dead unto sin c. Ro◠3 28. Rom. 8.18 Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by Faith I reckon that the sufferings of this life are not worthy of the glory that shall be revealed Heb. 11.19 Rom. 4.19 Accounting that God was able to raise him up even from the dead We say that Faith was reckoned to Abraham for Righteousness The children of the Promise are counted for the seed Rom. 9.8 Rom. 4.4.8 Now to him that worketh the reward is not counted of Grace but of Debt Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin Rom. 2.26 If the Circumcision keep the Righteousness 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Rights of the Law shall not his uncircumcision be counted for Circumcision But to him that worketh not Rom. 4.6 but believeth on him that justifyeth the ungodly his faith is accounted for Righteousness Rom. 4.6 Blessed the man to whom the Lord imputeth Righteousness without works 3. The thing accounted is Faith Chap. 3. Faith that is Faith was the Reason whereby God concluded Abraham Righteous Faith was the Medium that inferred that Conclusion Gods Promise was the Cause Abrahams Righteousness was the Effect Abrahams Faith was the means that produced this Effect from that Cause Rom. 4.13 The Promise that he should be the Heir of the World was not to Abraham and his seed through the Law but through the Righteousness of Faith So by Faith the Promise became effectual 1. This Faith was real in Abraham and really imputed to him for Righteousness Rom. 4.20 he was strong in Faith giving glory to God 2. This Faith was his own proper Faith else how could he be accounted the Father of the faithful if the Faith accounted to him were not his own So the Un-circumcision which is counted for Circumcision is not another mans but his own Circumcision to whom it is accounted And that Sin that is imputed or not imputed is not another mans sin but his own sin And that Righteousness which is accounted to any man is not the Righteousness of another but his own Righteousness to whom it is accounted Reason Because When we account or impute to any person any thing that is not his own but another mans our account is not right 4. The End for which Faith was accounted Chap. 4. is Righteousness Righteousness 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is of various signification as is the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the Verb 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1. Legally it is taken for doing Right to all or giving every one his due by Law Ex. 23.7 The Innocent and Righteous slay thou not 2 Sam. 23.3 He that ruleth over men must be Righteous Herod feared John Baptist Matth. 6.20 knowing that he was a just man Luc. 1.6 Zachariah and Elizabeth were both righteous before God walking in all the Commandments and Ordinances of the Lord blameles s. Jacob s aith Gen. 30.33 So shall my Righteousness answer for me Not for thy Righteousness c. Deut. 9.5 Ps 45.7 Thou lovest Righteousness c. Prov. 16.8 Better is a little with Righteousness then great Revenues without Right He looked for Righteousness Is 5.7 and behold a Cry He hath appointed a day Act. 17.31 in the which he will judge the World in Righteousness He that doth Righteousness is Righteous 2. Morally for kindness and Courtesy Liberality and Bounty giving more then is due by Law through Love Ps 37.2 The Righteous sheweth mercy and giveth The Righteous giveth and spareth Prov. 21.26 Stand still that I may reason with you 1 Sam. 12.7 of all the Righteousness of the Lord which he did to you and to your Fathers He that hath clean hands and a pure heart Ps 24.4 shall receive the blessing from the Lord and Righteousness from the God of his Salvation He hath dispersed abroad Ps 112.9 he hath given to the poor his Righteousness remaineth for ever Seek ye first the kingdome of God Matth. 6 3 3. and his Righteousness Rom. 1.17 For therein the Righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith signifying the kindness of God because opposed in the next verse to the wrath of God Ro◠3.21 But now the Righteousness of God without the Law is manifested 1. The kindness as it is taken vers 21 25 26. compare Eph. 2.7 where the Apostle to express the same thing useth the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That he might shew the riches of his Grace in his kindness towards us So Tit. 3.4 After that the kindness and love of God appeared kindness here is the very same with Righteousness before 2 Cor. 9.10 Now he that ministreth seed to the Sower c. Increase the fruits of your Righteousness i. e. kindness in contributing to the poor Saints Take heed that you do not your Almes before men The Right Original there is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 properly in the New-Testament is to do a kindness And this signification was familiar to the Eastern Greeks in Asia after whose Idiom the New Testament was written Is 60.21 But to the Western Greeks in Europe it was more strange 3. Jurally for Propriety Ps 69.28 or Right Thy People shall be all Righteous they shall inherit the Land for ever Let them be blotted out of the book of the Living Ps 118 20. and not be written among the Righteous i.e. The Israelites the Righteous heirs of the Land upon Record This Gate of the Lord into which the Righteous shall enter Gen. 30.33 i. e. Israelites for strangers might not enter into the Temple but remained in the outward Court. Ps 35.27 So shall my Righteousness answer for me in time to come i. e. all the young spotted cattle I have right to for my wages Prov. 16.8 Let them be glad that favour my Righteousness Is 5.23 i. e. my Righteous Cause Better is a little with Righteousness then great revenues without Right Which justify the wicked for reward Heb. 11.7 and take away the Righteousness of the Righteous from him Rom. 4.5 Noah became Heir of the Righteousness which is by Faith Rom. 4.11 His faith is counted for Righteousness Abraham received the signe of Circumcision a Seal of the Righteousness of the faith which he had being uncircumcised Rom. 4.13 that he might be the father of all them that believe which was no Moral Righteousness but a Jural Right of Dignity For the Promise that he should be the Heir of the world was not to Abraham or to his seed through the Law but through the righteousness of Faith Now promise and Heir are matter of Right So the word Righteousness signifies in divers places of this Epistle Compare Gal. 3.18 For if the Inheritance be of the Law it is no more of promise What is meant in one place by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a general word
and Drink and be merry in the Lord. I will suffer patiently in the Lord. I will Live and Die in the Lord. Tell me not of Temptations I know who is on my side and will deliver me Tell me not of Tribulations I know who will Save me Tell me not of Death and Hell I know who will Redeem me Yea He hath Delivered He hath saved He hath Redeemed me already The Forgiveness of my Sins past present and to come is already present with me The Deliverance from all my Sufferings is already present with me Eternal Life and Salvation is already present with me I know in whom I have Trusted Here will I fix say the World the Flesh or the Divel what they will or can But with a Carnal Life Chap. 11. Carnal mâ—n this Faith and Hope cannot consist Of all Tempers these are most opposite to Faith 1. Outward uncleanness Rioting and Drunkenness Chambering and Wantonness Strife and Envy Cursing Damning Oppression and Cruelty and such like 2. Inward Hypocrisy Lying and Cheating c. 3. Open Rebellion Sacriledge Sedition and murmuring and such like The Carnal mind understandeth not the things of God neither indeed can it because they are spiritually discerned Thus it becometh us to Preach and you to practice Grace Faith Repentance Patience c. It is too Legal to preach Laws Duties Curses Threatnings Damnation The Gospel is Faith Love Hope Joy in the Holy Ghost Grace mercy pace from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ Till we perswade you to Faith we shall never do our work nor your work for you Believe only and you shall be saved This will bring works and duties and mortifications and all shall be pleasing to God and without this nothing shall be pleasing unto him for without Faith it is impossible to please God Say not You cannot understand this Spiritual Doctrine of the Gospel and this Rule is too high for you to walk by it is too hard a Taske to lead this life of Faith Sol. I answer Chap. 12. Gospel Easy It is easy to understand this Doctrine and he that is willing shall be made to know the mind of God and to do the same It is as easy to understand this Gospel-Precept Thou shalt not Lust or Hate as to understand this Legal Command Thou shalt not commit Adultery or Thou shalt not Kill It is as easy to understand That the thoughts of the Heart and the desires of the Will are to be regulated as the words of the Tongue or the works of the Hand It is as easy to understand Faith as Works to Believe as to Live To accept of the Covenant of Grace as of works As for the Mysteries of Faith in the Trinity Incarnation Descension Intercession of Christ and such like They are more easily and safely to be believed then disputed And the spirit is given to all that Believe that they might understand and do the Will of God That they might know the heighth and length and breadth and depth of the Love of God which passeth all knowledg It is as easy and farre more to hear of Grace Mercy and Peace as to hear of Law Curses and Damnation It is as easy to hope as fear to rejoyce as to mourn to be free as to be slaves to walk in light as in darkness To understand the good of the Soul as of the Body the life to come as this life present Wise are we to know this World Gain Honor pleasure c. and wiser we might be to know the World to come Ob Ob. A hard saying who can hear it Sol. Sol. An easy and true saying and very pleasant and may be heard Yea and he that hath Ears to hear let him hear for he may hear if he will none so deaf as they that will not hear The Charmer charmes often and wisely unless we stop our Ears with the deaf Adder and refuse to hear the voice of this Charmer though he charms unto us never so often never so wisely There is a voice behind us yea within us which saies unto us This is the way walk in it Turn from the ways of wickedness pass by them and come not neer unto them for fear iniquity be your Ruin for why will ye Dye O when will it once be The Sun of the Gospel shines very cleerly but the World shuts her eyes upon it The light is come into the world but men loved darkness rather then light because their deeds are evil The opposers of this heavenly way of walking with God in Faith and spiritual Duties are 1. Outward Formalists and Will-worshippers Chap. 13 â—ormaliâ—ts which rest in the Letter and in the outward work done as in Fasts Feasts Forms Austerities Almes Justice Temperance c. yet there is a more excellent way to go on to perfection not to draw neer to God with our Lips but our hearts As the proud Pharisee that fasted twice in the Week that made long Prayers that paid Tithe of all that he possessed that thanked God that he was not like other men nor as that Publican But the poor Publican went home to his house Justified rather then the other And the very Publicans and Harlots shall enter into the Kingdome of Heaven by their Faith when these Hypocrites shall be shut out 2. Law-Preachers Chap. 14. Law-Preachers and hearers of Curses and Damnation Are we Saved by the Works of the Law or by the Faith of the Gospel By the works of the Law no flesh living shall be justified What Law had the Heathens Preached unto them They were never under the Law they needed it not after they did believe nor Wee God did write in the Law in their hearts by his Spirit in the dayes of the Gospel and the Kingdome of Heaven is within us The royal Law of Love The perfect Law of Liberty is written upon the Tables of our hearts and this is a sufficient Rule to bring us to Heaven Mockers of Faith Chap. 15 Mockers Self-denyal Mortification Purity of heart Poorness of Spirit Mourning Meekness hungring and thirsting after Righteousness Mercifulness Peace-making Suffering Persecution Rejoycing in Persecution which are the spiritual commands of Christ to which Blessedness is promised Such Prophets as speak of these things are counted Fools and such spiritual men esteemed mad by the voluptuous and Luxurious men of the World and by the Zenonian Fatalists that depend upon absolute Decrees and put all to a venture What then remains but that all Reasonable men should be satisfied with this reasonable service of Faith which is above their Carnal Reason but agreeable with all spiritual and Right Reason and none but unreasonable and absurd men will deny it I will resolve therefore with my self Chap. 16. Soul-Resolution to go out of my self and trust no longer in my Flesh nor in any Creature I will resolve with my self to understand better things and to know my self more perfectly 1. How
Satan under every one of your feet Be not troubled for want of Assurance This is your Assurance That you believe in the Son of God I demonstrate comfort Thus 1. God is Faithful that hath Promised he can never fail 2. Christ is faithful in whom and to whom the Promises are made and he can never fail for the Promise is sure to all the Seed 3. The Holy Ghost is faithful that Seals the Promises of God to our Souls and he can never fail The Spirit of promise to all the Seed 4. Therefore the faithful that receive and rely upon these Promises shall never fail for they are in Christ the Promised Seed As for flesh and blood though that be weak and afflictions very grievous to it yet let the spirit be but honest and willing and then fear nothing For to him that hath though never so little true faith shall be given full measure pressed down and running over shall God give into his bosome To him that is never wanting to himself God will never be wanting Do but desire and God will help do but seek and thou shalt find ask and have knock and it shall be opened unto thee If we that are evil know how to give good things to our Children how much more shall our heavenly father give good things to them that ask him And hath he not promised that whatsoever we shall ask of him in the Name of his Son he will give it us and having given us Christ how shall he not with him also give us all things that he in his wisdome and goodness knows to be necessary for us And having our Portion let us therewith be content Look therefore Sin Misery and Death in the face and Trust in God still Look only upon Sin and Misery and Death and Hell with the Eye of Sense and dye for fear and despair but look with the Eye of Faith beyond all these at the glory that shall be revealed and live for evermore Consult not with flesh and blood for if you do you will droop and fall but consult with the Spirit by Faith in Gods Promises and he shall strengthen thine heart I have nothing to comfort and satisfy me and assure me in life or Death but my honest and faithful desires If I be a Hypocrite I can have no comfort but if I be true and upright to God to the World and to my own soul and do all I can to please God and to keep my Conscience void of offence towards God and towards men though I am clothed with innumerable frailties and imperfections yet I am sure God will pardon all for Christ his sake only let me be valiant and of a good courage And though I see no comfort coming to me in this life or very little let me not be disheartened for this nor judge of Gods favour by what I see or feel but by what I believe and hope for for the things which are seen or felt are but Temporal but the things which are not seen nor felt here are Eternal And what I see not and enjoy not now by sense I do see and enjoy by Faith and shall see and enjoy by sight And till then I content my self with the sight and fruition which I have which is to me an Evidence and full Assurance of what I shall have Therefore Deerly beloved Brethren be ye stedfast and unmoveable alwaies abounding in the work of the Lord for as much as ye know that your labour shall never be in vain in the Lord for faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen Amen GAL. 3.6 Abraham believed in God and it was accounted to him for Righteousness EXPLICATION THis Apostle saith Righteousness cometh not of the Law Gal. 2.21 Gal. 3.18 And the Inheritance is not of the Law but by Promise and faith in that Promise Both these sayings carry the same sense that is The right of an Inheritance which is the best Right cometh not of the Law but of Faith And both these sayings carry the same Reason because they argue the same Conclusion viz. That a man is not Justified by the Law but by Faith For if a man be Justified by the Law or if his Right of Inheritance be by the Law Ro◠4.14 then Faith is made void and the Promise void But being justified by his Grace Tit. 3.7 we are made heirs to the hope of Eternal Life So that to be justified by Faith and to be made an heir of God are all one in effect or the latter is but the property or consequent of the former In like manner to be counted Righteous or as in the Text for Faith to be counted for Righteousness is all one as to be justified For St. Paul alledgeth these words to prove the Doctrine of Justification by Faith and to have Right accounted to any person is to justify that Person Rom. 4.6 Gal. 2.16 Therefore this great saying That Abraham believed in God and it was accounted to him for Righteousness is to this effect That Abraham was justified by his Faith The Subject is Justification The Points 1. God 2. Account 3. Thing 4. End God the Cause of Justification Chap. 1. God justifi s. Rom. 8.33 Gen. 15.6 It is God that justifieth so the Hebrew Text Abraham believed in God and he imputed it to him for Righteousness God was the Agent that imputed Faith to Abraham for Righteousness St. Paul follows the Septuagint but the sense is all one For if actually God imputed Abrahams Faith unto him for Righteousness then it must needs follow passively that Abrahams Faith was imputed to him for Righteousness 2. The Account Cap. 2. Accounting The Word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is rendred reasoning concluding numbring reckoning imputing The great Arts of counting are Logick and Logistick 1. Logick is the counting of Sayings according to their rations or reasons as they are composed into their Conclusions and resolved into their Principles 2. Logistick is the counting of Numbers according to their rations or rates as they are composed into their Powers and resolved into their Roots And as in Logick the Conclusion is the effect of two Sayings rightly figured when one of those Sayings is the cause of that effect and the other Saying is the reason or mean between the Cause and the Effect So in Logistick The Power is the Product of two Numbers rightly multiplyed when one of those two Numbers is the Root of that Power and the other is the Rate between the Root and the Power Both these Countings or Reckonings or Reasonings do manifest the ration or Rate of a Saying to a Saying and of a Number to a Number So that to Account is to conclude by Reasoning or Numbring by arguing to find the Conclusion by addition to find the Total by Multiplication the Product by Division the Quotient The Word is used thus in several places Rom. 6.11 Reckon your selves to be
THE DOCTRINE OF FAITH JUSTIFICATION AND ASSURANCE Humbly Endeavoured to be farther cleared towards the satisfaction and comfort of all free Vnbiassed Spirits With an APPENDIX for PEACE BY ROBERT DIXON Prebendary of ROCHESTER 1 Cor. 12.31 Covet after the best gifts and yet I shew you a more excellent way LONDON Printed by William Godbid M.DC.LXVIII To the Honourable Sr EDWARD HALES Baronet SIR GOD is the great Maker and bestower of all Rights The persons capable to receive them and to whom he doth convey them are Angels and Men. To mankind he gives the best of Rights and invests them with the best Inheritance by the best Mediator Jesus Christ the Principal Heir of all Things through the means of Faith which justifies the Sons of Men by Nature to be the best Title and the strongest Assurance that can be had to Eternal Life I have therefore purposely fixed upon these noble Principles of Faith Justification and Assurance That I might be a true Mercury to point out the stately way that leads to Coelestial Glory Directing wise Souls to come off from the wandring Pursuits of earthly Pomps empty Speculations and uncertain Riches which discompose and tyre the best Wits in the Labyrinth of this World That they may find true content in the Choice of that one Thing which is truly necessary That better part which shall never be taken from them That solid comfort which will stand by them and bring them Peace to the end and in the end and unto all Eternity This pain Treatise of these most high and most Christian Truths I held my self obliged to dedicate unto you as being the first Fruits of my Labours in this kind and therefore most due to you of all men who was my first Benefactor and most liberal Patron of my Studies together with your most excellent Lady now with God Her transcendent Estate I cannot reach but Yours and both your Sons I may and do Address my self unto And for the joynt-favours which I have received from you and your Lady during your conjugal Union and for your continued and for her sake increased kindness since the sad separation I humbly offer this token of my Gratitude to remain by you from me to look into upon occasions for your Satisfaction and comfort in the midst of the Dis-satisfactions and Discomforts of this Miserable World The same also I desire you would commend to your Sons the Stems of that Noble Lady whose memory I shall ever honour and you and them for her sake In this I aime meerly to strike the sprightly veine of Pure Love to You and to your hopeful Family and a deer Remembrance and kindness to you all as to the best of my Friends Upon which generous Terms if you please to accept of this small Present it may promote the acceptation thereof to others and encourage him farther who ever desires to shew himself SIR Your most faithful and most affectionate Servant ROBERT DIXON Rochester March 26. 1668. To the honest READER FAITH is all in all to a Christian For all that have Faith are thereby Justified and have full Right to all the Promises of God To be his Sons by Adoption and Grace to have their Sins pardoned to be Sanctified by the Holy Spirit and thereby to have all necessary Assistance and comfortable Assurance of a Resurrection to the Inheritance of Eternal Life I therefore purposely wave all perplexed Disputes and subtil Notions and Distinctions which serve for nothing but to puzzle all men especiall them that are weak in the Faith It shall suffice all Christians if they are willing to embrace Gods Promises and perform his Precepts with an honest heart Let them not trouble themselves at all with the variety of Sects and Factions For all such true hearted and humble Souls do belong to Christ his Church what ever Differences there be in Opinions caused by vain men who do not understand one another being sore blinded with Pride and idle Speculations which engender nothing but Strife and Divisions Keep thou therefore Good Reader Faith and a good Conscience and pass not for the rash Censures of any Be thou confident of Gods unchangeable favour if thou be no Hypocrite In Order therefore to the satisfaction and comfort of tender Spirits I have written this short Treatise and do encourage them to do their true endeavour to please God and to perserverance and trust in him for the certainty of their future estate of Happiness and Salvation which he hath undoubtedly provided for them Accept therefore kind Reader what I have here offered and then if God permit I will add more to the same purpose Avoiding all Nicety and Superfluity of Words and condescending in the great Points of Grace Faith Justification and Assurance to the meanest capacity aiming at no Side or Party but equally respecting the plain Truth with an unbiassed mind for Peace This even Temper of Spirit is the only means among all good Christians especially Divines for the stinting of Controversies in all foolish and unlearned Questions and the Propagation of Piety Peace and Love in Church and State This Rare Character of a True Child of God to be pure and peaceable by obedience to good Laws and fulfilling all Righteousness is the safe way to Heaven Thus we work out our Salvation with fear and trembling and make our Calling and Election sure Which shall be the daily prayer of him who is Thine in the Lord Jesus Robert Dixon The Doctrine of FAITH JUSTIFICATION and ASSURANCE HEBR 11.1 Now Faith is the Substance of things hoped for the Evidence of things not seen COHERENCE THE Author having in the end of the former Chapter spoken of Faith makes a digression upon that occasion to explain the Nature of Faith more largly and produceth many examples of faithful men to provoke the Hebrews to imitate their Fathers and others in the Holy Faith and thereby to endure afflictions and to overcome them by Faith as they had done EXPLICATION These words are no Definition of Faith Chap. 1. Of Faith no more than those Chap. 12.29 where God is called A consuming Fire are the Definition of God FAITH is a Thing Indefinite and is not defineable because it is so general a Thing that no Genius will comprehend it yet it may be designed a high Esteem of Gods Existence Power and Goodness Besides definitions are dangerous if in the Civil much more in the Divine Law Two Notions are here laid down as Principles and Elements to conclude that Faith was in those persons hereafter mentioned 1. The Substance of Things hoped for is Faith 1. Where Things hoped for do subsist there is Faith or where Things to come are present there is Faith 2. The Evidence of Things not seen is Faith or where there is a sight of Things not seen there is Faith These Principles are taken from the Object of Faith Good Things to come and therefore absent and unseen But when the Soul apprehends them
for Right the same is expressed in the other by the special word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the best kind of Rights Also to have Right by the Law Rom. 4.14 or to have the Inheritance by the Law is the same in sense And then the Promise is frustrate For if they which be of the Law be heirs Faith is made voyd and the Promise made of no Effect Chap. 5. Right The word Righteousness is taken in this last sense jurally for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Jus or Right supposed in all Acts of Justice Equity and Righteousness opposed to Injustice Iniquity and Unrighteousness For whensoever any of these Acts are done to any person that person is supposed to have some Jus or Right otherwise we can do him no Injustice Injury or Wrong For as where there is no Law there is no Sin so to him that hath no Right there can be done no wrong as to Slaves Reas 1 Because Right signifies the effect of Gods Promise God promised a Right of Alliance Issue Inheritance and therefore Abraham had a Right Title and Interest to all these else the promise had been unjust and of no effect Reas 2 Because the New Testament so expresseth it But to him that worketh not Rom. 45.6 but believâ—th in him that justifieth the ungodly his faith is counted for Righteousness Even as David also describeth the Blessedness of the man unto whom God imputeth Righteousness without Works So also in the 10 11 12 13 22 23 24 verses of this Chapter Reas 3 Because the Old Testament so expresseth it Ps 106.30 31. Then stood up Phinehas and executed Judgment and so the Plague ceased And this was counted to him for Righteousness to all generations for evermore This gave him a Right to the Fee-simple of the Priesthood to him and to his Heirs for ever for so the Charter runs Num. 25.10 11 12. And the Lord spake unto Moses saying Phinehas the son of Eleazar the son of Aaron the Priest hath turned my wrath away from the children of Israel while he was zealous among them that I consumed not the Children of Israel in my jealousy Wherefore behold I give unto him my Covenant of Peace and he shall have it and his seed after him even the Covenant of an everlasting Priesthood because he was zealous for his God and made an atonement for the Children of Israel He had a Right to the Priesthood before by Reas 4 his Birth but this was a Corroboration for ever Because all Rights consist in accounting which is their Essence As that the use fruit or propriety of such a thing is accounted or reckoned to such a person as belonging to him and not to another Thus God by his promise accounted to Abraham a Seed to be multiplied into the higher Powers of Numbers As into Squares Cubes Squares of Squares Squares of Cubes and Cubes of Squares i.e. into Tens Hundreds Thousands and hundred Thousands and thousand Thousands till they were numberless as the Starres of Heaven And the Root unto all these Powers was but the Binary of Abraham and Sarah old dry and dead in Body but young and lively in Faith Illustration Thus the working servant hath Right to his wage by the meanes of his work The Son that worketh not hath right to his maintenance by his Birth The first born Son hath right to his Inheritance by his Majority or Primogeniture The Believer hath no Right by Birth nor by Works but by Faith only of Grace not of Debt This Faith is but a personal Act Rom. 4 4. but the right thereby is a real permanent and hereditary Benefit Thus Right to Blessedness was the effect whereof Gods Promise was the Cause and Abrahams Faith the means whereby that Cause wrought this effect The summe is God by his Promise counted to Abraham a Right and accounted his Faith for a means to obtain that Right So his Faith was accounted for his Right and his Right was accounted to him for his Faith Abrahams Rights were Issue Inheritance and chiefly Alliance with God Chap. 6. Blessedness therefore God is called the God of Abraham which is blessedness in the Abstract i. e. Heavenly blessedness not expresly so mentioned but contained in the Promise which wise Abraham in his reasoning well understood though a farre off Heb. 11.19 and made a right reckoning of it accounting that God was able to raise from the Dead And that God was bountiful so to do to be his exceeding great reward every way for Issue for Inheritance but especially for Eternal Life Heb. 11.10 For he looked for a City which hath foundations whose builder and maker is God Heb. 11.16 And he desired a better Country then the Land of Canaan was even a heavenly and a better life then this For God is not a Benefactor to the Dead while they are dead He is not the God of the Dead but of the Living And therefore that he may again become to them a God he raises them from the Dead unto Eternal Life Because that is the great Blessing which they want and he only can gives and it is fitting only for his children to receive and therefore he hath prepared for them a City even Jerusalem which is above which is the Mother of us all Luc. 20.35 36. Christ reasoneth just so They which shall be counted worthy to obtain that World and the Resurrection from the Dead neither marry nor are given in marriage Neither can they die any more but are equal unto the Angels and are the children of God being the children of the Resurrection Now that the Dead are raised even Moses shewed in the Bush when he calleth the Lord The God of Abraham the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob For he is not a God of the Dead but of the Living for all live unto him Now the Title that Abraham had to all these Rights was not his generous Birth nor his Righteous works but his acceptation of Faith Jus Fidei 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rom. 3.14 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rom. 4.11 13. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rom. 9.30 Faith-right opposed to Birth-right and Work-right Reas 5 Because accounting is the common Genus to both Justifying and Condemning for Accounting is a Word larger then Justifying or Condemning and therefore is the common Genus to them both being acts of accounting To Justify is to acquit as just to some reward To condemn is to adjudg as sinful to some Punishment For I will not justify the Wicked Eâ— 23.7 The Lord will not leave him in his hand Ps 37.33 nor condemn him when he is judged Rom. 4.8 Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin Reas 6 Because Abrahams Tenure to hold this Right was the obedience of the Faith by which he had that Right Therefore he was accounted Righteous only by his Faith but he kept his Righteousness by his Love and
are his and all the faithful are Instituted written Heirs of God ex Asse and there is no Disinheredation or Preterition of any faithful Soul 4. Assurance is Gods accounting us for righteous for our Faith or by the means of our Faith And if God so accounts us to have Right to the Kingdome of Heaven what greater Assurance can there be Ob. The Conscience accuseth therefore no Assurance Sol. The Conscience of a Believer doth not accuse nor can accuse 1. Because God accuseth not and if God accuseth not who can If God justifies who dare condemne 2. Because the soul that believes knows that she believes therefore knows that she is thereby justified and therefore cannot accuse The Soul that lives in trespasses and sins that Soul doth not believe well therefore may that soul accuse and God accuseth much more But the soul that lives not in trespasses and sins that Soul believeth and therefore that soul cannot accuse but excuse because God excuseth much more Say not therefore O faithful soul that thy conscience accuseth thee and that thou art in the state of Damnation Nay It is not thy Soul that can say thus but it is thy Fancy thy Passion thy Humor thy Distemper thy Disease thy Temptation Why then shouldest thou doubt or speak unadvisedly with thy lips or charge God so foolishly O thou of little Faith To reckon Right with God Chap. 10. Reckoning God accounts thee to be Righteous for thy Faith or by the means of thy Faith and they that God account Righteous are Righteous indeed for God judgeth righteous Judgment and makes a true accompt therefore we may most safely reckon with God as God reckons by the means of our Faith Yea we wrong God and our selves if we do not Our reckoning then is upon Gods Promises those sure mercies to Abraham and his seed Therefore Christ came to performe the mercy promised to our Fore-fathers and to remember his holy Covenant For the hope of which promises the twelve Tribes of Israel even the children of the Promise do instantly serve God day and night and to this Promise they hope assuredly to come upon the strongest grounds of Reasoning and accounting that can possibly be made even to a demonstration that cannot be denyed For all Rights that do arise from any Promise Chap. 11. Promises are conveyed to the party to whom the Promise is made by no other means but by Faith i. e. by Acceptance of the promise and the right specified therein For all Promises are made effectual by Faith by his Faith to whom the promise is made For if he be unbelieving and refuse it then the Promise is dead and of one effect but if he give Faith to it and accept it then it binds him that made it to perform it and creates a Right to him that accepts it to enjoy the benefit of it And the Reason is because Acceptance formes a Promise into a Covenant whereby there is a convening or meeting of minde unto minde and will unto will viz the mind and will of the Receiver to the mind and will of the Promiser Thus the Promise Rom. 4.13 that Abraham should be the Heir of the World came not to him through the Righteousness of the Law but through the Righteousness of Faith i.e. not by any Act of the Law but by the Act of his Acceptance For as the Promise was an Act of meer Grace on Gods part that made it So the Acceptance was a meer Act of Faith on Abrahams part that received it And as between God and Abraham so is the Nature of all Promises and the Assurances of the benefits by them To prove our Reckoning right In Ratiocination and Reckoning 3. Chap. 12. Proof there is a way to prove the Argumentation or Accompt to be free from fallacy or error as wise Logicians and Arithmeticians use to do So every wise Christian will prove his own Faith by which he reckoneth upon his own Salvation whither it be true or no. And that must be by his Works Cap. 13. Works For Works do declare this Right to Salvation to be truly concluded and reckoned and do justify that faith by which we reckon our selves to be justified Note here that Works do not make and create a Right where there was none before but do manifest the right which was before made but concealed My Faith doth create and make me to have a Right in Christ but my Faith is a thing invisible spiritual and concealed within my heart I cannot see it nor the World cannot see it unless I shew it by the fruits thereof outwardly to God and Man Jac. 2.18 c. A man may say saith St. James Thou hast Faith and I have Works Shew me thy faith without thy Works and I will shew thee my Faith by my Works Know O vain man that faith without works is dead Abraham was justified by Faith when he embraced the Promises but Abraham was justified by Works when he offered up Isaac his Son upon the Altar Seest thou how Faith wrought with his works and by works was faith made perfect And so the Scripture was fulfilled which saith Abraham believed God and it was imputed unto him for Righteousness Works therefore do perfect thy Faith and declare thy Faith to be perfect Faith justifies before God without the concurrence of works as to the meer act of Faith but works justify Faith before men by their concomitancy with Faith And though Faith gave thee a Right yet works do demonstrate to thy self and to the World that Faith hath been lively and operative to give thee this Right and Interest in Christ Works therefore do perfect that Faith by which thou art justified and Works do declare thee to be justified because they declare that Faith by the which thou art justified Thy Faith alone doth procure that Right to be justified but thy Faith alone doth not declare that Right to me which it creates and makes to thee But thy Faith needs works to declare and prove both to thee and me that Right which it hath created and made to thee for thy great comfort and satisfaction and the Glory of God and praise of good men I conclude therefore that Faith makes a Right Reckoning with God but Works prove this Right Reckoning to be right made But this is not all For as Faith is the means whereby we have a Right and Title present to the future Possession of the heavenly Promises So works are the means whereby we hold the Right and Title present to the future Possession of the heavenly promises that we may maintain and keep our Right and make a Right reckoning thereof unto the end that our Faith fail us not and that we may not come short of the heavenly Glory Heb. 4.1 Let us therefore sear least a promise being lâ—ft us of entring into his rest any of you shouâ—d seem to â—ome short of it For some did not keep the
cannot or will not shew unto man his Righteousness nor save a Soul from the Pit They are of such evil Natures and so full of spiritual Pride and Malice that they will neither enter into Heaven themselves nor suffer others that would by their good will Such whose Eye is evil because Gods is good and would fain have others to be in no better condition then themselves 4. Some make a true accompt and are able to prove it being strong in the Faith Chap. 17. Demonstration nothing doubting They Demonstrate their Assurance thus 1. The Cause of Salvation is Gods Promise 2. The Effect is Salvation its self 3. The means that makes the Cause to produce this effect is their own Faith So in Logick The Conclusion is the effect of two Propositions rightly figured whereof one is the Cause and the other is the Medium or Mean between the Cause and the effect The major Term in the major Proposition is the Cause The minor Term in the minor Proposition is the Effect And the Medium or middle Term in both major and minor Proposition is the Means that produceth the Effect in the Conclusion As thus A living Creature is Sensible A man is a living Creature Therefore A man is Sensible This last Proposition is the Effect of the two former in which Sensibility which is the Major Term is the Cause and a man is the Effect And a Living Creature is the Means whereby this Cause produceth this Effect For Because man is a Living Creature Therefore he is Sensible So in Logistick The Power or Product is the Effect of two Numbers rightly multiplyed when one of those two is the root of that Power and the other is the Rate between the Root and the Power As 6 is the Cause of 12 12 is the Effect and the Multiplication of the Root 2 is the Means between the Cause and the Effect So Promises are the Cause of Blessedness is the Effect and Faith is the Means between the Cause and the Effect The ground of both these Reasonings and Reckonings is this 1. Those things that agree in one Third do agree among themselves as in Logick As the Major and Minor agree in the Medium therefore they agree among themselves So in Logistick The Multiplicand and the Product agree in the Root by the means of the Multiplication by that Root As 6 and 12 agree together in the Root 2. by the means of the Rate or Multiplication by the Root 2. And into which they are resolved So Gods Promises and our Salvation do agree in Faith 2. Whatsoever is affirmed of the Genus is affirmed also of the Species and all that are under it As whatsoever is affirmed of Abraham the Father of the Faithful is affirmed of all the Faithful the children of Abraham Blessedness is affirmed of Abraham Gal. 3.9 Therefore Blessedness is affirmed of all the Children of faithfull Abraham So then All that believe are Blessed with faithful Abraham This is all the assurance that can be had and this is enough by all Reason to a reasonable Creature from a Reasonable God that reasons with us according to our capacities as reasonable Creatures As for Revelations and Inspirations we may not expect them For God will have us to live here by Faith and not by Sight or Sense that must be hereafter Therefore though I see or feel no comfort Chap. 18. Faith above Hope yet I have Faith and live thereby Though I be in the Dark and lie low in the Dungeon and stick fast in the Mire and Clay and the Waters flow over me and the weeds of Despair are wrapped about my head being gone down to the bottoms of the Mountains and the Earth with her Barrs are round about me for ever so that I say in the Judgment of my weak flesh I am lost I have no hopes Yea though besides all this to keep me down the more that I may be sure never to rise into any hopeful or comfortable condition I see nothing but misery about me and feel it in my own person and hear nothing but Scorns Reproaches and Condemnations yet I believe still I hold my own My house is built upon a Rock I keep me close unto my God I strengthen my self in him I see all and hear all and bear all and say nothing I am prompted often to renounce all hope and to curse God and die in detestation of the failings of his Promises because he hath mocked me And that I might not be altogether miserable here I am bidden to Eat and Drink for to morrow I shall Die To enjoy the good things that are present and speedily use the Creatures as in Youth To fill my self with costly Wine and Ointments Wisd 2.6 and let no Flowr of the Spring pass by me To crown my self with Rose-buds before they be withered not to go without my part of voluptuousness but to leave tokens of joyfulness in every place for this is my Portion and Lot For our Time is a very shadow that passeth away and after our end there in no returning for it is fast sealed that no man cometh again We are all but of yesterday and to morrow we shall not be All this I hear but give no consent I am content to lie still in silence though it be without comfort and wait upon my God and resolve that though he kill me yet I will put my trust in him And this is Faith to believe above Hope and contrary to Hope I speak nothing all this while to Hypocrites for their hope shall perish Hypocrisy cannot consist with faithfulness it makes shipwrack of Faith and of a good Conscience The Lake that burneth with Fire and Brimstone is the portion of Hypocrites even the same that was provided for the Devil and his Angels and for all them that make and love lies I speak nothing to profane Persons Atheists for these have condemned themselves But I speak to the plain True-hearted Believers That between God and their own Consciences they should fear nothing if their cause be good This takes off all Disputes about the Church Chap. 19. Disputes about Baptisme the Lords Supper Faith Justification Merits Infallibility c. We may all comply very well if we hold the same Faith in the prime necessary Principles which are but few There needs no hatred or strangeness to condemn or divide about Circumstances and Superstructures so long as we do all agree in Fundamentals And as for Ceremonies and Forms of outward worship the Law is a Rule to every mans Conscience and this is the safest way to fulfil all Righteousness But it is not safe to Divide or Rebel either in the Church or State for that overthrows the unity of the Faith and the bond of Peace This takes off all blame in God Chap. 20. Excuses and all excuses from our selves and puts every man into a hopeful capacity of Salvation For if we be not