evil works passes uncontrolled unquestioned from hand to hand and no body but by faith disputes it if it comes by Tradition As you know the things that are but in fashion They run through not only those that make no profession of the Gospel but those that make a profession so Tradition runs through All. Now how shall we be Redeemed from this There is no way to be Redeemed from the common Evils that are done in the world but by the precious Blood of Jesus Christ And then In the Second place as I began to say Christ is the great Principle of them How can you walk in the ways of Holiness No way but by Jesus Christ being within us the Principle of those Holy Actions And therefore tho I say it is our Duty and we are condemned indeed most righteously in not Answering our Duty Yet still we cannot do the Holy Actions required of us but under a Purchase under a Price Ye are bought with a Price therefore glorify God as the Apostle saith And so we must have that mighty Principle I can do all things saith the Apostle through Christ that strengthens me And in John 15. Our Lord shews plainly that he is the Principle Without me saith he v. 5. ye can do nothing He had compared himself to the Vine and Believers to the Branches Now as the branch can do nothing without the Vine you know it cannot so our Souls can do nothing without Christ He is the great Principle of it And then In the Third place They are washed in the Blood of Jesus Christ And they are all made up in their Imperfections by the great Perfection of the Righteousness and Holiness of our Lord Jesus Christ this must necessarily be considered Take that Action of Abraham as the Apostle speaks he was Justified by the Offering of Isaac Naw I say That very Offering of Isaac was as it was Abraham's Act washed in the Blood of Jesus or else it had never been Accepted There were tho we cannot trace them yet God understands them such Corruptions adhering to this Holy Action of Abraham that if it had not been wash'd in the Blood of Christ it could not have stood before him Rahab sending away the Spies It was washed in the Blood of Christ Moses keeping the Passover and refusing to be called the Son of Pharaoh's Daughter all these they were wash'd in the Blood of Jesus or they could not have stood before God All the Repentance all the Holy Actions of the Best and most eminent of Christians they are wash'd in the Blood of Christ that they may be accepted And wherein they are found Light they are made up by the Righteousness of our Lord Jesus Christ The Righteousness of the Law is fulfilled So I understand that in Rom. 8. 4. It is fulfilled in us who walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit That is by Jesus Christ as the Apostle had said He condemns sin in the flesh viz. His Flesh his Sacrifice And so the Righteousness of the Law is fulfilled in us By all those that walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit And the Law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus it makes free from the Law of sin and Death VVhat is the Law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus But that perfect Righteousness and that perfect obedience of our Lord Jesus Christ even to the Sacrificing himself The fourth and last thing in which I would shew you that Jesus Christ is supremely to be considered by every Believer as the foundation of all his Holiness and the Acceptance of it is this That Jesus Christ is He through whom alone and through whose perfect Holinest God accounts us Holy This I confess is a Point that is not generally spoken of And it may seem to be something singular But I am fully perswaded of it That we do not only stand before God by Imputative Righteousness But we stand before him by imputative Holiness also That is not as iâ— there were no Holiness Inherent and Real in the Saints of Christ But their Holiness could not be counted Holiness if it were not for the Holiness of Jesus Christ I will not stand much upon it because I know it is a singular Apprehension Yet I would give you two Scriptures that do strongly perswade me that this is the very case Till we are brought into the Perfection of Holiness at the State of the Resurrection of the Dead which as I have formerly told you is either when Spirits go out of the Body or when all the Saints shall appear in the Resurrection then shall they be in a perfection of Inherent Holiness But while we are here in the World we are not in a state of Perfect Inherent inward Holiness And therefore Christ in that that 's the first Scripture that enclines me to this Apprehension 1 Cor. 1. 30. He is made unto us Wisdom and Righteousness and Sactification and Redemption Christ is as truly made to us Sactification as he is made Redemption or as he is made Righteousness or Wisdom in our first being brought home to God Therefore I say if he not our Sanctification our Sanctification could not be looked upon as Sanctification if it were not made Acceptable by the Holiness of Jesus Christ Another Scripture is that in the 7th to the Romans Saith the Apostle We bring forth Fruit unto Death in our selves He is speaking of Sanctification in Believers We bring forth Fruit unto Death In our selves But when we are Married unto another even to him who is raised from the Dead we bring forth Fruit unto God We cannot bring forth Fruit unto God which is certainly meant of Sanctification any other way but by being Married to another even to him who is raised from the Dead because the Resurrection of the Dead in all sense of Scripture is the Perfection of Holiness Till we therefore are in the State of being risen from the Dead being in Spirits separated as I have spoken or in Bodies of Glory we cannot bring forth Fruit unto God but we bring forth Fruit unto Death if we are not in Christ the great Husband who is risen from the Dead All our Holiness is made Perfect by his Holiness But then he brings us into that Perfection that every Saint is indeed perfectly Holy in the state of Spirit and state of a Body of Glory given to that Spirit that went out of the Body long it may be before accordlng to the several times in which the Saints of Christ have Dyed I come now to the Third and Last thing which I proposed in this Discourse And that is To shew you what the Sense of the Apostle James is for it seems to run very Counter to all the Doctrin of Free Justification by Faith and not by Works It seems a wonderful thing that the Spirit of God after it had said so much by Paul of being Justified by Faith without Works That the Spirit
And then In the third place It acknowledges all to God back again It gives Glory to him in the Action That that I mean now is setting to the Seal that God is true depending upon Infinite Grace Infinite Power And then when the thing is done it returns all back again to God To him be Glory that sits upon the Throne and to the Lamb who Loved and Washed in his Blood To the Holy Spirit as seven Spirits before the Throne It returns all to him And then In the last place It Receives even to Eternity by way of free Communication from God and from Christ And therefore tho there be some kind of Faith I acknowledg that fails as the Apostle saith and ceases in the Happiness and Blessedness of Eternity and of the Kingdom of Christ some kind of Faith doth But yet that Faith whereby the Spirits of Saints even to Eternity receive Glory and Blessedness and Life from God and from Christ That Faith never fails I am very assured when Saints have been ten Thousand Thousand of Ages in Happiness and Blessedness They 'll own it still as Free and pure gift of Grace in and through the Mediator That they are one with the Father through Christ And the Love wherewith the Father Loveth Christ is in them because Christ is in them This never Ceases to Eternity a dependence upon God in Christ a Being in him I shall make but two brief Applications of what I have spoken and so conclude And The First Application I would make of it is To bring all our Hearts to that we read in the Gospel when Peter said to Christ Matt. 18. 22. How often shall my Brother not sin against me and I forgive him Till seven times Jesus saith unto him I say unto thee until seven times but until seventy times seven And in another Evangelist when Christ had said thus to Peter He cries out in the great Sense of this thing It seemed so great a kind of Difficulty and Impossibility to him the forgiving so often Saith Peter upon Christ's saying there must be a forgiving so often Lord encrease our Faith Now this is that I desire every one of us to make use of what I have spoken to you to cry out unto Christ Lord encrease our Faith And another Matt. 9. 24. When the Father had brought his Children to Christ and Christ told him All things are possible to him that Believes straight-way the Father of the Child cryed out and said with Tears Lord I believe help mine unbelief So I say O that we could cry out with Tears If Faith be such a thing as certainly it is or this Book of God is not true I say certainly Faith is such a thing as I have described O that we could cry out with tears in every case I have named to you O Lord I Believe Help thou my unbelief That we could cry out with Tears O! Want of Faith is the great want among us all We have not so much Faith as a Grain of Mustard-Seed certainly O How therefore are there not great things done among us because we believe not No great things done in our Souls no great things done for us in a way of Providence There are no great and mighty Conquests over Lusts and Corruptions No great and mighty Powers of Holiness and Heavenliness because we want Faith Indeed Men go to work without Faith and they think they can manage the thing But as I hope to have opportunity to shew you No one in the World can make so much as a grain of Mustard seed so not so much Faith as would amount to a grain of Mustard seed O! therefore Let us cry out to Heaven for more Faith We should obtain Promises we should have great things done if we had but more Faith And then The Second thing with which I conclude to beseech you to look to that Kingdom and Glory of Christ wherein so much mighty Power both of Faith and Action shall be given Psal 46. 1. God is our Refuge and Strength a very present help in trouble therefore will we not fear tho the Earth he removed c. We should not be so intimidated so full of fear if we had but Faith Tho the Waters c. even when Mountains were thrown in the midst of the Sea and the Waves Roaring yet there shall be a still silent stream that shall make glad the City of our God The End of the Second Sermon THE FAITH BY WHICH We are Iustified c. The Third and Fourth Sermons Rom. 5. 1. Therefore being justified by Faith we have Peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ I Have in the former Discourses set out the Nature and Excellency of Faith as it hath so close an Union with and derivation from Christ in the whole Nature and Action of it Now I shall go on in shewing you how much All is in Christ and not in Faith it self by shewing you That if you consider Faith as in it self it cannot be that which Justifies if you consider it in and by it self And then In the Second Place I shall more plainly lay down to you how and upon what account Faith is said to Justifie And then In the third Place I shall shew you that if Faith it self considered in it self cannot Justify Then the works of Faith tho they be never so excellent they cannot Justify much less then faith it self And so conclude this point with the Application And then there will remain one point more concerning Faith And that 's the Plerophory and full Assurance They have known surely that I came out from thee and they have believed that thou didst send me But that will be the last point The First thing therefore that I shall endeavour not in a Controversal but in a Practical Applicatory way and in all the Sweetness of it to all our hearts in the power and life and vertue of it The First thing that I lay down is this that Faith considered as a work It cannot Justify The account that I give you of it is this That Scripture doth every where when it speaks precisely and clearly to the point It doth assure us it is the Righteousness of God And not the Faith that takes the Righteousness of God I desire to be very far from stirring up any Controversy But to draw out our hearts I say into the Sweetness of it Head 1. I begin now therefore to handle this great Point and that is Seeing we meet every where in Scripture with these Expressions Justified by Faith The Righteousness of Faith The great Question that I shall handle first shall be to shew you how and in what sense Faith justifies and in what sense it cannot be said to justifie For indeed this is a point very necessary to be cleared seeing many are ready to say That Faith is now instead of Righteousness and that it justifies as the perfect Righteousness of the Law should have done
of God I say should send out so great a Minister of the Gospel as the Apostle James was to lay down a Position so contrary as it seems to be to Paul That a Man is not Justified by Faithly but by Works And to make so great an Appearance against that Truh that great Truth of the Gospel and to give occasion to so many Enemies of the Free Grace of God and to so many Devines and strange kind of Representations of this great Truth by Men in all Ages bearing up themselves upon the Authority of such a place of Scripture as this is Now therefore by way of Answer to it I shall not be long altho the thing requires indeed a great deal of Thought and Consideration And I hope God will enable me to give it in summ tho I cannot speak so large of it The first thing I desire you to consider is That certainly upon this great Point I am very clear in it We are call'd to Consider that if we speak indeed strictly and down-right to the Point a Man is no more Justified by Faith as it is a Grace or an Act or a Work or whatsoever you call it in it self I say no more Justified by it than he is by Works Certainly God would have us fetch about every way and consider how this can be that the Apostle James can seem so to Contradict the Apostle Paul Now The first thing that offers it self to us is That a man is not indeed Justified by Faith upon any Merit Excellency or Worth or Desert that is in Faith it self As I told you if Faith should pretend to it it would be thrown like Lucifer out of Heaven And therefore it is not by Faith in it self And then Secondly I do believe that in the same sense wherein Faith is said to be Justifying in dependence upon the Righteousness of Chriâ—t in the same sense Works may be said to Justify in dependence upon Faith Pray observe what I say I say Faith Justifies in dependence upon Christ And works may be said to Justify in dependence upon Faith For in the same degree wherein Faith stands to Christ for Righteousness in the same degree may works stand to Faith in the matter of Justification So that works depend upon Faith and that depends wholly upon the Righteousness of Christ And if this be seriously considered it will clear to you what else might seem a very great doubt Now therefore to lay down plainly my sense of the Apostles scope of being Justified by Works and not by Faith only There are these three senses in which it may be understood And I shall make out every one to you by plain Expressions of the Apostle James and yet very briefly Leaving it especially to your own Meditation and Thoughts upon it The first is this That wherever a Man is supposed by the Apostle James to be Justified by Works and not by Faith only it is because Faith and Works have a kind of Hypostatical Vnion a Personal Vnion So that to say Faith and VVorks is to say no more than to say whole Faith entire Faith For if Faith have not works it is false Faith it is Counterfeit Faith it is not whole entire true Faith And therefore the Apostle means nothing more by it than only that if you would know what Faith you are Justified by it is Faith that hath a Mighty Power of Operation or VVork And therefore I understand no more by the Apostle James speaking of Works joyned with Faith than the Apostle Paul said The work of Faith with Power Faith hath a mighty Power of working By Faith they did so and so all along Heb 11. This is through Faith a mighty operating working faith And when Jesus Christ gives himself he always gives an operating Faith so he gives himself only to a Faith that he knows hath mighty Power and Principles of Operation It is because it is true Faith whole Faith entire Faith the Faith of God's giving like precious Faith As you know in a Jewel if it be only a counterfeit it wants some of the essential Excellencies of a Jewel As if a Man should think to be made Rich by a false Jewel it is a false counterfeit appearance though it may have some appearance of a true Stone yet it wants the true Exccellency and Value of it So the Apostle Discourses and shews what a true real working justifying operating Faith is James 2. 16. If a Brother or Sister be naked and destitute of daily food and one of you say unto him Depart in peace be ye warmed and filled notwithstanding you give them not those things which are needful for the body You know this is a false Charity And so it is a false faith that pretends to believe in Christ and cannot act suitably And again he faith As the Body without the Spirit is dead so Faith without Works is dead also Now if we should make a dead Man set his hand to a Writing you know that Writing is of no value though you may guide the Hand of the dead Man to write so and so while you guide the Hand because he is a Man without Spirit He has not the Spirit of a Man And so Faith if it hath not all the Graces and Actions suitable to it it is but a dead Faith It is dead as the Apostle saith and it is but the faith of Devils It is not a perfect faith it hath not truly the Nature of faith It is not as I may the whole Person of faith This is the first Sense the Apostle aimed and drove at to distinguish true faith from a meer formal professionary faith saying as Men do I believe in one God the father Almighty And so you know they go on Now a meer Profession of Faith without the power of Faith in a Man's Soul It is but the counterfeit Image of faith and not faith it self So James saith Thou believest there is one God c. In this second place This indeed is the way that God doth generally demonstrate and manifest the Truth of faith to the Souls of Believers and to the Observation of others And so it is true That faith cannot demonstrate it self either to a Believer's Soul or in ordinary and general speaking it cannot manifest it self except it have Works And so that Sense that some Interpreters give of this Discourse of the Apostle here is That one Faith justifies before God and the other justifies before Men that is Faith in its Works justifies before Men But faith alone taking Christ and his Righteousness before God though it is always a faith that hath within it self such a power of Action as to demonstrate it self to Men or else it is but a dead Faith And a vain Man it is that looks upon a faith to be faith that has not this mighty Operation And so the Apostle saith Faith wrought with Works He does not say His works were alone but faith wrought
it flows from Faith in Jesus Christ That is the true Holiness that comes in by Faith in Jesus Christ that Derives from Christ and is conveyed to us by Faith So that if you enquire How shall I come to be Holy I do not deny that all the Rules of the word of God are of great help and assistance herein But yet still I say that the Centre and the Root and the Fountain and the Well-spring of All is Jesus Christ And therefore we find in that 1 Cor. 1. 30. a place often to be remembred and mentioned when we are speaking of these things Of him are ye in Christ Jesus who of God is made unto us Wisdom and Righteousness and Sanctification and Redemption He is made VVisdom and Sanctification The first being in a Soul by VVisdom it is from Christ He is the Wisdom by which a Man considers the madness and folly of all the ways of Sin and engages therefore into the ways of Holiness Christ is his Wisdom to do it He is the Wisdom of Faith and the Wisdom of Repentance The Wisdom by which a Soul seeing its lost state in it self its unholy and corrupt state in it self It comes to say Where shall I have a change of this State and Condition And it sees Christ to be the only Foundation of it And therefore the Power of Holiness it comes in by Believing you find therefore how often Christ is pleased to speak of himself such words as do certainly imply the Power of Holiness to be from himself As now John 14 6. He comprehends all those in himself saith Christ I am the way the Truth and the Life No Man c. Take these words either in the point of Justification or in the point of Calling or in the point of Sanctification or take them in the highest Glory of Saints it is very true Christ is the way the Truth and the Life Now He is the way in regard of Sanctification And he hath the mighty Power of all that Life of Holiness of all that Life of Grace derived from himself So that indeed when we find our Graces to be either in a declining or in a low State or when we find our selves under any Temptation or when we find our selves to be to grapple and contest with things that Flesh and Blood cannot tell how to contest with our great Wisdom is to run to Christ for Power for the Power of Grace for strength of Grace to do it and to depend upon him wholly for it For As I shew'd you last day That a Servant of Christ a true Believer in Christ he is Crucified with him Even as to the point of Justification he is upon the Cross together with Christ he comes under the sentence of Guilt with Christ and all his own Righteousness is is slain Why so in the very same manner all his Lusts they are brought under by the mighty Efficacy of Truth that is in Jesus Christ As now in the Epistle to the Galatians chap. 6. you shall find where the great Power of Crucifying of our Lusts is It is certainly by our Being in Christ I say it is certainly the Being of the Soul in Christ that Crucifies all these Saith the Apostle Gal. 5. 24. They that are Christ's pray observe have crucified the Flesh with the Affections and Lusts. They that are Christs have done it A Man does not become Christs by Crucifying his Lusts and Affections But because his is Christs therefore he has Power from Christ to crucify his Lusts and Affections This is a great Truth they that are Christ's have crucified their Lusts and Affections Their sinful Lusts and Affections And in the 6th chap. of the Gallatians saith the Apostle as he said before That he was crucified with Christ so he says in this chapter Gal. 6. 17. From henceforth let no Man trouble me for I bear in my Body the marks of the Lord Jesus And ver 14. God forbid that I should Glory in any thing save in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ by whom the world is crucified unto me and I unto the world You see here how plainly the Power of Christ is that that crucifies Lust and crucifies the love of the World Here is our great misery our great unhappiness in the Power of corruption over us That we do not receive Christ And then Ephes 4. 20 21. When the Apostle had set out the exceeding evil conversation of the Heathen He saith ye have not so learned Christ If so be that ye have heard him and have been taught by him as the truth is in Jesus That ye put off concerning the former conversation which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts I do most sincerely acknowledg that all the Scripture and the Gospel of Christ and all the commands and Admonitions and Exhortations and Reproofs of it and all the Terrible Expressions of it they are all I do acknowledg of great use of great influence in an Holy Life But yet it is all through the Spring in whom they are and thro' that mighty Power in whom they are And therefore we do but go down to the Philistines Forges when we go in the Power of Mortification and being crucified to the Affections of the Flesh when we do not look to Christ as the Principle hereof He is the Sanctification of Believers And so in the 1 Cor. 6. 9. Such were some of you saith the Apostle having spoken of the greatest sinners But ye are washed but ye are Sanctified but ye are Justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God Abundance of Scripture might be added to this that shew that the Powers of Sanctification and Holiness of Life are all in Christ who makes perfect in every good Work to do the will of God and works in us that which is well pleasing in his sight So that I say again We do not become Christs by doing these things But we do them because we are Christs because a Power and a Might flows from him and from his Blood to do it by O that therefore we may know the true Method and Order of being Holy It is certainly of first being Christ's And if we are strangers to Christ we shall be strangers to Holiness and of all the ways of Purity without him Let us therefore lye under this Rich Redemption of Jesus Christ in setting us free from the Plague of our own Hearts and from the evil of our Lives And then I beseech you consider further for this is most necessary to be understood that all the Reasons Rules Measures and Arguments of Holiness Christ hath brought them all under himself For that Law of Holiness that God planted in the Heart of Man that Law of Holiness that is given out every where in his Word all that is derived from thence it is all now come under Jesus Christ and under his mighty Power The Law came by Moses but Grace and the Power
Promise if it be so that Heaven is the Promise For I would ask any Man that gives Reverence to this word of God Do you Believe that Enoch Noah Abraham Isaac and Jacob Moses Samuel David c. Do you think they are now in Heaven And yet saith the Apostle expresly they went away out of this World and left a great Fame and Honour and record of themselves behind them but did not receive the Promise Did they not receive the Promise immediately when their Spirits went out of their Bodies to Heaven Can it be said They Received not the Promise if Heaven were the Promise intended And yet the Apostle saith They received not the Promise God having provided some better thing for us that they without us should not be made perfect Therefore I say That Glorious Kingdom of Jesus Christ That Visible Glory of Saints both in Body and Spirit That they did not receive The New Heaven and the New Earth they did not receive which the Apostle Peter says We look for according to promise they have it not yet tho they have been in Heaven for so many Ages And therefore Faith is on purpose for this Kingdom of Jesus Christ among the things that are to come Among them I say and as a Principal of that World to come whereof we speak I shall therefore add at this time by way of Recollection and so conclude with Application a recollection of all that I have spoken of the great excellency of Faith And I beseech you in the First place Let this be a general Position concerning Faith That Faith is proper to that New Creation from first to last that comes in by Jesus Christ It is as really a New Heaven if I may so represent it to you a New Heaven of Grace As that New Heaven the Apostle Peter and John speak of shall be a New Heaven in comparison of that we have now The Heaven we have now declares the Glory of God It is one of the wonderful Works of God The Sun Moon and Stars How wonderful are they And yet for all this there shall be a New Heaven God does not like the Heaven that is now as sufficient to declare his Glory For if there had been no fault found with the Heaven and Earth that are now what place had there been for a New Heaven As the Apostle Argues in the Case of the Covenant I beseech you consider it is the Apostles own Argument in another case Heb. 8. 7. For if that first Covenant had been faultless then should no place been sought for the Second And in that he saith A New Covenant He hath made the first Old Now that which decayeth and waxeth old is ready to vanish away I would but apply it to the New Heaven and New Earth If there had been no fault found with the present Heaven and Earth tho they declare the Glory of God what place had there been for another Heaven and Earth For the Second Heaven and Earth and why are they said to wax Old but that they are to vanish away Surely the Apostles Argument is very Substantial according to the Discourse here But the thing that I intend it for is just as the New Heaven and the New Earth that God will make just such is the Faith that God hath brought in That great Grace of Faith It is as New as the New Heaven and the New Earth It is a way of Salvation a way of Righteousness a way of Holiness a way of Eternally making Happy As new as the New Heaven and the New Earth And therefore it is no wonder that Men boggle at Faith so and that they make such a stir about it and are such Enemies to it That no Discourse that is found in the Gospel will please them or serve their turn It is because God hath Created a New thing It is not of the First Creation but a New thing Grace of a New Erection of a New Extraction O Blessed are they that have it For it is as much above Nature as the New Heaven and the New Earth shall be above the present Heaven and the present Earth It is prepared and fitted on purpose by the Mediator To give it you in another Expression And I beseech you rest upon it And that you may have it ready to Discourse when any Assail the Doctrine of Faith that you may have it fitted within your Lips as Solomon saith I say again Just as the Righteousness of the Second Adam exceeds the Righteousness of the First just so does the way of Faith exceed the Integrity and uprightness of Adam in the First Creation wherein he was Created You 'll say How can you make this appear There is a plain Scripture for it I appeal to all the World upon this Scripture against the greatest Enemies of Faith Therefore it is of Faith that it might be by grace to the end that the promise might be sure to all the Seed Rom. 4. 16. As much therefore as Grace excels the Righteousness of Man in his first Creation so much does Faith excel all Natural Power And as the certainty of Grace excels that of our Doing So much does Faith excel the First State in which Man was Created For It is of Faith that it might be by Grace And then that it might be sure It must be of Grace I say therefore I beseech you conceive right of the excellency of Faith by what I have spoken to you out of this very Scripture Rom. 4. 16. And have it in your Mouths as that word of Truth by which you may Answer any that Reproach the Holy Doctrine of Grace and Faith in the Gospel But I would add but briefly of the Excellencies of Faith wherein God hath magnified Faith above any other Grace And yet I shall shew you in the next Discourse if the Lord will give me leave to do it that notwithstanding all this excellency of Faith It cannot in the least be said to Justify by it self but only by that hold it has of Christ and of the Righteousness of Christ But I say at the present First of all here 's the excellency of Faith That Faith hangs only upon God and Christ and that which is Divine and Eternal it will not venture upon any thing that is Created And if you come once to true Faith you hang only upon God and Christ and the Spirit of God A great deal of difference when a man hangs by this and that Title that he thinks is well grounded and is in himself and in the Creature He has nothing then of Faith For Faith hangs wholly upon God and Christ and the Spirit and Grace and what is Divine and Eternal In the Second place Faith it gives all the Glory to God It must needs do so when it hangs all upon him gives Glory to God and Christ and Grace Gives Glory wholly to him as Rom. 4. You know Abraham was strong in Faith and gave glory to God
And that this is the Condition upon which Christ is ours and upon which his Righteousness becomes ours and thus Faith Justifies And thus Faith comes to be through such very Discourses of Faith an Eclipse upon the Righteousness of Christ And so the Works of Faith come to be so also for say they Every true Faith must have VVorks And the Apostle saith A Man is justified by VVorks and not by Faith only Now these things they raise not only great Disputes concerning which it were indeed much and earnestly to be desired that they may be laid among the Servants of God that they may be calmed and composed because it is greatly to the dishonour of the Gospel that there should be those noises of Axes and Hammers in the Work of the Gospel and because Men are ready to be scandalized And it is told in Gath and published in the streets of Askalon as the Expression is And therefore I say we should earnestly desire to speak all the same thing and to be in one Mind and in one Judgment according to the Truth of the Gospel And then besides they are ready to stagger Souls and to make them they know not which way to turn and they must dispute the things with themselves and so they are kept off from the healing that wound of Conscience and from the getting that full Assurance of Faith and of Hope and of Knowledge So that while the wound of Conscience and the bleeding of Conscience should be stanched and while the close Application of the Blood of Christ should work the Cure the Souls and Spirits of Men are greatly in Dispute and Perplexity which way and in what Method what they should lay first as it were to the bleeding Conscience and to the distressed Spirit Now I have lately given you this Rule and I would renew it and 〈◊〉 it to you That you labour after and seek after these things from God and that you would not perplex your selves about the term of Dispute in which these things are conveyed O! Let but our Souls find that we have Christ indeed for ours and that we apply to his Blood by Faith and that we turn from every Iniquity by Repentance and it is no matter for all the Disputes about the Order and whether a Man should stay for this or for that But let him give up his Soul according to the Impression of Grace and the Spirit of God upon him But yet however when we discourse of these things plainly and peaceably and according to the clearest Light and Reason of the Gospel they are to be attended to And our Minds thereby shall have Ideas and Representations of them that may be suitable to the inward Case of our Souls And therefore at this time I shall lay down four Positions in which I shall open to you the nature of Faith in Relation to Justification Or The true nature of Justification as it is taken in by Faith The First Position that I shall lay down is this I say No Righteousness but a Divine Righteousness an Everlasting Righteousness can be the Righteousness of a Lost and undone Sinner Of an Immortal Eternal Soul lost and undone by sin No Righteousness but a Divine Righteousness an Eternal and Euerlasting Righteousness O! Keep this always in your mind It must be such a Righteousness Or it will not serve the great Purpose of your Souls The Second thing that I would lay down is this that there is no possibility that Faith by any virtue or Excellency of its own should be our Righteousness And therefore tho there be a great Renown of Faith in the Gospel compared with the Graces of the Spiâ—… â—f God and the working of that Spirit in the Hearts and Lives of Châ—stians yet still it is not with Relation to God so as to be our Righteousness But onely as I shall shew you it takes in the Righteousness of Jesus Christ and wherein the Excellency of it lyes to that purpose In the Third place the Third Position that I would lay down is this That tho it is true that the Faith the Gospel speaks of is a vigorous working active Faith yet the works of Faith are further off from the Justifying of a Sinner than Faith it self is So that take the most excellent works of any of the Believers in Jesus Christ It is not their works I say it is not their works that are their Righteousness to Justification they are further off from Justification than their Faith is And yet this Faith cannot be their Justification The Fourth Position that I would lay down is this that Faith has not a Power of it self to take Christ But Jesus Christ gives himself to the Soul And then the mighty Power of Faith flows out from him and Twines about Christ and unites it self unto Jesus Christ These Four Positions I do not find upon the most severe Examination that they do in the least Abridge or take off any thing from the Holiness of the Gospel and from the duties in which all Christians are to be found And yet they give us indeed the truth of the freeness of the Grace of the Gospel and will Redeem us from all mistakes and misapprehensions or from lessening the Glory of Christ and his Righteousness I Begin at this time with the First of them And that is that no Righteousness but an Everlasting a Divine Righteousness can possibly serve the case of our Souls You find therefore in Dan. 9. 24. When Jesus Christ came into his great Action as a Mediator He is said to finish transgression and to make an end of sin and to make Reconciliation for Iniquity and to bring in Everlasting Righteousness He brings in Everlasting Righteousness David has an Expression which I confess one would be ready If one does not weigh and compare it with the whole Scripture to think it was the Righteousness of Holy works onely he or rather the Holy Spirit intended by him in it But if we consider it close and with the whole Scripture there is Reason to look upon it as having Relation to the great salvation by the Righteousness of Jesus Christ Psal 119. 144 The Righteousness of thy Testimonies is Everlasting c. I say it does seem to refer to those Righteous and Holy Precepts of God But he calls it the Righteousness of thy Testimonies That is the Great Testimony of Revelation that God hath given anew by the word Not that Righteousness that was written upon the heart of man But the Righteousness of the Testimony of the Revelation of God And therefore give me understanding herein and I shall live According as he said there is a Covenant made with me ordered in all things and sure And it is an Everlasting Covenant And therefore the Righteousness of his Testimonies is to be expounded by those very words Sam. 2. 23. 5. Although my house c. And though his house was not so with God That is though he could not
shall shew you in every respect how the Father the VVord and the Spirit and the VVater and the Blood do VVitness First therefore concerning the full Assurance of understanding Concerning Jesus Christ in the first place And then concerning all the Truths of the Gospel in the second place And I desire you to remember a distinction I gave you the last day I told you there are immanent Acts of Faith as they say those that remain and stay within that 's the meaning of the Word There are Acts then and Motions of Faith when Faith stays within in that great point of taking Christ And then There are Truths of the Gospel that are Ad Extra as they say or without that do not immediately concern that great point of the Redemption of Christ but flow from it No I 'll make this plain to you by setting two points of Scripture before you of which Faith has an assurance But one is like Faith staying at home and within it self and within Christ in the great point of Redemption and Justification As Now Here 's this great Truth That Jesus Christ came into the World to save the chief of Sinners Sinners of whom every one may say I am chief Now when Faith Acts upon this Truth Jesus Christ came to save sinners of whom I am chief And so That he shed his Blood for sinners and gave himself a Sacrifice and an Attonement All these are Truths properly within Faith and Christ And when the Soul is upon them it is at home with it self And Faith is also at home with Christ and with the Soul in them But now here 's another great Truth That whoever it is that does not Cut off his Right Hand or Pull out his Right Eye and cut off his Right Foot he shall be cast into Hell where their VVorm dies not and their Fire is not quenched Now this is a great Truth of Christ And Faith hath assurance of this Truth But yet when it acts upon this Truth Pray observe it does not stay within properly with Christ and within it self in the point of Believing But it goes out to a Truth that lyes without as to the great point of Justification So that if you say wherein is Faith Justifying Faith in Relation to Truth I desire that I may be understood I say when it is ask'd wherein is Faith Justifying Faith as to the point of Truth It is not in believing that whosoever doth not cut off his Right hand or pluck out his right Eye shall be cast into Darkness It is true this always is together with Justifying Faith But it is not that wherein Faith properly Justifies But all the Truths concerning the Blood and Righteousness of Christ they are Truths that Faith acts upon when it is in the great point of Justification as it is acted by Christ and his Spirit Now this being not many times well Considered It makes a great Confusion in the point of Justifying Faith For though it is true It is said and I desire it may be carefully remembred that no one may any way take offence or mention what I say to give offence I say that that Truth that a man that does not cut off his hand or pluck out his Right Eye which means any Lust shall be cast into Hell is never separated from true Justifying Faith But I say again that Faith acting upon that Truth does not Justify But acting upon the great Truth wherein Jesus Christ is held forth as a sacrifice a propitiation a Mediator an Intercessor and Redeemer But yet this is certainly true that the Father Son and Spirit give a mighty power to these great Truths and to every Truth that is delivered in the Gospel but especially with this great Principal Truth that Jesus is the Son of God and hath layd down his life for sinners For you see very plainly in this place that I have quoted to you Pray Consider it who is he that overcometh the world but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God Faith is therefore in its Immanent action when it is upon this point that Jesus is the Son of God and gave himself for Sinners This is the Immanent Truth that Faith fixes upon But then when it comes to that Truth that without Holiness no man shall see the Lord that can never be separated from this Truth that Jesus is the Son of God when Faith acts upon that Truth or any like it Without Holiness no man shall see the Lord It does not act like Justifying Faith strictly taken in that point of believing Because Justification flows onely from the Righteousness from the Blood from the Obedience from the Redemption of Jesus Christ And therefore to Find a mighty power To find the Soul Impregnated and fill'd out in all the Truths that concern Jesus Christ and in all the other great Truths of the Gospel that Christ hath spoken Here 's the strength and the assurance of Faith And it flows from God in and through Christ For Jesus Christ is the great and Principal Actor in the Soul 's Receiving all Truth I say the great and the principal Actor As you may find the stability of Faith the great Ballance and Poize of Faith that keeps it steady and even Heb. 13. 8. Jesus Christ the same yesterday and to day for ever Be not carryed about with diverse and strange Doctrines Jesus Christ the same yesterday and to day for ever It is he that is the Alpha and Omega As he saith himself The Truth the way the Truth and the Life He is the Truth And the Son of the Father in Truth And Truth came by Jesus Christ But I would a little further clear to you this distinction of the Immanent acts of Faith and shew you whence I take the word You know in that great mystery of the Father Son and Spirit Divines when they treat of it they say that those actions between the Father and the Son and the Spirit themselves and no Created Bing comes between they call them Immanent actions of the Father the Word and the Spirit As the Father begat and knoweth the Son so the Son knoweth the Father and that he is begotten of him The holy Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son And the holy Spirit knows and Glorifieth in every thing the Father and the Son as proceeding from them Now while they are acting within in the Divine Being the Father the Son and Spirit one with another Those are called Immanent acts But when they go outward either to Angels or men or any of the Creatures then they are called extra-acts Or ad extra or Transient acts because they go out from the Divine being to the Creature I make use of it to explain the Immanent acts of Faith The Immanent acts of Faith are upon Christ's Righteousness and Blood and not upon the Points of Repentance or obedience or Love or self Resignation to Christ But wholly and solely in