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A29501 The faith by which we are justified, in scripture-sense according to Scripture, opened, explained, and applied, on Rom. 5, I : in six sermons. G. B. (George Bright), d. 1696. 1695 (1695) Wing B4673; ESTC R36513 77,408 77

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evil works passes uncontrolled unquestioned from hand to hand and no body but by faith disputes it if it comes by Tradition As you know the things that are but in fashion They run through not only those that make no profession of the Gospel but those that make a profession so Tradition runs through All. Now how shall we be Redeemed from this There is no way to be Redeemed from the common Evils that are done in the world but by the precious Blood of Jesus Christ And then In the Second place as I began to say Christ is the great Principle of them How can you walk in the ways of Holiness No way but by Jesus Christ being within us the Principle of those Holy Actions And therefore tho I say it is our Duty and we are condemned indeed most righteously in not Answering our Duty Yet still we cannot do the Holy Actions required of us but under a Purchase under a Price Ye are bought with a Price therefore glorify God as the Apostle saith And so we must have that mighty Principle I can do all things saith the Apostle through Christ that strengthens me And in John 15. Our Lord shews plainly that he is the Principle Without me saith he v. 5. ye can do nothing He had compared himself to the Vine and Believers to the Branches Now as the branch can do nothing without the Vine you know it cannot so our Souls can do nothing without Christ He is the great Principle of it And then In the Third place They are washed in the Blood of Jesus Christ And they are all made up in their Imperfections by the great Perfection of the Righteousness and Holiness of our Lord Jesus Christ this must necessarily be considered Take that Action of Abraham as the Apostle speaks he was Justified by the Offering of Isaac Naw I say That very Offering of Isaac was as it was Abraham's Act washed in the Blood of Jesus or else it had never been Accepted There were tho we cannot trace them yet God understands them such Corruptions adhering to this Holy Action of Abraham that if it had not been wash'd in the Blood of Christ it could not have stood before him Rahab sending away the Spies It was washed in the Blood of Christ Moses keeping the Passover and refusing to be called the Son of Pharaoh's Daughter all these they were wash'd in the Blood of Jesus or they could not have stood before God All the Repentance all the Holy Actions of the Best and most eminent of Christians they are wash'd in the Blood of Christ that they may be accepted And wherein they are found Light they are made up by the Righteousness of our Lord Jesus Christ The Righteousness of the Law is fulfilled So I understand that in Rom. 8. 4. It is fulfilled in us who walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit That is by Jesus Christ as the Apostle had said He condemns sin in the flesh viz. His Flesh his Sacrifice And so the Righteousness of the Law is fulfilled in us By all those that walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit And the Law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus it makes free from the Law of sin and Death VVhat is the Law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus But that perfect Righteousness and that perfect obedience of our Lord Jesus Christ even to the Sacrificing himself The fourth and last thing in which I would shew you that Jesus Christ is supremely to be considered by every Believer as the foundation of all his Holiness and the Acceptance of it is this That Jesus Christ is He through whom alone and through whose perfect Holinest God accounts us Holy This I confess is a Point that is not generally spoken of And it may seem to be something singular But I am fully perswaded of it That we do not only stand before God by Imputative Righteousness But we stand before him by imputative Holiness also That is not as i● there were no Holiness Inherent and Real in the Saints of Christ But their Holiness could not be counted Holiness if it were not for the Holiness of Jesus Christ I will not stand much upon it because I know it is a singular Apprehension Yet I would give you two Scriptures that do strongly perswade me that this is the very case Till we are brought into the Perfection of Holiness at the State of the Resurrection of the Dead which as I have formerly told you is either when Spirits go out of the Body or when all the Saints shall appear in the Resurrection then shall they be in a perfection of Inherent Holiness But while we are here in the World we are not in a state of Perfect Inherent inward Holiness And therefore Christ in that that 's the first Scripture that enclines me to this Apprehension 1 Cor. 1. 30. He is made unto us Wisdom and Righteousness and Sactification and Redemption Christ is as truly made to us Sactification as he is made Redemption or as he is made Righteousness or Wisdom in our first being brought home to God Therefore I say if he not our Sanctification our Sanctification could not be looked upon as Sanctification if it were not made Acceptable by the Holiness of Jesus Christ Another Scripture is that in the 7th to the Romans Saith the Apostle We bring forth Fruit unto Death in our selves He is speaking of Sanctification in Believers We bring forth Fruit unto Death In our selves But when we are Married unto another even to him who is raised from the Dead we bring forth Fruit unto God We cannot bring forth Fruit unto God which is certainly meant of Sanctification any other way but by being Married to another even to him who is raised from the Dead because the Resurrection of the Dead in all sense of Scripture is the Perfection of Holiness Till we therefore are in the State of being risen from the Dead being in Spirits separated as I have spoken or in Bodies of Glory we cannot bring forth Fruit unto God but we bring forth Fruit unto Death if we are not in Christ the great Husband who is risen from the Dead All our Holiness is made Perfect by his Holiness But then he brings us into that Perfection that every Saint is indeed perfectly Holy in the state of Spirit and state of a Body of Glory given to that Spirit that went out of the Body long it may be before accordlng to the several times in which the Saints of Christ have Dyed I come now to the Third and Last thing which I proposed in this Discourse And that is To shew you what the Sense of the Apostle James is for it seems to run very Counter to all the Doctrin of Free Justification by Faith and not by Works It seems a wonderful thing that the Spirit of God after it had said so much by Paul of being Justified by Faith without Works That the Spirit
of Holy Life and Holy Action And a Man believes no more than he is truly and really transformed by into the thing that he Believes I shall shew you That Jesus Christ is that great principle of Holy Life and of Heavenly Life that doth impower the Souls of his People according to the degree of the present State and shall bring them to that spotless to that blemishless state in the Glory of his Appearing I begin with the First thing and that is to shew you that Jesus Christ is that great Revelation that Faith hath Primarily Principally Originally and Supremely to close with and to give up it self unto You shall find in the 3d of John that this is a Notion of Faith and a Notion of Faith proper to the great Revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ saith John 1 John 5. 10. He that believeth in the Son of God hath the Wit●… in himself He that believeth not God hath made him a Liar because he believeth not the Record that God gave of his Son The great Record that God hath given it is of his Son that he hath given his Son as the Great Mediator as the Great Redeemer as the Great Sacrifice as the Great Righteousness of the World A●d therefore if any Man does not believe this he has made God a liar God hath done all in the Gospel that can be done to give us an Assurance of it So it is the great Revelation And so when our Lord saith They have surely known and believed that thou didst send me It is the very same thing that Jesus Christ is the great Saviour and Redeemer of the World For what 's the meaning of God's sending Christ but a sending him as a Sa●…or As you may find plainly John 3. 17. For God sent not his Son into the World to condemn the World but that the World through him might be saved And Him hath God the Father Sealed John 6. So that from all this it is most Evident that it is the great Revelation And tho this be a great Truth yet still the Gospel raiseth it higher And I beseech you that you would seriously consider when a Man Believes in Jesus Christ he does not only believe a written Word I desire again your serious Attention to it He does not only believe a written Word he does not only Believe a great Testimony from God or a sound of words concerning it but Jesus Christ the word himself comes to him Indeed it was heretofore in a manifestation in the Flesh But the very same thing is now manifested by the Spirit of Jesus Christ And by his coming in Spirit he comes as that Word of the Father as the Eternal Word of the Father And he shews himself to the Soul he shews himself in Spirit to the Soul so that the Soul Believes the Word of God because Christ the word of God shews himself to him And we never have the Truth of Faith till we have this very coming of the Eternal Word to us As you see 1 John 1. 1. how the Apostle speaks concerning this word That which was from the Beginning which we have heard which we have seen with our Eyes which we have looked upon and our hands have handled of the word of Life For the Life was manifested and we have seen it and bear Witness c. That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you Now pray Why does the Apostle declare this Not that you should rest in a written word That 's the thing I would desire you to observe Not that you should rest in a sound of Words but that ye also may have fellowship with us ver 3. and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ Not that we should expect any Visional Representations of these things That 's not the Intention of it But that we should look for a real Manifestation of the Father and the Son or of the Father by the Son and through the Son And also of the Son by the Father So that there is certainly a Sight of Christ I say a sight of the Son in Faith And if we did but thus consider the excellency of Faith indeed I cannot but apprehend there could be no difference between Christians and Christians in these points concerning Faith and so concerning Justification if we had but true and right apprehensions of Faith It is true indeed there 's a great deal of false Faith of counterfeit Faith that has never seen Christ But all true Faith it hath seen Christ it hath come up to the very word of Jesus Christ That is to Jesus Christ the Word So John 6. 40. there must be a sight of the Son before there can be a believing in him And this is the the will of him that sent me that every one which seeth the Son and believeth on him may have everlasting Life And therefore as I told you he is called the Word of God that is the Essential and Eternal Word of God manifested in Flesh manifested in Human Nature And There is no sight of Christ without his coming to us without our receiving of him by the Teaching of th● Father and by the manifestation of himself And so saith the Apostle Paul when it pleased God to Reveal his Son in me You see here is not only words either Spoken or Written but there is the very Son himself Revealed in us I do acknowledg all this is in a Spiritual Sense not only in an Intellectual Sense Tho it is true That shall be Subservient and as it were the Conveyance and Vehicle of this sight But it is a Spiritual Sight wrought by the Power of God and by the Spirit of God And O therefore This is the great Point I would press upon you And indeed I have taken notice that the most Spiritual Writers and Preachers of Faith They have said That Faith is upon the Person of the Son the Person of the Eternal Word in our Nature the Lord Jesus Christ It does not deal first of all with his Benefits and Salvation that comes by him I mean principally I don't say but God may draw a Soul first by the consideration of his Benefits But the principal Touch of Faith it is upon the Son of God I might give you innumerable Scriptures that verify this great Truth And I desire that we may take notice of it In that forenam'd place John 17. v. 8. Christ saith this is the point They have believed that all things whatsoever thou hast given me are of thee and that I came forth from thee and that thou didst send me All this Christ says you may see immediately concerns the Person of our Lord Jesus Christ So in the Epistle to the Galatians a place that is worthy our notice and that I shall have occasion of continual recourse to Gal. 2. 20 21. I am Crucified with Christ nevertheless I live yet not I but Christ liveth in me I urge it
him Just as the Load stone fetches in the Iron and calls it to it self And so when Christ comes near to the Soul He draws it near to himself c. THE FAITH BY WHICH We are Iustified c. The Fifth Sermon Rom. 5. 1. Therefore being justified by Faith we have Peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ FRom what I have discours'd in the last Sermon That we are Justified by Faith in such a sense only as that Nothing can be attributed to Faith but only to Christ Two Objections may arise which I would answer before I pass on to the main Point I now intend Object 1. What then is it may it be said in Faith upon which Justification is attributed to Faith rather then to any other Grace Answ I Answer it is like taking possession the having Livery and Seizin in an Estate become ours or like the consent of a mean person in Marriage to a Prince Or indeed to speak yet more plain to our apprehension if any one will give us a Gift before we come to be really invested in that Gift we must take it and have it in possession And we have not a true Title to it else tho it does not depend upon our taking But it is only a Consummative and Perfecting thing that we take it into our possession we accept it from the giver as his gift and we take it into possession as our own And thus I say it is and that we are Justifyed by Faith And it seems to me except any one shall shew me wherein I am in a mistake in thus saying I shall conclude it to be the very sense of the Spirit of God in all those Expressions that we are Justifyed by Faith and live by Faith These things I say shew to us the worthlessness of Faith in it self And yet that it is Consummative and a Consummation of our Title to Christ and to his Righteousness I would only first answer one more seeming great objection against this representation of Faith I have given as if it were only the Imprint of Christ's gift of himself and his Righteousness to the Soul why is it then so often said Repent and believe the Gospel And whoever believes in him c. And we are called on as if it were our act to believe Now to this I Answer that it is true we are so Though I am fully by the grace of God of that Judgment that I have declared to you concerning the nature of Faith And that it is Christ Imprinting his gift the gift of his Righteousness and of himself upon us And yet for all that I think my self bound in all the Discourses of this grace of Faith to move you to perswade you to Exhort you to receive to press you to Believe in Jesus Christ Because this is the Rational way that God doth deal with those as I have said he giveth understanding and Rationality to and because this is that Ordinance of God and for great and wise Reasons both to his Servants whom he draws thus to believe by the obedience 〈◊〉 Faith to the preaching of the Gospel And in regard of those that do not believe That he may Justify and vindicate himself that he hath gone that way which is proper unto the Soul of man He hath drawn with the Cords of a man and with the Bands of his Love in offering Christ to them I now come to what I proposed in the next place To shew you the great assu●…nce of Faith the assurance of it from these words of our Lord They have known They have known And they have surely known And yet whe● it comes to be Explained what this knowledge is It comes to this it is Believing For Pray observe the course of the words Jo. 17. 7. They have known To know is of great Certainty and of great Assurance And again in the latter part of the verese They have known surely that I came out from thee and they have believed that thou didst send me They have known surely And yet when it comes to the issue they have believed Therefore I shall endeavour I say to make out to you the great Assurance of Faith And I shall propose these four kinds of assurance that Faith hath And there are Scriptures very full for each of them I 'll lay them first before you together The first assurance of Faith is the assurance of understanding So you find Col. 2. 2. That their hearts might be comforted being knit together in love and unto all riches of the full assurance of understanding in the acknowledgment of the mystery of God and of the father and of Christ There 's the first assurance of Faith the assurance of understanding when all the great truths of the Gospel that men are ready to say how do you prove them How will you make them out either by sense or by Reason How shall we know that these things are indeed true Why now when Christ and his Spirit do fix these truths upon Souls they have Riches of the full assurance of understanding The second full assurance of Faith it is in that great Point of Pardon of sin and peace of Conscience by Jesus Christ For if a man comes and says to another As you know men are ready to do you talk at a strange Rate Do you know that your sins are pardoned Do you know that God and Christ have Done this and that you shall be saved from wrath for ever Observe now what the Apostle saith to this in Heb. 10. 22. Let us draw near with a true heart You know it is a phrase in our English such a man when we do speak of him as fearful or a person of no valour we say he is a false-hearted man And that man that is Resolved and valiant and great in Prowess we say he is a man of a true heart of a true valour Now whereas some are apt to think that every man should stand trembling and doubting and say I don't know whether my sins are pardoned or not I dare not be so bold or presumptuous as once to say I am sure that I am freed from wrath to come Why now saith the Apostle Let us draw near with a true heart having our heart sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water So here 's a second great assurance of Faith A Third assurance of Faith is in this O what shall become of me for ever What shall become of me when I dye Where will be my dwelling Where will be my Reception my Receptacle for ever when I go out of the world Can I hope for such a state as the Scripture Describes Heaven to be Can I bear up in those hopes Why then Consider what the Apostle saith Heb. 6. latter part of the 11 ver We desire that every one of you do shew the same diligence to the full assurance of hope unto the end So here you see is another assurance the
that point of Pardon of sin Peace of Conscience and deliverance from wrath to come But as I said before Take any of the great Truths of Scripture and they are never separated from that Justifying Faith All the actions of Creation and Government of Providence are never separated from the Divine Being the Father Word and Spirit Creation and Providence you know are attributed to them all And I am perswaded that this may much help your thoughts Because men discourse promiscuously As if we were as well Justified by love to Christ and by mortifying a Lust as by taking hold of the sacrifice and Ransom of Jesus Christ and as if one Truth were as essential to Justifying Faith as another Now I acknowledge they are never separated To take off all Scandal and offence from men And yet I say there 's an Immanence in the act of Faith when it is acting upon Jesus Christ I come now to the Second Point that I would be something more large in And that is concerning full assurance of Faith in point of Conscience or the peace of Conscience and the Pardon of Sin and the assurance that God is ours Now if I could here make out to you how that Assurance comes into the Soul and how it is born up by Christ and by the Father and by the Spirit I should think it were to great Edification I say if I were in any measure able to make it out according to the Excellency of the thing I shall therefore go as far as the Lord shall please to assist by his Spirit in it Therefore the first thing that I shall say to you by which a man comes to have an Assurance of the Pardon and Forgiveness of his Sins I shall speak it in the very Scripture Language It is First of all By an immediate Voice of the Blood I say by an immediate Voice of the Blood And then I shall shew you it is by the Voice of the VVater from Christ And then In the Third piace By the Spirit And then In the Fourth place that the Father from Heaven comes and Ratifies and Assures this Testimony of the Son and of the Spirit in the Blood and in the VVater First I say it proceeds immediately For I would speak of the things in the Order of Nature from the Blood For nothing doth so immediately speak Peace to a Sinner as the Blood of Jesus Christ the Sufferings of Christ And therefore so many things are spoken of Christ of his Sacrifice and of his Death and of his Sufferings I may give you many places of Scripture that put most upon the Blood of his Sacrifice as to our Sense and Apprehension than upon any thing I say upon the Blood of Christ How much more shall the Blood Offered by the Eternal Spirit you know Heb. 9 And the blood of Sprinkling that speaketh better things than that of Abel c. 12. And Heb. 10 24. Having boldness by the blood of Jesus to enter into the Holiest It is put upon the blood the blood of the Everlasting Covenant Heb. 13. The blood of Christ cleanseth from all unrighteousness 1 John 1. VVho loved us and washed in his blood Rev. 1. and Rev. c. 7. They have washed their robes white in the blood of the Lamb And so the Apostle speaks proportionably in this 1 John 5. There are Three that bear witness in Heaven the Father the VVord and the Spirit And then there is the Spirit the VVater and the Blood The Blood it hath an immediate Voice And this is he saith the Apostle that came by water and by blood not by water only Pray observe that it puts an Emphasis upon the Blood Not by VVater only but by VVater and Blood So I say whenever our Souls come indeed to have the Assurance of the Pardon of Sin and of Peace with God it is by Blood The Blood of Jesus which is carried into the Holy Place not made with hands We are Purged by the Blood Offered by the Eternal Spirit We have Confidence by the Blood of Jesus O! therefore when Christ is pleased to send out the mighty Effluxes the Efluviums of his blood when he sends them out and draws and twists and brings back the Conscience and the Heart upon the Blood of Christ when he is pleased to do thus Those strong Acts upon the blood of Christ they do as it were Recoil and come back upon the Soul and upon the Conscience with the assurance of the pardon of sin in that blood Therefore blessed is he that hears the voice of the blood of Christ that hears in his own Conscience the blood of sprinkling speaking better things than that of Abel And this is the first thing Because I treat as briefly as I can of it I come to the second thing and that is To give you an account of the forgiveness of sins comeing in by the Water Now I confess I shall give somewhat another Interpretation than I have known given concerning Water For I look upon the water not as some would very Chilly and Coldly understand it of Baptism except that spiritual Baptism of the Gospel which I always desire to magnify or that it is meerly Sanctification which the Generality of Interpreters give it to be But by water I understand the very obedience and Righteousness of Christ separated from his sufferings That great obedience which was like a River Pure as Christal that ran through the whole obedience of Jesus Christ from the very beginning to the end And the Reason why I take it so and not to be sanctification is this because saith the Apostle in this 5 Chapter of the 1st Epistle of John This is he that came by water and by blood Not by water onely but by water and blood He came himself by water and by blood He himself came This He take notice of him He came by water and he came by blood He came by the water of a pure and perfect Righteousness in which there was nothing at all of Imperfection or soil or the least of blemish He came by this water And so you find the obedience of Christ is often mentioned in Scripture I shall give you that place for all Rom. 5. v. 18. Saith the Apostle there By the obedience He speaks often of the obedience of Christ But by the obedience of one shall many be made Righteous ver 19 And by the Righteousness of one The offence of one and the Righteousness of one The Disobedience of one and the obedience of one So Obedience and Righteousness they are of one and the same import And the comeing by water I say is comeing by the perfect obedience Righteousness of the whole nature and action and performance of Jesus Christ Now therefore when the Soul is saluted as I may so express it by Christ with this obedience in his hand when he comes saith Christ to the Soul I have obeyed I have fulfilled all Righteousness I have done always the
things pleasing in the sight of my Father there was no guile found in my mouth there was no sin found in me without sin in the midst of all the Temptations that ever could be Congregated upon me Here therefore take this obedience of mine and let it stand against thy disobedience against thy many sins thy many provocations and Transgressions I have come by purest water And so there shall be a fountain opened for sin and for uncleanness Zech. 13. 1. And he leads them to the Fountains of living water in his own Righteousness in his own obedience And having the heart sprinkled from an evil Conscience and the Body washed with pure water That is not of sanctification as we might be very apt to understand it I say not principally I never exclude sanctification but not principally But that purity of the obedience of Christ by which we are made the Righteousness of God through him And when this water speaks in this sense that I have now layd down to you It gives that great assurance against the fear of Hell wrath and Eternal condemnation for we are Righteous by it The second thing in which I will be very brief is the spirit that gives witness You know that is a general allowed Doctrine that the Spirit of God seals up to the day of Redemption It is the Earnest of it in the assurance of the pardon of sin in the witness of absolution that it gives It is the Spirit of Adoption and the Spirit of promise After ye believed ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise which is the earnest of our Inheritance The Spirit it self bears witness with our Spirits that we are the children of God And hence arises the great assurance of Faith O! When a man can find the word of the Spirit within that word in his own Soul that his iniquities are pardoned and his sins forgiven The Spirit is a mighty witness For the Spirit is Truth He is able to spread his witness throughout the whole Soul to seal up the whole Soul to himself But then the last thing that I will speak of is this There comes in that mighty Authoritative and original act of the Father saying I have forgiven thy iniquity I have pardoned thy sin And I look upon it to be conveyed especially in that voice that we have in the three Evangelists Matt. 17. v. 5. There came a voice from Heaven And as the Apostle Peter saith from the Excellent Majesty saying this is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased That is I have accepted him for a Ransom I have accepted his obedience I have freely forgiven iniquity for his sake for he is my self he is my Son he is mine and therefore I do it freely and yet I do it for his sake Because he has given a Recompense a satisfaction to Justice And so the Apostle says Eph. 1. 5. Who hath made us accepted in the beloved And in whom we have redemption in his blood the forgiveness of sins And so it is said by Jesus Christ The Father loveth me And whatsoever ye ask in my Name the Father will do it for you There comes in the great Evidence Testimony and Assurance of the Fathers free acceptance and free absolution through him To close therefore thus much as I have begun to say from these words in brief application This first Application is this That you would seriously consider whether you have Faith or not You may say How shall I know Why consider it as I have now represented it to you It is a mighty Power from Christ it is a mighty power from his Spirit in all the Truths of God Especially those Truths that concern Jesus Christ But just as I opened to you in the begining of this Discourse That Faith it is a new Understanding to us We have as Men you know an understanding endued with Reason And therefore we all say let me hear Reason and then I 'll be perswaded And every Wise Man whenever he speaks he endeavours to speak Reason Therefore God hath given to man such a thing as he calls Reason He hath Endued the Understanding with that great Principle of Reason And if a Man be a Natural you know that is a man in whom Reason cannot act because some of the Organs of the Body are not prepared to let Reason have its course 'T is plain that 's the meaning of men being Naturals It may be you may think they have not so good a Soul but that 's a mistake Only there are not Organs fit for the working of Reason And therefore you know when we look upon such a one we look upon it as a vain thing to Discourse with such a one because we know he has no Reason Or a Mad ●…an it is but loss of time to Discourse Reason to him because there is such a Disturbance and such a kind of jumble in the Brain that Reason cannot have its course So I say if we would consider a Man in Gospel sense he is just like a meer Natural or like a Mad-man or like a very Brute if he has not a Light of Faith For Faith is a New Light and a New Understanding And therefore it is very observable 2 Thes 3. 2. That we may be delivered saith the Apostle from unreasonable and wicked men For all men have not faith If a Man be unreasonable you can have no place in him by the powers of Reason Now saith the Apostle I look upon a man in Gospel-sense just like a Natural or like a Mad-man or like a very Brute if he has not a Light of Faith he is an unreasonable Person when he has not Faith For all men saith he have not Faith And the word that is used in the Origninal is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It is very well known among the Learned to be a word proper to Philosophy They say if a Man has not the Powers of Reason or does not speak according to them he is an absur'd man or an unreasonable Man he is a Man that hath no Topicks Now saith the Apostle he is an unreasonable Man he has no Topicks with him And why because he has no Faith So I say a Man without Faith is a Man without Gospel Topicks You cannot speak to him upon the Topicks of Jesus Christ with any Acceptance because he has not Faith O! Therefore Let us consider how sweet is the Discourse of Christ to us How impressive upon us How do our Souls go out to him and act upon him As you know the mind of man even in worldly things is acting according to Reason and all the Powers of Reason So we should be always Acting upon the Gospel and upon Christ especially by all the Powers of Faith And therefore this I would desire you to mind in the immanent Truths in those Truths wherein Faith is in its immanent Acts principally upon Christ and Righteousness in him and Pardon of sin in his