Propositions thoroughly believed are the foundation of all true Religion By faith we receive the notion of God rootedly in our fouls and then all the discoveries of God in any the effects of his wisdome power and goodness in his Works or in his Word in his Works Heb. 11.3 By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear Whether faith takes this Proposition That the worlds were made by the word of God out of the Scriptures or meerly by observation from the works themselves it comes all to one as to my present purpose which is this to prove that it is faith that strongly and effectually in us ownes the being of God and the works of God Again it is faith receives all the revelations of God by any messengers that he sends unto us at any time * And indeed this is the most proper notion of faith viz. an asfent to testimony Who hath BELIEVED our report saith Isaias and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed Isai 53.1 If the arm of the Lord be not revealed to men in the preaching of the word it is because they do not rightly believe the report The word preached did not profit them not being mixed with saith in the hearing of it Heb. 4.2 3. and hence it is for that faith is the proper instrument of receiving the word of God that the Saints in the New Testament are called as often by the name of BELIEVERS as by any other name Acts 5.14 1 Tim. 4.12 and the word of the Gospel is called the word of Faith Rom. 10.8 Nay faith doth not only in the first place receive God into the soul then all the discoveries of God in his Works and Word but it pitches upon all the particular objects that are there discovered in the Word and brings them particularly into the soul faith doth not only receive the doctrine of the Gospel as true in the general and from God but because Christ is there revealed it receives Christ himself and brings Christ into the soul and so Christ comes to dwell in our hearts by faith Eph. 3.17 which is indeed a figurative expression there is faith in Christ as well as faith in God the Father and there is faith in the blood of Christ c. but of these things I have spoken largely above in the last character I bring them in only here as proofs of the excellency of faith in that it brings all spiritual objects home unto the soul that so the soul may converse with them in the exercise of all its graces and virtues In one word our whole life here at a distance from God must necessarily be a life of faith We walk by faith not by sight 2 Cor. 5.7 for till we come to the beatifical Vision of God we must see him and all his glories and excellencies by faith and our treatings with God the Father and the Son must be by faith I have a long time dearly loved that Scripture 1 Pet. 1.8 Whom speaking of Christ having not seen ye love in whom though now you see him not yet believing ye rejoice with â—oy unspeakable and full of glory Faith must come into set love on work upon an unseen Christ or else none of that glorious and unspeakable joy could arise to a Christian so that by what hath been said in this first particular Faith is the root-grace in this present state of things 2 Excellency of Faith But secondly Faith is not only the first grace in order and a root-grace but it is certainly productive and efficacious in the actuating all other graces and setting them on work when once saith hath brought all these glorious objects into the soul first God and all his glorious Attributes then his Revelations and especially Christ and his Blood and realized them all unto the soul it is almost impossible but all other graces should in their several courses and respects which they have to these objects move and work regularly and intensly Love we know is the fulfilling of the Law Rom. 13.10 in rational creatures it is the fulfilling of the Law perfectly even in degrees in broken creatures it is the fulfilling of the Law sincerely in its desires and endeavours Now this faith makes its great instrument to work by Faith worketh by love Gal. 5.6 and I shewed above how faith sets hope on work now these three Faith Hope and Charity are the three great graces 1 Cor. 13.13 all other graces are reducible to these three and of these three faith is the root-grace And therefore we finde often in the Scriptures that all Religion is put upon the bare assent of faith Rom. 10.9 If thou confes with thy mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead thou shalt be saved 1 John 4.2 Hereby know ye the Spirit of God every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come into the flesh is of God Not as if a meer confession or profession of Christ were saving for there are many that do profess themseves Christians that shall go to hell But according to that in the Romanes if they did believe with their heart that God had raised Christ from the dead together with the ends of his death resurrection certainly all those other things which accompany salvation or have salvation annexed to them would follow because true saith hearty unseigned faith is a working faith it works by love to the making a man a new creature and to the keeping of all the commandements of God And according to this positioâ— I make no doubt that place in James is to be under stood Jam. 2. where there is a supposition of a superation betwixt Faith and Works that either that place speaks onely of a false and onely pretended faith and then indeed there may be such a Faith without Works a dead and unactive Faith that is the resemblance and appearance of Faith or else â—t speaks of a true Faith and then it is onely by way of supposition that the Apostle there speaks that upon supposition any one's Faith though it were the highest and truest Faith in the World should not be accompanied by Works it would not justifie and it is very true upon that supposition Because Works are as well required as Faith not but that where-ever there is a true and lively Faith there will be Works necessarily attending it and this I believe all will readily acknowledge Mr. Baxter is so much of this opinion that Faith is an operative Grace and puts the soul where it is upon gracious actions towards God that be puts works and obedience into the desinition or description of Faith In his Aphorisms pag. 279 Thesis 70. Faith saith he in the largest sense as it comprehendeth all the condition of the New-Covenant may be thus defined It is when a sinner by the Word and
principle shall be onely an humble love and gratitude and the action shall be a true useful and ingenious action wherein some real service shall be done for God I shall give an instance in the Apostle Paul in that place last mentioned 1 Cor. 9.17 18. a place where you have the Apostle doing two things one of necessity that had a wo upon it if he did it not so that whether he did it willingly or unwillingly he must do it and that was the preaching the Gospel the other purely voluntary and so free lest him that he might have done the contrary to what he did and not have sinned at all and that was as to his maintenance for preaching he might have expected from them that they should maintain him but he would not he would maintain himself and this he took such comfort in that he calls this his glorying as I take it and he would rather dye then that any man should make this his glorying void Now the principle of this his action was not Legal as if he thought by this to lay some obligation upon God or his Lord Christ Jesus for he knew that he was so far obliged to the Lord for his mercies that he could never lay an obligation upon God The principle therefore was onely this of gratitude and nobleness he had such a good Master that he could never do enough for and therefore when he had sent him to preach the Gospel which he must unavoidably do the Apostle spyed out an opportunity of doing his duty herein more effectually and that was if he would preach the Gospel upon free-cost though he was allowed by his Master to have demanded a reward and now spying out this how he might do an eminent service which yet was a free-will offering he catches at it and will rather dye then let go this opportunity Ver. 5. It were better for me to dye then that any man should make my glorying void upon which take this paraphrase of a learned Commentator I have preached the Gospel on free-cost and would rather choose to famish by doing so then be deprived of this way of advancing the Gospel and I would not for all the world lose this comfors and joy that I have preached to you without receiving any thing from you Here you see at the same time the Apostle can act from a principle of necessity and also of voluntariness or nobleness he preaches the Gospel from the consideration of a necessity and he takes nothing for his preaching out of a principle of nobleness and yet this second service is a real service and advantage to the Gospel not such a foolish thing as for men to whip themselves or to offer to the shrine of some Saint or to say such a tale of Pater nosters c. That therefore is another Christian Principle in acting for God viz. Gratitude and Nobleness I shall onely mention one more and it is this When one hath been used to serve God The last and highest principle of action is from the excellency of the work it self the wayes of God are so good in themselves that a man will find a great sweetness and satisfaction in them that they are the onely ways that perfect a mans nature they are the only ways that are rational he shall more and more see every sin to be a gross absurdity according to that Scriptuture Heb. 5.14 Strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age even those who by reason of use have their sences exercised to discern good and evil And believe it this is an high attainment to have a sense of what is good and excellent and of what is evil and base and to love the first and hate the latter for it self this is certainly the very love and hatred that God himself hath Now though I have allowed that there are these three Gospel-principles of Love and Gratitude Nobleness and Generosity loving and hating things for their own desert which men may arrive at yet I dare not speak a light word of the three first principles mentioned especially of that first viz. of serving God as our Creator which I think wil be an everlasting principle of service after we have received the fullest reward And for those principles of acting in hope of the reward and to avoid Hell I say first as before that they are good and warrantable nay Evangelical principles of action and therefore cannot simply considered be reckoned for legal principles yet perhaps I might say this in agreement with those that make them characters of a legal spirit that if they could be discovered in any person to be the onely principle of action as in Ahab and Pharoah the avoiding the Judgements that they were sensible of to hang over them were visibly the onely motives of their religious acts that person might be adjudged legal But of this more when I come to speak of a Spirit of Bondage which is the next Scripture-Character that I shall give of a Legal Spirit Onely in the mean time I reckon that I have evinced that taking it in the general without that distinctness in which we are to proceed so it is not a sufficient argument nor any argument at all of a Legal Spirit to act towards God for fear of punishment or in hope of the reward I come now to a third Character of a Legal Spirit The third Character of a Legal Spirit and it is this To be under a Spirit of Bondage is an argument of a Legal Spirit That this is an Argument or Character of a Legal Spirit first let us see some Scripture-proof and then I shall come to shew what a Spirit of Bondage is Now for Scripture-proof I think there is no Character of a Legal Spirit plainer in the Scripture then this I reckon indeed that the first viz. That it is external and fleshly in the serâ—ice of God was a plain Scripture-Character but I think this is rather plainer in Gal. 4.22 23. For it is written that Abraham had two sons the one by a bond-maid the other by a free-woman but he who was of the bond-woman was born after the FLESH but he of the free-woman was by promise which things are an Allegory for these are the two Covenants The one from Mount Sinai which gendreth to bondage which is Hagar This is the Law-Covenant Ergo Legalists are under a spirit of Bondage and they that are predominantly or properly said to be under a spirit of Bondage are Legalists the Proposition is convertible by reason that a spirit of Bondage is a property of a Legal spirit Again for a little more Scripture-proof 1. 'T is proved from its contrary the spirit which is contrary to a spirit of Bondage is a spirit of Adoption or Son-ship 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 now this Spirit of Adoption is a peculiar priviledge of the Gospel therefore the spirit of Bondage must belong to the Law Rom. 8.15 For ye have not received the
2,4 was much like that of the Hebrews and therefore there is more of that place quoted in the Hobrews than in the Romans or Galatians Therefore if the Apostle would prove Justification by Faith out of this Scripture he must at least allow it as justifying in that case in which it is particularly used in the original place which was resting upon the providence of God in a time of danger therefore resting upon the providence of God in a time of danger is an act of Faith as justifying even in the dayes of the Gospel therefore there are other acts of Justifying-Faith even in the days of the Gospel besides that of resting upon the blood of Christ 2dly Therefore my great Assertion is That all acts of true Faith justifie though there is I believe some special excellency in that act which respects the blood of Christ but if our Faith be but a right New-Testament-Faith every act of it justifies As under the Old-Testament they that had all things that were essential to an Old-Testament Faith were justified over and over by every renewed act of Faith whether in one kind or another in one case or another One man's Faith shews it self in a time of Famine as Habbakkuk's another in imprisonment as Jonah's and Jeremy's a third in leaving his Countrey when God calls him out as Abraham's or in believing he should have a son born when it was very unlikely in believing he should have him again from the dead after he had killed him with his own hand which was more improbable another's Faith in building an Ark as Noah's another in hiding of Spyes c. So now I say as it was then in the acts of an Old Testament-Faith it is in an answerableness in the days of the New-Testament he whosoever hath all the essentials of a New-Testament-Faith is justified over and over a thousand times according to the renewed acts of Faith if he believe as the Centurion did for his servant or as the woman of Canaan did for her daughter Matth. 16.28 or as the blind men did for themselves as the Hebrews were to do in the power and goodness of God for their deliverance or as the Galatians should have done more in the death and blood of Christ for they did evacuate the death of Christ in the way that they went Gal 2.21 I say they that exercise faith in any of these acts their faith is justifying in every of these acts onely provided that the Faith be a true New-Testament-Faith though I may affirm once for all That there is no true faith in God but in the dayes of the New-Testament after sufficient information will prove a Faith in Christ and of a right New-Covenant strain We see this proved by the event in the Apostles days Acts 13.48 And when the Gentiles heard this they were glad and glorified the Word of the Lord and as many as were ordained to eternal life believed That is saith Dr. Hammond in his Paraphrase all they of the Gentiles that had any care or pursuit of the life to come the Gentile-Proselytes or that were fitly disposed and qualified for the Gospel to take root in received the Doctrine of Christ thus preached to them In his Annotations upon this verse he tells us That this was Mr. Mede's conjecture and that they were already believers So that their conversion was onely this That their Faith which before was a Faith in God now through that disposition and readiness that it had in it to embrace all further discoveries of the Grace of God turned into a Faith in Christ Therefore I may say where-ever there is any act of Faith in God that act is justifying and the reason now why every act of Faith exercised upon one occasion or another doth justifie is this for that it is faith in us that is our Gospel-Righteousness therefore whenever there is an act of this righteousness exerted there must eccho an act of Justification from heaven according to the Law of the New-Covenant which is sealed with the blood of Christ that whosoever believeth on God that justifieth the ungodly or on Christ his Son his Faith is counted to him for righteousness Rom. 4.5 or he shall not be ashamed Rom 10.11 He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life John 3.36 As often therefore as thou dost any action that doth demonstrate this Faith in God or Faith in Christ so often are all thy fins pardoned so often art thou highly approved of God for there are these two things in justification We see Abraham was justified twice according to the express words of Scripture and there is a third act of his Faith recorded his going out of his own Countrey to which I doubt not might be accommodated that Scripture which St. James onely accommodates unto a latter act of Faith though it was in the original place spoken upon occasion of a former that then that Scripture was fulfilled which saith Abraham believed God and it was imputed unto him for righteousness And as Abraham was justified twice yea thrice and that for several sorts of acts of faith and the other instances given both out of the Old and New-Testaments for their various acts of Faith upon very different occasions yet all because they agreed in the general nature of faith so thou Saint whosoever thou art do but live in the actings of faith and thou art an haypy pardoned approved and juscified person All our life therefore should be a life of faith St. Paul lived no other life The life saith he which I now live in the flesh I live by the saith of the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me Gal. 2.20 That distinguishing character one or more saith Mr. John Goodwin in his Banner of Justification displayed p. 37. of justifying-saith which we are at present inquiring after respecteth not the object but the intrinsick nature or complexion of it for at to the object it is variously exprest in the Scripture sometimes it is called a believing God Rom. 43. sometimes a believing on God Joh. 12.44 sometimes a believing on Christ or on the Son of God or on the Lord Act. 11.17 Ioh 3.18 1 Ioh. 5.10 So the object is various onely it must be for the intrinsick nature of it a believing in the heart Rom. 10.9 a believing with the heart ver 10. a believing with all the heart Act. 8.37 a faith unfeigned 1 Tim. 1 5â— a faith working by love and such a faith justifieth in all the acts of it though exercised upon disferent yet proper objects Now I find one Caution necessary to be given upon what I have delivered which is this That what I have said of faith that it justifies in every act of it to the procuring pardon of sins and Divine Approbation doth not at all confound the acts of Faith as if there were not a distinctness to be kept and observed in the actings of Faith as some may have such a
business presently in one word and tell you that it is Doing So far as you seek to get life by doing you are legal they will tell you ye muâ—â— not act for life but from life a mighty distinction with them though quite false And for prooâ—â— they 'l bring you such a Scripture as this Mark 10.17 where the young man came to our Saviour and said What shall I Do that I may inherit Eternaâ— life Which is a question that I suppose might be asked by a good man though he was not good that asked it unless it be asked with such a design as if one thought that the doing good actions might merit heaven by this Divinity of theirs which they have of late spread far and near they have made their followers which I fear are very many think strangely of good works as if they had no influence aâ— all not so much as secondary to the obtaining oâ— our salvaâ—ion and so onely as matters of love and thankfulness from us but not as absolutely necessary unto the pleasing of God and continuing in his favour according to that of our Saviour Joh. 15.9 10. As the Father hath loved me so have I loved you continue in my love How may we do that ver 10. tells us If ye keep my Commandments ye shall abide in my love even as I have kept my Fathers Commandments and abide in his love Yet I would do the Antanomians this right to say that I think they have very many of them aimed honestly that they have lighted upon many Gospel-strains and have done very well in observing that there is a vast difference betwixt serving God with a Legal and with an Evangelical Spirit though they have not been so happy in telling us wherein the difference lies and for the difference which they make the Legal way to lie in Doing the Evangelical way in Believing I confess it hath a great countenance from Scripture as to the sound of words but as they explain their sense I reckon there is a great disagreement from the Scripture As to their sence of the word Believing I shal have some occasion to examin it anon but as to the word Doing in their sense I say at present That though the Scripture seems to express the whole business of Legality in that word Rom. 4 4. Working or Doing yet certainly in a far other sense from their explication of it For the Scripture in that place understands Working or Doing in a strict Law-sense so as to expect a Reward for it of Debt whereas they will tel you if you look upon Works as having any influence upon Justification let the works be what they wil you are so far Legal Now having proved as I suppose their exposition of Working or Doing to be but a false gloss I shall do my endeavour and no more can be expected to deliver the truth in this matter I suppose therefore according to that Text Rom. 4 4. where Legal Works or working are accurately described that Legality lies in Doing any work with this supposition or conceit in my mind that now I have justly obliged God not only by a Justice of performing promise but a Justice of strict distribution according to the natural desert of an action My meaning is best expressed in that commonly known word of Merit he that doth an action to God supposing that he hath now merited a reward from God by distributive Justice The reason why I make prefumtion of Merit the form of Legality is for that reward of Debt is the Characteristical note of a Legal Reward therefore the expectation or presumtion of such a reward ought to be in a Legal Spirit he is Legal in his action and none other It will bepresently said Then there will not be found so many Legal professors as you assert there are for that few amongst us if any at all acknowledge Merits I answer though they do not acknowledge it with their mouths yet this I suppose is the secret Language of their hearts and where it is not let them be free from the imputation of Legality for me I see no rule to condemn them of it though I wil add this I think many men may disown it in words nay and think they are not guilty of it that yet are extreamly guilty such a a secret unsearchable Disease of heart is this of Legality I have perfectly done with the explication or discovery of the Disease in its own nature I shall come anon to give some symptomes of it that are signs and effects of it in the mean time let us see what improvement what observations we can make upon that Anatomical Discovery which was made of the Galatians e'ne now And here 1 Obser first of all I shall observe the strange and unhappy disappointments that the Legal self-Justitiaries meet with the miserable cheat that they put upon themselves They think to mix Law and Gospel they dare not stand to the Law alone they would fain have a little help from the Gospel to eke out their defects in a Legal Righteousness and alas the Gospel turns them off with scorn to the Law onely to be tried and judged by it which wil certainly condemn and devour them 2dly 2 Obser I observe the strange absurdities and self-contradictions which these self-Justitiaries both Jews and Gentils run into in their prosecution of a Legal Righteousness There are no less then four contradictions which the Galatians ran into in this business 1. They would be justified by the Law and yet acknowledged themselves sinners which is a contradiction for it is obvious that the Law must condemn sinners 2. They would be justified by the Law and yet not be bound to do the whole Law whereâ—s the Law hath no other way imaginable to justifie any persons but when they have the works of the Law when they have done the whole Law He that doth them shall live in them 3. They would be justified by the Law and yet have benefit by Christ and his death whereas Christ â—ras not the Minister of Circumcision Christ came into the world and dyed because the Law was broken and could not justifie 4. See the greatest of contradictions imaginable They would be justifisied by the Law and yet profess the Gospel and the way of Grace therefore the Apostle convinceth them with this Argument If ye seek Justification by the Law ye are fallen from Grace Rom. 11.6 If by Grace then it is no more of works yet all these absurdities and contradictions the Galatians swallowed that they might go on with their way of Works which they were so greedy after and addicted to besides all those evident arguments both general and of more particular concernment to them which they went against though they had received the Spirit by the Gospel though miracles were done amongst them in confirmation of the Gospel neither of which attended the Law though they had done and suffered so many things
will not like this neither and it is because it is the duty of the Creature to serve its Creator whether he promiseth any reward or no. Now this will not look neither like a Gospel-principle being the very Law of Creation Well then what principles will they suggest for Gospel-principles Why such as these Love and Ingenuity and Gratitude and apprehending an excellency in the wayes of God Now I confess these are good principles and these are right Gospel-principles the fruit of the Spirit is love And we love him because he loved us first 1 John 4.19 which is gratitude Shall we continue in sin because we are not under the Law but under Grace and that so Grace may abound God forbid This were highly disingenuons Rom. 6.1.15 And in keeping thy Commandments there is great reward Psal 19.11 There is a sight of the excellency of the precept But pray observe that where nobleness and ingenuity is the onely Principle of Actions there is no necessity for any thing to be done at all for actions of nobleness and ingenuity and gratitude come under no Law but are left free to the Agent to do or not to do only that hereby as he doth them or not the Agent will discover whether he be of an unworthy Spirit or no. And thus these men have brought things to a fair pass that God is to be served under the Gospel onely upon courtesie so that any that will may slip their neck out of Christs yoke and their back from under his burthen or else they must acknowledge that men ought to serve God because there is a MUST upon it 't is our duty as Creatures if we will not there is an Hell to punish but to encourage you in it if you will there is an Heaven to reward And what if a Legal Spirit go to work with these principles ONELY as indeed I think he hath no other and that he may have all these in a degree viz. the sense of his Obligation as a Creature the fear of Hell and some general hope of Heaven I say What if he may have all these principles are they evertheless good or unsuitable to the Gospel because he useth them If he used them to good ends or used them aright they would do him good as well as they do others good the reason why these do him no good is for that in the use of the same principles in the general which a good man may use A Legallist hath always these three gross defects that undo him Three ruining defects in the service of a Legallist First though the hope of Heaven in general as a place of happiness may somewhat quicken him in what he doth yet he hath no true notion or apprehension of Heaven that the happiness of it consists chiefly in likeness to God in holiness which if it were his notion of Heaven he could not find in his heart to desire it much less to endeavour after it The second gross defect is this All the endeavours that he makes to please God in one thing or in another as I have instanced in several wayes never reach to a thorough heart-work whereas that is the chief thing that God looks after because he is a Spirit the Father of Spirits And the lastthing is this That yet for all this slightiness hypocrifie of a Legal Spirit the very rule that he proceeds by in his expectations of his Reward is That God is bound to give it him as having well deserved it at his hands Now what though a Legallist may make use of the same principles that an Evangelical Spirit doth unsuccessfully yet what should hinder but the Evangelical Worshipper may use the same principles rightly and with acceptation from God May not a good thing be abused or not rightly used And doth this destroy the nature of it Let us now a little examine the word Mercenary because indeed it sounds harshly as if it were a low principle for a Christran to act towards God by and then we will see briefly what other Principles there are in conjunction with it in every true Saint of God The word Mercenary founds so ill meerly from the common usage of it not so much from the Etymology or native signification the Natural signification of it is when any one acts for wages or for a reward the use of it is when a man that is engaged to do courtifies or at least stands not in any need to receive courtesies will yet do no good turns for any without a good reward in his hand or well assured to him nay perhaps will do any mischief if he may be well rewarded so that Mercenariness is a Vice alwaies contrary to Nobleness that is more free to do than receive courtesies and often contrary to justice but now this Mercenariness especially as contrary to nobleness is a Vice onely or chiefly amongst equals and those that stand not in need of one another as for those that are far inferiour it is pride with them to be unwilling to receive courresies or rewards for wherefore are any advanced in place but that they may do good to those that are below them 'T is no dishonour at all for a poor man that wants bread to hire our his labour for a reward nor for a child that is bound to do what his facher commands to be encouraged by any reward that his father proposeth to any action Now let us apply these things to the bufiness before us and we shall see how ill or how well Mercenariness becomes us in our service of God First of all we are not here to consider the Saints as doing evill things for a reward that is the worst Mercenariness of all no but they serve God for a reward Now wherein can the sordidness of this Spirit lye is it that we need not to receive courtesies at the hands of God or that we cannot endure to receive a courtesie which we know we are not able to requite Such a struin of nobleness there is sometimes found amongst men out if we should aim at such a strain of nobleness with God How will such men ever offer to receive heaven especially when they did not work for it which makes it far more obliging Truely in my minde it is very high pride for a poor creature that is poor and blind and naked and in want of all things that when God offers to supply his poverty to cure his blindness to cover his nakedness he shall not be exceedingly over-joyed at it and seeing that these supplies are of this nature that they cannot be compleatly obtained till we come to heaven nor yet certainly obtained except we persevere whilest we are here to labour after them it seems a strange wantonness to me that men should not labor and own it that they do labour for them as the command is No fault in labouring for the reward except it be for the reward of a debt Labour for
that meat which perisheth not John 6.27 3. The truth is I cannot apprehend any fault in this principle of acting for a reward except it should have that formality or Quatenus in it that it is for a reward as of debt Doth the Scripture any where complain of any of the servants of God that they served him for what they got by him Or forbid them to serve him for this reason because they got by him 'T is true our Saviour upbraids some of his Followers that they followed him because of the Loaves John 6 26. But if they had been followers as well of his Doctrine and Life as they were of his bodily presence though it had been as well for the Loaves of Bread for a natural life as of the Bread of Life from Heaven they had never received such a check 'T is onely an accusation made by the Devil that Job served God for what he got by him Doth Job serve God for nought Hast not thou made a Hedge about him c. Job 1.9 10 11. And what if Job did serve God for this reason partly Is it not better to serve God for something then to serve the Devil for nothing but lying-pleasures and Hell at last But as I intimated before so now I affirm That no true Saint of God acts towards God onely from this principle of self-Self-love there are other Gospel-principles that are in the heart of every Saint more or less as love to God ingenuity gratitude yea there are in some strains of highest nobleness and generosity We love God saith the Apostle 1 John 4.19 because he loved us first there is Love and Gratitude Shall we sin that Grace may abound God forbid This I have said to be ingenuity There have been Saints that have demonstrated to all the World that they did not serve God barely for a reward either for a temporal reward no nor for that which is Eternal in some strains of obedience for the temporal reward I think all the Saints do usually discover this because they look upon it as their portion when they come into the service of God to meet with sufferings in the World and there is an evident instance for this in Job whom God made an example of the greatest outward yea and inward troubles too in a great measure for this very end as one great reason that he might make the Devil a lyar who accused Job to have served God only for these many blessings which the Lord had conferred upon him as we may see in the 9.10 11. ver of that 1. of Job Put forth thine hand saith the Devil to the Lord and touch all that he hath and he will curse thee to thy face which yet Job never did though yet the Lord did more against Job then here Satan desired to have done But I shall touch at higher instances they are those of Moses and St. Paul The first of which was content to have his Name blot ted out of the Book of life Exod. 32. the other to be acoursed from Christ Rom. 9.1 2 3. each for their Brethren their Kinsfolk according to the flesh that so God might be glorified in their salvation Ergo whilst these men were thus spirited they served God rather for his glory then for their own salvation for they that would fain have been instrumental to serve others by their preaching and exhortations and yet were content for their sakes so they might be saved not to be saved themselves did not serve God in preaching to men for their own salvation onely chiefly nor indeed at all whilst they are thus considered Here you see I acknowledge thus much to the Antinomians and I think I meet them half way and I would it might satisfie them I acknowledg that no Saint acts to God purely from a Principle of self-love there are other good Principles in association with it and in the next place I acknowledge that some Saints may act at least in some strains so nobly so generously as to serve God faithfully and yet not mind their own salvation at all witness Moses and Saint Paul and Job as to temporal good things at least But yet upon these instances of Saint Paul and Moses Moses and St. Paul their nobleness in serving â—od I would make these Observations 1. That high strain in which they both met was but occasional and upon a supposition it was no constant rule by which they walked Moses's strain was this That if God would destroy his people he should e'ne destroy him too if he would not pardon their sin in making the calf he should e'ne blot his name out of the Book of life there was such a near conjunction betwixt himself and his flock or people that he could not endure to out-live them nay perhaps that he did not desire to go to heaven without a considerable number of them here was as it were a provocation to his noble love of his countreymen But I would fain know how this strain could be any rule to Moses in his walking Or whether it signifies thus much That he did not for his own particular in his conversation endeavour to please God with this design partly that he might obtain eternal life Nay is it not expresly said of Moses Hebr. 11.29 That he had respect unto the recompence of reward So I might say of Saint Pauls action that it was a strain onely upon a supposition which supposition not coming to pass nor possible could be no ground for a Series of actions For this was St Pauls action upon supposition that the Jews might be saved by his damnation he was content to be accursed from Christ which was a supposition impossible that for the sake of a man that had been and still was a sinner thousands of sinners should be pardoned and saved 2. It is not perfectly out of question Whether Moses his action were warrantable I have seen Commentators who say that This great zeal of his might have some mixture of corrupt passion in it which might make him to speak unadvisedly with his lips Psal 106.33 And methinks there is some sign of a reproof of this expression of Moses in the very place where he speaks it Exod. 2.32 For that the Lord in the next verse seems to repeat Moses his words with a reflection upon them as when any is angry at expressions they wil be apt to repeat them again with a displeasure vers 33. And the Lord said unto Moses whosoever hath sinned against me him will I blot out of my book Why shouldst thou desire to be blotted out So I might perhaps aggravate Saint Pauls action Why should he desire to be accursed from Christ that others might be blessed by Christ Why should he express his love to the Jews in such an high instance especially when it could stand them in no stead Nay for my part I know not whether it be lawful for any man to be content for any ones sake to
spirit of bondage again to fear but ye have received the spirit of Adoption whereby we cry Abba Father which I shall make bold to Paraphrase thus Ye have not now under the Gospel received the spirit of Bondage again as ye did under the Law for some of these Romans to whom he writes were Jews but ye have received the spirit of Adoption whereby both you and I for the person is changed and all Gospel-Saints cry Abba Father The Law SO FAR as it did reign over the spirits of good people in the days of the Old-Testament brought them under a spirit of Bondage SO FAR and therefore the veâ— same Saints that now were under a Spirit of Adoption by the Gospel yet had been under â— spirit of Bondage in the times of the Law in a great measure unless we will make the person YEE to signifie specifically not numericall that is of Saints like them of the same Nation in times past and not of those very Saints iâ— person to whom he writes but which way sâ—â—ver understood it asserts that the Saints of Goâ— in the times of the Old Testament were in 〈◊〉 great measureunder a spirit of bondage through the darkness of the Dispensation which argues that for those that were under the Law wholly they were certainly under a severe Bondage from the Law and so that this may very well be made a Character of a Legal spirit I am not ignorant that there is another interpretation given of this Scripture by some yet very agreeable with this that I here give viz. That in every work of conversion there is a legal conviction which they call a Spirit of Bondage which goes before faith and that after a man hath truely believed he never receives or returns to a spirit of Bondage again But I think this is not the genuine interpretation onely it may be allowed for true in a great measure and I might borrow strength from it for my present purpose for that this spirit of Bondage in this interpretation is the effect or the work of the Law only but of this the Reader may see more in the 41. page of the foregoing discourse I come now to shew what a spirit of Bondage is now this discovers it self in the very name Bondage or Slavery as also by its opposition to a spirit of Adoption or Son-ship they that are under it serve not God as children serve a father but as slaves serve a cruel master again it is notified to us by the inseparable companion of this spirit and that is fear Ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and that which is here called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is in the 2 Tim. 1.7 called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a spirit of fear God hath not given to us saith the Apostle that is under the Gospel a spirit of fear but of power of love and of a sound minde A Gospel spirit is a spirit of love a Legal spirit is a spirit of fear I shall give onely one Scripture more for this that is 1 John 4.17 18 19. Herein is our love made perfect that we may have boldness in the day of judgement because as he is saith the Apostle so are we in this world There is no fear in love but perfect love casteth out fear because fear hath torment he that seareth is not made perfect in love We love him because he first loved us Here I collect and argue We that is We Saints converted by the Gospel have all of us a principle of Love which is quite contrary to that of fear We shall have boldness in the day of Judgement and this we have some fore-tasts of in this world for that spirit which is opposed to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a spirit of Bondage to fear is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a spirit of Love and Son-ship or Adoption which hath an holy boldness in it Hebr. 4.16 and teacheth us to call God Father But on the contrary the Legal spirit hath no such boldness in the presence of God but is alwaies silled with a tormenting fear and horrour at the thoughts of God even as the Devils are in a great degree who believe and tremble and as Cain was who when he could have no rest in his spirit went forth from the presence of the Lord which he could not endure and fell to building a city in probability to drown the noise of his Conscience which else would still have rung in his ears and allarm'd him with this dreadful sentence My punishment is greater than I can beâ—â— or my sin is greater than can be forgiven Perfect love casteth out fear then such as is the proportion aâ—â— degree of Love to God to such proportion and degree 〈◊〉 the tormenting fear of God abated Yet here I must needs acquaint the Reader that there is another exposition of this Text which I think is very allowable if not more genuine than the former that is that perfect love to God casteth out all anxious and solicitous fear of suffering and persecution for God's Cause I shall transcribe somwhat of Dr. Hammond upon the place ver 17. Herein is our love made perfect that we may have boldness in the day of Judgement because as he is so are we in this world which he first thus translates In this the love with us is perfected that we have boldness and then paraphraseth thus In this the perfection of that love which is to be found in a Christian consists that in a time of danger when we are brought before Judges and may probably lose our lives for confessing of Christ then we retain courage and cheerfulness and confess him willingly that we behave our selves in this world as Christ did when he was here that is lay down our lives in testification of the truth ver 18. there is no fear in love that is saith he such love as this which was in Christ hath no fear in it Christ ventured and under-went the utmost even death it self for us I need transcribe no more But yet I think I may argue strongly even from this Exposition that which I aim at viz. that a Gospel-spirit is free from slavish fear of God at least in a great measure for still the love spoken of in this text it is love to God this love to God is a great Gospel-principle as appears in the text Now can any bear a great love to any person and yet have a slavish fear a tormenting fear of that person at the same time For my part I think love and fear with respect to the same person are very near as opposite as love and hatred and a tormenting slavish fear of any person cannot long be without a great degree of hatred Is it not a famous question in the Politiques concerning the security of a Prince An praestat timeri quam diligi Whether it be more safe for a Prince to be loved or feared of his Subjects
Brtvis differentia inter legem Evangelium est â—mor amâ—â— Aquina August Which things if they were not in consistent the question would need no decision Again take the Exposition last given that perfect love to God casteth out all fear of men it fills us with courage and resolution so that we are afraid of no sufferings whatsoever Yet is it possible that a man should from the extraordinary inflammedness of his love to God be full of boldness and courage in the day of Judgement that is the day of hottest trials and persecutions fear nothing because it is for God whom he loves dearly and that for this very reason that he loved him first upon terms of gratitude and yet that this man should have his Spirit contracted and oppressed at the same time with a tormenting fear of the God for whom he suffers I have argued before that his love to God would not suffer such a tormenting fear of God I argue now that the expansion and enlargedness of heart and soul in his courage and boldness for God is inconsistent with that contraction of spirit which a slavish fear of God at the same time must needs cause A man that hath his spirit broken by the tormenting fear of God can have no courage before men at all Every man that meeteth me will kill me saith Cain when a slavish terror of God had seized upon him The sinners in Sion are afraid fearfulness hath surprized the Hypocrites Isa 33.14 Why what is the matter it follows Who among us shall dwell with devouring fire Who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings When men have a sense of the Wrath of God towards them which is the cause of this slavish fear it sills them with fearfulness and terror in all things else they begin to be afraid of their own shadow Therefore this boldness in the day of man's judgement here spoken of must suppose first some boldness in the presence of God and so the sense of the text runs clear There is no fear in Love where a man loves God heartily and especially out of a love of Gratitude because God loved him first that soul hath boldness and courage in all his sufferings The Righteous is bold as a Lyon Prov. 28.1 But the wicked fleeth when none pursueth If God be for us saith the good man who can be against us Who shall separate us saith the Apostle from the love of Christ Shall tribulation or persecution or famine or nakedness or peril or sword c. In all these things and can there be greater in the day of man's Judgement we are more then Conquerors through him that loved us Rom. 8.35 36. Here is a couragious fearless Love but whence is it spirited but from the sense of the Love of God No soul pressed with a slavish fear of God could have uttered these triumphant expressions * And I think that according to this second Exposition of this place in Iohn's Epistle is that Scripture to be interpreted 2 Tim. 1.7 For God hath not given us the spirit of fear timidity or cowardice but of power of love and of a sound mind which is thus paraphrased by a Commentator Surely that God that gave us this Commission and Gifts for the Ministry hath not given thee or me so poor a cowardly spirit as that we should be afraid of the dangers and threats of men against the preaching of the Gospel but couragious hearts to encounter any difficulty a love of God which will actuate this Valour and cast out all fear of danger and withall a tranquility of mind and a full contentedness in whatsoever estate 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Spirit of sobriety then it follows fully and clearly in countenance of this Exposition ver 8. Be not thou therefore ashamed of the â—estimony of our Lord nor of me his prisoner but be thou partaker of the afflictions of the Gospel according to the power of God Now whereas I have used these two Scriptures in the Epistle to Tim. and that of Iohn in another sense above then what I conceive is the most genuine yet still in a sense consistent with that which is genuine the reason was not for want of Scriptures to prove what I intended but for that these Scriptures are used by others in the first sence and might well be used so allusively and for that I had no such way to restare them to their true interpretation as first by allowing them the accommodation of that other sense and then shewing that this latter is the more proper But here I must make a twofold distinction of fear viz. in the kinds and in the degrees of it The first distinction of fear 1. In the kinds there is a lawful and acceptable yea necessary fear of God and there is an unlawful or at least unacceptable fear of God The first is that awe we are to have of the Divine Majesty as we are creatures and with which we are commanded to work out our own salvation even with fear and trembling Phil. 2.22 This signifies no mor but the creature keeping its due distance knowing its place and condition of a creature having a due sence of the weighty concernment and importance of that salvation which we are to work out considering the danger we escape and the prize we press forward unto these considerations make us greatly in earnest 't is no trifling business we are about and therefore we do it and are to do it with fear and trembling and greatest circumspection So the Apostle Paul saith he was conversant amongst the Corinthians in fear and great trembling 1 Cor. 2.3 which say Commentators may signifie not onely his fear from persecution but those which did arise from the consideration of the greatness of his Work of saving souls This fear now is lawful and commendable and so far from being contrary to love as it may very well proceed from love love to our selves when we are working out our salvation and love to others when we are helping onward their salvation But then there is a slavish fear of God in the spirits of men which doth not further but extreamly hinder the working out of their salvation This fear we find in the sloathful servant that never set upon improving his Masters Talent but laid it up in a Napkin and when his Master called him to an account for his Talent he tells his Master plainly what was the reason he never so much as endeavoured to improve it For IFEARED thee saith he because thou art an austere man thou takest up that thou laidest not down and reapest that thou didst not sow Lu. 19.21 22. Thus every Legallist hath at the bottom of his heart if not in his mouth as this man in the parable hath strange prejudices and mis-representations of God which beget slavish tormenting fear within him at the thoughts of God and therefore may well be called as it is most appositely
Spirit of Christ being throughly convinced of the righteousness of the Law the truth of its threatning the Nature and Offices Sufficiency and Excellency of Jesus Christ his free offer to all that will accept of him for their Lord and Saviour doth hereupon believe the truth of this Gospel and accept of Christ as his only Lord and Saviour to bring him to God his chiefest good and doth accordingly rest on him as his Saviour and SINCERELY though imperfectly OBEY him as his Lord FORGIVING OYHERS LOVING HIS PEOPLE BEARING WHAT SUFFERINGS ARE IMPOSED c. and all this sincerely and to the end This is part of his desinition of Faith Again Mr. Baxter in another place pag. 238. Thesis 62. according to this definition of Faith tells us That Faith may be called the onely condition of the New-Covenant for two reasons 1. Because it is the principal condition and the other but the less principal and so as an whole Countrey hath ost its Name from a chief City so may the conditions of this Covenant from Faith 2. Because all the rest are reducible to it either being presupposed as necessary antecedents or means or contained in it as its parts properties or modifications or else implyed as its immediate product or necessary subservient means or consequents And so full to the same purpose Thesis 73. pag. 280. Thus we see by Scripture and according to the opinion of a very learned and good man that Faith is not onely the first Grace in order but a very operative Grace and was in its own nature exceedingly sitted for that service which God hath in much Wisdom and Prudence appointed it unto But thirdly 〈…〉 there is yet a more proper reason then either of these why Faith should be chosen for this uses and that is for that Faith is a self-emrying Grace to live by Faith is to live purely in dependance upon God and Christ for every thing and what fitter instrument or condition of Justification could be chosen after the fall of man when it was most reasonable that if God would save a man he should have all the glory Doth not the Apostle insist mightily upon this both in his Doctrine and particular practice Justification now saith he is not of works lest any man should boast Eph. 2.9 But by Grace are ye saved through Faith So Nom. 3.27 Where is boasting then it is excluded By what Law Of works Nay but by the Law of Faith This is St. Paul's Doctrine Then for his practice For my part saith he I am crucified with Christ I am a poor dead thing Nevertheless I live yet not I or no longer I 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but Christ liveth in me and the life that I live is by Faith in Christ Gal. 2.20 Now that St. Paul is come to live the life of Faith he is nothing Christ is all he is dead and liveth not Christ onely liveth in him So that you see Faith besides all its other excellencies hath a peculiar fitness for this service of justifying a sinner and yet notwithstanding all these excellent qualities that are to be found in Faith it could not have justified without a Divine ordination and appointment Now for any to say as some do that Love justifies as much as Faith nay that God doth rather approve of a man for his Love then for his Faith is methinks very bold and unscriptural Divinity I shall onely adde a word of testimony out of Mr. Baxter to this last particular and so conclude the question and all the questions which I have to propose about Justification Pag. 231. of his Aphorisms he hath these words If God had seen meet to have stamped any thing else to pass for Justification it would have passed currantly yet take this Faith is even to our own apprehension the most apt and suitable condition that GOD COULD have chosen for as far as we can reach to know there cannot be a more apt or rational condition pag. 232. This is the most self-denying and Christ-advancing Work Nothing could be more proportionable to our poverty who have nothing to buy with than thus freely to receive c. I have now done with all the Questions which I thought any ways necessary to be spoken to for the more particular and distinct unfolding of the Doctrine of Justification and I might here shut up the Discourse with the Uses of the whole But before I come to the Uses I judge it convenient to add somewhat by way of Appendix concerning the means or way how Justification came to be transferred from the Law to the Gospel or from Works to Faith for that I have acknowledged that Works and the Law were the first natural way of justifying men but now that it is altogether brought about by Grace and Faith That which I have to say I shall introduce with this objection If we were all born under the Law Object and bound to obey it to a tittle upon which obedience it should have justified us but upon the least breach was armed with this threatning That we should dye the death and that we have all broken it how comes it to pass that we are not all the Laws Captives and Prisoners and condemned by it How came there such easie gracious terms to be offered us for our justification as Faith and sincere obedience that these shall be accepted instead of perfect unerring obedience How will this way be for the honor of God's veracity in the threatning or his holiness to take imperfect sinful creatures into favour Now in answer to this objection I shall not need to meddle with that question Answ whether it were inconsistent with the natural Justice or Holiness of God considered as antecedent to his threatning or Decree of punishing sinners with death for him to have pardoned sinners by an absolute Power and Soveraign Grace and so to have received them into favour upon their repentance without the intervention of a Saviour But in the first place seeing there was adecree passed In the day that thon eatest thou shalt dye the death Gen. 2.17 I see not how it was consistent with the veracity of God to remit the sinner without any consideration at all without a very considerable fulfilling of this threatning 2dly The threatning therefore was fulfilled these several ways 1. Upon man himself in a great measure for that presently upon man's fall insued his mortality and all the inconveniences and troubles which we meet with in the World which are the fore-runners and causes of our dissolution But secondly and especially the great God in infinite Wisdom and Mercy provided a Saviour one mighty to save that should come into the world in the fulness of time about the 4000th year of the World the World being to last but perhaps 7000. years in all and free us that were born under the Law and by our sins made obnoxious to the curse of it from the curse and power of the Law