it flows from Faith in Jesus Christ That is the true Holiness that comes in by Faith in Jesus Christ that Derives from Christ and is conveyed to us by Faith So that if you enquire How shall I come to be Holy I do not deny that all the Rules of the word of God are of great help and assistance herein But yet still I say that the Centre and the Root and the Fountain and the Well-spring of All is Jesus Christ And therefore we find in that 1 Cor. 1. 30. a place often to be remembred and mentioned when we are speaking of these things Of him are ye in Christ Jesus who of God is made unto us Wisdom and Righteousness and Sanctification and Redemption He is made VVisdom and Sanctification The first being in a Soul by VVisdom it is from Christ He is the Wisdom by which a Man considers the madness and folly of all the ways of Sin and engages therefore into the ways of Holiness Christ is his Wisdom to do it He is the Wisdom of Faith and the Wisdom of Repentance The Wisdom by which a Soul seeing its lost state in it self its unholy and corrupt state in it self It comes to say Where shall I have a change of this State and Condition And it sees Christ to be the only Foundation of it And therefore the Power of Holiness it comes in by Believing you find therefore how often Christ is pleased to speak of himself such words as do certainly imply the Power of Holiness to be from himself As now John 14 6. He comprehends all those in himself saith Christ I am the way the Truth and the Life No Man c. Take these words either in the point of Justification or in the point of Calling or in the point of Sanctification or take them in the highest Glory of Saints it is very true Christ is the way the Truth and the Life Now He is the way in regard of Sanctification And he hath the mighty Power of all that Life of Holiness of all that Life of Grace derived from himself So that indeed when we find our Graces to be either in a declining or in a low State or when we find our selves under any Temptation or when we find our selves to be to grapple and contest with things that Flesh and Blood cannot tell how to contest with our great Wisdom is to run to Christ for Power for the Power of Grace for strength of Grace to do it and to depend upon him wholly for it For As I shew'd you last day That a Servant of Christ a true Believer in Christ he is Crucified with him Even as to the point of Justification he is upon the Cross together with Christ he comes under the sentence of Guilt with Christ and all his own Righteousness is is slain Why so in the very same manner all his Lusts they are brought under by the mighty Efficacy of Truth that is in Jesus Christ As now in the Epistle to the Galatians chap. 6. you shall find where the great Power of Crucifying of our Lusts is It is certainly by our Being in Christ I say it is certainly the Being of the Soul in Christ that Crucifies all these Saith the Apostle Gal. 5. 24. They that are Christ's pray observe have crucified the Flesh with the Affections and Lusts. They that are Christs have done it A Man does not become Christs by Crucifying his Lusts and Affections But because his is Christs therefore he has Power from Christ to crucify his Lusts and Affections This is a great Truth they that are Christ's have crucified their Lusts and Affections Their sinful Lusts and Affections And in the 6th chap. of the Gallatians saith the Apostle as he said before That he was crucified with Christ so he says in this chapter Gal. 6. 17. From henceforth let no Man trouble me for I bear in my Body the marks of the Lord Jesus And ver 14. God forbid that I should Glory in any thing save in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ by whom the world is crucified unto me and I unto the world You see here how plainly the Power of Christ is that that crucifies Lust and crucifies the love of the World Here is our great misery our great unhappiness in the Power of corruption over us That we do not receive Christ And then Ephes 4. 20 21. When the Apostle had set out the exceeding evil conversation of the Heathen He saith ye have not so learned Christ If so be that ye have heard him and have been taught by him as the truth is in Jesus That ye put off concerning the former conversation which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts I do most sincerely acknowledg that all the Scripture and the Gospel of Christ and all the commands and Admonitions and Exhortations and Reproofs of it and all the Terrible Expressions of it they are all I do acknowledg of great use of great influence in an Holy Life But yet it is all through the Spring in whom they are and thro' that mighty Power in whom they are And therefore we do but go down to the Philistines Forges when we go in the Power of Mortification and being crucified to the Affections of the Flesh when we do not look to Christ as the Principle hereof He is the Sanctification of Believers And so in the 1 Cor. 6. 9. Such were some of you saith the Apostle having spoken of the greatest sinners But ye are washed but ye are Sanctified but ye are Justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God Abundance of Scripture might be added to this that shew that the Powers of Sanctification and Holiness of Life are all in Christ who makes perfect in every good Work to do the will of God and works in us that which is well pleasing in his sight So that I say again We do not become Christs by doing these things But we do them because we are Christs because a Power and a Might flows from him and from his Blood to do it by O that therefore we may know the true Method and Order of being Holy It is certainly of first being Christ's And if we are strangers to Christ we shall be strangers to Holiness and of all the ways of Purity without him Let us therefore lye under this Rich Redemption of Jesus Christ in setting us free from the Plague of our own Hearts and from the evil of our Lives And then I beseech you consider further for this is most necessary to be understood that all the Reasons Rules Measures and Arguments of Holiness Christ hath brought them all under himself For that Law of Holiness that God planted in the Heart of Man that Law of Holiness that is given out every where in his Word all that is derived from thence it is all now come under Jesus Christ and under his mighty Power The Law came by Moses but Grace and the Power
Pardon of Sin in his Blood Righteousness and Justification as I shall after shew you and therefore we should always look to his Person And then In the third and last place I shall desire if we love Christ let us love these Truths of Christ and these Manifestations of Christ Because they are gloomy there 's a great gloom upon them you may plainly perceive not only among the Heathens Mahometans Antichristians and Papists But there is a gloom among Protestants they are not so clear so bright so lively and excellent among us as in themselves For if these things I have spoken of be true It is certain here 's the Oriency of the Gospel here 's the Pearl of great Price Jesus Christ And our Souls should close with and cling to Him Now because there is a Fog and Mist about these things how earnestly should we pray for the Kingdom of Jesus Christ For then these things will come into their Glory into their Beauty into their Perfection And therefore I say if we love Christ our Souls should earnestly desire that this Kingdom of Christ should appear For then as I have often told you the New Song shall be sung as it were a New Song It was as it were lost and shall be recovered again and therefore it is as it were a new Song The first thing in the Kingdom of Christ I beseech you remember it remember it is spoken to you this day and I hope that many of us may live to see the thing the first thing that shall be after the Kingdom of Christ shall be known shall be the Voice of Harpers with their Harps so loud as it were the Voyce of Thunder this As it were a New Song of the Redempiion of Jesus Christ c. The End of the First Sermon THE FAITH BY WHICH We are Iustified c. The Second Sermon Rom. 5. 1. Therefore being justified by Faith we have Peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ THE great point of Discourse that I have singled from these words is to open to you the Nature of that Eminent and Transcendant Grace of the Gospel the Grace of Faith which our Lord hath an especial respect to in these words John 17. 7 8. They have known that all things whatsoever thou hast given me are of thee For I have given unto them the words which thou gavest me and they have receied them that is they have received them by Faith and have known surely that I came out from thee and they have believed them that thou didst send me They have known surely and they have believed that thou didst send me They have Believed Knowing and Believing are here United one with another because of that sure Knowledg and that strong demonstration of Faith gives to the Souls of his People And then Secondly Here 's the great Object of this Faith For they have known that all things whatsoever thou hast given me are of thee Whatsoever thou hast given me the things are of thee And the words which thou gavest me they have received them And they have known surely that I came out from thee and that thou did'st send me Jesus Christ is the Supreme Object of Faith as he is one with the Father and hath come into the World as the Mediator and Redeemer of lost and undone Sinners Thereforâ— I have undertaken in the first Place to make out this to you that the proper Object of Faith is the Mediator and that Faith came in with the Mediator and subsisted wholly in him and upon him And if you take away the Mediator Faith becomes a meer Nullity a meer nothing There is the same and far greater Conjunction betwixt Christ and Faith than there is between the Eye and Light As you know the Eye is nothing without Light so Faith is nothing without that great Light the Mediator This I began to open to you First In that Jesus Christ is the Supreme Revelation of God For Faith by those that strictly Define it or Describe it it is an Assent to Divine Revelation Now the great Revelation of God it is Jesus Christ He is the great Truth the Alpha and Omega of Truth And all Truth as I shew'd you depends upon him For there comes in with Jesus Christ a Notion of Truth proper and peculiar to himself All the great Truths of Scripture Indeed there are notable Intimations and great Representations in all the Holy ways of God in which the Soul of Man was at first Created But the great Subject of Truth it is the Truth that comes in with Christ As I shew'd you he saith of himself He is The Truth And even Natural Truth as I abundantly shew'd you it comes under Christ Natural Truth that Truth that there is an everlasting Being That God is This comes under Christ It removes as it were from being a Natural Truth and it comes under Christ Tho it is true there are great Arguments to prove it yet it chooses as it were and delights to come under Christ And so the Truths of Eternity as I shall speak more presently they come under Christ In the Second place as Faith it pitches upon some good upom some grace that is shew'd to the Children of Men so Jesus Christ he is the great object of Faith because all Good it is in him The Promises of Grace they are all in him And therefore that is a great Scripture that I did not mention to you the last day and therefore I beseech you now to take it into great consideration 2 Cor. 1. 20. All the promises of God are in him yea and in him Amen to the Glory of God In him yea and in him Amen All that God hath spoken of Grace and of good will to the Children of Men it is all in Christ All the promises in him are yea and in him they are Amen And he is The Deliverer as I shew'd you from the Wrath to come Christ in you the hope of Glory Col. 1. 27. It is wonderful how all Good is Treasured up in Christ Faith runs to a Promise it runs especially to Grace and to a Revelation of the Infinite Riches of Grace And all is in Jesus Christ Christ in you the hope of Glory I come now to go on In the Third place As Faith is a mighty active Power of Holiness and of New Obedience so it s whole Rest and Trust is in Jesus Christ As the Trust of Faith in whom ye trusted as the Apostle speaks the Trust of Faith in regard of Eternal Life and Salvation so the Activity of Faith flows from the Mediator And as all the Promises or Hopes that we can have of God are in Christ as I shew'd you they come under Christ now as the Redeemer As I instanced to you in that expression That you would saith the Apostle give up your selves unto him as a Faithful Creator That is as a Redeemer So it is in this point All the Holiness of a Christian
And that this is the Condition upon which Christ is ours and upon which his Righteousness becomes ours and thus Faith Justifies And thus Faith comes to be through such very Discourses of Faith an Eclipse upon the Righteousness of Christ And so the Works of Faith come to be so also for say they Every true Faith must have VVorks And the Apostle saith A Man is justified by VVorks and not by Faith only Now these things they raise not only great Disputes concerning which it were indeed much and earnestly to be desired that they may be laid among the Servants of God that they may be calmed and composed because it is greatly to the dishonour of the Gospel that there should be those noises of Axes and Hammers in the Work of the Gospel and because Men are ready to be scandalized And it is told in Gath and published in the streets of Askalon as the Expression is And therefore I say we should earnestly desire to speak all the same thing and to be in one Mind and in one Judgment according to the Truth of the Gospel And then besides they are ready to stagger Souls and to make them they know not which way to turn and they must dispute the things with themselves and so they are kept off from the healing that wound of Conscience and from the getting that full Assurance of Faith and of Hope and of Knowledge So that while the wound of Conscience and the bleeding of Conscience should be stanched and while the close Application of the Blood of Christ should work the Cure the Souls and Spirits of Men are greatly in Dispute and Perplexity which way and in what Method what they should lay first as it were to the bleeding Conscience and to the distressed Spirit Now I have lately given you this Rule and I would renew it and 〈◊〉 it to you That you labour after and seek after these things from God and that you would not perplex your selves about the term of Dispute in which these things are conveyed O! Let but our Souls find that we have Christ indeed for ours and that we apply to his Blood by Faith and that we turn from every Iniquity by Repentance and it is no matter for all the Disputes about the Order and whether a Man should stay for this or for that But let him give up his Soul according to the Impression of Grace and the Spirit of God upon him But yet however when we discourse of these things plainly and peaceably and according to the clearest Light and Reason of the Gospel they are to be attended to And our Minds thereby shall have Ideas and Representations of them that may be suitable to the inward Case of our Souls And therefore at this time I shall lay down four Positions in which I shall open to you the nature of Faith in Relation to Justification Or The true nature of Justification as it is taken in by Faith The First Position that I shall lay down is this I say No Righteousness but a Divine Righteousness an Everlasting Righteousness can be the Righteousness of a Lost and undone Sinner Of an Immortal Eternal Soul lost and undone by sin No Righteousness but a Divine Righteousness an Eternal and Euerlasting Righteousness O! Keep this always in your mind It must be such a Righteousness Or it will not serve the great Purpose of your Souls The Second thing that I would lay down is this that there is no possibility that Faith by any virtue or Excellency of its own should be our Righteousness And therefore tho there be a great Renown of Faith in the Gospel compared with the Graces of the Spiâ—… â—f God and the working of that Spirit in the Hearts and Lives of Châ—stians yet still it is not with Relation to God so as to be our Righteousness But onely as I shall shew you it takes in the Righteousness of Jesus Christ and wherein the Excellency of it lyes to that purpose In the Third place the Third Position that I would lay down is this That tho it is true that the Faith the Gospel speaks of is a vigorous working active Faith yet the works of Faith are further off from the Justifying of a Sinner than Faith it self is So that take the most excellent works of any of the Believers in Jesus Christ It is not their works I say it is not their works that are their Righteousness to Justification they are further off from Justification than their Faith is And yet this Faith cannot be their Justification The Fourth Position that I would lay down is this that Faith has not a Power of it self to take Christ But Jesus Christ gives himself to the Soul And then the mighty Power of Faith flows out from him and Twines about Christ and unites it self unto Jesus Christ These Four Positions I do not find upon the most severe Examination that they do in the least Abridge or take off any thing from the Holiness of the Gospel and from the duties in which all Christians are to be found And yet they give us indeed the truth of the freeness of the Grace of the Gospel and will Redeem us from all mistakes and misapprehensions or from lessening the Glory of Christ and his Righteousness I Begin at this time with the First of them And that is that no Righteousness but an Everlasting a Divine Righteousness can possibly serve the case of our Souls You find therefore in Dan. 9. 24. When Jesus Christ came into his great Action as a Mediator He is said to finish transgression and to make an end of sin and to make Reconciliation for Iniquity and to bring in Everlasting Righteousness He brings in Everlasting Righteousness David has an Expression which I confess one would be ready If one does not weigh and compare it with the whole Scripture to think it was the Righteousness of Holy works onely he or rather the Holy Spirit intended by him in it But if we consider it close and with the whole Scripture there is Reason to look upon it as having Relation to the great salvation by the Righteousness of Jesus Christ Psal 119. 144 The Righteousness of thy Testimonies is Everlasting c. I say it does seem to refer to those Righteous and Holy Precepts of God But he calls it the Righteousness of thy Testimonies That is the Great Testimony of Revelation that God hath given anew by the word Not that Righteousness that was written upon the heart of man But the Righteousness of the Testimony of the Revelation of God And therefore give me understanding herein and I shall live According as he said there is a Covenant made with me ordered in all things and sure And it is an Everlasting Covenant And therefore the Righteousness of his Testimonies is to be expounded by those very words Sam. 2. 23. 5. Although my house c. And though his house was not so with God That is though he could not
whether we have been right in the first Act But there has been as they say an Error in the Foundation an Error in the first Concoction as Physitians speak and cannot be mended So there has been an Error in taking Christ and Error in the Foundation becomes Error in the whole course of a Mans Building A man says he has taken Christ and lives under the Power of his Lusts and the Power of the World Because he never look Christ aright Men will say Here you are mistaken in your Profession That you cannot live Holily which your Profession binds you to But I say if the thing were but well traced and enquired into it would be found here was the great miss that your first Action flew off and did not rightly take Christ The 2d Chapter of John is a Scripture that will clear this that a Man may take Christ by a false Action and lose him in the very first Rudiments and the first beginnings by a mistake As now it is in Nature in the forming of an Embrio in the Womb If there be a false formation a monstrous formation in the VVomb there 's an irregularity all along the Life So if Faith be mistaken in its first Act in supposing it takes Christ and does not that Error cannot be mended The Latter Errors may be more apparent than the first but the first is the cause of all John 2. 23 24 25. Now when he was in Jernsalem at the Passover in the Feast-day many believed in his name when they saw the Miracles that he did One would have thought this was true Faith as the great Men of Reason say because they were brought over to believe by seeing the Miracles of Christ But Jesus did not commit himself unto them because he knew all men And needed not that any should Testify of man for he knew what was in man If he did not commit himself to them we may very well understand he did not Unite himself to them He knew it was not that Faith to which he United himself and his Righteousness Christ does not commit himself to a Faith that is not indeed as I said before a Faith of God's Elect and the like pretious Faith and that is not given by that Divine Lot of Grace as the Expression is 2 Pet. 1. 1. that I have formerly spoken to you of To them who have obtained by Lot by this Divine Lot like precious Faith with us according to the Righteousness of God and our Saviour Jesus Christ I know we cannot look into this but by the Divine Spirit and by feeling the twistings of the Soul about Christ through that great Opperation of God upon us But this we may see plainly Christ did not commit himself to them So he does not commit his Righteousness his Propitiation his Redemption he does not commit it but where he sees a Faith which he himself hath given that is indeed of the true and excellent Alloy For he knows at the very first He sees many that pretend to Believe and that think they Believe but he knows very well where their Faith is wrong and where it loses that great Prize that Pearl of Price that it is to obtain He himself not committing or giving himself knows a true Action of Faith in Receiving him will not follow for that 's the first Action of Faith to Receive Christ giving himself The Second kind of the Actions of Faith they are those that though they are not immediately as the first Acts of taking of Christ by Faith yet they immediately Result and Rise up When any Man hath taken Christ there are some Actions that do immediately Result and Arise They bear the Hiew they carry the Complexion they have upon them the Lineaments of the Death of the Dying of our Lord Jesus Christ They have such peculiar Respects to his Blood to his Death to his Redemption I would instance in two of these we find in Scripture-Saints And then I shall draw out in brief Expressions the general Actions of Christians according to their pattern The first is that in the 11 Chapter of the Epistle to the Hebrews it is said of Moses v. 28. Through Faith he kept the Passover and the sprinkling of Blood lest he that destroyed the first born should touch them This he did by faith God commanded him indeed to keep the Passover But Moses had an Eye upon the Redemption of Christ in it And by Faith he kept the Passover So every Act of the Soul by which it makes Recourse to Christ upon all occasions after it hath taken him it is like keeping the Passover Every Act I say wherein we do especially depend upon the Blood of Christ and make close Recourse and Application to it it is an Action Resulting from true saving Justifying faith that true faith by which we are Saved and Justified For so indeed I observe tho we call it Justifying faith the Scripture never calls it so But the faith by which we are Justified To make good that point that I have always press'd upon you that we are not Justified by Faith as an Act But we are Justified only as the Righteousness of Christ is given to it for that Righteousness alone is our Justification But this I say there are Acts of the Soul by which it does make recourse to Christ and to his Blood Another Example and I choose to give it you because it is Seated in that of the Apostle James that is made the great Objection against the faith by which we are Justified through the Righteousness and Propitiation of Christ James 2. 21. saith the Apostle Was not Abraham our Father Justified by works when he had offered Isaac his Son upon the Altar Seest thou how faith wrought with his Works and by works was faith made perfect Now this is the thing that I observe to you The Offering of Isaac it was as great a Conversant Act about the Death Blood and Sâ—crifice of Christ as any could possibly be represented in Scripture to us For there could not be a greater Type and Representation of the Father giving his Son to Die for Sinners and to become a Sacrifice for them than that of Abraham the Affectionate Father of Isaac Offering up his Son Isaac Therefore the Apostle uses this for an Argument of a Working faith This was a Work of Faith indeed it was not a work of Faith taking Christ but it was a work of Faith conversant about the Death and Sacrifice of Christ And therefore the Apostle is express in it Seest thou how Faith wrought with his works This was a great act in which Faith wrought mightily when Abraham offered up Isaac But 't was not so properly a work of Moral obedience as the work of Faith in Christ if we Consider the Greatness and excellency of it and the Eye it had to Christ though it was a high act of obedience of self Resigning also So I say there are many acts which are
union and no other way As I hope by the assistance of God and his Goodness giving leave evidently to make out by Scripture I shall therefore pitch upon that Heb. 6. to shew you that Faith flyes with all the speed it can for Righteousness saith the Apostle who have fled for Refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us verse 18. who have fled All the speed they can possibly make is little enough too little as it were to lay hold upon that Hope that is set before us Jesus Christ so saith the Apostle I desire to be found in him The Expression evidently alludes to that Expression in Scripture when the Man slayer fled from the Revenger when the Pursuer of Blood and the Minister of Vengeance was at his Heels he made all the way he could to fly to the City of Refuge So I say the Soul by Faith makes all the way it can with all the speed it can to flee for Refuge to the Hope set before it in Jesus Christ Now I would argue another thing to you as I did in the former as I told you All Truth comes in by the Knowledge of Christ the Great Truth All the Report of Truth comes in by Jesus Christ the supream Truth So all Trust and Hope of Good comes in the Great Sacrifice As now suppose a Man be in want or in fear of Danger or in fear of this or that Inconeniency in the present State Why Faith this Saving Faith in Christ having taken him in as the great Redeemer as the great Sacrifice it flies to God through him in every Case As now It was certainly a Fruit of Saving Faith in David when he said to God I flee to thee to hide me from danger when my Heart is overwhelmed Lead me to the Rock that is higher than I. I make no doubt but this was a Fruit of Saving Faith And so when the Servants of God cry to him for necessary Food and Rayment if they have taken Christ it is a Fruit of Saving Faith of that kind When Jehoshaphat cryed out to God when he was likely to have been slain as Ahab was it was Saving Faith in Jehoshaphat that cryed to God why because he had taken in the Redeemer But if we cry to God without the Redeemer it is but howling But when once we have taken hold of Christ it is Saving Faith There 's one Scripture more and then I 'll conclude this with Application to shew when we come to Christ upon a Title when we have first taken Christ as the supreme Good and Saviour and Deliverer 1 Pet. 4. 19. Wherefore let them that suffer according to the Will of God commit their Souls to him in well doing as unto a faithful Creator He does not say a faithful Redeemer but a faithful Oreator Why because Jesus Christ the Redeemer had been taken in We can never trust in God as a faithful Creator till we have first trusted in Jesus Christ the great Redeemer the great Sacrifice of Attonement I come therefore to make the Application of this in these three Particulars in which I will be very brief The first Vse is Oh! I beseech you let us in every thing consider Faith When ever you think of Faith don't look upon it in it self but only in its Relation to the Redeemer Indeed Faith is like the Eye there is a great deal of admirable curious Workmanship in the Eye as the Anatomists of the Eye have made very plain One would stand amazed to behold the admirable Skill of the Creator in the Eye that excellent Machine as I may call it And yet notwithstanding all this Without Light what were the Eye even nothing at all And so Faith hath a great deal of curious Workmanship It is a great Work of God The Work of Faith with Power as the Apostle saith It is the Faith of Gods Power It is the like precious Faith But if you take away Christ from it alas It is nothing at all All its Excellency is in its Union to Christ I speak this that I would not in the least seem to quarrel or to raise a Controversie with any Holy Servants of Jesus Christ Yet I say we are ready to run into such a kind of Notion of Faith as if there was some Excellency in its self and because it obeys as it is very true it does And because it purifies the Heart and Life and lays Arguments and Engagements of Obedience I don't deny any thing of this but desire to speak the same thing But I still affirm that we may not be mistaken in Faith For this is not its Excellency no more than it is the Eyes Excellency that it is curiously made whereas it would be nothing no not so much a beauty if it were not for Light It were all one as if a Man were blind or had no Eye So it is all one if it were not for Christ whether there were such a thing as Faith or no such thing as Faith It were of no value or Account if it were not for him And therefore I beseech you keep all this strictly in your Thoughts Faith is excellent Why because Christ is excellent and it hath to do with him It hath a great many Subordinations of Excellency on this side Christ but its great Excellency is it touches Christ And then In the second Place I beseech you let us always mind this the Person of our Lord Jesus Christ Don't think of his Benefits divided from his Person for God gives you his Son he gives you his Son first and Principally but when he gives you his Son all his Benefits come with him There is Pardon Righteousness Sanctification and Redemption every thing comes in by Jesus Christ He gives you Christ himself first It is He that is made this to us There are so many Scriptures in this Point that I don't know where to stay when I come to consider it As now He that hath the Son hath Life And God gives his Son and all things together with Him And we have not Wisdom Righteousness Sanctification and Redemption as it were apart that God sends them by themselves and we have them And though Christ be to be known to be the Author only of them it is no matter whether we mind him further or not I say this is not the Truth of the thing But ye are of God in Christ Jesus who is made unto us Wisdom and Righteousness c. And you cannot have them except you have Christ first you must have him first and unite first with him But that which I shall pitch upon is Gal. 2. 20. I am crucified with Christ nevertheless I live yet not I but Christ liveth in me and the Life which I now live in the Flesh I live by the Faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me But indeed the first and principal thing that we are to look to in Christ is Redemption
of Holiness it comes by Jesus Christ He hath as the Apostle saith implanted the Law by himself And the Law is written in the Hearts of his Servants by and through the Grace of the New Covenant as you know that great Place Heb. 8. 10. How comes the Law to be written in the Hearts of the Servants of God It is because of the New Covenant of which Jesus Christ is the Surety and the Mediator This is the Covenant that I will make with the House of Israel after those days saith the Lord I will put my Laws into their Mind and write them in their Heart All the Holy Laws of God they are written in the Heart and Mind through the New Covenant of which you know every where the Apostle declares Christ to be the Surety and the Mediator and the Testator of So that if there be any thing that is well spoken in the whole World of Morality it is properly transplanted under the Influence of Jesus Christ the Son of Righteousness and the great Sanctifier of his People And so if we take those Places of Scripture to be sure Holiness and Sanctification in the strict Sense is not to be excluded That he might Sanctifie his People with his own Blood For their Sake I sanctifie my self That they might be Sanctified through the Truth Now Faith is that as I shall shew you by which we derive from Jesus Christ All Sanctification in what sense soever I come to the fourth thing in which I would shew the excellency of Faith and that it is all in and through Christ. And that is those Heroick Acts those extraordinary Acts that the Servants of God have done in the World at any Time they have been done by the Power of Faith as that Power has been received by Faith from Jesus Christ In Heb. 11. We have a great Record of those things that the Servants of God have done in the several Ages of the World the great many things they have done those mighty Acts that they atchiev'd as you see all along in that Chapter The Apostle begins with Abel and so he comes down to Noah and to Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and then to Joseph and to Moses and then to the Servants of God together as you find verse 33. Gideon and Barak and Sampson and Jepthah and David and Samuel and the Prophets it comes down to Who through Faith subdued Kingdoms wrought Righteousness obtained Promises stopped the Mouths of Lions quenched the violence of Fire escaped the edge of the Sword out of weakness were made strong waxed valiant in Fight turned to flight the Armies of the Aliens Women received their dead raised to life again and others were tortured not accepting deliverance that they might obtain a better Resurrection And others had Tryals of cruel Mockings and Scourgings yea moreover of Bonds and Imprisonments They were stoned they were sawn asunder were tempted were flain with the Sword they wandred about in Sheepsâ—skins and Goat-skins being destitute afflicted tormented And these all saith the Apostle verse 39. having obtained a good Report Indeed a good Report are Words in our ordinary use of them too low For the Apostle means they obtained a high Renown for they are words of a celebrating Nature they are of a Holy great Fame they obtained a great Fame that 's the meaning of it they are spoken of with great Honor in all Ages And all this was by Faith And their Faith it rested upon Jesus Christ For as a Captain as he spoke to Joshua who is here referred to he appeared Nay saith he Captain of the Lords Host am I now come and now thus appear unto thee It is very remarkable that all the great Acts that the Servants of God have at any time done they have done it by the power of Faith and that Faith in Christ Josh 5. 13. And it came to pass when Joshua was by Jerico that he lifted up his Eyes and looked and behold there stood a Man over against him with his Sword drawn in his Hand and Joshua went unto him and said unto him art thou for us or for our Adversaries And he said nay but as Captain of the Host of the Lord am I now come And Joshua fell on his face to the Earth and did worship and said unto him what saith my Lord unto his Servant Now this we know is not what any Holy Angel would accept And therefore it is certain it was Christ He fell down and worshipped But when the Angel in the Revelation was offered to be worshipped you know he said see thou do it not for I am but a fellow Servant But saith Joshua What saith my Lord unto his Servant And the Captain of the Lords Host said unto Joshua loose thy shooe from thy foot for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground and Joshua did so I speak this only as an evident Argument that this was Christ And it is evident that he is the Captain of the Lords Host in any great thing that his Servants do And therefore when any of the Servants of God in the old Testament did extraordinary things it was by the Power of their Faith and their Faith it was a Faith in Christ And therefore certainly if we had the power of Faith there would be great things that we should do We do but very little things because we have very little Faith But if an abundance of Faith was given to us we should be able to do the great things that the Servants of God have done heretofore And when ever such things as I cannot but upon all Occasions say to you I hope the time is near that great Things shall be done they shall be done by the Power of Faith and by the Captain of the Lords Host appearing and coming on our side And as a further proof if there needed any but I think there needs nothing more to be said The Captain of the Lord's Host was Christ The Apostle takes that very Expression surely we have Reason to think so For Scripture delights in its own Language and to refer to it and to speak like it self Heb. 2. 10. For it became him for whom are all things and by whom are all things in bringing many Sons unto Glory to make the Captain of their Salvation perfect through sufferings the Captain of the Lord's Host So that I say all the great things that have been done by the Servants of God have been done by the power of Faith Such things had never been done if it had not been for the Power of Faith coming in by Jesus Christ It is certain such things had never been done so as to give glory to God in the doing of them Indeed I know you may be ready to say why the Enemies of God have done great things Have we not heard and read of great Alexander Of the great Caesars of the World Of the great Princes of the Turkish Army They have done great things
Promise if it be so that Heaven is the Promise For I would ask any Man that gives Reverence to this word of God Do you Believe that Enoch Noah Abraham Isaac and Jacob Moses Samuel David c. Do you think they are now in Heaven And yet saith the Apostle expresly they went away out of this World and left a great Fame and Honour and record of themselves behind them but did not receive the Promise Did they not receive the Promise immediately when their Spirits went out of their Bodies to Heaven Can it be said They Received not the Promise if Heaven were the Promise intended And yet the Apostle saith They received not the Promise God having provided some better thing for us that they without us should not be made perfect Therefore I say That Glorious Kingdom of Jesus Christ That Visible Glory of Saints both in Body and Spirit That they did not receive The New Heaven and the New Earth they did not receive which the Apostle Peter says We look for according to promise they have it not yet tho they have been in Heaven for so many Ages And therefore Faith is on purpose for this Kingdom of Jesus Christ among the things that are to come Among them I say and as a Principal of that World to come whereof we speak I shall therefore add at this time by way of Recollection and so conclude with Application a recollection of all that I have spoken of the great excellency of Faith And I beseech you in the First place Let this be a general Position concerning Faith That Faith is proper to that New Creation from first to last that comes in by Jesus Christ It is as really a New Heaven if I may so represent it to you a New Heaven of Grace As that New Heaven the Apostle Peter and John speak of shall be a New Heaven in comparison of that we have now The Heaven we have now declares the Glory of God It is one of the wonderful Works of God The Sun Moon and Stars How wonderful are they And yet for all this there shall be a New Heaven God does not like the Heaven that is now as sufficient to declare his Glory For if there had been no fault found with the Heaven and Earth that are now what place had there been for a New Heaven As the Apostle Argues in the Case of the Covenant I beseech you consider it is the Apostles own Argument in another case Heb. 8. 7. For if that first Covenant had been faultless then should no place been sought for the Second And in that he saith A New Covenant He hath made the first Old Now that which decayeth and waxeth old is ready to vanish away I would but apply it to the New Heaven and New Earth If there had been no fault found with the present Heaven and Earth tho they declare the Glory of God what place had there been for another Heaven and Earth For the Second Heaven and Earth and why are they said to wax Old but that they are to vanish away Surely the Apostles Argument is very Substantial according to the Discourse here But the thing that I intend it for is just as the New Heaven and the New Earth that God will make just such is the Faith that God hath brought in That great Grace of Faith It is as New as the New Heaven and the New Earth It is a way of Salvation a way of Righteousness a way of Holiness a way of Eternally making Happy As new as the New Heaven and the New Earth And therefore it is no wonder that Men boggle at Faith so and that they make such a stir about it and are such Enemies to it That no Discourse that is found in the Gospel will please them or serve their turn It is because God hath Created a New thing It is not of the First Creation but a New thing Grace of a New Erection of a New Extraction O Blessed are they that have it For it is as much above Nature as the New Heaven and the New Earth shall be above the present Heaven and the present Earth It is prepared and fitted on purpose by the Mediator To give it you in another Expression And I beseech you rest upon it And that you may have it ready to Discourse when any Assail the Doctrine of Faith that you may have it fitted within your Lips as Solomon saith I say again Just as the Righteousness of the Second Adam exceeds the Righteousness of the First just so does the way of Faith exceed the Integrity and uprightness of Adam in the First Creation wherein he was Created You 'll say How can you make this appear There is a plain Scripture for it I appeal to all the World upon this Scripture against the greatest Enemies of Faith Therefore it is of Faith that it might be by grace to the end that the promise might be sure to all the Seed Rom. 4. 16. As much therefore as Grace excels the Righteousness of Man in his first Creation so much does Faith excel all Natural Power And as the certainty of Grace excels that of our Doing So much does Faith excel the First State in which Man was Created For It is of Faith that it might be by Grace And then that it might be sure It must be of Grace I say therefore I beseech you conceive right of the excellency of Faith by what I have spoken to you out of this very Scripture Rom. 4. 16. And have it in your Mouths as that word of Truth by which you may Answer any that Reproach the Holy Doctrine of Grace and Faith in the Gospel But I would add but briefly of the Excellencies of Faith wherein God hath magnified Faith above any other Grace And yet I shall shew you in the next Discourse if the Lord will give me leave to do it that notwithstanding all this excellency of Faith It cannot in the least be said to Justify by it self but only by that hold it has of Christ and of the Righteousness of Christ But I say at the present First of all here 's the excellency of Faith That Faith hangs only upon God and Christ and that which is Divine and Eternal it will not venture upon any thing that is Created And if you come once to true Faith you hang only upon God and Christ and the Spirit of God A great deal of difference when a man hangs by this and that Title that he thinks is well grounded and is in himself and in the Creature He has nothing then of Faith For Faith hangs wholly upon God and Christ and the Spirit and Grace and what is Divine and Eternal In the Second place Faith it gives all the Glory to God It must needs do so when it hangs all upon him gives Glory to God and Christ and Grace Gives Glory wholly to him as Rom. 4. You know Abraham was strong in Faith and gave glory to God
Therefore the Fourth Particular is this That indeed if any one could frame a Notion of the Righteousness of Christ to be his Righteousness Or of the Blood and Death of Christ to be his for Justification and Pardon and clearing from sin If that Righteousness separated from Christ It would be no other to us and in us but as a Creature-Righteousness and as a self-Righteousness And for us to trust in it and to stay our selves upon it would be a trusting to our own Righteousness Therefore as it is in him a Spring and a Fountain There is the Life and there is the Glory of it I 'll give you but one Scripture Rom. 5. 17. Mark Here 's a Receiving abundance of Grace and of the gift of Righteousness Nothing can be more express than this A man takes in by Faith abundance of Grace and of the gift of Righteousness But now the Question is does he live by this receiving abundance of Grace and of the Gift of Righteousness No For the Apostle goes on He shall reign in Life by one Jesus Christ He shall not reign by abundance of Grace and of the gift of Righteousness which he receives simply and separately and distinct from Jesus Christ But he shall reign in life by one Jesus Christ Surely this Scripture does cut off all disputes and all Controversies and shews that Justification is onely by union to Christ and by nothing else whatsover is the abundance of Grace and of the Gift of Righteousness And healed by the Wings of Christ and flowing out and Righteousness streaming out continually from the Sun of it that is Christ Oh then that we were but clear in this great truth of the Righteousness of God Jehovah being our Righteousness For if such a poor weak thing as Faith because it is conformable as is supposed to the Evangelical Law were our Righteousness we should have Reason to fear and much more because indeed no one comes up so much as to the Evangelical Law as they would phrase it Our Faith is so weak and low that if we were to be Justified by it we should be utterly undone even by that which we call the Gospel-Law but when it does but onely attend the Communication and giving of the Righteousness of the Eternal Jehovab to us when it does onely that O we that are in this Righteousness and are made the Righteousness of Jehovah It is impossible we should be condemned We must needs condemn every tongue that rises in Judgment against us because we have the Righteousness of Jehovah I confess the thing is so great that many even would be ready to look upon it as strange and next to Blasphemy But it is the very words of Scripture and even the thing it self it always presses Not that we are Righteous as God is Righteous As some would Infer from such Expressions or Righteous as Christ is Righteous That is according to the Divine Original Righteousness of Jesus Christ or according to any perfections that are proper to him But that we are utterly uncondemnable and set out of the reach of Condemnation hereby and arrayed as in our degree with this rich Robe Because it is the Righteousness of God we are found in and that we are made by Vnion to Christ the Righteousness of God And yet all the distinction that ought to be preserved to the greatness of the Righteousness of God and Christ is still preserved And that 's the first thing in which I would open this point The second thing is to shew you that Faith in it self it cannot be looked upon as our Righteousness Because there is a great deal of difference in all our Reason and Apprehension between the taking of a Gift and the Gift Because I take a great Gift shall therefore my taking be counted of Equal value with the Gift You know this is contrary to all our Reason to all our Apprehension in the case A man may have a Pearl of Incomparable value given to him suppose in a state of necessity and want Shall his taking of the Gift or of the Pearl be look'd upon as of equal value with the Pearl it self Why now if we were Justified by Faith as it is a work or an act of ours or any thing let it be called by what name it will as it is in us would it therefore Justify us as it is in us Because of its taking of an incomparable invaluable gift must it be equal with the gift it self Therefore though Scripture speaks so much of Faith as it does and of being Justified by Faith yet let Faith lye low before Christ For It is not our taking If it were the most perfect act it could be supposed But it is not so But we have Reason to cry out Lord I believe help thou mine unbelief But if it were so It were nothing at all in the case As you know the most perfect and grateful and delightful Receiving of a gift can no way answer or stand in account with the gift it self Now therefore this I desire should be Imprinted upon our spirits both to take down all imagination of our selves and also to give Consolation in many of the Anguishes and Agonies of Conscience that come upon Believers through the weakness of their Faith Rom. 5. 17. They which receive saith the Apostle abundance of Grace Now can any of us suppose that the Receiving abundance of Grace should be any way equal to the abundance of Grace it self And so in the first Chapter of John saith the Evangelist there He came unto his own and his own received him not But to as many as received him ver 12. Now I would desire to ask you whether you think that the receiving of him that is of Christ whether it be any way matchable or can countervail the Excellency of Christ himself Or whether it can come near in any of the vertues or the Powers of Jesus Christ to Adoption or Justification therefore it is most evidently cleared that it is not the worth of Faith or the Excellency of Faith or the Activity or Applicatoriness of Faith But it is wholly in that Great and Excellent and Infinite Person whom we receive by Faith there 's the whole of the thing And therefore If you ask where is our Riches where 's our Righteteousness where 's our Strength It is evident it is not in our receiving But in him whom we receive It is not in our receiving but in the abundance of Grace and of the Gift of Righteousness that we receive together with the receiving of Christ himself and no otherwise Not by receiving of it and going away with it from Christ and saying we have it now But by keeping close to him as our Sun and as our Fountain the Sun of Righteousness and Fountain of Righteousness keeping close to him And so that Righteousness of his overflows and runs out upon us and then as I said our Consolation depends upon it For O! How do