in his word To say God did give such men power in Adam will not salve the business For we cannot say that any such power was given to Adam himself before his fall much less that all his Posterity had such a power in him We cannot say that Adam had power to do more than what was necessary to continue him in that state in which God created him and consequently we cannot say that God gave him power to repent when he had no occasion for it or power to believe the Gospel when there was no Revelation of it nor occasion for such a Revelation No this power depends upon an after-work of Grace through our Blessed Redeemer Nor is this doctrine touching the power which God hath given unto men of acting towards their own believing at all contrary to that where men are said to have believed through grace Acts 18.27 or to that where Faith is said to be the gift of God For it is through the preventive and antecedent Grace of God as I have said that they are enabled to act towards their believing For though what they do towards their own believing is by a free use of their natural faculties yet it is by means of the preventive and antecedent Grace of God to wit the Gospel that those faculties act any thing towards their believing the Gospel For without such an object of Faith as the Gospel is mens faculties could act nothing towards the believing of it And then further though men do exercise their natural faculties upon the objective Grace of God and thereby act somthing towards their own believing Yet in that hereupon more power is given them to believe hâ—â—â—lie effectually and fully to Righteousness and Salvation this power is from the subsequent Grace of God So that the whole business of believing from the beginning to the end of it is of Grace first of Grace antecedent and then of Grace subsequent There is only so much of man in raising Faith in him as belongs to the free use of his natural powers and faculties The Grace of God in working Faith does not put new faculties into man nor destroy that freedom which is proper to the will as such It only rectifies and regulates the motions and operations of the will in reference to its objects So that the change is not natural but moral And this moral change in rectifying and regulating the acts and motions of the will is made partly by opening the understanding and enlightening the mind better to discern the nature of things and whereto they tend And this is done partly by holding the thoughts more frequenâ—â—y and more intently upon things that concern the soul and another life and partly by assisting and strengthening the understanding in making a right judgment of things And then the will is prevailed upon to chuse the right end and the way to it by having the great motives of the Gospel kept upon it by a more frequent and constant consideration For by that more frequent consideration and by the illumination of the mind about the great motives of the Gospel the power and force of those motives is better felt by the Will So that as a man comes to have other apprehensions of things by illumination of the mind so he comes to have other affections for them in the acts and motions of his will This change thus made in the mnid and will is called the renewing of the Holy Ghost because it is his work upon and by both Tit. 3.5 and a being renewed in the spirit of the mind Eph. 4.23 It is a restoring the natural faculties that were depraved in their operations to their right use and exercise for which they were made which was to act for the honor of their maker and for their own happiness and not contrarywise as they do when perverted by the power of sin This renovation in the natural faculties therefore tends to the perfecting of our nature For which cause perhaps men thus renewed are in Scripture stiled perfect in the favourable sense of Grace This one thing is further to be noted That whatever is done upon the natural faculties of mind and will by the Gospel or by the Spirit of God to change and renew them is also done by those faculties Men are not made to understand or believe the Gospel which they did not before otherwise than by exercising their mind and will about it By all this then it appears I hope that what is ascribed unto man in acting towards his own believing is no ways contrary to Grace unless you will say an effect cannot be of Grace if the natural faculties have any thing to do in the producing of it as they must if it be mans act I might shew how that the Gospel by the giving of which God hath been aforehand with us and prevented all endeavours of ours is of it self and in the very nature of it so apt to work upon the human faculties and to incline men to embrace it if they would but a little attend to it and consider it which one would think they might easily do if they would before their natures are debauched by a custom of sinning I say it is so apt to gain upon them that it hardly fails to do so more or less but where it meets with such as wilfully call off their natural faculties from attending to it and the things it treats of and that imploy them about objects of another nature as those did who in the Parable of our Saviour are said to be invited to the Supper which a King made for his Son when they made their several excuses This is well represented by our Saviour when he says of such that they closed their eyes lest at any time they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears and should understand with their hearts and should be converted and I should heal them Mat. 13.15 These are words which seem to signifie more than a bare omission or neglect and denote a kind of opposition a striving with themselves not to think upon or to be affected with things of that nature as those of a spiritual concern are And such people do not only not incline their ears to hear nor give ear to hear as the Scripture speaks but they turn away their ear from hearing they reject the word of the Lord and the counsel of God against themselves We do not therefore attribute any such great matter unto men when we say that they by the advantage of the Gospel may do so much towards their own believing if they will as would through the help of Gods Holy Spirit who is always ready to assist mens honest and good endeavours issue and end in an effectual believing Nay there is so much of the Grace of God vouchsafed towards the calling of men by the very sending of the Gospel to them as will in all probability prevail upon them if they do not much oppose resist and
our Saviour hath said Heaven and earth shall pass away but my word shall not pass away Mat. 24.35 Those are the Vnbelievers which shall certainly perish who will not believe God who will not believe the Son of God when they have spoken their mind fully and plainly but will needs flatter themselves with hopes that they will be better than their words 3. Our Saviour to take away from men such vain hopes and to convince them of the necessity of their being reconciled to God hath told them that if they will not be reconciled to him they cannot be reconciled to happiness that their nature cannot be capable of the happiness of the next world unless they are reconciled to God in this Except a man be born again saith he he cannot see the kingdom of God John 3.3 Except such as have contracted ill habits by bad living be born again they are not capable of the happiness of that state That is in other words except they put off the old man and put on the new Col. 3.10 or which is yet more plainly exprest Ephes 4.22 23 24. except they put off concerning their former conversation the old man which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts and be renewed in the spirit of their minds and do put on the new man which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness except this be done they cannot see the kingdom of God i. e. they cannot enjoy it He doth not say they shall not but that they cannot see it And the reason is because the happiness of the heavenly state is of such a nature as between which and the nature of man as viciated and corrupt there is no congruity And that which hath a contrariety in it to the nature of a creature is not matter of pleasure but of torment to it The holy God the holy Jesus the holy Angels and holy Men are the inhabitants of Heaven And what felicity can unholy men take in such company Solomon saith the upright are an abomination to the wicked Prov. 29.27 And if they be so here where they are but in part holy how much more will they be so in the other world when they are altogether so What Communion saith St. Paul hath righteousness with unrighteousness no more than light with darkness 2 Cor. 6.14 They do not love God here as he is holy nor is it pleasure to them to think of him as such and therefore unless they be sanctified and made so here they are not capable of enjoying God in the next world in the enjoyment of whom the happiness of Heaven doth consist Without holiness no man shall see the Lord Heb. 12.14 And they are such as are pure in heart which shall see God Mat. 5.8 Besides those sinful lusts which wicked men carry along with them into the next world will keep them from being happy in what place soever they are when they shall be deprived of those carnal objects to satisfie them which they found in this world And lest any should think that God will be so merciful to them as so to alter and change their nature when they come into the other world as that they shall be capable of the happiness of Heaven though they are not changed in this our Lord hath told them aforehand to prevent such a conceit that though many shall say unto him in that day Lord Lord open unto us for we have heard thee preach in our streets have eat and drunk in thy presence have prophesied and cast out devils in thy name and done many wonderful works yet they having lived and died unreformed he will then say unto them depart from me ye workers of iniquity I know you not Mat. 7.22 Luke 13.25 26. And St. Paul his Apostle hath told us also that we must all appear before the Judgment-seat of Christ that every one may receive according to that he hath done in the body whether it be good or bad We must receive we see according to what is done in the body here in this life before the separation of soul and body by death 2 Cor. 5.10 Now is the accepted time now the day of Salvation and those that out-stand this it will be said unto them as our Saviour doth in Rev. 22.11 He that is unjust let him be unjust still and he that is filthy let him be filthy still By all these Revelations made by our Saviour he hath as any that will consider them may easily see put men upon a necessity of being reconciled to God unless they had rather chuse to be everlastingly miserable And in this with the forementioned Motives there is a very great aptitude to reconciel men to God as the reason of the thing shews and the event hath declared And thus we have now seen how the Mediatory Righteousness of our Saviour his obedience in executing the Law of Mediation doth operate to our Justification in reference both to God and men By his sufferings he reconciled God to penitent sinners by making satisfaction to his governing Justice and by securing the ends of his inflicting punishment upon impenitent offenders while he spares the penitent And by the Gospel which he hath set on foot the Holy Spirit concurring he reconciles men to God that is he reconciles their minds and wills their lives and actions to Gods Holy Nature Government and Laws which is their Evangelical Righteousness in which capacity he delivers them up to God to be Justified and Pardoned according to the tenor of the Covenant of Grace which he likewise obtained for us it being founded on his Mediatory obedience of which Covenant I am now in the next place to speak CHAP. III. How and in what respect the Covenant of Grace operates to our Justification THE Covenant of Grace operates to our Justification in several respects But however it doth this or in what respect soever yet all that operation is owing to the Mediatorial Righteousness or Obedience of our Saviour For I have shewed in what goes before that the Covenant it self was obtained by and founded in the Mediatorial Righteousness of our Saviour the obtaining of which was one of the ends of the Office and Work of Christ as Mediator And as it is one of the effects of our Saviours death it is called a Testament though in other respects it is called a Covenant yea a Law As its promises are made by God on condition of duty to be performed by us so it is a pact or Covenant As it absolutely enjoyns that as duty which is also the condition of our happiness so it is a Law But as it comes out of the hands of Jesus Christ and is the Fruit of his death so it is a Testament because by that it receives its vigor and strength A Testament saith the Apostle is of force when men are dead otherwise it is of no strength at all while the Testator liveth Heb. 9.17 This being premised I come now to
committed they shall not be mentioned unto him in his Righteousness which he hath done he shall live Ezek. 18.22 And when I say that our conformity to the terms of the Law of Grace is our Righteousness it is to be understood of such a conformity as is hearty and sincere and in the inward man as well as the outward though otherwise it be not indefective in respect of extent and degree For therein lies the difference between the perfect Legal Righteousness and the Evangelical The Legal Righteousness stood in a perfect and indefective conformity to whatever God commanded or the Law of Nature required of man But the Evangelical Righteousness stands in a hearty and sincere desire resolution and endeavour in a man to conform to all that God requires in conjunction with repentance for defects and in affiance in Gods Mercy through Christ for forgiveness Although the best man living does not perhaps keep any one of Gods Commandments in a Legal sense yet the meanest sincere Christian keeps them all in an Evangelical sense that is in sincerity of resolution and endeavour He prepares him self to doe his Masters will as our Saviour speaks Luke 12.47 by resolving and endeavouring to do it as well as he can and by making use of all due means and helps to that end And in this sense good men are in Scripture said to keep Gods Charge his Commandments his Statutes and his Laws Gen. 26.5 2 Sam. 22.22 1 Kings 14.8 2 Kings 18.6 Job 23.11 Psal 119.22 55 56 67 68. Luk. 1.6 Not that they did so in the Legal sense For so there is not a just man upon earth that doeth good and sinneth not Eccles 7.10 But they are said to keep the Commandments in respect of the sincerity of their endeavour doing as well as they can They follow after Righteousness and by this good men are described in Scripture and God is said to love such as do so Pro. 15.9 and 21.21 Isa 51.1 They still labour to do and to grow better and better and this sincerity of endeavour proceeding from a Principle of Faith is it by which men in Scripture are denominated Righteous for more than this I cannot-say is found in any man and less than this I cannot say will denominate any man to be a good tnd Righteous man Our endeavours do not indeed of themselves and without the assistance of Gods Holy Spirit make us of unrighteous to become Righteous But when ever men are persuaded in their own minds to begin with honest endeavours to do their duty as well as they can and to make use of Gods appointed means to help them therein they will be sure of the assistance of Gods Holy Spirit to carry the work through For God will give the Holy Spirit to those that ask him Luke 11.13 and will work in them to will and to do well while they are working out their own Salvation by their endeavours Phil. 2.12 13. To him that hath a heart thus to begin well in using his first Talents which he hath from God to him more shall be given by the Spirit of God and he shall have abundance Mat. 25.29 This kind of Righteousness which we call Evangelical is mentioned in Scripture under several forms of speech yet all signifying the same thing in the main to wit the truth and reality of Grace in the sight of God It is called unfeigned Faith godly Sincerity holiness of Truth a labouring to have always a Conscience void of offence toward God and toward men uprightness of Heart truth in the inward parts integrity perfectness of heart and the like And when we find in Scripture the promises of Pardon and Salvation made to Faith repentance and obedience indefinitely I think we may safely conclude they are made to such in whom these are realy and indeed though but in the lowest degree of sincerity and consequently sequently that such are in the number of Righteous persons But then though the truth and sincerity of Grace in the lowest degree will denominate those that have it Righteous men yet that which is truly such how weak soever it be in the beginning is of a growing nature And the reason hereof is evident because where men do their best endeavours from time to time use and exercise will make them more and more perfect in their way the repetition of acts first begetting and then increasing habits and both together tending to more and more perfection in the Christian course Just as it is with persons in their learning any Art or Trade though the beginning be but small yet the latter end will greatly increase to allude to that in Job The Divine Principle of Grace which is the seed of God in the Soul which brings forth the Harvest of a good Life being in the nature of it contrary to fleshly lusts will be still heaving at them to extirpate and drive them out and aspiring after a perfect state in holiness hungering and thirsting after Righteousness upon which account the way of the Just is as the shining light which shineth more and more unto the perfect day Prov. 4.18 By the way then let it be observed how easie the Yoke of Christ our Saviour is and how light his Burden when he hath made the condition of obtaining the pardon of sin and Eternal Life no harder than to repent that we have been in Rebellion against our Maker to our own undoing and seriously to resolve and sincerely to endeavour to desist from all acts of disobedience for the future and to do the best we can to please him in observing those reasonable Laws of his Kingdom and Government that are ordained for our own good for the peace and satisfaction of our own minds for the preservation of the health of our bodies and for the innocent injoyments of other the comforts of this life for the peace likewise order and concord of publick Communities of men both in Church and State while every one is thereby ordered to keep his own rank and to act in his own Sphere and to prepare us by observing them for the enjoyment of a blessed immortality after all this And likewise observe how unreasonable and void of all judgment and discretion it is for men to deprive themselves of all these advantages and wilfully and desperately to run upon their own ruin when all might so easily be prevented as by subjecting to the easie Yoke and gentle Government of Christ who reckons our hearty and sincere endeavours in obeying him for obedience 3. How this Righteousness comes to be such to be accounted and accepted for Righteousness and it is so upon a double account at least 1. It is of the Grace of God and of our Lord Jesus Christ that it is so it is by way of donation or free gift without consideration had of any thing in us that should render us worthy of such a favour but the contrary It doth not make the benefit the less of
the same Apostle had used Verse 21. Where he calls the word which is able to save the soul an ingrafted word For if the word be able to save the soul but as it is an ingrafted word then it becomes an effectual means of salvation as it is fastened upon and let into the soul by serious consideration on For consideration answers the Metaphor of ingrafting here used If the juice of a Cyon the Branch of a good Tree turn the Sap of a Crab Tree Stock into it's own nature and cause it to bring forth better fruit than before it is by means of being let into it and bound fast upon it that it does so In like manner if the word turn the temper of the soul into its own nature by mingling with it it is by means of consideration which unites the word and the mind and binds it upon the soul For the word does not work after the manner of a Charm or Spell but operates in a way of rational consideration For this is the way of the Spirits working by the word When men with open Face behold as in a Glass the glory of the Lord they are changed into the same image as it were by the Spirit of the Lord 2 Cor. 3.18 The Holy Spirit works this change indeed but it is by the Gospel and by the Gospel looked into beheld and well considered This considering temper of mind seems to be signified by the good ground in the Parable by which those are resembled who when they have heard the word keep it to wit in their minds and under consideration in opposition to those other hearers of the Gospel who for a total want of consideration immediately lose all they hear as those do who are resembled by the high-way on which some seed fell where it had no covering at all And in opposition to those who for want of much consideration wither when persecution comes like those resembled by the rocky ground on which some of the seed was sown where there was not much earth to give it sufficient rooting and nourishment And also in opposition to those who through an insufficient degree of consideration have the word driven out of their minds or weakened in its operation by the over-powering thoughts cares and pleasures of this present life as those resembled by the thorny ground have and so bring forth no fruit to perfection but only the ear without the full corn in the ear Luke 8. In this thing then which we call Consideration seems to lie the difference between those who hear the Gospel so as effectually to believe it and those other several sorts of hearers who though they hear it yet do not believe it to the saving of their souls For which cause it may well be that the Author to the Hebrews presseth the Christians who were in danger of withering like the Corn which had not much earth through heat of persecution to give the more earnest heed to the things which they had heard lest at any time they should let them slip viz. out of their minds Heb. 2.1 David no doubt well knew of how great concernment it is to have good things kept warm upon the mind by often repeated consideration when he prayed thus unto God Keep this for ever in the imagination of the thoughts of the hearts of thy people and prepare their heart unto thee 1 Chro. 29.18 We have seen now in part what men by advantage of the Gospel which is the preventive Grace of God antecedent to all endeavours of ours can do towards their own believing And likewise what that subsequent Grace is by which we are enabled to believe throughly and effectually unto Righteousness and Salvation There is yet one thing more to be taken into consideration before we can so well be resolved as then we may in what capacity men are of performing the condition of the promise of pardon and Life And therefore I shall add that one thing more which is this 4. We have assurance given us of having the subsequent Grace of God conferred upon us to enable us to believe unto Righteousness if we do not grosly neglect to do what we can do towards our believing in using and improving the antecedent Grace of God See this clearly proved by that of our Saviour Mark 4.24 25. Where he speaks to his followers and hearers thus Take heed what you hear with what ineasure ye mete it shall be measured unto you and unto you that hear shall more be given For he that hath to him shall be given and he that hath not from him shall be taken even that which he hath By which our Saviour seems to mean that men shall receive benefit by the Gospel according as they attend to and consider their own great concerns handled in it And that if by thus doing they do not neglect but use and improve this antecedent Grace that then more shall be given to wit more means and more help to believe which is the subsequent Grace I have been speaking of by which men are thorowly enabled to believe unto Righteousness and so unto Pardon and Life These words of our Saviour which according to our translation we read Take heed what you hear are rendred by Dr. Hammond Consider what you hear So that it seems Take heed what you hear does in this place signifie Take heed to what you hear or to give heed to it as those do who consider of it and weigh the import of it as whether they are concerned in it and if yea then how far And the reason which our Saviour adds to inforce this Precept and direction of his shews this to be the sense of it For he says With what measure we mete it shall be measured to us to wit in the blessing and benefit designed us by sending the Gospel to us which is to bring us to believe unto Righteousness that so we may be saved And he adds again that to those that hear viz. that thus hear more shall be given and backs this also with that general rule mentioned five times in three of the Evangelists for he that hath to him shall be given and he that hath not from him shall be taken even that which he hath Now what can the measure be which is meted in hearing the Gospel to which the promise of receiving more is made but an attentive consideration who it is that speaks what he speaks and of what concernment it is And what can that measure be which is meted in hearing which is threatned with a remanding of what had been deposited in their hands but a not minding regarding or considering the weight of what is spoken nor how they are concerned in it If this then be the meaning of our Saviour as I doubt not but it is then we see the promise of Divine assistance is made to such endeavours of ours as we are capable of using through that providence of God by which mans faculties
persons according to the tenor of the Gospel-Covenant and so qualifies them to be so adjudged by God against all accusations to the contrary by what or by whomsoever It is that which makes their cause good when they come to be tried and judged by the Law of Liberty because it is all which that Law requires to denominate them Righteous and to entitle them to the benefit of that Law This Righteousness of Faith is the essential matter or material cause of our Justification without which no such thing could be and supposing which it cannot but be so long as the Gospel-Covenant stands in force It makes those that have it the proper subjects of Justification for as God will condemn the wicked so he will most certainly Justifie the Righteous such as are made so by his own Grace without respect of persons he judgeth acocrding to every mans work and the nature of his cause In these and the like respects doth the Righteousness of Faith operate to our Justification These things stand proved in what hath been said before in opening the nature of the Covenant of Grace and the nature of Faith and the reason of its designation by God to its Office and work And may be yet further confirmed by those Scriptures where Faith is said to be counted and imputed to us for Righteousness as it was to Abraham Rom. 4.3 6 11 22 24. Gal. 3.6 Gen. 15.6 Jam. 2.23 For if God count it to us for Righteousness then it is our Righteousness for God accounts of things but as they are when they are what they are of his own making as this Righteousness of Faith is And if this Faith be our Righteousness in Gods account then they must needs be Righteous in his account that are Righteous with this Righteousness and be approved of and adjudged such by him And thus Faith operates to our Justification as it is the essential and intrinsical matter of our Justification CHAP. V. How God himself operates to our Justification I Come now in the last place to enquire in what respects Justification is attributed to God and what his operation is in producing this great effect of Justifying such as have been sinners That he doth Justifie believers by some acts proper to him is no Christians doubt It is one God which shall Justifie the Circumcision by Faith and the Vncircumcision through Faith Rom. 3.30 Who shall lay any thing to the charge of Gods elect it is God that justifieth Rom. 8.33 Now God may be said to Justifie in several respects some more remote and some more proximate and immediate God is the Author Spring and Fountain and principal efficient cause of all other causes that any way concur or cooperate to our Justification Christ himself which is the foundation stone in this building by virtue of whose Mediatorial Righteousness we are Justified he is made to us of God Wisdom and Righteousness 1 Cor. 1.30 It is also God which hath given being to the new Covenant which is the Covenant of his Grace by virtue of which also we are Justified And the Righteousness of Faith which is the matter of our Justification is of Gods working in us by his Spirit Whence it is that both our Sanctification and Justification are attributed to the Holy Ghost 1 Cor. 6.11 But ye are sanctified but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God But that which we have now principally to consider is what that last act is or those last acts are by which God Justifies us And his operation herein is judicial for he Justifies as a Judg and therein proceeds by his own Law of Grace as the rule of judging of men and their cause And Gods judicial Justification of men doth stand I conceive in these two things principally 1. God in justifying of men approves of them for such as have performed the condition on which he in the Covenant of Grace promised pardon of sin and eternal Life That is he approves of them for true believers and such as have given up themselves to obey the Gospel to live according to the doctrine of their Saviour and adjudgeth them to be such 2. Those whom God approveth of as true and sincere observers of the new Law the Gospel or Covenant of Grace those he adjudgeth to be Righteous persons and that Faith of theirs by which they have fulfilled it to be their Righteousness True believers and such as have given up themselves to obey the Gospel they are Justified by the Gospel that is they are Righteous in the sense and meaning of that Law For that practical obediential Faith of theirs is their conformity to this Law of Christ the Gospel and therefore it must needs be their Evangelical Righteousness But there is this difference between being justified by the Gospel as it is the new Law of Grace and by being justified by God The Gospel-Covenant pronounceth all true believers in General to be Righteous persons but doth not determine whether this or that person in particular be a true believer and so a Righteous man or woman But God in justifying men determineth and adjudgeth this and that man in special to be a true believer and therefore a Righteous man in the sence of the Law of Grace It is the work of a Judg to apply the Law as a general rule to the special cases of particular men and to justifie or condemn men in particular in reference to their particular cases by and according to the general rule of the Law And so doth God the Judg of all in the case before us He knows and considers every man in particular whether he be a true believer or not And those whom he finds to be so those he adjudgeth to be Righteous according to the tenor of the Gospel which is his justifying of them Now that God justifieth men this way and after this manner does I conceive plainly and fully appear by those Scriptures which tell us that God doth justifie us by Faith and that he doth impute or account Faith to us for Righteousness One vein of Scriptures acquaints us that God justifieth us by Faith and through Faith Rom. 3.28 30. and 5.1 Gal. 2.16 and 3.8 By another vein of Texts we are told that God imputes accounts and reckons Faith to us for Righteousness Gen. 15.6 Rom. 4.3 5 11 22 24. Gal. 3.6 Jam. 2.23 Now these two veins of Scripture put together the sense that results out of them is I think plainly this That God justifies us by accounting our Faith to us for Righteousness This is so plain as that I know not what can well be plainer In the one vein it 's said that God justifieth us by Faith in the other that he imputes and reckons Faith to us for Righteousness And for God to account Faith to us for Righteousness and to reckon and adjudg us to be Righteous upon the account of our Faith signifies I think the same
unexpectedly without any labour or industry of theirs But will any man in hopes it may so fall out with him neglect to labour in his calling for a lively-hood To be sure no man worthy the name of a man will What folly then is to be compared with that which such men commit that despise their own souls in taking less care for them though of eternal duration than for this short and transitory life But yet although God hath not promised that any shall have but those that ask nor find except they seek nor have it opened to them unless they knock to the end that none might promise themselves an obtaining without so doing And although God vouchsafeth unto men the Gospel as a means sufficient of it self to persuade them to consider their eternal concerns and to look after them more than any thing that concerns only this present life and to learn them without all excuse if they do not Yet when I consider the exceeding riches of the goodness of God and how full of compassion he is and how unwilling he is that any should perish I cannot I confess but think that he does more to prevent the destruction even of those that do perish than what is absolutely necessary and barely sufficient to prevent it if men did not through their own obstinacy and wilfulness receive such Grace of God in vain I cannot but think that God does more to bring men to repentance both those that do and those that do not actually and eventually repent than what he ever promised or engaged himself to do by his spirits striving with them by many inward and secret motions and operations upon their minds and consciences until by long and obstinate resistance the good spirit is caused to withdraw his applications by which withdrawing that which they before had is taken from them according to what is threatned to such as will not improve their Talent and they delivered up to a reprobate mind to be hardened Why should we not think but that God is as ready by his Holy Spirit to excite and stir up men to that which tends to their happiness as evil spirits are to tempt them to that which tends to their destruction When all the methods whereby God seeketh to bring men to repentance are thwarted and withstood the Holy Ghost is in Scripture then said to be resisted Which shews that the Holy Ghost is much concerned in those methods I doubt not but that when the Scripture saith that God would have all men to be saved we may safely conclude that he useth all means both internal and external to effect it so far as is agreeable to his perfect and unerring wisdom when all circumstances in the case are weighed and considered and that it is really better and will appear so one day that such men should perish which do perish rather than any more should be done by God to prevent it than he hath done before destruction befal them And it is better not because God takes more pleasure in the damnation than in the salvation of such as perish simply and in it self considered For he himself hath told us and sworn it lest we should not firmly believe it That he hath no pleasure in the death of the wicked but that the wicked turn from his way and live Ezek. 33.11 But it is better in reference to the publick good of his Creation in general the peace and good order whereof is thereby secured which otherwise was and still would be disquieted and put into confusion by them as it is now by the Devils while they are not shut up in Prison as hereafter they will be This reason of the punishment of such as have neglected their own Salvation as it refers to this publick good is implyed in those words of our Saviour Mat. 13.41 Where he says The Son of man shall send forth his Angels and they shall gather out of his Kingdom all things that offend and in those likewise Ver. 49. where he says so shall it be at the end of the world the Angels shall come forth and sever the wicked from among the just And another reason among others of such mens punishment referring to the publick good is That virtue and goodness on the one hand and wickedness and vice on the other might the better appear to be what they are in their own nature by their sensible effects and so be loved or hated accordingly which we cannot conceive they would ever be so effectually as now they are and will be if they were not attended with rewards and punishments by the wise ordering of the Author and Governor of all beings It was by the sensible effects of eating of the forbidden Tree that Adam had that knowledg of evil as differing from good which he had not before Now such knowledg of the the difference between good and evil by rewards and punishments is of great use in the universal Kingdom and Government of God And if it were not better in reference to the general good that men should perish for their wilful neglect and refusal to make use of such means to prevent their destruction as God hath vouchsafed them and by the use whereof they might have prevented it if they would we could not well conceive how there should be any such thing as the destruction of wicked men other than what lies in the very nature of their sin it self it putting the course of nature into disorder confusion and torture so long as God takes no pleasure in their destruction for their destruction sake So much may suffice to shew in what capacity men are of performing the condition on which the pardon of sin and eternal life are promised which performance is of absolute and indispensible necessity to their justification And if in doing this I have said more than was barely necessary to this end yet perhaps not more than was necessary to prevent mens misunderstanding misinterpretation and misimprovement of what was necessarily said on that head of discourse considering how apt some of weak minds are to suspect if not to cry out Pelagianism where any ability in men to work out their own salvation is mentioned though there be not the least ground for it 5. The last thing I proposed to inquire into concerning Faith is how we may conceive that Faith does more immediately operate to our justification And what hath been said already touching Faith in the forementioned particulars may with a little reflection upon them satisfie us in this enquiry For such a Faith as I have described a Faith that is a vital and vigorous principle of Regeneration and of a holy life does Operate to our Justification as it is our Covenant-Righteousness as it is the performance of the condition on which pardon of sin and eternal Life are promised For as it is such and as it comprehends in it its proper effects it doth constitute those in whomsoever it is found Righteous
worthy a purpose as to lift up a miserable world that was cast down and laid very low indeed He certainly is most worthy of his unsearchable riches since such is his goodness as that he was not content to be happy alone nor to see us lie in poverty and misery so long as he was able to relieve us and make us happy with his riches but rather than he would be wanting in this he chose for some time in some sort to empty himself to fill us Ye know saith St. Paul the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ that though he was rich yet for your sakes he became poor that ye through his poverty might be made rich 2 Cor. 8.9 This is not the manner of men indeed nor was it in the power of Angels and therefore his Glory is to be exalted above the earth and heavens and both made to ring with joyful acclamations and praises of and to our blessed Redeemer And it is very observable that those in Revel 14. who are said to have sung a new song before the throne are described by the Virginity of their Christianity as not being prevailed upon by any temptations whatsoever to be unfaithful to Christ but are said to be such as do follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth and in whose mouths is found no guile still denoting that sincerity by which the Evangelical Righteousness hath been described And it 's further observable also that it 's said there that no man could learn this new song but those which are Redeemed from the earth And the reason is evident because those who mostly and chiefly mind earthly things and set their affections upon them as those which are not Redeemed from the earth do neither have nor can have such a grateful sense of that stupendious ravishing and transporting love and goodness of our blessed Redeemer in what he hath done and suffered for us as is requisite to qualifie them to sound forth his praises with that feeling and affection which the Redeemed of the Lord do Our Saviour hath told us that the cares of this world the deceitfulness of riches and the lusts and pleasures of other things choke the word of the Kingdom and so hinder its operation Though men hear it and profess it yet the great sense which too many such have of these present things stifles their sense of Spiritual invisible and absent things so that they prevail not upon them to work any such deep sense in them of the unparallel'd love and goodness of our Saviour in procuring these things for us as they do upon them who have learned to sing that new song These that are Unredeemed from the earth they savour the things of the flesh and of the world more than the things which be of God and therefore they cannot sing this new Song with Grace in their hearts to him None then we see but new Covenant men such as are renewed in the spirit of their minds can learn this new song they are a peculiar sort of men and women a choice or chosen generation that can shew forth the praises of him who hath called them out of darkness into his marvelous light Those whom the Lamb that was slain hath Redeemed from Hell by his own bloud are such who are first Redeemed from the earth both from the earthly minds and evil manners of men of the earth whose portion is only in this life This blessed Redeemer whose high praises should be in our mouths is the Lord from Heaven and his Kingdom is not of this world as he himself said and they must be of a Heavenly extraction and born from above that can skill of the manner of his Kingdom and Government and of the nature of the work and business of that people The discourse of things proper to that spiritual state is to mere natural men almost like speaking to them in a language they do not understand Hence when Nicodemus heard our Saviour discourse of the necessity of being born again or from above his thoughts ran of a mans entering a second time into his mothers womb to be born again The things of the Spirit of God to the natural man are foolishness so far is he alienated from the life of God 1 Cor. 2.14 And the Scripture speaks of the sons of God such as are born from above as of persons whom the world knoweth not 1 John 3.1 All this still shews how absolutely necessary it is in order to our learning the new song which is sung before the throne to the honour of the Lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world that we become new men endued with new principles of living and with a new Righteousness And by being so we shall not only be qualified to offer spiritual Sacrifices of thanksgiving acceptable to our Saviour and to the Father by him but we shall thereby also recommend him to the world as altogether lovely which is the greatest honour we can do him For the new man is created after his likeness in purity humility and charity in universal Righteousness Gentleness and Goodness in which respect the followers of Christ are said to be partakers of a Divine nature and to have put on Christ And when men see that his Disciples become such by following his doctrine and example this redounds to the honour of their master from whom they learned it and greatly tends to reconcile mens thoughts and affections to him and to his Religion And thus they help forward his great design on which he set his heart of recovering those that were run from God and goodness and from their own happiness than in doing which we cannot gratifie him more or please him better By becoming such and by being in the world as he was in the world we shall shew forth the vertues of our Lord and what is venerable and praise-worthy in him In respect whereof his followers are said to be the glory of Christ And if we have any mind to make our blessed Saviour any other return of that stupendious Love which he hath exprest towards us besides songs of praise and thanksgiving to the honour of his name he hath told us how we may do it to his great satisfaction when he said If ye love me keep my Commandments John 14.15 As if he should have said if ye would express the grateful sense of my love to you by expressions of yours to me then keep my Commandments For saith he again Ye are my friends if ye do whatsoever I command you John 15.14 He that hath my Commandments and keepeth them he it is that loveth me Ver. 21. Our doing his Commandments tends to the full accomplishment of his design of reconciling God and us and so of making us happy For unless we keep his Commandments we cannot be reconciled to God and consequently God will not be reconciled to us So that if we will not keep his Commandments we frustrate and disappoint him of his
design of good towards us and render all his sore sufferings to bring this to pass to be in vain and of none effect in reference to us which must needs much displease him But on the contrary if we do keep his Commandments then he has the end of his Mediatorial undertaking which is the reconciling God to us and us to God which cannot but be matter of high satisfaction and pleasure to him then in contributing towards which we can no way better gratifie him for all the love he hath shewed us And among all the things which he hath Commanded us there is one which he hath signalized for his Commandment in special as that on which he hath much set his heart which he expresseth in these words A new Commandment give I unto you that ye love one another as I have loved you that ye also love one another John 13.34 In doing of which we shall write after his copy and shew the world whose Disciples we are and by whom we have been taught For by this saith he shall all men know that ye are my disciples if ye have love one to another Ver. 35. And we do in some poor measure love one another as he hath loved us when we put on bowels of mercy and kindness towards one another for so did he towards us when he put on our nature and suffered for us in it And so we do also when we bear one anothers burdens and so fulfil this Law of Christ For he was touched with the feeling of our infirmities he himself took on him our infirmities and bore our sicknesses as the Scripture speaks And so we do likewise when we prefer the publick good the good of many before our own ease and private conveniency like St. Paul who sought not his own profit as he says but the profit of many that they might be saved For thus our Saviour loved us when he exposed himself to the sorest sufferings for the publick good of mankind And because he thus laid down his life for us therefore we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren when the interest and publick concern of the Church of God calls for it And so we do in like manner love one another as he hath loved us when we use our wisdom riches and power to make others happy as well as our selves For so hath our blessed Saviour used his to make us happy Yea he made himself poor that we through his poverty might be made rich Indeed there is so much of that in this love which enabled our blessed Saviour to do and suffer so wonderfully for us for our good and benefit as he did that in nothing we draw more near him nor in any thing make our selves more like him nor can we in any thing more please him than in loving another as he hath loved us In so much as St. John saith He that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God and God in him 1 John 4.16 And if we love one another as he hath loved us we shall not only resemble him in the act of love and doing good but also in the pleasure and satisfaction which he took and does take in loving us and doing us good as he hath done and so shall in some sort enter into our masters joy now for the present by sharing with him in the joy of doing good As for our blessed Saviour the prospect which he had of how much good he should procure and do for a poor miserable undone world by the shame and pain which he suffered for us and the satisfaction and joy that would accrue to him thereby was that which in a great measure carryed him through those unparallel'd sufferings which he underwent for us He for the joy that was set before him endured the Cross and despised the shame Heb. 12.2 The joy that was set before him was not only his own glorious exaltation as the reward of his sufferings but also the deliverance and exaltation which he should procure for all the Redeemed of the Lord. Touching this joy and pleasure and the high content and satisfaction which does accrue to our Lord and Saviour upon the account of the good the world receives by what he hath done suffered and does do for it the Prophet spake by way of prediction when he said He shall see of the travel of his soul and shall be satisfied Isa 53.11 What other motive do we think has the Almighty God and Father of all to fill Heaven and Earth with his goodness and to commiserate a lost world and to raise up the Tabernacle of Adam that was fallen but the pleasure he takes in his love and in doing good He pardoneth iniquity and passeth by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage and why But because he delighteth in mercy He exerciseth loving kindness Judgment and Righteousness in the earth and why For in these things I delight saith the Lord Jer. 9.24 And most certain it is that if we love one another as Christ hath loved us if we are thus partakers of a Divine nature and are of the spirit and temper of Christ and in that sense have put on Christ if we do good to others by easing them of their burdens and supplying their needs both spiritual and temporal refreshing and comforting them both in body and mind and the like we shall not fail of great pleasure and satisfaction of mind in doing thus but shall share with our blessed Redeemer in our measure in that joy and satisfaction which accrues to him in loving us and doing good to us St. John the loving and beloved Disciple of our Lord when once he was sensible that he had been an instrument of Converting men to Christianity and of bad to persuade them to become good professeth that he had no greater joy than to see his children walking in truth 3 Joh. 4. The Scripture supposeth it as a known and experienced truth that there is great consolation in love when it saith if there be therefore any consolation in Christ if any comfort of love c. Phil. 2.1 Col. 2.2 There is doubtless no such solid satisfaction in any no nor in all worldy enjoyments as there is in what doth spring up to a man from a sense of having done good in his life I know saith Solomon there is no good in them but for a man to rejoyce and do good in his life Eccles 3.12 The same Solomon saith in another place that a good man is satisfied from himself Prov. 14.14 And how comes it to pass that it is so but from his sense of being good and doing good It is a more blessed thing said our Saviour to give than to receive Act. 20.35 and it is so as for other reasons so for this because the pleasure of doing good in a good man is greater than the pleasure that comes in to another by receiving relief from him If then we would be glad to do somwhat that