with many Temptations a regenerate Soul is aware of this and fears always But before we enter into this or that particular Temptation that we see coming towards us or have reason to suspect from the present circumstances we are under here a regenerate person watches and prays that he may not enter into that Temptation that God would some way or other divert the Temptation or fortify our hearts against it that we may repel it A Temptation may enter into us when we don't enter into it then it goes as it comes and makes little or no impression upon us when a Temptation shews it self to us at some distance the Seed of God in a regenerate Soul presently takes the alarm puts on the whole armour of God. Secondly Under the Temptation when the Flesh has betrayed the Soul into the hands of a Temptation has been tampering with it then does Grace struggle and fight and cry out unto God for help all this shews the activity of Grace in a way of righteousness how loth it is to be overcome of evil Thirdly After the Temptation when 't is ended or finished then it issues either in the commission of the Sin or conquest over the Temptation Grace shews it self both ways First After the commission of Sin what repentance what godly sorrow what shame what indignation what revenge Secondly After the conquest over the Temptation what rejoycing what thanksgiving what triumphing in the Grace of Christ So that you see here lies the manifest difference between the Children of God and of the Devil An unregenerate man cannot do righteousness his skill lies not that way he is wise indeed to do evil but to do good no knowledg he is a meer Bungler at a good work his hand is always out because his heart is never right with God. He may do what is materally good but always fails in the manner those spiritual Ingredients which the Gospel requires to a work truly holy are wanting Thirdly Whosoever believeth that Iesus is the Christ is born of God. And every spirit that confesses that Iesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God. They prove each other being inseparable The going forth of the Soul by Faith unto Christ as the anointed of the Lord sent and sealed by the Father to undertake the great work of Man's Redemption is a sure evidence of Regeneration All unregenerate men are strangers to Christ they know him not they desire him not they think they can shift well enough without him None know the Son of God but those who are born of God. When the Spirit comes into us then we confess that Christ is come in the flesh Christ conveys himself through our nature to our persons the Divine and Humane Nature must be first united before our persons can be admitted to any communion with him The Humane Nature of Christ is the foundation of all our Communion with God our access to God is through the veil of his flesh Being born of the Spirit we stand related to the Person of Christ he is not ashamed to call us Brethren we can then call God our Father as he is the Father of Christ our elder Brother God was the Father of Christ before his Incarnation and continues still to be so after his Incarnation not only to him but to all who are born of his Spirit The Spirit of Christ being the Spirit of him who is God and Man knows how to raise up a seed of godly men and women The Infinite Eternal Spirit of the Son of God being poured out without measure upon the Man Jesus Christ operates through both his Natures hypostatically united in his Divine Person in whom all the fulness of the Godhead dwells bodily without any diminution of its infinite excellencies and Divine properties from the assumption of our finite humane nature so the same Eternal Spirit of Christ dwelling in us in a lower way of union to our persons does act indeed Divinely but yet according to our finite capacities all intellectual acts are finite or infinite as the persons are that do them the Person of Christ being infinite so are his spiritual actings notwithstanding his finite nature as Man so the actings of the Spirit of God in the Saints are finite because their persons are so Actiones sunt suppositorum Actions are personal of greater or lesser degree of efficacy and power as the persons are that do them Faith in Christ Jesus being the birth of the Spirit must needs be an infallible mark of Regeneration the design of the Spirit of God in working Faith in us is to bring us to the knowledg of Christ and through him to the knowledg of God wherein consists our true happiness This is life eternal to know thee c. Faith is the beginning of Eternal Life in the Soul and the manner of conveying this Eternal Life from God unto our Souls is called Regeneration Thus you see how he that believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God. The next inquiry will be how Faith does this or how believing in Christ does work that universal change in the Soul which the Gospel calls Regeneration Tho the beginning or rather all the essentials of Regeneration are found in the first principle of Faith created in us by the Spirit of Christ yet this does not appear to us but by those lively operations of this Faith put forth by us We have an inward feeling of these operations the sense of which does lead us to some discerning of that spirit and principle from whence they flow 'T is actual Faith Iohn means in this Epistle therefore he joyns it with Confession he lays the Mark upon actual Faith for that only falls under our discerning God indeed sees the first seeds and principles of Grace but they are known to us only by the sense we have of their powerful actings in us and therefore I shall consider the regenerating Power of actual Faith and shew how it does discover that new birth that came in with a principle of Faith at first The Regenerating power of Faith both in the principle and in the act is very great it makes a marvellous change in us So strong are the impressions of Faith about Christ and our everlasting concernments in him that we must needs be much affected with the discovery which lies in two things 1. In a convicting knowledg of our sin and misery by Nature 2. In an astonishing discovery of God's Grace and mercy to us in Christ. The Spirit of God demonstrating both unto us with such clearness and evidence that we cannot but be persuaded of the truth of them in our own case and being so persuaded we must be concerned about them Faith draws in the attention of the mind to those things we believe in reference to our selves fixes our thoughts upon them dwells upon the consideration of them there is no evading the serious thoughts of Faith no getting them out of
thus viz. That the first step in Regeneration is from a sinful State and Nature to Christ. Or thus Regeneration is the Implantation of the Soul into Christ. Or thus Saving Conversion in the right Gospel-Notion of it is Conversion to Christ 'T is true a turning from Sin to Holiness is the effect or consequent of Regeneration but 't is not the thing it self the Tree must be made good before it can bring forth good Fruit so that Regeneration lies chiefly in our incorporation into Christ till we are joined to the second Adam we are and shall be acted by that corrupt nature which we derived from the First Adam There were but two publick men in the World and all men do take after one or other of them either after the First Adam or after the Second Adam they are the two Great Standards I will shew that this is the right Scriptural Notion of Regeneration and Conversion to this end is Christ Preached 1 Cor. 1. 23 24. No other Name under Heaven by which we can be saved Acts 4. 12. This Name must be published Acts 9. 15. Regeneration or our first Conversion what is it but a revealing Christ in us Gal. 1. 16. Drawing unto Christ Iohn 6. 44. Receiving Christ Iohn 1. 11. Following Christ Matt. 9. 9. 'T was Christ they came over to in Conversion hence those Phrases of our being in Christ and Christ's being in us living in us Gal. 2. 20. Formed in us Gal. 4. 19. Put on by us Gal. 3. 27. Rom. 13. 4. Thus you see how the New Creature or the Regenerate Person has his Life Being and whole Subsistence in and from Christ. If any man be in Christ he is a new creature We are taken up so much with Duties of Evangelical Obedience that we commit a great error in our first step do not go over to Christ and begin there thence it is that the Saints are called Christians because their Original is from Christ they bear his Image are acted by his Spirit partake of his Nature If this new Life be from Christ what is the way of its derivation from Christ unto us or how comes this Virtue from Christ into our Souls that both our state and nature should be thus changed in him and by him in order to newness of Life in our after Conversation You must give me leave often to put Questions why and how and which way because I am now enquiring after the Manner of Regeneration If you ask How Life comes to be derived from Christ into the Soul of a dead Sinner Answer I say this is effected by our vital union to Christ. We need not wonder that such a change is wrought in those who are thus joined to the Lord in one and the same Spirit we cannot come so near to Eternal Life it self and not be quickned by it we cannot remain dead when we thus enter into Life it self The main Query is How this Union is brought about between Christ and our Souls Answer The Spirit takes hold of us and joins us to Christ working Faith in us at the same instant by which we take hold of Christ improving the Grace of Union to a real Communion with Christ we dwelling in him and he in us 'T is union to Christ that gives Life at first and maintains it ever after in our souls We have our first quickning from this Union and all after increases of Spiritual Life are but so many fresh emanations from Christ the Fountain of Life flowing into our Souls Thus we have Life and have it more abundantly from Christ. I shall prove this Union between Christ and Believers as 't is productive of Life it self in its first vital Principle and also as it is the cause of all after-growth in Grace proceeding from the higher and more vigorous operations of this Life raised and kindled in the Soul by the enlivening influences of the Eternal Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus in both these respects as it causes and continues Life in the Saints is this Mystical Union between Christ and Believers spoken of in the Scriptures The glory which thou gavest me I have given them that they may be one even as we are one The Glory that was given to the Man Christ did all spring from the Union of the Human Nature to the Divine next to this is the Mystical Union between Christ and Believers the enlivening influences of this Union are set forth by an Incorporation by an Ingrafture The Ministry of the Word is an outward means of bringing this Union about making a tender of Christ to us and calling upon us to receive him Ministers are the Instrumental cause of this near Conjunction between Christ and Believers They are the friends of the bridegroom who give the Saints in Marriage unto Christ. I have espoused you to one Husband You see how the Scripture variously sets forth our Union to Christ who is our Life Regeneration is the beginning of this new Life and Nature in the Saints which shews it self more or less after an inward effectual call we know 't is God the Father's Voice who so calls us because a Spirit of Wisdom and Revelation accompanies it powerfully enlightning our Minds By our Union to Christ we stand in a spiritual Relation to him as his Brethren Spouse and Members and this spiritual Relation to him gives us a right to all that he hath purchased for us He that hath the Son hath life c. We have an Interest in his Righteousness 't is ours by Imputation we being his his Righteousness becomes ours we cannot have Christ without his Righteousness which in the Infinite Merit of it extends it self to all Believers Rom. 3. 22. Thus we are made the righteousness of God in him 2 Cor. 5. 21. Christ takes hold of us by his Spirit and by so doing enables us to take hold of him by Faith of his own operation in us such a Regeneration such a Conversion as this derives from him a Principle of Spiritual Life by which we are carried out to all good works Ephes. 2. 10. I shall further explain the Manner of our Union to Christ. Christ took our Nature upon him without the sin that cleaves to it in us this was done by a Miraculous Conception when Christ took our Nature his Eye was upon the Persons of the Elect The Hypostatical Union of the Divine and Humane Nature in the Person of Christ was in order to the Spiritual Union of our Persons to the Person of Christ Christ took our Nature abstracted from our Persons and consequently without sin super-induc'd upon it by Adam's Fall the Person corrupted the Nature in the First Adam not the Nature the Person as now it does Though Christ have taken our Nature upon him without sin yet how can we maintain this Union and Communion between Christ and our Persons in whom there is so much
of God by Reason bringing down all spiritual Expressions to the level of Man's Understanding And if no more be intended by them things are strangely worded in the Bible 't is not the manner of men to speak so to cloath their natural Notions with such Phrases and Words peculiar only to the Scriptures as do not at all symbolize with any mere humane conception and therefore must needs signifie something higher something beyond all that ever entred into the heart of a Natural Man if not then farewel all Revealed Religion it seems nothing is revealed in Scripture but mere words Natural Theology is the thing into which all Scripture must be interpreted all the use we are to make of the Scriptures according to them is only to borrow some peculiar words and expressions as so many new Terms of Art appropriated to Religion by Divine Authority What a strange conceit is this to borrow from the Scriptures new Bottles to put our old Wine into our Sense into Gods word so spoiling both God's Words are too big for our sense and our sense too low and mean to fill up such high Expressions which can never by any rule of speech be brought down and contracted to so narrow a signification so that whilst we accommodate the Word of God to our own false Conceptions of Divine Things we understand neither God nor our selves we think absurdly and speak improperly But those who understand the pure Lauguage of the Gospel they see a suitableness between the Words of the Holy Ghost and the things of the Holy God. I have read to you out of my Text the Words of the Holy Ghost 't is God only who must shew both you and me the thing it self intended and meant by these words And now to come a little nearer let me begin with the Context Iohn 3. 3. One would have thought the high Opinion Nicodemus had of Christ ver 2. As a teacher come from God a worker of miracles and one whom God was with And Christs earnestness in asserting the truth of what he laies down so positively ver 3. under a solemn Asseveration that it was certainly so should have led Nicodemus to the belief of what Christ affirmed but 't is not the Opinion we have of the Preacher nor his earnestness in Preaching nor the certain truth of what he delivers will perswade us to receive this Doctrine of Regeneration till God enlighten our minds and give us experience of the thing in our selves Observe All natural Men have strange gross Apprehensions of the Doctrine of Regeneration Nicodemus applies all that Christ said to natural Generation mistakes the Mystery of the new Birth not comparing Spiritual things with Spiritual but with Natural He cannot rise higher than a natural Generation and thinks that must be repeated in Regeneration if any such thing be though never so often repeated 't is still the same thing done the same way by entring the second time c. And how can a man be born when he is old But suppose there were such a thing as a natural Regeneration in Nicodemus's Sense this would not mend the matter in making us more fit for Heaven for we should be sent again into the World in the same corrupt Nature as we had before whatever is born of the Flesh is but Flesh still omne simile generat simile therefore a natural Regeneration supposes no change but reproduces a man in the same State Form and Nature as he had before If a Man were ten thousand times Born naturally he would be the same Man still But the Regeneration Christ speaks of makes him a new man and therefore could not be by entring a second time into his mothers womb Nicodemus knows nothing of any such new Birth that should bring forth a new Kind or Race of Men into the World of a different Genius Complexion and Principle from all that are Born of a Woman but because the Scripture does so plainly speak of such a thing they who read the Word dare not deny it altogether and therefore place the whole Mystery of it in external Baptism do suppose it always compleated there of course and will hear no more of it ever after they count it absurd to call upon grown baptized Persons especially old Men and Women to labour after a Regeneration that they think is past and over long ago when they were baptized Observe None but a regenerate Person understands the true nature of Regeneration Others can never reach it because they don't feel it in themselves 't is a personal Change wrought in every individual Saint men may see our outward Profession our outward Walking our Praying Hearing Preaching our Moral and Religious Practices but the Principle from which we Act and by which we are carried out in all these things is infallibly known to none but God and our own Souls we may search into our own Hearts so far as to discern this new Birth and we should not rest till we have found it out That we might the better understand the Nature of Regeneration let us consider the several Names given it in Scripture Regeneration Renovation New Creation Conversion are Synonimous terms in Scripture and do all signify the same thing do all imply the Corruption of Mans Nature that produceth nothing but what is like it self how specious soever it may seem to be 't is but Flesh therefore all fleshly Wisdom Beauty and Glory must be mortified and abolished the Scripture calls for a new Birth a new Creation after the Image of God that Man may be enabled to do good created in Christ Iesus unto good works Ephes. 2. 10. Baptism is the Sign and Symbol of Regeneration and does imply the thing it self when the inward Work of the Spirit goes along with the outward washing of Water which it does not always do this Wind bloweth where it listeth Regeneration is of a larger Extent and Signification than Justification and Sanctification 't is initially all that belongs to a state of Grace 't is fully described Tit. 3. 5. by washing and renewing there is a double washing from Sin. First From the guilt of it by the blood of Christ 1 Iohn 1. 7. Rev. 1. 5. Rev. 7. 14. This washing is Justification therefore called Baprism unto remission of sin Mark 1. 4. Acts 2. 38. Gal. 3. 27. This is Baptism unto Justification by the blood of Christ. Secondly From the filth of sin by the Spirit of Christ 1 Cor. 6. 11. 1 Cor. 12. 13. This is commonly called Regeneration Tit. 3. 5. Ioh. 3. 4 Born of water this is baptism unto sanctification Rom. 6. 3 4. Col. 2. 12. These two internal Washings are always joyned together 1 Cor. 6. 11. the one perfect the other imperfect Justification in nature only precedes Sanctification and being the Act of God upon us and towards us is perfect but in Sanctification God takes us along with him we concur in every Act of Sanctification he works in us to
New creatures 2 Cor. 5. 17. To have Christ formed in us Gal. 4. 19. To be quickned Ephes. 2. 1. Baptized with the Holy Ghost Mat. 3. 11. To be renewed in the spirit of our mind Ephes. 4. 23. These are Scripture-expressions of a great depth of a high signification which if well studied and pondered in our hearts seriously and often prayed over will give us more light into the Mystery of Regeneration than the tongue of Men and Angels can utter none can open these Scriptures to you but the Holy Ghost tho Ministers cannot bring down these Scripture expressions to man's Understanding yet the Spirit of God can lift up man's Understanding to some discerning of the mind of Christ in them by shining in our hearts the light of the Knowledg of the Glory of God in the face of Christ. We see how much Glory and Honour is derived to us by God's being the Author of our Regeneration I will now look a little further into this Mystery Regeneration is our passing over into Christ into his Life Nature and Spirit they who are thus joined to the Lord are one Spirit Christ is their Life being united to Life it self they must needs be quickned by it it is present death to be separated from Life it self in Regeneration Life doth not so much enter into us as we into it and being once born of God we gradually enter further and further into his Life till all Mortality be swallowed up of it Thus Grace reigns through Righteousness unto Eternal Life and this Eternal Life is God there is but one Eternal Life when we are in him that is true in him that is Eternal this is life eternnl John 5. 20. Therefore to be in Christ and to be a New Creature is all one All Creatures that have breath live move and have their Being in God yet they are not so in God as the New Creature is in Christ God as a Creator bestows a Creature-life upon man distinct from his own Eternal Uncreated Life and man having this natural root of his own from the God of Nature grows up by himself with all the specifical Properties belonging to his kind whereby he is distinguished from his fellow-creatures he stands forth at some distance from God yet under the general influence of his Providence without which no creature can subsist But in Regeneration God does not only breathe the breath of life into us making us living souls but breathes his own quickning Spirit into us that we may live the very life of God in our measure 't is one thing for God to give forth something virtually from himself as he does in our first Creation another thing to give himself really unto us as in the second Creation God as a Redeemer raises up a new Creature in himself partaker of his own Divine Nature Life and Spirit this life is hid with Christ in God Col. 3. 3. and cannot in the Root and Principle of it be distinguished from God himself Christ is our Life which according to our finite capacity as Creatures we partake of the new Creature is but a Creature for all this though quite of another make constitution and original from all the first Creation and therefore called a new Creature standing in a nearer union and conjunction to God so born of him as no other creature is all Creatures are made by him non born of him but the new Creature as Christ took part of our Flesh and Blood in his Incarnation so we partake of his Divine Nature in our Regeneration as the soul is the life of the body so the spirit of Christ dwelling in us is the life of our souls acting them in a supernatural way we live the life of God which we were estranged from knew nothing of in our unregenerate state 't is not we that live but Christ living in us Gal. 2. 20. Because I live you shall live also John 14. 19. Christ in us the hope of glory Col. 1. 27. Till Christ be formed in us we cannot be said to be born of God a spirit of life must first enter into us from Christ and how does this spirit enter Not as a separate Principle from Christ but in and with Christ Jesus the spirit of life in Christ hath made me free from the law of sin and death Rom. 8. 2. Have a care of leading a separate life from Christ in the strength of your own Graces for they are but streams issuing from the Fountain of Life in Christ Jesus and will quickly dry up if not continually fed by the Fountain Branches cannot bear fruit if they abide not in the root as the life of the branches is in the root of the tree so our life as new creatures is radicated in Christ he is the root that bears us under all our deadness and dulness we should go to Christ for fresh quicknings many times we seek for life in our selves and can feel none but if we would seek for it in Christ and come up closer to him how reviving would that be animus cum sole redit so get but under this Sun of Righteousness you 'l quickly find healing your spirits will return your cold frozen hearts will grow warm the fire will burn within ere you are aware what is a state of death but a state of alienation from Christ who is our life Eph. 4. 18. Put him on then and wear him next your hearts let him but stretch himself all over your dark dead souls as the Prophet did over the dead child 1 Kings 17. 21. 2 Kings 4. 34 35. and life will return you 'l find a sudden Resurrection a fresh vigor of spirit will suddenly come upon you if ever you would be quickned it must be by Christ and with Christ who hath quickened us together with Christ Eph. 2. 5. What do you alone without Christ No wonder you are in a dead frame while you are musing upon what you are in your selves while you are in this solitary condition wandring up and down without Christ let Christ and you come once together and there will be life there will be strength there will be another Spirit in you If God be the Author of Regeneration let not the Eunuch say I am a dry tree all things are possible with God who can raise up children to Abraham of stones I would have none despair of becoming the Children of God who do sincerely desire it and long for that day New Births are sudden things I am perswaded they will be so towards the end of the world when a Nation shall be born in a day and sinners be converted by thousands as in the Apostles time Now we travel in birth a great while with one and another many pangs many throws yet they stick in the place of bringing forth we prophesie over dry bones but no ratling no coming together no spirit of life yet entring into them they stick in the place of bringing forth how many
sin Ans. 1. Christ joins himself to nothing but the New Creature holds Communion with nothing else in the Saints Light has no Communion with darkness nor Christ with Belial Nay he does not so much hold Communion with us as takes us into Communion with himself 2. This Communion between Christ and Believers is carried on and manag'd on both sides by the Holy Spirit and therefore must needs be a Holy Communion 3. The design of Christ in uniting us to himself is to cleanse us from all sin to purge them quite out and to sanctifie us wholly in Body Mind and Spirit The Spirit of Christ is a Spirit of Burning it consumes by degrees all that is contrary to it self in our Persons and will at last make us exactly conformable to himself we shall bear the image of the Heavenly Adam and take after the perfect Human Nature of Christ i. e. Human Nature in us tho it is now corrupted yet when Regeneration has had its perfect work upon us it shall even in our Persons be reduced to that Rectitude Harmony and Perfection as 't is now in the Man Christ then we shall be men indeed Glorious Men and Women when we have derived our Human Nature from Christ in all its Perfections and under that Divine Tincture which the Hypostatical Union gives it in Christ. In Regeneration we pass over by Faith both Body and Soul into Christ some present effects of this we see in our Souls now and when our vile Bodies shall be made like unto his Glorious Body we shall to Eternity bless God who has taken us out of the First Adam and put us into the Second This Spiritual Union of Believers to the Divine Person of Christ makes a living Impression of Godliness upon their Human Persons which causes them to grow up daily into a further Conformity to the Image of Christ as God-Man till they come to the stature of Perfection in him resembling him in both his Natures in the Perfection of his and our human Nature in him and in such a spiritual Participation of his Divine Nature as Creatures are capable of and standing in this Mystical Union to the Divine Person of Christ they behold his Glory as the glory of the only begotten Son of God it shines out upon them in Heaven to all Eternity and lifts them up to the highest Communion with God that Creatures are capable of and this is their Glorification Thus I have led you from the first step in Regeneration to the last that you may see the Blessed Tendency of so great a work begun here in this World and compleated in the next I told you That Regeneration is initially and seminally all that belongs to a state of Grace ay and of Glory too therefore I may instance in any thing that lies within the Compass of a state of Grace whether Adoption Vocation Union to Christ Justification Sanctification and not recede from the Subject I am upon concerning Regeneration for all these do nearly concern it and lye close about it Some would suppose our Union to Christ and consequently by virtue of that our Justification by Christ to be before Actual Faith even in adult Persons and consequently without it they insist upon a Priority in Nature and Time and build Positions upon that distinction that will not hold they who speak with the Learned must understand with the Learned and use their terms in their sense they do not suppose this Priority or Posteriority to be in the things themselves but only in our manner of Conception we first apprehend one and then another tho we may apprehend one thing without another or before another it does not follow that those things are really without or before each other things that cannot be separated may by a precise act of the Understanding be distinguish'd but these signa or momenta rationis that men of art make use of to guide their Thoughts are too great subtilties for vulgar Heads to meddle with it may be you do not reach me in what I am now saying and it matters not whether you do or no it renders the Argument so much the stronger against the use of such Scholastick Terms in Divinity I am casting them out and perswading you from mingling vain Philosophy and Science falsly so called with the Mysteries of Faith which are best understood in their own native simplicity as they are delivered to us in plain Scripture-language They who hold Justification before Faith are afraid lest they should be betrayed into a Justification by Works if they should hold otherwise and therefore chose rather to plead for a Justification before Faith and without Faith lest they should seem to be Justified by any thing in and from themselves but how contrary is this to Scripture He that believeth not is condemned But he that believeth not is justified is no where written in my Bible They will admit of habitual Faith but are afraid of actual Faith lest that should encroach too much upon free Grace and lessen that for say they an act of Faith is Mans act and nothing that is so must have any place in Justification 1st I Answer Is not a habit of Faith a Mans habit Is it not infused by God into Man and placed in Man Is not Man the Subject of this Habit But this is wrought by God and is not every Act of Faith wrought by God in the Soul of a Believer I see no more danger in allowing actual Faith than habitual 2dly We must distinguish between an Act of Faith and Works of Faith Works of Faith are not Faith but an Effect and Fruit of Faith an Apple is not the Tree but something growing out of it and upon it as distinct from it but an Act of Faith is Faith it self 't is Faith reduced to Act or actual Faith. 'T is true an Act of Faith is mans Act deriving all its Virtue Efficacy and Signification from Christ the Object but 't is not properly a Work but Faith it self so that I see no danger of running into Justification by Works by asserting Justification by Faith. 3dly As an Act of Faith is not properly a Work in the legal Notion of a Works it is not within the Covenant of Work is it any where contained there that we should act our Faith upon Christ for the free Pardon of Sin Besides the Scripture expresly denies Faith to be a Work in this Sense To him that worketh not but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly his faith is counted for righteousness therefore believing is not working for Justification 4thly An Act of Faith is the only Act of a Man that entirely falls in with the free Grace of God Therefore it is of Faith that it might be by Grace An Act of Faith is a receiving Act it brings nothing of our own to Christ but an empty hand receiving all from him ascribing all to him excluding all manner of boasting how can
in bitterness The sense he has of the love of God to sinners in Christ Jesus kindles love in his heart towards God which is a full evidence of real Conversion We never turn to God but we begin to love him then we grieve for sin as sin with a true godly sorrow that causeth Repentance unto Salvation 'T is the duty of Ministers to make known the mystery of the Gospel Paul was afraid he should not speak out speak plain enough and so am I. CHAP. V. Of the Time of Regeneration SOmething of this fell in under the former Heads therefore I shall say the less of it now The Time is in this life All who live with God in Heaven hereafter are born to him and of him here on Earth This whole time is called the day of Grace To day if you will hear his voice And there is a particular hour in that day wherein Saving Grace takes hold of us by God's Effectual Calling which is best known by our Obediential Hearing when we answer to the Call Lord here I am ready to comply with thy Will in all things What wouldst thou have me to do and I will do it Consult your selves about this when you first find your wills brought over to Christ write down that as the day of thy Conversion you can give no account of a real work of Grace till then your knowledg cannot prove it self Saving till it thus operate upon the Will in turning that to God So that the time of thy Regeneration is when thy heart is first drawn up to trust in Christ let it fall in what year of thy life in what hour of the day it will so the thing be done it matters not when as to the issue of it to be converted is necessary to Salvation but to know precisely the time when is not necessary provided you know the time when it was not or at least not so manifest to you as now it is It shall be done unto the last as unto the first the last and the first Converts in an Age are equally welcome to God and there is something peculiar in both that does very much set forth and signalize the freeness of God's Grace viz. That he converted the one so soon and the other so late that he came so early to one who had heard so little and that he came at all to the other who had heard so much and despised it Late Converts are very rare he that comes not in now while 't is called to day may slip his opportunity and die under a dreadful conviction that he obstinately refused a fair offer of life and pardon that was made him at such a time in such a Sermon by such a Preacher who may be called forth to witness against him at the last day Whether you believe or not believe the Word will have its effect one way or other upon you all either as a favour of life or death When the favour of the knowledg of Christ is not a sweet Savour we take offence at it Death indeed may follow that deadly scent 't is a dangerous symptome of Eternal death to be offended at Christ at the purity and strictness of his Heavenly Doctrine A distinct remembrance of the certain time means and manner of our conversion is very comfortable but tho we be at some loss here yet if we can prove the thing it self 't is enough He that does the real actions of a living Man gives sufficient proof and demonstration of his first conception and real birth into the World tho he knows not the day and hour of either CHAP. VI. The End of Regeneration 1. THAT God may raise up a Holy Seed unto himself that shall be counted for a Generation to serve him That he may have a Church and People here on Earth devoted to his fear professing his Name and keeping up his Worship All people will walk every one in the name of the Lord his God and we will walk in the name of the Lord our God for ever and ever By our first birth we are brought forth into the World Enemies to God and Godliness by our second birth we partake of the Divine Nature become a Holy people unto the Lord our God a peculiar people 2. That his Elect may be made meet for Heaven and fitted up for Glory God begins all this in Regeneration which is pursuant to Election All those Names that are written in Heaven or in the Lamb's Book of Life shall be begotten again unto that Life which in the Eternal purpose of God belongs to their Names They are a chosen Generation which is the cause and ground of their Regeneration All the rest of the World will be left in darkness in Idolatry to worship the Dragon whose Names are not written in the Book of Life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the World. They who belong not to this chosen Generation are rejected of God never to be born again Regeneration is a sure evidence of Election God demonstrates his Eternal Love to us by this signal effect of it in our Regeneration CHAP. VII The Scripture Marks and Signs of Regeneration 1. HE doth not commit Sin. 2. He doth Righteousness 3. He believeth that Jesus is the Christ. 4. He overcometh the World. 5. He loves Christ and all the Saints 6. He desires the sincere Milk of the Word They are not my Marks but God's laid down in his own terms as 't is written in your Bibles what you find in your selves answerable thereunto I must leave to God and your own Consciences The Text tells you Vnless a man be born again he cannot see the kingdom of God. And Iohn in his Epistle tells you unless these marks be found upon him he is not born again and dying in that estate is excluded Heaven for ever Iohn foreseeing what false notions of Regeneration men wouâ—â— taks up with and rest in to prevent all fraud all mistakes in so great a point lays down these infallible marks of true real Regeneration as 't is distinguished from that which is but pretended false and counterfeit For ought I see there is no more required to Regeneration in the judgment of some men than to be born in such a Country where Christianity is professed and to be Baptized according to the custom of the place this is the whole of Regeneration as some state it tho none of these marks appear in them but the quite contrary They commit Sin they don't do Righteousness they hate Christ and his Members are overcome every day by the World and the temptations of it yet these must go for Regenerate persons let the Scripture say what it will to the contrary But let us not deceive our selves God will judge us by the Word and none will be looked upon at the last day as truly regenerate in whom all these marks are not found I do
against the full Power of reigning sin breaks in upon corrupt Nature whether it will or no sows immortal seed where never good fruit grew before the Predominancy of sin lies in a total exclusion of Grace but the Predominancy of Grace lies in its gradual entrance into the Soul because it opposes the whole body of sin or indwelling corruption in making this forcible entrance forcible in respect of corruption that would keep it out free in respect of the renewed will through which it passes by consent God in opening the heart makes the heart to open it self Believing is our act but the power of doing it is God's They who are endued with this Divine Power cannot do the evil they would do and are inclined to by nature Gal. 5. 17. They are no more servants of sin Rom. 6. 17. But have ceased from it 1 Pet. 4. 7. They cannot sin there is something in them called here the seed of God that cannot sin 1 Iohn 3. 9. They are born of God but he that committeth sin is of the Devil ver 8. a Child of the Devil To clear up this further There are two different Natures two contrary Principles in the Saints Flesh and Spirit the Scripture speaks of them sometimes according to one Principle sometimes according to the other and sometimes according to both as Flesh so no good thing dwells in us we all sin he is a liar that says he has no sin as Spirit so we don't commit sin we can't sin are inclined only to good by that Divine supernatural Principle as Flesh and Spirit so not a just man upon Earth but sins tho he be just and holy truly sanctified in his Regenerate part yet he is unjust unholy unsanctified in his unregenerate part there he fights against God the law of the Members wars against the law of the Mind the sense of this remaining enmity against the Law of God makes the Saints complain of their wretchedness O wretched man that I am Rom. 7. 24. What carefulness what clearing of themselves what Indignation and Revenge 2 Cor. 7. 11. Tho God has forgiven them they cannot they will not forgive themselves they cut off their right hands and pluck out their right eyes The Scripture speaking of a Saint according to one or other of these two Principles speaks of him personally as two Men each distinct from the other as if a Saint when acted by a carnal Principle were not the same Man with himself when acted by a spiritual Principle Physically and substantially he is the same Man under both Principles but spiritually considered under those Divine Qualifications belonging to him as a new Creature he is not the same Person in God's account nor by his own reckoning not I but Sin that dwells in me Could we keep up this distinction under a prevailing Temptation clearing our selves and laying Sin at its own door not I but Sin 't would afford much comfort to us and quicken us up to a speedy Repentance An unregenerate Man when he sins he can't say 't is not I he lies if he says so he sees nothing in himself that opposes Sin as Sin no 't is his own proper doing his own act his whole Will is in it he can't say the Evil I do I would not do Can we in any sense say That we do not commit Sin that we cannot Sin do no iniquity Is there such a Principle within us that we can say from our Consciences we would not Sin even when we do Sin That 't is against our Inclinanation 't is a force upon the new Creature we are in Pain and cry out under that Act of Violence committed upon us 't is an unwilling Captivity that we are led into I have done with the Negative part what a regenerate Person does not He does not commit Sin. I come to the Positive part He doth righteousness Negative holiness in abstaining from such and such Sins will never prove a Man to be born of God we cannot conclude safely and strongly from this negative Mark That we are born of God unless it be from the universality of it if we can truly say We hate every evil way do fly all appearance of Evil cannot suffer Sin in our selves or others without a holy Indignation against it this indeed has something in it is very significant we may infer from hence that we are born of God that which makes this Mark so conclusive and significant is not only the universality of it but chiefly this that where-ever this negative Mark is there is also the positive Mark to be found he that escheweth Evil does Good. The force of one Mark is best understood in Conjunction with some other one single Mark is but a slender evidence of a state of Grace unless it run into some other which is the inseparable consequence of it The Positive part is He doth Righteousness what do ye more than others Opèratio sequitur esse all things have their active qualities especially where there is Life there must be active Faculties and an active Principle life it self is an act the life of a Christian is a life of the highest activity from Principles truly Divine and Heavenly that have their energy virtue and efficacy from God himself who is a most Pure Simple Eternal Act the Fountain of all Action and Motion to his Creatures as he pleases more or less to communicate himself unto them Since we are made partakers of the Divine Nature surely 't is in order to a godly life that it may appear whose off-spring we are whose image we bear being born of the Will of God we must do the Will of God which is the only rule and measure of all Righteousness in doing which we must respect the matter what God commands and the manner of doing what is commanded What is materially good is obvious to all who know but the Moral part of Religion all the difficulty lies in the manner of performing it the spirituality of the action lies here that it be done from a Gospel principle and to a Gospel end it must be done in Faith and in a constant dependance upon Christ for strength doing what we do as unto the Lord out of a Religious respect to his Holy will whatever we do we must do to his Glory 't is below a Christian to seek himself to live to himself God hath set a part the man that is Godly for himself These are sure marks of Regeneration Hold the glass of the word close to your Consciences look again and again upon these Scriptures examin your selves strictly by them Can you prove your Regeneration by these marks as they are proper and peculiar only to the Regenerate 'T is not every forbearance of sin nor every outward act of righteousness that will come up to this mark these Scriptures speak something to the experience of every one who is born of God that no Unregeneman in the world understands The ear
' tries words as the mouth tastes meat the word has a peculiar rellish and savour in it to a Spiritual pallate The secret of the Lord is with them that fear him the word reveals it it opens the heart of God to man and laies open a man to himself discerns the thoughts and intents of his heart 't is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a discerner a critical judge of the frame of a mans heart and of the state of his Soul shews a Child of God how and wherein he differs from an unregenerate person and by this discerning Word we must judge of our selves He that is born of God commits not sin cannot sin but does righteousness you who are born of God do know what God means by these words I am sure you know it there is a strong spirit in these words they are critical words discerning distinguishing words and if there be any true life in you they will more or less affect you you cannot but be concerned at the hearing of them Hold the highest Spirits to the Nose of a dead Man rub him all over with them yet no heat no motion no lively colour because he has not a natural principle of life to mingle with them to feed upon them I would commend my self to your Consciences this day I hope you feel me as well as hear me When you drink any strong spirits they heat within the vital spirits do take them in feed upon them are raised by them so when spiritual truths are held close to the Conscience if there be any life there the Spirit of God within thee will close with the Spirit of God without thee in the Word there will be an inward burning in the heart the Leaven works strongly and under these inward workings of spirit I desire to leave you debating the matter between God and your own Souls till you have brought it to an issue and can say by the light of these Scriptures that you are or are not born again 2. He doth righteousness Every one that doth righteousness is born of him and Whosoever doth not righteousness is not of God. The more we resemble Christ in righteousness and true holiness the more evident it is both to our selves and others that we are born of him descended from him and therefore cannot but take after him a true Christian is and will be a follower of Christ this genius or disposition to all practical righteousness flows from our new Birth rises out of the new Nature which the Apostle ascribes to the Death and Resurrection of Christ as the procuring cause of all newness of life in us which is but our likeness to his Resurrection we die with Christ that we may live with him being freed from sin not serving it any more but yielding our selves unto God as those that are alive from the dead and our members as instruments of righteousness unto God. This plainly proves every regenerate person as such to be a doer of righteousness inclined to all holiness by virtue of his Regeneration which casts in a new leven makes us a new lump as original Sin infected the whole man so Regeneration sanctifies the whole man in Body Soul and Spirit The fruit of the spirit is in all goodness righteousness and truth Regeneration inclines us to follow Christ the filth of the Soul is carried off by the washing of Regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost hence we are said to be born of water and of the Spirit There is a natural inclination in a regenerate man to do good he does it willingly not by constraint Grace is got into his nature the Law is written in his heart therefore his heart inclines him to keep the Law. As Sin entred so Grace enters Sin entred into all the powers and faculties of the Soul weakning the whole man so Grace diffuses it self through every part of the Soul strengthning the whole man in every part In Regeneration we are renewed after the Image of Christ growing up into his likeness like in judgment and affection not that our natural Faculties are altered but only brought under the power of a supernatural principle we don't cease to be men only we become new men men of other minds spirits and dispositions than before taking after the second Adam not after the first being by Faith implanted into Christ we are made partakers of his Divine Nature this is called a second Birth or a new Creation though out of the same physical materials of Flesh and Blood the change is only spiritual as the Wild Olive when engrafted into the True as to its materials remains still the same 't was wood before so 't is still only there is a new sap secretly convey'd through the pores of it which make it bring forth more kindly and pleasant Fruit so the Sinner as to his physical substance was Flesh and Blood before conversion and so he is still yet there is an inward spiritual change wrought in him by his implantation into Christ who infuses his Nature Spirit and Grace through the Man so making him a new Creature not taking away his Manhood but sanctifying his Nature God is the Fountain of all Holiness 't is essential to him it goes along with his Nature is entail'd upon all who are born of God being partakers of the Divine Nature they must needs be holy as God is holy God appropriates goodness and righteousness to himself in the abstract and is the original Spring of all righteousness in the Saints Let us exert and put forth our new birth and live a life of faith The life which I now live in the flesh I live c. We are created in Christ unto good works that we should walk in them Let us then abide in Christ that we may bring forth much fruit for without him we can do nothing Corruption indeed is always active in a Saint because it acts naturally without any cessation but Grace does not always act at least so sensibly in a Saint because it must be first acted by the Spirit who is a free Agent should Grace always be as active in us as Corruption we should mistake it for Nature and ascribe all to our selves the Spirit of God is always in Believers but does not always work so effectually so sensibly the operations of it are not so manifest to us as sometimes they are This righteousness that is said to be done lies not so much in the perfection of the Deed as in the perfection of the Doer he aims well though he cannot always hit the mark he cannot do the good he would yet he wills it and that is doing in God's account who accepts the will for the deed The inclination or tendency of a new-born Soul to holiness appears three ways First Before the Temptation i. e. not before the being or existence of a Temptation for there is no such season we are always compassed about
thou requirest of me so Paul Oh that God would so manifest himself to every one of your hearts this day that he would shew himself come up close to you look you in the face and say I am Jesus you could not withstand this mighty presence of God in Christ Jesus O speak Lord 't is but thy saying to each of us I am Jesus and we shall all be made to know the Lord from the least to the greatest I hope the quickning voice of the Son of God is now sounding in the Ears of your Faith while I am speaking to you and that you do receive the Word not as the word of Man but as it is indeed the Word of God quick and powerful sharper than a two-edged Sword in every one of your hearts The knowledge of the Truth as 't is in Jesus Eph. 4. 21. is one thing and the knowledge of the Truth as 't is in Ink and Paper is another they are the same Truths but as they are in the Scriptures they lie in the dead Letter as they are in Christ they are seen in their living root and principle from whence they spring meer Scriptural Knowledge is but Historical we look upon the things we read and hear rather as notions than realities till God fills up all expressions of Scripture concerning himself with a Divine Presence answerable thereunto we believe nothing that is said of him but such a presence of God in his Word captivates our hearts to the belief of it we must believe him to be such a God as the Word declares him to be before we shall count all his sayings true we must fetch strength from the name of God Rev. 2. 13. to support our Faith in all its actings upon any part of his revealed will and we never deny any Truth plainly revealed but we deny his name Rev. 3. 8. and question his Attributes some Truths bare more upon one Attribute some more upon another but all are founded in God and in the essential properties of his Nature from whence they have their verification and accomplishment so that till God appear and shew himself to the Soul all that is said to us out of the Scriptures in the name of an unknown God affects us not because it wants that which is the ground of its Credibility no man can say that Jesus is the Lord but by the Spirit 1 Cor. 12. 3. he cannot say so and think so he cannot say so and believe what he says till the Father reveal his Son in him Paul by the Light of that Revelation of Christ in him knew all Gospel Mysteries and without such an inward spiritual manifestation of God to our Souls giving us a sight of him who is invisible 't is impossible we should ever be throughly convinced of the Divinity of the Scriptures all Divinity springs from God leads to him nay it looks him directly in the Face and can't be considered apart from him there is but one God and one Faith God must be in the view of our Faith whensoever we really act it Neither can we have that inward testimony of the Spirit convincing us of the Divine Authority of the Scriptures without this special Appearance of God in the Soul as a witness to the Truth of his Word While we are hearing the Word God has invisible wayes of access to our hearts he conveys himself through his Truth to our Souls his Divinity leads the way without some appearance of this the contents of the Word would have no place in our hearts but coming with so great a presence in so great a name and with so strong an impression God himself writing them upon the heart we cannot but receive his Testimony the Word comes into our Hearts suddenly before we are aware and seises them for God we cannot but think speak act and judge as God does the sense of the Word is the sense of our Souls so far as the Word is written in our hearts we read it without the least variation the Copy answers the Original Hence arises that habitual disposition or inclination to believe God creates this new heart I say this infused habit or principle of faith is antecedent to all acts of faith put forth by us and is in it self the sole act of God upon us in our first Conversion it is from this supernatural principle thus infused that the natural powers and faculties of the Soul of Man viz. the Understanding and the Will are enabled to take in things purely Spiritual and Divine Nature never acts above its sphere those inbred common Notions that are the Standards and Measures of Natural Truths in all their consequences will never lead us to grant or admit that which is supernatural when we do this 't is always from some higher Principle when we see men acting above themselves we may conclude they are acted by something higher than themselves which is the Spirit of Christ dwelling in them This special Appearance of God with those inward effects of it upon the Soul which I have been speaking of may be known to Believers they discern it in others Acts 11. 17 18. and do when they give a true reason of their faith see it in themselves that all springs from the Fathers revealing his Son in them they can give no other reason why they believe in Jesus 't is God that opens the door of Faith and makes it effectual Acts 14. 27. We are apt to be taken with any appearance of Man in a Sermon this we look after what words of Mans Wisdom how Man acquits himself in reasoning of this or that Point 'T is true there is some skill required in Planting and Watering but all the encrease comes from God your Faith consists not in the Wisdom of Man but in the power of God if God himself do not appear as a witness to his own Truth as the great undertaker of all that he has promised what we say will prevail little your faith must terminate in God himself and in that Ability that is in him to perform his word this was the ground of Abrahams faith Paul knew him whom he believed 2 Tim. 1. 12. and so must you if ever you believe to the saving of your Souls Did you go out of the Congregation after every Sermon you hear under a sight and sense of this appearance of God in his Word speaking to you from Heaven and shewing himself to your souls in some spiritual resemblance suited and adapted to that Word you are hearing how could you reject such a Word so full of God so exactly corresponding to what you see in God himself you must yield and cry out each of you who am I that I should withstand God This is the first way that God takes to work Faith in us by our hearing the Word Preached to us Secondly Faith is wrought by opening the heart enlightning the mind and perswading the will to a through closure with Christ upon Gospel Terms
I shall now shew you how God thus appearing to us in hearing the Word does open the heart enlighten the mind and throughly perswade the will to a through closure with Christ upon Gospel Terms Naturally our hearts are shut up against the Gospel our Minds are blinded 2 Cor. 4. 4. till God shines into our hearts to give the light of the Knowledge of the Glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ ver 6. Enlightning the eyes of our Understandings Eph. 1. 17 18. Quest. What is this Light of Faith and how does it differ from the Light of Reason Answ. The Light of Reason lies in the evidence of the thing it self as it falls under a Humane Understanding arguing from the cause to the effect drawing certain conclusions from undeniable premises granted and acknowledged by all men to be Truths in Nature Upon such Concessions they build all their acquired Knowledge and do put the stamp of Truth upon all fair inferences from thence which they judge agreeable to those first principles and notions of Truth that pass for currant under that name among credulous men who do but think they know and do rather ghess than judge so great is the uncertainty of all humane Knowledge we have little cause to glory in it The light of Faith lies in the infallible certainty of Divine Testimony faith sees not the causes of things in the things themselves but in God alone to whom all things are possible faith excells all other knowledge in as much as it sees and knows all things in their first Cause God and takes hold of them by the very root from whence they first spring arguing from the Veracity of God to the Truth of all his sayings we know that God has spoken thus and thus as Ioh. 9. 29. we know the Doctrine is of God Ioh. 7. 17. and that no prophesie of the Scripture is of private Interpretation 2 Pet. 1. 20 21. under this conviction we cannot but yield the obedience of faith to every word of God I do not deny but experience may and does give Believers some Evidence of the things themselves but this belongs rather to their after Edification then to the first act of Faith in their Conversion by which they close in with Christ upon the credit of a bare word of promise from him who cannot lie Object Since these sublime supernatural Misteries of the Gospel are so much above and so seemingly contrary to humane Reason how comes it to pass that any man should own them for Truths and be brought under the power of them Answ. 'T is by a Divine Faith I call it Divine because 't is the work of God that we believe his Testimony Ioh. 6. 29. Quest. Does not this Operation of God upon the Hearts of men in working faith in us offer violence to mans Nature and force the Will to consent to that which is above the Understanding Or how can the efficacy of Gods Grace in determining Mans Will to such a Spiritual Act of Faith in Christ Jesus be consistent with the liberty of the Will. Answ. Many intricate disputes there are about this Point managed by subtil heads not without some shew and appearance of Reason who to secure the liberty of Mans Will have denied the efficacy of Gods Grace placing the power of believing in man himself to avoid the force that otherwise they think must be offered to his Will. But to clear the efficacy of Gods Grace from this imputation I need say no more but this viz. That the Grace of God enters the Soul of man as a New Nature and therefore cannot put any force upon him Nature works kindly in all by Inclination not by Violence as Nature is from Generation so the new Nature is from Regeneration one is the birth of the Flesh the other of the Spirit as we are born Men by our first birth so we are born Christians by our second birth Artificial Christians are all name without any living Nature answerable to it being not truly born of God and thereby made partakers of his Divine Nature The breathing in of this new Nature into the Soul of man by the Spirit of God is that new Creation spoken of in the Gospel 't is the first Act of God in our Conversion 't is solely the Act of God without any concurrence of ours we have only a passive obediential power to receive the impression 'T is God that makes it upon this supernatural Principle are grounded all after proceedings in bringing the Soul forward to an actual closure with Christ all the natural powers and faculties of the Soul are gathered into this supernatural Principle do act under it are moved by it and directed in all their free motions to a supernatural end which they could not of themselves tend unto and let it not seem incredible to us that God should do this he can do no evil from the perfection of his Nature and for the same reason all good must needs be in the power of his hand the greatest good that can be done to fallen Man is thus to restore him In this new Nature are wrapped up the seeds of all Grace which by the efficacy of the Spirit are drawn out into act with the free consent of Mans Will Should God determine the Will of Man to a good act whilst it is in a bad state and under a corrupt nature this would imply force and violence but to lead out a man according to his new Nature is not to put a force upon him If Sin had that efficacy upon Man in his perfect state to encline his Will to Evil why should not Grace have the like efficacy upon Man fallen to encline his Will to good Though an inclination to Evil in Man standing was possible from the liberty of his Will in which he was created yet such an actual inclination was inconsistent with his perfect state and left such an inherent crookedness in his perverted Nature that nothing but Grace can rectifie and make streight again What is a principle of Grace but liberty to Good restored to fallen man from whence an actual inclination to choose what is good do's follow of course when God calls and excites him thereunto here is no force put upon mans Will it acts freely in the choice of good and it cannot be otherwise since Grace enters as a new Nature ingenerating a powerful Principle of Holiness in the Soul that do's incline a man freely to comply which the efficacious grace of God exciting him to those acts of Holiness so agreeable to the Nature of the new Creature as Sin reigns unto Death so Grace will reign through Righteousness unto Eternal Life Rom. 5. 21. Shall not he that raises the dead be able to quicken a dead Soul but we are more sensible of that power that God puts forth upon the bodies of Men then of that which he puts forth upon their Souls that you may know that the Son of man
to justifie us that we might be justified without him or at least not only and solely by him which is highly derogatory to the death of Christ neither will their owning Christ to be the meritorious cause of our Justification salve the matter while they do in any sense require another Righteousness distinct from that of Christs for the justification of our Persons in the sight of God. And having given you this brief account of the matter in difference I shall now proceed The Point in General which I am to speak to is this That though good works are highly necessary in a justified person yet they not required in any way of causality to the Justification of the Person Or thus no part of our inherent Righteousness can be any part of our justifying Righteousness This I might prove to you many ways First From the subject of Justification an ungodly Person a believing Sinner flying in the sense of Sin unto Jesus Christ for Life and Pardon Sin is that from which we are Justified the Righteousness of Christ is that for which or by which we are Justified Act. 13. 39. Secondly Because there must be a change of state in Justification and by Justification before we can derive any saving Grace from Christ to enable us to the least good work I might also Thirdly Argue from the weakness and imperfection of all Inherent Holiness which is not able to justifie it self much less the Person And many Arguments may be brought but my design is to contract this general to a particular point concerning the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 credere or the act of believing and I shall shew that that part of our inherent Righteousness that flows from our doing the Word of God that is the Work of Faith as done by us in an act of believing is no part of our justifying Righteousness This is that which seems to have the fairest claim to and interest in our Justification and if this be disproved the Argument will hold a fortiori against all the inferiour branches of our inherent Righteousness they must be forced to quit their claim also That which seems to intitle Faith to such an Interest in our Justification as is pleaded for by some is the phrase and manner of expression which the Scripture uses in speaking of Faith telling us that Faith is imputed to us for Righteousness that we are justified by Faith that he that believes shall be saved and the like The question is in what sense these Scriptures are to be understood whither we are to take up our standing partly in the act of Faith and partly in the object of Faith making up a Righteousness partly from our selves and partly from Christ or whether we are by Faith to go out of our selves unto Christ for our whole sole and only justifying Righteousness and this is that which I affirm and shall endeavour to make good and shew you that the Scriptures alledged do not ascribe our Justification to the Act but wholly to the Object of Faith not to our believing but to Christ believed on which I prove thus First From those Expressions of Scripture peculiar to Holy Writ by which the Holy Ghost doth of set purpose limit Faith to its Object Iohn 6. 47. Rom. 9. 33. Ephes. 1. 13. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to believe in into or upon Christ which plainly points out this that Faith is alwayes to be taken in relation to its Object that by Faith is meant Christ apprehended by Faith. Life is promised not simply to believing but to believing in in whom in Christ or nothing Faith is a relative term as to its whole sense and signification to the Object Christ. It must be Faith in Christ or Faith in nothing Believing is a Scripture Phrase setting forth our leaning upon Christ. Faith as our Act adds nothing to Christ doth not make his Death satisfactory it was so in its self before though by an applicatory act of Faith it is made so to us that is we do reap the benefits of his Death and satisfaction we are not united to Faith but by Faith we are united to Christ. Faith is the Medium uniens we do not trust in our Faith but by Faith we trust in Christ all that Faith signifies is in relation to Christ all that it doth is in the Name of Christ without Christ it signifies nothing it doth nothing it is nothing When we are said to be justified by the Faith of Christ or justified by Faith in Christ Gal 2. 16. pray must the meaning be that we are justified by Faith and Christ as some would have it giving the priority to Faith and making Christ but a remote cause of our Justification and our inherent Righteousness to be the next and immediate cause Were Men more willing to exalt Christ and debase themselves this would be English plain enough Faith in Christ would then signifie but one Righteousness it would not be Faith and Christ. Let Men have a care how they speak unadvisedly of Christ to the lessening and diminution of his Honour God hath said he is our Righteousness without any Limitation without any restriction Now for Men to say ay but not all our Righteousness not our only Righteousness I say 't is a bold word thus to distinguish whatever remote inferences they may gather out of Scripture to justifie their meaning yet since God hath not thought fit to drop any such diminutive expression of Christ in Scripture I say it is a bold word for Men to speak You may see how severely speaking against God was punished Numb 21. 5 6. And God complains of it Ezek. 35. 13. With your mouths ye have boasted against me and have multiplyed your words against me I have heard them We may safely deny any thing of God that implies weakness or imperfection but to deny that of Christ which tends to the Exaltation of his Name and riches of his Grace let Men distinguish how they will it is dangerous meddling here This is a tender point that is the first Secondly If the bare act of Faith without any relation to the object justifies then any act of Divine Faith will justifie us as well as Faith in Christ for the Act is specified by the Object Take away the Object and all Acts of Faith are alike equally insignificant But I proceed Thirdly To the third Argument that shall be drawn from the Nature of Faith which consists in receiving As it is the Act of a Believer it implies doing but properly as an Act of believing it consists in receiving and that with an empty hand Now the question is whether by this receiving Act of Faith there do redound to us a Righteousness of our own distinct from that which we receive from Christ I say no We are not justified by a Righteousness that we do but by a Righteousness that we receive Now the bare Act of receiving in a common Natural way is not counted morally meritorious