accounted worthy to obtain that World and the Resurrection from the Dead neither marry nor are given in marriage Neither can they die any more for they are equal unto the Angels and are the SONS OF GOD being the Sons of the Resurrection And he that shall read St. Paul's Arguing Acts XIII 32 33. will find that the great Evidence that Jesus was the Son of God was his Resurrection Then the Image of his Father appeared in him when he visibly entred into the state of Immortality For thus the Apostle reasons We Preach to you how that the Promise which was made to our Fathers God hath fulfilled the same unto us in that he hath raised up Iesus again As it is also written in the second Psalm Thou art my Son this day have I begotten thee This may serve a little to explain the Immortality of the Sons of God who are in this like their Father made after his Image and Likeness But that our Saviour was so he himself farther declares Iohn X. 18. Where speaking of his Life he says No one taketh it from me but I lay it down of my self I have power to lay it down and I have power to take it up again Which he could not have had if he had been a Mortal Man the Son of a Man of the Seed of Adam Or else had by any Transgression forfeited his Life For the wages of Sin is Death And he that hath incurred Death for his own Transgression cannot lay down his Life for another as our Saviour professes he did For he was the Just One Acts VII 57. and XII 14. Who knew no sin 2 Cor. V. 21. Who did no sin neither was guile found in his mouth And thus As by Man came Death so by Man came the Resurrection of the Dead For as in Adam all die so in Christ shall all be made alive For this laying down his Life for others our Saviour tells us Iohn X. 17. Therefore does my Father love me because I lay down my life that I might take it again And this his Obedience and Suffering was rewarded with a Kingdom which he tells us Luke XXII His Father had appointed unto him And which 't is evident out of the Epistle to the Hebrews Chap. XII 2. he had a regard to in his Sufferings Who for the joy that was set before him endured the Cross despising the shame and is set down at the right hand of the Throne of God Which Kingdom given him upon this account of his Obedience Suffering and Death He himself takes notice of in these words Iohn XVII 1-4 Iesus lift up his eyes to Heaven and said Father the hour is come glorifie thy Son that thy Son also may glorifie thee As thou hast given him power over all flesh that he should give Eternal Life to as many as thou hast given him And this is Life Eternal that they may know thee the only true God and Iesus the Messiah whom thou hast sent I have glorified thee on Earth I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do And St. Paul in his Epistle to the Philippians Chap. II. 8-11 He humbled himself and became obedient unto Death even the death of the Cross. Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him and given him a name that is above every name That at the name of Iesus every knee should bow of things in Heaven and things in Earth and things under the Earth And that every Tongue should confess that Iesus Christ is Lord. Thus God we see designed his Son Christ Iesus a Kingdom an Everlasting Kingdom in Heaven But Though as in Adam all die so in Christ all shall be made alive And all men shall return to Life again at the last day Yet all men having sinned and thereby come short of the Glory of God as St. Paul assures us Rom. III. 23. i.e. Not attaining to the Heavenly Kingdom of the Messiah which is often called the Glory of God as may be seen Rom. V. 2. XV. 7. II. 7. Mat. XVI 27. Mark VIII 38. For no one who is unrighteous i. e. comes short of perfect Righteousness shall be admitted into the Eternal Life of that Kingdom As is declared 1 Cor. VI. 9. The unrighteous shall not inherit the Kingdom of God And Death the Wages of Sin being the Portion of all those who had transgressed the Righteous Law of God The Son of God would in vain have come into the World to lay the Foundations of a Kingdom and gather together a select People out of the World if they being found guilty at their appearance before the Judgment-seat of the Righteous Judge of all men at the last day instead of entrance into Eternal Life in the Kingdom he had prepared for them they should receive Death the just Reward of Sin which every one of them was guilty of This second Death would have left him no Subjects And instead of those Ten Thousand times Ten Thousand and Thousands of Thousands there would not have been one left him to sing Praises unto his Name saying Blessing and Honour and Glory and Power be unto him that sitteth on the Throne and unto the Lamb for ever and ever God therefore out of his Mercy to Mankind and for the erecting of the Kingdom of his Son and furnishing it with Subjects out of every Kindred and Tongue and People and Nation proposed to the Children of Men that as many of them as would believe Iesus his Son whom he sent into the World to be the Messiah the promised Deliverer And would receive him for their King and Ruler should have all their past Sins Disobedience and Rebellion forgiven them And if for the future they lived in a sincere Obedience to his Law to the utmost of their power the sins of Humane Frailty for the time to come as well as all those of their past Lives should for his Son's sake because they gave themselves up to him to be his Subjects be forgiven them And so their Faith which made them be baptized into his Name i.e. Enroll themselves in the Kingdom of Iesus the Messiah and profess themselves his Subjects and consequently live by the Laws of his Kingdom should be accounted to them for Righteousness i.e. Should supply the defects of a scanty Obedience in the sight of God Who counting this Faith to them for Righteousness or Compleat Obedience did thus Justifie or make them Just and thereby capable of Eternal Life Now that this is the Faith for which God of his free Grace Justifies sinful Man For 't is God alone that justifieth Rom. VIII 33. Rom. III. 26. We have already shewed by observing through all the History of our Saviour and the Apostles recorded in the Evangelists and in the Acts what he and his Apostles preached and proposed to be believed We shall shew now that besides believing him to be the Messiah their King it was farther required that those who would have the Priviledge Advantages and
Deliverance of his Kingdom should enter themselves into it And by Baptism being made Denizons and solemnly incorporated into that Kingdom live as became Subjects obedient to the Laws of it For if they believed him to be the Messiah their King but would not obey his Laws and would not have him to Reign over them they were but greater Rebels and God would not Justifie them for a Faith that did but increase their Guilt and oppose Diametrically the Kingdom and Design of the Messiah Who gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all Iniquity and purifie unto himself a peculiar People zealous of good works Titus II. 14. And therefore St. Paul tells the Galatians That that which availeth is Faith But Faith working by Love And that Faith without Works i.e. the Works of sincere Obedience to the Law and Will of Christ is not sufficient for our Justification St. Iames shews at large Chap. II. Neither indeed could it be otherwise For Life Eternal Life being the Reward of Justice or Righteousness only appointed by the Righteous God who is of purer Eyes than to behold Iniquity to those only who had no taint or infection of Sin upon them it is impossible that he should Justifie those who had no regard to Justice at all whatever they believed This would have been to encourage Iniquity contrary to the Purity of his Nature and to have condemned that Eternal Law of Right which is Holy Just and Good Of which no one Precept or Rule is abrogated or repealed nor indeed can be whilst God is an Holy Just and Righteous God and Man a Rational Creature The Duties of that Law arising from the Constitution of his very Nature are of Eternal Obligation Nor can it be taken away or dispensed with without changing the Nature of Things overturning the measures of Right and Wrong and thereby introducing and authorizing Irregularity Confusion and Disorder in the World Which was not the end for which Christ came into the World But on the contrary to reform the corrupt state of degenerate Man And out of those who would mend their Lives and bring forth Fruit meet for Repentance erect a new Kingdom This is the Law of that Kingdom as well as of all Mankind And that Law by which all Men shall be judged at the last day Only those who have believed Iesus to be the Messiah and have taken him to be their King with a sincere Endeavour after Righteousness in obeying his Law shall have their past sins not imputed to them And shall have that Faith taken instead of Obedience Where Frailty and Weakness made them transgress and sin prevailed after Conversion in those who hunger and thirst after Righteousness or perfect Obedience and do not allow themselves in Acts of Disobedience and Rebellion against the Laws of that Kingdom they are entred into He did not expect 't is true a Perfect Obedience void of all slips and falls He knew our Make and the weakness of our Constitutions too well and was sent with a Supply for that Defect Besides perfect Obedience was the Righteousness of the Law of Works and then the Reward would be of Debt and not of Grace And to such there was no need of Faith to be imputed to them for Righteousness They stood upon their own legs were Just already and needed no allowance to be made them for believing Jesus to be the Messiah taking him for their King and becoming his Subjects But whether Christ does not require Obedience sincere Obedience is evident from the Laws he himself pronounces unless he can be supposed to give and inculcate Laws only to have them disobeyed and from the Sentence he will pass when he comes to Judge The Faith required was to believe Iesus to be the Messiah the Anointed who had been promised by God to the World Amongst the Iews to whom the Promises and Prophesies of the Messiah were more immediately delivered Anointing was used to three sorts of Persons at their Inauguration Whereby they were set apart to three great Offices viz. Of Priests Prophets and Kings Though these three Offices be in Holy Writ attributed to our Saviour yet I do not remember that he any where assumes to himself the Title of a Priest or mentions any thing relating to his Priesthood Nor does he speak of his being a Prophet but very sparingly and once or twice as it were by the by But the Gospel or the Good News of the Kingdom of the Messiah is what he Preaches every where and makes it his great business to publish to the World This he did not only as most agreeable to the Expectation of the Iews who looked for their Messiah chiefly as coming in Power to be their King and Deliverer But as it best answered the chief end of his Coming which was to be a King and as such to be received by those who would be his Subjects in the Kingdom which he came to erect And though he took not directly on himself the Title of King till he was in Custody and in the hands of Pilate yet 't is plain King and King of Israel were the Familiar and received Titles of the Messiah See Iohn I. 50. Luke XIX 38. Compared with Mat. XXI 9. And Mark XI 9. Iohn XII 13. Mat. XXI 5. Luke XXIII 2. Compared with Mat. XXVII 11. And Iohn XVIII 33-37 Mark XV. 12. Compared with Mat. XXVII 22. Mat. XXVII 42. What those were to do who believed him to be the Messiah and received him for their King that they might be admitted to be partakers with him of this Kingdom in Glory we shall best know by the Laws he gives them and requires them to obey And by the Sentence which he himself will give when sitting on his Throne they shall all appear at his Tribunal to receive every one his Doom from the mouth of this Righteous Judge of all Men. What he proposed to his Followers to be believed we have already seen by examining his and his Apostles Preaching step by step all through the History of the four Evangelists and the Acts of the Apostles The same Method will best and plainest shew us whether he required of those who believed him to be the Messiah any thing besides that Faith and what it was For he being a King we shall see by his Commands what he expects from his Subjects For if he did not expect Obedience to them his Commands would be but meer Mockery And if there were no Punishment for the Transgressors of them his Laws would not be the Laws of a King that had Authority to Command and Power to Chastise the disobedient But empty Talk without Force and without Influence We shall therefore from his Injunctions if any such there be see what he has made Necessary to be performed by all those who shall be received into Eternal Life in his Kingdom prepared in the Heavens And in this we cannot be deceived What we have from his own Mouth
directed the Lawyer who asked Luke X. 25. What he should do to inherit eternal life Do this i. e. what is required by the Law and thou shalt live On the other side it seems the unalterable purpose of the Divine Justice that no unrighteous Person no one that is guilty of any breach of the Law should be in Paradise But that the wages of sin shold be to every man as it was to Adam an Exclusion of him out of that Happy state of Immortality and bring Death upon him And this is so conformable to the Eternal and established Law of Right and Wrong that it is spoke of too as if it could not be otherwise St. Iames says Chap. I. 15. Sin when it is finished bringeth forth death as it were by a Natural and necessary production Sin entred into the World and death by sin says St. Paul Rom. V. 12. VI. 23. The wages of sin is Death Death is the Purchase of any of every sin Gal. III. 10. Cursed is every one who continueth not in all things which are written in the Book of the Law to do them And of this St. Iames gives a Reason Chap. II. 10 11. Whosoever shall keep the whole Law and yet offend in one point he is guilty of all For he that said Do not commit Adultery said also do not Kill i. e. He that offends in any one Point sins against the Authority which established the Law Here then we have the standing and fixed measures of Life and Death Immortality and Bliss belong to the Righteous Those who have lived in an exact Conformity to the Law of God are out of the reach of Death But an Exclusion from Paradise and loss of Immortality is the Portion of Sinners of all those who have any way broke that Law and failed of a Compleat Obedience to it by the guilt of any one Transgression And thus Mankind by the Law are put upon the issues of Life or Death As they are Righteous or Vnrighteous Iust or Vnjust i. e. Exact Performers or Transgressors of the Law But yet all having sinned Rom. III. 23. and come short of the glory God i. e. the Kingdom of God in Heaven which is often called his Glory both Iews and Gentiles v. 22. So that by the deeds of the Law no one could be justified v. 20. it follows that no one could then have Eternal Life and Bliss Perhaps it will be demanded Why did God give so hard a Law to Mankind that to the Apostles time no one of Adam's Issue had kept it As appears by Rom. III. and Gal. III. 21 22. Answ. It was such a Law as the Purity of God's Nature required and must be the Law of such a Creature as Man unless God would have made him a Rational Creature and not required him to have lived by the Law of Reason but would have countenanced in him Irregularity and Disobedience to that Light which he had and that Rule which was suitable to his Nature Which would have been to have authorized Disorder Confusion and Wickedness in his Creatures For that this Law was the Law of Reason or as it is called of Nature we shall see by and by And if Rational Creatures will not live up to the Rule of their Reason who shall excuse them If you will admit them to forsake Reason in one point why not in another Where will you stop To disobey God in any part of his Commands and 't is he that Commands what Reason does is direct Rebellion which if dispensed with in any Point Government and Order are at an end And there can be no bounds set to the Lawless Exorbitancy of unconfined men The Law therefore was as St. Paul tells us Rom. VII 12 holy just and good and such as it ought and could not otherwise be This then being the case that whoever is guilty of any sin should certainly die and cease to be the benefit of Life restored by Christ at the Resurrection would have been no great Advantage for as much as here again Death must have seized upon all mankind because all had sinned For the Wages of Sin is every where Death as well after as before the Resurrection if God had not found out a way to Justifie some i. e. so many as obeyed another Law which God gave which in the New Testament is called the Law of Faith Rom. III. 27. and is opposed to the Law of Works And therefore the Punishment of those who would not follow him was to lose their Souls i. e. their Lives Mark VIII 35-38 as is plain considering the occasion it was spoke on The better to understand the Law of Faith it will be convenient in the first place to consider the Law of Works The Law of Works then in short is that Law which requires perfect Obedience without any remission or abatement So that by that Law a man cannot be Just or justified without an exact performance of every tittle Such a perfect Obedience in the New Testament is termed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which we translate Righteousness The Language of this Law is Do this and live Transgress and die Lev. XVIII 5. Ye shall keep my statutes and my judgments which if a man do he shall live in them Ezek. XX. 11. I gave them my statutes and shewed them my judgments which if a man do he shall even live in them Moses says St. Paul Rom. X. 5. describeth the righteousness which is of the Law that the man which doth those things shall live in them Gal. III. 12. The Law is not of Faith but that man that doth them shall live in them On the other side Transgress and die no dispensation no atonement V. 10. Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them Where this Law of Works was to be found the New Testament tells us viz. in the Law delivered by Moses Iohn I. 17. The Law was given by Moses but Faith and Truth came by Iesus Christ. Cap. VII 19. Did not Moses give you the Law says our Saviour and yet none of you keep the Law And this is the Law which he speaks of where he asks the Lawyer Luke X. 26. What is written in the Law how readest thou v. 28. This do and thou shalt live This is that which St. Paul so often stiles the Law without any other distinction Rom. II. 13. Not the hearers of the Law are just before God but the doers of the Law are justified 'T is needless to quote any more places his Epistles are all full of it especially this to the Romans But the Law given by Moses being not given to all Mankind How are all men sinners since without a Law there is no Transgression To this the Apostle v. 14. Answers For when the Gentiles which have not the Law do i. e. find it reasonable to do by nature the things contained in the Law these having not the
to any man an Authority to make a Religion for me or to alter that which God hath revealed And if they please to call the believing that which our Saviour and his Apostles preached and proposed alone to be believed an Historical Faith they have their liberty But they must have a care how they deny it to be a Justifying or Saving Faith when our Saviour and his Apostles have declared it so to be and taught no other which men should receive and whereby they should be made Believers unto Eternal Life Unless they can so far make bold with our Saviour for the sake of their beloved Systems as to say that he forgot what he came into the World for And that he and his Apostles did not Instruct People right in the way and Mysteries of Salvation For that this is the sole Doctrine pressed and required to be believed in the whole tenour of our Saviour's and his Apostles Preaching we have shewed through the whole History of the Evangelists and the Acts. And I challenge them to shew that there was any other Doctrine upon their assent to which or disbelief of it men were pronounced Believers or Unbelievers And accordingly received into the Church of Christ as Members of his Body as far as meer believing could make them so or else kept out of it This was the only Gospel-Article of Faith which was preached to them And if nothing else was preached every where the Apostles Argument will hold against any other Articles of Faith to be be believed under the Gospel Rom. X. 14. How shall they believe that whereof they have not heard For to Preach any other Doctrines necessary to be believed we do not find that any body was sent Perhaps it will farther be urged That this is not a Saving Faith Because such a Faith as this the Devils may have and 't was plain they had For they believed and declared Iesus to be the Messiah And St. Iames Chap. II. 19. tells us The Devils believe and tremble And yet they shall not be saved To which I answer 1. That they could not be saved by any Faith to whom it was not proposed as a means of Salvation nor ever promised to be counted for Righteousness This was an Act of Grace shewn only to Mankind God dealt so favourably with the Posterity of Adam that if they would believe Iesus to be the Messiah the promised King and Saviour And perform what other Conditions were required of them by the Covenant of Grace God would Justifie them because of this Belief He would account this Faith to them for Righteousness and look on it as making up the defects of their Obedience Which being thus supplied by what was taken instead of it they were looked on as Just or Righteous and so inherited Eternal Life But this Favour shewn to Mankind was never offered to the fallen Angels They had no such Proposals made to them And therefore whatever of this kind was proposed to men it availed them not whatever they performed of it This Covenant of Grace was never offered to them 2. I Answer That though the Devils believed yet they could not be saved by the Covenant of Grace Because they performed not the other Condition required in it altogether as necessary to be performed as this of Believing and that is Repentance Repentance is as absolute a Condition of the Covenant of Grace as Faith and as necessary to be performed as that Iohn the Baptist who was to prepare the way for the Messiah Preached the Baptism of Repentance for the remission of sins Mark 1. 4. As Iohn began his Preaching with Repent for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand Mat. III. 2. So did our Saviour begin his Mat. IV. 17. From that time began Iesus to Preach and to say Repent for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand Or as St. Mark has it in that parallel place Mark I. 14 15. Now after that John was put in Prison Iesus came into Galilee Preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom of God and saying The time is fulfilled and the Kingdom of God is at hand Repent ye and believe the Gospel This was not only the beginning of his Preaching but the sum of all that he did Preach viz. That men should Repent and believe the good Tidings which he brought them That the time was fulfilled for the coming of the Messiah And this was what his Apostles preached when he sent them out Mark VI. 12. And they going out preached that men should Repent Believing Jesus to be the Messiah and Repenting were so Necessary and Fundamental parts of the Covenant of Grace that one of them alone is often put for both For here St. Mark mentions nothing but their Preaching Repentance as St. Luke in the parallel place Chap. IX 6. mentions nothing but their Evangelizing or Preaching the Good News of the Kingdom of the Messiah And St. Paul often in his Epistles puts Faith for the whole Duty of a Christian. But yet the tenour of the Gospel is what Christ declares Luke XII 3. 5. Vnless ye repent ye shall all likewise perish And in the Parable of the Rich Man in Hell delivered by our Saviour Luke XVI Repentance alone is the means proposed of avoiding that place of Torment v. 30 31. And what the tenor of the Doctrine which should be preached to the World should be He tells his Apostles after his Resurrection Luke XXIV 27. viz. That Repentance and Remission of Sins should be preached in his Name who was the Messiah And accordingly believing Iesus to be the Messiah and Repenting was what the Apostles preached So Peter began Acts II. 38. Repent and be baptized These two things were required for the Remission of Sins viz. Entring themselves in the Kingdom of God And owning and professing themselves the Subjects of Iesus whom they believed to be the Messiah and received for their Lord and King For that was to be baptized in his Name Baptism being an initiating Ceremony known to the Iews whereby those who leaving Heathenism and professing a submission to the Law of Moses were received into the Common-wealth of Israel And so it was made use of by our Saviour to be that Solemn visible Act whereby those who believed him to be the Messiah received him as their King and professed Obedience to him were admitted as Subjects into his Kingdom Which in the Gospels is called the Kingdom of God And in the Acts and Epistles often by another name viz. The Church The same St. Peter Preaches again to the Iews Acts III. 19. Repent and be converted that your sins may be blotted out What this Repentance was which the New Covenant required as one of the Conditions to be performed by all those who should receive the Benefits of that Covenant is plain in the Scripture to be not only a sorrow for sins past but what is a Natural consequence of such sorrow if it be real a turning from them into a new and