in Christ and then there is a Progeny of good Works first he quickens and gives us a Spiritual Being and then we walk and live an holy Life first there is a good Treasure of Grace in the Heart and then the good things are brought forth out of it Matth. 12.35 Ye have obeyed from the heart that form of Doctrine whereto or into which you were delivered saith St. Paul Rom. 6.17 Here we see whence an holy Life springs the Gospel was not only delivered to them but by the Regenerating Spirit they were delivered into it and cast into the holy Mould of it and this was the true Reason of their Obedience in an holy Life Of his own Will begat he us with the Word of Truth that we should be a kind of First-fruits of his Creatures Jam. 1.18 The Apostle in the precedent verse shews us the infinite Sun or Fountain of all good things and in this Verse he gives us a famous instance in Regeneration opposing it to that concupiscence which is immediately before spoken of conpiscence is the Fountain of sin and so is Regeneratition of holy Obedience the very end of Regeneration is that we might be a kind of First-fruits of his Creatures separate from the World and consecrated unto God in an holy Life living as those who by Regenerating Grace are made a choice portion and peculiar People to him It is observed by some Divines That the Holy Patriarchs had barren Wives that their Posterity might shadow out the Church which is not produced by the power of Nature but of Grace the end of which production is that Fruit might be brought forth unto God in an Holy Life The Hebrew Doctors say That God out of his great Name Jehovah added the Letter He to the Names of Abraham and Sarah Hence that of the Cabalists Abram non gignit sed Abraham Sarai non parit sed Sarah In allusion to this I may say It is not the Humane Principles but the Divine Nature which Believers the Children of Abraham partake of that makes them bring forth the Fruits of an holy Life We have this exemplified in a greater than Abraham even in Jesus Christ he was first conceived of the Holy Ghost and then gave us that incomparable Pattern of Holiness in his excellent Life Sutably we are first supernaturally begotten to a Spiritual Being and then we live an Holy life He that Sanctifieth and they who are Sanctified are all of one Hebr. 2.11 Hence Camero observes De Eccles 223. that between Christ and Believers there is a wonderful Communion of Nature Both have an humane Nature Sanctified by the Holy Spirit he was conceived by the Holy Spirit they are regenerated by it that they may live unto God but to make this point the clearer I shall consider the two parts of the new Creature that is Faith and Love I call them so because the Apostle who saith Neither Circumcision availeth any thing nor uncircumcision but a new Creature Gal. 6.15 saith also Neither Circumcision availeth nor uncircumcision but Faith which worketh by Love Gal. 5.6 intimating that Faith and Love are two great parts of the new Creature an holy Life flows from both these Hence some Learned Divines observe that the good Acts of Heathens have an essential defect in them the good Acts of Believers have only a gradual defect but the good Acts of Heathens have an essential one in that they do not flow from Faith and Love and so cannot Center in the Glory of God Therefore St. Austin retracts that Speech wherein he said Retr lib. 1. cap. 3. Philosophos virtutis luce fulcisse that the Philosophers did shine with the light of virtue But to speak distinctly of these two Graces First An Holy Life-issues out of Faith an holy Life is virtually in Faith and proceeds actually from it Faith sees the commands of God to be as they are richly Engraven with the Stamps and Signatures of Divine purity and equity such as Proclaim that God is in them of a truth and that they are the very Counterpains of his Heart and from hence it presses the Believer unto obedience and secretly dictates that these are the very Will of God and must be done Thy word is very pure therefore thy Servant loveth it Saith David Psal 119.140 The Emphatical therefore in the Text cannot be practically understood by any thing but Faith the Carnal Mind which is enmity to God would argue from the purity of the command to the hatred of it but Faith such is its Divine Genius argues from thence to Love and Obedience It doth not only point out the Divine Authority which is stampt upon the command but shew the purity and rectitude which is there to attract us into our duty and that we may do it in a free filial manner Faith derives a free Spirit from Christ to make obedience easie and natural to us a Man with his old Heart drudges in the ways of God and brings forth duties as the Bond-woman did her Son in a dead Servile manner but when Faith comes the commands are easie and the Will is upon the Wheel ready to move sweetly and strongly in compliance thereunto The Believer is Spirited and new Natured for Obedience his Heart is in a posture to do the Will of God every where Faith finds Arguments and Impulsives for it Doth it look upon the Life of Christ it immediately concludes these are the steps of our dear Lord and shall we not follow him After whom shall we walk if not after him It 's true he walked in pure sinless perfection such as we cannot reach but the gracious Covenant hath stooped to our frailty and made us sure that sincerity will be aceepted and how can we deny it or refuse to comply with such condescending Grace Doth it look upon Christs wounds and bloody Death these will cast shame and confusion upon an unholy life May any one imagine that our Saviour bore the Curse and Wrath of God that we might provoke it or expiated our sins at so dear a rate as his own Blood and Life that we might indulge them who sees not now that Sin is bloody and holiness amiable and what easie terms are proposed to us when the Death and Curse was only Christ's and the sincere Obedience is all that is required to be ours Doth it look up for the Spirit the purchase of Christ's death We well know where that is to be found the more we walk in the holy Commands and ways of God the more are we like to have of the gales and Divine comforts of it while we are obeying and doing the Will of God that Spirit will usher in assistances and Heavenly consolations upon us to give us an experimental proof of that Promise That the Holy Spirit is given to them that obey him doth it look within the vail to the Rivers of pleasures and plenitudes of joy in Heaven where pious Souls see Truth in the
will be loved no longer nay it will look according to its own hue like a vile base deformed thing fit for nothing but to be hung upon a Cross there to die and expire Hence it appears that an holy Man as long as his Faith discovers a vanity and nothingness in the fairest prospects of the World must needs overcome the World and the lusts of it Again An holy Man according to that supernatural Consecration which is upon him surrenders up his Love and Joy and Delight to God and Christ and Heavenly things the stream of his Heart which before run out upon the lying vanities here below is now turned to the excellent things above his Conversation is in Heaven his Treasure and his Heart are both there and then what must become of Sin must it not needs die away and become as a Body without a Spirit in it It is the Love and the Joy and the Delight of Man which animate Sin but if these are not here any longer but risen and gone away into the upper World to place and center themselves upon the excellent objects which are there then Sin must needs languish and die away it hath nothing to animate or enliven it any more were this Divine surrender in perfection Sin could not so much as be and proportionably where it is but in truth only Sin must needs grow heartless and powerless Notable is that of the Apostle Walk in the Spirit i.e. in the Elevations of holy Faith and Love and ye shall not fulfill the lusts of Flesh Gal. 5.16 Sin shall grow weak and by little and little give up the Ghost To conclude this Character An holy Man which way soever he looks sees just reason to mortify Sin the rectitude of the Law saith It must die for its crookedness and ataxy the threatning of Death saith It must die or the Soul must die in the room of it The bleeding Wounds of our dying Lord say That the Crucifier must not be spared but die after that manner That excellent Guest the holy Spirit saith It is too vile a thing to live under the same roof with it self The precious immortal Soul saith The wounds and turpitudes of it are too intolerable to be endured any longer Heaven that blessed Region saith It is not to be tolerated by any who mean to enter into that place We must then mortifie the deeds of the Body that we may live Rom. 8.13 that we may live a Life of Holiness here and a Life of Glory in another World Sixthly An holy Life is not made up of the Exercise of this or that Grace in particular but of the Exercise of all Graces pro hic nunc as occasion serves St. Peter saith That we must add to our Faith Vertue to Vertue Knowledge to Knowledge Temperance to Temperance Patience to Patience Godliness to Godliness Brotherly kindness and to Brotherly kindness Charity 2 Pet. 1.5 6 7. Holy Men who are partakers of the Divine Nature spoken of immediately before have Grace upon Grace and must as occasion serves exercise one after another that there may be a Constellation of Graces appearing in their Lives to give the more full resemblance of the Perfections which are in their Father in Heaven our Saviour Christ in whom all Graces are set forth in lively and Orient colours and are really and practically exemplified to our view had this character justly given him he went up and down down doing good every step one odour of Grace or other brake forth from him Subjection to Parents or Magistrates or Zeal towards God or Humility in washing his Disciples feet or Meekness under false Accusations or melting Compassions letting out cures on the Bodies and Heavenly truths on the Souls of Men or admirable Patience under great sorrows and sufferings one glorious way of Holiness or other was always coming from him Proportionably an holy Man Who is a living Member of Christ must be in his measure holy in all manner of Conversation 1 Pet. 1.15 In the Original it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which way soever he turn himself he must be holy in it he must have a respect to God at every turn this will best appear by the particular parts of his Life Take an holy Man in Divine Ordinances there he is holy He would first be sure that he is in a right Church and in a right Ordinance in a right Church for there the Lord commands the Blessing even Life for evermore in a right Ordinance for unless the Institution be from God the Benediction cannot be expected from him and then he would serve God in a right manner and sanctify his Name in his approaches when he comes to an Ordinance he hath high thoughts of God as being the Infinite Majesty of Heaven the Excellency of all Perfections one whom Angels adore and Devils tremble at accordingly he lies low before God he serves him with Reverence and godly Fear he draws nigh to him yet forgets not the infinite distance between them he blushes to think that he must go before so pure a Majesty with the dust of Mortality about him and again he blushes to think that he must do so in the spots and rags of many Infirmities which being in the Soul are much more abasive than those in the Body The Beams of the Divine Glory strike an holy awe into him and make him conclude That a Soul though entirely given up is to God but a little very little thing but as a Beam to the Sun or a drop to the Ocean and which is matter of more shame and abasement the Soul is much less in that the innate corruption holds back and the bewitching World steals away a great deal of it from God very little or rather nothing it is that we can give to him however the holy Man such is his Divine temper would not abate any thing but endeavour in Ordinances to give God his Spirit and highest Intention he knows that God is a Spirit and meer bodily worship is as nothing to him what is the bowing of the Knee when there is an Iron Sinew of Rebellion within or the lifting up of the Hands or Eyes when there is an earthly depression upon the affections towhat purpose is an open Ear when the Heart is deaf and shut up against holy Truths And what a shadow a meer lye in worship is the Body when the Mind is stole away and gone after Vanity He therefore sets himself to serve God in spirit and truth while God is speaking to him in his Sacred Word he would have no converse at all with worldly objects he bids these stand by and not interrupt his attention while he is speaking to God in prayer he would not only pour out words to God but his very Heart and Spirit if it were possible all of it without reserving so much as a glance or a piece of a broken thought towards carnal things a Duty to the Great God is a
it were out of the fire and breathes out a Death and a Curse against it It further appears when the Threatning comes forth in actual Judgments in which God falls upon his own creature the work of his own hands It more appears when Wrath comes down not upon this or that sinner but upon multitudes and not upon the offending persons only but upon their Infant-relations upon their fellow-creatures upon the very places where they acted their iniquities Adam sinned and Wrath fell upon the whole Race of mankind nay and a Blast and a Curse fell upon the Creation such as makes it groan and travel in pain with an universal Vanity The old World was drowned in sensualities and a Deluge sweeps away them and their fellow-creatures The Sodomites burned in their unnatural lusts and fire and brimstone was rained down upon them Korah Dathan and Abiram turned Rebels and the Earth opened her mouth and swallowed up them and all that appertained to them These are notable Tokens of displeasure but a greater is yet behind The Eternal Son of God cannot assume our flesh and stand as a Sponsor for us but he must bear an infinite Wrath such as was due to the sin of a World Though he were the Wisdom of God he must be sore amazed and ready to faint away in a fit of horror Though the Fathers joy he must be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 surrounded with sorrows even unto death He bore up all things yet now under the burden of Wrath he must fall and grovel upon the ground He must pour out tears and strong cryes to God that the bitter Cup may pass He must be in an Agony a dismal conflict with the Wrath of God and sweat great dropt and clotters of blood under the pressure of it The blessed and beloved One of God he was yet he must be made a Curse and upon a tormenting Cross cry out My God! My God! why hust thou for suken me The Sun must now withdraw his light and the Earth quake in sympathy with their Creator Oh! What a spectacle of displeasure was here What is a Deluge or the groans of a dissolving World in comparison There meer creatures suffer but here God in the flesh The Marks of divine Wrath were now set upon that humane Nature which as assumed into an infmite Person is far above all the Greation Never was there so high a demonstration of Gods infinite hatred and antipathy against sin as there is here No created Understanding of Men or Angels could ever have found out such a wonderful Manifestation as this is Infinite Wifdom did it to make sin look like it self infinitely odious Moreover As it is the nature of Hatred to be a Murderer to seek the not being of the thing hated so it was the great Design of this Mysterie to extirpate sin out of the hearts of men For this purpose was the Son of God mantjested that he might the stroy the works of the devil 1 John 3.8 There are three things in sin the guilt the power and the being The aim of a crucified Christ was to extirpate there all Christ was made Sin and a Curse for us He did by his sweet-sinelling Satrifice fully fatisfie the Law and Justice of God And why did he do it but that the bonds of guilt might be broken off from us The strength of sin in binding us over to Death and Hell is the Law and the Law in its threatning of a Curse and Condemnation is the voice of vindictive Justice these two being fully satisfied in Christ the guilt of sin becomes powerless and unable to hold such sinners as by Faith and Repentance partake in that Satisfaction There was in Christs Sufferings not only a fulness of Satisfaction but a redundance of Merit Thereby he procured the Holy Spirit for us and why so but that the power of sin might be dissolved in us Our own spirit of it self could not would not do this but the divine Spirit which Christ hath procured doth in true Believers effect it Sin is no longer a prevailing-Law in the heart the Holy Spirit takes away its dominion that the Throne of Christ may be set there It is true as Saint Bernard saith Velis nolis infra fines tuos habitat Jebusaeus Sin hath a being in Believers but even that doth the holy Spirit in the Article of Death remove from them that their Souls may fly away into that pure Region where are the spirits of just men made perfect Thus God manirests his hatred of sin in that he laid in the Sufferings of Christ a design for the extirpation of it 4. Gods Holiness as it imports a love of holiness in man is here clearly seen in that when it was lost he did so much for the recovery of it Holiness that divine Life being by the Fall beaten out of the heart of man stood without in the letter of the Law but that it might be recovered into the heart of man again that his heart might be made a Sanctuary an holy Place for the divine Majesty to dwell and take pleasure in God hath done very much and been at a vast expence about it He hath not only wished for Holiness O that there were such an heart in them Deut. 5.29 but he hath sent his own Son into the flesh to be a rare Pattern and Samplar of it nay and to bleed and die upon a Cross that it might be revived in poor fallen man It could not be revived there without the holy Spirit and that could never have been had unless Justice were satisfied and Satisfaction could not be made without a Sacrifice of infinite value Christ therefore was made such an One that the holy Spirit might come and re-imprint Holiness in man again God died in the flesh that man might live in the Spirit One great end of Christs sufferings was Holiness He gave himself for us that he might purifie to himself a peculiar people Tit. 2.14 that he might have a glorious Church not having spot or wrinkle Ephes 5.27 Rather than lose Holiness which is the Glory He would humble himself to the shame of a Cross rather than we should not be sanctified or consecrated to God in Holiness he would sanctifie and consecrate himself to be a sacrifice to Justice Oh! What a rate or value doth God set upon Holiness in man How highly must he delight and take pleasure in it when he will come in the flesh and die rather than suffer it to be extinct in the World a greater demonstration of Love to it than this cannot possibly be imagined Further Gods love to Holiness appears in this that he orders things so that no man can partake of Jesus Christ unless he subject himself to the holy terms of the Gospel he that names the Name of Christ must depart from iniquity What if Christ be a most glorious Saviour and Redeemer What though he fulfilled Righteousness and made Satisfaction What though he opened a
a strong Motive to Repentance enough if duly considered to set all men a weeping over their iniquities What did the Creator suffer Was the Lord of Glory crucified Was the blessed One made a Curse Did the Son of God very God so dear so great a person sweat bleed cry out and expire upon a tormenting Cross and all this to take away sin What a spectacle is this Who can look upon it with dry eyes or an unmelting heart When the Son of God was broken should our hearts be untouched May we spare our tears when he parted with his blood To look upon his wounds and not mourn over our sins can be no less than unnatural hardness Oh! what a thing is sin how horrible how infinite an evil that it could not be expiated at an easier rate than the blood of God himself What Plea can be made or colour given for so vile a thing that it should have a Being in the world or so much as a residence in an humane Thought Should that be indulged which cost Jesus Christ so dear or that go free which nailed him to the Cross Canst thou love that which stabbed him at the heart or live in that for which he dyed May that be light which pressed him into an agony and bloody-sweat or that sweet which put so much Gall and Vinegar into his Cup Canst thou bless thy self in that which made him a Curse or follow after that which made him cry out of forsaking Think and again think if thy blind eyes and hard heart will let thee what and how dreadful a thing it is for thee to go on in thine iniquities In so doing thou dost not meerly run upon the Authority and Soveraignty of the Almighty but upon the wounds and blood of thy dear Saviour impiously trampling them under thy impure feet and how grievous a thing is this If thou art fearless and stoppest not here what hope canst thou have It becomes thee to sit down and lament that hellish impetus in thy own heart which moves swiftly towards Hell without admitting any remora A few words from God gave check to Abimelech Gen. 20. And shall not the wounds and blood of thy dear Lord do as much to thee The sword of an Angel put a stop to Balaam in his perverse way Numb 22. And wilt thou go on who hast seen the sword of God drawn against the Man his fellow for thine iniquities If the groans of the Creatures all round about sounding in thine ears did not startle thee yet shouldest thou be deaf and sensless to the Sufferings of thy Saviour bleeding and dying upon a Cross in comparison of which the dashing down of a world is a poor nothing If the breaches of the Sacred Law dearer to God than Heaven and Earth do not move thee yet wilt thou not be moved when thou seest that amazing sight God for our sins bruising and breaking his Son his essential Image in our assumed Nature If thou dost not blush at the blots and turpitudes which sin hath made in thy own soul yet methinks it should deeply affect thee that the Son of God was made sin and a Curse for thee Should God let thee down to Hell and after some scorches from the fire unquenchable take thee up again wouldest thou yet go on in sin no surely and why wilt thou do it now after thou hast seen such a spectacle of Justice in the Lord Jesus as more than countervails the Sufferings of a world When a Temptation approaches How is it that thou seest not the price of blood writ upon it Which way dost thou forget the nails and bloody Cross of thy Redeemer Thou seest plainly that God is ae just a righteous One and for a full proof of it he hath written Justice in red Letters in the Passion of his own Son if thou run on in thy sins how which way canst thou escape God spared not his own Son standing in our room and will he spare thee in thy impenitent sinning Wrath fell very severely upon the Holy Innocent meek Lamb of God and will it pass over thee wallowing in thy filthy lusts and corruptions What did God exact so great a Satisfaction for sin that it might be allowed Did he vindicate his broken Law at so high a rate that it might be more broken and that with Impunity 'T is utterly impossible those Sufferings of Christ which did witness Gods hatred of Sin could not open a gap to it the Surety did not sweat pray bleed and dye under Wrath that the impenitent sinner might be spared O how profane and blasphemous is such a thought which makes the great Redeemer a Patron of iniquity He came to save us from our sins not in them to redeem from iniquity not to encourage it What then where is thy hope O impenitent sinner Is it in Gods Mercy As infinite as it is it will not let out a drop to the impenitent neither indeed can it do so unless which is impossible one Attribute can cross another Mercy can reproach Holiness or Justice Believe it Salvation it self cannot save thee in thy sins Is it in Christ and his Merits He is the Saviour of the Body but thou art out of it He is the Author of eternal Salvation to them that obey him but thou art a Rebel May Christ be divided Canst thou have a part in his Priestly office who art in Arms daily against his Kingly Shall the Promises comfort thee who castest off the Righteous Commands It cannot be What Concord hath Christ with Belial How ill-suited are an hard heart and a bleeding Saviour How canst thou trust in that Jesus whom thou despisest and crucifiest afresh by thy Rebellions or depend on his Merits when thou livest in enmity against his Divine Spirit and Life These are meer inconsistencies Thy case while thou art in thy sins is very forlorn and desperate God will be a consuming fire to thee thy self must be as dry stubble before him every lust will be a never-dying worm thy soul will furiously reflect upon it self for its prodigious folly abused Mercy will turn into fury Christ the great Saviour will doom thee to perdition fire and brimstone and an horrible tempest will be rained down upon thee and that for ever If then thou hast any fear of God or love to thy self cast away thy transgressions and return to him that thou mayest escape the Wrath to come and enjoy the pure beatitudes which are in Heaven CHAP. V. Chap. 5 Gods Love and Mercy manifested in that he stood not upon the old terms as he might and in giving his Son for us The Socinian objection That if God loved us he was not angry answered The earliness and freeness of Gods Love in giving his Son The greatness of the Gift The manner how he was given The persons for whom The evils removed and the good procured by it The excellent Evangelical terms built upon it These are easie and sure The
an hand that is our Saviour tells us None can pluck them out of my Fathers hand John 10.29 I know some take these words with a limitation None can pluck them away without their own voluntary consent but this limitation makes the words altogether insignificant it is not possible that they should be plucked away without their consent The words therefore with that limitation run thus None can pluck them but in such a way as the same is possible to be done and thus they signifie nothing That which our Saviour makes impossible in the Text becomes in the Gloss as possible as any other thing Here we see the incomparable Love of God to his People there is in Christ an everlasting Covenant ordered in all things and sure they are preserved in Christ and that unto salvation This infinite immense Love of God in Christ can do no less than call for a return What was it not enough for him to give us a World of Creatures Hath he given his Son his only begotten dearly beloved Son for us Hath he given him so far as to be made flesh and made under the Law the command and curse of it Hath he thereby removed all Evils and procured all good things for us Hath he done this for Sinners for Enemies and that out of an eternal design of Grace out of such Love as was an impulse to it self without any attractive on our part to move him thereunto And after all this shall not our hearts take fire and burn within us with Love to him again When his Love was up in Eternity shall not ours appear in time When he loved us worthless meritless Creatures shall not we love him upon the highest and greatest attractives When he gave his Son when the Giver and the Gift were both infinite shall our finite affections be shut up from him or denied unto him Our Love to his is but a little drop a poor inconsiderable nothing and with what face or reason can we withhold it when infinite Love calls for it Hath God himself come down as it were from his altitude and in admirable Grace followed us First into our flesh and then into a Law-subjection and at last into a Curse and Penal Sufferings and all this upon an errand of Peace and Reconciliation to reduce us again to himself and to happiness in him and shall we yet fly away from him and by an horrible indignity turn our backs upon such admirable pursuits of Love and Grace After such a deliverance from Sin and Hell as this May we think our selves our own or turn away our hearts so much as in the glance of a thought from so great a Saviour After such a purchase of Grace and Heaven should we not lye down at his feet in extatical admirations and send up our dearest affections to the great Donor If Creatures if Laws if Ordinances move us not shall we yet be unaffected at the spectacle of a God incarnate obeying bleeding dying for us Sinners and Enemies It 's horrible ingratitude having such a prospect of infinite Love before our eyes Let us do as becomes us give God our heart not a piece or corner of it but all not in some weak languid velleities but in the highest strains and raisures of spirit not in some drops or rivulets but in a full stream and current of affections such as is due to him who is the Original of souls Our desires before vagrant on Earth should now take Wing and fly up to Heaven our Love once in corrupt conjunction with Creatures should now aspire after a pure Union with him who is Love it self Our delights should no longer toy or sport with vanity but spread and sweetly dilate themselves in the Beams of infinite Goodness All the Powers of our Souls should now be gathered in from the World and upon on a full deliberate choice should be placed upon the Center of Perfections The proof of all this must be in a life of Obedience without this it is meer vanity to say that we love him Holy Love goes not alone or without a train of good works following after it the warmth and ardor of it in the heart purifies the life the inward suavity of it facilitates the outward Command and naturalizes us to Obedience as it sets a high rate and estimation upon God himself so upon every jot and tittle of his Law The complacency which we find in him makes us take pleasure in all the pure ways which he hath set before us if we esteem him above Worlds and Creatures we will allow his Will to be above all Wills and subject ours to it Moreover the Love of God moves us to love our Neighbour What hath God gone before us in such admirable steps of Love and shall we not be followers of him as dear children and walk in love as the Apostle speaks Eph. 5.1 2 Can there be an higher or nobler pattern than Love it self Shall he do good in the sphere of Nature and more and higher good in the sphere of Grace and we do none in our little sphere Shall infinite Bowels and Mercies be open and finite ones shut When God hath given so great a Gift as his own Son May we withhold our little Pittances of Charity Would we receive all and give nothing Exact pence from our Brother when Talents are forgiven to our selves Is God come into our flesh and shall we hide our selves from it I mean in the neglect or contempt of the poor Did he take humanity that we should put it off No in so doing we should reproach not our Maker only but our Redeemer too Inhumanity is now double treble to what it was before our Saviour took an humane Nature to read us a Lecture of Love and Goodness in the old Commandment of Love is now a new one urged upon us by a new Motive The incomparable Love of God in his giving his Son for us If we now shut up our Bowels and Mercies from others how dwelleth the Love of God in us What sense can we have of it upon our hearts Charity was the badg of the Primitive Christians The impress of Gods Love upon Mr. Fox was so great that he never denied any that asked for Jesus sake Our Love towards men should be a little picture or resemblance of Gods Love towards us Our Mercies and Compassions should tell the world that we have tasted of that infinite Grace and Mercy which is above Our Charity towards all should bear witness that we have been great receivers from God Our Love towards Enemies should be a thankful acknowledgment that we being such were reconciled to God by the Death of his Son CHAP. VI. Chap. 6 The Power of God manifest in Christ In his Incarnation and Conception In his Miracles These were true in the History True in the Nature of Miracles They were numerous and great They were suited to the Evangelical design Divine Power manifest in converting the
Christ The Jewish Rabbins distinguish of a twofold Work of God they call his ordinary Works of Nature opus Bereshith from the first words of Genesis and his miraculous works opus Merchebha from Ezekiels Chariot A miracle is a work lifted up above the Order and Power of Nature it is a specimen of Creation something is made out of nothing What second causes cannot reach that is done by the first no Man no Angel can do such a work These are but parts of Nature and therefore cannot in their Operations exceed Nature Quod est totaliter sub ordine constitutum non potest ultra istius naturae ordinem agere it is only Gods Prerogative to work Miracles He that set the order of Nature can work above it he can lift Nature off the hinges and set it on again and when he doth it he doth it as becomes his infinite Wisdom upon very great and weighty Reasons When he brought his People out of Egypt then his wonders appeared when he delivered his Law on Sinai his wonders appeared again In those great dispensations he shewed himself not in the ordinary dress of Nature but in Royal State and Majesty much more did he do so when his Son very God was manifested in the flesh Then the water was turned into Wine the Wind and the Seas did obeysance to their incarnate Creator the blind received their sight the lame did walk the Lepers were cleansed the deaf did hear the dead were raised the devils were cast out of Men. Here the right hand of the Lord was glorious in Power Nature did as it were leap and triumph in miraculous elevations above it self at the coming down of its Creator to redeem the world a mighty train of wonders attended on that greatest wonder of all God incarnate a life of Miracles ensued upon his miraculous Conception Now touching the Miracles of Christ there are three or four things to be taken notice of 1. The Miracles of Christ were true and that upon a double account The one is this They were true in the History of them they were really done we have them upon Record in the Sacred Volume of Scripture they were not done in a corner or before a few but openly and before multitudes there were thousands of eye-witnesses from whom the truth of them hath been handed down in all ages of the Church There is no colour at all to imagine that those first reporters did utter an untruth or go about to put a cheat upon the world their own integrity would not suffer it neither was the thing it self indeed practicable How should so many thousands for the most part unknown to and distant from each other ever agree and conspire together in the very same story Or if they could what should they propose to themselves or which way could they think that a Relation of things to have been done openly if false should ever pass in a contradicting World They knew very well that there were innumerable prying malicious Enemies round about them who would persecute them for that Relation though true and brand them as lyars for it if false Christianity was then a poor persecuted thing and it would have been strange folly and madness in them to have ventured their lives and estates meerly to broach a lye unto the world especially seeing it must have been such an one as would have been surely discovered to be such and severely punished upon the Authors In all reason therefore what the first Witnesses spake was true and what after-ages heard was but the Eccho of their report The Miracles wrought by our Saviour were so great that none of the Adversaries ever durst deny that they were done The Jews did not deny it P. Gal. de Arc. l. 8. c. 5. their ancient Rabbins take those words of the Prophet Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped the lame shall leap as the hart and the tongue of the dumb shall sing Isa 35.5 6. to be spoken of the Messiah Their own Josephus speaks of Jesus as one more than a man and a worker of great Miracles only the Jews out of their desperate malice against our Saviour defamed his Miracles as done by Magick and as Dr. Lightfoot tells us Harm fol. 30. it is said in Talm. Bab. that Ben Sarda which is a blasphemous name they give to Jesus of Nazareth did bring inchantments out of Egypt in incision in his flesh But there cannot be a vainer thought than to imagine that Satan should contribute wonders to confirm that Doctrine which he knew would utterly ruin his Kingdom When the Pharisees said that Christ did cast out Devils by Beelzebub He answered two things First that Satans Kingdom if divided could not stand Matth. 12.26 And then that they in saying so did maliciously oppose their light and run into the unpardonable sin vers 31 32. But when the Jews saw that this pretence would not serve their turn they betook themselves to a contrary shift and said That the Messiah when he came should do no Miracles at all The Pagans did not deny Christs Miracles In Pilates Letter to the Emperor Tiberius there is an enumeration made of his Miracles In the Epistle of Lentulus to Tiberius he is stiled Magd. Hist Cent. 1. l. 1. c. 10. Homo magnae virtutis The Pagans conscious to themselves that the thing was not to be denied Aug. de Consensu Evang. l. 1. c. 9. cryed up Aesculapius and Apollonins in opposition to Christ and withal framed an impudent lye that our Saviour had Magical Books according to which he did his Miracles Such devices as these were I suppose first started by Julian the Apostate and by him instilled into others The Mahometans fairer than the other confess Christs Miracles to have been done and that from God Morn de Ver. Christ Relig. c. 33. Their Alcoran saith That Gods Spirit was a help and witness to Jesus that the Soul of God was given to him Thus it appears on all hands that the matter of Fact touching our Saviours Miracles cannot be denied The other is this They were true for the nature of Miracles they were not as the Devils wonders are meer Spectrum's or Apparitions but real Miracles things which are above the order of Nature and lye within the line of Omnipotence only the matter mode and end signally declare them to be such Some Miracles of Christ such as raising the dead were such for the matter of them that no conatus of nature no concurrence or conjunction of created Powers could ever have effected them no not in Millions of Ages some of them such as Curing the sick Nature might have done but in a tract of time and with the help of second Causes But our Saviour dispatched them out of hand instantly immediately with a word or a touch To operate after this sort is only proper to God who is excellent in
the eternal spirit offered up himself without spot to God shall purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God Heb. 9.14 Emphatica omnia totidem pene causae quot verba aeternae 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 per Christum partae saith the worthy Paraeus all things in the Text are Emphatical and there are almost as many causes as words of the eternal redemption obtained by Christ He offered not as the Gentiles to Devils but to God he offered not as the Priest under that Law a Sacrifice distinct from himself but he offered himself the thing offered and the Priest beyond all parallel were one and the same He offered not as the deceiver a corrupt thing Mal. 1.14 but his pure and innocent self in whom there was no spot or blemish He offered up himself not meerly through an human spirit but through a Divine Eternal one through his Divinity which aspired an eternal vigor and fragrancy into his Sacrifice so that it needed not as the legal ones any reiteration for as the Apostle hath it he hath by one offering perfected for ever them that are sanctified Heb. 10.14 This is that great Sacrifice more than all other sacrifices which satisfied Justice expiated moral guilt averted the wrath of Heaven and procured an eternal redemption for us Further Christ was not only the substance of the sacrifices but of the High-Priests also He hath the true holy garments the graces of the Spirit the true Vrim and Thummim lights and perfections His girdle is Truth his golden bells pure Doctrine his anointing the Spirit and Power He entred not with the blood of Goats and Calves into the Holy of Holies here below but with his own blood into Heaven there to appear in the presence of God and bear the names of his people upon his heart He is an High-Priest above all high-priests not a meer man but God whose Deity poured out an infinite virtue upon his Sacrifice He was not made an High-Priest only but made such by an oath The Lord sware Thou art a Priest for ever after the order of Melchizedeck Hebr. 7.21 The Aaronical Priesthood was temporary and of less moment but Christs was unchangeable and of far greater moment hence God pawned his Holiness Life Being it self to make it immutable for ever Other high-priests died as men but Christ though he died as a Sacrifice yet as an High-Priest he lives for ever hence the Apostle saith That he was a Priest after the power of an endless life Heb. 7.16 His Deity made him an everliving Priest and transfused an endless life of merit into his Sacrifice He is consecrated for evermore Heb. 7.28 He is a perfect Priest the efficacy of his Sacrifice is perpetual the holy Unction on his head is indeficient and ever running down upon believers This is the great High-Priest the substance of all those under the Law Lastly The truth of Gods Worship is set forth in and by Christ Though the truth and sincerity of Worship were required under the Law though external Worship as well as internal be due under the Gospel yet the truth of Worship was never so excellently set forth as it is in and by Christ This appears in three or four things 1. The matter of Worship is now more free and pure than it was the clog of Ceremonies and ritual observances is now removed Under the Law there was abundance of Corn Ordinances a great number of Sacrifices Circumcisions Washings Purifyings Fringes Festivals Travels to the Temple and distinctions of meats but in and by Christ the yoke is broken the carnal Ordinances cease and all is turned into spirituality Our Sacrifice is to present and consecrate our selves to God which is a service highly reasonable and indeed no other than the right posture of the soul towards him Our Circumcision is in the spirit and a cutting off the corrupt flesh of it Our Washing is that of Regeneration and Reformation Our Purifying is that of Faith which purifies the heart by the Blood and Spirit of Christ apprehended by it Our Fringes are no outward ones those being supplied by the Law in the heart Christ is our Passover the Holy Spirit poured out our Pentecost Our Feast is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to do our duty as one saith To delight in works of Virtue as another hath it There is now no tye to this or that place Omnis locus viro bono templum Every place is a Temple to a good man Every-where we may lift up holy hands to God Nor any distinctions of meat To the pure all things are pure The Levitical uncleanness in beasts did shadow out the moral uncleanness in men Quod Judaei vitabant in pecore id nos vitare oportet in more What the Jews avoided in the beast that we are to avoid in our conversation If there be no discretion of things in us the beast doth not part the hoof if no heavenly rumination it doth not chew the cud An idle person is a fish without fins or scales seldom in motion An earthly man is a creeping thing that goes upon his belly and feeds on dust Thus in and by Christ Religion is refined the load of carnal and ritual observations is cast off and Worship is brought forth in its pure and spiritual glory 2. The mode of Worship is excellently set forth in the Gospel God who is a Spirit must be served as becomes him in spirit and truth There must be a lowliness and humility of mind a reverence and godly fear an elevation and devotional ascension of the soul to God a filial love and obedience to his command a single eye a pure intention at his glory a divine fervour and freedom of spirit in the work a faith in the great Mediator for acceptance a waiting and holy expectancy upon God that he would bless his own Ordinance and irradiate the duty with the light of his countenance It 's true this mode of Worship was known under the Old Testament but it was never so illustriously set forth as by our Saviour Jesus Christ As a Painter saith Theophylact doth not destroy the old lineaments but only make them more glorious and beautiful so did Christ about the Law by his pure discoveries he put a gloss and glory upon the Divine Worship 3. The help to Worship is communicated in and by Jesus Christ The Holy Spirit which first new-frames the heart for pure spiritual Worship and then stirs up and actuates the holy Graces in it is more largely afforded under the Gospel than ever it was before Under the Law there were some dews and droppings of it in the Jewish Church but under the Gospel it is poured out upon all flesh It was a Judaical axiom The Divine Majesty dwells in none without the Land of Israel But after Jesus Christ had by his sweet-smelling Sacrifice purchased the Spirit and in the glory of his Merits had ascended into Heaven he shed forth the Spirit in a
hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light Col. 1.12 The first rise of Grace is in the bosom of eternal love the appearance of it in men is in supernatural gifts the period and center of it is in the Glory of Heaven Two things in this point of Grace offer themselves to our consideration the freeness of Grace and the Divine efficacy of it First The freeness of Grace is to be considered and that in two or three particulars 1. It is of Free-Grace that all mankind doth not eternally perish in the ruines of the fall That there is a possibility of Salvation for any one Son of Adam When the Angels sinned but one sin God turned them down into chains of darkness for ever Might he not in justice have dealt so with fallen men He was not bound to repair the Angels those golden Vessels once inmates of Heaven and who can who dares conceive such a thought That he was bound to repair men who are but Images of clay dwelling in the lower World I know many differences are assigned Man sinned by seduction Devils by self-motion in the fall of Man all the human nature fell in the fall of Angels all the Angelical nature fell not The sin of Angels was more damnable than Mans because their nature was more sublime than his Men are capable of repentance but Devils not because whatever they once choose they do will immovably But alas all these are but extra-Scriptural conjectures Man though tempted was voluntary in the transgression all men were involved in the fall but that 's no apology for the sin The sin of Man if not so high as that of Angels was yet a damnable one It is a vain dream to suppose that Almighty Grace could not have wrought a gracious change in Devils That which differences us from them is as the Scripture tells us no other than the meer Grace and Philanthropy of God towards us he might justly have left us under that wrath which our apostacy deserved Two things will make this evident 1. Original sin which reaches to all is properly sin and being such merits no less than eternal death We all sinned in Adams sin by that one man sin entred into the world The disobedience of that one constituted all sinners which unless it had been imputatively theirs it could never have done The want of Original righteousness is properly sin because it is the want of that which ought to be in us it ought to be in us because the pure spiritual Law calls for an holy frame of heart it ought to be in us or else we are not fallen creatures but are as we ought to be If it ought to be in us then the want of it is properly sin The Apostle proving that all are sinners and short of the Glory of God tells us That there is none righteous no not one none that understandeth none that seeketh after God They are all gone out of the way They are together become unprofitable There is no fear of God before their eyes Rom. 3. Which words denote a want of that habitual righteousness which ought to be in all even in little Infants That want is sin else the Apostle could not from thence conclude That all Infants not excepted have sinned and come short of the glory of God To want habitual righteousness which ought to be in us is to be sinners and short of our original That original concupiscence which is in all is properly sin it is over and over called sin in Scripture it is the root and black fountain of all impiety it is opposite to the Law and Spirit of God it impels to all sin it fights against all graces and particularly against that of love to God where the creature is inordinately loved there God is not loved with all the heart and Soul These things make it appear That Original sin is properly sin and if so it merits no less than death eternal The Scripture abundantly testifieth this The wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord Rom. 6.23 In which we have a double Antithesis Wages is opposed to Gift and eternal Death to eternal Life By one man sin entred into the world and death by sin Rom. 5.12 Not meer infelicity but sin entred not meer temporal death but eternal followed upon it Hence the Apostle tells us That there was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 judgment unto condemnation and that upon all men vers 16 and 18. We are by nature children of wrath even as others Eph. 2.3 He doth not say by practise or custom but by nature we are Children of wrath that is worthy of it Nature as corrupted is here opposed to Grace which as the Text after speaks saves us wrath appertains to nature salvation to grace This one Text is as a stroke of Lightning * Hoc uno verbo quasi fulmine totus homo quantus quantus est prosternitur Bez. in Loc. to lay all men flat and prostrate before God even little Infants being unclean in themselves cannot if unregenerate stand at Gods right hand and enter into the holy Heavens they must therefore stand at his left and go into darkness Hence St. Austin †Finge Pelagiane locum ex officina perversi doginaâ—is tui ubi alieni a Christi gratia vitam requiei gloriae possidere parvuli possint Aust Hyp. l. 5. tells the Pelagians who denied Original sin That they must forge out of their Shop of Heresy a middle place for such Infants as are Aliens from the Grace of Christ If Infants are unregenerate they cannot enter Heaven the place of bliss If as the Pelagians say they are free from sin they cannot go to Hell the place of misery Tertium ignoramus A third place I know not nor can find any such in Scripture They are therefore subject to eternal death for their Original sin The sum of this Argument we have in Anselm Si originale peccatum sit aliquod peccatum De conc Virg. cap. 27. necesse est omnem in eo natum in illo non dimisso damnari If Original sin be sin it is necessary that every one born in it should be condemned for it unless it be pardoned it being impossible that any one should be saved so much as with one unremitted sin If Original sin be indeed sin and do merit death eternal then God may justly inflict that death for it seeing he cannot be unjust in doing an act of justice in inflicting that punishment which is due to sin 2. As on Mans part there is a merit of eternal death so on Gods the mission of Christ to save us was an act of meer Grace This is set forth in Scripture God commended his love towards us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us Rom. 5.8 In this was manifested the love of God towards us because he sent
he ought the greatest Saint though a man full of divine principles stands in need of assistance And doth a natural man one void of good fraught with evil need no more Is regenerating quickning renewing new-creating grace nothing but an assistance only May any one believe that the holy Spirit in Scripture should give such high stately titles to an assistance only May a man be a co-operator or co-partner with God in the raising up faith and a new creature in himself It 's true a natural man may by a common grace enter upon preparatories he may attend upon the means but what can he contribute to the work it self he is meerly natural the new creature is totally supernatural and what can he do towards it could he contribute ought what would the new creature be must it not be part natural as from man part supernatural as from God part old as from nature part new as from grace Thus it must be if this great work be divided between God and man Notable is that of Lactantius De fal Rel. Lib. 1. Cap. 11. Jovem Junonemque a juvando esse dictos Cicero interpretatur Jupiter quasi Juvans Pater dictus quod nomen in Deum minimè congruit quia juvare hominis est opis aliquid conferentis in eum qui sit egens alicujus beneficii nemo sic Deum precatur ut se adjuvet sed ut servet ut vitam salutemque tribuat nullns pater dicitur filios juvare cum eos generat aut educat illud enim levius est quam ut eo verbo magnitudo paterni beneficii exprimatur quanto id magis est inconveniens Deo qui verus est Pater per quem sumits cujus toti sumus a quo fingimier animamur illuminamur And at last he concludes Non intelligit beneficia divina qui se juvari modo a Deo putat He understands not divine benefits who thinks himself only helped by God Jehovah must not be transformed into a Jupiter or a meer helper man must not share with him in this great work it is God who makes us new creatures and not we our selves We are his workmanship not our own Ephes 2.10 Born not of the will of man but of God Joh. 1.13 As soon as a man is regenerate it may be truly said of him Hic homo jam naâ—ns est ex Deo this man is now born of God but to say that he is in part born of mans will is to blaspheme the Author of our spiritual being and to crown Nature instead of Grace 3. The holy principles of Grace are produced by an act of Divine power God lays the foundations of faith and the new creature as it were in mighty waters in the very same heart in which there is a fountain and torrent of corruption and no power less than the Divine can put back the stream of nature and set up the Heavenly structure of Grace in such an heart The production of gracious principles is in Scripture set forth in glorious titles such as do import power 't is called a Transtation Col. 1.13 it transplants and carries us away out of a state of sin into a state of grace 'T is a Generation Jam. 1.18 it begets us to a participation of the Divine Nature 'T is a Resurrection Ephes 2.5 It quickens us and inspires into us a Supernatural life of which the fall had left no spark or relick at all 'T is a Creation Eph. 2.10 it raises up a new creature out of nothing and gives us a spiritual being which before we had not and if these things do not speak power nothing can Hence the Apostle speaks of the Gospel coming in power 1 Thes 1.5 Nay that in the success of it there is an excellency of power 2 Cor. 4.7 and an exceeding greatness of power towards Believers Eph. 1.19 The work of faith is said to be fulfilled with power 2 Thes 1.11 How much more must it be an act of power to lay the Primordials and first principles of faith in a fallen unbelieving creature When there was nothing appearing in our lapsed nature but a vacuum a chaos of sin a spiritual death and nullity only the Divine power was able to repair the ruins of the fall and rear up the Heavenly life and nature in us This great truth was notably set forth in the conception of our Saviour Christ it was not in the course of nature his Mother knew not a man but the Holy Ghost came upon her the power of the highest overshadowed her that the holy thing might be born of her Luk. 1.35 In like manner when Christ is formed in the heart when the new-creature is set up in us it is not in the way of nature we know not the humane power in this work here is no less than dextra excelsi the right hand of the most High to effect it here are vestigia spiritus sancti the footsteps of the holy Spirit to bring it to pass the same power and spirit which formed Christ in the womb formes him in the heart as in his participation of the humane nature there was a Supernatural operation so is there in our participation of the Divine This is the first efficacy of Grace it new creates the heart and imprints the Divine image there it inspires holy Principles and so lays a foundation for obedience 2. There is an efficacy of Grace as to actual believing and willing St. Bernard asks the question Quid agit liberum arbitrium What doth Free-will do and then answers De Lib. Arbit Grat. Salvatur it is saved And Agatho in his Epistle lays down this as a rule Quod a Christo non susceptum est 6. Gen. Conc. Act. 4. nec salvatum est si ab eo humana voluntas suscepta est salvata est That which was not assumed by Christ is not saved by him If an humane will was assumed then it is saved and it is saved first in that principles of holy rectitude are instilled into it and then in that those principles are drawn forth in actual willing both these are necessary the first implants the vital principles of Grace in the heart the second makes them blossom and bring forth precious fruit without those vital principles the will however assisted ab extra is internally in it self but a faculty meerly natural and void of spiritual life it hath no proportion to the vital supernatural acts of Faith and Love Neither is it possible that any such should issue out from thence no not by any extrinsecal assistance whatsoever an act if vital and supernatural must be from an internal principle that is such Again unless those vital principles bring forth actual believing and willing they must needs lie dead and come to nothing And yet if we estimate things according to their worth and excellency we cannot but think it much more easie and eligible for the wise and good God to suffer an
a difference one believes not another on God's a difference he justifies one not another but Christ stands only as a common cause his Satisfaction is in communi and constitutes no one righteous more than another He is no more as it seems the end of the Law for Righteousness to the Believer than to the Unbeliever Now if this be as it is durus sermo then it remains that Christ's Righteousness is by particular imputation made over to Believers and so becomes the matter of their Justification accordingly the Apostle in Rom. the fifth speaks of it not as a common cause but as peculiarized to Believers such as receive Grace He doth not speak of what Christ merited for all but of what Christ as an Head communicates to his Members The scope of the parallel between the two Adams evinces this it being no other than this That both of them communicate to those who are in them The sum of all is Adam and Christ are set forth by the Apostle as two communicative Heads if Adam's sin be imputatively ours so is Christ's Righteousness also I should now pass on to another Reason But possibly some may object That there is a great difference between the two Heads We were seminally in Adam we receive an Humane Nature from him but we were not seminally in Christ we receive not a Nature from him therefore though Adam's sin be imputatively ours yet so is not Christ's Righteousness In answer to this I shall offer several things First We receive an Humane Nature from Adam but is this the only foundation of the Imputation of his sin to us No surely Then all the sins of our Progenitors should be as much imputed to us as the first sin of Adam was Which I cannot at all believe Adam was a moral Head of Holiness and Righteousness to all Mankind but since the fall no Man no not Adam himself was such the sin of Adam is universally imputed to all even to the most holy but so are not the sins of other Progenitors we were not therefore one with Adam only by a Natural union but by a Divine Constitution Secondly We receive an Human Nature from Adam and have we not a Divine Nature from Christ are we not called his Seed are we not begotten by his Spirit and Word were we not in a Spiritual sence seminally in his Blood and Merits how else should any such thing as the New Creature be produced in a lapsed Nature These things are as proper to make us Parts and Members of Christ as an Humane Nature is to make us Parts and Members of Adam therefore the communication of Righteousness from Christ must be as full and great as the communication of sin is from Adam Bishop Vsher tells us That we have a more strict conjunction in the Spirit with Christ then ever we had in Nature with Adam one and the same Spirit is in Christ and Believers but there is not one Soul in Adam and his Posterity the communication from Christ therefore if answerable to the Union must be as great nay greater than that from Adam Thirdly Adam was a Head both by Nature and by Constitution Sin unless in Conjunction with Nature could not pass from him to us neither could we without a Nature conveyed from him have been members of him It diâ— therefore appertain to his Headship to convey a Nature to us but Christ was an Head not by Nature But above it by Divine Constitution he was not to convey Naturals to us but super-naturals since the Fall Righteousness was not to pass to us in Conjunction with Nature Nature was to be from one Head and Righteousness from another we were to be made Members of Christ not by communication of Nature but of Grace it therefore did not appertain to his Headship to communicate Nature to us yet was his Headship as potent to convey Righteousness to us as Adam's was to convey sin the Divine Constitution made him such an Head that his Satisfaction might become ours for our Justification thus much touching this Argument drawn from the Headship of Christ Fourthly Those Scripture phrases of being purged sprinkled cleansed washed justifyed in the Blood of Christ notably import two things the one that Justification is in a signal manner attributed to Christ's Blood as Sanctification is to the Spirit the other that Christ's Blood justifies by way of Application but neither of these can stand if that Blood be only a meritorious cause not the first how can Justification be signally attributed to it when as a meritorious cause it no less impetrates Sanctification than Justification nothing singular is done by it in the one more than in the other not the second how can it justifie by Application when as a meritorious cause it operates only by impetration You will say Christ's Blood is applyed in the effect in a pardon I answer those Scripture phrases before quoted shew that the Blood it self is applyed to us how else is it said that we are purged cleansed sprinkled washed in it unless it be applyed to us the phrases how emphatical soever seem to be improper surely a satisfaction must in its own nature be a justifying matter against the Law next to an absolute conformity to the Law Nothing is or can be more justifying against it then a satisfaction when God hath provided a plenary satisfaction to justifie us how may we think that it is not it self applyed to us actually to justifie us or that something less than it self should do it the Scripture sets forth this Application on both hands on our part it is applyed by Faith We receiving the Atonement Rom. 5.11 and Christ being a propitiation through Faith in his Blood Rom. 3.25 and on God's part by Imputation we being made the Righteousness of God in him 2 Cor. 5.21 and the Righteousness of God being upon us Rom. 3.22 I cannot tell how to think that such an excellent justifying matter as Christ's Satisfaction is should be provided for us and yet not applyed to us according to the terms of the Gospel a pardon is as I take it upon the satisfaction not meerly made but applyed for it is given to Believers only if the satisfaction be it self applyed then that is our Righteousness against the Law if it be applyed in the effect that is in a pardon then the pardon is the very application and not a pardon upon a satisfaction applyed or if there be a pardon upon a satisfaction applyed there will be a pardon before a pardon a pardon in the application and a pardon upon it if the satisfaction be it self applyed then it may precede a pardon and a pardon may be upon it but if it be applyed only in the effect in a pardon then it cannot precede a pardon no more then a pardon can precede it self You will say a pardon is not upon a satisfaction applyed but is the very application To this I answer the Learned Mr. Gataker saith
that such things as these should be made known to us that Heaven should open and let down such mysteries before our eyes What manner of persons ought we to be who live in the shining days of the Gospel who have so much of the Divine glory breaking out upon us let us a little sit down and consider how infinite is the malignity of Sin how deep the stain of it when God who cannot nugas agere made such ado about the expiation of it when nothing less than the Blood of his own Son could wash it out Now to have slight thoughts of it is to Blaspheme the great Atonement now to indulge it is to rake in the wounds of Christ and Crucify him afresh to our selves How precious should Christ be to us how altogether lovely what a Person is the Eternal Word what an Union is Immanuel God and Man in one what a Laver is his Blood what a sweet-smelling Sacrifice is his Death who can tell over the unsearchable riches of his merit or set a rate high enough upon that righteousness of his which refreshes the heart of God and Man what a Sponsor was he who satisfied infinite Justice for the Sin of a World and what an excellent head who makes his Righteousness reach down to every Believer in the World who would not now say that he is totus desideria altogether loves and desires what little things are Worlds and Creatures what Dross and Dung in comparison what a wretched thing is a dead and frozen heart which will not warm and take fire at so ravishing an Object Who would now live in the old Adam the head of Sin and Death any longer or content himself in any state short of an Union with Christ in whom Righteousness and Life are to be had O how should we act our Faith upon him and give him the glory of his Righteousness and Satisfaction by believing How should we venture our Souls what ever our Debts are upon the great Surety Who paid the utmost Farthing and had a total discharge in his Resurrection How we should hide our selves in the Clefts of the Rock in the precious wounds of Christ as in a City of refuge where the avenging Law satisfied therein can never pursue and overtake us How willing should we now be to have Christ reign over us What! hath he come from Heaven and in our flesh fulfilled all Righteousness and by his obedience unto Death even the death of the Cross satisfied for our sins and turned away the dreadful wrath due to the same and shall he not Reign over us Hath he bore the heavy end of the Law the sinless obedience which we could not perform and the curse which if we had been under would have sunk us down into Hell for ever and shall he not Reign over us when by a condescending Law of Grace suited to our frailty he calls for nothing from us but sincerity Oh! prodigious ingratitude who would be guilty of it or can be so that is a Believer indeed Let us therefore by Faith joyn our selves to Christ that we may be justified by his Righteousness and as a real proof of it let us resign up our selves in sincere obedience to him that having our fruit unto holiness we may have the end everlasting Life CHAP. XII Chap. 12 Touching an Holy Life It is not from Principles of Nature it is the fruit of a renewed regenerated heart it issues out of Faith and Love it proceeds out of a pure intention towards the Will and Glory of God it is humble and dependant upon the influences of Grace it requires a sincere mortification of Sin without any Salvo or exception it stands in an exercise of all Graces it makes a man holy in Ordinances alms prosperity adversity contracts calling there is such an exercise of graces as causeth them to grow The conclusion of the Chapter HAving treated of Justification I come in the Last place to speak of an Holy Life which is an inseparable companion of the other Where Grace justifies and pardons there it heals where Christ is made Righteousness there he is made Sanctification these Twins of Grace can never be parted but ye are sanctified but ye are justified saith the Apostle 1 Cor. 6.11 Justification and Sanctification are ever in conjunction as in God Justice and Holiness In Christ the Priestly and Kingly Offices in the Gospel the Promises and the Precepts and in the Sinner the Guilt and the Power of Sin are in Conjunction so in Believers Justification and Sanctification are in Conjunction Were this Conjunction dissolved the other could not well together consist the person being Justified and yet not Sanctified Gods Justice must spare him yet his Holiness must hate him Christ must satisfie and save him as a Priest yet not command him as a King The Promises must speak comfort to him yet are the Precepts broken by him the guilt of Sin must be done away yet the power and love of it must remain but none of these can stand together neither can Justification stand without Sanctification An Holy life is a life separate and consecrated unto God the life of Sense is common to bruits a life of Reason is common to Men but a life of Holiness is separate and consecrated unto God the Epicurean would frui carne enjoy the Flesh the Stoick would frui mente enjoy his Mind and Reason but the Holy Man would frui Deo enjoy his God The Jewish Doctors call God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 place and the holy Man makes him such he would not go out from God or seek any other Being but in him he would not dwell in the barren Region of Self or Creatures but in God the Fountain and Ocean of all goodness his works are all wrought in God his rest and center are only in his Will and Glory he is not his own any longer The great Titles of Creator and Redeemer proper to his God will not suffer him to be so it is no less than Sacriledge in his eyes to be his own or so much as in a thought to steal away ought from God to whom his Spirit Soul Body all is due his Reason is not his own as one who knows it to be a borrowed light he resigns it up to God the Father of lights to be illuminated by him and to the holy mysteries to be ruled by them without asking any why's or wherefores Those two words Deus Dixit God saith is Satisfaction enough to him his Will is not his own it is not a Rule or Law to it self God is indeed such to himself but the Holy man will not perversely imitate God or like the Prince of Tyrus Cum homo vult aliquid per propriam voluntatem Deo aufert quasi suam Coronam Ansel de simil cap. 8. set his Heart as the Heart of God Ezek. 28.2 He will not snatch at God's Crown or assume his Glory he knows that his Will was made to
original and drink good at the Fountain head Nothing is more obvious than this that an holy Life is the true way thither who can rationally think that he can carry the blots and turpitudes of an impure Life into such a place or that any thing less than sincere Obedience can make him meet to enjoy God and holy Angels there nothing can be more vain than such an imagination as sure as Heaven is Heaven an holy Life must be the way thither Thus we see what a mighty influence Faith hath into Holiness hence Ignatius saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Faith is the beginning of Life Epist ad Ephes without Faith a Man cannot live an holy Life And St. Austin calls Faith Omnium Bonorum Fundamentum De Fide ad Petr. Proli The Foundation of all good things So good a thing as an holy Life cannot stand without it A Fide saith another venitur ad bona opera Unless we begin at Faith we shall never come to an holy Life To conclude this with that of the Apostle Without Faith it is impossible to please God Hebr. 11.6 Therefore without Faith it is impossible to lead an holy Life which is very acceptable to him The next thing is An holy Life issues out of Divine Love without this neither Heart nor Life can be right not the Heart the Will without Divine Love in it is tota cupiditas all concupiscence pouring out it self to every vanity that passes by not the Life whatever good is done without that Love is done servilitèr non liberalitèr whate ever is in the hand it is not done out of choice in animo non facit his Will concurres not as it ought in God's account it is as if it were not done at all Love is the root of an holy Life the summary of the Law though the Precepts of the Law are many in diversitate operis in the diversity of the Work yet they are but one in radice Charitatis in the root of Charity True Love is Donum amantis in amatum the Soul being drawn and called out of it self by the object loved yields and surrenders up it self thereunto if thus we love God there must needs be an holy Life the Heart when given up and consecrated unto him cannot chuse but carry the Life with it It would be a prodigy in Nature if the Heart should go one way and the Life another True Love sets a great price upon its object and if the object be as God is supreme it rates it above all things if we set the highest estimate upon God's Will and Glory nothing can divert us from an holy Life which complies with his Will and promotes his Glory it is irrational to neglect that which we value above all other things True Love seeks more and more Union with God to be one Spirit with him to have idem velle idem nolle to love as he loves that is Holiness to hate as he hates that is Sin It aspires after a further transformation into the Divine Image and likeness it never thinks the Soul like enough or near enough to him where it is thus there an holy Life cannot be wanting the Heart being assimilated to God the Life must needs answer the Heart and shine with the rays of the Divine Image which is there True Love desires to have a complacential rest and delight in God it flies to him like Noah's Dove to the Ark there to repose it self what weight is in a Body that Love is in the Soul Amor meus Pondus meum Aust weight makes the Body move towards its center Love makes the Soul tend by an holy Life to center in God the Supreme goodness leaving all other things as the Woman of Samaria did her Pitcher It hastens in a way of Obedience to enjoy him Thus we see how an holy Life issues out of a Regenerate Heart and particularly out of Faith and Love the Doctrine of it is not to be slubbered over as if it did meerly consist in external Actions or Moralities But we must search and see Whether there be a new Creature a Work of Regeneration at the bottom of it Job being by his Friends charged as an hypocrite tells them That the root of the matter was found in him Job 19.28 He was not a Man of leaves and outward appearances only but the root of true Piety was in him without this all good actions how specious soever are but like the Apples of Sodom which though fair to the Eye upon a touch fall into ashes and smoak Thirdly An holy Life proceeds out of a pure Intention Bonum opus Intentio facit Intentionem Fides dirigit saith St. Austin * In Psal 31. The Intention makes the Work good and Faith directs the Intention This is the single Eye mentioned by our Saviour If thine Eye be single thy whole Body shall be full of light If thine Eye be evil thy whole Body shall be full of darkness Matth. 6.22 23. A pure Intention casts a Spiritual Light and Lustre upon the Body of our good Works but that being wanting the whole Body of our Works is dead and dark like a carcass void of all Beauty and Excellency Let thine Eyes look right on saith the Wiseman Prov. 4.25 That is Have a pure Intention to the Will and Glory of God This is one thing in the Church which ravishes the Heart of Christ Thou hast ravished my Heart with one of thine Eyes with one chain of thy Neck Cant. 4.9 The first thing which excordiated Christ and took away his Heart was the One the single Eye and then the Chain of Obedience ravished him also without a pure intention a Man in his fairest Actions squints and looks awry by a tacit blasphemy he makes as if there were something more excellent than the Will and Glory of God for him to look unto and when Man squints God looks off and will have none of his Obedience Israel is an empty Vine he bringeth forth fruit to himself Hos 10.1 Fruit and yet empty is a seeming contradiction but the words reconcile themselves He bringeth forth to himself 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he weighs out his Fruit to himself he proportions his Religion to himself all being for himself God accepts it not but esteems it as nothing at all such Fruit and meer emptiness are much one before God He tells them Levit. 26.27 That they did walk with him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in accidente at all adventures when they chanced to light upon him by the by and besides their intention quasi aliud agentes as if the Service of God were a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a business only by the by but would God accept them or take it well at their hands No he will walk with them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 too by chance at all adventures his Blessings shall come upon them as it were per accidens his Mind is not towards them as it
thing of vast import and consequence therefore he would do it with the greatest strength of intention and affection David like he calls upon his Soul and all that is within him to intend the thing in hand but because when he hath done his utmost there will yet be many failures and infirmities the holy Man looks up to Mercy for a Pardon and offers up all his Duties in and through Jesus Christ the great Mediator In the Old Testament the holy Man prayed thus Remember O my God and spare me Neh. 13.22 Enter not into judgment with thy Servant Psal 143.2 If thou Lord shouldest mark iniquities who shall stand Psal 130.3 The sense of their many imperfections made them fly to a Mercy-seat In the New Testament we are expresly directed To do all in the Name of the Lord Jesus Col. 3.17 To make our approaches to God in and through him Eph. 2.18 To offer up spiritual Sacrifices acceptable to God by him 1 Pet. 2.5 Every Duty must be tendred unto God in and through the Mediator therefore the holy Man doth not stand upon the Perfection of his Services but implore a Pardon of his Infirmities neither doth he tender his Services immediately unto God but he puts them into the hand of Christ that being perfumed and as it were glorified by his merits they might from thence ascend up before God and be graciously accepted by him Moreover because Ordinances are but Medium's and Chanels of Grace the Holy Man in the use of them lifts up his Eyes to God to have them filled with the Divine Spirit and Blessing a meer outward Sanctuary of Ordinances will not serve his turn he would see the Power and the Glory the goings of God in it He cannot live by Bread only not the Life of Nature by the Bread of Creatures only not the Life of Grace by the Bread of Ordinances only in both he waits for that word of Blessing which proceeds out of God's Mouth this is that which makes the Ordinance communicate Grace and Comfort to us When the Word is preached it is not enough to the holy Man to have the Sacred Truths outwardly proposed or to hear the voice of a Man teaching the same but his Heart and his Flesh cry out for the Living God Oh! that God would speak inwardly in words of Life and Power that deep and Divine impressions might be made upon the Heart to sanctify it by the Truth and to cast it more and more into the mould of the Divine Will Oh! that God would come and shine into the Heart that he would uncover the holy things and bring forth Evangelical Mysteries to the view that the Heart might be ravished in the sweet odours of Christ that the Promises might flow out as a Conduit of Celestial Wine and make the Soul taste some drops of the pure Rivers of pleasure which are above This is the desire and expectation of the holy Man in hearing in like manner in Prayer it is not enough to him to pour out words before God but he looks for the holy Spirit to help his Infirmities and breath upon his Devotions that as Christ pleads above by his Merits and Sweet-smelling Sacrifice so the Holy Spirit may plead in the Heart with sighs and groans that cannot be uttered being conscious to himself what a thing his Heart is how much coldness hardness straitness is yet remaining there he waits for the Spirit to be as fire from Heaven to inflame the Heart and make it ascend up unto God to melt it and make it open and expand towards Heaven to set it a running in Spiritual fluency and enlargements towards God The holy Man esteems all to be lost and to no purpose unless he can have some converse and communion with God in every ordinance his Heart and the Ordinance have both the same scope and tendency that there may be a Divine intercourse between God and him God draws and he runs Cant. 1.4 God saith Seek ye my Face And the Soul answers Thy Face Lord will I seek Psal 27.8 There are Divine Influences and Spirations on God's part and there are compliances and responses in the holy Heart in Prayer it burns and aspires after him who set it a fire by the communications of his Grace and Love in Praise it carries back the received Blessings and lays them down at the feet of the great Donor in the hearing of the Word it hath something or other to answer to every part it trembles at the threatning it leaps up and in triumphs of Faith embraces the Promise it complies with the pure Command in holy Love and Obedience without this Communion in which God and Man spiritually meet together the holy Man looks on Ordinances but as dry empty things void of Life and separate from their chief end but if the holy Spirit breath upon the Heart and that breath out it self to God if the Soul set it self to seek God's Face and that irradiate the Duty then the Ordinance is full of Life and reaches its end The holy Man then perceives that God is in it of a truth hence one as Bellarmine relates used to rise from Duty with these words Claudimini oculi mei claudimini nihil enim pulchrius jà m videbitis Be shut O my Eyes be shut for I shall never behold a fairer object than God's Face which I have now beheld Take him in Alms and Charity he is holy there he knows that he was born nay and by a Divine Generation born again that he might do good It was a notable Speech of the Philosoper The Beasts Plants Sun Stars were designed for some work or other 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and what are you for When he thinks that he is a Man a rational Creature and which is more a new Creature and by Adoption one of the Seed Royal of Heaven he sees a necessity laid upon him to be fruitful in Charity and Good Works If he who hath a first and a second Birth who hath the good things of Nature and Grace do not do good who shall do it or where may it be expected The holy Man therefore sets himself to do good he doth not only do the outward work of Charity but he doth it readily and freely when an object of Charity meets him he doth not say Go and come again when he himself goes to the Mercy-seat he would not have God delay or turn him off after that manner Neither will he do so to his poor Brother not only the command of God but the taste that he hath of the Divine Grace make him ready and free in good Works his Good Works have not only a Body but there is a free Spirit in them and as the thing given supplies the Receiver's want so the manner of giving revives his Spirit The holy Man doth not only give Alms but he doth it out of Love and Compassion Beneficentiâ ex Benevolentiâ manare debet he doth good out of
there wanting in all our graces all are but in part not in their full measure but in their first lineaments Neither do they dwell alone but there is a sad inmate of corruption under the same Roof All these must pass sub veniâ under a pardon and under the Wings of Christ these are not able to cover their own blots and imperfections these therefore are not our Saviours or Redeemers these do not satisfie the Law these do not compensate for sin these do not come in the room of perfect obedience neither can the true God though one of infinite mercy accept them as such No nothing but Christ's Satisfaction can here be our righteousness Hence the Apostle having proved that all the world is guilty before God Rom. 3.19 Immediately after adds but now the righteousness of God is manifested v. 21. Where by the righteousness of God that of Christ must needs be meant for that and that only is proper and apposite to answer that charge of the Law which makes us guilty before God that was a Salvo to the honour of the Law that was a plenary compensation for the breaches of it that came in the room of perfect Obedience that therefore is the only thing which could answer that charge if we bring in Faith or any other Grace into this Orb we set them up as Christ's or Saviours and in effect we say that Christ died in vain As to the Gospel Faith answers to the terms of it here Christ's Satisfaction doth not supply the room It 's true he satisfied for us but he did not repent or believe for us for then he should have left nothing for us to do no not so much as to accept of that glorious Satisfaction made for us His Satisfaction was not to spare but by its superexcellent fulness to draw out our Faith to it self his atoning Blood was not to excuse but upon a view of his Wounds to provoke our repentant Tears he died not for our sins that we might live in them his pure Flesh was not crucified that our corrupt Flesh might be spared The Son of God came not down from Heaven to open a door to wickedness but to promote a design of Holiness it is therefore we who must though not without Grace repent and believe Faith must keep its Station or else Holiness which is the great Design of the Gospel must be over-turned Secondly The connexion between these two Righteousnesses is to be considered in this connexion lies the total sum of Justification Christ's Satisfaction answers to the Law Faith answers to the terms of the Gospel Believers who are righteous to both cannot but be in a very blessed condition nevertheless it is to be noted as Learned Mr. Baxter hath observed Faith is but a particular Righteousness a Righteousness secundum quid only as to the performance of the Evangelical condition but Christ's Satisfaction is an Universal Righteousness as to all other things save only that performance for the final neglect of which he never died Faith is a Righteousness as to the Evangelical condition yet it is but a Righteousness propter aliud a Righteousness subordinate and subservient to that great Righteousness of Christ's Satisfaction to make us capable to participate thereof In this connexion we have an heap of Mysteries set before us Justice is satisfied by a plenary compensation for sin Mercy is exalted in that we though Sinners are justified upon terms on our part as low as the Holy one could possibly condescend unto the great thing the Satisfaction which no Man no Angel could accomplish was from Jesus Christ who being God in the Flesh was able to perform it the comparatively little thing I mean Faith which our fallen Nature through Grace might arrive at was that which was required at our hands Satisfaction which we could not have in our selves we have in another even in Christ our Sponsor Faith which we have in our selves is that capacity whereby we are made meet to have that Satisfaction communicated to us the Satisfaction which I think is the Righteousness of God in Scripture mentioned is communicated to us yet as infinite Wisdom ordered it it is communicated to us in the lowest posture of the Creature I mean when we are by Self-emptying and Self-annihilating Faith yielding and resigning up our selves to the terms of the Gospel Faith which is subjectively ours is that capacity wherein we receive Christ's Satisfaction that Satisfaction in the Glory and Plenitude is only his yet as the Sun hangs down his Beams to the lower World it derives it self upon each Believer pro ratione membri I mention the Sun because the Prophet tells us That upon those that fear God's Name The Sun of Righteousness arises with Healing in his Wings a choice part of which Healing I take to be in the communication of his Satisfaction to us that only heals the deadly Wound of Guilt which is upon us In Christ's Righteousness there is a Merit to procure Faith in Faith there is a capacity to have that Righteousness made ours in that Righteousness there is that which covers the imperfections of Faith Thus there is an admirable connexion between these two Righteousnesses Further touching our Justification as to the terms of the Gospel we must first consider what that Faith by which we are justified is and then how we are justified by it First That Faith whereby we are justified is not Reason in its own Sphere conversing about God and his Goodness but it is totally supernatural supernatural in its Principle it is the Gift of God and as the second Aransican Councel tells us It is per inspirationem Spiritûs sancti Can. 6. Supernatural in its object it is fixed in a God in Covenant and in his Grace It hangs upon Christ and his Sweet-smelling Sacrifice It falls in with supernatural promises of Grace and Glory neither is this Faith a meer naked assent which may be in wicked Men nay and in Devils but it is that which receives Christ and feeds upon him eating his Flesh and drinking his Blood unto Life Eternal Vitam à Vitae Fonte haurimus in ipsum quasi totos nos immergimus saith Bishop Davenant We draw Life from the Fountain of Life and wholly drown our selves in him True Faith takes the Divine objects proposed not by piece-meal but in their entireness it is not meerly for God's Grace that Hony-comb of infinite sweetness but for his Holiness too that the Soul may be more and more transformed and assimilated to the Divine Image and likeness Faith very well knows That no Man who by his rebellions strikes at his Holiness can possibly lean on his Grace so to do is not to believe but to presume and trust in a lye Faith is for all Christ not only for a meriting and atoning Christ but for a teaching and ruling one it knows that Christ must not be mangled or torn in pieces the Merit must not be divided from
the Spirit nor the Water from the Blood these must ever be in conjunction an half Christ is not the Christ of God but a Christ of his own fancy such as cannot profit us Faith is not meerly for Promises which are cordials and Pots of Manna but for Precepts too it is Meat and Drink to doe the Will of God Promises and Precepts run together in Scripture Promises are the effluxes of Grace and Faith takes them into the heart by recumbency Precepts are effluxes of Holiness and Faith takes them in by an Obediential Subjection both are owned by Faith and must be so as long as there is Grace and Holiness in God Faith cannot stand without repentance it trusts in Infinite Mercy and an impenitent one who still holds up his Arms of Rebellion cannot do so it rests upon the Merits and Righteousness of Christ and an impenitent one who tramples under foot the atoning Blood cannot do so It hath a respect for the holy Commands and the impenitent who by willful sinning casts them away and as much as in him lieth makes them void can have no respect for them there can no such thing as an impenitent Faith We see by these things what a Faith that is by which we are justified Secondly The next thing is How we are justified by Faith Faith may be considered under a double notion either as it respects Christ or as it respects the condition of the Gospel As it respects Christ it unites us to him it makes us Members of his Mystical Body thus it is a Sacred Medium to have Christ's Righteousness imputatively become ours that we may be justified against the Law nothing can justifie us against it but Christ's Satisfaction that cannot do it unless it become ours ours it cannot be unless we are Believers Hence the Apostle saith That the Righteousness of God is upon the Believer Rom. 3.22 That Christ is the end of the Law for Righteousness to the Believer Rom. 10.4 Here Faith doth not justifie us in it self but in its object Christ to whom it so unites us that his Righteousness so far becomes ours as to justifie us against the Law As it respects the Condition of the Gospel it is the very thing which that Condition calls for in the Law of Works the Condition and the Precept were coextensive the one was as large as the other no Man could live by that Law but he who had the perfect Obedience commanded in the Precept but in the Law of Grace it is otherwise The Precept hath more in it than the Condition the Precept calls for Faith not in its Truth only but in its Statures and gradual Perfections it would have us aspire after a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a fiducial Liberty a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a persuasion with full sails towards the great things in the Promise as if they were sensibly present with us but the Condition calls only for a true Faith and no more the least Faith if true though it be but as a little smoak or wick in the socket though it be but a little spark or seed of Faith latent in a Desire or Willing Mind is performance of the Condition Hence the poor in Spirit who seem to themselves to have nothing of Grace at all in them have a Blessedness entailed on them which could not be unless they had performed the Condition woe would it be to Christians if all that is in the Precept were in the Condition also if their Justification were suspended till they had reached the top and highest altitude of the Precept in reference to the Precept Faith hath its Degrees and Statures it comes up more or less to the Precept but in reference to the Condition Faith hath no Degrees but stands in puncto indivisibili it hath no magis or minùs in it the least true Faith doth as much perform the Condition as the strongest Cruciger who prayed thus Invoco te Domine languidâ imbecillâ Fide sed Fide tamen did as much perform the Condition as he who hath the strongest confidence in God's Mercy The verity of Faith is all that the Condition calls for these things as I have learned from Mr. Baxter being so I conclude thus as to the Precept true Faith falls short it is not as it ought to be it justifies not nay in respect of defects and imperfections it self wants to be justified and covered with the Righteousness of Christ but as to the Condition it fully comes up it is as it ought to be it is in it self the very thing required it is in this point a particular Righteousness answering for us That we have performed the Condition Yet still we must remember that this particular Righteousness is subordinate to Christ's Satisfaction which is our universal Righteousness There is yet one thing behind viz. To consider how or in what Respect Obedience or Good Works are necessary unto Justification I shall set down my thoughts in the following particulars First Our good Works do not come in the room of Christ's Righteousness to justifie us as to the Law to secure this the Apostle often concludes That we are not justified by the Works of the Law our good Works are full of imperfection the purest of them come forth ex laeso principio out of an Heart sanctified but in part and in their egress from thence gather a taint and tincture from the in-dwelling sin never any Saint durst stand before God in his own Righteousness Job though perfect would not know his own Soul Job 9.21 David though a Man after God's Heart would not have him mark iniquities Psalm 130.3 Anselm upon this account cries out Terret me Vita mea My own Life makes me afraid all of it was in his Eyes sin or barrenness our Good Works did not could not satisfie the Law no this was that which nothing but Christs Righteousness could accomplish We find not the Saints in Scripture standing upon their own bottom but flying to a Mercy seat and as the expression is Hebr. 12 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 looking off from themselves unto Jesus the Author and Finisher of their Faith in whom alone perfect Righteousness is to be found Secondly Our Good Works have not the same station with Faith this appears upon a double account the one is this Faith unites us to Christ And so it is a Divine Medium to have his Righteousness made ours but Good Works follow after Union we are by Faith married to Christ that we might bring forth fruit to God Rom. 7.4 Before Faith which is our Espousal of Christ we bring forth no genuine Obedience Good Works are the progeny of a Man in Christ one who by Union with him is rightly spirited to do the Will of God not of a Man in Adam one who stands in the power of Nature the other is this In the very instant or first entrance into Justification Faith is there but so is not Obedience a Believer in