and soundness to it to repair the breach that sin hath made there to restore the image of God which is decayed in the Soul and the like Rom. 6.14 Mic. 7.19 1 Thes 5.23 24. Ezek. 36.25 c. Isa 57.18 Hos 14.4 2 Pet. 1.4 And yet this grace of God is not wont to make any great or considerable progress in this work till Faith in men draw this mortifying power and healing vertue from him And therefore the purification of the Soul and sanctification of the person is sometimes ascribed unto their Faith as well as unto the power of Gods grace Acts 15.9 26.18 And that it is so is not only because it is instrumental in the hand of Gods grace to effect it but also because it is a powerful means of atracting and drawing the vertue power and grace of God to engage in this work God so pleasing that it should so do It fares with the Soul in respect of spiritual Diseases and the cure of them now Christ is in heaven as it did with the bodies of some in respect of natural Diseases and the cure of them when he was on earth There was alwayes power and vertue enough in Christ to heal them and yet the cure was not wrought until Faith was set on work to draw out vertue from Christ The Woman that had an issue of bloud twelve years though she had used many means and spent all upon the Physitians yet was never cured no not by Christ himself neither until she came to touch his garment and by her Faith drew vertue from him and then the cure was soon wrought Christ casts her cure upon her Faith saying Daughter thy Faith hath made thee whole Mark 5.34 Certainly it was the power of Christ and the vertue that went out of him that made her whole vers 30. but in as much as this was not drawn out into act till her Faith was active in it therefore is the cure ascribed unto her Faith And upon like account is it that we meet with such passages as these If thou beleevest all things are possible Mark 9.23 According to your Faith be it unto you Matth. 9.29 What is the reason may we think why so few of those vast multitudes in the world that languish under their spiritual Diseases are cured but that for the generality of them they are like to die eternally of them Certainly it is not because there is not vertue enough in Christ to heal them all but the reason is because there is so few that touch him by Faith to draw vertue out of him for their cure Nay they are afraid of being healed like some Beggars who keep their Sores open and unhealed on purpose because they make an advantage of them as they do of theirs such as it is Matth. 13.15 They have closed their eyes c. lest they should be converted and I should heal them And what 's the reason why many that are in part healed yet are not more thorowly cured But that there are too many signs and symptomes of their old Disease still hanging upon them and many grudgings of their old fits so that the Case remains in doubt with them whether they shall live or die Surely it is because though they have some kind of Faith yet they do not exercise it about this thing or but very little It may be they may have more communion with the riches of Gods grace the value and efficacy of Christs bloud in relation to pardon and Gods unwillingness to destroy and readiness to forgive poor sinners but have not acquainted themselves much with that heavenly art and method of Faith by which the Saints depend upon the Lord for his communication of vertue and strength for the healing of their Souls of spiritual distempers and restoring them to a spiritual health and soundness There 's no doubt but that the Lord Jesus is as much affected with the diseases that annoy mens Souls as ever he was with those that afflicted the body and delights every whit as much in the cure of the spiritual as ever he did in healing the corporal in as much as his own glory and his creatures good are more concerned in these than in the other But that which obstructed the cure of mens bodies and Souls too by Christ when he was on earth obstructs the perfect cure of mens souls by him now he is in heaven and that is the want of Faith in them that should be cured Christ could do no mighty works in this kind in some places where he came save on a very few that did beleeve because of their Vnbelief Matth. 13.58 compared with Mar. 6.5 6. As it was in the dayes of Eliseus as Christ observes when there were many Lepers in Israel needed cleansing as well as Naaman the Syrian and yet none were cleansed by the Prophet but Naaman for that none but he had Faith to seek it and qualifie them for it so was it with many in Israel in the days of Christ who though they had as much need of healing as any that were healed yet went without it for that they had not that Faith in the Lord by which those that were healed drew vertue from him for their cure Luke 4.23 with 27. 6.19 And so it is now the true reason why the Leprosie of the Soul is not cured in all as well as in some is because they do not by Faith draw vertue from Christ in whom it is for their cure It is not because Christ is not as sensible of the condition of men now he is in heaven as he was while he was on earth For we have not an High Priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities Heb. 4.15 Nor is it because he is not as able now both to compassionate and succour them as ever For in that he himself hath suffered being tempted he is able to succour them that are tempted Heb. 2.18 But as I say the reason of mens languishing under their spiritual diseases either without any cure at all or that which is very imperfect is either because they do not come to Christ at all for cure or but very faintly either not knowing where it is to be had or not truly and thorowly desiring it of him or not having confidence enough of obtaining it from him Ye will not come to me said he that ye might have life Joh. 5.40 and therefore they go without it And so if men will not come to Christ for health and cure no marvel if they remain unhealthful in their souls The Lord makes Promise it 's true of taking away the old heart and of giving a new which is but the removing of the disease of the soul and giving it health and soundness but yet so as that he will be sought unto by men to do it for them Ezek. 36.26 with 37. So that if they do not make their serious and hearty applications to him for it upon the
A Glass of Justification OR THE VVORK OF FAITH WITH POVVER Wherein the Apostles Doctrine touching Justification without the Deeds of the Law is opened and the sence in which Gospel-obedience as well as Faith is necessary to Justification is stated Wherein also the nature of that dead Faith is detected by which multitudes that hope for Salvation are as is to be feared deceived and the true nature and distinguishing properties of the Faith of Gods Elect is handled Finally the Doctrine of the imputation of Faith for Righteousness is herein also briefly discussed and the great wisdom and folly of men about the proof of their Faith touched Published on purpose to rectifie some dangerous and other damning mistakes of Men about their Faith and expectation of Justification thereby and to awaken and quicken all to the Work of Faith with Power By William Allen a poor Servant to the Lord Jesus What doth it profit my Brethren though a man say he hath Faith and have not Works Can faith save him James 2.14 LONDON Printed by G. Dawson for Francis Smith and are to be sold at his Shop in Flying Horse Court in Fleetstreet near Chancery-Lane end 1658. To that small Remnant of Christs Little Flock which are wont to wait on him in his PUBLICK WORSHIP at their place of Assembly in Loathbury London The Author truly desireth a being filled with all the fulness of God As he does also to all the Churches of like constitution for whose use this Address is secondarily intended Dearly Beloved Brethren Sect. 1 I May truly say that if any others besides your selves shall receive any benefit by the publication of the following Discourse they will be in good part debters unto you for it for that it was never like to have come abroad had not your Desires and Requests prepared its way What sence you had of the usefulness of these Sermons to your selves and what desires and hopes you had of their producing the like effect in others by this publication you your selves best know but this I may say that it was your professed experience of the former and your good perswasion of the latter that induced me to undertake a Work of this nature which circumstances considered in my case I fore-saw as since I have found would be to me a business of no small difficulty You that have had so great a desire hereby to promote the good of others will I hope and am perswaded be very careful to improve this new opportunity of a further inriching your selves with the knowledge sense and savour of the Doctrine contained in this Book as a thing then which I know not wherein you are more concerned But Experience shews that it is not an overly hearing or cursory reading though of things of highest import to the Soul such as are the way means method and terms of mans Justification before God and of the apparent danger that men are in of being mistaken hereabout and through this mistake of missing Justification it self I say it is not a perfunctory doing of these matters that will fill the soul with any due sense of these things For how many are there that frequently hear and sometimes read things that for the nature of them make the spirits of others to burn and boil within them and yet they themselves hardly at all moved thereby or if they do for the present just while they are under the immediate force of them work some little relentings and faint wishes that things were better with them yet such motions soon vanish like a dream when a man awaketh which while he was dreaming of it did somewhat affect him If then you would have this labour of mine which yet is not so much mine as Gods by whose help you have it truly to serve you not only by informing you more perfectly about the termes of your Justification but also in quickening you to more abundant care and diligence about the making good your title to the promise of Justification it self Then in reading hereof let your mind be as much upon the temper of your heart and tenour of your life as your eye is upon the Book and compare the Work of the one with the Doctrine of the other And be often making a pause and putting the question to your Conscience are things so and so with me or does my Faith work thus and thus as there you will find in the discovery of the living and dead Faith The effect of which carriage of yours according to this counsel of mine you will find through the blessing of God to be that when you find the evidence of your faith which is your title to life not to be so clear nor of so perfect an appearance in this and that as in a matter of that consequence were to be desired you will thereby be stirred up to give all diligence to make your calling and election sure by amending what is amiss about the proof of your faith and by adding what is lacking to it And when you shall feel the lively impressions which it may be a close consideration of the Doctrine of this Treatise hath wrought in you in the hearing of it or shall work in you by the reading of it I say when these impressions decay and want reparation your wisdome then will be to get close to that fire again where you had your former heat and that will warm you again stand by those words of eternal life and hear them talk to you a while Prov. 6.22 When thou awakest it shall talk with thee and they speaking with fiery tongues will kindle upon you and put you into a flame Luke 24.32 Did not our heart burn within us while he talked with us by the way and while he opened to us the Scriptures And this do as oft as there is need by calling to mind what you have heard or what you shall have here read in this kind for as the often rubbing of one hand against another will keep them warm in cold weather So the frequent exercising of the mind with this holy and heavenly Doctrine will preserve the spirit from growing chill and more especially from freezing And if the particulars of matter which have or which shall have affected you in this kind shall at any time escape your memory as Nebuchadnezzars dream did his with which he had been so much affected Dan. 2.5 you have here put into your hand that which will be a present help to you at such a pinch So that God hath one way or other abundantly provided you with means for your furtherance in grace in reference both to the information of your judgments quickning of your wills and affections and the helping of your memories and all in order to your godly conversation and Saintly walk Sect. 2 It remains therefore that I as one though but a poor one God knows of the dressers of this little Vineyard of the Lord in which every one of you particularly
profess your selves to be of the planting of the Lord I say it remains now that I in my Heavenly Lord and Masters name do call for and demand fruit of every one of you both of this and all other the labours cost and pains which have through the Lords succour and assistance been bestowed upon you both by my self and by him who hath served with me in the same Work with what love and Faithfulness to you the Lord best knows and your Consciences I trust in part can witness It is true we have an account to give of your Souls and O the weight of such a burden and care of such a charge little does he know it whose Conscience does not feel it but then know ye and consider it that you have an account also to give of all the Heart-affecting care Godly jealousie and fear painful study and labour in the Word and Doctrine which God knows is sustained and used in discharge of our trust towards you And O that our mutual care in discharge of our duties towards each other may be found such as that both you and we may give up our accounts together to Jesus the chiefe Shepheard of the Sheep with joy and not with grief In respect of our own persons alass how little is expected from you We can and you know we can truly say We seek not yours but you 2 Cor. 12.14 But that which puts you under the greater obligation to us-ward in respect of Office is that relation in which we stand between the Lord and you as being those vessels earthen ones indeed by which Jesus Christ is sending and ministring to you from time to time nourishment and Food for your Souls And what ever gifts we have or what ever labour we bestow among you they are not so much ours as the Lords it is not so much from us as from the Lord from whom we receive all and by whom we are inabled to do all and it is his care and love towards you to furnish you with any that have a mind carefully to watch for your souls From whence it is that the Lord expects fruit from you as due to him upon account of our labour and service among you and for the same reason it is that in his name I demand it of you and upon the same account that saying of the Apostle will take place 1 Thes 4.8 He therefore that despiseth despiseth not man but God who hath also given unto us his Holy Spirit But that which may well render this demand of mine as acceptable unto you as it is reasonable in it self is this that though I demand Fruit yet I demand fruit that may abound to your account Phil. 4.17 For however the Lord by your yielding fruit will be well pleased and his holy name and truth glorified and you shall thereby become to us also a Joy for the present and a crown of rejoycing in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at his coming 1 Thes 2.19 yet in the issue all the glory you shall bring to God and all the good you shall procure to men by rendering unto the Lord fruit in season will return into your own bosom you shall eat of the fruit of your doing if you have your fruit unto holinesse the end will be to you everlasting life Rom. 6.22 and the more fruit in holinesse now the more fruit in happinesse then when you shall be rewarded by him who will render to every one according to their works both for kind and degree if thou be wise thou shalt be wise for thy self Pro 9.12 Sect. 3 Brethren I beseech you hear me if you shall but lay this thing to heart if the sense of what the Lord hath done and is doing for you to make you fruitful shall but procure from you an earnest desire and care to answer the Lords expectation herein and to yield him a crop of the seed which he hath sown you shall thereby secure unto your selves the Lords constant care of you and prepare the way of a gratious multiplication and increase of prosperous and thriving applications of the Lord to you Every branch that beareth fruit he purgeth it that it may bring forth more fruit saith Christ the true Vine John 15.2 It encourageth a man to bestow more and more cost upon his Vineyard or upon his land when he finds it to quit his cost in an answerable return of fruit And so will the Lord rejoyce over you to continue and increase the means of your growth to prosper them more more for your encrease in grace if you be but found fruit-bearing branches As he will then delight to go down into his garden to gather fruit among you so he will blow upon his garden too with a heavenly breath to cause the spices thereof to flow out and your savour shall be as the smell of a field which the Lord hath blessed Sect. 4 And as the Lord in this case will spare for no cost that you may yield him more of that fruit which his Soul so loves so to be sure there shall be no care wanting to fence you that no wild beasts break in upon you to make havock and spoile There 's no man but takes most care of those trees that yield the best and most fruit and it s most certain that the eye of the Lord is chiefly upon those plants which yeild him the best increase both for quantity and kind Such a vineyard is indeed regularly capable of that care protection and tendence of which the Lord speaketh saying I the Lord doe keep it I will water it every moment lest any hurt it I will keep it night and day Isa 27.3 And I hope you are sensible that it s no small priviledge for you to have God to set a hedge about you and to watch over you in times of such spirituall danger as these are in which you live You know there are beasts of prey that are seeking to break in here and to creep in there Foxes little Foxes that seeke to spoyl the Vines that bear tender Grapes Cant. 2.15 Among which the Quaker is not the least active who under a pretence of singular holinesse and with two faces under one hood have overthrown the faith of some touching the excellency and necessity of the holy Scriptures touching the Resurrection of the body of our Lord and his personal session at Gods right hand and his coming again in person at the end of this world to judg the quick and the dead in many other things this you or at least some of you have proved and found though their equivocations subtile evasions and reservations of their particular and punctual opinions hereabout under general expressions have rendered their heretical deceit herein of a harder preception and a more difficult discerning which many unstable souls abroad in the world not having been able to discover have taken the hook while it hath been covered with a tempting
much of the blessing of God as he hath put into them for your good and to slight any of them is to reproach the wisdom and goodness of God which contrived them for your benefit But if you shall invert the proper order and use of them if when God hath made them servants as it were to the life of holiness and power of godliness if you now shall cause these to sit above and the other to stand below in your hearts if your heart be more upon them if your care be more to promote these if more of your zeal be spent about these then about your own and other mens conformity to Jesus Christ in the inward frame and heavenly temper of the mind and lowly and lovely deportment in life for the sake whereof all the Ordinances were ordained or if you shall value your selves by what you are in these rather than by what you are in that which is the end to which these tend then shall you put a bar to your spiritual growth in grace and holiness by them and loose the end for which they are designed by God and render your selves such as in whom his soul his spirit will take no pleasure Circumcision verily profiteth if a man keep the Law to wit conscionably in all other things Rom. 2.25 and so Baptism verily profiteth if a man keep the Gospel faithfully in all other the holy enjunctions of it to which his Baptism obligeth him but if thou be a breaker of the Law thy Circumcision is made uncircumcision if you be breakers of the Gospel the Statutes of Jesus your Baptism shall be made no Baptism to you and as the Children of Israel were counted but as Ethiopians unto God for all their Circumcision so shall you be as Indians unto him for all your Baptism Amos. 9.7 You know of what it was a sign in the Scribes and Pharisees to be more zealous of the lesser matters of the Law than of the greater Mat. 23.23 And truly I can judge it no better a sign for men to be exact strict and punctual in matters of Form and to be indulgent to wayes and things which intrench upon the power of Godliness like them which strain at Gnats and swallow Cammels keeping a stir about that which costs them little but favouring themselves in what would try their Christianity indeed These things I say not to teach you in the least to have a slight opinion of any of the Ordinances of the Lord Jesus no let my tongue rather cleave to the roof of my mouth than that I should move it or my pen to the disparigement or against the honour of any of the sacred Ordinances of the New-Testament But as it is no disparagement to the Female Sex to say that the Man was not created for the Woman but the Woman for the Man 1 Cor. 11.9 so is it no dishonour to the external Form of the Christian Religion and Worship to affirm it to be made for the Power sake howbeit this I say also that as the Man is not without the Woman nor the woman without the man in the Lord so neither is the power of Godliness without the Form nor the Form without the Power in the Lord but both mutually helpful one to another 1 Cor. 11.11 My aim and scope then is to arm you against degenerating into meer Form and Carkass in Religion without the spirit of life and power as that which will betray you should you be guilty of it into the same or as bad a condition as befel the Apostolical Churches whose glory was long since laid in the dust For as this very thing was that which prepared the Congregation of Israel for casting out of Gods sight as a dead and unsavory Carkass as I shewed before so without question it was the same thing which brought the Primitive Churches themselves to nothing Take the Church of Sardis for an instance who while she was in the Wane and her Sun going down but not quite set received a rouzing admonition from Christ as you may see Rev. 3.2 3. But what was her Fault and what was her charge verify it was this Thou hast a name that thou livest and art dead verse 1. Her Fault was not that she had a name to live but that she had the name without the thing And what was it that gave her the name to live or to be alive but the Form And what was it that denominated her to be dead notwithstanding the name she had to live but the want of spiriritiul life and power to inspire her And truly Friends we had need the best of us all to set these cautioning wakening quickning considerations before our eyes seeing the danger specified is so great that few of the ancient Churches have been able to hold out and bear up against it and how far prevalent upon the present Churches I leave to you and to themselves to judg and seriously to lay to heart And O that there were not too much cause of lamentation and sorrow on this account But whosoever under our Form and Way of Profession shall be found tardy herein hath the greater sin Sect. 10 For you being brought nearer to God in some part of the Form of his Worship than those that differ from you be as I know you beleeve you are you are in that respect if all other things concur under the richer advantage of living more up to the life and power of Godliness than they by how much the pure wisdome of God is more conducible to such an end than that is which hath a mixture of mans Besides your withdrawing from the National way and Form that you might have more close communion with God bespeaks men to expect some singular thing from you above the rate of all others from whom you withdraw And therefore if you shall not mightily endeavour to be exemplary in all worthiness of behaviour in life and conversation you will not answer the light and opportunity which in some things you profess to enjoy above others nor honour that Form and Way of yours wherein you differ from other men but if you be found but like or it may be worse than many of them shall you not take a course to expose your selves if not your way too to the scorn and laughter of other men And O how much have they to answer for do you think who thorough their fruitless and scandalous walking have been a scab and scandal to our way and have laid a stumbling-block of their haughtiness disdain presumption and rashness and sometimes of looseness too in the way of other men By which they as once Elie's Sons have caused the way of God to be abhorred by some to be vilified and set at nought by the tongues and pens of others and the light and beauty of it to be hid and covered from many who otherwise would I am confident have seen and imbraced it And by which also they have filled
by the concurrent consent of many both learned and godly men both heretofore and now pleading its cause which may as well make your Doctrine touching your way as inaccessible to their Judgements and as incredible to their minds as Christs Doctrine touching his Death and Resurrection was to his Disciples while fore-stalled with a deep impression of a contrary opinion ushered into the mind and rivited in the Soul by the seeming authority of the Tradition of the Elders The zeal to which Traditions was such a block in Paul's way as Gal. 1.13 14. though he served God with a pure conscience from his forefathers as he himself testifies 2 Tim. 1 3 and so had a zealous mind both to know and do the will of God profiting in his Religion above his equals yet his mind being swallowed up with zeal of those traditions that were contrary to the main Principles of the Gospel touching the Death and Resurrection of Christ John 12.34 he could not by all that light which shone in the Doctrine and Miracles of the Apostles see the truth to be the truth till an unusual light from Heaven which shone to him in the way to Damascus delivered him from being any longer captive to those Traditions And that which hath been the case of some may be and doubtless is the case of others For the thing that hath been as the Wise-man saith Eccles 1.9 It is that which shall be and there is no new thing under the Sun And therefore you see there may be reason and cause enough for you to fix mens dissenting from you upon another ground than want of integrity and truness of love to the Truth so far as discerned And truly Sirs where there is a better Foundation for you to fix their dissenting from you on the Law of Charity forbids you to seek a worse And I nothing doubt but that there are many concerning whom you have sufficient cause to judge that if they saw as you see would readily do as you do in that wherein you do worthily Do you not remember that your hearts for many of you were sincere to God for many years whilst you were of their perswasion And would not they have made a wrong judgement if any should then have questioned your integrity upon account of you not seeing what they saw And therefore surely your own experience herein obliges you to judge the best of others who now are what you once were And therefore my exhortation is that with all Christian respect and love you own and honour such so far as they and you have attained the same thing There will many be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus that have built upon Christ the onely Foundation some of whose works notwithstanding shall burn that have been unduly built on that Foundation through misprision and they themselves suffer loss upon that account 1 Cor. 3.14 15. And therefore though it will be very safe for you to reject those works when yon discover them to be such as will bring loss with them to those that imbrace them yet it will be your wisdome to receive and imbrace those persons themselves in the arms of Christian love whom the Lord will receive and with whom you hope to triumph in bliss for evermore Sect. 14 Touching the Ministry of the Nation take one word of advice from me which I am fully perswaded is agreeable to the mind of the Lord. Where you find any in whom there appears a true love to mens souls and an earnest desire to gain men to God by preaching wholesome Doctrine take heed of discouraging them in that work upon account of any difference of judgement between you and them And take heed of hindering the success of their labours this way by blemishing them in the eyes of men or underminding their reputation in the hearts of the people You will do Christianly in an humble wise and faithful way to labour all you can to make them and the people they preach to one with you in the truth and to bring them under rule wherein upon good grounds you apprehend disorder in their way But yet be sure you acknowledge their zeal to mens salvation as a most worthy thing and honourable in them and greatly rejoyce when you see the success of their faithful labours zeal and love in any mans soul Do not think but that God which blessed their and their predecessors labours to many of our souls which we have cause with thanksgiving unto God for ever to remember may also prosper their endeavours with like success to many others And God forbid that any of us should by any indiscreet zeal hinder the salvation of men while we design the promotion thereof Remember that the souls of men are precious things and that it becomes you to act with fear and trembling in things wherein they are much concerned else you may like an unskilful Midwife destroy them whilst you design to deliver and save them Edification and Salvation is the end of Ordinances and the orderly Administration of them and the means are to be more or less strained so as the end may best be provided for not to the laying of any Ordinance or Gospel Order totally aside but in urging them as men are able to bear them with safety of the edification of their souls in the main Rom. 14.1 For look what the safety of the people is in Civils that Edification is in Spirituals to wit the supream Law to which all must stoop And therefore when the strict observation in the letter of such or such a Law falls out to cross the end of its own institution as sometimes it may whether it does not so far and in that case and for that time loose its power of obliging to the letter is a thing worthy your serious consideration Especially considering that Christ seems to excuse a litteral breach of the Sabbath in his Disciples upon a like ground saying the Sabbath was made for man and not man for the Sabbath Mark 2.27 The Sabbath was made for man that is for mans ease rest and refreshing for this plainly was one end of the Sabbath Exod. 23.12 Deut. 5.14 And therefore when the forbearance of such an act of bodily labour as the gathering of ears of corn and preparing them for food which bodily labour in the strictness of the letter in ordinary cases would have been unlawful Exod. 16.27 28 and 35.3 crossed that refreshing of nature for which God intended the Sabbath the Law of the Sabbath prohibiting such labour lost its force in that case and for that time I confess it requires much skill and judgment to make this practicable in particular cases but I offer it that you might be thinking of it Let the answer of Christ to his Disciples in another case satisfie you in this Mark 9.38 39. verses And John answered him saying Master we saw one casting out Devils in thy Name and he followeth not us and we forbad
is true in him and in you In him who hath not onely given this new command Iohn 13.34 A new Commandement I give unto you that ye love one another as I have loved you but also hath given us the pattern of it in his own example having so loved us as to lay down his life and to give himself for us Gal. 2.20 Which thing as it is true in him so in you saith he 1 Iohn 2.8 because we ought therefore not only to love our Neighbour as our selves as before it was commanded but now even to lay down our lives for the brethren 1 Iohn 3.16 as he hath done for us Of all which viz. that the same command though in one respect it was old yet in another it was new and truly verified both in Christ and in the Saints the Apostle gives this reason in the forementioned place 1 Iohn 2.8 Because the darknesse is past and the true light now shineth the different dispensing of the same thing hath made this difference in it it was an old Commandement as it was once enjoyned under the old Covenant but now the darkness and obscutity of that Covenant and dispensation being past as when once it grew old it was then ready to vanish Heb. 8.13 and the true and new light in the Gospel and new Covenant now shining under which the same duties of Love are enjoyned upon other terms then before it might upon this account be well stiled a New Commandement which yet in substance was an old one Sect. 3 2. But Secondly and chiefly the reason why the Works of Love Justice and Mercy as commanded in the Gospel are not opposed to Faith by the Apostle in the point of Justification though these and all other Works commanded in the Law in the sence in which they were asserted by the Jews are opposed to Faith in that case is this because there is so vast a difference between the sence in which we do assert an Evangelical necessity of these to Justification and that sence in which the Jews did assert the availableness of these together with other Works of the Law unto justification as that the Apostle might well withstand the one sence as damnable and yet the other in the mean while remain under his full approbation For our Apostle was so far from denying the necessity of the Works of the Law unto justification saving in that erronious sence in which the Jews maintained them as that he did affirm that during the time in which they were enjoyned by God justification was not to be had without them as conjoyned with Faith Rom. 2.13 For not the hearers of the Law are just before God but the doers of the Law shall be justified It was no more mens hearing of the Law and leaning upon God as some did Mic. 3.11 without sincere obedience to the Law in one thing as well as in another that would render them acceptable to God then than mens barren formal and dead Faith under the profession of the Gospel will without an upright and careful conformity to the doctrin of Christ render them acceptable to God now As concerning that sence in which the Jews asserted and the Apostle denied the necessity of the works of the Law to justification take it thus They being ignorant of Gods Righteousness Rom. 10.3 and of his designe to teach men by the types and figures of the Law as by a school-master to expect justification by the death of Christ and Faith in his blood For by reason of the vail that was upon their hearts they could not see to the end of that which is abolished 2 Cor. 3.13 14 15. I say they being herein altogether ignorant were on the other hand highly confident that God had ordained their legal Sacrifices to purge them from their sins and their obedience in them and other points of the Law to be the only means to invest them with all the good that ever the Lord intended them not only in things temporal but also spiritual and eternal So that that which the Gospel attributes to the New Covenant to the blood of it to the faith of it to the obedience of it they attributed and ascribed all of it to the blood and obedience of the Old Covenant So that the question between the Apostle and them was but this Whether Eternal Redemption were to be had upon the First Covenant termes or the Second whether by the Works of the Law or the Faith of the Gospel the beleeving in and subjecting to the Lord Jesus as that only name way and means in which Salvation is to be had The Apostle he affirms that Salvation is to be had by the latter without the former by the New Covenant termes without the Old the Jews on the contrary they held that Salvation was to be had by the former without the latter by the Works of the Law without beleeving in or obeying of Jesus It is most evident and certain that thus and thus as hath been declared is the true sence in which the Jews held the Works of the Law available to justification and salvation and it is as clear likewise that in the very same sence the Apostle doth deny and reject them charging the whole stresse of all upon Christ and beleeving in and following of him Sect. 4 This is easie to be discerned in the Apostles Writings of which I have given an account in my Second Chapter to which I refer you and shall here add two or three Texts more Phil. 3.7 8 9. But what things were gain to me those I counted losse for Christ yea doubtlesse and I do count all things but losse for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord for whom I have suffered the losse of all things and do count them but dung that I may win Christ and be found in him not having mine own righteousnesse which is of the Law but that which is through the Faith of Christ the righteousnesse which is of God by Faith He had shewed before what the Jews trusted in boasted of and which he himself also whilst he was as they were did count his gain viz. Circumcised the eight day of the stock of Israel of the tribe of Benjamin an Hebrew of the Hebrews touching the righteousnesse of the Law blamelesse But when he became a Christian he let go all these things which he held so fast before took off and removed that confidence and stresse which he had placed in these and now laies all upon Christ and Faith in him That which he now expected by Christ he did indeed expect by his righteousness in the Law before but that which was his hope and his confidence his joy and his glory before is now but loss and dung with him when once the excellency of the knowledge of the way of Salvation by Christ does appear Now all his desire is to be found in Christ rejoycing in Christ trusting in Christ cleaving to Christ not
any more to be found in the dress of his own righteousness which was of the Law the first Covenant righteousness that righteousness in the Law touching which as he sayes he was blameless vers 6. Which whilst he expected Salvation by it was a righteousness or way of justification of his own setting up never of Gods appointing In opposition whereto he desires now to be found in that righteousness which is of God through Faith in that state of justification and salvation which God in the Gospel hath setled and established upon beleeving in Jesus So that here in this Contexture of Scripture you have the Jews righteousness or justification and the Christians through both which this Apostle had passed and of both which he had made tryal the Jews claim was by the Law and the works thereof but the Christians by the Gospel and the Faith and obedience thereof the act of his conversion was his renouncing of the former and cleaving to the latter Romans Chapter 9. Verse 30 31 32. What shall we say then that the Gentiles which followed not after righteousnesse have attained to righteousnesse even the righteousnesse which is of Faith but Israel which followed after the Law of righteousnesse hath not attained to the Law of righteousnesse Wherefore because they sought it not by Faith but as it were by the works of the Law for they stumbled at that stumbling-stone Here we have two manner of people the Gentiles and the Jews and two sorts of righteousness the one of the Law the other of Faith or of the Gospel The Gentiles who had not followed after righteousness but lived in Idolatry Sin and Wickedness and without God in the World being altogether strangers to the Common-wealth of Israel and that Covenant of Promise yet attained to righteousness a state of justification and acceptation before God upon their receiving the Gospel the doctrine of life and salvation when it was brought among them The Jews though they followed after the law of righteousness those laws wherein a righteous conversation was commanded by God and did many of the things that were commanded therein having a zeal towards God yet for all that did not arrive at that justification and acceptation with God which the Gentiles attained and the reason was because they did not seek it in the Gospel-way in which the Gentiles found it they should have let go the doctrine of Moses and have imbraced the doctrine of Christ and have reckoned themselves but in the same capacity with the Gentiles for all their Works of the Law and have said as some of them did We beleeve that through the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved even as they Acts 15.11 But instead of this they stumbled at that stumbling-stone Christ Jesus and him crucified and the offer of salvation by him and did adhere unto the works of the Law for all things pertaining to salvation and would have Justification upon the Law termes this ran in their mind if a man do those things he shall live in them and so ventured all upon that score It was quite beyond their expectation that the Messiah when ever he should come should turn them out of their way of Sacrificing by becoming a Sacrifice himself or that their expectation of remission of sin should be taken off the former and placed on the latter and therefore they cleaving to the letter of the Law for eternal salvation which so far was ordained by God but for a temporal and rejecting Christ and the termes of salvation by him which the Law pointed them to in the spiritual signification of it of which they were wholly ignorant hence it came to pass that for all their labouring seeking and striving after righteousness justification and salvation yet they missed it as seeking it out of Gods way upon their own termes not Gods Gal. 2.21 For if righteousnesse come by the Law then Christ is dead in vain How could that be but that they did attribute and ascribe the same attoning virtue and sin-purging efficacy unto the works of the Law which the Gospel does attribute unto the blood of Jesus And then indeed if it had been so as they supposed it was that sacrifices or any other works of the Law could have purged sin so as Christ does by his death and blood then the death of Christ would have been in vain God would never have put himself to that charge as to give his Son to death to take away the sin of men if the works of the Law had been a competent means to bring it about If there had been a Law saith the same Apostle which could have given life verily righteousnesse should have been by the Law Gal. 3.21 If the Law and the Wotks therein commanded could have done the same thing towards the conferring of life and salvation upon men which is now brought to passe by the coming and dying of Jesus then righteousness and life should have been by that But now inasmuch as that God hath given his Son to dye for here he writes to those that did acknowledge Christ and his death but withall inclined to that opinion Acts 15. that except men kept the law of Moses they could not be saved since God hath given his Son to dye it is as if he should say manifest that the Law fell short in ability of doing that for men for the doing of which God sent his own Son Rom. 8.3 For what the Law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh God sent his own Son in the similitude of sinfull flesh and for sin or by a sacrifice for sin as it is in the margent condemned sin in the flesh What the Law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh that is I conceive through or by reason of the sins of the flesh the sinful condition of man was so great as that it quite over-topt the purging power of the Law the disease was too strong to be cured with such a purge the sins of the flesh overmatched the Law in this kind and rendred it weak and therefore God was fain to send his own Son to condemn sin to take away the destroying power of sin by the sacrifice of himself for that the Law could not do it by its sacrifice In that the Apostle writes so much and in so many places for there are many more besides these touching the weaknesse and dis-ability of the Law to do that for men which God sent Christ to do for them it is in opposition to those who magnified the Law as if it had been able to do all that for them which the Apostle doth ascribe to Christ as done by him By what hath been now said I think it doth fully appear in what sence the Jews asserted the Works of their Law in the point of Justification and likewise in what sence the Apostle denies them Sect. 5 And now if any man shall say that Love Iustice and
Mercy yea or the act of Faith it self or any other work commanded in the Gospel does justifie as Christs blood justifies by way of attonement for sin let him be accursed It is the prerogative royal peculiarly and alone belonging to Christ thus to justifie in which no creature in Heaven or Earth or any action of any creature bears any the least share Heb. 1.3 When he had by himself purged our sins sat down on the right hand of the majesty on high To purge from sin is the self-work of Christ Heb. 7.27 and 9.26 28. and 10 12 14. When some of the Galatians were but about to attribute the same justifying power unto the Law which they had acknowledged to be in Christ Paul testifies to them that in doing so they would render Christ of none effect to them and fall from grace Gal. 5.4 So dangerous a thing is it to joyn any in competition or co-partnership with Christ in this work or to attribute the same justifying vertue to any beside him And if any among the Papists should ascribe any such operation or vertue to any of their works though as dipt in the blood of Christ and receiving their vertue from that it would doubtlesse be found a piece of high presumption and a sin of a daring nature before the Lord. But alass how far off are we from ascribing any such power operation or vertue unto any work which a Christian can do Nay Faith it self though it be so necessary unto justification as that without which the blood of Christ will not justifie and save men yet it is far from being necessary upon any such account as if it could in the least operate as Christs blood does or add any thing unto the saving vertue thereof and yet necessary it is because such is the Will of God as that the saving benefit of that blood shall not be made over unto any man but upon condition of his beleeving So I say of Works I mean Gospel-obedience though we say they are so necessary as that no mans Faith shall justifie him that is void of them or which is all one that no mans Faith shall justifie him without them yet we say also that they are far from being necessary upon any such score as Christs blood is necessary or as if they could contribute any thing unto its atoneing vertue Nor is it necessary in this case to suppose them to be formally of the nature of Faith nor to be essential to the act of beleeving nor that the same justifying act office or power is placed in them by God as is in Faith Yet necessary they are unto justification because such is the will and good pleasure of God as that though he will have Faith to entitle men to the justifying and saving benefit of Christs blood yet he will not interess an unprofitable dead barren fruitless formal Faith in that saving benefit and priviledges of the New Covenant but reserves this honour for that Faith only which is an active lively working Faith and which makes a man as well ready and desirous to give honour and glory unto the Lord in doing his will as to receive honour and glory from him in the way of beleeving his promise This God willing I shall make fully evident when I come to treat of the doctrine of Faith and Justification by it in the handling of the second part of my Text. Sect. 6 In the mean while if this burden any mans mind how to think or conceive that Faith in its first justifying act in closing with Christ should be accompanied with Works when as that first act is done in an instant but Faiths bearing of Fruit and producing of good works is a work of time and shal therefore think that sure Faith must needs be alone and without works in the first act of its justifying work whatever it be after I shall ease this burden and answer this objection by distinguishing of Works There are two sorts of Works 1. Such as consist in will purpose and desire 2. Such as consist in the actual execution of those resolutions and desires That those motions resolutions and desires that are transacted in the wil by way of preparation of turning them into actions of another nature when opportunity shall serve I say that these are works in Gods account who is as well privy to them as to external actions is most evident Mic. 2.1 Wo to them that devise iniquity and work evill upon their beds when the morning is light they practice it because it is in the power of their hand Their devising and resolving upon evill in the night in order to the practice of it in the day is called a working of evill upon their beds Again Psalm 58.2 Yea in heart ye work wickedness you weigh the violence of your hands in the earth The evill actions and motions of the mind and will are called a working of wickednesse in the heart as the looking on a Woman to lust after her is called the committing adultry with her in the heart Mat. 5.28 All which is as true of good intentions resolutions and desires as of evill the resolving upon good when opportunity presents is a working of good in the soul as well as the resolving upon evill upon like termes is the working of evill Now then that Faith which is not accompanied with good Works of this kind in the souls first fastening upon Christ by Faith for salvation I say that soul that does not come to Christ with a sence of such worthinesse in him as to desire and resolve through the strength of his grace to give up it self to him and to be commanded by him that Faith that soul by all the light that I can get from Scripture is never like to be accepted or to pass for currant in Christs account Nor will such desires and resolutions do it neither that are but airy and of the nature of false Conceptions and which spend themselves and languish and vanish in desiring and resolving like the sluggard Solomon speaks of Prov. 13.4 Whose soul desireth and hath nothing No unlesse they have that truth and reality that strength and substance as to be delivered of such conceptions and to bring forth fruit to perfection when opportunity comes and not like that corn that groweth upon the house-top that withereth before it come to maturity they are never like to obtain the honour and reputation of such desires and resolutions as will passe for good works in Gods account But if the soul in its first closing with Christ by Faith go armed and the Faith of the soul attended with real hearty and unfeigned desires and purposes to render unto the Lord in love honour and service according to the benefit it expects to receive from him and that nothing but lack of opportunity hinders the real acting and executing these desires and resolves with suitable endeavours doubtlesse that soul that faith is accepted with the Lord as
gracious not only in forgiving but also in rewarding such who duly and diligently seek his favour grace and love in such wayes and by such means as he himself hath appointed for that end Heb. 11.6 But without Faith it is impossible to please him for he that cometh to God must believe that he is there 's the former act of Faith touching the truth of his being and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him Thirdly by trusting in and relying on his might mercy grace and love for pardon justification and eternal salvation Psalm 52.8 But I will trust in the mercy of the Lord for ever Rom. 4.5 But beleeveth on him that justifieth the ungodly Iohn 5.24 But all this at least since God was manifested in the flesh in and by Christ there being no coming to or believing in the Father but by him Iohn 14.6 1 Pet. 1.21 Though formerly he was worshipped and served under the name and title of the God of Abraham the God of Isaac the God of Iacob yet now in the New Testament under the Name and Title of the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ Eph. 1.17 and 3.14 Sect. 3 I might here shew also that the word promise or record of the Father concerning his Son is the object of Faith Yea Abrahams justification is cast upon his beleeving this word of God So shall thy seed be For Abraham beleeved God and it was counted to him for righteousnesse Gen. 15.6 Rom. 4.3.18 Gal. 3.6.8 Iames 2.23 Now the record which the Father hath given of Christ in the New Testament as the object of Faith is two-fold 1. That he is his beloved Son in whom he is well pleased and that he ought to be heard and obeyed Mat. 3.17 and 17.5 And 2. That in him is life and that salvation is now offered to the World by beleeving in and obeying of him 1 Iohn 5.9 10 11 12. If we receive the witnesse of men the witnesse of God is greater for this is the witnesse of God which he hath testified of his Son He that beleeveth on the Son hath the witnesse in himself he that beleeveth not God hath made him a lyar because he beleeveth not the record which God gave of his Son And this is the record which God hath given to us eternal life and this life is in his Son He that hath the Son hath life and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life This testimony which the Father gave of his Son was partly by voice from Heaven 2 Pet. 1.17 18. and partly by those Works which he gave him to finish by which men saw his glory as the glory of the only begotten of the Father Iohn 5.36 I have greater witnesse then that of Iohn for the works which the Father hath given me to finish the same works that do I bear witnesse of me that the Father hath sent me John 10.37 38. If I do not the works of my Father beleeve me not but if I do though ye beleeve not me yet beleeve the works that ye may know and beleeve that the Father is in me and I in him Sect. 4 II. As the Father so also Christ the Son is in Scripture set forth as the more immediate object of Faith Acts 16.31 And they said beleeve on the Lord Iesus Christ and thou shalt be saved and thy house Now ye must know that Christ is propounded as the object of Faith in several respects and under several considerations Sect. 5 1. As he is the Messias of which Moses and the Prophets wrote and said should come And therefore is Christ called the He that should come Mat. 11.3 Art thou he that should come or do we look for another John 13.19 Now I tell you before it come that when it is come to passe ye may beleeve that I am HE. It was one thing to beleeve in general according to the Prophets that Messiah should come which was the common Faith of the Jews and as it should seem of the Samaritans too Iohn 4.25 and another thing to beleeve in particular that Jesus which is come is the Christ This was the Faith of such as did receive him and cleave to him when he did come Iohn 11.27 She said yea Lord I beleeve that thou art the Christ the Son of God which should come into the world The want of which is the destroying sin that lies so heavy upon the Jews John 8.24 For if ye beleeve not that I am HE ye shall dye in your sins 2. Christ as he is the Son of God is made the object of Faith Joh. 20 31. But these are written that ye might beleeve that Iesus is the Christ the Son of God and that beleeving ye might have life through his name Acts 8.37.1 John 5.1 4 5. and 4.15 By Faith he is beleeved to be the Son of God not as Adam was the Son of God viz. by Creation Lu. 3. last in which sence we are all his Offspring Act. 17.28 Nor yet as the Saints are the Sons of God to wit by Adoption Gal 4.5 but that he is the begotten yea the only begotten Son of the Father so the Son and so begotten of the Father as none else is among all the creation of God John 1.14 and 3.18 He that beleeveth on him is not condemned but he that beleeveth not is condemned already because he hath not beleeved in the name of the only begotten Son of God Sect. 6 3. Christ as dying and shedding his blood is the object of Faith and that by which sinners become justified Rom. 5.9 Much more then being now justified by his blood we shall be saved from wrath through him Rom. 3.25 Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through Faith in his blood Faith eyes the blood of Christ as its object under a three-fold consideration First it believes that Christ did dye and shed his blood for our sins 1 Cor. 15.2 3. If ye keep in memory what I preached unto you unlesse ye have beleeved in vain For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received how that Christ dyed for our sins according to the Scriptures Mat. 26.28 For this is my blood of the New Testament which is shed for many for the remission of sins Secondly that this death and shedding of this blood of Christ is both the only and the all-sufficient means appointed by God to make an attonement for and to purge away sin Heb 1.3 When he had by himself purged our sins sat down on the right hand of the majesty on high Revels 1.5 Vnto him that loved us and washed us from our sins in his own blood c. Heb. 10.14 For by one offering hath he perfected for ever them that are sanctified Heb. 9.14 How much more shall the blood of Christ who through the eternal spirit offered himself without spot to God purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God Thirdly
as it beleeves the blood of Christ to be it and it alone that is in it self and by the ordination of God fully sufficient to take away sin the guilt of it or the condemning power or destroying nature of it so accordingly does it relye upon this blood of Christ under the gracious appointment of the Father to do this great thing for him to particular in whom this Faith dwells Rom 8.25 Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through Faith in his blood In this Scripture there are three things that are especially to be marked in relation to the point in hand 1. That Christs blood is the blood of propitiation or that Christ himself is the propitiation by means of his blood i. e. the reconciler the procurer of savour in pardon or remission 2. That God hath ordained him in his blood thus to be and accordingly hath proposed and offered him to all the world as a publick propitiation but yet so and upon condition that men have Faith in his blood i. e. do believe it to be of it self and by the appointment of the Father of sufficient efficacy force and vertue to purge them from their sins Which Faith also must be of the right kind or else it will not interesse any man in this great benefit 3. That which is moreover implyed is that the Faith of a man feeling so good a foundation and ground under it as is the blood of Christ in conjunction with the Fathers will as by which to be confident of a plenary purgation from all sins how great or how many soever they have been does accordingly safely and securely build thereupon Sect. 7 4. Christ as being risen from the dead is the object of justifying Faith Rom. 10.9 If then shalt confess with thy meuth the Lord Iesus and shalt beleeve in thy heart that God raised him from the dead thou shalt be saved Rom. 4.25 Who was delivered for our offences and was raised again for our Iustification And no marvel that the Resurrection of Christ should be the object of saving Faith inasmuch as in it is included the beleef of the main foundation Doctrines of the Gospel and without it Faith could have no firm footing to rest upon touching other great Gospel-truths As 1. The beleeving of him to be the Son of God which is an ingredient absolutely necessary in the Gospel-faith doth at least in great part depend upon the Faith of his Resurrection For Faith can ground its belief touching his being the Son of God upon nothing else than that which declares him to be so But now he is declared to be the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness by the Resurrection from the dead Rom. 1.4 2. The keeping promise and Covenant with the holy Patriarchs and their Seed which Faith must needs eye did depend upon Gods raising Christ from the dead Acts 13.32 33. And we declare unto you glad tidings how that the promise which was made unto the Fathers God hath fulfilled the same unto us their children in that he hath raised up Iesus again as it is also written in the second Psalm Thou art my Son this day have I begotten thee And again Acts 2.30 31. Therefore being a Prophet and knowing that God hath sworn with an Oath to him that of the fruit of his loyns according to the flesh he would raise up Christ to sit upon his throne he seeing this before spake of the Resurrection of Christ that his soul was not left in hell neither his flesh did see corruption 3. The Resurrection of Christ is so necessary to Justification and to the Faith of it that take away this and Justification and the beleef of it are all laid in the dust 1 Cor. 15.14 17. And if Christ be not risen then is our preaching vain and your Faith is also vain And again vers 17. And if Christ be not raised your Faith is vain ye are yet in your sins Without beleeving is no justification and if there had been no Resurrection of Christ there could have been no Faith touching that attonement that is now made by his death For could men have beleeved that the death of Christ had been of sufficient force and vertue to expiate sin had it not been manifested by his Resurrection surely no. For so long as he was under the power of death he was under the power of sin of which death is but the wages For in that he dyed he dyed unto sin saith the Apostle Rom. 6.10 The sting of Death to wit that which gives it power of prevailing over the creature is sin 1 Cor. 15.56 And the time when that saying O death where is thy sting O grave where is thy victory shall be brought to passe is not till the day of Resurrection When this corruptible shall have put on incorruption and this mortal immortality 1 Cor. 15.54 And therefore as the Saints shall not actually and perfectly be delivered from all the effects of sin till the day of their Resurrection so neither was Christ delivered from that burden of other mens sins which he bore in his own body untill he rose from the dead And if sin had been too hard for him in keeping him under the power of death it would much more have been too hard for us But in that God raised Christ from the dead he did as it were thereby acknowledge satisfaction for the debt of mens sins which he by his death as a surety had discharged While he lay in the grave he was detained as a prisoner for other mens debts but when the prison doors were opened and he let out the Father acknowledged satifaction and did as it were seal him in the behalf of those for whom he undertook a release and discharge By his entring into suffering he took the sins of the world upon him but by his Resurrection by which he came out of his suffering-state he put them off As in his suffering he was made sin for us and dealt with as if he had been a sinner so by his Resurrection he was justified from those sins which were imputed to him And unlesse he had been first justified from our sins which were imputed to him all the while he suffered we could not have been justified from them our selves And therefore no marvel that the Apostle should attribute our Justification with a Rather unto the Resurrection of Christ than to his Death as he does Rom. 8.33 34. Who is he that condemneth it is God that justifieth it is Christ that dyed yea rather that is risen again He seems to feel a firmer footing for his Faith in the Resurrection of Christ than in his death more to bear him out against the accusations of any that had a mind to condemn him the answer which a good conscience makes it is by the Resurrection of Christ from the dead 1 Pet. 3.21 4. I might here add that the beleef of the Resurrection of our bodies
at the last day and the eternal judgement that will follow thereupon which are two great Arricles of the Christian Faith and fundamental Doctrines Heb. 6.2 does depend upon our beleef of the Resurrection of Christ For if Christ the Son of Gods love him in whom his soul delighteth more than in any man should not have been raised by the glory of the Father there would have been little reason for any other man to expect so great a favour But now is Christ risen from the dead and is become the first fruits of them that slept 1 Cor. 15.20 as a pledge of their Resurrection also In that any have a lively hope of being raised again to an inheritance uncorruptible and undefiled and that fadeth not away they are thereunto begotten by the resurrection of Iesus Christ from the dead so saith the Apostle 1 Pet. 1.3 4 And again verse 21. In that God raised him up from the dead and so gave him glory it was that our Faith and hope might be in God that he will do so to us likewise For God hath both raised up the Lord and will also raise up us by his own power 1 Cor. 6.14 For if we beleeve that Iesus dyed and rose again even so them also which sleep in Iesus will God bring with him 1 Thes 4.14 Because I live ye shall live also saith he who is the Resurrection and the life Iohn 14.19 and 11.25 And that there shall be a righteous Judgement following the Resurrection and that Christ Jesus shall be the Judge is such a thing of which the Father hath given assurance or offered Faith unto all men in that he hath raised him from the dead Acts 17.31 Sect. 8 5. The Word Gospel or Doctrine of Christ and of his Apostles is so the object of Faith as that salvation is promised unto the right beleef thereof Mark 16.15 16. Go ye into all the World and preach the Gospel to every Creature he that beleeveth and is baptized shall be saved 2 Thes 2.13 Because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and beleef of the truth 2 Thes 1.10 When he shall come to be glorified in his Saints and to be admired in all them that beleeve because our testimony among you was beleeved in that day The Doctrine of Christ and of his Apostles may well be counted the object of Faith inasmuch as to beleeve it is all one as to beleeve that the Father hath set forth his Son to be a propitiation for sin through Faith in his blood and so it is to beleeve that Christ dyed for our sins according to the Scriptures and that he rose again the third day according to the Scriptures because the Doctrine of the Gospel is a testimony and declaration of these things and he that beleeves the one beleeves the other also Gods giving his Son to dye and Christs dying and rising again without a declaration of the mind and counsel of God thereabout as viz. for what cause upon what account and for what end he did so as also upon what termes and conditions men shall reap the fruit of his Death Resurrection and Intercession I say the one without the other does not seem to be the adequate object of Faith but both together are For which cause the Doctrine of the Gospel in its Enunciations Precepts and Threatnings as well as in its Promises is the object of Faith And because the Doctrine of the Gospel contains declares and amply sets forth all these things together with those things which are to come viz. the Resurrection of the Dead and Eternal Judgement in order to which the former first take place as being all of them matters about which Faith is busied therefore is it that the Doctrine of the Gospel is frequently called the Faith Gal. 1.23 and 3.2 5 23. Acts 6.7 Romans 1.5 1 Tim. 4.1 Iude 3. And so now I have done with my first point touching Faith viz. the object of it or the beleeving of what it is that shall be imputed for righteousness CHAP. V. Shewing that that Faith which consists onely in assenting unto the truth of that report which the Gospel makes touching Christ his being the Son of God and of his coming into the World to save Sinners by dying for them will not availe to Iustification and Salvation as a Gospel-Faith of the right kind will do Sect. 1 HAving briefly shewed from the holy Scriptures the beleef of what it is objectively that hath the promise of Salvation annext to it I shall now in the next place come to enquire what and what manner of beleeving it is subjectively that hath the same promise or whether every act of beleeving that is placed on a right object hath this great priviledge of Justification entailed to it And upon due enquiry it will be found that not any act or acts of Faith one or more be they never so many of them that fall short of engaging the Soul in true Love and sincere obedience unto the Lord Jesus will avail the man in whom they are unto the saving of the soul If I mistake not all the acts of a saving Faith may be reduced to and comprehended under these three heads The first I call an act of Credence the second an act of Adherence and the third an act of Confidence in the exertion of which three acts of Faith having Christ for their object the whole soul mind will and affections are engaged which make up the beleeving with all the heart which the Gospel calls for Acts 8.37 By that act which I call an act of Credence I mean the assent of the mind unto the truth of what the Gospel reports especially touching Christ and Gods love to mankind in him as that he is the Son of God and Saviour of the world that he was sent of God the Father to shew unto men the way of salvation and then to dye rise again and after his ascension to make intercession to bring that salvation about and that remission of sins is to be had through his name By that act of Faith which I call an act of Adherence I understand the souls fast cleaving unto the Lord Jesus in affection and subjection as counting him more worthy of both than any Creature or thing in all the world as also taking hold of that grace and strength which is in Christ for deliverance from the power of sin and of bringing the soul back again to God in point of holiness And lastly by an act of Confidence I mean the Souls relyance rest or dependance upon Christ or on the Father through Christ for remission of sins acceptation and eternal salvation the committing of the Soul to his mercy the throwing it upon his grace These three acts of Faith relate to each other by way of dependance the second depending upon the first as the acts of the Will do upon the Understanding and the third upon both the
former and all acted upon the same object Now that which I shall endeavour is to shew that the first and last of these acts the assent of the mind unto the truth of things that are to be beleeved and the confidence of the soul to meet with salvation from the Lord may be found in such men in whom the middle act of a loving and loyal adherence to the Lord is not found and that the other two without this will not avail to Justification and Salvation Sect. 2 First that men may by way of assent unto the truth of that by which Jesus hath been manifested to be the Christ of God beleeve him to be so or beleeve on him as such and yet that beleeving of theirs not avail them to salvation will appear first of all by Ioh. 12.42 43. compared with other Scriptures The words are these Neverthelesse among the chief Rulers also many beleeved on him but because of the Pharisees they did not confesse him lest they should be put out of the Synagogue for they loved the praise of men more then the praise of God That these men did beleeve Jesus to be the Messiah the Christ of God is most evident in that upon conviction by his Miracles and Doctrine which declared him so to be they beleeved on him and consequently must beleeve in the generall his Doctrine to be true And yet that whilst they did thus beleeve they were in an unsafe condition as touching the salvation of their souls will appear by two material circumstances in the words The first is this That for all their Faith they durst not confess him lest they should be put out of the Synagogue which unworthy deportment of theirs put them under that threatning of Christ Mark 8.38 Whosoever therefore shall be ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation of him also shall the Son of man be ashamed when he cometh in the glory of his Father with the holy Angels And John saith that every spirit that confesseth not that Iesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God 1 John 4.3 And confessing with the mouth is as well required unto salvation as beleeving with the heart Rom. 10.10 The second is this that while they thus beleeved they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God which whosoever does cannot beleeve savingly according to Christs own words Iohn 5.44 How can ye beleeve which receive honour one of another and seek not the honour that cometh from God only Such beleevers likewise surely were they Iohn 2.23 24. Who when they saw the miracles which Christ did they beleeved in his name but Iesus did not commit himself to them because he knew all men he knew that for all their Faith of assent that he was indeed the Messias of which they were convinced by his miracles yet there was not in them the Faith of adherence in a constant and an affectionate sticking to him and therefore would not trust himself with them Which is argument enough that their Faith was not saving nor such as would denominate them faithful Disciples unto Jesus whose property it is to forsake all rather than to forsake Ghrist Luke 14.33 which had it been their case Christ would not have been shie of betrusting himself with them It 's probable that Simon Magus was a beleever of this kind one whose Faith was right as touching the object of it and as touching this first act of it also for the Scripture saith Then Simon himself beleeveh also Acts 8.13 And what did he beleeve that 's exprest in the former verse where it 's said that when they beleeved Philip preaching the things concerning the kingdom of God and the Name of Iesus Christ they were baptized both men and women Then Simon himself beleeved also that is as well as they or the same things which the others beleeved viz. Philips doctrine concerning the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus And yet for all his perswasion of the truth of the doctrine of the Gospel preached by Philip his heart was not purified by his Faith as the hearts of all are by Faith of the right kind Acts 15.9 for Peter told him First that his heart was not right in the sight of God vers 21. Secondly that he was in the gall of bitterness and bond of iniquity vers 23. and consequently was in danger of perishing as the Apostle intimated to him saying Thy money perish with thee verse 20. There was in him the Faith of Credence but not of Adherence the assent of the mind unto the truth of Philips Doctrine but not the powerful consent of the will unto the superlative goodness of the way to the Kingdom taught by him Sect. 3 That this Faith of which we now speak which consists onely in the general assent of the understanding unto the truth of divine Revelation is not that Faith to which the great promises of the Gospel are made I shall endeavour further to manifest by adding two or three Reasons to the Scripture-testimonies already alledged 1. This assent as it is but one single act of Faith and therefore comprehends not the whole general nature of that grace so it is but the act of one single faculty of the soul the mind or understanding and so is not that beleeving with all the heart which is the right christian Faith Acts 8.37 which consists as well in the consent of the will touching the goodness of the thing beleeved as the assent of the mind to the truth of its being For as the object of the Christian Faith the Gospel bears the relation and carries as full a proportion of goodness as of truth in it so does the beleeving soul accordingly by the faculty of the mind assent to it as true and by the faculty of the will accept of it as a soveraign good And under this two-fold consideration is the Gospel propounded as the object of Faith 1 Tim. 1 15. This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation that Christ Iesus came into the world to save sinners It 's a saying faithful in respect of its truth and worthy of all acceptation in respect of its goodness Sect. 4 2. The Devils themselves have such a faith as by which they assent to this truth that Christ is the Son of God and it is the first-born of improbabilities that ever the Devils should have that faith abiding in them by which men shall be saved That the Devils do not only beleeve that there is one God and tremble according to Iames 2.19 but that they also beleeve Christ to be the Son of God the Christ of God is evident Luke 4 41. And Devils also came out of many crying out and saying thou art Christ the Son of God If any shall here object and say that we have but the Devills own word for it who was a lyar from the beginning The answer is that we have more than their word
which the faithful Prophets of the Lord threatned them with for transgressing the Covenant of the Lord and living in disobedience thereto Just as foolish men now do who because they find by the Scriptures that Christ dyed for sinners and hath commanded that remission of sins and salvation be preached in his name to every creature and hath given many precious encouragements for sinners of all sorts to look unto him from all the ends of the earth and be saved but with this Item that they repent and be baptized every one of them in the name of the Lord Iesus for the remission of sins that they be born again of water and of the Spirit that they deny themselves take up their Cross and follow him and forsake all that they have for his sake if they cannot faithfully obey him upon cheaper termes without which they cannot be his Disciples and that they diligently hearken to and carefully observe whatever Jesus that great Prophet hath spoken and commanded upon pain of being cut off from the number of the Lords redeemed ones they little minding or regarding the termes and conditions of the grace offered or thinking a few outward performances as the Jews aforesaid did of Circumcision Sacrifices and the like will serve for all when indeed the main of the matter the renewing them to God in the disposition and frame of their hearts and a faithful labouring to please the Lord in all all things and striving against all contrary motions and temptations is wholly wanting yet as if all the grace in the Gospel were theirs and designed for all those that will lay hold of it right or wrong they confidently perswade themselves or endeavour so to do that they are built upon a sure foundation that Christ remission of sins and salvation are all theirs and that they do them a great deal of wrong that offer but a word to shake this confidence of theirs Again see the like in another passage Isai 48.1 2. Hear ye this O house of Iacob which are called by the name of Israel and are come forth out of the waters of Iudah which swear by the name of the Lord and make mention of the God of Israel but not in truth nor in righteousnesse For they call themselves of the holy City and stay themselves upon the God of Israel the Lord of hosts is his name This people you see mention the name of the Lord as being called by it look upon themselves as his people call themselves of the holy City and thereupon stay themselves upon the God of Israel depend upon him for all good as their God and upon his promises as if made to them and thus they did but not in truth nor in righteousness for this profession and this confidence of theirs was accompanied with unfaithfulness in the main and therefore their dependance upon God was irregular and deceitful God having no where engaged to stand under such a trust but the contrary Iob 8.13 14 15. Sect. 2 And as it was thus with those under the Old so is it likewise after the same manner with too many now under the New Testament who because they have some knowledg and beleef of Gods gracious intention to save sinners by the death of his Son and the general promises of the Gospel especially if together herewith they have but a form of godliness and something of devotion towards the ordinances of God they perswade themselves that they are the believers to whom the promises of remission of sin and salvation of the soul are made though in the mean time they are under the power of some known sin or other either covetousness or cruelty and hard heartednes or pride or uncleannes or intemperance in word or deed or some other sin and are unrenewed in will and affections or if there be any change it is not so much as will turn the scale and give them in of the victory against the flesh on the Spirits side but though there be so much light as that they can talk of good things and so much conviction as in the general to approve of them yet the interest of the flesh clearly carries it when things come to be done and when temptation is upon them And the main reason I conceive why persons upon their generall belief of the Gospel have this confidence of Salvation though otherwise they are as yet but in the flesh and so cannot please God Rom. 8.8 is this because they are partial in the Scriptures and do not give one Scripture as well as another room in their judgements and affections their minds run upon such Scriptures as declare Christ Iesus to have come into the world to save sinners that God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever beleeveth in him should not perish but have everlasting life that he that confesseth with his mouth the Lord Iesus and beleeveth in his heart that God raised him from the dead shall be saved and the like and so far they do very well But then there are other Scriptures that declare that except men repent they shall perish that except they be born again they cannot see the kingdom of God that without holiness no man shall see the Lord that the Lord will come in flaming Fire rendring vengeance to those that obey not the Gospel that those that live after the flesh shall dye that if any man love the world the love of the Father is not in him that tribulation and wrath shall be upon every soul that doth evill with many the like which they slightly pass over and are not thorowly possest with an apprehension that those other Scriptures that entaile the promise of life to be beleeving are so to be understood as that these others must stand with them or to be understood of such a kind of believing as hath the substance of these other Scriptures working in the bowels of it which they must believe that will not deceive themselves in their Faith and is there not the same reason to believe the one as well as the other doth not the water of both sorts of Scripture proceed out of the same hole from the same fountain But now the carnal beleevers of whom I speak fansying to themselves that the promise of Salvation is made to believing indefinitely not considering that it is tyed up to that special kind of believing which works by love as other Scriptures interpret and they knowing in themselves that they do believe in one sence for so indeed they do with that general Faith of assent thence they conclude confidently that they are heirs of promise and heirs of salvation as well as any and do as verily think they are going to Heaven whereas indeed they are in the way to hell as ever the Syrians thought they were going to Dothan while they were blindly led to Samariah 2 King 6.19 Sect. 3 The men of this formal and dead Faith of which I speak that
hav confidence of Salvation because they believe though they do not indeed believe with that belief unto which Salvation is promised do directly tread in the steps of some in the Apostles dayes who would needs be confident of salvation though all the Faith they had was not of that power as to produce a holy life and the Apostles knowing the danger of such a confidence laboured exceedingly to take them off it and to build them upon a better bottom This is the business in which the Apostle Iames labours so mightily in his Epistle And we may easily perceive what Disease was among the Christians by the remedies which this servant of the Lord applyed for their cure viz. an inordinate love of the world which manifested it self in an adulterous and too near a complyance therewith Chap. 4. beginning And thereupon they despised the poor Saints and preferred men less worthy if they were rich chap. 2. Their want of the true christian humility and love brake out into bitter envying and strife and an undue judging and censuring one of another chap. 3. throughout And yet for all these unchristian and unsaint-like deportments they were ready to glory as if they were the knowing men and men of the right Religion wherein salvation was to be had and that it did belong to them In opposition to which vain-confidence and confident boasting he expresseth himself thus chap. 3.14 15. But if ye have bitter envying and strife in your hearts glory not and lie not against the truth this wisdom descendeth not from above but is earthly sensual develish For them to glory of their Religion and of their wisdom and knowledg and yet to be men of such an unchristian carriage they did but lye against the truth which they pretended to have on their side but indeed was point blank against them But if any man would approve himself a wise man indeed endued with the christian knowledge of the right kind the Apostle tells them it must be by shewing out of a good conversation his works with meekness of wisdom v. 13. Again chap. 1.26 he had likewise encountred that vain-confidence that was built upon a form of Knowledge Faith and Profession without the life and power of it saying If any man among you seem to be religious and bridleth not his tongue but deceiveth his own heart this mans religion is vain Men that should give way to the flesh though but in one thing as for instance a licensious liberty to the tongue not endeavouring by watchfulness heed and circumspection to conform to the doctrine of the Lord which forbids not only lying reviling back-biting slaundering corrupt and unclean communication but also foolish talking and jesting yea every idle word how religious soever they might otherwise seem to themselves upon account of their formal knowledg and Faith of external devotion to the Ordinances yet the Apostle testifieth as from the Lord that such do but deceive their own hearts befool themselves with a vain confidence of being religious men and of being accepted with God as such and that such mens Religion is vain that is as to the end for which the true Religion serves Not as if all their Religion were made up of vain notions but though they had never so sound a knowledg and right belief of many excellent Gospel-truths and though they added thereto the doing of many things yea how seemingly religious soever they were upon what account soever yet the want but of this one thing a care to bridle the tongue would render all a mans Religion and all his confidence of salvation built thereupon but vain unprofitable touching the end of Religion the end of Faith which is the salvation of the soul as if he had never had any Religion nor seeming shew of it at all Yet once more Iames 2.14 to the same purpose thus What doth it profit my brethren though a man say he hath Faith and have not Works can Faith save him that is can such a Faith save him a form of speech emphatically denying the thing interogated like unto that afterwards chap. 3.11 12. Doth a fountain send forth at the same place sweet water and bitter Can the figg-tree my brethren bear Olive berries either a Vine Figgs Why no it cannot no more can that Faith save that hath not Works Though a man may say and say truly though a man be able to say he hath Faith yet if he have not Works can his Faith save him do you think it can He is not blaming their Faith as if not placed upon a right object or as if there were not a real closing with that object in point of assent in the beginning of this Chapter he clearly supposeth them to have the Faith of our Lord Iesus Christ only there cautions them not to yoke or couple their Faith with an unchristian carriage assuring them by the tenour of his discourse throughout this Chapter especially from the fourteenth verse to the end that a Faith so yoked and wanting its true yoke-fellow and companion the Gospel conversation which he calls by the name of Works will not profit him that hath it Which unprofitableness of that Faith which hath not Works he further illustrates by way of comparison verse 15 16. If a Brother or Sister be naked or destitute of daily food and one of you say unto them depart in peace be ye warmed and filled notwithstanding ye give them not those things which are needful to the body what doth it profit Nothing at all that is to the filling or warming of the necessitous person Even so saith he ver 17. Faith if it hath nor works is dead being alone Though a man should give God Christ never such good words though he shall be able to speak at never so high a rate of the grace of God of the love of Christ of the power of his death of the efficacy of his blood and prevalency of his intercession and shall have some kind of belief of what he sayes yet if it do not sincerely engage the soul to serve the interest of the glory of God in a vertuous life answerable to such a profession Faith it will no more profit to the justification of the Soul in the sight of God than a parcel of good words would feed and cloath fill and warm the needy Brother and indigent Sister when a contribution of a real relief is wanting Though I could speak with the tongue of men and Angels and had all Faith so that I could remove mountains and have not Love it would profit me nothing 1 Cor. 13.1 2. And whereas he saith that Faith is dead being alone he plainly supposeth that Faith may be alone without the company of Works a Faith that is truly so in its kind a Faith that is acted on a right object But where ever it is alone there it is dead that is it is unprofitable as to the end for which Faith is appointed viz. to justifie
salvation by the same Christ should make such swerving inferences from the Doctrine of Grace that offers Salvation upon believing in Jesus as tended to loosness of life and that they would labour to propagate their distorted notions and to make a party of the same mind with them Against whose dangerous insinuations he faithfully now again in his Epistle warns them to take heed of being deceived with such mens vain words and impure pretensions as if any Faith they had in the grace of God or merit of Christs blood could secure them from the wrath of God whilst they lived in uncleanness and covetousness and indulged themselves in a way of foolish talking and jesting for of such sins he had spoken before Sect. 6 Of this very sort of Men surely it is of whom Paul speaks 2 Tim. 3. concerning whom he informs us of these three things amongst others First that they had a form of Godliness Vers 5. and therefore were professors of the Christian Faith and Worship the Doctrine of Grace and Ordinances of the Gospel Baptism Supper of the Lord c. Secondly that in themselves they were men of an un-Gospel like temper and behaviour Lovers of their own selves covetous boasters proud blasphemous disobedient to Parents unthankfull unholy without natural affection truce-breakers false accusers incontinent fierce despisers of those that are good traytors heady high-minded lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God ver 2 3 4. Some of these bearing sway in some of them and some in others And that they were industrious to encrease their party and to draw Disciples after them appears in that they crept into houses and led captive silly Women that were laden with sins and led away with divers lusts who doubtless were glad of any notion about free Grace that would put them under hope of Salvation though under the power of divers Lusts which probably those men did instruct them in And Thirdly that from which this ill life under a form and shew of Godliness did proceed was their great mistake about the doctrine of Faith either as touching the nature of the Grace or the termes upon which Salvation was promised to it for he sayes that they were reprobate concerning the Faith or as the margent reads it Of no judgement concerning the Faith verse 8. they made no right judgement of the Gospels promising salvation upon believing but as Peter expresseth it Stumbled at the Word and wrested it to their own destruction 1 Pet. 2.8 2 Pet. 3.16 thought the promise of a larger extent than it was were not aware it was such a kind of believing only as gave a man victory over such Lusts and pleasures as in which they lived unto which the promise of life was made These things may well make the most of men called Christians to look about them who by their lives proclaim themselves to be believers but of the same rank with those marked out by the Apostles of our Lord as men whose Religion is vain whose Faith is dead whose confidence of salvation is built upon mistakes of the Doctrine of Grace whilst destitute of the life and power of Godliness which subdues the heart and life to God to answer that form of profession which they make of the Christian Faith But because it is a matter of such moment and so little laid to heart by those whom it so much concerns therefore do I dwell upon it the more if peradventure any may be awakened by it And therefore having heard something of that which the Apostles of our Lord have said to this important point for a close of this matter let us also a little weigh a passage or two spoken by the Lord himself relating to this business Sect. 7 Our Lord Jesus resembles the several sorts and tempers of Men that hear the Gospel unto four several sorts of ground upon which the sower casts his Seed Luke 8. And begins with the lowest and worst sort and from them proceeds gradually to the best of all The first sort resembled by the seed that fell by the ways side are such as neither understand nor believe the Gospel Luke 8.12 Mat. 13.19 The second sort go beyond these for they do believe the Word but it is but for a time for in time of persecution for the Words sake they fall away having no root vers 13. Now the third sort as they are placed in the middle between such as do receive the word and believe and rejoyce in it only for a season and such who with an honest heart having heard the Word keep it and bring forth fruit with patience so they do accordingly go beyond the temporary believer and yet fall short of the honest-hearted doer of the Word resembled by the good ground And that wherein they do exceed the stony-ground hearers that believe only for a time is this that they persevere in their believing such as it is unto the end of their lives And that wherein they fall short of the good-ground hearers is this that they do not with honesty or integrity of heart keep or do the Word and patiently bring forth the fruit of it as do the good-ground hearers For they when they have heard go forth and are choked with cares and riches and pleasures of this life and so bring no Fruit to perfection verse 14. It 's said verse 7. that the seed falling among thorns the thorns sprang up with it and choked it by which it's evident that the seed of the Word doth in a sence grow up in these Men they may grow to have a great deal of knowledg of the Word and some Faith in it and they may bring forth some fruit too do many things as Herod and others did but the only fault is that they do not bring forth fruit to perfection they do not carry it quite through if they have a blade of profession yet they have not the ear of practice or if something of that yet they have not the full Corn in the ear a sincere respect unto all the Lords commands But the thorns of some Lust or other grow up with the Word and choke it and over-top it have more interest in the heart than the Word hath draw the affections of the Soul more to them than the Word doth as the thorns many times draws the nourishing moisture of the ground more to them then the Corn doth that springs up with them and so prevents the perfect growth of the Corn. The Word does grow in such men to a certain degree the Word as it brings glad-tidings of salvation to sinners by the Death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ hath some rooting in the heart and is received with joy and as it promiseth salvation upon believing as they understand believing so it is a welcome Word which they will by no means let go and as it enjoyns easier and cheaper duties so far it hath the heart to and thus far the Word may grow up and the
the state and condition of sensual and carnal Christians who live in such times and places as we now do in which Men may believe in Jesus Christ and publickly own their Faith especially if it put them upon no extraordinary strains of self-denyal without running any hazzard of persecution but shall rather expose themselves to suffering in case they should not own the Faith which is the Religion of the Country And in such places Faith such as it is is as common as silver was in the dayes of Solomon All men in a manner do believe that Christ dyed for sinners and that Salvation is to be had by believing in his Name that their believing wil justifie them without Works too as they have been generally taught which is their snare Hereupon they live they dye in hope of salvation upon this very account that they do believe though there is too much cause to fear that the conversations and tempers I would I could not say of far the greatest part even of these do give too loud a testimony that their Faith is but the dead Faith they being not renewed to God and born again by it and consequently that their confidence of Salvation by Christ is but a vain confidence and such as will deceive them I profess it is a very sad thing so to say and that which occasions many a sorrowful thought to my Soul and my love to Men and my desire after their Salvation exceedingly inclines me to hope better things concerning these men of whom I speak if I had but any Scriptural ground to relieve such a hope But I am either quite mistaken in the nature of holiness and of the New Creature or else such Scriptures as do positively affirm that without holiness no man shall see the Lord and that except a man be born again he cannot see the Kingdom of God that neither Circumcision nor uncircumcision avail but a New Creature with many the like I fear do fast barr the door of life against the confidence of a vast multitude of professors of belief in Jesus unless the generality of those I know not be better than very many of those I know Sect. 8 Not to multiply more Scriptures to demonstrate that mens belief in Christ and relyance upon him for Salvation will not avail them unless it draw the Soul in love and reverence to him carefully to obey him and to avoid such things as he hates for a close seriously lay to heart those piercing words of Christ which are worthy our utmost consideration hereabout Mat. 7.21 22 23. Not every one that saith unto me Lord Lord shall enter into the kingdom of Heaven but he that doth the will of my Father which is in Heaven Many will say to me in that day Lord Lord have we not prophesied in thy Name and in thy Name cast out Devils and in thy Name done many wonderful Works And then will I profess unto them I never knew you depart from me ye that work iniquity By Luke thus chap. 13.23 24 25 26 27. Then said one unto him Lord are there few that be saved And he said unto them strive to enter in at the strait gate for many I say unto you will seek to enter in and shall not be able When once the master of the house is risen up and hath shut to the door and ye begin to stand without and to knock at the door saying Lord Lord open unto us and he shall answer and say unto you I know you not whence you are then shall ye begin to say we have eaten and drunk in thy presence and thou hast taught in our streets But he shall say I tell you I knew you not whence you are depart from me all ye workers of Iniquity That which I first observe from these wakening words of our Lord as to this present occasion is that the persons of whom Christ here speaks had Faith which appears by this in that as they themselves will plead they cast out Devils in the Name of Christ and in his Name did many other wonderous Works which according to Christs words were signes which he promised should follow those that should believe Mark 16.17 Though all that did believe did not do such wonders yet none but such as did believe did Neither is it any wise likely but that they whose Faith was so strong as in the Name of Christ to do such wonders had a particular knowledge and belief that Christ was the Son of God and Saviour of the World Neither was this Faith of theirs wholly destitute of Works you see they made such a profession of Christ as that they instructed others in his Religion they Prophecied in his Name and did Works which caused Men to wonder they heard Christ preach and had so much familiarity with him as to eat and drink in his presence greater matters than I fear thousands of thousands will have to plead for themselves who now bear the Name of Christians and profess belief in Christ and hope of salvation by him Secondly that which I further note hence is this that these men of whom Christ speaks because of this Faith they had and those Works which proceeded from it take unto themselves a kind of confidence that they shall be admitted by Christ into his Kingdom For though they are brought in by Christ here as pleading for admittance at the last day and not taking Christs first denial but following him with earnest vehement solicitations backed with arguments and pleas from what they had received from him and done for him as if they wondered that Christ should refuse them yet it is not to be thought but that in their life and at their death they were possessed with hopes of being owned by Christ at the Last day upon these very grounds upon which they are brought in as building their plea. For surely they do not meet with any new confidence or grounds of hope in the Grave or state of Death Me thinks these words of Christ give a kind of cast as if many Men shall dye with so strong a confidence of being owned and received by Christ at the Resurrection and Judgement day as that they shall exceedingly wonder and stand amazed to find themselves so strangely deceived and disappointed as they will be when they shall be turned off by Christ with I tel you I know you not I profess I never knew you As if Christ could hardly possess them with such a thought that he should not acknowledg and own them and therefore he is fain not only once plainly to tell them I know you not but again with more earnestness to affirm the same thing and to say I tell you I know you not whence you are as if he should say will you not believe me I tell you again I know you not whence you are Yea as Matthew hath it he will then professe unto them that he never knew them which stil argues how hard
a matter it will be to beat them out of their confidence of being owned by him that he wil be fain not only to tel them again and again I know you not but at last to profess to them that he never knew them no not then in your life time as if he should say when you thought your selves cock-sure of my approbation I then knew you not to be any true Friends of mine but you loved your selves and Relations and loved the world more than me you loved your own wills more than mine and your own honour more than mine and entertained motions from the flesh and from the Devil sooner than from me and therefore now without any more ado depart from me all ye workers of iniquity a sad parting Who shall not say with David whilst he is under the contemplation hereof My flesh trembleth for fear of thee and I am afraid of thy judgements Psalm 119.120 That which I further note in the third and last place from this Doctrine of Christ which with the rest astonished those that heard him preach it Mat. 7.28 is this that the true reason why these mens confidence and all that upon which it is built and all their pleadings beggings and mournful supplications added thereto will all fail them and fall to the ground is in short this they were workers of iniquity as men work at their Trades to bring them in what they lack and love so these men work iniquity that is commit sin do and speak things contrary to the Laws and instructions of Christ to bring them in that present carnal content which they love and prefer before that future happiness upon those self-denying termes without which it is not to be had That Faith which they had was not of that kind which purifies the heart and renews the Soul to God but for all it the flesh still retained the commanding interest in the Soul and therefore as they had in their life time sowed to the flesh so of the flesh they must now reap corruption They were told that if they lived after the flesh they should dye as well as they were told that Christ came into the world to save sinners but they would not believe the one though they did the other but now they must find and feel that which they would not before believe These things considered I heartily beseech all those into whose hands this shall come to take warning now it is given and not to deal slightly in the business of their Faith or to dally with their precious Souls take heed of that vain confidence of many which you see will be all turned into disappointment and confusion of face when the day of tryal comes and be working out your salvation with fear and trembling with fear lest you should be mistaken about the ground of your confidence and evidence of your hope It 's a thousand pitties that men should be so wary and solicitous lest they should be deceived with a trackt title in their outward Estates and so presuming and careless about rheir title to the next World as generally they are as if the eternal Estate of their Souls were but a trifle to the momentary enjoyment of a little spot of this World If the inconvenience of a mistake herein could be born without any considerable breach upon ones comfort or could afterward be rectified though with some loss as in externals it may well be a mans folly would be the less but to be slight yea not to be exceeding curious solicitous and thoughtful to prevent a mischief that for nature is intollerable and for duration eternal and the loss irrepairable argues the extremity of sottish madness which yet O that it were not the case of all men a few only excepted Mat. 7.13 14. CHAP. VII Shewing that that Belief unto which the Promise is made though indefinitely exprest is to be understood of Belief of a special kinde and that it is no waies safe to notion it in the lowest narrowest and meanest sence of the Word but to frame our notion of it according to that result which the Scriptures compared do give of it under which notion of it it will be hard for any man to retain a confidence of Salvation without an holy conversation Sect. 1 ANd because men are oft betrayed into that vain confidence of Salvation which I have spoken of by mistaking some Scriptures which they wrest to their own destruction therefore to prevent that mischief for the future as much as may be as I have in the former part of my discourse been labouring to deliver some from their mistakes of such Scriptures as promise Justification upon believing without the Works of the Law so I shall here also add a few words to save them from the danger of an undue understanding of such Scriptures as represent the believing Christ to be the Son of God and that he dyed and rose again and the like to be that Faith that carries Life and Salvation in it For whereas I have asserted in the two former Chapters that neither the assenting to the truth of that report which the Scriptures make touching Christ his being the Son of God and Saviour of the World c. nor yet the relying on him as such for Salvation will indeed avail a man unto Salvation without a loving loyal and obediential cleaving to him it may be some will be ready to object and say Does not the Scripture plainly say That these things are written that ye might beleeve that Iesus is the Christ the Son of God and that beleeving ye might have life through his Name Iohn 20.31 and was not the acknowledging of this the very form of the Saints Faith in the first times of the Gospel Iohn 4.42 and 6.69 and 11.27 Acts 8.37 Mat. 16.16 and does not the Scripture also expresly say That if thou shalt confesse with thy mouth the Lord Iesus and shalt beleeve in thine heart that God raised him from the dead thou shalt be saved Rom. 10.9 and again every spirit that confesseth that Iesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God 1 John 4.2 and whosoever shall confesse that Iesus is the Son of God God dwelleth in him and he in God verse 15. and whosoever beleeveth that Iesus is the Christ is born of God 1 Iohn 5.1 These things being so if I do both believe and confess Jesus to be the Christ and Christ to be the Son of God and that he dyed and rose again why may I not be confident of Salvation can I have any better security than the plain letter of the Scripture that promiseth salvation upon these termes Sect. 2 To all which I answer first that it is very true that this is the Faith of the Gospel and that to which eternal life is promised and that if thou doest so believe these things as that thy Faith do but answer the latitude of these Scripture expressions thou mayest be confident of Salvation and
of the same soul because they pass under different denominations or that the Waters in Rivers are not the same which were in the Sea because now called by another Name When the Apostle speaks thus concerning the communication of Philemons Faith Phil. 6. That the communication of thy Faith may become effectual by the acknowledging of every good thing which is in you in Christ Iesus does he not plainly suppose that every good thing was in his Faith before it was communicated though when communicated called by as great a diversity of Names as the things themselves were divers But every good thing and every good thing acknowledged was but his Faith effectually communicated distributed into acts all the good things of his life were but the births of his Faith as Waters issuing out of a Fountain some running one way and some another some serving for one use and some for another All which considered it need seem no strange thing that Luke should call that Love which Matthew calls Faith for Love is but Faith once removed as it were Faith drawn out into act as Faith also is dispositively and in the first habit Love Sect. 5 3. Believing in Christ and receiving of him are termes equivalent and import the same thing Iohn 1.12 As many as received him to them he gave power to become the Sons of God even to those that believe in his name the former expression of receiving him is expounded by the latter of believing in his Name By which we may gather that it is the nature and property of the true Faith to receive Christ which is the act of Adherence I spake of before Men by the first act of Faith believe Christ Jesus to be what he is and to be so and so related both to God and unto men but by this second act which alwaies accompanies the first where the Faith is saving they receive and imbrace him and cleave to him as such And in this lies the formal act of mans striking Covenant with the Lord and interessing himself in the grace and blessing of the Gospel For all good present and future is entailed on Christ as being Heir of all things and as having all things put into his hand by the Father so that he that hath the Son hath life and he that hath not the Son hath not life 1 Iohn 5.12 receive him and receive all the whole inheritance goes along with the Heir but nothing short of this will invest us with the Inheritance What is the meaning then of receiving Christ 1. To receive whether understood of mens receiving the Lord or the Lords receiving of Men or of Mens receiving of one another is still in Scripture taken in the best sence for receiving with affection and acceptation 2 Cor. 6.17 Rom. 14.1 and 15.7 Gal. 4.14 Philem. 12.17 And so in this place of Iohn 1.12 Those that receive Christ receive him with affection and acceptation yea with such affection and acceptation as by which they prefer him above all other both persons and things for otherwise they will not be deemed worthy of him a wise man will not bestow himself upon a Woman that he knows loves another better than himseif and I am sure the Lord in this sence will not give himself to any man that loves any thing more than him Mat. 10.37 He that loveth Father or Mother Son or Daughter more than me is not worthy of me much less he that loves any sinful lust or way more It is true to give Men and Women a proof of his good will to them and as an argument to draw their affections to him Christ hath given himself a Ransom for all his flesh for the life of the World but he having done this those that shall not hereby be moved and drawn to forsake all to follow him cannot be his and consequently he not theirs They shall not taste of his Supper Luke 14.24 26 27 33. That 's one thing then which is to be understood by Mens receiving of Christ 2. Another is this he that receives Christ indeed receives him for such as indeed he is and in that capacity in which he is sent offered tendred by the Father and given by himself and that is not only as a Saviour but also as a Lord and as a Saviour by delivering him from the dominion of sin and bringing him under his own Rule and Government as King and Lord as well as by delivering him from the guilt of sin by the Sacrifice of himself How oft does the Scripture call him our Lord and Saviour Iesus Christ 2 Pet. 1.11 and 2.2 and 3.18 with many more And again Him hath God exalted with his right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour Acts 5.31 The Father gave him to be head over all things to the Church and to be a Ruler of his people Eph. 1.22 Mat. 2.6 And whosoever does not receive him as such does not receive that gift of God For Christ is not nor cannot be divided 1 Cor. 1.13 you cannot separate the Lord from the Saviour and take the one and leave the other Among all other Lords and Rulers which in Scripture are also called Saviours Nehem. 9.27 protection and subjection go together Does any rational man expect protection from the chief Magistrate upon any other termes than his due obedience to all his lawful commands And shall any man be so mad as to expect protection and deliverance by Christ from the wrath to come upon any other termes Will not Christ say to such as shal cry to him Lord Lord open to us who yet never made conscience to do all his commands as the Lord said unto a people that cryed after him in their distress and yet served other Lords in the time of peace Go cry unto the gods which ye have chosen let them deliver you in the time of your tribulation Iudges 10.14 Ier. 2.28 Where they yeilded subjection thither they are sent for protection if sin can save those that serve sin they shall have salvation and if Christ can save those that serve him they shall have salvation Where I am there shall my servant also be saith he Iohn 12.26 Christ is and will be the author of Eternal Salvation but to whom To all those that obey him Heb. 5.9 But to those that be disobedient and which stumble at his word he is and will be a stone of stumbling and rock of offence the same to them as a Rock is to a ship a means of swift destruction 1 Pet. 2.8 He wil be so far from saving them as that he will say But those mine enemies that would not that I should reign over them bring hither and slay them before me Luke 19.27 A folly it is then for any Man to think that he can take hold of Christ as his Saviour and so receive him and salvation by him that does not willingly imbrace him as his dear Lord in which capacity he is given as well as that
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
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
to defend your selves from their frowns and contempt and from the scourge of their tongue for a complyance in such things as these where it is found argues falseness of heart to the Lord Jesus Sect. 8 4. One thing further to name no more though many more particulars of this kind might be touched by which you may know your love to Christ to be such as will evidence your Faith which produces it to be of the true sort and right kind is this If your belief in Christ and your love to Christ hath wrought in you a love of and a looking and longing for his next appearance when he will so come to receive the Saints unto himself as that they shall be ever with the Lord. For while men are better pleased with his absence and to remain at this distance it argues little love in them to him For it is the nature of Love where it is true and entire to incline and dispose a Man or Woman to desire the presence of those they love and all neerness of converse and communion and to have all means of distance to be removed And if that spiritual and invisible presence which the Lord vouchsafes of himself to his Servants in his Ordinances and in their way of worshipping and serving him which yet comparatively is but a being absent from him 2 Cor. 5.6 is to those that love him so exceeding precious and desirable as that their sence of the want of this hath made their flesh and their heart to cry out for the living God and to say When shall I come and appear before God Psalm 84.2 and 42.2 then certainly that presence of his in which he will be seen face to face in which his face shall be beheld in righteousness and his servants satisfied with his likeness that presence of his when neither weakness nor temptation shall obstruct interrupt or disturb their full and perfect communion with the Lord that presence of his which will perfectly deliver them from all fears of being cast out of his presence or of suffering any suspension in the effluxes of his love is much more desired and longed for by those that unfeignedly love the Lord. This loving and expecting the blessed and glorious appearance of our Lord Jesus Christ is noted in Scripture not only as a signe of mens love to him and Faith in him but as a general character of those that shall be then saved by him Heb. 9.28 And unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation Tit. 2.13 2 Pet. 3.12 Henceforth is there laid up for me a Crown of Righteousness which the Lord the righteous Judge shall give me at that day and not to me only but unto all them also that love his appearing 2 Tim. 4.8 By these and such things as these you may try the truth or feignedness of your love to the Lord consequently the soundness or unsoundness of your Faith in him which when it is true works more or less according as it is stronger or weaker in those and like ways of expression of love to the Lord which have now been laid before you and therefore as you love your souls be not partial but strict and thorow in proving your Faith and spiritual condition by them Sect. 9 And as Faith works by love to the Lord so it works by love to men likewise for which cause it may well be that Faith in Christ and love to men are so frequently coupled together in the Scriptures as co-workers and fellow helpers in the service of mans salvation see Ephes 1.15 and 6.23 Col. 1.4 1 Thes 1.3 and 3.6 and 5.8 2 Thes 1.3 1 Tim. 1.14 and 2.15 2 Tim. 1.13 and 2.22 Tit. 3.15 Philem. 5. 1 John 3.23 And since they are such inseparable companions as they are represented to us to be in these and other Scriptures we may well conclude where the one is there the other is and where the one is missing there the other is wanting And therefore since our love to men is more visible and a thing nearer at hand then our Faith and a proof of a true Faith where it is of an Evangelical kind therefore let us now try our Faith by our love to men and our love to men by the standard of the Scriptures 1. I shewed you towards the beginning of this Chapter that Faith beholding as in a glasse the glory of the Lords love to men changes the soul into the same image men by it viewing the promises and proceedings of God toward man are made partakers of the divine nature 2 Pet. 1.4 contract a similitude of Gods love upon the Soul See then if you can find any such working in your Souls any such compassions and longings of soul after mens salvation as does really and truly though infinitely inferiorly hold some resemblance of those ardent desires and longings which are in God after the salvation of poor miserable men which are to be seen in these and other-like Scriptures Deut. 5.29 Psalm 81.13 Isa 48.18 Jer. 44.4 Ezek. 18.23 32. 2 Chron. 36.15 Luke 19.41 42. Mat. 23.37 2 Pet. 3.9 Hos 11.8 9. Or are your affections and compassions over the precious souls of men so stirred within you as that they put you upon action as you have opportunity to deliver them from going down into the pit of rescuing them out of those wicked wayes by admonitions instructions and affectionate perswasions which unless they be fetcht off from by some means or other will certainly ruine their poor souls For after this manner Gods love and compassion wrought towards sinful men it put him upon giving his only beloved Son Christ Jesus to dye for them and by his death to make and procure gracious terms of Salvation and by himself and servants whom he hath gifted for the purpose to publish those termes of Salvation and earnestly to perswade all men to imbrace them he himself seconding these with many visits of his Spirit and acts of grace and providence to render these means successful And however every Christian is not an Apostle nor endued with that power from on high for the work as the Apostles were and therefore it is not expected nor required of them that they should make it their constant work and business as they did to go up and down to warn and perswade men that they might be saved yet undoubtedly to what degree this love to men which the love of God hath begotten in them in its own likeness does dwell in them to the same degree does it put them upon applications of a soul-saving tendency to Family-relations Church-relations to Neighbours Friends and acquaintance yea and strangers too as ability conveniency of opportunity and mens necessity do concur in the case And the lesse men are affected with or the more careless they are of the spiritual condition of others the lesse is their love and Faith and the darker their evidence of them The Scriptures
whom it is upon ministring supplies to the necessities of their Brethrens outward man if there be power in their hand It 's oft seen thus with men That when such whom they love and honour and from whom they have received extraordinary favours are above their Requitals yet then in testimony of their true Respects to them will shew kindness to and bestow gifts upon their Servants that wait upon them 1 Sam. 25.27 41. 2 King 5.17 And so it is with those that truly love and honour the Lord Jesus He indeed is exalted above the contributions of their worldly substance but yet is well contented that such of his poor servants as have need should partake of it and will take it every whit as kindly as if it had been given to himself Mat. 25.40 hereupon they expresse their love to him by their love to his Servants for his sake by refreshing their bowels when hungry and thirsty and cloathing them when bare and naked dispersing that among them which they would have been ready to have offered unto him if his condition now as sometime had made him capable of it Psal 16.2 3. My goodness extendeth not to thee but to the Saints that are in the earth and to the excellent in whom is all my delight When he could not reach the Lord with his goodness benefit or bounty then he applies himself to his Servants Friends and Favorites whom he could reach and communicates to them Men may talk of their love to Christ and how much they are beholding to him and how ready they would be to dye for him if called to it but if in the mean while they see the true Friends and Servants of Jesus Christ in need of relief and yet shut up the bowels of their compassion against them it may well be demanded How dwelleth the love of God in them 1 John 3.17 There 's neither resemblance of that love which is in God who when the worlds necessity called for it parted with his Son to supply their need nor yet any true signe or token of love to God when those whom he loves so well as he does his Friends shall not be regarded pityed and supplied in their need when power and opportunity to do it are present Indeed such a bowel-less hard-hearted close-fisted temper is that which renders men very unlike to God very unlike to Jesus Christ who though he were rich yet became poor for our sakes that we through his poverty might be made rich 2 Cor. 8.9 And it is a plain argument they never had much to do with the love of God the love of Christ as to come under any strong sence or powerful influence of it for if they had it would have transformed them into its own likenesse Let them talk what they will of their trust in God and Faith in Christ yet this merciless temper layes them open to that judgment which shall be without mercy James 2.13 and consequently their Faith will be far from interessing them in the pardoning mercies of God or saving merits of Jesus Christ I cannot now stand to shew how much the heart of Christ is in this Christian work of bounty and beneficence nor how much of the Christian Religion lies in it which if I should undertake the Scriptures would be found to speak much this way only let this be remembred that as love to one another is the badg of Christs Disciples John 13.35 so their bounty and readiness to give according to their ability is the proof of the sincerity of this their love 2 Cor. 8.8 24. Where the Apostle encouraging these Corinthians to be bountiful in ministring to the Saints saith he did it to prove the sincerity of their love verse 8. Wherefore saith he again shew ye to them and before the Churches the proof of your love Verse 24. Sect. 14 Nor are the tents of the Saints the only sphear in which Faith acts in this way of love and bounty but its influences flow out to all men as it hath opportunity As I said at the first Faith eying God in his love to men and in the way of its working takes its pattern from thence to cause those in whom it is to be followers of God as dear Children and to walk in love Ephes 5.1 2. and therefore finding that God is not only loving kind and bountiful to the good and to the holy but that his tender mercies are over all his works and that he is kind to the unthankful and to the evil and that he maketh his Sun to rise on the evil and on the good and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust Psalm 145.9 Luke 6.35 Mat. 5.45 it inclines and draws the man in whom this Faith is in imitation of his Heavenly Father to love enemies to blesse them that curse him to do good to those that hate him to feed them when hungry to give them drink when thirsty according to the mind of the Lord in this behalf Mat. 5.44 Rom. 12.20 And because Faith thus works where it is in truth and power as being nothing lesse then what is expresly commanded of the Lord all whose commands Faith makes men very careful to observe therefore are the Christians that they might shew forth their Faith by their works so frequently provoked and exhorted to do good to be merciful charitable and compassionate to all only with this item that the choice and chief of their contributions of relief must be reserved for such as are of the houshold of Faith Gal. 6.10 As we have therefore opportunity let us do good unto all men especially unto them who are of the houshold of Faith 1 Thes 3.12 And the Lord make you to increase and abound in love one towards another and towards all men even as we do towards you 1 Thes 5.15 See that none render evill for evill unto any man but ever follow that which is good both among your selves and to all men 2 Cor. 9.13 Whilst by the experiment of this ministration they glorifie God for your professed subjection unto the Gospel of Christ and for your liberal distribution unto them and unto all men Sect. 15 7. And if you would have your distributions to the poor Saints and others in need amount unto a clear proof and evidence of the truth of your love to them and so of the soundness of your Faith shewing it self by such works James 2.18 then carefully see to it that your bounty and your ability hold some good proportion For if a man be niggardly and sparing in his Alms-giving and makes a little go a great way is able to do much and yet does very little he will not be able to discern whether what he does proceed from any inward principle of love and good affection or from-some motive from without as viz. because others do so or to get himself eased of the trouble of being solicited the case of the unjust Judge in doing that which was just
forgive Trespasses that their Faith whatever otherwise it be is not of the right kind neither such as will avail them to Justification for where there is no forgivenesse from God as there is not where there is not forgiving of men there 's no Justification and where there is no Justification there is no justifying Faith How then will they be able to evince their Faith to be of the justifying kind who are apt to render evil for evil and to bear grudges one against another upon account of injuries received and to ease themselves by throwing the burden of others weaknesses wholly upon them by spreading and aggravating them and that too before all due means on their part have been used to cure them I might but I will not enlarge this Sect. 18 9. There are other wayes and veins wherein Faith works by Love as viz. by doing to all men in point of Commerce and Dealing as they themselves would be done unto in like case Mat. 7.12 not using any deceit or fraud not taking advantage of others weaknesse not cruelly working upon others necessities for men would not be so served themselves but setting the law of Neighbourly and Brotherly love before them in all their civil transactions and affairs with others But I shall not enlarge further upon this Doctrine of Love as it is an effect of Faith having already dwelt longer on it than at first I intended Only let it be remembred for a close of this matter that mens love to God and men in these and other-like wayes of working holds proportion with their Faith so that where they are rich in Faith they abound in Love and where they are poor and low and narrow-spirited in acts of Love to God and of kindnesse mercy and bounty to men it 's a sure signe their Faith is not well thriven 2 Thes 1.3 We are bound to thank God alwayes for you Brethren as it is meet because that your Faith groweth exceedingly and the charity of every one of you all towards each other aboundeth Mark if you hear of their Faith growing exceedingly to be sure you will hear also of their love abounding also And thus I have now dispatched also the handling not only this property of Faith but also this branch of the Doctrine of Justification which concerns the nature of that Faith which shall be counted unto men for Righteousnesse CHAP. XII Shewing that Faith is counted for Righteousnesse both as it entitles men to the justifying virtue of Christs Blood and as it puts them under the protection and promise of the Gospel as it is a fulfilling of it And so discovers the opinion of Mens being justified before Beleeving and of being justified by beleeving only in the Court of Mans Conscience to be unsound Sect. 1 I Have already been shewing 1. The beleeving of what and 2. What beleeving it is that shall be counted for Righteousnesse Now I shall come in the 3. and last place to shew how or in what sence this Faith is counted unto men for Righteousnesse For counted for Righteousnesse it is so saith our Text. But to him that worketh not but beleeveth on him that justifieth the ungodly his Faith is counted for righteousnesse Or which is the same is reckoned to him for righteousnesse Rom. 4.9 Or imputed to him for righteousnesse Gal. 3.6 Rom. 4.22 23 24. For our Apostle useth this three-fold variety of expression to set out the same thing For the better understanding of this point I will shew you 1. Negatively how it is not counted for Righteousnesse or which is the same how it does not justifie It does not justifie or is not reckoned for Righteousnesse as Christ his Death and Blood is viz. by way of attonement Rom. 5.9 11. for that 's the incommunicable property of Christs blood Heb. 1.3 which is reckoned to us for Righteousnesse too in a sence proper to it for Christ is said to be made unto us righteousnesse 1 Cor. 1.30 and so he is when the attoneing virtue of his Blood the power and efficacy of his Death and Resurrection is made over conveyed reckoned or imputed to us for our Justification But this in a way infinitely superior to the Imputation of Faith for Righteousnesse for Faith it self and the activity of that and all other Graces in their Sphear become acceptable with God as built and bottomed upon that sure foundation Christ Jesus And therefore I exceeding much desire that the Lord Jesus may have all the glory of your confidence touching the merit of Remission of your sins and that your confidence about Justification have nothing to do with Faith but as that thing which God hath ordained to entitle you to the other and the gracious priviledges annexed to it nor with works further than they are appointed by God to render your Faith a substantial and not deceitful title 2. But come we then to shew in the affirmative how Faith is counted for Righteousnesse and this I shall according to my understanding lay out to you in two things Sect. 2 1. Faith is a means of our Justification or is reckoned toward our righteous-making as it is a means appointed by God to interesse us in the benefit of Christs death and the attoneing vertue of his Blood for our pardon and acceptation For though it 's true Christ gave himself a ransome for all 1 Tim. 2.6 and tasted death for every man Heb. 2.9 yet all are not thereupon delivered from their sins and why but because they have not that Faith which should give them a right and propriety in the justifying vertue of his Death For Christ was not given to dye for men upon such terms as that they should reap the benefit of his Blood in the pardon of their sins however they should carry themselves towards him well or ill And therefore the Apostle plainly declares how men by miscarriage towards Christ may cut themselves short of the benefit of his death Gal. 5.2 4. Behold I Paul say unto you that if ye be circumcised Christ shall profit you nothing And again verse 4. Christ is become of none effect unto you whosoever of you are justified by the Law Which could not be if Christ were not given if Christ did not dye for men conditionally See 2 Pet. 2.1 1 Cor. 8.11 Heb. 10.29 Sect. 3 Which condition or proviso is plainly laid down John 3.16 God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son but with this proviso mark it that whosoever beleeveth in him should not perish but have everlasting life Though Christ be given for the World yet mens not perishing by means of this gift but enjoying eternal life is suspended upon their beleeving in him So that it 's mens beleeving that does enstate them in the justifying saving vertue of Christs death Another like place is that Rom. 3.25 Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through Faith in his blood 1. God hath set him forth as a publick
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
a power to justifie The efficacy justifying power and vertue of Faith depends not upon nor rises out of the excellency or dignity of its own nature but it depends upon and proceeds from the will good pleasure ordination or appointment of God digested and put into the Gospel as a standing Law and unchangeable decree As it was not the naturalness of proportion between the Israelites looking up to the Serpent of Brass and that effect of healing that was procured thereby Numb 21.9 that brought the thing to pass but the production of such an effect by such means depended upon the operativeness of Gods will so in the antitype of this Jo. 3.14 mens being healed justified by looking up to and beleeving in Jesus as lift up upon the Cross this is not brought to pass neither meerly by the act of Faith it self as such but by the efficacy of the divine will which hath ordained it to that end and use And therefore is it I suppose that the Scripture so frequently casts this great effect of mens being justified upon God as his act grant and gift though by or through Faith as subservient to his will herein calling it The righteousness of God which is by Faith and saying That it is one God which shall justifie the Circumcision by Faith and uncircumcision through Faith Rom. 3.22 30. Phil. 3.9 And if Christ himself is said to be unto us Righteousnesse because made so of God 1 Cor. 1.30 and salvation to be had through his Name because given for that end Acts 4.12 then much more certainly does the justifying office or work of Faith depend upon the divine will John 6.40 This is the will of him that sent me that every one that seeth the Son and beleeveth on him may have everlasting life This might be further argued from Rom. 3.25 John 1.12 and 3.16 but I forbear Sect. 6 But in the mean while a comfortable Doctrine surely it is to understand that our justification by Faith does not depend so much upon the nature of the grace it self as upon the will of him that hath appointed it to that office and upon the Gospel as that Charter by which such a priviledge is conferred upon it which is a thousand times richer and firmer foundation to bear such a building as the hope of Righteousness by Faith is than is the nature of the grace it self which is subject to ebbings and flowings and times of shaking and fits of feebleness and weaknesse If the justifying effect of Faith had depended meerly upon the nature and operation of the grace it self then the infiniteness of disproportion that is between such a cause and such an effect the inconsiderableness of the service and vastness of reward might have rendred the confident expectation of so great a benefit upon such terms matter of greater difficulty But now seeing that the weight and stresse of this great effect which is produced by or through Faith as that without which God will not have it take place does depend upon the powerful and operative will of God which is infinitely full of Grace and Kindness to the poor Creature and upon the everlasting and unalterable Covenant of his Grace and Love the confidence of Justification by Faith now becomes much more easie and pleasant as feeling firmness rockiness substantiality of ground under the feet of it He that holds an estate worth a thousand pounds by the year by Lease or Charter though he pay but a Pepper-corn by way of acknowledgment hath as good a Title in Law to that Estate as another that holds the like Estate from the same Landlord though he pay a thousand pound Rent by the year for it because the one Lease is the voluntary act of the Landlord as well as the other Even so though Faith amount but to little in comparison of that absolute perfection of holiness love and obedience that was found in Adam while he stood yet considering that the same Lord hath now graciously by an unchangeable act of his own will setled and entailed Justification and eternal life upon mens unfeigned beleeving in his Son Jesus Christ which once setled ever-living upon Adams absolute perfect holiness love and obedience it hereupon follows that whosoever doth in truth unfeignedly beleeve hath therefore as real as sure and as certain a title to eternal life as Adam himself had and would have kept in case he had kept his first integrity But then that which is the amountment of all this is that seeing there is now a new Law given by God a new Covenant established and that the sum and substance of it is this that God having sent his Son Jesus Christ into the world to save sinners he requires and enjoyns men to receive him and beleeve in him in that capacity in which he is sent and upon their so doing promises Justification and eternal life as on the contrary threatens eternal death to those that do not hereupon it follows that those that do thus beleeve in Christ do fulfill the terms of the Gospel and fulfilling the terms of it must needs be righteous in the account of it For what else is a mans righteousness but his conformity to that Law under which he lives or which is given him to live by As transgression of it is sin 1 John 3.4 so conformity to it is righteousness And therefore since Faith bears such a proportion of conformity to the Gospel as it does when it is sound and sincere well may it be counted for Righteousness to them that have it Sect. 7 Yet because this Righteousness which is called the Righteousnesse of Faith consists in great part at least in the forgivenesse of sins and since both that and all the gracious acceptation with God which does accrue to men upon their beleeving is vouchsafed them not for their Faith sake though not without it but upon the account of another to wit Jesus Christ Ephes 4.32 1 John 2.12 thence it may well be that though Faith be really and truly a mans righteousness in the Gospels account yet it is so only in the way of imputation reckoning or account of grace Which is a thing I would not have slightly passed over but diligently and carefully observed as having much of the Spirit of the Gospel and Doctrine of Grace in it For Faith though it be rich indeed and hath glorious things in it and signifies much in the reckoning or account of the Gospel yet it is rich with the riches of another Faith it is the borrowing Grace as the Moon borrows its light from the Sun so Faith borrows that by which it does such great things for the Soul from another from Christ It is true Faith is a worthy thing as it gives glory to God in beleeving all that he sayes as it carries the Soul and unites it to him as it purifies the heart and works by Love and the like but alass what would all this do towards the making of
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