shewed you may be under the Law condemned for one transgression and what can you be more then be condemned Neither doth all this as in it self any more prepare you for Jesus Christ And therefore let all the Convictions Arguments Demonstrations we have produced from the clear Light of the Word of the Lord at last prevail with you that you who thus satisfie your selves because you are baptized believe the Scriptures frequent the service of God are just and sober therefore it is well with you and you will trouble your selves no further in the matter of your salvation that the estate of your soules is as unsafe and desperate how secure soever as the profoundest Drunkard in the Countrey Therefore let this Conviction have force upon your Conscience that you must come anew to Jesus Christ as a mere sinner having nothing to commend you to him Say from the Light of the Word Though I have thus satisfied my self pleas'd my self in these Duties and outward Priviledges yet there 's no difference between me and the vilest sinner in order to my acceptance with Jesus Christ Nay if this Conviction take upon thee thou wilt say to the glory of God and thy own confusion If there be any difference 't is that thou art the greatest sinner having mocked the Lord rested in out-side service dealt hypocritically with the jealous God offered him abominable sacrifice and therefore fit to be abhorred of the Lord for ever Oh! that this might be the posture of thy Soul and so thou mayest come and lye prostrate at the feet of Jesus Christ crying Oh! no more no more a righteous person but a sinner a guilty sinner a condemned sinner a poor blind naked sinner nothing else but a sinner Away with all my former confidences tear them from my heart Lord. Now Lord Jesus I cast my self upon thee Oh! let me creep unto thy blessed feet Oh! I come to thee not because I am righteous for I would abhor my self for ever in the thought of it but as a poor perishing sinner the worst of sinners an hypocritical sinner Oh! that I could take hold of thy righteousness to cover my naked Soul I expect it onely upon the account of thy Free-Grace Oh Lord I come unto thee do not do not reject me And thus have I been endeavouring to lay the sinner before Jesus Christ in such a posture having proved him under the Law excuseless in his transgressing of it guilty before God under an impossibility of reaching to an acceptance with God by the best keeping of the Law laboured to beat him off such props and confidences that the Heart naturally cleaves to and stript him of all naked as Adam when he had sinned before the Lord as nothing else but a sinner which is that I have driven at I now come to speak of the way of a poor Souls justification and acceptance with God by Jesus Christ as the Lord shall assist to the capacity of the weakest ROM 3.24 Being justified freely by his grace through the Redemption that is in Jesus Christ I Am now come to open the Gospel-righteousness wherein a poor sinner finds acceptance with God which in ver 21. of this 3d of the Romans is said to be now manifested that is more fully manifested by the Revelation of Jesus Christ in the Gospel being witnessed before by the Law and the Prophets Even the righteousness of God which is by the Faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe ver 22. called the righteousness of God namely that whereby God doth onely justifie and accept of a sinner wrought forth by the obedience of Jesus Christ and made over and imputed to a poor Soul that doth embrace it by Faith whether Jew or Gentile outwardly righteous or profane all that ever come to God must come this way and stand before him in this righteousness or perish for ever which I shall begin to open from ver 24 25. 1. Being justified freely by his grace through the Redemption that is in Jesus Christ 2. Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through Faith in his bloud c. We have endeavoured in the former Discourse to go along with the Apostle in proving that by all the Deeds of the Law all the best Obedience that a sinner can reach unto he cannot be justified before God neither in part nor in whole that your good deeds will not procure pardon nor poise down your sins but all by the Law equally under condemnation Of what importance then is it for poor condemned soules to be well acquainted with and really and practically invested in that way of justification that God in infinite wisdome mercy and love hath set forth in the Gospel which is that I now design The Apostles arguing is thus If all fall short of righteousness and acceptance with God by their own obedience If all have sinned and come short of the glory of God then are all and that equally condemned If so condemned then acceptance with God and justification and remission of sinnes must come in another way The Rise and Fountain of which must necessarily be Gods free mercy and grace If made righteous it must be in the righteousness of another wrought forth by another Justice must be satisfied by another a price paid to God for a sinners redemption by another which is Jesus Christ blessed for ever From the words then I shall first lay down this plain Observation viz. Observ Gods free mercy and grace is the first Fountain of any sinners salvation or 'T is upon the account of ' Gods free grace that any sinner is saved Thus runs the current of the whole Gospel the main design of the Gospel being to glorifie the riches of Gods free grace by Jesus Christ Among many other Scriptures the Apostle doth most convincingly discourse in Rom. 5. from the 15th to the end letting the free grace of God unto justification in opposition to a sinners condemnation But not as the offence so also is the free gift for if through the offence of one many be dead much more the grace of God and the gift by grace which is by one man Jesus Christ hath abounded unto many To the same import run the rest of the verses The free gift of many unto justification much more they which receive abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one Jesus Christ All of grace and of free-gift abundance of grace from first to last That as sin reigned unto death so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord vers last So the Apostle in that Epistle to the Ephesians wherein the Doctrine of grace is blessedly given forth drives all the spiritual blessings in heavenly things in Christ mentioned Chap. 1.3 c. to this blessed Fountain Chap. 2.4 c. But God who is rich in mercy for his great love wherewith he loved us even when we were
and highest motive with God was and is his own Name his own glorious grace why he ever had a thought of good to an undone creature that there was no motive in the creature unless misery which is no glory but all is done given estated upon souls undone poor sinners freely for his own sake 3. Let it exhort souls to make use of this plea therefore and that with great though humble confidence It never failed poor souls since the world was that made use of it when they were low and helpless and eyed and pleaded mercy for mercies sake they had it and never went away but blessed Gospel-Justification The Second TREATISE WHEREIN The Souls emptying of all its own righteousness is further evinced and Gospel-justification stated how a poor sinner is made partaker of it and the evidences thereof laid down ROM 3.19 20. Now we know that what things soever the Law saith it saith to them who are under the Law that every mouth may be stopped and all the world may become guilty before God Therefore by the deeds of the Law shall no flesh be justified in his sight c. HAving spoken as the Lord hath helped me as to the weight of the pardon of sin and the praevious way to it I now come to open the compleating this mercy in a poor souls cōpleat justification before God So it hath pleased the Wisdom of God to order the way of his glorious mercy to poor sinners that shall be saved that he doth not only let forth free grace for the remission of their sins merely pardon them but hath so blessedly ordered the matter to bring them in a state of Righteousness a compleat perfect righteousness as Adam in his perfect estate was in not by making the sinner perfectly holy righteous in himself in his own nature but by giving out his eternal Son Jesus Christ to fulfil all righteousness in their stead by satisfying keeping the perfect Law of righteousness which is imputed to the Believer as if he had fulfilled it were wholly righteous in his own person In which lies the great mystery of the Gospel I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ saith Paul c. for therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith c. Rom. 1.16 namely that righteousness of Jesus Christ whereby God will justifie put in a state of righteousness made over to them by faith that shall be pardoned and saved To endeavour to evince and discover the necessity of such a justification and the nature of it and how a poor soul comes to be invested in it to have a right unto it is my design as the Lord shall graciously assist in this ensuing discourse Oh that I might do it in the simplicity of the Gospel plainly convincingly spiritually as I ought to speak In the prosecuting hereof I shall first shew that righteousness is not to be attained any other way not by the exactest keeping of the Law so as to commend us to God not by setting our selves to keep the Law of God as well as we can and so we hope God will accept of it which being naturally rooted in the hearts of all I find it the hardest piece of conviction and most hardly received of any other souls are a thousand times more easily beaten off grosse sins then beaten off the confidence of the good they think they do and so come as ☞ Nothing else but sinners to Jesus Christ want of this conviction makes all the Hypocrites in the world This is that part therefore I shall first begin with according to the Apostles method in this Epistle The Apostle layes down his doctrine which he was to prove in the 17. verse of the 1 Chapter The just shall live by faith to make way for which he first proves in the remaining part of the first Chap. that the Gentiles knowledge of God which they had by the things that are made The Creation of and Providence of God over the world left them in unrighteousnesse because they held the truth of the being of a God in unrighteousnesse even the wisest and learnedst of them such as professed themselves to be wise verse 22. and brake forth into Idolatry and all abominations for which cause God gave them up c. verse 26.28 At the 17th verse of the 2d Chap. The Apostle undertakes the Jew strikes off all his priviledges and at the 9th verse of the 3d. Chapter concludes both Jew and Gentile in the same condition as to the obteyning of such a righteousnesse by the Law that might commend either to God What then Are we who are Jews better then they who are Gentiles No in no wise for we have proved that Jews and Gentiles are all under sin As it is written there is none righteous no not one Which he further proves by severall Scriptures to the words of the text In which the Apostle prevents an objection namely that some might urge The Scriptures urged may concerne some few and grosly wicked persons and not all mankind in generall No such matter whatever the law saith it saith to them that are under the law which are all the Sons and daughters of Adam as in their naturall corrupt estate All under the law from whence the Apostle inserrs 1. That therefore every mouth is stopped 2. All the world is guilty before God 3. That no flesh within or without the Church can be justified by the Law From whence I draw these 4 plain observations to prove what is my main design viz. That no man can attain to such a measure of righteousnesse by all that ever he can do in his best keeping the Law as may commend him to God which 4 are these 1. Every son and daughter of Adam in their naturall estate are under the Law 2. That a transgressour of the Law hath nothing to boast in nor to excuse himself from his sin or the righteous judgment of God due unto him That every mouth may be stopped 3. Every soul in the world is under guilt and condemnation that all the world may be guilty before God 4. Every soul lies under an impossibility of reaching to such a Justification by the best keeping of the Law as for God thereby to accept of him I intend briefnesse in the opening of these and what plainesse also the Lord shall help me with This is a principle rooted in the hearts of all the Children of men That still there is a sufficiency in them to keep the law of God in such a measure as God will accept them for it This being heightned by the ignorance of times and darknesse of Gospell-light and of the New-Covenant of grace upon the spirits of this Generation they are most hardly beaten off it say poor souls If I keep Gods law as well as I can and worship God and do not harme my Neighbour God will accept me and pardon where I fail but to be convinced that all that
word how he may come to see the face of a blessed God reconciled in Jesus Christ and so love him and blesse him to eternity Why now carelesse sinner Is' t not better be thus then be hardening for Hell and have the guilt of sinne as nothing to thee till the books shall be opened all thy sins written in Letters of blood against thee Conscience accused charged and witnessing against thee and so away screeking to Hell without all remedy and canst not be heard a word for thy self nor any one Saint or Angel for thee Now thou mayest be heard if thou wilt speedily acknowledge thy guilt not cover thy transgression nor hide thy iniquity in thy bosome Job 31.33 but come with fear and shame burthen'd with thy guilt to him whose armes are yet open to receive thee and is ready to take away thy iniquity off thee and take off thy burthens put his hand under thy soul and if thou wouldst know who it is t is that blessed Jesus who loves to save such a sinner as he loves his life therefore away to him But the heart of a guilty sinner will now urge Well if it be so that some guilt is upon me yet I have done many things well or as well as I could will not that take off my guilt and will not God impute the good to me and passe by the evil Or will not God accept of the will for the deed Or if I set my self for the time to come to keep the law as well as I can will not that make God amends Alas poor soul these refuges will undo thee if thou get not out of them No No Thy good shall not be imputed nor thy will accepted nor thy obedience for time to come satisfie I mean still as thou art under the law As well as thou canst will not he heard here If thou indeed gets justified in Christ and rooted in him and so from a new principle of life in thy soul thou bring forth new and holy obedience then thy will is accepted and thy new obedience but not upon this account as to justifie thee before God or as to expiate and take off guilt from the soul This therefore is the next thing I am to prove to thy Conscience if God will Namely Observ 4. No man or woman under heaven can ever arrive at such a keeping of the law as to be accepted with God for and by such a keeping of it I would presse this as plainly as I may for till this conviction be thoroughly and practically received into the conscience a soul cannot make a saving cloze with Jesus Christ What I mean by these deeds of the Law is I presume understood I mean The professed owning the true God and frequenting his ordained worship and ordinances observing the Sabbath making good prayers doing some good as to helping thy neighbour and giving of Almes making conscience of wronging or defrauding any man and refrayning many grosse sins I mention these things because most men that go thus farre as your more civill sort of people think that is it impossible but God must accept them in and for all this that 't is for great sinners to be damned they thank God they are not so By the way soul I shall not doubt to prove that there 's more hope of the vilest drunkard in the Country then of such a one and that this thy good keeping of the law and that as well as thou canst will stand thee in no steed at all and God looks upon thee no more for it then if thou wert the greatest sinner in the world How sayst thou soul to this 1. From clear Scriptures I shall demonstrate it and Scripturall reasons and examples of such kind of persons rejected of God and so labour to drive this nail home upon thy conscience What need we go further then the words of my Text By the deeds of the law shall no flesh be justified in his sight The Apostle speakes of such who professed to own and make Conscience of keeping the law as well as they could such as were within as you call it the pale of the Church and frequented the worship of God and were sober people see Act. 13.39 From which meaning their sins they could not be justified by the law of Moses They could not an utter impossibility of it though they kept the law of God as well as they were able and hoped for pardon thereby yet sayth Paul which exceedingly troubled them they could not be justified thereby Rom. 9.31 But Israel which followed after the law of righteousnesse hath not attained to the law of righteousnesse Though they followed after it and laboured to keep the Law of God to their utmost yet they faild of their purpose Gal. 3.10 11. c. For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse that is such as insist upon works of the law they are so far from being the more accepted for all the good they did all the evil they refrained that they were under the curse as well as any sinners in the world besides Briefly Paul who well knew the experience of this it having bin his own case as I shall shew spends two Epistles of the Romans and Galathians to convince chiefly what I am now upon therefore peruse them over and over Now the Reasons of it are these namely why any sinner's keeping of the Law to his best power cannot justifie him or make him the better or at all accepted with God for it This doctrine goes to the quick and I know naturally you do not love it and 't is irksome and disquieting the Lord make it disquieting and unsettling to purpose Reason 1. The best keeping of the law cannot make a soul more accepted with God while under the law not in Christ because of the holiness of Gods Justice which being violated by sin it being also proved that All do sin cannot again be made up by any act of the Creature the severity of his justice cannot admit of it therefore if the Law be transgressed the sinner must dye as he is under the law and stands to the law or God is not righteous which to assert were exercrable blasphemy And if your thoughts should prevent me with a generall notion of mercy know and consider it well that the law shewes no mercy but calls for justice and justice it shall have upon every trangressour whosoever if he stand to his endeavour to keep the Law The soul that sinneth it shall dye From whence by the law I say by the law there 's no appeal what you may do when you renounce the Law for righteousnesse and fly wholly to a mercy-seat is another case This the first reason 2. The best keeping of the law will not be accepted because of the exactnesse of the Law it requires full entire perfect fulfilling and obedience or all stands for nothing If this were throughly weighed and layd to
could be a disciple and part with nothing lose or venture nothing he would rest as he was and hope his being an honest sober man and well thought of would bring him to Heaven and so for ought appears cheated his soul to Hell The case of Paul hath bin often shew'd you he was as many of you think your selves blamelesse Phil. 3.6 lived in no known sin outwardly against the law frequented the publick worship made conscience of his dealings was zealous of the traditions and customes of his Fathers in the matters of God and yet do you not hear him crying out of it all as losse verse 7. 8. He thought it was his gain before that it would have gained him Heaven but now t is all losse his keeping the Church his outward blamelessenesse stands him not in the least stead but cryes out t is All All losse for Jesus Christ the same Paul that before boasted and thought very well of himself and was in much peace and persecuted all beyond his formall profession now cryes out Away with this fig-leave righteousnesse of mine own 't is as dung I tread it under my feet for Iesus Christ he that thought himself so blamelesse before now cryes out I am the Cheif of sinners 1 Tim. 1.15 And I am carnall sold under sinne Wretched man that I am who shall deliver me from the body of this death A marvellous Change indeed and such that is made upon every soul that is really brought off from the righteousness of the law to that which is of Iesus Christ Now to bring what hath bin spoken to this point to a more particular Application Use 1. If it be so that the best endeavour of any mortall creature to keep the law of God as well as they can will not give them acceptance with God Then you that have so imagin'd and thereby spoken peace to your selves namely that you hope if you keep the Church as you use to speak and harme no body and do any body any good you can live not in grosse sins be well thought of by your neighbours you shall do well enough for Heaven and you must hope well Ah poor creature thou errest not knowing the way of the Lord nor of thy own heart how art thou befooling thy self and deceiving thy own soul No sinner in so ready a way to Hell as thou if thou continue thus and let not go thy hold and get a new bottome for thy naked soul which I am to shew thee Consider man or woman young or old whoever thou art thou hast bin proved guilty of the breach of the whole law of God thou hast bin shewed of the exactnesse of the justice of God and the spirituality of the law how it reacheth the inmost motions of thy heart thou hast been shewed the tenour of it as it was given forth as a Covenant that the law will not admit of the least breach though but in thought but it condemns as if the whole law were transgressed even every soul that is under it here is the rigour of it And thou hast bin shewd that the law admits not of endeavours nor of the will for the deed if thou wert once in Christ indeed it would be so but not as now thou art thou hast bin shew'd that there 's sin enough in every one of thy best performances to damn thee for ever that thy righteousnesse reacheth but the outward man within didst thou see it thou art full of iniquity that what ever thou hast done cannot make God the least satisfaction as thou flatterest thy self for the least sin All thy obedience and duties cannot give life to thy soul but still leave thee as a dead tree dead in thy sin that by this vain confidence thou doest utterly make void the death of Jesus Christ as to any vertue or effect to thy own soul soul here is thy very case plainly set forth A thousand thousand sins to damn thee and that righteousnesse obedience good thou hopest thou hast done towards God and man not in the least able to rescue thee cover thee deliver thee from the guilt of one of the least of these sins nor save thee from wrath to come but leave thy soul as sinfull guilty naked wretched condemned as if thou hadst bin nothing else but sinning all thy dayes Oh wretched condition that the devill and thy own heart have flattered thee in Oh let this serve to convince unbottome legall professours who have spoken peace to themselves in being as good as they can and obeying the law as well as they can so hope God pardons where they fail Oh you are ignorant of the righteousnesse of God Rom. 10.3 Either what righteousnesse God requires in the law as to be justified by it or what is the righteousnesse of the Gospel which is of Jesus Christ by faith Oh you who like that young man have bin righteous from your youth up brought up religiously look to this whether you make not this your confidence but though under some kind of sorrowings for sin and walking exactly yet never emptyed of your selves and renouncing your selves and all that was of you and come poor and nothing to Jesus Christ to be found in Him who have not trembled as much at being found in your own righteousnesse which is of the Law as at living in the greatest sinne whatsoever You who have taken up from grosser sins of your life your youth and now think you are safe and bottome your hope upon your new outward obedience but have not the experience of your closing with Jesus Christ for righteousnesse in which alone you could stand before God nor rooted into Jesus Christ in the carrying on of your new obedience which I am also further to open Alas poor soul thou art yet to seek for a bottome for thy peace and for heaven as much as the greatest sinner in the world and if you go no further you will certainly perish for ever I beseech you souls Admit of this conviction into your consciences Saith the first Covenant of the law A whole law kept or nothing Saith the Gospel-Covenant which you are now to look after A whole Christ closed with or nothing Mind it most seriously you that stand upon your termes and will not endure any thing that may shake you and disturb your peace There 's more danger of your righteousness then your sin your sin it maybe you would sin leave because it may damn you if continued in but your righteousnesse your confidence in it you would not leave because you hope that shall save you and pacifie God for you and this will be your ruine if you stick here But first to strike off some Objections that the heart of such a legall professour doth put forth Object 1. But you will object Why do I speak thus would I beat people off a good conversation Is not a blameblesse conversation and honest walking a good signe and ground for ones hope
man in their obedience of the law as to place their acceptance in it Adde to this the reasons of it why the hearts of all the sons and daughters of Adam are naturally apt to rest upon the law and their own doings and to hope for peace by it 1. Every naturall man hath something of the remaines of the law which God at first wrote in the heart of our common Father Adam Rom. 2.14 15. which being a little drawn forth by the Letter of the Law it makes a poor creature set himself to endeavour to keep the law and hopes to attain to such a degree as to be accepted with God for it Now there is no such thing as any remote profession in the heart to come to Christ or to have righteousnes in another therefore a soul sets himself to the law and endeavours more or lesse the keeping of it naturally 2. Man would faign make up the breach he hath made with God upon his own account As a man had naturally rather do a thing himself then be beholding to another therefore upon conviction of guilt he sets himself to make up the breach to satisfie God by some atonement or other that his own heart can contrive his sorrowing and repenting he hopes may pacifie God or some new sacrifice of more performances or being better for the time to come thus the heart workes secretly and upon his own account God letting forth some mercy as he thinks where he failes he hopes to make up any breach that sin hath made between God and his soul and thus he is still upon the Old Covenant under the law 3. A sinner is more apt to keep to the law then go to Christ from a secret pride of heart he would not be found at a totall losse with God to be wholly undone and unable to do any thing towards his own peace and salvation A soul naturally had rather part withall sin and have his nature made perfectly holy then be quite undone in himself and come to have all his righteousnesse in another in Jesus Christ And here it is that most souls stick in the coming off their own bottoms to be justified in Iesus Christ In a word man had rather do any thing then come a poor destitute sinner to Jesus Christ for all 4. Because t is not sutable to the light of naturall reason that a soul should satisfie God or become righteous any other way then by his own endeavour To be righteous in another is of divine Revelation which till a soul hath he cannot let go the principle of self-justification The next thing to be considered will be this If all men are under the law and the curse of it under the guilt of the whole law without all excuse before God under an impossibility of attaining righteousnesse or acceptance with God by the best keeping of the law and yet a natural and strong aptitude to rest upon the law and that a soul may reforme and take up be strict in obedience and yet still be under the law how then may a soul know whether in the way of his obedience he be yet under the law and not under grace Some Discoveries I shall lay down at present reserving a fuller discussion of this And by the way know and consider that though thou art under the profession of the Name of Jesus Christ and pretendest salvation by him yet practically and really thou mayest be still under the law 1. If thou hast never bin convinc'd of this close evil in thy heart of resting on thy praying and repenting and endeavouring to keep the law as well as thou canst I say if the spirit of the Lord hath not convinced thee of it and of the great danger of it and so humbled thee and brought thee off it thou art certainly under the law as yet 2. If thou doest not watch against this evil and doest not find a great difficulty not to rest upon a performance of any duty to God thou doest then certainly rest upon it 3. If thou art well satisfied that thou art kept from outward grosse sins and the sin of thy nature is not thy greatest burthen mourning under the weight of it then thou must know that thou art yet under the law 4. If thou thinkest God will accept of the will for the deed if thou doest as well as thou canst in every duty so as to accept thee thereby as if it had bin done perfectly this also bespeakes thee under the Law 5. If thou canst not experience how the Lord by the light and working of his word and spirit hath brought thee off thy legall foundation thou wast building upon and shew'd thee that such things as thou didst account gain became but losse unto thee for Jesus Christ Phil. 3.7 6. If thou art not troubled about the Hypocrisie of thy heart and not abased for it even in thy best performances then thou art yet upon the bottome of the law and restest in it 7. If thou art not mostly troubled about believing and doest not find it the most difficult work of thy soul If no complaint to God of an unbelieving heart then thou art indeed a Hypocrite and under the law 8. If thou art not humbled to God for the sinfull mixtures of thy dutyes the deadnesse distraction of them and so seest thy acceptance cannot be in them but in Jesus Christ then thou restest in them 9. If thou dost not give up thy self to the leadings of the Spirit and doest not find that in the main of thy course thou art led by the Spirit then thou art under the law Gal. 3.18 But if ye are led by the spirit ye are not under the law 10. If thou art not troubled about thy inward growth in mortification of all sin and more holy Communion with God then thou art also under the law One under the law that is somewhat strict and consciencious may grow in the bulke of outward dutyes but not in inward holinesse 11. If thy care be not to live in the sense of thy justification by grace through Jesus Christ and to preserve the light and peace of a justified state which thou hast bin called to by grace then thou livest in self-justification 12. If thy great care be not if thou findest it not thy greatest difficulty to be kept a poor empty creature in thy self and live in the fulnesse of Christ If self-fulnesse self-exaltation be not the great evils thou watchest against at least in some measure thou art sensible of the roots of them then thou art yet under all I have bin proving the law guilt and a curse and all thy duties and doings as I have shew'd abhorred of God Examine thy heart by these particulars over and over and if by these thou canst not make out that thou hast bin through rich grace brought off from thy own foundation upon the law and so come with much difficulty to the Gospel-grace and righteousnesse by Jesus Christ
changed in thy self pray and be holy and obey God in all things yet canst thou not be hereby justified but still thy justifying righteousness is in Christ and not in thy self as the onely procuring-meritorious cause of pardon and peace with God Ierem. 33.16 Isa 54. last 3. The great question therefore that should come upon thy heart is Whether thou art in a state of condemnation or justification If not justified thou art still as I have shewed under the condemnation of the whole Law nothing thou hast yet done or shalt ever be able to do will stand between Wrath and Hell and thy poor soul till thou comest to be justified in the bloud and righteousness of Iesus Christ Oh sinners ponder of this great thing that is now laid before you Can you say from a Testimony within you Oh! I was thus and thus once under the reign power guilt condemnation of sin but now now blessed be rich and free grace I am washed justified in the Name of the Lord Iesus Christ See that Word 1 Cor. 6.10 11. And such were some of you but ye are washed but ye are sanctified but ye are justified in the Name of our Lord Iesus and by the Spirit of our God Or at least that I may speak to poor weak willing trembling soules Is this it that your soules are restless after Oh that I were that I were in such a blessed state Oh that I could but believingly say the righteousness of Iesus Christ were mine and that now I am I am justified Oh what peace and sweetness and joy would fill my heart Why Soul If this be indeed the breathing of thy Soul Iesus Christ is thine and thou art justified and pardoned and God will at last give in unto thee if thou continue to follow him the sense and comfort of it in thy poor Soul Onely by the way take a Discovery or two of the reality of thy Heart in this matter 1. If thy Soul from a Spiritual Conviction be under a real making out after justification by Iesus Christ then thou would'st also be as really sanctified be made holy 'T was as much in the purpose of God to call thee out of a state of sinne and to sanctifie thee as to pardon and justifie thee 1 Ep. John 5.6 2. If thou art brought into a justified state thy soul making out after it thou art made alive in the Spirit Rom. 8.1 Thou art in Iesus Christ and wouldst walk no more after the flesh and the lusts thereof but after the Spirit Gal. 5.18 If ye are led by the Spirit ye are not under the Law namely to condemn you but are freed from the curse of it and verse 23. Against such there is no Law that is such as would walk after the Spirit be led by the Spirit and shew forth the fruit of the Spirit And this is that which the Apostle intimateth 1 Ep. Joh. 5.10 He that believeth on the Son of God hath the Witness in himself namely of the Spirit So that every justified person hath the Spirit of Christ according to the measure of the grace of God dwelling in him is quickned in the Spirit being once dead prays in the Spirit mortifies sin through the Spirit is taught by the Spirit and so in all other saving and sanctifying vertues of it If it be not thus with thee thou as yet hast no part in this blessedness but art under condemnation unto death And therefore sinner come before God in the sense of thy condemned estate and give up thy self to Jesus Christ to be washed justified sanctified and then blessed for ever 3. Let called and sanctified Believers labour to live in the sense of a pardoned-justified state that God is not off and on with them in the matter of justification though it may be sometimes darkned and clouded as to the evidence of it Oh! do you labour to preserve the sense and sweet and blessed peace of it in your souls give glory to the riches of grace for now there is No No condemnation to you you are passed from Death to Life and the Blessed God imputes no sin unto you Let this be the highest and strongest Argument to Holiness and love to the glory that possibly may be and if indeed you walk in the comfort of it it will be so unto you Onely let me give caution here to young Converts whose hearts at the first discovery of the free and glorious grace of the Gospel and of Iesus Christ are wonderfully taken and affected with it but after a time are apt to want on with it unless the first humiliation be the deeper and to wax sleight in Duties and so their Lusts recover strength again and return upon them and either they fall or are near unto it to the fresh wounding of their Soules This hath been the condition of many therefore be well caution'd in it and walk with fear in the midst of your joyous apprehensions of the sweetness of grace and the endearing love of the Lord Iesus to you Having briefly shewed what the nature of justification is what it is to be in a justifyed state before God I now come to open more particularly how a Soul comes to be partaker of this justification through the redemption of Iesus Christ namely Through Faith in his bloud ver 25. of this 3d of Rom. Observ As God through Free-grace hath set forth Iesus Christ to work forth Redemption for sinners so there must be a special believing on and applying the bloud of Iesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins by every one that is saved Therefore justification is attributed to Faith Rom. 5.1 Therefore being justified by Faith we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ So Gal. 2.16 3.11 In all which places Faith is put in opposition to the Works of the Law And so the righteousness of Christ is called the righteousness of Faith Rom. 9.30 10.6 in opposition to righteousnesse by Works Not as if Faith were the matter of our justification that it did as an Act or Work in the Soul justifie before God but that God doth thus make over the bloud and righteousness of Iesus Christ to a Soul by inabling the Soul to come unto to take hold of to apply to it self to appropriate the merit of the bloud of Iesus Christ for its own Redemption and Salvation which may afford us a plain Description of justifying Faith precisely considered namely Faith is a work of the Holy Ghost in the Soul inabling it to appropriate or apply to it self the bloud and righteousness of Iesus Christ for the remission of sin and its justification unto eternal life So it is called the work of Faith with power 2 Thes 1.11 and 't is expressed by receiving of Iesus Christ Joh. 1. and believing on his Name coming unto him resting upon him So that plainly Faith is a going out to believing in trusting on another namely the Lord Iesus Christ for what it
God as a thing melted in heart-melting confessions at least the poor soul mourns over the hardnesse of its heart oh that I have thus sinned and yet my heart will not break blessed be every stroak and every word of God and every Ordinance that though grace breaks my heart more A sincere soul sets a high price upon brokennesse and yet rests not in it c. 5. Such confession that hath the promise is accompanied with soul-abasement He that humbleth himself shall be exalted Luke 18.14 spoken upon the Publicans acceptance with God in his confession under brokenesse smiting upon his breast and deep abasement not lifting up his eyes to heaven So that great promise 2 Chron. 7.14 If my people shall humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked wayes then will I hear from Heaven will forgive their sins This a work of the narrowest search of any other I intend if the Lord will to speak to this more distinctly and fully in another discourse Only now a word of such a humiliation as is joyned with such confession that hath the promise of pardon which is the scope we drive at 1. When the soul is in confession and under the Lords humblings in order to pardon The poor Creature acknowledgeth himself infinitely unworthy that ever the Lord should cast a look upon him or give out mercy and pardon to him This conclusion is fixed upon the soul and the soul falls down abased in the sence of it what ever the Lord do with me I will lay my mouth in the dust I am worthy of nothing from the Lord but a thousand Hells this quiets the heart in some measure what ever the pleasure of the Lord be towards him 2. As the poor sinfull Creature is worthy of nothing so he will give glory to God if God never pardon God is never the lesse righteous or holy wise or good if he never let out one drop of mercy upon so vile a Creature yet he is a God blessed for ever Thou art holy saith David Psal 22.3 But I am a worme and no man verse 6. A worm sit for God and man to tread upon and yet must not rise up against God nor say to him what dost thou no Man I have un-man'd my self with sin I am dust and vanity it self vile dust that 's my make my frame oh I must give glory to his justice though I perish for ever 3. The poor Creature hath no good no not the least to procure pardon or to move God to pardon Psal 14.3 Saith a poor humbled soul treating for pardon if mercy and pardon must come forth upon termes of my good having or doing any thing but what hath infinitely sin enough in it to damn me for ever assuredly to Hell I must No sin enough to send a world of souls to Hell but not a drop of good to move the Lord to mercy If God give our mercy upon a sight of good I exspect not a drop from him 4. It followes from hence when a sinner comes humbled he comes as nothing else but a sinner Luke 18.13 God be mercifull to me a sinner one that 's nothing else but a wretched sinner for so the Publican means it as in a contrary frame to the Pharisee who thanks God that he was not so bad as many were though the Pharisee no doubt would acknowledge some sin but now the Publican is All a sinner in as bad a condition as any sinner in the world ☞ Here 's a touchstone poor souls in these dayes they hope they have not so much need of Christ as many great sinners they be not nothing else but sinners they have or do some good The discussion of this will be the next discourse only now a word more Know sinner that one sin strikes off all thy pretended good as shall at large through mercy be proved to thee stick to one drop of good in thee or from thee when thou comest for mercy and pardon and thou losest all oh to be wholly condemned wholly unrighteous wholly a sinner is a great work t is the most distinguishing conviction of any other While a man hath any thing to live upon he is not fit to beg so while a soul hath a drop of any thing that in his own sense may the more admit him to pardon he cannot have it Take it thus If one came to your doors and beg and he hath good Cloaths on his back and he should say I have good Cloaths on my back I have something of my own therefore I pray Give me would you not answer if you have something of your own are pretty well cloathed why should you beg t is not for you to come and ask almes But if a poor naked wretch come and say cry oh I am a poor creature a poor naked destitute creature I have nothing all 's gone I have lost all pray cover me pray feed me out of great pity you will look upon such a poor wretch and do something for him if you have any bowels So if a sinner as that Pharisee did come and say Lord I have done this and this I have not been so wicked as many I do some good therefore pardon that therefore will make the Lord send thee away without mercy no saith God live upon what thou hast if thou hast any thing Oh sinner thou art not fit to beg to beg mercy and pardon till thou hast just nothing of thy own which the naturall pride of thy heart will very hardly come off to 5. In the way of mens tribunalls of Justice and Courts of life and death If a Malefactor be condemned by the Law and he yet plead Though I am proved a thief or a murderer yet I have kept the rest of the Law I have broken no Law of the Nation that deserves death beside shall not this rather justify me then this crime condemn me No saith the Judge That 's nothing to us though thou hast kept the Law in other things thou must dye by the Law as a trangressour of it for this thou hast done why then saith the condemned person I must plead all mercy Just so it is at the tribunal of God comes a poor soul that is convinced he hath sinn'd oh but saith he in his heart I have kept the Law in many or most things will not that commend me to God will not God look upon my good more then my evil No saith God in his word thou hast broken the Law and thou art cursed therefore the Law can shew thee no mercy I can take no notice of any of thy pretended keeping of it in any other thing oh then must a poor sinner say then it must be all all of mercy if I am ever pardoned this may be enough to discover such a humiliation that follows confession that hath the promise of pardon and doth also further evidence the main point which is to set forth
keeping of the law is made void by one sin and so see an absolute necessity of righteousnesse another way and out of themselves by Iesus Christ though it be preacht by many good men yet few very few in this Generation live in the practicall sense and sight of it yea how many professours not hereby to reproach any have confessed to the Glory of God and their own abasement that since the breaking forth of a fuller light of the nature of the New-Covenant Gospel-grace the righteousnesse of Christ they have bin shaken in their bottomes being legall and thought if they took up from their sins and had a kind of sorrow for them and then set themselves to obey the law strictly be close in the sabbath and some such duties that God would accept them being still ignorant as least practically that when they were convinced of sin they were to see where to have a righteousnesse and how to get into Christ and have life and strength in and from him for their new obedience which is that I drive at in this and my afterwards discourse in opening the New-Creature as in Christ Having premised this I come to speak to the first promise laid down namely Observ 1. Every son and daughter of Adam in their naturall estate are under the Law By the Law I do not mean the Mosaicall or old Testament way of worship but by the law I understand that which we style the morall law the law of the 10 Commandements that was written in Adams heart and afterwards given out by God unto Moses at Mount Sinai and promised in the New Covenant to be written again in the hearts of all that are really called into the grace of the Covenant Ezek. 36.27 To be under the Law is an expression familiar to you you know what it is to live under a law To be under this law of God then bespeakes these things 1. To be under it is to be bound over to the exact fulfilling it see Rom. 10.15 For Moses describeth the righteousnesse which is of the Law that the man which doth these things shall live by them that is it to be bound over to the fulfilling and doing of the law which if done exactly without the least deviation there is life promised to it But upon the least transgression of it to be lyable to the penalty which God hath pronounced against the transgressors of it 2. It followes thence that to be under the Law is to be bound over to the whole Law in its full and perfect latitude as it reacheth the whole man Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the Law to do them Mark well the tenour of these words Here is required of Every one an exact doing not onely purposing and thinking to do and that not onely of some or the most of the law but in all things and that not onely for a time but a Continuance of doing so or else under the curse One sinfull thought hath a curse belonging to it as well as the breach of the whole law if under the law Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law 1 John 3.4 3. To be under the law is to be subject to and to be under all the curses threatenings judgments wrath that it threatneth to the transgressours of it here and for ever Whatsoever the law saith in point also of judgment and wrath it saith to all that are under it 4. To be under it is to be bound to make God satisfaction in our own persons for the breach of it I mean while under it every soul is so obliged to make satisfaction to the justice of God If a poor soul be in his naturall estate and so under the law he must stand or fall to the law God expects personall satisfaction from every soul that sinneth against it that will stand to his keeping the law in whole or in part and God in his justice can bate nothing of what he hath spoken Now That all men and women are by nature as of and in the first Adam thus under the law to wit to be bound up to it and to have life onely upon the exact and perfect fulfilling of it to be bound up to the whole law subject to the curse of it upon the transgression of one part bound to make God satisfaction in his own person for any breach thereof I briefly prove Saith Paul Rom. 6.14 Ye are not under the law but under grace Implying till a soul is brought under grace the Covenant of grace justifying sanctifying grace in and by Jesus Christ he is under the law whoever he be so Gal. 4.5 To redeem them that were under the law c. implying also that all mankind are naturally under it till under the power and efficacy and priviledge of Christs Redemption The main reasons of it are All are under this law because all mankind were bound up under the same Covenant with Adam who was a publick person representing all mankind as a man may bind up himself and his posterity to such and such conditions and such a Covenant decree or obligation binds his posterity in Law so was Adam bound up to God see Rom. 5.12 the speciall Scriptures that prove this truth Wherefore as by one man sin entred into the world and death by sin so death passed upon all men for that all have sinned so verse 16.17 18 19. by one that sinned c. by one mans offence death reigned by one by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation By one mans disobedience many were made sinners Implying clearly that the guilt of Adam as representing all his posterity was and is imputed to all and therefore all were and are bound over to the same Law bottomed upon that word of the Lord to Adam by which God put the Covenant upon him Gen. 2.17 For in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely dye Adam had the law of holinesse and righteousnesse the morall law written in his heart before and his nature perfect which bound him over to obey every command of his God now God gave out that external law unto him by way of tryal in which the form of the Covenant was implyed but sinning against that he transgressed the morall law written in his heart also which bound him over to obey God in all things so that the sin of Adam was at least virtually a transgression of the morall law now abiding and obliging mankind which law we all brake in him as it was given to all in him and being written in Adams heart it was as much as if it had bin actually written in the hearts of all mankind which doth also appear by the remnants of the law as that there is a God and man should be just yet remaining in the hearts of all Therefore by nature we are all bound up to and are under this law 2. It doth appear that
may and doth leave a sinner without all excuse for sinning against him this the Apostle argues as to this very purpose Rom. 1.20 For the invisible things of him from the Creation of the world are clearly seen being understood by the things that are made even his eternall power and god-head so that they are without excuse c. The creatures could not say we will make our selves thus and thus and subsist in such an order and harmony therefore there was one first Infinite being who made all things and by the same power doth uphold them to which first Being all the creatures must owe their homage and conformity Now though such a glimmering of light can never suffice to lead a soul to the true worshipping of God as the Apostle there argues yet it leaves the creature without excuse which is that I am proving from it 6. All the Children of men do sin presumtuously willfully and obstinately against the Law of God mans sin being not so much from his weaknesse to obey the law though weak he is but from the rebellion of his will against God and his law As it is in the case of disobeying the call of the Gospel also Now whatsoever a man doth presumptuously willfully it leaves him without all excuse And this is it that is charged upon the Children of men by the holy Ghost in the word that their sin was obstinate rebellion against the great God From all these the truth of the assertion doth appear that every transgressour of the law is without all excuse before God 7. As the creature hath no excuse for his sin so it followes he hath no pretence against the righteous judgment of God we are sure the judgment of God is according to truth Rom. 2.2 and Chap. 3.4 That thou mayst be justified in thy sayings and clear when thou art judged that is what ever any sinner may dispute to the contrary God is righteous when he judgeth If the Law be just and holy and good once written in his heart and had a power to have kept it that God hath given out this law again to him the remnants of it in his heart so much to be known of God in the creatures and that he sins presumptuously and wilfully against God and so blessed a law made for his own good certainly must every sinner conclude The Lord is righteous when he judgeth and every mouth must be stopped Use 1. If it be so that no sinner in the world hath any justifiable excuse for his sin then let this truth come in into your consciences and strike off all vain pretences and wretched excuses when you have sinned against the Lord which usually are such as these when sinners break forth into this or that rebellious way they cry Oh t is my nature my naturall disposition and then they think that excuseth or allayeth the matter whereas it aggravates for we ourselves corrupted our natures Saith another I have bin so accustomed to such a way to drink to excesse sometimes to swear to use the Lords name vainly and as a by-word whereas the custome of sinning is the greatest and most grievious aggravation of it Saith another 't is my company that drawes me or the example of others or 't is my temptation when they are under the Spirit that worketh in the Children of disobedience Or that they do keep the law as well as they can and think this will excuse whereas nothing no plea that ever a sinfull deceitfull heart put up or that the Devil suggests can before God excuse any sinner in the world rich or poor knowing or ignorant from the exact and perfect keeping of the law if they are yet under the law but upon one transgression of it the law doth most justly condemn and curse them Nothing is more naturall to fallen man under sin then when having sinned to devise an excuse and thinks and surmiseth that because such an excuse will be taken by his own blinded conscience therefore God will also accept of it so flatters himself in his own eyes till his iniquity be found to be hatefull Psal 36.2 Thus Adam as assoon as he had sin'd he thought how to excuse the matter puts it off to the woman and the woman to the devil which trade sinners have well learnt and have driven it on ever since to their own damnation Observe this If every sinner yet under the law and the power of sinne had not some vain pretence and excuse to ensilence conscience and foolishly thinks to insinuate unto God he or she must needs fall down before the Lord see all their pretences and coverts to be damnable flatteryes and soul-cheatings and so Judge themselves and pronounce God most righteous if he damn them for ever Oh therefore sinners Away with all your pretences no more excusing but judging and go to the great God and fall down at his feet crying out oh I am a transgressour the law condemns me no excuse will be taken my mouth is now stopped what ever God do with me he is most holy and righteous If I were going to Hell I must justifie God and cannot say unto him why doest thou thus Thus t is with a poor soul when the Lord by his word and spirit opens sin reveales the law layes it in upon the conscience discovers the holinesse and exactnesse of his justice that the law shewes no mercy but cryes out for fulfilling or pronounceth absolute condemnation then I say a sinner cryes out Oh I am cast by the Law I am gone by the Law All my pleas are found too light All my endeavour to keep it is worth nothing if guilty in the least while I am under the law I must find out a righteousnesse else where another way or condemnation just condemnation is my portion for ever Here 's the first stroke of a convinced sinner when God is outing him from himself and all his coverts or excuses and brings him naked to put on the righteousnesse of his Son Jesus Christ freely held out in the gospel which is the work in hand 2. If no excuse can be heard or taken for the transgression of the law for but one breach of it but every mouth is stopped how much lesse will any excuse be taken for withstanding the gospell of grace by Jesus Christ saith our blessed Lord. If I had not come and spoken unto them they had not had sin that is not so great sinne and condemnation but now they have no cloak nor excuse for their sinne If a righteous law leave all the world without excuse much more a gospel that offers free grace and pardon and righteousnesse by Jesus Christ to any sinner condemn'd by the law that will come in as so condemn'd and accept of the free gift of righteousnesse by him But that I may yet a little further labour to bring in the sense of guilt upon the soul I shall prove every soul guilty before God of the
soul and so longest for such exercises as the joy and strength of thy heart Nothing lesse Thy own conscience being Judge but hear drowsily and negligently it may be despisingly revile the preacher speak evil of the word out of thy grosse ignorance and hatred to be reformed speak vainly carnally worldly with such as are like thy self Here 's guilt enough to send thee to a thousand Hells if God smite not thy heart for it and thou turn not unto him for pardon and a better heart to be given to thee Adde to all this an unthankfull and unholy use of Gods good Creatures it may be thou hast bin betrayed by the devil thy own ready heart to some secret sins which thou thinkest enough if thou canst hide from man not considering the judgment of God that hangs over thee But if not so yet a heart full of uncleannesse envy wrath malice which our Lord Jesus Christ in his opening the law in its spirituality Mat. 5.21.22 27 28. convinceth to be murder and adultery which it may be thou hast never considered of so thou hast not bin an actuall adulterer or murderer In a word There 's not a vain thought in thy heart the first rising of it but brings thee under the guilt of condemnation of the law and as thou art under the law as if a transgressour in thought word and deed of the whole Law This may seem strange to thee but see it proved James 2.10 For whosoever shall keep the whole law and yet offend in one point is guilty of all But it hath bin proved that thou art guilty of the breach of every Commandement of God from thy youth up But see further sinner that some word of God or other may hit thee this law could not condemn thee wouldst thou have bin convinced of guilt and made in to grace by Jesus Christ but thou art under the guilt of Gospel Contempt Come sinner saith Jesus Christ and see what I can and will do for thee I le save thee from this condemning Law I le take away the curse I le remove all thy guilt blot out all the charge that is against thee I le put a righteousnesse upon thee I le bestow my spirit upon thee I le give thee a heart to love God and his law and in the inward man to delight to walk in it and then take thee to Heaven and fill thee with glory for ever All this Heaven of mercy and free grace thou hast sleighted and sinned against and brought thy self under greater condemnation than by the law And yet by the way Jesus Christ will do as much for thee still as I have spoken of and more though thou hast thus sinned against law and gospel if thou wilt come a poor undone guilty soul unto him which is that I aime at in thus pressing upon thee And were the sense of guilt indeed upon thy soul thou wouldst seriously hearken to me Therefore yet futher bear with me Take home this guilt to thy conscience And say Oh guilty guilty of all that hath bin this day charged from the righteous God upon me Oh may the Lord find thee out this day and lay-in the fresh sense of the guilt of sins even of such thou hast long since committed Do not justifie nor excuse thy self any longer for that 's the naturall way of thy heart as thou hast bin shewed Never did guilty prisoner at the barre find more shifts more subtle pleas then the proud and shamelesse heart of a sinner will do till God himself pronounce guilt in the conscience and then the guilt of one sin laid-in brings in the guilt of all other and they sometimes come in like waves and billowes upon thy soul oh let the sense of thy lying swearing profaning the Sabbath slighting the word refusing Jesus Christ out of thy secret hatred of holinesse reproaching the people of God because in their practise they condemne thee or thy being guilty of the blood of the Lord Jesus 1 Cor. 11.27 a crying sin indeed Oh let this any all seize upon thee and fly not from it but go and lye low before the great God in it judging charging condemning thy self and say God and his word hath found me out this day and I go home with an arrow of God in my conscience I am the man or woman that am found the guiltyest soul in the Congregation how to be delivered and saved from it that 's my businesse now Blessed be the advice and counsell now which formerly I despised of any good man that speakes in the name of the Lord unto me and will shew me There is yet hope for so wretched a Creature as I am Particularly these are the effects of the sense of the guilt of sin wrought by the holy Ghost upon the conscience of a poor soul in order to his salvation 1. Fear of wrath to come more or lesse possesseth the heart Can a man be guilty and not fear if truly sensible of it This was upon Adam after he had sinned and heard Gods voice which struck him with sense of guilt Gen. 3.10 I heard thy voice and was afraid so when guilt came upon Belshazzar his thoughts troubled him Dan. 5.6 Felix trembled Acts 24.25 The Jaylour came trembling Acts 16.29 The fear of wrath the fear of a mis-carrying soul the fear of eternity seizeth upon the spirit of a poor creature and then t is an infinite weighty matter with a poor soul to be saved 2. Shame is another effect of guilt brought in upon the conscience so Adam likewise was ashamed and hid himself because he was naked Gen. 3. What fruit had you in those things whereof ye are now ashamed Rom. 6.21 So Ezek. 16. last That thou mayest remember and be confounded and never open thy mouth any more because of thy shame when I am pacified towards thee for all that thou hast done sayth the Lord See also Ezek. 43.10 11. Oh how is a sensibly guilty soul ashamed before God Angels men of such wayes and carriages in which he impudently before delighted himself and lyes down in his shame and confusion of face even covering his face before God and ashamed to look up unto him 3. The soul walkes up and down with a burthened spirit those creature-comforts delights contentments which before would still the spirit now will not sense of guilt eates out the heart of them the soul must now have something else than wind and vanity for so are Creatures become to such a poor soul It may be the deceitfull heart carryes a poor creature to this thing and that but finds no satisfaction there the burthen stills remaines the arrow that God hath shot sticks fast till Jesus Christ pluck it forth and heales all with his blood and spirit 4. Guilty souls make out for deliverance sue to heaven are enquiring how the law may be satisfied how guilt may be removed how atonement may be had how bondage taken off in a
heart we should come to an issue in the point Mark that word Gal. 3.12 Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the law to do them I think I opened this place lately but mark it well The law requires of every one and therefore of thee who ever thou art a continuance without intermission of doing not only purposing and endeavouring All things not keeping nine and breaking one Commandement not keeping it outwardly and breaking it in thy thoughts of sin but in All things or Cursed without remedy by the law The law can give you no remedy see Rom. 10.5 For Moses describeth the righteousnesse of the law The man that doth these things shall live by them If he doth all the things of the law not purposeth them onely but doth them he shall live by them but not otherwise but shall dye and that for ever by the law now mark you The same law can't at once justifie and condemn blesse and curse quit and judge save and condemn if it therefore condemn in the least it cannot quit by all that ever a soul hath done or may do towards fulfilling it I instanced before If a man that lives under the law of England all the laws of it and he be found a transgressour of one law that is to be punished with death it will not be a good plea for him that he never brake any other law that deserves death no saith the Judge you must dye for this so as I have shew'd the law pronounceth death to the breach of any one Commandement any part of one as well as to the breach of the whole Therefore he that pleads as the Pharisee did and was never the more accepted that he is no murderer no blasphemer no thief no adulterer t is all one if thou hast ever had an unholy thought in thy heart as thou hast had thousands as thou art under the law thou art condemned If this indeed had bin the tenour of the law as it was a Covenant between God and the first Adam that if thou and thy posterity shall endeavour to keep the law as well as you can though you fail in some part yet you shall be accepted then this had bin a good plea before God that you have so endeavour'd to keep it but t is not so the Covenant doth not run so but as hath bin shewd it runs thus Here 's a holy and righteous law saith God the matter of the Covenant between us If you break it in any one least part of it and but once you are condemn'd and all your other righteousnesse shall not be imputed to you This saith bin proved from severall Scriptures and I think t is the hardest thing in the world to be spiritually and practically convinced of it such is the exactnesse of the Law that it admits of no bartering of no termes whatsoever it still cryes fullfill me to the utmost or dye 3. The third Reason which strikes off all hope of acceptance with God by keeping the Law as well as you can is taken from the sinfulnesse of those very duties and workes which you place such acceptance in There is an infinite sinfulnesse in every such duty though the matter of the duty be good yet the manner of performing it by any naturall man is wholly sinfull yea there 's a mixture of sin in the most holy performances of any regenerate soul in the world which he is sensible of but I am dealing with the naturall man as to his opinion of his good keeping the law I say there 's nothing but sin in their performances the principle they proceed from is wholly sinfull viz. a corrupted polluted heart and nature Can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit Mat. 7.18 Can a corrupt fountain send forth sweet waters Jam. 3.11 No more can a corrupt defiled heart bring forth any duty or work but what is loathsome to God full of all impurity This a naturall man is not able to see nor consider of till convinc'd by the holy Ghost and therefore 't is that he rests onely in performing the matter and bulk of duties to God and his neighbour but with what heart and the unholinesse of it he weights not Upon this account it is that the Scriptures speak at such a rate of naturall men that they are an abomination to the Lord Prov. 15.8 that his soul hates them he cannot away with them they are iniquity they are a trouble to him Isay 1. And that he casts them back as dung upon their faces Mal. 2.3 Therefore if there be more then sin enough in that best keeping of the Law towards God or man to damn a soul for ever Certainly a soul shall be never the better nor at all accepted for such a keeping of it That which in it self hath sin nothing but sin in the manner of it cannot be a means to quit a soul from other sin by which he hath brought guilt upon himself Let this be well considered and Nothing but a Christ would be your cry to purpose indeed 4. The fourth reason or convincement of this truth that the best endeavour to keep the law will not give you more acceptance with God nor take away any guilt from off the soul is because such duties and keeping the Law are but of the outward man which is farre from reaching the Compasse of the law the law is spirituall Rom. 7.14 that is it reacheth to the inward parts to the motions of the heart as hath bin before hinted and not onely to the outward man therefore our blessed Lord seeing the Jews insisting so much that they were outwardly blamelesse spends a large discourse Mat. 5.6 7. to beat them off their confidence in being outwardly righteous and proves a man a murderer by the Law for one wrathfull thought in his heart Mat. 5.21 22. Upon this conviction you have him as oft as he spake to the Jews that we may see the weight of this doctrine see Luke 16.19 15. And the Pharisees also who were covetous heard all these things and they derided him And he said unto them ye are they which justifie your selves before men but God knoweth your hearts for that which is highly esteemed amongst men is abomination in the sight of God Jesus Christ was convincing the wickednesse of a covetous heart the Jews who were carnall and formall made a sleight matter of this seeing they were outwardly blamelesse and wronged no body Aye but saith Christ God knoweth your hearts and his eye is most upon them and though you are outwardly righteous before men and this is a matter highly esteemed of among men that you are righteous and blamelesse yet t is an abomination to God see how severe the Lord is in pressing of this it being the great let of his Ministery and of the Jews stumbling at the Gospel as it is with us Mat. 23. his last Sermon I conceive he preacht to them verse
25. Woe unto you scribes and Pharisees Hypocrites for ye make clean the out side of the cup and platter but with they are full of extortion and excesse so with the same woe pronounced verse 27. Ye are like unto whited sepulchers which indeed appear beautifull outward but are within full of dead mens bones and of all uncleannesse verse 28. Even so also ye outwardly appear righteous unto men but within ye are full of Hypocrisie and iniquity Mark the Lords words within ye are thus and thus As if the Lord should say God regards not what you are outwardly and your observing the law with the outward man seeing you have abundance of all iniquity within which every unregenerate soul in the world hath so you may see that an outward keeping of the law standes for nothing in the account of God whatever it do with men and your selves which you hear Jesus Christ gives forth as the mark of an Hypocrite Now you have heard the law requires inward as well as outward perfection perfect holinesse within as well as righteousnesse in the outward man I verily believe want of this conviction upon the soul sends more soules to Hell then any other thing in the world besides how confident are poor Creatures if they are a little consciencious in dealing and sober and blamelesse to men this you may be and be no better then devils as in your selves in Gods account and thy best Character from Jesus Christ Mat. 23.26 is a Blind Pharisee Every place I fear abounds with them therefore this inveterate cursed plea of being outwardly blamelesse in keeping the Law will not in the least tender you more accepted with God but t is at the best but painted Hypocrisie And yet wretched souls that you are none so well perswaded of themselves as these This the fourth reason 5. All the best keeping of the Law doth not cannot make satisfaction to God for one sin of thy soul therefore t is worth nothing Gods Justice is wronged and if the sinner be remitted God must be satisfied by the sinner himself or by another Now all the obedience of a sinner cannot make satisfaction to God in the least If he had the whole world to offer up to God it could not satisfie him for the the wrong of one sin see that known place Micah 6.6 7. Wherewith shall I come before the Lord and bow my self before the high God shall I come before him with burnt offerings with Calves of a year old will the Lord be pleased with thousands of Rams or with ten thousands of Rivers of Oyle shall I give my first borne for my transgression the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul Implying that there is nothing that a poor sinner of himself can offer up to God to make atonement or satisfaction to God for the least sin of his soul should he offer up thousands of prayers rivers of tears whole ages spent in services to God take up to a severe new obedience if you should so take up to a new course as never to sinne more all your dayes it would not make God satisfaction or atonement for one evil thought of thy soul Now observe this for if thou art not rightly convinced of this thing thou art lost for ever T is naturally upon every man and womans heart that hath sinned to imagine that when they have sinned they can put off God as to his displeasure with something or other they will reckon what good they have done gone to Church as you style it given Almes bin just to men or some such thing and the poor blind Creature imagines and pleaseth himself in it that this good thus done will well enough pacifie God for his sins or at least he will go over some prayers be strickt for a little while and then they doubt not but God because also he presently smites not with judgment is well enough apayed and he need no more trouble himself Is not this the very way of your hearts hath not the word found you out Object But you will say why cannot these duties and this obedience satisfie and pacifie God well enough for sin Answ 1. Because there is sinne mixt in them they come from a profane heart as is shew'd in the last reason though thou ignorantly because thou knowest not thy heart call'st it a good heart now that which is in it self sinfull cannot sure satisfie for sinne 2. Because of the infiniteness of Gods justice as well as purity of it A finite creature cannot offer up a proportionable atonement to an infinite God Suppose a poor man were under the guilt of treason condemn'd to dye and he should go offer up a little coorse broken bread to the Prince would any one think that this would satisfie the Prince for his treason So poor deceived creature thou art guilty of treason and rebellion against the great and most high God and thou comest and offerest up to him thy poor polluted broken obedience and duties and thinkest he will be satified with this whereas God may in the same moment justly send thee to Hell for the iniquity of them A poor sinfull soul thinkes that because such doings and services do satisfie himself his own conscience therefore he thinks they will satisfie God also because they quiet him upon any trouble for guilt he thinks they will also quiet God and take off his anger and justice from punishing him poor creature this thy way is thy folly and the ready way to come under the severe justice of the Almighty who will not thus be dealt with nor be thus bribed with thy cursed sacrifices This is a further convincement of the point All the creature can do cannot pacifie God for one sin and therefore all his best keeping of the law cannot justifie a poor sinner before God nor give him acceptance in the least with him till he sees pacification another way and takes up obedience from another principle and to another end as we are to shew 6. All a mans endeavour in setting himself to keep the law to the utmost cannot give him acceptance with God because it cannot give life to the soul Gal. 3.21 For if there had bin a law which would have given life verily righteousnesse had come by the law Man hath procured death and weaknes upon his soul and the law cannot give life nor strength to obey it All that righteousness which leavs the soul dead comes to nothing while a soul is under the law and upon the fulfilling of it as he hopes in a good measure still the soul is as dead as sin left it and void of the life of God true A poor soul thinkes himself alive by his legall performances as Paul thought Rom. 7.9 but he is dead in sin and under the sentence of death by the Law and all the performances towards the keeping of it can never give a drop of life to such a poor soul they are dead
works and there 's no life in them or from them therefore they stand no soul in stead while under the law as under it he is while he goes upon this account 7. The main reason of all which is now but to be touched is this If a soul endeavouring to keep the law of God as well as he can may be accepted of God thereby what need Jesus Christ to have dyed t is Pauls great argument Rom. 8.3 4. For what the Law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh God sending his own son in the likenesse of sinfull flesh condemned sin in the flesh that the righteous of the law might be fulfilled in us c. Mark ye what the law could not do that it could not give us a righteousnesse whereby God might accept us therefore God sent his son in the flesh and condemned sinne upon him which otherwise had bin condemned upon the sinner himself Another place to this purpose is Gal. 2. last I do not frustrate the grace of God for if righteousnesse come by the law then Christ is dead in vain If there were a possibility of a Creatures attaining to such a degree of keeping the law as well as he can that might render him accepted with God and procure pardon wherein he failed then the dying of Jesus Christ was in vain to no purpose at all Take heed you that are outwardly righteous that you do not frustrate the grace of God and the death of Jesus Christ for ever to your own souls by thinking you indeavour to keep Gods law as well as you can and make some conscience of it and there fix your hope wholly or in part and so be undone for ever Another place in the same Epistle Gal. 4.4 5. speakes out the same truth But when the fulnesse of time was come God sent forth his son made of a woman made under the law To redeem them that were under the law that we might receive the Adoption of Sons What need Jesus Christ to have dyed to redeem the elect from under the law if they had bin able to reach forth to such a keeping of it that God might be well pleased with and with them in it Now Jesus Christs being made under the law implyes these things which I now but hint forth 1. His being under the punishment of the law which was due to such as were under it what ever the law pronounced to the transgressours of it Jesus Christ in effect did undergo it See Gal. 3. Christ hath redeemed us from the Curse of the law being made a curse for us If good prayers making a conscience in dealing outward sobriety harming no body giving of Almes to poor people could have taken away the curse did the wise and blessed God do well in giving out his Son to be made a curse were prayers righteousnesse good deeds made a Curse They will be indeed in another sense if thou thinkest to be accepted by them 2. Jesus Christ being made under the Law was to satisfie Gods offending justice for the breach of the Law for such as shall be saved to make atonement for God Rom. 5.11 If now all that thou hast done or shalt ever do could make the least satisfaction or atonement to God in thy good keeping the Commandements as well as thou canst as hath been shew'd God might have kept his Son in Heaven and not sent him to make atonement for any sinners 3. To reconcile sinners unto God Rom. 5.10 When we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son c. If reconciliation to God can be had no other way but by the death of Jesus Christ will thy good endeavours for the time to come to keep the Law of God as well as thou canst and take up from a loose course will those I say reconcile thee to God See poor creature how little need thou thinkest thou hast of Jesus Christ and what a mere notion a Saviour is to thee when it comes to the tryal 4. Jesus Christ dyed to purchase righteousnesse for all that shall be saved Now if thou couldst come up to such a degree of being righteous by thy fair and good carriage as thou thinkest to God and man this purchase of Jesus Christ was to little purpose Rom. 10.4 Christ is the end of the law for righteousnesse to every one that believeth Now see mistaken soul how thy hope to please God well enough and make him amends for thy sin by thy good endeavours to serve him in his law as well as thou mayst makes void the whole designe of God in the glorious gift of his eternall Son as much as in thee lyeth and robs him of the glory of his grace and makes thy salvation if it might be had in such a way not of grace but of debt Rom. 4.4 Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of debt but of grace And thus thou in effect becomest thy own Saviour Yet bear with me a little further because a sinner can never be too thoroughly convinced of this matter let me shew you some examples in the Scriptures of such that thought as you do and as all men naturally do that they by their honest and conscionable endeavour to worship God and harm no body they should be saved and yet were found light in the balance The first is that Pharisee Luke 18.11 He thanks God he was not as other men are Extortioners Unjust Aduterers c. Here was hope for his acceptance with God He was not so bad as others as many riotous profane persons were not unjust in his dealings no Adulterer And should any one question his Salvation and going to Heaven Enough for great sinners to misse of Heaven and not such as he was reputed a good and honest man in his Country and amongst his neighbours well thought of by most And yet for all this confidence and security a great sinner was accepted before him and he not justified in the sight of God though he was in his own sight and the sight of others See another Mat. 19.20 which place hath bin at large opened to you There came a young man a man of parts a Ruler with the same confidence to reason with Jesus Christ about his condition The man conceived he wanted nothing that a man should have or do for Heaven All these things saith he I have kept from my youth up meaning specially the second Table of the Law which Christ gave out not as thereby to put him upon the law but to find him out and discover him under the law When Iesus Christ searcheth the mans heart and finds him under the power of the love of the world as a reigning soul-damning sin for all his outward blamelesnesse and so to discover his heart to himself puts him upon tryall of self-denyall Away the man packs as mute as a fish and would hear no more as worldlings now of such doctrine unlesse he
for heaven Answ I answer Not such a conversation as you mean The formall Jews which Christ preacht to were outwardly righteous and yet 't was not a safe ground of hope unto them as you have bin shew'd A good conversation that witnesseth a hope for heaven must be first of a soul that doth utterly renounce it as to commend him to God that when he lookes up to God for his acceptance his justification he lookes upon himself as nothing else but a sinner in that respect which poor soul thou doest not 2. A good conversation that witnesseth a hope of Heaven is also a holy conversation 1 Pet. 1.15 To be inwardly holy as well as outwardly righteous Now thy care lyeth mostly about thy outward blamelesness and not thy inward holinesse therefore thy conversation which thou callest good is not a ground of hope to thee 3. Or if thou doest pretend to a little outward holinesse and thinkest thou hast a good heart yet thou doest not walk in Christ because thou hast not as a poor self-emptyed sinner received him Col. 2.6 Now thou must first be rooted in Christ verse 7. before thou canst walk in Christ that is fetch all thy life and power for any spirituall duty or thy walking before God from Iesus Christ by vertue of union with him John 15.5 the experience of which thou art ignorant of 4. T is to walke in the spirit Gal. 5.16 And thou hast not the spirit of God dwelling in thee quickening renewing mortifying c. which every gracious pardoned soul hath In a word A good conversation is a Gospel-conversation grounded upon Gospel-principles and for Gospel-ends now thou goest no further but lookest upon the law as to be obeyed as well as thou canst and in thy own endeavours and thy own strength from some conviction of the law thou setst about it and so hopest God and Christ will save thee Is it not so with thee Object 2. But would you then have me do nothing leave off to do well If you say my good keeping of the law as well as I can doth neither justifie me before God nor is so much as an evidence of Gods accepting me to what purpose then is it how ought I then to do it or may I not leave it off Answ I answer Truly soul I must needs deal plainly with thee T is to no purpose as yet if this be thy condition that thou hast done any thing as to the saving of thy own soul And yet thou must not leave off as if thou mightest live as thou list No Thou must begin a new as thou wilt be further more at large directed first see all thy former doings either towards God or man to be losse because thou hast done them by meer naturall or legall principles and wrong ends and so it stands for nothing And then fall down before Iesus Christ Oh t is thy righteousnesse now Lord I come for t is thy spirit I must have to quicken and strengthen me in the way of my obedience And so pray and hear upon other grounds to be taught of God to receive the Spirit to have Communion with God but not thereby in the least to be accepted But this I shall open further when I shew why and how a soul must obey God though he be not thereby justifyed So this Objection is removed Object 3. But you will say I hope I do not rest upon my own doings no more then others I think no body doth so will you shew me whether the heart is apt to do so Answ I will and shall discover to you that the heart of man is most naturally apt to rest upon an outward keeping of the law and to build a hope and confidence for heaven upon it this I must a little insist on as much conducing to help on the conviction I am pressing if the Lord by his power strike in with it If it were not naturall nothing more for a soul to bottome upon its keeping the Law though fallen and unable to do it the Apostle would never have spent time in the Conviction of it which he so industriously doth in this and the former Chap. It hath bin the great evil upon the hearts of the Sons of men in all ages of the Church One of the first Sons of Adam was under it Cain when he rested upon the bare sacrifice T is that the Prophets of God are reproving convincing the Church of the Jews of more then of any one thing whatsoever See Isay 1. thoroughout Esay 66. Jer. 7. Ezek. 33.31 The Prophecy of Hosea in the main bent of it is to convince the formality of the Jews and their false confidence in resting in their heartlesse doings and performances In this case Iesus Christ findes the Jewish Church in at his first coming in resting in some heartless performances in Gods worship and outward righteousness towards men which he sharply rebuketh and convineth them of the vanity of it Mat. 5.6 7 9 13 15 18 21 23 25. Chapters of Mathew with which you may compare the other Evangelists and see how much ado the Lord Jesus had to beat them off from this confidence and how few of them were beaten off it and Paul witnesseth that upon this very ground they were rejected of Iesus Christ Rom. 9.32 Not upon the account of grosse outward sin but for their being conceited of their good condition for heaven because of their frequenting publique worship and being blamelesse in the sight of men yea from this naturall principle joyned with the delusion of the tempter did the Church of God degenerate into the Synagogue of Satan as Antichrist rose in the world first trusting in the performance of their worship and workes which brought in pennances and such kind of Sacriledge against Iesus Christ and all other tromperies to build fallen man upon his own bottome and to devise a way of satisfaction to God wherein they failed to which the hearts of men are most naturally carryed which made that doctrine so easily and generally overrunne the world Against which accursed doctrine that famous witnesse of Iesus Christ Luther began his main battery And though the doctrine of justification by Iesus Christ be known to the protestant world yet practically to be brought over to it by an union with Iesus Christ is but we may fear thinly known or understood yea not onely by the common spirits of England that rest in a notion of being Protestants but even amongst many who have profest something beyond it as I before have hinted yea the Lord Iesus Christ professeth to expect to find multitudes of professours at his coming under this soul-damning snare of being found in themselves and in their own righteousnesse and not in Iesus Christ Mat. 7. Mat. 25. c. By all which it may amply appear how easie how naturall a thing it is for the hearts of the Children of men to bottome their confidence in what they do towards God and
thou poor formal out-side Professour who never didst feel the vertue healing life and warmth of the bloud of Christ upon thy heart Oh rest not in good thoughts of it onely but come believingly to it as thou hast been exhorted Say and that with thy heart Now Lord I would know the power and efficacy of this Redemption upon my poor soul Wash me Lord wash me I renounce all but the blood of this Christ as to making way to God for me Oh! let it pacifie my conscience and purge my conscience and I shall be clean If the Spirit of the Lord shall work thy heart to come as a guilty helplesse unholy sinner in thy self to this blood of Jesus and make thy approaches to God daily and argue for grace and remission upon it and purging thy soul these inestimable blessings will be the issue of it which I will but name to thee 1. Thou shall Certainly find forgivenesse of thy sins In whom we have redemption through his blood the forgivenesse of our sins Ephes 1.7 God will remember them no more against thee and thou shalt have peace with thy God for ever 2. God will let forth an infinite unchangeable love upon thee Rom. 5.5 which love he bore thee from eternity but will now manifest it to thee and estate thee in it for ever 3. Thou shalt have boldnesse of accesse to God Rom. 5.2 even into his intimate presence to speak with God face to face and ask of God what thou wilt according to his will Heb. 10. 4. All the promises of mercy grace and all blessings here and for ever shall be thine made over sealed in the blood of Christ 5. Thou shalt rejoyce in the hope of the glory of God Rom. 5.2 with all Saints and see thy self an heir of heaven 6. Thou shalt be still a washing and purifying and fitting for Heaven till thou shalt be taken up unto God and live in the Ocean of his love to all eternity Now if ease in thy sin and the world can do better for thee than this that I have named then keep in but if not as most certainly it cannot Arise and come to this blessed Redemption and get thy part and portion in it and thou shalt say Blessed be thy counsell and advice for evermore But now upon this Redemption of Iesus Christ how is a sinner said to be justified that is to be put into an actuall possession of the Redemption of Iesus Christ through the free grace of God 1. When the Compact was made between God the Father and Iesus Christ as to the salvation of those that the Father gave to Iesus Christ and Iesus Christ undertook the fulfilling of the Condition of the Covenant ☞ God did purpose in himself to justifie them from eternity and look't upon them as in Christ 2 Tim. 1.9 Ephes 1.4 So they were justified as to the purpose of God from all eternity 2. When Iesus Christ performed the condition of obedience in his dying and paid unto God what he required at his hands for the sinners redemption then did God as in the Court of Heaven discharge the sinner though not in the court of Conscience and when Christ arose and came to Heaven the Father gave him in an absolution of them all from the guilt of sin and obligation to death and so at the death of Christ all the Elect were meritoriously justified inasmuch as the price was paid and accepted of the Father Rom. 5.10 3. When according to the purpose of God through the purchase of Iesus Christ a sinner is called by grace hath faith given him as purchased also for him to embrace Iesus Christ in the Promise to receive him as offer'd in the Gospell and with him all spirituall blessings then is the soul put into the actuall possession of what God in his purpose and love determined to give him and Iesus Christ by the purchase of his blood gave him a right to before and so there is an Act of Gods pardoning mercy passeth upon the sinner he hath an actuall discharge given in unto his Conscience hath the obedience of Iesus Christ imputed to him and so is lookt upon by God not as a sinner under guilt but as righteous in the righteousnesse of Christ which bespeakes him Justified that is made just and righteous before God by the imputation and making over Christs righteousnesse to him as if righteous in his own person upon which Act of God there is a full remission of sinne as in the Text and the believer is put into another state a state of justification unto life through Iesus Christ Rom. 8.18 who before was in a state of death and condemnation Before I speak of that faith which through grace puts a soul in his pardoned and justified state I will breifly apply this to the Capacity of the weak 1. It may informe and instruct you in this great Mystery that any sinner that is saved must be thus justified made righteous by the obedience of Iesus Christ he must come to see the justice of God made up his sin satisfied for a price paid unto God and this to be actually made over to him as we shall presently shew Most of sinners 't is to be feared do not consider this that speak of mercy and pretend they hope in mercy but are never convinc'd of the righteousnesse of Iesus Christ and what it is to passe from a state of guilt to a state of righteousnesse by Iesus Christ from a state of condemnation to a state of justification without which there can be no salvation Oh be convinced sinners of this great matter of the necessity of the righteousness of Christ his obedience in fulfilling the Law to be made over to you to be brought into a justified state or you can never have pardon of sin and be accepted with God you can never stand before God but in the righteousness of Iesus Christ Say If I do not get the righteousness of Christ made mine If I do not get thus justified I must never expect pardon of my sin and acceptance of my poor soul at the great day of the Lord. This is the Work of the Spirit to be savingly convinced of this Ioh. 16.8 Oh look up to the Father for the Spirit thus to convince you not onely of sinne and the damnableness and sinfulness thereof but of your infinite need to get not onely some general hope of mercy and pardon but the righteousness of the Son of God to bring you into a state of pardon reconciliation peace with God 2. It may further clear unto you that your justification before God is not within you but without you wrought forth by Iesus Christ for such as are or shall be called by grace and imputed to them not inherent or wrought in them 'T is not grace in you that doth or can justifie you though renewing grace shall be wrought in all that are so pardoned and justified Therefore though thou must be
can never be able to find or bring about in or by it self which may lead us to the more particular way of the Holy Ghost's working this power in the soul in the saved ones of God 1. In the working of Faith in the soul it is first brought to see an impossibility of coming to God as in its self or by its self concluded under an utter unability to pacifie God or make up a righreousness in it self to get access with God The soul is emptyed from vessell to vessell till all the things that it counted gain before become losse for Jesus Christ This is the first work of the Spirit it emptyes a poor sinfull Creature of all its refuges all its dependencyes all its sufficiencyes and so becomes naked in its guilt before God and therefore is brought to this that its acceptance to God if ever it be accepted must be out of its self what ever become of him he must perish as in himself 2. In the work of saith The soul is brought to see that this was the end of the Revelation of Jesus Christ of Gods setting him forth to be a propitiation that he might work forth Redemption and Righteousnesse for some that this is a way of Gods own ordaining Jesus Christ was set forth for this very end even by God himself and therefore the soul is brought to this conclusion to venture the issue of its life and eternall salvation upon it and so throwes it self as in a sinking condition upon the the grace blood righteousnesse of Jesus Christ sink or swim live or perish saved or damned there the soul casts Anchor there it pitcheth to this it will stand or fall before the righteous God If there be not enough in the blood of Jesus to give it acceptance with God the soul resolves to Hell it must and will There saith a poor self-emptyed soul I cast even away my self if it might be upon it Phil. 3.9 3. The soul is brought on to believe the report that God in his word makes concerning his Son Jesus Christ and of the price value merit and all-sufficiency of his blood to save a poor sinner even to the utmost that comes to God by him Heb. 7.25 to answer all the wants and distresses of a poor soul namely in pacifying the Justice of God fulfilling the Law making atonement removing guilt procuring remission of sins reconciling to God Rom. 5.9 10. Much more being now justified by his blood we shall be saved from wrath through him For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son much more being reconciled we shall be saved by his Life In all which things the soul is enabled to believe the report of the Gospell that the blood and death of Jesus Christ can do all this for poor sinners that shall pitch upon it 4. In this working of faith the soul comes to see and fasten upon an absolute unlimited Free promise where any sinner that will may come to Jesus Christ and so have the vertue of his death and blood applyed to it and therefore that he as well as any other sinner in the world may come to him and make claime to his blood and plead it before God whosoever will let him come Rev. 22. Now saith a poor self-emptyed sinner I do not find that I am any where excluded but invited and called upon to come to the Lord Jesus and claime an interest in his blood and that I may plead it even at the throne of his justice and that I may warrantably safely upon good grounds given out from the mouth of God himself take hold of the Lord Jesus in such a promise and there is no sin or unworthinesse can exclude me unlesse I will frowardly and wretchedly exclude my self I do not find saith a poor soul that any sin is too great for the sacrifice of that blood of Jesus so the sinner will come to it yea that 't is the greatest sin and the top of condemnation not to come to it that I more injure God by standing off from Jesus Christ then by all the filthinesse blasphemies ungodlinesses my soul ever wallowed in Heb. 10.29 The blood of Christ is a price sufficient for the sins of the whole world therefore saith a poor soul For mine He is the Lamb of God that taketh away the sins of the world therefore he can take away mine and I am freely call'd and invited to it and t is my rebellion not to come what can I have more And so sense of peace and reconciliation falls in upon the Soul 5. The soul by its often renewing of such Acts of believing comes at last to see the blood of Jesus Christ appropriated to him now it can stay it self upon the word of promise and can sometimes rejoyce in believing If I rolle my self upon the blood of Jesus I have the word of God for it that I shall be saved we shall be saved from wrath through him not it may be but we shall be saved and all upon the account of being justified by his blood Rom. 5.9 which justification ariseth upon this believing we have mention'd Thus have I opened the nature of faith as it is precisely justifying as it applyes and appropriates the blood and righteousnesse of the Lord Jesus for remission of sins and Justification unto eternall Life I might insist upon the discovery of the effectuall operations of faith in the soul as may distinguish it from a mere belief of the History of the death of Jesus Christ take two or three 1. When the soul by faith doth act upon the blood of Jesus Christ for justification it doth also bring the power and efficacy of it for the purging of the soul Heb. 9.14 How much more shall the blood of Christ who through the eternall Spirit offer'd himself without spot to God purge your conscience from dead works to serve the Living God So Act. 15.9 Purifying your hearts by faith There is a purifying vertue in the blood of Jesus Christ upon the souls of believers They are for the purging away the filth as well as the guilt of sin There 's no believing soul but cryes out Purge me Oh Lord purge me and thoroughly from my filth 2. The soul hath a secret yet reall fellowship with the death of Jesus Christ to crucifie and destroy the body of sin in a justified believer which ariseth from its union with Christ Rom. 6.5 6. For if we have bin planted together in the likeness of his death we shall be also in the likenesse of his Resurrection knowing that our old man is crucified with him that the body of sin might be destroyed that henceforth we should not serve sin Every true believer can really say I am or I would be Crucified with Christ Gal. 2.20 Which the Apostle there brings in as an effect of Justification by faith 3. Every justified believer looks upon this as one great end of his Justification
that he might live to God Gal. 2.19 That I might live unto God Likewise reckon ye your selves to be dead indeed unto him but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord Rom. 6.11 Every justified believer doth thus reckon of himself I am to be dead to sin but alive to God I am to yeild my self to God verse 13. To have my fruit unto holinesse verse 22. 4. Faith that justifies doth through the Spirit work the soul to Gospel-obedience to all the Lawes and Ordinances of Jesus of Christ which shall be revealed to be the will Christ from the Command of Jesus Christ and from a principle of love to Jesus Christ John 15.10 5. A Justified believer will deny himself for Christ take up his crosse and follow Him let any sufferings be proposed to a called believer and let him know it is for Jesus Christ and that soul unlesse under a temporary desertion or temptation will choose and embrace those sufferings and undergo them with some chearfulnesse Luk. 14.26 27. 6. Every justified believer hath a marriage-union with Jesus Christ Ephes 5.25 26 32. The soul hath chosen Jesus Christ having broken off from all other lovers hath betrothed it self unto Christ in an everlasting bond and Covenant hath given it self to Christ As Jesus Christ bestowes himself and all he hath upon the soul so doth the soul bestow it self and all it hath upon Jesus Christ and having so done resolves to be contented with him in every condition whom have I in heaven but thee and none in earth in Comparison of thee saith every gracious Believer 7. Every justified believer lives by his faith Gal. 2.20 lives upon Jesus Christ for all and fetcheth all from him sees him as a treasury of all grace hath recourse unto him this being the most proper Act of Faith to make the soul live out of its self upon another namely Jesus Christ for all 8. Faith that entitles the Soul to Jesus Christ works by love to all Saints Gal. 5.6 When the Soul closeth with Jesus Christ it will also close with his Disciples as distinguisht from carnal unsavoury dead Professors What makes the living among the dead A living Soul alive in Christ highly priseth fellowship with such as are alive I might name many more particulars but these may suffice as the most distinguishing 1. Let what hath been spoken serve to discover to you Whether you have a Faith that doth entitle you to the bloud of Jesus Christ and the forgiveness of your sins Can you say your Soules are carryed out after more purging and 't is your daily cry to Heaven Can you say that you are often crucifying with Jesus Christ And oh that I were that I were but crucified with Jesus Christ that I might reckon of my self as dead to sinne And oh that I might live to God and might walk in Gospel-obedience That I might throughly deny my self for Jesus Christ and choose to suffer with him and for him Oh I would more clearly see the Marriage-union between Christ and my poor Soul I would I do bestow my self upon him and all that 's mine I do give my self to him I will be contented with him here and for ever Whom have I whom have I but him Oh have you found in some good degree such Workings of heart towards Jesus Christ And do you live by your Faith upon Christ upon Promises and do you maintain your Souls this way And do you love and delight in the Fellowship of living soules savoury soules or do you at least long that you may have opportunity to do so If you cannot in some measure experience these things your Faith is a dead empty Speculation such a Faith that is so far from uniting you to Christ that indeed it keeps you on this side Jesus Christ And therefore say of it 't is a Faith that is in vain that keeps me dead in my sins Oh therefore say in thy Heart I will now wait on the Word the Ministration of it that is ordained of God to beget Faith I will go and pray the Father to draw me to Jesus Christ and that my soul may be united to him that I may have Fellowship in his Death and Resurrection that I may be made alive unto God that I may feel the pacifying-purging vertue of the bloud of the Lord Jesus upon my poor Soul By what hath been said Believers may try their Faith and if they find their Soules to have experienced these things they may take comfort that they are justifyed by Faith in the bloud of Jesus and therefore shall be saved by his Life To wind up all in a word of Exhortation If God hath set forth Iesus Christ to be a propitiation that through Faith in his bloud a sinner may become justified from his sinne then what encouragement is here for sinners to come to him and believe on his Name to venture the issue of Eternal Salvation upon him since God himself hath set him forth For that end and purpose that sinners might come unto him and be washed justified saved from their sins 'T is not then to be doubted but that God as he hath therein taken care for the Salvation of the sinner so for the glory of his own righteousness so that the sinner hath no reason to doubt that comes to Jesus in the way proposed but that God can take pleasure to accept of him through the bloud of Jesus 'T was the most deliberate Act that ever the Wisdom of God was taken up about the setting forth of Jesus Christ to be the Saviour of sinners through his bloud 'T was the first Foundation that God said from all Eternity and after he had promised Jesus Christ it was some thousands of years before he set him forth to the World and therefore God cannot repent nor change his mind purpose as to accepting pardoning justifying sanctifying poor sinners that cast their souls upon it by the bloud of his Son Jesus Christ Upon which it is that blessed Souls are brought in in the Scriptures magnifying the grace of God for their cleansing by the bloud of Jesus 1 Joh. 1.7 The blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth us from all sinne So are the Saints brought forth tryumphing Rev. 5.9 Thou wast slain and hast redeemed us to God by thy bloud And Chap. 7.14 These are they who have washed their Robes and made them white in the bloud of the Lamb. Therefore I say with what boldness may poor sinners come unto it and how certainly are they in Gods way to Salvation in which way blessed souls have been ever found and none did ever miss of this end the Salvation of their Soules I have now dispatcht what I shall speak at this time as to the Doctrine of Justification by the Free-grace of God through the righteousness of Jesus Christ and of Saving-Faith therein and shall commit it to the Lord to work it upon the Conscience I shall a little insist upon the last
verse in the removal of that Objection which the Heart puts up against this blessed Truth ROM 3. last Do we then make void the Law through Faith God forbid yea we establish the Law THE former Verses intermitted might have afforded us much choise matter in the opening the Doctrine of Grace and the Righteousnesse of Jesus Christ namely that God is just in the remission of a Believer upon Faith in the bloud of Jesus from verse 26. And that the Doctrine of Grace excludes all boasting from the Creature from v. 27. That Jew and Gentile all that are saved must come to God and be justified in this way and no other from v. 29 30. But I must contract my self I come now to the Objection that the Heart so far as it is carnal doth naturally make against this Doctrine namely If a Soul be onely justified by grace through the righteousness of Jesus Christ doth not this then make void the Law and all obedience to it What need then of our Obedience God forbid saith Paul we establish it that is the Doctrine of justification by Faith doth rather establish it The Law doth stand establisht in a three-fold sense First Jesus Christ hath establisht it by fulfilling it whereby the righteousness of the Law is fulfilled upon us Rom. 8.4 Jesus Christ perfectly fulfilled the Law and kept it and so makes over the righteousness of it to Believers as hath been shewed and so the Law stands establisht Secondly The Law stands establisht as a meanes through the Spirit to convince of sin and of our shortness of the righteousness of it as ver 20. And so Christ often made use of it for such ends Thirdly The Law stands establisht as an everlasting Rule of Righteousness and Holiness promised in the New Covenant to be written in the Heart Heb. 8. So that though Jesus Christ in justifying by his bloud hath quit the sinner from all guilt and condemnation by the Law yet he hath not given the Believer a discharge from all obedience of it And therefore to evince this I shall lay down this Position That Observ Though all a Believer hath done or can do cannot justifie him before God yet there are other blessed ends why he should obey God and delight in his Law 1. Obedience to God is placed as the great end of our redemption Luk. 1.74 75. That we might serve him without fear a fear of bondage in holiness and righteousness before him all the dayes of our life God had not onely in his purpose the remission and salvation of the sinner but that thereby he would have all that are called into this grace to serve him in Holiness And this end is to be upon the heart of the Believer when justified by Faith The purpose of God in this is that I should serve him in holiness 1 Tim. 1.9 That I should live to God Rom. 6.11 as hath been shewed 2. From the Soveraign Command of God who saith Be ye holy 1 Pet. 1.15 16. This is enough to a Believer that God hath commanded it though there should be no other end in it 3. Holiness and Righteousness is the Soul's conformity unto God it is a Beam of God an Image of God which he designs to be renewed upon all that shall be saved as shall be further shewed 4. Justified Believers do see an equity goodness and blessedness in the Law of God in all his holy and righteous Precepts though they were not commanded The Law is holy just and good Rom. 7. saith Paul speaking after the regenerate part So David Psal 119. often Thy Commandements which I have loved They give God his due and the Creature his due and therefore to be walkt in though not thereby justified 5. There is a principle of love to God shed abroad in the heart of every justified Believer from the sense of his rich pardoning-grace the freeness of his love which acts and constrains a Soul to take delight so far as it is regenerated in every Command of God Rom. 5.5 2 Cor. 5.14 15. For the love of Christ constrains us because we thus judge that if one dyed for all then were all dead And that he died for all that they which live should not live to themselves but to him that dyed for them 6. Called and justified Believers have blessed sight of Jesus Christ that wonderfully take their hearts they have glimpses of the beauty of his Holiness and would therefore be made like unto him 1 Joh. 3.2 3. They would obey the Will of the Father as Jesus Christ did They would be holy and righteous and wise and patient and Heavenly as Jesus Christ was 7. Believers in the way of their Duty and Obedience have blessed fellowship and communion with God Saith God of his Ordinances Exod. 25.22 There will I meet thee and commune with thee And Exod. 20.24 In all places where I record my Name there will I come unto thee and bless thee They are everlasting Promises to all the ways of obedience wherein the people of God do walk before him in They pray they read hear they partake of the Supper in Christs way and there they have life and blessing to their Soules and many a sweet intimation of love and mercy they have whispered into them they set themselves to walk with God in his fear and counsel and God walks with them and their lives if they keep close to God are sweet and comfortable to them And this is even as much to them as if they were thereby justifyed They would not miss the sweetness they meet with in such ways of Duty for all the World 8. By their Sanctification and Obedience their justification is comfortably evidenced to them Rom. 6.16 Know ye not that to whom ye yield your selves servants to obey his servants ye are to whom ye obey whether of sinne unto Death or of obedience unto Righteousness And Ye know that every one that doth righteousness is born of him 1 Ioh. 2.29 We know that we have passed from Death to Life because we love the Brethren So that no doubt Believers may come to a sweet and blessed Evidence of their good estate and of their justification by the work of Sanctification in them and their willing obedience to God though a Believer doth not always and at all times fetch in his Evidence of Believing and of comfort this way but sometimes from the Promise and from the more immediate Testimony of the Spirit But though a Believer doth not and it may be cannot always fetch in his consolation and peace from Sanctification and Obedience yet that Soul that wholly neglects it and sleights Evidences from Humiliation Sanctification and Obedience had best timely look to it that the Witness in himself he pretends to be not from imagination of his own heart from the wicked ones delusion and from some overly notions of grace that may affect his heart but leave him on this side Regeneration 9. Believers do
the great Comprehensive Duties but there is not any one thing more mistaken then what this good conscience is Too many Preachers presse this carnally and carnall people go away with it that they have Faith yea they never doubt it and for a good conscience they discharge it I have spoken of Faith already but now that which such poor seduced souls take to be a good Conscience is onely to wrong no body to be just to all not to purloyn others goods to take and keep nothing but their own they take it to be chiefly conversant about the duties of the second table concerning their Neighbour A little to rectifie this soul-damning mistake 1. A Scripture-Conscience is an enlightened conscience which before was shut up in darknesse Eph. 1.18 The light of the word of God is set up in the conscience whereby it discovers those truths in their power and worth which before it was dark unto 2. A good conscience is a conscience searcht by the power of the word convinc'd to be under sin and guilt and pollution whereby trouble doth arise in it God laying in the weight of guilt the damnableness of sinne the pollution of it upon the Conscience so that the soul cries out What shall I do How shall God be pacified and the soul saved 3. And hence it is an awakened Conscience which before was asleep Awake thou that sleepest Eph. 5. The voice of the Spirit doth awaken that Conscience that before was asleep in sinful security 4. A good Conscience is convinced that all the keepings of the Law and keeping a Conscience to men cannot justifie the soul before God cannot commend it to God which a Second-Table-Conscience imagines it will and so is in peace Paul kept a Conscience as to many things Act. 23.1 I have lived in all good Conscience before God untill this day meaning I conceive from his youth up when he was a Pharisee but when his Conscience was convinced and awakened and came to see Jesus Christ he saw that all his keeping a Conscience as to many Sins and Duties could not in the least commend him to God 5. A good Conscience is sprinkled with the bloud of Jesus Christ Heb. 10.22 Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of Faith having our hearts sprinkled from an evil Conscience How much more shall the blood of Christ who through the Eternal Spirit offered himself to God purge your Conscience from dead works to serve the living God Heb. 9.14 So that this is the efficacy of the bloud of Jesus Christ upon the Conscience of a Believer it pacifies it in the sense of the forgiveness of sins towards God so as it can draw near to God and it purgeth it from dead works sin and pollution to serve God acceptably This is a good Conscience indeed 6. A good Conscience respects all the Precepts of God as well of Holiness to God as Goodness to men which the Conscience we have been speaking of doth not Such a one makes not conscience of this great and absolute Precept Be ye holy 1 Pet. 1. It makes not conscience of purging the heart of secret mourning to God of the purity of Gods Worship It makes no Conscience of lesser sins as we have shew'd not of all sin as Herod heard the Word gladly but made no conscience of persecuting John to death when he stood in the way of his Lusts Now I say a good Conscience respects precepts of Holiness secret as well as publique Duties inward as well as outward sins lesser sins as well as greater 7. A Scripture-good Conscience is much taken up about godly sincerity So Paul 2 Cor. 1.12 For our rejoycing is this the testimony of our Consciences that with simplicity and godly sincerity not with fleshly Wisdome but with the grace of God we have had our Conversation in the World c. Thus a soul that walks with a good Conscience towards God labours to a prove it self in all things with a godly sincerity to do all as unto God Lastly a good Conscience labours to keep it self pure and undefiled it is accompanied with a pure heart 1 Tim. 1.5 Now the end of the Commandement is love out of a pure heart and of a good Conscience and of Faith unfeigned A soul that would keep the Conscience good would keep it pure and the whole inward man pure as a Temple unto God Vse Now see how many ingredients go to make up a good Conscience in a Scripture-sense and what a great mistake is in this weighty matter and how far abundance of people that make conscience of their dealings with men conclude thence they have a Scripture-good-conscience to God when they are not savingly enlightned their Conscience never searcht by the power of the Word and throughly awakened out of a natural condition never humbled for resting in themselves and their Duties not having their Conscience sprinkled with the bloud of Jesus Christ and purged thereby not having a tender respect to all the Precepts of God not to walk before him in godly sincerity nor with a pure heart You then that are short of these things you are wholly to seek in that which you so much pretend to and speak peace to your selves in the having or keeping a good Conscience you have as yet no part in this matter 2. What hath been spoken of a good Conscience may be for instruction and direction to the Called Ones of Christ how to preserve the Conscience good and peaceable and so to live and dye in the peace and comfort of it through Jesus Christ our Lord. Get it sprinkled with the bloud of Jesus Christ every day and under the searchings of the Word and awake unto God and pure and undefiled respecting all the Holy Precepts of God as binding to your Conscience so will the Conscience be tender and peaceable and God will witness in your Consciences your acceptance with him in his Son Jesus Christ I would give out further some Notes of Tryal Whether you rest in false common grace or not as to what we have already spoken in so weighty a matter 1. By your never-suspecting the truth of your grace but taking all upon trust never doubting but you have Faith and do repent and so of all the rest That soul that never suspected his grace may well fear that his pretended grace is no more then what a Hypocrite may reach unto The poor called Children of God are exceedingly jealous their Faith is not sound that they are short in every grace because of the woful mixtures that they find more Unbelief then Faith more hardness of heart then softness more pride then humiliation and so of all Now that soul that goes away with an unsuspected confidence of every grace sure flatters himself and his way will be found to be deceitful 2. That soul that draws back his Conscience from the searching power of the Word when it gives out ways of tryal of sincerity and