contrary Life And so they are joyned together Acts III. 19. Repent and turn about Or as we render it be converted And Acts XXVI Repent and turn to God And sometimes turning about is put alone to signifie Repentance Mat. XIII 15. Luke XXII 32. Which in other words is well expressed by Newness of Life For it being certain that he who is really sorry for his sins and abhors them will turn from them and forsake them Either of these Acts which have so Natural a connexion one with the other may be and is often put for both together Repentance is an hearty sorrow for our past misdeeds and a sincere Resolution and Endeavour to the utmost of our power to conform all our Actions to the Law of God So that Repentance does not consist in one single Act of sorrow though that being the first and leading Act gives denomination to the whole But in doing works meet for Repentance in a sincere Obedience to the Law of Christ the remainder of our Lives This was called for by Iohn the Baptist the Preacher of Repentance Mat. III. 8. Bring forth fruits meet for Repentance And by St. Paul here Acts XXVI 20. Repent and turn to God and do works meet for Repentance There are works to follow belonging to Repentance as well as sorrow for what is past These two Faith and Repentance i. e. believing Jesus to be the Messiah and a good Life are the indispensible Conditions of the New Covenant The Reasonableness or rather Necessity of which as the only Conditions required in the Covenant of Grace to be performed by all those who would obtain Eternal Life that we may the better comprehend we must a little look back to what was said in the beginning Adam being the Son of God and so St. Luke calls him Chap. III. 38. had this part also of the Likeness and Image of his Father viz. That he was Immortal But Adam transgressing the Command given him by his Heavenly Father incurred the Penalty forfeited that state of Immortality and became Mortal After this Adam begot Children But they were in his own likeness after his own image Mortal like their Father God nevertheless out of his Infinite Mercy willing to bestow Eternal Life on Mortal Men sends Jesus Christ into the World Who being conceived in the Womb of a Virgin that had not known Man by the immediate Power of God was properly the Son of God According to what the Angel declared to his Mother Luke I. 30-35 The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee and the Power of the Highest shall over shadow thee Therefore also that Holy Thing which shall be born of thee shall be called THE SON OF GOD. So that being the Son of God he was like his Father Immortal As he tells us Iohn V. 26. As the Father hath life in himself so hath be given to the Son to have life in himself And that Immortality is a part of that Image wherein these who were the immediate Sons of God so as to have no other Father were made like their Father appears probable not only from the places in Genesis concerning Adam above taken notice of but seems to me also to be intimated in some Expressions concerning Iesus the Son of God In the New Testament Col. I. 15. He is called the Image of the invivisible God Invisible seems put in to obviate any gross Imagination that he as Images use to do represented God in any corporeal or visible Resemblance And there is farther subjoyned to lead us into the meaning of it The First-born of every Creature Which is farther explained v. 18. Where he is termed The First-born from the dead Thereby making out and shewing himself to be the Image of the Invisible God That Death hath no power over him But being the Son of God and not having forfeited that Son-ship by any Trangression was the Heir of Eternal Life As Adam should have been had he continued in his filial Duty In the same sense the Apostle seems to use the word Image in other places viz. Rom. VIII 29. Whom he did foreknow he also did predestinate to be conformed to the Image of his Son that he might be the first-born among many Brethren This Image to which they were conformed seems to be Immortality and Eternal Life For 't is remarkable that in both these places St. Paul speaks of the Resurrection And that Christ was The First-born among many Brethren He being by Birth the Son of God and the others only by Adoption as we see in this same Chapter v. 15-17 Ye have received the Spirit of Adoption whereby we cry Abba Father The Spirit it self bearing witness with our Spirits that we are the Children of God And if Children then Heirs And Ioynt-Heirs with Christ If so be that we suffer with him that we may also be glorified together And hence we see that our Saviour vouchsafes to call those who at the Day of Judgment are through him entring into Eternal Life his Brethren Mat. XXV 40. In as much as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my Brethren And may we not in this find a reason why God so frequently in the New Testament and so seldom if at all in the Old is mentioned under the single Title of THE FATHER And therefore our Saviour says Mat. XI No man knoweth the Father save the Son and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him God has now a Son again in the World the First-born of many Brethren who all now by the Spirit of Adoption can say Abba Father And we by Adoption being for his sake made his Brethren and the Sons of God come to share in that Inheritance which was his Natural Right he being by Birth the Son of God Which Inheritance is Eternal Life And again v. 23. We groan within our selves waiting for the Adoption to wit the Redemption of our Body Whereby is plainly meant the change of these frail Mortal Bodies into the Spiritual Immortal Bodies at the Resurrection When this Mortal shall have put on Immortality 1 Cor. XV. 54. Which in that Chapter v. 42-44 he farther expresses thus So also is the Resurrection of the dead It is sown in Corruption it is raised in Incorruption It is sown in dishonour it is raised in Glory It is sown in Weakness it is raised in Power It is sown a Natural Body it is raised a Spiritual Body c. To which he subjoyns v. 49. As we have born the Image of the Earthy i. e. As we have been Mortal like Earthy Adam our Father from whom we are descended when he was turned out of Paradise We shall also bear the Image of the Heavenly Into whose Sonship and Inheritance being adopted we shall at the Resurrection receive that Adoption we expect Even the Redemption of our Bodies And after his Image which is the Image of the Father become Immortal Hear what he says himself Luke XX. 35 36. They who shall be
Law are a Law unto themselves Which shew the work of the Law written in their hearts their Consciences also bearing witness and amongst one another their thoughts accusing or excusing By which and other places in the following Chapter 't is plain that under the Law of Works is comprehended also the Law of Nature knowable by Reason as well as the Law given by Moses For says St. Paul Rom. III. 9. 23. we have proved both Iews and Gentiles that they are all under sin For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God Which they could not do without a Law Nay whatever God requires any where to be done without making any allowance for Faith that is a part of the Law of Works So the forbidding Adam to eat of the Tree of Knowledge was part of the Law of Works Only we must take notice here That some of God's Positive Commands being for peculiar Ends and suited to particular Circumstances of Times Places and Persons have a limited and only temporary Obligation by vertue of God's positive Injunction such as was that part of Moses's Law which concerned the outward Worship or Political Constitution of the Jews and is called the Ceremonial and Judaical Law in contradistinction to the Moral part of it Which being conformable to the Eternal Law of Right is of Eternal Obligation and therefore remains in force still under the Gospel nor is abrogated by the Law of Faith as St. Paul found some ready to infer Rom. III. 31. Do we then make void the Law through Faith God forbid yea we establish the Law Nor can it be otherwise For were there no Law of Works there could be no Law of Faith For there could be no need of Faith which should be counted to men for Righteousness if there were no Law to be the Rule and Measure of Righteousness which men failed in their Obedience to Where there is no Law there is no Sin all are Righteous equally with or without Faith The Rule therefore of Right is the same that ever it was the Obligation to observe it is also the same The difference between the Law of Works and the Law of Faith is only this that the Law of Works makes no allowance for failing on any occasion Those that obey are Righteous those that in any part disobey are unrighteous and must not expect Life the Reward of Righteousness But by the Law of Faith Faith is allowed to supply the defect of full Obedience and so the Believers are admitted to Life and Immortality as if they were Righteous Only here we must take notice that when St. Paul says that the Gospel establishes the Law he means the Moral part of the Law of Moses For that he could not mean the Ceremonial or Political part of it is evident by what I quoted out of him just now where he says The Gentiles that do by nature the things contained in the Law their Consciences bearing witness For the Gentiles neither did nor thought of the Judaical or Ceremonial Institutions of Moses 't was only the Moral part their Consciences were concerned in As for the rest St. Paul tells the Galatians Cap. IV. they are not under that part of the Law which v. 3. he calls Elements of the World and v. 9. weak and beggarly elements And our Saviour himself in his Gospel-Sermon on the Mount tells them Mat. V. 17. That whatever they might think he was not come to dissolve the Law but to make it more full and strict For that that is meant by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is evident from the following part of that Chapter where he gives the Precepts in a stricter sense than they were received in before But they are all Precepts of the Moral Law which he reinforces What should become of the Ritual Law he tells the Woman of Samaria in these words Iohn IV. 21. 23. The hour cometh when you shall neither in this Mountain nor yet at Jerusalem worship the Father But the true Worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth for the Father seeketh such to worship him Thus then as to the Law in short The Civil and Ritual part of the Law delivered by Moses obliges not Christians though to the Jews it were a part of the Law of Works it being a part of the Law of Nature that man ought to obey every Positive Law of God whenever he shall please to make any such addition to the Law of his Nature But the Moral part of Moses's Law or the Moral Law which is every where the same the Eternal Rule of Right obliges Christians and all men every where and is to all men the standing Law of Works But Christian Believers have the Priviledge to be under the Law of Faith too which is that Law whereby God Justifies a man for Believing though by his Works he be not Just or Righteous i. e. though he came short of Perfect Obedience to the Law of Works God alone does or can Justifie or make Just those who by their Works are not so Which he doth by counting their Faith for Righteousness i. e. for a compleat performance of the Law Rom. IV. 3. Abraham believed God and it was counted to him for righteousness v. 5. To him that believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly his faith is counted for righteousness v. 6. Even as David also describeth the blessedness of the man unto whom God imputeth righteousness without works i. e. without a full measure of Works which is exact Obedience v. 7. Saying Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven and whose sins are covered v. 8. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin This Faith for which God justified Abraham what was it It was the believing God when he engaged his Promise in the Covenant he made with him This will be plain to any one who considers these places together Gen. XV. 6. He believed in the Lord or believed the Lord. For that the Hebrew Phrase believing in signifies no more but believing is plain from St. Paul's citation of this place Rom. IV. 3. where he repeats it thus Abraham believed God which he thus explains v. 18-22 who against hope believed in hope that he might become the Father of many Nations According to that which was spoken so shall thy seed be And being not weak in faith he considered not his own body now dead when he was about an hundred years old nor yet the deadness of Sarah's womb 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 also able to perform And therefore it was imputed to him for righteousness By which it is clear that the Faith which God counted to Abraham for Righteousness was nothing but a firm belief of what God declared to him and a steadfast relying on him for the accomplishment of what he had promised Now this says
Brethren ye have done it unto me Then shall he say unto them on the left hand Depart from me ye Cursed into everlasting Fire prepared for the Devil and his Angels For I was an hungred and ye gave me no meat I was thirsty and ye gave me no drink I was a stranger and ye took me not in Naked and ye cloathed me not Sick and in prison and ye visited me not In so much that ye did it not to one of these ye did it not to me And these shall go into Everlasting Punishment But the Righteous into Life Eternal These I think are all the places where our Saviour mentions the last Judgment or describes his way of Proceeding in that Great Day Wherein as we have observed it is remarkable that every where the Sentence follows doing or not doing without any mention of believing or not believing Not that any to whom the Gospel hath been Preached shall be Saved without believing Iesus to be the Messiah For all being Sinners and Transgressors of the Law and so unjust are all liable to Condemnation unless they believe and so through Grace are justified by God for this Faith which shall be accounted to them for Righteousness But the rest wanting this Cover this allowance for their Transgressions must answer for all their Actions And being found Transgressors of the Law shall by the Letter and Sanction of that Law be Condemned for not having paid a full Obedience to that Law And not for want of Faith That is not the Guilt on which the Punishment is laid though it be the want of Faith which lays open their Guilt uncovered And exposes them to the Sentence of the Law against all that are Unrighteous The common Objection here is If all Sinners shall be Condemned but such as have a gracious allowance made them And so are justified by God for believing Iesus to be the Messiah and so taking him for their King whom they are resolved to obey to the utmost of their Power What shall become of all Mankind who lived before our Saviour's time Who never heard of his Name And consequently could not believe in him To this the Answer is so obvious and natural that one would wonder how any reasonable Man should think it worth the urging No body was or can be required to believe what was never proposed to him to believe Before the Fulness of time which God from the Council of his own Wisdom had appointed to send his Son in He had at several times and in rent Manners promised to the People of Israel an extraordinary Person to come Who raised from amongst themselves should be their Ruler and Deliverer The time And other Circumstances of his Birth Life and Person he had in sundry Prophesies so particularly described and so plainly foretold that He was well known and expected by the Jews under the Name of the Messiah or Anointed given him in some of these Prophesies All then that was required before his appearing in the World was to believe what God had revealed And to rely with a full assurance on God for the performance of his Promise And to believe that in due time he would send them the Messiah this anointed King this promised Saviour and Deliverer according to his Word This Faith in the promises of God This relying and acquiescing in his Word and Faithfulness The Almighty takes well at our hands as a great mark of homage paid by us poor frail Creatures to his Goodness and Truth as well as to his Power and Wisdom And accepts it as an acknowledgment of his peculiar Providence and Benignity to us And therefore our Saviour tells us Iohn XII 44. He that believes on me believes not on me But on him that sent me The works of Nature shew his Wisdom and Power But 't is his peculiar Care of Mankind most eminently discovered in his Promises to them that shews his Bounty and Goodness And consequently engages their Hearts in Love and Affection to him This oblation of an Heart fixed with dependance and affection on him is the most acceptable Tribute we can pay him the foundation of true Devotion and Life of all Religion What a value he puts on this depending on his Word and resting satisfied in his Promises We have an Example in Abraham whose Faith Was counted to him for Righteousness As we have before remarked out of Rom. IV. And his relying firmly on the Promise of God without any doubt of its performance gave him the Name of the Father of the Faithful And gained him so much favour with the Almighty that he was called the Friend of God The Highest and most Glorious Title can be bestowed on a Creature The thing promised was no more but a Son by his Wife Sarah and a numerous Posterity by him which should possess the Land of Canaan These were but Temporal Blessings And except the Birth of a Son very remote Such as he should never live to see nor in his own Person have the benefit of But because he questioned not the Performance of it But rested fully satisfied in the Goodness Truth and Faithfulness of God who had promised it was counted to him for Righteousness Let us see how St. Paul expresses it Rom. IV. 18-22 Who against hope believed in hope that he might become the Father of many Nations According to that which was spoken so shall thy Seed be And being not weak in his Faith he considered not his own Body now dead when he was above an hundred years old Neither yet the deadness of Sarah 's Womb. 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 to perform And THEREFORE it was imputed to him for Righteousness St. Paul having here Emphatically described the strength and firmness of Abraham's Faith informs us That he thereby gave glory to God And therefore it was accounted to him for Righteousness This is the way that God deals with poor frail Mortals He is graciously pleased to take it well of them And give it the place of Righteousness and a kind of merit in his sight If they believe his Promises and have a steadfast relying on his veracity and goodness St. Paul Heb. XI 6. tells us Without Faith it is impossible to please God But at the same time tells us what Faith that is For says he He that cometh to God must believe that he is And that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him He must be perswaded of God's Mercy and good Will to those who seek to obey him And rest assured of his rewarding those who rely on him for whatever either by the light of Nature or particular Promises he has revealed to them of his tender Mercies and taught them to expect from his Bounty This description of Faith that we might not mistake what he means by that Faith without which we