hath said also Thou shalt not lust after a Woman in thy heart And he that said Thou shalt not steal hath said also Thou shalt not covet and the like And therefore they that think themselves to be obedient Children to God upon account of their abstaining from outward gross sin and of being outwardly righteous and do not truly endeavour and make a business of it to mortifie and subdue their Pride Covetousness love of the World Envy Hatred Malice thoughts of Revenge the unruliness of Passions and all immoderate Affections but indulge themselves in these or any of these or the like they deceive themselves whatever their External Conformity to Divine Precepts otherwise may be They are the pure in heart that shall see God And they that are Christs have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts God observes more what Men are inwardly than what they are outwardly and judges of them accordingly He is not a Iew nor he a Christian who is one outwardly in the flesh but he who is so inwardly in heart whose praise is not of Men but of God Rom. 2. 28 29. And therefore St. Iames counted them but Earthly Sensual and Devilish in their profession of Christianity how high soever they professed and such as did lye against the Truth that indulged bitter envying and strife though it were but in their hearts Jam. 3. 14 15. And if 〈◊〉 and passions within shall break out in an unbridled Tongue in slandering reviling backbiting evil-speaking rash and uncharitable censuring or the like how Religious soever such a man may otherwise seem to himself or others yet St. Iames hath plainly determined his case such an one hath deceived his own heart and his Religion is vain Jam. 1. 26. Mat. 5. 22. Men may go a great way in Religion yea so far as until they are not far from the Kingdom of God Yea many shall seek to enter in by doing many things in order thereto and yet shall not be able for want of striving to do all that is necessary thereto And for that very reason and because of the great danger of Christians falling short though they have gone far and done much are they so earnestly exhorted to work out or to work through their own Salvation with fear and trembling with a fear of falling short Phil. 2. 12. And not only so but to fear even a seeming to come short of the promised rest Heb. 4. 1. Let us therefore fear lest a promise being left us of entring into his rest any of you should seem to come short of it The matter is of that huge consequence that every wise Man that doth not despise his own Soul should be afraid to do or omit to do any thing that hath but the least â—eeming shew or appearance of putting his Salvation into any hazard And therefore all diligence is not too much for the wisest Man living to use to make his calling and election sure 2 Pet. 1. 10. Thus when Mens Understandings are bribed by their corrupt Wills they then take up with a partial Faith a partial Repentance and a partial Obedience instead of that which is Evangelically compleat and hope it is a fulfilling of the Condition of the Promise And when Men shut their own Eyes and stop their own Ears against the evidence of the word of Salvation that they may the more quietly enjoy the pleasures of any sin God many times in his righteous Judgment after much striving and long-suffering withdraws the assistances of his Grace and Spirit and leaves them to themselves and their own delusions and to be practised upon by the Devil for their farther hardening according to that dreadful Prophesie in Isa. 6. 9 10. mentioned no less than five or six times in the New Testament Mat. 13. 14. Mar. 4. 12. Luke 8. 10. Ioh. 12. 40. Acts 28. 26. Rom. 11. 8. Go tell this people hear ye indeed but understand not and see ye indeed but perceive not Make the heart of this people fat and make their Ears heavy and shut their Eyes c. When Men will not receive the love of the Truth that they might be saved but have pleasure in unrighteousness God sometimes sends them strong delusions to believe a lye 2 Thes. 2. 10 11 12. Whereas on the contrary the good ground-hearers are described by the honesty of the heart into which they receive the Word They study no tricks or shifts nor use any shuffling upon the account of any dishonest interest to evade the plain Truth but are content that should take place and all other things give place to it They suffer that Word which was received and assented to in the Judgment before in order of Nature to sink down into their hearts by which the Will and Affections become changed IV. How and afer what manner Faith in the Vnderstanding works savingly upon the Will The Faith of Assent in the Understanding worketh a Consent in the Will unto the Condition of the Promise by its operative and affecting influence upon the passions of Hope Fear and Love the powerful Principles of Action in Man For though Faith in the Understanding is the first Principle of Action as Christian yet not that but the Will as it is affected with Hope Fear or Love is the next and immediate Principle of Action The Understanding when it rightly performs its Office doth not only assent unto the Truth of Divine Revelation upon competent evidence that it is from God but also considers and weighs as in a ballance the import of it and how a man is concerned in it as whether it betoken good or evil to him and how much and upon what terms whether absolutely or conditionally and what the Condition is All which when brought down to the subordinate Faculties of the Soul the Will and Affections is apt to affect them and work upon them more or less accoring as the things believed are expressed more or lesse to concern a Man And the things believed Eternal Life and Eternal Death in another World being invisible and absent things it is a mans Faith touching the reality of them that supplies the room or absence of sense For Faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen Heb. 11. 1. We neither see nor feel the glorious things promised nor the dreadful things threatned in another World otherwise than by Faith which gives the Believer a prospect of them But a man by his Faith in that Gospel by which they are revealed hath a foresight of them as Abraham had of Christs day and that fills the Soul with hope and fear and a sence of God's love in giving such an hope And this hope fear love puts Men upon more or less care diligence and industry in doing what is necessary for the obtaining of the one and efcaping the other as they are more or less influenced by a Faith that is weaker or stronger or more or less active and
many as shall believe in his Son and repent of their sinfulness in changing their Minds and reforming their Lives and becoming new men in yielding sincere obedience to the Precepts of the Gospel 3. It declares that those that believe not shall be damned and such as repent not shall perish and that the unrighteous shall not inherit the Kingdom of God This summarily is that which the Gospel declares concerning God's grace and displeasure and Mans duty Now it is the Practical belief of all this that is the saving Faith It is not the bare belief that God hath given his Son to be the Saviour of the World and a Propitiation for the sin of it Nor is it a bare belief that he will for Christ's sake pardon and save as many as truly repent and amend their lives and become new Creatures unless they so believe all this as seriously and heartily to Repent themselves of their former folly and to return to their duty in new Evangelial Obedience For otherwise for a Man barely to believe all this and not to act according to his own concerns in it will be so far from being a believing to the saving of the Soul as that it will rather plunge him the deeper in destruction for living and acting contrary to his own light and belief as holding the truth in unrighteousness the wrath of God being revealed from heaven against all such Rom. 1. 18. A man of this practical Faith which I have described eyes as well the condition upon which the saving Benefits are Promised through Christ as the Promise it self of those benefits and expects the enjoyment of those benefits upon God's Promise and Christ's purchase no otherwise than as he with the assistance of God's grace is careful to perform the condition Which belief of his makes him as careful to perform the condition in discharge of his own duty therein as ever he hopes to enjoy the promised pardon of Salvation by Christ and to escape the damnation threatned against those who perform not the condition So that a Man by this Practical Faith belives one part of God's Declaration in the Gospel as well as the other and his own duty to be as well necessary to his Justification as the condition appointed by God as the Grace of God through Christ it self is upon another account And by this belief he is effectually moved as well to act in a way of duty to God as to expect mercy from him considering how his happiness is concerned in both when he hath the whole of God's Declaration in all the parts taken together in prospect as the Object of his Faith When he hears that God so loved the World that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life When he hears that God hath set forth Christ to be a Propitiation through Faith in his Blood And when he hears again that God was in Christ reconciling the World unto himself not imputing their trespasses unto them he believes all this to be true as coming from God that cannot lye and accordingly is incouraged to hope in God's mercy and is comforted thereby But then when he hears again that except we repent we shall all perish that except a man be born again he cannot see the Kingdom of God That without holiness no man shall see the Lord and that the pure in heart shall see God That not every one that saith Lord Lord shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven but he that doth the will of the Father which is in Heaven That the Lord Iesus shall be revealed from Heaven with his mighty Angels in flaming fire to render vengeance to all those that know not God and which obey not the Gospel of our Lord Iesus Christ But that he is the Author of eternal Salvation to all those that obey him I say when he hears all this he as verily believes this part of Gods Declaration in the Gospel to be the faithful and true sayings of God as he accounted the other to be And accordingly doth as seriously and sincerely set upon the work of Repentance and as carefully useth God's appointed means for the changing of his Heart and renewing of his Nature for the purifying of himself as God is pure and doth as carefully obey all the Precepts of the Gospel as he hopes upon the account of Christ's sufferings and God's Promise to be pardoned and saved as believing that those Benefits are neither promised nor can be obtained but in this way of performing the Condition And I doubt not to say this practical Faith as it respects God's Declaration touching Mans duty in conjunction with his own Grace in Christ is where the Gospel comes the only saving justifying Faith 3. Come we now to shew Reason why Faith is made the Condition of the Promise 1. It is of Faith that it might be of Grace saith the Apostle Rom. 4. 16. It is that the Grace of God to miserable Men might the more shew it self For so it doth not only in promising unspeakably great things through Christ to Man who is not only un-deserving but ill-deserving also but also in that these are promised upon such a possible practicable easie condition as Faith is considering the means and assistance promised by God to work it And considering also that the Promise is made to the truth unfeignedness and sincerity and not to perfection of Faith Repentance and new Obedience in their utmost degree So that Christ might well say my Yoke is easie and my Burden light Matth. 11. 30. Whereas the old way of promising the Inheritance on the Law terms would have been to have promised it upon impossible conditions as the case now is with fallen Man And if God should Promise never so great things to Man in his impotent and miserable state upon an impossible condition he would have been so far from manifesting abundance of Grace Compassion and Love to him in that condition as that he would rather have seemed to insult over him in it And therefore if the Promise should have run upon the Law-terms and not of Faith it would utterly have frustrated God's design of manifesting his grace to Man and of recovering Man's Love and Loyalty to him thereby Rom. 4. 14. If they which are of the Law be Heirs Faith is made void and the Promise made of none effect But it is of Faith that it might be by grace to the end the Promise might be sure to all the Seed not to that only which is of the Law but to that also which is of the Faith of Abraham ver 16. 2. This may be another reason why such a Faith as I have described is made the condition of the Covenant of Salvation viz. Because it best answers God's design in this Covenant of renewing the nature of Man in Holiness and Righteousness and by that means restoring it to happiness For by Faith Men are born of God or
made the Children of God Gal. 3. 26. Ye are all the Children of God by Faith in Christ Iesus Joh. 1. 12 13. As many as received him to them gave he power to become the sons of God even to those that believe on his Name Which were born not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man but of God Now to be born of God or which is the same to be made the Child of God is to have ones Nature restored to the likeness of God in which Man was first made and is the same thing with that wich is called Regeneration and a being born again and a new Creature Which new Creature or the nature of Man renewed by Faith is also called the new Man which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness Ephes. 4. 24. To be born again is to have the faculties of Mans Nature restored to a rectitude in their motions and operations in reference both to God and Man to be restored to their proper moral use for which they were made It is in a word that which is called a being made partakers of a Divine Nature For those which are begotten of God are begotten in or to his likeness Men can adopt those which are not their natural Children to inherit their Estates but they cannot adopt them to a participation of their Moral Endowments But God adopts his Children to a participation with him in the Inheritance by adopting them to a participation of the Moral perfections of his Nature that is to a consimilitude to him in them And this we say is done by Faith that is by Faith in God and by Faith in his Word For in order of Nature God is first believed to be a God of Truth before his Word is believed to be the Word of Truth And the creditableness of his Word depends upon the knowledge or belief of the fidelity of his Nature And this Truth of God and of his Word is the immediate Object of Faith By Faith a Man believes that to be true which God reveals or declares as his Mind and Will let the Import of it be what it will But then this Faith operates upon the Will and Affections according to the Tenour and Import of that which is revealed If it be matter of sad import it works a hatred to him that threatens it and a fear of the thing threatned if it be apprehended to proceed from an enemy And this is the effect of the Faith of Devils who believe and hate God who believe and tremble Iam. 2. 19. But if that which is revealed by God and believed by Man betoken unspeakable love good will in God to Man and matter of the greatest benefit to him as a proof of such love then it worketh love to him that expresseth such love for Faith worketh by Love Gal. 5. 6. and a longing desire after the promised benefit And as the Soul grows more and more in love with God because of his love in love with his blessed Nature and Divine Perfections such as are his Love and Goodness Truth and Faithfulness Purity and Patience Mercifulness and readiness to forgive which render him altogether lovely so it contracts a likeness to God in these upon the Soul and so changes and renews the Moral habit and constitution of the Soul and consequently of the whole Life There is an aptness and promptness in men to imitate that in others and so in God for which they love them And frequent imitating Acts beget habits Custom changing Nature And hence it is that through Faith we are made partakers of a Divine Nature We all with open face beholding as in a Glass the glory of the Lord are changed into the same Image from glory to glory as by the Spirit of the Lord 2 Cor. 3. 18. This beholding the glory of the Lord is by Faith For we walk by Faith and not by sight 2 Cor. 5. 7. and by it Moses saw him who is invisible Heb. 11. 27. And the medium by which this Prospect is taken is the Gospel by which the Lord in his lovely Perfections is now openly revealed And Faith being from time to time busied in beholding of and conversing with these Perfections it transforms the Soul into the same Image or likeness from glory to glory that is gradually as by the Spirit of the Lord that is through the co-operation of God's Spirit with Mans Faith To comprehend the breadth length depth and heighth and to know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge is the way to be filled with all the fulness of God by transcribing all his imitable perfections upon the Soul Ephes. 3. 18 19. And it is by virtue of their Relation to Christ and being thus begotten and born of God and made partakers of a new Nature conformable to God's that Men can with confidence call God Father This blessed effect of God's Spirit is the Spirit of Adoption by which they cry Abba Father And it is this new Nature that is the Spring and Fountain of a good Life of all Pious and Virtuous Actions As it is said of God Thou art good and dost good so it is true of all those that are born of him A good Man out of the good treasure of his heart thus renewed bringeth forth good fruit The Tree being good the Fruit will be good And as this new Creature groweth up to strength and maturity so doing of good and acting worthily will become natural and pleasant to him in whom it is To such an one the Commandments of God are not grievous but he will be able in some good measure to say I delight to do thy will O God yea thy Law is in my heart And for sin it being contrary to this new Nature there is a kind of Moral Impotency in him in whom it is to commit sin He cannot sin because he is born of God 1 Joh. 3. 9. Or if such an one be overtaken in a fault it will work a disturbance in the Soul just as that will in the stomach which a Man hath eaten against which he hath an antipathy in Nature But as for such as perform Religious Duties and do things materially good only by the strength of Extrinsecal Motives and not froman inward Principle of this new Nature or love to the things themselves to such those actions being unnatural become grievous and burdensome and will be continued in no longer than those Motives continue in their strength Sect. 8. The last thing I proposed to consider about God's Promise to Abraham is What we are to understand by God's counting Abrahams Faith to him for righteousness And I take it to signifie thus much That God in a way of special grace or by virtue of a new Law of grace and favour which was established by God in Christ Gal. 3. 17. that is in reference to what Christ was to do suffer in time then to come did reckon his Practical
obey him For otherwise those Scriptures and these would be inâ—onsistent For if men cannot be pardoned nor delivered from the curse nor be safe from destruction until they have repented are regenerate do love Christ and obey the Gospel as the forecited Scriptures do assure us they cannot then no Faith whatsoever is justifying or can entitle them to Pardon and Salvation acording to the Tenour of God's Promise until it hath produced that Repentance Regeneration Love and Obedience Which is a full and an undenyable proof of the necessity of such a consent of the Will as aforesaid to render Faith justifying and saving Now this consent and resolutionof the Will to repent and obey Christ and to forsake all for him is the Moral change of the Soul and the new life in its first beginning And so a mans first effectual Belief is his whole Christian life in its beginning And a mans first Faith is perfected afterwards by Works Iam. 2. 22. as a Child is perfected in his manly state as he grows up to manly actions or as the Seed is perfected when it grows to a full Ear. By this first consent of the Will we restipulate and strike Covenant with God and not only so but we thereby begin also to keep and perform Covenant with him on our part When this consent is first wrought in the Will then the Laws of the new Covenant are first put into the mind and written in the heart And by this we first begin to become savingly a people unto God to believe in him to love and serve him as he by Covenant and Promise becomes a God unto us to make us happy Heb. 8. 10. This is the Convenant that I will make I will put my Laws into their mind and write them in their hearts and I will be to them a God and they shall be to me a people 3. The other act of the Soul which I call the act of the Understanding of the Will conjunct is an affiance in God through Christ a trusting in him or a relying on him for the fulfilling of his Promise of saving Benefits while we continue sincerely to consent resolve and endeavour to perform the Condition on our part This is that or part of that which is called a believing on God a believing on Christ and a trusting in him Noting the Souls dependence upon Christ â—or the saving benefits which accrue to Men by his Mediation Office and Undertaking and on the Truth and Faithfulness Power Wisdom and Goodness of God to perform all that he hath promised them through his Son and upon the terms he hath promised and not otherwise For the Promise of saving Benefits being made but upon the Condition before mentioned a true Believer or he that is rational wise considers as well upon what terms the benefits are promised as who hath promised them and what they are and expects the one no otherwise than as he sincerely resolves and endeavours to perform the other And therefore if any shall rely on God and Christ for those benefits in whom yet the qualifying condition of the Promise of them is not found Such a relyance is but a groundless presumption and not Faith or Affiance duly so called For such do not only rely on Christ for that for which they have no Promise but for that which God hath expresly declared they shall have no share in whilst they remain destitute of that qualification which is the Condition upon which and not without it the promise of those benefites is made These three acts of the Soul exercised on their Objects do make up that Faith which is justifying and saving And when justifying Faith in the compleat nature of it is spoken of in Scripture all these three acts of the Soul are to be understood and especially the two first though perhaps they are many times mentioned severally and apart Faith being described sometimes by one of them and sometimes by another As God himself is represented to us sometimes by one Attribute sometimes by another II. Wherein the Defect lyes of that Faith which is not saving By what hath been discoursed touching the nature of that Faith which is saving it is easie to disâ—ern wherein the defect lies of that Faith which is not so And the defect lyes chiefly in the Will in its not consenting to perform the condition of the Promise in repenting and in receiving Christ as Lord to be governed by his Laws I will not deny but the defect in part may be in the Understanding when its assent unto the Truth of Divine Revelation is so weak as that it can make but a too weak and â—aint impression upon the Will to procure its consent unto the Condition of the Promise But then that defect in the assent of the Understanding doth usually at least in great part proceed from the Will as I shall shew afterwards Now that the defect lyes mainly in the Will 's not consenting to the Condition of the Promise appears by this because unregenerate men may assent unto the truth of God's Testimony and may trust that they shall be saved by Christ which contain the other two acts of the Soul but no man truly consents to perform the Condition of the Promise but in doing so he is regenerate in the first Act and justified 1. Unregenerate men may have the same Faith of assent in the Understanding to a degree as the regenerate may They may believe God to be the Father Almighty Maker of Heaven and Earth and Jesus Christ to be his only Son and the rest of the Articles of the Creed and they may believe in great part that to be their duty both towards God and Man which is so indeed and yet hold that truth in unrighteousness which they do believe Rom. 1. 18. Many of the chief Rulers believed on Christ who yet loved the praise of Men more than the praise of God and durst not confess him Joh. 12. 42 43. As also did many others when they saw his Miracles who yet were such as Christ had no mind to commit himself to Ioh. 2. 23 24. And Simon Maguâ— believed wondering and being astonished at the signes which were done by Philip who yet remained in the bond of iniquity Acts 8. Such as are resembled by the stony ground believed who yet loved their ease and worldly interest more than Christ And those that St. Iames expostulates with Chap. 2. were thus far believers also 2. Excepting the consent of the Will to the Condition of the Promise unregenerate Men may hope to be saved by Christ and rely on him for Salvation as well as the Regenerate Only for want of their performing the Condition of the Promise their hopes and confidence are groundless and will deceive them But otherwise men that are but carnal and live in some known sin may and oftimes do perswade themselves that they shall be saved by Christ Jesus because they believe that he dyed for sinners and
â—ach of them 1. Many delude themselves by taking up a wrong Notion of saving Faith and so think they have it when they have it not They believe indeed Christ to be the Son of God and Saviour of the World and that those shall be saved that believe in him and those damned that do not because the Scripture which they believe to be the Word of God saith so And thus far they believe rightly objectively But then they deceive their own Souls by perswading themselves that a meer assent of their mind to the Truth of these and other Evangelical Verities is the Faith to which the Promise of Justification and Salvation is made though it hath no such powerful operation upon their Wills as to make them new Creatures to make any thorow change in the temper of their hearts and tenor of their lives And many doubtless have been greatly strengthened in this delusive confidence by having been taught that Faith justifies without any Works at all And these again perswade themselves that they believe in Christ to the saving of their Souls because they rely on him alone for Salvation and upon what he hath done and suffered for them though they love their sins and live in them still Just like some Iews of old who though they were very bad in their lives yet leaned upon the Lord and said is not the Lord among us none evil can come upon us Mich. 3. 11. Isa. 48. 1 2. They leaned upon God's Promise of being their God as those do upon Christ's undertaking to be a Saviour although they overlooked the Condition to be performed by them in being a people unto him in loving and serving him as those Christians I speak of also do Though Christ alone is to be relyed on for Salvation as touching all that is proper to the Mediatory Office and Work yet no man is to rely on him so as to think he should excuse him if he do not repent or be not regenerate or as if he did repent or were regenerate for him If they do they promise themselves from him that which he never promised or undertook but hath told them plainly that except they themselves repent they shall perish and that except they themselves be born again they cannot see the Kingdome of God 2. They deceive their own hearts also in the nature of Repentance their Notion of it being one thing and the Scripture-Notion of it quite another So that they perswade themselves they have repented when indeed they have not They know and believe perhaps repentance to be necessary to Salvation because Christ hath said that except ye repent ye shall all likewise perish But then they mistake in perswading themselves that they do repent because they are frequently sorry for what they have done though they cease not to do the same again Indeed when the pleasure of Sin is over and rebukes of Conscience come in the room of them these trouble their minds for what they have done which was the Repentance of Iudas and there is no peace to the wicked who are like the troubled Sea Now this they count repentance though it work no effectual and thorow change in Heart and Life but when that sad fit is over they appear to be the same Men they were before by returning to the same sins And herein the Romish Church hath most unhappily laid a Snare which as is to be feared catcheth multitudes of Souls to their destruction in asserting Contrition yea Attrition with confession to be repentance sufficient to Salvation Whereas sorrow alone though it be godly sorrow is not Repentance but as St. Paul saith Godly sorrow worketh repentance 2 Cor. 7. 10. But Repentance itself which is saving consisteth chiefly in a real change in Mens apprehensions of and affections to both sin and duty and in ceasing to do evil and learning to do well Others again deceive themselves in taking a partial Reformation for true Repentance Because they have left some sins which they could best spare as blemishing their Reputation or impairing their Estates or their Health And because they have done many things which yet Herod also did Mar. 6. they think they have repented and are converted though they retain others which are more gainful or yield them more pleasure Whereas the sincerity of Repentance can be proved by nothing less then a hatred of and turning from sin as sin and so from all sin by diligent and careful endeavours 3. They deceive themselves by a false Notion of that Obedience which is necessary to Salvation They believe in the gross indeed that Obedience to the Commands of God to the Rules and Precepts of the Gospel is necessary to Salvation because the Scripture so plainly declareth it to be so But then they deceive their own hearts in thinking and perswading themselves that they have performed this part of the Condition of the Promise when as they have not performed one half of it They have been it may be somewhat careful to be found in acts of External Worship and and Devotion both publick and private and to keep themselves from Idolatry Swearing Cursing Sabbath-breaking Murder Adultery Stealing False-witness-bearing and the like in the outward and gross acts of them But all the while have made no conscience of governing their Thoughts Affections and Passions nor their Tongues neither as to many things And in all this wherein do they exceed the Pbarisees whom if we exceed not in Righteousness Christ hath told us who best knows that we shall never â—nter into the Kingdom of Heaven Matth. 5. 20. They were strict and zealous in the observation of the Laws for Circumcision Sacrifice Sabbaths Tythes and other positive Precepts and that to a tittle and fasted often and made long Prayers and gave Alms and made Ostentation also that they were not as others were Extortioners Unjust Adulterers nor as the Publicans And why would not all this bring them to Heaven Because all this notwithstanding as they had not Faith in Christ so they were Covetous Proud and Ambitious seeking Honour one of another contemning and despising others they were envious and malicious cruel and ill-natured unmerciful and persecuting such as faithfully reproved them They made clean the outside of the Cup and Platter and so far as they did so they did well But that for which Christ denounced wo to them was that their inward part was ful of ravening and wickedness and for want of love to God and of Judgment Mercy and Fidelity God is a Spirit and the Service that is acceptable to him as being most agreeable to his Nature is that which is done in Spirit and Truth And therefore his Preceps are given to govern the inward Man as well as the outward He that said thou shalt not kill hath said also Thou shalt not hate thy Brother in thy heart nor be angry with him without a cause or bear a grudge against him He that said Thou shalt not commit adultery
exercised about these things And hence comes that change which is made in the Hearts and Lives of true Believers who walk by Faith and not by Sight that is they govern their Lives by the belief of invisible and not sensible things 2 Cor. 5. 7. This in general But more particularly the Faith of Assâ—nt in the Understanding works the Faith of Consent in the Will by its operation upon those three Passions or Affections of the Will Hope Fear and Love 1. As a firm asseâ—ting to the Truth of God's Promise through Christ of pardon of Sin and Eternal Life upon Condition of Repentance and new Obedience together with his Faith gives a man hope and confidence of obtaining these great benefits upon the terms on which they were promised The hope of this happiness causeth a Man to be willing to comply with the Condition upon which it is promised in order to the obtaining the happiness it self There is a Principle of self love planted by God in the nature of every Man by which he doth naturally desire and aspire after the happiness of his own being And that will put a man upon the use of such means and the performance of such a Condition without which he believes and is verily perswaded he cannot be happy Now every Man in whom there is the Faith of assent unto the Truth of God's Testimony in the Gospel firmly fixed being verily perswaded that everlasting happiness is not attainable without Repentance Regeneration and sincere Obedience because God hath declared this as plainly as he hath done any thing And it is the nature of Faith to acquiesce in his Testimony The love of the end which is Mans own happiness makes him in love with the means such as is Repenting Mortifying and Obeying work without which he cannot attain his end in being happy This Principle of Self-love under the conduct of a Mans Understanding and Reason enlightned and regulated by a Declaration of the Divine Will and influenced by a firm belief of it will work in a Man new apprehensions of and new Affections to both Sin and Duty and will cause him to abandon the little pleasures of sin which are but for a season that he may come to the fruition of that fulness of joy and those Rivers of pleasure which are in the presence of God and at his right hand for evermore when once he knows and firmly believes that they cannot otherwise be obtained Thus by Faith is the victory over the world obtained in all its temptations from Honours Profits and Pleasures 1 Ioh. 5. 4. For by such a Faith a Man well perceives that the World offers him to his unspeakable loss though it should offer him all of these that it is able to confer upon him if it be upon condition of doing or omitting to do that by which he shall certainly deprive himself of that Glory Honour and Immortality which he is well assured of through Faith in God's Promise if he overcome We see Men are so commonly governed by a Principle of Self-love in parting with a lesser good or conveniency for a greater even in the things of this life that they are worthiâ—y an â— deservedly counted fools that do the coâ—trary And therefore those are guilty of so mucâ— the greater folly and madness who deprive themselves of the happiness of Heaven by a sinful seeking or possessing of the Honors Profits or Pleasures of this life as the happiness of Heaven exceeds the enjoyments of this World in kind and height of satisfaction and in continuance and duration so rational a thing it is to live and walk by Faith of unseen things and unreasonable and unmanly to be governed by the sense of present things in opposition thereunto 2 Thâ—ss 3. 2. 2. The Faith of Assent in the Understanding worketh a Consent in the Will to the Condition of the Promise as the passion of fear is awakened by believing God's threatnings against such as do not observe and fulfil that Condition There is a Principle of self-preservation planted by God in every Man's nature by which he fears and abhors that which he knows and verily believes tends to the infelicity and misery of his being and which puts him upon the avoiding of that which he believes hath such a tendency in order to the declyning the misery or destruction it self When a Man receives such sayings into his Understanding as threaten that if ye live after the flesh ye shall dye that except ye repent ye shall all perish That without holiness no Man shall see the Lord and the like and doth assent unto them as the true sayings of God which assent is his Faith the fear of the misery threatned and the Principle of self-preservation work in him a desire and endeavour to have his sinful inclinations and appetites mortified and a care to avoid the outward acts of sin as really and truly as he desires to escape Eternal Destruction it self as believing and knowing they tend thereto and that he cannot escape the one without a sincere desire and endeavour to destroy and avoid the other And in this way Faith is a Believers Victory by which he also overcomes the World when it tempts him to sin by threatning him with disgrace loss of Estate or Liberty or with enduring of corporal punishment or death it self For he believes the punishments in the other world to be of such a nature and duration as that the worst things which Man can inflict are altogether inconsiderable in comparison of them By which belief he is so far guided that he chuses to suffer the less when his faithfulness to God and his own best interest doth expose him to it rather than to expose himself by unfaithfulnes to infinitely the greater to avoid the less And thus Faith purifies the heart of all inordinate affection to Riches Honour Ease and Pleasures Acts 15. 9. 3. The Faith of Assent or Credence in the Understanding touching the exceeding greatness of God's love to mankind in the gift of Christ for their Redemption and in his great and precious Promises made in him upon a very gracious Condition works in the Will a love to God and so a love to please him in doing those things which he hath made the Condition of his Promise When once the Understanding represents it to the Will as a certain Truth upon clear evidence that notwithstanding Mens Apostacy from God and Rebellion against him and the Condemnation they are under thereby yet God is reconcileable to them yea willing and so desirous to reconcile them to himself that as an evidence and proof of it he hath given his own Son Christ Jesus to become a Ransâ—me for them and that he hath made a new Covenant declaring that upon account of his Son 's undertaking for them he is not only abundantly willing to pardon all such as shall unfeigâ—â—dly repent of their disloyalty and sincerely return to their duty but that he will also bountifully reward