Selected quad for the lemma: judgement_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
judgement_n	bring_v	execution_n	writ_n	2,149	5	9.7142	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A49801	Theo-politica, or, A body of divinity containing the rules of the special government of God, according to which, he orders the immortal and intellectual creatures, angels, and men, to their final and eternal estate : being a method of those saving truths, which are contained in the Canon of the Holy Scripture, and abridged in those words of our Saviour Jesus Christ, which were the ground and foundation of those apostolical creeds and forms of confessions, related by the ancients, and, in particular, by Irenæus, and Tertullian / by George Lawson ...	Lawson, George, d. 1678.	1659 (1659)	Wing L712; ESTC R17886	441,775	362

as refused to relieve His poor Saints and Members in their wants and distresses 5. Justice and Mercy in this kind are great Preservatives of Peace and Prosperity in Humane Societies and therefore God so often calls for the observation of them 6. A little Estate justly gotten wisely used is always accompanied with God's Blessing and transmitted to Posterity without any curse or guilt In this respect a little which the Righteous hath is better then the Riches of many Wicked Psal. 37. 16. 7. Works of Mercy and Benevolence to them who are in want and misery are highly commended and to them a rich Reward is promised For what is given to the Poor God takes as lent unto himself and He engageth to re-pay with Interest And if these be shewed to the Saints in the Name of Christ the least of them to a cup of cold Water shall not lose the Reward or be forgotten either in this life or in the life to come when Christ shall give possession of an Everlasting Kingdom to merciful men 8. Justice and Mercy render men like unto God and are Duties most agreeable to Christians who have believed in Christ and must love their Brethren with a dying-giving love seeing Christ dyed and gave Himself for them and they have so deeply tasted of God's love in Him CHAP. XV. The Ninth Commandement AFter that God had determined the right of persons § I and things by the former laws he here prescribes a rule of judgement For as in the civil law some observe 1. Jus. 2. Judicium as the parts and members of the same and meanes to observe justice So it 's here That which they call Jus Civile is nothing else but the law determining the right of persons things actions both publick and private And that which they call Judicium is nothing else but certain rules regulating judgment which determines whether the law hath been obeyed or disobeyed and the right determined by law observed or violated and proceeds accordingly So that as the former four Commandements determine the right of persons and things to be observed by man so this prescribes a rule for the better ordering of Judgment The end therefore of this law is to regulate Judgement and to prevent unjust and stablish just Judgment amongst men This therefore is the originall of all humane jurisdiction and civil Courts For the better understanding thereof you must observe that all civill power is threefold legislative judicial executive and all governments once constituted begin to act in making laws goes on in judgment according to these laws and end in execution according to this judgment For execution is the last act and consummation of civil power The former Commandements give certain rules for the enacting of humane laws this of ordering humane judgment That some understand this Commandement so as though all sins of the tongue were here forbidden is not true Because Perjury and Blasphemy are forbidden in the first Table reviling words against our betters in the 5th Racha and thou Fool in the 6th Bawdry in the 7th lying for gaine in the 8th Commandement Others think that the end of this is to provide for our Neighbours fame and good name Yet this doth not reach the true scope of this law which is as you heard before to establish just judgment These things observed § II for to cleare the order manifest the scope and give some generall light I proceed to the explication of the words of the Commanment which is negative and therein we may observe 1. A party litigant whose cause is brought before a judge 2. Witnesse to give-in evidence in the cause 3. The testimony 4. The quality of it 1. The party litigant is our Neighbour whether friend Kinsman stranger enemy considered as litigant and in this place it may signifie either the Plaintiff or Defendant For all causes are brought into Courts of judgment by information and complaint And here I need not distinguish of causes which are according to some civil criminall capitall nor of Courts whereof some are supreme receiving last appeals and are not bound to formalities or subordinate and inferiour Courts which have a limited jurisdiction and are bound to a certain form of proceeding 2. The witnesse is one that is or should be indifferent to the cause and in no wise inclined to the partyes and hath or is supposed to have some certaine knowledge in the matter complained of and controverted and so is able to give some evidence to the judge who is bound not onely to know the law but the thing controverted before he give judgment For no man can justly judge of that which he knows not 3. The testimony is an act of a Witnesse as a Witnesse whereby he declares or pretends to declare especially to the Judge his knowledge in the cause controverted The end of it is to give evidence that so the merit or demerit of the cause may be known And because this testimony is given upon examination and interrogation therefore in the originall Not to beare false Witnesse is Not to answer false Witnesse The Testimony in this respect puts on the nature of an Answer which is given especially in doubtfull causes upon Oath and the Oath is taken to make the testimony credible because it 's supposed no man will hazzard his soul and interest in God And because it 's the highest degree of confirmation in such causes it 's therefore said to be an end of all strife Heb. 6. 16. 4. The quality of the Testimony is the last thing in the Commandement and it may be either true or false and so either promote or hinder justice do right or wrong unto our Neighbour litigant Truth and Falshood are not onely essentiall but accidentall qualityes to a testimony and because men are not infallible therefore their testimony may be false as well as true And the quality forbidden is falshood the quality commended is truth for God saith Thou shalt not beare false Witnesse In this Commandement as in severall others there is a Synechdoche For hereby witnesse giving evidence we must understand all partyes that any wayes actively concurr to judgement Whether they be the partyes litigant Plaintiff or Defendant as the Judge or the partyes assistant as Sollicitours Atturnyes Advocates Notaries and Clarks or such as are trusted with the execution either of Writs or Judgment The reason why Witnesse is onely named is because judgement doth so much yea necessarily depend upon Evidence and one kind and the same most usuall is by Witnesses Yet by testimony must be meant all other kind of evidence and in this Word is also a Synechdoche for by it we must understand all judiciall acts as Complaints Apologies convention plea sentence execution The meaning therefore of the Commandement must be this Thou shalt not any wayes concur to unjust judgement neither shalt thou hinder but thou must do thy best to promote justice in all causes and tryalls So that injustice in

from all weariness faintings diseases annoyances and pains so that the loss of Sense is turned to a benefit though in it self it be a punishment As for the Soul the reward thereof is excellent though not perfect It hath obtained a final Victory over sin Sathan the World and is out of all danger of Hell It 's freed from all trouble and inconvenience that did arise from the Body and is delivered up with great peace and joy into the hands of a gracious Redeemer who sends his Angels to receive it guard it and set it in the Heavenly Paradise where Satan can never come near it or tempt it any more either to sin or despair And now it 's free from all sin all fear and sorrow and temptations and washed in Christ's bloud shall be presented pure and blameless before God's Throne The place whatsoever it is is full of comfort the Society excellent it 's secure of the great reward of Eternal Glory And that which is the accomplishment of all comforts it is with Jesus Christ it's blessed Saviour who takes the charge and protection of it Paul desired to depart and be with his Saviour which was far better Phil. 1. 23. Which words inform us 1 That the Soul lives after it is separated from the Body 2 That Death is not a destruction but departure 3 It 's departure from a worse place and condition to the better 4 Though it's absent from the Body yet it 's present with the Lord. 5 Though it had many sweet and excellent joys and comforts in Christ in this life yet now it hath more and greater CHAP. XXIIII Of the Universall and finall Judgment and the Eternall Rewards and punishments of the World to come AFter all the judgments past § I and executed from the beginning of the world to the last period and moment of the same there will be another and it shall be the last for none shall follow It 's final As it shall be the last so it will be the greatest Court that ever God did keep both in respect of the persons to be judged which shall be all men and Angels and in respect of the retributions which shall be Punishments and Rewards in the highest degree and everlasting Many Signes and Prodigies both in Heaven and Earth shall go before and prognosticate the approach thereof The world shall be consum'd by fire the dead shall be raised the living shall be changed and both shall be immortall The Judg is God who hath given commission to Iesus Christ to judge both Angels and men both quick and dead He hath appointed a day wherein he will judge the World in Righteousnesse by that man whom he hath ordained whereof he hath given assurance unto all men in that he hath raised him from the dead Act. 17. 31. Yet of the day and hour when he shall come no man knoweth no not the Angels of Heaven He shall come in great glory all the holy Angels shall attend him a Cloud shall be his Chariot his Tribunal shall be high and dreadfull The Arch-Angel shall sound the Trumpet and make all the World to heare All shall be summond all shall appear All causes shall be evident The sentence shall be irrevocable the Punishments and Rewards great the execution certain and the estate of the partyes judged shall be unchangeable That such a day will come that it will be a great day that it will be dreadfull unto many and a day of unspeakable joy to true believers it 's certain For God hath said so and all his Saints believe him and long for that day and wait for their Saviours comming from Heaven That it will be a day of judgment and that Christ shall be the Universall judge we doubt not Yet the manner of his comming and the way of his proceeding we do not perfectly and distinctly for the particulars know Something of it God by his Son Jesus Christ hath signified unto us and informed us of as that an Eternall Kingdome upon a finall and totall absolution will be adjudged to some but others shall receive the doom of an eternall curse and excommunication to be cast out of Gods presence and condemned to suffer eternall Punishments with the Devill and his Angels All secrets shall then be brought to light and the judgment shall be exactly just according to mens works and the execution shall be answerable For the condemned shall go into everlasting Punishment but the righteous into life eternall Math. 25. 46. So that of this judgment and the execution thereof we have two parts 1. The Reward of the Righteous 2. The Punishment of the unrighteous according to their obedience or disobedience unto the Laws of God Redeemer The reward of the righteous shall be of the whole man § II both soul and body both united together and joyntly partakers in the reward as they were in obedience The body being raised shall be immortall free from all evils incident to a body free from all imperfections and defects and made glorious and perfect with all perfections a body can be capable of For from Heaven we look for the Saviour the Lord Jesus Christ who shall change our vile body that it may be fashion'd like unto his glorious body according to the Working whereby he is able to subdue all things to himself Phil. 3. 21. The greatest perfection shall be this that it shall be united to a Soul fully sanctified from which it shall never any more be separated and both together shall be the Eternal Temple of the Holy Ghost The Soul it self shall be finally and totally justified fully sanctified and endued with all the graces of the Spirit requisite to happiness and then their Reconciliation and Adoption shall be consummate the whole man shall be firmly established in Righteousness and Holiness never to sin never to be in danger to sin again They shall be with their Saviour and behold his glory enjoy the clear Vision of God be ravished with his Beauty filled with Eternal Joy and Delights and be secure of their perpetual full Bliss All tears shall be wiped away from off all faces and they shall never sorrow any more No evil that can be feared shall come near them and all good that can be desired shall abound there As the Light of God's Eternal Favour shall ever shine upon them in full strength so the streams of Eternal goodness shall ever issue from the Throne of God and the Lamb so that they shall be fully satiated with all pleasures for evermore The place will be glorious the company excellent and no good thing that may add unto their happiness shall be wanting Then shall they know how much God loved them and how much Christ hath done for them They believe now that the Reward is great but then by the enjoyment they shall know it to be far greater then ever entred into the heart of Man As Camaracensts saith truly § III That we may know God to be

Hatred The Subject and Persons who shall suffer are not onely Superstitious and Idolatrous Parents but their Children The extent is to the third and fourth Generation This punishment threatned is expressed in the word Visit I will visit God doth visit sometimes in mercy sometimes in justice and displeasure Here it 's Visitation in justice rendred by the Septuagint in this place by a word signifying to render and in many other places by a word signifying to Revenge Both these together teach us that here to visit is to render vengeance and justly to punish And when God saith He will do it it informs us of His determination that it is such that upon the Commission of the Sin the Punishment shall certainly be due and the Delinquent liable unto it and shall unavoidably suffer it if it be not prevented by timely repentance and God's Pardon This punishment is either Temporal or Eternal private or publique Sword or Famine or Pestilence and sometimes the Captivity sometimes the ruine of Families Cities States Nations besides the Eternal Poenalty This Commination was effectual and Israel found this Judgment certain and felt it often lye heavy upon them This as other sins against other Commandements bring the like Judgments upon Christians under the Gospel Yet so that as it was pardonable unto them upon repentance by vertue of the Promise So upon the like tearms it is to us by vertue of Repentance and Faith in Christ already come The Sin which makes liable to this Punishment is hatred of God Of those that hate me The Sin of such as hate Him in this place is the making and worshipping of Images To hate in Hebrew is many times not to love or not to love so much as 〈◊〉 due we should And as a Woman who affects another man besides her Husband though she may love her husband yet doth not love him so much as she should do Her love is not the love of a Wife as a Wife to her Husband as her Husband for that should be singular and exclude all Corrivality and So 〈◊〉 So whosoever is inclined and aff●cted to Image-worship cannot love God as God who is jealous and can endure no Competitour To serve God and Baal is impossible according to His Rules The subject of this Punishment and Visitation is the Fathers that is the Idolatrous Fathers And these are principally in the sin and so principal in the punishment These are the Authors and first beginners of this sin and by their example instruction and direction cause their Posterity to sin and that long after they are dead So Jeroboam made Israel to sin and his institution and example began that sin I which once begun continued till the time of that Kingdoms ruine many years after The extent of this Penalty is such that it do●h not stay in the Parents but proceeds and reacheth the Children and not onely the immediate Children but Posterity to the third and fourth Generation This is not so to be understood as though the period wherein the penalty expires were the fourth Generation But in Scripture three and four Generations are many Generations and God doth not precisely limit Himself to this or that determinate number It 's true that in the time of four Generations the Posterity of some Idolaters may be either cut off or reformed Yet it seems unreasonable that Children should bear and suffer the Punishments of their Fathers sins And therefore some restrain the Visitation to Temporal Punishments and determine the Children to be onely such as continue in their Fathers sins And it 's true that the Children by repentance many times escape the Punishments deserved both by their own and their Fathers Crimes and no person truly p●nitent shall suffer Eternal Penalties for the sins of their Fathers no not of their Father Adam Yet this is certain that not onely penitent Children but such as were never guilty of their Parents Idolatry may suffer for the sins of their Fathers at least Temporally So Daniel with his three Associates and Fellow-Captives Ezra Nehemiah Zorobabel Joshuah the High-Priest lay un●er the guilt of their Fathers Idolatry as one person in God's own account with them Yea God doth inflict not only temporal but spiritual Judgments for the sins of Ancestours So the cursed Posterity of Ham must be Servants many years for his sin The Posterity of the first Apostate Gentiles lay under God's displeasure destitute of the means of Conversion for 2000 years at least And the Children of the unbelieving Jews who crucified the Lord Jesus and refused to believe the Gospel abide in B●indness and under the Curse for these 1600 years and upward The Countries and the Eastern Empire where Image-Worship was establisht in * a General Councel is over-run and lyes now under the power of the Turk that great Oppressour of Christians and Enemy to Christ and the greatest part of them are deprived of the Gospel And all the Western-Nations and other Countries and People who received at the hands of the great Whore the Cup of Fornication are delivered up to strange Doctrines and God hath sent them strong Delusions that they should believe a Lye and many false Miracles and other things contrary not onely to Scripture but Reason and Sense and this for many years The pretence of the Worship of the true and living God and Jesus Christ His Blessed Son and the subtile Distinction devised to m●intain their Image Worship will not justifie them but prove that the great City built upon seven Hills which in the time of the Divine Apocalyptist reigned over the Nations even whilest She professeth her Self Christian is Babylon in a Mystery Histories tell us that the Old Babylon which once was an Imperial Seat and now a ruinous Heap was the first and most Idolatrous Ci●y in the World and that Image Worship and Idolatry was there first established by a Law But her Whoredoms were open and manifest and she profest her self to be what she was Yet Babylon in a Mystery professeth to believe in one onely true God and to renounce all false gods yet in practice is fearfully Idolatrous The last Reason is § VIII from the Promise of mercy to a thousand Generations of them that love God and keep His Commandements By Mercy understand such Blessings as God promised in the Law to Israel which are often mentioned in the Books of Moses especially Levit. 26. Deut. 28. The Subject of these Mercies are the Israelites 1. As loving God 2. Keeping His Commandements 1. The love of God in this place is opposed to the former Hatred and is that pure and chaste affection of the Soul towards God whereby it abhors all Image-Worship and even the appearance of it in toying with Images or the use of any thing in Religious Service invented by Man Therefore as Superstition Idolatry and all Worship of Images is called Fornication and Adultery contrary to the Contract and Covenant made with God as our God

charge to suborne or corrupt Witnesses and delay the finall decision which also is the sin of both partyes sometimes And few men continue charitable whilst they contend in law The many sins of the parties litigant are so well known that I need not give any further account of them As for Sollicitours and Atturneys § VI they must be skilfull allowed diligent faithfull perswading to peace and if that cannot be to be as carefull of their Clients cause as of their own Yet so as to do nothing against a good conscience and the rules of Christianity Their profession is lawfull and good but the design of many of them is to gaine and out of covetousnesse to enrich themselves Their end is not peace and justice They encourage men in their litigious suits perswade them of the justice and good issue of their cause and will undertake it though never so unjust They disswade men from agreement comply one with another to bring grift unto the Lawyers mill delay Judgement protract Suits give advantage to their Client's adversary either ignorantly or negligently or perfidiously They make large accounts exact immoderate fees and pick poor mens purses and so prove not onely Theeves against the former Commandement but enemyes to just Judgement against this The duty of Witnesses is to remember § VII and seriously consider their Oath and accordingly clearly and fully to declare the truth and all the truth they certainly know in that cause wherein they are produced And this must be done without any partiality or respect to any person with a desire to make way for and promote righteous Judgement Such as are willing to be suborned or corrupted and are ready contrary to their Oath and the true end of all judiciall testimonyes to testifie that which they know not or know not certainly or that which they know to be false or conceal any of their knowledge or use doubtfull expressions or equivocations or mentall reservations or contradict themselves or any wayes obscure the cause out of covetousnesse or fear or favour or hatred or any other inordinate passion and affection these directly transgresse against the expresse Words of the Commandement And further let every one know that as he is forbidden here to be a false Witnesse so he is commanded to testifie the truth certainly known unto him in any cause when he is called thereunto and the case of his Neighbour shall require it Nay in some cases we must willingly offer our selves when we understand that by our true and faithfull testimony we may prevent in justice either in clearing and righting the innocent or punishing the guilty The duty of Counsellours in Law § VIII and Advocates who ought to be skilfull in the Law so far as their place requires or else not to undertake the profession is to perswade men to peace if that cannot be done or be not expedient to take full and perfect information before either they give Counsail or undertake the cause If they find it to be unjust they must refuse to meddle in it or manage it They must give good and faithfull Counsail plead wisely justly effectually in a good cause be content with moderate fees remember the condition of poor Clients be faithfull do what they can to bring the matter to a due tryall and with as much expedition as conveniently may be The sins of these are many if they be corrupt or covetous Some take upon them the profession and practise in it though they have no sufficient skil They will undertake any cause though never so unjust their end is gaine not justice their God is their gold They give bad Counsell encourage the Clients to go on in an unjust cause or in such a matter as it 's more then probable they shall be cast if justice take effect They will plead against justice obscure a plaine truth puzzle and daunt a timerous witnesse are senslesse of their Clients condition perfidious will plead vehemently against justice and do what they can to pervert judgement will not use all diligence to promote justice In our judicial proceedings § IX according to the constitution of our government we have Juries or Jurors so called because they are sworn before they can act and in that respect also they are called Sacramentales These are either Delatory or Judiciall Delatory are for information and their businesse is to enquire after Delinquents and to certifie their names and their offences And they are either superiour or inferiour Superiours for a whole County at Assises or Sessions of the peace and this Jury is called the Grand-Inquest Inferiour are such as present and indite in inferiour Courts Judiciall are such as for the substance of the cause determine it for matter of fact before the Judges give the sentence for Law Their judgment is called a Veredict And these according to the causes are such as give their Veredict in civil or Criminal and capitall causes In civil causes belonging to the Common pleas the Judge between subject and subject in criminall betwixt King and subject And because some criminal causes are capi●al therefore such as are empa●eld and sworn for these are called the Jury for life and death All this makes it evident that amongst us judgement depends much upon these Jurours Their duty in this respect is that according to law they be Boni et legales homines and no wayes chargeable with such crimes as they accuse or judge which words according to the first institution did reach further then we ordinarily conceive It was the wisdome of our Ancestours to appoint these Juryes that every one might be judged per Pares by his Peers and such as were likely to know men best and their quality causes and offences The intention was the preservation ofliberty to prevent the impunity of offenders and to do every one righ● These must be men of understanding and integrity and must endeavour to be fully informed make just and impartiall presentments and give just and impartiall Verdicts Yet many of these are either unskilfull or unconscionable pact up of such persons as are for the person not the cause wranglers rash carelesse or soul corrupt and so are a great cause why innocent persons are condemned or 〈◊〉 in their cause and the guilty and sometimes such as are polluted with blood are acquitted In judgement also we have Notaries § X and also such as are trusted with the execution The Notaries and keepers of records have their duty prescribed in this Commandement and as they ought to be just and understanding men fitly qualified for their places so they should faithfully and truly record all proceedings from first to last and carefully and safely keep the records They must not be carelesse and negligent much lesse false in altering omitting or falsifying any thing nor unfaithfull in embezeling or making away any thing trusted in their custody Sheri●s Bailiffs Pursevants Constables or any imployed in execution must be carefull to give true

much agitated and to speak distinctly and pertinently We may consider faith in Christ alone propitiating and interceding for sinful man as a duty and as a duty 1. In generall commanded by God Redeemer 2. As this particular duty receiving Christ as Priest in this matter But neither of these wayes considered is it a receiving Christ as Lord and King but presupposeth him as so received For so to receive him is the act of submission or subjection which is necessarily antecedent to the performance of any particular obedience to any particular command as this faith in Christ is Submission hath for object the power of the supreme Lord Duty looks at the command of the Lord acknowledged 2. Faith this faith may be considered as looking back upon the command or forward at the benefit In the former respect it 's a duty properly in the latter respect it 's a condition the performance whereof leads unto the receiving of the benefit 3. Faith may look at the command or at the promise both parts of the Law and it 's justifying as looking at the promise not as resting in the performance of the duty though without the performance it cannot be justifying For these things which God hath joyned together no man must put asunder 4. Faith may be considered as having connexion with the reward and benefit of justification or as having an aptitude for the connexion The connexion with the benefit is not Physicall that 's certain but it 's morall and divine and ariseth from Christs merit and Gods promise with respect unto the merit If Christ had not merited God had never promised If God had never promised justification had never followed upon this faith For let a man believe with the highest degree of ●aith in Christ and in the greatest sincerity yet justification had never followed thereupon nor could have been expected with any certainty except God for Christ's sake had promised that upon such a duty performed justification should have followed So that the indissoluble connexion of this faith and justification is from Gods institution whereby he had bound himself to give the benefit upon the performance of the duty to him that performeth it Yet there is an aptitude in this duty in this faith to be made a condition and have connexion and such an aptitude as can be in no other duty For no other duty commanded by God-Redeemer nor any other act of faith but this can receive Christ as Priest propitiating and pleading the propitiation and the promise of God for his sake as such to give the benefit As receiving Christ and the gracious promise in this manner it acknowledgeth mans guilt and so renounceth all righteousnesse in himself acknowledgeth God the Father and Christ the Son the onely Redeemer and so gives God the greatest glory of justice wisdome mercy and free grace and doth virtually acknowledge it self to be a gift and performed by the Spirit of God Redeemer and that as a duty a work an act of obedience it cannot challenge any right to justification This no other duty no other act of faith no good works can do Therefore God in his infinite Wisdome thought good to pitch upon this and make it the meanes the only meanes whereby justification both for the right unto it and the possession of it should be derived from Christ meriting and himself promising for Christs merit This aptitude is intrinsecall to the duty it self the connexion is extrinsecall for Christs merit and Gods promise This act of faith must look not only at the promise but at Christ not onely at Christ but the Promise too It must look at Christ as sufficiently and abundantly meriting and that without any Promise and at the Promise as grounded upon Christs merit not adding any Meritorious Vigour unto it but as added for mans sake that when the benefits were merited already man might know them have some hope of them and a remote conditional right unto them Christ is the speciall object of our faith and He is so not onely in respect of His Person Natures Acts but also of His Offices For He is King Priest and Prophet and faith receives Him in all His Offices But this act of saith as a duty presupposeth Him as you heard before received as King or else this act is no duty no obedience and as Prophet or else this act could not be a belief of the truth revealed and taught by him infallibly as a Prophet Yet if we consider the matter of this particular act believed formally and properly it 's Christ as a Priest Now let us abstract though not seperate the generall nature of this act as it is a duty and a belief according to both which though not without either because presupposed both must be it cannot be justifying faith then it will appear that it 's properly particularly justifying as receiving Christ as a Priest and as having formerly received Him as King and Prophet For there can be no justification of sinful man if we believe the whole tenour of the Gospell but as merited by Christ alone and promised as merited and procured by Him alone But it s no wayes merited and procured by Him but as a Priest And if it be so represented ex parte objecti it must be so received by this act of faith ex parte subjecti As the act must be conformable so it must be commensurable to the object represented it must neither exceed and be greater nor contract and be lesse If it be not conformable it 's irregular if not commensurable it 's either imperfect and defective or or else falls and fancy But the truth is it 's impossible for an act to exceed its object as its object To say that faith as a duty is justifying will bring in all other good works and duties to share with it in justification But this act of faith truly understood renounceth all good works even at the last judgment as giving any right unto justification and eternall life It annihilates all righteousnesse merit confidence in it self or any other thing but Christ It rests in Christ alone and pleads for pardon only in his name and urgeth Gods promise as made only for his sake It s the most glorifying and magnifying act that ever was performed by Man or Angel It glorifies Gods mercy and free grace in the highest degree It acknowledgeth on Earth as it will be perpetually acknowledged in Heaven that the whole Salvation of sinfull man from the very First beginning unto the Last degree thereof whereof there shall be no end is from God's freest love Christs merit and intercession his own free and gracious promise and the power of his own holy spirit And since the first sin and fall of man it could not be otherwise For man lost all power to save himself forsook the fountain of his happinesse made himself a slave to Sathan his deadly enemy and deserved eternall death This is the duty which qualifyes the