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
because it is so long before her desolation comes Surely no. For the tenor of Christs threatnings against Churches under the true Form when once they grew Formal and carnal run thus I will come unto thee QUICKLY and will remove thy Candlestick out of his place except thou repent Rev. 2.5 Repent or else I will come unto thee QUICKLY and will fight against them with the sword of my mouth Rev. 2.16 In that God therefore is wont to be so swift a witness against a people under the right Form of professing his name when provoked by unsuitable walking and yet is so slow as experience proves to take vengeance of the Harlot Church who hath broken the everlasting Covenant and changed the Ordinances the Church of Rome I mean which hath now stood undemolished for many ages well may the examples of Gods severity against some of your Profession be a rouzing admonition to you my brethren to fear and tremble before the Lord and to take heed of Formality in Religion of unfruitfulness in your way of scandalous walking and of espousing any tenent or practice dishonourable to the Gospel or prejudicial to the glorious propagation thereof the usual fore-runners of Church Desolation but may not as I conceive by any means be received as any valid argument against that part of the Form of your Profession it self wherein you differ from other Christians I mean of Baptizing after profession of Repentance and Faith as the onely Scriptural way of entring and admitting persons into visible Communion with the Church but rather as a proof of the divine original of it Sect. 12 But though as I am very sensible the many taunts and reproaches vilifyings odious representations and upbraidings of your Profession it self with the miscarriages of some Professors and Gods displeasure following such by which some seek to render both you and your way odious is very apt to provoke and the flesh would fain gain an advantage thereby to pay such in their own coyn and to render evill for evil reviling for reviling and to take all advantages to lay open their weaknesses and to set them in the very eye of all men as their manner is towards those of your way yet as I hereby beseech all other our Brethren to refrain herefrom so I am bold towards you by vertue of my charge to enjoyn you in the name of the Lord and by authority from his word to do no such thing For behold I will set before you a better pattern and that is of him who when he was reviled reviled not again when he suffered he threatned not 1 Pet. 2.23 and of them who when they were defamed intreated 1 Cor. 4.13 and when they had mischievous things spoken against them were as a deaf man that heareth not and as a dumb man that openeth not his mouth and in whose lips are no reproofs Psal 38.12 13 14. And the injunction is strong upon you 1 Thes 5.15 See that none render evil for evil unto any man and again be not overcome of evil but overcome evil with good Rom. 12.21 And I must needs warn you against the use of those unhandsome reflections and that broad language which I find some too apt to use towards their antagonists in their controversal writings which I utterly dislike and bear my witness against as that which is unbeseeming the sobriety and humility of Saints and which doth greatly wrong and prejudice the cause they plead in the minds of sober people It s no matter how sharp and cutting your arguments be but let them alwaies be wrapt up in soft words And if ever you would have truth to gain upon men by your mannagement of it let the manifestation of love and good-will to the men themselves prepare them to consider and receive what you have to offer And let it be and be made appear to be matter of real grief to you that darkness on either side should make you and other good men to differ Avoid as muuh as in you lies both heights and heats of spirit and language Speak evil of no man but be gentle shewing all meekness unto all men Tit. 3.2 and remember that the servant of the Lord must not strive but be gentle unto all men apt to teach patient in meekness instructing those that oppose themselves 2 Tim. 2.26 25. Sect. 13 And when you have done your best to make others of your mind but cannot take heed if you have no better ground then that of questioning their integrity Remember how that the Apostles of our Lord heard from Christ but understood not a Doctrine as great as that of Baptisme and declared with as much plainness and expresness of words as ever that of Baptism was and that was the Doctrine of Christs Suffering and Resurrection see the place Luke 18.31 32 33 34. Then he took unto him the twelve and said unto them behold we go up to Jerusalem and all things that are written concerning the Son of Man shall be accomplished For he shall be delivered to the Gentiles and shall be mocked and spitefully intreated and spitted on and they shall scourge him and put him to death and the Third day he shall rise again And they understood none of these things and this saying was hid from them neither knew they the things which were spoken Why did they understand none of these things Was it because the Doctrine was obscurely delivered certainly no for neither that nor any other Doctrine could lightly be more plainly delivered then it was Or did they wilfully shut their eyes against a plain truth that I suppose no Christian can imagine But the true reason doubtless was because they were pre-possessed with a contrary notion and opinion as their Brethren the Jews amongst whom they lived and with whom they had been trained up in the tradition of their Fathers generally were and that was that the Messias should not dye and consequently not Rise again as you may see John 12.34 and 20.9 And therefore while this was rooted in their minds and their thoughts ran strongly upon it the plainest words of a contrary import could not enter into their Soul And wherefore do I present you with this but to let you know that it s not only possible but greatly propable and to me unquestionable that the disagreement of many in Judgement with you proceeds from the like cause of a preintanglement of mind and that the true reason why many who do truly fear the Lord as the Disciples under the foresaid mistake did do not receive your Allegations and grounds for your way in opposition to Infant Baptism nor can understand them to be of God though as we think plainly enough built upon the Scripture is because they are deeply prepossessed with the contrary opinion which they have drunk in under the approbation and authority of an ancient Tradition and recommended to them not only as a common custom of the most that profess Christianity but also
needest no better security for it than the Scriptures And God forbid that I should make the strait gate straiter than it is or the narrow way to life narrower than it is all my designe is to preserve my self and others from conceiting this strait gate to be wider and this narrow way to be broader than indeed God hath made them as knowing an error herein is of a dangerous tendency and such as in all likelihood hath betrayed many a man into the broad way of death whilst he hath strongly fancied himself to be in the path of life The safest and best way therefore to be kept from stumbling at the Word and from wresting these promises of grace to our own destruction will be to understand all Scriptures that promise justification and life to beleeving indefinitely as still meant of such a Faith for kinde as does directly fall in with and not cross Gods general design in offering Salvation to men by Jesus Christ For it is not to be imagined that the Lord will prevaricate his own scope and drift or clogg his design by any the least overture that may leave men under hope of attaining Salvation in any way or upon any termes which do not directly comport with his designe that reverence which we owe to the wisdom of God does with a high hand prohibit any such thought All the words of God in the Scripture in all the variety of expression whether they be promises or precepts or threatnings they all wait on Gods great design towards man and they all march on the same way like the living Creatures in Ezekiels vision who went every one straight forward whither the spirit was to go and turned not when they went Ezek. 1.12 they do neither justle nor hinder nor turn one upon another but strengthen each other in seeking the prize for which they run the Word of God in the several parts of it as relating to the Lords designe is not yea and nay 2 Cor. 1.18 19. but all agreeing to serve the great purpose of God And what is this general design of God I speak of Surely ultimately it is his own glory in the Salvation of men his honour and the Creatures good in conjunction And if his design had been to provide only for the magnifying of his grace and mercy without respect unto his holiness it 's like he would have saved all men without any more ado for the same ransom to wit Christ Jesus would have been and is sufficient for all But then would not wretched sinners have thought God to be like them according to that in Psalm 50.21 These things hast thou done and I kept silence and thou thoughtest that I was altogether such a one as thy self would they not have thought that he could endure wickedness well enough in his Creature and hold fellowship with the workers of iniquity and what then would have become of the glory of his great Name how would he have been known to be glorious in holinesse as well as in grace and power And therefore that he might bring such a people unto himself in whom he might delight and whom he might prefer to glory with himself without disparagement unto his holiness he hath in his infinite wisdom so contrived the method and termes of bringing men to his Salvation glory as that thereby his love of holiness in the Creature might be conspicuous and visible as well as his love of the happiness of the Creature And therefore all the means set on foot by God to bring about the salvation of men do all tend to promote holiness in men as well as the happiness of men The whole and intire body of means of mans salvation is called the Mystery of godliness 1 Tim. 3.16 Christ the principal Agent or rather author of eternal salvation the holy one Acts 3.14 the Gospel which is the Word of Life or glad tidings of salvation is called the doctrine according to godliness 1 Tim. 6.3 Tit. 1.1 The Covenant of grace an holy Covenant Luke 1.72 the Faith by which men imbrace the Prince of Life the promise of Life and Word of Salvation is called the most holy Faith Iude 20. the calling of christians an holy calling 2 Tim. 1.9 for they are called unto holiness 1 Thes 4.7 the Spirit by which the means are made effectual and through which by his Workmanship men are formed into vessels of glory is the holy Spirit Ephes 4.30 In a word the very end and scope of Christ his giving himself for his Church and vouchsafeing all the means of Salvation is That he might present it to himself a glorious Church not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing but that it should be holy and without blemish Ephes 5.27 meet for the company of the holy God and the holy Angels in the most holy place the holy Ierusalem as it is called Rev. 21.10 Now this is that which I say then that seeing Gods design is to magnifie his holiness as well as his mercy in mens salvation and to shew that he as well desires and loves their holiness as their happiness and that all subordinate means are appointed and shaped to reach the one as well as the other hence we may well conclude that the believing unto which God hath made promise of life however indefinitely exprest is yet no other than a most holy Faith and such as does dispose that soul where it is unto holiness because salvation being the great motive to perswade men unto holiness God would loose that part of his designe if he should make promise of life unto any other than the most holy Faith And therefore it is neither prudent nor safe for any man to understand or take the word BELEEVING to which the promise is made in the narrowest and strictest sence or lowest signification of the word as it imports a naked bare and barren assent for if it might the Faith of the Rulers that durst not own Christ the Faith of Simon Magus yet such a Faith as the Devils have of which you heard before would carry salvation before it But if you would lay a sure foundation then understand the word BELEEVING or the phrase beleeving Christ to be the Son of God in a more copious and comprehensive sence for such an assent of the mind as carries the will and affections along with it to reverence and love him as such as a Wife who believes her Husband to be her Husband or as a Child who believes his Father to be his Father For whosoever believes Christ to be the Son of God if his Faith be not contradictious in it self does believe all his sayings as certain verities whether precepts promises or threatnings consequently his Faith does dispose the soul to love and fear him and hearken to him In this large sence I conceive Christ is to be understood Iohn 5.44 when he sayes to the Jews how can ye believe which receive honour of one another and seek
the curse as Infidelity it self does Mat. 10.37 1 Cor. 16.22 If any man love not the Lord Iesus let him be Anathema Maranatha By which it's evident that all the while this Love is wanting he is under the curse that wants it whatever his belief otherwise may be and consequently that no Faith in Christ but such as knits the Soul in unfeigned Love to him wil deliver a Man from the curse of God and consequently nor justifie And alass how manies Faith is hereby manifested to be meerly counterfeit Who are lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God which appears in that they follow them rather than God lovers of the World more than the Lord which appears in that they chuse to please the Men of the World rather than him and are more intent and thoughtful about getting the World than honouring of him and will rather run the hazard of displeasing him in holding fast the things of the World than part with them upon his call For it is not every degree of Love to Christ that will denominate a Man a true Lover of him but Love in such proportion and to such a degree as prevails against all other objects that stand in competition with Christ and carries away the Soul from them all to Christ Mat. 10.37 He that loves Father or Mother more than me is not worthy of me and he that loves Son or Daughter more than me is not worthy of me It 's not only lawful for a Man to love his Father and Mother his Son and Daughter but it is his duty so to do yea and to love them much more than others that are not so related and yet for all that if his Love to Christ do not exceed in proportion that Love and strong affection which he may and ought to bear to such Relations Christ you see hath already judged him unworthy of him A Man though he love his Wife better than most other Women yet if he love but one Woman more than his Wife with that affection that is proper to his Wife wil be judged by sober men no true Lover of his Wife In like manner though you should love Christ more than many other enjoyments or many other sins which you have parted with for his sake yet if you retain but any one sin or sinful lust and are tender of it for the profit or pleasure that comes into you by it and will harbour it to the offence and provocation of the Lord and chuse rather to run the hazard of loosing his company and all the comforts of it than to turn such an offensive guest out of doors assuredly the Lord who doth alwaies judge according to truth wil judge himself despised and unworthily rejected by you He you see then that wants this prevailing degree of Love to Christ is stil under the curse and therefore no belief in Christ whatsoever that hath not this Love in it or is not certainly accompanied with it can be any sufficient ground for any Man to be confident of his Salvation Nothing less availeth than that Faith which thus worketh by Love Gal. 5.6 By all these considerations then you may see that when Promise of Life is made unto believing in Christ indefinitely exprest it is no wise safe to understand the Scriptures as intending any other lower kind of Faith than that definitively which is of power and force to change the heart and life of him that hath it and to renew him to God in holiness Jesus Christ himself in his words to Paul having plainly declared this to be the true nature of the Faith that is in him Acts 26.18 That they may receive forgiveness of sins and inheritance among them which are sanctified by Faith that is in me And therefore John the bosome Disciple of Christ as was noted before saith Whosoever beleeveth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God 1 Iohn 5.1 which as you see must be understood of that vigorous belief that gives a man a new being furnishes him with new principles of motion and action new thoughts new affections a new life that gives him victory over the World as it follows verse 4. Whosoever is born of God overcometh the world and this is the victory that overcometh the world even our Faith Christs proffers and the Worlds proffers Christs threats and the Worlds threats striving which shall carry the Man to follow their waies Faith steps in by which the Man believes that as Christ is the Son of God so he is more worthy to be followed and his proffers infinitely more worthy to be regarded and his threats dreaded than the World with all that she can do or say and so delivers the Man out of the Worlds hand that he is at liberty to attend the Lord. Sect. 8 And whereas among other Scriptures objected in the beginning of this Chapter one promiseth salvation to such as believe with the heart and confess with the mouth the Lord Jesus Christ and others affirm that whosoever confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh and is the Son of God are of God and dwell in God and God in them they are to be understood as spoken according to the exigencies of those times wherein a Man confessing Christ exposed himself to persecution Iohn 9.22 and 12.42 and consequently manifested his effectual Faith in an unfeigned Love to the Lord Jesus and thus to call Iesus the Lord no Man could do but by the Holy Ghost and his special assistance 1 Cor. 12.3 But now in times wherein to deny him to be the Lord would sooner expose a man to suffering than the confessing of him so to be the bare confessing of him will not invest him with the great priviledges that then were promised unto the confessing of Christ according to that Mat. 7.21 Not every one that saith Lord Lord shall enter into the kingdom of Heaven but he that doth the will of my Father which is in Heaven Sect. 9 THe truth is if a Man do but take the Scriptures together and shape his judgement according to their result when compared as its every Mans wisdom to do as it is not safe so it is impossible for him then to be confident of his salvation meerly upon account of his believing Christ to be the Son of God unless this Faith of his be proved to him to be the Faith of Gods elect by some good degree of those holy affections and that christian demeanure which the holy Word and Doctrine of the Lord calls for And the reason hereof is because such Scriptures as I have been now insisting on that curse all those that do not love the Lord Jesus that sentence with eternal death all those that live after the flesh that exclude all such the blessed Vision of the Lord that have not holiness that shut the gates of Heaven against all such as do not make conscience to do the will of the Father I say such Scriptures stand up to oppose such a
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
his eyes Secondly That in order to his receiving his expectation from God his Faith kept him tite and close to God in the way of his Worship and Service so that he would not be turned out of this a hairs breadth for all the dread of the Lions Den but though he knew the snar that was laid for him that in case he prayed to his God as formerly he must be offered up in Sacrifice to the devouring Lions yet for all that the Text saith That he kneeled upon his knees three times a day and Prayed and gave thanks before his God as he did afore-time Dan. 6.10 As he depended upon God and not on Darius the King for his happiness so he was resolved he would faithfully cleave to the Lord and please him whoever was displeased or whatever it cost him If his way his direct way to his future happiness lie through the Lions Den he does not seek to go about if the path-way of Gods service leads thither then thither his Faith carries him His Faith we see brought him into the Lions Den but it did not leave him there as it brought him in so it brought him out too He was taken up out of the Den and no manner of hurt was found upon him because he beleeved in his God The like we see of them whose Faith quenched the violence of fire Heb. 11.33 As their Faith quenched the violence of fire when they were in it so it was their Faith too that brought them into it But how viz. By engaging them fast to God his Worship and Way keeping them in an hour of temptation from being shaken in their loyalty and fidelity to God for all the formidable pompe of Nebuchadnezzar and the horrour of his hot fiery Furnace Dan. 3.13 28. They trusted in God for Salvation but would have no other but what the holy Commandment of God faithfully stuck to would bring them to The Word of the Lord will try men as it did them if they take hold of it by Faith and will not let it go it will sometimes draw them into the fire and into the water but if they still hold fast by it it will at last bring them out into a wealthy place Psal 66.10 11 12. But you see the Saints confidence of its being a certain and most infallible guide to conduct them to their desired and expected felicity hath still caused them to trust themselves with it and to follow it through thick and thin foul way as well as fair Sect. 4 The Faith of David the man after Gods own heart and one of those Worthies mentioned Heb. 11.32 was notable this way also Psal 62.5 My Soul wait thou only upon God for my expectation is from him Where note first That his expectation to wit of Salvation as in the next verse he only is my Salvation it was from God and from God only Secondly This his dependance upon God for Salvation as knowing it was to be had from him only and from none else drew him to wait only upon God in order to his receiving of it And what 's that but his attending upon God alwayes to do his Will as a Servant that waits upon his Master as ready alwayes to be at his beck As the eyes of Servants look unto the hand of their Masters and as the eyes of a Maiden unto the hand of her Mistriss so our eyes wait upon the Lord our God Psal 123.2 Just as it is between great men that are able to prefer others and those that expect to be preferred by them is it not common for such to be cast into the very mould of the will and pleasure of such from whom they expect advancement Are they not glad of any opportunity of gratifying and pleasing them Every man saith Solomon is a friend to him that giveth gifts Prov. 19.6 And thereupon it is that we use to say they are their creatures And most certain it is that the Saints expectation of being preferred by God to endless dignity and glory works alike deportment in them towards God as we see here in David with the rest before-mentioned If he expects only from God he resolves to wait only upon God Since God only can do for him that which he desires more than all things his care is to be sure to please him whoever he displeaseth Whatever temptations he met with to the contrary whatever his constant waiting upon God cost him yet this expectation of his from God held him close to God as well it might And therefore we have him oft expressing himself thus They had almost consumed me upon earth but I forsook not thy Precepts Psal 119.87 My Soul is continually in my hand yet do I not forget thy Law vers 109. Many are my persecutors and mine enemies yet do I not decline from thy testimonies vers 157. Princes have persecuted me without a cause but my heart standeth in awe of thy word vers 161. Why did David stick so close to Gods Word whenas we see his so doing procured him so many enemies and exposed him to such dangers from men Surely because his expectation was only from God and therefore he judged it most reasonable to forsake all to wait on him his heart stood more in awe of his Word than of the frowns and malicious practises of the greatest of men Psal 119.57 Thou art my portion O Lord I have said that I would keep thy words When he said Thou art my portion O Lord it was the voice and language of his Faith for without that he could claim no such interest in God But mark this that the same Faith which enabled him to say unto God Thou art my portion enabled him also to say unto him I will keep thy words when once he comes to depend upon God as his portion and to expect the whole of his felicity from him he presently comes to this resolution That he will be ruled by his advice and ordered in all things by his words We have the same spiritual breath in Psal 119.166 Lord I have hoped for thy Salvation and done thy Commandments All men in a manner hope for Salvation but few do the Commands and that 's the reason why so many shall be disappointed of their hope but the hope and confidence of the right kind still puts them in whom it is upon doing the Commandments reason and ingenuity requiring That such should fulfil the Lords Will who expect to have their will and desire fulfilled by him in granting them Salvation Besides the order and relation which God hath established between Salvation as the end and the walk in his Commandments as the way layes a regular necessity upon every mans Faith to beleeve it to be every whit as necessary for a man to be as careful to keep the right way as to be confident of coming to the desired end and so was the Psalmist we see whose hope of Salvation and doing the Commandments went hand in
does not carry them the same way in which the Elect have been all travelling towards that heavenly Country which is the hope of all the Saints This Doctrine touching the Saints dependance upon Gods Counsels and Commands for a guide as the proper effect and inseparable companion of their dependance upon his grace and power for the upshot of their desires might be further exemplified by its contrary viz. That mens turning aside from Gods Counsels and Wayes hath been wont to proceed from a secret jealousie and mistrust either of Gods power or love and that a mistrust of Gods way in which he hath enjoyned men to walk as if that were not the very best but another of a mans own choice to be preferred before it clearly argues a mistrustful opinion of God as if either there were not so much love in him to men as is in men to themselves or so much wisdom care and providence in God to direct them the best way to happiness as is found in their own heads or so much constancy or power as to carry thorow his design of Grace towards them in his own propounded method and way All the turnings aside runings out lustings temptings of God murmurings complainings and rebellions of the people of Israel in the Wilderness are charged upon their unbelief Deut. 1.32 Yet in this thing ye did not beleeve the Lord your God Though God had gone before them though he had born them as a man bears his Son yet when they came but a little into straits they had so ill an opinion of God were so void of confidence of his care and love as that they rather enclined to think that because he hated them and bore them ill-will that therefore he had brought them out of Egypt to deliver them into worse hands and that which followed hereupon was their refusing to venture themselves under Gods conduct they refused to go up when God commanded them so to do vers 26 27 31. The spring of all is this Yet in this thing ye did not beleeve the Lord your God Again Deut. 9.23 Likewise when the Lord sent you from Kadesh-Barnea saying Go up and possess the Land which I have given you then you rebelled against the Commandment of the Lord your God and ye beleeved him not nor hearkned to his voice Either they did not beleeve that God could or else that he would carry them safe into the promised land they distrusted his power or love or both and therefore durst not trust themselves in his hands which appeared in this That they hearkned not unto his voice to do what he bid them do in order thereunto See the like Psal 78.17 19 22. In short the whole of the mis-carriage of that people in the Wilderness for which God destroyed them though it consisted in a great variety of faults is summed up in their unbelief Jude 5. I will therefore put you in remembrance though ye once knew this how that the Lord having saved the people out of the Land of Egypt afterward destroyed them that beleeved not All their other sins it seems were in the bowels of this and did indeed proceed from it as we heard before See 2 King 17.14 Heb. 3.17 18. Numb 14.11 Which things are not written for their sakes only but recorded for admonition to the Churches now under the new Testament 1 Cor. 10.1 2 3 4 5. Moreover brethren I would not have you ignorant how that all our Fathers were under the cloud and all passed through the Sea and were all Baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the Sea and did all eat the same spiritual meat and did all drink the same spiritual drink for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them that Rock was Christ But with many of them God was not well pleased for they were over-thrown in the Wilderness Why would not the Apostle have the Church of Corinth ignorant of those things Surely he well knew That there is too much aptness in very many Professors of Christianity to bear so much upon the external Priviledges of the Gospel as because of them to think themselves in good condition though otherwise indulging themselves in some un-saint-like behaviour or other in their lives And therfore to the end none might think that because they have been Baptized are Members of the Church have some knowledge of Christ have been partakers of the Supper of the Lord that therefore they must needs be the favourites of the Lord and the people of his love he gives them to understand that the Israelites who were Gods people by Profession enjoyed that Priviledge than to which our Baptism answers now did eat and drink of that which was then a Figure of Christ as we now do in the Supper that yet for all this God was not well pleased with many of them but that because of their lusting after evil things their communion with Idolaters their defiling themselves with Fornication their tempting of Christ their murmuring and other like provocations they were so over-thrown in the Wilderness as that of six hundred thousand and three thousand and five hundred and fifty of the men of War that came out of Egypt there were but only two that entred the Land of Canaan Numb 1.46 32.11 12. And that which is much to be heeded is this That all these things happened unto them for ensamples or Types as in the margin and are written for our admonition upon whom the ends of the world are come Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall 1 Cor. 10.11 12. And let us therefore fear lest a Promise being left us of entring into his rest any of you should seem to come short of it for unto us was the Gospel preached as well as unto them but the Word preached did not profit them not being mixed with Faith in them that heard it Heb. 4.1 2. Wakening items and loud warnings to carnal Gospellers and formal Church-men the Lord grant that such may be rouzed by them out of their drouse of death CHAP. X. Shewing That the power of Gods grace the strength and fulness that is in Christ the presence power and influence of the Spirit being that by which the new and spiritual Life in a Christian is maintained it is the Property of true Faith to depend upon the Lord for these And herein is an excellent difference to be seen between the Living and the dead Faith The want of this the cause of manies Apostacie A great defect in this the cause of manies dryness and barrenness in grace Sect. 1 AS in the former Chapter I have shewed you that it hath been alwayes the property of the saving Faith in all the Saints to depend upon Gods direction for the way to happiness as well as upon his grace and Promise for happiness it self So now I would also shew you that it 's another property of the same Faith in the Saints to depend upon the
the spiritual strength and vigor by which the godly life is maintained but through the knowledge of himself the exercise of that spiritual principle which the Lord confers for that end Which is not to be understood neither only of a naked and bare act of discerning how great and gracious the Lord is in making so liberal a provision of all things pertaining to life and godliness nor of a discerning of the nature of the things themselves nor of Gods method and terms of conferring them but also of a practical improvement of such light in such a dependance upon and application to the Lord for them as puts a man into a regular capacity of receiving them and under the powerful influence of the Promise And so knowledge is not taken here as a thing distinct from Faith but as comprehending it as the Scripture elsewhere also sometimes useth it Joh. 17.3 Isa 53.11 1 Joh. 5.20 Sect. 3 2. Christ Jesus is the principle of spiritual life unto the Christian he from whose grace power and vertue the Christian graces both in habit and act receive being motion activity and strength He is the same to the Saints as the body of the Vine is to the branches a means of Fruit-bearing by communication of his grace unto the Soul as that of sap to the branches John 15. The same to them as the head is to the several members of the body from which nourishment and growth is ministred and conveyed Ephes 4.16 But yet Faith is the great instrument of this spiritual communication and conveyance as the influence of the Sun which draws the sap out of the root into the branches or as the Pump between the Well and the Vessel so is Faith in deriving that grace and strength by which the spiritual life is maintained from Christ the Fountain of it The poor Soul sees a great prize set before it and that a race is to be run to obtain it the hope of their calling high but the duties and engagements of it great and many and strength little to make them good but with all learning that grace and truth are in all their fulness in Christ and that of his fulness the Saints have all received and Grace for Grace Joh. 1.16 and that the invitation is general for every one that is a thirst to come hereupon it runs to Christ for supply of strength and depends upon him for it and so accordingly speeds And as the bucket of every mans Faith is larger or lesser by which these waters are drawn out of the Wells of Salvation Isa 12. or these wells more or less frequently visited so proportionably does every true Beleever receive more or less of that fulness which is in Christ See this property in the Apostle Pauls Faith Gal. 2.20 I am crucified with Christ nevertheless I live yet not I but Christ lives in me and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the Faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me Mark he saies that he lived and yet he sayes too that it was not he that lived but Christ that lived in him meaning I suppose That his conversation which he had here in the flesh was so ordered by the commands of Christ and so influenced by the grace and power of Christ that Christ was more visible in Pauls life then Paul was himself But then the question is How he came to have such a presence of Christ and his life so ordered and influenced by Christ The account of this you have in the next words I conceive and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the Faith of the Son of God not only as being thereunto led motive-wise from the consideration of the worthiness of his person and profitableness of his service nor yet only direction-wise according to the tenor of the Doctrine of the Gospel which is the Doctrine of Faith but also by his Faith as deriving that power and strength from Christ by depending upon him for it by which he was enabled so to live and to make Christ so visible in his life as that he could say Not I but Christ lives in me I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me said he in another place Phil. 4.13 And what shall we understand by Christs dwelling in the heart by Faith The thing for which this Apostle so earnestly prayed in the behalf of the Ephesians Ephes 3.17 Christ in the heart where he dwells he dwels not only to command and rule by his authority but also to support quicken and strengthen by his grace and comfort with his love to furnish that soul with what it wants for where he dwells in this kind he dwells to bless But this presence of his reviving quickening strengthening grace in the soul is brought thither abides there by Faith Faith goes to Christ in the heavens as having all power in his hands and tells him as it were that though he have laid the foundation of eternal salvation for the poor soul in his own bloud yet considering what enemies are to be conquered and what services to be performed the work is never like to be carried through unless he furnish with supplies of Grace and strength for that purpose And then having this encouragement to strengthen it self in this address that this supply of Grace which is desired does not amount to more than what he hath already freely done for the soul in laying down his own life for its ransom before such a favour was sought at his hands and that those treasures of spiritual life strength and power which are in his hand are placed there on purpose to supply every needy Soul that thus seeks them and that they will never turn to such an account of glory to him while kept there as when delivered out to every soul that in a true sence of its own want of them and their worth unfeignedly desires them And considering withal how agreeable it is to the goodness of Christs own blessed nature and the general design of his Mediatorship and his faithfulness to that trust which is committed to him by his Father to carry forward the begun work of saving the Soul and to be furnishing forth strength for the doing of what he gladly would have done and which he knows cannot be done without it I say Faith being supported with such like considerations as these in its application to Christ for supplies is confident of obtaining and never leaves him till it brings down the vertue strength and power of Christ into the Soul to supply the wants thereof Sect. 4 3. There are many fair and gracious overtures in the Scriptures of Gods gracious inclination and intention to deliver the soul from the dominion of sin to subdue the iniquity of his people to purge purifie and cleanse the soul from the polution of sin to heal the spiritual distempers and diseases of the Soul to restore health
terms he hath appointed they may well go without it for all his willingness to give it It is most sure that Christians are more or less healthful in soul and spiritual condition as they do more or less depend upon the Lord for his saving health for the power and presence of his grace and Spirit to renew them unto God If men had but Faith enough they might have what they would in this kind from the Lord. When there was but once ground for Christ to say O Woman great is thy Faith he presently sayes also Be it unto thee even as thou wilt Matth. 15 28. And therefore such as have but little Faith had need to make the best use and improvement of that little by depending upon the Lord for the perfecting of that which is lacking in their Faith as well as any other grace Men receive but little of this healing vertue from Christ but little hatred of sin and strength to overcome the flesh but little of the power of love and of an humble mind but little of the quick and lively savour of spiritual things because they expect but little if they were larger and stronger in their expectations from God they should have more from him he does not love to disappoint his servants of this hope especially Open your mouth wide and I will fill it saith he Psal 81.10 And those that hunger and thirst after righteousness shall be filled Matth. 5.6 If Righteousness were but desired and sought at the hands of God and he depended on for it as meat and drink is wont to be desired and sought by those that are ready to famish for want of food in which case no other thing but food will satisfie there would not be such a spiritual leanness and emptiness found among Christians as too commonly there is No it is mens indifferency about matters of this mighty moment that causes them to fall so short and to be so scanty in their receptions from God The Lord does not care to pour out abundance of inward grace and health and strength upon the soul until the soul knows the worth of them feels the want of them and desires them more than any thing in the world besides And therefore men may ask them and seek them and yet go without any great measures of them while but cold and indifferent in their desires this way but when their desires are strong their confidence strong their requests fervent and God can as it were have no rest for them but they are still following of him night and day and will have no nay then does the Lord rejoyce over them to Answer them in the joy of their heart and to cause them to inherit substance and to fill their treasures For he waits to be gracious and is alwayes ready and never unprovided of the greatest measures of grace and spiritual strength and is more desirous to give than the best of men are to receive if they would but come up to his terms which are established by him in wisdom and counsel but surely when he hath first given men Faith he does not use to bestow upon them any great addition of spiritual ability but upon the improvement and exercise of that Faith in a way of dependance upon himself for it nor does he give much in this kind to those that are but of little Faith but encreases their spiritual revenue as they encrease in the measure and degree of their relyance upon him for it Sect. 5 4. The gift of the holy Spirit by whose presence power and influence the Saints Salvation must be wrought through and they strengthened with all might in the inward man Ephes 3.16 and by whose Workmanship they are formed fashioned and fitted for that glory which is prepared for them 2 Cor. 5.5 This great gift is I say received also by Faith and consequently it is the property of true Faith indeed to be busied about the receiving of it I shall not so much stand to make this out by shewing you how the Scripture speaks of mens receiving the Spirit after they beleeved as consequential thereunto Ephes 1.13 In whom also after that ye Beleeved ye were Sealed with the holy Spirit of Promise Joh. 7.39 This he spake of the Spirit which they that Beleeve on him should receive Acts 19.2 Have ye received the Holy Ghost since ye beleeved Though this also is worthy consideration hereabout For though it 's true That Faith it self in it's first act is raised by the holy Spirit in the Soul 1 Cor. 12.9 Gal. 5.22 Acts 18.27 Ephes 2.8 so as to furnish it with this divine Principle and Power for where else should man have it And so in this respect the Spirits work upon the Soul goes before the Spirits being received by that divine principle which is wrought by it yet the giving and receiving of the Spirit to remain and abide as a constant nourisher supporter comforter guide leader or teacher follows beleeving I know not how better to illustrate this thing than by this similitude A man by visits addresses and applications of Love to such or such a Woman raises in her such Affections towards him as by which afterward he is invited and drawn to become her Husband and constant co-habitant and to take upon him the care and management of her houshold affairs which he would not have done had he not been thereunto encouraged by those Affections which were but the fruit of his own Applications Even so the Spirit by his applications and visits first raises in the Soul that Faith by means whereof his company and presence is so valued and desired as that thereby he is strongly invited to come and dwell in that Soul and to undertake the management of the spiritual affairs thereof and upon which he does accordingly But that by which I would more expresly and particularly make out how the holy Spirit is by Faith invited to come and to make his usual and constant abode in that Soul that does beleeve I shall present to you under these three Heads Sect. 6 1. The First is that which I but now hinted viz. That act of Faith or Divine light by which a Christian sets a holy and very high esteem of the Spirits presence as not knowing how to live the Christian life or to do the Gospel-work without it For when the Soul enlightened and converted to God is made to know that there is no inheriting without overcoming Rev. 21.7 2.7 11 17.26 3.5.12.21 and that the reason why any do overcome is Because greater is he that is in them than he that is in the world 1 Joh. 4.4 and is made to know likewise That men cannot mortifie the deeds of the body but by the power and strength of the Spirit and yet mortified they must be or else they must die Rom. 8.13 when they shall perceive That they know not how to Pray as they ought or to do other Christian duties as
the Christian Religion and possibly Dispute for them too yea which is more possibly may be able to speak many things in the Theory and by Hear-say touching the Work of the new Creature and these spiritual supplies of which I now speak and yet all the while void of any true sense of the power of them upon his own heart But on the other hand the living Faith being the heaven-born principle of the new creature which is it self born from above does still dispose and encline it to look up to God the same fountain of grace for dayly supplies from which it at first received it 's new and spiritual being As God hath placed in Nature a certain instinct among the Creatures by which as soon as they are brought forth they do with a kind of dependance seek their nourishment from their Dams so hath he likewise placed a spiritual instinct in the new Creature which enclines and guides it to himself as soon as it is born from above to seek its food from God Sect. 10 And the main Reason I conceive why many Persons who have flourished like a green Bay-tree in the Christian Profession for a time have yet afterwards shamefully miscarried and fallen away of which this age affords too many sad instances hath been this they have not been close in their dependance upon God for supplie of strength to encounter the motions of the flesh and temptation from spiritual enemies they have not had or have lost the sense of their own weakness and what Children they are in the hands of their spiritual enemies if God should but a little with-draw and leave them but having received it may be many spiritual gifts and many favours from God they have grown confident bold and presuming upon the stock they have already received and being a little spiritually intoxicated with drinking too deeply of their own cup and fallen too much in love with themselves by viewing their beauty in their own Glass have forgotten themselves and their own weakness and forgotten God their strength and so have come down wonderfully God taking no pleasure in them but leaving them to fall and to be an admonition and warning to those that yet stand to take heed lest they also fall Sect. 11 Whereas others again that have been but poor and low and exceeding weak in parts and gifts yet alwayes bearing about them the sense of their own meanness and weakness and withal retaining a good perswasion of Gods supporting grace and good-will towards them and in the sense of both depending upon him to be upheld kept and maintained in grace have hereupon retained their spiritual verdure when others have withered have been holpen with a little strength and sate safely under the shadow of the Almighty when many tall Cedars in the Mountains have fallen in the stormy day These poor Souls being jealous of themselves and of their own strength dare not trust themselves with themselves or at any distance from God but follow him close begging him to help and to uphold them and to keep them from falling who in that case is willing to be intreated Psal 63.8 My soul followeth hard after thee And what of that thy right hand upholdeth me If the Soul follow him for it in good earnest it shall have it They are kept by the power of God saith the Apostle through Faith unto Salvation 1 Pet. 1.5 Mark it They are kept by the power of God and yet through Faith Why is Faith joyned with the power of God Alas it's but a poor weak feeble thing of it self but it 's happiness is it lives in the strength of another it carries the Soul out of its own shelter and leads it unto a Rock that is higher than it it takes hold of Gods almighty strength and interesseth it self and the poor creature in that and the power of God is well content that Faith should be busie with it and as confident of it and of it's improvement for such a Souls good as if it were in it's own possession and under it's own disposal Though it is the power of God by which the Soul is kept yet it is the power of God leaned upon through Faith which is the leaning and depending grace The power of God could uphold all but it is not it's pleasure so to do but only those that through Faith hold by it And as by how much the more men live out of themselves and depend upon the Lord by so much the safer are they and at the greater distance from falling so likewise by how much the more entire and close mens dependance is upon God for spiritual supplies for a spiritual frame of mind for God to write his Law in the heart and to maintain a good Savour in the Soul of God and all good things for a spiritual liberty and enlargement of Soul in Gods wayes for to be strengthened with all might by his Spirit in the inner man and the like by so much the more does the Lord give forth of these and like good things unto such The closer they lie and the more they draw at those spiritual breasts the more they receive the more they thrive Blessed is the man said he that trusteth in the Lord and whose hope the Lord is for he shall be as a tree planted by the waters and that spreadeth out the roots by the River and shall not see when heat cometh but her leaf shall be green and shall not be careful in the year of drought neither shall cease from yielding fruit Where we clearly see That Faith trust dependance on God puts a man under a like capacity for the flourishing estate of his Soul in respect of spiritual loveliness beauty and fruitfulness as a Tree is of the utmost prosperity such a creature is capable of by being planted by Waters and Rivers in those dry Countryes And as the more men thus depend on God for supplies the more they receive and the more spiritual they grow so on the other hand too the more spiritual and the more strong in the Lord men grow the more sensible do they grow of their own frailty and weakness and the more emptied of all self-confidence and their thoughts runing more upon the grace of God and strength of Christ and presence of the Spirit and the necessity of these prizing these more desiring these more following God more for them depending on him more to receive them at his hands And so proportionably are they the more ready and the more enlarged to attribute and ascribe all spiritual in-comes all spiritual endowments all operations of grace all strength and ability of acting and doing in the Lords work unto the Lord from whom all comes and to say with him 1 Chro. 29 14. But who am I that I should be able to offer so willingly after this sort for all things come of thee O Lord and of thine own have we given thee Sect. 12 And however God hath as I
conceive vouchsafed by the gift of Jesus Christ for all such means and opportunities of grace even unto those that shall perish and so much power and ability of improving those means and opportunities for the end for which God gives them as will discharge the Lord of their condemnation and cast their loss of Salvation wholly upon themselves yet I cannot but fear that many make that ability which God hath given unto the creature on this behalf greater in their own thoughts than it is in it self And I am not without fears too lest the large apprehensions which some have touching the power of the creature and what all men are able to do out of the stock of common grace wherewith God hath prevented them and what others are able to do out of that stock of special grace with which God hath blessed them should have betrayed them into too low and too narrow apprehensions touching the necessity of additional supplies from God for the issueing of common grace into special and for the maintenance activity and growth of special grace it self And there is too much cause to fear also That the largness of manies apprehensions touching what God hath already given in this kind hath contributed much towards the making of their dependance upon God low and little and their applications to him weak and faint for further supplies and consequently their receptions in this kind to amount but to little Which if such a thing be as is too much cause to fear then I am perswaded that this is the true reason why many whose judgements run too much this way are less spiritual are flatter and duller Christians less versed in the Work of God upon the heart whose Religion lies more in matters of a Controversal and Disputable nature or in matters of external Form and Order And while men are busied and taken up with the skirts and borders of Religion and in the mean while neglect their inward and close communion with God and study of their own hearts and their spiritual trade and intercourse with God it 's no marvel if they be found but huskish dry and barren in the power of holiness and experimental part of a Christian For surely the Spirit of God does not take pleasure in this or that opinion which men hold in Religion but as it serves them in bringing them neerer to him and causing them to prize him his grace and presence more and working in them a greater love of his likeness and longing after the power of his grace to conform them to it Nor is the other extream Opinion touching mens being meer Passives in the hand of Grace and that Grace alwayes works it's effects in men in an irresistable way any better friend I conceive to the thriving way of depending upon God for more grace in a due use of what they have alreay received For as the Opinion of mens having more power than they have or that that power which they have is more conducible to the principal end Salvation then indeed it is obstructs their applications to and dependance upon God for what is indeed necessary on this behalf so does an Opinion of having received no power at all freez the Soul and bind up the faculties of it from using and improving that power which it hath from God in seeking of more and consequently deprives them of receiving more or at least of so much more as otherwise they might have Sect. 13 All which I have noted for Caution lest while men are striving who shall approve themselves the greatest friends to the grace of God in point of Opinion they should in the mean while fall short of the powerful and saving effects of it in their own hearts And since the end of all Doctrines and Ordinances in Religion and consequently of every particular Branch Point and Opinion concerning them is to bring men back again to God and to restore them to his likeness and similitude it concerns every man therefore in his holding and managing any matters of Controversie hereabout to be so true to his own and others Souls as thereby to drive on the principal end of all and to steer himself in holding or letting go Opinions as they appear consonant or repugnant to that end CHAP. XI Shewing how Faith worketh by Love both to God and Men. Sect. 1 THere is one property more of Faith which I have had oft occasion to mention but shall now a little further enlarge on and so conclude this part of my Discourse touching the nature of Faith And this quality in Faith is that property of it by which it works by Love which is made the badge and character of that Faith that shall avail men Gal. 5.6 For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth any thing nor uncircumcision but Faith which worketh by Love As the Apostle shews that not circumcision but Faith avails men under the Gospel so he shews too what manner of Faith it is that does so namely such as works by love not every Faith that is so called but that Faith which is thus distinguished So that it concerns every one as he desires to have something that will avail him in the sight of God and in the great concernments of his Soul not only to prove himself to be in the Faith but to prove his Faith to be that Faith which will avail him by this operation of it here specified When he sayes that Faith works by love I take it for granted that he means love both to the Lord and unto men for they go together as inseparable companions Every one that loveth him that begat loveth him also that is begotten of him 1 Joh. 5.1 And he that loveth not his Brother whom he hath seen how can he love God whom he hath not seen 1 Joh. 4.20 But then the Question will be How Faith works by Love And the Answer is It does so First by working this grace heavenly qualification spiritual affection or principle in the soul and so in the second place disposing the man in whom it is by means of this principle unto a deportment and actions suitable to such an affection And this I would set out in Two things especially Sect. 2 1. First Faith raises this principle of Love in the soul both to God and men by having it self so much to do with the Love of the Lord as indeed it hath For the Love of God and Jesus Christ to poor man is the very element in which Faith lives the food and nourishment upon which it continually feeds the lovely and most beautiful object which it delights continually to behold lodges in the bosome of it and finds no rest but in this bed of Love Faith is wonderfully intent on it exceeding busie with it marvellous curious in its inspections into enquiries about it 1 Joh. 4.16 We have known and beleeved the Love that God hath to us And by means of Faiths free frequent familiar and intimate
converse and delightful communication which it hath with this Love of the Lord it comes to contract a habitual similitude of it in the soul by degrees to change the soul into the same image Solomon saith He that walketh with wise men shall be wise Prov. 13.20 Which thing doubtless proceeds from a great aptness that is in men to be transformed into the disposition temper and quality of those persons with whom they much converse and delight so to do especially if superior to themselves and judging what they see in them worthy imitation And so Faith keeping such constant company with the Love of Christ to the poor soul and being so much taken with it as it is and having it self such an influence upon the soul as it hath does by degrees fetch over the soul in conformity of disposition to it This is sweetly set out by the Apostle 2 Cor. 3.18 But we all with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord are changed into the same image from glory to glory as by the spirit of the Lord. The glory of the Lord he here speaks of is doubtless amongst other things the grace or love of the Lord to men which is indeed his glory that by which he hath made us accepted in the beloved being called the glory of his grace Ephes 1.6 and is that thing which in the Gospel ministration here spoken of shines forth with greatest luster and brightness But mark now The souls intent and earnest beholding of this glory of the Lord by the eye of Faith as it is visible to it in this glass of the Gospel works this effect The soul it self is hereby changed into the same image transformed into this likeness of the Lord step by step degree by degree from glory to glory as by the Spirit of the Lord by whose influence Faith does this thing For so Christ foretold Joh. 16.14 He shall glorifie me for he shall receive of mine and shall shew it unto you Like as the flocks which Jacob kept by their looking upon the streaked rods in the time of their conception came to conceive and bring forth Cattel that were ring-streaked Gen. 30.37 38 39. even so the soul by Faith dwelling in the serious and pleasant contemplation of the glory of this love of the Lord conceives and brings forth affections and actions in the same likeness The very reason why any man comes to love God is the belief knowledg and sence which he hath of Gods love to him first 1 John 4.19 We love him because he loved us first Which is to be understood of Gods love beleeved and perceived for till then it does not work this reciprocal affection in the Soul And therefore the same Apostle concludes that if any man does not love he does not know God as he is a God of love 1 John 4.8 For if he did and had the true sence of it in his Soul he might sooner draw nigh a great fire and not be warmed than feel the warming influences of this wonderful Love playing hot upon the Soul and not in some measure be transformed into its likeness The Apostle Paul well knowing this made this Prayer for the Ephesian Saints That Christ might dwell in their hearts by Faith that they being rooted and grounded in love might be able to comprehend with all Saints what is the bredth and length and depth and height and to know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge that they might be filled with all the fulnesse of God In which Prayer you may observe first his end and scope the thing he had in his eye and that which his Soul exceedingly longed after for them and that was that they might be filled with all the fulnesse of God Which I conceive is not to be understood at least not only to be understood in a passive sence of having the Soul filled with the knowledge and sence of all the fulnesse of Gods love to it for this he had prayed for as the means of their being filled with all this fulness of God but in an active sence for their being so filled with their love back again to Christ as by which to attain the highest pitch and utmost perfection of Christianity which is wrapt up in our love to Christ to which God in Christ designed to elevate and raise the Christian And therefore when we love one another as the Lord hath loved us according to his command John 13.34 he is said to dwell in us and his love to be perfected in us 1 Cor. 4.12 viz. by way of imitation and resemblance of that divine vertue property or perfection in God to wit his love which is so wonderfully remarkable in him as that he is called Love it self 1 John 4.8 16. Now for God to dwell in men and for them to have his love perfected in them what is this lesse than to be filled with all the fulness of God But that which the Apostle prayed for in order to this their being filled with all the fulness of God was that Christ dwelling in their hearts by faith they might be able to comprehend with all Saints what the bredth length depth and height is and to know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge So that mens being filled with the fulnesse of that love to the Lord which his love to them calls for and designes to procure depends we see upon their comprehending by Faith the glory of his love set out in the dimensions of it upon their knowing very much of that love of Christ which in the utmost extent of it passeth knowledg Sect. 3 2. Faith raises this Heavenly affection of love in the Soul as a principle of worthy behaviour both to God and men by an effectual closing with the Doctrine of the Lord concerning Love For it is mens Faith in that word which calls for Love to the Lord to Saints and to all men that causes the word to incorporate it self with the Soul turning the doctrine of Love into a principle of Love in the Soul making it an ingrafted word James 1.21 as turning the stock into its own nature It is by Faith that all that in the Word is discerned and felt which renders it acceptable to and gives it force and authority in the soul And therefore the Word is said to work effectually in those that believe 1 Thes 2.13 And what 's that but to produce its effect reach its end and to have its errand about which it 's sent working that love it self in the soul which is the business about which the doctrine of Love is sent And therefore Love is said to be the end of the Commandement out of a pure heart and of a good conscience and of Faith unfeigned 1 Tim. 1.5 Love to proceed from unfeigned Faith as the end of the Commandement that is I conceive it 's aim and scope the prize for which it runs and where there is Faith unfeigned first wrought
and procured by the Word there the Word by means of this Faith works effectually to the raising or producing of that love which is the end or design of the Commandement It 's said of some Heb. 4.2 that the word did not profit them not being mixed with Faith in them that heard it The Word is then said not to profit men when it looses it's end and design of good towards them when it does not work in them and procure from them that frame and disposition of Soul and habit of behaviour which does answer its nature and scope as when the Doctrine of Love is preached to them and yet no such thing is wrought in them But the cause of this disappointment is the not mixing the Word with Faith If men do not verily beleeve it to be a Word from the Lord or that it comes from him upon like or far better termes than hearty counsel from a Friend as both able and faithful to advise and direct upon the best termes for good or if they think themselves and their own good not much concerned in it and the like no marvel if it profit them not if it procure not that complyance from them which should give it an abiding place in the Soul to work there as seed does which is wont to bring forth Fruit according to its kind But where the Word the Doctrine of Love for example is mixed with Faith with respect to the authority power wisdom design of good in the author and the conducibleness of the word it self to the real and substantial happiness and felicity of the person himself in whom this Faith is there it prospers in the thing for which it is sent Sect. 4 Having now thus shewed how Faith works by love by contributing to its being and consequently to its motions and operations and considering that Faiths working by love is the characteristical mark and distinguishing property of that Faith which shall avail men unto salvation let us now put our selves upon the tryal of our Faith and so upon our title to life by this evidence And I will begin with that love which is wrought by Faith to the Lord. Hath then the sight and sence which Faith hath given you of the wonderfulness of the Fathers love and of the Sons love in doing suffering and designing such marvellous things for Persons so unworthy of them and so worthy of what is directly contrary to them as we are as may well astonish the rational part of the whole Creation I say hath the sight and sence of this divine fire of Love kindled upon your souls and caused a heavenly burning of affection to the Lord. Hath the sence which Faith hath given you of his love to you exceedingly endeared your souls by way of return in love to him Hath your Faith opened such a passage for Christs love to come at the Soul as that you can say with the Saints of old The love of Christ constraineth us because we thus judge that if one dyed for all then were all dead and that he dyed for all that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves but unto him which dyed for them and rose again 1 Cor. 5 14 15. Hath it such a force and influence upon you in causing you to devote your selves your lives to him as his love to you had upon him in causing him to give his life for you and himself unto you Sect. 5 1. To what degree any Man or Woman loves another to the same degree they are usually wont to be desirous and careful to please them And therefore the Apostle supposeth this to be the natural effect of that conjugal relation and affection that is between Husband and Wife viz. the ones caring to please her Husband and the others caring to please his Wife 1 Cor. 7.33 34. And there 's no doubt but it is so with all those that love the Lord indeed the more they abound in that affection to him the more desirous the more thoughtful and the more careful are they how to please the Lord in every thing they do and in every thing he would have done And therefore the Scripture measures mens love to the Lord by their care to do his commands which are indeed the things that please him 1 John 5.3 For this is the love of God that we keep his Commandements And again John 14.15 If ye love me keep my Commandements And verse 21. He that hath my Commandements and keepeth them he it is that loveth me And again verse 23. If a man love me he will keep my words And yet again verse 24. He that loveth me not keepeth not my sayings 1 John 2.5 But whoso keepeth his word in him verily is the love of God perfected And therefore when men are not full of thought and care about what will please and what will displease the Lord and desirous and industrious to come at his mind hereabout but are untender and do things at a venture either in his Worship their own calling or in their converse with men not laying it close to the heart to give glory to God in all it argues that things are not yet as they should be with them in their love to the Lord. Sect. 6 2. Again where the Soul by means of Faith hath had a taste of the exceeding sweetness and preciousness of the Lords love 1 Pet. 2.3 If so be ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious and is thereby brought in love with his love as highly prizing it and the sence of it there the soul will be wonderful fearful of acting or doing any thing that might make any breach between the Lord and it that might offend or grieve him or that should cause him to turn away in displeasure or to hide his face or to with-hold the influences of his quickening and comforting grace And if at any time through want of care and watchfulness such a soul hath been surprized and drawn to speak or act yea though but in the in most parts of the soul that which tends to grieve the Spirit to provoke the Lord and to work any estrangement O what humbling is there what taking of shame what begging crying and earnest intreating that God would passe it by that it might not obstruct the course of their communion with the Lord And if it hath wrought any distance and the Lord hath hereupon withdrawn himself a little O how the poor soul is cast down how earnest in her pursuit after her Beloved that hath withdrawn himself and is gone and how restless till the breach be made up and the Lord hath smiled again upon the soul by some gracious effects of his presence there Such things as these are undoubtedly found in greater or lesser proportion where true and entire love to the Lord hath been raised by Faith in the Soul Ps 51.7 8 9 10 11 12. Cant. 5.2 8. Sect. 7 3. Furthermore to what degree Faith works by Love to
large enough to support themselves and houshold-relations in a free if but in a sober and moderate way of living and yet withall to strengthen the hands and to refresh the bowels and ease the burdens of many poor so neither is it necessary nor as I think Christian for them whose Estates are grown to their full stature so as to be in a competent capacity of answering all a mans truly necessary and convenient occasions according to the rules of Christian moderation and sobriety for them still to be every year making their heap higher Joyning house to house and laying field to field the thing of which the Lord complains Isai 5.8 Surely when Christ saith Lay not up for your selves treasures on earth where moth and rust doth corrupt and Thieves break through and steal Mat. 6.19 He would have men to set some bounds unto themselves in heaping treasure together for the last dayes James 5.3 And therefore it may be necessary for one whose Estate is of competent growth to dispose in a way of charity so much of his yearly Income as is found to be the whole surplusage of necessary expences in a sober way of living though it should amount to as much or more than the whole of his expences do when the same thing cannot be thought to be the duty of another whose occasions as a Christian may call for some augmentation of his Estate if providence vouchsafe opportunity As for those who when they have more then enough already and so much as proves far more frequently a sad occasion of destruction to their Childrens souls as there is cause to fear and many times of bodies too than of any spiritual advantage to them shall yet make it their business to their dying-day to be heaping up more and more while in the mean time many Families are in great distress through want and they contributing little to their relief I dread to think what account they will be able to make unto the Lord who hath directed them to make themselves Friends in a spiritual sence of their unfaithful Mammon and charged them to be rich in good works ready to distribute willing to communicate and hath declared them stark Fools that lay up treasures for themselves and are not rich towards God Luke 12.20 21. and 16.9 1 Tim. 6.17 18. But now since the different circumstances of mens cases do render any one rule of proportion as unlike to suit every man in this case as it 's impossible for the same shooe to fit every mans foot therefore we must leave this matter of proportion to every mans Conscience which faithfully consulted with it having it self first faithfully consulted with the Word of God and the arguments and motives unto bounty which are there will be a competent guide unto a man herein Only let it be remembred to take aime by that before the Law the principles of Love and Godly devotion dictated to the Patriarch Jacob to give the Tenth of what God gave him unto God Gen. 28.22 And under the Law 1. Every third years tenth was to be put apart for charitable uses Deut. 14.28 29. and 26.12 13. 2. Part of the corners of the fields were purposely to be left unreaped Levit. 19.9 10. and 23.22 And 3. Besides this a certain proportion for gleaning was to be left for the poor both in the field and Vineyard Levit. 19.9 10. 4. The forgotten sheaves in the Field Deut. 24.19 And 5. Besides all this a special Law for Relieving with that which was sufficient for his need any poor Brother that was fallen to decay Deut. 15.7 8 9. All which put together did arise to a considerable proportion of a mans yearly increase which was also deeply charged with a Tenth for the Priests and with Sacrifices and oblations otherwise And the law of Love under the Gospel is not lessened but rather much improved and heightened by the great example and obligation of Christs signal love which is propounded as our pattern John 13.34 1 John 3.16 And therefore Christs precepts for charity run very high saying Sell that ye have and give Alms Luke 12.33 And again Give to every man that asketh of thee and from him that would borrow of thee turn thou not away Luke 6.30 Mat. 5.42 Yea as the case may be our very Lives which are more than Estates must be laid down for the Brethren 1 John 3.16 All which considered though a just proportion cannot be set as a Tenth of the whole proceed of the capital stock or the like which is the rule of proportion which some Christians of a middle rank in the world do set unto themselves yet in ordinary lesse than a liberal free and frequent distribution of Alms according in proportion to every mans ability cannot be understood to be the expresse will of our Lord besides what is to be done extraordinarily in extraordinary cases I cannot stand so much as to touch the variety of motives and great encouragements that belong to this duty But if such as profess themselves to be Christians indeed and would be thought to be none of the lowest rank of them neither would but convert their superfluous expences upon back and belly and other bravery and vain delights wherein too too many of the professors of this Age do abound to the great scandal of Religion into works of charity and mercy it would turn to a thousand times better account both in point of evidence of the goodnesse of their Faith and Charity and in procuring reverence and respect to their profession in the Consciences of men and as being that also which would abound to their account Phil. 4.17 in that great day of account which is shortly to come wherein what good soever any man hath done the same shall he receive of the Lord whether he be bond or free But while their superfluity and vanity instead of their moderation Phil. 4.5 is made known unto all men and their worldly glory instead of the light of their good works shines before men Mat. 5.16 I am sure they make but bad provision for that spiritual assurance of the soundnesse of their title to the promise of Justification by Faith and Eternal Life the worth whereof when they come to dye will be discerned and the vanity of the other discovered to the Conscience and their present folly in sowing so liberally to the flesh and so sparingly to the Spirit will then be lamented and bewailed Sect. 17 8. Moreover as giving so forgiving is such an act of love and mercy and so necessary to the evidencing of a mans Faith to be right as without which no man can prove his Faith to be such as by which he shall be justified For when Christ declares this to be the Law of Heaven saying But if ye forgive not men their trespasses neither will your Father forgive your Trespasses Mat. 6.15 and 18.35 He does as good as tell all such in plain words whose hearts serve them not to
propitiation unto all there 's the extent of the offer and tender of grace But then 2. He is set forth as such through Faith in his blood there 's the limitation of the propitiating vertue of his blood viz. to such as have Faith in it The Author to the Hebrews saith chap. 13.10 We have an altar whereof they have no right to eat that serve the Tabernacle meaning Christ of which they had no right to partake that did Judaiz it adhere to the Mosaical way and is parallel with Gal. 5.2.4 But that which I note hence is that men in order to their partaking of Christ must have a right to him Now what is that which gives men a right to Christ his Death Blood Resurrection and Intercession is it not this Faith of which I have been speaking so much surely it is Hence the Apostle suspends the beleeving Hebrews being made partakers of Christ upon their holding the beginning of their confidence stedfast unto the end Heb. 3.14 It was that Faith and confidence which they had by which they were made partakers of Christ when they first beleeved and they were to continue their right by continuing their Faith for thereto did his Exhortation tend Another-like place is that Cel. 1.21 22 23. And you who were sometimes alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works yet now hath he reconciled in the body of his Flesh through death to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in his sight if ye continue in the Faith grounded and setled and be not moved away from the hope of the Gospel If their final reconcileation by the death of Christ so as to be presented unreproveable in his sight depended upon their continuing in the Faith then certainly that which first invested them with that priviledge in which for the present they stood was their beleeving Sect. 4 And the reason why I conceive this right which Faith gives unto Christ and the justifying vertue of his blood is one cause or consideration for which it s said to be counted for Righteousness is this because Faith it self without this office and use is neither righteousnesse nor means of righteousnesse unto any man and consequently cannot be counted to him for Righteousnesse But for as much as though Faith is not virtually or meritoriously any mans righteousnesse as Christs blood is and yet by the grace and appointment of God becomes a means of possessing him with that which is hence Faith it self may well be said to be counted to him for Righteousnesse with like propriety of speech as when in Scripture the means bears the denomination of the end as John 4.22 2 Pet. 3.15 For that now I conceive may be a reason of the phrase counted reckoned or imputed for righteousnesse as it is applyed to Faith viz. because by it as it hath to do with Christ a man though he be not formally righteous with a personal and sin-lesse righteousnesse yet becomes possessed with the same priviledge of enjoying Gods favour and love and the blessed effects of it in respect of Justification which a personal and sin-less righteousnesse in the formality of it in case he had it would invest him with And therefore may well be said to be reckoned for or put to account instead of Righteousnesse because it does a man the self-same service as that would do Sect. 5 2. There is another notion or consideration in respect whereof Faith may be said to be counted for Righteousnesse to him that hath it And that is as it is a fulfilling of the termes of the Gospel or New Covenant For Faith in that latitude of which I have been speaking of it as it is a lively active working Grace and disposes the Soul in affection and subjection to the Lord as well as to depend upon him for what it would have is really the fulfilling of the condition or termes of the Gospel and consequently that which puts him that hath it under the great promises of Justification and eternal life contained therein For the Gospel declares who and what manner of persons shall have their sins pardoned for Christs sake shall be accepted and approved of God and are by him designed to eternal life viz. Beleevers no man by name but all under this qualification of effectual Faith For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from Faith to Faith Rom. 1.16 17. And whoever does accordingly beleeve does fulfill the Gospel and so is righteous in the account thereof As any man that lived under the first Covenant I mean the Mosaical Covenant had he but observed and kept the termes of it the man that doth those things shall live by them Rom. 10.5 he should have been righteous in the eye of that Law or Covenant Deut. 6.25 even so he that does but observe and keep the terms or condition of the Gospel or New Covenant which is Beleeve in the Lord Jesus and thou shalt be saved Acts 16.31 he also is righteous in the eye of that As it is in the common Law of Nations those that are justified are justified by that and those that are condemned are condemned by that if there be righteousnesse of proceeding John 7.51 If men be cast they are cast by the Law and if they are acquitted they are acquitted by the Law the Law cannot justifie the guilty nor condemn the innocent whatever men may do that have the handling of it Just so is it with the Gospel and those that are under the administration thereof all such shall be cast as guilty or acquitted as righteous by it The word that I have spoken said Christ the same shal judg him Jo. 12.48 The Doctrins of Christ are his Statute-laws which whosoever beleeves and sincerely obeyes shall be justified by their sentence All the holy word is on such a mans side against such as the Apostle saith there is no Law Gal. 5.23 but he hath as Demetrius had a good report even of the truth it self 3 John 12. Mica 2.7 As he hath been a true Friend to this to beleeve love and obey it in truth and uprightnesse though not without weaknesse so will it be a true Friend to him to stand by him to vindicate and justifie him against the accusations of the enemy So that mark we then Faith in the latitude of it being that very thing which doth answer the very mind and scope of the Gospel which is the Law of Faith Rom. 3.27 it must needs be counted to them for Righteousnesse that have it because by it they stand right in the eye and account of this law of life And indeed it is this heavenly and divine Law in the promisory part of it which furnishes Faith with that power which it hath to justifie As on the contrary the Law is said to be the strength of sin 1 Cor. 15.56 It arms sin with that power which it hath to condemn the Creature so is the Gospel the strength of Faith that which invests it with
in point of Estate it 's an ill sign that those men are behind-hand in the World and that they themselves are under jealousie and suspition that in case they should narrowly look into things and come to ballance their accounts they should not find all things well And so between hope and fear presuming the best they blindly go on till Suits and Arrests make them thorowly sensible of their bad condition And truly when men are backward and indisposed to cast up their Accounts and to see how matters stand with them in this great concernment of their Souls and to be curious and exact in it but go on from year to year carelesly presuming the best it 's a thousand to one but they are spiritually Bankerupts in a breaking condition which when death comes to Arrest them it may be they shall perceive unless carried away in a spiritual Lethargie which is worst of all Solomon saith He that despiseth his wayes shall dye Prov. 19.16 He that makes light how things stand with him which yet do exceeding neerly concern him such as are matters of eternal life and death it 's next to a demonstration that eternal ruine and destruction are not far from that man unless he recover himself from that careless posture Whereas on the contrary as men that are thriving in the World and in good case in point of Estate take pleasure in casting up their Estates So he that doeth truth cometh to the light that his deeds may be made manifest that they are wrought in God Jo. 3.21 But however let things be how they will be as bad with you as Jealousie it self can suspect yet there 's reason why you should make the more hast to find out the worst because as yet there is opportunity of keeping all from going to ruine of mending a bad Estate of coming to understand things that belong to your peace Now is the accepted time now is the day of Salvation 2 Cor. 6.2 the door is not yet shut the Market-day of the Soul is not yet over Christ is yet calling upon such as have thought themselves rich and abounding in Goods and to have need of nothing and yet upon tryal have been found miserable and poor and blind and naked he is yet calling upon them to buy of him gold tryed in the fire that they may be rich and white raiment that they may be clothed and that the shame of their nakedness may not appear Rev. 3.18 Truly I exceedingly fear that that which was the case of this Laodicean Church is the condition of vast numbers of Christians by profession in these dayes who think all is very well with them in that they have some knowledg of the Scriptures and a beleef of the Gospel touching Christs dying for sinners and being the Saviour of Man-kind and because they frequent the places of his publick worship and in a formal though liveless powerless way perform some duties when as they in the mean time are workers of iniquity in bondage to their lusts have no experience of the new birth or work of Regeneration in their Souls presuming it may be to the sad deceiving of their Souls that they were Regenerate and born again in their Infant Baptisme but indulge themselves in such things as please the flesh thinking that Christ as he is able so will be willng to pay all their scores as long as they do but depend upon him for it But alass such if they will be but perswaded to try themselves by that Doctrine of Faith here laid before them they will find themselves in an ill case O but let not that discourage any to be trying how it is with them the Lord is calling upon you saying Awake thou that sleepest and stand up from the dead and Christ shall give thee light Ephes 5.14 Though you have been all this while asleep and have dreamed you have been believers and that you are justified when it 's no such matter like the hungry man the Prophet speaks of Who dreameth and behold he eateth but he awaketh and his Soul is empty or as when a thirsty man dreameth and behold he drinketh but he awaketh and behold he is faint and his Soul hath appetite Isai 29.8 Yet now if with this jogg you may be but awakened out of this sleep and so come to see that that which pleased you so was indeed but a dream Christ is ready to give you light not only in making known to you the true and certain terms of his Salvation but also in shewing you how you may be indued with power and strength to observe the same and finally to attain Salvation it self which through your mistakes hitherto you have been in great danger to miss of he will guide you with his counsel and afterwards receive you unto glory Psalm 73.24 Only be diligent in this work make no longer delay thou art not master of thy time and thou knowest not what a day may bring forth remember it is for thy life the life of thy Soul there 's no dallying and trifling in matters of this moment What man is he that expects shortly to be tryed for his life this mortal life who out of the sence of the consequence of it is not restless in his labours pains and endeavours day and night till if such a thing be attainable he have got together the evidences of his defence and hath put himself into a good posture of vindication And shall men be penny-wise and pound-foolish shall they be solicitous about a mortal temporal life which for ought they know shall expire with the day of their tryal and shall men be rechless negligent and careless in their preparations and provisions for such a tryal wherein their everlasting condition life or death lies at stake God forbid Therefore I beseech you in the Name of the Lord and for the sake of your Souls that you give your selves no rest till you know what ground you stand on till you come to know that your plea and defence which you have to make in the great day of your tryal before Christ the Judge of Quick and Dead is such as will then carry the Day on your side Sect. 2 You may know now how things will go with you then when that great and notable day of Judgement and Tryal comes You have the rule of that dayes proceeding before you now The word which Christ hath spoken the Doctrine which he either by himself or his Apostles hath delivered the same shall judge you that 's it by which you shall be tryed in that day John 12.48 That word which you read that Word which you hear from day to day that 's it by which you must stand or fall So that if you will but make a business of it by laying things together and comparing one thing with another Scripture with Scripture and the temper of your heart and tenour of your life therewith you may be able to Prophesie upon supposition that
like to go with him touching his final Justification in the grand Session of the Judge of all the world by that preparatory tryal which hath been impartially made in the Court of a mans own Conscience as I noted before If he be acquitted justified here by the testimony and verdict of Conscience grounded upon the Statutes of Christ and agreeable to matters of Fact he will be full of a comfortable confidence of speeding well at the Judgement seat of Jesus Christ 1 John 3.21 Beloved if our heart condemn us not then have we confidence towards God But if a mans conscience which if it err on any side it 's like to be in favour to the man himself if this find a man guilty and obnoxious to the condemning sentence of Christs Law there 's smal hopes for that man to expect a sentence of Justification and absolution at the tribunal of Christ unlesse he can upon the sence of what condition he is in bestir himself in the mean time to procure his pardon by taking such a course of amendment as by which through infinite Grace it may be had 1 John 3.20 For if our heart condemn us God is greater than our heart and knoweth all things hath a more piercing sight to discern a mans guilt than Conscience it self hath and therefore will condemn much more Sect. 7 O Sirs how does it then concern every one of us to carry all things fair in the sight of our Conscience which indeed is privy in a manner to all our doings and to maintain Friendship with that and to take heed of wronging and abusing that or making that ill affected towards us Sin and unworthiness of behaviour in word or deed is that which defiles Conscience which troubles and disturbs it which grieves and ill affects it and disables it from pleading a mans cause before the Lord or giving testimony on his side so that it can never send a man with boldness before the Lord till that which hath defiled and offended it be taken away Heb. 10.22 Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of Faith having our hearts sprinkled from an evil Conscience Mark to the drawing near to God in full assurance of Faith with boldness and confidence of being accepted with him this we see is absolutely necessary viz. that the heart be first sprinkled from an evil conscience that that be taken away which made the Conscience evil while it was there and what 's that but sin So long as the guilt of sin and filth of sin remain upon the heart the Conscience will be evil if sin trouble the Conscience Conscience will trouble the man and fill him with those fears as that he will be far from drawing nigh to God with confidence and full assurance of Faith but rather like Adam in that case run away and hide himself from God if it were possible Paul no doubt well knowing this to the end he might maintain his hope and confidence in God touching the Resurrection-day in good plight and might alwayes have his Conscience on his side and ready to present him unto God with a good testimony what did he do What! Herein saith he do I exercise my self to have alwayes a Conscience void of offence towards God and toward men Acts 24.16 In all his behaviour God-ward Men-ward and that alwayes he was so intent upon this thing of gratifying his Conscience that he made it his constant exercise was wonderful fraid of giving his Conscience any offence of offering any injury or wrong to that for he knew if he did that would spoil his hope towards God As the mysterie of Faith 2 Tim. 3.9 so the confidence of Faith must be held in a pure Conscience indeed it 's able to live in no other ayre A pure heart a good Conscience and Faith unfeigned these are linkt together 1 Tim. 1.5 where you find one there you will find all and where any one is wanting to be sure there the other will be missing If a good Conscience be once put away as it is where a pure heart is not kept it 's in vain for men to boast of their Faith and confidence in God 1 Tim. 1.19 Holding Faith and a good Conscience which some having put away concerning Faith have made shipwrack If a good Conscience be once put away the next news you hear is the ship-wrack of Faith Men may have a liveless form of Faith as the body and bulk of a Ship sometimes remains after a Wrack but is rendred useless and unserviceable and so is Faith when once a good Conscience is gone it 's of no use to entitle a man to the Promise and consequently of no use to give a man confidence towards God or to imbolden him to come before him If therefore to have Conscience which is Judge under Christ to be your Friend be any thing in your eye if to have that to plead your cause and to be a witness for you against the subtile insinuations malicious accusations and violent prosecutions of the Devil be a thing desirable to you if to have Conscience to send you to Christs Barr with Letters testimonial in your hand signifying that your cause hath been tryed in that Court and evidences and witnesses impartially heard and considered on both sides and your cause found good and you your selves under the Justification and protection of Christs Gospel I say if such things as these be any thing worth with you then be sure you use Conscience well which hath its eye upon you alwayes do not trouble it do not provoke it do not disoblige it at any time by any means and then the peace of God which passeth all understanding shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus Friends these are great matters and you your selves every one of you greatly concerned in them if you have not the sence of it now yet know ye that the time is coming apace wherein ye will better understand what these things mean But take heed this sence come not upon you too late when the opportunity of acting the part of a good Conscience is over remember how the foolish Virgins were then to provide themselves of Oyl for their Lamps when the wise by the light of that which they had provided in due time entred in with the Bride-groom and the door was shut against the other I have now done with giving this piece of instruction caution and advice and the good Lord prosper it to those that have heard it and to those that shall read it it remains on our part every one of us that we be presently up and doing according to it or else it will be a witness against us in the day of the Lord. And I my self who have been holding forth to you these great things am very sensible God knows that I am but a very poor and weak Creature and have had many a trembling of heart for my self as well as others whilst I have been writing these matters of mighty moment lest I should strike upon any of those Rocks whereof the troublesome sea of this sinful world is very full and of which I have been warning others before I make the fair Haven towards which I am steering And I dare say you will be never the near the danger if you be under the same sence and fear too But O then set us all away to God and follow him day and night with our fervent supplications to be upheld and kept by him taking hold of his strength trusting under the shadow of his love depending upon Christ for supplies of all necessaries for the Christian life carefully avoiding all things that might distast or grieve him and cause him to withdraw and leave us and with like care to do alwayes those things that please him so may we be certain that his eye will be alwayes on us and his heart towards us for good and his right hand shall uphold us and preserve us to his Heavenly Kingdom Amen THE END