Nor of deferring the hearing of good Advices till another time like Foelix who when St. Paul reason'd to him of Righteousness Temperance and Judgment to come did shift off the Apostle with a go thy way for this time when it is a more convenient Season I will call for thee Acts 24.25 On the contrary the truly resolute Christian takes David for his Pattern who having thought upon his Ways turn'd his Feet unto God's Testimonies And made haste and delay'd not to keep his Commandments Psal 119.59 60. 6. And he determines vigorously and speedily to betake himself to the Execution of all those Vows and Promises made in his Baptism The Resolute Christian makes no Exceptions of some particular Lusts some darling Sins but if there be any one more than ordinary dear to him he determines immediately to Mortifie to Cut off that tho' as near as his right Arm and to pluck it out tho' as tender as his right Eye He is not like King Agrippa whom St. Paul almost perswaded to be a Christian but he is both Almost and Altogether like St. Paul Acts 26.28 29. who held no Correspondence and Familiarity with any of the Enemies of God and his own Soul but is resolv'd to abandon them all alike to Believe every Article and to Obey every Command And thus the Resolv'd Christian determines to go on uniformly in the discharge of all his Engagements notwithstanding all Oppositions from the World the Flesh and the Devil What mighty Difficulties they will raise him how many Blocks they will put in his Way and what cunning Stratagems the Devil particularly will make use of to divert him from his Good Purposes and to make him break his Covenant with God you have already shew'd you But the Man of Resolution is a Man of Courage and will not through Fearfulness and Cowardice give way in the Day of Battle But with St. Paul is perswaded because he is Resolved That neither Death nor Life nor Angels nor Principalities nor Powers nor Things present nor Things to come nor Heighth nor Depth nor any other Creature shall be able to separate him from the Love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord Rom. 8.38 39. Lastly And now to render the Christian Resolution compleat in all its Parts you must publickly declaratively and solemnly protest it to all the World that it is the full determination of your Heart and Mind to adhere faithfully to God against all his Enemies the World the Flesh and the Devil that you will neither swerve from your Faith nor flinch from your Obedience Publick and Declarative this Resolution must be upon all Just Occasions as when Prophaness and Impiety grow bold and daring and when Sinners become Impudent and Triumphant in Immodest and Immoral Courses And when the Profession of Religion is thrown off as Ridiculous and below Men of Sense and Spirit In such an Age as this I say there is occasion given to all the faithful Servants of Christ to own and declare themselves his Disciples and that they are not asham'd of him and his Doctrines And with the Noble Mattathias 1 Mac. 2.19 they must be ready to say Tho' all the Nations under the Kings Dominions shall fall every one from the Religion of their Fathers yet will I and my Sons and my Brethren walk in the Covenant of our Fathers A Noble and Heroick Resolution worthy of us Christians to follow and absolutely necessary to be put on at this time when the Publick Affronts to God and his Religion are greater than were ever in a State professing Christianity And as the Resolution must be openly and declaratively so it must be solemnly made I mean that you who are now entring into a wicked World must take the first Opportunity of an Episcopal Confirmation and must there in the Face of the World in the Presence of the chief Officer in the Church of Christ the Bishop and before the whole Assembly of Christians there met you must there I say as is prescrib'd in the Office of Confirmation with your own Mouth and Consent openly recognize ratifie and confirm the same Vow that was made for you in your Baptism The Bishop will then demand of you in these Words Do ye here in the Presence of God and of this Congregation renew the solemn Promise and Vow that was made in your Name at your Baptism ratifying and confirming the same in your own Persons and acknowledging your selves bound to believe and to do all those things which your Godfathers and Godmothers then undertook for you And to this Demand every one of you must audibly answer I do And such as this it is probable might be that good Profession which Timothy had profess'd before many Witnesses 1 Tim. 6.12 So that thus at length you see in what consists Holy Resolution the Importance of these Words I will Thirdly And I am now to shew you that such Resolution and so duly form'd as this is a very powerful means will go a great way towards the Performance of our Covenant with God And 1. The very determining of the Will with a fix'd and settled purpose has a great force in it to make us put in Execution the most difficult part of our Vows and Promises We see even in Worldly Undertakings where the Advantages are very inconsiderable in comparison what Difficulties Men will go through when they are once bent upon a Design whereas when Persons have no Will nor Mind to do a thing the Wheels of Action move but slowly and their Endeavours are very faint For why when Men are fully purpos'd and are set upon a thing then it is the Subject of their Cares they lay all their Measures and they muster up all their Forces to carry it on and what is equal with all this they provide against all Attempts that shall be laid to ruine their Designs And if those who will be Rich or Great or Honourable project a thousand ways to carry their Point leave no Stone unturn'd refuse no hazards are discourag'd at no Disappointments and cross Accidents shall not we who have infinitely more valuable Treasures laid up for us in Heaven who have Crowns of Glory propos'd to us if we excel in Vertue shall we be faint and languid in our Endeavours What can be the reason of this but that in the great Business of Religion Men are not so much in earnest so resolute and intent as in the pursuit of their Worldly Advantages and Satisfactions so resolutely bent I say upon their Improvements in Religious Perfection for this would go a great way towards their performance of their Covenant with God Particularly to be fully resolved upon it is absolutely nccessary to baffle and discourage the Devil in all his Attempts upon us whom in order to resist the Apostle bids us be stedfast or resolute in the Faith 1 Pet. 5 9. For indeed such is his Resolution to destroy Mankind and such especially is his Pride in
and Hereticks when alas they are much less the Favourites of God themselves and it will be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrha in the Day of Judgment than for wicked Christians Matth. 11.24 I do confess indeed as to that part of Prayer which we call Thanksgiving the most wicked and impenitent Sinners may bless God for their Creation Preservation and all the Blessings of this Life For he maketh his Sun to rise on the Evil and on the Good and sendeth Rain on the Just and on the Vnjust Matth. 5.45 and there 's nothing hinders but they should praise him for it But with what shew of Sincerity can they be thought to bless him above all for his inestimable Love in his Redemption of the World by our Lord Jesus Christ for the means of Grace and for the hopes of Glory when so long as they continue in their Sins they can expect no benefit from Christ's Redemption and can have no hopes of Glory True it is there have been observ'd in the World That there are praying Hypocrites is by virtue of Antinomian Principles both in our Saviour's Time and of latter days a sort of Impious and Prophane Wretches that have been greatly given to Pray and yet have been most notorious Lyars and Slanderers Proud and Censorious and above all most cruel and unmerciful Exactors and Oppressors but it is plain they were either Hypocrites and Atheists in the bottom and for a pretence and colour only made long Prayers that they might more easily devour Widows Houses Matth. 23.14 and so by the Opinion of their Sanctity delude unwary People to trust 'em till having 'em within their Power they might grind 'em to Powder Or they owe this to some other Wicked and Heretical Principles as our Modern Antinomians who do found their favour with God in his Arbitrary Election of their Persons without any respect had to their Virtues and Graces as acceptable through the Mediation of Christ and will therefore pretend to pray to him nay and in their Prayers presume to talk with him as familiarly as one Friend does to another But alas the Scripture gives none the least grounds for such Confidence and Presumption but does indeed let us know it is a fearful thing to presume to pray to God and at the same time to continue in Sin Sacrifices amongst the Jews were a kind of sensible and visible Prayers and Prayers did usually accompany them but whilst that People were notoriously wicked see how God does express his detestation of such their Sacrifices and Prayers Isai 66.3 He that killeth an Oxe is as if he slew a Man he that Sacrificeth a Lamb as if he cut off a Dogs Neck he that Offereth an Oblation as if he offered Swines Blood he that burneth Incense as if he blessed an Idol So that there is a great necessity of Resolving to forsake Sin and of being faithful in our Covenant if we will pray to God but if Men will go on wilfully in sinful Courses they had e'en as good not pray at all Heaven and Hell Light and Darkness may be joyn'd together and Reconcil'd as well as Prayer and Impenitence 3. As it will certainly procure the Divine Assistance 3. And especially Prayer duly qualify'd will be a most effectual Means to enable you to discharge your Covenant as it procures for you the Grace and Assistance of God without which you cannot perform it as has already been shew'd you I say if duly Qualify'd if put up with Faith and Sincerity for as appears from the last Particular the Prayers of such as are resolvedly Wicked will avail nothing but to their greater Damnation But otherwise Prayer doubtless is the most prevalent thing in the World with God to derive down his Blessings Favours and Graces of all sorts upon us Prayer saith the Learned and Pious Bishop Taylor hath saved Cities and Kingdoms from Ruine Prayer hath raised Dead Men to Life hath stopped the violence of Fire and shut the Mouths of wild Beasts It hath alter'd the course of Nature hath caused Rain in Aegypt and Drought in the Sea It made the Sun to go back from West to East and the Moon to stand still and Rocks and Mountains to walk and it cures Diseases without Physick and makes Physick to do the work of Nature and in a word does many Miracles But of all the Miracles that Prayer doth there is none so valuable if any so great as to Sanctify our Natures and to enable us to perform our Covenant with God which Prayer is a most effectual means to enable us to do I say That Prayer will most effectually procure for us the Graces of the Holy Spirit to enable us to perform our Covenant with God of which we have a most full and pregnant Proof Luke 11 9 10 11 12 13. our blessed Saviour in the foregoing Verses having given his Disciples a Prayer to learn to enforce upon 'em the constant and devout Exercise of this most Heavenly Duty tells 'em by way of Parable how prevalent an Importunate Prayer will be even with an Ill-natur'd Man to incline him to grant the Desires of him that Petitions him And then he proceeds to tell 'em That much more will Constancy and Earnestness in Prayer prevail upon God who is more tender to us and more forward of himself to do us good than our very Parents And I say unto you Ask and ye shall have seek and ye shall find knock and it shall be open'd unto you for every one that asketh receiveth and he that seeketh findeth and to him that knocketh it shall be opened If a Son shall ask Breaâ— of any of you that is a Father will he give him a Stone or if he ask a Fish will he for a Fish give him a Serpent or if he shall ask an Egg will he offer him a Scorpion If ye then being Evil know how to give good Gifts unto your Children how much more shall your Heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him Which is as if he should say There is no fear that God should deny such Petitions or give his Children any hurtful thing when they ask that which is good for them And tho' many things which Men ask be not good yet his Spirit and the Assistances of it are so undoubtedly such that they will never be deny'd to them that ask them of the Father This is so full a proof of the prevalency of Prayer to procure of God the Grace of his Holy Spirit to sanctifie our Natures and to enable us to perform the Conditions of our Covenant that it would be e'en lost labour to multiply any more Texts to this purpose What then remains but that we therefore most earnestly and constantly Pray unto God that he would Sanctifie our Natures that he would grant unto us according to the Riches of his Grace to be strengthen'd with Might by his Spirit in the inward Man Particularly Let us therefore
those other places already opened that it avails nothieg to any Mans acceptation with God or to his Justification and Salvation as the Judaizers of those Times thought it did But then the keeping of the Commandments of God will avail to these ends For that I conceive was intended and ought to be understood by the opposition that is made between Circumcision and keeping the Commandments 6. Faith it self is an act of Evangelical Obedience this as well as Love is an act of Conformity to our Lord's Commands and therefore a Man cannot be justified by Faith but in being so he must be justified by Evangelical Obedience 1 John 3.23 This is his Commandments that we should believe in the Name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another as he gave us Commandment This by our Saviour is called a work Joh. 6.29 This is the work of God that ye believe on him whom he hath sent And there is so much of the nature of Evangelical Obedience in Faith it self as that to Believe and to Obey are promiscuously put one for another and so is Unbelief and Disobedience Accordingly you have in many places the one reading in the Text and the other in the Margin as Acts 5.36 Rom. 11.30 31. Ephes 5.6 Heb. 4.11 and 11.31 And Belief and Disobedience are in Scripture opposed to each other as direct contraries Rom. 10.16 1 Pet. 2.7 2 Thes 2.12 So that since Faith is an act of Evangelical Obedience it follows that to say the Works of Evangelical Obedience do justifie does no more derogate from the Grace of God or the freeness of his Grace in justiying than to say Faith justifies First Because other acts of Evangelical Obedience are the effects of God's Grace and produced by it as well as Faith It is God that worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure Phil. 2.13 And secondly Because it is meerly of the Law of Grace that Faith and other Acts of Evangelical Obedience are made the condition of the Promise of Salvation Ephes 2.8 By grace are ye saved through Faith in Christ Jesus and that not of your selves it is the gift of God As Men do not Believe or Obey of themselves without supernatural Assistance so neither is it of themselves that they are Justified or Saved upon their Believing but both the one and the other is the Gift of God It is not of him that willeth nor of him that runneth but of God that sheweth mercy It is by virtue of God's New Covenant that a promise of Pardon is made to Repentance or to Faith for the primary Law the Law of Nature promised no such thing upon Repentance And it is by virtue of the same Law of Grace that a Promise of Justification and Reward is made to sincere Obedience in other Acts of Obedience as well as those of Faith and Repentance That which hath made many afraid of interessing Evangelical Obedience with Faith in justifying Men hath been an Opinion that so to do would derogate from God's Grace and attribute too much to Man But you see there is no ground for such an Opinion It 's true indeed the proper merit of Works and God's Grace are inconsistent And therefore are opposed to each other in Scripture But Evangelical Obedience and Grace are no more opposite or inconsistent than Cause and Effect or than Causes principal and subordinate And as it doth not follow that because we are justified freely by God's Grace that therefore we are not justified by Faith So neither doth it follow that because we are justified by Faith that therefore we are not justified by sincere Obedience For these and the Blood of Christ do all concur in producing many of the same Effects though not in the same respect 7. By Evangelical Obedience Christians come to have a right to Salvation Revel 22.14 Blessed are they that do his Commandments â—hat they may have a right to the Tree of Life and may enter in through the gates into the City This is left on Record as a special Memorandum â—or Christians in closing up the Canon of the New Testament and therefore is to be taken special notice of This right to the Tree oâ— Life and of entring into this blessed City upon keeping the Commandments is from a New Covenant or Law Act or Grant from God For otherwise Man that had transgressed the first Law hâ—â—as put under would have been far from having any right to such Happiness upon the terms here mentioned viz. of sincere though imperfect Obedience But seeing that a Right to Salvation doth accrue to Men upon a sincere keeping of God's Commandments notwithstanding their forfeiture of their first Right by Man's first Fall it evidently follows that Evangelical or Sincere Obedience is part of the condition of the Promise of Blessedness in the New Law or Covenant and is here put for the whole of it as at other times Faith is put for the whole of the Condition And that Moses David Solomon Nehemiah and Daniel received it in this sense and understood all along that sincere Obedience flowing from Love was the condition of God's Covenant of Mercy when they stiled him a God keeping Covenant and Mercy with those that Love him and keep his Commandments Deut. 7.9 1 Kings 8.23 Neh. 1.5 Dan. 9.4 I have before shewed If it shall be here said that sincere Obedience is indeed a condition of Salvation but not of Justification and that it is so made here in this 22d of the Revelation I have I think sufficiently answered this Objection in the former Chapter but shall here add That such as thus say are more curious and nice in distinguishing between Justification and Salvation than St. Paul was For he calls Justification the Justification of Life Rom. 5.18 Whom he justified them he also glorified Rom. 8.30 and proves that Men shall be justified by Faith because it is written that the Just shall live by Faith Gal. 3.11 Thus with him to be justified and to be blessed are all one Gal. 3.8 9. Rom. 4.7 8 9. And to confirm this Righteousness or Justification and Life are used by him as Synonimous terms Gal. 3.21 For if there had been a Law given which could have given life verily Righteousness should have been by the Law And Justification and Condemnation are but in direct opposition to each other Rom. 5.18 and 8.33 34. And to be freed from Condemnation which is Justification and to be Saved are as much one as not to Dye is to Live In short Salvation as well as Justification is promised to Believing Joh. 3.16 Act. 3.31 Heb. 10.39 And therefore Salvation as well as Justification must needs be the immediate effect of Faith if we take Salvation as begun here in this Life as the Scripture represents it to be Joh. 5.24 1 Joh. 3.14 and 5.12 From all which we may conclude That what is absolutely necessary to Salvation must needs also be necessary to Justification Add we
having him our High-Priest over the House of God we may hence-forward draw near with a true Heart in full Assurance of Faith having our Hearts sprinkled from an evil Conscience Heb. 10.19 20 21 22. that is Every Christian provided he comes not with the guilt of any unrepented Sin upon his Conscience may himself now Offer up his own Prayers to God through Christ without the Mediation of any other Priest or Sacrifice and that with a full Assurance of being graciously heard and answer'd And that this Faith and full Assurance with which we may Approach unto God to Pray to him for the Forgiveness of Sins is our Priviledge only as we are the Sons of God by Adoption is plain from St. Paul Rom. 8.15 Ye have not received the Spirit of Bondage again unto fear as under the Law but ye have received the Spirit of Adoption whereby we cry unto God Abba Father And again Gal. 4.6 Because ye are thus made his Sons God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts crying Abba Father And now Lastly If there be any other very considerable Priviledge Lastly A Child of God is more surely instated in the Inheritance of Heaven than others accruing to a Child of God from such his Relation it is That God will more surely Instate him in the Inheritance of Heaven than he will do others that have no such Relation to him And indeed if Children of God then Heirs we are told Heirs of God and Joint-Heirs with Christ Rom. 8.17 But the Vastness of this will be best consider'd by us when we come to the Explication of that Third and the last of those Priviledges made over to us on God's Part in the Covenant of Grace viz. What it is to be an Inheritor of the Kingdom of Heaven The infinite reason we have to praise God for these Advantages And now upon the Review of what has been said in the Exposition of this present Article In what Admiration of God's Goodness may we all of us cry out with St. John 1 Epist 3.1 Behold what manner of Love the Father hath bestow'd upon us that we should be call'd the Sons of God And what infinite Reason have we with St. Paul thankfully to Praise him for it Eph. 1.3.5 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who hath Blessed us Christians with all Spiritual Blessings in and concerning Heavenly Places and Concerns of the World to come through Christ having Predestinated us to the Adoption and Priviledges of Children by Jesus Christ unto himself according to the good Pleasure of his Will He Adopted us to be his Children according to the good Pleasure of his Will This Priviledge that we should be his Children is Attended with very rich Advantages all which have accru'd to us not from any Merit and Desert of ours being suppos'd Enemies unto him but only from his free Goodness towards us which was pleas'd so to determine it And as it is both Great and Free we ought certainly with all possible Acknowledgments to Magnify and Extol both his infinite Condescension and Goodness and our own unspeakable Priviledge and Dignity therein Indeed for God to be a Father by Creation and Providence as One observes tho' it be a Mercy yet it is no Priviledge for in that Sence he is Parens rerum the common Parent of all things But that God should be thy Father by Adoption that he should make thee his Son through his only Begotten Son that he should rake up Dirt and Filth as thou art and lay it in his Bosom that he should take Aliens and Strangers near unto himself and Adopt Enemies and Rebels into his Family Register their Names in the Book of Life make them Heirs of Glory Co-heirs with Jesus Christ his Eternal Son as the Apostle doth admiringly re-count it Rom. 8.17 This is Mercy and Miracle both It is indeed an invaluable Grace and Favour that we should be Adopted his Children were it only for this that he will be ready to Pardon our Sins and Infirmities and will Admit us favourably to Address our Selves and Prayers to him But this Priviledge of being his Children will farther appear to be beyond all Expression Great since if Children as the Apostle infers Rom. 8.17 then Heirs Heirs of God and Joint-Heirs with Christ If a Child of God then which Crowns all the rest of his Covenanted Mercies Inheritors of the Kingdom of Heaven which yet it is said we shall be But what and how Great that Third and Last Priviledge of the Covenant is I am in the Explication of the next Article to declare unto you THE Eighth Lecture And an Inheritour of the Kingdom of Heaven HAving hitherto spoke to the Two First Priviledges made over to us in the Covenant of Grace that thereby we are First made Members of Christ and Secondly Children of God Having both Explain'd to you the Meaning and Importance of those Two Articles and laid out to you the Vastness of those Priviledges and Advantages contain'd therein I come now in like manner to Explain to you the Third which is that we are made thereby Inheritours of the Kingdom of Heaven And indeed this Last does necessarily follow from the other For as St. Paul speaks Rom. 8.17 If Children then Heirs Heirs of God and Joint-Heirs with Christ This is the Perfection of all God's Promises and Favours vouchsafed in the Second Covenant It comes last and Crowns all the rest And it will be the certain Reward of all those that persevere to the end of their Lives in well-doing and in sincere Obedience notwithstanding all Temptations to the contrary to God's most Righteous Commands Be faithful unto Death says our Saviour and I will give thee a Crown of Life Rev. 2.10 And that you may throughly understand the vast greatness of this most extraordinary Priviledge made over to you by Covenant so as to be excited thereby to render your selves worthy to be Partakers thereof according to my usual Method I will Explain to you First What is meant by the Kingdom of Heaven Secondly What it Imports to be an Inheritour of it And then Lastly I will lay out before you the Vastness of our Priviledge in being made Inheritours of the Kingdom of Heaven And First I am to Explain unto you By the Kingdom of Heaven is meant in Scripture either First the Kingdom of Grace in this Life or Secondly the Kingdom of Glory in the Life to come what is meant by the Kingdom of Heaven The Kingdom of Heaven is an Expression we do meet with above Thirty times in the New Testament and I think we may safely say That we are constantly to understand by it either First The Kingdom of Grace in this Life or Secondly The Kingdom of Glory in the Life to come By the Kingdom of Grace in this Life I mean that Happy and Blessed State of us Christians now under the Gospel wherein we Enjoy the Happiness
full Meal will not endure a Day of Fasting and he that does not sometimes deny himself in lawful Enjoyments will be hardly able to Resist a Temptation to immoderate Gratifications But however no Man should make Sports his Business nor Pastimes his Employment no more than Cordials his Drink nor Sauces his Meat To every thing there is a season and a time to every purpose under Heaven there is a time to weep as well as a time to laugh a time to mourn as well as a time to dance Eccl. 3.1.4 And therefore such who think they have nothing else to do with their Time must consider that they have that precious Talent given 'em to greater Ends than to wast it in Divertisments Nay and those whose ample Fortunes in the World put them above the common Condition of Mankind and are not to eat of their Bread in the sweat of their Brows need not live by a Profession and a Calling would do well to consider that the greatest part of their Time ought to be laid out in doing Good in the World in being Useful and Beneficial to the Society whereof they are Parts and Members In enquiring into the Necessities of their poorer Brethren in contriving Ways and Means both to Employ and Relieve ' em And above all in promoting Religion and the Honour of God amongst Men so far at least as their own Authority and Power reaches whether in their Families or amongst their Tenants Neighbours and Dependants And these are Employments which will yield both Satisfaction here and will be rewarded with eternal Joys hereafter These are Employments and Pleasures both and which Pleasures seldom do will turn to good Account hereafter And thus I have at length finisht all that I think necessary to say to you concerning Renouncing either the World in general or those particular Good things into which it is divided viz. The Riches Honours and the Pleasures of it There was great variety of useful Matter to be consider'd under these several Heads and therefore I have been the longer upon 'em I shall be more short upon the rest The next of which are Secondly The Evils of the World viz. Poverty Disgrace and Afflictions The Evils of the World are Poverty Disgrace Affliction These are opposite to the other Goods and they are Instruments whereby Satan our great Adversary does attack us when the other fail him as is eminently seen in the Case of Job Chap. 1 2. But these are not so successful to Ruine us as those which are call'd the Good things of the World commonly are There is less Variety in the ways wherein these do tempt us And we do not open the Gates of our Souls to these as we do to the Enjoyments of this World But do rather fortify our selves against them However there are Temptations in these also and I will consider 'em as briefly as I can and how they are to be Resisted by us To proceed then First As to Poverty and Afflictions for I shall not consider these Two altogether apart the Temptations that either give us being much the same These indeed instead of Temptations to Sin and Hindrances to Vertue do very often prove Mortifiers of Vice and the great occasions of a Holy Life Poverty and Afflictions instead of Temptations to Sin and Hindrances to Vertue do very often prove Mortifiers of Vice and the great occasions of a holy Life For besides that in a State of Adversity and Want we are not so subject to Pride Insolence and a Contempt of Religion nor so liable to Luxury Ambition and Covetousness and many other Sins which are too often the Effects of a prosperous and flourishing Condition The divers sorts of Afflictions and Adversities as Sickness Loss of Goods and of Friends Poverty and Want and the like are naturally Advantagious and do mightily tend to the Encrease of many the most precious Graces in the sight of God as might be easily made appear These wean us from the World and instead of Setting our affections on things below they do cause us to put our affections on things above Seeing the Vanity Emptiness Transitoriness and great Inconstancy of this World's Enjoyments we are apt to thirst after those Permanent Certain and Everlasting Joys prepared in Heaven for us When Afflictions and Want and all other Hopes and Expectations fail us we do then usually betake our selves to God for Comfort and Support And thus drawing nigh unto God we become acquainted with him and he then vouchsafes us some Tasts of spiritual Delights and Pleasures And then having Experienc'd the ineffable Satisfactions communicated to Pious and Humble Souls in their Devotions and Religious Exercises we become Heavenly-Minded weary of this World And desirous to be dissolved and to be with Christ which is best of all Thus I say Afflictions and Adversities are many times next under God's Grace great Helps to Piety and Devotion Nevertheless they are also very often great Temptations to many Sins and Impieties Nevertheless they are often great Temptations to many Sins Impieties and as such Satan does use ' em They are apt to breed in us Impatience and Discontent and Envy at the outward Felicity of the Wicked And Poverty in particular when it meets with Minds ill-dispos'd and not season'd with Principles of Vertue and Honesty Tempts 'em to Fraud and Theft And generally when Persons labour under Necessities and Wants they think they have enough to do to provide Necessaries for Themselves and Families that they may therefore dispense with the Exercises of Religion and that it is enough for the Rich Ones to frequent the publick Worship and Sacraments But in the First Place it behoves such who labour under Poverty or any Kind of Affliction to beware they be not Tempted to Impatience and Discontent I. It behoves those who labour under Poverty or any kind of Affliction to beware of Impatience and Discontent And there is little Reason we should be Tempted thereby into these Sins for in good Truth these Kind of Sufferings in most Men's Cases are Tokens of God's Fatherly Love and Kindness and of his Ordering all things for our Good So the Apostle Heb. 12.6 Whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth and scourgeth every Son whom he receiveth This is as great a Paradox to Flesh and Blood as it is to a Child to be under the Discipline of the Rod and Ferula to either of which No Chastening for the present seemeth to be Joyous but Grievous Nevertheless afterwards it yieldeth the peaceable Fruit of Righteousness to them which are exercised thereby ver 11. These afflicting Providences tend to mortify our Vanity and to take of our Confidences in worldly Things which the Soul of Man in Affluence and Abundance is extreamly subject to and than which there is scarcely a more sinful Temper of Mind Such Reason had David Thankfully to Acknowledge God's Goodness in 'em I know O Lord that thy Judgments are right
consequently does extreamly tend to create in our Hearts an utter Hatred to all Sin So hereby we are taught that Christ has made a full perfect and sufficient Sacrifice and Satisfaction for the Sins of the whole World And such lastly is the Belief for I need not now stand to mention every Artiticle that all our Bodies shall rise again at the General Resurrection that then we must all appear before the Judgment Seat of Christ to Receive a Just Sentence for whatever we have done in the Body whether it be good or bad for this will make us careful how to lead our Lives so in this World that we may not be Condemn'd in the next These now are some of those Articles of our Christian Faith and are such Divine Truths as are more particularly necessary to be Believ'd by us as containing in them the greatest reason in the World to restrain us from all manner of Sin and to encourage us in the Practice of all Religious Duties And yet are Doctrines withal of extraordinary force to remove all Conceit out of our Minds concerning our own Merits and to make us rely solely upon God's Mercies in Christ for the Acceptance of our most Holy Performances And let this suffice as to the first Thing proposed which was to declare unto you something in general of the Nature of the Objects or of those Truths to be Believ'd the Articles of our Christian Faith And now Secondly I will also shew you what it is to BELIEVE these Truths so as to make us capable of Life and Happiness And if it be ask'd how we must Believe these things What it is to Believe those Truths so as to make us capable of Life and Happiness why we must be so throughly and firmly perswaded of their undoubted Truth as to be accordingly Influenc'd as I have now said by the Belief thereof to the Practice of Good Works and then to betake our selves to Jesus Christ to Intercede with the Father for their Gracious Acceptance Our Belief thereof must be Operative Practical I say our Faith must be such as does Influence us to a Good Life for such is the Faith that St. Paul tells us is now required in the Christian Religion in order to Salvation Gal. 5.6 In Jesus Christ says he neither Circumcision availeth any thing nor Vncircumcision but Faith which worketh by Love Some render the words and that more rightly Faith that is perfected by Love which does more expresly signify the Apostle's meaning that that Faith which will save us must be such as is perfected by the addition of those Duties which we owe to God and our Neighbour And St. James does with great Industry shew that the Christian Faith which has the Promise of Justification and Salvation is a Powerful Practical Belief and that none other has any Promise What says St. James 2.14 doth it profit my Brethren tho' a Man saith he hath Faith and hath not Works can Faith save him Faith if it have not Works is dead being alone ver 17. and is no more than what the Devils have for the Devils believe and tremble ver 19. Such was the Faith of Abraham and of all the Saints And the Faith indeed for which the Holy Patriarchs and Saints were Renown'd of Old and are now so highly Rewarded in Heaven was a Powerful Practical and Working Faith indeed which excited them to the highest and the hardest Acts of Obedience that it was possible for Men to perform Thus Heb. 11.17 18. we read that by Faith Abraham when he was tryed offered up Isaac and he that had received the Promises offered up his only begotten Son and he a Son too in whom God had promised him great Blessings And yet at God's Command he readily Obeyed believing that God would be as good as his Promise to him tho' it was by Raising him again from the Dead By Faith Moses when he was come to Years refused to be called the Son of Pharaoh 's Daughter chusing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the pleasures of Sin for a season esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt for he had respect to the recompence of reward ver 24 25 26. It was a great Temptation to Moses to be made a Prince if he pleased in which Estate he might enjoy the highest Pleasures this World could afford but he Believing that God would infinitely reward him for his Self-denial in refusing such Worldly Honours and Pleasures chose rather to be one of those mean Persecuted People the Children of Israel By Faith Thousands of Blessed Saints before us endured tryals of cruel Mockings and Scourgings yea moreover of Bonds and Imprisonments they were Stoned they were Sawn asunder were Tempted were Slain with the Sword they wandred about in Sheep-skins and in Goat-skins being destitute afflicted tormented of whom the world was not worthy they wandred in Desarts and in Mountains and in Dens and in Caves of the Earth Heb. 11.35 36 37 38. They were terrible Sufferings which the Servants of God in former times have been put to undergo but as dreadful as they were being supported with a firm Belief that they should be infinitely recompenced for their Sufferings and Losses they thereupon chearfully underwent the severest that the Wit or Malice of Men or Devils could invent or inflict upon ' em Such a powerful practical working Faith indeed was that for which the Holy Patriarchs and Saints were of Old Renown'd and are now Rewarded in Heaven A Faith I say which excited them to the highest and hardest Acts of Obedience that it was possible for Men to perform And such a Powerful Practical Active and Working Principle is Faith And such an Operative and Practical Principle is Faith whenever the Things believed are of great Importance or Concernment to us whensoever the things Believed are of great Importance or Concernment to us Some things indeed as an Excellent Person does well observe are of such a Nature that the Belief or Knowledge of 'em goes no farther but rests in it self as the Knowledge or Belief of bare Speculative Truths that do not at all Concern us but some things again are of such a Nature as being once firmly and truly believ'd and known carry a Man out to Action Thus for Example If you should hear another threaten'd that he should certainly be Kill'd if he stir out of his House to morrow it would not hinder you from going Abroad tho' you firmly believe the Threatning because it is a Truth in which you are not Concern'd But the Person so threatned if he does throughly believe the danger will certainly not stir out of his House that Day because it is a Truth that he is very much Concerned in On the other side If you shall hear of a Promise made to another Person of a Thousand Pound if he will be at the Pains to go but to such
in another Word is ordinarily exprest in Scripture by Vprightness or walking uprightly And to be upright in God's Ways is not to stumble and fall by Sin or Disobedience but to be perfect and entire or wanting nothing in obedient Performances And that our Obedience may be thus entire and upright it must be First The Obedience of the whole Man Secondly To the whole Law And Thirdly perform'd at all times First That our Obedience to the Laws of the Gospel may be entire I. The Obedience of the whole Man that is and so avail us to Life and Happiness it must be the Obedience of the whole Man that is we must take care to obey with all the Powers and Faculties of our Nature We must have our Understandings our Wills our Affections and our Bodily Powers obedient to God's Laws And for this the very Letter of the Law is express for when the Lawyer ask'd our Saviour What shall I do to inherit eternal Life Luk. 10.25 our Saviour ask'd how it is written in the Law who answering that it is written Thou shalt love that is serve as it is Deut. 11.13 the Lord thy God with all thine Heart or Will with all thy Soul or Affections with all thy Strength or Bodily Powers and with all thy Mind or Understanding vers 26 27. When the Lawyer answered him That thus indeed it was written in the Law as it was Deut. 11. our Saviour told him he answered right and bid him do this and he should live Obedience with all the Powers and with the whole Nature is the Means of Life and the indispensible Condition of our eternal Happiness And In the first place of the Mind and Vnderstanding First We must keep all God's Commandments with our Mind or Understanding that is all the Thoughts and Imaginations all the Contrivances and Counsels of our Hearts must be governed by and kept in Obedience to the Laws of the Gospel so that we must not indulge our selves nor entertain in our Hearts evil Thoughts wanton and vain Thoughts nor must we purpose and contrive wicked and unjust Things no more than we must outwardly act them Thus the Apostle 2 Cor. 10.4 tells us That the Weapons of a Christian's Warfare must be mighty through God to the pulling down Strong-holds to the casting down Imaginations and every high thing that exalteth it self against the Knowledge of God and to the bringing into captivity every Thought to the Obedience of Christ This Text forbids all Thoughts and Contrivances of Sin Secondly of the Will Secondly As ever we hope to have our Obedience avail us to Life and Happiness as we must keep our Minds and Understandings so likewise our Wills in Obedience to God's Commands The Choice as well as the Practice of our Duty is plainly necessary to render it available to our Salvation but on the other side he that would sin if he could conveniently and opportunely if he chuse Sin although he miss of opportunity to act it the bare Choice without the Practice is sufficiently to his Condemnation Thus our Lord Himself has determined it Whosoever looks on a Woman to lust after her or so long till his Heart eonsent to commit Lewdness with her if he could though he never meet with an Opportunity to act it hath committed Adultery with her already in his Heart Matth. 5.28 This Text shews us that we may disobey in Willing as well as Doing and that we shall be condemned for a wicked Choice as well as a wicked Practice Thirdly of the Affections Thirdly As we will render to God the Obedience of the whole Man an entire Obedience such as will avail us to Salvation we must regulate our Souls and Affections conforming them wholly to what God Commands That is we must love our Duty as well as do it and not to do it meerly out of Fear but out of Love To pretend Obedience to God and yet to love what he forbids to make a show of his Service and yet in our very Hearts to hanker after his vilest Enemies our Sins whom above all Things his Soul hates this surely is not honestly to Serve but grosly to Collogue and flatly to Dissemble with Him And we must not do our Duty meerly out of Fear I say but out of Love for thus to serve God against our Wills is to submit to him as a Slave doth to a Tyrannous Lord not through any Kindness for him but through a hateful Fear of him But this is such a hateful way of performing Obedience as God will never endure nor accept of for He scorns to be served by a slavish Fear and an unwilling Mind No Man as our Saviour says Matth. 6.24 can serve two Masters for if he loves the one he will hate the other Ye cannot serve God and Mammon By this he lets us know that our Love and Obedience must go together and be paid both to one God Lastly As we will give God the Service and Obedience of the whole Man an Entire Obedience such as he will accept of to our Salvation we must Obey him with all our Strength and bodily Powers That is we must not only Inwardly Approve of God's Commands as good in our Minds and Judgments bear a Love to 'em with our Affections and chuse 'em with our Wills but we must proceed Outwardly to Act and do the Will of God in the Outward and Constant Practice of our Lives we must put to our Strength and bodily Powers and work the Will of God in our Lives and Actions Little Children saith St. John 1 Epist 3.7 let no Man deceive you he that doth Righteousness is righteous That is you will be deceived if you suffer others to perswade you or vainly flatter your selves that there is any thing less than doing and acting vertuously and righteously for which you shall be rewarded as vertuous and religious Persons These Texts besides many others shew you the necessity that our Inward good Motions proceed to Outward good Operations that you must go on to do good Deeds before you are fit for the Great Reward that we must work as well as desire and not only will and like but do our Duty because on nothing less than that we shall at the last Day be accepted This indeed is the severe Service and the distasteful Part This the distasteful part of our Duty A secret Wish or a sudden Desire of Obedience may start up in our Souls unawares and there is not much opposition made to it because our Lusts receive no great hurt from it And therefore they will allow us to think of Good to spend a faint Wish a sudden Inclination or fruitless Desire upon it but if once we would go on to do our Duty and to begin Obedience then begins the Conflict our Lusts then bestir themselves with might and main and set every Faculty on work to resist and defeat it for our Thoughts then begin to argue and to
2. The faith without Works which we find mention made of in the Scriptures as that which will as little avail us as the former is a Dead Faith And this we are told in the same Scriptures what it is that it is also a bare Assent of the Mind only which does not stir up the Will to chuse nor the Affections to delight in the Laws of God but is utterly barren and fruitless in Good Works Faith if it hath not Works is dead being alone Jam. 2.17 And so far is such a Faith as this which does not move and stir us up to Good Works from being acceptable to God to our Justification and Salvation that v. 19 20. it is compared to the Faith of Devils and is reckon'd no better 3. A little Faith and Faith which has not taken deep root in the Heart 3. Again We find mention in the Scriptures of a Little Faith Matth. 6.30 and of Faith that has not taken root Luke 8.13 Either of which is a Faith which will carry Men to something of Religious Performances but is not strong enough to bear 'em up under the Difficulties of Religion and through all the Temptations of the World the Flesh and the Devil Thus those who in the use of honest means cannot trust in God for the providing themselves of all things necessary for this Life but are full of carking Thoughts for the morrow that is for the future are upbraided by our Saviour Matth. 6.30 as Persons of Little Faith Why take you thought for Raiment If God so cloath the Grass of the Field which to day is and to morrow is cast into the Oven shall he not much more cloath you O ye of little Faith And those who when shockt with any Temptations do thereupon yield because their Faith hath taken no root they are compared to stony Ground of which it is said that when they hear they receive the Word with Joy but not having root these do but for a while Believe and in time of Temptation fall away Luke 8.13 4. Even the Faith of Miracles will prove insufficient to Justification if not accompany'd with Obedience 4. As to that which may be defective and fall short of a Justifying and Saving Faith this we are told even the Faith of Miracles will do if it be not accompany'd with Good Works This Miraculous Faith we find often mention'd in the Scriptures And it was a strong Perswasion wrought in the Party by the Spirit of God that by the Power and Authority of Jesus he should do such a Miracle beyond the Power of Nature to be perform'd as the casting out Devils by the Word of his Mouth But even this Faith of Miracles if it is not accompany'd with Good Works of which Charity and Love to one another is the chief will signifie nothing so says St. Paul 1 Cor. 13.2 Tho' I have all Faith so that I could remove Mountains and have no Charity I am nothing Especially accompany'd with Pride Many we are told Matth. 7. will presume much upon their excellent Gifts of Prophecying or Preaching fluently and of their Power even to cast out Devils but yet our Saviour protests he will not so much as know them if they have been wicked Livers if proud and full of themselves and contemptuous of others as Gifted Persons are apt to be Many will say unto me in that day Lord Lord have we not prophecy'd in thy Name and in thy Name cast out Devils and in thy Name done many wonderful Works And then will I profess unto them I never knew you depart from me ye that work Iniquity vers 22 23. No nothing he assures us will ever avail us to Happiness and Salvation less than such a Faith as will procure a sincere Obedience to his Holy Will and Commandments Not every one that saith unto me Lord Lord shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven but he that doth the Will af my Father which is in Heaven v. 21. 5. The Faith of Hypocrites Lastly Another sort of Faith which will not Justifie nor Save us may be stiled the Faith of Hypocrites and this is the Faith of such who expect to be Justified and Sav'd meerly for Believing or rather for Relying and Recumbing upon Christ without performing the other Conditions of Repentance and Obedience which are the necessary Effects or Ingredients rather of Justifying and Saving Faith and without which it is not our Believing alone which will at all avail us Of this sort were many among the Jews of old of whom the Prophets do often complain that looking upon themselves as a Chosen Nation as a peculiar People whom God had Elected out of all the Nations of the Earth to bestow his Favours upon Such was the Faith of many among the Jews presuming that they were a chosen People they would confidently lean and depend upon him that he would assuredly be their God and that they should be his People notwithstanding that they gave themselves up to work all Unrighteousness and were cruel Extortioners Oppressors and the like Thus Micah 3.9 11. They abhor Judgment and pervert Equity yet they will lean upon the Lord and say Is not the Lord among us None Evil can come upon us And Isaiah complains that tho' they would swear falsly by the Name of the Lord yet they had the Confidence to call themselves the Holy City and to stay themselves upon the God of Israel Isai 48.1 2. And there are too many also amongst us Christians And such is the Faith also of many Christians presuming likewise that they are the Elect. who confidently presuming that they are the Elect Children of GOD do undoubtedly hope for all that Pardon and Happiness which Christ with the Price of his most Precious BLOOD hoth obtained for us meerly upon the account of their firmly Believing that Christ hath done all for 'em and if they can but Believe this they fondly perswade themselves they shall certainly be Justify'd let them be never so Wicked and Disobedient to God's most Righteous Laws yea tho' they are Proud Boasters Covetous Envious and Bitter Revilers of those who are much better than themselves And in this their wholly depending upon Christ without any Good in themselves they think they shall most Honour Christ and set forth the Greatness of his Redemption of us whereas to preach the necessity of our own Righteousness tho' wrought by his Grace and accompany'd with many Defects were to teach Men to depend as they foolishly enough imagine not upon the Merits of Christ but their own Deserts which are none at all and so would derogate from and lessen the Grace of Christ and the Greatness of that Redemption he hath wrought for us And this sort of Faith or Dependence upon Christ alone as those before mention'd Micah 3.11 and Isai 48.1 2. So our Christian Hypocrites likewise call Leaning upon the Lord and casting themselves upon the God of Israel a
do not know how better to define it than thus Faith is such a hearty belief of God's Declaration concerning his own Grace and Man's Duty as doth effectually cause a Man to expect from God and to act in a way of sincere Obedience according to the Tenour and Import of such a Declaration Or if you will take in the Belief of God's Threatnings against sinners into the definition then it will be thus Faith is such a hearty belief of God's Declaration concerning his own Grace and Displeasure and Man's Duty as doth effectually cause a Man to expect from God and to act in a way of sincere Obedience according to the Tenour and Import of such a Declaration Faith thus defined we have already seen exemplified in Abraham who is the great Exemplar of Believing and the Father of Believers And that it was his belief of God's Promise or Declaration of Grace and Favour to him as it is practical in producing Repentance Self-denial and sincear Obedience by which he was justified and made happy appears farther not only in that it 's said by St. James That his Faith wrought with his Works and was made perfect by them and that he was justified by Works as well as by Faith of which more anon but also in that it 's said that he received the sign of Circumcision which was the Condition upon which God Covenanted with him to be his God and upon the same terms to be the God of his Seed a Seal of the Righteousness of the Faith which he had while he was yet uncircumcised For supposing which is not denied Circumcision to be an outward Sign of inward Grace of the Circumcision of the Heart consisting in Mortification or a Penitential change of the Heart which is the effect of Faith his Circumcision as such was a Seal of confirmation to Abraham that it was upon his former so believing God upon his Promise as thereby to be induced to leave the evil Customs of his Country and his Country it self with his Kindred and his Father's House that God would be his God indeed In which Promise was implicitly promised all that would make him Eternally Happy And God's farther design of giving to Abraham this Covenant of Circumision as a Seal to assure him the enjoyment of the benefit wrapt up in that Promise upon the terms aforesaid was that he might be the Father of all them that Believe whether literally Circumcised or not that is that he might be a great Example and Pattern to all others of obtaining the same benefits in the same way and so might be a means of begetting others to Believe in God and to Obey him as he had done to be a great Instrument to propagate the kind of New Creatures of Men renewed to God to the end they might be Blessed as he was This or somewhat to this effect is doubtless the meaning of Rom. 4.11 12. And he received the sign of Circumcision a Seal of the Rightousness of the Faith which he had being yet uncircumcised That he might be the Father of all them that Believe though they be not circumcised that Rightousness might be imputed to them also And the Father of Circumcision to them who are not of the Circumcision only but also walk in the steps of that Faith of our Father Abraham which he had being yet uncircumcised and it is not unlikely but that as Heart-Circumcision under the figure of Literal-Circumcision was together with Faith made the condition of the Covenant then so Spiritual Baptism which is a Death unto sin and a living unto God is under the Figure of Water-Baptism joyned with Believing as the condition of the Promise of Salvation now Mark 16.16 He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved According to which St. Peter having spoken of Noah's Ark saith The like figure whereunto Baptism now saveth us not the putting away of the filth of the flesh but the answer of a good conscience towards God 1 Pet. 3.21 Now as it was in Abraham such a belief of God's Declaration of Grace and Favour as did effectually induce him to Love and Obey God by which he was Justified so I shall shew afterwards it was the very same kind of Faith working after the same manner by which the Saints under the Law of Moses were Saved But Faith as Evangelical and Christian is such a hearty assent and consent unto God's Declaration in the Gospel by his Son concerning Christ himself and his Grace and Favour towards Men by him and concerning their own Duty as causeth a Man to expect from God and to act in a way of duty according to the Tenour of such a Declaration and his own concerns in it And Faith thus defined is fully agreeable to the Tenour of the Gospel Mark 16.15 16. Go ye into all the world and Preach the Gospel to every Creature He that Believeth and is Baptized shall be saved He that believeth What Why he that believeth that Gospel which was to be Preâ—â—hed to every Creature Which Gospel contains a Declaration of God's â—â—â—â—e and Man's Duty and of his Wrath against all Ungodliness and Unrighteousness of Men. For 1. It declares from God that he hath given his Son Jesus Christ to be the Saviour of the World by being a Propitiation for the sin o fit in becoming a Sacrifice to expiate sin 2. It declares That God upon account of his Son's giving himself a Ransom for all hath made and doth establish a New Covenant with the World to Pardon and Eternally to Save as many as shall Believe in his Son and Repent of their sinfulness in changing their Minds and reforming their Lives and becoming New Men in yielding sincere Obedience to the Precepts of the Gospel 3. It declares That those that believe not shall be damned and such as repent not shall perish and that the unrighteous shall not inherit the Kingdom of God This summarily is that which the Gospel declares concerning God's Grace and Displeasure and Man's Duty Now it is the practical belief of all this that is the saving Faith It is not the bare belief that God hath given his Son to be the Saviour of the World and a Propitiation for the sin of it Nor is it a bare belief that he will for Christ's sake pardon and save as many as truly Repent and amend their lives and become New Creatures unless they so believe all this as seriously and heartily to Repent themselves of their former folly and to return to their duty in new Evangelical Obedience For otherwise for a Man barely to believe all this and not act according to his own concerns in it will be so far from being a believing to the saving of the Soul as that it will rather plunge him the deeper in Destruction for living and acting contrary to his own light and belief as holding the truth in unrighteousness the wrath of God being revealed from heaven against all such Rom. 1.18 A Man of this
Inheritance by adopting them to a participation of the Moral Perfections of his Nature that is to a consimilitude to him in them And this we say is done by Faith that is by Faith in God and by Faith in his Word For in order of Nature God is first believed to be a God of Truth before his Word is believed to be the Word of Truth And the creditableness of his Word depends upon the knowledge or belief or the fidelity of his Nature And this Truth of God and of his Word is the immediate Object of Faith By Faith a Man believes that to be true which God reveals or declares as his Mind and Will let the Import of it be what it will But then this Faith operates upon the Will and Affections according to the Tenour and Import of that which is Revealed If it be matter of sad import it works a hatred to him that threatens it and a fear of the thing threatned if it be apprehended to proceed from an enemy And this is the effect of the Faith of Devils who believe and hate God who believe and tremble Jam. 2.19 But if that which is Revealed by God and Believed by Man betoken unspeakable love and good-will in God to Man and matter of the greatest benefit to him as a proof of such love then it worketh love to him that expresseth such love for Faith worketh by Love Gal. 5.6 and a longing desire after the promised benefit And as the Soul grows more and more in love with God because of his love in love with his Blessed Nature and Divine Perfections such as are his Love and Goodness Truth and Faithfulness Purity and Patience Mercifulness and readiness to Forgive which render him altogether lovely so it contracts a likeness to God in these upon the Soul and so changes and renews the Moral habit and constitution of the Soul and consequently the whole Life There is an aptness and promptness in Men to imitate that in others and so in God for which they love them And frequent imitating Acts beget Habits Custom changing Nature And hence it is that through Faith we are made partakers of a Divine Nature 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 2. Cor. 3.18 This beholding the glory of the Lord is by Faith For we walk by Faith and not by sight 2. Cor. 5.7 and by it Moses saw him who is invisible Heb. 11.27 And the medium by which this Prospect is taken is the Gospel by which the Lord in his lovely Perfections is now openly revealed And Faith being from time to time busied in beholding of and conversing with these Perfections it transforms the Soul into the same Image or likeness from glory to glory that is gradually as by the Spirit of the Lord that is through the co-operation of God's Spirit with Man's Faith To comprehend the breadth length depth and heighth and to know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge is the way to be filled with all the fullness of God by transcribing all his imitable Perfections upon the Soul Ephes 3.18 19. And it is by virtue of their Relation to Christ and being thus begotten and born of God and made partakers of a new Nature conformable to God's that Men can with confidence call God Father This blessed effect of God's Spirit is the Spirit of Adoption by which they cry Abba Father And it is this new Nature that is the Spring and Fountain of a good Life of all pious and virtuous Actions As it is said of God Thou art good and dost good so it is true of all those that are born of him A good Man out of the good treasure of his heart thus renewed bringeth forth good fruit The Tree being good the Fruit will be good And as this new Creature groweth up to strength and maturity so doing of good and acting worthily will become natural and pleasant to him in whom it is To such an one the Commandments of God are not grievous but he will be able in some good measure to say I delight to do thy will O God yea thy Law is in my heart And for sin it being contrary to this New Nature there is a kind of Moral Impotency in him in whom it is to commit sin He cannot sin because he is born of God 1 Joh. 3.9 Or if such an one be overtaken in a fault it will work a disturbance in the Soul just as that will in the Stomach which a Man hath eaten against which he hath an antipathy in Nature But as for such as perform Religious Duties and do things materially good only by the strength of extrinsecal Motives and not from an inward Principle of this New Nature or love to the things themselves to such those Actions being unnatural become grievous and burdensome and will be continued in no longer than those Motives continue in their strength Sect. 8. The last thing I proposed to consider about God's Promise to Abraham is What we are to understand by God's counting Abraham's Faith to him for Righteousness And I take it to signifie thus much That God in a way of special Grace or by virtue of a New Law of Grace and Favour which was established by God in Christ Gal. 3.17 that is in reference to what Christ was to do and suffer in time then to come did reckon his Practical Faith to him for Righteousness that is that which in the eye of the New Law should pass in his estimation for Righteousness subordinate to Christ's Righteousness which procured this Grant or Law For otherwise Faith neither as it is the Condition of the Promise of Remission of Sin through Christ nor as it works Repentance for sins past or sincere Obedience for time to come is Righteousness in the Eye of the Original Law For that accounts no Man that hath though but once transgressed it to be Righteous either upon the account of anothers suffering for his sin or his own Repentance or sincere imperfect Obedience but Curseth every Man that from first to last continueth not in all things which are contained in that Law But it is as I said an Act of God's special Favour and by virtue of his New Law of Grace and as it is established in Christ that such a Faith as I have described comes to be reckoned or imputed to a Man for Righteousness and through God's imputing it for Righteousness to stand a Man in the same if not in better stead as to his Eternal Concerns as a perfect fulfilling of the Original Law from first to last would have done Christ's Righteousness being presupposed the only Meritorious Cause of this Grant or Covenant And thus indeed the Faith which I have described is a Man's Righteousness in the Eye of this New Law because it is summarily all that is required of him himself to make him capable
and Stubble and shall be able to distinguish between and separate the Refuse and Dross of a Sermon and Discourse from the weighty and substantial Parts of it A Skill which as it is of vast Consequence so it is but little understood by the Generality of People for want of having been well Catechized and Instructed in the Fundamentals of Christian Religion IV. Catechizing necessary to prevent being seduced into dangerous Errors Fourthly Catechizing is also requisite to secure you from being at any time mis-lead into dangerous Heresies and Errors by the Sermons and Discourses of Men Crafty to deceive to the infinite Peril of your immortal Souls There must be Heresies the Apostle tells us 1 Cor. 11.19 That they which are approved may be made manifest For God does permit them for our Tryal whether we will stand stedfast to the Truth And our Saviour bids us Matth. 24.45 Take heed that no man deceive us for many shall come in my Name says he that is will pretend to be Ministers of Christ and shall deceive many They will come with all deceiveableness the Apostle tells us 2 Thess 2.10 with so much Artifice and Cunning that if it were possible they shall deceive the very Elect Mat. 24.24 particularly of this sort are they St. Paul warns us 2 Tim. 3.6 Which creep into houses and lead captive silly women laden with Sins led away with divers Lusts ever learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the Truth A Character than which nothing can more exactly agree to the Seducers of our Times and the Persons whom they do usually Practice upon to draw aside which are for the most part Ignorant Women and the Effect it has upon their Disciples and Followers which is to make them great Talkers and Pretenders to extraordinary Knowledge but in reality not one Jott wiser in the grand Points of the Christian Religion And now if any of these cunning Deceivers shall come to any of you and endeavour to Pervert you how is it possible you should escape their Wiles except you shall be well Principled so as throughly to understand the Foundation Articles of your Religion But Holding fast that form of sound words 2 Tim. 1.13 Having well imbibed the Principles of Religion which are taught in your Catechism by these as by a certain Touchstone you will be able to discover what are True and what are Erroneous Doctrines Those that agree with this Analogy of Faith you may be certain are sound what do contradict them you may be sure are false Doctrines Catechizing is an excellent Means says Mr. Gouge to keep Persons from the Errors and the Heresies of the Times For Persons well Catechized and Instructed in the Principles of Religion are in a great measure Antidoted against the Poison of seducing Doctrines And observe who are they as he goes on that are easiest seduced by false Teachers who are they that have embrac'd their Erroneous Tenets and you shall find that they are such who were never well Catechized nor grounded in the Principles of Religion As therefore you would not be poisoned with the Erroneous Doctrines of false Teachers take care to be well rooted and grounded by Catechizing in the Knowledge of the Truth Lastly Lastly Catechizing is exceedingly Necessary Catechizing is exceeding Useful to preserve Youth from falling into any gross and wasting Sin and especially any Ungodly Course of Living Or if he has been Seduc'd by evil Company the having the Seed of good Principles sown in the Heart by a timely Catechizing will be the most likely Means to recover such a One out of the Snares of the Devil First I. To preserve Youth from ever falling into an Vngodly way of Living It is exceeding Vseful to preserve Youth from falling into any gross and wasting Sin and especially any Vngodly Course of Living This was the Counsel of the Wisest of mere Men of Solomon to Train up a Child in the way he should go and when he is Old he will not depart from it Prov. 22.6 And that excellent Moralist Plutarch in his rare Tract of Breeding of Youth speaks to the same purpose that As soft Wax is apt to take the Stamp of the Seal so are the Minds of Children to receive in Instructions imprinted on them at that Age. Let but your Youth be taught so much as they are capable to learn concerning the Nature of God how that he is wonderfully Good to those that Love and Fear him and that he will be Terrible in Judgment towards those that Disobey him Let them be instructed how wonderfully Kind the Son of God was to them as to come down himself from Heaven to call them forth out of the wicked World wholly given up to the Service of the Devil to serve their God and Maker Let them be taught betimes as much as they are capable to understand of this and of their Duty to God and Man and what a solemn Vow Promise and Profession they have made in their Baptism not willingly to offend so good and gracious a Saviour but to serve and honour him for ever Let but these Notions take the first Possession of your Minds and it will be hardly possible for any Temptation to prevail over you and to draw you into Sin you will then Blush to hear the lewd and foolish Talk of the Godless Crew of hardned Sinners you will then Tremble at their bold Oaths and you will be out of Countenance to be so much as Seen in the Company of Drunkards If they shall endeavour to perswade you to joyn with them in their lewd Courses you will have That within you will quickly answer I cannot I dare not do so ill a thing I cannot be guilty of so great a Piece of Ingratitude as to offend so good a God and gracious a Saviour as mine I dare not be guilty of so high an Injustice as to violate my Covenant Vow and Promise to him for then he will eternally Punish me Away all ye workers of Iniquity for I will keep the Commandments of my God But Youth untaught and unnurtured quickly fly out into all manner of Extravagances for why they know no better they have receiv'd no good Principles that should controul them Vanity Youthful Lusts and their wicked Companions hurry them into such bold Villanies as make us admire the Patience of God that forbears striking them quick into Hell but on they go to provoke him to the utmost and how should it be otherwise since they have no Notion of the difference between Good and Evil Nor any Principle within them that should in the least check them in the Pursuit of that which is Evil and stir them up to that which is Good True it is it may too often happen that One that has laid up in store a good Foundation of Religious Principles may be tempted and much staggered in his Constancy and perhaps be overtaken in a Fault so as wilfully to do
our Saviour does therefore direct us And thus he does usually Gild over his Errors Thus especially he Gilds his Errors where the Light of the Gospel does most clearly shine as here with the Resemblance of Divine Truth especially in those Churches and Countries where the Light of the Gospel does most clearly shine And I think I cannot do you better Service than to Instance in some of those pernicious Errors both in Faith and Practice of this Kind which do at present Infest this Church and Nation that so you may be Caution'd against the Entertainment of them And First It is usual with Satan here amongst us I. When under the plausible Appearance of Advanceing God's Honour in some of his Attributes he renders him Odious and Despis'd in Others Vnder the plausible Appearance and Colour of Advancing God's Honour in some of his Attributes to render him Odious and Despised in other Thus for Instance By infusing into Men's Hearts a Belief that God has Created the far greatest Part of the World on purpose to manifest his Dominion and Power and Justice in Damning them afterwards for their Sins he Robs him of the Honour of being a Gracious Merciful and Good God to the utter abolishing of all Veneration towards him and Love of him Insomuch that the very Atheist who denies there is a God does not so much Affront him as even a sober Heathen thought as those who think so Dishonourably of him II. When under the Colour of Advancing Gospel truths he propagates Heresies which do undermine Religion and the Necessity of a holy Life Secondly Vnder the Colour of Setting up as the most precious Gospel Truths some Opinions that seem to have a great Resemblance of Truth he brings in such Heresies into the Church as do utterly undermine Religion and the necessity of a good Life Thus by his Teaching that Christ has so Paid the whole Debt for our Sins that the vilest Wretch that Lives need no more but be perswaded that he is an Elected Person and that the Promises belong to him on the Assurance of his particular Election and that such a Faith as this will save him But by Vertue of such an Opinion of Satan's infusing no doubt you shall too often find an Envious Malicious Viper a Covetous Worldling a Rebel and an Adulterer even before his Sins are Repented of talk of Recumbing and Leaning upon Christ and Roling upon the Promises as they are pleas'd to express it with more Assurance than the best and holiest Livers and the faithfullest Servants of Christ III. When he teaches to prefer some eminent Christian Duty or some Part of a Duty or one Way of performing a Duty to the disparagement of another Thirdly A most fatal and mischievous Delusion of Satan rise amongst us in this Nation at this Day is his Teaching Men to prefer some Eminent Christian Duty or One Part of a Duty or One way and manner of performing a Duty to the Disparagement of another Thus you shall often see some careless whether they come to Prayers or not so they can be but at the Sermon and others on the contrary say they care not whether they shall hear a Sermon in their Lives so they can have but Prayers But the most notorious Cheat he puts upon Men is his infusing into their Hearts to Prefer One Part of a Duty to the utter Contempt of the other Thus because in the Worship of God in Prayers and Praises to perform this with an Hearty inward Devotion is principally required and we are commanded that since God is a Spirit Christians must Worship him in Spirit and in Truth As to prefer Prayer to the neglect of Preaching or Sermons to the Contempt of Prayer Hence vast Numbers of Men do conclude that Outward Reverence by Kneeling lifting up the Eyes and the like is a meer Outward Ceremony not at all necessary under the Gospel insomuch that God is now most highly Dishonour'd even in our Publick Assemblies where we come to do him Honour by the shameful want of Reverence appearing in most People by sitting at their very Prayers So true it is what One said That such a rude and slovenly Kind of Religion As also praying in Spirit to the regard of Bodily Worship hath made its way into the World by this Policy of Satan and such a shameful Carelessness in Divine Worship that should a Stranger to our Religion come into our Assemblies he could not by the Carriage of the Generality of People imagine what they were doing and that they were Worshiping of the glorious Majesty of Heaven would perhaps be one of the last Things he could Conjecture And Extemporary Prayer to the utter Contempt of Forms of Prayer But the most fatal Error of this Kind the most mischievous to the Church and Nation and to Men's Souls therein Is the Preferring a way of performing a Duty that is Vnpracticable by the Generality of Christians to the utter Disparagement of another more easy and no less acceptable way of discharging it This is eminently seen in Advancing Extemporary Prayer as the only Spiritual way of Worshiping and in raising Prejudices in the Minds of Christians against Forms of Prayer as not Spiritual enough if at all Lawful It is very certain that the far greatest Part of Christians are utterly unable to Conceive for themselves much less before others such Prayers or Praises as are proper for their Occasions and fit to be Offer'd in Decency and Honour to so Great and Wise a Majesty as God is And this consider'd if Prayers of other Godly Men's nay of a whole Church's composing must not be Us'd does it not necessarily follow that this Principal of all Christian of all Natural Duties must suffer if not a total Neglect at least-wise that it must be very indecently and rudely Perform'd and in too familiar a manner with God as is too usual Why woful Experience does plainly shew us that for this very Reason it does And therefore By this latter Means Satan has utterly Defeated those excellent Helps we have in our Church and brought in a great Neglect of Publick Family and private Devotion tho' no Church through the Care of its Pious Bishops and Pastors did ever Abound with more excellent Forms and Helps and those better fitted for Publick Family and Private Devotion than our Church does at this Day yet upon the account of Men's Prejudices which they have been taught to Entertain against Forms of Prayer as not Lawful or not Expedient or not Spiritual enough never did Persons so sadly Profane the Worship and Service of God so heartlesly join in the Common-Prayer so scandalously throw aside Family Religion and so universally I fear neglect Private Devotion as now they do I fear that those who so zealously decry Forms of Prayer and that on purpose to Advance in its stead a more Spiritual way of Worship as they think will take it ill that
You shall be sure to be accounted Fools Mad and Rude for your Pains And it is odds but you shall be reproacht as Hypocrites that would fain seem Better than others but can privately be as Bad as they But have infinite Encouragements to such Fidelity from God But consider the more you suffer for the Honour of your Lord the more like good Souldiers you behave your selves and the better he will reward you Consider what a glorious Thing it is to be Evil-spoken of for Well-doing Blessed are ye when Men shall Revile you and say all manner of Evil against you falsly for my sake Rejoice and be exceeding glad for great is your Reward in Heaven Matth. 5.11 12. Consider your Saviour and Leader who suffer'd worse Reproaches and The Disciple is not above his Master nor the Servant his Lord if they have called the Master of the house Beelzebub how much more shall they call them of his Houshold Matth. 10.24 25. Consider that a Christian must not fear the Face of any Man but must suffer Martyrdom it self in the Cause of Christ if call'd out to it Fear not them which kill the Body but are not able to kill the Soul but fear him who is able to destroy both Body and Soul in Hell ver 28. Nay consider lastly that this Standing up resolutely for the Honour of God and Religion is the next Degree to Martyrdom and will be rewarded like it It is call'd a Confessing of God before Men and on the other side a fearing and forbearing to appear in His behalf a Denying of him and consider what our Saviour declares concerning such who do so Confess or Deny him Whosoever shall Confess me before Men him will I Confess before my Father which is in Heaven but whosoever shall Deny me before Men him will I also Deny before my Father which is in Heaven Matth. 10.32 33. So much it concerns you to refuse Conformity to the Evil Company of the World And so much for this time THE Eighteenth Lecture First That I should Renounce the Devil and all his Works the Pomps and Vanity of this wicked World and all the sinful Lusts of the Flesh THAT which I am now upon is to Forwarn you against the Temptations of the wicked World by shewing you the dangerous Ones you shall meet withal from the Wicked Men of the World and in what Sence and how far you must Renounce both them and their wicked ways of Tempting others to Sin This I have already done as to their Evil Examples and Evil Company and have deliver'd these Instructions to you that by God's Help may I hope be sufficient to prevent your being infected by the Poison of either But the wicked Men of the World have other ways of Tempting Men to Sin and what they are and how bravely you must Resist them I am next to declare unto you III. Flattery a great Temptation to Sin Thirdly Then amongst the greatest Temptations proceeding from Evil Men we may deservedly reckon their Flatteries Now the Flatterer is One who observing the general Self-love and Pride of Mankind who cannot endure Reproof or any thing that shews a Dislike of what they say or do does compose himself to Admire and Extol or at least-wise to Approve as Well-done very bad Actions or at best such as if Good in themselves are but indifferently Perform'd self- The Ground thereof our own immoderate Self-love The Ground of his Flattery I say is That immoderate Self-love he observes Natural to most Men whereby they do extravagantly esteem and admire their own Performances and can see no Defects therein And therefore whoever shall endeavour to discover their Faults tho' in never so Prudent a manner to any of these Self-admirers he is presently lookt upon as One that either envies his Abilities and good Qualities or as St. Paul was to the foolish Galatians He is therefore become his Enemy because he tells him the Truth Gal. 4.16 And now the Flatterer observing this predominant Humour in him puts on the Vizard of a Friend And composes himself to Admire and Extol or at least-wise to Approve as Well-done his very bad Actions or at best such as if Good in themselves are very indifferently Perform'd The Flatterer's care is to Please not to Profit him to whom he pretends to be a Friend to make a Prey of the besotted Self-admirer and therefore sooths him up in his Vices he calls his Profaneness Wit she that is Superstitious Devout the Prodigal and Profuse he stiles Bountiful and Liberal and the Covetous Worldling from whom he expects an Estate or Legacy he Extolls to his Face for his Prudence in managing his Affairs The Oaths and Curses the Riot and Debaucheries of the wicked Crew he happens amongst he laughs at as brave Exploits and applauds them as the Standards of Wit and Bravery And as to such things which are tolerably well Perform'd but might be Better'd for fear of mortifying the Vanity of the Creature whereby he might possibly displease him he discovers nothing of that but All is well and admirably Perform'd And now this Flattery to the Vices and Imperfections of Men is of mischievous Consequence to ' em So Prov. 26.28 This Flattery keeping Men ignorant of the good or ill Qualities in 'em thereupon A flattering mouth worketh Ruine and 29.5 A man that flattereth spreadeth a Net For why The Flatterer as Plutarch observes endeavours to make every Man his own Cheat by keeping him ignorant of the good and ill Qualities which are in him whereupon the Good never come to Perfection and the Ill grow Incorrigible By this means I say The Good never come at Perfection The Good never come to Perfection There is many a Person of a Generous Temper who delights to do Good to Mankind whose Head is working for the Publick and loves to relieve the Needy but all this 't is visible he does too much out of Ostentation and to get the Praise of Men and so loses his Reward from God But now if he had but a faithful Monitor that would fairly represent to him the Vanity and Affectation that appears in the Good he does and which others can see tho' he himself is not sensible of And that it is but to direct it to a right End and then he will obtain a Reward in Heaven and moreover merit the Praises of Men too A little of this Sincerity and Freedom would make that Man an excellent Person whom now his Vanity and Braging of the Good he does renders Troublesom and Hateful even to those whom he most Obliges There is also many a One who in his Projects concerning his own Advantage and that of the Publick out of an over-fond Conceit of his own Methods disdaining to ask Counsel or if he did they flattering every thing and not sincerely giving their Advice the Design it self therefore and the measures of obtaining it tho' Good in the main has for that very
out of that vast Treasure of useful Knowledge did dictate to him what was Good and to be chosen what was Evil and to be refus'd by him and upon which Choice of Good and Rejecting of Evil its Office was to give its Testimony of Well-done to the Good and Faithful Servant to his unspeakable Comfort and Satisfaction Next in the Upright Nature of Man as it bore upon it the Image and Likeness of God there was plac'd a Will which of it self is a blind Faculty and chuses and refuses according to the Information of others And in the State of Innocence it was entirely complying with the Dictates of Reason and Conscience And to descend from the Rational to the Inferior and Bodily Powers It was the Divine Goodness did implant in our Natures those which we call the Passions and Affections in a Man which are principally these Admiration Love and Hatred And it was to very excellent Purposes that these were given us The use of Admiration was as to things which should offer themselves to our Approbation if Good that we might put a true value upon them according to their Worth if Bad that we might despise 'em according to the Vanity and Evil we should find in ' em And as to the two other principal Passions of Love and Hatred God's design in implanting in our Hearts the former was to move and stir us up with Vigour and Activity to pursue whatever we should find good and convenient to us And the Passion of Hatred was put into our Natures that we might avoid on the contrary whatever might be found hurtful and offensive And it was no other than the Divine Goodness which in the Nature of Man did place certain Appetites and Lusts Every particular Man had even at his first Creation Appetites to Food and Sustenance in order to preserve his own Being in Life and Health And Cupidity or the Inclinations of the Sex to each other was in order to the Multiplication of Mankind This now was the Original Frame and Constitution of Man The Image of God wherein Man was at first Created what And in the Perfection Order and Purity of all the Faculties and Powers of Soul and Body according to this Original Frame and Constitution did the Image of God in which he was at first Created consist So long as the whole Nature of Man was perfect in all parts the Understanding quick in discerning momentous and weighty Truths the Conscience faithful in Dictating Right ways the Will entirely Obedient to the Directions of Conscience and Reason so long as the Affections were only plac'd upon worthy Objects and the Lusts and Appetites were always under the Power and Government of Right Reason so long as Man remained in this State the Image of God continued unsullied The Bent and Inclination of the Soul towards God what And so long as he continued thus it is plain also that the whole Bent and Inclination of the Soul was towards God that to him it did point in all its Motions and did fix upon him as the End of all its Actions and did love him with the intensest degrees of Affection And that even the Bodily Part was perfectly compliant with the Soul in serving it entirely and solely to that End So that thus you see what was the Original Frame and Constitution of Man In what the Image of God wherein he was created at first consisted And that in all the Faculties and Powers of Soul and Body his whole Bent and Inclinations were Heaven-ward But now in the Unregenerate Nature all this Excellent Frame and Constitution is broken This Image of God is defac'd and all the Faculties and Powers of Soul and Body instead of inclining towards and Centring upon God and Heavenly Things tend downwards towards the Creature 1. In the Unregenerate Nature I say That Excellent Frame and Constitution wherein Man was Originally Created is now broken I. In the Vnregenerate Nature of the Original Frame and Constitution of Man wherein he was Created is broken So that instead of that Harmonious Subordination of the inferior Faculties to the Superior instead of the Will 's being subject to the Dictates of the Understanding and the Affections being subject to the Commands and Sovereignty of the Will and the Lusts and Appetites being Obedient to Right Reason and a well-inform'd Conscience instead of this the whole Order and Frame of Humane Nature is now turn'd upside down The Affections Lusts and Appetites do now Reign and Reason and Conscience are dragg'd after them in miserable Slavery And as to the Will of an Unregenerate Man the most that it can do is not without Reluctance and Regret to comply with the Temptations of the Senses like him in St. Paul I know that in me that is in my Flesh dwelleth no good thing for to will is present with me but how to perform that which is good I find not for the Good that I would I do not but the Evil which I would not that I do Rom. 7.18 19. The best that can be suppos'd of the Unregenerate Man is this that after the Preaching of the Laws of God to him and a Divine Light has been let thereby into his Understanding he does approve in his own Mind of the Ways of God as most excellent Such was he in St. Paul Rom. 7.22 I delight in the Law of God after the inward Man that is according to the Understanding or Superior Faculty contrary to the carnal or bodily part of him such a one does approve of what the Laws of God do prescribe But then alas he must own that he sees another Law in his Members warring against the Law of his Mind and bringing him into Captivity to the Law of Sin which is in his Members v. 23. So that the State of an Unregenerate Man is a State of meer Confusion Disorder and Rebellion the Affections Lusts and Appetites rising up in Opposition to the Dictates of the Mind and Conscience And it is a State of meer Impotency and Weakness the Mind and Conscience being so far unable to govern the Affections Lusts and Appetites that these latter get the better of the day carry the Mind and Reason captive and force it slavishly to do what the Flesh requires to have done by it so exceedingly spoil'd and broken in the Unregenerate Nature is all that excellent Frame Constitution wherein Man was at first created 2. And consequently then the Image of God wherein Man was at first Created must needs be miserably defac'd II. The Image of God wherein he was first Created defac'd in a State of Unregeneracy For why In that excellent Perfection and Order which appear'd in the Frame and Constitution of Humane Nature it was that those lively Strokes of the Divine Power Wisdom and Goodness were plainly visible But as a mishapen and monstrous Picture in which there is nothing of Regularity and good Feature cannot without Injury be said to
Laws seem most to thwart our Reason and his Dispensations seem most hard and severe Thus did Abraham the Father of the Faithful when God commanded him even to Slay his only Son Isaac he readily obey'd he did not stand to dispute the Case Gen. 22.10 And thus did Job in reference to the Dispensations of God's Providence when he was stript naked of his vast Possessions and even of his dear Children he even then blest God for it kissing as it were the Rod that stroke him The Lord gave and the Lord hath taken away Blessed be the Name of the Lord Job 1.21 III. III. The Affections what and how to be renounc'd The Affections in the Carnal Man do sadly degenerate into what may too properly be called the sinful Lusts of the Flesh Our Passions and Affections are indeed in themselves of singular use to the perfecting of our Natures They are the Wings of the Soul to carry it forth with eagerness in the pursuit of that which is Good and with Aversation and Flight from that which is Evil. They are variously numbred up but the Master Affections are Love and Hatred which when they are rightly governed all the rest are so too but when they are misplac'd and out of order so in the same proportion are all the others And accordingly whereas then it is that our Love is rightly fix'd 1. When we place it upon a proper Object And 2. When we steer towards the Thing we love with Desires proportionable to the Good that is in the Object that is When the best and greatest Things are pursu'd with our chiefest Passions middle Things with a less and the lowest with the least So it is that so long as a Person remains Unregenerate he either first places his Love upon that which he should Hate which is the wrong Object as upon sinful Profits and Pleasures or secondly he loves Things of an Indifferent Nature such as are Earthly Things with an over Intense Affection beyond their true Worth and Value And so on the contrary as to Hatred the Carnal Mind hates that which he should love viz. God and Vertue The Carnal Mind is Enmity against God nor is it subject to the Law of God Rom. 8.7 Or else he hates some Things as the chiefest of all Evils viz. Sufferings and Afflictions when indeed they are of that Nature that upon due Consideration a Man shall be able to say That it is good for him that he has been Afflicted And accordingly when our Affections of either kind are either misplac'd upon wrong Objects or are disproportionate to the true worth and Evil that is in those Objects towards which it is lawful to be well or evilly affected in Moderate Degrees In either of these Cases I say our Affections shall become sinful Lusts of the Flesh and are necessary to be Renounced by us And 1. Those Affections of Love and Hatred must be utterly Renounc'd which we shall find our selves to have mis-plac'd upon wrong Objects I. As they are mis-plac'd upon wrong Objects that is instead of Loving we must utterly Hate and Abhor all Sin and sinful Pleasures So the Psalmist Psal 97.10 Ye that Love the Lord hate Evil. Now Sin is the greatest Evil in the World as being most directly contrary to the Holy Nature and Will of God and it is the Cause of all the Evils which befal us and therefore to take pleasure in Sin is so perverse a thing that so long as any Person remains thus wickedly Dispos'd he is an Enemy of God and no better than a Child of the Devil 1 Joh. 3.10 Thus must we not misplace our Love upon that greatest of all Evils which is Sin And so 2. Instead of Hating God and Vertue against whom the Carnal and Vnregenerate are at Enmity we must Entirely and Affectionately Love both which is so plain and palpable a Truth as needs neither Proof nor Enlargement And thus we are to Renounce the Affections of Love and Hatred whenever they are mis-plac'd upon undue Objects 2. And we must so far Renounce 'em as they are Disproportionate to the true Worth and Evil that is in those Objects towards which it is lawful to be well or evilly Affected in Moderate Degrees II. As they are disproportionate to the Love Worth and Evil that is in those Objects towards which it is lawful to be well or evilly affected in moderate Degrees That is 1st We must not Love God with an inferior Degree of Affection and Worldly Things with a Superior but as God is the Supreme Good in himself and the Author of all the Good we Enjoy we must therefore Love him accordingly with the Intensest Degree of Affection that we shall be able so Matth. 22.37 Thou shalt Love the Lord thy God with all thy Heart and with all thy Soul and with all thy Mind We must so Love him as chearfully to Renounce and Sacrifice all our Profits and Pleasures when call'd thereto that is We must deny our selves take up our Cross and follow him in Afflictions Distresses and Persecutions whenever the Cross shall be laid upon us Matth. 18.24 Nay and we must so Love him as even to Hate all others the Nearest and Dearest Relations in comparison of him Luk. 14.26 So far must we Renounce our Affections of Love as it is any wise disproportionate to the thing Beloved as it is too violently set upon perishing and worldly Goods and too cold towards God and Heavenly Things 2. And on the contrary we must also Renounce that other Affection of Hatred as it is Disproportionate to the Evil which is to be Hated There may be just occasion of Anger towards a Person and of Hatred of his ways but we must not let those Passions so far exceed their due Bounds as to degenerate into Wrath and Malice Let all Bitterness and Wrath and Anger and Clamour be put away from you with all Malice And be ye Kind one to another Tender-hearted forgiving one another even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you Eph. 4.31 32. 3. The Last of those Powers of our Corrupted Nature which are here to be Renounced are our Lusts and Appetites III. The Lusts and Appetites are such Sinful Lusts of the Flesh as are to be Renounc'd which in a State of Unregeneracy are indeed most directly and immediately no other than so many Sinful Lusts of the Flesh These were design'd by the God of Nature for our Preservation Our Appetites after Meat and Drink were Implanted in our Nature in order to preserve our own selves in Being and Cupidity or Lust for the Propagation and Preservation of a Posterity to succeed us But when either our Appetites or Lusts do desire 1. Vndue Objects Or 2. That which in it self is Lawful and Allowable in Vndue Measures they do then degenerate into Sinful Lusts of the Flesh and must be Renounced by us And First I. As they do desire Vndue Objects as to the Indulgence
to God's Holy Will and Commandments as ever we 'll hope to obtain Salvation or to be Inheritors of the Kingdom of Heaven And that Evangelical or Gospel-Obedience The Nature and Measures of Christian Obedience which now under the Covenant of Grace is the indispensible Condition of Man's Salvation to give it you according as it is most exactly stated by the Learned Author of The Measures of Christian Obedience for it is impossible I do think for any one to do it more exactly therefore I shall give you an Abstract of that whole Work Is a sincere and entire Obedience to all the Laws of the Gospel Sincere it must be by being a true and undissembled Service of God opposite to all Hypocrisy or a false and feigned Pretence of obeying Him when in reality we only serve our own Selves or our own Lusts and Interests Entire it must be by being the Obedience of the whole Man to the whole Will of God and that at all times with this abatement of Rigour That all our unwilling and involuntary Failings which through Ignorance and Frailty we commit shall upon our Prayers to God and Charity to our Neighbour be forgiven us and even our wilful Transgressions when we repent and forsake 'em through the Mediation of Christ and the Grace of the Gospel shall not be imputed to our Condemnation Such is the Obedience which every one of you must carefully pay to the Holy Will and Commandments of God as ever you hope to be Inheritors of the Kingdom of Heaven But for your better understanding the Nature and Extent of your Christian Obedience I will a little farther unfold each Part of this Description of it And I. Our Obedience must be sincere by being a true and undissembled Service of God opposite to all Hypocrisy or a false and feigned Pretence of obeying Him when in truth we serve our own selves I. Our Obedience to all the Laws of the Gospel must be sincere by being a true and undissembled Service of God opposite to all Hypocrisy or a false and feigned Pretence of obeying Him when in reality we only serve our own selves This is a certain Truth That our Gracious God for the most part hath made such Things the Matter of His Laws and of our Duty as really make for our own Interest Reputation or Profit to perform for so it really is to be Temperate and Chaste and Contented and Humble to be Vpright and Charitable and Peaceable c. But then our Obedience is sincere and done as unto God when we observe His Laws for His sake and because He commands it for otherwise we do not observe God's Will but our own His Commands had no share in what we did because it had been done although He had said nothing And thus sincere must our Obedience be unto God as ever we expect that God should Judge us at the last Day to have obeyed Him I say it must be done as unto God and sincerely from our Hearts to please Him and not only our selves And this is plainly expressed in the very words of the Gospel for it accepts not an heartless Service nor accounts it self obey'd by what was never intended for it The Lord thy God requires of thee to serve him with all thy Heart and with all thy Soul Matth. 22.36 37. And therefore St. Paul does pray that the Philippians may be sincere in their Profession being filled with the Fruits of Righteousness or Good Works to the Praise and Glory of God not themselves Phil. 1.10 11. God does not forbid us all intending our Advantage in the performance of his Commandments God indeed has not forbidden us all intending and designing of our own Advantage in the performance of his Commandments When He requires us to obey Him He doth not forbid us all Love of our Selves and Regard to our own Self-interests For why He does propose to us in Scripture the greatest Rewards possible as Motives to us to perswade us to obey And the Blessed Saints in the Scripture so Eminent for their Service to God are said to have had an Eye at the Recompence of Reward But then our Intention of our own Advantage in God's Service is forbidden and renders our obedient Performances corrupt and insincere when together with our Intention of serving God we either join first another Intention of serving Sin Or secondly when we design some temporal Ends as much or more than we design God's Service First I say That Man's Obedience is insincere But 1st that Man's Obedience is insincere who together with his Intention of serving God joins another Intention of serving Sin who together with his Intentions of serving God joins another Intention of serving Sin as if a Man as our Saviour tells us the Pharisees did make long Prayers and other Professions of Religion to enable him the better and without suspicion to devour Widows Houses as well as serve God Where his obedient Performances slow from such a mixture of Design as this they will in no wise be owned as an obedient but punished as a sinful Service Secondly Again Men's Obedience is insincere When they design some temporal Ends in the Practice of Vertue as much or more than they design God's Service as when a Man is temperate II. When he designs some temporal Ends in the practice of Vertue as much or more than he intends God's Service and will not drink which is his Duty indeed but yet only because he cannot without making himself sick But when in the Performance of any Vertue a Man has a regard as much if not more to his Profit or Ease than to the Commands of God in that case this Obedience is also insincere and will be far from entitling him to be an Inheritor of the Kingdom of Heaven For thus to have as much regard to our worldly Profit or Pleasure in the Performance of any Duty as to please God is a degrading of Him it is a setting up the World for His Rival And to bring other Things in Competition with Him is plainly to Renounce him In respect of our Love to God we must even hate Father and Mother Wife and Children the dearest Interests and Concerns we have in the World He will be served and respected above all for He is jealous of the Pre-eminence of His Service above all Things as an Husband is of his Wife's Love to him above other Men I the Lord saith he am a jealous God Exod. 20.5 And so much for that Sincerity which is required of us as the first Qualification of an acceptable Obedience II. That Evangelical or Gospel-Obedience which now 2dly Evangelical Obedience must be entire viz. under the Covenant of Grace is the indispensible Condition of every Man's Salvation must be an entire Obedience to all the Laws of the Gospel Now this Integrity of our Obedience is such a Perfection and Compleatness of it as excludes all Maimedness and Defects and this
of the Will And so great a Perfection it is that this is his Beloved Attribute insomuch that whereas the Exercise of Severity the Act of his Justice is called his strange Work Isa 28.21 Mercy which is the Issue of his Goodness is that which he delighteth in Mich. 7.18 And the Nature of it is this That he is both Infinitely Excellent in his own Nature and communicates thereof in various degrees to his Creatures He is transcendently Good in his own Nature insomuch that in comparison of him none of his Creatures can be termed Good There is none Good but God Matth. 19.17 And he loves out of the inexhaustible Fountain of his own Goodness to communicate himself to his Creatures The Eyes of all Things wait upon Thee O Lord and thou givest 'em their Meat in due Season Thou openest thine Hand and fillest all things living with Plenteousness Psal 145.15 16. The Divine Goodness goes under various Titles according to the difference of the Objects towards which it is exercis'd And according as the Objects towards whom his Goodness is exercis'd do differ accordingly is his Goodness distinguish'd and the Attribute it self goes under several Names Consider him as shewing his Goodness to the whole Creation in general and he is Bountiful in alotting to every one of his Creatures their proportion of Happiness agreeable to their several Natures and Capacities Whence it is said that his Mercy is over all his Works Psal 145.9 Towards all Men God bears a Philanthropy and Loving Kindness Consider next his Kindness to the whole Race of Mankind as well those who are wicked as those who are good and his Goodness is then Philanthropy and Loving Kindness whereby he communicates manifold Blessings and in great Measures to all Men indifferently and is sincerly desirous of their Happiness Hence he maketh his Sun to rise on the Evil and on the Good and sendeth Rain on the Just and on the Vnjust Math. 5 45. More particularly Towards the Wicked he is long-suffering and patient Consider him next as exercising this his Goodness towards wicked Men and impenitent Sinners and then he will appear to be exceedingly Long suffering and Patient The Lord is Long-suffering to us-ward not willing that any should perish but that all should come to Repentance 2 Pet. 3 9. Consider him as exerting himself nay striving to reclaim these unhappy Men that they may not run themselves headlong into Sin and Misery and then he is Gracious Gracious and his Goodness is call'd the exceeding Riches of his Grace as well it may Eph. 2.7 And then next to this Consider him as pardoning Sinners upon their Repentance and Amendment and his Goodness is then Mercy and Forgiveness Merciful and forgiving And thou art a God ready to pardon Gracious and Merciful slow to Anger and of Great Kindness Neh. 9.17 Ay who is a God like unto thee that pardoneth Iniquity and passeth by the Transgression of his Heritage He retaineth not his Anger for ever because he delighteth in Mercy Mich. 7.18 Thus is he good toward the very wicked But then Consider his Goodness towards the Good and Vertuous Towards the Vertuous he bears a Complacency and Delight those who love and obey him and it is Complacence and Delight in them whereby he cherishes 'em as his Children protects 'em from Dangers or delivers 'em out of them or at leastwise turns all to their Good in the end All this even in this Life O how Great is thy Goodness which thou hast laid up for them that fear thee which thou hast wrought for them that trust in thee before the Sons of Men Psal 31.19 But lastly consider we his Goodness to such hereafter in rewarding those who have been his obedient Servants and there wants then a word to express his Goodness the Measures of it are so exceeding great since neither Eye hath seen nor Ear heard neither hath it enter'd into the heart of Man to conceive what he hath laid up for those that love him 1 Cor. 2.9 Such is the Goodness of God in all the Branches and Issues of it It is not a Fondness to some particular Persons which fixes by Chance and Humour upon 'em and then overlooks their Miscarriages and can see none of their Misdeservings Nor is it an Easiness that will be wrought upon by meer Importunities to pardon the Sins of unrepenting and hardn'd Sinners Nor lastly is it a Tenderness that relents at the sight of a miserable Object and will therefore rescue the Wicked out of their Everlasting Miseries because it cannot bear their Sighs and Groans No certainly his is the Goodness not like that of a fond Mother but of a wise Governor For X. As God is transcendent in Goodness so also in JUSTICE X. Transcendently Just which is another Moral Perfection in the Rational Nature And being the highest Perfection of the Creature is but a meer Shadow of the Divine Excellencies the Righteousness of the most perfect Saints falls infinitely short of the Justice of God which is That Rectitude of the Divine Nature whereby he neither wills nor acts any thing but what is perfectly agreeable to the highest Reason Governs the World by the most Righteous Laws and passes a most just Judgment upon every Man according to his Works without respect of Persons He neither wills nor acts any thing but what is agreeable to the highest Reason And it is no less than Blasphemy to represent God Both willing and acting agreeably to the highest Reason as if he govern'd the World by meer Will and arbitrary Pleasure having no regard to the Qualifications of those whom he justifies or condemns but made Millions of Men and even before he created 'em reprobated 'em to Eternal Damnation meerly to shew the Power of his Justice as they will call it but such would rather deserve the Name of the cruel'st Tyranny in condemning 'em afterwards to Everlasting Torments But far be it from any pious Mind to conceive thus unworthily of God He will be found indeed to inflict the most dismal and terrible Punishments upon both Devils and wicked Men but that will be upon such justifiable Reasons as will leave even the Damn'd themselves and that in the mid'st of all their Tortures without Excuse For why Governing the World by the most Righteous Laws He governs the World by the most Righteous Laws such as are best suited to the Nature and Faculties of Reasonable Creatures and which do all of 'em tend to perfect our Natures even to the rendring us like to God and his Holy Angels whereas the Courses and Ways of Life opposite to his Laws do debase Men below the Vileness of the Beasts that perish and render 'em Bruits and Devils in their Natures and Dispositions Rewarding every Man according to his Works And as all God's Laws are infinitely Reasonable and Just so he never sails to pass a most righteous Judgment on every Man according to his Works Both the Rewards of the Righteous and of the Wicked will be greater or less proportionable to the Good and Evil of their Deeds but both the one and the other will be endless and everlasting That the very imperfect Vertues of good Men should be so extraordinarily recompenc'd even with unspeakable and endless Joys none do complain of as any thing contrary to Equity and Reason But there are some who are ready to object against the Justice of God's Alotments with respect to the Wicked that he should punish momentany and transient Sins with eternal Woes and Miseries But to clear the Divine Justice of any Hardship contrary to Reason and Equity in this it must be consider'd that these Everlasting Punishments are Legal Penalties which the Great Law-Giver does inflict for the Violation of his Laws And if all wise Law-givers who will preserve the Authority of their Government and Edicts find it necessary to inflict sometimes severer Penalties for lesser Crimes in their own Nature and indeed be the Offence what it will such as are sufficient to deter Offenders from the Violation of their Laws and to secure their Government over their Subjects The Infliction therefore of Eternal Punishments are no more than Necessary and Reasonable since as great as they are considering the Allurements to Sin are present and consequently more tempting and these Punishments apprehended at a great distance they are found little enough to restrain obstinate and perverse Sinners from persevering in Wickedness In short all those Kinds Measures and Degrees of Punishment are Just Equitable and Reasonable which are no more than necessary to preserve the Authority of Government and the Sacredness of its Law And thus may the Justice of God be fairly accounted for as rewarding no otherwise than according to Men's Works tho' he inflicts upon 'em for their Temporary Transgressions Eternal Punishments Rewarding or punishing without respect of Persons Lastly and in all his Alotments and Distributions of Justice he is very Impartial Rewarding or Punishing without respect of Persons for he accepteth not the Person of Princes nor regardeth the Rich more than the Poor for all are the work of his Hands Job 34.19 Such is the Justice of God XI Transcendently True viz. XI And as he is Infinitely Just so he is Transcendently TRVE His Veracity is an Attribute of the greatest importance to be known and consider'd by us And it consists in these particulars That he is Sincere in all his Declarations Faithful in all his Promises and certain to Execute his Vengeance upon Sinners according to his Threatnings
Condition of Repentance and new Obedience together with his Faith gives a Man hope and confidence of obtaining these great benefits upon the terms on which they were promised The hope of this Happiness causeth a Man to be willing to comply with the Condition upon which it is promised in order to the obtaining the Happiness itself There is a Principle of Self-love planted by God in the Nature of every Man by which he doth naturally desire and aspire after the happiness of his own Being And that will put a Man upon the use of such Means and the performance of such a Condition without which he believes and is verily perswaded he cannot be happy Now every Man in whom there is the Faith of Assent unto the Trutâ— of God's Testimony in the Gospel firmly fixed being verily perswaded that everlasting Happiness is not attainable without Repentance Regeneration and sincere Obedience because God hath declared this as plainly as he hath done any thing And it is the nature of Faith to acquiesce in his Testimony The love of the End which is Man's own Happiness makes him in love with the Means such as is Repenting Mortifying and Obeying without which he cannot attain his end in being Happy This Principle of Self-love under the conduct of a Man's Understanding and Reason enlightned and regulated by a Declaration of the Divine Will and influenced by a firm belief of it will work in a Man new Apprehensions of and new Affections to both Sin and Duty and will cause him to abandon the little pleasures of sin which are but for a season that he may come to the fruition of that fulness of joy and those Rivers of pleasure which are in the presence of God at his right hand for evermore when once he knows and firmly believes that they cannot otherwise be obtained Thus by Faith is the victory over the world obtained in all its Temptations from Honours Profits and Pleasures 1 Joh. 5.4 For by such a Faith a Man well perceives that the World offers him to his unspeakable loss though it should offer him all of these that it is able to confer upon him if it be upon condition of doing or omitting to do that by which he shall certainly deprive himself of that Glory Honour and Immortality which he is well assured of through Faith in God's Promise if he overcome We see Men are so commonly governed by a Principle of Self-love in parting with a lesser Good or Conveniency for a greater even in the things of this Life that they are worthily and deservedly counted Fools that do the contrary And therefore those are guilty of so much the greater Folly and Madness who deprive themselves of the Happiness of Heaven by a sinful seeking or possessing of the Honours Profits or Pleasures of this Life As the Happiness of Heaven exceeds the enjoyments of this World in kind and height of Satisfaction and in continuance and duration so Rational a thing it is to live and walk by Faith of unseen things and Unreasonable and Unmanly to be governed by the sense of present things in opposition thereunto 2 Thess 3.2 2. The Faith of Assent in the Understanding worketh a Consent in the VVill to the Condition of the Promise as the passion of Fear is awakened by believing God's Threatnings against such as do not observe and fulfil that Condition There is a Principle of Self-preservation planted by God in every Man's Nature by which he fears and abhors that which he knows and verily believes tends to the infelicity and misery of his Being and which puts him upon the avoiding of that which he believes hath such a tendency in order to the declining the Misery or Destruction itself VVhen a Man receives such sayings into his Understanding as threaten that if ye live after the flesh ye shall die that except ye repent ye shall all perish that without holiness no Man shall see the Lord and the like and doth Assent unto them as the true sayings of God which Assent is his Faith the fear of the Misery threatned and the Principle of Self-preservation work in him a desire and endeavour to have his sinful Inclinations and Appetites Mortified and a care to avoid the outward acts of sin as really and truly as he desires to escape Eternal Destruction itself as believing and knowing they tend thereto and that he cannot escape the one without a sincere desire and endeavour to destroy and avoid the other And in this way Faith is a Believer's Victory by which he also overcomes the World when it tempts him to sin by threatning him with Disgrace loss of Estate or Liberty or with enduring of corporal Punishment or Death itself For he believes the Punishments in the other VVorld to be of such a nature and duration as that the worst things which Man can inflict are altogether inconsiderable in comparison of them By which Belief he is so far guided that he chuses to suffer the less when his faithfulness to God and his own best interest doth expose him to it rather than to expose himself by unfaithfulness to infinitely the greater to avoid the less And thus Faith purifies the Heart of all inordinate Affection to Riches Honour Ease and Pleasures Acts 15.9 III. The Faith of Assent or Credence in the Understanding touching the exceeding greatness of God's Love to Mankind in the gift of Christ for their Redemption and in his great and precious Promises made in him upon a very gracious Condition works in the Will a love to God and so a love to please him in doing those things which he hath made the Condition of his Promise When once the Understanding represents it to the Will as a certain Truth upon clear Evidence that notwithstanding Mens Apostacy from God and Rebellion against him and the Condemnation they are under thereby yet God is Reconcilable to them yea willing and so desirous to Reconcile them to himself that as an Evidence and Proof of it he hath given his own Son Christ Jesus to become a Ransom for them and that he hath made a new Covenant declaring that upon account of his Son 's undertaking for them he is not only abundantly willing to pardon all such as shall unfeignedly Repent of their disloyalty and sincerely return to their Duty but that he will also bountifully reward their future sincere Obedience with perfect and perpetual Happiness I say when all this is represented to the Will as unquestionably true it will work in it a love to that God and Saviour that hath been so loving if it be but kept close to it A manifestation of such love and goodness to Man and that while yet in enmity against God so ill deserving and so obnoxious to the power of his wrath when he hath no need of him nor can be profited by him will create good thoughts of God and reconcile Man's Mind to him and work melting Affections in him to God when heartily
believed What Rebel is there or nature so bad that would not be won to leave off Rebelling against his Prince and to love and please him upon undoubted assurance that by so doing he should not only be pardoned and restored to Favour but also perferred to the greatest Honour and Happiness he is capable of receiving from any Mortal And yet how weak a motive is this in comparison of what comes from God to reduce Men to their love and loyalty to him God's love to Man when perceived and heartily believed is the great motive and attractive of Man's Love to God We love him because he first loved us 1 Joh. 4.19 Love is an active and commanding Principle in Man and procureth Thoughts Cares and Endeavours of pleasing God If any Man love me he will keep my words saith our blessed Saviour Joh. 14.23 And after this manner Faith worketh by Love Gal. 5.6 Thus I have represented to you how and after what manner Faith in the Understanding works a saving Consent in the Will unto the Condition of God's Covenant of Salvation CHAP. V. Some few Objections answered I. SOME have thought Men may be Justified only by their Believing even while they are Ungodly in their Lives and have thought that Scripture Rom. 4.5 will hear them out in such a conceit which saith He that worketh not but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly his Faith is counted for Righteousness But they grosly mistake the Scripture and deceive themselves For that Text speaks of God's Justifying the Gentiles upon their sincere conversion to the Christian Faith and Life though they had lived in Gentilism in all Ungodliness before and until then and though they should not work at all as the Judaizers would have had them in turning Proselytes to the Jewish way But otherwise it 's flatly against the express Doctrine of the Gospel and current of the Scriptures for Men to hope to be pardoned by any Believing whatsoever while they remain Impenitent as every Man doth while he remains Ungodly To justifie the wicked is an abomination to the Lord. It 's said that Christ made the Blind to See and the Deaf to Hear and the Dumb to Speak as well as it 's said God Justifieth the Ungodly But is any Man so senseless as to think that Christ made them to See to Hear and to Speak while they remained Blind Deaf and Dumb And if not but that they know the meaning is that Christ made those to See to Hear to Speak which had been Blind Deaf and Dumb before those Cures were wrought upon them they might as well know also that the meaning is that God justifieth those upon their believing which had been Ungodly until then and not that he justifies them while they remain Ungodly II. Some alledge that although the Faith which is alone and without the concomitant effects of it Repentance Regeneration c. doth not justifie yet that Faith alone which doth produce such effects doth justifie without the concurrence of these in the justifying Act. Which they illustrate by this Similitude A Man sees with his Eye alone though he doth not see with his Eye that is alone or separated from his Body In return to all which let these things be considered 1. They that go thus far do grant that which will secure the Notion of the necessity of Repentance Regeneration and new Obedience unto Justification They grant we see such a necessity of these as without which no Man can be justified no not by Faith In granting which though we suppose them to err in their foresaid Notion yet this makes their Error the less dangerous because the presence of Repentance Regeneration and Obedience are no less necessary to Justification according to this account than they esteem them to be who say they concur with Faith in the very act of Justification 2. When they say Faith alone is all that is necessary to the Justifying Act without the concurrence of any thing else done by us By Justifying Act they mean either God's Act or Man's Act. If Man's Act that 's nothing but Man's performing the Condition upon which God hath promised to Justifie Men. If they mean God's Act it is his imputing Mens performing the Condition of the Promise unto them for Righteousness The only thing then in question will be what it is which is a fulfilling of the Condition of the Promise of Justification which God imputes for Righteousness If they say it is only the Assent of the Understanding unto the Truth of God's Testimony in the Gospel or this Assent together with a Reliance on Christ for Salvation I have shewed before that both these may be found in Men Unregenerate and Unjustified And that these two of themselves without Repentance and hearty Obedience to the Laws of Christ are not a fulfilling of the Condition of the Promise and that consequently Men without these cannot be justified by any Faith whatsoever and so not by Faith alone unless they will call Repentance and Heart-Obedience in conjunction with the foresaid Assent of the Mind and reliance of the Soul by the name of Faith Which if they will we are agreed as to the Thing at least if not to the Name that we are justified by such a Faith alone And yet I doubt not that whenever Justification is promised to Believing singly and alone exprest but that there the foresaid effects are comprehended under the name also for the Reasons formerly given 3. They which say we are justified by Faith alone but not by that Faith which is alone do distinguish where the Scripture doth not distinguish The Scripture no where saith we are justified by Faith alone as contradistinguished from Repentance Evangelical Obedience c. The third Chapter of Rom. 28. and Tit. 3.5 are sometimes made use of to countenance their Notion but to how little purpose hath been shewed already in the Treatise which needs not be here repeated 4. The Scripture is not only silent in the case not any where affirming we are justified by Faith alone but it expresly affirms the quite contrary Jam. 2.24 Ye see then how that by Works a Man is justified and not by Faith only That this is affirmed in reference to our Justification before God had been shewed before 5. Faith and Repentance are a joint Condition upon which Justification is suspended and are both constituted so by the same means and that is by promise of pardon to such as do Believe to such as do Repent and by threatning the contrary to those that do not both And if they are a joint Condition of the Promise of Justification then Justification proceeds not upon either of them alone but upon both together 6. Whereas it is said in the Similitude that a Man sees with his Eye alone though not with his Eye which is alone or when it is alone I doubt this is no more true than that which is intended to be illustrated by it For Naturalists will