creature is comforted and the Creator exalted through faith man is emptied of selfe-confidences and filled with God and his praises therefore for this reason are wee saved through faith Againe Fourthly it is by faith because it is onely by beleeving that wee behold the grace that is in God by which he forgives sin Mans happinesse for the present doth not lye in the not having of sin but in the grace of God not imputing sin Nostra justicia est dei indulgentia Gods favour and
indulgence is our righteousnesse Thus the Psalmist doth describe the Blessed man Psal 32. Blessed is the man whose iniquities are paraoned and whose sinnes are covered Hierome doth sweetly paraphrase't upon those words Quod tegitur non videtur quod non videtur non imputatur quod non imputatur non punietur that which is covered is not seen that which is not seen is not imputed that which is not imputed shall not be punished But by what is it that man beholdeth himselfe in this happinesse It is onely by beleeving and therefore wee are saved through faith Wee cannot see a nonimputation of sin by the grace of God but by the work of the spirit in an act of beleeving by which wee are assured that it shall goe well with our soules to all eternity And the great controversie is decided and determined in the spirit of a man whether he shall be saved or whether he shall be damned No other foundation can be laid then the grace of God in Jesus Christ our Lord 1 Cor. 3.11 And we cannot see this foundation that wee may be built upon it but by beleiving Moses by faith saw him that was invisible Abraham by faith saw the day of Christ and was glad As by the eye of the body wee see materiall objects so by the eye of faith wee see spirituall objects The Philosopher saith that prudence is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the eye of the Morall man so faith is the eye of the spirituall man By which alone God and the things of God are beheld 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Justin Martyr The Sun was not changed when the blinde man in the Gospel that never saw before received his sight and beheld it It was the same before and after his blindnesse so Jesus Christ the Sun of righteousnesse is the same yesterday and to day and for ever in himself and unchangeable in his love in reference unto us The change is onely in us by faith whom now we see though formerly wee beheld not his beauty and because the righteousnesse and salvation of God is revealed by faith Rom. 1.17 therefore wee are saved by faith Fiftly wee are saved by grace through a worke of beleeving because if it were not onely in an act of beleeving the people of God could not have that firme constant and unquestionable assurance of their salvation which now they enjoy in a way of beleeving When a man is to goe unto a place by many severall wayes which are not found out without some difficulty he doth often doubt whether he is in the right way or whether hee is out of his way but when he is to goe in one plaine way he is confident that he is not out of his way So when a man goeth by the way of the Law and workes for justification he is in doubt whether he is in his right way for justification the Law pointing out many wayes and requiring many duties of him that would be justified under it but the Gospel pointeth onely at Christ and faith in him for justification so that those who walke in this way for justification are confident that they are in the right way The Apostle doth lay downe this plainly Rom. 4.16 where he saith it is by grace and that by faith to the end the promise might be sure to all the seed not to that onely which is of the Law but to that that is of the faith of Abraham the Father of us all God hath not made the promise of salvation to the seed under the Law or that doe any workes of the Law But he hath made the promise to be gracious to poore sinners in beleeving without the workes of the Law to the end the promise might be sure If there had been any thing else required beside faith the soule would be alwayes restlesse and unsatisfied If God should tie justification to workes men would be unsatisfied because they would doubt whether some workes were not undone and then they would doubt of their justification Therefore God hath not promised justification to any man who doth good workes or submitts to any outward Ordinance but onely unto him who closeth with his grace in a pure act of beleeving For God knowes that so long as there is any thing joyned with faith for justification wee shall be ready to question our justification wee may observe that such professors who are not acquainted with the Gospel are unsetled in their spirits when they doubt which is the true Government or externall Ordinances of the Lord Jesus If they doubt whether they are baptized in a right way or manner they doubt whether they are justified their comforts and assurance doe vanish away when they are not fully assured that they know and are obedient unto all the Commandements of the Lord Jesus The cause of this legallnesse in their spirits is because they doe not see salvation firmly setled upon him that beleeveth The spirituall man beholdeth justifing grace in beleeving without his obedience to commands for externall worship and good workes and doth live joyfully and comfortably in the sight of his justification though he knoweth that it is possible that he may be ignorant of many things which other Christians may have the knowledge of And in these dayes of darkenesse contention confusion and disorder what man can have solid and lasting joy who is ignorant of free grace for justification If it were necessary to the assurance of justification to know whether the Episcopall Presbyteriall or Independent Government were the Ordinance of the Lord Jesus whether sprinckling of Children or dipping of professing beleevers were the institution of Christ in the Labyrinth of the controversies of our times how few would attaine to an assurance of their justification How would poore creatures be perplexed and disquieted in their consciences not certainly knowing in which of these wayes they should walke for their justification and salvation But that the promise might be sure to all the seed Rom. 4.16 To those who lived in the times of the Law as well as to those who live in these times of the Gospel salvation is promised not to workers but beleevers to all true beleevers in all ages and places to us who live in the time of the Babylonish Apostacy as well as to those who were hearers of the Apostles and Members of those Congregations which were gathered and governed by them Sixtly By faith the grace of God in Christ is applyed unto us and we are justified by it as the spirituall instrument formed by God in the Spirit for the application of Christs benefits to our consciences A man that lived in the time of the Law looking upon the blood of his sacrifices did behold himselfe purged purified and sanctified in his flesh by it Heb. 9.13 So a sinner looking upon the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ is applyed unto him and his conscience is purged from dead workes to serve the living God ver 14. Faith though it
be called a worke 2 Thess 1.11 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 yet wee are not justified by it as it is a worke or gracious quality but as it is the hand of the Spirit by which wee receive and are made partakers of those treasures of grace which are freely given unto us in Christ Jesus Christ hath already done what is to be done by way of satisfaction to the justice of his Father and hath already made peace by the blood of his Crosse Col. 1.20 what he doth in us now is to satisfie our consciences concerning our full redemption by him that you in beleeving may be filled with peace of Conscience being perswaded that wee are of the Father in the Son who by the Father is made unto us wisdome and righteousnesse and sanctification and redemption 1 Cor. 1.30 Faith being nothing but a light comming from God Christ discovering God and Christ to our spirits and uniting our spirits to God in Christ By faith we beleeve what is recorded concerning the grace of God in Christ As the Prophet to my apprehension holdeth it forth in those expressions of his Isa 53.1 Who hath beleeved our report and to whom is the arme of the Lord revealed In the latter part of these words the Prophet doth interpret the former part he beleeveth the report of God to whom the arme of God that is his Sonne Jesus is revealed And when a man beleeveth in Christ Christ is revealed to that man Faith being the first thing that is wrought in the spirit of a man whom God doth justifie in his owne conscience by which the grace of God in Christ is revealed unto him for his justification Justifying faith when it is wrought by the powerfull operation of the Spirit in the heart doth remove prevailing doubts concerning our justification the faithfull beholding the all-righteousnesse of free grace applying to his conscience the clensing vertue of the blood of the Lord Jesus Faith is a gift of the Spirit establishing the soule Isa 7.9 If ye will not beleeve surely ye shal not be established The soule can never be firmely setled and quieted but by beleeving Unbeleife doth question and doubt of the promises of free grace for justification But when in the power of faith we are carried above it with Abraham Rom. 4.20 we stagger not at the promise through unbeleife but the spirit is fixed and stands immoveably upon the truth of grace God saith in the Covenant of his grace Heb. 8.12 I will be mercifull to their unrighteousnesse and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more Hee that beleeveth doth set his Seale to the truth of God in beleeving the promise Iohn 3.33 He is confident that God is faithful who hath made this promise to the children of men and by beleeving the great and precious promises of grace he is made partaker of the Divine Nature 2 Pet. 1.4 By an heart of unbeleefe wee depart from the living God Heb. 3.12 but by faith wee draw neere to God and apply Christ to our selves Faith being contrary to unbeleife as in the nature of it so in its operations An unbeleever doth not give credit to the truth of the generall promises of Gods grace and so remaineth unjustified in his conscience A beleever in faith nothing wavering James 1.6 doth give credit to what is reported And the Gospel commeth to him not in word only but in power and the holy Spirit and in much assurance 1. Thessalonians 1.5 Object But some may be ready here to object this against what I have delivered that though I doe acknowledge that by faith grace in Christ is applyed unto us yet in effect I say no more then what I delivered before when I proved that by faith the grace of God in Christ is first manifested and made over unto us Answ They misapprehend me when they conclude that I make faith onely an assurance of because I doe maintaine that it is the first evidence and witnesse of our justification Faith doth assure but it doth not onely assure us of Christ but doth apply Christ and makes a difference between assurance and application which I illustrate by this similitude Suppose one should lye in Prison for debt his debts being paid and he not knowing it and afterwards knowing that his debts were paid hee should rejoyce in the newes and enjoy his liberty this man doth not by the newes which he heareth enjoy only comfort but his liberty so it is with us before we beleeve we lie in prison and yet our debts are paid by Iesus Christ when the newes is brought by the spirit to the eare of the soule wee rejoyce in hearing the newes but besides this presently wee enjoy our liberty and all those riches which our surety who hath paid our debts hath bestowed upon us so that by faith though wee are assured of Gods love in the first place yet wee are not only assured but likewise Christ is applied unto us we are united unto him and doe enjoy all things in him and receive all good things from him Seventhly We are saved by faith which is so to be understood that by the mis-vnderstanding of it wee may not detract from the glory of Gods grace and from that everlasting righteousnesse which we have in Iesus Christ who is Jehovah our righteousnesse Ier. 23.6 Abraham when he beleeved and his faith was counted unto him for righteousnesse had a vision of God and his word did inwardly appeare unto him Gen. 15.1 and he beheld God as his shield and exceeding great reward and supreme righteousnesse so a beleeving man doth so looke upon faith as his righteousnesse that he doth then behold God in Christ as his supreme righteousnesse for his justification Isa 45.25 1 Cor 1.30 As Adam when hee was justified by his righteousnesse and true holinesse did so looke upon his owne righteousnesse for justification that hee did at the same time behold God as his chiefe good and righteousnesse so a beleeving man doth so looke upon faith as his righteousnesse by which hee is saved that hee doth at the same time behold God in Christ as his cheife righteousnesse Though hee acknowledgeth faith his righteousnesse in its place yet he accounteth it as nothing in comparison of that righteousnesse which hee hath in God and his Son Jesus Christ And saith with the psalmist Psal 71.16 I will goe in the strength of the Lord God I will make mention of thy righteousnesse even of thine onely Hee doth not by this undervalue the righteousnesse of faith hee prizeth it above the world and all things in it which carnall men doe value at so high a rate But according to the minde of him whose gift faith is hee sets the gift in his heart and esteeme belowe him who is the giver of it Hee seeth salvation to bee more from the giver of faith then faith it selfe Hee looketh upon faith not as the cause of justifiing grace but looketh upon
if workes and faith were to be conjoyned for justification Gratia non est gratia ullo modo si non sit gratuit a omni modo Grace is not Grace in any way unlesse it be free and undeserved every way Grace is not free and undeserved unlesse it be reached forth without any consideration of our owne workes which is onely through faith trye whether God hath taught thee this lesson of truth Fourthly faith doth take the glory of justistification from the creature and giveth it unto grace Hast thou learned to sing the new song of the Saints and redeemed ones before the Throne crying Salvation onely to God who sitteth upon the Throne of grace and to the Lamb. Fifthly art thou fully perswaded of Gods power and faithfulnesse who hath left Promises of grace upon record for the salvation of poore sinners Art thou with Abraham fully perswaded of the truth of Gods Promises of grace in reference to thy selfe I remember what one of the Ancients saith That to professe Christ without assurance is to be without faith living in the houshold of faith Fidem in dome fidei non habere Cypr. A spirituall man is that which he believeth himselfe to be Id esse incipit quod se esse credit He beleeves that he is positively and negatively righteous in Christ freed from finne and made a partaker of a glorious righteousnesse for his justification and so he is of a Leper by believing in an instant made whole Hee believeth that he oweth nothing to his creditour and his creditour believeth so too Sixthly A believing man is bone of the bone flesh of the flesh and one spirit with the Lord Jesus There is a close neere union application of Christ to the soule by faith Dost thou in believing see thy selfe a member of Christ as thy hand or foot is a part of thy body Is Christ the quickning spirit of thy spirit to enliven that as thy spirit is the spirit which doth enliven thy body 7 ly Dost thou so live by faith that thou lookest upon Christ as thy life and righteousnesse more then faith Not suffering any perswasion which thou callest thy righteousnesse to sit in the uppermost roome of thy heart to the prejudice of Gods glory in Christ A spirituall heart is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mac the throne of the Deity where God in Christ is exalted as the chiefe righteousnesse of the soule is it so in thine Iohn 14.1 8ly Hast thou by faith as an instrument touched the hem of Christs garment for the healing of the bloudy issue of thy own soule Hee that is wise and good is wise and good for himselfe And if thou art truly wise and good thou art wise in applying Christ to make thy selfe wise and good Lastly Is thy faith such a faith through which Christ hath inwardly discovered himselfe unto thee formed and created himselfe in thee Job 32.8 The inspiration of the Almighty giveth understanding If thy faith be true it is by inward inspiration Quer. But must we have such a faith if wee will be the children of believing Abraham Answ Every true believer hath such a faith for the nature of it though not for the perfection of the degrees of it There is a perfect faire copy of faith in those who have beene presented unto thee Thou art to have the same copy written forth upon thy heart though it may not be so fairly written forth at the first But if it be a true copy of faith thou hast no cause to question thy assurance though thou dost finde it very weake at the present A palsey-shaken hand may receive a gift and a weake faith may receive the grace of God in Jesus Christ A Dwarfe is a man as well as a Giant though not so tall and one who is but a dwarfe and low in Christianity by the weakenesse of his faith may be a Christian as well as those who are of a taller stature in the Schoole of Christ Thirdly this which hath been delivered may be for the strengthning of the faith and the encreasing the comforts of those who have laid hold of salvation by a lively faith on Jesus Christ Comforts are encreased by the same meanes by which they are wrought at the first And therefore the Apostle prayeth for the Romans that the Lord would fill them with all joy and peace in believing Rom. 15.13 Our comforts are low because our faith is weake Comfort floweth in by renewed acts of faith Sathan would rob us of our comfort by wresting faith which is our shield from us Ephes 6.16 And this is one way in which he doth labour to weaken the faith of the Saints by suggesting this unto the Saints that Salvation is not only through faith But against this temptation and all his other fierie darts we may hold forth this buckler of truth That wee are saved by grace through faith Answer him therefore from this truth and he will be silenced Resist him in believing this trueth and hec will flee from thee Jam. 4.7 And the spirit will flie into thy soule to comfort thee So long as Abraham lived he lived as a justified man by faith So long as Paul lived he lived by faith in the Son of God Gal. 2. We dye rather then live when we are not under the power of the spirit enabling us to beleeve We lye downe either in the bed of carnall security or Familisticall Antichristianisme or fal under the bondage of the Law when we step aside from the plaine Doctrine of salvation by faith in our Lord Jesus And therefore the flesh and the Devill the great enemies to a Saints comfort doe joyne themselves together to oppose the doctrine of faith Sathan knoweth that faith and works are inconsistent in point of justification And when hee observeth that we are in some measure convinced that salvation is by faith he endeavours to perswade us that it is by faith and workes And would divide our Justification between faith and works As the harlot cryed out 1 King 3.26 concerning the child Neither mine nor thine but divide it So the Devill would have us divide our Justification attribute halfe of it to faith and give the other part to workes But the beleeving man seeth that there is salvation in Christ and not in any other and that no other name under heaven is given among men whereby they must be saved Acts 4.12 And that we rest upon this name for salvation only by faith In Christ we have boldness accesse with confidence by the faith of him Ephesians 3.12 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Wee are manuduced and lead by the hand as it were with perswasion of Christs goodness to us by faith in Christ Continue in that faith by which Paul was justified who believed that Christ loved him and gave himselfe for him and thy comforts and peace shall be continued unto the. It it Melancthons observation that the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉
those who want joy and comfort come to the promises and take Christ in a promise such who have been mislead and not set in the right way to salvation and justification let them be convinced that this is the right way be assured of salvation by grace Christ dying not for the righteous but for the ungodly be perswaded that Jesus is not a Physician for the whole but for the sick Mat. 9.12 Sin is the souls sickness thou art a sinner art sick and maist come to Christ not as one that is well but as one that is sick Christ is a Chyrurgion that is able to cure the greatest wounds therefore he hath set up his bills and bids all to come and hee will reject none Wee may with the woman in the Gospell spend all that wee have upon other Physicians and be nothing profited There is health for us onely by comming to Jesus Christ Therefore if other Physitians have been Physicians of no value while they have bid you seeke Justification and assurance in the sight of your own works and not in the sight of Gods grace heare this day what the Lord Christ saith to your soules he professeth that he calleth not the righteous but sinners to repentance Hear him Heare I say and thy soule shall live Isa 55.3 I remember that some Physitians have been highly commended that have beene able to cure their Patients speedily and safely and without any great torment Now the Lord Jesus Christ is a most admirable Physitian in these three respects 1. He can speedily cure and heal us whatsoever our wounds are if there were but one wound and sore from the crown of the head to the sole of the soote if we were made up of nothing but sin the Lord Jesus Christ is able to cure us speedily hee is excellent in this respect Touch him and the bloody issue of thy soule is immediately cured He can say to thee as once he said to Zacheus This day salvation is come to thy soule If he lay the plaister of his Fathers grace upon thy sinfull soule thou shalt be immediately cured Secondly Christ cures safely there is no danger in taking that which Christ prescribes If Christ tell you that his Father justifies ungodly ones and that he is the Saviour of sinners you may believe him and put your life in his hand hee will not cozen and cheate as some Mountebanks that give that which kils when they confidently promise health If Christ promise to heale he will give that physick which shall effectually help us He wil not give that unto us which shall hurt us If hee had thought the doctrine of grace would have hurt men he would never have commanded the Doctrine of grace to have beene preached If hee had thought that the Doctrine of grace would onely have opened a doore to Libertinisme and licentiousnesse he would not have given his Apostles commission to preach the Gospell to every creature Though men in their carnall apprehensions thinke there is danger in the medicines of Christ Those who have had experience of him can assure you that hee is a matchles Physitian there is no danger in that which he gives there is no way to salvation but by believing without working Use this physicke of his apply this plaister to thy soul thou needest not to fear whom he cures hee cures with abundance of safety I dare assure thee that he will heale thee In the third place Physitians are commended that cure without tormenting their Patients much and such a physitian as Jesus Christ He comforts our hearts with Gospell Cordialls while he cures us There is sweet comfort in the healing of the Lord Jesus Christ he so heales thy wounds and diseases that thou shalt have delight and comfort while he heales thy soule and gives a plaister to thy putrified rotten spirit The Lord Jesus Christ doth not prescribe a tormenting remedie that is worse then the disease but when Christ heales he comforts he so cures that hee ravisheth the soule with joy unspeakable and full of glory Wherefore come to Christ you who have spent all and suffered much and have lain under a spirit of bondage 20. or 30. yeares here is healing looke to the Physitian the Lord Jesus Christ he will cure you speedily and safely and with delight to you In brief it is an easie and compendious way to heaven when God gives you believing hearts and yet the hardest thing in the world to believe without him but when God enables us the work is easie When Christ resolveth to be the Physician health quickly will be given in Some affirme that generation is in instanti in a moment It is unquestionable concerning spirituall regeneration by faith in Christ Therefore looke up to the Father and to the Son that this work may be wrought in us Thinke not that the worke of faith can be wrought by any power which is in our selves it is given to us to believe by the grace of God communicated and extended to us in the Lord Jesus Christ And this is the next thing that lies in the words to be handled Ye are saved by grace through faith and that not of your selves it is the gift of God But I must leave that to some other time In the mean while look unto the Father of Lights for it is his gift wee cannot bestow it upon our selves Faith is not from our SELVES SERMON IIII. EPHES. 2.8 By grace ye are saved through faith not of your selves it is the gift of God FAith is a work as difficult as it is glorious and as much beyond the creatures strength to worke it in himselfe as his merits to deserve it of himselfe Therefore the Apostle having acquainted us with the excellency of faith through which we are saved doth now inform us concerning the power by which it is wrought in us It is not of our selves but it is the gift of God First he shewes negatively that it is not of our selves And then 2ly affirmatively that it is the gift of God When God doth effectually worke upon a man to make him happy in his Son he worketh two things in a man hee doth take him from himselfe and confidence in his owne strength and doth carry him into his owne strength and goodnesse from whence hee receiveth all strength And this is expressed here by Paul who when he saith that faith is not of our selves but that it is the gift of God I shall by the assistance of grace speak of the first of these and endeavour to prove this Proposition That true saving faith is not of our selves When the Apostle Peter made a glorious profession of the Lord acknowledging him to be the Son of God Jesus answered and said unto him Blessed art thou Simon Bar-jona for flesh and blood hath not revealed it to thee but my Father which is in heaven Mat. 16.17 Here our Saviour beares witnesse to the trueth of his faith and to shew him that
hee professed not this only in word and in tongue but that hee professed it from the truth of faith which was in him therefore hee acknowledgeth that it was not from flesh and blood but by the Father which had revealed it to him Where we may finde our position clearely confirmed to you that those that truely believe who have the unfained faith of the people of God it is not a faith wrought in them by themselves it doth not flow from any naturall principle but it is the immediate work of the power of God in their hearts As wee did not nor could not make our owne hearts so wee cannot make our heart new hearts Jerem. 13.23 Can the Ethiopian change his skin or the Leopard his spots then may ye also doe good who are accustomed to doe evill By which the Prophet doth clearly hold forth this truth that sinners can no more by their own strength make themselves saints which is by faith then a Blackmore can change the colour of his skin or the Leopard his spots An Ethiopian may be painted white so an hypocriticall sinner may bee a painted Sepulchre appearing righteous and sound to men when hee is full of rottennesse within But God alone doth change and purifie our hearts by his gift of faith which is not of our selves For the amplifying of this point to you I shal lay down some subsequent considerations by which I shall prove this to you that he that truely believes doth not believe by any power strength or ability in himselfe by which he is in any measure fitted and enabled for this great work of true justifying faith The first consideration shall be drawn from the nature of faith as it is held forth to us in the word of God which faith is the worke of God upon the spirit of a Saint by which the grace of God in the Lord Jesus Christ is discovered to him and by which he in his heart Rom. 10.9 is made willing to receive Christ and to rest upon him and his righteousnesse alone for his Justification Rom. 10.4 Thus the Scripture speaks of faith First it speakes of faith as it is a light of God in the understanding so wee are bid to look to the Lord Jesus and we shall be saved Isa 45.22 And it is said of the faithfull that by faith they saw the promises afar off Heb. 11.13 They saw Christ not as we see him who behold him as hee hath been offered up as our sacrifice and hath made an end of our sins Dan. 9. But they beheld him as one that was to come and was to make a propitiation for the sins of the world And if wee thus look upon faith as it is a beam from God enlightning us in our understandings to see Gods grace in his Son we shall find that faith is not of our selves Which will appeare if wee consider what our owne understandings are before God doth give us the true knowledge of the Lord Jesus I shall acquaint you here with Scripture expressions which doe sufficiently and clearly hold forth this unto us The first expression is that men without the Lord Jesus Christ are darkened in their understandings The Apostle speaking of the Gentiles that knew not Christ he saith Ephes 4.18 That they have their understandings darkned being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them There is a mist and cloud of darkenesse upon the understandings of all carnall and unbelieving men As the Apostle Paul when he had scales before his eyes was not able to behold the light of the Sun so while the scales of naturall darkenesse and ignorance are upon the hearts and spirits of men they are not able to behold the sun of righteousnesse They may heare Christ preached they may heare the Doctrine of justification freely and fully handled but they are not able to behold any thing of God or Christ because they have their understandings darkened being not enlightned by the spirit of Christ to see Christ 2dly The Scripture doth not onely tell us that they are darkened in their understandings but it tells us that they sit in darknesse Matth. 4.16 The people which sate in darkenesse saw great light Here is the condition of all men without Christ set forth to us they are men that sit in darknesse And Zacharias in his Song speaking of the Lord Jesus saith Luke 1.79 That he is the day spring from on high to give light to them that sit in darknesse and in the shadow of death Though a man have eyes yet if he sit in a dark dungeon he can see no visible object It will therefore be evident that carnall men cannot see of themselves because they are not only darkned in their understandings but they sit in the dark dungeons of their own spirits being not able to behold the invisible things of Gods grace which are not discovered and made visible unto us untill we believe in Jesus Christ But in the 3d place the holy spirit speaking of naturall men without Christ doth not only inform us that they are darkened and have their seates in darknesse but they love darknes they are pleased with their present state and condition of darknesse they are unwilling to have any light break forth upon them So our Saviour saith John 3.19 This is the condemnation that light is come into the world but men love darknesse They love unbeliefe and ignorance they had rather be the Devils prisoners in dungeons of darknesse then enjoy their liberty in Christs marvellous light They are so far from being unable to make themselves happy in believing that they are in love with their owne unhappinesse They will not come to Christ that they may have life they are unwilling that Christ should reign over them though hee doth offer salvation unto them They say unto God depart from us for wee will not have the knowledge of thy wayes Job 21.14 Like the Gadarens they doe desire Jesus to depart out of their Coasts They are the slaves of sinne and free from righteousnesse Rom. 6.20 When they are disobedient to the commands of righteousnesse they do account it their liberty and freedome As the service of Christ is liberty to a Saint cui servire regnare est Aug. so the service of sinne is accounted liberty by a carnall man They are like the servant that was to be bored through the eare upon his profession that he loved his Master and would not goe out free Exod. 21.5 This is the condition of every man out of Christ he professeth that he loves his Master he loves the Devil the works of the flesh are sweet and pleasing to him he had rather live as a Swine and wallow in the filth and mire of sinne then taste of those joyes and pleasures which are at Gods right hand he had rather doe the Devills drudgery then enjoy that perfect freedome that the Lord Jesus Christ hath purchased for the Saints It is
the riches of his grace Secondly God in Christ doth present himselfe as having a sufficiency of grace for the salvation of the greatest of sinners without workes but how doth carnall reason strongly and vigorously fight against Gods goodnesse concluding that if there were any truth in this Doctrine that the law and good workes would presenly be destroyed A natural man cannot believe that God is so gracious as Gospel-Ministers would perswade the world that he is As the unbelieving Lord when the Prophet told him of the great plenty in Samaria said If God should open windowes in Heaven could this this thing be 1 King 7. So a naturall man when Christ is offered to sinners without any works unlesse God give grace to believe hee is ready to say If the windowes of Heaven were opened and all the grace and mercie in Heaven should come downe upon us if God should let out all the bowells of his pitty and compassion to poore sinners it cannot be so as you say and speak concerning free grace to sinners and ungodly ones So that if a naturall man should do nothing but heare Sermons and although Angells or Christ himselfe should come downe from heaven to preach unto him hee would be as able of himselfe to keepe the whole Law for justification as to beleeve truly and savingly in the Lord Jesus But some will say that if it be thus that a man may as easily in his owne strength keepe the Law as beleeve the Gospell why doth not God then rather enable us to keepe the Law that wee may be saved then bid us to beleeve the Gospel To this I answer that God saves us by enabling us to beleeve the Gospel and not by enabling us to keepe the Law for Justification because God will have the glory of his grace in our Salvation God will not save us in a way of working but in a way of beleeving that all the glory may be given to him The Apostle gives this as a reason why it is by faith and not by workes that no man might boast ver 9. Not of workes lest any man should boast By which argument he proveth that the Father of the faithfull was not justified by workes Rom. 4.2 If Abraham were justified by workes saith hee he hath whereof to glory As we may observe it in some people who are built upon legal principles like the Pharisee Luke 18.11 They are boasting that they are not as other men as though their good workes had made the difference betweene them and others This frame of spirit doth rob God of the glory of his grace who will not that any flesh should glory in his presence but that he that glorieth should glory in the Lord 1 Cor. 1.29.3 And therefore wee are saved by grace through faith in the word made flesh and not by the workes of the Law But secondly some will object why doth God take this paines with men in the Ministery of the Word if they are able to doe no more to their owne conversion then a dead man to his owne resurrection To this objection I have already given an answer yet give me leave to adde this to what hath been already spoken for the fuller satisfaction of those that are weak Though we are able to doe nothing of our selves yet God entreates exhorts and beseecheth us to be reconciled to him in Jesus Christ because in exhorting intreating and beseeching of us to beleeve he puts forth his power and his owne strength to enable us to beleeve while Paul exhorted the Gaoler to believe in the Lord Jesus that hee might be saved God enabled the Gaoler to beleeve Life and power is conveyed to the soule in Gospel commands and exhortations When Christ raised the sonne of the Widow of Naim to life Luke 7.14 he speakes to him Young man I say to thee arise No man who hath not lost his reason will conclude from hence that it was by the power of the young man that was dead by which hee was raised from the dead but by the power of the Lord Jesus who did bid him arise So though God speak in the Ministry of the word to those that are dead in sinnes and trespasses and bids them arise from the dead that hee may give them light yet we cannot conclude from thence that it is by the power of men by which they doe believe but it is by the power of the spirit conveyed in the preaching of the Word Christ commanded Lazarus to come forth but he came not forth in his owne strength but in the power and strength of him that commanded him out of the grave So wee command men to come forth out of the grave of sinne but they come not forth in their owne strength but in the power and strength of that spirit that commands them from the grave of sinne to the land of the living While Ezekiel prophesied over the dead bones breath came into them and they lived Ezâ—k 37.10 So while the Prophets of the Lord do preach over their sinfull impenitent hearers who are like the Prophets drye bones the breath of Heaven the spirit of the most High in the Ministery of the Gospell enters in into them and not by working but believing they are made new creatures and see the Kingdome of God In the next place you see faith is not of our selves it is not in any thing in man or in mans wisdome that man is enabled to believe what is reported concerning Gods grace in Jesus Christ Therefore this may convince us that that faith which is of our selves is a false faith and not the true justifying faith of the Saints The good fruit of faith cannot grow out of a wicked heart And the heart of a man naturally is wickednesse and every imagination of the thoughts of his heart is vanity and only evill continually Gen. 6.5 Psalm 94.11 When God lookes downe from Heaven upon the children of the first Adam hee seeth that there are not any that doe understand and seek God They are all gone aside they are all become filthy there is none that doth good no â—ot one Psal 14.2.3 And the Lord Jesus dyed for us when wee were enemies unto him and without strength to do any thing for our owne salvation Rom. 5.6 That faith therefore which is wrought by the strength of nature is not that true faith of the Gospel which is only wrought by the spirit of the Gospel According to that of the Apostle where he affirmeth that the Saints are justified by the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God 1 Cor. 6 11. Therefore if thy faith be a working or perswasion of thine own spirit If it be framed and hammered by thy selfe upon the anvile of thy owne spirit it is a counterfet perswasion and will not be able to advantage thee in the great day of the Lord Jesus As wee read in the Prophet Jeremiah of the visions of a mans owne heart and the visions
that will never doe thee good it will never bring thee true comfort A man that hath not a better perswasion than this shall never see the face of God with joy 3dly Faith which is not of our selves doth carry us out of our selves A faithful man hath his life not in himselfe but in Jesus Christ He liveth not by the principles of the first but second Adam He hath his spirituall being in the Father and in his Sonne Jesus Christ He is joyned to the Lord and is one spirit Hee seeth the Father in the Son and the Sonne in him and the Father in him through his Son According to the promise of our Saviour John 14.20 Ye shall know that I am in my Father and you in me and I in you Paul speaking of the spirituall Thessalonians affirmeth that they are in the Father and in the Lord Jesus Christ 1 Thes 1.1 By faith we enjoy the glory of union The glory which thou hast given me I have given them that they be one even as we are one John 17. Though we have not the glory of equality 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 yet we have the glory of likenesse 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Though we are not united to the Father so immediately as Christ is by himselfe and in himselfe yet we are united to him mediante Christo by the meanes and mediation of Christ Jesus This is the honour which is given to those who trust by a lively faith in the name of the Sonne of God 4ly Faith which is not of our selves doth carry us beyond the world A believer looking upon Christ overcomming the world for him doth through faith overcome the world by him 1 John 5.4 Whatsoever is born of God overcommeth the world and this is the victory that overcommeth the world even your faith Therefore the Saints are said to be cloathed with the Sun and to have the Moon under their feet Rev. 12. Because being through faith cloathed with the righteousnesse of Christ who is called the Sun of righteousnesse Mal. 4.2 They trample upon all sublunary things as worth nothing in comparison of Jesus Christ Fifthly He that truly believeth in Christ is anointed with the spirit of Christ and assured of his abiding for ever in Christ 1 John 2.27 The anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you and as it hath taught you ye shall abide in him God should lose his earnest if it were possible for us to miscarry to the losing of our soules after wee have this earnest from him which bindeth him to bring us to heaven and happinesse This spirit perswades us that we are the sons of God that God will lose none of his sons Hee that hath this spirit knoweth that no man that hath the spirit can speake what he feeles from the work of the spirit of adoption in his owne heart Hee admires grace when hee lookes on God reconciled in Christ to sinners lookes on himselfe reconciled to God in believing and when he feeleth the spirit of God witnessing with his spirit that he is the childe of God hee can goe boldly to the Throne of grace knowing Christ as his elder brother God his Father in him Selfe-deceiving hypocrite dost thou not begin to be convinced that thy faith is not the true faith of the Gospell by that which hath been spoken concerning this faith which is not of our selves but the gift of God 6. As I told you even now There is never true faith but true love follows it Love is an ndividual companion of faith Therefore such as have faith and never have love accompanying of it may be confident that their perswasion concerning the grace and goodnesse God in Christ is but a carnal and not a spirituall perswasion True faith worketh by love therefore if mine work not by love it is a false faith this is an undenyable argument Brethren mistake me not in this point unto which I now am speaking mis-apprehending my meaning as if I bid you love God the brethren that you may believe be justified no but I tell you now that where true lively and justifying faith is there love will follow When we doe in the light of the spirit apprehend Gods love to us and the love of Christ in giving himselfe for us wee cannot but love God againe and love Christ who hath loved us and given himselfe for us So that where there is no true love there is no true faith If it be truth that where fire is there will be heat it will necessarily follow that where there is no heat there is no fire So if where true faith is love will follow it will necessarily follow that where true love doth not follow there true faith did not precede 1 John 4.19 Wee love him because he first loved us He that loveth not God hath not apprehended Gods love to him As farre as thou believest in a spirituall way the love of God shall constrain thee to love God Tantum diligimus quantum scimus love is answerable to the measure of our faith or knowledge Hee that hath Pauls faith shall have his love We say that love is the load-stone of love magnes amoris amor So Gods love doth draw forth our hearts in love to God God in Christ when he is presented unto us for our justhification doth appeare to us as such a lovely object that we cannot but love him The greek proverb is that loving is wrought by seeing 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so when by faith we see the love of God in Jesus wee cannot but love God And therefore John saith 1 John 4.8 That he that loveth not knoweth not God for God is love Wherefore that faith by which thou art perswaded of the love of God to thy soul which carries thee not back again in love to God I dare speak it in the presence of God that that perswasion is not wrought by the spirit of grace but is the worke of thine owne carnall and naturall heart If any man saith the Apostle love not the Lord Jesus Christ let him be Anathema Maranatha 1 Cor. 16.22 Let him not be accounted as one inalbo fidelium in the list of the faithfull Let him be excommunicated look not upon him as a true Christian Peter though hee had denyed Christ not long before yet he was confident that he loved that Christ whom he had denyed when Christ asked him Simon sonne of Jonas lovest thou me he saith unto him yea Lord thou knowest that I love thee John 24.15 When Christ the second and third time proposed the same question unto him he remained still confident of his love And appeals to Christ the searcher of all hearts as to one who knew the truth of his love v. 17. Hee said unto him Lord thou knowest all things thou knowest that I love thee I shall but adde one thing more because I shall God willing have an opportunity to enlarge my self in this point when
the same assistance of Gods grace draw some usefull conclusions from the premises and so put a period to my discourse for the present First this doth discover unto us the usefulnesse and excellency of the unfained faith of the elect As Noah was preserved from the destruction which came upon the old world by going for his safety into the Arke so by the foot of faith wee walke into our Arke Christ Jesus for the Salvation of our soules The world of sin is a dismall wildernesse full of fierie Serpents by faith we eye Jesus Christ as our brasen Serpent and set footing in the heavenly Canaan of gods grace while the sinfull Sodome of the world is destroyed with the raine of fire and brimstone by faith like Righteous Lot wee escape out of it when with Peter wee are readie to sinke and perish in the Sea of sinne by Faith we touch the saving arme of the Lord Jesus and are preserved when wee drinke the deadly poyson of finne by faith we take in Jesus Christ as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or antidote and the deadly poyson doth not hurt us but we are miraculously preserved Faith beholdeth Christ crucified before us Gal. 3.2 and evidently set forth who hath nailed the Law of workes our sinne and death to his owne crosse and wee who deserved damnation are saved through grace Christ is the man who is an hiding place from the wind and a covert from the tempest Isa 32.2 sin is a noxious and a destroying wind as wind in the cavernes of the earth is a cause of an Earth-quake so finne is the cause of destroying Earthquakes in the earthly hearts of men but Christ is our hiding place in which through beleeving wee are safe The Devills infernall windes and blastes destroy many a soule with which he filleth it with hellish errours and impieties to its destruction Acts 5.3 Christ filleth his people by breathing upon them in the Spirit of grace for their salvation but Christ is a shelter from the infernall blastes of Satan And while carnall and unbeleeving men are as a ship under sayle and the Devill unto them is as a powerfull winde violently blowing them to destruction Acts 26.18 Christ by enabling his people to beleeve doth blow them with the pleasant gales of his sweet spirit to the havens of peace and safetie Though there are infectious and destroying windes upon earth yet there are none in Heaven so though the men of the earth are infected with the winds of sinne and Satan to their ruine yet they who live in the Heaven of Gods grace by faith Jesus Christ is a defence unto them When darknesse and tempests are in the Spirits of men from the Law which they have broken Christ who rebuked the tempests of the Sea Mat. 8.2 doth rebuke tempestates mentis Hier the tempests of our troubled minds and consciences and by beleeving there is a great calme in the soule Sinne in the soule is like Jonah in the ship which bringeth a tempest with it but Christ through faith doth cast this Tempest-raiser into the sea of his Fathers grace and the soule is quieted and filled with joy and peace in beleeving The Philosopher saith that Logick to a rationall and learned man is the instrument of instruments 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 without which he shall make little proficiencie in other Arts and Sciences So faith is the Organ or instrument to the spirituall man by which hee is made partaker of the wisdome and spirit of the Lord in which he is to doe all things and without which he can doe nothing Secondly this discovers the reason why the Devill and his agents doe so much oppose the Doctrine of faith and the preaching of it He is an enemie to mans salvation and therefore he is an enemy to the Doctrine of faith through which wee are saved The Devill doth what hee pleaseth to those who are without faith as being unable to resist him Unbeleeving men are like the Israelites without a shield or Speare to defend themselves Jude 5.7 And the Devill doth lead them captive at his will 2 Tim. 2.26 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as wild beasts are mastered and ruled by those who have taken them in a snare or net so the word fignifieth but when wee beleeve to Salvation we are furnished with power to oppose him who seeketh our damnation when we beleeve we are armed against his encounters and fitted against his opposition Faith is the soules defensive Shield by wich all his fierie darts are quenched Eph. 6.16 and therefore it is that he doth alwayes raise opposition persecution and reproaches against the Doctrine and prosessors of Faith Thirdly seeing salvation is by faith examine thy selfe concerning thy salvation by trying thy faith Men that are not in the faith who have not Christ in them are not approved Christians 2 Cor. 13.5 Know yee not your owne selves how that Jesus Christ is in you except yee bee reprobates The word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 except yee be unapproved It is possible that a man may be in a state of unbeliefe and yet no reprobate But he that cannot prove that he hath faith cannot prove himselfe to be a Christian or in a state of Salvation Querie it in thy soule whether thou hast such a faith as we have spoken of Yee have heard that wee are saved through faith which is a supernaturall gift of the Spirit by which those things which the naturall man cannot apprehend concerning salvation are made plaine to the soule Supernaturall things cannot be knowne but by something which is supernaturall As the things of nature are knowne by the light of nature things of reason by the light of reason So the things of eternall life and salvation by the supernaturall gift of faith which is the evidence of the supernaturall things of the Gospel which are invisible Heb 11.1 Abraham beleeved against hope Rom. 4.18 So a spirituall man beleeveth the things of Glory and eternall life which the short line of naturall reason cannot reach or fathome and which naturally he cannot hope for or expect Is thy faith who dost Professe thy selse a child of Abraham such a faith as Abrahams faith was who is the Father of the faithfull Secondly true beleevers see their salvation by faith alone Though a man have many seeds together in his hand yet hee may know the various and diverse natures of those severall seeds So though a justified man have many precious seeds of the Holy Spirit in his heart yet he knoweth the severall natures of them all Though he hath love to God in his heart as well as faith in God yet hee knoweth the nature of Faith which alone is avaylable to Justification Trie whether thou hast been enabled to flie to the strong Tower of Gods grace for safety against Hell sinne and Devills by the silver wings of Faith without the helpe of workes for Justification Thirdly a beleever seeth justification cannot be by grace
the consideration of persons before their conversion as they are descyphered to us and characterized forth in the word of truth The Scripture calls them dead men they are rather Carkasses then men they have the shapes of living men but they are but dead men No more then a Carkasse is a man no more is an unconverted man a man in the scriptures sence As a dead man is able to do nothing to regain life so we who are dead in sins and trespasses are able to doe nothing towards our own conversion This phrase we have in the precedent words Eph. 2.1 You hath he quickned that were dead in sins and trespasses And the same Apostle saith Coll. 2.13 That when we were dead in sins and the uncircumcision of our flesh that then God quickned us with his Son having forgiven us all our trespasses A dead man heares nothing sees nothing there is no motion in him at all so it is with a man that is dead in sins he heares not the things of grace hee heares but he heares not hee sees not the things of grace he sees and he sees not hee is not able to move one foote by faith toward heaven and happinesse Unbelieving men are dead if wee view them in reference to the principle of life or the faculties of a living man or the operations of life Christ is the principle of life Colos 3.3 When Christ who is your life shall appeare then yee also shall appeare with him in glory They are without Christ and therefore without a principle of life 2ly In reference to faculties which are in living men they are dead Faculties are known and distinguished by their acts operations Potentiae distinguuntur et cognoscuntur per actus And therefore wee may speak of these two joyntly and together As in a living man there are faculties and operations of life So there are faculties and operations of life in a man who is spiritually alive Hee is nourished 1 Pet. 2.2 groweth Psal 22.6 heareth seeth smelleth Cant. 1.3 tasieth the sweetnesse of Christ and the like but it is not so with one dead in sin and unbeliefe hee hath no spirituall faculties and operations of life he lyeth rotting in the grave of sin without these If wee play upon Instruments of Musicke or shoot off guns in his eares he heareth it not If God thunders from sin in the Law or commeth from Zion with the musicke of the Gospell he heareth it not Refusing to live to God by faith in Christ he is dead Qui tibi recusat vivere mortuus est August Men without Christ take them in their best estate and thus it is with them with his morall embellishments and ornaments he is but like a dead body stuck with flowers or an embalmed carkasse The whole world of unbelievers is but a Golgotha or Charnel-house of drye bones The man that wandreth out of the way of understanding shall remaine in the Congregation of the dead Pro. 2.6 Though thou art a professor of Christ yet without Christ thou art dead 1 Tim. 5.6 The Widow that professeth Christ living in pleasure is dead while she liveth As Seneca passing by the house of an Epicure said Hic situs est He that liveth here is dead and buryed here So we may say of all prophane men ignorant men civilized men without Christ formalized professors they are there dead where they live And being dead who will so far lay aside his reason to affirme that they are able to quicken themselves to a spirituall life Againe as the Scripture sets them out to us as dead men so the Scripture presents them to us as men that are in a sleep Wee have this expression Ephes 5.14 Awake thou that sleepest and arise from the dead and Christ shall give thee light The knowledge that a man hath of Jesus Christ before his conversion it is rather as the dreame and fancy of a sleeping man then the true knowledge of a waking man A man may dream he is a King thinkes that he hath all the riches in the world but when he awakes he hath nothing because he did but dreame that hee was rich So it is with men that have a knowledge of Christ but not wrought in their hearts by the operation of the spirit they may be in a dreame and have false perswasions that Christ is theirs that heaven is theirs with all the glorious things of eternity but they are but beggars and poor slaves all the while They are likewise compared to mad men who may think that they are Monarchs and in a Palace when they are miserable creatures chained in a Bedlam So carnal men may have false perswasions concerning their happinesse but true faith is only wrought by the spirit of truth And as men out of their wits cannot restore to themselves the use of reason so men spiritually mad cannot bring themselves to the light of grace By which expressioons it is plain that faith is not of our selves My last argument to prove that true faith is not of our selves is derived from the Word in which it doth acquaint us with the wickednesse and deceitfulnesse of mans naturall heart Our hearts are deceitfull and hypocriticall and therfore unfeigned faith cannot come from them and no credite is to be given to the perswasions of them our spirits they will deceive us therefore we are not to give any credite to any perswasion that comes from them a perswasion that is a perswasion meerely of our owne spirit is not a true faith or perswasion Who will believe a common cheater cozener lyar or impostor that cares not what he saith or speakes The heart naturally is like unto such an impostor or deceiver according to that of Jeremiah Ier. 17.9 The heart is deceitfull above all things and desperately wicked who can know it That faith therefore cannot be true which proceedeth from a naturall heart and that comfort cannot be sound which springeth from such a faith By which and the preceding arguments it doth appeare that the true faith of the Gospell is not of our selves Give mee leave now in a few words to make some deductions from this and so I shall commend what I have delivered and you to the blessing of she Almighty In the first place this may confute the Doctrine of Papists Arminianâ— and Popish protestants that conceive that a man is able to do something to the furtherance of his owne justification and salvation This that hath been delivered being seriously weighed in our spirits is sufficient to overthrow this lying Doctrine which would attribute any thing to man or to the strength wisdome understanding will or affections of the naturall man in point of conversion justification and spirituall renovation One of the Ancients who was more enlightned by the spirit then any of his fellowes for the beholding of the truth of GODS grace doth as boldly as truly assert that whosoever shall pull downe the Doctrine of free grace by
of God So there is a two-fold faith there is the faith or perswasion of a mans own heart and a perswasion of the Spirit of God And as the visions of a mans owne heart are false dreames lies and deceits and are justly reprehended by the Prophet Jerem. 23.26 So the perswasions of a mans owne heart they are false dreames and lying perswasions we are to give no credite to them As we should not believe a commonlyer So we are not to believe the perswasions of our own hearts The same Prophet in the 28. ver compareth lying Prophesies to chaffe and the Prophesies of truth to wheat what saith he is the chaffe to the wheat So true faith is like unto wheat and faith of our selves is like unto chaffe As the winde driveth away the chaffe Psalm 1.4 So the blasts of Gods wrath and the winds of temptation will blow away the chaff of a false faith while true faith shall be preserved by God and we through it shall be preserved unto the day of redemption Wherefore brethren we are to try whether or no we doe truly believe Examine your selves saith the Apostle 2 Cor. 13.5 Whether ye bee in the Faith As we have a touch-stone to trye gold so God hath left a spirituall touch-stone by which true faith may be tryed As there are counterfet pieces of gold which can bee hardly distinguished from true gold until they are brought to the touch-stone so there is a counterfeit faith which can hardly be distinguished from true faith untill it be brought unto the spiritual touch-stone Therefore it wil be the wisedome of every one of you to try what faith you have It is not enough to be perswaded that you shall be saved and that Christ is yours and that your names are written in heaven Alas there are false perswasions as well as true There are multitudes of Libertines who turne the grace of God into wantonnesse and make their bellies their Gods and minde earthly things Phil. 3. And yet have strong perswasions that they are in the grace and favour of God There are Pharisees who are perswaded that they are in the love of God the Pharisee had an assurance and gave God thankes for it too Luke 18.11 God I thanke thee I am not as other men are And yet hee was but an hypocrite all the while deluded with the proud conceits of his owne righteousnesse The unbelieving Jewes professed with a great deale of boldnesse and confidence that God was their Father John 8.41 We have one Father even God And yet our Saviour tells them plainely that though they had these strong perswasions that God was their Father yet in truth the Devill was their Father Ye are saith he vers 44. of your Father the Devill A man may be perswaded that Christ will save him and goe to hell and be damned with that perswasion We see by experience that many Apostates who have made a profession of Christ have had strong perswasions of the love of God have fallen from the Gospell to prophanenesse Arminianisme and diabolicall Familisme Our blessed Emanuel doth plainly prove this truth unto us by acquainting us with some who when they shall be brought before his judgement-seate shall be confident of their interest in him whom neverthelesse hee will not own to be his Matth. 7.21 22. Not every on that saith Lord Lord shall enter into the Kingdome of Heaven but he that doth the will of my Father which is in heaven Many shall say unto me in that day Lord Lord have we not prophesied in thy Name and in thy Name have cast out Devills and in thy Name done many wonderfull workes Yet you see what Christ will professe unto them I never knew you depart from me yee workers of iniquity As if he had said It is true you had a strong perswasion that you should be heires in my Kingdome it is true you thought that you should be saved if any in the world were saved but I tell you for all that I know you not depart ye workers of iniquity Wherfore it concerns all men to know whether their faith be a right faith Self-ish faith is no right faith if it arise from no higher a fountaine then our own natural reasons wisdomes and understandings our faith is from our selves and we may carry it to hell with us and find as good faith there in the Devills as this is Though this which I have spoken concerning the tryall of faith doth chiefly concerne such who are deceived with a false faith of their owne making yet it will be very advantagious for the true Saints likewise to try their faith Wherefore before I presse this farther upon such who are under a spirit of delusion I shall speak a word unto the Saints unto this purpose Consider that that man who hath true faith may likewise have much false faith There may bee a great deale of dead faith in him who hath a living faith Where there is true gold there may be much drosse and in that Professor in whom there is the golden faith of the Gospell there may be a great deal of drossie faith which is nothing worth A Christian hath two contrary natures in him Hee hath flesh as well as spirit And as there are perswasions in him flowing from the spirit so there may be perswasions flowing from the flesh Saints sometimes when they are in a luke-warm and back-sliding condition are apt to please and content themselves with the workings and perswasions of their owne spirits And they may finde that much of their joy and comfort doth not proceed from true faith wrought by the operation of God but from the lying cheating counterfeit working and operation of their owne spirits Will you know one principall ground and reason why some true Saints are so unfruitfull dead-hearted formall and luke-warm in the profession of the Gospell it is because the Devil cheats them with the workings and perswasions of their own spirits When God perswades the heart of his love our hearts are inflamed with an holy love to God and are willing to doe or suffer for the glory of God but when wee content our selves with the working of our owne spirits there is idlenesse sloath neglect of Christian duties coldnesse formality and lukewarmness so that there is little difference between us others Again it concerns you all to try your perswasions For if any of you cozen and cheate your selves with the perswasions of you owne spirits the time will come that you who kindle these sparks and walke in the light of your owne fire and in the speaks that ye have kindled This shall ye receive from the hand of the Lord ye shall lye down in sorrow Isa 50.11 When you expect heaven you will be cast downe to hell when you shall be confident that Christ is yours and shall bee ready to plead the goodnesse of your cause in the face of Jesus you shall finde that you were deceived by
the false perswasions and workings of your owne humane spirits A faith of your selves by which ye have been perswaded of those things which ye have received by the relation of thing to the eare will not save you but that faith which is wrought by the Spirit giving an heavenly revelation of Christ to the heart Therefore try whether your faith be from your owne humane spirits and naturall understandings or whether it proceed from the power and spirit of the most high God mightily working in you for the salvation of your soules But you will say How shall we be resolved in our spirits that our faith hath not proceeded from our owne spirits but that it is a work of God in us 1. When God works faith he gives an evident light by which wee see the truth of our faith and thus the faithfull are in the first place assured of salvation in believing The just doth live by faith Heb. 2.4 and hath his life and righteousnesse by faith If any man be in Christ he is a new creature 2 Cor. 5.17 The speciall presence of Christ in the soule doth make a man a new creature and by faith the new creation in us is discovered unto us and therefore Christ is said to bee formed in us by faith Gal. 4.19 So many as receive him by faith are born not of flesh nor of the will of 〈◊〉 but of God and have power to be the sons of God 1 John 12 13. By faith wee are the children of God Gal. 3.26 and know that we are the children of God 1 John 5.10 Hee that believeth on the Sonne of God hath the witnesse in himselfe By which words it appeareth how true faith differeth from a wavering opinion unde apparet quantum differat à fide fluxa opinio Marlor It is the office of faith to beare witnesse to the certainty of our salvation and to give in a testimony of our happinesse by Christ Jesus The blood of Christ doth purge the conscience from dead workes Heb. 9.14 By faith we drink this blood of the Sonne of God Iohn 6.53 and look upon him who is invisible to the eye of reason by this eye of faith which is the evidence of things not seene Heb. 11.1 Christ is set forth as a propitiation and object of our justification by the Father Rom. 3.25 And by faith wee looke upon him who is set forth us to us to be looked upon It is life eternall to know the only true God and Jesus Christ whom he hath sent John 17.3 And true faith is nothing else but the true knowledge of God in the face of Jesus Christ Fides quid aliud est quam vera de de◠cognitio Cyr. Hee that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life and he that believeth not shall not see life John 3.36 In which words our Saviour doth seeme to put a difference between a believer and an unbeliever The unbelieving man seeth not eternall life but the believing man seeth eternall life and hath eternall life abiding in him by which he knoweth that he is freed from the death of sin and from the temporall and eternall death for sin and shall not come into condemnation For when a man truly believeth heaven is opened unto him and he hath a spirituall discovery of Christ made unto his soule But it is not so with a man who hath a perswasion formed in himselfe by himselfe As John said that what hee had seene hee declared unto them 1 John 1. so every spirituall man may say that he hath seene Jesus Christ With Stephen by faith he seeth God and his Son Jesus standing on his right hand Christ is so perfectly presented to the eye of faith that the believer doth by faith looke upon a crucified Christ as though he were present before him Gal. 3. The Apostle to prove the effectuall calling justification of the Thessalonians doth affirm that the Gospell came unto them in much assurance 2 Thes 1.5 Enquire now in thy owne spirit whether thy faith is such a faith as this which the Scripture doth call the unfeigned faith of the elect and if it be such a faith it is not of thy selfe but it is the gift of God 2ly The Kingdome of God being not in word but in power thou that dost truly believe hast found the word of salvation to come unto thee with a mighty power This was an evidence to Paul of the truth of the conversion of the Thessalonians because the Word came in power unto them 1 Thes 1.5 Thou that hast trusted to a perswasion of the grace and favour of God to thee in Christ wrought in thee by thy own spirit thou hast had no heavenly power in this perswasion But he that hath faith wrought by the spirit of God there is a mighty power of God comes downe upon him when hee is enabled to believe Thou that hast a false faith apprehendest it an easie thing to believe because thou didst never feel a power from above comming upon thee to enable thee to believe Whereas the true believer knoweth that it is a difficult thing to believe Because the work of faith is the work of omnipotency According to that of our Savior Io. 6 29. This is the worke of God that ye believe in him who he hath sent Therefore if upon examination thou dost find that thou art only perswaded concerning the mysteries of Christ and the grace of God as thou art perswaded of naturall things in a naturall way and hast not felt the power of heaven enabling thee to believe thy faith is a false faith For where there is true faith a man feeles the power of God enabling him to believe the testimony that God gives of his Son Christ I will give you a plain place to confirm this Ephes 1.19 20. where hee praying for them that they might see the mighty power by which they were enabled to believe doth make use of many very emphaticall expressions that ye may know saith he what is the exceeding greatnesse of his power to us-ward who believe according to the working of his mighty power which he wrought in Christ when he raised him from the dead There hee speakes not only of a power but the greatnesse of power and not only the greatnesse of power but the supereminent greatnes of his power 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And as though hee had not spoken enough to set out the Almightinesse of the power by which we are enabled to believe hee doth inform us that such an operation of the power of the vertue of God for so the words may be translated by which Jesus Christ was raised from the dead and declared to be the Sonne of God is put forth for the enabling of us to believe Thou that hast not this power in thy soule thy perswasion is wrought in thy spirit not by the spirit of grace truth but it flowes from thy own naturall and carnall spirit and it is a perswasion
I shall prove unto you affirmatively that true faith is the gift of God Lastly where the grace of the Father in the blood of his Son is apprehended for the covering of sin there is a forsaking of sin When God doth discover this that he will heale back-sliding love freely and turne away his anger Ephraim shall say what have I to doe any more with Idols Hos 14.8 When God pardoneth sin by his grace he will subdue sin by his grace Mic. 7.8 19. That man who hath true faith wrought in his heart he shall seele the power of grace apprehended for his justification ingaging his spirit to deny ungodlinesse according to that of the Apostle Tit. 2 11 12. The grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men teaching us that denying ungodlinesse and wordly lusts we should live soberly righteously and godly in this present world First 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 soberly in reference to our selves 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 justly in our relation towards men 3. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 piously or religiously in reference to God Grace will not suffer us to live gracelesly because we are justified by grace but will throughly acquaint us with our duty towards God towards men and towards our selves If the grace that thou professest teach thee not to deny ungodliness but thou livest in a gracelesse way dishonouring Christ discrediting the Gospell by thy wicked scandalous and evill life thou dost not in deed and in truth apprehend the Gospell If God discovers himself to Abraham as Alsufficient he will command him to walke before him and be upright Gen. 17. Sin shall not have dominion over us if we are not under the law but under grace Rom. 6. Christ will present himselfe unto us as the pattern for sanctification if hee reveale himselfe as the object of our justification Every man who hath a sure and lively hope of salvation by Jesus Christ purifieth himselfe as he is pure 1 John 3.3 He that truly expects happinesse hereafter studies purity here True Saints do desire not only to know but to doe the will of God Psal 143.10 Teach mee to doe thy will O Lord saith the man after Gods own heart thy spirit is good lead me into the land of uprightnesse The spirit of the Gospell will not lead us into the land of prophanenesse but into the land of uprightnesse Gods goodnesse to us will make us in love with holinesse They shall feare and tremble for all the goodnesse and for all the prosperity that I procure unto them saith the Lord Jer. 33.9 The golden chaine of mercy let down from heaven to draw us up unto God doth binde us and oblige us to the service and obedience of God If thou art an old professor of the Gospel and doctrine of grace and livest gracelesly unacquainted with the sanctifying spirit yet hast a strong perswasion that God is thy Father and Christ thy Saviour thy perswasion is not worth one farthing it will doe thee no good Where there is no desire of purity there is no work of true faith for when thou hast a true and a lively faith and thou seest God gracious loving and merciful believe it thy spirit will be carried forth in desires to be made like unto Christ in holinesse Wee all saith the Apostle with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord are changed into the same image from glory to glory 2 Cor. 3.18 I thou by the lively operation of the spirit hast seene the glory grace beauty and holinesse in Christ for thy Justification thy spirit will be so enamourd with the beauty of holiness perfection in Christ thou wilt desire to see the image and picture of holinesse perfection which is in Christ to be drawne forth upon thy own heart and spirit There may bee some that may thinke that this is strange Doctrine which I have delivered to wit that a man may have strong perswasions concerning his interest in God and Christ and boast much of it and yet be but a hypocrite and reprobate all the while I shall therfore adde one place of Scripture to those which I have delivered for the proofe of this and so for the present I shall conclude Yee shall find it in Micah 3.11 The heads judge for reward and the Priests teach for hire and the Prophets divine for money yet for all this will they leane upon the Lord and say is not the Lord among us none evill can come upon us See here a base vicious and covetous people that sell Justice and the Word of God and yet are confident that they belong to God they would not preach without money in their hand like many of our Priests no penny no pater-noster no money in hand no Sermon no preaching that will not open their mouths further then it is opened with a key of gold or silver yet they professe they are the people of God and make a great shew of Religion and blinde the eyes of poor ignorant people that conclude they are the only zealous holy men in the world though their covetousnesse basenesse and vilenesse in running after Livings and great preferments may appear evidently to children Ye see by this that people may lean upon God desire to be accounted his people and be confident that he is their Father Ioh. 8. And yet may have no true faith but may be self-imposters deceiving themselves with the perswasions of their own spirits whereas true faith is onely from God bestowed upon us by him as a free gift which let the good God worke in our hearts by his grace through Christ Amen SERMON V. Faith is the gift of God EPHES. 2.8 By grace ye are saved through faith not of your selves it is the gift of God THere is nothing doth lay the creature lower in the presence of God then a cleare apprehension of the Creators favour and goodnesse in giving all things freely to the creature The Apostle to beat down the pride of man in spirituall gifts doth make use of this quaere 1 Cor. 4.7 What hast thou that thou hast not received As if he had said if thou dost but seriously consider that thou enjoyest no spirituall gift but it hath been freely given unto to thee thou wiâ—t not see any cause why thou shouldst be proud of it And in these words for the humbling and abasing of man and for the exalting of Gods grace in Jesus Christ he doth set downe this in the last place That true faith is the gift of God I shall illustrate this two manner of wayes First I will shew you that it is the gift of Gods power For this the Apostle drives at here when he opposeth faith as the gift of God to what he had said before maintaining that it was not of our selves Man being not able to believe of himselfe it will necessarily follow that it is onely the power of Almighty God that is able to enable a man
propositions hath beene already proved the second is evident from 2 Tim. 1.9 So that it is evident that faith floweth from eternall grace and therefore it is not of our selves but it is the gift of God Fourthly There is nothing can merit or deserve faith in man before faith is wrought and therefore it is given as a free gift This is plaine by Rom. 9.16 It is not of him that willeth nor of him that runneth but of God that sheweth mercy John 1.13 There may be as much in one that shall be damned as in him that shall be saved before his conversion Peter did no more to merit or deserve his first faith then Iudas did Gods grace is his rule by which he worketh in giving faith unto any man and therefore faith is the gift of God Fifthly Gods designe in justifying a sinner through faith as hath beene formerly proved is the magnifying of his owne free love unto the creature in Christ and therefore hee doth acquaint us that faith is the free gift of his grace that so hee may devest the creature of glorying in himself or in any thing from himselfe If the Father should justifie us by grace through faith and wee should apprehend that our faith were of our selves there would bee some glorying in our selves And therefore he doth justifie by grace through faith as a fruit effect and free gift of his owne grace So proud we are naturally that though wee were convinced that we were saved by grace as a gift given unto us as almes unto a beggar yet we should be proud if wee knew that of our selves we had an hand to receive it and therefore God doth not only in his grace give us the gift of eternall life but the hand by which we receive it Thus wee are saved by grace through faith which is the gift of God Sixthly The Apostle saith that no man can say that Jesus is the Christ but by the holy Spirit 1 Cor. 12.3 But by faith we confesse that Jesus is the Christ and therefore it doth plainly follow that it is from the holy Spirit of grace The Spirit doth shew that all things are freely given us of God 2 Cor. 3.12 And therefore faith is freely given us of God If every thing then faith Every good and perfect gift commeth downe from the Father of lights if we will believe James Jam. 1.17 And therefore we must grant that faith is given unto us of God or else deny it to be a good and perfect gift Obj But some may say if faith be a gift why doth our Saviour bid us to buy gold tryed in the fire that we may be cloathed that the shame of our nakednesse may not appeare Rev. 3.18 Answ This word buying is taken properly and so it signifieth the purchasing of something by some considerable price which is given for it There can be no buying of a thing without some price Nulla exemptio sine pretio esse potest Justinian in stit lib. 3. Tit. 24. And in this sence wee cannot buy faith or Christ having no considerable price to pay for Christ before we enjoy Christ 2ly Buying is taken improperly Isa 55.1 Buy wine and milke without money and without price And if faith be to be bought it must be thus bought by us we have no money or price to part with for faith And what is thus bought by us is freely given unto us So that this objection is too weake to weaken the truth which hath beene delivered It standeth still unshaken and unmoveable upon its owne Basis Faith is the gift of God Having proved it sufficiently by these considerations that faith is a gift I shall draw some usefull conclusions from them and put a period to my discourse First This overthroweth the meritoriousnesse of the righteousnesse of our owne works qualifications or preparations before faith for the deserving any thing at the hand of God to ingage him to give us faith What we receive as a free gift cannot be given us in consideration of our merits or deservings I shall but touch this because I have formerly taken paines to beate downe the Antichristian monster of Free-will and merit of workes which like two twinnes of the same wombe doe live and dye in the same moment It is the Lord Jesus must seeke us before ever we can finde him And we cannot as we ought desire faith untill faith be freely bestowed upon us Gods free grace doth prevent mans free will And if God leave us to our selves and to our owne labours endeavours actings duties and performances and doe not come in by the power of his grace upon us we shall never be able truly and spiritually to understand any thing of free grace Away then with the foolish conceite of those who cry up the strength of mans will and his precedent qualifications of righteousnesse and holinesse for the making of some men worthy to close with Christ in a promise of free grace rather then great sinners 2ly This may informe us that such shall certainly believe whom God will enable to believe through grace Acts 18.27 An infinite power is of such strength that a finite power is not able to resist it but whatsoever power there is in the creature by which it may resist the worke of Gods grace it is but finite and the grace whereby we are enabled to believe is infinite therefore we are not able to resist the infinite power of the grace of God by which we are enabled to believe Take the Devill and all the powers of hell with all that is in the heart of man all his sinnes ignorances and corruptions conjoyning their forces to hinder the worke of faith in the spirit of a man all these together are but a finite power but when God comes hee comes with an infinite power to enable us to believe Therfore I conclude that wee are not able to resist the power of God when hee is determined to give us faith Faith being the gift of his Almighty power But some may here object with the Arminiaus that place of Stephen Acts. 7.51 Ye stiffe-necked and uncircumcised in heart and eares yee have alway resisted the holy Spiri Here say they you see that men have resisted the holy Spirit therefore God doth not so worke upon men by the power of his grace that he leaves them altogether unable to resist To this I answer that there is a two-fold power that God puts forth An ordinary power in the preaching of his Word when by intreaties beseeching and promises and the like he allures and enticeth men in the preaching of the Word and knocking at the doores of their hearts for entrance This common worke of the spirit may be resisted and so all wicked and ungodly men in this sense resist the Spirit of God and reject the Lord Jesus Christ But there is another power of the spirit and that is that inward spirituall power by which God comes on those whom
sanctification at the resurrection and yet you will not say that we shall be acquitted from our sinnes by it which wee have committed upon earth but by the grace of God in the blood of Christ 2. We are justified before sanctification and therefore it will not follow that we are justified by it Because that is done before the other is wrought in us 3. That a man may be justified by his sanctification It is necessary that a man should be so wholy sanctified that there should be no sin in the man Our good works will not make satisfaction for our bad works A Traytor for an act of treason might be condemned by his Prince though he hath done him much good service If a man would seeke justification by the law who is sanctified in part the law would condemn him for his sin in his unregenerated part taking no notice of any sufficiency in his sanctification to free him from condemnation for his sinne in the unregenerated part Arg. 19. This opinion that the good works of the justified man are sin or sinfull do make divers places of Scripture irreconcileable Men shall never be well able to reconcile many places of Scripture who swallow this as a trueth that whatsoever workes are now done in the Saints are nothing but sinne or sinfull For instance in one place we are bound to disclaime our works and to account all our righteousnesses as filthy ragges to believe in him that justifieth the ungodly And in another place we are said to be redeemed from all iniquity that we might be zealous of good workes Tit. 2. And we are the work-manship of God created in Christ Jesus to good workes Eph. 2. By what I have delivered they are easily reconcileable To wit by distinguishing as the Scripture doth concerning good works thus That all the works of man under the Law are but splendid and shining sins and that the spirituall workes of a spirituall man are good and not sin or sinfull in their nature Not that the Scripture makes these good workes that flow from the spirituall man the cause or the matter of our justification but the fruits of the Spirit and the consequents of our justification It is a speech of Luthers worthy to be written in letters of gold that the whole world with all the riches of it are of no worth in comparison of good works flowing from faith and wrought by the Spirit of God in the hearts of his people Which how it can be made good I know not if that be true which he and some other Protestant Writers affirme that Omne bonum secundum judicium dei est mortale peccatum every good worke of a regenerate man according to the judgment of God is a mortall sin That which is morally evill is not so good as any thing which is not morally evill That being the greatest evill which is morally evill I have known some professors of the Gospel who have fallen to Familisme and Atheisticall opinions and being asked why they did leave the Gospel they have answered that they could never reconcile the Scriptures concerning works to other places while they were professors of the Gospel Their meaning is while they were professor upon these principles by which they were taught to look upon the works of the spirit in them as sin and sinfull That which is frequently afferted by some Mr. Eatoon Honycomb and others that they are good to men-ward will not make up the breach The Apostle Peter speaking of a meeke quiet spirit which is the ornament of the hidden man of the heart saith that it is of great price in the sight of God 1 Pet. 3.4 The Apostle speaking of his fincerity in preaching the Gospel is not affraid to bring it into the sight of God 2 Cor. 2.17 And John saith 1 Joh. 3.22 That whatsoever we aske we receive of him because wee keepe his Commandements and doe those things which are pleasing in his sight And that he doth not meane believing only is plain by the next verse where he saith That this is his Commandement that wee believe on the name of his Sonne Jesus Christ and love one another And to stop the mouth of the objection which is usually brought against this truth to wit that he speaketh of doing as in Gods precept or command and not as done by us He saith that we receive what we aske because wee doe what is pleasing in his sight I must professe to the glory of God that this distinction hath given me a great light in the understanding of the Scripture And by this I am informed that I am justified without holiness or sanctification and yet that without holiness no man shall see the Lord Heb. 12.14 Arg. 20. This opinion that the good works of a man born of God are sin or sinfull doth overthrow the distinction which is warranted by many thousand places of Scripture between good works and bad works and doth draw a curse upon the doer of it Can evill be good or good evill Woe unto them that call evil good and good evill that put darkenesse for light and light for darkenesse that put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter Isa 5.20 What else doe they doe who plainley averre that every good work is evill Object Doe we deny the difference betweene white and blacke because we say that in most white bodies there is a mixture of some blacknesse with the whitenesse c. Answ If it could be proved that there were a mixture of that which is of the spirit and that which is of the flesh that that which is spirituall should be made fleshly by it there would seeme to be some strength in this objection But untill that such a mixture bee proved by plaine Scriptures we shall think it sufficient to affirme that such similitudes which have not their foundation upon a principle of truth do prove nothing Arg. 21. It taketh away the difference between a sanctified and unsanctified man which is a distinction which doth stand firme upon the basis of the Scripture of truth The Apostle doth plainly lay downe this distinction 1 Cor. 6.11 Where hee informeth us of the condition of the Corinthians before conversion to wit that they were thieves adulteresses and the like such were some of you and then setteth forth their blessed condition after conversion But ye are washed but ye are sanctified And doth second this truth with his owne experience acknowleding that there was a real change wrought in himself after conversion by sanctification 1 Tim. 1. I was saith he a persecuter a blasphemer injurious but the grace of our Lord was exceeding abundant with 〈…〉 love which is in Christ Jesus not with 〈…〉 but love also If God hath pulled you out of the fire of sinne and drawne you as fire-brands out of Hell and brought you into the glorious kingdome of his Son ye are able to professe the same sanctified change in your selves It is a dead
sonne of God is come and hath given us an understanding that we may know him 1 John 5.20.3 They are all gone out of the way But we can blesse God who through Jesus Christ hath brought us into the way of salvation 4. There is none that doth good no not one and there is none that is righteous But hearken unto the speech of John 1 John 3.7 Let no man deceive you hee that doth righteousness is righteous even as he is righteous I might runne over all the other particulars there laid downe but I shall content my selfe with what is spoken in the 17. 18. its said that the way of peace have they not known and there is no feare of God before their eyes Is a regenerate man an enemie to the way of peace and doe not they feare God to whom God hath sworne Jer. 32.40 That he will put his feare in their hearts that they shall not depart from him Again secondly you would prove it by this argument because hee speaketh of all those who are justified But let me tell you that we must distinguish of a man before and after his Justification Every man is such a man before Justification and in this respect he speaketh of all men but after justification there is a change wrought in a man as I have formerly proved at large unto which I refer the Reader But thirdly you instance in David and Abraham who were regenerated men Answ Wee are not to forget that the Scripture dosh acquaint us that there is a two-fold righteousnesse of a regenerate man The righteousnesse of Justification and the righteousnesse of sanctification Of the first of these the Prophet speaking saith that a man is blessed to whom sin is not imputed of the latter where hee saith of the same verse And in whose spirit there is no guile which the learned Zanchius doth apprehend to be spoken in reference to that sanctification which is in the unregenerated part understand the distinction rightly and you cannot want an answer to this Objection Arg. 3. Wee believe not so stedfastly nor love so perfectly as we ought therefore is our faith love imperfect and sinfull Ans 1. If we should grant the antecedent we may deny the consequence It is true that if a man doth not believe so stedfastly and love so perfectly as he ought that then the man doth sin consider him physically And this wee have alwayes granted but it doth not follow that his faith and love is sin but that which is in the flesh is sin which is the cause that he doth not believe so stedfastly and love so perfectly as he ought Amesius doth give a sufficient answer to this in answering an argument which Bellarmine doth bring against the Protestants to wit that sins doe not please God in Christ It is true saith he that sin doth not please God but the stain of sin being done away the good which remaineth is pleasing unto God Sane quidem certe sedpeccati maculâ in Christo deletâ bonum substratum placet Tom. 4. l. 6. c. 8. 2ly We say that a regenerate man looked upon in the new Covenant doth believe stedfastly and love perfectly His unbeliefe and hatred of God which is in the flesh being covered with the rich mantle of Gods grace and mercy as far as he doth believe truly he doth believe stedfastly and as far as he doth love he doth love perfectly Let not his offend any man that I say he doth love perfectly It is granted by most Protestant writers that a regenerate man hath a perfection of parts though not of degrees A childe may have an humane nature and the parts of a man as well as a man of forty yeares old A sparke of fire hath the true nature of fire a drop of water hath the nature of water in it as wel as all the water in the Sea So a sparke or drop of love hath the divine nature of love in it as well as that which burnes in the breasts of a Seraphim and therefore is not sin or sinfull And for this reason it is said that Abraham was not weak in faith though it is unquestionable that hee had his weaknesse in the flesh as well as other men and that hee staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief but was strong in faith giving glory to God Rom. 4. And this is the meaning likewise of Amesius in the place formerly cited where hee saith That the good works of the faithfull are not only good by the object of them but in reference to all the causes of them the efficient materiall formall and finall cause Opera fidelium non tantum sunt bona ex objecto sed etiam quoad omnes causas efficientem materiam formam et finem Arg. 4. Sanctification in the feare of God is alwayes perfecting whilest we live here in this life 2 Cor. 7.1 and therefore it is not perfected untill the life to come Answ Sanctification is said to be perfecting here in reference to that which is in the flesh which is to be put off that sanctificaiion may come in the place of it not in reference unto that which is already wrought as though that sanctification were not already perfect if we take perfection as it is opposed to that which is sinfull 2. It is said that our Saviour encreased in wisdome Luk. 2.52 will you say that his wisedome was sinfull at first because he did encrease and grow in it You may as well say so as conclude that our sanctification is sinne or sinfull because it doth grow or increase to a greater perfection Arg. 5. If our workes be in themselves perfect then might Paul have desired to have been found in them before God Answ I deny the consequence For these good workes are not wrought in us that they may be the cause or matter of our Justification and therefore Paul will not appeare before God in them for Justification But Paul and every true Saint being justified by faith without them doth dare to bring them in the presence of God as secondary evidences of Gods love to him According to that of John 1 John 3.14 We know that we have passed from death to life because we love the Brethren hee that loveth not his brother abideth in death ver 19. And hereby wee know that we are of the truth and shall perswade our hearts before him Which you maintaining them to be sin and sinful doe not doe Arg. 6. If the new man doth not sinne then he is not the man who is pronounced to bee a blessed man Psal 32. Rom. 4. Answ This is a plaine fallacy You take the new man here physically whom wee take according to Scripture Spiritually and Theologically Justification to speak properly is neither of the new man nor old man but of the person in whom there is an old man and a new man And this man is justified from the sinnes of the old man by the work of