thus accompanied with and perfected by Works was the Scripture fulâ—illed which saith Abraham believed God and it was imputed to him for Righteousness And if so then the Justification by Works together with Faith of which St. Iames speaks here is a Justification before God and not before Men only and to a Man 's own Conscience For of such a Justification doth the Scripture in Gen. 15. 6. speak which is here cited by St. Iames. Nor doth this that Faith accompanied with Obedience is imputed for Righteousness at all derogate from the Obedience and Sufferings of Christ in reference to the ends for which they serve Because the whole Covenant and all the parts and terms of it both Promises of Benefits the Condition on which they are Promised are all founded in Christ his undertaking for us and all the Benefits of it accrue to us upon our Believing and Obeying upon his account and for his sake We are in him who of God is made unto us Wisdom Righteousness Sanctification and Redemption 1 Cor. 1. 30. For which cause also he is called the Lord our Righteousness Not as if his personal Obedience to the Law was so formally imputed to us as that we should be reckoned to have kept the Law in his keeping of it which hath been the Opinion of some for if that had been so there would have been no more need that Christ should have suffered for us than there was that he shoud have suffered for himself who had no sin for neither should we if we had perfectly kept the Law in him or in his keeping of it CHAP. II. For what Ends the Law was added to the Promise I Now come to shew in the next place for what end the Law of Moâ—es was added to the Promise And before I do this in particular I shall note only in general that it was not added to cross or confront the Promise or God's Design in it but to be subservient to it Gal. 3. 21. Is the Law then against the Promises God forbid For it is not to be thought that God would prevaricate in his Design so that when he had once made a new Law of Grace for the saving of faln Man he would yet afterwards give any Law but what should one way or other subserve to the same end if Men do not deprive themselves of the intended benefit by perverting it And therefore to be sure God did not intend to revive the Old Covenant of Works made with Adam in Paradise in the after promulgation of the Law of Nature which we call the Moral Law already broken He did not therein come to demand his full debt of Innocency in Mans broken and bankrupt condition or to let him know that he would without any other condition than perfect incency cast him into prison until he had paid the utmost farthing For if he had then the Law indeed would have been against the Promise which declares quite otherwise It is true the Law of Nature as it is a perfect Rule of Natural Righteousness founded in God's Nature and Man's Nature doth of it self require perfect innocency and can require no less being suited to the Nature of Man in its perfect state But when God brings this Law forth and sets it before Men that are now faln from that state as he doth in the promulgation of it it is to let them know indeed what they once were and from whence they are fallen and how unhappy their condition now is according to the Tenour and Terms of that Law and that it would have continued so for ever if God had not made a new Law of Grace to over-rule that Law and to let all know that they shall still remain in that condition that wilfully exclude themselves from the benefit of the Law of grace by not performing the Condition of it and not to let them know they should have no better terms from him than that Law affords them nor to make their perfect keeping of it the condition of their Justification But the Law of Moses entirely taken in all its parts was rather given as an Appendix to the Promise both as a Rule of the material part of that Obedience which God would now require of the Israelites in conjunction with their Faith in the Promise and as a Motive to that Obedience This in general The Question is put Gal. 3. 19. Wherefore then serveth the Law And the Answer there is That it was added because of transgression until the Seed should come And it was added because of transgression in more respects than one 1. It was added to discover Sin to make that known to be Sin which was so of it self and in its own nature before the promulgation of the Law For by reason of that grievous Wound which Man got in his Understanding by the Fall and by reason also of a Progressive Degeneration in Mankind the Natural Sense of Moral Good and Evil was to a great degree worn out of the minds of Men. For the repairing of which decay a promulgate Law the ten Commandments answerable to the Law of pure Nature in the Spirituality of it was set on foot in the World And by this Law came Sin and Duty to be more clearly known than they were before Rom. 3. 20. By the Law is the knwoledge of Sin Rom. 7. 7. I had not known Sin but by the Law For I had not known Lust except the Law had said Thou shalt not covet 2. The Law was added not only barely to make known that to be Sin which was soâ—of it self before but to set it out in it's Colours to make it known in the horrid nature and consequence of it that Men might be the more afraid to have to do with it The Law entred that the offence might abound That is that by that means it might be rendred the more Criminous and Demeritorious That Sin by the Commandment might become exceeding sinful Rom. 5. 20. 7. 13. 3. The Law as it discovered Sin and made it more criminous and the people the more sensible of guilt and more apprehensive of their obnoxiousness to punishment was given to set off so much the more the Glory Beauty and Desirableness of God's Grace in the Promise of pardon and Salvation Rom. 5. 20. The Law entered that the offence might abound But where Sin abounded Grace did much more abound By how much the more Sin appeared Sin and was enhanced and aggravated and rendred manifestly mischievous by a Promulgate Law by so much the more grace appear'd to be Grace in all its Glory that brought deliverance from it Rom. 5. 21. That like as Sin hath reigned unto death viz. by the Law that being the strength of Sin 1 Cor. 15. 56. Even so Grace might reign through Righteousness unto eternal life through Ieâ—us Christ our Lord. After Christ came the rest which he gave was so much the more sweet to these Iews who received him by how much they
A DISCOURSE of the Nature Ends and Difference OF THE Two Covenants Evincing in special That FAITH as Justifying is not opposed to WORKS of Evangelical Obedience WITH An APPENDIX of the Nature and Difference of saving and ineffectual Faith and the reason of that difference To which is prefixed a PREFACE by Mr. Rich. Baxter 2 Pet. 1. 5. Add to your Faith Virtue Jam. 2. 22. And by Works was Faith made perfect LONDON Printed by I. Darby for Richard Chiswell at the Rose and Crown in St. Pauls Church-yard 1673. TO THE READER Reader THeology is the Doctrine of the Kingdom of God A Kingdom is a State of Government Government is by Laws He therefore that will understand any thing in Divinity must understand the Laws of God And though there be many inferiour Particles distinguished from the weighty things of the Law which few do clearly understand yet is it necessary that we know in general what kind of Law it is that we are under and also that we know the most important parts If we understand not the Law of Tything Mint and Cummin we must not be ignorant of Iudgment Mercy and Faith Matth. 23. 23. They that tell us we are now under no Laws do tell us thereby that we are under no Goverment and consequently that God and out Redeemer Jesus Christ is not the Governour of Believers And he that knoweth that the Name GOD doth signifie the Divine Relation to Man as well as the Divine Nature will know that this is to deny a God and to deny Iesus Christ and rather to be called Atheism and Infidelity than Antinomianism Even they that had not the written Law of Moses had a Law of Nature partly written out upon their hearts And Christians have both the Law of Nature Extrinsick and the written Law of Christ and both acccording to the various measures of Grace written out upon their hearts that is received by knowledge Faith Love and readiness to obey But they that know that we are under a Law as those in Heaven even Angels are yet do not all well understand what Law it is and on what terms the World or the Church are governed and must be judged That the first Law of Natural Innocency as alone or as to the Promissory part or as to threatning without mercies or remedy is it that any part of the Earth is now governed by or under is an intolerable Errour God promiseth not sinners everlasting life on condition they be no sinners That Promise ceased by a Cessation of the Subjects capacity without any more ado or possibility of reviving it Nor doth God deal with any people according to the sole threatning of that Law without mercy dispensation or remedy The Law of Grace was as truly made with all men in Adam Gen. 3. 15. as the Law of Innocency was Though the Serpents Seed be mentioned in it that intimateth not that any were such as then in the Loins of lapsed Adam but as consequently they would become such by rejecting and abusing Grace and so contracting a further Malignity If Man as in Adam's loyns then was the Serpents Seed then all God's Elect should be such and so be bruised and not saved by Jesus Christ For all then were really alike in Adam And to say that God's meer Election and Reprobation without any real inherent difference existent or foreseen is the reason of denominating some the Seed of the Woman and some the Seed of the Serpent is an unproved fancy and irrational corrupting the Word of God All men therefore in lapsed Adam were at once under the guilt of Sin and also under a remedying Law of Grace so far as that it is enacted and offered to save those that receive it It saved not Adam himself meerly by the making of it till by Faith he had received it And no doubt but as the Covenant of Grace to us extendeth to the faithful and their Seed so did the Covenant of Grace to Adam for it was the same as was made to all the faithful before Christâ—s Incarnation The case of Infants being obscure clearer Truths are not to be reduced to it And whether Cain and Abel as they were both born in Original Sin so were both pardoned upon their Covenant-Dedication to God by their Parents and Cain after lost his Infant-state of Grace as Davenant Ward c. think Infant Grace may now be lost or whether Adam and Eve neglected that Dedication of Cain to God which was needful to his Sanctification or whether God past him by and denyed him Infant-Grace of his meer will I leave to Mens enquiry and various judgments The controversie concerneth Children now as well as then and the difficulties every way are not small But of these things I am past doubt 1. That Cain was not the Serpents Seed meerly for Original Sin and as born of Adam as Abel was also nor did God make him the Serpents Seed by Reprobation but that he made himself so by superadded Sin against the Redeemer and Law of Grace 2. That all Mankind are still under this Law of Grace further than they forfeit the benefits of it by sins against it 3. That most Writers if not most Christians do greatly darken the Sacred Doctrine by overlooking the Interest of Children in the actions of their meer Parents and think that they participate of no guilt and suffer for no Original Sin but Adams only and bring the Doctrine of Original Sin it self into doubt by laying all upon Covenant-Relation and denying or overlooking the Natural Proofs Doubtless through Scripture it is remarkable that God usually judgeth the posterity of new sinners to new punishments and promises and threatnings are made since the Covenant of Innocency ceased to the believers and unbelievers or wicked with their Seed For we may well say that the Seed of Cain Cham Nimrod Ishmael Esau Saul Ahab c. had more Original Sin than what they had from Adam And Matth. 23. 35. Expounds the matter It was not in vain that Ezra Daniel c. confessed their forefathers sin nor doth our Liturgie pray for the dead but the living when it saith Remember not Lord our offences nor the offences of our Forefathers neither take thou vengeance of our Sins The Author of this Treatise beginning at the Promise made to Abraham doth it to comport with the Apostle Paul who thought meet to call the Iews to no higher Observations than the Case in hand about the Non-obligation of Moses's Law to the Gentiles did require But this denyeth not but supposeth the same Law of Grace in the main to have been made to all men in Adam and Noah and to have been in force to all Mankind before it was renewed to Abraham saving that to him and his Seed there were many great priviledges added above the rest of Mankind upon his extraordinary obediential Faith Of how great importance it is to have a right understanding of the difference between the Law of
now under the Gospel from Abraham's being justified by Faith and from God's setting him forth for a pattern and example to all after-ages of his justifying both Iews and Gentiles upon the condition of believing The strengh of which arguing seems to depend upon this supposition That the Promise by the belief of which Abraham was then justified and the Promise in the Gospel by the belief of which men are now justified do both agree and are one in the general nature of them And upon these grounds and under this notion of the Promise to Abraham I intend to discourse of it But when I consider for what reason he that is least in the Kingdom of God is said to be greater than Iohn the Baptist though not Abraham himself nor any of the Prophets were greater than he and when I consider likewise how ignorant the Apostles were for a time touching the necessity of the Death and Resurrection of Christ notwithstanding the many plainer Revelations thereof in the Prophets than we find Abraham had I cannot I confess think that Abraham had or could have a distinct notion of all that was contained and implyed in the Promise as now it is opened and unfolded in the Writings of the New Testament it does appear was wrapt up in it And therefore though I think I may well found a Discourse of the New Covenant upon the Promise made to Abraham as it is now explained in the New Testament yet I would not be understood to suppose Abrahams apprehension or Faith to have then been commensurate to the Promise as it is so explained Supposing then the Promise to Abraham to be the New Covenant it self in a more imperfect Edition of it than afterward came forth I shall now a little further consider what it was and what the New Covenant is ever hath been in the general nature of it since it first commenced And it is a new Law or Covenant made by way of remedy against the rigour and extremity of the Law of Nature under which Man was created For the Law of Nature the Law of Gods Creation as well as his instituted Law in Paradise being violated and impossible to be kept inviolable by Man in his lapsed state by reason of his moral impotency and the pravity of his Nature derived from Adam he must inevitably have sunk and perished under the condemnation of it unless there had been a new Law instituted to supercede the procedure of this Law against him in its natural and proper course If Salvation had been attainable by Man in his lapsed state without this remedying Law of Grace there would have been no need of a New Covenant If there had been a Law given which could have given life verily righteousness should have been by the Law Gal. 3. 21. But there was no such Law given besides this new Law Nor could the Original Law be repealed for the relief of faln Man it being founded in the Nature of God and the nature of Man as he was created after Gods own Image and is no more changeable than the Nature of good and evil are changable And therefore as I said there was a necessity that Man must have perished under the condemnation of the Law of his Creation as the lapsed Angels did under theirs unless a Law of Indemnity had been Enacted But God whose tender mercies are over all his works to the end so great and considerable a part of his Creation as Man is might not be wholly lost and undone to all eternity out of his infinite compassion mercy and love did constitute a new Law or Covenant for mans relief which well may be called the Covenant of Grace against the rigour and extremity of the first Law Which new Law was in some degree though but obscurely made known to Man not long after Adams fall or else there would have been no ground for that Faith which we are assured was in Abel Enoch c. Heb. 11. But it was doubtless somewhat more fully declared to Abraham than to any before and at last compleatly established and published by Jesus Christ the Mediatour of it who was given for a Covenant to the people And this new Law in the last edition of it under the Gospel is variously denominated being called the Promise the New Covenant the Law of Faith the Law of Liberty the Gospel the Grace of God or the Word of his Grace And so we come Sect. 2. To consider what the design of God was in this New Covenant or Promise unto Abraham Next to his own glory it was to recover the Humane Nature from its degenerate state to a state of holiness to that likeness to God in which Man was at the first made and therein and thereby to a state of happiness both which were lost by the fall Holiness love and goodness as they were once the glory and happiness of Man before he lost them so are still perfective of his nature And therefore it is impossible in the nature of the thing to recover Man to happiness without recovering his nature to a conformity to God in these or for Man to be perfectly happy whose nature is not perfected in them Sin is the disease and sickness of the Soul and it 's as possible for a sick man to enjoy the pleasure of health as it is for the sinful and corrupt nature of man while such to enjoy the pleasure which the humane nature did naturally enjoy or was capable of enjoying in its innocency and purity But when the nature of Man is once recovered to perfection in knowledge holiness love and goodness it will then be matter of unspeakable delight to him to love God Angels and Men and to do the will of God in every thing It is so to the holy Angels And it was so to our blessed Saviour who counted it as his meat and drink to be doing the will of his heavenly Father And to what degree the nature of man is here in this world restored towards its proper perfection to the same degree it is matter of pleasure and delight to him to act holily and righteously and to be doing good It iâ— joy to the Iust to do judgment Prov. 21. 15. It is a pain to a man to act contrary to the bent and inclination of his nature by compulsion or fear And therefore unless the corrupt nature of Man were changed Heaven would not be Heaven to him in case he were there Those Divine and Heavenly exercises which are there the unspeakable delight of Saints and Angels would be his pain and torment as being contrary to his nature And the pleasures of that state as having not what will satisfie the unsatiable lusts of mans corrupt nature would not be such to him but add rather to his anguish For as it would be a torment to a Man to be in extremity of hunger and thirst and to be without Meat and Drink and all hopes of any to satisfie him So will
made the Children of God Gal. 3. 26. Ye are all the Children of God by Faith in Christ Iesus Joh. 1. 12 13. As many as received him to them gave he power to become the sons of God even to those that believe on his Name Which were born not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man but of God Now to be born of God or which is the same to be made the Child of God is to have ones Nature restored to the likeness of God in which Man was first made and is the same thing with that wich is called Regeneration and a being born again and a new Creature Which new Creature or the nature of Man renewed by Faith is also called the new Man which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness Ephes. 4. 24. To be born again is to have the faculties of Mans Nature restored to a rectitude in their motions and operations in reference both to God and Man to be restored to their proper moral use for which they were made It is in a word that which is called a being made partakers of a Divine Nature For those which are begotten of God are begotten in or to his likeness Men can adopt those which are not their natural Children to inherit their Estates but they cannot adopt them to a participation of their Moral Endowments But God adopts his Children to a participation with him in the Inheritance by adopting them to a participation of the Moral perfections of his Nature that is to a consimilitude to him in them And this we say is done by Faith that is by Faith in God and by Faith in his Word For in order of Nature God is first believed to be a God of Truth before his Word is believed to be the Word of Truth And the creditableness of his Word depends upon the knowledge or belief of the fidelity of his Nature And this Truth of God and of his Word is the immediate Object of Faith By Faith a Man believes that to be true which God reveals or declares as his Mind and Will let the Import of it be what it will But then this Faith operates upon the Will and Affections according to the Tenour and Import of that which is revealed If it be matter of sad import it works a hatred to him that threatens it and a fear of the thing threatned if it be apprehended to proceed from an enemy And this is the effect of the Faith of Devils who believe and hate God who believe and tremble Iam. 2. 19. But if that which is revealed by God and believed by Man betoken unspeakable love good will in God to Man and matter of the greatest benefit to him as a proof of such love then it worketh love to him that expresseth such love for Faith worketh by Love Gal. 5. 6. and a longing desire after the promised benefit And as the Soul grows more and more in love with God because of his love in love with his blessed Nature and Divine Perfections such as are his Love and Goodness Truth and Faithfulness Purity and Patience Mercifulness and readiness to forgive which render him altogether lovely so it contracts a likeness to God in these upon the Soul and so changes and renews the Moral habit and constitution of the Soul and consequently of the whole Life There is an aptness and promptness in men to imitate that in others and so in God for which they love them And frequent imitating Acts beget habits Custom changing Nature And hence it is that through Faith we are made partakers of a Divine Nature We all with open face beholding as in a Glass the glory of the Lord are changed into the same Image from glory to glory as by the Spirit of the Lord 2 Cor. 3. 18. This beholding the glory of the Lord is by Faith For we walk by Faith and not by sight 2 Cor. 5. 7. and by it Moses saw him who is invisible Heb. 11. 27. And the medium by which this Prospect is taken is the Gospel by which the Lord in his lovely Perfections is now openly revealed And Faith being from time to time busied in beholding of and conversing with these Perfections it transforms the Soul into the same Image or likeness from glory to glory that is gradually as by the Spirit of the Lord that is through the co-operation of God's Spirit with Mans Faith To comprehend the breadth length depth and heighth and to know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge is the way to be filled with all the fulness of God by transcribing all his imitable perfections upon the Soul Ephes. 3. 18 19. And it is by virtue of their Relation to Christ and being thus begotten and born of God and made partakers of a new Nature conformable to God's that Men can with confidence call God Father This blessed effect of God's Spirit is the Spirit of Adoption by which they cry Abba Father And it is this new Nature that is the Spring and Fountain of a good Life of all Pious and Virtuous Actions As it is said of God Thou art good and dost good so it is true of all those that are born of him A good Man out of the good treasure of his heart thus renewed bringeth forth good fruit The Tree being good the Fruit will be good And as this new Creature groweth up to strength and maturity so doing of good and acting worthily will become natural and pleasant to him in whom it is To such an one the Commandments of God are not grievous but he will be able in some good measure to say I delight to do thy will O God yea thy Law is in my heart And for sin it being contrary to this new Nature there is a kind of Moral Impotency in him in whom it is to commit sin He cannot sin because he is born of God 1 Joh. 3. 9. Or if such an one be overtaken in a fault it will work a disturbance in the Soul just as that will in the stomach which a Man hath eaten against which he hath an antipathy in Nature But as for such as perform Religious Duties and do things materially good only by the strength of Extrinsecal Motives and not froman inward Principle of this new Nature or love to the things themselves to such those actions being unnatural become grievous and burdensome and will be continued in no longer than those Motives continue in their strength Sect. 8. The last thing I proposed to consider about God's Promise to Abraham is What we are to understand by God's counting Abrahams Faith to him for righteousness And I take it to signifie thus much That God in a way of special grace or by virtue of a new Law of grace and favour which was established by God in Christ Gal. 3. 17. that is in reference to what Christ was to do suffer in time then to come did reckon his Practical
other Benefits which were Promised to Abraham and his Seed 2. They had an addition of several other Predictions concerning the Messias both by Moses and other Prophets that perhaps were somewhat more express such as in Deut. 18. 16. Isa. 53. Dan. 9. and others These Promises and Predictions put them in great expectations of Special Benefits by the Messias and wrought in them a longing after his day Upon which account our Saviour said to his Disciples Blessed are your Eyes for they see and your Ears for they hear For I say unto you that many Prophets and Kings and Righteous Men have desired to see those things which ye see and have not seen them and to hear those things which ye hear and have not heard them Mat. 13. 16 17. Luke 10. 23 24. 3. They had large significations from God of his special favour to them above all people as in chusing them to be his peculiar people and in declaring himself to be their God in giving visible Signs of his Presence among them and excellent Laws Promises to them and sending his Prophets amongst them and working many wonders for them and casting out the Nations before them to make room for them and the like Deut. 7. 6 7 8. and 26. 18 19. Psal. 147. 19 20. Rom. 9. 4 5. 4. They had express Declarations from God of the goodness of his Nature and of his compassion towards Sinners and of his readiness to pardon such as should repent and return to their duty in loving him and keeping his Commandments As for instance Exod. 34. 6 7. The Lord passed before him and proclaimed The Lord the Lord God merciful and gracious long-suffering and abundant in goodness and truth keeping mercy for thousands forgiving iniquity trangression and sin And when he delivered them his Law with the greatest terrour and astonishment to them yet even then he assured them that he would shew mercy to thousands of them that love him and keep his Commandments as in the second Commandment And in case of their miscarriage to the drawing down of Gods Judgements upon them he bespeaks them thus When thou art in tribulation and all these things are come upon thee even in the latter days if thou turn to the Lord thy God and shalt be obedient to his voice For the Lord thy God is a merciful God he will not forsake thee nor forget the Covenant of thy Fathers Deut. 4. 31. and 30. 1 2 3. Levit. 26. 39 c. From all which Grounds the faithful among them had such a hope and confidence of pardon of Sin and of a future happiness in another life upon their Repentance and sincere Obedience as did effectually induce them to have good thoughts of God to love him and to endeavour to please him by having respect unto all his Commandments This made him say Psal. 130. 4. There is forgiveness with thee that thou mayest be feared And under this hope and confidence the twelve Tribes did instantly serve God day and night and grounded this Hope of theirs upon the Promise made of God unto their Fathers as St. Panl tells us Acts 26. 6 7. And indeed it was the unanimous Faith of the most eminent among them from age to age that God had both made and would keep a Covenant to shew mercy to those that love him and keep his Commandments or that walk before him with all their heart For that they looked upon as the Condition of God's Promise of shewing Mercy This we may see in Moses David Solomon and in Daniel and Nehemiah Deut. 7. 9. Know therefore that the Lord thy God he is God the faithful God which keepeth Covenant and Mercy with them that love him and keep his Commandments So David Psalm 103. 17 18. The mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting to such as keep his Covenant and to those that remember his Commandments to do them And thus Solomon 1 Kings 8. 23. And he said Lord God of Israel there is no God like thee who keepest Covenant and mercy with thy servants that walk before thee with all their heart So Daniel in his 9th Chap. 4th ver O Lord the great and dreadful God keeping the Covenant and Mercy to them that love him and to them that keep his Commandments And Nehemiah likewise Ch. 1. 5. I beseech thee O Lord God of Heaven the great and terrible God that keepeth Covenant and mercy for them that love him and observe his Commandments This we see was the serious and constant Profession of the Faith of the servants of God in those times And in this Faith and Practice doubtless it was that they lived and dyed and were saved CHAP. IV. That the Law contained a Covenant different from that with Abraham IN the next place I am to shew that the Law of Moses did contain a Covenant distinct and of a different nature from the Covenant which God made with Abraham and his Spiritual Seed Besides the general Promise which God made to Abraham respecting the Gentiles as well as the Iews In thee all Nations of the Earth shall be blessed he made a Special Covenant with him as a reward of his Signal faithfulness to give unto his Natural Seed the Land of Canaan Nehem. 9. 8. Thou foundest his heart faithful before thee and madest a Covenant with him to give the Land of the Caâ—aanites to his Seed In order to the fulfilling of which Promise after he had brought them out of Egypt he united them under himself as Head in one Political Body by a Political Covenant Exod. 19 c. which is the Covenant I am now to discourse of In which discourse I would 1. Shew in what respect the Law of Moses is said to contain a Covenant of a different nature from the Covenant of Grace made with Abraham 2. Prove that it did contain such a different Covenant 3. For farther Illustration consider it in its parts and their relation one to another 4. And in what respect this Covenant is called the first Covenant when as the Covenant of Grace was made before it 1. In what respect the Law of Moses is said to contain a Covenant of a different Nature from the Covenant of Grace made with Abraham The Law of Moses comes under a twofold consideration 1. As in conjunction with the Promise to Abraham to which it was annexed it made up one entire Law by which the Israelites were to be governed and directed in the way to eternal life And in this Conjunction the Promise was the Life and Soul as it were of the Body of the Mosaic Law properly taken And in this sense as the word Law signifies the Pentateuch or five Books of Moses which contain the Promise as well as the Law it is sometimes used in the New Testament Gal. 4. 21 22. 1 Cor. 14. 34. Luke 16. And in this sense doubtless we are to understand the Law upon which David bestowed so many glorious Encomiums as
judge reverently and charitably of the Antients that used the word Merit of good Works because they meant but a moral aptitude for the promised Reward according to the Law of Grace through Christ. 16. They confess the thing thus described themselves however they like not the name of Merit lest it should countenance proud and carnal conceits 17. They judge no Man to be Heretical for the bare use of that word who agreeth with them in the sense 18. In this sense they agree that our Gospel-obedience is such a necessary aptitude to our Glorification as that glory though a free gift is yet truly a Reward of this Obedience 19. And they agree that our final Justification by sentence at the day of Judgment doth pass upon the same Causes Reasons and Conditions as our Glorification doth 20. They all agree that all faithful Ministers must bend the labour of their Ministry in publick and private for promoting of Holiness and good Works and that they must diifference by discipline between the obedient and the disobedient And O! that the Papists would as zealously promote Holiness and good Works in the World as the true serious Protestants do whom they factiously and peevishly accuse as enemies to them and that the Opinion Disputing and name of good Works did not cheat many wicked persons into self-flattery and perdition while they are void of that which they dispute for Then would not the Mahometans and Heathens be deterred from Christianity by the wickedness of these nominal Christians that are near them Nor would the serious practice of that Christianity which themselves in general profess be hated scorned and persecuted by so many both Protestants and Papists nor would so many contend that they are of the true Religion while they are really of no Religion at all any further than the Hypocrites Picture and Carkass may be called Religion Were Men but resolved to be serious Learners serious Lovers and serious Practisers according to their knowledge and did not live like mockers of God and such as look towards the life to come in jest or unbelief God would vouchsafe them better acquaintance with the true Religion than most Men have Having prefaced this much for the rest I refer thee to the perusal of this Treatise which will give thee much light into the nature of the Gospel and especially help thee to the right understanding of the meaning of the Apostle Paul in all his Epistles about the Law the Gospel and the Justification of a sinner O pray and labour for A CONFIRMED PRACTICAL FAITH as daily doth Your fellow Disciple Ri. Baxter Iune 4th 1672. The chief Heads of Discourse 1. THe nature of the Promise to Abraham 2. Why the Law was added to the Promise 3. How those under the Law were saved 4. The nature of the Legal Covenant 5. The mistakes of Iews about the Law and Promise and how St. Paul counter-argues those mistakes 6. How St. Paul's Doctrine of Iustification by Faith and not by Works was then mistaken by some 7. That the Doctrine of St. Paul and of St. James about Faith and Works do not differ 8. With an APPENDIX touching the difference and the reason of the difference between saving and ineffectual Faith A DISCOURSE Of the Nature Ends and Difference OF THE TWO COVENANTS THe mistake of the unbelieving Iews about the true import of Gods Promise to Abraham and of the Law of Moses was a principal cause of their rejecting Christ and his Gospel and their own salvation thereby To rectifie which mistake the Apostle St. Paul used various reasonings according to the various Errors contained in it In which reasonings of his there being some things hard to be understood there were others again which probably mistaking the Apostles reasonings against the Jew-Jewish Notion of Justification by Works ran into a contrary extream thinking they might be saved by Faith without Works as on the contrary the incredulous Iews thought they might be saved by Works without Faith And if many in our dayes had not run into somewhat alike extream through a misunderstanding also of the Apostles writings labour and pains would not have been so necessary as now they are to rectify their mistake and to prevent it in others To the end therefore that the plain Truth may the better appear touching Gods promise to Abraham touching the Law of Moses and the Apostles arguings about these I shall very briefly endeavour these seven things 1. To open the Nature and Design of Gods promise to Abraham And to shew 2. For what ends the Law was added to the promise 3. By what Faith and Practice the Iews under the Law were saved 4. That the Law contained a Covenant different from that with Abraham 5. The grand mistakes of the unbelieving Jews and St. Paul's counter arguings touching both the Law and the Promise 6. The mistake of some pretended Christians in the Apostles days touching the Doctrine of Iustification by Faith without Works 7. That the Doctrine of St. Paul and St James about Faith and Works in reference to Iustification do not differ I shall begin with the first of these CHAP. I. The Nature and Design of Gods Promise to Abraham I Shall endeavour to open the Nature and Design of Gods Promise to Abraham Which Promise is also called the Covenant Act. 3. 25. Gal. 3. 17. In doing of which these eight things will come under consideration 1. What the nature of this Promise is in general 2. What the design of it is 3. What are the special benefits promised 4. What the extent of it is 5. The security given by God for the performance of it 6. That this Promise was conditional 7. What the condition of it was 8. What we are to understand by Gods accounting Abrahams Faith to him for Righteousness Sect. 1. Of the nature of it in general This Promise I take to be of the same nature with that which in the Gospel is called the New Covenant It 's true indeed they greatly differ in the Administration the one being but general implicite and obscure and the other more particular express and perspicuous But though in this they differ yet in their general nature they agree in one and are the same For 1. This Covenant as delivered to Abraham was confirmed in Christ as well as the Gospel afterwards Gal. 3. 17. and that 's a Character of the New Covenant Mat. 26. 28. 2. The Gospel is said to have been preached to Abraham in the Promise that was made him Gal. 3. 8. 3. He was justified by Faith which he could not have been but by vertue of a New Covenant And it was by Faith in the Promise made to him by God by which he was justified Which two things supposed it necessarily follows that that Promise was of the nature of the New Covenant 4. St. Paul argues against the erroneous Iews in his Epistles to the Romans and Galatians the necessity of Evangelical Faith unto justification
he did saying The Law of the Lord is perfect converting the Soul c. Psal. 19. 2. We are to consider the Law of Moses as given at Sinai in a stricter sense as it was an Instrument or Rule of Government in the Commonwealth of Israel The Law in the former sense of it promised eternal life though but obscurely to those that did believe its Promises and sincerely obey its Precepts In the latter sense it promised only temporal Blessings to those that strictly observed it in all the parts of it and threatned those with temporal calamities that did not The same Laws materially of this Political Covenant related to both the Covenants As eternal Life was promised in the Covenant of Grace upon condition of sincere obedience to those Laws as an effect of Faith in the Promise So those Laws in Conjunction with the Promise were as I may so say Evangelical But as temporal benefits only were promised in that Covenant upon condition of strict obedience to those Laws and as those Laws were enjoyned under temporal penalties as they were Commonwealth-Laws so that Convenant containing those Laws was Political and in this Political respect it was another Covenant If the Law of God and the Law of Man command or forbid things materially the same yet if the one command or forbid them under pain of damnation and the other only under temporal penalties these Laws are not formally the same The Commonwealth of Israel had no Commonwealth Laws but what God himself gave them the which Laws they also covenanted with him to observe by which Covenant they were united under him as Head of that Political Body And therefore when they would needs choose them a King like other Nations God told Samuel saying They have not rejected thee but they have rejected me that I should not reign over them 1 Sam. 8. 7. Ye said unto me said Samuel nay but a King shall reign over us when the Lord your God was your King 1 Sam. 12. 12. I conclude then that as the Law of Moses did serve to this Political end so it was a distinct Covenant and different from the Covenant of grace 2. Let us see how this may be proved to be a Covenant so distinct and different as I have said from the Covenant of Grace declared to Abraham And to this purpose these things are considerable First They are called the two Covenants by St. Paul Gal. 4. 24. And if they are two then there is a real difference between them else they would be but one and the same Secondly They bear distinct denominations the one is called the first and the Old Covenant and the other the Second and the New Heb. Chap. 8. 9. Thirdly There were some sins pardonable by one of these Covenants which were not so by the other and that shews that they were quite of a different nature The Murder and Adultery which David was guilty of was not pardonable according to the terms of the Political Covenant if there had been any Superiour Power on Earth to have executed that Commonwealth-Law and yet according to the terms of the Covenant of Grace they were pardonable upon repentance and upon those terms were pardoned unto him The like might be said perhaps of Manasseh The unbelief of Moses and Aaron in not Sanctifying God in the eyes of the Children of Israel was according to the terms of the Covenant of Grace pardoned as to the eternal penalty but yet was not wholly pardoned according to the terms of the the Political Covenant as to temporal punishment For the Lord told them that for that cause they should not bring the Children of Israel into the Land of Canaan Numb 20. 12. And in reference to this case the Psalmist saith thou wast a God that forgavest them though thou tookest vengeance of their inventions Psal. 99. 8. Fourthly The Covenant of Grace never ceaseth but it is of perpetual duration throughout all Generations and therefore is called the Everlasting Covenant Heb. 13. 20. But this Mosaical Political Covenant is vanished long since Heb. 8. 13. by which also it appears to be a Covenant effentially different from the other 3. For a farther Illustration of the nature of this Covenant we will consider it in its parts and in the relation which those parts bear one towards another And in general it did consist of two parts 1. Of Laws and 2. Of the Sanction of those Laws The Laws likewise were of two sorts 1. Laws of Duty 2. Laws of Indemnity 1. Laws of Duty And in them we may consider 1. What those Laws were 2. What manner of obedience to those Laws it was which would free men from the penalties of them and entitle them to the Promises of reward annexed to them First The Laws of Duty of which this Covenant did in great part consist were those which pass under the various denomination of Moral Ritual or Ceremonial and Judicial Some of which Laws viz. the Decalogue especially and almost wholly for the matter of them were natural that is such as were founded in the nature of Man forbidding things which of themselves were evil and commanding things which in their own nature were good and might be discerned to be so by Man in his pure Naturals and in great part since the degeneration of his nature whether they had been expresly forbidden or commanded or no. But these Laws became part of the Political Covenant only as they were expresly and externally declared to the Iews by a Promulgate Law For if this had not been so the Gentiles could not have been said to be without the Law as they were Rom. 2. 14 11. 1 Cor. 9. 21. For they had the force and effect of the Law in their hearts and were in that respect a Law unto themselves Rom. 2. 14 15. But because the Decalogue as well as the other Laws was delivered to the Iews only and to none else from Mount Sinai therfore they only and Proselytes that joyned with them were said to be under the Law and all the rest without Law And therefore is the giving of the Law reckoned to the Iews among their peculiar Priviledges Rom. 9. 4. Psal. 147. 19 20. And in this sense only as the Decalogue was a part of the Political Law can the Ministration ingraven in Stones be said to be done away as it is 2 Cor. 3. 7 to ver 11. For so much of it as was a Copy of the Law of Nature or is by Christ incorporated into his Laws remains in force to all men The other Laws of which this Covenant did consist were Arbitrary the force of which did wholly depend upon Divine Institution And such were the Laws Ceremonial and a great part of those we call Judicial Secondly That obedience which would be sufficient to secure a Man from the penalty of the Political Law and to entitle him to the Promised Reward annexed thereto was no less than a strict Obedience to it in all
the Law for them becomes imputed to them in it self and not only as the procuring cause of their Justification upon the terms of the Gospel so that they are looked upon as having themselves perfectly kept the Law in him it hath doubtless infeebled their endeavours after an inherent Righteousness and proved a temptation to them to think that so long as they have such anothers inherent Righteousness essentially in it self imputed to them as Christs is they have no great need to find it in themselves considering also that if they had it they must rather loath themselves for it than take any comfort in it But let no man deceive you saith St. Iohn he that doth righteousness is righteous as he is righteous 1 Joh. 3. 7. I do acknowledge that many of them have been worthy men who yet have propagated these Opinions But that makes the Opinions never the better but have done more hurt in gaining thereby the more credit It is true also that those worthy Men have zealously pressed the necessity of Repentance Regeneration and a holy Life which proved indeed an Antidote against the Poyson of the other Opinions so that they did not become mortal to many as otherwise they would have done And indeed they would have made mad work if they had not been yoked with wholesomer Doctrine as we see they did among Antinomians Ranters and other carnal Chistians that have followed the Docture of those Opinions but have been shy of letting the Doctrines of Mortification and strict living to have any power over them But then if the preaching of those sounder Doctrines of Repentance Regeneration and a holy Life have done much good notwithstanding they have been clogged with Opinions of another tendency it is easie to imagine that they would have done much more good if they had not been checkt by those unsound Principles But I shall say no more of this though more might be said because I hope I may say that most of those who have formerly imbibed these Opinions are now come to deliver themselves with more caution than heretofore And so I shall procâ—â—d to the last thing I propounded to touch upon and that is to shew CHAP. VII That the Doctrine of St. Paul and of St. Iames about Faith and Works in reference to Iustification do not differ but are wholly one IT is true indeed though the Doctrine of St. PAVL and St. IAMES was in nothing opposite the one to the other yet the nature of the subject-matter of their Epistles did differ just as the Errors they engaged against did differ The Errors of the unbelieving Iews consisting much in denying Justification to be by Christ and Faith in him and in placing it in their own works of Circumcising Sacrificing and other Mosaical Observations And St. Paul designing in some of his Epistles to antidote the Christians against the infection of them and to establish them in the saving Doctrine of the Gospel was led of course to bend his discourse in great part against Justification by Works of the Law and on the contrary to assert it to be by Faith in Christ in his Death and in his Doctrine without those works Whereas St. Iames having to do in his Epistle with such as professed the Christian Faith and Justification by it but erring dangerously about the nature of Faith as justifying thinking that opinionative Faith would save them though destitute of a real change in the moral frame and constitution of their Souls and of a holy Life Hereupon it became in a manner as necessary for him to plead the Renovation of Man's Nature and Evangelical Obedience to be some way necessary unto Justification as it was for St. Paul to contend for Justification by Faith without the deeds of the Law And therefore though their Doctrines in this respect did in great part differ yet they did not differ as Truth differs from Error nor as opposites but only as one Truth differs from another For otherwise when St. Paul had to do with the like Erroneous and Scandalous Christians as those were which St. Iames expostulated the matter with When he had to do with such as had a form of godliness but denyed the power thereof he could and did decry a reprobate faith and plead the necessity of a Faith that is unfeighned and of a holy Life as well as St. Iames as appears in part by what was said in the former Chapter and will I doubt not be made sufficiently evident in this In order whereto I shall recommend to consideration these ten things 1. That Works of Evangelical Obedience are never in Scripture opposed to God's Grace 2. That St. Paul in speaking against Justification by Works gives sufficient Caution not to be understood thereby to speak any thing against Evangelical Obedience in reference thereto 3. That Regeneration or the new Creature as including Evangelical Obedience is oposed to Works in the business of Man's Justification as well as Faith is and as well as the grace of God it self is 4. That Evangelical Obedience as well as Faith and together with Faith is opposed to the Works of the Law in reference to Justification 5. That Evangelical Obedience alone is opposed to the Works of the Law 6. Faith it self is an act of Evangelical Obedience 7. By Evangelical Obedience Christians come to have a right to Salvation 8. The Promise of benefit by the Blood of Christ is made to Evangelical Obedience 9. Repentance And 10. Forgiving Injuries are both acts of Evangelical Obedience without which a Man cannot be justifyed And if these things be made out they will I think amount to such a Demonstration as that we cannot well desire a clearer or fuller proof that St. Paul together with other the Apostles taught Justification by Evangelical Obedience as the effect of Faith as well as St. Iames. 1. The works of Evangelical Obedience as the effects of Faith and Regeneration by Faith are never in St. Paul's Epistles or any other the holy Scriptures opposed to God's Grace in referenee to Justification and Salvation Works and Grace indeed are opposed to each other But then by Works we are to understand either Works antecedent to Conversion or as they are denyed to merit at the hands of God or the Works of the Law of Moses as Erroneously contended for by the Iews Or the Works of the Law as Typical and as opposed to things Typified Or the Works of the Law as the Law is in its rigour opposed to the milder Oeconomy of the Gospel But the Works of Evangelical Obedience are never opposed to Grace no more than Faith it self is And there is no reason why they should because Evangelical Obedience is the effect of Divine Grace as well as Faith it self is and tends to the praise of it and is accepted and will be rewarded through Grace Contrary hereunto those words in Titus 3. 5. Not by works of Righteousness which we have done but according to his mercy
thus opposed to works and thus available to Justification consisteth in a new frame of Spirit and the vital operations thereof and which we can have no right notion of without Evangelical Obedience in will and resolution at least which are really inward acts of that obedience and are a conformity of the renewed will to the Divine Law 4. Evangelical Obedience as well as Faith and together with Faith is opposed to the Works of the Law in reference to Justification and Salvation Gal. 5. 6. For in Christ Iesus neither Circumcision availeth any thing nor uncircumcision but Faith which worketh by love Here again Circumcision by the same Figure and for the same reason as before is put for the Works of Moses Law And as these are denyed to avail any Man to Justification and Salvation so on the other hand it is affirmed that that Faith which worketh by love doth avail to these great ends For to say that Faith which worketh by love doth so is the same in sense as to say that Faith which worketh by fulfilling the Law and by keeping the Commandments doth so avail For so love is said to be Rom. 13. 10. 1 Ioh. 5. 3. The Assemblies Annotations upon the place give notice that the word here translated worketh Faith which worketh by love being in the mean or middle voice may be taken either Actively or Passively And several other Learned men among whom Dr. Hammond is one do render and understand it passively as if the Apostle should have said Faith which is wrought or perfected or consummate by love and so make it directly parallel with that in St. Iames Chap. 2. 22. by Works was Faith made perfect So far is the Scripture we see from opposing acts of Evangelical Obedience to Faith in the Work of Justification as that it conjoyns them with Faith in the title to it and in opposition to false pretentions to it 5. Evangelical Obedience alone is opposed to the Works of the Law in reference to Justification so far is it from being true that where the Works of the Law are excluded there Evangelical Obedience is excluded from having any share in the Work of Justification 1 Cor. 7. 19. Circumcision is nothing and uncircumcision is nothing but the keeping of the Commandments of God Circumcision is here again as before put for the whole Law And indeed he that was circumcised was bound to keep the whole Law as this Apostle noteth in Gal. 5. 3. And when he saith Circumcision is nothing he means here doubtless as in those other places already opened that it avails nothing to any Mans acceptation with God or to his Justification and Salvation as the Iudaizers of those times thought it did But then the keeping of the Commandments of God will avail to these ends For that I conceive was intended and ought to be understood by the opposition that is made between Circumcision and keeping the Commandments 6. Faith it self is an act of Evangelical Obedience this as wel as love is an act of Conformity to our Lord's Commands and therefore a Man cannot be justified by Faith but in being so he must be justified by Evangelical Obedience 1 Iohn 3. 23. This is his Commandment that we should believe in the name of his Son Iesus Christ and love one another as he gave us Commandment This by our Saviour is called a work Joh. 6. 29. This is the work of God that ye believe on him whom he hath sent And there is so much of the Nature of Evangelical Obedience in Faith it self as that to believe and to obey are promiscuously put one for another and so is unbelief and disobedience Accordingly you have in many places the one reading in the Text and the other in the Margin as Acts 5. 36. Rom. 11. 30 31. Ephes. 5. 6. Heb. 4. 11. 11. 31. And belief and disobedience are in Scripture opposed to each other as direct contraries Rom. 10. 16. 1 Pet. 2. 7. 2 Thes. 2. 12. So that since Faith is an act of Evangelical Obedience it follows that to say the Works of Evangelical Obedience do justifie does no more derogate from the Grace of God or the freeness of his Grace in justifying than to say Faith justifies First Because other acts of Evangelical Obedience are the effects of God's Grace and produced by it as well as Faith It is God that worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure Phil. 2. 13. And secondly Because it is meerly of the Law of Grace that Faith and other Acts of Evangelical Obedience are made the Condition of the Promise of Salvation Ephes. 2. 8. By grace are ye Saved through Faith in Christ Iesus and that not of your selves it is the gift of God As Men do not believe or obey of themselves without supernatural assistance so neither is it of themselves that they are justified or saved upon their believing but both the one and the other is the gift of God It is not of him that willeth nor of him that runneth but of God that sheweth mercy It is by virtue of God's new Covenant that a Promise of pardon is made to Repentance or to Faith for the primary Law the Law of Nature promised no such thing upon Repentance And it is by virtue of the same Law of Grace that a Promise of Justification and reward is made to sincere Obedience in other Acts of Obedience as well as those of Faith and Repentance That which hath made many afraid of interessing Evangelical Obedience with Faith in justifying men hath been an Opinion that so to do would derogate from God's Grace attribute too much to Man But you see there is no ground for such an Opinion It 's true indeed the proper merit of Works and God's Grace are inconsistent And therefore are opposed to each other in Scripture But Evangelical Obedience and Grace are no more opposite or inconsistent than Cause and Effect or than Causes principal and subordinatâ— And as it doth not follow that because we are justified freely by God's Grace that therefore we are not justified by Faith So neither doth it follow that because we are justified by Faith that therefore we are not justified by sincere obedience For these and the Blood of Christ do all concur in producing many of the same effects though not in the same respect 7. By Evangelical Obedience Christians come to have a right to Salvation Revel 22. 14. Blessed are they that do his Commandments that they may have a right to the Tree of Life and may enter in through the gates into the City This is left on Record as a special Memorandum for Christians in closing up the Canon of the New Testament and therefore is to be taken special notice of This right to the Tree of Life and of entring into this blessed City upon keeping the Commandments is from a new Covenant or Law Act or Grant from God For otherwise Man that had transgressed
pardon of sin which is essential to Justification is not to be obtained without it Luke 13. 3 5. Therefore again it follows that Evangelical Obedience is necessary to Justification and part of the Condition of it And now by this time I suppose it fully appears to any unprejudiced Reader that the Doctrine of St. Paul yea and of St. Peter and Iohn too do fully accord with the Doctrine of St. Iames touching the necessity of Evangelical Obedience unto Justification The opposition then which some have made between Faith and all Internall and External Works in reference to Justification as well Evangelical as Mosaical hath not been only without Scripture-ground but against Scripture-evidence and looks more like that which was made by the Gnosticks or other Solifidians opposed by St. Iames if it be not the very same than any the Scripture any where maketh And how much injury the Christian Religon and the Souls of Men may have suffered thereby is a thing to be thought on and sadly laid to heart It is a pleasant Doctrine and the worst of Men called Christians are glad to hear that they may be justifyed by Christ only upon their believing in him without any Works of Righteousness or self-denial of their own And upon that account presuming verily that they do believe they are confident that they are justified though they are unsanctified But those especially are in great danger of deceiving their own Souls by building their confidence upon this Doctrine who together with this belief have more of the form of godliness than the other have and are found much more in the use and exercise of the external devotional part of Religion and are zealous for this or that Opinion Party or Way which they think most Orthodox though they be greatly destitute of love to the Nature of God and of Humility Charity strict Justice Fidelity Peaceableness Sobriety Temperance Modesty and Meekness and of that renewed frame of Soul which would make them like Christ Jesus wherein the power of Christiany doth consist The External duties of Hearing Reading Praying and the rest being in great part but means referring to the other as the end So that no Man is to account himself truly Religious further than he attains to these truly Christian Qualifications by the use of the External Means and Internal Aids Yea the fleshly part even in Men good in the main is very apt to make an advantage of such a Doctrine as aforesaid to the lessening of their Care Diligence and Zeal in working out their Salvation in striving to enter in at the straight gate in governing their own Spirits and Appetites in cleansing themselves from all filthiness of Flesh and Spirit and in perfecting holiness in the fear of God And therefore there is great need for those that are Spiritual Guides to the people to insist much upon the necessity of Repentance Regeneration and a holy Life as well as Faith in order to their being justified and saved by Christ Jesus For the people yea the better sort of them stand most in need as of being well-grounded touching the truth of the Christian Religion so especially of having the Doctrines of Morality inculcated upon them the Precepts of the Gospel being almost all of that Nature though some speak diminutively of Moral Preaching and tend to the perfecting of the Nature of Man in regulating the Internal operations of the Soul and the External actions of life in reference both to God and Man our selves and others The recovering of Men to which is God's great design by the Gospel in order to their being made perfectly happy at last as I have shewed in Chap. 1. There is indeed an absolute necessity of believing the Gospel in order to Christian Practice And therefore our blessed Saviour did not only Preach the necessity of Faith in him and his Doctrine but also wrought abundance of Miracles to beget this Faith in Men. And yet he knowing the great danger of Mens miscarrying in point of Morality in the disposition of Soul and actions of Life insisted chiefly in his Preaching upon Doctrines of that nature as you may see in his Sermon on the Mount and elsewhere He taught the necessity of being born again Of making the Tree good that the fruit might be good And to inforce this Doctrine of his he was not wont to tell his Auditors that every Man shall be rewarded according to his belief but that when the Son of Man shall come every Man shall be rewarded according to his Works That those that have done good shall come forth to the resurrection of life and those that have done evil to the resurrection of damnation That by their words they shall be justified which are no more Faith than Works are And by their words they shall be condemned That in the great day of the tryal of all Nations every Man shall be acquitted or condemned according to the good they have done or neglected to do Mat. 25. And that then not every Man that had Faith enough to cry Lord Lord or to Prophesie cast out Devils or do wonders in his Name shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven but such and such only as have done the will of his Father Great need there is therefore of peoples examining themselves impartially and of being often admonished to take heed left they mistake and deceive themselves in the nature of Religion and in what is absolutely necessary to be done on their part because men are very apt to flatter and deceive themselves in that and to think that when their Faith is right in the Object of it as when they believe in the true God and in his Son Jesus Christ and expect Salvation by him alone that then they are true believers and such as shall be saved especially if therewith they joyn the frequenting of God's Ordinances and the paring off of some of the grosser enormities of their lives though in the mean while they make no Conscience of cleansing their hearts and governing their Spirits of subduing their Passions and inordinate affections and of bridling the Tongue For this cause it is that Christians are so often in Scripture cautioned to take heed lest they should be deceived Be not deceived God is not mocked for whatsoever a Man sows that also shall he reap Gal. 6. 7 8. Little Children let no man deceive you He that doth righteousness is Righteous even as he is righteous 1 Joh. 3. 7. 1 Cor. 6. 9. Ephes. 5. 6. An APPENDIX touching the nature and Difference of that Faith which is justifying and of that which is not and the reason of that difference MEn's Eternal Estate of Weal or Wo in another World and their Peace and Comfort in this being very much concerned in their right understanding or mistaking the nature and difference of that Faith which is saving and of that which is not I shall here add to what is said before something to state the nature and