Faith without Works according to St. Paul. Considered as a Reward so it is bestowed upon none but the truly penitent obedient regenerate merciful lovers of God and his Saints and such as by godly Sincerity and heavenly Righteousness through Grace difference themselves from the ungodly and impenitent World and all such do evangelically merit Justification before God for Christ's sake And thus from first to last we are justified before God by Works and not by Faith only according to St. James According to legal merit God deals with all the Devils and Damned he renders to them according to their Deeds exacts from them the last Mite and shews them no Mercy According to Evangelical Merit he deals with the Mâ—â—hood of Christ and with all elect Angels and Men. This kind of Merit is the Image of that transcendent Worth and Merit which is in God the more we have of it we are the more like to God and abound in loving serving and praising God saying Not unto us O Lord not unto us but unto thy Name be all the Glory The more we do for thee the more we are beholden to thee for of thine own it is that we give thee God rewards his own Grace and Righteousness in his Saints and renders to them according to their Deeds CHAP. VII Of Satisfaction for Sin. 1. LEgal Satisfaction for Sin is that of the Devils and Damned who suffer eternally of due desert and thereby make legal compleat Satisfaction and Amends to God for all their own Sins to the last mite God considered as Lawgiver hath no pleasure in the death of the wiched but that he turn from his way and live But if he shall in no instant turn then God considered as the Righteous Judg of all the World hath perfect pleasure in his eternal Damnation as adequate legal Compensation and Amends for his Wickedness in no instant truly turned from Evangelical Satisfaction for Sin is that of all the Elect in Christ by Faith they through his Grace with godly Sorrow unsin and undo all their Sins give Glory to God by a face confession of them with grief hatred and shame execute holy Revenge upon themselves humbly beg pardon freely forgive others renounce all legal Merit lay hold upon the Promise of Eternal Mercy in Christ become new Men sincerely obedient to God and his Glory in the World. Thus doing they please and satisfy God evangelically and render themselves truly worthy in a Gospel-sense of pardon of Sin Justification and Life eternal as promised by God and parchased by Christ and prepared for them before the Foundation of the World. 2. God can in no instant pardon and save Persons in their Sins without Heavenly Repentance and he cannot but pardon and save all those who do in any instant by his Grace and free Gift in Christ though Faith sincerely turn from all their Sins to God and become new Men. And yet he faveth the Penitent and damneth the Impenitent freely and willingly and not against his Will. Like as God is necessarily holy just and good yet freely so 3. Evangelical Repentance considered as evangelical is not Punishment but Priviledg and the sweetest Mercy a Sinner can possibly partake of as being Rep 〈…〉 unto Salvation never to be repented of it is a divine and heavenly thing and the Image of God as he is the perfect hater of all Sin and the just and merciful Avenger of it by renewed Conscience his Aâ—ent in the Breast of Penitent Souls Evangelical Repentance considered as Repeatance is proper Punishment as consisting in penitential Remorse Shame Sorrow Contrition Self-loathing and a sort of Revenge 2 Cor. 7.11 None of this should have been if Sin had not been and all this is irksom and painful to Nature and all pain in a large sense is proper Punishment Therefore Repentance is fitly called Poenitentia importing pain smart and penance for Sin. 4. The Debt which we as Men owe to God is sinless Obedience The Debt which we as Sinners owe to God is Heavenly Repentance and in default thereof Eternal Damnation This Debt Christ neither did nor could pay for neither can a sinless Person repent nor can he suffer eternally All the Elect in Christ through Faith do in their own Persons pay the Debt of Gospel-Repentance and so evangelically punish themselves prevent eternall Punishment save God the labour and obtain perfect and free Remission for Christ's sake and evangelically fulfil the Divine Law Rom. 8.4 But the Impenitent by holding fast their Sins do render them unpardonable and their case incurable Where publick Confassion of Sin is necessary by Divine Law there no Law of Man can dispense with it Where it is not necessary by divine Law there it may not be exacted nor Money by way of Commutation the taking of Money in such case is unrighteous gain 5. Christ was made Sin and a Curse for us he bore our Sins in his own Body upon the Tree and God laid upon him the Iniquities of us all but so that he was altogether sinless God could not hate him nor be displeased with him nor repute him a Sinner nor impute Sin to him nor lay upon him more than Corporal and Temporal Punishment in order to his own eternal Exaltation and Glory at God's Right-hand The Pain endured by him did differ in kind from the Pain of damned Men in Hell and from the Pain of guilty Persons on Earth and was no degree thereof For both these do suffer deservedly for their own Sins but Christ being sinless could not deserve to suffer Indeed his Persecuters and Murderers did repute him a Sinner and imputed grievous Sin to him and God did unsearchably permit their Sin but he did no way will and approve it The Soul of Christ was full of sinless Sorrow and his Body was full of Pain and yet it was all but bodily Suffering his Body being dead his Suffering was at an end The Body by it self cannot suffer at all cannot feel Pain the Soul of Christ being sinless could not suffer spiritually but his Soul suffered in and by his Body in respect of his Body he was crucified and died More than Corporal and Temporal Punishment needed not for all the finally impenitent do against their will satisfy for all their own Sins legally and all the truly penitent do through Faith satisfy God evangelically and obtain perfect Pardon and Salvation as purchased for them through the Corporal and Temporal Suffering of God the Son incarnate crucified in respect of his Body CHAP. VIII Of Faith. 1. FAith as opposed to Sight is the way to Faith as opposed to Deceit As Faith is opposed to Sight so there is no Faith in Heaven there they see face to face As Faith is opposed to Deceit so there is no perfect Faith but in Heaven In Men ungodly is no degree of Heavenly Faith In all godly Men there is a degree of it in some more in some less but short of Perfection in all God
yet not contrary thereto Things related are simul naturâ intrinsecally together not in Place outwardly but in Truth and Reality inwardly above both Time and Place Only this is to be noted that though the Manhood of Christ be sole Supream under God over all both Angels and Men as he is exalted at God's right Hand yet only elect Angels and Men be his Loyal and Obedient Subjects There are who hold some things necessary to the Integrity of the Sacrament but not to its Essence as breaking the Bread. But the Scripture hath no such distinction and indeed it is repugnant to the Nature of God who is an infinite Essence and in him is infinite Integrity Therefore there cannot possibly be Essence and not Integrity Therefore breaking the Bread is to be reckoned among those things which are not intrinsecally necessary to the Being and Integrity of the Lord's Supper As to which the general rule is to observe the way and custom of the Church where a Man shall come and abide But as to the Cup no power on Earth may deprive the People of it CHAP. XIV Of Divine Worship and Idolatry 1. THat there is a God and that he is to be worshipped as God is indelebly written in the Heart of every Man for every Man is either Godly or Ungodly To be Godly is to be a worshipper of God in Spirit and Truth To be Ungodly is to have an inward Sense and Conviction that there is a God and not to worship and glorify him as God. 2. The true God is God the Father not incarnate God the Son incarnate God the Holy Ghost not incarnate the Saviour of all Men specially of them that believe Any other God is an Idol and not the true God. To worship this true God is penitently to confess our Sins to call upon His Name and pray unto him for spiritual and corporal Blessings to give him Thanks for his Mercies to swear by his Name to vow and covenant our Souls to him to believe his Holy Word to trust in him for Life Eternal to walk as in his Sight and Presence to esteem him incomparably Excellent to prefer his Favour Honour and Glory and the doing of his Will before our Life and Friends and Estate and all worldly and temporal Things to have clean Hearts and pure Consciences and in all things to make it our chief care and business to please him and to obtain eternal Reward and Blessedness by righteous sober and godly Conversation In the Worship of God the Soul is Principal and the Body is Instrumental and the same thing is essentially both Act and Object For there cannot be the right Worship of God without Self-denial according to that of the Psalmist Not unto us O Lord not unto us but unto thy Name be all the Glory For of Him and through Him and to Him are all things Psal 115. 1. Rom. 11.36 Now Self-denial is both Act and Object Accordingly in all Idolatry the Soul is Principal and the Body is Instrumental and the same thing is both Act and Object For in every Idolater there is regnant Self-esteem Self-will Self-love and Self-confidence repugnant to heavenly Self-denial and Holy Trust in God. The Idolater putteth trust in his own Heart that tho he give the Glory due to God in Christ only to another tho he worship God in and by meer Creatures and not in and by Christ only yet he shall be saved and God will accept him This is Self-delusion and false Trust and Self-delusion and Self-confidence is both Act and Object 3. An Idol is nothing in the World 1 Cor. 8.4 That is as I conceive set aside the inward ungodly Lust and false Belief which is in Man's Heart and there is no such thing as an Idol nor can be Every Creature of God is Good Man is a special Creature of God and therefore must needs be specially Good. The Goodness of Man consists in the inward Rectitude of his Mind and hevenly dependence upon god and Resignation to his Will and trust in him for Life eternal When contrary-wise Man refuseth to be guided by God as to Life eternal and putteth trust in his own Heart and not in God for Life eternal and loveth himself rather than God now Man comes to have Idols in his Heart and committeth spiritual Whoredom and Adultery Some make the Belly their God some Idolize Money some worldly Glory some Beauty some Learning some their Errours some Angels and departed Saints some Images These are various ways of Idolatry but still it is the mind within as ungodly which makes the Idol and all Idolatry whatsoever is a transcendent Vice the worship of a false God and is repugnant to Holy Belief in God. As God is not two a material God and a formal God So Idolatry is not two material and formal but all Idolatry is a breach of the first Commandment and repugnant to godly Sincerity No Man doth or can in the commission of Idolatry intend to commit it but really he doth commit it he doth that which by the Divine Law is Idolatry The commission of Idolatry and intention to commit it differ specifically and cannot possibly concur in one and the fame indivisible Act as one and the same indivisible Act cannot possibly be two Acts. 4. The substance of Divine Worship is unalterably fixed by God and all addition to it and all diminution from it is Idolatry a Deifying of Man's Understanding and Will and setting it above the Understanding and Will of God. But there are many things respecting the outward Mode and Order of God's Worship about which the Scripture gives only general Rules the fitting whereof to particular Cases is left to Man's Wisdom and Discretion dependently upon God as Judg of all the World. Touching the substance of God's Worship nothing is a Duty but what hath a Divine Command and plain Warrant in God's Word Touching Things in themselves indifferent and variable nothing is sinful but what is plainly forbidden by God what is not forbidden is of it self Lawful 5. Religiously to invocate Angels and departed Saints is very Idolatry but bare desiring their Prayers I conceive is not Idolatry Superstition it is vain and erroneous Desire it is but tho all Idolatry be Superstition yet all Superstition and vain Desire is not Idolatry But if Superstition reign then it is Idolatry before God tho not before Men. And then doth Superstition and Errour reign when Persons lay their Salvation on it and trust in their Errour for Life Eternal Bare desiring the Prayer of Angels and departed Saints is not Prayer and Invocation in the strict sense and therefore I conceive it is not Idolatry Tho all Prayer be Desire yet all Desire is not Prayer in the strict sense Bare desiring the Prayer of Angels and departed Saints doth suppose them to know what indeed they do not know and so it is erroneous and vain Desire but it doth not necessarily suppose them to be simply
without all new Act Motion Change and Transition in God unsearchably 3. God is and was and is to come Rev. 1.4 8. He is truly past truly present and truly to come and yet the same God but not in the same respects God as past is neither present nor to come God as present is neither past nor to come God as to come is neither past nor present God is essentially and yet freely related to all both Angels and Men as their Creator Upholder and Governour for ever this Relation was from Eternity future and it remains to Eternity by the free Pleasure of God. Between God and damned Men as Men there is eternal Relation as between Cause and Effect Between God and damned Men as damned there is no Relation at all but perfect and eternal Contrariety he is for ever blessed they are for ever cursed they do implacably hate him and he doth implacably hate them But he doth not hate them as they are Men For as Men they are eternally against their will the Work and Image of God who can in no instant hate his own Work and Image as such Against their will God doth lord and rule over them by Conscience his Agent in their Bosom and in them the Glory of his just Vengeance and Severity for Sin doth eternally shine forth and against their will they fulfil the divine Law by bearing its utmost Penalty 4. God as our Creator is the way to himself as our Redeemer our Sanctifier our Blessedness and End our All in all For unless we were by Creation Men we could not be redeemed holy and blessed Men. Yet is God no way the Author of Sin. We must not deny things plain because we cannot find out to Perfection things unsearchable and too wonderful for us Joh. 6.44 Rom. 11.33 Christ as Mediator is the way to himself as God our Maker and our End our All in all For we being by Sin alienated from God and Enemies in our Minds by wicked Works unless Christ as Mediator Advocate and Intercessor shall by his Grace reconcile us to himself as God we shall die in our Sins and perish for ever Rev. 22.13 Col. 3.11 2 Cor. 5.19 The Holy Ghost as Sanctifier is the way to himself as God our Maker and our End our All in all For we being by Nature dead in Sin and full of Ungodliness and Unrighteousness unless the Holy Ghost as Sanctifier shall quicken our Souls with Spiritual Life and by heavenly Regeneration make us like to himself as God in Righteousness and true Holiness we can never enter into his Kingdom Joh. 3.3 5. 5. The true God is God the Father not Incarnate God the Son Incarnate God the Holy Ghost not Incarnate one God blessed for ever the Reward and Rewarder of all Elect Angels and Men for ever their Blessedness and the Author of their Blessedness their All in all And under God the exalted Manhood of Christ is Sole Supream over all both Angels and Men the First-born of every Creature Col. 1.15 God as God is simply invisible But God as manifest in the Flesh and the Fountain-cause of all Good to Elect Angels and Men for ever is perfectly seen of all in Heaven Face to face and truly by Faith yet not perfectly of all the Saints on Earth God cannot be seen and known save by his own Light and gracious Manifestation of Himself Now God's first Discovery of Himself is in and by Creation accoâ—â—â—â—â— to his own Eternal Purpose in Christ Jesus Antecedently to this he is not knowable by Angels by Men by Christ Himself as Man. Eph. 3.9 10 11. Joh. 1.18 1 Cor. 13.12 1 Tim. 3.16 1 Tim. 6.16 CHAP. V. Of Adam in Innocency and the entrance of Sin into the World. 1. GOD created Adam in his own Image truly holy and like unto himself in heavenly Rectitude This heavenly Rectitude he lost by his Fall and it was renewed in him in part by heavenly Regeneration after his Fail but not perfectly while on Earth The state of Adam in Innocency was Supernatural and not Natural For God created all Things and consequently Adam by Jesus Christ according to the eternal Purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord Eph. 3.9 10 11. This is cleaâ—â—â— matter of Faith and wholly Supernatural For of God's eternal purpose in Christ Jesus the light of Nature saith nothing at all God only is holy by Nature that is essentially holy like as he only is by Nature God Gal. 4.8 Adam was holy not by Nature but by Grace and heavenly dependence oâ— God. Which-Grace continued with him 'till he dissiking the Condition in which God made him and affecting to be independent Lord of his own Will chose rather to be ruled by himself than by the holy just and good Will of God. And so God did not necessitate his Fall nor deny him Grace to stand nor take his Grace from him But Adam by wilful eating of the forbidden Fruit did expel and put God's Grace from him and became the Author of his own Ruine 2. Adam needed heavenly Grace to keep him from inward lusting after the forbidden Fruit but not from outward eating of it Bare Lust as in it self is not Sin but all Lust in Man against the Spirit and after what the holy just and good God hath forbidden is very Sin before God tho not before Men Rom. 7.7 In such inordinate Lust the Soul is Principal and the Body is Instrumental The Body by it self cannot lust at all the Soul as to its natural substance is the Image of God and in that respect it must needs be innocent But if the Soul be destitute of inward heavenly Grace it is then full of ungodly and worldly Lusts invisibly in respect whereof it is enmity against God and the Image of the Devil Joh. 8.44 Jude 18. Tit. 2.11 12. Rom. 8.7 3. The divine Law is holy just and good Rom. 7.12 The sum of it is Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy Heart and thy Neighbour as thy Self or A Conscience void of Offance both tomard God and toward Man. The divine Law considered outwardly as of old written in Tables of Stone and now in the Bible is man fold But considered inwardly as written in the Heart so it is only one as God is one because it consisteth by Conscience in each ones Bosom and Conscience in each Man can be but one Take away Conscience and Man is not Man but a Brute The nature of Conscience is to be under God and over Man as such it is a Law to it self Rom. 2.14 15. and the great Engine by which God doth govern the whole intellectual World. Adam while innocent was not under the Law and Covenant of Works For the Law of Works as distinct from the Law of Faith doth not exclude sinful Boasting Rom. 3.27 But there could be no sinful boasting in Adam while innocent The Covenant of Works gendreth to Bondage Gal. 4.24 But Bondage was not