How can such an one be willing to lay down his Life for the sake of God when by his Death he must part with God as well as with other things How can he willingly chuse Afflictions rather than Sin when he shall be more miserable in this Life for it and not at all happy hereafter I grant if Affliction come unavoidably upon such a Person he may reasonably judge that Patience is better for him than Impatience but it will displease him that he is forced to the use of such a Virtue and he will be prone to fret and murmure at his Creator and to wish he had never been rather than to endure such miseries and to be comforted only with vain transitory Enjoyments I think I have said enough to shew how unfurnished such a Man is for Holiness and he that will burn up Heaven and quench Hell that he may serve God out of Love doth thereby leave himself â— little better furnished than the Sadduce the one denieth them the other will not have them at all to be considered in this case Secondly The sure Hope of the Glory of Heaven is made use of ordinarily by God since the Fall of Adam for the Practice of Holiness as the Scripture doth abundantly shew Christ the great pattern of holiness for the joy that was set before him endured the cross despising the shame Heb. 12.2 And though I cannot say that the first Adam had such a sure Hope to preserve him in Innocency yet he had instead of it the present Possession of an earthly Paradice and an happy Estate in it which he knew would last if he continued in Holiness or be changed into a better Happiness The Apostles did not faint under Affliction because they knew that it worked for them a more exceeding eternal weight of glory 2 Cor. 4.16 17. The believing Hebrews took joyfully the spoiling of their Goods knowing in themselves that they had an Heaven a better and more enduring Substance Heb. 10.34 The Apostle Paul accounts all his Sufferings unprofitable were it not for a glorious Resurrection and that Christians would be of all Men most miserable and that the Doctrine of the Epicures were rather to be chosen Let us eat and drmk for to morrow we shall die And he exhorts the Corinthians to be abundant in the work of the Lord knowing that their labour shall not be in vain in the Lord 1 Cor. 15.58 As worldly Hope keepeth the World at work in their various Employments so God giveth his People the Hope of his Glory to keep them close to his Service Heb. 6.11 12. 1 Joh. 3.3 And it is such a sure Hope as shall never make them ashamed Rom. 5.28 Those that think it below the excellency of their Love to work out of Hope of the Heavenly Reward do thereby advance their Love beyond the Love of the Apostles and Primitive Saints and even of Christ himself 3dly This perswasion of our future enjoyment of everlasting Happiness cannot tend to Licentiousness if we understand well that perfect Holiness is a necessary part of that Happiness and that tho' we have a Title to that Happiness by free Justification and Adoption yet we must go to the possession of it in a way of Heliness 1 Jo. 3.1 2 3. Neither is it legal or mercenary to be moved by this Perswasion seeing the Perswasion it self is not gotten by the Works of the Law but by free Grace through Faith Gal. 5.5 And if it be a working out of self-love yet for certain it is not that carnal self-love which the Scripture condemneth as the Mother of Sinfulness 2 Tim. 3.2 but an holy self-love enclining us to prefer God above the Flesh and the World such as God directeth us unto when he exhorteth us to save our selves Acts 2.40 And it is so far from being contrary to the pure Love of God that it brings us to love God more purely and entirely The more good and beneficial we apprehend God to us to all Eternity doubtless the more lovely God will be to us and our Affections will be the more enflamed towards him God will not be loved as a barren Wilderness a Land of Darkness to us neither will he be served for nought Jer. 2.31 Is 45.19 He would think it a Dishonour to him to be owned by us as our God if he had not prepared for us a City Heb. 11.16 And he draweth us to love him by the Cords of a Man such Cords as the Love of Men useth to be drawn by even by his own Love to us in laying his Benefits before us Hos 11.4 Therefore the way for us to keep our selves in the Love of God is to look for his Mercy unto eternal Life Jude 21. The last Endowment for the same end as the former is that we be well perswaded of sufficient Strength both to will and perform our Duty acceptably until we come to the Enjoyment of the heavenly Happiness This is contrary to the Error of those that account it sufficient if we have strength to practice Holiness if we will or to will it if we please and this is the sufficient strength which they earnestly contend for as a great Benefit bestowed on all Mankind by universal Redemption It is also contrary to the Error of those that think the Practice of Godliness and Wickedness to be alike easie excepting only some difficulty in the first Alterations of vicious Customs and in bearing Persecutions which they account to be a rare Case since the Kingdoms of the World have been brought to the Profession of Christianity or that think that God requireth of Men only to do their Endeavour that is what they can do and it is nonsence to say they cannot do what they can do According to their Judgment it is needless to concern our selves much about sufficient Strength for holy Practice For the confirmation of the Assertion against these Errours take these Arguments First We are by nature dead in Trespasses and Sins unable to will or do any thing that is spiritually good notwithstanding the Redemption that is by Christ until we be actually quickened by Christ Ephes 2 1â— Rom. 8.7 8 9. Those that are sufficiently enlightned and humbled know themselves to be naturally in this Case and that they do not want only executive Power to do good but chiefly an Heart to will it and to be pleased with it and that if God work not in them both to will and to do they shall neither will nor do any thing pleasing to him Phil. 2.13 And that if he leave them to their own Corruption after he hath begun the good Work they shall certainly prove vile Apostates and their latter end will be worse than their beginning We may conclude from hence that whosoever can couragiously attempt the Practice of the Law without being well perswaded of a sufficient Power whereby he may be enabled to be heartily willing as well as to perform when he is
Goodness of God that it is no worse DIRECT VI. Those that endeavour to perform sincere Obedience to all the Commands of Christ as the Condition whereby they are to procure for themselves a Right and Title to Salvation and a good ground to trust on him for the same do seek their Salvation by the Works of the Law and not by the Faith of Christ as he is revealed in the Gospel And they shall never be able to perform sincerely any true holy Obedience by all such Endeavours EXPLICATION FOR the understanding the terms of this Direction note here that I take Salvation as comprehending Justification as well as other Saving Benefits and sincere Obedience as comprehending holy Resolutions as well as the fulfilling of them The worst of Men that have any Sense of Religion are prone to imagine that the sure way to establish the Practice of Holiness and Righteousness is to make it the Procuring Condition of the Favour of God and all Happiness This may appear by the various false Religions that have prevailed most in the World In this way the Heathens were brought to their best Devotion and Morality by the knowledge of the Judgment of God that those that violate several of the great Duties to God and their Neighbour are worthy of Death and by their Consciences accusing or excusing them according to the Practise of them Rom. 1.32 2.14 15. Our Consciences are informed by the common Light of Natural Reason that it is just with God to require us to perform these Duties that we may avoid his Wrath and enjoy his Favour and we cannot find any better way than this to obtain Happiness or to stir up our selves to Duty without divine Revelation Yet because our own Consciences testifie that we often fail in the performance of these Duties we are enclined by Self-Love to perswade our selves that our sincere Endeavours to do the best we can shall be sufficient to procure the Favour of God and Pardon for all our Failings Thus we see that the Perswasion of Salvation by the Condition of sincere Obedience hath its original from our corrupt Natural Reason and is part of the Wisdom of this World it is none of the Wisdom of God in a Mystery that hidden Wisdom God ordained before the World to our Glory it is none of those things of the Spirit of God which have not entred into the Heart of Man and which the Natural man cannot receive for they are foolishness to him neither can he know them for they are spiritually discerned 1 Cor. 2.6 7 9 14. It is none of the foolishness of Preaching whereby it pleased God to save them that believe 1 Cor. 10.21 And though we have a better way revealed to us in the Gospel for the enjoyment of the Favour of God and Holiness it self and all Salvation without any procuring Condition of Works by the free Gift of God's Grace through Faith in Christ yet it is very difficult to perswade men out of a way that they are naturally addicted to and that hath forestalled and captivated their Judgments and is bred in their Bone and therefore cannot easily be gotten out of the Flesh Most of those that live under the hearing and profession of the Gospel are not brought to hate Sin as Sin and to love Godliness for itself though they be convinced of the necessity of it to Salvation and therefore they cannot love it heartily The only means that they can take to bring themselves to it is to stir up themselves to an Hypocritical Practice in their old natural way that they may avoid Hell and get Heaven by their Works And their own Consciences witness that the Zeal and Love that they have for God and Godliness their Self-denial Sorrow for Sin strictness of Life are in a manner forced and extorted from them by slavish Fear and mercenary Hope so that they are afraid that if they should trust on Christ for Salvation by Free-Grace without Works the fire of their Zeal and Devotion would be quickly extinguished and they should grow careless in Religion and let loose the Reins to their Lusts and bring certain Damnation upon themselves This moveth them to account them the only Boanerges and powerful Preachers that preach little or none of the Doctrine of Free-Grace but rather spend their Pains in rebuking Sin and urging People to get Christ and his Salvation by their Works and thundering Hell and Damnation against Sinners It hath been farther observed that some that have contended much for Salvation by Free-Grace without any Condition of Works have fallen into Antinomian Opinions and licentious Practices The Experience of these things hath much prevailed with some learned and zealous men of late amongst our selves to recede from the Doctrine of Justification by Faith without Works formerly professed unanimously and strongly defended by the Protestants against the Papists as a principal Article of true Religion They have perswaded themselves that such a way of Justification is ineffectual yea destructive to Sanctification and that the practice of sincere Obedience cannot be established against Antinomian Dotages and prevailing Lusts except it be made the necessary Condition of our Justification and so of our eternal Salvation Therefore they conclude that God hath certainly made sincere Obedience to be the Condition of our Salvation And they have endeavoured to new-model the Protestant Doctrine and to interpret the holy Scriptures in a way agreeable and subservient to this their only sure Foundation of Holiness But I hope to shew that this their imagined sure Foundation of Holiness was never laid by the Holy God but that it is rather an Errour in the Foundation pernicious to the true Faith and to Holiness of Life I account it an Error especially to be abhorred and detested because we are so prone to be seduced by it and because it is an Error whereby Satan transforming himself into an Angel of Light and a Patron of Holiness hath greatly withstood the Gospel in the Apostles times and stirred up men to persecute it out of zeal for the Law and hath since prevailed to set up and maintain Popery whereby the Mystery of Iniquity worketh apace in these days to corrupt the Purity of the Gospel amongst the Protestants and to heal the deadly wound that was given to Popery by preaching the Doctrine of Justification by Faith without Works One thing asserted in the Direction against this fundamental Error is that it is a way of Salvation by the Works of the Law and not by the Faith of Christ as revealed in the Gospel Though the maintainers of it would have us believe that it is the only way of the Gospel that so we may not doubt of its Power and Efficacy for our Justification Sanctification and our whole Salvation Their Reasons are because the Law as a Covenant of Works requireth us to do all its Commandments perfectly that we may live whereas they plead only for a milder Condition of sincere doing
be sincere so that they cannot see assurance in themselves therefore they conclude that Assurance must not be accounted absolutely necessary to justifying Faith and Salvation lest we should make the Hearts of doubting Saints sad and drive them to despair They account that former Protestants were guilty of a manifest Absurdity in making assurance to be of the Nature and Definition of Saving-Faith because all that hear the Gospel are bound to Saving-Faith and yet they are not bound absolutely to believe that they themselves shall be saved for then many of them would be bound to believe that which is not declared in the Gospel concerning them in particular yea that which is a plain lye because the Gospel sheweth that many of those that are called are not chosen to Salvation and that perish for ever Mat. 20.16 No wonder if the appearance of so great an Absurdity move many to imagine that Saving-Faith is a trusting or resting on Christ as the only sufficient means of Salvation without any assurance or that it is a desiring and venturing to trust or rely upon him in a mere State of Suspence and Uncertainty concerning our Salvation or with a probable Opinion or conjectural Hope of it at best Another Objection against this Doctrine of Assurance is that it destroyeth Self-examination bringeth forth the evil Fruits of Pride and Arrogancy as if they knew their places in Heaven already before the Day of Judgment causeth carelesness of Duty carnal Security all manner of Licentiousness And this maketh them commend doubtfulness of our Salvation as necessary to maintain in us Humility Religious Fear Watchfulness much searching and trying our spiritual State and Ways diligence in good Works and all Deyotion Against all those contrary Imaginations I shall endeavour to maintain this ancient Protestant Doctrine of assurance as I have expressed in the Direction and first I shall lay down some Observations for the right understanding of it which will be sufficient to turn the edge of the strongest Objections that can be made against it First Observe diligently that the Assurance directed unto is not a Perswasion that we have already received Christ and his Salvation or that we have been already brought in to a State of Grace but only that God is pleased graciously to give Christ and his Salvation unto us and to bring us into a State of Grace though we have been altogether in a State of Sin and Death until this present time so that this Doctrine doth not at all tend to breed Presumption in wicked and unregenerate Men that their state is good already but only encourageth them to come to Christ confidently for a good State I acknowledge that we may yea many must be taught to doubt whether their present State be good and that it is Humility so to do and that we must find out the Certainty and Sincerity of our Faith and Obedience by Self-examination before we can have a well-grounded Assurance that we are in a State of Grace and Salvation already and that such an assurance belongeth to that which they call the reflect Act of Faith if any act of Faith can be made of it being spiritual Sence or feeling of what is in my self and is not of the Essence of that Faith whereby we are justified and saved and that many precious Saints are without it and subject to many Doubts that are contrary to it so that they may not know at all that it shall go well with them at the Day of Judgment and that it may be sometimes intermitted if not wholly lost after it is gotten and that we should strive to walk holily that we may attain to it because it is very useful for our growth and increase in Faith and in all Holiness Most Protestants amongst us when they speak or write of Assurance mean only that which is by Reflection and I have said enough briefly to shew that what I assert is consistent with the Doctrine which is commonly received concerning it and destructive to none of the good Fruits of it therefore not guilty of those Evils that some falsly charge it with This kind of Assurance which I speak of answereth not the Question Whither I am already in a state of Grace and Salvation There is another great Question that the Soul must answer that it may get into a state of Grace Whether God be graciously pleased now to bestow Christ and his Salvation upon me though I have been hitherto a very wicked Creature We must be sure to resolve this Question comfortably by another kind of Assurance in the direct act of Faith wherein we are to perswade our selves without reflecting upon any good Qualifications in our selves That God is ready graciously to receive us into the Arms of his saving Mercy in Christ notwithstanding all our former Wickedness according to the gracious Promise I will call them my people which were not my people and her beloved which was not beloved and it shall come to pass that in the place where it was said unto them Ye are not my people there shall they be called the children of the living God Rom. 9.25 26. Secondly The Assurance directed unto is not a Perswasion of our Salvation whatever we do or however we live and walk but only in a limited way through meer Free-grace in Christ by partaking of Holiness as well as Forgiveness and by walking in the way of Holiness to the Enjoyment of the Glory of God We shall not heartily desire or endeavour to assure our selves of such a Salvation as this if we be not brought first to see our own Sinfulness and Misery and to despair of our own Righteousness and Strength and to hunger and thirst for the sanctifying as well as justifying Grace of God in Christ that so we may walk in the ways of Holiness to the Enjoyment of Heavenly Glory The Faith whereby we receive Christ must have in it not only a Perswasion of Happiness but these and the like good Qualifications that will make it a most holy Faith Certainly an Assurance thus qualified will not beget any Pride in us but rather Humility and self-loathing except any account it Pride to rejoyce and glory in Christ when we have no Confidence in the Flesh Phil. 3.3 It will not destroy religious Fear and breed carnal Security but rather it will make us fear going aside from Christ our only Resuge and Security and walking after the Flesh Noah had cause to enter into the Ark and to abide there with Assurance of his Preservation yet he might well be afraid to venture out of the Ark because he was perswaded that Continuance in the Ark was his only Safery from perishing in the Flood And how can a Perswasion of Salvation in a way of Holiness breed Sloathfulness in Duty Carelesness and Licentiousness It doth rather mightily allure us and stir us up to be always abounding in the Work of the Lord for as much as we know that our labour
Applied ROM 3.23 24 25 26. 23 For all have sinned and come short of the Glory of God 24 Being justified freely by his Grace through the Redemption that is in Jesus Christ 25 Whom God hath set forth for a Propitiation through Faith in his Blood to declare his Righteousness for the remission of Sins that are past through the forbearance of God 26 To declare I say at this time his righteousness that he might be just and the justifier of him who believeth in Jesus THE Apostle having confuted and overthrown all Justification of either Jew or Gentile by Works in the foregoing Discourse is now proving what he Asserted ver 21 22. viz. that the righteousness of God without the law is manifested being witnessed by the law and the Prophets even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe for there is no difference Shewing that now in the Gospel times there is no difference between Jew and Gentile but that in the justification of both the Righteousness of God without the Law is manifested This he proveth by shewing what the Gospel teacheth concerning the way of Justification for the Gospel only reveals the Righteousness of God Rom. 1.16 17. I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ ver 17. For therein is the Righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith So the Words are a declaration of the Gospel way of Justification by the Righteousness of God and that so clearly and fully and the benefit spoken of so great and glorious being the first benefit that we receive by Union with Christ and the foundation of all other benefits that my Text is accounted to be Evangelium Evangelii a principal part of the written Gospel as briefly and yet fully expressing this excellent point more then any other Text. Note in the words particularly 1. The Subject declared and explained viz. Justification of Persons or their being justified and the meaning of it here is to be cleared and freed from all Ambiguities and Mis-understanding Justification signifieth making just as Sanctification is making holy Glorification making glorious But not making just by infusion of grace and holiness into a Person as the Papists teach consounding Justification and Sanctification together but making just in trial and judgment by a judicial Sentence discharging of guilt freeing from blame and accusation approving judging owning and pronouncing a person to be righteous Use alters the signification from the Notation It is a Juridical word or Law Term and hath reference to Trial and Judgement 1. Cor. 4.3 4. It is with me a very small thing that I should be judged of you or of man's judgment Yea I judge not mine own self For I know nothing of my self yet am I not hereby justified but he that judgeth me is the Lord. And it s so opposed to condemnation in Judgment Deut. 25.1 If there be a controversie between men and they come unto judgment that the Judges may judge them then they shall justify the Righteous and condemn the wicked And Mat. 12.37 By thy words thou shalt be justified and by thy words thou shalt be condemned And it 's opposed both to Accusation and Condemnation Rom. 8 33 34. Who shall lay any thing to the charge of Gods Elect ver 34. Who is he that condemneth And so Job 9.20 If I justify my self mine own mouth shall condemn me Job 13.15 I will maintain mine own ways before him ver 18. I have ordered my cause and I know I shall be justified ver 19. Who is he that will plead with me Here Justification is plainly opposed unto the Accusation or Fault and it 's as plainly opposed to the passing Sentence of Condemnation 1 Kings 8.32 Do and judge thy Servants condemning the wicked to bring his way upon his head and justifying the righteous to give him according to his Righteousness In this sence it is a sin to justify the Wicked Isa 5.23 Prov. 17.15 Job 27.5 Actions must be existent already and brought to trial that they may be justified Job 33.32 Isa 43.9 26. Justice or Righteousness consists not in the Intrinsick nature of an Action but in its agreeableness to a rule of Judgment So that Actions are called just and righteous by an Extrinsecal Denomination with relation to Gods rule of Judging and this Righteousness appears by trying the Action according to the rule and by making an estimate of it which estimate is either approving or disproving justifying or condemning finding it to be sin or no sin or breach of the Law so we may say of the righteousness of Persons with reference to such habits or actings And because Righteousness of righteous Persons appears when they are brought to trial and judgment therefore they are said then to be in a special manner justified as if they were then made righteous Viz. when their Righteousness is declared as Christ was said to be begotten the Son of God at the Resurrection Acts 13 33. because he was then declared to be the Son of God Rom. 1.4 and in the same sense we that are adopted at present are said to wait for our adoption i. e. the manifestation of it Rom. 8.23 And thus even God is said to be justified when we judge of his Actions as we ought to do and deem them to be righteous Job 32.2 Psal 51.4 Luke 7.29 though nothing can be added to the Infinite Righteousness of God And Wisdom is said to be justified by her Children Matth. 11.19 So Justification is not a real change of a Sinner in himself though a real change is annexed to it but only a Relative change with reference to Gods Judgment And thus the word is used in the Text and so also in matters of Judicature throughout the scripture yea some contend against the Papists that it is no where in Scripture otherwise except by a Trope borrowed from this as the proper sense And in the Text it 's beyond all doubt meant of being deemed and accounted just in the sight of God for such a Justification is here only treated of as appears in the Text and before ver 19 20. And I have been the longer Explaining the sense of the word because the mistaking of it by reason of its composition occasioned that popish error whereby the benefit signified by it is obscured yea overthrown so that we had need contend for the sense of the Word 2. In the Text we have First the Persons justified 1. Sinners 2. Such Sinners of all sorts that shall believe whether Jews or Gentiles 2. The Justifier or Efficient Cause God 3. The Impulsive Cause Grace 4. The means effecting or Material Cause The Redemption of Christ 5. The Formal Cause The Remission of Sins 6. The Instrumental Cause Faith 7. The Time of declaring The present Time 8. The End That God may appear just From hence therefore will arise several useful Observations all tending to explain the nature of Justification which shall