line 27. for for us read far as pag. 11. line 31. for Jews r. Jew page 12. line 5. blot out as A Glass of Justification Wherein the Apostles Doctrine touching JUSTIFICATION without the DEEDS of the LAW is opened and the sence in which Gospel-Obedience is absolutely necessary to Justification is stated CHAP. I. Containing an Introduction to the following Treatise Romans 4. Ver. 5. But to him that worketh not but beleeveth on him that justifieth the ungodly his Faith is counted unto him for Righteousnesse AMongst other things in Pauls Epistles which as the Apostle Peter observes 2 Pet. 3.16 are hard to be understood and which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest to their own destruction there is too much cause to suspect the Text now before us to be one For whoever shall but judiciously consider the Epistles of the Apostles James Peter John and Iude besides other Scriptures may easily perceive that many professors of the Gospel then did so bear themselves upon a me form of knowledge and Faith as if the promise of Salvation had been entailed to that alone without respect had to that holy life enjoyned in the Gospel without which no man shall see the Lord Heb. 12.14 Into which most dangerous deadly snare its like enough they might be brought by mis-understanding and wresting such Scriptures as my Text which makes the man that Worketh not but Believeth the capable subject of Justification And is there not cause to fear that multitudes of poor Souls to this day are still under the same desperate and destructive mistake Whence else proceeds that high confidence in the most amongst us of their being saved by Christ although but strangers to the life of God having this saying to defend themselves against the reproof of their sinful life no man shall be saved by his Works or else not by the works of righteousnesse which we have done but according to his mercy he saved us leaving out that which follows viz. by the washing of regeneration and renewng of the Holy Ghost Tit. 3.5 Whence is it also that multitudes of Professors under various forms as well that which is right as those which are wrong take themselves to be rich and to have need of nothing more than they have to entitle them to remission of sins and Salvation when as they are meer beggars and bankrupts as to a humble sober self-denying life Is it not that they value themselves by that stock of brain-knowledge and barren Faith which they are sure they have and thereupon think themselves sure of those promises which are made to those that know and believe the truth Nay hath not the doctrine of Justification without Works as commonly asserted from that Text which I have chosen on which to found my present Discourse and other of the like nature proved a Temptation even to many good men to have a lighter and lower esteem of good Works and of the necessity of them to Justification and Salvation than of right belongs to them Yea I am perswaded that the strenuous urging of such Texts against the Papists in disputes about Justification without that due care which ought to be had in distinguishing the works which my Text speaks of from those of another nature hath occasioned many honest hearts to content themselves to write but fifty which otherwise would have subscribed an hundred towards the promoting of the Gospel designe in themselves and others had they clearly understood the mind of God in this business What shall I say Christ Jesus himself though sent on purpose to save and not to destroy and not only to shew but to be the very way unto life and glory yet the ignorance and mis-understanding of the counsel of God touching the termes how and after what manner he is so hath rendred him to very many a stone of stumbling a rock of offence a snare and a gin a means of a more dreadful condemnation than ever they should have fallen into had Christ never been offered to them as a Saviour But to whom is he so but as Peter tells us to those that stumble at the Word 1 Pet. 2.8 not understanding but mistaking the nature and temres of the doctrine of grace and the Scripture expressions thereabout either thinking that Faith will save without Works otherwise than the Scripture intends or that this or that Belief is the Faith unto which Justification and Salvation are promised when as it is neither this nor that but another So that when Peter sayes that such as are unlearned and unstable wrest the Scriptures of Paul and others to their own destruction 2 Pet. 3.16 it is not meant of such as are unlearned in humane arts but unlearned in the method and termes of Gods proceeding with men to bring them to Salvation being carried away with a sound of letters and words not being carefull to order themselves in their understanding of Scripture expressions by those principal heads and veins of Doctrine which are but few unto which a great variety of words and scripture expressions do relate A piece of unlearnedness unto which the wise and prudent of the world Doctors and Rabbies of the times have been and may be more liable and in which more intangled than others who in comparison of them have been but Babes and sucklings as these and the like Scriptures do witness Mat. 11.25 John 7.48 49. 1 Cor. 1.26 27. one main reason whereof is this because they I mean the wise and learned of the world by their wisdom and learning being vessels better fitted and prepared for worldly glory than others are are in that respect under the greater temptation to seek and receive honour one of another and not that honour that comes from God onely and consequently by their greater parts to over-master bend and bow wring and wrest under plausible pretences and fair flourishes the holy Scriptures in their several forms of expression so as that they may not so much as seem to contradict but to countenance their designe of worldly glory and interest and their worldly honour and interest likewise as intermixt with their Gospel profession not so much as seem to obstruct but to accomodate the designe of God and the affairs of the Gospel in themselves and others The prevailing of which carnal device of corrupting the Word reducing and accommodating the pure Gospel doctrine and life unto a nearer complyance with the principles of worldly wisdom and interest than would consist with the simplicity which is in Christ was that which proved the bane of those flourishing Churches which were planted by the Apostles and at this day is the great enemy of the life and power of godliness and such as betrayes men into a soul-deceiving way of professing the Gospel as might easily be shewed might I now stand upon it On the other hand whereas the babes and sucklings I mean persons who by reason of their natural capacities education or rank in the world are but
a matter it will be to beat them out of their confidence of being owned by him that he wil be fain not only to tel them again and again I know you not but at last to profess to them that he never knew them no not then in your life time as if he should say when you thought your selves cock-sure of my approbation I then knew you not to be any true Friends of mine but you loved your selves and Relations and loved the world more than me you loved your own wills more than mine and your own honour more than mine and entertained motions from the flesh and from the Devil sooner than from me and therefore now without any more ado depart from me all ye workers of iniquity a sad parting Who shall not say with David whilst he is under the contemplation hereof My flesh trembleth for fear of thee and I am afraid of thy judgements Psalm 119.120 That which I further note in the third and last place from this Doctrine of Christ which with the rest astonished those that heard him preach it Mat. 7.28 is this that the true reason why these mens confidence and all that upon which it is built and all their pleadings beggings and mournful supplications added thereto will all fail them and fall to the ground is in short this they were workers of iniquity as men work at their Trades to bring them in what they lack and love so these men work iniquity that is commit sin do and speak things contrary to the Laws and instructions of Christ to bring them in that present carnal content which they love and prefer before that future happiness upon those self-denying termes without which it is not to be had That Faith which they had was not of that kind which purifies the heart and renews the Soul to God but for all it the flesh still retained the commanding interest in the Soul and therefore as they had in their life time sowed to the flesh so of the flesh they must now reap corruption They were told that if they lived after the flesh they should dye as well as they were told that Christ came into the world to save sinners but they would not believe the one though they did the other but now they must find and feel that which they would not before believe These things considered I heartily beseech all those into whose hands this shall come to take warning now it is given and not to deal slightly in the business of their Faith or to dally with their precious Souls take heed of that vain confidence of many which you see will be all turned into disappointment and confusion of face when the day of tryal comes and be working out your salvation with fear and trembling with fear lest you should be mistaken about the ground of your confidence and evidence of your hope It 's a thousand pitties that men should be so wary and solicitous lest they should be deceived with a trackt title in their outward Estates and so presuming and careless about rheir title to the next World as generally they are as if the eternal Estate of their Souls were but a trifle to the momentary enjoyment of a little spot of this World If the inconvenience of a mistake herein could be born without any considerable breach upon ones comfort or could afterward be rectified though with some loss as in externals it may well be a mans folly would be the less but to be slight yea not to be exceeding curious solicitous and thoughtful to prevent a mischief that for nature is intollerable and for duration eternal and the loss irrepairable argues the extremity of sottish madness which yet O that it were not the case of all men a few only excepted Mat. 7.13 14. CHAP. VII Shewing that that Belief unto which the Promise is made though indefinitely exprest is to be understood of Belief of a special kinde and that it is no waies safe to notion it in the lowest narrowest and meanest sence of the Word but to frame our notion of it according to that result which the Scriptures compared do give of it under which notion of it it will be hard for any man to retain a confidence of Salvation without an holy conversation Sect. 1 ANd because men are oft betrayed into that vain confidence of Salvation which I have spoken of by mistaking some Scriptures which they wrest to their own destruction therefore to prevent that mischief for the future as much as may be as I have in the former part of my discourse been labouring to deliver some from their mistakes of such Scriptures as promise Justification upon believing without the Works of the Law so I shall here also add a few words to save them from the danger of an undue understanding of such Scriptures as represent the believing Christ to be the Son of God and that he dyed and rose again and the like to be that Faith that carries Life and Salvation in it For whereas I have asserted in the two former Chapters that neither the assenting to the truth of that report which the Scriptures make touching Christ his being the Son of God and Saviour of the World c. nor yet the relying on him as such for Salvation will indeed avail a man unto Salvation without a loving loyal and obediential cleaving to him it may be some will be ready to object and say Does not the Scripture plainly say That these things are written that ye might beleeve that Iesus is the Christ the Son of God and that beleeving ye might have life through his Name Iohn 20.31 and was not the acknowledging of this the very form of the Saints Faith in the first times of the Gospel Iohn 4.42 and 6.69 and 11.27 Acts 8.37 Mat. 16.16 and does not the Scripture also expresly say That if thou shalt confesse with thy mouth the Lord Iesus and shalt beleeve in thine heart that God raised him from the dead thou shalt be saved Rom. 10.9 and again every spirit that confesseth that Iesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God 1 John 4.2 and whosoever shall confesse that Iesus is the Son of God God dwelleth in him and he in God verse 15. and whosoever beleeveth that Iesus is the Christ is born of God 1 Iohn 5.1 These things being so if I do both believe and confess Jesus to be the Christ and Christ to be the Son of God and that he dyed and rose again why may I not be confident of Salvation can I have any better security than the plain letter of the Scripture that promiseth salvation upon these termes Sect. 2 To all which I answer first that it is very true that this is the Faith of the Gospel and that to which eternal life is promised and that if thou doest so believe these things as that thy Faith do but answer the latitude of these Scripture expressions thou mayest be confident of Salvation and
profess your selves to be of the planting of the Lord I say it remains now that I in my Heavenly Lord and Masters name do call for and demand fruit of every one of you both of this and all other the labours cost and pains which have through the Lords succour and assistance been bestowed upon you both by my self and by him who hath served with me in the same Work with what love and Faithfulness to you the Lord best knows and your Consciences I trust in part can witness It is true we have an account to give of your Souls and O the weight of such a burden and care of such a charge little does he know it whose Conscience does not feel it but then know ye and consider it that you have an account also to give of all the Heart-affecting care Godly jealousie and fear painful study and labour in the Word and Doctrine which God knows is sustained and used in discharge of our trust towards you And O that our mutual care in discharge of our duties towards each other may be found such as that both you and we may give up our accounts together to Jesus the chiefe Shepheard of the Sheep with joy and not with grief In respect of our own persons alass how little is expected from you We can and you know we can truly say We seek not yours but you 2 Cor. 12.14 But that which puts you under the greater obligation to us-ward in respect of Office is that relation in which we stand between the Lord and you as being those vessels earthen ones indeed by which Jesus Christ is sending and ministring to you from time to time nourishment and Food for your Souls And what ever gifts we have or what ever labour we bestow among you they are not so much ours as the Lords it is not so much from us as from the Lord from whom we receive all and by whom we are inabled to do all and it is his care and love towards you to furnish you with any that have a mind carefully to watch for your souls From whence it is that the Lord expects fruit from you as due to him upon account of our labour and service among you and for the same reason it is that in his name I demand it of you and upon the same account that saying of the Apostle will take place 1 Thes 4.8 He therefore that despiseth despiseth not man but God who hath also given unto us his Holy Spirit But that which may well render this demand of mine as acceptable unto you as it is reasonable in it self is this that though I demand Fruit yet I demand fruit that may abound to your account Phil. 4.17 For however the Lord by your yielding fruit will be well pleased and his holy name and truth glorified and you shall thereby become to us also a Joy for the present and a crown of rejoycing in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at his coming 1 Thes 2.19 yet in the issue all the glory you shall bring to God and all the good you shall procure to men by rendering unto the Lord fruit in season will return into your own bosom you shall eat of the fruit of your doing if you have your fruit unto holinesse the end will be to you everlasting life Rom. 6.22 and the more fruit in holinesse now the more fruit in happinesse then when you shall be rewarded by him who will render to every one according to their works both for kind and degree if thou be wise thou shalt be wise for thy self Pro 9.12 Sect. 3 Brethren I beseech you hear me if you shall but lay this thing to heart if the sense of what the Lord hath done and is doing for you to make you fruitful shall but procure from you an earnest desire and care to answer the Lords expectation herein and to yield him a crop of the seed which he hath sown you shall thereby secure unto your selves the Lords constant care of you and prepare the way of a gratious multiplication and increase of prosperous and thriving applications of the Lord to you Every branch that beareth fruit he purgeth it that it may bring forth more fruit saith Christ the true Vine John 15.2 It encourageth a man to bestow more and more cost upon his Vineyard or upon his land when he finds it to quit his cost in an answerable return of fruit And so will the Lord rejoyce over you to continue and increase the means of your growth to prosper them more more for your encrease in grace if you be but found fruit-bearing branches As he will then delight to go down into his garden to gather fruit among you so he will blow upon his garden too with a heavenly breath to cause the spices thereof to flow out and your savour shall be as the smell of a field which the Lord hath blessed Sect. 4 And as the Lord in this case will spare for no cost that you may yield him more of that fruit which his Soul so loves so to be sure there shall be no care wanting to fence you that no wild beasts break in upon you to make havock and spoile There 's no man but takes most care of those trees that yield the best and most fruit and it s most certain that the eye of the Lord is chiefly upon those plants which yeild him the best increase both for quantity and kind Such a vineyard is indeed regularly capable of that care protection and tendence of which the Lord speaketh saying I the Lord doe keep it I will water it every moment lest any hurt it I will keep it night and day Isa 27.3 And I hope you are sensible that it s no small priviledge for you to have God to set a hedge about you and to watch over you in times of such spirituall danger as these are in which you live You know there are beasts of prey that are seeking to break in here and to creep in there Foxes little Foxes that seeke to spoyl the Vines that bear tender Grapes Cant. 2.15 Among which the Quaker is not the least active who under a pretence of singular holinesse and with two faces under one hood have overthrown the faith of some touching the excellency and necessity of the holy Scriptures touching the Resurrection of the body of our Lord and his personal session at Gods right hand and his coming again in person at the end of this world to judg the quick and the dead in many other things this you or at least some of you have proved and found though their equivocations subtile evasions and reservations of their particular and punctual opinions hereabout under general expressions have rendered their heretical deceit herein of a harder preception and a more difficult discerning which many unstable souls abroad in the world not having been able to discover have taken the hook while it hath been covered with a tempting
bait of some deceivable appearance And if I am not much mistaken in scriptural prophesies and predictions touching the events of these last times the Churches of Christ are like to be tryed with more and more subtile refined soul-insnaring temptations such as if it were possible should deceive the very elect For as the devils pollicie by longer experience is and will be more and more improved so his snares stratagems and methods of deceving will be carryed on with more art and plausible appearances his former wiles having by experience been pretty well discovered and laid open he will come forth with new devices and cunning fetches and tricks of deceiving more sublime and spirituall so that he must have a good eye that shall not take him for an angel of light and his Ministers for Ministers of righteousnesse 2 Cor. 11.14 15. we see already that he does frequently familliarly cheat men and women of their faith in exchange for it gives them some new devised forms of notion expression and action by which they fancy themselves to have attained the end of their faith and to be now in the resurrection and to have passed the Judgment and to be now in the actual possession of eternal life And to make his counterfeit coyn the more passable what does he but mix it with some currant mony allows yea prompts his deceived ones in their conversation among men in some things to wear the sheeps clothing that whilst mens eye is upon that he may secretly insinuate to them that all the rest is of the same stamp and mettal which many that are easie of belief thereupon take by content and so are cheated And he finely covers over all with Scripture expression as if he were a Friend to Christ and would build with him whilst he teaches unlearned and unstable souls to wrest those Scriptures to their own destruction and to carry them quite from the mark at which they aim And as he finds his time of deceiving and doing mischief to grow shorter and shorter so you may accordingly expect to be put so much the more to it by all and all manner of temptations and assaults which either his policy or restless rage can set on Foot Rev. 12.12 Sect. 5 These things being so of which I desire faithfully and in the fear of God to warn you and if it were possible the whole Church of God believe me it concerns you to seek by all means to interess your selves in the defence of the Almighty and to carry it so that you may alwaies be under his watchful eye and care I hope you are all sensible that it is the Lord that keepeth the feet of his Saints and that by his own strength no man shall prevail 1 Sam. 2.9 and I hope you can truly say My defence is of God which saveth the upright in heart Psalm 7.10 He that is strongest among you and most like a Champion of the Lord to fight his Battels would soon become weak as a Child in the hand of strong Temptations if God should but a little leave him Remember Hezekiah who though for the general bent of his heart it was said of him That he trusted in the Lord God of Israel so that after him was none like him among all the Kings of Judah nor any that were before him 2 King 18.5 yet at one turn when God did but leave him to try him that he might know all that was in his heart he fell till God helped him up again 2 Chron. 32.25 31. Ahd when that servant of God Psal 73.2 saies But as for me my feet were almost gone my steps had well nigh slipt what was the reason I pray you why his feet were not altogether gone and why his steps did not wholly slide He gives you the reason vers 23. in these words Nevertheless I am with thee thou hast holden me by my right hand God held him by the hand and therefore though he slipt yet he did not fall Sirs Would you then be such a People which the Lord your God careth for and upon whom he sets his eyes from the beginning of the year even unto the end of the year Deut. 11.12 Would you have neither the Boar of the Wood to waste you nor the wilde Beast of the field to devoure you Would every one of you be as a Branch which the Lord hath made strong for himself Psal 80.15 by fencing it for his own peculiar use and delight then be sure you bring forth fruit unto God answerable to that cost and care which he hath bestowed upon you like the Earth that drinking in the rain that cometh oft upon it bringeth forth Herbs meet for them by whom it is dressed and so receiveth blessing from God Heb. 6.7 This is the way and there is not another without this to be kept from being preyed upon either by those lying Spirits that are gone out into the world to deceive and which are like to go out or by some fleshly or worldly lust or other for one lust as one Souldier may take a man Prisoner as well as a whole Army unto one or more of which God hath been wont to deliver those that have not liked to have God in respect of what he hath graciously bestowed upon them in due acknowledgement Rom. 1.28 29. 2 Thes 2.11 12. Psal 81.11 12. Do you but remember to keep the word of the Lords patience and he will not forget to keep you in or from the hour of temptation that shall come upon all the world to try them Rev. 3.10 Sect. 6 But contrariwise if you and what I say unto you herein I say unto all the Churches but if you notwithstanding all that God hath done for you to make you fruitful shall be found to be or shall at any time become like the vineyard of the Lord of Hosts that brought forth wilde Grapes Isa 5. or an empty Vine like Ephraim bringing forth Fruit unto your selves Hos 10.1 or like the barren fig-tree Luke 13.6 Matth. 21.19 bearing only the fair green leaves of Form and Profession without the savoury Fruit of Righteousness and power of Godliness such as the Lord looks for and loves I say if thus it should be by that light which God hath given me from the Scripture I cannot but Prophesie sad things unto you such as are the with-holding of those spiritual showers which you have had to make you fruitful and the plucking up your hedge and breaking down your wall of Defence and the cutting of you down from being any Church that Jesus Christ will own Gods severity against the Old Testament Church upon this account happened unto them by way of type or example unto the New Testament Churches for whose admonition his severe proceedings in this kind are written and recorded 1 Cor. 10.6.11 Rom. 11.22 And we see that when God had first planted the house of Israel and men of Judah a choice Vine and pleasant Plant and
at the last day and the eternal judgement that will follow thereupon which are two great Arricles of the Christian Faith and fundamental Doctrines Heb. 6.2 does depend upon our beleef of the Resurrection of Christ For if Christ the Son of Gods love him in whom his soul delighteth more than in any man should not have been raised by the glory of the Father there would have been little reason for any other man to expect so great a favour But now is Christ risen from the dead and is become the first fruits of them that slept 1 Cor. 15.20 as a pledge of their Resurrection also In that any have a lively hope of being raised again to an inheritance uncorruptible and undefiled and that fadeth not away they are thereunto begotten by the resurrection of Iesus Christ from the dead so saith the Apostle 1 Pet. 1.3 4 And again verse 21. In that God raised him up from the dead and so gave him glory it was that our Faith and hope might be in God that he will do so to us likewise For God hath both raised up the Lord and will also raise up us by his own power 1 Cor. 6.14 For if we beleeve that Iesus dyed and rose again even so them also which sleep in Iesus will God bring with him 1 Thes 4.14 Because I live ye shall live also saith he who is the Resurrection and the life Iohn 14.19 and 11.25 And that there shall be a righteous Judgement following the Resurrection and that Christ Jesus shall be the Judge is such a thing of which the Father hath given assurance or offered Faith unto all men in that he hath raised him from the dead Acts 17.31 Sect. 8 5. The Word Gospel or Doctrine of Christ and of his Apostles is so the object of Faith as that salvation is promised unto the right beleef thereof Mark 16.15 16. Go ye into all the World and preach the Gospel to every Creature he that beleeveth and is baptized shall be saved 2 Thes 2.13 Because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and beleef of the truth 2 Thes 1.10 When he shall come to be glorified in his Saints and to be admired in all them that beleeve because our testimony among you was beleeved in that day The Doctrine of Christ and of his Apostles may well be counted the object of Faith inasmuch as to beleeve it is all one as to beleeve that the Father hath set forth his Son to be a propitiation for sin through Faith in his blood and so it is to beleeve that Christ dyed for our sins according to the Scriptures and that he rose again the third day according to the Scriptures because the Doctrine of the Gospel is a testimony and declaration of these things and he that beleeves the one beleeves the other also Gods giving his Son to dye and Christs dying and rising again without a declaration of the mind and counsel of God thereabout as viz. for what cause upon what account and for what end he did so as also upon what termes and conditions men shall reap the fruit of his Death Resurrection and Intercession I say the one without the other does not seem to be the adequate object of Faith but both together are For which cause the Doctrine of the Gospel in its Enunciations Precepts and Threatnings as well as in its Promises is the object of Faith And because the Doctrine of the Gospel contains declares and amply sets forth all these things together with those things which are to come viz. the Resurrection of the Dead and Eternal Judgement in order to which the former first take place as being all of them matters about which Faith is busied therefore is it that the Doctrine of the Gospel is frequently called the Faith Gal. 1.23 and 3.2 5 23. Acts 6.7 Romans 1.5 1 Tim. 4.1 Iude 3. And so now I have done with my first point touching Faith viz. the object of it or the beleeving of what it is that shall be imputed for righteousness CHAP. V. Shewing that that Faith which consists onely in assenting unto the truth of that report which the Gospel makes touching Christ his being the Son of God and of his coming into the World to save Sinners by dying for them will not availe to Iustification and Salvation as a Gospel-Faith of the right kind will do Sect. 1 HAving briefly shewed from the holy Scriptures the beleef of what it is objectively that hath the promise of Salvation annext to it I shall now in the next place come to enquire what and what manner of beleeving it is subjectively that hath the same promise or whether every act of beleeving that is placed on a right object hath this great priviledge of Justification entailed to it And upon due enquiry it will be found that not any act or acts of Faith one or more be they never so many of them that fall short of engaging the Soul in true Love and sincere obedience unto the Lord Jesus will avail the man in whom they are unto the saving of the soul If I mistake not all the acts of a saving Faith may be reduced to and comprehended under these three heads The first I call an act of Credence the second an act of Adherence and the third an act of Confidence in the exertion of which three acts of Faith having Christ for their object the whole soul mind will and affections are engaged which make up the beleeving with all the heart which the Gospel calls for Acts 8.37 By that act which I call an act of Credence I mean the assent of the mind unto the truth of what the Gospel reports especially touching Christ and Gods love to mankind in him as that he is the Son of God and Saviour of the world that he was sent of God the Father to shew unto men the way of salvation and then to dye rise again and after his ascension to make intercession to bring that salvation about and that remission of sins is to be had through his name By that act of Faith which I call an act of Adherence I understand the souls fast cleaving unto the Lord Jesus in affection and subjection as counting him more worthy of both than any Creature or thing in all the world as also taking hold of that grace and strength which is in Christ for deliverance from the power of sin and of bringing the soul back again to God in point of holiness And lastly by an act of Confidence I mean the Souls relyance rest or dependance upon Christ or on the Father through Christ for remission of sins acceptation and eternal salvation the committing of the Soul to his mercy the throwing it upon his grace These three acts of Faith relate to each other by way of dependance the second depending upon the first as the acts of the Will do upon the Understanding and the third upon both the
the curse as Infidelity it self does Mat. 10.37 1 Cor. 16.22 If any man love not the Lord Iesus let him be Anathema Maranatha By which it's evident that all the while this Love is wanting he is under the curse that wants it whatever his belief otherwise may be and consequently that no Faith in Christ but such as knits the Soul in unfeigned Love to him wil deliver a Man from the curse of God and consequently nor justifie And alass how manies Faith is hereby manifested to be meerly counterfeit Who are lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God which appears in that they follow them rather than God lovers of the World more than the Lord which appears in that they chuse to please the Men of the World rather than him and are more intent and thoughtful about getting the World than honouring of him and will rather run the hazard of displeasing him in holding fast the things of the World than part with them upon his call For it is not every degree of Love to Christ that will denominate a Man a true Lover of him but Love in such proportion and to such a degree as prevails against all other objects that stand in competition with Christ and carries away the Soul from them all to Christ Mat. 10.37 He that loves Father or Mother more than me is not worthy of me and he that loves Son or Daughter more than me is not worthy of me It 's not only lawful for a Man to love his Father and Mother his Son and Daughter but it is his duty so to do yea and to love them much more than others that are not so related and yet for all that if his Love to Christ do not exceed in proportion that Love and strong affection which he may and ought to bear to such Relations Christ you see hath already judged him unworthy of him A Man though he love his Wife better than most other Women yet if he love but one Woman more than his Wife with that affection that is proper to his Wife wil be judged by sober men no true Lover of his Wife In like manner though you should love Christ more than many other enjoyments or many other sins which you have parted with for his sake yet if you retain but any one sin or sinful lust and are tender of it for the profit or pleasure that comes into you by it and will harbour it to the offence and provocation of the Lord and chuse rather to run the hazard of loosing his company and all the comforts of it than to turn such an offensive guest out of doors assuredly the Lord who doth alwaies judge according to truth wil judge himself despised and unworthily rejected by you He you see then that wants this prevailing degree of Love to Christ is stil under the curse and therefore no belief in Christ whatsoever that hath not this Love in it or is not certainly accompanied with it can be any sufficient ground for any Man to be confident of his Salvation Nothing less availeth than that Faith which thus worketh by Love Gal. 5.6 By all these considerations then you may see that when Promise of Life is made unto believing in Christ indefinitely exprest it is no wise safe to understand the Scriptures as intending any other lower kind of Faith than that definitively which is of power and force to change the heart and life of him that hath it and to renew him to God in holiness Jesus Christ himself in his words to Paul having plainly declared this to be the true nature of the Faith that is in him Acts 26.18 That they may receive forgiveness of sins and inheritance among them which are sanctified by Faith that is in me And therefore John the bosome Disciple of Christ as was noted before saith Whosoever beleeveth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God 1 Iohn 5.1 which as you see must be understood of that vigorous belief that gives a man a new being furnishes him with new principles of motion and action new thoughts new affections a new life that gives him victory over the World as it follows verse 4. Whosoever is born of God overcometh the world and this is the victory that overcometh the world even our Faith Christs proffers and the Worlds proffers Christs threats and the Worlds threats striving which shall carry the Man to follow their waies Faith steps in by which the Man believes that as Christ is the Son of God so he is more worthy to be followed and his proffers infinitely more worthy to be regarded and his threats dreaded than the World with all that she can do or say and so delivers the Man out of the Worlds hand that he is at liberty to attend the Lord. Sect. 8 And whereas among other Scriptures objected in the beginning of this Chapter one promiseth salvation to such as believe with the heart and confess with the mouth the Lord Jesus Christ and others affirm that whosoever confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh and is the Son of God are of God and dwell in God and God in them they are to be understood as spoken according to the exigencies of those times wherein a Man confessing Christ exposed himself to persecution Iohn 9.22 and 12.42 and consequently manifested his effectual Faith in an unfeigned Love to the Lord Jesus and thus to call Iesus the Lord no Man could do but by the Holy Ghost and his special assistance 1 Cor. 12.3 But now in times wherein to deny him to be the Lord would sooner expose a man to suffering than the confessing of him so to be the bare confessing of him will not invest him with the great priviledges that then were promised unto the confessing of Christ according to that Mat. 7.21 Not every one that saith Lord Lord shall enter into the kingdom of Heaven but he that doth the will of my Father which is in Heaven Sect. 9 THe truth is if a Man do but take the Scriptures together and shape his judgement according to their result when compared as its every Mans wisdom to do as it is not safe so it is impossible for him then to be confident of his salvation meerly upon account of his believing Christ to be the Son of God unless this Faith of his be proved to him to be the Faith of Gods elect by some good degree of those holy affections and that christian demeanure which the holy Word and Doctrine of the Lord calls for And the reason hereof is because such Scriptures as I have been now insisting on that curse all those that do not love the Lord Jesus that sentence with eternal death all those that live after the flesh that exclude all such the blessed Vision of the Lord that have not holiness that shut the gates of Heaven against all such as do not make conscience to do the will of the Father I say such Scriptures stand up to oppose such a
to defend your selves from their frowns and contempt and from the scourge of their tongue for a complyance in such things as these where it is found argues falseness of heart to the Lord Jesus Sect. 8 4. One thing further to name no more though many more particulars of this kind might be touched by which you may know your love to Christ to be such as will evidence your Faith which produces it to be of the true sort and right kind is this If your belief in Christ and your love to Christ hath wrought in you a love of and a looking and longing for his next appearance when he will so come to receive the Saints unto himself as that they shall be ever with the Lord. For while men are better pleased with his absence and to remain at this distance it argues little love in them to him For it is the nature of Love where it is true and entire to incline and dispose a Man or Woman to desire the presence of those they love and all neerness of converse and communion and to have all means of distance to be removed And if that spiritual and invisible presence which the Lord vouchsafes of himself to his Servants in his Ordinances and in their way of worshipping and serving him which yet comparatively is but a being absent from him 2 Cor. 5.6 is to those that love him so exceeding precious and desirable as that their sence of the want of this hath made their flesh and their heart to cry out for the living God and to say When shall I come and appear before God Psalm 84.2 and 42.2 then certainly that presence of his in which he will be seen face to face in which his face shall be beheld in righteousness and his servants satisfied with his likeness that presence of his when neither weakness nor temptation shall obstruct interrupt or disturb their full and perfect communion with the Lord that presence of his which will perfectly deliver them from all fears of being cast out of his presence or of suffering any suspension in the effluxes of his love is much more desired and longed for by those that unfeignedly love the Lord. This loving and expecting the blessed and glorious appearance of our Lord Jesus Christ is noted in Scripture not only as a signe of mens love to him and Faith in him but as a general character of those that shall be then saved by him Heb. 9.28 And unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation Tit. 2.13 2 Pet. 3.12 Henceforth is there laid up for me a Crown of Righteousness which the Lord the righteous Judge shall give me at that day and not to me only but unto all them also that love his appearing 2 Tim. 4.8 By these and such things as these you may try the truth or feignedness of your love to the Lord consequently the soundness or unsoundness of your Faith in him which when it is true works more or less according as it is stronger or weaker in those and like ways of expression of love to the Lord which have now been laid before you and therefore as you love your souls be not partial but strict and thorow in proving your Faith and spiritual condition by them Sect. 9 And as Faith works by love to the Lord so it works by love to men likewise for which cause it may well be that Faith in Christ and love to men are so frequently coupled together in the Scriptures as co-workers and fellow helpers in the service of mans salvation see Ephes 1.15 and 6.23 Col. 1.4 1 Thes 1.3 and 3.6 and 5.8 2 Thes 1.3 1 Tim. 1.14 and 2.15 2 Tim. 1.13 and 2.22 Tit. 3.15 Philem. 5. 1 John 3.23 And since they are such inseparable companions as they are represented to us to be in these and other Scriptures we may well conclude where the one is there the other is and where the one is missing there the other is wanting And therefore since our love to men is more visible and a thing nearer at hand then our Faith and a proof of a true Faith where it is of an Evangelical kind therefore let us now try our Faith by our love to men and our love to men by the standard of the Scriptures 1. I shewed you towards the beginning of this Chapter that Faith beholding as in a glasse the glory of the Lords love to men changes the soul into the same image men by it viewing the promises and proceedings of God toward man are made partakers of the divine nature 2 Pet. 1.4 contract a similitude of Gods love upon the Soul See then if you can find any such working in your Souls any such compassions and longings of soul after mens salvation as does really and truly though infinitely inferiorly hold some resemblance of those ardent desires and longings which are in God after the salvation of poor miserable men which are to be seen in these and other-like Scriptures Deut. 5.29 Psalm 81.13 Isa 48.18 Jer. 44.4 Ezek. 18.23 32. 2 Chron. 36.15 Luke 19.41 42. Mat. 23.37 2 Pet. 3.9 Hos 11.8 9. Or are your affections and compassions over the precious souls of men so stirred within you as that they put you upon action as you have opportunity to deliver them from going down into the pit of rescuing them out of those wicked wayes by admonitions instructions and affectionate perswasions which unless they be fetcht off from by some means or other will certainly ruine their poor souls For after this manner Gods love and compassion wrought towards sinful men it put him upon giving his only beloved Son Christ Jesus to dye for them and by his death to make and procure gracious terms of Salvation and by himself and servants whom he hath gifted for the purpose to publish those termes of Salvation and earnestly to perswade all men to imbrace them he himself seconding these with many visits of his Spirit and acts of grace and providence to render these means successful And however every Christian is not an Apostle nor endued with that power from on high for the work as the Apostles were and therefore it is not expected nor required of them that they should make it their constant work and business as they did to go up and down to warn and perswade men that they might be saved yet undoubtedly to what degree this love to men which the love of God hath begotten in them in its own likeness does dwell in them to the same degree does it put them upon applications of a soul-saving tendency to Family-relations Church-relations to Neighbours Friends and acquaintance yea and strangers too as ability conveniency of opportunity and mens necessity do concur in the case And the lesse men are affected with or the more careless they are of the spiritual condition of others the lesse is their love and Faith and the darker their evidence of them The Scriptures
Luke 18.5 or at the best to allay the clamour of Conscience The Apostle clearly supposes that men may give Alms upon such termes that their very giving shall rather demonstrate them to be covetous men than charitable else what does he mean when he sayes that he took such and such course about the Collection in the Church of Corinth for other poor Saints that it might proceed from them as matter of bounty and not of covetousnesse 2 Cor. 9.5 And that he had herein an eye upon niggardlinesse in giving we are induced to beleeve by the very next words verse 6. But this I say that he which sows sparingly shall reap sparingly and he which soweth bountifully shall reap bountifully And therefore when there is so great a disproportion between mens giving and their ability to give both in respect of number and quantity of their gifts as is too common among men their Alms-deeds will never amount unto a proof of the truth reality or sincerity of their Christian love but rather on the contrary prove an argument of the want of that grace For whence proceeds this straitnesse of hand if it be traced but from narrownesse and straitnesse of heart and that from want of love for it is the very nature of love where it is to open and dilate the heart as the Sun does the pores of the earth which till it comes is contracted and shut up And this illiberal temper in men as it argues want of love in them so it argues want of Faith too the mother of love For whence proceeds that undue sparing and saving and lothnesse to part with any thing considerable but from a secret distrust of wanting that themselves which others call for from them If men could but beleeve and be thorowly perswaded that it is the surest way not only to provide themselves baggs that wax not old a treasure in Heaven but also to secure themselves and Children too from want and poverty here on earth they would as freely part with their money in a way of charity for so much as were meet for them to give as now they do in their Trades in hopes of defending themselves from want If such Scriptures were but turned into Faith which declare the man blessed that considereth the poor and that the Lord shall deliver him in time of trouble and preserve him alive and make him blessed on earth Psalm 41.1 2. that say the liberal man deviseth liberal things and by liberal things he shall stand Isa 32.8 The liberal soul shall be made fat and he that watereth shall be watered himself Prov. 11.25 He that hath pity on the poor lendeth to the Lord and that which he hath given will he pay him again Prov. 19.17 He that giveth to the poor shall not lack Prov. 28.27 Thou shalt surely give him and thine heart shall not be grieved when thou givest unto him viz. the poor because that for this thing the Lord thy God shall bless thee in all thy works and in all that thou puttest thy hand unto Deut. 15.10 And God is able to make all grace abound towards you that ye alwayes having all sufficiency in all things may abound to every good work 2 Cor. 9.8 I say if these and many like Scriptures were but turned into Faith they would be counted being lived to in a way of mercy liberality and bounty a thousand times better security against want than all mens pinching and sparing in their deeds of charity is like to be Prov. 11.24 There is that scattereth and yet increaseth and there is that with-holdeth more than is meet but it tendeth to poverty It 's certainly mens unbelief that binds their hearts and binds their hands from bounteous acts they must have Gods to go before them something to trust to which they see and therefore they think the deminishing of their wealth by giving will be a weakening of the prop upon which they lean And therefore these lean starved Sacrifices and niggardly Alms-deeds proceeding as they do from mens diffidence and distrust can never possibly amount unto an evidence of the goodness of their Faith It concerns every one therefore as they prize the clear evidence and proof of the sincerity of their Faith and Love to proportion their Alms-deeds in some good measure suitable to their estates as that without which such evidence and proof is not to be had Nor do I say that it is the only thing by which such assurance is to be had for the Apostle supposeth that men may possibly cut large morsels out of their estates to supply the poor and yet be void of true Christian charity when he saith Though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor and have not charity it profiteth we nothing 1 Cor. 13.3 But that proportionate distribution I speak of in conjunction with other effects of those graces will reach it though nothing that I know without this will it being an express duty Him to whom much is given of him much is required Luke 12.48 But rather give Alms as you are able so it is in the margin and behold all things are clean unto you Luke 11.41 Vpon the first day of the week let every one of you lay by him in store as God hath prospered him 1 Cor. 16.2 Then the Disciples every man according to his ability determined to send relief unto the Brethren which dwelt in Judea which also they did Acts 11.29 Sect. 16 I cannot indeed by any rule certainly determine what proportion of his Estate or the Income of it a man as a Christian is bound ordinarily to disburse in a way of charity and that which makes this the more difficult is the great variety of circumstances that do attend mens outward conditions here in the world both in respect of their estates themselves and the necessary occasions of issuing of them forth in a way of ordinary expence As for example one man it may be hath five hundred by the year revenue and no Child another but one hundred and yet hath five or six Children Now n such a case it seems no wise reasonable to think that the same proportion suppose it to be an eighth tenth or twelfth part of a mans Income which would be it may be sufficient for the one would be sufficient for the other also And the reason of the difference is because the one hath neither the like necessary occasion of expence for the present but what is voluntary and matter of his own election and choice nor the like necessary occasion of increasing his Estate by way of future provision for Relations as the other hath but may with much more ease and reason part with a fourth or fifth part of his Income in way of charity than the other may with a tenth or twelfth For as it is neither necessary nor good Christian-like for men to advance in the costliness of their way of living to the utmost of their Income when their Estates are
in point of Estate it 's an ill sign that those men are behind-hand in the World and that they themselves are under jealousie and suspition that in case they should narrowly look into things and come to ballance their accounts they should not find all things well And so between hope and fear presuming the best they blindly go on till Suits and Arrests make them thorowly sensible of their bad condition And truly when men are backward and indisposed to cast up their Accounts and to see how matters stand with them in this great concernment of their Souls and to be curious and exact in it but go on from year to year carelesly presuming the best it 's a thousand to one but they are spiritually Bankerupts in a breaking condition which when death comes to Arrest them it may be they shall perceive unless carried away in a spiritual Lethargie which is worst of all Solomon saith He that despiseth his wayes shall dye Prov. 19.16 He that makes light how things stand with him which yet do exceeding neerly concern him such as are matters of eternal life and death it 's next to a demonstration that eternal ruine and destruction are not far from that man unless he recover himself from that careless posture Whereas on the contrary as men that are thriving in the World and in good case in point of Estate take pleasure in casting up their Estates So he that doeth truth cometh to the light that his deeds may be made manifest that they are wrought in God Jo. 3.21 But however let things be how they will be as bad with you as Jealousie it self can suspect yet there 's reason why you should make the more hast to find out the worst because as yet there is opportunity of keeping all from going to ruine of mending a bad Estate of coming to understand things that belong to your peace Now is the accepted time now is the day of Salvation 2 Cor. 6.2 the door is not yet shut the Market-day of the Soul is not yet over Christ is yet calling upon such as have thought themselves rich and abounding in Goods and to have need of nothing and yet upon tryal have been found miserable and poor and blind and naked he is yet calling upon them to buy of him gold tryed in the fire that they may be rich and white raiment that they may be clothed and that the shame of their nakedness may not appear Rev. 3.18 Truly I exceedingly fear that that which was the case of this Laodicean Church is the condition of vast numbers of Christians by profession in these dayes who think all is very well with them in that they have some knowledg of the Scriptures and a beleef of the Gospel touching Christs dying for sinners and being the Saviour of Man-kind and because they frequent the places of his publick worship and in a formal though liveless powerless way perform some duties when as they in the mean time are workers of iniquity in bondage to their lusts have no experience of the new birth or work of Regeneration in their Souls presuming it may be to the sad deceiving of their Souls that they were Regenerate and born again in their Infant Baptisme but indulge themselves in such things as please the flesh thinking that Christ as he is able so will be willng to pay all their scores as long as they do but depend upon him for it But alass such if they will be but perswaded to try themselves by that Doctrine of Faith here laid before them they will find themselves in an ill case O but let not that discourage any to be trying how it is with them the Lord is calling upon you saying Awake thou that sleepest and stand up from the dead and Christ shall give thee light Ephes 5.14 Though you have been all this while asleep and have dreamed you have been believers and that you are justified when it 's no such matter like the hungry man the Prophet speaks of Who dreameth and behold he eateth but he awaketh and his Soul is empty or as when a thirsty man dreameth and behold he drinketh but he awaketh and behold he is faint and his Soul hath appetite Isai 29.8 Yet now if with this jogg you may be but awakened out of this sleep and so come to see that that which pleased you so was indeed but a dream Christ is ready to give you light not only in making known to you the true and certain terms of his Salvation but also in shewing you how you may be indued with power and strength to observe the same and finally to attain Salvation it self which through your mistakes hitherto you have been in great danger to miss of he will guide you with his counsel and afterwards receive you unto glory Psalm 73.24 Only be diligent in this work make no longer delay thou art not master of thy time and thou knowest not what a day may bring forth remember it is for thy life the life of thy Soul there 's no dallying and trifling in matters of this moment What man is he that expects shortly to be tryed for his life this mortal life who out of the sence of the consequence of it is not restless in his labours pains and endeavours day and night till if such a thing be attainable he have got together the evidences of his defence and hath put himself into a good posture of vindication And shall men be penny-wise and pound-foolish shall they be solicitous about a mortal temporal life which for ought they know shall expire with the day of their tryal and shall men be rechless negligent and careless in their preparations and provisions for such a tryal wherein their everlasting condition life or death lies at stake God forbid Therefore I beseech you in the Name of the Lord and for the sake of your Souls that you give your selves no rest till you know what ground you stand on till you come to know that your plea and defence which you have to make in the great day of your tryal before Christ the Judge of Quick and Dead is such as will then carry the Day on your side Sect. 2 You may know now how things will go with you then when that great and notable day of Judgement and Tryal comes You have the rule of that dayes proceeding before you now The word which Christ hath spoken the Doctrine which he either by himself or his Apostles hath delivered the same shall judge you that 's it by which you shall be tryed in that day John 12.48 That word which you read that Word which you hear from day to day that 's it by which you must stand or fall So that if you will but make a business of it by laying things together and comparing one thing with another Scripture with Scripture and the temper of your heart and tenour of your life therewith you may be able to Prophesie upon supposition that