they believe it that if they do such and such things which are not made the condition of pardon by God for going such a pilgrimage for taking such a penance c. they shall have their sins pardoned for so long a time And wherein doth Justification consist so much as in pardon of sin Therefore they seek Justification by Works even by inventions of their own which is worse then by Works commanded Now that which is so gross amongst them may be as truly though more refinedly amongst our selves I have now done with the two first particulars in the Conviction I shall onely now recollect what I have said and proved that so I may borrow some strength for what follows and so proceed Is it so then that all mankind is so exceeding apt to seek Justification by Works And is it such an hidden and unsearchable evil of heart that we cannot easily know it it hath so many self-deceits and runs through so many contradictions Doth it lie in opinion of Merit yet is Merit so generally disowned and yet so many real votaries to it What need then have we to search and try if we are not guilty in this particular and how far we may possibly be guilty For though we have found out the very notion in which it must lie viz. The Opinion of Merit yet this will not serve usually to find it out by for who of us doth not renounce Merits and yet who of us if the foregoing assertions be true is not addicted to Legality I shall come therefore to some other ways of discovery of this evil distemper of heart some marks and signs of it some effects which discover their cause though never so occult and hidden before And this is the third particular in the Conviction which I promised The first was to discover that there are such men as seek Justification by Works The second was to discover wherein their Legality lies And this third to discover by some signs where this Legality is to be found either in a predominancy or in any less degree Now for the discharge of this last part of my Work in the Conviction The third thing in the Conviction viz. the Characters I shall first premise two things and then come to the Characters The first is this That all men in the world are either prophane and Atheistical or else in some way or other Religious as for those that are prophane and atheistical I have nothing to do with them in this Discourse for that they have nothing to do with Justification who make no pursuit after it at all The second observation that I would premise is this That as for the Religious World those that treat with God after any sort for their salvation they are all reducible to one of these two sorts they are either Legal or Evangelical in their service and obedience for there being but two wayes of Justification either in the Scripture or imaginable by us by unerring obedience and meriting or by the way of mercy which accepts an humble sincerity I say there being onely these two ways all that seek Justification must be of one of these two ways and hence I would infer that where-ever we find in Scripture any two ways of serving God that have followers and abettors being two opposite ways whereof one is good and acceptable the other evil and displeasing to God there are these two ways of Legal and Evangelical service and the Characters of the good way may be referred to the head of Evangelical the Characters of the bad unto the head of Legal Worshippers Or if we cannot make a clear reference of every miscarriage in Religion unto legallity yet this I dare affirm and shall prove That the distinction of Legal and Evangelical Worshippers or of such as are fleshly and such as are spiritual in the Worship of God is very ancient nay as ancient as all Antiquity so that throughout all ages in the Scripture and in our own age in undeniable experience there may be traced these two sorts of religious persons and that by Characters that are visibly Legalor Evangelical And whatever be the infinite perty differences of Sects in any age or place yet all men professing Religion may be reduced to these two classes or sorts of Legal and Evangelical Worshippers and these are the great things that are to be minded in them if you find that they are spiritual Worshippers pass by their petty differences if they are fleshly be not deceived by that fair shew which they make in the flesh for the Antiquity and continual suceession of these two sorts of Worshippers and that as they include all sorts of Religious persons see one Scripture then I come to the Characters it is in Gal. 4.29 But as then that is in Abraham's time he of the one side that was born after the flesh the son of the Bond-woman Hagar the Son of a Covenant of Works perseâ—nted him on the other side that was born after the Spirit that is the true Son of the Promise the Evangelical Worshipper so it is now As it was in the beginning so it is and ever wil be to the end of the World two sorts of Worshippers which two sorts all Religious persons may be referred unto If it were proper to enlarge upon this observation I could give more ample proof of it Now for the Characters 1 It is a 〈◊〉 way which â—e joiceth and glorieth in external priviledges and performances The proof that the legal way is an external fleshly way the first shall be this They that are for a Covenant of Works for the Law are much and chiefly for external services this I have partly touched before but I have a very fair occasion to speak to it here again and I dare promise the Reader to free him from the trouble of needless repetition I say those that are under predominant Legality in treating with God for their justification and acceptation they are chiefly for external services in their Worship and expressions of their obedience unto God This the Apostle calls flesh or a fleshly outward way of serving God in Phil. 3.2 3. the Apostle speaks home to this Character I will give you saith the Apostle in the first ver some SAFE advice and counsel what sort and party of men you should avoid and what sort you should close with Ver. 2. Beware of Dogs beware of evil workers beware of that evil sort of Worshippers that are in the sight of God no better then Dogs and not children Now who are they Why the concision 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 By the Concision is usually understood the Circumcision or legal Jew that gloryed in his Circumcision here called the Concision by an Ironical Paronomasia alluding to the Factions and Schisms which they made every where Beware of these saith the Apostle and do not receive them nor adher to them for we are the Circumcision that is the true Children of
Abraham which worship God in the SPIRIT in a true SPIRITUAL way of Worship and rejoice in Christ Jesus and have no considence in the flesh which they the legal Worshippers have they are fieshly we are after the Spirit and worship God in the Spirit They have considence in the flesh we have none Now what is this confidence in the flesh which the Concision the Dogs and evil Workers had but the true Worshippers had not This the Apostle explains at large in the 4 5 and 6. verses For saith he if any other man thinketh that he hath whereof he might TRUST in the FLESH I more What is that of the Flesh wherein he might glory if he would He tells us ver 5. I was circumcised the eighth day of the stock of Israel of the Tribe of Benjamin an Hebrew of the Hebrews as touching the Law a Pharisee or blameless so iâ— follows ver 9. as touching the righteousness which is in the Law blameless that is as touching the letter of the law Moral or Ceremonial This is the matter of fleshly glorying or boasting which you see is made up either of external Rites and Priviledges or the external obedience to the moral law That which he calls flesh is an external thing Now that fleshly and legal are Synonymous or words importing the same thing and so used by the Apostle is not onely clear in this Scripture but in other Scriptures for instance Gal. 3.3 Are ye so foolish having begun in the Spirit that is a Gospel-way are ye now made perfect by the flesh that is will ye end in a legal that is a fleshly way Fleshly and Legal are all one Now the way of the Flesh is an external way made up of outward Rites Ceremonies Priviledges and Performances therefore a legal way is a way in which men please themselves with external Priviledges and Performances I shewed before that those that are addicted to the way of works durst not pretend to an universal conformity to the law in a strict sense of it and yet do seek to be justified by Works therefore they must have some Works to glory in and to uphold their Spirits in a confidence of Divine acceptance Now therefore what can these Works be other then external conformities to the ceremonial or moral law and these ceremonies either as given by God or else superstiously invented by themselves I shall now a little further exemplifie what I then asserted and that by some assistance from the second thing premised in shewing that in all times the evil sort of Worshippers which because they are not Evangelical must be legal have done and do exceedingly please themselves in external Priviledges and Performances in doing which I shall avoid useless repetitions We find The first external priviledge which the Iews gloried in that the Jews who were as well to be condemned for Legality before the dayes of the Gospel as under it there having been always a fleshly and spiritual Seed were exceedingly taken with their being circumcised and of the Seed of Abraham and made a peculiar people to God in the Lump and Body of the Nation which did not hinder at all but for particular persons they might be wicked enough strangers to God and heirs of wrath Thus the Jews as Jews scorned the Gentiles called them Dogs and the sinners of the Gentiles or Nations whereas to be Jews born was nothing but an external Priviledge And therefore the Apostle when he comes to convince them of this folly and vain fleshly boasting he makes no more ado but to cut them off from this stump that they stood upon by that great distinction so frequent in his Epistles of Israel according to the flesh and the true Israel or the true Seed according to the Promise that is Believers All are not Israel that are of Israel saith he and he is not a Jew that is one outwardly neither is that Circumcision which is outward in the flesh but he is a Jew which is one inwardly and Circumcision is that of the heart in the Spirit and not in the Letter whose praise is not of men but of God Rom. 2.28 29. Now that which amongst us may answer to such a fleshly boast as this was of the Jews for I chiefly aim at the usefulness of this Doctrine to our selves may be this viz the Name of Christians and the general Baptism that all amongst us can pretend unto Though this cannot be accounted so great a Priviledge to us now that Christendom is so large as Circumcision and being natural or proselyted Jews was to them who were a single Nation chosen for a peculiar people to God out of all the Nations of the World I come therefore to some other things They gloried also very much in their Temple The second external priviledge the â—â—ws gloried in there is an eminent place amongst many for this Jer. 7.4 Trust ye not in lying words saying The Temple of the Lord the Temple of the Lord the Temple of the Lord are THESE that is THESE BUILDINGS THESE COURTS pointing as it were with their singer at the Buildings of the Temple as much as if they had said See! we have the Temple of the Lord with us and his Worship and Service amongst us and therefore no evil can come to us whatever these Fanatick Prophets threaten us with Now see what a strange infatuation and besottednesse these men were under for they were as wicked as men could be by oppression and blood-guiltiness yea Idolatry it self as you may see in ver 10. Will ye steal murder and commit Adultrey and swear falsly and burn incense unto Baal and walk after other Gods whom ye know not and come and stand before me in this House which is called by my Name and say we are delivered to do all these abominations It this House which is called by my Name become a Den of Robbers in your eyes Behold even I have seen it saith the Lord. Here is a crew of Legal-Worshippers of Carnal-Worshippers that certainly could not pretend to Justification by the strict Law of God yet trusted in the Temple and Temple-Worship ver 8. Behold ye trust in lying words that cannot profit and what those words are you have seen in ver 4. Trust ye not in lying words saying the Temple of the Lord c. No saith the Lord. ver 3. Amend your wayes and your doings and I will cause you to dwell in this place Here is Mercy Grace Pardon here they are put upon the way of believing ver 5 6. For if ye throughly amend your wayes and your doings and if ye throughly execute judgement between a man and his Neighbour if ye oppress not the stranger then will I cause you to dwell in this Land that I gave to your Fathers for ever and ever But else never think that the Temple or Temple Worship can save you or deliver you Ver. 12. Go to Shiloh go unto my place which was in Shiloh
principle shall be onely an humble love and gratitude and the action shall be a true useful and ingenious action wherein some real service shall be done for God I shall give an instance in the Apostle Paul in that place last mentioned 1 Cor. 9.17 18. a place where you have the Apostle doing two things one of necessity that had a wo upon it if he did it not so that whether he did it willingly or unwillingly he must do it and that was the preaching the Gospel the other purely voluntary and so free lest him that he might have done the contrary to what he did and not have sinned at all and that was as to his maintenance for preaching he might have expected from them that they should maintain him but he would not he would maintain himself and this he took such comfort in that he calls this his glorying as I take it and he would rather dye then that any man should make this his glorying void Now the principle of this his action was not Legal as if he thought by this to lay some obligation upon God or his Lord Christ Jesus for he knew that he was so far obliged to the Lord for his mercies that he could never lay an obligation upon God The principle therefore was onely this of gratitude and nobleness he had such a good Master that he could never do enough for and therefore when he had sent him to preach the Gospel which he must unavoidably do the Apostle spyed out an opportunity of doing his duty herein more effectually and that was if he would preach the Gospel upon free-cost though he was allowed by his Master to have demanded a reward and now spying out this how he might do an eminent service which yet was a free-will offering he catches at it and will rather dye then let go this opportunity Ver. 5. It were better for me to dye then that any man should make my glorying void upon which take this paraphrase of a learned Commentator I have preached the Gospel on free-cost and would rather choose to famish by doing so then be deprived of this way of advancing the Gospel and I would not for all the world lose this comfors and joy that I have preached to you without receiving any thing from you Here you see at the same time the Apostle can act from a principle of necessity and also of voluntariness or nobleness he preaches the Gospel from the consideration of a necessity and he takes nothing for his preaching out of a principle of nobleness and yet this second service is a real service and advantage to the Gospel not such a foolish thing as for men to whip themselves or to offer to the shrine of some Saint or to say such a tale of Pater nosters c. That therefore is another Christian Principle in acting for God viz. Gratitude and Nobleness I shall onely mention one more and it is this When one hath been used to serve God The last and highest principle of action is from the excellency of the work it self the wayes of God are so good in themselves that a man will find a great sweetness and satisfaction in them that they are the onely ways that perfect a mans nature they are the only ways that are rational he shall more and more see every sin to be a gross absurdity according to that Scriptuture Heb. 5.14 Strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age even those who by reason of use have their sences exercised to discern good and evil And believe it this is an high attainment to have a sense of what is good and excellent and of what is evil and base and to love the first and hate the latter for it self this is certainly the very love and hatred that God himself hath Now though I have allowed that there are these three Gospel-principles of Love and Gratitude Nobleness and Generosity loving and hating things for their own desert which men may arrive at yet I dare not speak a light word of the three first principles mentioned especially of that first viz. of serving God as our Creator which I think wil be an everlasting principle of service after we have received the fullest reward And for those principles of acting in hope of the reward and to avoid Hell I say first as before that they are good and warrantable nay Evangelical principles of action and therefore cannot simply considered be reckoned for legal principles yet perhaps I might say this in agreement with those that make them characters of a legal spirit that if they could be discovered in any person to be the onely principle of action as in Ahab and Pharoah the avoiding the Judgements that they were sensible of to hang over them were visibly the onely motives of their religious acts that person might be adjudged legal But of this more when I come to speak of a Spirit of Bondage which is the next Scripture-Character that I shall give of a Legal Spirit Onely in the mean time I reckon that I have evinced that taking it in the general without that distinctness in which we are to proceed so it is not a sufficient argument nor any argument at all of a Legal Spirit to act towards God for fear of punishment or in hope of the reward I come now to a third Character of a Legal Spirit The third Character of a Legal Spirit and it is this To be under a Spirit of Bondage is an argument of a Legal Spirit That this is an Argument or Character of a Legal Spirit first let us see some Scripture-proof and then I shall come to shew what a Spirit of Bondage is Now for Scripture-proof I think there is no Character of a Legal Spirit plainer in the Scripture then this I reckon indeed that the first viz. That it is external and fleshly in the serâ—ice of God was a plain Scripture-Character but I think this is rather plainer in Gal. 4.22 23. For it is written that Abraham had two sons the one by a bond-maid the other by a free-woman but he who was of the bond-woman was born after the FLESH but he of the free-woman was by promise which things are an Allegory for these are the two Covenants The one from Mount Sinai which gendreth to bondage which is Hagar This is the Law-Covenant Ergo Legalists are under a spirit of Bondage and they that are predominantly or properly said to be under a spirit of Bondage are Legalists the Proposition is convertible by reason that a spirit of Bondage is a property of a Legal spirit Again for a little more Scripture-proof 1. 'T is proved from its contrary the spirit which is contrary to a spirit of Bondage is a spirit of Adoption or Son-ship 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 now this Spirit of Adoption is a peculiar priviledge of the Gospel therefore the spirit of Bondage must belong to the Law Rom. 8.15 For ye have not received the
sons a spirit of adoption Having made the spirit of bondage a Character and given you the distinctions upon it I shal briefly shew the inseparable connexion that there is between a legal spirit and it and the very reason how it comes to pass The inseperable connexion between a spirit of bondage and a legal spirit And indeed it must needs be that a legal spirit should be attended with fear and terror for his very way of serving God leads him into it He goes to serve God and to procure acceptance with him by the Works of the Law now the Law as I have shew nis of that nature that it cannot justifie but where there is perfect unerring obedience and therefore to all that seek justification by it and are not surnished with this obedience it can onely prove a Ministration of death terror and desperation So that let the Legallist fancy what he pleaseth at first when he enters upon his way as perhaps he may think to please God and satisfie his own Conscience with offering up some external services either ceremonious or moral and never pretend to keep the whole law and so not to seek justification in the true and proper way that the Law is to justifie yet he shall find himself first reputed and reckoned amongst those that seek Justification by the Law as the Galatians were who yet did not pretend to the proper righteousness of the Law and then he shall find in the next place that because of the imperfection of his obedience the Law is too weak to justifie him and yet it will still shew him his duty and press him to the doing of it and it will discover his defects and sins and the wrath due for them but to allow strength for the fulfilling it self or to procure pardon for any breach of it this it cannot do and so all the effects of the Law upon the Legallist can be only to lash sting and vex him which must needs sill his soul with horror and dread of that God whom hee serves Now I shall not undertake to shew on the contrary how the very nature of the gospel-way must needs produce peace and an holy boldness and confidence in the sight of God though I might shew that out of the very way it self these things would seem to spring or at least that it is very agreeable and suitable to the gospel-way of treating God that it should be accompanied with peace joy and holy boldness in the presence of God for if the great and holy God wil admit any sinful creatures whilst they remain in part sinful into fellowship and holy boldness with himself who can they be other then those that renounce all love to sin abhor themselves by reason of sin and cast themselves for pardon and salvation purely upon his mercy and grace All which I have shewn to be essential to the Evangelical or gospel-way the way of faith and grace which I am contending for Besides we know the gospel way of serving God receives a denomination from faith it is called the way of Faith They that are OF FAITH are blessed with faithful Abraham Gal. 3.9 Now if this way hath so much of faith in it which we know hath affiance in its notion that Faith should deserve to give name to this way as it doth then certainly this way cannot want an holy boldness and confidence in it But instead of insisting upon this way of proof from the very nature and constitution of the Gospel I shall content my self with a few more Scripture-proofs besides what I first mentioned in the entrance of this Character to shew that peace joy and holy boldness in the presence of God are great effects of a Gospel-way of serving God Gal. 5.22 The fruit of the SPIRIT is love joy peace c. By the spirit is meant either the gospel or the holy ghost which is conveighed by it or that better part which is within us called so in opposition to the Flesh or if you will all three and then the sense is this The Spiritual or New-nature within us brought forth by the Holy Ghost in the preaching of the Gospel hath such fruits as these Love Joy Peace c. So Rom. 14.17 The Kingdom of God that is the Gospel where it comes in power is not meat and drink that is it consists not of these chiefly if at all but it is righteousness and peace and joy in the holy Ghost these are the great designs and effects of the Gospel And we know that the Gospel is the great ministration of the Spirit who is given in the Gospel as a Comforter as an earnest of the inheritance as an Advocate within us teaching us to cry Abba Father It were endless to give all the places which make for the proof of this proposition that the Gospel hath great joys and comforts attending it and that the opposite way to it of serving God which is by the Law can have no such thing If it should be here objected that it 's strange Obj. if the Gospel-way be so full of comfort and boly boldness in the presence of God so attended with the Spirit of Adoption as you have declared that there should be so many sad drooping desponding Saints as there are that though they live holily and we cannot but think they are good men yet are not acquainted with any of those comforts durst not call God Father are full of fears and doubts touching the favour of God towards them c. I confess that this is a considerable objection Ans But I must answer it much after the same manner as I discoursed upon that which I might have made the third character viz. that a Gospel-Spirit was vigorous quick and lively in the service of God that a Legal-spirit was weak sluggish and unactive For I meet with the same kind of Christians in this Objection that then I met with who durst not be tried by that character First of all therefore I acknowledge there are many sad souls whom I cannot but think to be godly and true Gospel-saints and so much I acknowledged in giving the second distinction 〈◊〉 this character But Secondly I dare say the Gospel hath comforts for them if they could but receive them which yet the Law hath not in it for the Legallists no the Law is full charged with wrath against them and did they but fully understand what infinite treasures of wrath the Law contains in it self for them there is never a Legallist in the world but would be fuller of horror and desperation than were Cain or Judas Thirdly Setting aside what may be of extraordinary dispensation in the troubles of some Saints I think it 's generally their own fault that they have no more comfort and considence than they have God would have us rejoice Rejoice is the Lord alwaies and again I say rejoice Phil. 4.4 Rejoice evermore 1 Thes 5.16 The Gospel would have us rejoice
and from the same person sick he expects not the same that he doth from him when he is in health nor from a married man the same as to acts of devotion that he doth from the unmarried Person 1 Cor. 7.32.33 Now this I dare not let pass without these cautions 1. That I have delivered this onely for the comfort of those that are apt to accuse and censure themselves unreasonably not for any loose-principled people who are ready to say They do all they can and God is merciful 2. That this Doctrine that God proceeds according to the proportions of talents entrusted with us is not more comfortable to some than terrible to others You that have great parts and great opportunities cannot be saved with the same improvements that others may if he that had five talents had brought in but six or seven to his Master he could no more have entred into the joy of his Lord then he that laid up his one talent in a Napkin Matt. 25.20 21. Or at least he should enter difficultly and with great loss 1 Cor. 3.15 Now as there may be these unreasonable fears and doubts about their ESTATE in the hearts of the Saints which is so much of a spirit of bondage for that all unreasonable fears of God are the effects and univocal proper productions of a spirit of bondage I say as there may be these fears as to their state and condition so there may be as to PARTICULAR ACTIONS an absurd fear that we may not do them and a guilt after we have done them when indeed they were lawful to be done which usually argues a spirit of bondage and so a legal spirit in these actions Yet I will acknowledge that to do actions though lawful with a doubting mind makes them sins and may justly affect us with a guiltiness But many times one does an action freely and without doubting and afterwards with a scrupulosity reflects upon the action and then hath a fear and a guilt Now I say if this action upon which we reflect thus was a lawful action then is our guilt and fear which we have impressed upon us an argument of Legality or a Spirit of Bondage for the reason above given But yet there is something more to be said as to the clearing of this matter for I will not dare to call all cautious wary proceeding in searchingout what may or may not be the wil of God and my duty in such or such an action to call call this Legality and the effect of a spirit of bondage God forbid this were Doctrine for a Ranter to vent not for any sober person But this is that which I affirm That we ought to enquire faithfully and seriously what may be our duty and what may be our liberty in such or such an action before we adventure upon it and if we cannot understand such a thing to be our liberty as for instance to take usury-money to take an oath c. we ought not to do it but yet I say and that is the chief thing I intend in this particular that if we determine against our own liberty it not onely argues a weakness of judgement but usually a spirit of bondage for that our very determination proceeds from a false opinion and an over-timorous apprehension of God We think that he will not allow his servants such liberties as indeed he doth we think him an hard Master as it is Matth. 24.25 There are some men whom I dare not but think good men that yet think a Christian a Saint of God should be so exact so circumspect in things that are of no consideration so superstitious I may say in gestures habits language as if a Christian when once such were not to converse with other men but must go out of the world as the Apostles phrase is speaking in such a case as this 1 Cor. 5.9 10. And these men I make no doubt have done much prejudice to Religion by their great reservedness and narrowness of principles which I shall take liberty here to call Legality and a spirit of bondage for that it usually proceeds from a wrong apprehension of God as if he were hard and austere and cruel to his creatures And this narrowness of spirit and scrupulosity hath been a common and powerful principle in people so long till at last it hath issued out in a party and faction amongst us and it is as I conceive one of the most considerable ingredients in their Religion whom we call Quakers I have done with this third Character I come now to a fourth which is this A Legal spirit is a persecuting spirit and that especially of those that are the true Gospel-Saints and Worshippers of God I shall presently give my Scripture for this it is in Gal. 4.28 29. Now we Brethren as Isaac was are children of the promise but as then he that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the spirit even so it is now He that is born after the flesh was the son of the Bond woman from Mount Sinai for justification by works as all the Allegory wil witness especially ver 23. he that is born after the spirit is the son of the promise that rests upon the promise in the Gospel-way for Justification Now as there have always been from the beginning these two seeds these two sorts of Worshippers so there was alwayes an enmity between them and they that are after the flesh and for the Law alwayes persecuted them that are for the Gospel those that are for the Law are ful of persecuting principles against all that differ from them they would fain have all forced to be of their way but yet their persecution is most fiercely directed against the true Worshippers they cannot endure that they should live upon the face of the earth Cain was a right Legallist he brings of the fruit of the ground an offering unto the Lord but never minds with what heart he offers it yet takes it for granted that God would accept of it and like it very well And when he finds that his offering is not accepted and that his younger Brother's is he cannot bear it he hates his Brother and longs for the blood of his Brother and wherefore flew he him saith the Scripture Alas for no other reason is the answer made in the same place but for that his own works were evil and rejected and his Brothers righteous and accepted 1 John 3.12 not that his Brother had done him the least wrong imaginable Wherefore did Ishmael the son of the bond-woman persecute Isaac which persecution we find not to be other than scoffing at him Gen. 21.9 but onely because he was the son of the promise mocking him perhaps with some such taunt as this There goes a young Puritan a young Precisian the Son of the promise But come we down to the New-Testament and who there are the great persecutors of our Saviour and his Apostles
but the Jews yet who greater Legallists then they They at Lystra that would have worshipped Paul and Barnabus for gods to day are by to morrow perswaded by some Jews that came down thither from Antioch and Iconium to stone them Acts 14.11.19 They were the Jews who were so zealous for the Law that cryed out against Paul Away with such a fellow from the earth it is not fit that he should live Acts 22.22 Might not he justly therefore as he doth not by way of revenge but of right appellation call them Dogs Phil. 3.2 Beware of dogs beware of evil workers beware of the concision those that yet have their great confidences in the flesh ver 3.4 And as it was then in Abraham's time and in the Apostles days so it is now they that are for Ceremonies and Superstitions or meerly for an external way of serving God cannot endure the true spiritual Worshippers I shall now in a word endeavour to shew how this spirit of persecution proceeds from their Legality not that the Law teacheth them any such thing directly but that the corruption of their spirits incited occasionally from the Law puts them upon it Now I suppose it comes to pass thus that seeing they are in such a way of serving God as brings them in no true peace but puts the most of them into great horrors fears and troubles of spirit as is manifested in the former particular and indeed into a secret hatred of God they cannot vent their hatred against God directly that would be too gross and therefore they find out some pretence or other of venting it against his truest and most faithful servants They 'l accuse them of being too strict that they are the troublers of their Israel as Elijah was accused by Ahab 1 King 18.17 though indeed Elijah there sets the Saddle upon the right Horse as the proverb is when he tells Ahab ver 10. I have not troubled Israel but thou and thy fathers House in that ye have forfaken the Commandments of the Lord and thou hast followed Baalim So was his successor Elisha served by the King of Israel in his time 2 King 6. where is a most pertinent story to this purpose which I havâ— somewhat touched at above There was indeed a sore Famine in Samaria perhaps upon the prayer of Elisha as before there was upon the prayer of Elijah as appears from 1 King 18.1 compared with James 5.17 18. or at least the King of Israel suspected that he was the cause of it and upon this bears him a grudge but yet Elisha promising or giving some hopes at least that there should be a plenty in some very short time as Commentators say the King thinks fit to wait a while which he in the 33. ver calls waiting on the Lord and he waits with some signs of humiliation for it is said ver 30 that at the story of the womans eating her child he rent his cloaths and the people looked and behold he had sackcloath within upon his flesh And he hath some Religious words for those that came to make their complaint to him ver 26.27 Then cryed a woman unto him saying Help my Lord O King And he said If the Lord do not help thee whence shall I help thee Hitherto all things look pretty well but alas this was all but an external religiousness an external humiliation like that of wicked Ahab Seest thou Ahab humbleth himself And therefore this King 's forced patience hath an end and he breaks out into the highest impatience against God and where hath it its chiefest vent Why in persecuting the Prophet Elisha God do so to me saith he and more also if the Head of Elisha the son of Shaphat shall stand on him this day and he senta man from before him to be the Executioner whom Elisha calls the son of a murtherer ver 31 32. Now alas what an absurd and impertinent revenge was this For suppose Elisha had prayed for this punishment of Famine upon the wicked Samaritans what reason had this foolish falsly-religious Wretch to think that there was any sault in Elisha Could he bind up the clouds from raining Or would the Lord have answered a Prayer which had been guilty of cruelty and inhumanity It was God who had sent the Famine not Elisha yea this wicked Prince acknowledged so much This evil is of the Lord saith he ver 33. but here is the my sterie of this iniquity he could not revenge himself upon Heaven and therefore he lets out his rage upon the best man that was upon earth All legal Worshippers have at the bottom of their heart a deep hatred against God and his people In the last place there is in the heart of every Legallist a spirit of envy and emulation They are all sensible more or less at one time or another that they are not acceptable to God and that these Puritans these holy men are and therefore they cannot endure them they envy them for their greatest excellencies and for that they are the favourites of heaven and they cannot endure that seeing they take so much pains as they do in their wrong way as indeed many of them are at great cost and pains in their way they cannot endure that any should be preferred before them Legallists and Spiritual Worshippers are as I may say Rivals for the favour of God Now the spiritual Worshippers take the right way the Legallists take the wrong way to obtain it therefore the first â—â—e received the latter are rejected and cast out What saith the Scriptures Cast out the bond-woman and her son Now there can be no greater â—ud than that which is between Rivals This was the very case bet wixt Cain and Abel which I have several times explained And Cain as I have said had no other quarrel against Abel but for that God accepted of his offering But now whereas a legal spirit is thus wrathful revengeful envious and murtherous the Spirit of the Gospel and of all Saints so far as they are baptized into a Gospel-spirit is a micable peaceable meek gentle and easie to be entreated James 3.17 Hatred variance emulations wrath strife seditions envyings murthers are all fruits of the flesh and of those that are BORN AFTER THE FLESH but the fruit of the spirit is love joy peace LONG-SUFFERING GENTLENESS GOODNESS What excellent virtues are these for humane Society The Legallist he cryes It is not fit to suffer such Wretches to live away with such an Heretick from the earth Now for the Gospel-spirited man he could wish indeed St. Pauls wish in Acts 26.29 I would to God saith he that not onely thou but all that hear me this day were not onely almost but altogether such as I am except these Bonds he doth not wish them his Bonds that was his GOODNESS that last Gospel-virtue mentioned but he wisheth that all his persecutors were of his perswasion so doth every good man else he could not
heat of contention it were a worthy design in any man that were able to endeavour their reconciliation to each other if all means have not been used and especially considering that there is no other thing requisite in order to it but a right state of this or these two questions Whether and if so How farr Evangelical Works have an influence upon the justification of a sinner I say there is nothing else necessary to the ending of the controversies between all these but the stating of this question and the honest attending to such a state given For that all the parties agree upon the same things for matter viz. That we must believe and that we must do good Works and that to our utmost only one saith Evangelical Works have a share in our justification another sayes they have none one sayes they signifie so much another but so much none deny that good works are to be done I might mention another difference in opinion concerning faith in justification and that is concerning what kinde of faith it is that is the condition of our justification whether only that faith that hath a direct and express respect to Christ and his death or else all acts of faith whatsoever upon the power goodness and faithfulness of God as well as that upon Christ and his blood I hope I have in some of these things added one mire at least unto the treasury of Knowledg or else I were very impertinent indeed But this was not my design in composing this Treatise to give a state of such questions and therefore what I have done of such a kinde I have cast at the end of my Book as not being chiefly intended nor indeed intended at all at first but only as I found that it would be necessary to say something upon them Or if I had desired to engage in such a designe these several reasons might have discouraged me First that it required vast abilities to undertake it Secondly That I thought it had been very well performed by Mr Baxter already and Thirdly That though any should be judiciously satisfied that he could give a better state than yet had been given he might very well doubt how it would be entertained amongst the contenders when Mr Baxter of whom I have heard a very learned and godly Person say of late That he would shine in heaven for his book of Aphorismes yet by it purchased the highest displeasure from his Presbyterian Brethren My design therefore was wholly of another nature for observing that the Subject was as well practical and experimental as disputable though there are very worthy and lofty speculations to be had about it I thought it the most efficacious way of ending the disputes about it at least of making it usefull to honest men leaving disputers to themselves to shew how it was practical and experimental and by how much the shorrer I was in my doctrine upon this Subject to be so much the larger in my application And indeed I must needs say I observed as I thought that those who had hitherto written upon this Subject were deficient in one great piece of Application Mr Baxter and others I thought had done excellent service against the Antinomians who have sadly provoked them in these late times both in the Pulpit and Press and their private suggestions and insinuations but then they were more sparing in using the two-edged sword of Truth in this Subject on that side where it should cut the Legalist whereas there was as much or more need to set themselves against them as against the Antinomian If we would learn what Legality was that we might avoid it we must go to the Antinomians there was little to be heard of this Subject amongst others though in the mean time they did most dangerously poison their Auditors and Disciples with false descriptions of Legality so that I have my self whilest formerly an Antinomian and an Enthusiast looked upon that to be as ugly as Hell and Damnation which I now receive for good wholsom and precious Evangelical truth I could well have approved of that saying of Luther formerly Operatores sunt Martyres Diabâ—li that is That those that do minde Works in the matter of Justification though Evangelical works so farr as they minde them they are the Devils Martyrs and bear their testimony by the anguishes of their spirit against the Righteousness of the Gospel and yet from such Teachers we must receive the notes of Legality others that are enemies to the Antinomians not offering at this Subject at least in that professed way as the Antinomians do This I looked upon to be a considerable defect especially when I observed that the Apostle Paul in his Epistles to the Romans and Galatians as also in some other places le ts out the chief of his zeal Rom. 61 2. VVhat shal we say then shall we continue in sin that grace may abound God forbâ—d So ver 15. Rom. 3.5 7 8. and useth the greatest strength of argument against this sort of men whereas he is but here and there sparingly touching upon the Libertine which I hold to be the practical Antinomian And as I said even now this Subject is a practical Subject and highly experimental yea every whit and rather more experienced in the inconveniences of Legality than of those of Antinomiansme For the Law and Grace contend for the dominion and mastery in every heart that but entertains the thoughts of Religion Now where the notion of Grace prevails in a right way there is the right Saint or Christian By this division thou maist if thou judgest necessary supply a member of a division that may seem to be wanting Pag. 117 118. where I have divided all Religious persons into two forts viz. Legal and Evangelical though were iâ— not for giving offence I might still leave the Antinomian that is the high practical Antinomian out of the number of Religious persons where it prevails in a wrong way without a due seriousness of heart there is Antinomianisme when the Law prevails there is Legality Now I verily believe that there are ten Legalists to one Antinomian for all the Superstitious world are Legalists and I have shewn in the following Treatise that there are many moral Legalists and there is evident reason why there may well be more Legalists than Antinomians for that with a little knowledge in Religion men may prove Legalists whereas to be Antinomians requires somewhat more than ordinary of notion in Religion besides there is another reason why there should be at least equal care taken if not more in the application of the doctrine of Justification for the searching and rooting out of Legality than there is to be had for the destroying Antinomianism because destructive Legality takes faster hold of men that are under it than destructive Antinomianisme doth For the Legalist that depends upon his external Priviledges or performances is not so easily beaten out of his hold as the
and this was the Commandment which that day Moses commanded them Lastly Another thing in this Paragraph that will not seem perhaps to some to look like Gospel is this That all the comfort of this Gospel by Moses lies in Doing This Commandment saith he is not far off but in thy heart and in thy mouth that thou mayest do it and so obtain life and justification by it This seems to look right like that place in Levitious so often mentioned where Moses is said to describe a Legal Righteousness The man that doth them shall live in them And so in all the Chapter after there is blessing if they do the command and cursing if they do not this to some may not look like Gospel But yet here is the Gospel and therefore wherein doth it lie VVherein is the Gospel expressed in this place of Deut. or how will it appear I have shewed wherein it cannot lie or doth not seem to lie I will shew yet wherein it must be expressed and wherein it is visibly expressed and that is in that easiness which Moses doth so much insist upon in this Scripture of doing the Commandment The Commandment for the matter of it was perhaps the same with the Covenant of Works and Doing partly at least brought in the reward of it that is Justification But is this the Language of a Covenant of Works think you to fallen man such as the Israelites were The Commandment is easie there are no such difficulties in keeping it as you may imagine ye shall not need to climb as high as Heaven after it nor to coast all Lands and compass the Ocean for it propose no such vast undertakings to thy self for the accomplishment of it for thou needest not the Word is nigh thee in thy mouth that is near yea but nearer yet in thine heart that thou mayest do it and thou mayest do it with ease and sweetness No I have shewn at large that the Covenant of Works or the Law taken strictly as a way of Justification serves now to sinners onely to terrifie their Consciences with laying home its charge it hath no such comfortable words in it nay I shewed out of the Scripture that it is an utter impossibility that the Law should be done by a sinner so as to justifie him A man might as well climb up to Heaven or compass the vast Ocean yea to add another impossibility which the Apostle adds in his Paraphras upon this Text in Deut. a man might as well descend into the infernal Abyss and make a resurrection as be justified by the Law This therefore cannot be the Language of the Law But now take the keeping the Law in a Gospel-sence as perhaps that Rom. 8.4 is to be understood where the righteousness of the Law is said to be fulfilled in us that walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit and then the Gospel in this Scripture is obvious it is easie to keep the Law now even that commandment which Moses commanded them even the Moral Law that is to keep it sincerely not exactly to a tittle but in the substance of it This Word therefore which Moses means when he says The word is nigh thee as the Apostle adds in his Paraphrase must be the word of faith which he preached The Word is nigh thee that is not the Word of the Moral law taken in its utmost exactness to be fulfilled to a tittle this is not nigh thee it is as far as Heaven further then either of the Indies further then Hell it self thou sinner canst never attain unto it to do it But yet the Word of the same Commandment in a moderated sense in the gracious acceptation of God where sincere obedience is accepted for unerring observance of it This Word is nigh thee even in thy heart and in thy month that thou mayest do it and it is saith the Apostle the Word of Faith which we preach this the new creature can undertake with the assistance of God even the keeping the Commandments of God in an Evangelical manner through Faith which works by Love Here thou dost not claim thy wages upon thy doings as if they deserved it or as if they answered the letter of the Law and so thou comest not to the Law for thy Justification but though the great Rule of thine obedience be the Law yet thou goest to the Gospel for thy Justification thou comest by Faith to the Promise and Goodness and Grace of God for thy Justification And indeed there is nothing but Faith will encourage thee in such a keeping of the Law as this is The Law strictly taken will dishearten thee that will thus reason the case with thee VVhat are all thy works what is all thy obedience so long as thoughast broken such and such a Commandment hast omitted such and such a duty What is thy sincerity good for What is thy good meaning and real intention worth I must have a full task performed I must have unerring never-failing obedience or else I must curse thee with all the curses which thou findest written against sinners Now the Soul by Faith thus answereth the Law 'T is true were I to stand to thy award it must be all as thou hast said but I am upon other terms with the Lord for my Justification I am upon terms of Grace and Mercy of which there are no footsteps in thy whole way of Justification and though I was born under thy power yet I have a Saviour that hath freed me from under it by suffering the penalty for my breach of it and now I am assured That if I walk faithfully and deal honestly with God endeavouring in sincerity to walk after the Spirit to do all the Wills of God from the heart my sincere obedience will now be as well accepted as unerring obedience would once have been Thus you see Faith bears off from coming to a legal-Justification and Faith bears up the Soul against all expostulations of the Law with it and against all the accusations of Satan in the Conscienc and yet doth keep the soul intent upon the design of universal obedience to the pure and holy Law of God Faith requires thy obedience to the Law the preaching of Faith doth establish the Law and yet the Law in this moderated sense onely observed requires thee to go or rather takes for granted that thou goest to Grace Mercy and Pardon by Faith for that thou art not an exact Doer of the Law So I have shewn how this place in Deut. seems to speak Law yet must be understood to speak Gospel and what Gospel that is which it speaks Yet I may not expect to go off without opposition in this interpretation and I am sensible that these two or three things will be objected against me 3 Objections against the interpretation of Deut. 30.11 12. 1. That I make Faith too easie a business as if those that could not keep the Law are yet able to
kept themselves from Legal uncleannesses and from eating every thing that was unclean and placed too much in this whilst it was their duty to observe these things The Colossians erred but in making conscience of the Legal uncleanness of Meats Let no man judge you saith the Apostle in meat or drink that is value no man's judgement let no man abridge you of your liberty in it Now for our selves we are wholly free from Jewish Observations about meats and I think pretty free from any Religious Observations at all about meats and if we are forbid flesh in Lent those that are healthy yet the reason which the Law gives is civil and political for the breed of Cattel but if we should come to have our Consciences ensnared to think that flesh were not as lawful in it self all the Lent-time as at another time this were a symptome of Legality venting it self in superstition But now if we go over amongst the Papists what conscientious observations of Meats are there To eat an Egg in Lent is punished with imprisonment c. that upon a religious account which is a plain argument of legality amongst them very rise I might instance in Priests Vestments as I apprehend an high piece of formality very fit to please the humour of a Legal Spirit that for want of substance pleases it self with shadows shews and outsides but I shall not proceed further to touch at things he that hath an eye to see let him look into the Scriptures and he that hath an ear to hear let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the Churches But we may speak freey of the Papists their Superstitions not onely in doing but in putting themselves upon needless sufferings What Pilgrimages and Processionings what Abstinencies and Penances do they put themselves upon wearing Sackcloath scourging themselves What crossings cringings and sprinklings do they impose upon themselves 't were endless almost but to name the kinds of their inventions Yea some of our own people will say over the Creed and ten Commandments for a prayer and when they come as beggars at your door they will say over the Lords Prayer as if it were a charm to the house from all mischief Now I look upon all Superstitions where they are with any seriousness practised as those things which do exactly sit a Legal Spirit for as I have several times intimated your Legallists cannot endure to come at the Law in the spiritual sense of it so none but a gospel-Gospel-Spirit doth it is Faith alone that establisheth the Law and obeys the Law Now because the Legallist cannot endure to come up to the true spiritual obedience of the Law and yet seeks to be justified by Works he is fain to find out a thousand things to please himself and satisfie his Conscience with whereby he thinks he makes God amends and we have seen in the instances before us how that though men are as wicked as they could be by lying swearing and committing adultry yea and Idolatry too yet they cryed The Temple of the Lord the Temple of the Lord they thought God must love them because they were Jews especially when they brought him rich Sacrifices and burnt rich Incense and kept all their Festivals in the time and manner appointed Now what then their over-valuing the Commands of the Coromonial Law was that is Superstition to us now For not having such a Law left us by God we find out somewhat like it and place the same considences in it that they did in their Law onely ours is so much the worse by not being of Divine institution I have now only one particular more belonging to this Character of external fleshly service and that is an external partial conformity to the moral Law which is indeed the last and strongest fort of a Legal-spirit As for these external Priviledges or Ceremonies and Superstitious Performances which I have insisted upon they are a slighty thin covering if we come once to try it and rationally to examine it and though people wrap themselves in it yet they cannot bear out any rough argument from galling or pinching through it External conformity to the duties of the Moral Law What defence is it for an Harlot to say This day have I paid my vows to one that can convince her of being a common Whore Prov. 7.14 But now if men have lived in some conformity to the duties of the Moral Law as the young man in the Gospel had done All these have I kept from my youth saith he speaking of the commandments Believe it our Saviour himself shall not by an ordinary word perswade him that he lacketh any thing more Let us see the beld audacious Pharisee in the Parable that goes into the Temple to pray how doth he challenge his acceptance with God and upon what terms We have it in Luke 18.11 God I thank saith he that I am not as other men are extortioners unjust adulterers or even as this Publican I fast twice in the week I give tythes of all that I possess Really the man might well have thanked God as he did had it not been for two things 1. His making comparisons 2 His valuing those things which he mentions as a sufficient Righteousness It was good not to be an Extortioner Unjust an Adulterer it was good to fast and to give tythes of all and he might well bless God that he was enabled to do these things but this was but a partial holiness for all the Commands are not reckoned up here then perhaps it was but an external obedience to these commands that are referred to he was no actual Adulterer but might he not commit heart-Adultery He was no Extortioner or unjust person as he saith But if it were true at all it may be it was onely thus That he was not so in the highest degree perhaps what others accounted injustice and extortion he did not But I need not go upon a Perhaps I will lead the Reader to a certain place of Scripture where the Legallist prides himself and challenges acceptance from God onely upon a partial and external obedience unto some duties of the first Table it is Isa 58.2 3. In the 2d ver we have an high commendation as one would think of them They seek me daily and delight to know my ways as a Nation that did righteousness and forsook not the Ordinances of their God they ask of me the Ordinances o◠of Justice they take delight in approaching to God These are great matters and upon these the Jews grew high and argue the case with God for his acceptance they wonder when they are so good that God should make so little reckoning so small account of them ver 3. Wherefore have 〈◊〉 fasted say they and thou seest not Wherefore have 〈◊〉 afflicted our soul and thou takest no knowledge The Lord answers them in the same verse Behold in the day of your fast ye find pleasure and exact all your
〈◊〉 bour behold ye fast for strife and debate and to smitâ— with the fist of wickedness They did something in oâ— after their Fasts which was contradictory to the nature and design of a Fast they did indeed observâ— the ontside of the duty as ver 5. tells us they dâ—â— afflict their soul they went with heads bowed down aâ— butrush and did spread saâ—kcloth and ashes under theâ— Here was all the outside of a Fast But what saitâ— the Lord wilt thou call this a Fast and an acceptaâ— day unto the Lord Ver. 6. Is not this the fast which I have chosen to loose the bands of wickedness to undo the heavy burdens and to let the oppressed go free and that ye break every yoke Here is a fast indeed all others are but mock-fasts the outside and Formalities of a Fast which when over-much attended use to eat up the substance of a duty Here you see external conformities to the duties of the moral Law may fill men with a pride so far as to challenge divine acceptance making no question but they have well deserved the favour of Almighty God whilst in the mean time they are oppressors and exactors which argues that a legal way in the service of God is a fleshly and external way And besides I observe in this Scripture that we may as well let our Legality run out in Divine Services in duties of Worship as in second-Table-duties and indeed I think that is a worse kind of Legality for it is usually attended with more wickedness than when men take up with being just and true in their dealings with men Thus our rude people if they go to Morning and Evening prayer and join with the Church in the service bymaking their responds and observing the several gestures of sitting standing and kneeling they are ready to please themselves with an opinion that they are very well accepted of God though they are known wicked people I shall now apply the Character though I have done little else all this while but now I shall do it more professedly Wouldst thou know if thou bee'st under the predominancy of this dangerous evil of Legality Then try thy self by this Character The application or uâ—e of the Character How dost thou find thy self affected with any external priviledges Dost set thon but only a due value upon them For though we may not over-value them we must not slight them What conscience hast thou of places days meats Beware of having thy conscience ensnared by them for this wil presently betray thee into legality for first you come to have a conscience of these things and then you let the strength of your spirits and of your devotion run out into them and so they prove as a Wen unto all the true spiritual Worship of God If thou valuest these things beyond the true spiritual Worship of God thou art a Legallist of the worst sort for there are two kinds of Legal persons better then thy self who yet perish But to leave this I come to the external conformities unto the Moral Law the partial obedience to this and mans resting in it and here is the greatest danger of all First sort or Moral Legal 〈…〉 such as dependchiefly upon a partial Motality There are some men that are not far from the Kingdom of God as the expression is Mark 12.34 and think themselves in it and of it that yet are not Now these can be none other but such as have high conformities to the commands of the Moral Law for notwithstanding all the observation of Ceremonies whilst they were in force notwithstanding all the external priviledges that men might have yet without a great conformity to the Moral Law men might be at a vast distance from the Kingdom of God but to be near it not far from it supposes great strictness of life that none shall be able to say Black is that persons eye as the proverb is Now I say there may be many of these that yet are not justified and so have not put themselves upon the right way of Justification Now what can be their ruine Truly nothing but one of these two Either that they know some lust in themselves which they wil not part with or else that they have deluded themselves to think that they are holy enough and so holy as God is well pleased with them Now I am so charitable as to think that when men have come up so high as to be near the Kingdom of God they do not allow themselves in a gross known sin therefore their ruine must arise from hence that they think themselves holy enough and that they have merited the favour of God by being so much better than their neighbours as the Pharisees in the Parable did and this yet is Legality and that which is most properly so called Now though there are many that are near the Kingdom of God and yet perish by Legality A second sort of moral Legallists yet there is a greater number still that are not so high in their conformity to the Moral Law that yet perish by resting in their conformity to the Moral Law such as it is And of this sort I take to be very many of our ordinary people that perish God knows who they are I judge no man but many of our ordinary people that perish who are not high Devotionists nor in any excess superstitious yet use no great endeavours to get to Heaven are at no pains with their hearts to get in Grace to cast out lusts to get the knowledge of God and Christ find no difficulty in Religion understand it not at all to be a Warfare a wrestling with Principalities and Powers a race a great piece of Merchandise wherein we venture all for the Pearl and are often like Merchants in danger of losing all which things I suppose no true Christian can be utterly senseless of all they that they do is this they live a plain quiet life mind their business manage their trade do Justice between man and man which things are good and commendable in themselves and perhaps they may may have Prayers morning and evening in their Families yet such men though this be the whole of their lives wil expect to go to Heaven when they dye they 'l cry God mercy for their fins in a general way and with a Lord have mercy upon them they make no doubt to get to Heaven Now these must lay the stress of their hopes and expectations upon this That they wronged no man they have given every man his own and perhaps have had some duties morning and evening in their Families and therefore that he that made them may well afford to save them Here these men trust upon a conformity to some second table duties and a slighty performance of some duties of the first Table By what I have said I suppose men may examine themselves whether they are guilty of predominant Legality by resting upon an
spiritual Saints under the Old-Testament they might truly conclude that their Religion was of an higher strain then either that of the one or of the other * If any will make any abate ment of this observation in the height of it as that the advancement of the least Salnt in the kingdom of Heaven above Iohn the Baptist should be meant of Gospelpriviledges let them do as they see cause and so this observation might wel serve for a Character to them Yet because the Saints of God do not always understand nor are able to make a judgement of their condition and for that I aim onely at such Characters as may be useful to persons for trial of themselves I shal at present let this pass without pressing it any further onely I could wish these multitudes of grovelling creeping complaining Saints were wel chid and awakened for they make Ministers that they cannot preach free Divinity lest they should perhaps grieve them And I verily believe that it hath spoiled many a good Sermon that would have been far more lively both for the conviction of wicked men and the quickening of other good Christians that could have born it and done wel with it meerly the stuffing it with cautions and qualifying many brave expressions lest some of these weak tender Christians should be offended which tenderness in most is rather a delicacy of spirit then the quick sence of a wounded Spirit which indeed must be tenderly dealt with Good men many of them have gotten such effeminate Antinomian Consciences that they cannot bear sound Doctrine many Gospel strains are legal in their apprehension But I must forbear this â—â—nguage lest I have little thanks for not making this a Character I shal onely say before I pass off that methinks when we serve the great God upon terms of Mercy and Grace when he offers us pardon of our sins and the salvation of our souls freely we should be mighty chearful and quick and diligent when we consider our high calling to be the children of God heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ it should mightily quicken and enoble our Spirits Seemeth it a light thing saith David to be a Kings Son-in-Law seeing that I am a poor man and lightly esteemed 1 Sam. 18.23 And certainly it argues a great want of faith hope not to be very much quickned with these considerations but pass on And as I have now avoided making this a Character which I might have made one so I shal endeavour to un-make another that hath been made one by some or at least to unmake it in part They would make this another Character of a legal Spirit A salfe Character of a Legal Spirit That it is selfish and mercenary in the service of God onely works for wages and for the reward but doth nothing out of pure love nobleness and ingenuity I have heard it delivered in a great Assembly as a great observation That self-love hath no more Religion in it than an Horse That is as I understand it so far as a man acts towards God for any good that should accrue to himself so far his Religion is unacceptable Now for the word ONELY I confess I know not what to say to that how that should be a good Spirit that worships and serves God ONELY for the reward But I suppose they that speak undervaluingly of this Principle do mean or at least should mean by the tendency of their Discourses that it is a legal Principle to serve God in hope of the reward or for the reward and that so far as we serve God from this Principle we are legal or at least we miscarry in so doing And indeed to shew that I do not slander a party I have heard several Discourses wherein this hath been hotly argued that it is not a right or at least not a Gospel-Principle to serve God for fear of Hed which is to me all one as to serve him in hope of a reward for to avoid Hell is a negative reward as the enjoying Heaven is a positive Now for my part I think whatever we may account of self-love when it is the onely principle yet that it is a very good principle in other honest company and withall I think that there is no Saint upon earth that doth act towards God meerly upon the principle of self-love which I shall shew by and by But I will say more yet and that is this That I think self-love or acting for the reward and to labour in hope as the Husbandman doth who not onely laboureth in hope but for his hope or for that which he expecteth else he would not have taken that labour I say to act for the reward or in hope of the reward and so likewise that we may avoid Hell needs not so far the association of other Principles to countenance and credit it as if it were not it self a right Gospel-Principle for I think to be encouraged by the reward which the Gospel promiseth on purpose that so we might be encouraged argues a true Gospel-spirit answering the Gospel-motive and so that outward motive from the Word or Promise becomes an inward Principle It were endless to quote the Scriptures that encourage us in holiness by the consideration of glory to come Be thou faithful to the death and I will give thee the Crown of Life Rev. 2.10 One more That which ye have already hold fast till I come and he that overcometh and keepeth my words unto the end to him will I give power over the Nations and he shall rule them with a rod of Iron even as I received of my Father and I will give him the Morning-Star Rev. 2 25 26 27 28 So it is likewise a Gospel-principle to serve God that we may avoid Hell We have both together to get Heaven and avoid Hell made Gospel-motives Heb. 12.28 29 Wherefore we receiving a Kingdom which cannot be moved let us have Grace whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear for our God is a consuming fire And it is the advice of our Saviour Luk. 12.5 To fear God who can cast body and soul into Hell and for that reason I say unto you my friends fear him they are our Saviours Words Luke 12 4 5. Now with whatever fair shews and pretences men may impose these Doctrines upon themselves or others that they must not serve God for fear of Hell nor hope of Heaven I look upon Satan to be the Forger of these devices for if he can get us once out of the fear of Hell and out of the hopes of Heaven hee 'l make no doubt to bring us into what temptations soever he shall intice us with And I would fain know what the other principles are when these are removed upon which we should be constrained or engaged to serve God There is indeed one more lest very considerable but these men that dislike the hope of reward and fear of punishment
the holy Spirit is ready to fill ouâ— hearts with laughter and our tongue with singing in Col. 3.16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. in Eph. 5.18 19. Be ye filled with the Spirit speaking 〈◊〉 your selves in Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs singing and making melody in your hearts to the Lord. So we see 't is the great duty of the Gospel for Saints to rejoice in the thoughts of God But there are several ways by which the Saints may and many do deprive themselves of comfort by falling into sins which to be sure will break their peace or else by admitting Satans subtilties against their peace hearkening to all the whispers of the Serpent against themselves who sometimes tells them they are not elected at other times that they have committed the sin against the Holy Ghost another time that they have out-stood the day of grace or that the spirit of God is departed from them and these things I believe many that have the Spirit of God dwelling in them have not out-stood their day of grace much less committed the sin against the holy Ghost may yet call into question and hear Satans suggestions about them so long till they be brought into a perfect maze and labyrinth of thoughts doubts and fears so that except the Lord should bring them our by a Miracle almost I cannot imagine how they should get out This fear and terror therefore was from their own faust at first though now they cannot help themselves 4thly Yet still I think it may be asserted that even for these very persons concerning whom the objection is made and which are mentioned in the last particular that even these when they are themselves and have the right use of their understandings for I reckon that such sad souls pass through many deliriums and irrational imaginations have all of them more kindly strains of ingenuity to God and of filial boldness than any Legallist in the world ever hath they have their lucida intervalla the smiles of God sometimes and feel the supports of the everlasting Arms or if they have not that which you may call comfort yet at least they are enabled to act towards God with a better spirit then that of a slave 5. But for others that are not thus and I hope I may say the greater part of true Saints they have a comfort and joy in the service of God and their hearts are mightily lightened and quickned by it Thy word saith David is sweeter to me then the hâ—ney or the honey-comb Psal 19.10 thy word hath quickned me Psal 119.50 I rejoiced in thy word as one that sindeth great spoil Psal 119.162 their joy bore the Apostles up above all their sufferings 2 Cor. 15. for as the sufferings of Christ abound in us siour consolation also aboundeth by Christ accordingly we are advised by our Saviour that when we suffer for righteousness sake we should rejoice and be exceeding glad or leap for joy as the word signifies Mâ— 5.12 And certainly if the joy of the Gospel be such as will carry us thorough the greatest sufferings it may well carry us thorough all the ordinary affairs and occasions of this life Yet for this see one place in the Book of Ecclesiastes ch 9.7 8. Go thy way eat thy Bread with joy and drink thy wine with a merry heart why so it follows for now God accepteth thy works When a man's ways please the Lord and he hath a sense of it which none but a Gospel-Saint ever hath it will make him go chearfully through all the actions and occasions of his life Now if there be such a general joy upon the true Saints of God arising from their Gospel-way of serving God as will carry them through sufferings and through all the actions of their lives and by consequence into the presence of God with a chearfulness and holy boldness is it not most injurious that the troubles and sadness of a few Saints brought upon themselves against the design of the Gospel through the subtilties of Satan and the Saints own default should be thought able to make this assertion too light viz. that a Gospel-spirit hath an holy boldness and a chearfulness in it and is freed from the Spirit of bondage which accompanies a Legal Spirit into the glorious liberty of son-ship and adoption I shall onely make one observation more before I pass off from the explication and proof of this Character which I think will add some light unto it and it will be of a very contrary nature from the observation which the objection fastens upon and it is this It hath been laid to the charge of the Puritans that they are too familiar with God in their Prayers Now truly I will not undertake to defend those good men that have been honoured with that Name in every thing but I think in this particular as in many other things they have a great excellency in that they know better than their adversaries how to use an holy boldness at the throne of grace And yet to shew that I am not altogether sensless of the danger that there is of erring this way I do here acquaint my Reader that I verily believe that many have grosly erred herein I have heard of one very famous once in London a Tradesman that being gotten in a Pulpit made thus bold with the great God in prayer Thou hast said O Lord that concerning thy sons and concerning thy daughters we should command thee we command thee therefore c I need not go to aggravate this boldness I have heard others my self unreasonably as I thought bold in their expressions in prayer but I dare not charge this upon those good people in the general which have been called Puritans But I am sure however it is with them in one extream it is as bad and worse with the Papists and those that are superstitiously addicted in the other that they dare not use that holy boldness which is allowed them nay which is necessary to be used They think it too great a boldness to go to God in prayer without the mediation and intercession of some Saint or Angel or if they go to the right Mediator they dare not go to him but by the intercession of the Virgin Mary all which are but over-servile fears and denials to themselves of that true liberty and boldness which the Lord admits us unto If they go to celebrate the Eucharist the Supper or Feast of Christ's body blood which we are to eat and to drink at the Lords Table for our souls health first the people must not have the Wine then the Bread must be carryed about and worshipped like a god the Table upon which it is consecrated must be an Altar it must not be received but upon your knees nor taken as the command is Take eat but received from the Priests hand into your mouths which are all
Dr. upon the next question The words are these But if the Spirit of him that raised up jesus from the dead dwell in you he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his spirit which dwelleth in you and if Christ be in you the body is dead because of sin but the spirit is life because of righteousness ver 10. His interpretation of the verse is excellent in my mind and it is to this sense as I apprehend it That when we are Christians and have the Spirit of Christ dwelling in us and the presence of Christ by his Spirit we shall be sensible how far yet we remain unsanctified and that unsanctified part in us which the Apostle calls the body of death and desires to be delivered from will appear as ghastly and deadly a thing to us as the dead body tyed by Mezentius to the living did to him because Christ is living in us But yet now our Christian faith teacheth us to believe that though the body be dead because of sin that is there be a great part of us yet unsanctified and dead because of sinful remainders in it and by reason of this unsanctified part or body of death in us we are exceeding heavy and indisposed to all holiness and goodness yet that the Spirit of Christ in us is life and righteousness and will by degrees qvicken those very dead unsanctified parts that are yet within us for if the Spirit of him that raised up Christ from the dead dwell in us he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken our mortal hodies that is that unsanctified part that is at present dead in sin by his Spirit which dwelleth in us Dr. More 's words are We finding a comfortable warmth in the grateful arrivals of the holy Spirit do believe That he that raised up Christ from the dead wil in due time even quicken these our mortal bodies or these dead bodies of ours and make them conspire and come along with ease and chearfulness and be ready and active complying instruments in alll things with the Spirit of Righteousness Which belief viz. that God will thus by his Spirit quicken our mortal bodies is saith he a chief point in the Christian faith and most of all parallel to that of Abrahams who believing in the goodness and power and faithfulness of God had when both himself and his Wife Saraah were dry and dead as to natural generation and so hopeless of ever seeing any fruiâ— of her Womb who had I say Isaac born to him who bears joy and laughter in the very Name oâ— him and was undoubtedly a type of Christ according to the spirit For Isaac is the wisedom power and righteousness of God flowing our and effectually branching it self so through all the faculties both of man's soul and body that the whole man is carryed away with joy and triumph to the acting all whatsoever is really and substantially good even with as much satisfaction and pleasure as he eats when he is hungry and drinks when he is dry And these now according to the designe of the Dis Discourse are acts of a Gospel-faith which justifie us as Abraham's believing in the power of God for a Son did justifie him I come now to another Question which is this How doth Faith justifie The fifth question of Iustification or under what notion and consideration doth faith justifie Now to this I answer that Faith justifies as our Righteousness It doth not justifie as some affirm only by relying upon the blood of Christ or apprehending the righteousness of Christ for I have given instances of several acts of faith which were justifying acts that had not this respect at all unto the blood of Christ at least not visibly and the reward of Justification was reckoned to them upon other accounts Abraham was fully perswaded that God was ABLE TO PERFORM and THEREFORE it was imputed to him for righteousness Rom. 4.21 22. Yea I have given instances of a faith in Christ that was justifying and yet was not directed to the blood of Christ by any thing that appears in the Scriptures quoted No faith it self is our righteousness faith in the power of God was Abraham's righteousness and faith in the power of God according as our necessities at any time require will be our righteousness But more especially faith in the power of Christ or in the blood of Christ is our Gospel-righteousness though as I affirmed before there cannot be true faith in God now in the dayes of the Gospel but it will turn into a faith in Christ as well as in God And for this Assertion that Faith is our Righteousness I shal give several Scriptures Rom. 4.3 What saith the Scripture Abraham believed God and it was counted to him for righteousness that is his believing in God and relying upon his power and faithfulness for the fulfilling of his promise this faith of his was accepted so farr was so highly pleasing to God that God made him his friend Jam. 2.22 23. and reputed and reckoned him through grace as righteous as if he had kept the whole Law So Rom. 4. ver 5. To him that believeth in God that justifieth the ungodly his faith is counted to him for righteousness What plainer expression can there be than this for our Assertion his faith is counted for righteousness to him or for his righteousness And for a little proof from the testimony of others for this Assertion I reckon is somwhat harsh see what Mr Baxter and Mr John Goodwin say upon it In his Aphorisms of Justification Thesis 20. pag. 108. saith Mr Baxter Our Evangelical righteousness is not without us in Christ as our Legal righteousness is but consisteth in our own actions of Faich and Gospel-obedience Thesis 23. pag. 125. In this sense also it is so farr from being an errour to affirm that faith it self is our righteousness that it is a truth necessary for every Christian to know that is Faith is out Evangelical righteousness in the sense before explained as Christ is our Legal righteousness And in the explication of this Thesis pag. 128. he hath these words Our Evangelical righteousness or Faith is imputed to us for as real righteousness as perfect obedience not that it is as much in true value yet it is so accepted because of the value of Christ's satisfaction Thesis 57. pag. 225. It is the act of faith which justifies men at age and not the habit yet not as it is a good work or as it hath in it self any excellency above other graces But 1. in the nearest sense directly and properly as it is the fulfilling the condition of the new Covenant in the remote and more improper sense as it is the receiving of Christ and his satisfactory righteousness Mr John Goodwin likewise declares himself not to be of their minde who conceive or teach That faith justifies as it is an instrument receiving