Among grown persons if you take the day of Conversion more largely as the Scripture often does for the day of their Lives for the day of their outward Callings generally termed the day of Grace i. e. of outward Grace so they all agree in the day of their Conversion they are brought home to Christ within that time or never tho they do not all come in at the same hour of the day But more of this by and by when I come to speak of the time of our Regeneration which to avoid all coincidence of matter I shall comprehend under this Head of the manner of Regeneration which the Scripture gives us some light into we may know something of it The Manner of Regeneration 1st That a marvellous work is wrought in us and upon us We see a great difference between what we now are and what we formerly were even in our own remembrance Whereas I was blind now I see Such were some of you but you are washed Remember that ye being in time passed Gentiles in the flesh but now in Christ Iesus Called out of darkness into his marvellous light This is something of the manner of Regeneration which all Saints have some experience of the change is so great so universal in every part and faculty of the Soul All things are become new that it cannot be altogether hid from a considering Christian he cannot resolve the Cause and Reason of it into any thing but the Power of God 't is his doing wonderful in our eyes He that is born of God knows and loves him that begat him does naturally cry Abba Father from the Spirit of Adoption received in Regeneration being born of the Spirit he breathes and prays in the Spirit ever after his heart is instructed and quickned by the Spirit to call God Father The spirit it self beareth witness with our spirit that we are the children of God. 2dly Regeneration does not only shew the wide difference between the two states the Regenerate and Unregenerate but it comes in a different manner upon the Regenerate themselves I say a different manner for there is no difference in the nature of the thing it self That is the same in substance essence and principle in all who are Regenerate yet there are some circumstances attending Regeneration sometime wherein one Regenerate person may greatly differ from another even in the first moment of Regeneration e. g. Some may be Regenerated and Converted into higher degrees of Grace in the first moment of their Conversion than some others tho as truly Regenerate as they may attain to all their days all in Regeneration do receive one and the same spirit of Grace but not in the same measure Paul was converted into an eminency in Grace he was never a babe in Christ but was born a strong Man in Christ the very first moment of his Conversion God had present use of Paul he had designed him for eminent service which he was immediately to enter upon and therefore God furnishes him accordingly Let not weak Saints question the truth of their Regeneration because they are not presently raised up to such degrees of actual Grace as they see in others Another Reason I conceive of this difference between Saint and Saint in their first Conversion may arise from the different circumstances Grace finds them under in respect 1. Of their Years 2. Of their Temptations 3. Of their Employments and Callings 1st In respect of their Years Some may be Regenerated in their Infancy as was at first granted they are capable only of habitual Faith of the seed and principle of Grace A Man is no further capable of Grace than he is of Reason 't is Reason that makes a Man a subject naturally capable of Grace and Grace usually comes in in a degree proportionable to the strength of our rational faculties Where there is but a principle of Reason there may be a principle of Grace brought into that Soul and where there is an actual understanding there may be actual Faith proportionable to our actual Understandings I shall not speak of Infants who are but habitually rational and therefore can be but habitually gracious But I shall begin with those who are next to Infants newly come to the use of Reason some are more early Converts than others Mr. Cotton in his Exposition of 1 Iohn 2. 13. says that Children may act Grace as soon as they act Reason may be made to know their Heavenly Father as soon as they do their natural Parents This is early indeed yet I doubt not but so it may be only let me put in this Observation by the way viz. Observe The nearer our second birth lies to our first the more undisernable it is In its first rise and original here Grace seems to grow up with Nature Howbeit that is not first which is spiritual but that which is natural and afterwards that which is spiritual The Apostle applies it to the Resurrection of the Body and I may as fitly apply it to the Spiritual Resurrection of the Soul in Regeneration so that you see the new creature is still the youngest Man if compared to the old Man. The new creature is of a later extraction an after birth or a second birth But every man in his own order Should Grace come in with our first being the first introduction of it could not be called Regeneration God does proportion his gifts of actual and efficacious Grace according to the strength and ripeness of our active faculties tho all Converts have the same principle of Grace yet the younger sort in their tender years are not capable of acting so distinctly as others may who are of full Age and have their Senses better exercised by reason of use 'T is said of Iohn That the child grew and waxed strong in spirit So of Christ himself tho he was fill'd with internal habitual Grace at his first conception yet proportionably to his Age his Grace did actually and more powerfully manifest it self So 't is with all young Christians Grace in the active part of it keeps peace with Nature and does not offer violence to it Grace may elevate and quicken our rational faculties and bring them sooner to maturity But it always takes our Understanding and Will along with it in every act we put forth Faith is a rational Grace an understanding Grace a wise Grace there is much of the strength of a Man's rational Soul goes out in every act of Faith. Tho Faith be above Reason yet Faith can give a Reason why we should believe things above Reason and so one way or other Faith doth deal with Man's Reason even when it lifts up Man above Reason This may be one ground of the different degrees of actual Grace among some at their first conversion I say actual Grace because that only is capable of degrees A principle of Grace is the same in all but variously
God worship him thy throne is for ever and ever Sit on my right hand until I make thine enemies thy footstool So Psal. 2. 6 7 8. Thus was this great Man this Son of God incarnate brought into Heaven in state and triumph at his Resurrection 2. In reference to the Saints Jer. 31 9. I am a father to Israel and Ephraim is my first-born So 2 Cor. 6. 18. I will be a father unto you and ye shall be my sons and daughters saith the Lord Almighty Tho God does greatly delight in his beloved Son loves to see the brightness of his own glory shining out in Christ the express Image of his Person yet next to his own Image in Christ he loves to behold the Image of his Son in the Saints and therefore has predestinated them to be conformable to the Image of his Son Rom. 8. 29. Christ indeed is the first-born but many Brethren are to follow Rom. 8. 29. to be added to the Lord as the Phrase is Acts 5. 14. God loves to see the number of his Children encreasing to see his Family enlarged Under this consideration Paul bows his Knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ of whom the whole Family in Heaven and Earth is named Ephes. 3. 14 15. With what reverence doth Paul draw nigh to this great Father I told you but now that God glories in Christ his first begotten Son you heard in what triumph the great Man Jesus Christ was brought into Heaven how God welcomed him to Glory so there is joy in Heaven at the Regeneration of a Sinner Angels rejoyce God rejoyces This day have I begotten such and such Oh that there might be Joy in Heaven upon this account this day that it might be noted down above that this and that Man were born here I will shew you the ground of this glorying of this great satisfaction that God hath in his Children Tho Christ be anointed above his fellows yet there is a great measure of anointing poured out upon the Saints the fulness of the Godhead is in none but Christ yet the fulness of God is in all the Saints Ephes. 3. 19. they are not shut out from any of the communicable Attributes of God but have their share of all that is in him according to their capacities as creatures Cast an empty Barrel into the Sea all the Sea is not in the Barrel but the Barrel is in all the Sea the Sea runs under it over it on every side of it Thus are we swallowed up in God. He comprehends us tho we cannot fully comprehend him we are in Christ according to his infinite capacity and therefore are perfectly justified by the infinite merit of his perfect Righteousness imputed to us But Christ is in us according to our finite weak capacities and therefore we are but imperfectly sanctified we have what we are able to receive and no more at present till our hearts are farther inlarged Thus you see what it is to be a Child of God how the fulness of God is bestowed upon us God glories in this And have not the Saints reason to glory in it also But alas how do Men please themselves with their Rich Relations Great Families they are Nobly descended But I must tell you all Nations are of one Blood and that is tainted too we are a Seed of evil-doers there is no Noble blood runs in your veins till you are born of God 't is Regeneration only that makes you the Sons and Daughters of the Most High then you are high born indeed To stir you up to a holy ambition after this new birth do but consider the Father of the Family the great God of Heaven and Earth blessed for ever the Father of Mercies and the God of all Comfort Consider Christ the Elder Brother of the Family Rom. 9. 5. He is over all God blessed for ever His Name is Wonderful Counsellor the Mighty God the Everlasting Father the Prince of Peace Isa. 9. 6 7. You see how the Dignity and Majesty of his Person is described 3. Consider the many priviledges that are intailed upon new-born Souls Heirs of God joynt heirs with Christ you are born to nothing but woe and misery till you are born again How should we long to be related to such a Father to such a Brother to such an Inheritance I insist the more upon this because I am perswaded discourses of your Heavenly Father must needs be very pleasing to you who are his Children whom should Children hear of with more delight than of their Father that begat them Be not cast down at any thing that offends you here below you have a Father in Heaven who takes care of you numbers the hairs of your heads will interest himself in your smallest concerns and see that all things shall work together for good to you We may notionally and according to the Letter speak what we read and hear of Regeneration and be little affected but when once the New Nature begins to stir when a Spirit of Adoption begins to breathe in us 't will carry us out by a secret instinct to God as to a Father Nature works powerfully we say Love descends more strongly than it ascends so 't is here God loves his Children better than they can love him this is love not that we love God tho there is a great strength in the natural Affection of ingenuous Children towards their Parents The truth is nothing does more enoble our Minds raise our spirits to a true Christian Magnanimity nothing does more uphold and encourage us in our way more strengthen our Faith and Hope in Prayer than lively Apprehensions of God as our Father in Christ Jesus see how Christ hangs upon this word Father in his Prayer Iohn 17. Father Father Oh Father Holy Father Oh Righteous Father we should eye nothing more in Prayer than our Relation to God as a Father How can an unregenerate man say Our Father which art in Heaven Alas thou hast never a Father in Heaven thou art a Child of Wrath a Child of the Devil Though some unregenerate Persons may be within the Election of God yet the Scripture speaks of them according to their present state calls them Aliens Strangers Foreigners Could we conceive aright of our Covenant-relation to God and keep our thoughts working upon it it would afford an Argument to us where all other Arguments fail as Isa. 63. 16. Doubtless thou art our Father it cannot be that our Heavenly Father should forget us a Mother may forget her Child but the Lord is gracious and full of Compassion Psal. 145. 8. There is a greater fulness of Compassion in our Heavenly Father than in our Natural Parents they can do and will do what God cannot do because he will not Since the Priviledges of the Children of God are so great how should we long to be born again to be born of spirit Joh. 3. 6. To be a new lump 1 Cor. 5. 7.
with many Temptations a regenerate Soul is aware of this and fears always But before we enter into this or that particular Temptation that we see coming towards us or have reason to suspect from the present circumstances we are under here a regenerate person watches and prays that he may not enter into that Temptation that God would some way or other divert the Temptation or fortify our hearts against it that we may repel it A Temptation may enter into us when we don't enter into it then it goes as it comes and makes little or no impression upon us when a Temptation shews it self to us at some distance the Seed of God in a regenerate Soul presently takes the alarm puts on the whole armour of God. Secondly Under the Temptation when the Flesh has betrayed the Soul into the hands of a Temptation has been tampering with it then does Grace struggle and fight and cry out unto God for help all this shews the activity of Grace in a way of righteousness how loth it is to be overcome of evil Thirdly After the Temptation when 't is ended or finished then it issues either in the commission of the Sin or conquest over the Temptation Grace shews it self both ways First After the commission of Sin what repentance what godly sorrow what shame what indignation what revenge Secondly After the conquest over the Temptation what rejoycing what thanksgiving what triumphing in the Grace of Christ So that you see here lies the manifest difference between the Children of God and of the Devil An unregenerate man cannot do righteousness his skill lies not that way he is wise indeed to do evil but to do good no knowledg he is a meer Bungler at a good work his hand is always out because his heart is never right with God. He may do what is materally good but always fails in the manner those spiritual Ingredients which the Gospel requires to a work truly holy are wanting Thirdly Whosoever believeth that Iesus is the Christ is born of God. And every spirit that confesses that Iesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God. They prove each other being inseparable The going forth of the Soul by Faith unto Christ as the anointed of the Lord sent and sealed by the Father to undertake the great work of Man's Redemption is a sure evidence of Regeneration All unregenerate men are strangers to Christ they know him not they desire him not they think they can shift well enough without him None know the Son of God but those who are born of God. When the Spirit comes into us then we confess that Christ is come in the flesh Christ conveys himself through our nature to our persons the Divine and Humane Nature must be first united before our persons can be admitted to any communion with him The Humane Nature of Christ is the foundation of all our Communion with God our access to God is through the veil of his flesh Being born of the Spirit we stand related to the Person of Christ he is not ashamed to call us Brethren we can then call God our Father as he is the Father of Christ our elder Brother God was the Father of Christ before his Incarnation and continues still to be so after his Incarnation not only to him but to all who are born of his Spirit The Spirit of Christ being the Spirit of him who is God and Man knows how to raise up a seed of godly men and women The Infinite Eternal Spirit of the Son of God being poured out without measure upon the Man Jesus Christ operates through both his Natures hypostatically united in his Divine Person in whom all the fulness of the Godhead dwells bodily without any diminution of its infinite excellencies and Divine properties from the assumption of our finite humane nature so the same Eternal Spirit of Christ dwelling in us in a lower way of union to our persons does act indeed Divinely but yet according to our finite capacities all intellectual acts are finite or infinite as the persons are that do them the Person of Christ being infinite so are his spiritual actings notwithstanding his finite nature as Man so the actings of the Spirit of God in the Saints are finite because their persons are so Actiones sunt suppositorum Actions are personal of greater or lesser degree of efficacy and power as the persons are that do them Faith in Christ Jesus being the birth of the Spirit must needs be an infallible mark of Regeneration the design of the Spirit of God in working Faith in us is to bring us to the knowledg of Christ and through him to the knowledg of God wherein consists our true happiness This is life eternal to know thee c. Faith is the beginning of Eternal Life in the Soul and the manner of conveying this Eternal Life from God unto our Souls is called Regeneration Thus you see how he that believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God. The next inquiry will be how Faith does this or how believing in Christ does work that universal change in the Soul which the Gospel calls Regeneration Tho the beginning or rather all the essentials of Regeneration are found in the first principle of Faith created in us by the Spirit of Christ yet this does not appear to us but by those lively operations of this Faith put forth by us We have an inward feeling of these operations the sense of which does lead us to some discerning of that spirit and principle from whence they flow 'T is actual Faith Iohn means in this Epistle therefore he joyns it with Confession he lays the Mark upon actual Faith for that only falls under our discerning God indeed sees the first seeds and principles of Grace but they are known to us only by the sense we have of their powerful actings in us and therefore I shall consider the regenerating Power of actual Faith and shew how it does discover that new birth that came in with a principle of Faith at first The Regenerating power of Faith both in the principle and in the act is very great it makes a marvellous change in us So strong are the impressions of Faith about Christ and our everlasting concernments in him that we must needs be much affected with the discovery which lies in two things 1. In a convicting knowledg of our sin and misery by Nature 2. In an astonishing discovery of God's Grace and mercy to us in Christ. The Spirit of God demonstrating both unto us with such clearness and evidence that we cannot but be persuaded of the truth of them in our own case and being so persuaded we must be concerned about them Faith draws in the attention of the mind to those things we believe in reference to our selves fixes our thoughts upon them dwells upon the consideration of them there is no evading the serious thoughts of Faith no getting them out of
are Born of God do thus live by Faith here below they consult not with Flesh and Blood their affections are suited to the apprehensions of their Faith they are filled with Joy unspeakable and full of Glory by believing they see good days a coming when all Tears shall be wiped from their Eyes they wait patiently till then rejoycing in the hope of the Glory of God. Till we get into this frame walking in the evidence of things not seen we shall never overcome the World for the things that are seen conceive them in what shape or posture you please have their emptiness and vanity in them will never satisfy they are but finite and temporal the present Fashion of this World be it what it will passes away into something else while we are a beholding it all things here below moulder and crumble away in our hands perish in the using are always the worse for wearing which shews they cannot last long when they are in their best state they are altogether vanity the highest degree of Perfection in the Creature tends to corruption and indeed disposes to it 't is as Natural to Die as to be Born there is an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a turning point that stops the further growth of the Creature and makes it to decline ever after till its fading Glory be quite extinguish'd therefore labour not for the meat that perishes but for that which nourishes unto Everlasting Life Till we come to Live upon Eternal unseen things we live but meanly in the midst of our Earthly sufficiencies we are in straights still wanting something till Christ be ours and then all is ours There is no room left then for any further designs in him we have plenary satisfaction and perfect rest we shall never have true hearts ease till then But the difficulty lies in bringing over our hearts to this Newness of Life to this Noble Life of Faith that fetches all its Comforts from Heaven casting up its anchor within the Vail which is sure and stedfast Flesh and Blood cannot do this there is nothing in Nature that disposes us to it therefore we must be born again be made New Creatures before we shall favour the things of heaven and such is the power of Religion upon the minds of men where it is in truth that it always works this change in them they find it and feel it in themselves Whether it be so with us whether we have any certain experience of such a thing in our own Souls we should do well to consider that even upon our knees and give God no rest day nor night till we see some better symptoms of Eternal Life in our selves we may judge of our life whether it be Eternal or no by the things we live in and live upon they who are of the Earth are Earthly they who are born from above are heavenly to be carnally mindedis death but to be Spiritually minded is life and peace The inward frame of the mind discovers what kind of Creatures we are whether old or new flesh or spirit the issues of life are from the Heart as the pulse of your Souls beats upwards or downwards so you may judge of your state as you find your selves most concerned in things above or things below till you have got above the world and have overcome it you are not born again Fifthly Every one that loveth is born of God and knoweth God. That which is intended here is First Love to the Saints as such Unfeigned love of the Brethren is a sign of a pure heart and that we are indeed born again Secondly Love to all men 't is due to all Owe no man any thing but love that we owe to all every man may challenge it every man is our Neighbour in that sense to be the object of our Love we must extend it to our very Enemies 't is the fulfilling of the Law the duty of man to man prescribed in the Second Table cannot be performed without it Love is above all Illumination and Knowledge a more sure mark of Regeneration He that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God and God in him Love is one of the communicable Attributes of God shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost we are followers of God when we walk in love Common Professors have some love one to another but if you trace it up to its original you 'll find it a selfish mercenary love in which they rather respect themselves than Christ 't is not for his sake but for some outward respects of relation neighbourhood or usefulness in the common concerns of this life it may be for their agreement in opinion about some lower matters of Religion this is but the friendship of the World and may be consistent with real enmity against God and good men as such but perfect love i. e. real sincere Christian Love is for God's sake because he has so loved us and given us a new Command to love one another There is no true love among men till we are born again He exhorts those who have put off the old man and are renewed in spirit to put away all bitterness wrath c. Before Regeneration we are foolish disobedient living in malice and envy hatesul and hating one another Biting devâ—uring consuming one another It looks rather like a description of Wild Beasts than men so savage and fierce are we by nature nothing but a spirit of Regeneration will sweeten and mollify the hearts of men that which unites us to Christ unites us one to another we are all one in Christ but we shall never be all one among our selves till we are united to Christ then the Peace of God rules in our hearts to which we are called in one body There is no true good nature among men but what flows from Grace Sin hath so poysoned and sowred man's Nature that till that Serpentine Venom be purged out and a better Spirit be put into us there will be little harmony or concord among men Having put on the new man put on therefore as the elect of God c. Vide Loc. Were this mark of Regeneration more visible in our days it would be a token for good of a more effectual work of the Gospel among us than for ought I see does yet appear Hatred variance c. are reckoned up among the Works of the Flesh as directly opposite to the Fruits of the Spirit I will shew how this loving disposition arises out of Regeneration that the fundamental ground of it is our conformity to Christ which necessarily follows upon our Regeneration Christ is the express Image of his Father the Saints are in their finite capacities the express Image of Christ in whom they see the Father who as God is one with the Son whilst they behold the Son as God-man they see their humane Nature hypostatically united to the Divine they see their humane persons
thou requirest of me so Paul Oh that God would so manifest himself to every one of your hearts this day that he would shew himself come up close to you look you in the face and say I am Jesus you could not withstand this mighty presence of God in Christ Jesus O speak Lord 't is but thy saying to each of us I am Jesus and we shall all be made to know the Lord from the least to the greatest I hope the quickning voice of the Son of God is now sounding in the Ears of your Faith while I am speaking to you and that you do receive the Word not as the word of Man but as it is indeed the Word of God quick and powerful sharper than a two-edged Sword in every one of your hearts The knowledge of the Truth as 't is in Jesus Eph. 4. 21. is one thing and the knowledge of the Truth as 't is in Ink and Paper is another they are the same Truths but as they are in the Scriptures they lie in the dead Letter as they are in Christ they are seen in their living root and principle from whence they spring meer Scriptural Knowledge is but Historical we look upon the things we read and hear rather as notions than realities till God fills up all expressions of Scripture concerning himself with a Divine Presence answerable thereunto we believe nothing that is said of him but such a presence of God in his Word captivates our hearts to the belief of it we must believe him to be such a God as the Word declares him to be before we shall count all his sayings true we must fetch strength from the name of God Rev. 2. 13. to support our Faith in all its actings upon any part of his revealed will and we never deny any Truth plainly revealed but we deny his name Rev. 3. 8. and question his Attributes some Truths bare more upon one Attribute some more upon another but all are founded in God and in the essential properties of his Nature from whence they have their verification and accomplishment so that till God appear and shew himself to the Soul all that is said to us out of the Scriptures in the name of an unknown God affects us not because it wants that which is the ground of its Credibility no man can say that Jesus is the Lord but by the Spirit 1 Cor. 12. 3. he cannot say so and think so he cannot say so and believe what he says till the Father reveal his Son in him Paul by the Light of that Revelation of Christ in him knew all Gospel Mysteries and without such an inward spiritual manifestation of God to our Souls giving us a sight of him who is invisible 't is impossible we should ever be throughly convinced of the Divinity of the Scriptures all Divinity springs from God leads to him nay it looks him directly in the Face and can't be considered apart from him there is but one God and one Faith God must be in the view of our Faith whensoever we really act it Neither can we have that inward testimony of the Spirit convincing us of the Divine Authority of the Scriptures without this special Appearance of God in the Soul as a witness to the Truth of his Word While we are hearing the Word God has invisible wayes of access to our hearts he conveys himself through his Truth to our Souls his Divinity leads the way without some appearance of this the contents of the Word would have no place in our hearts but coming with so great a presence in so great a name and with so strong an impression God himself writing them upon the heart we cannot but receive his Testimony the Word comes into our Hearts suddenly before we are aware and seises them for God we cannot but think speak act and judge as God does the sense of the Word is the sense of our Souls so far as the Word is written in our hearts we read it without the least variation the Copy answers the Original Hence arises that habitual disposition or inclination to believe God creates this new heart I say this infused habit or principle of faith is antecedent to all acts of faith put forth by us and is in it self the sole act of God upon us in our first Conversion it is from this supernatural principle thus infused that the natural powers and faculties of the Soul of Man viz. the Understanding and the Will are enabled to take in things purely Spiritual and Divine Nature never acts above its sphere those inbred common Notions that are the Standards and Measures of Natural Truths in all their consequences will never lead us to grant or admit that which is supernatural when we do this 't is always from some higher Principle when we see men acting above themselves we may conclude they are acted by something higher than themselves which is the Spirit of Christ dwelling in them This special Appearance of God with those inward effects of it upon the Soul which I have been speaking of may be known to Believers they discern it in others Acts 11. 17 18. and do when they give a true reason of their faith see it in themselves that all springs from the Fathers revealing his Son in them they can give no other reason why they believe in Jesus 't is God that opens the door of Faith and makes it effectual Acts 14. 27. We are apt to be taken with any appearance of Man in a Sermon this we look after what words of Mans Wisdom how Man acquits himself in reasoning of this or that Point 'T is true there is some skill required in Planting and Watering but all the encrease comes from God your Faith consists not in the Wisdom of Man but in the power of God if God himself do not appear as a witness to his own Truth as the great undertaker of all that he has promised what we say will prevail little your faith must terminate in God himself and in that Ability that is in him to perform his word this was the ground of Abrahams faith Paul knew him whom he believed 2 Tim. 1. 12. and so must you if ever you believe to the saving of your Souls Did you go out of the Congregation after every Sermon you hear under a sight and sense of this appearance of God in his Word speaking to you from Heaven and shewing himself to your souls in some spiritual resemblance suited and adapted to that Word you are hearing how could you reject such a Word so full of God so exactly corresponding to what you see in God himself you must yield and cry out each of you who am I that I should withstand God This is the first way that God takes to work Faith in us by our hearing the Word Preached to us Secondly Faith is wrought by opening the heart enlightning the mind and perswading the will to a through closure with Christ upon Gospel Terms
our Understandings and Knowledge he hath appointed Faith as a fit means by which the soul not only doth the thing but also le ts in a sense of what is done upon the soul and therefore saith the Apostle it is of faith that it might be of grace God will be understood in all the acts of his Grace towards us Now that there might be in us a sense of reception of so great a benefit God resolves to put it into the hand of Faith which hath a natural sutableness in it and fitness to receive what free Grace tenders to it and so it doth when it is in any strength Christ and our Souls would never meet were it not for Faith. There is no letting down any thing spiritual and supernatural into the soul but by Faith Faith is our modus habendi it is the way the means by which we come to have God and Christ and an Interest in the things of Heaven We have what we have from Christ by Faith and we hold it by Faith. Faith and Repentance as acted by us and reflected upon are very good Evidences of our Justifications for it is in that reflection only that they do give evidence of themselves and of any thing produced from them Therefore I say as they are reflected upon they have retrospection to our Justification of which they are very good and evident proofs but they have no antecedent causality to produce the thing signified because they signifie it as a thing already done past and perfect 3. And lastly Justification is frequently set down in Scripture without any relation to these acts of Grace in us to shew that it wholly flowes from Christ and that by our believing we add nothing to our Justifying Righteousness but do only apply it as wholly derived from Christ alone 1 Ioh. 5. 12. He that hath the Son hath life they that are in Christ there is no Condemnation to them Rom. 8. 1. Now because we cannot admit sinners to be in Christ but by faith therefore what flows from Christ is attributed unto faith which is I say our modus habendi but still the real cause of our Justification that which makes us just in the sight of God is our being in Christ and our having the Son. There is no mention made of having any thing else but faith is our modus habendi we cannot have the Son but by faith nor be in Christ but by Believing Therefore God speaks to our Understanding and hath attributed that to the act of faith which is only derivable from the Object I shall now shew you the weakness of those grounds and reasons they go upon who differ from us in this point 1. They speak much of a Charge of Infidelity Impenitency and Unholiness to be drawn up against us at the last day and therefore it concerns us to muster up all our good works all our acts of Grace and every part of our inherent Righteousness that we may be in a readiness to answer to this Charge and clear our selves A specious Argument enough to amuse the World and fright men back into the Popish Doctrine of Justification by Works Brethren I do not deny that unbelieving impenitent and ungodly Persons shall be charged with infidelity impenitency and ungodliness and be condemned but to talk of a charge of Infidelity against a Believer at the last day I say it is a groundless unscriptural Notion I do not deny that the faith of the Saints that draws them to Christ and its efficacy afterwards in all its fruits will be taken notice of by Christ when they are admitted into the Kingdom Mat. 25. 34. Come ye blessed and when that blessedness is fixed Christ doth not put them upon the proof of their faith but helps them himself to understand the former actings of their faith and love to God which they were ignorant of before When saw we thee an hungred and fed thee or thirsty and gave thee drink c. In as much as ye have done it to one of the least of these ye have done it to me I see more Grace in you saith Christ than ever you saw in your selves so and so appearing in your lives Come ye blessed Brethren Good Works are good Evidences to us to make out the Truth of Grace in us but the All-knowing God needs no such Evidences for his Information he knows what is in man and needs not that any should tell him He searches the Heart Though we see Grace only in the Fruit yet God sees it in the Root and Principle Besides I conceive the last Judgment is not to prove who is and who is not in a state of Grace but rather to pronounce the Sentence according to the state that every one shall appear in at the Resurrection There will be no doubting of any mans state at the Resurrection the method and manner of the Resurrection will decide it Christ himself will separate the Sheep from the Goats and he will do this before the Judgement Mat. 25. 32 33. You shall know a Believer then by his Station at the right hand of Christ by his Company among the Sheep The Angels are sent forth Mat. 24. 31. to gather up the Elect from the four Winds from the one end of Heaven to the other They will ransack every corner of the World to find out every Saint not only the Ninety and Nine but the whole Hundred shall be presented to God not one missing we shall all stand together Now after they are thus ranked by Christ and the Angels have declared them to be Sheep to be true Believers must they come under a charge of infidelity Who must draw up this charge and manage this false Indictment Either God or good Angels or Conscience or the Devil God he hath justified them here sealed them by the Spirit of Adoption to the day of Redemption and he will never reverse his judgment The judgment of God at the last day will be pursuant to the judgment already past by his Word and Spirit in the Hearts and Consciences of Believers here Good Angels are imployed to gather up the Elect and consequently they have a true discerning who they are Our Consciences are sprinkled with the Blood of Jesus and have an answer in readiness by the Resurrection of Christ from the dead And the Devil will have something else to do in that day when he stands at the head of the wicked to receive his sentence with them the time of his torment being then come Though he be now the accuser of the brethren day and night before God he must then Eternally be cast down True he is now our accuser and we must labour to overcome him by the Blood of the Lamb as Rev. 12. 10 11. that is by Arguments drawn from the Blood of Jesus yet I say fear him not after death The last enemy that shall be destroyed is Death saith the Apostle and must we have an after rancounter with