relating to us and the present time has occasioned our falling into great mistakes For whereas the Lord said to his Disciples Matth. 17.20 If ye have faith as a grain of Mustard-seed ye shall say to this Mountain Remove hence to yonder place and it shall remove and nothing shall be unpossible unto you Now tho' at that time the Disciples faith was but weak yet afterwards according to the promise of the Lord they did greater Miracles than that of removing Mountains but this promise belongs no more to us than that of sitting upon twelve Thrones judging the twelve Tribes of Israel But as much as we can do the Miracles so much the Promise belongs to us Likewise the Apostle speaking of the Gentiles which had received the Holy Ghost 1 Cor. 12. v. 2,3 Ye know that ye were Gentiles carried away unto these dumb Idols even as you were led Wherefore I give you to understand that no man speaking by the Spirit of God calleth Jesus accursed and that no man can say that Jesus is the Lord but by the Holy Ghost Now he spake this of those that were convinced by the Holy Ghost that Christ was the Son of God For the others that were not then thus convinced would not own him But now all the Christians have learned by rote to say that Christ is the Son of God without the assistance of the Holy Ghost Now the persons of the first Churches were in a more particular manner chosen to be Heirs to the promised everlasting Covenant because unto them was given the Holy Ghost as the earnest of their Inheritance so as they must wilfully disinherit themselves if they mist of the promised blessedness but to the succeeding Generations of the Gentile Churches to them the Promises belonged as they before did to Israel And tho' they were not given the Holy Spirit to be in them as he was in the first Churches but to be with them as he was with Israel yet none can come in as Heirs to the promised Mercy without bringing their wills and affections into subjection unto Christ for he must be so in them as to have the ruling-power in the heart for he that hath not the Spirit of Christ is none of his Rom. 8.9 That is so as to have their minds brought into subjection to the will of Christ Therefore St. Paul saith Rom. 8.13,14 For if ye live after the flesh ye shall die but if ye thro' the spirit do mortifie the deeds of the body ye shall live For as many as are led by the Spirit of God they are the Sons of God That is whosoever will not be led by the Spirit of God to obey the revealed Will of God are not the Sons of God Therefore St. Paul when he related who they were that were in Covenant he there declares it is the Believer that is in Covenant and therefore saith If one of the Parents be a Believer then are the Children holy 1 Cor. 7.14 Whereby we see all that come in as Heirs to the Covenant are included as Believers And the Believer is no longer a Believer than he believes Salvation is to be had according to the tenour of the Gospel But when the Everlasting Covenant is establisht with Abraham and his Seed together the which will be at the Resurrection of the Just which is at the restitution of all things then it is that God will never turn away from them neither shall they then any more depart from him Jer. 32.40 God saith I will make an Everlasting Covenant with them that I will not turn away from them to do them good but I will put my fear into their hearts that they shall not depart from me This is that which crowns life to the Soul This promise is not only to the natural Seed of Abraham but to all the adopted Seed that shall be found true Believers in that day then it is that the Lord will perform his promise as in the 39th I will give them one heart and one way that they may fear me for ever for the good of them and their Children after them This is clearly evident that this promise was never made good to the Children of the Gentile Churches and therefore this promise remains to be made good in time to come for his faithfulness cannot fail for hath he said it and shall he not do it no let God be true and every man a lyar Now Israel when they were first brought under the Covenant then was the time when God saw them in their sin and said unto them live For when God brought them out of Egypt they were then polluted in their blood the which time was the time of love the Lord then taking them into Covenant with himself and thereby he said unto them live But Israel not obeying the voice of the Lord in living according to his Commands and Precepts therefore they were cast off of God So when God first took into Covenant the Transgressors of the Gentiles they were then polluted in their blood whom God then renewed by his Spirit and took them into Covenant with himself and put them into a capacity of obedience And the Believers Children were sharers in the promised Mercy until such time as they grew to have no love to the truth but like Israel took pleasure in unrighteousness Then God left them to strong delusions that they might believe lyes That all might be damned who believe not the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness 2 Thes 2.12 But God hath promised all to be with them whilst they keep the way and to the remnant of whom the Disciples sprang which were his Fathers before and given to Christ it was those of whom Christ said None shall pluck them out of my hand but that he would be with them to the end of the World Now when Christ first came the Spirit was shed on Believers abundantly Titus 3.6 Yet notwithstanding St. Paul terms it but night to that approaching day which is at hand and therefore saith The night is far spent the day is at hand let us walk honestly as in the day c. Rom. 13.12,12 Thereby shewing that in that day there will be no disorderly walking amongst them for then it is that both the natural and adopted Seed of Jacob will be all taught of God from the least of them to the greatest of them so as they shall no more teach every man his Neighbour and his Brother For then it is The knowledge of the Lord shall cover the Earth as the Waters cover the Sea I shall not here insist upon the Everlasting Covenant because I intend fully to explain it in another Treatise Chap. XVI A Belief in Christ further Explained NOW whereas Christ saith He that believeth in me or on me shall be saved And the Apostles also Saying He that Believeth in Christ shall be saved Which is no other than in short to declare that Christ had said and manifested the way and
School-master to bring them to Christ That is the Law shewed them their insufficiency for none being able to fulfil the moral Law to that perfection as to become justified by it therefore it was as a School-master to bring them to look for justification from another And also the Ceremonial law was as a School master to them whereby that great Sacrifice was typified out to them which only could make attonement for our sins And no sooner was the Lord of life Crucified which was that great Sacrifice which had been all along pointed at but their Sacrifices for sin were abolished And the Believers that by faith in Christ Jesus took hold of the Offer of mercy according as it was offered by Christ which is that all should have the free pardon of their sins upon condition of their future sincere obedience And so they then became justified without the deeds of the Law through the imputation of Christ's Righteousness and their willingness for the future to render their sincere obedience to all Christ's commands and precepts For he that cometh after me Christ saith must deny himself and take up his Cross and follow me Matth. 16.24 And whereas the Apostle saith Gal. 3.26 For ye are all the Children of God by faith in Christ Jesus This he speaks of them that had embraced the faith and had received the Spirit And those of us that have taken Christ to have the ruling power in their hearts in hopes of Eternal Salvation are all the Children of God through Faith in Christ Jesus And whereas he saith v. 27. For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ This he chiefly speaks of the inward baptism of those that have so put on Christ as to have brought their thoughts and wills into subjection unto Christ Therefore he saith to the Church To as many of them as have so done have put him on And he saith Heb. 11.6 For he that cometh to God must believe that he is and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him Chap. II. The Faith of Abraham Rom. 4.3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10 For what saith the Scripture Abraham believed God and it was accounted to him for Righteousness Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of Grace but of debt But to him that worketh not but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly his faith is counted for Righteousness Even as David also describeth the blessedness of the man unto whom God imputeth righteousness without works Saying Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven and whose sins are covered Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin Cometh this blessedness then upon the Circumcision only or upon the uncircumcision also For we say that Faith was reckoned to Abraham for Righteousness How was it then reckoned when he was in Circumcision or in uncircumcision not in circumcision but in uncircumcision By these words it doth appear that when Abraham was received into mercy he might have no works of Righteousness of his own to represent him acceptable with God But as the first Churches were brought out of darkness Heathenism and Error and had not good works of their own but they believing the promise that upon confessing and forsaking their sins they should find mercy by the imputed righteousness of Christ Who according thereunto did thus justifie the ungodly And as Abraham was accepted without the deeds of the Law so Israel and all that were willing to joyn themselves with them were accepted without the deeds of the Law when God brought them out of the Land of Aegypt So the first Gentile Churches for the promise made to Abraham and Christ at their first reception were accepted without works of righteousness or the deeds of the Law And the Angel said of Christ that he should be a light to lighten the Gentiles before he said he should be the glory of his people Israeâ— Luke 2.32 Therefore accordingly there was a great number of the Gentiles called in by the assistance of his Spirit with the tender of his grace Therefore St. Paul speaking of the then times saith in Rom. 3.26 To declare I say at this time his Righteousness That he might be just and the justifier of him who believeth in Jesus God is here said to be just in performing his promise to Abraham and Christ concerning the calling in of the Gentiles and in thus justifying them that believed on Jesus which according to the conditions of the tender of his grace took hold of his mercy So we see there was a three-fold day of grace without the deeds of the Law First to Abraham then to his natural seed then to his adopted seed For God carries on all his works in a three-fold way And as under the Law there was a door of mercy set open to all that would take hold of his Covenant So under the Gospel there is a door of mercy set open to all that will take hold of the promise of life according as it is offered by Christ of his free grace which is in the free pardon of all their past sins upon the conditions of their love and sincere obedience for time to come For neither Abraham nor his Natural Seed nor his adopted Seed can any longer have a share in the promises than they persist in their obedience it being the condition of the tender of his grace that for the eternal life promised'd we should yield him obedience For Christ saith Mat 16.24 If any man will come after me let him deny himself and take up his Cross daily and follow me For whosoever will save his life shall lose it but whosoever will lose his for my sake the same shall save it Luke 9.23,24,25,26 And it is the Faith of Abraham that is required And what was the Faith of Abraham The Faith of Abraham was that he believed God and that was imputed to him for Righteousness And what was that which Abraham believed That which Abraham believed was that God would in the way of his Obedience make of him a great Nation and that in him all the Families of the Earth should be blessed Therefore God calls on him to obey and saith Gen. 12.1 Get thee out of thy country and from thy kindred and from thy Father's house And I will make of thee a great Nation Here we see he was to put in practice his obedience or else he could not have been heir to the promise Heb. 11.8 By Faith Abraham when he was called to go out into a place which he should afterward receive for an inheritance obeyed and he went out not knowing whither he went So the Lord calls on us to come out of sin self and the eager pursuit of this world and to follow him and we shall find rest to our Souls and he will give us the Crown of Life And if we will not yield to these conditions we must not expect a share in these promises And tho' St. Paul