immoderate Affections but indulge themselves in these or any of these or the like they deceive themselves whatever their External Conformity to Divine Precepts otherwise may be They are the pure in heart that shall see God And they that are Christs have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts God observes more what Men are inwardly than what they are outwardly and judges of them accordingly He is not a Jew nor he a Christian who is one outwardly in the flesh but he who is so inwardly in heart whose praise is not of Men but of God Rom. 2.28 29. And therefore St. James counted them but Earthly Sensual and Devilish in their Profession of Christianity how high soever they professed and such as did lye against the Truth that indulged bitter envying and strife though it were but in their hearts Jam. 3.14 15. And if Lusts and Passions within shall break out in an unbridled Tongue in Slandering Reviling Back-biting Evil-speaking rash and uncharitable Censuring or the like how Religious soever such a Man may otherwise seem to himself or others yet St. James hath plainly determined his case such an one hath deceived his own heart and his Religion is vain Jam. 2.26 Mat. 5.22 Men may go a great way in Religion yea so far as until they are not far from the Kingdom of God Yea many shall seek to enter in by doing many things in order thereto and yet shall not be able for want of striving to do all that is necessary thereto And for that very reason and because of the great danger of Christians falling short tho' they have gone far and done much are they so earnestly Exhorted to work out or to work through their own Salvation with Fear and Trembling with a fear of falling short Phil. 2.12 And not only so but to fear even a seeming to come short of the promised Rest Heb. 4.1 Let us therefore fear lest a promise being left us of entering into his Rest any of you should seem to come short of it The matter is of that huge consequence that every wise Man that doth not despise his own Soul should be afraid to do or omit to do any thing that hath but the least seeming shew or apperance of putting his Salvation into any hazard And therefore All diligence is not too much for the wisest Man living to use to make his calling and election sure 2 Pet. 1.10 Thus when Mens Understandings are bribed by their corrupt Wills they then take up with a partial Faith a partial Repentance and a partial Obedience instead of that which is Evangelically compleat and hope it is a fulfilling of the Condition of the Promise And when Men shut their own Eyes and stop their own Ears against the evidence of the Word of Salvation that they may the more quietly enjoy the pleasures of any sin God many times in his Righteous Judgment after much striving and long-suffering withdraws the Assistance of his Grace and Spirit and leaves them to themselves and their own Delusions and to be practised upon by the Devil for their farther hardening according to that dreadful Prophesie in Isa 6.9 10. mentioned no less than five or six times in the New Testament Mat. 13.14 Mar. 4.12 Luke 8.10 Joh. 12.40 Acts 28.26 Rom. 11.8 Go tell this people hear ye indeed but understand not and see ye indeed but perceive not Make the heart of this people fat and make their Ears heavy and shut their Eyes c. When Men will not receive the love of the Truth that they might be saved but have pleasure in Unrighteousness God sometimes sends them strong delusions to believe a lye 2 Thes 2.10 11 12. Whereas on the contrary the good-ground hearers are dâscribed by the honesty of the Heart into which they receive the Word They study no tricks or shifts nor use any shuffling upon the account of any dishonest interest to evade the plain Truth but are content that should take place and all other things give place to it They suffer that Word which was received and assented to in the Judgment before in order of Nature to sink down into their hearts by which the Will and Affections become changed CHAP. IV. How and after what manner Faith in the Vnderstanding works savingly upon the Will THE Faith of Assent in the Understanding worketh a Consent in the Will unto the Condition of the Promise by its operative and affecting influence upon the Passions of Hope Fear and Love the powerful Principles of Action in Man For tho' Faith in the Understanding is the first Principle of Action as Christian yet not that but the Will as it is affected with Hope Fear or Love is the next and immediate Principle of Action The Understanding when it rightly performs its Office doth not only assent unto the Truth of Divine Revelation upon competent Evidence that it is from God but also considers and weighs as in a balance the import of it and how a Man is concerned in it as whether it betoken Good or Evil to him and how much and upon what terms whether Absolutely or Conditionally and what the Condition is All which when brought down to the subordinate Faculties of the Soul the Will and Affections is apt to affect them and work upon them more or less according as the things believed are apprehended more or less to concern a Man And the things believed Eternal Life and Eternal Death in another World being Invisible and absent things it is a Man's Faith touching the reality of them that supplies the room or absence of sense For Faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen Heb. 11.1 We neither see nor feel the glorious things promised nor the dreadful things threatned in another World otherwise than by Faith which gives the Believer a prospect of them But a Man by his Faith in that Gospel by which they are revealed hath a foresight of them as Abraham had of Christ's Day and that fills the Soul with Hope and Fear and a sense of God's love in giving such an Hope And this Hope Fear and Love puts Men upon more or less Care Diligence and Industry in doing what is necessary for the obtaining of the one and escaping the other as they are more or less influenced by a Faith that is weaker or stronger or more or less active and exercised about these things And hence comes that change which is made in the Hearts and Lives of true Believers who walk by Faith and not by Sight that is they govern their Lives by the belief of invisible and not sensible things 2 Cor. 5.7 This in general But more particularly the Faith of Assent in the Understanding works the Faith of Consent in the Will by its operation upon those three Passions or Affections of the Will Hope Fear and Love 1. As a firm assenting to the Truth of God's Promise through Christ of pardon of Sin and Eternal Life upon
than throughly to understand both the Meaning and Importance of every Doctrine of Faith and the Nature and Extent of every Christian Duty And lastly since a good End can never be obtain'd without the Knowledge and Use of due and proper means the Nature therefore and Use of Prayer and the Nature and End of Sacraments must be a most necessary part of Christian Knowledge So much must our Appetites after Knowledge in the most Excellent of Humane Arts and Science be Renounc'd in comparison of our Desires after a competent Measure of Divine Knowledge But Lastly III. When out of Pride Prejudice and contradiction to all Sacred Truths we set up our own Carnal Imaginations Fleshly Reasonings against those Spiritual Notions and those Mysterious Articles of our Faith which are deliver'd to us in Scripture Above all we must Renounce that prevailing Appetite in such as are of most Depraved and Corrupt Minds viz. The setting up their own Imaginations and Fleshly Reasonings against those Spiritual Notions and those more Mysterious Articles of Faith which are delivered to us in the Scripture In the more depraved Nature of some Men there is a great deal of Untowardness and Difficulty to submit to the sacred Truths Revealed to us by Christ in the Gospel as to Matters of Faith or such Articles as are necessary to be believ'd One that is conceited of his own Wisdom strength of Parts or Improvement in Knowledge will not submit his Reason to entertain Notions which he cannot Comprehend and Penetrate The Carnal Mind which is Enmity against God Rom. 8.7 will disdain to have his Understanding baffl'd or puzzl'd with sublime Mysteries of Faith he will quarrel at any thing too high for his Wit to reach or too Knotty for him to unloose How can these things be What Reason can there be for this I cannot see how this can be true This Point is not intelligible And perhaps he finds fault with the whole Body of the Scriptures either because some things are obscure to him or the Phrase is not queint and fine enough Thus the Carnal Mind treateth the Dictates of Faith and the Word of God But far be it from Christians thus to indulge their own Carnal Reasonings and Self-Conceits in opposition to what God has Reveal'd to us as necessary to be Believ'd by us For certainly the Infinite Wisdom both knows what is fittest to be taught and reveal'd to us and in what Manner and Method he had best to express himself Those that did thus proudly despise the Wisdom of God measuring it according to their own Talent of Wit and Understanding did at first and do to this Day most fatally miscarry for it is written 1 Cor. 1.19 I will destroy the Wisdom of the Wise and will bring to nothing the Vnderstanding of the Prudent But our Duty is to submit our Understanding to Almighty God to be Inlighten'd by his infinite Wisdom Casting down Imaginations and every high thing that exalteth it self against the Knowledge of God and bringing into Captivity every Thought to the Obedience of Christ 2 Cor. 10.5 There is a great deal of Vertue and Grace in an Obedient Understanding and therefore to the Disciples who were so dispos'd To them it was given as our Saviour tells us Matth. 13.11 To understand the Mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven but to them who are not prepar'd with an humble Mind it is not given Nor is this an hard Imposition upon Mankind to oblige 'em to believe what is above our Reason to Comprehend It is sufficient that the Holy Scriptures which do deliver such Articles of Faith as necessary to be Believ'd are sufficiently witnessed to be Divine Revelations and that there is nothing contain'd in the Articles or Mysteries themselves which is contrary or contradictory to that Reason which God has given to Man But that there should be any thing in an Article of Faith which though it be above our Reason to Comprehend especially in this its State of weakness must yet be Believ'd will not seem hard if we consider that there are many Appearances even in Nature it self which no Man has been yet found who could give a tolerable account for and yet the truth of their being so and so cannot be call'd in question This Humour of opposing Reason to Revelation proceeds from meer Pride In short this Humour of opposing our own Fleshly Reasonings against those Divine Revelations which we cannot now in this State of Imperfection so fully Comprehend proceeds meerly from the Pride of those Men who disdaining to own the Decays of our Reason as well as of other the Powers of the Soul ever since the Fall which every modest Man's Experience does make him too sensible of in a Thousand Instances do over-value their Talent of Wit far beyond what they ought And this therefore being such a proud Luciferian Temper it ought to be Renounc'd as the most Impious of all the Sinful Lusts of the Fleshly Mind And let this suffice to be spoke concerning our Renouncing of the Sinful Lusts of that sort The Corrupt Will what and how to be Renounc'd 2. Let us next consider the WILL and the Innate Corruption which Residing in that Faculty renders it Fleshly and tending in all its Choices towards the Creature and so the proper Matter of the Christian's Renunciation And as to this Faculty we are to consider how that God gave to Man a Righteous Law which was to be the Rule of his Will and while it was conformable to this it was conformable to the Will of God and consequently Beautiful and Regular but instead thereof there is now a Law of Sin and Death Rom. 8.2 And this Law subdues the Law of the Mind and brings the Soul into Captivity to the Law of Sin Rom. 7.23 And the Will being thus Captivated is made Carnal and filled with Enmity against God and that Law which he once planted in us to be the Rule of our Will so that it is not subject to the Law of God neither indeed can be whilst we remain Unregenerate Rom. 8.7 But in its corrupt State being always Averse to the Directions of God's Laws and Right Reason it perversly chuses those things which please only the Senses and so becomes in the most proper and immediate Sence of the Word a Sinful and Fleshly Lust But as obstinately bent as the Corrupt Will is found to be against complying with the Laws of God which would guide our Souls upwards we must bring our selves to that Habit of Self-denial so as readily to submit our Wills to God's Laws to be Governed by 'em the reason is we are not our own and therefore our own depraved Wills ought not to bear Rule in us but we are God's Creatures and his Subjects and Servants and therefore his All-wise Will and Pleasure should be the Rule and Measure of and preside over all our Actions And this it must do in the most difficult Cases when his
according as is the Authority and Sufficiency of him upon whose Testimony we Believe a thing to be true accordingly more or less is the Credit we give to what he speaks If it be only the Word of a mere Man which we have for the Truth of a thing we are not to Believe it as that which is infallibly certain for the wisest and best of Men are insufficient to give us ground to Believe 'em as infallible in what they deliver The wisest of Men may be ignorant of the exact Truth of Things and so may be deceived themselves and those that are not the best nor very honest tho' they do know what they say yet may deceive others So that the Credit we give to any Man living can amount to no more than a Human Faith such as is fit to be given to Man and we cannot Believe infallibly what an uninspired Person shall say as if it were impossible it should be otherwise than he reports Divine Faith upon Gods Word and Testimony But if it be upon God's Authority and upon his Testimony that we Believe a thing since God is of Infinite Knowledge and Wisdom so that he cannot be deceiv'd Himself and take that for true which is not and since He is a God of Infinite Truth Justice and Goodness so that if he could he will not deceive any Man since God both upon the account of his Wisdom and Uprightness is of that Sufficiency and Authority that He cannot lye Tit. 1.2 whatever therefore he does deliver we are undoubtedly to Believe as infallibly certain and this is a Divine Faith proper only to be given to God's Testimony and Word And this is to Believe in the Christian Sence of the Word It is to be undoubtedly perswaded upon the Divine Authority of the Infallible Truth and Certainty of whatever God has delivered and revealed to us in the Scriptures particularly and especially it is to be undoubtedly perswaded of the Infallible Certainty of those main Truths of Scripture the Articles of our Christian Faith wherein are declared the only Method of Reconciliation betwixt God and Man through our Saviour Jesus Christ as well as the strongest Motives to a Holy Life And lastly it is to be perswaded of these things in such a manner and with such Acts of the Mind as is agreeable to the Nature of these several Truths Divine Faith defined This is the fullest and plainest Description I can give you of the Nature of Faith or Believing as including an account both of all those Objects or Divine Truths necessary to be Believed and of all those Acts of the Mind imply'd in Believing But to make this Description clear I will in as few Words as possible open the several Parts of it to you 1. To Believe is to be undoubtedly perswaded upon God's Authority of the Infallible Truth and Certainty of all that he has Revealed 1. To Believe is to be undoubtedly perswaded upon the Divine Authority of the Infallible Truth and Certainty of all that God has revealed A Christian must not entertain the least Doubt of the Truth of any Divine Revelation for this is to conceive meanly and unworthily of God as if He were such a one as our selves either one that were Ignorant and did not exactly know the Truth himself of what he spoke or one that were Insincere and did design to delude us into a false Perswasion of Things but far be it from us to conceive any such thing of GOD. There is nothing past present or to come there is nothing in the Nature of Things that he does not most clearly know and apprehend there is not any Creature that is not manifest in his sight but all things are naked and open before the eyes of him with whom we have to do Heb. 4.13 So that let his Revelations and Divine Mysteries seem never so Improbable to us or be never so Incomprehensible and beyond the reach of our Human Understandings to fathom we may notwithstanding assure our selves they are such as they are delivered since the Infinite the Omnipotent the Almighty GOD says it Nor is he Insincere and one that would delude us into a false Perswasion of Things No it is the Devil that is Insincere and the Father of Lyes John 8.44 but it is impossible that God should lye Heb. 6.18 And to what end should he deceive us by making us to Believe a Falshood What Interest can he serve by it Our being deceived can in no wise profit Him False and deceitful Men do indeed love to delude others to Believe Errors and Falshoods thereby to make a Prey of 'em but we can in no wise advantage God by our Misperswasions So that we are in such manner to give Credit to all Divine Revelations even the most Incomprehensible Mysteries of the Gospel and Articles of Faith as to be fully perswaded it is impossible but the Divine Declarations concerning these things are true since God has Reveal'd 'em to us But 2. They are those Revelations and those only 2. Those Revelations and those only which are contained in Scripture are the proper Objects of Divine Faith Nââ such Doctrines as are derived only from unwritten Tradition Nor any particular Propositions concerning my self as my own particular Election and Justification in special which are contain'd in the Holy Scriptures that we are thus to Believe We are not to Believe with a Divine Faith and as founded upon the Testimony of God such Doctrines and Tenets as being derived only from Vnwritten Tradition have no Foundation in Scripture From which corrupt Fountain alone it is that the Church of Rome has all those Articles of her Creed wherein she differs from Us And with respect to which we may truly say of the Romish Doctors as our Saviour did of the Pharisees That in vain do they Worship God teaching for Doctrines the Commandments of Men Mark 7.7 Nor are the Objects of a Divine Faith any particular Propositions concerning our selves in special as some think who define Faith to be a firm Assent not only to all things which God hath revealed to us in his Word Fides est non tantum certa notitia qua firmiter assentior omnibus quae Deus nobis in verbo suo patefecit sed etiam certa siducia à Spiritu sancto per Evangelium in corde meo accensa qua in Deo acquiesco certo statuens non solum aliis sed mihi quoque remissionem peccatorum aeternam justitiam vitam donatam idque gratia ex misericordia Dei propter unius Christi Meritum Cattches Heidelbergens but also a certain Assurance kindled in the Heart by the Spirit of God through the Gospel whereby I put my full trust in God being assuredly perswaded that not only to others but to me in particular Remission of Sins Justification and Eternal Life are bestowed and that freely through the Mercy of God for the Merits of Jesus Christ. And agreeably
come short of it Sect. 7. I come now in the next place to shew What the condition of the Promise to Abraham was In short it was a practical Faith And under this Head I shall endeavour 1. To give some account of the nature of Abraham's Faith in general 2. To describe Faith And 3. To shew reason why Faith is made the condition of the Covenant 1. The condition of the Promise to Abraham was Faith and as I shall after shew a practical Faith For that was it upon which the great Blessing of the Covenant Justification was conferred upon him with the consequent benefits In Gen. 15.6 it is said of Abraham that he believed in the Lord and he counted it to him for righteousness But St. Paul reciting this Scripture faith Abraham believed God and it was counted to him for Righteousness Rom. 4.3 Gal. 3.6 If there be any difference between believing God and believing in God it seems to be this To believe God is to believe him upon his Word to believe all that to be true which he saith when he hath once spoken it But to believe in God is first to believe him to be such an One of such a Nature as neither will nor can at any time speak any thing but what is true It is to believe him to be a God that cannot lye For all true Faith as Abraham's was is founded in the Nature of God Abraham did primarily believe in God and consequently believed his Sayings of what nature soever they were And secondly To believe in God is to believe that he can and will perform whatever he promised how unlikely soever the thing in its own nature otherwise be And this was the nature of Abraham's Faith as appears by St. Paul's Comment upon it Rom. 4.20 21. He staggered not at the Promise of God through unbelief but was strong in Faith giving glory to God and being fully perswaded that what he had promised he was able also to perform He gave to God the glory of his Nature and Being of his Truth and Faithfulness in his Promises and of his Power and Ability to perform what he had promised notwithstanding its utmost improbability in Nature And therefore or for this reason his Faith was imputed to him for righteousness as we are told in ver 22. of Rom. 4. And so it should seem it is not the believing of any one particular or single Promise that is counted for Righteousness otherwise than as it is an instance of Faith in God in general in reference to whatever he doth say or shall declare Which may be the reason why Faith is said to be counted to Abraham for Righteousness as well when he had not the Messias in the Promise as the immediate Object of his Faith but somewhat else as when he had The Promise the believing of which was counted to Abraham for righteousness in Gen. 15.6 was a Promise of a numerous Issue So shall thy Seed be viz. as numberless as the Stars But that which produced a Belief of this particular Promise would and doubtless did produce in him a belief of the promise of the Messias and of every other Promise and Word of God and declaration of his mind so far as understood by him and that was an habitual belief of God's Truth and Faithfulness Wisdom Power and Goodness his fixed belief in God And so a believing God's Threatnings so as to use means to escape them is it should seem counted to one for Righteousness as well as the belief of the Promises as growing upon the same Root Thus Noah's Believing God's threatning to bring a Deluge upon the World and his Obedience to God's Command in the preparing an Ark for the saving of his House was that or at least one instance of that Faith by which he became Heir of the Righteousness which is by Faith Heb. 11.7 It was this general Faith in God that made Abraham so compliant with every intimation of his will and pleasure By it he forsook his own Country and Kindred at God's command to go he knew not whither but depended on God's after-direction in that case Heb. 11.8 By it he was ready to offer his Son Isaac in whom the Promises were made And he had such a firm Belief in God's Promise That in Isaac his Seed should be called that he concluded that God would raise him from the Dead when he had Sacrificed him rather than fail in the least of making good his Promise Heb. 11.17 18 19. He had such a confidence in God that is to say in his Wisdom Goodness Truth and Power as wrought him to an entire Resignation of himself to God's will and pleasure He believed God to be so Good and so Wise as not to put him upon any thing but what should be for his good in the issue And so True and Powerful as to promise nothing but what he could and would perform In a word this his Belief in God made him believe all his Promises and obey all his Precepts 2. Come we next to some description of that Faith which is the condition of the Promise or Covenant of Salvation Wherein I shall have respect to the nature of Saving Faith in general in reference to all Ages of the Church and also to the Christian Evangelical Faith in special Faith strictly taken is an assent unto the truth of any Proposition upon the credit of the Speaker But Saving Faith is of a more comprehensive nature than is a meer assent unto the Truth of any one Proposition And although Saving Faith is sometimes described by an assenting to the truth of one single Proposition yet then it implies the belief of many more and such a belief as draws in the Will to act according to the import and concernment of the thing believed As for instance The Belief of this Proposition That Christ Jesus is the Son of God by which Faith is sometimes described doth include in it a belief of the truth of his whole Doctrine both concerning God's Grace and Man's Duty and the Will 's concurrence as to its concernment in it For if he be the Son of God then he cannot lye or deceive in any thing he hath said And again the belief of this Proposition That God raised Christ from the Dead by which Faith is also described Rom. 10.9 includes in it a belief That all that Doctrine which he taught is undoubtedly true For if it had not God would never have wrought such a Miracle as to Raise Christ from the Dead to confirm it The belief then of such single Propositions include a belief of the whole Doctrine of the Gospel which is the proper Object of the Christian Faith and for that cause is frequently stiled Faith or the Faith in the New Testament But if we respect the nature of Faith in general as answering the different degrees of God's Revelation of his Will in several Ages of the World both under the Gospel and before I
and pass by the Imperfection of the Good they do teaching 'em to apply themselves to the Blessed Virgin and other Saints as Mediators with God for ' em Nay and some of their Doctrines as that of Merits and of Works of Super-errogation do teach 'em proudly to over-value their own Performances and to boast themselves in their Merit And therefore so far must we be from suffering our selves to be perswaded of the Truth of All these and the like Doctrines as Articles of our Christian Faith that we must utterly dissent from them all as unjust and unreasonable Impositions on the Belief of Christians In a word as we must strengthen our selves in the Belief of all those True and Genuine Articles of the Christian Faith so to Believe all these as necessary to Salvation is enough But to Believe more under the Character of Articles of a Christian's Faith especially if they be such Doctrines as do take off the Fears of Sinning and send us to other Mediators betwixt God and Man besides the Man Christ Jesus this is indeed a Belief not only superfluous as being a Belief of more than All the necessary Articles of a Christian's Faith but is a very sinful and criminal and superstitious Perswasion 2. To Believe ALL the Articles of the Christian Faith is not only to assent to All and every of those Articles in the Gross but to be fully perswaded of all and every of those single Truths contained in each of those Articles 2. To Believe all the Articles of the Christian Faith is to be fully perswaded of all and of every of those single Truths contain'd in each of those Articles Every one of the Articles of our Christian Faith is full of a great deal of Meaning and many of them do contain Truths of various Kinds and Importance Thus for Instance To believe that Jesus Christ was Crucified Dead and Buried does import this Comfortable as well as Fundamental Doctrine of Christianity That the Only Son of God suffered Death upon the Cross for our Redemption and that he made there by that one Oblation of himself once offered a full perfect and sufficient Sacrifice Oblation and Satisfaction for the Sins of the whole World And accordingly it is said 1 Pet. 3.18 That Christ once suffered for Sins the just for the unjust that he might bring us to God And 21.24 it is said That he himself did bear our Sins in his own Body on the Tree But then this is not the whole that is meant in that Grand Article but also this other Doctrine That he suffered to Redeem us from all Iniquity that is he suffered on the Cross the Punishment of our Sins that we seeing how odious a Thing Sin is which could not be Atton'd for by a Sacrifice less valuable than the Blood of the Son of God might therefore abhor it and forsake it And this is also taught us in the very place now cited from St. Peter viz. 1 Epist 2.24 He his own self bear our Sins in his own Body upon the Tree that we being dead to Sin should live unto Righteousness A Heretick must be such by Believing only of one of those Truths contained in the Article And now a Person may become Guilty of Heresy by believing only One of those Truths contain'd in the Articles And accordingly there are Two opposite Heresies which do at this day most grievously afflict the Church of Christ amongst us and they do divide these two great Doctrines contain'd in this one Article betwixt ' em And they are therefore Heresies because they do so divide 'em and do not each of 'em Believe both these important Doctrines The Antinomians do Believe indeed that Christ did satisfy the Divine Justice for our Sins but so as to leave no Conditions to be perform'd by them And the Socinians on the other side owning that he came to draw us off from Sin deny that he made any Satisfaction for us So that both do fundamentally Err in the Faith tho' they Believe the Article in the gross that Christ was Crucify'd Dead and Buried because neither of them Believe the whole Truth contain'd in that Article And therefore as you must Believe All the Articles so All those Divine and Necessary Truths which are contain'd in every Article of your Christian Faith according to the full Explication and Meaning thereof given us in the Nicene and Athanasian Creeds These Creeds do not contain more or different Articles of Faith than the Apostle's Creed does but in these Creeds many Articles of our Christian Faith are exprest in the full Sence and Importance of 'em in opposition to those Heresies which did and do still pervert or restrain the Meaning of those Articles And thus you also see how you are to Believe All the Articles of your Christian Faith that you are not only to Believe every One of 'em but all that Divine Truth which is contained in each And so as I have before laid before you how you are to Renounce the Devil the World and the Flesh so now what it is to Believe all the Articles of your Christian Faith And so it only remains and then I shall have fully Explain'd to you all the Conditions of the Covenant of Grace that I shew you next what it is to Obey God's Holy Will and Commandments and to walk in the same all the days of our Life THE XXIII Lecture Thirdly That I should obey God's holy Will and Commandments and walk in the same all the days of my Life I Hope I have sufficiently Explain'd unto you the Two first Conditions bound upon you in your Baptismal Covenant as indispensibly necessary to your obtaining the Benefits of it which Conditions are First that you should Renounce the Devil c. Secondly That you should Believe c. And now I come to the Third which is That you should Obey c. And that I may fully and to the purpose Explain this to you I will First Lay before you what it is to Obey God's Holy Will and Commandments or how far you must be Obedient to the Holy Will and Commandments of God as ever you will hope to obtain Salvation or to be Inheritors of the Kingdom of Heaven Secondly I will shew you what it is to Walk in the same all the Days of your Life or how long you must persevere in such Obedience which must be to the End of your Lives And Thirdly I will clear the Doctrine of Evangelical Obedience as so stated from those Doubts that may be raised against it And First I. What it is to obey God's Holy Will and Commandments Because nothing can be more necessary for you to be Instructed in than the Measures of that Obedience now under the Gospel or Covenant of Grace upon the performance of less than which you cannot expect to be made Inheritors of the Kingdom of Heaven I will with what clearness I can shew you How far we must be Obedient
Persons are much more subject to fall into these Violations of their Covenant by sinful Immoralities now than by Paganish Apostacies they were then Nor Lastly Is it at any time a hard and unreasonable Imposition upon the Godfathers and Godmothers to make 'em give Security for the Christian Education of other Peoples Children We are all of us to be helpful to one another especially to be assistant in those things which concern the good of their Immortal Souls and there is none but a cruel and murderous Cain would have said Am I my Brothers Keeper And if the utmost that the Sureties do Promise and Vow in behalf of the Infant does extend to no more than this to see that he shall be Train'd up in the Principles of Religion and Admonish'd to live up according to what he has solemnly Covenanted and openly and solemnly to confirm this his Covenant when he comes to an Age of Understanding and this only upon the natural Parents neglect Why this truly 't is confest will cost some Pains and perhaps too some small Charge but then let such a one consider he has an opportunity put into his Hands to save a Soul and let him withal consider what the Apostle says for his Encouragement therein James 5.20 that He which shall save a Soul from Death shall cover a multitude of Sins So that thus you see what reason the Church had to appoint Godfathers and Godmothers not only to represent the Infant but to engage for it in Baptism But IV. And Lastly For a further Justification of the thing out of Scripture I will prove from thence as a Power and Authority given by Christ to the Governours of the Church to appoint such reasonable Circumstances as they shall think fit for the greater Order and Decency of Divine Administrations and the better Edification of the Souls of Men so that their appointment of Godfathers and Godmothers was a most excellent and useful Institution to this purpose But this as it is a Point that must have a great deal said to the Proof and Enlargement of it so I shall defer the speaking to it till the next Opportunity THE XXXII Lecture Q. What did your Godfathers and Godmothers then for you Answ They did Promise and Vow three things in my Name IN order to the Explication of these Words and to the Justification and Proof of the Doctrine contain'd in them I have already led you I. Into the meaning of the Words Godfathers and Godmothers II. Into the Nature of their Office III. I have shew'd you what Reason the Church had to appoint Godfathers and Godmothers both to Represent and Engage for the Infant in Baptism And now Lastly For the further Justification out of Scripture of the use of Godfathers and Godmothers to Introduce you to Baptism I will prove from thence As a Power and Authority given by Christ to the Governours of the Church to appoint such reasonable Circumstantials as they shall think fit for the greater Order and Decency of Divine Administrations and the better Edification of the Souls of Men so that the Churches appointing of Godfathers and Godmothers was a most excellent rational and useful Institution to this purpose And I have reserv'd this Head of Discourse for the last and shall make one entire Discourse upon it not only to shew the Lawfulness and Expediency of Godfathers and Godmothers but withal with a design to lay such Principles in the Heart as will sufficiently Justifie our Church in all its other Rites and Usages in Divine Administrations and will enable you to oppose those that shall Gainsay To proceed therefore I say IV. Besides the reason of the thing IV. A further Justification of the use of Godfathers and Godmothers In order to justifie out of Scripture the use of Godfathers and Godmothers to introduce Infants to Baptism I will prove from thence as a Power and Authority given by Christ to the Governours of the Church to appoint such reasonable Circumstances as they shall think fit for the greater Order and Decency of Divine Administrations and the better Edification of the Souls of Men so that their appointing of Godfathers and Godmothers was a most excellent and useful Institution to this purpose I say besides the reason of the thing It is a sufficient Justification of any Ecclesiastic Institution that it be reasonable tho' not supported by any express Scripture It is a very unhappy Prejudice which some do labour under that the best reason is no proof with them without some express Scriptures to command that very Particular tho' it be not a Matter above Reason but left by Scripture to the Determination of it Now to come to a right Understanding of this Matter we must distinguish upon such Points as are not and such as are to be determin'd by meer Reason And 1. There are some great Points of Faith 1. The sole Authority whereon to ground the Belief of the Mysteries of Religion must be Divine Revelation such as the Mystery of the Trinity of the Incarnation Mediation and Satisfaction of Christ above the reach of Human Reason to have found out and now that they are Reveal'd beyond the compass of it fully to comprehend which Articles we call the Mysteries of Christianity And these we are bound to Believe according as they are Reveal'd to us without adding to or taking from 'em being fully assur'd that the Holy Scripture that Word of God which does Reveal these Truths to us is it self most Infallibly true as being the Testimony of him who is Infinite Wisdom and cannot be deceiv'd himself and is Infinite Justice and will not cannot deceive others And therefore with respect to these Sacred Truths it is the part of every Christian to Cast down Imaginations or Reasonings and every high thing that exalteth it self against i the knowledge of God bringing into Captivity every Thought to the Obedience of Christ 2 Cor 10.5 Not but that Reason has its Use here in Judging of the sufficiency of those Proofs from Scripture which are produc'd to establish the Truth of any Article of Faith But as it is beyond the Power of meer Natural Reason to have discover'd God's Methods of saving us by Christ and the like so it wou'd be the highest Presumption to oppose our narrow scantling of Reason to God's Wisdom in his Dispensations towards us 2. In the next place there are other Points in Religion 2. Both Faith and Practice as to the Articles of Natural Religion and Moral Duties grounded both upon the Word of God and right Reason as well Articles of Faith as Moral Duties to regulate both our Belief and Practice in reference to which we are left to Scripture and Reason conjunctly with this difference that we must have our Eye upon Scripture as the only perfect Rule such are the Articles of Natural Religion as the Belief of God of a Providence of the Immortality of the Soul and of Rewards and
at first created what 227 The Bent and Inclination of the Soul towards God what 1. In the Unregenerate Nature the Original Frame and Constitution of Man wherein he was created is broken 228 2. The Image of God wherein he was first created defaced Lastly the Tendency of all the Faculties both of Soul and Body are towards the Creature 229 1. To renounce the Flesh is to be renewed in the whole Frame and Constitution of our Nature after the Image of God The Image of God must be restored as far as it can in this Corrupt State It must be renewed to a perfection of Parts tho' not of Degrees 230 2. To renounce the Flesh is to be converted in the whole Bent and Inclination of the Soul towards God 231 LECT XXI The sinful Lusts of the Flesh what 232 The sinful Lusts of the fleshly Mind what 1. When we are curious to know Things which are either hurtful to be known or not proper for Man to know 233 2. When we do immoderately study to be exquisitely skilled in whatever Humane Arts and Sciences to the neglect or contempt of Divine Knowledge The Knowledge of our Christian Religion as it serves to nobler purposes so ought it to be prefer'd to any other 234 The necessary Points of Christian Knowledge 3. When out of Pride Prejudice and Contradiction to all sacred Truths we set up our own carnal Imaginations and fleshly Reasonings against those spiritual Notions and those mysterious Articles of our Faith which are delivered to us in Scripture 235 This Humour of opposing Reason to Revelation proceeds from meer Pride This corrupt Will what and how to be renounced 236 3. The Affections what and how to be renounced 237 1. As they are misplaced upon wrong Objects 2. As they are disproportionate to the Love Worth and Evil that is in those Objects towards which it is lawful to be well or evilly affected in moderate Degrees 3. The Lusts and Appetites are such sinful Lusts of the Flesh as are to be renounced 238 1. As they do desire undue Objects 2. As they desire them in immoderate Measures Lastly the inferior and bodily Powers viz. the Affections Lusts and Appetites to be renounced as they rebel against right Reason 239 The Business of Religion is to reduce Man as near as possible to his primitive State of Innocence and Integrity To this purpose of keeping under our fleshly Lusts it was that our Reason was given us 240 3. To renounce ALL the sinful Lusts of the Flesh what There must be no one fleshly Lust suffered to reign in us Our Business is particularly to oppose Lusts of Temper and Constitution This because it is a hard Doctrine to the Carnal Man is much evaded 241 The Objection from Rom. 7. clear'd We must renounce the Flesh and all its sinful Lusts so as to have an Aversion an Antipathy in our Hearts thereunto This the hard Part. 242 243 The reason of having enlarged so much upon this one Article of renouncing the Devil c. 244. LECT XXII Articles of Christian Faith of what Nature The whole Bible the Object of a Christian's Faith both the Old and New Testament 259 Some Instances of such Truths What it is to believe those Truths so as to make us capable of Life and Happiness 261 Our Belief thereof must be operative and practical Such was the Faith of Abraham and of all the Saints And such an operative and practical Principle is Faith whenever the things believed are of great Importance or Concernment to us 262 263. 2. To believe savingly we must apply our selves to Jesus Christ to intercede with God the Father for our gracious Acceptance What to believe all the Articles of the Christian Faith 1. To believe them All does import that we must assent to all and every one of those great Articles of Christian Doctrine contain'd in the Apostles Creed 264 Such as tend to destroy a good Life and send us to other Mediators than Christ to intercede with the Father for its Acceptance no Articles of Christian Faith 2. To believe all the Articles of the Christian Faith is to be fully perswaded of all and of every of those single Truths contain'd in each of those Articles 265 A Heretick may be such by believing only of one of those Truths contain'd in the Article 266 LECT XXIII 1. What it is to obey God's Holy Will and Commandments The Nature and Measures of Christian Obedience 267 1. Our Obedience must be sincere by being a true and undissembled Service of God opposite to all Hypocrisy or a false and feigned pretence of obeying him when in truth we serve our own selves does not forbid us all intending our own Advantage in the performance of his Commandments 268 But 1st That man's Obedience is insincere who together with his Intention of serving God joins another Intention of serving Sin 2dly When he designs some temporal Ends in the practice of Vertue as much or more than he intends God's Service 2. Evangelical Obedience must be entire viz. 1st The Obedience of the whole Man that is in the first place of the Mind and Vnderstanding 2dly of the Will 3dly of the Affections 269 270 This the distastful part and therefore endeavoured to be shifted off 271 2dly It must be an Obedience to the whole Law This endeavoured to be evaded by Excuses But in vain 3dly What it is to walk in the same all the days of our Lives 272 God will not endure a constant Revolution of Sin and Repentance 273 The difference between Evangelical and a Legal Obedience This difference not so great but that our wilful and chosen Sins will put a Barr to our Salvation 274 Some Sins are directly and expresly wilful Some indirectly and interpretatively 275 But the difference is 1st that those who sincerely and entirely obey shall not be called to an account for unchosen and involuntary Sins The first cause of an innocent Involuntariness Ignorance of our Duty Provided it be not wilful 2d Inconsideration excuses 1. When through surprize 276 2. When through natural weariness and the length and strength of a Temptation Lastly When by the violent discomposure of our thinking Powers our Minds are so disturbed that we cannot think what we do Ignorance and Inconsideration excuse not those Sins 1. which we have time to understand and observe nor 2. Crying Sins nor 3dly Those we do not endeavour against nor lastly which we are not sorry for 277 The 2d difference between Legal and Evangelical Obedience That our wilful and more heinous Sins when repented of through the Mediation of Christ according to the Terms he has obtained for us in the Covenant of Grace shall be forgiven us Remission of Sins upon Repentance the great Doctrine of the Gospel Repentance will be accepted to our pardon for our unknown or secret Sins whether wilfully or unwillingly committed but now forgot though generally repented of 2. For our most known and wilful Sins if
He descended into Hell 2. What pertain'd to his going into Heaven to incerceed for us there we have deliver'd in these The third day he rose again from the Dead He ascended into Heaven And sitteth on the right hand of God the Father Almighty Nor 3. Are the Nature and Acts of his Kingly Office less particularly and distinctly delivered in the Creed than those of his Priestly One main Prerogative of that Royal Office is that from Heaven He shall come again to judge both the Quick and the Dead and all the remaining Articles declare the several other Parts of it But these will also fall under another Consideration under which I shall mention them III. Then as to the Holy Ghost the Third Person in the Blessed Trinity to Him it does belong to prepare qualifie and sanctifie with all necessary Vertues and Graces all whom Christ has redeem'd and sav'd from the Dominion of Sin and Satan and cleans'd from the Pollution of their Natures caus'd thereby that they may be meet to be Partakers of the Inheritance of the Saints in Light And this we are taught to believe that he does in the Article I Believe in the Holy Ghost for the Attribute Holy does here import His doing this His sanctiing of us Thus does the Apostles Creed instruct us first in all the more material and weighty Truths necessary to be believ'd concerning God And next secondly it does the same concerning the State and Condition of us Men both in this and the World to come For 1st In general we are taught to Believe that all our Hopes of Redemption and Happiness on the Account of Christ's undertaking for us depends upon our being Members of His Holy Catholick Church 2dly In particular it teaches us the great Privileges we enjoy through him by being Members of the Church both here and hereafter namely that thereby we have the benefit of the Communion of Saints and the Forgiveness of Sins and that we shall have a Resurrection of our Bodies to Life Everlasting And thus I have given you to understand what is meant by the Articles of our Belief Secondly The Importance of the word Rehearse I am next to declare to you what is the Importance of the Word Rehearse Rehearse the Articles of thy Belief And 1. This Word Rehearse possibly in its primary Design 1. It primarily signifies the Catechists Command to the Catechumen to render him an Account of his Faith may import no more than the Ministers Command to those that come to be Catechis'd that they give him an Account of what they do Believe concerning God and his Church And as the end of your Faith is the Salvation of your Souls 1 Pet. 1.9 So it is the Duty of such as are under our Care first to get as good an Understanding as they can in the Christian Faith and then to give an Account thereof with all readiness imaginable to us the Ministers of Religion whenever we demand it Thus the Apostle commands you to Obey them that have the Rule over you and to submit your selves for they watch for your Souls as they that must give an account that they may do it with joy and not with grief Heb. 13.17 And if the Pastors of Christ's Church must give a strict Account to God of your Proficiency in Faith and Knowledge it must be your Duty to make it appear to us how much you have profited under us And thus it lies upon you to do that our Ministry may be easie and comfortable and that we may have Joy and not Sorrow in the Execution of it Alas for us to be discouraged in the Exercise of our Ministry is not for your Profit for so long as we do it uncomfortably we cannot do it so effectually as otherwise we might To do it with grief that it is unprofitable for you says the Apostle in the same Verse And would to God you would believe it But so it is that there is nothing in the World would be a greater Satisfaction to us than to see you as in the Jewish Church they did sit at the Feet of your Gamaliels your Teachers than to see you not altogether cumbred with Worldly Business as Martha was but to attend on your Teachers with Mary who chose the better part as our Saviour gave Testimony to her because she diligently sate to attend the Word delivered by our Saviour Luke 10.42 2. It may reductively signifie the Churches Command to all Worshippers audibly to recite the Belief after the Minister 2. This word Rehearse may be also reductively interpreted as a Command of the Church that whenever you come to worship God you should pronounce with an audible Voice the Articles of your Belief together with your Minister thereby publickly and before the whole Congregation confessing that you are Christians and that you Believe all that Christians should Believe to their Souls Health according to that usual Form of Words used by some before their reciting of the Creed in Divine Service calling upon the People to join with 'em in making Confession of their Christian Faith Now it is order'd by our Church to very good purpose that the whole Congregation should bear a share throughout the Common Service and that all both Ministers and People should with united Hearts and Voices utter God's Praises and set forth his Glory in the Psalms and Hymns and Creeds And it is an admirable means to fix your Attention to the great Business you are about that you are not to be standers by as it were when God is glorify'd but are personally to eccho forth his Praises And it will also wonderfully stir up and quicken each other in your Devotion to him when you are striving as it were which shall celebrate God's Goodness and Mercies with the mightiest Vehemence and humblest Reverence And as I do not doubt but it does enliven you in your Prayers to and Praises of God to have the Minister of Religion perform the Service with Seriousness and a becoming Devotion so I must profess that to see and hear some devout Worshippers heartily to sound forth their Praises to God in the Congregation has not a little enkindled a Flame in my own Breast so that to rehearse and utter forth with an audible Voice the Glorious Excellencies of God the Father Son and Holy Ghost in every one of the Psalms and Hymns is a thing very much becoming every Christian But especially every one of you should openly rehearse and profess his Belief together with the Minister as often as we are called upon to it in Divine Service We are to pray not only for Our selves but for Others for we may be benefited not only by our own but by others Prayers But every one must Believe for himself and shall be saved only by his own Faith which is the reason that whereas our Publick Prayers are in the Plural Number Our Father our Belief runs in the singular I' Believe and
hereunto do our Antinomians teach their Disciples That saving Faith is nothing but our Perswasion or absolute concluding within our selves That our Sins are pardoned and that Christ is ours But this is a most false and dangerous account of Divine Faith False because God has no-where in Scripture told any Man amongst us that he in particular is Justified and shall be certainly Saved And Dangerous also because it tends to nourish Presumption in Men's Hearts and to make 'em Believe better of their State than it is God does indeed declare in his Word to all Men in General and Conditional Terms Mark 16.16 That whosoever believeth shall be saved and That Blessed are they who keep his Commandments that they may have right to the Tree of Life Rev. 22.14 And all Christians are to examine themselves whether they be in the Faith and to prove their own selves 2 Cor. 13.5 and if upon strict search he finds himself to have Repented throughly to have Believed practically and to have Obey'd sincerely he may have strong Hopes that his Sins are pardon'd and his Righteousness through Christ accepted only because the Heart is deceitful above all things so that no Man knoweth it Jer. 17.9 Let him be careful he does not deceive himself with false shews of Faith and Repentance and let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall 1 Cor. 10.10 But as for a Divine Faith which is a full Perswasion founded upon the Testimony of God in Scripture no Man can be said to have that concerning his own Acceptance because no Man has any scripture-Scripture-Revelation testifying it to him in particular And if Persons of Antinomian Principles shall say that the Assurance kindled in the Heart by the Spirit of God is a Divine Testimony to them and therefore may be sufficient to denominate such Assurance a Divine Faith then it must be granted by 'em that the written Word of God is not a sufficient Rule of Faith as not containing all Truths necessary to be Believed in order to Salvation amongst which they count this particular Assurance to be the chief which Persons of Protestant Principles will not own Nor indeed can any so far derogate from the Perfection of Scripture as to say that other Truths are necessary to be Believed in order to Salvation besides what are contained therein except it be such who are not afraid of those Words wherewith the Holy Canon is closed Rev. 22.18 If any Man shall add unto these things God shall add unto him the Plagues of this Book So that those Revelations only which are contained in Scripture are the proper Object of a Divine Faith But whatever is revealed in the Word a Christian must Believe And whatever is revealed in the Word a Christian must Believe as true for the Authority of God who declar'd it such And in the Holy Writings are contain'd Declarations of Divers kinds some of less others of greatest Consequence whereof the first need not to be so expresly apprehended but the latter must be both clearly Apprehended and firmly Believed A very great part of these Scripture-Truths of Consequence to be Believed are those various Precepts of Holy Living and Duties to God our Neighbour and our selves declared in the Gospel as necessary to be discharged by us in order to Salvation And it is as necessary an Act of Faith as any to Believe that our sincere Obedience to all the Divine Commandments is an indispensable Condition of Life and Happiness Again in the Holy Scriptures as we have Promises of inestimable Rewards to those who shall walk uprightly in the fear of God and on the other side Threatnings of the severest Punishments and that to all Eternity to all such as shall persist in Rebelling against Him So as to both these Promises and Threats we are to be undoubtedly perswaded of the Truth of 'em and that God's Veracity and Sincerity in the delivery therein is such that not a tittle of either shall fail But since neither the Fear of God's Threatnings nor the Encouragements of his Promises can prevail upon us in this our corrupt State to perform a perfect and unsinning Obedience to all God's Commands so that the best of Men will be found Sinners before God and will need a Mediator to compass their Reconciliation with him amongst all the Divine Revelations 3. Therefore 3. The Articles of our Christian Faith the chief amongst Scripture-Truths necessary to be Believ'd because 1. Therein are declar'd the only Method of Reconciliation betwixt God and Man through Jesus Christ and especially we are to be thus undoubtedly perswaded of the infallible Truth and Certainty of those main and fundamental Truths of Scripture the Articles of our Christian Faith wherein are declared the only Method of Reconciliation betwixt God and Man through our Saviour Jesus Christ as well as the strongest Motives to a Holy Life The Articles of our Creed do import as has been already spoke and shall hereafter by God's Assistance be fully explain'd and prov'd this comfortable Scheme of Divine Truths viz. That a God of infinite Perfection and most Glorious Attributes did at first create and give us our Being and that the same Almighty Father has from the beginning and will for ever exercise a Wise Just and Gracious Providence over all his Creatures that Man the work of his hands having rebell'd against his Maker God the Father did in his wise and good Providence so order it that His only Begotten Son taking our Nature upon him and being God-Man should come into the World amongst us and afterwards return to our Father which is in Heaven to mediate a Reconciliation betwixt him and us And to the end his Mediation might be effectual to salve the Dishonour done to God by our Revolt and reduce us to our Allegiance and Obedience to him that this Second Person in the Glorious Trinity did take upon him to discharge a Threefold Office viz. that of Prophet Priest and King By the first whereof he declar'd to us that Covenant and those Conditions on which God would receive us to Mercy By the second that of Priest he made way through the satisfaction he gave for the breach of our first Covenant for the Divine Goodness to receive us to Favour according to the Terms of the second and does still interceed with the Father for our Acceptance in the performance of such Conditions And by his Kingly Office he so governs by his Holy Spirit and Righteous Laws those who abandoning the Kingdom of Satan are admitted into his Kingdom the Holy Catholick Church that they shall be made meet for the Inheritance of the Saints in Light And in the Execution also of this his Royal Office having by his Almighty Power rais'd all Men from the Dead he will come again to judge 'em according to their Works forgiving the Offences of those who are penitent and allotting them to an Everlasting Life of Happiness and dooming the Impenitent to
do not know how better to define it than thus Faith is such a hearty belief of God's Declaration concerning his own Grace and Man's Duty as doth effectually cause a Man to expect from God and to act in a way of sincere Obedience according to the Tenour and Import of such a Declaration Or if you will take in the Belief of God's Threatnings against sinners into the definition then it will be thus Faith is such a hearty belief of God's Declaration concerning his own Grace and Displeasure and Man's Duty as doth effectually cause a Man to expect from God and to act in a way of sincere Obedience according to the Tenour and Import of such a Declaration Faith thus defined we have already seen exemplified in Abraham who is the great Exemplar of Believing and the Father of Believers And that it was his belief of God's Promise or Declaration of Grace and Favour to him as it is practical in producing Repentance Self-denial and sincear Obedience by which he was justified and made happy appears farther not only in that it 's said by St. James That his Faith wrought with his Works and was made perfect by them and that he was justified by Works as well as by Faith of which more anon but also in that it 's said that he received the sign of Circumcision which was the Condition upon which God Covenanted with him to be his God and upon the same terms to be the God of his Seed a Seal of the Righteousness of the Faith which he had while he was yet uncircumcised For supposing which is not denied Circumcision to be an outward Sign of inward Grace of the Circumcision of the Heart consisting in Mortification or a Penitential change of the Heart which is the effect of Faith his Circumcision as such was a Seal of confirmation to Abraham that it was upon his former so believing God upon his Promise as thereby to be induced to leave the evil Customs of his Country and his Country it self with his Kindred and his Father's House that God would be his God indeed In which Promise was implicitly promised all that would make him Eternally Happy And God's farther design of giving to Abraham this Covenant of Circumision as a Seal to assure him the enjoyment of the benefit wrapt up in that Promise upon the terms aforesaid was that he might be the Father of all them that Believe whether literally Circumcised or not that is that he might be a great Example and Pattern to all others of obtaining the same benefits in the same way and so might be a means of begetting others to Believe in God and to Obey him as he had done to be a great Instrument to propagate the kind of New Creatures of Men renewed to God to the end they might be Blessed as he was This or somewhat to this effect is doubtless the meaning of Rom. 4.11 12. And he received the sign of Circumcision a Seal of the Rightousness of the Faith which he had being yet uncircumcised That he might be the Father of all them that Believe though they be not circumcised that Rightousness might be imputed to them also And the Father of Circumcision to them who are not of the Circumcision only but also walk in the steps of that Faith of our Father Abraham which he had being yet uncircumcised and it is not unlikely but that as Heart-Circumcision under the figure of Literal-Circumcision was together with Faith made the condition of the Covenant then so Spiritual Baptism which is a Death unto sin and a living unto God is under the Figure of Water-Baptism joyned with Believing as the condition of the Promise of Salvation now Mark 16.16 He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved According to which St. Peter having spoken of Noah's Ark saith The like figure whereunto Baptism now saveth us not the putting away of the filth of the flesh but the answer of a good conscience towards God 1 Pet. 3.21 Now as it was in Abraham such a belief of God's Declaration of Grace and Favour as did effectually induce him to Love and Obey God by which he was Justified so I shall shew afterwards it was the very same kind of Faith working after the same manner by which the Saints under the Law of Moses were Saved But Faith as Evangelical and Christian is such a hearty assent and consent unto God's Declaration in the Gospel by his Son concerning Christ himself and his Grace and Favour towards Men by him and concerning their own Duty as causeth a Man to expect from God and to act in a way of duty according to the Tenour of such a Declaration and his own concerns in it And Faith thus defined is fully agreeable to the Tenour of the Gospel Mark 16.15 16. Go ye into all the world and Preach the Gospel to every Creature He that Believeth and is Baptized shall be saved He that believeth What Why he that believeth that Gospel which was to be Preââhed to every Creature Which Gospel contains a Declaration of God's ââââe and Man's Duty and of his Wrath against all Ungodliness and Unrighteousness of Men. For 1. It declares from God that he hath given his Son Jesus Christ to be the Saviour of the World by being a Propitiation for the sin o fit in becoming a Sacrifice to expiate sin 2. It declares That God upon account of his Son's giving himself a Ransom for all hath made and doth establish a New Covenant with the World to Pardon and Eternally to Save as many as shall Believe in his Son and Repent of their sinfulness in changing their Minds and reforming their Lives and becoming New Men in yielding sincere Obedience to the Precepts of the Gospel 3. It declares That those that believe not shall be damned and such as repent not shall perish and that the unrighteous shall not inherit the Kingdom of God This summarily is that which the Gospel declares concerning God's Grace and Displeasure and Man's Duty Now it is the practical belief of all this that is the saving Faith It is not the bare belief that God hath given his Son to be the Saviour of the World and a Propitiation for the sin of it Nor is it a bare belief that he will for Christ's sake pardon and save as many as truly Repent and amend their lives and become New Creatures unless they so believe all this as seriously and heartily to Repent themselves of their former folly and to return to their duty in new Evangelical Obedience For otherwise for a Man barely to believe all this and not act according to his own concerns in it will be so far from being a believing to the saving of the Soul as that it will rather plunge him the deeper in Destruction for living and acting contrary to his own light and belief as holding the truth in unrighteousness the wrath of God being revealed from heaven against all such Rom. 1.18 A Man of this
practical Faith which I have described eyes as well the condition upon which the saving Benefits are promised through Christ as the Promise it self of those benefits and expects the enjoyment of those benefits upon God's Promise and Christ's Purchase no otherwise than as he with the assistance of God's Grace is careful to perform the Condition Which belief of his makes him as careful to perform the Condition in discharge of his own duty therein as ever he hopes to enjoy the promised Pardon and Salvation by Christ and to escape the Damnation threatned against those who perform not the condition So that a Man by this practical Faith belives one part of God's Declaration in the Gospel as well as the other and his own duty to be as well necessary to his Justification as the condition appointed by God as the Grace of God through Christ it self is upon another account And by this belief he is effectually moved as well to act in a way of duty to God as to expect mercy from him considering how his Happiness is concerned in both when he hath the whole of God's Declaration in all the parts taken together in prospect as the Object of his Faith When he hears that God so loved the World that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life When he hears that God hath set forth Christ to be a Propitiation through Faith in his Blood And when he hears again that God was in Christ reconciling the World unto himself not imputing their trespasses unto them he believes all this to be true as coming from God that cannot lye and accordingly is incouraged to hope in God's Mercy and is comforted thereby But then when he hears again that except we repent we shall all perish that except a man be born again he cannot see the Kingdom of God That without holiness no man shall see the Lord and that the pure in heart shall see God That not every one that saith Lord Lord shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven but he that doth the will of the Father which is in Heaven That the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from Heaven with his mighty Angles in flaming fire to render vengeance to all those that know not God and which obey not the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ But that he is the Author of eternal Salvation to all those that obey him I say when he hears all this he as verily believes this part of God's Declaration in the Gospel to be the faithful and true Sayings of God as he acounted the other to be And accordingly doth as seriously and sincerely set upon the Work of Repentance and as carefully useth God's appointed means for the changing of his Heart and renewing of his Nature for the purifying of himself as God is pure and doth as carefully obey all the Precepts of the Gospel as he hopes upon the account of Christ's Sufferings and God's Promise to be Pardoned and Saved as beliving that those Benefits are neither promised nor can be obtained but in this way of performing the Condition And I doubt not to say that this practical Faith as it respects God's Declaration touching Man's duty in conjunction with his own Grace in Christ is where the Gospel comes the only saving justifying Faith 3. Come we now to shew Reason why Faith is made the Condition of the Promise 1. It is of Faith that it might be of Grace saith the Apostle Rom. 4.16 It is that the Grace of God to miserable Men might the more shew it self For so it doth not only in promising unspeakably great things through Christ to Man who is not only undeserving but illdeserving also but also in that these are promised upon such a possible practical easie Condition as Faith is considering the means and assistance promised by God to work it And considering also that the Promise is made to the truth unfeignedness and sincerity and not to perfection of Faith Repentance and new Obedience in their utmost degree So that Christ might well say my Yoke is easie and my Burden light Matth. 11.30 Whereas the old way of promising the Inheritance on the Law-terms would have been to have promised it upon impossible conditions as the case now is with fallen Man And if God should have promised never so great things to Man in his impotent and miserable state upon an impossible condition he would have been so far from manifesting abundance of Grace Compassion and Love to him in that condition as that he would rather have seemed to insult over him in it And therefore if the Promise should have run upon the Law-terms and not of Faith it would utterly have frustrated God's design of manifesting his Grace to Man and of recovering Man's Love and Loyalty to him thereby Rom. 4.14 If they which are of the Law be Heirs Faith is made void and the Promise made of none effect But it is of Faith that it might be by Grace to the end the Promise might be sure to all the Seed not to that only which is of the Law but to that also which is of the Faith of Abraham ver 16. 2. This may be another reason why such a Faith as I have described is made the condition of the Covenant of Salvation viz. Because it best answers God's design in this Covenant of renewing the Nature of Man in Holiness and Righteousness and by that means restoring it to Happiness For by Faith Men are born of God or made the Children of God Gal. 3.26 Ye are all the Children of God by Faith in Christ Jesus Joh. 1.12 13. As many as received him to them gave he power to become the sons of God even to those that believe on his Name Which are born not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man but of God Now to be born of God or which is the same to be made the Child of God is to have ones Nature restored to the likeness of God in which Man was first made and is the same thing with that which is called Regeneration and a being born again and a new Creature Which new Creature or the Nature of Mân renewed by Faith is also called the new Man which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness Ephes 4.24 To be born again is to have the Faculties of Mans Nature restored to a rectitude in their motions and operations in reference both to God and Man to be restored to their proper moral use for which they were made It is in a word that which is called a being made partakers of a Divine Nature For those which are begotten of God are begotten in or to his likeness Men can adopt those which are not their natural Children to inherit their Estates but they cannot adopt them to a participation of their Moral Endowments But God adopts his Children to a participation with him in the
Inheritance by adopting them to a participation of the Moral Perfections of his Nature that is to a consimilitude to him in them And this we say is done by Faith that is by Faith in God and by Faith in his Word For in order of Nature God is first believed to be a God of Truth before his Word is believed to be the Word of Truth And the creditableness of his Word depends upon the knowledge or belief or the fidelity of his Nature And this Truth of God and of his Word is the immediate Object of Faith By Faith a Man believes that to be true which God reveals or declares as his Mind and Will let the Import of it be what it will But then this Faith operates upon the Will and Affections according to the Tenour and Import of that which is Revealed If it be matter of sad import it works a hatred to him that threatens it and a fear of the thing threatned if it be apprehended to proceed from an enemy And this is the effect of the Faith of Devils who believe and hate God who believe and tremble Jam. 2.19 But if that which is Revealed by God and Believed by Man betoken unspeakable love and good-will in God to Man and matter of the greatest benefit to him as a proof of such love then it worketh love to him that expresseth such love for Faith worketh by Love Gal. 5.6 and a longing desire after the promised benefit And as the Soul grows more and more in love with God because of his love in love with his Blessed Nature and Divine Perfections such as are his Love and Goodness Truth and Faithfulness Purity and Patience Mercifulness and readiness to Forgive which render him altogether lovely so it contracts a likeness to God in these upon the Soul and so changes and renews the Moral habit and constitution of the Soul and consequently the whole Life There is an aptness and promptness in Men to imitate that in others and so in God for which they love them And frequent imitating Acts beget Habits Custom changing Nature And hence it is that through Faith we are made partakers of a Divine Nature We all with open face beholding as in a Glass the glory of the Lord are changed into the same Image from glory to glory as by the Spirit of the Lord 2. Cor. 3.18 This beholding the glory of the Lord is by Faith For we walk by Faith and not by sight 2. Cor. 5.7 and by it Moses saw him who is invisible Heb. 11.27 And the medium by which this Prospect is taken is the Gospel by which the Lord in his lovely Perfections is now openly revealed And Faith being from time to time busied in beholding of and conversing with these Perfections it transforms the Soul into the same Image or likeness from glory to glory that is gradually as by the Spirit of the Lord that is through the co-operation of God's Spirit with Man's Faith To comprehend the breadth length depth and heighth and to know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge is the way to be filled with all the fullness of God by transcribing all his imitable Perfections upon the Soul Ephes 3.18 19. And it is by virtue of their Relation to Christ and being thus begotten and born of God and made partakers of a new Nature conformable to God's that Men can with confidence call God Father This blessed effect of God's Spirit is the Spirit of Adoption by which they cry Abba Father And it is this new Nature that is the Spring and Fountain of a good Life of all pious and virtuous Actions As it is said of God Thou art good and dost good so it is true of all those that are born of him A good Man out of the good treasure of his heart thus renewed bringeth forth good fruit The Tree being good the Fruit will be good And as this new Creature groweth up to strength and maturity so doing of good and acting worthily will become natural and pleasant to him in whom it is To such an one the Commandments of God are not grievous but he will be able in some good measure to say I delight to do thy will O God yea thy Law is in my heart And for sin it being contrary to this New Nature there is a kind of Moral Impotency in him in whom it is to commit sin He cannot sin because he is born of God 1 Joh. 3.9 Or if such an one be overtaken in a fault it will work a disturbance in the Soul just as that will in the Stomach which a Man hath eaten against which he hath an antipathy in Nature But as for such as perform Religious Duties and do things materially good only by the strength of extrinsecal Motives and not from an inward Principle of this New Nature or love to the things themselves to such those Actions being unnatural become grievous and burdensome and will be continued in no longer than those Motives continue in their strength Sect. 8. The last thing I proposed to consider about God's Promise to Abraham is What we are to understand by God's counting Abraham's Faith to him for Righteousness And I take it to signifie thus much That God in a way of special Grace or by virtue of a New Law of Grace and Favour which was established by God in Christ Gal. 3.17 that is in reference to what Christ was to do and suffer in time then to come did reckon his Practical Faith to him for Righteousness that is that which in the eye of the New Law should pass in his estimation for Righteousness subordinate to Christ's Righteousness which procured this Grant or Law For otherwise Faith neither as it is the Condition of the Promise of Remission of Sin through Christ nor as it works Repentance for sins past or sincere Obedience for time to come is Righteousness in the Eye of the Original Law For that accounts no Man that hath though but once transgressed it to be Righteous either upon the account of anothers suffering for his sin or his own Repentance or sincere imperfect Obedience but Curseth every Man that from first to last continueth not in all things which are contained in that Law But it is as I said an Act of God's special Favour and by virtue of his New Law of Grace and as it is established in Christ that such a Faith as I have described comes to be reckoned or imputed to a Man for Righteousness and through God's imputing it for Righteousness to stand a Man in the same if not in better stead as to his Eternal Concerns as a perfect fulfilling of the Original Law from first to last would have done Christ's Righteousness being presupposed the only Meritorious Cause of this Grant or Covenant And thus indeed the Faith which I have described is a Man's Righteousness in the Eye of this New Law because it is summarily all that is required of him himself to make him capable
of the Benefits promised by it which as it is now revealed is the Gospel Justification is a Law-term And no Man shall be Justified in Judgment or upon Tryal but he that is Just in the Eye of this New Law of Grace as every one that rightly Believes Repents and sincerely Obeys is because that is all that it requires of a Man himself to his Justification and Salvation And yet every Believer's Justification will be all of Grace because the Law by which they are Justified is wholly of Grace is wholly a Law of Grace and was Enacted in meer Grace and Favour to undone Man that was utterly undone by the Fall There are two things which I conceive do constitute and make up the Righteousness of the Law of Grace presupposing all to be procured by the Purchase which Christ hath made first The Righteousness which consisteth in the forgiveness of sins and secondly The Righteousness of sincere Obedience And in reference to both these Faith is imputed for Righteousness by virtue of the Law of Grace First Faith as practical is imputed to a Man for Righteousness as it is That and all That which is required of him himself by the Law of Grace to entitle him to the Righteousness which consisteth in the Remission of sins through Christ Now that remission of Sins is part of the Righteousness which is by Faith is evident from Rom. 4.5 6 7 8. Where the Apostle to prove that a Man's Faith in God who justifyeth the ungodly is counted to him for Righteousness he citeth a passage out of Psalm the 32d Even as David also saith he describeth the blessedness of the man to whom God imputeth Righteousness without Works saying Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven and whose sins are covered Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin The Righteousness imputed in this sense doth consist in the non-imputation of sin Not to impute sin is not to reckon a Man not to have sinned but it is to deal with him not according to the demerit of his sin it is to pardon him for Christ's sake upon his penitential Faith and not to punish him for his sin and this by vertue of a New Law or Act of Indemnity or Covenant of Grace For although pardon of sin is obtained for Man by Christ's Sufferings for sin In whom we have redemption through his blood the forgiveness of sins Ephes .1 7. and though God for Christ's sake doth forgive us Ephes 4.32 yet the actual collation of this great Benefit is not promised but upon condition of Man's Faith Him hath God set forth to be a Propitiation but it is through Faith in his blood Rom. 3.25 By him all that believe are justified from all things from which ye could not be justified by the Law of Moses Acts 13.39 and 10.43 Although Christ is the Propitiation for the sins of the whole World 1 Joh. 2.2 yet that saying of Christ must and will take place If ye believe not that I am he ye shall dye in your sins Joh. 8.24 And that also Mark 16.16 He that believeth not shall be damned So that Faith is imputed for Righteousness partly as it is the Condition upon which Pardon of sin is granted Secondly That Faith is imputed for Righteousness which is practical or productive of sincere Obedience without which property it is not a fulfilling of the Law of Grace as a Condition of the promised Benefits and consequently cannot justifie a Man in the Eye of that Law For 1st Repentance and likewise forgiving Men their Injuries for instance are such Acts of Obedience as without which a Man cannot be Pardoned and if not Pardoned then not Justified And therefore Faith is not imputed for Righteousness unless it be productive of Obedience 2dly No Faith is available to Justification but such as worketh by Love Gal. 5.6 Which to say is all one as to say no Faith is imputed for Righteousness but such as worketh by keeping the Commandments of God and fulfilling the Law for that is the interpretation of Love both to God and Men 1 Joh. 5.3 Rom. 13.10 3dly Abraham who was set forth by God for a Pattern of his justifying Men by Faith was Justified by such Works as were the fruits of his Faith and not only by his Faith which was the Root of them And therefore his Faith as practical was imputed to him for Righteousness And such must be the Faith of all others that shall obtain Justification upon their Believing as he did Jam. 2.21 22 23. Was not Abraham our Father justified by Works when he had offered Isaac his Son upon the Altar Seest thou how Faith wrought with his Works and by Works was Faith made perfect And the Scripture was fulfilled which saith Abraham Believed God and it was imputed to him for Righteousness Where note these four things 1. That Abraham's Faith wrought with his Works about the same End as a Condition of obtaining it to wit his Justification 2. That by his Works his Faith was made perfect to wit in its aptitude by God's Institution to justifie him without which it would not have reached that End 3. Note further That it was his Faith as it wrought with his Works and as it was compleated and made perfect by them that was imputed to him for Righteousness 4. Note That in the Imputation of his Faith for Righteousness as it was thus accompanied with and perfected by Works was the Scripture fulfilled which saith Abraham Believed God and it was imputed to him for Righteousness And if so then the Justification by Works together with Faith of which St. James speaks here is a Justification before God and not before Men only and to a Man 's own Conscience For of such a Justification doth the Scripture in Gen 15.6 speak which is here cited by St. James Nor doth this that Faith accompanied with Obedience is imputed for Righteousness at all derogate from the Obedience and Sufferings of Christ in reference to the Ends for which they serve Because the whole Covenant and all the parts and terms of it both promises of Benefits and the Condition on which they are promised are all founded in Christ his undertaking for us and all the Benefits of it accrue to us upon our Believing and Obeying upon his account and for his sake We are in him who of God is made unto us Wisdom Righteousness Sanctification and Redemption 1 Cor. 1.30 For which cause also he is called the Lord our Righteousness Not as if his Personal Obedience to the Law was so formally imputed to us as that we should be reckoned to have kept the Law in his keeping of it which hath been the Opinion of some for if that had been so there would have been no more need that Christ should have Suffered for us than there was that he should have Suffered for himself who had no sin for neither should we if we had perfectly kept the Law in him
like theirs for they said Let us make us Gods to go before us Exod. 32.1 and were in danger thereby of being drawn to Worship their Gods therefore to prevent this as Parents put their Children to School partly to keep them out of harms way the Lord by way of condescention to their childish humour did ordain a Worship consisting much in bodily Exercise and Instituted divers Laws which stood in Meats and Drinks and divers Washings and carnal Ordinances until the time of Reformation till he should by sending his Son appoint more excellent Laws for Reforming both them and the rest of the World Lev. 18.3 4 5. After the doings of the Land of Egypt wherein ye dwelt shall ye not do and after the doings of the Land of Canaan whither I bring you shall ye not do neither shall ye walk in their Ordinances Ye shall therefore keep my Statutes and my Judgments Which if a Man do he shall live in them Ezek. 20.6 11. 2. The Lord did Institute divers Temporary Laws for tryal and exercise of their Obedience in those lesser things for a time as being such as they were as yet best capable to receive thereby to lead them on to higher instances of Obedience afterward Those many Ceremonies which they were obliged to observe were not things of any natural or intrinsick Goodness but only made use of by God for a present turn which when that was served they as to practise were of no value but became beggerly Elements But yet while they continued commanded of God their Obedience in the use of them was Rewardable as well as their Obedience to any other Laws The other end and use of the Law as it was a Schoolmaster respected the time then to come For the High Priesthood and Sacrifices of the Law as they were Types of what Christ should be do and suffer as Mediator were of great use to the Jews after Christ had Suffered and was Risen again and Ascended into Heaven to facilitate both the knowledge and belief of the Mystery of Redemption by Christ 1. To facilitate the knowledge thereof and to beget in them a right Notion of those things in Christ by which forgiveness of sins and acceptance with God is obtained on our behalf For those who had long seen and known the effect of Legal Sacrifices as how they did procure Legal Impunity for Offences commited God accepting the Life of a Beast that had not sinned instead of the life of a Man that had might soon come to understand by parity of reason that God would much more accept of his own Sons offering himself in Sacrifice for us so as to excuse us from suffering Eternal Punishment for our sin For if the blood of Bulls and of Goats and the ashes of an Heifer sprinkling the unclean sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh how much more shall the Blood of Christ who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God purge your Conscience from dead works to serve the living God Heb. 9.13 14. And so the High Priest's entering into the Holy of Holies in the behalf of the People with the Blood of the Sacrifice and burning Incense there doth greatly assist the mind in understanding the nature of Christ's Intercession for us in Heaven in virtue of his Bloodshed for us on Earth Heb. 9. 2. The Law in the Typical nature of it was of great use to the Jews to facilitate and strengthen their Belief in Christ and so were the Predictions of the Prophets in conjunction with it For these and the accomplishment of them in Christ did so answer each other as in Water Face answereth to Face that those who believed the Law and the Prophets had a great advantage by means thereof to believe in Christ And therefore our blessed Saviour when he would satisfie his Disciples touching himself that he was indeed the Christ and of the necessity of his Death which Death occasioned at first a staggering in their Faith beginning at Moses and all the Prophets he expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself Luke 24.27 And St. Paul when he laboured the Conversion of the Jews at Rome to Christianity as the chiefest way to effect it he expounded to them and testified the Kingdom of God perswading them concerning Jesus both out of the Law of Moses and of the Prophets from morning to evening Acts 28.23 Had ye believed Moses Saith our Saviour to them ye would have believed me for he wrote of me But if ye believe not his Writings how shall ye believe my Words Joh. 5.46 47. And thus in both the forementioned respects the Law was a Schoolmaster indeed to bring them to Christ that they might be Justified by Faith 5. The Law was given to the Jewish Nation not only for their behoof and benefit but also for a general Good to the World That the Nations round about hearing of such excellent Laws and percieving how happy and prosperous those People were so long as they observed them might thereby be invited to quit their Idol Gods and to take hold of the Covenant and to join themselves to the people of the God of Abraham even as it came to pass in such as were Proselited And upon this account it seems to be that the Psalmist prayed thus God be merciful unto us and bless us and cause thy Face to shine upon us That thy way may be known on Earth thy saving health unto all Nations Psal 67.1 2. and concludes ver 7. That if God should so do his fear would be propagated through the World God shall bless us and all the ends of the Earth shall fear him Deut. 4.6 7 8. Keep therefore and do them for this is your Wisdom and your Vnderstanding in the sight of the Nations who shall hear all these Statutes and say surely this great Nation is a Wise and an Vnderstanding People For what Nation is there so great that hath God so nigh unto them as the Lord our God is in all things that we call upon him for And what Nation is there so great that hath Statutes and Judgments so Righteous as all this Law which I set before you this day To them were committed the Oracles of God Rom. 3.2 They were committed in trust to them as Feoffees for the World to communicate the knowledge of God and of his Laws to the Nations to carry on further the Reformation of the World begun in their Father Abraham and which was promised to be more compleatly effected by the Messias in that all Nations of the Earth should be Blessed in him And as God's Judgments on the Jews for breaking his Laws was Admonitory to the Nations about them Deut. 29.24 28. so his famous Deliverances wrought for them upon their Repentance for breaking his Laws made God known abroad to be a great favourer of such as repent of their worshipping and serving other Gods and such a one as could and would Save
there are some passages in the Law of Moses if you take the Law of Moses in a large sense which look somewhat like a renewal of the antient Covenant with Abraham to his Seed As when for instance God made a conditional Promise to the Israelites in Moses's time to be their God and that they should be his People as in Levit. 26.12 Deut. 29.13 Which form of words is interpreted sometimes to imply a future Happiness in another World Heb. 11.16 Matth. 21.31 32. And I do not deny but the Jews had by Moses as express a Promise of the Messias as Abraham had Deut. 18.15 19. But St. Paul doth not speak of the Law in this large sense when he opposeth the Law and the Promise the Law and Faith one to another But if we understand by the Law of Moses the Law as Political the Law of the Commonwealth so the Promises of it were not Promises of Eternal Life For Promises of this nature did pertain to another Covenant to wit that made with Abraham and his Spiritual Seed as such First Therefore St. Paul doth downrightly deny that the Promise of thâ Inheritance which in Heb. 9.15 is called the Eternal Inheritance was by the Law which yet it would have been if by Law he had meant the Law in that large sense in which the Law and Promise to Abraham are conjoyned and not in that strict sense by which he means the Political Law distinctly And if the Inheritance had been promised upon the same terms as temporal Blessings were in the temporal Covenant the Inheritance might have been obtained by the Law as well as temporal Blessings were Rom. 4.13 For the Promise that he should be Heir of the World was not through the Law but through the Righteousness of Faith Secondly St. Paul evinceth the badness of that Opinion to think that Eternal Life was promised upon the Law-terms from the absurd consequence of it shewing that if it were that then it would make void the Promise of God to Abraham and the way of saving Men by Faith in that Promise of none effect Gal. 3.18 For if the inheritance be of the Law it is no more of Promise But God gave it to Abraham by Promise Rom. 4.14 For if they which are of the Law be Heirs Faith is made void and the Promise made of none effect It was altogether unreasonable to think that the Inheritance should be promised upon such distant and inconsistent terms as are Faith in the Promise and by Works of the Law Thirdly The Law saith the Apostle is not of Faith but the man that doth them shall live in them Gal. 3.12 meaning that what the Law promised it did not promise it upon condition of Believing but upon condition of Doing And Eternal Life is not since the Fall promised upon condition of Doing without Faith but upon condition of Believing For the Just shall live by Faith Vers 11. And therefore Eternal Life is promised by the Law Fourthly Wherefore else are the Promises of that better Covenant Heb. 8.6 said to be better Promises But because they are Promises of better things than were promised in the first Covenant which yet they could not be if Eternal Life had been promised in that Covenant because that is the best of all Promises To say they are better only in respect of Administration and clearness of Revelation will not satisfie such as shall well consider That if the betterness of the Covenant and Promises lay only in that the difference would not be so great as to denominate them two Covenants and two so vastly distant as the Scripture represents them to be The difference then would be but only gradual as that is which is found in the same Covenant of Grace in the several Editions of it to Adam to Abraham to David and now to all Nations since Christ's coming and not Essential as that between the two Covenants seems to be as it is represented in Gal. 4.24 Besides St. Paul represents the Administration of the two Covenants to differ as much as Righteousness and Condemnation Life and Death differ which sure is more than a gradual difference The one is the Ministration of Death and Condemnation the other the Ministration of Righteousness and Life 2 Cor. 3.6 7 8 9. The Law made nothing perfect but the bringing in of a better hope did Heb. 7.19 By which it appears again that the hope of the Gospel in which the things hoped for upon the Promises of the Gospel are not the least is better than what the Law promised the observers of it This is the Promise which he hath promised us even Eternal Life John 2.25 2. And Affirmatively It was then a long and prosperous Life in the Land of Canaan that was promised in the first Covenant Deut. 28.11 The Lord shall make thee plenteous in Goods in the fruit of thy Body and in the fruit of thy Cattel and in the fruit of thy Ground in the Land which the Lord sware unto thy Fathers to give thee Deut. 11.21 That your days may be multiplied and the days of your Children as the days of Heaven upon Earth A great variety of outward Blessings is promised as the Reward of keeping that Covenant And therefore Wisdom under that Dispensation is described as having length of days in her right hand and in her left hand Riches and Honour whose ways are ways of pleasantness and all her paths peace Prov. 3.17 And as this Covenant was National so there were Promises of National Blessings such as was the setting them on high above all the Nations of the Earth making them the Head and not the Tail The giving them victory over enemies multiplying the Nation and bestowing on it Health Peace and Plenty Deut. 28. Lev. 26. When it 's said once by Moses thrice by Ezekiel and twice by St. Paul that the Man that doth them shall live in them Lev. 18.5 Ezek. 20.11 13 21. Rom. 10.5 Gal. 3.12 thereby Epitomizing the first Covenant I conceive that by Living is meant a long and prosperous Life in this World As on the contrary the condition of one greatly afflicted is in Scripture-Dialect a kind of Death and such an one said to be free among the Dead Psal 88. â And that which inclines me so to think is not only the reasons already given to prove that no other Life was promised in the first Covenant but also the congruity of this sense with other passages in the Writings of Moses As Deut. 30 15. See I have set before you this day Life and Good Death and Evil. If you would know what is meant by Life here the next Verse will inform you That thou mayest live and multiply and the Lord thy God shall bless thee in the Land whither thou goest to possess it The contrary whereunto is the Death he had set before them saying I denounce unto you this day that ye shall surely perish and that ye shall not prolong your
for this liketh you O Children of Israel saith the Lord God And much after this rate do carnal Christians bear up themselves in hopes that all their sins are done away by the Sacrifice of Christ the Lamb of God that taketh away the Sins of the World though they live from day to day in ungodliness Only indeed they sin at a cheaper rate for the present than the wicked Jews did The Jewish sinners were at the cost of many a Sacrifice to stop the mouth of Conscience but these are at cost only in making provision for the flesh to fulfil the lusts thereof and depend upon Christ to pay all their Scores 4. Another of their Errors as consequent upon the former was this That without Circumcision and observing of the Law of Moses the Gentiles could not be saved This Opinion the Judaizing Christians retained after their Conversion to the Christian Profession Acts 15.1 5 24. Certain men which came down from Judea taught the brethren saying Except ye be Circumcised after the manner of Moses ye cannot be saved There rose up certain of the Sect of the Pharisees which believed saying that it was needful to Circumcise them and to command them to keep the Law of Moses In opposition to which Opinion St. Paul taught that the Righteousness of God by Faith without the Law is manifested unto all and upon all that believe whether Jews or Gentiles and that there is no difference Rom. 3.21 22. And that a Man is justified by Faith without the deeds of the Law though never Circumcised And that God is the God of the Gentiles as well as of the Jews and that he doth justifie the Vncircumcision and the Circumcision those that had observed the Law of Moses and those that had not upon the same terms viz. of Evangelical Faith Rom. 3.28 29 30. Whereunto agrees the words of St. Peter Acts 15.9 11. He put no difference between us and them purifying their hearts by Faith i. e. us Jews and they Gentiles But we believe that through the Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved even as they and upon no other terms though we have observed the Law and they have not Gal. 2.15 16. Upon the same account St. Paul again affirms Rom. 4.5 That to him that worketh not but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly his Faith is counted for Righteousness That is the Idolatrous Gentiles that never had observed the Law but lived without God in the World should yet have their practical belief of the Gospel imputed even to them for Righteousness And he further exemplifies this in Abraham Ver. 9.10 11 12. whose Faith was reckoned to him for Righteousness before he was Circumcised that he might be the Patern and great Example of God's justifying the Heathen upon their believing and obeying as Abraham did in leaving his Idolatry and his Country upon God's Promise and Command though he never had been Circumcised And upon the like account he saith again Gal. 3.8 9. That the Scripture foreseeing that God would justifie the Heathen through Faith preached before the Gospel unto Abraham saying In thee shall all Nations be blessed And from thence he concludes that those Gentiles that be of Faith that believe as Abraham did are blessed as Abraham was are blessed with faithful Abraham 5. Another Error which was held by some Judaizing Christians was this That Faith in Christ and Literal Circumcision with a Literal observation of the Law of Moses jointly were the Condition of Justification Though they were such as Believed yet they taught that except Men were Circumcised and kept the Law of Moses they could not be saved Acts 15.1 5. They seem to have retained the same false Opinion of Justification by the Law as the unbelieving Jews did but held the Death of Christ necessary to be super-added To convince them of which Error St. Paul sets before them the bad consequence of it in two respects 1. In that they hereby rendred the Death of Christ needless in it self Gal. 2.21 If Righteousness come by the Law then Christ is dead in vain There would then have been no need of Christ's Death to accomplish it as the unbelieving Jews indeed did hold 2. In that this Opinion of theirs made Christ and his Death useless unto them and cut them off from receiving any benefit by him Gal. 5.2 4. Behold I Paul say unto you that if you be Circumcised Christ shall profit you nothing Christ is become of none effect unto you whosoever of you are justified by the Law ye are fallen from Grace And hereto agrees that in Hebr. 13.10 We have an Altar whereof they have no right to eat which serve the Tabernacle Those Judaizers who stand for the necessity of Mosaic Observations have no right to nor shall receive benefit by Christ who is the only Christian Altar to which we bring all our Sacrifices 6. They held the Law of Moses to be unalterable and of perpetual obligation In opposition to which the Author to the Hebrews improves to great purpose that Prophesie Jer. 31.31 32. Behold the days come saith the Lord that I will make a new Covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah Not according to the Covenant that I made with their Fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt c. For in that he saith a new Covenant he hath saith he made the first old Now that which decayeth and waxeth old is ready saith he to vanish away And St. Paul shews how that the Legal Ministration how glorious soever it was was yet done away when that which was far more glorious did appear 2 Cor. 3.7 11. And again that we are become dead to the Law by the Body of Christ and delivered from the Law Rom. 7.4 6. 7. The last of their Errors I shall insist on was this They held the first Covenant as alone or separated to be the Covenant of Salvation only taking in with it the Covenant of Literal Circumcision which also was made a part of their Law That first Covenant which I have already described as a Temporal Covenant and the Promises and the Threatnings of it but Temporal they took to be established for perpetuity and the Promises of it to contain Promises of Eternal Redemption or Remission as well as Temporal and Eternal Life and Felicity as well as Temporal And such a Literal observation of the Laws of it to be the condition of those Promises as would render them inculpable in the eye of the Magistracy such a Righteousness sufficient to justifie them before God as St. Paul saith he had while he was a Pharisee Phil. 3.6 As touching the Righteousness which is in the Law blameless which then he accounted to be his gain Now that they did peremptorily adhere to this first Covenant and the terms of it for Justification and Eternal Life it doth plainly appear by the mighty opposition
For doubtless St. Paul's denial of Justification and Salvation to be by the Law or Works of the Law is to be understood in the very same sense in which the incredulous Jews against whom he Disputed did hold these to be attainable thereby For else his Reasonings would have been beside the Question under debate between them And therefore we must take our measure of St. Paul's sense in the Negative part of the Question by his Adversaries sense of it in the Affirmative And if so then in his denying Justification and Salvation to be by the Law or by Works of the Law we must understand him to deny a freedom from the Eternal Punishment to be attainable by Legal Sacrifices And also to deny that the promise of Eternal Life was made upon condition of Literal Circumcision and a Literal observation of the Mosaical Law without being by Faith renewed in the inward frame and moral constitution of the Soul and likewise to deny Eternal Life to be attainable by the terms of their Political Covenant the Promises whereof were not made upon condition of Believing but of Doing The Law is not of Faith but the man that doth those things shall live in them Gal. 3.12 For these and such-like were the Opinions which those Jews did hold as I have shewed and these were the things in which St. Paul opposed them They divided and separated Circumcision and the Law in the Letter of them from the Spirit of them both claiming Justification by the Letter alone And they divided the Law from the Promise rightly understood and looked to be Justified by Works of the Law without Faith in the Promise rightly understood They looked for the Messias indeed but not to become a Propitiation for Sin or to establish a New Covenant of Salvation but to further their Temporal and Eternal Felicity in the way of their Obedience to the Political Law But then it doth not in the least appear that St. Paul in denying Justification to be by the Law in the sense thus explained doth also thereby deny Works of sincere Obedience to God to concur with Faith in Man's Justification in all respects And if any shall yet suppose that St. Paul in denying Justification by Works in the Jews corrupt sense doth also on the by deny all Works of Evangelical Obedience to bear any part of the Condition on which God promiseth to justifie Men through Christ such a Supposition if admitted would make his Doctrine herein inconsistent not only with the Faith of the holy Men of Old who were wont to express the Condition of the Covenant of Mercy by loving God and keeping his Commandments but it would also make him inconsistent with himself and his own Doctrine and the Doctrine of other Apostles as I doubt not but plainly to make appear before I have done with this Discourse There is one Character of Works given by which you may certainly know what Works they were which St. Paul denied Men were justified by and they were such Works which were apt to occasion boasting Ephes 2.9 Not of Works lest any man should boast Rom. 4.2 For if Abraham were justified by Works to wit in the Jews sense by Circumcision in the Flesh to which St. Paul alludes ver 1. he hath whereof to glory but not before God but only before Men who were not Circumcised as he was For the unbelieving Jews who sought and expected Justification by Circumcision and other Legal Observations did glory over the poor Gentiles that were destitute of those Works which consisted in the outward Privileges which the Jews had and looked down upon them with contempt though some of them were much better than themselves such as Cornelius whom they looked upon as unclean This boasting humor of the Jews over the Gentiles is described and reproved Rom. 2. from ver 17. to 29. Now the Doctrine of Justification by Faith of obtaining pardon by anothers Undertaking for us to wit Christ Jesus and of being accepted with God through him upon our sincere though otherwise imperfect Obedience which sincere Obedience too is not performed without his special Grace and Assistance takes away all occasion of boasting in reference both to God and Men and laid the Jews as low as the Gentiles and made St. Peter a Jew to say But we believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved even as they Acts 15.11 And therefore vvheâ St. Paul had said that now the righteousness of God without the Law is manifested even the righteousness of God which is by Faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe for there is no difference meaning betvveen Jews and Gentiles Rom. 3.21 22. he thereupon demands in ver 27. saying Where is boasting then It is excluded By what Law Of Works Nay but by the Law of Faith Therefore we find the holy Men of old among the Jews who expected Acceptance with God upon other terms than the Pharisaical Jews did who placed their Confidence called trusting in the flesh Phil. 3.4 in their External Privileges and Performances alone were so far from glorying in such a Righteousness as that that they cryed out in reference to that All our righteousnesses are as filthy rags Isa 64.6 Thus Regenerating Grace made David so far from boasting either of Privileges or of his Performances that he said unto God Who am I and what is my people that we should be able to offer so willingly after this sort for all things come of thee and of thine own have we given thee 1 Chron. 29.14 This made St. Paul to say We are not sufficient of our selves as of our selves to think any thing but our sufficiency is of God 2 Cor. 3.5 And by the grace of God I am what I am 1 Cor. 15.10 And of him are we in Christ Jesus who of God is made unto us Wisdom Righteousness Sanctification and Redemption that he that gloriet h may glory in the Lord having nothing but what he hath received from him gratis and without all desert yea contrary to his demerits 1 Cor. 1.30 31. The good Works which the Saints do they do them by vertue of their being created in Christ Jesus in order thereunto Ephes 2.10 and all that is good is through Christ strengthening them Phil. 4.13 From whence therefore we may well conclude that if the Works which St. Paul wholly excludes in the matter of Justification were only such as were apt to occasion boasting that then Acts of Evangesical Obedience were none of those Works According to the sense explained then I presume we may well understand that Text Rom. 3.28 which of all others seems in the Phrase and Expression to be most Exclusive of Works in the point of Justification the Words are these Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by Faith without the deeds of the Law Which words if you consider the context seem to import no more but this viz. That a Man
Paul's Doctrine touching God's Grace and Long-suffering and wrest several passages in his Epistles and other Scriptures to their own destruction we are told by St. Peter also 2 Pet. 3.15 16. And account that the long-suffering of the Lord is Salvation even as our beloved brother Paul also according to the wisdom given him hath written unto you as also in all his Epistles speaking in them of these things In which are some things hard to be understood which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest as they do also the other Scriptures to their own destruction And after St. Paul in his 2 Tim. 3.2 3 4 5 verses had by many black Characters described a sort of Christians that had a form of godliness but denied the power thereof In ver 8. he further describes them by that which was the cause of the forementioned unsavoury fruits of the Flesh to wit that they were men of corrupt minds or understandings and reprobate concerning the Faith or void of Judgment concerning the Faith as the Margin hath it They were Men of corrupt Principles and injudicious concerning the Doctrine of Faith They did not discern Faith to be necessary in the operative and practical nature of it But as they did satisfie themselves with a form of Godliness without the power so they did likewise with a formal inefficacious and liveless Faith which made them so unsavoury in their Lives And St. John after he had in his first Epistle antidoted the Christians against the pretentions of the Gnosticks who held a bad Life consistent with Communion with God through illumination of mind and the Christian Faith deceiving themselves and labouring to deceive others in thinking they might be Righteous without doing Righteousness 1 Joh. 3.7 He towards the conclusion of that Epistle sums up his general scope in it in these words These things have I written unto you that believe in the Name of the Son of God that ye may know that ye have Eternal Life and that ye may believe on the Name of the Son of God Chap. 5.13 His meaning is as I conceive that he wrote this Epistle first to the end they might be the better assured of Salvation by Christ upon their rightly Believing on him And secondly To the end they might not be drawn into mistakes in the point of Believing as if any Faith less than such as is accompanied with a constant adherence to Christ's Doctrine and Example touching a holy Life would give them that Assurance He wrote to them that did Believe that they might Believe that is that they might Believe yet more understandingly more groundedly and so perseveringly against all temptations to Apostacy from the profession of the Faith or to loosness in the profession of it St. Jude also ver 3 4. stirred up the Christians to contend earnesâly for the Faith the Doctrine of saving Sinners in the way of Believing because as he told them there were certain Men professing Faith but of ungodly Lives that were among them that turned the grace of God into lasciviousness so understanding the Law of Grace the Gospel as if it had been a Proclamation from Heaven of a general Pardon for Christ's sake and through Faith in him of as many sins as Men had a mind to commit The which Error led them into those Monstrous Impieties charged upon them in that Epistle By reason of which the way of Truth the right Faith they pretended to was evil-spoken of in the World as St. Peter notes they being indeed Spots and Blemishes to the Christians and Christian-profession so long as they were admitted to their Feasts of Charity as owned by them to be of their Number This was indeed an ungodly Faith But the Faith which he exhorted them to contend for and to build up themselves upon as on a sure Foundation he calls their most holy Faith vers 20. such a Faith as is an Operative Principle of a holy Life And they were such Christians as St. James in his Epistle did expostulate with that did lean so much upon a meer Believing upon a meer Assent of the mind unto the truth of certain Propositions as that they were careless in the subduing of their Passions and bridling their Tongues and regulating their Actions as if these had not been necessary to Salvation But thought themselves safe upon account of their barren Faith though they were Proud and Conceited of their Knowledge and Attainments Censorious and Contentious Unmercifull and Uncharitable In a word they were such as were injudicious concerning the Faith that will Save and under mistakes of the Apostles Doctrine about it All this will easily appear to any that shall but with a competent measure of Understanding view and consider the scope and contents of that Epistle And thus you see how plainly it appears by the Epistles of the Apostles that the Doctrine of Justification by Faith without Works in the sense in which the Apostles asserted it was misunderstood by many Gnosticks carnal Gospellers or Solifidians The sense in which the Apostles did assert it was that Faith justifies without Works Antecedent to Believing and without Works as the Works of a literal observation of Moses's Law which was opposed by the Jews to Faith as having Christ Crucified for its Object and Repentance Regeneration and sincere Obedience in a holy Life for its inseparable Effects But these deceived Souls that deceived their own Hearts seem to have understood the Apostles as if they had taught Justification by Faith considered only as having the Death of Christ and the Atonement made thereby for its Object without respect to Regeneration and new Obedience as any part of the Condition And it had been much better for the Christian World if those corrupt Notions about the Doctrine of Faith as Justifying had died with those Men which in the first Ages of the Christian-Church were infected with them But alas it is too apparent that the same or much of the same dangerous and destructive mistakes have been transmitted to or revived in these latter Ages of the Church For we find by experience in this present Age that very many of those who are called Christians presume themselves to be Christians indeed and such as shall be saved by Christ though their Lives declare them to be far from being New Creatures from being renewed in the Spirit of their Minds Wills Affections and Conversations as those are that have been taught as the Truth is in Jesus Ephes 4.21 24. For they are confident they Believe all the Articles of their Creed and in doing so they are confident they shall be Saved and so they would if that Belief of theirs were but so effectual and operative as to produce such a change in Heart and Life as would denominate them New Creatures But the mischief is they deceive themselves in the nature of their Faith it being but an Opinionative Inoperative and dead Assent to the Truth of the Gospel such as is only an
Act of the Mind or Understanding and doth not powerfully influence the Will and so it is not a believing with all the Heart but is the act only of one such faculty of the Soul A Belief it 's probable may be found in the Devil himself And such a Belief was found in some who were so convinced by the power of Christ's Miracles in concurrence with his Doctrine and Life that they could not choose but believe him to be an extraordinary Person sent from God though their carnal Interest prevailed so much in them as that it would not suffer them to confess him openly because they loved the praise of Men more than the praise of God Joh. 12.42 43. And besides these Men deceive themselves about their Faith in this also that they do not heartily Believe the whole Doctrine of the Gospel but are partial in their Faith They in a sort believe Christ to be the Son of God and that he came into the World to save sinners and that he Died for our sins and the like But then they do not heartily believe his Doctrine touching the necessity of Repentance of being born again of denying all ungodliness and worldly lusts and of living righteously godly and soberly in this present world Or else they frame such Notions of these things unto themselves of Repentance and Regeneration as that they think they believe Christ's Doctrine touching them when they believe only the lying Imagination of their own Brains And there is too much ground to fear that many Mens ill managing the Doctrine of Justification by Faith hath not a little strengthened Men in this vain confidence For while Evangelical Obedience it self under the Notion of those Works to which Faith is opposed hath been decryed as Popish when interessed in Justification and Justification asserted to be by Faith alone in opposition to all Works whatsoever Inward and Outward as well Evangelical as Legal as well those after Conversion as those before yea and the disposition thereunto the Flesh and the Devil to help it hath got great advantage thereby to perswade Men against the necessity of a holy Life in such a sense of a holy Life as the Scripture makes absolutely necessary to Salvation For though it 's true that good Works have been acknowledged and pressed too as necessary to Salvation yet when withal they have been denied to be necessary to Justification and Men have been taught that when once they are Justified they can never fall away from a State of Justification they have easily been drawn to believe that good Works are not absolutely necessary to Salvation no more than to Justification but Faith only And upon supposition that the other two Points of Doctrine are true it would be but rational for them so to believe For if good Works be not necessary to Justification at all And if it is impossible but that those who are once justified should be saved how should Men chuse but infer from hence that good Works are not absolutely necessary to Salvation Unless it shall be said that Men are not put into an immediate capacity of Salvation by being justified Which to affirm would be to say Men are not freed from Condemnation by being freed from Condemnation which would be a contradiction in terms For to be justified is to be freed from Condemnation Rom. 8.33 34 and 5.16 18. and therefore Justification must needs put Men into an immediate capacity of being saved And as there is great reason to think that the Doctrine of Justification by Faith alone in opposition to the Works of Evangelical Obedience hath been a stumbling-stone unto many and a back-friend to the power of Godliness so there is another which hath been wont to be joyned with it that hath rendred it the more dangerous and it self no good friend to holy Living and that is the Doctrine of the Imputation of Christ's Righteousness unto Justification in that way in which it hath been managed by very many For otherwise there is a sense as I have shewed in which it is a great and a comfortable Truth For when Men have been taught to esteem their own Righteousness but as filthy rags not only because of its utter insufficiency to justifie instead of Christ or as he justifies in which respect indeed it is no better but also as any part of a Condition of Justification or of our acceptance with God And when they have been taught also that upon their Believing only Christ's Righteousness in fulfilling the Law for them becomes imputed to them in it self and not only as the procuring cause of their Justification upon the terms of the Gospel so that they are looked upon as having themselves perfectly kept the Law in him it hath doubtless infeebled their endeavours after an inherent Righteousness and proved a temptation to them to think that so long as they have such anothers Inherent Righteousness essentially in it self imputed to them as Christ's is they have no great need to find it in themselves considering also that if they had it they must rather loath themselves for it than take any comfort in it But let no man deceive you saith St. John he that doth righteousness is righteous as he is righteous 1 Joh. 3.7 I do acknowledge that many of them have been worthy Men who yet have propagated these Opinions But that makes the Opinions never the better but have done more hurt in gaining thereby the more credit It is true also that those worthy Men have zealously pressed the necessity of Repentance Regeneration and a Holy Life Which proved indeed an Antidote against the Poyson of the other Opinions so that they did not become Mortal to many as otherwise they would have done And indeed they would have made mad work if they had not been yoaked with wholesomer Doctrine as we see they did among Antinomians Ranters and other carnal Christians that have followed the Ducture of those Opinions but have been shy of letting the Doctrines of Mortification and strict Living to have any power over them But then if the preaching of those sounder Doctrines of Repentance Regeneration and a holy Life have done much good notwithstanding they have been clogged with Opinions of another tendency it is easie to imagine that they would have done much more good if they had not been checkt by those unsound Principles But I shall say no more of this though more might be said because I hope I may say that most of those who have formerly imbibed these Opinions are now come to deliver themselves with more caution than heretofore And so I shall proceed to the last thing I propounded to touch upon and that is to shew CHAP. VII That the Doctrine of St. Paul and of St. James about Faith and Works in reference to Justification do not differ but are wholly one IT is true indeed though the Doctrine of St. PAVL and St. JAMES was in nothing opposite the one to the other yet the nature
Paul in speaking against Justification by Works gives sufficient caution not to be understood thereby to speak against Evangelical Obedience in the case When he had asserted Justification to be by Faith without the deeds of the Law and that the Gentiles might be Justified by Believing without ever observing Moses's Law Rom. 3.28 lest he should be understood thereby to favour Gentilism or loose living in Men provided they would but turn Christians he frames and answers on Objection thus vers 31. Do we make void the Law through Faith God forbid Yea we establish the Law And how did they so Certainly they did not thereby establish the Ceremonial Law in the Letter of it but in the Spirit of it they did in as much as in Preaching Justification in the Gospel-way they Preached in plain Precepts the necessity of that Spiritual purity unto Salvation which was but darkly and in a figure taught by the Ceremonial Law And this they did in Preaching the necessity of Mortification instead of Circumcision And by the Doctrine of Justification by Faith they established the Moral Law both in the Letter and âpirit of it in teaching the necessity of Evangelical Obedience to it ãâ¦ã more spiritual and forcible manner than had been taught beââââ ãâ¦ã in when he had charged the unbelieving Jews with a great Erroâ in going about to establish a Righteousness of their own in opposââiââ to God's in adhering to their Law against the Gospel Rom. 10.3 to the end it might not be thought that he would take them off their Law that they might be Lawless or less Religious he adds vers 4. that Christ is the end of the Law for Righteousness to every one that believeth For so he is in his Doctrine having therein taught that Righteousness of living which the Law it self taught but in a far more excellent spiritual and effectual manner than was taught by the Law So that all that he designed in taking them off from their Law was but to put them under a better conduct To make them dead to the Law that they might be married to another viz. to Christ by his Gospel that they might bring forth fruit unto God as it is Rom. 7.4 And likewise in ver 6. he saith We are delivered from the Law but not to be Lawless but that we might serve in newness of Spirit and not in the oldness of the Letter that is according to the Spirit Scope and Design of the Law now expressed in plain Precepts and not in the oldness of the Letter and Ceremony And so he saith of himself Gal. 2.19 I through the Law am dead to the Law i e he through a better understanding of God's design in the Law became dead as to all his former expectations of Justification by it But then if he were dead to the Law it was as he saith that he might live unto God live a life in the flesh through the Faith in his Son through believing his Gospel in its Precepts and Promises the one directing and the other quickning unto a most excellent Life ver 20. And if St. Paul were thus careful in denying Justification by Works to assert the necessity of Evangelical Obedience we may well conclude that he never intended under the notion of Works of the Law to exclude Evangelical Obedience from having any hand sooner or later in Justification 3. Regeneration or the New Creature as including Evangelical Obedience is opposed to Works of the Law in the business of Man's Justification as well as Faith is and as well as the Grace of God it self is Gal. 6.15 For in Christ Jesus neither Circumcision availeth any thing nor Vncircumcision but a new Creature Circumcision is here as elsewhere by a Synecdoche put for the Works of the Law in general For there were none that were for Circumcising but who were also for keeping the Law of Moses Only Circumcision is mentioned frequently instead of all the rest because they held it to be not only a part of the Law but more and because they laid the greatest stress upon it as I shewed before Chap. 5. Now in that which the Apostle denies Circumcision and the Works of the Law to avail a Man in that he affirms the becoming a New Creature will avail him and that was in the business of Justification and Salvation For in that sense the unbelieving Jews and Judaizers held Circumcision and other Works of the Law available And this New Creature thus opposed to Works and thus available to Justification consisteth in a new frame of Spirit and the Vital Operations thereof and which we can have no right notion of without Evangelical Obedience in will and resolution at least which are really inward acts of that Obedience and are a conformity of the renewed Will to the Divine Law 4. Evangelical Obedience as well as Faith and together with Faith is opposed to the Works of the Law in reference to Justification and Salvation Gal. 5.6 For in Christ Jesus neither Circumcision availeth any thing nor Vncircumcision but Faith which worketh by love Here again Circumcision by the same Figure and for the same reason as before is put for the Works of Moses's Law And as these are denied to avail any Man to Justification and Salvation so on the other hand it is affirmed that that Faith which worketh by Love doth avail to these great ends For to say that Faith which worketh by Love doth so is the same in sense as to say that Faith which worketh by fulfilling the Law and by keeping the Commandments doth so avail For so Love is said to be Rom. 13.10 1 Joh. 5.3 The Assemblies Annotations upon the place give notice that the Word here translated Worketh Faith which worketh by Love being in the mean or middle voice may be taken either Actively or Passively And several other Learned Men among whom Dr. Hammond is one do render and understand it passively as if the Apostle should have said Faith which is wrought or perfected or consummate by Love and so make it directly parallel with that in St. James Chap. 2.22 By Works was Faith made perfect So far is the Scripture we see from opposing acts of Evangelical Obedience to Faith in the Works of Justification as that it conjoyns them with Faith in the title to it and in opposition to false pretentions to it 5. Evangelical Obedience alone is opposed to the Works of the Law in reference to Justification so far is it from being true that where the Works of the Law are excluded there Evangelical Obedience is excluded from having any share in the Work of Justification 1 Cor. 7.19 Circumcision is nothing and Vncircumcision is nothing but the keeping of the Commandments of God Circumcision is here again as before put for the whole Law And indeed he that was Circumcised was bound to keep the whole Law as this Apostle noteth in Gal. 5.3 And when he saith Circumcision is nothing he means here doubtless as in
those other places already opened that it avails nothieg to any Mans acceptation with God or to his Justification and Salvation as the Judaizers of those Times thought it did But then the keeping of the Commandments of God will avail to these ends For that I conceive was intended and ought to be understood by the opposition that is made between Circumcision and keeping the Commandments 6. Faith it self is an act of Evangelical Obedience this as well as Love is an act of Conformity to our Lord's Commands and therefore a Man cannot be justified by Faith but in being so he must be justified by Evangelical Obedience 1 John 3.23 This is his Commandments that we should believe in the Name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another as he gave us Commandment This by our Saviour is called a work Joh. 6.29 This is the work of God that ye believe on him whom he hath sent And there is so much of the nature of Evangelical Obedience in Faith it self as that to Believe and to Obey are promiscuously put one for another and so is Unbelief and Disobedience Accordingly you have in many places the one reading in the Text and the other in the Margin as Acts 5.36 Rom. 11.30 31. Ephes 5.6 Heb. 4.11 and 11.31 And Belief and Disobedience are in Scripture opposed to each other as direct contraries Rom. 10.16 1 Pet. 2.7 2 Thes 2.12 So that since Faith is an act of Evangelical Obedience it follows that to say the Works of Evangelical Obedience do justifie does no more derogate from the Grace of God or the freeness of his Grace in justiying than to say Faith justifies First Because other acts of Evangelical Obedience are the effects of God's Grace and produced by it as well as Faith It is God that worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure Phil. 2.13 And secondly Because it is meerly of the Law of Grace that Faith and other Acts of Evangelical Obedience are made the condition of the Promise of Salvation Ephes 2.8 By grace are ye saved through Faith in Christ Jesus and that not of your selves it is the gift of God As Men do not Believe or Obey of themselves without supernatural Assistance so neither is it of themselves that they are Justified or Saved upon their Believing but both the one and the other is the Gift of God It is not of him that willeth nor of him that runneth but of God that sheweth mercy It is by virtue of God's New Covenant that a promise of Pardon is made to Repentance or to Faith for the primary Law the Law of Nature promised no such thing upon Repentance And it is by virtue of the same Law of Grace that a Promise of Justification and Reward is made to sincere Obedience in other Acts of Obedience as well as those of Faith and Repentance That which hath made many afraid of interessing Evangelical Obedience with Faith in justifying Men hath been an Opinion that so to do would derogate from God's Grace and attribute too much to Man But you see there is no ground for such an Opinion It 's true indeed the proper merit of Works and God's Grace are inconsistent And therefore are opposed to each other in Scripture But Evangelical Obedience and Grace are no more opposite or inconsistent than Cause and Effect or than Causes principal and subordinate And as it doth not follow that because we are justified freely by God's Grace that therefore we are not justified by Faith So neither doth it follow that because we are justified by Faith that therefore we are not justified by sincere Obedience For these and the Blood of Christ do all concur in producing many of the same Effects though not in the same respect 7. By Evangelical Obedience Christians come to have a right to Salvation Revel 22.14 Blessed are they that do his Commandments âhat they may have a right to the Tree of Life and may enter in through the gates into the City This is left on Record as a special Memorandum âor Christians in closing up the Canon of the New Testament and therefore is to be taken special notice of This right to the Tree oâ Life and of entring into this blessed City upon keeping the Commandments is from a New Covenant or Law Act or Grant from God For otherwise Man that had transgressed the first Law hââas put under would have been far from having any right to such Happiness upon the terms here mentioned viz. of sincere though imperfect Obedience But seeing that a Right to Salvation doth accrue to Men upon a sincere keeping of God's Commandments notwithstanding their forfeiture of their first Right by Man's first Fall it evidently follows that Evangelical or Sincere Obedience is part of the condition of the Promise of Blessedness in the New Law or Covenant and is here put for the whole of it as at other times Faith is put for the whole of the Condition And that Moses David Solomon Nehemiah and Daniel received it in this sense and understood all along that sincere Obedience flowing from Love was the condition of God's Covenant of Mercy when they stiled him a God keeping Covenant and Mercy with those that Love him and keep his Commandments Deut. 7.9 1 Kings 8.23 Neh. 1.5 Dan. 9.4 I have before shewed If it shall be here said that sincere Obedience is indeed a condition of Salvation but not of Justification and that it is so made here in this 22d of the Revelation I have I think sufficiently answered this Objection in the former Chapter but shall here add That such as thus say are more curious and nice in distinguishing between Justification and Salvation than St. Paul was For he calls Justification the Justification of Life Rom. 5.18 Whom he justified them he also glorified Rom. 8.30 and proves that Men shall be justified by Faith because it is written that the Just shall live by Faith Gal. 3.11 Thus with him to be justified and to be blessed are all one Gal. 3.8 9. Rom. 4.7 8 9. And to confirm this Righteousness or Justification and Life are used by him as Synonimous terms Gal. 3.21 For if there had been a Law given which could have given life verily Righteousness should have been by the Law And Justification and Condemnation are but in direct opposition to each other Rom. 5.18 and 8.33 34. And to be freed from Condemnation which is Justification and to be Saved are as much one as not to Dye is to Live In short Salvation as well as Justification is promised to Believing Joh. 3.16 Act. 3.31 Heb. 10.39 And therefore Salvation as well as Justification must needs be the immediate effect of Faith if we take Salvation as begun here in this Life as the Scripture represents it to be Joh. 5.24 1 Joh. 3.14 and 5.12 From all which we may conclude That what is absolutely necessary to Salvation must needs also be necessary to Justification Add we
hereto that to be justified and to be saved is the same thing with St. James as well as it is with St. Paul according to the tenour of his Reasoning Chap. 2. from ver 14. to the end What doth it profit my brethren saith he though a man say he hath Faith and have not Works Can Faith save him Vers 14. This Interrogation implies an Emphatical Negation and the meaning is that such a Faith can by no means save a Man and he gives the reason of it twice over in vers 17 20. because Faith without Works is dead And then afterwards argues the necessity of Works together with Faith unto Justification or unto Salvation which was the thing he began with by God's justifying Abraham by Works together with his Faith who was the great Pattern or Example of God's justifying all others If then to be justified and to be saved amounts to the same in St. James's Discourse here then by the way they do not rightly understand St. James who think he doth not speak of a Justification before God in this his Discourse about Justification by Works together with Faith but of a Justification before Men and to their own Conscience only Which supposition of theirs doth directly thwart the very scope and design of his whole Discourse which is to set forth what will and what will not avail a Christian-Professor in the sight of God to the saving of his Soul as abundantly appears So that the Scripture which saith Abraham believed God and it was accounted to him for Righteousness and which St. James saith was fulfilled in Abraham's being justified by Works as well as by Faith was not fulfilled in Abraham's being justified to others and to his own Conscience but in his being justified before God and so St. Paul understood it Rom. 4.3 Gal. 3.6 But this was touched before in Chap. 1. The result then of what hath been argued in Answer to the Objection is this viz. That all that are justified are thereby put regularly into an immediate capacity of Salvation so that if they should dye the very next moment after they are once justified they would undoubtedly be saved And therefore Evangelical Obedience can be no more necessary to Salvation than it is to Justification and it is as necessary to the one as to the other And if to say Evangelical Obedience is necessary to Justification be injurious to Christ and to the Grace of God as some would pretend how comes it to pass then that to say Evangelical Obedience is necessary to Salvation is not so too For our final Salvation is as much the effect of God's Grace and of Christ's Undertaking for us as our Justification it self is and of as much Value And therefore if the one be not injurious in this kind neither is the other 8. As the Promise of forgiveness of sins by the Blood of Christ or the Promise of an interest in his Blood to the pardon of Sin is sometimes made unto Believing so sometimes again it is made unto Evangelical Obedience or a holy Life as in 1 Joh. 1.7 If we walk in the light as he is in the light that is endeavouring to be holy as God is holy then have we fellowship one with another and the Blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all Sin but otherwise it doth not And so the Christians to whom St. Peter wrote were said to be elect according to the fore-knowledge of God the Father through Sanctification of the Spirit unto obedience and sprinkling of the Blood of Jesus Christ 1 Pet. 1.2 But they were not elect to the benefit of being sprinkled with the Blood of Christ without Obedience And therefore by this we see also that Evangelical Obedience is part of the Condition of the Promise of Justification by the Blood of Christ 9. To forgive Injuries is an act of Evangelical Obedience to that Precept of our Lord Mar. 11.25 And yet without this act of Obedience Men that have been injured cannot be justified because they cannot be pardoned according to the Word of our Lord Mark 11.26 Mat. 6.15 and 18.35 Therefore Evangelical Obedience must needs be part of the Condition of Justification 10. Repentance is an eminent Act of Evangelical Obedience Acts 17.30 and yet pardon of sin which is essential to Justification is not to be obtained without it Luke 13.3 5. Therefore again it follows that Evangelical Obedience is necessary to Justification and part of the Condition of it And now by this time I suppose it fully appears to any unprejudiced Reader that the Doctrine of St. Paul yea and of St. Peter and John too do fully accord with the Doctrine of St. James touching the necessity of Evangelical Obedience unto Justification The opposition then which some have made between Faith and all Internal and External Works in reference to Justification as well Evangelical as Mosaical hath not been only without Scripture-ground but against Scripture-evidence and looks more like that which was made by the Gnosticks or other Solisidians opposed by St. James if it be not the very same than any the Scripture any where maketh And how much injury the Christian Religion and the Souls of Men may have suffered thereby is a thing to be thought on and sadly laid to Heart It is a pleasant Doctrine and the worst of Men called Christians are glad to hear that they may be justify'd by Christ only upon their Believing in him without any Works of Righteousness or Self-denial of their own And upon that account presuming verily that they do Believe they are confident that they are justify'd though they are unsanctify'd But those especially are in great danger of deceiving their own Souls by building their Confidence upon this Doctrine who together with this Belief have more of the form of Godliness than the other have and are found much more in the use and exercise of the external Devotional part of Religion and are zealous for this or that Opinion Party or Way which they think most Orthodox though they be greatly destitute of Love to the Nature of God and of Humility Charity strict Justice Fidelity Peaceableness Sobriety Temperance Modesty and Meekness and of that renewed frame of Soul which would make them like Christ Jesus wherein the power of Christianity doth consist The external Duties of Hearing Reading Praying and the rest being in great part but means referring to the other as the end So that no Man is to account himself truly Religious further than he attains to these truly Christian Qualifications by the use of the External Mâans and Internal Aids Yea the âââshly part even in Mân good in the main is very apt to make an advantage of such a Doctrine as aforesaid to the lessening of their Care Dilience and Zeal in working out their Salvation in striving to enter in at the straight Gate in governing their own Spirits and Appetites in cleansing themselves from all filthiness of Flesh and Spirit and
in perfecting holiness in the fear of God And therefore there is great need for those that are Spiritual Guides to the People to insist much upon the necessity of Repentance Regeneration and a holy Life as well as Faith in order to their being justified and saved by Christ Jesus For the People yea the better sort of them stand most in need as of being well-grounded touching the Truth of the Christian Religion so especially of having the Doctrines of Morality inculcated upon them the Precepts of the Gospel being almost all of that Nature thought some speak diminutively of moral Preaching and tend to the perfecting of the Nature of Man in regulating the Internal Operations of the Soul and the External Actions of Life in reference both to God and Man our Selves and Others The recovering of Men to which is God's great Design by the Gospel in order to their being made perfectly Happy at last as I have shewed in Chap. 1. There is indeed an absolute necessity of Believing the Gospel in order to Christian Practice And therefore our blessed Saviour did not only Preach the necessity of Faith in him and his Doctrine but also wrought abundance of Miracles to beget this Faith in Men. And yet he knowing the great danger of Men's miscarrying in point of Morality in the disposition of Soul and actions of Life insisted chiefly in his Preaching upon Doctrines of that nature as you may see in his Sermon on the Mount and elsewhere He taught the necessity of being born again Of making the Tree good that the Fruit might be good And to inforce this Doctrine of his he was not wont to tell his Auditors that every Man shall be Rewarded according to his Belief but that when the Son of Man shall come every Man shall be rewarded according to his Works That those that have done good shall come forth to the resurrection of life and those that have done evil to the resurrection of damnation That by their words they shall be justified which are no more Faith than Works are and by Their words they shall be condemned That in the Great Day of the Tryal of all Nations every Man shall be Acquitted or Condemned according to the Good they have done or neglected to do Mat. 25 And that then not every Man that had Faith enough to Cry Lord Lord or to Prophesie cast out Devils or do wonders in his Name shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven but such and such only as have done the will of his Father Great need there is therefore of Peoples examining themselves impartially and of being often admonished to take heed lest they mistake and decâive themselves in the nature of Religion and in what is absâlutely necessary to be done on their part âecause Men are very aât to flatter and deceive themselves in that and to think that whân their Faith is right in the object of it as wâen they âelieve in the true God and in his Son Jesus Christ and expect Salvation by him alone that then they are true Believers and such as shall be saved especially if therewith they joyn the frequenting of God's Ordinances and the paring off of some of the grosser Enormities of their Lives though in the mean while they make no Conscience of cleansing their Hearts and governing their Spirits of subduing their Passions and inordinate Affections and of bridling the Tongue For this cause it is that Christians are so often in Scripture cautioned to take heed lest they should be deceived Be not deceived God is not mocked For whatsoever a Man sows that also shall he reap Gal. 6.7 8. Little Children let no Man deceive you He that doth Righteousness is Righteous even as he is Righteous 1 Joh. 3.7 1 Cor. 6.9 Ephes 5.6 FINIS THE CONTENTS Of The Discourse of the Nature Ends and Difference of the Two Covenants INTRODUCTION THE Principal cause why the Jews rejected Christ and his Gospel To Remove which the Apostle St. Paul used various reasonings wherein some things are hard to be Vnderstood Which others mistaking ran into a Contrary extream The method which the Author proposes to remove mistakes CHAP. I. The Nature and Design of God's Promise to Abraham What is necessary to open the Nature of it Sect. 1. That it 's of the same Nature with the New Covenant tho' they differ in the Administration For First The Covenant delivered to Abraham was confirmed by Christ as well as the Gospel Secondly the Gospel was Preached to Abraham Thirdly he was Justified by Faith and therefore by a New Covenant Fourthly St. Paul Argues against the Jews from Abraham's being Justified by Faith That Abraham had not a distinct Notion of all that was imply'd in the Promise What the New Covenant is namely a New Law by way of Remedy against the Rigour and Extreamity of the Law of Nature under which Man was Created Page 1. 2. 3. This proved and Reasons for it p. 4. Sect. 2. God's design in the New Covenant or Promise made to Abraham next to his own Glory was the Recovery of Humane Nature from its degenerate State to a State of Holyness without which no Happiness p. 4. and 5. This proved p. 6. Sect. 3. The Benefits contain'd in the Promise made to Abraham First of sending the Messias and what a benefit this was p. 7. and 8. Secondly a Promise of Remission of Sin to all who would Believe in him Repent and become sincerely Obedient for the future ibid. Thirdly A Promise of Divine Assistance to Men in their faithful endeavours tho' tacitly ibid. Fourthly a Promise of Eternal Life tho' implicitly ibid. Sect. 4. The Extent of God's Promise to Abraham p. 9. That it did extend to all Nations of the Earth p. 10. Sect. 5. The Security given by God for the Performance of the Promise made to Abraham p. 10. The Reason why God gave such a Security ibid. Sect 6. That the Promise made to Abraham was Conditional ibid. That Repentance and Faith were to be performed by Man as his part of the Covenant p. 11. The Reason of this ibid. How God Works that change in Man's Nature designed in the New Covenant First by proposing important Truths to his Vnderstanding Secondly By proposing Motives to the Will to incline it to follow the Dictates of the Mind p. 12. Sect. 7. That the Condition of the Promise made to Abraham was a practical Faith p. 13. The Nature of Abraham's Faith p. 14 The difference of believing God and believing in God ibid. A Description of Faith in General ibid. Faith Strictly taken is an Assent unto the Truth of any proposiion upon the Credit of the Speaker ibid. Yet Saving Faith is of a more Comprehensive Nature If God 's Threatnings against Sinners be taken in the definition will be this Faith is such a hearty Belief of God's Declaration concerning his own Grace and Displeasure and Man's Duty as doth effectually cause a Man to expect from God and to act
in a Way of Sincere Obedience according to the Tenour and Import of such a Declaration p. 17. What Faith as Evangelical and Christian is p. 17. The first reason why Faith is made the Condition of the Promise is that the Grace of God to Man might the more shew it self The Second Reason because it best answers God's Design in this Covenant p. 18. 19. 20. Sect. 8. What we are to understand by God's counting Abraham's Faith to him for Righteousness p. 21. Two things make up the Righteousness of the Law of Grace First the Righteousness which consisteth in the Forgiveness of Sins Secondly the Righteousness of Sincere Obedience p. 22. This cleared p. 23. CHAP. II. For what ends the Law was added to the Promise not to cross or confront it p. 24. A Question wherefore then serveth the Law ibid. Answer it was added because of Transgression until the Seed should come And that in many respects first to discover Sin that it might be known to be Sin Secondly to set it out in its own Colours Thirdly to set off the Beauty and Glory of God's Grace in the Promise of Salvation Fourthly because it serves as a School Master to Lead us to Christ and as a School-Master hath a double End respecting the present and future time The present use twofold First to Reclaim and Restrain them from Heathenish superstitions 2dly for Tryal of Obedience in lesser things p. 25. The use of the Law for the time to come was first to facilitate the knowledge of the mystery of their Redemption by Christ Secondly to facilitate and Strengthen their Belief in Christ Thirdly the Law was given to the Jews for the general Good of all the World p. 27. CHAP. III. Wherein is shewed by what Faith and Practise persons under the Law were saved That the Jews had not a clear and full Knowledge of all that was included in the Promise made to Abraham p. 28. and yet that they had the Promise of Blessedness to all Nations in Abraham's Seed They had the addition of several other predictions concerning the Messias p. 30. They had large Significations of God's special Favour above all People ibid. They had exprâss Declarations from God of the Goodness of his Nature By all which they were induc'd to Love God and to endeavour to please him ibid. CHAP. IV. That the Law contained a Covenant different from that with Abraham p. 31. In what respect the Law of Moses is said to contain a Covenant of a different nature from the Covenant of Grace made with Abraham ibid. The Law of Moses under a twofold consideration first as in Conjunction with the Promise made to Abraham 2dly as given at Sinai in a stricter Sense as it was a Rule of Government in the Common-Wealth of Israel In the former sense is obscurely promised Eternal Life in the Latter temporal Blessings p. 32. This Covenant consisted first of Laws 2dly the Sanction of these Laws The Laws were of two sorts 1st the Law of Duty 2dly the Laws of Jndemnity p. 33. Laws of Duty what p. 33. Laws of Jndemnity what p. 34. The Sanction of these Laws consisted in Promises made to the observing them and a Curse denounced against the Transgressors ibid. The Promises considered negatively and Affirmatively p. 35. 36. 37. A five-fold difference in reference to remission of Sin between the first Covenant and the Covenant of Grace p. 38. 39. That more than a temporal Death was threatned for a Breach of the political Covenant as such p. 39. The temporal Evils threatned for a Breach of this Covenant were Personal Domestick or Nationall whereof in particular p. 39. and 41. CHAP. V. The Grand mistakes of the Jews about the Law and Promise and how St. Paul Counter-argues these Mistakes p. 41. First they held Circumcision of the Flesh to be the special Condition upon which God's Covenant-Blessings with Abraham did depend never Vnderstanding that Spiritual Circumcision which was primarily intended p 42. St. Paul's arguing against their Belief in this point p. 42. Secondly That the Promised Messias shou'd not by suffering Death become a Sacrifice for Sin ibid. and yet his Death was necessary how St. Paul âonsutes their Belief in this point p. 44. Thirdly They held another Error that the Legal Sacrifices did expiate Sin ibid. This Error opposed p. 45 Fourthly That without Circumcision and observing Moses's Law the Gentiles cou'd not be saved ibid. This Error Refuted ibid. Fifthly they held that the Law of Moses was unalterably perpetual and this opposed p. 47. Another Errror of theirs was That they held the First Covenant alone together with the Covenant of Literal Circumcision which they made a part of their Law to be the Covenant of Salvation ibid. And to this they peremptorily adher'd ibid. and disprov'd ibid. CHAP. VI. How St. Paul's Doctrine of Justification by Faith and not by Works was then Mistaken by some The Mistake of those Jews who laid the stress of their Salvation upon Believing only without a virtuous and Holy Life p. 53. Neither did they discern Faith to be necessary in the operative and practical Nature of it p. 54. How the Doctrine of Justification by Faith without Works in the sense wherein the Apostles asserted it was understood p. 55. CHAP. VII That the Doctrine of St. Paul and St. James about Faith and Works in reference to Justification do not differ but are wholly one p. 60. Ten Considerations to prove this p. 61. First that Works of Evangelical Obedience are never in Scripture opposed to God's Grace ibid. Secondly That St. Paul in speaking against Justification by Works gives Caution not to be Vnderstood to speak against Evangelical Obedience p. 62. Thirdly Regeneration or the New Creature is opposed to Works of the Law as well as Faith ibid. Fourthly Evangelical Obedience as well as Faith is opposed to Works of the Law in order to Justification p. 63. Fifthly Evangelical Obedience alone is opposed to Works of the Law in reference to Salvation ibid. Sixthly That Faith is an act of Evangelical Obedience ibid. Seventhly That by Evangelical Obedience Christians come to have a Right to Salvation p. 64. Eightly That as the promise of forgiveness is made sometimes to Believing so it is to Obedience p. 66. Ninthly That Evangelical Obedience is a part of the Condition of Justification p. 67. Tenthly That Repentance is one Eminent Act of Evangelical Obedience ibid. FINIS A DISCOURSE ON FAITH MEN's Eternal Estate of Weal or Wo in another World and their Peace and Comfort in this being very much concerned in their right understanding or mistaking the nature and difference of that Faith which is Saving and of that which is not I shall here state the nature and difference of those two kinds of Faith with what brevity and perspicuity I can I cannot I confess think that the nature of Faith which is of absolute necessity to the Salvation of the meanest Christian is in it self hard to be
understood were it not that the many Controversies about it about its Object and the Acts of the Soul necessary to it had puzzled Mens Minds and distracted their Apprehensions concerning it Things absolutely necessary to Salvation as they are not many so there are hardly any Doctrines delivered with more plainness than they that the Weak who are as much concerned in them as the Strong might competently understand them as well as they Men may multiply Notions about Faith as the Scripture useth various expressions about it But I doubt not but that the general sense of the Scripture hereabout may be summarily expressed in this plain Proposition That saving Faith is such a Belief of Christ to be the Son of God and of the truth of his Doctrine especially touching the virtue of his Death and Resurrection and the necessity of amendment of Life for the obtaining Remission of Sin and Eternal Life as causeth a Man to deny all Ungodliness and Worldly Lusts and to Live a Godly Righteous and a Sober Life This is so plain in Scripture as that there is no Christian so weak but may easily come to understand it and so evident that none who acknowledge the Truth of the Gospel can deny it That I may state the difference then between Effectual and Ineffectual Faith and matters relating to them with all the plainness I can I shall very briefly endeavour these five things I. To open the comprehensive Nature of Faith II. Shew wherein the defect lies of that Faith which is not saving III. Shew whence that defect proceeds IV. How and after what manner Faith in the Vnderstanding works savingly upon the Will V. Answer some few Objections CHAP. I. I. The Comprehensive Nature of saving Faith opened THat I may open the comprehensive Nature of Faith the better I shall first observe how variously the Condition upon which saving Benefits are promised is expressed in Scripture and then what actings of the Soul are thereby signified It is thus variously expressed in Scripture Sometimes it 's called a believing God Rom. 4.3 Gal. 3.6 a believing in God 1 Pet. 1.21 a believing on God Rom. 4.24 a believing the Record which God hath given of his Son 1 Joh. 5.10 Sometimes it 's called a believing on Christ Joh. 3.16 36. Acts 16.31 a believing him to be the Christ the Son of God Joh. 20.31 1 Joh. 5.5 It 's called Faith in his Blood Rom. 3.25 a believing that God raised him from the dead Rom. 10.9 Sometimes it 's called a believing of the Gospel Mar. 16.15 16. a believing of the Truth 2 Thes 2.15 a believing the testimony of the Apostles 2 Thes 1.10 Sometimes it is expressed under the Notion of Repentance Acts 2.38 and 3.19 and 11.18 2 Cor. 7.10 and sometimes of Obedience 1 John 1.7 Pet. 1.2 Heb. 5.9 The Condition of the Promise of saving Benefits being thus variously expressed can signifie no less than a three-fold Act of the Soul The first being the Act of the Understanding The second of the Will The third of the Understanding and Will conjunct 1. Such expressions of the Condition of the Promise as is the believing in God the believing his Record the believing the Gospel the believing Christ to be the Son of God do most properly signifie the Act of the Mind or Understanding in Assenting to the truth of what God testifieth or promiseth Which assent is grounded upon a knowledge or belief of God's Veracity his Truth and Faithfulness armed with All-sufficiency of Power Wisdom and Goodness to make good his Word to a tittle And although such expressions as aforesaid do most properly signifie the act of the Understanding yet whenever saving Benefits are promised and the Condition expressed in such a form of Words as doth most properly and primarily signifie the Assent of the Mind even then the act of the Will in Consenting to the Condition is implyed and ought to be understood as I shall fully prove in the next Particular And the reason why the whole of the Promise relating to the Consent of the Will as well as the Assent of the Understanding is frequently expressed in such a form of words as primarily and strictly signifie the Assent of the Mind is I conceive because such Assent of the Mind is the Principle from which all concurrent acts of the Will necessary to Justification and Salvation do proceed And it is of frequent use in Scripture to denominate the whole of Religion by some one Principal part which is a fruitful Principle of all the rest Thus the Knowledge of the true God and of Jesus Christ whom-he hath sent is said to be Eternal Life Joh. 17.3 And thus some times the Fear of God and sometimes the Love of God is put for the whole of Mens saving Religiousness and the same Promise of Blessedness made to one of these singly exprest is to be extended to the whole In like manner the whole of Christianity is frequently denominated by Faith and the Christians stiled Believers and the Houshold of Faith and the like and all because that Christian Life of theirs by which they differ from other Men flows from their Faith which is the first active Principle of it 2. Another act of the Soul essentially necessary to that Faith which is the Condition of the Promise is the Consent of the Will to Repent to receive Christ as Lord and King to be governed by his Laws as well as to own him for a Priest once Offering himself and ever making Intercession for us For the Condition of the Promise of Pardon and Salvation is expressed under the notion of Repentance and sometimes of Obedience as I shewed before And Repentance and Obedience are acts of the Will as renewed And that there is no Promise of saving Benefits upon meer Believing without observing that part of the Condition which consisteth in Repentance Regeneration and Obedience is most evident Because they are expresly excluded in Scripture from having any share in the saving Benefits of the Covenant Justification or Salvation who do not Repent Luke 13.3 who are not Regenerate Joh. 3.5 who Love not the Lord Jesus Christ and that above any Worldly Enjoyment 1 Cor. 16.22 Matth. 10.37 and who do not Obey him Acts 3.22 23. Luke 19.27 2 Thes 1.7 By all which we may certainly know that whenever there is Promise of Justification and Salvation made to Believing it is to be understood of such a Believing as doth at that instant in which a Man believes savingly produce a sincere Consent of the Will to Repent to Love Christ and to Obey him For otherwise those Scriptures and these would be inconsistent For if Men cannot be Pardoned nor delivered from the Curse nor be safe from Destruction until they have Repented are Regenerate do love Christ and Obey the Gospel as the forecited Scriptures do assure us they cannot then no Faith whatsoever is justifying or can entitle them to Pardon and Salvation according to the Tenour
me ye workers of iniquity Matth. 7.22 23. Luke 13.25 26. These had some kind of Faith in Christ by which they Prophesied in his Name and cast out Devils and did many wonderful Works They were such as were Hearers of his Word and Preachers of it too and had eaten and drunk in his Presence And because of this Faith and these Works they had a Hope and Confidence that Christ would open unto them and receive them into his Kingdom and would not be easily beaten off from this Confidence But the true reason why their Faith will stand them in no stead nor their Religious performances neither is because for all that they were workers of Iniquity they never heartily consented to the Terms of the Promise of Salvation by Christ in Repenting They did not first heartily resolve and after sincerely endeavour to turn from every known Sin unto every known Duty And in this very thing doth the defect of that Faith lie which is short of saving VVhich will yet farther appear in that St. James when he would state the difference between that Faith which is saving and that which is not fixeth it here The dead Faith is denominated such by him from its being alone without VVorks Jam. 2.17 Even so Faith if it hath not Works is dead being alone or by it self And again vers 20. But wilt thou know O vain Man that Faith without Works is dead And again ver 26. For as the body without the Spirit is dead so Faith without Works is dead also Meaning by its being dead that it avails a Man no more to his Justification and Salvation than a dead Corps avails to the producing the useful and serviceable effects of a Living Man or than a Tree that is dead avails to the bringing forth Fruit or than a few good words Depart in peace be ye filled and warmed will avail poor people when nothing is given which is needful to the body ver 15 16 17. In all this I do not deny but that there may be in such as do not savingly believe some Consent of the Will to do something towards performing the Condition of the Promise in Repenting and Obeying Such Men may Consent and resolve to forsake some sins and to do some yea many Duties who yet never savingly consent because they do not heartily consent and resolve to forsake All known sin and to do All known duties in which the sincerity of Repentance and Obedience doth consist to which the Promise is made Such Men may not be far from the Kingdom of God but yet must go farther if ever they would have any good ground of hope to enter into it But of this more afterwards CHAP. III. Whence this defect doth proceed I Have shewed before that there is the Faith of assent in the Understanding unto the truth of God's Testimony in some unregenerate Men as well as in the regenerate And in whomsoever the Faith of Consent in the Will to perform the Condition of the Promise is found it always proceeds from the Faith of Assent in the Understanding A Man always in order of Nature at least believes that the promised Benefits shall be made good to him in case he perform the Condition before he Consents to perform it and doth consent to perform the Condition in hope and confidence of obtaining the promised Benefits Now then the Question is whence is it and what is the reason that the Faith of Assent in the Understanding doth not always produce the same Consent in the Will in one as well as another and as it always doth when it becomes effectual to Justification and Salvation Why doth this Faith remain alone in some when as it is accompanied with Works in others I shall offer what I conceive to be the reason of this First in general and than more particularly The difference sometimes may proceed from the different measures and degrees of the evidence upon which the same Truth is believed One Man may have a clearer discerning of the evidence than another which causeth a stronger Assent in the discerning faculty and that stronger Assent in the Understanding may well cause a stronger Consent in the Will and a firm and lasting resolution As on the contrary a weak and partial Consent and resolution in the Will to the Condition sometimes proceeds from a weak Assent in the Mind to the Truth of God's Testimony or Promise and that from the weakness of the faculty in the discerning the evidence of that Truth which is the object of Faith But the reason most commonly why the Assent in the Understanding unto the Truth of God's Testimony doth not work a Consent in the Will to the Condition of the Promise is to be taken I conceive from the opposition which the lower faculties of the Soul the Will and Affections assisted and influenced by the sensual Appetites make against the superiour Faculty the Mind or Understanding so that they do not hearken to its Notices nor obey its Dictates The Will which is the Spring of Action is a middle Faculty between the Understanding and the sensitive Affections or Appetites and is solicited by both As the Understanding calls upon it to obey its rational Dictates in chusing the means which tend to the best end both which the Understanding represents to it from the Word of God so on the other hand the sensitive Affections solicite it to be on their side and to be active in making provision for the Flesh in chusing such things as tend to satisfie its Cravings and Lusts And because the Will hath usually been pre-ingaged to the Flesh and had a share in its Gratifications it 's not without much difficulty prevailed with to be consenting to and active in the crucifixion of those Affections and Lusts Which until the Will do and herein obey the enlightned Understanding the Faith of Assent in the Understanding abideth alone The Will 's obstinate adherence then to Mens fleshly Lusts and carnal Interests in opposition to that belief in the Understanding which puts it upon destroying them as absolutely necessary to the Man's Salvation as believing God touching the necessity of this as a means as well as it doth believe him touching the blessedness of the end this obstinate opposition in the Will I say is the true reason why the Faith which is in some Men is but a dead Faith How can ye believe saith our Saviour which seek honour one of another and seek not the honour that cometh from God only Joh. 5.44 Yes some of them could and did believe so far as to Assent in their Minds that Christ was no Impostor but one that came from God and that therefore his Doctrine must needs be true but they did not believe so as to be converted in their Wills to consent to part with their carnal interest of Honour and Reputation with their Party the Pharisees which they must have done as the case then stood if they would have confessed him
openly which to do was necessary to make them capable of the Promise of Salvation by him Joâ 12.42 43. Among the chief Rulers many believed on him but because oâ the Pharisees they did not confess him lest they should be put out of the Synagogue for they loved the praise of Men more than the praise of God These had more understanding than the common People who as they said knew not the Law John 7. and yet not so many of them as of the people believed on Christ so as to confess and follow him because their worldly interest being greater it held them faster and had the greater power over their Wills The unbelief then of Men where the Gospel comes is generally to be resolved into the obstinacy of their Wills in opposition to the convictions of their Understanding John 5.40 Ye will not come to me that ye might have life How oft would I have gathered you and ye would not Mat. 23.37 O that my people had hearkened to my counsel But Israel would none of me Psal 81.11 They did not chuse the fear of the Lord Prov. 1.29 They chose their own ways their Souls delighted in their abominations Isa 6.3 Thus much in general But I would shew yet more particularly how the Will doth obstruct the perfecting the work of Faith after it 's begun in the Understanding And it doth it as I conceive 1. By calling off the Understanding from a frequent consideration of that evidence by which it was first convinced of the Truth of God's Testimony touching the Promised Benefits and the Condition and Means of obtaining them and from a frequent application of it to the Will And this the Will can do For as the Understanding hath a power over the Will so far as to represent its apprehensions to the Will in order to its acting thereupon according to a Man 's own concerns therein so also the Will hath a kind of power over the Understanding both to put it upon frequent consideration to strengthen it self in the belief of that which the VVill would have to prove true and to be believed and also to call it off from so doing when there is a great reluctancy in the VVil against having that prove true which the Understanding represents as true And if the Understanding be taken off so that it hath not frequent recourse to that evidence which first procured its Assent unto the Truth of God's Testimony in the Gospel that it might be thereby nourished strengthened and maintained that Faith in the Understanding will languish and grow weak and so have no powerful operation upon the VVill to change and renew it and to procure its effectual consent to perform the Condition of the Promise when the Will stands disinclined of it self to the Verdict of the Understanding Besides if the Understanding doth not ply the VVill and frequently inculcate upon it it s own apprehensions concerning God's Testimony and the consequence and concernment of it to a Man 's own self thereby to make the VVord believed to be an ingrafted Word it will not work any Cure upon it or any thorough change in it The unwillingness in Men to have their Minds ingaged in the consideration of God's ways and their own is the reason of their turning back from him Job 34.27 They turned back from him and would not coâsider any of his ways As on the contrary the Scripture represents th conversion of a sinner as proceeding from the consideration of the bad tendency of his evil ways Ezek. 18.28 Because he considereth and turneth away from all his transgressions which he hath committed he shall surely live he shall not dye And our Saviour seems to cast mens profiting or not profiting their Belief or not Belief by hearing God's Testimony in the Gospel upon their considering or not considering of it Mark 4.24 And he said unto them Consider what you hear so Dr. Hammond reads it for with what measure ye meet viz. in considering or not considering it shall be measured to you again in profiting or not profiting which is to be understood according to God's ordinary proceeding with Men. The reason why the Faith of those resembled by the stony ground doth not abide or come to perfection is because they have no Root in themselves and that comes to pass for want of much consideration and a frequent working the first conviction of the mind from the evidence of Truth into the Will and Affections by a constant Consideration and close Application of it Acts 17.11 They searched the Scriptures daily whether those things were so and therefore they Believed 2. When men hold fast their Lusts out of their great love to them notwithstanding their conviction in their Understandings and are not willing to part with them upon any terms the Fumes of those Lusts continually ascending will cloud and darken the Understanding as a thick Fogg doth the Sun and by degrees make it less capable of discerning its Object viz. saving Truth in its clear evidence and proportionably hinder its operation upon the Will The cares of this World and the deceitfulness of Riches and the lusts of other things choak the Word and it becometh unfruitful Mar. 4.19 He that hateth his Brother is in darkness and walketh in darkness and knoweth not whether he goes because darkness hath blinded his eyes 1 John 2.11 3. Sinful Mens Understandings are not so uncorrupt but that they are apt to be bribed by their Wills to cast about and devise how to evade the force and edge of their own Notices and Dictates and to attempt and baffle their former apprehensions and convictions to the end they may still retain their lusts without any great disturbance from their Understandings This when it is yielded to and put in practice is that which in Scripture is called Mens closing their eyes lest at any time they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their hearts and should be converted and healed Mat. 13.15 And when this takes place in Professors of Christianity that do believe that Faith Repentance and Obedience are necessary to Salvation as the Condition on which it is promised the way by which they usually deceive their own Hearts is by perswading themselves that they do perform the Condition of the Promise in these when indeed they do not but frame to themselves Notions of saving Faith Repentance and Obedience different from the Scripture Notions of them as I shall shew in each of them 1. Many delude themselves by taking up a wrong Notion of Saving Faith and so think they have it when they have it not They believe indeed Christ to be the Son of God and Saviour of the World and that those shall be saved that believe in him and those damned that do not because the Scripture which they believe to be the Word of God saith so And thus far they believe rightly objectively But then they deceive their own Souls by
Condition of Repentance and new Obedience together with his Faith gives a Man hope and confidence of obtaining these great benefits upon the terms on which they were promised The hope of this Happiness causeth a Man to be willing to comply with the Condition upon which it is promised in order to the obtaining the Happiness itself There is a Principle of Self-love planted by God in the Nature of every Man by which he doth naturally desire and aspire after the happiness of his own Being And that will put a Man upon the use of such Means and the performance of such a Condition without which he believes and is verily perswaded he cannot be happy Now every Man in whom there is the Faith of Assent unto the Trutâ of God's Testimony in the Gospel firmly fixed being verily perswaded that everlasting Happiness is not attainable without Repentance Regeneration and sincere Obedience because God hath declared this as plainly as he hath done any thing And it is the nature of Faith to acquiesce in his Testimony The love of the End which is Man's own Happiness makes him in love with the Means such as is Repenting Mortifying and Obeying without which he cannot attain his end in being Happy This Principle of Self-love under the conduct of a Man's Understanding and Reason enlightned and regulated by a Declaration of the Divine Will and influenced by a firm belief of it will work in a Man new Apprehensions of and new Affections to both Sin and Duty and will cause him to abandon the little pleasures of sin which are but for a season that he may come to the fruition of that fulness of joy and those Rivers of pleasure which are in the presence of God at his right hand for evermore when once he knows and firmly believes that they cannot otherwise be obtained Thus by Faith is the victory over the world obtained in all its Temptations from Honours Profits and Pleasures 1 Joh. 5.4 For by such a Faith a Man well perceives that the World offers him to his unspeakable loss though it should offer him all of these that it is able to confer upon him if it be upon condition of doing or omitting to do that by which he shall certainly deprive himself of that Glory Honour and Immortality which he is well assured of through Faith in God's Promise if he overcome We see Men are so commonly governed by a Principle of Self-love in parting with a lesser Good or Conveniency for a greater even in the things of this Life that they are worthily and deservedly counted Fools that do the contrary And therefore those are guilty of so much the greater Folly and Madness who deprive themselves of the Happiness of Heaven by a sinful seeking or possessing of the Honours Profits or Pleasures of this Life As the Happiness of Heaven exceeds the enjoyments of this World in kind and height of Satisfaction and in continuance and duration so Rational a thing it is to live and walk by Faith of unseen things and Unreasonable and Unmanly to be governed by the sense of present things in opposition thereunto 2 Thess 3.2 2. The Faith of Assent in the Understanding worketh a Consent in the VVill to the Condition of the Promise as the passion of Fear is awakened by believing God's Threatnings against such as do not observe and fulfil that Condition There is a Principle of Self-preservation planted by God in every Man's Nature by which he fears and abhors that which he knows and verily believes tends to the infelicity and misery of his Being and which puts him upon the avoiding of that which he believes hath such a tendency in order to the declining the Misery or Destruction itself VVhen a Man receives such sayings into his Understanding as threaten that if ye live after the flesh ye shall die that except ye repent ye shall all perish that without holiness no Man shall see the Lord and the like and doth Assent unto them as the true sayings of God which Assent is his Faith the fear of the Misery threatned and the Principle of Self-preservation work in him a desire and endeavour to have his sinful Inclinations and Appetites Mortified and a care to avoid the outward acts of sin as really and truly as he desires to escape Eternal Destruction itself as believing and knowing they tend thereto and that he cannot escape the one without a sincere desire and endeavour to destroy and avoid the other And in this way Faith is a Believer's Victory by which he also overcomes the World when it tempts him to sin by threatning him with Disgrace loss of Estate or Liberty or with enduring of corporal Punishment or Death itself For he believes the Punishments in the other VVorld to be of such a nature and duration as that the worst things which Man can inflict are altogether inconsiderable in comparison of them By which Belief he is so far guided that he chuses to suffer the less when his faithfulness to God and his own best interest doth expose him to it rather than to expose himself by unfaithfulness to infinitely the greater to avoid the less And thus Faith purifies the Heart of all inordinate Affection to Riches Honour Ease and Pleasures Acts 15.9 III. The Faith of Assent or Credence in the Understanding touching the exceeding greatness of God's Love to Mankind in the gift of Christ for their Redemption and in his great and precious Promises made in him upon a very gracious Condition works in the Will a love to God and so a love to please him in doing those things which he hath made the Condition of his Promise When once the Understanding represents it to the Will as a certain Truth upon clear Evidence that notwithstanding Mens Apostacy from God and Rebellion against him and the Condemnation they are under thereby yet God is Reconcilable to them yea willing and so desirous to Reconcile them to himself that as an Evidence and Proof of it he hath given his own Son Christ Jesus to become a Ransom for them and that he hath made a new Covenant declaring that upon account of his Son 's undertaking for them he is not only abundantly willing to pardon all such as shall unfeignedly Repent of their disloyalty and sincerely return to their Duty but that he will also bountifully reward their future sincere Obedience with perfect and perpetual Happiness I say when all this is represented to the Will as unquestionably true it will work in it a love to that God and Saviour that hath been so loving if it be but kept close to it A manifestation of such love and goodness to Man and that while yet in enmity against God so ill deserving and so obnoxious to the power of his wrath when he hath no need of him nor can be profited by him will create good thoughts of God and reconcile Man's Mind to him and work melting Affections in him to God when heartily
believed What Rebel is there or nature so bad that would not be won to leave off Rebelling against his Prince and to love and please him upon undoubted assurance that by so doing he should not only be pardoned and restored to Favour but also perferred to the greatest Honour and Happiness he is capable of receiving from any Mortal And yet how weak a motive is this in comparison of what comes from God to reduce Men to their love and loyalty to him God's love to Man when perceived and heartily believed is the great motive and attractive of Man's Love to God We love him because he first loved us 1 Joh. 4.19 Love is an active and commanding Principle in Man and procureth Thoughts Cares and Endeavours of pleasing God If any Man love me he will keep my words saith our blessed Saviour Joh. 14.23 And after this manner Faith worketh by Love Gal. 5.6 Thus I have represented to you how and after what manner Faith in the Understanding works a saving Consent in the Will unto the Condition of God's Covenant of Salvation CHAP. V. Some few Objections answered I. SOME have thought Men may be Justified only by their Believing even while they are Ungodly in their Lives and have thought that Scripture Rom. 4.5 will hear them out in such a conceit which saith He that worketh not but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly his Faith is counted for Righteousness But they grosly mistake the Scripture and deceive themselves For that Text speaks of God's Justifying the Gentiles upon their sincere conversion to the Christian Faith and Life though they had lived in Gentilism in all Ungodliness before and until then and though they should not work at all as the Judaizers would have had them in turning Proselytes to the Jewish way But otherwise it 's flatly against the express Doctrine of the Gospel and current of the Scriptures for Men to hope to be pardoned by any Believing whatsoever while they remain Impenitent as every Man doth while he remains Ungodly To justifie the wicked is an abomination to the Lord. It 's said that Christ made the Blind to See and the Deaf to Hear and the Dumb to Speak as well as it 's said God Justifieth the Ungodly But is any Man so senseless as to think that Christ made them to See to Hear and to Speak while they remained Blind Deaf and Dumb And if not but that they know the meaning is that Christ made those to See to Hear to Speak which had been Blind Deaf and Dumb before those Cures were wrought upon them they might as well know also that the meaning is that God justifieth those upon their believing which had been Ungodly until then and not that he justifies them while they remain Ungodly II. Some alledge that although the Faith which is alone and without the concomitant effects of it Repentance Regeneration c. doth not justifie yet that Faith alone which doth produce such effects doth justifie without the concurrence of these in the justifying Act. Which they illustrate by this Similitude A Man sees with his Eye alone though he doth not see with his Eye that is alone or separated from his Body In return to all which let these things be considered 1. They that go thus far do grant that which will secure the Notion of the necessity of Repentance Regeneration and new Obedience unto Justification They grant we see such a necessity of these as without which no Man can be justified no not by Faith In granting which though we suppose them to err in their foresaid Notion yet this makes their Error the less dangerous because the presence of Repentance Regeneration and Obedience are no less necessary to Justification according to this account than they esteem them to be who say they concur with Faith in the very act of Justification 2. When they say Faith alone is all that is necessary to the Justifying Act without the concurrence of any thing else done by us By Justifying Act they mean either God's Act or Man's Act. If Man's Act that 's nothing but Man's performing the Condition upon which God hath promised to Justifie Men. If they mean God's Act it is his imputing Mens performing the Condition of the Promise unto them for Righteousness The only thing then in question will be what it is which is a fulfilling of the Condition of the Promise of Justification which God imputes for Righteousness If they say it is only the Assent of the Understanding unto the Truth of God's Testimony in the Gospel or this Assent together with a Reliance on Christ for Salvation I have shewed before that both these may be found in Men Unregenerate and Unjustified And that these two of themselves without Repentance and hearty Obedience to the Laws of Christ are not a fulfilling of the Condition of the Promise and that consequently Men without these cannot be justified by any Faith whatsoever and so not by Faith alone unless they will call Repentance and Heart-Obedience in conjunction with the foresaid Assent of the Mind and reliance of the Soul by the name of Faith Which if they will we are agreed as to the Thing at least if not to the Name that we are justified by such a Faith alone And yet I doubt not that whenever Justification is promised to Believing singly and alone exprest but that there the foresaid effects are comprehended under the name also for the Reasons formerly given 3. They which say we are justified by Faith alone but not by that Faith which is alone do distinguish where the Scripture doth not distinguish The Scripture no where saith we are justified by Faith alone as contradistinguished from Repentance Evangelical Obedience c. The third Chapter of Rom. 28. and Tit. 3.5 are sometimes made use of to countenance their Notion but to how little purpose hath been shewed already in the Treatise which needs not be here repeated 4. The Scripture is not only silent in the case not any where affirming we are justified by Faith alone but it expresly affirms the quite contrary Jam. 2.24 Ye see then how that by Works a Man is justified and not by Faith only That this is affirmed in reference to our Justification before God had been shewed before 5. Faith and Repentance are a joint Condition upon which Justification is suspended and are both constituted so by the same means and that is by promise of pardon to such as do Believe to such as do Repent and by threatning the contrary to those that do not both And if they are a joint Condition of the Promise of Justification then Justification proceeds not upon either of them alone but upon both together 6. Whereas it is said in the Similitude that a Man sees with his Eye alone though not with his Eye which is alone or when it is alone I doubt this is no more true than that which is intended to be illustrated by it For Naturalists will
tell them the contrary That it is not the Eye alone by which a Man sees but that it is the Soul that sees by the Eye as its Organ The Eye sees not when the Soul is departed though it be not then alone I confess I cannot possibly conceive either how the Soul should not concur with the Eye in the Act of seeing when the Eye cannot see without it nor yet that Repentance should not concur with Faith in the Act of Justification so long as Men cannot be Justified by Faith it self without it or in the absence of it as they themselves grant 3. This lies in the way of some they cannot conceive how Justification by Evangelical Obedience as well as Faith should consist with the possibility of somes being justified by Believing who yet may not live so long after as to have an opportunity of doing good Works How rare Instances of this kind are I shall not dispute But doubtless whenever Men so believe God's Promise of pardon through Christ upon their Repentance and the necessity of their own Repentance for the obtaining of it as that they in VVill and a fixed and lasting Resolution become new Men then they first believe unto Justification And it is not impossible but that some may so believe that may never after they do so have opportunity to be much active in External Acts of Obedience But though this should so fall out yet such are not justified without Evangelical Obedience as well as Faith For 1. These Motions and Acts of the VVill are themselves Acts of present Evangelical Obedience 2. They are in the Root and Cause Evangelical Obedience future and to come First They are in themselves Acts of present Evangelical Obedience For by these Motions and Acts of the VVill Men do whenever they take place turn from Sin to God and their Duty out of Hatred to that they turn from and out of Love to that they turn to And these Acts of the VVill which consist in Affection and Resolution are proper effects and fruits of Faith in the Understanding and Acts of Heart-Obedience in the sight of God and a conformity of Soul to his declared VVill and Commandment And they may as well and as truly be called VVorks as evil Acts of the VVill may such as are a love to evil and desires and resolutions of perpetrating it VVhich evil Acts of the VVill are yet in Scripture called VVorks and a working of wickedness Psal 58.2 Ye work wickedness in your Hearts Micah 2.1 He that looketh upon a Woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart Matth. 5.28 And envy wrath and hatered which are Internal Acts of the Soul are called VVorks of the Flesh Gal. 5.19 20 21. And if such inward fixed Resolutions in Men of obeying God in external Acts if ever they have opportunity and a Call to it did not pass in God's account for Obedience and were not accepted instead of the Deed when opportunity for the Deed is wanting the best Man in the World could be no Disciple of Christ who doth not actually forsake all that he hath and lay down his Life for him Whosoever of you forsaketh not all that he hath cannot be my Disciple saith he Luke 14.26 33. Whereas Christ pronounceth the Poor in Spirit Blessed many of whom never became actually Poor for his sake as not being called to it But if they are Poor in Spirit if they firmly resolve to become Poor in forsaking all for Christ's sake when called to it these are capable of Blessedness in Christ's account as well as those that suffer the loss of all for Righteousness sake Matth. 5.3 Secondly Those Acts of the Will are in the Root and Cause Evangelical Obedience future and to come Because those Resolutions against evil and for good when they are of a fixed and lasting nature as they always are when together with Faith they make Men capable of Justification will certainly produce external Acts of sincere Obedience as opportunity doth occur When the Tree is made good it will bring forth good Fruit in the season of Fruit if it be not cut down before When the Heart is renewed in affection and resolution the course of a Man's Life will certainly be answerable to it if ever it have opportunity of shewing it A good Man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth good things Mat. 12.35 And God who knows the Heart doth judge of and estimate Men according to what they are in the inward frame of their Heart and prevalent bent of their Wills If there be first a willing mind it is accepted according to that a Man hath and not according to that he hath not 2 Cor. 8.12 We judge of the Cause by the Effects of the goodness of Mens Hearts by the goodness of their Lives to us the Tree is known by its Fruit But God who is greater than our Hearts and knows them better than we do judges of the Effect by the Cause and knows what a Mans Life will be by what his Heart is upon its first Conversion to him and so confers on him the benefit of Justification when the Foundation of a good Life is laid in the conversion and renewing of the Heart The Understanding of this Part of Discourse will serve not only to satisfy the foresaid Doubt but also to inform us what Evangelical Obedience is necessary to Justification in its beginning Not but that actual Obedience in Life is necessary to the continuance of Justification where Life is continued And therefore we find that Abraham was justified by his after-believing and after-obedience as well as by his first and so was Noah before him Noah was a Righteous Man and justified before he became heir of the Righteousness which is by Faith by his believing and obeying God in preparing the Ark Gen. 6.9 Heb. 11.7 It was by Faith in God's Promise that Abraham left his Country to obey God at the first and by that he was first justified Heb. 11.8 And yet his believing God's Promise so shall thy Seed be which was not made till some years after was imputed to him also for Righteousness Gen. 15.9 It was many years after that again that by Faith he offered his Son Isaac upon the Altar and yet by that he was justified as well as by his first Faith and Obedience Jam. 2.21 Pardon of sin is our Justification from sin Acts 13.39 And this we are directed by the Lord's Prayer to pray for daily all our days And the continuance of Justification is promised upon condition of continuance of Faith and Obedience to the Gospel Col. 1.21 22 23. and a discontinuance of it threatned in case of disobedience according to the Tenour of the Parable Mat. 18. from ver 23. to ver 35. By all which we may see what need there is for all Christians to work out to work through their own Salvation with fear and trembling to which they are
earnestly exhorted Phil. 2.22 and to run so that they may obtain 1 Cor. 9.24 IV. Some to evil affect their own and others Minds with prejudice against Discourses of this nature do suggest That the laying so great a stress upon Duty as to esteem any thing of it necessary to Justification save Believing only doth derogate from the Glory of Christ's great Undertaking in the business of Man's Salvation and that it is a trusting in our own Righteousness But it will appear far otherwise if they will but impartially consider in what sence and upon what account such stress is laid upon Duty which I shall open in two Particulars 1. They that rightly understand themselves in this matter do not look that any of their Duties of what nature soever should of themselves as such be available to their Justification or Salvation but that it is for the sake of Christ and upon account of his Undertaking for us that God accepts and imputes for Righteousness to us such Duty as Faith Repentance and Obedience is and that he doth make promise of Justification upon Condition of these Since the Fall we say all our Duties that are acceptable to God or available to us become so through Christ and for his sake And therefore so long as we attribute and ascribe the benefit we expect upon our Repentance and sincere Obedience or Belief unto Christ and to his great and worthy Undertaking for us we are far from derogating from the Glory of it and from trusting in our own Righteousness in that Notion in which Mens trusting in their own Righteousness is condemned in Scripture or any otherwise than as our Duty is made a Condition without which we shall have no part in Christ nor be qualified for Glory 2. When we lay such stress upon Repentance Obedience c. as a Condition or part of a Condition of the Promise of Justification and Salvation as without which we say we cannot be Justified or Saved by Christ's Undertaking for us yet then this stress is laid and depends upon the Will and Appointment of God by which these Duties are thus made the Condition and not on the intrinsick worth or value of the Duties themselves simply considered without reference to God's Ordination appointing them to that use For if God had not made a New Covenant promising pardon for Christ's sake to such as do Repent and Acceptance and Reward to such as sincerely Obey him they would have had no sufficient ground to have been confident of Pardon Acceptance or Reward though they should have Repented and so Obey'd And the reason is because Men are not Justified in the Eye of the Natural or Moral Law upon any such account as that is So that all the stress which is laid on Duty by them that rightly understand their Duty in this matter doth terminate partly in Christ's Undertaking for them and partly in God's Institution and Appointment who hath made his Promise of Justifying us for Christ's sake so as that he hath made our Duty of Repentance and sincere Obedience a necessary Condition of it And he that trusteth to be Pardoned Accepted and Rewarded for Christ's Sake upon his Repentance and sincere Obedience because God hath promised that he shall trusteth in God and in the fidelity of his Word and Promise And in doing so what more stress doth he lay upon Duty in this kind than they that trust to be Justified and Saved upon their Believing For their Believing is matter of Duty as well as their Repenting and Obeying And their Believing would no more have entitled them to the benefit without the Promise which gives them that Title than other Acts of Duty would do And other Acts of Duty do entitle to the same benefits as fully as Faith itself doth where there is promise of the same benefits annexed to them as Faith hath And that they have I have shewed before So long then as the stress which is laid on Duty terminates in Christ and in God's Will and Appointment in the New Covenant and is regulated by his Word and Promise there is no danger of overcharging Duty It 's true indeed if we should expect that Duty should do that for us which is proper only to Christ as to expiate our sin or the like we should sinfully overcharge it as the Pharisaical Jews did their Sacrifices and other Legal Observances in expecting remission of Sin by them without Christ's Atonement Which Righteousness of theirs is for that cause called their own Righteousness which was by the Law as being no method of Justification of God's appointment but of their own devising which in that respect was indeed but as filthy Rags and loathsome to God But this is not the case with Protestant Christians who lay no such stress upon Duty no not upon Faith itself but do acknowledge that all the power and virtue it hath to justifie depends wholly upon and is derived from the Will and Ordination of God in Christ Joh. 6.40 and 1.12 Ephes 2.8 And we say the same of Repentance and sincere Obedience also And a confidence of being saved in a way of Duty upon such terms is represented in Scripture as trusting in the Righteousness of God through Faith in opposition to ones trusting in his own Righteousness Phil. 3.9 so far is it from trusting in our own Righteousness or from derogating from Christ in the Glory of his Undertaking for us And now for a Conclusion It would be considered whether such as are educated in Christianity are not hardlier brought to live as becomes the Gospel in point of Practice than to believe that Christ Jesus came into the World to save Sinners and that he Died for them and Rose again And whether there is not cause to fear that very many more such do eternally miscarry through neglect of the former than for want of the latter And if there be as doubtless there is then Practical Discourses among such must needs be highly necessary however some of weak minds thirst more after Discourses Consolatory upon account of Believing only Which may serve instead of an Apology for writing this Discourse Saint Paul charged Titus to affirm this constantly that they which have Believed be careful to maintain good Works Tit. 3.8 FINIS ãâ¦ã On the Preliminary QUESTIONS and ANSWERS OF THE Church-Catechism Giving an Account of the whole Doctrine OF THE Covenant of Grace And of the Nature Terms and Conditions of the same SHEWING ALSO By whose Mediation it was obtained for us by what Assistance we shall be enabled to perform it and our Obligations thereunto The Third Edition By THOMAS BRAY D. D. LONDON Printed by J. Brudenell for William Haws at the Rose in Ludgate-street 1703. TO THE Right Reverend Father in GOD WILLIAM LORD BISHOP of Coventry and Lichfield Lord Almoner to the KING MY LORD HAving your Lordship's Commands for the Publication of these following Discourses I have reason to hope my Readers will prove candid and
Voluminous Libels which were wrote some Years since against DIOCESAN EPISCOPACY as if an exact Discipline were not practicable therein If I say such an Authority will not awe us nor such an Example of Pastoral Care will not animate us to discharge as all the other so especially such an indispensably necessary a part of our Ministerial Function as Catechizing particularly at this Juncture undoubtedly is this were enough to provoke Heaven to snatch from us the vast Benefit of such a Paternal Government Which Blessing that God may however continue to this Church as it is heartily desired by all that know your Lordship and are good enough themselves justly to value the Two best Things in the World an unparallel'd Degree of Learning join'd with an equal Measure of the most ardent Piety so particularly it is the most earnest and devout Prayers to God of My LORD Your Lordship 's Most Obliged Most Obedient and Most Dutiful Son and Servant T. B. THE PREFACE TO THE READER HAving a Design if God permit and if I shall find this present Performance to be Candidly received to Publish a Discourse upon the Nature and Extent of Ministerial more particularly of Catechetical Instruction which in the Nature of it I think would be the most proper Preface to this Work but is a Porch too large to be prefix'd to one single Wing of the Building I shall only at present Advertise my Reader of Two Particulars relating to this First Volume of my Lectures namely 1. Whereas I proposed Lecture the Fourth in the Division of the Subject-Matter contained in these Preliminary Questions and Answers to treat both upon Divine Grace and of Prayer as they are the Means to enable us to perform our Part of the Covenant and also to explain the Doctrine and to justify the Thing it self of Infant Baptism or the admitting of Persons into Covenant in the time of Infancy as also the Use of Godfathers and Godmothers therein I was advis'd by some Learned Men to refer those Four last Points and the Lectures upon them rather to the latter end of the Catechism the Two former to be treated upon when I come to the Lord's Prayer and the Question which leads to it the Two latter when I shall come to the Doctrine of the Sacraments where my Discourses upon those Subjects will be founded upon Questions and Answers more directly leading thereunto And as to the Subject of Renouncing the World the Flesh and the Devil it was thought it might be of good Use to enlarge upon that there being nothing of vaster Concernment especially to Youth than a plain and practical Discovery of those various Temptations which will arise from all these our Spiritual Adversaries and are likely to assault them above others And because this Condition in our Covenant with God of Renouncing the Devil the World and the Flesh does not again recurr in any part of the Catechism to be more particularly handled as the others of Faith and Obedience do for these Reasons it is that my Exposition of that Point has run out into a length so much improportionable to the rest insomuch that that Part takes up half the Book 2. That which in the next place I am to account for is the 23d Lecture which is an Epitome of a Book styl'd the Measures of Christian Obedience a Work I presume both well known and esteem'd That Reverend Author had in my Opinion given so full a state of the Condition of our Covenant viz. Evangelical Obedience that I thought I should do an Injury to my Catechumen should I pass it by and give him a worse and more imperfect one of my own Whether it would have been easier to me to contract that Discourse than to make a new state of the Point such as I might call my own I cannot readily guess but if it was I hope some allowance will be given for taking one such Rest as this may appear to be since in the whole Scheme of Doctrine upon these Preliminary Questions and Answers I have been forc'd to tread in something an unbeaten Path. And now with my earnest Prayers to God that he would give his Blessing to what is herein no otherwise than honestly design'd I shall only at present intreat the candid Reader to put a favourable Construction upon what has been here offer'd him by one who is too sensible of his own Insufficiencies to be pertinacious in Maintaining any thing against the sense of his Superiors but especially who is Religiously careful to advance nothing contrary to the Doctrine of our Church Which that I might not do I have and shall all along endeavour to take in as much as I can both of Matter and Expression from its establish'd Forms and Offices A CATECHISM That is to say An Instruction to be learned of every Person before he be brought to be Confirmed by the Bishop Quest WHat is your Name Answ N. or M. Quest Who gave you this Name Answ My Godfathers and Godmothers in my Baptism wherein I was made a Member of Christ the Child of God and an Inheritor of the Kingdom of Heaven Quest What did your Godfathers and Godmothers then for you Answ They did promise and vow three things in my Name First That I should renounce the Devil and all his Works the Pomps and Vanity of this wicked World and all the sinful Lusts of the Flesh Secondly That I should believe all the Articles of the Christian Faith And Thirdly That I should keep God's holy Will and Commandments and walk in the same all the days of my Life Quest Dost thou not think that thou art bound to believe and to do as they have promised for thee Answ Yes verily and by God's help so I will And I heartily thank our Heavenly Father that he hath called me to this State of Salvation through Iesus Christ our Saviour And I pray unto God to give me his Grace that I may continue in the same unto my Lives end THE First Lecture A Catechism that is to say An Instruction to be Learned of every Person before he be brought to be Confirmed by the Bishop THIS is the Title of your Catechism which you are now learning and before I proceed to discourse on the Catechism it self I thought it proper from these Words to define what a Catechism means and to let you know the Benefit and Use of Catechizing As for the Word ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã to Catechize The Meaning of the Word Catechize it is often met with in the Holy Scriptures particularly Luk. 1.4 where it is taken in the self-same sence we now use it wherein it does import a more General Instruction in those Christian Truths which are afterwards to be more particularly and distinctly learnt by us for so St. Luke Dedicating his Gospel to Theophilus tells him Chap. 1. ver 3 4. Sensus loci q. d. ut ea quae olim Catechumenus viva voce didicisti nunc plenius ac
just God and Listed our selves to be the Souldiers and Servants not of a Lewd Jupiter a Wanton Venus a Fiery Mars a Revengeful Juno a Drunken Bacchus and a Thievish Mercury Such were the Heathen Gods and no wonder then that they who did worship them should also imitate them But we have given up our Names and Listed our selves the Servants of A God that hath no pleasure in Wickedness neither shall any Evil dwell with him in whose sight the Foolish shall not stand and who hateth all the workers of Iniquity who will destroy all men that speak leasing that are crafty to cheat and deceive and will abhor the blood-thirsty and deceitful man Psal 5.4 5 6. Nay who will rain upon the Wicked Snares Fire and Brimstone and an horrible Tempest this shall be the portion of their Cup for the Righteous Lord loveth Righteousness his Countenance doth behold the Vpright Psal 11.6 7. III. To fight against the World the Flesh and the Devil Such is the God to whom we have given up our Names to serve And we have Listed our selves in our Baptism under our several Christian Names to fight under his Banner against the World the Flesh and the Devil so as not to be tempted or drawn off to commit any Injustice or Unmercifulness any Intemperance or Filthiness any Act of Ungodliness or Profaneness In a word IV. Asunder that Name he professes to Believe such Articles as are the most powerful Motives to deny all Vngodliness any Sin against him We have engaged our selves under our several Names in the strongest Covenants in hopes of the most glorious Rewards and out fear of the sorest Punishments to be Faithful in our Obedience to him We have openly Profest under our respective Christian Names firmly to believe such a Set of Articles those of our Christian Faith as are every one of them as shall hereafter be made appear the most powerful Motives in the World to make us Deny all Vngodliness and worldly Lusts and to live soberly righteously and godly in this present evil World And under the same Christian Names we have all of us profest V. To obey the most Righteous Laws To be governed by such Laws and Commands of Vertue and Goodness of Piety towards God of Righteousness to our Neighbours and which lay down such incomparable Rules concerning the Government of our selves as the like are not to be found in any other Philosophy And Lastly Lastly as having under that Name received Promises of most powerful Assistances to do all this We profess to have such Assistances derived to us from God by Prayer and Sacraments those Means of his own Appointment to convey down his Aid and Assistance to us to Enable us to do these Things as will make it not extreamly difficult to us to live very excellent and good Lives Thus have we Christians under our several Christian Names as under Hand and Seal profest our selves the Disciples of a Religion that does infinitely exceed all others in the Powerfulness of its Principles and Doctrines and the Holiness and Strictness of its Precepts and Rules Of a Religion that can work if its Dictates be follow'd the greatest Miracles in the changing Men's Natures and Tempers from worse to better that can turn a ravenous Wolf into a harmless Lamb a furious Lion into a tender Kid that is the most savage and violent Dispositions of Cruelty and Pride into perfect Charity and Meekness And now if we Christians should be found as Debauch'd and Evil Livers as Unconverted Heathens as Lewd as Turks as Griping as Jews as Impious and Profane as Atheists how severely and that deservedly will the rest of the Infidel World upbraid us What Dishonour shall we thereby do to the true God and our most Holy Religion Which brings me to the Second Thing propos'd which was to remind you that the bad Lives of those who bear the Name of Christians do an infinite Prejudice and Dishonour to Christianity The bad lives of Nominal Christians do an infinite Prejudice Dishonour to Christianity And alas What bitter Reproaches have the Unchristian Lives of Christian Professors put into the Mouths of our Enemies making them to say That if we Christians did but Believe our selves those Promises in Scripture of such mighty Rewards to Holy Honest and Good Living we should sure our selves live better Lives And when any of our Christians would perswade them to forsake their own Superstition and Idolatry and to Embrace our most Holy Religion our unanswerable Lives have provok'd them to return smartly enough upon us Would ye have us to believe the Truth of your Religion which you do not seem to believe your selves It hinders the Conversion of Infidels And alas This is the main Thing the very Unsuitable Lives of us Christians that so Prejudices the Infidel Part of the World Pagans Turks and Jews against our most Holy Religion and hinders their Conversion It is the Cruelty and Covetousness of our Christian Merchants in the Indies that makes the poor Indians even Abhor our Religion and scornfully to say That Gold not Jehovah is our God Thus Is the Name of God blasphemed amongst the Gentiles through us Rom. 2.24 It is the Idolatry of the Church of Rome which makes Turks and Jews both of them mortal Haters of Idols to loath and despise the Christian Worship It puts bitter Reproaches in the mouths of Atheists especially when Wickedness is commited under the disguise of Religion But not to Travel so far as the Indies or Turkey to find out how much our Living so unbecoming our most Holy Profession has scandaliz'd Persons so as to Abhor it Observe the Men of No Religion amongst our selves our Atheists and Libertines and what bitter Scoffs and Jeers may we daily hear them cast forth upon Religion it self when they see some that make great outward Professions there guilty of so much Hypocrisy Cheating Cruelty and Rebellion making their very Religion a Cloak for the carrying on the most wicked Things as if the least Religious the most honest Man And now if there were but the least spark of Love and Honour in our Hearts for God and our most Holy Religion this were enough to make us careful to lead innocent and inoffensive Lives if it were only that we might not dishonour God and Religion thereby and might not bring a Reproach upon our Christian Name Every Man that desires the Honour and Reputation of his Calling and Profession whatever it is will live answerable to his Character and not so as to be a Scandal to his Place Few men will endure their worldly Calling to be put at naught and Reproacht And therefore as we seldom see a Person of so abject and mean a Spirit as to endure with Patience whatever Art or Profession he is of to be set at naught and spoke against so Men are generally with respect to the Credit of their worldly Professions careful to
act with that Decency and Becomingness as shall advance the Reputation thereof Hence the Lawyer as he cannot ordinarily endure except he be a profligate Person his Profession of the Law nor the Physician his nor the Tradesman his to be run down Expos'd and made Ridiculous so each of these will be as much as possible for maintaining in their several Dealings a Reputation of Fairness and Honesty as that alone which will raise and Preserve an Esteem for them And how then comes it about that a Christian can endure to hear his Christian Profession reproach'd and scorn'd by reason of his scandalous Living Whence is it but from the greater Zeal Men generally have for the Honour of their worldly Callings and Professions than for the Honour of their Christian Religion Profession and Calling And now therefore Thirdly Let me Exhort you An Exhortation therefore to Christians to stand upon the Dignity of their Christian Name and Profession to stand upon the Dignity of your Christian Name and Profession by living such good Lives as may be an Honour not a Disgrace unto it Let me therefore Admonish you from this very Name wherewith you are Honoured to render your selves wholly conformable to those Christian Principles and Doctrines to which you have given up your Names to be governed by and which being taught you in your Catechism I shall by God's leave with all the Plainness and in the most useful manner I can explain unto you And pray let me Entreat you my Dear Youth seriously and diligently to hearken to me your Spiritual Father that studies no less the Eternal Interest of your Souls and to make you Heirs of Heaven than your Natural Parents do your Temporal Interest to gather you Riches and to leave you Estates in this World You have been Ask'd and you have Answer'd to your Christian Name and you see with what Title you are dignify'd viz. with the Name of Christians And First Wonder not at what I say those Titles of Honour I. As that which is more considerable than Titles of Honour which we daily hear sounding in our Ears and which are so much admired and doted upon I mean the Titles of Emperors Kings Dukes Earls Lords ought to be accounted as very inconsiderable in respect of our Christian Title They are but Earthly Glories and will soon decay and vanish away but this is of a Divine Original which will never fade but will Ennoble you to all Eternity I beseech you therefore seriously consider this and let a due Honour and Regard to so worthy a Name continually admonish every one of you that you never commit in your whole Lives any thing that does unbecome it I do also Secondly II. Because of that near Alliance there is between the Christian Name and Profession Entreat every One of you to consider the near Alliance there is betwixt your Christian Names and your Christian Profession insomuch that they both began and will both end together In your Baptism you put on both your Name and your Profession of Christianity together and if ever you should abjure your Religion which God forbid you must also therewith abjure your Christian Names so near are they linkt one with another And therefore let this ever admonish you to Adorn your selves with Christian Graces Temperance Chastity Charity Justice Piety and not to defile your selves with Heathenish Brutish Vices Drunkenness Uncleanness Cruelty Infidelity Thirdly III. Because the primitive Christians did in vertue of the Christian Name resist the fiercest Temptations And is it Examples of this good Use of your Christian Name that you want Why the Christians of old took Courage from this very Name whereby they overcame all their Enemies both Bodily and Ghostly the World the Flesh and the Devil and encourag'd themselves thereby to the Discharge of their Christian Duties In the Vertue of this Name they extinguisht their Lusts they overcame Tyrants they put to flight the Devil Their Persecutors with Fire and Fagot and all manner of cruel Torments would have forc'd them to Blaspheme Christ to sacrifice and burn Incense to Devils to worship Idols But they in the midst of Flames and Torments would answer with Smiles on their Faces We are Christians we cannot do these Things Forbear your Assemblies and Church-meetings would the Heathen Persecutors say We are Christians and must not therefore Forsake the Assembling our selves together would they answer Such great things did the Primitive Christians perform under the Power of the Christian Name And let your very Christian Names likewise my Christian Youth encourage you to all manner of Vertuous and Religious Practices in imitation of those Blessed Primitive Christians and to the Examples of those that shall come after you IV. Because of the Indecency of Living unsuitable to the Christian Name and Profession Nay Fourthly Look upon it ever as a most monstrous piece of Wickedness for Christian Men to live Antichristian Heathenish Lives but on the contrary ever look upon your selves as you are Christians bound even in Decency to Abstain from all Appearances of Evil 1 Thess 5.22 What shall you that have given up your Names to Christ and are in Covenant with God fight the Devil's Battels Know you not that your Bodies are the Members of Christ and shall you take the Members of Christ and make them the Members of an Harlot God forbid 1 Cor. 6.15 Shall you that are Heirs of the Kingdom of Heaven walk in Darkness Have you Renounced the Devil the World and the Flesh and shall you for all that yield your selves slaves to the Devil the World and the Flesh You Believe the Gospel and all the Articles of your Christian Faith and shall any of you live as those that neither know nor fear God nor dread the Devil You have vowed Obedience to God and shall you trample under Foot all Laws Divine and Humane You have been dedicated to God and have given up your Names to him in your Baptism and shall you live as if you had been Listed in Satan's Service Nothing so contrary so contradictory as these things V. That to quite other Purposes we gave up our Names to be Christians Alas Consider Fifthly That you have given up your Names unto Christ for other Reasons than that you should fight under the Devil's Banner and do the works of the Flesh Namely that you might ever live to the Honour of God You have been call'd forth out of the World not that you should add by your own to the Iniquities of the Times but to nobler Purposes that you might re-establish the World now tottering and ready to sink under the weight of Wickedness that you might re-establish it I say by the Practice of all Christian Graces and Vertues And for that reason it is you must consider that you Christians are called the Salt of the Earth Matth. 5.13 the Light of the World ver 14. A Candle put upon a Candlestick that
it might give Light to all that are in the House ver 15. And therefore Let your Light so shine before Men that others may see your good Works and glorify your Father which is in Heaven is the Inference the Command of Christ the great Captain of our Salvation ver 16. And moreover Sixthly Every Christian has commonly that in his particular Name âI ãâã Chriââ ãâã Iames ãâã some ãâ¦ã of ãâ¦ã which ãâ¦ã whereby he may be excited to some noble strain of Vertue It seldom happens that any one has a Name given him of which there has not been some One before him renown'd in History either in the Scripture or elsewhere for some noble Exploit of Vertue or other And now my Young Disciple search the Scripture and other Histories who or what He or She was and wherein thy Names-sake did excel in any Goodness Christians to an Imitation of those who were Eminent under those Names and propose such a One for thy particular Example to whose Eminency in the like Vertue do thou all thou canst to arrive Do thou John bethink thy self often of that great Contempt of the World that One of thy Name viz. John the Baptist did shew and of that burning Love to God and Men which the other viz. the Apostle of that Name did express and let the One excite thee likewise to the like Contempt of the World and the other to the like Love of God and Men. A Peter should do well to call to Mind the ready Confession of Christ that the Apostle of that Name did make and the speediness and sorrowfulness of his Repentance after he had Sinn'd and let the Thoughts of him make thee ready to give Testimony to the Truth and Faith of Christ and put thee upon a speedy Repentance after every fall and backsliding into Sin Let every Anne call to Mind that Widow of her Name mentioned Luk. 2.37 Who though a Widow of fourscore Years and four departed not from the Temple but served God with Fasting and Prayers night and day And let the Example of this devout and happy Woman of thy Name call thee Anne to the first beginning of Prayers Sacraments and Sermons Let every Mary bethink her-self of those Mary's Famous in the Gospel the One for her chast Virginity the Other for sitting so Attentive at JESUS's Feet to whom the Lord gave this honourable Testimony that she had Chose the better part and prefer'd her before her Sister Martha who disturb'd her-self too much with worldly Business Luk. 10.40 41. and from her Example learn not to entangle thy self too much with the Cares of this Life but chiefly to take care of Heavenly things and to apply thy self to Hearing and Devotion Lastly Let me give it in Charge to you that are Parents And therefore Parents are Advis'd to choose for their Children the Names of Persons Eminent for Vertue not Infamous for Vice not to give to your Children any other Names but what are of Note for their eminent and good Examples that they may have always before their Eyes whom they may imitate in their Vertue Give them such Names as if not Signalized in Scripture are at least in other Histories for some Good they have done Or if you give them the Names of any of your Ancestors let it be of those whose Vertues have adorn'd not whose Vices have disgrace'd the Age they liv'd in Or of such who have left behind them a good Name to be Imitated nothing Ill to be Abominated by their Posterity for those only are worthy to have their Memory continued in the Names of their Posterity but these are fit to be Eternally forgot And thus my Christian Disciples having shew'd you the great the very great Obligation lying upon you even from your Christian Names to square your Lives according to the Christian Rules those Rules that you have taught you and shall hereafter with God's Assistance be explain'd to you in the Exposition I shall give you of your Catechism And from several Considerations having therefore urg'd you to live with all the Care you can according to that most holy Religion to which in your Baptism you have given up your Names and under your several Names have Listed your selves to maintain and cleave unto What then remains my Christian Disciples but that you apply your selves with the greatest Diligence in order to your living good Lives to understand throughly that Religion to which you have given up your Names There shall be nothing wanting I do assure you on my part for I design by God's assistance to Instruct you in all the Articles of the Covenant of Grace and which are each of them contain'd in your Church-Catechism It lies on your parts to be teachable Disciples constantly to repair here to be Catechized and Instructed by me to have attentive Ears open Hearts and faithful Memories And Oh! That I might always find you such What Satisfaction would then accrue to my self What Profit to you And how great and eternal Rewards to us both And that it may thus succeed with all of us Pray let it be our constant and fervent Desires to God thro' Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen THE Fourth Lecture Quest Who gave you that Name Answ My Godfathers and Godmothers in my Baptism wherein I was made a Member of Christ a Child of God and an Inheritour of the Kingdom of Heaven Quest What did your Godfathers and Godmothers then for you Answ They did promise and vow three things in my Name First That I should Renounce the Devil and-all his Works the Pomps and Vanity of this wicked World and all the sinful Lusts of the Flesh Secondly That I should Believe all the Articles of the Christian Faith And Thirdly That I should keep God's holy Will and Commandments and walk in the same all the days of my Life Quest Dost thou not think that thou art bound to Believe and to do as they have promised for thee Answ Yes verily and by God's help so I will And I heartily thank our Heavenly Father that he hath called me to this State of Salvation through Iesus Christ our Saviour And I pray unto God to give me his Grace that I may continue in the same unto my Lives end AS the Compilers of the Catechism did very wisely begin with a Question and Answer about your Christian Name to the End that at the mention thereof you might take occasion to consider the great Obligation which lies upon you to live according to that most Holy Religion which under that Name you have receiv'd so in Commenting upon that Question and Answer about your Christian Name I have given you my self some preparatory Admonitions accordingly to make that good Use of those Instructions shall be given you from your Catechism as to live suitably to them And being thus well prepar'd I hope to receive Benefit from what shall hereafter be deliver'd what remains but that I proceed to instruct you
in all the material Parts of the Christian Religion to the Belief and Practice of which you have given up your Names This by the Assistance of God I shall endeavour to do and I beg your Prayers to obtain his Assistance and in the same Method your Catechism teaches you Our Catechism gives an entire Instruction in the Covenant of Grace both generally and particularly and I am sure I cannot choose a better to do it in since whatsoever is necessary to be Believ'd and Practis'd in order to Salvation you have therein taught you both generally and particularly As to a more General Institution you have the summ and substance of the Christian Religion and whatsoever is necessary to Salvation taught you that way in those Three Questions and Answers which I have now read to you The summ and substance of Christian Religion I. Generally in the 3 First Questions and Answers and whatsoever is necessary to Salvation is certainly contain'd within the Covenant of Grace for undoubtedly there can be nothing more of absolute Necessity to Salvation than what God himself has been pleas'd to Promise and Ensure unto us and we our selves have Engag'd to perform And now in these Three Questions and Answers now read to you First You have whatsoever pertains to the Nature of the Covenant of Grace expresly deliver'd I will Instance to you the particulars which pertain to the Nature of it and will point to the Words wherein they are taught And in the first place you are Instructed what are the Terms and Conditions whereof it consists both on God's Part and on Ours in these Words Wherein I was made a Member of Christ a Child of God and an Inheritour of the Kingdom of Heaven which are the Mercies and Favours made over to us on God's Part of the Covenant and in these First That I should Renounce the Devil and all his Works the Pomps and Vanity of this wicked World and all the sinful Lusts of the Flesh Secondly That I should Believe all the Articles of the Christian Faith And Thirdly That I should keep God's Holy Will and Commandments and walk in the same all the days of my Life which are the Conditions to be perform'd on our Part of the Covenant Secondly You have here taught you the Gracious Importance of this Covenant we are put thereby into A State of Salvation Thirdly You have an Account of the Original of it and by whose Mediation you obtain'd so Beneficial and Gracious a Covenant taught you in these Words Through Jesus Christ our Saviour It was through the Mediation of Jesus Christ that we obtain'd the Benefit of so Gracious a Covenant Fourthly You are Instructed by whom and how you have been call'd into this State of Salvation by Means of the Covenant of Grace It was your Heavenly Father who hath called you to this State of Salvation through Jesus Christ our Saviour And Lastly You are admonisht of the very great reason you have to thank God and our Saviour Jesus Christ for so exceeding great a Mercy as his Calling you into it And I thank God our Heavenly Father that he hath called me to this State of Salvation thro' Jesus Christ our Saviour Thus far you are instructed concerning what pertains to the Nature of the Covenant II. You have also declar'd unto you by what Sacrament or Solemnity you first enter'd into it It was in your Baptism wherein you was made a Member of Christ c. III. You have then those vast Obligations lying upon you Faithfully and Conscientiously to discharge your part of the Covenant laid plainly before you This you own in your Answer to this Question Dost thou not think that thou art bound to Believe and to Do as they have promis'd for thee To which you are taught to answer Yes verily so I will IV. You have farther yet the Means whereby you shall be enabled to perform your part of the Covenant The First is the Grace Help and Assistance of God And by God's Help so I will The Second Means both to obtain the Divine Assistance and to enable you thereby to discharge your Covenant is Prayer unto God And I Pray unto God to give me his Grace that I may continue in the same unto my Lives end And Lastly You have also Intimated herein Two material Circumstances relating to the making of this Covenant betwixt God and You viz. 1. The time of Infancy wherein you enter'd into it imply'd in these Words Wherein I was made 2. The Persons by whom as Proxies you were Initiated therein My Godfathers and Godmothers did promise and vow three Things in my Name I will endeavour to Explain all these Points unto you in this First and General Part according as they are here taught you in these Questions and Answers now read as the Text beginning First With what pertains to the Nature of the Covenant of Grace And in order to the Understanding hereof it may not be amiss to premise something concerning the more general Notion of such Covenants as are usually made betwixt Governours and their Subjects And such an One if it be perfect in all its Parts and fully exprest may be Defin'd to be An Agreement between the Two Parties wherein there are Promises The Notion of a Covenant Rewards or profitable Considerations made over on one Part and certain Conditions to be perform'd on the other And wherein also there is an Obligation on the one side of undergoing some certain Penalties in case of not performing those Conditions consented unto by him and impos'd on him by the other A Covenant I say is a mutual Agreement between Two Parties It is a mutual Agreement for if it be not mutual and both Parties are not consenting to the Terms the One to the making good the Promises the Other to the performing the Conditions the Agreement is none at all or it is not Perfected nor is it Obliging on either side There may be indeed a Law given by one that is Superiour in Power and Authority which the Inferior is bound to Obey whether he consent or no because he is plac'd by the Divine Ordinance under the Other 's Command and if he does refuse to Obey he may be justly Punisht but then such a Transaction is to be consider'd as the giving of a Law not as the making of a Covenant Nor is this a slight Difference for where a Superior has given a Law if the Inferior has also Covenanted and consented upon good Considerations and upon the Expectation of promis'd Rewards to obey that Law such a Covenant does withal lay a farther Obligation on the Party on whom the Conditions ly to be perform'd by vertue of his own Consent to do it so that in the Violation of his Duty in such a case he shall be accounted not barely Disobedient but a Covenant-breaker which is added as a more aggravated Sin Rom. 1.31 and therefore deserving a more severe Punishment As
for many for the remission of sins Matth. 26.28 And the Terms and Conditions of this Second Covenant Wherein Repentance Faith and a sincere Obedience is accepted instead of a perfect exact and unsinning Obedience being no more a perfect exact and unsinning Obedience Repentance is henceforward to be admitted as a means of Reconciliation and a sincere Obedience to the best of our Power will be accepted and Faith in God and in Jesus Christ accompany'd with Living like those who Believe the Gospel shall be henceforward imputed to our Justification so that we shall have our Sins pardon'd and be receiv'd to Happiness This in short was the Tenour both of the first Covenant made with Adam and the Second procur'd for us by the Mediation of Jesus Christ Not to speak here of the different Measures and Degrees of its Promulgation nor of that Legal Covenant whereof Moses was the Mediatour and was made only with the People of Israel and was annex'd as an Appendix and Codicil to this Covenant of Grace for Reasons too many and too large now to be consider'd For tho' to shew how that the whole Promulgation of this gracious Covenant was not made all at once but that it seem'd good to the Divine Wisdom that so stupendious and grand a Scene of Mercy should not be open'd but by degrees tho' to shew this I say and the several Reasons of adding this Legal Covenant to the Covenant of Grace may be useful Points of Divinity to be explain'd in their due time yet I look upon 'em as none of the Principles of the Doctrine of Christ but rather part of that Strong meat spoke of Heb. 5.14 which belongeth to them who are of full Age and have been already competently well instructed and so to be no proper Matter of Catechetical Doctrine To proceed therefore and in a word we may consider the Second Covenant not as such indeed which is made betwixt a Master and his Servant wherein the Master engages to allow Meat Drink and Wages on Condition the Servant will perform unto him such and such Services which are just and reasonable and the Servant is capable to perform which expresses more the Nature of the Covenant of Works Do this and Live But rather for this comes nearer to the Nature of the Covenant of Grace between God and us which is full of advantageous and profitable Considerations on our side we may rather compare it It resembles Articles of Accomodation made thro' the Intercession of a Prince's Eldest Son betwixt him and his Rebellious Subjects I say to an Accord made betwixt a Gracious Prince and his Rebellious Subjects as suppose some City or State wherein the Prince is graciously pleas'd through the Intercession of some great Favourite to grant unto those his Subjects not only Pardon of their former Crimes but moreover certain great Priviledges and Freedoms Protection and several particular Favours Lands and Possessions and the like on Condition they will thence-forward Renounce and Forsake all his Enemies and place no farther Trust nor Confidence in 'em and will not Disobey him for the future in any of his just and reasonable Commands but pay him a true and faithful Obedience to all his Laws And much of the same Nature I say is the Covenant of Grace made betwixt God and all Christians thro' the Mediation of his only Son only with this difference That on God's Part the Benefits and Advantages are of most infinite Value which are made over to us his Rebellious and Disobedient Subjects and this upon the most reasonable just and easy Conditions considering the Assistance he affords us by the vertue of the same Covenant to perform ' em For Almighty God in the first place vouchsafes us in this Covenant to be made Members of Christ Children of God and Inheritours of the Kingdom of Heaven which are Mercies and Priviledges of invaluable Benefit and Advantage to us And we on the other side Engage and Promise but to Renounce the Devil and all his Works the Pomps and Vanity of this wicked World and all the sinful Lusts of the Flesh to Believe all the Articles of the Christian Faith to Obey God's holy Will and Commandments and to walk in the same all the days of our Life which I say are most reasonable just and easy Conditions considering the Assistance he will afford us to enable us to perform ' em This will very clearly appear by that time I have Explain'd to you distinctly and severally the Terms and Articles of this Covenant both the Advantages made over to us on God's part and the Conditions to be perform'd on ours as they are taught you in the Words now read to you And it is a Subject indeed that does extreamly concern you to be well Instructed in and to be consider'd by you None of you shall be able to perform a Bargain except you know what you have bargain'd and agreed to do No One can discharge a Bond except he knows distinctly what he is oblig'd to pay no more can any of you be able to perform the Covenant of Grace except you do well understand the Nature Terms and Conditions of it And indeed Little more of universal Concernment to be known but the Articles of this Covenant there is perhaps but little necessary to be known in Religion besides the Articles of this Covenant We may without Prejudice to our Salvation doubtless be ignorant of many Points that are Canvast with Heat enough in the Controversies of Men of all Perswasions but to know what inestimable Blessings God has Promis'd and Ensur'd to us and what we are to perform to make our selves Inheritours of those Blessings is what every Body who believes a future State and the Immortality of his Soul and that it is worth his while to study the Salvation of his Soul must think it necessary except he can imagine it safe to take his Journey to Heaven blindfold when he cannot think of getting but to his short Home here on Earth without his Eyes open A distinct and clear Understanding of the Nature Terms and Conditions and of all that pertains to the Covenant of Grace is without doubt of all things in the World the most necessary The Catechetical Method most useful to that Purpose And there is no Method of Instruction whereby it can be so distinctly and clearly known as the Catechetical way For not to say that Preaching now upon one Head and immediately after upon another without any dependance and coherence of the several parts of Christianity together is not so likely to give Persons a clear understanding of the whole Nature and Design of Christianity as may be requisite The Catechetical way by treating orderly on all the Parts of our most Holy Religion and by giving thereby a distinct View of their natural Connection with and Dependance one upon another has this Excellency in it no doubt that thereby Persons shall be better able to
from the Profane part of the World to be a Chosen Generation a Royal Priesthood a Holy Nation a Peculiar People To understand which you must know that the World at the time of our Saviour's coming into it was grown to a sad pass and was miserably Estrang'd from God The world indeed soon after the Creation began to fall off from God and to take part with the Devil But by the time that our Saviour came into the Flesh the Apostle declares Rom. 3.11 12. concerning as well Jews as Gentiles that there was none that understood there was none that sought after God that they were all gone out of the way they were all become unprofitable that there was none that did good no not one Particularly as to the Gentiles they were charg'd Rom. 11.23 24.28 29. to have Changed the Glory of the incorruptible God into an Image made like to corruptible Man and to Birds and four-footed Beasts and creeping things and were thereupon given up to Vncleanness and vile Affections and as they did not like to retain God in their Knowledge they were given up to a reprobate Mind being filled with all Vnrighteousness Fornication Wickedness c. And as to the Jews they had in a manner wholly voided the Force of God's Laws by their false Interpretations as you will see in our Saviour's Sermon on the Mount which cost him so much Pains to clear the Text from their false Glosses and to shew them the full Extent of their Duty contain'd in the Law This was the State of both Jews and Gentiles at that time And therefore did Christ come to Call out such as would obey his Calls to Call 'em out I say out of the wicked World to a holy Profession and Calling for which reason he is said to have Saved us and called us with an holy Calling 2 Tim. 1.9 and in a great many Places of Scripture Christians are therefore styl'd the Called and Joh. 17.6 they are said to be such whom the Father had given our Saviour out of the world and tho' they are in the world ver 11. that is Live in the World yet they are not of the world ver 16. True it is It is not every Member of the visible Church that does effectually obey this Holy Calling and in his Life and Conversation shews himself not to be of the World and therefore it is that the Kingdom of Heaven that is the Church is liken'd Mat. 13.24 to a Field in which Wheat and Tares grow up together until the Harvest and to a Net that was cast into the Sea and gather'd of every Kind But however tho' too many of those of whom the Church is compos'd are in their own Persons Ungodly yet I say Fourthly They are Called by the Preaching of the Gospel to a Holy Profession and Calling as Namely to Repentance from Dead Works I. Repentance from Dead Works for so our Saviour says He came to Call the sinners to Repentance Matth. 9.13 And thus also his Apostles Preacht unto Men that they should turn from the Vanities of Idol-worship unto the Living God which made Heaven and Earth and the Sea and all things therein Acts 14.15 which is an Instance of Repentance that the Gentile World were particularly Call'd to And then as to the Knowledge and Belief of the only True God II. To the Knowledge Belief and Service of the One True God Father Son and Holy Ghost and Jesus Christ the distinguishing Character given of the Church of Christ Joh. 17.2 is that they are such whom the Father hath given him or given him out of the world as it is ver 6. that they might have Eternal Life and this he tells us ver 3. is Eternal Life or the way by which we can only come by Eternal Life That we know the only True God and Jesus Christ whom he hath sent The Gentiles they knew not the only True God but Own'd and Worship'd many Gods and did Sacrifice to Devils 1 Cor. 10.20 And as for the Jews tho' they Believ'd indeed in the only True God yet they Acknowledg'd not his Son Jesus Christ whom he had sent to be also the True God as he is call'd 1 Joh. 5.20 And now both these Enemies to Truth our Saviour calls the world Joh. 17. and in Opposition to both tells us ver 3. that This is Life Eternal to know the only True God and Jesus Christ whom he hath sent So that the Church of Christ are such who are peculiarly Separated from the World to the Knowledge and Belief of the Only True God And they are such also who have been Baptized into the Knowledge Belief and Service of Three Persons Father Son and Holy Ghost in that One Godhead Mat. 28.19 And particularly they are such as are Baptized into the Name of Jesus Acts 19.5 that is into the Belief That Jesus is the Christ or Mediatour between God and Man for this is the great Fundamental Doctrine of Christianity as the Apostle tells us 1 Cor. 3.11 assuring us that Other Foundation can no man lay than that Jesus is the Christ And he that denyeth that Jesus is the Christ is the great Liar and an Anti-Christ 1 Joh. 2.22 But whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is Born of God 1 Joh. 5.1 that is is Adopted into the Christian Church and Family III. To enjoy the Priviledges of the Gospel Fifthly And as Christians are a Society of Persons call'd out of the World to Repentance Faith and Gospel-Obedience so to the Enjoyment of those Inestimable Priviledges of the Gospel viz. 1. Most Reasonable and Excellent Laws given by a most Great and Gracious Governour to Conduct 'em to Heaven Laws writ in their Minds and in their Hearts Heb. 8.10 that is Laws which are for the most part the very Dictates of natural Reason 2. They are such as are Priviledg'd with having great Measures of Divine Grace and Assistance to enable 'em to Obey those Laws for whereas the Law was given by Moses Grace and Truth came by Jesus Christ Joh. 1.17 and is the Priviledge of the Church of Christ under the Gospel 3. They are such who have Assurance of Pardon of Sins upon their Repentance for the Transgression of those Laws for with respect to those of the Christian Church God is pleas'd to say Heb. 8.12 I will be merciful to their Vnrighteousness and their Sins and Iniquities will I remember no more And lastly As to the Eternal Life and Happiness Christ does assure us Joh 17.2 that The Father has given him power over all Flesh that he should give Eternal Life to as many as are given him or are given him out of the World ver 6. that is that he has a Power of conferring the Rewards in Heaven to as many as come within the Pale of the Church if they do withal live in Obedience to its Laws and Constitutions Thus is the Church of Christ a Society of Men call'd forth of
fought a good fight I have finished my Course I have kept the Faith henceforth says the Apostle and so may every good Christian say the same there is laid up for me a Crown of Righteousness which God the righteous Judge shall give me at that Day and not to me only but to all them who love his appearing 2 Tim. 4.7 8. Such is the Christian's Priviledge above a Pagan's in being made an Inheritour of the Kingdom of Heaven in that being his Inheritance he may assure himself of it tho' his imperfect Vertues consider'd in themselves could never Entitle him to such an eternal and exceeding weight of Glory In short It is Jesus Christ alone who hath brought Life and Immortality to light through the Gospel 2 Tim. 1.10 As Life and Immortality is brought to light through the Gospel so by embracing it and by coming into Covenant alone Salvation can be expected And as he only has brought it to light that is made a clear Revelation of that Life and immortal Happiness laid up for Righteous Men in Heaven which was not before so plainly Reveal'd so it is only through him and by Believing and Embracing and Coming into his Covenant the Gospel that Salvation must now be hop'd for by any for thus we are assur'd Acts 4.12 that There is no other Name under Heaven given among Men but Jesus only whereby we must be saved so that this Invaluable Priviledge this exceeding great Advantage of being made Inheritours of the Kingdom of Heaven is made over and certainly Ensur'd to such only who are in the Covenant of Grace and is the Third and Last of those excellent Priviledges and Advantages contain'd and held forth therein And to a sincere Christian who is faithful in the Covenant the Heavenly Inheritance is certain But then the Kingdom of Heaven is the certain Inheritance of the sincere Christian who in the Exercise of Mercy Meekness Piety and all other Christian Vertues which he has Covenanted with God to perform does faithfully discharge his Part of the Covenant as is most solemnly declar'd Matth. 25.31 32 33 34.46 with which I shall conclude this Point Says our Blessed Saviour there When the Son of Man shall come in his Glory and all the Holy Angels with him then shall he sit upon the Throne of his Glory And before him shall be gathered all Nations and he shall separate them one from another as a Shepherd divideth the Sheep from the Goats and he shall set the Sheep on his right hand but the Goats on the left Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand to his Charitable and Pious and Faithful Servants Come ye Blessed of my Father Inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the World And as the Wicked shall go into everlasting Punishment so the Righteous into Life Eternal And now to summ up those infinitely Gracious and Invaluable Priviledges made over to us on Uod's Part in the Covenant of Grace A summ of those invaluable Priviledges made over to us on God's Part in the Covenant of Grace hereby we are made First Members of Christ that is are made Members of that Body of which Christ is the Head viz. The Church and so have together with a most excellent Body of Religion and Laws all necessary Grace and Assistance Convey'd and Communicated to us Members from Him the Head to Enliven Support and Enable us to go through all our Task of Religious Duties and Christian Performances requir'd at our Hands The Second Priviledge is That we are also hereby made Children of God that is having Embrac'd Christianity and being Incorporated into the Church of Christ we are thereby Adopted and Chosen out of the rest of the World by God to enjoy this grand Priviledge of Sons to have Pardon granted us when with the Prodigal Son we return Home to Him our Offended but Gracious Father by Repentance And we shall find him not over-severe in respect of our lesser Failings and the unavoidable Infirmities of our Nature but shall always have him ready to hear our Prayers for Mercy both in respect of our greater and lesser Transgressions And Lastly The Third Priviledge you have been now told is this that to compleat All We are made Inheritours of the Kingdom of Heaven that is have secur'd to us a Right and Title to the unspeakable Joys and Glories of Heaven A Priviledge which consider'd in it self is exceeding Great and as all the rest if compar'd with what Others enjoy is a very singular One These now are the inestimable Priviledges made over to us in the Covenant of Grace Priviledges which as they are of infinite Advantage to us so we shall never fail of obtaining 'em if we will but take care to perform the Conditions requir'd on our Parts and so First Renounce the Devil and all his Works the Pomps and Vanities of this wicked World and all the sinful Lusts of the Flesh Secondly Believe all the Articles of the Christian Faith And Thirdly Obey God's Holy Will and Commandments and walk in the same all the days of our Lives Which Conditions and what they Import I come next to declare unto you THE Ninth Lecture First That I should Renounce the Devil and all his works the Pomps and Vanity of this wicked world and all the sinful Lusts of the Flesh I Have already Expounded those infinitely Gracious and Invaluable Priviledges made over to us on God's Part in the Covenant of Grace having shewed you what it is to be a Member of Christ what it is to be a Child of God and lastly what to be an Inheritour of the Kingdom of Heaven as also what are the vast Benefits contain'd in those several Articles I am now come to Explain to you likewise the Conditions of the Covenant those Conditions without the Performance of which those Mercies will not be Confer'd on us For this we must seriously consider that the Benefits now mention'd to be made over to us as they are in themselves exceeding great so as almost to equal us with the Blessed Angels and as they were purchas'd for us at no less a Rate than the precious Blood of the Son of God so we must not expect that Benefits so infinitely great and dearly purchas'd should be Confer'd upon us without any thing to be done on our Parts to express our Value of them much less if we continue in Rebellion against God and instead of him serve under his Enemies the World the Flesh and the Devil or will be Infidels and Unbelievers and will remain Disobedient to all his most Just and Righteous Commands No it is not to be imagin'd that God will be so Easy so fond of Sinners as would reflect upon the Wisdom and Discretion of a meer Man But as he does propose to us Invaluable Blessings so he does require from us a Reasonable Service and the Performance of most Equitable Conditions amongst which this is the First
undoubtedly the way of Satan Whereas in Truth both their former ill Practices and their present evil Temper and Principles are the Children of the same Father tho' unlike to one another in outward Features So fatal a Delusion it is of the Devil 's to allow Sinners in performing a kind of Partial Obedience to God nay to further 'em perhaps in the throwing off some sensual and grosly scandalous Courses that he may more securely detain 'em Servants and Slaves to himself in the less discernible sins of spiritual Wickedness Secondly Another usual Policy of the Devil 's in corrupting of our Manners is to Put plausible Names upon the worst Sins and under that disguise to cheat Persons into a good Opinion of 'em and then to commit ' em II. By putting plausible Names upon the worst of Sins under that disguise he does cheat Persons into a good Opinion of 'em and then to commit ' em And he had the Impudence to Tempt even our Saviour himself in this manner He would have had him to throw himself headlong from the Pinnacle of the Temple alledging that God would give his Angels charge concerning him and in their hands they should bear him up Matth. 4.6 And this no doubt he would have him believe was a Trusting in God And in like manner by a Satanical Device the Presumption of some that they are the Elect is call'd their Faith by which they shall be Justified Rioting and Drunkenness is call'd good Fellowship and to be easily withdrawn into it the Effects of good Nature Covetousness Griping and Extortion is term'd a providing for One's own which he that does not do is worse than an Infidel And on the contrary to be Prodigal and Profuse is to be Hospitable and Charitable Spite Malice and Revenge is call'd a Hating of other Men's Sins And the most bitter and fierce Contentions nay the most cruel and bloody Persecutions a Zeal for God and true Religion and when that Temper is justly expos'd to Hatred and Abhorrence then a Lukewarmness and a meer Indifferency in matters of Religion whether Truth or Heresy prevails Gallio's caring for none of those things is styl'd the calm and sweet Temper and Spirit of the Gospel Thus does Sin pass in the World currantly under the mask of Vertue Vice appearing in its own Colours is so odious a thing that no one but must be ashamed to own it Sin in that disguise gets Reputation amongst Men. But being adorn'd by the Cunning of Satan with Titles of Respect and in the shews of Vertue it is lookt upon with no evil Eye but gets Approbation and Reputation amongst Men. But the Devil gets a Passport for several Sins into the World not only by giving 'em the Name of Vertues But Thirdly By changing the Nature of several Divine Graces and Vertues so that they degenerate into very great Sins III. By changing the Nature of several Divine Graces so that they degenerateinto very great Sins It being much the Devil's Policy to Transport Persons out of that Moderation wherein Vertue does for the most Part consist into that Excess which much resembles it but is really exceedingly sinful and hurtful to Men's Souls This we gather to be the Devil's Policy from 2 Cor. 2.11 where the Apostle advises the Corinthians to Forgive at the last that Incestuous Person amongst 'em whom they had deservedly Excommunicated and to receive him to the Communion of the Church being he had Humbled himself and Repented and that Mercy he would have 'em shew him lest Satan should get an Advantage over 'em For we are not ignorant of his Devices says he that is lest the too long continuance of the Punishments they inflicted upon the Penitent Offender might be made use of by Satan to the hurt and ruine of the Church by hightning their Zeal against Sin into an Irreconcilableness to the Sinner And indeed there are many Sins and Vertues so near in their Nature that the Passage from one to the other is hardly discernible insomuch that by the Art of Satan we easily slide from one to the other As Obstinacy in standing out against all Conviction concerning the Truth is easily mistaken for Constancy in the Faith and the Love of Our-selves for the Love of God But especially that Zeal for God's Glory now mention'd a most Excellent Grace in it self is often and that easily Transported into Cruelty as we see it was in St. Paul who out of a Zeal for the Law Beyond measure persecuted the Church of God and wasted it Gal. 1.13 Thus by changing the Nature of several Divine Graces and Vertues so that they become very great sins does Satan easily betray us into them And what is worse Sin thus mistaken for Vertue is hardly ever afterwards Repented of Sins thus mistaken are seldom Repented of for whereas Sin when it appears bare-fac'd and in its own Colours and is known to be so is an ugly Monster and is no sooner Committed but it scares the Conscience into Grief Anguish and Repentance when it is thus mistaken for real and true Vertue it is not only securely and without the least Reluctancy and Remorse committed but is confidently Glorify'd in and the Sinner grows Proud of those Villanous Practices for which he ought to Humble himself in Sackcloth and Ashes Fourthly It is a most destructive Policy of Satan To put New Beginners in the Spiritual Life upon greater Severities and Strictnesses in Religion than they are capable of on purpose that when they groâ weary thereof and cannot go through with they may together with those their voluntary Severities throw all Religion aside as too burthensome and not at all practicable IV. By putting Novices upon undertaking Severities greater than they can go thro' with on design that when they grow weary thereof they may together with those their voluntary Severities throw all Religion aside as too Burdensom and not at all Practicable This we gather to be a Policy of Satan's from that Prudent Advice of St. Paul's 1 Cor. 7.5 which he gives to Marry'd People that Except it be with consent for a time that they might give themselves to Fasting and Prayer they should not prescribe to themselves too long Abstinences from one another lest Satan should Tempt them for their Incontinency so we Translate it but the Word in the Original signifies want of Ability to Contain or Abstain Which Inability or Weakness to go through any voluntary and undertaken Piece of Discipline is an occasion of Temptation and will be an Advantage to the Tempter by which when he does at any time Attempt such a Person he may probably enough Overcome Which Inability or Weakness I say to go through any voluntary and undertaken Piece of Discipline as of long Fastings and Watchings at such set Hours of the Night or the Performance of certain Vows which some do lay upon themselves these tho' they may be serviceable to promote a spiritual Life if
Flames whom his ill Example or vicious Conversation or base and corrupting Flatteries in wicked Courses or Discouragements to Vertue or Encouragements to Sin have sent there never to be Retriev'd It is an Injury to men's Souls in some Cases hardly ever in others impossible to be Repair'd It is an Injury to Men's Souls in some Cases hardly ever in others impossible to be Repair'd If his Temptations have been of that sort as to reach no farthar than he was Known or was Conversant a very Eminent and very signal Repentance may in some measure put a stop to the Contagion thereof so that they spread no farther tho' not that altogether for some perhaps whom he has Corrupted will never be Reclaim'd tho' he be never so great a Penitent and Labour himself never so much their Conversion But if his Temptations have been of that more spreading and lasting Kind now spoke and he has been One that has Wrote Ill Books been a Broacher of Pestilent Heresies an Author of lewd Plays or wanton and prophane Verse the Mischief and Poyson of such Temptations do fly beyond his Recalling and tho' he may Burn 'em with his own Hands yet others will Rake 'em out of the Ashes And it is the Opinion of some of the Ancients that such Temptations as these will affect his Happiness even in Heaven it self insomuch that according as the Mischief thereof does daily spread and more do continue to be Damn'd thereby proportionably such a One will still fall thereupon lower and lower in Glory I know nothing in Reason or Religion that contradicts this Opinion However it be certainly it is the highest Misfortune can befal any One that he is or ever has been amongst that Rank of Sinners whom the Scripture does so peculiarly Stile the Wicked and that because of their so near Resemblance to the Tempter himself These are the Persons by whom Offences come and it is a terrible Threatning that of our Saviour's Matth. 18.6 to such Who so shall offend one of these little Ones which believe in me that is any-wise Tempt Gall Discourage drive from the Faith and Practice of a Christian any the meanest Person that comes to me whoso shall do this It were better for him that a Mill-stone were hanged about his Neck and he were cast into the midst of the Sea So that of all things in the World it concerns you to take care ye never become Tempters of others to Sin and either to omit that which is Good or to commit that which is Evil. Secondly Nor does it less concern you to refuse Conforming your selves to wicked Men when they shall Tempt you II. We must refuse to Conform our selves to wicked Men when they shall Tempt us viz. which they will do when either First by their ill Examples they shall Influence you or Secondly by falling into their Company they shall Entice you or Thirdly by their Flatteries they shall Corrupt you or Fourthly by their Discouragements to Vertue and Encouragements to Sin they shall Engage you or Fifthly by their Perswasions they would Prevail upon you or Lastly by their Customs would Constrain you to Sin And I will shew you how by all means you must Renounce or Refuse to Conform your selves unto their evil Ways in any of these Cases And First That you must renounce I. By their evil Examples or refuse to Conform your selves to the evil Examples of wicked Men which would Influence you to Sin It has been ever observ'd that Examples have a much greater Influence than Precepts Examples have the greatest Influence upon us especially and that most are readier to do what they see than what they hear More particularly there is a great Inclination in us to follow the Examples of Sin especially if many if the Examples of those for whom we have an high Esteem and of whom we do stand in great Awe And First We are especially inclin'd to follow the Examples of Sin I. If Examples of Sin For Sin is what our Corrupt Nature is of it self dispos'd to and if moreover Examples do come in to help us forward these will highten our Desires and silence our Consciences and give us some plausible Pretence to Sin It looks like some Act of Modesty and Self-denial to deny our own private Judgment and to go along with the Croud when our Flesh is craving and our Lusts are up it is a strange Encouragement to us to Sin in Company and fulfil ' em This heartens us against our Fears and abates the Dread of Punishment which would follow the Satisfaction of our Lusts Now if we are punisht for 'em it will not be we alone and it is a Comfort to have Fellows in Miseries and a Man dares both do and suffer many things in Company which he would have been dis-hearten'd to have ventur'd on singly But Secondly We are still more hearten'd to Sin if the Examples thereof are Common and Many II. If common and many For why Besides that there is a great deal of Proneness and Propension in all our Natures to Vice and Wickedness the only Restraint upon our Inclinations that we break not out suddenly into all Exorbitancy of Ungodliness is as inwardly from the Innate Turpitude and Baseness of Sin So outwardly from the burning and shining Lights and glorious Examples of Vertue that are abroad in the World Now our inward sense of the Filthiness of Sin soon ceases when we see it Practic'd by the most and those as shrew'd and as wise Persons as our selves and from without there can be no upbraiding and ill Report in giving swing to our naughty Desires if Vice has once got its Multitudes of Followers and the Generality of Men of its side Thirdly But farther yet Examples of Sin are very Contagious if they are the Examples of such for whom we have a great Esteem III. If of such for whom we have a great Esteem Persons of all Sects and Parties in Religion fix upon some in their own way as very excellent Persons and exact Patterns fit to be imitated in all they do as if Men were not Men still and the Best were not subject to Mistake and Failing whatever Duty of Christianity these Men whom they particularly Admire seem to have but a small regard to they do not think it at all necessary because such a Good Man would not if it were be wanting in it they think And so as to any sinful Practice on the other side Why should I scruple to do so and so thou wilt say when such a One and I am sure he understands what he does sticks not to do the like He is a wise Man a good Man nay and a Scholar and yet does so and so nor does he fear going to Heaven for all that Fourthly But above all the Examples of Sin are the most prevalent when they are backt with the Authority of those whom we stand in awe of IV. If of
a Conclusion we must not content our selves in this great Work of Renouncing ALL the sinful Lusts of the Flesh that we have our Minds enlighten'd so as to know what we ought to do whilst our Affections and Bodily Powers do remain Rebellious against the Dictates of our Minds and Consciences But we must have our whole Natures possest with an Aversion an Antipathy from the very Heart against all Sin and we must have both the Mind Will and Affections nay the very Lusts and Appetites fully bent against it And we must have on the contrary a hearty Love and Disposition to all Vertue wrought in all the same Faculties both of Soul and Body We must be Renewed in the Spirit of our Minds and put on the New Man which after God is Created in Righteousness and true Holiness Eph. 4.23 24. And when a Person is thus inwardly Chang'd throughout in all the Faculties and Powers of Soul and Body it is then only that he can be truly said to be a New Creature a New Man And this indeed This the hard Part. to become thus Renew'd in the Spirit of our Minds so as to have the Heart and Affections set against Sin and sinful Pleasures as well as the Mind convinc'd of the Evil of 'em is the hard Work This is certain that it is not possible for any Man to work so great a Change in his Nature of himself but it is the Spirit of God that must assist wonderfully in the doing of it And indeed That we may be said sincerely and throughly to Renounce the Flesh and ALL its sinful Lusts that Renovation of our Corrupted Nature wherein this Renunciation does consist must be such as is wrought in us by the Spirit and Grace of God This I say because it is very possible for a Man to be Chang'd from some sensual Courses to an utter Hatred thereof and yet remain in God's Eyes a Carnal and Vnregenerate Man and the reason is because his Change proceeds not from any Inward Vital Principle of Vertue but from some prudential Methods in the management of his Pleasures as some the most sensual Epicures that live shall become at length temperate and sober because their Constitutions will not bear a Debauch but as the Spirit of God had nothing to do in the Change so in their Hearts and Minds they remain still to be sensual And others again you shall meet who have a full Conviction in their Minds and Consciences through the Preaching of the Word of the Evil of Sin and yet in their Affections they Love it and their Lusts and Appetites Rebelling against the Reason of their Mind will have it and their Wills do finally chuse it so that these Persons with the Mind do serve the Law of God but with the Flesh the Law of Sin as St. Paul in that much mistaken Chapter Rom. 7.25 does represent as was now shew'd you the Case of the Carnal Jew abiding only under the Conviction of the Law But where the Spirit of God works the Change that Person is Sanctify'd wholly and the whole Spirit and Soul and Body will be preserved Blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ 1 Thes 5.23 So that such a Person shall effectually Renounce the Flesh and all its sinful Lusts both of the Inward and of the Outward Man And accordingly as we will draw nigh to God and have him draw nigh to us we must cleanse our hands and purifie our hearts and not be double-minded Jam. 4.8 We must through the Help of his Grace Cleanse our selves from all Filthiness of Flesh and Spirit perfecting Holiness in the Fear of God 2 Cor. 7.1 We must be always I say in the perfecting of one Degree after another our Holiness and that Image of God which we lost by our Fall for the subduing of All our Lusts must be the Work of Time and it is not of a sudden that we can get an entire Conquest over 'em ALL. But if in our Strivings against 'em we find our selves still more and more to get ground upon 'em we are in a hopeful Condition In a Word therefore Brethren we are Debtors not to the Flesh to live after the Flesh for if ye live after the Flesh ye shall die but if through the Spirit ye do Mortify the Deeds of the Body ye shall live for as many as are led by the Spirit of God they are the Sons of God Rom. 12.13 14. The Reason of having enlargd so much upon this one Article of Renouncing the Devil c. And so I have at length done with this no less Important than Copious Subject the Renouncing of the Devil the World and the Flesh It may seem indeed as if I have been too long upon the Explication of one single Article of our Covenant viz. the Renouncing the Devil and all his Works the Pomps and Vanity of this wicked World and All the Sinful Lusts of the Flesh But if it be considered that half the Business of our Christian Religion is performed in Resisting the Enemies of our Salvation it will not be a Matter of Blame that I have been so long upon this Point especially in Instructing of Youth about it who ought to be very well fore-arm'd in order to their coming off Conquerors The truth of it is this Renouncing of the World the Flesh and the Devil that is the Resisting and Overcoming of all their Numerous Host of Temptations is the Christian's Warfare and great Work For as the Holy Scriptures do in a multitude of Texts Represent our State as a State of Warfare Fight the good Fight of Faith lay hold on Eternal Life for hereunto ye have been called before many Witnesses 1 Tim. 6.12 That is we Listed our selves in this Warfare at our Baptism in the Presence of the Church of Christ As our State I say is a State of Warfare against all these Spiritual Enemies so it does infinitely concern all of us to know as far as is possible All their Arts and Stratagems to deceive us and this I hope will be a sufficient Apology that I have been so improportionably long to what I have and shall be upon other Heads in shewing you what it is and how far you must Renounce the Devil and all his Works the Pomps and Vanity of this wicked World and all the sinful Lusts of the Flesh THE XXII Lecture Secondly That I should Believe all the Articles of the Christian Faith HAVING largely Explain'd the first Condition of Life and Happiness and shew'd you what I conceive is meant by Renouncing the Devil and all his Works the Pomps and Vanity of this wicked World and all the sinful Lusts of the Flesh I come now to do the like as to the Second Condition upon which we are to expect to be Justify'd to have our Sins Pardon'd and Eternal Life and Happiness conferr'd upon us and which we have also Covenanted with God to do and that is that We Believe all
the Articles of our Christian Faith In order to the Explication of which Point 1. I will declare to you the General Nature of those ARTICLES or Christian Truths which are to be Believed 2. I will shew you What it is to BELIEVE those Articles or Christian Truths so as to make us capable of Life and Happiness And 3. I will shew you how we must Believe ALL the Articles of the Christian Faith And First I am to declare to you something in General Articles of Christian Faith of what Nature The whole Bible the Object of a Christian's Faith both concerning the Nature of those ARTICLES or Christian Truths which are to be Believed The whole Bible both Old and New Testament is the proper Object of a Christian's Faith and whatever we find therein Recorded or deliver'd down to us we are to believe as a Divine Certain and Infallible Truth because all things therein contain'd are the Word of Him who will not who cannot Lie who neither can be deceiv'd himself nor will he deceive others As to the Old Testament and the Writings of the Prophets the Old Testament and the Jehosophat in a solemn Assembly of the whole People upon a solemn Fast-day 2 Chron. 20.20 Proclaimed unto them stood up and said Hear me O Judah and Inhabitants of Jerusalem believe in the Lord your God so shall you be Established believe his Prophets so shall ye Prosper And let the Declarations of God Recorded therein be of what Nature they will the Truth of them is by no means to be called in doubt If you will not Believe surely ye shall not be Established Isa 7.9 And so likewise as to the New Testament New Our Saviour upon his Entrance to preach the Gospel did in the first place require of all Men to Believe it Jesus came into Galilee preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom of God and saying The time is fulfilled and the Kingdom of God is at hand Repent ye and Believe the Gospel Mark 1.14 15. And when he was also leaving the World and Commission'd his Disciples to go into all the World and to preach the Gospel to every Creature He declar'd that he that Believeth shall be Saved but he that Believeth not shall be Damned Mark 16.15 16. So that both the Old and New Testament and every part and parcel of Scripture therein contain'd is firmly to be Believ'd as the Divine Certain and Infallible Truth of God And the reason thereof as to the Old Testament is Because Prophecy came not in Old time by the Will of Man but Holy Men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost 2 Pet. 1.21 And we are also firmly to believe all the parts both of Old and New indifferently because all Scripture is given by Inspiration of God and is profitable for Doctrine for Reproof for Correction for Instruction in Righteousness that the Man of God may be perfect throughly furnished unto all good Works 2 Tim. 3.16 All the parts of it are the Dictates and Word of God himself and are more or less Useful to our Edification and Improvement in Divine Knowledge Faith and Practice And therefore all Ranks and Degrees of Men and of every Age Young as well as Old ought diligently to Study and firmly to Believe the Holy Scriptures The Bereans did so and they were accounted the more Honourable for so doing The Bereans were more Noble than those in Thessalonica in that they Received or Believed the Word with all readiness of Mind and searched the Scriptures daily Act. 17.11 And it is Recorded to the Immortal Honour of Timothy 2 Epist 3.15 that from a Child he had known the Scriptures which were able to make him wise unto Salvation through Faith which is in Christ Jesus Some Truths Revealed in Scripture of greater Importance and Concernment to us than others Well but tho' all Scripture as being the Infallible Word of him who neither can be deceiv'd himself nor will deceive others does Challenge the Belief of every Christian yet among the great multitude of Truths of various Kinds deliver'd in the Scriptures some are of far greater Importance and Concernment to us than others because they do more immediately and directly tend to give us due and worthy Apprehensions of God and to Instruct us in the only sure Method of Salvation by Jesus Christ There are some Principal Doctrines of Christianity which are in their own Nature apt to have a greater Influence upon our Lives and more powerfully to restrain us from a Course of Sin and to unite us to the Practice of Vertue and Holiness than others and when they have done this to send us to God the Father to seek for Acceptance meerly through Christ his Son And upon these and the like accounts therefore such Truths as these are more particularly necessary to be Believ'd by us in order to our Justification before God and to our Salvation in the other World And must therefore be distinctly Known and explicitely Believ'd and are therefore called the Articles of our Christian Faith being a Summary and Collection of such Doctrines out of the Holy Scriptures as are of a more Concerning Nature than the rest All those other Truths of what Nature soever contain'd in the Holy Scriptures are indeed necessary also to be Believ'd at least-wise Implicitely that is we are to be possest with a General Perswasion that they are all certainly true because God has Reveal'd them as such But these latter which we call the Articles of our Christian Faith must be positively and Explicitely Believ'd that is we must throughly understand 'em and be assuredly and distinctly perswaded of each single Truth contained in 'em as without which understanding and perswasion a Good and Christian Life will not be wrought in us nor a reliance on God's Merits in Christ for the acceptance thereof Created in our Souls Such for instance is the Belief that there is a God Some Instances of such Truths for this is the very first Principle of all Religion and must necessarily make us stand in awe and fear of offending him if we throughly believe and consider it Such is the Belief that he is our Father who Created us and all the World for this will make us love him who gave us our Being And such again is the Belief that he Exercises a just and wise Providence in the Government of the World for this will make us submit our selves to all his Dispensations as being the Appointments of One who knows better than our selves what is Best for us And to instance also in some which are the Truths purely of Reveal'd Religion Such is the Belief that the Son of God came down from Heaven to suffer Death for us to Redeem us from the Punishments of Hell for this as it shews us how Odious a thing Sin is when nothing less could satisfy God's Justice against it than the precious Blood of the Son of God and
consequently does extreamly tend to create in our Hearts an utter Hatred to all Sin So hereby we are taught that Christ has made a full perfect and sufficient Sacrifice and Satisfaction for the Sins of the whole World And such lastly is the Belief for I need not now stand to mention every Artiticle that all our Bodies shall rise again at the General Resurrection that then we must all appear before the Judgment Seat of Christ to Receive a Just Sentence for whatever we have done in the Body whether it be good or bad for this will make us careful how to lead our Lives so in this World that we may not be Condemn'd in the next These now are some of those Articles of our Christian Faith and are such Divine Truths as are more particularly necessary to be Believ'd by us as containing in them the greatest reason in the World to restrain us from all manner of Sin and to encourage us in the Practice of all Religious Duties And yet are Doctrines withal of extraordinary force to remove all Conceit out of our Minds concerning our own Merits and to make us rely solely upon God's Mercies in Christ for the Acceptance of our most Holy Performances And let this suffice as to the first Thing proposed which was to declare unto you something in general of the Nature of the Objects or of those Truths to be Believ'd the Articles of our Christian Faith And now Secondly I will also shew you what it is to BELIEVE these Truths so as to make us capable of Life and Happiness And if it be ask'd how we must Believe these things What it is to Believe those Truths so as to make us capable of Life and Happiness why we must be so throughly and firmly perswaded of their undoubted Truth as to be accordingly Influenc'd as I have now said by the Belief thereof to the Practice of Good Works and then to betake our selves to Jesus Christ to Intercede with the Father for their Gracious Acceptance Our Belief thereof must be Operative Practical I say our Faith must be such as does Influence us to a Good Life for such is the Faith that St. Paul tells us is now required in the Christian Religion in order to Salvation Gal. 5.6 In Jesus Christ says he neither Circumcision availeth any thing nor Vncircumcision but Faith which worketh by Love Some render the words and that more rightly Faith that is perfected by Love which does more expresly signify the Apostle's meaning that that Faith which will save us must be such as is perfected by the addition of those Duties which we owe to God and our Neighbour And St. James does with great Industry shew that the Christian Faith which has the Promise of Justification and Salvation is a Powerful Practical Belief and that none other has any Promise What says St. James 2.14 doth it profit my Brethren tho' a Man saith he hath Faith and hath not Works can Faith save him Faith if it have not Works is dead being alone ver 17. and is no more than what the Devils have for the Devils believe and tremble ver 19. Such was the Faith of Abraham and of all the Saints And the Faith indeed for which the Holy Patriarchs and Saints were Renown'd of Old and are now so highly Rewarded in Heaven was a Powerful Practical and Working Faith indeed which excited them to the highest and the hardest Acts of Obedience that it was possible for Men to perform Thus Heb. 11.17 18. we read that by Faith Abraham when he was tryed offered up Isaac and he that had received the Promises offered up his only begotten Son and he a Son too in whom God had promised him great Blessings And yet at God's Command he readily Obeyed believing that God would be as good as his Promise to him tho' it was by Raising him again from the Dead By Faith Moses when he was come to Years refused to be called the Son of Pharaoh 's Daughter chusing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the pleasures of Sin for a season esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt for he had respect to the recompence of reward ver 24 25 26. It was a great Temptation to Moses to be made a Prince if he pleased in which Estate he might enjoy the highest Pleasures this World could afford but he Believing that God would infinitely reward him for his Self-denial in refusing such Worldly Honours and Pleasures chose rather to be one of those mean Persecuted People the Children of Israel By Faith Thousands of Blessed Saints before us endured tryals of cruel Mockings and Scourgings yea moreover of Bonds and Imprisonments they were Stoned they were Sawn asunder were Tempted were Slain with the Sword they wandred about in Sheep-skins and in Goat-skins being destitute afflicted tormented of whom the world was not worthy they wandred in Desarts and in Mountains and in Dens and in Caves of the Earth Heb. 11.35 36 37 38. They were terrible Sufferings which the Servants of God in former times have been put to undergo but as dreadful as they were being supported with a firm Belief that they should be infinitely recompenced for their Sufferings and Losses they thereupon chearfully underwent the severest that the Wit or Malice of Men or Devils could invent or inflict upon ' em Such a powerful practical working Faith indeed was that for which the Holy Patriarchs and Saints were of Old Renown'd and are now Rewarded in Heaven A Faith I say which excited them to the highest and hardest Acts of Obedience that it was possible for Men to perform And such a Powerful Practical Active and Working Principle is Faith And such an Operative and Practical Principle is Faith whenever the Things believed are of great Importance or Concernment to us whensoever the things Believed are of great Importance or Concernment to us Some things indeed as an Excellent Person does well observe are of such a Nature that the Belief or Knowledge of 'em goes no farther but rests in it self as the Knowledge or Belief of bare Speculative Truths that do not at all Concern us but some things again are of such a Nature as being once firmly and truly believ'd and known carry a Man out to Action Thus for Example If you should hear another threaten'd that he should certainly be Kill'd if he stir out of his House to morrow it would not hinder you from going Abroad tho' you firmly believe the Threatning because it is a Truth in which you are not Concern'd But the Person so threatned if he does throughly believe the danger will certainly not stir out of his House that Day because it is a Truth that he is very much Concerned in On the other side If you shall hear of a Promise made to another Person of a Thousand Pound if he will be at the Pains to go but to such
a Place it will not make you go there because it is a Promise that you are not Concern'd in but the other Person if he be certainly perswaded the Promise will be made good to him will certainly go to the appointed Place because it is a Promise that he is Concerned in And so likewise as to the Case in hand That a sure Promise of the Pardon of our Sins and Eternal Happiness is made over to us in the Second Covenant on Condition we will forsake the Service of Satan and of Sin that we will Repent heartily Believe practically and Obey sincerely is a Truth that the Devils to their great Grief are fully perswaded of for they believe and tremble St. James tells us But this Faith of theirs does not put them upon Repentance and Amendment because those gracious Promises do not Concern them and they have no Promise of Salvation tho' they should Repent and Amend But as to us whom they do Concern and to whom they are made if we are really perswaded that if we amend we shall be certainly Saved we shall immediately upon such Perswasion seriously Repent of what has been done amiss heretofore and take care to Obey God for the future For every Man that hath this Hope in God purifieth himself even as he is pure 1 Joh. 3.3 In short the Articles of our Christian Faith are every one of 'em so many Motives and those the most powerful ones in the World to stir us up to a diligent Reformation of our Hearts and Lives They are in themselves the most obliging Arguments to it and with respect to us they are the most Concerning and Important Truths that can be containing in the meaning of 'em either Threatnings to scare us out of Sin or Promises to allure us to Obedience Either such Considerations as are apt to excite our Fears when we are in a Course of Impiety or are Grounds whereon we may build the vastest Hopes in the Performance of our Duty And if any One does not live accordingly a Godly Righteous and a Sober Life I dare be bold to say it is owing to some spice of Infidelity lurking in his Heart whereby he is not throughly perswaded of or does not actually consider these Truths But he that does throughly Believe and Consider them can hardly fail of being a Good Liver Thus necessary you see it is that our Belief of all the Articles of our Christian Faith be such as does Influence us to good Works And then after all II. To Believe savingly we must apply our selves to Jesus Christ to intercede w th God the Father for our Gracious Acceptance II. It must be a Belief that causes us to betake our selves to Jesus Christ to Intercede with God the Father for their Gracious Acceptance This I have formerly in the beginning of my Exposition insisted upon yet such is the growing Infidelity of the World with respect to this which is the most Essential part of Christian Faith that it would not be unseasonable should I again shew you that we must depend upon the Mediation of Christ with the Father for us that our imperfect Righteousness may be graciously accepted to our Justification This is that Act of Faith which is called in Scripture Believing in Christ and to such a Believing as this it is that our Justification is Attributed by St. Paul Gal. 2.16 Know this that a Man is not Justified by the Works of the Law but by the Faith of Jesus Christ even we have Believed in Jesus Christ that we might be Justified by the Faith of Christ and not by the Works of the Law for by the Works of the Law shall no Flesh be Justified And as this Act of Faith the Relying upon God's Mercies in Christ does wonderfully exalt the Divine Justice and Mercy so it leaves no place to the Creature to Attribute any part of its Happiness to it self but does utterly exclude all occasions of Boasting God hath set forth Jesus Christ his Son to be a Propitiation through Faith in his blood to declare his Righteousness for the Remission of Sins that are past through the forbearance of God Where is Boasting then it is excluded By what Law of Works nay but by the Law of Faith Rom. 2.25.27 So that it is not enough that we Believe punctually but it is moreover necessary that we rely also on God's Mercies in Christ that our imperfect Holiness may be accepted or otherwise even our Assent to all the Articles of the Christian Faith will not avail us to our Justification and Salvation which brings me Lastly To shew you what it is to Believe ALL the Articles of our Christian Faith What to Believe All the Articles of the Christian Faith And 1. To Believe them All does Import that we must Assent to all and every one of those great Articles of Christian Doctrine contain'd in the Apostle's Creed 1. To Believe ALL these Articles does Import that we must Assent with a through Perswasion of their undoubted Truth and of their Divine Authority to all and every one of those great Articles of Christian Doctrine contained in the Apostle's Creed This Collection or Summary of Christian Doctrine is called by St. Paul Rom. 6.17 That Form of Doctrine which was deliver'd to the Christians that is that Summary of Christian Doctrine to the Belief and Practice of which they were deliver'd up and solemnly Consecrated in their Baptism And the same is call'd 2 Tim. 1.13 The Form of sound words which was heard of the Apostle himself and we are commanded to hold it fast that is to take care not to depart from it in any part thereof And as we must not shrink from the Confession and Belief of any one of those Articles which have been Handed down to us from the Apostles in that Summary or Form of sound words which makes up the Body of our Christian Faith so we must content our selves with the Belief of All those saving Truths and must not think there is any thing more to be Believ'd by our selves or others as necessary to Salvation But especially Such as tend to destroy a good Life and send us to other Mediators than Christ to Intercede with the Father for its Acceptance no Articles of Christian Faith we must take care of possessing our Minds with a Perswasion of the Truth of such Articles as do tend to destroy what the true Genuine Doctrines of Christianity viz. All the Articles of our Christian Faith do Build as do all or most at leastwise of the New Articles impos'd upon the Belief of Christians in the Romish Church Some of those Articles in the Romish Creed do plainly take away the necessity of a Good Life as might be easily made appear were it proper here to inlarge on that Point And other Doctrines of that Church do as apparently take Men off from depending solely upon the Mediation of Christ with his Father that he would graciously accept
appease his Neighbour and be reconciled to him for so our Saviour has ordered Matth. 5.23 before he offer his Prayer to God And he that has injured his Neighbour either by taking away his good Name by Slander or his Goods by wrong Dealing must take off the Slander and restore what he has unjustly got and so did good Zacheus upon his Repentance we find Luke 19.8 when he embraced the Gospel And so likewise towards the Reparation of God's Honour Of high Dishonor to God and Religion if that be not repair'd by an eminent Repentance I must needs add as a necessary part of Repentance that he who has formerly liv'd a very notorious and scandalously ill Life to the great Dishonour of God and Religion must now towards the Reparation of God's Honour be as famous for his eminent and exemplary Piety that his Repentance may be accepted a private Sorrow for publick Scandals falling vastly short of undoing what has been done amiss in which consists the restitutive part of Repentance The necessity of this we have exemplified in the case of the Woman who washed our Saviour's Feet with her Tears and wiped them with the Hair of her Head Luke 7.44 She had formerly it seems been a very vile Woman but the reason why her Sins which were many were forgiven is said by our Saviour to have been because she loved much vers 47. And thus if we do repent our Sins shall not be imputed to us but through the Merits of Christ's Death and the Grace of the Gospel they shall be looked upon as if they had never been And thus I have shewed you that other great Difference betwixt that Obedience required now under the Covenant of Grace and the Obedience required by the First Covenant That whereas the Obedience required by the First was a Perfect Exact Vnsinning Obedience the never Offending at all Now not only our involuntary Sins and Infirmities but also our most voluntary and wilful Transgressions when by Repentance we bewail and forsake 'em and take better care to avoid 'em for the future they also through the Mediation of Christ according to the Terms he has obtain'd for us in the Covenant of Grace shall be forgiven us and not prejudice our being Inheritors of the Kingdom of Heaven And upon the whole I have now shewed you The summ of Evangelical Obedience as to all that Obedience required now under the Gospel to make us Inheritors of the Kingdom of Heaven that there is not required indeed a Perfect Exact Unsinning Obedience the never offending in any one part which was the indispensible Condition of the First Covenant but there must be a Sincere and Entire Obedience paid to all the Laws of the Gospel Sincere it must be by being a true and undissembled Service Obeying 'em not only because most for our Health and Interest as generally the Laws of Religion are but even where they are contrary to our Inclinations and Interest because God commands us And Entire it must be by being the Obedience of the whole Man of our Understanding our Wills our Affections and our Actions to the whole Law of God and that at all times And this if we endeavour the best we can to do that our unwilling and involuntary Failings which through Ignorance and Frailty we commit shall upon our Prayers to God be forgiven us and that our wilful Transgressions when we repent of and forsake 'em through the Mediation of Christ and the Grace of the Gospel shall not be imputed to our Condemnation The summ also thereof according to Dr. Hammond In a word That Obedience to speak also in the Words of the Learned Dr. Hammond which is the Condition of the Second Covenant and of our being made Inheritors of the Kingdom of Heaven Negatively it is not a Perfect Exact Unsinning Obedience the never offending at all in any kind of Sin this is the Condition of the First Covenant Nor secondly is it never to have committed any deliberate Sin in the former Course of our Lives Nor thirdly never to have gone on or continued in any habitual or customary Sin for the time past But it is positively the New Creature or Renew'd Sincere Honest Faithful Obedience to the whole Gospel giving up the whole Heart unto Christ the performing of that which God enables us to perform and bewailing our Infirmities and Frailties and Sins both of the past and present Life and beseeching God's Pardon in Christ for all such and sincerely labouring to Mortify every Sin and to perform an uniform Obedience to God and from every Fall rising again by Repentance And thus if we Obey God's Holy Will and Commandments and Walk in the same all the Days of our Life we shall not fail to be Inheritors of the Kingdom of Heaven And thus I have fully Explain'd to you all the Conditions of the Covenant of Grace both on God's Part and on ours both what it is to be a Member c. which are the Mercies and Favours made over to us therein on God's Part and what it is to Renounce the Devil c. which are the Conditions to be perform'd on ours My next Task must be and then I shall give you a full account of all that pertains to the Nature and Substance of the Covenant of Grace to shew you what a happy State of Salvation this is to be in such a Gracious Covenant with GOD By whose Mediation we obtain'd it By whom and how we are called into it And lastly what infinite Thanks we owe to God for Calling us into this State of Salvation All which Points we have taught us in these Words And I thank God our Heavenly Father that he hath called me to this State of Salvation through Jesus Christ our Saviour THE XXIV Lecture And I heartily thank our Heavenly Father that he hath called me to this State of Salvation through Iesus Christ our Saviour I Have already in order to a full Explication of all that pertains to the Nature of the Covenant of Grace given you an account of the Terms and Conditions of it both on God's part and on ours as they are laid down and taught you in your Church-Catechism The invaluable Priviledges on God's part made over to you therein as you are taught in your Catechism and I have explain'd 'em to you are first That you are therein made Members of Christ secondly Children of God and thirdly Inheritors of the Kingdom of Heaven And those Conditions to be performed by us our part of the Covenant are That we should first Renounce the Devil and all his Works the Pomps and Vanities of this wicked World and all the sinful Lusts of the Flesh Secondly That we should believe all the Articles of the Christian Faith And Thirdly That we should keep God's Holy Will and Commandments and walk in the same all the days of our Life And what each several Article in this your gracious Covenant doth mean and import
Parent that Pious Care will be there taken much more may it where both are Christians So that the Children of such Parents as are both of 'em Christians must have an undeniable Right to be Baptized into the Covenant of Grace This remarkable Scripture does indeed to any unprejudic'd Mind if put into its true Light sufficiently prove it to be the peculiar Priviledge of Christians Children to be took into Covenant with God however the most prejudic'd cannot deny but that from hence it does appear they have some Priviledge more than ordinary above the Children of meer Heathens And that this is their Priviledge that they may be Confederated with God in Baptism even in their very Infancy I will farther prove from these following Arguments and by proceeding gradually by these several Steps shewing May be prov'd also from several other Topicks I. That Infants were Initiated by Circumcision into that Evangelical Covenant made with Abraham II. That they were Initiated both by Circumcision and Baptism into that legal one deliver'd by Moses III. That it was without all doubt the Intention of our Saviour that under the Gospel likewise they should be Baptized into the Covenant of Grace IV. That agreeably to the Mind of their Master the Baptizing of 'em into it was in all probability practic'd by the Apostles of Christ V. That it is very agreeable to the Ends and Reason of Baptism and the Nature of the Covenant of Grace that they should be Baptized into it And VI. And Lastly That it is a Happy a mighty Advantage for those Infants that have been at that Age Baptized into it All which particulars when I shall have made out more perhaps may be but I do not know any thing farther that need be said to Justifie Infant Baptism And 1. Because Infants were Initiated by Circumcision into the Evangelical Covenant made with Abraham I. I am to shew you that Infants were Initiated by Circumcision into that Evangelical Covenant made with Abraham I do call the Covenant God made with Abraham Gen. 17. wherein the Almighty promis'd to be a God unto him and his Seed after him ver 7. and that in his Seed all the Nations of the Earth should be Blessed And Abraham on the other side Believing God was to leave his Father's House and Country and Kindred and their Idolatry Gen. 12.1 2 3. I do call this I say an Evangelical Covenant having the Authority of an Apostle for it who tells us it was Confirmed before of God in Christ and distinguishes it from that Covenant deliver'd by Moses Gal. 3.17 The Covenant made with Abraham the same in Substance with the 2 made with Adam It was indeed the same Covenant of Grace and in something a clearer Edition of it that was made with Adam soon after his Fall wherein God vouchsafed to restore him to a State of Salvation in that Promise of the Seed of the Woman that is the Messiah which should bruise the Serpent's head that is the Devil It was the same Covenant of Grace I say and exprest indeed in something clearer Terms than at first in that Promise to Adam for still the nearer the Son of Righteousness did approach with healing under his wings the more full were the manifestations he was pleas'd to make of this Salvation and the Methods of it And it contained under these Words And the same in a more imperfect Edition of it with that made with Christ And in thy Seed shall all Families of the Earth be blessed Gen. 12.3 All the Gospel-Promises of Pardon Justification and Happiness couched more darkly than afterwards they were revealed in the Gospel for by the Messiah's conferring of these things as has appeared since the preaching of the Gospel Abraham and we and all his Spiritual Seed are blessed And it had the same Conditions on the performance of which these Promises did depend viz. Faith for Abraham believed in the Lord and it was accounted unto him for Righteousness Gen. 15.6 And lastly Circumcision the Seal of this Covenant is call'd the Seal of the Righteousness of Faith Rom. 4.11 that is the Seal of that Covenant whose Condition is such a Righteousness as proceeds from Faith which is the very Condition of the Gospel-Covenant All which do manifestly shew that the Covenant made with Abraham was that very Evangelical Gospel-Covenant revealed afterwards more fully in the Gospel it self and which was establish'd by the Mediation of Christ betwixt God and us And now that Infants even at eight Days old were to be initiated into this Covenant by Circumcision is to be seen Gen. 17.11 12. And ye shall circumcise the Flesh of your Fore-skin and it shall be a Token of the Covenant betwixt me and you and he that is eight days old shall be circumcised amongst you Nay and so indispensable was this Circumcision even at eight days old that it is declared Verse 14. that the uncircumcised Male-Child whose Flesh of his Fore-skin is not circumcised that that Soul should be cut off from his People he hath broken his Covenant So that I think it is plain that as the Covenant made with Abraham was no other than the Evangelical Covenant in a more imperfect Edition of it so Infants were of necessity under the greatest Penalties of being debarr'd all benefits from it to be initiated into it by the outward Rite and Seal of Circumcision And now this I take to be a very good Argument to justifie nay to necessitate the Baptizing of Infants now under the more compleat and perfect manifestation of the Covenant of Grace For why should any one imagine if it were no unreasonable thing for Children of eight days old to be initiated into it then by an outward Right or Ceremony why I say should any one think it should be so now Nor is it at all material that then it was by Circumcision now by Baptism for both of 'em are equally outward Rites and Seals of the same Covenant which Rite of Circumcision God was pleas'd to change for that of Baptism only because this latter would be more agreeable to both Jews and Gentiles As he was cut off from the Covenant who was not circumcised so that Person is to be excluded the Church who is not baptized design'd now to be took into the Covenant of Grace and who for the most part would not have endured Circumcision which was abominable and a matter of Derision to the greatest part of the Heathen World And was it then declar'd Gen 17.14 that the uncircumcis'd Man-child whose Flesh of his Fore-skin was not circumcised that that Soul should be cut off from his People as one that had broken his Covenant and may it not be thought now a Matter of indispensable Duty and Necessity to baptize Children into the Covenant and a thing extremely dangerous and prejudicial to their Happiness to deny it ' em I am sure it is not for want of Scripture-Evidence that we should not
baptiz'd First On the account of enjoying thereby such inestimable Privileges 323 Secondly On account of their being engag'd thereby so early in the Service of God 324 LECT XXXI I. The Importance of the Terms Godfathers and Godmothers II. The Nature of their Office 327 First It is not only as a Proxy to speak for the Child in Baptism But it imports withal a Security given to God and his Church that the Child shall be instructed in his Baptismal Covenant 328 Secondly It is the Office of these Sureties to admonish the Child to live according to his Baptismal Engagements Thirdly And to take care that at Years of Discretion the Child should take his Vow upon himself before the Bishop in Confirmation 329 III. The Reason the Church has to require Sureties It is for the better Order and Decency of the Administration that some should be the Mouth of the Child 330 It is of concernment to the Church that Security be given that every one who is admitted a Member into it should live to the Reputation and Interest of it This is what Societies whose Honour and Interest is of infinite less consequence do daily require 331 That of Parents not sufficient without Collateral Security The requiring of this as reasonable now as in the Primitive Times This Charge no unreasonable Imposition at any time being little more than what is requir'd from one Christian to another in common Charity at all times 332 LECT XXXII IV. A further Justification of the use of Godfathers and Godmothers It is a sufficient Justification of any Ecclesiastical Institution that it be reasonable tho' not supported by any express Scripture 1. The sole Authority whereon to ground the Belief of the Mysteries of Religion must be Divine Revelation 2. Both Faith and Practice as to the Articles of Natural Religion and Moral Duties grounded both upon the Word of God and right Reason 335 3. Religious Rites and Ceremonies left to the Reason and Discretion of Church-Governours to appoint 336 I. That Christ gave Commission to the Governors of the Church to institute such Vsages as shall be for Decency and Order and the better Edification of the Souls of Men prov'd from Scripture This allow'd to the Governors of the Jewish Church 337 The same Power continu'd to those also who preside in the Christian 339 To whose Ordinances the People are commanded to submit 339 Decency and Order in all Ages of the Church not otherwise to be provided for II. The Appointment of Godfathers and Godmothers a most useful Institution to the foresaid Purposes of Decency Order and Edification First If we consider the Nature of their Office 340 Secondly Those good Effects of it 341 Which good Effects would be much greater were the choice of Godfathers and Godmothers made according to the Canons of the Church The Conclusion 342 FINIS THE XXVIII Lecture Rehearse the Articles of thy Belief HAving heretofore Explain'd the General Nature of the Covenant of Grace as it is taught in the Four first Questions and Answers of the Catechism I come now to declare unto you in a more particular manner the Terms and Conditions of the same Covenant Of which Conditions this is one That we Believe all the Articles of our Christian Faith What these Articles are you are here commanded to Rehearse and to give an Account of them whenever you are thereunto call'd And to open the meaning thereof there are Two Things requisite to be made clear to you 1. What is meant by the Articles of our Belief 2. What is the Importance of this Word Rehearse Rehearse the Articles of thy Belief What meant by the Articles of our Belief First Our Belief we call that whole Collection and Sum of Christian Doctrines and Truths which has been ever accounted by the Church of Christ necessary to be believed by every Christian in order to his Salvation And the Articles of our Belief are every particular Truth contain'd in this general Summ Collection or Body of Christian Doctrines This Abridgment and Summ The Creed wherefore entituled to the Apostles is generally call'd the Apostles Creed The Word Creed comes from the Latin Word Credo to Believe and this is so called because it is a Body of Truths necessary to be Believed It is call'd the Apostles Creed either 1st because it was compil'd by the Apostles themselves Or 2dly because it contains the Substance of the Apostles Doctrine gathered into one Abridgment which was dispersedly delivered in their Writings 1. Because testify'd by the Ancients to have been written by the Apostles And first there wants not sufficient Testimony from the Writings both of the Greek and Latin Fathers that the Creed was compil'd by the Apostles themselves But it is not so proper considering to whom I speak to insist upon this kind of Testimony the Proofs of this Nature being to be brought from Authors whose very Names are unknown to you And indeed my whole Design in this Exposition being to deliver to you the plainest Truths and to give you for the same only Scriptural Proofs I shall wave the first Reason of the Belief 's being call'd the Apostles Creed and shall proceed to the 2. Because it contains the Substance of the Apostles Doctrine Second which is this That it is therefore so call'd because it contains the Substance of the Apostles Doctrine gathered into one short Abridgment which was dispersedly delivered in their Writings and which alone is enough to give it the Title of the Apostles Creed In the Holy Scriptures and Writings of the Apostles we have Doctrines of divers kinds intermingled and interspersed one amongst another Sometimes we meet with Matters of Faith propos'd as necessary to be believ'd by us and sometimes Duties both to God and Man necessary to be practised Sometimes we have Considerations serving as means to direct us and sometimes as motives to perswade us to do our Duty And this being so it is not every Christian that has either leisure or skill of himself to sort these several kind of Doctrines asunder much less to distinguish between many Matters of Faith which are Fundamental and chiefly necessary to be believ'd and other Points which are only wholsome Truths but not of principal consequence to be explicitly and expresly assented to and confess'd And now as God himself for the Ease and Benefit of his Worshippers did collect the Summ of Religious Duties into Tââ Commandments which contain the principal and to which all Inferiour Duties may be reduc'd And as our Blessed Saviour gave us a short Form of Prayer containing all things fit for us to ask or God to grant so did the Apostles themselves collect together into one Abridgment and Summ all those principal Points of Faith which are mainly necessary and of greatest consequence to be believ'd and upon all occasions openly confess'd by every one that calls himself a Christian And it was this Abridgment or Summ as is highly probable and as
therefore no Man that owns himself a Christian ought to be silent when the Creed is rehearsed in Divine Service but every particular Person ought to signifie his firm Belief and Assent to the same by openly and solemnly rehearsing it together with Christ's Ministers I say by openly and solemnly rehearsing it for because that this Body of Christian Truths ought in the most open and solemn manner to be confess'd our Church has appointed that the Creed should not only be rehears'd and pronounc'd by every particular Member of the Congregation so often as it occurs in Divine Service but also that it should be done standing In the Creed Libertas Ecclesiast p. 458 we do professedly says the Learned Faulkner acknowledge the Three Persons in the Glorious Trinity to be the only true God and our only Lord and a standing posture well becometh a Servant in his professed owning and attending upon his Master We openly declare every one for himself in the Words I believe the Ground of our Christian Hope and Comfort that in believing in the Father who made the World and in the Son who Died and Rose again Ascended and shall judge all Men and in the Holy Ghost that we have Expectation in the Church of God and the Communion of Saints of obtaining Forgiveness of Sins a Resurrection and Everlasting Life and do also acknowledge all these Articles of the Christian Faith And a standing Gesture is very suitable to any solemn Declaration of our Minds in Matters of moment and concernment And as the open Profession of Faith includeth a stedfast Resolution to continue firm in the Acknowledgment of the Christian Doctrine this in particular is so properly signified by the standing Gesture that standing to a thing Deut. 25.28 and in several other Scriptures signifies an asserting and professing a thing with Resolution so that you ought both openly with an audible Voice to Rehearse your Belief after the Minister in Divine Service And to signifie your stedfast Resolution to stick to your Faith and to remain unshaken in such your Belief you ought to stand up when you so Rehearse and Profess it 3. But yet farther 3. It may remotely imply God's Command to all Christians to confess him upon other occasions This Word Rehearse may be interpreted remotely to imply that other great Christian Duty which may lye upon you and that is frankly and openly to own the Belief and Perswasion of any or all these Christian Truths when at any time there shall be occasion given for such a Declaration tho' it may be to the hazard of your Lives and the loss of Goods Livelihood or all that is dear to you or tho' you shall suffer the utmost Scorn and the Reproaches of profane and wicked Men for such your Belief and Confession And the two great Occasions for such a Declaration are when the Superiour Powers shall demand it in order to persecute you for the same or when through a general Indifference to Religion impious and wicked Men do take courage to run it down and that the more for the Cowardice of the Orthodox Professors of it as if afraid or asham'd to own it But upon both these or on any other occasion you must be ready always to give an Answer to every Man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear 1 Pet. 3.15 First Now as to the first of these Occasions the Primitive Christians were often put upon this Duty of openly and publickly Confessing their Faith when such a Confession was certain to bring upon them the severest Torments that the Malice of Men or Devils could inflict For the then Princes of the World were Pagans and Worshippers of false Gods who would often force the Christians either to Renounce their Belief in the one True God the God of Israel and in Christ his only Begotten Son or they would tear their Flesh with burning Pincers would throw 'em to be devoured by wild Beasts rend their Limbs asunder on Racks and put 'em to infinite other Tortures But such was the Constancy of those Christians that they would not through Fear dissemble their Faith but would openly before the Heathen Tribunals declare their Belief of the True God and of Jesus Christ his only Begotten Son And this their Declaration of their Christian Faith in the Language of the Scripture and of the Ancient Church was call'd a Confessing of Christ and the Persons that did so were intituled with the Glorious Name of Confessors And thus to confess Christ by openly declaring your Belief in Him and in God the Father and God the Holy Ghost and likewise your Belief in any other the Articles of the Christian Faith whatever should be the danger in so doing is expresly made your Duty Rom. 10.9.10 and has Salvation promis'd as the Reward of it If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead thou shalt be saved for with the heart man believeth unto Righteousness and with the mouth confession is made unto Salvation Where you see that an open Confession and Profession of your Faith with the Mouth is made as necessary to Salvation as to Believe it in the heart Secondly A second Occasion for a frank and open owning of the Great Truths of Christianity is when through a general Indifference to Religion impious and wicked Men do take Courage to run it down and that the more for the Cowardice of the Orthodox Professors of it as if afraid or asham'd to own it God be praised it is not now made by the Powers that are above us in this Nation a Matter worthy of Death or of Sufferings for any to own himself an Orthodox Believer yet so many are the profane and ungodly Persons the Men of no Religion abroad in the World that they will scoff at those who seem to believe and dare to own the Principles of Christianity And so few are those who have the Courage to stand up in Vindication of the Truth the Generality of Lay-Christians Gallio like seeming to care for none of these things and thinking it only the Clergy's Business to contend earnestly for the Faith that the Adversaries to Religion are mightily embolden'd thereby to bear it down deriding all serious Christians and true Believers as a Company of credulous and easie People and applauding themselves as the only Men of Reason and Free because Licentious Thinkers But now whenever it shall be the Lot of any of you to fall amongst such who will scoff at you for believing and professing that you believe the Articles of the Faith you must boldly oppose 'em and let 'em know that you are not afraid nor asham'd of the Gospel of Christ nor to own your selves Christians Rom. 1.16 And you must not through Fear Bashfulness or Cowardice dissemble such your Faith lest God if you deny or dissemble your owning of him here should
deny in the World to come his knowing of or having any thing to do with you as he declares he will Matth. 10.33 You see in Matth. 26.70 how Peter being asham'd of his persecuted Lord and Master and afraid for himself did deny his Saviour But withal you see how severely he smarted for it for being prick'd at the heart with an extreme remorse of Conscience for such a base piece of Cowardice he went out and wept bitterly v. 75. And it was well he did or else he had perish'd everlastingly So that to conclude you must not only rehearse that is give an Account of the Christian Faith to us the Ministers of Religion and pronounce it amongst those who are Friends to it in the House of God but upon all just occasions you must elsewhere even in the Face of its greatest Enemies openly declare and profess your Belief of those great Christian Truths and that when you are sure to suffer the severest Persecutions and Reproaches for so doing This last I must confess is not so directly the meaning of the Word Rehearse in this place But if ever there were occasion to extend the Importance of it to such a Sense it is now when the Confidence of Infidels in professing their impious Principles and the Cowardice of Believers in Confessing the True Articles of their Christian Faith is so extremely and on both sides so shamefully great And thus I have given you the utmost that I conceive can be the Importance of these Words Rehearse the Articles of thy Belief which may serve as a Prefatory Discourse to the Exposition I design by God's Assistance to make you of the Creed upon the Explication of which I shall next enter THE XXIX Lecture I Believe COmmenting upon these Words Rehearse the Articles of thy Belief I have given you by way of Preface to the Exposition of the Creed it self an Account of its Authority how that it is a summary Abridgment of the Christian Doctrine collected as is highly probable by the Apostles themselves however undoubtedly containing the most weighty and essential Points of Apostolical Doctrine that are necessary to be Believ'd in order to Salvation And then as to the Importance of the Word Rehearse I have told you how necessary it is 1. that you should give a good Account to God's Ministers of what you Believe 2. That you ought openly and solemnly to pronounce your Belief every time you meet together to worship God in the Publick Assembly Nay and 3. That you must undauntedly confess and own all these Christian Truths before the Face of any Man though you should incur the greatest Danger of Life Livelihood or whatever is most dear to you or expose your selves to the Reproaches of wicked Men for so doing And having thus by way of Preface to the Creed it self spoken what I thought necessary to its Authority and the Confession you are to make of it I come now by God's Assistance to lay open before you the Meaning and Importance of every particular Truth therein contain'd And that which does first offer it self to our Consideration and will indeed require a very large and full Explication is the single Word Believe Every particular Article of the Creed and every single Truth as there are many contain'd in each Article is to be Believed by us It is therefore I presume very requisite that we should with all possible Clearness and Exactness explain the Nature of Faith and shew you what it is to Believe to your Soul's Health before we come to consider the several Truths that are to be Believed accordingly Faith and Belief are two Words that signifie the same thing Faith and Belief synonomous Terms and so indispensable a Condition of our Justification and Salvation it is to Believe that not to mention more Texts Rom. 3.28 It is said a Man is justify'd by Faith And Mark 16.16 we are told in plain and express Words that he who Believeth shall be saved but he that believeth not shall be damned You must not therefore think me tedious if in the Explication of this Point I shall be something large since to Believe is a thing which you are not only to do in reference to every particular Article of our Creed but that also as ever you will be justify'd and sav'd And for the more full Explication of this Point I will do these Three Things I. I will shew you in general what it is to Believe together with the Effects and Fruits of True Believing II. I will more particularly explain unto you the Nature of Justifying and Saving Faith And then III. By way of Inference I will lay before you wherein the Defect of several sorts of Faith does lie which we find by Scripture and Experience that many do rely upon but yet will by no means justifie and save ' em And 1. I am to shew you in general What it is to Believe And to Believe both in the proper and in the common Meaning of the Word is to give Credit to the Report of another Faith is founded upon a credible Testimony And herein it is distinguish'd from those other Acts of the Mind Opinion Experience and Knowledge that Opinion is when one varies in his Judgment being not without some doubt whether the thing may not be otherwise than he thinks Experience is when one's own Senses tell one it is so and so and Knowledge is when I gather from undoubted Causes and Reasons that the Effect is thus But Belief as it is more certain than Opinion so it is founded not upon my own Experience and Knowledge but upon the Authority of some one else who does relate the thing to me It is indeed thought by some that to Believe in the Language of the Scriptures which are the Words of plain Men spoke to the general Bulk of Mankind does many times signifie a full Perswasion of the Mind whether wrought within us by the Evidence of the Matter or by our own Sense or Experience or by some strong Argument and Reason as well as by some Credible Testimony and accordingly we Believe God's Being and Existence by the strongest Evidences of Reason but yet however tho' the Belief of God's Being be indeed a Knowledge that he Is a Knowledge I say that we have from several demonstrative Proofs and Reasons besides what we have from the Testimony that he Himself has given us of his own Existence yet as the Testimony that he has given us by Miracles Prophecies and his Providences are properly his Attestation to the Truth of the Article so it is the nearest and the plainest Proof thereof and that upon which the Faith of the far greatest part of Mankind who do not much employ their Reason to search after Truth is founded so that generally as well as properly speaking to Believe is to give Credit upon the Authority and Testimony of another that his Relation is true Human Faith upon Human Testimony And
an endless Life of Misery in another World This in few Words is the main scope and purport of those great and fundamental Truths of our Religion the Articles of our Christian Faith as they relate to the Method of Reconciliation betwixt God and Man And the same are every one of 'em the most powerful Motives to a Holy Life as shall be hereafter shewed 2. The most powerful Motives to a Holy Life And therefore to be undoubtedly perswaded of the infallible Truth and Certainty of these main Truths of Scripture must in a peculiar manner be incumbent upon us All Scripture is indeed given by Inspiration of God and is profitable for Doctrine for Reproof for Correction for Instruction in Righteousness that the Man of God may be perfect throughly furnished unto all good Works 2 Tim. 3.16.17 That is all the Parts of Scripture are more or less serviceable to our Salvation and therefore far indeed be it from a Christian to entertain in his Breast a doubt of the Truth of any thing which God has reveal'd in his Word However this undoubted Perswasion which is necessary to constitute a true Believer must in an especial manner be had of the most important Truths because more does depend upon our having a stedfast and unwavering Belief of them than of others The Belief of these is the very Foundation of the Christian Life and the distinguishing Character of a Disciple of Christ if therefore our Faith should stagger as to these upon every Temptation there will ensue a Fall if not a Falling away and a total Apostacy from the Christian Religion And therefore the Belief of these Articles concerning the Transaction between God the Father and God the Son with relation to Man is made the great Condition of Man's Salvation This is Life Eternal to know that is to Believe Thee the only true GOD and JESVS CHRIST whom thou hast sent Joh. 17.3 4. To Believe is to be perswaded of all Revealed Truths in such manner and with such Acts of the Mind as is agreeable to the Nature of those several Truths 1. It is firmly to assent with the Mind to all Scripture-Truths indifferently 4. And as to Believe is to be undoubtedly perswaded of the Infallible Truth and Certainty of Divine Revelations so in such a manner and with such Acts of the Mind as is agreeable to the Nature of those several Revealed Truths For why The Nature of those Things of whose Truth we are to be perswaded are very different and therefore it must needs be that the Acts of Mind which cannot but receive their stamp and modification from the Things Believed must with reference thereunto be accordingly various As 1. There are several Truths contained in the Scriptures especially of the Old Testament which however they concern'd the Jews whilst their Religion was in force are not of that great Concernment to us Christians And therefore the Belief or Perswasion that may suffice us to have in respect of these or the like which are not of great Importance is only a general firm Assent of the Understanding whereby we yeild that these things are certainly so as God has declar'd because he who alone is True has spoke it Rom. 3.4 And indeed to all Scripture-Revelations indifferently considered and of what kind soever they be we must yeild a firm Assent because of the Authority of God declaring 'em to us 2. It is to Consent with the Will to live agreeably to the Importance of practical Truths 2. But besides some things of lesser Moment there are several Doctrines of weighty Importance and Concernment to us Reveal'd in the Holy Writ concerning which it is not sufficient that we only Assent unto 'em with our Minds that they are true but it is moreover necessary to give us the Title of True Believers that in reference to such Concerning Truths we should withal give up the Consent of our Wills to live as is fit for Persons of such Perswasions Thus we are taught in the Gospel That God has sent unto us his Onely Begotten Son to declare on what Covenants and Conditions he will receive us to Mercy And that this same Jesus will hereafter come as a King in all Pomp and Glory to Judge both the Quick and the Dead to pass Sentence upon us either of Happiness or of Misery according as we have performed or not performed that gracious Covenant he has made with us These are some of those weighty and important Truths contained in the Scriptures and which in the Creed are particularly proposed to our Belief and these that we may be said to Believe and to be throughly perswaded of the Truth of 'em it is not sufficient that we barely Assent and yield that they are true but we must Consent with our whole Wills that we will live and act as those who are fully perswaded of such Truths That is if we are throughly perswaded that Jesus Christ by being Crucify'd Dead and Bury'd has purchas'd Pardon for none other but those who abandoning their evil Ways do in the sincerity of their Hearts endeavour to please him we shall consent to Obey God's Holy Will and Commandments and to walk in the same all the Days of our Life And again if we are undoubtedly perswaded that he will finally come to Judge both the Quick and the Dead according to their Works we shall heartily Consent to conform our selves in Thought Word and Deed to his Holy Will and Pleasure To be undoubtedly perswaded of such Truths as these which do so much concern us does almost inseparably carry in the Notion of it a Consent of the Will to live as may be expected from such as are perswaded of the Truth of such Things and a bare Assent of the Mind that those Things are so will not be enough to give a Man the Title of a True Believer To Believe indeed in Propriety and Strictness of Speech may seem to signifie an Act of the Intellect only assenting to the Truth of a Proposition But in the Scripture Believing is a more practical Word and includes a Compliance of the Will with such Practices and Courses as are consequent upon such Belief if hearty and sincere And this is that which the Apostle Rom. 10.9 10. calls a Believing with the Heart for with the Heart Man believeth unto Righteousness And this was the Faith of those mention'd Acts 11.21 of whom it is said That many Believed and turned unto the Lord Not to instance here in Abraham's Faith of which I shall speak hereafter So that in short the Scriptural Notion of Faith or Belief with respect to those Practical Truths revealed to us in the Gospel is nothing else but a true serious resolute embracing of Christianity not only a being perswaded that all the Doctrines of Christ are true but a consenting and submitting to his Will and Commands in all things It is a Receiving and Accepting of Him as our Prophet to Instruct
and Teach us and as our King to Govern and Order us in the whole course of our Lives as well as our Priest on whose Satisfaction and Intercession we are to Rely for our Acceptance with God which brings me to speak of Reliance a 3d Act of the Faith we are speaking of To proceed then 3. Farther yet there are very many of those Christian Truths 3s It is to Rely on Promissory Truths of whose Certainty we are to have a firm Belief and full Perswasion which carry in them the Nature of most precious Promises of excellent Benefits to be made good to us upon our Performance of such and such Conditions And with respect to these our Belief and Perswasion is not only to be a bare Assent of the Vnderstanding that those Promises are true nor yet a meer Consent of the Will only to Perform the Conditions upon which those Promises are made but there must be moreover a firm and steddy Reliance on God and our Saviour Jesus Christ an Affiance and Trust in Him that his Promises shall be made good to us on the Performance of the prescribed Conditions Such is the Belief of these Attributes of God His Goodness and his Mercy his Power and his Truth to Believe which is firmly to Relie upon him to help and reward us on the Performance of our Duty as being a God that is wonderfully willing and one that is equally able to do us good Such again is the Belief That Jesus is the Christ whom God the Father did send into the World to mediate a Reconciliation betwixt Himself and us and whom that there might be no Impediment on the score of the Divine Justice and Holiness to his Receiving so Rebellious a Race as Mankind into Favour again he therefore gave to offer Himself a Sacrifice a Propitiation and Atonement in our stead to Suffer under Pontius Pilate to be Crucify'd Dead and Buried that we might be redeem'd from Death Eternal To Believe which is to depend solely upon Christ's Merits and Intercession not on our own Righteousness that God the Father will upon our sincere Repentance receive us to Mercy tho' we have been the greatest Sinners And such lastly is the Belief of the Forgiveness of Sins of the Resurrection of the Body and of the Life Everlasting which are Promises of so many good things to us on condition we shall forsake our Sins and sincerely for the future obey the Gospel And to Believe these Articles is to have a steadfast Confidence in God that accordingly through Christ he will forgive us Raise up our Bodies from the Grave at the last Day and translate us into Joys everlasting if we shall repent and obey him We are not to Relie nor to depend upon God's Mercies in Christ Without our Repentance and new Obedience for this were not to Believe but to Presume upon Him for he never made any Promises no not through Christ of accepting us without our Amendment and Reformation but upon our Amendment and Reformation we may undoubtedly Relie upon him as one that is able and one that is willing to fulfil his Promises to us And this Reliance on the Promises of God is that Act of Faith which is called Rom. 4.20 a not staggering at the Promise of God through Vnbelief and v. 24. a Believing on God a Believing in Christ John 3.16 And such a Reliance and Dependance upon God the Father for Mercy through the Merits of Christ his Son appears in the Scriptures to be an Act of Faith more peculiarly well-pleasing and acceptable unto him in that it excludes Boasting which the Apostle makes very necessary to Justification Rom. 3.27 and expects all Good from God's free Mercy in Christ without any Reliance on the Merit of our own Performances The genuine Fruits and Effects of Believing are Victory over And thus having shew'd you in general What it is to Believe and in what Acts of the Mind it does consist it only remains in order to compleat this Account of the Nature of Faith which I have undertaken to give that I speak in a few Words of the Genuine Fruits and Effects of a True Christian Faith The Tree is best known by its Fruits and in like manner is Faith known by its Works as St. James tells us Chap. 2.18 And surely from what has been said it will easily appear to you that your Faith if it be compleat in all the Parts of it will undoubtedly produce a total Change in the Nature and Dispositions and Actions of that Person who does firmly Believe the Great Articles of his Christian Faith A steady Perswasion of such Concerning Truths will not sail in time to subdue all our Spiritual Enemies the World the Flesh and the Devil and all that mighty Host of Temptations they will bring against us to force or entice us from our Obedience to God I. As to the World particularly St. John does assure us 1 John 5.4 1. The World That whosoever is born of God overcometh the World and that this is the Victory that overcometh the World even our Faith Now to be Born of God is by the Quickning lively Spirit together with the Word of God to be renew'd and chang'd in our whole Nature Faculties and Dispositions so as to put off the Old Man with his Corruptions and Lusts and to put on the New Man which after God is created in Righteousness and true Holiness Ephes 4.22 23 24. And by the World is meant both the Things and the Persons of this World that would entice us into Sin The Things of this World are either Riches Honours and Pleasures and they are commonly call'd the Good Things of the World and these would withdraw us from our Duty to use unlawful means to compass 'em or they are the contrary to these viz. Poverty Disgrace and Afflictions which are usually stil'd the Evils of this World and would force us to sinful ways whereby to avoid ' em And the Persons that make up the Wicked World are those evil Men who by their Examples Society Flatteries Arguings Kindnesses or Promises or by their evil Customs would engage us in sinful Compliances The force of all these various Temptations from the World I have already laid before you and it is Faith we are here told in the Words of St. John now cited whereby he who is born of God will be able to overcome this World with all its Temptations An undoubted Perswasion rooted in the Mind of the Certainty of those Great and Powerful Truths of Christianity already mention'd will be able to pall and deaden our relish to these Pretended good Things of the World so that we shall not immoderately affect nor indulge our selves in the Enjoyment of 'em and the same full Perswasion also will most effectually baffle all the Insinuations of wicked Men lying in wait to deceive us Nor II. Will a thorough Perswasion of these great Practical Truths of Christianity 2. The Flesh
be less efficacious to the subduing the Temptations arising from the Flesh that is from our own Lusts and Appetites there being no Considerations of that force to oblige us to deny all Vngodliness and worldly Lusts and to live Soberly Righteously and Godly in this present World as all the Articles of our Creed particularly the looking for that blessed Hope and the glorious Appearing of the Great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ who gave Himself for us that he might Redeem us from all Iniquity and purifie to himself a peculiar People zealous of Good Works Tit. 2.12 13 14. A thorough Perswasion apply'd home to the Heart by serious Consideration that the Son of God did Himself descend from Heaven by wonderful and amazing Methods to rescue us from the Slavery of our brutish Lusts and Appetites and that he will again come in Glory to Judge and Reward us for the Victory we shall gain over 'em are enough to work upon all Reasonable and Thinking Creatures and nothing can prevail with us to abandon our Lusts if these will not And III. Lastly but above all 3. The Devââ the great Power and the glorious Effects of Faith are seen in the Victories it will enable us to obtain over that Great Adversary the Devil We had need to put on the whole Armour of God that we may be able to stand against the Wiles of the Devil For we wrestle not against Flesh and Blood a contemptible Enemy in comparison but against Principalities against Powers against the Rulers of the Darkness of this World against spiritual Wickedness in High Places Wherefore St. Paul does warn us to take unto us the whole Armour of God that we may be able to withstand in the evil day and having done all to stand But above all to take the Shield of Faith wherewith we shall be able to quench all the fiery Darts of the Devil Eph. 6.11 12. The Temptations and Assaults of the Devil which the Apostle does here so solemnly rouze us up to resist are I suppose the terrible Persecutions that Satan does in all Ages raise against one part or other of the Church and these tho' dreadful indeed and most likely to over-power us yet are conquerable by a firm Faith Looking unto Jesus the Author and Finisher of our Faith who for the Joy that was set before him endured the Cross despising the Shame and is set down on the Right hand of the Throne of God For if we consider him that endured such contradiction of Sinners against himself we shall not be weary nor faint in our Minds Heb. 12.2 3. So that in short the true and genuine Effects of Faith are constant and perpetual Victories against the World the Flesh and the Devil and an universal Obedience notwithstanding any of 'em to the Commands of God And therefore since so much depends upon a true Faith that he who believeth shall be saved Mark 16.16 And by the Grace of God we are saved through Faith Eph. 2.5 It does infinitely concern you to examine your selves whether ye be in the Faith and to prove your selves 2 Cor. 13.5 And the only way to prove the Sincerity of your Faith is by examining the fore-mention'd Fruits of it in your own Lives and Conversations and by seeing whether it produces a good Life For this we may assure our selves having the Authority of an Apostle for it Jam. 2.26 That as the Body without the Spirit is dead so Faith without Works is dead also So that except upon examination you shall find your spiritual Enemies in a great measure subdu'd and an Habit of Vertue rooted in your Souls your Faith is not sincere THE XXX Lecture I Believe HAving already explain'd and laid before you the Nature and Effects of Faith or Believing I might now proceed to the Consideration of those main Fundamental Doctrines of Christianity summ'd up in the Apostles Creed and which are to be Believ'd accordingly But since so great Weight is laid in the Covenant of Grace upon Faith that on Condition thereof we are said to be sav'd Sirs said the Keeper of the Prison to Paul and Silas What must I do to be saved And they said Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved and thy House Act. 16.30 31. since whosoever Believeth in Christ shall receive Remission of Sins c. 10 43. And which has most perplexed Persons Heads to understand the meaning of it and from the misunderstanding of which the most Fatal Errors have ensu'd since a Man is Justified by Faith without the Deeds of the Law Rom. 3.28 And being Justified by Faith we have Peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ Rom. 5.1 And lastly since a true state of this Doctrine of Justifying Faith will above any other single Doctrine excepting that of the Covenant of Grace let you into the full Understanding of the Nature Texture and Constitution of the Whole Christian Religion For all these Reasons I think I ought not to dismiss this Subject of Faith without giving you a State of the Doctrine of Justifying Faith and without distinguishing betwixt it and other sorts of Faith which will fail us in the great Business of Justification and Salvation And in order to the Explication of so considerable a Point I. I will give you to understand what is meant by Justification II. I will then shew by what sort of Faith we are accordingly Jânstified And III. And lastly in what sence we are said to be Justified by Faith without the Deeds of the Law And I. I will give you to understand what is meant by Justification Justification defin'd And Justification is God's Adjudging us through Christ as Just and Righteous according to the Terms of the Covenant of Grace and his acquitting of such from the Punishment of those Sins of which according to the Terms of the First Covenant there was no place for Pardon To make this Description more plain to you I will a little enlarge upon it and prove the several Parts thereof And 1. There are Just and Righteous Persons since the Fall First I say there are those who even in this lapsed and fallen state of Man have the Testimony of God Himself that they are Just and Righteous Men. Thus Abel obtained witness that he was Righteous God testifying of his Gifts Heb. 11.4 And Lot is also mention'd in Scripture as a Righteous Man 2 Pet. 2.8 And Joseph Simeon Cornelius and others are said in the Gospel to be Just Men and at the end of the World the Angels shall come forth and separate the Wicked from the Just Matth. 13.49 Which supposes that all those who shall be saved shall be Just and Righteous Persons 2. It is according to the Terms of the Gospel that any are such Secondly Those who are thus Just and Righteous are such according to the Terms of the Gospel Justice and Righteousness are to be measured according to some Rule in conformity to which
Righteousness consists Now this Rule of Righteousness according to which any Person living ever since the Fall may be termed Just and Righteous cannot be the Original Law made with Adam which requir'd a perfect exact unsinning Obedience a never offending in any one Point For if we were to have our Lives measur'd by such not only the Wise Man Eccles 7.20 telleth us That there is not a a Just Man upon Earth that doth good and sinneth not But St. Paul hath proved both Jews and Gentiles that they are all under sin and that there is none Righteous no not one Rom. 3.9 10. But our Comfort and Happiness is this That the First Covenant which exacted from us an unsinning Obedience The First Covenant now cancell'd is now cancell'd and we have been admitted in our Baptism into a Covenant of Grace wherein a hearty and sincere Conformity to the Terms of the Gospel that is a practical Believing of those Great Doctrines of Christianity summ'd up in our Creed A Covenant of Grace succeeds in its room Evangelical Righteousness measur'd by this last and a sincere Obedience proceeding from such a Faith to all the Laws of our Lord and Master Jesus Christ together with an unfeigned Repentance for such Failures in Faith and Practice as we have been guilty of shall be graciously accepted And this our Conformity to this Second Covenant is that which Rom. 3.22 is termed the Righteousness of God which is by Faith in Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that Believe And which Phil. 3.9 St. Paul in opposition to his own Righteousness which is of the Law does stile that which is through the Faith of Christ the Righteousness which is of God by Faith And the reason of its being call'd the Righteousness of Faith and the Righteousness through Faith of Jesus Christ is because such a Faith or through Perswasion of all those main Truths summ'd up in our Creed concerning the Methods of Reconciliation between God and Man and the Belief of such Motives to a holy Life as those great Truths are will produce such a Righteousness in us that is will make us sincerely and heartily to obey the Laws of the Gospel to repent us of all our Sins and to rely on Christ to accept such a Faith Obedience and Repentance And the reason the same Apostle opposes this to his own Righteousness which is of the Law is because of the manifest difference betwixt the Perfect Legal Righteousness exacted by the Law and this Evangelical accepted in the Gospel The Legal Righteousness Vid. Allen's Christ Justif stated as one Judiciously states this difference stood in a perfect and indefective Conformity to whatever God commands or the Law of Nature required of Man But the Evangelical Righteousness stands in a hearty and sincere Desire Resolution and Endeavour in a Man to conform to all that God requires in conjunction with Repentance for Defects and in Affiance of God's Mercy through Christ for Forgiveness So that though the Best Man living does not perhaps keep any one of God's Commandments in a Legal sence yet the meanest sincere Christian keeps 'em all in an Evangelical sence that is in sincerity of Resolution and Endeavour And in this sence Good Men are in Scripture said to keep God's Charge his Commandments his Statutes and his Laws As for instance it is said of Zacharias and his Wife Elizabeth that they were both Righteous before God walking in all the Commandments and Ordinances of the Lord blameless Luke 1.6 And therefore in the same sence that is according to the Terms of the Gospel not according to those of the Law either the Law of Nature according to the Exactness of which Adam in his state of Innocency was bound or the Laws of Moses by which the Jewish Nation were oblig'd to live I say according to the Terms of neither of these but according to the Conditions of the Gospel are all the Disciples of Christ to be accounted Righteous Thirdly 3. Justification is God's Adjudging those to be Righteous who have performed the Conditions of the Second Covenant And now Justification is God's Adjudging those to be thus Righteous who have performed the Conditions of the Second Covenant that is who have Believed practically Obey'd sincerely and Repented heartily To be Justified is not to be made Just and Righteous Persons are made so by Sanctification But in Justification they are approved of by God as such and adjudged to be so and this whoever considers the Scope of those Places of Scripture where this Word is us'd will find to be the Importance of it and that it is a Law-Term and almost always us'd in a Judicial sence and particularly that it is the Act of a Judge acquitting a Person from Guilt and Punishment in opposition to the condemning him in either In this sence it is us'd Prov. 17.15 He that Justifieth the Wicked and he that Condemneth the Just even they both are an Abomination to the Lord Where to Justifie the Wicked is to Acquit him of Fault or Guilt as on the contrary to Condemn the Just is to pass Sentence against him as a Wicked Person So in these Words Who shall lay any thing to the Charge of God's Elect It is God that Justifieth who is he that Condemneth That is Who shall produce any Accusation against those whom God hath approved of 'T is certain that God hath Acquitted them And according to this Sence of the Word we shall in abundance of places sind that good sincere and faithful Persons are said to be Justified that is Approved of by God as Just and Righteous or such as have performed their Covenant with him To this sence it is said Luke 18.11 that the Publican went down to his House Justified that is Approved of by God And to the same sence it is said James 2.24 That by Works a Man is Justified That is upon a conscientious Discharge of the Duties required of us in the Laws of the Gospel shall a Man be Approved of and Adjudged by God as a Just and Righteous Person But 4. That any are so Adjudjudged as Righteous it is thro' Jesus Christ Fourthly That any the most Righteous and Just Men are upon a practical Faith a sincere Obedience and an unseigned Repentance thus Approved and Adjudged by God as Just and Righteous Persons is through Jesus Christ or by virtue of his Mediation with the Father that we should be Accepted upon such Terms and that our Righteousness should be measured according to the Rules of the Gospel For Man having broke his Covenant with God and become so depraved in all the Faculties and Powers of his Nature that he could no longer live up to the strictness of it then did the Son of God mediate with the Father for a disannulling of all former Covenants impossible to be perform'd and for the substituting of a more gracious Covenant in their room For which reason it is said
the full meaning of Justification II. I am now to shew you by what Faith it is that we are accordingly Justify'd 2. By what Faith we are accordingly Justified By what has been said as it does appear that Justification is a Judicial Act of God Adjudging us as Just and Righteous according to the Terms and Conditions of the Second Covenant so likewise that Repentance and Obedience are no less necessary in the Gospel-Covenant than Faith it self is to render us Evangelically Just and Righteous and therefore when our Justification is by Scripture in so peculiar a manner attributed to Faith it cannot but be of mighty Importance rightly to understand what that Faith is by which we shall be approved by God as Just and Righteous And in order to this I must here premise That nothing is more usual in Scripture-Language than to attribute the whole Rewards of a Christian Life to any one of those Conditions of Christianity which by the great Influence they have upon other Parts of Religion may be said to imply all the rest Thus for instance the Mercy of God is promised to be from everlasting to everlasting upon them that Fear him Psal 103.17 The Reason is because Fear is such an active Principle in us that no one who really fears God but immediately seeks out all ways and betakes himself to all Courses to obtain his Favour So again Blessed is the Man that maketh the Lord his Trust Psal 40.4 The reason is because no Man can reasonably trust in God for the performance of his Promise but he must perform those Conditions upon which such Promises are made to him and the greater are his Hopes in God's Goodness and Truth for the making good his Promises the greater will be his Care and Diligence in such ways in which alone he can with reason Trust and Hope in Him And not to mention more even Life eternal is promis'd to the Knowledge of God and Jesus Christ This is Life eternal to Know Thee the only True God and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent John 3.17 And why shall the Knowledge of God entitle any one to eternal Life Shall this be exclusive of Repentance and Obedience No by no means but as productive of 'em and indeed including 'em for it cannot easily be imagin'd but that he who throughly knows the Nature and Attributes of God and the Wise and Great Methods he has taken to Recover Mankind from their lost State and to reconcile 'em to Himself by his Son it cannot easily be imagin'd I say but that lie who thoroughly knows these things must betake himself to such Courses as will Reconcile both himself to God and God to him And he who seriously considers what he thus knows will undoubtedly take this Care And now this being premis'd By a Faith that is perfect and compleat as to all those Acts before-mention'd the like Observation may be made of the Promises of Justification and Salvation made to Faith or Believing Rom. 5.1 Gal. 3.8 Eph. 2.8 and in many other places These great and precious Promises are made to Faith as productive of Repentance and Obedience and indeed as including them for in Jesus Christ or in the Christian Religion or under the Christian Dispensation nothing availeth any thing but Faith which worketh by Love or which is perfected by Love Gal. 5.6 So that the Faith or Belief by which alone we shall be Justified and Sav'd must be perfect and compleat as to all those Acts before mention'd that is it must be so through a Perswasion of the Infallible Truth and Certainty of whatever God has reveal'd to us in the Holy Scriptures as thereby we must not only Assent with our Minds that all these Great Things are true which are revealed to us in the Gospel and summ'd up in our Creed but we must also heartily yield up the Consent of our Wills of our Affections and of the whole Man to be Govern'd in our whole Life and Conversation by those Great Truths and Doctrines And farther yet it must be a firm and steddy Reliance upon God that all his precious Promises of Pardon and Happiness shall be fully made good to us through Christ's Mediation upon our performing of the Conditions on which such this Promises were made Such a Faith as this through the Mediation of Christ obtaining that Benefit of God for us shall be accepted so that they who do so Believe shall be justified and saved but that Faith which is short of this is but maimed and imperfect it is but either the Faith of Devils mentioned by St. James 2.19 or the Faith of Hypocrites or in some respects or other defective and so shall not avail us to Justification or Salvation And this will fully appear to us This exemplify'd in the Faith of Abraham who if we consider the Faith of Abraham what it was concerning which we find several times in Scripture as Rom. 4.22 Jam. 2.23 this Honourable mention That it was imputed to him for Righteousness For such as was Abraham's Faith the Father of us all Rom. 4.16 Such must be our Faith if we will be the Children of Abraham and be blessed with Faithful Abraham Gal. 3.7.9 And as to Abraham's Faith The first great Act of it we find mentioned in the Scripture 1. Consented to the most difficult Performances at God's Command was his readily leaving at God's Command his own Country and his Father's House and his going into a Country that God should shew him Gen. 12.1 2. Which ready Obedience to God's Command of leaving his own Country was so acceptable to God that Gen. 15.6 it is said That this Believing on the Lord was accounted to him for Righteousness And this teaches us that whenever God is pleased to lay upon us the hardest Conditions such as was Abraham's leaving his own Country and his Father's House we must not boggle thereat but immediately consent to set about the performance of them as we will approve our Faith to God and have it accepted by him to our Justification 2. Rely'd firmly upon God's Promises in full assurance of his Power and Goodness to perform ' em A second Act of that Faith which was imputed to Abraham for Righteousness was his steddy Reliance Trust and Confidence in the Promises of God of granting him a numerous Offspring even after that in all human appearance it was impossible for him and Sarah to have Children Yet he against Hope believed in Hope that be might become the Father of many Nations And being not weak in Faith he considered not his own Body now dead when he was about an hundred years old neither yet the deadness of Sarah 's Womb He stagger'd not at the Promise through Vnbelief but was strong in Faith giving Glory to God And being fully perswaded that what he promised he was able also to perform therefore it was imputed to him for Righteousness That is this steadfast Faith and Reliance of
his upon the Divine Promises was a sign of the good Opinion he had of God's Power and Fidelity and was therefore most graciously accepted by him Rom. 4.18 19 20 21 22. Now this as the Apostle goes on v. 23 24 25. was not written for his sake alone that it was imputed to him but for us also to whom it shall be imputed if we Believe on Him who raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead who was delivered for our Offences and was raised again for our Justification That is in this Act of Faith also in a steddy Reliance upon the Promises of God was Abraham a Pattern to us whereby we may see that if we distrust not his Power and Goodness in Matters of the greatest difficulty but firmly Relie upon him without Doubt or Dispute this will render us acceptable to him But especially it will be a most acceptable Act of Faith in us wholly to Relie upon his Promises in Christ who became a Sacrifice for our Sins that all our most heinous Offences will be pardon'd if we unfeignedly Repent and our imperfect Obedience will be eternally rewarded if it be but sincere in Testimony and Assurance of which Promises God has raised our Saviour from the dead And thus you plainly see what sort of Faith or Believing it is that must now Justifie and Save us It must not be only giving up the Assent of our Minds that all that God has spoken is true but we must with all our Hearts Consent to a sincere and faithful Obedience to all his Commands such as may be expected from those who are undoubtedly perswaded of the Truth of all the Articles of the Christian Faith which are every one of 'em Doctrines very apt to move us to Holy Living And moreover it must be a firm Reliance on God's Truth that all his Promises shall certainly be made good to us on Condition of our Performances Especially as the case now stands with us Christians it must be an Entire Dependance upon Christ that through his Mediation with the Father on our account we shall be Justify'd Pardon'd and Sav'd on Condition we perform the Covenant of Grace that is Believe and sincerely Obey the Commands of God given us in the Gospel Reliance upon God's Promises of Pardon to us through Christ an essential Act of Faith incumbent upon us as the case now stands with us Christians I say as the case now stands with us Christians for all Mankind by reason of Adam's and our own Transgressions were liable to the Wrath of God and had been condemn'd to eternal Destruction had not Jesus Christ interpos'd betwixt his Father and us and Mediated with him that we might have Pardon and Happiness on Condition we would turn from our evil Ways and sincerely Obey him for the future so that through the Blood of Jesus Christ it is that we have Redemption and the Forgiveness of Sins according to the Riches of his Grace Eph. 1.7 And as in him are given unto us exceeding great and precious Promises 2 Pet. 1.4 so all the Promises of God in him are Tea and in him Amen 2 Cor. 1.20 That is upon the account of Christ all his Promises of eternal Life and Happiness shall be certainly and infallibly made good to us on condition we forsake our Sins and obey him And yet when we have done all things which are commanded us we are to account our selves but unprofitable Servants having done no more than was our Duty to do Luke 17.10 And we cannot lay claim to those unspeakable Rewards laid up for his Obedient Servants meerly upon our own Deserts as if we had merited and deserved 'em but that no Flesh might Glory in his Presence it is Jesus Christ who is made unto us Wisdom and Righteousness and Sanctification and Redemption 1 Cor. 1.30 That is it is Jesus Christ who is the cause of our Justification and Sanctification and by the Merit of what he has done for us shall our imperfect Righteousness be so accepted of by God that we shall be unspeakably rewarded for it And if so if all our holy Performances shall be Accepted and Rewarded only through Christ it is on Him then and not on any thing that we have done our selves that we must depend and Relie for Pardon and Happiness For without his Merits to supply our Defects our best Performances will want Pardon and all that we can do will not merit nor deserve eternal Life and Glory Thus we must Believe that is Relie on Christ and we shall not perish but have everlasting Life John 3.16 And indeed this Reliance and Dependance upon God for Mercy Because it excludes Confidence in our own Merits and Boasting in our own Performances on the account of what Christ has Merited for us not on the account of any Deserts of our own appears in the Scriptures as I before said to be an Act of Faith more well-pleasing to God and acceptable unto him in that it excludes Boasting or Glorying in our own Righteousness which the Apostle makes very necessary to Justification Rom. 3. and expects the Reward meerly from God's Free Mercy in Christ without any Reliance upon our own Performances For as it is vers 23 24 25 26. All have sinned and come short of the Glory of God being Justified freely by his Grace through the Redemption that is in Christ Jesus whom God hath set forth to be a Propitiation through Faith in his Blood to declare his Rightoousness that he might be Just and the Justifier of Him that Believeth in Jesus Where is Boasting then It is excluded By what Law The Law of Works Nay but by the Law of Faith therefore we conclude a Man is Justify'd by Faith without the Deeds of the Law Which brings me III. To shew you in what sence we are said to be Justify'd by Faith 3. In what sence we are said by S. Paul to be Justified by Faith without the Deeds of the Law without the Deeds of the Law Both this Text of the Romans now mentioned and that Parallel place Gal. 2.16 seem to exclude Good Works from being at all necessary to our Justification And yet by what has been already said from St. Paul it does appear that Repentance and Obedience are Conditions equally requisite to our Justification with Faith Or when Faith alone is mentioned it is as including the other two and St. James also does most expresly assert that by Works a Man is Justified and not by Faith only Jam. 2.24 So that to clear the Holy Scripture from any Contradiction in this case it will be requisite to consider what St. Paul means by the Law and by the Deeds of the Law when he excludes either from having any thing to do in our Justification and what that Faith is upon which he does sometimes seem to lay the whole stress in that great Affair By Law in St. Pual's discourse with the Jews was meant both the Law of
of the Gospel proceeding from and produced by Faith or Works by which our Faith is demonstrated to be a true and real Faith c. 2.18 And the occasion of these Discourses of St. Paul and St. James was different which also was the reason they did so differently express themselves in this matter St. Paul had to deal with Jews Pharisees and false Teachers who pleaded the necessity of Observing the Law of Moses and also those Works and Deeds it prescrib'd which gave occasion to him to preach the Abrogation or Cancelling of that Law S. Paul having to deal with Pharisaical Jews boasting of their own Righteousness according to the Law and the substitution of the Gospel in its stead as a Rule of Righteousness the Believing of which in such a manner as has been spoke he declared would be sufficient through God's Mercy in Christ to their Justification And tho' he took all care that was requisite to prevent the misunderstanding of him as if a meer Opinionative Faith would serve the turn by assuring them at the same time he told 'em that in Christ neither Circumcision nor Vncircumcision would avail any thing yet that Faith which worketh by Love would Gal 5.6 That is that it must be such a Faith as must be made perfect by the addition of those Duties which we owe to God and our Neighbour yet Men of corrupt Minds reprebate concerning the Faith or void of Judgment concerning the Faith as St. Paul complains of some 2 Tim. 3.8 perverted his meaning in this his excellent Doctrine and turn'd all to this sence That a meer Assent of the Mind to the Truth of the Gospel tho' they were careless in the subduing of their Passions and bridling of their Tongues and regulating of their Actions S. James having to do with Solifidiant Libertines pleading their Faith separated from Gospel Righteousness was all that was necessary to their Justification And thereupon they thought themselves safe upon the Account of their Barren Faith though they were Proud and Conceited of their Knowledge and Attainments Censorious and Contentious Unmerciful and Uncharitable which Error concerning Faith prevailing much in those Early Times occasion'd St. James with a great deal of Earnestness to plead and to prove the Necessity of Good Works to our being justify'd before God And that neither Faith nor good Works alone but both jointly were the Condition now under the Gospel upon which we shall be justify'd and approved of by God as Just and Righteous Persons And he proves it by the Instance of Abraham's Faith Jam. 2.21 22 and 23. Was not Abraham our Father justify'd by Works when he had offer'd his Son Isaac upon the Altar See'st thou how Faith wrought with his Works and by Works his Faith was made perfect And the Scripture was fulfill'd which saith Abraham Believed God and it was imputed to him for Righteousness and he was called the Friend of God So that St. James's Doctrine of Justification is not a contradiction but a vindication of St. Paul's from the False Glosses of Solifidian Libertines And it were happy for these latter Ages if St. James's Doctrine concerning the necessary Conjunction of Faith and good Works to our Justification could have put a stop to Men's Mis-interpretations of the other Great Apostle in this Point But alas to the grievous Scandal of the Reformation too many amongst us have heretofore and do to this day earnestly contend for those Mistakes which our Adversaries make great Advantages of who greedily catching at any thing of Error profess'd by any Party of Men under the Denomination of Protestants are never backward to lay the Scandal of it to the whole Reformation to the very great hindrance of its Progress But above all the Mischief of this Opinion reacheth directly to the Destruction of Men's Souls whilst being deceiv'd in the Nature of Justifying Faith and thinking it to be a meer Assent of the Mind to the Great Truths of Christianity which is but the Act only of one Faculty of the Soul and not looking upon it as implying a Consent also of the Will to act agreeably to the Nature of such practical Truths they do most fatally presume themselves to be Christians indeed and such as shall be saved by Christ tho' their Lives declare them to be far from being New Creatures from being renewed in the Spirit of their Minds as those are who have been taught as the Truth is in Jesus Eph. 4 21 23. And therefore since so much depends upon a right Understanding of this great Doctrine of Justifying Faith it will not appear to you to be without Reason that I have been so large in the Explication thereof In speaking to which having 1. shew'd you in general what it is to Believe together with the Effects and Fruits of True Believing and 2. having more particularly explain'd unto you the Nature of Justifying and Saving Faith 3. Now it remains only that by way of Inference I should lay before you 3. The several sorts of Defective Faith mention'd in Scripture wherein the defect of several sorts of Faith does lie which we find both by Scripture and Experience that many do relie upon but yet will by no means justifie and save ' em And from what has been said it does appear that the Faith which will not Justifie and Save us must be some way or other defective and lame as to those several Acts which I have shew'd must go to compleat the Nature of Justifying Faith And there are several sorts of Believers we find mention made of in the Scripture which fall short of having that Faith which will alone Justifie and Save us And 1. We have the Faith of Devils mention'd Jam. 2.19 1. The Faith of Devils which is no more than a bare Assent of the Mind that there is a God One who is Merciful to them that serve Him but terrible in Judgment to those who disobey Him and the like of the other Articles Thou Believest there is one God thou dost well the Devils also Believe and tremble But wilt thou know O vain Man that Faith without Works is dead Jam. 2.19 20. The Devils though they do Believe and are throughly perswaded and do know that there is a God infinitely Merciful Just and Holy who cannot endure Iniquity nor Sin yet out of Enmity to Him or because they will not conform themselves to that Holy Being which they so much hate or because no Promise is made to them of Pardon and Happiness that should encourage them to Repent of their Apostacy from God and to conform themselves to his Holy Laws whatever is the reason this is certain that they are utterly disobedient and though they do Believe yet because their Faith is only a meer Assent of the Mind to the Truths of Religion and does not render 'em Obedient their Believing therefore will avail 'em nothing to Pardon and Happiness 2. Another sort of Lame and Defective Faith
2. The faith without Works which we find mention made of in the Scriptures as that which will as little avail us as the former is a Dead Faith And this we are told in the same Scriptures what it is that it is also a bare Assent of the Mind only which does not stir up the Will to chuse nor the Affections to delight in the Laws of God but is utterly barren and fruitless in Good Works Faith if it hath not Works is dead being alone Jam. 2.17 And so far is such a Faith as this which does not move and stir us up to Good Works from being acceptable to God to our Justification and Salvation that v. 19 20. it is compared to the Faith of Devils and is reckon'd no better 3. A little Faith and Faith which has not taken deep root in the Heart 3. Again We find mention in the Scriptures of a Little Faith Matth. 6.30 and of Faith that has not taken root Luke 8.13 Either of which is a Faith which will carry Men to something of Religious Performances but is not strong enough to bear 'em up under the Difficulties of Religion and through all the Temptations of the World the Flesh and the Devil Thus those who in the use of honest means cannot trust in God for the providing themselves of all things necessary for this Life but are full of carking Thoughts for the morrow that is for the future are upbraided by our Saviour Matth. 6.30 as Persons of Little Faith Why take you thought for Raiment If God so cloath the Grass of the Field which to day is and to morrow is cast into the Oven shall he not much more cloath you O ye of little Faith And those who when shockt with any Temptations do thereupon yield because their Faith hath taken no root they are compared to stony Ground of which it is said that when they hear they receive the Word with Joy but not having root these do but for a while Believe and in time of Temptation fall away Luke 8.13 4. Even the Faith of Miracles will prove insufficient to Justification if not accompany'd with Obedience 4. As to that which may be defective and fall short of a Justifying and Saving Faith this we are told even the Faith of Miracles will do if it be not accompany'd with Good Works This Miraculous Faith we find often mention'd in the Scriptures And it was a strong Perswasion wrought in the Party by the Spirit of God that by the Power and Authority of Jesus he should do such a Miracle beyond the Power of Nature to be perform'd as the casting out Devils by the Word of his Mouth But even this Faith of Miracles if it is not accompany'd with Good Works of which Charity and Love to one another is the chief will signifie nothing so says St. Paul 1 Cor. 13.2 Tho' I have all Faith so that I could remove Mountains and have no Charity I am nothing Especially accompany'd with Pride Many we are told Matth. 7. will presume much upon their excellent Gifts of Prophecying or Preaching fluently and of their Power even to cast out Devils but yet our Saviour protests he will not so much as know them if they have been wicked Livers if proud and full of themselves and contemptuous of others as Gifted Persons are apt to be Many will say unto me in that day Lord Lord have we not prophecy'd in thy Name and in thy Name cast out Devils and in thy Name done many wonderful Works And then will I profess unto them I never knew you depart from me ye that work Iniquity vers 22 23. No nothing he assures us will ever avail us to Happiness and Salvation less than such a Faith as will procure a sincere Obedience to his Holy Will and Commandments Not every one that saith unto me Lord Lord shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven but he that doth the Will af my Father which is in Heaven v. 21. 5. The Faith of Hypocrites Lastly Another sort of Faith which will not Justifie nor Save us may be stiled the Faith of Hypocrites and this is the Faith of such who expect to be Justified and Sav'd meerly for Believing or rather for Relying and Recumbing upon Christ without performing the other Conditions of Repentance and Obedience which are the necessary Effects or Ingredients rather of Justifying and Saving Faith and without which it is not our Believing alone which will at all avail us Of this sort were many among the Jews of old of whom the Prophets do often complain that looking upon themselves as a Chosen Nation as a peculiar People whom God had Elected out of all the Nations of the Earth to bestow his Favours upon Such was the Faith of many among the Jews presuming that they were a chosen People they would confidently lean and depend upon him that he would assuredly be their God and that they should be his People notwithstanding that they gave themselves up to work all Unrighteousness and were cruel Extortioners Oppressors and the like Thus Micah 3.9 11. They abhor Judgment and pervert Equity yet they will lean upon the Lord and say Is not the Lord among us None Evil can come upon us And Isaiah complains that tho' they would swear falsly by the Name of the Lord yet they had the Confidence to call themselves the Holy City and to stay themselves upon the God of Israel Isai 48.1 2. And there are too many also amongst us Christians And such is the Faith also of many Christians presuming likewise that they are the Elect. who confidently presuming that they are the Elect Children of GOD do undoubtedly hope for all that Pardon and Happiness which Christ with the Price of his most Precious BLOOD hoth obtained for us meerly upon the account of their firmly Believing that Christ hath done all for 'em and if they can but Believe this they fondly perswade themselves they shall certainly be Justify'd let them be never so Wicked and Disobedient to God's most Righteous Laws yea tho' they are Proud Boasters Covetous Envious and Bitter Revilers of those who are much better than themselves And in this their wholly depending upon Christ without any Good in themselves they think they shall most Honour Christ and set forth the Greatness of his Redemption of us whereas to preach the necessity of our own Righteousness tho' wrought by his Grace and accompany'd with many Defects were to teach Men to depend as they foolishly enough imagine not upon the Merits of Christ but their own Deserts which are none at all and so would derogate from and lessen the Grace of Christ and the Greatness of that Redemption he hath wrought for us And this sort of Faith or Dependence upon Christ alone as those before mention'd Micah 3.11 and Isai 48.1 2. So our Christian Hypocrites likewise call Leaning upon the Lord and casting themselves upon the God of Israel a
Leaning and Rolling themselves upon the Promises of Christ for Salvation But for any to expect to be Justify'd and Accepted by God without forsaking their evil Ways and without working out also their own Salvation with fear and trembling that is without being extreamly careful themselves to be Obedient to God's most Holy Laws is gross Hypocrisie and will miserably deceive us Hypocrisie is with vain Shews and Pretences to deceive our selves or others and to be only Hearers or Believers of the Word and not Doers is to deceive our selves St. James tells us 1. 22. And a greater than he even our Blessed Saviour himself hath assured us Mat. 7.21 That not everyone who saith unto him Lord Lord shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven but he that doth the Will of his Father which is in Heaven And as for the Pretence they have to live securely in unrepented Habits of Sin that the Grace and Mercy of Christ is more Magnify'd the greater Sinners they are I answer That the greater Sinners they have been the greater is the Mercy which Forgives 'em when they do repent according to that of the Apostle Rom. 5.20 21. Where Sin abounded Grace did much more abound that as Sin hath reigned unto Death even so might Grace reign through Jesus Christ our Lord. But to make the Magnifying of God's Grace a Reason for Security whilst Men continue in Sin this indeed was a false Conclusion that some in the First Times as well as now were apt to draw from St. Paul's Doctrine of Justification but which that Great Apostle rejected with the utmost Indignation and Abhorrence in the next Chapter v. 1 2. What shall we say then Shall we continue in Sin that Grace may abound God forbid How shall we that are dead to Sin live any longer therein No sure the Doctrine of Christianity tho' it lays aside the Original Law of Righteousness and the Law of Moses from being either of 'em a Rule of Righteousness in conforming to which we shall be Justify'd yet this Doctrine most strictly obliges us to a sincere Reformation from all former Sins and to a Newness of Life as the indispensible Condition of being Justify'd by God Nor is there the least occasion given us by this Doctrine to value our selves upon our own Righteous Performances when it is only of Grace that we are able to do any thing which is good and the Acceptance of the Good we do is owing to the Mediation of Christ who obtained such Gracious Terms and Conditions of Justification for us Which Considerations as I have already made appear do sufficiently shew that we are Justify'd freely by God's Grace in Christ and do exclude all Grounds and Occasion of Boasting A summary account of justifying Faith In a word and to conclude this whole Point the only Faith or Belief that will Justifie and Save us must be such a full Perswasion of the Truth of Christianity and all its Great Doctrines those I mean which are in a peculiar manner call'd the Articles of our Christian Faith it must be such a through Perswasion I say of those great and powerful Truths as will purifie us in Heart and Life and will effectually excite us to live up to the Rules of Christianity and make us sincerely and heartily to Obey God in all his most Holy and Righteous Laws And it must be such withal as will cause us to depend solely upon God's Mercies in Christ for the Acceptance of our imperfect Righteousness to our Justification And all those kinds of Faith call 'em what you will which are barren of unfruitful in Good Works or if they stir us up to encounter some Difficulties do not bear us up under all Temptations nor enable us to perform the more difficult Instances of Christian Duty and Obedience those which are most contrary to our Lusts and Interests as well as the more easie which are agreeable to our Profit or Pleasure The Faith that is not powerful enough to carry us through all Temptations is defective to the great Purposes of Justifying and Saving us The necessity of our often incalculating such a Faith And moreover I must acquaint you that the necessity of a working Faith to that end as it is the great Doctrine of Christianity so it ought to be throughly explain'd and often insisted upon by us Ministers of the Gospel for fear of People's Mistakes in this matter which will be most dangerous to their Souls And accordingly St. Paul lays a solemn Charge upon us Tit. 3.8 that we should in the same manner I have already done explain and inculcate the Doctrine of Faith unto you This is a faithful Saying and these things I will that thou affirm constantly that they which have Believed in God might be careful to maintain Good Works for these things or these Doctrines are profitable unto Men. THE XXXI Lecture I Believe in God the Father Almighty Maker of Heaven and Earth I Have already shew'd you what it is to Believe that our Faith must be such as rectifies and renews our Corrupt Nature as moves us to the performance of the most difficult Instances of Christian Duty and such as after all causes us to relie solely upon the Mercies of God in Christ for the Acceptance of our imperfect Obedience to our Justification And now by the Divine Assistance I shall proceed to explain unto you all those sacred Truths contain'd in your Creed which are of such mighty Importance And there are not a few such powerful and practical Truths imply'd in this one Article I Believe in God the Father Almighty Maker of Heaven and Earth Towards the full Explication of which that it may effectually work a blessed Change both in our Hearts and Lives I will do these Things I. I will in some measure declare unto you the Nature and Infinite Perfections of that Divine Being which we call God I Believe in God II. I will prove to you that this Infinitely perfect Being out of his Infinite Power Wisdom and Goodness made the Heaven and the Earth and all Things both Visible and Invisible therein contain'd Maker of Heaven and Earth III. I will explain and prove that this same God who made the Heaven and the Earth does now exercise a most Wise Just and Good Providence over it and every thing therein contain'd which is the Importance of the Word Almighty in this Article as shall be shew'd hereafter IV. I might here demonstrate to you that there is but one God for so the Nicene Creed which is but a Paraphrase upon this does teach us I Believe in one God And Lastly that in the Vnity of the Godhead there is a Trinity of Persons Father Son and Holy Ghost I Believe in God the Father And the other two Persons are also mention'd in their proper place But because I would be as little guilty as possible in this Exposition of repeating hereafter what I have said before I shall referr the Doctrine of
perswading themselves that a meer Assent of their minds to the Truth of these and other Evangelical Verities is the Faith to which the promised Justification and Salvation is made though it hath no such powerful operation upon their Wills as to make them new Creatures to make any thorow change in the temper of their Hearts and tenor of their Lives And many doubtless have been greatly strengthened in this delusive confidence by having been taught that Faith justifies without any VVorks at all And these again perswade themselves that they believe in Christ to the saving of their Souls because they rely on him alone for Salvation and upon what he hath done and suffered for them though they love their sins and live in them still Just like some Jews of old who though they were very bad in their Lives yet leaned upon the Lord and said is not the Lord among us None evil can come upon us Mich. 3.11 Isa 48.1 2 They leaned upon God's Promise of being their God as those do upon Christ's undertaking to be a Saviour although they overlooked the Condition to be performed by them in being a People unto him in loving and serving him as those Christians I speak of also do Though Christ alone is to be relyed on for Salvation as touching all that is proper to the Mediatory Office and VVork yet no Man is to rely on him so as to think he should excuse him if he do not Repent or be not Regenerate or as if he did Repent or were Regenerate for him If they do they promise themselves from him that which he never promised or undertook but hath told them plainly That except they themselves Repent they shall Perish and that except they themselves be Born again they cannot see the Kingdom of God 2 They deceive their own Hearts also in the nature of Repentance their Notion of it being one thing and the Scripture-Notion of it quite another So that tney perswade themselves they have Repented when indeed they have not They know and believe perhaps Repentance to be necessary to Salvation because Christ hath said that except ye repent ye shall all likewise perish But then they mistake in perswading themselves that they do repent because they are frequently sorry for what they have done tho' they cease not to do the same again Indeed when the pleasure of Sin is over and rebukes of Conscience come in the room of them these trouble their minds for what they have done which was the Repentance of Judas and there is no peace to the wicked who are like the troubled Sea Now this they count Repentance though it work no effectual and thorow change in Heart and Life but when that sad fit is over they appear to be the same Men they were before by returning to the same sins And herein the Romish Church hath most unhappily laid a Snare which as is to be feared catcheth multitudes of Souls to their Destruction in asserting Contrition yea Attrition with Confession to be Repentance sufficient to Salvation VVhereas sorrow alone though it be godly sorrow is not Repentance but as St. Paul saith Godly sorrow worketh Repentance 2 Cor. 7.10 But Repentance it self which is Saving consisteth chiefly in a real change in Mens apprehensions of and affections to both Sin and Duty and in ceasing to do evil and learning to do well Others again deceive themselves in taking a partial Reformation for true Repentance Because they have left some sins which they could best spare as blemishing their Reputation or impairing their Estates or their Health And because they have done many things which yet Herod also did Mar. 6. they think they have Repented and are Converted though they retain others which are more gainful or yield them more pleasure VVhereas the sincerity of Repentance can be nothing less then a hatred of and turning from sin as sin and so from all sin by diligent and careful endeavours 3. They deceive themselves by a false Notion of that Obedience which is necessary to Salvation They believe in the gross indeed that Obedience to the Commands of God to the Rules and Precepts of the Gospel is necessary to Salvation because the Scripture so plainly declareth it to be so But then they deceive their own Hearts in thinking and perswading themselves that they have performed this part of the Condition of the Promise when as they have not performed one half of it They have been it may be somewhat careful to be found in acts of External Worship and Devotion both publick and private and to keep themselves from Idolatry Swearing Cursing Sabbath-breaking Murder Adultery Stealing False-witness-bearing and the like in the outward and gross acts of them But all the while have made no conscience of governing their Thoughts Affections and Passions nor their Tongues neither as to many things And in all this wherein do they exceed the Pharisees whom if we exceed not in Righteousness Christ hath told us who best knows that we shall never enter into the Kingdom of Heaven Matth. 5.20 They were strict and zealous in the observation of the Laws for Circumcision Sacrifices Sabbaths Tythes and other positive Precepts and that to a tittle And Fasted often and made long Prayers and gave Alms and made Ostentation also that they were not as others were Extortioners Unjust Adutlerers nor as the Publicans And why would not all this bring them to Heaven Because all this notwithstanding as they had not Faith in Christ so they were Covetous Proud and Ambitious seeking Honour one of another contemning and despising others they were Envious and Malicious Cruel and Ill-natured Unmerciful and Persecuting such as faithfully reproved them They made clean the outside of the Cup and Platter and so far as they did so they did well But that for which Christ denounced Woe to them was that their inward part was full of ravening and wickedness and for want of love to God and of Judgment Mercy and Fidelity God is a Spirit and the Service that is acceptable to him as being most agreeable to his Nature is that which is done in Spirit and Truth And therefore his Precepts are given to govern the inward Man as well as the outward He that said Thou shalt not kill hath said also Thou shalt not hate thy Brother in thy heart nor be Angry with him without a cause or bear a grudge against him He that said Thou shalt not commit Adultery hath said also Thou shalt not lust after a Woman in thy heart And he that said Thou shalt not steal hath said also Thou shalt not covet and the like And therefore they that think themselves to be Obedient Children to God upon account of their abstaining from outward gross Sins and of being outwardly Righteous and do not truly endeavour and make a business of it to mortifie and subdue their Pride Covetousness love of the World Envy Hatred Malice thoughts of Revenge the unruliness of Passions and all