well assured that the Examples be really evil One of the most certain signs of which is a thing 's being universally forbidden in the Scripture and if we can be equally assured of it by true Reason too That which is prohibited by God universally hath certainly in every particular Action more mischievous than good effects though we may not see it at present our selves or be able to make it appear to others and therefore it is not at any time to be done As contrariwise that which is universally commanded hath more good than bad and therefore is never to be omitted In things therefore that are thus forbidden or commanded compliance with others to do or not do as they would have us is never justifiable If Company Conversation and Custom desire us and God forbid us if they forbid us and God command us it is no question whom we are to follow But because we are oft-times liable to great mistakes we are hear to endeavour sincerely to be well informed as was before advised We may judge that universally forbidden or commanded by God which truly is not so We are to avoid singularity through ignorance or misinformation in our Duty and consequently giving a needless offence and exposing our selves to the contempt of the ill-natur'd and ungenerous or to the pity and disesteem of the best sort of men for our weakness or suspected Contumacy and Self-will sometimes to the loss of our secular advantages whereby we may not only live comfortably but perhaps very usefully And then we are with the same sincerity to judge as truly on the other hand too and not to believe that lawfull which is really forbidden or that not to be commanded which is really so and consequently to take an undue liberty and in a more proper and important Sense give offence And because of our general proneness to indulge our selves and live easily we have more reason to be vigilant and carefull over our selves in this last Extream 2. The second Caution is in respect of the End We are to take care and there is need of it that we refuse not to conform to and follow received Practice and common Example or to comply with company at any time no not in things materially evil out of pride or affectation of singularity not out of an humour to contradict the World and controll others to be leaders not followers not out of a design to be pointed at and shewed that such an one will not do so not out of a sly intention to be known talked of esteemed as a Man of Courage Resolution Self-government not out of surliness and unwillingness to gratifie others These are all naughty and ill principles and ends which defile and pollute otherwise materially and eventually very good profitable Actions and are very apt as in other places So here to creep into our minds and either to thrust out or at least mix themselves with those that are worthy just and reasonable There are some and very many specious external Carriages and Behaviours to which men pay a great deal of Reverence which have no better Spring at least in great part Whence then must our diversity of manners from the evil Examples of the rest of the World proceed From Charity to the World because thou seest such Courses and Carriages to be foolish unworthy of Men or Christians noxious and mischievous from prudence because thou knowest them to be unworthy or unbecoming thy self nor usefull nor safe but indecent troublesome hurtfull and of dangerous bad consequence here and hereafter In few words from Piety Charity Prudent Self-love and Care of our selves Our Carriage and Conduct here will be very beneficial and effectual if the same Spirit and Temper appear in the rest of our Conversation shewing our selves generous and civil and easie and willing to comply and gratify in things which are not unlawfull or very inconvenient or have no good reason against it And even where we refuse sinfull and incommodious Compliances we are to appear unwilling to give offence or not to gratify but that our Charity to our selves and others and even to our Companions themselves Our prudence and our Duty to God oblige us necessarily so to do To conclude this Caution we must take care to avoid two Extreams The one Pride which word and vice I take so generally as to comprehend all particulars of affectation of singularity contradiction c. just before warned against as so many kinds and many more which may be named The other is too much softness too great loathness to offend or displease for the present either out of love or fear when we know in our Consciences that it will be better for the future both for them and us not to gratifie or comply with them and to this infirmity that which we call good Nature otherwise a valuable thing is obnoxious an will often betray us if we do not as we ought all other natural dispositions and inclinations regulate it by a judicious and resolved Vertue V. The fifth and last thing to be done is to make an inference or two from what hath been said 1. We are with great care to avoid giving bad Example Certainly good Manners is a good thing if there be any in the World and to corrupt a thing so good so absolutely necessary to any tolerable subsistence in this or any other State is the worst of Employments Now the giving bad Examples tends to it the following of them effects it If any be so wicked as designedly to give an ill Example in any Vice suppose Irreligion and to make it their study or diversion to corrupt the World This seems to proceed from pure Malice against God and Men. But if we be only careless and heedless of what we do tho' it be never so ill and what others may do after us it is at least want of good Government of our selves and want of that kindness and charity which we owe to our Brother and draws upon us the guilt of those sins which our Examples have been the Causes of Like as we should reckon that Man devilish and inhumane and worthy of the severest Punishment who knowing himself infected with the Plague should mingle himself with all Company and industriously or carelesly breath out his Pestiferous steams upon all he met But more especially are they concerned in this Admonition whose Examples are of the most forcible and diffusive Influence Such who are most eminent and conspicuous with whom compliance and invitation brings great conversation honour and secular Advantages The rich the potent the ingenious and learned are like Stars of the first Magnitude which draw all men's Eyes towards them and we know how far it reacheth and thanks be to God we know too how far it is prevented when the Commands and Examples of Piety and Vertue come together from the Throne it self whose force we hope will in some time make its way through and alter the Constitution of the
answer that first I think we may without vanity challenge all the power and force of their Wit and Learning to do its utmost Let us see if they be in earnest whether they be not extremely ignorant and if we may have the leave or pardon of this Royal Audience to provoke them with a great but just reproach whether they be not both bold and blockish Of which the second Cause of infidelity will give some Account 2ly And that is the difficulty of apprehending and conceiving those intellectual Objects which are absolute Such as are the Properties and Actions of God Angels humane Souls whence some have concluded them to be mere Words and Talk or mistaken for some corporeal Nature Such are those who first beginning at the substantiality and immortality of the Soul proceed to deny the Providence the Attributes and at last the very Being of God impudently affirming nothing can be conceived by us but Body and that which belongs to it This miserable Infirmity of humane Nature confines the noble Soul of Man to the most ignoble and dead part of the Universe deprives it of its greatest pleasure and perfection and debaseth it both in its knowledge and manners in its perceptive and active Powers The men who are most liable to it are those of much secular Business and Employment perpetually taken up with observation and reasoning and plodding about sensible objects and affairs of this bodily Life And some there are running so far to the extreme of this side as to give little either encouragement or opportunity to any other knowledge or employment of the mind of man besides Mechanicks Trade and civil Justice as if all other things were mere Chymera's and unprofitable fruitless empty Notions and nothing deserved our regard but only how to handle a Tool well or to buy and sell or at the highest to prevent or decide a Controversie about an House Field or Fence and other little Properties Which indeed are at present necessary and of great use for Temporal plenty and peace but are not in the least to be compared to the goods of the Spirit and to the hopes acquisition and enjoyments of immortality in the Heavens Alas how little do such men understand or consider that if all the furniture of this momentany bodily Life be not designed by God and used by us for spiritual and eternal good things it is scarce worth our coming into Being at all much less undergoing the manifold uneasinesses incommodities cares and calamities of it The effects of this humour and genius in a Nation to which lapsed and degenerate Mankind are prone enough for some small time prevailing seems to be profound ignorance and oblivion of intellectual and heavenly things the increase of Atheism irreligion and prophaneness Immorality in heart and life any further than it is inconsistent with secular interest and restrained by the Laws of civil Society For which one reason it seems highly expedient or rather absolutely necessary to set a-part one order of men in considerable number with places and other proper and convenient Circumstances to preserve and improve the knowledge and esteem of spiritual and heavenly things amongst Men otherwise truly in great danger to be lost And without which we should live like the Fish and Mole as ignorant of the nature and privileges and felicity of the superiour World infinitely the vastest and noblest part of the Universe as they are of ours It is more than likely some men may be content with it But surely they will be so humane and charitable as not to hinder but to help those which are not It is certain that the two great differences between that part of the World which is called barbarous and that which is civil are intellectuality and charity and so far as we lose either we return again to Barbarism 3ly Another most frequent and lamentable Cause indeed of infidelity is licentiousness Men would live as they list and gratifie and indulge their lusts to the full without any fear restraint or allay And because their consciences are at first more or less troublesome they endeavour to bribe corrupt and bring them over to their party to tell them that they may safely and honestly too follow such courses For that which is ordinarily believ'd say they and talked of vertue and vice and difference of Actions except only from agreeableness and present pleasure of God his Sanctity and Justice of Heaven and Hell of Reckonings and Recompences hereafter are but imagination and talk or false or at least dubious things These men do the Work throughly of debauching and eternally ruining themselves they do not only hire their Consciences to be silent or stand Neuters but to give their lusts all possible assistance and encouragement like some who have fought desperately in a bad cause not without conscience but with one as bad as their cause And here these Persons who will suffer themselves to be thus abused by their lusts ought timely to be aware in what great danger they are not only to deny the Lord that bought them but also the Lord that made them with all Religion that ever Reason and Nature hath taught and consequently to be deny'd by them 4. In men of an haughty spirit that very temper of theirs is a frequent cause of infidelity they will needs be uncontroulable by any and not endure any bounds to their desires and enjoyments but what they please to set themselves It is for ordinary and low spirits and not for such great minds as they are so say their flatterers and they believe them to suffer themselves to be restrained by any Laws of Nature Reason or Religion or to depend upon any Being whatsoever so much as to hope or fear from him and therefore they will not believe there are any such things Men who speak as big as Pharaoh Who is the Lord that I should obey him Exod. 5. 2. Poor creatures who though they are not a jot wiser or better and truly comparatively very little greater than other meaner Mortals yet they 'll aspire to the Prerogative of God their Creator to whom by reason of his essential Sanctity immutable Justice all comprehending Wisdom and Almighty Power it only belongs to know no other Laws but those of his own Nature and Will and to court no Power superior to his own 5ly We may add to these a certain gayness of spirit in some men These hate all care attention reflection and foresight which contract the spirit and causeth it to gather it self together and consequently they like not to hear of or believe nay they are resolved to disbelieve every thing which may disturb the security or confine the liberty or darken the gayety of their minds It is plain if we entertain and settle in our minds the great practical Truths of revealed and natural Religion they will oblige us to make use of some prudence and attention to direct our Actions by certain Rules to a certain
use it And indeed the first is always attended with the other two For he that hath a great affection for truth will readily embrace it where ever he discovers it endeavour to recommend and make the best use of it he can shewing what influences it hath upon his heart and life This excellent quality of our Spirits is more than once commended and commanded in the Holy Scriptures 'T is this which our Saviour means in his Parable by the honest and good heart which having received the word keeps it and brings forth fruit with patience Luke 8. 15. It was the want of this which was one of the Causes of the seduction from the Verity of the Gospel in those who perished viz. Because they received not the love of the truth i. e. Not only the Gospel particularly called the truth but of truth in general 1 Thess 2. 10. And it was this our Saviour above all things required in men to become his Disciples And 't is for this reason together with the incomparable evidence of the truth of Christian Religion that it is to be believed that never an honest man of capacity who hath been rightly instructed in the principal Doctrines of it hath long held out against it and finally disbelieved it We may add to this natural effect of probity the extraordinary and supernatural one even in those who may be for some time doubtfull or erroneous in those greatest Verities so perhaps may God permit It procures God's especial care to enlighten and encline such to the reception of truth 3ly Another cure of this Infidelity is a branch of modesty that is but a just and true esteem and value for our selves and therefore particularly to be carefull we entertain not too great a Conceit of our own ability and sufficiency above other mens to find out the falsity or weakness or uncertainty in common receiv'd opinions of consequence If we seem to our selves to observe it let us still be diffident of our own Judgment and believe we may be mistaken and that there may be something in them or for them which we do not yet see and therefore reserve the alteration of our belief to further consideration Those who are strongly conceited of their knowledge and sufficiency in judgment above other men and are hugely pleased with it are very forward and ambitious to shew it to themselves first and then to other men more especially in contradicting and correcting what is generally taught and believed and that by the most esteem'd and of the best Reputation and Authority The Holy Scripture hath given us this general advice also Rom. 12. 3. Not to think too highly of our selves but soberly according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith But because some men in their Infidelity may rely more upon the Wit and Learning of one whom they much esteem than upon their own it is to be advised 4ly To have a great deference and respect to the most publick Testimony or to the most general received Opinion so much the more still by how much it is larger in respect of places and ages The least effect this consideration ought to have upon us is to make us cautious and suspicious when we are inclined to believe and advance any Opinion contrary because it appears true to our selves or some few other really knowing men We ought diligently and impartially to examine what it is in the common Opinion we cannot perswade our selves to be true and how such a general mistake should come to pass He that contradicts an Universal belief had need be the wisest of men and he that rejects a very general one should be very wise The first is not to be done without a Demonstration and even that which so appears to us is reasonably to be suspected though till we see otherwise it cannot be denied by us because in a thing a thousand times considered and debated it may seem much that none before hath light upon this Demonstration though I do not say it is impossible And as for those perswasions which are very general in things judged of great concern and consequently most frequently brought into conversation writing and practice it had need be a very great evidence and having lain long under variety of examination is at last also generally approved that should entirely remove or displace them Yet I deny not but a man may have sometime a reason sufficient at first to suspect to doubt to say that the new Opinion looks with a good countenance and seems not to want a fair probability And then it seems no more than Justice and a thing becoming the publick Care that it should have a fair hearing But here too that we be not imposed upon we are to take a true account of the Universality or Generality of received perswasions not call those of one Nation or Country or perhaps one quarter of the World introduced and maintained by mere interest cunning and force or of one or some few Ages I say we must not call these universal or more general than indeed they are This is the fault and folly of the Roman Church which will needs have Transubstantiation Purgatory Image and Saint Worship and an hundred others to be the Catholick Opinions and Practices in the Church of Christ when we can produce whole Countries and Nations greater than theirs now and many more Ages and the best even of their own Church which neither believed nor practised such things This remedy is proper against blameable singularity whether out of ignorance or affectation I will add but one more and so have done with this general head also And that is 5ly That as it hath been already a general Advice to possess our minds throughly with probity and plain honesty and consequently a prevalent love of the truth So it will much help and assure the effect thereof to purge them of all prejudices which may oppose it and to leave truth and honesty as few and as weak Enemies in our Breasts as it is possible for us We must therefore turn out and send away all unreasonable Inclinations Humours Appetites and Passions which may have any influence upon our understanding and judgment in our enquiring or assent to any truth We are to keep our minds sincere and upright This will prevent or repress the Influences of many Causes of Infidelity at once For in pursuance and application of this general Direction we shall free our minds from the love of any lusts from the extravagant and most unreasonable desire of liberty uncontroulableness and independency from pride vain self-conceit and affectation of singularity from the humour of setting our selves in good earnest to oppose and contradict from wrath and impatience against God Almighty and his Providence from spite and envy against knowledge and goodness and good men against their reputation and interest in the World and finally from Scepticism it self or as I now take the word from timidity
pray that he went away rather justified than the other or justified and not the other according to a known Hebraism justified i. e. accepted approved by God in that particular Act of his Prayer to God as useth or ought to be done to him who is just and doth well The same is the Sense of the word Rom. 8. 33. 'T is God that justifieth who is he that condemneth We know the World doth condemn reproach hate us Christians for our Religion for our believing upon Jesus but that we despise because we know too that we have the favour and approbation of God for so doing Thus also it is recorded of Phinehas Psalm 106. 30 31. that he executed judgment slew Zimri and Cozbi in the Act of Uncleanness and it was counted to him for righteousness or for justification or the effect of it was justification for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 have often the same signification as Gal. 2. 21. i. e. he was and ought to be and ever shall be unto all Generations greatly approved and highly praised for that Action in so eminent a degree righteous and just done with so much Zeal and Courage for the Honour of his God and the good of his People And we read too how he was rewarded by God for it with the high Priest-hood in his Family Nay the justification of Abraham himself is said sometimes to be in the same sense for some one particular eminent Act of Obedience to God Rom. 3. 18. Heb. 11. 8 17. Jam. 2. 21. though at other times for his general Faith and Piety or obediential Temper to God And of this justification he is set forth as an eminent and extraordinary Example Rom. 4. So it is in like manner with all good men who walk in the steps of the Faith of Abraham as the Apostle phraseth it viz. who are religious obsequious to the Will of God in what manner and whensoever he shall sufficiently make it known to them and consequently men of sincere Probity of Spirit devoted to all that is good and just Of which hereafter This usage of a just man or justification may be distinguished into 1 negative or doing him no harm 2 positive doing good to him bestowing certain benefits and positive favours upon him But there are three more remarkable instances of both these and frequently mentioned in the Scripture The first is remission of sins upon repentance or an omission of punishment for them like as one that hath been just and never committed any sin useth to be treated He suffers no evil from God for sin and this is negative The second is the Holy Spirit 's influences operations in the Souls of Men. And the third is Eternal Salvation upon perseverance in a good and holy life All these are more particularly regarded by St. Paul in the Text As if he had said Therefore being by Faith of which presently restored to the Favour of God particularly expressed in the forgiveness of sins the gift of the Holy Spirit the promises and assurances of Eternal life we have peace with God We are in a state of Amity and Friendship with him and we have Peace and Tranquility in our own Consciences which do not now threaten us with God's Anger or Punishment and that through our Lord Jesus Christ Now if this be the true notion of justification when it is joined with Faith as I think it is Then first it is not the same with sanctification or making a man inherent holy and just Justifying the ungodly through Faith in the Scripture-style is not making an ungodly man godly as the Papists Socinians and Grotius would have it A mistake in that learned Man which hath led him into many other Misinterpretations of Scripture Nor 2 is it in a strict Sense an accounting or reckoning a Man perfectly just or more than he really and truly is for that were to say that God may be deceived and judge things otherwise than they are It is true the Church of England in one of her Articles hath used the words accounting righteous for the merits of Jesus Christ by faith and not for our works But there needs no force to make them signifie the treating or using as righteous for the Merit of Christ upon the condition of Faith without any Merit on our part which is the true Christian Doctrine of Justification as we shall presently see Nor 3 is Justification to pronounce or declare a Man inherently just as it were in a solemn Sentence who is not so for this were to make God give a false sentence Nor 4 is it to cover or cloth a Man even a penitent sinner with the pure Robes of Christ's perfect Righteousness and then to appear to God pure and spotless as Jesus Christ himself For this were to suppose God to look no further than the outside and represent him like old Isaac deceived by Rebekah and Jacob. These are the notions of men who seem never to attend to the proper Nature of things but are content to talk only in Figures And in truth they might do much more harm if they were not antidoted by other plain Scripture Doctrines such as that of the necessity of Holiness of heart and life for the forgiveness of sins and everlasting Salvation Nor 5 is Justification God's imputing the Righteousness of Christ to Man who lives in any sinfull Breach or Neglect of God's Law There is indeed a comfortable and true notion under those phrases and that is That sinners fare the better for the compleat Righteousness or perfect Obedience of Christ Great and many indeed were the benefits God was pleased to afford sinfull mankind for the sake of Jesus Christ No less than such as these his long suffering and forbearance all sorts of temporal Blessings all the inward and outward means of Vertue and Goodness All this even to sinners while sinners which some learned men have called degrees of remission of sins I should rather say instances of justification or dealing by men as useth to be done to the innocent and just who had never offended Then further upon true repentance entire pardon for all past sins All in the other life and all in this except what God in his fatherly Wisdom may think fit for our discipline and means of further improvement in Vertue and Holiness constant forgiveness upon constant repentance for the interfering faults of good Men and finally Everlasting life All this Men owe to the compleat Righteousness of Jesus Christ from the beginning to the End of his life It was for his sake God was pleased to have any regard to or compassion upon the degenerate Race of Mankind that God might by so eminently rewarding him shew the World how acceptable to him Holiness and Vertue were and encourage to the Attainment of the highest Degree of them possible All this is true and a reasonable Administration of God in the Government of the World But yet it is not
not in the least to doubt it being an exceeding manifest and plain thing but that this Jesus is this Messias but are to believe it firmly and profess it boldly and consequently to become his Disciples particularly shewing their Piety to God and their most religious Disposition of Heart Submission and Obedience to him by the Observance of his Will and Laws by this Jesus the Christ if they intend to be saved Obedience to God by Moses was now Obedience to Jesus Christ is and ever hence-forward will be as the Jews falsly imagine concerning their Law the Condition of and Qualification for the Divine Favour Justification Remission of Sins and finally Salvation Such may be the Sense of St. Paul so we may suppose him to have spoken to us in those obscure words The only thing of moment which the Jews had to object and which converted and unconverted to Christianity were very fond of was the perpetuity of the Law of Moses clearly as they thought affirmed in their Law and Prophets But this St. Paul every where absolutely denies with the rest of the Apostles and with great reason For besides that that Law is impossible to be observed by all mankind neither Moses himself nor any of the Prophets ever affirmed it Nay they have intimated the contrary Jer. 31. 31. with Heb. 8. Moses himself promiseth the Jews That the Lord their God would raise up a Prophet like him whom they should hear Deut. 18. with Acts 7. This as it may promise a Succession of Prophets so it had a principal Respect to the Messias who was a Person sent immediately from God with larger Authority than Moses and to be heard by them Not as they too meanly thought of him as if he were to be only the Servant and second of Moses No he was to be a Law-giver from God like Moses and to take and leave what he thought fit in his Law And so the Prophecy is only compleatly fulfilled in the Messias None of the Prophets were so like Moses as he The Messias only was a Legislator from God like Moses 'T is true none of the Talmudists Paraphrasts or Rabbins that I remember have apply'd this place to the Messias but neither have they done that by many other places where they fairly might and with much more reason than where oft-times they have But it is enough if Moses and the Prophets never really and in truth affirmed the perpetual Duration of the Law For now God hath given abundantly more ample Proof of his Mission of Jesus than ever he did of Moses by his Doctrine Life Miracles Resurrection Ascension Mission of the Holy Ghost upon them who believed in Jesus and not upon the Jews and from this Jesus I have learned saith St. Paul that a great part of the Mosaical Law should be abolished principally in order to the uniting all Mankind into one Body by Religion That Circumcision and Uncircumcision now availeth nothing to Justification but Faith working by Love A religious and obedient Heart to God by Jesus Christ producing all the substantial Actions of Piety and Charity to God and our Neighbour the summ and end even of the Mcsaical Law it self that no man who now believeth in Jesus ought to oblige himself by Circumcision to the observance of all the little temporary and now useless things of the Mosaical Law Nay if he doth Christ shall profit him nothing as being disobedient to one express Command of Christ liberty and freedom from that comparatively mean institution Such then is the fourth false Doctrine of the Jews concerning Justification Fifthly and lastly In few words The Jewish Doctors taught that they might perform and fulfill all the Commandments of their Law by their own natural Strength and Power e but St. Paul and the Divine Writers teach a contrary Doctrine viz. That the grace of God is absolutely necessary for our performance of good Works or rather for being good men the Condition of our Acceptance and Justification f These are all of the most considerable Opinions and Doctrines of the Jewish Doctors or Expounders of the Mosaical Law concerning Justification that I at present remember Now all these Doctrines of the Jewish Doctors put together are the Justification by the Law or the Works of the Law as I conceive Which in not many words are to this effect Some men needed no Justification but those who did were justified without any Merits but their own viz. for the due Observance of the Law of Moses by their own Strength Care and Industry Justification then by Faith or according to the Christian Doctrine as opposed to the Law must be on the contrary That all men being sinners are justified and particularly receive remission of sins the Holy Spirit and Everlasting Salvation from the free and undeserved goodness of God upon the consideration of the perfect Righteousness and the meritorious Sacrifice of Jesus Christ and upon the Condition or Qualification of a pious Temper of Heart for the future to obey the Will of God and consequently to do the thing that is right and just howsoever he shall be pleased to declare it but particularly by the Lord Jesus Christ which very Condition too we had never been able to perform without the assistance of the grace of God This as I think may be the comprehensive Sense of Justification by Faith but if it should prove otherwise it is but a mistake in the signification of a Phrase I confess obscurely enough delivered to us now at this distance of time and of so different a way of speaking from the Apostolical Age. However that be certain it is that the Doctrine it self is taken out of and according to the Holy Scriptures in which I see nothing but what is plain easie and reasonable After this we may in very short observe that if any of the three Senses of justifying faith mentioned viz. A general Piety or a Christian Obedience or according to the Christian Doctrine be that of the Holy Scripture then justifying Faith is not a meer assent to the whole Doctrine of the Gospel nor Secondly is it a bare reliance upon God and Christ and trust in their promises or as others express it a rolling and throwing our selves upon Christ for pardon and salvation nor Thirdly is it a confident persuasion that our sins are pardoned in Jesus Christ nor Fourthly is it whatsoever men have confusedly meant by those Metaphors of going to Christ or embracing Christ or eying him by Faith as an instrument as if such a thin 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Exile Relation of Faith were a thing for which Faith should be so much predicated and to which no less than Justification and Eternal Salvation should be attributed Besides if Faith should thus justifie because it apprehends takes hold of and embraces Christ how much more should love be said to do it which more properly may be said to take hold of and embrace Christ Finally There is no mention in
the Scripture of Faith's justifying or saving as such a kind of instrument nor of any thing which infers it or would so much as give any hint or suspicion of it but as a necessary Condition or Qualification every where in the same manner as Repentance Obedience Confession of Sins and believing him to be raised from the Dead Rom. 10. 9 10. Both these last are Synecdochically taken for being true Christians or Obedience to God by Jesus Christ These notions I conceive have been invented and received principally in opposition to the Pontifician sense and then for want of the knowledge of the Oriental way of speaking or from former prejudices Such notions and language would have seemed very strange and unintelligible to the Greek the Roman and especially the Jew the Adversary of St. Paul whom he endeavours to convince and confute and when understood very mean and improbable And yet there may be truth under all these expressions if they be taken figuratively with some sort of explication and we may be so charitable as to believe that pious and good Men have so understood them and that others sometimes can better tell and explain their thoughts than they themselves As for example if we take Faith first strictly for an Assent but then add so firm repeated attentive and deliberate an one like that of Thomas as to produce in us profound veneration and submission of Soul to God and Christ and an actual Obedience to their Will and Commands and consequently a true Vertue and real Sanctity of Heart and Life I say if this be the Sense of justifying Faith it is true and good and so if believing and relying upon Christ and trust in him for pardon of sin and acceptance be not a presumptuous one but well grounded upon a true Repentance the real Change and Conversion of the Heart and supposing and comprehending that it may pass for a justifying Faith So may receiving and embracing whole Christ as they phrase it as King Priest and Prophet because it includes Obedience to Christ's Laws as a King And on the other hand to receive Christ as a Priest and Prophet may be included in Obedience because we are commanded to believe Christ's Doctrine and to trust in God for the remission of sins procured by him upon repentance finally when they call their justifying Faith a lively Faith or Faith working by love and bringing forth the Fruits of Holiness and good Works it may do very well tho' it is an odd kind of expression of what some contend for That Faith alone justifies without Works or Obedience which is like as if a Man should say That the Root and the Fruit of a Tree nourisheth to signifie that the Root only doth it We have now gone through the explication of the words promised For the application of them let the Apostles own inference suffice at present to recommend unto us a justified State We that are justified by Faith saith the Apostle have peace with God that is we are in a State of Amity and Friendship with God so that we not only have no reason to fear any harm from that Terrible and Almighty Power which the Confederation of all Heaven and Earth cannot secure us from but we have all reason to hope for and be assured of all Instances of Favour and Bounty which his infinite Wisdom shall think fit more and greater than we can conceive What can intercept or restrain his Magnificent goodness to his Friends whom he delights in and delights to honour And then our Consciences will not terrify us or make us uneasie with Menaces or Suspicions of our Guilt and his Justice one Day and drive us from all thoughts of God But on the contrary they will invite encourage command us to make use of him to make him our Refuge our Trust our Solace in all Conditions at all times Then when all the World as kindly as it may now look upon us shall neglect us or forsake us or hate us or which is certain to come to pass sooner or later shall not be able in the least to help us though it would then when Death shall envisage and summon us to an appearance before that Sovereign Tribunal and when we shall stand there to receive our final Doom and irreversible Sentence Oh most desirable and happy of all Conditions without the assurance of which if we would draw our Curtains about us and be serious but one hour we could not be quiet or easie in our selves We proclaim the Person most happy and fortunate who hath the Eye the Ear the Heart of a Prince but what can the greatest Potentates do for us more than heap upon us Riches and Honors for a few Days which many to one we had better have wanted Even the continuance of bodily Life and Health the greatest bodily Blessings are out of their Power but how much more the goods of the mind and the Treasures of Heaven Whereas the Eternal Sovereign Lord of the Universe hath all things perfectly at his own disposal to bestow upon whom he pleaseth and that here with the Wisdom and Care of a Father but hereafter certainly Fullness of Joy and Pleasures for ever more Besides where God fixes his Affection and vouchsafes his Friendship we are sure there is true Worth and something of real and good Value though of his own gift when Earthly greatness through ignorance misinformation humour or necessity may misplace them And the belief of and reflection upon God's Approbation who is the best Judge is at all times extreamly gratefull and satisfactory to us naturally This is certain that a wise and just Man takes more pleasure in not being unworthy of Favour which he doth not enjoy than in enjoying what he doth not deserve We conclude all in turning St. Paul s Doctrine and Inference into an exhortation and motive Let us use our utmost Care and Endeavour on our part and God will not fail to perform what is to be done on his to get into the Number of those who are Evangelically justified our Sins pardoned our Souls inhabited and sanctified by the Holy Spirit and our Eternal Salvation assured that so we may enjoy the great Honour and the unspeakable Comfort of being the Friends of God and at peace with him through our Lord Jesus Christ To whom with the Father and Holy Spirit be all Honour and Praise both now and for evermore Amen Annotations and Additions On the Discourse of Justification a FOR the ample Proof of the Notion and Sense of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sometimes which I have given I think what follows will be abundantly sufficient 1 Let it be premised that though 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in its most precise Notion signifies to pronounce just to discharge acquit and absolve from Fault and Punishment yet in its more general Use it signifies more generally Viz. to treat or use as just in our Opinions Words or Actions and
the spirit mortifie the deeds of the flesh Most plainly Phil. 2. 12. Work out your own salvation for it is God that worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure Nay the same Doctrine may seem fairly intimated in several places of the Old Testament as Deut. 30. 16. God promiseth to circumcise the hearts of the Israelites and their Posterity c. where we may observe a spiritual promise in the body of the Law And Jerem. 13. 23. Can an Aethiopian change his skin c. and David prays in his penitential Psalm that God would not take his holy Spirit from him as supposed necessary to his perseverance much more than to Repentance Although it is to be acknowledged that this Doctrine of the Necessity of Divine Grace Influence and Operation and especial Providence to make and keep Men inwardly holy and good was only reached by some of the Prophets or most eminent Saints or of a sublimer genius among the Jews the generality never thinking of any such thing and when by Christianity taught denied by them Nor was it scarce ever dreamt of among the Gentiles except here and there a Philosopher or Poet may have dropt something that looks that way But hardly any Doctrine more common and known in the Christian Church where every Child learns it before its Letters And certainly the Belief and frequent Attention to so near especially and constant Presence of the Deity to the Souls of Men as it is true so is it many ways a great Cherisher of Piety and Religion It were to be wished that the Fathers supposed by some to know best the mind of the Apostles as being nearest to them had enlightned us here in this obscurely to us delivered Doctrine But these next of all to the Apostles were content to speak simply and little varying from the Apostolical words Clem. Epist to the Cor. p. 41. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And we therefore being called by the Will of God in Jesus Christ are not justified by our own Wisdom or Understanding or Piety or Works which we have done in Sanctity of Heart but by Faith by which the Almighty hath ever justified all Men from the beginning which differs little in words nothing in sense from the Apostle Rom. 4. in the case of Abraham And the Author to the Hebrews Chap. 11. explain'd in the Discourse above But if we go further downward among the Fathers I do not know whether we shall learn much concerning this point Those who please may try themselves Just Martyr the Philosopher seems to me to have taken the Notion of it best and St. Augustine and St. Jerome in some places at least though worst with a prejudice and narrowness common to Persons of Wit Eloquence and Zeal in their own Religion especially when flourishing in Power and Reputation Such a zeal in so truly excellent Religion as the Christian even when mistaken is pardonable But more acceptable to the wiser sort of Men when attended with Judgment and a just regard to Truth St. Jerome seems to have been a greater Master in the Language of the Jews so far as Biblical Hebrew and Chaldee went than in their Opinions and their Books in which they are contained And though he may sometimes mention some-what he had learned in conversation with his Masters as in his Epistle to Algasia the Collection called Misna as I think against Morinus and a Custom or two of the Jews and their opinion concerning Melchisedeck in his Epistle to the Evangelists Yet I do not know perhaps others may know better whether he hath quoted any one Sentence out of any Jewish Book in its own Language But without doubt there were enough of them in his time to have quoted and which contained the same Opinions concerning Justification which we have cited in these Annotations and the Jews teach to this day Or if St. Jerome had read such Books it seems it was not in his thoughts to compare St. Paul's Doctrine in this matter with that of the Jews Let any one read St. Jerome on Gal. 3. St. Aug. quaest 80. quaest 73. and de spir litera ad Marcell and his Expos of the Epistle to the Gal. and his Book de fide operibus and others There may be some things very good now and then dropt But generally what they say is of such confused and uncertain Sense and sometimes not true that a man is little the better but only to know that such men have said so I would not be here thought by this to desire the Abatement of the just Esteem of so great a Name as the Fathers For I believe them to have been generally of exceeding Piety and the greatest men of their Ages for knowledge some in one thing some in another some in all but it cannot be allowed that they were equal either in Philosophy the true knowledge and distance of the Natures of things or in the skill of expounding and interpreting the Holy Scriptures which this present Age by the good Providence of Almighty God doth enjoy We shall I think be very unjust to it if we do not acknowledge so much May the effect of this our advantage in knowledge be also our improvement in a substantially religious and vertuous Temper and Practice without which it is but diversion not business that which may please the Speculators but profit no body and nothing mend the State of the World ADVERTISEMENT BY reason of the Affinity of the Subjects of Justification and Satisfaction I had thoughts of adding a Discourse of this last and that under these general Heads I. What was the Doctrine of the Scriptures concerning that which is so called viz. Satisfaction by the death and merits of Jesus Christ II. What was the distinct Nature Ends and Uses of a Sacrifice and particularly of an Hylastick or Expiatory one III. How they operated or what they contributed toward the procuring securing or recovering the Favour of God in general and particularly that instance of his Favour Remission of Sins upon Repentance and how IV. Whether Jesus Christ dying was not a proper Expiatory Sacrifice V. Whether he was not in many respects a more excellent Expiatory Sacrifice than the Patriarchal or Mosaical VI. What is the true and distinct Notion of a Merit and how the Merits of Jesus Christ might obtain in general the Favour of God to sinfull Mankind and particularly Remission of Sins to Penitents and the reasonableness thereof VII Whether the Act of God's forgiving Sins to penitent Sinners in Consideration of the Sacrifice and Merits of Christ Jesus instead of the Act of punishing them might not be called properly and according to the Original and received use of the word Satisfaction i. e. of as much value of equal or more good Effects to the Community or rather in the World which God governs In all which I think much would be said which hath not been said before or not so clearly and distinctly But
this and something else if God give life and health may find another opportunity SERMON VI. 2 COR. V. 19. To wit that God was in Christ reconciling the World to himself not imputing their Trespasses unto them IN these few words we read the most important part of the Design of Christian Religion The 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 indeed the glad Tidings which the Gospel hath brought to the World Now do we hear the joyfull News and the best that ever sounded in the Ears of Mankind The Sovereign Lord of Heaven and Earth who is only able to save or destroy us Eternally looks towards us with a Countenance full of Compassion and good Will Here we have the Completion of that Prophetical Hymn sung at the Birth of the Great Jesus by a Choire of Angels Glory be to God on high on Earth peace good Will towards men and very fitly repeated by all hearty Christians whose Minds are enlightned and Hearts sensibly touched after the Communion in that Service i. e. the sending of such a Person as the Ever-blessed Jesus and with such a Design would one Day redound to the Glory of the Divine Wisdom and Goodness both Heaven and Earth sounding aloud his Praises It would also be peace on Earth just Cause of unspeakable Comfort and Joy in all Men who should hear the News that the Eternal God an infinite offended Majesty did lay aside his frowns and regard them with a serene and mercifull Countenance or Peace on Earth i. e. between all Mankind Jew and Gentile Greek Barbarian and Scythian there was now to be no Hatred Contention or Strangeness in respect of Religion All were to be united in the Service of the same God and Lord. Christ was to be the Peace or Peace-maker breaking down the Partition-wall Eph. 2. Finally good Will towards Men in Consequence to God's gracious regard what Acts of Grace and Favour might not Men then expect Great were the Blessings and Benefits now more especially which God was preparing for the Sons of mortal and sinfull Men. Who ought to echo back the Celestial Hymn in such words as that of the Psalmist O sing unto the Lord a new Song sing unto the Lord all the Earth sing unto the Lord bless his Name shew forth his Salvation from day to day Ps 96. 1. Most of the words in the Text may afford us matter of excellent Observation These five I. The Act Reconciling II. The Author God III. The Parties God and the World IV. The Instrument Christ V. The principal Instance or Effect of this Reconciliation not the onely one Not imputing their Trespasses unto them I. The Act the Design the Business to be done Reconciliation This supposeth some Aversion and Enmity in the Parties to be reconciled God and the World The Parties were Enemies This we ought a little to explain and shew in Propriety of Speech 1 How man was God's Enemy and 2 how God may be Man's It needs not much explication or proof that Mankind hath been and in greatest part still is the Enemy of God Enmity imports 2 things 1 A Contrariety of Nature and Will 2 and more strictly mischievous Designs Intentions and Actions according to ones Power In both these respects Man was and is generally still the Enemy of God In the 7 th Chapter to the Romans is an excellent Comment Rom. 7. 12. upon this Enmity between the Divine Nature and Laws and the unregenerate Man for in such Sense St. Paul speaks of himself And the same Apostle tells us That the flesh lusteth against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh Gal. 5. 17. The degenerate and regenerate Nature are contrary one to the other Ephes 4. 22. The old Man is corrupt the new Man is created after God in Righteousness and true Holiness Most expresly and plainly Rom. 8. 7. The carnal mind is Enmity against God for it is not subject to the Law of God neither indeed can be And the Gentiles which were almost all the World nor were the generality of the Jews inwardly much better amongst other their abominable Qualities are termed Haters of God Thus we see how man is the Enemy of God But how is God man's Enemy i. e. sinfull and degenerate Man 1 It must be acknowledged that God's Nature Will and Laws are as contrary to Man's as his is to God's 2 That God hates a sinfull Nature as such to speak after the manner of men infinitely more than the wicked Man doth the holy and pure Nature of God A wicked man is not so perfectly and in so high a Degree wicked and sinfull as God is righteous and holy and so it is every where express'd in the Scripture God's Soul hates the wicked Prov. 15. 9. It must be acknowledged 3 that God often treats wicked Men in some respects as a Man useth to treat his Enemy He punisheth and destroys them too when irreclaimable But then more generally he useth them like one who beareth their Persons good Will for he pities their blindness and perverseness he bears them with the utmost Patience In the midst of their highest Injuries and Provocations he continues his Blessings corporal and spiritual the good things of this Life oft-times in plenty and the means of Repentance and Salvation his word and spirit He in kindness chastiseth them to the same purpose All these are the Effects of his Benevolence and love of good Will to them even while Enemies Indeed after all this if they grow senseless obdurate and contemptuous He oft-times makes them Examples in this World however in the next He utterly destroys them Body and Soul not their Being but all for which it is desirable But this Treatment proceeds not from any Malice in God against their Persons but from Love and Care of the rest of his Creatures It is only when it becomes necessary to the Government of the World when wicked Men ought not to be any longer born when their mischievous Impiety and Example becomes intolerable Thus we see the difference between wicked Men's Enmity to God and God's to Men. On God's part what there is is most just and necessary but on Man's horribly unjust However an Enmity there is but not irreconcilable For God was in Christ reconciling the World to himself And that 's the II. Thing The Author God He began the Design immediately after the Apostacy and degeneracy of Man and hath been ever since prosecuting of it and that in or by Christ too as we shall presently mention and here we are to observe that it is but one of the parties at Enmity that design'd and endeavour d a Reconciliation and that is God Stupendious Goodness God an infinite Majesty Sovereign of Heaven and Earth desires a Reconciliation with man the meanest of his own reasonable Creatures God infinitely holy wise and good Man unholy foolish and wicked God neglected and forgotten and most part wilfully injuriously offended and even insolently despis'd Man his unnatural and ungratefull
Creature and Off-spring Finally God Omnipotent who could have done himself right every Moment crush'd this pitifull Worm to dirt turn'd him out of Being or into Eternal Misery Man who could at his worst but have wrigled turned up his blasphemous Mouth and contemptible Head against Heaven not without its permission neither and finally perished in his inveterate Enmity against it 'T is this God I say who began and still carries on the Design of Reconciliation with this contemptible and perverse Enemy Man Even so far as to beseech him to be friends as it follows in the Verse after the Text. Now then we are Embassadours for Christ and Christ is for God for it is added as though God did beseech you by us we pray you in Christ's stead be reconciled to God How canst thou hear such words O man and not presently fall down upon thy Knees endeavouring to prevent in appearance such an indecent Condescension And dost thou O Heavenly Father beseech me is it not below thy infinite Majesty to be a Suitor to a mean and sinfull Creature shall a prodigal and rebellious Child suffer his wise and good Father to beg reconciliation at his hands nay surely that part is mine and only becomes me St. Peter was so surprised with the Humility of Jesus when he would wash his Disciples Feet and so offended at it that he was bold to say He should never wash his till our Saviour threatned him into a Submission John 13. 8. In like manner a good Man duely sensible of the infinite Distance between God and himself and how the Case stands may at first sight be tempted to think so great a Condescension of God as Entreaties for Peace and Reconciliation with men some-what undecent and unbecoming if he himself had not expresly told us otherwise and laid his Commands upon us not to dispute his Wisdom But upon a little Enquiry he would soon find it reasonable and necessary For alas as for a great part of Mankind they were fallen into profound Ignorance of the true God the Person to whom they were to be reconciled and to whom they were Enemies in their minds by wicked Works by their degenerate and corrupted Nature And though they should have known him and how the case stood between them as we through his great mercy do yet through Perverseness Pride Haughtiness and Licentiousness natural and affected Delight in evil Temper and Practice they would have refused his kind Offers and not have given him the hearing like the Barbarous of Mankind who will not be brought to a civil Life but chuse to continue in Nastiness Rudeness and Brutality mortally hating all those who would perswade them to change their manners Insomuch that it is one of the first steps of the most mercifull Author of Reconciliation to bring Men to be willing to hear his Proposals and to enter into a Treaty with him That 's the 2 d. thing observable in the words the Author of this Reconciliation God God was in Christ c. III. The third is the Parties to be reconciled God and the World And here we cannot omit particularly to observe two things 1 the Goodness of God Again 2 his Condescension or as I think I may be bold truly to call it his Humility 1. The Goodness of God that he would be pleased to be reconciled at all that he would vouchsafe to take any course to remove the Enmity between himself and sinners that he would contrive and prosecute to speak after the manner of men such a design that man first might have no unjust Enmity in his Nature against him and then that there might be none in him against Man and that he might not be obliged by his Sanctity Justice and even Universal Goodness it self to use him as an Enemy that there might be settled and preserved an hearty Amity and Correspondence between God and Man But 2. That which is here most proper is God's gracious Condescension or even Humility Condescension to the lowest Acts of Goodness and Charity where it doth not hinder greater as it doth not in God who is always sufficient for all kinds and instances of it together is one Branch of Humility and therefore God may be said in a most proper Sense to be humble The highest doth not think any Office of Goodness below him because it is low as oft-times proud Man doth He feedeth the very young Ravens when they cry and cloatheth the Lilies of the Field But there is another more general Notion of Humility which may most truly be attributed to God himself and that is not to esteem or use any Power ultimately for it self as to be feared or honoured for it This is the true general Notion of Humility and then there is nothing more truly said than that God is the most humble of all Beings He doth nothing merely and ultimately for the Ostentation and Exercise of his Power and Greatness He values his Power only as directed by his Wisdom for the Ends of Goodness as their Instrument of doing good His Power over all his Creatures is necessary for their Government and for the most happy State of them all If God could not controul Angels and Men reward and punish the good and bad as he pleaseth the World would be all Misery and Confusion But contrary-wise Pride the opposite to Humility which is to love and desire Power for it self an Affectation to do what one lists Good or Evil to have all others Wills and Actions at our command to strut and swell with it to make all know it which may be in doing mischief as well as good all this I say hath no place in Heaven It dwells only in Earth and Hell The good Angels imitate their Maker and these mighty and powerfull Spirits are so humble as to be the Servants of good Men here below Whence we Mortals may be advised that the Vertue of Humility in general as mean a thing as it may sound or seem and that Branch particularly of Condescension to the lowest Acts of Charity and Goodness where it hinders not greater is an Imitation not only of Angels but of God Almighty himself But to return to our Observation This gracious Condescension of God may be if we please justly raised by the distinct Consideration of three things 1 That he vouchsafes to be reconciled to his own Creatures There is infinitely greater distance between God and the Noblest of his Creatures than there is between the greatest Emperour upon his Throne and the most despicable Beggar upon the Dunghill 2 To the meanest of his reasonable Creatures and that is Man It might seem more decent to do it to Angels but to such a contemptible thing as Man is great indeed Lord what is Man that thou art so mindfull of him and the Son of Man that thou thus vifitest him Psal 8. 4. And 3 to Man so mean a Creature and yet so proud and willfull a sinner as some are at least
in great Degree and the worst are not excepted who carelesly and contemptuously continually provoke him who defie him proclaim War against him and are resolved to persist and die in their Rebellion and Enmity against him But we leave these things to further Meditation IV. The 4 th observable in the Text is the Instrument of Reconciliation the Person whom God makes use of in the Execution of his Counsel and Design of Reconciliation and that is Christ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. by Christ Such is the ordinary Hellenistical use of the Hebrew 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 So we have it Acts 13. 39. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 rendred by him all that believe are justified Here might be a large Field of Discourse by particularizing the manner and method which Jesus Christ God's Messenger to Mankind sent to effect and execute this Design of Reconciliation makes use of We shall at present do little more than name them The 1 with which God by Jesus Christ begun the Execution of his Designs was the miraculous History of Christ from and before his Birth to his sending the promised Gift of the Holy Ghost This was all along the most evident Proof of his Mission and Commission from God for this Affair and it was necessary in order to his entring upon and continuing his Negotiation 2 The 2 d. was his Doctrine Here Jesus was to explicate open and declare his Message and Business more particularly and distinctly He was to tell them who and what he was from whom he came his Relation to Man c. that He was the one only true God infinitely great holy and just but above all good mercifull compassionate infinitely desirous of their Welfare and that they might be saved or be the Objects of his Eternal Favour and Delight not of his Justice and unavoidable Severity that he was their Maker and Father that he would not only receive their Return and Submission with Joy but effectually help and assist them in it Such a taking and moving Representation of God is that of the Parable of the Prodigal He was more-over to acquaint them with the conditions and terms of Reconciliation which were Repentance future Obedience humble Submission and sincere Application for pardon and that for the Sake and upon the Account of himself or of what he was appointed by God to do and suffer the Consequence of their accepting or refusing the Condition so graciously offered by God All this was done in his Precepts Promises Threatnings And thus far the Application was made immediately to Man to take away the Enmity that was in his Nature and Will to God and to qualifie him for the Amity and Friendship of God The 3 of these means of Reconciliation was his Merit and Oblation of himself as a Sacrifice His most exactly vertuous holy and perfectly obedient Life to God and being an Universal Sacrifice for all Mankind who had been Offenders By the Interposition and Consideration of these it became the Justice Clemency and Wisdom of God to be mercifull and benevolent to rebellious Mankind in all these Instances presently to be mentioned That is it was the wisest way and of best effect to the World better than to have been reconciled without it And this part of the means respecting God immediately was to remove the Enmity on his side that he might be just and yet not cast away all kindness and care even of all degenerate Man but particularly be the Justifier of all them that believe who should now become dutifull and obedient to God by Jesus Christ We may add to these a fourth and that is the continual Intercession of Jesus Christ in Heaven by which he still carries on the reconciling Design between God and the World For I make account that his Intercession in Heaven reacheth as far as his Propitiation here upon Earth that is to the whole World bad and good unconverted and converted impenitent and penitent For the impenitent he interceeds to God for his patience and forbearance and his continuance of his Blessings inward and outward All the means of Repentance and Conversion to them so long as God in his infinite Wisdom shall think fit For the penitent and good he interceeds for their general Pardon upon their general Repentance and particular when they fall into any sin He interceeds also for their improvement advance and perseverance in their Duty and Obedience to God that they might be preserved through God's Power and Care through Faith unto Salvation and finally at last be put into possession of immortal Bliss be with him where he is and see and partake of his Glory V. The last observable in the Text is one principal Effect of God's Reconciliation viz. Not impating their Trespasses unto them I call it but one because there are several others as we shall presently shew More-over this is an Effect of Reconciliation which must necessarily be preceded by others and without which this will never follow For it is not so well said by some very learned Men as it seems to me that Grot. Satisf Outr. de Sacrif there are several Degrees of Remission of Sins as it would that there are several Degrees or rather Effects of Reconciliation Suspension of punishment is not remission Some of these must go before the other Let us see them in order briefly 1 The first Effect of God's Reconciliation to the World is his Forbearance and Long-suffering not presently seizing and bringing Sinners to execution that he strikes not immediately upon our Indignities and Provocations and not only so but during this time of his Patience affords them the Obligations Means Helps and Assistances of Repentance and Reformation Such are all corporal Blessings his holy Word and Spirit the Examples of holy and vertuous Men who by these means have been converted and some of them perhaps irresistibly on purpose that they might be the means of others Conversion or Confirmation and Improvement in Goodness All this we all owe to the Merits Oblation and Intercession of Jesus Christ I say all both bad and good i. e. those who generally live according to the Flesh who are under the Power of Lusts and inordinate Appetite and those who live according to the Spirit who are generally governed by their Conscience the Fear and Love of God a Divine Principle inspired or commanded by the Holy Spirit The bad are almost perpetual Sinners the best in this Life are not altogether without Sin the bad live in Sin the good are sometimes over-taken by it Now it may be truly said that it is for Christ's Sake that God is so far reconciled to the World by him as to forbear the present Execution of his displeasure or punishment and to continue the motives and means of better Behaviour that he waits a bad Man's general and a good Man's particular Repentance that he gives time and means for the Reformation of the one and recovery of the other 2 A 2 d.