repent He calls them a generation of Vipers tells them of the wrath of God and preaches the Baptism of Repentance for the remission of sins He points to Christ Behold the lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world that was Iohn's subject Peter converted the Iews by Preaching Christ and Remission of sin in his name the remedy must not be concealed Though Peter denounces a heavy Judgment against Simon Magus yet he lays down some ground of comfort had he had Grace to consider it we must keep back nothing God would have spoken to sinners we must not be always affrighting your consciences with Legal Terrours 't is necessary sometimes to draw the Sword of the Law that sinners may see their danger but we must tell them also whither they must fly for refuge else we preach not the Gospel we don't know how far the Sword of the Law may enter how deep it may cut into the Conscience of a convinced sinner it may be dangerous to leave the wound bleeding one night without applying some Gospel-Lenitive pouring in some oyl our first Faith in Conversion sometimes takes more after the Law sometimes more after the Gospel as the Spirit sets it a work either for Terror or Comfort we must not limit the Spirit of God in one or the other we must not say such a one shall be humbled to such a degree shall lie so long under Terrours of Conscience before comfort be spoken to him the Spirit is the best judge of this and knows our frame better than we do and what way of procedure is most suitable to the inward sense and feeling of such a one's Soul this must be left to God to speak Comfort or Terror when and in what degree he pleases We who are Ministers must lay down the ground of both in our Preaching and insist upon one or t'other as we see occasion But God may do as he will. If I see a broken humble sinner a little revived under a sense of Mercy and Pardon I would not check his comfort nor seek to bring him under terrors again but if I see a hardened impenitent sinner going on in his sins I would lay the Law before him in the most terrible manner I could and shew him the dreadful consequence of a Course of sin persisted in that the wrath of God is revealed from Heaven against all such who do not repent and turn to God that they may find Mercy we cannot Preach the Gospel but we must refer to the Law the Gospel shews how we may be delivered from the curse of the Law and therefore must needs mention it and I am sure we ought not to Preach the Law alone without any discovery of Gospel Grace 6. We must not limit the Spirit of God in converting sinners to such or such degrees of humiliation contrition or terror as we think necessary for we are not competent Judges in that matter so much Contrition of sin as causes a loathing of sin a desire to leave it and to obtain Mercy of God in the Pardon of it is sufficient for conversion God may carry on this Humbling work farther or farther to a higher or lower degree as he thinks fit as the present frame of our hearts may require Saving Conviction is the first thing in order belonging to Conversion but that conviction to such a degree of Repentance Humiliation and Terror should always be a fixed constant Preparatory work antecedent to all beginings of true Conversion is not so evident That all true Converts are convinced of their Sin and Misery by Nature I no way doubt and that the Law is of excellent use to work and heighten these Convictions is not to be denied and that many be under meer Legal Convictions and Terrors who may or may not be afterwards converted is not disputed neither the Spirit of God may improve a common work those terrors or any other afflicting providences to lead a sinner to Christ but it does not therefore follow that such Legal Terrors must always go before Conversion no more than such or such awakening Providences made use of by God to Convert some should necessarily befall all who are converted Saving Gospel Conviction of sin includes in it all that is in a mere Legal Conviction with this difference that under a Gospel Conviction of sin we see the folly of it as well as the danger and always have an eye to Christ which does alleviate the sinking overwhelming Terrors of a meer Legal Conviction only which is as the nethermost Hell a dark dungeon indeed without the least cranny for any beam of Gospel light to shine in upon a poor distressed Soul trembling under a sence of eternal vengeance It is not the design of Christ that any so concluded under wrath by Law should be left one moment without any tender of Gospel grace which if they do reject and despise God may and does sometimes judicially give them up to a final Tormenting despair We cannot rationally urge upon sinners that which is the consequence of final unbelief till we have first Preached the Gospel to them and then at their peril be it if they believe it not Some Convictions of sin that issue in Conversion will be found to have their beginning with it i. e. some Convictions that issue in a visible Conversion may have their beginning in an inward latent and yet invisible Conversion to us that does not at present appear under that name To our discerning the Soul may be in travel some time before the New Creature appears before we can say such or such a one is born of God and yet the Converting act of the Spirit of God may be truly passed in that Soul before it is manifest to us in the sensible effects of it Let us not separate saving Conviction from true Conversion and look upon it as only Antecedaneous and Preparatory to it when indeed 't is a real part of it and essentially belonging to it A true Gospel saving conviction of sin is a higher work of the Spirit of God in a regenerate Soul than a meer Legal Conviction of sin is in a Natural man let it run up into never such Frights Fears and Terrors There are some common lower works of the Spirit that may be and are sometimes mistaken for saving grace and there are some special saving works of the Spirit that go but for a common work with some Common works are not always in the intention of God so much as Preparatives for Conversion it may be said to be finis Operis but not Operantis God not giving them Grace to improve their Legal Convictions either they wear off or else they sink under them into despair The Law may terrifie a sinner but till his heart comes to be affected with the love and mercy of God he will never turn from sin but then his Soul melts within him he looks unto him whom he has pierced and is
in bitterness The sense he has of the love of God to sinners in Christ Jesus kindles love in his heart towards God which is a full evidence of real Conversion We never turn to God but we begin to love him then we grieve for sin as sin with a true godly sorrow that causeth Repentance unto Salvation 'T is the duty of Ministers to make known the mystery of the Gospel Paul was afraid he should not speak out speak plain enough and so am I. CHAP. V. Of the Time of Regeneration SOmething of this fell in under the former Heads therefore I shall say the less of it now The Time is in this life All who live with God in Heaven hereafter are born to him and of him here on Earth This whole time is called the day of Grace To day if you will hear his voice And there is a particular hour in that day wherein Saving Grace takes hold of us by God's Effectual Calling which is best known by our Obediential Hearing when we answer to the Call Lord here I am ready to comply with thy Will in all things What wouldst thou have me to do and I will do it Consult your selves about this when you first find your wills brought over to Christ write down that as the day of thy Conversion you can give no account of a real work of Grace till then your knowledg cannot prove it self Saving till it thus operate upon the Will in turning that to God So that the time of thy Regeneration is when thy heart is first drawn up to trust in Christ let it fall in what year of thy life in what hour of the day it will so the thing be done it matters not when as to the issue of it to be converted is necessary to Salvation but to know precisely the time when is not necessary provided you know the time when it was not or at least not so manifest to you as now it is It shall be done unto the last as unto the first the last and the first Converts in an Age are equally welcome to God and there is something peculiar in both that does very much set forth and signalize the freeness of God's Grace viz. That he converted the one so soon and the other so late that he came so early to one who had heard so little and that he came at all to the other who had heard so much and despised it Late Converts are very rare he that comes not in now while 't is called to day may slip his opportunity and die under a dreadful conviction that he obstinately refused a fair offer of life and pardon that was made him at such a time in such a Sermon by such a Preacher who may be called forth to witness against him at the last day Whether you believe or not believe the Word will have its effect one way or other upon you all either as a favour of life or death When the favour of the knowledg of Christ is not a sweet Savour we take offence at it Death indeed may follow that deadly scent 't is a dangerous symptome of Eternal death to be offended at Christ at the purity and strictness of his Heavenly Doctrine A distinct remembrance of the certain time means and manner of our conversion is very comfortable but tho we be at some loss here yet if we can prove the thing it self 't is enough He that does the real actions of a living Man gives sufficient proof and demonstration of his first conception and real birth into the World tho he knows not the day and hour of either CHAP. VI. The End of Regeneration 1. THAT God may raise up a Holy Seed unto himself that shall be counted for a Generation to serve him That he may have a Church and People here on Earth devoted to his fear professing his Name and keeping up his Worship All people will walk every one in the name of the Lord his God and we will walk in the name of the Lord our God for ever and ever By our first birth we are brought forth into the World Enemies to God and Godliness by our second birth we partake of the Divine Nature become a Holy people unto the Lord our God a peculiar people 2. That his Elect may be made meet for Heaven and fitted up for Glory God begins all this in Regeneration which is pursuant to Election All those Names that are written in Heaven or in the Lamb's Book of Life shall be begotten again unto that Life which in the Eternal purpose of God belongs to their Names They are a chosen Generation which is the cause and ground of their Regeneration All the rest of the World will be left in darkness in Idolatry to worship the Dragon whose Names are not written in the Book of Life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the World. They who belong not to this chosen Generation are rejected of God never to be born again Regeneration is a sure evidence of Election God demonstrates his Eternal Love to us by this signal effect of it in our Regeneration CHAP. VII The Scripture Marks and Signs of Regeneration 1. HE doth not commit Sin. 2. He doth Righteousness 3. He believeth that Jesus is the Christ. 4. He overcometh the World. 5. He loves Christ and all the Saints 6. He desires the sincere Milk of the Word They are not my Marks but God's laid down in his own terms as 't is written in your Bibles what you find in your selves answerable thereunto I must leave to God and your own Consciences The Text tells you Vnless a man be born again he cannot see the kingdom of God. And Iohn in his Epistle tells you unless these marks be found upon him he is not born again and dying in that estate is excluded Heaven for ever Iohn foreseeing what false notions of Regeneration men wouâ—â— taks up with and rest in to prevent all fraud all mistakes in so great a point lays down these infallible marks of true real Regeneration as 't is distinguished from that which is but pretended false and counterfeit For ought I see there is no more required to Regeneration in the judgment of some men than to be born in such a Country where Christianity is professed and to be Baptized according to the custom of the place this is the whole of Regeneration as some state it tho none of these marks appear in them but the quite contrary They commit Sin they don't do Righteousness they hate Christ and his Members are overcome every day by the World and the temptations of it yet these must go for Regenerate persons let the Scripture say what it will to the contrary But let us not deceive our selves God will judge us by the Word and none will be looked upon at the last day as truly regenerate in whom all these marks are not found I do
Words will not do it till you make it appear that the Grace of God that hath brought Life and Immortality to light through the Gospel hath taught you to deny all Ungodliness and Worldly Lusts. This is the way to promote the Doctrine of Justification by Faith alone You that are built upon the right Foundation had need be careful and circumspect The House is not yet finished we do all of us lie open more or less to Storms and Tempests here below though they cannot throw down the house yet they may shake the house the rain may beat into the house may soak through every room of the house may foul the house may greatly incommode us and distress us Therefore keep your Souls in good repair keep them as tite as you can against Wind and Weather And for your Comfort I would have told you that Heaven will mend all the Errors in the Superstructure if the Foundation be right God will then take away and separate all those weaknesses and sinful mixtures that now run along with all our Graces all Cracks and Flawes the sinkings and failings the bendings and leanings this way and that way in any part of the building Heaven will mend all will set all right and straight when we are Sanctified throughout and the Top-stone is laid FINIS A DISCOURSE OF REPENTANCE SHEWING The Difference between Legal and Evangelical Repentance AND The Necessary Connection between Evangelical Repentance and Saving Faith. By Thomas Cole Minister of the Gospel LONDON Printed for Thomas Cockerill at the Three Legs over against the Stocks-Market 1689. A DISCOURSE OF Repentance MARK 1. 15. Repent ye and believe the Gospel THE summe of the Gospel lies in Faith and Repentance which alwayes go together and cannot be separated though they may and ought to be distinguished one from the other I have chosen this Text to show the necessary connection that is between Faith and Repentance that I may be the better understood I shall observe this method 1. Distinguish between Legal and Evangelical Repentance 2. Shew the nature of Evangelical Repentance what it is and wherein it does consist how it rises our of faith what its use and end is 3. Shew the necessary connection that is between Evangelical Repentance and saving Faith. 4. The real difference that is between them notwithstanding this necessary connection 5. Inquire into the true cause and reason why the Professors of this Age who are so much for Faith do mind Repentance so little 6. Apply all First Distinguish between Legal and Evangelical Repentance You see the Repentance and Faith spoken of in the Text have both of them a reference to the Gospel Repent and believe the Gospel We shall better understand the nature of Evangelical Repentance by comparing it with Legal Repentance observing as we go how they differ from each 1. Legal Repentance is the work of the Law i. e. The work of the Spirit by the Law for the Law works but faintly under the influence of meer Natural Light unless the Spirit awaken the Conscience and set home the Law little will be done such a work of the Law you have Rom. 2. 15. letting in a Spirit of Bondage upon the Conscience accusing us for what we have done against the Law and leaving us so convicted without any plea for our selves Evangelical Repentance is the work of the Gospel sweetly melting the Heart by Arguments drawn from the Love of God and his free Grace in Christ towards Sinners it encourages a trembling Soul to plead with God for Mercy as the Publican Lord be Merciful to me a Sinner 2. Legal Repentance is all terrour and no hope it rises from the revelation of Gods Wrath against Sinners 't is a despairing Repentance without any hope of pardon the Curse of the Law lies hard upon a Man he knows not how to get from under it but lives in a fearful expectation of fiery indignation to devour him he is a terrour to himself But Evangelical Repentance leaves not an affrighted sinner altogether without hope as I shall shew under the next head 3. Legal Repentance is from worldly sorrow not so much for the sin as the penalty incurred thereby the apprehension of which is very dreadful to a convinced sinner he is more affected with the evil of punishment then with the evil of sin in it self 't is not for Gods sake but his own that he repents of sin he could love it well enough if it did not damn him Though I do not deny but a Repentance purely legal may have some sense of the evil of sin as sin not only as malum prohibitum but as malum in se as evil in its own nature where common notions of good and evil are not utterly extinguished it must needs be so especially under a higher conviction from the Spirit of God that gives us a farther discerning of the evil of sin then the meer light of nature under its greatest elevation can possibly do It was so in Iudas Matt. 27. 34. he was convinced not only that he had broken the Law of God but that he had sinned in so doing I have sinned in that I have betrayed the innocent blood He knew he had a hand in murdering a Man a good Man a great Man who was more then Man no doubt all this came up into his mind concerning Christ yet the knowledge of Christ that Iudas had did not reach so far as to beget the least hope of Mercy from him and here lay the legality of his Repentance it was a despairing Repentance he conversed only with the Law and so sunk under the wrath of God and the curse of the Law he had none to accuse him but his own Conscience the Rulers and chief Priests were for him had set him a work and rewarded him but seeing him under such horror of Conscience he had done their business what care they see thou to that unconvinced sinners do slight the convictions of others they may go hang themselves for all them they have no pity for them I speak this to shew that legal Repentance may take in something of the evil of sin in it self as well as the destructive nature of it to us though these legal convictions of the evil of sin in it self are far short of those more through convictions that accompany true Evangelical Repentance Though the sorrow that is in legal Repentance be but worldly yet 't is very pungent it pierces us thorow and pretends to some Devotion too as if it were for Gods sake when self is only at the bottom Pharaoh confessed his sins and desired the Prayers of Gods People Exod. 9. 27 28. Saul wept for his sins 1 Sam. 24. 16. The effects of Gods wrath are very dreadful upon convinced sinners may draw Tears from their Eyes when they see what mischief they have brought upon themselves they repent but how Not of the sin but of the punishment Alas What does that signifie how ineffectual
is it What have we to do to repent of the punishment We can't reverse it 't is Gods part to repent of the punishment to turn from his wrath to cease from his anger which he will do when we repent of the sin that occasioned it To repent of the punishment is in effect to be sorry that God is so just that he so severely animadverts upon sinners we wish he would let them go unpunished that we might more securely go on in our sins the only way to escape vengeance is to acknowledge the sinfulness of sin and to repent of our great folly in committing it such a frame of Spirit bears some proportion to the Holiness of God argues true Godly sorrow which worketh Evangelical Repentance unto Salvation 2 Cor. 7. 10. 4. Legal Repentance is before Faith without Faith may never issue in saving Faith as in Cain Saul Iudas but Evangelical Repentance does alwayes accompany saving Faith and of this I am now to speak under the second head shewing you Secondly The nature of Evangelical Repentance what it is in its first rise and original upon what 't is founded It came in with the Gospel the Law never intended any such thing the sinner was to be cut off by Law to die without Mercy in the day thou eatest thou shalt die says the Law unless ye repent says the Gospel here is an exception put in in case of repentance against the peremptory Sentence of the Law. I say repentance comes in with the Gospel I will put enmity c. Gen. 3. 15. Repentance rises out of this Enmity This seems to point particularly at the Conversion of Eve who by Faith in the promised Messiah should turn against the Serpent I will put enmity between thee and the woman this woman whom thou hast deceived shall become thy Enemy and bring forth a seed that shall break thy head thou shalt bruise his heel but his Death shall be thy overthrow Repentance is a Gospel Priviledge purchased by Christ 't is an act of Grace in God to injoyn us Repentance as his leaving men in an impenitent hardened frame is an act of his Justice and Wrath. The Law in its Original Constitution does not intend the amendment of the sinner but his utter Destruction the Law can kill the sinner but cannot mortifie the sin Damnation makes no man better but concludes him Eternally under sin and wrath the Justice of God is not obliged to turn a sinner from his sins but to turn him into Hell for his sins That which makes it a just and righteous thing with God to forgive the sins of Believer is Christs Merits and his own Promise 't is Justice in God to make good his own Promises Rom. 3. 25 26. 2 Thes. 1. 6 7. he is a debtor to his own promise he cannot deny himself 2 Tim. 2. 13. he owes the performance of his Promise to his Faithfulness and Truth 't is an act of Justice to himself to keep his Promise God offers Mercy to sinners not because they do repent but that they may repent Repentance is not the Cause but the Effect of Pardon God always intends Pardon to those whom he effectually calls to repentance he gave no such call to the Angels that fell there was no Gospel preached to them No fallen Angel was saved because no Elect Angel fell but there are many of Gods Elect among the fallen Sons of Adam to whom promises of Salvation were made upon their believing in Christ this being published to all in the Gospel all who hear the Gospel do put in for their share in this Salvation and that they may render the attainment more easie and feazable to them they deny absolute Election bring in Universal Redemption assert the liberty of Mans Will to believe if he please and supposing it to be in their own power to believe they conclude they may be saved as well as others and this is the ground of all that security that is among common Professors Having spoken thus much of Evangelical Repentance as it implies a real hatred of sin as sin and a real turning to God as the chiefest good from an inward change of nature renewed after the Image of God I shall now shew you 1. That such a Repentance can never be wrought in any by the Law alone the Gospel has a principal hand in this Why not by the Law. Because in the Law there are not sufficient motives and inducements to Repentance nothing that encourages to it that renders it available to mans Salvation the law cannot give life to a sinner upon his repentance the Gospel can but the Law cannot could a man under the Law Repent suppose that What would he get by it he must to Hell after all the Law as a Covenant of Works does not seek to bring a sinner to Repentance but to Punishment the Law cannot give Repentance unto Life because it cannot give Life upon our Repentance You 'l say then is the Law against Repentance I don't say so neither for take Repentance as 't is a just equitable thing as a holy disposition of mind so the Law is not against it where ever it may be found as it is not against any other act of Moral Righteousness as such that a man may do and yet for all this 't will condemn a man for his sin and all his righteousness shall not be remembred though the Law be not against Repentance yet it will not accept of repentance as a satisfaction for past sins but the Gospel provides full satisfaction for the Law and promises sufficient and effectual Grace to the sinner to bring him to repentance having rescued him from the Curse of the Law enables him to walk worthy of the blessing of the Gospel if those who are justified were not sanctified they would live to the scandal of the Gospel The Law cannot contradict it self having already pronounced a peremptory sentence of death upon the sinner 't is impossible the Law should ever gier repentance unto Life the Law insists upon the Execution of its own Judgement and will not be satisfied till that be done in this the Gospel yields to the Law to have execution done upon man for sin and provides a man on purpose the man Christ Iesus who bore our sins in his own body upon the cross 3. This Evangelical Repentance implies real Sanctification but the Law sanctifies no man because it can't convey its own Holiness to another can't alter the Nature of a Man but only shew him what mischief his sin has done him shews him his sin in this or that instance to his great terror but if he happen to out-live those terrors and not die in the fit as Iudas his evil heart will encline him as strongly to sin as ever it did before his former Convictions they made him give a present start backwards but he will quickly recover himself and return to his wretched course he cannot cease from sin though he
Law as killing another I speak this to shew how legal convictions may hurry a man from one sin to another but they never lead him into a constant setled way of true Holiness whence I infer that Convictions purely legal will never work Repentance unto Life How Repentance unto Life is wrought by the Gospel Because God hath appointed the Gospel to be the means of Repentance Luk. 24. 47. Rom. 16. 25 26. to the Glory of his Free Grace as Justice is glorified in the Damnation of an impenitent sinner so Grace is glorified in his Conversion Evangelical Repentance is from a Discovery of Gods Love and Free Grace His goodness leads us to Repentance Rom. 2. 4. 2 Pet. 3. 9. Psal. 130. 4. A true Penitent fears least he should miss of Mercy and come short of it he rejoyces at the good News of the Gospel begins to lift up his head in some expectation of a blessed Redemption he serves God chearfully being perswaded that his Duties and Services will be pleasing to him and accepted by him for Christ sake Psal. 130. 4. Hos. 6. 1 2. a sence of love and mercy quicken up a drooping trembling sinner to return unto God the Prodigal remembred what a kind Father he had Luk. 15. 18. 't was Pauls Argument Rom. 12. 1. 2 Cor. 7. 1. 'T is a sad thing that the Grace of the Gospel which is intended to keep men from Despair should be some be made an encouragement to presumption God forbid we should continue in Sin because Grace abounds 2. The Grace of the Gospel is not only an appointed Means but is in its own nature a fit means to work repentance suited and adapted to that end the goodness of God leads us to repentance the Schoolmen tell us that amor est congregativus and they give this reason for it because it does congregate and gather in our roving scattered thoughts from those various lesser Objects after which they go fixing our Minds upon God the only soul-satisfying Object Love is conciliative when God doth through Faith let in any sense of his intended grace towards sinners the heart melts under it a sinner does not repent that he may believe but because he does believe something of the Love of God to sinners in Christ Jesus some inkling of this is come to his ear hath touched his very heart before ever he sets upon repentance and now he can hold no longer the love of Christ constrains him great is the power of Love when it commends it self to us in some signal expressions of kindness to our visible advantage and benefit 3. Because Christ gives repentance Act. 5. 31. he purchased this and all other graces for us by dying for us he not only obtained pardon of Sin in our Justification but all inherent Graces in the Saints come from Christ he procured them for us he works them in us his sufferings being not only satisfactory for sin but meritorious of grace to be bestowed upon us though the Law can't sanctify a sinner yet Christ can and 't is an act of special grace towards us when he doth but he will first satisfie the Law and Justice of God that being brought under grace by our free Justification we may answer to the Law of grace in our sanctification denying all Ungodliness and Worldly Lusts living soberly and righteously here below as the redeemed of the Lord ought to do the Law commands perfect Obedience but in case of Failure the Gospel Promises Faith and Repentance Zach. 12. 10. Acts 11. 18. 4. Because God hath annexed a quickning Spirit to the Gospel to make way for his Grace and to give it a prevailing efficacy in the Hearts of men they are drawn by the loving kindness of God and cannot resist it the Spirit opens the Mystery of the Love of God in Christ and so charms the Soul with it that it is impossible to withstand the allurements of it 5. Because the ways and means of bringing a sinner to life are all supernatural the Law speaks nothing of this the Law never puts us upon any thing that is supernatural I mean that originally was so to man in his perfect state for then it had been quite above the reach and capacity of Mans Understanding but God suited his Law to those inbred Notions and Principles of Truth that were concreated in us the way of salvation through Faith and Repentance being supernatural we must apply our selves to the Gospel to know this 3. The necessary Connection that is between Evangelical Repentance and saving Faith. I prove it thus 'T is so in the first production of Repentance and in all the subsequent acts of Repentance therefore 't is alwayes so In the first production of Repentance if you consider how this was wrought by Iohns Ministry Mat. 3. and Luk. 3. these two things will evidently appear First That Repentance alwayes presupposes Faith. Secondly That Repentance rises out of Faith. And how I will clear up this by a brief Paraphrase upon those words Repent ye for the kingdom of heaven is at hand Iohn is brought in inviting sinners to Repentance the Argument he uses is plainly this God is inclined to Pardon you therefore Repent I come as a forerunner to prepare the way that by bringing you the first newes of Gods intended grace and favour towards you I might soften and mollify your hearts and dispose you to a ready thankful acceptance of Christ this offer of Grace is called the Kingdom of Heaven because it is inclusive of all the happiness that Heaven can afford all good comes along with Pardoning Grace I see says Iohn you are all lying under the sad damning circumstances of your own sins in a very woful miserable condition compassed about with Hell and Death with horror and darkness all things round about you look very black and dismal I am come to put you into a better state to offer you a Kingdom which will shortly appear in all its Glory 't is at hand 't is coming toward you Heaven it self is come to look after you to lend a helping hand to lift you out of this horrible Pit before it shut its mouth upon you see that you refuse not this grace that you put not from you the word of the Gospel least you judge your selves unworthy of Eternal Life as Acts 13. 46. i. e. it will as plainly appear to be so as if it had been so declared in open Court upon a fair hearing of your Cause if Heaven and Earth were to sit in Judgment upon you they would conclude you most unworthy of Everlasting Life and by putting the word from you you have in effect passed this judgement upon your selves or you have done that now which your own Consciences will so interpret at the last day they will then tell you you might have had life and pardon but would not you would not come to Christ that you might have life therefore your damnation is just you deservedly
perish may thank your selves for it how speechless will sinners be then as to remain in impenitency under the outward Light of the Gospel does argue the height of unbelief so to be brought to Repentance by the Preaching of the Gospel does necessarily imply Faith in the Gospel 't is impossible that a Tender of Grace should work Repentance till 't is believed 't is of no force makes no impression upon the Mind of a Man till then therefore Faith must be presupposed I make it out thus That which is brought as a motive for the doing of a thing must be first understood received and believed before the thing can be done upon that motive there is in the Gospel a general offer of Mercy to sinners this proves an effectual means to beget Faith in all that are ordained unto life upon their believing this general offer of Grace their hearts begin to melt under it and some inclination to Repentance is wrought in them this Faith and this Repentance wrought in a more general way at first do form themselves into more particular and distinct acts afterwards thus the principles of the Doctrine of Christ viz. Repentance from dead works and Faith towards God are first laid and then there is in the light and power of these principles a going on unto perfection Heb. 6. 1. Our first Faith is a more general Faith and so is our first Repentance rather an inclination and tendency to believe and repent then actual Faith or actual Repentance Our first Faith wrought in us upon the general proposal of Gospel Grace contains in it a saving Conviction of Sin 't is impossible to receive grace without it grace is nothing to us of no signification to us but as it gives relief against sin which we must have some sense of before we apply our selves to the grace of God for Pardon we must see something in our selves that wants a pardon and which we are willing to repent of and forsake in Case of a pardon Repentance is as true an effect of Faith as Pardon and Comfort Faith first brings a sinner to Christ under some hope of Pardon and then busies it self in working Repentance in order to a comfortable sense of Pardon The Spirit lets in some sense of Gospel Grace tendred unto sinners and affects the heart with it as very desireable as a very seasonable offer by no means to be slighted the Soul begins to be taken with it conceives some hope from it and this is the begining of Faith and with our first Faith Light comes in giving us some Gospel Conviction of sin in order to Repentance I call it a Gospel Conviction because it is wrought by means of the Gospel all after acts of Faith and Repentance have their rise from this first work which brings me to the second Point viz. That Faith is not only joyned with Repentance in the first production of it as has been shewed but in all the subsequent acts of it ever after which I make out thus Faith and Repentance do constantly refer to each other in their several actings Faith to Repentance and Repentance to Faith he that believes repents because he believes and he that repents believes because he repents i. e. as Faith is the cause of Repentance so Repentance is the reason of every particular act of Faith put forth upon Christ for Pardon 't is impossible to make up the full sense of an act of Faith on our part if you fetch not the reason of it from Repentance Why do we go to the Physitian is it not because we are sick weary and faint ready to die of such a Disease So why does a weary Soul come to Christ is it not to be eased of his Burden that insupportable burden of sin that is ready to sink him into Hell. If Faith and Repentance be thus always joyned together does it not follow that we are justified by our Repentance as well as by Faith I Answer No. Though we are not saved without Repentance it does not therefore follow that we are justified by our Repentance but some to make good this Assertion have coyned many subtle distinctions relating to both Before I give a particular reply to this let me say something in general Religion may be considered either in its primitive purity and simplicity as it was laid down in the Fundamental Principles of it by Christ and his Apostles Or as it has since been drawn through the various Discourses Reasonings and Writings of Men for so many Centuries past this has so much overcharged Religion with so many nice distinctions intricate questions and endless disputes that it seems to be quite another thing then it was in the Apostles dayes The best way is to return to the primitive simplicity of the Gospel especially in judging of Fundamentals which are plainly and clearly laid down there in Terms very intelligible Though Faith be the Gift of God and is given of meer Grace but to a few yet all who live under the Light of the Gospel may know what they ought to believe which will render their unbelief more inexcusable did we dwell more upon what is plainly revealed as fundamentally necessary to Salvation we should better discern by the light of those Fundamentals the just consequences of them in any deductions from them which may not be so particularly and expresly spoken unto in Scripture But now to answer the query whether we may not be said to be justified by our Repentance as well as by Faith since we are not saved without Repentance Answ. There is a great deal of difference between Justification and Salvation Salvation includes all qualifications belonging to that state Justification lets us into that state gives us right to Life from whence spring all Qualifications becoming that Life Besides Saving Graces are so called not that they are the Causes of Salvation but because they accompany it we cannot be saved without them Faith it self as a Grace inherent in us is no meritorious Cause of our Justification 't is that which carries us out of our selves to Christ for Righteousness upon the account of which we are justified in the sight of God when we say we are justified by Faith we don't mean we are justified by any thing in our selves we can't understand it so but the contrary that we must be beholding to Christ for all He that receives all from another gives nothing to himself he does indeed apply to himself to his own use and benefit what is freely given to him by another but he cannot in any propriety of Speech be said to ascribe any thing to himself or to owe himself thanks for what he receives from another Faith in its justifying act does not look to it self as our grace but unto Christ as our Righteousness the inherent grace of Faith is not our justifying Righteousness though it lead us out to him who is Faith is the hand but Christ is the gift nay the hand