former and all acted upon the same object Now that which I shall endeavour is to shew that the first and last of these acts the assent of the mind unto the truth of things that are to be beleeved and the confidence of the soul to meet with salvation from the Lord may be found in such men in whom the middle act of a loving and loyal adherence to the Lord is not found and that the other two without this will not avail to Justification and Salvation Sect. 2 First that men may by way of assent unto the truth of that by which Jesus hath been manifested to be the Christ of God beleeve him to be so or beleeve on him as such and yet that beleeving of theirs not avail them to salvation will appear first of all by Ioh. 12.42 43. compared with other Scriptures The words are these Neverthelesse among the chief Rulers also many beleeved on him but because of the Pharisees they did not confesse him lest they should be put out of the Synagogue for they loved the praise of men more then the praise of God That these men did beleeve Jesus to be the Messiah the Christ of God is most evident in that upon conviction by his Miracles and Doctrine which declared him so to be they beleeved on him and consequently must beleeve in the generall his Doctrine to be true And yet that whilst they did thus beleeve they were in an unsafe condition as touching the salvation of their souls will appear by two material circumstances in the words The first is this That for all their Faith they durst not confess him lest they should be put out of the Synagogue which unworthy deportment of theirs put them under that threatning of Christ Mark 8.38 Whosoever therefore shall be ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation of him also shall the Son of man be ashamed when he cometh in the glory of his Father with the holy Angels And John saith that every spirit that confesseth not that Iesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God 1 John 4.3 And confessing with the mouth is as well required unto salvation as beleeving with the heart Rom. 10.10 The second is this that while they thus beleeved they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God which whosoever does cannot beleeve savingly according to Christs own words Iohn 5.44 How can ye beleeve which receive honour one of another and seek not the honour that cometh from God only Such beleevers likewise surely were they Iohn 2.23 24. Who when they saw the miracles which Christ did they beleeved in his name but Iesus did not commit himself to them because he knew all men he knew that for all their Faith of assent that he was indeed the Messias of which they were convinced by his miracles yet there was not in them the Faith of adherence in a constant and an affectionate sticking to him and therefore would not trust himself with them Which is argument enough that their Faith was not saving nor such as would denominate them faithful Disciples unto Jesus whose property it is to forsake all rather than to forsake Ghrist Luke 14.33 which had it been their case Christ would not have been shie of betrusting himself with them It 's probable that Simon Magus was a beleever of this kind one whose Faith was right as touching the object of it and as touching this first act of it also for the Scripture saith Then Simon himself beleeveh also Acts 8.13 And what did he beleeve that 's exprest in the former verse where it 's said that when they beleeved Philip preaching the things concerning the kingdom of God and the Name of Iesus Christ they were baptized both men and women Then Simon himself beleeved also that is as well as they or the same things which the others beleeved viz. Philips doctrine concerning the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus And yet for all his perswasion of the truth of the doctrine of the Gospel preached by Philip his heart was not purified by his Faith as the hearts of all are by Faith of the right kind Acts 15.9 for Peter told him First that his heart was not right in the sight of God vers 21. Secondly that he was in the gall of bitterness and bond of iniquity vers 23. and consequently was in danger of perishing as the Apostle intimated to him saying Thy money perish with thee verse 20. There was in him the Faith of Credence but not of Adherence the assent of the mind unto the truth of Philips Doctrine but not the powerful consent of the will unto the superlative goodness of the way to the Kingdom taught by him Sect. 3 That this Faith of which we now speak which consists onely in the general assent of the understanding unto the truth of divine Revelation is not that Faith to which the great promises of the Gospel are made I shall endeavour further to manifest by adding two or three Reasons to the Scripture-testimonies already alledged 1. This assent as it is but one single act of Faith and therefore comprehends not the whole general nature of that grace so it is but the act of one single faculty of the soul the mind or understanding and so is not that beleeving with all the heart which is the right christian Faith Acts 8.37 which consists as well in the consent of the will touching the goodness of the thing beleeved as the assent of the mind to the truth of its being For as the object of the Christian Faith the Gospel bears the relation and carries as full a proportion of goodness as of truth in it so does the beleeving soul accordingly by the faculty of the mind assent to it as true and by the faculty of the will accept of it as a soveraign good And under this two-fold consideration is the Gospel propounded as the object of Faith 1 Tim. 1 15. This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation that Christ Iesus came into the world to save sinners It 's a saying faithful in respect of its truth and worthy of all acceptation in respect of its goodness Sect. 4 2. The Devils themselves have such a faith as by which they assent to this truth that Christ is the Son of God and it is the first-born of improbabilities that ever the Devils should have that faith abiding in them by which men shall be saved That the Devils do not only beleeve that there is one God and tremble according to Iames 2.19 but that they also beleeve Christ to be the Son of God the Christ of God is evident Luke 4 41. And Devils also came out of many crying out and saying thou art Christ the Son of God If any shall here object and say that we have but the Devills own word for it who was a lyar from the beginning The answer is that we have more than their word
the curse as Infidelity it self does Mat. 10.37 1 Cor. 16.22 If any man love not the Lord Iesus let him be Anathema Maranatha By which it's evident that all the while this Love is wanting he is under the curse that wants it whatever his belief otherwise may be and consequently that no Faith in Christ but such as knits the Soul in unfeigned Love to him wil deliver a Man from the curse of God and consequently nor justifie And alass how manies Faith is hereby manifested to be meerly counterfeit Who are lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God which appears in that they follow them rather than God lovers of the World more than the Lord which appears in that they chuse to please the Men of the World rather than him and are more intent and thoughtful about getting the World than honouring of him and will rather run the hazard of displeasing him in holding fast the things of the World than part with them upon his call For it is not every degree of Love to Christ that will denominate a Man a true Lover of him but Love in such proportion and to such a degree as prevails against all other objects that stand in competition with Christ and carries away the Soul from them all to Christ Mat. 10.37 He that loves Father or Mother more than me is not worthy of me and he that loves Son or Daughter more than me is not worthy of me It 's not only lawful for a Man to love his Father and Mother his Son and Daughter but it is his duty so to do yea and to love them much more than others that are not so related and yet for all that if his Love to Christ do not exceed in proportion that Love and strong affection which he may and ought to bear to such Relations Christ you see hath already judged him unworthy of him A Man though he love his Wife better than most other Women yet if he love but one Woman more than his Wife with that affection that is proper to his Wife wil be judged by sober men no true Lover of his Wife In like manner though you should love Christ more than many other enjoyments or many other sins which you have parted with for his sake yet if you retain but any one sin or sinful lust and are tender of it for the profit or pleasure that comes into you by it and will harbour it to the offence and provocation of the Lord and chuse rather to run the hazard of loosing his company and all the comforts of it than to turn such an offensive guest out of doors assuredly the Lord who doth alwaies judge according to truth wil judge himself despised and unworthily rejected by you He you see then that wants this prevailing degree of Love to Christ is stil under the curse and therefore no belief in Christ whatsoever that hath not this Love in it or is not certainly accompanied with it can be any sufficient ground for any Man to be confident of his Salvation Nothing less availeth than that Faith which thus worketh by Love Gal. 5.6 By all these considerations then you may see that when Promise of Life is made unto believing in Christ indefinitely exprest it is no wise safe to understand the Scriptures as intending any other lower kind of Faith than that definitively which is of power and force to change the heart and life of him that hath it and to renew him to God in holiness Jesus Christ himself in his words to Paul having plainly declared this to be the true nature of the Faith that is in him Acts 26.18 That they may receive forgiveness of sins and inheritance among them which are sanctified by Faith that is in me And therefore John the bosome Disciple of Christ as was noted before saith Whosoever beleeveth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God 1 Iohn 5.1 which as you see must be understood of that vigorous belief that gives a man a new being furnishes him with new principles of motion and action new thoughts new affections a new life that gives him victory over the World as it follows verse 4. Whosoever is born of God overcometh the world and this is the victory that overcometh the world even our Faith Christs proffers and the Worlds proffers Christs threats and the Worlds threats striving which shall carry the Man to follow their waies Faith steps in by which the Man believes that as Christ is the Son of God so he is more worthy to be followed and his proffers infinitely more worthy to be regarded and his threats dreaded than the World with all that she can do or say and so delivers the Man out of the Worlds hand that he is at liberty to attend the Lord. Sect. 8 And whereas among other Scriptures objected in the beginning of this Chapter one promiseth salvation to such as believe with the heart and confess with the mouth the Lord Jesus Christ and others affirm that whosoever confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh and is the Son of God are of God and dwell in God and God in them they are to be understood as spoken according to the exigencies of those times wherein a Man confessing Christ exposed himself to persecution Iohn 9.22 and 12.42 and consequently manifested his effectual Faith in an unfeigned Love to the Lord Jesus and thus to call Iesus the Lord no Man could do but by the Holy Ghost and his special assistance 1 Cor. 12.3 But now in times wherein to deny him to be the Lord would sooner expose a man to suffering than the confessing of him so to be the bare confessing of him will not invest him with the great priviledges that then were promised unto the confessing of Christ according to that Mat. 7.21 Not every one that saith Lord Lord shall enter into the kingdom of Heaven but he that doth the will of my Father which is in Heaven Sect. 9 THe truth is if a Man do but take the Scriptures together and shape his judgement according to their result when compared as its every Mans wisdom to do as it is not safe so it is impossible for him then to be confident of his salvation meerly upon account of his believing Christ to be the Son of God unless this Faith of his be proved to him to be the Faith of Gods elect by some good degree of those holy affections and that christian demeanure which the holy Word and Doctrine of the Lord calls for And the reason hereof is because such Scriptures as I have been now insisting on that curse all those that do not love the Lord Jesus that sentence with eternal death all those that live after the flesh that exclude all such the blessed Vision of the Lord that have not holiness that shut the gates of Heaven against all such as do not make conscience to do the will of the Father I say such Scriptures stand up to oppose such a
at the last day and the eternal judgement that will follow thereupon which are two great Arricles of the Christian Faith and fundamental Doctrines Heb. 6.2 does depend upon our beleef of the Resurrection of Christ For if Christ the Son of Gods love him in whom his soul delighteth more than in any man should not have been raised by the glory of the Father there would have been little reason for any other man to expect so great a favour But now is Christ risen from the dead and is become the first fruits of them that slept 1 Cor. 15.20 as a pledge of their Resurrection also In that any have a lively hope of being raised again to an inheritance uncorruptible and undefiled and that fadeth not away they are thereunto begotten by the resurrection of Iesus Christ from the dead so saith the Apostle 1 Pet. 1.3 4 And again verse 21. In that God raised him up from the dead and so gave him glory it was that our Faith and hope might be in God that he will do so to us likewise For God hath both raised up the Lord and will also raise up us by his own power 1 Cor. 6.14 For if we beleeve that Iesus dyed and rose again even so them also which sleep in Iesus will God bring with him 1 Thes 4.14 Because I live ye shall live also saith he who is the Resurrection and the life Iohn 14.19 and 11.25 And that there shall be a righteous Judgement following the Resurrection and that Christ Jesus shall be the Judge is such a thing of which the Father hath given assurance or offered Faith unto all men in that he hath raised him from the dead Acts 17.31 Sect. 8 5. The Word Gospel or Doctrine of Christ and of his Apostles is so the object of Faith as that salvation is promised unto the right beleef thereof Mark 16.15 16. Go ye into all the World and preach the Gospel to every Creature he that beleeveth and is baptized shall be saved 2 Thes 2.13 Because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and beleef of the truth 2 Thes 1.10 When he shall come to be glorified in his Saints and to be admired in all them that beleeve because our testimony among you was beleeved in that day The Doctrine of Christ and of his Apostles may well be counted the object of Faith inasmuch as to beleeve it is all one as to beleeve that the Father hath set forth his Son to be a propitiation for sin through Faith in his blood and so it is to beleeve that Christ dyed for our sins according to the Scriptures and that he rose again the third day according to the Scriptures because the Doctrine of the Gospel is a testimony and declaration of these things and he that beleeves the one beleeves the other also Gods giving his Son to dye and Christs dying and rising again without a declaration of the mind and counsel of God thereabout as viz. for what cause upon what account and for what end he did so as also upon what termes and conditions men shall reap the fruit of his Death Resurrection and Intercession I say the one without the other does not seem to be the adequate object of Faith but both together are For which cause the Doctrine of the Gospel in its Enunciations Precepts and Threatnings as well as in its Promises is the object of Faith And because the Doctrine of the Gospel contains declares and amply sets forth all these things together with those things which are to come viz. the Resurrection of the Dead and Eternal Judgement in order to which the former first take place as being all of them matters about which Faith is busied therefore is it that the Doctrine of the Gospel is frequently called the Faith Gal. 1.23 and 3.2 5 23. Acts 6.7 Romans 1.5 1 Tim. 4.1 Iude 3. And so now I have done with my first point touching Faith viz. the object of it or the beleeving of what it is that shall be imputed for righteousness CHAP. V. Shewing that that Faith which consists onely in assenting unto the truth of that report which the Gospel makes touching Christ his being the Son of God and of his coming into the World to save Sinners by dying for them will not availe to Iustification and Salvation as a gospel-Gospel-Faith of the right kind will do Sect. 1 HAving briefly shewed from the holy Scriptures the beleef of what it is objectively that hath the promise of Salvation annext to it I shall now in the next place come to enquire what and what manner of beleeving it is subjectively that hath the same promise or whether every act of beleeving that is placed on a right object hath this great priviledge of Justification entailed to it And upon due enquiry it will be found that not any act or acts of Faith one or more be they never so many of them that fall short of engaging the Soul in true Love and sincere obedience unto the Lord Jesus will avail the man in whom they are unto the saving of the soul If I mistake not all the acts of a saving Faith may be reduced to and comprehended under these three heads The first I call an act of Credence the second an act of Adherence and the third an act of Confidence in the exertion of which three acts of Faith having Christ for their object the whole soul mind will and affections are engaged which make up the beleeving with all the heart which the Gospel calls for Acts 8.37 By that act which I call an act of Credence I mean the assent of the mind unto the truth of what the Gospel reports especially touching Christ and Gods love to mankind in him as that he is the Son of God and Saviour of the world that he was sent of God the Father to shew unto men the way of salvation and then to dye rise again and after his ascension to make intercession to bring that salvation about and that remission of sins is to be had through his name By that act of Faith which I call an act of Adherence I understand the souls fast cleaving unto the Lord Jesus in affection and subjection as counting him more worthy of both than any Creature or thing in all the world as also taking hold of that grace and strength which is in Christ for deliverance from the power of sin and of bringing the soul back again to God in point of holiness And lastly by an act of Confidence I mean the Souls relyance rest or dependance upon Christ or on the Father through Christ for remission of sins acceptation and eternal salvation the committing of the Soul to his mercy the throwing it upon his grace These three acts of Faith relate to each other by way of dependance the second depending upon the first as the acts of the Will do upon the Understanding and the third upon both the
whom it is upon ministring supplies to the necessities of their Brethrens outward man if there be power in their hand It 's oft seen thus with men That when such whom they love and honour and from whom they have received extraordinary favours are above their Requitals yet then in testimony of their true Respects to them will shew kindness to and bestow gifts upon their Servants that wait upon them 1 Sam. 25.27 41. 2 King 5.17 And so it is with those that truly love and honour the Lord Jesus He indeed is exalted above the contributions of their worldly substance but yet is well contented that such of his poor servants as have need should partake of it and will take it every whit as kindly as if it had been given to himself Mat. 25.40 hereupon they expresse their love to him by their love to his Servants for his sake by refreshing their bowels when hungry and thirsty and cloathing them when bare and naked dispersing that among them which they would have been ready to have offered unto him if his condition now as sometime had made him capable of it Psal 16.2 3. My goodness extendeth not to thee but to the Saints that are in the earth and to the excellent in whom is all my delight When he could not reach the Lord with his goodness benefit or bounty then he applies himself to his Servants Friends and Favorites whom he could reach and communicates to them Men may talk of their love to Christ and how much they are beholding to him and how ready they would be to dye for him if called to it but if in the mean while they see the true Friends and Servants of Jesus Christ in need of relief and yet shut up the bowels of their compassion against them it may well be demanded How dwelleth the love of God in them 1 John 3.17 There 's neither resemblance of that love which is in God who when the worlds necessity called for it parted with his Son to supply their need nor yet any true signe or token of love to God when those whom he loves so well as he does his Friends shall not be regarded pityed and supplied in their need when power and opportunity to do it are present Indeed such a bowel-less hard-hearted close-fisted temper is that which renders men very unlike to God very unlike to Jesus Christ who though he were rich yet became poor for our sakes that we through his poverty might be made rich 2 Cor. 8.9 And it is a plain argument they never had much to do with the love of God the love of Christ as to come under any strong sence or powerful influence of it for if they had it would have transformed them into its own likenesse Let them talk what they will of their trust in God and Faith in Christ yet this merciless temper layes them open to that judgment which shall be without mercy James 2.13 and consequently their Faith will be far from interessing them in the pardoning mercies of God or saving merits of Jesus Christ I cannot now stand to shew how much the heart of Christ is in this Christian work of bounty and beneficence nor how much of the Christian Religion lies in it which if I should undertake the Scriptures would be found to speak much this way only let this be remembred that as love to one another is the badg of Christs Disciples John 13.35 so their bounty and readiness to give according to their ability is the proof of the sincerity of this their love 2 Cor. 8.8 24. Where the Apostle encouraging these Corinthians to be bountiful in ministring to the Saints saith he did it to prove the sincerity of their love verse 8. Wherefore saith he again shew ye to them and before the Churches the proof of your love Verse 24. Sect. 14 Nor are the tents of the Saints the only sphear in which Faith acts in this way of love and bounty but its influences flow out to all men as it hath opportunity As I said at the first Faith eying God in his love to men and in the way of its working takes its pattern from thence to cause those in whom it is to be followers of God as dear Children and to walk in love Ephes 5.1 2. and therefore finding that God is not only loving kind and bountiful to the good and to the holy but that his tender mercies are over all his works and that he is kind to the unthankful and to the evil and that he maketh his Sun to rise on the evil and on the good and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust Psalm 145.9 Luke 6.35 Mat. 5.45 it inclines and draws the man in whom this Faith is in imitation of his Heavenly Father to love enemies to blesse them that curse him to do good to those that hate him to feed them when hungry to give them drink when thirsty according to the mind of the Lord in this behalf Mat. 5.44 Rom. 12.20 And because Faith thus works where it is in truth and power as being nothing lesse then what is expresly commanded of the Lord all whose commands Faith makes men very careful to observe therefore are the Christians that they might shew forth their Faith by their works so frequently provoked and exhorted to do good to be merciful charitable and compassionate to all only with this item that the choice and chief of their contributions of relief must be reserved for such as are of the houshold of Faith Gal. 6.10 As we have therefore opportunity let us do good unto all men especially unto them who are of the houshold of Faith 1 Thes 3.12 And the Lord make you to increase and abound in love one towards another and towards all men even as we do towards you 1 Thes 5.15 See that none render evill for evill unto any man but ever follow that which is good both among your selves and to all men 2 Cor. 9.13 Whilst by the experiment of this ministration they glorifie God for your professed subjection unto the Gospel of Christ and for your liberal distribution unto them and unto all men Sect. 15 7. And if you would have your distributions to the poor Saints and others in need amount unto a clear proof and evidence of the truth of your love to them and so of the soundness of your Faith shewing it self by such works James 2.18 then carefully see to it that your bounty and your ability hold some good proportion For if a man be niggardly and sparing in his Alms-giving and makes a little go a great way is able to do much and yet does very little he will not be able to discern whether what he does proceed from any inward principle of love and good affection or from-some motive from without as viz. because others do so or to get himself eased of the trouble of being solicited the case of the unjust Judge in doing that which was just
preparations The marriage of the Lamb draws nigh and his Wife hath made her self ready be sure you be not at any time found without your Wedding garment By Faith draw nigh to the Judgement Seat of Christ imagine your selves at the next door of being encompassed with the majesty of that day Let thoughts of it and of your accounts then to be taken keep you company all the day long in your buying selling eating drinking yea in all your converse and communication with men Follow God with incessant prayer to fill your souls brim full with a lively sense of these things whose weight is not to be expressed Hold much communion with your own weakness and do not trust your selves at the least distance from God abide under his shadow and in an humble way of pleasing him be alwaies confident of his strength to subdue your spiritual enemies to uphold you and keep you from falling and to carry you on from strength to strength until you appear before him That these and such things as these in the glory of their perfection may be your present portion from the Lord to prepare you upon the best terms for future glory is the true desire Of him who longs for more strength from Christ to serve you upon yet better terms in the dear Concernments of your precious Souls whil'st he is WILLIAM ALLEN April 13. 1658. THE EPISTLE TO THE READER Reader I Am not unsensible but that the very name of Works as any ways interressed or concerned in mens Justification before God may possibly prejudice this work in the minds of some good people as if it were no good friend to the free grace of God especially considering that Grace and Works are so frequently opposed one to another in the Scripture as inconsistent in the business of mans Justification To prevent which I shall intreat thee to understand that this Treatise does not in the least interess those Works in mans Justification which the Scripture opposes to Grace which are sometimes called and are usually if not alwayes to be understood as meant of the Works of the Law or deeds of the Law Nor yet does it interesse any other Works I mean the most evangelical Works in the office or service of justifying in that sense in which Works are opposed to Grace and were asserted by the Jews and rejected by the Apostle to wit as doing that to justifie which is proper and peculiar only and alone to Christ Jesus For to hold any thing whether Works or Faith necessary for the doing of the same thing which Christ does in Justification would render Christs undertaking in that behalf incompleat and imperfect and disparage the sufficiency of his saving Grace and so lay the hope of salvation built thereon in the dust which yet it should seem was the errour into which the Galatians were running Gal. 5.4 and 2.21 And therefore all care must he had not to give ought of that to Works or Faith either which is the incommunicable prerogative of Christs bloud Though if it were possible that you could from this instant unto the end of your life become as holy in nature and life as the holy Angels themselves yet it would be damnable folly and wickednesse in you if you should in the least depend upon this holinesse for the benefit of atonement for the sins that are past which is to be had only by Christs bloud And therefore he that hath the most and best of Gospel Works of any man living to commend him to God can reasonably expect no more benefit by them as to this nor may with safety any more depend upon them for this then he that hath none at all but must and ought to cast himself as intirely upon the bloud of Christ for the grace of atonement purgation from sin and justification as the Theif upon the crosse did or as any poor forlorn and miserable sinner does at his first coming to Christ before he hath actually accomplished any workes of sanctification But now because Christs bloud does not actually justifie men though never so full of virtue and power to justifie till they doe believe God having suspended their personal interest in his bloud for their Justification upon their believing hence now in another respect Faith is necessary to Justification in its place and for its use as well as the bloud of Christ it self is in that superiour respect which is proper to it And because Faith also without works is dead Jam. 2.17 26. and so is altogether unserviceable to justifie and that that Faith only hath the honour conferred upon it by God to avail men to justifie and save which worketh by Love and no other Gal. 5.6 Hence the works of a holy life are as necessary to render Faith a living Faith an availing Faith and so a Faith that will justifie or which will interesse men in Christs bloud which doth Justifie as the Grace of Faith it self is necessary in order to such an interest Which as it is the utmost which I assert touching the necessity of Gospel-Obedience unto Justification so it is that which if found true which will avouch this necessity with a high hand For as a man may as soon be Justified without a Saviour as without Faith which gives him an interest in him so he may as soon be Justified without Faith as without those Evangelical Works the absence of which will render Faith uncapable to Justifie And to have no Faith and to have a Faith in no capacity to doe the work or business of Faith will be found the same thing in conclusion So that if the one be necessary so is the other but in different respects All that I shall further add is to desire thee to lay aside prejudice and so proceed to the perusal of the Work it self And as thou findest things built upon the Word and substantially backed by evidence of Scripture Light fairly treated so and no otherwise would I have thee to receive them For I assure thee my design towards thee is to make a match between thy Soul and Truth not my Opinion further then under the countenance of Truth And should count it a happiness if as a recompence of this labour I should hereby deliver though but one Soul from any longer contenting it self with that dead and barren Faith by which too many are and are like to be deceived And that the Lord may give thee a right understanding in this and in all things hath been and I hope the Lord assisting shall be the Prayer of him who loves and longs after the health and prosperity of thy soul W. A. A Table of the principal Matters touched or handled in the precedent Epistle and subsequent Treatise A ARgument of good life most taking generally Ep. S. 10 Argument against the form of profession from the miscarriages of professors not good Ep. S. 11 Assent to the Doctrine of the Gospel as true touching Christs being the Son of God
as it beleeves the blood of Christ to be it and it alone that is in it self and by the ordination of God fully sufficient to take away sin the guilt of it or the condemning power or destroying nature of it so accordingly does it relye upon this blood of Christ under the gracious appointment of the Father to do this great thing for him to particular in whom this Faith dwells Rom 8.25 Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through Faith in his blood In this Scripture there are three things that are especially to be marked in relation to the point in hand 1. That Christs blood is the blood of propitiation or that Christ himself is the propitiation by means of his blood i. e. the reconciler the procurer of savour in pardon or remission 2. That God hath ordained him in his blood thus to be and accordingly hath proposed and offered him to all the world as a publick propitiation but yet so and upon condition that men have Faith in his blood i. e. do believe it to be of it self and by the appointment of the Father of sufficient efficacy force and vertue to purge them from their sins Which Faith also must be of the right kind or else it will not interesse any man in this great benefit 3. That which is moreover implyed is that the Faith of a man feeling so good a foundation and ground under it as is the blood of Christ in conjunction with the Fathers will as by which to be confident of a plenary purgation from all sins how great or how many soever they have been does accordingly safely and securely build thereupon Sect. 7 4. Christ as being risen from the dead is the object of justifying Faith Rom. 10.9 If then shalt confess with thy meuth the Lord Iesus and shalt beleeve in thy heart that God raised him from the dead thou shalt be saved Rom. 4.25 Who was delivered for our offences and was raised again for our Iustification And no marvel that the Resurrection of Christ should be the object of saving Faith inasmuch as in it is included the beleef of the main foundation Doctrines of the Gospel and without it Faith could have no firm footing to rest upon touching other great gospel-Gospel-truths As 1. The beleeving of him to be the Son of God which is an ingredient absolutely necessary in the gospel-Gospel-faith doth at least in great part depend upon the Faith of his Resurrection For Faith can ground its belief touching his being the Son of God upon nothing else than that which declares him to be so But now he is declared to be the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness by the Resurrection from the dead Rom. 1.4 2. The keeping promise and Covenant with the holy Patriarchs and their Seed which Faith must needs eye did depend upon Gods raising Christ from the dead Acts 13.32 33. And we declare unto you glad tidings how that the promise which was made unto the Fathers God hath fulfilled the same unto us their children in that he hath raised up Iesus again as it is also written in the second Psalm Thou art my Son this day have I begotten thee And again Acts 2.30 31. Therefore being a Prophet and knowing that God hath sworn with an Oath to him that of the fruit of his loyns according to the flesh he would raise up Christ to sit upon his throne he seeing this before spake of the Resurrection of Christ that his soul was not left in hell neither his flesh did see corruption 3. The Resurrection of Christ is so necessary to Justification and to the Faith of it that take away this and Justification and the beleef of it are all laid in the dust 1 Cor. 15.14 17. And if Christ be not risen then is our preaching vain and your Faith is also vain And again vers 17. And if Christ be not raised your Faith is vain ye are yet in your sins Without beleeving is no justification and if there had been no Resurrection of Christ there could have been no Faith touching that attonement that is now made by his death For could men have beleeved that the death of Christ had been of sufficient force and vertue to expiate sin had it not been manifested by his Resurrection surely no. For so long as he was under the power of death he was under the power of sin of which death is but the wages For in that he dyed he dyed unto sin saith the Apostle Rom. 6.10 The sting of Death to wit that which gives it power of prevailing over the creature is sin 1 Cor. 15.56 And the time when that saying O death where is thy sting O grave where is thy victory shall be brought to passe is not till the day of Resurrection When this corruptible shall have put on incorruption and this mortal immortality 1 Cor. 15.54 And therefore as the Saints shall not actually and perfectly be delivered from all the effects of sin till the day of their Resurrection so neither was Christ delivered from that burden of other mens sins which he bore in his own body untill he rose from the dead And if sin had been too hard for him in keeping him under the power of death it would much more have been too hard for us But in that God raised Christ from the dead he did as it were thereby acknowledge satisfaction for the debt of mens sins which he by his death as a surety had discharged While he lay in the grave he was detained as a prisoner for other mens debts but when the prison doors were opened and he let out the Father acknowledged satifaction and did as it were seal him in the behalf of those for whom he undertook a release and discharge By his entring into suffering he took the sins of the world upon him but by his Resurrection by which he came out of his suffering-state he put them off As in his suffering he was made sin for us and dealt with as if he had been a sinner so by his Resurrection he was justified from those sins which were imputed to him And unlesse he had been first justified from our sins which were imputed to him all the while he suffered we could not have been justified from them our selves And therefore no marvel that the Apostle should attribute our Justification with a Rather unto the Resurrection of Christ than to his Death as he does Rom. 8.33 34. Who is he that condemneth it is God that justifieth it is Christ that dyed yea rather that is risen again He seems to feel a firmer footing for his Faith in the Resurrection of Christ than in his death more to bear him out against the accusations of any that had a mind to condemn him the answer which a good conscience makes it is by the Resurrection of Christ from the dead 1 Pet. 3.21 4. I might here add that the beleef of the Resurrection of our bodies
for it we have this Evangelists word for it as appears by the latter part of the fore-cited verse where he sayes that they viz. the Devils knew that he was Christ If any should think that possibly the Devils may have the same faith that would justifie men if it were in them though it will do them no good as not being in the like capacity of grace as men are yet that passage in Iames 2. 19. will oppose such a thought For wherefore does the Apostle mention the faith of Devils there but to disparage the unprofitable and dead faith of some Christians and to give them to know that if their faith rested only in the beleef of things and did not carry out the soul in love both to God and men it was even no better a faith than is in the devils and consequently would save them no more than it would save the devils Sect. 5 3. The Faith of Assent as it is the act of the understanding is frequently forced the mind compelled to beleeve the truth of divine things by the strength of conviction which sometimes is so great that it is not in the power of men to dis-beleeve them which I concieve is the plain case touching that faith which the Devils have and the faith which some wicked men under despair have of the judgement to come who would be glad if they knew how to believe otherwise than what they do believe they would be glad if they knew how to believe that there is no God no Heaven no Hell and it is their torment to believe there is the Devils believe and tremble and so do some men And it is very like that those believers of which we heard before Iohn 2.23 and 12.42 had that Faith which they had concerning Christ forced upon them by the hand of those miracles of Christ in conjunction with his holy life and doctrine which were too hard for their consciences and evinced with power him that wrought them to be the Son of God And it may be they might have a desire to have stifled that light and to have overcome that conviction which they had as that which did oppose that carnal interest of praise which they had with men which it seems they loved more than Christ and therefore would not let it go for his sake And is not this the case of such who hold the truth in unrighteousness Rom. 1.18 when the light of divine truth breaks into the mind and cannot be kept out but convinces the conscience that things have been so and so done by the Father and by his Son Jesus Christ in favour to man-kind and that therefore men ought to love the Lord and in love to obey him and that it is the way to be happy so to do and yer for all that this truth which hath thus far compel'd the conscience to assent to it is detained and held as prisoner in the mind by the power of lust so that it does not walk abroad in the life of such a man the thorns spring up with the seed and over-top it the seed springs up in the mind by its power of conviction shewing what should and ought to be but the thorns of lust spring up in the affection and determine what shall be and what shall not be in such a mans life Such a man indeed hath received the truth as he assents to it to be truth but hath not received the love of the truth by consenting to and affectionately imbracing what it enjoynes And shall we think that God will reward with the great and unspeakable blessing of Justification and Salvation such an act of the Creature as is not voluntary but forced from him whether he will or no surely he will not 2 Thes 2.10 Because they received not the love of the truth that they might be saved c. No other receiving of the truth then will be rewarded with Salvation but the receiving it in love and what 's more voluntary than love If a man had all faith never so strong a perswasion touching the vertue and power of Christ So that he could remove mountains and have not love it would profit him nothing 1 Cor. 13.2 If there be first a willing mind it is accepted c. 2 Cor. 8.12 that 's surely a necessary ingredient to render any act of the creature acceptable to God and consequently rewardable by him 1 Cor. 9.17 For if I do this thing willingly I have a reward Take heed then of venturing your precious souls upon this Faith that lies but in a naked and bare assent to the general truth of the Gospel CHAP. VI. Further discovering that neither the act of Relyance or Dependence upon God or Christ for Salvation without the concurrence of a loving and loyal adhesion to him will avail to Salvation Sect. 1 HAving already shewed that Faith by the first of those three acts mentioned in the former Chapter will not justifie without the addition and concurrence of more I shall now likewise shew you that neither will this act of trust confidence dependance or relyance upon the Lord for Salvation though added unto the former of assenting to the truth of that report which the Gospel makes of Christs being the Son of God his dying for sinners c. prove effectual to justifie save unless it be found in conjunction with an obediential cleaving to Christ to be delivered by him from the power and dominion of sin as well as the guilt and condemnation of it That there may be found in men a presumptious leaning upon the mercies of the Lord and his promises and acts of grace and an expectation of being thereupon secured by God from destruction while in the mean time they cut off their claim and title to those promises and acts of grace by loving of and cleaving to their inward lusts or outward enormities instead of cleaving to those precepts and promises touching holiness which would carry them out of those sins is a thing very visible in the Scriptures as well as obvious to experience It was so with men under the Old Testament Mica 3.11 The heads thereof judge for reward and the Priests thereof teach for hire and the Prophets thereof divine for money yet will they lean upon the Lord and say is not the Lord among us none evill can come unto us The Lord had indeed made many gracious promises to that people of his being their God of his dwelling and walking among them of saving them from those evils which he would bring upon their enemies but all upon condition that they would be to him a people in love loyalty and obedience as he to them a God in protection and blessing Levit. 26. Deut. 28. but these men Judges Priests Prophets Sinners of sundry sorts eye the promises over-looking the condition upon which they were made and would needs lean upon these as if God were obliged to them by these to secure them from those evils
or as he had said vers 14. to save For that clearly is the sence of Faiths being dead in this place and not its barrenness of good Works Though that 's true likewise that Faiths being dead in another sence i. e. void of spiritual vigour force and power is the cause why it is alone and not accompanied with the goodness of conversation yet here in this place the deadness of Faith is the effect of its being alone and not the cause of it the deadness of Faith proceeds from the absence of Works as here spoken of and not the absence of Works from the deadness of Faith Faith is dead being alone saith he that is because it is alone for so it is plain that its being alone carries the force of a reason why it is dead And therefore Faiths being dead here notes it utter inability to justifie or save which answers the scope of the Apostle which is to convince the carnal professor that his Faith without Works would not save him as is manifest by the fourteenth Verse upon which the following Discourse to the end of the Chapter depends He sayes after Verse 26. That as the body without the spirit is dead so Faith without Works is dead also In which comparison or similitude as the body answers Faith so the Spirit answers Works and as the absence of the spirit from the body is the cause why the body is dead and does not the service unto which a living man is appointed so the absence of Works from Faith is the cause why Faith is dead and does not him in whom it is the service unto which the true Faith is appointed to wit to justifie or save him that hath it Sect. 4 And here by the way we have clearly set before us the true sence in which Works are necessary to justification as well as Faith and that is as they do qualifie Faith for that Work or Office of justifying unto which God of his meer Grace hath designed it For so is the will of God that though he will so magnifie his grace in the salvation of men as to justifie and save them by Christ upon or upon condition of their believing in him yet hath he therein made such provision to magnifie his holiness and his love of it in his Creature as that he will not confer the grace of Justification upon any other Faith or entitle any other believing unto that attonement which Christ hath made by his blood than such as hath its fruit unto Holiness the end of which will be everlasting life In which sence I conceive it is that Faith is said to be made perfect by Works James 2.22 that is as I understand put into a compleat capacity of attaining its end which is to justifie as a house is then said to be perfected when nothing is wanting in it as to the end and service for which it is built 2 Chron. 8.16 So is Faith when nothing is wanting to it to answer the end whereto it is to serve But now as long as Faith is alone or by it self without Works it is dead as we heard before and so in no capacity to justifie or reach its end Nor does it come under the saving influence of the Promise till it Work by Love that being the only kind of Faith that hath the promise to avail Gal. 5.6 and therefore Works added to Faith as children are added to their Mother being the same thing that makes the difference between that Faith that will justifie and that which will not and which brings that kind of believing under the promise without which all other believing is excluded hence it is I conceive that Works may well and truly be said to perfect Faith as putting it into a right capacity of reaching its end But thus much on the by in this place Sect. 5 As Iames so Iohn opposeth the vain confidence that is built upon the dead Faith 1 Iohn 1.6 If we say that we have fellowship with him and walk in darkness we lie and do not the truth This doubtless he wrote in opposition to some professors of the Christian Faith who though they walked in darkness led lives disagreeing to the light of Christs Doctrine yet said profest and were confident that they had fellowship partnership with God and with his Son Jesus Christ in his Love Saving-mercy and promises of Grace as if as these were Gods to give so they were all theirs to enjoy But as he would take them off their vain confidence in this so he directs them how to be better built in the next Vers 7. saying But if we walk in the light as he is in the light we have fellowship one with another and the blood of Iesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin Meaning I suppose that if that perswasion which they had of fellowship with God interest in his Grace Love and Mercy and share in Christs blood were but accompanied with an upright endeavour of purifying themselves as he is pure and of being holy in all manner of conversation as he that had called them is holy which I think is the same thing as to walk in the light as he is in the light then they might be confident indeed that they had fellowship with God in his Grace and Love and share in Christs blood to cleanse them from all sin But otherwise and without this what ever their opinion pretence or confidence was of their good condition they did but lie and falsifie the truth Of which delusion and dangerous deceit he admonisheth the Christians Chap. 3.7 8. saying Little children let no man deceive you he that doth righteousness is righteous as he is righteous he that committeth sin is of the Devil By which saying he suggests that there were some amongst them of another opinion and perswasion and that they were in danger of being deceived by them to think that though they did indulge themselves in some sin yet they might be counted and dealt withall as righteous persons as being in Christ and knowing of him as they supposed In opposition to which vain conceit and lying imagination he had said in the verse before Whosoever abideth in him sinneth not Whosoever sinneth hath not seen him neither known him The like admonition ministred by Paul to the Ephesians implyeth like danger from men of the same profession Eph. 5.6 Let no man deceive you with vain words for because of these things cometh the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience .. Implying that there were some among them that were otherwise perswaded than that those unholy wayes from which he had newly before dehorted them would expose them to the wrath of God who trusted in Christ for salvation For of such he prophecied whilst he was yet with them Acts 20.30 That of their own selves should men arise speaking perverse things wrested or swerving things to draw away Disciples after them Men professing the same Faith and expecting
observed to be the direct path leading to the promised and expected salvation of God Sect. 2 Among that cloud of Witnesses which the Author to the Hebrews in his 11 chap. produces as giving a lively testimony to this Truth let us for brevity sake hear only some of them And we will begin with Enoch vers 5. By Faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death and was not found because God had translated him for before his translation he had this testimony that he pleased God First we see his translation is ascribed unto his Faith though we cannot say that he by his Faith did beleeve he should after that manner be translated yet doubtless by his Faith he did expect to receive from God first or last that happy state into which he was so timely and extraordinarily translated Secondly we see likewise how and after what manner this his dependance upon God for happiness did dispose him in point of behaviour towards God it put him upon pleasing God that is of endeavouring alwayes to do such things as were well pleasing to the Lord which in Gen. 5.24 is called his walking with God And what was that but his being constantly found in that way and walk which God appointed and approved and in which he met with God and God with him His Faith dictated that to him that the road to that expected happiness which was in his eye was that walk which God had appointed him and that the way to receive it from God was carefully to please him in all things as he did faithfully endeavour to do for three hundred or more years together Noah's Faith wrought the same way Heb. 11.7 By Faith Noah being warned of God of things not seen as yet moved with fear prepared an Ark to the saving of his house As by his Faith he looked for safety and deliverance from God so by his Faith he was taught to observe and do what God appointed and commanded him in order thereunto His Faith eyed as well the means as the end and made him as careful to be faithful in the one as confidently to expect the other which is indeed the true nature and kindly working of the Faith of all Gods Elect. Let us here again take another sight of the Faith of our Father Abraham meeting with him in this road It is certain that his Faith had a perfect regard both to end and means he was confident of receiving the blessed Inheritance promised but he was also confident that the way to come to it was to follow Gods guidance and direction and that God was as much to be beleeved in his shewing the way and therein his counsels and commands to be embraced as he was in promising the end Heb. 11.14 15 16. There you have the end of the Faith of Abraham and Sara the mark at which they aimed For they that say such things declare plainly that they seek a Country And what Country Not such as they left For truly if they had been mindful of that Country from whence they came out they might have had opportunity to have returned but now they desire a better Country that is an heavenly wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God for he hath prepared for them a City God had given them hopes of a heavenly Country they beleeved him in his discovery and promise of this and therefore when God calls them out of their own native Country to set forward for this they presently obey They went out not knowing whither they went Heb. 11.8 but were resolved under the hope of the heavenly Country to follow the conduct of God and to deliver themselves up to his counsels and commands and to follow these whithersoever they would lead them as being fully perswaded that these would at last bring them to that heavenly Country which they sought Just as the wise men who following the guidance of the star were by it brought to the house where the young Child Jesus was whom they sought Sect. 3 See also the Faith of Moses running the same race Heb. 11.24 25 26. By Faith Moses when he was come to years refused to be called the Son of Pharaohs Daughter chusing rather to suffer affliction with the People of God than to enjoy the pleasures of Sin for a season esteeming the reproach of Christ greater Riches than the Treasures in Egypt for he had respect unto the recompence of the reward First That which his Faith had in its eye as the mark at which he aimed was the recompence of the reward the great prize for which all the Saints run he beleeved there was such a thing to be had from God Secondly The same Faith by which he depended upon God for this blessedness enabled him to wait upon God in his own way to be led to it And therefore rather then he would by sin displease him from whom he expected the recompence of reward he at once turns his back upon the honours pleasures and treasures of Egypt And seeing he could not joyn himself unto the People of God and with them to Worship the Lord but that in embracing them he must embrace reproach and affliction with them therefore rather than he would lose the advantage of the one in relation to his expected happiness he chuseth and espouseth the inconvenience of the other He by his Faith puts into the one ballance the Recompence of reward as the end and his Communion with the People of God in his Worship and Service as the way and means and together with these the Reproaches for Christ and the Affliction of the People of God And into the other ballance the Honours Pleasures and Treasures of Egypt but with them that Sin which the retaining of these would draw along with it and which would cut him short of the Recompence of reward and comparing his present enjoyments with his future loss and his present sufferings with his future gain he comes to this issue to prefer afflictions and reproaches as attending the right way to the Recompence of reward before the treasures pleasures and honours of Egypt when attended with that sin which would deprive him of it Behold here a lively Instance of Faiths overcoming the World His Faith carries him out of the midst of all the glory of the Court of Egypt and from thence into the midst of the scorn dirision oppression and persecution of the poor People of God And why But because this was the ready road to the Recompence of reward That which is noted Heb. 11.33 touching the power of Faith as that by it some have stopped the mouths of Lions respects Daniel the Prophet who was taken up out of the Lions Den and no manner of hurt was found upon him because he beleeved in his God Dan. 6.23 That which I would note concerning him as to my present purpose is first this That his Faith fixed him upon God to depend upon him for whatever was good in
to defend your selves from their frowns and contempt and from the scourge of their tongue for a complyance in such things as these where it is found argues falseness of heart to the Lord Jesus Sect. 8 4. One thing further to name no more though many more particulars of this kind might be touched by which you may know your love to Christ to be such as will evidence your Faith which produces it to be of the true sort and right kind is this If your belief in Christ and your love to Christ hath wrought in you a love of and a looking and longing for his next appearance when he will so come to receive the Saints unto himself as that they shall be ever with the Lord. For while men are better pleased with his absence and to remain at this distance it argues little love in them to him For it is the nature of Love where it is true and entire to incline and dispose a Man or Woman to desire the presence of those they love and all neerness of converse and communion and to have all means of distance to be removed And if that spiritual and invisible presence which the Lord vouchsafes of himself to his Servants in his Ordinances and in their way of worshipping and serving him which yet comparatively is but a being absent from him 2 Cor. 5.6 is to those that love him so exceeding precious and desirable as that their sence of the want of this hath made their flesh and their heart to cry out for the living God and to say When shall I come and appear before God Psalm 84.2 and 42.2 then certainly that presence of his in which he will be seen face to face in which his face shall be beheld in righteousness and his servants satisfied with his likeness that presence of his when neither weakness nor temptation shall obstruct interrupt or disturb their full and perfect communion with the Lord that presence of his which will perfectly deliver them from all fears of being cast out of his presence or of suffering any suspension in the effluxes of his love is much more desired and longed for by those that unfeignedly love the Lord. This loving and expecting the blessed and glorious appearance of our Lord Jesus Christ is noted in Scripture not only as a signe of mens love to him and Faith in him but as a general character of those that shall be then saved by him Heb. 9.28 And unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation Tit. 2.13 2 Pet. 3.12 Henceforth is there laid up for me a Crown of Righteousness which the Lord the righteous Judge shall give me at that day and not to me only but unto all them also that love his appearing 2 Tim. 4.8 By these and such things as these you may try the truth or feignedness of your love to the Lord consequently the soundness or unsoundness of your Faith in him which when it is true works more or less according as it is stronger or weaker in those and like ways of expression of love to the Lord which have now been laid before you and therefore as you love your souls be not partial but strict and thorow in proving your Faith and spiritual condition by them Sect. 9 And as Faith works by love to the Lord so it works by love to men likewise for which cause it may well be that Faith in Christ and love to men are so frequently coupled together in the Scriptures as co-workers and fellow helpers in the service of mans salvation see Ephes 1.15 and 6.23 Col. 1.4 1 Thes 1.3 and 3.6 and 5.8 2 Thes 1.3 1 Tim. 1.14 and 2.15 2 Tim. 1.13 and 2.22 Tit. 3.15 Philem. 5. 1 John 3.23 And since they are such inseparable companions as they are represented to us to be in these and other Scriptures we may well conclude where the one is there the other is and where the one is missing there the other is wanting And therefore since our love to men is more visible and a thing nearer at hand then our Faith and a proof of a true Faith where it is of an Evangelical kind therefore let us now try our Faith by our love to men and our love to men by the standard of the Scriptures 1. I shewed you towards the beginning of this Chapter that Faith beholding as in a glasse the glory of the Lords love to men changes the soul into the same image men by it viewing the promises and proceedings of God toward man are made partakers of the divine nature 2 Pet. 1.4 contract a similitude of Gods love upon the Soul See then if you can find any such working in your Souls any such compassions and longings of soul after mens salvation as does really and truly though infinitely inferiorly hold some resemblance of those ardent desires and longings which are in God after the salvation of poor miserable men which are to be seen in these and other-like Scriptures Deut. 5.29 Psalm 81.13 Isa 48.18 Jer. 44.4 Ezek. 18.23 32. 2 Chron. 36.15 Luke 19.41 42. Mat. 23.37 2 Pet. 3.9 Hos 11.8 9. Or are your affections and compassions over the precious souls of men so stirred within you as that they put you upon action as you have opportunity to deliver them from going down into the pit of rescuing them out of those wicked wayes by admonitions instructions and affectionate perswasions which unless they be fetcht off from by some means or other will certainly ruine their poor souls For after this manner Gods love and compassion wrought towards sinful men it put him upon giving his only beloved Son Christ Jesus to dye for them and by his death to make and procure gracious terms of Salvation and by himself and servants whom he hath gifted for the purpose to publish those termes of Salvation and earnestly to perswade all men to imbrace them he himself seconding these with many visits of his Spirit and acts of grace and providence to render these means successful And however every Christian is not an Apostle nor endued with that power from on high for the work as the Apostles were and therefore it is not expected nor required of them that they should make it their constant work and business as they did to go up and down to warn and perswade men that they might be saved yet undoubtedly to what degree this love to men which the love of God hath begotten in them in its own likeness does dwell in them to the same degree does it put them upon applications of a soul-saving tendency to Family-relations Church-relations to Neighbours Friends and acquaintance yea and strangers too as ability conveniency of opportunity and mens necessity do concur in the case And the lesse men are affected with or the more careless they are of the spiritual condition of others the lesse is their love and Faith and the darker their evidence of them The Scriptures
propitiation unto all there 's the extent of the offer and tender of grace But then 2. He is set forth as such through Faith in his blood there 's the limitation of the propitiating vertue of his blood viz. to such as have Faith in it The Author to the Hebrews saith chap. 13.10 We have an altar whereof they have no right to eat that serve the Tabernacle meaning Christ of which they had no right to partake that did Judaiz it adhere to the Mosaical way and is parallel with Gal. 5.2.4 But that which I note hence is that men in order to their partaking of Christ must have a right to him Now what is that which gives men a right to Christ his Death Blood Resurrection and Intercession is it not this Faith of which I have been speaking so much surely it is Hence the Apostle suspends the beleeving Hebrews being made partakers of Christ upon their holding the beginning of their confidence stedfast unto the end Heb. 3.14 It was that Faith and confidence which they had by which they were made partakers of Christ when they first beleeved and they were to continue their right by continuing their Faith for thereto did his Exhortation tend Another-like place is that Cel. 1.21 22 23. And you who were sometimes alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works yet now hath he reconciled in the body of his Flesh through death to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in his sight if ye continue in the Faith grounded and setled and be not moved away from the hope of the Gospel If their final reconcileation by the death of Christ so as to be presented unreproveable in his sight depended upon their continuing in the Faith then certainly that which first invested them with that priviledge in which for the present they stood was their beleeving Sect. 4 And the reason why I conceive this right which Faith gives unto Christ and the justifying vertue of his blood is one cause or consideration for which it s said to be counted for Righteousness is this because Faith it self without this office and use is neither righteousnesse nor means of righteousnesse unto any man and consequently cannot be counted to him for Righteousnesse But for as much as though Faith is not virtually or meritoriously any mans righteousnesse as Christs blood is and yet by the grace and appointment of God becomes a means of possessing him with that which is hence Faith it self may well be said to be counted to him for Righteousnesse with like propriety of speech as when in Scripture the means bears the denomination of the end as John 4.22 2 Pet. 3.15 For that now I conceive may be a reason of the phrase counted reckoned or imputed for righteousnesse as it is applyed to Faith viz. because by it as it hath to do with Christ a man though he be not formally righteous with a personal and sin-lesse righteousnesse yet becomes possessed with the same priviledge of enjoying Gods favour and love and the blessed effects of it in respect of Justification which a personal and sin-less righteousnesse in the formality of it in case he had it would invest him with And therefore may well be said to be reckoned for or put to account instead of Righteousnesse because it does a man the self-same service as that would do Sect. 5 2. There is another notion or consideration in respect whereof Faith may be said to be counted for Righteousnesse to him that hath it And that is as it is a fulfilling of the termes of the Gospel or New Covenant For Faith in that latitude of which I have been speaking of it as it is a lively active working Grace and disposes the Soul in affection and subjection to the Lord as well as to depend upon him for what it would have is really the fulfilling of the condition or termes of the Gospel and consequently that which puts him that hath it under the great promises of Justification and eternal life contained therein For the Gospel declares who and what manner of persons shall have their sins pardoned for Christs sake shall be accepted and approved of God and are by him designed to eternal life viz. Beleevers no man by name but all under this qualification of effectual Faith For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from Faith to Faith Rom. 1.16 17. And whoever does accordingly beleeve does fulfill the Gospel and so is righteous in the account thereof As any man that lived under the first Covenant I mean the Mosaical Covenant had he but observed and kept the termes of it the man that doth those things shall live by them Rom. 10.5 he should have been righteous in the eye of that Law or Covenant Deut. 6.25 even so he that does but observe and keep the terms or condition of the Gospel or New Covenant which is Beleeve in the Lord Jesus and thou shalt be saved Acts 16.31 he also is righteous in the eye of that As it is in the common Law of Nations those that are justified are justified by that and those that are condemned are condemned by that if there be righteousnesse of proceeding John 7.51 If men be cast they are cast by the Law and if they are acquitted they are acquitted by the Law the Law cannot justifie the guilty nor condemn the innocent whatever men may do that have the handling of it Just so is it with the Gospel and those that are under the administration thereof all such shall be cast as guilty or acquitted as righteous by it The word that I have spoken said Christ the same shal judg him Jo. 12.48 The Doctrins of Christ are his Statute-laws which whosoever beleeves and sincerely obeyes shall be justified by their sentence All the holy word is on such a mans side against such as the Apostle saith there is no Law Gal. 5.23 but he hath as Demetrius had a good report even of the truth it self 3 John 12. Mica 2.7 As he hath been a true Friend to this to beleeve love and obey it in truth and uprightnesse though not without weaknesse so will it be a true Friend to him to stand by him to vindicate and justifie him against the accusations of the enemy So that mark we then Faith in the latitude of it being that very thing which doth answer the very mind and scope of the Gospel which is the Law of Faith Rom. 3.27 it must needs be counted to them for Righteousnesse that have it because by it they stand right in the eye and account of this law of life And indeed it is this heavenly and divine Law in the promisory part of it which furnishes Faith with that power which it hath to justifie As on the contrary the Law is said to be the strength of sin 1 Cor. 15.56 It arms sin with that power which it hath to condemn the Creature so is the Gospel the strength of Faith that which invests it with