Person and the Executors and Administrators of his Power and Dominion Whilst therefore they act within the compass of their Commission they act in his stead and as his Vicegerents and whatsoever they bind he binds and whatsoever they loose he looses their Commands are his their Decrees and Sentences are his and all their authoritative Acts carry with them the same force and obligagation as if they had been performed by him in his own person For it is he that wills and speaks and acts by them because they Will and Speak and Act by his Authority For so he himself declares to them Luke 10.16 He that heareth you heareth me i. e. because I speak by you and he that despiseth you despiseth me and he that despiseth me despiseth him that sent me because my Authority is in you even as my Fathers is in me and therefore he who despises mine in you despises my Fathers in me whence mine in you is derived Your Authority is mine and mine is my Fathers and therefore he who rejects yours doth therein reject both my Fathers and mine And this authority is given them by Christ for the same end that his Authority was given him by the Father for he came into the World to seek and to save lost souls Luk. 19.10 He came not to judge the world but to save the world Joh. 12.47 And to call sinners to repentance Mar. 2.17 And upon the very same errand he sent all those whom he appointed to propagate and govern his Kingdom in his absence for he set them up as so many Lights to the benighted World to reduce Men from those dangerous paths in which they were wandering to eternal misery and shew them the way to everlasting happiness and all the power he devolved upon them was for edification and not for destruction 2 Cor. 13.10 and to them he hath committed the care and charge of Souls whose blood he will one day require at their hands if they miscarry through their neglect or default Heb. 13.17 and that he might the better secure these precious beings for whom he shed his blood from miscarrying for ever he placed this spiritual Polity in a subordination of Officers and made the inferior accountable for their charge to the superior Officers as well as both accountable to himself So that whereas had he placed it in co-ordinate hands there had been only one soul accountable to him for each particular Cure or Charge of Souls because then each single Pastor would have been supreme in his particular Cure and consequently no other Pastor or Pastors would have been accountable for not calling him to account now each particular Cure of Souls is under the charge and inspection of several orders and degrees of Pastors who in their several stations are all accountable for it to the Tribunal of Christ. For first the inferior Pastor who hath the immediate Charge of it and is obliged by his Office to teach and instruct it by good Example and Doctrine and to administer to it the holy Ordinances of Christianity stands accountable to Christ for every soul in it that miscarries through his neglect or omission next the Bishop stands accountable for not correcting the neglects and misdemeanours of the inferior Pastor and then the Metropolitan for not taking Cognizance of the default of the Bishop Thus in that excellent form of Government which Christ hath established in his Kingdom he hath made all possible provision for the safety and welfare of Souls for according to this Oeconomy he hath taken no less than a threefold security every one of which is as much as a Soul amounts to that every Soul within every Cure shall be plentifully supplied with the means of Salvation that so none of them might miscarry but such as are incorrigibly obstinate So that now if any Soul within the Dominions of our Saviour perish for want of the means of Salvation there are no less than three Souls one after another besides it self accountable to him for its ruin Having thus shewn what these Regal Acts are which Christ hath once for all performed in his Kingdom I proceed II. To declare what those Regal Acts are which he hath always performed and doth always continue to perform and these are recucible to four particulars First His pardoning penitent sinners Secondly His punishing obstinate Offenders Thirdly His protecting and defending his faithful Subjects in this life Fourthly his blessing and rewarding them in the life to come I. One of the Regal Acts which our Saviour always hath and always continues to perform is his pardoning and forgiving penitent sinners which being one of the Articles of our Creed I shall endeavour to give an account of it more at large the Apostle defines sin to be a transgression of the Law 1 Joh. 3.4 Now the Law obliges us under a certain stated Penalty to do and forbear what it commands and forbids whenever therefore we transgress the Law we are thereby obliged to undergo the Penalty it denounces and this is that which we call the guilt of sin viz. its obligation to punishment and it is this guilt which pardon and forgiveness relates to For to pardon is nothing else but only to release the sinner from the obligation he lies under to suffer the penalty of the Law. Now the penalty of the Law of God for every known and wilful sin is no less than everlasting perdition and therefore from this it is that we are released by that pardon and indemnity which the Gospel proposes So that the pardon or remission of sins whereof we are now treating consists in the loosing of sinful men from that obligation to eternal punishment whereunto they have rendered themselves liable by their wilful disobedience to the Law of God. Since therefore this pardon consists in the release of offenders from the penal Obligation of the Law it must be a Regal Act because the Obligation of the Law can be dispenced with by no other Authority but that which made it and therefore since to make the Obligation of the Law is an Act of Regal Authority to release or dispence with it must necessarily be so also and accordingly forgiveness of sin is in Scripture attributed to our Saviour as one of his Regal Rights Acts 5.51 Him hath God exalted with his right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour for to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sin So that now it is by Christ immediately that our sins are pardoned and our Souls released from those Obligations to eternal punishment in which they have involved us for the Father judgeth no man but hath committed all judgment to the Son Joh. 5.22 So that now it is by him immediately that the Father judgeth us i. e. absolves and condemns us for so Col. 3.13 the Apostle exhorts them to forbear and forgive one another even as Christ forgave them and Col. 2.13 Christ is said to have forgiven them all trespasses It is true forgiveness
is certain that no innocent man as such can be thereupon obliged to suffer death or imprisonment but suppose that this innocent man having the free disposal of himself shall voluntarily offer his own life or liberty to the Magistrate in exchange for the forfeited life or liberty of the Criminal and the Magistrate shall think meet to accept it in this case he is justly liable notwithstanding his innocence to undergo the punishment that was due to the Offender For if he may justly offer this exchange as there is no doubt but he may supposing that he hath the free disposal of himself to be sure the Magistrate may justly accept of it because the life of the Offender is as much in his disposal as the life that is offered him in exchange for it is in the disposal of the Offerer so that he hath as much right to give the Offerer the Offender's life for his as the Offerer hath to give his own life for the Offenders and when both Parties have a right to the goods which they exchange with each other and the goods which they receive are on both sides equivalent to the goods which they give it is impossible the exchange should be injurious to either the Magistrate cannot be injured because for the life of the Offender which he gives he receives the life of the Offerer which is equivalent the Offerer cannot be injured because for his own life which he gives he receives the life of the Offender which is dearer to him and neither Party being injured the exchange must be just and equal on both sides Now that Christ had the free disposal of his own life he himself tells us Iohn 10.18 No man taketh my life from me but I lay it down of my self I have power to lay it down and I have power to take it up again this commandment have I received of my Father And that the lives of our Souls were in God's free disposal as being justly forfeited to him by our sins the Scripture assures us when it tells that all have sinned and that the wages of sin is death Christ's life therefore being in his own free disposal he had an undoubted right to exchange it with God for the lives of our Souls and the lives of our souls being in God's free disposal he had as undoubted a right to exchange them with Christ's for his life upon the free Tendry which he made of it And in this exchange neither Party could be injured because they both received an equivalent for what they gave Christ gave his own life to God for which God gave him the lives of our Souls in exchange which were far dearer to him God gave the lives of our Souls to Christ for which Christ gave him his own most precious life in exchange which considering the infinite dignity of his Person was at the least tant-amount It is true indeed both Parties having a right to the free disposal of the goods which they exchange with each other to render the exchange just and valid it was necessary that both should be freely consenting to it now that God was freely consenting I shall shew by and by and that Christ was so too the Scripture expresly testifies for so we are told that he gave himself for our sins Gal. 1.4 and that he gave his life a ransom for many and gave his flesh for the life of the World Matt. 21.28 and in a word that he gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all iniquity Tit. 2.14 and that he laid down his life for us 1 John 3.16 all which plainly imply that by his own voluntary consent he substituted himself to suffer in our stead that we might escape and freely exchanged his own life with God for the lives of our Souls which were forfeited to him And if notwithstanding his innocence it were just in God to expose him without any respect to our sins to all those bitter sufferings he endured and that it was so the Socinians themselves must acknowledge or charge God with injustice how much more was it just when of his own accord he substituted himself to bear our punishment for us and freely exchanged his life for our Salvation V. And lastly His Death was admitted and accepted by God in lieu of the punishment which was due to him from Mankind and it is this that compleats it an Expiatory Sacrifice and without this it had been altogether insignificant to the expiation of sin notwithstanding all the above-named qualifications For it is the personal punishment of the Offender which sin gives God a right to and which the Obligation of his violated Law exacts since therefore all Mankind had sinned they all stood bound to God to suffer the desert of their sin in their own persons and therefore the suffering of another in our stead can signifie nothing towards the releasing us from this Obligation unless God in pure Grace and Favour to us shall please to admit and accept it because anothers suffering is not ours and it is ours that God hath a right to Indeed the punishment of the guilty person himself supposing it to be equal to his fault doth without any interposal of Grace extinguish the guilt of it and by its own force and vertue dissolve his Obligation to punishment because when a man hath suffered as much as he deserves he hath suffered as much as the Law can oblige him to and so consequently cannot be obliged to suffer any more but should another suffer for me even as much as I deserved to suffer my self it will be altogethâ—r insignificant to the expiation of my guilt unless God in meer grace will accept it for my suffering because it is not anothers suffering but my own that the obligation of his Law demands and exacts of me and although the others suffering for me may as effectually secure the Honour and Authority of God's Law as if I had suffered what I deserved in my own person yet it is evident that in admitting the others suffering instead of mine God remits and relaxes the Obligation of his Law which requires that I should suffer in my own person And therefore notwithstanding that Christ hath suffered for us and God hath admitted his suffering for ours yet this being out of meer grace and favour to us he is still truly said to pardon and forgive us for Christ's sake Eph. 4.32 because for the sake of Christ's suffering he graciously remits to us the Obligation of his Law which requires the punishment of our sin at our own hands and since his remitting to us the Obligation of his Law for the sake of Christ's suffering was pure grace and favour he was not at all obliged to remit it unconditionally but being absolute Master of his own graces and favours he might remit it upon what terms and conditions he pleased So that though if we had suffered in our own persons the utmost of what our sin doth
essentially due to their Sovereignty and whatsoever the Laws and Customs of Nations had before determined to be their Right but also by acknowledging before Pilate the Right of the Civil Tribunal to call him to account Ioh. 19.1 where he confesses that the Power by which Pilate arraigned him was given him from above and by reprehending S. Peter for endeavouring by force to rescue him out of the hands of the Civil Powers Put up thy Sword saith he into his place for all that take the sword shall perish by the sword Matth. 26.52 in which words it was far from his intention to prohibite the use of the Sword either to Governours who as S. Paul tells us bear not the Sword in vain or to private persons in their own lawful defence for he commands his own Disciples to buy them swords to defend themselves against Robbers and lawless Cut-throats who as Iosephus tells did very much abound in those days Luke 22.36 but all that he intended was to forbid drawing the Sword against lawful Authority in any case whatsoever though it were for the defence and security of his own person for this was S. Peter's case who in the defence of his Saviour resisted the High Priests Officers who came armed with a lawful Authority to seize and apprehend him in which our Saviour plainly owns himself accountable to the Civil Authority of his Country for if he had not been so it could be no fault in S. Peter to endeavour to rescue him from its Ministers and if Christ himself while he was upon Earth were subject to the Civil Authority what an high piece of arrogance is it for those who are at most but his Vicars and Ministers to claim or pretend an exemption And if it were so great a fault in S. Peter to draw his Sword against lawful Authority though it were in the defence of his Saviours Person then doubtless it is no less a fault in his Successors to pretend a Right from S. Peter to draw their Swords against Sovereign Princes though it be in the defence of their Saviours Religion And as our Saviour owned himself subject and accountable to the Civil Tribunal so S. Paul's injunction is universal Let every soul be subject to the higher Powers and surely every Soul must include the whole body of the Clergy as well as of the Laity unless we can produce some clear and express exception to the contrary and as the Command extends universally to all so doth the reason of it also for the Powers that are are ordained of God and if we must be subject to them because they rule by God's Authority then it is certain there are none that are subject to God but are under the force and obligation of this Reason And then he goes on Whosoever resisteth the Power of whatsoever Degree or Order of men he be resisteth the Ordinance of God and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation and if according to the Law of our Saviour it be a damnable sin for any person or persons whatsoever to resist the Civil Authority then it is a plain case that our Saviour hath not at all depressed the Sovereignty of the Secular Powers by subjecting it to any Superiour Tribunal but hath left it as absolute and unaccountable as ever it was before it was subjected to his Empire And thus having proved that Sovereign Princes are not devested of any natural Right of their Sovereignty by their subjection to the Mediatorial Scepter of our Saviour I proceed in the Second place To shew what those Ministries are which they are obliged to render to our Saviour by vertue of this their subjection to him In general it is foretold that upon their Subjection to Christ they should become nursing Fathers and nursing Mothers to his Church Isa. 49.23 that is that they should tenderly cherish protect and defend it and liberally minister to it whatsoever is necessary for its support and preservation and to be sure Christ expects of them that they should accomplish this Prediction by doing all those good Offices to his Church which the relation of a foster Father or Mother imports For when God Predicts any good thing of men it is plain that he would have them be what he foretels they shall be so that in this case the Prophesie carries Precept in it and doth not only signifie what shall be but also what ought to be When therefore God Prophesies of Kings that they shall be nursing Fathers to his Church he doth as well declare what they should be as what they shall be and so he foretels of them and commands them in the same breath If therefore we would know what those Ministries are which Christ now requires Sovereign Powers to render to his Church our best way will be to inquire what those Duties are which are implied in the relation of a foster Father to his foster Child Now the Duties of this Relation may be all of them comprehended under these four particulars First To protect and defend it against harms and injuries Secondly To Cultivate its manners with good Precepts and Counsels Thirdly To correct and chasten its faults and irregularities Fourthly To supply it with decent Raiment and convenient Sustenance answerable to which Sovereign Powers being constituted by our Saviour the foster Fathers of his Church are by vertue of this Relation obliged I. To protect and defend it in the Profession and exercise of the true Religion II. To fence and Cultivate its peace and good Order either by wholesom Laws of their own or by permitting and requiring it to make good Laws for it self and if need be inforcing them with Civil Coercions III. To chasten and correct the irregular and disorderly members of it IV. To make provision for the Decency of its Worship and for the convenient Maintenance of its Officers and Ministers which answers to the decent Raiment and convenient Sustenance with which the Foster-Father is oblig'd to supply his Foster-Child These Particulars I shall but very briefly insist on it being none of my Province to instruct Princes and Governors I. One of those Ministries which Princes by virtue of their Subjection to Christ are obliged to render to his Church is to Protect and Defend her in the Profession and Exercise of the true Religion that is not only to permit her openly to Profess the true Religion and to perform the publick Offices of it without disturbance or interruption but also to fence her with legal securities and guard her with the Temporal Sword against the power and malice of such as would disturb and persecute her and therefore Sovereign Powers are concerned above all things impartially to inquire and studiously to examine what the true Religion is lest being imposed upon by false pretences they misemploy that Power in the Patronage of Error which was given 'em for the Protection of the Truth II. Another of those Ministries which Princes are obliged by virtue of their
to the tenor of these spiritual Laws a bad intention unconsecrates the best actions and converts even our Prayers and our Alms into the most loathsom Cheats and Dissimulations vid. Matt. 6.1 2 3 4 5 6.16 17 18. and as they oblige our inward intentions to good ends so they also restrain our inward concupiscence from evil objects so far forth at least as it falls under the command and disposal of our Wills. For they not only forbid us the doing of evil actions but also the consenting to them and even the taking pleasure in the contemplation of them and the very affection to any bad action if it be voluntary and consented to is in the construction of these Laws the same with the Commission of it for so Hatred is construed Murder 1 John 3.15 Covetousness Theft or Robbery Mark 7.22 inordinate lusting after a woman Adultery Mat. 5.28 and so in general the wicked Will is in the construction of these Laws the wicked action it chooses and consents to Thus the Laws of our Saviour to whose all-seeing eye our inmost motions are as obvious as our most open practice do as well take notice of our vicious affections those internal springs and fountains of iniquity as of the vicious actions which stream out from them and we are as well accountable to them for harbouring the desire of sin when we have not the convenience or opportunity to act it for consenting to it though we never commit it when ever opportunity occurs yea and for indulging to our selves the Phantastick pleasures of sinful Meditations which are but the antepasts of the actions and as the Twilight to a dark night but the first approaches towards the deeds of darkness as for the sinful actions themselves This therefore is the common nature of the Laws of our Saviour that they are all of them spiritual and do in the first place lay hold upon our Wills and bind our inward-man and from thence extend their obligation to the outward actions They begin with that which is the Principle of all moral good and evil and by rectifying the Spring and Wheels of our Will and Affections within communicate a regular motion to the hand of our practice without But for our better understanding the nature of these Laws and the Obligations they devolve upon us it will be necessary to consider them more particularly they being all reducible under two Heads First The Law of Perfection And secondly The Law of Sincerity Both which require of us the same instances of Piety and Vertue though not in the same degree nor under the same Penalty I. There is the Law of Perfection which requires the utmost degrees of every Christian Vertue which in the several states and periods of our lives we are capable of attaining to For so we are injoyned not only to do but to abound in the work of the Lord not only to have grace but to grow in it to perfect holiness in the fear of the Lord and to be perfect as our Father in Heaven is perfect For the nature of God is the Standard of that Perfection whereunto we are obliged to aspire and our growth in Piety and Vertue is never to come to a period till we are pure as he is pure and holy as he is holy i. e. till we are arrived to infinite holiness which because our finite nature can never do in any period of Duration therefore we are to be growing on to Eternity So that this Law by prescribing no limits to the degrees of our growth hath cut out work enough for us to imploy all our Faculties for ever Not that it is a sin against it for a man to be short or defective of the utmost degree of perfection for it requires no more of us than what is within our present possibility which always increases proportionably to our present improvements When we are arrived but to one degree of Vertue it is no sin against this Law of Perfection that we do not thence immediately ascend to six or seven because it is not in our power and no Law can oblige to an impossibility but when we have acquired one that gives us power to acquire a second and that a third and so on ad infinitum Thus our Obligation to be more and more perfect increases proportionably to the improvement of our power for the end of all power either to be good or to do good is to be good and to do good and therefore the more power we have to be good the better we ought to be otherwise our power is in vain while we are but Babes in Christ or beginners in Religion we have not that strength and power as when we are men and have made a considerable progress and therefore we are not then obliged to all those degrees of growth and perfection but whatsoever degree is within our power in the different stages of our growth and progress that we are actually and immediately obliged to and so long as we are defective in it we are offenders against the Law of Perfection As for example Mar. 12.13 our Saviour commands us to love the Lord our God with all our heart with all our soul with all our mind and with all our strength that is that we should always love him as much as we can but it is as much in our power to love him still more when we love much as when we love him little and so we are equally bound still to love him as much as we can when we have ten degrees of power as we were when we had but one So that by this command we are obliged always to love God as much as we are able and thereby to be always augmenting our ability to love him and as our ability increases to be always loving him more and more for ever Now the Penalty by which this Law obliges us is not eternal damnation and God forbid it should for then I doubt no flesh would be saved but only the deprivation of some degrees of future happiness which is no more than what is the natural consequence of all defects of goodness for so essential is goodness to our future happiness that proportionably as we fall short of the one we must necessarily be defective of the other and accordingly the Scripture tells us that proportionably to our non-improvements in this life God will substract from our reward in the life to come For he that soweth sparingly saith the Apostle shall reap sparingly and he that soweth abundantly shall reap abundantly 2 Cor. 9.6 And our Saviour by a Parable doth expresly teach us that our future reward shall be apportioned to the degrees of our present improvements Luk. 19. where he represents himself as a Master coming to take account of his Servants among whom he had intrusted a stock of ten pounds delivering to every one an equal share The first by an extraordinary diligence had improv'd his Pound into ten and he is
and again that it is by faith that we are justified or pardoned Rom. 3.28 c. 5. v. 1. Gal. 2.16 Chap. 3.24 Where by faith its evident he doth not mean any one single act of Faith of what kind or denomination soever but faith as it is the pregnant Root and active principle of repentance and newness of life For it is granted on all hands that that faith which acquits and justifies us before God must be lively and operative and indeed unless it be so it is not distinguishable from persumption which is only the Carcass or lifeless image and Portraiture of Faith. So that if this be Justifying it is all one whether you call it justifying faith or justifying presumption and he that can lay hold on the Righteousness of Christ though it be with prophane and sacrilegious hands will be as certainly justified as the most humble and penitent soul. At which rate a man may rest upon Christ without coming to him and lay hold upon him at the greatest distance from him he may lean upon his merits in open defiance to his Laws and embrace and crucifie him together It being granted therefore that that Faith which justifies us must be lively and operative it is from hence most evident that the condition of our Justification is no one single act of Faith but comprehends in it all that Repentance and new Obedience which is the effect of the life and operation of Faith. For if to make it the condition of our Justification it be necessary that our faith should work by Love and be operative and obediential then that it should be lively and operative is as necessary to our justification as that it should be faith for where only an accident or mode of a thing is made a conditition with the thing it is equally a condition with the thing it self As for instance if I promise one such a reward upon condition he presents me with such a Book so bound and of such an Edition it is equally a condition and as much influential on the mans right to my promise that it should be so bound and of such an Edition as that it should be the Book for which I conditioned And so in any other instance you can bring either in fact or fiction and the same reason holds good whether we take Faith for a condition or an instrument as some improperly enough call it for if to be lively and operative is a necessary qualification to make Faith an instrument of our justification then its liveliness and operation is instrumental too For that mode of a thing which makes it instrumental is as really instrumental as the thing it self As for instance a Knife is an instrument of cutting but it is its sharpness that makes it to be so and therefore 't is as instrumental to cutting that it should be sharp as that it should be a Knife And indeed whether we consider either the form or matter of our justification and pardon it will evidently appear that that faith which justifies us must be such as includes in it Repentance and New Obedience For as for the form of Justification it is a juridical act founded upon a legal process in which there is always a Iudge a Criminal and a Law and here the Judge is God the Criminal man the Law the law of sincerity or those affirmative and negative commands of the Christian Religion that are established with the threats of eternal condemnation for so Iames 2.12 the Apostle tells us that we must be judged by the Law of liberty i. e. the moral Law as it is expounded and perfected by our Saviour for so ver 8. If ye fulfil the Royal law Thou shalt love thy Neighbour as thy self ye do well So that that Law of liberty by which we must be judgedâ—s â—s this Royal Law and this Royal Law is the moral Law which requires us to love our Neighbour as our selves now this moral Law is to be considered under a twofold notion as it is a Law of works and as it is a Law of grace As it is a law of works it exacts perfect and unsinning obedience and neither promises Grace to inable us to keep it nor admits repentance when we have broken it As it is a Law of grace it exacts only sincere obedience and both promises grace to inable us thereunto and admits repentance in case of wilful disobedience Now considering it under the first notion it is the same with the law of Nature and as such it obliges all men that are in the state of Nature or without the Pale of Christianity who have neither promise of grace to inable them to obey nor yet of pardon upon Repentance after they have once disobeyed it In which forlorn condition they remain till such time as they embrace Christianity and are by Baptism admitted into the Kingdom of Christ and from thenceforth the obligation of it as it is a law of works ceaseth and it obliges them only as it is a Law of Grace i. e. as it is a Law which exacts of them only sincere obedience and promises both to assist them to obey and upon their repentance to pardon their disobedience so that considering the moral Law as it is a law of works it neither justifies nor accounts just any but the perfectly innocent nor yet indulges pardon to any that have offended upon any condition whatsoever and therefore the Infidel World who alone are under the obligation of it are said to be strangers from the Covenants of Promise having no hope i. e. no hope founded upon Promise none but what an absolute and unpromised mercy affords them Eph. 2.12 And then if we consider it as it is a law of grace it justifies or accounts just none but the sincerely obedient and indulges pardon to no offenders whatsoever but such as are sincerely penitent so that we Christians who alone are under the obligation of it can neither be justified by it but upon our sincere obedience nor when we fail of that be pardoned by it but upon our unfeigned repentance Since therefore it is by the moral law considered as a Law of Grace that God doth judge us he can acquit us by it upon no other terms but only our performing of what it requires i. e. our hearty repentance for our past sins and sincere obedience for the future For seeing it requires this of us under the penalty of eternal condemnation we are obliged by it to this penalty till we have performed what it requires and to be at the same time acquitted by a law and obliged to the Penalty of it is a contradiction did this law of grace require of us nothing but faith and threaten condemnation for nothing but infidelity then indeed our bare believing in Jesus were sufficient to discharge us from our obligation to its penalty but since it also requires of us repentance and sincere obedience under the same Penalty that it requires faith
our faith cannot be sufficient to discharge us from its penalty unless it be such as includes in it repentance and sincere obedience In short the law of grace condemns us as well for impiety injustice and uncharitableness as for infidelity and therefore we cannot be acquitted by it upon forsaking our infidelity unless we also forsake our impiety c. and while we continue in any one wilful sin for which it condemns it is impossible that at the same time we should be acquitted and pardoned by it so that unless our faith be such as doth include in it a renuntiation of all wilful sin or which is the same thing repentance and sincere obedience we cannot be acquitted upon it by the Law of Grace And then if we consider the matter of our Pardon and Remission which is nothing but a releasing us from our obligation to punishment it will from thence also appear that that faith upon which we obtain our pardon must be such as works in us sincere repentance and obedience For the punishment to which we are obliged by the Law of grace consists in the loss of Heaven as well as in the positive Torments of Hell and therefore our pardon must include a release from both but to be released from our obligation of losing Heaven is the same thing as to have a right of enjoying it confer'd upon us so that the Faith upon which we are pardoned and forgiven is the Faith upon which we are intitled to Heaven as all agree includes in it repentance and sincere obedience For these two things are of undoubted certainty that every man shall go to Heaven that dies intitled to it and that no man shall go to Heaven that dieth in impenitence and wilful disobedience For it is our keeping the Commandments of God that gives us a right to the Tree of life Rev. 22.14 And our keeping Gods Commandments is that Holiness without which no man shall see God Heb. 12.14 And accordingly in Scripture the Remission of our sins is attributed to our repentance and obedience as well as to our faith so Acts 3.19 Repent ye therefore and be converted that your sins may be blotted out when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord. And in Eph. 1.7 If ye walk in the light as he is in the light you have communion with him and the blood of Christ cleanseth you from all sin So also Acts 10.34 35. God is no respecter of persons but in every Nation he that fearâ—th him and worketh righteousness is accepted of him From whence it is evident that when the Scripture makes mention of faith only in the matter of our Justification it is to be understood of faith in the greatest latitude as comprehending Repentance and sincere obedience for how can we be justified by faith only and yet be justified by obedience too unless our obedience be included in our faith and indeed the Scripture plainly declares that faith it self is not at all available with God unless it be accompanied with sincere obedience So Gal. 5.6 In Christ Iesus neither Circumcision availeth nor Uncircumcision but faith whick worketh by Love and what he means by faith working by love he tells us Gal. 6.16 Circumcision is nothing and Uncircumcision is nothing but the new Creature and what he means by the new Creature he also tells us 1 Cor. 7.19 Circumcision is nothing and Uncircumcision is nothing but keeping the Commandments of God so that the only thing which avails us with God is faith working by love Faith working by Love is the new Creature the new Creature is keeping the Commandments of God and in Iames 2.26 we are told that as the body without the spirit is dead so faith also is dead without works that is it is altogether ineffectual For so if you compare the 14. and 17. Verses of this Chapter you will find that those two phrases faith cannot save and faith is dead do both signifie the same thing Since therefore faith it self without obedience is unavailable when the Scripture makes mention of our being justified by faith it must necessarily be understood of faith comprehending Obedience And thus you see what God the Fathers part is in remitting our sins viz. that it consists in granting to us an universal act of pardon and Indemnity in consideration of our Saviours Sacrifice and upon Condition of our sincere Repentance and future obedience And this is the ground-work and foundation of all remission of sins without which our Saviour himself hath no right to pardon and forgive us for since the Law against which we have all sinned was peculiarly from God the Father as he is the fountain of Divinity and consequently the head of the divine Dominion it was he peculiarly that was the party offended and consequently it was he to whom our obligation to punishment was due and by whom alone it can be released and remitted and as the grant of Remission was wholly in his will and pleasure so was it also to accept the consideration and appoint the Conditions of it So that now as none can be pardoned but upon his Grant so neither can his grant be available to any but upon that consideration which he hath accepted viz. the precious sacrifice of his own Son and upon such conditions as he hath appointed viz. faith working in us sincere repentance and obedience and accordingly our Saviour in all that he doth in the part he acts in forgiving sins proceeds upon and according to this Grant of his Father for 't is in the right and upon the consideration and condition of this Grant that he forgives us nor can he forgive any by any other right than that which it gives him or upon any other consideration than that which it hath admitted or upon any other condition than that which it hath specified and determined And this brings me to the second Head I proposed which was to shew what it is that the Son doth in forgiving Sins In short therefore the part which our Saviour bears in it consider'd as King under God the Father is to make an actual and particular application of this general Grant of his Father to particular Sinners upon their faith and repentance For the Fathers grant is only a general promise that we shall be pardoned for Christs sake whenever we sincerely believe and repent but the actual pardoning us consists in the application of this general Promise to us in particular by which the general promise of pardon is converted into a particular sentence of pardon For the promise says thus Whosoever believes and repents shall be pardoned the particular application of the Promise says thus Thou doest believe and repent and therefore by vertue of that Promise I pardon and forgive thee And this is the proper part of our blessed Saviour who having first obtained this Promise of his Father by his sacrifice upon Earth and then still continuing to obtain of him by