of the Apostles and from the general Sense of the Primitive Church 2. God is a Being as of infinite Purity and Holiness so also of infinite Goodness and Mercy and as he cannot possibly be reconciled to Men so long as they continue wicked so when ever they cease to be so and return again to the Obedience of Gods Commands and to the imitation of his Nature we cannot suppose but that he will again admit them to his Pardon and Favour Goodness and Mercy are our most natural Notions of God and the Discoveries which he hath made of himself by Revelation are most exactly agreeable thereto At the passing by of his Glory before Moses he proclaimed himself The Lord the Lord God merciful and gracious long-suffering and abundant in Goodness and Truth forgiving Iniquities Transgressions and Sins Exod. 34. 6. By the Prophets he declares and swears by himself As I live saith the Lord I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked but that the wicked turn from his way and live Ezek. 33. 1â— And above all by that stupendous Instance of Mercy the sending his only Son out of his Bosom to give himself a Sacrifice for the Sins of Men he has discovered such an earnest desire of our Reconciliation and Salvation as will be the everlasting subject of the Praises of Men and the Admiration of Angels If therefore God when he had made a Covenant of perfect Obedience and had not promised Pardon at all to great and presumptuous Sins did yet give Pardon and declare also to the Jews by his Prophets that he would do so And if when Men were yet Enemies to him he was so willing that not any should perish but all should come to Repentance yea so desirous to have all Men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the Truth that he not only spared not his own Son to deliver him up for us all but tells us even of Joy in Heaven at a Sinners accepting the gracious Terms of the Gospel and represents himself as a tender Father running to meet his returning Prodigal and falling up-his Neck and kissing him If this I say was the Compassion which God shewed to Man in his first sinful and miserable State 't is very reasonable to conclude and hope that his Mercy is not so entirely exhausted at once but that the same Pity may be yet further extended even to those also who after the knowledge of the Truth having been seduced by the Temptations of the World and the Devil to depart from God and to forsake their Duty shall again return unto him with Sincerity and Perseverance 3. The Design of the Gospel is to teach us to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts and to live soberly righteously and godly in this present world And certainly whensoever it comes to have this effect upon a Man it gives him a Title to the blessed Hope and a well-grounded Assurance of Mercy at the glorious appearance of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ. The Foundation of the Christian Dispensation upon which the whole Summ of Affairs is now established is Faith and Repentance and whensoever a Man so truly repents as to purifie himself effectually from every evil Work and by the Spirit mortifies the deeds of the Body he shall certainly live Our Saviour himself gives express Directions when a Man's Christian Brother trespasses against him to use all possible means to reclaim him both by private and publick Reproof before he rejects him utterly as a Heathen Man and a Publican He commands us though our Brother sins never so often against us yet if he turns again and repents to forgive him and has promised upon this Condition that we also shall in like manner find forgiveness at the Hands of God And in the Epistles sent by the Apostle St. John to the Bishops of the Seven Churches of Asia he exhorts them earnestly to remember from whence they were fallen and to repent and be zealous and do their first works and promises that if upon this Invitation any Man would hear his Voice and open the Door that is would be moved by these Exhortations to repent and amend he would come in to him and sup with him that is would again receive him to his Mercy and Favour 4. Accordingly the Writings of the Apostles though directed to Christians are yet full of earnest Exhortations to Repentance and their History contains many Instances of those who after great falls were thereby restored to their first state St Peter exhorts Simon Magus who thought the Gift of God could be bought with Money to repent of this his wickedness and gives him encouragement to hope that he should thereupon obtain forgiveness Acts 8. 22. St. John tells us That if any Man sin we have an Advocate with the Father Jesus Christ the Righteous and he is the Propitiation for our Sins 1 John 2. 2. St. James tells us That if any one err from the Truth and one convert him he that converteth the Sinner from the Error of his way shall save a Soul from Death and shall hide a multitude of Sins Jam. 5. 20. St. Jude advises us to have compassion of some making a difference and to save others with fear pulling them out of the fire ver 23. St. Paul exhorts Timothy to instruct in meekness those that oppose themselves if God peradventure will give them Repentance to the acknowledging of the Truth and that they may recover themselves out of the Snare of the Devil who are taken Captive by him at his will 2 Tim. 2. 25. He advises the Galatians that if any Man be overtaken in a fault they which are spiritual should restore such a one in the Spirit of meekness considering themselves lest they also be tempted Gal. 6. 1. He threatens the Corinthians to excommunicate those who had sinned and had not repented of their uncleanness and fornication and lasciviousness which they had committed 2 Cor. 12. 21. And even the Incestuous Person who had been guilty of such a Sin as was not so much as named among the Heathens themselves he delivers indeed to Satan for the destruction of the Flesh but it was that the Spirit might be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus 1 Cor. 5. 5. For when the punishment which was inflicted of many had been sufficient to reduce him to Repentance he writes to the Church to forgive him and comfort him lest perhaps such a one should be swallowed up with overmuch sorrow 2 Cor. 2. 7. 5. And this excepting as I have said one Sect of Men was the constant Doctrine and Practice of the Primitive Church To those who were yet Innocent they thought indeed no Promises too great and no Threatnings too severe whereby they might make them infinitely careful to preserve their Innocence But those who had already sinned they incouraged to repent and upon their Repentance admitted them again to the Peace of the Church and
Strangers from the Covenants of Promise having no hope and without God in the World did by Baptism enter into that Covenant wherein God assured the promise of Eternal Life to all those who should believe and repent And this is what the Apostle intends by our having our Citizen-ship in Heaven Phil. 3. 20. and by our being Heirs of God and joint Heirs with Christ that we may be glorified together with him Rom. 8. 17. 5. Another Privilege which was represented and conferred by Baptism was the Influence and Assistance of Gods Holy Spirit All Persons that were baptized as their Bodies were washed and purified with Water so their Minds were sanctified by the Spirit of God But ye are washed but ye are sanctified but ye are justified in the Name of our Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God 1 Cor. 6. 11. At their Baptism they received the Holy Ghost as a Gift constantly annexed to that Ordinance and unless they quenched and grieved it by their sins committed afterwards it always continued with them from thenceforward assisting and enabling them to perform their Duty strengthning and comforting them under Temptations and Afflictions and bearing witness with their Spirit that they were the Children of God At the first Preaching of the Gospel this influence of the Holy Spirit frequently discovered it self in those extraordinary Gifts of Speaking with Tongues Working Miracles c. as appears in the History of the Acts of the Apostles But these by degrees ceasing it afterward continued to evidence it self in the strange and almost miraculous change which it made in the Minds of Men from the most corrupt and vicious to the most virtuous and heavenly Disposition almost in an instant upon their being baptized And when this effect also grew less frequent as the Zeal and Purity of the Christians declined it yet continued always by its secret Power to renew and transform Mens Minds to instruct Men in their Duty and to inable them to perform it Hence Baptism is called the Renewing of the Holy Ghost Tit. 3. 5. and a being born of Water and of the Spirit John 3. 5. and by the Antients frequently Illumination And Persons baptized are said to have been enlightned to have tasted of the heavenly Gift and to have been made Partakers of the Holy Ghost Heb. 6. 4. 6. The last Privilege which Persons Baptized were intitled to by virtue of that Ordinance was an Assurance of a Resurrection to Eternal Life They received as hath been said the Holy Spirit of God and that Spirit so long as it dwelt with them was a Seal and Earnest of their future Resurrection For if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal Bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you Rom. 8. 11. And this was most significantly represented by their descending into the Water and rising out of it again For as Christ descended into the Earth and was raised again from the dead by the Glory of the Father So Persons baptized were buried with him by Baptism into Death and rose again after the similitude of his Resurrection They were planted together in the likeness of his Death and they were by this Sign assured that they should be also in the likeness of his Resurrection Thus the Apostle St. Paul Colos. 2. 12. Ye are buried with him in Baptism wherein also you are risen with him through the Faith of the Operation of God who hath raised him from the dead To which St. Peter seems likewise to allude 1 Pet. 3. 21. The like figure whereunto viz. to the saving of the Ark by the Water of the Flood even Baptism doth also now save us by the Resurrection of Christ. 7. These are the Spiritual Graces or Privileges which were represented by the Outward and Visible Signs in Baptism and conferr'd by their means And These are what God on his part engageth and assures to us in that Great and Holy Covenant There are other things which the Persons Baptized obliged themselves to on their part in that Covenant and These are the Duties which by their Baptism they vow and take upon themselves to perform represented also by the same Outward and Visible Signs The first of these Duties which the Persons baptized promised and obliged themselves to perform was a Constant Confession of the Faith of Christ and Profession of his Religion They were admitted by Baptism into the Church and Family of Christ and they were bound at all times to own themselves his Disciples They were solemnly baptized into his Death and they were oblig'd not to be asham'd of the Cross of Christ and to confess the Faith of him crucified They owned publickly at their Baptism their Belief in God the Father Almighty and in Jesus Christ his only Son our Lord and they were bound at all times to make Profession of this Faith They had with the heart believed unto Righteousness and they thought that with the Mouth Confession was necessary to be made unto Salvation They were assured that if they confessed Christ before Men he would also confess them before his Father which is in Heaven and before the Angels of God but if they were ashamed of him and denyed him before Men he would also be ashamed of them when he came in the Glory of his Father with the Holy Angels And so mighty an effect had this consideration upon the primitive Christians that in the times of Persecution when they were tempted to deny their Saviour and renounce the Faith which they had once Embraced they chose rather to endure the most exquisite Torments that the wit of Man could invent than either to renounce or dissemble their Christianity and those who out of Fear denyed or were ashamed to confess their Faith they looked upon to have forfeited and renounced their Baptism as having crucified to themselves the Son of God afresh and put him to an open shame 8. The Second Thing to which Persons baptized solemnly obliged themselves by their Baptism was a Death unto Sin and a New-birth unto Righteousness i. e. they engaged utterly and for ever to forsake all manner of Sin and Wickedness all Idolatrous and Superstitious Worship of false Gods all Injustice Wrong Fraud and Uncharitableness towards Men all the Pride and Vanity the Pomp and Luxury of this present World all the Lusts of the Flesh Adultery Fornication Uncleanness Lasciviousness Gluttony Drunkenness Revellings and such like And for the future they promised to make it the business of their lives to fulfil all Righteousness according to the strictest Rules of the Christian Doctrine and Discipline to Worship the only true God with all Devotion Reverence and Humility to be exactly just in their Dealings with Men and generously charitable upon all occasions in fine to be Temperate and Sober Chast and Pure as the Worshippers of
obey it 12. Our Saviour has indeed disannulled the Ceremonial part of the Law which was appointed only for a time but he has thereby more firmly Established the Moral part of the Law which is of eternal and unchangeable Obligation And therefore as nothing could be more foolish than the Opinion of those Judaizers who thought that Christ had not abrogated any part of the Law so nothing can be more impious than the Opinion of these Gentilizers who contend that he has destroyed it all Our Saviour has indeed purchased for us a Covenant of Grace that is a Covenant wherein Pardon is granted to past sins upon Repentance but the indispensable Condition of that Covenant is that we be for the future zealous of good works He has indeed brought Life and Immortality to light through the Gospel and opened to us an abundant entrance into the Kingdom of God but 't is not that any unrenewed Nature should be admitted to have a share in those pure and undefiled Rewards but that those who have broken off their Sins by Repentance and their Iniquities by shewing mercy to the poor may through his Merits be restored to the Love and Favour of God Our Saviour has indeed redeemed us from the Punishment of Sin by the Sacrifice of himself but 't is expresly upon condition that we rescue our selves from the Power and Dominion of it In order to this he has made a most clear Discovery of the Will of God to us and enabled us to obey it according to that Discovery he has beaten off our Chains and opened us a way to retreat out of the bondage of Sin and Satan into the glorious Liberty of the Sons of God he haâ— paid the Price and Redeemed us out of Captivity But if notwithstanding all this we still continue in Sin 't is our own fault and extreme folly here and will be our condemnation and misery hereafter if notwithstanding all that Christ has done for us we will yet sit still under the Power of Sin we shall notwithstanding all that he has done and suffered for us at last fall into the Punishment thereof The Righteousness of Christ is indeed so far available to those who sincerely desire to obey the Gospel as that for his sake that Imperfect Righteousness by which they could not be justified according to the Law shall be acceptable before God through Faith in him unto Justification But for one who uses no indeavours to be righteous himself to expect to be justified by the external Imputation of the Righteousness of Christ is for a Sick Man to expect to be made whole by the Imputation of anothers Health or for a Miserable Man to be made happy meerly by the Imputation of another Mans Felicity Righteousness is not an outward imaginary Quality but an inward and real Disposition of heart and mind which must shew forth it self in real and substantial acts of Holiness and Piety Little Children saith St. John let no man deceive you He that doth Righteousness is righteous 1 John 3. 7. Lastly Our Saviour has indeed promised Salvation to those who Believe the Gospel but 't is most expresly upon this condition that they Obey it also Not every one that saith unto me Lord Lord shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven but he that doth the Will of my Father which is in Heaven Matt. 5. 21. Without this Obedience nothing in the World can stand a Man in any stead His Believing and Professing the Truth of the Christian Faith will avail him nothing His continuing in the Communion of the Church of Christ will profit him nothing If any man seems to be religious and continues in any one Sin deceiving his own heart that Mans Religion is vain For though he could speak with the Tongue of Men and Angels and had all Faith so that he could remove Mountains yet if he were not holy in his Life and Conversation it would profit him nothing Many will plead before our Saviour at the Day of Judgment that they have not only believed his Doctrine but also have taught in his Name and in his Name have cast out Devils and in his Name done many wonderful Works that is have had the extraordinary Gift even of working Miracles and yet if they be workers of Iniquity he will say unto them Depart from me I know you not CHAP. IV. A Digression concerning the Doctrine of Faith and Works delivered by St. Paul in his Epistle to the Romans and in that to the Galatians 1. THere is but one thing that I know of that can with any colour be urged against this Notion of true Religion which I have now laid down And that is the Doctrine of Faith and Works delivered by St. Paul in his Epistle to the Romans and in that to the Galatians Which because it is a Doctrine of the greatest Importance and liable to be misinterpreted to countenance the most pernicious Errors I shall therefore in this Chapter by way of Digression endeavour to give a brief Account of the Occasion of the writing these two Epistles and to explain the Doctrine delivered therein 2. Before the coming of Christ the Jews we know were the peculiar People of God selected out of all the Nations of the Earth to be the Standard of true Religion and to be the People among whom God would chuse to place his Name To them were committed the Oracles of God Rom. 3. 2. To them pertained the Adoption and the Glory and the Covenants and the giving of the Law and the Service of God and the Promises whose are the Fathers and out of whom according to the flesh Christ came who is over all God blessed for ever Rom 9. 4 5. that is with them were intrusted the Revelations of the Will of God the Law and the Prophecies To them was granted the peculiar Honour and Privilege that they should be accounted the Sons or People of God and that they should be accordingly under the more peculiar Care and Protection of his Providence Among them was the Ark and Temple of God the Shecinah or Glorious Presence of the Divine Majesty In Judah was God known his Name was great in Israel In Salem also was his Tabernalce and his dwelling place in Sion With them God entered solemnly into Covenant that he would be their God and they should be his People and confirmed this Covenant with the Sacramental Seal of Circumcision and with sprinkling of Blood To them God himself prescribed a Law or Form of Worship in a wonderful and miraculous manner and their Polity also was of Divine Institution and Appointment God shewed his Word unto Jacob his Statutes and his Judgments unto Israel He did not deal so with any other Nation neither had the Heathen knowledge of his Laws Lastly They were the Posterity of those Patriarchs to whom God had so often promised and sworn by himself That in their Seed should all the Nations