this assurance since God in Scripture hath expresly commanded it I here take for granted But how is it possible that this assurance should be raised in them any other way than by their certain knowledge that they have through Grace been inabled to discharge those duties of the Covenant to which these blessings and priviledges are therein promised As how shall any man know that he is secured in the quiet possession of the Lands he holds by lease but by knowing that he hath truly performed Covenants and discharged the Conditions of his Indentures by which his title to and possession of them were made over and secured to him This I am sure is the only foundation that Scripture lays whereon to build our evidence 1 Joh. 2.3 5.1 Joh. 3.18 19 20 24. 1 Joh. 5.18 19. Hereby saith the Apostle we know and hereby we assurâ— our selves Of what That we are in God and that he loves us But how Why 〈◊〉 we love him and keep his Commandments And if we do these things saith Peter we shall never fall 2 Pet. 1.10 And doth not the very nature of the thing it self no less demonstrate this For what is assurance Is it not a reflect act of the Soul upon it self and actions whereby it comes to kâ—ow that its state and actions are and have been such as God by the Law of the New Creature doth require and will accept Iâ— knows by the assistance of the Divine Spirit that it hath sincerely repented and that it doth believe and is regenerate and born of God and made obedient to the heavenly call c. And that consequently all the blessings promised to such a state as pardon of sin and acceptance with God and eternal life do now undoubtedly belong to him as his reward and portion This is properly assurance and not an unwarrantable perswasion that we are elected or that Jesus Christ died for us and rose again for our justification in particular or that God loves us we know not why c. For then the strongest presumption would be the best assurance 'T is therefore impossible that any Soul should be truly and with safety assured of its being saved unless it first be assured of its own sincerity in having acted according to the tenor of the Covenant Man may presume indeed and please themselves with pleasant dreams and delusions and fondly perswade themselves like drunken or distracted men that they are Kings and Priests to God and Heirs to a Crown of Glory and shall sit upon Thrones in Heaven with the Lamb and reign with him for ever They may thus fancy indeed but whatever they pretend they can never be thus assured till the truth of their repentance and faith and holiness be first assured to them The great business therefore of the Spirit in sealing and witnessing is to evidence and confirm the truth and reality of these Graces to the Soul and to raise it to a comfortable perswasion of its own sincerity For this is that which modest and humble souls do usually most question and concerning which they are not easily satisfied partly by reason of temptation and partly from a sense of their own daily failings and infirmities and partly also from the great importance of the thing it self their eternal woe or happiness depends upon it That they who sincerely repent and believe and are sanctified shall infallibly be saved that is not the thing they doubt of No this they will acknowledge they do believe I but their great doubt lies here whether their repentance and faith c. be true and sincere 'T is their own sincerity and not Gods faithfulness that they commonly call in question And here now properly comes in the witness of the Spirit They are Saints and Sons but they cannot discern their Fathers image upon their Souls they have Faith and Repentance c. they have Grace but they do not see it As a man that may have good Evidences for his Lands yet by reason of some weakness or distemper in his eyes he may not at present be able to read them The spirit therefore he comes and blows off the dust if I may so express it and draws the lines more clear he enables them more powerfully to mortifie those sins that weakned their evidences and stirs up those languishing sparks that are in them and makes them more quick and burning and so more visible or as the expression is in the Canticles he blows upon the Garden and makes the Spices thereof to flow out and their sweet Odors to be more fragrant and diffusive He invigorates their Graces and causeth them to act with more sensible life and strength and after all he shines upon his own Graces and strengtheneth their visive and discerning faculties and so enables them to see the truth and reality of those Graces which before they doubted of And thus by witnessing together with our spirits Rom. 8.16 He raiseth the Soul to a comfortable assurance of its being in a safe and happy state As when a Man is under any apprehensions that his Estate is forfeited for breach of Covenants and that thereupon he may be liable to arrests and actions if upon reading his indentures and viewing his acquitâ—ances he conceives that the rent hath been paid and the rest of the conditions have been kept his fears are in a great measure allaid but if the owner himself now come and â—oint him to that particular acquittance which was before over laid and acknowledge that 't is his own hand-writing and that he hath faithfully discharged the several conditions of his Lease the Man is now fully satisfied and sufficiently assured that he may still have and hold his Lands without any let or molestation This is as I apprehend the true Scriptural notion of the spirits sealing which you plainly see presupposeth our repenting and believing c. according to the tenor of the Gospel Covenant For can you imagine that the Spirit seals to a blank Or witnesseth to a lie What teach us to cry Abba Father before we are born of God Or perswade us we are justified when we are in a state of unbelief and the wrath of God abides upon us Or assure us we are Heirs of the promise when we are strangers to the Covenant Or that our estate is safe when a curse and death and hell are denounced against us Is this the Spirits witness do you think or way of sealing No he first works Grace upon the heart and then gives testimony to his own work He sanctifies first and then he seals to the day of Redemption Eph. 1.13 6. The personal performance of the Conditions of the New Covenant is therefore necessary because the promise of pardon and acceptance and eternal life is only made to our personal performance of them This I have often hinted before and presupposed as a foundation to several of the preceeding arguments but now it may be necessary to enlarge a litte farther
being condemned of the Lord and a diligent seeking after wisdom a condition to our finding of it And doing well a condition of our acceptance with God and keeping the Commandments of Christ a condition of our abiding in his love And mortifying the deeds of the flesh a condition of eternal life Again do not all men distinguish the promises which are but so many several branches of the New Covenant into absolute and conditional And are not all acknowledged to be conditional excepting such as promise the first grace As for instance that the meek shall inherit the Earth Math. 5.5 That if we humble our selves under the mighty hand of God he will exalt us 1 Pet. 5.6 That they that take the yoke and submit to the burden of Christ shall find rest and ease to their souls Math. 11.28 29. That they that hunger and thirst after righteousness shall be satisfied Math. 5.6 c. These and many more of the like nature are commonly said to be conditional promises And if meekness be acknowledged the condition of inheriting the Earth and humiliaton of being exalted and taking the yoke of finding rest and hungring and thirsting of being satisfied why may not being pure in heart be also termed the condition of seeing God and obedience the condition of eternal life when they are all promised in the same way and upon the like terms Besides is it not commonly said that one Grace may be the condition to an other As sincerity to confidence 1 Joh. 3.21 Humility to spiritual growth and strength Jam. 4.6 Faith and Hope to rejoicing in God c. 1 Pet. 1. And may one Grace be the condition of another and yet may they not be the conditions of pardon of sin and eternal life for fear of eclipsing the Glory of free Grace Why Is not second grace notwithstanding its conditionality as free as the first And no more of debt than eternal recompenses Why then may not conditions be allowed of with respect to the latter as well as granted in the former since both grace and glory are alike â—he fruit of Christ purchase and donation And why then should any one be offended at â—he use of the word since 't is proper you see â—o all compacts and agreements since all propositions that have any dependance upon â—heir antecedent are so termed since the promises of the Covenant are generally acknowâ—edged to be conditional and one grace to be the condition of another But this I have only promised to remove that scandal which some have taken at the word condition I shall now endeavour to make it good by several demonstrative arguments that the Covenant of Grace doth necessarily suppose conditions or which is all one that the great blessings of the Covenat are promised and propounded to us upon certain terms and conditions in order to our being admitted into the possession of them 1. And first from the very nature and definition of a Covenant That Believers in the Gospel are under a Covenant-dispensation according to the true intent and meaning of that word hath already been demonstrated and therefore I shall now take that for granted But what is that then we call a Covenant in a proper sense Is it not a mutual Compact and Agreement betwixt two or more Parties whereby they do upon certain terms and conditions therein specified respectively oblige themselves to each other 'T is an Agreement and that supposeth more Parties than one For though a Man may be said to purpose with himself yet not properly to Covenant but to and with another And therefore when Job is said to make a Covenant with his eyes His eyes there arâ— spoken of as a different party distinct from his Soul that Covenants with them And as there must be more parties than one in every Covenant one giving and granting and another to receive and make returns oâ— what is granted so the agreement and stipulation betwixt them it must be mutual foâ— no one properly can be obliged but by his owâ— consent And therefore though the creaturâ— be indispensably obliged to consent to whatever his Maker shall propound to him yet hâ— will have our free and personal consent and stipulation to the Covenant that we may be bound by our own act and choice Buâ— besides this that there must be more partieâ— than one and they mutually engaged to eacâ— other there must also be some terms and conditions specified concerning which theâ— agree and stipulate somewhat that is demised and granted and somewhat that is tâ— be rendred by way of homage or acknowledgment somewhat that is to be received and somewhat that is to be returned Anâ— this is necessarily implied in the very worâ— agreement and stipulation For if two agree together it must be upon some terms and certain considerations mutually to be performed E. g. One promiseth the quiet possession of such an estate upon the payment of such rent and the other promiseth the payment of such a rent upon his quiet possession of it And in this mainly lies the difference betwixt a Gift a Promise and a Covenant A deed of gift is when I do freely bestow somewhat upon another without preengaging so to do A promise is when I engage my self by word to do any act of kindness for another without requiring any thing by way of engagement on his part For if there be any condition affixed to my promise it ceaseth properly to be a promise and becomes a Covenant for every conditional promise is implicitely so But a Covenant is a mutual engagement betwixt both parties wherein as I promise to do somewhat for him so he also promiseth to do somewhat that I require of him So that in every Covenant there is ratio dati accepti somewhat promised and somewhat required Somewhat given and somewhat to be received Somewhat by way of privilege to be enjoyed and somewhat by way of duty to be performed And who ever consults his own thoughts shall find that this is the most natural and express notion of a Covenant that constantly represents it self to his mind when ever he entertains any apprehensions of it For when you say such a one hath Covenanted and agreed with another what do you mean by that expression What Only that he hath bequeathed him such legacies or setled upon him such an inheritance or made him Heir to such an estate hundreds and thousands by the year And under his own hand and seal hath confirmed all this to him This I suppose you would call a donation or deed of gift but would you were there nothing more call it a Covenant No your own thoughts upon the very mention of that word would immediately suggest this to you that there was some mutual compact betwixt them and certain articles and conditions of agreement drawn up to the performance of which they respectively obliged themselves And therefore to suppose a Covenant without conditions is all one as to suppose a Sun without
upon it to make it more clear and evident This is certain that whoever receives an estate by grant or Covenant from another he can have right to nothing more than what is therein by name expressed nor upon any other terms than those therein specified Nor any longer maintain his claim to it than those Conditions are done and performed by him So that if either he did not consent to and accept of the terms or not duely perform them when accepted he is no more de jure to be deemed the lawful possessor of it The case is thus here betwixt God and Man God makes a grant of pardon and acceptance and eternal life to sinners This grant is by Covenant This Covenant is with certain terms and conditions and these conditions they must be accepted and performed or else no right to any of the priviledges of this Covenant is conferred upon us For since we have here no right as was said but what is given us and since that right is expresly affixed to the personal performance of the conditions of the Covenant therein mentioned where there is no such performance there can be no right That this right is thus affixed to the personal performance of the Conditions of the Covenant is evident for we have no right but by promise 1 Joh. 2.25 This is the promise that he hath promised us even eternal life And therefore Believers are by the Author to the Hebrews called the heirs of promise Heb. 6.17.11.9 The promise then only gives us right to life yea but the promise is only made to the personal performance of these duties Acts 3.19 Repent ye and be converted that your sins may be blotted out when the days of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord. Prov. 28.13 Who so confesseth and forsaketh his sin shall find mercy Rom. 10.9 10. If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus and shalt believe with 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 Rom. 8.13 If ye through the spirit mortify the deeds of the flesh ye shall live Joh. 13.17 If ye know these things happy are ye if ye do them And Matth. 7.21 not every one that saith unto me Lord Lord shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven From all these Scriptures it evidently appears that the promise of mercy and pardon and life and blessedness the great benefits of the Covenant they are expresly made to the actual and personal performance of repentance and faith and sincere obedience which are the main duties and conditions of the same Covenant 'T is our personal performance therefore of the conditions of the Covenant that gives us a formal and personal right to the blessings of it and our non-performance only by which our right is forfeited T is that which gives us right Rev. 22.14 Blessed are they that do his Commandments that they may have right to the tree of life and may enter in through the gates into the City Blessed are they who They that have eat and drunk in his presence and wrought miracles in his name No but they that do his will but why blessed Because they have right not only the favour and priviledge but right to the tree of life But what gave them this right Their subscribing and sealing and promising obedience to Jesus Christ No but their performing Covenants their keeping of his Commandments Therefore blessed are they that they may have right And this right since 't is founded in Grace and not in merit it may be humbly pleaded by Believers when their right to the promise is called in question or any accusations from the old Law brought in against them Through Grace they have been inabled to believe and repent c. And therefore they are freed from the curse and from condemnation And therefore the promise of pardon and life is theirs But because few are so well satisfied concerning their own sincerity as to be thereby enabled to make this Plea therefore the promises that are more absolute in this case are to be pleaded by them For as some promises are made to Grace the conditions of which being performed are the foundation of our assurance So there are other promises of Grace which are the immediate foundation of our encouragement to Faith and Prayer However the doubting Souls cannot alway plead their right because they question their own performances yet the sincere performance of the condition for all that gives an undoubted right and laies a good foundation for a legal plea and by such as are satisfied concerning their own sincerity may be pleaded against accusations from the Law and Justice without either asserting merit or retrenching the free Grace of God Since this right as was said ariseth from the gracious will and favour of God and not from our own desert or the intrinsick value of the duties we perform As suppose one to found a School or Hospital and to endow it with rich revenews and priviledges but with this condition that they upon whom 't is setled shall once or twice every year pay by way of acknowledgment some few pence or half pence to one of his own name that the memory of his name might be preserved and they constantly be made to acknowledge from whom they received so liberal a donation In this case as his making this the condition upon which they hold it shall not render it to be no act of Charity or blot out his name from amongst their Benefactors So neither shall their pleading that this acknowledgment if called in question hath accordingly been made and the conditions of the grant been constantly performed the pleading this I say shall not be deemed either any detraction from the freeness of the gift or a pleading of your own desert only an humble asserting of their own right which was by grant conferred upon them But as our actual performance of the conditions of the Covenant gives us an undoubted right because founded upon the faithfulness of God to all the priviledges of the Covenant so consequently on the contrary the non-performance of them must needs null our right and cast us out of possession and actually expose us and make us liable to all that wrath and vengeance to all those woes and penalties that either this or the Old Covenant hath denounced For since it is attended with double guilt it shall also be rewarded with double punishment Heb. 10.29 Nor will it be sufficient in this case to plead that we have subscribed and sealed and promised performance to the Gospel Covenant no all this if it be not actually kept will serve for no other purpose but to witness our own unfaithfulness and to condemn us for being false to our own engagements You know what answer Christ returned to such as
distinguished should ever really be separated Faith without works saith James is dead Jam. 2.26 That is in truth 't is no faith as a dead Man properly is not a Man but a meer carcass and an apparent resemblance only of a Man 'T is little better than an implicite contradiction at the best but an ens rationis a meer figment and Chimera that is no where to be found existing but in the wild imaginations of some such whom the Apostle calls absurd and unreasonable men An impenitent faith and disobedient faith an unholy and unjust faith What a strange conjunction would this be Can any Man think this to be a justifying a saving faith It 's true if we do humbly and sincerely receive and give up our selves to Jesus Christ upon Gospel termes God doth not suspend our pardon and acceptance till our holiness be compleat and our obedience grown to its full stature but upon that very act acquit us from our obligation to the Old Covenant and admit us to an incipient right to all the priviledges of the New As he that hath before witness sealed to Indentures is thereupon immediately though the things therein required are not yet discharged admitted to the possession of the premises And he that humbly submits himself to his Prince upon his Proclamation of grace and pardon is at the same time pardoned and taken under the protection of his government though he have not yet demonstrated his loyalty by any signal acts of service to him But then as sinners are thus justified upon their first solemn and serious believing in Jesus Christ or else it will be hard to say when 't is done so they must and if sincere in the first act they will otherwise in truth they never did believe and consequently never were justified they must I say and will continue in all due obedience to him according a they then promised and resolved or else their first act stands only for a cypher and signifies nothing in Gods account nor in mans neither could he as God understand our hearts There is no pardon sealed nor right to life conferred nor the least spiritual advantage to be expected from the Covenant of Grace unless our faith be such as is justified by obedience As he that seals to any Covenant must also pay his rent or he cannot expect â—o be continued in possession and â—reap the profits of it And he that is pardoned upon submission must also live in a dutiful subjection to his Prince or otherwise hâ— cannot hope to enjoy the benefit of his pardon By the former I mean our believing and submission to Jesus Christ we are as I have already said justified and obtain an initial right to eternal life And by the latter i. e. our holiness and obedience our right is continued and compleated But fourthly 4. It may contribute somewhat to our better understanding the consistence of free Grace with the conditionality of the Covenant and the necessiâ—y of our personal performance of the conditions of it in order to our eternal Salvation a little to consider the nature of Salvation and happiness and how nearly holiness and obedience are allied to it Happiness Salvation they are pleasing words As light to the eye musick to the ear Every one is delighted with the sound of them How beautiful are the feet of them that bring these glad tidings But alas how few are there of those that desire it that rightly understand what it is Ask them what they mean by being happy and they will tell you Oh! to be freed from sin they mean no the sinfulness but the punishment of sin thâ— curse of the Law and the wrath that is tâ— come And to have all tears wiped froâ— their eyes and burdens taken from theiâ— shoulders and to rest for ever from their labours To be delivered from Hell and eteâ—nal burnings and to live in the midst of joy and delights in another world In a word not to be everlastingly miserable but to be at ease for ever without care and trouble and anxiety But what is there in all this more than in Mahomet's Paradise or the Poets Elyzium If freedome from misery were properly happiness then non-entities might be happy and the readiest way to make us so would be â—o annihilate us and turn us into our first nothing For that which is not is at ease and cannot be miserable And if meer sensitive pleasures and delights were sufficient to create beatitudes then the brute creatures might be numbred amongst the blessed and the most effectual means to make Man so were to change his nature and turn him into a beast since they are observed to have the quickest sense and so most capable of enjoying the pleasures of it And yet this is all that the generality of the world understand by happiness and indeed all that they desire And according to these false conceptions of happiness are also their notions of free Grace framed and modelled To be created over again in Christ unto good works and be pure in heart and holy in all manner of conversation To live the life of God and be righteous as he is righteous and be followers of him as dear children c. These things are seldom instanced in or taken notice of either as any much less as the most essential parts of our happiness or any fruit and evidence of free Grace But when they would set forth this arraied in her richest robes of glory and greatest Majesty they instance in God pardoning sinners and blotting out their iniquities and justifying the ungodly and casting their sins into the bottom of the Sea and scattering them as a thick cloud and redeeming them from the curse and freeing them from Hell and condemnation c. This they cry is Grace and wonderful Grace to sinners And so indeed it is and wonderful beyond what 't is possible for any finite creature to express or comprehend And therefore my design is not to shadow or eclipse any part of that unspeakable glory that ariseth hence to the free Grace of God But yet let me add is there no free Grace but pardoning and justifying Grace to be admired And may not men without offence be minded of it and be desired to consider it Tell me what greater favour and kindness and that is properly Grace as hath been shewn can God possibly manifest to any creature than to make it eternally happy And what greater happiness can he possibly bestow upon him than to make him like and conformable to himself The true and formal notion of happiness lies not in negatives but positive fruitions Not in being freed from misery but in the enjoyment of all possible perfection of which a created nature is capable And all the perfection competible to a creature consists formally in his conformity and assimilation to God the original fountain of being and perfection That creature that hath all excellencies and perfections proper and competible to its own
Methodus Evangelica OR THE GOSPEL METHOD OF Gods saving Sinners BY JESUS CHRIST Practically Explained in XII PROPOSITIONS By the late Learned Dr. ABRAHAM CLIFFORD To which is prefixed a PREFACE by Dr. Manton and Mr. Rich. Baxter LONDON Printed by J. M. for Brabazon Aylmer at the three Pigeons in Cornhill MDCLXXVI IMPRIMATUR Hic Tractatus de Foedere Gratiae Jan. 24. 1675. Gul. Jane Rev. Dom. D. Episcopo Lond. Ã Sacris domest Academiac Cantabrigiensis Liber To the Worshipful and truly Religious Patriot of his Country JOHN STEPHENS of Overlyppiat in the County of Gloucester Esq SIR THough we live in an age wherein Religion is more talkt of than practised and profaneness more in fashion than Piety Yet blessed be God there are still some among us and those not a few who dare not make their lust their law What a deluge of errours in opinion as well as practice hath of late years overflowed this Nation every corner thereof hath more cause to bewail than skill to cure Amongst the which the Solifidian or Antinomian makes not the least bustle nor by their specious pretences do the least mischief who whilst they seem to cry up the noble Grace of Faith beat down the power of Godliness As if pleading for duty though but in its proper place were to derogate from the freeness of Gods Grace or allsufficiency of Christs merits But that these not only may but must go together though some there be that seem to deny the latter the Authour of this ensuing discourse hath learnedly avouched The work as at first it was at my request by the Authour undertaken though then without the least intention in either of us of publishing it so being at his death wholly left to my dispose I held it a duty incumbent upon me to do what I could to make the same more publick since it was so hopefully brought to the birth especially being pressed thereunto by divers knowing Christians Divines and others who had got a sight of it Many friends the Authour I know had Persons of Honour and others for whom whilst living he had a great respect and who had the like for him Some of whom may perhaps expect to have been here remembred But since Providence hath so ordered it as to leave the publishing thereof to my dispose I must crave their leave to let the World know that amongst my many Friends there is none for whom I have so great and deserved a respect as for your self and therefore since it must abroad I am bold to send it forth under your favour And that upon a double account first that being brought up at your feet as my Gamaliel and having the happiness in the morning of my age to have the greatest part of my Education under your personal direction so I am willing before my Sun go down it being now far in the afternoon with me to leave some acknowledgment behind me of what respect I owe not only to your whole family but principally to your own Person And next for that you are a Person without flattery be it spoken so eminently taken notice of in your Country as able to judge of what is herein written and one that hath always been of the same Judgment and Practice with the Authour of which whoever is not I pity his condition and shall pray for his Conversion and shall ever remain SIR Your old faithful Servant John Clifford TO THE READER Good Reader THere are two things of which we would premonish thee as to the ensuing Treatise concerning the conditionality of the Covenant of Grace the occasion of it and the usefulness For the first the occasion we have it from other hands thus That the Doctor visiting his Friends in Gloucestershire was desired to give them a Sermon but being wholly a Stranger there inquired after the state of the Congregation to whom he was to Preach that he might the better speak to their edification and being informed that divers who were likely to be his Auditors were levened with Antinomian Fancies and Conceits not willing to hear of any Conditions in the New Covenant and decrying all enforcements to Duty and Obedience as Legal Preaching he thought it his duty to dispossess them of these errours Proving with mighty evidence out of Heb. 5.9 that Jesus Christ is the Author of Salvation only to such as obey Which argument though prosecuted by him with great Learning Judgment and Affection to the great satisfaction of a numerous Congregation both of Strangers and Inhabitants then present yet some few seemed to remain still unsatisfied To remove whose scruples he first took much pains with them in Private Conferences wherein they professed themselves unable to answer his Arguments yet resolved still to retain their preconceived Opinions but he not despairing of their conviction after his return thence penned this Discourse that upon calm thoughts they might more deliberately weigh the matter and sent it to his Fathers Brother to be communicated to any whom he thought fit but with a strict injunction not to publish it in Print and though much solicited by his Vncle and divers Ministers and good Christians who had got a sight of it suffered not his resolution to be expugned until a little before his death when giving way to their importunity he consented that if God afforded not him time to put his last hand to it they might dispose of it at their own pleasure For the other the Seasonableness and Usefulness of it we can write of that as from our selves There have been and still are two extreams in the World some trust to their own External superficial Righteousness as the ground of their acceptance with God against whom Christ spake that Parable Luke 18.9 he spake this Parable against certain that trusted in themselves that they were righteous c. these make their outward observances partial obedience lustre of some moral vertues their only Plea before God without any reflection on the Merits of a Saviour the other extream is of those who teach Men to look at nothing in themselves at all no not as an evidence or condition or means of Application have no consideration of Faith or of Repentance or new Obedience in the setling of their peace and quiet of their Souls which what a Salve it is for impenitent unbelievers what a reproach to the Gospel and how derogatory from the strain of Christianity is easily evident to those who are any way acquainted with the Tenor of it Christ is an able Saviour the Covenant of Grace is a safe and sure refuge the dispute is about the sincerity of our claim but we will not debate the case here it is the business of this Treatise which we would not let go especially it being presented to us for that end without annexing our consent and approbation We are thine in the Lords work Tho. Manton Rich. Baxter A DISCOURSE OF THE NEW COVENANT PROPOSITION I. Of Man's misery by his fall
MAN being lapsed and fallen from God into a state of sin and misery beyond all possibility of recovery either by means of his own or the assistance of any created Power it then pleased Divine Goodness to take up thoughts not only to restore but to advance him to a more stable and transcendent felicity than that in and to which he was at first created This we have most emphatically represented in the Prophet by the resemblance of a new-born Infant cast out in the open field in its menstruous blood and uncleanness having neither hand to help nor eye to pity it Ezek. 16.3 4 5 c. These words I confess are spoken with a particular reference to the Primitive state of the Jews at which time they were Heathen and Idolaters being not yet called out of the World and brought into the Bond of the New Covenant But since they were then in no worse condition than the rest of the degenerate Sons of Men there being at first no distinction betwixt Jew and Gentile till Free Grace stept in and made the difference this Text commonly is and without any violence offered to it may be taken in a more large and extensive sense and so be applyed not only to the Sons of Heber the Jews but to the whole Seed of Adam Man universally considered When they and we and all Mankind lay wallowing in their blood and uncleanness then God passing by and beholding us in this miserable and forlorn condition he was pleased to make it a time of love Joh. 3.16 God so loved the World not only the Jews that he gave his only begotten Son c. At the same time when God passed by apostate Angels and left them in Chains of Eternal Darkness without relief he then casts his skirts over degenerate Man and covers his nakedness and in conclusion not only washeth him from his blood and pollution but anoints him with Oyl and cloaths him with broidered Work and sets a Crown of Glory upon his head and makes him by the Ornaments he at last puts upon him exceeding beautiful as the Prophets expression there is concerning the Jewish Nation to which I here allude PROPOS II. Of Man's recovery by Jesus Christ THAT this great Design of Man's Redemption might be carried on and effected in a way most agreeable to the just and righteous Nature of God and most for the honour and advancement of his Divine Perfections his Holiness Justice Truth Goodness c. as also that might lay the surest foundation for the Faith and Hopes of a guilty and despondent Creature God was pleased to send his only begotten Son Jesus Christ the second Person in the Deity to assume the Humane Nature that so he might become a fit Mediator and Surety for Man who by his obeying and suffering in his stead might make attonement and satisfaction for sin and propitiate God to Sinners This we have every where declared in Scripture as the only way and medium by which God designs to save degenerate Man Joh. 3.16 Esa 53.6 and 10. ver Gal. 4.4 5. Eph. 5.2 Gal. 3.13 2 Cor. 5.21 Math. 20.28 1 Tim. 2.6 1 Joh. 4.10 Rom. 3.24 25 26. From these several places 't is plainly evident that God being moved by his own essential Goodness did so far compassionate the case of fallen Man as to give his own Son to be a Ransom and Propitiation for their sins by being made under the Law and bearing the Curse and Penalties threatned by it thereby declaring to the world that he was a righteous God loving Righteousness and hating Iniquity as the Psalmist hath exprest it Psal 11.5.7 And thus God having made sufficient provision by the Obedience and Sufferings of his own Son that his Soveraign Authority over the Creature might be owned and the Equity and Goodness of his Law acknowledged and the Threatnings therein denounced fulfilled and his Holiness vindicated and his Hatred against sin and vindictive Justice upon offenders declared and Man for ever discouraged from sin by hopes of impunity This I say being effected by the undertaking of Jesus Christ the Son of God he may now freely pardon the guilty Creature and readmit him into his favour and advance him to the fruition of an Eternal Happiness and Glory without either offering any violence to his own Righteous Nature or weakning the order and foundations of his Government over the World or eclipsing the Glory of any of his sacred Attributes And as God hath hereby abundantly secured his own Honour so hath he also by the same means most effectually relieved the Creature against his guilty Fears and laid a sure and firm foundation for Faith and Hopes in his Mercy Man having sinned against God 't is impossible but the sense of his own guilt and danger should affect his Soul with amazing fears and jealousies especially when he should entertain any serious thoughts of the holy Nature of God his Majesty Power and Justice or of the strictness and severity of his Laws No sooner had Adam sinned but he runs away from God and seeks to hide himself from his presence I but when the guilty offender shall now be assured from the mouth of God himself that he hath found a Ransom and received full and abundant satisfaction at the hands of Jesus Christ his Surety for all that wrong that sin had done him so that now he may at the same time be merciful to the sinner and yet take full vengeance upon his sin or as the Apostle speaks to the same purpose that he may be just and yet the justifier of them that believe in Jesus Rom. 3.26 Yea that he may now reap as much Glory to himself in pardoning humble and repenting sinners as if he had executed the Curse and Penalties of his violated Law upon them When the sinner I say shall be well assured of this his despondent fears and jealous thoughts of God must needs vanish as Clouds and Darkness before the rising Sun and his Soul be quickened and encouraged to address it self with Faith and Confidence to the Throne of Grace for Pardon and Acceptance 1 Pet. 1.18.21 Heb. 4.15 16. For if God the only party offended and concerned will acquit the humble sinner who then shall condemn him as the Apostle argues Rom. 8.33 34. PROPOS III. Of the Covenant of Redemption THIS glorious Contrivance and Design for the recovery of fallen Man was transacted between God the Father and the Son by mutual stipulation and agreement The Father promising to his Son a rich recompence of reward upon his undertaking to satisfie for Man's offence by his death and sufferings and the Son likewise engaging to the Father upon these terms to make satisfaction And this is that which by Divines is now called the Covenant of Redemption to distinguish it from the Covenant of Grace or the New Covenant as most commonly stiled in Scripture made with Believers through Christ A distinction highly necessary and consequently not to be
is an act of Grace but Grace is not Grace unless it be free He that pardons an Offender a Traytor a Rebel he may bring him to terms before he pardon him and he that dispenseth Crowns and Scepters to unworthy Persons Beggars and Miscreants he may require homage and observance from them without fear of rendring it no act of Grace The truth is all that Jesus Christ obtained or can in reason be supposed to design by his undertaking to obtain at the hands of his Father in the behalf of sinners was only this that pardon and salvation might be dispensed to them upon such terms and in such a way as might be consistent with the Honour of God and most for the good and interest of the lapsed yet reasonable Creatures whose perfection and happiness lay in his likeness and conformity to his Maker That therefore which we are to consider is not so much what is the intrinsick worth and price of Christs blood or how far it might have been available to the saving sinners but rather to what ends and purposes God hath accepted it and in what way and upon what Conditions 't is made over to us that it may become ours God might by virtue of his Omnipotency have made many Worlds and yet he hath made only one and according to the judgment of some he might by virtue of his absolute Prerogative have pardoned the sinner without the death of his Son and yet he would not do 't without it And possibly he might upon the account of his Sons undertaking have saved sinners by other means and upon other terms than those he hath now declared in the Gospel and yet these he hath only made choice of as they by which they shall be saved And therefore the actual determinations of his Will in this particular which he hath fully made known to us by his Word are the things which we are concerned to observe and attend to if ever we expect to have any lot or portion in the Grace and Glory that Jesus Christ hath purchased PROPOS VII Of God's transacting with Man by Covenant THE particular way and medium that Divine Wisdom hath been pleased to make choice of in and by which to interest sinners in the saving benefits of his Son 's undertaking 't is per modum Foederis by way of Covenant or mutual Compact betwixt himself and the Creature What this Covenant is and whether a Covenant in a proper sense that is afterwards to be enquired into that which now I have to make good is to shew in general that 't is by Covenant that the Fruits of Christ's death are made over to us And here it is to be observed That this is the way in which God hath ever treated Man both before and since his fall For though God by virtue of his absolute Soveraignty and Dominion over the Creature might have imposed what Laws he thought meet upon Man and have exacted perfect and perpetual Obedience at his hands without ever giving much more without obliging himself to give any thing by way of reward for his obedience And though Man by virtue of his necessary and essential dependance upon God from whom he received his all was thereupon indispensably obliged to obey and serve him so long as he had a Being yet such hath been the particular good will and bounty of God to Man that he never yet dealt with him stricto jure or in a way of absolute Right and Dominion but rather hath chosen to encourage him to obedience by the promises of reward That God indeed should give Man a Law that supposing him a reasonable Creature fit for Government seems no less than necessary yea but that God should turn his Laws into a Covenant and thereby make himself a Debtor to his Creature as Augustine speaks that is become ingaged to Man to reward him for that service which was antecedently due to him this is to be deemed an act of meer Grace and infinite condescension But thus was God pleased from the first to treat Adam whilst yet he was in his primitive state of integrity This generally is conceived to be the meaning of those words Gen. 2.16 17. And the Lord God commanded the Man saying Of every Tree of the Garden thou mayest freely eat but of the Tree of the knowledge of good and evil thou shalt not eat of it for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely dye In these words we have first an express command given to Adam that he should not eat of the Tree of knowledge of good and evil together with a free and gracious concession to eat of the Fruit of every Tree of the Garden excepting that as also a severe commination annexed to this Grant and Command assuring him that if he should dare to eat of the forbidden Fruit he should certainly dye and in this threatning there is a promise also necessarily implyed since all Negatives are judged to include their contrary Affirmatives that if he continued in his obedience to the Law of God he should not dye but live and so we find the Apostle commenting upon the words Rom. 10.5 and Gal. 3.12 And a Positive Law requiring obedience of the Creature to which there is annexed a promise of some good provided he continue to pay and perform the homage and duties required of him together with a threatning of evil and punishment in case of default this according to the proper meaning and import of the word is no other than a Covenant supposing only that both parties do mutually agree and yield their consent to the terms which in the case in hand is sufficiently evident First on Gods part since he made and propounded this Law with its respective immunities and conditions to Man And on Man's part also 't is necessary to be supposed since he being but a Creature essentially depending upon his Maker is thereby essentially obliged to give his consent to whatever he shall please to propose to him But however we shall please to call this whether a Law or Covenant no sooner was this primitive institution made void by Man's transgression in eating of the forbidden fruit but God is pleased to erect a Covenant of Grace for life and salvation with fallen Man the first foundations of which we have laid in that first Evangelical promise Gen. 3.15 The Seed of the Woman shall break the Serpents head The Promise indeed is absolute and nothing therein is mentioned more than that God would raise up a Saviour unto Man from the Seed of the Woman by whom he fell But who knows how far God might or did further discover himself to Adam and the Primitive Ages of the World either as to this or other concerns of his and their duty and reward since 't is abundantly evident that in the Revelations made to Moses God's design was not to make known all the transactions that had before past betwixt himself and the Creature but only such
again treats with Israel both for the main upon the same account and you will there find that there 's somewhat more than a meer granting or bequeathing of Blessings and Mercies only by way of Legacy or absolute Donation Doth God first promise to Abraham to give him a Numerous Issue a Blessed Seed a Land flowing with Milk and Honey and under these Shaddows blessings of an higher nature Grace and Glory Yea. But what must Abraham now do nothing in order to his fruition of them Yes He must walk before the Lord and be upright Gen. 17.1 He must keep the Covenant v. 9 10. and he must circumcise every Male Child in his Family v. 11 12 c. and he must command his Children and his Houshold after him to keep the way of the Lord to do justice and judgment Gen. 18.19 and the reason is there also given that the Lord may bring upon Abraham that which he had spoken of him which is again more expresly declared Gen. 26.3 4 5. Whence 't is evidently manifest first that there were Commandments Statutes and Laws annexed to this Covenant made with Abraham and then in the next place that he must keep and observe them that the blessings promised might come upon him Again Doth God engage to Israel to put them in possession of the Promised Land and to bless them there Yea but then they must come before the Lord and publickly declare their consent to the Covenant and engage to be obedient to it Exod. 24.3.7 8. Deut. 28.1 2.15 3. The several acts that are expresly either required of or ascribed to Man with reference to this Covenant speak it to be somewhat more than a Testament As for instance we are said to enter into Covenant with God Deut. 29.12 And to make or as the original there signifies to cut a Covenant with him Psal 50.5 And to join our selves to the Lord by Covenant Jer. 50.4 5. And to be brought into the Bond of the Covenant Ezek. 20.37 and to keep or observe his Covenant Psal 25.10 and to obey the words of the Covenant Jer. 11.2 3 4 5. and to perform and stand to the Covenant 2 Kings 23.2 3. As also to transgress it Josh 7.11 and to break Esa 24.5 and not to continue in Heb. 8 9. or be stedfast in the Covenant Psal 78.37 But are these expressions any way applicable to a Will and Testament or what tolerable sense can we possibly make of them if so applyed To make or enter into Covenant with another is proper language which every one understands But to join our selves to another by Testament or to enter into and make and cut a Will with him or to be stedfast in it is a mode of speaking no where to be found No all this necessarily implies somewhat of engagement and duty on our part to God and not only his bequeathment of Mercy to us by way of absolute Grant and Donation 4. But suppose we should after all admit that 't is a Testament Will it therefore follow that its Donations are so absolute as to be without all Conditions not so much as requiring our actual consent to them that they may be ours May not a Father by Will give and bequeath his Lands or Moneys to his Children or Friends with these or the like Priviso's That they discharge the Debts he owes and pay the several Legacies he hath given and allow such Pensions and Annuities for charitable uses as he hath therein appointed and set apart for that purpose And are not the parties hereupon obliged in case they expect any benefit by his Will to assent to and perform the Conditions thereto annexed And if not performed according to appointment do they not thereby forfeit their claim to the whole or rather they never had any legal plea or title to it since they accepted not of the terms upon which it was given to them Why all for the main that I am arguing for is no more but this viz. That the great Blessings of the Gospel are by the Father through Christ made over to sinners not by any meer absolute Grant or Bequeathment but upon certain Terms and Considerations which on their part are to be consented to and accordingly to be performed that they may be actually interessed in them And that whoever refuseth to accept of these Terms and shall not sincerely endeavour the performance of them they can neither be instated in or have any lawful claim to any part of that eternal Salvation which is the fruit of Christ's Satisfaction and Purchase In this sense if any one will call the Gospel Grant a Testament there 's little to be said against it since though the name be different yet in reality 't is but the same Which formally comprehendeth in it all the essentials of a Covenant 'T is therefore if you will a Testament in a Covenant form or a Testamental Covenant It partakes of the nature of both but principally of the former But all this will yet be more amply made to appear by that which follows in the next Proposition PROPOS IX Of the Parties with whom the New Covenant is made THIS Evangelical Covenant by which repenting and believing sinners are readmitted to the favour of God and the fruition of eternal life 't is made not immediately with Christ for and in the behalf of Believers but with Believers themselves in their own persons through the mediation of Jesus Christ with the Father That there is indeed an eternal Covenant established betwixt God the Father and God the Son in order to Man's Redemption hath already been asserted but besides this Covenant of Redemption as 't is now fitly called by our Divines there is also another Covenant that I mean which the Author to the Hebrews calls the New and Second Covenant which being of a far different nature from the former ought accordingly to be distinguished from it and this is that which I say is made betwixt God and Believers In short The Covenant of Redemption was made with Christ The Covenant of Grace with Believers in Christ To make this more evident 't is to be considered that in every Covenant there must of necessity be two or more persons mutually stipulating and engaging to each other One promising to give or grant somewhat that may accrue to the benefit of the other and another also that may not only accept of what is so granted but further engage to return somewhat by way of homage or acknowledgment Thus in the Legal Covenant the Persons engaging were God and Adam In the Covenant of Redemption God and Christ In the Covenant of Grace God and Believers Not that our consent was required or is any way necessary to the framing and drawing up this Covenant as before was hinted No that was made without us Only to the Conditions therein propounded 't is necessary Betwixt Man and Man indeed supposing them to be equals and each to be sui juris there no Covenant
can be drawn up or made at least so as to be obliging unless it be by mutual consent and agreement thereto demanded and obtained since betwixt equals there can be no Dominion or Soveraignty and consequently no right to impose terms upon each other But betwixt Superiors and such as are in a state of subjection and dependence the case is far different The Supreme Magistrate if he intend to confer Honours or Preferments upon any of his Subjects or to pardon such as have been disloyal and have rebelled against him he may draw up and propound to them what Conditions or Articles of Agreement he thinks meet provided they be not unjust and unreasonable and not to their prejudice He may require them to make publick acknowledgment of their fault and to promise homage and subjection to all his Laws and Government without asking their leave to do it and they notwithstanding are thereupon obliged to yield their consent thereunto at least iâ— they expect any benefit by his Act of Grace and Pardon Now this is the case betwixt God and the Creature Man he is not only as a Creature necessarily subject to and dependent upon God but as a degenerate Creature he 's fallen under his displeasure and become liable to his anger and vindictive justice And God on the other hand he 's our Soveraign Lord and Governour that hath an absolute Dominion over us yet being withall infinitely gracious and compassionate he hath been pleased to draw up conditions of Peace betwixt himself and fallen Man which is that we call the New Covenant wherein he promiseth to pardon our sins and give us eternal life provided we repent and believe c. This he hath caused to be printed and published by his Ambassadors to all the World and besides that this is a sufficient declaration of his own consent to it he hath also confirmed it to us by his Oath and now requires that we also each man for himself should come and seal to these Conditions which we all do in Baptism and solemnly profess our consent to them upon which but not before we are actually instated in all the Priviledges and Blessings belonging to this Covenant But withall let me add that even they who withhold or deny their consent to it and resolve never to perform the conditions of it are notwithstanding necessarily obliged thereunto not only as it is an act of Grace in the benefits of which they hope to be partakers but also as 't is the Royal Law as the Apostle calls it of that God who is the Supreme Governour of the World from obedience to whose Authority 't is impossible the Creature should be exempted But before I proceed to make this good by further proof it will be necessary to make some short digression for the clearing the sense of one place of Scripture that seems at first view to bear open testimony against what I am now pleading for The place we have Gal. 3.16 Now to Abraham and his Seed were the Promises made He saith not And to Seeds as of many but as of one And to thy Seed which is Christ Hence some infer and they suppose with no less than unquestionable evidence since 't is in terms exprest That the New Covenant is made with Jesus Christ and not with Believers personally considered and consequently that he is the only party that stands engaged to the Father and not they for the performance of all such terms as this Covenant doth require A strange and dangerous Position which raseth the very foundations of Christianity the great design of this being to teach us to deny all ungodliness and worldly lusts and to live godly righteously and soberly in this present world Tit. 2.12 To this it might be sufficient by way of answer to reply That since this Text is of doubtful interpretation it cannot in reason be thought sufficient to warrant an opinion of so great importance especially since it not only stands alone without a second to confirm it but that there is abundant evidence both from Scripture and Reason against it as is afterwards to be shewn And 't is a known and safe rule in interpreting Scripture that doubtful and obscure places are and not on the contrary to be tryed and judged by the light and testimony of such as are more clear and evident 1. But further for the better understanding the true sense of this place it is here to be noted that such is the resemblance that Believers have of Christ and that intimate union they have with him as that they are sometimes called by his name as for the same reason Magistrates are called Gods Psal 6.7 and the Children of Jacob are called Jacob Psal 44.4 and Israel Rom. 11.2 7. and Jerusalem the Lord our Righteousness Jer. 33.16 and every man by the name of Adam Psal 144.3 and so upon the like account Believers they are called Christ because of that near alliance there is betwixt them Thus we find this word used by the Apostle 1 Corinth 12.12 Eph. 4.13 Col. 1.24 Heb. 11.25 26. compared Acts 9.4 So that by Christ here we may understand not Christ personal but Christ mystical that is the whole body of Believers whether Jew or Gentile as jointly united and made one in Christ their head as the Apostle expresseth it Eph. 1.22 23. and chap. 2.13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21. And this I take to be that one Seed to whom the promise is here said to be made 2. But secondly As the word may be thus taken without imposing any new sense upon it since 't is elsewhere so used by the Apostle and Scripture delights to transfer the name of any common Head to those that are either derived from or representative of it so it ought also to be taken in this and no other sense in this place and that for these following Reasons which to me render it abundantly evident For 1. This sense of the word here doth best suit with the Apostles design and main intendment in this and the following Chapter which is first to prove that we are justified by Faith in Christ and secondly that this priviledge with the rest annexed to the Covenant of Grace belonged not only to the Jews but to the believing Gentiles also 'T is well known that it was the common opinion of the Jewish Doctors that if a man lived in a due observance of the Law of Moses and if upon any moral miscarriage he were but punctual in offering Sacrifices and Oblations in that case appointed his sins were thereby expiated and he assured of eternal life and consequently that they were saved by their own righteousness and works of the Law And because they were originally descended from Abraham and had the Law and Oracles of God and the holy Temple c. amongst them therefore they rested in the Law and made their boast of God as appropriate to themselves being as they falsly apprehended the only Seed of Abraham
personal but Christ mystical that is the whole Body of Believers both Jew and Gentile united in one by Faith in Jesus Christ 3. But thirdly to name no more the Apostle himself doth thus interpret his own meaning in the close of this Chapter ver 26 27 28 There is neither Jew nor Greek there is neither bond nor free there is neither male nor female for ye are all one in Christ Jesus and ver 29. it follows If ye be Christs then are ye Abrahams Seed and Heirs according to the Promise And what can be spoken more expresly to instruct us that by the one Seed he meant both Jew and Gentile as believing in Jesus Christ They are all he tells you baptized into Christ they have all put on Christ they are all one in Christ They are Christ's They are all the Seed of Abraham and they are all joint-heirs of the Promise Which we have yet in more direct terms exprest by the same Apostle in his Epistle to the Romans where he treats of the self same argument chap. 9. ver 7 8. Neither because they are the Seed of Abraham are they all children but in Isaac shall thy seed be called that is as he expounds himself in the following verse They which are the children of the Flesh these are not the children of God but the children of the promise and who are they but Believers are counted for the Seed And thus having cleared the Apostles sense and meaning in this place and shewed how little it speaks in favour of that opinion that the Covenant was made with Christ I shall now proceed to make it good by further Argument that Believers and not Jesus Christ are the parties with whom God stipulates in the New Covenant And first From those Names and Titles that are given to Jesus Christ with reference to this Covenant He 's called the Angel or Messenger that brought the glad tydings of it to the World Mal. 3.1 The Prince that is the Lord and Founder of it Dan. 11.22 The Mediator by whom it was procured for and conveyed to us Heb. 12.24 The Surety that stands bound for the performance of it Heb. 2.22 And by his death he is said to ratifie and confirm it Dan. 9.27 Upon which account it is by the Evangelist called the New Testament in his blood Luke 22.20 Now that all these are spoken of Jesus Christ with relation to the Covenant of Grace is so abundantly evident that there shall need no other proof of it than meerly to view the several places whence they are cited But are these consistent with his being a party in this Covenant What Did he as Prince frame and found this Covenant for himself Or was he Messenger and Mediator and Surety to himself Or did he dye to confirm it to himself And if not to himself to whom then but to Believers Was it not for them that he founded this New Covenant And to them that he brought the glad tydings of it And for them that he mediates And for them that he dyed that they might be confirmed and assured in the truth of it 'T is they then and not Jesus Christ with whom this Covenant is made Yea but is not he expresly by the Prophet called our Covenant Isaiah 42.6 It 's true and so is Circumcision Acts 7.8 Gen. 17.13 And so are the Saints themselves Dan. 11.28.30.32 But who sees not that these must of necessity be taken in a figurative and not a proper sense An usual way of speaking to give the name of the adjunct to its proper subject and of the thing signified to its sign and of the Effect to its Cause and Author And thus 't is here the Saints they are called the Covenant as they are the proper Subjects of it Isa 55.3 And Circumcision as it is the Sign and Seal of it Rom. 4.11 And Jesus Christ as he is the Mediator and Founder of it Heb. 8.9 But 2. Where ever we read of the Sanction and promulgation of this Covenant there we shall find that Believers themselves and not Christ are still mentioned as the Parties with whom God stipulates and agrees When God covenanted with Abraham who are the Parties there engaged God and Christ or God and Abraham See Gen. 17. ver 2. I will make my Covenant between me and thee and ver 4. Behold my Covenant is with thee and ver 7. I will establish my Covenant between me and thee and thy seed after thee and again ver 10. This is my Covenant which ye shall keep between me and you and thy seed after thee And as God here promiseth to bless Abraham so Abraham also he declares his acceptance of the terms upon which 't is propounded and seals to the Agreement on his part ver 23. of the same Chapter And Abraham took Ishmael his Son and all that were born in his House c. and circumcised the flesh of their foreskin in the self same day as God had said unto him And this afterwards God himself gives as a reason why he would bless his Seed as he had promised Gen. 26.5 Sojourn in this Land saith God to Isaac there and I will be with thee and bless thee for unto thee and thy Seed I will give all these Countries and I will perform the Oath which I sware unto Abraham thy Father c. Why Because that Abraham obeyed my voice and kept my charge my Commandments my Statutes and my Laws But what was that charge c. Why not only that he should circumcise Ishmael with the rest of the Males in his Family but that he should walk before the Lord and be upright Gen. 17.1 From all which we learn 1. That this transaction betwixt God and Abraham it was not meerly a Testament but a Covenant 2. That this Covenant is mutual betwixt God on the one part and Abraham and his Seed on the other 3. That as God promiseth to bless Abraham so he also accepts of the terms and engageth to keep his Statutes and his Laws and sets to his Seal for performance For so the Apostle calls Circumcision Rom. 4.11 Again When this Covenant with some further additions to it is renewed with the Israelites the Seed of Abraham who are there mentioned as the Parties covenanting with God Is it not the Israelites each man for himself in his own person It 's true the Apostle tells us that it was ordained by Angels in the hand of a Mediator Gal. 3.19 that is by the intervention of Moses who was herein a Type of Jesus Christ the Mediator of the New Covenant as the Apostle stiles him Heb. 8.6 Yea but the Covenant for all that it was made though by the hands of Moses yet with the Israelites themselves and not with him as Mediator in their behalf But let 's consult the place it self since there we shall find the fullest account I meet with of the most solemn manner of entring into Covenant with God First Moses he
goes up into the Mount and there receives the Covenant from the mouth of God himself Exod. 19.3 4 5 6. The sum of which as you there read was this viz. That if they would obey the voice of God indeed and keep his Commandments that they should then be a peculiar treasure above all people c. This Moses upon his return propounds to the People from God for their consent ver 7. And Moses came and called for the Elders of the People and laid before their faces all these words which the Lord commanded him And the people hereupon declare their consent to these proposals ver 8. And all the people answered together and said All that the Lord hath spoken we will do which Moses again reports back to God in the close of that verse And Moses returned the words of the People unto the Lord. And then having made a more particular rehearsal of the Laws and Statutes which God had commanded them to observe in the four following Chapters he again propounds them to the people and they again declare their acceptance of them Chap. 24. ver 3. And Moses came and told the People all the words of the Lord and all the Judgments And all the People answered with one voice and said All the words which the Lord hath said will we do And thus the Covenant being mutually both on God's part and on the Israelites assented to he immediately causeth an Altar and twelve Pillars to be erected An Altar to the Lord and twelve Pillars as representative of the twelve Tribes of Israel ver 4. who having offered Sacrifice thereon ver 5. he takes one half of the blood thereof and sprinkleth it upon the Altar to signifie the Peoples sealing their part to God ver 6. and the other half he sprinkleth upon the People to signifie Gods sealing on his part to them ver 8. which is therefore called in the close of that verse the Bloud of the Covenant which God had made with them that is the Blood by which the Covenant was mutually ratified and sealed betwixt God and Israel Upon which account Moses tells them that they had avouched the Lord to be their God and to walk in his ways and keep his Statutes c. And that the Lord had avouched them to be his peculiar People as he had promised c. Deut. 26.16 17 18 19. And thus you see in these two famous instances of God's covenanting first with Abraham and then with Israel that not Jesus Christ but Abraham and Israel were the Confederates that became engaged to God for the performance of the terms therein required And were not they for the main under the same Covenant with Believers in the Gospel As to Abraham the case is evident read Gal. 3. and Rom. 4. and then tell me whether he were not under a Covenant of Grace And as to Israel though there were several Appendices Types and Shadows superadded by Moses which are now done away yet is there any other difference betwixt that and the Evangelical Dispensation Are they not essentially and for substance the same Had not they the same Christ exhibited in Types and Sacrifices which we have explicitely revealed in the Gospel And were not the same spiritual Blessings in him as pardon of sin justification and eternal life c. promised to them And were not the same substantial Duties as Repentance and Faith and Obedience required of them And was it not therefore the great business of Christ and his Apostles in their frequent contests with the Jews to demonstrate the conformity of their Doctrine with the Law of Moses and that they taught nothing but what Moses and the Prophets had before revealed to them For proof of this let these following places be consulted Joh. 5.45 46 47. Joh. 6.45 Joh. 10.34 Luke 4.17 18 19 20 21. Luke 16.29 Luke 24.27 and 44. Luke 18.31 and Luke 1.70 Acts 3.18 19.21 22 23. Act. 10 43. Acts 26.22 Acts 24.14 15. Acts 28.23 1 Cor. 10.2 Rom. 1.2 and 3.21 Eph. 2 20. And if Abraham and Israel were for the main under the same Covenant of Grace with us 't is evident that therein Believers themselves were the parties that stood engaged to God and consequently that the Covenant of Grace is made with them and not with their Mediator in their behalf This Argument is so clear and convictive as that 't is impossible to avoid the power of it otherwise than by saying that they were not saved as we by a Covenant of Grace which as it openly affronts the testimony of Christ and his Apostles as may be seen in the places before mentioned and more particularly from what the Apostle Paul hath delivered upon this Argument in his Epistles to the Romans and Galatians so it necessarily infers this monstrous conclusion that Old Testament Believers were saved as never any man yet was and as 't is impossible that any since the fall of Adam should be that is by a Covenant of Works For there is no medium betwixt these two If it be not of Works it must be by Grace as the Apostle argues Rom. 11.6 However they covenanted with God each man for himself and what reason can be given that Jesus Christ should undertake or stand engaged more for us than them or that we if saved as they Acts 15.11 should not lye under the same actual engagements to Faith and Obedience especially since our duty is more plain and our knowledge more clear and our reward more express and our assistance by the Spirit more influential and our advantages and obligation to God every way greater and more perswasive But to be short doth not Scripture affirm the self same thing of Gospel Believers Are not they still exprest as Parties where-ever we find either in the Old or New Testament any mention made of the New Covenant Jer. 31.31 Ezek. 34.11.25 c. Ezek. 37.24 25 26 27. Isa 55.3 Isa 61.8 9. Heb. 8.10 11 c. Heb. 10.16 That these Texts speak of the Gospel Covenant is unquestionable or else we have no such thing revealed in Scripture But with whom is it there said to be made with David the Prince and Shepherd as Christ is there stiled by Ezekiel No But with the Sheep and Flock with the House of David and the House of Israel that is with Believers who are exprest under those Old Testament Names of Israel and Jacob and Seed of Abraham c. And whereas some object that 't is constantly called in Scripture God's Covenant and not ours the reason is obvious from what hath been already said viz. That God as absolute Lord and Soveraign he contrives and frames and propounds this Covenant to us and all that we have to do is only to subscribe and seal to it And therefore not properly our Covenant but God's because he made it and not we Though this also is to be here observed that Believers are said not only to enter into Covenant but also to make
than if it had been done in their own persons For since Parents have an undoubted Soveraignty over their Children in their minority they are thereby invested with a right to dispose of them at pleasure provided it be not to their prejudice If Hannah begs and obtains a Son from God she may give him back again to God and devote him to his use and service And if a Father settles an Estate upon his Child he may oblige him to pay such lawful Debts and Annuities as he hath thought meet to charge upon it and hereby the Child is no less engaged to performance than if it had been his own act and deed However in the first and most pure Ages of the Church such as were admitted to Baptism in their infancy when they came to years and were instructed by Catechists particularly appointed for that purpose in the Principles of Christianity they then were brought into the Publick Congregation and there in their own persons did own and ratifie and take upon themselves what their Sureties had promised in their behalf Upon which account Baptism is called by the Apostle the answer of a good Conscience towards God 1 Pet. 3.21 In which words the Apostle hath respect to the questions that were then by the Minister propounded to the party to be baptized and the answer he gave to them Dost thou believe the Articles of the Christian Faith Dost thou renounce the World c. Dost thou give up thy self entirely to Jesus Christ and promise to be faithful to him These were the Questions usually propounded to the Christian Converts at their Baptism to all which they were to answer I do believe I do renounce I do promise And this is that supposing it to be spoken sincerely and from the heart which the Apostle here calls the answer of a good conscience The true Baptism indeed that saves us as he there speaks and not the putting away the filth of the flesh by being either immerst in Water or having that poured upon our Faces Again When we approach to the Table of the Lord and are there admitted to the sacred Communion of the Body and of the Blood of Jesus Christ as the Apostle expresseth it 1 Cor. 10.16 Do we not then renew our Covenant with God and solemnly declare that we take him to be our God and give up our selves also to him to be his People Do we not engage to love him and believe in him and to walk in all ways of holiness and obedience well pleasing in his sight Do we not then say with David Psal 119.94 Lord I am thine His indeed we ever were as made and redeemed by him but now we become his by our own actual choice and solemn dedication of our selves unto him How therefore any that are baptized and admitted to the Lords Supper should imagine that they are not parties that stand engaged to God in the New Covenant I understand not since thereby they do no less solemnly avouch the Lord to be their God and to walk in his ways and to keep his Statutes and Commandments than Israel did at Mount Horeb To me 't is an argument that these men were yet never duly instructed in the nature and use of these Gospel Institutions As Christ told the Woman of Samaria they worshipped they knew not what so we may say to them they know not what it is to be baptized and to partake of the Table of the Lord. 5. Lastly If Believers are not the parties but Christ that stand engaged to God by the New Covenant how then comes it to pass that they are charged with the commission of any sin or in any sense punisht for it That Believers as well as others may and do become guilty of sin is evident from express Scripture For in many things saith the Apostle James we offend all Jam. 3.2 And he that saith he hath no sin he lyeth saith John and the truth is not in him 1 Joh. 1.8 And why else did Jesus Christ instruct his Disciples to pray daily for the remission of their sins Math. 6.12 if they had no sins to be forgiven Sin then they do that 's unquestionable yea and upon their sinning they also become liable to temporal punishments though exempted from those that are eternal Was not Jacob punished for his lying to get the Blessing And Aaron and Moses punished for their passion and disbelief Numb 20.12 And David punished for his Murder and Adultery And the believing Corinthians punished for their undue celebration of the Lords Supper 1 Cor. 11.30 But how come they to be guilty of sin or punishable for it For where there is no sin there no punishment can be due and consequently it would be injustice in that case to punish And where there is no Law there can be no sin as the Apostle argues for all sin 't is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the transgression of some Law as he defines it 1 Joh. 3.4 But what Law is that by which Believers become obliged to Obedience The Old Covenant or Law of Works No. That 's long since abrogated and laid aside by the mediation of Jesus Christ and therefore no more obliging or convictive to such as are in Christ Rom. 6.13 For ye are not under the Law but under Grace By Grace there the Apostle means the Covenant of Grace as by Law the Covenant of Works And such is the opposition betwixt these two that he who is under one cannot be under the other any more than she that 's married can be under the power of another Husband till the first be dead As he further argues in the following Chapter ver 1 2 3 4 5 6. The conclusion from all which is this that being married to Christ we are freed from the Law But how then become Believers obliged to duty or convict of sin By what Law since not by the Law of Works What By the Law of Grace the New Covenant Neither according to the sentiments of such as say that the Covenant was made with Christ and not with Believers For if they be not the parties that stand engaged for service and obedience to it neither can they be charged with guilt in not obeying it Suppose that any one should covenant and agree with a third person in my behalf that if I be put into the possession of such an Office or Estate I shall pay such a Rent or homage by way of acknowledgment my consent and stipulation thereto being not required Who now stands bound he or I for the performance of these Conditions or who shall be charged with breach of Covenant in case of non-performance Gratitude indeed and Ingenuity may perswade me to use all possible endeavours to perform what my friend in kindness hath promised for me Yea but in Law I am not bound thereto but he only that entred into Bonds for me and consequently if I neglect or refuse to pay such Rents and Acknowledgments the default shall be charged
not upon me but him He 's the only Offender in Law not I for where there is no obligation to obedience by Law there can be no sin or offence against it And thus by affirming the New Covenant to be made with Jesus Christ and not with Believers they do not only acquit themselves from all sin and possibility of sinning which is flatly contrary to the express testimony of Scripture but they also in effect charge Jesus Christ with their sins and make him legally guilty of all the violations of the Covenant which are Consequences of so foul and black a nature as that no sober mind can entertain a thought of them or of the Principles whence they spring without abhorrence I have been the more large upon this argument since this opinion of the Covenants being made with Christ and not with Believers as it is of dangerous consequence and evidently destructive to the power of Godliness so it hath gained much upon the minds of men partly from the corruption of Mans nature that readily entertains what ever makes for liberty and promiseth indulgence to the flesh and gives a dispensation from the more strict observances in Religion And partly from the Nature of the Doctrine that tends to take Men off from the trouble of duty and obedience and to gratifie them in their desires of ease and pleasure And partly from the worth and credit of some Seers in Israel that have unwarily preacht and pubâ—isht this to the World either by inadvertency taking it up as a traditional Doctrine without due examination or by mistake not rightly distinguishing betwixt the Covenant of Redemption which 't is evident was made with Christ and the Covenant of Grace which is made with Believers But if Jesus Christ be the Author Mediator and Confirmer of this New Covenant by his death and intercession in the behalf of sinners And if Believers themselves and not Christ are still mentioned in Scripture as the party with whom God Covenants as from the instances of Abraham and Israel and Gospel Saints 't is evident And if it be made their act to stipulate with God therein they enter into Covenant with the Lord and they join themselves to him by Covenant and they cut a Covenant with him and they avouch the Lord to be their God and they subscribe with the hand to the Lord and they pass under the Rod and come into the Bond of the Covenant and give themselves to the Lord And if they be the persons only that seal with God in this Covenant and that this be the proper use and design of those two great Gospel Institutions Baptism and the Lords Supper And lastly if they become guilty of sin in their non performance of the terms of it and are punishâ—ble for their defaults Then 't is no more to be doubted but that Believers and not Christ are the sole parties with whom God transacts in the New Covenant which was the thing to be demonstrated PROPOS X. Of the terms of the New Covenant THIS New Covenant made with Believers in Jesus Christ for life and glory it is not only consistent with but doth necessarily as such imply certain terms and conditions annexed to it which we are indispensably obliged to accept and perform The Covenant is made up of Promises and Commands Priviledges and Conditions the former contain our happiness the latter our duty and these two they must not be separated What a Condition is every one I suppose understands that hath but seen any ordinary Lease or Indenture By that we know there â—s somewhat demised and granted as the â—ree and peaceable enjoyment of the Premiâ—es with all Emoluments and Appurtenanâ—es belonging to it And there is also somewhat therein required and enjoined as the payment of the Rent reserved and keeping the Premises in repair c. which if done and performed accordingly the Tenant is continued in possession But if it so happen that the said Rent be unpaid or the Premises suffered to go to decay then the Lease is forfeited and the party may by Law be ejected So that a Condition you see is that which on our part is required upon the performance of which some good or emolument is to be received and enjoyed by us but in case of non-performance the whole is lost either by forfeiting our right or by having at first no rightful claim to it And thus we say that Faith and Repentance c. are Conditions of the New Covenant God therein indeed gives and grants pardon of sin and eternal life to sinners but with this proviso that they repent of their sins and believe in Jesus Christ c. which if they do accordingly the Blessings promised become theirs and they are continued in the possâ—ssion of them but if they fail in the sincere performance of these duties their sins shall not be pardoned noâ— their souls eternally saved as is afterwards to be shewn This is that which I call the condition oâ— the Covenant Nor can I see any just reason why any should be offended with the word For do we not in all contracts call that a condition to the performance of which we arâ— by Covenant obliged upon penalty of forfeiture in case of nonâ—performance As if you shall pay such a Fee or Homage to the Court you shall enjoy such an estate otherwise you shall lose the possession of it And in all Agreements those are the conditions which are the terms upon which the disagreeing parties mutually accord As Luke 14.32 it 's said of the King that was not able to war with him that came against him that he sent his Embassadours an desired conditions of Peace And those in Logick conditional propositions upon which the consequent hath an evident dependance upon its antecedent As if you forgive men their trespasses your heavenly Father will also forgive you but if ye forgive not men their trespasses neither will your Father forgive you your trespasses Math. 6.14 15. If we would judge our selves we should not be judged of the Lord 1 Corinth 11.31 If ye keep my Commandments ye shall abide in my love Joh. 15.10 If thou seekest for wisdom as silver and searchest for her as for hid treasures then shalt thou understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God Prov. 2.4 5. If ye live after the flesh ye shall die but if ye through the spirit do mortifie the deeds of the flesh ye shall live Rom. 8.13 If thou dost well shalt thou not be accepted Gen. 2.7 If we confess our sins he is faithful to forgive 1 Joh. 1.9 Are not all these conditional propositions Doth not reason and common language teach us to speak thus And who ever yet called them by any other name I have therefore the rather instanced in these Scriptures that you might see how confessing our sins and forgiving others are made conditions of Gods forgiving us And judging our selves is made the condition of our not
Lord I am thine I am thy servant All relations we say are mutual and so are also the respective duties appropriate to them And therefore whoever puts himself into any relation he doth by that very act at least implicitely bind himself to the performance of all the duties of that relation He that sincerely owns any man to be his Father or Master doth thereby oblige himself to all the duties of a Son and Servant 4. I might add that since the pirviledges and immunities of this Covenant are not equally and alike imparted unto all 't is necessary that some conditions should be affixed to it as marks and evidences whereby those to whom they do belong might be assured of their legal interest in and title to them and all others excluded that wilfully reject the tender of them and unworthily prefer their carnal delights and pleasures and worldly interests before them If the question be asked why have not all an equal share in or rightful claim to pardon and life The only answer must be the one sincerely perform the conditions upon which they are promised i. e. they repent and believe c. but the others continue in their impenitence and unbelief But of this I shall have an occasion to speak more fully in the following proposition 5. The everlasting benefits of the New Covenant are either promised conditionally or else absolutely and without conditions If absolute then may all equally lay claim to the promises of pardon and life and alike partake of all the blessings of the Covenant Then Esau as well as Jacob and Judas as well as Peter and Pilate that condemned Christ as well as those that became his Disciples and suffered for him might hope to be justified and made Heirs of the Kingdom For what should hinder or exclude them What you will say their impenitency and unbelief I but if the Covenant be absolute and there be no such condition or proviso added to it how can their not repenting and believing in Jesus Christ be legally pleaded against them or become any bar to their Salvation 'T is absolutely promised without reserve that they shall be saved and God is obliged by his own faithfulness to make good his promise to them And if so what becomes of his threatnings and comminations against the impenitent and unbelieving world And where is the truth of Christs doctrine that strait is the gate and narrow the way that leads to life The entrance into Heaven is then wider than the gates of Hell and many there be that enter in thereat Publicans and Harlots Scribes and Pharisees and Hypocrites and Infidels as well as Saints and Believers None are excluded Suppose a King to set forth a Proclamation wherein he positively declares that all such as have rebelled against him or such a number of them as he therein mentions by name shall be pardoned and accepted to favour and accordingly that he doth hereby fully pardon and accept them can any thing possibly in this case debar them from reaping the full benefit of this Proclamation No but if the proposals of his Grace and Favour be conditional and therefore only to such as shall lay down their Arms and come in and humble themselves and engage to own him as their Soveraign and to submit to his Laws and Government otherwise to be proceeded against as Rebels and Traitors against his person and Soveraignty Here as whilst the door is held open to all that shall submit themselves and return to their Alâ—egiance so 't is by the other hand shut against â—ll obstinate and resolved offenders They â—ave no plea or claim to any benefit by his â—roclamation of grace and acceptance Why Because they submitted not to the â—erms upon which it was propounded But will any one say that God hath made any â—uch Declaration of Grace to Sinners as that â—ll or any particular number of them shall â—e pardoned and admitted into his favour â—nd received into eternal Glory though they â—ever repent or believe in Christ but obâ—tinately continue in their infidelity and acts â—f hostility against him If so to what purâ—ose hath God appointed an Hell or day of â—udgment For if the impenitent and unbelieving and â—isobedient have an absolute promise to be â—â—ved there is none then can be damned Baâ—am might then have spared his prayer Numb 23.10 Let me die the death of the righteous and let my latter end be like his â—â—nce as dies the righteous so dies the wicked iâ— sure and certaine hopes of a resurrection unto eternal life The Covenant then you see 't is not absolute 't is not to all alike without exception 't is not to the obstinate and resolved sinner that continues in his impenitâ—ncy and unbelief And if it be not absolute iâ— necessarily follows that 't is conditional for the opposition betwixt these two terms is contradictory and so cannot admit of any medium That which hath no conditions is absolute that therefore which is not absolute must have conditions PROPOS XI Of our necessary obligation to perform the conditions of the Covenant AS the Covenant of Grace is made with conditions so these conditions they must actually be accepted and performed by us before we can be admitted to any actual interest in or have any lawful claim to the blessings of it The Covenant as before was said is made up of priviledges and duties Those are promised and these commanded Now the duties commanded must first be performed before the priviledges promised can be enjoyed since the promise is only made to the performance of them Plainly thus We are not first pardoned and then repent first justified and then believe first glorified and then made holy But we must first repent and believe before we can be pardoned and make good the sincerity of our resolutions in both so far as we have opportunity by obedience before we enter into life Which is no more than what is commonly said by Divines viz. That faith goes before justification and holiness before happiness This is the unvariable order in which the benefits of this Covenant are to be dispensed and in which they are only to be expected by us I do not say that these duties or conditions are to be performed by us in our own natural strength but yet they must be performed by us in our own persons The work is properly ours but the strength to do it is from the Lord. He by his spirit inables us to repent and believe and obey the Gospel I but still so that it is our act we are the persons that must actually repent and believe and obey or else we cannot receive the remission of our sins and an inheritance amongst them that are sanctified And shall I need to say much for the proof of this which is so manifest partly from what I have already said and partly from the evidence of reason it self For first 1. Hath not God positively and in plain terms commanded us to
repent and believe and be holy And that in order to our being happy And hath he not finally excluded from life and happiness all such that are impenitent unbelieving and impure Can there be any doubt concerning this to him that reads the Gospel and believes it to be of Divine authority And is he not do you think serious in all this What shall the unchangeable God that cannot lie be deemed like degenerate Man to speak one thing and mean another Or is he serious only in his promises and not so also in his commands and threatnings Why Are not both equally founded upon the same immutable nature and veracity of God And if you can perswade your selves to hope that God will revoke his threatnings and commands Why should you not also doubt whether he will make good his promises We have no other foundation whereon to build our faith and hopes but the declared will of God and if that be changeable our faith 's no better than opinion and our hopes presumption We can then neither be sure that the wicked shall be turned into Hell nor yet that the righteous shall be saved If this then be the fixed and unchangeable order and method of Salvation by the Covenant of Grace that either we must repent or perish return or die believe or be damned be holy or not see God be obedient or suffer the vengeance of eternal fire as hath been shewn how can we hope to be saved otherways than in repenting and turning and believing and obeying of the Gospel Otherways than in the actual performance of these duties 2. Have we not more than once by our own voluntary act solemnly engaged our selves to the actual performance of all these conditions When we were baptized when we after this approached to the Lords Table when we have at any time professedly humbled our Souls before the Lord in any solemn ordinance yea when we first entertained the tenders of Grace and Salvation did we not then promise and engage to amend our evil wayes and doings and turn to God and believe in Jesus Christ and receive him in all his offices and keep his Commands and walk in all holiness and obedience well pleasing in his sight Now either we were serious and in good earnest or not when we thus engaged If serious 't is morally impossible that we should indulge our selves in the wilfull neglect of these duties since an intentional and approved violation of our promise is inconsistent with sincerity And therefore the conscience of our own obligation will necessarily put us upon all possible endeavours to act conformable to our own engagements And since the thing to which we obliged our selves was not meerly the profession and acknowledgment but actual performance of these duties we shall accordingly study to perform them But if we say we were not serious in these solemn engagements we then plainly confess that our design therein was only to play the Hypocrites with God and to impose upon his omnisciency But is it possible that any reasonable creature should ever become so prodigious a Monster Or that ever it should enter into the heart of Man to imagine that the all wise and holy God He that requires truth in the inward parts Psal 51.6 He that hath curst the deceiver Mal. 1.14 He that hath denounced so many woes against the Hypocrite Matth. 23. and hath sentenced them to the lowest place in Hell Matth. 24.51 That he I say should bind himself by Covenant to such Miscreants to pardon them and bless them and admit them to the best and choisest priviledges of his Kingdom What such as design to mock God and play the Hypocrite with him and to be treacherous and unfaithful to him Be not deceived saith the Apostle God is not mocked Gal. 6.7 Besides if our stipulating with God in the Covenant or as the Prophet expresseth it our subscribing with the hand to the Lord be necessary as hath been demonstrated in order to our recâ—iving the blessings of it then our actual performance of what we stipulated and subscribed to must needs be much more necessary since our solemn engagement to the Covenant is râ—quired not meerly for it self but only as a means to this end that is to bind us to a more punctual performance of the conditions of it 3. How else shall we distinguish betwixt the righteous and the wicked the Heirs of Glory and the Sons of perdition They may all be baptized They may all subscribe with the hand to the Lord. They may all eat and drink at his table They may all be professors in Religion and make a fair shew in the flesh as the Apostle speaks Gal. 6.12 These things are common to both and therefore can be no mark of distinction betwixt them No but herein lies the difference The one break off their sins by repentance and turn to God the other not The one come to the foot of Christ take his yoak and bear his burden and sincerely believe in him the others not The one keep his Commandments and obey from the heart his Laws and Doctrine the others not The one love the Lord with all their Souls and thoughts and strength the others have not the same love of the Father in them but love the world and the things of the world as John speaks 1 John 2.15 In a word the one perform the Oath of the Lord and act conformably to their Covenant engagements but the other they draw back and are unfaithful Like the Pharisees they say and do not But the others they say and do And thus they are mutually described and distinguished by the Apostle 1 Joh. 3 7 10. Little children let no man deceive you he that doeth righteousness is righteous even as he is righteous ver 7. But whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God ver 10. And herein he tells us the Children of God are manifest and the Children of the Devil Herein they are differenced and hereby they manifestly may be distinguished And the same Character and mark of distinction we have from Jesus Christ himself Job 8.31 15.8 But if the actual performance of these conditions be not unchangeably necessary all distinction betwixt good and bad Holy and Prophane is taken away and we cannot say of any â—owever visibly different in their lives and conversations this Man is wicked or that Man is righteous since one is not this in observing nor the other that in neglecting the observance of them if not neceâ—sary to be observed and so we have no Standard left whereby to judge of either The obedient and disobedient are alike if obedience and disobedience be the same For whatever elective love God may have for any particular person more than for others amongst the degenerate Sons of Men yet since that is only an immanent act in God and that which had an existence from all eternity before we had any thing and wholly lies hid in the secret counsel of Gods
will and so absolutely unknown to us that cannot possibly either make any change of our state or become any foundation for any real and forensick distinction betwixt Man and Man 'T is not that which makes this Man a Judas and that Man a Paul The one actually wicked and the other personally righteous And therefore whoever God predestinates saith the Apostle thâ—m also he calls before they are either justified or glorified Rom. 8.30 He makes them to pass under the rod and brings them into the bond of the Covenant and pours clean water upon them and puts his Spirit into them and writes his Laws in their hearts and causeth them to walk in his ways and keep his Judgments before he will own them to be his people and dignify them with the name of Saints and Children and righteous ones Ezek. 36.25 26 27 28. Jer. 31.33 1 Cor. 1.2 Take Paul for an instance He was you know a chosen vessel to the Lord Acts 9.15 Separated in Gods predeterminate counsel from his Mothers womb Gal. 1.15 Yea but was he therefore immediately justified and sanctified and adopted and owned for a Saint a Child of God from his Mothers womb No for all that he will tell you that he was for some years a Pharisee an injurious person a Persecutor a Blasphemer 1 Tim. 1.13 And as he speaks of the Ephesians that he was dead in sins and trespasses a Child of disobedience and of wrath without Christ having no hope and without God in the World Eph. 2.1 2 3 12. To this effect he speaks expresly of himself Tit. 3.3 And may we not now truly say of Paul however elected that he was a wicked Man during his continuance in this state And consequently that he was not righteous since 't is impossible for the same person to be righteous and wicked dead and alive at the same time But how then came Paul to be amongst Gods Jewels his holy ones How God humbles him at the foot of Christ Acts 9.5 6 c. and calls him by his Grace Gal. 1.15 and makes him obedient to his call Acts 26.19 and regenerates him by his Spirit Tit. 3.3 4 5. and causeth him to believe and obey the Gospel Acts 24.14 15 16. and to live intirely to Jesus Christ Philip. 1.21 Thus Paul obtaineth Mercy as he tells you 1 Tim. 1.16 and is listed into the number of the Saints his name now is changed Acts 13.9 'T is no more Saul but Paul no more a Persecutor but an Apostle of Jesus Christ and now he is justified Gal. 2.16 and now he receives a Crown of righteousness 2 Tim. 4.8 And thus you see what it is that denominates a man righteous or wicked and what is the only note of distinction betwixt an Heir of wrath and a Child of God not baptism or profession or being in the visible Church or the elective love of God but doing righteousness as John speaks which is nothing else but the actual performance of the Conditions of the New Covenant of which I am treating 4. Why else hath God sent his holy Spirit into the World Is it not plainly for this end that he may help our infirmities Rom. 8.26 and that he may assist us in the actual performance of those duties which are by the New Covenant required of us That we may look upon him whom we have pierced by our sins and mourn Zech. 12.10 that we may believe in Jesus Christ 2 Cor. 4.13 that we may mortifie the deeds of the flesh Rom. 8.13 that our hearts may be purified in obeying the truth 1 Pet. 1.22 And that we may walk in the wayes and keep the Judgments of God Ezek. 36.27 All this is said to be by the assistance of the Divine Spirit And therefore it is that the ministration of the Spirit is still necessary in order to our Salvation notwithstanding that Jesus Christ hath fully discharged the office and perfâ—cted the work of a Redeemer and Mediator for us Joh. 16.7 Nevertheless I tell you the truth It is expedient for you thâ—t I go away for If I go not away the comforter will not come unto you but if I depart I will send him unto you The Spirit here is expresly promised to be sent in the room of Christ to supply his place and office when he should leave the World as that which should be of more advantage to them than still to enjoy Christs personal presence here on Earth Nevertheless I tell you the truth it is expedient for you that I go away But why expedient For then the Spirit shall come But when he is come what shall he do Why He shall convince the world of sin of righteousness and of judgment ver 8. I but if Jesus Christ hath so done all as that we have nothing at all to do and that his imputed righteousness alone be sufficient to save us without our personal and obediential righteousness to what purpose is the administration of the Spirit His work and office is wholly superseded For what needs a Spirit of mourning to be poured down upon us if so be the Covenant of Grace require us not personally to repent Or a Spirit of Faith as the Apostle calls it 2 Cor. 4.13 if we are not bound to believe Or a Spirit of holiness if it oblige us not to be actually holy Or a spirit of obedience if we may be saved without obeying If then our having of the Spirit and being led or acted by him be indispensably necessary in order to our Salvation so also is our repenting and believing in Christ and loving God and doing of his will and cleansing our selves from all filthiness of flesh and spirit and perfecting holiness in the fear of God and purifying our selves as he is pure since the effecting this in us is the great errand for which he came into the World and the main office he hath undertaken during the time of Christ Mediatory Kingdom The truth is we can no more be saved without the ministration of the spirit than we can without the Mediation of Jesus Christ This argument runs clear in Scripture He that hath not Christ hath not life 1 Joh. 5.12 But he that hath not the spirit hath not Christ Rom. 8.9 And he that is not holy and obedient hath not the spirit Jude ver 19. For where ever the Spirit is he regenerates and sanctifies the whole lump Body Soul and Spirit as the Apostle speaks 1 Thess 5.22 and so becomes in that Soul a Spirit of Faith Holiness and obedience 5. How otherwise shall Believers attain to any evidence or assurance of their Salvation Or come to know that they more than othes are in a state of friendship with God and made Heirs of the promise and vessels of mercy when so great a part of the World are Heirs of wrath and Sons of perdition That they may be thus assured since some undoubtedly have been so and that they all ought to labour for
and the doctrine of free Grace THis method of Gods saving sinners by way of Covenant as is before explained is very well consistent with and no way derogatory to either the sufficiency of Christs satisfaction and righteousness or to the doctrine of free Grace in Christ I add this because 't is the common fortress to which Men of more loose and debauched lives and principles in Religion are wont to retire when by the evidence of Scripture and reason they are driven from all their other holds Tell them that they must repent and turn to God and amend their evil wayes and doings and bring forth fruits meet for repentance Tell them that they must come to Christ and believe in him and take his yoak and bear his burden and deny themselves and be obedient to his Laws and love him in sincerity Tell them that they must mortifie the deeds of the flesh and deny all ungodliness and worldly lusts and live godly and righteously and soberly in this present world and be pure in heart and holy in all manner of conversation as he that hath called them is holy Tell them that there is an indispensable necessity of all this or else their sins cannot be pardoned or their persons accepted or their Souls saved in the day of the Lord Jesus And give them undeniable reason and plain and express Scripture for the proof of all these commands and promises and threatnings all speaking the same language And what is their answer to all this Why The righteousness of Christ is sufficient and the Grace of God in Christ is free and therefore they hope in his mercy and doubt not of their Salvation though they still indulge themselves in sin and continue in a manifest neglect of God and the great duties of Christianity And all that is said to the contrary that might take them off from sin and vanity and perswade them to any greater diligence and exactness in Religion that is immediately condemned and decried for legal doctrine that disthrones Christ and takes the Crown from his head and destroyes the free Grace of God and tends to bring us again in bondage to the Law And that which makes it the more difficult to take Men off from these mistaken notions they have entertained concerning the righteousness of Christ and free Grace is this that they are the only foundation and hold that these Men have for their hopes of pardon and Salvation So that if you beat them off from these you take away all their hopes and confidence yea their Heaven and happiness from them They have nothing then left whereby to stop the mouths of their own awakened consciences or warrant their expectations of Heaven or to keep their Souls from sinking immediately into despair Their hearts they condemn them for their daily neglect of duty and indulgencies to the flesh and disobedience to the Gospel and alas they have nothing within or from the word to witness for them No broken and contrite spirit no mournings in secret for their sins no acts of self-denyal no change of heart or life no spirit of faith or fear or love or adoption to intitle them to the promise and blessings of the Covenant No neither Sun nor Star appears that might encourage them in their way but as it was with Paul in his voyage to Rome all hopes that they should be saved is taken away and therefore 't is that they do with so much constancy and resolution adhere to and contend for these mistaken notions as their only refuge security And thus though they are not able to conquer or encounter those thundering Legions that are brought against them yet whilest they have this strong hold and fortress to retire to they are little moved by the terrors of the Lord but still apprehend themselves safe and well secured against all that thunder and lightning that is from Heaven poured out against them All is but like the shooting of pointed Arrows against the walls of a Castle which are presently beat back again without making any great impression upon the walls And therefore there is little hopes of ever prevaling with these Men to surrender themselves to the powers either of Scripture or reason though on every hand besieged by them unless this Fortress of theirs be demolished and its Towers broken down and consequently their refuge and defence taken away That is in more plain English unless it be discovered that their notions about the sufficiency of Christ's righteousness and the doctrine of Free Grace are false and vain and that neither the conditionality of the New Covenant nor the necessity of our personal performance of the conditions of it in order to eternal life are any way inconsistent with or prejudicial unto either Grace notwithstanding is still free And the satisfaction and righteousness of Jesus Christ is nevertheless sâ—fficient These are the two things that I am now particularly to speak to and to demonstrate The sufficiency of Christs satisfaction and â—ighteousness is no way either contradicted or prejudiced by asserting the Covenant of Grace to be made not with Jesus Christ but with â—elievers themselves upon certain terms and conditions to the actual performance of which they are personally obliged in order to their receiving and enjoying the benefits â—f it That Jesus Christ hath fully satisfied the demands of the first Covenant and fulâ—â—lled all righteousness and finished his work â—s Mediator and perfected our Redemption â—y his death and suffering And that his saâ—â—sfaction and merit is of infinite value and â—â—erefore abundantly sufficient for the ends â—r which it was intended hath been acâ—nowledged and proved in the foregoing â—â—opositions Propos. 2. and 4. And thereâ—ore I shall need to say nothing here for the â—â—claring my assent to or for the vindicatiâ—â— of these particulars That which I have â—ow to do is only to shew in what sense â—â—operly it may be said to be sufficient and 〈◊〉 remove those mistaken apprehensions that â—â—e concerning it For which purpose it is 〈◊〉 the first place to be observed that by sufâ—iciency here we are not to understand the â—â—â—rinsick worth and value of Christs saâ—â—â—faction and righteousness upon which account it may not untruly be said if rightly construed that 't is sufficient for the Salvatioâ— of many worlds And in this very particular mainly lies the mistake The satisfaction oâ— Christ say they is infinite and his righteousness infinite therefore sufficient for the redemption of this and many worlds if they had been made which as to its absolute valuâ— and dignity is acknowledged But whatâ— then Why Therefore they hope and believe that they shall be saved by it And 〈◊〉 they build their faith and hopes immediately upon the absolute worth and merit 〈◊〉 Christs satisfaction But will this foundatioâ— stand or this argument hold good wheâ— it comes to tryal In this sense 't is sufficienâ— to save the Infidels Jews and Turks Tâ— save the spirits now in
the ends for which it is intended For since it hath only the place of a means as was said if you give it all that sufficiency and honour that is of right due and belonging to it when I assert it sufficient to its designed end though I deny it to be sufficent to many other purposes for which it never was appointed As he that saith â—he mortgage given for his security is well able to discharge the debt for which 't is engaged acknowledgeth all that is proper to be said of it Nor would it be thought any disparagement this being granted neither to the owner or to the security given to say that 't is not sufficient to pay such other debts and bonds for the payment of which it never was nor ever was intended that it should be obliged And so much by way of answer to the first objection But secondly 2. As the method of Gods saving sinners by Covenant in the sense before expressed it no diminution or prejudice to the all-sufficiency of Christs satisfaction and righteousness duely explained and understood so neither is it as pretended any way destructive or opposite to the doctrine of free Grace rightly stated according to the rules of the Gospel There is indeed a Free Grace which some Men vainly fancy to themselves to which I confess this doctrine is diametrically opposite but not to that which we have recommended to us in and warranted by the Scriptures But that this may be the more clearly evidenced and made good these five things must here be done 1. We must in the first place rightly state the notion of Free Grace 2. We must duely distinguish betwixt causes and conditions 3. We must take notice of that order in which the blessings of the Covenant are dispensed and in what order the Conditions of it are to be applied for the obtaining of them 4. We must inquire into and inform our selves aright concerning the nature of Salvation and happiness and see how the duties of Christianity stand related to it 5. And lastly we must not forget by whose strength and assistance all our duties are performed 1. We must here rightly state the notion and limits of Free Grace For herein lies the great errour of the World and that from which also arise those many dangerous mistakes that are concerning it They have wild and strange and unbounded conceptions and ideas of Gods Free Grace in their minds and therefore no wonder that they give us so bad a Comment of it in their lives and conversations For God to accept of their good wishes and desires as they call them though their lives are still wicked and unreformed And to pardon Sinners that have worn out all their dayes in carnal delights and pleasures and manifest rebellion against God only upon their crying out in the last moment of their lives Lord have mercy on them and receive their Souls And to be so pitiful and compassionate to his Creatures as not to damn or destroy them because he hath made them And to give them Heaven and Happiness for the sake of Christ though they never truly believed in him or seriously minded Heaven all their dayes or regarded to please God and live in obedience to his Law And bestow eternal recompenses upon them Kingdoms and Crowns of Glory though they have sate still all their time and never worked in the vineyard or fought in the battle or run in the race that was set before them This is that which generally Men call by the name of the Free Grace of God and by which they hope to be saved as well as others as well as the best as they commonly speak But is this indeed the Grace of God That which he assumes to himself as his Glory and which he hath revealed to us in the Gospel as the foundation of our Faith To pardon and save such I confess even the most impenitent and unbelieving and impure Sinners in the world the very Heirs of wrath and Sons of perdition this I grant would be Grace and free Grace too Yea but where have we any warrant or encouragement from the word to believe that there is any such Grace in God or Jesus Christ whereby such sinners shall be saved And yet might those be owned for the legitimate and true born notions of free Grace which the wild imaginations of Men may at â—leasure create to themselves it were easy to give a more large and extensive description of it To proclaim liberty to the captives now in Hell that are weeping and wailing and blaspheming God because of their torments And the opening of the prison to the Devil and his Angels that are bound in chains reserved for the blackness of darkness for ever And to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord to all the inhabitants of the earth that they all might be saved Jews and Turks and Pagans that none might perish tell me would not this be Grace and free too with an emphasis Yea but all Grace you see that we may fâ—ncy is not saving Grace Nor all that neither the Grace of God which we fondly imagine to be in God I have said all this to shew how much the generality of the world are mistaken in their conceptions of free Grace and what necessity there is to come to some stated and limited notions concerning it which must undoubtedly be such as may be worthy of God and suitable to the nature of a reasonable Creature Such as may be consistent with the infinite wisdom of God and holiness of his nature and truth and veracity of his word Such as may uphold the credit of his Laws and Government in the world and retain the Creature in his due subjection to and dâ—pendance upon his Maker Such also as may be agreeable to his Sons great design in dying and suffering for Mâ—n which was to mend and reform the world and to make Men holy and righteous and conformable to God and not to encourage them to sin and wickedness by their hopes of mercy and impunity These boundaries and limitations must necessarily be supposed to all the dispensations of Gods free Grace to the Creature since for God to act otherwise which is not to be imagined would be both dishonourable to himself and contradictory to the undertaking of his Son in redeeming the world Where by the way wee see how greatly they are mistaken who ascribe this free Grace to God under a pretence of giving the more honour to him when in truth nothing can be said more unworthy of him Suppose the Magistrate should set forth a Proclamation wherein he declares it to be his Royal pleasure that all that have been guilty of any crime whatsoever Murderers and Traytors and Rebells the worst and vilest of malefactors should without distinction be pardoned and set at liberty though they never humbled themselves to him or reformed their lives or promised allegeance to his person and Government but still persisted in their
wickedness and kept their weapons in their hands to fight against him This you will grant would undoubtedly be an act of free Grace and favour in the Magistrate yea but would it do you think be to his honour Some few profligate persons possibly who hoped for impunity by it might cry him up as wonderfully gracious and indulgent but would any wise and sober Man commend him for it Surely if he had had any love to justice and righteousness or any regard to his own credit or any due care and respect for his Laws and Governmâ—nt he would never have been guilty of so imprudent and unadvised an action He would never thus have countenanced such impieties and encouraged Men to rebell against him would not this be the plain sense and interpretation of such an act of Grace Just thus do these Men honour God and Christ that make his Grace to be so free as to save impenitent and unbelieving sinners But if it be certain that there is no such free Grace in God nor no such righteousness in Christ as may be sufficient to save such sinners as these then 't is also as certain that the conditionality of the Covenanâ— requiring our personal repentance and faith and holiness in order to our Salvation is no way inconsistent with or derogatory to that stated notion we have of both in the Gospel though it be to those wild notions of them that wicked Men vainly fancy to themselves which I shall yet more plainly demonstrate by shewing first what Grace properly is secondly what is absolutely necessary to make it free 1. Grace properly signifies no more than love and kindness favour and friendly acceptance or bounty and benâ—ficence Luke 1.30 Fear not saith the Angel there to Maâ—y for thou hast found 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 fâ—vour with God and ver 28. thou art greatly or highly favoured 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which we render in the margin graciously accepted or much graced So Luke 2.52 't is said of Jâ—sus Christ that he encreased in wisdom and stature and favour 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with God and Man Acts 2.46 They eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart saith Luke there of those primitive converts praising God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and having favour with all the people And Joh. 1.17 The Law came by Moses but Grace and truth by Jesus Christ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is elsewhere rendred love and kindness And to name no more 1 Cor. 16.3 Whomsoever you shall approve by your letters them will I sâ—nd to bring your liberality 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is your charity as we speak or kindnâ—ss in your liberal contributions for the relief of the poor Saints at Jerusalem In which sense you have the same word taken 2. Cor. 8.4 And therefore whâ—n the fruits of the Spirit as Faith and Love and Hope c. are called Graces as we say the Grace of Faith and the Grace of Repentance c. this is not to be understood in a proper sense for so they are not Grace but metonymically and by way of derivation only either because they come from the special love and favour of God and so are the effects of it or because they render us acceptable to God and so become the objâ—cts of his love upon which account 't is called by the Schoolmen Gratia gratum faciens In the first sense thâ—y are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quia 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the second quia By the Grace of God then we are here properly to understand his love and favour and kindness and good will and beneficence to the Sons of Men. 2. But secondly that all this may be truly said to be free free love and free kindness and free beneficence there is nothing more required but that it be not deserved For if I cannot possibly by any thing that lies within the compass of my power to do merit or deserve the least favour or kindness from the hands of another then whatever I receive from him must be acknowledged due to his free love and bounty This therefore I shall take for an undoubted axiome that as what I deserve is my due so that also is undoubtedly free that is undeserved And therefore notwithstanding all that hath been said concerning the conditionality of the Covenant and the necessity of our personal performance of the Conditions of it that of the Apostle will still stand firm Eph. 2.8 By Grace ye are saved through faith and not of your selves it is the gift of God Because it is not possible for any Creature to merit or deserve any thing at the hands of God much lâ—ss such transcendent favours as to be made the Sons of God and Hâ—irs of Glory For who ever merits any thing of another by any thing he gives or doeth that gift or action of his that it may become meritorious or deserving it must of necessity have these four qualifications or properties annexed to it 1. It must be de prâ—prio Somewhat that is his own Otherwise he properly gives nothing but he rather from whom he received it As he thâ—t takes an hundred pound from one Man and gives it to another deserves nothing for such a gift since properly he gives nothing that is his own 2. It must be ex indebito somewhat that is not antecedently due to the party to whom 't is given And therefore no man is judged worthy of a reward that pays no more than the debt he owes 3. It must cedere in lucrum alteri be some way or other beneficial and for the advantage of another and not only to my self or else wherein do I oblige him 4. There must be a due proportion betwixt the datum and acceptum that which is done or given and that which is received by way of reward for it For which reason we say he that gives a peny cannot deserve a pound much less he that gives a farthing deserve millions Now upon all these accounts 't is absolutely impossible that any creature should merit or deserve pardon or grace or glory or any thing from God and therefore all still must needs be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 freely of his grace as the Apostles phrase is Rom 3.24 For first 1. 'T is not properly our own but the Lords whatever we render to him What hast thou that thou hast not received saith the Apostle 1 Cor. 4.7 'T is not only his corn â—nd his wine and his wool and his flax by â—hich we are fed and cloathed as the Prophet â—peaks Hos 2.9 but his strength his assistance â—y which we are inabled to perform all our works 2 Cor. 3.5 'T is he that breaths upâ—n these dry bones and causeth the spirit of â—ife to enter into them Eph. 2.1 'T is he â—hat strengtheneth us with might in the inâ—er man Eph. 3.16 And 't is he that workâ—th in us both to will and to do of his good â—leasure Phil. 2.13
they are still truly distinguishable in themselves as to their formal notions vocation being one thing and justification another and also in the order in which they are given out to sinners For first they are effectually called then justified then adopted and last of all glorified Betwixt the three former there is at least a priority of nature as the Sun we say is before its light and the fire before its heat But betwixt them and glorification there is a priority of time Thus Enoch we know walked some years with God in a justified state before he was translated And Paul fought long after he was called before he received his Crown This is the unvariable order that God hath fixed wherein to dispense the great blessings of the Covenant to such who are the objects of his elective love He justifies none but the called and adopts none but the justified and glorifies none but the adopted Rom. 8. In the next place the order in which the priviledges of the Covenant are dispensed being stated we must consider in what order the several conditions of the Covenant since â—ot to all alike nor at the same time to all are to be applied for our being actually inâ—eressed in them And first in order to our â—ffectual calling no more is required of us â—han an humble and diligent attendance upon all such means as God hath appointed for that end Our waiting by the pool for the Angels moving upon the waters Isa 55.6 Prov. 2.4 5. Heb. 2.1 Luke 11.9 10 11 12 13. Joh. 5.25 Act. 10.33 Acts 13.44 48. Our actual faith and repentance and holiness cannot here be supposed as a prerequisite to our effectual calling only our attendance upon the means since these are the very things to which we are called Act. 26.18 Rom 10.14 Rom. 1.7 Gal. 1.6 And he that is called to believe and be holy is upon that very account supposed before to be both unbelieving and unholy But then in order to our being justified and adopted there both faith and repentance as hath already been proved are antecedently necessary Or which is all one our humble and penitential acceptance or receiving of Jesus Christ in all his offices as Prophet Priest and King and consequent upon this our reliance upon him for pardon and Salvation Gal. 2.16 Joh. 1.12 and lastly in order to our being actually glorified and made eternally happy in the immediate fruition of God 't is further requisite that we be not only penitent and believing but also actually holy and obedient as hath been said Math. 5.20 Rev. 22.14 First God in the use of means calls sinners to repent and believe and then upon their repenting and believing in answer to his call he justifies and adopts them And then upon their being further purified in obeying the truth as 't is exprest 1 Pet. 1.22 and so made meet to be partakers with the Saints in the inheritance of light they are as the consummation of all their happiness eternally glorified So that you see our repenting and believing necessarily presupposeth our effectual calling and our justification and adoption our repenting and believing and our glorification not only our being justified and adopted but also our being personally holy and conformable to Jesus Christ When therefore 't is said that obedience as well as faith and repentance is a necessary condition in the Covenant of Grace if we understand it as we ought according to the order before explained the great doctrine of justification by faith in Christ which the Apostle so much contends for with the Jews especially in his Epistle to the Romans and Galatians this doctrine I say is hereby secured and preserved inviolable since our obedience is made a condition only with reference to eternal life and not to our justification being in order not â—ntecedent to but consequent upon that We are still justified by faith in Christ without works as the Apostle speaks but yet not saâ—ed by faith alone without works There is more required to make a Soul fit for Heaven than meerly the pardoning of his sins and justifying of his person But is it not often affirmed in Scripture that we are saved as well as justified by faith Joh. 3.16 Eph. 2.8 Mar. 16.16 It 's true and so also we are said to be saved by hope Rom. 8.24 And by calling upon the name of the Lord Rom. 10.13 And to be blessed and have a right to the tree of life by keeping of the commands of Christ Rev. 22.14 If then the argument will hold good that we are saved by faith alone without holiness and obedience because 't is said he that believeth shall be saved we might also by the same rule argue that we are saved by hope without faith or by calling upon God without hope or by our obedience without all the rest since Salvation and blessedness is ascribed to each of these to hoping and calling upon the Lord and obeying as well as believing All therefore that can justly be inferred from hence is only this that faith as well as hope and obedience is necessary to our Salvation And because there is an inseperable connexion betwixt them and a joint subserviency of both to the same end therefore it is that eternal life is sometimes ascribed to one sometimes to the other Sometimes 't is said blessed are they that believe Joh. 20.29 Sometimes blessed are the pure in heart Matth. 5.8 Sometimes blessed is he that feareth the Lord Psal 112.1 Sometimes again blessed are they that keep his testimonies and are undefiled in the way Psal 119.1 2. All which 't is evident must be taken inclusive of each other faith of fear and fear of purity and all as joined with actual obedience That is he that believes and acts sutably to his faith in purifying his heart and keeping the commands of Christ he shall be saved And so again on the other hand he that obeys supposing also that he repents and believes in Jesus Christ he shall be blessed But we cannot possibly without making Scripture to contradict it self appropriate happiness to any one of these conditions not to faith any more than to obedience either by way of opposition to or separation from the rest The plain English of that would be this that a disobedient faith or an unbelieving obedience might be sufficient to qualify us for eternal life Even in justification it self though our actual obedience be not there required yet 't is vertually included in the very nature of that faith by which we are justified But as to our being eternally glorified there our actual obedience together with faith and repentance are alike necessary to give us a perfect and compleat right to it faith and repentance alone as to this are not sufficient A compleat right I say for there is I grant a certain right to life that doth immediately result from faith it self But then we must here distinguish of a double right There is first a primary and
initial secondly a perfect and consummate right or as the Civilians speak there is jus haereditarium and jus aptitudinale Both which are in their respective order alike necessary fully and compleatly to enstate us in one and the same possession Thus for instance He that is lawfully elected to any office of trust and dignity his meer election gives him an initial right to that office yea but for all that before he can receive the several insignia proper to it or exercise any act of authority in it or actually receive the profits and emoluments belonging to it he must solemnly be installed and take the Corporation Oaths and perform such other ceremonies as are usual in the case and this gives him a consummate right to his place and dignity Again he that seals to an Indenture he thereby hath an incipient right and title to the estate therein conveighed But yet to compleat this there must be seisin and delivery and performance of Covenants payment of rent and repairing the premises and this gives him an actual right to it and continues him in the quiet possession of it Take one instance more A Child in his infancy may have right to a Kingdom as some have been Crowned in their Cradles But yet notwithstanding he afterwards remains as the Apostle speaks under Tutors and Governours and little differs the Lord of all from a Servant until he come of age and then his Kingdom and Government is put into his hand Before he had an hereditary and now an aptitudinal right to or legal fitness for government I have brought all these instances to shew that there may be a different right to the same thing arising from different qualifications and conditions and yet both subservient to the same end And so here faith gives right and obedience also gives right to eternal life but in a different manner that begins it but this continues and compleats it Plainly thus Whosoever doth sincerely accept of Jesus Christ upon Gospel terms which is truly faith he is thereupon not only quit from all the demands of the first Covenant which is properly justification but he also hath by vertue of the Gospel-grant an initial right to the eternal Kingdom purchased by Christ But yet before he can enter into the actual possession of it and enjoy all the glories and bliss and joy that belongs to it he must be pure and holy cleansed from all filthiness of flesh and spirit and this gives him an aptitudinal and compleat right to it Faith is as our sealing to the Indenture that first founds our right and obedience is as the performance of Covenants that perfects and continues it That by making us Sons Joh. 1.12 makes us also heirs of the Kingdom Rom. 8.17 and so gives us an hereditary right to it But this being the means to make us holy and like to God and as Scripture speaks perfect Men in Christ that is men of ripe age it thereby gives us a fitness or aptitudinal right to the eternal possession of it And thus I have shewn in what order the several conditions of the Covenant are to be applied for the obtaining the great blessings of it according to the method in which they are dispensed which being attended to will further evidence the consistence of free Grace with their being given out to sinners upon such terms But before I conclude this particular it will be requisite especially since it may add some further light to the thing in hand to inquire into and evince the difference which I have all along in this discourse supposed betwixt faith and obedience for I cannot wholly be of their opinion that make them one and the same without distinction nor yet apprehend them so vastly different as some imagine That they are not the same to me is evident since I find them frequently distinguished both by different names and effects in Scripture Acts 15.9 Purifying their hearts by faith Heb. 11.8 Acts 26.18 By faith Abraham obeyed Tit. 3.8 These things I will that thou affirm constantly that they which have believed in God might be careful to maintain good works Therefore also called the obedience of faith Rom. 16.26 Here you see they are distinguished and elsewhere they are opposed Eph. 2.8 9. By grace ye are saved through faith and not of works Phil. 3.9 That I may be found in Christ not having my own righteousness which is of the law but that which is through the faith of Christ And more than once in the Epistles to the Romans and Galatians where the Apostle treats designedly concerning justification which he there once and again affirms to be by faith and not by the works of the law And can they possibly be the same that are not only distinguish but opposed I know 't is said that the opposition the Apostle there makes betwixt faith and works is only to be understood with respect to Jewish works and that opinion of perfection and merit that they had of them But were the works of Paul and the Ephesians and Abraham of this nature were they Jewish and Levitical or have we any reason to think that they had any such opinion of their obedience as being perfect and meritorious And yet in all these instances we find that faith is opposed to works And though Paul 't is true doth in the third Chapter to the Philippians first instance in his legal priviledges and righteousness yet afterwards he adds his Gospel services and sufferings for Jesus Christ and whatever else you can imagine to make up his obedience and righteousness perfect Phil. 3.8 Yea doubtless and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Jesus Christ my Lord for whom I have suffered the loss of all things And yet after all he tells us that he desired to be found not in the righteousness of works but of faith ver 9. Again they are not only distinguished and opposed but also delivered to us under different notions in the Gospel As faith is expressed by receiving of Christ Joh. 1.12 Obedience by walking in him as we have received him Col. 2.6 That by coming to Christ this by taking his yoak and bearing his burden Matth. 11.28 29. That by looking unto Jesus this by running with patience the race that is set before us Heb. 12.1 2. That by eating his flesh and drinking his blood Joh. 6.54 56. this by growing up in him Eph. 2.21 that as the principle of our filiation Gal. 3.26 and this as our imitation of God as dear Children Eph. 6.2 And is there no difference betwixt receiving and walking coming and taking seeing and running eating and drinking and growing Betwixt our being children and performing the duties of Children Even common language as well as Divinity teacheth us to distinguish betwixt the Creed and Ten Commandments the credenda agenda in Religion Betwixt believing and doing Believing we ordinarily say is one thing and doing another But is not faith
nature that creature is truly and formally happy He is so well that he can be no better and therefore capable of no greater felicity But then since mans being and perfections are not originally from himself but borrowed and derived from God as rayes of light from the Sun and streams from the Ocean it thence necessarily follows that God as Original is the only rule and standard by which all perfection is to be measured and consequently the more or less any creature is approximate and conformed to God the more or less perfect As the excellency of a Picture lying in its exact resemblance to the face by which 't is drawn the more like thereto still the more excellent And this is that which gives Man the preheminence above the rest of the creatures in this visible world They are at a far more remote distance from him and partake less of him but Man is more nearly allied to him and admitted to a more full participation of the divine nature The rest as 't is commonly exprest have only some tracks and footsteps of God but Man his Image And by this resemblance of Man to God is his greatest happiness both as innocent and glorified described in Scripture Gen. 1.26 27. So God created Man in his own Image and after his own likeness There is the happiness of Man in his primitive state of innocency And 1 Joh. 3.2 It doth not yet appear what we shall be but we know that when he shall appear we shall be like him for we shall see him as he is There is the chief happiness of the Saints now in glory And indeed nothing less than this can be the happiness of a reasonable creature And to this all the duties of Christianity are so nearly related as that that they really become an essential part of it For either they are such wherein our likeness to God doth formally consist as the more patient and just and merciful and holy and righteous we are still the more like to God since he is so Or else such wherein we express our conformity to God as humility and reverence and faith and watchfulness c. which hold a suteable correspondence to his greatness Majesty faithfulness omniscience c. In the former we resemble God as the picture doth the face it represents And by the latter as the impression in the wax doth the stamp upon the seal that made it as a late Author hath well exprest it in his most ingenious and learned treatise concerning the blessedness of the righteous Did men therefore as they ought consider either what happiness is or how great a correspondence and affinity their present duties have to it they would be so far from thinking the performance of them any diminution of Gods free Grace as that they would rather esteem it as one of the most signal acts of his Grace and favour that he hath provided such effectual means and afforded them so powerful aids and assistances in order to the making them holy and obedient 'T is doubtless an act of kindness and bounty to heal the wounded and restore eyes to the blind and strength and beauty to the maimed and deformed no less than to forgive a poor Man his debt In justification our debt 's forgiven but in sanctification the ruines of degenerate nature are repaired and the Image of God restored And which of these two do you think is the greater kindness That frees us from prison and arrests from misery but this makes us truly and formally happy But lastly 5. Though our personal performance of the conditions of the Covenant be asserted as indispensably necessary to our eternal Salvation yet not by vertue of our own natural strength and power without the assistance of Divine Grace That is no where affirmed but the contrary What remainders of natural strength and ability there may be left in Man and how far they may be improved by him with reference to his own Salvation is not my business now to enquire or determine He is now 't is acknowledged in a state of degeneracy and by his fall the several powers and faculties of his Soul were impaired and weakened though not wholly lost But yet his obligation to duty is not thereby rescinded but remains intire and therefore he is still bound as much as ever to render love and service to his Maker For man's inability to obey cannot take away Gods right to command nor his Apostasie destroy the law of his creation Man is still Gods creature though degenerate and lives daily in a necessary dependance upon him and therefore 't is impossible he should ever be absolved from his engagement to love and honour and obey him since 't is impossible for a creature to become independent The great design therefore of Gospel Grace is not as some foolishly imagine to exempt us from duty and to dispence with our love to God or obedience to his Laws but to repair our strength and assist our faculties and every way to enable us to the performance of our duty That we may repent and return to God and live in all due subjection and obedience to him as becometh creatures Tit. 2.11 12. For the Grace of God that bringeth Salvation hath appeared to all men teaching us that denying all ungodliness and worldly lusts we should live soberly righteously and godly in this present world The same Grace here that is said to bring Salvation the same also teacheth us to deny all ungodliness and worldly lusts c. And both are alike called by the name of Grace Grace teacheth us this lesson and Grace also assists us both in the learning and practice of it For God is no hard Master he doth not gather where he hath not strewed nor reap where he hath not sown Though he gives not succors to all alike but to some more to others less according to the good pleasure of his will yet he is wanting to none but such as are wanting to themselves His promises are no less extensive than his commands No duty is required of us but God himself is engaged for our assistance in the performance of it Must we repent and turn to God Acts 17.3 He then will give us repentance unto life Act. 5.31 Must we come to Christ and believe in him that we may have life Matth. 11.28 29 He then will draw us Joh 6.44 and make us willing in the day of his power Psal 110.3 Must we cleanse our selves from all filthiness of flesh and spirit and perfect holiness in his fear 2 Cor. 7.1 He then will pour clean water upon us and cleanse us from our iniquities Ezek. 36.25 and sanctifie us throughout in Body Soul and Spirit 1 Thes 5.21 Must we run with patience the race that is set before us Heb. 12.1 He then will increase our strength that we may run and not be weary and walk and not faint Isa 40.29 and 31. Must we work about our Salvation with fear and
trembling Phil. 2.12 He then will work in us both to will and to do of his good pleasure ver 13. Must we be stedfast and unmoveable always abounding in the work of the Lord 1 Cor. 15.58 holding fast our confidence firm to the end Heb. 3.6 being faithful unto death Rev. 2.10 and not drawing back lest his soul should have no pleasure in us Heb. 10.38 He therefore hath promised that he will establish us 2 Thes 3.3 and make us fruitful Joh. 15.2 and perfect his own good work in us untill the day of the Lord Jesus Phil. 1.6 and keep us by his power 1 Pet. 1. that we may not perish but have everlasting life Joh. 10.28 From first to last you see we are indebted to Divine Grace for what we do All our works if good are begun and carried on and perfâ—cted by the assistance of the Sacred Spirit And therefore when we have done all we cannot plead desert or merit from any of our actions but still are bound to make Paul's humble acknowledgment 1 Cor. 15.10 By the grace of God I am that I am And not I that laboured so abundantly but the grace of God that was with me Not I that repented and believed and became obedient and holy and fruitful in every good word and work continuing stedfast and unmoveable to the end Not I that did this by vertue of my own natural abilities no but by the aid and assistance of Divine Grace not by might nor by power from nature and reason but by the spirit of the Lord. And in this sense I suppose we are to understand that saying of some Divines that God stands engaged for both parts of the Covenant Engaged first by promise to justifie and save sinners if they repent and believe c. and next also to give repentance and faith by assisting them thereunto that they may be justified and have eternal life And so it may be no contradiction to say that the same thing may be both a benefit and a condition of the same Covenant As he that in the same Indentures wherein he binds his Tenant to repairs may also promise to furnish him with Brick and Morter and other materials for the work Thus faith and repentance are here commanded in the Covenant of Grace and so they become conditions on our own part to be performed But withal strength and assistance is promised enabling us to repent and believe and so they become benefits on Gods part to be given and on ours to be received But still it is to be remembred that Gods promise doth not null our duty nor his assistance supersede our endeavours but necessarily suppose and more strongly enforce them For as we can do nothing without God so he will do nothing for us without our selves 'T is he saith the Apostle that worketh in us both to will and to do of his good pleasure in the place before mentioned Phil. 2.13 What then Must we therefore sit still and do nothing Only take our ease and stretch our selves upon beds of Ivory and dream our selves into Abrahams Bosom No we must therefore so the Apostle in the same place argues work about our own Salvation with fear and trembling As 't is still the Tenants duty to repair the ruines of his house though his Landlord hath and indeed therefore the rather because he hath been so kind as to promise sufficient supplies for the building Thus much I thought necessary to add upon this argument that I might vindicate the conditionality of the Covenant from such exceptions as have been made against it and evidence the amicable agreement there is betwixt this doctrine and that of free Grace and sufficiency of Christs righteousness and satisfaction And would Men but be perswaded to lay aside their prejudices and to weigh things in an even ballance Would they as now instructed rightly state their notions of Christs righteousness and free Grace according to the rules and measures of the Gospel and not by the imaginary and unwarrantable sentiments of the carnal and uncatechised world Would they duly distinguish betwixt the causes and conditions of their Salvation which are vastly different and ought not therefore to be confounded that Jesus Christ may still be owned as the sole cause and Author of it and faith and repentance c. only as the necessary means without which it cannot be had Would they observe the order in which the several conditions of the Covenant are to be applied first faith and repentance for the obtaining of pardon and then holiness and obedience for the compleating and continuing our right to eternal life according to the order in which they are dispenced to sinners Would they also duly inform themselves in the nature of true happiness and what a near alliance holiness and obedience have to it that formally consisting in our likeness and conformity to God and these being that whereby we become actually like and conformable to him Would they in the last place to all add the assistance that God by his holy Spirit affords us for the performance of all these duties he requires of us Nothing being done in our own but all by his strength and agency Would Men I say thus distinctly weigh and consider things before they pass sentence upon the Doctrine herein delivered their objections against it would I am confident soon be answered and their scruples removed and their judgments convinced that there is nothing said that doth in the least either contradict or prejudice the Doctrine of Gospel free Grace or derogate from the sufficiency of Christs righteousness Nothing that doth as some have said speak the language of Bellarmine or Socinus or any way favour the opinions of any other who are justly censured as enemies to the Grace of God in Christ Jesus It is true the Church of Rome pretends much to good works and cries them up as the Ephesians sometimes did their great Goddess Diana and muchwhat upon the same design But alas what are those works they so zealously contend for A little bodily exercise and superstitious will-worship Masses and Dirges and Pilgrimages and Ave-Marys and abstinences and whippings and the like But for that which the Apostle calls the power of godliness and life of God that is little preached and less practised by them And yet these works as inconsiderable as they are they call by the name of satisfactions and make them both the matter of their justification before God and the meritorious cause of their own Salvation For according to their Doctors we are justified by works confession charity giving of alms c. as well as by faith in Jesus Christ and may be saved yea and by I know not what redundancy of desert in our good works help to save others too by our own merits The improvement say they of our own natural abilities deserves Grace ex congruâ— and the improvement of Grace so gained merits glory ex condigno This in short is the
Doctrine of Rome in this particular And as to same others who also plead for the necessity of holiness and righteousness though they in great measure reject the Popish works and wholly disclaim any merit by them and possibly acknowledge Christs satisfaction though since they speak some of them so darkly and undervaluingly of it that may be questioned Yet the efficacious influences of the Sacred Spirit for their assistance in the performance of those acts of righteousness they plead for are not so much acknowledged by them the creature being thought sufficiently instructed with power from nature and reason to repent and believe and obey c. according to the pleasure of his own will And though they seem much to advance the Soveraignty of God over the creature whilst they ascribe to God nine hundred ninety and nine degrees of power and but one of an hundred only to Man yet in conclusion the matter comes to this that this one single degree of power in the creature may and doth at pleasure baffle and defeat and put to flight and triumph over those 999. which are in God i. e. The creatures weakness is stronger than Gods power In short if the question be asked them who made thee to differ The answer will be Ego meipsum But is there any thing said in this whole discourse that lays any foundation for these opinions or that doth so much as add one stone to the building Are our own works any where affirmed to be either the matter of our justification or the meritorious cause of eternal life Or that our duties are performed by our own natural strength without the effectual assistance of the Spirit of God Where is nature and reason advanced above Grace or our own righteousness set up to justle Christ from his Throne and rob him of his Crown Is it not more than once affirmed and proved that holiness and obedience are not the causes but conditions only of our Salvation And that 't is impossible for any creature much less one that is degenerate to merit any thing at the hands of God And that we are justified not by works not by our holiness and obedience which follow justification as the payment of the rent doth sealing to the Indentures but by faith in Jesus Christ receiving him in all his offices And that the several duties of the Covenant are performed not by the sole power of nature but by strength received from the Spirit of God and by the daily supplies of his Grace So that we are doubly indebted to God first to his command to obey that and then to his Grace for enabling us to obey And will â—ny one that is not profoundly ignorant call â—his by the name of Popery and Pelagianism or have so much confidence as to â—ensure and condemn it as a Doctrine inâ—onsistent with the Grace of the Gospel and â—hat righteousness that is by Christ Is not â—his in Judes language to speak evil of â—hose things which they know not And â—o proclaim themselves unskilled in the words â—f righteousness and that Doctrine which is â—ccording to Godliness But suppose the agreement betwixt faith â—nd works Christs righteousness and our â—wn free Grace and the necessity of obediâ—nce in the business of Salvation could not â—fficiently be evidenced to our present reaâ—on must they therefore be exploded as abâ—â—rdities and untruths and things absoluteâ—â— irreconcileable We must then throw aâ—ay not only some of the greatest mysteries 〈◊〉 our Religion but many of the most eviâ—â—nt phenomena and appearances in Philosophy The influences of the Load-stone the ebbing and flowing of the Sea c. musâ— be rejected as fables and our senses no morâ— be credited in what they see since the manner how these things are done is not yet sufficiently understood and explained Thingâ— themselves we know are evident but the modes and manners of things are almost every where latent and unaccountable Thaâ— therefore which we have to do in all matterâ— of Divine faith and practice is only this duly to inform and satisfy our selves whaâ— God hath certainly revealed and made knowâ— to us as his mind and will concerning 〈◊〉 which being done and our minds being satisfied that God hath said it and that 〈◊〉 is the plain meaning of his words we arâ— then without any further debate to believe and do according to his word though possibly at present we cannot so well discoveâ— that mutual accord and agreement whicâ— there is betwixt those several truths revealeâ— by him The positive and plain conclusion of Scripture are humbly to be believed thougâ— they cannot be reconciled by us For this suppose will easily be granted by all as unquestionable That the will of God if wâ— certainly know it to be his will is the uâ—doubted rule and standard both of faith anâ— practice We must believe what 't is certaiâ— he hath revealed And we must do whaâ— 't is certain he hath commanded For the will of God is not to be disputed but obeyed And doth not the Apostle expresly tell us that this is the will of God even our sanctification 2 Thes 4.3 He that hath said he will blot out our transgressions for his own sake and remember â—ur sins no more Isa 43.25 he hath also â—â—id thâ—t we must repent and be converted â—hat our sins may be blotted out when the days of â—efreshing shall come from the presence of the â—ord Acts 3.19 He that hath said that â—e are justified freely by his grace through the â—edemption that is in Christ Rom. 3.24 he â—ath also said we are justified by faith ver â—8 and that we must believe that we may â—e justified Gal. 2.16 He that saith we â—â—e made the righteousness of God in Christ â—ho was made sin for us 2 Cor. 5.21 he also â—â—ith that except our righteousness speaking â—ere expresly of moral and personal righteâ—usness exceed the righteousness of the Scribes â—nd Pharisees we shall in no case enter into the â—ingdom of God Matth. 5.20 And he that â—ith we are saved by grace and not of our â—â—â—ves Eph. 2.8 and according to his mercy â—â—d not by works of righteousness which we â—â—ve done Tit. 3.5 he also saith that we â—ust work out our own salvation with fear and â—â—mbling Phil. 2.12 and that without hoâ—â—ess we shall not be saved Heb. 12.14 Is not all this plain and easy to him that will but understand God hath said it 'T is his will exprest in terms that we must repent and believe and be righteous and work about our own Salvation and follow after holiness that we may not perish but have everlasting life Who then shall shall dare to argue and dispute against it At least here is no ground you see for any humble and sober mind that is but sincerely willing to be governed by the Divine will so to do but rather seriously to apply himself to the performance of these duties that God hath so expresly injoined and made necessary to our Salvation The great reason therefore why men profess themselves so much offended with this Doctrine 't is not because it is or because they in truth believe it to be an enemy to the Cross and Grace of Christ but rather because it is an enemy to their lusts and passions and presumptuous neglects of God An enemy to their present ease and pleasure and worldly satisfactions the lusts of the flesh the lusts of the eye and the pride of life An enemy to their false and carnal hopes and empty professions of Christianity Therefore it is that they thus condemn this Doctrine because otherwise they cannot justifie their own faith and practice that are so manifestly condemned by it They must have a cheap Religion Faith without works pardon without the trouble of repentance an Heaven without holiness and a free Grace to save them without obedience or else they are miserable and undone to eternity But be not deceived saith the Apostle God is not mocked for whatsoever a man soweth that shall be also reap For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption but he that soweth to the spirit shall of the spirit reap life everlasting Gal. 6.7 8. For if ye live after the flesh ye shall die but if ye through the spirit do mortifie the deeds of the body ye shall live Rom. 8.13 For God will render to every man according to his deeds To them who by patient continuance in well doing seek for glory and honour and immortality eternal life But unto them that are contentious and do not obey the truth but obey unrighteousness indignation and wrath tribulation and anguish upon every soul of man that doth evil of the Jew first and also of the Gentile But glory honour and peace to every man that worketh good to the Jew first and also to the Gentile for there is no respect of persons with God Rom. 2.6 7 8 9 10 11. Be ye therefore steadfast and unmoveable always abounding in the work of the Lord for as much as ye know that your labour shall not be in vain in the Lord 1 Cor. 15.58 FINIS
made the like plea Matth. 7.23 Depart from me ye workers of iniquity I know you not But lastly to sum up all One of these three things must here be affirmed Either that God will dispense with his Laws and stated order of saving sinners and save them in some other way than what he hath declared or else that these duties and conditions are discharged and performed by some other person as surety for us and in our behalf or else that they are actually to be performed by us in our own persons But first what reason have we to imagine that God will change his laws and alter â—he fixed methods of his Grace and rescind his Covenant which is the contrivance of his infinite wisdom and goodness founded in the blood of his own Son and confirmed by his death and that every way so well secures the honour of God and the allegeance and comfort of the creature What Do you think he will thus offer violence to himâ—elf his wisdom are holiness which he so much delights to honour Or that he will contradict the great design of his Sons undertaking which was to reduce the creature to his duty and obedience to God Or that he will affront his own truth and faithfulness and impeach himself guilty of a lie What The holy and wise God do thus and only for this end that he may gratifie sinners in their wilfull neglects of him and of the duties they indispensably owe to him And open a door to licentiousness and all sorts of abominations which his Soul hates And all this to save the impenitent and unbelieving and impure and disobedient for all Men are so that do not actually repent and believe and obey and make them Coheirs with Christ and set them upon his throne and put Crowns of Glory upon their heads What those that are his enemies whom he hates and hath sworn in his holiness that they shall never enter into his rest or see his face or taste of his joyes but be thrown into outer darkness and suffer the vengeance of eternal fire and be tormented day and night and everlastingly drink of the wine of his wrath poured out without mixture and lie for ever in an Hell of misery weeping and wailing and blaspheming because of their plagues and tormâ—nts where his eye shall not pity nor spare nor have mercy on them What Can any Man that hath not wholly lost his reason perswade himself to believe thus or to hope for Salvation in this way Or if you suppose it possible for any thus to believe will his fâ—ith this faith do you think save thâ—m For whom then is Tophet prepared Or for whâ—m is the blackness of darkness reserved if none be vessels of wrath and Sons of perditions And none are such if not the impenitent unbelieving disobedient and impure If these expect Salvation from God they must then shew us another Gospel another Covenant for by this I am sure 't is impossible that any should be saved that doth not personally perform the conditions of it Nor have we secondly any greater reason to believe or hope that these conditions should be discharged for us by any other person in our stead and behalf For are not the commands that require duty expresly spoke to us Ye shall repent and turn to God ye shall believe in Jeâ—us Christ ye shall be pure in heart and holy in all manner of conversation and ye shâ—ll love God and keep his Commandments c. And are not the promises of pardon and life c. particularly made to us and to our personal performance of the conditions upon which they are made as hath been shewn And are not the comminations of death and wrath and eternal torments denounced against us in case of personal disobedience He that believeth not shall be damned Mark 16.16 He that loveth not the Lord Jesus Christ let him be an anathema maran-atha 1 Cor. 16.22 And except ye repent ye shall all likewise perish Luke 13.3 Now what foundation is here to imagine that these can concern any one but our selves Or if any of them be acknowledged to be appropriate to our selves why not the rest If the promises why not the commands and threatnings since we are alike spoke to in all Why should we charge these upon another and take the promises only to our selves May we not with as good reason say that another may be saved for us or damned for us as that he shall repent and believe for us And so Heaven should be ours only by a proxie and Justification ours by a subtitute c. That is in plain English 't is not we that are justified nor we that are adopted nor we that are admitted into eternal Glory but some one else for us But who is this that we suppose should perform these Conditions for us Jesus Christ our Mediator 'T is true he hath fully satisfied the demands of the first Covenant and taken Believers off from all obligation of duty to it And he hath also by his Mediation obtained another and better Covenant founded in his own blood and attended with better promises wherein pardon and eternal life are again offered and assured to sinners upon the equitable and honourable terms of repentance and faith and sincere though not perfâ—ct obedience Yea but yet we must not say that Jesus Christ repents and Jesus Christ believes for us c. No this must still be our own Act and 't is impossible it should be the act of Christ For consider but what is the proper object of these duties The object of repentance is sin and the object of faith and obedience is Jesus Christ we are to believe in him and to be obedient to him Heb. 5.9 and be conformable to him Rom. 8.29 and to keep his commands Joh. 15.10 and to walk after his example 1 Pet. 2.21 But can these any way be applied to Jesus Christ What shall we say that Christ believes in Christ Or that Christ is obedient to Christ Or that Christ is conformable to Christ Or that Christ walks in the steps of Christ What sence shall we then make of Scripture Or if any shall be so forsaken of their reason as to cant thus yet will any one say that Jesus Christ repents of Sin Or breaks off his sins by repentance and amends his evil wayes and doings as we are commanded If then it be not possible that either God should violate his own Covenant and contradict himself or that Jesus Christ should perform the conditions of it for us it necessarily follows that we our selves are personally obliged to the actual performance of them in order to our obtaining eternal life That is as I have often said we our selves are the persons that stand bound â—â—ch Man for himself to repent and believe and obey and be holy or else Salvation it self cannot save us PROPOS XII Of the consistence of a conditional Covenant with the sufficiency of Christs righteousness