may be found in humane Histories who from the principles of nature and civil education have led a more innocent and blamelesse life than many who glory in their Christian profession for whose conviction and condemnation Pagans and Infidels shall arise in the day of judgment and be brought forth for a witnesse against many called Christians and who shall be beaten with fewer stripes than many who are counterfeit Christians and do disgrace the profession of Christian Religion But we have here to do with these that are indeed regenerat and indued with saving faith who endeavour to be holy and do lament their imperfections and do not give over the use of the means whereby they may profit in holinesse albeit with grief and fear they go on heavily suspecting they meet at last with disappointment and be excluded from the kingdom of heaven for their coming short of Scribes and Pharisees in the point of righteousnesse 2. In this case first the complaint of the afflicted concerning the imperfections of his life and fruits of faith in as far as it is true and just must be admitted granted and confirmed and the afflicted must be taught upon this consideration to be seriously humbled in the presence of God that he may profit in self-denyal and more and more renounce all confidence in his own works or inherent righteousnesse To which purpose let him consider yet more the body of death and original sin not yet throughly mortified in him let him look upon and acknowledge in his present case the bitter roots of infidelity and inclination to depart away from the living God even then when he is most called and hath most need to draw near and adhere unto him upon the sight and consideration whereof he shall perceive a necessity daily to renew the acts of repentance and faith in Christ. Secondly let the necessity and timeous use-making of the imputed righteousnesse of Christ be shewed unto him which righteousnesse if the Lord had not set before us for a refuge what should become of us in the examination of our works and felt imperfection of our inherent righteousnesse And here the afflicted must be exhorted in the sense of his own un-righteousnesse to run alwayes toward Christ to have his nakednesse hid by the garment of Christs imputed righteousnesse and exhorted to apply and imbrace more and more straitly the righteousnesse of Christ our Cautioner who is judicially by the Father adjudged to the believer fled unto him for righteousnesse 1 Cor. 1. 30 But of him are ye in Christ Iesus who is made unto us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption And here let the friend comforter of the afflicted insist that he may consider the value of the ransom paid for us and of the righteousnesse purchased unto us for the only garment able to hide our nakednesse Thirdly let the afflicted person understand that it is righteousnesse with God to be displeased with his children when they esteem little and make little use of the dear bought righteousnesse which Christ hath purchased and that in wisdom and righteousnesse Christ doth not increase the inherent righteousnesse of those who slight him in the mater of his imputed righteousnesse for we are not justified by the perfection of inherent righteousnesse which in this life is impossible but by the perfection of Christs righteousnesse imputed unto the believer in him Fourthly when the Pastor or prudent friend perceiveth the afflicted now convicted of his mistake and error and to be brought to acknowledge that the justification of a sinner doth come by the imputation of the righteousnesse of Christ alone without respect to the works of the law and that the justified man must set himself to bring forth good fruits in the gracious furniture which Christ hath promised to the believer Now I say let him enter upon the comparison of the righteousnesse of the penitent believer in Christ with the righteousnesse of the Scribes and Pharisees and then shall it be clear to the afflicted person that the righteousnesse of the weak Christian shall far exceed the righteousnesse not only of Pagans but also of Scribes and Pharisees of the highest pitch and that for three reasons the first is this the Pharisee cutteth short the interpretation of the law unto the measure of his own external obedience lest the law whereby he seeketh justification should condemn him but the Christian acknowledgeth in all things the spirituality and perfection of the Law and doth not reject any duty which the Law doth command but finds himself bound to obey the Law in all things and to aim to be perfect as his heavenly Father is perfect The second reason is because the works which the Pharisee or Scribe doth are all counterfeit and corrupt in regard they arise from the strength of the natural man and are done for his own glory and carnal ends and not for the glory of God but the works of the Christian exercising faith in Christ proceed from the power of the spirit of Christ in him and are done to the glory of God by him The third reason is because the righteousnesse of works which the Scribes and Pharisees did affectat is altogether impossible and maketh void the grace of God for if righteousnesse be by works it is no more of grace it overturnes that heavenly way of justification by faith in Christ for the righteousnesse of the Pharisee by works cannot consist with the righteousnesse which is by faith of grace but the righteousnesse and justification of the Christian by faith in Christ is possible and ready at hand to every one who renounceth all confidence in his own worthinesse and slyeth unto Christ for grace and this is a most perfect way of righteousnesse which dependeth upon the obedience and satisfaction of Christ imputed to the believer in him Which righteousnesse only can stand in the judgment of God as perfect which only doth open the fountain whereby the power of the holy Ghost runneth down upon the man justified by faith in Christ to enable him to bring forth the acceptable fruits of new obedience By this comparison it doth easily appear that the righteousnesse of the weak believer in Christ doth far exceed the righteousnesse of the Scribes and Pharisees and thus may the afflicted be solved of his doubt arising from comparison of his righteousnesse with the righteousnesse of the Pharisees 3. If these grounds of satisfaction laid before the afflicted do not satisfie but his wounds do break up and bleed afresh let us examine his reasons O! saith he what I have been aiming at in the way of new obedience I suspect is not accepted of God because I find not these fruits of the Spirit which the Apostle speaketh of as evidences of a new creature Gal. 5. 22. love joy peace long-suffering gentlenesse goodnesse faith meeknesse and temperance the defect and little feeling of these fruits doth argue that God doth not approve my works For answering of
the present And in this sense an unrenewed man is said to be in a better or worse condition for the present in comparison with other unrenewed men or with himself at another time In which sense Mark 12. 34. Christ speaking to the Scribe who answered him in all things discreetly saith thou art not far front the kingdom of heaven The condition for the present of this Scribe was better then his fellows and better then his own at another time and yet his person was in the state of wrath because he was not entered in the state of grace or in the kingdom of heaven howsoever he was not far from it In this more strict sense the judicial state of the mans person is fixed so long as the judicial sentence of the Judge binding the unconverted to the curse that is pronounced in the Law or in the Gospel lousing the converted from the curse doth stand But the morall disposition and the condition of the man whether in the state of grace or nature is variable and changeable to the better or worse in comparison with others or himself at another time Whence it is that one and the same person may be in a better or worse condition his state remaining the same to wit good if he be renewed and evil if he be still in nature unrenewed 2. But here we are about the condition of the renewed man only which may be better at one time and worse at another time as his disposition and caâ—â—age in order to the duties of religion and righteousnesse falleth out to be better or worse according as his actions and behaviour are more or lesse conform to the revealed will of God and as his conscience doth its duty more or lesse commendably Sometimes his conscience upon good grounds speaketh good to him while he studieth to walk before God unto all well-pleasing and then he may say with the Psalmist Ps. 26. 12. My foot standeth in an even place in the congregation will I blesse the Lord. To this good condition we need not say much because there is no present disease which calleth for cure of this case Only it is for the child of God in this case necessary to observe dyet and exercise to maintain his good condition and to watch over his heart and wayes that he may continue and go on therein All that we have to deal with is the ill condition of the true convert when his conscience doth deceive him or doth not discharge its duty for in this case only remedy and cure is called for 3. As that condition wherein the convert is best pleased with himself is not alwayes the best So neither is that condition wherewith he is worst pleased alwayes the worst But that is the best condition wherein the holy Spirit doth most bear down the power of sin and advance the work of sanctification of the man and that condition is the worst wherein sin most prevaileth And as the goodnesse of a mans condition is is not to be estimat by any eventual accident but by its own nature and proper effects So the illnesse of a mans condition is not to be estimat by any eventual accident but by its own nature and proper effects as God in the Scripture giveth grounds of judgment of a good or ill condition for otherwayes by the default of the renewed man the best condition may degenerat in a very ill condition As when a man doth abuse divine consolations and after receiving of the renewed earnest of the inheritance from the holy Spirit groweth carnally secure and negligent in his duties or when after some grosse pollution of himself in body or soul having grieved the holy Spirit he doth not humble himself as became him but by Sathans suggestion of wicked thoughts against God and his former work in him doth fall in suspicion of all former gracious operations of the holy Spirit in him and mis-calleth all these former experiences and in his tentation esteemeth and nameth them among Sathans delusions or else at least suspecteth and feareth they shall prove no better then such On the other hand the worst conditions of the renewed man by the wisdom mercy and power of God may be turned to advantage in order to Gods glory and the renewed mans salvation as the experience of the Psalmist doth shew us Psal. 116 3 4. c. 4. An evil condition is so called either 1. in respect of the evil which the convert not only feeleth really but laments it seriously or 2. in respect of the converts estimation only who laments his good condition without cause or 3. in respect of a reall evil which the convert lamenteth not at all but lyeth under it securely Of the first sort is the condition of the convert when he seeth his own blindnesse nakednesse and misery the hardnesse of his own heart and the deceitfulnesse of it and doth flye for remedy thereof to Christ the true Physician to cover and cure all his diseases This condition is evil only in respect of felt evil but in respect of the converts making the right use of the discovery of these evils and flying unto Christ for relief therefrom it is a good condition because the diseased convert carryeth himself well and wisely in this exercise Of the second sort is the converts condition when his faith is put to tryall by manifold afflictions and tentations and he conceives himself to be in a very evil condition wherein he ought not to afflict himself but to judge this condition to be a good condition according to the Apostles exhortation Iam. 1. 2 3. My brethren count it all joy when ye fall in divers tentations knowing that the tryall of your faith worketh patience Of the third sort is the condition of the convert who when for example he feels himself unapt and unable to pray or praise or discharge any duty heartily doth not trouble himself with this his ill case but either layeth-by the doing of the duty or doth the work negligently and perfunctoriously and pleaseth himself in so doing for a time This condition is evil indeed both in respect of his spiritual diseases and of his sinfull slighting the duty of seeking relief thereof 5. For rectifying the judgment of the conscience in any or all of those conditions first let difference be put between the sinfull diseases and distempers of our spirit which are evil indeed and the discovery thereof unto us which is a benefit in it self and a gift of eye-salve bestowed by Christ upon us and the right use of that discovery by flying unto Christ which is yet a greater blessing even the work of God drawing us to the Saviour of souls the remedy of every evil Secondly let difference be put between tentation or tryal of faith and yielding to tentation under affliction The observation of tentation offered to make us depart from the truth in tryal is a matter of joy but yielding is a sin and mater of
creature presuppose innocent is called Grace because it is impossible that a meer creature can properly merit any good thing of God because the creature neither hath nor can have that which it hath not received Rom. 11. 35. who hath first given to Him and it shall be recompenced to him again Sometime Grace is taken for every gift or good bestowed by God upon the ill deserver in which sense gists common to elect and reprobat are called by the name of Grace Rom. 1. 5. Ephes. 4. 7. Sometime Grace is taken in opposition to the pactioâ—all merit of works or to the reward due by debt covenanted as Rom. 4. 4. To him that worketh the reward is not reckoned of grace but of debt In which sense that which is given for works is not given of grace Rom. 11. 16. and in this sense we take Grace as it is opposed to the covenant of works for the condition of the covenant of works is the giving perfect obedience to the law But the condition of the covenant of grace is the receiving of Christ by faith unto righteousnesse and life offered in the Gospel without the works of the law which covenant may thus be described The covenant of grace is a contract between God and men procured by Christ upon these tearms that whosoever in the sense of their own sinfulnesse shall receive Christ Jesus offered in the Gospel for righteousnesse and life shall have Him and all the benefits purchased by Him according to the covenant of Redemption and that God will be his God and the God of his children This covenant of grace is founded upon the covenant of Redemption past between God and Christ wherein it was agreed that all the elect given unto Christ shall be reconciled in due time to God and that to this end this grace should be preached to bring about the reconciliation and therefore Christ is called the Mediatour of the new covenant Heb. 12. 22. Of Infants interest in this Covenant Quest. WHat interest have infants in this covenant Ans. The same which they had since the first expresse and formall making thereof with Abraham to whom God promised to be his God and the God of his children whose children all are who are in Christ Gal. 3. 27 28 29. For of the redeemed some come to age whom God having called by the preaching of the Gospel doth induce and effectually move to embrace solemnly the offered fellowship with God and his saints in Christ and to consecrat themselves and their children unto the service of God There are other redeemed ones who die in their infancy before they come to the use of reason to whose salvation God hath expresse respect in making his covenant with their parents that he will not have them excluded from the blessing when he calls their parents to him but in the common offer of grace and reconciliation by Christ he makes the promise jointly to the parents and the children for in one sentence and as it were with one breath He saith I will be thy God and thy seeds after thee Gen. 15. 17. whereof the Apostle maketh good use Acts 2. 39. declaring the promise to be made to the Jews and their children and to the called Gentiles and their children And upon this ground Paul and Silas timeously did offer consolation to the Jailour trembling and anxious what way he should be saved Acts 16. 31. saying Believe in Christ Iesus and thou shall be saved thou and thy house As for the maner how the Lord dealeth with the souls of infants in converting them the Scripture doth not speak for this lieth among the secrets of God which doth not concern us to search after Deut. 29. 29. It should be sufficient to us that God in covenanting with the parents promiseth to be the God of their children And according to this covenant the Lord complains of their staying and offering their children unto idols calling them His own sons and daughters Ezek. 16. 20. and upon this ground in the second command the Lord promiseth to shew mercy to the thousand generation of believing parents and 1 Cor. 7. 14. the Apostle doth call the children of one of the parents believing holy children because of their consecration unto God by the believing confederat parent and in regard of Gods right and interest in them as the children of His own family by covenant And Christ our Lord upon this ground doth call the children of confederat parents burgesses of heaven of such is the kingdom of heaven Matth. 19. 13 14. and because infants are dedicat to Christ to be taught and governed by Him in His own way and order they are called disciples Acts 15. 10. as the disputers for the circumcision of Christians children as well as of their parents after the law of Moses do make it manifest and in the institution of baptism our Lord gives the priviledge of the covenant unto every nation no lesse then to the Iews that by covenant whole nations might be drawn in and given up as disciples to His doctrine Matth. 28. 29. make all nations disciples by your doctrine baptizing them c. that the children with the parents might be partakers by baptism of the seal of the covenant for the righteousnesse of faith no lesse then the children of Israelites were by circumcision Of the means to draw on the making of this covenant OF these means we have spoken in the fourth article of the covenant of Redemption and need not to insist more about them then to name them The first mean to draw men into this blessed covenant and to keep them in it is the externall revelation of the will of God for teaching men how great their sin and misery is and how they may be reconciled and delivered by the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and how they may testifie their thankfulnesse being reconciled for such a mercy which grounds of saving knowledge are fully and faithfully set down in holy Scripture and committed to His servants in the ministry who should in preaching of the Gospel inform and perswade men to repent and imbrace the grace of Christ and put on His sweet yoke of obedience upon them The second mean is after application of the Lords word to the hearers for convincing them of sin in them and righteousnesse in Christ and judgement to follow to wit of absolution of the believer and of condemnation of such as believe not To receive into the bond of this covenant of grace all that appear seriously to consecrat themselves and their children to the faith and obedience of the doctrine of our Lord Jesus Christ without determining whether they be regenerat for the present or not The third mean is the solemn sealing of this covenant for righteousnesse of faith and salvation through Christ by baptizing both the parents that accept the covenant and their children also and by exhortations promises and comminations and all other arguments which may more and more
rest v. 11. and left them to be examined thereafter by Christ Himself whether they were upright in heart or not The same way of gathering members of the visible Christian Churches out of the world did Christs own Apostles follow in His own company Christ himself being present bodily beholding and approving their baptizing of multitudes who after hearing of Christs sermons offered to receive baptism and went down to the water Arnon where Christs Apostles did make and baptize moe disciples then John Ioh. 4. 1. that is they admitted multitudes into the holy covenant and sealed the same with baptism taking no stricter course of examination of them then John did but admitting all that craved the benefit of the covenant and the seal of it though they had no certain evidence of their regeneration being satisfied that Christ did not forbid to baptize them when he saw them go down to the water to be baptized after hearing His sermon Now there is no question He knew their hearts all of them and that many of them would afterward shortly make defection from Him and depart from him and from his disciples fellowship as is plain Ioh. 6. 6 66 70. This way of receiving into externall covenant all these who receive the offer and the condition of the covenant without inquiring into their election or reprobation their regeneration or unregeneration for the time which may be called a covenanting outwardly and in the letter in the deep and wise counsell of God is appointed for the gathering and constitution of the visible kirk for by this mean first God so executeth and perfecteth the decree of election that in the mean time he hindereth none of all the hearers of the Gospel from receiving the grace of Christ offered therein He excludeth no man from embraceing the covenant but on the contrair he opens the door to all that are called to enter into as it were the outer court of his dwelling house that they may so draw more near to him and so he doth not particularly manifest any mans reprobation Secondly by this means also he hideth the election of the elect from others and from themselves till they repent their sins and flee to Christ and bring forth some evidences of their election in their obedience of faith and begun sanctification Thirdly the Lord makes use of this outward and common covenanting with all receivers of the offer as a mean to draw the confederat in the letter to be confederat in the spirit for the faith which he requires as the condition of the covenant he worketh in the elect if not before or with the externall covenanting yet undoubtedly after in a time acceptable and that by the ordinary means the use whereof is granted to all confederat externally and so as common illumination is a mean to that speciall spirituall and saving illumination and dogmaticall or historicall faith is a mean unto saving faith and externall calling is a mean of effectuall calling So externall covenanting in the letter is a mean most fit and accommodat to make a man a covenanter in the spirit Fourthly this externall covenanting wherein God promiseth to be the believers God and the God of their children is a mean not only to beget and foster faith in the covenanting parents for their own salvation but also a mean to comfort them about the salvation of their infants dying in their infancy whether before or after their baptism and a mean to give them good hope of those childrens blessed resurrection by vertue of the promise because in covenanting the Lord doth promise to be the believers God and the God of his children and doth not exact the condition of actuall faith from their dying infants From these grounds it followeth first that some are taken externally and conditionally into the covenant upon their ingagement unto the righteousnesse of faith and their baptism is a seal of their ingagement unto it who albeit they be not as yet regenerat yet they are to be esteemed members of the Church and Christians outwardly Christians by calling and in the letter whose praise is of men as they were also in the Church before Christs coming Jews outwardly and in the letter whose praise was of men commended indeed for so much but if they came not up to lay hold upon and follow after righteousnesse by faith were not Jews in Gods account and unto them circumcision was but in the letter and the sealing of the engagement only and not of the good things covenanted Rom. 2. 28 29. Secondly it followeth that there are some covenanters outwardly and inwardly also in the flesh and in the spirit also whose praise is not of men only but of God also to wit such as not only have engaged to fulfill the condition of living in the faith and following after the righteousnesse of faith but are performers really of their engagement and unto those their baptism is not only outward and in the flesh but inward also in the spirit also approven of God also Such as were in the visible Church of old Jews inwardly performers of their ingagement to live by â—aith Jews in the spirit and not in the letter only whose praise was of God and not of men only Rom. 2. 28 29. Thirdly it followeth that some are in the covenant absolutely or without condition required of them for their part whom God taketh in his own hand absolutly such as are elect infants dying in their infancy for whom that they might be delivered from originall sin and deserved wrath Christ hath ingaged and laid down his life and promised in the covenant to be their God whom therefore ere they die he doth immediatly quicken and sanctifie and translateth to heaven after death of such saith Christ is the Kingdom of heaven Mark 10. 14. How the externall dispensation of the Covenant of old differeth from that which now is under the Gospel ALbeit the covenant of grace in it self be one and the same from the first preaching of it in Paradise unto the end of the world because Christ the Saviour of his people is one and the same yesterday and to day and for ever and because the faith of the elect is of one kind and was and shall be to the worlds end yet the external outletting and dispensation of the covenant differeth as it was propounded before Christs incarnation and after it for in Paradise this covenant was set forth by way of promise according to the articles of the covenant of Redemption that Christ should assume the seed of the woman and should suffer in the flesh or humane nature and by his power destroy the works of the devil in favours of his own chosen people which should militat against the devil under his banner 2. And least any man should fancy that the covenant of grace founded upon this promise was made with all the posterity of Adam as the covenant of works was made with Adam and all his posterity the Lord in
these and the like grounds the Apostle lived a comfortable life Phil. 4. 12. I know both how to be abased and I know how to abound every where and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry both to abound and suffer need I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me Thus must Christian souldiers live in the midst of their toyling in warfare in want of many things in watching and running hazard of life in hope of victory and promised glory holding up their hearts by faith in Christ. And these things which we have spoken in explication of this case are not intended to hinder the tender hearted believer from praying and endeavouring by all means that the face of the Lord may shine upon him and that he may be filled with the joy of his Spirit for we are charged to seek his face and strength continually Psal. 105. 4. But all our speech doth drive at this mainly that the afflicted in his discouragment and unquietnesse meekly submit himself to the will of God howsoever he be exercised alwayes going on in the way of God according to his vocation through honour and dishonour through good report and evil report looking unto the promises which are made to him that endureth to the end And what is spoken here of living by faith must not be abused to softer negligence in well doing or bringing forth fruits of faith in every condition or to hinder the daily exercise of repentance or to require of a Christian a stoical stupidity under trouble but the thing we aim at is that the Christian in all crosse dispensations and vexations endeavour by faith to be of good courage in the Lord and endeavour to draw vertue from Christ to bring forth fruits giving glory to him whatsoever measure he shall bestow more or lesse because it is Christ who is made unto us wisdom and righteousnesse sanctification and redemption and in him alone shall the soul of the afflicted have rest Matth. 11. 24. CHAP. IX Wherein the converts doubt arising from his uncertainty as what time he was converted is solved THere are some true converts who after they have past a good part of their journey to heaven begin to halt and make slow progresse by doubting whether they be walking in the true converts foot-steps or whether they be converted at all or not The reason of their doubting ariseth from this that in conference with sundry of the Saints of their acquaintance they have observed that every one of them could design the time of their conversion and from that time can reckon their age in Christ Or from this is their doubt arisen that in the Treatise of some modern Writer they have read or from the Sermon of some well esteemed Preacher they have heard some such doctrine whereupon the true convert falleth out with himself in saying I was bred and brought up in a godly family I have followed the exercises of religion after hearing the heads and summe of christian Religion I have embraced the truth I seemed to my self to believe in Christ and entertain the exercise of repentance and to endeavour the amendment of my life I love these whom I see to live holily and I do hate the wayes of the profane but because I cannot tell when or what day or year I was really converted as I know sundry of the godly of my acquaintance can do therefore I doubt whether my conversion be begun or not but mean time though I will not turn off the way I have been following yet I go on halting and heartlesse till I be cleared of my doubt 2. For removing this doubt we must yield this far to the afflicted that many indeed deceive themselves who being civilly educated and from their bairn-age accustomed with the exercises of religion are nothing beyond the foolish virgins and do rest satisfied with their own and others opinion of themselves If such persons be questioned when they began to repent or believe in Christ it is true they cannot design the time when they were unconverted but have still been pleased and are pleased with their own estate and in effect were never converted But it is no lesse true on the other hand that there are some who indeed are renewed in whom peece and peece without any notable change faith and repentance and a holy conversation have grown with the growing knowledge of the Gospel and will of God therein of whom it may be truly said the kingdom of heaven cometh not with observation of whom it is said Mark 4. 26. So is the kingdom of God as if a man should cast seed into the ground and should sleep and rise night and day and the seed should spring and grow up he knoweth not how But to solve the doubt it maters not whether a man know or not know the day of his conversion provided he be indeed regenerat and made a new creature Wherefore the afflicted may be of good courage if after serious examination of his own conscience he be humbled frequently in the sense not only of his actual sins and short-coming of his duty but also in the sense of his original and in-dwelling corruption or body of death if as he doth indeed loath himself and renounce all confidence in his best works so he seriously imbrace the imputed righteousnesse of Christ and in his strength by faith in him doth endeavour to live holily righteously and soberly albeit joyned with many imperfections he may conclude he is regenerat for if these three be joyned in him in any measure of honesty he needeth not be anxious what day moneth or year the holy Spirit began to work these things in him Only let him give all diligence to grow in humility faith and new obedience and to hold on this way whatsoever doubts or impediments he shall meet with for the Apostle exeemeth such a man from the number of hypocrits and unconverted Phil. 3. 3. We saith he are the circumcision or the Christian converts who worship God in the spirit and rejoyce in Christ Iesus and have no confidence in the flesh CHAP. X. Wherein is solved the converts doubt of his regeneration arising from his apprehension that the beginning of the change of his life was not from the sincere love of God but either from terror or self-love which he conceiveth to be but carnal SOme true converts are who can design the time of the change of their way from sin to Christ and to a holy life whereof they have not only the Church they live in but also their own conscience witnesses yet after a considerable time do fall in suspicion whether that time of their change was the time of their effectuall calling some of them bringing no other reason of their doubting save this that they were never much troubled with the terrors of the Law but most part allured to draw near to God and to eshew the way of sinning by the love