without reflection may conceit that the Honour they do to God by confessing all and more than all the sins they are guilty of may procure a Connivance for some sins though they never forsake them It is enough or very well to load themselves with the heaviest Accusation though they do not or perhaps think they cannot grow better Much like a great Debtor who will readily own greater Summs than he really owes if for that his Creditor will permit him to run further into his Debt and not be angry But the most frequent Cause of this Miscarriage is Superstition i. e. a groundless Timidity by reason of mistake in the Nature and Degrees of Sin which is a thing of bad consequence when our Judgments are deceived and our Affections abused we may swallow that which is truly wicked and greatly mischievous and be frighted at that which is really so far from being evil that it may be good and commendable Let our confession therefore of sin be truly informed and well advised Which is the first Direction 2dly The second is to confess our sins most impartially As we must not on the one side make or magnifie our Sins through Self-revenge Flattery of Almighty God Superstition or Timidity So we must on the other hand take great care that we do not excuse connive at or extenuate any Such are our most profitable and delightfull Sins Those which by corrupt Nature or evil Custom and Practice are deepest in our Hearts and therefore most difficult and painfull to forsake We must be in all sincerity most willing to see acknowledge and amend what is truly faulty in our selves and what is most so The Design of a true hearted Christian is to be better and his hearty desire is to reform universally and in order to that he must know what is really amiss and out of order Like the wounded or sick Man who longs for his Cure and Health He is not willing to conceal or forget any of his Ailments from himself or his Physician So far from that that he beseecheth his Physician 's care as well as useth his own observation to discover all least through ignorance or neglect something may prove fatal to him And what a foolish thing is it to say nothing of or slubber over some sweet some darling Sins we are loth to leave when we are upon our knees before God He needs not our confession for his information He seeth the most secret and dark Corners of our Hearts and knows full well whether we hide any thing there or no. He observes whether we deal truly or hypocritically with him and if he find the last will reject us and our confession too Follow we that great Example David Cleanse me from my secret sins Psalm 19. 33. prays that holy Man and see if there be any way of wickedness in me and lead me in the way everlasting He that thus prayed for the discovery of all his sins without reserve no doubt in his Confession spared none 3dly A third Rule of our Confession is that it be performed seriously and affectionately The confession here meant is not uttering a few words with our Mouths though never so good but it is in the mind and spirit though we should not speak a syllable Nor is it to be slight and careless as if it were a thing of no great moment whether it were true or no and we indifferent whether it were done at all No! It is at the same time to be expresly assented to by our Judgment owned by our Consciences and thence pass further into our affections We are to be really troubled ashamed disordered and tremble at the mention and remembrance of our sins according to the various Degrees and Aggravations We are to be affected with them in our Devotion when our own Conscience only can accuse us as if men of Gravity and Authority should openly and publickly charge us Nay setting aside the difference which the hopes of pardon here may make as if God himself instead of our Consciences was judging of us And do we think at that terrible Day when Jesus Christ shall appear with all the Ensigns of Justice and Majesty with Rewards and Punishments in his hands we shall be looking another way Shall we then stand unconcern'd and confess our sins in such a manner as if neither God nor our selves need take any notice of it No then with sinking Hearts and trembling Knees we shall see believe and confess that we are miserable Sinners indeed And yet all in vain because it proceeds only from the Terrour of the Sentence and Punishment just ready to be executed not from the hatred of sin from the dread of the Judge not from the love of him or hatred of our Crimes But now in this Day of Grace our passionate Confession and Cries from a truly penitent that is changed Heart to the Judge of all the World that indeed we have presumptuously and ungratefully offended against his holy Laws and that he would have mercy upon us miserable offenders shall through Heav'ns Goodness find a gracious Audience and Acceptance Of such temper and in such manner should be our confession in the third place 4ly Our confession ought to be suitable and proportionable I mean our confessions is to be proportionable to our sins Thus we ought between God and our own selves most frequently and passionately to confess those sins which are in themselves really the greatest and which we most frequently and deliberately commit To be always with great vehemency filling our Prayers with smaller Faults though none are to be slighted and indulged for small sins known weaken conscience and make way for greater but more rarely or faintly to mention those sins which are truly more provoking is to offend against this Rule Thus to confess impertinent and wandering Thoughts in Religious Duties vain use of God's Name though these things are by no means to be allowed or neglected but never to say any thing of Pride Covetousness Injustice Fraud Hypocrisie Malice or the like or so coldly as if we scarce thought them any sins I say this is to perform this Duty with great indiscretion if not Hypocrisie For it is a shrewd sign we can be very favourable to sin when it is agreeable or profitable and therefore painfull to subdue and mortifie it When we are clamorous against the sins we get little by or which cost us little of expence or pains to forsake but otherwise silent or soft it is very suspicious that there is not in us that hearty Zeal against sin which we would seem to be possessed withall 5ly And lastly Our confession will be the more commendable if it be voluntary and from pious Motions in our heart allowed by our judgments when we freely open and disclose our Souls to God and earnestly desire witness and judge God and our Consciences to inform and remember us of our Faults As may be more especially done at those times which
the Scripture of Faith's justifying or saving as such a kind of instrument nor of any thing which infers it or would so much as give any hint or suspicion of it but as a necessary Condition or Qualification every where in the same manner as Repentance Obedience Confession of Sins and believing him to be raised from the Dead Rom. 10. 9 10. Both these last are Synecdochically taken for being true Christians or Obedience to God by Jesus Christ These notions I conceive have been invented and received principally in opposition to the Pontifician sense and then for want of the knowledge of the Oriental way of speaking or from former prejudices Such notions and language would have seemed very strange and unintelligible to the Greek the Roman and especially the Jew the Adversary of St. Paul whom he endeavours to convince and confute and when understood very mean and improbable And yet there may be truth under all these expressions if they be taken figuratively with some sort of explication and we may be so charitable as to believe that pious and good Men have so understood them and that others sometimes can better tell and explain their thoughts than they themselves As for example if we take Faith first strictly for an Assent but then add so firm repeated attentive and deliberate an one like that of Thomas as to produce in us profound veneration and submission of Soul to God and Christ and an actual Obedience to their Will and Commands and consequently a true Vertue and real Sanctity of Heart and Life I say if this be the Sense of justifying Faith it is true and good and so if believing and relying upon Christ and trust in him for pardon of sin and acceptance be not a presumptuous one but well grounded upon a true Repentance the real Change and Conversion of the Heart and supposing and comprehending that it may pass for a justifying Faith So may receiving and embracing whole Christ as they phrase it as King Priest and Prophet because it includes Obedience to Christ's Laws as a King And on the other hand to receive Christ as a Priest and Prophet may be included in Obedience because we are commanded to believe Christ's Doctrine and to trust in God for the remission of sins procured by him upon repentance finally when they call their justifying Faith a lively Faith or Faith working by love and bringing forth the Fruits of Holiness and good Works it may do very well tho' it is an odd kind of expression of what some contend for That Faith alone justifies without Works or Obedience which is like as if a Man should say That the Root and the Fruit of a Tree nourisheth to signifie that the Root only doth it We have now gone through the explication of the words promised For the application of them let the Apostles own inference suffice at present to recommend unto us a justified State We that are justified by Faith saith the Apostle have peace with God that is we are in a State of Amity and Friendship with God so that we not only have no reason to fear any harm from that Terrible and Almighty Power which the Confederation of all Heaven and Earth cannot secure us from but we have all reason to hope for and be assured of all Instances of Favour and Bounty which his infinite Wisdom shall think fit more and greater than we can conceive What can intercept or restrain his Magnificent goodness to his Friends whom he delights in and delights to honour And then our Consciences will not terrify us or make us uneasie with Menaces or Suspicions of our Guilt and his Justice one Day and drive us from all thoughts of God But on the contrary they will invite encourage command us to make use of him to make him our Refuge our Trust our Solace in all Conditions at all times Then when all the World as kindly as it may now look upon us shall neglect us or forsake us or hate us or which is certain to come to pass sooner or later shall not be able in the least to help us though it would then when Death shall envisage and summon us to an appearance before that Sovereign Tribunal and when we shall stand there to receive our final Doom and irreversible Sentence Oh most desirable and happy of all Conditions without the assurance of which if we would draw our Curtains about us and be serious but one hour we could not be quiet or easie in our selves We proclaim the Person most happy and fortunate who hath the Eye the Ear the Heart of a Prince but what can the greatest Potentates do for us more than heap upon us Riches and Honors for a few Days which many to one we had better have wanted Even the continuance of bodily Life and Health the greatest bodily Blessings are out of their Power but how much more the goods of the mind and the Treasures of Heaven Whereas the Eternal Sovereign Lord of the Universe hath all things perfectly at his own disposal to bestow upon whom he pleaseth and that here with the Wisdom and Care of a Father but hereafter certainly Fullness of Joy and Pleasures for ever more Besides where God fixes his Affection and vouchsafes his Friendship we are sure there is true Worth and something of real and good Value though of his own gift when Earthly greatness through ignorance misinformation humour or necessity may misplace them And the belief of and reflection upon God's Approbation who is the best Judge is at all times extreamly gratefull and satisfactory to us naturally This is certain that a wise and just Man takes more pleasure in not being unworthy of Favour which he doth not enjoy than in enjoying what he doth not deserve We conclude all in turning St. Paul s Doctrine and Inference into an exhortation and motive Let us use our utmost Care and Endeavour on our part and God will not fail to perform what is to be done on his to get into the Number of those who are Evangelically justified our Sins pardoned our Souls inhabited and sanctified by the Holy Spirit and our Eternal Salvation assured that so we may enjoy the great Honour and the unspeakable Comfort of being the Friends of God and at peace with him through our Lord Jesus Christ To whom with the Father and Holy Spirit be all Honour and Praise both now and for evermore Amen Annotations and Additions On the Discourse of Justification a FOR the ample Proof of the Notion and Sense of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sometimes which I have given I think what follows will be abundantly sufficient 1 Let it be premised that though 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in its most precise Notion signifies to pronounce just to discharge acquit and absolve from Fault and Punishment yet in its more general Use it signifies more generally Viz. to treat or use as just in our Opinions Words or Actions and
in the Affairs of his Soul nor is he slothfull or afraid to take notice of and bring an Indictment against the Offender though it be himself when he thinks he hath been guilty he will bring his Accusation and let him answer for himself as well as he can Nor doth he after this endeavour to withdraw himself not to appear to his Action or Indictment but to sculk lie hid or have the business passed over nor doth he when his carriage comes to be canvassed alledge Pretences make frivolous Apologies shift and turn himself any way to excuse and defend himself or to abate and extenuate what he cannot deny No but he willingly makes his appearance desires nothing more than that the Truth may be known and all that can be said against him may be produced that either he may where he justly can vindicate or where he cannot condemn himself were he is convinc'd of his Faults or Crimes though never so heinous he owns it he cries guilty to God saying O Lord I have indeed transgressed thy Commandments I have done foolishly I have been wicked ungratefull wilfully ignorant or careless or presumptuous I confess it I am perfectly ashamed of my self I despise and abhor my self what shall I say unto thee O thou great Maker and Preserver and Benefactor of Men I am obnoxious to thy greatest Severity and Justice I deserve to be punished as thy unerring Wisdom thinketh most fit I submit my self to thy Sentence and receive and own it whatsoever it shall be as the most just But I hope that Justice may be mixed and allayed with Mercy and that that Goodness which hath some way thus far led me to true Repentance will go on so far to compleat it in me as to render me capable of thy pardon and forgiveness Nor is this Confession forced from this confessing Penitent nor wrung out of him nor thrust upon him by his persecuting conscience which he flies as much as he can nor extorted by the urging Interrogatories of his Friends or Enemies with a great coldness and unwillingness No it is the most free and voluntary he himself discloseth and openeth all his Heart and whatever he knows by himself and earnestly desires both witness and judge too to produce all his faults and to tell him what he may be ignorant of or hath forgotten He is not willing to connive at any in himself though never so criminal and shamefull nor doth he desire any to conceal them from him he hath no darling which he would not look upon because he would not leave or wink hard because he would not see it or believe it to be no sin or so small that it deserves not the trouble of any notice or acknowledgment He drags out his most beloved and his most justly suspected sins and is not ashamed to betray them which he hath so perniciously hugged and which have and would betray him by their Flatteries Insinuations and Charms to his utter Ruin and Destruction He prudently hath his Eye there where there is the greatest danger and his greatest most delightfull and most frequent Sins he will bring to the light and so often till he makes almost the sins themselves to blush and perfectly wonders at his own blindness and stupidity 'T is not a few words only that this man mumbles over or a Repetition of any Form as it were of Recantation with his Lips when he is insensible or perhaps laughs at it in his heart no it is within in his Soul judgment and conscience and affections all within him is employed and moved He is no Hypocrite or Actor of a part but oft-times appears rather on the other hand to have no such thing or to be of no such temper when he is None can tell perhaps whether he hath been in his Closet or what he hath been doing there Nevertheless he doth not refuse if there be just occasion as in publick Devotion to let all the World know both by his words and carriage what he thinks of himself generously to justifie God and his most righteous Laws and Dispensations but to accuse reproach and condemn himself To advise and admonish all men that they beware of what he seeth his Folly in and not to imitate his past bad Example He is willing that good men should understand they have one come over to their party and that bad men should follow him He is very glad to please good men with such a sight nad even to add to the Joy of Angels He soon spies the great benefits of this devout Exercise and is very sensible of the pleasure and comfort of it He now discovers more pravity disorder and sin and more aggravations of them than he did and consequently according to his earnest desire can better prevent or amend them he understands himself infinitely better than he did and sees great reason for humility charity pity and compassion to offenders but not for an indifferency and neglect of the properest way he can use to reform them As he is grave and serious and hath a very indifferent and mean and sometimes contemptuous opinion of himself so is he for that very reason again cheerfull and gay for that nothing is more so than innocence or repentance He makes his address to God Almighty as with great humility and modesty so with great good hopes for success in his requests or for that which is better He makes use of God upon all occasions and in all concerns as his refuge his shelter his support his supply his patron protectour benefactour nay his Father casting all his cares upon him with moderate industry and endeavour but without solicitude and vexation In fine Though he have grievously and unworthily for the time past offended and displeased God yet he is not afraid of him but assured of his pardon love and favour for Christ's Sake because he is well assured of his Repentance and because that God cannot lye who hath said That he that confesseth and forsaketh his sins shall find mercy SERMON IV. PSALM XIV 1. The Fool hath said in his heart there is no God They are corrupt c. AN Argument of late especially often treated of and perhaps in this great Audience and truly for great reason It may be hoped there is less need of it now I am sure there are great hopes that there will be when simplicity probity and piety have more seasoned the first sources of manners and opinions However I doubt there may be some need of it still The God whom the wicked Fool denies only knows when it will be otherwise Good men would rejoyce to see the time and it may come when it shall be as ridiculous to doubt of the Being Attributes and Providence of the true God as it is of the Sun 's Being in Heaven and its influences upon this Earth as indeed it now is too in it self and to an honest man's thinking in a right method But let us briefly run over the
generous obediential Disposition of Soul towards the true God ready and prepared cheerfully to receive and execute all his Commands though never so difficult at all times And as he was then justified by that pious Temper of Heart manifesting it self in actual Obedience to the Commands of God then laid upon him So shall we Christians saith St. Paul if we be of the same pious Temper of Soul with Abraham exerting it self in an actual Obedience to the Laws of God now declared and enjoyned by Jesus Christ Nay we may add That the Jews themselves though they little understood it were all along justified upon the same Condition too Not so much by the Observance of the particular Laws of Moses as sent from God by Moses as they stiffly contend most of which were but temporary and fitted for the particular Circumstances of that People as by that devout Temper of Love Reverence and Obedience to God declaring his Will for that time by Moses And where-ever that Temper was among the Jews it had the same effect of actual Obedience to God by Jesus Christ when he was sufficiently preached and made known to them True sincere Piety the Love of Truth and Goodness prevailing against all worldly Interest and Prejudices brought the Jews themselves most certainly over to Christianity If we would know more of this Temper by Example we may see the 119 Psalm the History of Cornelius those of the New Covenant into whose Hearts and Minds God will put and write his Laws Heb. 10. 16. those whom our Saviour calls his Sheep who know hear his Voice and follow him And what is said of the Son of God himself Heb. 10. 7. Lo I come in the volume of thy book it is written of me to do thy Will O God These are the Persons this the Qualification Condition and Capacity for God's Favour Approbation Commendation and Reward or in one word for his Justification A submissive obediential Temper of Heart to God I say a Qualification or Condition of God's Favour in general and particularly expressed in remission of sins which by no means excludes the Consideration of Christ's Obedience and Sacrifice which ever was another Cause of Justification from the beginning and ever will be This sense of Faith viz. Piety will not be thought strange by those who have observed the Hebrew way of speaking Thus we read Exod. 14. ult that the Israelites believed in the Lord and his Servant Moses 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. they submitted themselves to God's Laws and Government by Moses Their belief or faith in God and Moses was a disposition of mind in them to observe the Commands of God by Moses For it is of the same general Importance with the Phrase immediately before The people feared the Lord. The Israelites were as they professed ready to hear and do the Will of the Lord by Moses So they express themselves Exod. 19. 8. All that the Lord hath spoken we will do to obey the Voice of the Lord and to keep his Covenant Nor is it to be doubted but that the Israelites if they were really in their hearts what they professed with their mouths were then also justifiâ—d and in the Favour of God before they had heard any one particular Command of the Law from God by Moses either Ceremonial as Circumcision Festivals Sacrifice c. or Moral and if any of them then died as no doubt some did they were also saved Nor is the reason of this signification of faith when it is joined with Justification and Salvation less easie 'T is because Faith in its strict and primary Sense of assent to some Truths necessarily preceeds this Religiousness of Heart this habitual Piety A Man must firmly believe that there is right and wrong moral good and evil that the Will and Laws of God are the most infallible Rules of it that he will reward and punish the Observers or Transgressors of them before he is effectually resolved or habitually disposed universally to be obedient to God and to please him as the Authour to the Hebrews hath it Chap. 11. In like manner the love and fear of God are every where used in the Scriptures Synecdochically for all Religion and Vertue because those Affections in their strict and proper Sense produce in us a disposition of Soul to universal Obedience to him and consequently all Instances of Righteousness Such may be the first Notion of justifying or saving Faith Secondly A second is more particular and limited and that is an obedient Temper of Heart to God making known his Will and Laws to us by Jesus of Nazareth the true Christ or by being a Christian It was one of the principal Errours of the Jews against whom St. Paul in various places disputes about the Point of Justification that they would admit no other Condition of it than the Observance of the Mosaical Law which he calls the Law and the Works of the Law St. Paul maintains against them that it was not but a vertuous and holy Temper of Soul which loved Righteousness and hated Iniquity and consequently most desirous to know and do the Will of God when and in whatsoever Instances he should please to declare and reveal it But more especially and particularly now by Jesus of Nazareth the true Messias described foretold and promised to their own Nation He was now appointed by God to be his Vicegerent and Legislator under himself to all Mankind to the End of the World as Moses was for a certain time only to the Jews Now God expects and requires Submission and Obedience to his Laws by this Jesus from all Men every where All I say to whom this Declaration of his Will shall come and particularly from the Jews to whom he was preached by himself and other Disciples Which if they did and persever'd they should be justified by God and in his Favour particularly receive from him remission of sins the Holy Ghost and Eternal Salvation Thirdly and lastly Some have named a third Sense of faith and that is Faith objectively taken or the Doctrine of Christianity or if you please the Christian Religion For Religion objectively taken I would call a Doctrine revealed from God or a System of revealed Doctrines and that which is by Jesus Christ the Christian Doctrine or Religion so that Justification by Faith is the same with Justification according to the Doctrine of the Gospel or according to the Christian Religion and Justification by the Law or Works of the Law is Justification according to the Doctrine of the Mosaical Law Not that which Moses himself really taught or delivered but that which the Jewish Doctors the Interpreters of that Law and the generality of the Jews taught and believed in St. Paul's Time Such may be the sense of Rom. 3. 22. The Righteousness of God by faith i. e. taught by the Gospel and then fitly follows the particulars of that Doctrine in the four next Verses and v. 28. We
not in the least to doubt it being an exceeding manifest and plain thing but that this Jesus is this Messias but are to believe it firmly and profess it boldly and consequently to become his Disciples particularly shewing their Piety to God and their most religious Disposition of Heart Submission and Obedience to him by the Observance of his Will and Laws by this Jesus the Christ if they intend to be saved Obedience to God by Moses was now Obedience to Jesus Christ is and ever hence-forward will be as the Jews falsly imagine concerning their Law the Condition of and Qualification for the Divine Favour Justification Remission of Sins and finally Salvation Such may be the Sense of St. Paul so we may suppose him to have spoken to us in those obscure words The only thing of moment which the Jews had to object and which converted and unconverted to Christianity were very fond of was the perpetuity of the Law of Moses clearly as they thought affirmed in their Law and Prophets But this St. Paul every where absolutely denies with the rest of the Apostles and with great reason For besides that that Law is impossible to be observed by all mankind neither Moses himself nor any of the Prophets ever affirmed it Nay they have intimated the contrary Jer. 31. 31. with Heb. 8. Moses himself promiseth the Jews That the Lord their God would raise up a Prophet like him whom they should hear Deut. 18. with Acts 7. This as it may promise a Succession of Prophets so it had a principal Respect to the Messias who was a Person sent immediately from God with larger Authority than Moses and to be heard by them Not as they too meanly thought of him as if he were to be only the Servant and second of Moses No he was to be a Law-giver from God like Moses and to take and leave what he thought fit in his Law And so the Prophecy is only compleatly fulfilled in the Messias None of the Prophets were so like Moses as he The Messias only was a Legislator from God like Moses 'T is true none of the Talmudists Paraphrasts or Rabbins that I remember have apply'd this place to the Messias but neither have they done that by many other places where they fairly might and with much more reason than where oft-times they have But it is enough if Moses and the Prophets never really and in truth affirmed the perpetual Duration of the Law For now God hath given abundantly more ample Proof of his Mission of Jesus than ever he did of Moses by his Doctrine Life Miracles Resurrection Ascension Mission of the Holy Ghost upon them who believed in Jesus and not upon the Jews and from this Jesus I have learned saith St. Paul that a great part of the Mosaical Law should be abolished principally in order to the uniting all Mankind into one Body by Religion That Circumcision and Uncircumcision now availeth nothing to Justification but Faith working by Love A religious and obedient Heart to God by Jesus Christ producing all the substantial Actions of Piety and Charity to God and our Neighbour the summ and end even of the Mcsaical Law it self that no man who now believeth in Jesus ought to oblige himself by Circumcision to the observance of all the little temporary and now useless things of the Mosaical Law Nay if he doth Christ shall profit him nothing as being disobedient to one express Command of Christ liberty and freedom from that comparatively mean institution Such then is the fourth false Doctrine of the Jews concerning Justification Fifthly and lastly In few words The Jewish Doctors taught that they might perform and fulfill all the Commandments of their Law by their own natural Strength and Power e but St. Paul and the Divine Writers teach a contrary Doctrine viz. That the grace of God is absolutely necessary for our performance of good Works or rather for being good men the Condition of our Acceptance and Justification f These are all of the most considerable Opinions and Doctrines of the Jewish Doctors or Expounders of the Mosaical Law concerning Justification that I at present remember Now all these Doctrines of the Jewish Doctors put together are the Justification by the Law or the Works of the Law as I conceive Which in not many words are to this effect Some men needed no Justification but those who did were justified without any Merits but their own viz. for the due Observance of the Law of Moses by their own Strength Care and Industry Justification then by Faith or according to the Christian Doctrine as opposed to the Law must be on the contrary That all men being sinners are justified and particularly receive remission of sins the Holy Spirit and Everlasting Salvation from the free and undeserved goodness of God upon the consideration of the perfect Righteousness and the meritorious Sacrifice of Jesus Christ and upon the Condition or Qualification of a pious Temper of Heart for the future to obey the Will of God and consequently to do the thing that is right and just howsoever he shall be pleased to declare it but particularly by the Lord Jesus Christ which very Condition too we had never been able to perform without the assistance of the grace of God This as I think may be the comprehensive Sense of Justification by Faith but if it should prove otherwise it is but a mistake in the signification of a Phrase I confess obscurely enough delivered to us now at this distance of time and of so different a way of speaking from the Apostolical Age. However that be certain it is that the Doctrine it self is taken out of and according to the Holy Scriptures in which I see nothing but what is plain easie and reasonable After this we may in very short observe that if any of the three Senses of justifying faith mentioned viz. A general Piety or a Christian Obedience or according to the Christian Doctrine be that of the Holy Scripture then justifying Faith is not a meer assent to the whole Doctrine of the Gospel nor Secondly is it a bare reliance upon God and Christ and trust in their promises or as others express it a rolling and throwing our selves upon Christ for pardon and salvation nor Thirdly is it a confident persuasion that our sins are pardoned in Jesus Christ nor Fourthly is it whatsoever men have confusedly meant by those Metaphors of going to Christ or embracing Christ or eying him by Faith as an instrument as if such a thin 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Exile Relation of Faith were a thing for which Faith should be so much predicated and to which no less than Justification and Eternal Salvation should be attributed Besides if Faith should thus justifie because it apprehends takes hold of and embraces Christ how much more should love be said to do it which more properly may be said to take hold of and embrace Christ Finally There is no mention in
cause our Enemies to be at peace with or defend us from them as if he be our Enemy he can expose us to them If he love us in Christ who or what shall separate us from it who shall hinder the Fruits and Effects of it nothing so saith the Apostle with as just as mighty a Triumph Rom. 8. 15. But 2 what are the Consequents of God's Enmity at last In few words oft-times severe Punishment in respect of this bodily Life and hardned Heart and a seared Conscience and a reprobate Sense to be forsaken of God to heap one load of guilt upon another to die sensless without Comfort or with Despair and Terrour and finally to be condemned publickly to Eternal Misery without mercy once despised but now too late sought after If these things be true as most certainly they are if Religion and Reason are to be believed then surely it is good to be well advised be times to make our peace with God our Adversary while we are in the way and agree with him upon his own Terms and whilst he continues such kind and gracious Offers unto us 'T is too true that there are too many who will make light of such counsel And what 's the reason of it Is it because they think there is no God or that he is not powerfull holy and just or that he is all mercy or rather softness or that they are well enough with him and sufficiently reconciled to him already no more need to be answered to all this than to ask one question Suppose there were at this time many shrewd Signs of the near Approach of the End of the World and the Day of Judgment Suppose the Sun and the Moon should stand still as it did upon Gibeon and in the Valley of Ajalon in the Days of Joshua for a Month instead of a Day and the Sun to go backwards really as many Degrees in the Heavens as it did Degrees on the Dial of Ahaz Suppose all the Seasons of the Year Retrograde or at a stand and the Sun growing pale and sick as it is said to have been in one of the Roman Emperour's Time Imagine we a-while from beneath horrible Roarings in the Bowels of the Earth and its lofty and massy Structures every where tumbled down or swallowed whole into an Abyss the Sea boiling and the Air filled with fiery and sulphureous Steams hideous Storms of Thunder and Lightning for some Days together Let us Imagine I say all these and it is nothing new but what every one talks of would the Men of Infidelity Security and Bravery be then of the same Opinion they are now would they then question whether there was a God and a great just and terrible one too would they then think their Case well enough and dare to expect the Universal Judgment and appear with the same Unconcernedness and Confidence that they now pretend to Should we not rather see all but a few penitent sincerely vertuous Souls who were indeed at peace with God through Christ and lived constantly in love and duty to him I say should we not see all the rest except this small Number with trembling Hearts misgiving accusing and condemning Consciences crowding to the Churches and Altars nay every where in Streets and Fields crying for mercy and most humbly begging for Forgiveness and Favour what would they refuse to be or do so they might have but a gracious look from an angry God or a despised Saviour and yet perhaps when they should find all this to prove a Mistake and their Panick fears over they would return to be the same they were before and live as carelesly and contemptuously of God's most gracious Offers of Peace and Friendship as ever be as unbelieving secure and confident as they were in the Days of Noah till Death or Judgment really come upon them when all Repentance and Mercy Designs and Conditions of Reconciliation are at an End Nevertheless hence it appears how little reason they have for their present Infidelity Carelesness and Presumption what they would do then they should do now It is really as true now that they ought to take care without delay and to be well assured of being reconciled to God by Christ as it will be when God shall come to judge the World by Christ It remains only then to renew the Advice and to repeat the Exhortation to embrace and pursue our Reconciliation to God with all due Thankfulness and Sense of the Divine Goodness with all Diligence and Industry If God be in Christ reconciling the World to himself I think we may say it is our Duty and Interest to be reconciling God in Christ to our selves also by Repentance and constant future Obedience and in order thereto by effectually making use of those means Jesus Christ hath left us for that purpose his holy Doctrine and Example for our direction and encouragement his holy Spirit for our Assistance his meritorious Life and Death for our comfort satisfaction and assurance And in his stead it is as the meanest of his Embassadours according to our Duty and Trust we beseech and earnestly pray all to be reconciled unto God FINIS Books lately printed for Walter Kettilby at the Bishop's-Head in St. Paul 's Church-Yard 1. A Treatise relating to the Worship of God divided into six Sections concerning 1st The Nature of Divine Worship 2 d The peculiar Object of Worship 3 d The true Worshippers of God 4th Assistance requisite to Worship 5th The Place of Worship 6th The solemn Time of Worship 2. A Defence of reveal'd Religion in six Sermons upon Romans 1. 16. Wherein it is clearly and plainly shown that no Man can possibly have any real Ground or Reason to be asham'd of Christianity By Henry Halliwell M. A. and Vicar of Cowfold in Sussex 3. Miscellanies in five Essays 1. Upon the Office of a Chaplain 2. Upon Pride 3. Upon Cloaths 4. Upon Dealing 5. Upon general Kindness The four last of which are by way of Dialogue By Jer. Colliers A. M. 4. Miscellanies upon moral Subjects the second Part By Jeremy Collier A. M. 5. The Mysteries in Religion vindicated or the Filiation Deity and Satisfaction of our Saviour asserted against Socinians and others With occasional Reflections on several late Pamphlets By Luke Milbourn a Presbyter of the Church of England 6. Apparatus ad Theologiam in Usum Academiarum 1. Generalis 2. Specialis Auctore Stephano Penton Rectore de Glympton Oxon. 7. Guardian 's Instruction or the Gentleman's Romance written for the Service and Diversion of the Gentry 8. New Instructions to the Guardian shewing that the last Remedy to prevent the Ruine advance the Interest and recover the Honour of this Nation is 1st A more serious and strict Education of the Nobility and Gentry 2 d To breed up all their younger Sons to some Calling and Employment 3 d More of them to Holy Orders with a Method of Institution from 3 Years of Age to twenty One By Stephen Penton Rector of Glympton Oxon. 9. Johannis Antiocheni Cognomento Mallalae Historia Chronica è M. SS Bibliothecae Bodleianae Praemittitur Dissertatio de Authore per Humph. Hodium D. D. 10. A Sermon preached before the King at Kensington Jan. 13. 95. By John Lamb D. D. Dean of Ely and Chaplain in Ordinary to His Majesty 11. The Dean of Canterbury's Sermon before the King at Kensington Sunday Jan. 20. 95. 12. Dr. Isham's Sermon at the Funeral of Dr. Scott late Rector of St. Giles's in the Fields March 15. 95. 13. Profitable Charity A Sermon preached before the Lord Mayor and Court of Aldermen at the Parish Church of St. Brides on Easter-Munday By Robert Grove Lord Bishop of Chichester 14. The Doctrine of the glorious Trinity not explained but asserted by several Texts as they are expounded by the Ancient Fathers and later Divines By Francis Gregory D. D. and Rector of Hambeden Bucks 15. An Essay to receive the Necessity of the Ancient Charity and Piety wherein God's Right in our Estates and our Obligations to maintain his Service Religion and Charity is demonstrated and defended against the Pretences of Covetousness and Appropriation In 2 Discourses By George Burghope Rector of Little Gaddesden in Hertfordshire and Chaplain to the Right Honourable the Earl of Bridgewater The End of the Catalogue