evil examples I hate the profane Rout and all their customes of Swearing Lying Stealing c. and tend towards a harmony of rational Judgment and will with sensual Apprehension and Desire 2. By universal liberty of spirit in Judgment and Will Chap. 3. Liberty The judgment of a Wise-man trieth all things yet is not tied to any thing is open and free yet captivates its understanding to the obedience of Faith The spiritual man judgeth all things 1 â—or 2.15 but he himself is judged of no man Many are deceived by approving and following customes because they are in credit and use without examination We may and must live in obedience to laws Chap. 4. Obedience and Customes speak and do as the Vulgar but not Judge as they do but rather judge them Powers and Laws and Customes may govern my hand and my tongue least I disturb the peace of the World but not my Spirit my outward but not my inward man Behold I shew you a more excellent way Chap. 5. Dogmatists not to be Dogmatical or Magisterial in Proud Determinations or Definitions Scimus nihil opinamur verisimilia fingunt docti magis quam nôrint We know little we guess at the most likely things learned Men fancy more then they know There is a vain Philosophy and oppositions of Sciences falsly so call'd by men that are vainly pufft up with their fleshly minds and such as dote about Questions not knowing whereof they spake nor whereof they do affirm Plato never intended to tye us to his Idaea's nor Pythagoras to his Numbers nor Epicurus to his Atoms they only abounded in their own sense to themselves and the solacing of their own spirits with their own Notions Dogmatists are most Pedantick Socrates was far from them and was therefore counted the Wisest man Cogitationes mortalium timidae incertae sunt inventiones nostrae The thoughts of Mortals are fearful and our Inventions uncertain God knows the thoughts of Man that they are but vain 1 Cor. 8.2 If any man thinketh that he knoweth any thing he knoweth nothing as he ought to know Who can obtrude Principles upon the World but God himself who only is to be believed Let the obtruders of Principles agree in them if they can and then I shall submit Purge out therefore the old Leaven that ye may become a new Lump Put off the old man and put on the new man Be as white Paper fit to receive fair Impression Be biassed no way but respect the Truth equally As new born Babes receive the sincere Milk of the Word which is able to save your Soules Be Academicks and Pyrrhonians for men of that Temper are never Hereticks Fanaticks Opiniators Troublers of the World as Dogmatists Pedantick Magisterial and Definitive Gnosticks O homines ad servitutem nati A generation of Men born to continual Thraldome and will not be released Like them Men in Plato's Cave that never had knowledge but of Shadows and if they be told of the Beauty of the Substances they will not believe it And if any offer to drag them out of the Dungeon to behold the fair Glory of the Sun and the Truth of all things discovered by the light thereof they will shut their eyes and strive to run back to their old darkness again In Love with bondage Violent not hearkning to any thing wiser then themselves Malè cuncta ministrat impetus Festina lente All haste makes waste It is good to try all things 1 Thes 5.21 and hold fast that which is good Whatsoever things are true whatsoever things are honest Phil. 4.8 whatsoever things are just whatsoever things are pure whatsoever things are lovely whatsoever things are of good report if there be any virtue and if there be any praise think on these things 3. By true essential simple Honesty Chap. 6. Honesty and plainness of Spirit A true manly generous free cheerful equal pliable Genius A spirit freely good not for fear of Punishment or hope of Reward Not only natural Innocency and goodness not acquired virtue and honesty but High and stately Resolutions of Grace and Perfection more then Nature Art or Law require Covet after the best things and yet I shew you a more excellent way And this Temper of down right simplicity and well meaning is the Mercury that points justly to the High-way of Grace and Glory The Stoicks aimed at this Disposition and Spicures more witness Seneca though blasted by others of unequal Credit to be above Want Pain Grief Joy Shame c. And surely they were not all sullen and morose but very firme grave severe as Cato was and pleasant too 4. By Practicing true Piety Chap. 7. Piety and Superstition An opinion contrary to this prevailes in the Carnal World As That God is appeased with satisfactions of Penance moved with Gifts and offerings Delighted with the Torments and Ruins of his poor Creatures with the Sacrifices of innocent Beasts and sometimes men as presents to appease his Wrath affected with Austerities Sack-cloth and Hair-shirts Ashes and hard cold Stones Macerated bodies Wan-looks Whining or Yelling noises Cuttings Launcings Pilgrimages Incense Candles Holy-waters c. as are practiced in Hermitages and Cells A madness to flatter the Divinity with Inhumanity To think to satisfy Gods Justice with Cruelty Of what nature do they judge God to be Surely they think him such a one as themselves And who hath required these things at their hands Is God delighted or ever was or ever will be with burnt Sacrifices with Calves of a yeer old with Rivers of Oil or the Cattel upon a thousand Hills or with the fruit of the Body for the sin of the Soul God is a Spirit and they that worship him truely must worship him in Spirit and in Truth The most noble service of God is without too much External and Carnal service It draws the Soul into its self and raises it by pure contemplation to a Heavenly worship Si Deus est Animus nobis ut carmina dicunt Hic tibi praecipuè sit purâ mente colendus It was the humour of the Jewes Chap. 8. Judaisme and Heathenisme that knew no better to dote upon a Material Temple and cry out The Temple of the Lord The Temple of the Lord to be ravished with numerous laborious and costly Ceremonies and the Purer sort to superadd of their own Inventions innumerable Traditions imposed equally to be observed with those that God had commanded yea more Thus their Religion exuberated into these excrescencies and formalities which destroyed the Power of Godliness God gave them a Carnal Commandment because it fitted their low Estate and he kept them busied with many chargeable services to please them as children with outward performances semblable to the Heathen worship and to keep them busy from doing the same Devotions to the Idol Gods to which he knew they had a great wambling But with these services God was never fully
THE DOCTRINE OF FAITH JUSTIFICATION AND ASSURANCE Humbly Endeavoured to be farther cleared towards the satisfaction and comfort of all free Vnbiassed Spirits With an APPENDIX for PEACE BY ROBERT DIXON Prebendary of ROCHESTER 1 Cor. 12.31 Covet after the best gifts and yet I shew you a more excellent way LONDON Printed by William Godbid M.DC.LXVIII To the Honourable Sr EDWARD HALES Baronet SIR GOD is the great Maker and bestower of all Rights The persons capable to receive them and to whom he doth convey them are Angels and Men. To mankind he gives the best of Rights and invests them with the best Inheritance by the best Mediator Jesus Christ the Principal Heir of all Things through the means of Faith which justifies the Sons of Men by Nature to be the best Title and the strongest Assurance that can be had to Eternal Life I have therefore purposely fixed upon these noble Principles of Faith Justification and Assurance That I might be a true Mercury to point out the stately way that leads to Coelestial Glory Directing wise Souls to come off from the wandring Pursuits of earthly Pomps empty Speculations and uncertain Riches which discompose and tyre the best Wits in the Labyrinth of this World That they may find true content in the Choice of that one Thing which is truly necessary That better part which shall never be taken from them That solid comfort which will stand by them and bring them Peace to the end and in the end and unto all Eternity This pain Treatise of these most high and most Christian Truths I held my self obliged to dedicate unto you as being the first Fruits of my Labours in this kind and therefore most due to you of all men who was my first Benefactor and most liberal Patron of my Studies together with your most excellent Lady now with God Her transcendent Estate I cannot reach but Yours and both your Sons I may and do Address my self unto And for the joynt-favours which I have received from you and your Lady during your conjugal Union and for your continued and for her sake increased kindness since the sad separation I humbly offer this token of my Gratitude to remain by you from me to look into upon occasions for your Satisfaction and comfort in the midst of the Dis-satisfactions and Discomforts of this Miserable World The same also I desire you would commend to your Sons the Stems of that Noble Lady whose memory I shall ever honour and you and them for her sake In this I aime meerly to strike the sprightly veine of Pure Love to You and to your hopeful Family and a deer Remembrance and kindness to you all as to the best of my Friends Upon which generous Terms if you please to accept of this small Present it may promote the acceptation thereof to others and encourage him farther who ever desires to shew himself SIR Your most faithful and most affectionate Servant ROBERT DIXON Rochester March 26. 1668. To the honest READER FAITH is all in all to a Christian For all that have Faith are thereby Justified and have full Right to all the Promises of God To be his Sons by Adoption and Grace to have their Sins pardoned to be Sanctified by the Holy Spirit and thereby to have all necessary Assistance and comfortable Assurance of a Resurrection to the Inheritance of Eternal Life I therefore purposely wave all perplexed Disputes and subtil Notions and Distinctions which serve for nothing but to puzzle all men especiall them that are weak in the Faith It shall suffice all Christians if they are willing to embrace Gods Promises and perform his Precepts with an honest heart Let them not trouble themselves at all with the variety of Sects and Factions For all such true hearted and humble Souls do belong to Christ his Church what ever Differences there be in Opinions caused by vain men who do not understand one another being sore blinded with Pride and idle Speculations which engender nothing but Strife and Divisions Keep thou therefore Good Reader Faith and a good Conscience and pass not for the rash Censures of any Be thou confident of Gods unchangeable favour if thou be no Hypocrite In Order therefore to the satisfaction and comfort of tender Spirits I have written this short Treatise and do encourage them to do their true endeavour to please God and to perserverance and trust in him for the certainty of their future estate of Happiness and Salvation which he hath undoubtedly provided for them Accept therefore kind Reader what I have here offered and then if God permit I will add more to the same purpose Avoiding all Nicety and Superfluity of Words and condescending in the great Points of Grace Faith Justification and Assurance to the meanest capacity aiming at no Side or Party but equally respecting the plain Truth with an unbiassed mind for Peace This even Temper of Spirit is the only means among all good Christians especially Divines for the stinting of Controversies in all foolish and unlearned Questions and the Propagation of Piety Peace and Love in Church and State This Rare Character of a True Child of God to be pure and peaceable by obedience to good Laws and fulfilling all Righteousness is the safe way to Heaven Thus we work out our Salvation with fear and trembling and make our Calling and Election sure Which shall be the daily prayer of him who is Thine in the Lord Jesus Robert Dixon The Doctrine of FAITH JUSTIFICATION and ASSURANCE HEBR 11.1 Now Faith is the Substance of things hoped for the Evidence of things not seen COHERENCE THE Author having in the end of the former Chapter spoken of Faith makes a digression upon that occasion to explain the Nature of Faith more largly and produceth many examples of faithful men to provoke the Hebrews to imitate their Fathers and others in the Holy Faith and thereby to endure afflictions and to overcome them by Faith as they had done EXPLICATION These words are no Definition of Faith Chap. 1. Of Faith no more than those Chap. 12.29 where God is called A consuming Fire are the Definition of God FAITH is a Thing Indefinite and is not defineable because it is so general a Thing that no Genius will comprehend it yet it may be designed a high Esteem of Gods Existence Power and Goodness Besides definitions are dangerous if in the Civil much more in the Divine Law Two Notions are here laid down as Principles and Elements to conclude that Faith was in those persons hereafter mentioned 1. The Substance of Things hoped for is Faith 1. Where Things hoped for do subsist there is Faith or where Things to come are present there is Faith 2. The Evidence of Things not seen is Faith or where there is a sight of Things not seen there is Faith These Principles are taken from the Object of Faith Good Things to come and therefore absent and unseen But when the Soul apprehends them
5. Of the Descâ—iption of Faith 1. God makes a Promise of Eternal Life and in order thereunto of the grace of Adoption and forgiveness of Sins and the gift of the Holy Ghost Thus God gives his Faith unto man is Gracious to promise being moved thereunto only by his free love in Christ without our supplication or the mediation of any Creature 2. God stands to his Promise thus made and keeps his Faith for he is faithful that hath promised and keepeth Covenant for ever 3. Man accepts and entertains this Promise made by God which is a taking of the Faith given trusting firmly to the giver for the full performance of it in due time 4. Man makes a Promise to God that is he gives his Faith to God to work that righteousness which God hath required at his hands by the help of his grace 5. Man stands to his promise and Faith which he hath given to God by the performance of that duty of Love which God hath required of him with all his heart soul and strength by the same Grace 6. God accepts this Promise or Faith which man hath given to him that is God takes his Faith given and trusteth to the Giver expecting the performance of it This is a mutual Contract betwixt God and Man as that in Marriage a mutual Assent and Consent giving and taking of each other This is the Covenant of Grace made between God and man Chap. 6. Of the Covenant of Grace whereby both parties are made sure together This is our Faith God reveals his Promise Law Will Word Testament Covenant Ordinance Grace God calls moves perswades draws invites allures by all gracious and proper means fit for a rational spirit to receive When the heart hears understands is invited moved perswaded and drawn that is accepts and embraces the offer of Grace then man believes When the Heart stoppeth the Ear at the voice of this Charmer though he charm never so often never so wisely when he refuseth rejecteth or embraceth not then man disbelieves then he is condemned of himself because he maketh God a Liar who is Truth its self and cannot lye As when a Rebel hath pardon offered by his Prince and will not accept it upon the condition of future Loyalty he deserves to dye if he had ten thousand lives So when the heart hath once accepted the free grace and love of God and afterwards falls off and embraces this present World being weary of obedience and unwilling to exercise mortification and self-denyal then man is said to deny the Faith and to make Shipwrack of Faith and of a good Conscience So then the Acceptation of Gods good Word and Promise is True Faith and by it the Believer obtains Righteousness even the Righteousness of God which is by Faith And this is our Justification Chap. 7. Of Justification that is not only to the forgivenesse of our sins but to a present Right of being the Child of God and Heir of God and Coheir with Jesus Christ and hath thereby the Spirit of God given unto him which is the earnest Evidence and Assurance of his Salvation and accordingly hath Hope of the future Possession of the Inheritance which is by Promise And thus the just man lives by his Faith and waits patiently upon God for the fulfilling of his word And this his Faith stayes his Soul from fainting and is unto him the Substance of things which are yet to come and otherwise as to him do not subsist and is unto him the Evidence of things not seen and otherwise as to any mortal Eye cannot be seen Thus Abraham believed in God and it was accounted unto him for Righteousness that is Abraham believed in God and thereby was justified for St. Paul alledgeth these words to prove the Doctrine of Justification by Faith and to account any Right to any person is to justify that Person or to have Righteousness imputed to him Rom. 4.6 Gal. 2.16 So had Abraham a true Right by his Faith to have a Son and a numerous Progeny and to possess the Land of Canaan And this is our Evidence also That 1. We have a Right to Heaven by Faith 2. We hold it by Works 3. We expect it by Hope So Faith is a Passive Act of the Will receiving holding and embracing Gods offer as the Fathers that were perswaded of the Promises of God and saw them a far off and embraced them as they that heard the word Heb. 11.13 and received it with joy And to as many as received Christ which was the Promised Seed Luc. 8.13 to them gave he Power that they should be called the Sons of God Joh. 1.12 So it is a Passive Act of the same Will to refuse or reject what is offered as the Text speaks See that ye refuse not him that speaketh from heaven He that rejecteth me and receiveth not my words hath one that judgeth him Heb. 12.25 Joh. 12.48 c. Thus the Lawyers rejected the Counsel of God against themselves and therefore accounted themselves unworthy of Eternal Life Gods Promise imputes a Present Right to a future Blessing Chap. 8. Gods Promise which are two Acts of Gods will Hence God requires an Acceptation of that present Right and an Expectation of the future Blessing which are two Acts of mans Will correspondent to the two Acts of Gods Will of imputing a Present Right and a future Possession of a Biessing This is Gods Promissory Will which is not at all compulsatory but invitatory altogether leaving us freely to our own choice And this Acceptance is Faith and this expectance is Hope agreeable to the will of Gods Promise Thus Gods Precept which is the condition of his Promise imposes a present Band to a future observation of some Duty as the works of love Chap. 9. God's â—recept which are two Acts of Gods Preceptory Will Hence God requires submission to this present Band and performance of the future Duty which are two Acts of mans will agreeable to the two Acts of Gods Will. This is Gods Preceptory will and this is compulsatory not Invitatory to leave us free to our own choice to obey or to transgress but legally binds us to obedience And this obedience if freely performed not for fear of Punishment is Love which is the fulfilling of the Law in an Evangelical way Gods Precepts are his Revealed Will or Word proceeding from his Holiness and Gods Judgments are his revealed Will or Word proceeding from his Anger But Gods Promises are his revealed Will or Word proceeding from his Love This is Gods good Word or his good Promise Therefore an Assent to Gods Precepts and to his Judgments is Faith to convict a Sinner of his Transgressions and the guilt of Punishment due to him for the same But an Assent to Gods Promises and an Acceptance of them is faith to justify to a present Right to a future Blessing Thus Abraham and Sarah accepted the present
Right and expected the future blessing by faith and Hope And so the faithful accept the present Right and expect the future Blessing by Jesus Christ and have it by Faith and Hope And though we dye before we possess it yet we dye in faith and lye down in hope to rise again to the possession of Eternal Glory For so the faithful are said to be perswaded of Gods promises having seen them a far off and imbraced them All these dyed in faith Heb. 11.13 having not yet received the full fruition of the Promises and their flesh rested in hope to put on a glorious and blessed Immortality Therefore my Deerly beloved Brethren be ye stedfast and unmoveable allwayes abounding in the work of the Lord forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord. For Faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen Coroll This faith is a Passive Act of mans Will receiving and embracing that state or condition into which Gods love puts us to have a present Right to a future Reward Thus in making faith the Action is on Gods part and in taking faith the Action is on Mans part And this is noble and free in God to promise and perswade and in Man to be perswaded and to receive what God gives What can be more easy and reasonable then to say Amen to Gods Promises only this Fiat quod dicitur Lord here I am to do whatsoever thou wilt have me to do Thus the Blessed Virgin answered Be it unto me even as thou hast said Give Lord for thy servant is ready to receive And that with a glad heart too to obtain such rich Grace from the God of all Grace This is Gods drawing of us with the Cords of a Man which makes his Yoke easy and his Burden light and all that refuse to be perswaded are left without all excuse For how often hath God stood at their door and knockt how often would he have gathered them together into his congregation to be partakers of his Benefits with his faithfull People but they would not therefore these things are justly hid from their Eyes Chap. 10. Of both Covenants This is to be in Covenant with God When Gods Sponsions are Double Acts of his Will devising a present Right to a future Blessing and Mans Responsions are Double Acts of mans Will accepting this present Right to a future Glory And so our will becomes agreeable to Gods will touching one thing to be had of God which makes a perfect Covenant of Grace justly so called because God was moved to make that Covenant meerly by his Grace and because the Matter of it is very gracious So Gods Commands are Double Acts of his Will for a present obligation to a future duty and mans yeeldings are double Acts of his Will to a present Band to a future duty So our Will becomes agreeable to Gods Will touching one Thing to be done of man which makes a perfect Covenant of Works justly so called because mans duty is a work and the matter of it is Labour For God Covenanted with Abraham that he should walk before God and be upright and that every male of his should be Circumcised And God covenants with us That we should be poor in Spirit mourn Matth. 5. hunger and thirst after Righteousness be pure in heart merciful meek c. which is laborious Concl. Therefore Gods Promise is a Covenant of Grace and Gods Precept is a Covenant of works and Gods Judgment is a Covenant of Curses which we unwillingly enter into but the two former willingly Therefore a full Right Interest Claim or Title of an Inheritance to come together with an earnest penny given and received is the substance and evidence of that inheritance to the Heir thereof and he is as sure if he hold his Right given as if he actually enjoyed it Therefore the Scripture saith Eph. 1.3 We are already in heavenly places in Christ Jesus And God hath raised us up together and made us to set in heavenly places in Christ He that Believeth hath everlasting life Eph. 2.6 and I will raise him up at the last day Christ is the first fruits of them that sleep Now if the first fruits be holy then the whole Lump is holy If Christ be the first fruits of the Resurrection to Glory then all that are Christs even the whole Harvest of the Faithful shall rise to the same Glory And therefore Christ is called the First Born from the Dead our Elder Brother the first Born among many Brethren and if the first Born be risen then shall the second and third Born and all the Brethren that are born of the same God rise from the Dead and be partakers of the same Inheritance of Glory with Christ their Elder Brother in whom and by whom they have right to be the sons of God by the Grace of Adoption and Regeneration as he had by Nature and Generation If Christ be the Head then the Faithfull are the Body And if the Head be risen the Body shall follow after For our Flesh is in Heaven already And as sure as Christ is in Heaven so sure shall we be also For where he is there we shall also be and Christ is gone before to prepare a place for us that where he is there we might also be And in his Fathers house there are many Mansions and Portions for all his Children And where the Carcass is thither will the Eagles be gathered together Application Chap. 12. Of Comfort For Comfort and satisfaction to all Godliness hath the Promise of this life and of that which is to come Things to come are made Present and things unseen are made to be seen by Faith God will have us to walk here by Faith and hereafter by sight Here we believe and see a farre off hereafter we shall enjoy and see cleerly Here we know and see darkly as in a Glass there we shall see Face to Face and know even as we our selves are known We are sure we are now the Sons of God we know not yet what we shall be but this we know that when Christ shall appear we shall appear also with him in Glory Chap. 12. Of Priviledges by Faith For look what Right Christ hath by Nature to the Love of his Father who hath made him Heir of all things The same in kind though not in degree have we by Grace in and through Jesus Christ to be the Heirs of God and Coheirs with Christ Jesus and consequently as younger brothers to Tast of the same Inheritance By Faith we see and feel these absent and invisible things of God and know the heighth and length and depth and breadth of the Love of God in Christ Jesus which otherwise passeth all knowledge For neither Eye hath seen nor Ear hath heard neither hath it entred into the heart of man to conceive what things God hath
Duty that proceeded from his Faith as of the offering up of his Son And so he had a full assurance to himself of his own Faith by which he obtained so much Right and by his works his Faith was made perfect Jac. 2.21 So the word Justify signifies to hold as well as to have a Right Reas 7 Because after Gods accounting Abraham righteous God confirms his Right by an Oath By my self have I sworn Gen. 22 16. saith the Lord for because thou hast done this thing and hast not withheld thy Son thine only Son That in Blessing I will bless thee and in multiplying I will multiply thee c. The effect of this was Chap. 7. Oathes That Abraham might claim that Right which he had to the Promises which God had made and now obliged himself to the Performance For Juramentum comes from Juro and Juro from Jus Juris because the right and best use of an Oath is to confirme and decide rights for when a Right is voideable an oath makes it immutable and when a Right is Litigious an Oath decides and puts it out of question Heb. 6.16 This was Juramentum Fidelitatis to perform the Faith God had given by Promise God swears Fealty to his Homager to Dust and Ashes to be a Protector and Benefactor unto him Yea when Abraham was dead Heb. 11.16 he was not ashamed to be called his God and the God of Isaac and Jacob when dead because he had prepared for them a City Now the Oath of fealty is usually taken by the vassal to his Lord. A wise man may find cause to doubt whither this be only reasonable or no. Note by the way That Gods Oath was voluntary as all Oaths should be else all soul-Liberty is destroyed Gen. 24.2 Put I pray thee thy hand under my thigh and I will make thee swear c. Abraham prayed his servant to swear He was his slave born in his house yet he forced him not in this So Jacob to his Son Joseph If I have found grace in sight Gen. 47.29 put I pray thee thy hand under my Thigh and deal kindly and truly with me bury me not I pray thee in Aegypt Reas 7 Because Abraham was legally and morally Righteous before he believed the Promise Chap. 8. True Right Gen. 13.14 and yet h was not justifyed by that Righteousness nor by the Estimatory Faith which he had in God as a great Benefactor who was feared and worshipped by him Gen. 13.4 but when he received the Promises That Promisory faith justified him Gen. 14.15.16 i. e. gave him a Title to those Promises of Issue Inheritance and Alliance even before the Ceremonial work of Circumcision fourteen yeers So that he was meerly justified by his Faith in the Promises Gen. 15.9 'Till when Abraham never made the least mention of an Issue or Inheritance Reas 8 Because it is the Scope of the Apostle to prove Justification by Faith So then Gal. 3.7 8. they that are of Faith are the children of faithful Abraham And the Scripture foreseeing that God would justify the Heathen through Faith Preached before the Gospel unto Abraham saying In thee shall all the Nations of the Earth be blessed So then They that are of Faith are blessed with faithful Abraham Concl. Therefore What Right had Abraham to such an Issue and such an Inheritance and Alliance more then other men whose Bodies were younger and stronger but only this That such an Issue Inheritance and Alliance was counted and unto him for His and his Faith was counted unto him for the Reason of it i. e. for his Title to it So what right hath the Servant who worketh to his wages but only that his wages are accounted to him for His and his work is accounted to him for the reason of it And what Right hath the Son that worketh not to maintenance more then the Servant who worketh but only this That maintenance is accounted to him for His and his Birth is accounted to him for the reason of it And what Right hath the first born Son to his Fathers Inheritance more then his yonger Sons who are born to his Father as well as he but only this That the Inheritance is counted to him for His and his Primogeniture or Majority is accounted to him for the reason of it i.e. for his Title to it which therefore is called his Birth-right though that word be too wide for it is his Primogeniture or first Birth-right in order before the rest which giveth unto him his Right And so the Believer in God who as to God hath neither Works nor Birth What right hath he to Blessedness more then an unbeliever but only this That Blessedness is accounted His and his Belief is accounted to him for the Reason of it i.e. for his Title to Blessedness Hence the Apostle mentioning matter of right in Abrahams case constantly useth the Verb 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifies to count And reckoning Ratiocination and Counting are all one in effect in Logick and Logistick APPLICATION 1. For Assurance Evidence and Satisfaction to all Believers of their Right 1. To Adoption by Grace 2. To Remission of sins 3. To Sanctification by the Spirit 4. To Audience at the Throne of Grace 5. To every ordinance of God Baptisme c. 6. To Resurrection 7. To Eternal Life 1. Assurance is Gods giving his Faith to us Chap. 9. Assurance and we giving our Faith to him which is our being in Covenant with God And a mutual giving and taking of the Faith of each other is to be made sure together 2. Assurance is an Acceptation of the Act of Gods grace and pardon upon the condition of our obedience 3. Assurance is the Acceptation of the Legacy and Gift of Eternal Life devised to all the Faithful in Gods last Will and Testament whereof Jesus Christ is the Mediator This Promise Devise or Gift of Gods Testament concerning the Inheritance of Eternal Life is made primarily to Christ who is the promised Seed in whom all the Promises of God are Yea and Amen who is the Principal Heir of all things and the faithful do tast of the same Inheritance by Faith that the Promise might be sure to all the Seed who for Christ his sake are made Heirs of God and Co-heirs with Christ partakers of the same most precious promises by Grace and Adoption Which Promises are as sure to the Adopted Sons of God by Grace as they are to Christ the Essential Son of God by Nature This Act of Grace is freely made of God in and for Christ in whom God is well pleased in whom God hath reconciled all things to himself And this is the full and last unchangeable Will of God confirmed by the Bloud of Christ so that heaven and earth may faile but not the least Title of Gods Will and Testament shall ever fail For the Foundation of God standeth sure and God knoweth who
pleased He intended farre higher Duties unto which he led them by the hand if they had had the wit to observe it according as the Prophets did often hint unto them But they rested in the Letter and in the worke-daies and would not understand what God farther intended no not when they were sorely slasht in the Babilonish Captivity nor in the time of the Maccabees nor under the sore Yoke of Antiochus nor yet of the Romans when the Gospel began to dawn nor yet in the dayes of Christ himself and his Apostles when the cleer day-spring from an high did visit them and that God did fully reveal what worship he meant should continue for ever and that all their rude and beggarly elements should be laid aside as being added only because of Transgressions till the Promised Seed should come It was therefore necessary that the Patterns of things in the Heavens should be purified with these Heb. 9.23 but the heavenly things themselves with better Sacrifices then these But still they stumbled at the Old stumbling-stone of a Temporal Covenant established upon Temporal Promises and commanding Temporal Services And from hence many Christians first taken from the Nation of the Jews and afterwards from all the Heathen Countries have erred exceedingly Partly by mixing Judaisme and partly by mixing Paganisme with Christianity which both of them are not out of us unto this very day although the Apostles made it their business as they had then too much occasion to overthrow these two maine errors from whence all other Heresies have been derived and that Christ himself did so much speak against the continuance of the Jewish way and the Introduction of Heathenish customs by Preaching a more Spiritual Law and declaring Eternal Promises All though God hath winked at the Nonage of the Jews and the Ignorance of the Gentiles Chap. 9. Châ—iâ—â—â—anisme yet now God will have all men every where to aspire to perfection and learn better things commanded in a better Covenant that is established upon better Promises especially in the dayes of Adversity when we are pinched with long and sore Warrs with plagues of Fire and Water and sundry kinds of Death It is high time now for the World to grow wiser to come off from the Vanities and Pomps of this Life and walk highly with God in the Spiritual Exercise of Faith and Repentance Away then with this Loose and Carnal way of Living This will not do The Gospel calls for higher things 1. This Loose and Carnal Life will never satisfy the Conscience nor please God 2. This formal and outward Worship will not serve the Turne You must come up to the pure Gospel-way to the life of Faith and to the worship of the spirit or you can never please God Be honest and just in your words and Actions Be dutiful and obedient to the Laws Be decent and orderly in Gods Worship But still I shew you a more excellent way This is to be done and you are not to leave the other undone For thus it becometh us after Christs own Example To fulfil all Rigteousness To offend none but to give unto Caesar the things which are Caesars and unto God the things which are Gods APPLICATION I have set before you two wayes Faith and Sight Spirit and Flesh choose therefore the better part that shall never be taken away from you 1. Cherish the life of Nature by Temperance Sobriety and Chastity 2. Regulate the life of sense by Reason Prudence and Moderation 3. Order the Moral life by Virtue Justice Obedience and Honesty 4. Maintain the Civil Life by dutiful submission to Rulers and their Laws for the publike Good 5. Keep the Spiritual Life above all by Faith 1. Which may Sanctify Nature Sense Morality and Laws 2. Which may transcend all carnal Profits Pleasures Honours Arts Powers Glories Liberties Beauties Friends Health Peace Orders c. 3. Which may overcome all Carnal Pains Wants Shames Ignorances Weaknesses Disgraces Deformities Enemies Diseases Warrs Bondage Confusions c. 4. Which may regulate all Passions of Love Hatred Hope Despair Joy Grief c. 5. Which may sublimate all Faculties Understanding Will Memory Conscience 6. Which may arrive at the height of true Wisdome Peace and Tranquility of Minde 1. By exemption from vulgar Errors Vices and Passions 2. By aiming at Universal Liberty in Judgment and Will still submitting to Faith 3. By learning true essential simple honesty and plainness of Spirit 4. By Practicing true Piety 1. Free from Jewish worship 2. Free from Heathenish Idolatry This is the high and noble way of the New Testament of Jesus Christ which is of the spirit that giveth life not of the Letter that killeth Thus we overcome sin from ruling in our mortal Bodies that we should be obedient unto the lusts thereof Thus we overcome the Temptations and miseries of the World Thus we overcome the Devil and bruise Satan under every one of our Feet and through Jesus Christ are more then Conquerors And thanks be to God which giveth us this victory through Jesus Christ our Lord. Look therefore on things Spiritual and not on things Carnal Chap. â—0 Faith on things Eternal and not on things Temporal For the things that are seen are temporal and carnal but the things which are not seen but believed are Spiritual and Eternal Believe your sins are blotted out of Gods Book for so they are when forsaken Though you cannot see your Pardon sealed by Gods spirit by your sense yet by your Faith you may see it Believe the Peace of God of your own Consciences though the sense discern it not yet your faith may Believe the Judgments of God are escaped and shall not hurt you though you feel present pain in the Flesh as is needful for you Believe the Devil is overcome though he sift you as the wheat is sifted yet Christ hath prayed for you that your Faith shall not fail you and his Grace shall be sufficient for you Believe you shall live though you die and see corruption for you shall die in Faith This is Faith to believe above sense above hope and contrary to hope the judgment of flesh and bloud This is Faith To be present with God in the Spirit though you be absent from him in the Flesh This is Faith to rejoice in Misery to glory in Tribulations to be ravished with Spiritual comforts during the enjoyment of Temporal To find Rest in God in the midst of Trouble to rest upon Gods Promises of Pardon and Blessedness in the midst of Sins and Miseries I will believe though I see not nor feel not any comfor This shall be my joy comfort in believing I will believe though I can give no Definition nor Reason for my Faith I will live in the Spirit though I live in the Flesh for I do not live after the Flesh I will worship God in the Spirit though I use a Forme and outward Ceremony I will Eat
all Sin is in my Flesh 2. How all misery is in my Flesh And that this is but my outward Man the old Man That decayes and dies which I am daily putting off 3. How all Grace is in my Spirit 4. How all Glory is in my Spirit And that this is the Inward Man The new Man That quickens and lives which I am daily putting on And that therefore by my Faith I live above sin and above Misery and beyond them both while in my flesh I am perplexed with them both What then is all this Mourning by reason of Sin and for Afflictions here below Is not this the way to Heaven though it be thus Rugged and Thorny Is not this the Sea and are not these the Waves and Storms and Rocks and Quicksands that are therein But is not Christ my Pilot and am I not safe under him Have I not a sure Guide that will bring me into a safe Harbour Can I not then have a little Patience T is but to have a little Patience Dabit Deus his quoque finem 'T is but standing still a while and I shall see the Salvation of God Wherefore then all this a do Wherefore do ye trouble my Spirit I am ready not only to suffer but to dye There is no strang thing happened unto me but such as is common to all the faithfull and such as happened to Christ himself What though I am Tempted Afflicted Oppressed I live still The just shall live by his Faith My Vessel is covered with Waves yet she bears up against them My House is beaten and shaken with winds and waves yet it stands still because it is founded upon a Rock I am fearful naturally I do confess yet by the Grace of God I can look Sin Misery and Death in the face and trust in God still If I look only upon Sin and Misery and Death and Hell alas I dye for fear But if I look upon God and Christ I live for evermore If I consult with flesh and bloud I mourn and die but if I consult with the Spirit I rejoyce and live They that live after the Flesh shall die but they that by the spirit do mortify the deeds of the flesh shall live Qu. Do we then live by Faith or by Sense Spiritually or Carnally Ans If we say we live by Faith and by the Spirit I say then what means this lowing and bleating of the Beasts that I hear Vnde Luctus Planctus Where is all this howling and Lamentation Why all this Despairing and Doubting O we of little Faith A voice in Ramah is heard bitter Lamentation Rachel mourning for her children and refuseth to be comforted because they are not But is Christs Church a Widdow hath she not a Husband is she an Orphan and hath she not a Father Is she a stranger and hath she not a Protector Surely she is the Spouse and Daughter of Christ and no stranger therefore God will take care and charge of her and do for her abundantly above all that she is able to aske or think Doth God take care for Oxen and for the Birds of the Air and for the Lillies of the Field and shall he not much more take care for us O we of little Faith Let me alone therefore and trouble me no more from henceforth with idle Questions or direful Curses I have a God to trust to I have nothing to do with you O ye subtil O ye uncharitable ones O my Soul strengthen thou thy self in thy God alone it is good for me to wait upon my God and to keep my self close to the Rock of my Salvation Why Have I not found his Goodness all along and should I doubt now Have I served so good a Master and now should I leave him Why how and by whom have I lived all this while under all sorrows And how do I live still And how do I hope to live hereafter And how do I hope to live for evermore but by my Faith in Gods Promises I am not exactly Righteous therefore I cannot live by my works but I am willing to work Righteousness and by the Grace of God I shall be accepted and live by Faith CONCLUSION The Doctrine of Faith is sufficiently known that thereby we are Justified Regenerated Adopted Incorporated into Christs Church Elected Sanctified Assured and shall be raised up from the dead and live in glory everlastingly But who are the true Believers is not so sufficiently known and it is hard to know All will profess their Faith but how do they prove it All will reckon upon Salvation but how do they prove their Reckoning Here lies the main Point that men should not deceive themselves Professors enough Teachers many but how true God knows 2 Cor. 13.5 and they themselves do not know for want of Trial of themselves Well therefore said the Apostle Examine your selves whither ye be in the Faith prove your own selves know ye not your own selves how that Jesus Christ is in you except ye be Reprobates I take great care upon This. I find high Pretenders to Faith and to the Spirit Chap. 17 Pretenders and mighty zealots in all duties of Devotion but I find also that they are not honest but Lyars Cheaters Malicious Proud Boasters Rebellious Sacrilegious Extortioners Lovers of themselves Luxurious Covetous and the greatest Troublers of the World I do not say Swearers nor open Drunkards c. I wish these men to examine themselves better and know themselves to be Hypocrites For God and the World know them so to be for they daily rob God in Tithes and offerings and his Priests of honor and respect They rob the King of Tributes and Customes and of Honour and Obedience They do cheat and forswear to the ruin of their neighbours none more Now shall such a Faith save them It must be no other then a dead Faith Because they are Hypocrites and do no good works therefore they have made shipwrack of a true Faith and of a good Conscience 2. I find ordinary Professors of Faith formal enough Customary hearers and Worshippers and just men But they are not zealous but they are not sober and temperate but they are cursers and swearers I do not say they are Lyars I wish heartily these men would examine themselves better They are in a good way and are almost but not all together good Christians They are too luke-warm and formal They must stir up themselves more or else they will come short of true Faith 3. I find some that are close and private and make little open shew of any Religion to the World Being no comers to Church no Readers nor Prayers at home regard no Laws nor Magistrates nor Ministers But keep to their shops and employments greedily groveling upon the World and minding no divine Deity I wish these men would examine themselves better and awaken out of their sottish condition For they can have no grounds to build any solid