trembling Phil. 2.12 He then will work in us both to will and to do of his good pleasure ver 13. Must we be stedfast and unmoveable always abounding in the work of the Lord 1 Cor. 15.58 holding fast our confidence firm to the end Heb. 3.6 being faithful unto death Rev. 2.10 and not drawing back lest his soul should have no pleasure in us Heb. 10.38 He therefore hath promised that he will establish us 2 Thes 3.3 and make us fruitful Joh. 15.2 and perfect his own good work in us untill the day of the Lord Jesus Phil. 1.6 and keep us by his power 1 Pet. 1. that we may not perish but have everlasting life Joh. 10.28 From first to last you see we are indebted to Divine Grace for what we do All our works if good are begun and carried on and perfâ—cted by the assistance of the Sacred Spirit And therefore when we have done all we cannot plead desert or merit from any of our actions but still are bound to make Paul's humble acknowledgment 1 Cor. 15.10 By the grace of God I am that I am And not I that laboured so abundantly but the grace of God that was with me Not I that repented and believed and became obedient and holy and fruitful in every good word and work continuing stedfast and unmoveable to the end Not I that did this by vertue of my own natural abilities no but by the aid and assistance of Divine Grace not by might nor by power from nature and reason but by the spirit of the Lord. And in this sense I suppose we are to understand that saying of some Divines that God stands engaged for both parts of the Covenant Engaged first by promise to justifie and save sinners if they repent and believe c. and next also to give repentance and faith by assisting them thereunto that they may be justified and have eternal life And so it may be no contradiction to say that the same thing may be both a benefit and a condition of the same Covenant As he that in the same Indentures wherein he binds his Tenant to repairs may also promise to furnish him with Brick and Morter and other materials for the work Thus faith and repentance are here commanded in the Covenant of Grace and so they become conditions on our own part to be performed But withal strength and assistance is promised enabling us to repent and believe and so they become benefits on Gods part to be given and on ours to be received But still it is to be remembred that Gods promise doth not null our duty nor his assistance supersede our endeavours but necessarily suppose and more strongly enforce them For as we can do nothing without God so he will do nothing for us without our selves 'T is he saith the Apostle that worketh in us both to will and to do of his good pleasure in the place before mentioned Phil. 2.13 What then Must we therefore sit still and do nothing Only take our ease and stretch our selves upon beds of Ivory and dream our selves into Abrahams Bosom No we must therefore so the Apostle in the same place argues work about our own Salvation with fear and trembling As 't is still the Tenants duty to repair the ruines of his house though his Landlord hath and indeed therefore the rather because he hath been so kind as to promise sufficient supplies for the building Thus much I thought necessary to add upon this argument that I might vindicate the conditionality of the Covenant from such exceptions as have been made against it and evidence the amicable agreement there is betwixt this doctrine and that of free Grace and sufficiency of Christs righteousness and satisfaction And would Men but be perswaded to lay aside their prejudices and to weigh things in an even ballance Would they as now instructed rightly state their notions of Christs righteousness and free Grace according to the rules and measures of the Gospel and not by the imaginary and unwarrantable sentiments of the carnal and uncatechised world Would they duly distinguish betwixt the causes and conditions of their Salvation which are vastly different and ought not therefore to be confounded that Jesus Christ may still be owned as the sole cause and Author of it and faith and repentance c. only as the necessary means without which it cannot be had Would they observe the order in which the several conditions of the Covenant are to be applied first faith and repentance for the obtaining of pardon and then holiness and obedience for the compleating and continuing our right to eternal life according to the order in which they are dispenced to sinners Would they also duly inform themselves in the nature of true happiness and what a near alliance holiness and obedience have to it that formally consisting in our likeness and conformity to God and these being that whereby we become actually like and conformable to him Would they in the last place to all add the assistance that God by his holy Spirit affords us for the performance of all these duties he requires of us Nothing being done in our own but all by his strength and agency Would Men I say thus distinctly weigh and consider things before they pass sentence upon the Doctrine herein delivered their objections against it would I am confident soon be answered and their scruples removed and their judgments convinced that there is nothing said that doth in the least either contradict or prejudice the Doctrine of Gospel free Grace or derogate from the sufficiency of Christs righteousness Nothing that doth as some have said speak the language of Bellarmine or Socinus or any way favour the opinions of any other who are justly censured as enemies to the Grace of God in Christ Jesus It is true the Church of Rome pretends much to good works and cries them up as the Ephesians sometimes did their great Goddess Diana and muchwhat upon the same design But alas what are those works they so zealously contend for A little bodily exercise and superstitious will-worship Masses and Dirges and Pilgrimages and Ave-Marys and abstinences and whippings and the like But for that which the Apostle calls the power of godliness and life of God that is little preached and less practised by them And yet these works as inconsiderable as they are they call by the name of satisfactions and make them both the matter of their justification before God and the meritorious cause of their own Salvation For according to their Doctors we are justified by works confession charity giving of alms c. as well as by faith in Jesus Christ and may be saved yea and by I know not what redundancy of desert in our good works help to save others too by our own merits The improvement say they of our own natural abilities deserves Grace ex congruâ— and the improvement of Grace so gained merits glory ex condigno This in short is the
destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his power 2 Thes 1.7 8 9. Now what can possibly be more plain than that the great blessings of the New Covenant are made over to us upon the conditions of faith and repentance and sincere obedience It tells us indeed that God will pardon our sins and own us for his children and admit us to be heirs of his Kingdom and be our God I but still it is with this proviso if we do repent if we do believe if we do obey the Gospel and by patient continuance in well doing seek for glory and honour and immortality I but except we eat the flesh and drink the blood of Jesus Christ i.e. believe in him Joh. 6.53 And except we repent Luke 13.3 And except we be converted and become as little children Math. 18.3 And except we be born again of water and of the Spirit Joh. 3.5 And except our righteousness exceed the righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees Matth. 5.20 And except we abide in the vine Joh. 15.4 And except we strive lawfully 2 Tim. 2.5 we shall not enter into life And if these be not plain conditions I would gladly know what then are to be accounted such or how otherwise they may be exprest But thirdly 3. All this is necessarily implyed in that short Epitome of the New Covenant so often repeated in Scripture I will be your God and ye shall be my people The first part I will be your God contains all the priviledges and the second ye shall be my people all the duties of the Covenant First God here promiseth to be our God What 's that Why That he will do all that for us that a God can do and be all that to us that a God can be to a Creature He will pardon our sins and adopt us into his family and put his holy spirit into us and dwell with us and take care of us so that we shall not need to take any thought what we should eat or what we should drink or wherewithal we should be cloathed He will provide for us and give his Angels charge over and protect us in all our wayes and turn all things to our good and never leave us nor forsake us He will hear our prayers and supply our wants and deliver us from our temptations and subdue our corruptions and lead and assist and comfort us by his spirit and make us heirs of his eternal Kingdom In a word he will give us Grace and Glory and no good thing will he withhold from us and after all he will be more than all this to us for he himself will be our reward and portion Thus God promiseth to be our God yea but then we must engage to become his people For those words And ye shall be my people are not only promissory but preceptive and do as well declare what God requires of us as what he will effâ—ct in us or do for us Thus have we God himself often commenting upon and expounding this phrase If you will walk in my statutes saith God to Israel and keep my Commandments and do them Lev. 26.3 Then I will walk among you and will be your God and ye shall be my people v. 12. And this thing commanded I them saying obey my voice and I will be your God and ye shall be my people Jer. 7.23 And chap. 11.4 Obey my voice and do according to all which I command you So shall ye be my people and I will be your God And thou hast avouched the Lord this day to be thy God and to walk in his wayes and keep his statutes c. And the Lord hath avouched thee this day to be his peculiar people and that thou shouldest keep all his commandments That thou maist be an holy people to the Lord thy God as he hath spoken Deut. 26.17 18 19. And come out from among them and be ye separate saith the Lord and touch no unclean thing and then I will receive you and will be a father unto you and ye shall be my sons and daughters saith the Almighty 2 Cor. 6.17 18. All which is Emphatically exprest by the Prophet Isaiah by subscribing to the Lord Isa 44.5 One shall say I am the Lord and another shall call himself by the name of Jacob and another shall subscribe with his hand unto the Lord and surname himself by the name of Israel And therefore it is that God first promiseth to put his Law and Fear and Spirit into his chosen and to cause them to walk in his wayes and observe his Statutes that so they may become his people Je. 24.7 Ezek. 11.20 36.26 27 28. 37.23 27. Jer. 32.38 c. That 's the method in which God makes them his Now whoever is taken into Covenant with God he seals to both these parts that is to take God to be his God his portion and happiness and also to list himself in the number of his people but what 's that you will say Why 'T is as you have heard to cleave to him to obey his voice to walk in his wayes to keep his judgments to observe his statutes to serve him with a pure heart to touch no unclean thing In a word to carry and demean themselves in all things as those that are in a state of subjection unto God and have subscribed with the hand to him and avouched him to be their God to love and serve him with all their hearts and with all their strength and with all their thoughts This is indeed to be the people of God according to the true intent and meaning of the Covenant as before explained Nor is it possible for any whose notions of God are not monstrously degenerate and enormous so much as to imagine that an infinitely wise and righteous God should ever engage himself to any people to be their God unless they also were made willing to be his people to love him and live in a due acknowledgment and observance of him Nor is it to be supposed that any reasonable and ingenuous Creature that understands himself and the reason of his own actings should ever intend otherwise in his Covenanting with God What take God only to serve our selves of him and yet not to serve him What That we may be pardoned and protected and delivered from eternal miseries and yet not give up our selves to him to be ruled and governed by him What only to shrowd our selves under his wings and be fed at his table and enjoy all the priviledges of his adopted ones his paternal love and care and blessing and yet continue prodigal Sons of Belial and children of disobedience and pay nothing of that love and reverence and obedience that is due to him as a Father Is this your language or meaning when you take hold of his Covenant and say Lord be my God Will not common ingenuity then teach you to take up the Psalmists words and say And
the guilty Offender that this being removed God might now be at liberty to pardon and reaccept him unto favour in what way and upon what terms he pleased such as he in wisdom should judge most for the honour of his own Being and Perfections Yea but not that therefore God must of necessity pardon the sinner what ever come on 't as one well expresseth it That is whether he repented or believed or not or still continued in his Rebellion and Impenitency Christs Sufferings they were not in a strict sense the Idem i. e. the very thing which the first Covenant required at the hands of Man but the tantundem or an equivalent compensation Not properly solutio debiti the payment of the debt but an equitable satisfaction for a criminal offence And accordingly God in this whole transaction is to be considered not so much as a Creditor as an offended Magistrate or Governour of the World that admits as Seleucus did the putting out of one of his own eyes for the redemption of his Sons the suffering of one for another though of somewhat a different kind and manner for the maintaining of the honour of his Laws and Government And therefore God could not be obliged thereby immediately to acquit and discharge the Offender since the satisfaction given in his behalf was refusable but may in Justice and for the vindicating of his own Holiness and retaining the Creature in his due subjection bring him to terms and conditions before he remit the offence and become actually reconciled to him Much less was God obliged to this by his own essential goodness for though the issues and outgoings of his love be most natural and agreeable to his Being upon which account he is stiled in Scripture a Sun and Fountain yet are they not like the ebullitions of water from their Fountain or emanations of light from the Sun absolutely necessary and involuntary No they are still free though most natural Else how comes it to pass that Apostate Angels were not redeemed from their Chains and Darkness and the Spirits now in Prison set at liberty and freed from torments And the Inhabitants of the Earth that still sit in darkness and under the shadows of death have not the Sun of Righteousness arising upon them with healing in his Wings as well as we in these Northern Islands What ever acts by constraint and necessary impulse of Nature 't is uncapable of setting any bounds or limits to its own actions but imparts it self and influences universally at all times and alike to all The same Sun shines not to some parts only of the Earth but equally to both the Hemispheres And the same Sea and Fountains scatter their streams not only to some few Passengers but indifferently to all that pass by without exception And if such were the egress and communications of Divine Love and Goodness then tell me whence it is that there is any difference betwixt fallen Angels and degenerate man Betwixt Jew and Gentile the Christian and Pagan World Why is not the whole Earth India and America as well as Europe turned into a Goshen a Land of light and made as Eden the Garden of the Lord Why is so great a part of it yet left to be as a darksom Egypt or barren Wilderness Doth not all this sufficiently argue that the bequeathments and application of Christs satisfaction and purchase with all the rich Fruits that spring from both are made not by necessity but ad placitum according to the meer good will and pleasure of God to sinners as the Apostle speaks Ephes 1.5 and 9. PROPOS VI. Of Gods freedom to prescribe the terms upon which sinners shall be saved SInce all the communications of Grace and Mercy to the Creature even to those that Christ hath redeemed with his blood are absolutely free and issue forth only according to the Prerogative of the Divine Will and Pleasure God may therefore give out and apply the merits of his Sons obedience and sufferings to whom and in what way and method and upon what terms he in wisdom shall think meet He that cast the skirts of his love over the lost Sons of Adam when he saw them polluted in their own blood might also if he had pleased have made it a time of love to the Apostate Angels and have put them with Man since Christs Merits were intrinsickly sufficient for both into the same Act of Grace and Indemnity And he that hath chosen only some few to be Heirs of Glory out of the common Mass of Mankind might likewise have extended the same mercy and favour to all the rest Judas as well as Paul might have been an Elect Vessel to the Lord. Yea but one is taken and the other is left to shew that God hath mercy upon whom he will have mercy and that whom he will he hardneth Rom. 9.18 And as God freely makes choice of the persons whom he will effectually pardon and save by his Son Jesus Christ so also of the mediums and ways in and by which this salvation shall be dispensed to them First only in a dark and mysterious Promise so to Adam Gen. 3.15 Then more explicitely by actual Covenant so to Abraham Gen. 17. After this by Types and Shadows so to the Jews And last of all by open and manifest Revelation through the ministration of Christ and his Apostles so to all under the Gospel Dispensation Heb. 1.1 2. Thus Jesus Christ and in him salvation is first promised then typified and then exhibited and that first to the Jews only but afterwards to the Gentiles also And he surely that makes choice of whom he will to be the Objects of Mercy and freely determines in what way and order they shall have salvation dispensed to them he cannot but be alike free to appoint the terms and conditions upon which they actually may be saved He that hath power to appoint the End must also have power to appoint the Means by which it may be obtained God in this whole transaction is to be considered not only as Lord and Governour but as the offended party and our great Benefactor and upon all these accounts the Right of prescribing the terms upon which the guilty and condemned Creature shall be admitted to pardon and happiness properly and solely belongs to God As he is absolute Lord of all so he may do whatsoever he pleaseth with the Works of his own hands And as he is rightful Governour over the World so he may prescribe what Laws he thinks meet for the due government of his Creature And as pars laesa the party wronged and offended by Man he may say upon what terms he will be reconciled to him And as our great Benefactor that designed and contrived the way of Mans pardon and salvation by the death and sufferings of his only begotten Son he must dispense these benefits according to the pleasure of his own Will Math. 20.15 To save a sinner upon any terms
light or a Man without reason which are no better than implicite contradictions I may as well call that a gift which is not given or that a promise where my word is not engaged as that a Covenant where there 's no mutual stipulation or conditions of agreement They are things that eye hath not seen nor ear heard of nor can it enter into the heart of man to conceive what they are No I cannot possibly frame the idea of a Sun in my mind without light Nor entertain any formal conceit of a man without including reason in that conception No more can I conceive of a Covenant without conditions since these are essential to the nature definition and common notion of a Covenant 2. The Gospel which is little more but a comment upon the New Covenant doth not only in general declare to us that there are conditions affixed to it but in particular acquaints us what they are And here I shall only instance in these three faith repentance and sincere obedience as inclusive of all the rest First for faith doth not the Gospel expresly tell us that we must believe and that this is the great command of God 1 Joh. 3.16 I but what if we do believe in the name of Christ according to his command What hath God thereupon promised to us What Why that then we shall not perish but have eternal life Joh. 3.16 I but what if we be defective in this particular and do not believe May we not yet hope to be saved by Jesus Christ No He that believeth not is condemned already Joh. 3.18 and the wrath of God abideth upon him ver 36. and he shall be damned Mark 16.16 Here 's one condition you see plain and evident in the New Covenant I but is not faith then the only condition And may not that alone serve the turn without any thing else to invest us in all the priviledges of the Kingdom No there must be also repentance towards God as well as faith towards our Lord Jesus Christ Act. 20.21 This is no less expresly commanded than the former Acts 17.30 Now God commandeth all men every where to repent And the very first doctrine that Jesus Christ himself preached after his most solemn consecration to his Prophetick Office was this of Repentance Matth. 3.13 14 15 16 17. compared with Matth. 4.17 From that time began Jesus to preach and to say Repent for the kingdome of heaven is at hand And as it is in terms no less than faith commanded in the Gospel so you have the same benefits of pardon of sin and eternal life annexed to it Repent saith Peter to the Jews Acts 3.19 and be converted but to what purpose Why that your sins may be blotted out when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord. And God is not willing saith the same Apostle that any should perish I but how may they then escape it How By repenting and turning to God and therefore he there adds but that they should come to repentance 2 Pet. 3.9 And for this reason 't is called repentance unto life Acts 11.18 And repentance unto Salvation 2 Cor. 7.10 Yea but what though we fail in the performance of this duty May not our sins be pardoned and our Souls saved upon the account of Christ for all that No except we repent we must perish Luke 13.3 5. Faith in this case will not save us Well then faith and repentance are conditions that 's manifest from what I have now said I but is there any thing more yet required by the New Covenant as necessary to eternal life Yea we must not only enter in at the strait gate but we must also walk in the narrow way if we would enter into life Nor only be implanted into the true vine but abide in it and bring forth fruit to God Joh. 15. Nor only receive Christ Jesus the Lord but walk in him as we have received him Col. 2.6 By the former faith and repentance we enter in at the strait gate and by holiness and obedience we hold on in the narrow way By those we are ingraffed into the true vine and by this we abide in the vine and become fruitful By an humble faith we receive Christ Jesus the Lord Christ in all his offices and by a sincere obedience we walk in him according to the terms upon which we at first received him And therefore though our actual obedience and holiness which are the work of time be not required to our justification and initial instatement into life only our turning to God and hearty acceptance of Christ as Lord and Saviour to be taught and governed and saved by him in his own way yet is our obedience vertually therein included as all practical conclusions are in their first principles and in order to our actual and compleat fruition of eternal life our actual holiness and obedience is required in the Gospel The former gives us an initial right and this jus aptitudinale a legal fitness That puts us into possession as the delivery of the Key to the Tenant upon sealing the Indentures gives him a legal possession of the House and this continues us in it as paying the rent doth the Tenant afterwards And therefore in order to eternal happiness I know nothing that is said of faith or repentance in Scripture but the same is also said of holiness and obedience Are they positively commanded in the Gospel So is this we must deny all ungodliness and worldly lusts and live godly righteously and soberly in this present world Tit. 2.12 13. we must be holy in all manner of conversation even as he that hath called us is holy 1 Pet. 1.15 we must walk after his Commandments 2 Joh. 6. we must perfect holiness in his fear 2 Cor. 7.1 c. 'T is commanded Again is the promise of eternal life made to them So to this also The obedient and holy and pure in heart they shall be blessed Mat. 24.46 They shall be happy Joh. 13.17 They shall see God Matth. 5.8 They shall have right to the Tree of life Rev. 22.14 They shall have eternal life Rom 2.7 8 9 10. And eternal Salvations Heb. 5.9 But what if we be wanting in point of holiness and obedience May not the righteousness of Jesus Christ here make supply and be accepted in the room of it and so Heaven had without it No no more than without faith and repentance For are the unbelieving and impenitent expresly excluded from having any interest in the eternal blessings of the Covenant and laid under an immutable sentence of eternal death So also are the impure and disobedient They shall die Rom. 8.13 They shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven Matth. 5.20 They shall not see God Heb. 12.14 They shall be cast into outer darkness Matth. 25.30 They shall have indignation and wrath tribulation and anguish Rom. 2.8 9. They shall be punished with everlasting
upon it to make it more clear and evident This is certain that whoever receives an estate by grant or Covenant from another he can have right to nothing more than what is therein by name expressed nor upon any other terms than those therein specified Nor any longer maintain his claim to it than those Conditions are done and performed by him So that if either he did not consent to and accept of the terms or not duely perform them when accepted he is no more de jure to be deemed the lawful possessor of it The case is thus here betwixt God and Man God makes a grant of pardon and acceptance and eternal life to sinners This grant is by Covenant This Covenant is with certain terms and conditions and these conditions they must be accepted and performed or else no right to any of the priviledges of this Covenant is conferred upon us For since we have here no right as was said but what is given us and since that right is expresly affixed to the personal performance of the conditions of the Covenant therein mentioned where there is no such performance there can be no right That this right is thus affixed to the personal performance of the Conditions of the Covenant is evident for we have no right but by promise 1 Joh. 2.25 This is the promise that he hath promised us even eternal life And therefore Believers are by the Author to the Hebrews called the heirs of promise Heb. 6.17.11.9 The promise then only gives us right to life yea but the promise is only made to the personal performance of these duties Acts 3.19 Repent ye and be converted that your sins may be blotted out when the days of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord. Prov. 28.13 Who so confesseth and forsaketh his sin shall find mercy Rom. 10.9 10. If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus and shalt believe with thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead thou shalt be saved For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation Rom. 8.13 If ye through the spirit mortify the deeds of the flesh ye shall live Joh. 13.17 If ye know these things happy are ye if ye do them And Matth. 7.21 not every one that saith unto me Lord Lord shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven From all these Scriptures it evidently appears that the promise of mercy and pardon and life and blessedness the great benefits of the Covenant they are expresly made to the actual and personal performance of repentance and faith and sincere obedience which are the main duties and conditions of the same Covenant 'T is our personal performance therefore of the conditions of the Covenant that gives us a formal and personal right to the blessings of it and our non-performance only by which our right is forfeited T is that which gives us right Rev. 22.14 Blessed are they that do his Commandments that they may have right to the tree of life and may enter in through the gates into the City Blessed are they who They that have eat and drunk in his presence and wrought miracles in his name No but they that do his will but why blessed Because they have right not only the favour and priviledge but right to the tree of life But what gave them this right Their subscribing and sealing and promising obedience to Jesus Christ No but their performing Covenants their keeping of his Commandments Therefore blessed are they that they may have right And this right since 't is founded in Grace and not in merit it may be humbly pleaded by Believers when their right to the promise is called in question or any accusations from the old Law brought in against them Through Grace they have been inabled to believe and repent c. And therefore they are freed from the curse and from condemnation And therefore the promise of pardon and life is theirs But because few are so well satisfied concerning their own sincerity as to be thereby enabled to make this Plea therefore the promises that are more absolute in this case are to be pleaded by them For as some promises are made to Grace the conditions of which being performed are the foundation of our assurance So there are other promises of Grace which are the immediate foundation of our encouragement to Faith and Prayer However the doubting Souls cannot alway plead their right because they question their own performances yet the sincere performance of the condition for all that gives an undoubted right and laies a good foundation for a legal plea and by such as are satisfied concerning their own sincerity may be pleaded against accusations from the Law and Justice without either asserting merit or retrenching the free Grace of God Since this right as was said ariseth from the gracious will and favour of God and not from our own desert or the intrinsick value of the duties we perform As suppose one to found a School or Hospital and to endow it with rich revenews and priviledges but with this condition that they upon whom 't is setled shall once or twice every year pay by way of acknowledgment some few pence or half pence to one of his own name that the memory of his name might be preserved and they constantly be made to acknowledge from whom they received so liberal a donation In this case as his making this the condition upon which they hold it shall not render it to be no act of Charity or blot out his name from amongst their Benefactors So neither shall their pleading that this acknowledgment if called in question hath accordingly been made and the conditions of the grant been constantly performed the pleading this I say shall not be deemed either any detraction from the freeness of the gift or a pleading of your own desert only an humble asserting of their own right which was by grant conferred upon them But as our actual performance of the conditions of the Covenant gives us an undoubted right because founded upon the faithfulness of God to all the priviledges of the Covenant so consequently on the contrary the non-performance of them must needs null our right and cast us out of possession and actually expose us and make us liable to all that wrath and vengeance to all those woes and penalties that either this or the Old Covenant hath denounced For since it is attended with double guilt it shall also be rewarded with double punishment Heb. 10.29 Nor will it be sufficient in this case to plead that we have subscribed and sealed and promised performance to the Gospel Covenant no all this if it be not actually kept will serve for no other purpose but to witness our own unfaithfulness and to condemn us for being false to our own engagements You know what answer Christ returned to such as
and the doctrine of free Grace THis method of Gods saving sinners by way of Covenant as is before explained is very well consistent with and no way derogatory to either the sufficiency of Christs satisfaction and righteousness or to the doctrine of free Grace in Christ I add this because 't is the common fortress to which Men of more loose and debauched lives and principles in Religion are wont to retire when by the evidence of Scripture and reason they are driven from all their other holds Tell them that they must repent and turn to God and amend their evil wayes and doings and bring forth fruits meet for repentance Tell them that they must come to Christ and believe in him and take his yoak and bear his burden and deny themselves and be obedient to his Laws and love him in sincerity Tell them that they must mortifie the deeds of the flesh and deny all ungodliness and worldly lusts and live godly and righteously and soberly in this present world and be pure in heart and holy in all manner of conversation as he that hath called them is holy Tell them that there is an indispensable necessity of all this or else their sins cannot be pardoned or their persons accepted or their Souls saved in the day of the Lord Jesus And give them undeniable reason and plain and express Scripture for the proof of all these commands and promises and threatnings all speaking the same language And what is their answer to all this Why The righteousness of Christ is sufficient and the Grace of God in Christ is free and therefore they hope in his mercy and doubt not of their Salvation though they still indulge themselves in sin and continue in a manifest neglect of God and the great duties of Christianity And all that is said to the contrary that might take them off from sin and vanity and perswade them to any greater diligence and exactness in Religion that is immediately condemned and decried for legal doctrine that disthrones Christ and takes the Crown from his head and destroyes the free Grace of God and tends to bring us again in bondage to the Law And that which makes it the more difficult to take Men off from these mistaken notions they have entertained concerning the righteousness of Christ and free Grace is this that they are the only foundation and hold that these Men have for their hopes of pardon and Salvation So that if you beat them off from these you take away all their hopes and confidence yea their Heaven and happiness from them They have nothing then left whereby to stop the mouths of their own awakened consciences or warrant their expectations of Heaven or to keep their Souls from sinking immediately into despair Their hearts they condemn them for their daily neglect of duty and indulgencies to the flesh and disobedience to the Gospel and alas they have nothing within or from the word to witness for them No broken and contrite spirit no mournings in secret for their sins no acts of self-denyal no change of heart or life no spirit of faith or fear or love or adoption to intitle them to the promise and blessings of the Covenant No neither Sun nor Star appears that might encourage them in their way but as it was with Paul in his voyage to Rome all hopes that they should be saved is taken away and therefore 't is that they do with so much constancy and resolution adhere to and contend for these mistaken notions as their only refuge security And thus though they are not able to conquer or encounter those thundering Legions that are brought against them yet whilest they have this strong hold and fortress to retire to they are little moved by the terrors of the Lord but still apprehend themselves safe and well secured against all that thunder and lightning that is from Heaven poured out against them All is but like the shooting of pointed Arrows against the walls of a Castle which are presently beat back again without making any great impression upon the walls And therefore there is little hopes of ever prevaling with these Men to surrender themselves to the powers either of Scripture or reason though on every hand besieged by them unless this Fortress of theirs be demolished and its Towers broken down and consequently their refuge and defence taken away That is in more plain English unless it be discovered that their notions about the sufficiency of Christ's righteousness and the doctrine of Free Grace are false and vain and that neither the conditionality of the New Covenant nor the necessity of our personal performance of the conditions of it in order to eternal life are any way inconsistent with or prejudicial unto either Grace notwithstanding is still free And the satisfaction and righteousness of Jesus Christ is nevertheless sâ—fficient These are the two things that I am now particularly to speak to and to demonstrate The sufficiency of Christs satisfaction and â—ighteousness is no way either contradicted or prejudiced by asserting the Covenant of Grace to be made not with Jesus Christ but with â—elievers themselves upon certain terms and conditions to the actual performance of which they are personally obliged in order to their receiving and enjoying the benefits â—f it That Jesus Christ hath fully satisfied the demands of the first Covenant and fulâ—â—lled all righteousness and finished his work â—s Mediator and perfected our Redemption â—y his death and suffering And that his saâ—â—sfaction and merit is of infinite value and â—â—erefore abundantly sufficient for the ends â—r which it was intended hath been acâ—nowledged and proved in the foregoing â—â—opositions Propos. 2. and 4. And thereâ—ore I shall need to say nothing here for the â—â—claring my assent to or for the vindicatiâ—â— of these particulars That which I have â—ow to do is only to shew in what sense â—â—operly it may be said to be sufficient and 〈◊〉 remove those mistaken apprehensions that â—â—e concerning it For which purpose it is 〈◊〉 the first place to be observed that by sufâ—iciency here we are not to understand the â—â—â—rinsick worth and value of Christs saâ—â—â—faction and righteousness upon which account it may not untruly be said if rightly construed that 't is sufficient for the Salvatioâ— of many worlds And in this very particular mainly lies the mistake The satisfaction oâ— Christ say they is infinite and his righteousness infinite therefore sufficient for the redemption of this and many worlds if they had been made which as to its absolute valuâ— and dignity is acknowledged But whatâ— then Why Therefore they hope and believe that they shall be saved by it And 〈◊〉 they build their faith and hopes immediately upon the absolute worth and merit 〈◊〉 Christs satisfaction But will this foundatioâ— stand or this argument hold good wheâ— it comes to tryal In this sense 't is sufficienâ— to save the Infidels Jews and Turks Tâ— save the spirits now in
the ends for which it is intended For since it hath only the place of a means as was said if you give it all that sufficiency and honour that is of right due and belonging to it when I assert it sufficient to its designed end though I deny it to be sufficent to many other purposes for which it never was appointed As he that saith â—he mortgage given for his security is well able to discharge the debt for which 't is engaged acknowledgeth all that is proper to be said of it Nor would it be thought any disparagement this being granted neither to the owner or to the security given to say that 't is not sufficient to pay such other debts and bonds for the payment of which it never was nor ever was intended that it should be obliged And so much by way of answer to the first objection But secondly 2. As the method of Gods saving sinners by Covenant in the sense before expressed it no diminution or prejudice to the all-sufficiency of Christs satisfaction and righteousness duely explained and understood so neither is it as pretended any way destructive or opposite to the doctrine of free Grace rightly stated according to the rules of the Gospel There is indeed a Free Grace which some Men vainly fancy to themselves to which I confess this doctrine is diametrically opposite but not to that which we have recommended to us in and warranted by the Scriptures But that this may be the more clearly evidenced and made good these five things must here be done 1. We must in the first place rightly state the notion of Free Grace 2. We must duely distinguish betwixt causes and conditions 3. We must take notice of that order in which the blessings of the Covenant are dispensed and in what order the Conditions of it are to be applied for the obtaining of them 4. We must inquire into and inform our selves aright concerning the nature of Salvation and happiness and see how the duties of Christianity stand related to it 5. And lastly we must not forget by whose strength and assistance all our duties are performed 1. We must here rightly state the notion and limits of Free Grace For herein lies the great errour of the World and that from which also arise those many dangerous mistakes that are concerning it They have wild and strange and unbounded conceptions and ideas of Gods Free Grace in their minds and therefore no wonder that they give us so bad a Comment of it in their lives and conversations For God to accept of their good wishes and desires as they call them though their lives are still wicked and unreformed And to pardon Sinners that have worn out all their dayes in carnal delights and pleasures and manifest rebellion against God only upon their crying out in the last moment of their lives Lord have mercy on them and receive their Souls And to be so pitiful and compassionate to his Creatures as not to damn or destroy them because he hath made them And to give them Heaven and Happiness for the sake of Christ though they never truly believed in him or seriously minded Heaven all their dayes or regarded to please God and live in obedience to his Law And bestow eternal recompenses upon them Kingdoms and Crowns of Glory though they have sate still all their time and never worked in the vineyard or fought in the battle or run in the race that was set before them This is that which generally Men call by the name of the Free Grace of God and by which they hope to be saved as well as others as well as the best as they commonly speak But is this indeed the Grace of God That which he assumes to himself as his Glory and which he hath revealed to us in the Gospel as the foundation of our Faith To pardon and save such I confess even the most impenitent and unbelieving and impure Sinners in the world the very Heirs of wrath and Sons of perdition this I grant would be Grace and free Grace too Yea but where have we any warrant or encouragement from the word to believe that there is any such Grace in God or Jesus Christ whereby such sinners shall be saved And yet might those be owned for the legitimate and true born notions of free Grace which the wild imaginations of Men may at â—leasure create to themselves it were easy to give a more large and extensive description of it To proclaim liberty to the captives now in Hell that are weeping and wailing and blaspheming God because of their torments And the opening of the prison to the Devil and his Angels that are bound in chains reserved for the blackness of darkness for ever And to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord to all the inhabitants of the earth that they all might be saved Jews and Turks and Pagans that none might perish tell me would not this be Grace and free too with an emphasis Yea but all Grace you see that we may fâ—ncy is not saving Grace Nor all that neither the Grace of God which we fondly imagine to be in God I have said all this to shew how much the generality of the world are mistaken in their conceptions of free Grace and what necessity there is to come to some stated and limited notions concerning it which must undoubtedly be such as may be worthy of God and suitable to the nature of a reasonable Creature Such as may be consistent with the infinite wisdom of God and holiness of his nature and truth and veracity of his word Such as may uphold the credit of his Laws and Government in the world and retain the Creature in his due subjection to and dâ—pendance upon his Maker Such also as may be agreeable to his Sons great design in dying and suffering for Mâ—n which was to mend and reform the world and to make Men holy and righteous and conformable to God and not to encourage them to sin and wickedness by their hopes of mercy and impunity These boundaries and limitations must necessarily be supposed to all the dispensations of Gods free Grace to the Creature since for God to act otherwise which is not to be imagined would be both dishonourable to himself and contradictory to the undertaking of his Son in redeeming the world Where by the way wee see how greatly they are mistaken who ascribe this free Grace to God under a pretence of giving the more honour to him when in truth nothing can be said more unworthy of him Suppose the Magistrate should set forth a Proclamation wherein he declares it to be his Royal pleasure that all that have been guilty of any crime whatsoever Murderers and Traytors and Rebells the worst and vilest of malefactors should without distinction be pardoned and set at liberty though they never humbled themselves to him or reformed their lives or promised allegeance to his person and Government but still persisted in their
initial secondly a perfect and consummate right or as the Civilians speak there is jus haereditarium and jus aptitudinale Both which are in their respective order alike necessary fully and compleatly to enstate us in one and the same possession Thus for instance He that is lawfully elected to any office of trust and dignity his meer election gives him an initial right to that office yea but for all that before he can receive the several insignia proper to it or exercise any act of authority in it or actually receive the profits and emoluments belonging to it he must solemnly be installed and take the Corporation Oaths and perform such other ceremonies as are usual in the case and this gives him a consummate right to his place and dignity Again he that seals to an Indenture he thereby hath an incipient right and title to the estate therein conveighed But yet to compleat this there must be seisin and delivery and performance of Covenants payment of rent and repairing the premises and this gives him an actual right to it and continues him in the quiet possession of it Take one instance more A Child in his infancy may have right to a Kingdom as some have been Crowned in their Cradles But yet notwithstanding he afterwards remains as the Apostle speaks under Tutors and Governours and little differs the Lord of all from a Servant until he come of age and then his Kingdom and Government is put into his hand Before he had an hereditary and now an aptitudinal right to or legal fitness for government I have brought all these instances to shew that there may be a different right to the same thing arising from different qualifications and conditions and yet both subservient to the same end And so here faith gives right and obedience also gives right to eternal life but in a different manner that begins it but this continues and compleats it Plainly thus Whosoever doth sincerely accept of Jesus Christ upon Gospel terms which is truly faith he is thereupon not only quit from all the demands of the first Covenant which is properly justification but he also hath by vertue of the Gospel-grant an initial right to the eternal Kingdom purchased by Christ But yet before he can enter into the actual possession of it and enjoy all the glories and bliss and joy that belongs to it he must be pure and holy cleansed from all filthiness of flesh and spirit and this gives him an aptitudinal and compleat right to it Faith is as our sealing to the Indenture that first founds our right and obedience is as the performance of Covenants that perfects and continues it That by making us Sons Joh. 1.12 makes us also heirs of the Kingdom Rom. 8.17 and so gives us an hereditary right to it But this being the means to make us holy and like to God and as Scripture speaks perfect Men in Christ that is men of ripe age it thereby gives us a fitness or aptitudinal right to the eternal possession of it And thus I have shewn in what order the several conditions of the Covenant are to be applied for the obtaining the great blessings of it according to the method in which they are dispensed which being attended to will further evidence the consistence of free Grace with their being given out to sinners upon such terms But before I conclude this particular it will be requisite especially since it may add some further light to the thing in hand to inquire into and evince the difference which I have all along in this discourse supposed betwixt faith and obedience for I cannot wholly be of their opinion that make them one and the same without distinction nor yet apprehend them so vastly different as some imagine That they are not the same to me is evident since I find them frequently distinguished both by different names and effects in Scripture Acts 15.9 Purifying their hearts by faith Heb. 11.8 Acts 26.18 By faith Abraham obeyed Tit. 3.8 These things I will that thou affirm constantly that they which have believed in God might be careful to maintain good works Therefore also called the obedience of faith Rom. 16.26 Here you see they are distinguished and elsewhere they are opposed Eph. 2.8 9. By grace ye are saved through faith and not of works Phil. 3.9 That I may be found in Christ not having my own righteousness which is of the law but that which is through the faith of Christ And more than once in the Epistles to the Romans and Galatians where the Apostle treats designedly concerning justification which he there once and again affirms to be by faith and not by the works of the law And can they possibly be the same that are not only distinguish but opposed I know 't is said that the opposition the Apostle there makes betwixt faith and works is only to be understood with respect to Jewish works and that opinion of perfection and merit that they had of them But were the works of Paul and the Ephesians and Abraham of this nature were they Jewish and Levitical or have we any reason to think that they had any such opinion of their obedience as being perfect and meritorious And yet in all these instances we find that faith is opposed to works And though Paul 't is true doth in the third Chapter to the Philippians first instance in his legal priviledges and righteousness yet afterwards he adds his Gospel services and sufferings for Jesus Christ and whatever else you can imagine to make up his obedience and righteousness perfect Phil. 3.8 Yea doubtless and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Jesus Christ my Lord for whom I have suffered the loss of all things And yet after all he tells us that he desired to be found not in the righteousness of works but of faith ver 9. Again they are not only distinguished and opposed but also delivered to us under different notions in the Gospel As faith is expressed by receiving of Christ Joh. 1.12 Obedience by walking in him as we have received him Col. 2.6 That by coming to Christ this by taking his yoak and bearing his burden Matth. 11.28 29. That by looking unto Jesus this by running with patience the race that is set before us Heb. 12.1 2. That by eating his flesh and drinking his blood Joh. 6.54 56. this by growing up in him Eph. 2.21 that as the principle of our filiation Gal. 3.26 and this as our imitation of God as dear Children Eph. 6.2 And is there no difference betwixt receiving and walking coming and taking seeing and running eating and drinking and growing Betwixt our being children and performing the duties of Children Even common language as well as Divinity teacheth us to distinguish betwixt the Creed and Ten Commandments the credenda agenda in Religion Betwixt believing and doing Believing we ordinarily say is one thing and doing another But is not faith