Selected quad for the lemma: heart_n
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B10255
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The highest end and chiefest work of a Christian set forth in two plain discourses, concerning the glory of God, and our own salvation / By J.W.
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Waite, Joseph.
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1668
(1668)
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Wing W223; ESTC R186143
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132,020
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have a true notion of his nature and essence whereto the right of universal dominion doth necessarily belong and addes thereunto a firm assent of the mind Heb. 11.6 to the verity of his existence i.e. that he is the only true God and thereby obligeth our obedience to him This Notion of Faith is notably declared and exemplified by S. Paul in Heb. 11.2 4 7 8 17. By Faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain by which he obtained witnesse that he was righteous By Faith Noah being warn'd of God of things not seen as yet moved with fear prepared an Arke to the saving of his house by the which he condemned the world and became heir of the righteouness which is by Faith By Faith Abraham when he was called to go into a place which he should afterwards receive for an inheritance obeyed c. By Faith Abraham when he was tried offered up Isaak and he that had received the promises offered up his only begotten Son And this was the Faith which was imputed to him for Righteousness that is by which he was justified before God Rom. 4.3 Gal. 5.6 But for a final confirmation of this notion of saving Faith as the only complete one I mean this practick Notion I shall add no more Arguments than what may be inferr'd from those Texts of Scripture wherein there is the least appearance of expressing it that is those Texts wherein this saving Faith is described by no other Act than that by which we believe the verity of these Propositions That Jesus is the Christ the Son of God and that he was raised from the dead c. John 20.39 These things are written that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ and that believing ye might have life through his Name Rom. 10.9 10. If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus and shalt believe in 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 1 John 5.1 Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God No man can say that Jesus is the Lord but by the Holy Ghost 1 Cor. 12.3 This was the Eunuch's Faith whereupon he was admitted to Baptism by Saint Philip I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God Acts 8.37 This was the Faith for which our Saviour pronounceth Simon Peter blessed Matth. 16.16 17. Thou art Christ the Son of the living God The same was the Faith of Martha whereupon she expected the Promise of Life declared by Christ John 11.26 27 I demand now What kind of Faith it is that is to be understood in these Texts Is it no other than a certain real and unfained assent to the truth of these Propositions and shall every such Believer be saved or is he born of God Surely no man that reads the Scriptures can think so If then this speculative dogmatical Faith though never so true in a philosophical sense that is not only in respect of the Object but also in respect of the Act of Assent be not the true saving Faith What can â—t be but the practical Faith which answers to the foremention'd Notion of a practical knowledge of God that is such a Faith as effectually produceth all such affections and obedience to Christ with dependence upon him as the belief of these Propositions obligeth a man to I conclude therefore that these Texts and all others wherein Faith is named as the sole condition of Salvation are to be interpreted by that single one of S. Paul above mention'd Gal. 5.6 For in Christ Jesus neither Circumcision nor uncircumcision availeth any thing but Faith which worketh by Love So much for that first Resolution to the Question in hand given by our Saviour himself and S. Paul viz. That he that will work out his own Salvation must believe in the Lord Jesus Christ Not as Jesus only or a Saviour but as the Lord and Christ And to work out this Condition 1 Thess 1.3 is that which he calls the Work of Faith being the Work of Obedience to the Lord Jesus who is the Author of Eternal Salvation to them that obey him Heb. 5.9 that is to them that so believe in him as to obey him TO this agrees an other Answer which our blessed Saviour made to one that put the question to him in express terms Matth. 19.17 and Mark 10.17 And behold one came and said unto him Good Master what good thing shall I do that I may have Eternal Life And he said unto him If thou wilt enter into Life keep the Commandments Which words being the Answer of him who is the Author of Salvation and who best knew the Condition whereupon it was to be had and had least reason to utter any thing to the prejudice of his own merits do plainly shew that the keeping of the Commandments in some sense or other is necessary for him that will be saved as well under the Gospel as under the Law I am not ignorant that this speech of our Saviour hath received such an interpretation from divers modern Interpreters as seems to imply the quite contrary to this inference viz. That these words were not designed for a direct Answer to the young man's question as serving to instruct him what he was to do to enter into Life but intended rather to discover unto him his inability to attain Salvation by any thing that he could do and thereby to draw him to seek it out of himself and dispose him to imbrace the Evangelical way of Salvation by Faith in him the Saviour without Works But this Interpretation with due reverence to the Authors and Abetters thereof seems to me improbable upon diverse Accounts 1. Because it makes our Saviour's Answer to be indirect and insufficient at least if not untrue For whereas the man 's Inquiry was What he was to do that he might be saved this Answer by this interpretation gives him either no direction at all or such a one as was either not true or not sufficient and by this Hypothesis impossible to be performed The keeping of the Commandments was either necessary to Salvation or it was not If it were necessary Why should our Saviour whiles he seems so plainly to affirm it be supposed not to intend it If it were How could this be a true Answer to the Question 2. Because I neither find any Circumstance in or about this Text nor any necessity from any other to incline me to preferr such an indirect obscure interpretation of our Saviour's words before that which is direct and plain 3. Because this sense is disagreeable to a second Answer that our Saviour made to the reply of this Questionist alledging himself how truly is not to the purpose to have kept those Commandments Jesus said unto him If thou wilt be perfect go and sell that thou hast and give to the Poor and
declare wherein the true notion and nature thereof doth consist viz. in turning unto God Repent and turn unto God the latter phrase is exegetical declaring the sense of the former To repent is to turn unto God which supposeth an aversion from God as the antecedent condition and posture of every penitent sinner And so much is signified by the name of a sinner Sin being nothing else but an aversion or turning away from God So that Repentance being the same thing with Conversion in Scripture-sense is a relative word having a double tearm of relation à quo ad quem from which and to which The latter is expressed by the Apostle in the forementioned words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Repent and turn unto God From whence it is called Repentance towards or unto God Act. 20.21 The former is signified by the same Apostle He. 6.1 Repentance from dead works that is from sinful works called dead works because they are the acts of a man Spiritually dead and destitute of Spiritual and Divine life These two things make up the intire signification of repentance viz. turning from sin as sin that is all known sin unto God that is unto the universal duty of obedience unto his will most fully and plainly expressed by the words of the Prophet Ezek. 18.21 But if the wicked man will turn from all his sin which he hath committed and keep all my statutes and do that which is lawful and right he shall surely live he shall not die This I take to be one of the plainest and compleatest descriptions of Repentance which is to be found in Scripture Wherein the same general duty is otherwise set forth in great variety of expression As to rent the heart to circumcise the foreskin of the heart to abhor our selves to cease to do evil and learn to do well To crucifie the old man and the flesh to mortifie the deeds of the body to cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of flesh and spirit and to perfect holiness in the fear of God to put off the old man and put on the new to cleanse our hands and purifie our hearts to deny all ungodliness and wordly lusts and to live soberly righteously and godly in this present world c. Wherunto the general termes of Regeneration Sanctification and the new Creature are materially equivalent These and many other expressions there are of the same general duty all of them signifying an essiectuall change of the whole man inward and out ward beginning in the mind or understanding 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by which all humane affections and actions are governed from whence both Greek and Latin names are derived which primarily and properly signifie a change of the mind or intellectual part of the soul but are understood practically as before I shewed cencerning Faith and Knolwedg in Scripture-sense Thus is Repentance expressed by the Apostle to be a renewing in the spirit of the mind Eph. 4.2 3. Rom. 12.2 a transformation of a man by the renewing of the mind putting off the old man with his deeds Col. 3.10 and putting on the new man which is renewed in knowledg These expressions with other like do signifie this work of conversion 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to begin in Repentance or the understanding the ruling faculty in a man the prime recipient of all grace which therfore is sometimes called light Eph. 5.8 Heb. 6.4 illumination and inlightning as on the contrary sin is termed darkness very frequently Repentance comprehending the whole work of grace is begun in the mind but hath its most proper effect and seat in the Will as sin also hath It is the effectual habitual conversion of the Will that makes out a true Repentance that being the only faculty which is capable of command and most directly and immediatly obliged to obey having also the power of commanding the affections and actions of the whole man And upon this account it is that Sorrow for and Confession of sin do sometimes signifie a true Repentance having the promise of pardon annexed to them because where they are sincere they do infer such a change in the Wil as amounts to Repentance For a true godly sorrow for sin as offensive to God and repugnant to his just and holy Will cannot be separated from a real purpose of forsaking the sin Because it is impossible for a man to be sincerely sorry for that which the Will allows either as already done or to be done hereafter And therefore also such confession of sin as proceeds from a godly sorrow doth necessarily imply a conversion or change of the Will which if it be so radicated and fixed as will prove effectual upon the trial which God only knows is nothing less than a true Repentance begun in the Heart But this may seem more than enough to have been spoken by way of Explication of so ordinary a Point whereunto therefore I shall add no more in this place but this one advertisement to apply it to my Text That seeing Repentance is a work of absolute necessity to Salvation whosoever desires to work out his own salvation must be careful to work out his Repentance which is done only by bringing forth fruits or works worthy of repentance which can be no other than the works of a holy life Seeing the work of Repentance can only be said to be begun by godly sorrow and confession of sin and that only when those things are joyned with a firm and sincere purpose of reformation it is evident that the entire duty can no otherwise be wrought out than by a constant and faithful performance of that godly purpose Having now laid down from Scripture the nature of Repentance I come to the Answer of the Objection before mentioned consisting of two Branches 1. That the urged necessity of obedience to the commandments as part of the condition of the New covenant destroies the distinction of it from the Old making both of them to in these general terms of Do this and live And the consequence of this is 2. That the burthen hereby laid upon Christians is intolerable in as much as the keeping of the Commandments is a yoak too heavy for the shoulders of lapsed nature though strengthened by grace My answer to this Objection shall be grounded upon the Doctrin of Repentance as that is no other than a peculiar precept and priviledg of the New Covenant Repentance as hath been shewn in the compleate sense of the word and extent of the duty requires obedience to the commandments as Faith also doth but not the same obedience which the Law requireth I say therefore that repentance is a precept of the second Covenant and not of the first a precept of the Gospel not of the Law as such For to repent supposeth Sin which by the condition of the first Covenant supposed to be made with man-kind in his innocency is indispensably excluded Repentance cannot become a duty till