things pleasing in the sight of my Father there was no guile found in my mouth there was no sin found in me without sin in the midst of all the Temptations that ever could be Congregated upon me Here therefore take this obedience of mine and let it stand against thy disobedience against thy many sins thy many provocations and Transgressions I have come by purest water And so there shall be a fountain opened for sin and for uncleanness Zech. 13. 1. And he leads them to the Fountains of living water in his own Righteousness in his own obedience And having the heart sprinkled from an evil Conscience and the Body washed with pure water That is not of sanctification as we might be very apt to understand it I say not principally I never exclude sanctification but not principally But that purity of the obedience of Christ by which we are made the Righteousness of God through him And when this water speaks in this sense that I have now layd down to you It gives that great assurance against the fear of Hell wrath and Eternal condemnation for we are Righteous by it The second thing in which I will be very brief is the spirit that gives witness You know that is a general allowed Doctrine that the Spirit of God seals up to the day of Redemption It is the Earnest of it in the assurance of the pardon of sin in the witness of absolution that it gives It is the Spirit of Adoption and the Spirit of promise After ye believed ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise which is the earnest of our Inheritance The Spirit it self bears witness with our Spirits that we are the children of God And hence arises the great assurance of Faith O! When a man can find the word of the Spirit within that word in his own Soul that his iniquities are pardoned and his sins forgiven The Spirit is a mighty witness For the Spirit is Truth He is able to spread his witness throughout the whole Soul to seal up the whole Soul to himself But then the last thing that I will speak of is this There comes in that mighty Authoritative and original act of the Father saying I have forgiven thy iniquity I have pardoned thy sin And I look upon it to be conveyed especially in that voice that we have in the three Evangelists Matt. 17. v. 5. There came a voice from Heaven And as the Apostle Peter saith from the Excellent Majesty saying this is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased That is I have accepted him for a Ransom I have accepted his obedience I have freely forgiven iniquity for his sake for he is my self he is my Son he is mine and therefore I do it freely and yet I do it for his sake Because he has given a Recompense a satisfaction to Justice And so the Apostle says Eph. 1. 5. Who hath made us accepted in the beloved And in whom we have redemption in his blood the forgiveness of sins And so it is said by Jesus Christ The Father loveth me And whatsoever ye ask in my Name the Father will do it for you There comes in the great Evidence Testimony and Assurance of the Fathers free acceptance and free absolution through him To close therefore thus much as I have begun to say from these words in brief application This first Application is this That you would seriously consider whether you have Faith or not You may say How shall I know Why consider it as I have now represented it to you It is a mighty Power from Christ it is a mighty power from his Spirit in all the Truths of God Especially those Truths that concern Jesus Christ But just as I opened to you in the begining of this Discourse That Faith it is a new Understanding to us We have as Men you know an understanding endued with Reason And therefore we all say let me hear Reason and then I 'll be perswaded And every Wise Man whenever he speaks he endeavours to speak Reason Therefore God hath given to man such a thing as he calls Reason He hath Endued the Understanding with that great Principle of Reason And if a Man be a Natural you know that is a man in whom Reason cannot act because some of the Organs of the Body are not prepared to let Reason have its course 'T is plain that 's the meaning of men being Naturals It may be you may think they have not so good a Soul but that 's a mistake Only there are not Organs fit for the working of Reason And therefore you know when we look upon such a one we look upon it as a vain thing to Discourse with such a one because we know he has no Reason Or a Mad â—…an it is but loss of time to Discourse Reason to him because there is such a Disturbance and such a kind of jumble in the Brain that Reason cannot have its course So I say if we would consider a Man in Gospel sense he is just like a meer Natural or like a Mad-man or like a very Brute if he has not a Light of Faith For Faith is a New Light and a New Understanding And therefore it is very observable 2 Thes 3. 2. That we may be delivered saith the Apostle from unreasonable and wicked men For all men have not faith If a Man be unreasonable you can have no place in him by the powers of Reason Now saith the Apostle I look upon a man in gospel-Gospel-sense just like a Natural or like a Mad-man or like a very Brute if he has not a Light of Faith he is an unreasonable Person when he has not Faith For all men saith he have not Faith And the word that is used in the Origninal is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It is very well known among the Learned to be a word proper to Philosophy They say if a Man has not the Powers of Reason or does not speak according to them he is an absur'd man or an unreasonable Man he is a Man that hath no Topicks Now saith the Apostle he is an unreasonable Man he has no Topicks with him And why because he has no Faith So I say a Man without Faith is a Man without Gospel Topicks You cannot speak to him upon the Topicks of Jesus Christ with any Acceptance because he has not Faith O! Therefore Let us consider how sweet is the Discourse of Christ to us How impressive upon us How do our Souls go out to him and act upon him As you know the mind of man even in worldly things is acting according to Reason and all the Powers of Reason So we should be always Acting upon the Gospel and upon Christ especially by all the Powers of Faith And therefore this I would desire you to mind in the immanent Truths in those Truths wherein Faith is in its immanent Acts principally upon Christ and Righteousness in him and Pardon of sin in his
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
the First Head I proposed The Second thing I would therefore open to you is Faith doth properly adhere and run to some good that is offered And especially under a sense of Danger and a sense of great Ruin and Misery if there be not extraordinary Rescue And therefore this is the Second thing I assert That there had never been that Faith and Trust that Faith of Refuge that Faith of Reliance that Faith of Dependance if Jesus Christ had not been made known For What 〈◊〉 Jesus Christ but the great Deliverer As the Apostle speaks in 1 Thes 1. last He that Delivers ver 10. It is not Delivers us But he is the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Deliverer his Name is the general Deliverer Who is The Deliverer even Jesus Christ Stiled and Surnamed made notably known to us by being The Deliverer from the Wrath that it to come He is The Deliverer from the wrath that is to come So I say There had never been Footing for Faith if it had not been for Christ because of that great Good And indeed as I have often declared to you so I am positively of that Judgment that the Elect Angels did fly to Christ even as we do in a lost and undone state So they to be secured from that lost State the Fallen Angels and Man-kind run into I make no doubt they found all Created Beings stood in themselves too slippery and too ready to fall And they thought it safest to be under the Wing of the Mediator to be within the everlasting Arms of the Mediator Therefore much more if God had not given this great Saviour to lost Man this great Deliverer this great Ransom this great Sacrifice this great Righteousness of Jesus Christ the Righteousness of God there had been no Room for the Faith of Trust for the Faith of Relyance among Men. You know oftentimes in scripture Faith is spoken of as trust That when a Creature does not know what to do nor whither to run It runs to God by Faith Now this is all founded in the absolute necessity that we all have to fly to Christ for Redemption being lost and undone without him And therefore you find all scripture agrees to it that we are under a necessity to come to him as the greatest Good that can be offered to us Christ is that greatest Good that can be offered to us Even Eternal Life Life from Everlasting to Everlasting And therefore observe the vein of Scripture It is indeed so much That I need not almost name such things to you John 13. 14. As Moses lifted up the Serpent in the Wilderness even so must the Son of Man be lifted up That whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have Eternal Life It is very plain what our Lord here intends We are under the same necessity that they that were bitten with the Serpents in the Wilderness that died immediately they swelled and died and broke in pieces immediately if they had not the Remedy in this Brasen Serpent And so we are in the same Condition Our Thigh would Rott and our Belly would swell to allude to that Representation under the Law I say the Thigh That is the Soul and the Conscience and all the Powers of the Soul they would presently be Gangren'd in a spiritual sense and give up to Ruin and Destruction were it not for Jesus Christ And so again ver 16. For God so loved the World that he gave his onely begotten Son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting Life That very word should not perish it is as much as to say he shall certainly perish if he does not come to Christ If he does not believe in him And v. 36. He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting Life And he that believeth not the Son shall not see Life but the wrath of God abideth on him As Jeremiah saith He that trusteth not in the Lord he shall be like a barren Wilderness that shall not see when good cometh So he shall not see Life but the wrath of God abideth on him Wherever he goes the wrath of God abides on him Though he be Rich and happy in the world yet still he does not know what a Companion he hath with him The wrath of God going along And what a Roof and what a skie he is always under what a Canopy of Heaven he is under The wrath of God abides on him Dwells over him So He that hath the Son hath Life and he that hath not the Son of God hath not Life And therefore here is Faith in Jesus Christ Reliance upon him the Faith of Trust Jesus Christ is he that hath brought in the Faith of Trust I have said it to you before and I should never be afraid to say it to a Congregation of the Learned'st and Wisest in the World That the Angels fled to Christ foreseeing possibility of Ruin if they stood upon themselves But we are upon a plain and Confessed and Acknowledged necessity we had never had such a thing as Faith if God had not offered and given and made known his Son to us as a Redeemer Now I would desire you to Consider That Jesus Christ never came to any Soul with his Benefits And not come himself He doth not send his Benefits and not come himself Which is the thing I would very fain in every thing press upon you I say he never sends his benefits but he always comes himself I am the way the Truth and the Life I am the Life saith Christ And he is Redemption saith the Apostle Paul He is the Redemption There is not a Redemption separate from him But he is our Redemption and he is our life and he is our Ransom He is our Sacrifice He is our Redeemer He is our Mediator He is our All. And therefore Faith It hath to do with the Person of Christ Indeed it may be very necessary to hold out and is certainly absolutely necessary to hold out the Benefits of Christ But we should take heed of this For here comes in a great deal of dispute and wrangling who should have the Benefit of his Righteousness by his Blood Alas This is not the thing First but we are to come to the very Person of Christ and to unite with him who loved us and gave himself for us For It is not a disputable thing how we shall have his Benefits If we pitch first upon him by Faith and by his coming into us and dwelling in us and we in him As I shall after shew if the Lord give opportunity that our Justification is by union There is no Justification but by union It is not by what we do or what Conditions or Terms of the Gospel we observe Though they shall more effectually follow than any other way we Discourse of I don't say that there is no need of Repentance of Faith and holiness of life But our Justification is immediately flowing from
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
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
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