upon it to make it more clear and evident This is certain that whoever receives an estate by grant or Covenant from another he can have right to nothing more than what is therein by name expressed nor upon any other terms than those therein specified Nor any longer maintain his claim to it than those Conditions are done and performed by him So that if either he did not consent to and accept of the terms or not duely perform them when accepted he is no more de jure to be deemed the lawful possessor of it The case is thus here betwixt God and Man God makes a grant of pardon and acceptance and eternal life to sinners This grant is by Covenant This Covenant is with certain terms and conditions and these conditions they must be accepted and performed or else no right to any of the priviledges of this Covenant is conferred upon us For since we have here no right as was said but what is given us and since that right is expresly affixed to the personal performance of the conditions of the Covenant therein mentioned where there is no such performance there can be no right That this right is thus affixed to the personal performance of the Conditions of the Covenant is evident for we have no right but by promise 1 Joh. 2.25 This is the promise that he hath promised us even eternal life And therefore Believers are by the Author to the Hebrews called the heirs of promise Heb. 6.17.11.9 The promise then only gives us right to life yea but the promise is only made to the personal performance of these duties Acts 3.19 Repent ye and be converted that your sins may be blotted out when the days of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord. Prov. 28.13 Who so confesseth and forsaketh his sin shall find mercy Rom. 10.9 10. If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus and shalt believe with thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead thou shalt be saved For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation Rom. 8.13 If ye through the spirit mortify the deeds of the flesh ye shall live Joh. 13.17 If ye know these things happy are ye if ye do them And Matth. 7.21 not every one that saith unto me Lord Lord shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven From all these Scriptures it evidently appears that the promise of mercy and pardon and life and blessedness the great benefits of the Covenant they are expresly made to the actual and personal performance of repentance and faith and sincere obedience which are the main duties and conditions of the same Covenant 'T is our personal performance therefore of the conditions of the Covenant that gives us a formal and personal right to the blessings of it and our non-performance only by which our right is forfeited T is that which gives us right Rev. 22.14 Blessed are they that do his Commandments that they may have right to the tree of life and may enter in through the gates into the City Blessed are they who They that have eat and drunk in his presence and wrought miracles in his name No but they that do his will but why blessed Because they have right not only the favour and priviledge but right to the tree of life But what gave them this right Their subscribing and sealing and promising obedience to Jesus Christ No but their performing Covenants their keeping of his Commandments Therefore blessed are they that they may have right And this right since 't is founded in Grace and not in merit it may be humbly pleaded by Believers when their right to the promise is called in question or any accusations from the old Law brought in against them Through Grace they have been inabled to believe and repent c. And therefore they are freed from the curse and from condemnation And therefore the promise of pardon and life is theirs But because few are so well satisfied concerning their own sincerity as to be thereby enabled to make this Plea therefore the promises that are more absolute in this case are to be pleaded by them For as some promises are made to Grace the conditions of which being performed are the foundation of our assurance So there are other promises of Grace which are the immediate foundation of our encouragement to Faith and Prayer However the doubting Souls cannot alway plead their right because they question their own performances yet the sincere performance of the condition for all that gives an undoubted right and laies a good foundation for a legal plea and by such as are satisfied concerning their own sincerity may be pleaded against accusations from the Law and Justice without either asserting merit or retrenching the free Grace of God Since this right as was said ariseth from the gracious will and favour of God and not from our own desert or the intrinsick value of the duties we perform As suppose one to found a School or Hospital and to endow it with rich revenews and priviledges but with this condition that they upon whom 't is setled shall once or twice every year pay by way of acknowledgment some few pence or half pence to one of his own name that the memory of his name might be preserved and they constantly be made to acknowledge from whom they received so liberal a donation In this case as his making this the condition upon which they hold it shall not render it to be no act of Charity or blot out his name from amongst their Benefactors So neither shall their pleading that this acknowledgment if called in question hath accordingly been made and the conditions of the grant been constantly performed the pleading this I say shall not be deemed either any detraction from the freeness of the gift or a pleading of your own desert only an humble asserting of their own right which was by grant conferred upon them But as our actual performance of the conditions of the Covenant gives us an undoubted right because founded upon the faithfulness of God to all the priviledges of the Covenant so consequently on the contrary the non-performance of them must needs null our right and cast us out of possession and actually expose us and make us liable to all that wrath and vengeance to all those woes and penalties that either this or the Old Covenant hath denounced For since it is attended with double guilt it shall also be rewarded with double punishment Heb. 10.29 Nor will it be sufficient in this case to plead that we have subscribed and sealed and promised performance to the Gospel Covenant no all this if it be not actually kept will serve for no other purpose but to witness our own unfaithfulness and to condemn us for being false to our own engagements You know what answer Christ returned to such as
they are still truly distinguishable in themselves as to their formal notions vocation being one thing and justification another and also in the order in which they are given out to sinners For first they are effectually called then justified then adopted and last of all glorified Betwixt the three former there is at least a priority of nature as the Sun we say is before its light and the fire before its heat But betwixt them and glorification there is a priority of time Thus Enoch we know walked some years with God in a justified state before he was translated And Paul fought long after he was called before he received his Crown This is the unvariable order that God hath fixed wherein to dispense the great blessings of the Covenant to such who are the objects of his elective love He justifies none but the called and adopts none but the justified and glorifies none but the adopted Rom. 8. In the next place the order in which the priviledges of the Covenant are dispensed being stated we must consider in what order the several conditions of the Covenant since â—ot to all alike nor at the same time to all are to be applied for our being actually inâ—eressed in them And first in order to our â—ffectual calling no more is required of us â—han an humble and diligent attendance upon all such means as God hath appointed for that end Our waiting by the pool for the Angels moving upon the waters Isa 55.6 Prov. 2.4 5. Heb. 2.1 Luke 11.9 10 11 12 13. Joh. 5.25 Act. 10.33 Acts 13.44 48. Our actual faith and repentance and holiness cannot here be supposed as a prerequisite to our effectual calling only our attendance upon the means since these are the very things to which we are called Act. 26.18 Rom 10.14 Rom. 1.7 Gal. 1.6 And he that is called to believe and be holy is upon that very account supposed before to be both unbelieving and unholy But then in order to our being justified and adopted there both faith and repentance as hath already been proved are antecedently necessary Or which is all one our humble and penitential acceptance or receiving of Jesus Christ in all his offices as Prophet Priest and King and consequent upon this our reliance upon him for pardon and Salvation Gal. 2.16 Joh. 1.12 and lastly in order to our being actually glorified and made eternally happy in the immediate fruition of God 't is further requisite that we be not only penitent and believing but also actually holy and obedient as hath been said Math. 5.20 Rev. 22.14 First God in the use of means calls sinners to repent and believe and then upon their repenting and believing in answer to his call he justifies and adopts them And then upon their being further purified in obeying the truth as 't is exprest 1 Pet. 1.22 and so made meet to be partakers with the Saints in the inheritance of light they are as the consummation of all their happiness eternally glorified So that you see our repenting and believing necessarily presupposeth our effectual calling and our justification and adoption our repenting and believing and our glorification not only our being justified and adopted but also our being personally holy and conformable to Jesus Christ When therefore 't is said that obedience as well as faith and repentance is a necessary condition in the Covenant of Grace if we understand it as we ought according to the order before explained the great doctrine of justification by faith in Christ which the Apostle so much contends for with the Jews especially in his Epistle to the Romans and Galatians this doctrine I say is hereby secured and preserved inviolable since our obedience is made a condition only with reference to eternal life and not to our justification being in order not â—ntecedent to but consequent upon that We are still justified by faith in Christ without works as the Apostle speaks but yet not saâ—ed by faith alone without works There is more required to make a Soul fit for Heaven than meerly the pardoning of his sins and justifying of his person But is it not often affirmed in Scripture that we are saved as well as justified by faith Joh. 3.16 Eph. 2.8 Mar. 16.16 It 's true and so also we are said to be saved by hope Rom. 8.24 And by calling upon the name of the Lord Rom. 10.13 And to be blessed and have a right to the tree of life by keeping of the commands of Christ Rev. 22.14 If then the argument will hold good that we are saved by faith alone without holiness and obedience because 't is said he that believeth shall be saved we might also by the same rule argue that we are saved by hope without faith or by calling upon God without hope or by our obedience without all the rest since Salvation and blessedness is ascribed to each of these to hoping and calling upon the Lord and obeying as well as believing All therefore that can justly be inferred from hence is only this that faith as well as hope and obedience is necessary to our Salvation And because there is an inseperable connexion betwixt them and a joint subserviency of both to the same end therefore it is that eternal life is sometimes ascribed to one sometimes to the other Sometimes 't is said blessed are they that believe Joh. 20.29 Sometimes blessed are the pure in heart Matth. 5.8 Sometimes blessed is he that feareth the Lord Psal 112.1 Sometimes again blessed are they that keep his testimonies and are undefiled in the way Psal 119.1 2. All which 't is evident must be taken inclusive of each other faith of fear and fear of purity and all as joined with actual obedience That is he that believes and acts sutably to his faith in purifying his heart and keeping the commands of Christ he shall be saved And so again on the other hand he that obeys supposing also that he repents and believes in Jesus Christ he shall be blessed But we cannot possibly without making Scripture to contradict it self appropriate happiness to any one of these conditions not to faith any more than to obedience either by way of opposition to or separation from the rest The plain English of that would be this that a disobedient faith or an unbelieving obedience might be sufficient to qualify us for eternal life Even in justification it self though our actual obedience be not there required yet 't is vertually included in the very nature of that faith by which we are justified But as to our being eternally glorified there our actual obedience together with faith and repentance are alike necessary to give us a perfect and compleat right to it faith and repentance alone as to this are not sufficient A compleat right I say for there is I grant a certain right to life that doth immediately result from faith it self But then we must here distinguish of a double right There is first a primary and
to whom all the promises of the Covenant did belong and consequently that the rest of the Nations whom they termed Gentiles could have no lot or portion in this matter but were eternally excluded from all hopes of acceptance with God otherwise than by becoming Proselytes to the Religion of the Jews These were the two great things in debate betwixt the Apostle and the Jewish Rabbies viz. upon what account a sinner might be justified and saved and who were the persons whether Jews or Gentiles or both to whom the Promises of the New Covenant did belong To the first the Apostle makes this reply Gal. 2.16 that a man is not justified by the works of the Lw but by the Faith of Jesus Christ which he makes good to them by several Arguments which I must not now insist upon and particularly from the example of Abraham in whom they so much boasted He himself was justified by faith and not by works Gal. 3.6 And as to the second he proves to them First That they were not therefore to repute themselves the blessed Seed of Abraham and Heirs of the Promise because they were naturally descended from him and so had Abraham to their Father Rom. 9.7 The Seed of Abraham it was multiplex not one but divers one by Ishmael and another by Sarah Now if they were the Children of the Promise quà filii as they were the natural Sons of Abraham then Ishmael as well as Isaac and Esau as well as Jacob should have inherited the Blessing Yea but the Promise was not made to Seeds as of many but to one Seed only which he in this second place proves to be only such whether Jew or Gentile that should as Abraham did believe in Jesus Christ and do the works of Abraham Such as elsewhere 't is exprest that were Jews inwardly and whose circumcision was that of the heart and in the Spirit and not in the letter Rom 2.28 29. Such as were born of the Spirit and not of the Flesh Gal. 4.29 Such as are not only of Israel but Israelites indeed Rom. 9.6 Such as walked in the steps of the Faith of Abraham Rom. 4.12 These he tells them were truly and only to be reputed the Children of Abraham Gal. 3.7 and Heirs of the Promise Gal. 3.29 and the Seed of Abraham in the beginning of the same Verse and the Seed to whom the promise was made ver 19. of the same Chapter and therefore Children of the promise Gal. 4.28 Yea though they were Gentiles and of the most vile and despicable amongst the Gentiles Scythians and Barbarians yet upon believing they were to be owned for the Children and of the blessed Seed of Abraham Gal. 3.26 for there is no difference saith the Apostle to the Romans chap. 2.22 and 10.12 And if no difference no distinction and so still but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 one Seed And consequently all the Blessings and Priviledges of the Covenant made with Abraham did equally belong to them with the Jews And 't is observable how much the Apostle both here and elsewhere labours in this argument v. 8. of this Chapter The Scripture foreseeing that God would justifie the Heathen through Faith preached before the Gospel to Abraham saying In thee shall all Nations be blessed And ver 9. So then they which be of Faith are blessed with faithful Abraham And ver 13 14. Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the Law c. That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ And Rom. 3.29 30. Is he the God of the Jews only Is he not also of the Gentiles yes of the Gentiles also seeing it is one God which shall justifie the circumcision by faith and the uncircumcision through Faith which he prosecutes more at large chap. 4. ver 9 10 11 12 13.16 17. Thus you see how much the Apostle labours as his great design to demonstrate to the Jews that the Gentiles were included in the Promise made to Abraham and were to be blessed in and with him Yea but upon what account Why because they also were Children of the promise Gal. 4.28 and that Seed to whom the Promise was made Rom. 4.13.16 But how come they to be of his Seed being not of the stock of Israel Why by being of the Faith of Abraham Rom. 4.12.16 that is by believing in Jesus Christ Gal. 3.26 And from hence 't is clearly to be inferred that the Jews had no cause either to boast of their being the Children and Seed of Abraham unless with him they did believe or to exclude the Gentiles from being so if they did believe since 't was not Birth or Nation but Faith that entitled them to be his Seed Thus the Argument runs clear and is convictive But if by Seed here we understand Christ personal and not Christ mystical that is Believers in Christ his argument is neither proper nor conclusive at least not so evident and sutable to the Apostles main intendment in the words 2. This sense of the word is most agreeable to that account which we have here and elsewhere given of this Covenant made with Abraham The great thing promised in this Covenant was the giving of a Messiah in whom all the Nations of the World should be blessed Luke 1 68 69 c. And that by Faith in him their iniquities should be forgiven Rom. 4.7 8. and they justified Gal. 3.8 and freed from the curse ver 13. and receive the Spirit ver 14. and be admitted to the inheritance ver 18. and have righteousness and life ver 21. All which is said to be confirmed of God in Christ ver 17. of the same Chapter Now all these priviledges which are but so many branches of the Covenant they are here made expresly not to Christ but to Believers as the Seed of Abraham Nor can they any way possibly be applicable to Christ himself For he is the person here promised and therefore not the person to whom the promise is made The Father did not Covenant with Christ to give him Christ that 's a Position so absurd that the Reason of man can never give entertainment to it but to give him to Believers they are without doubt the parties to whom God engageth to give the Messiah And 't is as evident also that the several Blessings of the Covenant before mentioned were promised to them and not to him For had he any sins to be forgiven or was he to be freed from the Curse of the Law who therefore came into the World that he might bear the Curse for us or did he stand in need of an inheritance righteousness and life Since therefore the several particulars of this Covenant with Abraham are made over to him and to his Seed and since by his Seed in this place cannot be meant Christ the blessing therein promised being not compatible to him but to Believers it necessarily follows that by Christ in the Text we are to understand not Christ
than if it had been done in their own persons For since Parents have an undoubted Soveraignty over their Children in their minority they are thereby invested with a right to dispose of them at pleasure provided it be not to their prejudice If Hannah begs and obtains a Son from God she may give him back again to God and devote him to his use and service And if a Father settles an Estate upon his Child he may oblige him to pay such lawful Debts and Annuities as he hath thought meet to charge upon it and hereby the Child is no less engaged to performance than if it had been his own act and deed However in the first and most pure Ages of the Church such as were admitted to Baptism in their infancy when they came to years and were instructed by Catechists particularly appointed for that purpose in the Principles of Christianity they then were brought into the Publick Congregation and there in their own persons did own and ratifie and take upon themselves what their Sureties had promised in their behalf Upon which account Baptism is called by the Apostle the answer of a good Conscience towards God 1 Pet. 3.21 In which words the Apostle hath respect to the questions that were then by the Minister propounded to the party to be baptized and the answer he gave to them Dost thou believe the Articles of the Christian Faith Dost thou renounce the World c. Dost thou give up thy self entirely to Jesus Christ and promise to be faithful to him These were the Questions usually propounded to the Christian Converts at their Baptism to all which they were to answer I do believe I do renounce I do promise And this is that supposing it to be spoken sincerely and from the heart which the Apostle here calls the answer of a good conscience The true Baptism indeed that saves us as he there speaks and not the putting away the filth of the flesh by being either immerst in Water or having that poured upon our Faces Again When we approach to the Table of the Lord and are there admitted to the sacred Communion of the Body and of the Blood of Jesus Christ as the Apostle expresseth it 1 Cor. 10.16 Do we not then renew our Covenant with God and solemnly declare that we take him to be our God and give up our selves also to him to be his People Do we not engage to love him and believe in him and to walk in all ways of holiness and obedience well pleasing in his sight Do we not then say with David Psal 119.94 Lord I am thine His indeed we ever were as made and redeemed by him but now we become his by our own actual choice and solemn dedication of our selves unto him How therefore any that are baptized and admitted to the Lords Supper should imagine that they are not parties that stand engaged to God in the New Covenant I understand not since thereby they do no less solemnly avouch the Lord to be their God and to walk in his ways and to keep his Statutes and Commandments than Israel did at Mount Horeb To me 't is an argument that these men were yet never duly instructed in the nature and use of these Gospel Institutions As Christ told the Woman of Samaria they worshipped they knew not what so we may say to them they know not what it is to be baptized and to partake of the Table of the Lord. 5. Lastly If Believers are not the parties but Christ that stand engaged to God by the New Covenant how then comes it to pass that they are charged with the commission of any sin or in any sense punisht for it That Believers as well as others may and do become guilty of sin is evident from express Scripture For in many things saith the Apostle James we offend all Jam. 3.2 And he that saith he hath no sin he lyeth saith John and the truth is not in him 1 Joh. 1.8 And why else did Jesus Christ instruct his Disciples to pray daily for the remission of their sins Math. 6.12 if they had no sins to be forgiven Sin then they do that 's unquestionable yea and upon their sinning they also become liable to temporal punishments though exempted from those that are eternal Was not Jacob punished for his lying to get the Blessing And Aaron and Moses punished for their passion and disbelief Numb 20.12 And David punished for his Murder and Adultery And the believing Corinthians punished for their undue celebration of the Lords Supper 1 Cor. 11.30 But how come they to be guilty of sin or punishable for it For where there is no sin there no punishment can be due and consequently it would be injustice in that case to punish And where there is no Law there can be no sin as the Apostle argues for all sin 't is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the transgression of some Law as he defines it 1 Joh. 3.4 But what Law is that by which Believers become obliged to Obedience The Old Covenant or Law of Works No. That 's long since abrogated and laid aside by the mediation of Jesus Christ and therefore no more obliging or convictive to such as are in Christ Rom. 6.13 For ye are not under the Law but under Grace By Grace there the Apostle means the Covenant of Grace as by Law the Covenant of Works And such is the opposition betwixt these two that he who is under one cannot be under the other any more than she that 's married can be under the power of another Husband till the first be dead As he further argues in the following Chapter ver 1 2 3 4 5 6. The conclusion from all which is this that being married to Christ we are freed from the Law But how then become Believers obliged to duty or convict of sin By what Law since not by the Law of Works What By the Law of Grace the New Covenant Neither according to the sentiments of such as say that the Covenant was made with Christ and not with Believers For if they be not the parties that stand engaged for service and obedience to it neither can they be charged with guilt in not obeying it Suppose that any one should covenant and agree with a third person in my behalf that if I be put into the possession of such an Office or Estate I shall pay such a Rent or homage by way of acknowledgment my consent and stipulation thereto being not required Who now stands bound he or I for the performance of these Conditions or who shall be charged with breach of Covenant in case of non-performance Gratitude indeed and Ingenuity may perswade me to use all possible endeavours to perform what my friend in kindness hath promised for me Yea but in Law I am not bound thereto but he only that entred into Bonds for me and consequently if I neglect or refuse to pay such Rents and Acknowledgments the default shall be charged
repent and believe and be holy And that in order to our being happy And hath he not finally excluded from life and happiness all such that are impenitent unbelieving and impure Can there be any doubt concerning this to him that reads the Gospel and believes it to be of Divine authority And is he not do you think serious in all this What shall the unchangeable God that cannot lie be deemed like degenerate Man to speak one thing and mean another Or is he serious only in his promises and not so also in his commands and threatnings Why Are not both equally founded upon the same immutable nature and veracity of God And if you can perswade your selves to hope that God will revoke his threatnings and commands Why should you not also doubt whether he will make good his promises We have no other foundation whereon to build our faith and hopes but the declared will of God and if that be changeable our faith 's no better than opinion and our hopes presumption We can then neither be sure that the wicked shall be turned into Hell nor yet that the righteous shall be saved If this then be the fixed and unchangeable order and method of Salvation by the Covenant of Grace that either we must repent or perish return or die believe or be damned be holy or not see God be obedient or suffer the vengeance of eternal fire as hath been shewn how can we hope to be saved otherways than in repenting and turning and believing and obeying of the Gospel Otherways than in the actual performance of these duties 2. Have we not more than once by our own voluntary act solemnly engaged our selves to the actual performance of all these conditions When we were baptized when we after this approached to the Lords Table when we have at any time professedly humbled our Souls before the Lord in any solemn ordinance yea when we first entertained the tenders of Grace and Salvation did we not then promise and engage to amend our evil wayes and doings and turn to God and believe in Jesus Christ and receive him in all his offices and keep his Commands and walk in all holiness and obedience well pleasing in his sight Now either we were serious and in good earnest or not when we thus engaged If serious 't is morally impossible that we should indulge our selves in the wilfull neglect of these duties since an intentional and approved violation of our promise is inconsistent with sincerity And therefore the conscience of our own obligation will necessarily put us upon all possible endeavours to act conformable to our own engagements And since the thing to which we obliged our selves was not meerly the profession and acknowledgment but actual performance of these duties we shall accordingly study to perform them But if we say we were not serious in these solemn engagements we then plainly confess that our design therein was only to play the Hypocrites with God and to impose upon his omnisciency But is it possible that any reasonable creature should ever become so prodigious a Monster Or that ever it should enter into the heart of Man to imagine that the all wise and holy God He that requires truth in the inward parts Psal 51.6 He that hath curst the deceiver Mal. 1.14 He that hath denounced so many woes against the Hypocrite Matth. 23. and hath sentenced them to the lowest place in Hell Matth. 24.51 That he I say should bind himself by Covenant to such Miscreants to pardon them and bless them and admit them to the best and choisest priviledges of his Kingdom What such as design to mock God and play the Hypocrite with him and to be treacherous and unfaithful to him Be not deceived saith the Apostle God is not mocked Gal. 6.7 Besides if our stipulating with God in the Covenant or as the Prophet expresseth it our subscribing with the hand to the Lord be necessary as hath been demonstrated in order to our recâ—iving the blessings of it then our actual performance of what we stipulated and subscribed to must needs be much more necessary since our solemn engagement to the Covenant is râ—quired not meerly for it self but only as a means to this end that is to bind us to a more punctual performance of the conditions of it 3. How else shall we distinguish betwixt the righteous and the wicked the Heirs of Glory and the Sons of perdition They may all be baptized They may all subscribe with the hand to the Lord. They may all eat and drink at his table They may all be professors in Religion and make a fair shew in the flesh as the Apostle speaks Gal. 6.12 These things are common to both and therefore can be no mark of distinction betwixt them No but herein lies the difference The one break off their sins by repentance and turn to God the other not The one come to the foot of Christ take his yoak and bear his burden and sincerely believe in him the others not The one keep his Commandments and obey from the heart his Laws and Doctrine the others not The one love the Lord with all their Souls and thoughts and strength the others have not the same love of the Father in them but love the world and the things of the world as John speaks 1 John 2.15 In a word the one perform the Oath of the Lord and act conformably to their Covenant engagements but the other they draw back and are unfaithful Like the Pharisees they say and do not But the others they say and do And thus they are mutually described and distinguished by the Apostle 1 Joh. 3 7 10. Little children let no man deceive you he that doeth righteousness is righteous even as he is righteous ver 7. But whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God ver 10. And herein he tells us the Children of God are manifest and the Children of the Devil Herein they are differenced and hereby they manifestly may be distinguished And the same Character and mark of distinction we have from Jesus Christ himself Job 8.31 15.8 But if the actual performance of these conditions be not unchangeably necessary all distinction betwixt good and bad Holy and Prophane is taken away and we cannot say of any â—owever visibly different in their lives and conversations this Man is wicked or that Man is righteous since one is not this in observing nor the other that in neglecting the observance of them if not neceâ—sary to be observed and so we have no Standard left whereby to judge of either The obedient and disobedient are alike if obedience and disobedience be the same For whatever elective love God may have for any particular person more than for others amongst the degenerate Sons of Men yet since that is only an immanent act in God and that which had an existence from all eternity before we had any thing and wholly lies hid in the secret counsel of Gods
will and so absolutely unknown to us that cannot possibly either make any change of our state or become any foundation for any real and forensick distinction betwixt Man and Man 'T is not that which makes this Man a Judas and that Man a Paul The one actually wicked and the other personally righteous And therefore whoever God predestinates saith the Apostle thâ—m also he calls before they are either justified or glorified Rom. 8.30 He makes them to pass under the rod and brings them into the bond of the Covenant and pours clean water upon them and puts his Spirit into them and writes his Laws in their hearts and causeth them to walk in his ways and keep his Judgments before he will own them to be his people and dignify them with the name of Saints and Children and righteous ones Ezek. 36.25 26 27 28. Jer. 31.33 1 Cor. 1.2 Take Paul for an instance He was you know a chosen vessel to the Lord Acts 9.15 Separated in Gods predeterminate counsel from his Mothers womb Gal. 1.15 Yea but was he therefore immediately justified and sanctified and adopted and owned for a Saint a Child of God from his Mothers womb No for all that he will tell you that he was for some years a Pharisee an injurious person a Persecutor a Blasphemer 1 Tim. 1.13 And as he speaks of the Ephesians that he was dead in sins and trespasses a Child of disobedience and of wrath without Christ having no hope and without God in the World Eph. 2.1 2 3 12. To this effect he speaks expresly of himself Tit. 3.3 And may we not now truly say of Paul however elected that he was a wicked Man during his continuance in this state And consequently that he was not righteous since 't is impossible for the same person to be righteous and wicked dead and alive at the same time But how then came Paul to be amongst Gods Jewels his holy ones How God humbles him at the foot of Christ Acts 9.5 6 c. and calls him by his Grace Gal. 1.15 and makes him obedient to his call Acts 26.19 and regenerates him by his Spirit Tit. 3.3 4 5. and causeth him to believe and obey the Gospel Acts 24.14 15 16. and to live intirely to Jesus Christ Philip. 1.21 Thus Paul obtaineth Mercy as he tells you 1 Tim. 1.16 and is listed into the number of the Saints his name now is changed Acts 13.9 'T is no more Saul but Paul no more a Persecutor but an Apostle of Jesus Christ and now he is justified Gal. 2.16 and now he receives a Crown of righteousness 2 Tim. 4.8 And thus you see what it is that denominates a man righteous or wicked and what is the only note of distinction betwixt an Heir of wrath and a Child of God not baptism or profession or being in the visible Church or the elective love of God but doing righteousness as John speaks which is nothing else but the actual performance of the Conditions of the New Covenant of which I am treating 4. Why else hath God sent his holy Spirit into the World Is it not plainly for this end that he may help our infirmities Rom. 8.26 and that he may assist us in the actual performance of those duties which are by the New Covenant required of us That we may look upon him whom we have pierced by our sins and mourn Zech. 12.10 that we may believe in Jesus Christ 2 Cor. 4.13 that we may mortifie the deeds of the flesh Rom. 8.13 that our hearts may be purified in obeying the truth 1 Pet. 1.22 And that we may walk in the wayes and keep the Judgments of God Ezek. 36.27 All this is said to be by the assistance of the Divine Spirit And therefore it is that the ministration of the Spirit is still necessary in order to our Salvation notwithstanding that Jesus Christ hath fully discharged the office and perfâ—cted the work of a Redeemer and Mediator for us Joh. 16.7 Nevertheless I tell you the truth It is expedient for you thâ—t I go away for If I go not away the comforter will not come unto you but if I depart I will send him unto you The Spirit here is expresly promised to be sent in the room of Christ to supply his place and office when he should leave the World as that which should be of more advantage to them than still to enjoy Christs personal presence here on Earth Nevertheless I tell you the truth it is expedient for you that I go away But why expedient For then the Spirit shall come But when he is come what shall he do Why He shall convince the world of sin of righteousness and of judgment ver 8. I but if Jesus Christ hath so done all as that we have nothing at all to do and that his imputed righteousness alone be sufficient to save us without our personal and obediential righteousness to what purpose is the administration of the Spirit His work and office is wholly superseded For what needs a Spirit of mourning to be poured down upon us if so be the Covenant of Grace require us not personally to repent Or a Spirit of Faith as the Apostle calls it 2 Cor. 4.13 if we are not bound to believe Or a Spirit of holiness if it oblige us not to be actually holy Or a spirit of obedience if we may be saved without obeying If then our having of the Spirit and being led or acted by him be indispensably necessary in order to our Salvation so also is our repenting and believing in Christ and loving God and doing of his will and cleansing our selves from all filthiness of flesh and spirit and perfecting holiness in the fear of God and purifying our selves as he is pure since the effecting this in us is the great errand for which he came into the World and the main office he hath undertaken during the time of Christ Mediatory Kingdom The truth is we can no more be saved without the ministration of the spirit than we can without the Mediation of Jesus Christ This argument runs clear in Scripture He that hath not Christ hath not life 1 Joh. 5.12 But he that hath not the spirit hath not Christ Rom. 8.9 And he that is not holy and obedient hath not the spirit Jude ver 19. For where ever the Spirit is he regenerates and sanctifies the whole lump Body Soul and Spirit as the Apostle speaks 1 Thess 5.22 and so becomes in that Soul a Spirit of Faith Holiness and obedience 5. How otherwise shall Believers attain to any evidence or assurance of their Salvation Or come to know that they more than othes are in a state of friendship with God and made Heirs of the promise and vessels of mercy when so great a part of the World are Heirs of wrath and Sons of perdition That they may be thus assured since some undoubtedly have been so and that they all ought to labour for
made the like plea Matth. 7.23 Depart from me ye workers of iniquity I know you not But lastly to sum up all One of these three things must here be affirmed Either that God will dispense with his Laws and stated order of saving sinners and save them in some other way than what he hath declared or else that these duties and conditions are discharged and performed by some other person as surety for us and in our behalf or else that they are actually to be performed by us in our own persons But first what reason have we to imagine that God will change his laws and alter â—he fixed methods of his Grace and rescind his Covenant which is the contrivance of his infinite wisdom and goodness founded in the blood of his own Son and confirmed by his death and that every way so well secures the honour of God and the allegeance and comfort of the creature What Do you think he will thus offer violence to himâ—elf his wisdom are holiness which he so much delights to honour Or that he will contradict the great design of his Sons undertaking which was to reduce the creature to his duty and obedience to God Or that he will affront his own truth and faithfulness and impeach himself guilty of a lie What The holy and wise God do thus and only for this end that he may gratifie sinners in their wilfull neglects of him and of the duties they indispensably owe to him And open a door to licentiousness and all sorts of abominations which his Soul hates And all this to save the impenitent and unbelieving and impure and disobedient for all Men are so that do not actually repent and believe and obey and make them Coheirs with Christ and set them upon his throne and put Crowns of Glory upon their heads What those that are his enemies whom he hates and hath sworn in his holiness that they shall never enter into his rest or see his face or taste of his joyes but be thrown into outer darkness and suffer the vengeance of eternal fire and be tormented day and night and everlastingly drink of the wine of his wrath poured out without mixture and lie for ever in an Hell of misery weeping and wailing and blaspheming because of their plagues and tormâ—nts where his eye shall not pity nor spare nor have mercy on them What Can any Man that hath not wholly lost his reason perswade himself to believe thus or to hope for Salvation in this way Or if you suppose it possible for any thus to believe will his fâ—ith this faith do you think save thâ—m For whom then is Tophet prepared Or for whâ—m is the blackness of darkness reserved if none be vessels of wrath and Sons of perditions And none are such if not the impenitent unbelieving disobedient and impure If these expect Salvation from God they must then shew us another Gospel another Covenant for by this I am sure 't is impossible that any should be saved that doth not personally perform the conditions of it Nor have we secondly any greater reason to believe or hope that these conditions should be discharged for us by any other person in our stead and behalf For are not the commands that require duty expresly spoke to us Ye shall repent and turn to God ye shall believe in Jeâ—us Christ ye shall be pure in heart and holy in all manner of conversation and ye shâ—ll love God and keep his Commandments c. And are not the promises of pardon and life c. particularly made to us and to our personal performance of the conditions upon which they are made as hath been shewn And are not the comminations of death and wrath and eternal torments denounced against us in case of personal disobedience He that believeth not shall be damned Mark 16.16 He that loveth not the Lord Jesus Christ let him be an anathema maran-atha 1 Cor. 16.22 And except ye repent ye shall all likewise perish Luke 13.3 Now what foundation is here to imagine that these can concern any one but our selves Or if any of them be acknowledged to be appropriate to our selves why not the rest If the promises why not the commands and threatnings since we are alike spoke to in all Why should we charge these upon another and take the promises only to our selves May we not with as good reason say that another may be saved for us or damned for us as that he shall repent and believe for us And so Heaven should be ours only by a proxie and Justification ours by a subtitute c. That is in plain English 't is not we that are justified nor we that are adopted nor we that are admitted into eternal Glory but some one else for us But who is this that we suppose should perform these Conditions for us Jesus Christ our Mediator 'T is true he hath fully satisfied the demands of the first Covenant and taken Believers off from all obligation of duty to it And he hath also by his Mediation obtained another and better Covenant founded in his own blood and attended with better promises wherein pardon and eternal life are again offered and assured to sinners upon the equitable and honourable terms of repentance and faith and sincere though not perfâ—ct obedience Yea but yet we must not say that Jesus Christ repents and Jesus Christ believes for us c. No this must still be our own Act and 't is impossible it should be the act of Christ For consider but what is the proper object of these duties The object of repentance is sin and the object of faith and obedience is Jesus Christ we are to believe in him and to be obedient to him Heb. 5.9 and be conformable to him Rom. 8.29 and to keep his commands Joh. 15.10 and to walk after his example 1 Pet. 2.21 But can these any way be applied to Jesus Christ What shall we say that Christ believes in Christ Or that Christ is obedient to Christ Or that Christ is conformable to Christ Or that Christ walks in the steps of Christ What sence shall we then make of Scripture Or if any shall be so forsaken of their reason as to cant thus yet will any one say that Jesus Christ repents of Sin Or breaks off his sins by repentance and amends his evil wayes and doings as we are commanded If then it be not possible that either God should violate his own Covenant and contradict himself or that Jesus Christ should perform the conditions of it for us it necessarily follows that we our selves are personally obliged to the actual performance of them in order to our obtaining eternal life That is as I have often said we our selves are the persons that stand bound â—â—ch Man for himself to repent and believe and obey and be holy or else Salvation it self cannot save us PROPOS XII Of the consistence of a conditional Covenant with the sufficiency of Christs righteousness
distinguished should ever really be separated Faith without works saith James is dead Jam. 2.26 That is in truth 't is no faith as a dead Man properly is not a Man but a meer carcass and an apparent resemblance only of a Man 'T is little better than an implicite contradiction at the best but an ens rationis a meer figment and Chimera that is no where to be found existing but in the wild imaginations of some such whom the Apostle calls absurd and unreasonable men An impenitent faith and disobedient faith an unholy and unjust faith What a strange conjunction would this be Can any Man think this to be a justifying a saving faith It 's true if we do humbly and sincerely receive and give up our selves to Jesus Christ upon Gospel termes God doth not suspend our pardon and acceptance till our holiness be compleat and our obedience grown to its full stature but upon that very act acquit us from our obligation to the Old Covenant and admit us to an incipient right to all the priviledges of the New As he that hath before witness sealed to Indentures is thereupon immediately though the things therein required are not yet discharged admitted to the possession of the premises And he that humbly submits himself to his Prince upon his Proclamation of grace and pardon is at the same time pardoned and taken under the protection of his government though he have not yet demonstrated his loyalty by any signal acts of service to him But then as sinners are thus justified upon their first solemn and serious believing in Jesus Christ or else it will be hard to say when 't is done so they must and if sincere in the first act they will otherwise in truth they never did believe and consequently never were justified they must I say and will continue in all due obedience to him according a they then promised and resolved or else their first act stands only for a cypher and signifies nothing in Gods account nor in mans neither could he as God understand our hearts There is no pardon sealed nor right to life conferred nor the least spiritual advantage to be expected from the Covenant of Grace unless our faith be such as is justified by obedience As he that seals to any Covenant must also pay his rent or he cannot expect â—o be continued in possession and â—reap the profits of it And he that is pardoned upon submission must also live in a dutiful subjection to his Prince or otherwise hâ— cannot hope to enjoy the benefit of his pardon By the former I mean our believing and submission to Jesus Christ we are as I have already said justified and obtain an initial right to eternal life And by the latter i. e. our holiness and obedience our right is continued and compleated But fourthly 4. It may contribute somewhat to our better understanding the consistence of free Grace with the conditionality of the Covenant and the necessiâ—y of our personal performance of the conditions of it in order to our eternal Salvation a little to consider the nature of Salvation and happiness and how nearly holiness and obedience are allied to it Happiness Salvation they are pleasing words As light to the eye musick to the ear Every one is delighted with the sound of them How beautiful are the feet of them that bring these glad tidings But alas how few are there of those that desire it that rightly understand what it is Ask them what they mean by being happy and they will tell you Oh! to be freed from sin they mean no the sinfulness but the punishment of sin thâ— curse of the Law and the wrath that is tâ— come And to have all tears wiped froâ— their eyes and burdens taken from theiâ— shoulders and to rest for ever from their labours To be delivered from Hell and eteâ—nal burnings and to live in the midst of joy and delights in another world In a word not to be everlastingly miserable but to be at ease for ever without care and trouble and anxiety But what is there in all this more than in Mahomet's Paradise or the Poets Elyzium If freedome from misery were properly happiness then non-entities might be happy and the readiest way to make us so would be â—o annihilate us and turn us into our first nothing For that which is not is at ease and cannot be miserable And if meer sensitive pleasures and delights were sufficient to create beatitudes then the brute creatures might be numbred amongst the blessed and the most effectual means to make Man so were to change his nature and turn him into a beast since they are observed to have the quickest sense and so most capable of enjoying the pleasures of it And yet this is all that the generality of the world understand by happiness and indeed all that they desire And according to these false conceptions of happiness are also their notions of free Grace framed and modelled To be created over again in Christ unto good works and be pure in heart and holy in all manner of conversation To live the life of God and be righteous as he is righteous and be followers of him as dear children c. These things are seldom instanced in or taken notice of either as any much less as the most essential parts of our happiness or any fruit and evidence of free Grace But when they would set forth this arraied in her richest robes of glory and greatest Majesty they instance in God pardoning sinners and blotting out their iniquities and justifying the ungodly and casting their sins into the bottom of the Sea and scattering them as a thick cloud and redeeming them from the curse and freeing them from Hell and condemnation c. This they cry is Grace and wonderful Grace to sinners And so indeed it is and wonderful beyond what 't is possible for any finite creature to express or comprehend And therefore my design is not to shadow or eclipse any part of that unspeakable glory that ariseth hence to the free Grace of God But yet let me add is there no free Grace but pardoning and justifying Grace to be admired And may not men without offence be minded of it and be desired to consider it Tell me what greater favour and kindness and that is properly Grace as hath been shewn can God possibly manifest to any creature than to make it eternally happy And what greater happiness can he possibly bestow upon him than to make him like and conformable to himself The true and formal notion of happiness lies not in negatives but positive fruitions Not in being freed from misery but in the enjoyment of all possible perfection of which a created nature is capable And all the perfection competible to a creature consists formally in his conformity and assimilation to God the original fountain of being and perfection That creature that hath all excellencies and perfections proper and competible to its own