at the last day and the eternal judgement that will follow thereupon which are two great Arricles of the Christian Faith and fundamental Doctrines Heb. 6.2 does depend upon our beleef of the Resurrection of Christ For if Christ the Son of Gods love him in whom his soul delighteth more than in any man should not have been raised by the glory of the Father there would have been little reason for any other man to expect so great a favour But now is Christ risen from the dead and is become the first fruits of them that slept 1 Cor. 15.20 as a pledge of their Resurrection also In that any have a lively hope of being raised again to an inheritance uncorruptible and undefiled and that fadeth not away they are thereunto begotten by the resurrection of Iesus Christ from the dead so saith the Apostle 1 Pet. 1.3 4 And again verse 21. In that God raised him up from the dead and so gave him glory it was that our Faith and hope might be in God that he will do so to us likewise For God hath both raised up the Lord and will also raise up us by his own power 1 Cor. 6.14 For if we beleeve that Iesus dyed and rose again even so them also which sleep in Iesus will God bring with him 1 Thes 4.14 Because I live ye shall live also saith he who is the Resurrection and the life Iohn 14.19 and 11.25 And that there shall be a righteous Judgement following the Resurrection and that Christ Jesus shall be the Judge is such a thing of which the Father hath given assurance or offered Faith unto all men in that he hath raised him from the dead Acts 17.31 Sect. 8 5. The Word Gospel or Doctrine of Christ and of his Apostles is so the object of Faith as that salvation is promised unto the right beleef thereof Mark 16.15 16. Go ye into all the World and preach the Gospel to every Creature he that beleeveth and is baptized shall be saved 2 Thes 2.13 Because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and beleef of the truth 2 Thes 1.10 When he shall come to be glorified in his Saints and to be admired in all them that beleeve because our testimony among you was beleeved in that day The Doctrine of Christ and of his Apostles may well be counted the object of Faith inasmuch as to beleeve it is all one as to beleeve that the Father hath set forth his Son to be a propitiation for sin through Faith in his blood and so it is to beleeve that Christ dyed for our sins according to the Scriptures and that he rose again the third day according to the Scriptures because the Doctrine of the Gospel is a testimony and declaration of these things and he that beleeves the one beleeves the other also Gods giving his Son to dye and Christs dying and rising again without a declaration of the mind and counsel of God thereabout as viz. for what cause upon what account and for what end he did so as also upon what termes and conditions men shall reap the fruit of his Death Resurrection and Intercession I say the one without the other does not seem to be the adequate object of Faith but both together are For which cause the Doctrine of the Gospel in its Enunciations Precepts and Threatnings as well as in its Promises is the object of Faith And because the Doctrine of the Gospel contains declares and amply sets forth all these things together with those things which are to come viz. the Resurrection of the Dead and Eternal Judgement in order to which the former first take place as being all of them matters about which Faith is busied therefore is it that the Doctrine of the Gospel is frequently called the Faith Gal. 1.23 and 3.2 5 23. Acts 6.7 Romans 1.5 1 Tim. 4.1 Iude 3. And so now I have done with my first point touching Faith viz. the object of it or the beleeving of what it is that shall be imputed for righteousness CHAP. V. Shewing that that Faith which consists onely in assenting unto the truth of that report which the Gospel makes touching Christ his being the Son of God and of his coming into the World to save Sinners by dying for them will not availe to Iustification and Salvation as a Gospel-Faith of the right kind will do Sect. 1 HAving briefly shewed from the holy Scriptures the beleef of what it is objectively that hath the promise of Salvation annext to it I shall now in the next place come to enquire what and what manner of beleeving it is subjectively that hath the same promise or whether every act of beleeving that is placed on a right object hath this great priviledge of Justification entailed to it And upon due enquiry it will be found that not any act or acts of Faith one or more be they never so many of them that fall short of engaging the Soul in true Love and sincere obedience unto the Lord Jesus will avail the man in whom they are unto the saving of the soul If I mistake not all the acts of a saving Faith may be reduced to and comprehended under these three heads The first I call an act of Credence the second an act of Adherence and the third an act of Confidence in the exertion of which three acts of Faith having Christ for their object the whole soul mind will and affections are engaged which make up the beleeving with all the heart which the Gospel calls for Acts 8.37 By that act which I call an act of Credence I mean the assent of the mind unto the truth of what the Gospel reports especially touching Christ and Gods love to mankind in him as that he is the Son of God and Saviour of the world that he was sent of God the Father to shew unto men the way of salvation and then to dye rise again and after his ascension to make intercession to bring that salvation about and that remission of sins is to be had through his name By that act of Faith which I call an act of Adherence I understand the souls fast cleaving unto the Lord Jesus in affection and subjection as counting him more worthy of both than any Creature or thing in all the world as also taking hold of that grace and strength which is in Christ for deliverance from the power of sin and of bringing the soul back again to God in point of holiness And lastly by an act of Confidence I mean the Souls relyance rest or dependance upon Christ or on the Father through Christ for remission of sins acceptation and eternal salvation the committing of the Soul to his mercy the throwing it upon his grace These three acts of Faith relate to each other by way of dependance the second depending upon the first as the acts of the Will do upon the Understanding and the third upon both the
Lord for ability and strength to follow those directions and to walk in those wayes of God which they beleeve do lead to life And there is good reason why they should depend upon him for this as well as the other because as the way of Life is not of mans contrivance but Gods nor yet of his findding out being contrived but of Gods revealing So neither is the ability or power to walk in that way of man himself but is the gracious donation or gift of God Whereupon it is that the Scriptures deny the power of acting in this way to be of man himself without the preventing or concurrent grace of God or both Joh. 15.5 2 Cor. 3.5 1 Cor. 15.10 12.3 Gal. 2.20 But on the other hand they ascribe both will and deed purpose and performance unto Gods working them in men of his own good pleasure Phil. 2.13 2 Cor. 8.16 1 Chron. 29.14 2 Chron. 30.12 Ezra 1.1 5. 7.27 Nehem. 2.12 7.5 Hag. 1.14 Prov. 16.1 Heb. 13.21 It would be beside the business I have in hand here to enquire how far the Lord hath prevented all men with that which is called common grace and in what capacity they are thereby put of receiving special grace but that which concerns what I have in hand is to shew That as no man hath power of himself to walk in that way which he is convinced to be the way of life but that who soever hath it hath it of Gods special gift and working in him so the way of Gods communicating this ability unto the Soul is by Faith exercised on himself thereabout and consequently that it is the property of their Faith who have this power to be thus exercised And this I would shew in some Particulars Sect. 2 1. Though it is indeed by the same almighty power that raised Christ from the dead by which men are raised to their new and spiritual state and are enabled to live act and walk as those that are alive from the dead yet when this power is drawn forth into act for the effecting hereof it is by or through their Faith towards whom this power is thus acted Col. 2.12 Buried with him in Baptisme wherein also ye are risen with him through the Faith of the operation of God who raised him from the dead Observe here on the by â—hat mens burial with Christ in Baptisme pre-supposeth their being dead with him or made conformable to his death by their being dead unto sin before even as Christs burial pre-supposed his death which went before And therefore to bury such by Baptisme who are not dead unto sin and death unto sin pre-supposeth a living in sin before is in common cases as incongruous in reference to the right use of Baptisme as it would be to bury men alive in reference to the right use of civil burial But this I note only by the way as most worthy their consideration whom it most concerns to take light from it touching the right subject and form of the New Testament Baptisme But that other thing signified by the baptized parties rising out of the water is a living a new life unto God in conformity to Christs new life after his resurrection to which the Christian solemnly engages by his Baptisme But the power and ability mark this thus to live is through the Faith of the operation of God who raised Christ from the dead not through the operation of God simply but through the Faith of it Though a man were he not releeved by this Faith might think it an impossible thing for him having been so long accustomed to vain company and vain courses and an enemy to the strict lives and holy wayes of the Saints that now he should be able to throw off all those vanities which he esteemed the joy and pleasure of his life and to subject himself unto the self-same course which was to him a scorn dirision before yet when he remembers that that which is impossible to men is possible with God and that the same power which raised up Christ from the dead and put him into possession of immortality now no more to return to corruption can with like ease raise him up from that sinful condition into which he was sunk and strengthen him with strength in his soul to live that Gospel-life that life of God to which he is called by the Gospel and now no more to return to his former corrupt state and shall thereupon depend upon that grace and power of his for this very thing and under an expectation of divine assistance and armed with resolution shall humbly undertake this new life he shall certainly meet with power and strength from God to effect and carry through this great and notable change Christ Jesus himself who in his death burial and Resurrection is the Christians patern is prophetically brought in rejoycing under the hope and confidence he had in his Fathers power and love as that he would not leave him in the grave under the power of corruption and death Acts 2.25 26 27. For David speaketh concerning him I foresaw the Lord alwayes before my face for he is on my right hand that I should not be moved Therefore did my heart rejoyce and my tongue was glad Moreover also my flesh shall rest in hope because thou wilt not leave my Soul in Hell neither wilt thou suffer thine holy One to see corruption And in this confidence he undertaking the work which his Father had given him to finish all came to pass accordingly as the new life and deliverence from the old state of corruption and death is accordingly effected and accomplished in all those that in dependance upon the divine power and grace undertake it It is the operation or working of God that raises up the poor creature from his impotent state of spiritual death unto spiritual life and yet this great effect is attributed to the Faith of it And why But because it then works actually this way when the creature once depends upon it for this end 2 Pet. 1.3 According as his divine power hath given us all things pertaining to life and godliness through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and vertue The Lord he calls he invites to glory but it is by the way of vertue and therefore he exhorts them afterward vers 5. To give all diligence to add to their Faith Vertue to their Faith of Salvation by Christ as the end at which they aimed the vertue of a godly life as the direct way thereto And the divine power saith he hath given us all things pertaining to both both to glory and vertue both to life and godliness it hath made such provision and put things into such a way as that all things may be and are had of him by the Saints that necessarily appertain to both but mark how through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and vertue He does not communicate
much of the blessing of God as he hath put into them for your good and to slight any of them is to reproach the wisdom and goodness of God which contrived them for your benefit But if you shall invert the proper order and use of them if when God hath made them servants as it were to the life of holiness and power of godliness if you now shall cause these to sit above and the other to stand below in your hearts if your heart be more upon them if your care be more to promote these if more of your zeal be spent about these then about your own and other mens conformity to Jesus Christ in the inward frame and heavenly temper of the mind and lowly and lovely deportment in life for the sake whereof all the Ordinances were ordained or if you shall value your selves by what you are in these rather than by what you are in that which is the end to which these tend then shall you put a bar to your spiritual growth in grace and holiness by them and loose the end for which they are designed by God and render your selves such as in whom his soul his spirit will take no pleasure Circumcision verily profiteth if a man keep the Law to wit conscionably in all other things Rom. 2.25 and so Baptism verily profiteth if a man keep the Gospel faithfully in all other the holy enjunctions of it to which his Baptism obligeth him but if thou be a breaker of the Law thy Circumcision is made uncircumcision if you be breakers of the Gospel the Statutes of Jesus your Baptism shall be made no Baptism to you and as the Children of Israel were counted but as Ethiopians unto God for all their Circumcision so shall you be as Indians unto him for all your Baptism Amos. 9.7 You know of what it was a sign in the Scribes and Pharisees to be more zealous of the lesser matters of the Law than of the greater Mat. 23.23 And truly I can judge it no better a sign for men to be exact strict and punctual in matters of Form and to be indulgent to wayes and things which intrench upon the power of Godliness like them which strain at Gnats and swallow Cammels keeping a stir about that which costs them little but favouring themselves in what would try their Christianity indeed These things I say not to teach you in the least to have a slight opinion of any of the Ordinances of the Lord Jesus no let my tongue rather cleave to the roof of my mouth than that I should move it or my pen to the disparigement or against the honour of any of the sacred Ordinances of the New-Testament But as it is no disparagement to the Female Sex to say that the Man was not created for the Woman but the Woman for the Man 1 Cor. 11.9 so is it no dishonour to the external Form of the Christian Religion and Worship to affirm it to be made for the Power sake howbeit this I say also that as the Man is not without the Woman nor the woman without the man in the Lord so neither is the power of Godliness without the Form nor the Form without the Power in the Lord but both mutually helpful one to another 1 Cor. 11.11 My aim and scope then is to arm you against degenerating into meer Form and Carkass in Religion without the spirit of life and power as that which will betray you should you be guilty of it into the same or as bad a condition as befel the Apostolical Churches whose glory was long since laid in the dust For as this very thing was that which prepared the Congregation of Israel for casting out of Gods sight as a dead and unsavory Carkass as I shewed before so without question it was the same thing which brought the Primitive Churches themselves to nothing Take the Church of Sardis for an instance who while she was in the Wane and her Sun going down but not quite set received a rouzing admonition from Christ as you may see Rev. 3.2 3. But what was her Fault and what was her charge verify it was this Thou hast a name that thou livest and art dead verse 1. Her Fault was not that she had a name to live but that she had the name without the thing And what was it that gave her the name to live or to be alive but the Form And what was it that denominated her to be dead notwithstanding the name she had to live but the want of spiriritiul life and power to inspire her And truly Friends we had need the best of us all to set these cautioning wakening quickning considerations before our eyes seeing the danger specified is so great that few of the ancient Churches have been able to hold out and bear up against it and how far prevalent upon the present Churches I leave to you and to themselves to judg and seriously to lay to heart And O that there were not too much cause of lamentation and sorrow on this account But whosoever under our Form and Way of Profession shall be found tardy herein hath the greater sin Sect. 10 For you being brought nearer to God in some part of the Form of his Worship than those that differ from you be as I know you beleeve you are you are in that respect if all other things concur under the richer advantage of living more up to the life and power of Godliness than they by how much the pure wisdome of God is more conducible to such an end than that is which hath a mixture of mans Besides your withdrawing from the National way and Form that you might have more close communion with God bespeaks men to expect some singular thing from you above the rate of all others from whom you withdraw And therefore if you shall not mightily endeavour to be exemplary in all worthiness of behaviour in life and conversation you will not answer the light and opportunity which in some things you profess to enjoy above others nor honour that Form and Way of yours wherein you differ from other men but if you be found but like or it may be worse than many of them shall you not take a course to expose your selves if not your way too to the scorn and laughter of other men And O how much have they to answer for do you think who thorough their fruitless and scandalous walking have been a scab and scandal to our way and have laid a stumbling-block of their haughtiness disdain presumption and rashness and sometimes of looseness too in the way of other men By which they as once Elie's Sons have caused the way of God to be abhorred by some to be vilified and set at nought by the tongues and pens of others and the light and beauty of it to be hid and covered from many who otherwise would I am confident have seen and imbraced it And by which also they have filled
salvation by the same Christ should make such swerving inferences from the Doctrine of Grace that offers Salvation upon believing in Jesus as tended to loosness of life and that they would labour to propagate their distorted notions and to make a party of the same mind with them Against whose dangerous insinuations he faithfully now again in his Epistle warns them to take heed of being deceived with such mens vain words and impure pretensions as if any Faith they had in the grace of God or merit of Christs blood could secure them from the wrath of God whilst they lived in uncleanness and covetousness and indulged themselves in a way of foolish talking and jesting for of such sins he had spoken before Sect. 6 Of this very sort of Men surely it is of whom Paul speaks 2 Tim. 3. concerning whom he informs us of these three things amongst others First that they had a form of Godliness Vers 5. and therefore were professors of the Christian Faith and Worship the Doctrine of Grace and Ordinances of the Gospel Baptism Supper of the Lord c. Secondly that in themselves they were men of an un-Gospel like temper and behaviour Lovers of their own selves covetous boasters proud blasphemous disobedient to Parents unthankfull unholy without natural affection truce-breakers false accusers incontinent fierce despisers of those that are good traytors heady high-minded lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God ver 2 3 4. Some of these bearing sway in some of them and some in others And that they were industrious to encrease their party and to draw Disciples after them appears in that they crept into houses and led captive silly Women that were laden with sins and led away with divers lusts who doubtless were glad of any notion about free Grace that would put them under hope of Salvation though under the power of divers Lusts which probably those men did instruct them in And Thirdly that from which this ill life under a form and shew of Godliness did proceed was their great mistake about the doctrine of Faith either as touching the nature of the Grace or the termes upon which Salvation was promised to it for he sayes that they were reprobate concerning the Faith or as the margent reads it Of no judgement concerning the Faith verse 8. they made no right judgement of the Gospels promising salvation upon believing but as Peter expresseth it Stumbled at the Word and wrested it to their own destruction 1 Pet. 2.8 2 Pet. 3.16 thought the promise of a larger extent than it was were not aware it was such a kind of believing only as gave a man victory over such Lusts and pleasures as in which they lived unto which the promise of life was made These things may well make the most of men called Christians to look about them who by their lives proclaim themselves to be believers but of the same rank with those marked out by the Apostles of our Lord as men whose Religion is vain whose Faith is dead whose confidence of salvation is built upon mistakes of the Doctrine of Grace whilst destitute of the life and power of Godliness which subdues the heart and life to God to answer that form of profession which they make of the Christian Faith But because it is a matter of such moment and so little laid to heart by those whom it so much concerns therefore do I dwell upon it the more if peradventure any may be awakened by it And therefore having heard something of that which the Apostles of our Lord have said to this important point for a close of this matter let us also a little weigh a passage or two spoken by the Lord himself relating to this business Sect. 7 Our Lord Jesus resembles the several sorts and tempers of Men that hear the Gospel unto four several sorts of ground upon which the sower casts his Seed Luke 8. And begins with the lowest and worst sort and from them proceeds gradually to the best of all The first sort resembled by the seed that fell by the ways side are such as neither understand nor believe the Gospel Luke 8.12 Mat. 13.19 The second sort go beyond these for they do believe the Word but it is but for a time for in time of persecution for the Words sake they fall away having no root vers 13. Now the third sort as they are placed in the middle between such as do receive the word and believe and rejoyce in it only for a season and such who with an honest heart having heard the Word keep it and bring forth fruit with patience so they do accordingly go beyond the temporary believer and yet fall short of the honest-hearted doer of the Word resembled by the good ground And that wherein they do exceed the stony-ground hearers that believe only for a time is this that they persevere in their believing such as it is unto the end of their lives And that wherein they fall short of the good-ground hearers is this that they do not with honesty or integrity of heart keep or do the Word and patiently bring forth the fruit of it as do the good-ground hearers For they when they have heard go forth and are choked with cares and riches and pleasures of this life and so bring no Fruit to perfection verse 14. It 's said verse 7. that the seed falling among thorns the thorns sprang up with it and choked it by which it's evident that the seed of the Word doth in a sence grow up in these Men they may grow to have a great deal of knowledg of the Word and some Faith in it and they may bring forth some fruit too do many things as Herod and others did but the only fault is that they do not bring forth fruit to perfection they do not carry it quite through if they have a blade of profession yet they have not the ear of practice or if something of that yet they have not the full Corn in the ear a sincere respect unto all the Lords commands But the thorns of some Lust or other grow up with the Word and choke it and over-top it have more interest in the heart than the Word hath draw the affections of the Soul more to them than the Word doth as the thorns many times draws the nourishing moisture of the ground more to them then the Corn doth that springs up with them and so prevents the perfect growth of the Corn. The Word does grow in such men to a certain degree the Word as it brings glad-tidings of salvation to sinners by the Death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ hath some rooting in the heart and is received with joy and as it promiseth salvation upon believing as they understand believing so it is a welcome Word which they will by no means let go and as it enjoyns easier and cheaper duties so far it hath the heart to and thus far the Word may grow up and the
line 27. for for us read far as pag. 11. line 31. for Jews r. Jew page 12. line 5. blot out as A Glass of Justification Wherein the Apostles Doctrine touching JUSTIFICATION without the DEEDS of the LAW is opened and the sence in which Gospel-Obedience is absolutely necessary to Justification is stated CHAP. I. Containing an Introduction to the following Treatise Romans 4. Ver. 5. But to him that worketh not but beleeveth on him that justifieth the ungodly his Faith is counted unto him for Righteousnesse AMongst other things in Pauls Epistles which as the Apostle Peter observes 2 Pet. 3.16 are hard to be understood and which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest to their own destruction there is too much cause to suspect the Text now before us to be one For whoever shall but judiciously consider the Epistles of the Apostles James Peter John and Iude besides other Scriptures may easily perceive that many professors of the Gospel then did so bear themselves upon a me form of knowledge and Faith as if the promise of Salvation had been entailed to that alone without respect had to that holy life enjoyned in the Gospel without which no man shall see the Lord Heb. 12.14 Into which most dangerous deadly snare its like enough they might be brought by mis-understanding and wresting such Scriptures as my Text which makes the man that Worketh not but Believeth the capable subject of Justification And is there not cause to fear that multitudes of poor Souls to this day are still under the same desperate and destructive mistake Whence else proceeds that high confidence in the most amongst us of their being saved by Christ although but strangers to the life of God having this saying to defend themselves against the reproof of their sinful life no man shall be saved by his Works or else not by the works of righteousnesse which we have done but according to his mercy he saved us leaving out that which follows viz. by the washing of regeneration and renewng of the Holy Ghost Tit. 3.5 Whence is it also that multitudes of Professors under various forms as well that which is right as those which are wrong take themselves to be rich and to have need of nothing more than they have to entitle them to remission of sins and Salvation when as they are meer beggars and bankrupts as to a humble sober self-denying life Is it not that they value themselves by that stock of brain-knowledge and barren Faith which they are sure they have and thereupon think themselves sure of those promises which are made to those that know and believe the truth Nay hath not the doctrine of Justification without Works as commonly asserted from that Text which I have chosen on which to found my present Discourse and other of the like nature proved a Temptation even to many good men to have a lighter and lower esteem of good Works and of the necessity of them to Justification and Salvation than of right belongs to them Yea I am perswaded that the strenuous urging of such Texts against the Papists in disputes about Justification without that due care which ought to be had in distinguishing the works which my Text speaks of from those of another nature hath occasioned many honest hearts to content themselves to write but fifty which otherwise would have subscribed an hundred towards the promoting of the Gospel designe in themselves and others had they clearly understood the mind of God in this business What shall I say Christ Jesus himself though sent on purpose to save and not to destroy and not only to shew but to be the very way unto life and glory yet the ignorance and mis-understanding of the counsel of God touching the termes how and after what manner he is so hath rendred him to very many a stone of stumbling a rock of offence a snare and a gin a means of a more dreadful condemnation than ever they should have fallen into had Christ never been offered to them as a Saviour But to whom is he so but as Peter tells us to those that stumble at the Word 1 Pet. 2.8 not understanding but mistaking the nature and temres of the doctrine of grace and the Scripture expressions thereabout either thinking that Faith will save without Works otherwise than the Scripture intends or that this or that Belief is the Faith unto which Justification and Salvation are promised when as it is neither this nor that but another So that when Peter sayes that such as are unlearned and unstable wrest the Scriptures of Paul and others to their own destruction 2 Pet. 3.16 it is not meant of such as are unlearned in humane arts but unlearned in the method and termes of Gods proceeding with men to bring them to Salvation being carried away with a sound of letters and words not being carefull to order themselves in their understanding of Scripture expressions by those principal heads and veins of Doctrine which are but few unto which a great variety of words and scripture expressions do relate A piece of unlearnedness unto which the wise and prudent of the world Doctors and Rabbies of the times have been and may be more liable and in which more intangled than others who in comparison of them have been but Babes and sucklings as these and the like Scriptures do witness Mat. 11.25 John 7.48 49. 1 Cor. 1.26 27. one main reason whereof is this because they I mean the wise and learned of the world by their wisdom and learning being vessels better fitted and prepared for worldly glory than others are are in that respect under the greater temptation to seek and receive honour one of another and not that honour that comes from God onely and consequently by their greater parts to over-master bend and bow wring and wrest under plausible pretences and fair flourishes the holy Scriptures in their several forms of expression so as that they may not so much as seem to contradict but to countenance their designe of worldly glory and interest and their worldly honour and interest likewise as intermixt with their Gospel profession not so much as seem to obstruct but to accomodate the designe of God and the affairs of the Gospel in themselves and others The prevailing of which carnal device of corrupting the Word reducing and accommodating the pure Gospel doctrine and life unto a nearer complyance with the principles of worldly wisdom and interest than would consist with the simplicity which is in Christ was that which proved the bane of those flourishing Churches which were planted by the Apostles and at this day is the great enemy of the life and power of godliness and such as betrayes men into a soul-deceiving way of professing the Gospel as might easily be shewed might I now stand upon it On the other hand whereas the babes and sucklings I mean persons who by reason of their natural capacities education or rank in the world are but
Author and founder of it Rom. 3.21 and 10.3 Phil. 3.9 1. It was found out and contrived by his infinite wisdom Eph. 1.7.8.11 and therefore Christ whom he sent to put in execution that wonderfull profound contrivance of his is called the wisdom of God 1 Cor. 1 24. Christ the power of God and the wisdome of God 2. God the Father is the Author of it and object of our Faith about it because it issues and proceeds out of the womb of his grace where this blessed design was first conceived Rom. 3.24 Being justified freely by his grace The goodness and compassionateness of his nature meeting with the misery and necessity of his poor creature inclined him to set such a thing on foot disposed him to use both his Wisdom and Power to contrive and bring it to passe The creature neither did nor could put any obligation upon him to do this thing for him but by sin and unworthiness provoked him to that which was quite contrary and therefore the more wonderfull that it should make its way through so many and so mighty contrary provocations which it meets with from men This grace of God is so great a doer hath so mighty a hand so potent an influence in the whole and entire business of Mans Election Redemption Justification Adoption Sanctification Eternal Life and Salvation that all from first to last from the beginning to the end is worthily ascribed to the riches of his grace both in the things themselves and means of their accomplishment as might easily be shewn from Scripture but I will hasten on my way 3. The means by which this justification is effected and brought to passe are of and from God the Father and their power to justifie depends upon his will appointing them to that end 1. Christ is the great means of bringing this about but yet is given and sent by the Father for that purpose Whom God saith he hath set forth to be a propitiation for sin Rom. 3.25 In that Christ becomes righteousness or justification to men it is because God would have it so 1 Cor. 1.30 But of him are ye in Christ Jesus who of God is made unto us wisdom righteousness c. Again it is God that was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself not imputing trespasses 2 Cor. 5.19 It is he that hath made us accepted in the beloved Ephes 1.6 Then said he lo I come to do thy will O God by the which will we are sanctified through the offering up of the body of Jesus Christ once for all Heb. 10.9 10. Though we are sanctified by the offering up of the body of Jesus yet it is by vertue of the will of the Father which the Son came to do and to fulfill According to these Scriptures the attoneing purging power and vertue of Christs blood seems to depend upon the Divine will and good pleasure of the Father Else if it did not why should not the whole world be justified for Christ is the propitiation for the sins of the whole world 1 Iohn 2.2 and why then is not the whole world justified Surely it is not because the Sacrifice of Christ is not as sufficient to justifie all as some the whole world for whom he dyed as a few only which shall actually be justified and saved but it is because the Fathers will is such that the justifying saving benefit of his death shall be limited unto such only as do beleeve Iohn 3.16 God so loved the world as that he gave his only begotten Son viz. to or for the world or whole world 1 Iohn 2.2 but yet so and upon such termes as that whosoever beleeveth in him should not perish but have everlasting life The will of the Father piches the bounds how far the justifying vertue of his Sons blood shall extend and determines the termes upon which it shall be actually enjoyed And so 2. It is in respect of Faith another and compared with Christ an inferior means of mans justification it does not justifie in its own name or by its own power or vertue but its ability in this behalf to justifie and save depends meerly upon the will of him that hath appointed it to this office but of this afterwards So then the grace power and authority to justifie recides originally in the Father and what force and power there is in Faith or more remotely in Works to justifie they have it by way of designation and act what they do act in that kind not out of any intrinsical worth or merit but meerly in the strength and by the authority of the will of God And however there is in the blood of Christ a richness of intrinsical worth and vertue of it self to justifie as is clearly intimated when it 's said We are bought with a price 1 Cor. 6.20 Purchased with his blood Acts 20.28 c. yet since Christ did not glorifie himself to be made an High Priest and to offer himself a Sacrifice but was made so by the Father Heb. 5.5 thence it is that the Priestly offering and sacrifice it self in the effecting of that thing to which it is appointed by the Father viz. the purgation of sins and justification of sinners hath a dependance upon the Fathers will And therefore when men do beleeve in and depend upon Christ for justification they do ultimately beleeve in and depend upon the Father for it Iohn 12.44 Jesus cryed and said he that beleeveth on me believeth not on me but on him that sent me 1 Peter 1.21 Who by him do beleeve in God that raised him up from the dead and gave him glory that your Faith and hope might be in God The Father hath the power of life and death hath the power of giving Laws to his Creature Iames 4.12 it 's his Law that is transgressed by Sin and against him that the offence is committed Psal 51.4 and therefore it belongs to him to forgive sin Isai 43.25 Luke 5.21 and accordingly Christ directs us to pray the Father to forgive our Trespasses Mat. 6.12 It 's true also that the Son hath the same power of life and death of giving Laws and forgiving sins For all power both in Heaven and earth is given unto him that all men should honour the Son even as they that honour the Father But this he hath according to the order of his being from the Father Mat. 28.18 Iohn 3.35 and 17.2 Faith acts it self upon the Father as its object in three respects especially First by believing him to be the true God in opposition to Idols and all false gods Iohn 17.3 This is life eternal to know thee the only true God c. 1 Cor. 8.6 But to us there is but one God the Father of whom are all things and we in him Eph. 4.6 One God and Father of all Secondly by believing that notwithstanding the sin of men that he having received an attonement in his Sons blood is most willing to be favourable and
gracious not only in forgiving but also in rewarding such who duly and diligently seek his favour grace and love in such wayes and by such means as he himself hath appointed for that end Heb. 11.6 But without Faith it is impossible to please him for he that cometh to God must believe that he is there 's the former act of Faith touching the truth of his being and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him Thirdly by trusting in and relying on his might mercy grace and love for pardon justification and eternal salvation Psalm 52.8 But I will trust in the mercy of the Lord for ever Rom. 4.5 But beleeveth on him that justifieth the ungodly Iohn 5.24 But all this at least since God was manifested in the flesh in and by Christ there being no coming to or believing in the Father but by him Iohn 14.6 1 Pet. 1.21 Though formerly he was worshipped and served under the name and title of the God of Abraham the God of Isaac the God of Iacob yet now in the New Testament under the Name and Title of the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ Eph. 1.17 and 3.14 Sect. 3 I might here shew also that the word promise or record of the Father concerning his Son is the object of Faith Yea Abrahams justification is cast upon his beleeving this word of God So shall thy seed be For Abraham beleeved God and it was counted to him for righteousnesse Gen. 15.6 Rom. 4.3.18 Gal. 3.6.8 Iames 2.23 Now the record which the Father hath given of Christ in the New Testament as the object of Faith is two-fold 1. That he is his beloved Son in whom he is well pleased and that he ought to be heard and obeyed Mat. 3.17 and 17.5 And 2. That in him is life and that salvation is now offered to the World by beleeving in and obeying of him 1 Iohn 5.9 10 11 12. If we receive the witnesse of men the witnesse of God is greater for this is the witnesse of God which he hath testified of his Son He that beleeveth on the Son hath the witnesse in himself he that beleeveth not God hath made him a lyar because he beleeveth not the record which God gave of his Son And this is the record which God hath given to us eternal life and this life is in his Son He that hath the Son hath life and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life This testimony which the Father gave of his Son was partly by voice from Heaven 2 Pet. 1.17 18. and partly by those Works which he gave him to finish by which men saw his glory as the glory of the only begotten of the Father Iohn 5.36 I have greater witnesse then that of Iohn for the works which the Father hath given me to finish the same works that do I bear witnesse of me that the Father hath sent me John 10.37 38. If I do not the works of my Father beleeve me not but if I do though ye beleeve not me yet beleeve the works that ye may know and beleeve that the Father is in me and I in him Sect. 4 II. As the Father so also Christ the Son is in Scripture set forth as the more immediate object of Faith Acts 16.31 And they said beleeve on the Lord Iesus Christ and thou shalt be saved and thy house Now ye must know that Christ is propounded as the object of Faith in several respects and under several considerations Sect. 5 1. As he is the Messias of which Moses and the Prophets wrote and said should come And therefore is Christ called the He that should come Mat. 11.3 Art thou he that should come or do we look for another John 13.19 Now I tell you before it come that when it is come to passe ye may beleeve that I am HE. It was one thing to beleeve in general according to the Prophets that Messiah should come which was the common Faith of the Jews and as it should seem of the Samaritans too Iohn 4.25 and another thing to beleeve in particular that Jesus which is come is the Christ This was the Faith of such as did receive him and cleave to him when he did come Iohn 11.27 She said yea Lord I beleeve that thou art the Christ the Son of God which should come into the world The want of which is the destroying sin that lies so heavy upon the Jews John 8.24 For if ye beleeve not that I am HE ye shall dye in your sins 2. Christ as he is the Son of God is made the object of Faith Joh. 20 31. But these are written that ye might beleeve that Iesus is the Christ the Son of God and that beleeving ye might have life through his name Acts 8.37.1 John 5.1 4 5. and 4.15 By Faith he is beleeved to be the Son of God not as Adam was the Son of God viz. by Creation Lu. 3. last in which sence we are all his Offspring Act. 17.28 Nor yet as the Saints are the Sons of God to wit by Adoption Gal 4.5 but that he is the begotten yea the only begotten Son of the Father so the Son and so begotten of the Father as none else is among all the creation of God John 1.14 and 3.18 He that beleeveth on him is not condemned but he that beleeveth not is condemned already because he hath not beleeved in the name of the only begotten Son of God Sect. 6 3. Christ as dying and shedding his blood is the object of Faith and that by which sinners become justified Rom. 5.9 Much more then being now justified by his blood we shall be saved from wrath through him Rom. 3.25 Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through Faith in his blood Faith eyes the blood of Christ as its object under a three-fold consideration First it believes that Christ did dye and shed his blood for our sins 1 Cor. 15.2 3. If ye keep in memory what I preached unto you unlesse ye have beleeved in vain For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received how that Christ dyed for our sins according to the Scriptures Mat. 26.28 For this is my blood of the New Testament which is shed for many for the remission of sins Secondly that this death and shedding of this blood of Christ is both the only and the all-sufficient means appointed by God to make an attonement for and to purge away sin Heb 1.3 When he had by himself purged our sins sat down on the right hand of the majesty on high Revels 1.5 Vnto him that loved us and washed us from our sins in his own blood c. Heb. 10.14 For by one offering hath he perfected for ever them that are sanctified Heb. 9.14 How much more shall the blood of Christ who through the eternal spirit offered himself without spot to God purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God Thirdly
for it we have this Evangelists word for it as appears by the latter part of the fore-cited verse where he sayes that they viz. the Devils knew that he was Christ If any should think that possibly the Devils may have the same faith that would justifie men if it were in them though it will do them no good as not being in the like capacity of grace as men are yet that passage in Iames 2. 19. will oppose such a thought For wherefore does the Apostle mention the faith of Devils there but to disparage the unprofitable and dead faith of some Christians and to give them to know that if their faith rested only in the beleef of things and did not carry out the soul in love both to God and men it was even no better a faith than is in the devils and consequently would save them no more than it would save the devils Sect. 5 3. The Faith of Assent as it is the act of the understanding is frequently forced the mind compelled to beleeve the truth of divine things by the strength of conviction which sometimes is so great that it is not in the power of men to dis-beleeve them which I concieve is the plain case touching that faith which the Devils have and the faith which some wicked men under despair have of the judgement to come who would be glad if they knew how to believe otherwise than what they do believe they would be glad if they knew how to believe that there is no God no Heaven no Hell and it is their torment to believe there is the Devils believe and tremble and so do some men And it is very like that those believers of which we heard before Iohn 2.23 and 12.42 had that Faith which they had concerning Christ forced upon them by the hand of those miracles of Christ in conjunction with his holy life and doctrine which were too hard for their consciences and evinced with power him that wrought them to be the Son of God And it may be they might have a desire to have stifled that light and to have overcome that conviction which they had as that which did oppose that carnal interest of praise which they had with men which it seems they loved more than Christ and therefore would not let it go for his sake And is not this the case of such who hold the truth in unrighteousness Rom. 1.18 when the light of divine truth breaks into the mind and cannot be kept out but convinces the conscience that things have been so and so done by the Father and by his Son Jesus Christ in favour to man-kind and that therefore men ought to love the Lord and in love to obey him and that it is the way to be happy so to do and yer for all that this truth which hath thus far compel'd the conscience to assent to it is detained and held as prisoner in the mind by the power of lust so that it does not walk abroad in the life of such a man the thorns spring up with the seed and over-top it the seed springs up in the mind by its power of conviction shewing what should and ought to be but the thorns of lust spring up in the affection and determine what shall be and what shall not be in such a mans life Such a man indeed hath received the truth as he assents to it to be truth but hath not received the love of the truth by consenting to and affectionately imbracing what it enjoynes And shall we think that God will reward with the great and unspeakable blessing of Justification and Salvation such an act of the Creature as is not voluntary but forced from him whether he will or no surely he will not 2 Thes 2.10 Because they received not the love of the truth that they might be saved c. No other receiving of the truth then will be rewarded with Salvation but the receiving it in love and what 's more voluntary than love If a man had all faith never so strong a perswasion touching the vertue and power of Christ So that he could remove mountains and have not love it would profit him nothing 1 Cor. 13.2 If there be first a willing mind it is accepted c. 2 Cor. 8.12 that 's surely a necessary ingredient to render any act of the creature acceptable to God and consequently rewardable by him 1 Cor. 9.17 For if I do this thing willingly I have a reward Take heed then of venturing your precious souls upon this Faith that lies but in a naked and bare assent to the general truth of the Gospel CHAP. VI. Further discovering that neither the act of Relyance or Dependence upon God or Christ for Salvation without the concurrence of a loving and loyal adhesion to him will avail to Salvation Sect. 1 HAving already shewed that Faith by the first of those three acts mentioned in the former Chapter will not justifie without the addition and concurrence of more I shall now likewise shew you that neither will this act of trust confidence dependance or relyance upon the Lord for Salvation though added unto the former of assenting to the truth of that report which the Gospel makes of Christs being the Son of God his dying for sinners c. prove effectual to justifie save unless it be found in conjunction with an obediential cleaving to Christ to be delivered by him from the power and dominion of sin as well as the guilt and condemnation of it That there may be found in men a presumptious leaning upon the mercies of the Lord and his promises and acts of grace and an expectation of being thereupon secured by God from destruction while in the mean time they cut off their claim and title to those promises and acts of grace by loving of and cleaving to their inward lusts or outward enormities instead of cleaving to those precepts and promises touching holiness which would carry them out of those sins is a thing very visible in the Scriptures as well as obvious to experience It was so with men under the Old Testament Mica 3.11 The heads thereof judge for reward and the Priests thereof teach for hire and the Prophets thereof divine for money yet will they lean upon the Lord and say is not the Lord among us none evill can come unto us The Lord had indeed made many gracious promises to that people of his being their God of his dwelling and walking among them of saving them from those evils which he would bring upon their enemies but all upon condition that they would be to him a people in love loyalty and obedience as he to them a God in protection and blessing Levit. 26. Deut. 28. but these men Judges Priests Prophets Sinners of sundry sorts eye the promises over-looking the condition upon which they were made and would needs lean upon these as if God were obliged to them by these to secure them from those evils
which the faithful Prophets of the Lord threatned them with for transgressing the Covenant of the Lord and living in disobedience thereto Just as foolish men now do who because they find by the Scriptures that Christ dyed for sinners and hath commanded that remission of sins and salvation be preached in his name to every creature and hath given many precious encouragements for sinners of all sorts to look unto him from all the ends of the earth and be saved but with this Item that they repent and be baptized every one of them in the name of the Lord Iesus for the remission of sins that they be born again of water and of the Spirit that they deny themselves take up their Cross and follow him and forsake all that they have for his sake if they cannot faithfully obey him upon cheaper termes without which they cannot be his Disciples and that they diligently hearken to and carefully observe whatever Jesus that great Prophet hath spoken and commanded upon pain of being cut off from the number of the Lords redeemed ones they little minding or regarding the termes and conditions of the grace offered or thinking a few outward performances as the Jews aforesaid did of Circumcision Sacrifices and the like will serve for all when indeed the main of the matter the renewing them to God in the disposition and frame of their hearts and a faithful labouring to please the Lord in all all things and striving against all contrary motions and temptations is wholly wanting yet as if all the grace in the Gospel were theirs and designed for all those that will lay hold of it right or wrong they confidently perswade themselves or endeavour so to do that they are built upon a sure foundation that Christ remission of sins and salvation are all theirs and that they do them a great deal of wrong that offer but a word to shake this confidence of theirs Again see the like in another passage Isai 48.1 2. Hear ye this O house of Iacob which are called by the name of Israel and are come forth out of the waters of Iudah which swear by the name of the Lord and make mention of the God of Israel but not in truth nor in righteousnesse For they call themselves of the holy City and stay themselves upon the God of Israel the Lord of hosts is his name This people you see mention the name of the Lord as being called by it look upon themselves as his people call themselves of the holy City and thereupon stay themselves upon the God of Israel depend upon him for all good as their God and upon his promises as if made to them and thus they did but not in truth nor in righteousness for this profession and this confidence of theirs was accompanied with unfaithfulness in the main and therefore their dependance upon God was irregular and deceitful God having no where engaged to stand under such a trust but the contrary Iob 8.13 14 15. Sect. 2 And as it was thus with those under the Old so is it likewise after the same manner with too many now under the New Testament who because they have some knowledg and beleef of Gods gracious intention to save sinners by the death of his Son and the general promises of the Gospel especially if together herewith they have but a form of godliness and something of devotion towards the ordinances of God they perswade themselves that they are the believers to whom the promises of remission of sin and salvation of the soul are made though in the mean time they are under the power of some known sin or other either covetousness or cruelty and hard heartednes or pride or uncleannes or intemperance in word or deed or some other sin and are unrenewed in will and affections or if there be any change it is not so much as will turn the scale and give them in of the victory against the flesh on the Spirits side but though there be so much light as that they can talk of good things and so much conviction as in the general to approve of them yet the interest of the flesh clearly carries it when things come to be done and when temptation is upon them And the main reason I conceive why persons upon their generall belief of the Gospel have this confidence of Salvation though otherwise they are as yet but in the flesh and so cannot please God Rom. 8.8 is this because they are partial in the Scriptures and do not give one Scripture as well as another room in their judgements and affections their minds run upon such Scriptures as declare Christ Iesus to have come into the world to save sinners that God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever beleeveth in him should not perish but have everlasting life that he that confesseth with his mouth the Lord Iesus and beleeveth in his heart that God raised him from the dead shall be saved and the like and so far they do very well But then there are other Scriptures that declare that except men repent they shall perish that except they be born again they cannot see the kingdom of God that without holiness no man shall see the Lord that the Lord will come in flaming Fire rendring vengeance to those that obey not the Gospel that those that live after the flesh shall dye that if any man love the world the love of the Father is not in him that tribulation and wrath shall be upon every soul that doth evill with many the like which they slightly pass over and are not thorowly possest with an apprehension that those other Scriptures that entaile the promise of life to be beleeving are so to be understood as that these others must stand with them or to be understood of such a kind of believing as hath the substance of these other Scriptures working in the bowels of it which they must believe that will not deceive themselves in their Faith and is there not the same reason to believe the one as well as the other doth not the water of both sorts of Scripture proceed out of the same hole from the same fountain But now the carnal beleevers of whom I speak fansying to themselves that the promise of Salvation is made to believing indefinitely not considering that it is tyed up to that special kind of believing which works by love as other Scriptures interpret and they knowing in themselves that they do believe in one sence for so indeed they do with that general Faith of assent thence they conclude confidently that they are heirs of promise and heirs of salvation as well as any and do as verily think they are going to Heaven whereas indeed they are in the way to hell as ever the Syrians thought they were going to Dothan while they were blindly led to Samariah 2 King 6.19 Sect. 3 The men of this formal and dead Faith of which I speak that
hav confidence of Salvation because they believe though they do not indeed believe with that belief unto which Salvation is promised do directly tread in the steps of some in the Apostles dayes who would needs be confident of salvation though all the Faith they had was not of that power as to produce a holy life and the Apostles knowing the danger of such a confidence laboured exceedingly to take them off it and to build them upon a better bottom This is the business in which the Apostle Iames labours so mightily in his Epistle And we may easily perceive what Disease was among the Christians by the remedies which this servant of the Lord applyed for their cure viz. an inordinate love of the world which manifested it self in an adulterous and too near a complyance therewith Chap. 4. beginning And thereupon they despised the poor Saints and preferred men less worthy if they were rich chap. 2. Their want of the true christian humility and love brake out into bitter envying and strife and an undue judging and censuring one of another chap. 3. throughout And yet for all these unchristian and unsaint-like deportments they were ready to glory as if they were the knowing men and men of the right Religion wherein salvation was to be had and that it did belong to them In opposition to which vain-confidence and confident boasting he expresseth himself thus chap. 3.14 15. But if ye have bitter envying and strife in your hearts glory not and lie not against the truth this wisdom descendeth not from above but is earthly sensual develish For them to glory of their Religion and of their wisdom and knowledg and yet to be men of such an unchristian carriage they did but lye against the truth which they pretended to have on their side but indeed was point blank against them But if any man would approve himself a wise man indeed endued with the christian knowledge of the right kind the Apostle tells them it must be by shewing out of a good conversation his works with meekness of wisdom v. 13. Again chap. 1.26 he had likewise encountred that vain-confidence that was built upon a form of Knowledge Faith and Profession without the life and power of it saying If any man among you seem to be religious and bridleth not his tongue but deceiveth his own heart this mans religion is vain Men that should give way to the flesh though but in one thing as for instance a licensious liberty to the tongue not endeavouring by watchfulness heed and circumspection to conform to the doctrine of the Lord which forbids not only lying reviling back-biting slaundering corrupt and unclean communication but also foolish talking and jesting yea every idle word how religious soever they might otherwise seem to themselves upon account of their formal knowledg and Faith of external devotion to the Ordinances yet the Apostle testifieth as from the Lord that such do but deceive their own hearts befool themselves with a vain confidence of being religious men and of being accepted with God as such and that such mens Religion is vain that is as to the end for which the true Religion serves Not as if all their Religion were made up of vain notions but though they had never so sound a knowledg and right belief of many excellent Gospel-truths and though they added thereto the doing of many things yea how seemingly religious soever they were upon what account soever yet the want but of this one thing a care to bridle the tongue would render all a mans Religion and all his confidence of salvation built thereupon but vain unprofitable touching the end of Religion the end of Faith which is the salvation of the soul as if he had never had any Religion nor seeming shew of it at all Yet once more Iames 2.14 to the same purpose thus What doth it profit my brethren though a man say he hath Faith and have not Works can Faith save him that is can such a Faith save him a form of speech emphatically denying the thing interogated like unto that afterwards chap. 3.11 12. Doth a fountain send forth at the same place sweet water and bitter Can the figg-tree my brethren bear Olive berries either a Vine Figgs Why no it cannot no more can that Faith save that hath not Works Though a man may say and say truly though a man be able to say he hath Faith yet if he have not Works can his Faith save him do you think it can He is not blaming their Faith as if not placed upon a right object or as if there were not a real closing with that object in point of assent in the beginning of this Chapter he clearly supposeth them to have the Faith of our Lord Iesus Christ only there cautions them not to yoke or couple their Faith with an unchristian carriage assuring them by the tenour of his discourse throughout this Chapter especially from the fourteenth verse to the end that a Faith so yoked and wanting its true yoke-fellow and companion the Gospel conversation which he calls by the name of Works will not profit him that hath it Which unprofitableness of that Faith which hath not Works he further illustrates by way of comparison verse 15 16. If a Brother or Sister be naked or destitute of daily food and one of you say unto them depart in peace be ye warmed and filled notwithstanding ye give them not those things which are needful to the body what doth it profit Nothing at all that is to the filling or warming of the necessitous person Even so saith he ver 17. Faith if it hath nor works is dead being alone Though a man should give God Christ never such good words though he shall be able to speak at never so high a rate of the grace of God of the love of Christ of the power of his death of the efficacy of his blood and prevalency of his intercession and shall have some kind of belief of what he sayes yet if it do not sincerely engage the soul to serve the interest of the glory of God in a vertuous life answerable to such a profession Faith it will no more profit to the justification of the Soul in the sight of God than a parcel of good words would feed and cloath fill and warm the needy Brother and indigent Sister when a contribution of a real relief is wanting Though I could speak with the tongue of men and Angels and had all Faith so that I could remove mountains and have not Love it would profit me nothing 1 Cor. 13.1 2. And whereas he saith that Faith is dead being alone he plainly supposeth that Faith may be alone without the company of Works a Faith that is truly so in its kind a Faith that is acted on a right object But where ever it is alone there it is dead that is it is unprofitable as to the end for which Faith is appointed viz. to justifie
or as he had said vers 14. to save For that clearly is the sence of Faiths being dead in this place and not its barrenness of good Works Though that 's true likewise that Faiths being dead in another sence i. e. void of spiritual vigour force and power is the cause why it is alone and not accompanied with the goodness of conversation yet here in this place the deadness of Faith is the effect of its being alone and not the cause of it the deadness of Faith proceeds from the absence of Works as here spoken of and not the absence of Works from the deadness of Faith Faith is dead being alone saith he that is because it is alone for so it is plain that its being alone carries the force of a reason why it is dead And therefore Faiths being dead here notes it utter inability to justifie or save which answers the scope of the Apostle which is to convince the carnal professor that his Faith without Works would not save him as is manifest by the fourteenth Verse upon which the following Discourse to the end of the Chapter depends He sayes after Verse 26. That as the body without the spirit is dead so Faith without Works is dead also In which comparison or similitude as the body answers Faith so the Spirit answers Works and as the absence of the spirit from the body is the cause why the body is dead and does not the service unto which a living man is appointed so the absence of Works from Faith is the cause why Faith is dead and does not him in whom it is the service unto which the true Faith is appointed to wit to justifie or save him that hath it Sect. 4 And here by the way we have clearly set before us the true sence in which Works are necessary to justification as well as Faith and that is as they do qualifie Faith for that Work or Office of justifying unto which God of his meer Grace hath designed it For so is the will of God that though he will so magnifie his grace in the salvation of men as to justifie and save them by Christ upon or upon condition of their believing in him yet hath he therein made such provision to magnifie his holiness and his love of it in his Creature as that he will not confer the grace of Justification upon any other Faith or entitle any other believing unto that attonement which Christ hath made by his blood than such as hath its fruit unto Holiness the end of which will be everlasting life In which sence I conceive it is that Faith is said to be made perfect by Works James 2.22 that is as I understand put into a compleat capacity of attaining its end which is to justifie as a house is then said to be perfected when nothing is wanting in it as to the end and service for which it is built 2 Chron. 8.16 So is Faith when nothing is wanting to it to answer the end whereto it is to serve But now as long as Faith is alone or by it self without Works it is dead as we heard before and so in no capacity to justifie or reach its end Nor does it come under the saving influence of the Promise till it Work by Love that being the only kind of Faith that hath the promise to avail Gal. 5.6 and therefore Works added to Faith as children are added to their Mother being the same thing that makes the difference between that Faith that will justifie and that which will not and which brings that kind of believing under the promise without which all other believing is excluded hence it is I conceive that Works may well and truly be said to perfect Faith as putting it into a right capacity of reaching its end But thus much on the by in this place Sect. 5 As Iames so Iohn opposeth the vain confidence that is built upon the dead Faith 1 Iohn 1.6 If we say that we have fellowship with him and walk in darkness we lie and do not the truth This doubtless he wrote in opposition to some professors of the Christian Faith who though they walked in darkness led lives disagreeing to the light of Christs Doctrine yet said profest and were confident that they had fellowship partnership with God and with his Son Jesus Christ in his Love Saving-mercy and promises of Grace as if as these were Gods to give so they were all theirs to enjoy But as he would take them off their vain confidence in this so he directs them how to be better built in the next Vers 7. saying But if we walk in the light as he is in the light we have fellowship one with another and the blood of Iesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin Meaning I suppose that if that perswasion which they had of fellowship with God interest in his Grace Love and Mercy and share in Christs blood were but accompanied with an upright endeavour of purifying themselves as he is pure and of being holy in all manner of conversation as he that had called them is holy which I think is the same thing as to walk in the light as he is in the light then they might be confident indeed that they had fellowship with God in his Grace and Love and share in Christs blood to cleanse them from all sin But otherwise and without this what ever their opinion pretence or confidence was of their good condition they did but lie and falsifie the truth Of which delusion and dangerous deceit he admonisheth the Christians Chap. 3.7 8. saying Little children let no man deceive you he that doth righteousness is righteous as he is righteous he that committeth sin is of the Devil By which saying he suggests that there were some amongst them of another opinion and perswasion and that they were in danger of being deceived by them to think that though they did indulge themselves in some sin yet they might be counted and dealt withall as righteous persons as being in Christ and knowing of him as they supposed In opposition to which vain conceit and lying imagination he had said in the verse before Whosoever abideth in him sinneth not Whosoever sinneth hath not seen him neither known him The like admonition ministred by Paul to the Ephesians implyeth like danger from men of the same profession Eph. 5.6 Let no man deceive you with vain words for because of these things cometh the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience .. Implying that there were some among them that were otherwise perswaded than that those unholy wayes from which he had newly before dehorted them would expose them to the wrath of God who trusted in Christ for salvation For of such he prophecied whilst he was yet with them Acts 20.30 That of their own selves should men arise speaking perverse things wrested or swerving things to draw away Disciples after them Men professing the same Faith and expecting
a matter it will be to beat them out of their confidence of being owned by him that he wil be fain not only to tel them again and again I know you not but at last to profess to them that he never knew them no not then in your life time as if he should say when you thought your selves cock-sure of my approbation I then knew you not to be any true Friends of mine but you loved your selves and Relations and loved the world more than me you loved your own wills more than mine and your own honour more than mine and entertained motions from the flesh and from the Devil sooner than from me and therefore now without any more ado depart from me all ye workers of iniquity a sad parting Who shall not say with David whilst he is under the contemplation hereof My flesh trembleth for fear of thee and I am afraid of thy judgements Psalm 119.120 That which I further note in the third and last place from this Doctrine of Christ which with the rest astonished those that heard him preach it Mat. 7.28 is this that the true reason why these mens confidence and all that upon which it is built and all their pleadings beggings and mournful supplications added thereto will all fail them and fall to the ground is in short this they were workers of iniquity as men work at their Trades to bring them in what they lack and love so these men work iniquity that is commit sin do and speak things contrary to the Laws and instructions of Christ to bring them in that present carnal content which they love and prefer before that future happiness upon those self-denying termes without which it is not to be had That Faith which they had was not of that kind which purifies the heart and renews the Soul to God but for all it the flesh still retained the commanding interest in the Soul and therefore as they had in their life time sowed to the flesh so of the flesh they must now reap corruption They were told that if they lived after the flesh they should dye as well as they were told that Christ came into the world to save sinners but they would not believe the one though they did the other but now they must find and feel that which they would not before believe These things considered I heartily beseech all those into whose hands this shall come to take warning now it is given and not to deal slightly in the business of their Faith or to dally with their precious Souls take heed of that vain confidence of many which you see will be all turned into disappointment and confusion of face when the day of tryal comes and be working out your salvation with fear and trembling with fear lest you should be mistaken about the ground of your confidence and evidence of your hope It 's a thousand pitties that men should be so wary and solicitous lest they should be deceived with a trackt title in their outward Estates and so presuming and careless about rheir title to the next World as generally they are as if the eternal Estate of their Souls were but a trifle to the momentary enjoyment of a little spot of this World If the inconvenience of a mistake herein could be born without any considerable breach upon ones comfort or could afterward be rectified though with some loss as in externals it may well be a mans folly would be the less but to be slight yea not to be exceeding curious solicitous and thoughtful to prevent a mischief that for nature is intollerable and for duration eternal and the loss irrepairable argues the extremity of sottish madness which yet O that it were not the case of all men a few only excepted Mat. 7.13 14. CHAP. VII Shewing that that Belief unto which the Promise is made though indefinitely exprest is to be understood of Belief of a special kinde and that it is no waies safe to notion it in the lowest narrowest and meanest sence of the Word but to frame our notion of it according to that result which the Scriptures compared do give of it under which notion of it it will be hard for any man to retain a confidence of Salvation without an holy conversation Sect. 1 ANd because men are oft betrayed into that vain confidence of Salvation which I have spoken of by mistaking some Scriptures which they wrest to their own destruction therefore to prevent that mischief for the future as much as may be as I have in the former part of my discourse been labouring to deliver some from their mistakes of such Scriptures as promise Justification upon believing without the Works of the Law so I shall here also add a few words to save them from the danger of an undue understanding of such Scriptures as represent the believing Christ to be the Son of God and that he dyed and rose again and the like to be that Faith that carries Life and Salvation in it For whereas I have asserted in the two former Chapters that neither the assenting to the truth of that report which the Scriptures make touching Christ his being the Son of God and Saviour of the World c. nor yet the relying on him as such for Salvation will indeed avail a man unto Salvation without a loving loyal and obediential cleaving to him it may be some will be ready to object and say Does not the Scripture plainly say That these things are written that ye might beleeve that Iesus is the Christ the Son of God and that beleeving ye might have life through his Name Iohn 20.31 and was not the acknowledging of this the very form of the Saints Faith in the first times of the Gospel Iohn 4.42 and 6.69 and 11.27 Acts 8.37 Mat. 16.16 and does not the Scripture also expresly say That if thou shalt confesse with thy mouth the Lord Iesus and shalt beleeve in thine heart that God raised him from the dead thou shalt be saved Rom. 10.9 and again every spirit that confesseth that Iesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God 1 John 4.2 and whosoever shall confesse that Iesus is the Son of God God dwelleth in him and he in God verse 15. and whosoever beleeveth that Iesus is the Christ is born of God 1 Iohn 5.1 These things being so if I do both believe and confess Jesus to be the Christ and Christ to be the Son of God and that he dyed and rose again why may I not be confident of Salvation can I have any better security than the plain letter of the Scripture that promiseth salvation upon these termes Sect. 2 To all which I answer first that it is very true that this is the Faith of the Gospel and that to which eternal life is promised and that if thou doest so believe these things as that thy Faith do but answer the latitude of these Scripture expressions thou mayest be confident of Salvation and
needest no better security for it than the Scriptures And God forbid that I should make the strait gate straiter than it is or the narrow way to life narrower than it is all my designe is to preserve my self and others from conceiting this strait gate to be wider and this narrow way to be broader than indeed God hath made them as knowing an error herein is of a dangerous tendency and such as in all likelihood hath betrayed many a man into the broad way of death whilst he hath strongly fancied himself to be in the path of life The safest and best way therefore to be kept from stumbling at the Word and from wresting these promises of grace to our own destruction will be to understand all Scriptures that promise justification and life to beleeving indefinitely as still meant of such a Faith for kinde as does directly fall in with and not cross Gods general design in offering Salvation to men by Jesus Christ For it is not to be imagined that the Lord will prevaricate his own scope and drift or clogg his design by any the least overture that may leave men under hope of attaining Salvation in any way or upon any termes which do not directly comport with his designe that reverence which we owe to the wisdom of God does with a high hand prohibit any such thought All the words of God in the Scripture in all the variety of expression whether they be promises or precepts or threatnings they all wait on Gods great design towards man and they all march on the same way like the living Creatures in Ezekiels vision who went every one straight forward whither the spirit was to go and turned not when they went Ezek. 1.12 they do neither justle nor hinder nor turn one upon another but strengthen each other in seeking the prize for which they run the Word of God in the several parts of it as relating to the Lords designe is not yea and nay 2 Cor. 1.18 19. but all agreeing to serve the great purpose of God And what is this general design of God I speak of Surely ultimately it is his own glory in the Salvation of men his honour and the Creatures good in conjunction And if his design had been to provide only for the magnifying of his grace and mercy without respect unto his holiness it 's like he would have saved all men without any more ado for the same ransom to wit Christ Jesus would have been and is sufficient for all But then would not wretched sinners have thought God to be like them according to that in Psalm 50.21 These things hast thou done and I kept silence and thou thoughtest that I was altogether such a one as thy self would they not have thought that he could endure wickedness well enough in his Creature and hold fellowship with the workers of iniquity and what then would have become of the glory of his great Name how would he have been known to be glorious in holinesse as well as in grace and power And therefore that he might bring such a people unto himself in whom he might delight and whom he might prefer to glory with himself without disparagement unto his holiness he hath in his infinite wisdom so contrived the method and termes of bringing men to his Salvation glory as that thereby his love of holiness in the Creature might be conspicuous and visible as well as his love of the happiness of the Creature And therefore all the means set on foot by God to bring about the salvation of men do all tend to promote holiness in men as well as the happiness of men The whole and intire body of means of mans salvation is called the Mystery of godliness 1 Tim. 3.16 Christ the principal Agent or rather author of eternal salvation the holy one Acts 3.14 the Gospel which is the Word of Life or glad tidings of salvation is called the doctrine according to godliness 1 Tim. 6.3 Tit. 1.1 The Covenant of grace an holy Covenant Luke 1.72 the Faith by which men imbrace the Prince of Life the promise of Life and Word of Salvation is called the most holy Faith Iude 20. the calling of christians an holy calling 2 Tim. 1.9 for they are called unto holiness 1 Thes 4.7 the Spirit by which the means are made effectual and through which by his Workmanship men are formed into vessels of glory is the holy Spirit Ephes 4.30 In a word the very end and scope of Christ his giving himself for his Church and vouchsafeing all the means of Salvation is That he might present it to himself a glorious Church not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing but that it should be holy and without blemish Ephes 5.27 meet for the company of the holy God and the holy Angels in the most holy place the holy Ierusalem as it is called Rev. 21.10 Now this is that which I say then that seeing Gods design is to magnifie his holiness as well as his mercy in mens salvation and to shew that he as well desires and loves their holiness as their happiness and that all subordinate means are appointed and shaped to reach the one as well as the other hence we may well conclude that the believing unto which God hath made promise of life however indefinitely exprest is yet no other than a most holy Faith and such as does dispose that soul where it is unto holiness because salvation being the great motive to perswade men unto holiness God would loose that part of his designe if he should make promise of life unto any other than the most holy Faith And therefore it is neither prudent nor safe for any man to understand or take the word BELEEVING to which the promise is made in the narrowest and strictest sence or lowest signification of the word as it imports a naked bare and barren assent for if it might the Faith of the Rulers that durst not own Christ the Faith of Simon Magus yet such a Faith as the Devils have of which you heard before would carry salvation before it But if you would lay a sure foundation then understand the word BELEEVING or the phrase beleeving Christ to be the Son of God in a more copious and comprehensive sence for such an assent of the mind as carries the will and affections along with it to reverence and love him as such as a Wife who believes her Husband to be her Husband or as a Child who believes his Father to be his Father For whosoever believes Christ to be the Son of God if his Faith be not contradictious in it self does believe all his sayings as certain verities whether precepts promises or threatnings consequently his Faith does dispose the soul to love and fear him and hearken to him In this large sence I conceive Christ is to be understood Iohn 5.44 when he sayes to the Jews how can ye believe which receive honour of one another and seek
the curse as Infidelity it self does Mat. 10.37 1 Cor. 16.22 If any man love not the Lord Iesus let him be Anathema Maranatha By which it's evident that all the while this Love is wanting he is under the curse that wants it whatever his belief otherwise may be and consequently that no Faith in Christ but such as knits the Soul in unfeigned Love to him wil deliver a Man from the curse of God and consequently nor justifie And alass how manies Faith is hereby manifested to be meerly counterfeit Who are lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God which appears in that they follow them rather than God lovers of the World more than the Lord which appears in that they chuse to please the Men of the World rather than him and are more intent and thoughtful about getting the World than honouring of him and will rather run the hazard of displeasing him in holding fast the things of the World than part with them upon his call For it is not every degree of Love to Christ that will denominate a Man a true Lover of him but Love in such proportion and to such a degree as prevails against all other objects that stand in competition with Christ and carries away the Soul from them all to Christ Mat. 10.37 He that loves Father or Mother more than me is not worthy of me and he that loves Son or Daughter more than me is not worthy of me It 's not only lawful for a Man to love his Father and Mother his Son and Daughter but it is his duty so to do yea and to love them much more than others that are not so related and yet for all that if his Love to Christ do not exceed in proportion that Love and strong affection which he may and ought to bear to such Relations Christ you see hath already judged him unworthy of him A Man though he love his Wife better than most other Women yet if he love but one Woman more than his Wife with that affection that is proper to his Wife wil be judged by sober men no true Lover of his Wife In like manner though you should love Christ more than many other enjoyments or many other sins which you have parted with for his sake yet if you retain but any one sin or sinful lust and are tender of it for the profit or pleasure that comes into you by it and will harbour it to the offence and provocation of the Lord and chuse rather to run the hazard of loosing his company and all the comforts of it than to turn such an offensive guest out of doors assuredly the Lord who doth alwaies judge according to truth wil judge himself despised and unworthily rejected by you He you see then that wants this prevailing degree of Love to Christ is stil under the curse and therefore no belief in Christ whatsoever that hath not this Love in it or is not certainly accompanied with it can be any sufficient ground for any Man to be confident of his Salvation Nothing less availeth than that Faith which thus worketh by Love Gal. 5.6 By all these considerations then you may see that when Promise of Life is made unto believing in Christ indefinitely exprest it is no wise safe to understand the Scriptures as intending any other lower kind of Faith than that definitively which is of power and force to change the heart and life of him that hath it and to renew him to God in holiness Jesus Christ himself in his words to Paul having plainly declared this to be the true nature of the Faith that is in him Acts 26.18 That they may receive forgiveness of sins and inheritance among them which are sanctified by Faith that is in me And therefore John the bosome Disciple of Christ as was noted before saith Whosoever beleeveth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God 1 Iohn 5.1 which as you see must be understood of that vigorous belief that gives a man a new being furnishes him with new principles of motion and action new thoughts new affections a new life that gives him victory over the World as it follows verse 4. Whosoever is born of God overcometh the world and this is the victory that overcometh the world even our Faith Christs proffers and the Worlds proffers Christs threats and the Worlds threats striving which shall carry the Man to follow their waies Faith steps in by which the Man believes that as Christ is the Son of God so he is more worthy to be followed and his proffers infinitely more worthy to be regarded and his threats dreaded than the World with all that she can do or say and so delivers the Man out of the Worlds hand that he is at liberty to attend the Lord. Sect. 8 And whereas among other Scriptures objected in the beginning of this Chapter one promiseth salvation to such as believe with the heart and confess with the mouth the Lord Jesus Christ and others affirm that whosoever confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh and is the Son of God are of God and dwell in God and God in them they are to be understood as spoken according to the exigencies of those times wherein a Man confessing Christ exposed himself to persecution Iohn 9.22 and 12.42 and consequently manifested his effectual Faith in an unfeigned Love to the Lord Jesus and thus to call Iesus the Lord no Man could do but by the Holy Ghost and his special assistance 1 Cor. 12.3 But now in times wherein to deny him to be the Lord would sooner expose a man to suffering than the confessing of him so to be the bare confessing of him will not invest him with the great priviledges that then were promised unto the confessing of Christ according to that Mat. 7.21 Not every one that saith Lord Lord shall enter into the kingdom of Heaven but he that doth the will of my Father which is in Heaven Sect. 9 THe truth is if a Man do but take the Scriptures together and shape his judgement according to their result when compared as its every Mans wisdom to do as it is not safe so it is impossible for him then to be confident of his salvation meerly upon account of his believing Christ to be the Son of God unless this Faith of his be proved to him to be the Faith of Gods elect by some good degree of those holy affections and that christian demeanure which the holy Word and Doctrine of the Lord calls for And the reason hereof is because such Scriptures as I have been now insisting on that curse all those that do not love the Lord Jesus that sentence with eternal death all those that live after the flesh that exclude all such the blessed Vision of the Lord that have not holiness that shut the gates of Heaven against all such as do not make conscience to do the will of the Father I say such Scriptures stand up to oppose such a
before by a former and precedent act To this I likewise Answer That Justification taken in a large sence for a mans constant standing acceptable condition before God depends not only upon the first acts of a mans Faith when he begins to beleeve but upon the continuation and reitteration of the same and multiplication of the like and sometimes higher acts all along a mans life unto the end of his dayes which being a point of much consequence I pray you mark how I make it good 1. This clearly appears in Abrahams case for neither was that beleeving of Abraham of which we read Gen. 15.6 which was counted to him for Righteousness the first act of his effectual Faith and consequently not that which began his justification For this act of his Faith was the closing with a Promise which God made him after he had dwelt some years in the Land of Canaan probably near upon ten years as you will have cause to conceive if you compare the process of the history touching his leaving Charon and sojourning in the Land of Canaan with Gen. 16.3 where a period of time is mentioned at which he had dwelt ten years in the Land of Canaan and which so far as appears extended it self very little beyond that time when God appeared to Abraham after his slaughter of the Kings and made that Promise to him the beleeving of which is said to be counted to him for Righteousness But Abraham had a great measure of Faith before ever he left his native Country Vr of the Chaldees first and Charon after to come at Gods call into Canaan as we heard before from Heb. 11.8 where it 's told us That it was by his Faith that he obeyed God therein And by Faith he after sojourned in the Land of Promise Heb. 11.9 wherein by vertue of his Faith he devoutly worshiped and served that God which had called him thither building Altars for his Worship at several places where he pitched his Tent and there called on the Name of the Lord Gen. 12.7 8. and 13.4 18. And all this before that particular act of his Faith mentioned Gen. 15.6 which is there said to have been counted to him for Righteousness And can any man so much as imagine That Abraham having such a Faith so long before and making such proof of the life and power of it in his Love Obedience and Devotion to God as he did and God back again declaring his high approbation of him by a frequent appearing to him and making repeating and enlarging his Promises of the great things he was resolved to do for him that yet he all this while should not be justified and accepted with God upon his beleeving I say Can any such thought possibly enter into any mans heart If not then it is manifest that that act of Abrahams Faith Gen. 15.6 which was counted to him for Righteousness was but an after-act not the beginning-act of his Justification and consequently that a mans Justification does not depend only upon one transient act of Faith when he begins to beleeve but upon a continuation renewing and multiplication of the same or like acts Abraham though he beleeved in God before and was accepted with God before yet his after-Faith is imputed to him for Righteousness as well as his former and if he should not have beleeved God upon this renewing of his Promise as well as at the first making of it I see not how Righteousness could at this time have been imputed to him upon account of his former beleeving No it was imputed upon his present beleeving And seeing that we find that Abrahams justification is here in Gen. 15.6 attributed to an after act of his Faith there 's the same reason why his justification should again be ascribed unto that act of his Faith by which he offered up his Son though it be supposed to follow twenty years after the other as that did many years after the first These things considered it need not be looked upon as any paradox or wonder that James should attribute Abrahams Justification before God unto an act of his Faith which took not place till many years after he had been in the Faith of God We heard before from Rom. 4.12 that the Faith by which Abraham was justified was a walking Faith and had steps and now we see that the latter steps of the same Faith were necessary to his justification as well as the former he having and enjoying means motives and opportunities of exerting these latter acts as well as of the former And it 's of special note to this point That the Lord casts the performance of a Promise which he had made to Abraham many years before upon that act of his Faith and Obedience which took place but now when he would have offered Isaac Gen. 22.16 17 18. By my self have I sworn saith the Lord for because thou hast done this thing and hast not with-held thy Son thine only Son that in blessing I will bless thee and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the Stars of Heaven and as the Sand which is upon the Sea shore and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies and in thy seed shall all the Nations of the Earth be blessed because thou hast obeyed my voice Mark how God grounds this Promise noted in these two expressions because thou hast done this thing and because thou hast obeyed my voice And yet this Promise for substance had been made him more than once before he had done that thing and before he had herein obeyed his voice as is evident Gen. 12.2 3 13.15 16. 15.5 6. From which I gather That collateral or after acts of Faith and Obedience are as necessary to continue and make good a mans interest in the Promises for the future as the first acts of his Faith and Obedience were to entitle him to them at the first The Lord at the first makes his Promise to Abraham conditionally that in case he would get him out of his own Country and from his Kindred and from his Fathers house unto a Land which he would shew him that then he would make him a great Nation and bless him and make his name great and make him a blessing and bless them that should bless him and curse them that should curse him and that in him should all Families of the Earth be blessed Gen. 12.1 2 3. Afterward when Abraham upon belief of this Promise had actually obeyed God and was come into the Land to which he led him then God renews the same Promise to him once and again without expressing that Condition because he had now so far fulfilled it this we may see Gen. 13.15 16. 15.5 6. As if he renewed his Promise now by way of reward unto his former Faith and Obedience just as in this case of his offering of Isaac the Lord renews the same Promise with the addition of his Oath to bind it by way
of reward to this eminent act of his Faith and Obedience And when Abraham renews his Faith as God did his Promise Gen. 15.5 6. this was counted to him for Righteousness as well as his first Faith was And so again when God by another command of his to offer his Son as hard as the first tryes his Faith whether it would hold out to carry him through all difficulties to follow and obey him and finds his Faith enabling him to depend upon him still and to obey his Will in this as in his former Commands hereupon he counts this to him for Righteousness as well as his former Faith and graciously grounds his approbation of him from that act of his Faith which last occurred Jam. 2.21 Sect. 7 2. This may be made further manifest in Noahs case as well as Abrahams Noah we know was a righteous man before God admonished him to make an Ark for the saving of him and his houshold For the Scripture saith That Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations and that Noah walked with God Gen. 6.9 And because he was so therefore God directed him to make the Ark for the securing of him and his Family Gen. 7.1 And the Lord said unto Noah Come thou and all thy house into the Ark for thee have I seen righteous before me in this generation And yet for all this though Noah were in a justified accepted estate before God and highly approved of him before ever God commanded him to make the Ark yet his becoming an Heir of that Righteousness which is by Faith is attributed unto that act of his Faith by which he beleeved God when he declared to him his Resolution to drown the World and by means whereof he was moved to obey God in making an Ark for the salvation of himself and Family Heb. 11.7 By Faith Noah being warned of God of things not seen as yet moved with fear prepared an Ark to the saving of his house by the which he condemned the world and became Heir of the Righteousness which is by Faith A clear proof that justification depends upon after acts of Faith as well as the first and is and may be as well ascribed to the one as to the other And I pray you let it not be passed over un-observed That though these works that of Abrahams offering Isaac and this of Noahs preparing an Ark at the command of God be attributed unto the Faith of each respectively yet their justification before God hereupon is attributed unto these Works themselves as well as unto their Faith in the Scripture passages And therefore the Apostle James speaking of Abraham saith Seest thou how Faith wrought with his Works and by Works was Faith made perfect Jam. 2.22 His Faith and Works they wrought or laboured together as two Beasts in a yoke about the producing the same effect and that was the rendring him capable of the continuance of Gods Favour and Approbation his Faith alone would not have done it if these Works being called for should have been knowingly neglected 3. After acts of Faith are absolutely necessary to the continuance and carrying on of the work of Justification as the first act was to begin it and set it a foot and therefore the Author to the Hebrews speaking of the just man that lives by Faith saith of him That if he draw back the soul of the Lord shall have no pleasure in him Heb. 10.38 As his beleeving so long as he continues it renders him acceptable and well pleasing to God upon Christs account so his with-drawing those acts of Faith which interested him in Gods favourable acceptation provoke God to with-draw his delight in him and acceptation of him And when Christ in the Parable of the Debtor and Creditor sets forth this That a Servant who having had a great Debt forgiven him by his Lord yet afterward had it exacted of him again upon his cruel and unworthy carriage towards his fellow Servant with this Application of it to his Disciples to whom it was spoke So likewise shall my heavenly Father do also unto you if ye from your hearts forgive not every man his Brother their trespasses Matth. 18.35 Doth he not plainly teach that if such as do beleeve as they did and thereupon have their sins forgiven as they had shall yet for all that afterward come to want those after acts of Faith that should produce a merciful and loving carriage towards others for the right Faith works by love that then their Justification should become unjustification to them the pardon which till then had continued should then be recalled and withdrawn Sect. 8 By the way then note That this Doctrine which makes a mans standing and continuing in a justified state to depend upon after acts of his Faith as his enterance thereinto did upon the first doth discover that most dangerous Doctrine of the men called Antinomians to be rotten and stark nought which teacheth that when a man is once in Christ or which is the same when he does once beleeve all his sins are pardoned both past present and to come and that he alwayes stands accepted upon the account of his first beleeving A Doctrine which most assuredly hath proved an occasion of manies taking to themselves a great deal more liberty than that which is Christian and hath betrayed many hopeful Souls into a broader way than that narrow path that leads to life A fine Doctrine it would have been if it had been true To prove that Paul knew not what he said when he exhorted the Christians to work out or to work through their own Salvation with fear and trembling Phil. 2.12 And I do the rather here admonish all in the fear of the Lord to take heed of this snar for that I my self having above twenty years ago been taken in it did sadly experience the evil tendency of it and I verily think had not the Lord in much mercy pluck'd me out of it it would have proved no less than utter ruine and destruction to my poor Soul and how then should I upon this occasion refrain to warn all men of this deep ditch No sure it is not one act of beleeving that carries the business of a mans Justification quite through if there be opportunity of after acts afforded The Righteousness of God is revealed in the Gospel from Faith to Faith Rom. 1.17 The Gospel reveals Righteousness or Justification upon condition of the latter Faith as well as the former and therefore let no man think he hath done his whole dayes work when as he hath but only begun it for if he do it 's a thousand to one but he will grow idle and remiss before night And therfore as you desire expect that your Faith should do you the same service as Abrahams did him see to it that your Faith be found walking in his Faiths steps by which and not otherwise you will prove your selves his Children and Heirs to the
forgive Trespasses that their Faith whatever otherwise it be is not of the right kind neither such as will avail them to Justification for where there is no forgivenesse from God as there is not where there is not forgiving of men there 's no Justification and where there is no Justification there is no justifying Faith How then will they be able to evince their Faith to be of the justifying kind who are apt to render evil for evil and to bear grudges one against another upon account of injuries received and to ease themselves by throwing the burden of others weaknesses wholly upon them by spreading and aggravating them and that too before all due means on their part have been used to cure them I might but I will not enlarge this Sect. 18 9. There are other wayes and veins wherein Faith works by Love as viz. by doing to all men in point of Commerce and Dealing as they themselves would be done unto in like case Mat. 7.12 not using any deceit or fraud not taking advantage of others weaknesse not cruelly working upon others necessities for men would not be so served themselves but setting the law of Neighbourly and Brotherly love before them in all their civil transactions and affairs with others But I shall not enlarge further upon this Doctrine of Love as it is an effect of Faith having already dwelt longer on it than at first I intended Only let it be remembred for a close of this matter that mens love to God and men in these and other-like wayes of working holds proportion with their Faith so that where they are rich in Faith they abound in Love and where they are poor and low and narrow-spirited in acts of Love to God and of kindnesse mercy and bounty to men it 's a sure signe their Faith is not well thriven 2 Thes 1.3 We are bound to thank God alwayes for you Brethren as it is meet because that your Faith groweth exceedingly and the charity of every one of you all towards each other aboundeth Mark if you hear of their Faith growing exceedingly to be sure you will hear also of their love abounding also And thus I have now dispatched also the handling not only this property of Faith but also this branch of the Doctrine of Justification which concerns the nature of that Faith which shall be counted unto men for Righteousnesse CHAP. XII Shewing that Faith is counted for Righteousnesse both as it entitles men to the justifying virtue of Christs Blood and as it puts them under the protection and promise of the Gospel as it is a fulfilling of it And so discovers the opinion of Mens being justified before Beleeving and of being justified by beleeving only in the Court of Mans Conscience to be unsound Sect. 1 I Have already been shewing 1. The beleeving of what and 2. What beleeving it is that shall be counted for Righteousnesse Now I shall come in the 3. and last place to shew how or in what sence this Faith is counted unto men for Righteousnesse For counted for Righteousnesse it is so saith our Text. But to him that worketh not but beleeveth on him that justifieth the ungodly his Faith is counted for righteousnesse Or which is the same is reckoned to him for righteousnesse Rom. 4.9 Or imputed to him for righteousnesse Gal. 3.6 Rom. 4.22 23 24. For our Apostle useth this three-fold variety of expression to set out the same thing For the better understanding of this point I will shew you 1. Negatively how it is not counted for Righteousnesse or which is the same how it does not justifie It does not justifie or is not reckoned for Righteousnesse as Christ his Death and Blood is viz. by way of attonement Rom. 5.9 11. for that 's the incommunicable property of Christs blood Heb. 1.3 which is reckoned to us for Righteousnesse too in a sence proper to it for Christ is said to be made unto us righteousnesse 1 Cor. 1.30 and so he is when the attoneing virtue of his Blood the power and efficacy of his Death and Resurrection is made over conveyed reckoned or imputed to us for our Justification But this in a way infinitely superior to the Imputation of Faith for Righteousnesse for Faith it self and the activity of that and all other Graces in their Sphear become acceptable with God as built and bottomed upon that sure foundation Christ Jesus And therefore I exceeding much desire that the Lord Jesus may have all the glory of your confidence touching the merit of Remission of your sins and that your confidence about Justification have nothing to do with Faith but as that thing which God hath ordained to entitle you to the other and the gracious priviledges annexed to it nor with works further than they are appointed by God to render your Faith a substantial and not deceitful title 2. But come we then to shew in the affirmative how Faith is counted for Righteousnesse and this I shall according to my understanding lay out to you in two things Sect. 2 1. Faith is a means of our Justification or is reckoned toward our righteous-making as it is a means appointed by God to interesse us in the benefit of Christs death and the attoneing vertue of his Blood for our pardon and acceptation For though it 's true Christ gave himself a ransome for all 1 Tim. 2.6 and tasted death for every man Heb. 2.9 yet all are not thereupon delivered from their sins and why but because they have not that Faith which should give them a right and propriety in the justifying vertue of his Death For Christ was not given to dye for men upon such terms as that they should reap the benefit of his Blood in the pardon of their sins however they should carry themselves towards him well or ill And therefore the Apostle plainly declares how men by miscarriage towards Christ may cut themselves short of the benefit of his death Gal. 5.2 4. Behold I Paul say unto you that if ye be circumcised Christ shall profit you nothing And again verse 4. Christ is become of none effect unto you whosoever of you are justified by the Law Which could not be if Christ were not given if Christ did not dye for men conditionally See 2 Pet. 2.1 1 Cor. 8.11 Heb. 10.29 Sect. 3 Which condition or proviso is plainly laid down John 3.16 God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son but with this proviso mark it that whosoever beleeveth in him should not perish but have everlasting life Though Christ be given for the World yet mens not perishing by means of this gift but enjoying eternal life is suspended upon their beleeving in him So that it 's mens beleeving that does enstate them in the justifying saving vertue of Christs death Another like place is that Rom. 3.25 Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through Faith in his blood 1. God hath set him forth as a publick
a power to justifie The efficacy justifying power and vertue of Faith depends not upon nor rises out of the excellency or dignity of its own nature but it depends upon and proceeds from the will good pleasure ordination or appointment of God digested and put into the Gospel as a standing Law and unchangeable decree As it was not the naturalness of proportion between the Israelites looking up to the Serpent of Brass and that effect of healing that was procured thereby Numb 21.9 that brought the thing to pass but the production of such an effect by such means depended upon the operativeness of Gods will so in the antitype of this Jo. 3.14 mens being healed justified by looking up to and beleeving in Jesus as lift up upon the Cross this is not brought to pass neither meerly by the act of Faith it self as such but by the efficacy of the divine will which hath ordained it to that end and use And therefore is it I suppose that the Scripture so frequently casts this great effect of mens being justified upon God as his act grant and gift though by or through Faith as subservient to his will herein calling it The righteousness of God which is by Faith and saying That it is one God which shall justifie the Circumcision by Faith and uncircumcision through Faith Rom. 3.22 30. Phil. 3.9 And if Christ himself is said to be unto us Righteousnesse because made so of God 1 Cor. 1.30 and salvation to be had through his Name because given for that end Acts 4.12 then much more certainly does the justifying office or work of Faith depend upon the divine will John 6.40 This is the will of him that sent me that every one that seeth the Son and beleeveth on him may have everlasting life This might be further argued from Rom. 3.25 John 1.12 and 3.16 but I forbear Sect. 6 But in the mean while a comfortable Doctrine surely it is to understand that our justification by Faith does not depend so much upon the nature of the grace it self as upon the will of him that hath appointed it to that office and upon the Gospel as that Charter by which such a priviledge is conferred upon it which is a thousand times richer and firmer foundation to bear such a building as the hope of Righteousness by Faith is than is the nature of the grace it self which is subject to ebbings and flowings and times of shaking and fits of feebleness and weaknesse If the justifying effect of Faith had depended meerly upon the nature and operation of the grace it self then the infiniteness of disproportion that is between such a cause and such an effect the inconsiderableness of the service and vastness of reward might have rendred the confident expectation of so great a benefit upon such terms matter of greater difficulty But now seeing that the weight and stresse of this great effect which is produced by or through Faith as that without which God will not have it take place does depend upon the powerful and operative will of God which is infinitely full of Grace and Kindness to the poor Creature and upon the everlasting and unalterable Covenant of his Grace and Love the confidence of Justification by Faith now becomes much more easie and pleasant as feeling firmness rockiness substantiality of ground under the feet of it He that holds an estate worth a thousand pounds by the year by Lease or Charter though he pay but a Pepper-corn by way of acknowledgment hath as good a Title in Law to that Estate as another that holds the like Estate from the same Landlord though he pay a thousand pound Rent by the year for it because the one Lease is the voluntary act of the Landlord as well as the other Even so though Faith amount but to little in comparison of that absolute perfection of holiness love and obedience that was found in Adam while he stood yet considering that the same Lord hath now graciously by an unchangeable act of his own will setled and entailed Justification and eternal life upon mens unfeigned beleeving in his Son Jesus Christ which once setled ever-living upon Adams absolute perfect holiness love and obedience it hereupon follows that whosoever doth in truth unfeignedly beleeve hath therefore as real as sure and as certain a title to eternal life as Adam himself had and would have kept in case he had kept his first integrity But then that which is the amountment of all this is that seeing there is now a new Law given by God a new Covenant established and that the sum and substance of it is this that God having sent his Son Jesus Christ into the world to save sinners he requires and enjoyns men to receive him and beleeve in him in that capacity in which he is sent and upon their so doing promises Justification and eternal life as on the contrary threatens eternal death to those that do not hereupon it follows that those that do thus beleeve in Christ do fulfill the terms of the Gospel and fulfilling the terms of it must needs be righteous in the account of it For what else is a mans righteousness but his conformity to that Law under which he lives or which is given him to live by As transgression of it is sin 1 John 3.4 so conformity to it is righteousness And therefore since Faith bears such a proportion of conformity to the Gospel as it does when it is sound and sincere well may it be counted for Righteousness to them that have it Sect. 7 Yet because this Righteousness which is called the Righteousnesse of Faith consists in great part at least in the forgivenesse of sins and since both that and all the gracious acceptation with God which does accrue to men upon their beleeving is vouchsafed them not for their Faith sake though not without it but upon the account of another to wit Jesus Christ Ephes 4.32 1 John 2.12 thence it may well be that though Faith be really and truly a mans righteousness in the Gospels account yet it is so only in the way of imputation reckoning or account of grace Which is a thing I would not have slightly passed over but diligently and carefully observed as having much of the Spirit of the Gospel and Doctrine of Grace in it For Faith though it be rich indeed and hath glorious things in it and signifies much in the reckoning or account of the Gospel yet it is rich with the riches of another Faith it is the borrowing Grace as the Moon borrows its light from the Sun so Faith borrows that by which it does such great things for the Soul from another from Christ It is true Faith is a worthy thing as it gives glory to God in beleeving all that he sayes as it carries the Soul and unites it to him as it purifies the heart and works by Love and the like but alass what would all this do towards the making of
atonement for sin without which the Creature is undone and without which Faith cannot justifie And therefore that which is impossible as to it self in this respect it hath from another from Christ Who is the propitiation for our sins So then righteousness coming upon or accruing to men upon or by means of their beleeving and yet proceeding or issuing principally by way of result from that which is extrinsical to Faith to wit the blood of Christ and unspeakable grace of God there is good reason why Faith though it be a mans righteousness or that upon or by means of which he enjoyes the priviledges of a just and righteous man yet he should have and hold this great and blessed benefit by way of imputation or altogether upon the account of Grace as having that transferred to his account in the result of it which resides in another and which indeed hath the greatest stroke in his Justification Sect. 8 Which Doctrine of Faiths being counted to men for Righteousness according to the explanation given if it be true then the opinion and Doctrine of some who hold and teach that men are justified before beleeving or when Christ suffered or from eternity must needs be false For if there be no Justification but by the blood of Christ and no application of this blood in the justifying vertue of it to persons of years of discretion for of such I speak but by Faith which is the thing ordained by God to interess them in the justifying vertue and saving benefit of it then there can be no actual justification of men till they do beleeve but that there is no Justification by the blood of Christ nor right to or saving application of that Blood without beleeving is that which from the Scriptures hath been asserted in the first head of explanation and might be abundantly further made out from the Scriptures if what hath been already said on this behalf were not sufficient And so again if that be true that whosoever shall be justified must be justified declaratively or sententially by the Gospel and acquitted by that and that the Gospel acquits no man but such as perform the termes and fulfill the condition of it upon which its promises of Justification do depend and that the Gospel-termes or condition upon which it promises Justification and eternal life is Beleeving then certainly till men do indeed Beleeve the Gospel does not will not cannot acquit and justifie any man but cast and condemn him But that no man shall be justified without the acquittance or discharge which the Gospel gives and that it gives this acquittance or discharge to none but such as perform its condition and fulfill its terms and that the said terms or condition is Beleeving are things that lye very fair and obvious in the Scriptures and are in part to be seen in the second head of explanation of the Doctrine of Faiths being counted for Righteousness Sect. 9 By the light of the same Doctrine of Faiths being imputed for Righteousness that opinion also which holds that the Justification by Faith which the Scripture speaks of is not meant of mens being justified in the sight of God but only in the Court of their own Conscience by way of evidence or assurance is proved to be darkness and not light For when Faith is said to be counted or imputed for Righteousness the meaning is not that when a man comes to Beleeve he thereby comes to know himself to be what indeed he was before viz. justified in the sight of God but that then indeed he comes to be that which till then he was not viz. a man acquitted and discharged from his sins and accepted in the sight of God as one reconciled by the Death of his Son which till then who not actually applyed for his Justification as one under the protection of the Gospel which till then thundred out wrath and judgement against him as it does against all while in the state of unbelief Mark 16.16 John 3.18 36. Which threatnings would be really inconsistent with their safe condition by Justification in the sight of God if there were such a thing as Justification in his sight before Believing For those threatnings are true or else they are false if true as most certainly they are then whosoever dyes before he believes and so before he is justified by Faith is damned and if damned then not justified in the sight of God Sect. 10 And I the rather mention these things as well for caution as confutation because the Doctrine of mens Justification before believing as grounded on the Doctrine of particular and personal Election before Faith hath I fear in these late years rendred the work of Faith with power in the heart and life of too many a matter not of that mighty importance which indeed it is in the Scripture account But hath been a temptation upon them to think that Faith hath not been absolutely and essentially necessary to the being of a Christian or a mans safe standing before God but necessary only unto his comfortable and well being in respect of evidence and assurance And so hath rendred their care and diligence about their proving themselves to be in the Faith proportionably less by how much an assurance of ones good condition is less than ones good condition it self CHAP. XIII Containing an Exhortation by way of vse for Men to behold themselves in this Glass of Iustification and by the help of the precedent Discourse to prove the goodness or badness of their title to life And shewing the ill abode of negligence and the real advantage of care and diligence herein and what must be done to obtain a good testimony from Conscience as Iudge Delegate under Christ touching the goodness of mens spiritual condition in the eye of the Gospel and in the sight of God Sect. 1 DEarly Beloved as you have heard some parts of the Doctrine of Justification more briefly opened so you have had the nature of that Faith by which you are to be Justified if ever justified more largely handled according to that measure of understanding in it which God hath given me By which means you have opportunity given you of beholding as in a Glass your own spiritual state and condition before the Lord whether justified or not and whether your title to that incomparable priviledg be tite and sound or crackt and flawed It remains now that according to the Apostles Exhortation 2 Cor. 13.5 You prove your own selves whether you be in the Faith or no whether you have that Faith in you which hath been discovered to you to be that only kind of Faith which will be counted to them that have it for righteousness As for such as shall be negligent careless and slight in a matter of this moment it 's a shrewd sign that all is not well with them When Trades-men are backward and unwilling to cast up their Books and to see how the case stands with them