whom it is upon ministring supplies to the necessities of their Brethrens outward man if there be power in their hand It 's oft seen thus with men That when such whom they love and honour and from whom they have received extraordinary favours are above their Requitals yet then in testimony of their true Respects to them will shew kindness to and bestow gifts upon their Servants that wait upon them 1 Sam. 25.27 41. 2 King 5.17 And so it is with those that truly love and honour the Lord Jesus He indeed is exalted above the contributions of their worldly substance but yet is well contented that such of his poor servants as have need should partake of it and will take it every whit as kindly as if it had been given to himself Mat. 25.40 hereupon they expresse their love to him by their love to his Servants for his sake by refreshing their bowels when hungry and thirsty and cloathing them when bare and naked dispersing that among them which they would have been ready to have offered unto him if his condition now as sometime had made him capable of it Psal 16.2 3. My goodness extendeth not to thee but to the Saints that are in the earth and to the excellent in whom is all my delight When he could not reach the Lord with his goodness benefit or bounty then he applies himself to his Servants Friends and Favorites whom he could reach and communicates to them Men may talk of their love to Christ and how much they are beholding to him and how ready they would be to dye for him if called to it but if in the mean while they see the true Friends and Servants of Jesus Christ in need of relief and yet shut up the bowels of their compassion against them it may well be demanded How dwelleth the love of God in them 1 John 3.17 There 's neither resemblance of that love which is in God who when the worlds necessity called for it parted with his Son to supply their need nor yet any true signe or token of love to God when those whom he loves so well as he does his Friends shall not be regarded pityed and supplied in their need when power and opportunity to do it are present Indeed such a bowel-less hard-hearted close-fisted temper is that which renders men very unlike to God very unlike to Jesus Christ who though he were rich yet became poor for our sakes that we through his poverty might be made rich 2 Cor. 8.9 And it is a plain argument they never had much to do with the love of God the love of Christ as to come under any strong sence or powerful influence of it for if they had it would have transformed them into its own likenesse Let them talk what they will of their trust in God and Faith in Christ yet this merciless temper layes them open to that judgment which shall be without mercy James 2.13 and consequently their Faith will be far from interessing them in the pardoning mercies of God or saving merits of Jesus Christ I cannot now stand to shew how much the heart of Christ is in this Christian work of bounty and beneficence nor how much of the Christian Religion lies in it which if I should undertake the Scriptures would be found to speak much this way only let this be remembred that as love to one another is the badg of Christs Disciples John 13.35 so their bounty and readiness to give according to their ability is the proof of the sincerity of this their love 2 Cor. 8.8 24. Where the Apostle encouraging these Corinthians to be bountiful in ministring to the Saints saith he did it to prove the sincerity of their love verse 8. Wherefore saith he again shew ye to them and before the Churches the proof of your love Verse 24. Sect. 14 Nor are the tents of the Saints the only sphear in which Faith acts in this way of love and bounty but its influences flow out to all men as it hath opportunity As I said at the first Faith eying God in his love to men and in the way of its working takes its pattern from thence to cause those in whom it is to be followers of God as dear Children and to walk in love Ephes 5.1 2. and therefore finding that God is not only loving kind and bountiful to the good and to the holy but that his tender mercies are over all his works and that he is kind to the unthankful and to the evil and that he maketh his Sun to rise on the evil and on the good and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust Psalm 145.9 Luke 6.35 Mat. 5.45 it inclines and draws the man in whom this Faith is in imitation of his Heavenly Father to love enemies to blesse them that curse him to do good to those that hate him to feed them when hungry to give them drink when thirsty according to the mind of the Lord in this behalf Mat. 5.44 Rom. 12.20 And because Faith thus works where it is in truth and power as being nothing lesse then what is expresly commanded of the Lord all whose commands Faith makes men very careful to observe therefore are the Christians that they might shew forth their Faith by their works so frequently provoked and exhorted to do good to be merciful charitable and compassionate to all only with this item that the choice and chief of their contributions of relief must be reserved for such as are of the houshold of Faith Gal. 6.10 As we have therefore opportunity let us do good unto all men especially unto them who are of the houshold of Faith 1 Thes 3.12 And the Lord make you to increase and abound in love one towards another and towards all men even as we do towards you 1 Thes 5.15 See that none render evill for evill unto any man but ever follow that which is good both among your selves and to all men 2 Cor. 9.13 Whilst by the experiment of this ministration they glorifie God for your professed subjection unto the Gospel of Christ and for your liberal distribution unto them and unto all men Sect. 15 7. And if you would have your distributions to the poor Saints and others in need amount unto a clear proof and evidence of the truth of your love to them and so of the soundness of your Faith shewing it self by such works James 2.18 then carefully see to it that your bounty and your ability hold some good proportion For if a man be niggardly and sparing in his Alms-giving and makes a little go a great way is able to do much and yet does very little he will not be able to discern whether what he does proceed from any inward principle of love and good affection or from-some motive from without as viz. because others do so or to get himself eased of the trouble of being solicited the case of the unjust Judge in doing that which was just
same Inheritance But alas If the fore-mentioned steps of Abrahams Faith as troden by his Children do discriminate the Faith of the right kind from that which is of another race how many mens Faith who call Abraham Father will hereby be discovered to be but Bastardly and such as will never make good their title to the Inheritance which God hath promised to Abraham and his spiritual seed Does the Call of God back'd with a Promise by means of Abrahams Faith taking hold of the Promise with one hand and of the Command with the other draw him out of his own Country from his ancient Acquaintance Kindred and Fathers house which otherwise were lawful enjoyments What then shall we think of their Faith who though the Lord give forth Command upon Command back'd with great and precious Promises on purpose to draw men not out of their own Country but out of their ill Company out of their Intemperance and Excess out of their Uncleanness out of their Covetous practices out of their Pride and ridiculous fashions out not only of prophane Swearing and filthy Talking but out of light vain frothy frivolous Discourse and Communication out of their lukewarmness heartlessness and deadness in Religion and yet for all that are not drawn out of these unprofitable sinful and vain wayes unto this day Can any thing be plainer than this That either they have no Faith at all or that the Faith they have is of a bastard kind and such as shall never inherit Both they and their Faith must be judged of by their Works If they were Abrahams Children they would do the Works of Abraham but seeing they do the Works of the Devil they thereby plainly prove themselves to be his Children and not Abrahams as Christ who could not be mistaken hath told them Joh. 8.39.44 These as the unregenerate Jews that lived under the Word and Ordinances of God and yet were not renewed to God by them would needs claim from Abraham but Christ you see hath found them out another Father O that all such would therefore be perswaded now while it is called to day to take fast hold of the Commands of Jesus Christ made very pleasant and acceptable by the huge Promises that are annexed to them which would then certainly draw them out of their vain Conversation Shall Abrahams Faith enable him at Gods Command to offer to him his only and beloved Son Isaac and shall not thine enable thee to part with thy only beloved Lust Doest thou think thou hast more to say why thou shouldest not part with thy sin than Abraham had why he should not part with his Son If not then either cease flattering thy self as if thou wert one of Abrahams Children and Heir to the same Promise or else cease from thy vain and sinful wayes that thou mayest be so indeed CHAP. IX Shewing that it hath been the common and universal Property of the Faith of Gods Elect both in former and latter Ages of the World as well to depend upon and so to be ordered by the counsels commands and directions of God touching the way to life as upon his grace power and promise for life it self and that it is the highest point of Wisdom in men so to do And that mens mistrust of the suparlative goodness of Gods wayes counsels and commands and putting more confidence in their own proceeds from their mistrust of his power wisdom or good-will towards them in relation to their happiness Sect. 1 HAving shewed the nature of Abrahams Faith in the Properties and Effects of it and after what manner it disposed him in his deportment towards God and how the same is set forth as a pattern unto all men of that kind of Faith by which Justification is to be had let us now also take a further view of the same grace of Faith as it hath shewed it self acting its part in other of the Saints alwayes carrying in our eye along with us our own Faith and comparing it with theirs to see whether it affects and acts us as theirs did them as undoubtedly it will if it be of the same nature and kind with theirs For as all men in all Nations and Generations are of one bloud Acts 17.26 so all Saints in all Nations and Generations are in the general of our Faith Ephes 4.5 And as the one hath the same motion and operation in reference to the life Natural in all men so hath the other the same influence and operation in reference to the life Spiritual in all Saints Now then that which hath been in a manner as Natural to the Faith of all the Saints as the motion of the bloud in the veins is to all living men is this viz. To be verily perswaded that as happiness and salvation are assuredly to be had from God so the certain way not to miss of it but to receive it upon his Promise is and hath been still to eye his counsels and to follow the guidance of his directions and commands in all things as the direct way leading thereunto And the truth is for the creature man to be thus acted and steered in his dependance upon his God is the most rational thing under heaven and most connatural to that principle of understanding and light which God hath placed in men For first God by his preventing grace in propounding gracious terms and vouchsafing convenient and sufficient means of salvation unsought for on mans part hath given a plentiful proof and clear demonstration of his love and good-will to men and of his desire of their salvation And then secondly Having so done what is more rational than for men to be fully confident that the Lord will put them upon nothing advise them nothing command them nothing but what doth certainly tend to and perfectly consist with their chief good Will any tender Mother put her dearly beloved Child upon any thing but what tends to his good Or if she should would it not argue either want of Wisdom or of Love in her or both A want of neither of which are in God And then Thirdly If men are or have cause to be confident that God will advise or enjoyn them nothing but what hath a true and real tendency to their salvation which is his design towards them and that which he seeks after Is it not then most reasonable and the greatest wisdom in men to commit themselves to the guidance of God and to acquiess in his wisdom and love As being confident that that being truly followed will lead and bring them to that salvation which God hath offered and they desire and seek after It hath been in this Faith and confidence That the Saints from time to time have sincerely followed God which way soever he hath led them and not been turned out of his way by the greatest dangers or sufferings that could befal them from the hand of men as judging his Will and Counsel made known to them as to be
say that love covereth a multitude of sins Prov. 10.12 1 Pet. 4.8 and so it does as in other respects so when such applications proceed from soul-Soul-love as by which a man is converted from the error of his way and so his sins come to be covered or not imputed by God James 5.19 20. Sect. 10 2. And where mens souls are loved and their salvation longed after which is the best kind of love and the most God-like there there will be a great deal of care and tenderness used that nothing be done or spoken that may prove a snare a stumbling-block or an occasion of sin to others and to hide such things from them as through their weakness might harden them against any good or in any evil wayes And therefore those that are enriched with this love are wont to consider not only what is in it self lawful for them to do but how it will stand with the edification of others and what use they are like to make of it The Apostle saith that Knowledge puffeth up but love edifieth 1 Cor. 8.1 Knowledge where it is alone by it self without love makes men lofty and disdainful towards others But love edifieth that is it disposeth the person in whom it is to use his knowledge in such a way as will tend to or at least consist with the edification of others and not their prejudice It is a fine expression which we have to this purpose 1 Cor. 13.4 where he saith that Charity is not rash so it is in the margine is not puffed up It is not rash no it is a tender grace it makes a man look about him before he does many things and to consider where they may light and whereto they may tend and what use may be made of them and is wonderful fearful of doing any body any harm in the affairs of their souls Upon account whereof their own liberty and outward accomodation many a time suffers suspension as it fell out in the holy Apostle Pauls case who would take no money of some Churches but rather labour with his hands when he perceived his taking of money which was otherwise lawful for him would not tend to the furtherance of the Gospel in mens souls 1 Cor. 9.14 15 18. 1 Thes 2.6 9. 2 Thes 3.8 9. The like was about eating and not eating of meats while the lawfulness and unlawfulness thereof was under disputation and is concluded to be against the law of love for men to use their known liberty in such things when the use of it shall endanger a Brothers edification or probably betray him into any sin I may not insist at large on these things or descend further to particulars but only give general hints See 1 Cor. 8.9 13. and 10.23 33. Romans 14.13 23. Sect. 11 3. Furthermore If Faiths contemplation upon the love of God to men imprints the similitude of his love upon the soul as I have formerly shewed it does Then as it fils the soul with the love of pity and compassion to sinners in conformity to Gods love and compassion towards them which I have shewed already so does it also dispose the soul to a love of complacency delight and dear affection towards all the Saints in conformity to Gods love to them who taketh pleasure in his people Psal 149.4 The Father he loves the Saints because they love his Son which is the delight of his soul Joh. 16.27 For the Father himself loveth you because ye have loved me and have beleeved that I came out from God And without doubt every one whose Soul cleaveth to Christ out of the knowledg and sence he hath of the worth and loveliness of him and of the great benefit that comes by him cannot but take pleasure in all those that are true lovers of him and faithful and cordial Friends to him As it is the property of Saints to love the Saints so it is upon Christs score they do it because they love him and Christ loves them Mark 9.41 For whosoever shall give you a cup of water to drink in my name because ye belong to Christ verily I say unto you he shall not loose his reward Plainly implying that expressions of love from one Christian to another where the love is right Christian indeed proceed toward them upon the account of that near relation they have to Christ because they belong to Christ When men are loved because they do what they do for Christs name-sake or out of Friendship to him then are they loved with a right spirit of love indeed 3 John 6 7 8. It 's common among men where one does truly and entirely love another there to love and respect the Children and Friends of such for their sake And so it is in these matters of spiritual affection and relation He that loveth him that begat loveth him also that is begotten of him 1 John 5.1 the child for the Fathers sake and because of that resemblance of the Father which is found in the child And if the love which is wrought by Faith be delighted with the Saints because of their friendship to Christ then the more any man shews himself a friend to Christ in keeping his commands shewing forth his virtues pleading his cause and propagating his truth the more is he prized and truly esteemed by such as have this love truly wrought in them 2 Jo. 1.2 Whom I love in the truth and not I only but also all they that have known the truth for the truths sake which dwelleth in us Mark It 's the property of all that have known the truth to love such as are the friends of Christs truth for the truths sake whose part they take Sect. 12 4. And this love and dear affection to the Saints for Christs sake where it is indeed will shew it self in acts of real kindness and friendship to them as occasions and opportunities do occur which is called A loving not in word and in tongue but in deed and in truth by which men may know themselves to be of the truth and shall assure their hearts before God 1 John 3.18 19. If they want brotherly admonition reproof instruction exhortation or comfort for the healthful and flourishing estate of the inner man they are ready to minister to them in these according to their ability Which when faithfully done Christ takes as a real demonstration of love not only to them but also unto himself as that which contributes towards his design of saving men and nourishing and cherishing his Church and the supplying of his absence and the doing of that for him which he would do himself if he were present John 21.15 16. Lovest thou me feed my lambs Lovest thou me feed my sheep As if there were no way wherein he could better express his love to Christ then by ministring soul-food to his sheep that follow him The lips of the righteous feed many c. Prov. 10.21 Sect. 13 5. The same love also puts them in
nature and not sinners of the Gentiles knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the Law but by the Faith of Jesus Christ even we have beleeved in Jesus Christ that we might be justified by the Faith of Christ and not by the Works of the Law for by the works of the Law shall no flesh be justified By which the Apostle plainly intimates that it was so far from being necessary to compel the believing Gentiles to keep the law of the Jews to make them capable of justification as that the Jews themselves who had the Law and the works of it must needs lay aside the consideration thereof in their coming to God for justification and must be content to receive it upon like termes of grace with the Gentiles themselves as Paul himself did Phil. 3.9 who desired to be found in Christ not having his own righteousness which was of their law as he was a Jew but that which was through the Faith of Christ as he was a Christian CHAP. III. Shewing how Love Iustice and Mercy though commanded both in Law and Gospel are to he rejected in the Iewish sense and yet imbraced in the Christians as necessary unto Iustification Shewing also in what sence Works are necessary unto Iustification Sect. 1 HAving thus far shewed what Works they are which the Apostle in our Text excludes from Justification as unnecessary thereunto viz. such Works as were proper to the Jews in contra-distinction to the Gentiles which are in Scripture usually called the works of the Law for about them did the controversie grow as we have seen before all that I shall now add by way of use as to this matter shall be for caution To take heed how we oppose Faith to Works and that when we do so be we sure to keep the Scripture road which I have been now tracing out It is true Faith and Love are often in the New Testament distinguished or mentioned as things distinct in a strict sence Ephes 6.23 1 Tim. 1.14 and 2.15 2 Tim. 1.13 Philem. 5. c. but I am not without much confidence that they are never opposed as Faith and the Works of the Law are as if a man that hath no Love might be justified by his Faith as he that worketh not or which hath no Works in our Apostles sence may It is no where neither in words nor sence said But he that loveth not but beleeveth on him that justifieth the ungodly his Faith is counted to him for righteousnesse but the contrary in substance is flatly affirmed by the Apostle James chap. 2. besides other Scriptures as I shall God willing come afterwards to shew And therefore I do think that our Protestant Writers have given too much advantage to the Papists whilst in asserting justification by Faith alone without any Works at all they have in the mean while chiefly if not only built this their assertion upon such Scriptures as my Text with others of like nature which treat not of all Works in generall but of such as did belong unto the Jews in special and therefore are usually called the Works of the Law or the Deeds of the Law Works of what Law I pray you but of that Law which as the Apostle saith pertained to the Israelites Rom. 9.4 and which as the same Apostle saith also the Gentiles had not Rom. 2.12.14 1 Cor. 9.21 Objection Sect. 2 But when the Apostle opposeth this Law that was given unto the Jews unto Faith and when he denies Justification to be by the works of that Law is it not all one as if he should oppose Faith unto Works commanded in the Gospel for the same Works of Love Justice and Mercy that are enjoyned in the Gospel are also commanded in the Law Answer This indeed is an Objection that deserves consideration but for answer take it thus Though it be very true that the same Works of Love Justice and Mercy be enjoyned both in Law and Gospel yet it will not follow that when the Apostle opposeth the Works of the Law to Faith that then he opposeth Gospel-works to Faith likewise for these two Reasons 1. Because those Works as they were enjoyned the Jews in the Law were part of the first Covenant but as they are enjoyned in the Gospel so they are part of the second Covenant But now the Law or first Covenant in the letter of it was not of Faith saith the Apostle the things promised in it were suspended not upon the condition of beleeving but of doing But the man that doth them shall live in them Gal. 3.12 Upon which account and in respect whereof the Works even of Love Justice and Mercy as enjoyned under that Covenant may possibly be opposed to Faith Whereas the Gospel or new Covenant which also contains in it precepts of Love Equity and Mercy as well as promises of pardon acceptation and salvation and not promising the enjoyment of the one without obedience in the other as is further to be shewed afterwards I say this Gospel or New Covenant is so of Faith and all the conditional part of it so relating to and depending upon Faith as that it is so far from being opposed to Faith as the other Covenant is as that the whole Gospel New-Testament or Covenant both in its precepts and promises bears the denomination of Faith being sometimes stiled the Faith Gal. 1.2 3. and 3.23 Acts 6 7. Romans 1.5 Iude 3. Sometimes the Law of Faith Romans 3.27 And when we suppose the duties and Works of Love to be opposed to Faith under one Covenant for reasons proper to it and yet yet the same Works not to be opposed to Faith in the other Covenant for reasons peculiar to it let it not seem strange to any man for it is no new thing to affirm and deny the same thing under several circumstances and different considerations As the Apostle Iohn for example touching this great Commandement of Love of which we now speak he affirms it to be no New Commandement but an old and yet presently again sayes the same is a New Commandement 1 Iohn 2.7 8. Brethren I write no new Commandement unto you but an old Commandement which ye had from the beginning the old Commandement is the word which ye have heard from the beginning Again a new Commandement I write unto you which thing is true in him and in you because the darknesse is past and the true light now shineth The Law of Love is an old Commandement as it is part of the old Covenant and yet the same is a new commandement as it is part of the new Covenant being given a new by Christ the Mediator thereof and now upon new termes too not as opposed to Faith as in the former but as in a collateral and subservient way joyned with it in the latter And besides this the same Commandement under this new edition of it comes out with inlargement which makes it new Which thing saith the Apostle
Thorns Lusts and sinful Affections may grow up too and dwell together in the same man But then there are other words of the same Lord and of the same Gospel of Salvation which put men upon denying themselves to please the Lord and crossing their own sinful inclinations and wills that they may fulfill the will of the Lord there are words that enjoyn us to crucifie the Old-man with the affections and lusts to mortifie our members which are upon the earth to cut off the right hand and pluck out the right eye to put our selves to the utmost extremity of suffering and distasting the flesh rather than to harbour any guest in the soul to distast our dear Lord. But now here the word is encountred by sinful affections the love of mens own selves their ease their pleasure their reputations with men and for the maintenance and support of these the love and desire of riches takes place with them and their desire and love to these puts them upon many unlovely strains to compass them in a word they love to please and to be pleased of men and to have all things go on smoothly with them and here the word of Christ and their wills fall cross his honour to be by them upheld in a close following of him and the upholding of their own honour among men clash Christs spiritual interest and their carnal interest will not consist but one must give way if they will please the Lord they must many times displease themselves and others too and to enjoy his love and keep a good conscience must be content to be without much and sometimes to loose all those worldly accomodations which the flesh priseth very much And however the other part of the Word and lust might grow up together yet this part of the Word and lust cannot remain in any power and operation in the same subject but will be fighting and if the affections as a third party side with lusts against the Word or if more corditially adhere to them than to the Word the Word is presently choked and over-born by the power of the flesh as the Corn by Thorns and brings no fruit to perfection These are the Men and this their character who are the hearers and professors of the Word of the Gospel resembled by the thorny ground which as I intimated before go a step further than those that do believe for a time only and consequently must not only be such as do in a sence believe as the others did but also such as hold out and persevere in their Faith unto the end Neither probably is that the reason why their Faith holds out rather than the others as if it were a Faith of a better kind or constitution or stronger than theirs but rather because it is not put to that stress and tryal which the others Faith could not endure it 's very like that if the Faith of the thorny-ground hearer should be put to it by persecution as the Faith of the stony-ground hearer is said to be his Faith might give in and fail as well as the others For the reason why the stony-ground hearers Faith fail'd him is because it is not rooted and grounded in love he loves his Honour his Estate his Relations or at least his Life more than Christ which whosoever does cannot be his Disciple or be deemed worthy of him whatever his Knowledge or Faith otherwise may be and therefore when by the tryal of persecution he is put to his choice to renounce his Faith or his Life or other Enjoyments he adheres to that which he loves most to wit his outward enjoyments and declines the Lord in his Word Worship and Wayes which he loves less Though it does not alwayes follow that those who upon a carnal account will not publickly own the Lord when the confessing of him and his truth proves so costly to them do at the same time let go that inward perswasion which they had of him and his truth before the tryal came the Rulers at the same time while they durst not confess Christ openly yet then inwardly believed on him John 12.42 A practice set on foot by some in the Apostles times and as it seems avouched as lawful by some outwardly to deny Christ in time of persecution if they did in the mean time inwardly believe in him which surely is one of those damnable heresies Peter speaks of privily brought into the Church by false Teachers 2 Pet. 2.1 There shall be false Teachers among you who privily shall bring in damnable heresies even denying the Lord that bought them and bring upon themselves swift destruction If they had taught Men not to believe at all on Christ it would not have been called heresie but either infidelity or apostacy nor could they lightly have privily brought such a Doctrine into the Church but would easily have been discerned by all Christians to be Enemies to Christ besides those that followed their pernicious tenents and wayes did occasion the way of truth to be evil spoken of verse 2. Which would not have been if they had been profest Enemies to it the pernicious ways of a Man after he is turned Jew or Turk though once a Christian does not cause the Christian Religion to be Evil spoken of But however whether Men fal away totally both from the inward perswasion and outward profession of the Faith they had once imbraced or only in part from the publick profession of it so far as to secure themselves from persecution it proceeds from the same cause and that is the want of that ingredient in their Faith which is the peculiar property of the Faith of Gods Elect to wit an affectionate cleaving to Christ as more desirable than life There 's the same reason as to the internal cause why the Faith of the thorny ground-hearer falls short of Salvation and that is the want of that mixture of Love I speak of For though they may believe Christ to be the Saviour and expect Salvation by him and for that cause bear some good affection to him yet their Love working stronger to Riches Honours and Pleasures for their sakes to ways and things by which these may be enjoyed thence it comes to pass that the Lusts of these things carry it against Christ and his Word who draw another way Now because this sort of men may hold that dead Faith which they have and the profession of it too and yet retain their Worldly Lusts also yea and make an outward and fleshly advantage of such a Faith and profession many times thence it comes to pass that they do not fall away as the other but persevere herein unto the end the difference of the ones falling and the others standing does not lye in the difference of their Faith but in the different nature of their temptations the one is necessitated to part with his Faith or Lusts the other is not This latter sort of ground therefore clearly resembles
a matter it will be to beat them out of their confidence of being owned by him that he wil be fain not only to tel them again and again I know you not but at last to profess to them that he never knew them no not then in your life time as if he should say when you thought your selves cock-sure of my approbation I then knew you not to be any true Friends of mine but you loved your selves and Relations and loved the world more than me you loved your own wills more than mine and your own honour more than mine and entertained motions from the flesh and from the Devil sooner than from me and therefore now without any more ado depart from me all ye workers of iniquity a sad parting Who shall not say with David whilst he is under the contemplation hereof My flesh trembleth for fear of thee and I am afraid of thy judgements Psalm 119.120 That which I further note in the third and last place from this Doctrine of Christ which with the rest astonished those that heard him preach it Mat. 7.28 is this that the true reason why these mens confidence and all that upon which it is built and all their pleadings beggings and mournful supplications added thereto will all fail them and fall to the ground is in short this they were workers of iniquity as men work at their Trades to bring them in what they lack and love so these men work iniquity that is commit sin do and speak things contrary to the Laws and instructions of Christ to bring them in that present carnal content which they love and prefer before that future happiness upon those self-denying termes without which it is not to be had That Faith which they had was not of that kind which purifies the heart and renews the Soul to God but for all it the flesh still retained the commanding interest in the Soul and therefore as they had in their life time sowed to the flesh so of the flesh they must now reap corruption They were told that if they lived after the flesh they should dye as well as they were told that Christ came into the world to save sinners but they would not believe the one though they did the other but now they must find and feel that which they would not before believe These things considered I heartily beseech all those into whose hands this shall come to take warning now it is given and not to deal slightly in the business of their Faith or to dally with their precious Souls take heed of that vain confidence of many which you see will be all turned into disappointment and confusion of face when the day of tryal comes and be working out your salvation with fear and trembling with fear lest you should be mistaken about the ground of your confidence and evidence of your hope It 's a thousand pitties that men should be so wary and solicitous lest they should be deceived with a trackt title in their outward Estates and so presuming and careless about rheir title to the next World as generally they are as if the eternal Estate of their Souls were but a trifle to the momentary enjoyment of a little spot of this World If the inconvenience of a mistake herein could be born without any considerable breach upon ones comfort or could afterward be rectified though with some loss as in externals it may well be a mans folly would be the less but to be slight yea not to be exceeding curious solicitous and thoughtful to prevent a mischief that for nature is intollerable and for duration eternal and the loss irrepairable argues the extremity of sottish madness which yet O that it were not the case of all men a few only excepted Mat. 7.13 14. CHAP. VII Shewing that that Belief unto which the Promise is made though indefinitely exprest is to be understood of Belief of a special kinde and that it is no waies safe to notion it in the lowest narrowest and meanest sence of the Word but to frame our notion of it according to that result which the Scriptures compared do give of it under which notion of it it will be hard for any man to retain a confidence of Salvation without an holy conversation Sect. 1 ANd because men are oft betrayed into that vain confidence of Salvation which I have spoken of by mistaking some Scriptures which they wrest to their own destruction therefore to prevent that mischief for the future as much as may be as I have in the former part of my discourse been labouring to deliver some from their mistakes of such Scriptures as promise Justification upon believing without the Works of the Law so I shall here also add a few words to save them from the danger of an undue understanding of such Scriptures as represent the believing Christ to be the Son of God and that he dyed and rose again and the like to be that Faith that carries Life and Salvation in it For whereas I have asserted in the two former Chapters that neither the assenting to the truth of that report which the Scriptures make touching Christ his being the Son of God and Saviour of the World c. nor yet the relying on him as such for Salvation will indeed avail a man unto Salvation without a loving loyal and obediential cleaving to him it may be some will be ready to object and say Does not the Scripture plainly say That these things are written that ye might beleeve that Iesus is the Christ the Son of God and that beleeving ye might have life through his Name Iohn 20.31 and was not the acknowledging of this the very form of the Saints Faith in the first times of the Gospel Iohn 4.42 and 6.69 and 11.27 Acts 8.37 Mat. 16.16 and does not the Scripture also expresly say That if thou shalt confesse with thy mouth the Lord Iesus and shalt beleeve in thine heart that God raised him from the dead thou shalt be saved Rom. 10.9 and again every spirit that confesseth that Iesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God 1 John 4.2 and whosoever shall confesse that Iesus is the Son of God God dwelleth in him and he in God verse 15. and whosoever beleeveth that Iesus is the Christ is born of God 1 Iohn 5.1 These things being so if I do both believe and confess Jesus to be the Christ and Christ to be the Son of God and that he dyed and rose again why may I not be confident of Salvation can I have any better security than the plain letter of the Scripture that promiseth salvation upon these termes Sect. 2 To all which I answer first that it is very true that this is the Faith of the Gospel and that to which eternal life is promised and that if thou doest so believe these things as that thy Faith do but answer the latitude of these Scripture expressions thou mayest be confident of Salvation and
the curse as Infidelity it self does Mat. 10.37 1 Cor. 16.22 If any man love not the Lord Iesus let him be Anathema Maranatha By which it's evident that all the while this Love is wanting he is under the curse that wants it whatever his belief otherwise may be and consequently that no Faith in Christ but such as knits the Soul in unfeigned Love to him wil deliver a Man from the curse of God and consequently nor justifie And alass how manies Faith is hereby manifested to be meerly counterfeit Who are lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God which appears in that they follow them rather than God lovers of the World more than the Lord which appears in that they chuse to please the Men of the World rather than him and are more intent and thoughtful about getting the World than honouring of him and will rather run the hazard of displeasing him in holding fast the things of the World than part with them upon his call For it is not every degree of Love to Christ that will denominate a Man a true Lover of him but Love in such proportion and to such a degree as prevails against all other objects that stand in competition with Christ and carries away the Soul from them all to Christ Mat. 10.37 He that loves Father or Mother more than me is not worthy of me and he that loves Son or Daughter more than me is not worthy of me It 's not only lawful for a Man to love his Father and Mother his Son and Daughter but it is his duty so to do yea and to love them much more than others that are not so related and yet for all that if his Love to Christ do not exceed in proportion that Love and strong affection which he may and ought to bear to such Relations Christ you see hath already judged him unworthy of him A Man though he love his Wife better than most other Women yet if he love but one Woman more than his Wife with that affection that is proper to his Wife wil be judged by sober men no true Lover of his Wife In like manner though you should love Christ more than many other enjoyments or many other sins which you have parted with for his sake yet if you retain but any one sin or sinful lust and are tender of it for the profit or pleasure that comes into you by it and will harbour it to the offence and provocation of the Lord and chuse rather to run the hazard of loosing his company and all the comforts of it than to turn such an offensive guest out of doors assuredly the Lord who doth alwaies judge according to truth wil judge himself despised and unworthily rejected by you He you see then that wants this prevailing degree of Love to Christ is stil under the curse and therefore no belief in Christ whatsoever that hath not this Love in it or is not certainly accompanied with it can be any sufficient ground for any Man to be confident of his Salvation Nothing less availeth than that Faith which thus worketh by Love Gal. 5.6 By all these considerations then you may see that when Promise of Life is made unto believing in Christ indefinitely exprest it is no wise safe to understand the Scriptures as intending any other lower kind of Faith than that definitively which is of power and force to change the heart and life of him that hath it and to renew him to God in holiness Jesus Christ himself in his words to Paul having plainly declared this to be the true nature of the Faith that is in him Acts 26.18 That they may receive forgiveness of sins and inheritance among them which are sanctified by Faith that is in me And therefore John the bosome Disciple of Christ as was noted before saith Whosoever beleeveth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God 1 Iohn 5.1 which as you see must be understood of that vigorous belief that gives a man a new being furnishes him with new principles of motion and action new thoughts new affections a new life that gives him victory over the World as it follows verse 4. Whosoever is born of God overcometh the world and this is the victory that overcometh the world even our Faith Christs proffers and the Worlds proffers Christs threats and the Worlds threats striving which shall carry the Man to follow their waies Faith steps in by which the Man believes that as Christ is the Son of God so he is more worthy to be followed and his proffers infinitely more worthy to be regarded and his threats dreaded than the World with all that she can do or say and so delivers the Man out of the Worlds hand that he is at liberty to attend the Lord. Sect. 8 And whereas among other Scriptures objected in the beginning of this Chapter one promiseth salvation to such as believe with the heart and confess with the mouth the Lord Jesus Christ and others affirm that whosoever confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh and is the Son of God are of God and dwell in God and God in them they are to be understood as spoken according to the exigencies of those times wherein a Man confessing Christ exposed himself to persecution Iohn 9.22 and 12.42 and consequently manifested his effectual Faith in an unfeigned Love to the Lord Jesus and thus to call Iesus the Lord no Man could do but by the Holy Ghost and his special assistance 1 Cor. 12.3 But now in times wherein to deny him to be the Lord would sooner expose a man to suffering than the confessing of him so to be the bare confessing of him will not invest him with the great priviledges that then were promised unto the confessing of Christ according to that Mat. 7.21 Not every one that saith Lord Lord shall enter into the kingdom of Heaven but he that doth the will of my Father which is in Heaven Sect. 9 THe truth is if a Man do but take the Scriptures together and shape his judgement according to their result when compared as its every Mans wisdom to do as it is not safe so it is impossible for him then to be confident of his salvation meerly upon account of his believing Christ to be the Son of God unless this Faith of his be proved to him to be the Faith of Gods elect by some good degree of those holy affections and that christian demeanure which the holy Word and Doctrine of the Lord calls for And the reason hereof is because such Scriptures as I have been now insisting on that curse all those that do not love the Lord Jesus that sentence with eternal death all those that live after the flesh that exclude all such the blessed Vision of the Lord that have not holiness that shut the gates of Heaven against all such as do not make conscience to do the will of the Father I say such Scriptures stand up to oppose such a
Faith Abraham when he was called to go out unto a place which he should afterward receive obeyed Another like or rather more wonderful piece of Self denying Obedience which was acted by the power of his Faith was his carriage about the offering up of his Son Isaac in sacrifice unto God at his command Heb. 11.17 18. By Faith Abraham when he was tryed offered up Isaac and he that had received the Promises offered up his only begotten Son of whom it was said That in Isaac shall thy Seed be called Behold Abrahams will desire and delight swallowed up in the Will and good pleasure of God by means of his Faith His Son that had been so much desired and longed for before he had him that all he enjoyed in this world seemed little to him in the absence of such a Mercy Lord God what wilt thou give me seeing I go childless Gen. 15.2 That Son whom he so much loved when he had him yea and his only Son too and that Son in whom the Promise was made of the great things which God would do for Abraham this Son does God command him to offer for a burnt Offering this Son of his hopes this Son of his delights an action than which what lightly could be imagined more harsh and highly repugnant to his own will And yet notwithstanding all Debates and Reasonings of flesh and blood about this matter which one would think should be many and high and such which one should have much ado to get over yet so mighty was his Faith in God and confidence of a good issue of whatever he should do at the appointment and command of God as that he appears as forward in it as if it had been the most acceptable service which God could have put him upon For the Text saith That Abraham rose up early in the morning to go about it Gen. 22.3 And upon account of this very thing was he esteemed the friend of God Jam. 2.23 one that would forsake all and part with the dearest friend he had in all the world rather than not stick close to him in whatever he would have him do a true sign indeed of friendship to the Lord Joh. 15.14 Ye are my friends if ye do whatsoever I command you Mark whatsoever I command not only commands which it may be may bear little upon the flesh easie and cheap duties but such as will try a mans affection to the uttermost as this to Abraham did such as call for the cutting off the right hand and plucking out the right eye the parting with things that are as grateful to the flesh as these Members of the body are to Nature And not only so but such things also as are as useful and desireable as the right hand and right eye are as Isaac was to Abraham when the holding and enjoying of them will not consist with our intire love to the Lord to be exprest in the most difficult and most self-denying piece of Service when he calls for it He that loves Father or Mother Son or Daughter yea or his own life more than Christ is not worthy of him Matth. 10.37 38. as he does which chuses rather to displease Christ and dishonour his Truth in keeping these than to displease himself or them in parting with them This task which was put upon Abraham was indeed very hard and directly of the nature of that in the Gospel mentioned before and yet as hard and as difficult as it was if Abraham had stuck at it he could not have approved his Faith to God no more than such as love Son or Daughter more than Christ and thereby prove themselves unworthy of him can approve their Faith in him to be right or their Love to him to be true And therefore if you mark it Abraham was said to be justified by Works when he had offered Isaac upon the Altar Jam. 2.21 Implying that as this high act of his Obedience proceeding from his Faith rendred him highly approved in the sight of God Gen. 22.16 So by the rule of contraries had he bogled at this command his neglect herein would not only have deprived him of that high approbation of God which by his fiducial Obedience he had now obtained but also have gone very far in contributing towards the loss of those degrees of Gods approbation whereto he had before attained if not wholly bereaved him thereof until he had repented and done his duty Sect. 5 But here I must make a stand a little and Answer an Objection which is this That though this act of Abrahams offering Isaac was an act of that Faith by which he was justified yet it was not that act of Faith by which he was justified it was an act of his Faith it 's true but not such a one as was essential to his justification and the reason hereof seems to be this because Abraham was justified by or upon his beleeving long before this it 's said Gen. 15.6 And Abraham beleeved in the Lord and he counted it to him for Righteousness And this was before Ishmael was born unto Abraham at whose birth Abraham was but 86 years old Gen. 16.16 But when Isaac was born he was an hundred years old Gen. 21.5 which clearly proves it to be fourteen years or more from that time in which Righteousness was imputed to him upon his beleeving to the time of Isaac's birth And yet this act of his Faith did not take place till some years after the birth of Isaac neither for the Lad by that time Abraham was called upon to offer him was so far grown in years stature and strength as that Abraham made him carry the Wood for the burnt-Offering Gen. 22.6 Now then if Abraham were justified by that act of his Faith which was found in him it may be twenty years before How could it be that be should be justified by another act of his Faith viz. This by which he offered Isaac so long after To which I Answer First That this act of his Faith by which he offered Isaac did concur to his Justification is very plain and manifest by that of Jam. 2.21 24. Was not Abraham our Father justified by Works when he had offered Isaac his Son upon the Altar As if he should say Is it not manifest he was Do you not know this And after he had amplified this Instance a little concludes upon it thus vers 24. Ye see then how that by Works a man is justified and not by Faith only By which it is manifest That this was not only an act of that Faith by which he was Justified but that this act of his Faith was that by which he was justified as well as that precedent act before mentioned and was not irrelative to his justification as the Objection supposeth Sect. 6 But then Secondly as to the Reason of the Objection which supposeth that this collateral act of Abrahams Faith could not do that for him which was done long
conceive vouchsafed by the gift of Jesus Christ for all such means and opportunities of grace even unto those that shall perish and so much power and ability of improving those means and opportunities for the end for which God gives them as will discharge the Lord of their condemnation and cast their loss of Salvation wholly upon themselves yet I cannot but fear that many make that ability which God hath given unto the creature on this behalf greater in their own thoughts than it is in it self And I am not without fears too lest the large apprehensions which some have touching the power of the creature and what all men are able to do out of the stock of common grace wherewith God hath prevented them and what others are able to do out of that stock of special grace with which God hath blessed them should have betrayed them into too low and too narrow apprehensions touching the necessity of additional supplies from God for the issueing of common grace into special and for the maintenance activity and growth of special grace it self And there is too much cause to fear also That the largness of manies apprehensions touching what God hath already given in this kind hath contributed much towards the making of their dependance upon God low and little and their applications to him weak and faint for further supplies and consequently their receptions in this kind to amount but to little Which if such a thing be as is too much cause to fear then I am perswaded that this is the true reason why many whose judgements run too much this way are less spiritual are flatter and duller Christians less versed in the Work of God upon the heart whose Religion lies more in matters of a Controversal and Disputable nature or in matters of external Form and Order And while men are busied and taken up with the skirts and borders of Religion and in the mean while neglect their inward and close communion with God and study of their own hearts and their spiritual trade and intercourse with God it 's no marvel if they be found but huskish dry and barren in the power of holiness and experimental part of a Christian For surely the Spirit of God does not take pleasure in this or that opinion which men hold in Religion but as it serves them in bringing them neerer to him and causing them to prize him his grace and presence more and working in them a greater love of his likeness and longing after the power of his grace to conform them to it Nor is the other extream Opinion touching mens being meer Passives in the hand of Grace and that Grace alwayes works it's effects in men in an irresistable way any better friend I conceive to the thriving way of depending upon God for more grace in a due use of what they have alreay received For as the Opinion of mens having more power than they have or that that power which they have is more conducible to the principal end Salvation then indeed it is obstructs their applications to and dependance upon God for what is indeed necessary on this behalf so does an Opinion of having received no power at all freez the Soul and bind up the faculties of it from using and improving that power which it hath from God in seeking of more and consequently deprives them of receiving more or at least of so much more as otherwise they might have Sect. 13 All which I have noted for Caution lest while men are striving who shall approve themselves the greatest friends to the grace of God in point of Opinion they should in the mean while fall short of the powerful and saving effects of it in their own hearts And since the end of all Doctrines and Ordinances in Religion and consequently of every particular Branch Point and Opinion concerning them is to bring men back again to God and to restore them to his likeness and similitude it concerns every man therefore in his holding and managing any matters of Controversie hereabout to be so true to his own and others Souls as thereby to drive on the principal end of all and to steer himself in holding or letting go Opinions as they appear consonant or repugnant to that end CHAP. XI Shewing how Faith worketh by Love both to God and Men. Sect. 1 THere is one property more of Faith which I have had oft occasion to mention but shall now a little further enlarge on and so conclude this part of my Discourse touching the nature of Faith And this quality in Faith is that property of it by which it works by Love which is made the badge and character of that Faith that shall avail men Gal. 5.6 For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth any thing nor uncircumcision but Faith which worketh by Love As the Apostle shews that not circumcision but Faith avails men under the Gospel so he shews too what manner of Faith it is that does so namely such as works by love not every Faith that is so called but that Faith which is thus distinguished So that it concerns every one as he desires to have something that will avail him in the sight of God and in the great concernments of his Soul not only to prove himself to be in the Faith but to prove his Faith to be that Faith which will avail him by this operation of it here specified When he sayes that Faith works by love I take it for granted that he means love both to the Lord and unto men for they go together as inseparable companions Every one that loveth him that begat loveth him also that is begotten of him 1 Joh. 5.1 And he that loveth not his Brother whom he hath seen how can he love God whom he hath not seen 1 Joh. 4.20 But then the Question will be How Faith works by Love And the Answer is It does so First by working this grace heavenly qualification spiritual affection or principle in the soul and so in the second place disposing the man in whom it is by means of this principle unto a deportment and actions suitable to such an affection And this I would set out in Two things especially Sect. 2 1. First Faith raises this principle of Love in the soul both to God and men by having it self so much to do with the Love of the Lord as indeed it hath For the Love of God and Jesus Christ to poor man is the very element in which Faith lives the food and nourishment upon which it continually feeds the lovely and most beautiful object which it delights continually to behold lodges in the bosome of it and finds no rest but in this bed of Love Faith is wonderfully intent on it exceeding busie with it marvellous curious in its inspections into enquiries about it 1 Joh. 4.16 We have known and beleeved the Love that God hath to us And by means of Faiths free frequent familiar and intimate
converse and delightful communication which it hath with this Love of the Lord it comes to contract a habitual similitude of it in the soul by degrees to change the soul into the same image Solomon saith He that walketh with wise men shall be wise Prov. 13.20 Which thing doubtless proceeds from a great aptness that is in men to be transformed into the disposition temper and quality of those persons with whom they much converse and delight so to do especially if superior to themselves and judging what they see in them worthy imitation And so Faith keeping such constant company with the Love of Christ to the poor soul and being so much taken with it as it is and having it self such an influence upon the soul as it hath does by degrees fetch over the soul in conformity of disposition to it This is sweetly set out by the Apostle 2 Cor. 3.18 But we all with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord are changed into the same image from glory to glory as by the spirit of the Lord. The glory of the Lord he here speaks of is doubtless amongst other things the grace or love of the Lord to men which is indeed his glory that by which he hath made us accepted in the beloved being called the glory of his grace Ephes 1.6 and is that thing which in the Gospel ministration here spoken of shines forth with greatest luster and brightness But mark now The souls intent and earnest beholding of this glory of the Lord by the eye of Faith as it is visible to it in this glass of the Gospel works this effect The soul it self is hereby changed into the same image transformed into this likeness of the Lord step by step degree by degree from glory to glory as by the Spirit of the Lord by whose influence Faith does this thing For so Christ foretold Joh. 16.14 He shall glorifie me for he shall receive of mine and shall shew it unto you Like as the flocks which Jacob kept by their looking upon the streaked rods in the time of their conception came to conceive and bring forth Cattel that were ring-streaked Gen. 30.37 38 39. even so the soul by Faith dwelling in the serious and pleasant contemplation of the glory of this love of the Lord conceives and brings forth affections and actions in the same likeness The very reason why any man comes to love God is the belief knowledg and sence which he hath of Gods love to him first 1 John 4.19 We love him because he loved us first Which is to be understood of Gods love beleeved and perceived for till then it does not work this reciprocal affection in the Soul And therefore the same Apostle concludes that if any man does not love he does not know God as he is a God of love 1 John 4.8 For if he did and had the true sence of it in his Soul he might sooner draw nigh a great fire and not be warmed than feel the warming influences of this wonderful Love playing hot upon the Soul and not in some measure be transformed into its likeness The Apostle Paul well knowing this made this Prayer for the Ephesian Saints That Christ might dwell in their hearts by Faith that they being rooted and grounded in love might be able to comprehend with all Saints what is the bredth and length and depth and height and to know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge that they might be filled with all the fulnesse of God In which Prayer you may observe first his end and scope the thing he had in his eye and that which his Soul exceedingly longed after for them and that was that they might be filled with all the fulnesse of God Which I conceive is not to be understood at least not only to be understood in a passive sence of having the Soul filled with the knowledge and sence of all the fulnesse of Gods love to it for this he had prayed for as the means of their being filled with all this fulness of God but in an active sence for their being so filled with their love back again to Christ as by which to attain the highest pitch and utmost perfection of Christianity which is wrapt up in our love to Christ to which God in Christ designed to elevate and raise the Christian And therefore when we love one another as the Lord hath loved us according to his command John 13.34 he is said to dwell in us and his love to be perfected in us 1 Cor. 4.12 viz. by way of imitation and resemblance of that divine vertue property or perfection in God to wit his love which is so wonderfully remarkable in him as that he is called Love it self 1 John 4.8 16. Now for God to dwell in men and for them to have his love perfected in them what is this lesse than to be filled with all the fulness of God But that which the Apostle prayed for in order to this their being filled with all the fulness of God was that Christ dwelling in their hearts by faith they might be able to comprehend with all Saints what the bredth length depth and height is and to know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge So that mens being filled with the fulnesse of that love to the Lord which his love to them calls for and designes to procure depends we see upon their comprehending by Faith the glory of his love set out in the dimensions of it upon their knowing very much of that love of Christ which in the utmost extent of it passeth knowledg Sect. 3 2. Faith raises this Heavenly affection of love in the Soul as a principle of worthy behaviour both to God and men by an effectual closing with the Doctrine of the Lord concerning Love For it is mens Faith in that word which calls for Love to the Lord to Saints and to all men that causes the word to incorporate it self with the Soul turning the doctrine of Love into a principle of Love in the Soul making it an ingrafted word James 1.21 as turning the stock into its own nature It is by Faith that all that in the Word is discerned and felt which renders it acceptable to and gives it force and authority in the soul And therefore the Word is said to work effectually in those that believe 1 Thes 2.13 And what 's that but to produce its effect reach its end and to have its errand about which it 's sent working that love it self in the soul which is the business about which the doctrine of Love is sent And therefore Love is said to be the end of the Commandement out of a pure heart and of a good conscience and of Faith unfeigned 1 Tim. 1.5 Love to proceed from unfeigned Faith as the end of the Commandement that is I conceive it 's aim and scope the prize for which it runs and where there is Faith unfeigned first wrought
and procured by the Word there the Word by means of this Faith works effectually to the raising or producing of that love which is the end or design of the Commandement It 's said of some Heb. 4.2 that the word did not profit them not being mixed with Faith in them that heard it The Word is then said not to profit men when it looses it's end and design of good towards them when it does not work in them and procure from them that frame and disposition of Soul and habit of behaviour which does answer its nature and scope as when the Doctrine of Love is preached to them and yet no such thing is wrought in them But the cause of this disappointment is the not mixing the Word with Faith If men do not verily beleeve it to be a Word from the Lord or that it comes from him upon like or far better termes than hearty counsel from a Friend as both able and faithful to advise and direct upon the best termes for good or if they think themselves and their own good not much concerned in it and the like no marvel if it profit them not if it procure not that complyance from them which should give it an abiding place in the Soul to work there as seed does which is wont to bring forth Fruit according to its kind But where the Word the Doctrine of Love for example is mixed with Faith with respect to the authority power wisdom design of good in the author and the conducibleness of the word it self to the real and substantial happiness and felicity of the person himself in whom this Faith is there it prospers in the thing for which it is sent Sect. 4 Having now thus shewed how Faith works by love by contributing to its being and consequently to its motions and operations and considering that Faiths working by love is the characteristical mark and distinguishing property of that Faith which shall avail men unto salvation let us now put our selves upon the tryal of our Faith and so upon our title to life by this evidence And I will begin with that love which is wrought by Faith to the Lord. Hath then the sight and sence which Faith hath given you of the wonderfulness of the Fathers love and of the Sons love in doing suffering and designing such marvellous things for Persons so unworthy of them and so worthy of what is directly contrary to them as we are as may well astonish the rational part of the whole Creation I say hath the sight and sence of this divine fire of Love kindled upon your souls and caused a heavenly burning of affection to the Lord. Hath the sence which Faith hath given you of his love to you exceedingly endeared your souls by way of return in love to him Hath your Faith opened such a passage for Christs love to come at the Soul as that you can say with the Saints of old The love of Christ constraineth us because we thus judge that if one dyed for all then were all dead and that he dyed for all that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves but unto him which dyed for them and rose again 1 Cor. 5 14 15. Hath it such a force and influence upon you in causing you to devote your selves your lives to him as his love to you had upon him in causing him to give his life for you and himself unto you Sect. 5 1. To what degree any Man or Woman loves another to the same degree they are usually wont to be desirous and careful to please them And therefore the Apostle supposeth this to be the natural effect of that conjugal relation and affection that is between Husband and Wife viz. the ones caring to please her Husband and the others caring to please his Wife 1 Cor. 7.33 34. And there 's no doubt but it is so with all those that love the Lord indeed the more they abound in that affection to him the more desirous the more thoughtful and the more careful are they how to please the Lord in every thing they do and in every thing he would have done And therefore the Scripture measures mens love to the Lord by their care to do his commands which are indeed the things that please him 1 John 5.3 For this is the love of God that we keep his Commandements And again John 14.15 If ye love me keep my Commandements And verse 21. He that hath my Commandements and keepeth them he it is that loveth me And again verse 23. If a man love me he will keep my words And yet again verse 24. He that loveth me not keepeth not my sayings 1 John 2.5 But whoso keepeth his word in him verily is the love of God perfected And therefore when men are not full of thought and care about what will please and what will displease the Lord and desirous and industrious to come at his mind hereabout but are untender and do things at a venture either in his Worship their own calling or in their converse with men not laying it close to the heart to give glory to God in all it argues that things are not yet as they should be with them in their love to the Lord. Sect. 6 2. Again where the Soul by means of Faith hath had a taste of the exceeding sweetness and preciousness of the Lords love 1 Pet. 2.3 If so be ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious and is thereby brought in love with his love as highly prizing it and the sence of it there the soul will be wonderful fearful of acting or doing any thing that might make any breach between the Lord and it that might offend or grieve him or that should cause him to turn away in displeasure or to hide his face or to with-hold the influences of his quickening and comforting grace And if at any time through want of care and watchfulness such a soul hath been surprized and drawn to speak or act yea though but in the in most parts of the soul that which tends to grieve the Spirit to provoke the Lord and to work any estrangement O what humbling is there what taking of shame what begging crying and earnest intreating that God would passe it by that it might not obstruct the course of their communion with the Lord And if it hath wrought any distance and the Lord hath hereupon withdrawn himself a little O how the poor soul is cast down how earnest in her pursuit after her Beloved that hath withdrawn himself and is gone and how restless till the breach be made up and the Lord hath smiled again upon the soul by some gracious effects of his presence there Such things as these are undoubtedly found in greater or lesser proportion where true and entire love to the Lord hath been raised by Faith in the Soul Ps 51.7 8 9 10 11 12. Cant. 5.2 8. Sect. 7 3. Furthermore to what degree Faith works by Love to
the Lord to the same degree it casts fear out of the Soul I mean fear of suffering reproach shame disgrace the loss of Friends Estates Liberties and Lives for the Lord for adhering to him his Truth and Cause So saith the Apostle 1 John 4.18 There is no fear in love but perfect love casteth out fear because fear hath torment he that feareth is not made perfect in love It 's true where love to Christ is not predominant in the Soul but though a man hath some love to him yet hath more to himself Relations and worldly interest there when Christ and these come in competition the fear of the loss of these will cast love to Christ out of the Soul Mat. 24.12 Because iniquity to wit of persecution shall abound the love of many shall wax cold viz. to Christ and to his Gospel But where a man loves Christ more than all other things which he hath loved or does love in this world as he that loves Christ sincerely and savingly does Mat. 10.37 there his love prevails against his fear and casts it out of possession Not that he that loves Christ truly and sincerely is not troubled at all with fear of loosing that which is dear to him in the world for Christs sake for something in that kind is surely incident to the best of men 1 Cor. 2.3 but such a mans love to Christ gets the mastry of his fears is stronger to hold him to Christ though in danger of loosing all in this world but him then are his fears of loosing all for his sake to cause him to desert him If fear in this kind do arise in the Soul work trouble torment there and fill the heart with divisions of thoughts and some degrees of feebleness and fainting for a little time yet by that time love to Christ hath but mustered up its forces and called in and strengthened it self with considerations near at hand and ready to offer themselves to such a ones service fear is driven out of the Soul and the tumult which fear had caused there is appeased the storm laid and all things reduced unto a peaceable calm and then Love begins to triumph and to say Who shall separate me from the love of Christ Rom. 8.35 But if a man so fears as that his fears drive him from his duty hurry him into acts of disloyalty to his Lord and put him upon disgracing Christ and his truth such a mans love to Christ whatever otherwise it may be is not according to Saint Johns phrase made perfect He that feareth is not made perfect in love his love is not of the perfect and right kind But where love to Christ is prevalent and predominant there it is strong as death Cant. 8.6 which we know is so strong that all the opposition that men by their wit and wealth policy and power can make against it will not turn it out of its way Of which conquering strength in Love proof hath been made many and many a time by the faithful Martyrs of Jesus whose love to him hath held it out against all manner of enticements and allurements on the one hand and all the variety of the most horrid and dreadful torments on the other hand which the wit and malice of men assisted by the policy and rage of Hell could invent whereby to take them off their entireness of affection to their Redeemer Many waters cannot quench love neither can the flouds drown it if a man would give all the substance of his house for love it would utterly be contemned Cant. 8.7 Neither does this love to Christ when thus proved only conquer and barely get the victory over the world as it does when it holds its own against all its attempts 1 John 5.4 but it makes a Christian more then conqueror when his love shall hereby get more strength and vigor than it had before as it does when Christ giving a clearer vision and more lively taste of his Love at such a time than at any other as usually he does shall thereby indear himself further to the Soul and render himself more precious and the world lesse desirable than ever before Nay in all these things saith he we are more than conquerors through him that loved us Rom. 8.37 Men by this manifestation and proof of their love to the Lord I mean in suffering for him shoot themselves further into his love and consequently draw forth richer discoveries of it to themselves than formerly according to Prov. 8.17 I love them that love me And John 14.21 He that hath my commandements and keepeth them he it is that loveth me and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father and I will love him and will manifest my self to him Where we see the proof of a Christians love to the Lord is answered with a gracious return of the Lords love back again to him He that loveth me shall be loved of my Father and I will love him And the Lord is so well pleased herewith that he must needs let the poor Soul know how he is taken with his love how his Soul is as it were more knit to him for he does not only say that he will love him but that he will manifest himself to him viz. in clearer discoveries of his Love than formerly which we know too is wont greatly to increase the Christians love to the Lord. So that sincere love to the Lord when it is thus put upon the tryal does not only cast out fear but does more too it gathers and contracts an additional strength and increase Which consideration that Love does not only cast out fear in the time of fear but prefers a man both in the Lords love to him and in his own love to the Lord serves not only for a proof and tryal of the sincerity of our Faith which yet is one thing which it does for it 's Faith that gets the victory in this kind 1 John 5.4 only it works out this victory by love but also is an excellent encouragement for men not to be afraid and shie of suffering for Christ or any truth of his in which he may be owned Let it not seem a smal thing in any mans eye that he hath hereby when it comes a special opportunity and advantage ministred unto him of being enlarged in the Lords love to him and in his love to the Lord and in the evidence of both unto his own Soul which is indeed a priviledg to them that know the worth of it of no mean account And as you would have the proof and evidence both of your Faith and Love and of your Faith by your Love come fairly out so take heed of all undue and carnal complyance with worldly-minded men either in saying or doing any thing that may bear hard upon the honour and interest of Christ his People Ordinances or holy wayes out of design to preserve your own reputation or worldly interest with them and
to defend your selves from their frowns and contempt and from the scourge of their tongue for a complyance in such things as these where it is found argues falseness of heart to the Lord Jesus Sect. 8 4. One thing further to name no more though many more particulars of this kind might be touched by which you may know your love to Christ to be such as will evidence your Faith which produces it to be of the true sort and right kind is this If your belief in Christ and your love to Christ hath wrought in you a love of and a looking and longing for his next appearance when he will so come to receive the Saints unto himself as that they shall be ever with the Lord. For while men are better pleased with his absence and to remain at this distance it argues little love in them to him For it is the nature of Love where it is true and entire to incline and dispose a Man or Woman to desire the presence of those they love and all neerness of converse and communion and to have all means of distance to be removed And if that spiritual and invisible presence which the Lord vouchsafes of himself to his Servants in his Ordinances and in their way of worshipping and serving him which yet comparatively is but a being absent from him 2 Cor. 5.6 is to those that love him so exceeding precious and desirable as that their sence of the want of this hath made their flesh and their heart to cry out for the living God and to say When shall I come and appear before God Psalm 84.2 and 42.2 then certainly that presence of his in which he will be seen face to face in which his face shall be beheld in righteousness and his servants satisfied with his likeness that presence of his when neither weakness nor temptation shall obstruct interrupt or disturb their full and perfect communion with the Lord that presence of his which will perfectly deliver them from all fears of being cast out of his presence or of suffering any suspension in the effluxes of his love is much more desired and longed for by those that unfeignedly love the Lord. This loving and expecting the blessed and glorious appearance of our Lord Jesus Christ is noted in Scripture not only as a signe of mens love to him and Faith in him but as a general character of those that shall be then saved by him Heb. 9.28 And unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation Tit. 2.13 2 Pet. 3.12 Henceforth is there laid up for me a Crown of Righteousness which the Lord the righteous Judge shall give me at that day and not to me only but unto all them also that love his appearing 2 Tim. 4.8 By these and such things as these you may try the truth or feignedness of your love to the Lord consequently the soundness or unsoundness of your Faith in him which when it is true works more or less according as it is stronger or weaker in those and like ways of expression of love to the Lord which have now been laid before you and therefore as you love your souls be not partial but strict and thorow in proving your Faith and spiritual condition by them Sect. 9 And as Faith works by love to the Lord so it works by love to men likewise for which cause it may well be that Faith in Christ and love to men are so frequently coupled together in the Scriptures as co-workers and fellow helpers in the service of mans salvation see Ephes 1.15 and 6.23 Col. 1.4 1 Thes 1.3 and 3.6 and 5.8 2 Thes 1.3 1 Tim. 1.14 and 2.15 2 Tim. 1.13 and 2.22 Tit. 3.15 Philem. 5. 1 John 3.23 And since they are such inseparable companions as they are represented to us to be in these and other Scriptures we may well conclude where the one is there the other is and where the one is missing there the other is wanting And therefore since our love to men is more visible and a thing nearer at hand then our Faith and a proof of a true Faith where it is of an Evangelical kind therefore let us now try our Faith by our love to men and our love to men by the standard of the Scriptures 1. I shewed you towards the beginning of this Chapter that Faith beholding as in a glasse the glory of the Lords love to men changes the soul into the same image men by it viewing the promises and proceedings of God toward man are made partakers of the divine nature 2 Pet. 1.4 contract a similitude of Gods love upon the Soul See then if you can find any such working in your Souls any such compassions and longings of soul after mens salvation as does really and truly though infinitely inferiorly hold some resemblance of those ardent desires and longings which are in God after the salvation of poor miserable men which are to be seen in these and other-like Scriptures Deut. 5.29 Psalm 81.13 Isa 48.18 Jer. 44.4 Ezek. 18.23 32. 2 Chron. 36.15 Luke 19.41 42. Mat. 23.37 2 Pet. 3.9 Hos 11.8 9. Or are your affections and compassions over the precious souls of men so stirred within you as that they put you upon action as you have opportunity to deliver them from going down into the pit of rescuing them out of those wicked wayes by admonitions instructions and affectionate perswasions which unless they be fetcht off from by some means or other will certainly ruine their poor souls For after this manner Gods love and compassion wrought towards sinful men it put him upon giving his only beloved Son Christ Jesus to dye for them and by his death to make and procure gracious terms of Salvation and by himself and servants whom he hath gifted for the purpose to publish those termes of Salvation and earnestly to perswade all men to imbrace them he himself seconding these with many visits of his Spirit and acts of grace and providence to render these means successful And however every Christian is not an Apostle nor endued with that power from on high for the work as the Apostles were and therefore it is not expected nor required of them that they should make it their constant work and business as they did to go up and down to warn and perswade men that they might be saved yet undoubtedly to what degree this love to men which the love of God hath begotten in them in its own likeness does dwell in them to the same degree does it put them upon applications of a soul-saving tendency to Family-relations Church-relations to Neighbours Friends and acquaintance yea and strangers too as ability conveniency of opportunity and mens necessity do concur in the case And the lesse men are affected with or the more careless they are of the spiritual condition of others the lesse is their love and Faith and the darker their evidence of them The Scriptures