Justification but Faith with works doth conserve Justification And so Paul and James do full well agree and James's Doctrine will be a consequence from Paul's principles For because my Faith only without works doth create my Justification and because evil works do destroy the state of it and do build again my state of Sin therefore it followeth That good works do continue my state of Justification and keep it from ruin For in case I should fall my Faith alone cannot restore me but if I recover working my works of repentance must be the means of my recovery 1 Cor. 13.2 And because as Paul saith Though I have all Faith so that I could remove mountains and have not Charity I am nothing Therefore as James teacheth Faith without works is dead And lastly because as Paul teacheth In Christ Jesus neither Circumcision availeth any thing nor uncircumcision but Faith that worketh by Love Therefore as James teaches Faith working with works is by works made perfect For the farther clearing of this seeming contradiction of St. Paul and St. James note That as faith sworn by the Vassal to his Lord justifies the Vassal to his Fee or benefice to have right thereto so the Homage it self is the life of his faith and justifies him to the same benefice that he may hold his right so obtained by his Faith In like manner faith made to God justifies his Creature to the Estate of Blessedness to have right thereto and the Homage it self which is the life of his faith justifies him to the same Estate that he may hold his right so obtained by his faith For faith without homage or works doth not justifie fully nor homage or works without Faith So true it is that Faith though it doth justifie alone to have right yet works also do justifie to hold it so both Faith and Works do justifie compleatly and not one without the other And this distinction rightly weighed and compared may easily put an end to this Controversy SECT I. The works that are the Tenure of my Justification are works of Love Works of Love 1. The Right of Justification under the Law was Faith of the promise to Abraham and his carnal Seed for the Land of Canaan 2. The Tenure of Justification under the Law was by the works of the Law of Rites and Ceremonies Thou shalt walk in all the waies which the Lord your God hath commanded you Deut. 6.24 that ye may prolong your daies in the Land which ye shall possess i. e. you shall continue your possession in the Land whereto you have a right The Law it self speaketh thus Lev. 18.5 Ye shall therefore keep my statutes and my judgments which if a Man do he shall live in them i. e. shall prolong his life from violent death inflicted by the Law The Just shall live by his Faith He that hath walked in my Statutes to deal truly he is just he shall surely live The doers of the Law shall be justified i. e. continue to be justified For default of this Tenure of works the Ten Tribes forfeited their right to Canaan for ever and the other Two Tribes were sequestred for seventy years in Babylon 3. The right of Justification under the Gospel is Faith in the promise to Abraham and his Spiritual Seed for Heaven 4. The Tenure of Justification under the Gospel is by the works of Grace which are acts of Love exercising equity mercy and kindness above the works of the Law 1. Because the works of Love are super-legal above and beyond the Law of Moses as to feed the hungry and to cloth the naked to entertain Strangers visit the Sick relieve the Prisoners pray for Persecutors c. 2. The works of Love are supernatural above and beyond the Law of Nature as not to be angry and not to resist and revenge evil to suffer persecution gladly for Righteousness sake to rejoyce in temptations to lay down our life for the Brethren c. therefore much more for God To love our Enemies and comparatively to hate our Friends Luc. 14.26 as our Father and Mother Wife and Children Brothers and Sisters these and the like works of Love are not commanded in the Law but they are the commands of Grace Hence Christ calls Love a New Commandment Joh. 13.34 A new commandment I give unto you that ye love one another as I have loved you that ye also love one another And Christ calleth it his Commandment That ye love one another as I have loved you And this Love is the fulfilling of the Law He that loves his Brother abideth in the Light 1 Joh. 4.16 He that dwelleth in Love dwelleth in God and God in him These are the works of Love not of Law which St. James saith do justifie Was not Abraham our Father justified by works Jam. 2.21 when he had offered Isaak his Son upon the Altar That work was not a duty of the Law but a service of Love by God's immediat command to try Abraham's love for no Law did command a Father to sacrifice his Son His love therefore was superlegal beyond any Law of mercy And not only so but supernatural beyond any Law of Nature when his love to God to whom he had Alliance only by Faith surpassed his love to his only Son to whom he had Alliance only by Nature and in whose behalf he had received the promises Jam. 2.25 Likewise also Rahab the harlot was justified by works when she received the Messengers and had sent them out another way Those works were not duties of any Law Josh 2.12 but the Offices of Love or as she called it A shewing of kindness in entertaining lodging and protecting of Strangers Her love was therefore superlegal above and beyond the Law for no Law commanded to entertain Spies to the destruction of a City And her love was supernatural above and beyond the Law of Nature when she shew'd kindness to her Enemies in housing hiding and sending them away safely The Ceremonious works of the Ritual Law are carnal in themselves and could justifie to nothing but a carnal purity and a security from a carnal punishment of Death All these Rites of Sacrificing Washing Feasting Fasting Circumcising c. are extinct The Moralities of Moses Law as to be no idolater no forswearer no murderer adulterer thief lyar nor deceiver c. are the bare negative duties for the most part and according to the letter are themselves dead and I am dead to that dead Letter which killed those that are under it with a curse and it is a part of my Justification to be free from the Law for I am not under the Law but under Grace nor under the Letter but under the Spirit And therefore the works of the Gospel are works of the Spirit which gives life by faith and maintaineth it by Love the works whereof are purely Spiritual inward and lively free from all carnal and outward shew
concernments is much pleased with them that after a little pain and patience there may be the greater indulgence unto carnal things for which they quickly hope for expiation by carnal sufferings A great cheat in carnal Religion Thus the outward man is much pleased 1. With the History of the Cross of Christ 2. With the pictures of the Cross of Christ and sheds many a melting tear at the actings of this Tragedy 3. With Whippings Fasting Sackcloth Pilgrimages c. Col. 2.18.23 A voluntary humility a shew of wisdom in Will-worship and humility in neglecting of the body and not in any honour to the satisfying of the flesh 2. The Inward Cross is the power and virtue of Christ's death the spirit of Mortification and Self-denial the Spirit the Inward Man is much delighted with these exercises of the Spirit the Mystery of Christ's Cross the Memory and Love of Christ crucified the Joy and patience of suffering for Christ 2. The Effect of the Cross Crucifixion Effect of Cross Crucifixion Procured by Outward Cross which is 1. Procured and merited for us by the outward Cross and Passion Sacrifice and Oblation of Christ for us By these is Salvation from the victory of Sin Death and Hell all conquered by Christ Propitiation and Attonement made Security from the barr of Justice that Scopulus Reorum and Curse of Law Solus calcavit Torcular 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Christ trod the Wine press of God's wrath alone no Angel nor Man to help him He left nothing undone that he might be the Author and Finisher of our Salvation and was made perfect through sufferings 2. Wrought and effected to us and in us by the Inward Cross and Passion of Christ sacrificed and offered in us This is the spirit and power of his death the virtue of his Resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings Philosophy 1. Philosophy did combate much with sin Vertue kills Vice Reason destroys Passion Brave Seneca cries out like a Christian O when shall I see the day when all my Passions shall be subdued and that I shall say Vici I have overcome them Christianity 2. Christianity much more more than Conquerors I thank God through Jesus Christ Thanks be to God which hath given us Victory through Jesus Christ our Lord. Only be valiant and of a good courage Flie from sin as from a serpent resist the Devil and he will flie from you stand still and see the salvation of God This power of the Cross will do our work for us and in us this death destroys death this is to conquer by suffering Depressu Resurgo the more kept down the more we rise A Divine virtue in Christ's sufferings a great conquest made by the Son of God in his own person for us in our persons for our selves under him and by him From hence we have power to conquer Sin Law Satan Death I can do all things through Christ that strengthneth me Hence we overcome the world are dead unto it using the world as if we used it not this is our victory even our Faith this is Self-denial Mortification Crucifixion with Christ Regeneration a New Creature Thus Christ hath redeemed us from all iniquity and purified to himself a people zealous of Good works perfecting holiness in the fear of the Lord that they might obtain an inheritance among them that are sanctified by faith which is in Christ Jesus It is not therefore good to glory in Carnal things such as Eloquence Wit Beauty Health Honour Riches c. It is not good to glory in Carnal Religion such as are 1. Ceremonies Judaical or Heathenish 2. Ordinances Opus operatum Prayers Fastings Hearings c. It is good to glory in Spiritual things such as are Faith Love Hope Patience Joy Peace Rejoyce in the Lord evermore and again I say rejoyce But this is counted no Joy but Melancholy or Religious Madness in Sequestrations from worldly Policies and Glories and Conversation wit God and our own Souls The gaieties of this world affect the senses and they are counted little better than stark Fools that prefer undiscerned contentations of the spirit before them When Paulinus a Young Noble Man and Senatour of Rome renounced the World and became a Christian the whole City wondred at it and all the Wits jear'd at his retirement from the splendour of the Court What a Gallant so young ex illâ formâ ex illâ prosapiâ illâ indole so beautiful of such a family and of such ingenuity and leave all his companions and pleasures Such men are counted mad men and weary of their lives scorning the delights of Nature Paula and Melania two Noble Ladies left their honours and estates for the Cross This was presently Table-talk for all Rome St. Paul so noble so learned so honour'd as he was counted all but Loss and Dung to gain Christ was as a man crucified and dead unto the world the world had no favour for him nor he for the world so is a Christian not of this world dead to it looks to higher things As the Jews had no dealing with the Samaritans so Christians have not their conversation with the world As a man Proscribed is pursued from place to place hiding his head so is a Christian As a Woman divorced from the Bed and Board of her Husband lives still in the family walks up and down like a shadow hath food and clothing only upon courtesie but no countenance from her Husband nor respect from her children nor command over her servants So are those that take up the Cross of Christ and follow him Cast therefore your eye once more upon this great Mediator in all his Transactions Here 's a Conception Birth Life Cross Death Here 's a Resurrection Ascention Entrance and Oblation in the Holy Place Session and Intercession And what a coming to Judgment will that be at the Last Day How is all this apprehended Why was all this Action and Passion Shame and Glory Was not a Deity offended and thereby appeased How Affected what Joy what Sorrow what Hope what Faith what Obedience what Thankfulness what Love what Oblation of all that we are and have and all nothing to what is due from us but is all accepted of God More would a Soul inflamed with divine love do or suffer She cannot do what she would but she will do what she can and throw her self into the arms of her dear Lord praying him to accept her as she is and make her such as he would have her for to be for his own great Mercies sake I. Christ the true Sacrifi◠and Priest Christ therefore is the Absolute and true Sacrificer and Sacrifice in se per se in himself and by himself 1. Because he only perfectly pleased God This is my Well-beloved Son in whom I am well pleased He only was without sin he only fulfilled the Will of his Father 2. Because he only is the cause of all our
hath not believed in the name of the only Son of God Joh. 3.36 He that believeth not the Son shall not see Life Joh. 8.24 but the wrath of God abideth in him If ye believe not that I am he Ro. 8.13 Gal. 5.19 Ephes 5.5 ye shall die in your sins if ye live after the Flesh ye shall die The works of the Flesh are manifest c. They which do such things shall not inherit the Kingdom of God For this we know that no whoremonger nor unclean Person nor covetous Man who is an idolater hath any inheritance in the Kingdom of God or of Christ When therefore any Man can truly be called a Believer in Christ then the Gifts of God are sure unto him as if he had been nominated in God's Book by his special and single Name So Men are reprobated or disinherited not by their proper Names or Surnames but by the Appellative or common names of Unbelievers Unfaithful Rejecters of Christ Carnal Worldly c. And therefore in God's Last Will there is no preterition of any Man or Men personally by name or number but all Men are either Believers or Unbelievers And seeing all Believers are by that common name instituted and all Unbelievers are by that common name disinherited therefore none are instituted or pretermitted by any proper name The Reasons are SECT VI. 1. Because God's Will is a Testament ad pias causas of meer Grace Testament ad pias causas Love and Pity to miserable Persons And in such Wills the Legacies are so numerous that they cannot be personally nominated for if so no Will would hold them and they are not yet all in being to be capable of them by common names as thus I give and bequeath so much to the Poor of such a Parish Town or City to the Prisoners of such a Goal or to the Diseased in such an Hospital So every Poor in such a Parish Town City every Prisoner in such a Goal and every Diseased in such an Hospital are qualified for such a Legacy and may justly claim by Right and Title of their Poverty Imprisonment Disease or any other condition expressed in the Will and the Executor is bound to perform it And so every Christian hath a Right to Eternal Life by the Title of his Faith 2. Men are thus nominated in common because Christ is the Hypotype by whose right all have right For Christ hath the original right of alliance to be the Son of God The only begotten Son of God full of Grace and Truth Joh. 1.114 Whom God hath appointed Heir of all things Not an heir of expectance Hebr. 1.1 but actually seized on his Inheritance Eph. 1.20 For God hath set him at his own right hand in Heavenly places from him we have the same right Joh 1.12 To them gave he power to be called the Sons of God even to as many as believed on his Name Behold what manner of love is this 1 Joh. 3.1 that we should be called the Sons of God so then thou art no more a Servant but a Son and if a Son then an Heir of God through Christ That being justified by his Grace Gal. 4.7 we should be made Heirs according to the Hope of Eternal Life If Children Tit. 3.7 Ro. 8.17 then Heirs Heirs of God and Joint heirs with Christ Now Joint-heirs have the same right alike As the Seed of Abraham had all right alike to the Kingdom of Canaan So Believers in Christ Christ and the Children which God hath given him have all right alike to the Kingdom of Heaven The Seed of Abraham by Abraham the Seed of Christ by Christ because the Kingdom of Heaven was originally given to Christ as the Kingdom of Canaan was given to Abraham The Israelite claimed by his Birth the Believer claims by his Faith Gal. 3.26 For ye are all Children of God by faith in Christ Jesus And if ye be Christ 's then are you Abraham 's Seed and Heirs according to the Promise SECT VII Of Physical Operation This great Instrument of Man's Salvation called Faith is an easie Of Physical Operation gentle and noble thing in it self but hath been represented difficult and obscure and great quarrels have been made about it and little hopes of reconciliation concerning it unless second and third thoughts be framed by unbiassed and considering Men so to undeceive themselves and others For hitherto the World hath been imposed upon and amused to conceive that Faith and other Graces of God are habits infused by God into Mens Souls quickning their dead Faculties which neither know nor feel any thing that is done unto them till they see themselves in a new condition and frame of Spirit which they call the Work of Grace irresistible as is the fashioning of a lump of clay into a new mold or the raising of a Man that is dead and rotten or the turning of a wheel by meer strength and keeping it in motion by the spring and weights that are put upon it Hereupon the poor People lye still and endeavour nothing but believe that if they be elected after the Covenant of Grace to the end they are elected in time to the means whether they will or no and that they have no will at all to any Good not so much as to accept it when offered but rather an aversion from it and a proneness to all evil to draw it to them and hatefully to turn all goodness from them This Physical operation which they dream to be upon their Spirits is the same with earthly bodies which are moved by natural or artificial causes of force or virtue the greater strength violently prevailing over the less as we move logs and stones by the power of horses or Men or curiously turning of vast bodies by Engines and Wheels of Art Operation Moral Whereas in deed and in truth the operations upon the Soul are moral rather than physical with no other violence or force than that which is not properly so but intellectual and rational or persuasive and inviting unless you will call that a physical way of the working of Spirits upon Spirits but still it is free and fair without force or battery but rational by information of the judgment and persuasion of the Will For quicquid operatur operatur ad modum operantis quicquid patitur patitur ad modum patientis Whatsoever acts acts according to the quality of the Agent and whatsoever suffer suffers according to the condition of the patient Here is therefore nothing of a real touch of the Agent upon the Patient to create necessarily a real change and alteration of the Patient thereby from what it was before but a virtual motion of instruction and insinuation upon an understanding and free subject to convince and invite the same faculties and call them off to new objects freely from their former mistakes So the vulgar are made to believe of
he that was impure in that he was impure is holy because Christ was so but because God will for Christ's sake accept and receive and embrace us as if we were so Unless we shall say that as we are wise with Christ and holy and righteous so with Christ also we do redeem our selves For he who is said to be our Righteousness is said also to be our Redemption in the next words c. Id. ib. S. 44 p. 1074 c. It is true indeed the Gospel hath been preached these 1600 years and above many questions have been raised about Justification For though Men have been willing to go under the name of justified persons yet have they have been busie to enquire how Justification hath been wrought in them They are justified they know not how Many and divers opinions have been broach'd amongst the Canonists and Confessionists and others Osiander nameth twenty and there are many more at this day And yet all may consist well enough for ought I see and still that sense Justification which is deliver'd in Scripture as necessary remains entire For 1. it is necessary to believe That no Man can be justified by the works of Law precisely taken and in this all agree 2. It is necessary to believe that we are not justified by the Law of Moses either by it self or joyn'd with Faith in Christ and in this all agree 3. That Justification is not without remission of sins and imputation of Righteousness and in this all agree 4. That a dead Faith doth not justifie and here is no difference 5. That that is a dead Faith which is not accompanied with good works and a holy and serious purpose of good Life And in this all agree Lastly that Faith in Christ Jesus implyeth an advised and deliberate assent that Christ is our Prophet and Priest and King And in this all agree Da si quid ultra est And what is more is but a vapour But those interpretations which have been made upon this Nihil ampliùs quam sonant Nec animum faciunt quia non habent What matter is it whether I believe or not believe know or not know that our Justification doth consist in one or more acts so that I certainly know and believe that it is the greatest Blessing that God can let fall upon his Creature and believe that by it I am made acceptable in his sight and though I have broke the Law yet I shall be dealt with as if I had been just and righteous indeed whether it be done by pardoning all my sins or imputing universal obedience to me or the active or passive obedience of Christ c. Id. 1. Vol. S. 22. p. 427. Adam sinned and we die We were all in the loyns of that one Man Adam when that one Man slew us all And this we are too ready to confess that we are born in sin Nay Original Sin we fall so low as to damn our selves before we were born This some may do in humility but most are content it should be so well pleased in their Pedigree well pleased that they are brought into the World and in that filth and uncleanness that God doth hate and make the unhappiness of their Birth an Advocate to plead for those pollutions for those willful and beloved sins which they fall into in the remaining part of their life as being the proper and natural issues of the weakness and impotency with which we were sent into the World But this is not true in every part That weakness whatsoever it is can draw no such necessity upon us nor can be wrought into an Apology for sin or an excuse for dying For to conclude and wrap up all our actual sin in the folds of Original weakness is nothing else but to cancel our old obligations and to put all on our first Parents score and so make Adam guilty of the sins of the whole World Our natural and original weakness I will not now call into question since it hath had such Grandees in our Church Men of great learning and piety for its Nursing Fathers and that for many centuries of years but yet I cannot see why it should be made a cloak to cover our other transgressions or why we should miscarry so often with an eye cast back upon our first Fall which is made ours but in another man Nor any reason though it be a plant water'd by the best hands why men should be so delighted in it why they should lie down and repose themselves under its shadow why they should be so willing to be weak and so unwilling to hear the contrary why men should take so much pains to make the way to happiness narrower and the way to death broader than it is In a word why we should thus magnifie a temptation and disparage our selves why we should make each importunate object as powerful and irresistible as God himself Petrar and our selves as Idols even nothing in this world Magna pars humanarum querelarum non injusta modò materiâ sed stulta est for when our souls are pressed down and overcharged with sin when we feel the gripes and gnawings of our Conscience we commonly lay hold on those remedies which are worse than the disease suborn an unseasonable and ill applied conceit of our own natural weakness which is more dangerous than the temptation as an excuse and comfort of our overthrow We fall and plead we were weak and fall more than seven times a day and hold up the same plea still till we fall into that same place where we shall be muzled and speechless not able to say a word where our complaints will end in curses in weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth Omnes nostris vitiis favemus quod propriâ facimus voluntate ad naturae referimus necessitatem we are all tender and favourable to our own sins and because they pleased us when we committed them We are unwilling to revile them now but wipe off as much of their filth as we can because we resolve to commit them again And those transgressions which our lusts conceived and brought forth by the midwifry of our will we remove as far as we can and lay them at the door of necessity are ready to complain of God and Nature it self Now this complaint against Nature when we have sinned is most unjust for God and Nature have imprinted in our Souls those common principles of goodness That good is to be embraced and evil is to be abandoned that we must do to others as we would be done to Those practical notions those anticipations as the Stoicks call them of the mind preparations against sin death which if we did not willfully stifle and choak them might lift up our Souls far above those depressions of Self-love and Covetousness and those evils which destroy us quae ratio semel in universum vincit which Reason with the help of Grace overcometh at
good hath no will at all As because Light is the proper object of seeing that Eye that cannot see the light hath no sight at all But as a blind man whose eyes are covered with a Film hath the faculty of seeing for he hath a Soul and organs of sight for he hath eyes but not the sense of seeing for he doth not see so the sinner hath the faculty of Will for he hath a Soul and the organ of Will for he hath a heart but not the Act of will he doth not will for his heart is hard and strong as the Scripture termeth it harder than the Neather Mill-stone The Regenerate have the first Act of the will to good but they fail in the second they cannot perform it Rom. 7.18 To will is present with me but how to perform that which is good I find not The sinner hath neither the first Act nor the second not a will to do good much less to perform it for to will evil is not exactly evil but an act contrary thereto for which we have no name IV. Because Restrained from his own proper Rule Restraint from proper Rule i. e. the Law of God The Law of God is no Rule to the sinner for he will not be ruled by it nor can he enjoy the benefit of it he opposeth the power of it and will not have it The Carnal mind is enmity against God Rom. 8.7 for he is not subject to the Law of God neither indeed can he he hath disabled himself from keeping it by making the Law impossible to him and himself impossible to the Law But the Sinner is over-ruled by the Will of the Flesh which orders him at pleasure and carries him captive to the Law of sin and sin being contrary to the Law of God must needs be a Law of Slavery for God's Law is a perfect Law of Liberty God's Law is a Royal Law but Sin 's is a Tyrannical Law and every Tyranny is Slavery V. Because Restrained from his proper State to be a Person Restraint from proper State Sin puts man from the Person of man When God formed him after his own Image Sin transformed him after the Image of a Beast and the Scripture brands him with the name of a beast profane a dog Cast not that which is holy unto dogs Mat. 7.6 Mat. 7.15 Beware of false Prophets which come to you in Sheeps cloathing but inwardly they are Ravening Wolves Herod called a Fox Go tell that Fox c. I have fought with beasts at Ephesus after the manner of men i. e. with railing Jews Chrys Theoph. Antichrist termed a Beast with seven Heads and ten Horns Satan the Author of sin called a Serpent or Dragon The Sinner in lower terms sunk to the dead legally dead in sin Let the dead i. e. Sinners bury their dead As Sin is a dead work that goes for no work so Sinner a dead person that goes for no person Restraint from proper Right VI. Because restrained from his proper Right i. e. the propriety of himself Is not Owner Master of himself Sin rules over him as a Lord over a slave Captivity Three waies a man loseth the Right over himself and becomes a slave by Birth by Captivity and by Sale Psal 51. 1. By Birth in sin I was conceived in sin and in iniquity did my Mother bring me forth For as the Rights of the Father so his Losses are conveyed to his Children by birth 2. By Captivity Captivity makes a slave of whom a man is overcome Ro. 7.23 of him he is brought in bondage carried captive to the law of Sin 3. By Sale he sells himself to sin Ahab sold himself to work wickedness in the sight of the Lord. I am sold under sin A sale made by Adam and all his Posterity Constraint to base Actions VII Because constrained to vile and base Actions As to be born in sin is true Bastardy so to commit sin is an act so base as it is all Baseness For as true Nobility consists only in Vertue so true Baseness consists in Vice Gen. 3.14 A Serpent is a base Creature goes basely creeping on his belly fares basely feeding on dust God's Curse An emblem of a Sinner A base service to serve a Beast to feed Swine and not be suffered to eat with them so is a Sinner A menstruous cloth is a base rag such is our righteousness stained with sin How filthy then is our sinfulness The vomit of a Dog is filthy such is Sin as when the Dog returneth to his vomit and the Swine that is washed to her wallowing in the mire The particular acts of Ambition Avarice and Filthiness such as that they must not be named Eph. 5.3 The CONTENTS Sin Satan TITLE XIII Of the Lord of Slavery THE Lord of slavery is Sin Servant of sin Of which sin The Lord of slavery Sin not of that he commits for that is actual sin which is the Sinner's work but the sinner is the servant of sin Original 1. Because sin Original is the lord and makes him a slave to work sin Actual Original sin is indeed in the godly not as a lord Sin shall not have dominion over them for they are not under the Law but under Grace But that sin is in them as a slave over whom they domineer They mortifie and crucifie it and make it a dying sin They that are Christs do crucifie the flesh with the affections and lusts But Original sin is in the sinner as a Lord an Inmate that domineers doth mortifie and crucifie the sinner till he be destroyed 2. Because Original sin restrains him from all his several properties from his proper end Eternal happiness from his proper guide a right Spirit from his proper act of choosing good and refusing evil from his proper rule the Law of God from his proper state a person after God's image from his proper right the propriety and possession of himself and constrains him to actual sins which are vile and base acts If the sinner be thus restrained to be a slave then Original sin that restrains him is his Lord because whatsoever restrains is Lord and Master over him that is restrained 3. Because Original sin reigns over the sinner She is a Tyrant usurping soveraignty and hath her Laws whereby to command him those laws are but several lusts i. e. her arbitrary will and pleasure Let not sin reign in your mortal bodies that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof In the godly it reigns not for they obey it not but in the sinner it reigns for he obeys it his servants ye are to whom ye obey whether it be to Sin or Righteousness If then thou obey Righteousness thou art a free servant but if Sin a bond-slave and the more willingly thou obeyest the more slave thou art II. But the Sinner's chief Lord is Satan The Prince of the Air Eph. 2.2 Satan the
A Commandment carnal and temporal Heb. 7.16 Christ's Priesthood II. In Christ's Priesthood all things were strong and perfect As 1. A Priest strong An immortal God free from sin without succession Gen. 24.19 20. without Father without Mother having the power of the eternal Spirit and of an endless life 2. A Tabernacle strong made without hands eternal in the heavens for all the Elements shall melt with fervent heat but the Holy of Holies the Heaven of Heavens higher than the highest are Eternal 3. Sacrifices strong that did purifie the Conscience and take away sin and were never iterated 4. Aaron stood in the midst of his Sacrifices of Lambs and Bulls and Calves c. before an Altar of Stone or Wood but Christ is the Sacrifice himself and the Priest and Altar Heb. 9.12 20. Not with the blood of Bulls c. but by his own Blood he entred into the Holy place Through the eternal Spirit he offered up himself to God without spot Heb. 9.14 purging our Consciences from dead works to serve the living God One for all 1. No other hands could offer Christ's Blood but his own they were too profane No Priest in the Masse can or ought to offer up Christ he is only worthy to offer up himself 2. No Marble or Golden Altar pure or rich enough to offer Christ upon He offers up himself upon the Altar of his eternal Spirit Through the eternal Spirit he offered up himself to God 3. No Temple stately enough to offer Christ in The whole World is God's Temple The lower World is the outward Court and the higher is the Holy of Holies Christ is the Minister there Heb. 8.2 that sacrifices in that true Tabernacle which the Lord hath pitched and not man and offers himself the True Sacrifice the Lamb slain from the beginning of the VVorld He offered up himself once by his own Blood he entred through the Veil that is to say his Flesh into the true Holy place Heb. 7.27 the Throne and Mercy-Seat of God there to appear in the presence of God for us for ever 4. A Covenant strong and everlasting made upon better Promises I. Typical Redemption from Typical Sins Aaron's Order tends to a Legal Typical Redemption from Legal and Typical Sins as To touch a dead Body to eat Flesh unclean to touch a Leper c. Touch not taste not handle not c. These were no Real sins because these Touchings and Tasting c. did not defile the Soul Not that which goeth into the mouth doth defile the man but that which goeth out of the mouth c. Whether we eat or drink we are not the better or if we eat not we are not the worse The Kingdom of God consisteth not in Meats and Drinks Call nothing Common or Unclean To the Pure all things are pure in their own nature These uncleannesses were in the Flesh only not there really but because of the Prohibition Now the Blood of Bulls and of Goats was sufficient to wash away such sins But as for Real sins in their own nature sinful that defile the Soul such as Murther Adultery Theft Rebellion c. There were no Sacrifices for these at all they were not pardoned the punishment was Death Temporal without Mercy or Restitution or VVhipping c. Now a VVeak Priest was sufficient to offer for such Typical Sins And a weak Tabernacle of Skins or a Temple of Stones was good enough for such Sacrifices as never pleased God in themselves and for such sins as never offended God in themselves but only as forbidden for a time to preserve the greater reverence in an irreverent People and to keep them from Idolatry which they were so prone unto Real Redemption from Real Sins II. Melchisedec's order it works a Real and Eternal Redemption from Real and Eternal Sins and Punishments Sins of thought word and deed that pollute the Conscience as Carelessness VVilfulness Presumption Rebellion Infidelity Malice c. Punishments of a blind mind a hard heart a seared Conscience For these there is provided 1. A Priest of Infinite Dignity 2. A Sacrifice of Infinite Value 3. A Tabernacle of Infinite Holiness 4. A Law of Infinite Perfection 5. An Oath of the Most high God to consecrate an Eternal King Priest and Prophet and to settle Eternity upon that Salvation which was for all men Salvation for all Men. 1. For all men I say whosoever will offer and give themselves up to this Great High Priest and Bishop of our Souls that gave himself up for all 2. For all that will partake of this Sacrifice and Altar by eating the Flesh of Christ and by drinking his Blood For they that offer the Sacrifices are partakers of the Sacrifices 3. For all that wait for the coming forth of this great High Priest out of his Tabernacle the Holy of Holies at the last day For without the People waited for the High Priest while he prayed for them within So we look for Christ's coming out again to bring us into that Holy place which he is gone before into to prepare a place for us Now this offering up of our Selves in and through Christ unto Christ is really by mortifying and crucifying our Corruptions and Lusts This is to be crucified with Christ to die with him to be baptized with him to be buried and rise again with him And this is the great Reformation that Christ made Old things are done away and all things are become New I. Old things are 1. Imperfect Light of Nature Carnal Righteousness 2. Sin 3. Punishment 4. Sacrifices 5. Old Testament 6. Vain Philosophy 7. Temporal Promises 8. Old Man Old Creation Old Birth Flesh 9. Carnal VVorship VVorks c. II. New things are 1. Perfect Light of Grace Spiritual Righteousness 2. Justification 3. Reward 4. Christ's Sacrifice 5. New Testament 6. Christian VVisdom 7. Eternal Salvation 8. New Man New Creature New Birth Spirit 9. Spiritual VVorship Grace SECTION II. From henceforth no New Changes to be made No more Changes 1. In Doctrines as to return to Judaism or Heathenism again 2. In Worships as to return to Sacrifices or set up a systeme of Ceremonies in defiance after God hath pulled down his own Rites From henceforth new Laws call for new Manners Greater obedience due from Christians than from Jews or Heathens and greater thankfulness to God for his wonderful wisdom and mercy in bringing us into this state of Grace and Salvation and for the assistance of his Spirit in all these dispensations of Grace unto glory But stay before we leave speaking of this wonderful Reformation let us consider this great and eternal Change a little better What is all gone say you and nothing at all left no not a hoof of all the Sacrifices and Services that were before No Priest no Law no Sacrifice no Temple no Altar Yes CHRIST is the Priest Sacrifice Temple Altar and his Gospel is the
7.21 by him that said unto him The Lord sware and will not repent thou art a Priest for ever This Oath proves the Matter sworn to be great and immutable as very good and acceptable to God so that the thing must not be altered or undone both in regard of the Oath and of the goodness of it The Priests of Aaron's Order were many and changeable Heb. 7.23 24. but Christ's Priesthood is of one Himself unchangeable For he is in a Divine and blessed Estate in Heaven God blessed for evermore Christ is a Priest after the Order of Melchisedec Heb. 7.1 Because Christ is a Royal Priest and a Singular and Eternal Priest Christ a Royal Priest as Melchisedec was and a Prophet and I dare not say Melchisedec was not so Christ offered up himself in his own Person Christ Priest and Sacrifice Heb. 8.1 being both the Priest and the Sacrifice and by this oblation of Himself once offered he expiated or purged away our sins and the guilt and punishment of them The slaughter of this Sacrifice was made on Earth upon the Cross but the offering of the Sacrifice was made in Heaven at his appearance in the presence of God for us As the Levitical Priest after the Sacrifice was slain without entered into the Sanctuary to offer the blood of it The Levitical Priest when he went into the Oracle where God was said to dwell and sit between the Cherubims did not sit down with God between the Cherubims but stood as a Minister or Waiter with great reverence of the Divine Majesty offering and sprinkling that blood wherewith he entred But Christ ascending up on high and entring into Heaven did not stand before the Throne of God as a Minister or Suppliant but sat himself down at the Right-hand of God's Majesty not as by way of an Assistant to God as Nobles and Counsellers do to Earthly Princes but as a Co-regnant to reign with him having an absolute Kingship over all things 2. Because Christ ministers in the true heavenly Sanctuary Christ ministers in Heaven where God himself doth really and truly dwell There doth Christ minister by executing God's Decrees by ordering heavenly things and whatsoever pertains to God's heavenly worship and service commanded in the New Covenant If Christ were on earth he should not be a Priest at all Heb. 8.4 for there he could not finish his offering because out of his proper Sanctuary which is Heaven For on Earth there are Priests allready which Terrene Priests do offer according to the Law there the shadows of Heavenly things the pattern or sample of them which was shewed to Moses in the Mount SECTION II. The Tabernacle under the first Covenant was imperfect Tabernacle Imperfect 1. Because the Sanctuary where these services were acted Sanctuary a Worldly Manufacture was a worldly Manufacture and the Vessels therein were Handy-works as the Candlestick and the Table and the Shew-bread in the first Vail and in the second or Holiest of all was the Golden Censer and the Ark of the Covenant and the Golden-pot of Manna and Aaron's Rod that budded and the Tables of the Covenant and the Cherubims of Glory shadowing the Mercy-Seat Ordinances Arbitrary 2. Because the Ordinances or Institutions of Divine Service therein were Arbitrary and Positive depending on the sole will and pleasure of the Law-maker in themselves indifferent and might be done any other way but all Services must be performed not after the Servant's pleasure but after the Lord's good-will and liking to whom the Services are done The Priests therefore went into this first Tabernacle to accomplish the daily Service as to burn Incense on the Golden Censer to order the Shew-bread and light up and mend the Lamps c. But into the second went the High-Priest alone once every year at the solemn Fast of Expiation Lev. 16. Not without blood yea with blood only So that the offering was in the Holy of Holies as Christ his offering was in Heaven This offering he made for his own and the Peoples Errors which must needs be many in such variety of Ceremonies and multitudes of other Laws Way to Holiest not made In that no Man might enter into the Most holy place but the High-Priest and he but once a year we may observe hereby the Imperfection of this Old Covenant and the Infelicity of those Times For the Holy Ghost by whose instinct all these things were ordered did hereby signifie That the way into the Holiest of all was not yet made manifest while as the first Tabernacle was yet standing but when this Tabernacle was taken down then the Way to the heavenly Tabernacle lay open and all men rush into it and the Kingdom of heaven suffers violence and the violent take it by force Hence at Christ's Death the Vail of the Temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom to shew that now no man might be kept out from entring into the Holy place Christ first enters the Holy place But first Christ our High-Priest must enter in and hath entred in and thereby opened the Kingdom of Heaven to all Believers Faithful enter at the Last day Into this Heavenly Sanctuary none are actually entred but Christ but all the Faithful have a Right to enter in when they have first put off the rags of their Mortal nature and waited in the Receptacles of Rest appointed for their Souls and Bodies till the Mediator and High Priest call them forth at the Day of Judgment to take possession of that Inheritance which he hath purchased for them saying Come ye Blessed of my Father receive the Kingdom prepared for you SECTION III. Services Imperfect Heb. 9.9 And that these Services were imperfect appears in that they could not make them that did the Services perfect as pertaining to their Consciences to purge away their Sins which polluted their hearts and made them guilty of temporal and eternal Death but served only to purge away those Sins which defiled the Flesh and made the party unclean and liable to Death temporal There wanted therefore a Reformation when all things concerning the true Worship and Service of God should be revealed for the clearing of all Sins and Punishments in this World and that which is to come When this Time came then Christ shewed himself an High-Priest of good things to come i. e. a perfect expiation of all Sins and eternal Redemption for us For if the Blood of Bulls and Goats Heb. 9.13 and the Ashes of an Heifer sprinkling the Unclean sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh how much more shall the Blood of Christ who through the Eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God purge your Consciences from dead works to serve the living God And all this was done in Heaven where he offered by his Eternal Spirit and power of and Endless life living for ever to make Intercession for his People For the purging
for sin Who needeth not daily as those High Priests to offer up Sacrifice first for his own sins and then for the Peoples for this he did once Heb. 7.17 when he offered up himself For the Law maketh men High-Priests which have infirmity but the Word of the Oath which was since the Law maketh the Son who is consecrated for ever more Heb. 9.7.11 But into the second went the High-Priest alone once every year not without blood which he offered for himself and for the Errors of the People But Christ being come an High-Priest of good things to come by a greater and more perfect Tabernacle not made with hands that is to say not of this building neither by the blood of Goats and Calves but by his own blood he entred once into the Holy Place having obtained eternal Redemption for us Christ hath suffered once for our sins 1 Pet. 3.18 the just for the unjust that he might bring us to God being put to death in the flesh but quickened in the Spirit 1. Because of the All-sufficiency of this one Sacrifice in perfecting Reason 1 for ever them that are sanctified so that there needs no Remembrance of Sins any more Christ being the Author and Finisher and the Captain of our Salvation made perfect through his Sufferings 2. Because if Christ had offered more than once he should have broke Reason 2 off his first appearance before God in Heaven and gone out again out of that Sanctuary and then have re-entred or come in again for the same purpose which he shall never do till the Resurrection when he shall come about another business of Judgment belonging to his Mediatorship and to bring those into the Sanctuary for whom he hath once and for ever made way by the offering of his blood in Heaven once shed upon Earth thereby opening the Kingdom of Heaven to all Believers 3. Because that which being once done is of Eternal Vertue cannot Reason 3 needs not be iterated 4. Because Christ entred into the Sanctuary by his blood and the blood Reason 4 of Life can be shed but once for It is appointed for all men but once to dye and after death the judgment so Christ once entred Heb. 9.27 28. and shall never enter more till he go out at the last day and enter again after his Judgment to give possession of the Kingdom of Heaven saying come ye blessed Children of my Father receive the Kingdom of Heaven prepared for you from the beginning of the world In that Christ dyed he dyed unto sin once but in that he liveth he liveth unto God And Christ being raised from the dead death hath no more Dominion over him Reason 5 5. Because Christ bore our Sins and Punishments once upon Earth therefore not in Heaven for there he offered himself without spot and blameless ie without Sin or Punishment for that is no place for Sins and Sorrows or Infirmities to enter into for flesh and blood and no unclean thing can enter into that Holy place But all sins and all uncleannesses are done away by virtue of this One offering of Christ once and for ever SECTION VI. In Heaven Heb. 9.24 c. Christ offered himself in Heaven It was therefore necessary that the Patterns of things in the Heavens should be purified with these but the Heavenly things themselves with better Sacrifices than these For Christ is not entred 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 Nor yet that he should offer himself often as the High-Priest entreth into the Holy Place every year with Blood of others c. But once hath he appeared in the end of the World to put away Sin by the Sacrifice of himself Heb. 8.1 c. We have such an High-Priest as is set at the Right hand of the Throne of the Majesty in the Heavens a Minister of the Sanctuary and of the True Tabernacle which the Lord pitched and not Man For every High-Priest is ordained to offer Gifts and Sacrifices wherefore it is of Necessity that this Man have somewhat also to offer For if he were on Earth he should not be a Priest for he hath nothing to offer nor was he to enter into the Holy of Holies seeing that there are Priests that offer Gifts according to the Law who serve unto the Example and Shadow of Heavenly things as Moses was admonished of God See thou do all things according to the Pattern shewed to thee in the Mount Heb. 9.7 c. Into the second went the High-Priest alone once every year not without Blood which he offered for himself and for the Errors of the People The Holy Ghost this signifying that the way into the Holiest of all was not yet made manifest while as the first Tabernacle was yet standing Which was a Figure for the time then present in which were offered both Gifts and Sacrifices that could not make him that did the Service perfect as pertaining to the Conscience Which stood only in Meats and Drinks and divers Washings and Carnal Ordinances imposed on them until the time of Reformation But Christ being come an High-Priest of Good things to come by a greater and more perfect Tabernacle not made wich hands that is to say not of this Building Neither by the Blood of Bulls Goats and Calves but by his own Blood he entred once into the Holy Place having obtained Eternal Redemption for us For if the Blood of Bulls and of Goats and the Ashes of an Heifer sprinkling the Unclean sanctifieth to the purifying of the Flesh How much more shall the Blood of Christ who through the Eternal Spirit offered himself to God without spot purge your Consciences from dead works to serve the Living God Wherefore when he cometh into the World he saith Sacrifice and Burnt-offering thou wouldest not but a Body hast thou prepared me Heb. 10.5 c. In Burnt-offerings and Sacrifices for sin thou hast had no pleasure Then said I Lo I come in the Volume of the Book it is written of me to do thy Will O God he taketh away the first that he may establish the second By the which Will we are sanctified through the offering of the Body of Jesus Christ once for all And every Priest standeth daily ministring and offering oftentimes the same Sacrifices which can never take away sins but this Man after he had offered one Sacrifice for Sins for ever sate down at the Right hand of God from henceforth expecting till his Enemies be made his Footstool The High-Priest in the Law stood and offered the Blood he brought with him and stood trembling and sprinkling till he went out But Christ after he had stood offering his own Blood sate down boldly having ended his oblation of Himself and began his Intercession and Advocation for others and his Protection and Rule over all things for
let us go on to perfection not laying again the foundation of Repentance from dead works and of Faith towards God of the Doctrine of Baptisms and of laying on of Hands and of resurrection of the dead and of eternal judgment and this we will do if God permit Gal. 3.23 Before Faith came we were kept under the Law shut up unto the Faith which should afterwards be revealed Wherefore the Law was our Schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ that we might be justified by Faith But after that Faith is come we are no longer under a School-master For ye are all the children of God by Faith in Christ Jesus Gal. 4.1 c. Now I say that the Heir as long as he is a Child differeth nothing from a Servant though he be Lord of all but is under Tutours and Governours until the time appointed of the Father Even so we when we were Children were in bondage under the Elements of the world But when the Fulness of the Time was come God sent forth his Son made of a Woman made under the Law to redeem them that were under the Law that we might receive the adoption of Sons And because ye are Sons God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts crying Abba Father Wherefore thou art no more a Servant but a Son and if a Son then an Heir of God through Christ Howbeit then when ye knew not God ye did service unto them which by Nature are no Gods But now after that ye have known God or rather are known of God How turn ye again to the weak and beggarly Elements whereunto ye desire again to be in bondage Ye observe days and months and times and years I am afraid of you lest I have bestowed upon you labour in vain Gal. 3.3 Are ye so foolish having begun in the Spirit are ye now made perfect by the Flesh Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free and be not entangled again with the yoke of Bondage As free 1 Pet. 2 1â— and not using your liberty for a cloak of maliciousness but as the servants of God Honour all men Love the brethren Fear God Honour the King Be subject to every Ordinance of man for the Lord's sake and for Conscience sake For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear but ye have received the spirit of Adoption whereby ye crie Abba Father All things are lawful 1 Cor. 2.6 12. but I will not be brought under the power of any Time was when there was no greater light of Knowledg to be given than was given nor hearts of apprehension greater than to receive such knowledg But now there are greater lights and greater capacity of Minds and greater helps of the Spirit to comprehend greater wisdom and if they do not comprehend them it must needs be their own fault The Prophets had a glimmering of this Light but especially he that was called the Prophet of the Highest Luk. 1.78 c. that went before the face of the Lord to prepare his ways to give knowledg of salvation unto his people by the remission of their sins Through the tender mercy of our God whereby the Day-spring from on high hath visited us To give light to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death to guide our feet into the way of Peace This Great man stood and peeped in at the door of the Gospel and saw more of this light than any that went before him but less than any that came after him For since that God hath poured out of his spirit upon all Flesh and their Sons and Daughters have prophecied their old men have dreamed dreams and the young men have seen visions and the people are all taught of God the Kingdom of Heaven is taken by violence and all men rush into it The Standard of the Gospel is set up upon the top of Mount Sion displayed and seen of all and all Nations are invited to flow into it 4. Besides all this teaching we have the learning of our own Experience what the world is and how we have found it to our selves which in our greatest Necessities hath ever left us in the lurch and is allways flux and wavering and we may presume it ever will be so and therefore if we will still leave the wisdom of God and cleave to the wisdom of the world trusting to that which was never to be trusted it is our own fault and we must take that that comes of it Obj. Who can be perfectly spiritual Ans We may aspire to perfection and be spiritual though not perfectly spiritual Eph. 4.11 c. Wherefore God hath given some Apostles and some Prophets and some Evangelists and some Pastours and Teachers for the perfecting of the Saints for the work of the Ministery for the edifying of the Body of Christ till we all come to the unity of the Faith and of the knowledg of the Son of God unto a perfect Man unto the Measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ We may be spiritual at the first though not perfectly spiritual till the last Phil. 3.12 c. Not as though I had already attained either were already perfect but I follow after that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus Brethren I count not my self to have apprehended but this one thing I do forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forth unto those things which are before I press toward the mark for the price of the High Calling of God in Christ Jesus Let us therefore as many as be perfect be thus minded And if in any thing ye be otherwise minded God shall reveal even this unto you Nevertheless whereto we have already attained let us walk by the same rule 1 Cor. 4.4 let us mind the same things For I know nothing by my self yet am I not thereby justified Be ye therefore perfect as your Heavenly Father is perfect Obj. Outward Service at this rate will be slighted 1 Cor. 6.19 20. Ans No we are taught that our Body is the Temple of the Holy Ghost which is in us which we have of God and we are not our own for we are bought with a price therefore we must glorifie God in our Body and in our Spirit which are the Lord 's I beseech you therefore Brethren by the Mercies of God that you present your Bodies a living Sacrifice holy acceptable unto God Rom. 12.1 2. which is your reasonable Service And be ye not conformed to this World but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind that ye may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God And therefore we are taught to yield freely to a few harmless easie significant Bodily Rites for order and decency and for uniformity and peace sake and for Conscience sake of our duty which we owe to
and formality And these only are the works that are the Tenure of my Justification by Faith These supernatural and superlegal works of the Gospel that flow from a pure heart and make a Christian perfect and conformable to his Redeemer will find acceptation at the last day when the Sentence shall be pronounced saving Come ye Blessed Children of my Father inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the World for I was an hungred and ye gave me meat I was thirsty and ye gave me drink I was a Stranger Mat. 25.34 and ye took me in naked and ye clothed me I was sick and ye visited me I was in prison and ye came unto me And in as much as ye did it to one of these least of my Brethren ye have done it unto me And for default of these Evangelical Works the Sentence will be pronounced accordingly Depart from me ye workers of iniquity for I know ye not The CONTENTS Faith Notions of Faith Credence Trust Promise given Promise taken Re-promise Courage Hope Covenant Faith in Christ Christ the Conveyer of Faith Christ the Author of Faith Declaring God's Will Proving God's Will Testament ad pias causas Physical operation Moral operation Saving Faith Means of Faith A new Heart TITLE VII Of the Instrument of Justification FAith is a thing indefinite so high and universal Faith as that it hath no genus above it to define it by And Faith is a thing so notable and so well known that there are not words more known whereby to express and teach the Nature of it Such are the transcendent words Deus Ens Unum Verum Bonum which every body knows but no body is able to define SECT I. Certain * Notions of Faith Notions or Cases may be layd down as signs or marks to breed a competent understanding thereof 1. An †High esteem of God high esteem of God's Existence Greatness and Goodness is Faith in God for Faith is opposed to despising or having a low and base esteem of weakness and badness of any Person 2. An ‖ Acceptance of promises V. Ro. 10.9 1 Joh. 15.10 Mat. 9.28 Math. 21.32 Mat. 9.23 24. Joh. 5.24 Joh. 20.31 Acts 8.37 Rom. 4.3 Heb. 11.2 Jam. 1.6 7. Mat. 11.23 24. Joh. 1.12 Hebr. 11.13 Heb. 12.25 Joh. 12.48 Luc. 7.30 Substance of things hoped c. Evidence of things not seen acceptance of God's Promise is Faith as obedience to God's Precepts is works God by his promise willeth unto us two distinct things 1. A present Right to the Blessing promised 2. A future possession And then answerable to both these God requires 1. an Acceptance or taking of the present right to the Blessing promised 2. an expectance or trusting to the future possession of it The acceptance is Faith the expectance Hope the refusal unbelief The Non-expectance despair God's promise is Faith given our acceptance is Faith taken 3. The substance of things hoped for is faith i. e. where things hoped for that really do subsist in their own Natures do spiritually subsist as to us and where things truly to come as to us though in present being as to themselves are made as present virtually to us there is Faith 4. The evidence of things not seen is Faith i. e. where there is a sight in spirit of things not yet to be seen as they are in themselves there is Faith Credence 1. Faith is vulgarly taken for Credence Credulity or Belief upon the credit or report of one that is worthy to be believed An assent to a truth in point of Law or fact opposed to unbelief Trust 2. Faith is taken for trust or confidence hope assurance or reliance upon the honesty authority and power of another opposed to distrust Promise given 3. Faith is taken for a promise made Do fidem an engagement to do such or such a thing An obligation or tye opposed to disengagement or Liberty Promise taken 4. Faith is taken for a promise taken or embraced Accipio fidem an acceptance an obligation to take the thing offered opposed to rejection or refusal Re-promise 5. Faith is taken for a re-promise or responsion a League Covenant Alliance or Fief Homage Allegiance Loyalty Performance opposed to disloyalty and treachery a keeping of Faith fidelity faithfulness God is faithful Men faithful Courage 6. Faith is taken for Courage Heart valour opposed to fear Why are ye fearful O ye of little Faith Hope 7. Faith is taken for a Hope or looking for things to come as those worthies Hebr. 11. who lived by Faith and died in Faith having not received the promises but afar off believing that they should presentially receive them SECT II. Covenant But the principal acception of Faith I humbly conceive as to our purpose is a Covenanting with God A mutual making and keeping promise by both parties giving taking and keeping Covenant with each other By our faith or stipulation with God comes our justification or right to the things covenanted for for God to give and us to receive By our fidelity or faithfulness to God comes our sanctification or maintaining of the right to the things covenanted for by good works Faith actually given is crediting or trusting with the things bestow'd Faith passively received is to be credited or trusted with the things taken Faith performed or kept is the discharge of the credit or trust imposed by the giver to the receiver and of the giver himself each is faithful to promise give receive and keep 1. God's promise is his sponsion or faith given a single act of his will to devise to us a present right to a future inheritance 2. The Access of our acceptation of God's promise is our responsion or faith taken A single act of our will to embrace this present right to a future inheritance and to repromise to keep what is given to take and commanded to do 3. This consent of wills of giving and receiving makes a perfect Covenant whereby God and Man are sure to each other and mutually obliged as in all Contracts to each other For faith is that that binds both God and Man Law binds not God but Man only Because God is above his Law and may change it but God is not above his faith and promises he cannot change them Search then and see if there be any evidence or conveyance that can create a better right or settlement for any Estate in Heaven or Earth between God or Man than Faith can do 1. God binds himself by promise and oath as he is the Creator and Lord promising of and for himself and swearing by and for himself and more than all this takes his death by substitution of Christ upon it 2. Man binds himself by promise and oath to God as he is his Creature and Vassal then he binds himself over again in his Baptism as he is his Creature and Heir and takes his death upon it by
my poor wife and Children for I know my doom and accordingly am hastening as I am driven into Hell And I can expect no help from thee And this he expressed with a sedate mind as one that was earnestly going a journey The example of Francis Spira is fearful although there were not wanting some signs of hopes in him Alas the Church of Rome is a sad Mother leading her Children in a Maze affording them no assurance in Life or Death 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for the most part her Teachers deny the certainty of Salvation unless it be to some choice and eminent Saints and that not without a special Revelation As for others they have but poor hopes Yet Ambrosius Catharinus and Martin Eisengenius incline to the orthodox judgment Catharinus and Sotus oppose one another and Vega both The sense of the Council of Trent is versatile like the Oracles of Apollo Some were for a revealed Assurance some for no Assurance at all Some confessed ingeniously their ignorance in the point SECT I. 1. Doctrines of Masses c. The subtilty of maintaining this Doctrine of the uncertainty of Faith is contrived to uphold the Doctrine of Masses Dirges Indulgences Purgatory visiting of Saints Shrines c. such filthy gains as they daily make by such delusions which otherwise would altogether come tumbling down headlong to the ruin of the Politick Church One of them saith I have many a time and often visited the sick M. Eisenc and them that have died and no Man can say of me but that after they had declared their repentance and Faith I exhorted them with all diligence to have an undanted and certain confidence He farther saith That all the chiefest Divines of the World taught the same Doctrine ever since the Apostles daies So say Fisher of Rochester Gropper the Divines of Colen Ruard Dean of Lovain Castalius Vega c. So forcible is the Truth that falls from the mouths and pens of those that unreasonably oppose it SECT II. Doctrine of no Salvation without the Pale of the Church 2. The subtilty of maintaining the Doctrine of the certainty of Faith and absolute Assurance of eternal Justification is invented to uphold as the Doctrine of the Romish Church no hope of salvation without the Pale of that Church so to maintain the Doctrine of other Selected Churches of no hope of salvation without the narrow precincts of their several Conventicles So that as the Great Vicar holds the Keyes of Heaven and Hell at his girdle and hath all his Children at his beck even so the Petty-Vicars pin their Election or Reprobation on their sleeves And make their Subjects admire or fear their favours or frowns and dare not stir or budge from them upon pain of eternal damnation This Great and Lordly one over God's free People and Inheritance makes them 1. Slaves in their Judgments to believe all that their Grand Superintendents magisterially dictate unto them though it be never so absurd painful and costly 2. Slaves in their Persons to ride go or row dig or torl in the Gallies or Mines like Beasts or any other slavish and foolish actions even to Planting and watering of a dry stick to try their obedience To marry into what Families they please to enrich the Church or State 3. Slaves in their Estates to give all they have at or before their death from their Parents Children or Kinsmen Friends to Strangers of their own Sect. SECT III. Doctrine of lying still in Sin 3. The subtilty of this Doctrine of maintaining the Certainty of Faith and absolute Assurance of Eternal Justification is invented by Satan as his greatest stratagem to make him who is his vassal and lives in sin to believe that he is the Child of God and in the state of Grace that he may commit sin and not be the servant of sin but have his share in Christ An Assurance without a Warrant from the Spirit subscribed with the hands of Flesh and Bloud Perfection we would learn and pretend to attain it without ever learning to attain it by working it out with fear and trembling and making our Calling and Election sure Freedom we like but not to be restrained by the Laws of Christ which makes perfect Freedom Assurance we build upon but never build up our Assurance SECT IV. Imputed Righteousness We dare to talk of the imputed Righteousness of Christ while we have no real Righteousness of our own Boast of God's Spirit and Grace while we grieve the one and turn the other into wantonness This we call appearing clothed in our Elder Brother's Robes or as Jacob did we may steal away his Blessing Thus the Adulterer may say I am chast with Christ's chastity the Drunkard I am sober with Christ's temperance the Covetous I am poor with Christ's poverty the Revenger I forgive with Christ's charity The irregenerate and voluptuous dead in trespasses and sins I am born again mortified crucified dead and buried in Christ and with Christ Sen. Calvisius Sabinus fancied that he did every good work which his Servants did If they were Poets Orators Artificers c. he was all this So we say what Christ did we do what he suffered we suffer though we never so much as do or suffer any thing like him Therefore as Seneca said of that Grand Opimator I never saw a Man whose happiness did less become him So may it well be said of these who like Men clothed in Lions Skins or Owls with the Feathers of other Birds Their borrow'd Graces and Vizards do full ill become them their gay apparel sits ill upon them We talk of applying the promises to our selves which they may do that as enemies to the Cross of Christ never perform any one of them The applying of the promises of Christ is not a speculative but a practical thing an act much rather of the Will than of the Understanding If we keep God's word the promises will apply themselves when the Will of Man is subject to the Will of God The Blessing of God will fall like dew from Heaven of it self If we walk according to God's Rule God's Grace Mercy and Peace shall be upon us and upon the Israel of God If we put on the Lord Jesus Christ by imitation of his Righteousness obedience and Love in this his likeness he will own us and approve of us SECT V. 1. We may not think uncharitably Collections Uncharitableness that every one that is not of our Sect though he be an honest Man and feareth God is a Reprobate by the same uncharitable Rule they may think the same of us who differ just as much from us as we do from them and are as confident of their being in the right as we are of our being in the right 2. We may not think that our judgment of our own Estate or our Enemies judgment of our Estate shall be the rule by which God will proceed to judg both
dispensation of the Gospel God hath now in a great measure left frighting of men to heaven by visible terrors The Law of the Messias was delivered upon the Mount in the small and still voice and is set home upon the hearts of men by the terrour only of a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Matth. 23.14 a more heavy vengeance in another world than what overtook the despisers of Moses Law God expects now that we should be judiciously religious and acted to his service by a spirit of love and of a sound mind to fear his threatning more than the burnings of Sinai to look upon a bad man since the appearance of Christ to take away sin as the greatest prodigy and to expect the signs of an approaching Judgment non in Erratis naturae sed Saeculi Id. ib. p. 18. Fanaticks Now we shall ever find that all Persons which take up Opinions from their own poetical genius and busie fancy are impregnable to all the assaults of reason The Rosicrucians acted so hugely by imagination in Philosophy Some kind of Chymists in Medicks The Cabalists in Scripture Expositions Enthusiasts in Religion Figure-casters in Astrology are so invincibly resolved upon their Hypotheses that like him in the story when their hands those little reasonings wherewith they hold them are cut off they will mordicùs defendere hold them with their teeth biting and reviling language thrown upon their opposers and neglecters They are entertained with pleasant and easie dreams and therefore angry with those that attempt to awaken them and discompose them Ib. p. 19. As the assistance of God the Spirit with our holy endeavours doth not take away the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the weaknesses attendant on Christian practises because he acts us ad modum nostrum so neither doth the Co-assistance of God the Father with all natural Agents quite remove the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Errours of Nature Ib. p. 23. Terrible Representations of God The opinion of Prodigies represents God before the Soul with a rod of Vengeance perpetually in his hand A Belief of a God is that Fort which the Devil could never storm force by any direct temptation and therefore he designs by such terrible and servile conceits wrought in the hearts of men to undermine it For perpetual jealousies and slavish fears of God like over-heated waters boyl over at last and extinguish that fire that faith and sense of God which first produc't them When the Notion of a Deity stands alway before the mind like a Gorgons head pregnant with nothing but horrours and dismaies it quickly works and turns it to a stony stupid neglect of him so to get rid of that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that mighty Fear which was its continual Executioner Moreover the Devil no doubt loves to bring men off from a noble and generous temper And as it is the design of Religion to cast out fear and to introduce a spirit of true freedom and confidence toward God so it is the work of the Devil to call on a spirit of Bondage and Fear that so he see may in men the more lively and express images and pourtraictures of himself who believes and trembles He would have his Rites of Worship of old 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 frightful and amazing mysteries the Idols wherein he was worshipped bear in their very Names and Titles a remembrance of that Baseness and Servility of spirit which attended his Votaries in the service of so absolute a Tyrant being styled sometimes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 horrours Is 40 5. Jer. 50.38 Ps 106.36 as 't is rendred in the Margin 2 Chron. 15.16 sometimes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifying trouble and terrour and the Devils are styled 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 coming from a word which signifies horrour because usually tendring themselves to view in the most frightful forms Now this Superstitious perswasion of Prodigies doth hugely minister to bondage of Spirit and tends to seal men with the mark of Cain according to the Jews a perpetual Trembling and Astonishment P. 24. That which possibly assisted this Tradition was the succeeding of Rome Christian as into the place so into very many of the Rites and usages of Rome Pagan as might be easily made appear at large were that our business and into as large a power over the Faiths and Consciences of men as Rome Pagan had over their Bodies and so was enabled to mold them into what Opinions or Practises they might best serve themselves upon Ib. p. 29. As in Heresie Populus sequitur Doctiores ☜ Popular Errors the People follow the Learned as being in a matter more abstract and subtil more apt to believe than to judge so in Superstition Doctiores sequuntur Populum the Learned are not seldom observed to follow the People because early surprized into an opinion that can enter so valuable a plea for its self as common Consent This Notion of presages by Prodigies being so popular and Catholick Wise men in their first and unwary years when they are Discipuli Plebis may entertain conceits thereof which shall plead prescription against the strongest reasons to dispossess them As Iron in a greater and more massie body sequitur Naturam communem follows the Law of common Nature in all heavy bodies and moves to the earth but in smaller pieces sequitur Naturam privatam it follows its own private Nature and directs it self to the Load-stone Thus Learned men where they are prest by the force and weight of Education and a Common prejudice generally follow common Nature in men which inclines to embrace Society and therefore more in Judgment Secundum viam Terrae but in matters out of vulgar ken and where they cannot be tempted by a common Agreement they move Secundum viam Consilii and pursue the dictates of their private light and understanding Even wise men in many instances held Aras Focos their Faith and their Estates by the same Tenure Tradition from Ancestours and therefore we may receive their Judgments tanquam ex Cathedrâ as engagements to consider not alwaies tanquam ex Tripode as obligations to believe Ib. p. 39. They look upon their Gods as a kind of Fairies which would throw Firebrands and Furies about the house for the omission of some petty Criticisms in their Rites and that therefore they gave forth frequent intimations of those impotencies and distastes They thought they were lost with a Trifle and won again to a good opinion of them by paying them the homage of a little crouching and circumstantial Devotion ☞ Fathers not all pure To the Testimony of Fathers I answer in general That 't were no wonder to find them living so near the times of Gentilism speaking in favour sometimes for some of the Doctrines thereof The main trunk and body of the Gentile Superstition was indeed hewen down in their minds but still there were some small roots and fibres remaining which are observed to spring up ever