God not because of their intrinsick worth but only for the merit of Christ who hath procured the Law of Grace and is the mediator of the new Covenant Our best Works cannot merit Salvation that is the purchase of Christ's Blood We are justified and saved by Faith and that is the Gift of God so that we have nothing to boast of tho very much for which we are to be thankful Our good Works are an evidence of the truth of our Faith and that our knowledge of Christ is of the right kind And such is the Grace of God through Christ that the more we abound in them the greater shall our Reward be not because of their Merit but because of his gracious Promise assigning degrees of Glory in proportion to our abounding in new Obedience We do not derive Power from Christ to merit any thing for our selves but we receive from Him Power to perform such Obedience as shall for his sake be accepted and rewarded Upon our performing such Obedience we shall receive freely the Blessings He hath merited and which for his sake are made over to us in the Covenant of Grace Our Works of Righteousness and Goodness do not make us Righteous and Good but they prove and discover us to be so i. e. that we are endu'd with a divine Principle have our Natures changed and do know Christ Jesus aright as vital acts do not make a living Creature but they prove that the Creature which performs them hath a principle of Life from which those acts do flow 4thly Another excellency of this knowledge is that it puts a check to vain Curiosity to a search after empty and less necessary Speculations and delivers us from all carnal and groundless Confidence and engages us to a commendable Diligence by determining our enquiries after such things as are most certain and true in themselves and will be most useful and profitable unto us by advancing us both in intellectual and moral Accomplishments and Perfections For it obliges us to employ our honest and best endeavours to understand and make a right use of what Jesus Christ hath taught and revealed which are matters of such excellency that all other things are of little account with those who understand the use and importance of these as the Apostle plainly testified when he said he accounted all things but loss c. Which brings me to consider Fourthly What account he who knows Christ Jesus aright doth make of all other things The Sence a sincere Christian hath of the excellency of this knowledge discovers it self in the great alteration it makes in his Opinion and Judgment of all other things from what they were before He doth set now a just estimate upon all worldly Enjoyments and outward Privileges relating to Religion and external performances in Religion according to their several Natures Places and Ranks to their use and ends He does not absolutely condemn them as evil in themselves or as altogether useless to any good purposes for should he do so he would be faulty He owns them to be the good Gifts of God that a very good use may be made of them is thankful to God for them if he enjoys them and praiseth God for bestowing them on others He acknowledges they have a beauty and excellency considered in their proper place and season But then he esteems them as the Apostle did as altogether useless to the business here spoken of viz. to be the matter of our Confidence yea extreamly hurtful when depended on for Justification To be but loss yea dung when compar'd with and set in opposition to this knowledge of Christ Jesus which hath an excellency in it unspeakably greater than all other things have and which alone can avail and profit us to Justification and Salvation That divine Light which discovers Christ Jesus to a Person as the Person commissioned by God to be the Saviour of Sinners and effectually causeth him from a sence of his own Sin and Guilt to yield up himself entirely to Him to be saved by Him in his own way doth discover all other things to him in such a true and disparaging manner that he plainly perceives they cannot bear any proportion with Christ and therefore he accounts them to be loss as to the business of Justification If I do not esteem Christ Jesus worthy enough to be the sole object of my dependance I do not know him aright And if I set up any thing in the World as that I will trust to and depend on for Justification more 〈◊〉 Christ or equally with Him I acknowledge a greater or an equal virtue and efficacy in that with what I pretend to believe is in Christ for this purpose Or if I depend on any thing together with Christ tho' in an inferiour degree I do not take him to be the only and all sufficient Saviour of Sinners and so have not that knowledge of Christ Jesus here spoken of Indeed there are other things we may depend on and make the ground of our Perswasion and Confidence that we are Justified and shall be Saved as those which are sure certain and never-failing Evidences of our Interest in Christ as our Saviour and that we do know Him aright But there is not any thing but Christ and his Righteousness we may trust to and depend on for Justification and Salvation i. e. as that for the sake of which we shall be Justified and Saved From what hath been discoursed we may take notice First That Persons may have great Measures of speculative Knowledge concerning Christ Jesus and what he hath taught and not be True Christians The Apostle indeed doth tell us that whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God which is the same with his being a True Christian 1 John 5.1 but it is evident beyond all doubt by his following discourse that he doth not speak of a bare speculative Knowledge but of such a Knowledge and Faith as I have been giving an account of Such a Knowledge or Belief that Jesus is the Christ that is the Person God hath commissioned to be the Saviour of Sinners as doth effectually cause a Person to resign up himself entirely to Him doth constitute him a True Christian Whatever Knowledge or Faith People may have which falls short of this will not profit them to Justification nor have a due effect and influence on their Lives The most pompous Pretences will not prevail for our acceptance with Christ where this is wanting Mat. 7.22 23. Therefore Secondly We ought to make a thorough and impartial search concerning our selves whether we be true Christians Whether we are so fully perswaded that Jesus is the Christ that we do sincerely yield up our selves without any reservation to follow his Conduct It is not enough that we call our selves Christians and pretend to own him for our Lord as Mat. 7.22 23. discovers But we must justifie the Truth of our owning him to be our Lord
by employing our selves heartily to understand what He hath taught and to believe and make such use of what we attain to know He hath taught as we shall perceive he intends and appoints For Thirdly Tho' a right knowledge of this one point that Jesus is the Christ doth constitute and make a Person a Christian yet there are many points Jesus Christ hath taught and revealed which every sincere Christian is indispensibly obliged to endeavour to understand and make a due use of When a Person becomes a True Christian he doth resign himself as you have been told entirely unto Christ Jesus as his Lord and obligeth himself without any reservation to use his serious honest and sincere endeavours to know what he hath revealed and to assent unto and make such use of what he shall attain to know he hath revealed as the nature or particular intendment thereof so far as he shall know the same doth direct He doth not capitulate and compound with Christ that he will assent unto and make such use as he orders of just such a number of Articles but will be excus'd from concerning himself to extend his knowledge or practice any further It is out of my Reach and I am perswaded it is out of the reach of any Man or Body of Men to assign a precise number of Articles which are necessary to be explicitly known and believed by all sincere Christians and beyond which no Christian is obliged to endeavour to proceed in his Faith and Obedience Peoples Capacities Opportunities and Advantages are very various and different Many things may be necessary for some Christians to believe which are not necessary to be believed by others because some do attain to the knowledge of them and a great many more may never attain to the knowledge of them and this not because of any faulty omission or neglect to use their honest endeavours to understand what Christ hath made known to the World but from something else which will not be reckoned to them for a fault I think a certain number of Articles cannot be fixed on besides this that Jesus is the Christ which we may peremptorily determine must of necessity be explicitely known and believed or no Person can be saved For the belief of the other Doctrines Christ hath taught doth not constitute or make a Person a True Christian Perhaps some may be now ready to say that 's well for then we are safe tho' we be Ignorant and continue Ignorant of all the Doctrines Christ hath taught besides this that Jesus is the Christ or if we should come to know them we are safe tho' we refuse to believe them and make that use of them Christ appoints for we do believe most firmly that Jesus is the Christ and so we are True Christians and therefore safe and need not trouble our selves about knowing or believing any thing more Nay now you are out most dangerously and wretchedly out Believe as much as you can besides this Article your belief will not make you a True Christian It is the right knowledge or belief of this Article that Jesus is the Christ that makes a Person a True Christian But the believing of this doth not exclude your believing of other Articles or discharge you from any obligation to believe other points or make your believing of other matters needless But it brings you under an indispensable obligation to endeavour to know and believe more Tho' the belief of other points is not necessary to constitute a Person a True Christian yet other things are necessary to be believed by him that is a True Christian The true Christian is obliged to use his best endeavours to know what Christ hath revealed and to assent unto and make a right use of what he attains to know Christ hath revealed And if you do not do thus you do not approve your selves True Christians you do not acquit your selves as true Christians ought and must acquit themselves If you either neglect to enquire after and to use your honest endeavours to know what Christ hath revealed or refuse to assent to and make a good use of what you know he hath revealed you have just reason to conclude you are not True Christians and do not know Christ Jesus aright whatever you affirm in your words There are many things Christ hath taught and revealed so plainly so clearly so distinctly you cannot but know some of them if you seriously endeavour to know what He hath revealed and what you know he hath revealed you must assent to and make use of if you do rightly know and believe Him to be the only Saviour of Sinners If it be now ask'd what are those particular Points or Articles Christ hath revealed which are necessary for Christians to endeavour to know and which being known to be revealed by Him they must indispensably assent to and make use of I answer that what Christ hath revealed is propounded to us in certain words which make distinct Sentences and Propositions and being thus considered they are objects of assent and matters of Faith tho' when we consider tho nature of the Truths thus propounded and their special Intendment they may be conveniently reduced to particular Heads to which particular Denominations may be assign'd Some of these I will name together with some particular Propositions Christ hath taught which properly belong to these Heads As 1st Those Propositions which describe his Person and instruct us who he was whom God did send and commission to be the Saviour of Sinners As that He is God the Son of God the only begotten of the Father God over all blessed for ever John 1. 1. Rom. 9.5 The Son of God and the Messias are often used in the New Testament as Reciprocal Terms not as if the strict Idea the term Messias doth stand for were the same the Son of God doth stand for but because He who is the Son of God is the Messias and He who is the Messias is the Son of God both these Propositions I believe because I find that Christ Jesus and his Apostles by his order did reach them I do not think that He was the Son of God because He was the Messias as the Socinians assert nor yet that He was the Messias because He was the Son of God as some affirm in opposition to the former but that the Son of God was the Messias because the Father did not think fit to commission any but his own Son to be the Saviour of Sinners When a true Christian understands that Christ Jesus hath taught that He is God He must assent unto it and endeavour to use it for the nourishing strengthening and confirming of his Faith in Him To assure him that He is all-sufficient to fulfil the Work He hath undertaken and to which He is commissioned And to direct and justifie his paying Divine Honour and Worship to Him So also that He was made Flesh did assume our whole Nature and
1 Cor. 12.3 Tho' the Lord Jesus doth not oblige himself not to give forth the special Influences of his Holy Spirit to any but in and with their serious using their natural Abilities and the common assistances of the Spirit generally afforded in those ways he hath appointed in order to Peoples partaking of his supernatural Aids and Blessings yet he obliges us thus to make use of the means he hath ordained and we have not any reason to expect these supernatural effects any other way When he does extraordinarily and out of his common and Instituted way work on awaken convince and effectually convert Sinners as he did Saul when Travelling on such a wretchedly wicked design towards Damascus he does it not as King and Ruler but as absolute Lord. And when we find our selves so inlightned and powerfully wrought on in the use of Instituted means that we are effectually determined to yield up our selves intirely to Christ as our Lord this effect is from the special influence of the Holy Spirit and must be attributed unto Him Faith is the gift of God tho' ordinarily conferred along with out making use of the natural Powers we are endued with in the ways and methods instituted for this end as reading and hearing the Word Meditation Prayer c. There is no natural connexion between our employing of our natural Abilities and Powers in these ways and this happy effect for God hath not obliged himself to bestow this Blessing by the Rules and Laws he hath established to observe in the ordinary way of his Providence in ordering and governing the World so far as doth concern and relate to Man The connexion between them is purely Gracious by virtue of the Laws and Rules He hath fixed to proceed by in the dispensation of his Grace We may by that concurrence God affords in the way of his ordinary Providence attain to as great a measure of speculative notional discoursive knowledge of what the Gospel doth teach as we can of those matters which are treated of in other Books provided we do proportionably apply our Study to them But when in our using our natural Abilities these ways we are brought to close unfeignedly with Christ and yield up our selves entirely to his Conduct this is owing to a divine Influence vouchsafed beyond the ordinary course of Providence and is from God's proceeding with us according to his Law of Grace Tho' we cannot apprehend in what way the Spirit doth effect and bring about this excellent and happy change in us so as certainly to distinguish what is done by the Spirit from what is done by our natural Abilities cooperating yet we know by the effect that He hath exerted his wonderful Power and to Him must all the Glory be ascribed who is the principal agent in this business 3dly In the singular and inestimable Benefits which do accrue unto us upon our thus knowing of Christ Jesus Of which Benefits I will now name but these two 1. God's justifying of us and owning us to be in the Covenant of Grace By Justification I do mean something more than his Pardoning all our past Sins even a change of our State his acquitting and discharging us from the Law of Works as a Covenant of Life Were all my Sins freely pardoned and I left under the Law of Works this Pardon would not avail me any thing if my Life were at all continued for my very next performances would fall so short of what that Law requires I should immediately be in the same state I was in before my Pardon We are all under the Law of Works till we do so know Christ Jesus as to yield up our selves unreservedly unto his Conduct Indeed we are not now so under the Law of Works as our first Parents were immediately on their Transgression and before that gracious Promise that the Seed of the Woman should break the Serpent's head was given them for till then they were purely under the Law of Works and had no remedying Law to make use of for their Relief We are naturally still under that Law of Works only we have this advantage that now there is a Law of Pardon or a remedying Law concurrent with it if we will make use of it But till we comply with and accept of that Law i. e. do yield up our selves absolutely to Christ Jesus the other Law stands in full force against us Our so knowing of Christ Jesus as hath been mentioned is our actual consenting to the gracious tender and offer God hath made to all Sinners without excepting any whereby we come to be really in the Covenant of Grace What is ordinarily called the Covenant of Grace is only the Declaration and Testament which Christ hath made of the Grace of God or the Blessings he will bestow on all those who do or shall unfeignedly consent to yield up themselves absolutely to Him It is a Covenant only with those who do thus consent unto it And upon our giving up our selves thus to Christ God owns us to be in Covenant with Him Of this Covenant Christ Jesus is the Mediator to whom it pertains to see that both parts of the Covenant thus consented to be performed We are to do what is assigned to us i. e. we must follow Christ's Conduct in every thing we shall know he hath ordained for us and therefore must use our honest endeavours to understand what he hath taught and upon our doing so we come to be entitled to the Benefits God hath promised which Christ is also to see accomplished and made good unto us When we know Christ Jesus a right we are delivered from the power of darkness and translated into the Kingdom of his dear Son Col. 1.13 2. Power to perform such Obedience as God will graciously accept This knowledge of Christ Jesus which is a special effect of the Holy Spirit is not a dead notion but the Light of Life a divine vital principle which hath an influence on all the Powers of the Soul and Faculties of the whole Man spiriting and directing them all in a good measure in ways suitable to its own Nature and the end for which it is given It possesseth the Soul with a predominant Love to Christ and influences the Person to labour after a Conformity to Him It puts the Person upon considering and enquiring what things He whom he hath taken for his Lord hath revealed what he doth Command and in what manner it behoves him now he hath thus resigned himself to Him to behave himself and it furnishes him with ability to execute the same by deriving fresh supplies of strength from that Holy Spirit who is the Author of this divine vital Principle It disposeth and enclineth him to do those good Works Christ hath commanded him and to use those means Christ hath enjoyned in order to his receiving greater measures of the influences of the Holy Spirit Eph. 2.10 Such a Person 's Good Works and Obedience are accepted with