and dependance notwithstanding those Doubts nothing but perfect Faith casts out all Doubts and where is it to be found They that never doubted never believed Then Faith might be lost for Assurance may in that tho some are assur'd but not fully and some fully yet none immutably Then Damnation would be not for want of Faith but of Assurance which is necessary not for our Safety but Comfort only and Salvation would be by the reflex and not by the direct Act of Faith for Assurance consists in a reflex Act contrary to the tenure of the Promise of Salvation made Not to the Act of Assurance but of Faith and not to the Degree but Truth of it They that make Assurance to be Faith do more than is needful for Assurance is but a Fruit of Faith and Faith may be alive without it as a Tree may though for a time without Fruit though Assurance cannot be without Faith for God never sets his Seal where he has not first set his Hand They that make Assent to be Faith do less than is needful For Tho Justifying Faith cannot be without General Faith yet General Faith may be without that for it is not a single but complicated Act not the single Act of the Understanding but of the whole Composition not an Act of the Understanding only to Actus complicatus totius compositi know and believe a Divine Revelation as true but of the Will also to receive it as good a Consent as well as an Assent an Assent of the Understanding as it begins there and a Consent of the Will as it ends in it without which the first will avail but little For It is not Christ as dying but as believ'd on nor as tender'd by a hand of Love but as receiv'd by a Hand of Faith that saves So that it appears that Faith is neither an Act of Assent only nor of Assurance but an Act of Affiance also which is more than the first and less than the second viz. That Grace wrought by the Spirit through the Word whereby sensible Sinners are enabled to receive Christ as offered in the Gospel trusting to and relying upon him for Salvation I. It is the Work of God's Spirit It is not our Work but God's Not our Work For Of our selves we are no more able to perform the Articles of the second Covenant than those of the first nor to believe the Gospel than we are to keep the Law But God's Work It is call'd God's Work not only John 6. 29. in regard of Excellency but Efficiency it is not the Work of Men nor of Angels but of God only the powerful Work of his Spirit preparing us for it and enabling us to it we believe through Grace and come to Christ by Acts 18. 27. 1 Cor. 12. 9. Christ To him by Faith from him II. It is the Work of the Spirit through the Word Faith comes by hearing and hearing by Rom. 10. 17. the Word the hearing of Faith wrought by the Spirit as the Efficient and by the Word as the instrumental Cause of it Through the Word viz. both Law and Gospel by one Occasionally and Indirectly by the other Properly and Directly First By the Law not properly but Occasionally and Indirectly 1. Not Properly for the Law has no Power of its own either to Convert or Comfort Sinners Not to Convert them It shows them the sinfulness of their corrupt Nature and Lives but prescribes no Cure and tells them what their Duty is but gives no strength to the performance of it The Law commands Obedience The Gospel enables to it Not to Comfort them It wounds but pours no healing Lex graves manus habet Balm into those Wounds arraigns and condemns but allows no Psalm of Mercy for the Voice of the Law is He that has sinn'd shall die The Law condemns but the Gospel acquits and saves 2. But Occasionally and Indirectly 1. By discovering Sin Sin is the Burden and that which Rom. 3. 20. 5. 20. Gal. 3. 19. makes it feel heavy is the Law For by the Law is the knowledg of Sin viz. a knowledg of Guilt by it Where there are no Bounds there can be no Trespass nor any Transgression where no Law 2. By discovering Wrath due to Sin Where there is no Law there Rom. 2. 8 9. 4. 15. is no Sin and where there is no Sin there is no Curse but where Sin is there a Curse is due to it and the knowledg of it is necessary not to merit Mercy but to dispose to it The Law is the Ministration of Death 2 Cor. 3 7. The Gospel is the Ministration of Life 3. By afflicting and wounding under a sense of Guilt and Wrath due to it It is a fiery Law that has Heat as Deut. 33. 2. Galat. 3. 20. well as Light in it Light to discover Sin and Heat to afflict and torment for it The Law works by Fear The Gospel works by Love 4. By discovering an impossibility for them to help themselves being under a Guilt they cannot expiate obnoxious to a Wrath they cannot flee from shut up in a Prison they cannot break and surrounded with a misery that they cannot redress The Law shows the Wound The Gospel shows the Cure The Help of Salvation is from God Your Destruction is of your selves Hos 13. 9. Thus as Moses brought the Israelites to the Borders of Canaan so something there is of the Hand of Moses viz. something of the Law though but occasionally and indirectly in the Work of Faith Secondly By the Gospel viz. Properly and Directly The Law shews Misery as an Indictment shews the Offence and works Fear the Gospel as a Remedy shews the Disease and works Faith By discovering 1. A remote possibility of Mercy No absolute necessity they should tho' Sinners be damn'd because Grace is rich and free 2. A tender of Mercy indefinitely Isa 55. 1. John 3. 10 The Voice of the Gospel is All that will come may none are excluded but such as wilfully exclude themselves An Indefinite is equivalent to a Vniversal 3. A Suitableness Fulness and Willigness in Christ 1. A Suitableness As being Wisdom Righteousness 1 Cor. 1. 30. Sanctification Redemption Healing Life and Salvation for the relief of blind guilty polluted captiv'd sick dead lost and undone Sinners No Fountain like this Jordan to wash in for Sin and Vncleanness Zech. 13. 1. 2. A Fulness Meat and Drink are a suitable Good John 1. 16. Col. 2. 9. to the hungry and thirsty because Hunger and Thirst are Appetites determined to those Objects but a Crum or a Drop is not enough in that tho' it is a suitable yet it is not a full Good but in Christ there is a fulness of Merit to justify and of Spirit to sanctify that which is every way commensurate to the Desires and Necessities of distressed Sinners If they have him they are made If not they are
A TREATISE OF FAITH AND REPENTANCE By Francis Fuller M. A. Heb. 11. 6. Without Faith it is impossible to please God c. Luke 28. 47. And that Repentance and Remission of Sins should be preached in his Name among all Nations c. LONDON Printed by J. D. and are to be sold by Jonathan Robinson at the Golden Lion in St. Paul's Church-Yard And by Obed Smith Bookseller in Daventry in Northamptonshire 1685. TO THE Much Honoured Truly Vertuous and Religious Mrs MARY GOSLET At Marsfield in the County of Glocester MADAM FAITH and REPENTANCE are the necessary Conditions required on our part in order unto Salvation Most hope for Salvation but few that expect the benefit of the Covenant will come up to the Terms of it Some look upon Repentance as needless and think to steal out of Sin and spare the charges of it most are remiss in it Many presume they believe but few understand the Nature of Faith and fewer live the Life of it It is your Honour and will be your Happiness for ever that you live as understanding the Nature and believing the Necessity of both Indeed the Ancient and Honourable Family from which you descend by your Father and the Noble Family by your Mother give you a high Place in the Civil Body but that more Ancient and Noble Family in Heaven the General-Assembly and Church of the First-Born written there to which by so living you are allied gives you a higher Place in the Mystical Your sincere Love to Religion and unshaken Stedfastness in it give you an esteem among Wisdom's Children the Friends of Religion will be your Honour while you live and your Comfort when you die It will perfume your Dust make you live when dead and give you a possession of that never-fading Honour that God by his Promise has entail'd on all those that thus honour him I am sensible how little You are pleas'd that I tell You or the World this But since it is so much your due I should be unjust if I did not and no less should I forget those many ways by which You have oblig'd me to your Service As a present and publick tho not as a sufficient Testimony of my Gratitude this is now offered to you And that the Blessings of Heaven and Earth may descend upon the Honoured Esquire and You and that as ye are rich in this World ye may be rich in Faith that will entitle ye to a better shall be the sincere and daily desire of Your most obliged and humble Servant F. FVLLER TO THE Reader SOLOMON sayes There is no new thing under the Sun But there may be a new Discovery of old Truths or away found out to make old Truths new And if that Maxim be true they are then so when they beget new Meditation new Application and new Conversation And that this may prove so by working those things in you is the desire of Your Friend F. F. ERRATA PAge 12. line 12. for Composition read Compositum P. 16. l. 23 24. r. Your Destruction is of your selves The help of Salvation is from God P. 31. l. 1. f. appointed r. promised P. 69. in the Treatise of Self-denial line 8. r. not that we must not do them c. P. 82. l. 14. f. we r. he P. 88. l. 13. f. the r. you P. 131. l. 5. f. when he r. who These the Author hath taken notice of the rest the Reader is entreated to correct or pardon the Author having not seen all the Sheets he being remote from the Press ADVERTISEMENTS LAtely published a Second Volume of Sermons preached by the late Reverend and Learned Thomas Manton D. D. in two Parts The first containing 27 Sermons on the 25th Chapter of St. Matthew 45 on the 17th Chapter of St. John And 24 on the 6th Chapter of the Epistle to the Romans The second part containing 45 Sermons on the 8th Chapter of the Epistle to the Romans And 40 on the 5th Chapter of the Second Epistle to the Corinthians With Alphabetical Tables to each Chapter of the principal Matters contained therein A Practical Exposition of the Lord's Prayer by the same Author Both sold by Jonathan Robinson at the Golden-Lion in St. Paul's Church-yard A TREATISE OF FAITH FAITH is sometimes taken for the Doctrine and sometimes for the Grace of Faith viz. the Things to be believed and the Grace by which we believe 1. The Doctrine of Faith The Faith that we must first try Fides quae creditur quam credimus 1 Tim. 6. 2. 1 John 4. 1. 1 Thess 5. 21. viz. by the Infallible Rule the Word of Faith then cordially embrace sincerely obey zealously contend for Zech. 8. 9. Acts 6. 7. Jude 3. Phil. 1. 27 2 Tim. 4. 7. Heb. 10. 23. 1 Cor. 16. 13. Gal. 6. 10. faithfully keep constantly hold fast the profession of and continue in standing fast in it by standing fast to it They that are of the Houshold of Faith must be Defenders of the Faith 2. The Grace of Faith Considered both as to the habit and Fides quâ creditur quâ credimus Eph. 3. 12 17. Gal. 2. 10. Rom 11. 20. 2 Cor. 1. 24. 5. 7. Heb. 11. 6. Ephes 2. 8. Rom. 3. 28. Acts 26. 18. exercise of it the Faith by which we believe by which Christ dwells in us and we in him by which we have access to God and communion with him by which we live stand and walk and without which we can neither please God in this World nor be sav'd in the World to come This Faith stands fast in all true 1 Pet. 1. 5. Believers God keeps that and that keeps them 1. Faith is necessary in order unto our Justification There was never but two ways to Life viz. That of the Old Covenant and this of the New that by Works and this by Faith and both as the Condition not as the Cause of Life By the first viz. by the Deeds of Rom. 8. 3. the Law by reason of its weakness through the Flesh we cannot have Life for we must keep the Law before we can have Life from it and satisfy it before we can be justified by it neither of which are we able to do for the Obedience must be perfect and the Satisfaction infinite By the second viz. By Faith we may have Life not by Works without Faith nor by Faith without Works not by Works lest any should boast but by Faith that God may be glorified by Faith that it may be by Grace and by Grace that it may be Ephes 1. 4. Gal. 4. 4. of Glory to God who chose Christ before Time and in the fulness of Time sent him into the World with full Authority and Ability to justify the Ungodly viz. both Jew and Gentile that were under Sin and to give Life to them that as dead in Sin needed Life and could not give Life to themselves Christ came not of himself on this Errand but as
Interest in the Promises 5. We have Victory over our Enemies 1. We have Union with Christ What this Union is is hard to tell the word Mystical implies as much but that there is a Union is most certain for it is one of the great Mysteries of Godliness It is not the Essential Union of divers Persons in one Nature nor the Hypostatical Union of two Natures in one Person but more than a Political Natural or Moral Union for it is Mystical viz. of divers Natures in one Person and Spiritual not outward by External Profession only but inward by Internal Implantation made by the Spirit on Christ's part and by Faith on ours by that Primarily and Efficiently by this Secondarily and Instrumentally There is a Moral Union by Love and a Mystical one by Faith a Union both Real and Inseparable 1. Real As Real as the Union betwixt God and Christ tho' in a different manner that is Essential and Substantial this Mystical only yet not less Real because Mystical and Christ and they John 17. 21. who are thus united are as truly One as God and Christ are they are one with Christ tho' not the same one Body tho' not one Person 2. Inseparable The Ax may sever the corporal Union betwixt Root and Branches and the natural Union betwixt Head and Members Death the Conjugal Union betwixt Husband and Wife Time the Artificial Union betwixt the Foundation and Building distance of Place or an Accidental Difference the Moral Union betwixt Friend and Friend Vnus uterqut fait alter ego who were one in Affection and in whom there was but one Soul tho' two Bodies but neitheir Men nor Devils can break this Union betwixt Christ and them no nor Death it self Jer. 31. 3. 32. 40. Hos 2. 19 Rom. 8. 38 39. whether Natural or Violent The Hypostatical Union was not broken by Death the Vision was suspended but the Union was not broken nor can the Mystical it is then more near and firm and the Reason is because it depends on God's Will and not on theirs The great Honour conferr'd upon us is by the Hypostatical Union to our John 13. 1. Heb. 7. 25. 2. 16. Nature and the Mystical Union to our Person an Honour above any conferr'd upon Angels for Christ took not on him the Nature of Angels nor has he at any time said unto them Ye are my Body Other Graces make us like to Christ This makes us one with him 2. We are reconciled to God Adam by Creation was a Son of Luke 3. 38. Love by Corruption he became a Son of Wrath his state of Innocency was a state of Favour that of his degeneracy a state of Wrath in that God and he were one in Point of Affection but in this at Variance Sin separated those Friends he rebell'd and God proclaim'd his displeasure against him Adam being the Natural Head and Representative of all Mankind the Covenant made with him concerned them as well as him being as naturally in him as Branches in the Root sinning in him they fell with him and became Enemies to God haters of Rom. 1. 30. him and hated by him Enemies without a Power to flee from him a Strength to withstand him or a Will to be reconciled to him God that in Ephes 2. 7. 3. 11. 2 Cor. 5. 19. 2 Tim. 1. 9. 1 Pet. 1. 20. the Ages to come he might shew the exceeding Riches of his Grace in his kindness towards us through Christ Jesus in whom he was reconciling the World to himself ordain'd him before time and sent him in the fulness of Time to make reconciliation for Iniquity by reconciling him to the World and the World Gal. 4. 4. Dan. 9. 24. to him Christ the Prince of Peace as the only Mediator betwixt God and us was usher'd into the World by a Quire of Angels with a Song of Peace on Earth peace and good-will towards Luke 2. 14. Men while living he published it and when dying purchased it for us In the first Adam we lost Peace in the second Adam by whom the Enmity is abolished we may find it but not unless by Faith in him we apply to us what he by his Death hath purchas'd for us for tho' merited for us without any Qualification in us it will not be conferr'd upon us without an Application by us the Blessing of Peace is the Blessing of Faith in Christ who as a Prophet published it as a Priest purchased it and as a King applies it to none but them and to all them that believe in him He died to merit it and ever lives to maintain it by him they have a right to it and by Faith in him the possession of it 3. Our Duties are accepted In the first Covenant the Person was accepted for the Work 's sake In the Second the Work is for the Person 's Ephes 1. 6. sake viz. accepted in Christ Until our Persons are accepted we are Enemies Objects of Wrath and appear before God as an incensed Judg upon the Seat of Justice we stand at a Exod. 24. 1. distance and worship as the Elders of Israel afar off with Fear but when they are accepted we come to him as a reconciled Father upon a Ephes 3. 12. Heb. 10. 22. Throne of Grace and may come in the full Assurance of Faith with boldness by Faith our Persons are accepted and by the same Faith our Works are Faith justifies our Persons Works justify our Faith and Faith sanctifies our Works they shew our Faith to 1 Pet. â— 2. Splendida peccata omnis virtus absque Christo vitium be good and Faith makes them so for they are all but splendid Sins without it viz. without Faith looking to the Command as the ground of them to the Promise as the encouragement to them to God's Glory as the end of them to the Spirit for assistance in them and to Christ for the acceptance of them the Law as a Rule directs the Promise quickens the End excites the Spirit assists and Christ presents but not unless they are by Faith offer'd up in his Name in whose strength all our Duties are to be perform'd and for whose sake alone they are accepted 1 Pet. 2. 5. There is no pleasing God meritoriously without Christ nor instrumentally without Faith in him without whom the best Duty and worst Sin are both alike 4. We have an Interest in the Promises The Promises run for this Life and that to come an Entail that can never be cut off and are all as so many Bonds and Bills under God's Hand either Explicitly or Implicitly made over to Faith None are ours until we believe nor any that are not when we do for if Christ is ours all are ours â— Coâ— 3. 23. The Rabbins suppose that Abraham's â—en 24. 10 Servant when sent to get a Wife for his Son Isaac carried with him Tesseram hospitalem wherein was written
the Promise of the Messiah as being that which was Abraham's Riches and Isaac's Dowry for Rebekah and it is the Happiness of Believers that all the Promises which are in Christ their Head Yea and Amen certain and fulfilled 2 Cor. 1. 20. are theirs for they are Heirs of the Promise and by Faith inherit Jam. 2. 5. the Promise and by inheriting are rich in Faith richer than any without it for they are all but Heirs of Vanity If the Grace of Faith is theirs the Privileges of Faith are theirs also 5. We have Victory over all our Enemies 1. Over Sin in the Guilt and Filth of it There was an Altar and a Laver under Exod. 30. 28. the Law the Altar for Sacrificing the Laver for Washing one for Guilt the other for Filth both typifying the double Benefit by the Death of Christ who came by Water and Blood by Blood to expiate the Guilt of Sin by Water to wash away the Filth of it And by Faith in him we have a relief under all our Fears against both 1. The Guilt of Sin Under all the stingings of this fiery Serpent it brings healing by looking up to Christ the brazen Serpent in whose Sides the Sting was left under all the guilty Aggravations of it which cause the Soul to swoon it fetches a Vertue from his Blood that expiated the Guilt and appeas'd the Wrath due Ephes 1. 7. to it which as a reviving Cordial brings it to life again I had fainted Psal 27. 13. unless I had believed Under all the Accusations of the Law it causes it to triumph in him in whose Condemnation its damning Sentence was repeal'd in whose Death its killing Power was destroy'd by whose Blood the Hand-writing of Ordinances that was against us more terrible than that upon the Wall of Dan. 5. 5. Col. 2. 14. Belshazzar's Pallace was blotted out so as never to be read more and removes all fear from under its Arrests by going to him the Surety of the New Testament not only as one able to discharge the Debt and passing his Word for it but as one that has made Heb. 7. 22. Rom. 8. 34. full paiment of it Who is he that condemneth It is Christ that has died 2. The Filth of Sin Our Sanctification is God's Will 1 Thess 4. 3. part of his Covenant-will and part of Christ's Purchase for he died to redeem from Sin and a Fruit of his cleansing Blood and by Faith in this Blood we are delivered from the Power of Sin as well as the Guilt from the Guilt by the Value of it and from the Power by the Vertue of it There is a healing Vertue in Christ's Blood to dry up the bloody Issue of Sin for it pacifies by the Merit and purifies by the Efficacy of it 2. Over the Devil The Devil the strong Man the Prince and God of this World an Enemy terrible to afright and strong to hurt bloody and cruel seeking to devour and fighting to destroy an unequal Match for us an Enemy too strong for us of our selves to contend with was by Christ the Captain of our Salvation fought upon the Cross the higher Ground and overcome the God of Heaven cast down this God of the World and brought him under his Feet He has conquer'd this Conqueror and led this captivating Enemy captive and by Faith in him we share in this Conquest and by Faith alone in him it is that we stand and make good our Ground against him in our Spiritual Warfare He was slain viz. in his Power not in his Person by Christ our Head who fought him in his own Person and got the Day His Weapons are taken away Quoad judicialem potestatem non quoad exercitium his Force enfeebled and his Power crush'd his Empire broken down his Authority taken from him and his Policies defeated for he is wounded in the Head but yet he remains as our Enemy still he is not troden under our Feet tho' he is under Christ's he shall shortly when all Christ's Enemies are made his Footstool then he shall be under our feet but not till then it will not be long before God as the Apostle says will bruise Rom. 16. 20. him under our feet but till then he shall bruise our Heel not the Heart but Heel the farthest part from the Head and Heart touch us he may but not with a deadly touch to try us but not so as to destroy us he is no Tactu qualitativo 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 more the Leo vorans and Draco terribilis but yet he has some Teeth left some strength to oppose some strength as an Enemy but no great strength for he is an Enemy in Chains a captiv'd Enemy an Enemy but not so cowardly as not to assault us nor yet so couragious as not to flee from us but not Jam. 4. 7. unless resisted Without resisting there is no conquering and without Faith there is no resisting this Lion will flee at the sight of the Fire of Faith and the force of all his Darts will be repell'd by this Shield for it is Metal of Proof The Shield cover'd the Armour as well as the Body and the Shield of Faith is not only our Armour but the Armour of all our Armour the Heb. 11. 34. Strength of all our Graces and the Grace in which our principal strength consists they waxed valiant in Fight by Faith and according to the strength or weakness of it we shall be more or less valiant in Fight and victorious 2 Cor. 1. 24. 1 Pet. 5. 9. by it By Faith we stand and if by Faith we stand the Devil will either flee or fall before us 3. Over the World in the Good and Evil Things of it 1. The Good Things Tho' these things in themselves are not evil yet they many times prove so they are no Enemies to us yet through the Corruption within and the Devil from without they become Materials of Lust and war against us he gets into these and by them into us as he did into our first Parents and overcomes us but by Faith we are antidoted against this Poison of the Serpent for through Faith we understand by Heb. 11. 3. whom the World was framed and how and by Faith we understand what the things of the World are viz. That they are all Vanity and as such Eccles 12. 1. not much worth our seeking For Things that are vain and empty cannot make us happy whilst we have them nor miserable if we have them not That they are but common Blessings Eccles 9. 12. the Gifts of common Bounty to Good and Bad may be given in Hatred and with-held in Love Since therefore they are no Signs of God's Love they deserve but little of ours That they will rather hinder than further us in our Christian Race disturb us in our way to Heaven and Mark 10. 23. make the entrance into it
King and Law-giver and become Saviours to our selves for in effect we say That we do not need him We never trust in him as a Saviour but with a distrust in our selves nor can we have any benefit by him unless we do Christ is a compleat Saviour and admits no Partner with him in the Work of Salvation for it is a Royalty proper to him alone We make void his Rom. 10. 3 4. Phil. 3. 9. Righteousness by establishing our own we must therefore renounce ours and take sanctuary in his cast off the Rags of our Righteousness that go hardly off as the blind Man in the Gospel Mark 50. 10. did his Garment and go naked to Christ become nothing in our selves that he may and without which he will not be all unto us All Sacrifices were sprinkled with Blood by the Priest in Type and by Christ in Substance and what there is of worth or value in all Duties is from him we must therefore be poor in Spirit in the midst of them and humble after them we must not ascribe any thing to our selves But as Joab gave the honour of the Victory to David when he fought with his Forces so we must set the Crown on Christ's Head and give the Glory and Honour of all unto him by whom they were performed and through whom accepted Joseph's Brethren carried Spices with them as a present to Joseph but durst not appear without Benjamin nor can we expect the acceptance of our Services without Christ Without them Gen. 43. 4 5 11 12. we cannot avoid Hell nor without him obtain Heaven They as Moses may lead us to a sight of Canaan but it is Joshua Christ alone that can lead us into it A TREATISE OF REPENTANCE There is a two-fold Repentance 1. A Repentance that is call'd a Care of mind such a one 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as consists in Sorrow under Terrors for Sin the effect of a troubled Head and may be found Mat. 27. 3. in Hypocrites Many were stung in the Wilderness that never receiv'd Healing and Numb 21. 6. many have been humbled for Sin and yet never saved from it 2. A Repentance that is call'd a Change of Mind such a one as consists 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in a turning from Sin the effect of 2 Cor. 7. 10. a wounded Heart which from this Repentance receives the Name of a New Heart not physically in regard of Secundum animam sumus secundum hanc benè sumus the Substance but morally in regard of the Qualities of it and is found in none but those that are sincere We may be humbled for Sin and yet perish in it and shall unless we are so humbled under it as wholly to depart from it Repentance is an Evangelical Grace necessary in order unto Pardon Acts 2. 38. The Law knows neither Repentance for Sin nor Remission of it but the great Work of the Gospel is to call us to Repentance It comes with quickning Motives to it For It gives clear and strong Convictions Rom. 13. 12. John 16. 8. of Sin clearer and stronger than those under Nature and the Law It produces strong Arguments to it For It reveals Christ crucified for Sin and those Hearts are hard indeed Zech 12. 10 11 that will not be softned by his Blood shed for it It reveals Repentance and accepts it Mark 6 12. The Law promised Life to the Righteous but the Gospel assures it to the Unrighteous repenting It works Repentance It is not only a Light to discover it John 17. 17. 〈◊〉 1. 11 12. but a Covenant-will to give it and teaches it as a Worker as well as a Tutor viz. by Efficacy as well as by Doctrine It pronounces a Curse upon the neglect of it The Gospel has a terrible Voice as well as the Law a Curse for our Luke 13. 3. Sins except ye repent ye shall perish a Curse more terrible than that of the Law there is no condemnation Heb. 2. 3. 10. 28 29. like to that in the Court of Mercy Repentance was a part of the sum of Christ's Doctrine he taught the necessity Mat. 3.2 4.17 â—8 20 Mark 6.12 Luke 24.47 Acts 20 2â— of it and of the Apostles Doctrine and all that laid the Foundation of Christ's Kingdom right laid this not only as a Stone in the Building but as a Foundation-stone It is the Foundation of all Gospel-Righteousness that which disposes for the receipt of Gospel-Grace for without it we are uncapable of it and that which shall continue as a necessary means on our part in order to it as Luke 24. 47. long as the Gospel shall continue Repentance is not matter of Dignity but Duty whereby God is glorified to our Benefit not to his and necessary not as a Satisfaction to Justice but as a Qualification for Mercy not to merit it for Adam before he sinn'd could not merit much less then can we by our Repentance for it but to dispose to it and goes necessarily before it Not in the accidental Properties of it they are usually Antecedent but not necessary for God by his Prerogative Royal can in a moment work on the Heart Nor in the exercise of it as in the Case of Children and Lunaticks for the Promise is made to the Principles of Grace Nor in the several Measures of it for the Promise is made not to the degree but truth of Repentance and it is not the weakness but want of it that ruins But in order of Nature the Sun is before the Beams in order of Nature and so is Repentance before Pardon and as the Subject before the Adjunct for Repentance qualifies the Subject for Pardon and makes it meet for it not in a way of Merit but Condecency both to receive and prize it The Means are before the End viz. in Execution as the End is before the Means in Intention Union is before Mark 1. 4. Acts 3 19. Communion for all Communion flows from it Vocation is before Justification and a Real Change before a Relative we are not justified until converted adopted until renew'd nor sav'd unless sanctified that which is necessary to the renewing of Pardon as Repentance is is no less to the first procuring of it and the contrary of that which makes us uncapable of Pardon as impenitency does must necessarily as Repentance does go before it For There can be no Remission without Repentance no more than there can be any Salvation without Remission To assert the contrary Deprives God of the Design of his Elective Love for Election is to Holiness as well as to Happiness and saves none without it divests Christ of one of his Offices viz. his Regal Office makes void the Office of the Spirit as to its sanctifying and comforting Work for it gives neither Peace nor Joy in a way of Sin robs Heaven of its greatest Royalty viz. Holiness the Condition required on
difficult And therefore better lost than found That they are good in their kind but not the best things that it will be our happiness to live above them and our greatest delight not to delight in them Martha's Work was good but Mary's was better That it is sometimes necessary to want them and therefore never necessary inordinately to love them For In things of which there is no absolute necessity there is no great reality That inordinate Love to them is inconsistent 1 John 2. 15. with Love to God his to us and ours to him for they are to be lov'd only in him and for him Him we cannot love too much nor these too little That they will be but of little use and that to our Bodies only while we live and avail us nothing when we come to die it will then not signify any thing whether we fall under a great or small title die rich or poor as to this World so we die rich in Faith All these died in the Faith Heb. 11. 13. That the continuance of them is but Quae diuturna esse non possunt habent diuturnum tormentum short but the abuse of them will eternally torment Therefore it is better to be without them than to be made miserable by them That Riches may be found in Poverty Affatim dives qui cum Christo pauper and Fulness in Wants enough without them and more than they have in a Crucified Saviour who is virtually all A poor Believer is as great a contradiction as a dark Sun Thus Faith brings down the Market of worldly Things and lessens them in our esteem for as things appear to be so they are esteemed it draws a Cloud over this earthly Tabernacle and eclipses the Glory of it or rather shews that it has none condemns the folly of all that think not so and shews how much it concerns them that by Faith Gal. 2. 20. are crucified to the World neither insatiably to lust after the things of it nor inordinately to love them nor through discontent to complain for the want of them It is as much our Duty by Faith to moderate our Affections to what we have as it is to depend upon God for a supply of what we want 2. The Evil Things of it The Anchor is of most use in a Storm the Shield in a day of Battel and Faith in a time of Suffering Peter sunk in his Faith before he sunk in the Waters but Jonah when under the Waters in the Belly of Hell was Jonah 2. 3 4. supported by it and the Primitive Christians were at ease when tortur'd at liberty when captiv'd Conquerors whilst subdu'd and out of weakness were made strong through Faith bearing Heb. 11. 34. God's Trials with God's Strength and so may all when suffering for by this we know That no afflictive Evil comes by chance God as the Efficient orders and disposes them That Suffering is part of a Christian's Work as well as Doing They must not run to it before they are call'd nor from it when they are That all our Sufferings are nothing to Christ's the Cross not so heavy nor the Cup so bitter for We taste Love where he did Wrath. That our Sufferings when right for Cause Manner and End are Christ's as well as ours viz. for his sake and such as he is sensible of As God he knows them and as Man is sensible of them and quantum sufficit suffers in them That in all our Sufferings Christ is with us when Troubles are nigh he is nigh not only as a Sufferer but as a Comforter Israel had a greater Light by Night Exod. 13. 21 than by Day That the heaviest Sufferings are but light and the longest but short they may lie heavy but shall not lie long the Rod may fall on us but shall not Psal 125. 3. rest there The Viper shall be shaken off That all our Sufferings are attended with a good Issue The Cup is perfum'd by Christ's Lips who drank it off and the Cross sanctified by him who died upon it and shall sooner or later work for Rom. 8. 28. good All that suffered for him had ever a good issue in the end That Suffering comes within the Reward as well as Doing Christ's Crown of Thorns was an Earnest of his Crown of Glory and his suffering Mountain was his ascending Mountain to it and they that suffer with him are assured by the Promise to which Faith has an eye that they shall Rom. 8. 17. reign with him also The Cross shall be crown'd Christ overcame the World it was John 16. 33. 1 John 5. 45. conquer'd by him and by us in him for by Faith in him we have a perfect Victory over it in the Good and Evil Things the Smiles and Frowns Honours and Reproaches Gains and Losses Joys and Sorrows of it for by this we are carried above the Hopes and fortified against the Fears of any thing from it They that neither hope for any thing Nec spe nec metu from the World nor fear any thing have overcome the World 4. Over Death the last but not the least Enemy When Adam sinn'd Death took hold of him and of us in him he could never get free from that Enemy tho' it was long before he fell by his Hands Nor can we for we are all under the Sentence of Death appointed Heb. 9. 17. to die and must e're long fall by it for it is a Sentence not to be reverst Death will triumph over our Vita moriens conflixit cum vivente morte non quem mors fecit sed quo mors facta est peccato morimur non morte peccamus Aug. Bodies but by Faith in Christ we may triumph over Death have help at a dead lift from him who fought this King of Terrors and by his Death took away the Sting of it by his Resurrection the Strength of it and by his Ascension the Hope of it ever to conquer Gratias tibi agimus Christe salvator quod tam potentem adversarium dum occidiris occidisti Hierom. or prevail more he has weaken'd its fatal Power rescued us from its Dominion and made us Heirs of Life which by Faith we have a Title to and by Death a Way made into the possession of By Christ Death's Sting the Weapon 1 Cor. 15. 56. by which it kills is pull'd out and the bitterness of Death is past Thus Faith in a crucified Saviour is the spoil of all our Enemies whose Arrows have been sharp in their Hearts Psal 45. 5. and affords a strength against them beyond what all the Angels in Heaven or Men upon Earth can do When the Israelites saw their Enemies the Egyptians dead on the Sea-shore they sang a Song of Praise unto Exod. 14. 30. 15. 1 6. God whose right Hand became glorious in Power and dash'd in pieces their Enemies and by Faith in Christ all
that are terrified by the Law assaulted by the Devil haunted by Sin tempted by the World and through fear of Death subject to Bondage beholding the Conquest over these Enemies may triumph and bid defiance to them all The Curse of the Law is abolish'd by Heb. 2. 15. Rom. 8. 3. 6. 6. the Satisfaction made by Christ to Divine Justice Sin is condemn'd in the Flesh by him the Sacrifice for it and Crucified with him the Devil the Prince of this World is judg'd and cast out by him the World is conquer'd John 12. 31. 16. 11 33. and Death vanquish'd in his Victory over them Let us then triumph in our Victory and give thanks unto God who through Christ has given us Victory The Devil is a captiv'd damned Enemy his Captives are ransom'd redeem'd rescued out of his hands and he himself become Captive rage he may for that is part of his torment but rule he shall not for greater is he that is in 1 John 4. 4. Rom. 12. 10. us than he that is in the World he may accuse and he will but his Charge shall be made void and all his Accusations answered by Christ who ever lives to plead either our Innocency or our Pardon The Law that was Sin 's strength 1 Cor. 15. 56. not as encouraging to Sin but as condemning for it is now become weak for its killing damning Power Rom. 8. 1 3. Gal. 3. 13. is taken away by the Virtue of the Cross Sin that was once a living reigning conquering Enemy is now subdu'd as a routed Enemy it may rally again but shall never conquer Sin shall not have dominion for it is a Body of Death it has receiv'd its death's Wound Rom 6. 14. 7. 24 25. by the Power of the Cross and shall e're long give up the Ghost Death is unstung it is swallowed up in Victory the Power of the Grave is weakned Death that Destroyer is destroy'd we must fall by its hand but shall rise again it will end our 1 Cor. 15. 53 55 56 57. Mortality but not our Life for this Mortal shall put on Immortality We must be Prisoners in the Grave for a time but we shall not be perpetual Prisoners Christ who broke the Bars of that Prison will redeem us from the Power of Grave the time of Psal 49. 15. Isa 16. 19. Ezek. 37. 5 12. Redemption for our Bodies will come our dead Bodies shall rise our dry Bones shall live again the Graves shall be opened the Captives redeem'd and then Destructions shall come to a perpetual End for we shall live and never die more Awake and sing all ye that dwell in the Dust The Devil is captiv'd the Law is silenc'd Sin is condemn'd the World is conquer'd and Death destroy'd Who can hurt us What need we fear they are all conquer'd Enemies and the Conqueror is ours thanks be to God who has given us Victory through our Lord Jesus Christ and always causeth us to triumph in him through Rom. 8. 37. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Over-over-comers whom we are over all these more than Conquerors The Warfare of Faith ends in Victory and the Victory must be crown'd with Triumph Of the Inseparable Evidences of FAITH All have not Faith some have not 2 Thess 3. 2. the Faith of Assent and therefore cannot have the Faith of Adherence some think they have a Faith of Evidence and Assurance who have not attained to a Faith of Adherence and Dependance and some have Faith in the Habit but little or none in the Act or Exercise How is it that ye have no Mark 4. 40. Faith and by reason of it walk as uncomfortably as if they had none it concerns us therefore to examine whether we are in the Faith and the Faith 2 Cor. 13. 5. in us and what that Faith is whether a General or a Particular and an Appropriating Faith a Temporary and Perishing or a Sound and Lasting one Col. 2. 12. a Faith of the Operation of God or of the Devil Holy or Unholy Feigned or Unfeigned Dead or Alive Common and Ordinary or Special and Saving the Faith of Reprobates or of God's Elect that Faith which they Jude â—0 2 Tim. 1. 5. Jam. 2. 26. Titus 1. 1â— and none but they have and which all of them have and never can lose The Acts of Faith for a time may cease but the Habit abides Faith 1. Arises from a sense of misery out of Christ 2. Begets a Superlative Love to Christ 3. Is fruitful in good Works 4. Is accompanied with Holiness 1. It arises from a sense of Misery out of Christ Spiritual Poverty is the nearest capacity of believing for Faith is the Act of a weary heavy-laden distressed undone self-condemned Sinner going out to Christ for Rest Life and Salvation Humiliation is not Faith no more than the preorgination of the Body is the Soul but a disposition to it going to Christ without it is building without a Foundation resting in it without going to Christ is laying a Foundation without building upon it a House without a Foundation will be of little use a Foundation without the superstructure will be of no use Without Humiliation Faith is as a House without a Foundation and without Christ it will as a rotten Foundation break under us there is nothing to warrant or encourage our going to Christ before we are humbled for we go before we are call'd nor any thing to assure Salvation to us if we do not go when we are that without him cannot help us he without that will not for we must be lost sick and damn'd in our own sense and apprehension before he will seek heal or save us A Faith of Education is a Weed of Infidelis fiducia Presumption that grows in common Ground Saving Faith is a Plant of Renown growing upon the brink of the Infernal Pit that like self-grown Corn will wither and come Ps 92 13 14. Mat. 15. 13. Jam. 3. 18. to nothing this will flourish that begins in Presumption and ends in Despair this begins in Despair viz. of our selves and will end in Comfort 2. It begets Superlative Love to Christ Christ as consider'd in the Glory and Comeliness of his Person the Graces and Perfections of his Nature and the great Offices he was anointed to viz. of a King above all Kings in Order Power and Authority of a Priest above all Priests in Nature Compassion Sacrifice Merit of a Prophet above all Prophets in Primacy Infallibility and Efficacy is beyond all compare there is nothing in him but what is lovely nor any thing lovely but is eminently in him he is fairer than the Children of Men yea than all the Angels and Saints in the highest Heavens more full of Beauty than the Sun or Morning-Star the Brightness Heb. 1. 3. of his Father's Glory his first and best-beloved the Joy and Delight of the Saints in Heaven