were spoken from Mount Sinai the Israelites could not indure to heare them but entreated that they might heare no more of them See Exod. 20.19 Deut. 18.16 Heb. 12.19 20. And Gods Judgments are his revealed word but these because they come from his wrath and anger are but ill words and farre worse then the former for they are cursed and fearefull words see the Curses of them at large Levit. 26. and Deut. 28. But Gods promise is his revealed word also and this word because it proceeds from his love and kindnes is his good word for so it is called 1 Kings 8.56 There hath not failed one word of all his good promise where for good promise the Hebrew hath good word and Jerem. 29.10 I will visit you and performe my good word unto you i. e. my promise for your returne from captivity If therefore an Assent to the words of Gods precepts and judgements which are hard and ill words be Faith as indeed it is though in effect it prove but a sorrowfull and wofull faith which can justifie no man but may convict all of sin and condemne many to death for it is that faith wherewith the Divels believe and tremble much more an Acceptance of Gods promise which is his good word is faith because Acceptance is more then Assent and more then Consent for it is an act subsequent unto a Consent whereby a Consent is seconded and ratified As plainly appeares in most contracts and particularly in that of Marriage where after the mutuall Consent of the parties to have each other there followes a mutuall Acceptance in taking each other Hence it is manifest that over and besides all other sorts of Faith there are three sorts answerable to the word of Gods Will viz. a promissory a preceptory and a judicatory faith for so let us call them till we finde fitter appellations because the promises precepts and judgements of God are the words of his Will 2. From the Concurrence of faith to a promise The acts about a promise are chiefly three namely the Making the Accepting and the Performing of it unto all which from the first to the last faith must needs concurre in a manner as a Soule wherewith the promise is animated and lives and without which it expires and dyes becomming frustrate and voyd For the Making of a promise is a giving of faith so the best Canonists and Casuists define a promise though we for thy better understanding defined it otherwise And the Performing of a Promise is a keeping of faith which is commonly called Faithfulnes for hence God is called faithfull because when he hath been gracious to give his faith by making a promise he will be faithfull to keep his faith by performing it And therefore the Accepting of a promise which intercedeth between the making and performing is a taking of faith for when the thing given is faith then the thing taken must needs be the same and therefore faith also And if the performance of a promise doth denominate him faithfull who makes it as in all good Writers and in common speech it doth much more doth the Acceptance of the promise denominate him faithfull who takes it because the faith of the taker doth naturally precede the faithfullnesse of the giver as acceptance naturally precedes performance But if Gods Promise have any effect at all and be not frustrated by a refusall that effect in thee must needs bee faith for seeing Gods Promise is a Declaration of his Will to devise unto thee a present right to the future possession of some blessing this Declaration comming from God doth or should worke in thee a ground to hope for that future blessing and a ground of things hoped for is faith as the Apostle notifies it Heb. 11.1 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for i. e. a ground for hope is faith And because the blessing is future therefore it is not seene for things future are not seen yet Gods declaration of the futurity thereof doth or should produce in thee an evidence or knowledge of it and an evidence or knowledge of things not seen is faith as the Apostle againe designes it in the former verse 3. From the Examples of Faith In the Old Testament Gen. 15.4.5 God promised unto Abraham a Sonne and Heire of his owne body and a numerous Posterity as the Starres of Heaven i. e. God declared unto Abraham his will to give him a present right to that future blessing and in the verse following Abraham believed in the Lord i. e. Hee accepted of Gods Promise in taking it and this taking was seconded with trusting to it for by his acceptance hee had a good ground to hope for a sonne and an evidence for a sonne not yet seene which ground and evidence is faith or beliefe But the act which caused that ground and evidence was his Acceptance or taking the Promise God by the message of Moses promised unto the Israelites in Egypt a deliverance from their bondage and an entrance into Canaan and Exod. 4.31 the people believed i. e. They accepted of this promise by taking it and their taking caused their trusting to it i. e. Their faith caused their hope of it and to expresse their thankfullnesse for it They bowed their heads and worshipped In the New Testament God by the message of Jesus Christ hath made unto thee most precious promises for hence that Testament is called the Gospel i. e. The good message or word of God as the promise of present freedome or alliance with him to bee his sonne jurally by having a present right of inheritance the promise of present sanctity to regenerate thee with his spirit to bee his Sonne morally by leading a holy life and the promise of future priviledges and blessings to bee his sonne gloriously in the finall state of blessednesse as the future forgivenesse of thy sinnes the future resurrection of thy body and thy future life everlasting for God by Christ hath declared his will to impute unto thee a present right to all these blessings Is now thy will answerable and agreeable to Gods will to correspond and consent to him heerein And further dost thou actually accept of these promises to take God at his word Then thou hast faith and dost believe For although these blessings bee not seene yet by thy accepting the promises of them thou hast a good evidence for them and a good ground for thy hope of them and such evidence and ground is faith and beliefe And though thou dye before thou possesse all these blessings as certainely thou shalt and must either dye or bee changed before thou canst enter the possession of all Yet thou dyest in faith because Heb. 11.13 Thou hast seene them a farre off and wast perswaded of them and hast embraced them for by these reasons the Apostle proves that the Patriarchs dyed in faith though they had not received the promises i. e. Not the possession of the blessings
God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ Hence also it appeares that the divine service of invocation or prayers is due unto Christ Because this salutation heere is an invocation though indirectly framed wherein Paul prayes for grace and peace unto the Galatians from God and from Christ For Christ as it is evident from these words and from the like in other places wherein the government and care of Gods Church is ascribed unto him doth know the wants and the desires of the faithfull and therefore also doth heare their votes and prayers Now the knowledge and the audience of such things is a ground sufficient for invocation or prayer to bee made unto Christ especially seeing his knowledge and audience are seconded with a power and a will whereby hee is able and ready to helpe and to save those Believers who call upon him Hence Christ commands his Disciples to pray in his name and promiseth to effect their prayer John 14.13 Whatsoever yee shall aske in my name that will I doe that the Father may bee glorified by the Sonne If yee shall aske any thing in my name I will doe it This Invocation was preached by Steven when hee was stoned Act. 7.59 And they stoned Stephen calling and saying Lord Jesus receive my Spirit And practised by Paul when there was given him a thorne in the flesh 2 Cor. 12.8 For this thing I besought the Lord thrice that it might depart from me They therefore are in an errour who to barre Christ from the honour of Invocation doe read this Text thus From God our Father and of the Lord Jesus Christ referring the Pronoune Our unto God the Father and thereupon construing the words as if the Apostle prayed for grace and peace from the Father onely and not from Christ But would onely intimate that God is the common Father of us and of Christ But this construction is not onely against the sense of the words but also against reason For it is not reason that when the Apostle would call God the Father of Christ and also our Father hee should then first call him our Father before hee called him the Father of Christ Especially in a passage where he intends to magnifie the honour of Christ as by the verse following where he expresly calls God our Father it appeares he intends it This place therefore and the like wherein the Pronoune Our in reference to the Father is omitted doth wholly oppose this construction VERSE 4. Text. Who gave himselfe for our sinnes that hee might deliver us from this present evill world according to the will of God and our Father Sense Who gave himselfe viz. Unto death and died For our sinnes i. e. For the remission or forgivenesse of our sinnes by confirming through his death Gods last Will and Testament wherin the Remission of sinnes was devised unto us That he might deliver us i. e. That he might separate or withdraw us From this present evill world i. e. From the evill of this present world or from the present sinfulnesse or wickednesse commonly practised by the men of this present world In a word That he might draw us to Repentance or holinesse of life or sanctifie us According to the will of God i. e. According to the last Will and Testament of God who therein had expressed his mind and purpose for the Death of Christ for the Remission of our sinnes and for our repentance Of God and our Father i. e. Of God who is our Father viz. By vertue of his last Will and Testament wherein he hath adopted or justified us to be his sonnes and heires Reason Having in the former verse stiled Christ our Lord hee gives heere a tacit reason why hee stiled him so shewing by what right or title he is so namely by right of Redemption Because Christ through his death wrought for us a double deliverance one from the punishment of our sinnes by the remission or forgivenesse of them the other from the servitude of sinne by our Repentance and forsaking of them And further he declares that these three things viz. the Death of Christ the Remission of our sinnes and our Repentance are consequent suitable and according to the last Will and Testament of God wherein these things were thus ordayned Heere therefore are described two finall causes ends or effects of Christs death first the Remission of our sinnes and secondly our Repentance from sin Yet so as the latter is an end or effect subordinate to the former and the condition of it for our sins are remitted or forgiven to this end and upon this condition that wee should Repent and forsake them And unto these finall causes is annexed the efficient cause of Christs death that it was not meerely according to the will of the Jewes who put him to death but it was according to the will of God who in his last Will and Testament had decreed his death for the ends and effects heere specified By all which he would intimate unto the Galatians that for their salvation they were not to adhere unto Moses and to the Ceremonies of the Law according to Gods old testament but must depend upon Christ and the benefits by his death according to Gods last Wil and Testament For Paul intends these words as an Evangelicall attribute or description of Christ our Lord as before ver 1. the words who raysed him from the dead were an Evangelicall attribute unto God the Father Comment Giving is put for Dying The word Remission is sometime silenced sometime expressed sometime implied by Taking away and Bearing away Christ was not punished for our sinnes but onely tooke and bare away the punishment from us as hee tooke away sicknesses and diseases Christs death causeth the forgivenesse of our sinnes and our Repentance which is a Deliverance from sinfulnesse which is wickednes not Locally but Morally Deliverance from evill in the Lords Prayer The nature of Repentance which is really all one with holynesse The Motive to it is our Forgivenes 2 Reasons of it 1 Repentance is the purpose of Forgivenes 2 Repentance is the condition of it and an adequate condition of it Examples of the former Christ is to be Judge of our Repentance Yet he will judge of it in mercy The Alliance between remission and Repentāce Gods will is his Affection Decree Purpose Covenant and Testament Yet so taken chiefely in the Gospell And so here for 3 Reasons And is the efficient cause of Christs death But the principall efficient is God by meanes of the New Testament 〈◊〉 the 〈◊〉 the Testator the Executor the Forme the Apparance the Legataries the Legacies and Conditions God is our Father Jurally and Morally and to be stiled our Father VVHO gave himselfe Wee must heere supply the word unto death which many times in Scripture is silenced but is supposed and must bee understood when the words of giving himselfe are ascribed unto Christ Of whom they signifie that his death was not wholly
Gospel which hee preached was not humane but divine drawne from a narration of his conversion from the Jewish Religion to the Christian and first hee puts them in minde of his carriage in Judaisme and of his zeale to the Law while hee lived a Pharisee that from thence they might collect that hee would by no meanes ever have forsaken the Ceremonies of Moses and the Traditions of his Fathers unlesse God or Christ himselfe had withdrawne him from them after a miraculous and manifest manner and further that in preaching of the Gospel his present asserting of faith against the workes of the Law proceeded not from any hatred of the Law whereto once hee was so wholly addicted but onely from the Authority and command of Christ Comment Pauls former conversatioÌ„ was not his piety But his Activity In persecuting the Church and in wasting it which is a Metaphor taken from Warre or from a cursed Judgement And argues Pauls former fury and his excesse FOR yee have heard of my conversation in time past in the Jewish Religion By his former conversation in the Jewish Religion wherein after the most straitest Sect hee lived a Pharisee hee understands not his piety towards God in any acts of devotion for the worshippe and service of God whereto the Pharisees above the rest of the Jewes were great Pretenders especially for the acts of fasting and praying for as it appeares by the description of their Devotions recorded in the Gospel they fasted thrice in the weeke they prayed publickly in the corners of the streetes and they prayed tediously by making long prayers although all this were Hypocrisie Yet Paul by his conversation in this place hath reference to none of these But hee meanes his activity or madnesse as himselfe calls it in being wholly transported with fervency and zeale to defend the Law and oppose the Gospell by persecuting and destroying the Professours thereof as himselfe intimates in the words following For all the conversation of some men in their Religion especially of those who professe themselves the strictest is onely a blinde and bloody zeale to persecute and destroy all Dissenters from them and the murders they commit by the fury of this zeale they account the worshippe and service of God as Christ foretold it unto his Disciples John 16.2 Of Pauls former conversation this way the Galatians must needes heare either before or at least upon his planting of the Gospel amongst them because his persecution was very generall entering into every house haling men and women to prison and because the dispersion of the Disciples therupon was very generall also for they that were scattered abroad went every where preaching the Word See Act. 8.3.4 And because of the fearfull accident that fell upon him in his journey to persecute at Damascus neare whereunto hee was strucken to the ground with lightning from Heaven the fact whereof was so notorious and publick that the fame of it must needes spread to the hearing of the Galatians seeing the confines of Galatia lay not farre remote from the confines of Syria whereof Damascus was the chiefe City How that beyond measure I persecuted the Church of God An instance or example of his conversation in the Jewish Religion namely that beyond measure he persecuted the Church of God and beyond measure wasted it Beyond measure i. e. Beyond all excesse even unto extremity for Beyond measure is an expressâ—on too flat and too dry to utter the sharpnesse and bloudinesse of that persecution wherewith Paul once wasted the Church of God for therein he exceeded unto all extremity Into the profession of persecution Paul as it seemes had his initiation at the martyrdome of Stephen with whose bloud his zeale was fleshed for he was accessory to Stephens death by consenting thereto and by keeping the rayment of them that stoned him See Acts 7.58 and Acts 22.20 Of the bloudy persecution against the Church at Jerusalem whereby all the Saints were thence scattered abroad throughout the Regions of Judea and Samaria though the chiefe Priests were the chiefe authors yet Paul was the chiefe actor for hee entred not only into every Synagogue but into every house and haling out men and women committed them to prison See Acts 8.3 and Acts 26.11 Hee sollicited the high Priest for authority and obtayned a commission from him to commit the like outrage in the Synagogues at Damascus as he had executed before in those at Jerusalem See Acts 9.1.2 and Acts 22.5 and Acts 26.12 And wasted it The degree of his persecution was that it proceeded unto wasting of the Church for that word expresseth the extremity of his persecution that it advanced and increased not only beyond measure but beyond all excesse The Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is rendred elsewhere in our last English Translation destroyed See Act. 9.21 and afterward in this cap. ver 23. which expression is too generall and flat coming short of the full sense of the word but in this place it is fully and properly translated wasted For wasting is a speciall kind of destruction executed with fury and excesse not only upon mens persons but upon their lands and goods and properly signifies a vast destruction For Wast is a metaphor taken from War by the fury wherof a Countrey is depopulated the people slaine with the sword the Towns burnt downe by fire the cattell driven away and all the goods made a prey such a Wast was done upon Jericho Jos 6.21.24 Or rather Wast seemes to be a metaphor taken from the Execution of a heavy Judgement upon a cursed person who to be made an example unto others is put to a fearfull death his wife and children turned out of doores and his house pulled down to the ground his gardens supplanted his meadowes plowed his trees digged up by the roots and all his goods forfeited Such a wast was by the judgement of God executed upon the house of Jeroboam upon the house of Baasha upon the house of Ahab and upon the house of Baal which was turned into a draught-house See 1. King 15.29 and 1. King 16.3.4 and 1. King 21.22 and 2. King 10.27 Such a Wast in a maner Paul laboured to bring upon the Church of God as it may easily appeare from two grounds 1. From the fury of his mind for hee was exceeding mad against the Church of God and his mind was so bloudy that his very breath was bloud in breathing out threatnings and slaughters against the Disciples of the Lord. See Act. 9.1 and Act. 26.11 2. From the excesse of his actions for he haled men and women out of their houses into prison he forced divers into banishment persecuting them even unto strange Cities hee punished the Saints in every Synagogue and compelled them to blaspheme and when they were put to death hee suffraged or gave his voyce against them in a word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which word explicates 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. he made havocke of the
being made severall yeares before the act of his calling had without all question thereto annexed such conditions as were sutable to the wisdome and righteousnesse of God as particularly this condition that before his actuall calling hee should not render himselfe altogether unworthy of so sacred a Function whereof hee made himselfe unworthy in a manner and enough to acquit God of his decree or designe because hee was a blasphemer and a persecutor and had made himselfe unworthy altogether if hee had beene a blasphemer wittingly and willfully against the knowledge and motion of his conscience for of such a sinne Christ affirmeth that it shall never bee forgiven Mat. 12.32 And if such a sinne must never bee forgiven much lesse must the person polluted with such a sinne bee called to a Function so sacred for if hee were not meete to bee called an Apostle because hee persecuted the Church of God as himselfe argues 1. Cor. 15.9 much lesse had hee beene meete for it if hee had persecuted wittingly and willfully But his calling to his Apostleship was an act of Gods meere grace proceeding from the good pleasure of God For as the Decree for his calling when hee was separated from his Mothers wombe came out from the good pleasure of God So the act of his calling afterward had the same good pleasure for the ground of it Or as Paul tearmes it elsewhere it was an act of Gods mercy and Gods mercy is also his grace seeing all mercy is grace for although hee were a blasphemer a persecutor and injurious yet hee obtained mercy because hee did it ignorantly in unbeliefe 1. Tim. 1.13 Whereby he tacitly intimates that hee had not obtained mercy if hee had done it in knowledge and malice Yet Pauls ignorance was not the cause of that mercy but onely the condition which qualified him for it for the cause of it was because Christ had a purpose upon Paul to make him a patterne of his mercy and long-suffering to them which should heereafter believe on him to life everlasting 1. Tim. 1.16 Pauls title then to his Apostleship was onely grace and so wholly grace that very frequently in his Epistles hee not onely denominates it from grace but nominates and calls it grace See and compare Rom. 1.5 and Rom. 15.15.16 and 1. Cor. 3.10 and Gal. 2.9 and Ephes 3.7.8 VERSE 16. Text. To reveale his Sonne in mee that I might preach him among the Heathen immediately I conferred not with flesh and blood Sense In mee i. e. To mee and by mee Among the Heathen i. e. The Gentiles Immediately I conferred not i. e. Then upon my calling I discovered not or related not or reported not that I was called and Christ revealed to mee c. With flesh and blood i. e. to any mortall man Reason The words shew the matter of Gods pleasure toward Paul namely to reveale his sonne to him that hee might preach him among the Heathen and consequently they shew the manner of Pauls carriage thereupon that then for the present hee did not discover or reveale the matter to any mortall man Comment God revealed Christ by the meanes of Christ who is the Son of God and a Mystery Christ was revealed to Paul and by Paul to the Gentiles whose Apostle he was chiefely though sometime he preached to the Jews Flesh and blood put for mortall man Paul discovered not his Apostleship immediately upon his calling to it and the reason why he did not TO reveale his son in me This co-heres with the beginning of the former verse thus When it pleased God to reveal his son in me i. e. to make the mystery of his son known unto mee for so elsewhere Paul himselfe seemes to expound these words heere and particularly the word Reveale See Eph. 3.3 His son i. e. Jesus Christ for this was intimated before vers 12. where the Apostle apologized for the Gospel he preached that he received it not of man neither was taught it but by the Revelation of Jesus Christ and although it be sayd there that Christ revealed the Gospel unto him and heere that God revealed Christ unto him and that these two sayings signifie distinct actions yet both these sayings and both the actions thereby signified come to one effect thus That God by the meanes of Christ revealed Christ and his Gospel to Paul or Christ according to the will of God revealed himselfe and his Gospel to Paul for as ver 1. hee had his Apostleship from God by Christ so by these two verses it appeares that hee had his revelation from God by Christ And therefore of this revelation unto Paul God was the principall authour who appointed it and Christ was both the Instrument and Matter of it so that the issue comes to this That God by Christ revealed Christ to Paul Now Christ is called and is the son of God by way of singular eminency as the article the declares unto us because he is so in a most peculiar and excellent maner through severall degrees of eminency far beyond all other Men and Angels who in some maner and degree are also the sons of God for the Saints are the sons of God by their justificatiō or adoptiō into that son-hood which unto Christ is naturall and whence they are made coheirs with Christ And Christ as the son of God is a mystery or a secret person the knowledge of whom is veyled covered or hidden from the world for Christ and his gospel is called the mystery of God the mystery of Gods will and the mystery which was kept secret since the world began See Rom. 11.25 and Ephes 1.9 and Col. 4.3 Hence Christ especially since he was crucified is sayd to be unto the Jewes a stumbling block and unto the Greeks foolishnesse because unto them both hee was a mystery veyled and covered from their knowledge And this mystery of Christ to bee the son of God was not originally made known by any naturall means from any mortall man but was by God himselfe and by him only first revealed and discovered because of God alone it is the prerogative and property to reveal secrets And God revealed Christ to be his son at severall times to severall persons as unto John the Baptist who bare record of Christ that hee was the son of God for God who sent him to baptize sayd it unto him John 1.33.34 and unto the Apostles by name unto Peter who confessed Christ to be the son of the living God for not flesh and bloud but God the Father revealed that unto him Mat. 16.16.17 And unto Paul to whom the mystery of Christ was made known by revelation Eph. 3.3.4.5 In me The Greeke is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is an Hebraisme commonly put for unto me See 1. Cor. 14.11 where 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 answers to a single dative but joyned heer with the Verbe revealed seems to signifie something more then externally unto for it intimates that the knowledge of Christ was
to give an intire and true definition of Faith because Faith is a thing so indefinite and so generall that it hath no genus which will comprehend it and it is a thing so notable so well known that there are not other words more knowne whereby to expresse and teach the nature of it They therefore who define Faith to bee a Confidence in God are peccant against the nature of a definition two wayes 1. Because Confidence is a word more obscure then Faith and therefore cannot teach the knowledge of it for hee that knowes not what Faith is will never bee made to know it by telling him that it is a Confidence because the word Confidence is more unknowne unto him and leaves him more to seeke then the word Faith doth 2. Because Confidence is a word more narrow for all Confidence is Faith but all Faith is not Confidence seeing Confidence is but one kinde of Faith or rather a degree of it the like defect may bee found in the word Affiance Other definitions of faith commonly exhibited by Divines are either so wide that they will not justifie at all or else so narrow that they will justifie onely under the Gospel Yet because divine faith is an act so acceptable to God and so desirable to bee understood I shall sutably to our present purpose declining all definitions and other significations of the word which in divers learned Writers are sufficiently layd out propose two Notions designes or cases thereof one in generall as it magnifies God the other more particular as it justifies man Both which added together may serve as signes and markes to breed a competent and comfortable knowledge thereof 1. The first notion is this An high esteeme of Gods existence greatnesse and goodnesse is Faith in God For Believing is opposed to Dispising as therefore when wee have a base and low esteem of the weakenesse and badnesse of any person wee are sayd to despise him So contrarily when wee have a rich and high esteeme of that greatnesse and goodnesse which wee conceive in any person then wee have faith in him and when God is the person whom wee so esteeme then wee have faith in God But although such a faith bee acceptable and pleasing unto God because it is agreeable to his will and to the truth that hee should bee esteemed as hee is Yet this kinde of faith is not Justifying to acquire any right unto the believer because it is generall and common to persons justified and to some not justified in whom this faith is onely servile to breed in them feare and trembling Such a faith was in the people of Nineveh for at the preaching of Jonah that within forty dayes Nineveh should bee overthrowne the people Jon. 3.5 believed God i. e. They had such an high esteeme of Gods greatnesse and goodnesse of his power and justice therein included that hee could and would execute the judgement threatned against them and this faith bred in them a feare of God and that feare bred a Fast whereby they declared their Repentance And such a faith is in the Divels Jam. 2.19 The Divels also believe and tremble i. e. They have an high esteeme of the greatnesse of Gods Power and the goodnesse of his Justice that hee can and will execute his vengeance upon them for their Rebellion and this their faith is onely servile for it breeds in them feare and makes them to tremble 2. The second notion of faith is this An acceptance of Gods promise is Faith The difference betweene Gods Promise and his Precept will cleerely teach us the nature of faith and workes and consequently the true difference betweene them The right to a thing and the possession thereof are distinct respects that may bee transferred either joyntly both at once at the same time as is done in a Donation or they may bee transferred severally one after another by conveying the right at one time and respiting the delivery of possession till another as is done in a Promise Gods Promise therefore is his declared Will to impute unto thee a present right to the future possession of some blessing For God in his Promise willeth unto thee two distinct things 1. That thy right to the blessing should bee in present 2. That thy possession of that blessing should bee future And then according heereto hee requires from thee two distinct acts of thy will in corresponding and consenting to his 1. Thy Acceptance or taking of the present right to the blessing 2. An Expectance or trusting to the future possession of it I say God requires thy acceptance because Gods promissory will is not compulsory to will and command thy acceptance by necessitating or binding thee thereto for in so thinking thou destroyest the nature of Gods promise by turning it into a Precept whereof the effect is compulsory and binding But Gods promise is only Invitatory to will and require thy acceptance by calling moving and drawing thee thereto in using all the gratious and proper meanes conducing to that end Yet leaving thee free at thine owne choice either to accept or refuse it A refusall or Rejecting of Gods Promise is Unbeliefe an Acceptance or taking of the present right to the blessing promised is Faith and an Expectance or trusting to the future possession of the blessing is Hope for Faith and Hope are the acts of mans will answerable and agreeable to the will of Gods promise Contrarily Gods Precept is his declared Will to impose upon thee a present bond to the future observance of some duty And herein Gods Will is that thy bond to this duty should be present and thy observance of the duty should be future from thence forward But Gods Preceptory Will is not Invitatory to will and require thy observance or to leave thee free at thine owne choyse either to observe or transgresse it for in thinking so thou destroyest Gods Precept whose nature it is to will and command thy observance by laying upon thee a necessity thereof yet that necessity is not fatall but legall A transgression of Gods Precept is sin an observance thereof is workes and when the workes are cordiall and liberall done heartily and freely with all the heart and all the soule then the workes are Love For workes and love are acts of mans will answerable to the will of Gods Precept and therefore are different from faith and hope which answer to the will of his promise because his promise and his Precept are Wills different and opposite This last notion of faith may be further illustrated from three grounds 1. From the common definition of Faith That faith is an assent to every revealed word of God which kind of faith is so large and wide that it may aswell condemn as justifie yet it will serve to enlighten our notion For Gods Precepts are his revealed word but these because they proceed from his holines and uprightnes are but hard words and so hard that when they
promised Hence it appeares that Faith is a passion for although it bee an act of the will yet it is not an act active which consisteth in working or doing any thing but an act passive or act of sufferance in receiving and imbracing that state or condition wherein the love and kindenesse of God would put thee or which is all one in not refusing or rejecting the good will and pleasure of God towards thee And therefore in Scripture Faith is expressed by these two passive words of Receiving and Imbracing as Receiving the word Luk. 8.13 They on the Rock are they which when they heare receive the word with joy i. e. Believe or accept the word of Gods promise as it plainely appeares by the words immediately following wherein the Verbe receive is changed into believe which for a while believe and Receiving Christ John 1.12 But as many as received him to them gave he power to become the sonnes of God even to them that believe on his name where wee see in like maner that the former Verbe received is interpreted by the latter to signifie believing and Embracing the promises Heb. 11.13 And were perswaded of the promises and embraced them i. e. believed them for that act which naturally followeth perswasion is Beliefe And by these two passive words of Receiving and Embracing Faith is opposed to the two contrary words of Refusing and Rejecting which will not bee passive and therefore signifie Unbeliefe as Refusing Christ Heb. 12.25 See that yee refuse not him that speaketh i. e. See that yee believe him for not refusing is receiving and receiving is believing and Rejecting Christ John 12.48 Hee that rejecteth mee and receiveth not my words i. e. Hee that believeth not in mee for of the former words the latter are an Exposition And Rejecting Gods Counsell Luk. 7.30 But the Pharisees and Lawyers rejected the counsell of God i. e. They would not believe or receive Gods promise which is his divine and heavenly counsell Thou seest heereby that in making faith all the action lies on Gods part in declaring his promise and perswading thy acceptance Bee thou onely Gods Patient to suffer his action and operation upon thee and the act of faith is done For the passion or sufferance on thy part is neither painefull nor shamefull but most easie gentle and noble for it consisteth onely in accepting receiving or embracing his kindenesse towards thee or at least in not refusing or rejecting it So that all thy act of faith seemes but this what Gods good will would have to be firm do but thou affirme or unto his promise say but Amen i. e. So bee it for Amen is the Hebrew word for Faith or unto the word of his promise set but thy Fiat fiat quod dicitur i. e. Let his word bee done for from this Fiat is framed the Latine word Fides and it may bee also the English word Faith by transposing the Vowells and asperating the last Consonant which the Licence of Etymology will well allow and doth commonly practice Yet among Latine Authours the Latine word Fides is commonly taken actively for fidelity or faithfulnesse in performing faith given But although this promissory faith bee a passion or sufferance for the essence of it yet for the efficacy it is or ought to bee so strongly effectuall that in and upon the faithfull it produceth mighty effects events and issues as doth appeare in a long list of Beleevers Hebr. 11. and will appeare in this Chapter ver 18. For a true and lively faith is somewhat like the affections of the minde or like the diseases of the body both which are passions and yet have powerfull and violent operations Yet unto both these faith is unlike heerein that her effects flow not from her necessarily and naturally ex natura rei according to the course of nature but jurally and arbitrarily ex instituto Dei according to the ordinance and appointment of God And although de facto some of her effects doe not actually follow yet de jure ex debito according to the course of right and duty they alwaies ought to follow for where they follow not that faith to that effect is ineffectuall frustrate voyd and dead There is betweene faith and sin this contrariety that as Faith is the acceptance of Gods promise so Sin is a repugnance to his precept and therefore the effects of faith have a contrary resemblance to the effects of sin Sin hath in it lesse entity then to be a passion because every sin is a privation and most sins are meere omissions yet such are the effects of sin that from thence follow all the stirres and troubles on earth as the privates miseries of distresses imprisonments banishments and fearfull executions and the publicke calamities of warre famine and pestilence for too manifest it is that sin hath strength enough to produce all these effects yet sin hath not this strength from her selfe but from the Law 1. Cor. 15.56 The strength of sin is the Law So of faith though it be a passion such are the effects that from thence follow all the favours and blessings of heaven as the Justification of thy person the Regeneration of thy minde the Remission of thy sins the Resurrection of thy body and thy Life everlasting For manifest it is from Scripture that faith hath strength enough to produce all these effects yet faith hath not this strength from her selfe as she is an act of man but from the grace of God who to the praise of the glory of his grace is gratious and favourable unto faith by honouring it in that high degree as to attribute assigne or impute unto it these strong and mighty effects Whereof preparatively to our present purpose I shall mention those which flowing immediately from the essence of it doe yet further illustrate the notion of it and they are chiefly fowre 1. The first effect of this promissory faith is To enter Gods covenant of grace For Gods promise before the accesse of thy faith to accept it is in respect of thee but a sponsion or single act of his will on his part to devise unto thee a present right to the future possession of his blessings But by the accesse of faith on thy part to accept it his promise is advanced and formed into a Covenant with thee in particular whereinto thou entrest by the act of thy faith Because thy faith is an act of thy will to accept and take that present right which his will is to grant and give thee and consequently by meanes of thy faith thy will is agreeable to his will touching one and the same thing to be had and agreement of wills betweene severall parties for the having of one and the same thing makes up the intire nature of a Covenant and consequently makes up thy entrance thereinto And the covenant entred by meanes of this faith is the covenant of Grace which is so called because the ground thereof
is Gods grace which moveth him to this act of kindnesse in making or passing his promise unto man and because the matter thereof is meerely gratious consisting of those favours benefits and blessings conferred upon man which are not due to man by any Law In the Old Testament Gen. 15. God covenants with Abraham by way of promise that God on his part would bee unto Abraham a shield and an exceeding great reward that he would give him a son and heire of his owne body and Abraham therupon enters covenant with God that hee on his part did beleeve in the Lord i. e. did accept receive and embrace those promises heere was a Covenant of Grace because the ground of it was Gods grace and the matter very gratious In the New Testament Heb. 8.10 God covenants with thee by way of promise that hee on his part will put his Lawes into thy mind and write them in thy heart that he will be a God unto thee and take thee for one of his people that he will teach thee to know him in respect of his greatnes goodnes and kindnes toward thee that he will be mercifull to thy unrighteousnesse not onely to forgive but also to forget thy sins and iniquities If thou on thy part accept these promises by thy faith thou thereby entrest Gods Covenant and the Covenant thou entrest is the Covenant of Grace because the ground of it is Gods grace and the matter of it very gracious Contrarily the Covenant made with God by meanes of a Preceptory faith is the Covenant of workes because the ground thereof is mans duty as he is the worke or creature of God owing all allegiance obedience and observance unto his Lord and Maker and because the matter thereof is laborious consisting of those workes Offices and services which by Gods Law are due from man to God In the Old Testament Gen. 17.1.10 God covenants with Abraham by way of Precept that Abraham on his part should walke before the Lord and be perfect upright or sincere and that every male childe in Abrahams family should be Circumcised here was a Covenant of workes because the ground of it was Abrahams duty and the matter somwhat laborious for workes to be done Againe in the New Testament Mat. 5.3 God covenants with thee by way of Precept that thou on thy part shalt be poore in spirit shalt mourne shalt bee meeke shalt hunger and thirst after righteousnesse shalt bee mercifull shalt be pure in heart shalt be a Peace-maker shalt suffer persecution for righteousnesse sake Heere againe is a Covenant of works because the ground of it is thy duty and the matter somewhat laborious In a word every promise of God is a Covenant of grace every Precept of God a Covenant of workes every judgement of God a Covenant of Curses and every voluntary sin of man is an involuntary Covenant to suffer those curses 2. The second effect is to assure Gods promise The promise of God though in respect of his will on his part it be firme sure and fast yet in respect of any right or benefit thence accruing to thee it is neither firme sure nor fact before thy faith or acceptance of it but by vertue of thy faith or acceptance it is made stable firme and sure Because that promise which Gods will is should be stable firme and sure is by thy faith actually established affirmed and assured for as was shewed before thy faith doth advance and forme Gods promise into a Covenant and a Covenant is an agreement so stable firme and sure that the parties agreed cannot repent revoke recede or goe back And if a Consent of the parties to be married doth make the mariage sure for upon their consent we use to say they are sure together much more doth thy acceptance of Gods promise make thy alliance to him stable firme and sure And this faith doth assure not onely thy present alliance but also the future possession of all those blessings which unto this alliance are appendent and consequent as the Regeneration or sanctification of thy minde the Remission of thy sins the Resurrection of thy body and thy Life everlasting And unto this assurance this faith is quickened and strengthened by the first notion of faith which is a high esteeme of Gods goodnes and greatnes that what the goodnes of his will was pleased to promise that the greatnes of his power is able to performe For this estimatory Faith by giving unto God the glory of his goodnes and greatnes doth nourish and feed up thy promissory faith into an assurance of a strong and full perswasion of Gods performance though unto thy selfe thou seeme never so poore and dead a Creature For notwithstanding all the difficulties and casualties in the world that may seeme to disturb Gods performance notwithstanding thy ignorance in many poynts of Religion that may seeme to hinder it notwithstanding thy sinnes of errour and frailty that may seeme to crosse it notwithstanding thy death and dissolution in the grave that may seeme to bury it Yet after all these God remaines constant firm and sure both willing and able to performe his promise and will actually performe it unto thee And of this assurance thou hast a precedent in Abrahams faith which notwithstanding the deadnesse of his owne body and of Sarahs Wombe was so firme sure and strong that hee was sure of a sonne because he considered not the deadnesse of his body but the goodnesse of Gods will and the greatnesse of his power Rom. 4.19 And being not weake in faith hee considered not his owne body now dead when hee was about 100. yeare old neither yet the deadnesse of Sarahs wombe hee staggered not at the promise of God through unbeliefe but was strong in faith giving glory to God and being fully perswaded that what hee had promised hee was able also to peforme Hence Amen the Hebrew word for faith doth also signifie verity constancy firmenesse and surenesse Because it is the nature of faith to bee true constant firme and sure not onely formally for the quality of it as it is opposed to falshood doubting staggering and wavering but also effectively for the virtue of it because it makes the promises of God to bee stable constant true firme and sure which otherwise and without it will prove frustrate and voyd to bee of no force or effect to him who diffides them And this Assurance of Gods promise is an effect so peculiar to thy faith that not workes but faith is ordained for thy title to this very end and purpose that the promise might bee sure unto thee Rom. 4.16 Therefore it is of faith that it might bee by grace to the end the promise might bee sure to all the seed 3. The third effect is to oblige both parties God at the first was not obliged to make any promise but was altogether free either to make or forbeare it and having made it hee is not obliged to performe
maine argument was that God had raysed him from the dead See Act. 2. and Act. 3. and Act. 4. and Act. 5. and Act. 13. For this is the very life of faith 1. Cor. 15.17 For if Christ be not raysed your faith is vaine ye are yet in your sinnes And it is the very heart of saving faith for Rom. 10.9 If thou shalt confesse with thy mouth that Jesus is the Lord and shalt beleeve in thy heart that God raysed him from the dead thou shalt be saved Shall wee not beleeve one risen from the dead Surely the damned are not so unbeleeving for they seeme to beleeve that one risen from the dead is the fittest person to gaine faith and beliefe Hence Dives requested Abraham to send Lazarus to his five brethren living for he supposed that if one should come to them from the dead they would be more perswaded by him then by Moses all the Prophets Luk. 16.30 Can now the unbelieving Jew believe any thing in the World that he hath not seen Can he believe that Abraham was his Father by whom he had a right to the Kingdome of Canaan And can he not believe that Jesus is the Christ by whom he hath a right to the Kingdome of Heaven Can hee believe that Moses was the man of God by whom God gave his Law And can he not believe that Jesus is the son of God by whom God gives his grace Hath he any grounds to believe in Moses And hath hee not far greater stronger for his faith in Jesus Christ for besides the grounds arguments for faith in Christ which hitherto we have mentioned Christ had also the Testimonies of Moses and the Prophets which were sufficient to make faith of him and by the indication of John the Baptist actually did make it in the first of his Disciples for say they John 1.45 We have found him of whom Moses in the Law and the Prophets did write But the Incredulous Jew gives not full credit to his owne Creed he boasteth of Moses and glorieth in his writings and yet hee believes not the writings of Moses for if hee did hee would also believe in Jesus Christ John 5.46 For had ye believed Moses ye would have believed me for he wrot of me The Reason why Christ doth declare and prove the last Will and Testament of God is because Christ is the Executor of it Seeing that Gods Will is a Testament therefore it must needes have an Executor i. e. a person in the place or stead of God to performe the minde and will of God Because the nominating or appoynting of an Executor is the very essence of a Testament which alone doth make a Will to become a Testament and without which no Will eyther is or can bee rightly tearmed a Testament for by the best Lawyers a Testament is defined to bee a Will wherein an Executor is nominated Now the Executor of Gods last Will and Testament is Jesus Christ who is a person in the place and stead of God to execute and performe the will of God For hence saith Christ John 6.38 I came downe from Heaven not to doe mine owne Will but the Will of him that sent mee and the Will heere mentioned is Gods last Will and Testament for in the next following verses hee expresseth one clause of that will containing the blessed Legacies of the Resurrection from the dead and Everlasting life devised or bequeathed to every believer in Christ And againe the Apostle saith Heb. 7.22 Jesus was made a Surety of a better Testament i. e. In effect the Executor of a better Testament for although every Surety bee not an Executor Yet the surety of a Testament is the very same with an Executor because the Executor of a Will stands bound for the Testator to pay all his Debts Gifts and Legacies as the Surety in a bond stands bound for the principall Debtor And againe Christ professeth that hee came into the World on purpose to bee the Executor of Gods last Will and Testament Heb. 10.9 Then sayd hee Loe I come to doe thy Will O God for by Gods will heere is meant his last Will and Testament even that will whereby hee tooke away the first Will that hee might establish the second as plainely appeares by the rest of the words in that verse Now it is the office of the Executor to declare and prove the Will and Testament of the Testator Seeing then Christ is the Executor of Gods last Will and Testament therefore hee declared and proved it to make faith thereof unto us 3. It is called faith in Christ Because faith in Christ is the Title or appellation whereby men are nominated in Gods last Will and Testament If Gods Will containe Promises Legacies and Gifts as most certainely it doth then the persons to whom those Legacies and Gifts are predestinated or devised must bee really truely and certainely nominated for otherwise neither can the Executor duely performe those Legacies neither can the Legataries know how to claime them It must therefore follow that in Gods last Will and Testament men are really truely and certainely nominated Yet not by their proper names nor by their sirnames but by names appellative or common For they who are predestinated or instituted in Gods will are therein predestinated or instituted by the appellative or common names of the Faithfull in Christ of Believers in Christ of Receivers of Christ or such like words equivalent to these as John 3.16 Whosoever believeth in Christ shall not perish but have everlasting life and John 6.47 He that believeth in me hath everlasting life And Acts 16.31 Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved and thy house And Rom. 3.26 That God might be just and the Justifier of him that believeth on Jesus And Rom. 10.9 If thou shalt confesse with thy mouth the Lord Jesus and shalt believe in thy heart that God hath raised him from the dead thou shalt be saved And 1 John 5.13 These things have I written unto you that believe on the Name of the Son of God that ye may know that ye have eternall life When therefore any man can really truly and certainly be denominated from the appellative or common name of a Believer in Christ or of having faith in Christ the Promises Legacies and Gifts of God are thereby as firme and sure unto him as if he had been nominated in Gods Will by his single or proper name In like maner men are reprobated or disinherited in Gods Will not by their proper or single names but by the appellative or common names of unbelievers in Christ and of Carnall Livers and such like names to these as John 3. 18. He that believeth not is condemned already because he hath not believed in the name of the onely begotten Son of God Againe John 3.36 He that believeth not the Son shall not see life but the wrath of God abideth on him And John 8.24 If ye believe
justified by Christ hee doth highly magnifie the benefit and religion of Christ thereby to manifest unto the Galatians their great rashnes and weakenesse in suffering themselves to be seduced from the Religion of Christ and reduced under the Law of Moses Comment Christian crucifying or mortification the Paterne of it the Ground of it the End or Effect of it Of self-love the Nature of it the Necessity of it the Facility and want of it the work of it the Order of that worke the nessity of it and Neglect of it Mortificatiō is true life and really is Sanctification by altering my life to the life of Christ Sense of the Text. Faith put for Religion To live in the flesh To live in the Faith Naturall actions may become religious and be subject to faith An attribute of Christ why given him heere The Religion of Moses servile But that of Christ is liberall and noble Another Attribute of Christ Delivering put for Dying The authors of Christs death Actions are morallized from their causes The end or purpose of it Christ dyed not in my stead But for my sake or for my good to certifie me of blessednes to justifie me to it to Sanctifie me for it to Exemplifie the way to it to glorifie me with it Christ dyed for me eminently More then any other person can Christs love caused his death not excluding Gods love which also caused it and not his Anger God then was not angry with Christ not with us but with the Jewes he was Christ dyed for Paul and for me by my name appellative of a Believer which kinde of Nomination is Certaine and Valid to the Inheritance of Heaven A Prayer unto Christ I Am Crucified The Crosse was an instrument for criminall executions whereon malefactors were put to death a punishment much practised and well knowne among the Romans Greekes and Jewes And to bee Crucified was to bee nayled hand and foot upon the Crosse to suffer thereby a shamefull paynfull and lingring death Hence by way of metaphor or resemblance the Faithfull when they renounce reject and crosse the motions desires and lusts of their carnall or fleshly appetite are sayd in Scripture to crucifie or mortifie the flesh and thereupon they themselves are sayd to bee crucified or mortified For when the Flesh or carnall appetite which is a kinde of Malefactor is so curbed and crossed that she cannot enjoy her former liberty and usuall motions unto sinne then she resembles a man crucified or nayled to the crosse who thereby loseth first his motion and at last his life The Apostle therefore would say My death unto the Law doth so far remove mee from living in sin that I am dead to sin also because I am as it were crucified For as a man that is crucified or nailed to the crosse doth dye a violent and paynfull death so my old man or that man that I was formerly is so bruised and crossed that it is dead not a naturall and easie but a violent and paynfull death For the denyall of my former selfe by crossing the motions desires and lusts of the flesh is unto my sensuall appetite not onely a simple death but a death with violence and torment because when my appetite is crossed she accounts her selfe vexed and tormented With Christ Not really and locally but putatively and quasively for I am mortified in a maner as hee was crucified and so I am for two reasons 1. Because his Crucifying is the Paterne resemblance or likenesse of mine For as Christ was crucified and dyed to his mortall life that he might rise to a new life and live unto God so I am mortified and dead unto sin that I might turne to a new life and live unto God as a new creature And as Christ was crucified but once dying no more but once for death had dominion over him no more but once so I am mortified and dead to sinne once for all and sinne shall never have dominion over mee more because I will never againe returne under the bondage of it For according to these resemblances the Apostle proposeth Christ unto every Christian as the true paterne of mortification Rom. 6.6 Knowing this that our old man is crucified with him that the body of sinne might be destroyed that henceforth we should not serve sinne for he that is dead is freed from sinne And againe at the next verse following but one the other resemblance followeth Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dyeth no more death hath no more dominion over him For in that he dyed he dyed unto sinne once but in that hee liveth hee liveth unto God Likewise reckon yee also your selves to bee dead indeede unto sinne but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. 2. Because his Crucifying is the cause ground or reason of mine For as through the death of the Law I am dead to the Law so through the Crucifying of Christ I am crucified with Christ i. e. his Crucifying and dying on the Crosse is the cause ground and bond why I must be mortified and dead unto sinne For seeing Christ by his death upon the Crosse did confirme and establish the last Will and Testament of God to the Legacyes and Promises whereof I by fayth am justified to have the same right in God with Christ or as Christ hath namely a right of alliance and inheritance to be the son and heyre of God as Christ is the son and heyre of God and consequently to be the brother of Christ and a co-heyre with him to eternall blessednes Are not these benefits by the death of Christ a cause ground and bond sufficient to engage and oblige mee to crucifie or mortifie my sin Shall I partake in the alliance and inheritance of Christ to bee a co-ally and a co-heire with him and shall I not partake in his obedience to be a sufferer with him especially in this holy suffering whereby my sin onely suffers death For seeing Christ for my sake layd downe his life shall not I for his sake lay downe my sinne Can I possibly doe lesse for his sake who suffered so much for mine then thus to conforme and plant my selfe into the likenesse of his death And can I possibly doe more for my owne sake when by thus conforming and planting my selfe into the likenes of his death Rom. 6.5 I shall be also in the likenesse of his resurrection If Christ dyed for mee then must I dye to sinne because his death bindes mee to it 2 Cor. 5.14 For if one dyed for all then were all dead i. e. then were all to dye or then all ought or must dye to sin for in this place as in divers others the action past is put for the duty to come If Christ have any right in me I must bee thus dead Rom. 8.10 And if Christ bee in you the body is dead because of sinne i. e. the flesh or sensuall appetite is mortified or dead that thereby ye may