and Saviour of the world alone not justifying faith the reason why 44 Antinomian Doctrine touching sins past present and to come being pardoned upon mens first being in Christ decryed as erronious and dangerous 95 Apostacy and decay the cause of it what 122 Alms-giving must answer the Estate of the Giver and what to be thought thereabout 145 B BLood of Christ nothing to be joyned with it in merit or atonement making 25 Believing and obeying put one for another 70 Believing and receiving of Christ equivalent 73 Bounty where wanting an argument there 's no right Faith 143 Badness of mens condition no reason why it should not be looked into 160 C COntinue to continue well is harder than to begin well Ep. S. 17 Covenant Attributing that to the blood and obedience of the first Covenant which properly belongs to the Blood Faith and obedience of the Second Covenant was the Jews grand mistake 21 22 Christ in what respects he is the object of justifying Faith 37 Confidence of Salvation without ground whence it proceeds 49 51 Confidence of being saved may be strong in men both while they live and when they dye and yet suffer disappointment in the Resurrection and judgement day 64 Conquer to conquer and more what 134 Conscience Christs Delegate and how to have it on ones side in time of tryal 166 D Decayes of spiritual sense and affection how repaired Ep. § 1 Deceive the Devils craft to deceive Ep. § 4. Dead Faiths being dead what 54 E Esteem of People to their Pastors the mischief of it when it grows low Ep. § 17 Epistle of Christ how the Church is so Ep. § 19 F Fruit upon what account due to God as procured by the labours of men Ep. § 2 Fruit Being yielded to God comes home to ones self Ep. § 2 Fruit yielding fruit the way to enjoy more cost and care from God Ep. § 3 And to be fenced from devourring temptations Ep. § 4 5 Fruit the want of it the cause of Apostacy and Church desolation Ep. § 6 7. Form the danger of turning Religion into Form Ep. § 8 9 Father how and in what respects Justification is ascribed to God the Father 33 154 Faith as it Justifies hath three acts credence adherence and confidence 43 Faith how acted on God the father in relation to Justification 36 Faith how acted on Christs death and bloud in relatioa to Justification 38 Faith a reprobate Judgment concerning it and a Form of godliness oft found in the same person 57 Faith and Love their near affinity 71 Faith without repentance cannot justifie 76 Faith without Love cannot justifie 77 Faith when found in Abrahams seed walks in the steps of Abrahams faith 84 Faith magnifies the word and power of God though crossed with greatest unlikelihood and humane improbability 84 Faith of right kind engageth to obey the hardest precepts 87 Faith eyes and adheres to Gods counsels for the way as well as his promise for the end 98 Faith depends on the Lord for supply of strength to do his will 109 Faith derives from Christ the power by which the Christian life is led 110 Faith how supported in dependance for supplies 114 Faith works by Love and how 127 Faith how it is not and how it is counted for Righteousness 150 Faith in its justifying office or power depends wholly on Gods will and its matter of great comfort that it does so 154 Faith not strictly and properly a mans Righteousness but does him the service of a Righteousness in the account and imputation of grace 156 Forgiving of wrong want of it an argument such have no justifying faith 148 G Grace the womb that bears justification 33 Ground what faith is resembled by the thorny ground hearers 59 H Holiness in men as well as the happiness of men Gods aim in contriving the terms of salvation 68 I Integrity not to be questioned meerly for difference of judgment in the point of Infant-Baptism Ep. § 13 Justification without Works the danger of mistaking the Scripture thereabout 2 Justification by Works in what sense opposed by the Apostle 12 to 17 Justification the necessity of Works thereunto not opposed by the Apostle no not among the Jews in all respects 21 Justification depends upon after acts of faith as well as the first 90 Justification attributed not only to faith but also to those works that flow from faith 94 Justification from eternity or before faith disproved 156 The ill consequence of that opinion touched 158 Judgment day the issue of that dayes proceeding in relation to ones felf to be known now 162 L Love to the Lord how known 121 Love how it casteth out fear 133 Love to men how known 137 M Ministers of the Nation how to be treated by the Baptists Ep. § 14. Maintenance for Gospel Ministers in what respect necessary Ep. § 16 Miscarriages in life proceed from want of faith 106 N Negative Christianity not to be rested in Ep. § 20 O Opinions four Opinions of the Jews contradictious to the Gospel opposed by Paul in opposing their seeking of Justification by Works 7 to 11 Opinion that holds Justification by Faith to be Justification not before God but in mens conscience proved rotten 157 Offence giving when shunned an argument of what 138 P Power to justifie by what means soever depends on the will of God 33 35. Promises indefinitely made to beleeving how to be understood 67 70. Perseverance in grace why found in persons of weak parts when many times those of greater parts fall 123 Power of the creature undue thoughts about it very dangerous 127 Q Quakers how deceitful Ep. § 4 R Reading or hearing how to profit by it Ep. § 1 Reflections unseemly and provoking in controversies condemned Ep. § 12. Relyance on Christ for Salvation not justifying without obedience 49 Resurrection of Christ how excellently it contributes to our Justification 39 Receiving Christ what it imports 73 Result of Scriptures duely compared a wise mans guid 79 S Scandals the mischief of them Ep. § 10 19 Study the necessity of it in order to the most profitable preaching Ep. § 15. Steps of Abrahams Faith what 84 Supplies from Christ how received by Faith 112 Spirit how received by Faith 118 T Terms of Salvation the danger of mistaking them 2 25 Tryal of ones state in Faith backwardness therein an ill sign 159 Temptations about ones present and future good condition not to be vanquished but by substanal evidences of a holy Faith 163 W Works that are the same in themselves differ in respect of different Covenants enjoyning them in different respects 19 Works of what sort they are that accompany true Faith in its first justifying acts 27 Works evangelical in what sense necessary to Justification 26 55. Works evangelical their necessity to Justification a Protestant Doctrine 28 30 Word or Gospel how the object of justifying Faith 36 41 Wresting the Scriptures to destruction what 3 ERRATA PAge 4.
man have but cause to suspect those he hath he may provide himself of better before it is too late it will be no time for the foolish Virgins to seek to provide themselves of Oyl for their Lamps when the very pinch of time comes that they should use it CHAP. VIII Shewing that the Faith which shall justifie as Abrahams did is a Faith that walks in the steps of the Faith of Abraham Shewing also what those steps were and that Abraham was justified by the latter of them as well as the former and that the justification of his spiritual seed stands upon the same terms contrary to the Antinomian Doctrine and Libertine Principles Sect. 1 ALthough I have through the Lords assistance in some measure already opened the nature of gospel-Gospel-Faith of the right kind in comparing it with and thereby discovering the nature of the feigned dangerous and dead Faith and wherein it falls short of the true yet to the end you may have a fuller view of the nature properties and genuine operation of the Faith of Gods Elect I shall through the same assistance now proceed to shew you further how it hath from time to time wrought in them And thereby I shall give you opportunity to try your own Faith of what kind it is For if it be that Faith which the Scripture calls the Faith of Gods Elect Tit. 1.1 then it will work after the same manner as theirs generally hath been wont to do but if you cannot find your Faith to be of that kind by working as theirs did you will have small reason as yet to conclude your self one of their number I shall begin with Abraham who as the Scripture saith was Father of all them that beleeve and so he was because all true beleevers do partake of the same kind of Faith that dwelt eminently in him and are thereby justified and saved as he was He is the great instance pattern or example both in his Faith and Justification of Gods resolved method of saving all men that shall be saved whether Jewes or Gentiles As a Son who succeeds his Father comes to enjoy the same Inheritance and priviledge as his Father did so he that shall succeed Abraham in his Faith shall enjoy the same spiritual and eternal inheritance which was entailed on his Faith So saith the Apostle Gal. 3.9 So then they which be of Faith are blessed with faithful Abraham The same Apostle in another place declares them to be his spiritual Children and he a Father to such as walk in the steps of his Faith Rom. 4.12 And the Father of circumcision to them who are not of the circumcision only but also to those that walk in the steps of that Faith of our Father Abraham which he had being yet uncircumcised Where note first That the Faith which Abraham had and by which he was Justified was a Faith which had steps in it it did not consist in one transient act only but of a series of acts one following another and that he was Justified by the latter of these as well as the former I shall God willing afterwards shew That which I would further note in the second place is That the Faith which will render them that have it Children of Abraham and inheritors of the same blessing with him is such for kind as is found walking in the steps of his Faith influencing the life and disposing the heart in particular occurrences as his did It may well be indeed that every Child of Abraham may not be able to keep pace with their Father in this walk of Faith nor to follow him close at the heels nor are all his Children of the same growth or same strength but yet all following their Father in the same way though at some distance all treading in his steps It is most certain that the true Faith by which they become his Children will guide them into the same way put them upon the same behaviour for kind in which he was found Joh. 8.39 Jesus saith unto them If ye were Abrahams Children ye would do the works of Abraham For a tryal of our Faith therefore whether it be of the right breed and of the stock of Abraham let us a little trace out the walk of Abrahams Faith and see what the foot-steps of it were as we have the print of them in the Scriptures and then see whether our Faith walk in the same path or tread in the same steps or no. Sect. 2 1. This was one of the foot-steps of his Faith it gave God the glory of his truth power and goodness in being confidently perswaded that what he promised he was both able willing and faithful to perform how contrary soever to humane probability Rom. 4.18 19 20 21. Who against hope beleeved in hope that he might be the Father of many Nations according to that which was spoken so shall thy seed be And being not weak in Faith he considered not his own body now dead neither yet the deadness of Sarahs womb He staggered not at the Promise of God through Vnbelief but was strong in Faith giving glory to God and being fully perswaded that what he had promised he was able also to perform The word Promise or saying of God carried it in his soul against all contrary reasonings Sarah being old and it ceasing to be with her after the manner of Women and Abraham himself also being as good as dead Heb. 11.12 this incumbred the belief of the Promise in Sarah and at first set her Faith Gen. 18.11 12. But the Text saith Abraham considered neither the one nor the other he considered not his own body now dead nor yet the deadness of Sarahs womb Gods Promise did so wholly take up his soul and was of so great authority with him as that he did not judge the great improbabilities in Nature worthy in this case to be so much as considered nor at all to be heard when God had spoken Afterward God tryes his Faith again he had not only in general promised him a numerous Posterity like unto the stars for multitude as before Gen. 15.5 but now more particularly had told him that in Isaac should his seed be called Gen. 21.12 and yet for all this commands Abraham to slay and offer in Sacrifice to God this Son of his and how then should God make good his Promise might Abraham think Abraham here again measures Gods Word and Promise not by this and that difficulty but by his irresistable power Accounting that God was able to raise him up even from the dead from whence also he received him in a figure Heb. 11.19 You see he had so high an esteem of the goodness and truth of God that if he had but power enough to make good his word he made no question of his performance and was so all thoughts made touching the sufficiency of his power to go through with whatever he had a mind to or had undertaken to do as that though
one difficulty after another rose up to encounter his Faith yet they could not so much as make him to stagger so mighty was Gods Word in his soul And therfore was this Faith of his imputed to him for Righteousness Now this was not written for his sake alone that this Faith of his was imputed unto him but for us also to whom it shall be imputed if we beleeve on him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead saith the Apostle Rom. 4.23 24. It was written to give us to understand That if God be so magnified in the soul as that no difficulty or unlikelihood whatsoever can stand before or carry it against the Word and Promise of God there but beleeving first that God raised Christ from the dead for our Justification after he had been delivered for our offences and then beleeving also that God by the same power and grace by which he did that will certainly fulfil and perform all his Words and Promises in due time and according to his own terms and that this Faith do but dispose the frame of the heart God-ward as it did in Abraham that then this Faith of ours shall as assuredly be imputed to us for Righteousness as his was to him Hath God then Promised a free and full Pardon of all your sins upon your unfeigned Repentance and turning from them to God and taking hold of his Grace in Christ how great or many soever they have been and how unworthy soever they have rendered you of such a favour Hath he promised to such as have begun thus truly to turn to God that he will give them his Spirit to help in the Work to make them new hearts and to write his Law there and that humbly waiting and depending upon him in his own way and means he will keep them from falling and preserve them to his heavenly kingdom See then whether you do stedfastly beleeve these great and precious Promises and are encouraged and enabled by your belief of them to turn again to God from all your transgressions and in thus turning confidently to expect by degrees a real and faithful performance of them all notwithstanding the great distance you may possibly for the present perceive your selves to be from much of what is thus promised and notwithstanding those great mighty and violent oppositions which you do and are like to meet with from flesh World and Devil to encounter your confidence of these things Though difficulties in this kind are many great and sorely threatning your falling short of the enjoyment of these mighty Promises yet if your Faith be but firmly bottomed and built upon them and that the faithfulness and power of God to make them good be so eyed by you and your souls so centered therein as that all the difficulties and unlikelihoods that rise up in your way from what quarter soever cannot prevail in your soul against the Word of God but that you do indeed beleeve that the might and power of his Grace will make its way through them all and perform to a tittle what he hath promised and that this confidence of yours does but engage you still to be following of God step by step in his way method and means of fulfilling his Word as Abrahams Faith did then you may confidently assure your selves that your Faith is of the right breed and kind and of the same nature with Abrahams and walking in the same steps and such as will entitle you to and possess you of the same blessing which he attained by his Faith Sect. 3 2. Another step of his Faith was this As by it he stedfastly beleeved Gods Promises so by it he faithfully obeyed his Precepts call and counsel Heb. 11.8 By Faith Abraham when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an Inheritance obeyed and he went out not knowing whither he went An excellent grace indeed that is moulded and cast in the Will of God and receives its form and figure from thence The Word of God had the same force upon Abrahams soul by means of his Faith as the Wind hath upon a Weather-cock it still made it to stand with it If he promised him any thing his soul did securely acquiess in his Word if he commanded him any thing he readily obeys the Word of the Lord carries him before it He only depended upon the divine Will by his Faith what that gave him he received what that would have him do that he did He beleeved its like That the Lord was so good in himself and so much a friend to him as that he would not put him upon any thing command him any thing but what in the issue should clearly tend to his good and therefore upon this perswasion resolves to deliver up himself wholly to the Will of God and to be an absolute Servant thereunto and to wait upon it whither ever it would carry him He knew his Happiness was in Gods hand and was confident that the way to be possessed of it was still to wait upon God in beleeving what he said and in doing what he bade him The Will and Command of God then was the constant walk of Abrahams Faith Sect. 4 3. And Thirdly the nature of that Obedience which proceeded from his Faith was this It was an obedience of Self denyal wherein he crossed his own will to comply with the Will of God therein doing God that right which but few in the world do as actually to acknowledge the Lord and his most holy Will to be absolutely sovereign and supream and that his own Will must stoop to his without all disputes how contrary soever thereunto The Command of God comes to Abraham Gen. 12.1 2 3. saying Get thee out of thy Country and from thy Fathers house unto a Land that I will shew thee and I will make of thee a great Nation and I will Bless thee and make thy Name great and thou shalt be a blessing And I will bless them that bless thee and curse him that curseth thee and in thy Seed shall all Families of the Earth be blessed Here are great things promised indeed as an Argument and Motive to perswade him to obey this Call and Command of God which he confidently depended upon but in the mean time he must quit his Country bid a-dieu to his Kindred depart from his Fathers house make himself a laughing stock it's like to Neighbors Friends and Acquaintance as if some strange Chymera had struck his brain and must go he knew not whither So saith the Apostle He went out not knowing whither he went Heb. 11.8 Let 's make it our own case and we shall easily perceive that thus to do was a piece of great Self denial And yet his Faith led him out from amidst these ancient enjoyments the Command and Promise of God went before and he followed close after And this wonderful piece of Obedience is attributed to his Faith Heb. 11.8 By
Faith Abraham when he was called to go out unto a place which he should afterward receive obeyed Another like or rather more wonderful piece of Self denying Obedience which was acted by the power of his Faith was his carriage about the offering up of his Son Isaac in sacrifice unto God at his command Heb. 11.17 18. By Faith Abraham when he was tryed offered up Isaac and he that had received the Promises offered up his only begotten Son of whom it was said That in Isaac shall thy Seed be called Behold Abrahams will desire and delight swallowed up in the Will and good pleasure of God by means of his Faith His Son that had been so much desired and longed for before he had him that all he enjoyed in this world seemed little to him in the absence of such a Mercy Lord God what wilt thou give me seeing I go childless Gen. 15.2 That Son whom he so much loved when he had him yea and his only Son too and that Son in whom the Promise was made of the great things which God would do for Abraham this Son does God command him to offer for a burnt Offering this Son of his hopes this Son of his delights an action than which what lightly could be imagined more harsh and highly repugnant to his own will And yet notwithstanding all Debates and Reasonings of flesh and blood about this matter which one would think should be many and high and such which one should have much ado to get over yet so mighty was his Faith in God and confidence of a good issue of whatever he should do at the appointment and command of God as that he appears as forward in it as if it had been the most acceptable service which God could have put him upon For the Text saith That Abraham rose up early in the morning to go about it Gen. 22.3 And upon account of this very thing was he esteemed the friend of God Jam. 2.23 one that would forsake all and part with the dearest friend he had in all the world rather than not stick close to him in whatever he would have him do a true sign indeed of friendship to the Lord Joh. 15.14 Ye are my friends if ye do whatsoever I command you Mark whatsoever I command not only commands which it may be may bear little upon the flesh easie and cheap duties but such as will try a mans affection to the uttermost as this to Abraham did such as call for the cutting off the right hand and plucking out the right eye the parting with things that are as grateful to the flesh as these Members of the body are to Nature And not only so but such things also as are as useful and desireable as the right hand and right eye are as Isaac was to Abraham when the holding and enjoying of them will not consist with our intire love to the Lord to be exprest in the most difficult and most self-denying piece of Service when he calls for it He that loves Father or Mother Son or Daughter yea or his own life more than Christ is not worthy of him Matth. 10.37 38. as he does which chuses rather to displease Christ and dishonour his Truth in keeping these than to displease himself or them in parting with them This task which was put upon Abraham was indeed very hard and directly of the nature of that in the Gospel mentioned before and yet as hard and as difficult as it was if Abraham had stuck at it he could not have approved his Faith to God no more than such as love Son or Daughter more than Christ and thereby prove themselves unworthy of him can approve their Faith in him to be right or their Love to him to be true And therefore if you mark it Abraham was said to be justified by Works when he had offered Isaac upon the Altar Jam. 2.21 Implying that as this high act of his Obedience proceeding from his Faith rendred him highly approved in the sight of God Gen. 22.16 So by the rule of contraries had he bogled at this command his neglect herein would not only have deprived him of that high approbation of God which by his fiducial Obedience he had now obtained but also have gone very far in contributing towards the loss of those degrees of Gods approbation whereto he had before attained if not wholly bereaved him thereof until he had repented and done his duty Sect. 5 But here I must make a stand a little and Answer an Objection which is this That though this act of Abrahams offering Isaac was an act of that Faith by which he was justified yet it was not that act of Faith by which he was justified it was an act of his Faith it 's true but not such a one as was essential to his justification and the reason hereof seems to be this because Abraham was justified by or upon his beleeving long before this it 's said Gen. 15.6 And Abraham beleeved in the Lord and he counted it to him for Righteousness And this was before Ishmael was born unto Abraham at whose birth Abraham was but 86 years old Gen. 16.16 But when Isaac was born he was an hundred years old Gen. 21.5 which clearly proves it to be fourteen years or more from that time in which Righteousness was imputed to him upon his beleeving to the time of Isaac's birth And yet this act of his Faith did not take place till some years after the birth of Isaac neither for the Lad by that time Abraham was called upon to offer him was so far grown in years stature and strength as that Abraham made him carry the Wood for the burnt-Offering Gen. 22.6 Now then if Abraham were justified by that act of his Faith which was found in him it may be twenty years before How could it be that be should be justified by another act of his Faith viz. This by which he offered Isaac so long after To which I Answer First That this act of his Faith by which he offered Isaac did concur to his Justification is very plain and manifest by that of Jam. 2.21 24. Was not Abraham our Father justified by Works when he had offered Isaac his Son upon the Altar As if he should say Is it not manifest he was Do you not know this And after he had amplified this Instance a little concludes upon it thus vers 24. Ye see then how that by Works a man is justified and not by Faith only By which it is manifest That this was not only an act of that Faith by which he was Justified but that this act of his Faith was that by which he was justified as well as that precedent act before mentioned and was not irrelative to his justification as the Objection supposeth Sect. 6 But then Secondly as to the Reason of the Objection which supposeth that this collateral act of Abrahams Faith could not do that for him which was done long
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
same Inheritance But alas If the fore-mentioned steps of Abrahams Faith as troden by his Children do discriminate the Faith of the right kind from that which is of another race how many mens Faith who call Abraham Father will hereby be discovered to be but Bastardly and such as will never make good their title to the Inheritance which God hath promised to Abraham and his spiritual seed Does the Call of God back'd with a Promise by means of Abrahams Faith taking hold of the Promise with one hand and of the Command with the other draw him out of his own Country from his ancient Acquaintance Kindred and Fathers house which otherwise were lawful enjoyments What then shall we think of their Faith who though the Lord give forth Command upon Command back'd with great and precious Promises on purpose to draw men not out of their own Country but out of their ill Company out of their Intemperance and Excess out of their Uncleanness out of their Covetous practices out of their Pride and ridiculous fashions out not only of prophane Swearing and filthy Talking but out of light vain frothy frivolous Discourse and Communication out of their lukewarmness heartlessness and deadness in Religion and yet for all that are not drawn out of these unprofitable sinful and vain wayes unto this day Can any thing be plainer than this That either they have no Faith at all or that the Faith they have is of a bastard kind and such as shall never inherit Both they and their Faith must be judged of by their Works If they were Abrahams Children they would do the Works of Abraham but seeing they do the Works of the Devil they thereby plainly prove themselves to be his Children and not Abrahams as Christ who could not be mistaken hath told them Joh. 8.39.44 These as the unregenerate Jews that lived under the Word and Ordinances of God and yet were not renewed to God by them would needs claim from Abraham but Christ you see hath found them out another Father O that all such would therefore be perswaded now while it is called to day to take fast hold of the Commands of Jesus Christ made very pleasant and acceptable by the huge Promises that are annexed to them which would then certainly draw them out of their vain Conversation Shall Abrahams Faith enable him at Gods Command to offer to him his only and beloved Son Isaac and shall not thine enable thee to part with thy only beloved Lust Doest thou think thou hast more to say why thou shouldest not part with thy sin than Abraham had why he should not part with his Son If not then either cease flattering thy self as if thou wert one of Abrahams Children and Heir to the same Promise or else cease from thy vain and sinful wayes that thou mayest be so indeed CHAP. IX Shewing that it hath been the common and universal Property of the Faith of Gods Elect both in former and latter Ages of the World as well to depend upon and so to be ordered by the counsels commands and directions of God touching the way to life as upon his grace power and promise for life it self and that it is the highest point of Wisdom in men so to do And that mens mistrust of the suparlative goodness of Gods wayes counsels and commands and putting more confidence in their own proceeds from their mistrust of his power wisdom or good-will towards them in relation to their happiness Sect. 1 HAving shewed the nature of Abrahams Faith in the Properties and Effects of it and after what manner it disposed him in his deportment towards God and how the same is set forth as a pattern unto all men of that kind of Faith by which Justification is to be had let us now also take a further view of the same grace of Faith as it hath shewed it self acting its part in other of the Saints alwayes carrying in our eye along with us our own Faith and comparing it with theirs to see whether it affects and acts us as theirs did them as undoubtedly it will if it be of the same nature and kind with theirs For as all men in all Nations and Generations are of one bloud Acts 17.26 so all Saints in all Nations and Generations are in the general of our Faith Ephes 4.5 And as the one hath the same motion and operation in reference to the life Natural in all men so hath the other the same influence and operation in reference to the life Spiritual in all Saints Now then that which hath been in a manner as Natural to the Faith of all the Saints as the motion of the bloud in the veins is to all living men is this viz. To be verily perswaded that as happiness and salvation are assuredly to be had from God so the certain way not to miss of it but to receive it upon his Promise is and hath been still to eye his counsels and to follow the guidance of his directions and commands in all things as the direct way leading thereunto And the truth is for the creature man to be thus acted and steered in his dependance upon his God is the most rational thing under heaven and most connatural to that principle of understanding and light which God hath placed in men For first God by his preventing grace in propounding gracious terms and vouchsafing convenient and sufficient means of salvation unsought for on mans part hath given a plentiful proof and clear demonstration of his love and good-will to men and of his desire of their salvation And then secondly Having so done what is more rational than for men to be fully confident that the Lord will put them upon nothing advise them nothing command them nothing but what doth certainly tend to and perfectly consist with their chief good Will any tender Mother put her dearly beloved Child upon any thing but what tends to his good Or if she should would it not argue either want of Wisdom or of Love in her or both A want of neither of which are in God And then Thirdly If men are or have cause to be confident that God will advise or enjoyn them nothing but what hath a true and real tendency to their salvation which is his design towards them and that which he seeks after Is it not then most reasonable and the greatest wisdom in men to commit themselves to the guidance of God and to acquiess in his wisdom and love As being confident that that being truly followed will lead and bring them to that salvation which God hath offered and they desire and seek after It hath been in this Faith and confidence That the Saints from time to time have sincerely followed God which way soever he hath led them and not been turned out of his way by the greatest dangers or sufferings that could befal them from the hand of men as judging his Will and Counsel made known to them as to be
had built a Wall of partion about them viz. his Ordinances to distinguish them from the Nations of the Gentiles and to make them as a Garden enclosed and had also set a Hedge of his special Providence and Protection about them and had watered them with Rain from Heaven in the Doctrine of the Law and Prophets whose Doctrine did drop as the Rain and whose speech did distil as the dew and then according to his cost looking for the good Grapes of Judgement and Righteousness yet instead thereof meeting with the unsavoury and wilde Grapes of Oppression and Crying what does he do with his Vineyard in this case What He commands the Clouds that they rain no rain upon it Isa 5.6 So that the Complaint was The Law is no more her Prophets also find no Vision from the Lord Lam. 2.9 Whereupon followed a Famine not of Bread nor thirst for Water but of Hearing the Words of the Lord Amos 8.11 The partition Wall also to wit the Law of Commandements contained in Ordinances Ephes 2.14 15. he brake down upon which this Lamentation was taken up saying He hath violently taken away his Tabernacle as if it were of a Garden he hath destroyed his places of the Assembly the Lord hath caused the solemne Feasts and Sabbaths to be forgotten in Zion and hath despised in the indignation of his anger the King and the Priest The Lord hath cast off his Altar he hath abhorred his Sanctuary c. Lam. 2.6 7. Finally The Lord pluckt up and brake down the Hedge of his Protection which had been a Defence to them in their enjoyment and solemnization of his Publick worship exposed them unto the grievous molestation and oppression of the enemy upon which followed that doleful Complaint Psal 80.12 13. Why hast thou broken down her Hedges so that all they that pass by the way do pluck her The Boar out of the Wood doth waste it and the wilde Beast of the Field doth devour it Behold here you have a taste of Gods sore displeasure against his own and only Vineyard of old when unfruitful after sufficient cost and care bestowed on it to make it fertile And if God spared not the natural Branches take heed lest he also spare not thee was the Watch-word of the great Apostle of the Gentiles to a Gentile Church at Rome Rom. 11.21 And I beseech you Brethren let his Admonition sink down into your ears and take warning betimes For where are now I pray you those once famous and flourishing Churches of Corinth Galatia Philippi Colosse Thessalonica the seven Churches of Asia yea and of Rome it self which were planted and watered too by the Apostles themselves Are not those golden Candlesticks removed out of their place Are not those Vineyards laid waste Are not those Fig-trees cut down as cumbering the ground And what 's the reason of all this Of a truth unfruitfulness hath been the cause of all and the true reason why the Lord hath let forth his Vineyard to other Husbandmen to see if they will render him fruits in their season Matth. 21.41 And you my Friends among others are those other Husbandmen unto whom the Lord hath how for the present let forth his Vineyards expecting that Fruit from you which those other Churches now desolate with-held from him He is now proving you by frequent dressings prunings waterings rainings upon and watchings over to see if you will bring him forth fruits meet for Repentance and worthy amendment of life And if not remember that word And now also is the Ax laid to the root of the trees Every tree therefore which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewen down and cast into the fire Matth. 3.10 And again Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away Joh. 15.2 And a third time also Luke 13.7 Then said he unto the Dresser of his Vineyard Behold these three years I come seeking fruit on this fig-tree and find none cut it down why cumbereth it the ground Upon how many Churches have these words taken hold since they first came forth from the Lord And the edge of them is not at all blunted with cutting down so many but is as keen and as ready to do execution now as at the first and will first or last cut down all unfruitful Churches and take away all unfruitful branches And therefore it exceeding nearly concerns you my dearly beloved and so it does all the Churches to take special care that you bring forth fruit and that your fruit may remain according to Christs word John 15.16 Sect. 7 For it is not enough if you have run well hitherto and brought forth fruits until now except your fruit remain except you be as a tree planted by the waters which shall not cease from yielding fruit Jer. 17.8 For how did the Apostles many times glory over those first Churches that were planted by them because of the first fruits of their Faith love and patience wherein they did for a time richly abound Rom. 1.8 2 Cor. 9.2 2 Thes 1.4 and yet how soon was the glory departed especially from among some of them as if their goodness like Ephraims had been but as a morning cloud or as an early dew that goeth away Hos 6.4 And the Apostles even while they were yet among them had too much cause to change their voice concerning them Gal. 4.20 For many there were then while the Apostles had the dressing of them who lead the way of that dreadful decay first and apostacy after in which the Churches themselves as the event gives cause to fear following in time came to utter desolation They were as Jude describes them Trees whose fruit withered without fruit twice dead plucked up by the roots Jude 12. The foundation of their utter eradication and final desolation was laid we see in the withering of their fruit first I I pray you observe it and fear It should seem at the first they were not altogether without fruit but their misery was they fell into spiritual decayes their Fruit withered grew harsh and unkindly thin shriveled and blasted And that which in a short time followed this was their total barrenness being without fruit by which it being manifest they were stark dead and so no hope left of their bearing Fruit any more the sad conclusion was plucking up by the roots There were at the first excellent good things found in the Church of Ephesus for which Christ commended her Rev. 2.2 3. but having lost her first love and fallen into some decay he threatens her that except she were made sensible of her sinking condition remembred from whence she was fallen and so repented and did her first works and recovered her self again he would come unto her quickly and remove her Candlestick out of its place which since hath come to pass Behold then my Brethren and be astonished and fear lest you at any time expose your selves to like danger by like declinings Look to your selves
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