Satan under every one of your feet Be not troubled for want of Assurance This is your Assurance That you believe in the Son of God I demonstrate comfort Thus 1. God is Faithful that hath Promised he can never fail 2. Christ is faithful in whom and to whom the Promises are made and he can never fail for the Promise is sure to all the Seed 3. The Holy Ghost is faithful that Seals the Promises of God to our Souls and he can never fail The Spirit of promise to all the Seed 4. Therefore the faithful that receive and rely upon these Promises shall never fail for they are in Christ the Promised Seed As for flesh and blood though that be weak and afflictions very grievous to it yet let the spirit be but honest and willing and then fear nothing For to him that hath though never so little true faith shall be given full measure pressed down and running over shall God give into his bosome To him that is never wanting to himself God will never be wanting Do but desire and God will help do but seek and thou shalt find ask and have knock and it shall be opened unto thee If we that are evil know how to give good things to our Children how much more shall our heavenly father give good things to them that ask him And hath he not promised that whatsoever we shall ask of him in the Name of his Son he will give it us and having given us Christ how shall he not with him also give us all things that he in his wisdome and goodness knows to be necessary for us And having our Portion let us therewith be content Look therefore Sin Misery and Death in the face and Trust in God still Look only upon Sin and Misery and Death and Hell with the Eye of Sense and dye for fear and despair but look with the Eye of Faith beyond all these at the glory that shall be revealed and live for evermore Consult not with flesh and blood for if you do you will droop and fall but consult with the Spirit by Faith in Gods Promises and he shall strengthen thine heart I have nothing to comfort and satisfy me and assure me in life or Death but my honest and faithful desires If I be a Hypocrite I can have no comfort but if I be true and upright to God to the World and to my own soul and do all I can to please God and to keep my Conscience void of offence towards God and towards men though I am clothed with innumerable frailties and imperfections yet I am sure God will pardon all for Christ his sake only let me be valiant and of a good courage And though I see no comfort coming to me in this life or very little let me not be disheartened for this nor judge of Gods favour by what I see or feel but by what I believe and hope for for the things which are seen or felt are but Temporal but the things which are not seen nor felt here are Eternal And what I see not and enjoy not now by sense I do see and enjoy by Faith and shall see and enjoy by sight And till then I content my self with the sight and fruition which I have which is to me an Evidence and full Assurance of what I shall have Therefore Deerly beloved Brethren be ye stedfast and unmoveable alwaies abounding in the work of the Lord for as much as ye know that your labour shall never be in vain in the Lord for faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen Amen GAL. 3.6 Abraham believed in God and it was accounted to him for Righteousness EXPLICATION THis Apostle saith Righteousness cometh not of the Law Gal. 2.21 Gal. 3.18 And the Inheritance is not of the Law but by Promise and faith in that Promise Both these sayings carry the same sense that is The right of an Inheritance which is the best Right cometh not of the Law but of Faith And both these sayings carry the same Reason because they argue the same Conclusion viz. That a man is not Justified by the Law but by Faith For if a man be Justified by the Law or if his Right of Inheritance be by the Law Ro◠4.14 then Faith is made void and the Promise void But being justified by his Grace Tit. 3.7 we are made heirs to the hope of Eternal Life So that to be justified by Faith and to be made an heir of God are all one in effect or the latter is but the property or consequent of the former In like manner to be counted Righteous or as in the Text for Faith to be counted for Righteousness is all one as to be justified For St. Paul alledgeth these words to prove the Doctrine of Justification by Faith and to have Right accounted to any person is to justify that Person Rom. 4.6 Gal. 2.16 Therefore this great saying That Abraham believed in God and it was accounted to him for Righteousness is to this effect That Abraham was justified by his Faith The Subject is Justification The Points 1. God 2. Account 3. Thing 4. End God the Cause of Justification Chap. 1. God justifi s. Rom. 8.33 Gen. 15.6 It is God that justifieth so the Hebrew Text Abraham believed in God and he imputed it to him for Righteousness God was the Agent that imputed Faith to Abraham for Righteousness St. Paul follows the Septuagint but the sense is all one For if actually God imputed Abrahams Faith unto him for Righteousness then it must needs follow passively that Abrahams Faith was imputed to him for Righteousness 2. The Account Cap. 2. Accounting The Word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is rendred reasoning concluding numbring reckoning imputing The great Arts of counting are Logick and Logistick 1. Logick is the counting of Sayings according to their rations or reasons as they are composed into their Conclusions and resolved into their Principles 2. Logistick is the counting of Numbers according to their rations or rates as they are composed into their Powers and resolved into their Roots And as in Logick the Conclusion is the effect of two Sayings rightly figured when one of those Sayings is the cause of that effect and the other Saying is the reason or mean between the Cause and the Effect So in Logistick The Power is the Product of two Numbers rightly multiplyed when one of those two Numbers is the Root of that Power and the other is the Rate between the Root and the Power Both these Countings or Reckonings or Reasonings do manifest the ration or Rate of a Saying to a Saying and of a Number to a Number So that to Account is to conclude by Reasoning or Numbring by arguing to find the Conclusion by addition to find the Total by Multiplication the Product by Division the Quotient The Word is used thus in several places Rom. 6.11 Reckon your selves to be
5. Of the Descâ—iption of Faith 1. God makes a Promise of Eternal Life and in order thereunto of the grace of Adoption and forgiveness of Sins and the gift of the Holy Ghost Thus God gives his Faith unto man is Gracious to promise being moved thereunto only by his free love in Christ without our supplication or the mediation of any Creature 2. God stands to his Promise thus made and keeps his Faith for he is faithful that hath promised and keepeth Covenant for ever 3. Man accepts and entertains this Promise made by God which is a taking of the Faith given trusting firmly to the giver for the full performance of it in due time 4. Man makes a Promise to God that is he gives his Faith to God to work that righteousness which God hath required at his hands by the help of his grace 5. Man stands to his promise and Faith which he hath given to God by the performance of that duty of Love which God hath required of him with all his heart soul and strength by the same Grace 6. God accepts this Promise or Faith which man hath given to him that is God takes his Faith given and trusteth to the Giver expecting the performance of it This is a mutual Contract betwixt God and Man as that in Marriage a mutual Assent and Consent giving and taking of each other This is the Covenant of Grace made between God and man Chap. 6. Of the Covenant of Grace whereby both parties are made sure together This is our Faith God reveals his Promise Law Will Word Testament Covenant Ordinance Grace God calls moves perswades draws invites allures by all gracious and proper means fit for a rational spirit to receive When the heart hears understands is invited moved perswaded and drawn that is accepts and embraces the offer of Grace then man believes When the Heart stoppeth the Ear at the voice of this Charmer though he charm never so often never so wisely when he refuseth rejecteth or embraceth not then man disbelieves then he is condemned of himself because he maketh God a Liar who is Truth its self and cannot lye As when a Rebel hath pardon offered by his Prince and will not accept it upon the condition of future Loyalty he deserves to dye if he had ten thousand lives So when the heart hath once accepted the free grace and love of God and afterwards falls off and embraces this present World being weary of obedience and unwilling to exercise mortification and self-denyal then man is said to deny the Faith and to make Shipwrack of Faith and of a good Conscience So then the Acceptation of Gods good Word and Promise is True Faith and by it the Believer obtains Righteousness even the Righteousness of God which is by Faith And this is our Justification Chap. 7. Of Justification that is not only to the forgivenesse of our sins but to a present Right of being the Child of God and Heir of God and Coheir with Jesus Christ and hath thereby the Spirit of God given unto him which is the earnest Evidence and Assurance of his Salvation and accordingly hath Hope of the future Possession of the Inheritance which is by Promise And thus the just man lives by his Faith and waits patiently upon God for the fulfilling of his word And this his Faith stayes his Soul from fainting and is unto him the Substance of things which are yet to come and otherwise as to him do not subsist and is unto him the Evidence of things not seen and otherwise as to any mortal Eye cannot be seen Thus Abraham believed in God and it was accounted unto him for Righteousness that is Abraham believed in God and thereby was justified for St. Paul alledgeth these words to prove the Doctrine of Justification by Faith and to account any Right to any person is to justify that Person or to have Righteousness imputed to him Rom. 4.6 Gal. 2.16 So had Abraham a true Right by his Faith to have a Son and a numerous Progeny and to possess the Land of Canaan And this is our Evidence also That 1. We have a Right to Heaven by Faith 2. We hold it by Works 3. We expect it by Hope So Faith is a Passive Act of the Will receiving holding and embracing Gods offer as the Fathers that were perswaded of the Promises of God and saw them a far off and embraced them as they that heard the word Heb. 11.13 and received it with joy And to as many as received Christ which was the Promised Seed Luc. 8.13 to them gave he Power that they should be called the Sons of God Joh. 1.12 So it is a Passive Act of the same Will to refuse or reject what is offered as the Text speaks See that ye refuse not him that speaketh from heaven He that rejecteth me and receiveth not my words hath one that judgeth him Heb. 12.25 Joh. 12.48 c. Thus the Lawyers rejected the Counsel of God against themselves and therefore accounted themselves unworthy of Eternal Life Gods Promise imputes a Present Right to a future Blessing Chap. 8. Gods Promise which are two Acts of Gods will Hence God requires an Acceptation of that present Right and an Expectation of the future Blessing which are two Acts of mans Will correspondent to the two Acts of Gods Will of imputing a Present Right and a future Possession of a Biessing This is Gods Promissory Will which is not at all compulsatory but invitatory altogether leaving us freely to our own choice And this Acceptance is Faith and this expectance is Hope agreeable to the will of Gods Promise Thus Gods Precept which is the condition of his Promise imposes a present Band to a future observation of some Duty as the works of love Chap. 9. God's â—recept which are two Acts of Gods Preceptory Will Hence God requires submission to this present Band and performance of the future Duty which are two Acts of mans will agreeable to the two Acts of Gods Will. This is Gods Preceptory will and this is compulsatory not Invitatory to leave us free to our own choice to obey or to transgress but legally binds us to obedience And this obedience if freely performed not for fear of Punishment is Love which is the fulfilling of the Law in an Evangelical way Gods Precepts are his Revealed Will or Word proceeding from his Holiness and Gods Judgments are his revealed Will or Word proceeding from his Anger But Gods Promises are his revealed Will or Word proceeding from his Love This is Gods good Word or his good Promise Therefore an Assent to Gods Precepts and to his Judgments is Faith to convict a Sinner of his Transgressions and the guilt of Punishment due to him for the same But an Assent to Gods Promises and an Acceptance of them is faith to justify to a present Right to a future Blessing Thus Abraham and Sarah accepted the present
pleased He intended farre higher Duties unto which he led them by the hand if they had had the wit to observe it according as the Prophets did often hint unto them But they rested in the Letter and in the worke-daies and would not understand what God farther intended no not when they were sorely slasht in the Babilonish Captivity nor in the time of the Maccabees nor under the sore Yoke of Antiochus nor yet of the Romans when the Gospel began to dawn nor yet in the dayes of Christ himself and his Apostles when the cleer day-spring from an high did visit them and that God did fully reveal what worship he meant should continue for ever and that all their rude and beggarly elements should be laid aside as being added only because of Transgressions till the Promised Seed should come It was therefore necessary that the Patterns of things in the Heavens should be purified with these Heb. 9.23 but the heavenly things themselves with better Sacrifices then these But still they stumbled at the Old stumbling-stone of a Temporal Covenant established upon Temporal Promises and commanding Temporal Services And from hence many Christians first taken from the Nation of the Jews and afterwards from all the Heathen Countries have erred exceedingly Partly by mixing Judaisme and partly by mixing Paganisme with Christianity which both of them are not out of us unto this very day although the Apostles made it their business as they had then too much occasion to overthrow these two maine errors from whence all other Heresies have been derived and that Christ himself did so much speak against the continuance of the Jewish way and the Introduction of Heathenish customs by Preaching a more Spiritual Law and declaring Eternal Promises All though God hath winked at the Nonage of the Jews and the Ignorance of the Gentiles Chap. 9. Châ—iâ—â—â—anisme yet now God will have all men every where to aspire to perfection and learn better things commanded in a better Covenant that is established upon better Promises especially in the dayes of Adversity when we are pinched with long and sore Warrs with plagues of Fire and Water and sundry kinds of Death It is high time now for the World to grow wiser to come off from the Vanities and Pomps of this Life and walk highly with God in the Spiritual Exercise of Faith and Repentance Away then with this Loose and Carnal way of Living This will not do The Gospel calls for higher things 1. This Loose and Carnal Life will never satisfy the Conscience nor please God 2. This formal and outward Worship will not serve the Turne You must come up to the pure Gospel-way to the life of Faith and to the worship of the spirit or you can never please God Be honest and just in your words and Actions Be dutiful and obedient to the Laws Be decent and orderly in Gods Worship But still I shew you a more excellent way This is to be done and you are not to leave the other undone For thus it becometh us after Christs own Example To fulfil all Rigteousness To offend none but to give unto Caesar the things which are Caesars and unto God the things which are Gods APPLICATION I have set before you two wayes Faith and Sight Spirit and Flesh choose therefore the better part that shall never be taken away from you 1. Cherish the life of Nature by Temperance Sobriety and Chastity 2. Regulate the life of sense by Reason Prudence and Moderation 3. Order the Moral life by Virtue Justice Obedience and Honesty 4. Maintain the Civil Life by dutiful submission to Rulers and their Laws for the publike Good 5. Keep the Spiritual Life above all by Faith 1. Which may Sanctify Nature Sense Morality and Laws 2. Which may transcend all carnal Profits Pleasures Honours Arts Powers Glories Liberties Beauties Friends Health Peace Orders c. 3. Which may overcome all Carnal Pains Wants Shames Ignorances Weaknesses Disgraces Deformities Enemies Diseases Warrs Bondage Confusions c. 4. Which may regulate all Passions of Love Hatred Hope Despair Joy Grief c. 5. Which may sublimate all Faculties Understanding Will Memory Conscience 6. Which may arrive at the height of true Wisdome Peace and Tranquility of Minde 1. By exemption from vulgar Errors Vices and Passions 2. By aiming at Universal Liberty in Judgment and Will still submitting to Faith 3. By learning true essential simple honesty and plainness of Spirit 4. By Practicing true Piety 1. Free from Jewish worship 2. Free from Heathenish Idolatry This is the high and noble way of the New Testament of Jesus Christ which is of the spirit that giveth life not of the Letter that killeth Thus we overcome sin from ruling in our mortal Bodies that we should be obedient unto the lusts thereof Thus we overcome the Temptations and miseries of the World Thus we overcome the Devil and bruise Satan under every one of our Feet and through Jesus Christ are more then Conquerors And thanks be to God which giveth us this victory through Jesus Christ our Lord. Look therefore on things Spiritual and not on things Carnal Chap. â—0 Faith on things Eternal and not on things Temporal For the things that are seen are temporal and carnal but the things which are not seen but believed are Spiritual and Eternal Believe your sins are blotted out of Gods Book for so they are when forsaken Though you cannot see your Pardon sealed by Gods spirit by your sense yet by your Faith you may see it Believe the Peace of God of your own Consciences though the sense discern it not yet your faith may Believe the Judgments of God are escaped and shall not hurt you though you feel present pain in the Flesh as is needful for you Believe the Devil is overcome though he sift you as the wheat is sifted yet Christ hath prayed for you that your Faith shall not fail you and his Grace shall be sufficient for you Believe you shall live though you die and see corruption for you shall die in Faith This is Faith to believe above sense above hope and contrary to hope the judgment of flesh and bloud This is Faith To be present with God in the Spirit though you be absent from him in the Flesh This is Faith to rejoice in Misery to glory in Tribulations to be ravished with Spiritual comforts during the enjoyment of Temporal To find Rest in God in the midst of Trouble to rest upon Gods Promises of Pardon and Blessedness in the midst of Sins and Miseries I will believe though I see not nor feel not any comfor This shall be my joy comfort in believing I will believe though I can give no Definition nor Reason for my Faith I will live in the Spirit though I live in the Flesh for I do not live after the Flesh I will worship God in the Spirit though I use a Forme and outward Ceremony I will Eat