And that this is the Condition upon which Christ is ours and upon which his Righteousness becomes ours and thus Faith Justifies And thus Faith comes to be through such very Discourses of Faith an Eclipse upon the Righteousness of Christ And so the Works of Faith come to be so also for say they Every true Faith must have VVorks And the Apostle saith A Man is justified by VVorks and not by Faith only Now these things they raise not only great Disputes concerning which it were indeed much and earnestly to be desired that they may be laid among the Servants of God that they may be calmed and composed because it is greatly to the dishonour of the Gospel that there should be those noises of Axes and Hammers in the Work of the Gospel and because Men are ready to be scandalized And it is told in Gath and published in the streets of Askalon as the Expression is And therefore I say we should earnestly desire to speak all the same thing and to be in one Mind and in one Judgment according to the Truth of the Gospel And then besides they are ready to stagger Souls and to make them they know not which way to turn and they must dispute the things with themselves and so they are kept off from the healing that wound of Conscience and from the getting that full Assurance of Faith and of Hope and of Knowledge So that while the wound of Conscience and the bleeding of Conscience should be stanched and while the close Application of the Blood of Christ should work the Cure the Souls and Spirits of Men are greatly in Dispute and Perplexity which way and in what Method what they should lay first as it were to the bleeding Conscience and to the distressed Spirit Now I have lately given you this Rule and I would renew it and 〈◊〉 it to you That you labour after and seek after these things from God and that you would not perplex your selves about the term of Dispute in which these things are conveyed O! Let but our Souls find that we have Christ indeed for ours and that we apply to his Blood by Faith and that we turn from every Iniquity by Repentance and it is no matter for all the Disputes about the Order and whether a Man should stay for this or for that But let him give up his Soul according to the Impression of Grace and the Spirit of God upon him But yet however when we discourse of these things plainly and peaceably and according to the clearest Light and Reason of the Gospel they are to be attended to And our Minds thereby shall have Ideas and Representations of them that may be suitable to the inward Case of our Souls And therefore at this time I shall lay down four Positions in which I shall open to you the nature of Faith in Relation to Justification Or The true nature of Justification as it is taken in by Faith The First Position that I shall lay down is this I say No Righteousness but a Divine Righteousness an Everlasting Righteousness can be the Righteousness of a Lost and undone Sinner Of an Immortal Eternal Soul lost and undone by sin No Righteousness but a Divine Righteousness an Eternal and Euerlasting Righteousness O! Keep this always in your mind It must be such a Righteousness Or it will not serve the great Purpose of your Souls The Second thing that I would lay down is this that there is no possibility that Faith by any virtue or Excellency of its own should be our Righteousness And therefore tho there be a great Renown of Faith in the Gospel compared with the Graces of the Spiâ—… â—f God and the working of that Spirit in the Hearts and Lives of Châ—stians yet still it is not with Relation to God so as to be our Righteousness But onely as I shall shew you it takes in the Righteousness of Jesus Christ and wherein the Excellency of it lyes to that purpose In the Third place the Third Position that I would lay down is this That tho it is true that the Faith the Gospel speaks of is a vigorous working active Faith yet the works of Faith are further off from the Justifying of a Sinner than Faith it self is So that take the most excellent works of any of the Believers in Jesus Christ It is not their works I say it is not their works that are their Righteousness to Justification they are further off from Justification than their Faith is And yet this Faith cannot be their Justification The Fourth Position that I would lay down is this that Faith has not a Power of it self to take Christ But Jesus Christ gives himself to the Soul And then the mighty Power of Faith flows out from him and Twines about Christ and unites it self unto Jesus Christ These Four Positions I do not find upon the most severe Examination that they do in the least Abridge or take off any thing from the Holiness of the Gospel and from the duties in which all Christians are to be found And yet they give us indeed the truth of the freeness of the Grace of the Gospel and will Redeem us from all mistakes and misapprehensions or from lessening the Glory of Christ and his Righteousness I Begin at this time with the First of them And that is that no Righteousness but an Everlasting a Divine Righteousness can possibly serve the case of our Souls You find therefore in Dan. 9. 24. When Jesus Christ came into his great Action as a Mediator He is said to finish transgression and to make an end of sin and to make Reconciliation for Iniquity and to bring in Everlasting Righteousness He brings in Everlasting Righteousness David has an Expression which I confess one would be ready If one does not weigh and compare it with the whole Scripture to think it was the Righteousness of Holy works onely he or rather the Holy Spirit intended by him in it But if we consider it close and with the whole Scripture there is Reason to look upon it as having Relation to the great salvation by the Righteousness of Jesus Christ Psal 119. 144 The Righteousness of thy Testimonies is Everlasting c. I say it does seem to refer to those Righteous and Holy Precepts of God But he calls it the Righteousness of thy Testimonies That is the Great Testimony of Revelation that God hath given anew by the word Not that Righteousness that was written upon the heart of man But the Righteousness of the Testimony of the Revelation of God And therefore give me understanding herein and I shall live According as he said there is a Covenant made with me ordered in all things and sure And it is an Everlasting Covenant And therefore the Righteousness of his Testimonies is to be expounded by those very words Sam. 2. 23. 5. Although my house c. And though his house was not so with God That is though he could not
come up any way either before Conversion or after Conversion to the Holiness that every person is tyed by to the Law Yet there is an Everlasting Covenant ordered in all things and sure Which is all our salvation and all our hope For the opening therefore of this Position to you more fully The First thing that I desire may be well Apprehended by us is this That there is no Communication of Righteousness but the Righteousness of God himself I say of God himself through the humane nature of Christ The Righteousness of him who is Eternal God through the Humane Nature No other Righteousness is that Righteousness that the Gospel Expresses to us for Justification And therefore you know it is several times in Scripture called the Righteousness of God Indeed the Scriptures are not to be numbred Easily Those in the New Testament call it the Righteousness of God I know It may be Interpreted to be called the Righteousness of God because it is a Righteousness of God's providing and that he approves But there is one place of Scripture that will clear this to us that there is more intended than that Phil. 3. 8 9. Saith the Apostle yea doubtless I count all but Dross that I may be found in Christ not having my own Righteousness but that which is of God the Righteousness of God by Faith of Jesus Christ. Observe the Righteousness of the Law is truly the Righteousness of God so far as it is Commanded and so far as any one can have it that is the Righteousness that God hath Commanded and that God hath proposed But that which is by the Faith of Christ is the Righteousness which is of God which flows from God and is received by Faith the Righteousness which is of God by Faith The great Fountain of it is God himself in Jesus And therefore there is nothing so great in Scripture as the Apprehending of Christ the Son of God by Faith You shall find oftentimes he is so called The Son of God And John 17. 7 8. They have known that I came out from thee and that thou didst send me Here is this very thing our Lord intends to shew himself that Divine Person that is The Son of God John 9. Consider that place that you may know how to direct and place your Faith You must not rest in the Humanity of Christ in the Man Christ Jesus But your Rest must be in the Divinty of Christ the Godhead of Christ There 's the great Rock as Christ told Peter that the Church is founded upon As the living Father hath sent me and I live by the Father saith Christ therefore I beseech you that we may all go to the very height of this That is to look to Jesus Christ as the Son of God John 9. 33. They cast out the blind Man that Jesus had healed They cast him out of the Synagogue When Christ found him he said unto him Do'st thou believe on the Son of God Pray observe Do'st thou believe on the Son of God He did not say Do'st thou believe on me that thou seest before thee in the Figure and appearance of a Man and to be truly a Man But do'st thou believe on the Son of God Indeed there may be places of Scripture where Christ speaks of Believing in himself without this high Stile But when there is one great place of Scripture or several great places I may rather say that lead higher It is certainly our Duty to go up to the highest and to carry all thither Now saith Christ do'st thou believe on the Son of God He Answered and said Who is he Lord that I might believe in him And Jesus said unto him thou hast both seen him and it is he that talketh with thee And he said Lord I believe and he worshipped him Here is the excellent Order of Faith we must go up to the height To the Son of God And then consider the Communication through the Human Nature I am he saith he Thou hast seen him and it is he that talketh with thee I 'll give you one very Evident place of Scripture more to this purpose that your Faith and your Hope might be in the Son of God O! could we but apprehend the Righteousness of the Son of God to be our Righteousness what a Rock of Support and Defence would it be to our Souls How would it satisfy our Scruples and all our Fears Indeed it is a high act of Faith to lay hold thus upon the Son of God Gal. 2. 20. I am crucified with Christ c. Jesus Christ was Crucified through weakness as the Apostle saith in another place He was Crucified through weakness That is as a man But he lives by the Power of God That is by the Divinity Now saith the Apostle I am Crucified with Christ I receive by Communication from Jesus Christ as Man a Crucifixion of my own Righteousness So the Life which I live in the Flesh I live by the Faith of the Son of God c. who hath conveyed his Salvation through his Human Nature The great height of Faith is to reach Jesus Christ the Son of God So in 1 John 1. 1. You may see how the Divine Excellency of Christ streams through his Human Nature unto eternal Life That which was from the begining He does not say He that was from the begining But that which was from the begining to direct our Hearts more Emphatically to the Eternal Word which we have heard c. Speaking of Jesus Christ especially and principally of his Divine Nature And yet Communicated through Human Nature So that we have seen with our Eyes and looked upon and our hands have handled the word of Life This therefore is the first thing that we may understand the Nature of Justification It is the Righteousness of the Son of God conveyed through the Human Nature In the Second place which I have mentioned in general Phrases already and I would now imprint upon all our Hearts through the Grace of God That is it is not the Righteousness of Christ divided from himself but the person of Christ and his Righteousness of Christ divided from Christ but the Righteousness of Christ in himself as that person from whom it always flows So that our Faith it must be upon the Person of Jesus Christ For indeed this is a great mistake in our understanding and in the working of our Hearts to Christ tho I would not entangle any Person in the nicities of Discourse But by touching and apprehending and applying the Benefits of Christ the Believer does really take Christ himself Yet that we may clearlier understand this thing I say it is not a Righteousness cut off from Christ and imputed to us As if Christ should say Here I lay you down so much Righteousness a Righteousness that I am sure will Answer in every regard for you And take that Righteousness As if a Man should lay down a great Treasure of Gold
of God I say should send out so great a Minister of the Gospel as the Apostle James was to lay down a Position so contrary as it seems to be to Paul That a Man is not Justified by Faithly but by Works And to make so great an Appearance against that Truh that great Truth of the Gospel and to give occasion to so many Enemies of the Free Grace of God and to so many Devines and strange kind of Representations of this great Truth by Men in all Ages bearing up themselves upon the Authority of such a place of Scripture as this is Now therefore by way of Answer to it I shall not be long altho the thing requires indeed a great deal of Thought and Consideration And I hope God will enable me to give it in summ tho I cannot speak so large of it The first thing I desire you to consider is That certainly upon this great Point I am very clear in it We are call'd to Consider that if we speak indeed strictly and down-right to the Point a Man is no more Justified by Faith as it is a Grace or an Act or a Work or whatsoever you call it in it self I say no more Justified by it than he is by Works Certainly God would have us fetch about every way and consider how this can be that the Apostle James can seem so to Contradict the Apostle Paul Now The first thing that offers it self to us is That a man is not indeed Justified by Faith upon any Merit Excellency or Worth or Desert that is in Faith it self As I told you if Faith should pretend to it it would be thrown like Lucifer out of Heaven And therefore it is not by Faith in it self And then Secondly I do believe that in the same sense wherein Faith is said to be Justifying in dependence upon the Righteousness of Chriâ—t in the same sense Works may be said to Justify in dependence upon Faith Pray observe what I say I say Faith Justifies in dependence upon Christ And works may be said to Justify in dependence upon Faith For in the same degree wherein Faith stands to Christ for Righteousness in the same degree may works stand to Faith in the matter of Justification So that works depend upon Faith and that depends wholly upon the Righteousness of Christ And if this be seriously considered it will clear to you what else might seem a very great doubt Now therefore to lay down plainly my sense of the Apostles scope of being Justified by Works and not by Faith only There are these three senses in which it may be understood And I shall make out every one to you by plain Expressions of the Apostle James and yet very briefly Leaving it especially to your own Meditation and Thoughts upon it The first is this That wherever a Man is supposed by the Apostle James to be Justified by Works and not by Faith only it is because Faith and Works have a kind of Hypostatical Vnion a Personal Vnion So that to say Faith and VVorks is to say no more than to say whole Faith entire Faith For if Faith have not works it is false Faith it is Counterfeit Faith it is not whole entire true Faith And therefore the Apostle means nothing more by it than only that if you would know what Faith you are Justified by it is Faith that hath a Mighty Power of Operation or VVork And therefore I understand no more by the Apostle James speaking of Works joyned with Faith than the Apostle Paul said The work of Faith with Power Faith hath a mighty Power of working By Faith they did so and so all along Heb 11. This is through Faith a mighty operating working faith And when Jesus Christ gives himself he always gives an operating Faith so he gives himself only to a Faith that he knows hath mighty Power and Principles of Operation It is because it is true Faith whole Faith entire Faith the Faith of God's giving like precious Faith As you know in a Jewel if it be only a counterfeit it wants some of the essential Excellencies of a Jewel As if a Man should think to be made Rich by a false Jewel it is a false counterfeit appearance though it may have some appearance of a true Stone yet it wants the true Exccellency and Value of it So the Apostle Discourses and shews what a true real working justifying operating Faith is James 2. 16. If a Brother or Sister be naked and destitute of daily food and one of you say unto him Depart in peace be ye warmed and filled notwithstanding you give them not those things which are needful for the body You know this is a false Charity And so it is a false faith that pretends to believe in Christ and cannot act suitably And again he faith As the Body without the Spirit is dead so Faith without Works is dead also Now if we should make a dead Man set his hand to a Writing you know that Writing is of no value though you may guide the Hand of the dead Man to write so and so while you guide the Hand because he is a Man without Spirit He has not the Spirit of a Man And so Faith if it hath not all the Graces and Actions suitable to it it is but a dead Faith It is dead as the Apostle saith and it is but the faith of Devils It is not a perfect faith it hath not truly the Nature of faith It is not as I may the whole Person of faith This is the first Sense the Apostle aimed and drove at to distinguish true faith from a meer formal professionary faith saying as Men do I believe in one God the father Almighty And so you know they go on Now a meer Profession of Faith without the power of Faith in a Man's Soul It is but the counterfeit Image of faith and not faith it self So James saith Thou believest there is one God c. In this second place This indeed is the way that God doth generally demonstrate and manifest the Truth of faith to the Souls of Believers and to the Observation of others And so it is true That faith cannot demonstrate it self either to a Believer's Soul or in ordinary and general speaking it cannot manifest it self except it have Works And so that Sense that some Interpreters give of this Discourse of the Apostle here is That one Faith justifies before God and the other justifies before Men that is Faith in its Works justifies before Men But faith alone taking Christ and his Righteousness before God though it is always a faith that hath within it self such a power of Action as to demonstrate it self to Men or else it is but a dead Faith And a vain Man it is that looks upon a faith to be faith that has not this mighty Operation And so the Apostle saith Faith wrought with Works He does not say His works were alone but faith wrought
THE FAITH BY WHICH We are Justified IN Scripture-Sense According to Scripture Opened Explained and Applied on Rom. 5. 1. In Six Sermons Published as Preached with little or no Alteration at the Desire of some of the Hearers Esaiah 55. 1. Ho every on that Thirsteth come ye to the Waters and He that hath no Money come ye Buy and Eat without Money and without Price LONDON Printed for W. Marshal at the Bible in Newgate-street 1695. THE FAITH BY WHICH We are Justified c. The First Sermon Rom. 5. 1. Therefore being justified by Faith we have Peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ INtending to Treat of Faith whereby we are Justified I have taken this Weighty Text as the Foundation of the Discourse wherein we have these Four remarkable Points concerning Faith as we are Justified by it 1. This plain Point first comes before us That we are Justified by Faith expressed thus Being Justified by Faith 2. That we are Justified by Faith is a conclusion resulting from a strong nervous and vehement Reasoning of the Apostles that had gone before in the foregoing Chapters signifyed in that Particle Therefore assuring to us this great Truth 3. The Blessed consequence of being Justified by Faith we have peace with God the Judg of all This gives full Peace Rest and Quiet to Conscience Peace and Assurance for ever according to the Nature of a full and perfect Righteousness 4. The supreme Principal Cause of our being Justified by Faith and having Peace from it is our Lord Jesus Christ by whom as the Apostle goes on we have access unto this Grace wherein we stand This then is the grand Proposition of the Apostle That being Justified by Faith we have Peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ I shall at this time therefore propose to open the great Grace of Gospel Faith to you by which we are Justified because indeed it is one of the greatest Points that can be spoken of And therefore these Heads of Discourse I will now undertake to handle to you concerning it First To shew you that the Supreme and Highest and Original Account or Description of Faith is to be taken by its Relation to Jesus Christ the Mediator And it is nothing at all if you remove that If you take away that Respect that great Respect that it looks upon and Eyes Jesus Christ the Mediator In the second place I shall come to consider how Faith even in its relation to Christ and as it looks upon him is said to be Justifying Faith or that whereby we are Justified For if we did not rightly state this as the Gospel doth as it is said the last Error might be worse then the first And therefore I would particularly guide your Thoughts and Apprehensions how Faith as it looks to Christ Justifies I shall therefore shew you that it is not Faith it self but only the great Righteousness of Jesus Christ received by Faith that Justifies In the Third place I shall comâ—… consider that great certainty that Faith is to obtain in every point wherein it so Acts which it ought to reach after and to aspire to in every point wherein it hath to do with Christ that we may have Peace by it through our Lord Jesus Christ as Christ saith John 17. 7 8. They have surely known and have believed that I came forth from thee and that thou didst send me So in every thing Faith is surely to know And then In the Fourth place I shall shew you the Life and the Power and the Activity of this Faith and compare thein Heb. 11. and James 2 where that Apostle speaks of Faith being Dead that is without Works And I shall endeavour to shew you that there is no such Commentary no such way of Reconciling the Apostle James with the Apostle Paul The Apostle Paul speaking of Faith Justifying without Works And the Apostle James speaking that a Man is not Justifyed by Faith only but by Works also I say the great Reconciliation will be by laying Heb. 11. and James 2. together Now I begin at this time with the first of these And I 'll lay down with great assurance this Assertion concerning the respect Faith hath to Christ That there never had been such a thing as the sound of Faith in the World there had never been the Name Not the Air and much less the Thing had not God brought the first Begotten as the Apostle saith into the World Had not Jesus Christ given a Being to Faith there had never been such a thing as Faith And therefore it is very observable that the Apostle calls Christ by this very Name Gal. 3. 23. Before Faith came saith he we were under Tutors and Governors We were kept under the Law shut up unto the Faith which should afterward be revealed Before Faith came It is certain Faith was in the World before the Gospel before the New Testament For it is said Abraham was Justified by Faith and Abraham believed God and it was imputed to him for Righteousness and yet saith the Apostle before Faith came that is before Christ came because Faith is so Essentially Dependent upon Christ and Respective unto him Christ is such a real Foundation and support of Faith that he is worthily and properly called by the very Naâ—… or by the word Faith before Faith came But for the clearer opening and making out of this to you I shall insist upon these three Heads First That Jesus Christ is the highest Revelation of God Now Faith it is described by almost all in part at least to be an Assent to a Divine Revelation upon the Credit that we give to the Revealer upon the Authority and Veracity and Certainty of the Truth of the Revealer For Faith you know properly is a believing the Report of another or the Witness of another We cannot properly be said to Believe when we do know the thing our selves and have seen it by our own Eyes but when we Trust and Credit that Assurance that another gives us of it Now therefore I shall endeavour to make out to you That Jesus Christ is He Faith must needs Live and Die with him as I may so express it in familiar Language it is as Essential to Faith to have the Manifestation and Revelation of Christ as it is for the Eye to have Light And then In the Second place Whereas the notion of Faith is a Trust and a depending upon some great Good that is offered to us from the Supreme Good that we have no Right nor Title to in our selves I shall shew you that Jesus Christ is that Great and Rich Good that is given to us from the Father And that tho we have no Right to the thing in our selves yet we come to Trust and to Depend and to Rely upon it as if we had a Title And then In the Third Place Whereas Faith is very truely tho not in the first Account of it described to be a Power
of Holy Life and Holy Action And a Man believes no more than he is truly and really transformed by into the thing that he Believes I shall shew you That Jesus Christ is that great principle of Holy Life and of Heavenly Life that doth impower the Souls of his People according to the degree of the present State and shall bring them to that spotless to that blemishless state in the Glory of his Appearing I begin with the First thing and that is to shew you that Jesus Christ is that great Revelation that Faith hath Primarily Principally Originally and Supremely to close with and to give up it self unto You shall find in the 3d of John that this is a Notion of Faith and a Notion of Faith proper to the great Revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ saith John 1 John 5. 10. He that believeth in the Son of God hath the Witâ—… in himself He that believeth not God hath made him a Liar because he believeth not the Record that God gave of his Son The great Record that God hath given it is of his Son that he hath given his Son as the Great Mediator as the Great Redeemer as the Great Sacrifice as the Great Righteousness of the World Aâ—d therefore if any Man does not believe this he has made God a liar God hath done all in the Gospel that can be done to give us an Assurance of it So it is the great Revelation And so when our Lord saith They have surely known and believed that thou didst send me It is the very same thing that Jesus Christ is the great Saviour and Redeemer of the World For what 's the meaning of God's sending Christ but a sending him as a Saâ—…or As you may find plainly John 3. 17. For God sent not his Son into the World to condemn the World but that the World through him might be saved And Him hath God the Father Sealed John 6. So that from all this it is most Evident that it is the great Revelation And tho this be a great Truth yet still the Gospel raiseth it higher And I beseech you that you would seriously consider when a Man Believes in Jesus Christ he does not only believe a written Word I desire again your serious Attention to it He does not only believe a written Word he does not only Believe a great Testimony from God or a sound of words concerning it but Jesus Christ the word himself comes to him Indeed it was heretofore in a manifestation in the Flesh But the very same thing is now manifested by the Spirit of Jesus Christ And by his coming in Spirit he comes as that Word of the Father as the Eternal Word of the Father And he shews himself to the Soul he shews himself in Spirit to the Soul so that the Soul Believes the Word of God because Christ the word of God shews himself to him And we never have the Truth of Faith till we have this very coming of the Eternal Word to us As you see 1 John 1. 1. how the Apostle speaks concerning this word That which was from the Beginning which we have heard which we have seen with our Eyes which we have looked upon and our hands have handled of the word of Life For the Life was manifested and we have seen it and bear Witness c. That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you Now pray Why does the Apostle declare this Not that you should rest in a written word That 's the thing I would desire you to observe Not that you should rest in a sound of Words but that ye also may have fellowship with us ver 3. and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ Not that we should expect any Visional Representations of these things That 's not the Intention of it But that we should look for a real Manifestation of the Father and the Son or of the Father by the Son and through the Son And also of the Son by the Father So that there is certainly a Sight of Christ I say a sight of the Son in Faith And if we did but thus consider the excellency of Faith indeed I cannot but apprehend there could be no difference between Christians and Christians in these points concerning Faith and so concerning Justification if we had but true and right apprehensions of Faith It is true indeed there 's a great deal of false Faith of counterfeit Faith that has never seen Christ But all true Faith it hath seen Christ it hath come up to the very word of Jesus Christ That is to Jesus Christ the Word So John 6. 40. there must be a sight of the Son before there can be a believing in him And this is the the will of him that sent me that every one which seeth the Son and believeth on him may have everlasting Life And therefore as I told you he is called the Word of God that is the Essential and Eternal Word of God manifested in Flesh manifested in Human Nature And There is no sight of Christ without his coming to us without our receiving of him by the Teaching of thâ— Father and by the manifestation of himself And so saith the Apostle Paul when it pleased God to Reveal his Son in me You see here is not only words either Spoken or Written but there is the very Son himself Revealed in us I do acknowledg all this is in a Spiritual Sense not only in an Intellectual Sense Tho it is true That shall be Subservient and as it were the Conveyance and Vehicle of this sight But it is a Spiritual Sight wrought by the Power of God and by the Spirit of God And O therefore This is the great Point I would press upon you And indeed I have taken notice that the most Spiritual Writers and Preachers of Faith They have said That Faith is upon the Person of the Son the Person of the Eternal Word in our Nature the Lord Jesus Christ It does not deal first of all with his Benefits and Salvation that comes by him I mean principally I don't say but God may draw a Soul first by the consideration of his Benefits But the principal Touch of Faith it is upon the Son of God I might give you innumerable Scriptures that verify this great Truth And I desire that we may take notice of it In that forenam'd place John 17. v. 8. Christ saith this is the point They have believed that all things whatsoever thou hast given me are of thee and that I came forth from thee and that thou didst send me All this Christ says you may see immediately concerns the Person of our Lord Jesus Christ So in the Epistle to the Galatians a place that is worthy our notice and that I shall have occasion of continual recourse to Gal. 2. 20 21. I am Crucified with Christ nevertheless I live yet not I but Christ liveth in me I urge it
Pardon of Sin in his Blood Righteousness and Justification as I shall after shew you and therefore we should always look to his Person And then In the third and last place I shall desire if we love Christ let us love these Truths of Christ and these Manifestations of Christ Because they are gloomy there 's a great gloom upon them you may plainly perceive not only among the Heathens Mahometans Antichristians and Papists But there is a gloom among Protestants they are not so clear so bright so lively and excellent among us as in themselves For if these things I have spoken of be true It is certain here 's the Oriency of the Gospel here 's the Pearl of great Price Jesus Christ And our Souls should close with and cling to Him Now because there is a Fog and Mist about these things how earnestly should we pray for the Kingdom of Jesus Christ For then these things will come into their Glory into their Beauty into their Perfection And therefore I say if we love Christ our Souls should earnestly desire that this Kingdom of Christ should appear For then as I have often told you the New Song shall be sung as it were a New Song It was as it were lost and shall be recovered again and therefore it is as it were a new Song The first thing in the Kingdom of Christ I beseech you remember it remember it is spoken to you this day and I hope that many of us may live to see the thing the first thing that shall be after the Kingdom of Christ shall be known shall be the Voice of Harpers with their Harps so loud as it were the Voyce of Thunder this As it were a New Song of the Redempiion of Jesus Christ c. The End of the First Sermon THE FAITH BY WHICH We are Iustified c. The Second Sermon Rom. 5. 1. Therefore being justified by Faith we have Peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ THE great point of Discourse that I have singled from these words is to open to you the Nature of that Eminent and Transcendant Grace of the Gospel the Grace of Faith which our Lord hath an especial respect to in these words John 17. 7 8. They have known that all things whatsoever thou hast given me are of thee For I have given unto them the words which thou gavest me and they have receied them that is they have received them by Faith and have known surely that I came out from thee and they have believed them that thou didst send me They have known surely and they have believed that thou didst send me They have Believed Knowing and Believing are here United one with another because of that sure Knowledg and that strong demonstration of Faith gives to the Souls of his People And then Secondly Here 's the great Object of this Faith For they have known that all things whatsoever thou hast given me are of thee Whatsoever thou hast given me the things are of thee And the words which thou gavest me they have received them And they have known surely that I came out from thee and that thou did'st send me Jesus Christ is the Supreme Object of Faith as he is one with the Father and hath come into the World as the Mediator and Redeemer of lost and undone Sinners Thereforâ— I have undertaken in the first Place to make out this to you that the proper Object of Faith is the Mediator and that Faith came in with the Mediator and subsisted wholly in him and upon him And if you take away the Mediator Faith becomes a meer Nullity a meer nothing There is the same and far greater Conjunction betwixt Christ and Faith than there is between the Eye and Light As you know the Eye is nothing without Light so Faith is nothing without that great Light the Mediator This I began to open to you First In that Jesus Christ is the Supreme Revelation of God For Faith by those that strictly Define it or Describe it it is an Assent to Divine Revelation Now the great Revelation of God it is Jesus Christ He is the great Truth the Alpha and Omega of Truth And all Truth as I shew'd you depends upon him For there comes in with Jesus Christ a Notion of Truth proper and peculiar to himself All the great Truths of Scripture Indeed there are notable Intimations and great Representations in all the Holy ways of God in which the Soul of Man was at first Created But the great Subject of Truth it is the Truth that comes in with Christ As I shew'd you he saith of himself He is The Truth And even Natural Truth as I abundantly shew'd you it comes under Christ Natural Truth that Truth that there is an everlasting Being That God is This comes under Christ It removes as it were from being a Natural Truth and it comes under Christ Tho it is true there are great Arguments to prove it yet it chooses as it were and delights to come under Christ And so the Truths of Eternity as I shall speak more presently they come under Christ In the Second place as Faith it pitches upon some good upom some grace that is shew'd to the Children of Men so Jesus Christ he is the great object of Faith because all Good it is in him The Promises of Grace they are all in him And therefore that is a great Scripture that I did not mention to you the last day and therefore I beseech you now to take it into great consideration 2 Cor. 1. 20. All the promises of God are in him yea and in him Amen to the Glory of God In him yea and in him Amen All that God hath spoken of Grace and of good will to the Children of Men it is all in Christ All the promises in him are yea and in him they are Amen And he is The Deliverer as I shew'd you from the Wrath to come Christ in you the hope of Glory Col. 1. 27. It is wonderful how all Good is Treasured up in Christ Faith runs to a Promise it runs especially to Grace and to a Revelation of the Infinite Riches of Grace And all is in Jesus Christ Christ in you the hope of Glory I come now to go on In the Third place As Faith is a mighty active Power of Holiness and of New Obedience so it s whole Rest and Trust is in Jesus Christ As the Trust of Faith in whom ye trusted as the Apostle speaks the Trust of Faith in regard of Eternal Life and Salvation so the Activity of Faith flows from the Mediator And as all the Promises or Hopes that we can have of God are in Christ as I shew'd you they come under Christ now as the Redeemer As I instanced to you in that expression That you would saith the Apostle give up your selves unto him as a Faithful Creator That is as a Redeemer So it is in this point All the Holiness of a Christian
It is true Because as God saith they were his Servants in the doing of them And they were as the Axe and as the Saw in his hand he gave them great strength And so now what is done and has been done by the French Potentate certainly it is because God hath had a great End and Design in it And I am very sure it is well known that God hath set him up to do all that he has done for special purposes of his own and According to all that Frame of Prophesy that is given But now here 's a great Difference As here do but observe it As God speaks in the Prophet Isaiah There 's great difference between David and Nebuchadnezzar Between Joshua and such a one as Nebucadnezzar or such a one as Alexander or such a one as Julius Caesar that History makes so famous I say here 's the great difference As God saith They are but like the saw in his hand Isa 10. 15. Shall the Ax boast it self against him that heweth therewith Or shall the Saw magnify it self against him that shaketh it That is These are things without Sense You know an Ax or a Saw whatever it doth it does without any Sense of what it does So these have done great things because they have been in God's hand to do by But they had no sense at all of the things they did They had no Faith Here 's the great difference Now I say if we could receive it this I look upon to be the great Reconciliation between the Apostle Paul and the Apostle James This 11th to the Hebrews it Expounds what the Apostle means by a Faith of Works He does not speak of the ordinary Works of Holiness but he speaks of extraordinary As Abraham Sacrificing his Son and Rahab leaving the Int'rest of his Country from a sight that God was pleased to Exalt that People of Israel These were the Heroick Acts of Faith And these the Apostle properly speaks of And therefore to Argue the ordinary Duties Practice and Conversation and Holiness to Justification is not according to the sense and intention of the Apostles meaning not in Justifying Abraham as I shall speak particularly to that wherein and how Faith comes to Justify But still I go on further Lest any one should say why then are not the ordinary ways of Holiness under the Power of Faith and so Derived by Christ Yes by all means as I have spoken to you before He is our Sanctification But I speak of it only now as under this Head the Heroick Acts of Faith For all the ordinary Acts of Faith come under him As now suppose any one is called out either as a General in this very Age if he be truly a Believer in Christ tho he does but the things that are Accountable according to the Law of Arms if I may so speak according to the Law of a General and the great use and office of a General yet still even those ordinary Actions where they are Believers are done by the Power of Faith You 'll say Why when others do the same thing I Answer as I did before They are but Axes and Hammers As God calls Nebuchadnezzar the Hammer of all the Earth And his Empire was the Hammer of all the Earth They do things but as Hammers There 's a great deal of difference I 'll assure you in this thing tho the outward Action be the same yet the inward is not the same When a Man as a General leads an Army in the Cause and Interest of God and when another does it by his own Prowess The one does it by Faith the other by an Instrument There is a living Spirit in Believers and therefore God does many times raise them up to greater Actions than Ordinary But I only speak when God calls Men to Deny to be the Son of Pharaoh's Daughter as Moses when he calls Joshua to be so great a Warriour in the World And David and those Worthies to do extraordinary Works It is by Faith through the Mediator it is all upon his Account and is managed for him and by his strength by Faith The Fifth thing in which I would open to you the great excellency of the Nature of Faith That in the obtaining of Wonderful things it is a Wonderful thing how God hath enlarged Faith to the obtaining of extraordinary things in several Ages of the World Indeed you may say such things are ceased now But as I have endeavoured to shew you there shall be a Revival of them But now when such great things as we read of at any time in the Scripture Extraordinary Appearances of God in a way of Deliverance of his Saints When Elijah prayed and shut the Heavens When great Deliverances were obtained by Prayer in Fights When there has been great Answers of Prayer extraordinary Answers of Prayer in any case That God hath Appeared in the Mount This hath been from the Power of Faith And therefore the Apostle Heb. 11 one of the things that he puts into the great Record of Faith it is this That they obtained promises vers 33. They stopt the Mouths of Lyons When the Fire could not burn upon those three Shadrach Meshach and Abednego Why this was by the Power of Faith they quenched the Violence of the Fire And Women received their Dead raised to Life again This was by the power of Faith All these things are extraordinary things given to the Mediator to do for his Servants according to the season that he sees fit And they are conveyed to But I would very earnestly desire to add something concerning the Kingdom of Christ What is the Reason that the Scripture is so abundant of such a World to come Whereof as the Apostle saith we speak In such a new Heaven in such a new Earth In such a Sabbattism that remains for the people of God In such a glorious Inheritance as shall he What is the Reason we are so hard to believe it It is only the want of Faith I 'll give you one Scripture concerning this Heb. 11. 39 40. These all having obtained a good report through Faith receiving not the promise God having provided some better thing for us that they without us should not be made perfect This place of Scripture if it were but well pursued followed and Argued from would prove to you That the great Point of Faith is the Kingdom of Jesus Christ Undoubtedly there should have been an Eternal Life an Eternal Happiness for Adam If he had stood in Innocency There had been a preparation and a provision But this very state of things comes in by the Mediator by his entring into Rest for us this great Sabbattism comes in But now the thing that I would urge I wouid help you in this thro' Faith they obtained a good Report A great Fame as I told you before a great Renown But they received not the Promise How can it be said They received not the
And then In the third place It acknowledges all to God back again It gives Glory to him in the Action That that I mean now is setting to the Seal that God is true depending upon Infinite Grace Infinite Power And then when the thing is done it returns all back again to God To him be Glory that sits upon the Throne and to the Lamb who Loved and Washed in his Blood To the Holy Spirit as seven Spirits before the Throne It returns all to him And then In the last place It Receives even to Eternity by way of free Communication from God and from Christ And therefore tho there be some kind of Faith I acknowledg that fails as the Apostle saith and ceases in the Happiness and Blessedness of Eternity and of the Kingdom of Christ some kind of Faith doth But yet that Faith whereby the Spirits of Saints even to Eternity receive Glory and Blessedness and Life from God and from Christ That Faith never fails I am very assured when Saints have been ten Thousand Thousand of Ages in Happiness and Blessedness They 'll own it still as Free and pure gift of Grace in and through the Mediator That they are one with the Father through Christ And the Love wherewith the Father Loveth Christ is in them because Christ is in them This never Ceases to Eternity a dependence upon God in Christ a Being in him I shall make but two brief Applications of what I have spoken and so conclude And The First Application I would make of it is To bring all our Hearts to that we read in the Gospel when Peter said to Christ Matt. 18. 22. How often shall my Brother not sin against me and I forgive him Till seven times Jesus saith unto him I say unto thee until seven times but until seventy times seven And in another Evangelist when Christ had said thus to Peter He cries out in the great Sense of this thing It seemed so great a kind of Difficulty and Impossibility to him the forgiving so often Saith Peter upon Christ's saying there must be a forgiving so often Lord encrease our Faith Now this is that I desire every one of us to make use of what I have spoken to you to cry out unto Christ Lord encrease our Faith And another Matt. 9. 24. When the Father had brought his Children to Christ and Christ told him All things are possible to him that Believes straight-way the Father of the Child cryed out and said with Tears Lord I believe help mine unbelief So I say O that we could cry out with Tears If Faith be such a thing as certainly it is or this Book of God is not true I say certainly Faith is such a thing as I have described O that we could cry out with tears in every case I have named to you O Lord I Believe Help thou my unbelief That we could cry out with Tears O! Want of Faith is the great want among us all We have not so much Faith as a Grain of Mustard-Seed certainly O How therefore are there not great things done among us because we believe not No great things done in our Souls no great things done for us in a way of Providence There are no great and mighty Conquests over Lusts and Corruptions No great and mighty Powers of Holiness and Heavenliness because we want Faith Indeed Men go to work without Faith and they think they can manage the thing But as I hope to have opportunity to shew you No one in the World can make so much as a grain of Mustard seed so not so much Faith as would amount to a grain of Mustard seed O! therefore Let us cry out to Heaven for more Faith We should obtain Promises we should have great things done if we had but more Faith And then The Second thing with which I conclude to beseech you to look to that Kingdom and Glory of Christ wherein so much mighty Power both of Faith and Action shall be given Psal 46. 1. God is our Refuge and Strength a very present help in trouble therefore will we not fear tho the Earth he removed c. We should not be so intimidated so full of fear if we had but Faith Tho the Waters c. even when Mountains were thrown in the midst of the Sea and the Waves Roaring yet there shall be a still silent stream that shall make glad the City of our God The End of the Second Sermon THE FAITH BY WHICH We are Iustified c. The Third and Fourth Sermons Rom. 5. 1. Therefore being justified by Faith we have Peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ I Have in the former Discourses set out the Nature and Excellency of Faith as it hath so close an Union with and derivation from Christ in the whole Nature and Action of it Now I shall go on in shewing you how much All is in Christ and not in Faith it self by shewing you That if you consider Faith as in it self it cannot be that which Justifies if you consider it in and by it self And then In the Second Place I shall more plainly lay down to you how and upon what account Faith is said to Justifie And then In the third Place I shall shew you that if Faith it self considered in it self cannot Justify Then the works of Faith tho they be never so excellent they cannot Justify much less then faith it self And so conclude this point with the Application And then there will remain one point more concerning Faith And that 's the Plerophory and full Assurance They have known surely that I came out from thee and they have believed that thou didst send me But that will be the last point The First thing therefore that I shall endeavour not in a Controversal but in a Practical Applicatory way and in all the Sweetness of it to all our hearts in the power and life and vertue of it The First thing that I lay down is this that Faith considered as a work It cannot Justify The account that I give you of it is this That Scripture doth every where when it speaks precisely and clearly to the point It doth assure us it is the Righteousness of God And not the Faith that takes the Righteousness of God I desire to be very far from stirring up any Controversy But to draw out our hearts I say into the Sweetness of it Head 1. I begin now therefore to handle this great Point and that is Seeing we meet every where in Scripture with these Expressions Justified by Faith The Righteousness of Faith The great Question that I shall handle first shall be to shew you how and in what sense Faith justifies and in what sense it cannot be said to justifie For indeed this is a point very necessary to be cleared seeing many are ready to say That Faith is now instead of Righteousness and that it justifies as the perfect Righteousness of the Law should have done
the 17 th of John That they all may be one As thou Father art in me that they also may be one in us And the glory which thou hast given me I have given them c. And so Christ is even in them and his Righteousness and his Glory and his Perfection are always in himself and in a Communication unto them and they in Union with him and in that Communication If this be not truly the sense and the Spirit of the Gospel I must freely acknowledge I am not in any capacity to speak of these things For there is nothing more evident to me than this That our whole Salvation according to the Gospel does no more stir out of God and Christ than to speak of a thing that we know we see now the Beams of the Sun and the Light of the Sun stir out of the Sun but all is in the Sun For if any one should go to say this Room or Place is full of Light or full of the Beams of the Sun we 'll presently shut up all the Avenues between us and the Sun and we 'll have the Light as our own you know how presently the place would be dark and there would be no remainder of Light at all in it because the Sun is shut out So now and to Eternity if you could shut out God and Christ the Eternal fountain of Righteousness from any Soul that Soul would be immediately dark as to the state of Grace and so grow darker and darker to the darkness of Hell And now in the fifth Place If the Righteousness of Faith were a Righteousness onely because it is freely given why then Love and Repentance and Obedience they are all freely given even as Faith And yet for all this Scripture never speaks of them as Justifying And therefore I come to the last thing to shew you wherein Faith Justifies It is onely in this that by the most simple and abstracted and the most naked Apprehension of the thing that can be It has nothing but what it is made to receive in this great point of Justification I say it is made to receive and to do nothing but to receive It is made to depend and to do nothing but to depend To trust and to do nothing but trust I do acknowledge there 's a great vertue of Faith outward but this is that Immanent act of Faith As I may so speak as Divines call those Immanent acts of God in the Father the Son and the Spirit that do not go out of Himself So I say that Immanent act of Faith that is betwixt Christ and the Soul It is to trust and onely to trust to depend and onely to depend and to receive and onely to receive And as for Faith It hath nothing It is nothing but onely this Receipt So it is the most perfect dependence that Faith hath upon Christ I will trust and not be afraid In that Isa 12. 2. And in that day thou shalt say O Lord I will praise thee though thou wast angry with me thine anger is turned away and thou comfortest me Behold God is my Salvation I will trust and not be afraid Here therefore is the great Excellency of Faith the meet Excellency of Faith not in it self but onely that it wholly depends It is made and fitted by God on purpose wholly to depend I would come now to the second thing that I proposed which I shall very briefly represent to you For if Faith it self can do nothing It is certain then that the works of Faith can do nothing And therefore that great objection that is made against this out of the 2d of James that Faith which hath not works is Dead and can't Justify It is nothing at all to this Great Point But onely this it is indeed to shew us that if any man has Faith in Christ this Faith shall appear not to be an Idle and a Dead Faith But it shall every way be active from the Power it receiveth from Christ to walk in all ways of obedience to Render up the Soul entirely in the Love of God according to the present state I mean with sincerity and uprightness But it is not to this great point For it is very plain when two things are spoken of in Scripture If there be a higher and a Lower the Lower must be always subordinated to the higher that I look upon to be a stable and unchangeable Rule Now we are said to be Justified by a Faith that is not without works and yet without works we are Justified and in other places we are said to be Justified in God In the Lord shall all the seed of Israel be Justified and shall Glory And Jehovah is our Righteousness And the Righteousness of God Now I say that which is infinitely above Faith As we will all grant God and the Righteousness of God Christ and the Righteousness of Christ are far above Faith Why then though sometimes we are said to be Justified by Faith and the Faith by which we are Justified is said to have works Yet certainly the Righteousness of God and of Christ must infinitely take place of these because they are so far above in the Transcendency and Infiniteness of their own nature So that it can never be that the Righteousness of God and of Christ can be brought down Therefore we are said sometimes to be Justified by Faith But it is very plain that Faith in its Justifying Power it must be brought up to God and Christ And there is all that is to be said of it that it takes hold of God and Christ That 's the whole of it it takes hold of God and Christ Therefore indeed I cannot but think of that expression though I don't say it will hold in this Solomon says the Spider is very wise because it takes hold with its hands and is in Kings Palaces The Spider seems a base Creature yet notwithstanding the baseness and poisonousness of its nature yet in this it prefers and advances it self because it takes hold with its hands and is in Kings Palaces So I say in regard of us who are poisoned with sin and Corruption yet Faith takes hold with its hand and it is in the Righteousness of God and in the Righteousness of Jesus Christ Now still if you look upon us in our selves or look upon Faith in it self Alas What can it do onely it can take hold of the Righteousness of God and the Righteousness of Jesus Christ And therefore I do acknowledge that Faith is of great power and vertue The 11 Chapter to the Hebrews makes evident as well as the 2d of James Therefore I wonder that men look so disproportionably The great things there ascribed to Faith all along in the 11 th of Heb. make out the very same thing So that the Apostle James did not contradict the Apostle Paul nor the Apostle Paul the Apostle James both of them speaking by the spirit of God and therefore I
Christ But I say it cannot be throughout so For then men should be saved by Christ and never know that they are saved by Christ Then Christ would be no more the Saviour of his people than he is the Saviour of stones or insensible Rocks We must therefore come to have a feeling and knowing that Jesus Christ is ours Or else we could not receive his salvation How should we be the better within if we did not know Christ An understanding and Intellectual Being must have such a knowledge of Faith to know Christ And therefore as the Apostle speaks Phil. 3. I count all things but loss for the Excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord. I must know him Not that this Contributes any thing to our happiness but onely the feeling and enjoying that happiness That happiness is onely from God But as you know a blind man is never the better in point of Light and sight though the Sun be never so Glorious Every one that seeth the Son and believeth in him We must see him or else we could not know he is ours we could have no Enjoyment of him our Souls would be still like unsensible Rocks and Marbles if there were not this sense by Faith and the knowledge of Christ by believing And therefore it is a very great truth that Faith is a manifestation to us and within us that Christ is ours When our Souls receive the touches of his Love and grace upon us and we come to know and find the sweetness to taste that the Lord is Gracious and to know what a Pearl we have in some measure and that we find Christ is ours and hath given himself for us In the third place there could not else be a manifestatory Glory It is true Christ is glorious as a Saviour But we could not Glorify him if we did not know by Faith that he is such a Saviour This is that that the soul makes its Boast in God by this draws it to Glory in Christ and to give all the Glory it can do to him Because it finds it is saved by him and him alone Now it is very Evident God had no need of Glory from Angels nor from men to manifest his Glory by them But it pleased the wisdom and Grace of God to declare his infinite Being before such Beings as Angels and men fitted with understandings to behold it Why so Christ had no need of our Glorifying of him But yet it is very Evident that he is pleased to be Glorifyed by us and that we Glorify him by acknowledging all our salvation from him And herein is Faith of great use It gives Glory as the Apostle speaks Abraham was strong in Faith giving Glory to God Rom. 4. So Faith gives Glory to the Righteousness and Freeness of the Grace of God in Jesus Christ And then In the Fourth place it is also necessary upon this Account for I am far in all this discourse from that which is truly called Antinomianism or Libertinism I say as Faith looks outward and from Christ into holy Action the knowledge that Faith gives is serviceable in the hand of Christ to all holiness and purification of Life To live to him to live and to walk by Faith to be every way self-Resigning according to that whole 11th Chapter of the Epistle to the Hebrews And thus I have endeavoured with all briefness to set out the Excellent nature of Faith I shall but make one short Application of it And that is to stir up all our hearts in looking up to God according to that great prayer Ephes 3. 14 15 16. verses For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ of whom the whole family in Heaven and Earth is named that he would grant you according to the riches of his Glory to be strengthned with might by his spirit in the inner man To what End That Christ may dwell in your hearts by Faith O look up to this You see how Faith is indeed always called up by Christ when he gives himself to any Soul when he comes to dwell in any Soul Faith must receive him it must embrace him it must depend wholly upon him Now therefore O! That our hearts may be strengthened by his Spirit in the Inner man Alas Our Inner man you may see plainly by all that I have said is very weak and unfaithful And it is confirmed by this expression of the Apostle how the Inner man would never draw in Christ it would never hold him if it came to him Our Inner man is such a false thing to the Great things of our Eternal salvation it is such a feeble weak thing it would never be able to hold Christ But the Spirit strengthens the Inner man That Christ may dwell in our hearts by Faith Else I say it could never if you would give me leave to use such a plain word as that fetch in Christ And if he came it would never hold him Our Inner man must be strengthened by the Spirit of Christ that Christ may dwell in us And then we go forward to be rooted and grounded in the love of Christ and to Comprehend that love of Christ which passeth knowledge that we may be filled with all the fulness of God I hope there is nothing that I have spoken that can Justly offend any man's mind for it is fully to the sense of Scripture and of Scripture Reason and it excludes all manner of looseness and Libertinism of life For Christ is certainly sanctification to every one to whom he is Justification he gives the power of Holiness And Faith is made serviceable As I told you the immanent acts are those whereby it stays within and has Communion with Christ wherein it has nothing but to depend and trust in him But then It works outward as they say of the works of God Ad Extra The Excellent acts of the Father Son and Spirit they go out of themselves So Faith goes out to all the works of obedience And therefore if you would know what Faith is when it works outward I would propose to you to Read that Chapter Heb. 11. How greatly Faith works outward But Christ still is the Author and finisher And when it comes to Christ it has nothing to do but to trust and depend and receive And O! therefore let us all bow our knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ that he would grant us according to the Riches of his Glory to be strengthened with might by his spirit in the Inner man We can never have such a thing as Faith if the Riches of Glory does not come in with it and if the spirit of Christ does not come in with it And indeed where the spirit of Christ comes he comes And so Christ and the spirit Elicits as they call it and draws and Brings the Soul to clasp about him to lay hold upon him He brings the Soul thus near to
with them That 's the second Sense It manifests and demonstrates it self before Men to be Faith It is that that justifies before a Man 's own Conscience concerning the truth of Faith and before Men concerning that real Operation of God upon faith in the Soul Now to this the Apostle seems to speak very plainly in the 18. verse Yea a man may say Thou hast faith and I have works shew me thy faith without thy works and I will shew thee my faith by my works You know this plainly speaks that faith justifies it self before Men to be true faith when it shews it self in Operations suitable to the Nature and to the Excellency of faith But if a Man have no works if a Man says I believe in Christ and be a Swearer a Drunkard an impure Person every way unrighteous and unsuitable to the Commands of God how can such a Man shew his faith There must be an agreeableness and suitabless of Conversation and Action And seest thou how faith wrought It was visible to Men. And then The third and last Sense is That faith is daily perfecting it self in holy Action till it comes to that Perfection as I have spoken before and several times upon the 3 d. of Philippians till it comes to the Perfection of the Resurrection of the dead And so it fufills the Scripture as the Apostle speaks That is That whereas it was said before of Abraham He believed God and it was imputed to him for Righteousness long before he offer'd Isaac There was not a staying of his Justification till he had offered Isaac but he was justified before he offered Isaac But yet faith perfects it self and fulfils the Scripture daily going on from Grace to Grace from Strength to Strength from Degree to Degree till it appears before God perfect And so the Apostle saith By works was faith made perfect And this is suitable to the 2 Thes 1. 11. that I named several times That God would fulfil all the pleasure of his goodness and the work of faith with power That the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ may be glorified in you and ye in him Here you see it is very plain That the fulfilling of the good Pleasure of the Grace of God it demonstrates the Truth of Faith and glorifies the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ in Believers and Believers in him according to the Grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ Methinks this very Expression it should silence all the Enemies of the Free Grace of God and of Justification by Free Grace For here is as highly spoken of the working of Faith as all the Understanding of Man can possibly reach to either to conceive or to express What can be greater than the Glorifying the Name of the Lord Jesus in Believers and Believers being Glorified in him And yet all this thrown off quite from any thing of Man or Redundancy by way of Glory upon Man It is said According to the Grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ I shall now close these Things that I have spoken thus narrowly to you I hope God will enlarge them in your Hearts in these three brief Applications and so conclude The first is this That you would consider the infinite Wisdom of Scripture Indeed there is nothing so admirable as these two Things in Scripture to cut off all occasion to turn the Grace of God into Lasciviousness and yet to set out the Grace of God at its full Height and Excellency O do but take these Two Things along which can never divide nor deceive 1. All is Grace And yet 2. Grace is mighty in its Operation And indeed though we have reason to lie low because Grace as in us seems so short and narrow in its Operation Yet these are two Things that can never be disjoined They are one within another It is the Grace of God that brings forth the Holiness and keeps it in Union to Christ even throughout the whole Course of a Christians Life and even indeed throughout Eternity it self Grace keeps us in the way of Holiness and new Obedience O therefore let us not turn the Grace of God into Wantonness And yet let us be continually admiring and adoring free Grace Let us be great Professors of free Grace but Professors of it in the Holiness and Purity of it And then In the second place it teaches us still never to forsake that Fundamental Point of all our Interest of all our Hope of all the Holiness that ever we had or can have If we have any at all we have it from Jesus Christ He is the Alpha and the Omega He is the Author and Finisher He is the Beginning and End He is the First and Last All in All. And therefore whenever we desire to be Holy O go to Christ the Redeemer and Finisher of Holiness Whenever we complain of Corruption go to him that is able to Redeem from all Iniquity Whenever we are like to be drawn to vain Tradition go out to the Precious Blood of Jesus Christ who alone can set us free from the Power of it Lastly I beseech you expect that there will indeed be a greater State of Holiness when that Kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ shall come into Succession And don't think it a long time because you see no more Holiness yet I would only desire you to consider one place of Scripture and with that I will conclude On what a sudden God will do this great Thing The 2 Cor. 10 4 5 7. For the Weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty through God to pulling down of strong holds casting down Imaginations and every high thing that exalteth it self against the knowledge of God and bringing into Captivity every thought to the Obedience of Christ And having in a readiness to revenge all Disobedience when your Obedience is fulfilled Herein the Gospel in the Apostles Days for a little time gave a Spetimen and appearance of it self Just like some of the great Conquerors that we read of in the World either Alexander or Julius Caesar or Soliman among the Turks They pass'd through the World as it were and all lay at their feet They brought every thing down As the Scripture speaks they heap'd dust and took every City and derided every strong Hold Hab. 1. 10. As now the way of Bombing you know Men go suddenly through their Undertaking In the same manner and much more shall the Gospel when once it comes to play its Artillery as I may so speak through the World it will open its Magazeen and carry every thing in the World before it though they are never so strong and bring every thought and all into Captivity And it hath in a readiness to revenge all Disobedience If there be any thing that yields not it hath a mighty power to Revenge to bring every thing under And it only stays for this Till the Obedience of Saints be fulfilled Some may say If we were but more Righteous God will make us more Righteous when this time of the Grace of his Gospel shall begin he will then fulfil in our Obedience FINIS