THE FAITH BY WHICH We are Justified IN Scripture-Sense According to Scripture Opened Explained and Applied on Rom. 5. 1. In Six Sermons Published as Preached with little or no Alteration at the Desire of some of the Hearers Esaiah 55. 1. Ho every on that Thirsteth come ye to the Waters and He that hath no Money come ye Buy and Eat without Money and without Price LONDON Printed for W. Marshal at the Bible in Newgate-street 1695. THE FAITH BY WHICH We are Justified c. The First Sermon Rom. 5. 1. Therefore being justified by Faith we have Peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ INtending to Treat of Faith whereby we are Justified I have taken this Weighty Text as the Foundation of the Discourse wherein we have these Four remarkable Points concerning Faith as we are Justified by it 1. This plain Point first comes before us That we are Justified by Faith expressed thus Being Justified by Faith 2. That we are Justified by Faith is a conclusion resulting from a strong nervous and vehement Reasoning of the Apostles that had gone before in the foregoing Chapters signifyed in that Particle Therefore assuring to us this great Truth 3. The Blessed consequence of being Justified by Faith we have peace with God the Judg of all This gives full Peace Rest and Quiet to Conscience Peace and Assurance for ever according to the Nature of a full and perfect Righteousness 4. The supreme Principal Cause of our being Justified by Faith and having Peace from it is our Lord Jesus Christ by whom as the Apostle goes on we have access unto this Grace wherein we stand This then is the grand Proposition of the Apostle That being Justified by Faith we have Peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ I shall at this time therefore propose to open the great Grace of Gospel Faith to you by which we are Justified because indeed it is one of the greatest Points that can be spoken of And therefore these Heads of Discourse I will now undertake to handle to you concerning it First To shew you that the Supreme and Highest and Original Account or Description of Faith is to be taken by its Relation to Jesus Christ the Mediator And it is nothing at all if you remove that If you take away that Respect that great Respect that it looks upon and Eyes Jesus Christ the Mediator In the second place I shall come to consider how Faith even in its relation to Christ and as it looks upon him is said to be Justifying Faith or that whereby we are Justified For if we did not rightly state this as the Gospel doth as it is said the last Error might be worse then the first And therefore I would particularly guide your Thoughts and Apprehensions how Faith as it looks to Christ Justifies I shall therefore shew you that it is not Faith it self but only the great Righteousness of Jesus Christ received by Faith that Justifies In the Third place I shall comâ—… consider that great certainty that Faith is to obtain in every point wherein it so Acts which it ought to reach after and to aspire to in every point wherein it hath to do with Christ that we may have Peace by it through our Lord Jesus Christ as Christ saith John 17. 7 8. They have surely known and have believed that I came forth from thee and that thou didst send me So in every thing Faith is surely to know And then In the Fourth place I shall shew you the Life and the Power and the Activity of this Faith and compare thein Heb. 11. and James 2 where that Apostle speaks of Faith being Dead that is without Works And I shall endeavour to shew you that there is no such Commentary no such way of Reconciling the Apostle James with the Apostle Paul The Apostle Paul speaking of Faith Justifying without Works And the Apostle James speaking that a Man is not Justifyed by Faith only but by Works also I say the great Reconciliation will be by laying Heb. 11. and James 2. together Now I begin at this time with the first of these And I 'll lay down with great assurance this Assertion concerning the respect Faith hath to Christ That there never had been such a thing as the sound of Faith in the World there had never been the Name Not the Air and much less the Thing had not God brought the first Begotten as the Apostle saith into the World Had not Jesus Christ given a Being to Faith there had never been such a thing as Faith And therefore it is very observable that the Apostle calls Christ by this very Name Gal. 3. 23. Before Faith came saith he we were under Tutors and Governors We were kept under the Law shut up unto the Faith which should afterward be revealed Before Faith came It is certain Faith was in the World before the Gospel before the New Testament For it is said Abraham was Justified by Faith and Abraham believed God and it was imputed to him for Righteousness and yet saith the Apostle before Faith came that is before Christ came because Faith is so Essentially Dependent upon Christ and Respective unto him Christ is such a real Foundation and support of Faith that he is worthily and properly called by the very Naâ—… or by the word Faith before Faith came But for the clearer opening and making out of this to you I shall insist upon these three Heads First That Jesus Christ is the highest Revelation of God Now Faith it is described by almost all in part at least to be an Assent to a Divine Revelation upon the Credit that we give to the Revealer upon the Authority and Veracity and Certainty of the Truth of the Revealer For Faith you know properly is a believing the Report of another or the Witness of another We cannot properly be said to Believe when we do know the thing our selves and have seen it by our own Eyes but when we Trust and Credit that Assurance that another gives us of it Now therefore I shall endeavour to make out to you That Jesus Christ is He Faith must needs Live and Die with him as I may so express it in familiar Language it is as Essential to Faith to have the Manifestation and Revelation of Christ as it is for the Eye to have Light And then In the Second place Whereas the notion of Faith is a Trust and a depending upon some great Good that is offered to us from the Supreme Good that we have no Right nor Title to in our selves I shall shew you that Jesus Christ is that Great and Rich Good that is given to us from the Father And that tho we have no Right to the thing in our selves yet we come to Trust and to Depend and to Rely upon it as if we had a Title And then In the Third Place Whereas Faith is very truely tho not in the first Account of it described to be a Power
Pardon of Sin in his Blood Righteousness and Justification as I shall after shew you and therefore we should always look to his Person And then In the third and last place I shall desire if we love Christ let us love these Truths of Christ and these Manifestations of Christ Because they are gloomy there 's a great gloom upon them you may plainly perceive not only among the Heathens Mahometans Antichristians and Papists But there is a gloom among Protestants they are not so clear so bright so lively and excellent among us as in themselves For if these things I have spoken of be true It is certain here 's the Oriency of the Gospel here 's the Pearl of great Price Jesus Christ And our Souls should close with and cling to Him Now because there is a Fog and Mist about these things how earnestly should we pray for the Kingdom of Jesus Christ For then these things will come into their Glory into their Beauty into their Perfection And therefore I say if we love Christ our Souls should earnestly desire that this Kingdom of Christ should appear For then as I have often told you the New Song shall be sung as it were a New Song It was as it were lost and shall be recovered again and therefore it is as it were a new Song The first thing in the Kingdom of Christ I beseech you remember it remember it is spoken to you this day and I hope that many of us may live to see the thing the first thing that shall be after the Kingdom of Christ shall be known shall be the Voice of Harpers with their Harps so loud as it were the Voyce of Thunder this As it were a New Song of the Redempiion of Jesus Christ c. The End of the First Sermon THE FAITH BY WHICH We are Iustified c. The Second Sermon Rom. 5. 1. Therefore being justified by Faith we have Peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ THE great point of Discourse that I have singled from these words is to open to you the Nature of that Eminent and Transcendant Grace of the Gospel the Grace of Faith which our Lord hath an especial respect to in these words John 17. 7 8. They have known that all things whatsoever thou hast given me are of thee For I have given unto them the words which thou gavest me and they have receied them that is they have received them by Faith and have known surely that I came out from thee and they have believed them that thou didst send me They have known surely and they have believed that thou didst send me They have Believed Knowing and Believing are here United one with another because of that sure Knowledg and that strong demonstration of Faith gives to the Souls of his People And then Secondly Here 's the great Object of this Faith For they have known that all things whatsoever thou hast given me are of thee Whatsoever thou hast given me the things are of thee And the words which thou gavest me they have received them And they have known surely that I came out from thee and that thou did'st send me Jesus Christ is the Supreme Object of Faith as he is one with the Father and hath come into the World as the Mediator and Redeemer of lost and undone Sinners Thereforâ— I have undertaken in the first Place to make out this to you that the proper Object of Faith is the Mediator and that Faith came in with the Mediator and subsisted wholly in him and upon him And if you take away the Mediator Faith becomes a meer Nullity a meer nothing There is the same and far greater Conjunction betwixt Christ and Faith than there is between the Eye and Light As you know the Eye is nothing without Light so Faith is nothing without that great Light the Mediator This I began to open to you First In that Jesus Christ is the Supreme Revelation of God For Faith by those that strictly Define it or Describe it it is an Assent to Divine Revelation Now the great Revelation of God it is Jesus Christ He is the great Truth the Alpha and Omega of Truth And all Truth as I shew'd you depends upon him For there comes in with Jesus Christ a Notion of Truth proper and peculiar to himself All the great Truths of Scripture Indeed there are notable Intimations and great Representations in all the Holy ways of God in which the Soul of Man was at first Created But the great Subject of Truth it is the Truth that comes in with Christ As I shew'd you he saith of himself He is The Truth And even Natural Truth as I abundantly shew'd you it comes under Christ Natural Truth that Truth that there is an everlasting Being That God is This comes under Christ It removes as it were from being a Natural Truth and it comes under Christ Tho it is true there are great Arguments to prove it yet it chooses as it were and delights to come under Christ And so the Truths of Eternity as I shall speak more presently they come under Christ In the Second place as Faith it pitches upon some good upom some grace that is shew'd to the Children of Men so Jesus Christ he is the great object of Faith because all Good it is in him The Promises of Grace they are all in him And therefore that is a great Scripture that I did not mention to you the last day and therefore I beseech you now to take it into great consideration 2 Cor. 1. 20. All the promises of God are in him yea and in him Amen to the Glory of God In him yea and in him Amen All that God hath spoken of Grace and of good will to the Children of Men it is all in Christ All the promises in him are yea and in him they are Amen And he is The Deliverer as I shew'd you from the Wrath to come Christ in you the hope of Glory Col. 1. 27. It is wonderful how all Good is Treasured up in Christ Faith runs to a Promise it runs especially to Grace and to a Revelation of the Infinite Riches of Grace And all is in Jesus Christ Christ in you the hope of Glory I come now to go on In the Third place As Faith is a mighty active Power of Holiness and of New Obedience so it s whole Rest and Trust is in Jesus Christ As the Trust of Faith in whom ye trusted as the Apostle speaks the Trust of Faith in regard of Eternal Life and Salvation so the Activity of Faith flows from the Mediator And as all the Promises or Hopes that we can have of God are in Christ as I shew'd you they come under Christ now as the Redeemer As I instanced to you in that expression That you would saith the Apostle give up your selves unto him as a Faithful Creator That is as a Redeemer So it is in this point All the Holiness of a Christian
say Faith indeed is of great Holiness and of great operation but it takes hold of Christ onely by way of Receipt and dependence and so we are alone Justified by it I would fain clear one particular more that you may be very absolute in this great point wherein the Excellency of Faith lyes And that is You may say still why Faith is a great thing indeed And so far as it is ours we may look upon it as a great thing if it can take hold of God and of Christ and of the Righteousness of God and of Jesus Christ What is like it in the whole world if it can do this Therefore though I acknowledge all that Scripture hath spoken by way of Commendation of Faith yet I must humble Faith as I may so express it before you as to this very particular For Faith could no more take God or Christ or the Righteousness of God or of Christ than any of us can span the whole Heaven or take the whole Heaven into our hands It is nothing but onely this wherein Faith excels that God and Christ give themselves with infinite Riches of Grace And Christ gives himself he gives himself to Faith This is that that I positively affirm that Faith has no more Power to take hold of God and Christ than as I said before any one of us can take that great Globe of the Sun into our hands But God gives himself and Jesus Christ gives himself by a free and absolute will And when he gives himself he draws out by himself such a turn of the Soul back unto himself that it causes the Soul by Faith to twist about him He draws out himself so to it that by Faith it Returns with such a twist of the heart to himself that it never uncloses any more that is the great and mighty Power of God and Christ and of the Righteousness of Christ Christ becoming wisdom and Righteousness to the Soul draws out this Twisting of the Soul about him which the Scripture calls Faith This laying hold upon him this as the Scripture calls it is Leaning upon him and Rolling of our selves upon him Let no man despise these Expressions seeing the Spirit of God has sanctified them It is Just as the Sun it calls out the Eye and the motions of the Eye to Twist about it and to unite with it by seeing In the very same manner when Christ gives himself then he calls out this Faith which is a Twist and a hand of the Soul upon Christ and about him Now if Christ did not give himself and if God did not give himself it were utterly impossible that Faith should lay hold Nay though there is this Proposition of the Gospel every where held out whoever believes in him shall not perish but have Eternal life Alas Men do no more stir to this Proposition than a stone flyes up to the Sun because the Sun shines upon it with its Beams So I say you may see plainly that Men don't stir to Christ but when God draws near and gives Christ and Christ draws near and gives himself then it is that the Soul is drawn out to Christ again and feels the coming of Christ and the approach of Christ to it and then turns it self towards him and then it catches about him and then it begins to say My Lord and my God as Thomas did when he put his finger into the wounds that had been made in Christ upon the Cross This I say we should seriously consider and to know this if any of our Souls have been drawn to Christ O know That they had for ever layn still and sunk as a stone if Christ had not come and given himself to the Soul I might give you many expressions to Explain this To us a Child is given as Isaiah speaks Chap. 9. 6. to whoever it is as he was given to the world of Elect in General so he is given in particular to every soul Who loved me and gave himself for me And so as John speaks concerning love We love him because he first loved us So we apprehend him because he first apprehended us As I have shewn you out of Phil. 3. 12. If that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus A man would never apprehend Christ if he were not first apprehended by him So saith the Church in the Song of Solomon My Beloved is mine and I am his First he is mine and then I am his We should never come to be Christ's if Christ did not please to come and to be our Husband This certainly is the true freeness of the Grace of God And if you should say what necessity is there that Christ should thus draw out Faith What need of Faith at all I 'll give you but a threefold Account why there must be this Faith notwithstanding it does no more and though it is no more in the great point of Righteousness and Justification yet still it is most necessary it should be upon a four fold account The First Account is 1st Faith is necessary as it is that Joyning uniting act of the Soul by way of Return to Christ giving himself to it receiving him and possessing it self of Christ and of his Righteousness For as in our Law though the foundation of the Title lye elsewhere yet the Consummating of the Right is by Livery and Seisin as they speak and though the Espousal of a mean person to a Prince is by his free Love yet the Consummation of the marriage is by her consent and acceptance Consummate so though Christ and his Righteousness are free gift yet Faith is necessary for our acceptance and till that be Christ is not ours in Full sense of the Gospel It is true Faith is chosen and singled out as that which as it turns to Christ and his Righteousness most Diaphanously and most clearly as through a thinnest Transparency shews the Righteousness of Christ flowing from himself above what Love Repentance or any other graces or gracious actions can do as being onely as I have said Dependence Receiving Trusting yet this Faith as taking Christ and uniting to him is more then manifestation it is Consummative of our Title Christ ours and we his Christ is wisdom to us in this wise Grace of Faith and thus as in a Consummate Title we are said to be Justifyed by Faith Faith is imputed to Righteousness but Christ our wisdom is also our Righteousness in highest Gospel truth The second account is 2dly Else it would not be for the happiness and good of that Soul that hath Christ It cannot be that Christ should be a Saviour and that the Soul should not know it Therefore I say it is necessary it should be throughout the Soul made known by Faith I confess there is a time and a long time even from Creation till the Soul is called home to Christ that it does not know it till the time of bringing home to
shall shew you in every respect how the Father the VVord and the Spirit and the VVater and the Blood do VVitness First therefore concerning the full Assurance of understanding Concerning Jesus Christ in the first place And then concerning all the Truths of the Gospel in the second place And I desire you to remember a distinction I gave you the last day I told you there are immanent Acts of Faith as they say those that remain and stay within that 's the meaning of the Word There are Acts then and Motions of Faith when Faith stays within in that great point of taking Christ And then There are Truths of the Gospel that are Ad Extra as they say or without that do not immediately concern that great point of the Redemption of Christ but flow from it No I 'll make this plain to you by setting two points of Scripture before you of which Faith has an assurance But one is like Faith staying at home and within it self and within Christ in the great point of Redemption and Justification As Now Here 's this great Truth That Jesus Christ came into the World to save the chief of Sinners Sinners of whom every one may say I am chief Now when Faith Acts upon this Truth Jesus Christ came to save sinners of whom I am chief And so That he shed his Blood for sinners and gave himself a Sacrifice and an Attonement All these are Truths properly within Faith and Christ And when the Soul is upon them it is at home with it self And Faith is also at home with Christ and with the Soul in them But now here 's another great Truth That whoever it is that does not Cut off his Right Hand or Pull out his Right Eye and cut off his Right Foot he shall be cast into Hell where their VVorm dies not and their Fire is not quenched Now this is a great Truth of Christ And Faith hath assurance of this Truth But yet when it acts upon this Truth Pray observe it does not stay within properly with Christ and within it self in the point of Believing But it goes out to a Truth that lyes without as to the great point of Justification So that if you say wherein is Faith Justifying Faith in Relation to Truth I desire that I may be understood I say when it is ask'd wherein is Faith Justifying Faith as to the point of Truth It is not in believing that whosoever doth not cut off his Right hand or pluck out his right Eye shall be cast into Darkness It is true this always is together with Justifying Faith But it is not that wherein Faith properly Justifies But all the Truths concerning the Blood and Righteousness of Christ they are Truths that Faith acts upon when it is in the great point of Justification as it is acted by Christ and his Spirit Now this being not many times well Considered It makes a great Confusion in the point of Justifying Faith For though it is true It is said and I desire it may be carefully remembred that no one may any way take offence or mention what I say to give offence I say that that Truth that a man that does not cut off his hand or pluck out his Right Eye which means any Lust shall be cast into Hell is never separated from true Justifying Faith But I say again that Faith acting upon that Truth does not Justify But acting upon the great Truth wherein Jesus Christ is held forth as a sacrifice a propitiation a Mediator an Intercessor and Redeemer But yet this is certainly true that the Father Son and Spirit give a mighty power to these great Truths and to every Truth that is delivered in the Gospel but especially with this great Principal Truth that Jesus is the Son of God and hath layd down his life for sinners For you see very plainly in this place that I have quoted to you Pray Consider it who is he that overcometh the world but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God Faith is therefore in its Immanent action when it is upon this point that Jesus is the Son of God and gave himself for Sinners This is the Immanent Truth that Faith fixes upon But then when it comes to that Truth that without Holiness no man shall see the Lord that can never be separated from this Truth that Jesus is the Son of God when Faith acts upon that Truth or any like it Without Holiness no man shall see the Lord It does not act like Justifying Faith strictly taken in that point of believing Because Justification flows onely from the Righteousness from the Blood from the Obedience from the Redemption of Jesus Christ And therefore to Find a mighty power To find the Soul Impregnated and fill'd out in all the Truths that concern Jesus Christ and in all the other great Truths of the Gospel that Christ hath spoken Here 's the strength and the assurance of Faith And it flows from God in and through Christ For Jesus Christ is the great and Principal Actor in the Soul 's Receiving all Truth I say the great and the principal Actor As you may find the stability of Faith the great Ballance and Poize of Faith that keeps it steady and even Heb. 13. 8. Jesus Christ the same yesterday and to day for ever Be not carryed about with diverse and strange Doctrines Jesus Christ the same yesterday and to day for ever It is he that is the Alpha and Omega As he saith himself The Truth the way the Truth and the Life He is the Truth And the Son of the Father in Truth And Truth came by Jesus Christ But I would a little further clear to you this distinction of the Immanent acts of Faith and shew you whence I take the word You know in that great mystery of the Father Son and Spirit Divines when they treat of it they say that those actions between the Father and the Son and the Spirit themselves and no Created Bing comes between they call them Immanent actions of the Father the Word and the Spirit As the Father begat and knoweth the Son so the Son knoweth the Father and that he is begotten of him The holy Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son And the holy Spirit knows and Glorifieth in every thing the Father and the Son as proceeding from them Now while they are acting within in the Divine Being the Father the Son and Spirit one with another Those are called Immanent acts But when they go outward either to Angels or men or any of the Creatures then they are called extra-acts Or ad extra or Transient acts because they go out from the Divine being to the Creature I make use of it to explain the Immanent acts of Faith The Immanent acts of Faith are upon Christ's Righteousness and Blood and not upon the Points of Repentance or obedience or Love or self Resignation to Christ But wholly and solely in
that point of Pardon of sin Peace of Conscience and deliverance from wrath to come But as I said before Take any of the great Truths of Scripture and they are never separated from that Justifying Faith All the actions of Creation and Government of Providence are never separated from the Divine Being the Father Word and Spirit Creation and Providence you know are attributed to them all And I am perswaded that this may much help your thoughts Because men discourse promiscuously As if we were as well Justified by love to Christ and by mortifying a Lust as by taking hold of the sacrifice and Ransom of Jesus Christ and as if one Truth were as essential to Justifying Faith as another Now I acknowledge they are never separated To take off all Scandal and offence from men And yet I say there 's an Immanence in the act of Faith when it is acting upon Jesus Christ I come now to the Second Point that I would be something more large in And that is concerning full assurance of Faith in point of Conscience or the peace of Conscience and the Pardon of Sin and the assurance that God is ours Now if I could here make out to you how that Assurance comes into the Soul and how it is born up by Christ and by the Father and by the Spirit I should think it were to great Edification I say if I were in any measure able to make it out according to the Excellency of the thing I shall therefore go as far as the Lord shall please to assist by his Spirit in it Therefore the first thing that I shall say to you by which a man comes to have an Assurance of the Pardon and Forgiveness of his Sins I shall speak it in the very Scripture Language It is First of all By an immediate Voice of the Blood I say by an immediate Voice of the Blood And then I shall shew you it is by the Voice of the VVater from Christ And then In the Third piace By the Spirit And then In the Fourth place that the Father from Heaven comes and Ratifies and Assures this Testimony of the Son and of the Spirit in the Blood and in the VVater First I say it proceeds immediately For I would speak of the things in the Order of Nature from the Blood For nothing doth so immediately speak Peace to a Sinner as the Blood of Jesus Christ the Sufferings of Christ And therefore so many things are spoken of Christ of his Sacrifice and of his Death and of his Sufferings I may give you many places of Scripture that put most upon the Blood of his Sacrifice as to our Sense and Apprehension than upon any thing I say upon the Blood of Christ How much more shall the Blood Offered by the Eternal Spirit you know Heb. 9 And the blood of Sprinkling that speaketh better things than that of Abel c. 12. And Heb. 10 24. Having boldness by the blood of Jesus to enter into the Holiest It is put upon the blood the blood of the Everlasting Covenant Heb. 13. The blood of Christ cleanseth from all unrighteousness 1 John 1. VVho loved us and washed in his blood Rev. 1. and Rev. c. 7. They have washed their robes white in the blood of the Lamb And so the Apostle speaks proportionably in this 1 John 5. There are Three that bear witness in Heaven the Father the VVord and the Spirit And then there is the Spirit the VVater and the Blood The Blood it hath an immediate Voice And this is he saith the Apostle that came by water and by blood not by water only Pray observe that it puts an Emphasis upon the Blood Not by VVater only but by VVater and Blood So I say whenever our Souls come indeed to have the Assurance of the Pardon of Sin and of Peace with God it is by Blood The Blood of Jesus which is carried into the Holy Place not made with hands We are Purged by the Blood Offered by the Eternal Spirit We have Confidence by the Blood of Jesus O! therefore when Christ is pleased to send out the mighty Effluxes the Efluviums of his blood when he sends them out and draws and twists and brings back the Conscience and the Heart upon the Blood of Christ when he is pleased to do thus Those strong Acts upon the blood of Christ they do as it were Recoil and come back upon the Soul and upon the Conscience with the assurance of the pardon of sin in that blood Therefore blessed is he that hears the voice of the blood of Christ that hears in his own Conscience the blood of sprinkling speaking better things than that of Abel And this is the first thing Because I treat as briefly as I can of it I come to the second thing and that is To give you an account of the forgiveness of sins comeing in by the Water Now I confess I shall give somewhat another Interpretation than I have known given concerning Water For I look upon the water not as some would very Chilly and Coldly understand it of Baptism except that spiritual Baptism of the Gospel which I always desire to magnify or that it is meerly Sanctification which the Generality of Interpreters give it to be But by water I understand the very obedience and Righteousness of Christ separated from his sufferings That great obedience which was like a River Pure as Christal that ran through the whole obedience of Jesus Christ from the very beginning to the end And the Reason why I take it so and not to be sanctification is this because saith the Apostle in this 5 Chapter of the 1st Epistle of John This is he that came by water and by blood Not by water onely but by water and blood He came himself by water and by blood He himself came This He take notice of him He came by water and he came by blood He came by the water of a pure and perfect Righteousness in which there was nothing at all of Imperfection or soil or the least of blemish He came by this water And so you find the obedience of Christ is often mentioned in Scripture I shall give you that place for all Rom. 5. v. 18. Saith the Apostle there By the obedience He speaks often of the obedience of Christ But by the obedience of one shall many be made Righteous ver 19 And by the Righteousness of one The offence of one and the Righteousness of one The Disobedience of one and the obedience of one So Obedience and Righteousness they are of one and the same import And the comeing by water I say is comeing by the perfect obedience Righteousness of the whole nature and action and performance of Jesus Christ Now therefore when the Soul is saluted as I may so express it by Christ with this obedience in his hand when he comes saith Christ to the Soul I have obeyed I have fulfilled all Righteousness I have done always the
with them That 's the second Sense It manifests and demonstrates it self before Men to be Faith It is that that justifies before a Man 's own Conscience concerning the truth of Faith and before Men concerning that real Operation of God upon faith in the Soul Now to this the Apostle seems to speak very plainly in the 18. verse Yea a man may say Thou hast faith and I have works shew me thy faith without thy works and I will shew thee my faith by my works You know this plainly speaks that faith justifies it self before Men to be true faith when it shews it self in Operations suitable to the Nature and to the Excellency of faith But if a Man have no works if a Man says I believe in Christ and be a Swearer a Drunkard an impure Person every way unrighteous and unsuitable to the Commands of God how can such a Man shew his faith There must be an agreeableness and suitabless of Conversation and Action And seest thou how faith wrought It was visible to Men. And then The third and last Sense is That faith is daily perfecting it self in holy Action till it comes to that Perfection as I have spoken before and several times upon the 3 d. of Philippians till it comes to the Perfection of the Resurrection of the dead And so it fufills the Scripture as the Apostle speaks That is That whereas it was said before of Abraham He believed God and it was imputed to him for Righteousness long before he offer'd Isaac There was not a staying of his Justification till he had offered Isaac but he was justified before he offered Isaac But yet faith perfects it self and fulfils the Scripture daily going on from Grace to Grace from Strength to Strength from Degree to Degree till it appears before God perfect And so the Apostle saith By works was faith made perfect And this is suitable to the 2 Thes 1. 11. that I named several times That God would fulfil all the pleasure of his goodness and the work of faith with power That the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ may be glorified in you and ye in him Here you see it is very plain That the fulfilling of the good Pleasure of the Grace of God it demonstrates the Truth of Faith and glorifies the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ in Believers and Believers in him according to the Grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ Methinks this very Expression it should silence all the Enemies of the Free Grace of God and of Justification by Free Grace For here is as highly spoken of the working of Faith as all the Understanding of Man can possibly reach to either to conceive or to express What can be greater than the Glorifying the Name of the Lord Jesus in Believers and Believers being Glorified in him And yet all this thrown off quite from any thing of Man or Redundancy by way of Glory upon Man It is said According to the Grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ I shall now close these Things that I have spoken thus narrowly to you I hope God will enlarge them in your Hearts in these three brief Applications and so conclude The first is this That you would consider the infinite Wisdom of Scripture Indeed there is nothing so admirable as these two Things in Scripture to cut off all occasion to turn the Grace of God into Lasciviousness and yet to set out the Grace of God at its full Height and Excellency O do but take these Two Things along which can never divide nor deceive 1. All is Grace And yet 2. Grace is mighty in its Operation And indeed though we have reason to lie low because Grace as in us seems so short and narrow in its Operation Yet these are two Things that can never be disjoined They are one within another It is the Grace of God that brings forth the Holiness and keeps it in Union to Christ even throughout the whole Course of a Christians Life and even indeed throughout Eternity it self Grace keeps us in the way of Holiness and new Obedience O therefore let us not turn the Grace of God into Wantonness And yet let us be continually admiring and adoring free Grace Let us be great Professors of free Grace but Professors of it in the Holiness and Purity of it And then In the second place it teaches us still never to forsake that Fundamental Point of all our Interest of all our Hope of all the Holiness that ever we had or can have If we have any at all we have it from Jesus Christ He is the Alpha and the Omega He is the Author and Finisher He is the Beginning and End He is the First and Last All in All. And therefore whenever we desire to be Holy O go to Christ the Redeemer and Finisher of Holiness Whenever we complain of Corruption go to him that is able to Redeem from all Iniquity Whenever we are like to be drawn to vain Tradition go out to the Precious Blood of Jesus Christ who alone can set us free from the Power of it Lastly I beseech you expect that there will indeed be a greater State of Holiness when that Kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ shall come into Succession And don't think it a long time because you see no more Holiness yet I would only desire you to consider one place of Scripture and with that I will conclude On what a sudden God will do this great Thing The 2 Cor. 10 4 5 7. For the Weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty through God to pulling down of strong holds casting down Imaginations and every high thing that exalteth it self against the knowledge of God and bringing into Captivity every thought to the Obedience of Christ And having in a readiness to revenge all Disobedience when your Obedience is fulfilled Herein the Gospel in the Apostles Days for a little time gave a Spetimen and appearance of it self Just like some of the great Conquerors that we read of in the World either Alexander or Julius Caesar or Soliman among the Turks They pass'd through the World as it were and all lay at their feet They brought every thing down As the Scripture speaks they heap'd dust and took every City and derided every strong Hold Hab. 1. 10. As now the way of Bombing you know Men go suddenly through their Undertaking In the same manner and much more shall the Gospel when once it comes to play its Artillery as I may so speak through the World it will open its Magazeen and carry every thing in the World before it though they are never so strong and bring every thought and all into Captivity And it hath in a readiness to revenge all Disobedience If there be any thing that yields not it hath a mighty power to Revenge to bring every thing under And it only stays for this Till the Obedience of Saints be fulfilled Some may say If we were but more Righteous God will make us more Righteous when this time of the Grace of his Gospel shall begin he will then fulfil in our Obedience FINIS
of Holy Life and Holy Action And a Man believes no more than he is truly and really transformed by into the thing that he Believes I shall shew you That Jesus Christ is that great principle of Holy Life and of Heavenly Life that doth impower the Souls of his People according to the degree of the present State and shall bring them to that spotless to that blemishless state in the Glory of his Appearing I begin with the First thing and that is to shew you that Jesus Christ is that great Revelation that Faith hath Primarily Principally Originally and Supremely to close with and to give up it self unto You shall find in the 3d of John that this is a Notion of Faith and a Notion of Faith proper to the great Revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ saith John 1 John 5. 10. He that believeth in the Son of God hath the Witâ—… in himself He that believeth not God hath made him a Liar because he believeth not the Record that God gave of his Son The great Record that God hath given it is of his Son that he hath given his Son as the Great Mediator as the Great Redeemer as the Great Sacrifice as the Great Righteousness of the World Aâ—d therefore if any Man does not believe this he has made God a liar God hath done all in the Gospel that can be done to give us an Assurance of it So it is the great Revelation And so when our Lord saith They have surely known and believed that thou didst send me It is the very same thing that Jesus Christ is the great Saviour and Redeemer of the World For what 's the meaning of God's sending Christ but a sending him as a Saâ—…or As you may find plainly John 3. 17. For God sent not his Son into the World to condemn the World but that the World through him might be saved And Him hath God the Father Sealed John 6. So that from all this it is most Evident that it is the great Revelation And tho this be a great Truth yet still the Gospel raiseth it higher And I beseech you that you would seriously consider when a Man Believes in Jesus Christ he does not only believe a written Word I desire again your serious Attention to it He does not only believe a written Word he does not only Believe a great Testimony from God or a sound of words concerning it but Jesus Christ the word himself comes to him Indeed it was heretofore in a manifestation in the Flesh But the very same thing is now manifested by the Spirit of Jesus Christ And by his coming in Spirit he comes as that Word of the Father as the Eternal Word of the Father And he shews himself to the Soul he shews himself in Spirit to the Soul so that the Soul Believes the Word of God because Christ the word of God shews himself to him And we never have the Truth of Faith till we have this very coming of the Eternal Word to us As you see 1 John 1. 1. how the Apostle speaks concerning this word That which was from the Beginning which we have heard which we have seen with our Eyes which we have looked upon and our hands have handled of the word of Life For the Life was manifested and we have seen it and bear Witness c. That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you Now pray Why does the Apostle declare this Not that you should rest in a written word That 's the thing I would desire you to observe Not that you should rest in a sound of Words but that ye also may have fellowship with us ver 3. and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ Not that we should expect any Visional Representations of these things That 's not the Intention of it But that we should look for a real Manifestation of the Father and the Son or of the Father by the Son and through the Son And also of the Son by the Father So that there is certainly a Sight of Christ I say a sight of the Son in Faith And if we did but thus consider the excellency of Faith indeed I cannot but apprehend there could be no difference between Christians and Christians in these points concerning Faith and so concerning Justification if we had but true and right apprehensions of Faith It is true indeed there 's a great deal of false Faith of counterfeit Faith that has never seen Christ But all true Faith it hath seen Christ it hath come up to the very word of Jesus Christ That is to Jesus Christ the Word So John 6. 40. there must be a sight of the Son before there can be a believing in him And this is the the will of him that sent me that every one which seeth the Son and believeth on him may have everlasting Life And therefore as I told you he is called the Word of God that is the Essential and Eternal Word of God manifested in Flesh manifested in Human Nature And There is no sight of Christ without his coming to us without our receiving of him by the Teaching of thâ— Father and by the manifestation of himself And so saith the Apostle Paul when it pleased God to Reveal his Son in me You see here is not only words either Spoken or Written but there is the very Son himself Revealed in us I do acknowledg all this is in a Spiritual Sense not only in an Intellectual Sense Tho it is true That shall be Subservient and as it were the Conveyance and Vehicle of this sight But it is a Spiritual Sight wrought by the Power of God and by the Spirit of God And O therefore This is the great Point I would press upon you And indeed I have taken notice that the most Spiritual Writers and Preachers of Faith They have said That Faith is upon the Person of the Son the Person of the Eternal Word in our Nature the Lord Jesus Christ It does not deal first of all with his Benefits and Salvation that comes by him I mean principally I don't say but God may draw a Soul first by the consideration of his Benefits But the principal Touch of Faith it is upon the Son of God I might give you innumerable Scriptures that verify this great Truth And I desire that we may take notice of it In that forenam'd place John 17. v. 8. Christ saith this is the point They have believed that all things whatsoever thou hast given me are of thee and that I came forth from thee and that thou didst send me All this Christ says you may see immediately concerns the Person of our Lord Jesus Christ So in the Epistle to the Galatians a place that is worthy our notice and that I shall have occasion of continual recourse to Gal. 2. 20 21. I am Crucified with Christ nevertheless I live yet not I but Christ liveth in me I urge it
here only to this purpose to shew you that Faith it immediately goes out to the Person of Christ even in the point of Revelation This is That it principally goes on and touches there closest and fastest upon the very person of Christ O therefore that our Souls now might find something of this going out to the person of Christ A Tender of the Person of Christ to us that Jesus Christ the Word would come and shew himself to us That in a Spiritual sense we might see him with our Eyes and handle him with our hands we might have all assurance of a real Union of a real Touch betwixt Christ and our Souls And then I would desire you to take notice also of this that when this great Revelation of Jesus Christ hath come in and has a Reception in the Soul then all the Truths that flow in along with him they come in also into the Soul and the Soul receives according to all the Knowledg of God and Jesus Christ it receives all Truth when this great Revelation hath first of all entred and taken place in it All the Truths of God they come in by Jesus Christ as he is said to be The Truth and the Son of the Father in Truth It is a very great consideration this no Truth is indeed truly taken in till Christ is taken in If you would but apprehend this I confess there are many Learned and Wise and Great Men in Discourse they insist very much upon the Proof by Natural Demonstration Argument and Reason of the Being of a God I am very far from Detracting or Derogating from what they do For it is very worthy in its own kind and place But this I do assure you that there 's no man in the whole Universe that hath taken in truly the Knowledg of the One God But he hath taken it in and through Christ and by Christ Or else he hath it not savingly if he hath it not in and through Christ So there are great Arguments to Distinguish between Good and Evil the Law and Natural Conscience go far in it But I assure you no Man has taken in any of the Principles of Natural Conscience in a saving way till he hath taken in Jesus Christ All Truth it comes in by Jesus Christ John 1. 17. The Evangelist there hath it expresly The Law came by Moses saith he There was a measure of Light given by the Law But saith he Grace and Truth came by Jesus Christ And I 'll give you one great Scripture that will make this very plain Heb. 11. 6. Saith the Apostle there Without Faith it is impossible to please him For he that cometh to God must believe that he is A great many of the Rationalists that are in this very Age at this very time carry it as if they would not thank the Gospel as I may so express it they are ready to say they would not thank the Revelation of it for the Proof that there is a God that is One God But as it may be true in their sense too that is It is Demonstrable by the Light of Nature and by Reason and by Argument I acknowledg with all my Heart it is so And yet notwithstanding I say no man that savingly believes that there is a God But he that doth it by that Faith that hath taken in the Lord Jesus Christ And therefore saith the Apostle If any Man hath not the Son he hath not the Father If he doth not come to the Knowledg of the Father by the Son he hath not the true and the right Knowledg the true Evangelical Spiritual saving Knowledg so much as of a God So concerning Eternal Happiness and Misery there may be great Light of Truth offered from Natural Argument We never come to see and know Truths indeed till we come to know them by the Eternal Word that word of God coming in to us who is the Truth Therefore I beseech you That you would retain these things in your Minds and Judgments and that you might be able when you hear Disputes concerning Faith and concerning Justification by Faith that you would remember that this is the true excellency of Faith To touch the Person of the Son of God to come to Him to see Him to be united to Him as the Great Truth It is true all the Truths that we have in the Word of God they are All of great Excellency and of great necessity But they all Centre in Christ the Truth who 〈◊〉 the Truth They Centre in him who is the Truth they are all but Lines flowing from him and Return to him I know every one will easily grant that the Knowledg of the Angels is much greater than the Knowledg of any Man or of all men put together Now you shall find that the Angels notwithstanding the great Orb of Light that they make or are notwithstanding they are great Intelligences yet notwithstanding the Knowledg of Christ is the Supreme Knowledg that they have saith the Apostle To the intent that now unto the Principalities and Powers in Heavenly places might be known by the Church the manifold Wisdom of God according to the eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord Eph. 3. 10 11. And therefore indeed tho Angels and Men were Created with very large measures of knowledg I make no doubt and excellency of an Intellectual Being yet that God hath so ordred things that the great Knowledg the great Manifestation of his manifold Wisdom should come in by Jesus Christ that hath given occasion to such wonderful Explication of that Infinite Essential Truth That God is I say it hath given the occasion That indeed I may say there had never been such a thing as Faith that is an higher understanding than Natural Understanding is a greater Comprehension of Truth than all Natural Comprehension of Truth is O Infinite Treasures of Truth that will be found to have flown from the bringing in of Jesus Christ the great Mediator This is that which hath broken up the great Deep of Truth I say the great Deep of Truth is broken up by the Manifestation of Christ The great Cataracts as they call them of Heaven are opened by this very Wisdom The great flowings in and Cataracts of Truth have flown by the Manifestation of Christ Indeed I am not able to conceive the greatness of this Truth or to speak to you How greatly Rich will Heaven and Saints and Angels be made by knowing this great Truth of the Manifestation of Christ And therefore it is not Truth Rivetted into their Natural Understandings But it is properly called Faith tho indeed all Truth will be Demonstrated so really in the Future State that it will make that kind of Faith to cease that is an Evidence of things not seen tho it may still properly be called Faith in regard of that Infinite Knowledg Flowing from God through Influence by and in Jesus Christ So I have spoken of
union and no other way As I hope by the assistance of God and his Goodness giving leave evidently to make out by Scripture I shall therefore pitch upon that Heb. 6. to shew you that Faith flyes with all the speed it can for Righteousness saith the Apostle who have fled for Refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us verse 18. who have fled All the speed they can possibly make is little enough too little as it were to lay hold upon that Hope that is set before us Jesus Christ so saith the Apostle I desire to be found in him The Expression evidently alludes to that Expression in Scripture when the Man slayer fled from the Revenger when the Pursuer of Blood and the Minister of Vengeance was at his Heels he made all the way he could to fly to the City of Refuge So I say the Soul by Faith makes all the way it can with all the speed it can to flee for Refuge to the Hope set before it in Jesus Christ Now I would argue another thing to you as I did in the former as I told you All Truth comes in by the Knowledge of Christ the Great Truth All the Report of Truth comes in by Jesus Christ the supream Truth So all Trust and Hope of Good comes in the Great Sacrifice As now suppose a Man be in want or in fear of Danger or in fear of this or that Inconeniency in the present State Why Faith this Saving Faith in Christ having taken him in as the great Redeemer as the great Sacrifice it flies to God through him in every Case As now It was certainly a Fruit of Saving Faith in David when he said to God I flee to thee to hide me from danger when my Heart is overwhelmed Lead me to the Rock that is higher than I. I make no doubt but this was a Fruit of Saving Faith And so when the Servants of God cry to him for necessary Food and Rayment if they have taken Christ it is a Fruit of Saving Faith of that kind When Jehoshaphat cryed out to God when he was likely to have been slain as Ahab was it was Saving Faith in Jehoshaphat that cryed to God why because he had taken in the Redeemer But if we cry to God without the Redeemer it is but howling But when once we have taken hold of Christ it is Saving Faith There 's one Scripture more and then I 'll conclude this with Application to shew when we come to Christ upon a Title when we have first taken Christ as the supreme Good and Saviour and Deliverer 1 Pet. 4. 19. Wherefore let them that suffer according to the Will of God commit their Souls to him in well doing as unto a faithful Creator He does not say a faithful Redeemer but a faithful Oreator Why because Jesus Christ the Redeemer had been taken in We can never trust in God as a faithful Creator till we have first trusted in Jesus Christ the great Redeemer the great Sacrifice of Attonement I come therefore to make the Application of this in these three Particulars in which I will be very brief The first Vse is Oh! I beseech you let us in every thing consider Faith When ever you think of Faith don't look upon it in it self but only in its Relation to the Redeemer Indeed Faith is like the Eye there is a great deal of admirable curious Workmanship in the Eye as the Anatomists of the Eye have made very plain One would stand amazed to behold the admirable Skill of the Creator in the Eye that excellent Machine as I may call it And yet notwithstanding all this Without Light what were the Eye even nothing at all And so Faith hath a great deal of curious Workmanship It is a great Work of God The Work of Faith with Power as the Apostle saith It is the Faith of Gods Power It is the like precious Faith But if you take away Christ from it alas It is nothing at all All its Excellency is in its Union to Christ I speak this that I would not in the least seem to quarrel or to raise a Controversie with any Holy Servants of Jesus Christ Yet I say we are ready to run into such a kind of Notion of Faith as if there was some Excellency in its self and because it obeys as it is very true it does And because it purifies the Heart and Life and lays Arguments and Engagements of Obedience I don't deny any thing of this but desire to speak the same thing But I still affirm that we may not be mistaken in Faith For this is not its Excellency no more than it is the Eyes Excellency that it is curiously made whereas it would be nothing no not so much a beauty if it were not for Light It were all one as if a Man were blind or had no Eye So it is all one if it were not for Christ whether there were such a thing as Faith or no such thing as Faith It were of no value or Account if it were not for him And therefore I beseech you keep all this strictly in your Thoughts Faith is excellent Why because Christ is excellent and it hath to do with him It hath a great many Subordinations of Excellency on this side Christ but its great Excellency is it touches Christ And then In the second Place I beseech you let us always mind this the Person of our Lord Jesus Christ Don't think of his Benefits divided from his Person for God gives you his Son he gives you his Son first and Principally but when he gives you his Son all his Benefits come with him There is Pardon Righteousness Sanctification and Redemption every thing comes in by Jesus Christ He gives you Christ himself first It is He that is made this to us There are so many Scriptures in this Point that I don't know where to stay when I come to consider it As now He that hath the Son hath Life And God gives his Son and all things together with Him And we have not Wisdom Righteousness Sanctification and Redemption as it were apart that God sends them by themselves and we have them And though Christ be to be known to be the Author only of them it is no matter whether we mind him further or not I say this is not the Truth of the thing But ye are of God in Christ Jesus who is made unto us Wisdom and Righteousness c. And you cannot have them except you have Christ first you must have him first and unite first with him But that which I shall pitch upon is Gal. 2. 20. I am crucified with Christ nevertheless I live yet not I but Christ liveth in me and the Life which I now live in the Flesh I live by the Faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me But indeed the first and principal thing that we are to look to in Christ is Redemption
Promise if it be so that Heaven is the Promise For I would ask any Man that gives Reverence to this word of God Do you Believe that Enoch Noah Abraham Isaac and Jacob Moses Samuel David c. Do you think they are now in Heaven And yet saith the Apostle expresly they went away out of this World and left a great Fame and Honour and record of themselves behind them but did not receive the Promise Did they not receive the Promise immediately when their Spirits went out of their Bodies to Heaven Can it be said They Received not the Promise if Heaven were the Promise intended And yet the Apostle saith They received not the Promise God having provided some better thing for us that they without us should not be made perfect Therefore I say That Glorious Kingdom of Jesus Christ That Visible Glory of Saints both in Body and Spirit That they did not receive The New Heaven and the New Earth they did not receive which the Apostle Peter says We look for according to promise they have it not yet tho they have been in Heaven for so many Ages And therefore Faith is on purpose for this Kingdom of Jesus Christ among the things that are to come Among them I say and as a Principal of that World to come whereof we speak I shall therefore add at this time by way of Recollection and so conclude with Application a recollection of all that I have spoken of the great excellency of Faith And I beseech you in the First place Let this be a general Position concerning Faith That Faith is proper to that New Creation from first to last that comes in by Jesus Christ It is as really a New Heaven if I may so represent it to you a New Heaven of Grace As that New Heaven the Apostle Peter and John speak of shall be a New Heaven in comparison of that we have now The Heaven we have now declares the Glory of God It is one of the wonderful Works of God The Sun Moon and Stars How wonderful are they And yet for all this there shall be a New Heaven God does not like the Heaven that is now as sufficient to declare his Glory For if there had been no fault found with the Heaven and Earth that are now what place had there been for a New Heaven As the Apostle Argues in the Case of the Covenant I beseech you consider it is the Apostles own Argument in another case Heb. 8. 7. For if that first Covenant had been faultless then should no place been sought for the Second And in that he saith A New Covenant He hath made the first Old Now that which decayeth and waxeth old is ready to vanish away I would but apply it to the New Heaven and New Earth If there had been no fault found with the present Heaven and Earth tho they declare the Glory of God what place had there been for another Heaven and Earth For the Second Heaven and Earth and why are they said to wax Old but that they are to vanish away Surely the Apostles Argument is very Substantial according to the Discourse here But the thing that I intend it for is just as the New Heaven and the New Earth that God will make just such is the Faith that God hath brought in That great Grace of Faith It is as New as the New Heaven and the New Earth It is a way of Salvation a way of Righteousness a way of Holiness a way of Eternally making Happy As new as the New Heaven and the New Earth And therefore it is no wonder that Men boggle at Faith so and that they make such a stir about it and are such Enemies to it That no Discourse that is found in the Gospel will please them or serve their turn It is because God hath Created a New thing It is not of the First Creation but a New thing Grace of a New Erection of a New Extraction O Blessed are they that have it For it is as much above Nature as the New Heaven and the New Earth shall be above the present Heaven and the present Earth It is prepared and fitted on purpose by the Mediator To give it you in another Expression And I beseech you rest upon it And that you may have it ready to Discourse when any Assail the Doctrine of Faith that you may have it fitted within your Lips as Solomon saith I say again Just as the Righteousness of the Second Adam exceeds the Righteousness of the First just so does the way of Faith exceed the Integrity and uprightness of Adam in the First Creation wherein he was Created You 'll say How can you make this appear There is a plain Scripture for it I appeal to all the World upon this Scripture against the greatest Enemies of Faith Therefore it is of Faith that it might be by grace to the end that the promise might be sure to all the Seed Rom. 4. 16. As much therefore as Grace excels the Righteousness of Man in his first Creation so much does Faith excel all Natural Power And as the certainty of Grace excels that of our Doing So much does Faith excel the First State in which Man was Created For It is of Faith that it might be by Grace And then that it might be sure It must be of Grace I say therefore I beseech you conceive right of the excellency of Faith by what I have spoken to you out of this very Scripture Rom. 4. 16. And have it in your Mouths as that word of Truth by which you may Answer any that Reproach the Holy Doctrine of Grace and Faith in the Gospel But I would add but briefly of the Excellencies of Faith wherein God hath magnified Faith above any other Grace And yet I shall shew you in the next Discourse if the Lord will give me leave to do it that notwithstanding all this excellency of Faith It cannot in the least be said to Justify by it self but only by that hold it has of Christ and of the Righteousness of Christ But I say at the present First of all here 's the excellency of Faith That Faith hangs only upon God and Christ and that which is Divine and Eternal it will not venture upon any thing that is Created And if you come once to true Faith you hang only upon God and Christ and the Spirit of God A great deal of difference when a man hangs by this and that Title that he thinks is well grounded and is in himself and in the Creature He has nothing then of Faith For Faith hangs wholly upon God and Christ and the Spirit and Grace and what is Divine and Eternal In the Second place Faith it gives all the Glory to God It must needs do so when it hangs all upon him gives Glory to God and Christ and Grace Gives Glory wholly to him as Rom. 4. You know Abraham was strong in Faith and gave glory to God
we find our hand to shake A Paralytick hand a Palsy hand it is that the best of us have And if we depend upon that the hold that we take certainly this Rich Righteousness this Incomparable Rich Pearl will fall out of our hand Do but consider how our hand shakes in all our layings hold on Christ But indeed it is the Jewel it self that will be ours that is pleased to be ours That is Jesus Christ is pleased to be ours and though our hand shakes in the taking of him yet it cannot shake or Palsy as I may so express the love of Christ in giving himself He is constant and Invariable in that Where he loves a Soul he loves him to the End As it is said peculiarly of Christ in that of John when he was about to dye being about to depart out of the world having loved his own which were in the world he loved them to the end Chap. 13. 1. Now if you consider how they behave themselves Pray do but Remember I say how these Own behaved themselves at that time when he was going out of the world They left him they fled from him they forsook him And Peter that pretended highest denyed him most shamefully Now I say if it had depended upon their Faith they had certainly lost Christ But having loved his own which were in the world he loved them unto the end So though our Faith is never so weak never so imperfect yet he that hath said I have given my self for them and loved them He holds them fast to his own Gift and within his own Gift though they would ten thousand times as I may so express it let him go if it depended upon their Faith Now in all these things I humbly desire to call God to witness that I do not speak for expression-sake or to set out a thing with all the advantage I can But really as Scripture gives evidence and as I hope I am perswaded of the truth of the thing in my own heart by the assistance of the Divine spirit Neither to manage a Controversy or any thing of that But that it is the necessity of our Case that it should be thus Or else we are lost and undone though never so much were attributed to Faith Because our Faith is such a Cripple such a Lame hand and foot in taking Christ and coming to him that we should certainly lose him if he did not resolve to make good his own Gift of himself to us And then In the Third Place I argue that it cannot be in Faith it self Because then Christ should dye to bring in something more imperfect than the first Righteousness that was given to man Christ should dye to bring in something more imperfect and yet still it should be our own and we should glory in it even as our first Righteousness For now when God made man he made him perfect as the Scripture expresses he made him in his own image in his own Righteousness knowledge and in true holiness And there was a Perfection there was no blemish as to the Creation of God and so far as it could be in a Creature Why now God in his infinite wisdom in the Abyss and unfathomable depth of his own wisdom and understanding He leaves man to fall And all men as the Apostle argues Rom. 3. They have sinned and fallen short of the Glory of God And what is it that follows from this It therefore follows saith the Apostle that there can be no Glorying before God ver 27. Where is boasting then It is Excluded By what Law Of works No But by the Law of Faith Boasting is Excluded Now I say if works that were perfect were excluded because they would be looked upon as our own merit and Faith is brought in and if that should be brought in as our own and that should Justify us as our own Faith Why then it would be a more imperfect thing than the first Righteousness For take Faith as it is in us it is more imperfect than the first knowledge Righteousness and true Holiness in which God created man and yet it should be our own and boasting should arise from this that we have believed Nay if it were our believing then it were a more imperfect thing I say that is brought in and boasting would not be excluded by this Law of Faith And therefore it is very evident that Faith is not the thing that Justifveth but onely that which Faith receiveth that is the Righteousness of God in Jesus Christ is the onely â—hing that Justifieth And this I desire should be imprinted upon our â—houghts upon our hearts to this great end and purpose that we may always lye low before God and that we may say we will boast in him all the day long Living and Dying and were we but able to be cut off from every thing in our selves and to lay fast hold upon God and Christ and to have our whole in him our whole in God our whole in Christ This is the true life of Faith the true Excellency of Faith to have nothing at all in all in ourselves as I shall speak further to you Therefore I go on to the Fourth Particular And that is to affirm this That it cannot be by Faith as any thing of it self because the Righteousness of the Law that was given man in his Creation was as free a Gift as Faith it self is now If any one should say But herein is a difference The Work of Righteousness in the first Creation and the Habits of it they were our own But Faith is a free gift I say There is no difference in this for Faith is no more a free gift than the Righteousness that Adam had at first was a free gift In confess indeed there was a becomingness that the Creator should make his Work perfect But it was Grace free Grace that gave to Man at first his Being and that gave to Man all the Accomplishments of his Being And therefore there is not so great difference in that But herein is the great difference That now all that we have is in God and by him and from him alone and it is never separated from him I look upon this to be the great difference between Adam in his first Estate and in the Creation of Angels and a sinner now in Christ reconciled to God that we have all in Christ and never out of him whereas before we had all in our selves If any man should say I 'll take the Righteousness of Christ and say Here I 'll take my Portion it is given in and it is out of God and out of Christ it is in me This would presently be a broken Cistern or it would dry up of it self it would fail or let out that precious thing committed to it It would certainly do so and therefore here 's our great security that we are never out of God and Christ as is evident throughout Eternity by
Christ But I say it cannot be throughout so For then men should be saved by Christ and never know that they are saved by Christ Then Christ would be no more the Saviour of his people than he is the Saviour of stones or insensible Rocks We must therefore come to have a feeling and knowing that Jesus Christ is ours Or else we could not receive his salvation How should we be the better within if we did not know Christ An understanding and Intellectual Being must have such a knowledge of Faith to know Christ And therefore as the Apostle speaks Phil. 3. I count all things but loss for the Excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord. I must know him Not that this Contributes any thing to our happiness but onely the feeling and enjoying that happiness That happiness is onely from God But as you know a blind man is never the better in point of Light and sight though the Sun be never so Glorious Every one that seeth the Son and believeth in him We must see him or else we could not know he is ours we could have no Enjoyment of him our Souls would be still like unsensible Rocks and Marbles if there were not this sense by Faith and the knowledge of Christ by believing And therefore it is a very great truth that Faith is a manifestation to us and within us that Christ is ours When our Souls receive the touches of his Love and grace upon us and we come to know and find the sweetness to taste that the Lord is Gracious and to know what a Pearl we have in some measure and that we find Christ is ours and hath given himself for us In the third place there could not else be a manifestatory Glory It is true Christ is glorious as a Saviour But we could not Glorify him if we did not know by Faith that he is such a Saviour This is that that the soul makes its Boast in God by this draws it to Glory in Christ and to give all the Glory it can do to him Because it finds it is saved by him and him alone Now it is very Evident God had no need of Glory from Angels nor from men to manifest his Glory by them But it pleased the wisdom and Grace of God to declare his infinite Being before such Beings as Angels and men fitted with understandings to behold it Why so Christ had no need of our Glorifying of him But yet it is very Evident that he is pleased to be Glorifyed by us and that we Glorify him by acknowledging all our salvation from him And herein is Faith of great use It gives Glory as the Apostle speaks Abraham was strong in Faith giving Glory to God Rom. 4. So Faith gives Glory to the Righteousness and Freeness of the Grace of God in Jesus Christ And then In the Fourth place it is also necessary upon this Account for I am far in all this discourse from that which is truly called Antinomianism or Libertinism I say as Faith looks outward and from Christ into holy Action the knowledge that Faith gives is serviceable in the hand of Christ to all holiness and purification of Life To live to him to live and to walk by Faith to be every way self-Resigning according to that whole 11th Chapter of the Epistle to the Hebrews And thus I have endeavoured with all briefness to set out the Excellent nature of Faith I shall but make one short Application of it And that is to stir up all our hearts in looking up to God according to that great prayer Ephes 3. 14 15 16. verses For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ of whom the whole family in Heaven and Earth is named that he would grant you according to the riches of his Glory to be strengthned with might by his spirit in the inner man To what End That Christ may dwell in your hearts by Faith O look up to this You see how Faith is indeed always called up by Christ when he gives himself to any Soul when he comes to dwell in any Soul Faith must receive him it must embrace him it must depend wholly upon him Now therefore O! That our hearts may be strengthened by his Spirit in the Inner man Alas Our Inner man you may see plainly by all that I have said is very weak and unfaithful And it is confirmed by this expression of the Apostle how the Inner man would never draw in Christ it would never hold him if it came to him Our Inner man is such a false thing to the Great things of our Eternal salvation it is such a feeble weak thing it would never be able to hold Christ But the Spirit strengthens the Inner man That Christ may dwell in our hearts by Faith Else I say it could never if you would give me leave to use such a plain word as that fetch in Christ And if he came it would never hold him Our Inner man must be strengthened by the Spirit of Christ that Christ may dwell in us And then we go forward to be rooted and grounded in the love of Christ and to Comprehend that love of Christ which passeth knowledge that we may be filled with all the fulness of God I hope there is nothing that I have spoken that can Justly offend any man's mind for it is fully to the sense of Scripture and of Scripture Reason and it excludes all manner of looseness and Libertinism of life For Christ is certainly sanctification to every one to whom he is Justification he gives the power of Holiness And Faith is made serviceable As I told you the immanent acts are those whereby it stays within and has Communion with Christ wherein it has nothing but to depend and trust in him But then It works outward as they say of the works of God Ad Extra The Excellent acts of the Father Son and Spirit they go out of themselves So Faith goes out to all the works of obedience And therefore if you would know what Faith is when it works outward I would propose to you to Read that Chapter Heb. 11. How greatly Faith works outward But Christ still is the Author and finisher And when it comes to Christ it has nothing to do but to trust and depend and receive And O! therefore let us all bow our knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ that he would grant us according to the Riches of his Glory to be strengthened with might by his spirit in the Inner man We can never have such a thing as Faith if the Riches of Glory does not come in with it and if the spirit of Christ does not come in with it And indeed where the spirit of Christ comes he comes And so Christ and the spirit Elicits as they call it and draws and Brings the Soul to clasp about him to lay hold upon him He brings the Soul thus near to
him Just as the Load stone fetches in the Iron and calls it to it self And so when Christ comes near to the Soul He draws it near to himself c. THE FAITH BY WHICH We are Iustified c. The Fifth Sermon Rom. 5. 1. Therefore being justified by Faith we have Peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ FRom what I have discours'd in the last Sermon That we are Justified by Faith in such a sense only as that Nothing can be attributed to Faith but only to Christ Two Objections may arise which I would answer before I pass on to the main Point I now intend Object 1. What then is it may it be said in Faith upon which Justification is attributed to Faith rather then to any other Grace Answ I Answer it is like taking possession the having Livery and Seizin in an Estate become ours or like the consent of a mean person in Marriage to a Prince Or indeed to speak yet more plain to our apprehension if any one will give us a Gift before we come to be really invested in that Gift we must take it and have it in possession And we have not a true Title to it else tho it does not depend upon our taking But it is only a Consummative and Perfecting thing that we take it into our possession we accept it from the giver as his gift and we take it into possession as our own And thus I say it is and that we are Justifyed by Faith And it seems to me except any one shall shew me wherein I am in a mistake in thus saying I shall conclude it to be the very sense of the Spirit of God in all those Expressions that we are Justifyed by Faith and live by Faith These things I say shew to us the worthlessness of Faith in it self And yet that it is Consummative and a Consummation of our Title to Christ and to his Righteousness I would only first answer one more seeming great objection against this representation of Faith I have given as if it were only the Imprint of Christ's gift of himself and his Righteousness to the Soul why is it then so often said Repent and believe the Gospel And whoever believes in him c. And we are called on as if it were our act to believe Now to this I Answer that it is true we are so Though I am fully by the grace of God of that Judgment that I have declared to you concerning the nature of Faith And that it is Christ Imprinting his gift the gift of his Righteousness and of himself upon us And yet for all that I think my self bound in all the Discourses of this grace of Faith to move you to perswade you to Exhort you to receive to press you to Believe in Jesus Christ Because this is the Rational way that God doth deal with those as I have said he giveth understanding and Rationality to and because this is that Ordinance of God and for great and wise Reasons both to his Servants whom he draws thus to believe by the obedience 〈◊〉 Faith to the preaching of the Gospel And in regard of those that do not believe That he may Justify and vindicate himself that he hath gone that way which is proper unto the Soul of man He hath drawn with the Cords of a man and with the Bands of his Love in offering Christ to them I now come to what I proposed in the next place To shew you the great assuâ—…nce of Faith the assurance of it from these words of our Lord They have known They have known And they have surely known And yet wheâ— it comes to be Explained what this knowledge is It comes to this it is Believing For Pray observe the course of the words Jo. 17. 7. They have known To know is of great Certainty and of great Assurance And again in the latter part of the verese They have known surely that I came out from thee and they have believed that thou didst send me They have known surely And yet when it comes to the issue they have believed Therefore I shall endeavour I say to make out to you the great Assurance of Faith And I shall propose these four kinds of assurance that Faith hath And there are Scriptures very full for each of them I 'll lay them first before you together The first assurance of Faith is the assurance of understanding So you find Col. 2. 2. That their hearts might be comforted being knit together in love and unto all riches of the full assurance of understanding in the acknowledgment of the mystery of God and of the father and of Christ There 's the first assurance of Faith the assurance of understanding when all the great truths of the Gospel that men are ready to say how do you prove them How will you make them out either by sense or by Reason How shall we know that these things are indeed true Why now when Christ and his Spirit do fix these truths upon Souls they have Riches of the full assurance of understanding The second full assurance of Faith it is in that great Point of Pardon of sin and peace of Conscience by Jesus Christ For if a man comes and says to another As you know men are ready to do you talk at a strange Rate Do you know that your sins are pardoned Do you know that God and Christ have Done this and that you shall be saved from wrath for ever Observe now what the Apostle saith to this in Heb. 10. 22. Let us draw near with a true heart You know it is a phrase in our English such a man when we do speak of him as fearful or a person of no valour we say he is a false-hearted man And that man that is Resolved and valiant and great in Prowess we say he is a man of a true heart of a true valour Now whereas some are apt to think that every man should stand trembling and doubting and say I don't know whether my sins are pardoned or not I dare not be so bold or presumptuous as once to say I am sure that I am freed from wrath to come Why now saith the Apostle Let us draw near with a true heart having our heart sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water So here 's a second great assurance of Faith A Third assurance of Faith is in this O what shall become of me for ever What shall become of me when I dye Where will be my dwelling Where will be my Reception my Receptacle for ever when I go out of the world Can I hope for such a state as the Scripture Describes Heaven to be Can I bear up in those hopes Why then Consider what the Apostle saith Heb. 6. latter part of the 11 ver We desire that every one of you do shew the same diligence to the full assurance of hope unto the end So here you see is another assurance the
full assurance of hope concerning our condition Hope is the proper grace that the Gospel insists upon as to the assurance of Eternity Now there is a fourth In these three places I desire you to Remember that the word is one and the same in the Greek in every one of them It is Plerophoria or full-sail-assurance There is a fourth assurance which is very necessary to be considered and that is the assurance of acting suitable and agreeable to our Faith when a man dares venture when he dares Embarque and engage his action upon this very foundation of Faith Now here for I would deal very clearly and faithfully in these points and not pretend to any thing of proof above what really is written there is the Tantamount of it but there is not the very word Plerophoria or full assurance of Faith But I say very near to that very thing The 2. Thes 1. 10. 11 12. Saith the Apostle speaking with great Earnestness wherefore also we pray always for you that our God would count you worthy of his calling and fulfill all the good pleasure of his grace and the work of Faith with power The good pleasure of his grace to be fulfilled and the work of Faith to be fulfilled Plerose a word that bears part with the same word that Plerophoria For there 's the fulness But then in the full assurance signified by Plerophoria there is the carrying of the sayl which signifies a sayl that hath a full Gale upon it and so carryes on the vessel with a mighty swiftness And here the fulness is signified and the mighty Gale also tho there be not the word that he would fulfil the Work of Faith with Power That the name of our Lord Jesus Christ may be glorified in you and you in him according to the Grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ Now therefore as I have laid before you the four full Assurances of Faith the great Confidences and Assurances of Faith so I would shew you what there is to bear up these great Assurances of Faith For It is not an ordinary Power that can bear up a Man that hath nothing of it at all in himself to bear up I say in this full assurance of understanding That whereas men make such a do to prove the Truth of the Religion and Christianity of the Gospel If a Man comes in by Faith and says I cannot Reason I cannot Dispute I can not Argue I cannot talk like a Learned Person concerning these things But blessed be God I can do this I can Believe So another comes and says O! I could never get such a thing as this the hopes of the Favour and Love of God in Christ and the Pardon of my Sins But when a Man comes under the mighty Power of Grace to be filled with the Assurance of this by mighty Power he is able to say in some measure I believe these things Lord Help my unbelief And sometimes God raises up his Servants to a Triumphant Assurance even at the time of Dying when they are in the greatest Agonies of Body yet they can say I am sure my Redeemer Lives And then for the state beyond the Line beyond this Life Who can tell this Flesh and Blood is ready to say what there is in another World who hath gone and brought certain Accounts and Intelligences what the state of the other World is O! The full Assurance of Faith and Hope it saith I am sure of an Inheritance Incorruptible and that fades not away Tho I cannot tell you what it is Yet I know I shall be like my Lord for I shall see him as he is And then In the last place saith a man what will you venture your selves Will you venture to lose all that you might Enjoy here in this World and to pin your selves to a strict way of Walking Will you venture to deny your selves in your Pleasures in your Enjoyments here You must lay down Estate and Life and leave all the dearness of Relations Will you venture to do such a thing as this O! saith the Soul if I have but the good pleasure of my God and the Work of Faith fulfilled in me with Power I do not care how God calls me out to glorify the Name of God and of Christ Jesus I 'll begin to lay down the Account of all this to you and that I shall do very briefly There is but one place of Scripture to which I refer to shew you what it is that bears up Faith in all these Things And it is that 1 John 5. 4. c. And I desire that you would please to set a Remark Every person that hears and that does seriously desire to wait upon God in this Discourse That you would set a Remark upon that Scripture I name to you in the four Assurances of Faith Whosoever is born of God saith the Apostle overcometh the World And this is the Victory that overcometh the World even our Faith Who is he that overcometh the World but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God O! But may the Soul say Here 's the Difficulty How shall I do to Believe this That Jesus Christ is the Son of God That he came forth from God and that God did send him Why saith the Apostle This is he that came by Water and Blood even Jesus Christ not by VVater but by Water and Blood And it is the Spirit that beareth witness because the Spirit is Truth For there are three that bear Record in Heaven the Father the VVord and the Holy Spirit And these three are one And there are three that bear witness on Earth the Spirit and the VVater and the Blood if you receive the witness of Men the witness of God is greater Now therefore Here is the thing that I shall endeavour to make out to you That Faith in all these Assurances is born up by those three That bear witness in Heaven Principally and Supremely The Father the VVord and the Spirit And by the Three that bear witness on Earth the VVater and the Blood and the Spirit And indeed the Undertaking is very large and very great to speak of the things according to their Weight according to their worth Only I desire you to take notice before I go on That it is very Evident the Apostle is speaking of the Fulfilling the Work of Faith to overcome the VVorld and to give the Soul Victory through Christ For upon this occasion All this comes on What is it overcomes the World but only our Faith And so he goes on to the great Testimony and the great Operations in those that are Christs and by which Faith is born up If we receive the witness of Men the witness of God is greater It is not only greater in Value but in this that it can enter into the Hearts into the Consciences into the Assurances of his Servants I begin therefore with the First of these And I
things pleasing in the sight of my Father there was no guile found in my mouth there was no sin found in me without sin in the midst of all the Temptations that ever could be Congregated upon me Here therefore take this obedience of mine and let it stand against thy disobedience against thy many sins thy many provocations and Transgressions I have come by purest water And so there shall be a fountain opened for sin and for uncleanness Zech. 13. 1. And he leads them to the Fountains of living water in his own Righteousness in his own obedience And having the heart sprinkled from an evil Conscience and the Body washed with pure water That is not of sanctification as we might be very apt to understand it I say not principally I never exclude sanctification but not principally But that purity of the obedience of Christ by which we are made the Righteousness of God through him And when this water speaks in this sense that I have now layd down to you It gives that great assurance against the fear of Hell wrath and Eternal condemnation for we are Righteous by it The second thing in which I will be very brief is the spirit that gives witness You know that is a general allowed Doctrine that the Spirit of God seals up to the day of Redemption It is the Earnest of it in the assurance of the pardon of sin in the witness of absolution that it gives It is the Spirit of Adoption and the Spirit of promise After ye believed ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise which is the earnest of our Inheritance The Spirit it self bears witness with our Spirits that we are the children of God And hence arises the great assurance of Faith O! When a man can find the word of the Spirit within that word in his own Soul that his iniquities are pardoned and his sins forgiven The Spirit is a mighty witness For the Spirit is Truth He is able to spread his witness throughout the whole Soul to seal up the whole Soul to himself But then the last thing that I will speak of is this There comes in that mighty Authoritative and original act of the Father saying I have forgiven thy iniquity I have pardoned thy sin And I look upon it to be conveyed especially in that voice that we have in the three Evangelists Matt. 17. v. 5. There came a voice from Heaven And as the Apostle Peter saith from the Excellent Majesty saying this is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased That is I have accepted him for a Ransom I have accepted his obedience I have freely forgiven iniquity for his sake for he is my self he is my Son he is mine and therefore I do it freely and yet I do it for his sake Because he has given a Recompense a satisfaction to Justice And so the Apostle says Eph. 1. 5. Who hath made us accepted in the beloved And in whom we have redemption in his blood the forgiveness of sins And so it is said by Jesus Christ The Father loveth me And whatsoever ye ask in my Name the Father will do it for you There comes in the great Evidence Testimony and Assurance of the Fathers free acceptance and free absolution through him To close therefore thus much as I have begun to say from these words in brief application This first Application is this That you would seriously consider whether you have Faith or not You may say How shall I know Why consider it as I have now represented it to you It is a mighty Power from Christ it is a mighty power from his Spirit in all the Truths of God Especially those Truths that concern Jesus Christ But just as I opened to you in the begining of this Discourse That Faith it is a new Understanding to us We have as Men you know an understanding endued with Reason And therefore we all say let me hear Reason and then I 'll be perswaded And every Wise Man whenever he speaks he endeavours to speak Reason Therefore God hath given to man such a thing as he calls Reason He hath Endued the Understanding with that great Principle of Reason And if a Man be a Natural you know that is a man in whom Reason cannot act because some of the Organs of the Body are not prepared to let Reason have its course 'T is plain that 's the meaning of men being Naturals It may be you may think they have not so good a Soul but that 's a mistake Only there are not Organs fit for the working of Reason And therefore you know when we look upon such a one we look upon it as a vain thing to Discourse with such a one because we know he has no Reason Or a Mad â—…an it is but loss of time to Discourse Reason to him because there is such a Disturbance and such a kind of jumble in the Brain that Reason cannot have its course So I say if we would consider a Man in Gospel sense he is just like a meer Natural or like a Mad-man or like a very Brute if he has not a Light of Faith For Faith is a New Light and a New Understanding And therefore it is very observable 2 Thes 3. 2. That we may be delivered saith the Apostle from unreasonable and wicked men For all men have not faith If a Man be unreasonable you can have no place in him by the powers of Reason Now saith the Apostle I look upon a man in Gospel-sense just like a Natural or like a Mad-man or like a very Brute if he has not a Light of Faith he is an unreasonable Person when he has not Faith For all men saith he have not Faith And the word that is used in the Origninal is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It is very well known among the Learned to be a word proper to Philosophy They say if a Man has not the Powers of Reason or does not speak according to them he is an absur'd man or an unreasonable Man he is a Man that hath no Topicks Now saith the Apostle he is an unreasonable Man he has no Topicks with him And why because he has no Faith So I say a Man without Faith is a Man without Gospel Topicks You cannot speak to him upon the Topicks of Jesus Christ with any Acceptance because he has not Faith O! Therefore Let us consider how sweet is the Discourse of Christ to us How impressive upon us How do our Souls go out to him and act upon him As you know the mind of man even in worldly things is acting according to Reason and all the Powers of Reason So we should be always Acting upon the Gospel and upon Christ especially by all the Powers of Faith And therefore this I would desire you to mind in the immanent Truths in those Truths wherein Faith is in its immanent Acts principally upon Christ and Righteousness in him and Pardon of sin in his
Blood O! consider how your Souls are Acted to him And so go from thence to All Truth for there 's no separation as I have shewn you The same Omnipotency of God that is in the Father and the Son and the Spirit is that strength that went out and Created this World Acts ad extra or without the Father Son and Spirit Why so the Faith which in its immanent Acts stays upon Christ and his Blood it also passes and goes out upon all the Truths of Holiness and Obedience But then The second thing with which I would conclude is this That you mind these mighty Powers that Act Faith O! mind all the greatness of the Blood and of the Water and the Witness of the Father and the Word and the Spirit It is a great Scripture that I led you to the last day and with which I 'll close 〈◊〉 Discourse which shews you that the mighty Power of Faith is from God and from Christ Ephes 3. 14. For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ of whom the whole Family in Heaven amd Earth is Named That he would grant unto you according to the riches of his Glory to be strength'ned with Might by his Spirit in the inner man that Christ may dwell in your Hearts by Faith Here you have the Father the Word and the Spirit joyned in this great Power of Faith that ye being rooted and grounded in Love that is in the Love of Jesus Christ may be able to comprehend In your Love to him I understand that first groundedness in Love to Christ A Love that constrains us to live to him that dyed for us and then may be able to comprehend with all Saints what is the breadth and length and heigth And to know the love of Christ which passeth Knowledg O! That great Mistery of the Gospel And partâ—cularly that we may know the love of Christ which passeth Knowldg And hereby we may come to be filled with all the fulness of God O! who is able to bring this great work into our Hearts VVhy the Apostle therefore concludes Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think according to the Power that worketh in us It is he that works in us Pray take notice of that Rememember that he works above all that we ask or think And yet it is a Power works in us that we may find and see it and have experience of it Vnto him be Glory saith he in the Church by Jesus Christ throughout all Ages World without end Amen The End of the fifth Sermon THE FAITH BY WHICH We are Iustified c. The Sixth Sermon Rom. 5. 1. Therefore being justified by Faith we have Peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ FRom these words I have pitch'd upon that great point and Doctrine of Justifying Faith Or of that Faith by which we are Justifyed And this Faith it eyes Christ in a Peculiar manner As I prov'd from John 17. 7 8. Far they have known concerning me that all things whatsoever thou hast given me are of thee For I have given unto them the words which thou gavest me and they have received them as so given unto me and have known surely that I came out from thee and they have believed that thou didst send me So here is a Constant Eye of Faith upon Christ As I told you there had never been such a Notion of Faith in Scripture-sense in Gospel sense if it had not been for Christ if he the Mediator had not been given I have spoken of it as it is Faith by which we are justified And the Grounds why it is Faith that justifies here meant which I had not mentioned before to you but rather depended upon other Scriptures for I shall give you now viz. Why this Faith or believing is to be understood of the Faith that justifies Even out of that John 17. 7 8. And the Reason I give for it is because it is the Faith upon which Christ intercedes Pray observe it Christ Intercedes for believers upon the Faith that believers know surely and believe concerning Jesus Christ For in the very next words you may observe it I pray for them saith he I pray not for the world So he intercedes for them They have known and believed that Christ did surely come forth from God and that all things of Christ are Divine infinitely Divine Originally Divine Now therefore upon whatsoever Christ intercedes Pray Consider In the very same line our foundation for Righteousness and acceptance through Christ rests His justifying Righteousness and Redemption and his intercession run all upon one line together That 's a plain point they go together I 'll give you but two places of Scripture because I would not prevent my self in what I have especially to discourse of One is Heb. 9. It is plain by all Scripture that the blood of Christ is that great price of our Redemption And that we are justified freely by the Grace of God God Setting forth Christ as a Propitiaton through Faith in his blood Now you shall find that Christ entred by his blood into Heaven Heb. 9. 12. But by his own blood he entred in once into the holy place having obtained eternal redemption for us Christ intercedes now in Heaven and in the Holy place into that Holy place made without hands He entred to interceed And again ver 24. Christ entred not into the holy places made with hands which are the figures of the true but into heaven it self now to appear in the presence of God for us So that he intercedes plainly upon his blood For where he intercedes he entered by his blood And in 1 John 2. 1. You also have the advocateship and the Propitiation of Christ Joyn'd together My little children these things write I unto you that ye sin not And if any man sin we have an advocate with the Father viz. Jesus Christ the Righteous And he is the Propitiation for our Sins c. Therefore this is the clear ground I bottom this Truth upon Upon what Christ intercedes That is certainly Justifying Now he intercedes upon the Faith of Believers I pray for them I pray not for the World viz. For them who know surely and believe in me I have endeavoured to open Faith also to you so that you may have a right understanding that Faith does not Justify as it is an Act of ours or a Grace in us or any thing in us but only by its receiving the Righteousness of Christ I came to speak of the Assurance of Faith They have known And they have surely known And they have believed that thou didst send me Knowledg or as the Learned speak and the great Men of Reason call it Science is the highest degree of Understanding Now this our Lord attributes to Faith in that John 17. They have known For Christ did not come meanly down when he had said They have
Conversant about taking Christ and yet are not taking him as when a man layes himself low before Christ after his taking Christ and plâ—…es his whole hope and Expectation in the Blood of Christ When Man in Prayer lifts up his Soul to God through the Sacrifice of Jesus Christ here 's an Act of Faith Now these Acts of Faith they are not taking of Christ but they are Conversant about Jesus Christ and his Redemption taken and many such there are The Third kind of the works of Faith is when Faith goes out into the Noble and Heroick Acts that are more extraordinary in Believers like to the Dying of Christ and the way of Justifying Sinners that God has taken by the Death of Christ When they in their kind and in their Degree bear an Image of that extraordinary These I look upon to be the works peculiarly of Faith So in the 2d of James Abraham's Offering Isaac which was an extraordinary Act if you look upon 't in the way of Obedience and such a one as could not be accounted for according to the Rules or Standards of Reason What! should Abraham Receive from God an only Son and then go and Sacrifice him to God and be satisfied and Resigned in doing of it O how was this above the Power beyond the compass of all the Ordinary Actions of Men Any one that should have come to look upon him and see him prepare to do it would think he was so far from being Obedient to God that they would look upon him as a most Frenzick Distracted Man that had lost all Understanding and all the Affections of a Father or as a cruel and wicked person But Faith fetchâ—d its Compass round about the whole Consideration of the thing and Transcended all the ordinary Rules by which Men proceed in their Actions as seeing God giving Christ his only Son in it And so Rahab she was Justified by sending the Spies another way This was a great Act of Faith And yet if it be look'd upon according as I have several times mentioned by the Eye of Reason it was a berraying her own Country Therefore I say extraordinary and unaccountable Acts many times God calls his Servants to by Faith When Men come to suffer and to lose their Estates to lose all the Enjoyments of their Families upon the Account of a Principle of the Gospel either in Truth of Doctrine or in Purity of Worship a Man would be ready to think as of the Martyrs in Queen Mary's Days they did not understand at all what they did when they laid down their Lives upon the denial of that Idolatrous Principle of Jesus Christ being himself Bodily as they understand it in the Sacrament And so all along in Heb. 11. the Heroick Actions of Christians of the Servants of God are instanced in as I have instanced heretofore to you in Moses Men would have thought him one of the foolishest and softest Men in the World when he should refuse to be called the Son of Pharaoh's Daughter v. 28. And that he should esteem the Reproach of Christ's greater riches than the Treasures of Egypt These are extraordinary Acts of Faiâ—h as I have said to you If it had been any of our Cases at this day to have Refused to be called the Son of Pharaoh's Daughter How many Appearances Plausible Appearances of Reason should we have to taken up As that we might be serviceable to the People of God! That we might have done a great deal of good to the Oppressed Afflicted Israel But Moses's Faith it fetch'd a compass as I say far above all the general Rules men go by and saw that it was his Duty to do so and to Esteem the Reproach of Christ greater riches than the Treasures of Egypt Now when God does lift up his Servants and enlarge them beyond the Line of all the Reason that is in the World Therein are Peculiarly the Actions of Faith the great work 's of Faith are found there so there are many Cases in which he works so now in the Souls of his People The fourth and last kind of the Actions of Faith are in walking by those general agreed Rules of Holiness according to the Commandments of God which are given us in the word of God both of the Old and New Testament they are truly to be called the works of Faith also when men walk in the Commandments of God Purifying themselves even as God is pure being Holy in all manner of Conversation These are properly the works and Actions of Faith also So I have represented them to you each in their Degree The first great Act of Faith is to Unite with Christ and he that misses in that misses in all the rest The Second kind is of those Acts that Result from our continual Application to Christ and his Blood And then Thirdly the great and Extraordinary Actions God calls his Servants to when all the world thinks them Mad and Obstinate and the most unreasonable men in the world to do so And yet Faith by that Compass that is given to it it sees clearly through all And then Lastly Those stated Rules of Holiness I need not shew because every one knows the proper works of Faith are guided thereby also and the power flows from Jesus Christ by Faith I come therefore to the Second thing And that is the great interest Jesus Christ hath in all the great works of Faith and that truly Christ is the Author as well as Finisher as the Apostle calls him Heb. 12. 2. after he had set forth all the great Examples Having so great a cloud of Witnesses v. 1. Let us lay aside every weight c. Looking unto Jesus the Author and Finisher of our Faith All the Actions of Faith they are by Jesus Christ the Alpha and the Omega of all the Begining and the End of all And that I would briefly represent to you in these four things The first is this Because he hath Purchased these Actions of Faith for Believers or else they could never have done them if he had not purchased that they should do them VVe indeed are called to all the Actions of faith as our Duty I acknowledg it But it is Jesus Christ that hath Redeemed us to those Holy Actions or else we could never have done them There are abundant Scriptures that prove this plainly to you The 2d Chap. of the Epist to Titus for I can but just name and intimate them to you Tit. 2. 14. saith the Apostle Who gave himself for us that he might Redeem us from all Iniquity and purify unto himself a peculiar People Zealous of good works All the good works of faith there is a Purchase of Christ upon them Or else they could never have been performed by any of his Saints And so in the 1 Pet. 1. 18. Ye are redeemed from a vain Conversation by the Blood of Christ That vain conversation received by Tradition from your Fathers The Tradition of
of God I say should send out so great a Minister of the Gospel as the Apostle James was to lay down a Position so contrary as it seems to be to Paul That a Man is not Justified by Faithly but by Works And to make so great an Appearance against that Truh that great Truth of the Gospel and to give occasion to so many Enemies of the Free Grace of God and to so many Devines and strange kind of Representations of this great Truth by Men in all Ages bearing up themselves upon the Authority of such a place of Scripture as this is Now therefore by way of Answer to it I shall not be long altho the thing requires indeed a great deal of Thought and Consideration And I hope God will enable me to give it in summ tho I cannot speak so large of it The first thing I desire you to consider is That certainly upon this great Point I am very clear in it We are call'd to Consider that if we speak indeed strictly and down-right to the Point a Man is no more Justified by Faith as it is a Grace or an Act or a Work or whatsoever you call it in it self I say no more Justified by it than he is by Works Certainly God would have us fetch about every way and consider how this can be that the Apostle James can seem so to Contradict the Apostle Paul Now The first thing that offers it self to us is That a man is not indeed Justified by Faith upon any Merit Excellency or Worth or Desert that is in Faith it self As I told you if Faith should pretend to it it would be thrown like Lucifer out of Heaven And therefore it is not by Faith in it self And then Secondly I do believe that in the same sense wherein Faith is said to be Justifying in dependence upon the Righteousness of Chriâ—t in the same sense Works may be said to Justify in dependence upon Faith Pray observe what I say I say Faith Justifies in dependence upon Christ And works may be said to Justify in dependence upon Faith For in the same degree wherein Faith stands to Christ for Righteousness in the same degree may works stand to Faith in the matter of Justification So that works depend upon Faith and that depends wholly upon the Righteousness of Christ And if this be seriously considered it will clear to you what else might seem a very great doubt Now therefore to lay down plainly my sense of the Apostles scope of being Justified by Works and not by Faith only There are these three senses in which it may be understood And I shall make out every one to you by plain Expressions of the Apostle James and yet very briefly Leaving it especially to your own Meditation and Thoughts upon it The first is this That wherever a Man is supposed by the Apostle James to be Justified by Works and not by Faith only it is because Faith and Works have a kind of Hypostatical Vnion a Personal Vnion So that to say Faith and VVorks is to say no more than to say whole Faith entire Faith For if Faith have not works it is false Faith it is Counterfeit Faith it is not whole entire true Faith And therefore the Apostle means nothing more by it than only that if you would know what Faith you are Justified by it is Faith that hath a Mighty Power of Operation or VVork And therefore I understand no more by the Apostle James speaking of Works joyned with Faith than the Apostle Paul said The work of Faith with Power Faith hath a mighty Power of working By Faith they did so and so all along Heb 11. This is through Faith a mighty operating working faith And when Jesus Christ gives himself he always gives an operating Faith so he gives himself only to a Faith that he knows hath mighty Power and Principles of Operation It is because it is true Faith whole Faith entire Faith the Faith of God's giving like precious Faith As you know in a Jewel if it be only a counterfeit it wants some of the essential Excellencies of a Jewel As if a Man should think to be made Rich by a false Jewel it is a false counterfeit appearance though it may have some appearance of a true Stone yet it wants the true Exccellency and Value of it So the Apostle Discourses and shews what a true real working justifying operating Faith is James 2. 16. If a Brother or Sister be naked and destitute of daily food and one of you say unto him Depart in peace be ye warmed and filled notwithstanding you give them not those things which are needful for the body You know this is a false Charity And so it is a false faith that pretends to believe in Christ and cannot act suitably And again he faith As the Body without the Spirit is dead so Faith without Works is dead also Now if we should make a dead Man set his hand to a Writing you know that Writing is of no value though you may guide the Hand of the dead Man to write so and so while you guide the Hand because he is a Man without Spirit He has not the Spirit of a Man And so Faith if it hath not all the Graces and Actions suitable to it it is but a dead Faith It is dead as the Apostle saith and it is but the faith of Devils It is not a perfect faith it hath not truly the Nature of faith It is not as I may the whole Person of faith This is the first Sense the Apostle aimed and drove at to distinguish true faith from a meer formal professionary faith saying as Men do I believe in one God the father Almighty And so you know they go on Now a meer Profession of Faith without the power of Faith in a Man's Soul It is but the counterfeit Image of faith and not faith it self So James saith Thou believest there is one God c. In this second place This indeed is the way that God doth generally demonstrate and manifest the Truth of faith to the Souls of Believers and to the Observation of others And so it is true That faith cannot demonstrate it self either to a Believer's Soul or in ordinary and general speaking it cannot manifest it self except it have Works And so that Sense that some Interpreters give of this Discourse of the Apostle here is That one Faith justifies before God and the other justifies before Men that is Faith in its Works justifies before Men But faith alone taking Christ and his Righteousness before God though it is always a faith that hath within it self such a power of Action as to demonstrate it self to Men or else it is but a dead Faith And a vain Man it is that looks upon a faith to be faith that has not this mighty Operation And so the Apostle saith Faith wrought with Works He does not say His works were alone but faith wrought