Christ may be truly acceptable to God and a means of our sanctification I do not urge you in every prayer to insist on every head here or restrain you to these only shew you a way how to use these neither would I tye you to this way but advise you to exercise your spiritual senses to discern and have regard to your own occasions and the enlargement of your own hearts that out of the abundrnce of them in faith and humility you may express your minds to God in Scripture-language from a feeling of our own wants Thus I have took the freedom to suggest something of help in this kind to those who may either desire or need it But I impose nothing upon any one which God hath left free I hope none that know me well will judg me to be so narrow-spirited I have only offered a guide to the weaker for to bring to their mind needful matter under the three main parts of Prayer viz. Confession Petition Thanksgiving It may be some will begin with Petition or Thanksgiving and then Confession or vary and use them interchangeably as in prudence they think best for that season or are moved by the holy Spirit to omit or but touch on one or the other part and slay most on the third which may do well The great care to be took is that the party praying perform this necessary duty with hearty and sincere devotion But I humbly conceive it were of great advantage for one or more serious persons in a Neighbourhood who have better understanding after the reading this I now write to you to shew unto those of meaner abilities the import of this advise for the use and improvement of this small token for their knowledg and practise Perhaps the School-Master may think it expedient to do it for some of his Scholars in the highest Form However I could perswade my self some unexperienc'd in praying especially towardly young ones will rejoice to be directed I have latele known some who have been much changed and wrought upon by the serious reading of such a Book as this given and heartily recommended to them It would do well in your Family-reading of it if some of the House would turn to the Bible and find out the Texts that you may with your own eyes see them there as cited I doubt not but you will find them unless possibly by the error of the Printer which yet I know not there may be somewhere a failure but then you having the words a little searching of the Scripture will soon amend that if it should be so But I fear in being thus particular for your profit which I aim at I shall run my self beyond my projected bounds It remains I should subjoin something of III dly Some short general Rules consonant to Scripture and grounded mostly upon these cited in this little Book which may be of concernment to all to help both superiors inferiors and equals in the practice of godliness Wherefore that you may by this Mannual grow better which I humbly beg of our good God 1 Keep your end in your eye and think much on the means prescrib'd to attain it and how you may best use them You must make Religion your business and that requires you to aim at the glorifying of God and the enjoying of him the saving of your own souls according to the Rule God hath given you in his word In all your employments whether in your general or particular Calling and all your enjoyments whether spiritual or temporal magnifie the Name of God extol his excellency and perfection in thought word and deed Endeavour to carry your selves so agreeable to his mind that you may please him and be accepted of him 'T is a small matter then how you are censur'd in mans judgment 1 Cor. 6.20 Mat. 16.26 Rom. 11.36 Psal. 50.23 Mat. 5.16 Psal. 144.15 1 Cor. 13.12 2 Tim. 3.15 16. 2 Cor. 5.9 1 Cor. 4.3 2 Bethink your selves who God is and that you your selves are dependants upon him Oh! labour to have right notions of him who is wholly a spiritual invisible independant being of himself infinite in all perfection as none else is or can be a most gracious and merciful rewarder of all those that diligently seek him Who is but one yet distinguished into three persons or subsistents all equal in power and glory and doing all things most wisely and powerfully Remember by him you were made and are govern'd in him you live move and have your beings and can do nothing without him who is every-where and will every-where be worshipped in spirit and truth Iob. 4.24 Iob 10.4 Exod. 3.14 Ioh. 11.7 8 9. Heb. 11.6 1 Tim. 2.6 1 Iob. 5.7 Psal. 104.24 Iob 1.3 Act. 17.28 Neh. 9.6 Ioh. 15.5 Luk. 12.26 2 Cor. 3.5 1 Chron. 28 9 10. Ier. 23 23 24. 1 Cor. 3.16 17. 3 Consider well what an happy state man was in when he came first out of Gods hands and into what a sad plight of sin and misery you and all other meer men and women are faln Be sure no blessing can be expected but a curse so long as you abide in a state of corrupt nature unregenerate tribulation and anguish do attend every mothers child of you both here and hereafter Yet Psal. 8.4 5. Gen. 2.7 Iob 35.10 11. Mat. 10.28 Eccles. 12.7 7.29 Rom. 3.9 c. 5.19 Gen. 3.6 6.5 Eph. 2.1 2 3. Ier. 4.22 Tit. 3.3 Gal. 3.10 Ioh 3.3 Lam. 3.39 Rom. 2.9 4 Hearken attentively to what is done and and offered by our gracious Redeemer for your restoration What offices he hath of Priest Prophet and King both in his estate of Humiliation and Exaltation Oh be affected with the glad tidings he brings who came to save his people from their sins and is the great Peace-maker and only Mediator betwixt God and man ready to save to the uttermost all poor sinners that come unto God by him in that new and living way which he hath consecrated for us through the vail that is to say his flesh Mat. 1.21 Act. 4.12 Ioh. 1.14 48. Eph. 2.14 15. 1 Tim. 2.5 Mat. 11.28 c. Ioh. 6.37 Heb. 10.20 5 Ponder throughly upon and readily receive what help the Holy Spirit is pleas'd to afford in working of effectual grace and see the necessity of it He is a most free agent and stands ready to enlighten the mind and convince of sin righteousness and judgment to encline the will soften the heart and put a principle of grace within it or else it would remain strong under all the rebukes and exhortations of the word Ioh. 3.5 6. Eph. 2.8 Phil. 2.12 Ioh. 16.8 Act. 16.14 Heb. 4.12 1 Cor. 6.17 Rom. 8.28 2 Thes. 2.13 14. Ezek. 36.26 2 Cor. 3.3 6. 6 Look your selves often in the glass of Gods holy Law and therein take notice of your own deformities See how much you fall short of what God calls for and how much you do of that which he forbids This
gage or pledg of thy salvation Rising with him by our faith we shall have our bodies likewise raised again from death to have them glorified in immortality and joined to his glorious body having in the mean while his holy Spirit in our hearts as a seal and pledg of our everlasting inheritance Expl. 38. At the resurrection of a Believer 1. There is a re-union of a soul which is free from corruption or sin to a glorified body that is incorruptible 2. These two parts being thus re-united in the very same individual person to whom they did belong before death will be actually capable at the resurrection of all that eternal bliss which Christ hath purchased and prepared for them 3. Then Christ will openly acknowledg own and approve every true Christian to be a part of his body mystical and that before his Father and all the holy Angels 4. The Believer then shall receive his general discharge and acquitment in a most solemn publick and triumphant manner from all manner of guilt whatsoever so as that none shall be able to lay any thing to the charge of Gods elect For though a Believer does receive his private discharge from all his sins at his death and as it were under the privy Seal yet his discharge is ratified confirmed and as it were enter'd into the publick Records at the day of Judgment CHAP. II. Of things to be done in the Ten Commandments with a short Explanation of 46 A. from 38 to 85. A. 39. THE duty which God requireth of man is obedience to his revealed Will. To. 1. Hom. V. The good works God hath commanded his people to walk in are such as he hath commanded in the holy Scripture and not such works as men have studied out of their own brain of a blind zeal and devotion without the word of God And by mistaking the nature of good works man hath most highly displeased God and hath gone from his Will and Commandments To. 2. Hom. X. p. 3. Mark diligently what his Will is you should do and with all your endeavour apply your selves to follow the same Expl. 39. By obedience to the revealed Will of God we are in the general to understand the conformity of our wills affections words and actions to the preceptive or commanding Will of God for all this is comprehended in that one Scripture Fear God and keep his Commandments for this is the whole duty of man It is the will of Gods command which doth declare and require what is our duty but as for the secret will of Gods eternal purpose though it be a rule to himself whereby he acts yet it neither is nor can be the rule of our actions because not known to us nor indeed curiously to be enquired after nor is it barely the revelation of Gods will that makes it our duty to observe it but the revelation of it to this very end and purpose that man do willingly conform to it A. 40. The Rule which God at first revealed to man for his obedience was the Moral Law To. 2. Hom. X. Let us esteem the holy Table of Gods Word appointed by him to instruct us in all necessary works so that we may be perfect before him in the whole course of our life To. 1. Hom. 1. p. 3. Such hath been the corrupt inclination of man ever superstitiously given to make new honouring of God of his own head and then to have more affection and devotion to keep that than to search out Gods holy Commandments and to keep them Which we should know to separate or sever Gods Commandments from the commandments of men In keeping the Commandments of God standeth the pure principal right honour of God and which wrought in faith God hath ordained to be the right trade and pathway to heaven Expl. 40. When it is here said that the Moral Law was at first i. e. in a state of innocency revealed to man i. e. to our first Parents in Paradise we are not to understand that this revelation was visible to the eye as afterwards the writing of it was in two Tables of Stone nor to be heard by the ear as when it was first given by God in Mount Sinai But it was at first revealed inwardly i. e. it was imprinted in the hearts and minds of our first Parents except that positive prohibition of eating the forbidden fruit yet being in a great part blotted out was afterwards written in two Tables of Stone A. 41. The Moral Law is summarily comprehended in the Ten Commandments Ham. V. Christ rehearsing the Commandments declared that the Laws of God be the very way that doth lead to everlasting life and not the Traditions and Laws of men So that the works of the Moral Commandments of God be the very true works of Faith which lead to the blessed life to come To. 2. Hom. II. Containing the immutable Law and Ordinances of God in no age or time to be altered nor of any persons of any Nation of any age to be disobey'd Expl. 41. By a Law in the general we are to understand the Will of the Lawgiver requiring duty But here by the Moral Law we are to understand 1. More generally the revealed Will of God of what man is to believe and do in order to salvation 2. More particularly the Decalogue which is the sum of all Moral Laws which are scattered up and down in the Scripture And this Decalogue or Ten Words or Ten Commandments may be called Moral 1. Because of the universality of it for the Decalogue doth oblige all mankind it being that very Law for substance which was written in very legible Characters in the heart of Adam and is not quite blotted out of the minds of the veryest Gentiles in the world 2. It doth oblige at all times 3. The whole man for it requires as well the internal obedience of the soul and all its powers and faculties as outward obedience of the body A. 42. The sum of the Ten Commandments is to love the Lord our God with all our heart with all our soul with all our strength and with all our mind and our neighbour as our selves Hom. 5. p. 3. Mark diligently what Gods will is that you should do and with all your endeavour apply your selves to follow the same 〈◊〉 You must have assured faith in God and give your selves wholly unto him love him in prosperity and adversity and dread to offend him ever more Then for his sake love all men Cast in your mind how you may do good unto all men to your power and hurt no man Expl. 42. The sum of these Ten Commandments or Ten Words we may take in one Word and 't is Love for Love is the fulfilling of the Law and this Love is threefold 1. To God and this must be in the highest degree or more than we are to love either our selves or neighbours yea this later love in
of the Soul as love joy delight c. are set open that this King of glory may enter in and find entertainment there A. 87. Repentance unto life is a saving grace whereby a sinner out of the true sense of his sin and apprehension of the mercy of God in Christ doth with grief and hatred of his sin turn from it unto God with full purpose of and endeavours after new obedience Hom. XX. Of Repentance Which is a returning again of the whole man unto God from whom we be faln away by sin We must return from those things whereby we have been withdrawn pluckt and led away from God Unto whom alone we must return not to the creatures or the inventions of men or our own mercies by Jesus Christ who hath made satisfaction to the Justice of God with our whole heart forsaking all that is contrary to Gods will out of a sincere love of godliness a purpose of our selves by Gods grace to renounce our former wicked life and a full conversion to God in a new life to glorifie his name c. We must beware and take heed that we do in no wise think in our hearts imagine or believe that we are able to repent aright or turn effectually unto the Lord by our own might and strength for this must be verified in all men Without me ye can do nothing Ioh. 15.5 Again of our selves we are not able as much as to think a good thought 2 Cor. 3.5 Expl. 87. This repentance is called repentance unto life because the fruit thereof is unto holiness and the end everlasting life and concerning this repentance several things are to be noted 1 st concerning the nature of it that as well as faith it is a saving-grace because it is a part of Sanctification and not a common work of the spirit which is reckon'd up amongst those things which do not accompany Salvation as every part of Sanctification doth 2 dly Concerning the immediate spring of this repentance and that is a true sense of sin i. e. such a sense of sin as doth break the heart for sin and that in a kindly manner with grief or godly sorrow not with despair this latter sense of sin may be found in a Iudas but only the former in a Paul for whether it be in reference to the guilt of sin a true penitent does not despair of pardoning mercy or whether it be in reference to the punishment of sin he hopes to be deliver'd from the wrath to come and therefore this true sense of sin and a lively apprehension of the mercy of God in Christ are here joyned together 3 dly We have here the inward acts of repentance as 1 grief of heart for sin called therefore a being pricked at the heart and a being contrite and broken in spirit which is when a mans heart is ready to bleed and melt and tremble within him because he has broken the holy Law of God and has thereby foolishly exposed himself to the curse and penalty of the Law 2 Hatred of sin whereby a man doth disrellish and dislike sin and can roul it as a sweet morsel under his tongue no longer when he does not only not love sin but he abhors it the very thoughts of it are grievous and ungrateful to him and therefore 3 he turns from it not only does as one who turns away his face that cannot endure to behold it but his feet for he hastens as far from it as he can and that he may secure himself from the danger of it he turns from it to God 4 With resolution not to return to his old beloved any more 4 thly we have here the outward effects of repentance called its fruits active constant universal endeavours to lead a new life A. 88. The outward and ordinary means whereby Christ communicateth to us the benefits of Redemption are his Ordinances especially the Word Sacraments and Prayer all which are made effectual to the Elect for salvation Hom. 5. p. 3. Apply your selves chiefly and above all things to read and hear Gods word mark diligently therein what his will is you should do and with all your endeavours apply your selves to follow the same Expl. 88. 'T is here supposed in the A. that there are inward and extraordinary means whereby Christ can and sometimes probably does communicate the benefits of Redemption there being Salvation in no other name than that of Jesus where persons are not made capable of this Salvation in an ordinary way and in the use of means there is no other way left but that which is extraordinary and so we read of those that have been sanctified from the womb But the ordinary means are the standing Ordinances of the Gospel sc. the Word Sacraments and Prayer the Word to inform and reform us Sacraments to confirm our faith and Prayer to beg a divine and effectual blessing upon both and all these three are included in that one great ordinance of the Gospel a Gospel-ministry unto which Christ hath promised his presence unto the end of the world because till then the mystical body of Christ will stand in need of being edified in its most holy faith for if the Unction of the Spirit had taken away the use of preaching why then did the Apostles use to preach A. 89. The Spirit of God maketh the reading but especially the preaching of the Word an effectual means of convincing and converting sinners and of building them up in holiness and comfort through faith unto salvation Hom. I. p. 2. If we lack a learned man to instruct and teach us yet God himself from above will give light to our minds and teach us those things which are necessary for us and wherein we are ignorant Mans humane and worldly wisdom or science is not needful to the understanding of Scripture but the revelation of the Holy Ghost who inspireth the true meaning into them that with humility and diligence do search therefore To. 2. Hom. XVII p. 1. Let us in faith and charity call upon the Father of mercy by the mediation of his well-beloved Son our Saviour that we may be assisted with the presence of his holy Spirit and profitably on our parts demean our selves in speaking and harkening to the salvation of our souls Hom. XVI p. 2. And he of his great mercy so work in all mens hearts by the mighty power of the Holy Ghost that the comfortable Gospel of his Son Christ may be truly preached truly received and truly followed in all places to the bearing down of sin death the Pope the Devil and all the Kingdom of Antichrist Hom. XVII p. 3. We should not be able to believe and know these great mysteries that be open'd to us by Christ but by the Holy Ghost St. Paul says that no man can know what is of God but by the Spirit of God as for us saith he we have received not
he might be in a capacity to bestow his Spirit upon them and to conquer all their enemies for them 2. He must be Man as well as God that he might perform obedience suffer satisfie and intercede for us in our nature that he might be a merciful High-Priest and have a fellow-feeling of our infirmities 3. Both God and Man in one person that he might be a fit Mediator betwixt God and man to make up the difference betwixt them which sin had made For as sin is the only make-bate so Christ having taken our nature into union with the Godhead is the only person that is in a capacity to make peace betwixt an offended God and offending man and that he might perform in the great work of Redemption whatever was requirable of both natures jointly in one person or whatever he was to do as head of the Church A. 22. Christ the Son of God became man by taking to himself a true body and a reasonable soul being conceived by the power of the Holy Ghost in the womb of the Virgin Mary and born of her yet without sin Artic. xv Christ in the truth of our nature was made like unto us in all things sin only except from which he was clear void both in his flesh and in his spirit Artic II. The Son which is the Word of the Father begotten from everlasting of the Father the very and eternal God of one substance with the Father took mans nature in the womb of the Virgin Mary of her substance So that two whole and perfect natures that is to say the Godhead and Manhood were joined together in one person never to be divided whereof is one Christ very God and very man who truly suffered was crucified dead and buried to reconcile his Father to us and to be a Sacrifice not only for original guilt but also for actual sins of men Homil. xij As truly as God liveth so truly was Jesus Christ the true Messias and Saviour of the world even the same Jesus which was born of the Virgin Mary without all help of man only by the power and operation of the Holy Ghost Expl. 22. When it is here said that Christ the Son of God became man we are not to imagine that Christ did then lay down his Godhead or that he did cease to be God when he honoured mans nature so far as to take that upon him for though he then began to be what he was not before man yet he did not cease to be at his Incarnation what he was before namely God it being impossible altogether that the Godhead should admit of any change because of its infinite perfection for every change is either for the better or for the worse but the Godhead was infinitely as well as independently perfect and consequently without all variableness or shadow of changing so that all the change which was in Christ at his Incarnation it was in his humane nature only and that change was indeed for the better for it was for the highest advancement honour and perfection that our nature was capable of But Christ though the Son of God and therefore truly God became man 1. Not by being like unto man only in outward appearance and to the outward senses as a Phantasm an Apparition or a Ghost that doth appear in mans shape as those Hereticks of old call'd the Marcionites did fancy No he became man 2. By taking the real body of man or by taking flesh blood bones nerves sinews hands feet and all other integral parts of the very same kind with those of mans body His body was such that it did grow in stature from that of a child to that of a man and was subject to the touch or feeling 3. By taking a reasonable soul or a soul furnished with the very same powers and faculties that ours have for the kind as understanding will affections memory c. and was capable of the improvement of these as of growing in wisdom and knowledg according to his humane nature 4. By being conceived of the Holy Ghost i. e. in a manner supernatural or above nature and not in an ordinary way of natural generation but by the immediate and omnipotent operation of the Spirit the third person in the Trinity who did in a way altogether unexpressible by man and without the help of man frame the body of the holy Child Jesus in the Virgin Maries womb wherein this blessed Babe continued the space of Nine Months as other children do in their mothers womb and then was born into the world in fulness of time as they are but yet without sin as they are not A. 23. Christ as our Redeemer executeth the offices of a Prophet of a Priest and of a King both in his estate of Humiliation and Exaltation Expl. 23. By this word Redeemer we are to understand the same with Mediator and by both the second Person in the Trinity as he was upon Covenant and Contract made with the Father to mediate peace betwixt God and man and to manage the whole work of Redemption in order to the justification sanctification and salvation of the Elect and that not only whilst he was here upon earth to be our King Priest and Prophet but now that he is in heaven he ever lives to make intercession for us and doth still guide and teach and govern his Church by his Word and Spirit A. 24. Christ executeth the office of a Prophet in revealing to us by his Word and Spirit the Will of God for our Salvation Hom. xvij By this our heavenly Mediator do we know the favour and mercy of God the Father by him know we his will and pleasure towards us for he is the brightness of his Fathers glory and a very clear image and pattern of his substance It is he whom the Father in heaven delighteth to have for his beloved Son authorized to be our Teacher whom he charged us to hear saying Hear him Expl. 24. When Christ is here called a Prophet we are not to restrain this part of his Office only to his foretelling all such things as should befall his Church or the enemies thereof though this he has done in Prophetical Scriptures so far as he thought necessary for the good of his Church But he is principally called a Prophet and that Prophet because of that power commission and ability which he has and doth exercise in revealing and declaring both outwardly by his Word and inwardly by his Spirit the whole mind and will of God which was necessary to be known by man in order to salvation And for this reason he is called in Scripture the Word and the Word was made flesh and his name is the Word of God because that as a man does make known what his mind and will is by his words either written or spoken so God the Father doth make known unto man by Christ what
applying of the Redemption purchased by Christ to all those whom he has redeemed by his blood Not that the Spirit may be said to believe in the elect but that he doth work that faith in them whereby they as Members are united to Christ their Head and so do mystically and spiritually but really become one with him for they that are thus joined to the Lord are one spirit and so being one with Christ what was done for them by Christ as their Mediator Head and Husband is accounted as done by themselves he having pay'd their debt as their Surety they receive their discharge and shall never come into condemnation or be cast into Prison after they are once thus one with Christ and effectually called by the Spirit A. 31. Effectual Calling is the work of Gods Spirit whereby convincing us of our sin and misery enlightning our minds in the knowledg of Christ and renewing our wills he doth perswade and enable us to embrace Jesus Christ freely offered to us in the Gospel Artic. X. The condition of man after the fall of Adam is such that he cannot turn and prepare himself by his own natural strength and good works to faith and calling upon God Wherefore we have no power to do good works pleasant and acceptable to God without the grace of God by Christ preventing us that we may have a good will and working with us when we have that good will Hom. II. Of Alms p. 2. The good deeds of man are not the cause of making him good but he is first made good by the Spirit and grace of God that effectually worketh in him and afterward he bringeth forth good fruit God of his mercy and special favour towards them whom he hath appointed to everlasting salvation hath so offer'd his grace especially and they have so received it fruitfully that though by reason of their sinful living outwardly they seemed before to have been the children of wrath and perdition yet now the Spirit of God mightily working in them unto obedience to Gods will and commandments they declare by their outward deeds and life in the shewing of mercy and charity which cannot come but of the Spirit of God and his especial grace that they are the undoubted children of God appointed to everlasting life Expl. 31. That we may the better know what effectual Calling is we are to consider of a double Call which doth many times prove ineffectual as 1. Outward in the preaching of the Word and the voice of the Rod or any Providence whatsoever which doth call men to repentance faith and holiness but notwithstanding all these outward Calls there are Millions in the world who turn the deaf ear to God and will not return to him by repentance nor come to Christ by faith 2 dly There is an inward Call which is no less ineffectual than the former and it is the Spirits Call as when he proceeds no further than that which Divines call a common work as 1. Common illumination or some kind of floating knowledg in the head concerning the word of God and spiritual matters and no doubt but many men who have wicked hearts and lead bad lives may be well stored with gifts of this kind as Iudas for one 2. Some kind of flashy affections excited and stir'd up in the Soul towards good things called foretasts of the powers of the world to come and such was in Herod and Balaam 3. Some kind of faint languishing inclinations in the will to obedience such as Herod had when he did many things 4. Some kind of sense of sin both in its guilt and horrour such as Iudas had and yet notwithstanding all this inward work of the Spirit his Call may be ineffectual And if all this may be without success then no wonder if the Arminians Call that of moral suasion or of arguments do prove no better But then 2 dly There is another inward Call of the Spirit which is effectual to the Elect sc. that whereby the Spirit doth not only call but enable them to come at his call as when he doth renew the mind and change the will sanctifie the heart purifie the conscience and affections and doth work a lively faith in such persons and repentance from dead works A. 32. They that are Effectually called do in this life partake of Justistification Adoption Sanctification and the several benefits which in this life do either accompany or flow from them Artic. xvij They through grace obey the Calling they be justified freely they be made Sons of God by Adoption they be made like the image of his only begotten Son Jesus Christ they walk religiously in good works and at length by Gods mercy they attain to everlasting felicity Expl. 32. Into the nature of these particular Benefits of Effectual Calling there will be occasion to enquire hereafter but as to the certainty of the thing that all that are effectually called shall partake of these is evident from these grounds 1. In that Christ did purchase these benefits not for himself but for them nay he had never laid down such a price in his Fathers hands but for the sake of Believers 2. The tenour of the Covenant of Grace doth ascertain this for when God the Father and Son did treat together concerning the redemption of the Elect it was upon these terms sc. That upon the Sons undertaking to satisfie both the Law and Justice of God and upon the full performance of this undertaking all those that do believe in Christ though by nature they had been children of wrath as well as others should upon their believing be justified adopted sanctified and saved 3. Upon their believing they do receive Christ and he gives himself freely to them and how shall they not with him have all things else they stand in need of A. 33. Justification is an Act of Gods free-grace wherein he pardoneth all our sins and accepteth us as righteous in his fight only for the righteousness of Christ imputed to us and received by faith alone Artic. II. We are accounted righteous before God only for the merit of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ by faith and not for our own works or deservings To. I. Hom. III. Because all men be sinners and offen-ders and breakers of his Law and Commandments therefore can no man by his own acts works and deeds seem they never so good be justified and made righteous before God but every one is constrained to see for another righteousness and this which we so receive of Gods mercy and Christs merits embraced by faith is taken accepted and allow'd of God for our perfect and full justification Part 3. Our works do not merit or deserve remission of our sins and make us of unjust just before God but God of his own mercy through the only merits and deservings of his Son Jesus Christ doth justifie us Nevertheless because Faith
doth directly send us to Christ for remission of our sins and that by faith given us of God we embrace the promise of Gods mercy and of the remission of our sins which thing none other of our virtues or works properly doth therefore the Scripture useth to say that faith without works doth justifie or only faith doth justifie Not through the merit of any virtue that we have within us or of any work that cometh from us therefore in that respect we forsake as it were altogether again faith works and all other virtues For our own imperfection is so great through the corruption of Original sin that all is imperfect that is within us faith charity hope dread thoughts words and works and therefore not apt to merit and deserve any part of our justification for us Tom. 2. Hom. IV. It is of the free grace and mercy of God by the mediation of the blood of his Son Jesus Christ without merit or deserving on our part that our sins are forgiven us that we are reconciled and brought again into his favour and are made heirs of his heavenly Kingdom Expl. 33. This word justification doth signifie not only to make just or righteous but also to make a man appear so yet not by infusing or working grace or righteousness in the Soul for this is the meaning of that word sanctification or it signifies the believing sinners being reputed or accounted righteous in the sight of God in and through the righteousness of Christ imputed to the sinner or accounted as his own for as condemnation doth suppose a man guilty because the just God doth not condemn men for nothing so justification doth suppose a man discharged from guilt and so not obnoxious to the penalty or curse of the Law now because the sinner cannot expect to receive this discharge by vertue of his own personal righteousness because all his righteousness is imperfect or as a menstrous rag therefore he must be found not having on his own righteousness for his justification but the righteousness of Christ. But more particularly in this A. we have 1. The principal Author or prime efficient cause of justification and this is God Who is he that condemneth it is God that justifieth God the Father as accepting of what Christ has done for sinners and God the Son as procuring our discharge and God the Holy Ghost as applying the merits of Christ to us and working faith in us whereby we receive so great a benefit 2. The inward moving cause free-grace and not any foresight of faith or obedience in the sinner to move him to it 3. The matter of justification or in reference to what the sinner is justified namely the guilt of sin and curse of the Law 4. The manner which consists in a legal discharge of the sinner from his former obligation to punishment here called the pardon of his sins and accepting of him as righteous 5. The meritorious cause only for the righteousness of Christ imputed to the believing sinner 6. The instrumental cause or condition sc. faith for the sinner through the means of his faith or upon the condition of his believing is thus justified A. 34. Adoption is an Act of Gods free-grace whereby we are received into the number and have right to all the priviledges of the Sons of God Tom. 1. Hom. III. p. 3. So making us also his dear children brethren unto his only Son our Saviour Christ and inheritors for ever with him of his eternal Kingdom of Heaven Hom. X. p. 2. He is a rising up to none other than those which are Gods children by adoption Hom. xi p. 2. By their obedience they declare openly unto to the sight of men that they are Sons of God and elect of him unto Salvation Expl. 34. More plainly Adoption it is Gods taking of those into his care and Family as his children by grace who were by nature the children of wrath and by practice the children of disobedience and all that they may enjoy the honour advantages and priviledges of his children as 1. They bear their Fathers Name and likeness or his badg and cognizance whereby they are known to belong to him and that is their holiness So that those who are afraid to be accounted godly they are afraid to be God-like and so disown their Father as if ashamed of him 2. They are all heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ their elder Brother to an heavenly Inheritance 3. They have the Spirit of his Son given to them whereby they are inabled to call God Father and to come to a throne of grace with the boldness of children 4. They are under Gods fatherly protection so that nothing can harm them 5. They are provided for by him and therefore can want no good thing 6. They have a sanctified use of the creatures and of all temporal good things yea afflictions themselves are for their good A. 35. Sanctification is the work of Gods free-grace whereby we are renewed in the whole man after the Image of God and are enabled more and more to dye unto sin and live unto righteousness Hom. II. p. 2. The holy Apostle calleth us Saints because we are sanctified and made holy by the blood of Christ through the Holy Ghost Hom. xvi p. 1. It is he which inwardly worketh the regeneration and new birth The more it is hid from the understanding the more it ought to move all men to wonder at the secret and mighty working of Gods holy Spirit which is within us For it is the Holy Ghost and no other thing that doth quicken the minds of men stirring up good and godly motions in their hearts which are agreeable to the will and commandment of God such as otherwise of their own crooked and perverse nature they should never have That which is born of the spirit is spirit As who should say man of his own nature is fleshly and carnal corrupt and naught sinful and disobedient to God without any spark of goodness in him without any virtuous or godly motion only given to evil thoughts and wicked deeds As for the works of the Spirit the fruits of Faith charitable and godly motions if he have any at all in him they proceed only of the Holy Ghost who is the only worker of our sanctification and maketh us new men in Christ Jesus Such is the power of the Holy Ghost to regenerate men and as it were to bring forth a-new that they shall be nothing like the men they were before Expl. 35. As for sanctification it is no less a work of free-grace than justification and adoption and in Scripture-phrase it is the new man new creature and a mans being created a-new in Christ Jesus unto good works in which and the like expressions is plainly set before us the large compass extent and comprehension of this work for herein all things must become new the nature renewed or changed from
and Justice not to treat with man in order to his being received into favour again but only in and through a Mediatour and because infinite wisdom could not find out a fitter than he who was God-man God was therefore pleased in the riches of his grace and mercy to pitch upon this way of recovering lost man sc. by faith in Christ who is mediator between God and man And although the Law of works did not accept of repentance upon the breach thereof yet the Law of faith doth or the Covenant of Grace doth as well require repentance toward God as faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. But then this repentance must be qualified as is exprest in the A. sc. It must be repentance unto life not a dead repentance but such as brings forth suitable fruit namely that which is unto holiness and the end everlasting life And then in the next place God requires a diligent use of all the means of grace these being the conduit-pipes whereby Christ and Grace and the Spirit and all the spiritual benefits of our redemption are ordinarily communicated unto us for though the want of these may not damn any but other sins where those that want them are not in the fault that they want them as those that want the means of grace and have only the Light of nature will not be condemned for what they want but for not glorifying God according to what light they have though it be but from the dim candle of nature so those that have these means and neglect them will have the greater damnation for This is the condemnation that light is come into the world and men loved darkness rather than light Io. 3.14 From all which may be infer'd 1 That the light of nature or the dim candle of corrupt reason is not sufficient to guide a man to Heaven for if it were faith would have been superfluous and Gospel-revelation concerning our redemption by Christ needless 2 That in order to salvation it is not enough for a man to believe the truth of the Gospel but he must also accept of the terms of the Gospel or Christ in the Gospel sc. faith and repentance i. e. He must accept of Christ in all his Offices and accordingly yeild subjection to him and he must repent of all his sins so as to bring forth fruit meet for repentance for a fruitless or a dead repentance will never carry a man to heaven 3 That Christ is communicative of his Grace for therefore hath he appointed means of Grace for the conveying of Grace to his members he is not a fountain sealed but a fountain open'd 4 That it is the duty of Christians to attend diligently upon the Ordinances of Christ for not only the necessity of the end requires it there being no other ordinary way for the obtaining of the end but by these means but also the obligatory power of Gods Command 5 That those therefore are enemies to their own salvation and redemption by Christ that do wilfully neglect the use or deny the necessity of Christs Ordinances 6 That if Christians be never the better for Christ and by what he has done for sinners they may thank themselves for God has prescribed means whereby they may reap benefit from the undertaking of Christ if then they do miss of life and salvation 't is because they will not come to him that they may have life 7 That Christians had need to beg of God that his good Spirit may move upon the waters of the Sanctuary that in and through Christ they may prove effectual for healing A. 86. Faith in Jesus Christ is a saving-grace whereby we receive and rest upon him alone for salvation as he is offered to us in the Gospel Hom. IV. p. 1. Of Faith It consisteth not only in believing that the word of God is true But it is also a true trust and confidence of the mercy of God through our Lord Jesus Christ hanging only upon him and calling upon him ready to obey and love him It being the first coming unto God whereby we are justified P. 2. By faith only not that the said justifying faith is alone in man without true repentance hope charity dread and the fear of God at any time or season But to take away clearly all merit of our works and wholly to ascribe the merit and deserving of our justification unto Christ only and his most precious blood-shedding This faith the holy Scripture teacheth us this is the strong rock and foundation of the Christian Religion this Doctrine all old and ancient Authors of Christs Church do approve This Doctrine advanceth and setteth forth the true glory of Christ and beateth down the vain-glory of man This whosoever denieth is not to be accounted for a Christian man nor for a setter forth of Gods glory but for an adversary to Christ and his Gospel and a setter forth of vain-glory Not that this our own act to believe in Christ which is within us doth justifie us For this were to count our selves to be justified by some act or vertue that is within our selves But we must renounce the merit of faith c. and trust only in Gods mercy and that sacrifice which our high Priest and Saviour Christ Jesus the Son of God once offer'd To. 2. Hom. XI Unfeigned faith is the only mean and instrument of salvation required on our parts Expl. 86. In this description of faith there are several things observable as 1 concerning the object of it and this is Jesus Christ not only as God though therefore he is to be believed because Truth it self nor only as God-man though the Word being made flesh he is to be believed because he is the Revealer of his Fathers will concerning mans Salvation but as being God-man he is constituted Mediator betwixt God and man and by vertue of his Mediatorship doth execute the office of a King of a Priest and of a Prophet in order to the Salvation of all those who do believe in him or do heartily receive and embrace him for their alsufficient Saviour upon the terms of the Gospel and thus considered he is proposed as the object of saving Faith yet because without shedding of blood there is no remission and because we are said to have redemption through his blood therefore Christ crucifi'd is the most peculiar object of this faith 2 Concerning the act of this faith 't is to be noted that doth not barely exert or put forth it self in a firm assent only to the truth of the Gospel nor yet in a particular full perswasion that I shall be undoubtedly saved in and through Christ for true saving faith may be without this full assurance but 't is exercised in a free consent of the will that this Saviour shall be our Saviour upon those terms he is offer'd namely cheerful submission both to his Scepter and to his Cross and hereupon the affections those everlasting gates
encouraged to ask because by his grace we are enabled from the heart to forgive others To. 2. Hom. IX Dissention and discord interrupt prayer For the Lords Prayer hath not only a respect to particular persons but to the whole universal in the which we openly pronounce that we will forgive them which have offended against us even as we ask forgiveness of our sins of God Hom. VII p. 2. What if we be sinners shall we not therefore pray unto God or shall we despair to obtain any thing at his hands Why did Christ then teach us to ask forgiveness of our sins c. Expl. 105. In reference to the petition about forgiveness there is 1 something imply'd 2 The matter of the Petition and 3 the illustration of it 'T is imply'd 1 That man is naturally a guilty creature and under the condemnation and consequently obnoxious to the curse of the Law both by reason of Original and Actual sin 2 That of himself he cannot make satisfaction to Divine Justice nor any other for him Christ only excepted who is God as well as man For if man or any other creature for him could satisfie Gods justice he might then stick to that plea and stand at the bar of Justice whereas he is now forc'd to the throne of Grace 3 That God only can forgive sin for man is here directed only to God 4 That confession of sin and petition unto God for pardon is the way to obtain this pardon in and through Christ. 2 dly The matter of the petition or that we pray for 't is directly and expresly remission or forgiveness of sins and then consequently the imputation of Christs righteousness to us by virtue whereof we may find acceptance with God the Father in and by and through the merit of the righteousness of his Son Christ. For as by bread in the former Petition we do by a Synecdoche understand all the necessaries of this corporal life so in this Petition by forgiveness we may understand that which is so necessary to eternal life Christs righteousness to be imputed to us or in one word in this Petition we beg justification of our persons as in the next we beg sanctification of our natures hearts and lives In short sith there is forgiveness with God that he may be feared we who are so many condemned Malefactors must make our application and our supplication to him and to him alone for pardon for sin is such a burden and of such intolerable weight that 't is only omnipotent mercy that can remove the guilt of it from the consciences of men it being an opposition to the holiness of Gods nature who is infinite as well as a violation of that Law which is exceeding broad and therefore by the way sin may very well pass for the greatest of evils sith 1 only the righteousness of Christ is broad enough to cover it that the shame of the sinners nakedness may not appear 2 only the mercy of an infinite God could pardon it 3 sith 't is a down-right defacing of the image of God in man and instead thereof drawing the black lines or image of Satan upon mans soul 4 and is consequently the greatest enemy to mans happiness and perfection 5 It doth procure for the impenitent unpardoned sinner the eternal wrath of God and flames of hell Q. But it may be here demanded why our sins are called debts For an Answer we are to know in the general that they are not so properly but metaphorically with allusion to those debts that are contracted between man and man for God is not to be consider'd properly as a Creditor but as a Governour so that in strict sense our obedience rather than our sin is our debt to God and such a debt as we owe to him by the Law of our Creation so that our sins are called our debts only because sin doth make punishment to become a debt which we owe unto God and 't is our just debt and of the two it is punishment which man doth suffer for sin that comes nearer to the nature and notion of a debt than sin it self this being a due debt to Gods Justice as obedience is to his Authority however we cannot pray that this debt of punishment be remitted except we beg that guilt which is an obligation to punishment be first removed 3ly We have the illustration of the matter of this Petition by an apt similitude or resemblance sc. as we forgive our debtors which words with reference to God are not to be considered either as a rule that God should proceed in the same manner to forgive us as we do others or as a standard that God should measure out so many pardons to us as we give to those who do offend us but 1 as an argument 2 as an evidence The argument proceeds from the Jess to the greater that if we who have but as it were a drop of mercy can forgive others how much more will God who is an Ocean of free-grace and love it self forgive us not that our forgiving others is meritorious of Gods forgiving us 2 Our forgiving others when 't is done freely and heartily and universally 't is a fruit of the love and mercy of God shed abroad in our hearts an evidence of true grace in the soul or of sanctification and those whom he has sanctified he has also justified A. 106. In the sixth Petition which is And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil We pray that God would either keep us from being tempted to sin or support and deliver us when we are tempted To. 2. Hom. IX Must crave continually of god the help of his holy Spirit so to rule their hearts left hatred and debate do arise brawlings tauntings cursings and fightings Which are from the ghostly enemy who taketh great delight therein They are compassed by the Devil whose temptation if followed must needs begin and weave the web of all miseries and sorrows They will not consider the crafty trains of the Devil and therefore give not their thoughts to pray to God that he would vouchsafe to repress his power Expl. 106. In this Petition there are two things necessarily suppos'd as 1 The wickedness or perversness of mans nature to sin for when we beg that God would not lead us into temptation we do own a proneness to fall into it 2 The weakness of mans nature to resist temptations or to come off without any final damage when we are tempred for therefore do we pray to God to deliver us from evil that if the wise God in his wise and just providence for holy and just ends do so order things that we be assaulted by the Devil the World or the Flesh yet that God would so powerfully support and assist us by his Grace and Spirit that we be not overcome but that we may recover as a Bird out of the snare of the Fowler We do not absolutely
separate from sinners What Offices doth Christ execute as our Redeemer i Act. 3.20 Moses truly said unto the fathers A Prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren like unto me him shall ye hear in all things whatsoever he shall say unto you k Heb. 5.6 Thou art a Priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec l Psal. 2.6 Yet have I set my King upon my holy hill of Sion How doth Christ execute the office of a Prophet m Joh. 1.18 No man hath seen God at any time the only begotten Son which is in the bosom of the Father he hath declared him n Joh. 20.31 These things are written that ye might believe that Iesus is the Christ the Son of God and that believing ye might have life through his Name o Joh. 14.26 The Comforter which is the holy Ghost whom the Father will send in my Name he shall teach you all things How doth Christ execute the office of a Priest p Heb. 9.28 Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many q Heb. 2.17 In all things it behoved him to be made like unto his brethren that he might be a merciful and faithful High-Priest in things pertaining to God to make reconciliation for the sins of the people r Heb. 7.25 He is able to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them How doth Christ execute the office of a King s Psal. 110.3 Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power t Isa. 33.22 The Lord is our Iudg the Lord is our Law-giver the Lord is our King he will save us u 1 Cor. 15.25 For he must reign till he hath put all his Enemies under his feet Wherein did Christs Humiliation consist w Luk. 2.7 And she brought forth her first born Son and wrapped him in Swadling-clothes and laid him in a manger x Gal. 4.4 God sent forth his Son made of a woman made under the Law y Isa. 53.3 He is despised and rejected of men a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief z Mat. 27.46 And about the ninth hour Iesus cried with a loud voice My God my God why hast thou forsaken me a Phil. 2.4 He humbled himself and became obedient unto death even the death of the Cross. b Mat. 14.40 As Ionas was three days and three nights in the Whales belly so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth Wherein consisteth Christs Exaltation c 1 Cor. 15.4 And that he was buried and that he rose again the third day according to the Scriptures d Mark 16.19 So then after the Lord had spoken unto them he was received up into heaven and sat on the right hand of God e Act. 17.31 He hath appointed a day in the which he will judg the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained whereof he hath given assurance unto all men in that he hath raised him from the dead How are we made partakers of the Redemption purchased by Christ f Joh. 1.12 As many as received him to them gave he power to become the Sons of God g Tit. 3.5 Not by works of righteousness which we have done but according to his mercy he saved us by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost Which he shed on us abundantly through Iesus Christ our Saviour How doth the Spirit apply to us the Redemption purchased Christ h Eph. 9.8 By grace ye are saved through faith and that not of your selves it is the gift of God i Eph. 3.17 That Christ may dwell in your hearts by saith 1 Cor. 1.9 God is faithful by whom ye were called into the fellowship of his Son Iesus Christ. What is Effectual Calling k 2 Tim. 1.9 Who hath saved us and called us with an holy calling l Act. 2.37 Now when they heard this they were pricked in their hearts and said unto Peter and to the rest of the Apostles Men and brethren what shall we do m Act. 26.18 To open their eyes and to turn them from darkness to light and from the power of Satan unto God n Ezek. 36.26 I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh and I will give you a heart of flesh o Joh. 6.44 No man can come unto me except the Father which hath sent me draw him 45. Every man that hath heard and hath learned of the Father cometh unto me What benefits do they that are effectually called partake of in this life p Rom. 8.30 Moreover whom he did predestinate them he also called and whom he called them he also justified and whom he justified them he also glorified q Eph. 1.5 Having predestinated us to the adoption of children by Iesus Christ unto himself r 1 Cor. 1.30 Of him ye are in Christ Iesus who of God is made unto us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption What is Iustification s Eph. 1.7 In whom we have redemption through his blood the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of his grace t 2 Cor. 5.21 For he hath made him sin for us that knew no sin that we might be made the righteousness of God in him u Rom. 5.19 As by one mans disobedience many were made sinners so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous w Gal. 2.16 Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the Law but by the faith of Iesus Christ even we have believed in Iesus Christ that we might be justified by the faith of Christ. What is Adoption x 1 Joh. 3.1 Behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us that we should be called the sons of God! y Joh. 1.12 As many as received him to them gave he power to become the sons of God even to them that believe on his Name Rom. 8.17 And if children then heirs heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ. What is Sanctification z 2 Thes. 2.13 God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit a Eph. 4.24 And that ye put on the new man which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness b Rom. 8.1 There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus who walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit What are the benefits which in this life do accompany or flow from Iustification Adoption and Sanctification c Rom. 5.1 Being justified by Faith we have peace with God through our Lord Iesus Christ. 2. By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand and rejoice in hope of the glory of God 5. And hope makâ—â—â— not ashamed because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts through the Holy Ghost which is given unto us d Prov. 4.18 The path of the just is as the shining light that shineth more and more unto the perfect