or Christ for Salvation to be accounted the principal Saving-act of it because as it seemeth to them many loose wicked People trust on God and Christ for their Salvation as much as others and are by their Confidence hardened the more in their Wickedness But they had rather it should be Obedience to all Christ's Laws at least in their Resolution or a Consent that Christ should be their Lord accepting of his terms of Salvation and a resignation of themselves to his Government in all things It is a sign that the Scripture-form of Teaching is grown into disesteem with our great Masters of Reason when trusting in the Lord so much commended in Scripture is accounted a mean and ordinary thing They endeavour to affright us from owning Faith to be an Instrument of Justification by telling us that thereby we that use the Instrument are made our own principal Justifiers to the dishonour of God though it might be easily answered that we are made thereby only the principal receivers of our own Justification from God the Giver of it to whom all the Glory doth belong All these Errors will fall if it can be proved that such a Faith as I have described is an Instrument whereby we actually receive Christ himself into our Hearts and Holiness of Heart and Life as well as Justification by Union and Fellowship with him For the proof of it I shall offer the following Arguments First By Faith we have the actual enjoyment and possession of Christ himself and not only of Remission of Sins but of Life and so of Holiness Christ dwelleth in our hearts by faith Ephes 3.17 We live to God and yet not we but Christ liveth in us by the Faith of the Son of God Gal. 2.19 20. He that believeth on the Son of God hath the Son and everlasting life that is in him 1 John 5.12 13. John 3.36 He that heareth Christ's word and believeth on him that sent Christ hath everlasting life and is passed from death unto life These Texts express clearly such a Faith as I have described therefore the efficiency or operation of Faith in order to the enjoyment of Christ and his Fulness cannot be the procurement of a bare Right or Title to this Enjoyment but rather it must be an entrance into it and taking possession of it We have our accâ—ss and entrance by faith into that Grace of Christ wherein we stand Rom. 5.2 Secondly The Scripture plainly ascribeth this effect to Faith that by it we receive Christ put him on are rooted and grounded in him and also that we receive the Spirit remission of sins and an inheritance among them which are sanctified John 1.2 Gal. 3.26 27. Col. 2.6 7. Gal. 3.14 Acts 26.18 And the Scripture illustrateth this Receiving by the Similitude of Eating and Drinking He that believeth on Christ drinketh the living water of his spirit John 7.37 38 39. Christ is the bread of life his flesh is meat indeed and his blood drink indeed and the way to eat and drink it is to believe in Christ and by so doing we dwell in Christ and Christ in us and have everlasting Life John 6.35 47 48 54 55 56. How can it be taught more clearly that we receive Christ himself properly into our Souls by Faith as we do receive Food into our Bodies by eating and drinking and that Christ is as truly united to us thereby as our Food when we eat or drink it So that Faith cannot be a Condition to procure a meer Right or Title to Christ no more than Eating or Drinking procureth a meer Right or Title to our Food but it is rather an Instrument to receive it as the Mouth that eateth and drinketh the Food Thirdly Christ with all his Salvation is freely given by the Grace of God to all that believe on him for we are saved by Grace through Faith and that not of our selves it is the Gist of God Eph. 2.8 9. We are justified freely by his Grace through Faith in his blood Rom. 8.24 The Holy Ghost who is the Bond of Union betwixt Christ and us is a Gift Acts 2.38 Now that which is a Gift of Grace must not be at all earned purchased or procured by any Work or Works performed as a Condition to get a right Title to it and therefore Faith it self must not be accounted such a Condition If it be by Grace it is no more of Works otherwise Grace is no more Grace Rom. 11.1 The Condition of a free Gift is only take and have and in this sence we will readily acknowledge Faith to be a Condition allowing a Liberty in Terms where we agree in the thing but if you give a Pepper-corn to purchase a Title to it then you spoil the freeness of the Gift The free Offer of Christ to you is sufficient to conferr upon you a Right yea to make it your Duty to receive Christ and his Salvation as yours and because we receive Christ by Faith as a free Gift therefore we may account Faith to be the Instrument and as it were the Hand whereby we receive him Fourthly It hath been already proved that all spiritual Life and Holiness is treasured up in the Fulness of Christ and communicated to us by Union with him therefore the accomplishing of Union with Christ is the first work of Saving Grace in our Hearts and Faith itself being an holy Grace and part of spiritual Life cannot be in us before the beginning of it but rather it is given to us and wrought in the very working of the Union And the way wherein it conduceth to the Union cannot be by procuring a meer Title to Christ as a Condition because then it should be performed before the uniting Work beginneth but rather by being an Instrument whereby we may actively receive and embrace Christ who is already come into the Soul to take possession of it his own Habitation True Saving-Faith such as I have described hath in its nature and manner of Operation a peculiar aptitude or fitness to receive Christ and his Salvation and to unite our Souls unto him and to furnish the Soul with a new holy Nature and to bring forth an holy Practice by Union and Fellowship with him God hath fitted natural Instruments for their Office as the Hands Feet c. so that we may know by their nature and natural manner of operation for what use they are designed In like manner we may know that Faith is an Instrument formed on purpose for our Union with Christ and Sanctification if we consider what a peculiar fitness it hath for the Work The discovery of this is of great use for the understanding of the mysterious manner of our receiving and practising all Holiness by Union and Fellowship with Christ By this precions Grace of Faith and to make you as it were to see with your Eyes that it is such an Instrument as I have asserted it to be I shall present it to your view
that it is the proper nature and tendency of Baptism to guide us to Faith in Christ alone for remission of Sins Holiness and all Salvation by Union and Fellowship with him and that a diligent improvement of this Ordinance must needs be of great advantage to the Life of Faith 5. The Sacrament of the Lords Supper is as a spiritual Feast to nourish our Faith and to strengthen us to walk in all Holiness by Christ living and working in us if it be used according to the Patern which Christ gave us in its first Institution recorded by Three Evangelists Mat. 26.26 Mar. 14.22 24. Luk. 22.19 20. and was extrordinarily revealed from Heaven by Christ himself to the Apostle Paul 1 Cor. 11.23 25. that we might be the more obliged and stirred up to the exact Observation of it It s end is not only that we may remember Christs Death in the History but in the Mystery of it as that his Body was broken for us that his Blood is the Blood of the New Testament or Covenant shed for us and for many for the remission of Sins that so we may receive and enjoy all the Promises of the New Covenant which are recorded Heb. 8.12 It s end is to mind us that Christs Body and Blood are Bread and Drink even all-sufficient Food to nourish our Souls to everlasting Life and that we ought to take and eat and drink him by Faith and to assure us that when we truly believe on him he is as really and closely united to us by his Spirit as the Food which we eat and drink is united to our Bodies Christ himself Joh. 6. doth more fully explain this Mystery Furthermore this Sacrament doth not only put us in mind of the spiritual Blessings wherewith we are Blessed in Christ and our Enjoyment of them by Faith but also it is a Mean and Instrument whereby God doth really exhibit and give forth Christ and his Salvation to true Believers and whereby he doth stir up and strengthen Believers to receive and feed upon Christ by present actings of Faith while they partake of the outward Elements When Christ saith eat drink this is my body this is my blood no less can be meant than that Christ doth as truly give his Body and Blood to true Believers in that Ordinance as the Bread and Cup and they do as truly receive it by Faith As if a Prince invest a Subject in some Honourable Office by delivering to him a Staff Sword or Signet and say to him take this Staff Sword or Signet this is such an Office or Preferment or if a Father should deliver a Deed for Conveyance of Land to his Son and say take it as thine own this is such a Farm or Mannor how can such Expressions import any less in common Senfe and Reason than a Present Gift and Conveyance of the Offices Preferments and Lands by and with those outward Signs Therefore the Apostle Paul asserteth that the bread in the Lords supper is the communion of the body of Christ and the cup is the communion of his blood 1 Cor. 10.16 which sheweth that Christ's Body and Blood are really communicated to us and we do really partake of them as well as of the Bread and Cup. The chief Excellency and Advantage of this Ordinance is That it is not only a Figure and Resemblance of our living upon a crucified Saviour but also a precious Instrument whereby Christ the Bread and Drink of Life is really conveyed to us and received by us through Faith This makes it to be a Love-Token worthy of that ardent Affection toward us which filled Christ's Heart at the time when he instituted it when he was on the point of finishing of his greatest work of Love by laying down his Life for us 1 Cor. 11.23 And this is diligently to be observed that we may make a right improvement of this Ordinance and receive the saving Benesits of it One reason why many do little esteem and seldom or never partake of this Ordinance and do find little benefit by it is because they falsly imagine that God in it only holds forth naked signs and resemblances of Christ and his Salvation which they account to be held forth so plainly in Scripture that they need not the help of such a sign Whereas if they understood that God doth really give Christ himself to their Faith by and with those Signs and Resemblances they would prize it as the most delicious Feast and be desirous to partake of it on all opportunities Acts 2.42 and 20.7 Another reason why many partake seldom or never of this Ordinance and know little of the benefit of it is because they think themselves brought by it into great danger of eating and drinking their own Damnation according to those terrifying words of the Apostle 1 Cor. 11.29 therefore they account it the safest way wholly to abstain from such a dangerous Ordinance or at least that once a year is enough to run so great a Hazard And if they be brought to it sometimes by constraint of Conscience their slavish Fears bereave them of all comfortable Fruit of it So that instead of striving to receive Christ and his Salvation therein they account themselves to have succeeded well if they come off without the Sentence of Damnation As the Jewish Rabbies write that the High-Priests Life was so eminently hazarded by his entring once a year into the Holy of Holies that he stayed there as little time as he could lest the People should think him to be struck dead by the Hand of God And when he was come forth alive he usually made a Feast of Thanksgiving for Joy of so great a Deliverance But there is no reason why we should be so much terrified by those words of the Apostle for they were darted against such a gross prophanation of the Lords Supper amongst the Corinthians as we may easily avoid by observing the Institution of it which the Apostle proposeth to them as a sufficient remedy against the gross abuse in not discerning or differencing the Lords Body from other bodily Food and partaking of it as their own Supper with such disorder that one was Hungry and another Drunken Besides that terrifying word Damnation may be rendred more mildly Judgment as it is in the Margent yea the Apostle himself Ver. 32. doth interpret it of a merciful temporal Judgment whereby we are chastened of the Lord that we should not be condemned with the World We are indeed prone to sin in receiving this Ordinance unworthily and so we are also to pollute more or less all other holy things that we meddle with So that the consideration of our danger might sill us with slavish fear in the use of all other means of Grace as well as of this were it not that we have a great High-Priest to bear this Iniquity of our holy things Exod. 28.38 under the Covert of whose Righteousness we are to draw near unto God without
hath been one occasion of the prevailing of Heathenish Jewish and Popish Superslitions in the World We find by experience how Popery fell in several Nations in late years when the great Pillar of it the Doctrine of Justification by Works was overthrown by the Protestant Doctrine of Justification by Faith alone If these Legal Zealots be forced by strong Conviction to endeavour the Practice of spiritual Duties for the quieting of their guilty Consciences they may be brought to strive and labour earnestly and even to macerate their Bodies with Fasting that they may kill their Lusts but still their Lusts are alive and as strong as ever they were and do shew forth their Enmity against the Law of God by inward fretting repining and grudging at it as a grievous Task-mastertho ' a slavish Fear restrain their gross outward actings And if once these Zealots be enlightned with the Knowledge of the Spiritual nature of the Law to discern that God rejecteth all their slavish Service and will not own it for sincere Obedience then they fall into Despair of their Salvation because they see they have failed in their highest attempts to perform the Condition and then they can easily discover themselves that their Hearts swell in Anger and manifest Hatred against the Law yea and against God and Christ for prescribing such hard Conditions of Salvation which they cannot keep and yet expect to be damned eternally for breaking of them This filleth them with blasphemous thoughts against God and Christ and they can hardly refrain from blaspheming with their tongues and when they are brought to this horrible Condition if God doth not in mercy discover to them the way of Salvation by Free-grace through Faith alone they will endeavour if they can to sear their Consciences past feeling of Sin and fully to abandon all Religion which have proved such an unsufferable Torment to them or if they cannot sear their Consciences some of them are easily prevailed over by Satan rather to murder themselves than to live longer in the Hatred of God the Spirit of Blasphemy and continual horror of Conscience This is the pestilent effect of Legal-Doctrine upon a carnal heart that doth but rouse up and terribly enrage the sleeping Lion our sinful Gorruption instead of killing of it as is too evident by the sad Experience of many that have endeavoured with all their might to practice it and by the Scripture that sheweth a sufficient cause why it cannot be otherwise Therefore the Doctrine of Salvation by sincere Obedience that was invented against Antinomianism may well be ranked amongst the worst Antinomian Errors For my part I hate it with perfect Hatred and count it mine Enemy as I have found it to be and I have found by some good Experience the Truth of the Lesson taught by the Apostle that the way to be freed from the Mastery and Dominion of Sin is not to be under the law but under grace Rom. 6.15 6thly The way of Salvation by works was blasted by the Curse denounced against the first Adam's Sin so that now it cannot work Life in us or Holiness but only Death For the Law which requireth both sincere and perfect Obedience to God in all things was made known to Adam at his first Creation as the means of continuing the happy Life that was then bestowed upon him and it would have been effectual for this end if he had not transgressed in the forbidden fruit but when he had once brought himself and his Posterity under the terrible Sentence Thou shalt surely die Gen. 2.17 all that Knowledge of God or his Law that before wrought for continuance of Life was turned by that cursing Sentence the contrary way to work for his death even for the death of his Soul in sin as well as for the death of his Body and therefore it quickly moved him to hide himself from God as an enemy It was as if God should say All the light and knowledge that thou hast shall not be able to continue thy life or restore it but it shall rather tend to thy death Therefore while we continue in our Natural state under the first Adam's Guilt and Curse the knowledge of the Law yea and all such knowledge of God and his Attributes as natural Men may attain to must needs be in like manner accursed to us and seeing Man did not use his natural Knowledge and Wisdom aright God is resolved to revenge the abuse of it by giving us Salvation in a way contrary to it that seemeth foolishness to the Natural man and wholly to abolish the way of living by any of our works or by any Wisdom or Knowledge that the Natural-man can attain unto for it is written I will destrey the wisdom of the wise and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent Hath not God made foolish the wisdom of the world For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe 1 Cor. 1.19 20 21. Hence we may conclude that no Truth known by the light of Nature can be an effectual Principle or Motive to work Holiness in us and Gospel-principles and Motives are but abused when they are applied to a Legal-way of Salvation 7thly The end which God aimed at in giving the Law by Moses was not that any should ever attain to Holiness or Salvation by the condition of perfect or sincere Obedience to it tho' if there had been any such way of Salvation at that time it must have consisted in the Performance of that Law which was then given to the Church to be a Rule of Life as well as a Covenant There was another Covenant made before that time with Abraham Isaac and Jacob a Covenant of Grace promising all Blessings freely through Christ the promised Seed by which only they were to be saved and the Covenant of the Law was added that they might-see their sinfulness and subjection to death and wrath and the impossibility of attaining to life or holiness by their works and be forced to trust on the free Promise only for all their Salvation and that Sin might be restrained by the Spirit of Bondage until the coming of that promised Seed Jesus Christ and the more plentiful pouring out of the sanctifying Spirit by him This the Apostle Paul sheweth largely Gal. 3.15 to 24. Rom. 5.20 21. Rom. 10.3 4. None of the Israelites under the Old Testament were ever saved by the Sinai-Covenant neither did any of them ever attain to Holiness by the terms of it Some of them did indeed perform the Commandments of it sincerely tho' imperfectly but those were first justified and made Partakers of Life and Holiness by virtue of that better Covenant made with Abraham Isaac and Jacob which was the same in substance with the New-covenant or Testament establish'd by the Blood of Christ Had it not been for that better Covenant the
they love darkness rather light They deserve to be Partakers with the Divels in Torments as they partake with them in evil Lusts and their Inability to do Good will no more excuse them than it excuseth the Divils Eighthly Neither will this Assertion make it a vain thing to preach the Gospel to natural People and to exhort them to true Repentance and Faith in Christ for their Conversion and Salvation For the Design of our Preaching is not to bring them to Holiness in their natural State but to raise them above it and to present them perfect in Christ in the Performance of those Duties Col. 1.28 And though they cannot perform those Duties by their natural Strength yet the Gospel is made effectual for their Conversion and Salvation by the Power of the Holy Ghost which accompanieth the Preaching of it to quicken those that are dead in Sin and to create them a new in Christ by giving to them Repentance unto Life and a lively Faith in Christ The Gospel cometh to the Elect of God not only in word but also in power and in the Holy Ghost and in such Assurance that they receive it with joy of the Holy Ghost 1 Thess 5.6 The Gospel is the ministration of the Spirit that giveth life 2. Cor. 3.6 8. It is mighty through God 2 Cor. 10.4 It dependeth not at all upon the Power of our Free-will to make it successful for our Conversion but it conveyeth into the Soul that Life and Power whereby they receive and obey it Christ can make those that are dead in Sin to hear his voice and live John 5.25 Therefore he can speak to them by his Gospel and Command them to repent and believe with good Success as well as he could say to dead Carcases Tabitha cumi Mark 5.41 Lazarus come forth John 11 43 44. And to the Sick of the Palsie Arise take up thy bed and go unto thine house Matth. 9.6 Ninthly There is no reason that the Examples of Heathen Philosophers or any Jews or Christians by outward Profession that have lived without the saving Knowledge of God in Christ should move us by their wise Sayings and renouned Attainments in the Practice of Devotion and Morality to recede from this Truth that hath been so fully confirmed out of the holy Scriptures Have we not cause to judge that the Apostle Paul while he was a zealous Pharisee and at least some few of the great Multitude of the Jews in his time that were zealous of the Law and had the Instruction of the holy Scriptures attained as near to that true Holiness as the Heathen Philosophers or any others in their natural State Yet Paul after he was enlightned with the saving Knowledge of Christ judged himself the chief of sinners in his highest former Attainments though in the Judgment of others he was blameless touching the Righteousness which is in the Law and he found it necessary to begin to live to God in a new way by Faith in Christ and to suffer the loss of all his former Attainments and to count them but dung that he might win Christ 1 Tim. 1.15 Phil. 3.6 7 8. And none of the great Multitude of Jews that followed after the Law of Righteousness did ever attain unto it while they sought it not by faith in Christ Rom. 9.31 32. What Performances are greater in outward Appearance than for a Man to give all his goods to the poor and to give his body to be burnt and yet the Scripture alloweth us to suppose that this may be done without true Charity and therefore without any true holiness of the heart and life 1 Cor. 13.3 Men in a natural State may have strong Convictions of the infinite Power Wisdom Justice and Goodness of God and of the Judgment to come and the everlasting Happiness of the Godly and Torments of the Wicked and these Convictions may stir them up not only to make an high Profession and to utter rare Sayings concerning God and Godliness but also to labour with great earnestness to avoid all known Sin to subdue their Lusts to perform universal Obedience to God in all known Duties and to serve him with their Lives and Estates to the utmost and to extort out of their Hearts some kind of Love to God and Godliness that if possible they may escape the terrible Torments of Hell and procure everlasting Happiness by their Endeavours Yet all their Love to God is but forced and feigned they have no hearty liking to God or his Service they account him an hard Master and his Commandments grievous and they repine and fret inwardly at the burden of them and were it not for fear of everlasting Fire they would little regard the Enjoyment of God in Heaven and they would be glad if they might have the Liberty to enjoy their Lusts without danger of Damnation The highest Preferment of those that are born only after the Flesh in Abraham's Family is but to be children of the bond-woman Gal. 4.23 And though they do more in God's Service than many of his dear Children yet God accepteth not their Service because their best Performances are slavish without any Child-like Affections towards God and no better than glistering Sins and yet these natural Men are not at all beholden to the goodness of their Natures for these counterfeit Shews of Holiness or for the least abstaining from the grossest Sin If God should leave Men fully to their own natural Corruptions and to the Power of Satan as they deserve all Shew of Religion and Morality would be quickly banished out of the World and we should grow past feeling in Wickedness and like to the Canibals who are as good by Nature as our selves But God that can restrain the Burning of the siery Furnace without quenching it and the flowing of Water without changing its nature doth also restrain the working of natural Corruption without mortifying it and through the greatness of his Wisdom and Power he maketh his enemies to yield feigned obedience to him Psal 66.3 And to do many things good for the matter of them though they can do nothing in a right holy manner He hath appointed several means to restrain our Corruptions as the Law Terrors of Conscience terrible Judgments and Rewards in this Life Magistrates humane Laws Labour for Necessaries Food and Raiment and those Gospel means that are effectual for Sanctification serve also for Restraint of Sin God hath gracious ends in this Restraint of Sin that his Church may be preserved and his Gospel preached in the World and that these Natural Men may be in a better Capacity to receive the Instruction of the Gospel and that such of them that are chosen may in due time be converted and that those of them that are not truly converted may enjoy more of the Goodness of God here and suffer the less Torments hereafter As vile and wicked as the World is we have cause to praise and to magnifie the Free
foregoing Directions That Faith in Christ is the Duty with which a holy Life is to begin and by which the Foundation of all other holy Duties is laid in the Soul It is before sufficiently proved That Christ himself with all Endowments necessary to enable us to an holy practice is received actually into our hearts by Faith This is the uniting Grace whereby the Spirit of God knitteth the knot of mystical Marriage betwixt Christ and us and maketh us Branches of that noble Vine Members of that Body joyned to that excellent Head living Stones of the spiritual Temple built upon the precious living Corner-stone and sure Foundation partakers of the Bread and Drink that came down from Heaven and giveth Life to the World This is the Grace whereby we pass from our corrupt natural State to a new holy State in Christ also from Death in Sin to Life in Righteousness and whereby we are comforted that so we may be established in every good Word and Work If we put the Question what must we do that we may work the works of God Christ resolveth it That we believe on him whom he hath sent Joh. 6.28 29. He putteth us first upon the work of believing which is the work of God by way of eminence the work of works because all other good works proceed from it The scope of the present Direction is to put you upon the performance of this great work of believing on Christ and to guide you therein for which end you are to consider distinctly four things contained in it 1. The first is you are to make it your diligent endeavour to perform the great work of Believing on Christ Many make little Conscience of this Duty It is not known by Natural Light as many moral Duties are but only by supernatural Revelation in the Gospel and it is foolishness to the natural Man These are sometimes terrified with apprehensions of other sins and will examine themselves concerning them and it may be will write them down to help their Memories and Devotion but the great sin of not believing on Christ is seldom thought of in their self-examinations or registred in the large Catalogues of their sins and even those who are convinced that Believing on Christ is a Duty necessary to Salvation do neglect all diligent endeavours to perform it Either because they account that it is a motion of the heart which may be easily performed at any time without any labour or diligent endeavour or on the contrary because they account it as difficult as all the works of the Law and utterly impossible for them to perform by their most diligent endeavours except the Spirit of God work it in them by its mighty power And that therefore it is in vain for them to work until they feel this working of the Spirit in their Hearts Or because they account it a Duty so peculiar to the Elect that it would be presumption for them to endeavour the performance of it until they know themselves to be elected to Eternal Life through Christ I shall urge you to a diligent performance of this Duty notwithstanding all these Impediments by the following consideration It is worthy of our best endeavours as appeareth by the preciousness excellency and necessity of it already discovered If the Light of Nature were not darkned in the matters of Salvation then it would shew us that we cannot of our selves find out the way of Salvation and would condemn those that despise that Revelation of the way of Salvation that God hath given us in the Gospel declared in all the holy Scriptures The great end of Preaching the Gospel is for the Obedience of Faith Rom. 1.5 that so we may be brought to Christ and all other Obedience yea the great end of all revealed Doctrines in the whole Scriptures is to make us wise to Salvation by Faith that is in Christ Jesus 2 Cor. 3.15 The end of the Law given by Moses was for Righteousness to every one that believeth Rom. 10.4 and Christ was that end for Righteousness The moral Law it self was revealed in order to our Salvation by believing on Christ or else the knowledge of it had nothing availed fallen Man that was unable to perform it Therefore they that slight the Duty of Believing and count it foolishness do thereby slight despise and villisie the whole Counsel of God revealed in the Scripture The Law and the Gospel and Christ himself are become of none effect to the Salvation of such the only fruit that such an one can attain to of all the saving Doctrines of the Scripture is only some hypocritical moral Duties and slavish performances which will be as filthy rags in the sight of God in the great day However many mind not the sin of unbelief in their self-examinations and write it not in their Scrouls yet let them know that this is the most pernicious sin of all All the sins in their Scrouls would not prevail to their Condemnation yea they would not prevail in their Conversation were it not for their unbelief This one sin prevailing maketh it impossible for them to please God in any Duty whatsoever Heb. 11.6 If you will not mind this one main sin now God will at last mind you of it with a Vengeance For He that believeth not on the Son shall not see Life but the wrath of God abideth on him Joh. 3.36 The Lord Jesus shall be revealed from Heaven in flaming fire taking Vengeance on those that obey not the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ 2 Thes 1.5 2. Believing on Christ is a work that will require diligent endeavour and labour for the performance of it we must labour to enter into that rest lest any man fall by unbelief Heb. 4.11 we must shew diligence to the full assurance of hope to the end that we may be followers of them who through Faith and Patience inherited the promises Heb. 6.11 12. It is a work that requireth the exercise of Might and Power and therefore we have need to be strengthned with might by the Spirit in the inward Man that Christ may dwell in our hearts by Faith Eph. 3.16 17. I confess it is easie pleasant and delicious in its own nature because it is a motion of the heart without any cumbersome bodily Labour and it is a taking Christ and his Salvation as our own which is very comfortable and delightful and the Soul is carried forth in this by Love to Christ and his happiness which is an Affection which maketh even hard works easie and pleasant yet it is made difficult to us by reason of the opposition that it meeteth withall from our own inward Corruptions and from Satans temptations It is no easie matter to receive Christ as our happiness and true Salvation with true confidence and lively affection when the guilt of sin lyeth heavily upon the Conscience and the wrath of God manifested by the Word and terrible Judgments especially when we have been
of the Flesh and to the Perfection of the New Man in Christ Yet it holdeth true also that our reception and enjoyment of Christ himself and all his Perfections is but in an imperfect measure and degree until Faith be turned into heavenly Vision and Fruition of Christ and therefore our old sinful State with the Evils thereof is not perfectly abolished during this Life The Kingdom of Heaven or the Grace of Christ within us is like leaven in Meal and doth not unite it self perfectly to the Meal in an Instant but by degrees until the whole be leavened Mat. 13.35 or like the morning Light that expelleth Darkness by degrees shining more and more unto a perfect day Prov. 4.18 This cannot be justly accounted any derogation to the Merits of Christ's Death or to the power of his Spirit seeing Christ never intended to bring to pass by his Death or by the power of his Spirit that we should enjoy his spiritual Blessings any further than we are in him and enjoy him by Faith or that we should be made holy or happy according to the Flesh by a Reformation of our natural State as hath been shewed Neither doth this diminish the Consolation of Believers in Christ for thereby they may know that they have the Perfection of Grace and Happiness in Christ and that they enjoy it in this World as far as they enjoy Christ himself by Faith and that they shall enjoy it in a perfect measure and be fully freed from their old Sins and miserable State when that frame of Nature which they received from the first Adam is dissolved by Death This Instruction is very useful to frame our Souls aright for the practising of Holiness only by those Gospel Principles and Means that belong to our new State which we are Partakers of by Faith in Christ And thus it is easily vindicated from another great Objection wherein the Papists and Quakers do much Triumph They appeal to Mens Conscience to answer this Question which Doctrin is most likely to bring People to the practice of true Godliness theirs which teacheth That perfect Holiness may be attained in this Life or ours which teacheth That it is impossible for us to keep the Law perfectly and to purge our selves from all Sin as long as we live in this World though we use our best Endeavours They think that common Reason will make the Verdict pass for them against our Doctrin as that which discourageth all Endeavours for Perfection and hardneth the Hearts of People to allow themselves in Sin because they cannot avoid it But on the contrary the Doctrine of Perfection hardens People to allow themselves in Sin and to call Evil Good as the Papists account That the Concupiscence of the Flesh against the Spirit is no Sin but rather good matter for the Exercise of their Vertues because the most perfect in this Life are not without it It also discourageth those that labour to get Holiness in the right way by Faith in Christ and maketh them to think that they labour in vain because they find themselves still sinful and far from Perfection when they have done their best to attain it It hindereth our Diligence in seeking Holiness by these Principles and Means whereby only it can be found For who will be Diligent and Watchful to avoid walking according to his own carnal Principles if he think that his own carnal State with it's Principles is quite abolished and is out of him so that at present he is in no danger of walking according to them Whatsoever good works the Doctrin of the Perfectionists may serve to promote I am sure it hindereth a great part of that work which Christ would have us to be employed in as long as we live in this World we must know that our old State with its evil Principles continueth still in a measure or else we shall not be sit for the great Duties of confesing of Sins loathing our selves for them praying earnestly for the Pardon of them a just sorrowing for them with a Godly Sorrow accepting the Punishment of our Sins and giving God the glory of his Justice and offering to him the Sacrifice of a broken and contrite Spirit being poor in Spirit working out our Salvation with fear and trembling Some have doubted how it can consist with our Justification by Christ that we should be still lyable to be punished for our Sins and obliged to pray for the Pardon of them because they have not well considered the twofold State of Believers in this Life and except we know this and keep it in Mind we shall never be sit to practise continually the great Duties that tend to the putting off the Old Man and putting on the New Man and mortifying the Deeds of the Body by the Spirit praying continually that God would renew a right Spirit in us and sanctify us throughout pressing forward to Perfection desiring the sincere Milk of the Word and the Enjoyment of other Ordinances Christ hath appointed that his Church on Earth should be employed in such works and Perfectionists either do or sain would account them needless for them and that they have no longer need of Christ himself to be their spiritual Physician and Advocate with the Father and Propitiation for their Sins Therefore they are not fit to be Members of the Church on Earth and are never likely to be Members of the Church in Heaven except they can make a Ladder and climb up thither before their time 2. Despair of purging the Flesh or Natural Man of its sinful Lusts and Inclinations and of practising Holiness by your willing and resolving to do the best that lyeth in your own Power and trusting on the Grace of God and Christ to help you in such Resolutions and Endeavours rather resolve to trust on Christ to work in you to will and to do by his own power according to his own good Pleasure They that are convinced of their own Sin and Misery do commonly first think to tame the Flesh and to subdue and root out its Lusts and to make their corrupt Nature to be better natured and inclined to Holiness by their strugling and wrestling with it And if they can but bring their Hearts to a full purpose and resolution to do the best that lyeth in them they hope that by such a Resolution they shall be able to atchieve great Enterprizes in the Conquest of their Lusts and performance of the most difficult Duties It is the great work of some zealous Divines in their Preaching and Writings to stir up People to this Resolution wherein they place the chiefest turning Point from Sin to Godliness And they think that this is not contrary to the life of Faith because they trust on the Grace of God through Christ to help them in all such Resolutions and Endeavours Thus they endeavour to reform their old State and to be made perfect in the Flesh instead of putting it off and walking according to
the new State in Christ They trust on low carnal things for Holiness and upon the acts of their own Will their Purposes Resolutions and Endeavours instead of Christ and they trust to Christ to help them in this carnal way whereas true Faith would teach them that they are nothing and that they do but labour in vain They may as well wash a Blackamoor white as purge the Flesh or Natural Man from its evil Lusts and make it pure and holy It is desperately wicked past all cure It will unavoidably lust against the Spirit of God even in the best Saints on Earth Gal. 17. its mind is enmity to the Law of God and neither is nor can be subject to it Rom. 8.7 They that would cure it and make it holy by their own Resolutions and Endeavours do act quite contrary to the design of Christ's Death for he dyed not that the Flesh or Old Natural Man might be made holy but that it might be crucifyed and destroyed out of us Rom. 6.6 and that we might live to God not to our selves or by any natural power of our own Resolutions or Endeavours but by Christ living in us and by his Spirit bringing forth the fruits of Righteousness in us Gal. 2.20 and 5.24 25. Therefore we must be content to leave the Natural Man vile and wicked as we found it until it be utterly abolished by Death though we must not allow its Wickedness but rather groan to be delivered from the Body of this Death thanking God that there is a Deliverance through Jesus Christ our Lord. Our way to mortify sinful Affections and Lusts must be not by purging them out of the Flesh but by putting off the Flesh it self and geting above into Christ by Faith and walking in that new Nature that is by him thus the way of Life is above to the Wise that he may depart from Hell beneath Prov. 15.24 Our willing resolving and endeavouring must be to do the best not that lyeth in our selves or in our own power but that Christ and the power of his Spirit shall be pleased to work in us for in us i. e. in our Flesh there dwelleth no good thing Rom. 7.18 we have no ground to trust in God and Christ for help in such Resolutions and Endeavours as in things that are agreeable to the design of Christ in our Redemption as to the way of acting and living by Faith It is likely that Peter sincerely resolved to dye with Christ rather than to deny him and to do all that he could by his own power for that end but Christ made him quickly to see the Weakness and Vanity of such Resolutions and we see by Experience what many Resolutions made in Sickness and other Dangers mostly come to It is not enough for us to trust on Christ to help us to act and endeavour so far only as Creatures for so the worst of Men are helped he is the Jehovah in whom they Live Move and have their Being Act. 17.28 and it 's likely the Pharisee would trust on God to help him in Duty as he would thank God for the performance of Duty Luk. 18.11 and this is all the Faith that many make use of to a holy Practice But we must trust on Christ to enable us above the strength of our own natural power by vertue of the new Nature which we have in Christ and by his Spirit dwelling and working in us or else our best endeavours will be altogether sinful and meer Hypocrisie notwithstanding all the help for which we trust upon him We must also take heed of depending for Holiness upon any Resolutions to walk in Christ or on any written Covenants or any Holiness that we have already received for we must know that the Vertue of these things continue no longer than we continue walking in Christ and Christ in us They must be kept up by the continual Presence of Christ in us as Light is maintained by the presence of the Sun and cannot subsist without it 3. You must not seek to procure forgiveness of sins the favour of God a new holy Nature Life and Happiness by any works of the Moral Law or by any Rites and Ceremonies whatever but rather you must work as those that have all these things already according to your new state in Christ as such who are only to receive them more and more by Faith as they are ready prepared and treasured up for you and freely given to you by your spiritual head the Lord Jesus Christ If we walk as those that are yet wholly to seek for the procurement of such enjoyments as these it is a manifest sign that at present we judge our selves to be without them and without Christ himself in whose fulness they are all contained And therefore we walk according to our own Natural State as those that are yet in the Flesh and that would get Salvation in it and by our carnal Works and Observances instead of living altogether on Christ by Faith This practice is according to the tenour of the Covenant of Works as I have before shewed And we have no ground to trust on Christ and his Spirit to work Holiness in us this way for we are dead to the Legal Covenant by the Body of Christ Rom. 7. And if we be led by the Spirit we are not under the Law Gal. 5.18 When the Galatians were seduced by false Teachers to seek the procurement of Justification and Life by Circumcision and other works of the Mosaical Law the Apostle Paul rebuketh them for seeking to be made perfect in the flesh directly contrary to their good beginning in the Spirit for rendring Christ of none effect to them and for falling from Grace Gal. 3.3 and 5.4 And when some of the Colossians sought perfection in the like manner by observation of Circumcision holy-meats holy-times and other Rudiments of the World The same Apostle blameth them for not holding the Head Jesus Christ and as such as were not dead and risen with Christ but living merely in the World Col. 2.19 20. and 3.1 He clearly sheweth that those who seek any saving enjoyments in such a way do walk according to their own Natural State And that the true manner of living by Faith in Christ is to walk as those that have all fulness and perfection of Spiritual Blessings in Christ by Faith and need not seek for them any other way to procure them for themselves In this sense it is a true saying That Believers should not act for Life but from Life They must act as those that are not procuring Life by their Works but as such who have already received and derived Life from Christ and act from the Power and Vertue received from him And hereby it appears that the Papists and all others that think to Justifie Purisie Sanctifie and save themselves by any of their own Works Rites or Ceremonies whatever do walk in a carnal way as those that are without