the same Apostle had used Verse 21. Where he calls the word which is able to save the soul an ingrafted word For if the word be able to save the soul but as it is an ingrafted word then it becomes an effectual means of salvation as it is fastened upon and let into the soul by serious consideration on For consideration answers the Metaphor of ingrafting here used If the juice of a Cyon the Branch of a good Tree turn the Sap of a Crab Tree Stock into it's own nature and cause it to bring forth better fruit than before it is by means of being let into it and bound fast upon it that it does so In like manner if the word turn the temper of the soul into its own nature by mingling with it it is by means of consideration which unites the word and the mind and binds it upon the soul For the word does not work after the manner of a Charm or Spell but operates in a way of rational consideration For this is the way of the Spirits working by the word When men with open Face behold as in a Glass the glory of the Lord they are changed into the same image as it were by the Spirit of the Lord 2 Cor. 3.18 The Holy Spirit works this change indeed but it is by the Gospel and by the Gospel looked into beheld and well considered This considering temper of mind seems to be signified by the good ground in the Parable by which those are resembled who when they have heard the word keep it to wit in their minds and under consideration in opposition to those other hearers of the Gospel who for a total want of consideration immediately lose all they hear as those do who are resembled by the high-way on which some seed fell where it had no covering at all And in opposition to those who for want of much consideration wither when persecution comes like those resembled by the rocky ground on which some of the seed was sown where there was not much earth to give it sufficient rooting and nourishment And also in opposition to those who through an insufficient degree of consideration have the word driven out of their minds or weakened in its operation by the over-powering thoughts cares and pleasures of this present life as those resembled by the thorny ground have and so bring forth no fruit to perfection but only the ear without the full corn in the ear Luke 8. In this thing then which we call Consideration seems to lie the difference between those who hear the Gospel so as effectually to believe it and those other several sorts of hearers who though they hear it yet do not believe it to the saving of their souls For which cause it may well be that the Author to the Hebrews presseth the Christians who were in danger of withering like the Corn which had not much earth through heat of persecution to give the more earnest heed to the things which they had heard lest at any time they should let them slip viz. out of their minds Heb. 2.1 David no doubt well knew of how great concernment it is to have good things kept warm upon the mind by often repeated consideration when he prayed thus unto God Keep this for ever in the imagination of the thoughts of the hearts of thy people and prepare their heart unto thee 1 Chro. 29.18 We have seen now in part what men by advantage of the Gospel which is the preventive Grace of God antecedent to all endeavours of ours can do towards their own believing And likewise what that subsequent Grace is by which we are enabled to believe throughly and effectually unto Righteousness and Salvation There is yet one thing more to be taken into consideration before we can so well be resolved as then we may in what capacity men are of performing the condition of the promise of pardon and Life And therefore I shall add that one thing more which is this 4. We have assurance given us of having the subsequent Grace of God conferred upon us to enable us to believe unto Righteousness if we do not grosly neglect to do what we can do towards our believing in using and improving the antecedent Grace of God See this clearly proved by that of our Saviour Mark 4.24 25. Where he speaks to his followers and hearers thus Take heed what you hear with what ineasure ye mete it shall be measured unto you and unto you that hear shall more be given For he that hath to him shall be given and he that hath not from him shall be taken even that which he hath By which our Saviour seems to mean that men shall receive benefit by the Gospel according as they attend to and consider their own great concerns handled in it And that if by thus doing they do not neglect but use and improve this antecedent Grace that then more shall be given to wit more means and more help to believe which is the subsequent Grace I have been speaking of by which men are thorowly enabled to believe unto Righteousness and so unto Pardon and Life These words of our Saviour which according to our translation we read Take heed what you hear are rendred by Dr. Hammond Consider what you hear So that it seems Take heed what you hear does in this place signifie Take heed to what you hear or to give heed to it as those do who consider of it and weigh the import of it as whether they are concerned in it and if yea then how far And the reason which our Saviour adds to inforce this Precept and direction of his shews this to be the sense of it For he says With what measure we mete it shall be measured to us to wit in the blessing and benefit designed us by sending the Gospel to us which is to bring us to believe unto Righteousness that so we may be saved And he adds again that to those that hear viz. that thus hear more shall be given and backs this also with that general rule mentioned five times in three of the Evangelists for he that hath to him shall be given and he that hath not from him shall be taken even that which he hath Now what can the measure be which is meted in hearing the Gospel to which the promise of receiving more is made but an attentive consideration who it is that speaks what he speaks and of what concernment it is And what can that measure be which is meted in hearing which is threatned with a remanding of what had been deposited in their hands but a not minding regarding or considering the weight of what is spoken nor how they are concerned in it If this then be the meaning of our Saviour as I doubt not but it is then we see the promise of Divine assistance is made to such endeavours of ours as we are capable of using through that providence of God by which mans faculties
our Saviour hath said Heaven and earth shall pass away but my word shall not pass away Mat. 24.35 Those are the Vnbelievers which shall certainly perish who will not believe God who will not believe the Son of God when they have spoken their mind fully and plainly but will needs flatter themselves with hopes that they will be better than their words 3. Our Saviour to take away from men such vain hopes and to convince them of the necessity of their being reconciled to God hath told them that if they will not be reconciled to him they cannot be reconciled to happiness that their nature cannot be capable of the happiness of the next world unless they are reconciled to God in this Except a man be born again saith he he cannot see the kingdom of God John 3.3 Except such as have contracted ill habits by bad living be born again they are not capable of the happiness of that state That is in other words except they put off the old man and put on the new Col. 3.10 or which is yet more plainly exprest Ephes 4.22 23 24. except they put off concerning their former conversation the old man which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts and be renewed in the spirit of their minds and do put on the new man which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness except this be done they cannot see the kingdom of God i. e. they cannot enjoy it He doth not say they shall not but that they cannot see it And the reason is because the happiness of the heavenly state is of such a nature as between which and the nature of man as viciated and corrupt there is no congruity And that which hath a contrariety in it to the nature of a creature is not matter of pleasure but of torment to it The holy God the holy Jesus the holy Angels and holy Men are the inhabitants of Heaven And what felicity can unholy men take in such company Solomon saith the upright are an abomination to the wicked Prov. 29.27 And if they be so here where they are but in part holy how much more will they be so in the other world when they are altogether so What Communion saith St. Paul hath righteousness with unrighteousness no more than light with darkness 2 Cor. 6.14 They do not love God here as he is holy nor is it pleasure to them to think of him as such and therefore unless they be sanctified and made so here they are not capable of enjoying God in the next world in the enjoyment of whom the happiness of Heaven doth consist Without holiness no man shall see the Lord Heb. 12.14 And they are such as are pure in heart which shall see God Mat. 5.8 Besides those sinful lusts which wicked men carry along with them into the next world will keep them from being happy in what place soever they are when they shall be deprived of those carnal objects to satisfie them which they found in this world And lest any should think that God will be so merciful to them as so to alter and change their nature when they come into the other world as that they shall be capable of the happiness of Heaven though they are not changed in this our Lord hath told them aforehand to prevent such a conceit that though many shall say unto him in that day Lord Lord open unto us for we have heard thee preach in our streets have eat and drunk in thy presence have prophesied and cast out devils in thy name and done many wonderful works yet they having lived and died unreformed he will then say unto them depart from me ye workers of iniquity I know you not Mat. 7.22 Luke 13.25 26. And St. Paul his Apostle hath told us also that we must all appear before the Judgment-seat of Christ that every one may receive according to that he hath done in the body whether it be good or bad We must receive we see according to what is done in the body here in this life before the separation of soul and body by death 2 Cor. 5.10 Now is the accepted time now the day of Salvation and those that out-stand this it will be said unto them as our Saviour doth in Rev. 22.11 He that is unjust let him be unjust still and he that is filthy let him be filthy still By all these Revelations made by our Saviour he hath as any that will consider them may easily see put men upon a necessity of being reconciled to God unless they had rather chuse to be everlastingly miserable And in this with the forementioned Motives there is a very great aptitude to reconciel men to God as the reason of the thing shews and the event hath declared And thus we have now seen how the Mediatory Righteousness of our Saviour his obedience in executing the Law of Mediation doth operate to our Justification in reference both to God and men By his sufferings he reconciled God to penitent sinners by making satisfaction to his governing Justice and by securing the ends of his inflicting punishment upon impenitent offenders while he spares the penitent And by the Gospel which he hath set on foot the Holy Spirit concurring he reconciles men to God that is he reconciles their minds and wills their lives and actions to Gods Holy Nature Government and Laws which is their Evangelical Righteousness in which capacity he delivers them up to God to be Justified and Pardoned according to the tenor of the Covenant of Grace which he likewise obtained for us it being founded on his Mediatory obedience of which Covenant I am now in the next place to speak CHAP. III. How and in what respect the Covenant of Grace operates to our Justification THE Covenant of Grace operates to our Justification in several respects But however it doth this or in what respect soever yet all that operation is owing to the Mediatorial Righteousness or Obedience of our Saviour For I have shewed in what goes before that the Covenant it self was obtained by and founded in the Mediatorial Righteousness of our Saviour the obtaining of which was one of the ends of the Office and Work of Christ as Mediator And as it is one of the effects of our Saviours death it is called a Testament though in other respects it is called a Covenant yea a Law As its promises are made by God on condition of duty to be performed by us so it is a pact or Covenant As it absolutely enjoyns that as duty which is also the condition of our happiness so it is a Law But as it comes out of the hands of Jesus Christ and is the Fruit of his death so it is a Testament because by that it receives its vigor and strength A Testament saith the Apostle is of force when men are dead otherwise it is of no strength at all while the Testator liveth Heb. 9.17 This being premised I come now to
Righteous without all mixture of that which deserves not the name of holiness and goodness nor they without unrighteousness antecedent to this and before they had repented and therefore is not such a compleat Righteousness as would hold measure according to the standard of the Law of innocency if we were to be tried by that to be Justified or Condemned by that In this regard the best of us have cause with the Psalmist to cry out and say If thou Lord shouldst work iniquity O Lord who shall stand Psal 130.3 It is indeed a growing Righteousness that is by degrees growing up towards a perfect state such in whom it is are perfecting holiness in the fear of God But before it is grown to this perfect state it is in the account of grace and by way of favour and for Christs sake accepted and approved by God for such Righteousness as unto which he hath promised the pardon of all past offences and of all such after infirmities as are consistent with this Covenant-Righteousness in its lower degree and also eternal Life it self So that in a word this thing we call everlasting Righteousness by which we are Justified owes it self its very being such a Righteousness as it is unto the Covenant of Grace or that Grace of God and of our Lord Jesus Christ which is put into a Covenant for us 3. The Covenant operates to our Justification as being the rule by which those are justified in judgment to be Righteous persons such as to whom the promise of pardon and eternal life is made that are justified at all Righteousness as I have formerly shewed receives its denomination as it doth its nature from its conformity to some Law And this Covenant-Righteousness the Righteousness of Faith receives its denomination from its Conformity to the Covenant of Grace as being that qualification in the person on condition of which the promises of the Covenant are made and therefore every man that is Justified is Justified by this Law to be such a person as to whom the promises are made It is by this Law that such a person is Justified in his cause if a man be not a Just and Righteous person in the sense of this Law he will not be Justified by God for he judgeth of men and their cause by this Law Jam. 2.12 So speak ye and so do as they that shall be judged by the Law of liberty that is the Gospel or Covenant of Grace And our Saviour saith The word that I have spoken the same shall judg you in the last day John 12.48 4. The Covenant operates to our Justification as an instrument of making us to become Righteous and so capable subjects of Justification And this it doth by way of motive or persuasion The great and precious promises made to men in this Covenant of pardon of sin and eternal Life on condition of the Righteousness of Faith Sobriety Righteousness and Godliness and not otherwise they out of a desire and love to the benefits promised are persuaded to imbrace the condition without which they cannot enjoy them that is to become Righteous The Gospel ministration is called the ministration of Righteousness 2 Cor. 3.9 And it is so both as it ministers to us the knowledg that there is another Righteousness than that which is of the Law and also as it ministers to us powerful motives and assistances to follow after Righteousness by which they become Righteous and so to be Justified St. Paul saith The Gospel is the power of God to Salvation in as much as therein the Righteousness of God is revealed from Faith to Faith Rom. 1.16 17. the terms on which God will account them Righteous and the motives to make them so these are revealed by the Gospel by which it becomes the power of God to Salvation to those that believe it The Gospel is a ministration of Righteousness and of Justification as it is the ministration of Reconciliation of reconciling us to God of reconciling our nature to the holy nature of God and to his holy Laws by making us partakers of a Divine Nature a God-like Nature in Holiness and Goodness which is done by the great and precious promises of the Gospel of pardon and eternal Life as powerful motives persuading men to become new creatures in order to the obtaining these great benefits promised and attainable only upon condition of such our reconciliation to God which puts us into a perfect capacity of Justification that is of being approved of as those who have performed the condition of the foresaid promised benefits Thus the Gospel is called the word of reconciliation which was committed to the Apostles and others and their Ministry the ministry of reconciliation 2 Cor. 5.18.19 And by a practical knowledg and belief of these things revealed by the Gospel men come to be justified that is approved of as those that have known believed and obeyed the Gospel By his knowledg saith God concerning Christ shall my righteous servant justifie many Isa 53.11 That is by the knowledg of him in what he is hath done and suffered revealed and taught What the Law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh as to free us from the Law of sin and to bring us to that Righteousness which it did design but could not effect that is now done by the Law of the spirit of Life which is in Christ Jesus to wit the Gospel The Law without the Gospel could not give us that assurance of Gods willingness to be reconciled to us and of pardon upon repentance which the Gospel does much less of a glorious reward of new obedience For the promise of pardon for Christs sake upon our repentance the promise of the Resurrection of the Body and of the Celestial Glory are brought to light by the Gospel being matters of supernatural Revelation Now it is the great assurance which the Gospel gives us of these things upon the account of Christs death that is the powerful motive of prevailing with men to be reconciled to God and to become Evangelically Righteous that they may be Justified And therefore the preaching of the Cross is said to be to them that are saved the power of God and for wisdom of God 1 Cor. 1.18 24. That is it contains and lays open Gods most wise contrivance of reconciling sinners to himself and by that means becomes his powerful motive of drawing men to it that so they may be Justified Pardoned and Glorified The Law made nothing perfect it is the bringing in of this better hope by the Gospel that doth it Heb. 7.19 The Law which laid a burden of strict obedience upon men backt with severe threatnings in case of transgression prevailed little upon men but to keep them under a spirit of bondage to fear while they were unacquainted with the rich grace and indulgence of the Gospel by which the Yoke of Christ is rendered easie and his burden light The Gospel prevails much
in his word To say God did give such men power in Adam will not salve the business For we cannot say that any such power was given to Adam himself before his fall much less that all his Posterity had such a power in him We cannot say that Adam had power to do more than what was necessary to continue him in that state in which God created him and consequently we cannot say that God gave him power to repent when he had no occasion for it or power to believe the Gospel when there was no Revelation of it nor occasion for such a Revelation No this power depends upon an after-work of Grace through our Blessed Redeemer Nor is this doctrine touching the power which God hath given unto men of acting towards their own believing at all contrary to that where men are said to have believed through grace Acts 18.27 or to that where Faith is said to be the gift of God For it is through the preventive and antecedent Grace of God as I have said that they are enabled to act towards their believing For though what they do towards their own believing is by a free use of their natural faculties yet it is by means of the preventive and antecedent Grace of God to wit the Gospel that those faculties act any thing towards their believing the Gospel For without such an object of Faith as the Gospel is mens faculties could act nothing towards the believing of it And then further though men do exercise their natural faculties upon the objective Grace of God and thereby act somthing towards their own believing Yet in that hereupon more power is given them to believe hâ—â—â—lie effectually and fully to Righteousness and Salvation this power is from the subsequent Grace of God So that the whole business of believing from the beginning to the end of it is of Grace first of Grace antecedent and then of Grace subsequent There is only so much of man in raising Faith in him as belongs to the free use of his natural powers and faculties The Grace of God in working Faith does not put new faculties into man nor destroy that freedom which is proper to the will as such It only rectifies and regulates the motions and operations of the will in reference to its objects So that the change is not natural but moral And this moral change in rectifying and regulating the acts and motions of the will is made partly by opening the understanding and enlightening the mind better to discern the nature of things and whereto they tend And this is done partly by holding the thoughts more frequenâ—â—y and more intently upon things that concern the soul and another life and partly by assisting and strengthening the understanding in making a right judgment of things And then the will is prevailed upon to chuse the right end and the way to it by having the great motives of the Gospel kept upon it by a more frequent and constant consideration For by that more frequent consideration and by the illumination of the mind about the great motives of the Gospel the power and force of those motives is better felt by the Will So that as a man comes to have other apprehensions of things by illumination of the mind so he comes to have other affections for them in the acts and motions of his will This change thus made in the mnid and will is called the renewing of the Holy Ghost because it is his work upon and by both Tit. 3.5 and a being renewed in the spirit of the mind Eph. 4.23 It is a restoring the natural faculties that were depraved in their operations to their right use and exercise for which they were made which was to act for the honor of their maker and for their own happiness and not contrarywise as they do when perverted by the power of sin This renovation in the natural faculties therefore tends to the perfecting of our nature For which cause perhaps men thus renewed are in Scripture stiled perfect in the favourable sense of Grace This one thing is further to be noted That whatever is done upon the natural faculties of mind and will by the Gospel or by the Spirit of God to change and renew them is also done by those faculties Men are not made to understand or believe the Gospel which they did not before otherwise than by exercising their mind and will about it By all this then it appears I hope that what is ascribed unto man in acting towards his own believing is no ways contrary to Grace unless you will say an effect cannot be of Grace if the natural faculties have any thing to do in the producing of it as they must if it be mans act I might shew how that the Gospel by the giving of which God hath been aforehand with us and prevented all endeavours of ours is of it self and in the very nature of it so apt to work upon the human faculties and to incline men to embrace it if they would but a little attend to it and consider it which one would think they might easily do if they would before their natures are debauched by a custom of sinning I say it is so apt to gain upon them that it hardly fails to do so more or less but where it meets with such as wilfully call off their natural faculties from attending to it and the things it treats of and that imploy them about objects of another nature as those did who in the Parable of our Saviour are said to be invited to the Supper which a King made for his Son when they made their several excuses This is well represented by our Saviour when he says of such that they closed their eyes lest at any time they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears and should understand with their hearts and should be converted and I should heal them Mat. 13.15 These are words which seem to signifie more than a bare omission or neglect and denote a kind of opposition a striving with themselves not to think upon or to be affected with things of that nature as those of a spiritual concern are And such people do not only not incline their ears to hear nor give ear to hear as the Scripture speaks but they turn away their ear from hearing they reject the word of the Lord and the counsel of God against themselves We do not therefore attribute any such great matter unto men when we say that they by the advantage of the Gospel may do so much towards their own believing if they will as would through the help of Gods Holy Spirit who is always ready to assist mens honest and good endeavours issue and end in an effectual believing Nay there is so much of the Grace of God vouchsafed towards the calling of men by the very sending of the Gospel to them as will in all probability prevail upon them if they do not much oppose resist and
the words are these And by him all that believe are justified from all things from which ye could not be justified by the Law of Moses To be Justified from sin sometimes signifies to be freed from the power and dominion of it Thus in Rom. 6.7 St. Paul having said in Verse 6. Knowing this that our old man is crucified with him that the body of sin might be destroyed that henceforth we should not serve sin adds in Verse 7. for he that is dead is Justified from sin For so it is according to the marginal reading and so the Dutch Translation Englished reads it though in our Translation it is rendred freed instead of Justified from sin And in this sense St. Austin understood this Acts 13.39 as I find him quoted And to this sence of the word Justifie agrees the reading of Revel 22.11 which some upon occasion use Let him that is filthy be filthy still and he that is Righteous let him be Justified still To the same sence of the word Justifie some alledg Rom. 8.30 Tit. 3.5 compared with Verse 7. and 1 Cor. 6.11 But ye are washed but ye are sanctified but ye are Justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the spirit of our God Where Justification seems to be ascribed unto the Spirit of God in one respect as to the Lord Jesus in another And doubtless Justification is the effect of the operation of all the Blessed Trinity though the manner of their operation be different Now that to be Justified from all things from which ye could not be Justified by the Law of Moses may be understood in this sense there are two things to be said to render it probable The one is the good agreement which this sence has with other places of Scripture which shew that men are freed from sin through Christ by his Gospel so as they could not be freed from it by the Law of Moses Thus Heb. 7.18 19. There is verily a disannulling of the Commandment going before for the weakness and unprofitableness thereof For the Law made nothing perfect but the bringing in of a better hope did And again Rom. 8.2 3 4. For the Law of the Spirit of Life which is in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the Law of sin and of death For what the Law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin condemned sin in the flesh that the Righteousness of the Law might be fulfilled in us who walk not after the flesh but after the spirit So likewise Rom. 6.14 Sin shall not have dominion over you for ye are not under the Law but under grace By all which we see that the Law of Moses could not Justifie men from sin as Christ by the Gospel-dispensation does if by being Justified from sin we understand a being freed from sin it self as to its dominion The other thing which may incline us to understand the words under consideration in this sense is what may be observed from the context St. Paul had said in Verse 38. the words immediately before Be it known to you men and brethren that through this man Christ is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins Now then if in Verse 39. he should mean no more by being Justified than a being Pardoned he would seem but to say over the same thing again in other words which he had said before which is not usual with him But if this should not be the meaning of those words and should we suppose that by being Justified from all things from which they could not be Justified by the Law of Moses should be meant a being Justified from the guilt of sin as that signifies a being freed from the punishment deserved by it yet let us consider whether it will necessarily follow that the Apostle in those words defines Justification by Remission of sin or whether rather he does not thereby only set forth the subsequent benefits that would accrue to them by being Justified by believing which could not be obtained by their observing the Law of Moses And if so then the meaning would be only this That by their being Justified by their believing they should be delivered from or secured against the evil effects of their sin from which they could be not secured by observing the Law of Moses Now that to be Justified by believing by vertue of the blood of Christ and to be freed from the punishment of sin which is Pardon are two different things seems to be very plain from those words of St. Paul Rom. 5.9 where he saith much more than being now justified by his blood we shall be saved from wrath through him He infers the certainty of their being Pardoned or saved from wrath from their being Justified and the inference and that from which it is made are doubtless two things We see then that men may be Pardoned by vertue of their being Justified and so be Justified from sin and yet not Justified by their being Pardoned It will no more follow that because by Justification we are Pardoned that therefore Pardon is our Justification than it will follow that because by believing we are Pardoned that therefore our Pardon is our believing and our believing our Pardon And now if we should understand the words Justified from all things from which ye could not be Justified by the Law of Moses in both the forementioned sences for a being delivered both from the guilt of sin and from the power and pollution of it I know no inconvenience in it both being true But if we do so yet we do not thereby necessarily conclude Pardon of sin to be Justification but only that Pardon of sin is by Justification as depending upon it For Gods adjudging of us to have performed the condition in believing on which he promised Pardon which is his Justifying of us together with his imputing that Faith to us for Righteousness intervenes comes between our believing and our being actually Pardoned and is that which gives the immediate right to it as I shewed before What hath been said then may suffice I suppose to shew that in all probability no such thing can be concluded from those words in Acts 13. as that we are Justified by being Pardoned The next Scripture I shall enquire into is Rom. 5.16 the words these Not as it was by one that sinned so is the gift for the judgment was by one or by one offence to condemnation but the free gift is of many offences unto Justification That which is first necessary to be done here is to consider the Translation because these words the free gift of many offences unto Justification seem as we have them in our Translation a little uncouth and somwhat unintelligible I have seen the matter in this part of the Verse Translated from the Original thus But the free gift is unto Justification from many offences not of many offences