eternal Life but such a practical Faith as I have described consider these following particulars 1. If none can be pardoned but such as repent nor see the Kingdom of God except they be born again as the Scripture assures us they cannot then no Faith can entitle us to Pardon and Salvation as it is a fulfilling the condition of the promises of the Covenant but such as is a penitential regenerating Faith such as works repentance and regeneration in men nor till it hath wrought these effects at least as begun I cannot imagine what can be said with any shew of reason against this argument 2. St. James argues that Faith which hath not works cannot save Ver. 12. and concludes his reasoning Ver. 24. with saying Ye see then how that by Works a man is Justified and not by Faith only 3. Faith and Obedience are so much the same or at least so inseparable when saving as that the same Greek word is indifferently translated to believe or to obey and so on the contrary the same word is translated unbelief or disobedience Instances of this nature you have in Acts 5.36 Rom. 11.30 31. Ephes 5.6 Heb. 4.11 and 11.31 in all which you have the same word translated one way in the line reading and another in the margin And belief and disobedience are likewise opposed to each other as contraries as well as faith and unbelief are and as well as obedience and disobedience are as you may see for instance in Rom. 10.16 1 Pet. 2.7 2 Thes 2.12 By all which we may reasonably judg that when Faith only is mentioned as the condition on which pardon and eternal Life are promised yet then it is to be understood of a practical obediential Faith 4. The same benefits pardon of sin and eternal Life are promised upon the condition of obedience in some Scriptures which are promised on condition of believing in others As for instance If we walk in the light as he is in the light we have fellowship one with another and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin 1 John 1.7 Here assurance is given us of being purged from the guilt of sin by the blood of Christ in case we walk in the light as God is in the light labouring to be holy as God is holy in all manner of conversation And Christ is the Author of eternal Salvation to all them that obey him Heb. 5.9 And blessed are they that do his Commandments that they may have right to the Tree of Life and may enter through the gates into the City Revel 22.14 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 Mat. 7.21 Now if holy obedience be made the condition of the promise of Pardon and Life as well as Faith as we see it is then none but an obediential Faith can be a performance of the condition of that promise By an obediential Faith I mean such a Faith as by which a man is moved and inclined and in some sort enabled to do what is his present duty so far as he understands it to be so And in this sense a mans Faith and his obedience are of the same date and commence together And therefore it is no marvel that the same promise of the same benefits is made to the one which is made to the other and that both are joyned in the condition 5. In Heb. 8.10 11 12. where we have the tenour of the new Covenant declared God promiseth to be a God only to such and to forgive the iniquities only of such as have his Law put into their minds and written in their hearts Where Faith is not at all mentioned as the condition of receiving those benefits but the having the Law written in the heart Though the having the Law written in the heart supposeth Faith I grant as a productive cause of it yet we see it is not the condition of the promised benefits otherwise than as it produceth such an effect which effect is only here mentioned and not Faith which is the cause 6. When saving Faith is described by the nature of its operation upon a man himself and not only as it acteth upon its object without him then we are told it purifieth the heart Act. 15.9 worketh by love Gal. 5.6 overcometh the world 1 John 5.4 and sanctifieth the whole man Acts 26.18 And therefore we have no good reason to think Faith is a fulfilling the condition of the promise only as it acteth upon its object by way of credence or assent or affiance either without its transforming operation upon the Soul 3. The next thing to be enquired into is the reason why Faith is made the condition of the promises of the Gospel-Covenant And the reasons hereof seem to be such as these 1. Faith is made the condition of the promise that it might appear to be of grace that such promise is made and made upon such a condition as faith is St. Paul having spoken of the promise being made through the Righteousness of Faith and not through the Righteousness of the Law Rom. 4.13 He gives the reason of it Verse 16. when he says It is therefore of Faith that it might be by grace to the end the promise might be sure to all the seed not to that only which is of the Law but to that also which is of the Faith of Abraham In which words we have a general reason why Faith is made the condition of the Promise and that is that it might be by Grace And another is given in a particular instance viz. that the promise might be sure to all the seed There is a double reason why it must needs be of Grace that the great Promises of the Gospel are made to mens believing the Gospel The one is taken from the nature of the thing that is of Faith it self in reference and relation to its object For he that believes the Gospel believes that the great blessings and benefits promised therein are promised not for any merit of his to whom they are promised but for the sake of another to wit Christ Jesus whom God hath set forth for a propitiation through faith in his blood Rom. 3.25 And he that believes the Gospel according to what it reveals believes also that it was of Grace that he was thus made a propitiation for it was by the Grace of God that he tasted death for every man Heb. 2.9 Not by works of Righteousness which we have done but according to his mercy he saved us Tit. 3.5 And whoever believes all this exalts the grace of God in so believing St. Paul who believed and taught this in opposition to the misbelieving Jews who thought to be justified by the works of the Law without the death of the Messias to obtain that and all other benefits said I do not frustrate the grace of God for if righteousness come
receive their strength from Faith in one respect as they do from the goodness of the nature of God and his veracity in another I have intimated before that it is from an apprehension which men have of Gods willingness to be reconciled to them that inclines them to be reconciled to him While men look upon God as a resolved irreconcileable enemy to them well they may dread him as the Devils do but cannot love him nor be reconciled to him no more perhaps than the Devils can All the good thoughts of God as of one that delights not in our destruction but concerns himself for our salvation and which any way incline us to be reconciled to him take their rise from those declarations which God hath made to us of his willingness and desire to be reconciled to us upon supposition of our willingness to be reconciled to him Hence it is that we are said to love God because he first loved us 1 John 4.19 and to be reconciled to God by the death of his Son because God thereby commended his love to us while we were yet sinners and gave us an ample and full proof of his willingness to be reconciled to us as making way thereby for it Rom. 5.8 9 10. And thus God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself by assuring us of a readiness in him to be reconciled to us and not to impute to us our trespasses supposing still that we refuse not to be reconciled to him 2 Cor. 5.19 By this declared willingness in God to be reconciled to us and by his declared resolution not only to pardon us but also to exalt us in immortal glory provided we refuse not to be reconciled to him but to punish us as obstinate rebels and irreconcileable enemies if we do I say it is by these motives that men are persuaded and prevailed withal to be reconciled to God or to his nature as when they become pleased with the same things which please him and displeased with what is displeasing to him and to his Law and Government as when they consent to the wisdom and goodness thereof and accordingly submit to it as best But then it is by means of Faith that these motives do affect us and operate to our reconciliation to God There is no other way to affect the soul with all the great things which God and Christ have done for us and conditionally promised to us but by means of this Faith For we do not know that Christ is the Son of God or for what end he died nor that God will both pardon and give eternal Life to sinners upon condition of their being reconciled to him but by Divine Revelation which Divine Revelation doth not affect us or operate upon us further than it is believed These motives not being sensible objects have no being in the soul and so no operation till Faith give them a being there by giving credit to that doctrine by which they are Revealed For Faith is the substance or confidence of things hoped for and the evidence or conviction of things not seen Heb. 11.1 We know and believe the love that God hath to us 1 John 4.16 Faith it is the great instrument of reconciling us to God both as it acts upon its object and as it acts upon its subject Divine Revelation is its object and by crediting that the foresaid motives are received into the soul as real things And then Faith acts upon its subject the soul it self in which Faith dwells by fixing the foresaid motives in the mind and working them into the will by which the work of reconciliation and conversion unto God is wrought and brought about In this way or in this respect love to God obedience to his Precepts and all divine virtues and holiness of Life flow from Faith And therefore it 's no marvel that Faith is mentioned in Scripture as the summary condition on which the Promises of the Gospel are made Hence we may see the reason why sanctification is attributed to Faith as it is Acts 26.18 and more particularly the purity of the heart love to God and men and victory over the world Acts 15.9 Gal. 5.6 1 John 5.4 Yea the whole of Evangelical Righteousness of Godly sincerity both in heart and life so often stiled the Righteousness of God is said to be by Faith as the next and immediate productive cause of it under the operation of the Spirit of God Phil. 3.9 Rom. 3.22 This Faith therefore having such an aptitude in it as I have shewed to reconcile us unto God by renewing our nature and conforming us to him without which Faith we could not by the great and precious promises themselves be made partakers of a divine nature we may see reason enough why it is made the condition of the promises of the Gospel 3. By affiance in God and in our Lord Jesus Christ which is one special act of Faith we give and ascribe unto God as much as in us lies the glory of his attributes and the perfections of his nature his truth and faithfulness power wisdom and goodness which may be another reason why this honour is by God put upon Faith so as to be accounted to us for Righteousness and to be made the condition of Gods making good to us the great promises of the Gospel forgiveness of sin and eternal Life By this affiance we venture our selves soul and body and our whole concern for all eternity upon the truth of Gods word and promise upon his faithfulness and power to perform it and upon the all-sufficiency of Christ Jesus to be our Saviour and Redeemer when we commit our selves and the conduct of our lives wholly to his Rule and Government out of a confident expectation of having Gods promise made good to us and of the sufficiency and prevalency of our Saviours performance for us This trust and confidence God is pleased to take as such a piece of honour done to him as that the Scripture calls our receiving Gods testimony a setting to our seal that God is true John 3.33 a justifying of God against the jealousies and suspitions of men and the reproach which their unbelief casts upon God Luke 7.29 For he that believeth not the record which God hath given of his Son hath made him a lier 1 John 5.10 Thus Abraham gave glory to God when he staggered not at his promise through unbelief but was fully persuaded that what he had promised he was able also to perform Rom. 4.20 21. And in that he did thus give glory to God in believing this in the next words is given as the reason why his Faith was imputed to him for Righteousness Therefore saith he it was imputed to him for Righteousness Ver. 22. And thus we see that God is pleased to honour that most in men to wit their Faith by which they most honour him 4. In what capacity those under the Gospel are to perform the condition of the promise by
believing For Faith is mans act what ever the assistances are by which he is enabled to perform it With the heart man believeth unto Righteousness saith St. Paul Rom. 10.10 For our better understanding in what capacity men are of believing it will be necessary to consider 1. What God hath done towards the working of Faith in men antedecent to the act of believing 2. What man himself can do through the antecedent Grace of God towards his believing 3. What subsequent Grace God does and will vouchsafe for the perfecting the work of Faith and carrying it quite through unto such as do not grosly neglect to do what they may and well can do towards their own believing by using and improving the antecedent Grace of God 1. That which God hath done towards the raising of Faith in men antecedent to any act of Faith in them or of any endeavours of theirs towards such a thing is his vouchsafing unto them the Gospel and the evidence of its Divinity and by it to reveal to them the things which are to be believed And this we call the objective Grace of God as well as the antecedent and is that also which we call preventive Grace And in these respects the Gospel is sometimes stiled the Grace of God and somtimes the Faith for it is both the object of Faith and a means to raise it in men For Faith comes by hearing it Rom. 10.17 In respect of this preventive antecedent Grace God is said to have offered Faith to all men so it is in the margent in that he hath raised Christ from the dead that is to all to whom this is revealed by the Gospel Acts 17.31 By this Revelation God hath vouchsafed unto all such as to whom it comes means by which they may come to believe if they be not greatly wanting to themselves 2. Consider we next what men themselves can do towards the raising of this Faith in them by means of this antecedent objective Grace of God 1. They can hear this Gospel as well as any other subject of discourse which is offered to their consideration and this is one step towards their believing of it for Faith comes by hearing Rom. 10.17 2. They can consider the things they hear from it and that 's another step towards believing Thus the Bereans by considering of and searching into the things they heard came to believe Acts 17.11 12. They can consider whether they have not immortal souls to take care of as well as mortal bodies and whether there be not a future state after this life for of such things as these the Gospel treats They can consider of such reasons when they hear them as tend to satisfie the mind and reason of man that there is such a future state For Heathens by the Light of Nature without the Revelation of the Gospel came so far as to be persuaded of such a thing And when by considering they come to be persuaded either that there is such a future state or that it 's far more probable that there is than that there is not then they can hardly forbear to consider and think more or less what is like to become of them in that future state And upon supposition that they are persuaded in their own minds that there is such a future state they can no more put off a desire of being happy in it than they can put off nature it self and cease to be men They can discern a difference between moral good and evil in very many things and the different tendency of them to their happiness or misery in the future state They cannot though they would think that evil tends to the happiness and good to the misery of that future state but the contrary They can consider and think on such things as by which the Holy Scripture directs to this happiness as well as they can the Contents of other Books Before men have debauched their natures by a custom of sinning there is hardly any but have some such thoughts as these spring up more or less in their minds And to what degree they do so they have a tendency to bring men to a belief of the Gospel and a good life as I shall further shew afterwards 3. The subsequent Grace of God and work of the Holy Spirit is that by which the former considerations which had some tendency to Faith are heightned improved and carried on until such a Faith is produced in the soul as is a believing unto Righteousness And this seems to be done chiefly in some such way as this First by presenting the objective Grace of God the Gospel more frequently to their consideration and by holding their thoughts more intently upon the great and concerning matters contained therein Secondly by assisting the intellective faculties of the soul by more frequent and repeated considerations to understand and discern the nature and import of the great doctrines of the Gospel as containing Gods design of wisdom and goodness for the recovery of lost men from sin and destruction for sin by Jesus Christ And by this means a greater light breaks into the soul by which the evidence of the truth of what the Gospel reports is better discerned than it was before and so are a mans own great concerns for eternity which are therein laid open And thereby also is the mind prevailed upon to assent to the truth of our Saviours doctrine in the Gospel and the will to consent to act according to the great concerns of a mans soul And therefore mens conversion is in Scripture described by their being turned from darkness to light by their being enlightned and having the eyes of their understanding opened and the like And somtimes this work of Faith or Grace in the soul is ascribed to the former work of God upon the mind viz. the holding the mind and thoughts unto a more close serious and intent consideration of the great things of the Gospel and a mans own great concerns therein Thus in Jam. 1.25 Whoso looketh into the perfect Law of liberty and continues therein i.e. continues looking into it he being not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work this man shall be blessed in his deed Here we see one that continues his looking into the doctrine of the Gospel which is meant by the Law of Liberty and a forgetful hearer are opposed to each other and so is a forgetful hearer and a doer of the work By which it plainly appears that the reason why the ones hearing ends in the doing of the work and in being blessed in his deed and the other does not is for that the one considers and continues from time to time seriously to consider the weight and importance of what he hears and of his own great concern in it but the other does not but is a forgetful hearer as little minds it as if he were not concerned in it The same thing is doubtless meant by another Metaphor which
are sustained and assisted to operate according to what is proper to the nature of them So that if any man who enjoys the Gospel perish it is through his own neglect to do what he was able to have done towards his own believing It is indeed for his not believing but then the reason of his not believing and the fault of it is imputable only unto him and lies wholly at his door Because he might have believed and would certainly have been enabled to believe if he had not grosly neglected to do what he could and might have done towards it If this were not so that men might as certainly believe repent and make themselves new hearts if they can but be persuaded to do what they can do towards it as if they had all the power requisite thereto in their own hands then to what purpose are they required by God in Scripture as they are to believe to make themselves new hearts and to repent and turn themselves from all their transgressions to circumcise their hearts to wash their hearts from wickedness to cleanse themselves from all filthiness of flesh and Spirit or why and in what respect else can men be said to save themselves Which yet they are 1 John 3.23 Ezek. 18.30 31 32. and 14.6 Deut. 10.16 Jer. 4.14 2 Cor. 7.1 1 Tim. 4.16 It is from the certainty of Gods cooperating with mens endeavours to the producing of these effects if men fail not to do what they well may do that these effects are ascribed to men as well as unto God though God be indeed the principal Agent beyond all comparison and men but in a very inferior degree the subordinate Though salvation be of the Lord and that besides him there is no Saviour in a sense proper to him yet in a sense proper to mens endeavours St. Paul disdained not to assure Timothy that if he took heed to himself and to his doctrine and continued therein that then in so doing he should both save himself and those that heard him 1 Tim. 4.16 It is a common thing in Scripture where several free Agents concur to the producing of the same effect to attribute the effect to both though the Agency of the one of them be never so inferiour to the other Thus though God is said to give a new heart and a new spirit and to circumcise the heart Ezek. 36.26 Deut. 30.6 yet men are still supposed to be in some capacity to make themselves new hearts and to circumcise their own hearts in as much as they are required to do it as I have shewed That is they are supposed to be in a capacity to do somthing towards it though very little in comparison of what is done by God therein when it is done indeed Thus again men are required to work out their own salvation when yet it is God that worketh in them both to will and to do of his good pleasure Phil. 2.12 13. Which is not so to be understood as if God did work in them to will and to do exclusive of all endeavours of theirs for if that had been his meaning he would thereby have rendred his own exhortation and the reason of it useless in persuading them to work out their own salvation for that reason because it is God which worketh in them both to will and to do of his good pleasure Nor yet is it so to be understood on the other hand as if men could do all of themselves which is necessary for the working out or carrying the business of their salvation quite through without supernatural assistance But his meaning then seems to be that it is the good will and pleasure of God to work in such men both to will and to do to the saving of their souls who do endeavour through the preventive and concomitant Grace of God to do what they can do towards it When the work of Grace in man is ascribed to God and Christ it is not to be understood exclusively of all endeavours of men When our Saviour speaking of his Disciples bringing forth fruit saith without me ye can do nothing he does not say nor mean that with him they could do nothing When it was said to the Israelites Deut. 8. it is God that giveth you power to get wealth their own endeavours in that acquisition were not excluded but the meaning was I suppose that the means the opportunities and advantages on that behalf were of God and the ordering of his good providence towards them Though Solomon says in one place The blessing of the Lord maketh rich yet he saith in another The diligent hand maketh rich Though it be but very little which man doth towards his believing in comparison of what God doth yet the effect of that doing the act of believing is still from place to place ascribed unto men for it is they are ascribed unto men for it is they that are said to believe How much soever God doth in producing Faith in men yet therein still mans faculties are preserved in such a free use and exercise as is proper to such a creature as God hath made man to be and from thence it is denominated his act as I have said Now then if this were not so that God hath by advantage of the Gospel where it comes given so much power unto men of acting towards their own believing and so much assurance of his further assistance to enable them to believe unto Righteousness if they grosly neglect not to do what they can do towards it I say if this were not so how can it possibly stand with the infinite goodness of the nature of God for him to damn men for not believing or with the sincerity of such sayings of his in which he hath declared That he is not willing that any man should perish and that he would have all men to be saved 2 Pet. 3.9 1 Tim. 2.4 How will God be justified in this in the sight of Angels and men and in the consciences of condemned sinners themselves if their unbelief and perishing for it were not through their own neglect And how else could mens destruction be said as it is to be of themselves Hos 13.9 We see then from the nature of the thing and the honor of God as concerned in it as well as from the evidence of Scripture what reason we have to hold that all men under the Gospel are in such a capacity of performing the condition of the promise of Pardon and Life by believing as that if they do it not it is through their own gross and wilful neglect to do what they might have done towards it And for any to make God so the Author of mens destruction as to affirm that he never put them into a capacity of preventing it by believing is a daring undertaking whoever ventures upon it and tends to tempt men to think dishonorably of the goodness of God and of the truth and sincerity of his declarations
in his word To say God did give such men power in Adam will not salve the business For we cannot say that any such power was given to Adam himself before his fall much less that all his Posterity had such a power in him We cannot say that Adam had power to do more than what was necessary to continue him in that state in which God created him and consequently we cannot say that God gave him power to repent when he had no occasion for it or power to believe the Gospel when there was no Revelation of it nor occasion for such a Revelation No this power depends upon an after-work of Grace through our Blessed Redeemer Nor is this doctrine touching the power which God hath given unto men of acting towards their own believing at all contrary to that where men are said to have believed through grace Acts 18.27 or to that where Faith is said to be the gift of God For it is through the preventive and antecedent Grace of God as I have said that they are enabled to act towards their believing For though what they do towards their own believing is by a free use of their natural faculties yet it is by means of the preventive and antecedent Grace of God to wit the Gospel that those faculties act any thing towards their believing the Gospel For without such an object of Faith as the Gospel is mens faculties could act nothing towards the believing of it And then further though men do exercise their natural faculties upon the objective Grace of God and thereby act somthing towards their own believing Yet in that hereupon more power is given them to believe hâ—â—â—lie effectually and fully to Righteousness and Salvation this power is from the subsequent Grace of God So that the whole business of believing from the beginning to the end of it is of Grace first of Grace antecedent and then of Grace subsequent There is only so much of man in raising Faith in him as belongs to the free use of his natural powers and faculties The Grace of God in working Faith does not put new faculties into man nor destroy that freedom which is proper to the will as such It only rectifies and regulates the motions and operations of the will in reference to its objects So that the change is not natural but moral And this moral change in rectifying and regulating the acts and motions of the will is made partly by opening the understanding and enlightening the mind better to discern the nature of things and whereto they tend And this is done partly by holding the thoughts more frequenâ—â—y and more intently upon things that concern the soul and another life and partly by assisting and strengthening the understanding in making a right judgment of things And then the will is prevailed upon to chuse the right end and the way to it by having the great motives of the Gospel kept upon it by a more frequent and constant consideration For by that more frequent consideration and by the illumination of the mind about the great motives of the Gospel the power and force of those motives is better felt by the Will So that as a man comes to have other apprehensions of things by illumination of the mind so he comes to have other affections for them in the acts and motions of his will This change thus made in the mnid and will is called the renewing of the Holy Ghost because it is his work upon and by both Tit. 3.5 and a being renewed in the spirit of the mind Eph. 4.23 It is a restoring the natural faculties that were depraved in their operations to their right use and exercise for which they were made which was to act for the honor of their maker and for their own happiness and not contrarywise as they do when perverted by the power of sin This renovation in the natural faculties therefore tends to the perfecting of our nature For which cause perhaps men thus renewed are in Scripture stiled perfect in the favourable sense of Grace This one thing is further to be noted That whatever is done upon the natural faculties of mind and will by the Gospel or by the Spirit of God to change and renew them is also done by those faculties Men are not made to understand or believe the Gospel which they did not before otherwise than by exercising their mind and will about it By all this then it appears I hope that what is ascribed unto man in acting towards his own believing is no ways contrary to Grace unless you will say an effect cannot be of Grace if the natural faculties have any thing to do in the producing of it as they must if it be mans act I might shew how that the Gospel by the giving of which God hath been aforehand with us and prevented all endeavours of ours is of it self and in the very nature of it so apt to work upon the human faculties and to incline men to embrace it if they would but a little attend to it and consider it which one would think they might easily do if they would before their natures are debauched by a custom of sinning I say it is so apt to gain upon them that it hardly fails to do so more or less but where it meets with such as wilfully call off their natural faculties from attending to it and the things it treats of and that imploy them about objects of another nature as those did who in the Parable of our Saviour are said to be invited to the Supper which a King made for his Son when they made their several excuses This is well represented by our Saviour when he says of such that they closed their eyes lest at any time they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears and should understand with their hearts and should be converted and I should heal them Mat. 13.15 These are words which seem to signifie more than a bare omission or neglect and denote a kind of opposition a striving with themselves not to think upon or to be affected with things of that nature as those of a spiritual concern are And such people do not only not incline their ears to hear nor give ear to hear as the Scripture speaks but they turn away their ear from hearing they reject the word of the Lord and the counsel of God against themselves We do not therefore attribute any such great matter unto men when we say that they by the advantage of the Gospel may do so much towards their own believing if they will as would through the help of Gods Holy Spirit who is always ready to assist mens honest and good endeavours issue and end in an effectual believing Nay there is so much of the Grace of God vouchsafed towards the calling of men by the very sending of the Gospel to them as will in all probability prevail upon them if they do not much oppose resist and