Suretyship and Testamentary Grace or the last Will of Jesus Christ display themselves as if all things were carryed by Intellectual Conditionalities and the Obedience and free Complyances of those who are the Election of God of those that are Called according to Purpose while in the mean time they are most Efficaciously and yet most sweetly Swayed and Influenc'd by the Power and Grace of God in Christ and by the Increated Spirit that cannot miss of the end design'd and though all be Vested in the Action of those who are thus Chosen and Called yet not under the Incertainty of a Condition but the Infallible Certainty of a Divine Disposition a Testamentary Gift of our great Testator a Discharge of our Surety for us though within us an Acquist of our Mediator by Intercession on his own Blood of the Everlasting Covenant presented in Heaven for us Heb. 9 12. III. And thus also there is a Justification of God in his Holyness and Righteousness as also in his Patience and Long Suffering towards those whom he leaves to themselves who being applyed to according to their own Nature as Creatures of Reason and Understanding according to all the Riches of the Word of God to that purpose are condemned in not receiving such every way sufficient Applications taking them so every way as such Rational Creatures and suited thereunto which could not be so gloriously Demonstrated and Illustrated if there were not such a fittedness of the Word of God and of the Overtures of Life and Salvation by way of Condition To one Mat. 13. 11. it is given to the other it is not given So vain is that Exposition of Dr. Hammond and violent a Perversion of Scripture As many as were ordain'd viz. as he speaks fitted by former Discipline to receive the Eternal Life of the Gospel Acts 2. ult believed As appears from Rom. 9. 23. For what Discipline prepared beforehand the Gentiles to Calling or Glory Head 9. Faith is not an Assurance or Inward Persuasion that Christ is ours and that our Sins are Pardon'd But it is Accepting Receiving and Resting upon Christ alone for Justification Conciliation That Faith is a Grace of a most large and spreading Nature and Action as it is represented to us in the Word of God can be by no one that considers it denyed So that there may be many Excellent and Profitable Discourses upon it that may look very distantly one upon another and yet meet in the iame Center Yet Faith as it respects Pardon of Sin and Justification cannot have a fairer and fuller Proposition given it than that saying Worthy of both Belief or full Assent of the Judgment and Acceptation of the Will viz. that Christ came to save the chief of Sinners 1 Tim. 1 15. Now this Proposition every one is to particularize to himself as the Apostles in believing and so it differs nothing from Assurance in the Root at least And that Assurance is every way most Connatural to it is evident by the Apostles speaking of the full Assurance of Knowledge Col. 2. 2. As Faith is an Intellectual Assent to Divine Revelation The full Assurance of Faith as it is an Application for Pardon to the Blood of Christ sprinkling the Heart from an evil Conscience Heb. 10. 22. and the full Assurance of Hope Heb. 6. 11. as Faith concerning our present Interests in Christ not yet appearing fully or in future Glory aides it self against present low Appearances of its pardon'd justify'd State or its future Glory Thus a Plerophory or full Assurance in relation to Faith cannot merit any Indignation as against an Error And indeed it is so essential to Faith that there never was nor can be any true Faith without the Root and Seed of it and the Letting it down in the Descriptions and Discourses of it from this full Assurance is in compassion to the low State Tempted Deserted Afflicted Doubting State of sincere Christians It was the general Doctrin of the first Reformers when the Light was purest and quickest And it is very suspitionable the Letting it down lower may have had its Ill as well as its good Effects For if Christians aim'd in all their ways at full Assurance it would engage them to higher Aims in Holyness and closer Walking It being impossible even in the Judgment of Natural Light and Reason to separate Holyness from such Assurance or that receiving Christ as Lord and King should be made to part from it but that it would flow out into all Expressions of the Warmest and Indearedst Love to him Whereas Christians Resting and thinking it a piece of Modesty and Humility it were well if it were not allyed to that Voluntary Humility spoken of Col. 2. 18. to be in doubt and only flatly and deadly to hope well in general They find not these pungent Arguments to move Accurate and Universal Obedience but poize the one to the other their Obedience to their Measure of Assurance For a rude Presumption or bold Saying Christ is ours and our Sins are pardon'd in the midst of Licentions and loose Living is worthy only to be exploded and Hissed off the very Profession of Christianity and cannot obtain the least Credit either with others or even the Rational Conscience in themselves So that were it not in Tenderness to the Weakness of Christians in general Preaching Faith so as to include Assurance in it would be undoubtedly the best and even that taken care of as well as it may be I know not whether it might not be much to the Interest and Glory of Christianity to wind it up in the most stated Discourses of Faith to the Apostles Plerophory or full Aâ—â—urance of Knowledge Faith and Hope from which Exceptions might be made and Allowances for the Weakness of Christians in particular Exigencies This sure would more ennoble Christianity It was the Illustrious State of the very Primitive Christianity which we read of in that most admirable part of Church History the five first Chapters of the Acts of the Apostles To this I doubt not it will be restor'd within few Years when in the Succession of the Kingdom of Christ and by the Proclaiming The Kingdoms of this World are the Kingdoms of the Lord and of his Christ Rev. 11. 15. The Servants of God shall appear on Mount Zion with the Lamb having the Fathers Name not Sealed under Reserve as yet it is but Written in Capital Letters in splendid Characters on their Foreheads It is the dark and foul place of the Apostacy 2 Pet 1. 19. in which we are the Beasts forty two Months being though near yet not fully expired Rev. 13. 5. that brings so low the Doctrin of Faith as being not Assurance And because in the Reformation begun Christ appear'd making his Challenge of his Kingdom and the seven Thunders of highest Gospel Doctrin uttered their Voices Rev. 10. A Chapter on purpose to give us the Prophetick Landskip of the Reformation There was the high Doctrin of Faith
or Scheme of a Conditionate Election and a Conditionate Covenant of Grace then an Inconditionate Election and a Conditional Covenant of Grace except we make the Series and Frame of the consequent Disposes of Election Conditions God puts upon himself for the making good his first Choice that is he chooses upon Condition he himself will in time give Faith Repentance Holiness which we know were both unreasonably derogatory from the Divine Glory and from that order in which Scripture gives us these Supreme Acts of Grace For Foreknowledge Predestination Election in Christ are the Fountain of Calling Justification Sanctification Glorification Rom. 8. 29. Whereas if Sanctification were the condition of Justification Glorification coming last must be the condition of all the rest As if the Sense were on condition God will Glorifie he will Sanctifie So Justification must be the condition of Calling and Calling of Election But how much more Beautiful and Orderly is the Scripture Chain Making all after Wise disposes flowing from the Independent First And so every where Scripture Discourses he hath chosen us that we should be Holy and without Blame before him in Love Ephes 1. As of God viz. by the Eternal Fountain of Grace and in his Electing Love are we in Christ who is of God 1. Cor. 1. 31. without any condition on our part made Wisdom in Calling Righteousness in Justification Holyness in Sanctification All these are brought into Glory in Redemption that none might Glory in his Presence but he that Glorieth might Glory only in the Lord. For if there were but one Thing suspended upon us as a Condition on our Part even that single thing would turn the Covenant of Grace into a Covenant of Works For it would be Work done by our selves and we might Glory we have done we have will'd we have run we have atchiev'd and attain'd what ever indeed that might be Duly demanded of us and is not required is Grace or whatever is given is Grace But what is required on our own Strength is Work and though it be said God assists by his Grace by his Spirit yet if there be 99 Parts given or assisted and but the 100th Part our Act that 100th Part is Work and all Grace is suspended on that For on the doing or not doing that All hangs And seeing thousands do not that 100th Part if we do it we have reason of Boasting that we were wiser we were better than they For how small how little soever that nice and curious Point be on which all the vast Globes of not only Eternity but Supreme Grace turns and wherein Divine Wisdom and Holyness placed all That is ours and we have done it And though in all else we are beholden to God to Christ to the Divine Spirit yet in that which is the last Hinge we are beholden to our selves Nay if all were first given and but our Perseverance only were the Condition on which all depended the same might be said of Perseverance that it turn'd the Covenant of Grace in that Part into a Covenant of Works And whereas many do not Persevere we have reason to Glory we Persevere and there is some thing we have not received And so the Vertical Point would be our selves and we might Glory in his Presence For that and not Christ would be the Corner Stone and to it we might cry Grace Grace And however there is so much to be ascrib'd to Grace and what would in common Speaking among Men be call'd the making of us and doing all for us Yet it is to be consider'd whether the Glory God will not give to another be not parted with and surrendred by him if the last Decisive Point Rest upon us which makes me Assured it cannot be so And so though I acknowledge with those who most acknowledge it the necessity of Faith Repentance Holyness and of our own Action therein yet in speaking of the Covenant as the Covenant of Grace and being an Ectype or Exemplification of Everlasting Grace I say These nor any Action of the Elect ought to be styled Conditions but Wise and Holy Dispositions of God the Author and Founder and of Christ the Mediator Surety and Testator And which he will most certainly see to that they shall most Infallibly take place in their just Series Succession and Order both of Nature and of Time And why should we be so afraid to speak of the Covenant of Grace as Inconditionate For what is there that we would single out as a condition that is not to be ascrib'd to Gods Immediate Gift Is it Faith Is it the Gift of God Ephes 2. 8. To you Is it given to believe Is it Repentance He hath made Christ a Prince to give it Acts 5. 31. If God peradventure will give Repentance 2 Tim. 2. 25. Is it Holyness Christ is made so Sanctification to us that we cannot Boast Is it the Laws of God in our Hearts A new Heart a new Spirit a soft Heart his Fear within us that we may never depart from him One Heart and one Way to fear him forever to know him by his Spirit All these are assurd to be given even as Pardon in Sin and by as free a Gift All by a plain absolute Inconditionate Grant How many and great Scriptures run in this absolute Style and yet how expresly is all this call'd a Covenant Jer. 31. Heb. 8. Jer. 32. Ezek. 11. Chap. 36. But if it be said how then comes it to pass that the whole Strain and Stream of Scripture to which Preaching ought to be conform'd speaks of these Graces and all the Actions agreeable to them as Conditions of the Covenant of Grace There are three grand Accounts to be given of it I. It becomes the Wise and Holy Rector and Governor of the World and of his Rational Human Creation to treat and deal with and give them all Scope Room and Business and Advantage in and for Intellectual Action Men as Rational Creatures know not how to deal with one another or to move themselves but by the Activities of Understanding Conscience Will Affections So that they must lye still and not act at all or be moov'd only as Bruits or Machines or thus There is therefore the continual Rational Breathing and Motion of Doctrine Instruction Promise Threat Reproof Correction and all kind of Motion and Action suitable and agreeable to it All Scripture is therefore prepared and Profitable hereunto Besides the Commands and Precepts of Holyness being so abundant they shew the necessity of a continual Recourse to Christ for Strength Grace and Assistance for Righteousness from him and Pardon through him wherein we fall short Nothing mooves more to run to the Righteousness of Christ than the sight of Imperfect Grace and Action to which we are called if by our selves though under Divine Assistance from Christ II. Now under this Oeconomy and Dispensation of Things the Grace of God according to Election and according to the Mediation
sense before either Justification or Pardon but that mighty Rays and Beams of each must be broken out to the Soul before it enters into the Beginnings of Eternal Life by Faith and Repentance is very hard to understand except Faith and Repentance are ascrib'd to Man as the Products of his own Power and Will If they are from God his Justifying Righteousness and Pardon are come near when-ever where-ever he gives Faith and Repentance And as it may be most necessary in some regards to Preach Faith and Repentance as in order to Pardon and Justification so is it no less necessary to be as Free and Large that without graciousest Approaches of the Righteousness of God and Christ brought near Faith and Repentance lye for ever dead that every unconverted Person may gasp up to God and Christ for that Grace that is abundant in Him The intention is not that Pardon or Justification can be without Faith or Repentance but whether Justification doth not draw and excite its own Faith and Pardon it s own Repentance So that they are rather before Faith and Repentance than Faith and Repentance before them And which Preaching is most to be preferr'd in the Nature of Things without respect to the Present Necessity and for the Time Being That which is most abundant in ascribing to the Principal or in pressing the Less Principal and Subordinate I make no doubt the Singing the new Song before spoken of Rev. 14. will in a short time determine And yet I defer all that ought to be deferr'd to those whose Spirits are both enlarg'd and enabled to offer to the Souls of Men the things wherein God appears as the Rector of the World offering Faith and Repentance in order to Justification and Pardon while the Secret Springs of his Justifying and Pardoning Grace give the very Faith and Repentance required But surely great respect may be had to what is to be without violating what is even as Sacrifices are debas'd Esa 1. in foresight of their final removal by Christ Head 13. Sinners have much to do to be saved Conciliation Even the Righteous arc scarcely saved For with Men it 's impossible but with God all things are possible I can do all things through Christ strengthening me My Yoke saith Christ is easie my Burden is light I will run the way of thy Commandments when Thou shall enlarge my Heart The Joy of the Lord is Strength His Delight is in the Law of the Lord Faithful is he that hath Promised and will Perform it to the Day of Jesus Christ Great and Precious Promises are given whereby we are made Partakers of the Divine Nature We can do nothing againstst the Truth but for the Truth All these with innumerable more of the like shew the Certainty and the Easiness of the Salvation of God's Elect. And yet as we look to Man and his Motion and Action these Things are impossible For there is no doubt Holiness and New Obedience are the Paths wherein though with many Imperfections Falls and weaknesses in the present state God carries his Elect to Life and Salvation And the Way is narrow and the Gate strait and require striving to Enter But God is their strength who keeps their Foot from being taken that they walk in their way safely and their Steps are not straitned He makes their Feet as Hinds Feet and sets them on High Places They that wait on the Lord run and are not weary They walk and faint not He girdeth them with strength By him they leap over a Wall Head 14 15. I joyn these Two together The Gospel hath Threats and Promises Holiness and Good Works are necessary to Salvation Conciliation As upon the gracious Councels of God before All Worlds Began so upon this very Point among all the Disposes of God in time the Hinge of these Points turns For if the Gospel be a Law full of all Holy and Righteous Precepts to which Faith and Repentance introduce us arm'd with its Promises and Threats and so setled as a Covenant that who of himself accepts the Terms of it by Faith and Repentance under the Assurance of the Assistances of the Divine Spirit are accepted and shall have All the Benefits of it and whoever will not shall be Damn'd and his Judgment shall be more intollerable because he refuses such gracious Terms offerr'd This doth I confess perfectly overthrow Dr. Crisp's Scheme For then Christ comes in as a Law-giver and having all Judgment committed to him and there is a Mediatorian Law and Covenant in the Hand of the Mediator of more gracious condescention than that of the Covenant of Works but the last result of all is into the free Will of Man and his Action in compliance with this Covenant Thus of the Law and the Covonant of Works as the First Law there is a Perfect Abrogation as a Law but as the Holiness and Righteousness of it are transplanted into this New Law so here is as to that Law a perfect Antinomianism and all Mankind are only under this Law and Justification Salvation or Death and Condemnation are according to Obedience or Disobedience to this Law or Gospel-Covenant of which the Conditions are Faith and Repentance But if the Gospel in the Supreme Intention of it and in the Propriety of its Nature be a Covenant of Grace wherein God is pleas'd to be from his own free purpose of Grace the Soveraign Covenantee and his Elect bear the Analogy or part of Covenantees as at the other Extreme and Jesus Christ the Mediator Surety and Testator pass between both that all may be perform'd Mediating with God for his efficacious Grace in giving the Divine Dispositions promised in this Covenant as if perform'd by the Covenantees So bringing every thing in effect from God to us and from us to God and by his Death having right as a Testator to bestow the very things upon All given to him by God to give Eternal Life to them John 17. 2. Then shall the Gospel or New Testament be supremely a Ministration of the Spirit of Righteousness of Life according to 2 Cor. 3. And in its Subordinate Nature it shall be a Publication of the Divine Grace and Love to Mankind in general upon the Terms of Faith and Repentance The Law all this time stands in its own place as the Eternal Sanction of Holiness and Righteousness and can never be abrogated because it is Eternal Righteousness but it is as a Covenant so far mitigated as to accept the Satisfaction it requires from a Mediator and so it is in the Hand of a Mediator Gal. 3. 19. Towards whom it commands Faith and Repentance or return to God by him even as it is a Law of Eternal Righteousness Requiring Faith and Obedience to all Manifestations from God sufficiently testified to be from him and as these Manifestations of Grace are the only possibility left to a fallen Nature to return into a State of Agreement with God Hereupon the Law
becomes a Standard by which the full Value of the Satisfaction of Christ by his Sacrifice and Obedience unto Justification and the Infinite Grace of God in Pardon is tryed and made glorious by which the Duties of Humiliation Confession of Sin Application to Christ for Righteousness Repentance should be both understood and urged Here is the Rule for Holiness and new Obedience out of which all the Holy Precepts of the Gospel are drawn Hereby the Remainders of Sin are Discern'd and Humiliation under them wrought Hereby is the Infinite Grace of Christ towards his Legatees his Redeemed set at full Light in working an Inward Conformity to this Holy Law in all parts of it And hereby the Government of God committed to Christ is continued with Relation to all Mankind even to all not given to him For they who have the Gospel Preached to them are judged not only according to the Law of Righteousness first written in the Heart but according to this Divine Revelation and Grace which highly aggravates their Disobedience and makes it more Tollerable for Sodom and Gomorrah than for them Mat. 10. 24. They who have not the Gospel are judged according to that Law and Light of Nature They have concerning the Law and that Witness of an Intention of Grace God gives to them in giving Fruitful Times and Seasons and all the Discoveries of his Patience Leading them to Repentance even as the King of Nineveh who shall rise up in Judgment and condemn Heathens who have not by such a Light from the forbearance of God argued to Repentance as he did And thus are the Secrets of all Hearts judged according to the Apostles Gospel as he said Rom. 2. 16. Some Ombrage of which Heathens have Thus the Law is established and preserved in its full Authority and the Gospel is also establish'd as Divine Revelation and in its High purely promissory Part as a Ministration of the Spirit And if the Designation of the Gospel be particularly singled out for the most powerful Preaching of it by some and yet in the mean time the more large and universal Motion and Doctrin of the Gospel be Preach'd more universally by the most of the Preachers whom the Spirit of God according also to the general Stream of Scripture hath so Missiond Commission'd and Enabled I cannot see but here may be the Sweetest Union and as great a Conspiration as between the Apostle Paul and the Apostle James while one tells us a Man justifyed by Faith without Works and the Last tells us by what of Faith viz not by the Body of Faith or a Confession of Faith but by the Spirit of it the Vis Essectrix or Operatrix the working Efficacy of it which I take on great Reason to be the very true Expedient of Reconciliation between the two Apostles and yet in both by the Righteousness of Christ by Faith alone and that Faith given only by Christ So all is of Grace Ephes 2. For Faith and all its Works flow from the Blood and Righteousness of Christ drawing nigh to his Elect People to Regenerate and to justifie together Titus 3. 5. c. And surely by a close and universal Compare of Scripture The Day of Judgment must be according to this very same Grace For when the Spirits of Saints are immediately with Christ and He receives them who Dye and Sleep in him in a Moment in the Twinkling of an Eye made Perfect and when they are Raised Incorruptible he brings them with him and they together with Christ Judge Angels and the World And it is given to them to Appear in Robes wash'd white in the Blood of the Lamb and to be Cloathed in Linnen white and clean which is the Righteousness of the Saints and he presents them to himself without Spot Wrinckle or any such Thing It cannot be understood that the Day of Judgment in relation to the Saints is by way of Tryal of Judgment on particular Actions But their very Appearance is their Absolution and Adjudgment to Glory as Clad in the rich Robes Wash'd in the Blood of the Lamb All their Graces and Holy Duties fill'd up and their Sins perfectly blotted out and remainders of Corruption effaced by Grace perfected in Glory On the other side The wicked have Appearances in their Sins having found them out covering them as a Garment of Dishonour and as filthy Garments that expose them immediately to Condemnation And as if their particular Sins were written upon them and the Condemnation together with them And thus each appear visibly before the Throne Tribunal and Judgment Seat of Christ during the whole Thousand Years of his Kingdom One Crowned with Glory and Honour the other cover'd with Shame and Contempt If any should object Christs insisting on the particular Duty of Visiting Cloathing Feeding Mat. 25. either as perform'd or neglected It is to be observ'd each sort first were set one on the Right Hand the other on the Left one as Sheep the other as Goats So the Tryal was easie If it be further said God will bring every Work into Judgment whether it be Good or Evil. This I attribute to the mighty Power and Wisdom of God giving together with every Person before his Judgment all the Holy Actions of Saints wash'd and perfected in and by the Blood of Jesus and fill'd up with his Grace and by the Spirit as in a Moment an Atom of Time the Twinkling of an Eye and their Sins so taken away as not only not to be found but not to be Whereas the Talents of wicked Men that is any good Things they had here not being purged by his Blood perfected by his Obedience and fill'd up by his Spirit are taken from them and they appear All in their Sins And thus the Order of Things at that Day is according to the free Grace of Election Calling Justification and Sanctification covered under Justification in that Chain of Salvation Rom. 8. and Glorification springing from all Head 15. Holiness and good Works are necessary to Salvation Conciliatiion Good Works are so as they are the Provision and Preparation of God even of his Eternal free Grace in furnishing us with them and as we are his Workmanship in Christ Jesus Created to them But the Number Measure Elevation of them in higher or lower Degrees of Excellency so diverse in Saints shew the Foundation of our Salvation as well as Justification rests elsewhere Head 16. Good Works are profitable and please God Conciliation They do so as they are the Fruits of the Death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ and the Disposalls of his free Grace in us and to us and so by us And as God is pleas'd to shew himself as the Supreme Rector and Governor according to his Holy Law but yet so that the Poles on which Salvation moves are the Grace of God in our Election and his Acceptation of us to Righteousness in Christ and if he leave any of his Servants in their Service and