accompanied with serious repentance for sin and a frank expression and exercise of charity according to the sense a man has of the love of God towards himself Dost thou find then that by thy Faith thou ownest and acceptest thy Saviour all over in all his three Offices that thou art as content to submit to him as a Prophet to teach and instruct thee as a King to rule and govern thee as thou art glad to have him thy Priest to satisfie for thee and to bless thee Art thou willing to be saved his way and to conform to his Methods so as to ingage in working out thy own salvation and art thou convinced thou oughtest to do something for thy own sake something for his who has done so much for thine Has thy Faith an equal impartial respect to Christs Commands as to his Promises and dost thou take as much delight in the obedience of Faith as thou dost in its assurance Dost thou consider that though it be a Covenant of Grace thou standest under yet 't is a Covenant and tyes thee up to conditions and that though the Gospel be a Law of Liberty 't is a Law still and that Christian liberty does not give thee a freedom from duty but from sin and is not to be used as a cloak of malice and licentiousness Hast thou an even regard to all the means of grace and a desire to profit by them all and not by a wanton preference of one Ordinance to another forfeit the benefit of all the rest Canst thou tell where to find thy Faith in what part of thee 't is seated does it swim as an empty Notion in thy head only or has it by serious resolutions sunk down into thy heart and thence flows into all thy outward parts to the government of thy thoughts and desires thy words and thy actions Dost thou use to call thy sins to account and thinking on them and thy Saviours sufferings togetber set open the sluces of grief and mourn over thy wounded conscience and thy crucified Jesus And lastly hast thou such a sense of Gods love to thee in the pardon of thy sins that thou canst freely forgive all offences done against thee and for his sake who for thine has not spared his Son cheerfully part with all thou hast and resign up all thy concerns into his hands for his uses when he calls for them and is thy Faith a Faith working by charity that puts forth vital acts and evidences and justifies it self by good works to be a living and a true Faith For though it be Faith alone that justifies yet 't is no true Faith that is alone and as a man is not justified for his good works so no man must hope to be justified without them If thy Faith be such a Faith as will abide this tryal and answer this description then 't is a Faith thou mayst trust to and thou hast reason to believe thy self to be a Believer and God will improve and build up thy Faith to blessed assurances of pardon and peace of Grace and Glory And then in the last place what Comfort will it be to be thus assured when thou canst apply the general Proposition to thy self which is that All that believe are justified But believe Therefore I am justified If all Believers then thou Believer whoever thou art of whatsoever condition be thy worldly estate never so low thy outward circumstances never so contemptible thou hast an equal share and interest in Gods favour and in the merit of Christ with the best Whatever thy former life hath been read with comfort that black list of the foulest sins 1 Cor. 6. Idolaters Adulterers and the like and such the Apostle tells them were some of you but now are ye washed now are ye sanctified now are ye justified Reflect with sorrow upon what thou hast been and with joy give God thanks for what thou art And then how weak soever thy Faith at present be canst thou say Lord I believe that he may help thy unbelief and increase thy faith more and more till Faith it self shall be swallowed up into vision This as to the extent of the subject nor has that of the object less of Consolation in it when a Believer considers that by his Faith he is justified and fully discharged from all things from all suits and evictions from all troubles and molestations from all dues and demands his surety having paid all for him From the guilt of sin in that he that knew no sin was reckoned amongst transgressors and was made sin for him From the punishment of sin Christ having offered up himself in Sacrifice once for all As for the chastisements and light afflictions of this life as they are but momentany to they are attended with an eternal weight of glory From the demands and sentence and curse of the Law his Redeemer having fulfilled all Righteousness for him and nailed the hand-writing of Ordinances which was against him to the Cross and undergone the Curse upon the tree From the wrath of God which the Son of God his Mediator has atoned From the horrors of a guilty conscience which the Lamb of God has sprinkled with his blood and his Prince of Peace has spoke peace to From the terrors of death which the Captain of his Salvation has conquered by dying From the accusations of the Devils whom the King of glory has triumphed over at his descent into Hell in their own Territories and from everlasting damnation which his blessed Saviour the holy Jesus by his infinite satisfaction has bought off for him And now what has this happy person to do in this world any longer having his debts paid his sins pardoned his God reconciled his Conscience quieted and assured his accusers silenced his enemies vanquished the Law satisfied and himself justified and his Saviour glorified and a Crown of immortality and a Robe of Righteousness prepared for him what has he to do here more then to get him up to the top of Pisgah and take a view of his heavenly Canaan to stand upon the confines of eternity and in the contemplation of those joys and glories despise and slight the vanities and troubles of this sinful and miserable world and to breathe after his better life and be preparing himself for his change when he shall be called off to weigh anchor and hoise sail for another world where he is to make discoveries of unutterable felicities and unconceivable pleasures O what a happy and blest condition is it to live or to die in the midst of such gracious deliverances and glorious assurances with this fastning consideration to boot that neither life nor death nor things present nor things to come nor any creature is able to separate him from the love of God which is in Jesus Christ his Lord Thus to live is to live in peace thus to die is to die with joy peace of conscience and joy in the Holy Ghost What would not a dying man give to have his eternal state thus secured to him and to insure his soul for his long long voyage whence there 's no returning O let us earnestly beg of God to give us Faith to be our Guide in this life and our Pilot for the next Amidst these raptures 't is but time to speak a word or two of our dear deceased Sister here before us who has brought us together to do her the last office of Christian Charity And sure that Charity as well as Custom makes it necessary that where much may be said something must Nor need I be lavish in her praises since to be but just to her memory and to speak out but her due commendations would seem to distrust the Neighbours her Acquaintance my Auditors whose good word and high esteem as she had when she was living so she needs no Pulpit-flattery to set her forth being dead Shall I tell you of her Conjugal affection and her chast Conversation coupled with fear who besides the advantages of a great Fortune brought that to her Husband which was a more valuable Portion a lowly mind paying that constant respect to his person and that due submission to his pleasure and that sure friendship to all his Concerns and demeaning her self to humbly as if she had brought him nothing but her Vertues Shall I mention her indulgent care and motherly love of her Children whose Duties she earned by her laborious attendance on their infant-years thinking it would look too like an unkindness to be owned as a Mother where she had not been a Nurse too and judging it little better than unnatural not to entertain them at her breasts whom she had carried in her womb Shall I take notice to you what good Order and Decorum she kept in her Family how she centered all her thoughts and business like the standing foot of the Compass at home and how unconcerned she was in the Publick unless it were to do any office of neighbourly kindness or when the duties of the Sabbath called her forth Above 〈…〉 humility was remarkable for she had that which S. Peter advises grave Matrons to put on the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit which is in the sight of God and of good men too of great price and this she preferred before all the gawdy Attire which others of her Sex especially of her Fortune use to adorn themselves withal In a word as she exprest the vertues of the other Sister in her domestick cares so I doubt not but she minded the one thing necessary too and with Mary in the Gospel chose that better part which shall not be taken from her God grant us all to be like-minded and as he has given us his Son so may he give us of his Spirit to work Faith and all Grace in us that so we may be justified and sanctified and finally as we hope she now is glorified Now to God the Father Son and blessed Spirit be all Praise Honour and Glory now and for ever Amen FINIS
A SERMON Preached at the Funeral OF Mrs. MARY ALSTON Wife to JOSEPH ALSTON Esq Who Dyed Jan. 25. and was Interred at Chelsey Feb. 7. 1670. By ADAM LITTLETON D. D. Rector of Chelsey LONDON Printed by John Macock 1671. Acts XIII 39. And by him all that believe are justified from all things from which ye could not be justified by the Law of Moses THE Subject I have by appointment undertaken to treat of may peradventure to some at first proposal not seem altogether so proper and suitable to our present occasion Yet when ye well consider the purport of the words I have now read to you that Faith is the great instrument and advantage of a Christians life for the just shall live by his faith and that Justification or forgiveness of sins is the main comfort any Christian can have at his death inasmuch as he that believes shall not die for ever and though he die yet shall he live and over and above that the Gospel-state affords us Christians that help towards these ends which the Jewish oeconomy could not do to them ye must acknowledge with me there cannot be a more effectual Exhortation for us that survive then that of Faith nor a fuller Consolation over our deceased Friends then that of being justified whereby at our departure hence we have a prospect of ensuing bliss in the other world by being assured through faith in Christ of pardon and acceptance and of escaping the wrath to come This justifying faith I say is the ground of all a Christians present duties here in this life and of his future expectations hereafter in the next This it was made the Apostle say To me to live is Christ and to die is gain a Motto which every Christian may bear upon his Scutcheon and inscribe upon the shield of his faith For by Christ all that believe are justified from all things c. S. Paul being in a Synagogue of the Jews at Antioch in Pisidia on the Sabbath day after the reading of the Lessons out of the Law one and the other out of the Prophets as their custom was being desired by the Rulers of the Synagogue the chief of the Assembly to speak if he had any thing to say for the instruction of the people takes occasion after he had given them a brief historical account of the Israelitish Common-wealth down to David to preach unto them Jesus and to assert his Messiaship By his lineal descent from that King David according to promise vers 23. By the Testimony of John his fore-runner vers 25. By the Completion of Prophecies in his Passion Crucifixion Death and Burial vers 27 c. And lasty and most especially by his miraculous Resurrection whereof there were many witnesses still alive vers 30 31 And that accordingly as David himself had foretold in his Book of Psalms particularly in the sixteenth where he says Thou shalt not suffer thy holy One to see corruption which words in the 36. v. he says as S. Peter had observed before in his first Sermon Acts 2. could not be meant of Davids own person who having served his generation died as other men do and never rose out of that sepulcher he was laid in his body having long since moulderd into dust and his monument remaining still among them till that day And now from all these Arguments he draws this Conclusion in this and the verse immediately foregoing Be it known unto you therefore men and brethren that through this man is preached unto you forgiveness of sins And by him all that believe c. and then last of all he pursues and drives home this Doctrine with a vehement Application in the two next verses forewarning them to take heed of rejecting the Gospel as we find they did on the next Sabbath-day vers 46. when upon the untoward and unworthy carriage of the Jews the Apostle disclaims them and turns to the Gentiles Thus have I given you a short Analysis and Survey of the Apostles whole discourse the sense and main design whereof lies in the Text that Jesus Christ was the expected Messias the Saviour of the world by whom and by him alone Justification through Faith in him and forgiveness of sins which is the proper notion and importance of salvation is to be obtained This Doctrine of Justification by faith in Christ is set down here 1. Affirmatively in Thesi By him all that believe are justified from all things 2. Negatively per Antithesin in opposition to Mosaical observances from which ye could not be justified by the Law of Moses In the Affirmative part we have 1. A great Priviledge or the Benefit it self wherein Gods favour and mans happiness doth mainly consist and that 's Justification 2. The Ground of it Christ. What by his Merit 't is in him for his sake and through his satisfaction we are justified What by his Spirit 't is by him by his vertue and efficacy working in us that we are justified 3. The Condition or Qualification which makes us capable of it or as some love rather to term it the Instrument by which 't is applied and made ours and that 's faith They that believe are justified 4. The Extent of it and the latitude it bears And that twofold 1. As to its Subject in quo viz. the persons justified all that believe or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 every one that believes is justified 2. As to its Object circa quod to wit the things from which Justification is to free and release Believers And that is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from all things from all charge and incumbrance from all damages and inconveniences which otherwise might upon strict rules of Justice befal them In the Negative part is expressed the weakness and insufficience of the Mosaical Dispensation for the attaining this Righteousness which is to be had only by Christ that we could not be justified from those things by the Law of Moses You see then that I have a large field of discourse before me were I which cannot well be expected from me in these straights of time at large to speak of Justification of Christs Satisfaction of Faith in Christ of the legal Administration which are so many common places of Divinity and would each of them require a Volume to be treated of in their full importance It will be enough that I briefly touch at each particular head severally and so as may be most agreeable to the purpose of our present meeting to the Instruction and Comfort of the Hearers And I shall take this Method first to shew what is meant by Justification or by being justified Next to prove the insufficience of Moses his Law and its inability of justifying the observers of it and then in the last place to make out how we are justified by Christ and that through Faith in him For so the words stand in the Greek in this order I have here set them in From all things from which ye
should take away sins as the Apostle argues Heb. 10.4 Wherefore the Law as he says there could not by those Sacrifices which were fain to be continually repeated make the comers thereunto perfect For indeed what proportion was there betwixt those mean oblations and the ransom and price of souls For the Verdict of the Law was that the soul that sins shall die What amends then could the death of a poor beast make for the transgression of its owner or how could those sorry acknowledgments reconcile Divine Justice Which made the Prophet Micah cry out VI. 7. Wherewith shall I come before the Lord Shall I come before him with burnt offerings with calves of a year old Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams or with ten thousands of rivers of oyl Shall I give my first-born for my transgression the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul No this would have been no compensation It cost more to redeem souls then so But you 'l say if it be so what use was there then of those Ceremonies and Sacrifices Was no one justified under that Law no Righteousness to be had by that Dispensation Yes but 't was the righteousness of Faith then too and those that were were justified by Christ who was represented and typified in those legal Rites for it was the immaculate Lamb that virtuated all those Oblations and the whole Pedagogie of that Law had its effect and consummation in him Wherefore it was to be but of a temporary date and as it pointed to him so it was to end in him Nor was the Ceremonial Law only imperfect but the Moral is so too that which has a natural obligation upon all men The inability of this Law as to Justification is partly from our weakness partly from its own 1. We are naturally unable to perform it in an exact obedience and though some Hereticks are bold to say that a man may by the strength of Nature satisfie all the demands of that Law we are by nature obliged to a Doctrine which modest Philosophers amongst Heathens disclaim as appears by the body of death the blessed Apostle complains of and other passages in him taken out of the Writings of Plato Yet supposing that there were no original corruption and that a man could lead a perfect life which are two things that are not to be supposed for what man ever was there beside the Son of God that was either born or lived without sin If he could make satisfaction where would be his merit Or how could he extend that satisfaction to the benefit of others But alas Scripture tells us no man hath redeemed his own soul much less is he in a capacity to do it for another but must let that alone for ever 2. As we are unable to go through what the Law requires so the Law also is unable to help us It lays Rules indeed before us and Obligations upon us and convinces us sufficiently of the Duty we owe but furnishes us with no strength for the performance of it I had not known sin says the Apostle but for the Law no nor practised it neither For which shews the pravity as well as weakness of our nature lust takes advantage from the Law and breaks out with the more violence from under its restraints Not but that the Law is in it self holy and just and perfect but sin finds occasion from the Law to be exceeding sinful Wherefore he affirms elsewhere that as the sting of death is sin so the strength of sin is the Law from whence sin hath all its damning power since without the Law sin could not damn us for where there 's no law there 's no transgression But what follows But thanks be to God says he which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ and that 's our third Consideration That we are justified by Christ alone What Moses could not do in his Law Christ has done in his Grace has supplied the defects of Nature and what was wanting to Legal Righteousness is made up by the Evangelical The Ceremonies as they were to have their period so were to have their completion too at the coming of Truth and the Law of Works is not so much superseded as 't is accomplished in its end by the Law of Faith which exserts it self though not in an exact as was then required yet in that which is now accepted a sincere obedience Now this Justification I told you is had by Christ two ways 1. By imputation of his satisfaction and merit 2. By the influence and efficacy of his Spirit I am sorry to find that some men among us take offence at these terms of imputed Righteousness and infused Grace as notions that do not so well square with Right i. e. they mean their reason But as sure as our sins were imputed to Christ so really is his Righteousness imputed unto us and as sure as we have no natural ability of our selves to any thing that good is so certain is it that we are to be influenced by Gods good Spirit infusing a principle of grace into us and accompanying that grace along with his assistances in its particular acts Otherwise I am to seek which way we are to expect either to be justified or to be sanctified for I hope they will not say our Justification or Sanctification is from our selves and so make men to become their own Saviours 1. We are justified by Christ per modum meriti as a meritorious cause by vertue of that satisfaction he has made for us For the Father and the Son having in our behalf agreed upon a mutual Covenant and ingagement that whosoever believes should through Christ have forgiveness of his sins and be accepted in the well-beloved and Christ on his part having in his own person fulfilled the Law and fully answered all its demands and satisfied Divine Justice for us it now remains that God as he is faithful will forgive our sins if we be faithful and that he will in justice justifie us sinners by Faith in his Sons sufferings For so he that knew no sin was made sin for us that we through his obedience might be made righteous To this satisfaction of his which was of it self plenary the dignity and excellency of the person that undertook and performed for us has added that illustrious advantage that there has accrued a large stock of merit a purchase of life and glory for all Believers as well as of pardon and grace for true Penitents Nor is it his merit alone for which we are justified But 2. We are justified by him per modum efficientiae too as an efficient cause by the working of his Spirit And this was to ascertain his purchase and to apply his acquists and therefore when he had finished the work of our Redemption he came into this lower world about he not only ascended himself into Heaven there to sit at the right hand of the Father and
by continual intercessions to plead and make good his merits but did also send down the Spirit to keep residence here below to perform the office of an Advocate and a Comforter and made him the great Trustee to issue out the revenues of his grace Besides all things in him are gathered into one and there is that strict Vnion and intimate Communion betwixt Christ the Head of the Church and all the lively Members of that his mystical Body all true Believers that they and he are one as the Father and he are one For he having espoused our nature as well as our quarrel the vertue of that hypostatical Vnion extends it self over all even to the very dust of the Faithful that sleep in their graves From this close Vnion it follows that all Believers as being parts of himself are animated and acted by his Spirit effectually in several operations such as these are in the matter of Justification we are now upon that by this Spirit of his the merits of Christ are applied to us and that our Consciences are sprinkled with his blood from dead works to the purging away of guilt that the pardon of our sins is assured and sealed to us that Faith is wrought in our hearts and that a sufficience of Grace is given in to us whereby we are inabled to every good work And all this according to the Covenant by which he was to purchase not pardon only but grace also for us whereby we might be as discharged from the guilt so released from the slavery and dominion of sin if we rightly imploy our victorious Faith which is the condition or if you will taking the word in a moral sense the Instrument of Justification And this we are now to speak of and then conclude with the extent of it that 't is all Believers are justified and they are justified from all things And these two will make up our applicatory part the condition for our Instruction and Exhortation and the extent for a word of Comfort Seeing then that Justification is so great an advantage and priviledge such a benefit and blessing as none is to be compared to it as that which sanctifies and sweetens all the injoyments of this life and ascertains Gods favour and glorious hopes to us in the next that which renders all conditions comfortable living or dying whereas without pardon of sins and peace of conscience let a mans outward fortunes be what they will the man is an utter stranger to true happiness whilst he is here and will be abandoned to a sad miserable estate to all eternity hereafter and seeing that this Justfication is not to be had but by Christ alone who took upon him to be our surety and has done and suffered all that was necessary to be done and suffered for us in order to our salvation and has by his merit and satisfaction purchased for us pardon and grace whereby we may be saved and that the merit of his satisfaction can no other way be derived and conveyed to us but by Faith in him a reliance on his merit and an obedience to his Gospel and that without our faith Christ and his Gospel and Salvation it self can stand us in no stead and all the merits of his obedience and the benefits of his Passion and the dispensations of his Grace will signifie nothing be of none effect to us if we remain still in our unbelief let us be exhorted to have Faith in the holy Jesus to have recourse to him as to our Mediator and Advocate to imbrace him upon his own terms to nail our sins to his Cross to cast our burden upon him who is able to save to the utmost all that put their trust in him to shelter our selves in the clefts of that Rock the wounds of our dear Saviour and renouncing all other hopes with a holy confidence roll our selves upon his satisfaction that we may be cloathed with the robes of his Righteousness and be found in him to the atoning of our offended God to the pacifying and purifying of our troubled and guilty consciences and to the escaping of indignation and wrath tribulation and anguish and everlasting burnings which attend those that through unbelief and impenitence live and die in their sins But because Faith is a word of large and doubtful meaning in holy Writ let me also for your better instruction that no one may mistake himself lay before you some of the most ordinary acceptions of the word which yet do not come home to our purpose nor amount to a justifying Faith Sometimes Faith is taken for an acknowledgment of Divine Truths revealed in Gods Word And this though it be enough to denominate one Orthodox in his opinions and sound in his judgment yet if it be but Notional and hath no practical influence upon the heart and life is no right sound Faith by which a man shall be justified Otherwhere it denotes a firm perswasion of mind that the thing he is taking in hand is lawful and fit to be done In which sense the Apostles rule is to be understood that whatsoever is not of faith is sin And this is very far from being a Faith that will justifie one before God or men For some out of an erroneous conscience which sure is no good conscence may having a zeal not according to knowledge as often has been done think those things lawful which are quite contrary such as our Saviour speaks of that will kill you and think they do God good service in so doing And others when they have not a mind to do things that in their own nature are lawful and the command of a just Authority makes necessary to be done may pretend dissatisfaction of conscience for a colour of their disobedience Another common acception to mention no more of Faith is to take it for a strong assurance of Gods peculiar love and favour to them in pardoning their sins and designing them for salvation When perhaps they have no other reason for their so believing but that they are willing to believe so and have taken pains with themselves to perswade themselves into such a belief and make themselves believe they do believe and this may be as it too too often proves a dangerous mistake by putting the name of Faith upon a fond over-weening conceit and a rash unreasonable presumption Wherefore that thy Faith may not deceive thee take along with thee these three or four marks of tryal to examine it by whether it be a right well-grounded Faith or no. 1. A true Faith imbraces Christ in all the capacities of his mediatiorial office as King Priest and Prophet 2. It takes in the whole compass of Gospel-dispensations commands and threats as well as promises Sacraments and all other Ordinances alike 3. It ingages the whole man the assent of the understanding the compliance of the will the regularity of the affections and the composure of the outward behaviour 4. It always is