Selected quad for the lemma: work_n
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B10255
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The highest end and chiefest work of a Christian set forth in two plain discourses, concerning the glory of God, and our own salvation / By J.W.
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Waite, Joseph.
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1668
(1668)
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Wing W223; ESTC R186143
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132,020
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230
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what acceptance it may have with God in such as are invincibly ignorant of the Gospel we are not concerned to inquire But to all them to whom this Gospel is sufficiently revealed the Christian Faith or Faith in Christ is absolutely necessary to render their works pleasing to God And that Faith is undoubtedly the principal◠condition of Justification and Salvation And although other conditions be required to Salvation yet they are subordinate to this Faith as the proper effects and verifications thereof whereby it becomes allowable to God So that the concurrence and efficacie that other Graces and all good Works have unto Salvation is by vertue of Faith from whence they proceed It is Faith in Christ the Saviour that gives us Vnion with him and his Church and that consequently gives the first right to that Salvation which is procured by him and is the onely priviledge of his Church But this Faith must he 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Faith unfained which it cannot be unless it be joyned with repentance and worketh by love and so makes a man a new Creature Faith is the prime Article of the New Covenant And in congruity to the design of mans Redemption and Salvation by Christ the principal act of this Faith is to receive him as the Author of this Salvation and to depend upon him and the expiation that he hath made for us by his blood But because he is also propounded to us in the same Gospel as Christ the anoynted of the Lord as well for a Prophet and a King as a Priest and sent by his Father to declare the Minde and Will of God in his Precepts as well as to publish his Grace in the Promises and is invested with all power to rule and govern his people as well as to save them therefore are all Christians that expect to be saved by him equally obliged to receive him as Lord and Christ to observe and keep his Precepts as well as to trust upon his Promises And thus much is included in the notion of their Faith given unto him when they are baptised for his Disciples which is the solemn Rite of ingaging our Faith unto him For that Faith which is professed in our Baptism is undoubtedly the same with that by which we are justified and saved But the Faith which is professed in Baptism is not a bare trust in Christ as a Saviour but a Faith given unto him as our Lord and Master to become his faithful Disciples importing our defire to learn and stipulation to observe his Precepts And therefore as S. Paul saith we are saved by faith Eph. 2.8 So S. Peter saith Baptism doth also save us 1 Pet. 3.21 Interpreting his meaning in the following words Not the putting away of the filth of the flesh but the answer or stipulation of a good conscience And to this purpose it is observable that when our Saviour gave commission to his Apostles to go and make Disciples of all Nations 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the holy Ghost he adds this as the interpretation of their discipleship teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you Implying that their Profession to be his Disciples which is the import of their Baptisin doth signifie their ingagement to observe his Precepts and to live like Christians To believe in Christ is to be a Christian that is a Disciple if Christ which was the first Title of Believers Act. 11.26 But that Title of a Disciple of Christ without respect to his Precepts imports contradiction to believe in Christ therefore and not to observe his Commandments is a plain contradiction As therefore all Christians are obliged to an explicit faith in Christ which is the ground of their Title to that name s◠are they to do all manner of good Works upon the groun◠of this Faith with desire and confidence of pleasin◠God through Christ and not expecting any acceptan◠of their works otherwise than by and through Christ Col. 3.17 Whatsoever ye do in word or deed d◠all in the name of the Lord Jesus 1 Pet. 2.5 The Original of the first transgression by which th◠whole Race of Mankinde fell into a state that neede Salvation was unbelief Eve by the temptation of th◠Devil was first induced to quit her Faith in Go◠Word that had said The day thou eatest there of thou shalt surely dye the death This unbelief was that which made way for the sin of disobed◠ence to the Command For had she not doubted th◠truth of Gods Word she could never have been per◠swaded to taste of that forbidden Fruit. Thus w◠unbelief the prime cause of mans ruine and there◠fore the first step and principle of his restauration an◠Salvation is Faith And as unbelief of the threa◠ning by which the first Law was fortified was th◠cause of our destruction so the belief of the promi◠of the Gospel is the principle of our justification B◠believing the Serpent the Abaddon and Apollyo◠the destroyer we were undon by believing in Jesu◠the Saviour we are saved But as that unbelief became destructive by its effects as a practical infidelity producing disobedience to the Commandment So is our Faith effectual to Salvation then onely when it is sincerely practical reducing us to our duty of obedience to our merciful Saviour If that saying of the Father must stand for a Catholick Axiom bona opera sunt via ad regnum non causa regnandi I must have leave to interpret the latter Clause so as may import no contradiction to the first that is that good works are the way to the Kingdom not the Cause that is the principle or meritorious Cause of our raigning for a Cause they must needs be that is a moral Cause if they be the way that is the means of our raigning as that signifies not onely the Term or End of this way but the Reward of our walking in it When therefore S. Paul excludes works from justification I take it his onely scope is to secure the freedom and assert the necessity of Divine Grace purchased by Christ and promised by the New Covenant of the Gospel And when he saith a man is not justified by the works of the Law he sometimes means ceremonial works such as was that of Circumcision and the obedience to that whole Law which a man was made a debtor to keep by his Circumcision Gal. 5.3 otherwhiles by the righteousness of works he seems to understand perfect indefective obedience to the whole Law or Will of God upon which account it is impossible for a sinner as he concludes all men to be now Rom. 3.23 Gal. 3.22 to be justified because his being so imports a contradiction to such Works Besides it is observeable that S. Paul doth never say that a man can be saved without Works but that he is justified without them speaking generally of the first