such an Act of Faith interfere with our free Justification 5thly We say That the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 credere or Faith as our Act justifies no Man tho we allow the instrumentality of it in Justification as that by which we apprehend the Object Jesus Christ by whom alone we are justified When we say we are justified by Faith we mean no more but this That we are justified by Christ received and applied does it therefore follow we are not justified by Christ alone Did we well consider the Nature of Faith in its Principle and Relative Essence and also in its manner of acting we should better understand the matter and clearly see that Faith excludes all Works even it s own Act out of Justification Tho it self be the Act of a Man wrought in him by God yet 't is an Act so subservient to free Grace so intirely falling in with it that it does not in the least derogate from it but declares to all the World that Christ is the Sinners only Righteousness and leaves him relying upon Christ only for his Justification This is the meaning this is the sense of an Act of Faith Novel Expressions are apt to beget strange novel Opinions and therefore we should have a care of them Faith well acted upon Christ will never injure the free Grace of God why should we run up our Regeneration and Iustification into such ignote beginnings before Faith which we can give no account of to our selves or others before we believe I see not of what use this is to soar aloft beyond the Knowledg and Experience of all Christians let us not be wise above what is written I am yet upon the Manner of Regeneration and all preparatory Works naturally running into the manner of Conversion or Regeneration I shall a little consider them The best way to understand the manner of doing a thing is by observing all Preparations made for it all Praeludiums or Introductions in order to it therefore it will be necessary to look a little into the nature of these Preparatives which some lay too great a stress upon limiting the Spirit of God to their own unscriptural Methods and Error is soon committed here We may run upon the Merit of Congruity ere we are aware if we don't hold the Ballance of Truth with an even hand keeping close to the Genius and Spirit of the Gospel in all that we say of this matter which I shall reduce to these following Heads shewing you 1. What Preparatory works are 2. Whether there be any such certain Preparatory works always antecedently necessary to Conversion and what they are how they are all comprehended under Conviction of sin 3. That the Law is of excellent use to work this Preparatory Conviction 4. That there is Law enough taken into the Gospel to do this 5. That the Law is to be Preached but never alone by it self without any mention of Gospel-Grace 6. We must not limit the Spirit of God to such or such degrees of Humiliation Repentance Contrition or Terror Upon these Hinges my whole Discourse will turn If any Word or Phrase I shall use be not to your liking you may please your selves with your own way of Expression and speak your own language if we agree in Principles and understand the same thing as I hope we shall it matters not much whether we express it in the same manner I shall keep to the method proposed and not mingle things unless it be when one Particular may borrow light from another then a looser joint discovery does best 1. What Preparatory Works are In the Sense of those who contend most for them they are certain previous Dispositions wrought in the Soul in order to Conversion yet short of Conversion it self Here are Two Opinions about this Some would have these Preparatory Works to be Saving Works I grant eventually they may be and are so sometimes but not being always so I see not how that can be called Saving under which a Soul may eternally perish or how any Saving Work can be wrought in any before they are in Christ. The Second Opinion more agreeable to Truth is of those who call these Preparatory Works yet common Works of the Spirit but always further carried on in all elect adult Persons till at last they issue in true Conversion Here we agree but for those who place this Preparatory work in such and such certain degrees of Humiliation and Contrition affirming That Conversion is not ordinarily wrought any other way than by those Legal Steps not one of which is to be bated this needs some Explication Of which more anon That God does by his Word by his Spirit by his Providence prepare all his Elect for Conversion I no way doubt but how this is done whether God does observe the same way manner and method in this Preparatory work in all that are converted as he may do in some is not so clear to me 2. Whether according to Scripture there are any such certain Preparatory Works always antecedently necessary to Conversion and what they are how they are all comprehended under Conviction of sin whether Repentance Humiliation Contrition Terror This Conviction of sin must be presupposed in all who come to Christ for Pardon The whole need not a Physitian Here we must distinguish between initial and compleat Conversion I mean between Conversion begun and Conversion rising up to a sensible Closure with Christ Conviction of Sin is always antecedent to an act of Faith upon Christ for the Pardon of sin at least it must be concomitant with it else there can be no reason given of a sinner's coming to Christ but that such or such a degree of Humiliation Contrition c. is always pre-required unto Conversion I cannot say that Conversion is a sudden secret work of God upon the Soul as the Wind blows c. If we observe how the Spirit comes upon sinners where it lists of all sorts and tempers of all conditions and circumstances drawing their hearts to Christ we shall find it a hard matter to give this Preparatory work any certain particular name I am persuaded 't is very various and different it may be not altogether the same in any two that are converted therefore to lay down a preparatory work in all its circumstances common to all that are converted is very dangerous that which hath occasioned this is mens dwelling upon a distinct work of the Law as a School-master to Christ because the Iews of old were trained up under a legal administration of the Gospel therefore the whole work was then ascribed to the Law whereas the Law was never separately propounded to the Iews but always in some dark Typical Conjunction with the Gospel tho they did not see to the end of those things yet these Types Shadows and Ceremonies had a Gospel-end What tho there was a Legal Discipline in the Church of the Old Testament This is no warrant for us to set
of God by Reason bringing down all spiritual Expressions to the level of Man's Understanding And if no more be intended by them things are strangely worded in the Bible 't is not the manner of men to speak so to cloath their natural Notions with such Phrases and Words peculiar only to the Scriptures as do not at all symbolize with any mere humane conception and therefore must needs signifie something higher something beyond all that ever entred into the heart of a Natural Man if not then farewel all Revealed Religion it seems nothing is revealed in Scripture but mere words Natural Theology is the thing into which all Scripture must be interpreted all the use we are to make of the Scriptures according to them is only to borrow some peculiar words and expressions as so many new Terms of Art appropriated to Religion by Divine Authority What a strange conceit is this to borrow from the Scriptures new Bottles to put our old Wine into our Sense into Gods word so spoiling both God's Words are too big for our sense and our sense too low and mean to fill up such high Expressions which can never by any rule of speech be brought down and contracted to so narrow a signification so that whilst we accommodate the Word of God to our own false Conceptions of Divine Things we understand neither God nor our selves we think absurdly and speak improperly But those who understand the pure Lauguage of the Gospel they see a suitableness between the Words of the Holy Ghost and the things of the Holy God. I have read to you out of my Text the Words of the Holy Ghost 't is God only who must shew both you and me the thing it self intended and meant by these words And now to come a little nearer let me begin with the Context Iohn 3. 3. One would have thought the high Opinion Nicodemus had of Christ ver 2. As a teacher come from God a worker of miracles and one whom God was with And Christs earnestness in asserting the truth of what he laies down so positively ver 3. under a solemn Asseveration that it was certainly so should have led Nicodemus to the belief of what Christ affirmed but 't is not the Opinion we have of the Preacher nor his earnestness in Preaching nor the certain truth of what he delivers will perswade us to receive this Doctrine of Regeneration till God enlighten our minds and give us experience of the thing in our selves Observe All natural Men have strange gross Apprehensions of the Doctrine of Regeneration Nicodemus applies all that Christ said to natural Generation mistakes the Mystery of the new Birth not comparing Spiritual things with Spiritual but with Natural He cannot rise higher than a natural Generation and thinks that must be repeated in Regeneration if any such thing be though never so often repeated 't is still the same thing done the same way by entring the second time c. And how can a man be born when he is old But suppose there were such a thing as a natural Regeneration in Nicodemus's Sense this would not mend the matter in making us more fit for Heaven for we should be sent again into the World in the same corrupt Nature as we had before whatever is born of the Flesh is but Flesh still omne simile generat simile therefore a natural Regeneration supposes no change but reproduces a man in the same State Form and Nature as he had before If a Man were ten thousand times Born naturally he would be the same Man still But the Regeneration Christ speaks of makes him a new man and therefore could not be by entring a second time into his mothers womb Nicodemus knows nothing of any such new Birth that should bring forth a new Kind or Race of Men into the World of a different Genius Complexion and Principle from all that are Born of a Woman but because the Scripture does so plainly speak of such a thing they who read the Word dare not deny it altogether and therefore place the whole Mystery of it in external Baptism do suppose it always compleated there of course and will hear no more of it ever after they count it absurd to call upon grown baptized Persons especially old Men and Women to labour after a Regeneration that they think is past and over long ago when they were baptized Observe None but a regenerate Person understands the true nature of Regeneration Others can never reach it because they don't feel it in themselves 't is a personal Change wrought in every individual Saint men may see our outward Profession our outward Walking our Praying Hearing Preaching our Moral and Religious Practices but the Principle from which we Act and by which we are carried out in all these things is infallibly known to none but God and our own Souls we may search into our own Hearts so far as to discern this new Birth and we should not rest till we have found it out That we might the better understand the Nature of Regeneration let us consider the several Names given it in Scripture Regeneration Renovation New Creation Conversion are Synonimous terms in Scripture and do all signify the same thing do all imply the Corruption of Mans Nature that produceth nothing but what is like it self how specious soever it may seem to be 't is but Flesh therefore all fleshly Wisdom Beauty and Glory must be mortified and abolished the Scripture calls for a new Birth a new Creation after the Image of God that Man may be enabled to do good created in Christ Iesus unto good works Ephes. 2. 10. Baptism is the Sign and Symbol of Regeneration and does imply the thing it self when the inward Work of the Spirit goes along with the outward washing of Water which it does not always do this Wind bloweth where it listeth Regeneration is of a larger Extent and Signification than Justification and Sanctification 't is initially all that belongs to a state of Grace 't is fully described Tit. 3. 5. by washing and renewing there is a double washing from Sin. First From the guilt of it by the blood of Christ 1 Iohn 1. 7. Rev. 1. 5. Rev. 7. 14. This washing is Justification therefore called Baprism unto remission of sin Mark 1. 4. Acts 2. 38. Gal. 3. 27. This is Baptism unto Justification by the blood of Christ. Secondly From the filth of sin by the Spirit of Christ 1 Cor. 6. 11. 1 Cor. 12. 13. This is commonly called Regeneration Tit. 3. 5. Ioh. 3. 4 Born of water this is baptism unto sanctification Rom. 6. 3 4. Col. 2. 12. These two internal Washings are always joyned together 1 Cor. 6. 11. the one perfect the other imperfect Justification in nature only precedes Sanctification and being the Act of God upon us and towards us is perfect but in Sanctification God takes us along with him we concur in every Act of Sanctification he works in us to
sin Ans. 1. Christ joins himself to nothing but the New Creature holds Communion with nothing else in the Saints Light has no Communion with darkness nor Christ with Belial Nay he does not so much hold Communion with us as takes us into Communion with himself 2. This Communion between Christ and Believers is carried on and manag'd on both sides by the Holy Spirit and therefore must needs be a Holy Communion 3. The design of Christ in uniting us to himself is to cleanse us from all sin to purge them quite out and to sanctifie us wholly in Body Mind and Spirit The Spirit of Christ is a Spirit of Burning it consumes by degrees all that is contrary to it self in our Persons and will at last make us exactly conformable to himself we shall bear the image of the Heavenly Adam and take after the perfect Human Nature of Christ i. e. Human Nature in us tho it is now corrupted yet when Regeneration has had its perfect work upon us it shall even in our Persons be reduced to that Rectitude Harmony and Perfection as 't is now in the Man Christ then we shall be men indeed Glorious Men and Women when we have derived our Human Nature from Christ in all its Perfections and under that Divine Tincture which the Hypostatical Union gives it in Christ. In Regeneration we pass over by Faith both Body and Soul into Christ some present effects of this we see in our Souls now and when our vile Bodies shall be made like unto his Glorious Body we shall to Eternity bless God who has taken us out of the First Adam and put us into the Second This Spiritual Union of Believers to the Divine Person of Christ makes a living Impression of Godliness upon their Human Persons which causes them to grow up daily into a further Conformity to the Image of Christ as God-Man till they come to the stature of Perfection in him resembling him in both his Natures in the Perfection of his and our human Nature in him and in such a spiritual Participation of his Divine Nature as Creatures are capable of and standing in this Mystical Union to the Divine Person of Christ they behold his Glory as the glory of the only begotten Son of God it shines out upon them in Heaven to all Eternity and lifts them up to the highest Communion with God that Creatures are capable of and this is their Glorification Thus I have led you from the first step in Regeneration to the last that you may see the Blessed Tendency of so great a work begun here in this World and compleated in the next I told you That Regeneration is initially and seminally all that belongs to a state of Grace ay and of Glory too therefore I may instance in any thing that lies within the Compass of a state of Grace whether Adoption Vocation Union to Christ Justification Sanctification and not recede from the Subject I am upon concerning Regeneration for all these do nearly concern it and lye close about it Some would suppose our Union to Christ and consequently by virtue of that our Justification by Christ to be before Actual Faith even in adult Persons and consequently without it they insist upon a Priority in Nature and Time and build Positions upon that distinction that will not hold they who speak with the Learned must understand with the Learned and use their terms in their sense they do not suppose this Priority or Posteriority to be in the things themselves but only in our manner of Conception we first apprehend one and then another tho we may apprehend one thing without another or before another it does not follow that those things are really without or before each other things that cannot be separated may by a precise act of the Understanding be distinguish'd but these signa or momenta rationis that men of art make use of to guide their Thoughts are too great subtilties for vulgar Heads to meddle with it may be you do not reach me in what I am now saying and it matters not whether you do or no it renders the Argument so much the stronger against the use of such Scholastick Terms in Divinity I am casting them out and perswading you from mingling vain Philosophy and Science falsly so called with the Mysteries of Faith which are best understood in their own native simplicity as they are delivered to us in plain Scripture-language They who hold Justification before Faith are afraid lest they should be betrayed into a Justification by Works if they should hold otherwise and therefore chose rather to plead for a Justification before Faith and without Faith lest they should seem to be Justified by any thing in and from themselves but how contrary is this to Scripture He that believeth not is condemned But he that believeth not is justified is no where written in my Bible They will admit of habitual Faith but are afraid of actual Faith lest that should encroach too much upon free Grace and lessen that for say they an act of Faith is Mans act and nothing that is so must have any place in Justification 1st I Answer Is not a habit of Faith a Mans habit Is it not infused by God into Man and placed in Man Is not Man the Subject of this Habit But this is wrought by God and is not every Act of Faith wrought by God in the Soul of a Believer I see no more danger in allowing actual Faith than habitual 2dly We must distinguish between an Act of Faith and Works of Faith Works of Faith are not Faith but an Effect and Fruit of Faith an Apple is not the Tree but something growing out of it and upon it as distinct from it but an Act of Faith is Faith it self 't is Faith reduced to Act or actual Faith. 'T is true an Act of Faith is mans Act deriving all its Virtue Efficacy and Signification from Christ the Object but 't is not properly a Work but Faith it self so that I see no danger of running into Justification by Works by asserting Justification by Faith. 3dly As an Act of Faith is not properly a Work in the legal Notion of a Works it is not within the Covenant of Work is it any where contained there that we should act our Faith upon Christ for the free Pardon of Sin Besides the Scripture expresly denies Faith to be a Work in this Sense To him that worketh not but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly his faith is counted for righteousness therefore believing is not working for Justification 4thly An Act of Faith is the only Act of a Man that entirely falls in with the free Grace of God Therefore it is of Faith that it might be by Grace An Act of Faith is a receiving Act it brings nothing of our own to Christ but an empty hand receiving all from him ascribing all to him excluding all manner of boasting how can
our Understandings and Knowledge he hath appointed Faith as a fit means by which the soul not only doth the thing but also le ts in a sense of what is done upon the soul and therefore saith the Apostle it is of faith that it might be of grace God will be understood in all the acts of his Grace towards us Now that there might be in us a sense of reception of so great a benefit God resolves to put it into the hand of Faith which hath a natural sutableness in it and fitness to receive what free Grace tenders to it and so it doth when it is in any strength Christ and our Souls would never meet were it not for Faith. There is no letting down any thing spiritual and supernatural into the soul but by Faith Faith is our modus habendi it is the way the means by which we come to have God and Christ and an Interest in the things of Heaven We have what we have from Christ by Faith and we hold it by Faith. Faith and Repentance as acted by us and reflected upon are very good Evidences of our Justifications for it is in that reflection only that they do give evidence of themselves and of any thing produced from them Therefore I say as they are reflected upon they have retrospection to our Justification of which they are very good and evident proofs but they have no antecedent causality to produce the thing signified because they signifie it as a thing already done past and perfect 3. And lastly Justification is frequently set down in Scripture without any relation to these acts of Grace in us to shew that it wholly flowes from Christ and that by our believing we add nothing to our Justifying Righteousness but do only apply it as wholly derived from Christ alone 1 Ioh. 5. 12. He that hath the Son hath life they that are in Christ there is no Condemnation to them Rom. 8. 1. Now because we cannot admit sinners to be in Christ but by faith therefore what flows from Christ is attributed unto faith which is I say our modus habendi but still the real cause of our Justification that which makes us just in the sight of God is our being in Christ and our having the Son. There is no mention made of having any thing else but faith is our modus habendi we cannot have the Son but by faith nor be in Christ but by Believing Therefore God speaks to our Understanding and hath attributed that to the act of faith which is only derivable from the Object I shall now shew you the weakness of those grounds and reasons they go upon who differ from us in this point 1. They speak much of a Charge of Infidelity Impenitency and Unholiness to be drawn up against us at the last day and therefore it concerns us to muster up all our good works all our acts of Grace and every part of our inherent Righteousness that we may be in a readiness to answer to this Charge and clear our selves A specious Argument enough to amuse the World and fright men back into the Popish Doctrine of Justification by Works Brethren I do not deny that unbelieving impenitent and ungodly Persons shall be charged with infidelity impenitency and ungodliness and be condemned but to talk of a charge of Infidelity against a Believer at the last day I say it is a groundless unscriptural Notion I do not deny that the faith of the Saints that draws them to Christ and its efficacy afterwards in all its fruits will be taken notice of by Christ when they are admitted into the Kingdom Mat. 25. 34. Come ye blessed and when that blessedness is fixed Christ doth not put them upon the proof of their faith but helps them himself to understand the former actings of their faith and love to God which they were ignorant of before When saw we thee an hungred and fed thee or thirsty and gave thee drink c. In as much as ye have done it to one of the least of these ye have done it to me I see more Grace in you saith Christ than ever you saw in your selves so and so appearing in your lives Come ye blessed Brethren Good Works are good Evidences to us to make out the Truth of Grace in us but the All-knowing God needs no such Evidences for his Information he knows what is in man and needs not that any should tell him He searches the Heart Though we see Grace only in the Fruit yet God sees it in the Root and Principle Besides I conceive the last Judgment is not to prove who is and who is not in a state of Grace but rather to pronounce the Sentence according to the state that every one shall appear in at the Resurrection There will be no doubting of any mans state at the Resurrection the method and manner of the Resurrection will decide it Christ himself will separate the Sheep from the Goats and he will do this before the Judgement Mat. 25. 32 33. You shall know a Believer then by his Station at the right hand of Christ by his Company among the Sheep The Angels are sent forth Mat. 24. 31. to gather up the Elect from the four Winds from the one end of Heaven to the other They will ransack every corner of the World to find out every Saint not only the Ninety and Nine but the whole Hundred shall be presented to God not one missing we shall all stand together Now after they are thus ranked by Christ and the Angels have declared them to be Sheep to be true Believers must they come under a charge of infidelity Who must draw up this charge and manage this false Indictment Either God or good Angels or Conscience or the Devil God he hath justified them here sealed them by the Spirit of Adoption to the day of Redemption and he will never reverse his judgment The judgment of God at the last day will be pursuant to the judgment already past by his Word and Spirit in the Hearts and Consciences of Believers here Good Angels are imployed to gather up the Elect and consequently they have a true discerning who they are Our Consciences are sprinkled with the Blood of Jesus and have an answer in readiness by the Resurrection of Christ from the dead And the Devil will have something else to do in that day when he stands at the head of the wicked to receive his sentence with them the time of his torment being then come Though he be now the accuser of the brethren day and night before God he must then Eternally be cast down True he is now our accuser and we must labour to overcome him by the Blood of the Lamb as Rev. 12. 10 11. that is by Arguments drawn from the Blood of Jesus yet I say fear him not after death The last enemy that shall be destroyed is Death saith the Apostle and must we have an after rancounter with
it self is the gift of God as well as that which is put into it God gives us not only what we believe but he gives us to believe the habit and act of faith are both from God that he that glories may glory in the Lord only And if it be so with faith if that be shut out from being any part of our justifying Righteousness 't will hold true much more in all other saving graces that spring from faith whether Hope Love Fear Repentance c. Repentance proves our Faith to be saving such a faith as gives us an Interest in Christ faith adds nothing to the Righteousness of Christ but applies it as it is it only gives us an Interest in it and makes it ours by vertue of the Promise tendring it to us by receiving the Promise we have a sure interest in the thing promised and may ever after count it our own and if we are not justified by our graces themselves much less by our good works which are the fruits and issues of them we must resolve all our graces into faith and faith it self into Christ and his Righteousness before we can be clear in the matter of our Justification 4. The real distinction that is between them notwithstanding this necessary Connection Faith and Repentance are frequently joyned together in Scripture and sometimes each of them singly put for the whole work of Conversion and then they do alwayes include each other and imply the whole work of grace in the Soul as Luk. 13. 5. Luk. 15. 10. Acts 3. 19. Acts 11. 18. Though they cannot be separated yet they may be distinguished not only nominally but really they are spoken of Act. 20. 21. as two distinct things as Faith and Hope are inseparable yet two distinct Graces so 't is with Faith and Repentance they grow together as different Branches from the same Root that bears and feeds them both they are the two Vital Constituent parts of a Christian which have their distinct Offices and Influences Repentance is the same in Principle with Faith though they receive different denominations from the different objects and occasions about which they act A principle of Grace is that immortal Seed or that Spirit that is born of the Spirit the fruits of the Spirit are not the Spirit it self but something produced by him all Graces are the fruits of the Spirit and are specified by their different objects All Graces are but so many expressions of that holy Disposition that is wrought in us by the Holy Ghost To Repent of Sin is as true Holiness as not to sin at all a sinner has no other way to express his Love to Holiness than by a declared Hatred of his Sins They differ in their Objects faith as justifying hath Christs Righteousness for its Object Repentance has mans unrighteousness for its Object as Faith acts upon Christ for an Interest in his Righteousness so Repentance acts towards God acknowledging our own Unrighteousness and bewailing it we cannot rejoyce in the Righteousness of Christ till we mourn for our own sins Christ reconciles God to us by the attonement offer'd 2 Cor. 5. 20 21. and us to God by working Repentance in us who were Enemies to him in our Minds by wicked works Col. 1. 21. alienated from the life of God Col. 4. 18. This Enmity against God and alienation from him is removed by Repentance Faith works upwards to appease Gods Wrath by holding up the Blood of Christ Repentance works downwards upon our selves changing our Minds towards God that we may be conformable to his Will and rebel no more against him Besides All Graces do not imploy at least equally the same Affections there is more joy and hope in Faith more sorrow and fear in Repentance faith lists up and comforts a guilty sinner upon one account Repentance humbles him and lays him low upon another account filling him with godly sorrow for his sins 5. Reasons why the Professors of this Age who are so much for Faith do mind Repentance so little are so seldom found in the Exercise of it 1. Because they rest in general Notions of Faith and of Justification by Grace through Christ they say they have faith and think this will save them we may have right notions of faith in our Heads and yet be under no real actings of faith in our Hearts we may be Orthodox in our Judgements sound in the Doctrine of Faith and yet be strangers to the Grace of Faith we may hold the Truth dispute for it preach it up maintain it in our Discourses as our Opinion and yet be rotten at Heart for all this under the power of unbelief if you know these things happy are ye if ye do them Faith must be done as well as talked of it must be really acted by us in our own case 't is not the doctrine of faith but your faith in or according to that doctrine that saves you the just shall live by his own faith the doctrine of faith is an external thing laid down in the letter of the word but the grace of faith is an inward living principle found only in the hearts of real Saints this is that I am inquiring after and pressing upon you as that that will certainly produce Repentance Zach. 12. 10. 'T is one thing to have a Notional Knowledge of the doctrine of faith as contained in the letter of the word another thing to be under the power of the grace of faith as it passes thorow the heart in the lively actings of it Notions of things may be separated from those effects that alwayes attend the things themselves when they are in being we may shake and freeze under our notions of fire but we cannot stand before fire it self and not be warmed by it were there more real faith I mean of the grace of faith among professors there would be more Repentance let us not flatter our selves in the good opinion we have of our faith and of our supposed Interest in Christ 't is all false our faith is vain and we are yet in our sins if Repentance do not accompany our faith The visible neglect of Repentance in the Professors of this age has brought a reproach upon the doctrine of faith and caused it to be evil spoken of that faith that does not sanctifie will never justifie and without Repentance there can be no Sanctification not that we make Repentance any Meritorious Cause of Pardon or that it is to be rested in as any satisfaction for sin only we affirm that justifying faith alwayes works Repentance 2. Because they rest in a general Repentance which they took up at their first Conversion and that must serve all their lives long 't is enough they have once repented that work is over they have done with it now and care not to return to it again but because you have once repented you must always repent you entred into Covenant with God for your whole lives to repent of
of his revealed Will hold fast there and you are safe the greatest Scholars in the World must come down to the plain mans Faith if ever they die in peace in all Gospel Truths their consonancy not to our Reason but to the Scriptures is to be regarded Mans leaning rather to their own understanding of the thing than to their faith in the Word about that thing hath led them into Error into false notions of Divine Mysteries I grant from your faith in one Truth you may fetch Reasons for some other Truth depending upon it these are Gospel Reasons not your own we don't believe because we know but we know because we believe this is a new way of knowing things which the world is not acquainted with because it cannot receive the spirit of Truth the spirit of Truth is a spirit of Faith hearing the Word is of singular use to Believers themselves 1 Ioh. 5. 13. to confirm and strengthen your Faith that you may be built up further in it furnished with further matter to act it upon Let none be discouraged though never so ignorant and unlearned of a low mean capacity yet come to hear with an expectation of Gods working faith in thee faith will overcome all these difficulties as weak and simple and ignorant as any may be supposed to be yet be not discouraged you may be made to believe more in one moment than the greatest Scholars in the World can attain to the knowledge of in many years study It is written in the prophets Joh. 6. 45. and they shall be all taught of God every man therefore that hath heard and hath learned of the father cometh unto me Not that any man hath seen the Father 'T is not what men you hear what Ministers you follow till God the Father do's speak powerfully to your hearts by the Ministry of man. It matters not who the man is your faith consists not in the Wisdom of man but in the power of God when you have a proof of Christs speaking in any 2 Cor. 13. 3. then hearken diligently till you hear an inward Word from this invisible Teacher you 'l never come to Christ. If all the Ministers in the World should lay their heads together they could never bring a sinner to Christ till the Father speaks the word and draw him We are but Ministers by whom you believe as the Lord gives to every man So then neither is he that planteth any thing nor he that watereth but God that giveth the increase 1 Cor. 3. 5 6 7. The sum of all is this We are sent to Preach that you may Hear we carry the Letter of the Word to your Ears the Spirit brings it home in the name of God to your Consciences convincing you that it is his Word under this Conviction you see the truth of the Word in the veracity of God this word of Truth and your Souls meeting so close as they alwayes do in an act of Faith sanctifies you this sanctification lies in the ready assent of your understanding and free consent of your Will the one is founded in light the other in love so that when an enlightned Understanding receives the Truth in the love of the Truth there is a firm Principle of Holiness fixed in that Soul flowing from that Union to Christ that Faith gives us this is the beginning and progress of that Faith the end of which is the Salvation of your Souls The Second Point How we are Iustified by Faith. WE ought to be Doers of the Word and not Hearers only to maintain good Works for necessary uses Tit. 3. 14. It behoveth us therefore to know what use we should make of our works and doings in the great business of our Salvation so as not to entrench upon the Righteousness of Christ nor to degrade that from being our sole and only justifying Righteousness Some men are as much mistaken in grounding their salvation upon doing as others are in grounding it upon bare hearing and therefore these things must be warily spoken unto and warily understood When we urge the necessity of doing the Word of God Carnal Reason lies at the catch and is ready to take every thing in a wrong sense and meaning and to bring down the Mysteries of the Gospel to a low loyal vulgar Notion more suitable to humane Reason There are two extreams that men are apt to run into either they neglect good works or else they trust in good works either they do in a careless formal presumptuous manner pretend to cast all upon Christ without any serious inquiries after the Truth of Grace in themselves or ever proving it by its fruits conceiving it altogether needless to be any way active in their own salvation Secondly If upon search they find any actings of Grace in their Hearts any fruits of Grace in their Lives these are their own proper goods they think Money found in their own Purses it matters not how they came by it they have it and they are resolved to convert it to their own proper use making it nothing less than a part of their Justifying Righteousness Those of this way with whom I have now to do do state the matter thus They say that Christ is the meritorious cause of our Justification having by his Death satisfied the Law and discharged us from the Curse of it and so far we agree with them They say further That Christ to compleat our Justification hath also purchased for us strength and ability to perform the condition of the new Covenant this we assent to the performance of which according to them is to be taken in as a part of our Justifying Righteousness and this we deny We say the performance of what is required in the New Covenant is a good Justification of the Cause whether it be of Faith or of Good Works or of any particular thing or action the sincerity and truth of which may be in question But we deny that it adds any thing to the Justification of the person and therefore they speak not ad idem to the same thing when they deny Christs imputed Righteousness to be the sole Righteousness that justifies the Person because there is another Righteousness required upon another account to justifie or clear up the sincerity of our Faith and Holiness I say to clear up this to our selves and other men which we deny not For we do not admit any Faith to be a justifying Faith but upon good evidence of the Truth of it neither do we admit any works to be good works but upon full proof of the goodness of them The Sum of all is this we say Faith and obedience once proved to be true and genuine are good evidences of our interest in Christ whose imputed Righteousness is the sole and only Righteousness by which our Persons are universally justified from all charges and blame whatsoever in the sight of God and to say otherwise is in effect to say that Christ died
to justifie us that we might be justified without him or at least not only and solely by him which is highly derogatory to the death of Christ neither will their owning Christ to be the meritorious cause of our Justification salve the matter while they do in any sense require another Righteousness distinct from that of Christs for the justification of our Persons in the sight of God. And having given you this brief account of the matter in difference I shall now proceed The Point in General which I am to speak to is this That though good works are highly necessary in a justified person yet they not required in any way of causality to the Justification of the Person Or thus no part of our inherent Righteousness can be any part of our justifying Righteousness This I might prove to you many ways First From the subject of Justification an ungodly Person a believing Sinner flying in the sense of Sin unto Jesus Christ for Life and Pardon Sin is that from which we are Justified the Righteousness of Christ is that for which or by which we are Justified Act. 13. 39. Secondly Because there must be a change of state in Justification and by Justification before we can derive any saving Grace from Christ to enable us to the least good work I might also Thirdly Argue from the weakness and imperfection of all Inherent Holiness which is not able to justifie it self much less the Person And many Arguments may be brought but my design is to contract this general to a particular point concerning the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 credere or the act of believing and I shall shew that that part of our inherent Righteousness that flows from our doing the Word of God that is the Work of Faith as done by us in an act of believing is no part of our justifying Righteousness This is that which seems to have the fairest claim to and interest in our Justification and if this be disproved the Argument will hold a fortiori against all the inferiour branches of our inherent Righteousness they must be forced to quit their claim also That which seems to intitle Faith to such an Interest in our Justification as is pleaded for by some is the phrase and manner of expression which the Scripture uses in speaking of Faith telling us that Faith is imputed to us for Righteousness that we are justified by Faith that he that believes shall be saved and the like The question is in what sense these Scriptures are to be understood whither we are to take up our standing partly in the act of Faith and partly in the object of Faith making up a Righteousness partly from our selves and partly from Christ or whether we are by Faith to go out of our selves unto Christ for our whole sole and only justifying Righteousness and this is that which I affirm and shall endeavour to make good and shew you that the Scriptures alledged do not ascribe our Justification to the Act but wholly to the Object of Faith not to our believing but to Christ believed on which I prove thus First From those Expressions of Scripture peculiar to Holy Writ by which the Holy Ghost doth of set purpose limit Faith to its Object Iohn 6. 47. Rom. 9. 33. Ephes. 1. 13. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to believe in into or upon Christ which plainly points out this that Faith is alwayes to be taken in relation to its Object that by Faith is meant Christ apprehended by Faith. Life is promised not simply to believing but to believing in in whom in Christ or nothing Faith is a relative term as to its whole sense and signification to the Object Christ. It must be Faith in Christ or Faith in nothing Believing is a Scripture Phrase setting forth our leaning upon Christ. Faith as our Act adds nothing to Christ doth not make his Death satisfactory it was so in its self before though by an applicatory act of Faith it is made so to us that is we do reap the benefits of his Death and satisfaction we are not united to Faith but by Faith we are united to Christ. Faith is the Medium uniens we do not trust in our Faith but by Faith we trust in Christ all that Faith signifies is in relation to Christ all that it doth is in the Name of Christ without Christ it signifies nothing it doth nothing it is nothing When we are said to be justified by the Faith of Christ or justified by Faith in Christ Gal 2. 16. pray must the meaning be that we are justified by Faith and Christ as some would have it giving the priority to Faith and making Christ but a remote cause of our Justification and our inherent Righteousness to be the next and immediate cause Were Men more willing to exalt Christ and debase themselves this would be English plain enough Faith in Christ would then signifie but one Righteousness it would not be Faith and Christ. Let Men have a care how they speak unadvisedly of Christ to the lessening and diminution of his Honour God hath said he is our Righteousness without any Limitation without any restriction Now for Men to say ay but not all our Righteousness not our only Righteousness I say 't is a bold word thus to distinguish whatever remote inferences they may gather out of Scripture to justifie their meaning yet since God hath not thought fit to drop any such diminutive expression of Christ in Scripture I say it is a bold word for Men to speak You may see how severely speaking against God was punished Numb 21. 5 6. And God complains of it Ezek. 35. 13. With your mouths ye have boasted against me and have multiplyed your words against me I have heard them We may safely deny any thing of God that implies weakness or imperfection but to deny that of Christ which tends to the Exaltation of his Name and riches of his Grace let Men distinguish how they will it is dangerous meddling here This is a tender point that is the first Secondly If the bare act of Faith without any relation to the object justifies then any act of Divine Faith will justifie us as well as Faith in Christ for the Act is specified by the Object Take away the Object and all Acts of Faith are alike equally insignificant But I proceed Thirdly To the third Argument that shall be drawn from the Nature of Faith which consists in receiving As it is the Act of a Believer it implies doing but properly as an Act of believing it consists in receiving and that with an empty hand Now the question is whether by this receiving Act of Faith there do redound to us a Righteousness of our own distinct from that which we receive from Christ I say no We are not justified by a Righteousness that we do but by a Righteousness that we receive Now the bare Act of receiving in a common Natural way is not counted morally meritorious
A Beggars receiving an Alms argues no merit in the Receiver but meer Grace in the Donor We count that he who only receives a benefit he doth nothing for it it comes freely Indeed he doth something naturally in receiving but nothing morally by way of merit for the thing received Thus it is among Men and so we understand it in all such actings of ours but when we come to deal with God how do our proud hearts put a value upon them then we put a value upon every thing upon our coming upon our adhering upon our relying upon our asking upon our receiving We grow proud of those very Acts of Grace by which we do express our Poverty and Beggary our absolute Dependance upon another as if Christ was beholden to us for our accepting of him So naturally prone are we to rest upon any thing that looks like our own doing Brethren There are two things to be considered in Faith. 1. The Motion of the Soul in receiving which is an Act naturally necessary to all manner of receiving it is as reaching forth and opening the hand 2. You may consider the passive reception it self wherein the Nature of Faith doth chiefly consist in admitting applying and owning the Gift Though the word Believing doth Grammatically imply an Action yet really and physically we are passive in believing For these Reasons First The first Reason is this They who make our Act of believing a part of our Justifying Righteousness do manifestly make Faith to contradict it self in and by its own Act If by an Act of believing we go out of our selves to Christ for all I do not see how by the same Act we can possibly settle upon any thing in our selves that is not Christ If by being justified by faith they understand the Object of faith then we agree with them then faith and Christ is all one By faith we mean Christ applyed and nothing but Christ. But if they understand the bare Act of believing in distinction from Christ the Object therein we differ from them And they must so understand it who make our Act of believing a part of our justifying Righteousness distinct from Christs Righteousness and therein I say they make faith to contradict it self in and by its own Act I do not know whether I am understood I think I understand my self in what I have said Take it thus Pray consider what is the sense of a believing Soul under a present Act of faith in Christ I appeal to you all I desire you would all be Judges in this matter who have ever been serious and in good earnest dealing with God by an act of faith for Salvation You believe in Christ what is the English of that What do you mean by it Is not this your sense you desire to cast your self wholly upon Christ to be found in Christ not having on your own Righteousness to be built upon that Foundation to lay hold on Eternal Life in Christ to go out of your selves unto Christ for Righteousness and Life to seek that in another which you have not in your selves to count all things but loss and dung that you may win Christ don't you mean this Pray what an absurdity then is it what a gross contradiction to say I am justified by something in my self by virtue of that very act of faith by which I do purposely go out of my self to Christ for all If this be Reason and Sense I have quite lost the use of both and will never pretend to understand any thing But how do some Men fight with their own shadows and lose themselves in their own expressions They cannot speak of Christ and of the way and manner of applying Christ but presently they must be Co-workers with Christ in their Justification Brethren We must not be perswaded out of our Christian Names nay out of Christianity it self by those who would impose their own notions upon us and indeed preach another Gospel let them read on and tremble But I will say this that if Paul were alive and should hear any man upon Earth or Angel from Heaven compound Faith and Works Works and Christ in the matter of our Justification I doubt not but he would curse them in the name of the Lord. Certainly we are not to be Mealy-mouthed and silently suffer the grand principles of the Gospel to be decryed as if we doubted whether they were true or no. These are the Pillars of the House all fall with them if they be taken away These are the Ancient Land marks and bounds of our Religion they must not be removed for if you suffer that you will quickly have a dead Child in the room of the living New Notions though not contrary to any received foundation should be warily uttered but supposing there is the least discrepancy or opposition it is our duty and wisdom to be silent and not break the eye of the Needle by forcing our Camel through New Notions must yield rather to antient received Truths they must be governed and over-ruled by them It is dangerous to force plain Scripture and plain principles to make good our own private interpretations 2. Our act of believing is no part of our justifying Righteousness because justification is an act of God not properly subsequent to our Faith but simultaneous with it They are concomitants so close so instantaneous that we cannot say which is first or last in time we cannot say the one takes its rise from the other I explain my self thus it is one thing for the Scripture to speak Doctrinally of Faith another thing to speak of a Believer under the actual exercise of Faith. When the Scripture speaks of the Doctrine of Faith in the Abstract it tells us the consequents of it that according to Gods order and appointment Faith is requisite unto Justification and so Faith is antecedent to Justification and Justification is spoken of as a thing to come upon our believing The Doctrine of Faith shews what shall be to all who obtain it the actual exercise of Faith shews what is to them who have it and do believe it It is not only he that believes shall be saved and justified but is justified It is true who ever believes shall be saved the just shall live by faith this is Doctrinally true But he that believes hath everlasting Life Iohn 3. 39. is justified this is experimentally true God if you rightly consider the point doth justifie us by working Faith in us It is his way of Justifying it is the way God hath chosen to communicate the Righteousness of God which is a stupendious Mystery and cannot be otherwise applied to the soul. He doth not justifie us because of any antecedent act of Faith we have lying by us and which we could now produce as a price as it were and Meritorious Means of our Justification God justifies us by working Faith in us God being willing in so great an act of Grace to speak to
the Devil Must we be set upon a fresh by him No no after death he hath done with you for ever he will not dare to look you in the face at the last day He draw up a charge against you You shall accuse judge and condemn him and all the Devils in Hell 1 Cor. 6. 3. Never fear you that dye in the Lord shall rise up under those denyable evidences of a state of Grace that neither the Devils nor wicked Men shall dare to gain-say What must poor Christians who have lived under doubts fears under buffetings and temptations under accusations and challenges from the Devil and their own Consciences must they rise so Is this to be raised in power with our Spirits made perfect Surely Paul was out in his triumph Rom. 8. 33. Who shall lay any thing to the charge of Gods elect Do you make good your Title to Christ now and never fear any charges afterwards at that day it will be a joyful day to Believers Look up saith Christ lift up your heads for your Redemption draweth nigh Luke 21. 28. And therefore comfort one another your Witness is in Heaven and your Record is on high as Iob speaks God Christ Angels Conscience will all be on your side Aye but if this feigned process be not observed some mens notions will fall to the ground Aye and let them fall no matter how soon for they are not grounded upon the Word of God that endureth for ever Brethren we must not draw Schemes and Models from our own Brain and when we have done impose them upon God and make his proceedings in every particular exactly to suit the methods of Humane Judicatures The natural notion of these things is so strong in some mens heads that it doth carry them out beyond the line of the Gospel Good works certainly do best furthest off from the judgment seat of God. They are good and comfortable evidences here but they will make but a sorry Righteousness there for us to plead Though God may and will take notice of all the fruits of his Grace appearing in our words or works when he passeth the solemn declaratory Sentence at the last day which is but a fuller manifestation of our justification God will personally and publickly own that which he hath secretly in our Consciences done by his Word and Spirit in us God doth now act mediately by his word then he will act immediately by himself we shall hear the sentence of our Justification from his own mouth which now we hear only from the mouths of his Ministers that speak to us in his name Secondly The second ground they go upon is this they say that it is a conditional service imposed upon us by God in the new Covenant and therefore the performance of it must needs be part of our Justifying Righteousness which is very specious and very suitable to Humane Reason as most things are that contradict the Mysteries of the Gospel but it is of like sound and significancy with the other Alas At how little a hole will self-Righteousness creep in How apt are we in the pride of our hearts to distinguish our self-Righteousness into our Justification that we may have somewhat whereof to glory To prevent mistakes I will premise one thing that is this I do not deny but that to believe in God in Christ is an eminent piece of service a great act of Divine Worship the greatest act of Worship we can perform to God on this side Heaven But I deny that it is a service done in order to the procuring or purchasing those benefits which we receive from Christ as his free gift Faith receives what Christ hath already procured Faith doth not come to Christ to desire him to dye for us but having dyed for us it comes for the fruit of his death It comes on no other Errand but to receive what is already prepared Faith hath no causality or efficiency at all in contriving compassing constituting the great act of Grace wherein the pardon of our sin and our justification is held forth unto us Our Faith did not move God to promise pardon but finding all this Grace in Jesus Faith applyes it lays hold on it and God gives us leave nay commands us to do this So that Faith is a service we owe to God by way of duty in complyance with his free Grace towards us but it is not a service done by us in way of procuring that which is freely given No no we owe that to Christ and not to Faith. Brethren In common acceptation when we say come to me and I will do this and that for you pray who is the doer he that comes to have the thing done or he that doth it Certainly if coming be a service in this case it is a service done to a Mans self and can never be urged as a service done to God. But they further say that this is a conditional service Why Because God hath commanded us to believe that we may be justified Commanded us to believe and pray what is that I told you before the meaning of an act of Faith even to renounce our own Righteousness to come in our nakedness and poverty to Christ without Money or without Moneys worth that we may be enriched by him in all things Is not this the old honest plain down-right notion of believing And is this the Conditional service required Why don't you do it then Who is against it Only let them attend to the sense of Faith and not be carried away with the meer word and talk of Faith as their own act never regarding the inward sense and signification of the thing it self Hath God required us to believe in Jesus let us know what that means and do it no body is against it If that be the Conditional service let them lye low before God and seem more vile in their own eyes and cast themselves upon Christ for all Let them learn to come without Money This is the proper Obedience of Faith that Obedience which the Doctrine of the Gospel doth require and since you will call this a condition I say why don't you perform it Is this the performance of such a condition of believing according to the sense and meaning of believing to tell the World that Christ is not our only Justifying Righteousness that we must seek for something in our selves to joyn with him if ever we will be saved Is this the condition Doth God mean this when he bids me believe in Jesus Sirs Let us not read our Bibles backwards wresting Scripture to our own destruction It is strange to me that Faith which is all along in Scripture opposed to Works in our Justification and is appointed by God to shut all good works out of Justification should be thus made an inlet to bring all good works into Justification Oh! That we were more under the powerful actings of true Justifying Faith it would then open it self more fully
to us and shew us its meaning I wish we could a little better understand the actings of our Faith understand the reason the sense of it the importance the intent of an act of Faith what a thing Faith is Thirdly They suppose a double Justification and a double Justifying Righteousness the first to justifie us from the accusations of the Law the other to justifie the sincerity of our Faith and Holiness and here comes in all our inherent Righteousness This is specious too But I would not have men coyn new heads of Divinity to make good their own notions We know but of one Justification I say the second Justification which they talk of it is implyed in the first and therefore needless and unscriptural For since the Revelation of the Gospel infidelity and unbelief is a sin against the Moral Law and Faith in Christ is injoyned as a duty by the Moral Law by which we take God to be our God and consequently do bind our selves over to believe whatsoever he had or hereafter should reveal to be his Will. This we are bound to by the Moral Law therefore if we are as they themselves affirm freed by Justification from the Law of Works upon the condition of Faith then we are on our first Justification absolutely freed from infidelity and our Faith is sufficiently approved to be true and what then need a second Justification unless we will suppose an error in the first Judgment which is impious to suppose as if God should acquit us from the accusation of the Law of Works upon the condition of Faith which upon after examination Christ discovers to be false and unsound So that these things do not hang together Fourthly They say that Faith and Holiness are conditions and evidences of our title to Christ and all that comes by him and therefore part of our Justifying Righteousness It is hard to understand the strength of some mens reasoning but grant all this it amounts to no more but Christ and a title to Christ so far we are agreed for we desire no more But how they will make Faith which is our title to Christ and unto which Christ and all his benefits are by the Gospel granted promised and made over how they will make this title never so well evidenced to be part of our Justifying Righteousness I see not A title adds nothing to the inheritance makes it neither more nor less but conveys it down to us according to the intrinsick value of the thing be it more or less A title to Land is no part of the Land only we are invested in it as it is by vertue of our title Now therefore if the Righteousness of Christ be not of it self sufficient to justifie us I see not how a good title mends the matter for if the Estate be never so great and we have no good title to it it is worth nothing to us and if our title be never so good we can have no more then is and belongs to the title So that after all this stir about conditions and evidences of our title to Christ the result of all is this we have a title a good title are under all the conditions and evidences of a good title but to what To an Inheritance that is not sufficient to maintain us to a Righteousness that is not sufficient of it self alone to justifie us and where are we now with our conditions and evidences of our title For ever destitute of a compleat Justifying Righteousness Is this to Preach Christ To Preach the glad Tidings of the Gospel Is this the way to quiet and settle the Consciences of poor distressed sinners surely no. Fifthly They urge the literal sense of some few Scriptures that seem to speak for them especially two and I do not know of more in the whole Bible as to the literal signification if there were we should hear enough of it I know they quote many others which add no weight at all to the Argument they would ground upon them Therefore I shall not speak to them Those two are Mat. 12. 37. By thy words thou shalt be justified and by thy words thou shalt be condemned and that in Iames where it is said Abraham was justified by works Iam. 2. 23. For that in Matthew Calvin charges the Papists with very great weakness in offering to draw an Argument from that Text for Justification by Works Maldonate a Learned Jesuite on the other hand is very angry with Calvin for supposing any of the Roman Church to be so weak and injudicious as to argue so from that Scripture for saith he we very well understand that this Text doth not speak De justificatione qua justi efficimur sed de judicis sententia qua sumpto ex verbis nostris argumento justi declaramur So saith the Jesuite we know this Text doth not speak of that which is the cause of our Justification of the thing for which and by virtue of which we become just and righteous only here is the appearance of our Righteousness by our words and we are declared to be Righteous So that this doth not touch this cause of Justification and yet this is the main Text brought for it the main proof repeated again and again to prove inherent righteousness to have an influence into our Justification I say let them take the answer from the Papists or Protestants which they please they are both against them in this thing As for the other Scripture They will take it in no other sense but what implyes a contradiction to all other Texts of Scripture in the case The whole current of Scripture is against Works in Justification and leads us to a fair construction of that in Iames that it is to be understood of a justification before men and not of a justification before God. Protestant Writers have sufficiently cleared up this to the Conviction of all but such who are resolved not to be Convinced Certainly they should have a care how they abound too much in their own sense The Learned Lord Bacon saith that a little Phylosophy makes men Atheists but a great deal will convince them of a Deity Some mens Logick and School Learning overthrows Reason which duely improved and well managed would teach them to argue otherwise Certainly in our reasoning about Divine things we should be careful not to abound too much in our own sense It is better for us to leave the Mystery of the Gospel in its Mystery where we found it than to seek to draw it out and so to explain it as to force it into the mould of Humane Reason shaping it on every side to an exact conformity to the thoughts and conceptions of our weak imperfect Understanding I say no Gospel Truth will bear this After all our Faith and Knowledge and Experience we know but in part and there is at the end of every Gospel Truth a Mystery something that is passing our Understanding that calls for
silence for an holy Admiration for an humble submission in Faith to the Will of God. Therefore I would not have men speak as if they knew all and draw particular Schemes and it must be so and no otherwise and thus and thus you must proceed in this and that way and form therefore things must be so stated I have done with the Argumentative part I will now speak a word or two in a looser way of Discourse I say then thus he may be a true Believer who doth not take his faith for any part of his Justifying Righteousness I suppose that will be granted But he cannot be a true Believer who takes not Christ for his Justifying Righteousness I do not say now for his only Justifying Righteousness because I would speak in the sense of those I oppose I say they cannot be Believers who do not look upon Christ as their Justifying Righteousness but they may be true Believers who do not look upon faith as a part of their Justifying Righteousness For the first suppose it an Error it is only about the act in our apprehension which doth not alter the nature of the thing at all The second is an Error in the act which quite destroys the very nature of faith Therefore the safer way is rather to press persons to believe to see they have faith indeed and in Truth than urge them to such an unscriptural construction of their faith putting such a title of Honor upon it to the reproach of Christ and his Righteousness They honour faith sufficiently who only prefer Christ before it No doubt God will give faith its due praise and place at the last day our not knowing or not understanding the reach and truth of our faith in all circumstances of it will be no prejudice to faith at the last day I heartily wish we were more in the Exercise of Faith than in Controversies about it more in the Practise of Good Works than in Dispute about them we should then sooner understand both the one and the other Sirs the mysterious sublime Doctrine of Justification was revealed for our comfort and proposed to our faith to be believed not to our reason to argue upon in a Quodlibetical manner and to toss to and fro for Argument sake What if we know no more of Justification then is absolutely necessary for our Justification This is the case of many plain sincere hearted Christians and if it were so with us all we may have fewer Notions in our Heads but possibly more Grace in our Hearts The Lord grant that we may know the Doctrine of Justification so as they know it who are saved by Christ. But surgunt indocti rapiunt Coelum nos cum doctrinis nostris sine corde volutamur in carne in sanguine The Learned they dispute and wrangle themselves into Hell the unlearned they believe practice and gain Heaven taking up the truth in simplicity according to the general scope of the Gospel as it is held forth to the meanest Capacity Brethren what Paul said to the Jaylor Acts 16. 31. that I say to you all Believe on the Lord Iesus Christ and thou and thy house shall be saved Don't you go home now and tell your Families that they must not understand this Text so as to look upon Christ as their only justifying righteousness but look out for something in themselves if ever they be saved No pray speak Scripture Language expound Scripture by Scripture and tell them that Christ is all in all tell them plainly that they must not be found in their own righteousness they must be found in Christ not having on their own righteousness that they must count all things but loss and dung that they may win Christ that there is no other foundation but Christ no other name under Heaven by which they can be saved but the name of Christ tell them they must not come for Justification and Life in the name of their Good Works of any thing that belongs themselves but only in the name of Christ promote this Doctrine in your Families and among your Children and Servants This is the way to save you and your Household This is good wholesome household Divinity and suited to the ordinary Capacity of all serious Professors We must not send our Hearers to intricate distinctions to learn the meaning of the Doctrine of their Justification The sense of the Gospel is plain enough in this thing they that run may read it Come come you shall never be charged at the Last Day for giving too much to Christ in the matter of Justification You are bound to ascribe all to him and you shall never be charged for giving too much And certainly if it be possible to err on that hand I had rather err in giving too much then too little to Christ. Do you think that a true Believer who doth not look upon the act of Faith or works of Holiness to be any part of his justifying righteousness but casts himself upon Christ do you think I say that God will reprove such a person at the last day for ascribing too much to Christ and not pleading his own righteousness Certainly a Believer cannot plead the righteousness of Christ without Faith his way of arguing from Christ will sufficiently evince the truth and reality of his Faith there needs no other proof and demonstration of it I should have made some Application I will tell you what I intended First To those who ground their Justification upon the sandy Foundation of their inherent Righteousness I would exhort them to pull down the house presently before it fall upon their heads and lay a better Foundation if ever they think to stand before the Son of Man in his Day Then I should exhort them and press them to study other Arguments as there are very many to promote Good Works and practical Holiness among men and not justle out Christ to make room for self Righteousness in the matter of Justification What must we work for Life still To work for Justification is to work for Life and why should we thus turn the Gospel into the Law I should speak also to those who are built upon the right Foundation and have cast themselves upon Christs Righteousness for Justification unto Life Let such be careful to maintain good Works let them be Examplary in the practise of them and bring forth fruit meet for the Kingdom of God. For as the Foundation may be too weak for the Superstructure so the Superstructure may be too mean for the Foundation And therefore down with all this Hay Wood and Stubble and labour to walk more sutable to that Holy Faith under the Profession of which you live Brethren The unsutable and uncircumspect lives of Professors have been the greatest scandal to the Doctrine of Justification by Faith it hath opened the Mouths of men against it Therefore labour to live men into a Conviction of this Truth Disputes and