Mark 16.15 16. 2 Thes 1.10 and 2.13 And it is no marvail the same Faith should be thus diversly exprest since a believing of any one of these includes in it a belief of them all and so does a belief of the Resurrection of Christ by which this Faith is also somtimes described Rom. 10.9 For he that believes the Record of God concerning Christ cannot but believe him to be the Son of God because that is the thing which the Father Almighty hath more than once testified by a voice from Heaven Mat. 3.17 and 17.5 And he who believes Christ to be the Son of God must needs believe his doctrine which is the Gospel to be true As on the other hand whoever believes the Gospel must needs believe Christ to be the Son of God because it testifies so much of him and likewise because it sets forth those many stupendious Miracles which he wrought and how the ancient predictions of the Prophets concerning the Messias were fulfilled in him and also his Miraculous Resurrection from the dead by all which he is demonstrated to be the Son of God Now then whosoever rightly believes the doctrine of our Saviour contained in the Gospel and of his Apostles concerning him do believe that he died for our sins and rose again and that repentance or amend ment of life and obedience to the Precepts of our Saviour are indispensibly necessary to the obtaining of remission of sin and eternal Life by his Death Resurrection and Intercession And the reason hereof is because these things are declared to be so in that Gospel which is so believed And therefore whosoever does believe he shall be saved by Christs death from the wrath to come though he does not truly and sincerely make it his business to amend his life according to the Precepts of our Saviour believes not the Gospel but believes that which is a flat contradiction to it and is like those of whom the Apostle says they profess that they know God but in works they deny him Tit. 1.16 Or if any man should believe this amendment of life to be necessary to the obtaining Remission of sin and Salvation by the death of Christ Yet what would this belief avail him if he himself should not by this belief become a new man in holiness righteousness and sobriety of living It is not any mans believing the most important and concerning truth that will avail him before God further than it tends to make him better to make him a good man The Devils we find confessed Christ saying thou art Christ the Son of God Luke 4.41 the same form of words almost verbatim in which the Apostles of our Saviour made confession of their Faith John 6.69 And St. James saith the Devils believe and tremble Chap. 2.19 But what are they the better for it so long as they retain the same devilish nature which they had before Nor can we say that mens Faith will any more save them than the Devils Faith saves Devils whatever it is which is believed unless that belief makes them better men in heart and Life If a man believe aright and understands what it is he believes he can hardly be any more careless of acting according to his belief than he is careless of obtaining the pardon of his sin and the Salvation of his Soul A right saving belief of the Gospel then hath in it the spirit and seed of a good life it hath in it virtually and potentially all pious and vertuous actions And all pious and vertuous actions that proceed from Faith are as I may so say but Faith diversified in several acts and are a part of Faith as the fruit that grows upon a Tree is part of the Tree And to make this appear in some instances all those noble and generous acts of the Patriarchs and other Worthies mentioned in Hebrews the 11th Chapter did all grow out of their Faith for by Faith they did them all All the good report which they obtained upon account of their Heroick actions is attributed to their Faith by which they did atchieve them these all having obtained a good report through Faith c. Ver. 39. More particularly the Author of this Epistle to the Hebrews in Ver. 5. of this 11th Chapter proves that it was by Faith that Enoch was translated because he had this testimony that before he was translated he pleased God or walked with God as his History relates it Gen. 5. which as he shews was impossible for him to have done if he had not had Faith for saith he without Faith it is impossible to please God So that we see the same thing is attributed to the Righteousness of his life in walking with God as is to his Faith which produced that effect viz. that thereby he pleased God And so it is said of Noah Ver. 7. that by faith he being warned of God of things not seen as yet moved with fear prepared an Ark to the saving of his house by which action of his in conjunction with his Faith he became heir of the Righteousness which is by Faith It is said of Abraham also Ver. 17. that by Faith he offered up Isaac And it is said by St. James that by this good work of his the fruit of his Faith among others he was Justified Jam. 2.21 And not only so but that therein the Scripture was fulfilled which saith Abraham believed God and it was counted to him for Righteousness Ver. 23. which shews that when the Scripture saith Gen. 15.6 that Abrahams believing God was counted to him for Righteousness it was meant of his Faith as it was a vital principle of sincere obedience to God in whatever he commanded him else that Scripture would not have been fulfilled in Abrahams offering up Isaac and in his being justified thereby as well as by his Faith The like is said of Rahab that by faith she perished not with them that believed not when she had received the spies in peace Heb. 11.31 And St. James saith that she was Justified by this work which was the fruit of her Faith Jam. 2.25 So that we see in the Scripture-notion of Faith to have Faith counted to us for Righteousness and to have acts of obedience proceeding from Faith to be counted for Righteousness in conjunction with the Faith it self is the same thing And to be Justified by Faith and to be Justified by those acts of obedience which are the issue of Faith in conjunction with the Faith it self is still the same thing in the sense of holy Scripture All this is to shew what and what manner of Faith it is that is the condition on the which pardon of sin and eternal Life are promised in the Gospel-Covenant and by which we are Justified and which is counted for Righteousness And for our greater confirmation in this and to shew further that no Faith can entitle us to the promises of the Covenant the promise of pardon and the promise of
more upon men when they heartily believe it by proclaiming pardon to all repentant sinners and immense rewards to such as shall with honest minds give up themselves to Christ to be his Disciples to learn of him by his Doctrine and Example how to live a sober righteous and a godly Life And by promising Divine assistance as well as vast rewards and acceptance of honest and sincere endeavours and by making allowances for such frailties and defects both in knowledg and practice as will consist with uprightness of heart towards God And thus I have shewn how the Gospel operates to our Justification as a great and effectual means of bringing us to become Evangelically Righteous without which we cannot be Justified by having that Righteousness imputed to us and by being approved of as Righteous upon the account of it CHAP. IV. Of Faith and how that operates to our Justification THat Faith doth operate to our Justification we are perfectly assured by the frequent and express notice thereof we have from the Scriptures such as Rom. 3.30 and 5.1 Gal. 2.16 and others And Faith operates to our Justification as it is the performance of that condition upon which the great and precious promises of the Gospel Covenant are made For the Covenant consists chiefly of two parts to wit the promises which God makes of bestowing benefits on us through Christ and of the condition upon which these promises are made which condition is summarily comprised in Faith or believing But before I proceed further to speak of Faith I think it not inconvenient here to premise to what is to be said about Faith as the condition of the Gospel-Covenant somwhat to shew that the promises of pardon and eternal Life are conditional The Gospel-Covenant is directly suited to that Mediatory undertaking of Christ by which the Covenant it self was obtained and on which it was founded Now I have shewed formerly that Christ died for all men indeed but yet it was but to obtain a conditional pardon for all men and other benefits consequent upon it He did not die to procure that God should be reconciled to them that should always refuse to be reconciled to him but to obtain their pardon and restauration to the favour of God upon condition of their being persuaded to be reconciled to him And truly the Covenant of Grace holds an exact proportion to the Covenant of Redemption or Law of Mediation by the fulfilling of which by Christ the Gospel Covenant as I said was obtained As our Saviour died for all to put all into a capacity of being pardoned and saved in case they should not persist finally in rebellion against God so the Covenant of Grace promiseth pardon and salvation just upon the same terms and not otherwise For the Gospel denounceth a being punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and the glory of his power against all those that know not God and which obey not the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ So that when we compare the general promise and threatnings in the Gospel together we are put upon a necessity of understanding the promise in a conditional sense otherwise the promise and threatning would be inconsistent And indeed the promise of those great benefits seldom if ever are found without the condition annexed either expresly or by plain intimation The gracious declaration of the Gospel runs thus And you that were somtime alienated and enemies in your minds by wicked works yet now hath he reconciled in the body of his flesh through death to present you holy and unblamable and unreproveable in his sight if ye continue in the Faith grounded and settled and be not moved away from the hope of the Gospel Col. 1.21 22 23. If ye live after the flesh ye shall die but if ye through spirit do mortifie the deeds of the body ye shall live Rom. 8.13 If ye forgive men their trespasses your heavenly Father will forgive you but if ye forgive not men their trespasses neither will your heavenly Father forgive your trespasses Mat. 6.14 15. If we walk in the light as he is in the light then have we fellowship one with another and the blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth us from all sin 1 John 1.7 These conditional particles if plainly express the conditional nature of the promises yea and of the threatnings too The promises are not made to such or such men by name but to all men under such or such a qualification as to those that believe to those that repent to those that obey the truth Which qualification specifies the condition on which and so the persons to which such promises belong This is a thing so plain throughout the Scripture from end to end that more need not be said of it Having premised thus much I shall now proceed to shew how Faith operates to our Justification and in order to our better understanding what influence Faith hath in our Justification we will enquire into these particulars 1. How it appears that Faith is the condition of the promise of pardon and eternal Life 2. What that Faith is 3. Why it is made the condition of the promises 4. In what capacity men are to perform that condition 5. How more particularly it operates to our Justification 1. That Faith is the condition on which pardon of sin and eternal Life are promised in the Gospel is so plain that nothing more need to be said to make it evident than only to point to the express letter of the Scripture in this case For pardon of sin this is promised on condition of believing Acts 10.43 To him give all the Prophets witness that through his name whosoever believes in him shall receive remission of sins And so is eternal Life promised on the same terms John 3.16 God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlastiug Life If these promises are made to believers as such as we see they are then believing must needs be the condition on which they are made This is past contradiction Jo. 3.36 Acts 16.31 2. Consider we next then what that Faith or believing is which is the condition on which the promised benefits remission of sin and eternal Life are suspended And without all doubt it is not only a speculative but a practical belief It is a hearty assent of the mind to the truth of the Gospel and a sincere consent in the will to live according to the Laws and Precepts of it The same thing the same Faith for substance is in Scripture described by different Phrases Somtimes it is described by a believing the record of God concerning his Son Christ Jesus 1 John 5.10 11. Somtimes by a believing Jesus to be the Christ the Son of God John 20.31 1 John 5.1.5 And somtimes by a believing of the Gospel a believing of the truth a believing of the testimony of the Apostles of our Saviour
the same Apostle had used Verse 21. Where he calls the word which is able to save the soul an ingrafted word For if the word be able to save the soul but as it is an ingrafted word then it becomes an effectual means of salvation as it is fastened upon and let into the soul by serious consideration on For consideration answers the Metaphor of ingrafting here used If the juice of a Cyon the Branch of a good Tree turn the Sap of a Crab Tree Stock into it's own nature and cause it to bring forth better fruit than before it is by means of being let into it and bound fast upon it that it does so In like manner if the word turn the temper of the soul into its own nature by mingling with it it is by means of consideration which unites the word and the mind and binds it upon the soul For the word does not work after the manner of a Charm or Spell but operates in a way of rational consideration For this is the way of the Spirits working by the word When men with open Face behold as in a Glass the glory of the Lord they are changed into the same image as it were by the Spirit of the Lord 2 Cor. 3.18 The Holy Spirit works this change indeed but it is by the Gospel and by the Gospel looked into beheld and well considered This considering temper of mind seems to be signified by the good ground in the Parable by which those are resembled who when they have heard the word keep it to wit in their minds and under consideration in opposition to those other hearers of the Gospel who for a total want of consideration immediately lose all they hear as those do who are resembled by the high-way on which some seed fell where it had no covering at all And in opposition to those who for want of much consideration wither when persecution comes like those resembled by the rocky ground on which some of the seed was sown where there was not much earth to give it sufficient rooting and nourishment And also in opposition to those who through an insufficient degree of consideration have the word driven out of their minds or weakened in its operation by the over-powering thoughts cares and pleasures of this present life as those resembled by the thorny ground have and so bring forth no fruit to perfection but only the ear without the full corn in the ear Luke 8. In this thing then which we call Consideration seems to lie the difference between those who hear the Gospel so as effectually to believe it and those other several sorts of hearers who though they hear it yet do not believe it to the saving of their souls For which cause it may well be that the Author to the Hebrews presseth the Christians who were in danger of withering like the Corn which had not much earth through heat of persecution to give the more earnest heed to the things which they had heard lest at any time they should let them slip viz. out of their minds Heb. 2.1 David no doubt well knew of how great concernment it is to have good things kept warm upon the mind by often repeated consideration when he prayed thus unto God Keep this for ever in the imagination of the thoughts of the hearts of thy people and prepare their heart unto thee 1 Chro. 29.18 We have seen now in part what men by advantage of the Gospel which is the preventive Grace of God antecedent to all endeavours of ours can do towards their own believing And likewise what that subsequent Grace is by which we are enabled to believe throughly and effectually unto Righteousness and Salvation There is yet one thing more to be taken into consideration before we can so well be resolved as then we may in what capacity men are of performing the condition of the promise of pardon and Life And therefore I shall add that one thing more which is this 4. We have assurance given us of having the subsequent Grace of God conferred upon us to enable us to believe unto Righteousness if we do not grosly neglect to do what we can do towards our believing in using and improving the antecedent Grace of God See this clearly proved by that of our Saviour Mark 4.24 25. Where he speaks to his followers and hearers thus Take heed what you hear with what ineasure ye mete it shall be measured unto you and unto you that hear shall more be given For he that hath to him shall be given and he that hath not from him shall be taken even that which he hath By which our Saviour seems to mean that men shall receive benefit by the Gospel according as they attend to and consider their own great concerns handled in it And that if by thus doing they do not neglect but use and improve this antecedent Grace that then more shall be given to wit more means and more help to believe which is the subsequent Grace I have been speaking of by which men are thorowly enabled to believe unto Righteousness and so unto Pardon and Life These words of our Saviour which according to our translation we read Take heed what you hear are rendred by Dr. Hammond Consider what you hear So that it seems Take heed what you hear does in this place signifie Take heed to what you hear or to give heed to it as those do who consider of it and weigh the import of it as whether they are concerned in it and if yea then how far And the reason which our Saviour adds to inforce this Precept and direction of his shews this to be the sense of it For he says With what measure we mete it shall be measured to us to wit in the blessing and benefit designed us by sending the Gospel to us which is to bring us to believe unto Righteousness that so we may be saved And he adds again that to those that hear viz. that thus hear more shall be given and backs this also with that general rule mentioned five times in three of the Evangelists for he that hath to him shall be given and he that hath not from him shall be taken even that which he hath Now what can the measure be which is meted in hearing the Gospel to which the promise of receiving more is made but an attentive consideration who it is that speaks what he speaks and of what concernment it is And what can that measure be which is meted in hearing which is threatned with a remanding of what had been deposited in their hands but a not minding regarding or considering the weight of what is spoken nor how they are concerned in it If this then be the meaning of our Saviour as I doubt not but it is then we see the promise of Divine assistance is made to such endeavours of ours as we are capable of using through that providence of God by which mans faculties
strive against its prevailing upon them as I have shewed For the Gospel is the power of God to Salvation Now then if this be true that God by means of his antecedent Grace hath given such power unto men of acting towards their believing unto Righteousness as hath been said there is then there is very great reason this should be made known to them and that they should not be made believe that they have no more power of acting towards their own Salvation than there is in a dead man to raise himself to life I say there is great reason for this because their Salvation or Damnation are much concerned in it For to persuade men that they have no power to act towards their believing is the direct way to take them off from the use of means tending thereto For what greater discouragement can be given unto men to attempt a thing than to persuade them that they have no power of accomplishing it if they do As good never a whit as never the better as the Proverb runs The quite contrary is doubtless to be done by such as would not betray mens souls to destruction nor lay a stumbling block in their way nor cramp their endeavours in seeking to be saved They should be throughly acquainted with what power God hath put into their hands of being saved if they will by having given them his Gospel and power to hear and consider the terms of Salvation that are therein offered to them and the powerful motives that tend to persuade them to believe and obey it They should be brought to a great sense that God is not nor will be wanting to them in his Grace and assistance nor in the matter of their salvation if they be not greatly wanting to themselves in not doing what they may and can do towards it That God hath set life and death before them and persuaded them to chuse life and that he hath given them power to do so much towards it by the helps wherewith he hath prevented them as that he will not fail to give them so much more as shall put them into an immediate capacity of salvation if they will but make such use as they may and can of that which he hath already given them And that therefore if they perish it is of their own choice because they judg themselves unworthy of everlasting life And that for this cause they will be left without all excuse if they perish and that God will be justified in their condemnation in that he hath done that which was sufficient on his part to have prevented it It was not the manner of our Saviour to persuade men that they could do nothing towards their own salvation but complains of them saying ye will not come to me that ye might have life how oft would I have gathered you as a Hen gathereth her Chickens under her wings and ye would not and expostulates the matter with them saying yea and why even of your selves judg ye not what is right And from time to time cryed to them in his doctrin with an extended voice saying whosoever hath ears to hear let them hear meaning that if they would make use of their teachable and considerative faculties in any thing then about those things he preached among them And upbraided those that would not when they had eyes to see and ears to hear other things wherein they were nothing so much concerned as they were in his doctrine saying they seeing see not and hearing hear not neither do they understand And can any man that thinks well of our Saviour wisely think also that he upbraided them for not doing that which they had no power to do Nevertheless although it be Gods ordinary declared method of proceeding with men in reference to their salvation to add a subsequent power to enable such to believe unto Righteousness who had not grosly neglected to use and improve the antecedent power and Grace which had been vouchsafed them before yet doubtless God always reserves unto himself a liberty of acting extraordinarily in a way of Grace towards men where and when and to what degree he pleaseth though they have not improved but grosly neglected their first talents Several instances of this nature there have been in men whose natures and lives have been debauched with a custom of sinning who yet have been surprised as it were on a suddain and their consciences awakened and let loose upon them either by a Sermon or some great affliction or some other providence and such a change presently wrought that they have afterward become very good men And so God hath been found of those that sought him not as the Prophet speaks as he was by the extraordinary Conversion of those of the Gentile Nations upon the first going out of the Gospel among them many of whom till then had lived without God in the world as the Apostle speaks Now this liberty of shewing more Grace and favour to some than to othres God may well make use of and yet no man have cause to complain that he does so so long as he is not wanting to the rest in that which is sufficient unto their Salvation but puts it within their own power to be saved if they will So that if they perish it is through their own wilful neglect to do what they might have done Indeed God can no more wrong one creature than another because he cannot but do right to all But in dispensing favours it is nowise unbecoming his wisdom and goodness to do more for one creature than for anotheer no more than it was in the work of Creation when he did not make all Men Angels nor all Brutes Men. Is it not lawful for me to do what I will with mine own Is thy eye evil because I am good saith the Housholder in the Parable to him that murmured for that he that laboured but one hour in the Vineyard had as much as the hire of another for a whole day came to Mat. 20.15 Since then it is but Gods unusual and extraordinary way to convert some such men by surprising them with the mighty operations of his Grace as had in a manner wholly neglected the improvement of their first Talents the antecedent Grace of God And since he hath made no promise of doing so for any man but rather on the contrary threatened to take away from such that which they had received before It remains then that no man presume or take any encouragement to neglect Gods ordinary and prescribed way and means of attaining to Grace and Salvation in hope that God should go out of his usual way to meet with them and to convert them in a way and manner that is unusual and extraordinary No man in his wits will act by such measures in things pertaining to this present life and the outward man Some men we now and then see have strange and fortunate hits in the world Estates conferred on them
makes men full of fears and jealousies of the avenger and not apt to believe that such as they have highly affronted injured and provoked can be reconciled to them until they have avenged themselves on them if they have power to do it therefore our Saviour to assure sinners of the reality of God's desire and intention of being reconciled to them and to pardon them if they will but be reconciled to him hath not only given them his word for it but a wonderful and great proof of it in what he hath done towards such a thing before ever any such favour was desired or sought for on their parts God he so loved the world and was so unwilling to avenge himself on them as that he hath given his only begotten Son not only to tell them so but also to suffer for them to prepare the way of reconciliation between them All this hath been done on God and his holy Sons part towards this reconciliation before there was ever any inclination on mans part of being reconciled to God God hath commended his love towards us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us Rom. 5.8 In this was manifested the love of God towards us because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world that we might live through him Herein is love not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be a propitiation for our sins 1 John 4.9 10. And doubtless this way of proceeding with enemies if any will make them willing to be reconciled to God and it is indeed that which doth take with all but desperate contumacious wretches We love him saith St. John because he first loved us 1 John 4.19 Our thoughts and inclinations of returning to God and of being reconciled to him of any love or good will towards him take their first rise from intimations yea more than so from manifestations of Gods love to us first and especially of such love as the giving of his Son for us bespeaks him to have to us Hence the preaching of the Cross the declaration not only that Christ hath suffered but upon what account he hath suffered is said to be the power of God to them that are saved that is it is Gods powerful motive by which he persuades men of his willingness to be reconciled to them and by that means prevails with them to be willing to be reconciled to him The preaching of the Cross is to them that perish foolishness but unto us which are saved it is the power of God 1 Cor. 1.18 All things saith St. Paul are of God who hath reconciled us unto himself by Jesus Christ and hath given unto us the ministry of reconciliation what 's that to wit that God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself not imputing their trespasses unto them and hath committed to us the word of reconciliation 2 Cor. 5.18 19. This is we see Gods way and method of reconciling the world unto himself by making known to them that upon account of his Son 's undertaking and suffering for them he is freely willing to pardon them and not to impute their trespasses but to be reconciled to them provided they will be reconciled to him Hence it is that our reconciliation to God and not only God's reconciliation to us is so frequently as it is attributed in Scripture to the death of Christ 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 Rom. 5.10 And that he might reconcile both Jews and Gentiles unto God in one body by the Cross having slain the enmity thereby and came and preached peace c. Eph. 2.16 17. And again having made peace by the Blood of his Cross it pleased the Father by him to reconcile all things to himself And you that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works yet now hath he reconciled in the body of his flesh through death Col. 1.19 20 21 22. By these and other like Scriptures we see that one of God's great designs in giving his Son to die for us was the reconciling us to himself by assuring us that upon condition of our being reconciled we should not have any the least cause to question his willingness to be reconciled to us and that it is by this that he procures a willingness in us to be reconciled to him This great transaction between the Father and the Son in behalf of the world the Father's giving and the Son 's undertaking to die for the world in order to this great work of reconciliation is the great and certain security unto men that what was said in the Gospel touching Gods being reconcilable to sinners and his forgiving them provided they will be reconciled to him shall be really performed and made good to them Hence it is that in regard that Christ was made Priest by the Oath of God to offer himself in Sacrifice to expiate sin and then in vertue of that Sacrifice to make intercession for us that he is said to be made surety of the better Testament that is he by that means becomes a surety for God unto men of the reality of his proffers and promises in the Gospel to them and of the performance of them upon the condition of their being reconciled to him Heb. 7.20 22. The Apostles inference is very natural and strongly conclusive when he says He that spared not his own Son but delivered him up for us all how shall he not with him freely give us all things Rom. 8.32 Gods giving his Son to die for us is more than the bestowing a pardon and eternal life upon us And therefore he having done the greater already to procure our reconciliation to him it is an earnest and a pledg that he will not stick to pardon and to save us which is a less matter for him to give if we become reconciled to him indeed 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 Rom. 5.10 This assurance which God hath given to the world of his willingness to pardon and save sinners by the death of his Son as an earnest and a pledg of it if they wilfully refuse not to become reconciled to him is that which in the first times in which this was divulged to the wrrld brought in a considerable part of it to Christ who by him yielded up themselves to God In prospect of which success of this gracious design of God upon the world by the death of his Son it was that our Saviour said John 12.32 And I if I he lifted up from the earth will draw all men unto me So powerful a motive to reconcile sinners to God is God's declaration by giving his Son to die for them of his willingness to be reconciled to them if they will but answer him
in their willingness to be reconciled to him This is the first of the three things I mentioned which have a great aptness in them to persuade men to be reconciled to God for which end our Saviour does by the Gospel as he is Mediator of the New Testament not only reveal this but labours to possess men with a strong belief of it without which it will not operate on them at all towards such an end as the reconciling them to God is 2. Another of those motives by which our Saviour by setting the Gospel on foot seeks to reconcile men to God is by giving them great assurance that God is so far from desiring to revenge himself on them notwithstanding all their provocations if they were but as willing as he is to be reconciled as that in case they will be but persuaded to be reconciled to God by repentance for their former rebellion and by becoming really obedient to their power for the future as that then he will bestow upon them everlasting life advance them to such a state of happiness as that greater than which the heart of man cannot wish for or desire And surely this if it be throughly believed will if any thing will persuade men to be reconciled to God To this end our Saviour hath brought life and immortality to light by the Gospel 2 Tim. 1.10 And by this motive he doth almost every where in the Gospel persuade to Faith Love Repentance Obedience and Holiness which is the same with persuading men to be reconciled to God for in such things as these doth our reconciliation to God consist St. John speaks of this in a magnifying way as the great motive to man to entertain and obey the Gospel This saith he is the promise which he hath promised us even eternal life 1 John 2.25 And indeed it was this that did invite men to receive the Gospel to profess the Christian Religion at first and which did animate them to suffer any thing rather than to renounce and forsake it and the hope of eternal life which they had received by it They took joyfully the spoiling of their goods knowing in themselves that they had in Heaven a better and an enduring substance Heb. 10.34 3. There is a great aptitude in our Saviours setting the Gospel on foot to reconcile men to God because he thereby convinceth them that if after God's gracious offer of being reconciled to them in case they will be reconciled to him and if after all that hath been done by God and suffered by his Son to prepare the way for a mutual reconciliation between them they shall yet obstinately refuse to be reconciled to God and persist still in their rebellion and disobedience That then God will be so far from being reconciled to them and from pardoning them notwithstanding all the willingness he hath declared to be reconciled to them upon condition of their reconciliation to him and notwithstanding all that Christ hath done and suffered to bring this about as that this offer of God and undertaking of Christ shall turn but to their heavier doom and greater condemnation in the next world This is the condemnation that light is come into the world and men loved darkness more than light John 3.19 How shall we escpe if we neglect so great salvation which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord himself and was confirmed to us by them that heard him Heb. 2.3 It shall be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrah and for Tyre and Sydon in the day of Judgment than for them that have refused to be reconciled to God when by the Gospel sent to them he hath offered to be reconciled to them on condition that they would be reconciled unto him And lest any should flatter themselves with vain hopes of being saved from the goodness of the nature of God and the death of Jesus Christ for sinners who yet take a liberty to live in known sin without reconciling themselves to God by leaving it off and returning to their duty as too many alas do there are two or three things revealed by Christ to take from them such vain hopes and to put them upon a necessity of chusing either to reconcile themselves to God or to be eternally miserable 1. The first is taken from the nature of God The nature of God is so pure and holy and so contrary to sin that it is as impossible for him to be reconciled to sin or to sinners while by it they are in open rebellion against him as it is for him to change his nature and cease to be God This is the message saith St. John which we have heard of him that is of Christ and declare unto you that God is light and in him is no darkness at all If we say that we have fellowship with him and walk in darkness we lie and do not the truth 1 John 1.5 So that according to this message which Christ hath sent to sinners by his Messengers it is as possible to reconcile light and darkness as God and such as walk in darkness that is in wilful sin And St. Paul would make men themselves judges in the case and appeals to their own reason saying What communion hath light with darkness and what concord hath Christ with Belial 2 Cor. 6.14 15. and plainly intimates that if light and darkness are irreconcilable and can have no communion so is Christ and Belial or a lawless man 2. He hath taken away such vain hopes from sinners by declaring by his Gospel That God without respect of persons judgeth according to every mans work that is he will judg every man according to the right of his cause without favouring or dis-favouring the persons of men against the nature and right of their cause He that hath done good shall come forth to the resurrection of life and he that hath done evil unto the resurrection of damnation Even there where the Lord hath declared from heaven that he is merciful and gracious forgiving iniquity transgression and sin even there he hath declared also to the end men might not mistake that he will by no means clear the guilty no by no means not upon any account whatsoever will he clear such as are finally guilty by persisting in rebellion Exod. 34.6 7. All such persons therefore as will not be persuaded to be reconciled to God by becoming obedient to his government by his laws have no more reason to hope that they shall be saved upon the account of God's merciful nature or the merits of Christ's death than they have to hope that God for their sakes will go contrary to all his declarations in his word and contrary to the whole fixed frame of his government by which he rules and will judg the world And what sinner is there that can but give himself the liberty to consider things that is or can be so vain in his expectation as to promise himself any such thing since
him a God keeping Covenant and Mercy with them that love him and keep his Commandments or that walk before with all their hearts And though the hearers of the Law were not just before God yet the doers of Law were justified when they depended upon the Grace and Mercy of God for acceptation in doing their duty Rom. 2.13 Conclude we then that there is nothing in these Scriptures to prove the Natural Law and the Law of Grace not to consist without the one being altered by the other And thus we see how the Law of Grace operates to our Justification by reconciling the Original Law to us upon our repentance that was against us it is reconciled to us because we are reconciled to it by the Law of Grace By the way then it is remarkable how greatly it conduceth to the consolation of all truly repentant sinners and of how great a ground of their confidence towards God it is that the Natural Law as well as the Law of Grace is now on their side it is not only not against them but is made to be for them by the blessed undertaking and performance of our Saviour for them when once they are persuaded to be sincerely for it 2. The Covenant of Grace operates to our Justification as it is an act of Grace by which God doth institute and ordain that Faith as it is an operative principle of sincerity of repentance of love to God and man and of all holy obedience shall be accepted and accounted for Righteousness upon the account of our Saviours Mediatory Righteousness And for our better understanding and satisfaction in this matter I shall endeavour these three things 1. To shew that there is a Righteousness found among men which the Scripture calls so and calls those Righteous that have it their having sinned notwithstanding 2. To shew what it is and in what it consisteth 3. How it comes to be such 1. That there is a Righteousness found among men which the Scripture calls so and calls those Righteous which have it notwithstanding all the world stand guilty before God of unrighteousness and are concluded under sin according to the first Law we were under This is a thing so well known to those that read the Scriptures or hear them read that it 's needless to cite particular Texts to prove it We shall find that good men such as are justified are called the Righteous or the Just no less I think than fourscore times in the Books of Psalms and Proverbs besides so many other places as are not easily to be numbered 2. That which is more necessary is to shew what this Righteousness is and wherein it doth consist In general it consisteth in our conformity to the terms of the Gospel the new Covenant or Law of Grace As mans Natural and Original Righteousness stood in a conformity in his nature and actions to the Original Law of Righteousness from which we are fallen And as the Mediatorial Righteousness of Christ consisteth in his conformity to the Law of Mediation so doth the Evangelical Righteousness of a Christian stand in his conformity to the terms of the new Law of Grace And therefore as the Gospel it self is frequently called the Faith and somtimes the Law of Faith as being both the Object and the Rule of the Christian Faith so is a Christians conformity to it frequently stiled likewise the Righteousness of Faith and the Righteousness by Faith and the obedience of Faith Rom. 3.22 and 4.11 13. and 9.30 and 10.6 Gal. 5.5 Phil. 3.9 Rom. 16.26 Now this conformity to the Gospel which God counts to us for Righteousness doth consist in a hearty belief or firm persuasion that God upon the account of what Christ our Mediator hath suffered and done for sinners will receive such into his favour pardon and save them as upon such a belief do truly repent them of their sins and seriously resolve and sincerely endeavour to please God for the future in the whole course of their lives and in actual resolutions and endeavours suitable to this belief This belief or persuasion when it becomes thus practical in operations proper to the nature of such a persuasion as it is then the true Christian Faith so it is then also the Christians Righteousness for it is imputed reckoned and counted to them for Righteousness as the Scripture shews It 's true Abraham is said to have had this Righteousness Rom. 4.11 and Noah to be an heir of it Heb. 11.7 And yet we cannot say that they had any such explicite Faith in reference to Christ the Mediator as the meanest Christian has under the Gospel Revelation And yet their Faith in the general nature of it was the same then with the Christians now For they had such Revelations made by God one way or other by which they did believe him to be reconcileable and propitious to all such as fear and love him and sincerely endeavour to please him And upon this Principle doubtless it was that they and other good men in those elder times lived such holy and virtuous lives as hath procured them upon publick Record honour and renown for Righteous men unto all Generations For so saith that sacred Author speaking of them Heb. 11.39 These all received a good report through Faith Thus Abel obtained witness even from God himself that he was Righteous by reason of his Faith in God in conjunction with what he did by virtue of his Faith Heb. 11.4 And when the Scripture saith Jam. 2. of some of these that they were justified not only by their Faith but also by their Works the meaning I doubt not is that they were approved of by God as Righteous men upon the account of both It 's true indeed Righteous and Holy men are frequently described by their fear of God and by their love and obedience to him without mentioning their Faith as at other times they are described by their Faith without mentioning their fear love or obedience And the reason seems to be this because where any one of these is in truth there are the other also No man truly fears God or loves and obeys him but he that hath first Faith towards God that he is Gracious Merciful and ready to forgive the repenting and reforming sinner without which Faith it is impossible to love him or reverence him with an awful love There is forgiveness with him that he may be feared feared with a fear mixed with love as the right fear of God always is Psal 130.4 Now this their fear of God love to him and care to please him which grows out of their Faith is as I say their Righteousness as well as their Faith it self more strictly considered because their conformity to the Law of Grace which is their Righteousness consists in these as well as in that and the same promises are made to these as to that He that doth Righteousness is Righteoas 1 Joh. 3.7 All his transgressions which he hath
eternal Life but such a practical Faith as I have described consider these following particulars 1. If none can be pardoned but such as repent nor see the Kingdom of God except they be born again as the Scripture assures us they cannot then no Faith can entitle us to Pardon and Salvation as it is a fulfilling the condition of the promises of the Covenant but such as is a penitential regenerating Faith such as works repentance and regeneration in men nor till it hath wrought these effects at least as begun I cannot imagine what can be said with any shew of reason against this argument 2. St. James argues that Faith which hath not works cannot save Ver. 12. and concludes his reasoning Ver. 24. with saying Ye see then how that by Works a man is Justified and not by Faith only 3. Faith and Obedience are so much the same or at least so inseparable when saving as that the same Greek word is indifferently translated to believe or to obey and so on the contrary the same word is translated unbelief or disobedience Instances of this nature you have in Acts 5.36 Rom. 11.30 31. Ephes 5.6 Heb. 4.11 and 11.31 in all which you have the same word translated one way in the line reading and another in the margin And belief and disobedience are likewise opposed to each other as contraries as well as faith and unbelief are and as well as obedience and disobedience are as you may see for instance in Rom. 10.16 1 Pet. 2.7 2 Thes 2.12 By all which we may reasonably judg that when Faith only is mentioned as the condition on which pardon and eternal Life are promised yet then it is to be understood of a practical obediential Faith 4. The same benefits pardon of sin and eternal Life are promised upon the condition of obedience in some Scriptures which are promised on condition of believing in others As for instance If we walk in the light as he is in the light we have fellowship one with another and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin 1 John 1.7 Here assurance is given us of being purged from the guilt of sin by the blood of Christ in case we walk in the light as God is in the light labouring to be holy as God is holy in all manner of conversation And Christ is the Author of eternal Salvation to all them that obey him Heb. 5.9 And blessed are they that do his Commandments that they may have right to the Tree of Life and may enter through the gates into the City Revel 22.14 Not every one that saith Lord Lord shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven but he that doth the will of my Father which is in Heaven Mat. 7.21 Now if holy obedience be made the condition of the promise of Pardon and Life as well as Faith as we see it is then none but an obediential Faith can be a performance of the condition of that promise By an obediential Faith I mean such a Faith as by which a man is moved and inclined and in some sort enabled to do what is his present duty so far as he understands it to be so And in this sense a mans Faith and his obedience are of the same date and commence together And therefore it is no marvel that the same promise of the same benefits is made to the one which is made to the other and that both are joyned in the condition 5. In Heb. 8.10 11 12. where we have the tenour of the new Covenant declared God promiseth to be a God only to such and to forgive the iniquities only of such as have his Law put into their minds and written in their hearts Where Faith is not at all mentioned as the condition of receiving those benefits but the having the Law written in the heart Though the having the Law written in the heart supposeth Faith I grant as a productive cause of it yet we see it is not the condition of the promised benefits otherwise than as it produceth such an effect which effect is only here mentioned and not Faith which is the cause 6. When saving Faith is described by the nature of its operation upon a man himself and not only as it acteth upon its object without him then we are told it purifieth the heart Act. 15.9 worketh by love Gal. 5.6 overcometh the world 1 John 5.4 and sanctifieth the whole man Acts 26.18 And therefore we have no good reason to think Faith is a fulfilling the condition of the promise only as it acteth upon its object by way of credence or assent or affiance either without its transforming operation upon the Soul 3. The next thing to be enquired into is the reason why Faith is made the condition of the promises of the Gospel-Covenant And the reasons hereof seem to be such as these 1. Faith is made the condition of the promise that it might appear to be of grace that such promise is made and made upon such a condition as faith is St. Paul having spoken of the promise being made through the Righteousness of Faith and not through the Righteousness of the Law Rom. 4.13 He gives the reason of it Verse 16. when he says It is therefore of Faith that it might be by grace to the end the promise might be sure to all the seed not to that only which is of the Law but to that also which is of the Faith of Abraham In which words we have a general reason why Faith is made the condition of the Promise and that is that it might be by Grace And another is given in a particular instance viz. that the promise might be sure to all the seed There is a double reason why it must needs be of Grace that the great Promises of the Gospel are made to mens believing the Gospel The one is taken from the nature of the thing that is of Faith it self in reference and relation to its object For he that believes the Gospel believes that the great blessings and benefits promised therein are promised not for any merit of his to whom they are promised but for the sake of another to wit Christ Jesus whom God hath set forth for a propitiation through faith in his blood Rom. 3.25 And he that believes the Gospel according to what it reveals believes also that it was of Grace that he was thus made a propitiation for it was by the Grace of God that he tasted death for every man Heb. 2.9 Not by works of Righteousness which we have done but according to his mercy he saved us Tit. 3.5 And whoever believes all this exalts the grace of God in so believing St. Paul who believed and taught this in opposition to the misbelieving Jews who thought to be justified by the works of the Law without the death of the Messias to obtain that and all other benefits said I do not frustrate the grace of God for if righteousness come
by the Law then Christ is dead in vain Gal. 2.21 Thus he by his Faith and Doctrine according to it in believing and teaching Justification by the death of Jesus Christ did not frustrate but exalt the grace of God Faith then in the very nature of it does own the promise of all benefits to be of Grace when made to such as by sin had forfeited all The other reason why it must needs be of Grace that the Promise is made upon condition of Faith is this because our believing that another to wit Christ hath by his own suffering and intercession for us obtained pardon and life upon condition of our being reconciled to God cannot without believing a contradiction be thought to merit these benefits but that the Promise and the benefits promised and their being promised on such a condition as an obediential Faith is must needs be all of Grace and cuts off all occasion of boasting For Christ is made to us of God Wisdom Righteousness Sanctification and Redemption to the end that he that glorieth may glory in the Lord 1 Cor. 1.30 31. And it is by grace that we are saved through faith and not of works lest any man should boast Ephes 2.8 9. Where is boasting then It is excluded by what Law Of works Nay but by the Law of faith Rom. 3.27 Again the Promise is therefore of Faith that it might be by Grace to the end that the promise might be sure to all the seed as well of the Uncircumcision as of the Circumcision The Promise of Pardon and Life to the Gentiles the greatest sinners upon condition of repentance is secured and made sure to them by their believing because the Promise so believed is founded in the death of Jesus Christ in whom all the promises are Yea and Amen For no man can with the least appearance of reason imagine that the great God would ever expose one so great and so greatly beloved by him as his holy Son is to such sufferings as he underwent to procure Pardon and Life for repentant sinners were he not fully and perfectly resolved to Pardon and save them upon their repentance notwithstanding all their sins they were guilty of before how hainous soever they may have been Upon which account our Saviour thus given by the Father to such an end is said to be surety of the new Covenant Heb. 7.22 that is he is the great security which the great God hath given to the world of performing whatever he hath promised us upon his Sons account in that Covenant God that spared not his own Son but delivered him up for us all how shall he not with him freely give us all things Rom. 8.31 And now who sees not but that this is an act of exceeding rich Grace in God not only to resolve to bestow upon the children of men such great things as he hath promised but also to give them such a security for it as he hath done by giving his Son to prepare the way for it Now the sense and comfort of all this Grace and so our ascribing the glory of it unto God and our Lord Jesus Christ depends upon our believing these things And therefore God hath entailed the Promise of benefits upon that Faith as a condition without which we can have no sense of all that grace of God exprest in the Promise And therefore well might the Apostle say It is therefore of Faith that it might be by Grace Besides the Promise appears to be of grace in reference to the condition on which it is made whether we consider the vast disproportion between the things promised and the condition on which they are promised or the easiness of the condition it self Considering what by sin we have deserved it would have been matter of Grace in God and great Grace too if he had promised us no more but a deliverance from the wrath to come and that upon any possible condition though otherwise never so rigorous or hard to have been performed as suppose it had been the greatest severity the nature of man could undergo to be exercised by us on our own bodies If this had been the case yet herein there would have been as much grace and favour shewed us as such temporary severities would come short of eternal torments in Hell And if this would have been matter of grace as most certain it would how much more doth it appear to be so when God hath promised not only exemption from the vengeance of eternal fire but also to exalt our nature and to prefer us to an immortal happiness and glory far greater probably than the happiness of an earthly Paradise would have been in case we had never sinned at all and yet all this too upon so easie a condition as Faith is For easie it is in the attaining to it if we consider what provision God hath made and what assistances he is ready to afford to enable us to believe And it 's easie in its exercise and work if we consider what we are to do by vertue of it which besides affiance in God and our Saviour is but to abstain from that we had better be without than have though we should not be concerned in a future state in another world and to do no more but what tends to the perfecting of our nature and the comfort of our lives besides the future glory except in the case of persecution for Righteousness sake In such respects as these I have mentioned it plainly appears that Gods making of Faith to be the condition upon which his great benefits are promised us tends greatly to manifest the grace of God and our Lord Jesus Christ and to fill us with a sense of it for which cause we see he hath chosen it to that office of being the condition of pardon of sin and eternal Life through Jesus Christ our Lord. And one reason why God would have his own grace so manifest in all these his proceedings and dealings with us and why he would have us possessed with so great a sense of it is I conceive because he knows this is the direct way of reconciling us to himself of making us to have good and honourable thoughts of him such as incline and dispose us to be reconciled to him And this brings me to another reason why Faith is made the condition of the great and precious promises aforesaid which is this 2. Such a Faith as I have described does best accommodate Gods design of Grace towards us in reconciling us to himself by Jesus Christ in order to our happiness which may be another reason why Faith is made the condition of the promised benefits There is a certain aptitude in Faith to reconcile us to God and to produce that in us which is the matter of our Justification as well as of our reconciliation to God And the reason hereof is because the motives by which men come to be persuaded to be reconciled to God
believing For Faith is mans act what ever the assistances are by which he is enabled to perform it With the heart man believeth unto Righteousness saith St. Paul Rom. 10.10 For our better understanding in what capacity men are of believing it will be necessary to consider 1. What God hath done towards the working of Faith in men antedecent to the act of believing 2. What man himself can do through the antecedent Grace of God towards his believing 3. What subsequent Grace God does and will vouchsafe for the perfecting the work of Faith and carrying it quite through unto such as do not grosly neglect to do what they may and well can do towards their own believing by using and improving the antecedent Grace of God 1. That which God hath done towards the raising of Faith in men antecedent to any act of Faith in them or of any endeavours of theirs towards such a thing is his vouchsafing unto them the Gospel and the evidence of its Divinity and by it to reveal to them the things which are to be believed And this we call the objective Grace of God as well as the antecedent and is that also which we call preventive Grace And in these respects the Gospel is sometimes stiled the Grace of God and somtimes the Faith for it is both the object of Faith and a means to raise it in men For Faith comes by hearing it Rom. 10.17 In respect of this preventive antecedent Grace God is said to have offered Faith to all men so it is in the margent in that he hath raised Christ from the dead that is to all to whom this is revealed by the Gospel Acts 17.31 By this Revelation God hath vouchsafed unto all such as to whom it comes means by which they may come to believe if they be not greatly wanting to themselves 2. Consider we next what men themselves can do towards the raising of this Faith in them by means of this antecedent objective Grace of God 1. They can hear this Gospel as well as any other subject of discourse which is offered to their consideration and this is one step towards their believing of it for Faith comes by hearing Rom. 10.17 2. They can consider the things they hear from it and that 's another step towards believing Thus the Bereans by considering of and searching into the things they heard came to believe Acts 17.11 12. They can consider whether they have not immortal souls to take care of as well as mortal bodies and whether there be not a future state after this life for of such things as these the Gospel treats They can consider of such reasons when they hear them as tend to satisfie the mind and reason of man that there is such a future state For Heathens by the Light of Nature without the Revelation of the Gospel came so far as to be persuaded of such a thing And when by considering they come to be persuaded either that there is such a future state or that it 's far more probable that there is than that there is not then they can hardly forbear to consider and think more or less what is like to become of them in that future state And upon supposition that they are persuaded in their own minds that there is such a future state they can no more put off a desire of being happy in it than they can put off nature it self and cease to be men They can discern a difference between moral good and evil in very many things and the different tendency of them to their happiness or misery in the future state They cannot though they would think that evil tends to the happiness and good to the misery of that future state but the contrary They can consider and think on such things as by which the Holy Scripture directs to this happiness as well as they can the Contents of other Books Before men have debauched their natures by a custom of sinning there is hardly any but have some such thoughts as these spring up more or less in their minds And to what degree they do so they have a tendency to bring men to a belief of the Gospel and a good life as I shall further shew afterwards 3. The subsequent Grace of God and work of the Holy Spirit is that by which the former considerations which had some tendency to Faith are heightned improved and carried on until such a Faith is produced in the soul as is a believing unto Righteousness And this seems to be done chiefly in some such way as this First by presenting the objective Grace of God the Gospel more frequently to their consideration and by holding their thoughts more intently upon the great and concerning matters contained therein Secondly by assisting the intellective faculties of the soul by more frequent and repeated considerations to understand and discern the nature and import of the great doctrines of the Gospel as containing Gods design of wisdom and goodness for the recovery of lost men from sin and destruction for sin by Jesus Christ And by this means a greater light breaks into the soul by which the evidence of the truth of what the Gospel reports is better discerned than it was before and so are a mans own great concerns for eternity which are therein laid open And thereby also is the mind prevailed upon to assent to the truth of our Saviours doctrine in the Gospel and the will to consent to act according to the great concerns of a mans soul And therefore mens conversion is in Scripture described by their being turned from darkness to light by their being enlightned and having the eyes of their understanding opened and the like And somtimes this work of Faith or Grace in the soul is ascribed to the former work of God upon the mind viz. the holding the mind and thoughts unto a more close serious and intent consideration of the great things of the Gospel and a mans own great concerns therein Thus in Jam. 1.25 Whoso looketh into the perfect Law of liberty and continues therein i.e. continues looking into it he being not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work this man shall be blessed in his deed Here we see one that continues his looking into the doctrine of the Gospel which is meant by the Law of Liberty and a forgetful hearer are opposed to each other and so is a forgetful hearer and a doer of the work By which it plainly appears that the reason why the ones hearing ends in the doing of the work and in being blessed in his deed and the other does not is for that the one considers and continues from time to time seriously to consider the weight and importance of what he hears and of his own great concern in it but the other does not but is a forgetful hearer as little minds it as if he were not concerned in it The same thing is doubtless meant by another Metaphor which
thing That God justifies men by approving and adjudging them to be Righteous by being true believers and therein conformable to the terms of the Gospel on which the promises of it are made will further appear if we consider Justification in a notion opposite to condemnation In condemnation or when men are condemned by God they are convicted of a double guilt First of a guiltiness of fault that they are guilty of such transgression of the Law by which they are tryed as is damnable in the sense of that Law Secondly of the guilt of penalty upon which they are adjuged and sentenced to suffer that penalty The guilt of fault of which they are convicted and for which they are condemned to suffer the penalty is final infidelity impenitence and wilful disobedience to the Gospel Now God in justifying men does as Judg vindicate and defend them against all accusations from being guilty of such unbelief impenitency and disobedience which vindication and defence is the same thing with his adjudging them to be true believers penitent and such as have delivered up themselves sincerely to obey the Laws of their Saviour which is his justifying of them And now having thus endeavoured to open and explain the doctrine the nature and notion of Justification in its several causes I shall now recapitulate or rehearse in a few words the sum and substance of what hath been more largely discoursed about it to the end the whole of it may come under our view at once The obedience of Christ to the Law of Mediation in dying for us does operate to our Justification by obtaining terms of Gods being reconciled to us and his obedience to the same Law in publishing the Gospel does operate to the same end by persuading us by it to be reconciled to God in observing those terms upon the observation of which we become justified by God as well as reconciled to him and justified because reconciled The new Covenant operates to our Justification by virtue of the death of Christ by which it was obtained as it is a new Law of Grace stating setling and setting forth the benefits therein promised pardon of sin and eternal Life and also the terms on which these benefits are to be conferred and received to wit a vigorous and operative Faith and this Covenant further operates to our Justification as by the promise of the foresaid benefits it is Gods great instrument to persuade men to observe and perform those terms or that condition in believing on which they are promised which performance is that which qualifies us for the blessing of being Justified Faith operates to our Justification as it is the performance of the condition on which the promise of the Pardon of sin and eternal Life is made through Christ and as that Faith is the new Covenant-Righteousness and so the matter of our Justification Almighty God himself operates to our Justification as he reckons imputes and counts this Faith to us for Righteousness and as he does approve each one that hath this Faith as a Righteous person according to the tenor of his own Law of Grace and as he doth adjudg him to be so Having as I conceive now competently proved that Gods judicial Justifying of us stands in his adjudging us to have performed the condition on which he hath promised Pardon of sin and eternal Life in that we have believed the Gospel and delivered up ourselves to the conduct of it and likewise in accounting this Faith to us for Righteousness and in approving of us as Righteous hereupon I shall now proceed to shew somewhat of the difference that is between Justification and Remission of Sins at least as I apprehend it CHAP. VI. Of the difference between Justification and Remission of sin THere is doubtless such a thing as a real difference between Justification and Remission of sin For when St. Paul saith that Christ is made to us of God Righteousness Sanctification and Redemption 1 Cor. 1.30 he certainly means somthing else by Redemption than he doth by Righteousness That by Righteousness in this place he means Justification I think none will deny By Redemption doubtless he means a deliverance first and last from all the evils and miseries we suffer or have deserved by reason of sin deliverance and exemption from which is properly pardon in act And indeed St. Paul in another place explains Redemption by Pardon when he says in whom we have Redemption through his blood even the forgiveness of sins Col. 1.14 We see then that St. Paul did reckon Justification and Remission of sins to be two distinct things benefits of a different nature I shall now name to you some of those things wherein they differ 1. Justification is Gods adjudging us to have performed the condition in believing on which he hath made promise of Pardon But Pardon it self is his conferring that benefit upon us which he conditionally had promised By the one God approves of us as having done our part and duty in keeping Covenant with him By the other he keeps Covenant with us in performing what he promised And therefore Justification and Remission of sin seem to differ as much as Gods adjudging us to have performed the condition on which he promised Pardon differs from actual Pardon it self and as much as his adjudging us to have kept Covenant with him differs from his keeping Covenant with us 2. By Justification we are acquitted and absolved from being guilty of infidelity impenitency and insincerity of obedience But we are not thereby acquitted and absolved from being guilty of all other sins but come to be discharged from them by way of Pardon whether they be sins against the Law or against the Gospel whether wilful and presumptuous sins before conversion yea former infidelity and impenitency or of human frailty and infirmity after together with all defects and imperfections of duty towards God and towards man A pardon of all these is promised on condition of that Faith with its effects by which God Justifies us and approves of us as Righteous and good men according to the tenor of the Gospel or new Covenant But then Gods pardoning these sins and his Justifying us as not guilty of present infidelity impenitency and insincerity of obedience on which he promised Pardon are things greatly different Some because they cannot understand how we can be justified by any Righteousness but such as is commensurate and adequate to the demands of the Law and because there is none to be found in any man but in our Saviour himself therefore they think we cannot be Justified any other way than by having his personal numerical Righteousness transferred to us and so made ours as that we by it may be accounted to have fulfilled the whole Law and answered all the demands of it But such should consider that we do not come off from the charge that lies against us for not answering the demands of the Law by our fulfilling it by
the words are these And by him all that believe are justified from all things from which ye could not be justified by the Law of Moses To be Justified from sin sometimes signifies to be freed from the power and dominion of it Thus in Rom. 6.7 St. Paul having said in Verse 6. Knowing this that our old man is crucified with him that the body of sin might be destroyed that henceforth we should not serve sin adds in Verse 7. for he that is dead is Justified from sin For so it is according to the marginal reading and so the Dutch Translation Englished reads it though in our Translation it is rendred freed instead of Justified from sin And in this sense St. Austin understood this Acts 13.39 as I find him quoted And to this sence of the word Justifie agrees the reading of Revel 22.11 which some upon occasion use Let him that is filthy be filthy still and he that is Righteous let him be Justified still To the same sence of the word Justifie some alledg Rom. 8.30 Tit. 3.5 compared with Verse 7. and 1 Cor. 6.11 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 Where Justification seems to be ascribed unto the Spirit of God in one respect as to the Lord Jesus in another And doubtless Justification is the effect of the operation of all the Blessed Trinity though the manner of their operation be different Now that to be Justified from all things from which ye could not be Justified by the Law of Moses may be understood in this sense there are two things to be said to render it probable The one is the good agreement which this sence has with other places of Scripture which shew that men are freed from sin through Christ by his Gospel so as they could not be freed from it by the Law of Moses Thus Heb. 7.18 19. There is verily a disannulling of the Commandment going before for the weakness and unprofitableness thereof For the Law made nothing perfect but the bringing in of a better hope did And again Rom. 8.2 3 4. For the Law of the Spirit of Life which is in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the Law of sin and of death For what the Law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin condemned sin in the flesh that the Righteousness of the Law might be fulfilled in us who walk not after the flesh but after the spirit So likewise Rom. 6.14 Sin shall not have dominion over you for ye are not under the Law but under grace By all which we see that the Law of Moses could not Justifie men from sin as Christ by the Gospel-dispensation does if by being Justified from sin we understand a being freed from sin it self as to its dominion The other thing which may incline us to understand the words under consideration in this sense is what may be observed from the context St. Paul had said in Verse 38. the words immediately before Be it known to you men and brethren that through this man Christ is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins Now then if in Verse 39. he should mean no more by being Justified than a being Pardoned he would seem but to say over the same thing again in other words which he had said before which is not usual with him But if this should not be the meaning of those words and should we suppose that by being Justified from all things from which they could not be Justified by the Law of Moses should be meant a being Justified from the guilt of sin as that signifies a being freed from the punishment deserved by it yet let us consider whether it will necessarily follow that the Apostle in those words defines Justification by Remission of sin or whether rather he does not thereby only set forth the subsequent benefits that would accrue to them by being Justified by believing which could not be obtained by their observing the Law of Moses And if so then the meaning would be only this That by their being Justified by their believing they should be delivered from or secured against the evil effects of their sin from which they could be not secured by observing the Law of Moses Now that to be Justified by believing by vertue of the blood of Christ and to be freed from the punishment of sin which is Pardon are two different things seems to be very plain from those words of St. Paul Rom. 5.9 where he saith much more than being now justified by his blood we shall be saved from wrath through him He infers the certainty of their being Pardoned or saved from wrath from their being Justified and the inference and that from which it is made are doubtless two things We see then that men may be Pardoned by vertue of their being Justified and so be Justified from sin and yet not Justified by their being Pardoned It will no more follow that because by Justification we are Pardoned that therefore Pardon is our Justification than it will follow that because by believing we are Pardoned that therefore our Pardon is our believing and our believing our Pardon And now if we should understand the words Justified from all things from which ye could not be Justified by the Law of Moses in both the forementioned sences for a being delivered both from the guilt of sin and from the power and pollution of it I know no inconvenience in it both being true But if we do so yet we do not thereby necessarily conclude Pardon of sin to be Justification but only that Pardon of sin is by Justification as depending upon it For Gods adjudging of us to have performed the condition in believing on which he promised Pardon which is his Justifying of us together with his imputing that Faith to us for Righteousness intervenes comes between our believing and our being actually Pardoned and is that which gives the immediate right to it as I shewed before What hath been said then may suffice I suppose to shew that in all probability no such thing can be concluded from those words in Acts 13. as that we are Justified by being Pardoned The next Scripture I shall enquire into is Rom. 5.16 the words these Not as it was by one that sinned so is the gift for the judgment was by one or by one offence to condemnation but the free gift is of many offences unto Justification That which is first necessary to be done here is to consider the Translation because these words the free gift of many offences unto Justification seem as we have them in our Translation a little uncouth and somwhat unintelligible I have seen the matter in this part of the Verse Translated from the Original thus But the free gift is unto Justification from many offences not of many offences
worthy a purpose as to lift up a miserable world that was cast down and laid very low indeed He certainly is most worthy of his unsearchable riches since such is his goodness as that he was not content to be happy alone nor to see us lie in poverty and misery so long as he was able to relieve us and make us happy with his riches but rather than he would be wanting in this he chose for some time in some sort to empty himself to fill us Ye know saith St. Paul the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ that though he was rich yet for your sakes he became poor that ye through his poverty might be made rich 2 Cor. 8.9 This is not the manner of men indeed nor was it in the power of Angels and therefore his Glory is to be exalted above the earth and heavens and both made to ring with joyful acclamations and praises of and to our blessed Redeemer And it is very observable that those in Revel 14. who are said to have sung a new song before the throne are described by the Virginity of their Christianity as not being prevailed upon by any temptations whatsoever to be unfaithful to Christ but are said to be such as do follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth and in whose mouths is found no guile still denoting that sincerity by which the Evangelical Righteousness hath been described And it 's further observable also that it 's said there that no man could learn this new song but those which are Redeemed from the earth And the reason is evident because those who mostly and chiefly mind earthly things and set their affections upon them as those which are not Redeemed from the earth do neither have nor can have such a grateful sense of that stupendious ravishing and transporting love and goodness of our blessed Redeemer in what he hath done and suffered for us as is requisite to qualifie them to sound forth his praises with that feeling and affection which the Redeemed of the Lord do Our Saviour hath told us that the cares of this world the deceitfulness of riches and the lusts and pleasures of other things choke the word of the Kingdom and so hinder its operation Though men hear it and profess it yet the great sense which too many such have of these present things stifles their sense of Spiritual invisible and absent things so that they prevail not upon them to work any such deep sense in them of the unparallel'd love and goodness of our Saviour in procuring these things for us as they do upon them who have learned to sing that new song These that are Unredeemed from the earth they savour the things of the flesh and of the world more than the things which be of God and therefore they cannot sing this new Song with Grace in their hearts to him None then we see but new Covenant men such as are renewed in the spirit of their minds can learn this new song they are a peculiar sort of men and women a choice or chosen generation that can shew forth the praises of him who hath called them out of darkness into his marvelous light Those whom the Lamb that was slain hath Redeemed from Hell by his own bloud are such who are first Redeemed from the earth both from the earthly minds and evil manners of men of the earth whose portion is only in this life This blessed Redeemer whose high praises should be in our mouths is the Lord from Heaven and his Kingdom is not of this world as he himself said and they must be of a Heavenly extraction and born from above that can skill of the manner of his Kingdom and Government and of the nature of the work and business of that people The discourse of things proper to that spiritual state is to mere natural men almost like speaking to them in a language they do not understand Hence when Nicodemus heard our Saviour discourse of the necessity of being born again or from above his thoughts ran of a mans entering a second time into his mothers womb to be born again The things of the Spirit of God to the natural man are foolishness so far is he alienated from the life of God 1 Cor. 2.14 And the Scripture speaks of the sons of God such as are born from above as of persons whom the world knoweth not 1 John 3.1 All this still shews how absolutely necessary it is in order to our learning the new song which is sung before the throne to the honour of the Lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world that we become new men endued with new principles of living and with a new Righteousness And by being so we shall not only be qualified to offer spiritual Sacrifices of thanksgiving acceptable to our Saviour and to the Father by him but we shall thereby also recommend him to the world as altogether lovely which is the greatest honour we can do him For the new man is created after his likeness in purity humility and charity in universal Righteousness Gentleness and Goodness in which respect the followers of Christ are said to be partakers of a Divine nature and to have put on Christ And when men see that his Disciples become such by following his doctrine and example this redounds to the honour of their master from whom they learned it and greatly tends to reconcile mens thoughts and affections to him and to his Religion And thus they help forward his great design on which he set his heart of recovering those that were run from God and goodness and from their own happiness than in doing which we cannot gratifie him more or please him better By becoming such and by being in the world as he was in the world we shall shew forth the vertues of our Lord and what is venerable and praise-worthy in him In respect whereof his followers are said to be the glory of Christ And if we have any mind to make our blessed Saviour any other return of that stupendious Love which he hath exprest towards us besides songs of praise and thanksgiving to the honour of his name he hath told us how we may do it to his great satisfaction when he said If ye love me keep my Commandments John 14.15 As if he should have said if ye would express the grateful sense of my love to you by expressions of yours to me then keep my Commandments For saith he again Ye are my friends if ye do whatsoever I command you John 15.14 He that hath my Commandments and keepeth them he it is that loveth me Ver. 21. Our doing his Commandments tends to the full accomplishment of his design of reconciling God and us and so of making us happy For unless we keep his Commandments we cannot be reconciled to God and consequently God will not be reconciled to us So that if we will not keep his Commandments we frustrate and disappoint him of his