the First Head I proposed The Second thing I would therefore open to you is Faith doth properly adhere and run to some good that is offered And especially under a sense of Danger and a sense of great Ruin and Misery if there be not extraordinary Rescue And therefore this is the Second thing I assert That there had never been that Faith and Trust that Faith of Refuge that Faith of Reliance that Faith of Dependance if Jesus Christ had not been made known For What 〈◊〉 Jesus Christ but the great Deliverer As the Apostle speaks in 1 Thes 1. last He that Delivers ver 10. It is not Delivers us But he is the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Deliverer his Name is the general Deliverer Who is The Deliverer even Jesus Christ Stiled and Surnamed made notably known to us by being The Deliverer from the Wrath that it to come He is The Deliverer from the wrath that is to come So I say There had never been Footing for Faith if it had not been for Christ because of that great Good And indeed as I have often declared to you so I am positively of that Judgment that the Elect Angels did fly to Christ even as we do in a lost and undone state So they to be secured from that lost State the Fallen Angels and Man-kind run into I make no doubt they found all Created Beings stood in themselves too slippery and too ready to fall And they thought it safest to be under the Wing of the Mediator to be within the everlasting Arms of the Mediator Therefore much more if God had not given this great Saviour to lost Man this great Deliverer this great Ransom this great Sacrifice this great Righteousness of Jesus Christ the Righteousness of God there had been no Room for the Faith of Trust for the Faith of Relyance among Men. You know oftentimes in scripture Faith is spoken of as trust That when a Creature does not know what to do nor whither to run It runs to God by Faith Now this is all founded in the absolute necessity that we all have to fly to Christ for Redemption being lost and undone without him And therefore you find all scripture agrees to it that we are under a necessity to come to him as the greatest Good that can be offered to us Christ is that greatest Good that can be offered to us Even Eternal Life Life from Everlasting to Everlasting And therefore observe the vein of Scripture It is indeed so much That I need not almost name such things to you John 13. 14. As Moses lifted up the Serpent in the Wilderness even so must the Son of Man be lifted up That whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have Eternal Life It is very plain what our Lord here intends We are under the same necessity that they that were bitten with the Serpents in the Wilderness that died immediately they swelled and died and broke in pieces immediately if they had not the Remedy in this Brasen Serpent And so we are in the same Condition Our Thigh would Rott and our Belly would swell to allude to that Representation under the Law I say the Thigh That is the Soul and the Conscience and all the Powers of the Soul they would presently be Gangren'd in a spiritual sense and give up to Ruin and Destruction were it not for Jesus Christ And so again ver 16. For God so loved the World that he gave his onely begotten Son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting Life That very word should not perish it is as much as to say he shall certainly perish if he does not come to Christ If he does not believe in him And v. 36. He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting Life And he that believeth not the Son shall not see Life but the wrath of God abideth on him As Jeremiah saith He that trusteth not in the Lord he shall be like a barren Wilderness that shall not see when good cometh So he shall not see Life but the wrath of God abideth on him Wherever he goes the wrath of God abides on him Though he be Rich and happy in the world yet still he does not know what a Companion he hath with him The wrath of God going along And what a Roof and what a skie he is always under what a Canopy of Heaven he is under The wrath of God abides on him Dwells over him So He that hath the Son hath Life and he that hath not the Son of God hath not Life And therefore here is Faith in Jesus Christ Reliance upon him the Faith of Trust Jesus Christ is he that hath brought in the Faith of Trust I have said it to you before and I should never be afraid to say it to a Congregation of the Learned'st and Wisest in the World That the Angels fled to Christ foreseeing possibility of Ruin if they stood upon themselves But we are upon a plain and Confessed and Acknowledged necessity we had never had such a thing as Faith if God had not offered and given and made known his Son to us as a Redeemer Now I would desire you to Consider That Jesus Christ never came to any Soul with his Benefits And not come himself He doth not send his Benefits and not come himself Which is the thing I would very fain in every thing press upon you I say he never sends his benefits but he always comes himself I am the way the Truth and the Life I am the Life saith Christ And he is Redemption saith the Apostle Paul He is the Redemption There is not a Redemption separate from him But he is our Redemption and he is our life and he is our Ransom He is our Sacrifice He is our Redeemer He is our Mediator He is our All. And therefore Faith It hath to do with the Person of Christ Indeed it may be very necessary to hold out and is certainly absolutely necessary to hold out the Benefits of Christ But we should take heed of this For here comes in a great deal of dispute and wrangling who should have the Benefit of his Righteousness by his Blood Alas This is not the thing First but we are to come to the very Person of Christ and to unite with him who loved us and gave himself for us For It is not a disputable thing how we shall have his Benefits If we pitch first upon him by Faith and by his coming into us and dwelling in us and we in him As I shall after shew if the Lord give opportunity that our Justification is by union There is no Justification but by union It is not by what we do or what Conditions or Terms of the Gospel we observe Though they shall more effectually follow than any other way we Discourse of I don't say that there is no need of Repentance of Faith and holiness of life But our Justification is immediately flowing from
THE FAITH BY WHICH We are Justified IN Scripture-Sense According to Scripture Opened Explained and Applied on Rom. 5. 1. In Six Sermons Published as Preached with little or no Alteration at the Desire of some of the Hearers Esaiah 55. 1. Ho every on that Thirsteth come ye to the Waters and He that hath no Money come ye Buy and Eat without Money and without Price LONDON Printed for W. Marshal at the Bible in Newgate-street 1695. THE FAITH BY WHICH We are Justified c. The First Sermon Rom. 5. 1. Therefore being justified by Faith we have Peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ INtending to Treat of Faith whereby we are Justified I have taken this Weighty Text as the Foundation of the Discourse wherein we have these Four remarkable Points concerning Faith as we are Justified by it 1. This plain Point first comes before us That we are Justified by Faith expressed thus Being Justified by Faith 2. That we are Justified by Faith is a conclusion resulting from a strong nervous and vehement Reasoning of the Apostles that had gone before in the foregoing Chapters signifyed in that Particle Therefore assuring to us this great Truth 3. The Blessed consequence of being Justified by Faith we have peace with God the Judg of all This gives full Peace Rest and Quiet to Conscience Peace and Assurance for ever according to the Nature of a full and perfect Righteousness 4. The supreme Principal Cause of our being Justified by Faith and having Peace from it is our Lord Jesus Christ by whom as the Apostle goes on we have access unto this Grace wherein we stand This then is the grand Proposition of the Apostle That being Justified by Faith we have Peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ I shall at this time therefore propose to open the great Grace of Gospel Faith to you by which we are Justified because indeed it is one of the greatest Points that can be spoken of And therefore these Heads of Discourse I will now undertake to handle to you concerning it First To shew you that the Supreme and Highest and Original Account or Description of Faith is to be taken by its Relation to Jesus Christ the Mediator And it is nothing at all if you remove that If you take away that Respect that great Respect that it looks upon and Eyes Jesus Christ the Mediator In the second place I shall come to consider how Faith even in its relation to Christ and as it looks upon him is said to be Justifying Faith or that whereby we are Justified For if we did not rightly state this as the Gospel doth as it is said the last Error might be worse then the first And therefore I would particularly guide your Thoughts and Apprehensions how Faith as it looks to Christ Justifies I shall therefore shew you that it is not Faith it self but only the great Righteousness of Jesus Christ received by Faith that Justifies In the Third place I shall comâ—… consider that great certainty that Faith is to obtain in every point wherein it so Acts which it ought to reach after and to aspire to in every point wherein it hath to do with Christ that we may have Peace by it through our Lord Jesus Christ as Christ saith John 17. 7 8. They have surely known and have believed that I came forth from thee and that thou didst send me So in every thing Faith is surely to know And then In the Fourth place I shall shew you the Life and the Power and the Activity of this Faith and compare thein Heb. 11. and James 2 where that Apostle speaks of Faith being Dead that is without Works And I shall endeavour to shew you that there is no such Commentary no such way of Reconciling the Apostle James with the Apostle Paul The Apostle Paul speaking of Faith Justifying without Works And the Apostle James speaking that a Man is not Justifyed by Faith only but by Works also I say the great Reconciliation will be by laying Heb. 11. and James 2. together Now I begin at this time with the first of these And I 'll lay down with great assurance this Assertion concerning the respect Faith hath to Christ That there never had been such a thing as the sound of Faith in the World there had never been the Name Not the Air and much less the Thing had not God brought the first Begotten as the Apostle saith into the World Had not Jesus Christ given a Being to Faith there had never been such a thing as Faith And therefore it is very observable that the Apostle calls Christ by this very Name Gal. 3. 23. Before Faith came saith he we were under Tutors and Governors We were kept under the Law shut up unto the Faith which should afterward be revealed Before Faith came It is certain Faith was in the World before the Gospel before the New Testament For it is said Abraham was Justified by Faith and Abraham believed God and it was imputed to him for Righteousness and yet saith the Apostle before Faith came that is before Christ came because Faith is so Essentially Dependent upon Christ and Respective unto him Christ is such a real Foundation and support of Faith that he is worthily and properly called by the very Naâ—… or by the word Faith before Faith came But for the clearer opening and making out of this to you I shall insist upon these three Heads First That Jesus Christ is the highest Revelation of God Now Faith it is described by almost all in part at least to be an Assent to a Divine Revelation upon the Credit that we give to the Revealer upon the Authority and Veracity and Certainty of the Truth of the Revealer For Faith you know properly is a believing the Report of another or the Witness of another We cannot properly be said to Believe when we do know the thing our selves and have seen it by our own Eyes but when we Trust and Credit that Assurance that another gives us of it Now therefore I shall endeavour to make out to you That Jesus Christ is He Faith must needs Live and Die with him as I may so express it in familiar Language it is as Essential to Faith to have the Manifestation and Revelation of Christ as it is for the Eye to have Light And then In the Second place Whereas the notion of Faith is a Trust and a depending upon some great Good that is offered to us from the Supreme Good that we have no Right nor Title to in our selves I shall shew you that Jesus Christ is that Great and Rich Good that is given to us from the Father And that tho we have no Right to the thing in our selves yet we come to Trust and to Depend and to Rely upon it as if we had a Title And then In the Third Place Whereas Faith is very truely tho not in the first Account of it described to be a Power
of Holy Life and Holy Action And a Man believes no more than he is truly and really transformed by into the thing that he Believes I shall shew you That Jesus Christ is that great principle of Holy Life and of Heavenly Life that doth impower the Souls of his People according to the degree of the present State and shall bring them to that spotless to that blemishless state in the Glory of his Appearing I begin with the First thing and that is to shew you that Jesus Christ is that great Revelation that Faith hath Primarily Principally Originally and Supremely to close with and to give up it self unto You shall find in the 3d of John that this is a Notion of Faith and a Notion of Faith proper to the great Revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ saith John 1 John 5. 10. He that believeth in the Son of God hath the Witâ—… in himself He that believeth not God hath made him a Liar because he believeth not the Record that God gave of his Son The great Record that God hath given it is of his Son that he hath given his Son as the Great Mediator as the Great Redeemer as the Great Sacrifice as the Great Righteousness of the World Aâ—d therefore if any Man does not believe this he has made God a liar God hath done all in the Gospel that can be done to give us an Assurance of it So it is the great Revelation And so when our Lord saith They have surely known and believed that thou didst send me It is the very same thing that Jesus Christ is the great Saviour and Redeemer of the World For what 's the meaning of God's sending Christ but a sending him as a Saâ—…or As you may find plainly John 3. 17. For God sent not his Son into the World to condemn the World but that the World through him might be saved And Him hath God the Father Sealed John 6. So that from all this it is most Evident that it is the great Revelation And tho this be a great Truth yet still the Gospel raiseth it higher And I beseech you that you would seriously consider when a Man Believes in Jesus Christ he does not only believe a written Word I desire again your serious Attention to it He does not only believe a written Word he does not only Believe a great Testimony from God or a sound of words concerning it but Jesus Christ the word himself comes to him Indeed it was heretofore in a manifestation in the Flesh But the very same thing is now manifested by the Spirit of Jesus Christ And by his coming in Spirit he comes as that Word of the Father as the Eternal Word of the Father And he shews himself to the Soul he shews himself in Spirit to the Soul so that the Soul Believes the Word of God because Christ the word of God shews himself to him And we never have the Truth of Faith till we have this very coming of the Eternal Word to us As you see 1 John 1. 1. how the Apostle speaks concerning this word That which was from the Beginning which we have heard which we have seen with our Eyes which we have looked upon and our hands have handled of the word of Life For the Life was manifested and we have seen it and bear Witness c. That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you Now pray Why does the Apostle declare this Not that you should rest in a written word That 's the thing I would desire you to observe Not that you should rest in a sound of Words but that ye also may have fellowship with us ver 3. and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ Not that we should expect any Visional Representations of these things That 's not the Intention of it But that we should look for a real Manifestation of the Father and the Son or of the Father by the Son and through the Son And also of the Son by the Father So that there is certainly a Sight of Christ I say a sight of the Son in Faith And if we did but thus consider the excellency of Faith indeed I cannot but apprehend there could be no difference between Christians and Christians in these points concerning Faith and so concerning Justification if we had but true and right apprehensions of Faith It is true indeed there 's a great deal of false Faith of counterfeit Faith that has never seen Christ But all true Faith it hath seen Christ it hath come up to the very word of Jesus Christ That is to Jesus Christ the Word So John 6. 40. there must be a sight of the Son before there can be a believing in him And this is the the will of him that sent me that every one which seeth the Son and believeth on him may have everlasting Life And therefore as I told you he is called the Word of God that is the Essential and Eternal Word of God manifested in Flesh manifested in Human Nature And There is no sight of Christ without his coming to us without our receiving of him by the Teaching of thâ— Father and by the manifestation of himself And so saith the Apostle Paul when it pleased God to Reveal his Son in me You see here is not only words either Spoken or Written but there is the very Son himself Revealed in us I do acknowledg all this is in a Spiritual Sense not only in an Intellectual Sense Tho it is true That shall be Subservient and as it were the Conveyance and Vehicle of this sight But it is a Spiritual Sight wrought by the Power of God and by the Spirit of God And O therefore This is the great Point I would press upon you And indeed I have taken notice that the most Spiritual Writers and Preachers of Faith They have said That Faith is upon the Person of the Son the Person of the Eternal Word in our Nature the Lord Jesus Christ It does not deal first of all with his Benefits and Salvation that comes by him I mean principally I don't say but God may draw a Soul first by the consideration of his Benefits But the principal Touch of Faith it is upon the Son of God I might give you innumerable Scriptures that verify this great Truth And I desire that we may take notice of it In that forenam'd place John 17. v. 8. Christ saith this is the point They have believed that all things whatsoever thou hast given me are of thee and that I came forth from thee and that thou didst send me All this Christ says you may see immediately concerns the Person of our Lord Jesus Christ So in the Epistle to the Galatians a place that is worthy our notice and that I shall have occasion of continual recourse to Gal. 2. 20 21. I am Crucified with Christ nevertheless I live yet not I but Christ liveth in me I urge it
it flows from Faith in Jesus Christ That is the true Holiness that comes in by Faith in Jesus Christ that Derives from Christ and is conveyed to us by Faith So that if you enquire How shall I come to be Holy I do not deny that all the Rules of the word of God are of great help and assistance herein But yet still I say that the Centre and the Root and the Fountain and the Well-spring of All is Jesus Christ And therefore we find in that 1 Cor. 1. 30. a place often to be remembred and mentioned when we are speaking of these things Of him are ye in Christ Jesus who of God is made unto us Wisdom and Righteousness and Sanctification and Redemption He is made VVisdom and Sanctification The first being in a Soul by VVisdom it is from Christ He is the Wisdom by which a Man considers the madness and folly of all the ways of Sin and engages therefore into the ways of Holiness Christ is his Wisdom to do it He is the Wisdom of Faith and the Wisdom of Repentance The Wisdom by which a Soul seeing its lost state in it self its unholy and corrupt state in it self It comes to say Where shall I have a change of this State and Condition And it sees Christ to be the only Foundation of it And therefore the Power of Holiness it comes in by Believing you find therefore how often Christ is pleased to speak of himself such words as do certainly imply the Power of Holiness to be from himself As now John 14 6. He comprehends all those in himself saith Christ I am the way the Truth and the Life No Man c. Take these words either in the point of Justification or in the point of Calling or in the point of Sanctification or take them in the highest Glory of Saints it is very true Christ is the way the Truth and the Life Now He is the way in regard of Sanctification And he hath the mighty Power of all that Life of Holiness of all that Life of Grace derived from himself So that indeed when we find our Graces to be either in a declining or in a low State or when we find our selves under any Temptation or when we find our selves to be to grapple and contest with things that Flesh and Blood cannot tell how to contest with our great Wisdom is to run to Christ for Power for the Power of Grace for strength of Grace to do it and to depend upon him wholly for it For As I shew'd you last day That a Servant of Christ a true Believer in Christ he is Crucified with him Even as to the point of Justification he is upon the Cross together with Christ he comes under the sentence of Guilt with Christ and all his own Righteousness is is slain Why so in the very same manner all his Lusts they are brought under by the mighty Efficacy of Truth that is in Jesus Christ As now in the Epistle to the Galatians chap. 6. you shall find where the great Power of Crucifying of our Lusts is It is certainly by our Being in Christ I say it is certainly the Being of the Soul in Christ that Crucifies all these Saith the Apostle Gal. 5. 24. They that are Christ's pray observe have crucified the Flesh with the Affections and Lusts. They that are Christs have done it A Man does not become Christs by Crucifying his Lusts and Affections But because his is Christs therefore he has Power from Christ to crucify his Lusts and Affections This is a great Truth they that are Christ's have crucified their Lusts and Affections Their sinful Lusts and Affections And in the 6th chap. of the Gallatians saith the Apostle as he said before That he was crucified with Christ so he says in this chapter Gal. 6. 17. From henceforth let no Man trouble me for I bear in my Body the marks of the Lord Jesus And ver 14. God forbid that I should Glory in any thing save in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ by whom the world is crucified unto me and I unto the world You see here how plainly the Power of Christ is that that crucifies Lust and crucifies the love of the World Here is our great misery our great unhappiness in the Power of corruption over us That we do not receive Christ And then Ephes 4. 20 21. When the Apostle had set out the exceeding evil conversation of the Heathen He saith ye have not so learned Christ If so be that ye have heard him and have been taught by him as the truth is in Jesus That ye put off concerning the former conversation which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts I do most sincerely acknowledg that all the Scripture and the Gospel of Christ and all the commands and Admonitions and Exhortations and Reproofs of it and all the Terrible Expressions of it they are all I do acknowledg of great use of great influence in an Holy Life But yet it is all through the Spring in whom they are and thro' that mighty Power in whom they are And therefore we do but go down to the Philistines Forges when we go in the Power of Mortification and being crucified to the Affections of the Flesh when we do not look to Christ as the Principle hereof He is the Sanctification of Believers And so in the 1 Cor. 6. 9. Such were some of you saith the Apostle having spoken of the greatest sinners But ye are washed but ye are Sanctified but ye are Justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God Abundance of Scripture might be added to this that shew that the Powers of Sanctification and Holiness of Life are all in Christ who makes perfect in every good Work to do the will of God and works in us that which is well pleasing in his sight So that I say again We do not become Christs by doing these things But we do them because we are Christs because a Power and a Might flows from him and from his Blood to do it by O that therefore we may know the true Method and Order of being Holy It is certainly of first being Christ's And if we are strangers to Christ we shall be strangers to Holiness and of all the ways of Purity without him Let us therefore lye under this Rich Redemption of Jesus Christ in setting us free from the Plague of our own Hearts and from the evil of our Lives And then I beseech you consider further for this is most necessary to be understood that all the Reasons Rules Measures and Arguments of Holiness Christ hath brought them all under himself For that Law of Holiness that God planted in the Heart of Man that Law of Holiness that is given out every where in his Word all that is derived from thence it is all now come under Jesus Christ and under his mighty Power The Law came by Moses but Grace and the Power
And then In the third place It acknowledges all to God back again It gives Glory to him in the Action That that I mean now is setting to the Seal that God is true depending upon Infinite Grace Infinite Power And then when the thing is done it returns all back again to God To him be Glory that sits upon the Throne and to the Lamb who Loved and Washed in his Blood To the Holy Spirit as seven Spirits before the Throne It returns all to him And then In the last place It Receives even to Eternity by way of free Communication from God and from Christ And therefore tho there be some kind of Faith I acknowledg that fails as the Apostle saith and ceases in the Happiness and Blessedness of Eternity and of the Kingdom of Christ some kind of Faith doth But yet that Faith whereby the Spirits of Saints even to Eternity receive Glory and Blessedness and Life from God and from Christ That Faith never fails I am very assured when Saints have been ten Thousand Thousand of Ages in Happiness and Blessedness They 'll own it still as Free and pure gift of Grace in and through the Mediator That they are one with the Father through Christ And the Love wherewith the Father Loveth Christ is in them because Christ is in them This never Ceases to Eternity a dependence upon God in Christ a Being in him I shall make but two brief Applications of what I have spoken and so conclude And The First Application I would make of it is To bring all our Hearts to that we read in the Gospel when Peter said to Christ Matt. 18. 22. How often shall my Brother not sin against me and I forgive him Till seven times Jesus saith unto him I say unto thee until seven times but until seventy times seven And in another Evangelist when Christ had said thus to Peter He cries out in the great Sense of this thing It seemed so great a kind of Difficulty and Impossibility to him the forgiving so often Saith Peter upon Christ's saying there must be a forgiving so often Lord encrease our Faith Now this is that I desire every one of us to make use of what I have spoken to you to cry out unto Christ Lord encrease our Faith And another Matt. 9. 24. When the Father had brought his Children to Christ and Christ told him All things are possible to him that Believes straight-way the Father of the Child cryed out and said with Tears Lord I believe help mine unbelief So I say O that we could cry out with Tears If Faith be such a thing as certainly it is or this Book of God is not true I say certainly Faith is such a thing as I have described O that we could cry out with tears in every case I have named to you O Lord I Believe Help thou my unbelief That we could cry out with Tears O! Want of Faith is the great want among us all We have not so much Faith as a Grain of Mustard-Seed certainly O How therefore are there not great things done among us because we believe not No great things done in our Souls no great things done for us in a way of Providence There are no great and mighty Conquests over Lusts and Corruptions No great and mighty Powers of Holiness and Heavenliness because we want Faith Indeed Men go to work without Faith and they think they can manage the thing But as I hope to have opportunity to shew you No one in the World can make so much as a grain of Mustard seed so not so much Faith as would amount to a grain of Mustard seed O! therefore Let us cry out to Heaven for more Faith We should obtain Promises we should have great things done if we had but more Faith And then The Second thing with which I conclude to beseech you to look to that Kingdom and Glory of Christ wherein so much mighty Power both of Faith and Action shall be given Psal 46. 1. God is our Refuge and Strength a very present help in trouble therefore will we not fear tho the Earth he removed c. We should not be so intimidated so full of fear if we had but Faith Tho the Waters c. even when Mountains were thrown in the midst of the Sea and the Waves Roaring yet there shall be a still silent stream that shall make glad the City of our God The End of the Second Sermon THE FAITH BY WHICH We are Iustified c. The Third and Fourth Sermons Rom. 5. 1. Therefore being justified by Faith we have Peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ I Have in the former Discourses set out the Nature and Excellency of Faith as it hath so close an Union with and derivation from Christ in the whole Nature and Action of it Now I shall go on in shewing you how much All is in Christ and not in Faith it self by shewing you That if you consider Faith as in it self it cannot be that which Justifies if you consider it in and by it self And then In the Second Place I shall more plainly lay down to you how and upon what account Faith is said to Justifie And then In the third Place I shall shew you that if Faith it self considered in it self cannot Justify Then the works of Faith tho they be never so excellent they cannot Justify much less then faith it self And so conclude this point with the Application And then there will remain one point more concerning Faith And that 's the Plerophory and full Assurance They have known surely that I came out from thee and they have believed that thou didst send me But that will be the last point The First thing therefore that I shall endeavour not in a Controversal but in a Practical Applicatory way and in all the Sweetness of it to all our hearts in the power and life and vertue of it The First thing that I lay down is this that Faith considered as a work It cannot Justify The account that I give you of it is this That Scripture doth every where when it speaks precisely and clearly to the point It doth assure us it is the Righteousness of God And not the Faith that takes the Righteousness of God I desire to be very far from stirring up any Controversy But to draw out our hearts I say into the Sweetness of it Head 1. I begin now therefore to handle this great Point and that is Seeing we meet every where in Scripture with these Expressions Justified by Faith The Righteousness of Faith The great Question that I shall handle first shall be to shew you how and in what sense Faith justifies and in what sense it cannot be said to justifie For indeed this is a point very necessary to be cleared seeing many are ready to say That Faith is now instead of Righteousness and that it justifies as the perfect Righteousness of the Law should have done
say Faith indeed is of great Holiness and of great operation but it takes hold of Christ onely by way of Receipt and dependence and so we are alone Justified by it I would fain clear one particular more that you may be very absolute in this great point wherein the Excellency of Faith lyes And that is You may say still why Faith is a great thing indeed And so far as it is ours we may look upon it as a great thing if it can take hold of God and of Christ and of the Righteousness of God and of Jesus Christ What is like it in the whole world if it can do this Therefore though I acknowledge all that Scripture hath spoken by way of Commendation of Faith yet I must humble Faith as I may so express it before you as to this very particular For Faith could no more take God or Christ or the Righteousness of God or of Christ than any of us can span the whole Heaven or take the whole Heaven into our hands It is nothing but onely this wherein Faith excels that God and Christ give themselves with infinite Riches of Grace And Christ gives himself he gives himself to Faith This is that that I positively affirm that Faith has no more Power to take hold of God and Christ than as I said before any one of us can take that great Globe of the Sun into our hands But God gives himself and Jesus Christ gives himself by a free and absolute will And when he gives himself he draws out by himself such a turn of the Soul back unto himself that it causes the Soul by Faith to twist about him He draws out himself so to it that by Faith it Returns with such a twist of the heart to himself that it never uncloses any more that is the great and mighty Power of God and Christ and of the Righteousness of Christ Christ becoming wisdom and Righteousness to the Soul draws out this Twisting of the Soul about him which the Scripture calls Faith This laying hold upon him this as the Scripture calls it is Leaning upon him and Rolling of our selves upon him Let no man despise these Expressions seeing the Spirit of God has sanctified them It is Just as the Sun it calls out the Eye and the motions of the Eye to Twist about it and to unite with it by seeing In the very same manner when Christ gives himself then he calls out this Faith which is a Twist and a hand of the Soul upon Christ and about him Now if Christ did not give himself and if God did not give himself it were utterly impossible that Faith should lay hold Nay though there is this Proposition of the Gospel every where held out whoever believes in him shall not perish but have Eternal life Alas Men do no more stir to this Proposition than a stone flyes up to the Sun because the Sun shines upon it with its Beams So I say you may see plainly that Men don't stir to Christ but when God draws near and gives Christ and Christ draws near and gives himself then it is that the Soul is drawn out to Christ again and feels the coming of Christ and the approach of Christ to it and then turns it self towards him and then it catches about him and then it begins to say My Lord and my God as Thomas did when he put his finger into the wounds that had been made in Christ upon the Cross This I say we should seriously consider and to know this if any of our Souls have been drawn to Christ O know That they had for ever layn still and sunk as a stone if Christ had not come and given himself to the Soul I might give you many expressions to Explain this To us a Child is given as Isaiah speaks Chap. 9. 6. to whoever it is as he was given to the world of Elect in General so he is given in particular to every soul Who loved me and gave himself for me And so as John speaks concerning love We love him because he first loved us So we apprehend him because he first apprehended us As I have shewn you out of Phil. 3. 12. If that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus A man would never apprehend Christ if he were not first apprehended by him So saith the Church in the Song of Solomon My Beloved is mine and I am his First he is mine and then I am his We should never come to be Christ's if Christ did not please to come and to be our Husband This certainly is the true freeness of the Grace of God And if you should say what necessity is there that Christ should thus draw out Faith What need of Faith at all I 'll give you but a threefold Account why there must be this Faith notwithstanding it does no more and though it is no more in the great point of Righteousness and Justification yet still it is most necessary it should be upon a four fold account The First Account is 1st Faith is necessary as it is that Joyning uniting act of the Soul by way of Return to Christ giving himself to it receiving him and possessing it self of Christ and of his Righteousness For as in our Law though the foundation of the Title lye elsewhere yet the Consummating of the Right is by Livery and Seisin as they speak and though the Espousal of a mean person to a Prince is by his free Love yet the Consummation of the marriage is by her consent and acceptance Consummate so though Christ and his Righteousness are free gift yet Faith is necessary for our acceptance and till that be Christ is not ours in Full sense of the Gospel It is true Faith is chosen and singled out as that which as it turns to Christ and his Righteousness most Diaphanously and most clearly as through a thinnest Transparency shews the Righteousness of Christ flowing from himself above what Love Repentance or any other graces or gracious actions can do as being onely as I have said Dependence Receiving Trusting yet this Faith as taking Christ and uniting to him is more then manifestation it is Consummative of our Title Christ ours and we his Christ is wisdom to us in this wise Grace of Faith and thus as in a Consummate Title we are said to be Justifyed by Faith Faith is imputed to Righteousness but Christ our wisdom is also our Righteousness in highest Gospel truth The second account is 2dly Else it would not be for the happiness and good of that Soul that hath Christ It cannot be that Christ should be a Saviour and that the Soul should not know it Therefore I say it is necessary it should be throughout the Soul made known by Faith I confess there is a time and a long time even from Creation till the Soul is called home to Christ that it does not know it till the time of bringing home to