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PRINCETON, N. J.
SAMUEL AGNEW,
OF PHILADELPHIA. PA.
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The whole works of the la
Reverend Thomas Boston, of
ite
THE
WHOLE WORKS
LATE REVEREND THOMAS "BOSTON
OF ETTKICK;
NOW FIRST COLLECTED, AND EEPEINTED WITHOUT
ABRIDGMENT ;
INCLUDING
HIS MEMOIRS, WRITTEN BY HIMSELF.
EDITED BY THE
REV. SAMUEL M'MILLAN.
VOL. VII.
ABERDEEN:
GEORGE AND ROBERT KING, ST. NICHOLAS STREET.
M.DCCC.L.
AN EXPLICATION
OF
THE ASSEMBLY'S
SHORTER CATECHISM.
MARROW OF MODERN DIVINITY,
WITH NOTES.
CHRIST'S EVERLASTING ESPOUSALS
REV. THOMAS BOSTON.
OF ETTIUCK.
ABERDEEN:
GEORGE AND ROBERT KING, ST. NICHOLAS STREET.
1850.
TB
N&
CONTENTS OF VOL. VII.
Page
A BRIEF EXPLICATION OF THE FIRST PART OF THE ASSEMBLY'S
SHORTER CATECHISM. 9
THE MARROW OF MODERN DIVINITY, IN TWO PARTS.
PART I.
Preface, ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... .. 146
Advertisement, ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 150
Recommendations, ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 151
Dedication, ... ... ... .. ... ... ... ... 157
Address to the Reader, ... ... .. ... ... ... ... 159
Introduction Sect. 1. Difference about the law, 165. — 2. A threefold law, 166
Chap. I Of the Law of Works, or Covenant of Works.
Sect. 1. The nature of the covenant of works, 171 Sect. 2. Adam's fall, 176
Sect. 3. The sinfulness and misery of mankind by the fall, 177. — Sect. 4. No re-
covery by the law, or covenant of works, 179. — Sect. 5. The covenant of works
binding, though broken, 181.
Chap. II Of the Law of Faith, or Covenant of Grace.
Sect. I. Of the eternal purpose of grace, 183. — Sect. II. Of the promise, 186 — 1. The
promise to Adam, ib 2. The promise renewed to Abraham, 191.. — 3. The law
as the covenant of works, added to the promise, 195. — 4. The promise and co-
venant with Abraham, renewed with the Israelites, 206. — 5. The covenant of grace
under the Mosaic dispensation, 209.. — 6. The natural bias towards the covenant of
works, 224. — 7. The Antinomian faith rejected, 232. — 8. The evil of legalism,
236. — Sect. III. Of the performance of the promise, 239. — 1. Christ's fulfilling
of the law in the room of the elect, 239 2. Believers dead to the law as the co-
venant of works, 246. — 3. The warrant to believe in Christ, 262. — 4- Evangelical
repentance a consequent of faith, 278. — 5. The spiritual marriage with Jesus
Christ, 285. — 6. Justification before faith refuted, 290. — 7. Believers freed from
the commanding and condemning power of the covenant of works, 292.
Chap III. — Of the Law of Christ.
Sect. 1 . The nature of the law of Christ, 306. — 2. The law of the ten commandments
a rule of life to believers, 308. — 3. Antinomian objections answered, 312. — 4.
The necessity of marks and signs of grace, 318. — 5. Antinomian objections
VI. CONTENTS.
answered, 321. — 6. Holiness and good works attained to only by faith, 324. — 7.
Slavish fear and servile hope not the springs of true obedience, 331 . — 8. The
efficacy of faith for holiness of heart and life, 338.— 9. Use of means for strengthen-
ing of faith, 345 10. The distinction of the law of works, and law of Christ,
applied to six paradoxes, 346 11. The use of that distinction in practice, 351. —
12. That distinction a mean betwixt legalism and Antinomianism, 361. — 13. How
to attain to assurance, 362. — 14. Marks and evidences of true faith, 365. — 15.
How to recover lost evidences, 366. — 16. Marks and signs of uuion with Christ,
368.
Chap. IV. — Of the Heart's Happiness, or Soul's Rest.
Sect. 1. No rest for the soul till it come to God, 372.-2. How the soul is kept from
rest in God, 374. — 3. God in Christ the only true rest for the soul, 380.
Page
The Conclusion, . . .. ... ... ... ... ... ... 386
PART II.
Dedication, ... ... ... ... .. ... ... ... ... 391
The Author to the Reader, 393
Introduction, ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 397
Ignorant men confine the meaning of the ten commandments, ... ... 398
The ten commandments an epitome of the law of God, ... ... ... 400
Six rules for the right expounding of the ten commandments, ... ... ib.
The sum of the first commandment, &c. ... ... ... ... ... ib.
Wherein the first and second commandments differ, &c. ... ... ... 402
Wherein the second and third commandments differ, &c. ... ... ... 405
The difference betwixt the third and fourth commandments, &c. ... 417
The sum of the fifth commandment, ... ... ... ... ... ... 420
The sum of the sixth commandment, ... ... ... .. ... 427
The sum of the seventh commandment, ... ... ... ' ... ... 430
The sum of the eighth commandment, ... ... ... ... ... 432
The sum of the ninth commandment, ... ... ... ... ... 434
The sum of the tenth commandment, ... ... ... ... ... 436
The Lord requireth perfect obedience to all the ten commandments, ... 439
All men by nature under Bin, wrath, and eternal death, ... ... ... 436
Christ hath redeemed believers from the curse of the law, ... ... ... ib.
Every man's best actions are corrupted and defiled with sin, ... ... 440
The least sinful thought makes man liable to eternal damnation, ... ... 446
Though man cannot be justified by his obedience to the law, yet shall not his obe-
dience be in vain, ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 448
Man is naturally apt to think he must do something towards his own justification,
and act accordingly, ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 450
Christ requires that believers do desire and endeavour to yield perfect obedience to
all the ten commandments, ... ... ... ... ... ... 453
Believers shall be rewarded for their obedience, and with what, ... ... 454
After what manner believers are to make confession of their sin upon a day of
humiliation, ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 457
Why and to what end believers are to receive the sacrament of the Lord's supper, 458
The Difference bltween the Law and the Gospel, ... ... 459
Atpendix, ... ... ... ... ..... ... 465
CONTENTS.
THE EVERLASTING ESPOUSALS.
Page
Hos. ii. 19. — I will betroth thee unlo me for ever, .. ... 491
THE MYSTERY OF CHRIST IN THE FORM OF A SERVANT.
Philip, ii. 7. — And took upon him the form of a servant. ... ... ... 520
THE PECULIAR MERCY AND BUSINESS OF LIFE OPENED UP
AND APPLIED.
Isaiah xxxviii. 19 — The living, the living, he shall praise thee, as I do this day :
tho father to the children shall make known thy truth ... ... ... 447
THE EVIL AND DANGER OF SCHISM.
1 Cor. i. 10. — Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus
Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among
you, but that ye be perfectly joined together, in the same mind, and in the
same judgment, ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 593
THE NECESSITY AND FOUNDATIONS OF A THRONE OF GRACE
FOR THE BEHOOF OF POOR SINNERS, POINTED OUT AND
ILLUSTRATED.
Psalm Ixxxix. 14. — Justice and judgment are the habitation of thy throne : mercy
and truth shall go before thy face, ... ... ... ... ... 614
SAME SUBJECT CONTINUED, 621
SAME SUBJECT CONTINUED, 628
THE EVIDENCES AND CAUSES OF THE DECAY OF RELIGION IN
THE SOUL DISCOVERED, AND THE METHOD OF ITS CURE
PRESCRIBED.
Rev. iii. 2. — Strengthen the things that remain, that are ready to die. ... 636
SAME SUBJECT CONTINUED, 643
-
I
BRIEF EXPLICATION
FIRST PART
THE ASSEMBLY'S SHORTER CATECHISM.
Quest. What is the chief end of Man ?
Answ. Man's chief end is, to glorify God, and to en-
joy him for ever.
EXPLICATION.
By man's chief end is meant, the end which man was chiefly made
for, and which he should chiefly seek to reach unto. It consists
of two parts ; his chief duty, and his chief happiness. Man's chief
duty is to glorify God : 1 Cor. x. 31, " Whether therefore ye eat or
drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God." Man
glorifies God, hy thinking, speaking, and living to his glory. And
this is man's chief, and last or farthest end. Man's chief happiness
is, to enjoy God as his God : Psalm lxxiii. 25, 26, 27, 28, " Whom
have I in heaven but thee ? and there is none upon earth that I desire
besides thee. My flesh and my heart faileth : but God is the
strength of my heart, and my portion for ever. For lo, they that
are far from thee, shall perish : thou hast destroyed all them that
go a-whoring from thee. But it is good for me to draw near to God."
And this is man's chief subordinate end. A sinner can never glo-
rify God, until he first enjoy him as his God : Eph. ii. 12, "At that
time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the common-wealth
of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no
hope, and without God in the world." Gen. xvii. 1, " The Lord
appeared to Abram, and said unto him, I am the Almighty God ;
Yol. YII. A
10 OF THE HOLY SCRIPTURES.
walk before me, and be thou perfect." Exod. xx. 2, 3, "I am the
Lord thy God, which have brought thee out of the laud of Egypt,
out of the house of bondage. Thou shalt have no other gods before
me." Now, the sinner can attain to the enjoyment of God, only
through Jesus Christ : John xiv. 6, " Jesus saith unto him, I am
the way, and the truth, and the life : no man cometh unto the Fa-
ther, but by me." And one may get a saving interest in Christ, by
faith. Moreover, they who enjoy God as their God, are enabled to
glorify him, by the Spirit of Christ dwelling in them as members of
Christ : Rom. viii. 26, " Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infir-
mities : for we know not what we should pray for as we ought : but
the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which
cannot be uttered." Wherefore, none that are out of Christ, reach
the chief end of man : but they make themselves their chief end.
HoAvbeit, believers do reach it : and they reach it, in so far as they
shall, from the first moment of their believing, for ever enjoy and
glorify God ; imperfectly indeed here, but perfectly in heaven.
Quest. 2. JVhat rule hath God given to direct us, how we may glo-
rify and enjoy him ?
Answ. The Word of God which is contained in the
Scriptures of the Old and New Testament, is the only
Rule to direct us, how we may glorify and enjoy him.
EXPLICATION.
The end for which the Scriptures are given, is, to be a rule to di-
rect us how we may glorify God, and come to the enjoyment of him
as our God. And they are the only rule to direct us in these mat-
ters. Withall they are a certain and infallible rule; and that be-
cause they are the word of God. It appears, that they are the
word of God, by the holiness efficacy of their doctrine, and the mi-
racles wrought to confirm it. And this, although for the most part
they were written by men because all Scripture is given by inspira-
tion of God, 2 Tim. iii. 16. The word Scriptures signifies writings:
but the church had not always the written word, till about Moses'
time. Howbeit, they were supplied, while they wanted it, by extra-
ordinary revelations : and it is the same doctrine that was then so
revealed, which we have now in the Scripture. Nevertheless, the
Scripture is altogether necessary for the church now; and that be-
cause extraordinary revelation of doctrine is ceased, and God hath
bound us to the Scripture as the test or touchstone of doctrine : Isa.
viii. 20. " To the law and to the testimony : if they speak not accord-
OF THE SCOPE OP THE SCRIPTURES. 11
ing to this word, it is because there is no light in them." Neither
will God ever give us another rule : for the Scripture is a testamen-
tary word of God. Now, a testament is the last will of a dying
person. So the Scripture is Christ's testament, confirmed by his
death ; and as a testament, it declares the last will of God con-
cerning man's salvation and duty. Christ's testament is twofold:
namely, the Old Testament, and the New Testament. The books
beginning with Genesis, and ending with Malachi, are Christ's Old
Testament : those beginning with Matthew, and ending with the
Revelation, are Christ's New Testament. These two testaments
are one and the same for substance : for in both, Jesus Christ is the
testator ; eternal life is the legacy ; sinners of mankind are the
legatees ; and faith in Jesus Christ is the way of claiming and ob-
taining the legacy : 1 Jolin v. 11, 12, " And this is the record, that
God hath given to us eternal life : and this life is in his Son. He
that hath the Son hath life ; and he that hath not the Son of God,
hath not life." Prov. viii. 4, " Unto you, men, I call, and my voice
is to the sons of man." But they differ in circumstances ; the new
being more clear and full than the old one. Howbeit, neither the
one nor the other can be savingly understood, without an inward il-
lumination of the mind by the Spirit of Christ : 1 Cor. ii. 14, " But
God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit : for the Spirit
searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God."
Quest. 3. What do the Scriptures principally teach ?
Answ. The Scriptures principally teach, what man is
to believe concerning God, and what duty God requires
of man.
EXPLICATION - .
Principally to teach, is chiefly to teach. The things that the
Scriptures teach chiefly, are these two ; Faith, and obedience : 2
Tim. i. 13. " Hold fast the form of sound words, which thou hast
heard of me, in faith and love which is in Christ Jesus." The faith
which the Scriptures teach, is, " What man is to believe concerning
God :" The obedience which the Scriptures teach, is, " "What duty
God requires of man." Nothing can be an article of faith, necessary
to be done, but what is taught in the Scriptures. Howbeit, not only
what is found in Scripture in express words, but also what ariseth
therefrom, by necessary consequence, is to be reckoned taught there-
in : Matth. xxii. 82. " I am the God of Abraham, and the God of
a 2
12 OF THE NATURE AND PERFECTIONS OF GOD.
Isaac, and the God of Jacob. God is not the God of the dead, but
of the living."
Quest. 4. What is God ?
Answ. God is a Spirit, infinite, eternal, andu nchange-
able, in his being, wisdom, power, holiness justice, good-
ness, and truth.
EXPLICATION.
No creature can fully comprehend what God is : Job xi. 7.
" Canst thou by searching find out God ? canst thou find out the Al-
mighty unto perfection ?" But he has revealed so much of himself
in the Scriptures, as is necessary for us to know. For his sort of
being, he is a Spirit : and a Spirit is an immaterial substance, with-
out flesh or bones. He hath not then a body nor any bodily parts :
John iv. 24. " God is a Spirit." Luke xxiv. 39. " Behold my hands
and my feet, that it is I myself : handle me, and see, for a spirit
hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have." Then eyes,
ears, and such like bodily parts, ascribed to him in Scripture, are
not to be understood properly : But by them we are to understand
an infinite perfection of those powers, which those members serve for
in us. So the eyes of God signify his infinite power of discerning
objects, as by the eye : His ears signify his infinite power of discern-
ing voices, as by the ear. Moreover, God cannot be seen with bodily
eyes ; no not with the eyes of glorified bodies in heaven : hence he
is said to be "invisible, and to dwell in the light which no man can
approach unto, whom no man hath seen, nor can see," 1 Tim. i. 17.
and vi. 16. But God can be seen with the eyes of the mind, en-
lightened with the light of grace here, and the light of glory in hea-
ven : Eph. i. 17, 18. " That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the
Father of glory, may give unto you the Spirit of wisdom and revela-
tion in the knowledge of him : the eyes of your understanding being
enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and
what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints." Fi-
nally, there is nothing which God is like unto ; Isa. xl. 18. " To
whom then will ye liken God ? or what likeness will ye compare
unto him?" So we may not form any imagination of him in our
minds, as we can do of an absent man. Now, there are other spirits
besides God : and these are angels and the souls of men. But the
difference betwixt God and them, lies here, that God is an infinite,
eternal, and unchangeable Spirit ; and they are not so. The attri-
butes of God, or perfections of the divine nature, are of two sorts ;
OF THE NATURE AND PERFECTIONS OF GOD. 13
incommunicable, and communicable. His incommunicable attri-
butes, whereof tbere is no vestige in tbe creature, are his infinity,
eternity, and unchangeableness. God is infinite, in that he is what-
soever he is : without any bounds or measure : Job xi. 7, " Canst
thou by searching find out God ? canst thou find out the Almighty
unto perfection V He is eternal, in that he is without beginning
aud without end : Psal. xc. 2. " Before the mountains were brought
forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world : even
from everlasting to everlasting thou art God." He is unchangeable
in that he is, and cannot but be always the same, without any alter-
ation whatsoever : James i. 17. " Every good gift and every per-
fect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights,
with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning." He is
then said to repent, not in respect of the atfection of repentance, but
the effect of it : Num. xxiii. 19. " God is not a man, that he should
lie ; neither the son of man, that he should repent : hath ho said
and shall he not do it ? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it
good ?" in that, without any change of his own nature, mind, or
will, he changeth his dispensations towards the creatines, and makes
changes on them : Gen. vi. 7, " And the Lord said, I will destroy
man, whom I have created, from the face of the earth, both man and
beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air : for it re-
penteth me that I have made them." His communicable attributes,
whereof there are some scantlings, or faint images in the creature,
are his being, wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness, and truth.
The difference between these perfections, as they are in God, and as
they are in the creature, lies here, that they are all infinite, eternal,
and unchangeable in God, but in the creature not so. The being of
God is that perfection whereby he is, and is what he is : Exod. iii.
14, " And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM : and he said,
thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me
unto you." His wisdom is that whereby he knows himself, and all
things else, with the way how to dispose of them to the best : Psal.
cxlvii. 5, " Great is our Lord, and of great power : his understand-
ing is infinite." His power is that whereby he can do all things not
inconsistent with his nature : Jer. xxxii. 17, " Ah, Lord God, behold
thou hast made the heaven and the earth by thy great power and
stretched-out arm, and there is nothing too hard for thee." His
holiness is the perfect purity of his nature, whereby he delights in
his own purity, and in the resemblance of it in the creature : Hab.
i. 13. "Thou art of purer eyes than to behold evil, and canst not look
on iniquity." His justice is the perfect rectitude of his nature,
whereby he is just in himself, and in all his ways towards the crea-
14 OP THE UNITY OF GOD-
ture : Deut. xxxii. 4. " He is the Rock, his work is perfect : for all
his ways are judgment: a God of truth, and without iniquity, just
and right is he." It is not consistent with his nature, to let sin pass
unpunished : 2 Thess. i. 6, " It is a righteous thing with God, to re-
compense tribulation to them that trouble you." Compared with
Gen. xviii. 25. " That be far from thee to do after this manner, to
slay the righteous with the wicked; and that the righteous should be
as the wicked, that be far from thee : Shall not the Judge of all the
earth do right ?" His goodness is that whereby he is good in him-
self, and the author of all good to be found in or about the crea-
ture : Matth. xix. 17, " There is none good but one, that is
God." His goodness is consistent with his severity against the
wicked, in that it is the property of goodness to hate and punish
sin : Exod. xxxiii. 19, " And he said, I will make all my goodness
pass before thee, and I will proclaim the name of the Lord before
thee ; and will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will
shew mercy on whom I will shew mercy." Compared with chap,
xxxiv. 7, " Keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity, and
transgression, and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty."
And it is consistent with the afflictions laid on his own people, in
that they flow from his goodness : Job v. 6, " Affliction cometh not
forth of the dust, neither doth trouble spring out of the ground."
And they tend to their good : Psal. cxix. 71, " It is good for me
that I have been afflicted ; that I might learn thy statutes." His
truth is that whereby he is perfectly faithful, and free from all
falsehood, Tit. i. 2, " In hope of eternal life, which God that cannot
lie, promised before the world began."
Quest. 5. Are there more Gods than one ?
Answ. There is but one only, the living and true
God.
EXPLICATION.
God is called the living God, to distinguish him from dead idols;
and the true God, to distinguish him from all false gods. 1 Thess.
i. 9, " Ye turned to God from idols, to serve the living and true
God." He is the living God, in that all life is in him, and from
him, 1 Tim. vi. 13, " God, who quickeneth all things." To be the
true God, is to be God truly and really; and not in name only, or
in the opinion of men. Now, there is but one true God : 1 Cor.
viii. 4, " We know that an idol is nothing in the world, and that
there is none other God but one." And reason teaches, that there
OF THE HOLY TRINITY. 15
can be no more than one, in that there can be but one most perfect
being. So the gods many, mentioned, 1 Cor. viii. 5. are gods in
name only, or in the opinion of their blinded worshippers.
Quest. 6. How many persons are there in the Godhead ?
Answ. There are three persons in the Godhead ; the
Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost : And these three
are one God, the same in substance, equal in power and
glory.
EXPLICATION.
By the Godhead is meant the divine nature. A person in the
Godhead, is the Godhead distinguished by personal properties.
The Godhead is one only in number : But the persons in the God-
head are three ; and they are the Father, the Son, and the Holy
Ghost : 1 John v. 7, " For there are three that bear record in
heaven, the Father, the "Word, and the Holy Ghost : and these
three are one." Jesus Christ is the second of these persons,
namely, the Son. And the Father is true God : the Son is true
God: and the Holy Ghost is true God. Yet they are not three
Gods, but one God, 1 John v. 7, forecited. Howbeit, the Godhead
neither is, nor can be divided into parts : but each of the three
persons hath the one whole indivisible Godhead. They are not
then of a like substance only, but the very same in substance. But
they are distinguished by their personal properties. And it is the
personal property of the Father, to beget the Son : Heb. i. 5, " For
unto which of the angels said he at any time, Thou art my Son,
this day have I begotten thee ? and again, I will be to him a
Father, and he shall be to me a Son ?" And it is the personal pro-
perty of the Son, to be begotten of the Father : John i. 14, " The
word was made flesh, and dwelt among us (and we beheld his
glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father) full of grace
and truth." And it is the personal property of the Holy Ghost,
to proceed from the Father and the Son : John xv. 26, il But when
the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father,
even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall
testify of me." Gal. iv. 6, "And because ye are sons, God hath
sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba,
Father." The Son and the Holy Ghost are not below the Father,
but equal with him : They are all equally powerful and glorious.
So the personal properties make no inequality among them ; foras-
much as these properties are not temporary and accidental, but
16 OF THE DIVINE DECREES.
eternal and necessary, and could not but be : and every one of the
three persons, is the eternal, the supreme, the most high God.
This appears, in that to the Son and the Holy Ghost, as well as to
the Father, is ascribed the peculiar name of the true God, the
Most High : Is. vi. 3, " And one cried unto another, and said, Holy,
holy, holy is the Lord of hosts, the whole earth is full of his glory."
John xii. 41, " These things said Esaias, when he saw his glory, and
spake of him." Acts xxviii. 25, 26, " And when they agreed not
among themselves, they departed, after that Paul had spoken one
word, Well spake the Holy Ghost by Esaias the prophet, unto our
fathers, saying, &c." Psalm lxxxiii. 18, " That men may know,
that thou whose name alone is Jehovah, art the Most High over all
the earth." And his attributes are ascribed to them : Rev. i. 8, " I
am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the
Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty."
Psal. cxxxix. 7, " Whither shall I go from thy Spirit ? or whither
shall I flee from thy presence ?" Likewise his works : John i. 3,
" All things were made by him ; and without him was not any thing
made that was made." Matth. xii. 28, " But if I cast out devils by
the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God is come unto you." And
also his worship : Heb. i. 8, " But unto the Son he saith, Thy throne,
God, is for ever and ever ; a sceptre of righteousness is the sceptre
of thy kingdom." Matth. xxviii. 19, " Go ye therefore and teach all
nations, baptising them in the name of the Father, and of the Son,
and of the Holy Ghost."
Quest. 7. What are the decrees of God ?
Answ. The decrees of God are, his eternal purpose,
according to the counsel of his will, whereby, for his
own glory, he hath foreordained whatsoever comes to
pass.
EXPLICATION.
By the decrees of God is meant his purpose foreordaining what
should come to pass. God hath foreordained in his decrees, what-
soever comes to pass : Eph. i. 11, " In whom also we have obtained
an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him
who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will." Even the
most free acts of the creature, and the most casual things, are fore-
ordained of God : Prov. xxi. 1, " The king's heart is in the hand of
the Lord, as the rivers of water : he turueth it whithersoever he
OF THE EXECUTION OF THF DIVINE DECREES. 17
will." Chap. xvi. 33, " The lot is cast into the lap ; but the whole
disposing thereof is of the Lord." Yea, evil actions, as well as
good ones, fall within the ccmpass of his decree : Acts. ii. 23, " Him,
being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of
God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and
slain." But with this difference, that he decreed his effecting of
good, and his permitting of ill. Now, whatsoever God hath fore-
ordained infallibly comes to pass. And his decrees are unchange-
able : Isa. xlvi. 10, " Declaring the end from the beginning, and
from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My
counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure." Yet men have
no excuse for their sin, from the decree of God, Acts ii. 23, above
cited : for they sin out of free choice, without the least knowledge
of, or force upon them from the decree : Acts xiii. 27, " For they
that dwell at Jerusalem, and their rulers, because they knew him
not, nor yet the voices of the prophets which are read every Sab-
bath-day, they have fulfilled them in condemning him." The de-
sign and end of God's decrees is his own glory : Rom. xi. 36, " For
of him, and through him, and to him, are all things : to whom be
glory for ever." And therefore he will certainly get glory of what-
soever comes to pass, Isa. xlvi. 10, forecited. As to sinful actions
he will get either the glory of his mercy in pardoning them, or
else the glory of his justice in punishing them. For the date of
God's decrees, they are all eternal : and he makes no new decrees
in time : Acts xv. 18, " Known unto God are all his works from the
beginning of the world." The way he decreed all things is accord-
ing to the counsel of his own will, Eph. i. 11. His decrees are said
to be according to his own counsel, as being all laid in the depth of
wisdom, which among men is the result of counsel : Rom. xi. 33
" the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of
God ! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past find-
ing out !" But taking counsel, even in himself, is not competent to
God, in a proper sense ; because his infinite understanding compre-
hends all things perfectly at once. They are said to be according
to the counsel of his will, as depending on nothing without himself:
Rom. xi. 34, " For who hath known the mind of the Lord, or who
hath been his counsellor ?"
Quest. 8. How doth God execute his decrees ?
Answ. God executeth his decrees in the works of
creation and providence.
18 OP CREATION IN GENERAL.
EXPLICATION.
God's executing his decrees, means his bringing to pass what he
hath decreed : and he does that in the works of creation and provi-
dence. And nothing falls out in either of thera, but what was de-
creed ; nor otherwise than as it was decreed : Eph. i. 11, " In whom
also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated accord-
ing to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel
of his own will." Zech. vi. 1, " And I turned, and lift up mine
eyes, and looked, and behold, there came four chariots out from be-
tween two mountains, and the mountains were mountains of brass."
Quest. 9. What is the work of creation ?
Answ. The work of creation is, God's making all
things of nothing, by the word of his power, in the space
of six days, and all very good.
EXPLICATION.
The world was not eternal, but had a beginning, Gen. i. 1. It will
also have an end ; and it will end by fire, being burnt up, 2 Pet. iii.
10 ; and that in virtue of the curse lying on it for man's sin : Gen.
iii. 17, " And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto
the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree of which I com-
manded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it : cursed is the ground
for thy sake ; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life."
God the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, made the world : 1 Cor. viii.
6, " But to us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all
things, and we in him ; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all
things, and we by him." John i. 3, " All things were made by
him : and without him was not any thing made that was made."
Psal. xxxiii. 6, "By the word of the Lord were the heavens made:
and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth." He made it
in the beginning of time, but a few thousand years ago : Gen. i. 1.
" In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth." He then
made all things : and there was no person, nor any thing before
that, but God himself: Col. i. 16, "For by him were all things cre-
ated that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible,
whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers :
all things were created by him, and for him." So he made them of
nothing ; and that by the word of his power, commanding them to
be : Heb. xi. 3, " Through faith we understand that the worlds
were framed by the word of God ; so that things which are seen,
OF THE CREATION OF MAN. 19
were not made of things which do appear." Now, all things were
made in the space of six days : Exod. xx. 11, " For in six days the
Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is."
The works of the first day were, the highest heavens, Gen. i. 1. with
the angels, the inhabitants thereof, Job xxxviii. 4, 7 ; the shapeless
mass of earth and water, and the light. The works of the second
day were, the firmament, and the dividing thereby the upper and
lower waters. The works of the third day were, the seas, and the
dry land, herbs, and trees. The works of the fourth day were, the
sun, moon, and stars. The works of the fifth day were, fish, and
fowl. The works of the sixth day were, first, the beasts of the
earth; and then, last of all, man, male and female: Gen. i. 1.
throughout. The goodness of God shines forth in this order of the
creation, in that the places were prepared before the dwellers, the
food before the eaters, and all necessary to the use of man before
man himself. As for the case all things were made in, they were
made all very good : Gen. i. 31, " And God saw every thing that he
had made, and behold, it was very good ;" that is to say, very fit
for the ends and uses for which they were made. Wherefore, the
angels were all made holy and happy. And some of them did con-
tinue in that state, 1 Tim. v. 21, " I charge thee before the elect
angels," &c. ; but others of them sinned, and fell, and became devils,
Jude 6, " And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left
their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under
darkness, unto the judgment of the great day." 2 Pet. ii. 4, " God
spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and
delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judg-
ment."
Quest. How did God create man ?
Answ. God created man male and female, after his
own image, in knowledge, righteousness, and holiness,
with dominion over the creatures.
EXPLICATION.
By male and female, is meant man and woman. The man was
first made, and then the woman, 1 Tim. ii. 13 ; and the woman was
made to be a help to the man, Gen. ii. 18. Adam and Eve were the
first man and woman : and from them all mankind is descended :
Acts xvii. 25, " God hath made of one blood, all nations of men,
for to dwell on all the face of the earth." The parts whereof man
20 OF THE CREATION 01' -MAX.
consists, are a soul and a body. The body of the man was made of
the dust of the ground : Gen. ii. 7, " The Lord God formed man of
the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of
life ; and man became a living soul." "Which consideration may be
of use to us, to be a cure to our pride, a memorial of our death, and
an emblem of our resurrection. The woman's body was made of a
rib and flesh taken out of the man's side : Gen. ii. 23, " And
Adam said, this is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh : she
shall be called woman, because she was taken out of man ;" and
that to the end they might be one flesh, ver. 24, " Therefore shall
a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his
wife : and they shall be one flesh." The soul is of a spiritual and
immortal nature : Eccl. xii. 7, " Then shall the dust return to the
earth as it was ; and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it."
Their souls were made within them, of nothing : Gen. ii. 7, above
cited, Zech. xii. 1. " The Lord, which formeth the spirit of man
within him." But Moses gives no separate account of the making
of their souls, as of the making of their bodies ; because their souls
were not of a different make, but only their bodies. Neither are
the souls of men since that time generated by the parents, but
created of God within their formed bodies in the womb ; hence
called the Father of Spirits, Heb. xii. 9. Now, man was created in
a holy and happy state ; which appears, in that he was made so far
like God, that he was after his very image, Gen. i. 26. And this
was not peculiar to the man, but common to the man and the
woman, ver. 27, " So God created man in his own image, in the
image of God created he him : male and female created he them."
The image of God wherein man was so like him, consisted in
knowledge, righteousness, and holiness, and dominion over the
creatures : Col. iii. 10, " And have put on the new man, which is
renewed in knowledge, after the image of him that created him."
Eph. iv. 24, " And that ye put on the new man, which after God is
created in righteousness and true holiness." Gen. i. 26, " God
said, let us make man in our image, after our likeness ; and let
them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of
the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every
creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth." The parts of the
image of God impressed on his soul, were, knowledge on his mind,
righteousness on his will, and holiness on his affections. His know-
ledge was a sufficient understanding of what was necessary to
make him completely happy, Gen. i. 26; Col. iii. 10. His righte-
ousness was a perfect conformity of his will to the will of God :
And his holiness was the perfect purity of all his affections.
OF THE CREATION OF MAN". 21
Eccl. vii. 29, " God made man upright." That part of the image
of God impressed on the whole man, was dominion oyer the
creatures. The creatures he had dominion over, were the beasts
of the earth, the fowls of the air, and the fishes of the sea, Gen.
i. 26. The dominion he had over them, was a right and power
soberly to use them for God's glory and his own comfort. His
charter for this right to the creatures, was the covenant of works,
Gen. ii. 16, 17, compared with chap. i. 28, " Have dominion over the
fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living
thing that moveth upon the earth." And in these things man bore
the image of God, as in him he faintly resembled God himself, who
is infinitely knowing, righteous, and holy, and supreme Lord of the
creatures. Now, Adam bore this image as a public person, to propa-
gate it to his posterity : Eccl. vii. 29, " God made man upright."
But it was lost to himself and all mankind, by his fall, 1 Cor. xv.
22, " In Adam all die ;" and that even to the forfeiting of the do-
minion over the creatures ; an evidence of which is, beasts proving
unruly, and hurtful to man. The only way to recover the image of
God, is to unite with Jesus Christ by faith : 1 Cor. xv. 22, " In
Christ shall all be made alive." For he is the image of the invisible
God, and to him as a second Adam is the dominion over the crea-
tures restored : Col. i. 15. " AYho is the image of the invisible God,
the first-born of every creature. Psal. viii. 6, 7, 8, " Thou raadest
him to have dominion over the works of thy hands ; thou hast put
all things under his feet : all sheep and oxen, yea, and the beasts of
the field : the fowl of the air, and the fish of the sea, and whatsoever
passeth through the paths of the seas." Compared with Heb. ii. 7,
8, 9, " Thou madest him a little lower than the angels ; thou
crownedst hirn with glory and honour, and didst set him over the
works of thy hands : thou hast put all things in subjection under his
feet," &c. And he repairs this image in all that believe on him.
The reparation of the lost image of God in their souls is begun in
their sauctification in him, and perfected in their glorification : Col
iii. 10, " And have put on the new man, which is renewed in know-
ledge, after the image of him that created him." Heb. xii. 23, " To
the spirits of just men made perfect." The reparation of the lost
dominion over the creatures, is begun in their getting a new right to
them in their union with him, and perfected in their being put in
full possession of the dominion at the last day : Rom. iv. 13, " For
the promise that he should be the heir of the world, was not to
Abraham, or to his seed through the law, but through the righteous-
ness of faith." Rev. xxi. 7, " He that overcometh, shall inherit all
things ; and I will be his God, and he shall be ray son." Psalm
22 OF PROVIDENCE.
xlix. 14, " Like sheep they are laid in the grave, death shall feed
on them ; and the upright shall have dominion over them in the
morning." Their charter for this new right to the creatures, is the
covenant of grace, Rom. iv. 13, forceited. But they that are out of
Christ, have no covenant-right to the creatures, but only a provi-
dential right : And that is such a right, as a condemned man hath to
his food, until his execution. The management that men now have
over the beasts, is far short of the original dominion over them :
Gen. ii. 19, " And out of the ground the Lord God formed every
beast of the field, and every fowl of the air, and brought them unto
Adam, to see what he would call them : and whatsoever Adam called
every living creature, that was the name thereof." But such as it
is, it is owing to a new grant made after the fall, for the necessities
of human life ; whieh new grant is found recorded, Gen. ix. 2, " And
the fear of you, and the dread of you, shall be upon every beast of
the earth, and upon every fowl of the air, upon all that moveth upon
the earth, and upon all the fishes of the sea; into your hand are
they delivered."
Quest. 11. What are God's xuorks of providence ?
Answ. God's works of providence are, his most holy,
wise, and powerful preserving and governing all his crea-
tures, and all their actions.
EXPLICATION.
There is a divine providence about the creatures. That appears
from their entire dependence on God as their first cause, and from
the exact accomplishment of Scripture prophecies : Acts xvii. 25,
" God is not worshipped with men's hands, as though he needed any
thing, seeing he giveth to all life, and breath, and all things." Yer.
28, " For in him we live, and move, and have our being ; as certain,
also, of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring."
Isa. xlvi. 9, 10, " Remember the former things of old ; for I am
God, and there is none else ; I am God, and there is none like me.
Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the
things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I
will do all my pleasure."
The object which providence is employed about, is all the crea-
tures, and all their actions, Psalm ciii. 19, " His kingdom ruleth over
all." Even devils, and wicked men, are under the providence of
God : Matth. viii. 31, " So the devils besought him, saying, If thou
cast us out, suffer us to go away into the herd of swine." And evil
OF PROVIDENCE. 23
actions, as well as good, are within the verge of it : Gen. xlv. 7,
" And God sent me before you, to preserve you a posterity in the
earth, and to save your lives by a great deliverance." Yea, there
is not any thing whatsoever, be it ever so 3mall or casual, that falls
out without the providence of God : Matth. x. 29, 30, " Are not two
sparrows sold for a farthing ? and one of them shall not fall on the
ground without your Father. But the very hairs of your head are
all numbered."
The works of providence about the creatures, are the preserving
of them, and the governing of them and their actions. Providence
preserves the creatures, sustaining them in being, and providing for
their support : Heb. i. 3, " Upholding all things by the word of his
power." Psalm cxlv. 15, 16, " The eyes of all wait upon thee, and
thou givest them their meat in due season. Thou openest thine
hand, and satisfiest the desire of every living thing." No creature
whatsoever could keep itself in being one moment ; but upon God's
withdrawing the upholding hand of his providence, it would imme-
diately return to nothing : Heb. i. 3. Providence governs the crea-
tures and their actions, disposing of them according to the divine
purpose : Prov. xxi. 1, " The king's heart is in the hand of the
Lord, as the rivers of water ; he turneth it whithersoever he will."
Eph. i. 11, " In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being
predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all
things after the counsel of his own will." Providence governs sin-
ful actions, permitting them, bounding them, and overruling them
to good: Acts xiv. 16, "Who in times past suffered all nations to
walk in their own ways." Psalm lxxvi. 10, " Surely the wrath of
man shall praise thee : the remainder of wrath shalt thou restrain."
Gen. 1. 20, " But as for you, ye thought evil against me ; but God
meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much
people alive."
The properties of the works of providence are these : They are
most holy, wise, and powerful : Psal. cxlv. 17, " The Lord is
righteous in all his ways, and holy in all his works." Psal. civ.
24, " Lord, how manifold are thy works ! in wisdom hast thou
made them all." Dan. iv. 35, " He doth according to his own will
in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth :
and none can stay his hand, or say unto him, What dost thou ?"
Wherefore, God is not the author of sin ; no more than he who
rides a crooked horse, is the cause of his halting : James i. 13,
" Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God : for
God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man."
All dispensations of providence are wisely ordered : Deut. xxxii.
24 OF THE COVENANT OF WORKS.
4, " He is the rock, his work is perfect : for all his ways are judg-
ment : a God of truth, and without iniquity ; just and right is he."
And providence cannot miss of its designs and ends : Is. xlvi. 10,
" My counsel shall stand, and 1 will do all my pleasure."
The rule of the works of providence, is the decree of God ;
whereof they, and the works of creation, are an exact accomplish-
ment, Eph. i. 11, " In whom also we have obtained an inheritance,
being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh
all things after the counsel of his own will."
Quest. 12. What special act of providence did God exercise towards
man in the estate wherein he was created ?
Answ. When God had created man, he entered into
a covenant of life with him, upon condition of perfect
obedience ; forbidding him to eat of the tree of know-
ledge of good and evil, upon the pain of death.
EXPLICATION.
The special act of providence towards man newly created, was,
God's making a covenant of life and happiness with him. There
are two covenants for life and happiness to man : and they are, the
covenant of works, and the covenant of grace : Gal. iv. 24, " For
these are the two covenants ; the one from the mount Sinai, which
gendereth to bondage, which is Agar."
The first covenant was the covenant of works. It was made in
paradise, and before the fall. The parties contracting in it, were
God and Adam : Gen. ii. 17, " But of the tree of the knowledge of
good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it : for in the day that thou
eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die." But Adam represented all
mankind, as the parties contracted for : Gen. ii. 17, forecited. Com-
pared with Rom. v. 12, " By one man sin entered into the world,
and death by sin ; and so death passed upon all men, for that all
have sinned." There was no mediator of this covenant ; for as yet
there was no breach, by sin, betwixt God and man.
The condition of the covenant of works, was perfect obedience :
Gal. iii. 12, " And the law is not of faith : but, The man that doth
them, shall live in them." And it was to be perfect, in respect of
parts, degrees, and continuance : Gal. iii. 10, "For as many as are
of the works of the law, are under the curse : for it is written,
Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are
written in the book of the law to do them." Matth. xxii. 37,
" Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all
OF TIIE COVENANT OF WORKS. 25
thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind." So the
least failing in any part or degree of obedience, or for never so
small a time, would have broken this covenant. The law that was
the rule of this obedience, was the law of the ten commands, and
the law forbidding to eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil :
Gal. iii. 10, and Gen. ii. 17, forecited. That tree grew in paradise,
Gen. ii. 9. There was no virtue in it to improve men in knowledge,
as the devil falsely suggested, Gen. iii. 5, " For God doth know,
that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened : and
ye shall be as gods, knowing good aud evil." Compared with John
viii. 44, " Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your
father ye will do : he was a murderer from the beginning, and abode
not in the truth, because there is no trnth in him. "When he speak-
eth a lie, he speaketh " of his own : for he is a liar, and the father
of it." But that name was put upon this tree, to intimate, that by
eating of it, man would know to his sad experience, the vast differ-
ence between good and ill : wherefore that tree with that name, was
of use, to be a warning-piece to man to beware of evil. Now, Adam
knew the law of the ten commands, as they were impressed on his
heart in his creation : Rom. ii. 15, " Which shew the work of the
law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness,
and their thoughts the mean while accusing, or else excusing one
another." He knew the law of the forbidden tree by revelation,
Gen. ii. 17, forecited. And he had sufficient ability for the perfect
obedience required, Eccl. vii. 29, " God made man upright."
The promise of the covenant of works, was a promise of life :
Gen. ii. 17, forecited. The life promised was twofold; namely, one
to be afforded him, during the course of his probationary obedience,
another to be afforded him at the perfecting of it. The life to have
been afforded to man during the course of his probationary obe-
dience, was natural life continued in vigour and comfort, and spiri-
tual life continued in favour and fellowship with God, Gen. ii. 17,
forecited. This was the reward of obedience in hand. The life to
have been afforded him at the perfecting of his course, was eternal
life in consummate happiness: Matth. xix. 16, 17, "And behold,
one came and said unto him, Good master, what good thing shall I
do that I may have eternal life ? And he said unto him, If thou
wilt enter into life, keep the commandments." And this was the
reward of obedience in hope. Adam, if he had continued obedient,
could have claimed that life upon his obedience ; yet not in the way
of proper merit; because his perfect obedience was no more than
what was due from him by the law of his creation, before he entered
into that covenant : Luke xvii. 9, 10, " Doth he thank that servant,
Vol. VII. b
26 OF ADAJl's FALL.
because he did the things that were commanded him ? I trow not.
So likewise ye, when y i shall have done all those things which are
commanded you, say, We are unprofitable servants : we have done
that which was our duty to do." The only way he could have
claimed it, was by compact, namely, in virtue of the covenant-pro-
mise made to this work.
The penalty of the covenant of works was death, Gen. ii. 17,
forecited. The death threatened was also twofold ; namely, one ac-
companying sin at its first entrance, another following after as its
full reward. The death accompanying sin at its first entrance, was
temporal death, in the loss of the vigour and comfort of natural
life ; and spiritual death, in the loss of the image of God with his
favour and fellowship. And Adam died this death, according to
the threatening, that very day he sinned : Gen. iii. 7, 8, 9, 10,
" And the eyes of them both were opened and they knew that they
were naked : and they sewed fig-leaves together, and made them-
selves aprons. And they heard the voice of the Lord God walking
in the garden in the cool of the day : and Adam and his wife hid
themselves from the presence of the Lord God, amongst the trees of
the garden. And the Lord God called unto Adam, and said unto
him, Where art thou? And he said, I heard thy voice in the gar-
den : and I was afraid, because I was naked ; and I hid myself."
The death following after, as the full reward of sin, was the natural
death of the body with the sting in it, and eternal death in the con-
summate misery of soul and body for ever : 1 Cor. xv. 55, " death
where is thy sting ? grave, where is thy victory ?" Matth. xxv.
41, " Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart
from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and
his angels." And this was comprehended in the express threaten-
ing of death to accompany sin ; inasmuch as the one was a sure
pledge of the other, natively issuing therein.
Quest. 13. Did our first parents continue in the state wherein they
were created ?
Answ. Our first parents being left to the freedom of
their own will, fell from the estate wherein they were
created, by sinning against God.
EXPLICATION.
Our first parents were Adam and Eve. The state wherein they
were created, was a holy and happy state : but they fell from it ;
and that by their sinning against God : Gen. iii. 6, 7, 8, 10, " And
OF SIN IN GENERAL. 27
when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it
was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise;
she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her
husband with her; and he did eat," &c. The first that sinned was
the woman : 1 Tim. ii. 14, " And Adam was not deceived, but the
woman being deceived was in the transgression." And it was the
devil that ensnared her : Gen. iii. 12. — " And the woman said, the
serpent beguiled me, and I did eat." The woman having sinned, in-
snared Adam, ver. 6, forecited. But their being tempted to sin, did
not excuse them ; because it was of their own free will that they
sinned. Freedom of will is a power in the will, whereby it doth of
its own accord, without it, choose or refuse what is proposed to it by
the understanding. And man hath this freedom of will in whatever
state he be. But this power of the will is not of the same extent in
all states. In the state of innocence, it extended both to good and
evil ; that is to say, man had a freedom of will, whereby he could
wholly turn, either to the one side or the other, to good or evil, pro-
posed by his understanding : And that man was created thus muta-
ble, was sutable to the state of trial. Now, the special act of provi-
dence about the fall of our first parents, was that God left them to
the freedom of their own will , and the use they made of that, was,
that they went freely, of their own accord, to the side of sin. But
in the state of corrupt nature, the power of the will extends only to
evil : Gen. vi. 5, " And God saw that the wickedness of man was
great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his
heart was only evil continually." In the state of grace, it extends
partly to good, and partly to evil : Rom. vii. 23. " But I see another
law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bring-
ing me into captivity to the law of sin, which is in my members."
And in the state of glory it extends only to good : Heb. xii. 23.
" To the spirits of just men made perfect."
Quest. 14. Wliat is Sin ?
Answ. Sin is any want of conformity unto, or trans-
gression of, the law of God.
EXPLICATION.
By sin is meant transgression of the law of God ; and therefore
nothing can be sin but what one way or other is a transgression of
some law of God : 1 John iii. 4. " "Whosoever committeth sin,
transgresseth also the law : for sin is the transgression of the law."
Transgression of the law of God, is any want of conformity to it
b2
28 OF THE FIRST SIN IN PARTICULAR.
whatsoever, 1 John iii. 4, forecited. So the least coming short of
the perfection required by the law, is sin ; because so far there is a
want of conformity to the law : Matth. v. 48, " Be ye therefore per-
fect, even as your father which is in heaven is perfect." Compared
with 1 John iii. 4, above cited. Now the law of God requires a
twofold conformity to it in the reasonable creatures ; namely a con-
formity of their natures to it, and a conformity of their lives to it :
Psalm xxiv. 3, 4. "Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord ? and
who shall stand in his holy place ? He that hath clean hands, and
a pure heart ; who hath not lift up his soul unto vanity, nor sworn
deceitfully." Hence there are two general kinds of sin ; namely
original sin, and actual sin : and each of them is a want of conform-
ity to the law of God. Original sin is a want of conformity of our
natures to the law of God. Actual sin is a want of conformity of
our lives to the law of God, whether by omission or commission.
The chief evil of sin lies in the filthiness of it. The filthiness of sin
is its being the quite contrary of God's holiness expressed in his
law ; whence it is, in the sight of God, the object of his greatest
loathing and abhorrence : Jer. xliv. 4. " Howbeit, I sent unto you
all my servants the prophets, rising early, and sending them, saying,
Oh do not this abominable thing that I hate !"
Quest. 15. What was the Sin whereby our first Parents fell from
the estate wherein they were created ?
A nsw. The sin whereby our first parents fell from the
estate wherein they were created, was their eating the
forbidden fruit.
EXPLICATION.
The sin whereby man fell, was the eating the forbidden fruit :
Gen. ii. 6, " And when the woman saw that the tree was good for
food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired
to make one wise; she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and
gave also unto her husband with her ; and he did eat." There was
no evil in the fruit itself, for which it was forbidden : Gen. i. ult.
" And God saw every thing that he had made, and behold, it was
very good." The evil of the matter lay in man's eating it against
the express command of God. God forbade it to be eaten, for the
trial of man's obedience. And the fitness of taking trial of man
by that mean, appears in that so it was taken in an external thing,
in itself indifferent, wherein man's obedience behoved to turn pre-
OF OUR FALL IN ADAM. 29
cisely upon the point of the will of God. This sin was then in
effect, man's practical declaration that he would not be ruled by-
God's will, but by his own : and therefore it was not a little sin, but
a breaking of the whole law at once: Jam. ii. 10, 11, "For whoso-
ever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is
guilty of all. For he that said, do not commit adultery; said also,
do not kill. Now, if thou commit no adultery, yet if thou kill, thou
art become a transgressor of the law."
Quest. 16. Did all mankind fall in Adam's first transgression ?
Answ. The covenant being made with Adam, not
only for himself, but for his posterity; all mankind de-
scending from him by ordinary generation, sinned in
him, and fell with him, in his first transgression.
EXPLICATION.
Adam did not fall alone in this transgression : but all mankind,
descending from him by ordinary generation, were involved with
him in the ruins of liis fall : and these are all his posterity, except
the man Christ : 1 Cor. v. 22, " In Adam all die."
Christ as man did indeed descend from Adam : Luke iii. 23,
"And Jesus himself began to be about thirty years of age, being
(as was supposed) the son of Joseph." Compared with verse last,
" Which was the son of Adam." Bat he did not descend from him
by ordinary, but extraordinary generation. That which was extra-
ordinary in Christ's generation, was, that he was born of a virgin;
Matth. i. 18, " Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise :
When as his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, before they came
together, she was found with child of the Holy Ghost."
All the rest of Adam's posterity fell with him : they fell with
him, from the state of holiness and happiness; both which they had
in hand, and which they had in hope from the promise of the cove-
nant of works : and they so fell, by his first transgression, Rom. v.
18, 19, " By the offence of one judgment came upon all men to con-
demnation. By one man's disobedience many were made sinners."
His first transgression was his eating of the forbidden fruit. His
eating of that fruit, is called his first transgression : because by it
his siu and apostacy begun in his heait, was completed, Gen. iii. 6,
forecited. Now, that transgression cast him and them down from
these states of holiness and happiness, inasmach as by it the cove-
nant of works was broken : Gen. ii. 17- Compared with chap. iii. 10,
11, 12, forecited. The reason why they fell with him by that trans-
30 OF OUK FALL IN ADAM.
gression, was, that in it they sinned in him : So that sin, whereby
the covenant was broken, was our sin as well as his, Rom. v. 12, 19,
" By one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin ; and so
death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned. For by one
man's disobedience many were made sinners."
It came to be our sin, because he was our covenant head and re-
presentative in the covenant of works ; and that is to say, " The
covenant was made with him, not only for himself, but for his pos-
terity : 1 Cor. xv. " And so it is written, the first man Adam was
made a living soul." The man Christ is not included in that re-
presentation which Adam made as head of the covenant of works,
1 Cor. xv. 22, 45, " For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall
all be made alive." ver. 45, " The first man Adam was made a liv-
ing soul, the last Adam was made a quickening spirit;" and that
because Christ came, not in virtue of the blessing of fruitfulness
given while the covenant of works stood entire, but in virtue of a
special promise made after it was broken : Gen. i. 28, " And God
blessed them, and God said unto them, be fruitful and multiply, and
replenish the earth, and subdue it : and have dominion over the fish
of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing
that moveth upon the earth." And chap. iii. 15, "And I will put
enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her
seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou" shalt bruise his heel."
Adam's sin, then, could not be imputed to the man Christ; since
Adam did not represent him in the covenant. But Adam represen-
ted all the rest of mankind in it : Rom. v. 12, forecited. It is true,
we did not choose him for our representative, but God choose him
for us : and he was the most fit choice for that end ; Eccl. iii. 14, " I
know that whatsoever God doth, it shall be for ever : nothing can
be put to it, nor any thing taken from it : and God doth it, that men
should fear before him." And this he was, in regard he was the na-
tural head of mankind, endowed with sufficient ability : Acts xvii.
26, " God hath made of one blood, all nations of men, for to dwell
on all the face of the earth," &c. Eccl. vii. 29, " God hath made
man upright."
Now, man did not become free from the covenant of works, upon
his breaking of it : For his breaking of it could never free him ;
and the honour of the law barred his discharge, till the breach of it
should be made up , Isa. xlii. 21, " The Lord is well pleased for his
righteousness' sake ; he will magnify the law and make it honour-
able." Matt. v. 18, " Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one
tittle shall in no ways pass from the law, till all be fulfilled." And
man himself was utterly unable to make up the breach : Rom, v. 6,
or man's estate by the fall. 31
" For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died
for the ungodly." All men then by nature are under the broken
covenant of works : Rom. iii. 19, " Now we know that wliat things
soever the law saitli, it saith to them who are under the law ; that
every mouth may be stopped, and all the world become guilty be-
fore God.
Quest. 17. Into xuhat estate did the fall bring mankind ?
Answ. The fall brought mankind into an estate of
sin and misery.
EXPLICATION.
The natural state of mankind now, under the covenant of works,
is a " state of sin and misery :" And we were brought into it by the
fall : Rom. v. 12, " By one sin entered into the world, and death by
sin ; and so death passed upon all men, for that all had sinned."
We were all born or conceived in that state : Psal. li. 5, " Behold,
I was shapen in iniquity : and in sin did my mother conceive me."
Eph. ii. 3, " We were by nature the children of wrath, even as
others." There is no true holiness attainable in that our natural
state ; for it is a state of sin. There is no salvation from wrath
attainable in it ; for it is a state of misery. The state we must be
brought into, out of our natural state under the covenant of works,
if we would be saved, is the state of grace in the covenant of grace:
Rom. vi. 14, " For sin shall not have dominion over you : for ye are
not under the law, but under grace." Those that are brought out
of their natural state, from under the covenant of works, into the
state of grace, are all that are in Christ, converted persons : Rom.
viii. 1, " There is no condemnation to them which are in Christ
Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit." Those
that are still in their natural state, under the covenant of works,
are all that are out of Christ, unconverted : Eph. ii. 12, " At that
time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of
Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope,
and without God in the world." The power that the covenant of
works hath over such persons, is a commanding, cursing, and con-
demning power. It commands them perfect obedience under pain of
the curse : It curseth and condemneth them for the very least failure :
Gal. iii. 10, " For as many as are of the works of the law, are under
the curse : for it is written, Cursed is every one that continueth not
in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them,
Rom. iii. 19, forecited.
32 OP THE SINFULNESS OP
Quest. 18. Wherein consists the sinfulness of that estate whereinto
man fell ?
Answ. The sinfulness of that estate whereinto man
fell, consists in the guilt of Adam's first sin, the want of
original righteousness, and the corruption of his whole
nature, which is commonly called original sin, together
with all actual transgressions which proceed from it.
EXPLICATION.
The state whereinto man fell, is our natural state : and that is
both a sinful, and a miserable state. Our natural state is a sinful
state, in respect of original sin, and in respect of actual trans-
gressions.
Original sin, in its full extent, is the guilt of Adam's first sin,
the want of original righteousness, and the corruption of the whole
nature. All and every one of Adam's natural race, are born or
conceived in it : Rom. v. 12, " By one man sin entered into the world,
and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that ail
have sinned." Psalm li. 5, " Behold, I was shapen in iniquity ;
and iu sin did my mother conceive me." It is derived to us from
Adam the original of mankind, Rom. v. 12, forecited. And it is
conveyed to us by natural generation : Job xiv. 4, " "Who can
bring a clean thing out of an unclean ? not one." Psalm li. 5, fore-
cited. Even holy parents convey it to their children ; because
they procreate their children after their own natural image : Gen.
v. 3, " And Adam begat a son in his own likeness, after his image ;
and called his name Seth." Now, our natural state is a sinful
state, in respect of original sin ; inasmuch as original sin, being a
fountain of sin, remains entire, in its guilt, filth, and power on
every man, as long as he is in that state. Original sin, consists of
three parts.
The first part of original sin, is the guilt of Adam's first sin.
Adam's first sin was the eating of the forbidden fruit, whereby the
covenant of works was broken. The guilt of that sin is an obliga-
tion to punishment for it. And that guilt lies on all men by
nature : Rom. v. 18, " By the offence of one judgment came upon
all men to condemnation." Now, this guilt of Adam's first sin, is
original sin imputed. The only remedy for it is in Jesus Christ,
1 Cor. xv. 22, " For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all
be made alive :" and that from his blood, which removes it in justi-
fication, Eph. i. 7, " In whom we have redemption through his
blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace."
man's natural state. 33
Rom. iii. 24, " Being justified freely by his grace, through the re-
demption that is in Jesus Christ."
The second part of original sin, is the want of original righteous-
ness. Original righteousness is that righteousness wherein man
was created in the image of God. And all men by nature are
under the want of that: Rom. iii. 23, "For all have sinned, and
come short of the glory of God." Eph. iv. 18, " Having the un-
derstanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God, through
the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their
heart." In the want of original righteousness, is included the
want of that knowledge in the understanding, the waut of that
righteousness in the will, and the want of that holiness in the af-
fections, wherewith man was endued at his creation : aud all men
by nature are under these wants : Job xi. 12, " For vain man
would be wise, though man be born like a wild ass's colt." Eccles.
vii. 29, " Lo, this only have I found, that God hath made man up-
right ; but they have sought out many inventions." Rom. vii. 18,
" For I know, that in me (that is, in my flesh) dwelleth no good
thing : for to will is present with me, but how to perform that
which is good, I find not." Now, the want of original righteousness
is a sin; forasmuch as it is a want of conformity to the law of God :
Matth. v. ult., "Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which
is in heaven is perfect." Compared with 1 John iii. 4, " Whoso-
ever committeth sin, transgresseth also the law : for sin is the
transgression of the law." It can be our sin, who never had that
righteousness in our own persons, because we had it, and lost it in
Adam, sinning in him : and we are justly left under the want of it,
for our guilt of Adam's first sin : Eccles. vii. 29, forecited. Rom.
v. 12, " By one man sin entered into the world, and death by
sin ; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned."
The third part of original sin is the corruption of the whole
nature : and this is what is commonly called original sin, as being
the worst part of it. The corruption of nature is that vicious qua-
lity in-bred iu us, whereby our nature is utterly disabled for, and
opposite to all spiritual good, and prone to the contrary evils con-
tinually : Rom. v. 6, " For when we were yet without strength, in
due time Christ died for the ungodly." Chap. viii. 7, " The carnal
mind is enmity against God : for it is not subject to the law of God,
neither indeed can be." Gen. vi. 5, " And God saw that the
wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagina-
tion of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually." And
one may know his own nature to be corrupt, by the backwardness
to good, and forwardness to evil he may find in himself. Now,
34 OF THE SINFULNESS OF, &C.
man's nature, in his natural state, is not corrupted in part only,
but wholly corrupted in every part: Eph. ii. 1, 2, 3, "And you
hath he quickened who were dead in trespasses and sins. Wherein
in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, accord-
ing to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh
in the children of disobedience. Among whom also we all had our
conversation in times past, in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the de-
sires of the flesh, and of the mind ; and were by nature the children
of wrath, even as others." Tit. i. 15, " Unto the pure all things
are pure : but unto them that are defiled, and unbelieving, is
nothing pure ; but even their mind and conscience is defiled." For
the case the understanding is in, it is utterly darkened, in point of
spiritual discerning : 1 Cor. ii. 14, " The natural man receiveth not
the things of the Spirit of God ; for they are foolishness unto him :
neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned."
The will, it is quite opposite to the will of God : Rom. viii. 7, fore-
cited. The affections, they are wholly carnal : Rom. vii. 14, " For
we know that the law is spiritual : but I am carnal, sold under sin."
Chap. viii. 5. " They that are after the flesh, do mind the things of
the flesh." The body and its members, they are instruments of un-
righteousness, and servants to iniquity : Rom. vi. 12, 19, " Let not
sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in
the lusts thereof. I speak after the manner of men, because of the
infirmity of your flesh : for as ye have yielded your members ser-
vants to uncleanness and to iniquity unto iniquity ; even so now
yield your members servants to righteousness, unto holiness."
The want of original righteousness, and the corruption of his
whole nature, are original sin inherent, which the Scripture express-
eth both in negative and positive terms : Eph. iv. 18, " Having the
understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God,
through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of
their heart." Rom. viii. 7, " The carnal mind is enmity against
God : for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be."
The only remedy for original sin inherent, is in Jesus Christ, 1 Cor.
xv. 22, " For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made
alive ; and that from his Spirit ; who begins the removal of it in re-
generation, or quickening of the dead soul, carries it on in sanctifi-
cation, and perfects it in glorification : John xi. 63, " It is the Spirit
that quickeneth, the flesh profiteth nothing : the words that I speak
unto you, they are spirit, and they are life." 1 Cor. vi. 11, " Ye
are washed, ye are sanctified, ye are justified in the name of the
Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God." Rom. viii. 23, " And
not only they, but ourselves also, which have the first-fruits of the
OF THE MISERY OF, &C. 35
Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waitiug for the
adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body."
Actual transgressions are breaches of God's law by omission or
commission, in thoughts, words, or deeds. The fountain which they all
proceed from in us, is the corruption of our nature : Matth. xv. 19,
" For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries,
fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies." Our natural state
is a sinful state, in respect of actual transgressions, inasmuch as all
the actions of a natural man are actual transgressions, and the
guilt and filth of them all, and of all his omissions of duty, abide
fast on him as long as he is in that state : Gen. vi. 5, " And God
saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that
every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil con-
tinually." Eph. ii. 1, " And you hath he quickened who were dead
in trespasses and sins." A man in his natural state cannot do any
thing truly good ; because his nature is wholly corrupt : Matth. vii.
18, " A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit : neither can a cor-
rupt tree bring forth good fruit." His natural actions, such as eat-
ing and drinking, are sin : Zech. vii. 6, " And when ye did eat, and
when ye did drink, did ye not eat for yourselves, and drink for
yourselves ?" His civil actions, such as plowing and sowing, are
sin : Prov. xxi. 4, " The plowing of the wicked is sin." And his re-
ligious actions are sin, Prov. xv. 8, " The sacrifice of the wicked is
an abomination to the Lord."
Quest. 19. What is the misery of that estate whereinto man fell?
Answ. All mankind, by their fall, lost communion
with God, are under his wrath and curse, and so made
liable to all miseries in this life, to death itself, and to
the pains of hell for ever.
EXPLICATION.
Our natural state is a miserable state too. And all mankind is
in that miserable state by nature. That comes to pass, by their
fall in Adam : Rom. v. 12, " By one man sin entered into the
world, and death by sin ; and so death passed upon all men, for
that all have sinned." Our natural state is a miserable state, in
respect of what loss man sustains, what he lies under, and what he
is liable to, in it.
The loss which man sustains in his natural state, is the loss of
communion with God. Communion with God is a friendly inter-
36 OF THE MISERY OP
course between God and a soul, arising from a peculiar interest in
one another : Cant. ii. 16, " My beloved is mine, and I am his."
man had such communion with God before the fall ; and that with-
out a Mediator : Gal. iii. 20, " Now a mediator is not a mediator of
one ; but God is one." But he lost it, by the fall : Gen. iii. 8,
" And they heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden
in the cool of the day : and Adam and his wife hid themselves from
the presence of the Lord God, amongst the trees of the garden."
And none attain to this communion again, as long as they are in
their natural state, whatever duties of worship they go about : Eph.
ii. 12, " At that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the
commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of pro-
mise, having no hope, and without God in the world." It is re-
covered only in the way of union with Jesus Christ, ver. 13, " But
now in Christ Jesus, ye who sometimes were far off 5 are made nigh
by the blood of Christ."
What man lies under in his natural state, is God's wrath and
curse. The wrath of God he lies under, is revenging wrath ; and
all men in their natural state are under that wrath : Eph. ii. 3,
" We were by nature the children of wrath, even as others." John
iii. ult., " He that believeth on the Son, hath everlasting life : and
he that believeth not the Son, shall not see life ; but the wrath of
God abideth on him." The curse he lies under, is the sentence of
the broken law, binding over the sinner to revenging wrath, to the
full : and all men in their natural state are under it, Gal. iii. 10,
" Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are
written in the book of the law to do them."
What man is liable to in his natural state, is, all miseries in this
life, death itself, and the pains of hell for ever, in virtue of the
curse. The miseries in this life the natural man is liable to, are all
inward and outward miseries of life, laid on in virtue of the curse :
Lam. iii. 39, " Wherefore doth a living man complain, a man for
the punishment of his sins ?" The inward miseries of life he is so
made liable to, are spiritual plagues, such as blindness of mind,
hardness of heart, vileness of affections, horror of conscience, and
the like : Eph. iv. 18, " Having the understanding darkened, being
alienated from the life of God, through the ignorance that is in
them, because of the blindness of their heart." Rom. ii. 5, " But,
after thy hardness and impenitent heart, treasurest up unto thyself
wrath against the day of wrath, and revelation of the righteous
judgment of God." Chap. i. 26, " For this cause God gave them up
unto vile affections." Isa. xxxiii. 14, " The sinners in Zion are
afraid, fearfulness hath surprised the hypocrites : who among us
man's estate. 37
shall dwell with the devouring fire ? who amongst us shall dwell
with everlasting hurnings ?" The outward miseries of life he is so
made liable to, are such as befall the outward man, as sickness, po-
verty, disgrace, and the like: Deut. xxviii. 15, to the end, " But it
shall come to pass, if thou wilt not hearken to the voice of the Lord
thy God, to observe to do all his commandments, and his statutes
which I command thee this day; that all these curses shall come
upon thee, and overtake thee. Cursed shalt thou be in the city,
and cursed shalt thou be in the field," &c. The death the natural
man is liable to, is the dissolution of the soul and the body in virtuo
of the curse: Rom. vi. 23, "The wages of sin is death." That
kind of death is stinged death : 1 Cor. xv. 5, " The sting of death
is sin ; and the strength of sin is the law." It is true, believers in
Christ also are liable to miseries in this life, and to death itself;
but they are not so made liable to them, not by the curse, not
with the sting in them : 1 Cor. xv. 55, " death, where is thy
sting? grave, where is thy victory?" Howbeit, if man had not
sinned, he would never have died : Gen. ii. 17, " But of the tree of
the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the
day that thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die." The miseries
in this life, and death itself, are, to believers in Christ, marks of
God's displeasure with the sin in them, while yet he loves their per-
sons in Christ: Psal. xcix. 8, "Thou answeredst them, Lord our
God : thou wast a God that forgavest them, though thou tookest
vengeance of their inventions." Gen. iii. 15, 17, 18, 19, "And I
will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed
and her seed : it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his
heel. And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto
the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree of which I com-
manded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it : cursed is the ground
for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life.
Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee : and thou shalt
eat the herb of the field. In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat
bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou
taken : for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return."
The pains of hell, that natural men are liable to, are, the pain of
loss, and the pain of sense. The pain of loss in hell, is total and
final separation from God : Matth. xxv. 41, " Then shall he say
also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into
everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels." That sepa-
ration from God, is not a local separation from him, as if God
should not be in the place where they shall be : Psalm exxxix. 8,
" If I make my led in hell, behold, thou art there." But it is a re-
38 OF THE COVENANT OF OKACE.
lative separation, in an eternal blocking up of all comfortable com-
munication between God and them : and the effect of that will be, a
total eclipse of all light of comfort, and ease whatsoever, of body
and mind, in the damned : Matth. xxii. 13, " Then said the king to
the servants, Bind him hand and foot, and take him away, and cast
him into outer darkness : there shall be weeping and gnashing
of teeth." Hos. ix. 12, " Wo to them when I depart from them."
The pain of sense in hell, is unspeakable torment, both in soul and
body, without intermission : Matth. xxv. 41, above cited. Mark ix.
43, 44, "And if thy hand offend thee, cut it off: it is better for
thee to enter into life maimed, than having two hands, to go into
hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched : where their worm
dieth not, and the fire is not quenched." And these pains of hell
will never have an end with them : Matth. xxv. 41, "Depart — into
everlasting fire."
Q,uest. 20. Did God leave all mankind to pensh in the estate of sin
and misery ?
Answ. God having, out of his mere good pleasure,
from all eternity, elected some to everlasting life, did
enter into a covenant of grace, to deliver them out of
the estate of sin and misery, and to bring them into an
estate of salvation by a Redeemer.
EXFLICATION.
The state of sin and misery, is a state wherein all must perish,
who are left of God in it, Eph. ii. 12, " At that time ye were with-
out Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and
strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and with-
out God in the world ;" because it is beyond the reach of all created
help, Isa. lxiii. 5, " And I looked, and there was none to help; and
I wondered that there was none to uphold : therefore mine own arm
brought salvation unto me, and my fury, it upheld me." But God
doth not leave all mankind to perish in it. Those whom he doth
not leave to perish in it, are the elect : Rom. viii. 30, " Moreover,
whom he did predestinate, them he also called : and whom he called,
them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glori-
fied."
The elect are some certain persons of mankind, whom God hath
chosen to everlasting life, passing by others: Acts xiii. 48, "And
as many as were ordained to eternal life, believed." Jude, verse 4,
OF THE COVENANT OF GRACE. 39
" For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of
old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace
of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and
our Lord Jesus Christ." This election or choice was made from
eternity : Eph. i. 4, " According as he hath chosen us in him, before
the foundation of the world, that we should be holy, aud without
blame before him in love." And it infallibly secures their eternal
salvation, with all the means leading thereto : Rom. viii. 30, fore-
cited. Nothing foreseen in the creature, neither faith nor good
works, was the cause of election ; but only God's mere good plea-
sure was the cause of it : Eph. i. 6, "To the praise of the glory of
his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved."
Now, the way that God provided the relief, was, that he entered
into a second covenant, the covenant of grace. The desigu of the
covenant of grace, was, " to deliver the elect out of the estate of sin
and misery, and to bring them into an estate of salvation by a
Redeemer."
The covenant of grace, then, was made with Jesus Christ, as the
second Adam, party-contractor: Psalm lxxxix. 3, "I have made a
covenant with my chosen." Compared with 1 Cor. xv. 45, " The
last Adam was made a quickening spirit." Gal. iii. 16, "Now to
Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And
to seeds, as of many ; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is
Christ." Rom. v. 15, to the end. And Christ in this covenant re-
presented all the elect, as his spiritual seed, the parties contracted
for: Gal. iii. 16, forecited. Isa. liii. 10, 11, "Yet it pleased
the Lord to bruise him, he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt
make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall pro-
long his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his
hand. He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied :
by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he
shall bear their iniquities." Then the covenant of redemption, and
the covenant of grace, are not two distinct covenants, but two
names of one covenant, under different considerations. That ap-
pears, in that the number of the covenants in Scripture is but two,
whereof the covenant of works is one : Gal. iv. 24, " For these are
the two covenants ; the one from the mount Sinai, which gendereth
to bondage, which is Agar." By a covenant of redemption is meant
a bargain of buying and selling; and the second covenant was such
a covenant to Christ only : 1 Pet. i. 18, 19, " Forasmuch as ye
know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver
and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from
your fathers ; lut with the precious blood of Christ, as of a Lamb
40 OP THE COVENANT OF GRACE.
without blemish aud without spot." By a covenant of grace is
meant a bargain, whereby all is to be had freely ; and it is such a
covenant to poor sinners only: Is. lv. 1, "Ho, every one that
thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money ; come
ye, buy and eat, yea, come, buy wine and milk without money, and
without price." The covenant of grace was made from eternity ;
Tit. i. 2, " In hope of eternal life, which Clod that cannot lie,
promised before the world began." Yet is it the second covenant,
in respect of order and manifestation to the world, though it was
first in being.
The condition of the covenant of grace is Christ's fulfilling all
righteousness : Matth. iii. 15, " And Jesus said, thus it becometh us
to fulfil all righteousness." That righteousness was stated from the
broken covenant of works: Rom. iii. 31, "Do we then make void
the law through faith ? God forbid : yea, we establish the law."
The righteousness that the broken covenant of works insists on
as the necessary condition of eternal life to a sinner, is perfect holi-
ness of nature, righteousness of life, and satisfaction for sin : Rev.
xxi. ult. " And there shall in no wise enter into any thing that
defiletli, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie."
Matth. xix. 17, " And Jesus said unto the young man, if thou wilt
enter into life, keep the commandments." Heb. ix. 22, " Without
sheddiug of blood is no remission." It justly so insists for holiness
of nature, because that was given to man at first, and by the condi-
tion of the covenant he was obliged to keep it: Eccl. vii. 29, " God
hath made man upright." It justly so insists for righteousness of
life, for that was the express condition of it: Gal. iii. 12, " and the
law is not of faith : but, the man that doth them, shall live in
them." And it justly so insists for satisfaction, in virtue of the pe-
nalty incurred by the breaking of it : Gen. ii. 17, " But of the tree
of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it : for in
the day that thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die." But nei-
ther Adam, nor any of his fallen offspring, was able to perform that
condition of life : Rom. v. 6, " We were without strength." There-
fore, there is no salvation by the covenant of works : Rom. iii. 20,
" Therefore by the deeds of the law, there shall no flesh be justified
in his sight : for by the law is the knowledge of sin." Chap. viii.
3, " For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the
flesh," &c. But Jesus Christ did accept of that condition, as the
condition of the covenant of grace : Psalm xl. 7, " Then said I, Lo,
I come: in the volume of the book it is written of me." And it was
made the condition of the covenant of grace, that his spiritual seed
might be saved, and the covenant of works fully satisfied for them :
OF THE COVENANT OP ORACE. 41
Rom. viii. 3, 4, " God sent his own Son, in the likeness of sinful flesh,
and for sin condemned sin in the flesh; that the righteousness of the
law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after
the Spirit." And Jesus Christ did fully perform it, in that, as a
public person, he was born perfectly holy, lived perfectly holy, and
made complete satisfaction by his death : Luke i. 35, " And the an-
gel answered and said unto her, the Holy Ghost shall come upon
thee, and the power of the highest shall overshadow thee : therefore
also that holy thing that shall be born of thee, shall be called the
Son of God." 1 Cor. xv. 45, " The last Adam was made a quicken-
ing spirit," Phil. ii. 8, " And being found in fashion as a man, he
humbled himself, aud became obedient unto death, even the death of
the cross."
The promise of the covenant of grace, is a promise of a glo-
rious reward to Christ himself, and eternal life to his spiritual
seed : Isa. xlix. 4 — 9, " Then I said, Surely my judgment is with
the Lord, and my work with my God," &c. Tit. i. 2, " In hope of
eternal life, which God that cannot lie, promised before the world
began." The eternal life promised in the covenant of grace, in-
cluded in it all things necessary to make a sinner happy, in soul and
body, for time and eternity : Rom. x. 5, " For Moses describeth the
righteousness which is of the law, That the man which doth those
things, shall live by them." Compared witli Hab. ii. 4, " The just
shall live by his faith." Even the promise of eternal life to Christ's
spiritual seed, was made to Christ himself immediately, and to them
mediately in him : Tit. i. 2, forceited. Heb. viii. 10, " For this is
the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those
days, saith the Lord ; I will put my laws into their mind, and write
them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall
be to me a people." 2 Tim. i. 9, " God hath saved us, and called us
with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to
his own purpose and grace which was given us in Christ Jesus, be-
fore the world began." Gal. iii. 16, " Now to Abraham and his
seed were the promises made. He saith not And to seeds, as of
many ; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ."
It is necessary to the salvation of a sinner, that he personally
enter into the covenant of grace : Eph. ii. 12, " At that time ye
were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel,
and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and
without God in the world." Accordingly, the administration of the
covenant is committed unto Jesus Christ the Head of it : Isa. xlix.
8, " Thus saith the Lord, I will give thee for a covenant of the
people." And all the benefits of the covenant are lodged in his
Vol. VII. c
42 OF THE COVEXASTT OF GRACE.
hand : Col. i. 19, " For it pleaseth the Father, that in him should all
fulness dwell." And he is impowered to administer the covenant to
sinners of mankind indefinitely : John iii. 17, " God sent not his
Son into the world to condemn the world ; but that the world
through him might be saved." Prov. viii. 4, " Unto you, men, I
call, and my voice is to the sons of man." Isa. lv. 1, 2, 3, " Ho,
every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no
money ; come ye, buy and eat, yea, come, buy wine and milk with-
out money and without price. "Wherefore do ye spend money for
that which is not bread ? and your labour for that which satisfieth
not ? hearken diligently unto me, and eat ye that which is good,
and let your soul delight itself in fatness. Incline your ear, and
come unto me : hear, and your soul shall live, and I will make an
everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David."
That Christ is impowered to administer the covenant to sinners of
mankind indefinitely, can very well be, though he represented the
elect only in it ; for the Father is so well pleased with the perfor-
mance of the condition thereof, that Christ crucified is made the or-
dinance of God for salvation, to sinners of mankind indefinitely,
according to the promise of the covenant to him, he being in him-
self sufficient thereto : John iii. 14, 15, 16, "And as Moses lifted
up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be
lifted up : that whosoever believeth in him, should not perish, but
have eternal life. For God so loved the world, that he gave his
only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him, should not
perish, but have everlasting life." Matth. xxii. 4, " Again he sent
forth other servants, saying, tell them which are bidden, behold, I
have prepared my dinner : my oxen and my fatlings are killed, and
and all things are ready: come unto the marriage." 1 John iv. 14,
" And we have seen and do testify, that the Father sent the Son to
be the Saviour of the world." Compared with Isa. xlix. 6, " I will
give thee for a light to the Gentiles, that thou mayst be my salva-
tion unto the end of the earth." Yer. 8, " I will give thee for a
covenant of the people." Accordingly, Christ actually offers the
covenant of grace to sinners of mankind indefinitely, and that in
the gospel : Mark xvi. 15, 16, " And he said unto them, Go ye iuto
all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. He that
believeth and is baptized, shall be saved ; but he that believeth not,
shall be damned." And a sinner is personally and savingly instated
in the covenant of grace, by faith in Jesus Christ : Acts xvi. 31,
" And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt
be saved." The nature then of personal covenanting, in order to
obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ, lies in taking hold of
OF THE COVENANT OP GKACE. 43
God's covenant of grace, by believing in the Lord Jesus Christ :
Isa. lvi. 4, " Thns saith the Lord unto the eunucbs that — take hold
of my covenant," &c. Chap. lv. 3, forecited. John x. 9, " I am the
door : by me if any man euter in, he shall be saved." Eph. iii. 17,
" That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith." And believing
in Christ enters us into the covenant of grace, to partake of all the
benefits thereof, as it unites us to Christ the second Adam, the Head
of the covenant: Eph. iii. 17, forecited. Rom. xi. 17, " And if
some of the branches be broken off, and thou being a wild olive-tree,
were graffed in amongst them, and with them partakest of the root
and fatness of the olive-tree."
One cannot, in respect of the state of his soul before God, be
under the covenant of works and the covenant of grace, at one and
the same time: Rom. vi. 14, " Ye are not under the law, but under
grace." Therefore, believers, that moment they enter into the co-
venant of grace, are fully set free from the covenant of works : Rom.
vi. 14, " Sin shall not have dominion over you." Chap. vii. 4,
" Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by
the body of Christ ; that ye should be married to another, even to
him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit
unto God." And they are lawfully set free from it, forasmuch as
faith gives it full count and reckoning, pleading and counting up to
it, that righteousness which Christ fulfilled : Rom. iii. 31, " Do we
then make void the law through faith ? God forbid : yea, we establish
the law." Chap. viii. 3, 4, " For what the law could not do, in that
it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own son, in the like-
ness of sinful flesh, and for sin condemned sin in the flesh : that the
righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after
the flesh, but after the Spirit."
The effects of personal entering into the covenant of grace, are,
deliverance out of the state of sin and misery, and being brought
into a state of salvation. The bands of our sin and misery are
loosed in the covenant of grace, through our being set free from the
covenant of works : Rom. vii. 5, 6, " For when we were in the flesh,
the motions of sins which were by the law, did work in our members
to bring forth fruit unto death. But now we are delivered from the
law, that being dead wherein we were held ; that we should serve in
newness of spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter." 1 Cor. xv.
56, 57, " The sting of death is sin ; and the strength of sin is the
law. But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory, through
our Lord Jesus Christ." And we are settled in a state of salvation
in the covenant of grace, through our being married to Christ : Rom.
c 2
44 OP THE ONLY REDEEMER.
vii. 4, forecited. Col. ii. 9, 10, " For in him dwelleth all the fulness
of the Godhead bodily. And ye are complete in him."
Now, God thus brings his elect out of the estate of sin and misery,
into a state of salvation by a Redeemer. A Redeemer, in Scripture
sense, is one who delivers another by price or by power : Lev. xxv.
51, " If there be yet many years behind ; according unto them he
shall give again the price of his redemption, out of the money that
he was bought for." Exod. vi. 6, " Wherefore say unto the chil-
dren of Israel, I am the Lord, and I will bring you out from under
the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will rid you out of their bon-
dage : and I will redeem you with a stretched out arm, and with
great judgments." And such a Redeemer was necessary for the elect
as should redeem them, both by price and power. It was necessary
that they should be redeemed by price, because they were debtors to
justice, and criminals in law : Heb. ix. 22, " Without shedding of
blood is no remission." It was necessary that they should be re-
deemed by power, because they were in bondage to sin and Satan :
Luke i. 74, " That he would grant unto us, that we being delivered
out of the hands of our enemies, might serve him without fear."
And such a Redeemer was provided for the elect, in the covenant of
grace : Psal. Ixxxix. 19, " Then thou spakest in vision to thy Holy
One, and saidst, I have laid help upon one that is mighty : I have
exalted one chosen out of the people.
Quest. 21. Who is the Redeemer of God's elect ?
Answ. The only Redeemer of God's elect is the Lord
Jesus Christ, who, being the eternal Son of God, be-
came man, and so was and continueth to be God and
man, in two distinct natures, and one person for ever.
EXPLICATION.
The Redeemer of the elect is the head of the covenant of grace,
the Lord Jesus Christ and there is no other Redeemer besides him,
he is the only Redeemer: Acts iv. 12, "Neither is there salvation in
any other : for there is none other name under heaven given among
men whereby we must be saved." The first part of his name, to wit
the Lord, signifies Jehovah, the true God, the Most High: Isa. xlvii.
4, " As for our Redeemer, the Lord of hosts is his name, the Holy
One of Israel." Chap, xlviii. 17, " Thus saith the Lord thy Redeem-
er, the Holy One of Israel," &c. 1 Cor. xiii. 3, ' : No man can say
that Jesus is the Lord, but by the Holy Ghost." But the titles our
Lord, one Lord, and the like, denote his dominion : Acts x. 36,
OF THE ONLY KEDEEMEK. 45
" Jesus Christ is Lord of all." The second part of his name, viz
Jesus, signifies a Saviour : and he is so called, because he saves his
people from their sins, and consequently from wrath : Matth. i. 21,
" And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name Jesus
for he shall save his people from their sins." 1 Thess. i. 10. — " Je-
sus which delivered us from the wrath to come." The third and
last part of his name, to wit, Christ, signifies anointed : and he is so
called, because he was anointed by the Father, with the Holy Ghost:
Acts x. 31, " God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost,
and with power ;" that is to say, the Father solemnly designed him,
and withal furnished him, for his office, by the Holy Ghost remain-
ing on and in him : John. i. 33, " He that sent me to baptize
with water, the same said unto me, upon whom thou shalt see the
Spirit descending and remaining on him, the same is he which bap-
tizeth with the Holy Ghost." Chap. iii. 34, " For he whom God
hath sent, speaketb the words of God : for God giveth not the Spirit
by measure unto him." The true interpretation then of the name
of our Redeemer, the Lord Jesus Christ, is Jehovah, the Saviour, the
anointed One. He was the fit person to meditate between God and
man, because of his common relation to both, peculiar to himself.
His relation to God, was, that he was the eternal Son of God ; and
that by eternal generation of Jehovah the Father : Heb. i. 5, " For
unto which of the angels said he at any time, Thou art my son, this
day have I begotten thee ? And again, I will be to him a Father,
and he shall be to me a Son ?" His relation to us, was, that he was
our near kinsman : Heb. ii. 11, " For both he that sanctifyeth, and
they who are sanctified, are all of one : for which he is not ashamed
to call them brethren." He is then our kinsman-redeemer, who re-
deems by right of kin : Job xix. 25, " I know that my Redeemer liv-
eth." Compared with Ruth iii. 12, " And now it is true, that I am
thy near kinsman: howbeit there is a kinsman nearer than I." Now
the eternal Son of God came to be our kinsman, inasmuch as he be-
came man : Gal. iv. 4, " But when the fulness of the time was come,
God sent forth his Son made of a woman." By his becoming man,
he was both God and man : Matth. i. 23, " Behold, a virgin shall be
with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name
Emmanuel, which being interpreted, is, God with us." And he will
continue to be God and man for ever : Heb. vii. 24, 25, " But this
man, because he continueth ever, hath an unchangeable priesthood.
Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost, that come
unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for
them."
Our Redeemer then hath two natures; namely, the nature of
46 of Christ's incarnation.
God, and the nature of man : Rom. ix. 5, " Whose are the fathers,
and of whom as concerning the flesh Christ came, who is over all,
God blessed for ever." He was God from all eternity ; but not
man, till he came in the flesh, about the four thousandth year after
the creation of the world : Mic. v. 2, " But thou, Bethlehem Ephra-
tah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out
of thee shall he come forth unto me, that is to be ruler in Is-
rael : whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting."
Matth. i. 17, " So all the generations from Abraham to David, are
fourteen generations : and from David, until the carrying away
into Babylon, are fourteen generations : and from the carrying
away into Babylon unto Christ, are fourteen generations." The
divine and human natures were in no ways turned into one nature,
in Christ becoming man ; but they remain for ever two distinct
natures, having each of them their own distinct properties : 1 Pet.
iii. 18, " For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the
unjust, (that he might bring us to God), being put to death in the
flesh, but quickened by the Spirit." Yet are they not divided nei-
ther; but they are united in his person: Jesus Christ our Re-
deemer is not then two persons, but one only : Eph. iv. 5, " There is
one Lord." 1 Tim. ii. 5, " There is one Mediator between God and
men, the man Christ Jesus." It was necessary, that our Redeemer
should be man, that he might be capable to suffer death in our
nature, who had sinned : Heb. ii. 14, " Forasmuch then as the chil-
dren are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took
part of the same : that through death he might destroy him that
had the power of death, that is, the devil." 1 Cor. xv. 21, " For
since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the
dead." It was necessary he should be God, that his sufferings
might be of infinite value : 1 John i. 7, " The blood of Jesus Christ
his Son cleanseth us from all sin." It was necessary he should be
God and man in one person, that what of the work was done by
either of the natures, might be reckoned the deed of the person of
our Redeemer : Acts xx. 28, " Feed the church of God, which he
hath purchased with his own blood." John ii. ult., " Jesus needed
not that any should testify of man : for he knew what was in
man."
Q,uest. 22. How did Christ, being the Son of God become man ?
Answ. Christ the Son of God became man, by tak-
ing to himself a true body and a reasonable soul, being
conceived by the power of the Holy Ghost, in the womb
of the Virgin Mary, and born of her, yet without sin.
of oheist's incarnation. 47
explication.
Christ had a being before he was man : He was the Son of God
by eternal generation : Heb. i. 4, " For unto which of the angels
said he at any time, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten
thee ? And again, I will be to him a Father, and he shall be to me
a Son ?" Prov. viii. 22, 23, " The Lord possessed me in the begin-
ning of his way, before his works of old. I was set up from ever-
lasting, from the beginning, or ever the earth was." His becoming
man was a voluntary action in him, wherein himself was willingly
active : Psalm, xl. 6, 7, " Sacrifice and offering thou didst not de-
sire, mine ears hast thou opened: burnt-offeriug and sin-offering
hast thou not required. Then said I, Lo, I come : in the volume
of the book it is written of me." Heb. ii. 16, " He took on him the
seed of Abraham." " He became man, by taking to himself a true
body and a reasonable soul." But he did not thereby take to him-
self a human person ; for then should he have been two persons :
but he did thereby take to himself an entire human nature ; for a
soul and a body are the two parts whereof it consists.
Christ's body was not the appearance only of a body, but a real
human body of flesh, blood, and bones, as our bodies are : Heb. ii. 14,
" Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he
also himself likewise took part of the same." Luke xxiv. 39,
"Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself: handle me, and
see, for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have." His
divine nature was not instead of a soul to him ; but he had also a
human reasonable soul ; which was a created spirit : Matth. xxvi.
38, " My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death." In Christ
then, there were two understandings, and two wills ; namely, an
infinite understanding and will as he was God, and a finite under-
standing and will as he was man : John xxi. 17 — " Lord, thou
knowest all things; thou knowest that I love thee." Chap. x. 28,
29, 30, " And I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never
perish, neither shall any pluck them out of my hand. My Father
which gave them me, is greater than all : and none is able to pluck
them out of my Father's hand. I and my Father are one." Mark
xiii. 32, " But of that day and that hour knoweth no man, no not —
the Son, but the Father." Luke xxii. 42, " Father, if thou be will-
ing, remove this cup from me : nevertheless, not my will, but thine
be done."
He was without father, as he was man : He was without mother,
as he was God : Heb. iii. 3, " Without father, without mother,
without descent, having neither beginning of days, nor end of life ;
48 of Christ's incarnation.
but made like unto the Son of God, abideth a priest continually."
But the mother of Christ as man, was the virgin Mary, Matth. i. 18,
22, 23. She was a woman of the seed of Abraham, the tribe of
Judah, and family of David: Luke iii. 23, 31, 33, 34, "And Jesus
himself began to be about thirty years of age, being (as was sup-
posed, the son of Joseph, — which was the son of David, — which was
the son of Juda,' — which was the son of Abraham." He was con-
ceived in her womb: Luke i. 31, "And behold, thou shalt conceive
in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name
Jesus." But his conception was altogether miraculous ; and was
effected by the power of the Holy Ghost : and the work of the Holy
Ghost in that matter, was, that he formed the body of Christ, in the
womb of his mother : Luke i. 35, " And the angel answered and
said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power
of the Highest shall overshadow thee; therefore also that holy
thing which shall be born of thee, shall be called the Son of God."
The Holy Ghost formed the body of Christ not of any substance
sent down from heaven; but of her substance: Gal. iv. 4, "God
sent forth his Son, made of a woman." Gen. iii. 15, "And I will
put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and
her seed." Which was necessary, that he might be of the same
human nature with us who have sinned: Heb. ii. 11, "For both he
that sanctifieth, and they who are sanctified, are all of one : for
which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren." Now, the
forming of the body of Christ of the substance of a virgin was an
act of creating power: Jer. xxxi. 22, "The Lord hath created a
new thing in the earth, a woman shall compass a man." Com-
pared with Gen. ii. 7, " And the Lord God formed man of the dust
of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life ; and
man became a living soul." Yer. 22, " And the rib, which the
Lord God had taken from man, made he a woman." Chap. i. 27>
"So God created man in his own image, in the image of God cre-
ated he him : male and female created he them." Christ was born
and brought forth of the virgin, at the usual time after conception :
Luke ii. 6, 7, " And so it was, that the days were accomplished
that she should be delivered. And she brought forth her first-born
son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes," &c. But yet he was
conceived and born without sin : Heb. iv. 15, " For we have not an
high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmi-
ties; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin."
Chap. vii. 26, " For such an high priest became us, who is holy,
harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners." For though he was a
son of Adam, by his conception and birth, yet he came not of him
in the way of natural generation."
of Christ's offices in general. 49
Quest. 23. What offices doth. Christ execute as our Redeemer ?
Answ. Christ, as our Redeemer, executeth the offices
of a prophet, of a priest, and of a king, both in his
estate of humiliation and exaltation.
EXPLICATION.
Christ redeems his people, by price and by power : Hos. xiii. 14,
" I will ransom them from the power of the grave : I will redeem
them from death : death, I will be thy plagues; grave, I will
be thy destruction ; repentance shall be hid from mine eyes." He
hath redeemed them by price, giving himself a ransom for them, in
his holy birth, righteous life, and bloody death and other sufferings :
1 Tim. ii. 6, "Jesus gave himself a ransom for all." Gal. iv. 4, 5,
" God sent forth his Son made of a woman, made under the law, to
redeem them that were under the law." Phil. ii. 7, 8, " [Christ
Jesus] made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form
of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men : and being
found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient
unto death, even the death of the cross." But that redemption by
price is, in Scripture, sometimes attributed to his blood, as the com-
pleting part of the ransom, including the rest; even as one says, he
hath paid the utmost farthing : John xix. 30, " When Jesus there-
fore had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished : and he bowed
his head, and gave up the ghost." He redeems them by power,
rescuing them by strength of light, and by strength of hand, out of
the hands of their enemies : Luke i. 68, " Blessed be the Lord God
of Israel, for he hath visited and redeemed his people;" vers. 70,
71, " As he spake by the mouth of his holy prophets, which have
been since the world began ; that we should be saved from our ene-
mies, and from the hand of all that hate us." Vers. 73, 74, " The
oath which he sware to our father Abraham, that he would grant
unto us, that we, being delivered out of the hands of our enemies,
might serve him without fear." That redemption by power, is
begun in their conversion, and perfected in their glorious resurrec-
tion, at the last day : Col. i. 13, " [The Father] hath delivered us
from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the king-
dom of his dear Son." Rom. viii. 23, " And not only they, but
ourselves also, which have the first-fruits of the Spirit, even we our-
selves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the
redemption of our body." 1 Cor. xv. 26, " The last enemy that
shall be destroyed, is death.
50 of Christ's offices in general.
To execute an office, is to do or perform what belongs to the
office. And Christ, as our Redeemer, hath and executeth three
offices ; namely, the office of a prophet, of a priest, and of a king :
Acts iii. 22, " For Moses truly said unto the fathers, a prophet
shall the Lord your God raise up unto you, of your brethren, like
unto me ; him shall ye hear in all things whatsoever he shall say
unto you. Heb. v. 6, " Thou art a priest for ever, after the order
of Melchisedec." Psal. ii. 6, " Yet have I set my King upon my
holy hill of Zion." The relation of these offices of Christ to the co-
venant of grace, is, that, in his priestly office, he performed the
condition of the covenant ; in his prophetical and kingly offices, he
administers the covenant : Heb. vii. 20, 22, " And in as much as
not without an oath he was made priest, by so much was Jesus
made a surety of a better testament." Mai. iii. 1, "The Lord
whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to his temple : even the messen-
ger of the covenant, whom ye delight in." Isa. lv. 3, 4, " Incline
your ear, and come unto me : hear, and your soul shall live, and I
will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies
of David. Behold, I have given him for a witness to the people, a
leader and commander to the people." It is necessary for our
redemption, that he should execute all these offices : and it is neces-
sary, in respect of the ignorance, guilt, and bondage in our case :
1 Cor. i. 30, " But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is
made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and
redemption."
True justfying faith receives Christ in all his offices : 1 Cor. i. 30,
forecited. Compared with John i. 12, " As many as received him,
to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that
believe on his name'" But as justifying, it eyes him particularly
in his priestly office : for there only can the convinced sinner see an
atonement, a ransom, and a righteousness, for his justification :
Rom. iii. 25, " Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation,
through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the re-
mission of sins." Chap. v. 11, " We joy in God through our Lord
Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement." And
the life of faith lies in a daily use-making of Christ in all his offices :
Gal. ii. 20, " I am crucified with Christ : nevertheless I live ; yet
not I, but Christ liveth in me : and the life which I now live in the
flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave
himself for me." Compare with Col. ii. 6, " As ye have therefore
received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him."
The state of our Redeemer is twofold ; namely, his state of humi-
liation, and his state of exaltation : Phil. ii. 8, 9, " And being found
OF CHRIST AS A FROPHET. 51
ia fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto
death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore also God hath
highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every
name." He was in his state of humiliation when he was on the earth :
he is in his state of exaltation now, when he is in heaven. He did
execute all these offices in his state of humiliation when he was on
earth: Rom. xv. 8, "Now I say, that Jesus Christ was a minister
of the circumcision for the truth of God, to confirm the promises
made unto the fathers." Eph. v. 2, " Christ hath given himself for
us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling savour."
Matth. xxi. 5, " Tell ye the daughter of Sion, Behold, thy king
cometh unto thee, meek, and sitting upon an ass, and a colt the foal
of an ass." And he doth still execute them all, now when he is in
heaven : Heb. xii. 25, " See that ye refuse not him that speaketh :
for if they escaped not who refused him that spake on earth, much
more shall not we escape, if we turn away from him that speaketh
from heaven." Chap. vii. 24, 25, " But this man because he continu-
eth ever, hath an unchangeable priesthood. Wherefore he is able
also to save them to the uttermost, that come unto God by him, see-
ing he ever liveth to make intercession for them." Luke i. 33,
" And he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever, and of his
kingdom there shall be no end." Yea, he did execute them all,
under the Old Testament, before he came in the flesh : 1 Pet. iii.
19, " By which also (the Spirit) he went and preached to spirits in
prison." Zech. i. 12, " Then the angel of the Lord answered and
said, Lord of hosts, how long wilt thou not have mercy on Jeru-
salem, and on the cities of Judah, against which thou hast had in-
dignation these threescore and ten years ?" Cant. i. 4, " Draw me,
W3 will run after thee : the king hath brought me into his chambers."
Quest. 24. Hoiv doth Christ execute the office of a prophet ?
Answ. Christ executeth the office of a prophet, in
revealing to us, by his word and Spirit, the will of God
for our salvation.
EXPLICATION.
The office of prophets was to reveal the will of God to men : Heb.
i. 1, " God, who at sundry times, and in divers manners, spake in
time past unto the fathers by the prophets." And the Lord Jesus
Christ, as our Redeemer, is a prophet : Acts iii. 22, " For Moses
truly said unto the fathers, a prophet shall the Lord your God
raise up unto you of your brethren, like unto me ; him shall ye h e r
52 OF CHRIST AS A PROPHET.
in all things whatsoever he shall say unto you." The difference be-
twixt him and the other prophets, lay here, that Christ was the
fountain-head of prophecy, revealing by his own Spirit ; whereas
they were but instruments by whom he spake, through his Spirit
coming on them at times : 1 Pet. i. 10, 11, " Of which salvation the
prophets have inquired and searched diligently, who prophesied of
the grace that should come unto you : searching what, or what man-
ner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, when
it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that
should follow."
The office of a prophet belongs to our Redeemer, as a Redeemer
by power : Psal. ex. 2, " The Lord shall send the rod of thy
strength out of Zion." Compared with Isa. xi. 4, " But with righte-
ousness shall he judge the poor, and reprove with equity, for the
meek of the earth : and he shall smite the earth with the rod of his
mouth, and with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked."
And in it he redeems or rescues by strength of light. And he exe-
cutes it, by revealing to us the will of God for our salvation. By
the will of God for our salvation, which Christ reveals, is meant,
the whole will of God in all things concerning our edification and
Salvation: John xv. 15, " Henceforth I call you not servants: for
the servant knoweth not what his Lord doth : but I have called you
friends ; for all things that I have heard of my Father, I have made
known unto you." Acts xx. 32, " And now, brethren, I commend
you to God, and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you
up, and to give you an inheritance among all them which are sanc-
tified." John xx. 31, " But these are written, that ye might believe
that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing ye might
have life through his name." We could never of ourselves have
discovered the will of God for our salvation : John i. 18, " No man
hath seen God at any time : the only begotten Son, which is in the
bosom of the Father, he hath declared him." Chap. iii. 13, " And
no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from
heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven." But our Re-
deemer was fit to reveal it to us, in that, as he was God, he was
from eternity privy to the whole counsel of God, and as he was
man, the Spirit, who searcheth the deep things of God, rested upon
him : John i. 18, above cited. Isa. xi. 2, " And the Spirit of the
Lord shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding,
the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the
fear of the Lord." 1 Cor. ii. 10, " But God hath revealed them unto
us by his Spirit : for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep
things of God." He reveals to us the will of God for our salvation,
OF CHRIST AS A PEOPHET. 53
externally by his word, and internally by his Spirit : John xx. 31,
"But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the
Christ, the Son of God, and that believing ye might have life
through his name." Chap. xiv. 26, " But the Comforter, which is
the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall
teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance,
whatsoever I have said unto you." And by his so executing his
prophetical office, he redeems or rescues us from the power of
spiritual darkness, or ignorance: Col. i. 13, "[The Father] hath
delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us
into the kingdom of his dear Son. Acts xxvi. 18, " To open their
eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power
of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and
inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me."
So Christ hath redeemed none by power, but those who are rescued
from the power of their natural darkness : Matth. iv. 16, " The
people which sat in darkness, saw great light : and to them which
sat in the region and shadow of death, light is sprung up." Eph.
v. 8, " For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the
Lord : walk as children of light." His word is the scripture of the
Old and New testament: Col. iii. 16, "Let the word of Christ dwell
in you richly in all wisdom ; teaching and admonishing one another
in psalms, and hymns, and spiritual songs, singing with grace in
your hearts to the Lord." And the Scripture in his word, in that
it was written by the inspiration of his Spirit : 2 Tim. iii. 16, " All
scripture is given by inspiration of God." 1 Pet. i. 11, " Searching
what, or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ was in them did
signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the
glory that should follow." He reveals to us the will of God for our
salvation, externally by the word : giving us the Scripture, wherein
we may see it, and the preaching of the word, wherein we may hear
it : John v. 39, " Search the scriptures, for in them ye think ye have
eternal life, and they are they which testify of me," Rom. x. 18,
" But I say, Have they not heard ? Yes, verily, their sound went
into all the earth, and their words unto the ends of the world." We
ought then to look upon our having the Bible among us, aud the
preaching of the word to us, by his servants, as Christ's executing
his prophetical office among us , Heb. xii. 25, " See that ye refuse
not him that speaketh : for if they escaped not who refused him
that spake on earth, much more shall we not escape, if we turn away
from him that speaketh from heaven." Col. iii. 16, forecited. Luke
x. 16, " He that heareth you, heareth me : and he that despiseth
you, despiseth me : and he that despiseth me, despiseth him that
54 OF CHRIST AS A PRIEST.
sent me." But the external revelation of the will of God for our
salvation, by the word, is not sufficient to redeem or rescue us from
the power of our spiritual darkness : Deut. xxix. 4, " The Lord hath
not given you a heart to perceive, and eyes to see, and ears to hear
until this day." 2 Cor. ii. 16, " To the one we are the savour of
death unto death ; aud to the other, the savour of life unto life :
and who is sufficient for these things ?" Chap. iii. 6, " The letter
killeth, but the spirit giveth life." Because when it is externally re-
vealed, we cannot savingly know it, without an internal illumina-
tion : 1 Cor. ii. 14, " But the natural man receiveth not the things
of the Spirit of God; for they are foolishness unto him : neither can
he know them, because they are spiritually discerned." Acts xxvi.
18, forecited. Christ then doth redeem or rescue us from the power
of our spiritual darkness, by joining an internal revelation by his
Spirit, with the external revelation by his word : 1 Cor. ii. 10, " But
God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit : for the Spirit
searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God," ver. 12, " Now
we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is
of God ; that we might know the things that are freely given to us
of God." 2 Cor. iii. 6, " The letter killeth, but the Spirit giveth
life." Yer. 17, " Now the Lord is that Spirit : and where the Spirit
of the Lord is, there is liberty."
"We are to receive Christ as our prophet, renouncing our own wis-
dom, and wholly giving up ourselves to him, to be taught in things,
by his word and Spirit : Matth. xvi. 24, " Then said Jesus unto his
disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and
take up his cross, and follow me," Acts iii. 22, " For Moses truly
said unto the fathers, a prophet shall the Lord your God raise up
unto you, of your brethern, like unto me : him shall ye hear in all
things whatsoever he shall say unto you." We are to make use of
him, as our prophet, daily applying and trusting to him, for light,
instruction, and direction in all things : Psalm cxix. 18, " Open
thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law."
Prov. iii. 5, 6, " Trust in the Lord with all thine heart, and lean
not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge
him, and he shall direct thy paths."
Quest. 25. How doth Christ execute the office of a priest ?
Answ. Christ executeth the office of a priest, in his
once offering up of himself a sacrifice, to satisfy divine
justice, and reconcile us to God ; and in making contin-
ual intercession for us.
OP CHRIST AS A PRIEST. 55
EXPLICATION".
The office of priests was to offer sacrifice, and pray, for the
people : Heb. v. 1, " For every high priest taken from among men,
is ordained for men in things pertaining to God, that he may offer
both gifts and sacrifices for sins." Num. vi. 22, 23, 24, 25, 26,
" And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, speak unto Aaron and
unto his sons, saying, On this wise ye shall bless the children of
Israel, saying unto them, the Lord bless thee, and keep thee ; the
Lord make his face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee; the
Lord lift up his countenance upon thee, and give thee peace."
Compared with Mai. i. 9, " .And now, I pray yon, beseech God that
he will be gracious unto us : this hath been by your means : will he
regard your persons ? saith the Lord of hosts." And the Lord
Jesus Christ, as our Redeemer, is truly and properly a priest: Heb.
viii. 3, " For every high priest is ordained to offer gifts and sacri-
fices : wherefore it is of necessity that this man have somewhat also
to offer." The difference betwixt him and the other priests lay
chiefly here, that they and their priesthood were the types and
shadows, whereof Christ and his priesthood were the substance,
really accomplishing what they shadowed forth : Heb. x. 1, " For
the law having a shadow of good things to come, and not the very
image of the things, can never with those sacrifices which they of-
fered year by year continually, make the comers thereunto perfect."
vers. 9, 10, " Then said he, Lo, I come to do thy will, God. He
taketh away the first, that he may establish the second. By the
which will we are sanctified, through the offering of the body of
Jesus Christ once for all." Eph. i. 3, " Blessed be the God and
Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spi-
ritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ." Our Redeemer was
qualified for such an efficacious priesthood, by the infinite dignity
of his person, and his real untainted holiness : Heb. iv. 14, " We
have a great high priest that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the
Son of God." Chap. vii. 26, " For such an high priest became us,
who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made
higher than the heavens." ver. 28, " For the law maketh men high
priests which have infirmity ; but the word of the oath which was
since the law, maketh the Son, who is consecrated for evermore."
The office of a priest belongs to our Redeemer, as a Redeemer by
price : 1 Pet. i. 18, 19, " Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not
redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your
vain conversation received by traditiou from your fathers ; but with
the precious blood of Christ, as of a Lamb without blemish and
56 OF CHRIST AS A PRIEST.
without spot." And the parts of his priestly office, are two
namely, his oblation, and his intercession. Accordingly, he exe-
cutes his priestly office, in his offering a sacrifice for us, and making
intercession for us.
The first part of Christ's priestly office is his oblation. His obla-
tion is his once offering up of himself a sacrifice to satisfy divine
justice, and reconcile us to God. The sacrifice he offered to God
was himself: Heb. ix. 14, "Christ, through the eternal Spirit, of-
fered himself without spot to God." And he himself was the sac-
rifice, not in his divine nature, but in his human nature : For the
divine nature was not capable of sufferings properly so called: Mai.
iii. 6, " I am the Lord, I change not." But his whole human
nature, soul aud body, was the sacrifice: Heb. x. 10, "By the
which will we are sanctified, through the offering of the body of
Jesus Christ once for all." Is. liii. 10, " When thou shalt make
his soul an offering for sin," &c. His divine nature was, in that
case, the altar that sanctified the gift, to its necessary value and de-
signed effect : Heb. ix. 14, " How much more shall the blood of
Christ, who, through the eternal Spirit, offered himself without spot
to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living
God ?" Compared with Matth. xxiii. 19, " Ye fools, and blind :
for whether is greater, the gift, or the altar that sanctifieth the
gift ?" John xvii. 19, " And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that
they also might be sanctified through the truth." He offered up him-
self to God a real sacrifice in his human nature, willingly yielding
himself without any spot of sin, natural or accidental, to suffer for
sin to the utmost: Heb. ix. 14, forecited. He was without any natu-
ral spot of sin in that he was born perfectly holy : he was without
any accidental spot of sin, in that he lived perfectly holy : and he
suffered for sin to the utmost, Rom. viii. 32, " He spared not his own
Son, but delivered him up for us all ;" and that both in soul and body,
Matth. xxvii. 38, " Then saith he unto them, my soul is exceeding
sorrowful, even unto death." Chap, xxvii. 46, " And about the ninth
hour Jesus cried with aloud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabacthani?
that is to say, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me ?" ver.
40, " Jesus when he had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up
the ghost." He did so offer himself a sacrifice only once : Heb. ix.
28, " Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many." And that
once offering of himself a sacrifice, was begun from his incarnation
in the womb, continued through his whole life, and completed on the
cross, and in the grave : Heb. x. 5. " Wherefore when he cometh
into the world, he saith, sacrifice and offering thou wouldst not, but
a body hast thou prepared me." Ver. 7, " Then said I, Lo, I come
OF CHRIST AS A PRIEST. 57
(in the volume of the book it is written of me) to do thy will,
God." Isa. liii. 2, 3, " For he shall grow up before hira as a tender
plant, and as a root out of a dry ground : he hath no form nor come-
liness : and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should
desire him. He is despised and rejected of men, a man of sorrows,
and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from
him ; he was despised and we esteemed him not." 2 Cor. v. 21, " He
hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin." The holiness
then of his nature, and the righteousness of his life, were parts of the
price of our redemption, as well as his sufferings : Gal. iv. 4, 5, " God
sent forth his Son made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem
them that were under the law." And his sufferings through his whole
life, lesser and greater, were parts of the price, as well as his suf-
ferings on the cross, and his lying in the grave : 1 Pet. ii. 21,
" Christ suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should fol-
low his steps." Christ offered himself a sacrifice but once, because
by that once offering, the price of our redemption was fully paid
out : Heb. x. 14, " By one offering he hath perfected for ever them
that are sanctified." And thereby he redeemed or ransomed us
from guilt, and all evils following it : Heb. ix. 14, " How much
more shall the blood of Christ, who, through the eternal Spirit,
offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from
dead works to serve the living God ?"
The end wherefore Christ offered up himself a sacrifice, was
" to satisfy divine justice, and reconcile us to God : Heb. ix.
28, " Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many." Chap.
ii. 17, " Wherefore in all things it behoved him to be made like
unto his brethren ; that he might be a merciful and faithful high
priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the
sins of the people." There was need of reconciling us to God,
because by sin we were at enmity with God : Isa. lix. 2, " Your
iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your
sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear." God
had a legal enmity against us, such as a just judge hath against
a malefactor, whose person he may love notwithstanding : Matth.
v. 25, " Agree with thine adversary quickly, whiles thou art in
the way with him : lest at any time the adversary deliver thee
to the judge, and the judge deliver thee to the officer, and thou
be cast into prison." We have naturally a real enmity against
God, inconsistent with love to him : Col. i. 21, " You were some
time alienated, and enemies in your mind by wicked works." And
there could be no reconciliation between God and us, without a
satisfaction to divine justice for our sin : Heb. ix. 22, 23, " And
Vol. YII. d
58 OF CHRIST AS A PEIEST.
almost all things are by the law purged with blood ; and without
shedding of blood is no remission. It was therefore necessary that
the patterns of things in the heavens should be purified with these ;
but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these."
We ourselves could in no wise make that satisfaction : Rom. v. 6*,
" We were without strength." For we could neither make our-
selves holy, nor bear the infinite punishment due to our sin. But
Jesus Christ did, by offering up himself a sacrifice, make that satis-
faction truly and really, Matth. xx. 28, "The Son of man came to
give his life a ransom for many." Heb. ix. 14, " How much more
shall the blood of Christ, who, through the eternal Spirit, offered
himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works
to serve the living God ?" and that fully and completly : ITeb. ix.
14, forecitcd. For though Christ's sufferings were not infinite in
continuance, yet they were infinite in value. What made them so,
was the infinite dignity of his person, he being God, the Most High,
Acts xx" 28, " Feed the church of God, which he hath purchased
with his own blood." Phil. ii. 6, 7, 8, " Christ Jesus being in the
form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God : but
made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a ser-
vant, and was made in the likeness of men : and being found in
fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto
death, even the death of the cross." The sufferings then of believers
in Christ, are not laid on them, to satisfy God's justice for their sins
in whole or in part : Psalm ii. ult. " Kiss the Son lest he be angry,
and ye perish from the way, when his wrath is kindled but for a
little : Blessed are all they that put their trust in him." But they
are led on them for their trial and correction : 1 Pet. i. 6, 7,
" Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season (if need be)
ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations. That the trial
of your faith being much more precious than of gold that perisheth,
though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise, and honour,
and glory, at the appearing of Jesus Christ." Heb. xii. 5, " My son,
despise not the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art re-
buked of him." Now the state of the business of our reconciliation
with God, as soon as Christ's offering up himself was over, was, that
then it was purchased, the price of it fully paid : John xix. 30,
" When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It is
finished : and he bowed his head, aud gave up the ghost. Col. i. 20,
" And (having made peace through the blood of his cross) by him to
reconcile all things unto himself, by him, I say, whether they be
things on earth, or things in heaven." Actual reconciliation be-
tween God and us, is made as soon as we are justified by faith :
OF CHRIST AS A PRIEST. 59
Rom. v. 1, " Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with
God, through our Lord Jesus Christ." And we are not actually re-
conciled to God, until we believe in Christ, because till then we do
not receive the atonement : Rom. v. 11, " We joy in God, through
our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atone-
ment." Compared with John i. 12, " But as many as received him,
to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them
that believe on his name."
Now, our Lord Jesus Christ cannot fall short of his design and end
in offering up himself a sacrifice : Isa. liii. 11, " He shall see of the
travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied : by his knowledge shall my
righteous servant justify many : for he shall bear their iniquities."
John vi. 37, " All that the Father giveth me, shall come to me."
"Wherefore Christ hath not redeemed any by price who are not, sooner
or later, actually reconciled to God : Rev. v. 9, 10, " A.nd they suno- a
new song, saying, thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the
seals thereof : for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy
blood, out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation •
and hast made us unto our God kings and priests." John xvii. 12,
" Those that thou gavest me I have kept, and none of them is lost."
And these are all the elect, and they only: Acts xiii. 48, "As many
as were ordained to eternal life, believed." John x. 15, "I lay
down my life for the sheep." Yers. 26, 27, 28, " But ye believe
not ; because ye are not of my sheep, as I said unto you. My sheep
hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. And I give
unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish, neither shall
any pluck them out of my hand."
The second part of Christ's priestly office, is his intercession :
Rom. viii. 34, " It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again
who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession
for us." By his making intercession for us, is meant his pleading our
cause in the court of heaven. And none make intercession for us
there, but Christ only: John xiv. 6, "Jesus saith unto him, I am the
way, and the truth, and the life : no man cometh unto the Father,
but by me." Rom. viii. 34, forecited. The Spirit makes interces-
sion for us in our own hearts ; and that, by helping us to pray for
ourselves : Rom. viii. 26, " Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our in-
firmities : for we know not what we should pray for as we ought :
but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us, with groanings
which cannot be uttered." The difference then between Christ's in-
tercession and the Spirit's intercession, is such as is between one
that draws a poor man's petition, and another that presents it to the
60 OF CHRIST AS A PRIEST.
king, and gets it granted to him. The first of these the Spirit does
for as ; the last is done by Christ only.
Now, Christ intercedes for us, not as a supplicant on mere mercy,
hut as an advocate pleading law and right : 1 John ii. 1, " If any
man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the
righteous." John xvii. 24, " Father, I will that they also whom
thou hast given me, be with me where I am ; that they may behold
my glory which thou hast given me : for thou lovedst me before the
foundation of the world." The ground in law upon which be pleads
for us, is the fulfilling the condition of the covenant of grace, by of-
fering up himself a sacrifice for us : John xvii. 4, " I have glorified
thee on the earth : I have finished the work which thou gavest me
to do." Therefore he intercedes for those only for whom he offered
up himself a sacrifice : John xvii. 9, " I pray for them : I pray not
for the world, but for them which thou hast given me, for they are
thine." Ver. 20, " Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also
which shall believe on me through their word." Yer. 24, forecited.
His intercession is always effectual: John xi. 43, " I knew that thou
hearest me always." And he will continue it for ever : Heb. vii.
25, " He ever liveth to make intercession for them." Accordingly,
he is called a priest after the order of Melchizedec, because he will
be a priest for ever : Psal. ex. 4, " The Lord hath sworn, and will
not repent, thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchize-
dec." Not a sacrificing priest for ever, but an interceding priest for
ever : Heb. x. 14, " For by one offering he hath perfected for ever
them that are sanctified. Chap. vii. 25, forecited. He will be an
interceding priest even after the resurrection, for ever, eternally
willing the continuance of the perfect happiness of the saints, on the
ground of the eternal redemption obtained for them by the sacrifice
of himself: Heb. xi. 12, " Christ by his own blood entered in once
into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us."
John xvii. 24, " Father, I will that they also whom thou hast given
me, be with me where I am ; that they may behold my glory which
thou hast given me : for thou lovedst me before the foundation of
the world." Compared with 1 Thess. iv. 17, " Then we which are
alive and remain, shall be caught up together with them in the
clouds, to meet the Lord in the air : and so shall we be ever with
the Lord."
"We are to receive Christ as our priest, renouncing our own righte-
ousness, and wholly trusting in him, to be saved by his sacrifice of
himself, and intercession : Phil. iii. 3, " For we are the circumcision,
which rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh."
Heb. x. 21, 22, " And having an high priest over the house of God :
OF CHRIST AS A KING. 61
let us draw near with a true heart, in full assurance of faith, having
our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed
with pure water." And we are to make use of him as our priest,
daily applying to him, and trusting in his alone merit and inter-
cession, for the removal of our guilt, and the supply of all our needs
spiritual and temporal : 1 Cor. i. 30, " But of him are ye in Christ
Jesus, who of God is made unto us, righteousness, and redemption."
Gal. ii. 20, " I am crucified with Christ : Nevertheless I live ; yet
not I, hut Christ liveth in me : and the life which I now live in the
flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave
himself for me."
Quest. 26. How doth Christ execute the office of a King ?
Answ. Christ executeth the office of a king, in sub-
duing us to himself, in ruling and defending us, and in
restraining and conquering all his and our enemies.
EXPLICATION.
Christ hath a twofold kingdom ; namely, an essential kingdom,
as he is God; and a mediatory kingdom, as he is our Redeemer.
His essential kingdom is the whole creation : Col. i. 15, 16, " Who
(the Son) is the image of the invisible God, the first-born of every
creature : for by him were all things created that are in heaven,
and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones,
or dominions, or principalities, or powers : all things were created
by him and for him." His mediatory kingdom is the church : Col.
i. 11, " And he is the head of the body, the church : who is the be-
ginning the first-born from the dead ; that in all things he might
have the pre-eminence." Zech. is. 9, " Rejoice greatly, daughter
of Zion ; shout, daughter of Jerusalem : behold, thy king cometh
unto thee." Now, it is his mediatory kingdom that bis kingly office
relates to.
The office of kings, whom God anointed and set over his ancient
people, was, to save them by strength of hand from their enemies,
and to rule them as their head : 2 Sam. iii. 17, 18, " And Abner had
communication with the elders of Israel, saying, Ye sought for
David in times past to be king over you. Now then do it; for the
Lord hath spoken of David, saying, By the hand of my servant
David I will save my people Israel out of the hand of the Philis-
tines, and out of the hand of all their enemies." 1 Chron. xi. 1, 2,
" Then all Israel gathered themselves to David unto Hebron, say-
ing, In time past, even when Saul was king, thou wast he that led-
dest out and broughtest in Israel : and the Lord thy God said unto
62 OF CHRIST AS A KING.
thee, Thou slialt feed my people Israel, and thou shalt be ruler
over ray people Israel." And Christ, as our Redeemer, is such
a king. Isa. xxxiii. 22, " The Lord is our king, he will save
us, Zech. vi. 13, " Even he (the Branch) shall sit and rule upon
his throne." The difference betwixt Christ and these other kings
lay here, that their kingdom was but a temporal kingdom, for
the temporal safety of their people ; Christ's kingdom is a spiritual
and eternal kingdom, for the eternal salvation of his : John xviii.
36, " Jesus answered, My kingdom is not of this world : if my king-
dom were of this world, then would my servants fight, that I should
not be delivered to the Jews: but now is my kingdom not from
hence." Luke i. 33, "And he (the Son of the Highest) shall reign
over the house of Jacob for ever, and of his kingdom there shall be
no end." Isa. xlv. 17, " Israel shall be saved in the Lord with an
everlasting salvation." Our Redeemer was qualified for such a
kingdom by his infinite wisdom and power, and the Father's com-
mitting the kingdom of providence throughout the whole world into
his hand : Isa. ix. 6, " For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is
given, and the government shall be upon his shoulder ; and his name
shall be called— Counseller, The Mighty God." Eph. i. 22, « God
hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over
all things to the church." 1 Cor. xi. 3, " The head of every man is
Christ." Matth. xxviii. 18, " All power is given unto rae in heaven
and in earth." Compared with ver. 19, " Go ye therefore and teach
all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the
Son, and of the Holy Ghost." John v. 22, 23, " The Father judgeth
no man ; but hath committed all judgment unto the Son : that all
men should honour the Son, even as they honour the Father."
Compared with Isa. xliii. 14, 15, " Thus saith the Lord your Re-
deemer, the Holy One of Israel, for your sake I have sent to Baby-
lon, and have brought down all their nobles, and the Chaldeans,
whose cry is in the ships. I am the Lord, your Holy One, the cre-
ator of Israel, your King." Compare 2 Sam. viii. 1, 2, " And after
this it came to pass, that David smote the Philistines and subdued
them : and David took Methegammah out of the hand ot the Philis-
tines. And he smote Moab, and measured them with a line, casting
them down to the ground : even with two lines measured he, to put
to death ; and with one full line to keep alive : and so the Moabites
became David's servants, and brought gifts." Yer. 6, " Then David
put garrisons in Syria of Damascus : and the Syrians became ser-
vants to David, and brought gifts : and the Lord preserved David
whithersover he went." Yers. 14, 15, " And he put garrisons in
Edora ; throughout all Edora put he garrisons, and all they of Edoin
OF CHRIST AS A KING. 53
became David's servants : and the Lord preserved David whither-
soever he went. And David reigned over all Israel, and David exe-
cuted judgment and justice unto all his people." And Psalm xviii.
43, " Thou hast delivered me from the strivings of the people : and
thou hast made me the head of the heathen : a people whom I have
not known shall serve me." Christ had a right to his mediatory
kingdom, by his own purchase, and his Father's grant: Acts xx.
28, " Feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his
own blood." Psalm ii. 6, " Yet have I set my king upon my holv
hill of Zion."
The office of a king belongs to our Redeemer, as a Redeemer by
power: Psalm xlv. 1, "I speak of the things which I have made
touching the king." Yerse 3, " Gird thy sword upon thy thigh,
most mighty : with thy glory and thy majesty." And in it he re-
deems or rescues by strength of hand: Isa. xl. 10, "Behold the
Lord God will come with strong hand, and his arm shail rule for
him." Psalm, xxiv. 8, " Who is this King of glory ? the Lord
strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle." Those whom he
redeems or rescues by strength of hand, are they whom he hath re-
deemed by the price of his blood : Zech. ix. 11, " As for thee also, by
the blood of thy covenant, I have sent forth_ thy prisoners out of
the pit wherein is no water." He redeems or re.' cues them from all
his and their enemies : Luke i. 69, " The Lord hath raised up an
horn of salvation for us, in the house of his servant David :" ver.
71, " That we should be saved from our enemies, and from the hand
of all that hate us." His and our enemies are sin, death, the devil
and the world : Heb. xii. 4, " Ye have not yet resisted unto blood
striving against sin." 1 Cor. xv. 26, " The last enemy that shall
be destroyed, is death." Matth. xiii. 30, " The enemy that sowed
them, is the devil." James iv. 4, " Ye adulterers and adulteresses
know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God?
whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world, is the enemy of
God." These are Christ's enemies, in that they are opposite to his
kingdom, though they can hurt him no more. They are our ene-
mies, in that they tend to our destruction.
He begins our rescue from them, rescuing us from their bondage
and dominion: Col. i. 13, "The father hath delivered us from the
power of darkness," &c. "We are by nature under the bondage and
dominion of sin, death, the devil, and the world : Rom. v. 21, "Sin
hath reigned unto death." ver. 17, " By one man's offence, death
reigned by one." Acts xxvi. 18, " To open their eyes, and to turn
them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto
God." 1 John v. 4, 5, " Whatsoever is born of God, overcometh
64 OF CHRIST AS A KING.
the world : and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even
our faith. "Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that be-
lieveth that Jesus is the Son of God ?" He rescues us from their
bondage and dominion, by subduing us to himself; Acts xv. 14.
" Simeon hath declared how God at the first did visit the Gentiles,
to take out of them a people for his name." Psal. ex. 3, " Thy
people shall be billing in the day of thy power." There is need of
his subduing us by strength of hand, because by nature we are ut-
terly averse from coming away from them, and submitting to him :
Luke xix. 14, " But his citizens hated him, and sent a message after
him, saying, We will not have this man to reign over us." Prov.
viii. ult. " All they that hate me, love death." He subdues us to
himself, by the sword of his word in the hand of his spirit : Rev.
i. 16, " Out of his mouth went a sharp two-edged sword." Eph. vi.
17, " Take the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God," &c.
The word so managed by the Spirit, operates as a sword, piercing
the soul, and conquering our obstinacy, and making us willing to
yield : Heb. iv. 12, " The word of God is quick, and powerful, and
sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing
asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a
discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart." Psal. ex. 3,
forecited. He opens the house of our bondage, and breaks their
yoke from off our neck, by his Spirit applying to us his satisfaction :
Zech. ix. 11, " As for thee also, by the blood of thy covenant, I have
sent forth thy prisoners out of the pit wherein is no water." The
applying of Christ's satisfaction to us, hath that effect, inasmuch as
thereby the law hath full satisfaction, as to us; and the law being
satisfied the strength of sin is broken ; the strength of sin being
broken, the sting of death is taken away ; the sting of death being
taken away the devil loseth his power over us ; and his power over
us being lost the present evil world, his kingdom loseth its power
over us too : 1 Cor. xv. 56, 57, " The sting of death is sin ; and the
strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, which giveth us
the victory, through our Lord Jesus Christ." Heb. ii. 14, 15, " For-
asmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he
also himself likewise took part of the same : that through death he
might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil ;
and deliver them who through fear of death were all their life-time
subject to bondage." 2 Cor. iv. 4, " In whom the god of this world
hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of
the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine
unto them." The state, then, that all whom Christ hath redeemed
by power are in, with respect to sin, death, the devil, and the world,
OF CHRIST AS A KING. 65
is, that they are rescued from the bondage and dominion of them all :
Rom. vi. 14, " Sin shall not have dominion over you : for ye are
not under the law, but under grace." John v. 24, " Verily, verily
I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him
that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condem-
nation ; but is passed from death unto life." Acts xxvi. 11, "To
turn them from the power of Satan unto God." Gal. i. 4, " Jesus
Christ gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us from this
present evil world." Compared with 1 John v. 19, "And we know
that we are of God, and the whole world lieth in wickedness."
He secures us from going back of our own accord, to their bon-
dage and dominion, by ruling us : Micah v. 2, " But thou, Bethlehem
Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet
out of thee shall he come forth unto me, that is to be a ruler in
Israel." Yer. 4, " And he shall stand and feed in the strength of
the Lord, in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God, and they
shall abide." He so rules us, in the capacity of head of the church,
Eph. v. 23, Hos. i. ult., " Then shall the children of Judah, and the
children of Israel be gathered together, and appoint themselves one
head, and they shall come up out of the land." The Church is the
society of us whom he hath called unto himself, out of the world,
wherein sin, death, and the devil reign : Acts xv. 14, " Simeon hath
declared how God at the first did visit the Gentiles, to take out of
them a people for his name." And the supremacy and headship
over the church, is competent to no man nor angel, but Christ him-
self alone : Col. i. 18, " And he [the son of God] is the head of the
body, the church : who is the beginning, the first-born from the
dead ; that in all things he might have the pre-eminence." Eph.
iv. 5, " There is one Lord." 1 Cor. viii. 6, " To us there is
but one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we
by him." He rules us, as he is head of the church, both ex-
ternally and internally. He rules us, as head of the church, ex-
ternally, giving us laws, and ordinances, and officers to see to
our observing of them. His laws are t'.ie laws of the ten com-
mands : Isa. xxxiii. 22, " The Lord is our lawgiver," &c. com-
pared with Exod. xx. 2, 3 — 17, " I am the Lord thy God, which
have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house
of bondage. Thou shalt have no other gods before me. &c."
His ordinances are the ordinances of worship, and of discipline, and
government : 1 Cor. xi. 2, " Now I praise you, brethren, that you
keep the ordinances, as I delivered them to you." Yer. 23, " I
have received of the Lord, that which also I delivered unto you,
That the Lord Jesus, the same night in which he was betrayed,
66 OT CHRIST AS A KING.
took bread," &c. Mattli. xviii. 17, 18, "And if he shall neglect to
hear them, tell it unto the church : but if he neglect to hear the
church, let him be unto thee as an heathen man and a publican.
Verily I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth, shall be
bound in heaven : and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth, shall be
loosed in heaven." 1 Cor. xii. 28, "God hath set in the church,
governments," &c. His officers are pastors, teachers, ruling elders,
and deacons: Eph. iv. 11, "And he gave some, apostles: and
some, prophets : and some, evangelists : and some, pastors and
teachers." 1 Tim. v. 17, " Let the elders that rule well, be counted
worthy of double honour, especially they who labour in the word
and doctrine." Chap. iii. 10, " Let them use the office of a deacon,
being found blameless." He rules us, as head of the church, inter-
nally, by his Spirit within us writing his laws in our hearts, and
making us obedient: Ezek. xxxvi. 27, " And I will put my Spirit
within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall
keep my judgments, and do them." Heb. viii. 10, "For this is the
covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days,
saith the Lord ; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them
in their hearts." He carries on his rule over us, in this life, gra-
ciously rewarding our obedience with his royal favours, and correct-
ing us for our sins: Psal. xix. 11, " In keeping of them [the judg-
ments of the Lord] there is great reward." Rev. iii. 19, " As many
as I love, I rebuke and chasten." He consummates his rule over
us, in the life to come, by making us perfectly holy and happy,
2 Tim. iv. 8, " Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righte-
ousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that
day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his
appearing."
He secures us from being carried back, by the force of his and
our enemies, to their bondage and dominion, again, by defending us,
and resti*aining them: Psalm lxxxix. 18, "The Lord is our de-
fence : and the holy One of Israel is our King." And lxxvi. 10,
" Surely the wrath of man shall praise thee : the remainder of
wrath shalt thou restrain." "We need his defence, because they
war against us continually, and we are unable to defend ourselves
against them : 1 Pet. v. 8, " Be sober, be vigilant ; because your
adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about seeking whom
he may devour." 2 Cor. iii. 5, " Not that we are sufficient of our-
selves so think any thing as of ourselves : but our sufficiency is of
God." Christ's defence against them is extended to the whole
church, and to every particular believer. He defends the church
against them, so far that they shall never prevail so but there shall
OF CHRIST AS A KING. 67
be a church while the world stands: Matth. xvi. 18, "And I say
also nnto thee, that thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build
ray church : and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it:"
Chap, xxviii. ult., " Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of
the world." He defends every particular believer against them, so
far that none of them shall ever perish : John x. 28, " I give unto
them eternal life, and they shall never perish, neither shall any
pluck them out of my hand." He defends the church, and every
particular believer, by the communication of his grace to them, and
the working of his providence for them : 2 Cor. xii. 9, " And he
said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee : for my strength is
made perfect in weakness." Zech. iii. 9, " For behold, the stone
that I have laid before Joshua : upon one stone shall be seven eyes,
behold, I will engrave the graving thereof, saith the Lord of hosts,
and I will remove the iniquity of that laud in one day." He
restrains all his and our enemies, bounding them by his power, as
to the kinds, degrees, and continuance of their attacks on us : Job
ii. 6, "And the Lord said unto Satan, Behold, ho is in thine hand,
but save his life." 1 Cor. x. 13, " There hath no temptation taken
you, but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will
not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able ; but will with
the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to
bear it." Rev. ii. 10, "Behold, the devil shall cast some of you
into prison, that ye may be tried ; and ye shall have tribulation ten
days."
He completes our rescue, by conquering all his and our enemies :
1 Cor. xv. 25, "He must reign, till he hath put all enemies under
his feet." They will be fully conquered at the last day : Rev. xx.
14, "And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire." The
enemy that will longest keep the field against us, is death : 1 Cor.
xv. 26, "The last enemy that shall be destroyed, is death." For
when the soul is in heaven, free from sin, the devil, and the world,
the body lies in the grave under death. But our King will fully
rescue us from death too, by the glorious resurrection of the last
day: 1 Thess. iv. 16, "The Lord himself shall descend from heaven
with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of
Grod : and the dead in Christ shall rise first." 1 Cor. xv. 52, " In a
moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump, (for the
trumpet shall sound), and the dead shall be raised incorruptible,
and we shall be changed."
We are to receive Christ as our King, renouncing the dominion
of sin, death, the devil, and the world, and wholly giving up our-
selves to him, to be ruled by him as our head : Isa. xxvi. 13, "
68 of Christ's humiliation.
Lord our God, other lords besides thee have had dominion over us :
but by thee only will we make mention of thy name." Psalm ii.
ult., " Kiss ye the Son, lest he be angry, and ye perish from the
way, when his wrath is kindled but a little : blessed are all they
that put their trust in him." TVe are to make use of him as our
King, daily applying and trusting to him, for life, strength, and de-
fence, and victory over our enemies: 2 Tim. ii. 1, "Thou therefore,
my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus." 2 Cor. i.
10, " God delivered us from so great a death, and doth deliver : in
whom we trust that he will deliver us."
Quest. 27. Wherein did Christ's humiliation consist ?
Answ. Christ's humiliation consisted in his being
born, and that in a low condition, made under the law,
undergoing the miseries of this life, the wrath of God,
and the cursed death of the cross ; in being buried, and
continuing under the power of death for a time.
EXPLICATION.
Christ's humiliation belonged to the condition of the covenant of
grace, performed by himself: and it was then a voluntary thing in
him : Phil. ii. 7, 8, " Christ Jesus made himself of no reputation,
and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the
likeness of men : and being found in fashion as a man, he humbled
himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the
cross." He humbled himself, that he might execute his offices,
especially his priestly office : Luke xxiv. 26, " Ought not Christ to
have suffered these things, and to enter into his glory ?" And he
humbled himself, putting himself in a state of humiliation, and
humbling himself in that state.
Christ God-man put himself in a state of humiliation, emptying
himself of his glory, and taking upon him the form of a servant:
Phil. ii. 7, forecited. The form of a servant he took upon him, was
the form of a bond-servant : Psalm xl. 6, " Sacrifice and offering
thou didst not desire, mine ears hast thou opened ;" Marg. digged.
Compared with Exod. xxi. 6, " Then his master shall bring him to
the door, or unto the door-posts : and his master shall bore his ear
through with an awl ; and he shall serve him for ever." He took
upon him the form of a bond-servant, being made under the law :
Gal. iv. 4, 5, " But when the fulness of the time was come, God
sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law to redeem
them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption
of Christ's humiliation. 69
of sons." He was made under the law as a bond-servant, to redeem
us that were under the law as bond-servants : Gal. iv. 4, 5, fore-
cited, ver. 7, " Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son ;
and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ." He did then
transfer our state of servitude under the law upon himself: Is. xlix.
3, " Thou art my servant, Israel, in whom I will be glorified."
And what lay upon him as so made under the law, was, to give it
that perfect obedience in holiness of nature and life, that it required
of us for life, and under the curse of it to bear our punishment :
Matth. iii. 15, " Thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness."
Gal. iii. 13, " Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law,
being made a curse for us." His obedience then, as well as his suf-
ferings, was a part of his humiliation, Phil. ii. 8, forecited ; foras-
much as he gave it in the form of a bond servant. But his state of
humiliation is now over, and at an end ; and it ended at his resur-
rection, Rom. xiv. 9, " To this end Christ both died, and rose, and
revived, that he might be Lord both of the dead and living."
Christ humbled himself in that state, performing the obedience,
and bearing the punishment that it required. He humbled, per-
forming the obedience which that state required, inasmuch as, in
the form of a bond-servant, he was conceived and born of a woman,
perfectly holy, and lived perfectly righteous : Psalm xl. 6, Marg.
forecited, compared with Heb. x. 5, " Wherefore when he cometh
into the world, he saith, sacrifice and offering thou wouldst not, but
a body hast thou prepared me." Gal. iv. 4 ; Phil. ii. 7, 8, both
forecited. His very being conceived and born of a woman, was a
notable piece of humiliation in him; and that because he was the
Son of God, Gal. iv. 4; Phil. ii. 7- He humbled himself, bearing
the punishment which that state required, inasmuch as, all along
from his conception to the grave, he submitted to the effects of the
curse transferred from us on him, Gal. iii. 13, forecited.
He so humbled himself in his conception, being conceived of a
woman of a mean and low state : Luke i. 48, " He hath regarded
the low estate of his handmaiden." An evidence of the mean and
low state of the mother of our Lord, is her being espoused to a car-
penter : Matth. i. 18, " Mary was espoused to Joseph." Compared
with chap. xiii. 55, " Is not this the carpenter's son ? Is not his
mother called Mary.
He so humbled himself in his birth, being born in a low condition.
The low condition he was born in, was, that he was born in the
small town of Bethlehem, in the stable of an Inn, and laid in a
manger instead of a cradle, because there was no room for them in
the Inn : Mic. v. 2, " But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou
70 of Christ's humilliation.
be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he
come forth unto me, that is to be ruler in Israel." Luke ii. 7,
" And she brought forth her first-born son, and wrapped him in
swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger because there was no
room for them in the inn."
He so humbled himself in the course of his life, undergoing the
miseries of this life. The kind of life that Christ had in the world,
was a poor, sorrowful, despised, tempted, and toiled life, in which
he felt weariness, hunger, and thirst : 2 Cor. viii. 9, " For ye know
the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for
your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be
rich." Compared with Matth. viii. 20, " The foxes have holes, and
the birds of the air have nests ; but the Son of man hath not where
to lay his head." Is. liii. 3, " He is despised and rejected of men,
a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were
our faces from him ; he was despised, and we esteemed him not."
Psalm xxii. 6, "lain a worm, and no man ; a reproach of men,
and despised of the people." Luke iv. 13, " And when the devil
had ended all the temptation, he departed from him for a season."
Acts x. 38, " Jesus of Nazareth went about doing good, and healing
all that were oppressed of the devil : for God was with him." Com-
pared with Mark iii. 20, " And the multitude cometh together
again, so that they could not so much as eat bread." John iv. 6,
" Jesus therefore being wearied with his journey, sat thus on the
well." Matth. iv. 2, " And when Jesus had fasted forty days and
forty nights, he was afterwards an hungered." Compared with
chap. xx. 18, " Now in the morning as he returned into the city, he
hungered."
He so humbled himself to an extremity, in respect of his soul and
his spiritual life, " undergoing the wrath of God :" Is. liii. 10,
" Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him, he hath put him to grief :
when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin," &c. Psalm lxix.
1, " Save me, God, for the waters are come in unto my soul," and
xviii. 5, " The sorrows of hell compassed me about : the snares of
death prevented me." The wrath of God did operate on his soul,
filling it with trouble, sore amazement, heaviness, and exceeding
sorrow, and casting him into an agony, even to his sweating great
drops of blood, and at length bringing over it a total eclipse of com-
fort, and as it were melting it within him : John xii. 27, " Now is
my soul troubled ; and what shall I say ? Father, save me from
this hour : but for this cause came I unto this hour." Mark xiv. 33,
34, " And he taketh with him Peter, and James, and John, and
began to be sore amazed, and to be very heavy, and saith unto them,
of Christ's hujiilliation. 71
My soul is exceeding sorrowful unto death." Luke xxii. 44, " And
being in an agony, he prayed more earnestly : and his sweat was as it
were great drops of blood falling down to the ground." Matth.
xxvii. 46, " And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a lond voice,
saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabacthani ? that is to say, My God, my God,
why hast thou forsaken me ?" Psalm xxii. 14, " I am poured out
like water, and all my bones are out of joint : my heart is like wax,
it is melted in the midst of my bowels." That was a spiritual
death, such as a holy soul was capable of. Now the wrath of God
could justly fall upon Christ a person perfectly innocent, inasmuch
as he stood surety for sinners : Ileb. vii. 22, " By so much was Jesus
made a surety of a better testament." Compared with Prov. vi. 1,
2, " My son, if thou be surety for thy friend, if thou hast stricken
thy hand with a stranger, thou art snared with the words of thy
mouth, thou art taken with the words of thy mouth." 2 Cor. v.
ult , " For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin ;
that we might be made the righteousness of God in him."
He humbled himself to an extremity, in respect of his body, and
his natural life, undergoing the cursed death of the cross : Phil. ii.
8, " And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and
became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross." He did
really die, and not seem to die only : Mark xv. 44, 45, " And Pilate
marvelled if he were already dead : and calling nnto him the cen-
turion, he asked whether he had been any while dead. And when
he knew it of the centurion, he gave the body to Joseph." His
death was real, in that his soul was separated from his body : Luke
xxiii. 43, " And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, to-
day shalt thou be with me in paradise." Yer. 46, " And when
Jesus had cried with a loud voice, he said, Father, into thy hands I
commend my spirit : and having said thus, he gave up the ghost."
Yet neither was his soul nor his body separated from his divine na-
ture in his death : Luke xxiii. 43, forecited. John xx. 13, " And
they (the angels) say unto her, "Woman, why weepest thou ? She
saith unto them, Because they have taken away my Lord, and I
know not where they have laid him." The death he died, was the
death of the cross : Phil. ii. 8, "He became obedient unto death,
even the death of the cross." The death of the cross was a painfnl,
shameful, lingering, and cursed death, Christ's death on the cross
was a painful death, in that his body was fixed to the tree by nails
driven through his hands and his feet : Luke xxiii. 33, " And when
they were come to the place which is called Calvary, there they
crucified him." Psalm xxii. 16, " The wicked pierced my hands and
my feet." It was a shameful death, in that he hung on the cross
72 of cueist's humiliation.
stript of his clothing : Matth. xxvii. 35, " And they crucified him,
and parted his garments, casting lots." Heb. xii. 2, " Jesus, for the
joy that was set before him, endured the cross, despising the
shame," &c. "What that shameful hanging on a tree had a particu-
lar eye to, was our naked first parents' sinning by eating the fruit
of a tree. It was a lingering death, in that the wounds being in
the extreme parts of the body, he was alive on the cross, from the
third to the ninth hour : Mark xv. 25, " And it was the third hour,
and they crucified him." Ver. 34, " And at the ninth hour Jesus
cried with a loud voice," &c. It was a cursed death, inasmuch as
it was written in the law, " Cursed is every one that hangeth on a
tree," Gal. iii. 13, compared with Deut. xxi. 23, " He that is hanged,
is accursed of God." The curse denounced in the law, on those
hanged on a tree, was a ceremonial curse, not hindering the salva-
tion of penitents : Luke xxiii. 33, " And when they were come to
the place which is called Calvary, there they crucified — the male-
factors." Ver. 43, " And Jesus said unto him, Yerily I say unto
thee, To-day shalt thou be with me in paradise." But the curse
that lay on Christ in his humiliation, was a real and substantial
one, whereof the tree of the cross was but the sign and badge : Gal.
iii. 13, " Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being
made a curse for us : for it is written, Cursed is every one that
hangeth on a tree." The instruments of the cruel death Christ was
put to, were the Jews and Romans ; Acts iv. 27, " For of a truth
against thy holy child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed, both Herod
and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles, and the people of Israel were
gathered together." But every point of it was determined before,
in the eternal counsel between the Father and the Son, for the sal-
vation of sinners, ver. 28, " For to do whatsoever thy hand and thy
counsel determined before to be done." Compared with Zech. vi.
13, " Even he shall build the temple of the Lord, and he shall bear
the glory, and shall sit and rule upon his throne, and he shall be a
priest upon his throne, and the counsel of peace shall be between
them both." Howbeit, the wicked instruments had no eye to that
in what they did : Acts xiii. 27, " For they that dwell at Jerusa-
lem, and their rulers, because they knew him not, nor yet the voices
of the prophets which are read every Sabbath day, they have ful-
filled them in condemning him." Neither did it excuse them from
the guilt of most horrid murder in their crucifyiug the Lord of
glory : Acts ii. 23, " Jesus of Nazareth being delivered by the de-
terminate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and
by wicked hands have crucified and slain." Chap. vii. 52, " "Which
of the prophets have not your fathers persecuted ? and they have
OF CHRrST's HUMILIATION. 73
slain them which shewed before of the coming of the just One ; of
whom ye have been now the betrayers and murderers."
He so humbled himself after his death, in respect of his body
being buried : 1 Cor. xv. 3, 4, " For I delivered unto you first of all,
that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins accord-
ing to the Scriptures : and that he was buried," &c. He was buried
in a garden: John xix, 41, 42, " Now in the place where he was
crucified, there was a garden ; and in the garden a new sepulchre,
wherein was never man yet laid. There laid they Jesus." "What
his being buried in a garden had a particular eye to, wa.3 man's first
sinning in a garden.
He so humbled himself after his death, in respect to both soul
and body, " continuing under the power of death for a time :" Rom.
vi. 9, " Christ being raised from the dead, dieth no more ; death
hath no more dominion over him." He continued under the power
of death for a time, in so far as, for a time, he continued in the
state of the dead, his soul and body remaining separate: Acts ii.
31, "He [David] seeing this before, spake of the resurrection of
Christ, that his soul was not left in hell, neither his flesh did see
corruption." That is expressed in the creed, in these words, " He
descended into hell." The place where his soul was, during its
separate state, was paradise : Luke xxiii. 43, "To-day shalt thou
be with me in paradise." The time he continued under the power
of death, was three days : Matth. xii. 40, " As Jonas was three
days and three nights in the whale's belly : so shall the Son of man
be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth." Yet not
three days complete ; Matth. xvi. 21, "From that time forth began
Jesus to shew unto his disciples, how that he must — be raised again
the third day." Compared with John ii. 19, " Jesus answered and
said unto them, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise
it up ;" but only a part of the first day, the whole second, and a
part of the third ; Luke xxiii. 54, " And that day was the prepara-
tion, and the sabbath drew on." Ver. 56, " And they rested the
sabbath-day, according to the commandment." Chap. xxiv. 1,
" Now, upon the first day of the week, very early in the morning,
they came unto the sepulchre." Yer. 6, " He is not here, but is
risen."
The hardest and sharpest of all these steps of Christ's humilia-
tion, was his undergoing the wrath of God in his soul : Prov. xviii.
14, " The spirit of a man will sustain his infirmity ; but a wounded
spirit who can bear ?" The lowest of them was his continuing for
a time under the power of death, in the state of the dead : Psalm
xxii. 15, " Thou hast brought me into the dust of death."
Yol. VII. E
74 of Christ's exaltation.
Quest. 28. Wherein consisteth Christ's exaltation ?
Answ. Christ's exaltation consisteth in his rising
again from the dead on the third day, in ascending up
into heaven, in sitting at the right hand of God the
Father, and in coming to judge the world at the last
day.
EXPLICATION.
Christ's exaltation belongs to the promise of the covenant of
grace, to be performed to him by the Father : Isa. Hi. 13, " Behold,
my servant shall be exalted and extolled, and be very high." And
it is the reward of his humiliation for himself: Phil. ii. 8, 9, " And
being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became
obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore God
also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above
every name." Christ's exaltation was necessary, that he might fully
execute his offices, especially his kingly office : Luke xxiv. 26,
"Ought not Christ to enter into his glory?" Phil. ii. 9, above
cited, vers. 10, 11, " That at the name of Jesus every knee should
bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the
earth ; and that every tongue should confess, that Jesus Christ is
Lord, to the glory of God the Father."
The first step of Christ's exaltation, was his rising again from the
dead, 1 Cor. xv. 4. That Christ rose again from the dead, appears
from the Scripture prophecies of it, and the testimony of hundreds,
who saw him with their eyes accordingly risen : 1 Cor. xv. 3 — 8,
" For I delivered unto you first of all, that which I also received,
how that Christ rose again the third day according to the Scriptures :
and that he was seen of Cephas, then of the twelve. After that, he
was seen of above five hundred brethren at once. After that, he
was seen of James ; then of all the apostles. And last of all he
was seen of me also, as of one born out of due time." The raising
of Christ from the dead, is in the Scripture ascribed to the Father,
to himself, and to the Holy Spirit : Eph. i. 20, " Which he (the Fa-
ther of glory) wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the
dead." John ii. 19, " Jesus answered and said unto them, Destroy
this temple, and in three days I will raise it up." Horn. viii. 11,
" But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead, dwell
in you : he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken
your mortal bodies, by his Spirit that dwelleth in you." It is as-
cribed to the Father, as the judge discharging him from prison, as
having fully paid the debt he was laid up for : Acts ii. 24, " Whom
op Christ's exaltation. 75
(Jesus of Nazareth) God hath raised up, having loosed the pains of
death; because it was not possible that he should be holden of it."
1 Tiui. iii. 16, " And without controversy, great is the mystery of
godliness ; God was justified in the Spirit — received up into glory."
A legal evidence of his being, by the authority of heaven, discharged
from the prison of the grave, was an angel's descending from hea-
ven, and opening the prison door, by rolling away the stone : Matt,
xxviii. 2, " The angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came
and rolled back the stone from the door, and sat upon it." It is
ascribed to Christ himself, forasmuch as he, by his own divine
power, calling back his soul into his body, took his own life again,
and came forth of the grave : John x. 18, " I have power to lay it
(my life) down, and I have power to take it again." Compared
with chap. ii. 19, " Jesus answered and said unto them, Destroy this
temple, and in three days I will raise it up." Mark xvi. 6, " Jesus
of Nazareth is risen, he is not here." It is ascribed to the Holy
Spirit, inasmuch as by him Christ's soul and body were reunited :
1 Pet. iii. 18, " Christ was put to death in the flesh, but quickened
by the Spirit." He rose the third day after his death, 1 Cor. xv. 4,
forecited. That day was the first day of the week : and he rose
about the dawning of the day : Matth. xxviii. 1, 2, " In the end of
the Sabbath, as it began to dawn towards the first day of the week,"
&c. He rose in the very same body he laid down in the grave :
Luke xxiv. 39, " Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself:
handle me, and see, for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see
me have, John xx. 27, " Then saith he to Thomas, Reach hither thy
finger, and behold my hands : and reach hither thy hand, and thrust
it into my side : and be not faithless, but believing." And it had
not been corrupted there in the least : Acts xiii. 37, " He whom
God raised again, saw no corruption." The change made on Christ's
body in its resurrection was, that it rose immortal and glorious ;
Rom. vi. 9, " Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more ;
death hath no more dominion over him." 1 Cor. xv. 20, " Now is
Christ risen from the dead, and become the first-fruits of them that
slept." Ver. 43, " It is sown in dishonour, it is raised in glory : it
is sown in weakness, it is raised in power."
The second step of Christ's exaltation, was, his ascending up into
heaven, Eph. iv. 8, 10. The time of his ascension was forty days
after his resurrection, Acts i. 3, "He tarried so long on earth,
after his rising from the dead, to ascertain the truth of his resur-
rection : he ascertained it in that time, by his frequent appearing
to, and conversing with his apostles, during that time : and in these
conversations with them, he taught them the things concerning his
e 2
76 of Christ's exaltation.
own kingdom : Acts i. 3, " To whom also he shewed himself alive
after his passion, by many infallible proofs, being seen of them
forty days, and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom
of God." It was in his human nature that Christ ascended from
earth into heaven; not in his divine nature, because it is always
everywhere present. The place of the earth from which he as-
cended, was the mount of Olives, Acts i. 11, 12. It is observable
concerning that place, that there Christ's humiliation began to come
to an extremity, Luke xxii. 39. The heaven he ascended into, was
the highest heaven, Eph. iv. 10, Christ's soul and body, then, are
now no more on earth, but in the highest heavens : Acts iii. 21,
" "Whom the heavens must receive, until the times of restitution of
all things." Compared with Eph. iv. 10, " He that descended, is
the same also that ascended up far above all heavens, that he might
fill all things." He ascended in a visible and triumphant manner
as a conqueror : Acts i. 9, " "While they beheld, he was taken up,
and a cloud received him out of their sight 1 " Psal. xlvii. 5, " God
is gone up with a shout ; the Lord with the sound of a trumpet."
The action of the Father in that step of Christ's exaltation, was
the receiving him up into heaven, Mark xvi. 19.
The third step of Christ's exaltation, is his sitting at the right
hand of God the Father, Mark xvi. 19. God the Father hath
neither right nor left hand, properly so called, as men have : For
he is a most pure Spirit, without body or bodily parts. But by
Christ's sitting at the right hand of God the Father, is meant, hi3
being, as Mediator, God-man, exalted to the highest dignity and
power, over all creatures, in fulness of joy and glory : Phil. ii. 9,
10, " Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him
a name which is above every name : that at the name of Jesus
every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth,
and things under the earth." 1 Pet. iii. 22, " Jesus Christ is gone
into heaven, and is on the right hand of God, angels, and authori-
ties, and powers being made subject unto him." Acts ii. 28, "Thou
hast made known to me the ways of life ; thou shalt make me full
of joy with thy countenance." Compared with Psalm xvi. nit.
" Thou wilt shew me the path of life : in thy presence is fulness of
joy, at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore." John xvii. 5,
" And now, Father, glorify thou me with thine ownself, with the
glory which I had with thee before the world was." And that his
sitting at the right hand of God, will endure for ever : Heb. x. 12,
" This man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins, for ever sat
down on the right hand of God." The action of the Father in this
step of Christ's exaltation, w r as, his setting him at his own right hand,
Eph. i. 20.
of cukist's exaltatiox. 77
Now Christ rose from the dead, ascended into heaven, and sitteth
at the right hand of God, in a public character, as our head and
representative, the same in which he died, was buried, and con-
tinued under the power of death for a time : Eph. ii. 6, " God hath
raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places
in Christ Jesus." Heb. vi. 20, Whither [heaven] the fore-
runner is for us entered, even Jesus," &c. Eph. iv. 10, " He that
descended, is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens,
that he might fill all things." These steps, then, of Christ's exalta-
tion are, for his people, sure pledges of their spiritual and bodily-
resurrection, their ascension into heaven, and sitting for ever with
him in heavenly places: 1 Cor. xv. 22, " In Christ shall all be made
alive," Eph. ii. 6, forecited.
The last step of Christ's exaltation, will be his coming to judge
the world at the last day : Acts i. 11, " Ye men of Galilee, why
stand ye gazing up into heaven ? This same Jesus which is taken up
from you into heaven, shall so come, in like manner as ye have
seen him go into heaven." Compared with chap. xvii. 31, " God
hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in
righteousness, by that man whom he hath ordained ; whereof he
hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from
the dead." Christ will come again a second time, Heb. 9, ult. He
will come the second time, in the character of judge of the world,
Acts xvii. 31, forecited, John v. 22, " The Father judgeth no man ;
but hath committed all judgment unto the Son." Yer. 27, " And he
hath given him authority to execute judgment, because he is the
Son of man." That coming of Christ will be at the last day :
2 Pet. iii. 10, " The day of the Lord will come as a thief in the
night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise,
and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also, and
all the works therein, shall be burnt up." He will come in the
full manifestation of his own and his Father's glory, Luke ix. 26.
His attendants will be all the holy angels, Matth. xxv. 31. The
awful sound he will descend from heaven with, will be a shout, the
voice of the archangel, and the trumpet of God, 1 Thess. iv. 16.
Christ's coming to judge the world, will not discontinue or interrupt
his sitting at the right hand of God, but will manifest it to all :
Matth. xxvi. 64, " I [Jesus] say unto you, hereafter shall ye see the
Son of man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the
clouds of heaven." And that his coming will be a part of his exal-
tation, inasmuch as he will then appear and act in the fulness of his
kingly power : Matth. xxv. 34, " Then shall the King say unto
them on his right hand, come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the
78 OP TIIE APPLICATION
kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world." The
action of the Father in this step of Christ's exaltation, will be, his
sending him again, in fulness of glory, clothed with his authority,
to judge the world: Acts iii. 20, " The Lord shall send Jesus Christ,
which before was preached unto you." Luke ix. 26, " The Son of
man shall come in his own glory, and in his Father's, and of the
holy angels." John v. 27, forecited.
Quest. 29. How are we made partakers of the redemption purchased
by Christ ?
Answ. We are made partakers of the redemption
purchased by Christ, by the effectual application of it to
us by his Holy Spirit.
EXPLICATION.
The redemption purchased by Christ, is deliverance from sin,
death, the devil, the world, into a state of holiness and happiness
for ever : Tit. ii. 14, " Jesus Christ gave himself for us, that he
might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a pecu-
liar people, zealous of good works." Hos. xiii. 14, " I will ransom
them from the power of the grave : I will redeem them from death :
death, I will be thy plagues : grave, I will be thy destruction ;
repentance shall be hid from mine eyes." Heb. ii. 14, 15, " Foras-
much then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also
himself likewise took part of the same : that through death he
might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil ;
and deliver them who, through fear of death, were all their life-time
subject to bondage." Gal. i. 4, " Jesus Christ gave himself for our
sins that he might deliver us from this present evil world, according
to the will of God and our Father." Heb. ix. 12, " Christ by his
own blood entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eter-
nal redemption for us." To be made partakers of that redemption,
is, to be made sharers of it in our own persons : John xiii. 8, " Jesus
answered him, if I wash thee not, thou hast not part with me."
Acts xxvi. 18, " To open their eyes and to turn them from darkness
to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may re-
ceive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are
sanctified by faith that is in me." And till we are in our own per-
sons made sharers of it, we are still in a state of bondage under sin,
death, the devil, and the world, though it may be purchased for us :
Eph. ii. 12, "At that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from
the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of
OF REDEMPTION. 79
promise, having no hope, and without God in the world." We are
made sharers of it in our persons, by the effectual application of it
to us in particular : And the application of it to us that is effectual,
is the applying it to us, unto the actual delivering of us, as prison-
ers out of the pit, Zech. ix. 11.
The effectual application of Christ's purchase to sinners, in their
own persons, belongs to the promise of the covenant of grace, made
to Christ for the elect : Isa. liii. 10, 11, " When thou shalt make
his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong
his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand.
He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied : by
his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many : for he
shall bear their iniquities." And the effectual application of
Christ's purchase to sinners is begun here, and perfected hereafter :
Eph. i. 7, " In whom we have redemption through his blood, the
forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace." ver. 14,
" The Holy Spirit of promise is the earnest of our inheritance,
until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise
of his glory." Chap. iv. 30, " Grieve not the Holy Spirit of God,
whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption." As the pur-
chasing of redemption was the work of Christ, so the effectual ap-
plication of it to us, is the work of his Holy Spirit : Tit. iii. 5, 6,
" Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according
to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and re-
newing of the Holy Ghost ; which he shed on us abundantly,
through Jesus Christ our Saviour." And the closest application of
it made to any, in the gospel-offer, without the applying work of
the Spirit, will be an ineffectual application of it , that is to say,
the prisoners will still remain in the pit, undelivered; John i. 11,
12, " He came unto his own, and his own received him not. But as
many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of
God, even to them that believe on his name."
Now, the Spirit applies the redemption to all those for whom
Christ hath purchased it : Eph. 13,14, " In whom ye also trusted,
after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation ;
in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that Holy
Spirit of promise, which is the earnest of our inheritance, until the
redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his
glory," John vi. 37, " All that the Father giveth me, shall come
to me." Ver. 39, " And this is the Father's will which hath sent me,
that of all which he hath given me, I should lose nothing, but
should raise it up again at the last day." And the purchase and
application of redemption are of the very same extent : John x. 15,
80 OF UNION WITH CHRIST.
" I lay down ray life for the slieep." Vers. 27, 28, " My sheep hear
my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. And I give unto
them eternal life, and they shall never perish, neither shall any
pluck them out of my hand."
Quest. 30. How doth the Spirit apply to us the redemption fur-
chased by Christ ?
Answ. The Spirit applieth to us the redemption pur-
chased by Christ, by working faith in us, and thereby
uniting us to Christ, in our effectual calling.
EXPLICATION.
The applying of Christ's purchase to us, is not the work of the
Spirit without us, but the work of the Spirit within us : Ezek.
xxxvi. 27, " And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to
walk in ray statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do
them." Rom. viii. 9, " Ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit,
if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you." We are made par-
takers of the Spirit himself, by the communication of him to us by
Jesus Christ : John xx. 22, " Jesus breathed on the disciples, and
saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost." Acts ii. 23, " There-
fore beiug by the right hand of God exalted, and having received
of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, he hath shed forth
this, which ye now see and hear." "We come to be made partakers
of so great a benefit as the Spirit himself, for applying Christ's pur-
chase to us, because the Spirit is a part, and the leading part, of
Christ's purchase, as well as the applier of it : Luke xxiv. 49,
"And behold, I send the promise of ray Father upon you: but
tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endowed with power
from on high." Acts ii. 33, forecited.
The Spirit entering within us, applies Christ's purchase to us, by
uniting us to Christ: 1 Cor. xii. 13, "By one Spirit are we all bap-
tized into one body, — and have been all made to drink into one
Spirit." Compared with Eph. v. 23, " Christ is the head of the
church : and he is the Saviour of the body." The union we have
with Jesus Christ by his Spirit in us, is that whereby, being joined
to Christ as our head, we are made one with him spiritually : 1 Cor.
vi. 17, " He that is joined unto the Lord, is one spirit." Eph. v.
23, above cited. Yer. 30, " We are members of Christ's body, of
his flesh, and of his bones." That union is not a metaphorical, nor
mere relative union, but a most real and proper union, Eph. v. 30,
above cited. Yer. 32, " This is a great mystery : but I speak con-
OF UNION WITH CUEIST. 81
cerning Christ and the church." Compared with Col. i. 27, "To
whom [the saints] God would make known what is the riches of the
glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you,
the hope of glory." John vi. 56, " He that eateth my flesh, and
drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him." Chap. xv. 21,
" That they all may be one, as thou, Father, art in me, and I
in thee ; that they also may be one in us." That union being once
made, it can never be dissolved: Jer. xxxii. 40, "I will make an
everlasting covenant with them, that I will not turn away from
them, to do them good ; but I will put my fear in their hearts, that
they shall not depart from me." 1 Thess. iv. 14, " If we believe
that Jesus died, and rose again, even so them also which sleep
in Jesus, will God bring with him." It extends so far, in respect
of the parties united to Christ, that the whole man, body as well as
soul, is united to whole Christ in his divine and human nature :
1 Cor. vi. 15, " Know ye not, that your bodies are the members of
Christ?" Col. i. 27; Eph. v. 30, both forecited. Christ's purchase
comes by that means to be applied to us, because, in union with
Christ, we have communion with him in his purchase : Phil. iii. 9,
"And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which
is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the
righteousness which is of God by faith." Col. ii. 9, 10, " In Christ
dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily. And ye are com-
plete in him." And there is no effectual application of his pur-
chase to us, without union with himself: 2 Cor. xiii. 5, "Know ye
not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be
reprobates ? Now, our union with Christ is by the Spirit, inasmuch
as it is made by the communication of the Spirit to us when dead in
sin, and by the agency of the Spirit in us when quickened by that
communication.
The communication of the Spirit to us when dead in sin, is the
Spirit from Christ the head entering into us dead sinners, as a Spi-
rit of life : " 1 Cor. xv. 45, " The last Adam was made a quicken-
ing Spirit." Rom. viii. 2, " The law of the Spirit of life in Christ
Jesus, hath made me free from the law of sin and death." We are
united to Christ by that communication of the Spirit from him, in-
asmnch as Christ thereby apprehends us, and knits with us : Phil,
iii. 12, " Not as though I had already attained, either were already
perfect : but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which
also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus." 1 John iii. 24, " He that
keepeth his commandments dwelleth in him, and he in him : and
hereby we know that he abideth in us, by the Spirit which he hath
given us." Gal. ii. 20, "I am crucified with Christ: Nevertheless
82 OF UNIOlf WITH CHRIST.
I live ; yet not I, but Christ livetli in me ; and the life which I now
live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved
me, and gave himself for me." We necessarily become one with
Christ, by means of that communication of the Spirit from him,
because so the man Christ and we do both live spiritually by the
self-same Spirit indwelling in both, Rom. viii. 2, forecited. Col. iii.
3, 4, " Ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God."
" When Christ who is our life," &c. And the distance between
Christ the head in heaven, and us on earth, hinders not the indwell-
ing of the same Spirit in both, and our union thereby; in regard the
Spirit is an infinite Spirit.
The agency of the Spirit in us, when quickened by that communi-
cation, is his " working faith in us, and thereby uniting us to
Christ:" Col. ii. 12, "Buried with him in baptism, wherein also you
are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God. Com-
pared with 2 Cor. iv. 13, " We having the same Spirit of faith, ac-
cording as it is written, I believed, and therefore have I spoken: we
also believe, and therefore speak." Eph. iii. 17, "That Christ may
dwell in your hearts by faith." It is not the habit of faith, but actual
believing, by which the Spirit unites us to Christ : Gen. xv. 6, " And
Abram believed in the Lord; and he counted it to him for righte-
ousness." John i. 12, " As many as received him, to them gave he
power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe in his
name." The Spirit worketh in us that actual believing, producing
it in us immediately out of the spiritual life given us by that com-
munication of himself to us : Phil. ii. 13, " It is God which worketh
in you, both to will and to do of his good pleasure," John v. 25,
" Verily, verily I say unto you, the hour is coming, and now is,
when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God : and they
that hear, shall live." Compared with chap. i. 12, forecited. Yer.
13, " Which were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, but
of God." And by that actual believing also we are united to
Christ, inasmuch as thereby we apprehend Christ, and knit with
him, Phil. iii. 12 ; John i. 12 ; Eph. iii. 17, all forecited. But as
for elect infants, idiots, and others, through want of exercise of
their reason, incapable of actual believing, what comes of them in that
case, is, that they are united to Christ by the communication of the
Spirit to them, and Christ's purchase is effectually applied to them
thereupon : Luke i. 15, " John shall be filled with the Holy Ghost,
even from his mother's womb." Compared with 1 Cor. xii. 13, " By
one Sprit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or
Gentiles, whether we be bond or free ; and have been made all to
drink into one Spirit."
OF EFFECTUAL CALLING. 83
The bonds, then, of the spiritual union betwixt Christ and actual
believers, are, the Spirit on Christ's part, and faith on their part :
1 John iii. 24, " He that keepeth his commandments, dwelleth in
him, and he in him : and hereby we know that he abideth in us, by
the Spirit which he hath given us." Eph. iii. 7, " That Christ may
dwell in your hearts by faith." And that work of God about us, in
which the Spirit works faith in us, and unites us to Christ, is our
effectual calling.
Quest. 31. What is effectual calling ?
Answ. Effectual calling is the work of God's Spirit,
whereby, convincing us of our sin and misery, enlighten-
ing our minds in the knowledge of Christ, and renewing
our wills, he doth persuade and enable us to embrace
Jesus Christ, freely offered to us in the gospel.
EXPLICATION.
An effectual calling in the general is, when the party called comes
upon the call. The call whereby sinners are invited to partake of
the redemption purchased by Christ, is the call of the gospel :
2 Thess. ii. 14, " Whereunto he called you by our gospel, to the ob-
taining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ." Even the gospel-
call itself is not given to all and every one in the world : Eom. x.
14, 15, " How then shall they call on him in whom they have not
believed ? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not
heard ? and how shall they hear without a preacher ? and how shall
they preach except they be sent ? as it is written, How beautiful are
the feet of them which preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad
tidings of good things ;" But the gospel call is given to all to whom
the word of God comes, whether written or preached : John v. 39,
" Search the scriptures, for in them ye think ye have eternal life,
and they are they which testify of me," Rom. x. 17, " Faith cometh
by hearing, and hearing by the word of God."
Sinners are, by the gospel-call, called to come out from the world
lying in wickedness : 1 John v. 19, " And we know that the whole
world lieth in wickedness." Compared with 2 Cor. vi. 17, " Where-
fore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord,
and touch not the unclean thing : and I will receive you." And sin-
ners are called to come to Jesus Christ in union and communion
with him: Mattth. xi. 28, ' ; Come unto me all ye that labour, and
are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." Chap. xxii. 4, "^gain
84 OF EFFECTUAL CALLING.
he sent forth other servants, saying, Tell them which are hidden, Be-
hold, I have prepared ray dinner : ray oxen and my fatlings, are
killed, and all things are ready : come unto the marriage." By
that coming to Jesus Christ, is meant, embracing him freely offered
to us in the gospel." Christ offered in the gospel id embraced, by
believing on him : John i. 12, " As many as received him, to them
gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe
on his name." There is need of calling us to come to Christ, in
union and communion with him, because, by nature, we are far
from God, and fast asleep in sin : Eph. ii. 13, " But now in Christ
Jesus, ye who sometimes were far off, are made nigh by the blood of
Christ." Compared with Jam. iv. 8, " Draw nigh to God, and he
will draw nigh to you." Eph. v. 14, " Awake thou that sleepest,
aud arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light."
The gospel-call, to whatever sinner of mankind it comes, is ac-
companied with a sufficient warrant for his coming to Christ, in
union and communion with him. That warrant is the free offer of
Christ to us in the gospel : Prow viii. 4, " Unto you, men, I call,
and my voice is to the sons of man." Mark xvi. 15, 16, " And
Jesus said unto the disciples, Go ye into all the world, and preach
the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized,
shall be saved ; but he that believeth not shall be damned." Christ
is offered in the gospel freely, to us mankind-sinners, in that any of
us may, though none but truly sensible sinners will come to him,
and unite with him : John iii. 16, " God so loved the world, that he
gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him, should
not perish, but have everlasing life." Rom. xx. 17, " And the
Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth, say,
Come. And let him that is athirst, come : and whosoever will, let
him take the water of life freely." Chap. iii. 19, I counsel thee to
buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou raayest be rich; and
white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of
thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eye-salve,
that thou mayest see."
The calling of sinners by the gospel is ineffectual on many. It is
ineffectual on them, in that they come not to Christ upon the call :
Prov. i. 24, " I have called, and ye refused ; I have stretched out
my hand, and no man regarded." But it is effectual on the elect :
Rom. viii. 30, " Whom he did predestinate, them he also called."
Acts xiii. 48, "As many as were ordained to eternal life, believed."
It is effectual on them, in that, sooner or later, they certainly come
to Christ upon the call : John vi. 37, " All that the Father giveth
me, shall come to me."
OF EFFECTUAL CALMNO. 85
Our effectual calling is the work of God's Spirit : 1 Thess. i. 4, 5,
" Knowing, brethren beloved, your election of God. For our gospel
came not unto you in word only, but also in power, and in the
Holy Ghost, and in much assurance." John vi. 63, " It is the Spirit
that quickeneth, the flesh profiteth nothing : the words that I speak
unto you, they are spirit, and they are life." And thereby he doth
persuade and enable us to embrace Jesus Christ freely offered to us
in the gospel. The Spirit renders the gospel-call effectual on us,
powerfully determining us, and putting us in a capacity, to answer
the call, by embracing Christ. He determines us to answer the
gospel-call, by persuading us effectually to embrace Christ: Gen.
ix. 27, " God shall enlarge [marg. persuade] Japheth, and he shall
dwell in the tents of Shem." John vi. 44, 45, " No man can come to
me, except the Father which hath sent me, draw him : and I will raise
him up at the last day. It is written in the prophets, And they shall
be all taught of God. Every man therefore that hath heard, and hath
learned of the Father, cometh unto me." Phil. ii. 13, " It is God
which worketh in you, both to will and to do of his good pleasure."
He puts us in a capacity to answer the gospel-call, by enabling us
to embrace Christ, John v. 44, 45 ; Phil. ii. 13, above cited. There
is need of the Spirit's calling us effectually, by persuading and en-
abling us to come to Christ in union or communion with him ; be-
cause, being in ourselves dead in sin, we are neither willing nor able
to come : John v. 25, " Yerily, verily, I say unto you, The hour is
coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of
God : and they that hear shall live." Compared with Psalm ex. 3,
" Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power." Phil. ii.
13 ; John vi. 44, forecited.
The Spirit persuades and enables us to embrace Jesus Christ
freely offered to us in the gospel, by convincing us of our sin and
misery, enlightening our minds in the knowledge of Christ, and re-
newing our wills. The work of the Spirit for persuading and en-
abling us to embrace Christ, is threefold ; namely, conviction, sav-
ing illumination, and the renewing of the will. But conviction is
not a work of the Spirit, of the same kind with the other two.
Conviction is a work of the Spirit, acting as " a spirit of bondage
upon us, Rom. viii. 15. The Spirit, acting as a Spirit of bondage,
convinceth us of our sin and misery : John xvi. 8, " And when he is
come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of
judgment." Acts ii. 37, " Now when they heard this, they were
pricked in their heart, and said unto Peter, and to the rest of the
apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do ?" The effect of the
Spirit's work of conviction upon us, is a sight of our sins as heinous
86 OF EFFECTUAL CALLING.
in the sight of God, and of his wrath due to us for them, filling us
with remorse, terror and anxiety, John xvi. 8, Acts ii. 37, forecited.
Chap. xvi. 20, " Then he (the jailor) called for a light, and sprang
in, and came trembling, and fell down before Paul and Silas." The
word of God by which the Spirit works that conviction, is the law :
Rom, iii. 20, " By the law is the knowledge of sin." He convinceth
us of our sin by it, bringing home on our consciences the commands,
of the law, as of divine authority, and binding on us in particular :
Rom. vii. 7, " What shall we say then ? is the law sin ? God forbid.
Nay, I had not known sin but by the law : for I had not known lust,
except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet." Compared with Exod.
xx. 1, " And God spake all these words," &c. He convinceth us of
our misery by it, bringing home on our consciences the curse of the
law, as the curse of the Lord himself, binding on us in particular: Gal.
iii. 10, " As many as are of the works of the law, are under the curse :
for it is written, cursed is every one that continueth not in all things
which are written in the book of the law to do them." Compared
with Rom. iii. 19, " Now we know that what things soever the law
saith, it saith to them who are under the law : that every mouth
may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God."
Mai. iii. 9, " Ye are cursed with a curse ; for ye have robbed me."
That law-work doth not issue in faith and conversion, in all whom
it is wrought upon : Matth. xxvii. 3, 4, 5, " Then Judas, which had
betrayed him, when he saw that he was condemned, repented him-
self, and brought again the thirty pieces of silver to the chief
priests and elders, saying I have sinned, in that I have betrayed
the innocent blood. And he cast down the pieces of silver in the
temple, and departed and went and hanged himself." Acts xxiv. 25,
" And as Paul reasoned of righteousness, temperance, and judgment
to come, Felix trembled, and answered, Go thy way for this time ;
when I have a convenient season, I will call for thee." Neither is
that law-work of the same measure in all that are converted : Luke
xix. 6, " And Zaccheus made haste, and came down, and received
him joyfully." Compared with Acts ix. 9, " And Saul was three
days without sight, and neither did eat nor drink." But so much
of it is necessary, as brings the soul to see an absolute need of
Christ, and to despair of relief by any other way : Gal. iii. 24,
" Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster, to bring us unto Christ,
that we might be justified by faith," Luke vi. 48, " He is like a man
which built an house, and digged deep, and laid the foundation on a
rock," &c. The part this law-work of the Spirit hath in persuad-
ing and enabling us to embrace Jesus Christ, is, that it begins the per-
suasion. It begins the persuasion, urging us with our lost and undone
OF EFFECTUAL CALLING. 87
state, and our need of a Saviour : Gal. iii. 23, " But before faith came,
we were kept under the law, shut up unto faith which should after-
wards be revealed." Exod. xx. 18, 19, " And all the people saw the
thunderings, and the lightnings, and the noise of the trumpet, and the
mountain smoking : and when the people saw it, they removed, and
stood afar off. And they said unto Moses, Speak thou with us, and
we will hear : but let not God speak with us, lest we die." But
this law-work neither perfects the persuasion, nor enables us to
embrace Christ : Rom. viii. 3, " For what the law could not do in
that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the
likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin condemned sin in the flesh." Heb.
vii. 19, " For the law made nothing perfect, but the bringing in of
a better hope did."
Saving illumination, and the renewing of the will, are works of
the Spirit acting as a Spirit of life within us : 2 Cor. iv. 6, " For
God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined
in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God,
in the face of Jesus." Compared with John viii. 12, " Then spake
Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world ; he that
followeth me, shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of
life." Ezek. xxxvi. 26, 27, " A new heart also will I give you, and
a new spirit will I put within you, and I will take away the stony
heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. And
I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in ray
statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them." The
Spirit of life, from Christ the head, is conveyed into us in the word :
John vi. 63, " It is the spirit that quickeneth, the flesh profiteth
nothing the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they
are life." Not in the word of the law, but in the word of the gos-
pel : Gal. iii. 12, " This only would I learn of you, received ye the
Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith ?" 2 Cor.
iii. 7, 8, " But if the ministration of death written and engraven in
stones, was glorious, so that the children of Israel could not sted-
fastly behold the face of Mosss, for the glory of his countenance,
which glory was to be done away: how shall not the administra-
tion of the Spirit be rather glorious ?" The gospel is the word of
the glad tidings of salvation to sinners, through Jesus Christ : Acts
xiii. 26, " To you is the word of this salvation sent." Luke ii. 10,
11, "And the Angel said unto the shepherds, Fear not: for behold,
I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.
For unto you is born this day, in the city of David, a Saviour which
is Christ the Lord."
The work of the Spirit, in effectual calling, acting as a Spirit of
88 OF EFFECTUAL CALLING.
life within us, is a quickening work giving life to the dead soul :
Eph. ii, 5, " God, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened
us together with Christ." Compared with John vi. 63, forecited,
In his saving operation, then, on the mind and will, bringing sin-
ners to Christ, he acts irresistibly, yet without the least violence
done to their will : Jer. xxxi. 18, " I have surely heard Ephraim be-
moaning himself thus, Thou hast chastised me, and I was chastised,
as a bullock unaccustomed to the yoke ; turn thou me, and I shall
be turned; for thou art the Lord my God." Cant. i. 4, " Draw me,
we will run after thee." Now, that quickening work is the same
with regeneration taken strictly for the beginning of the new crea-
ture : John i. 12, 13, " As many as received him, to them gave he
power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his
name : which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh,
nor of the will of man, but of God." Compared with chap. iii. 6,
" That which is born of the Spirit, is spirit."
The quickening or regenerating work of the Spirit on our minds,
is saving illumination or enlightening: John i. 4, " In him was life,
and the life was the light of men." Chap. viii. 12, " Then spake
Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world : he that
followeth me, shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light
of life." Eph. v. 14, " Wherefore he saith, awake thou that
sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light."
Saving illumination is a quickening work of the Spirit, inasmuch as
it is a renewing of our minds, by nature under the darkness of
death, in point of saving knowledge : Rom. xii. 2, " And be ye not
conformed to this world : but be ye transformed by the renewing of
your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable,
and perfect will of God." 1 John v. 22, " And we know that the
Son of God is come, and hath given us an understanding, that we
may know him that is true." Matth. iv. 16, " The people which sat
in darkness, saw great light : and to them which sat in the region
and shadow of death, light is sprung up." Eph. iv. 18, " Having
the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God,
through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of
their heart." 1 Cor. ii. 14, " The natural man receiveth not the
things of the Spirit of God; for they are foolishness unto him :
neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned."
The effect of saving illumination on us, is the knowledge of Christ,
by way of spiritual sight : Eph. i. 17, 18, " That the God of our
Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the
Spirit of wisdom and revelation, in the knowledge of him : the eyes
of your understanding being enlightened." John vi. 40, " And this
OF EFFECTUAL CALLING. 89
is the will of liim that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son,
and believeth on him, may have everlasting life." The sight we
get of Christ by saving illumination, is a sight of him in the tran-
scendent glory of his person and offices, offered to us in particular :
2 Cor. iv. 6, " For God, who commanded the light to shine out of
darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the know-
ledge of the glory of God, in the face of Jesus Christ." John i. 14,
" And the word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld
his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father), full of
grace and truth." 1 Thess. i. 5, " For our gospel came not unto you
in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Ghost, and in much
assurance." It is in the word of the gospel that Christ is so seen
spiritually : 2 Cor. iii. 18, " But we all, with open face, beholding
as in a glass the glory of the Lord," &c. Compared with Rom. x.
6, 7, 8, " But the righteousness which is of faith, speaketh on this
wise, Say not in thine heart, who shall ascend into 'leaven? (that is,
to bring Christ down from above) ; or, "Who shall descend into the
deep ? (that is, to bring up Christ again from the dead) : But what
saith it ? The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy
heart : that is the word of faith which we preach." We come to
see Christ in the gospel, in the work of saving illumination, because
in it the Spirit clears and demonstrates the gospel to us, for a
ground of our believing in particular : 1 Cor. ii. 4, 5, " And my
speech, and my preaching, was not with enticing words of man's
wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit, and of power : that your
faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of
God." The Spirit clears and demonstrates unto us, the gospel to be
the infallible word of God, and his word to us in particular :
1 Thess. ii. 13, " For this cause also thank we God without ceasing,
because when ye received the word of God which ye heard of us, ye
received it not as the word of men, but (as it is in truth) the word of
God, which effectually worketh also in you that believe." Chap. i.
5, forecited. And that is an internal attestation of the word of the
gospel unto us, distinct from the clearest external or ministerial
attestation of it : John xv. 26, 27, " When the Comforter is come,
whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth
which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me. And ye
also shall bear witness, because ye have been with me from the be-
ginning."
The quickening or regenerating work of the Spirit on our wills, is
the renewing of them : Ezek. xxxvi. 26, " A new heart also will I
give you, and a new spirit will I put within you, and I will take
away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart
Vol. VII. f
90 OF BENEFITS IN THIS LIFE.
of flesh." The effect of the Spirit's renewing our wills, is, their
being made pliable to the gospel-call, Ezek. xxxvi. 26, above cited.
Psalm ex. 3, " Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power."
The renewing of our wills is a quickening work of the Spirit, inas-
much as our will is, by nature, under the bands of death, so as it
hath no power to comply with the call of the gospel : John v. 25,
" Verily, verily, I say unto you, The hour is coming, and now is,
when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God : and they
that hear shall live." Chap. vi. 44, " No man can come to me,
except the Father which hath sent me, draw him." Eph. ii. 1,
" And you hath he quickened who were dead in trespasses and sins."
Yer. 5, " Even when we were dead in sins, hath he quickened us
together with Christ."
The part that saving illumination, and the renewing of our wills,
have in the persuading and enabling us to embrace Jesus Christ, is,
that thereby the persuasion is perfected, and we are enabled to em-
brace him accordingly : John vi. 45, " It is written in the prophets,
And they shall be all taught of God. Every man therefore that
hath heard, and hath learned of the Father, cometh unto me."
Chap. i. 12, 13, " As many as received him, to them gave he power
to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:
which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of
the will of man, but of God." And the persuasion being perfected,
and wo enabled to embrace Christ, the Spirit infallibly produceth in
us actual coming to Christ, and embracing him by faith, John vi.
45, forecited. Compared with Phil. ii. 13, " It is God which worketh
in you, both to will and to do of his good pleasure."
And that our coming to Christ by faith infallibly issues in con-
version : 1 Pet. iii. 18, " Christ hath once suffered for sins, the just
for the unjust, that he might bring us to God." Conversion is a
sinner's turning again unto God, from whom he turned away in
Adam : Acts xxvi. 20, " That they should repent, and turn to God,
and do works meet for repentance." It is brought about, through
our coming to Christ by faith, in that wo come unto God by Christ,
and by him only : Heb. vii. 25, " Wherefore he is able also to save
them to the uttermost, that come unto God by him seeing he ever
liveth to make intercession for them." John xiv. 6, " Jesus saith
unto Thomas, I am the way, and the truth, and the life : no man
cometh unto the Father, but by me.'
Quest. 32. What benefits do they that are effectually called 'partake
of in this life ?
Answ. They that are effectually called, do, in this
OF JUSTIFICATION. 91
life, partake of justification, adoption, sanctification, and
the several benefits which in this life do either accom-
pany or flow from them.
EXPLICATION".
They that are effectually called into union and communion with
Christ, do, in communiou with him, partake of the rest of the bene-
fits of his purchase : Eph. i. 3, " Blessed be the God and Father of
our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual bless-
ings in heavenly places in Christ." Howbeit, these benefits are not
communicated to them in their own persons all at once. But they
get some of them in this life, more at death, and the whole at the
resurrection. But the root-benefit from which they all spring unto
them, and on which they all depend, is their union with Christ :
1 Cor. i. 30, " But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is
made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and re-
demption." Rev. xiv. 13, " And I heard a voice from heaven, say-
ing unto me, "Write, Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord,
from henceforth : yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from
their labours ; and their works do follow them." 1 Thess. iv. 14,
" If we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also
which sleep in Jesus, will God bring with him. Compared with Col.
i. 27, "To whom (the saints) God would make known what is the
riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles ; which is,
Christ in you, the hope of glory." The chief of these benefits, which
the effectually called do, in communion with Christ, partake of, in
this life, are justification, adoption, and sanctification : Rom. viii. 30,
" Moreover, whom he did predestinate, them he also called : and
whom he called, them he also justified." Eph. i. 5, " Having pre-
destinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to him-
self." 1 Cor. i. 30, forecited. And there are several other benefits,
which, even in this life, do either accompany these chief ones, or
flow from them. And they partake of them also accordingly in this
life, 1 Cor. i. 30, forecited.
Quest. 33. What is justification ?
Answ. Justification is an act of God's free grace,
wherein he pardoneth all our sins, and accepteth us as
righteous in his sight, only for the righteousness of
Christ imputed to us and received by faith alone.
f2
92 OF JUSTIFICATION.
EXPLICATION.
All who are effectually called, are justified : Rom, viii. 30,
" Whom he called, them he also justified." The justifying of a per-
son doth never, in the Scripture sense of the word, signify, to make
one righteous with inherent righteousness or holiness : but com-
monly and ordinarily it signifies, to declare one righteous : Exod.
xxiii. 7, " Keep thee far from a false matter : and the innocent and
the righteous slay thou not : for I will not justify the wicked."
Compared with Rom. iv. 5," To him that worketh not, but believeth
on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteous-
ness." Prcr. xvii. 15, "He that justifieth the wicked, and he that
condemneth the just, even they both are abomination to the Lord."
Isa. v. 23, " Wo unto them which justify the wicked for reward,
and take away the righteousness of the righteous from him." The
justifying of a person sometimes signifies, to shew one righteous:
Job xxxiii. 32, " If thou hast any thing to say, answer me : speak,
for I desire to justify thee." Chap, xxxii. 2, " Against Job was
Elihu's wrath kindled, because he justified himself rather than
God." Gen. xliv. 16, "And Judah said, How shall we clear our-
selves?" &c. Luke xvi. 15, "And he said unto the Pharisees, Ye
are they which justify yourselves before men ; but God knoweth
your hearts." Rev. xxii. 11, " He that is unjust, let him be unjust
still : — and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still." Now,
since God justifying a sinner cannot be shewing him righteous in
his sight, it must be declaring him righteous in his sight. Where-
fore our justification is not a change of our nature, but of our state.
The state a sinner is brought out of, in his justification, is the
state of condemnation : Rom. viii. 33, 34, " Who shall lay any
thing to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth : who
is he that condemneth ?" Compared with ver. 1, " There is there-
fore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus." All
men, before they are justified, are in a state of condemnation : John
iii. 18, " He that believeth not, is condemned already, because he
hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God."
Compared with Rom. v. 1, " Therefore being justified by faith, we
have peace with God, through our Lord Jesus Christ." And they
are so, in virtue of the curse of the law still lying on them : Gal. iii.
10, " Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are
written in the book of the law to do them." Compared with Rom.
iii. 19, " Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it
saith to them who are under the law : that every mouth may be
stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God." But
sinners are, in their justification, delivered from the curse : Gal. iii.
OF JUSTIFICATION-. 93
13, " Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being
made a curse for us.'" Compared with Rom. viii. 33, 34, forecited.
And the curse never returns upon them thereafter, Rom. viii. 1,
forecited. Isa. liv. 9, " As I have sworn that the waters of Noah
should no more go over the earth : so have I sworn, that I would
not be wroth with thee, nor rebuke thee."
Justification is not a work carried on by degrees, but an act per-
fected in an instant : John v. 24, " Verily, verily, I say unto you,
He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath
everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation ; but is passed
from death unto life." Compared with Rom. i. 17, " The just shall
live by faith." A sinner is justified in the first instant of his be-
lieving on Christ, and not before, Rom. v. 1, forecited. Chap. iii.
22, " The righteousness of God is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all,
and upon all them that believe." John iii. 18, " He that believeth
on him, is not condemned : but he that believeth not, is condemned
already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only be-
gotten Son of God."
Justification is the act of God himself: and in it he acts in the
character of a judge : Rom. viii. 33, 34, " Who shall lay any thing
to the charge of God's elect ? it is God that justifieth : who is he that
condemneth : Compared with Dent. xxv. 1, " If there be a contro-
versy between men, and they come into judgment, that the judges
may judge them, then they shall justify the righteous, and condemn
the wicked." The throne of judgment on which God justifies a sin-
ner, is his throne of grace : Heb. iv. 16, " Let us therefore come
boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find
grace to help in time of need." And he is to be found on that
throne only in Christ: 2 Cor. v. 19, "God was in Christ, reconcil-
ing the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them."
The sinner is brought, for justification, unto the throne of grace, by
the Spirit in effectual calling: 1 Cor. vi. 11, " And such were some
of you : — but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by
the Spirit of our God." The poor sinner comes nnto the throne of
grace, on that occasion, a guilty, self-condemned, and law-condemned
creature : Ezra is. 15, "0 Lord God of Israel, behold, we are be-
fore thee in our trespasses : for we cannot stand before thee, because
of this." Rom. iii. 19, forecited., vers. 23, 24, " All have sinned,
and come short of the glory of God : Being justified freely by his
grace, through the redemption that is in Jesus Christ." A law-con-
demned sinner can be justified by a holy God there, by an act of free
grace.
Our justification is an act of God's free grace : And by God's free
94 OF JUSTIFICATION.
grace is meant, his free favour and good-will. Howbeit, it is an act
of free grace, not in respect of Christ, but in respect of us, Rom. iii.
23, 14, above cited. It is purely an act of free grace to us, insomuch
that we are justified before we have done any good work at all:
Rom. iv. 5, " To him that worketh not, but believeth on him that
justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness.
The parts of the act of our justification, passed by Grod the
righteous judge, are two ; namely, his pardoning all our sins, and his
accepting us as righteous in his sight.
Pardon of sin is the freeing of the sinner from the guilt of his sin :
Matth. vi. 12, " And forgive us cur debts, as we forgive our debtors."
The guilt of sin that lies upon us, till such time as we are justified,
is the guilt of revenging wrath, John iii. 18, forecited, ver. 36, " He
that believeth not the Son, shall not see life ; but the wrath of God
abidetii on him." The pardon, then given to a sinner in justification,
is the freeing him from the guilt of the revenging wrath of God,
formerly lying on him : Job. xxxiii. 22, " Yea, his soul draweth near
unto the grave, and his life to the destroyers." Ver. 24, " Deliver
him from going down to the pit, I have found a ransom." John v.
24, " "Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and
believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not
come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life." And
the sinner once justified, can never fall under the guilt of revenging
wrath again : Rom. viii. 1, 33, 34; John v. 24; Isa. liv. 9, forecited.
Now, in our justification God pardons us all our sins, past and
present : Mic. vii. 19, " Thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths
of the sea." Col. ii. 13, "And you being dead in your sins, and
the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with
him, having forgiven you all trespasses." Rom. iv. 7, " Blessed are
they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered."
And the state we are put into, with respect to after sins, is, that
God will not impute them, as to the guilt of revenging wrath : Rom.
iv. 6, " Even as David also describeth the blessedness of the man
unto whom Grod imputeth righteousness without works." Ver. 8,
*' Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin." The
procuring cause of the direct pardon of the one, and of the not im-
puting of the other, is the righteousness of Christ upon us : Rom. iii.
22, " The righteousness of God is by faith of Jesus Christ, uuto all
and upon all them that believe ; for there is no difference." Com-
pared with Gal. iii. 13, " Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of
the law, being made a curse for us." The guilt which the justified
do incur by their after sins, is the guilt of fatherly anger : Psalm
lxxxix. 30, 31, 32, 33, " If his children forsake my law, and walk
OF JUSTIFICATION. 95
not in ray judgments ; if they break my statutes, and keep not my
commandments, then will I visit their transgression with the rod,
and their iniquity with stripes. Nevertheless, my loving-kindness
will I not utterly take from him, nor suffer my faithfulness to fail."
Acceptance with God in justification, is not the acceptance of our
works, but of our persons : Eph. i. 6, " He hath made us accepted
in the beloved." Compared with Rom. iii. 28, " Therefore we con-
clude, that a man is justified by faith, without the deeds of the law."
No work of ours can ever be accepted of God, in point of justifica-
tion : Gal. ii. 16, "Knowing that a man is not justified by the
works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ : Even we have
believed in Jesus Christ; that we might be justified by the faith of
Christ, and not by the works of the law : for by the works of the
law shall no flesh be justified." Nor can any work of ours be
accepted in any case, till once we are justified : Ueb. xi. 6, " With-
out faith it is impossible to please God : for he that coineth to God,
must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that dili-
gently seek him." Gen. iv. 4, 5, " And the Lord had respect unto
Abel, and to his offering : but unto Cain, and to his offering, he had
not respect." Compared with Heb. xi. 4, " By faith Abel offered
unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained
witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts." God's
acceptance of our persons in justification, is his accepting us unto
eternal life, adjudging it to us : Rom. v. 17, " They which receive
abundance of grace, and of the gift of righteousness, shall reign in
life by one, Jesus Christ." Ver. 18, " By the righteousness of one
the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life." Tit. iii. 7,
"That being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs accord-
ing to the hope of eternal life." JJab. ii. 4, " The just shall live by
his faith." He accepteth us unto eternal life, as persons righteous
in his sight, Rom. v. 17, 18, above cited. Ver. 19, " By the obe-
dience of one, shall many be made righteous." Ver. 21, " Grace
reigns through righteousness unto eternal life, by Jesus Christ our
Lord." Gal. iii. 11, "But that no mail is justified by the law in
the sight of God, it is evident: for, " The just shall live by faith."
Compared with verse 12, "And the law is not of faith: but, The
man that doth them, shall live in them." By the righteous in God's
sight, is meant persons truly righteous in law, in the view of his
piercing eye : Gen. vii. 1, "And the Lord said unto Noah, — Thee
have I seen righteous before me in this generation." 2 Cor. v. 21,
" God hath made Christ to be sin for us, who knew no sin ; that we
might be made the righteousness of God in him." And they are
persons truly righteous in law, who have a righteousness fully
96 OF JUSTIFICATION.
answering the demands of the law for righteousness: Phil. iii. 9,
" And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is
of the law; hut that which is through the faith of Christ, the
righteousness which is of God by faith." Rom. viii. 3, 4, " For
what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh,
God sending his own Son, in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin
condemned sin in the flesh : that the righteousness of the law might
be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the
Spirit."
As to what we are justified for ; we are justified " only for the
righteousness of Christ imputed to us, and received by faith alone."
One coming unto the throne of grace, a law-condemned sinner, is
capable of being justified there, pardoned and accepted, as truly
righteous, inasmuch as uniting us with Christ there, Christ's righte-
ousness is his, and upon him that moment: Phil. iii. 9, forecited.
Rom. iii. 22, " The righteousness of God is by faith in Jesus Christ
unto all, and upon all them that believe ; for there is no differ-
ence."
That for which God justifies us, is not any thing wrought in us,
or done by us : Tit. iii. 5, " Not by works of righteousness, which
we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the wash-
ing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost." Eph. i. 7,
" In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of
sins, according to the riches of his grace." But it is " the righte-
ousness of Christ imputed to us :" Phil. iii. 9, " And to make all
men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the
beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all
things by Jesus Christ." Compared with Rom. iv. 6, " Even as
David also describeth the blessedness of the man unto whom the
Lord imputeth righteousness without works." And it is his righte-
ousness only, without any mixture of righteousness inherent in us :
Rom. v. 18, 19, forecited. The righteousness of Christ for which
we are justified, is not his essential righteousness, which he had
from eternity ; but his mediatory righteousness which he fulfilled in
his state of humiliation : Matth. iii. 15, " Thus it becometh us to
fulfil all righteousness." The parts whereof that righteousness of
Christ consists, are, the complete holiness of nature, righteousness
of his life, and satisfaction of his sufferings : Heb. vii. 26, " For
such an high priest became us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled,
separated from sinners." Rom. v. 19, "By the obedience of one,
shall many be made righteous." Phil. ii. 7, 8, " Christ Jesus made
himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant,
and was made in the likeness of men : and being found in fashion
OF JUSTIFICATION. 97
as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death,
even the death of the cross." And, in our justification, the righte-
ousness of Christ is imputed to us, in all the parts thereof, Rom.
viii. 3, 4. Compared with chap. iv. 6.
The party imputing Christ's righteousness to us is God the Judge,
Rom. iv. 6, forecited. God's imputing it to us, is his reckoning it
ours ; Rom. iv. 10, 11, " How was faith then reckoned to Abraham
for righteousness ? when he was in circumcision, or in uncircumci-
sion ? not in circumcision, but in uncircumcision. And he received
the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith
which he had yet being uncircumcised : that he might be the father
of all them that believe, though they be not circumcised ; that
righteousness might be imputed to them also." Chap. v. 19, fore-
cited. Jer. xxiii. 6, " This is his name whereby he shall be called,
THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS." God can reckon Christ's
righteousness ours, because it is ours before he reckon it so ; Rom.
ii. 2, " We are sure that the judgment of God is according to
truth."
The righteousness of Christ becomes ours, through faith ; Phil,
iii. 9 ; Rom. iii. 22, forecited. It is ours through faith, by right of
free gift, and right of communion with Christ himself. The believer
possesseth it as his by right of free gift, inasmuch as Christ's righte-
ousness being made over in the gospel, as Heaven's free gift to sin-
ners, he hath received it by faith; Rom. i. 17, "For therein [the
gospel of Christ] is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to
faith ; as it is written, The just shall live by faith." Chap. v. 17 s
" They which receive abundance of grace, and of the gift of righte-
ousness, shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ." He possesseth it
as his by right of communion with Christ himself, inasmuch as,
being united to Christ, he hath a common interest or communion
with him in his righteousness; Eph. iii. 17, " That Christ may dwell
in your hearts by faith." 1 Cor. i. 9, " God is faithful, by whom ye
were called unto the fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord."
Phil. iii. 9, " And be found in him, not having mine own righteous-
ness, which is of the law ; but that which is through the faith of
Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith." Christ's
righteousness, then, is not therefore ours, because it is imputed to
us : but therefore it is imputed to us, because it is ours, Rom. ii. 2,
forecited. Chap. iv. 23, 24, " Now, it was not written for his sake
alone, that it was imputed to him ; but for us also, to whom it shall
be imputed, if we believe on him that raised up Jesus our Lord from
the dead."
The righteousness of Christ imputed to a law-condemned sinner,
98 OF JUSTIFICATION.
is a good ground for his justification, pardon, and acceptance, as a
person truly righteous, inasmuch as thereby the commanding and
condemning law is judicially found, at the throne of grace, to be
fully satisfied in all its demands for righteousness that it had upon
him; Rom. iii. 31, " Do we then make void the law through faith?
God forbid : yea, we establish the law." Chap. viii. 3, 4, forecited.
Chap. x. 4, " Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every
one that believeth." Chap. vii. 4, " Wherefore, my brethren, ye
also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ ; that ye
should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the
dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God." Compared with
Chap. viii. 1, " There is therefore now no condemnation to them
which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after
the Spirit."
As to what we are justified by, we are justified by faith alone ;
Gal. ii. 16, " Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of
the law 5 but by the faith of Jesus Christ: Even we have believed in
Jesus Christ ; that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and
not by the works of the law : for by the works of the law shall no
flesh be justified." To be justified by faith alone, is to be justified
by faith, and not by works, in whole, nor in part ; Rom. iii. 28,
" Therefore we conclude, that a man is justified by faith without the
deeds of the law." Paul's doctrine, that we are justified by faith
alone ; and the doctrine of James, that we are justified by works,
and not by faith only, Jam. ii. 24, do not disagree, (2 Pet. i. 21,
" For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man : but
holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost");
and that, inasmuch as they speak of very different subjects. "What
Paul speaks of, is God's justifying us by an act of his, declaring us
to be righteous ; Rom. iv. 6 — 8, " Even as David also describeth the
blessedness of the man unto whom God imputeth righteousness with-
out works, saying, Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven,
and whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord
will not impute sin." "What James speaks of, is but our justifying
ourselves, by a course of life shewing us to be righteous ; Jam. ii.
18, " Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew
me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by
my works." Ver. 21, " Was not Abraham our father justified by
works, Avhen he had offered Isaac his son upon the altar ?" Now,
a man justifies or shews himself righteous by faith in the sight of
God, by good works; Jam. ii. 21, forecited; ver. 25, "Likewise also,
was not Rahab the harlot justified by works, when she had received
the messengers, and had sent them out another way?" John xv. 1J,
OF JUSTIFICATION. 99
" Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you." Rom. vi.
14, " Sin shall not have dominion over you : for ye are not under the
law, but under grace." For though we are justified of God by faith
alone, yet faith is not alone, without good works, in the justified ;
Jam. ii. 17, " Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being
alone." Yer. 26, " For as the body without the spirit is dead, so
faith without works is dead also." Rom. viii. 1, " There is there-
fore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who
walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit." Nevertheless, faith
is alone, without good works, in justification ; Rom. iv. 5, " To him
that worketh not, but belie veth on him that justifieth the ungodly,
his faith is counted for righteousness." That appears, inasmuch as
no man can do a good work, till once he is justified by faith. 1 Tim.
i. 5, " Now the end of the commandment is charity, out of a pure
heart, and of a good conscience, and of faith unfeigned." Luke vii.
47, " Wherefore I say unto thee, Her sins, which are many, are for-
given ; for she loved much : but to whom little is forgiven, the same
loveth little." Rom. vii. 4, forecited. No man can do a good work,
till once he is justified by faith, because till then he is under the
curse of the law ; Rom. vii. 5, 6, " For when we were in the flesh,
the motions of sins which were by the law, did work in our members
to bring forth fruit unto death. But now we are delivered from the
law, that being dead wherein we were held ; that we should serve
in newness of spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter." The act
of believing, whereby we are justified, cannot be reckoned a good
work done by us, before we are justified, forasmuch as it is the effect
of a quickening or creating act of God in us, by which we pass from
under the curse, into a state of justification ; Eph. i. 19, 20, " That
ye may know what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-
ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power;
which he wrought in Christ wiien he raised him from the dead," &c.
John v. 24, " Yerily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my
word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and
shall not come into condemnation ; but is passed from death unto
life."
\Ye are not justified by faith, as the righteousness itself for
which we are justified : Rom. v. 18, " By the righteousness of one,
the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life." Yer. 19,
" By the obedience of one, shall many be made righteous." But
faith is, according to the style of the Scripture, said to be counted
to us for righteousness, (Gen. xv. 6; Rom. iv. 3); not that God
judgeth it to be our righteousness, but because he treats it as if it
were so: Job xix. 15, " They that dwell in mine house, and my
100 OF ADOPTION.
maids, count me for a stranger : I am an alien in their sight."
Chap. xiii. 24, " Wherefore holdest thou me for thine enemy ?"
Chap, xxxiii. 20, " Behold, he counteth me for his enemy." Com-
pared with chap. x. 7, " Thou knowest that I am not wicked." God
treats faith as if it were our righteousness in his sight, in that im-
mediately upon our act of believing he justifies us. But we are
justified by faith, as the alone instrument or mean of our justifica-
tion : John i. 12, " As many as received him, to them gave he power
to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name."
Rom. iii. 28, " Therefore we conclude, that a man is justified by
faith, without the deeds of the law." Chap. v. 1, " Therefore being
justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus
Christ." Faith justifies us instrumentally, as it receives the gift of
righteousness, and unites us with Christ whose righteousness it is :
Rom. v. 17, " They which recieve abundance of grace, and of the
gift of righteousness, shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ."
Phil. iii. 9, " And be found in him, not having mine own righteous-
ness, which is of the law ; but that which is through the faith of
Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith."
It is in justification that we obtain reconciliation with God :
2 Cor. v. 19, " God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto him-
self, not imputing their trespasses unto them." Jam. ii. 23, " Abra-
ham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness :
and he was called the friend of God." The state we are brought
out of, in our reconciliation, is the state of wrath : Rom. v. 9, 10,
" Much more then being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved
from wrath through him. For if when we were enemies, we were
reconciled to God by the death of his Son ; much more being recon-
ciled, we shall be saved by his life." The state we are brought into,
is a state of peace and friendship with God through Christ : Rom.
v. 1, forecited. Isa. xxxii. 17, " And the work of righteousness
shall be peace, and the effect of righteousness, quietness and assur-
ance for ever." Jam. ii. 23, forecited.
Quest. 34. What is adoption ?
Answ. Adoption is an act of God's free grace,
whereby we are received into the number, and have a
right to all the privileges of the sons of God.
EXPLICATION.
All who are effectually called, are adopted into the family of
God : 2 Cor. vi. 17, 18. " Wherefore come out from among them,
OF ADOPTION" 101
and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing;
and I will receive you, and will be a Father unto you, and ye shall
be iny sons and daughters, saith the Lord almighty." Adoption, in
the general, is a legal act, whereby one doth, to all intents and pur-
poses in law, become wholly the child of another, than him whose
child he was by nature. Adoption, then, is not a change of our na-
ture, but of our state. Neither is it a work carried on by degrees,
but an act perfected in an instant : 1 John iii. 2, " Beloved, now are
we the sons of God," &c. But the full enjoyment of the benefits
thereby coming unto us, will not be till the last day : Rom. viii. 23,
,l And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the first fruits
of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for
the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body." We are adopted
into the family of God, in that instant, wherein, believing in Christ,
we are justified, and reconciled to God : John i. 12, " As many as
received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God,
even to them that believe on his name." Gal. iv. 4, 5, " But when
the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son made of a
woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the
law, that we might receive the adoption of sons." Eph. ii. 16, " And
that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross,
having slain the enmity thereby." Yer. 19, " Now, therefore, ye
are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow-citizens with the
saints, and of the household of God."
Our natural father, out of whose family we come, is the devil :
John viii. 44, " Te are of your father the devil, and the lusts of
your father ye will do." Matth. xiii. 38, " The tares are the chil-
dren of the wicked one." Chap, xxiii. 15, " Wo unto you, scribes
and pharisees, hypocrites ; for ye compass sea and land to make one
proselyte, and when he is made, ye make him twofold more the
child of hell than yourselves." The devil's family is the world
lying in wickedness : 1 John v. 19, " And we know that the whole
world lieth in wickedness." Compared with 2 Cor. vi. 17, 18, fore-
cited. Psalm xlv. 10, " Hearken, daughter, and consider, and
incline thine ear; forget also thine own people, and thy father's
house." The father who adopts us into his family, is God himself."
2 Cor. vi. 18, forecited. The person of the glorious Trinity, whose
act in a peculiar manner our adoption is, is the first person, the
Father of our Lord Jesus Christ : Eph. i. 3, 5, " Blessed be the
God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with
all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ : having pre-
destinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to him-
self." Chap. iii. 14, 15, "For this cause I bow my knees unto the
102 or ADOPTION.
Father of oar Lord Jesus Christ, of whom the whole family in hea-
ven and earth is named." 1 John iii. 1, "Behold, what manner of
love the Father hath bestowed npon us, that we should be called
the sons of God." His act of adopting us into his family, is an act
of free grace : 1 John iii. 1, above cited. It is an act of free grace,
in that there is nothing in us moving him thereto : Eph. i. 5, 6,
" Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus
Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, to the
praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted
in the beloved." But it is consistent with the honour of God, to
adopt into his family us who are by nature children of the devil,
in that he adopts us in Christ, as being in him: Eph. i. 5, 6, above
cited. Gal. iii. 26, 27, " For ye are all the children of God by
faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as have been baptized
into Christ, have put on Christ." Ileb. ii. 11, " For both he that
sanctifieth, and they who are sanctified, are all of one, for which
cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren." It is consistent
with his justice, in that he adopts us for Christ, as redeemed by
him, Gal. iv. 4, 5, forecited.
We are dignified by adoption, in that we are thereby received
into the number of the sons of God : Jer. iii. 19, " But I said, How
shall I put thee among the children, and give thee a pleasant land,
a goodly heritage of the host of nations ? and I said, Thou shalt
call me, my Father, and shalt not turn away from me." John i. 12,
forecited. The dignity then, which we are by it advanced to, is
sonship to God, Eph. i. 5 ; 2 Cor. vi. 18, forecited. Those that
make up that number into which we are received by adoption,
are, our Lord Jesus Christ himself, the holy angels, and the saints
in heaven and earth: Heb. ii. 11. forecited. Chap. xii. 22, 23,
" But ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the
living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable com-
pany of angels, to the general assembly and church of the first-
born which are written in heaven, and to God the judge of all,
and to the spirits of just men made perfect." Eph. iii. 15, fore-
cited. All these are the sons of God. Jesus Christ is the Son of
God, by eternal generation : Psalm ii. 7, " I will declare the de-
cree : the Lord hath said unto me, Thou art my Son, this day have
I begotten thee." John i. 14, " And we beheld his glory, the glory
as of the only begotten of the Father." The holy angels are the
sons of God, by creation in his image, which is confirmed on them :
Job xxxviii. 7, " The morning stars sang together, and all the sons
of God shouted for joy." Compared with Eph. i. 10, " That in the
dispensation of the fulness of times, he might gather together in one
OF ADOPTION. 103
all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which arc
on earth, even in him." The saints arc the sous and daughters of
God, by spiritual marriage with Christ, by adoption, and by regene-
ration : Psalra xlv. 10, " Hearken, daughter, and consider, and
incline thine ear : forget also thine own people, and thy father's
house." Eph. i. 5, forecited. 1 John iii. 9, 10, " Whosoever is
born of God, doth not commit sin ; for his seed remaineth in him :
and he cannot sin, because he is born of God. In this the children
of God are manifest." And by adoption we are made sons of God
too, Eph. i. 5 ; Gal. iv. 4, 5, forecited.
The peculiar dignity of our Lord Jesus Christ among that num-
ber, is, that he is the first-born, the eldest brother, Rom. viii.
29 ; Col. i. 18. The pre-eminence he has among his brethren, as he
is the first-born, is, that his is the dominion and headship of the
family, the priesthood, the blessing, and the double portion : Heb.
iii. 6, " Christ was faithful as a Son over his own house." Chap. ii. 17,
" Wherefore in all things it behoved him to be made like unto his bre-
thren ; that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest, in things
pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people."
Psalm xlv. 2, " Thou art fairer than the children of men : grace is
poured into thy lips : therefore God hath blessed thee for ever."
Ver. 7, " Thou lovest righteousness, and hatest wickedness : there-
fore God, thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above
thy fellows." The blessing is peculiarly his, though all his brethren
are blessed too, inasmuch as he is the prime receptacle of the bless-
ing, from whence it is conveyed unto his brethren, who are blessed
only in him : Gen. xii. 2, 3, " And I will make of thee a great na-
tion, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great, and thou shalt
be a blessing. And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse
them that curseth thee : and in thee shall all the families of the
earth be blessed." Compared with Gal. iii. 8, " And the scripture
foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached
before the gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations
be blessed." Eph. i. 3, " Blessed be the God and Father of our
Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings
in heavenly places in Christ." Phil. ii. 9, 10, " Wherefore God
also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above
every nane : that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of
things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth."
Compared with Eph. i. 10, " That, in the dispensation of the fulness
of times, he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both
which are in heaven, and which are on earth, even in him.
The advantage we have by the dignity of sonship to God, is, that
104 ADOPTION.
thereby we have a right to all the privileges of the sons of God :
Rom. viii. 17, " And if children, then heirs ; heirs of God and joint
heirs with Christ." The pivileges of the sons of God are, access to
him as a Father, his fatherly pity, protection, provision, and cor-
rection, and the eternal inheritance: Eph. iii. 12, "In Christ Jesus
our Lord, we have boldness and access with confidence by the faith
of him." Compared with Matth. vi. 9, " After this manner there-
fore pray ye : Our Father which art in heavan, hallowed be thy
name. Psalm ciii. 13, " Like as a father pitieth his children ; so
the Lord pitieth them that fear him." Prov. xiv. 26, " In the fear
of the Lord is strong confidence : and hi3 children shall have a place
of refuge." Matth. vi. 30, 31, 32, " Wherefore if God so cloth the
grass of the field, which to-day is, and to-morrow is cast into the
oven, shall he not much more clothe you, ye of little faith ? there-
fore take no thought, saying, what shall we eat? or what shall we
drink ? or wherewithal shall we be clothed ? for your heavenly Fa-
ther knoweth that ye have need of all these things." Heb. xii. 6,
•'"Whom the Lord loveth, he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son
whom he receiveth." Pom. viii. 17, forecited. Our right to these
privileges by adoption, is not our only right to them : We have
another right to them also, by our justification : Hab. ii. 4, " The
just shall live by his faith." Tit. iii. 7, " That being justified by
this grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal
life." Rom. v. 1, 2, "Therefore being justified by faith, we have
peace with God, through our Lord Jesus Christ. By whom also we
have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in
hope of the glory of God." The difference between these two rights
to these privileges lies here, That our right to them by justification
is our fundamental right, our right to them by adoption is an ho-
norary right of inheritance superadded thereto : Rom. v. 18, " By
the righteousness of one, the free gift came upon all men unto jus-
tification of life." Ver. 19, " By the obedience of one shall many be
made righteous." John i. 12, " As many as received him, to them
gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe
on his name."
The earnest of the eternal inheritance, which God gives to his
adopted children, till they come to the full possession of it, is the
spirit of adoption, Rom. viii. 15. Compared with Eph. i. 13, 14.
The spirit of adoption is the spirit of his Son, sealing them with the
Son's image, and working in them a son-like disposition and affec-
tion towards God : Gal. iv. 6, And because ye are sons, God hath
sent the Spirit of his son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father."
Compared with Eph. i. 13, 14, " In whom [ChristJ ye trusted after
OF SAtfCTIFICATIOX. 105
that yo heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation : in
whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that Holy
Spirit of promise, which is the earnest of our inheritance, until the
redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory?
And 2 Cor. iii. 18, " But we all, with open face, beholding as
in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image,
from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord." And
that is done, on and in them, in their sanctification : 2 Cor. i.
21, 22, " Now he which stablisheth us with you in Christ, and hath
anointed us, is God : who hath also sealed us, and given the earnest
of the Spirit in our hearts." Chap. iii. 3, " Ye are manifestly
declared to be the epistle of Christ, ministered by us, written, not
with inlc, but with the Spirit of the living God ; not in tables
of stone, but in fleshly tables of the heart." Yer. 18, forecited.
Quest. 35. What is Sanctification ?
Answ. Sanctification is the work of God's free grace,
whereby we are renewed in the whole man, after the
image of God, and are enabled more and more to die
unto sin, and live unto righteousness.
EXPLICATION.
All who are effectually called, are sanctified : and the effect of
their sanctification on them is, real holiness in their own persons :
1 Thess. v. 23, 24, " And the very God of peace sanctify you
wholly : and I pray God your whole spirit, and soul, and body be
preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Faithful is he that calleth you, who also will do it." Sanctification
then is not a mere change of our state, but a change of our nature :
2 Cor. iii. 18, " But we all, with open face, beholding as in a glass
the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image, from glory
to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord." Chap. v. 17, " If any
man be in Christ, he is a new creature ; old things are passed away,
behold, all things are become new."
It is not an act done in an instant, but a work carried on by
degrees : 2 Cor. iv. 16, " Though our outward man perish, yet the
inward man is renewed day by day." And it is never perfected in
this life : 1 John i. 10, " If we say that we have not sinned, we
make him a liar, and his word is not in us." Phil. iii. 12, " Not as
though I had already attained, either were already perfect : but I
follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am
apprehended of Christ Jesus." Sanctification then doth differ from
Von. VII. G
106 OF SANCTIFICATION.
regeneration taken strictly for the beginning of the new creature :
for regeneration so taken, being the quickening of the dead soul, is
done in an instant : Eph. ii. 5, " God, even when we were dead in
sins, hath quickened us together with Christ." Compared with
John v. 25. But sanctification differeth not from, but is the same
with regenei*ation taken largely for the forming and advancing of
the new creature in all its parts : Tit. iii. 5, 6, " Not by works of
righteousness, which we have done, but according to his mercy he
saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy
Ghost : which he shed on us abundantly, through Jesus Christ our
Saviour." Compared with Eph. v. 26, " That he might sanctify
and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word." 2 Cor. v.
17, forecited.
No man without real holiness in his own person, shall ever see
the Lord, Heb. xii. 14. llowbeit, no unsanctifled person can, by
any endeavours of his, work his own sanctification, or make him-
self holy: Jer. xiii. 23, " Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the
leopard his spots ? then may ye also do good, that are accustomed
to do evil." John xv. 5, 6, " I am the vine, ye are the branches :
he that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much
fruit : for without me ye can do nothing. If a man abide not in
me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered." Tit. i. 15, 16,
" Unto them that are defiled, and unbelieving, is nothing pure ; but
even their mind and conscience is defiled. They profess that they
know God ; but in works they deny him, being abominable, and
disobedient, and unto every good work reprobate." Our sanctifica-
tion then is the work of God only, 1 Thess. v. 23, forecited.
It is a work of God's free grace: Eph. i. 4, "According as he
hath chosen us in him, before the foundation of the world, that we
should bo holy, and without blame before him in love." And it is
such a work, in that there is no personal worth in us moving him
thereto, Tit. iii. 5, forecited. Wherefore the worst and vilest- of
sinners may be sanctified: 1 Cor. vi. 11, "And such were some of
you : but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified," &c. The person of
the glorious Trinity, whose work in a peculiar manner our sanctifi-
cation is, is the Holy Spirit: 2 Thess. ii. 13, "God hath from the
beginning chosen you to salvation, through sanctification of the
Spirit, and belief of the truth." Tit. iii. 5, forecited.
They whom the Spirit sanctifies, are believers united to Christ,
justified, reconciled, and adopted into the family of God. Our
sanctification depends on our faith, in that it is by faith, as the
instrumental cause, that we are sanctified: Acts xxvi. 18, — "That
they may receive inheritance among them which are sanctified by
of ,SAN T cTincATroy. 107
faith tliat is in me." Chap .xv. 9, — "Purifying their hearts by-
faith." Our sanctification depends on our nuion with Christ, in
that it is in Christ we are sanctified, as members of his body :
1 Cor. i. 2, — " To them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus." Eph.
ii. 10, " For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto
good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk
in them." Our sanctification depends on our justification, in that
we are sanctified immediately, through tbe efficacy of the blood of
Christ sprinkled on our consciences : Heb. ix. 14, " JJow much
more shall the blood of Christ, who, through the eternal Spirit,
offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from
dead works to serve the living God ?" 1 Pet. i. 2, " Elect accord-
ing to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification
of the Spirit unto obedience, and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus
Christ." Compared with 1 John i. 7, " The blood of Jesus Christ
his Son cleanseth us from all sin." The blood of Christ sprinkled
on our consciences bath a sanctifying efficacy on us, inasmuch as
removing the curse of the law, and the guilt of sin, it breaks the
strength of sin, and the dominion of it : 1 Cor. xv. 56, " The sting
of death is sin ; and the strength of sin is the law." Compared
with Rom. vi. 14, " Sin shall not have dominion over you : for yc
are not under the law, but under grace." John xix. 34, " One of
the soldiers with a spear pierced his side, and forthwith came there
out blood and water." Compared with ITcb. x. 22, " Let us draw
near with a true heart, in full assurance of faith, having our hearts
sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure
water." Gal. iii. 13, 14, " Christ hath redeemed us from the curse
of the law, being made a curse for us : for it is written, Cursed is
every one that hangeth on a tree : that the blessing of Abraham
might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ; that we might
receive the promise of the Spirit through faith." Our sanctification
depends on our reconciliation, inasmuch as the sanctifying virtue of
the blood of Christ springs from its atoning virtue: Heb. ix. 14,
forecited. 1 Thess. v. 23, " And the very God of peace sanctify
you wholly." Rom. v. 10, 11, "For if when we were enemies, we
were reconciled to God by the death of his Son ; much more being
reconciled, we shall be saved by his life. And not only so, but we
also joy in God, through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have
now received the atonement." Compared with Matth. i. 21, " And
she shall bring forth a Son, and thou shalt call his name Jesus:
for he shall save his people from their sins." Our sanctification
depends on our adoption, in that being adopted into the family of
God, we receive the Spirit of his Son, conforming us to his image
g2
108 OF SANCTIFICATION'.
as our elder brother, and so sanctifying us : Rom. viii. 29, " For
whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be coufonned to
the image of his Son, that he might be the first-born among many
brethren." Compared with Gal. iv. 6, " And because ye are sons,
God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying,
Abba, Father." And 2 Cor. iii. 18, "But we all, with open face,
beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the
same image, from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the
Lord."
The work of sanctification is twofold ; namely, habitual sanctifi-
cation, producing in us habitual holiness ; and actual sanctification,
producing in us the acts and duties of holiness.
Habitual sanctification is the work of the Spirit, whereby we are
renewed in the whole man after the image of God. Sanctification
is not a bare amending of our life ; but it is also a renewing of our
nature : Eph. iv. 23, 24, " And be renewed in the spirit of your
mind; and that ye put on the new man, which after God is created
in righteousness and true holiness." In sanctification we are re-
newed in the whole man ; that is to say, in our whole person, soul
and body : 1 Thess. v. 23, " And the very God of peace sanctify
you wholly: and I pray God your whole spirit, and soul, aud body
be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ."
The soul is renewed, not in respect of its substance, but in respect
of its qualities of the mind, will, and affections, Eph. iv. 23, 24,
forecited. The body is renewed, in communion with the renewed
soul, whereby its members become instruments of righteousness:
1 Thess. v. 23, forecited. Compared with Rom. vi. 13, " Neither
yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin :
but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the
dead ; and your members as instruments of righteousness unto
God." The result of that renewing in the whole man, is the new
creature, or new man of grace on us : 2 Cor. v. 17, " If any man be
in Christ, he is a new creature : old things are passed away, behold,
all things are become new." Eph. ii. 10, " We are God's work-
manship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath
before ordained that we should walk in them." Chap. iv. 24, fore-
cited.
The new creature is formed after the image of God. And the
image of God restored in sanctification, consists in the new quali-
ties, of knowledge in the mind, righteousness in the will, and
holiness in the affections: Col. iii. 10, "And have put on the new
man, which is renewed in knowledge, after the image of him that
created him." Eph. iv. 24, " And that ye put on the new man,
OF SANCTIFICATION. 109
which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness."
But that restored image is expressed on us immediately, from
Jesus Christ the second Adam, who is the image of the invisible
God : Gal. iv. 19, " My little children, of whom I travail in birth
again, until Christ be formed in you." 1 Cor. xv. 49, " As we
have borne the image of the earthly, we shall also bear the image
of the heavenly." Compared with Col. i. 15, " The Son is the
image of the invisible God." Compare 1 Cor. xi. 7, " Man is the
image and glory of God ;" with Gen. i. 26, " And God said, let us
make man in our image, after our likeness." Ver. 27, " So God
created man in his own image, in the image of God created he
him."
The difference between the renewing in effectual calling, and the
renewing in sanctification, lies here, that in the former new vital
powers, in the latter new qualities and habits of grace are infused
into us : John v. 25, " Verily, verily, I say unto you, the hour is
coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son
of God : and they that hear shall live." Compared with 1 Cor. 5,
6, <; Know ye not, that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump ?
Heb. viii. 10, 11, 12, " For this is the covenant that I will make
with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord ; I will
put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts : and I
will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people. And they
shall not teach every man his neighbour, and every man his bro-
ther, saying, know the Lord : for all shall know me, from the least
to the greatest. For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness,
and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more."
These new qualities and habits of grace, are the seeds of repentance
unto life, and of all other saving graces, making an entire new
creature, or new man : 1 John iii. 9, " Whosoever is born of God,
doth not commit sin ; for his seed remaineth in him ; and he cannot
sin, because he is born of God." Acts xi. 18, " Then hath God
also to the Gentiles granted repentance unto life." 2 Cor. v. 17 ;
Eph. iv. 24, both forecited. These new qualities and habits of
grace are derived to us, from the all-fullness of grace in the man
Christ : Col. i. 19, " For it pleased the Father, that in him should
all fulness dwell." Compared with John i. 16, " And of his fulness
have all we received, and grace for grace." And they are commu-
nicated from Christ unto us, by his Spirit: John xvi. 14, 15, " The
Spirit of truth shall glorify me : for he shall receive of mine, and
shall shew it unto you. All things that the Father hath, are mine :
therefore said I, that he shall take of mine, and shall shew it unto
you." The effect of that communication is, that we are sealed with
110 OF SANCTIFICATION.
the image of Christ, receiving grace for grace in Christ, as the wax
doth point for point in the seal : Eph. i. 13, " In Christ ye also
trusted after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your
salvation: in whom also after that ye helieved, ye were sealed
with that Holy Spirit of promise." Compared with 2 Cor. iii. 18,
" But we all, with open face, beholding as in a glass the glory of
the Lord, are changed into the same image, from glory to glory,
even as by the Spirit of the Lord." And John i. 16 ; Gal. iv. 19,
forecited. And by that means our union with Christ issues in our
being one Spirit with Christ, as really as Eve was one flesh with
Adam, being formed of him : 1 Cor. vi. 17, " He that is joined unto
the Lord, is one spirit." Compared with Eph. v. 30, 31, 32, " For
we are members of the Lord's body, of his flesh, and of his bones.
For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall
be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh. This is a
great mystery : but I speak concerning Christ and the church."
Now, to be one Spirit with Christ, is to be of one and the same spi-
ritual nature with him, as his spiritual seed: Heb. ii. 11, "For
both he that sauctifieth, and they who are sanctified, are all of
one : for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren.
Compared with John iii. 6, " That which is born of the Spirit, is
spirit." And Isa. liii. 10, " When thou shalt make his soul an of-
fering for sin, he shall see his seed."
But though, in sanctification, we are renewed in the whole man, yet
we are not renewed wholly in any part: but there are remains of cor-
ruption still indwelling in every part : Rom. vii. 18, " For I know,
that in me (that is, in my flesh) dwelleth no good thing : for to will
is present with me, but how to perform that which is good I find
not." Vers. 23, 24, " I see another law in my members, warring
against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the
law of sin, which is in my members. wretched man that I am,
who shall deliver me from the body of this death !" Eph. iv. 22,
" Put off concerning the former conversation, the old man which is
corrupt according to the deceitful lusts." That is to say, there are
remains of corruption still in the mind, will, and affections, and in
the body byway of communion with the unrenewed part; 1 Cor. xiii,
9, " We know in part." Gal. v. 17, " The flesh lusteth against the
Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh : and these are contrary the
one to the other ; so that ye cannot do the things that ye would."
Horn, vii. 14, " I am carnal, sold under sin." Phil. iii. 21, " The
Lord Jesus Christ shall change our vile body, that it may be
fashioned like unto his glorious body."
What ensues on these two contrary principles of grace and cor-
OF SANCTIFICATION-. Ill
ruption, being together in every part of the renewed man, is, the
the continual combat between the flesh and the Spirit, Gal. v. 17,
forecited. The difference betwixt that combat and the struggle
against sin, sometime found in the unregenerate, lies here, that in
the former, the conflict is between the flesh and the Spirit in one and
the same part ; in the latter, it is between the flesh in one part,
lusting, and the flesh in another part fearing ; Rom. vii. 15, 16,
" That which I do, I allow not : for what I would, that do I not;
but what I hate, that do I. If then I do that which I would not, I
consent unto the law, that it is good." 2 Pet. ii. 15, " Which have
forsaken the right way, and are gone astray, following the way of
Balaam the son Bosor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness."
Compared with Num. xxii. 18, " And Balaam answered and said
unto the servants of Balak, If Balak would give me his housefull
of silver and gold, I cannot go beyond the word of the Lord my
God, to do less or more." The immediate issue of the combat be-
tween the flesh and the Spirit, is, that neither the one principle, nor
the other, carries the action to the perfection it tends unto, Gal. v.
17, forecited. And in that combat, the remaining corruption may
prevail for a time, Rom. vii. 23, forecited. But the renewed part
overcomes; Rom. vi. 14, " Sin shall not have dominion over you:
for ye are not under the law, but under grace." 1 John v. 4,
" Whosoever is born of God overcometh the world : and this is the
victory that overcometh the world, even our faith."
The state we are in, with respect to sin and righteousness, by means
of the renewing in sanctification, is, a state of death unto sin, and
of life unto righteousness.
The state of death unto sin, for the kind of it, is such a state of
death as a crucified man is in, who being nailed to the cross, shall
never come down till he breathe out his last : Rom. vi. 6, " Knowing
this, that our old man is crucified with Christ, that the body of sin
might be destroyed, that henceiorth we should not serve sin." Gal.
vi. 14, " God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our
Lord Jesus Christ by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I
unto the world." And we are, by the renewing in sanctification, put
into such a state of death unto sin, inasmuch as thereby the domi-
nion or reigning power of the whole body of sins is destroyed, and
the pollution or defilement of sin is purged away from off the whole
man, though not perfectly in any part: Rom. vi. 6, 14, forecited.
Tit. iii. 5, " Not by works of righteousness, which we have done, but
according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration,
and renewing of the Holy Ghost." Compared with John xiii. 10
"Jesus saith to him, He that is washed, needeth not, save to wash
112 OF SANCTIFIUATION.
his feet, but is clean every whit; and ye are clean but not all."
The dominion or reiguing power of sin is destroyed in us, by means
of the renewing in sanctification, in that a contrary reigning prin-
ciple of grace is thereby set in us: Rom. vi. 14, forecited. 1 John
iii. 9, " Whosoever is born of God, doth not commit sin ; for his
seed remaineth in him; and he cannot sin, because he is born of
God." The pollution or defilement of sin is purged away by the
same means, inasmuch as the restored image of God in us, makes us
really pure and clean in the sight of God, as far as it goes : Tit. iii.
5, above cited. Compared with Col. iii. 10, " And have put on the
new man, which is renewed in knowledge, after the image of him
that created him." And we are in that state of death unto sin, in
respect of our unrenewed part, Gal. vi. 14. Compared with Rom.
vi. 6, above cited.
The state of life unto righteousness, for the kind of it, is such as
a man is iu, who, being not only quickened, but risen and come forth
of the grave, is in an immediate disposition for the common actions
of life : Rom. vi. 4, " Therefore we are buried with him by baptism
into death : that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the
glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life."
Col. iii. 1, " If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which
are above, where Christ sitteth at the right hand of God." Com-
pared with Matth. xxviii. 6, " Jesus is not here : for he is risen as
he said." John xi. 44, " And he that was dead came forth, bound
hand and foot with grave-clothes : and his face was bound about
with a napkin. Jesus saith unto them, Loose him, and let him go."
And we are, by renewing in sanctification, put into such a state of
life unto righteousness, inasmuch as thereby we are endowed with
infused habits of grace, the immediate principles of gracious actions :
Deut. xxx. 6, " And the Lord thy God will circumcise thine heart,
and the heart of thy seed, to love the Lord thy God with all thine
heart, and with all thy soul, that thou mayest live." Heb. viii. 10,
" For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel
after those days, saith the Lord ; I will put my laws into their mind
and write thein in their hearts." 2 Pet. i. 4, " Whereby are given
unto us exceeding great and precious promises ; that by these you
might be partakers of the divine nature, ^having escaped the corrup-
tion that is in the world through lust." We are in that state of life
unto righteousness, in respect of our renewed part : Gal. ii. 20, " I
am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live ; yet not I, but Christ
liveth in me : and the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the
faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.
Compared with Rom. vii. 17, "Now, then it is no more I that do it,
but that sin that dwelleth in me."
OF SANCXIFICATION. 113
Actual sanctification is the work of the Spirit, whereby we are
enabled more and more to die unto sin, and live unto righteousness.
Actual holiness, proceeding from that state of death and life, consists
in more and more dying unto sin, and living unto righteousness : Gal.
v. 24, " And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh, with the
affections and lusts." Rom. vi. 4, " Therefore we are buried with him
by baptism into death : that like as Christ was raised up from the
dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in
newness of life." Ver. 6, " Knowing this, that our old man is cruci-
fied with Christ, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that hence-
forth we should not serve sin." Compared with Prov. iv. 18, " The
path of the just is as the shinning light, that shinneth more and
more unto the perfect day."
Dying unto sin more and more, lies in our mortifying sin, un-
til it die out : Rom. viii. 13, " If ye through the Spirit do mortify the
deeds of the body, ye shall live." Col. iii. 5, " Mortify therefore
your members which are upon the earth ; fornication, &c. The sins
which true mortification is aimed against, are, the whole body of the
sins of the flesh, Col. ii. 11; Gal. v. 25, forecited. We mortify
them, by refusing compliance with them, and acting the contrary
graces: Gal. v. 16, 17, "This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and
ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusteth against
the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh : and these are contrary
the one to the other; so that ye cannot do the things that ye would."
Tit. ii. 11, 12, "The grace of God that bringeth salvation, hath
appeared to all men; teaching us, that, denying ungodliness, and
worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in this
present world." They are mortified that way, because in that way
they are starved, and grace is strengthened : Rom. xiii. 14, " Put ye
on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to
fulfil the lusts thereof." Heb. v. 13, " Strong meat belongeth to
them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their
senses exercised to discern both good and evil."
Living unto righteousness more and more, lies in our practising
acts of holy obedience, or good works, until we arive at perfec-
tion therein: 1 Pet. i. 1, 2, "He that hath suffered in the flesh,
hath ceased from sin, that he no longer should live the rest of his
time in the flesh, to the lusts of men, but to the will of God."
Prov. iv. 18, forecited. Phil. iii. 12, " Not as though I had already
attained, either were already perfect : but I follow after, if that I
may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ
Jesus." Ver. 14, " I press toward the mark, for the prize of the
high calling of God in Christ Jesus." And that practice of obe-
114
OF SANCTIFICATION.
dience extends to the whole known will of God : Acts xiii. 22,
" And God said, I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after
mine own heart, which shall fulfil all my will." Col. iv. 12, " Epa-
phras, who is one of you, a servant of Christ, saluteth you, always
labouring fervently for you in prayers, that ye may stand perfect,
and complete in all the will of God." Chap. i. 10, " That ye might
walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every
good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God."
A good work, or an act of holy obedience, is, any thought, word,
or deed, agreeable to the will of God, and pleasing in his sight :
Phil. iv. 8, " Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, what-
soever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever
things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things
are of good report ; if there be any virtue, and if there be any
praise, think on these things." Heb. xiii. 21, " Now the God of
peace make you perfect in every good work, to do his will, working
in you that which is well pleasing in his sight, through Jesus
Christ." And such works are, those which are commanded in God's
word, done in faith, and directed to his glory : Matth. xv. 2, " In
vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments
of men." Rom. xiv. 23, " Whatsoever is not of faith, is sin."
Compared with Heb. \i. 6, " "Without faith it is impossible to please
God : for he that cometh to God, must believe that he is, and that
he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him." 1 Cor. x. 31,
" Whether therefore ye eat or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to
the glory of God." Wherefore, no works whatsoever of an unsanc-
tified man, are truly good, or pleasing in the sight of God : John
xv. 5, " I am the vine, ye are the branches : " He that abideth in
me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit : for without
me ye can do nothing." Tit. i. 15, " Unto them that are denied and
unbelieviug, is nothing pure ; but even their mind and conscience is
defiled." Rom. viii. 7, " The carnal mind is enmity against God :
for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be."
And that, because though the matter of them may be good, yet they
are not done in a right manner, nor to a right end : 1 Cor. xiii. 3,
" Though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give
my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me no-
thing." Matth. vi. 2, " Therefore, when thou dost thine alms, do
not sound a trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do, in the syna-
gogues, and in the streets, that they may have glory of men."
Zech. vii. 5, 6, " When ye fasted and mourned in the fifth and se-
venth month, even those seventy years, did ye at all fast unto me,
even to me ? And when ye did eat, and when ye did drink, did not
OF SANCTIFICATIOK. 115
ye eat for yourselves, and drink for yourselves ?" The good works
of sanctified persons, are none of them perfectly good, or free from
sinful mixture : Isa. Ixiv. 6, " All our righteousnesses are as filthy
rags." Gal. v. 17, " The flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the
Spirit against the flesh : and these are contrary the one to the
other ; so that ye cannot do the things that ye would." Howbeit,
they are accepted of God, for the sake of Christ, being fruits of the
branches in him : 1 Pet. ii. 5, " Ye also, as lively stones, are built
up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacri-
fices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ." Gen. iv. 4, " And the
Lord had respect unto Abel, and to his offering." Compared with
Heb. xi. 4, "By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacri-
fice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous,
God testifying of his gifts." 2 Cor. ii. 15, "For we are unto God
a sweet savour of Christ, in them that are saved, and in them that
perish." There is a difference then between the two covenants, in
the point of acceptance with God. The method of acceptance with
God in the covenant of works, is, that first the work be accepted for
its own perfection, and then the person for his work's sake: Gal.
iii. 12, " And the law is not of faith : but, The man that doth them,
shall live in them." The method of acceptance in the covenant of
grace, is, that first the person be accepted for Christ's sake, in jus-
tification, and then his work, for Christ's sake too, in point of sanc-
tification : Eph. i. 6, "He hath made us accepted in the beloved."
Heb. xi. 4, forecited. Rev. vii. 14, " And he said to me, These are
they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their
robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb." Where-
fore God's accepting the will for the deed, or any work that is not
perfect, is the peculiar privilege of those who are in the covenant of
grace, by true faith : 2 Cor. viii. 12, " If there be first a willing
mind, it is accepted according to that a man hath, and not accord-
ing to that he hath not." Compared with ver. 7, " Therefore as ye
abound in every thing, in faith, in utterance, and knowledge, and in
all diligence, and in your love to us ; see that ye abound in this
grace also." And God will accept of no work at the hand of an
unbeliever ; and that because he is under the covenant of works,
and his work is not perfect: Gal. iii. 10, " For as many as are of
the works of the law, are under the curse : for it is written, Cursed
is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in
the book of the law to do them." Compared with Rom. iii. 19,
" Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to
them who are under the law : that every mouth may be stopped,
and all the world may become guilty before God."
116 OF SANCTIFICATIOX.
Our ability for acts of mortification, and obedience, wherein we
die unto sin, and live unto righteousness, is not at all of ourselves :
John xv. 4, " Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot
bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine : no more can ye, ex-
cept ye abide in me." When we are put into a state of death unto
sin, and life unto righteousness, through the habits of grace infused
into us by the Spirit, even then we are not able, of ourselves, for
acts of mortification or obedience : 2 Cor. iii. 4, 5, " And such trust
we have through Christ to God-ward. Not " that we are sufficient
of ourselves to think any thing as of ourselves : but our sufficiency
is of God." Even of our gracious selves we can do nothing, or bring
forth no frnit of grace : John xv. 4, above cited. Ver. 5, " I am
the vine, ye are the branches : He that abideth in me, and I in him,
the same bringeth forth much fruit : for without me ye can do no-
thing." But we are enabled to the several acts of mortification and
obedience, by the Spirit : Rom. viii. 13, " If ye through the Spirit
do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live. Phil. ii. 13, " It is
God which worketh in you, both to will and to do of his good plea-
sure." The Spirit enables us to acts of mortification and obedience,
by exciting, increasing, and strengthening our inherent graces there-
to : Cant. v. 4, " My beloved put in his hand by the hole of the door,
and my bowels were moved for him." Col. i. 10, " That ye might
walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every
good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God." Eph. iii. 16,
" That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to
be strengthened with might, by his Spirit in the inner man." The
Spirit excites, increases, and strengthens our inherent graces, to acts
of mortification and obedience, by communicating new supplies of
grace to us, from Christ our head : Col. ii. 19, " And not holding
the head, from which all the body by joints and bands having
nourishment ministered, and knit together, increaseth with the in-
crease of God." 2 Cor. xii. 9, " My grace is sufficient for thee : for
my strength is made perfect in weakness." Phil. i. 19, " I know
that this shall turn to my salvation through your prayer, and the
supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ." Ver. 11, " Being filled with
the fruits of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ unto the
glory and praise of God." Compared with John xv. 4, 5, forecited.
"Wherefore every gracious act, or good work, done by us, is a fruit
of the Spirit, produced by him in us : Gal. v. 22, 23, " The fruit of
the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness,
faith, meekness, temperance." Eph. v. 9, "The fruit of the Spirit
is in all goodness, and righteousness, and truth." Gal. v. 17, " The
Spirit lusteth against the flesh." Compared with ver. 16, " "Walk
OF SANCTIFICATION. 117
in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh." Ver. 18,
" If ye be led by the Spirit ye are not under the law." And Rom.
viii. 26, "Likewise the Spirit helpeth our infirmities: for we know
not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself
raakelh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered."
And the way how we derive supplies of grace from Christ, through
the Spirit, is, by faith trusting on him, in the word of promise : Gal.
ii. 20, " I am crucified with Christ : Nevertheless I live ; yet not I
but Christ liveth in me : and the life which I now live in the flesh,
I live by the faith of the son of God, who loved me, and gave him-
self for me." Jer. xvii. 7, 8, " Blessed is the man that trusteth in
the Lord, and whose hope the Lord is. For he shall be as a tree
planted by the waters, and that spreadeth out her roots by the river,
and shall not see when heat cometh, but her leaf shall be green, and
shall not be careful in the year of drought, neither shall cease from
yielding fruit." Psalm xxviii. 7, " The Lord is my strength and
my shield, my heart trusted in him, and I am helped." 2 Pet. i. 4,
" Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises;
that by these you might be partakers of the divine nature."
The spring of all grace to us, from Christ, for our sanctification
habitual and actual, is, our communion with Christ, in his death
and resurrection, by virtue of our union with him: Col. ii. 11, 12,
" In whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made
without hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh, by
the circumcision of Christ : buried with him in baptism, wherein
also you are risen with him through the faith of the operation of
God, who hath raised him from the dead." Rom. vi. 4, 5, 6,
e: Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death : that
like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the
Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we
have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be
also in the likeness of his resurrection : knowing this, that our old
man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed,
that henceforth we should not serve sin." There is a power or vir-
tue in the death and resurrection of Christ, for sanctifying of his
members, applied to them by the Spirit : Gal. vi. 14, " God forbid
that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by
whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world." Phil,
iii. 10, " That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection,
and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto
his death." Compared with John xvi. 15, "All things that the
Father hath, are mine : therefore said I, that he [the Spirit of
truth] shall take of mine, and shall shew it unto you." That power
118 BENEFITS OF BELIEVERS IN THIS LIFE.
or virtue is a power or virtue whereby his members are made con-
formable to him in his death and resurrection, to the sanctifying of
them effectually, Phil. iii. 10, compared with Rom. vi. 5, 6, fore-
cited. We are made conformable to him in his death, dying unto
sin, as Christ died for sin, a violent death, lingering, and painful,
yet voluntary, Gal. vi. 14, above cited. Compared with chap. v. 24,
"And they that are Christ's, have crucified the flesh, with the affec-
tions and lusts." We are made conformable to him in his resurrec-
tion, rising from our sins to a new manner of life, continued during
our abode in the world, and perfected in glory; as Christ rose from
the dead, to a new manner of life, contiuued till his ascension :
Rom. vi. 4, forecited. 2 Cor. v. 17, " If any man be in Christ, he
is a new creature : old things are passed away, behold, all things
are become new." Now, in applying that power and virtue of
Christ's death and resurrection unto us, there must be a communica-
tion of habitual and actual grace from him unto us : and that
because without it we cannot be so conformed to him in his death
and resurrection : John xv. 4, 5, " Abide in me, and I in you.
As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide iu the
vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me. I am the vine, ye
are the branches : He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same
bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing."
The death and resurrection of Christ come to have such a conform-
ing virtue and power on his members, inasmuch as he died and rose
again as a public person, their Head, and merited this their confor-
mation to his image : See Rom. vi. 4, to ver. 12. Wherefore, as
there is in Adam's sin and death a virtue conforming his natural
offspring unto him therein, to their defilement; so there is in
Christ's death and resurrection a virtue conforming his members
unto him in them, to their sanctification : 1 Cor. xv. 22, "As in
Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive." Yer. 47,
48, 49, " The first man is of the earth, earthy : the second man is
the Lord from heaven. As is the earthy, such are they also that
are earthy : and as is the heavenly, such are they also that are hea-
venly. And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall
also bear the image of the heavenly." Gal. ii. 20, forecited.
Qrr.sT. 36. What are the benefits which in this life do accompany or
fioiu from justification, adoption, and sanctification ?
Answ. The benefits which in this life do accompany
or flow from justification, adoption, and sanctification,
are, Assurance of God's love, peace of conscience, joy
BENEFITS OF BFLIEVEUS IN THIS LIFE. 119
in the Holy Ghost, increase of grace, and perseverance
therein to the end.
EXPLICATION.
These benefits accompany or flow from justification, adoption, and
sanctification, with this difference, That some of them may proceed
on the mere reality of grace, others of them require also the evi-
dence of grace.
Those of them that require the evidence of grace, are, assurance
of God's love, peace of conscience, and joy in the Holy Ghost.
The " assurance of God's love" that accompanies or flows from
justification, adoption, and sanctification, is, That whereby a true
believer is certainly assured of God's love of complacency in him,
and that he is in the state of grace, and shall persevere therein :
Rom. v. 1, 2, " Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace
with God, through our Lord Jesus Christ. By whom also we have
access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope
of the glory of God." Ver. 5, " And hope maketh not ashamed,
because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts, by the Holy
Ghost which is given unto us." 1 John iii. 14, " "We know that we
have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren."
Chap. v. 13, " These things have I written unto you that believe on
the name of the Son of God ; that ye may know that ye have
eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of
God." A believer may attain unto this assurance, in the use of or-
dinary means, without extraordinary revelation : 2 Pet. i. 10,
" Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your cal-
ling and election sure." Heb. vi. 11, "And we desire that every
one of you do shew the same diligence, to the full assurance of hope
unto the end." And the special means for that end, are close walk-
ing with God, self-examination, and the right use of the holy sacra-
ments : John xiv. 21, " He that hath my commandments, and keep-
eth them, he it is that loveth me, shall be loved of my Father, and
I will love him, and will manifest myself to him." 2 Cor. xiii. 5,
" Examine yourselves whether ye be in the faith ; prove your own
selves : know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ
is in you, except ye be reprobates?" Rom. iv. 11, "And he
[Abraham] received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righte-
ousness of the faith which he had yet being uncircumcised." Com-
pared with Acts viii. 39, " And when they were come up out of
the water, the Spirit of the Lord caught away Philip, that the
eunuch saw him no more : and he went on his way rejoicing." And
1 Cor. x. 16, " The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the com-
120 OF ASSURANCE.
munioii of the blood of Christ ? The bread which we break, is it
not the communion of the body of Christ ?" The grounds from
whence a believer may raise this assurance, are, the infallible truth
of the word of grace to him in the scriptures, and the evidence of
grace in his own heart: 1 John v. 13; chap. iii. 14, forecited. Yer.
18, 19, " My little children, let us not love in word, neither in
tongue, but in deed, and in truth. And hereby we know that we
are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before him." And a
believer is enabled to discern these grounds of assurance, so as to
be assured upon them, by the Spirit's shining in his heart, on the
word of grace, and in the work of grace there : Luke xxiv. 45,
" Then opened he their understanding, that they might understand
the scriptures." 1 Cor. ii. 12, " Now we have received, not the
spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is of God ; that we might
know the things that are freely given to us of God." For so the
Spirit attests, and he sees the one to be the Spirit's own in-
fallible word to him, and the other his gracious work in him ;
Rom. viii. 16, " The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit,
that we are the children of God." Compared witli John ii. 22,
"When therefore he was risen from the dead, his disciples remem-
bered that he had said this unto them : and they believed the scrip-
ture and the word which Jesus had said." 1 Cor. ii. 12, above cited
True assurance distinguishes itself from presumption, by its humbl-
ing the soul, making the conscience tender, and the heart heavenly :
Gal. ii. 20, "I am crucified with Christ: Nevertheless I live; yet
not I, but Christ liveth in me : and the life which I now live in the
flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave
himself for me." Cant. ii. 7, " I charge you, ye daughters of
Jerusalem, by the roes, and by the hinds of the field, that ye stir not
up nor awake my love, till he please." Gal. vi. 14, " God forbid
that I should glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by
whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world." And
it is a necessary duty to seek true assurance : 2 Pet. i. 10, " Where-
fore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling
and election sure." The excellency of it in the Christian life,
is, that it fits men to live most usefully for God, and most
comfortably for themselves : Psalm, cxix. 82, " I will run the
way of thy commandments, when thou shalt enlarge my heart."
And iv. 6, 7, " There may be many that say, Who will shew us any
good ? Lord, lift thou up the light of thy countenance upon us.
Thou hast put gladness in my heart, more than in the time that
their corn and their wine increased." But there may be true faith,
justification, adoption, and sanctification, without this assurance ;
OF ASSURANCE. 121
1 John v. 13, " These things have I written unto you that believe
on the name of the Son of God, that ye may know that ye have
eternal life, land that ye may believe on the name of the Son of
God." Isa. 1. 10, " Who is among you that feareth the Lord, that
obeyeth the voice of his servant, that walketh in darkness, and hath
no light ? let him trust in the name of the Lord, and stay upon his
God."
Howbeit, there is some assurance in justifying faith itself:
1 Thess. i. 5, " Our gospel came not unto you in word only, but also
in power, and in the Holy Ghost, and in much assurance." Heb. x.
22, " Let us draw near with a true heart, in full assurance of faith,
having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies
washed with pure water." Jer. iii. 19, " But I said, How shall I
put thee among the children, and give thee a pleasant land, a goodly
heritage of the hosts of nations ? And I said, Thou shalt call
me, My father, and shalt not turn away from me." Hos. ii. 23,
" And I will say to them which were not my people, Thou art my
people; and they shall say, Thou art my God." Rom. iv. 20 — 24,
" Abraham staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief :
but was strong in faith, giving glory to God : and being fully per-
suaded, that what he had promised, he was able also to perform.
And therefore it was imputed to him for righteousness. Now it
was not written for his sake alone, that it was imputed to him: but
for us also, to whom it shall be imputed, if we believe on him that
raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead." The assurance which is
in justifying faith itself, is that whereby, in believing on Christ for
salvation, the party is persuaded, in greater or lesser measure, of
God's love of good-will to him, and that Christ will save him from
sin and wrath : 1 John iv. 14, " And we have seen, and do testify,
that the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world." Ver.
16, " And we have known and believed the love that God hath to
us." Chap. v. 10, 11, " He that believeth on the Son of God, hath
the witness in himself : he that believeth not God, hath made him
a liar, because he believeth not the record that God gave of his
Son. And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life :
and this life is in his Son." John iii. 16, 17, "God so loved the
world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth
in him, should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent
not his Son into the world to condemn the world : but that the
world through him might be saved." Compared with 1 Thess. i. 5,
" Our gospel came not unto you in world only, but also in power,
and in the Holy Ghost, and in much assurance." Acts xv. 11, " We
believe, that, through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, we shall
Vol. VII. h
122 OF PEACE OP CONSCIENCE.
be saved even as they." James i. 6, 7, " But let him ask in faith,
nothing wavering : for he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea,
driven with the wind and tossed. For let not that man think that
he shall receive any thing of the Lord." The ground from whence
this assurance is raised, is, the word of the gospel allenarly, demon-
strated by the Spirit in the work of saving illumination : 1 Cor. ii.
4, 5, " And my speech, and my preaching was not with enticing
words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit, and of
power : that your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but
in the power of God. There may be doubting of God's good-will
and of salvation, where this assurance of them hath place : Matth.
xiv. 31, " And immediately Jesus said unto Peter, thou of little
faith, wherefore didst thou doubt ?" And that may be, inasmuch
as they are contraries capable of various degrees, the one weakened
as the other gathers strength : Mark ix. 24, " And straightway the
father of the child cried out, and said with tears, Lord, I believe ;
help thou mine unbelief." 1 Thess. i. 5 ; Matth. xiv. 31, above cited.
But where doubts are reigning, to the barring of any assurance of
these things at all, true faith is barred too, James i. 6, 7; Is. 1. 10;
1 John v. 10, 11, forecited.
True peace of conscience is the calm that ensues in the conscience
purged from guilt by the blood of Christ : Isa. xxxiii. ult. " And the
inhabitant shall not say, I am sick : the people that dwell therein,
shall be forgiven their iniquity." Heb. x. 2, " The worshippers
once purged, should have had no more conscience of sins." Chap. ix.
14, " How much more shall the blood of Christ, who, through the
eternal Spirit, offered himself without spot to God, purge your con-
science from dead works to serve the living God ?" The ground of
true peace of conscience, is peace with God : Rom. v. 1, " Therefore
being justified by faith, we have peace with God, through our Lord
Jesus Christ." Compared with Col. iii. 15, " Let the peace of God
rule in your hearts." It is discerned from false peace, in that it is
strengthened by the light of the word, and not maintained without
warring against sin : John iii. 20, 21, "Every one that doth evil, hateth
the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be re-
proved. But he that doth truth, cometh to the light, that his deeds
may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God." Psalm cxix.
165, " Great peace have they which love thy law : and nothing shall
offend them." Compared with Gal. v. 17, " The flesh lusteth against
the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh : and these are contrary
the one to the other ; so that ye cannot do the things that ye would."
By joy in the Holy Ghost is meant, spiritual joy, whereof the
Holy Ghost is the author: Rom. xiv. 17, "The kingdom of God is
OF JOY IX TIIE HOLT GHOST. 123
not meat and drink, bat righteousness, and peace, and joy in the
Holy Ghost." Compared with Gal. v. 22, " The fruit of the Spirit
is joy." Psalm xlv. 7, " God, thy God, hath anointed thee with
the oil of gladness above thy fellows." Compared with John iii. 34,
" God giveth not the Spirit by measure unto him." The spring of
joy in the Holy Ghost is, sense of grace received, and hope of glory :
Is. lxi. 10, " I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, my soul shall be
joyful in my God; for he hath clothed me with the garments of sal-
vation, he hath covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a
bridegroom decketh himself with ornaments, and as a bride adorn-
eth herself with her jewels." Rom. v. 2, " We rejoice in hope of
the glory of God." It is discerned from the delusive joy of hypo-
crites, in that victory over sin, felt and hoped for, is a chief spring
of it, spirituality and vigour in duties of obedience are the effects of
it : 1 Pet. i. 8, 9, " Whom having not seen, ye love ; in whom
though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy
unspeakable, and full of glory : receiving the end of your faith,
even the salvation of your souls." 1 Cor. xv. 55, 56, 57, "0 death,
where is thy sting ? grave, where is thy victory ? The sting of
death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to
God, which giveth us the victory, through our Lord Jesus Christ."
Compared with Rev. v. 9, 10, " And they sung a new song, saying,
Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof :
for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood, out
of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation; and hast
made us unto our God kings and priests : and we shall reign on the
earth." Phil. iii. 3, " We are the circumcision, which worship God
in the spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in
the flesh." Neh. viii. 10, " The joy of the Lord is your strength."
Compared with Psalm cxix. 32, " I will run the way of thy com-
mandments, when thou shalt enlarge my heart."
None can have true peace of conscience, nor joy in the Holy
Ghost, but true believers : lsa. lvii. ult. " There is no peace, saith
my God, to the wicked." And when they have attained them, they
may lose them again : Psalm li. 8, " Make me to hear joy and glad-
ness: that the bones which thou hast broken, may rejoice." But
the seed of them, from whence they may be revived, cannot be lost,
but abides with believers in all cases: Psalmxcvii.il, " Light is
sown for the righteous, and gladness for the upright in heart."
Compared with 1 John iii. 9, " Whosoever is born of God, doth not
commit sin ; for his seed remaineth in him : and he cannot sin,
because he is born of God." The abiding seed of peace of con-
science in believers, is, their state of peace with God : Jer. xxxii.
h2
124 OF INCREASE OF GRACE.
40, " And I will make an everlasting covenant with them, that I
will not turn away from them, to do them good ; but I will put my
fear in their hearts, that they shall not depart from me." The
abiding seed of joy in the Holy Ghost in them, is, their saving inte-
rest in the fulness of Christ: 1 John i. 3, 4, " That which we have
seen and heard, declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellow-
ship with us : and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with
his Son Jesus Christ. And these things write we unto you, that
your joy may be full." And out of these they may recover their
lost peace of conscience, and joy in the Holy Ghost, by the renewed
actings of faith and repentance : Rom. xv. 13, " Now the God of
hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may
abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost." Matth. v.
4, " Blessed are they that mourn : for they shall be comforted."
Compared with Psalm cxxvi. 5, " They that sow in tears, shall reap
in joy." And they may maintain and preserve them, by a holy
tender walk, and the daily exercise of faith and repentance : Acts
xxiv. 16, "And herein do I exercise myself, to have always a con-
science void of offence toward God, aud toward men." Compared
with 2 Cor. i. 12, " For our rejoicing is this, the testimony of our
conscience, that in simplicity and godly sincerity, not with fleshly
wisdom, but by the grace of God, we have had our conversation in
the world, and more abundantly to you-wards." John xiii. 10,
" Jesus saith to Peter, He that is washed, needeth not, save to wash
his feet, but is clean every whit." Psalm xix. 12, " "Who can
understand his errors? cleanse thou me from secret faults."
The benefits flowing from justification, adoption, and sanctifica-
tion, which may proceed on the mere reality of grace, without the
evidence of it, are, increase of grace, and perseverance therein to
the end.
It is of the nature of grace, as of a seed, or the morning light, to
increase or grow, till it come to perfection : 1 John iii. 9, " Who-
soever is born of God, doth not commit sin ; for his seed remaineth
in him : and he cannot sin, because he is born of God." Compared
with Mark iv. 26, 27, " And Jesus said, So is the kingdom of God,
as if a man should cast seed into the ground, and should sleep, and
rise night and day, and the seed should spring and grow up he
knoweth not how." Prov. iv. 18, " The path of the just is as the
shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day."
John iv. 14, " The water that I shall give him, shall be in him a
well of water springing up into everlasting life." Eph. iv. 13,
" Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge
of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the
OF INCREASE OP GRACE. 125
stature of the fulness of Christ." And it doth grow accordingly,
Prov. iv. 18, above cited. Nevertheless, it doth not therefore grow
at all times, but is liable to decays : Rev. ii. 4, " I have somewhat
against thee, because thou hast left thy first love." The actual in-
crease or growth of it depends on supplies of grace from Christ the
head, communicated to us by the Spirit : Hos. xiv. 5, " I will be as
the dew unto Israel : he shall grow as the lily, and cast forth his
roots as Lebanon." Compared with Isa. xliv. 3, 4, " I will pour
water upon him that is thirsty, and floods upon the dry ground : I
will pour my spirit upon thy seed, and my blessing upon thine off-
spring : and they shall spring up as among the grass, as willows by
the water-courses." John xv. 5, " I am the vine, ye are the
branches : He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth
forth much fruit : for without me ye can do nothing." Howbeit, it
is our duty to grow in grace : 2 Pet. iii. 18, " Grow in grace, and
in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ." A Chris-
tian shall grow in grace, by exercising it, and using the means of it,
diligently : Matth. xxv. 29, Unto every one that hath shall be
given, and he shall have abundance : but from him that hath not,
shall be taken away even that which he hath." Psalm xcii. 13,
" Those that be planted in the house of the Lord, shall flourish
in the courts of our God." The graces, the exercise whereof doth
especially influence the growth of all the rest, as well as their own,
are, first, faith, and then love : Gal. ii. 20, " I am crucified with
Christ : Nevertheless I live ; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me :
and the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the
Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me." 2 Cor. v. 14,
15, " For the love of Christ constraineth us, because we thus judge,
that if one died for all, then were all dead : and that he died for
all, that they which live, should not henceforth live unto them-
selves, but unto him which died for them, and rose again." 1 Tim.
i. 5, " Now the end of the commandment is charity, out of a pure
heart, and of a good conscience, and of faith unfeigned." True
spiritual growth is discerned from false growth, in that it is propor-
tionable in all the parts of the new creature, and rests at no pitch
attained till it come to perfection : Eph, iv. 15, " But speaking the
truth in love, may grow up unto him in all things, which is the
head, even Christ." Philip, iii. 13, 14, " Brethren, I count not
myself to have apprehended : but this one thing I do, forgetting
those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things
which are before, I press toward the mark, for the prize of the high
calling of God in Christ Jesus."
By perseverance in grace to the end, is meant, a constant continu-
126 0E PERSEVERANCE.
ance in grace, all along till death : Col. i. 23, " If ye continue in
the faith grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the
hope of the gospel, which ye have heard, and which was preached
to every creature which is under heaven." Matth. x. 22, " He that
endureth to the end, shall be saved." All who are once endowed
with true grace, shall infallibly persevere in it to the end, notwith-
standing of Satan's temptations, the world's snares, and their own
corruptions : John x. 28, 29, " And I give unto them eternal life,
and they shall never perish, neither shall any pluck them out of my
hand. My Father which gave them me, is greater than all : and
none is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand." 1 Pet. i. 5,
" Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation."
1 John ii. 19, " They we^rt out from ns, but they were not of us :
for if they had be^ii of us, they would no doubt have continued
with us : but 'diey went out, that they might be made mani-
fest, that J^ey were not all of us." Chap. iii. 9, " Whosoever is
born o£ God, doth not commit sin ; for his seed remaineth in him :
and he cannot siu, because he is born of God." They may lose the
evidence, and much of the measure and exercise of their grace : Isa.
1. 10, " Who is among you that feareth the Lord, that obeyeth the
the voice of his servant, that walketh in darkness, and hath no
light? let him trust in the name of the Lord, and stay upon his
God." Rev. ii. 4, 5, " I have somewhat against thee, because thou
hast left thy first love. Remember therefore from whence thou art
fallen, and repent, and do the first works." Cant. v. 2, 3, " I sleep,
but my heart waketh : it is the voice of my beloved that knocketh,
saying, open to ine, my sister, my love, my dove, my undefiled : for
my head is filled with dew, and my locks with the drops of the
night. I have put off my coat, how shall I put it on ? I have
washed my feet, how shall I defile them ?" But they can never fall
away from grace finally, so as never to recover it : 1 Pet. i. 5, fore-
cited. John vi. 39, " And this is the Father's will which hath sent
me, that of all which he hath given me, I should lose nothing, but
should raise it up again at the last day." Chap. viii. 35, " The
servant abideth not in the house for ever ; but the Son abideth
ever." Nor can they fall away from it totally, so as to lose it alto-
gether for shorter or longer time, 1 John iii. 9, above cited.
Jer. xxxii. 40, " And I will make an everlasting covenant with
them, that I will not turn away from them, to do them good :
but I will put my fear in their hearts, that they shall not depart
from me." Those then who fall away totally and finally, from the
faith or holiness of the gospel they sometimes seemed to have, are
such as never had true grace, 1 Johu ii. 19, forecited. This perse-
OF BENEFITS AT DEATH. 127
verance of the saints doth not arise from the nature of grace itself
implanted in them ; for of itself it would wither away and die out
if it were not fed : Isa. xxvii. 3, " I the Lord do keep it, I will wa-
ter it every moment; lest any hurt it, I will keep it night and day."
John xv. 5, 6, " I am the vine, ye are the branches : he that abideth
in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit : for with-
out me ye can do nothing. If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth
as a branch, and is withered." But it ariseth from their insepar-
able union with Christ, the perpetual indwelling of his Spirit in
them, the continual intercession of Christ for them, and the nature
of the covenant of grace, aud decree of election : 1 Cor. i. 8, 9,
" Who shall also confirm you unto the end, that ye may be blameless
in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful, by whom ye
were called unto the fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord."
Compared with John xiv. 19, " Because I live ye shall live also."
And ver. 16, " I will pray the Father, and he shall give you ano-
ther Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever." Compared
with chap. xvi. 15, " All things that the Father hath, are mine :
therefore said I, that he shall take of mine, and shall shew it unto
you." Heb. vii. 25, " Wherefore he is able to save them to the
uttermost, that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to
make intercession for them." Compared with Luke xxii. 32, " I
have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not." Jer. xxxii. 40,
forecited. 2 Tim. ii. 19, " The foundation of God standeth sure,
having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are his." The ground
in law on which this privilege of perseverance is thus secured to
them, is that Christ the second Adam hath perfectly fulfilled the
condition of the covenant : Gal. iii. 12, " And the law is not of
faith : but the man that doth them, shall live in them." Compared
with Heb. x. 38, 39, " Now the just shall live by faith : but if any
man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him. But we are
not of them who draw back unto perdition : but of them that beli-
eve, to the saving of the soul." And Rom. x. 4, " For Christ is the
end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth."
Quest. 37, What benefits do believers receive from Christ at death ?
Answ. The souls of believers are at their death, made
perfect in holiness, and do immediately pass into glory ;
and their bodies being still united to Christ, do rest in
their graves till the resurrection.
128
OF BENEFITS AT DEATIi.
EXPLICATION.
Death came into the world by sin : Rom. y. 12, " "Wherefore as by
one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin : and so death
passed upon all men, for that all have sinned." They who, being
out of Christ, die in their sins, die in virtue of the curse of the bro-
ken law or covenant of works : Gen. ii. 17, " But of the tree of the
knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it : for in the day
that thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die." Compared with
Eom. iii. 19, " Now we know that what things soever the law saith,
it saith to them who are under the law : that every mouth may be
stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God." Chap.
vi. 23, " The wages of sin is death." Compared with 1 Cor. xv. 56,
" The sting of death is sin ; and the strength of sin is the law."
And the state their souls are in, from death until the resurrection,
is, that being cast into hell, they remain there in torments and ut-
ter darkness: Luke xvi. 23, 24, "And in hell he [the rich man]
lifted up his eyes being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and
Lazarus in his bosom. And he cried, and said, Father Abraham,
have mercy on me, and send Lazarus that he may dip the tip of his
finger in water, and cool my tongue ; for I am tormented in this
flame." Jude 6, 7, " And the angels which kept not their first
estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting
chains under darkness, unto the judgment of the great day. Even
as Soddora and Gomorrah, and the cities about them, in like manner
giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh,
are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire."
The state their bodies are in, in the grave, is, that they are kept
there as in their prison, Jude 6, 7, forecited.
They that are effectually called into union and communion with
Christ, do not die in virtue of the curse of the broken law, or cove-
nant of works ; Rom. vii. 4, " Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are
become dead to the law by the body of Christ ; that ye should be
married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that
we should bring forth fruit unto God." Gal. iii. 13, " Christ hath
redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us."
Compared with Rev. xiv. 13, "And I heard a voice from heaven,
saying unto me, "Write, Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord
from henceforth : Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from
their labours : and their works do follow them." And John viii.
51, " Verily, verily, I say unto you, If a man keep my saying, he
shall never see death." But they die in conformity to Christ their
head, that as death came in by sin, sin may go out by death.
Rom. viii. 29, " For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate
OF BENEFITS AT DEATH. 129
to' be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the first-
born among many brethren." Compared with Col. i. 18, " And he
is the head of the body, the church : who is the beginning, the first-
born from the dead ; that in all things he might have the pre-
eminence." And 1 Cor. xv. 20, " Now is Christ risen from the
dead, and become the first-fruits of them that slept ;" ver. 23, "But
every man in his own order : Christ the first fruits, afterward they
that are Christ's, at his coming." Rom. viii. 10, " And if Christ be
in you, the body is dead, because of sin ; but the Spirit is life, be-
cause of righteousness." Death then doth not stop the course of
their partaking of the benefits of Christ's purchase, but opens it
further.
Both the souls and bodies of believers, or them that are ef-
fectually called, justified, adopted, and sanctified in their life, do
receive or partake of more benefits of Christ's purchase, at their
death.
The benefits of Christ's purchase that their souls receive at death,
are, that then " they are made perfect in holiness, and do imme-
diately pass into glory." Heb. xii. 23, " Ye are come to the spirits
of just men made perfect." Luke xxiii. 43, " And Jesus said unto
him, Verily I say unto thee, To-day shalt thou be with me in
paradise."
The begun work of saDctification in the souls of believers is per-
fected at death ; so that their souls are, upon their separation from
the body, made perfect in holiness, Heb. xii. 23, above cited.
Sanctification perfected in the souls of believers at death, is the
work of God's free grace, whereby they are wholly renewed in
every part, after the image of God, to the utter abolishing of the
remains of sin in them, and are enabled eternally to live unto
righteousness in perfection ; Rev. vii. 14, 15, " And he said to me,
These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have
washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.
Therefore are they before the throne of God, and serve him day and
night in his temple : and he that sitteth on the throne shall
dwell among them." 2 Cor. iv. 16, "Though our outward man
perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day." Compared with
Heb. xii. 23, forecited. And Rev. vii. 15, above cited; compared
with 1 Cor. xiii. 8, 9, 10, " Charity never faileth : but whether
there be prophecies, they shall fail ; whether there be tongues, they
shall cease ; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away.
For we know in part, and we prophesy in part. But when that
which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done
away." It is the same Spirit of Christ, who begins and carries on
\
130 OF BENEFITS AT DEATH.
their sanctification in life, that perfects their sanctification at death ;
Philip, i. 6, " Being confident of this very thing, that he which
hath begun a good work in yon, will perform it until the day of
Jesus Christ." Psalm cxxxviii. ult., " The Lord will perfect that
which concerneth me." The Spirit wholly renews the souls of be-
lievers in every part, after the image of God, to the utter abolishing
of the remains of sin in them, by communicating to them from Christ
their head, a fulness of grace for grace in Christ, to the perfecting
of his image on them ; Eph. iv. 13, " Till we all come in the unity of
the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect
man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ."
1 Cor. xv. 49, " As we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall
also bear the image of the heavenly." Chap. xiii. 10, " When that
which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done
away." The Spirit enables them eternally to live unto righteous-
ness in perfection, eternally communicating to them, from Christ
their head, supplies of grace in full measure. Rev. vii. ult., " The
Lamb which is in the midst of the throne, shall feed them, and shall
lead them unto living fountains of waters." Compared with John
xvi. 14, " He [the Spirit of truth] shall glorify me : for he shall re-
ceive of mine, and shall shew it unto you." 1 Cor. xiii. 10, above
cited. It appears, that there shall be such an eternal communica-
tions of supplies of grace, from Christ, to the saints, by the Spirit,
in that they continue for ever members of Christ ; and members can-
not act but by continued communication of influences from their
head ; John xiv. 16, 17, " And I will pray the Father, and he shall
give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever ;
even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it
seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him, for he dwell-
eth with you, and shall be in you." Chap. xv. 4, 5, " Abide in me,
and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it
abide in the vine ; no more can ye, except ye abide in me. I am the
vine ye are the branches : He that abideth in me, and I in him, the
same bringeth forth much fruit : for without me ye can do nothing."
The glory that the souls of believers pass into at death, is, a glo-
rious state, a glorious place, and a glorious society. The glorious
state they pass into, is, a state of shining in the perfect purity of
the divine image : 2 Cor. iii. 18, " But we all with open face,
beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the
same image, from glory to glory, even a3 by the Spirit of the Lord."
Compared with Heb. xii. 23, " Ye are come to the spirits of just
men made perfect." The glorious place they pass into, is, the high-
est heavens : Phil. i. 23, " I am in a strait betwixt two, having
OF BENEFITS AT DEATH. 131
a desire to depart, and to be with Christ, which is far better."
Compared with Eph. iv. 10, " He that descended, is the same also
that ascended up far above all heavens, that he might fill all
things." And they are carried into it by angels : Luke xvi. 22,
"And it came to pass that the beggar died, and was carried by the
angels into Abraham's bosom." The glory of that place they are
carried into, is, the glory of God and of the man Christ, shining in
it : Rev. xxi. 23, " And the city had no need of the sun, neither of
the moon to shine in it : for the glory of God did lighten it, and
the Lamb is the light thereof." But they are made perfect in holi-
ness, before they enter there, not after they are entered : Rev. xxi.
27, " And there shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defil-
eth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie : but
they which are written in the Lamb's book of life." The glorious
society they pass into, is, the society of God and Christ there, and
of the holy angels, and glorified saints : 2 Cor. v. 8, " We are con-
fident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to
be present with the Lord." Heb. xii. 22, 23, 24, " Ye are come
unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly
Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels, to the gene-
ral assembly and church of the first-born which are written in hea-
ven, and to God the judge of all, and to the spirits of just men
made perfect, and to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and
to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of
Abel." And this their passing into glory, is immediately after
death, Luke xvi. 22; chap, xxiii. 43, forecited. There is no middle
state then, between believers their dying in Christ, and their pass-
ing into glory, 2 Cor. v. 8; Phil. i. 23, forecited. Rev. xiv. 13,
" And I heard a voice from heaven, saying unto me, Write, Blessed
are the dead which die in the Lord, from henceforth : Tea, saith
the Spirit, that they may rest from their labours; and their works
do follow them."
The benefit of Christ's purchase that the bodies of believers
receive at death, is, that being still united to Christ, they rest in
their graves till the resurrection. The grave is a place of rest to
the bodies of believers : and they rest in their graves, otherwise
than the wicked do in theirs, in that they rest in them, as in their
beds perfumed by Christ's lying in the grave : Isa. lvii. 2, " He
shall enttr into peace : they shall rest in their beds, each one walk-
ing in his uprightness." Compared with Rev. i. 17, 18, " And
when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead : and he laid his right
hand upon me, saying unto me, Fear net; I am the first and the
last: I am he that liveth, and was dead; and behold, I am alive for
132 OF BENEFITS AT DEATH.
evermore. Amen ; and have the keys of hell and of death." That
the grave is such a resting place to the bodies of believers, while it
is a prison to others, is from their being still united to Christ : Isa.
lvii. 2, above cited. Compared with 1 Thess. iv. 14, " If we believe
that Jesus died, and rose again, even so them also which sleep in
Jesus, will God bring with him." The dissolving of their bodies
into smallest dust scattered here and there, doth not dissolve the
union between Christ and their bodies in that case, 1 Thess. iv. 14,
above cited : and that because the bond of their union with him, is
his infinite Spirit everywhere present: Rom. viii. 11, " If the Spirit
of him that raised up Jesus from the dead, dwell in you; he
that raised up Christ from the dead, shall also quicken your
mortal bodies, by his Spirit that dwelleth in you. Compared with
Psalm cxxxix. 7, " Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither
shall I flee from thy presence ?" And they are to rest so in their
graves, till the resurrection : Job xix. 26, 27, " And though after
my skin, worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God :
whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not
another ; though my reins be consumed within me."
The dead will rise again : Acts xxiv. 16, " There shall be a re-
surrection of the dead, both of the just and unjust." John v. 28,
29, " The hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves
shall hear his voice, and shall come forth, they that have done good,
unto the resurrection of life ; and they that have done evil, unto the
resurrection of damnation." And the resurrection of the dead will
be at the last day, when Christ comes again to judgment : 1 Thess.
iv. 15, 16, " For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that
we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord, shall
not prevent them which are asleep. For the Lord himself shall de-
scend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel,
aud with the trump of God : and the dead in Christ shall rise first."
Some will be then found alive, as at this day : 1 Cor. xv. 51, " Be-
hold, I shew you a mystery : we shall not all sleep, but we shall all
be changed." And they shall not die and rise again ; but instead
of dying and rising again, they shall be changed, 1 Cor. xv. 51,
above cited. They that shall rise again, are, all the dead, small and
great, just and unjust, John v. 28, forecited. Rev. xx. 12, " And I
saw the dead, small and great, stand before God." Acts xxiv. 15,
forecited. The dead will be raised by the power of God : 1 Cor. vi.
14, " And God hath both raised up the Lord, and will also raise up
us by his own power." God will not make them new bodies, but
they shall rise agaiu with the self-same bodies that were laid in the
grave : 1 Cor. xv. 53, " This corruptible must put ou incorruptiou,
and this mortal must put on immortality." Job xix. 26, forecited.
OF BENEFITS AT THE RESURRECTION. 133
The possibility of such a resurrection of the dead appears, from the
omniscience and almighty power of God : Heb. iv. 13, " Neither is
there any creature that is not manifest in his sight : but all things
are Daked and open unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do."
Rev. iv. 8, " And the four beasts had each of them six wings about
him, and they were full of eyes within ; and they rest not day and
night, saying, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God almighty, which was, and
is, and is to come." The concern that the omniscience of God hath
in the resurrection of the dead, is, to discern every one's dust from
another's, and from the common dust of the earth. And that is all
the odds, between the first forming of man's body, and the forming
it anew at the resurrection : for man's body was originally dust
lying here and there on the ground : Gen. ii. 7, " And the Lord
God formed man of the dust of the ground." Chap. iii. 19, " In the
sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the
ground ; for out of it wast thou taken : for dust thou art, and unto
dust shalt thou return." The concern that the almighty power of
God hath in it, is, to bring together all the dust of the same body,
form it again into a body, and reunite the soul thereto. The cer-
tainty of such a resurrection appears, from the truth and faithful-
ness of God, who has said it : John v. 28, 29, forecited. Dan. xii. 2
" And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth, shall
awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting
contempt." The raising of the dead, and the changing of those then
alive, will be done in a moment, at the sound of the last trumpet :
1 Cor. xv. 52, " In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last
trump, (for the trumpet shall sound); and the dead shall be raised
incorruptible, and we shall be changed." Compared with 1 Thess.
iv. 16, 17, " The Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a
shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God :
and the dead in Christ shall rise first : then we which are alive and
remain, shall be caught up together with them iu the clouds to meet
the Lord iu the air : and so shall we ever be with the Lord." And
the raised and the changed bodies will differ from what they were
before, during this life, in their qualities, though not in their sub-
stance, 1 Cor. xv. 52, 53, forecited.
Quest. 38. What benefits do believers receive from Christ at the
resurrection ?
Answ. At the resurrection, believers being raised up
in glory, shall be openly acknowledged and acquitted in
the day of judgment, and made perfectly blessed in the
full enjoying of God to all eternity.
134 OF BENEFITS AT THE RESURRECTION.
EXPLICATION.
Believers, or they that are effectually called, justified, adopted,
and sanctified in their life, shall receive or partake of the whole
benefits of Christ's purchase at the resurrection : And they shall
then receive the whole, by these degrees ; to wit, some in the resur-
rection itself, more in the judgment, and the completing benefit
after judgment.
The benefit of Christ's purchase they shall receive in the resur-
rection itself, is, that they shall be raised up in glory : 1 Cor. xv.
43, " It is sown in dishonour it is raised in glory." The way how
they will be raised, is, that Christ will raise them as his own mem-
bers, by his Spirit dwelling in them, even as one awaking draws his
limbs to him : Rom. viii. 11, " If the Spirit of him that raised up
Jesus from the dead, dwell in you ; he that raised up Christ from
the dead, shall also quicken your mortal bodies, by his Spirit that
dwelleth in you." The likeness in which their bodies shall be fa-
shioned anew in the resurrection, is, the likeness of the glorious
body of the second Adam : 1 Cor. xv. 49, " As we have borne the
image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly."
Compared with Philip, iii. 21, " Jesus Christ shall change our vile
bodv, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body." They
will be raised incorruptible, glorious, strong, and spiritual bodies :
1 Cor. xv. 42, 43, 44, "It is sown in corruption, it is raised in in-
corruption : it is sown in dishonour, it is raised in glory : it is sown
in weakness, it is raised in power : it is sown a natural body, it is
raised a spiritual body."
But the wicked shall be raised in dishonour : and the way how
they will be raised, is by the power of Christ as an offended judge :
John v. 29, " And shall come forth, they that have done evil, unto
the resurrection of damnation." Matth. xxv. 33, " And the Son of
man shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left.
Immediately after the resurrection will follow the general judg-
ment : Rev. xx. 13, " And the sea gave up the dead which were in
it ; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them :
and they were judged every man according to their works.
There will be a day of general judgment ; Acts xvii. 31, " God
hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in
righteousness, by that man whom he hath ordained ; whereof he
hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from
the dead." The man Christ will be the Judge : Acts xvii. 31, above
cited; compared with Rom. xiv. 10, "We shall all stand before the
judgment-seat of Christ." And he will be seen with the bodily
eyes of all : Job. xix. 26, 27, " And though after ray skin, worms
OF BENEFITS AT THE RESURRECTION. 135
destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God ; whom I shall
for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not another ; though
my reins be consumed within me." Rev. i. 7, " Behold, he cometh
with clouds ; and every eye shall see bim, and they also which
pierced him." At his coming to judgment, the world will be going
on in their ordinary course and business of life ; Luke xvii. 26, 27,
28, 30, "And as it was in the days of Noe, so shall it be also in
the days of the son of man. They did eat, they drank, they mar-
ried wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noe
entered into the ark. Likewise also as it was in the days of Lot,
they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they
builded ; even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is
revealed." Matth. xxiv. 40, 41, " Then shall two be in the field ;
the one shall be taken, and the other left. Two women shall be
grinding at the mill ; the one shall be taken, and the other left."
The parties that shall be judged, are, Men and devils ; 2 Cor. v. 10,
" "We must all appear before the judgment-seat of Christ." Jude 6,
" And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their
own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under dark-
ness, unto the judgment of the great day." The summons will be
given to the quick and the dead, by the sound of the last trumpet,
1 Tbess. iv. 16, 17, forecited. The effect of that will be, that the
dead shall be raised, and those that are alive changed, 1 Cor. xv.
52, forecited. They will be gathered from all airths, unto the
place of the judgment, by the ministry of angels; Mark xiii. 27,
" And then shall he send his angels, and shall gather together
his elect from the four winds, from the uttermost part of the
earth to the uttermost part of heaven." Matth. xiii. 40, 41, " As
therefore the tares are gathered, and burnt in the fire; so shall
it be in the end of this world. The Son of man shall send forth
his angels, and they shall gather ont of his kingdom all things
that offend, and them which do iniquity." The righteous will
meet the Lord Christ the Judge in the air, 1 Thess. iv. 17, fore-
cited. And he will seat himself for the judgment, on a glorious
throne : Matth. xxv. 31, " When the Son of man shall come in his
glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the
throne of his glory." The parties will be placed before him ; the
righteous on his right hand, in the air ; the wicked on his left,
upon the earth : Matth. xxv. 33, " And the Son of man shall set
the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left." Com-
pared with 1 Thess. iv. 17, " We which are alive and remain, shall
be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in
the air." And Matth. xxiv. 40, " Then shall two be in the field :
136 OF BENEFITS AT THE RESURRECTION.
the one shall be taken, and the other left." What men mnst give
an account of then, is their thoughts, words and deeds done in the
body : 1 Cor. iv. 5, " Judge nothing before the time, until the Lord
come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and
will make manifest the counsels of the hearts." Matth. xii. 36, 37,
"But I say unto you, that every idle word that men shall speak,
they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment. For by thy
words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be con-
demned." Eccl. xii. 14, " God shall briDg every work into judg-
ment, with every secret thing, whether it be good or whether it
be evil. And judgment will be given on men, according to
their works, good or bad : Rev. xx. 12, " The dead were
judged out of those things which were written in the books,
according to their works." 2 Cor. v. 10, " We must all ap-
pear before the judgment-seat of Christ ; that every one may
receive the things done in the body, according to that he hath done
whether it he good or bad." Ilowbeit the good works of the right-
eous will not be considered in the judgment, as the ground of their
right to heaven ; bnt as the evidences of it : Eph. ii. 8, 9, " By grace
are ye saved, through faith ; and that not of yourselves : it is the gift
of God : not of works, lest any man should boast." Rev. xxii.
14, " Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may
have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates
into the city." Compared with Mark iv. 25, " He that hath, to him
shall be given : and he that hath not, from him shall be taken even
that which he hath." And Matth. v. 45, " That ye may be the chil-
dren of your father which is in heaven." But the ill works of the
unrighteous will be considered in it, as the just grounds of their
damnation : Gal. iii. 10, " For as many as are of the works of the
law, are under the curse : for it is written, cursed is every one that
continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the
law to do them." Compared with Matth. xxv. 41, " Then shall he
say also unto them on she left hand, depart from me ye cursed, into
everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels." Sentence
will be pronounced on the righteous first : Matth. xxv. 33, 34, " And
he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left.
Then shall the king say unto them on the right hand, come, ye bles-
sed of my father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the
foundation of the world."
The benefit of Christ's purchase they shall receive in the judg-
ment, is, that they shall be opeuly acknowledged and acquitted.
They will be acknowledged and acquitted by Jesus Christ the judge :
Matth. x. 32, " Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men,
OF BENEFITS AT THE RESURRECTION. 137
him will I confess also before my father which is in heaven."
Chap. xxv. 34, above cited. He will acknowledge them to be his
faithful servants, and the persons whose names are written in his
book of life, for whom he died : Matth. xxv. 23, " His Lord said
unto him, well done, good and faithful servant ; thou hast been
faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things:
enter thou into the joy of thy Lord." Rev. xx. 12, " And another
book was opened, which is the book of life." Compared with Chap,
iii. 5, " He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white rai-
ment ; and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, but
I will confess his name before my father, and before his angels."
And he will acquit them from the guilt of all their sins : Acts iii.
19, " Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be
blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the pre-
sence of the Lord." They are really so acknowledged and acquit-
ted by him already : John xvii. 9, 10, " I pray for them : I pray
not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me, for they
are thine. And all mine are thine, and thine are mine, and I am
glorified in them." Rom. viii. 33, 34, " "Who shall lay any thing to
the charge of God's elect ? It is God that justifieth : who is he that
condemneth ? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again,
who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession
for us." But they will be acknowledged and acquitted by him, in
that day, openly ; namely, before his father, angels and men : and
he will do it, by a sentence pronounced and published, with his own
mouth, from the throne : Rev. iii. 5, forecited. Matth. xxv. 31, 32,
" "When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy
angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory.
And before him shall be gathered all nations; and he shall separate
them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the
goats." Yer, 34, The sentence will be, " Come, ye blessed of my
Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation
of the world," Matth. xxv. 34. The ground on which they will be
openly acquitted in the day of judgment, will be the very same on
which they are acquitted now, to wit, the righteousness of Christ
upon them : Philip, iii. 9, " And be found in him, not having mine
own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through
the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith."
Rom. v. 21, " That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might
grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life, by Jesus Christ
our Lord." Chap. vi. 22, 23, " But now being made free from sin,
and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and
the end everlasting life. For the wages of sin is death : but the
Vol. VII. i
138 OF BENEFITS AT THE RESURRECTION.
gift of God is eternal life, through Jesus Christ our Lord." He
will so acknowledge and acquit them openly, to wipe off the asper-
sions now cast on them by the men of the world : Isa. lxvi. 5,
" Hear the word of the Lord, ye that tremble at his word, your bre-
thren that hated you, that cast you out for my name's sake, said,
let the Lord be glorified : but he shall appear to your joy, and they
shall be ashamed." The honour to be put upon them, immediately
after that acknowledgment and acquittance, is, that they shall join
with Christ, as assessors, in judging devils and wicked men : 1 Cor.
vi. 2, 3, " Do ye not know that the saints shall judge the world ? —
know ye not that we shall judge angels ?" Psal. xlix. 15, " The
upright shall have dominion over them in the morning." And
cxlix. 6, 7, 8, 9, " Let the high praises of God be in their mouth
and a two-edged sword in their hand ; to execute vengeance upon
the heathen, and punishments upon the people ; to bind their kings
with chains, and their nobles with fetters of iron ; to execute upon
them the judgment written : this honour have all his saints."
It will be the lot of the wicked in the judgment, to be openly dis-
owned and condemned by Jesus Christ. And that will be done, by
sentence pronounced and published with his mouth, from the throne :
Matth. vii. 23, " And then will I profess unto them, I never knew
you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity." Chap. xxv. 41.
That sentence will be, " Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting
fire, prepared for the devil and his angels," Matth. xxv. 41. The
grouuds on which they will be condemned, are, their sins and un-
godliness in their hearts, lips, and lives : Rom. ii. 16, " In the day
when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ, according
to my gospel." Jude 14, 15, " Behold, the Lord cometh, with ten
thousands of his saints, to execute judgment upon all, and to con-
vince all that are ungodly among them, of all their ungodly deeds
which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches,
which ungodly sinners have spoken against him." The evidence on
which their condemnation shall proceed, will be, clear evidence, and
full conviction of their own consciences : Rom. ii. 15, " Which shew
the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also
bearing witness, and their thoughts the mean while accusing, or else
excusing one another." Ver. 16 ; Jude 14, 15, above cited.
The particular place and time of the general judgment are not
known to men : Luke xvii. 37, " And they answered and said unto
him, Where, Lord ? And he said unto them, Wheresoever the body
is, thither will the eagles be gathered together." 1 Thess. v. 1, 2,
" But of the times and the seasons, brethren, ye have no need that I
write unto you. For yourselves know perfectly, that the day of the
OF BENEFITS AT THE RESURRECTION. 139
Lord so cometh as a thief in the night." The time of it is kept se-
cret, that men may watch, and be always ready : Matth. xxiv. 42 ,
«' "Watch therefore, for ye know not what hour your Lord doth
come." Ver. 44, " Therefore be ye also ready : for in such an hour
as ye think not, the Son of man cometh."
Immediately after the judgment, follows the full execution of the
sentences, and the end of the world by the general conflagation :
Matth. xxv. ult., " And these shall go away into everlasting punish-
ment, but the righteous into life eternal." 1 Cor. xv. 24, 25, " Then
cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to
God even the Father ; when he shall have put down all rule, and
all authority, and power. For he must reign, till he hath put all
enemies under his feet." Compared with 2 Pet. iii. 10, " The day of
the Lord will come as a thief in the night : in the which the heavens
shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with
fervent heat ; the earth also, and the works that are therein, shall
be burnt up." But God will make new heavens and a new earth :
2 Pet. iii. 13, " Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for
new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness."
The party that shall go off first from the place of the judgment, is,
the damned, the saints seeing all their enemies turn their backs,
Matth. xxv. ult. forecited. The fearful sentence will he put in exe-
cution against them, in their being cast out from the favourable pre-
sence of God, and the glorious fellowship of Christ, his saints and
angels, into hell : Rev. xx. ult. " And whosoever was not found
written in the book of life, was cast into the lake of fire." Com-
pared with Matth. xxv. 41, " Then shall he say also unto them on
the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, pre-
pared for the devil and his angels." And Luke xvi. 26, " And be-
sides all this, between us and you there is a great gulph fixed : so
that they which would pass from hence to you cannot ; neither can
they pass to us that would come from thence." And they will be
punished there with unspeakable torments both of body and soul :
2 Thess. i. 7 — 9, " The Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven,
with his mighty angels, in flaming fire, taking vengeance on them
that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus
Christ : who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the
presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power." These
their torments will never have an end : Mark ix. 43, 44, " If thy
hand offend thee, cut it off: it is better for thee to enter into life
maimed, than having two hands, to go into hell, into the fire that
never shall be quenched : where their worm dieth not, and the
fire is not quenched." Rev. xx. 10, " And the devil that de-
i2
140 OP BENEFITS AT THE RESUKRECTIOIT.
ceived them, was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the
beast and the false prophet are ; and shall be tormented day and
night for ever and ever." And in that their miserable state, for
eternity, they will have the society of the devil and his angels,
Matth. xxv. 41, forecited.
The completing benefit of Christ's purchase believers shall receive
after the judgment, is, that they shall be made perfectly blessed, in
full enjoying of God to all eternity. They will go away with
Christ, after the judgment, into heaven, the seat of the blessed :
1 Thess. iv. 17, " Then we which are alive and remain, shall be
caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the
air : and so shall we ever be with the Lord." Matth. xxv. ult.,
" The righteous shall go away into life eternal." Psal. xlv. 15,
" With gladness and rejoicing shall they be brought : they shall
enter into the king's palace." And they will be there, in a state of
perfect blessedness, or complete happiness, both in soul and body :
Matth. xiii. 43, " Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun, in
the kingdom of their Father." They will be made perfectly blessed,
or completely happy in their being for ever freed from all sin and
misery, want and imperfection, and filled to the brim with all their
souls can desire : Eph. v. 25 — 27, " Christ loved the church, and
gave himself for it ; that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the
washing of water by the word, that he might present it to himself a
glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle, or any such thing ; but
that it should be holy, and without blemish." Rev. xxi. 4, " And
God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes ; and there shall be
no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be
any more pain : for the former things are passed away." Ver. 7,
" He that overcometh, shall inherit all things ; and I will be his
God, and he shall be my son." Chap. vii. 16, 17, " They shall hun-
ger no more, neither thirst any more, neither shall the sun light on
them, nor any heat. For the Lamb which is in the midst of the
throne, shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of
waters : and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes."
"What shall make them perfectly blessed, or completely happy, is,
full enjoying of God to all eternity : Psal. xvi. ult. " In thy pre-
sence is fulness of joy, at thy right hand there are pleasures for
evermore." And xvii. ult., " As for me, I will behold thy face in
righteousness : I shall be satisfied, when I awake with thy likeness."
Rev. xxi. 7, above cited. They will enjoy God in heaven, by sight
of the divine glory, to the complete satisfying of their understand-
ing; and by experience of the divine goodness, to the complete sa-
tisfying of their will : Matth. v. 8, " Blessed are the pure in heart :
OF BENEFITS AT THE RESURRECTION". 141
for they shall see God." Compared with Psalm xvii. ult., above
cited. Rev. vii. 16, 17, forecited. The sight they will have of the
divine glory, is, a full and clear knowledge of God, as by seeing face
to face : Exod. xxxiii. 18, " And Moses said, I beseech thee, shew me
thy glory." Yer. 20, " And he said, thou canst not see my face : for
there shall no man see me, and live." Compared with Rev. xxii. 4,
" And they shall see his face." And 1 Cor. xiii. 12, " Now we see
through a glass, darkly ; but then face to face : now I know in
part; but then shall I know even as also I am known." The ex-
perience they will have of the divine goodness, is an unrestrained
partaking of the all-fulness thereof: Psalm xxxvi. 8, 9, "They
shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of thy house : and
thou shalt make them drink of the river of thy pleasures. For
with thee is the fountain of life : in thy light shall we see light."
Rev. xxi. 3, " And I heard a great voice out of heaven, saying, be-
hold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with
them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with
them, and be their God."
The creature's understanding and experience can never, in any
case, reach all the glory and goodness that is in God ; because it is
infinite : Job. xi. 7, " Canst thou by searching find out God, canst
thou find out the Almighty unto perfection?" But the glorified
saints will enjoy him fully, enjoying him to the utmost of their
enlarged capacities, Psal. xvi. ult. and xxxvi. 8, forecited. And
they will enjoy him immediately : 1 John iii. 2, " Beloved, now are
we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be :
but we know, that when he shall appear we shall be like him ; for
we shall see him as he is." Not that they will ever enjoy him,
otherwise than through the mediator Christ their Head : John xvii.
2, 3, " As thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should
give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him. And this is
life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and
Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent." Rev. vii. ult., " The Lamb
which is in the midst of the throne, shall feed them, and shall lead
them unto living fountains of waters." Chap. xxi. 23, " And the
city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon to shine in it : for
the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof."
But they will enjoy him without the intervention of outward means,
1 Cor. xiii. 12, forecited. And that their full and immediate enjoy-
ment of God will last to all eternity : 1 Thess. iv. 17, " And so
shall we ever be with the Lord." Psal. xvi. ult., forecited.
The end for which the saints shall be made completely happy, in
full enjoying of God, is God's glory : Prov. xvi. 4, " The Lord hath
142 OF BENEFITS AT THE RESURRECTION.
made all things for himself." Rom. xi. ult. "For of him, and
through him, and to him are all things : to whom be glory for ever.
Amen." And they being made perfectly blessed, or completely
happy, in full enjoying of God to all eternity, will answer that end,
in glorifying God, by loving, praising, and serving him, perfectly, to
all eternity : Psalm lxxxvi. 12, 13, " I will praise thee, Lord my
God, with all my heart : and I will glorify thy name for evermore.
For great is thy mercy toward me : and thou hast delivered my
soul from the lowest hell." Rev. vii. 9, 10, " After this I beheld,
and lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all
nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the
throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms
in their hands; and cried with a loud voice, saying, Salvation to
our God which sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb." Yer.
15, " Therefore are they before the throne of God, and serve him
day and night in his temple : and he that sitteth on the throne
shall dwell among them." Chap, xxiii. 3, "And there shall be no
more curse : but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it ;
and his servants shall serve him."
MARROW
MODERN DIYINITY
THE FIRST PART.
TOUCHING BOTH THE COVENANT OF
WORKS AND THE COVENANT OF GRACE : WITH THEIR
USE AND END, BOTH IN THE TIME OF THE OLD TESTAMENT, AND IN THE
TIME OF THE NEW. CLEARLY DESCRIBING THE WAY TO
ETERNAL LIFE BY JESDS CHRISTs
A DIALOGUE
BETWIXT
EVANGELISTA, a minister of j ANTINOMISTA, an antinomian.
THE GOSPEL. AND AND
NOMISTA, A LEGALIST. j NEOPHITUS, A YOUNG CHRISTIAN.
BY
EDWARD FISHER, M.A.
WITH NOTES,
BY
THE LATE REV. THOMAS BOSTON.
MR. CARYL'S RECOMMENDATION AND IMPRIMATUR.
I hate perused this ensuing Dialogue, and find it tending to peace
and holiness ; the author endeavouring to reconcile and heal those
unhappy differences, which have lately broken out afresh amongst
us, about the points therein handled and cleared : for which cause
I allow it to be printed, and recommend it to the reader, as a dis-
course stored with many necessary and seasonable truths, confirmed
by Scripture, and avowed by many approved writers ; all composed
in a familiar, plain, moderate style, without bitterness against, or
uncomely reflections upon, others : which flies have lately corrupted
many boxes of (otherwise precious) ointment.
Jos. Caryl.
May 1, 1645.
The marrow of the second bone is like that of the first, sweet and
good. The commandments of God are marrow to the saints, as
well as the promises ; and they shall never taste the marrow of the
promise who distaste the commandments. This little treatise break-
eth the bone, the hard part of commandments by a plain exposition,
that so all, even babes in Christ, yea, such as are yet out of Christ,
may suck out and feed upon the marrow by profitable meditation.
Jos. Caryl.
Sept. 6, 1648.
PREFACE.
"Whosoever thou art into whose hands this book shall come, I pre-
sume to put thee in mind of the divine commaad, binding on thy
conscience, Deut. i. 17, " Ye shall not respect persons in judgment,
but vou shall hear the small as well as the great." Reject not the
book with contempt, nor with indignation neither, when thou find-
est it entitled, " The Marrow of Modern Divinity," lest thou do it
to thine own hurt. Remember that our blessed Lord himself was
accounted " a friend of publicans and sinners," Matth. xi. 19,
" Many said of him, he hath a devil, and is mad ; why hear ye him?"
John x. 20, the apostle Paul was slanderously reported to be an
Antinomian ; one who, by his doctrine, encouraged men to do evil,
and, "made void the law," Rom. iii. 8, 31. And the first martyr
in the days of the gospel, was stoned for pretended " blasphemous
words against Moses, and against the law," Acts vi. 11, 13.
The gospel method of sanctification, as well as of justification,
lies so far out of the ken of natural reason, that if all the rational-
ists in the world, philosophers and divines, had consulted together
to lay down a plan, for repairing the lost image of God in man,
they had never hit upon that which the divine wisdom had pitched
upon, viz., That sinners should be sanctified in Christ Jesus, 1 Cor.
i. 2, by faith in him, Acts xxvi. 18. Nay, being laid before them,
they would have rejected it with disdain as foolishness, 1 Cor. i. 23.
In all views which fallen man has, towards the means of his
own recovery, the natural bent is to the way of the covenant of
works. This is evident in the case of the vast multitudes through-
out the world embracing Judaism, Paganism, Mahometanism, and
Popery. All these agree in this one principle, " That it is by doing
men must live," though they hugely differ as to the things to be
done for life.
The Jews, in the time of Julian the Apostate, attempted to re-
PKEFACE. 147
build their temple, after it had lain many years in ruins, by the
decree of heaven never to be built again : and ceased not, till, by
an earthquake which shook the old foundation, and turned all
down to the ground, they were forced to forbear, as Socrates the
historian tells us. But the Jews were never more addicted to
that temple, than mankind naturally is to the buildiug on the first
covenant ; and Adam's children will by no means quit it, until
mount Sinai, where they desire to work what they do work, be all
on a fire about them. that those, who have been frightened from
it, were not so ready to go back towards it !
Howbeit, that can never be the channel of sauctification, what-
soever way men prepare it, and fit it out for that purpose ; because
it is not, by divine appointment, the ministration of righteousness
and life, 2 Cor. iii.
And hence it is always to be observed, that as the doctrine of the
gospel is corrupted, to introduce a more rational sort of religion, the
flood of looseness and licentiousness swells proportionably ; inso-
much that morality brought in for doctrine, in room and stead of
the gospel of the grace of God, never fails to be, in effect, a signal
for an inundation of immorality and practice. A plain instance
hereof is to be seen in the grand apostacy from the truth and holi-
ness of the gospel, as exemplified in Popery. And on the other
hand, real and thorough reformation in churches is always the effect
of gospel light, breaking forth again, from under the cloud which
had gone over it ; and hereof the Church of Scotland, among others,
has oftener than once had comfortable experience.
The real friends of true holiness then do exceedingly mistake their
measures, in affording a handle, on any occasion whatsoever, for ad-
vancing the principles of legalism, for bringing under contempt the
good old way, in which our fathers found rest to their souls, and for
removing the ancient landmarks which they set.
It is now above fourscore years since this book made its first ap-
pearance into the world, under the title of " The Marrow of Modern
Divinity," at that time, not unfitly prefixed to it: but it is too evident,
it has outlived the fitness of that title. The truth is, the divinity
therein taught is now no longer the modern, but the ancient divinity
148 PREFACE.
as it was recovered from underneath the Antichristian darkness;
and as it stood before the tools of the late refiners on the Protes-
tant doctrine were lifted up upon it; a doctrine which, being from
God, must needs be according to godliness.
It was to contribute towards the preserving of this doctrine, and
the withstanding of its being run down, under the odious name of
Antinomianism, in the disadvantageous situation it has in this
book, whose undeserved lot it is to be everywhere spoken against,
that the following notes were written.
And herein two things chiefly have had weight. One is, lest that
doctrine, being put into such an ill name, should become the object
of the settled aversion of sober persons, and they be thereby be-
trayed into legalism. The other is, lest in these days of God's in-
dignation, so much appearing in spiritual judgments, some taking
up the principles of it, from the hand of this author and ancient
divines, for truths : should take the sense, scope, and design of
them, from (now) common fame : and so be betrayed unto real An-
tinomianism.
Reader, lay aside prejudices, look and see with thine own eyes,
call things by their own names, and do not reckon Anti-Baxterian-
ism, or Anti-Neonomianism to be Antinomianism ; and thou shalt
find no Antinomianism taught here ; but thou wilt be perhaps sur-
prised to find that that tale is told of Luther, and other famous Pro-
testant divines, under the borrowed name of the despised Mr. Fisher
author of the " Marrow of Modern Divinity."
In the notes, obsolete or ambiguous words, phrases, and things
are explained; truth cleared, confirmed, and vindicated; the anno-
tator making no scruple of declaring his dissent from the author,
where he he saw just ground for it.
I make no question but he will be thought by some to have con-
structed too favourably of several passages : but as it is nothing
strange that he incline to the charitable side, the book having been
many years ago blessed of God to his own soul : so, if he has erred on
that side, it is the safest of the two, for thee and me, judging of the
words of another man, whose intentions, I believe, with Mr. Bur-
roughs, to have been " very sincere for God, and the readers good."
PREFACE. 149
However, I am satisfied he has dealt candidly in that matter, accord-
ing to his light.
Be advised always to read over a lesser section of the book,
before reading any of the notes thereupon, that you may have the
more clear understanding of the whole.
I conclude this preface, in the words of two eminent professors
of theology, deserving our serious regard : —
" I dread mightily that a rational sort of religion is coming
in among us ; I mean by it, a religion that consists in a bare atten-
dance on outward duties and ordinances, without the power of
godliness ; and thence people shall fall into a way of serving God,
which is mere deism, having no relation to Jesus Christ and the
Spirit of God." — Memoirs of Mr. Halyburton's life, p. 199.
" I warn each one of you, and especially such as are to be directors
of the conscience, that you exercise yourselves in study, read-
ing, meditation and prayer, so as you may be able to instruct and
comfort both your own and others consciences in the time of
temptation, and to bring them back from the law to grace, from
the active (or working) righteousness, to the passive (or received)
righteousness ; in a word, from Moses to Christ." — Luth. comment.
in epist. ad Gal. p. 27.
ADVERTISEMENT.
"Whereas it has been handed about, and by some published, to
diminish the credit of the ensuing book, That the author, Edward
Fisher, was a poor illiterate barber, without any authority to vouch
it ; it is thought proper to prefix the following account of him, from
"Wood's Athence Oxoniensis, "Vol. II. page 198.
" Edward Fisher, the eldest son of a knight, became a gentleman-
commoner of Brasen-nose College, Aug. 25, 1627; took = on his
degree in arts, and soon after left that house. Afterwards, being
called home by his relations, who were then, as I have been in-
formed, much in debt; he improved that learning, which he had
obtained in the university, so much, that he became a noted person
among the learned, for his great reading in ecclesiastical history,
and in the fathers, and for his admirable skill in the Greek and
Ilebrew languages. His works are,
I. " An appeal to the conscience, as thou wilt answer it at the
great and dreadful day of Jesus Christ." Oxford, 1644. Quarto.
II. " The marrow of modern divinity." 1646. Octavo.
III. " A Christian caveat to old and new Sabbatarians." 1650.
IV. " An answer to sixteen queries, touching the rise and obser-
vation of Christmas."
RECOMMENDATIONS.
If thou wilt please to peruse this little boot, thou shalt find
great worth in it. There is a line of a gracious spirit drawn
through it, which has fastened many precious truths together, and
presented them to thy view : according to the variety of men's spi-
rits, the various ways of presenting known truths are profitable.
The grace of God has helped this author in making his work ; if
it in like manner help thee in reading, thou shalt have cause to
bless God for these truths thus brought to thee, and for the labours
of this good man, whose ends, I believe, are very sincere for God
and thy good.
Jer. Burroughs.
Occasionally lighting upon this Dialogue, under the approbation of
a learned and judicious divine ; I was thereby induced to read it,
and afterwards, on a serious consideration of the usefulness of it, to
commend it to the people in my public ministry.
Two things in it especially took with me : First, The matter, the
main substance being distinctly to discover the nature of the two
covenants, upon which all the mysteries, both of the law and gos-
pel, depend. To seethe first Adam to be primus fcederatus in the
one, and the second Adam in the other ; to distinguish rightly
betwixt the law standing alone as a covenant, and standing in sub-
ordination to the gospel as a servant; this I assure myself to be the
key which opens the hidden treasure of the gospel. As soon as
God had given Luther but a glimpse hereof, he professes that he
seemed to be brought into paradise again; and the whole face
152 KECCOMMENDATIONS.
of the Scripture to be changed to him ; and he looked npon every
truth with another eye. \
Secondly, The manner ; because it is an irenicum, and tends to an
accommodation and a right understanding. Times of reformation
have always been times of division : Satan will cast out a flood
after the woman, as knowing that more die by the disagreement of
the humours of their own bodies, than by the sword; and that,
if men be once engaged, they will contend, if not for truth, yet for
victory.
Now, if the difference be in things of lesser consequence, the best
way to quench it were silence. But if the difference be of greater
concernment than this is, the best way to decide it, is to bring in
more light; which this author has done, with much evidence of
Scripture, backed with the authority of most modern divines. So
that whoever desires to have his judgment cleared, in the main
controversy between us and the Antinomians, with a small ex-
pense, either of money or time, he may here receive ample satisfac-
tion. This I testify upon request, professing myself a friend both
to truth and peace.
W. Stbong.
This book, at first well accommodated with so valuable a testimony
as Mr. Caryl's ; besides its better approving itself to the choicer
spirits every where, by the speedy distribution of the whole impres-
sion ; it might seem a needless or superfluous thing to add any more
to the praise thereof; yet meeting with detracting language from
some few, by reason of some phrases, by them either not duly pon-
dered, or not rightly understood, it is thought meet, in this second
impression, to relieve that worthy testimony, which still stands to
it, with fresh supplies; not for any need the truth therein contained
hath thereof, but because either the prejudice or darkness of some
men's judgments doth require it : T therefore, having thoroughly
perused it, cannot but testify, that, if I have any the least judgment
liECOMMENDATIONS. 153
or relish of truth, " he that finds this book, finds a good thing," and
not unworthy of its title ; and may account the saints to have ob-
tained favour with the Lord in the ministration of it ; as that which
with great plainness and evidence of truth, comprises the chief
(if not all) the differences that have been lately engendered about
the law. It has, I must confess, not only fortified my judgment,
but also warmed my heart, in the reading of it ; as indeed incul-
cating throughout the whole dialogue, the clear and familiar no-
tion of those things by which we live, (as Ezek. xvi. speaks in
another case) ; and it appeareth to me to be written from much
experimental knowledge of Christ, and teaching of the Spirit.
Let all men, that taste the fruit of it, confess, to the glory of God,
" He is no respecter of persons ;" and endeavour to know " no man
henceforth after the flesh," nor envy the compiler thereof the
honour to be accounted, as God has made him in this point, a
healer of breaches, and a restorer of the overgrown paths of the
gospel. As for my own part, I am so satisfied in this testimony I
lend, that I reckon whatever credit is thus pawned, will be a glory
to the name that stands by, and avows this truth, so long as the
book shall endure to record it.
Joshua Sprigge.
I have, according to your desire, read over your book, and find it
full of evangelical light and life ; and I doubt not but the oftener
I read it, the more true comfort I shall find in the knowledge of
Christ thereby : the matter is pure, the method is apostolical, where-
in the works of love, in the right place, after the life of faith, be
effectually required. God hath endowed his Fisher with the net of a
trying understanding, and discerning judgment and discretion;
whereby, out of the crystaline streams of the well of life, you have
taken a mess of the sweetest and wholesomest fish that the world
can afford ; which if I could daily have enough of, I should not
care for the flesh or the works thereof.
Samuel Puettie.
Vol. VII. k
154 KECOMMENDATIONS.
This book came to my hand by a merciful and most unexpected
disposure of providence, and 1 read it with great and sweet com-
placence. It contains a great deal of the marrow of revealed and
gospel truth, selected from authors of great note, clearly en-
lightened, and of most digested experience ; and some of them were
honoured to do eminent and heroical services in their day. Thus
the Christian reader has the flower of their labours communicated
to him very briefly, yet clearly and powerfully. And the manner
of conveyance, being by way of amicable conference, is not only
fitted to afford delight to the judicious reader, but lays him also at
the advantage of trying, through grace, his own heart the more
exactly, according to what echo it gives, or how it relishes, or is
displeased with the several speeches of the communers. Here we
have the greatest depths, and most painted delusions of hell, in
opposition to the only way of salvation, discovered with marvellous
brevity and evidence, and that by the concurring suffrages of burn-
ing lights, men of the clearest experience, and honoured of Grod to
do eminent service in their day, for advancing the interests of our
Lord's kingdom and gospel.
The relucence of gospel light has beeu the choice mean blessed by
the Lord, for the effecting of great things, in the several periods of
the Church, since that light brake up in paradise, after our first sin
and fall ; and ever since, the balance has swayed, and will sway,
according to the better or worse state of matters in that important
regard. When gospel-light is clear, and attended with power,
Satan's kingdom cannot stand before it ; the prince and powers of
darkness must fall as lightning from heaven. And upon the con-
'trary, according to the recessions from thence, Christian churches
went off, by degrees, from the only foundation, even from the rock
Christ, until the man of sin, the great Atichrist, did mount the
throne. Nevertheless, while the world is wandering after the beast,
behold ! evangelical light breaks forth in the midst of papal dark-
ness, and hereupon antichrist's throne shakes, and is at the point
of falling ; yet his wounds are cured, and he recovers new strength
RECOMMENDATIONS. 155
and spirits, through a darkening of the glorious gospel, and perver-
sion thereof, by anti-evangelical errors and heresies.
That the tares of such errors are sown in the reformed churches,
and by men who profess reformed faith, is beyond debate ; and
these, who lay to heart the purity of gospel doctrine. Such dregs
of Antichristianism do yet remain, or are brought in amongst us.
Herein the words of the apostle are verified, viz. " Of your own
selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away dis-
ciples after them :" and as this renders the essays for a further
diffusion of evangelical light the more necessary and seasonable, so
there is ground to hope, that in these ways the churches of Christ
will gradually get the ascendant over their enemies, until the great
Antichrist shall fall, as a trophy before a gospel-dispensation. For
the Lord will " destroy him by the breath of his month, and with
the brightness of his coming." That this excellent and spiritual
piece may be blessed to the reader, is the prayer of their sincere
well-wisher and servant in the work of the gospel,
James Hog.
Carnock, December 3, 17J7.
The Act about the " Marrow" occasioned great thoughts of heart
among us. I have been acquainted with that book about 18 or 19
years, and many times have admired the gracious conduct of holy
Providence which brought it to my hand, having occasionally
lighted upon it in a house of the parish Avhere I was first settled.
As to any distinct uptakings of the doctrine of the gospel I have,
such as they are, I owe them to that book. — Extract of a Letter
from Mr. Boston to Mr. Hog.
I nevek read the " Marrow" with Mr. Boston's Notes, till this
present time (1755) ; and I find, by not having read it, I have sus-
tained a considerable loss. It is a most valuable book ; the doc-
trines it contains are the life of my soul, and the joy of my heart.
Might my tongue or my pen be made instrumental to recom-
mend and illustrate, to support and propagate such precious
k2
156 RECOMMENDATIONS.
truths, I should bless the day wherein I was born. Mr. Boston's
Notes on the " Marrow" are, in my opinion, some of the most,
judicious and valuable that ever were penned. — Extract of a Letter
from Mr. Hervey to Mr. William Hogg.
I have frequently perused, with great satisfaction, the " Marrow
of Modern Divinity," first and second parts ; and, as far as I can
judge, it will be found, by those that read it, very useful for illus-
trating the difference between the law and the gospel, and prevent-
ing them from splitting, either on the rock of legality on the one
hand, or that of Antinomianism on the other; and, accordingly,
recommend it (by desire) as a book filled with precious, seasonable,
and necessary truth, clearly founded upon the sacred oracles.
John Belfrage.
Falkirk, December 9, 1788.
HON. COLONEL JOHN DOWNES,
One of the Members of the Honourable House of Commons, fyc. t E, B .
wishes the true knowledge of God in Jesus Christ.
Most Honourable Sir,
Although I do observe, that new editions, accompanied
with new additions, are sometimes published with new dedications ;
yet so long as he who formerly owned the subject doth yet live,
and hath the same affections towards it, I conceive there is no need
of a new patron, but of a new epistle.
Be pleased then, most honoured Sir, to give me leave to tell you,
that your eminency of place did somewhat induce me, both now and
before, to make choice of you for its patron ; but your endowments
with grace did invite me to it, God having bestowed upon you
special spiritual blessings in heavenly things in Christ : for it has
been declared unto me by them that knew you, when you was but a
youth, how Christ met with you then ; and, by sending his Spirit
into your heart, first convinced you of sin ; as was manifest by
those conflicts, which your soul then had, both with Satan and itself,
whilst you did not believe in Christ ; secondly, of righteousness, as
was manifest by the peace and comfort which you afterwards had,
by believing that Christ was gone to the Father, and appeared in
his presence as your advocate and surety that had undertaken for
you ; thirdly, of judgment, as has been manifest ever since, in that
you have been careful with the true godly man, (Psalm cxii. 5.) to
" guide your affairs with judgment," in walking according to the
mind of Christ.
I have not forgotten what desires you have expressed to know the
true difference between the covenant of works and the covenant of
grace ; and experimentally to be acquainted with the doctrine of
free grace, the mysteries of Christ, and the life of faith. Witness
158 DEDICATION.
not only your high approving of some heads of a sermon, which I
once heard a godly minister preach, and repeated in your hearing,
of the life of faith ; but also your earnest request to me to write
them out fair, and send them to you into the country ; yea, witness
your highly approving of this dialogue, when I first acquainted you
with the contents thereof, encouraging me to expidite it to the press,
and your kind acceptance, together with your cordial thanks for my
love manifested in dedicating it to your honoured name.
Sith then, worthy sir, it has pleased the Lord to enable me both
to amend and enlarge it, I hope your affection will also be enlarged
towards the matter therein contained, considering that it tends to
the clearing of those foreuamed truths, and, through the blessing of
God, may be a means to root them more deeply in your heart. And
truly, sir, I am confident, the more they grow and flourish in any
man's heart, the more will all heart-corruptions wither and decay.
sir, if the truths contained in this dialogue were but as much in
my heart, as they are in my head, I were a happy man ; for then
should I be more free from pride, vain glory, wrath, anger, self-love,
and love of the world, than I am ; and then should I have more
humility, meekness, and love, both to God and man, than I have.
Oh ! then, should I be content with Christ alone, and live above all
things in the world ; — then should I experimentally know both how
to abound and how to want ; — and then should I be fit for any con-
dition ; nothing could come amiss unto me. that the Lord would
be pleased to write them in our hearts by his blessed Spirit !
Most humbly beseeching you still to pardon my boldness, and
vouchsafe to take it into your patronage and protection, I humbly
take my leave of you, and remain, your obliged servant, to be com-
mended,
Edward Fisher.
To all such Humble-hearted Readers as see any need either to knoiv
themselves, or God in Christ.
V
Loving Christians,
Consider, I pray yon, that as the first Adam did, as a
common person, enter into covenant with God for all mankind, and
Drake it, whereby they became sinful and guilty of everlasting death
and damnation ; even so Jesus Christ the second Adam, did, as a com-
mon person, enter into covenant with God his Father, for all the
elect, a that is to say, all those that have, or shall believe on his
name, b and for them kept it, c whereby they become righteous, and
heirs of everlasting life and salvation : d and therefore it is our
greatest wisdom, and ought to be our greatest care and endeavour,
to come out c and from the first Adam, unto and into the second
Adam :/ that so we " may have life through his name," John xx. 31.
And yet alas ! there is no point in all practical divinity that we
are naturally so much averse and backward to as unto this ; neither
does Satan strive to hinder us so much from doing any thing else as
this : and hence it is, that we are all of us naturally apt to abide
and continue in that sinful and miserable state that the first Adam
plunged us into, without either taking any notice of it, or being at all
a " The covenant (viz. of works) being made with Adam, not only for himself but
for his posterity, all mankind descending from him by ordinary generation, sinned in
him, and fell with him in his first transgression." — Shorter Catechism, quest. 16,
*' The covenant of grace was made with Christ, as the second Adam, and in him, with
all the elect, as his seed." — Larger Cat. quest. 31.
b See chap. 2. sect. 3. note 7.
c Namely, by doing and dying for them, viz. the elect.
d Thus the impetration or purchase of redemption, and the application of it, aie
taught to be of the same extent; even as Adam's representation, and the ruins by his
fall are : the former extending to the elect, as the latter unto all mankind.
e Of.
/Uniting with Christ by fuith.
160 TO THE READER.
affected with it, so far are we from coming out of it. And if the Lord
be pleased by any means to open our eyes to see our misery, and we do
thereupon begin to step out of it, yet, alas ! we are prone rather to
go backwards towards the first Adam's pure state g, in striving and
struggling to leave sin, and perform duties, and do good works ;
hoping thereby to make ourselves so righteous and holy, that God
will let us into paradise again, to eat of the tree of life, and live for
ever: and this we do, until we see the "flaming sword at Eden's
gate turning every way to keep the way of the tree of life," ft Gen.
iii. 24. It is not ordinary, when the Lord convinceth a man of his
sin (either by means of his word or his rod) to cry after this man-
ner : I am a sinful man ! for I have lived a very wicked life, and
therefore surely the Lord is angry with me, and will damn me in
hell ! what shall I do to save my soul ? And is there not at hand
some ignorant, miserable comforter, ready to say, Yet do not de-
spair, man, but repent of thy sins, and ask God's forgiveness, and
reform your life, and doubt not but he will be merciful unto you; i
c/ That is, to the way of the covenant of works, which innocent Adam was set upon.
h That is, till we lie brought to despair of obtaining salvation in the way of the co-
venant of works. Mark here the spring of legalism, namely, the natural bias of man's
heart towards the way of the law, as a covenant of works, and ignorance of the law,
in its spirituality and vast extent. Rom. vii. 9; x. 2, 3.
i There is not one vvoid of Jesus Christ the glorious Mediator, nor of faith in his
blood, in all the advice given by this causist to the afflicted ; and agreeable thereto is
the effect it has upon the afflicted, who takes comfort to himself without looking unto
the Lord Jesus Christ at all, as appears from the next paragraph.
Behold the Scripture pattern in such a case : Acts ii. 37, 38, " Men and brethren,
what shall we do ? Then Peter said unto them, Repent and be baptized every one of
you in the name of Jesus Christ, for the remission of sins." Chap. yvi. 30, 31,
" Sirs, what must I do to be saved ? and they said, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
and thou shalt be saved." And thus the Directory, title " Concerning visitation of the
sick." " If it appear that he hath not a due sense of his sins, endeavours ought
to be used to convince him of his sins — to make known the danger of deferring re-
pentance, and of salvation at any time offered, to awaken the conscience, and to
rouse him out of a stupid and secure condition, to apprehend the justice and wrath of
God" — (here this miserable comforter finds the afflicted, and should have taught him
concerning an offended God, as there immediately follows) — " before whom none can
stand but he that, being lost in himself, layeth hold upon Christ by faith."
TO THE READER. 161
for he has promised you know, " that at time soever a sinner re-
penteth him of his sins, he will forgive him." j
And does he not hereupon comfort himself, and say in his heart
at least, ! if the Lord will but spare my life, and lengthen out
my days, I will become a new man ! I am very sorry that I have
lived such a sinful life ; but I will never do as I havs done for all
the world ! ! you shall see a great change in me ! believe it.
And hereupon he betakes himself to a new course of life ; and, it
may be, becomes a zealous professor of religion, performing all
Christian exercises, both public and private, and leaves off his old
companions, and keeps company with religious men ; and so, it may
be, goes on till his dying day, and thinks himself sure of heaven
and eternal happiness ; and yet. it may be, all this while is igno-
rant of Christ and his righteousness, and therefore established his
own.
"Where is the man, or where is the woman that is truly come to
Christ, that has not had some experience in themselves of such a
disposition as this ? If there be any that have reformed their lives,
and are become professors of religion, and have not taken notice of
this in themselves more, or less, I wish they have gone beyond a
legal professor, or one still under the covenant of works.
Nay, where is the man or woman, that is truly in Christ, that
findeth not in themselves an aptness to withdraw their hearts from
Christ, and to put some confidence in their own works and doings ?
If there be any that do not find it, I wish their hearts decieve them
not.
Let me confess ingenuously ; I was a professor of religion at
least a dozen of years before I knew any other way to eternal life,
than to be sorry for my sins, and ask forgiveness, and strive and
endeavour to fulfil the law, and keep the commandments, according
j This sentence, taken from tbe English service-book, is in the " Practice of Piety,"
p. 122. cited from Ezek. xxxiii. 14, 16, and is reckoned amongst these scriptures, an
ignorant mistake of which keeps back a sinner from the practice of piety. But the
truth is, it is not to be found in the Old or New Testament ; and therefore it was ob-
jected against, as standing in the service-book under the name of a " Sentence of
Scripture," pretended to be cited from Ezek. xviii. 21, 22. — Reasons shoiving the ne-
cessity of reformation, &c. p. 26.
162 TO THE READER.
as Mr. Dod and other godly men had expounded them ; and truly,
I remember I was in hope I should at last attain to the perfect
fulfilling of them ; and, in the mean time, I conceived that God
would accept the will for the deed ; or what I could not do, Christ
had doue for me.
And though at last, by means of conferring with Mr. Thomas
Hooker in private, the Lord was pleased to convince me that I was
yet but a proud Pharisee, and to show me the \?ay of faith and
salvation by Christ alone, and to give me (I hope) a heart in some
measure to embrace it ; yet alas ! through the weakness of my faith,
I have been, and am still apt to turn aside to the covenant of
works ; and therefore have not attained to that joy and peace in
believing, nor that measure of love to Christ, and man for Christ's
sake, as I am confident many of God's saints do attain unto in the
time of this life. The Lord be merciful unto me, and increase my
faith !
And are there not others, though I hope but few, who being en-
lightened to see their misery, by reason of the guilt of sin, though
not by reason of the filth of sin, and hearing of justification freely
by grace, through tlie redemption which is in Jesus Christ, do ap-
plaud and magnify that doctrine, following them that do most
preach and press the same, seeming to be, as it \iere, ravished with
the hearing thereof, out of a conceit that they are by Christ freely
justified from the guilt of sin, though still they retain the filth of
sin ? a These are they that content themselves with a gospel know-
ledge, with mere notions in the head, but not in the heart ; glory-
ing and rejoicing in free grace and justification by faith alone ;
professing faith in Christ, and yet are not possessed of Christ ; —
these are they that can talk like believers, and yet do not walk
like believers ; — these are they that liave language like saints, and
yet have conversation like devils ; — these are they that are not obe-
a Mark here the spring of Antinomianism ; namely, the want of a sound conviction
of the odiousness aed filthiness of sin, rendering the soul loathsome and ahorainahle
in the sight of a holy God. Hence, as the sinner sees not his need of, so neither
will he receive and rest on Christ for all his salvation, hut will go about to halve
it, grasping at his justifying blood, neglecting his sanctifying Spirit, and so falls short
of all part or lot in that matter.
TO THE READER. 163
dieut to the law of Christ, and therefore are justly called Antino-
mians.
Now, both these paths h leading from Christ, have been justly-
judged as erroneous ; and, to ray knowledge, not only a matter of
eighteen or twenty years ago, but also within these three or four
years, there has been much ado, both by preaching, writing, and
disputing, both to reduce men out of them, and to keep them from
them ; and hot contentions have been on both sides, and all, I fear,
to little purpose : for has not the strict professor according to the law,
whilst he has striven to reduce the loose professor according to the
gospel out of the Antinomian path entangled both himself and
others the faster in the yoke of bondage ? Gal. v. 1. And has not
the loose professor according to the gospel, whilst he has striven to
reduce the strict professor according to the law out of the legal
path, "by promising liberty from the law, taught others, and been
himself the servant of corruption ?" 2 Pet. ii. 19.
For this cause I, though I be nothing, have by the grace of God
endeavoured, in this dialogue, to walk as a middle man betwixt
them both, in showing to each of them his erroneous path, with the
middle path (which is Jesus Christ received truly, and walked in
answerably m) as a means to bring them both unto him, and make
them both one in him ; and ! that the Lord would be pleased so
to bless it to them, that it might be a means to produce this effect !
b Namely, legalism and Antinomianism.
m A short and pithy description of the middle path, the only path-way to heaven —
"Jesus Christ (the way, John xiv. 6.) received truly (by faith, John i. 12 ; this is
overlooked by the legalist) and walked in answerably," by holiness of heart and life,
Col. ii. 6 : this is neglected by the Antinomian. The Antinomian's faith is but pre-
tended, and nut true faith, since he walks not in Christ answerably. The legalist's ho-
liness is but pretended, and not true holiness, since he hath not " received Christ" truly,
and therefore is incapable of walking in Christ, which is the only true holiness competent
to fallen mankind. Thus, both the legalist and the Antinomian are each of them desti-
tute of true faith and true holiness ; forasmuch as there can be no walking in Christ,
without a true receiving of him ; and there cannot be a true receiving of him, without
walking in him : so both of them are off the only way of salvation, and, continuing so
must needs perish. Wherefore it concerns every one who has a value for his own
soul, to take heed that he be found in the middle path.
164
TO THE READER.
I have (as you may see) gathered much of it out of known and
approved authors ; and yet have therein wronged no man ; for I
have restored it to the right owner again. Some part of it my ma-
nuscripts have afforded me ; and of the rest I hope I may say, as
Jacob did of his venison, Gen. xxvi. 20, " the Lord hath brought it
unto me." Let me speak it without vain-glory, I have endeavoured
herein to imitate the laborious bee, who out of divers flowers ga-
thers honey and wax, and thereof makes one comb : if any soul feel
any sweetness in it, let them praise God, and pray for me, who am
weak in faith, and cold in love.
Edward Fisher.
A Catalogue of those writer's names, out of whom I have collected much
of the matter contained in this ensuing Dialogue.
Mr. Ainsworth
Dr. Ames
Bishop Babington
Mr. Ball
Mr. Bastingius
Mr. Beza
Mr. Robert Bolton
Mr. Samuel Bolton
Mr. Bradford
Mr. Bullinger
Mr. Calvin
Mr. Careless
Mr. Caryl
Mr. Cornwall
Mr. Cotton
Mr. Culverwell
Mr. Dent
Dr. Diodate
Mr. D. Dixon
Mr. Downham
Mr. Du Plesse
Mr. Dyke
Mr. Elton
Mr. Forbes
Mr. Fox
Mr. Frith
Mr. Gibbons
Mr. Thos. Godwin
Mr. Gray,jun.
Mr. Greenham
Mr. Grotius
Bishop Hall
Mr. Thos. Hooker
Mr. Lsestanno
Mr. Lightfoot
Dr. Luther
Mr. Marbeck
Mr. Marshall
Peter Martyr
Dr. Mayer
Wolfangius Musculus
Bernardine Ochine
Mr. Wilson.
Dr. Pemble
Mr. Perkins
Mr. Polanus
Dr. Preston
Mr. Reynold
Mr. Rollock
Mr. Rouse
Dr. Sibs
Mr. Slater
Dr. Smith
Mr. Stock
Mr. Tindal
Mr. Robert Town
Mr. Vaughan
Mr. Vaumeth
Dr. Urban Regius
Dr. Ursinus
Mr. Walker
Mr. Ward
Dr. Willet
Dr. Williams
M A R K Wi
MODERN DIVINITY
Evangei.ista, a Minister of the Gospel.
Nomista, a Legalist.
Antinomista, an Antinomian.
Neophitus, a Young Christian.
INTRODUCTION.
Sect. 1. Differences about the Law 2. A threefold Law.
Nomista. Sir, my neighbour Neophitus and I having lately had
some conference with this our friend and acquaintance Antinomista,
about some points of religion, wherein he, differing from us both, at
last said, he would be contented to be judged by our minister :
therefore have we made bold to come unto you, all three of us, to
pray you to hear us, and judge of our differences.
Evan. You are all of you very welcome to me ; and if you please
to let me hear what your differences are, I will tell you what I
think.
§ 1. Nom. The truth is, sir, he and I differ in very many things ;
but more especially about the law : for I say, the law ought to be a
rule of life to a believer; and he says, it ought not.
Neo. And surely, sir, the greatest difference betwixt him and I,
is this; — he would persuade me to believe in Christ; and bids me
rejoice in the Lord, and live merrily, though I feel never so many
corruptions in my heart, yea, though I be never so sinful in my life ;
the which I cannot do, nor, I think, ought to do ; but rather to fear,
and sorrow, and lament, for my sins.
Ant. The truth is, sir, the greatest difference betwixt my friend
Nomista and I, is about the law ; and therefore that is the greatest
matter we come to you about.
166 THE MARROW OF
Evan. I remember the apostle Paul willeth Titus to " avoid con-
teutions and strivings about the law, because they are unprofitable
and vain," Tit. iii. 2; and so I fear yours have been.
Nom. Sir, for my own part, I hold it very meet, that every true
Christian should be very zealous for the holy law of God ; espe-
cially now, when a company of these Antinomians do set themselves
against it, and do what they can quite to abolish it, and utterly to
root it out of the church : surely, sir, I think it not meet they
should live in a Christian commonwealth.
Evan. I pray you, neighbour Nomista, be not so hot, neither let
us have such unchristian-like expressions amongst us ; but let us
reason together in love, and with the spirit of meekness, 1 Cor. iv.
21, as Christians ought to do. I confess with the apostle, " It is
good to be zealously affected always in a good thing," Gal. iv. 18.
But yet, as the same apostle said of the Jews, so I fear I may say
of some Christians, that "they are zealous of the law," Acts xxi.
20; yea, some would be doctors of the law, and yet neither under-
stand " what they say, nor whereof they affirm," 1 Tim. i. 7.
Nom. Sir, I make no doubt but that 1 both know what I say, and
whereof I affirm, when I say and affirm that the holy law of God
ought to be a rule of life to a believer; for I dare pawn my soul on
the truth of it.
Evan. But what law do yon mean ?
Nom. Why, sir, what law do you think I mean ? Is there any
more laws than one ?
§ 2. Evan. Yea, in the Scriptures there is mention made of divers
laws, but they may all be comprised under these three, viz. — the
law of works, the law of faith, and the law of Christ; a Rom. iii.
a These terms are scriptural, as appears from the whole texts quoted by our author,
namely, Rom. iii. 27, " Where is boasting then? it is excluded; by what law? of
works? nay, but by the law of faith." Gal. vi. 2, " Bear ye one another's burdens,
and so fulfil the law of Christ." By the law of works is meant the law of the ten
commandments, as the covenant of works. By the law of faith, the gospel, or cove-
nant of grace ; for justification being the point upon which the apostle there states the
opposition betwixt these two laws, it is evident that the former only is the law that
doth not exclude boasting; and the latter only is it, by which a sinner is justified in
a way that doth exclude boasting. By the law of Christ, is meant the same law of
the ten commandments, as a rule of life, in the hand of a Mediator, to believers
already justified, and not any one command of the law only ; for " bearing one
another's burdens" is a " fulfilling of the law of Christ," as it is a loving one another;
but, according to the Scripture, that love is not a fulfilling of one command only, but
of the whole law of the ten commands, Roin. xiii. 8 — 10, " He that loveth another
hath fulfilled the law. For this, thou shalt uot commit adultery, thou shalt not kill,
thou shult not steal, thou shalt uot bear false witness, thou shalt uot covet ; and if
MODERN DIVINITY. 16?
27; Gral. vi. 2; and therefore, I pray you, tell me, when you say
the law ought to be a rule of life to a believer, which of these three
laws you mean.
Norn. Sir, I know not the difference betwixt them ; but this I
know, that the law of the ten commandments, commonly called the
moral law, ought to be a rule of life to a believer.
there be smy other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely,
Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law."
It is a fulfilling of the second table directly, and of the first table indirectly and con-
sequentially : therefore by the law of Christ is meant, not one command only, but the
whole law.
The law of works is the law to be done, that one may be saved ; the law of faith is
the law to be believed, that one may be saved ; the law of Christ is the law of the
Saviour, binding his saved people to all the duties of obedience, Gal. iii. 12; Acts
xvi. 31.
The term law is not here used univocally ; for the law of faith is neither in the
Scripture sense, nor in the sense of our author, a law, properly so called. The apostle
uses that phrase only in imitation of the Jews' manner of speaking, who had the law
continually in their mouths. But since the promise of the gospel proposed to faith,
is called in Scripture '' the law of faith," our author was sufficiently warranted to call
it so too. So the law of faith is not a proper perceptive law.
The law of works, and the law of Christ, are in substance but one law, even the
law of the ten commandments — the moral law — the law which was from the beginning,
continuing still the same in its own nature, but vested with different forms. And
since the law is perfect, and sin " is any want of conformity unto, or transgression of
it," whatever form it be vested with, whether as the law of works or as the law of
Christ, all commands of God unto men must needs be comprehended under it, and par-
ticularly the command to repent, common to all mankind, pagans not excepted, who
doubtless are obliged, as well as others, to turn from sin unto God; as also the com-
mand to believe in Christ, binding all to whom the gospel revelation comes, though in
the meantime this law stands under different forms to those who are in a state of union
with Christ by faith, and to those who are not so. The law of Christ is not a new
proper preceptive law, but the old proper preceptive law, which was from the begin-
ning, under a new accidental form.
The distinction between the law of works and the law of faith cannot be contro-
verted, since the apostle doth so clearly distinguish them, Rom. iii. 27.
The distinction between the law of works and the law of Christ, as above explained
according to the Scriptures, and the mind of our author, is the same in effect with
that of the law, as a covenant of works, and as a rule of life to believers, and ought to
be admitted, (Westm. Confess, chap. 19, art. b'.) For (1.) Believers aie not under,
but dead to the law of works. Rom. vi. 14, " For ye are not under the law, but
under grace." Chap. vii. 4, " Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to
the law. But they are under the law to Christ; ye also are become dead to the law
— that ye should be married to another, even to him who is r.iised from the dead."
1 Cor. ix. 21, " Being not without law to God, but under the law to Christ." Some
copies read here '' of God," and "' of Christ ;" which I mention, not out of any regard
to that different reading, but that upou the occasion thereof the sense is owned by the
learned to be the same either way. To be under the law to God is, without question,
168 THE MAKROW OF
Evan. But the law of the ten commandments, or moral law, may
be either said to be the matter of the law of works, or the matter of
the law of Christ : and therefore I pray you tell me, in whether of
these senses you conceive it ought to be a rule of life to a believer ?
Nom. Sir, I must confess, I do not know what you mean by this
distinction : but this I know that God requires that every Christian
to be under the law of God ; whatever it may be judged to import more, it can import
no less ; therefore to be under the law to Christ, is to be under the law of Christ.
This text gives a plain and descisive answer to the question, " How the believer is under
the law of God ?" namely, as he is under the law to Christ. f2.) The law of Christ
is an " easy yoke," and a " light burden," Matth. xi. 30 ; but the law of works, to a
sinner, is an insupportable burden, requiring works as the condition of justi6cation and
acceptance with God, as is clear from the whole of the apostle's reasoning, Rom. iii.
(and therefore it is called the law of works, for otherwise the law of Christ requires
works too) and cursing " every one that continues not in all things written in it to do
them," Gal. iii. 10. The apostle assures us, that " what things soever the law saith,
it saith to them who are under the law," Rom. iii. 19. The duties of the law of
works, as such, are, as I conceive, called by our Lord himself, " heavy burdens, and
grievous to be borne," Matth. xxiii. 4, " For they," viz. the Scribes and Pharisees,
''bind heavy burden*, and grievous to be borne, and lay them on men's shoulders;
but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers." These heavy bur-
dens were not human traditions, and rites devised by men ; for Christ would not have
commanded the observing and doing of these, as in this case he did, ver. 3, " What-
soever they bid you observe, that observe and do ; neither were they the Mosaic rites
and ceremonies, which were not then abrogated, for the Scribes and Pharisees were so
far from not moving these burdens with their own fingers, that the whole of their re-
ligion was confined to them, namely to the rites and ceremonies of Moses' law, and
those of their own devising. But the duties of the moral law they laid on others,
binding them on with the tie of the law of works, yet made no conscience of them in
their own practice : the which duties nevertheless our Lord Jesus commanded to be
observed and done.
" He who hath believed on Jesus Christ, (though he be freed from the curse of the
law,) is not freed from the command and obedience of the law, but tied thereunto by
a new obligation, and a new command from Christ. Which new command from
Christ importeth help to obey the command." — Practical Use of Saving Knowledge,
title, The Third Warrant to Believe, fig. 5.
What this distinction amounts to is, that thereby a difference is constituted betwixt
the ten commandments as coming from an absolute God out of Christ unto sinners,
and the same ten commandments as coming from God in Christ unto them ; a differ-
ence whieh the children of God, assisting their consciences before him to " receive
the law at his mouth," will value as their life, however they disagree about it in words
and manner of expression. But that the original indispensable obligation of the law of
the ten commandments is in any measure weakened by the believer's taking it as the
law of Christ, and not a9 the law of works ; or that the sovereign authority of God the
Creator, which is inseparable fiom it for the ages of eternity, in what channel soever
it be conveyed unto men, is thereby laid aside. — will appear utterly groundless, uprn
an iuipaitial consideration of the matter. For is not our Lord Jesus Christ, equally
with the Father and the Holy Spiiit, JtHOVAH, the Sovereign, Supreme, IMost High
MODKKN DIVINITY. 169
should frame and lead his life according to the ten commandments ;
the which if he do, then may he expect the blessing of God both
upon his own soul and body ; and if he do not, then can he expect
nothing else but his wrath and curse upon them both.
Evan. The truth is, Nomista, the law of the ten commandments,
as it is the matter of the law of works, ought not to be a rule of life
to a believer. But in thus saying, you have affirmed that it ought;
and therefore therein you have erred from the truth. And now,
Autinomista, that I may also know your judgment, when you say
the law ought not to be a rule of life to a believer, pray tell me
what law you mean ?
Ant. Why, I mean the law of the ten commandments.
Evan. But whether do yon mean that law, as it is the matter of
the law of works, or as it is the matter of the law of Christ ?
Ant. Surely, sir, 1 do conceive, that the ten commandments are
no way to be a rule of life to a believer ; for Christ hath delivered
him from them.
Evan. But the truth is, the law of the ten commandments, as it is
the matter of the law of Christ, ought to be a rule of life to a be-
liever; b and therefore you having affirmed the contrary, have
therein also erred from the truth.
God, Creator of the world? lsa. xlvii. 4; Jer. xxiii. 6 ; with Psalm lxxxiii. 18;
John i. 3 ; Rev. iii. 14. Is not the name (or sovereign authority) of God in Christ;
Exod. xxiii. 21. Is not he in the Father, and the Father in him? John xiv.
Nay, doth not all the fulness of the Godhead dwell in him ? Col. ii. 9. How then
can the original obligation of the law of the ten commandments, arising from the
authority of the Creator, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, be weakened by its being
issued unto the believer from and by that blessed channel, the Lord Jesus Christ)'
As for the distinction betwixt the law of faith aud the law of Christ, the latter is
subordinated unto the former. All men by nature are under the law of works ; but
taking the benefit of the law of faith, by believing in the Lord Jesus Christ, they are
set free from the law of works, and brought under the law of Christ. Matth. xi. 28,
29, " Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden — take my yoke upon
you."
b The law of the ten commandments, being the natural law, was written on Adam's
heart on his creation ; while as yet it was neither the law of works, nor the law of
Christ, in the sense wherein these terms are used in Scripture, and by our author. But
after man was created, and put into the garden, this natural law, having made man
liable to fall away from God, a threatening of eternal death in case of disobedience,
had also a promise of eternal life annexed to it in case of obedience ; in virtue of
which he, having done his work, might thereupon plead and demand the reward of
eternal life. Thus it became the law of woiks, whereof the ten cemmandments were,
and are still the matter. All mankind being ruined by the breach of this law, Jesus
Christ obeys and dies in the room of the elect, that they might be saved ; they bei'iif
united to him by faith, are, through his obedience and satisfaction imputed to thtm,
Vol. VII. h
170 THE MARROW OF
Nom. The truth is, sir, I must confess, I never took any notice of
this threefold law, which, it seems, is mentioned in the New Testa-
ment.
Ant. And I must confess, if I took any notice of them, I never
understood them.
Evan. Well, give me leave to tell yon, that so far as any man
comes short of the true knowledge of this threefold law, c so far he
comes short both of the true knowledge of God and of himself; and
therefore I wish you both to consider of it.
Nom. Sir, if it be so, you may do well to be a means to inform us,
and help us to the true knowledge of this threefold law ; and there-
fore, I pray you first tell us what is meant by the law of works.
freed from eternal death, and become heirs of everlasting life ; so that the law of
works being fully satisfied, expires as to them, as it would have done of course in the
case of Adam's having stood the time of his trial ; howbeit it remains in full force as
to unbelievers. But the natural law of the ten commandments (which can never ex-
pire or determine, but is obligatory in all possible states of the creature, in earth,
heaven, or bell) is, from the moment the law of works expires as to believers, issued
forth to them (still liable to infirmities, though not to falling away like Adam) in the
channel of the covenant of grace, bearing a promise of help to obey, (Ezek. xxxvi. 27,)
and, agreeable to their state before the Lord, having annexed to it a promise of the
tokens of God's fatherly love, for the sake of Christ, in case of that obedience ; and a
threatening of God's fatherly displeasure in case of their disobedience. John xiv. 21.
" He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me ; and
he that loveth me, shall be loved of my Father ; and I will love him and will manifest
myself to him." Psalm lxxxix. 31 — 33. " If they break my statutes, and keep not
my commandments ; then will I visit their transgression with the rod, and their ini-
quity with stripes. Nevertheless, my loving-kindness will I not utterly take from
him nor suffer my faithfulness to fail." Thus it becomes the law of Christ to them ;
of which law also the same ten commandments are likewise the matter. In the threat-
enings of this law there is no revenging wrath ; and in the promises of it no proper
conditionally of works j but here is the order in the covenant of grace, to which the
law of Christ belongs ; a beautiful order of grace, obedience, particular favours, and
chastisements for disobedience. Thus the ten commandments stand, both in the law
of works and in the law of Christ at the same time, being the common matter of both ;
but as they are the matter of (i. e. stand in) the law of works, they are actually a part
of the law of works ; howbeit, as they are the matter of, or stand in, the law of Christ,
they are actually a part, not of the law of works, but of the law of Christ. And ;is
they stand in the law of Christ, our author expressly asserts, against the Antinomi.in,
that they ought to be a rule of life to a believer ; but that they ought to be a rule of
life to a believer, as they stand in the law of works, he justly denies, against the legal-
ist. Even as when one and the same crime stands forbidden in the laws of different
independent kingdoms, it is manifest that the rule of life to the subjects in that particu-
lar is the prohibition, as it stands in the law of that kingdom, whereof they are sub-
jects respectively, and not as it stands in the law of that kingdom of which they are
not subjects.
c Not of the terms here used to express it by, but of the things thereby meant, viz.
th e covenant of works, the covenant of grace, and the law as a rule of life to believ-
ers, in whatever terms these things be expressed.
MODERN DIVINITY. 171
CHAPTER I.
OF THE LAW, OR COVENANT OF WORKS.
Sect. I. The nature of the Covenant of Works 2. Adam's Fall. — 3. The Sinful-
ness and Misery of Mankind by the Fall. — 4. No recovery by the Law, or Cove-
nant of Works. — 5. The Covenant of Works binding, though broken.
§ 1. Evan. The law of works, opposed to the law of faith, (Rom.
iii. 27,) holds forth as much as the covenant of works ; for it is
manifest, says Musculns, that the word which signifies covenant, or
bargain, is put for law: so that you see, the law of works is as
much as to say, the covenant of works ; the which covenant the
Lord made with all mankind in Adam before his fall; the sum
whereof was, " Do this, and thou shalt live," Lev. xviii. 5, " And if
thou do it not, thou shalt die the death," Gen. ii. 17. In which
covenant there was contained, first, a precept, " Do this ;" secondly,
a promise joined unto it, " If thou do it thou shalt live ;" thirdly, a
like threatening, " If thou do it not, thou shalt die the death."
Imagine, says Musculus, that God had said to Adam, Lo, to the
intent that thou mayest live, I have given thee liberty to eat, and
have given thee abundantly to eat : let all the fruits of paradise be
in thy power, one tree excepted, which see thou touch not, for that
I keep to mine own authority : the same is " the tree of knowledge
of good and evil ;" if thou touch it, the meat thereof shall not be
life, but death.
Norn. But, sir, you said, that the law of the ten commandments,
or moral law, may be said to be the matter of the law of works ;
and you have also said, that the law of works is as much as to say
the covenant of works ; whereby it seems to me, you hold that the
law of the ten commandments was the matter of the covenant of
works, which God made with all mankind in Adam before his fall.
Evan. That is a truth agreed upou by all authors and interpre-
ters that I know. And indeed the law of works (as a learned
author says,) signifies the moral law ; and the moral law, strictly
and properly taken, signifies the covenant of works, d
d The moral law is an ambiguous term among divines. (1.) The moral law is
taken for the decalogue, or ten commandments, simply. So the law in the ten
commandments is owned to be commonly called the moral law, Westmin Confes.
chap. six. art. 2, 3. And thus our author has hitherto used that term, reckoning the
moral law not the covenant of works itself, but only the matter of it. (2.1 The
moral law is taken for the ten commandments, having the promise of life, and threat,
ening of death annexed to ihem ; that is for the law, or covenant, of works. Thus
l2
172 THE MARROW OF
Nom. But, sir, what is the reason you call it but the matter of
the covenant of works ?
Evan. The reason why I rather choose to call the law of the ten
commandments the matter of the covenant of works, than the cove-
nant itself, is, because I conceive that the matter of it cannot pro-
perly be called the covenant of works, except the form be put upon
it; that is to say, except the Lord require, and man undertake to
yield perfect obedience thereunto, upon condition of eternal life and
death.
And therefore, till then, it was not a covenant of works betwixt
God and all mankind in Adam; as, for example, you know, that
although a servant e have an ability to do a master's work ; and
though a master have wages to bestow upon him for it, yet is there
not a covenant betwixt them till they have thereupon agreed.
Even so, though a man at the first had power to yield perfect and
perpetual obedience to all the ten commandments, and God had an
eternal life to bestow upon him; yet was there not a covenaut
betwixt them till they were thereupon agreed.
Nom. But, sir, you know there is no mention made in the book
of Genesis of this covenant of works, which, you say, was made
with man at first.
the moral law is described to be, " Tbe declaration of tbc will of God to mankind,
directing and binding every one to personal, perfect, and perpetual conformity and
obedience thereunto, in tbe frame and disposition of the whole man, soul and body,
and in performance of all tbese duties of boliness and righteousness, wbich he oweth to
God and man ; promising life upon the fulfilling, and threatening death upon the
breach of it." — Larger Catech. quest. 93. That this is the covenant of works, is
clear from Westm. Confes. chap. xix. art. 1, " God gave to Adam a law, as a cove-
nant of works, by which he bound him and all his posterity, to personal, entire,
exact, and perpetual obedience ; promised life upon the fulfilling, and threatened
death upon the breach of it." And this our author owns to be the sense of that term,
strictly and properly taken ; tbe reason whereof I conceive to be, that the moral law
properly signifying tbe law of manners, answers to the Sciipture term, the law of
works, by which is meant the covenant of works. And if he had added, that in this
sense believers are delivered from it, he had no more said than the Larger Catechism
doth, in these words ; " They that are regenerate, and believe in Christ, be delivered
from the moral law as a covenant of works." Quest. 97. But in the meantime it is
evident, he does not here use that term in this sense ; and in the next paragraph,
save one, he gives a reason why he doth not so use it.
e Not a hired servant, for there is a covenant betwixt such an one and tbe master ;
but a bond-servant, bought with money, of another person, or born in the master's
house ; who is obliged to serve his master, and is liable to punishment in case he do
not, but cannot demand wages, since there is no covenant between them.
This was the case of mankind, with relation to the Creator, before the covenant of
works was made.
V
MODERN DIVINITY. 173
Evan. Though we read not the word " covenant" betwixt God
and man, yet have we there recorded what may amount to as much ;
for God provided and promised to Adam eternal happiness, and
called for perfect obedience ; which appears from God's threaten-
ing, Gen. ii. 17 ; for if man must die if he disobeyed, it implies
strongly, that God's covenant was with him for life, if he obeyed.
Norn. But, sir, you know the word " covenant" signifies a mu-
tual promise, bargain, and obligation betwixt two parties. Now,
though it is implied, that God promised man to give him life if he
obeyed, yet we read not, that man promised to be obedient.
Evan. I pray take notice, that God does not always tie man to
verbal expressions, but doth often contract the covenant in real im-
pressions in the heart and frame of the creature,/ and this was the
manner of covenanting with man at the first; g for God had fur-
nished his soul with an understanding mind, whereby he might \
discern good from evil, and right from wrong : and not only so, but
also in his will was most great uprightness, Eccl. vii. 29, and his
instrumental parts h were orderly framed to obedience. The truth
is, God did engrave in man's soul wisdom and knowledge of his
will and works, and integrity in the whole soul, and such a fitness
in all the powers thereof, that neither the mind did conceive, nor
the heart desire, nor the body put in execution, any thing but that
which was acceptable to God ; so that man, endued with these
qualities, was able to serve God perfectly.
Nom. But, sir, how could the law of the ten commandments be
the matter of this covenant of works, when they were not written,
as you know, till the time of Moses ?
Evan. Though they were not written in tables of stone until the
time of Moses, yet were they written in the tables of man's heart
in the time of Adam : for we read that man was created in the
image or likeness of God, Gen. i. 27. And the ten commandments
are a doctrine agreeing with the eternal wisdom and justice that is
/The soul approving, embracing, and consenting to the covenant; which, without
any more, is plain language, though not unto men, yet unto God, who knoweth the
heart.
g The covenant being revealed to man created after God's own image, he could not
but perceive the equity and benefit of it ; and so heartily approve, embrace, accept,
and consent to it. And this accepting is plainly intimated in Eve's words to the ser-
pent, Gen. iii. 2, 3, " We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden ; but of
the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden God hath said, ye shall not
eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die."
h Executive faculties and powers, whereby the good known and willed was to be
done.
^
174
THE MARROW OF
in God ; wherein he hath so painted out his own nature, that it
does in a manner express the very image of God, Col. iii. 10. And
does not the apostle say, (Eph. iv. 24.) that the image of God con-
| sists in knowledge, righteousness, and true holiness ? And is not
knowledge, righteousness, and true holiness, the perfection of hoth
the tables of the law ? And indeed, says Mr. Rollock, it could not
well stand with the justice of God, to make a covenant with man,
under the condition of holy and good works, and perfect obedience
to his law, except he had first created man holy and pure, and
engraven his law in his heart, whence those good works should
proceed.
Nom. But yet I cannot but marvel that God, in making the cove-
nant with man, did make mention of no other commandment than
that of the forbidden fruit.
Evan. Do not marvel at it : for by that one species of sin, the
whole genus or kind is shown ; as the same law, being more clearly
unfolded, doth express, Deut. xxviii. 26; Gal. iii. 10. And, indeed,
in that one commandment the whole worship of God did consist; as
obedience, honour, love, confidence, and religious fear ; together
with the outward abstinence from sin, and reverend respect to the
voice of God ; yea, herein also consisted his love, and so his whole
duty to his neighbour ; i so that, as a learned writer says, Adam
I heard as much (of the law) in the garden, as Israel did at Sinai ;
I but only in fewer words, and without thunder.
Nom. But, sir, ought not man to have yielded perfect obedience
to God, though this covenant had not been made betwixt them.
Evan. Yea, indeed ; perfect and perpetual obedience was due
from man unto God, though God had made no promise to man ; for
when God created man at first, he put forth an excellency from him-
self into him ; and therefore it was the bond and tie that lay upon
man to return that again unto God ; k so that man being God's
creature, by the law of creation, he owed all obedience and subjec-
tion to God his creator.
Nom. Why then was it needful that the Lord should make a
covenant with him, by promising him life, and threatening him with
death ?
i That one commandment was in effect a summary of the whole duty of man ; the
which clearly appears, if one considers that the breach of it was a transgressing of all
the ten commandments at once, as our author afterwards distinctly shows.
k God having given man a being after his own image, a glorious excellency, it was
his natural duty to make suitable returns thereof unto the giver, in a way of duty,
being, and acting for him ; even as the waters, which originally are from the sea, do
m brooks and rivtrs return to the sea again. Man, being of God as his first cause,
behoved to be to him as his chief and ultimate end, Rom. xi. 36.
MODERN DIVINITY. 175
Evan. For answer hereunto in the first place, I pray you under-
stand, that man was a reasonable creature; and so, out of judgment,
discretion, and election, able to make choice of his way; and there-
fore it was meet there should be such a covenant made with him,
that he might, according to God's appointment serve him after a
reasonable manner. Secondly, It was meet there should be such a
covenant made with him, to show that he was not such a prince on
earth, but that he had a sovereign Lord ; therefore God set a pun-
ishment upon the breach of his commandment ; I that man might
know his inferiority, and that things betwixt him and God were not
as betwixt equals. Thirdly, It was meet there should be such a co-
venant made with him, to show that he had nothing by personal, imme-
diate, and underived right, but all by gift and gentleness : so that
you see it was an equal covenant, m which God, out of his preroga-
tive-royal, made with mankind in Adam before his fall.
Nam. Well, sir, I do perceive that Adam and all mankind in him
were created most holy.
Evan. Yea, and most happy too : for God placed him in paradise
in the midst of all delightful pleasures and contents, wherein he did
enjoy most near and sweet communion with his Creator, in whose
presence is fulness of joy, and at whose right hand are pleasures
evermore, Psal. xvi. 11. So that if Adam had received of the tree
of life, by taking and eating of it, while ho stood in the state of in-
nocency before his fall, he had certainly been established in a happy
estate for ever, and could not have been seduced and supplanted by
Satan, as some learned men do think, and as God's own words seem
to imply, Gen. iii. 22. n
l The punishment of death, upon the breach of his commandment touching the for-
bidden fruit.
m That is, an equitable covenant, fair and reasonable.
n The author says, that some learned men think so, and that the words, Gen. iii.
22, seem to imply so much; but all this amounts not to a positive determination of
the point. The words are these, " Behold, the man is become as one of Us, to know
good and evil ; and now lest he put forth bis hand, and take also of the tree of life, and
eat, and live for ever," &c. Whether or not these words seem to imply some such
things, I leave to the judgment of the reader, whom I incline not to entertain with
mine own or others' conjectures upon this head ; but three things I take to be plain,
and beyond conjecture, in this text, (1.) That there is no irony nor scoff here, as
many thiuk there is; but on the contrary a most pathetic lamentation over fallen man.
The literal version and sense of the former part of the text runs thus : " Behold the
man that was one of us," &c. compare for the version, Lam. iii. 1 ; Psal. iii. 7, and
for the sense, Gen. i. 26, 27, "And God said, Let Us make man in our onn image
So God created man in his own image," &c. The latter part of the text I would read
thus, " And eat that he may live for ever." Compare for this version, Exod. iv. 23 ;
176 THE JIAKEOW OF
§ 2. Norn. But it seemetli that Adam did not continue in that
holy and happy estate.
Evan. No indeed; for he disobeyed God's express command, in
eating the forbidden fruit, and so became guilty of the breach of the
covenant.
Nom. But, sir, how could Adam, who had his understanding so
sound, and his will so free to choose good, be so disobedient to God's
express command.
Evan. Though he and his will were both good, yet were they mutably
good ; so that he might stand or fall at his own election or choice.
Nom. But why then did not the Lord create him immutable? or
why did he not so overrule him in that action, that he might not
have eaten the forbidden fruit ? o
Evan. The reason why the Lord did not create him immutable,
was because he would be obeyed out of judgment and free choice
and not by fatal necessity and absolute determination ; p and withal,
let me tell you, it was not reasonable to restrain God to this point,
to make them such an one as would not, nor could not sin at all, for
it was at his choice to create him how he pleased. But why he did
not uphold him with strength of stedfast continuance ; that resteth
hidden in God's secret council./) Howbeit, this we may certainly
] Sam. vi. 8. It is evident the sentence is broken off abruptly, tbe words, *' I wilj
drive him out," being suppressed ; even as in the case of a father, with sighs, sobs, and
tears, putting his son out of doors. (2.) That it was God's design, to prevent Adam's
eating of the tree of life, as he had of the forbidden tree, " lest he take also of the tree
of life ;" thereby mercifully taking care that our fallen father, to whom the covenant of
grace was now proclaimed, might not, according to the corrupt natural inclination to
fallen mankind, run back to the covenant of works for life and salvation, by partaking
of the tree of life, a sacrament of that covenant, and so reject the covenant of grace,
by eating of that tree now, as he had before broken the covenant of works, by eating
of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. (3.) That at this time Adam did think,
that by eating of the tree of life he might live for ever. Farther I dip not here in
this matter.
o These are two distinct questions, both of them Datively arising from a legal tem-
per of Spirit: and I doubt if ever the heart of a sinner shall receive a satisfying an-
swer as to either of them, until it come to embrace the gospel-way of salvation : taking
up its everlasting rest in Christ, for wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemp-
tion.
p Immutability, properly so called, or absolute unchangeableness, is an incommuni-
cable attribute of God, Mai. iii. 6; Jam. i. 17, and mutability, or changeableness, is
so of the nature of a creature, that it should cease to be a creature, or a dependant
being, if it should cease to be mutable. But there is an immutability, improperly
so called, which is competent to the creature, whereby it is free from beiDg
actually liable to change in some respect; the which, in reference to man may
be considered two ways; 1. As putting him beyond the hazard of change by ano-
ther band than bis own. 2. As putting him beyond the hazard of change by hiuis. It.
In the former sense, man nas indeed made immutable in point of moral goodness; for
MODERN DIVINITY. 177
conclude, that Adam's state was such as served to take away from
him all excuse; for he received so much, that of his own will he
wrought his own destruction ; q because this act of his was a wilful
transgression of a law, under the precepts whereof he was most
justly created; and unto the malediction whereof he was as neces-
sarily and righteously subject, if he transgressed : for, as being
God's creature, he was to be subject to his will ; so by being God's
prisoner, he was as justly subject to his wrath ; and that so much
the more, by how much the precept was most just, the obedience
more easy, the transgression more unreasonable, and the punishment
more certain.
§ 3. Norn. And was Adam's sin and punishment imputed unto his
whole offspring ?
Evan. Yea, indeed ; for says the apostle, Rom. v. 12, " Death
passed upon all men, for that all have sinned ;" or, in whom all
have sinned, that is, in Adam. The very truth is, Adam by his
fall threw down our whole nature r headlong into the same destruc-
tion, and drowned his whole offspring in the same gulf of misery, s
And the reeson is, because, by God's appointment, he was not to
stand or fall as a single person only, but as a common public
person, representing all mankind to come of him : t therefore as all
that happiness, all those gifts, and endowments, which were be-
stowed upon him, were not bestowed upon him alone, but also upon
the whole nature of man, r and as that covenant which was made
with him, was made with the whole of mankind ; even so he by
lie could only be made sinful or evil by himself, and not by any other. If he had been
made immutable in the latter sense, that immutability behoved either to have been
woven into his very nature, or else to have arisen from confirming grace. Now God
did not create man thus immutable in his nature ; which is it at the first question aims ;
and that for this very good reason, viz. that, at that rate man would have obeyed by
fatal necessity and absolute determination, as one not having so much as a remote
power in his nature to change himself. And neither glorified saints, nor angels are
thus immutable ; their immutability in goodness entirely depending on confirming
grace. As for immutability by confirming grace, which is it that the second question
aims at, it is conferred on glorified saints and angels ; but why it was not afforded to
Ailam at his creation, our author wisely declines to give any reason. "The reason,
says he, why the Lord did not create him immutable was, because, &c. ; but why he
i!id uphold him with strength of stedfast continuance, that resteth hidden in God's se-
cret cuunsel.'
q That is, he received so much strength, that it was not of weakness, but wilfulness,
that he destroyed himself.
r That is, all mankind. s With himself.
t By virtue of the blessing of fruitfulness given before the fall.
178 THE MARROW OF
breaking covenant lost all, as well for us as for himself. As he
received all for himself and us, so he lost all both for himself
and us.
Nom. Then, sir, it seemeth, by Adam's breach of covenant, all
mankind were brought into a miserable condition ?
Evan. All mankind by the fall of Adam received a twofold
damage : First, A deprivation of all original goodness. Secondly,
An habitual natural proneness to all kind of wickedness. For the
image of God, after which they were created, was forthwith blotted
out ; and in place of wisdom, righteousness, and true holiness, came
blindness, uncleanness, falsehood, and injustice. The very truth is,
our whole nature u was thereby corrupted, defiled, deformed, depraved,
infected, made infirm, frail, malignant, full of venom, contrary to
God ; yea, enemies and rebels unto him. So that, says Luther, this
is the title we have received from Adam : in this one thing may we
glory, and in nothing else at all ; namely, that every infant that is
born into this world, is wholly in the power of sin, death, Satan,
hell, and everlasting damnation. Nay, says Musculus, " The whirl-
pool of man's sin in paradise is bottomless and unsearchable."
Nom. But, sir, methinks it is a strange thing that so small an
offence, as eating of the forbidden fruit seems to be, should plunge
the whole of mankind into such a gulf of misery.
Evan. Though at the first glance it seems to be a small offence,
yet, if we look more wistfully v upon the matter, it will appear to
be an exceeding great offence ; for thereby intolerable injury was
done unto God ; as first, His dominion and authority in his holy
command was violated. Secondly, His justice, truth and power, in
his most righteous threatenings, were despised. Thirdly, His most
pure and perfect image, wherein man was created in righteousness
and true holiness, was utterly defaced. Fourthly, His glory, which,
by an active service, the creature should have brought to him, was
lost and despoiled. Nay, how could there be a greater sin com-
mitted than that, when Adam at that one clap broke all the ten
commandments ?
Nom. Did he break all the commandments, say you ? Sir, I
beseech you shew me wherein.
Evan. 1. He chose himself another God when he follows the
devil.
2. He idolized and deified his own belly ; iu as the apostle's phrase
is, " He made his belly his God."
3. He took the name of God in vain, when he believed him not.
u That is, all mankind.
v That is, earnestly. u' That is, as the aposlle'n, &c.
MODERN DIVINITY. 179
4. He kept not the rest and estate wherein God had set him.
5. He dishonoured his Father who was in heaven ; and therefore
his days were not prolonged in that land which the Lord his God
had given him.
6. He massacred himself and all his posterity.
7. From Eve he was a virgin, but in eyes and mind he committed
spiritual fornication.
8. He stole, like Achan, that which God had set aside not to be
middled with ; and this his stealth is that which troubles all Israel, :
— the whole world.
9. He bear witness against God, when he believed the witness of
the devil before him.
10. He coveted an evil covetousness, like Ammon, which cost him
his life, x and all his progeny. Now, whosoever considers what a
nest of evils here were committed at one blow, must needs, with
Musculus, see our case to be such, that we are compelled every way
to commend the justice of God, y and to condemn the sin of our first
parents, saying concerning all mankind, as the prophet Hosea
does concerning Israel, " Israel, thou hast destroyed thyself,"
Hos. xiii. 9.
§ 4. Nom. But, sir, had it not been possible for Adam both to
have holpen himself and all his posterity out of this misery, by
renewing the same covenant with God, and keeping it so after-
wards ?
Evan. No, by no means ; for the covenant of works was a cove-
nant no way capable of renovation. * When he had once broke it,
he was gone for ever ; because it was a covenant between two
friends, but now fallen man was become au enemy. And besides, it
was an impossible thing for Adam to have performed the conditions
which now the justice of God did necessarily require at his hands ;
for he was now become liable to the payment of a double debt, viz.
the debt of satisfaction for his sin committed in time past, and the
debt of perfect and perpetual obedience for the time to come ; and
he was utterly unable to pay either of them.
x 2 Sam. xiii. y That is, to justify God.
2 The covenant of works could by no means be renewed by fallen Adam, so as
thereby to help himself and his posterity out of this misery, the which is the only
hing in question here; otherwise, indeed, it might have been renewed, which is evi-
dent by this sad token, that many do actually renew it in their covenanting with God,
being prompted thereto by their ignorance of the high demands of the law, their own
utter inability, and the way of salvation by Jesus Christ. And from the same princi-
ple our legalist here makes no question but Adam might have renewed it, and kept it
ton, for the after-time ; only, he questions whether or not Adam might thereby have
helped himself, and his posterity too, out of the misery they were brought iuto by his
sin.
180 THE MARROW OF
Nom. "Why was he unable to pay the debt of satisfaction for his
sin committed in time past ?
Evan. Because his sin in eating the forbidden fruit (for that is
the sin I mean,) a was committed against an infinite and eternal
God, and therefore merited an infinite and eternal satisfaction ;
which was to be either some temporal punishmeut, equivalent to
eternal damnation, or eternal damnation itself. Now Adam was a
finite creature, therefore, between finite and infinite there could be
no proportion ; so that it was impossible for Adam to have made
satisfaction by any temporal punishment; and if he had undertaken
to have satisfied by an eternal punishment, he should always have
been satisfying, and never have satisfied, as is the case of the
damned in hell.
Nom. And why was he unable to pay the debt of perfect and per-
petual obedience for the time to come ?
Evan. Because his former power to obey was by his fall utterly
impaired ; for thereby his understanding was both enfeebled and
drowned in darkness : and his will was made perverse, and utterly
deprived of all power to will well ; and his affections were quite set
out of order; and all things belonging to the blessed life of the
soul were extinguished, both in him and us ; so that he was become
impotent, yea, dead, and therefore not able to stand in the lowest
terms to perform the meanest condition. The very truth is, our
father Adam falling from God, did, by his fall, so dash him and us
all in pieces, that there was no whole part left, either in him or us,
fit to ground such a covenant upon. And this the apostle witness-
eth, both when he says " We are of no strength ;" and, " The law
was made weak, because of the flesh," Rom. v. 6, and viii. 3.
Nom. But, sir, might not the Lord have pardoned Adam's sin
without satisfaction ?
Evan. no ! for justice is essential in God, and it is a righteous
thing with God, that every transgression receive a just recom-
pense : b and if recompense be just, it is unjust to pardon sin with-
out satisfaction. And though the Lord had pardoned and forgiven
his former transgression, and so set him in his former condition of
amity and friendship, yet, having no power to keep the law per-
fectly, he could not have continued therein, c
a That being the sin in which all mankind fell with him, Rom. v. 15.
6 2 Thess. i. 6, " Seeing it is a righteous thing with God, to recompense tribula-
tion to them that trouble you." Heb. ii. 2, "Every transgression and disobedience
received a just recompense."
c But would have sinned again, and so fallen under the curse anew.
MODERN DIVINITY. 181
Norn. And is it also impossible for any of his posterity to keep
the law perfectly ?
Evan. Yea, indeed, it is impossible for any mere man in the time
of this life to keep it perfectly ; yea, though he be a regenerate
man ; for the law requireth of man that he " love the Lord with all
his heart, soul, and might;" and there is not the holiest man that
lives, but he is flesh as well as spirit in all parts and faculties of his
soul, and therefore cannot love the Lord perfectly. Yea, and the
law forbiddeth all habitual concupiscence, not only saying, " Thou
shalt not consent to lust," but, " Thou shalt not lust :" it doth not
only command the binding of lust, but forbids also the being of
lust : and who in this case can say, My heart is clean ?
Ant. Then, Nomista, take notice, I pray, that as it was altogether
impossible for Adam to return into that holy and happy estate
wherein he was created by the same way went from it, d so is it
for any of his posterity ; and therefore I remember one says very
wittily, " The law was Adam's lease when God made him tenant of
Eden ; the conditions of which bond when he kept not, he forfeited
himself and all of us." God read a lecture of the law to him before
he fell, to be a hedge to him to keep him in paradise; but when
Adam would not keep within compass, this law is now become as
the flaming sword at Eden's gate, to keep him and his posterity out.
§ 5. Norn. But, sir, you know, that when a covenant is broken,
the parties that were bound are freed and released from their en-
gagements ; and, therefore, methinks, both Adam and his posterity
should have been released from the covenant of works when it was
broken, especially considering they have no strength to perform tie
condition of it.
Evan. Indeed it is true, in every covenant, if either party fail in
his duty, and perform not his condition, the other party is thereby
freed from his part, but the party failing is not freed till the other
[release him ; and, therefore, though the Lord be freed from perform-
ing his condition, that is, from giving to man eternal life, yet so is
not man from his part ; no, though strength to obey be lost, yet
man having lost it by his own default, the obligation to obedience
remains still ; so that Adam and his offspring are no more dis-
d Walking back by the way of the covenant of works, which he left by his sinning.
Object. " Do we then make void the law," (Rotn. iii. 31.) leaving an imputation
of dishonour upon it, as a disregarded path, by pretending to return another way ?
Answ. Sinners, being united to Christ by faith, return, being carried back the same
way they came ; only their own feet never touch the ground, but the glorious Medi-
ator, sustaining the persons of them all, walked every bit of the road exactly, Gal. iv.
5. Thus, in Christ, the way of free grace, and of the law, sweetly meet together ;
and through faith we establish the law.
182 TIIE MARROW OF
charged of their duties, because they have no strength to do them,
than a debtor is quitted of his bond, because he wants money to pay
it. And thus, Nomista, I have, according to your desire, endea-
voured to help you to a true knowledge of the law of works.
CHAPTER II.
OF THE LAW OF FAITH, OR COVENANT OF GRACE.
Sect. 1. Of the eternal purpose of Grace 2. Of the Promise Of the performance
of the Promise.
Ant. I beseech you, sir, proceed to help us to the true knowledge
of the law of faith.
Evan. The law of faith is as much as to say the covenant of
grace, or the gospel, which signifies good, merry, glad, and joyfid
tidings ; that is to say, that God, to whose eternal knowledge all
things are present, and nothing past or to come, foreseeing man's
fall, before all time purposed, e and in time promised,/ and in the
fulness of time performed, g the sending of his Son Jesus Christ into
the world, to help and deliver fallen mankind, h
e2 Tim. i. 9, " Who had saved us according to his own purpose and grace, which
was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began." Eph. iii. 11, " According to
the eternal purpose, which be purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord."
/Rom, i. 1,2, " The gospel of God, which he had promised afore by his prophets
in the holy Scriptures."
g Gal. iv. 4, 5, " But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his
Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the
law."
h These are the good tidings, this is the law of faith i. e. the law to be believed for
salvation, which the apostle plainly teacheth. Rom. i. 16, " The gospel is the power
of God unto salvation to every one that believeth ;" and, verse 17, " For therein is
the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith." In this last text, clouded with
a great variety ef interpretations, I think there is a transposition of words to be ad-
mitted, and would read the whole verse thus : " For therein is revealed the righteous-
ness of God by faith, unto faith ; as it is written, But the just by faith shall live."
The key to this construction and reading of the words in the former part <f the verse,
is, the testimony adduced by the apostle in the latter part of it, from Hab. ii. 4, where
the original text appears to me to determine the version of that testimony as here
offered. The sense is, the righteousness which is by faith, namely, the righteousness
of Christ, the only righteousnsss in which a sinner can stand before God, is in the
gospel revealed unto faith, i. e. to be believed. See a like phrase, 1 Tim iv. 3,
translated after this manner.
MODERN DIVINITY. 183
SECT. I. OF THE ETERNAL PURPOSE OP GRACE.
Ant. I beseech you, sir, let us hear more of these things ; and
first of all, show how we are to conceive of God's eternal purpose,
in sending of Jesus Christ.
Evan. Why, here the learned frame a kind of conflict in God's
holy attributes ; and by a liberty, which the Holy Ghost, from the
language of the holy Scripture, alloweth them, they speak of God
after the manner of men, as if he were reduced to some straits and
difficulties, by the cross demands of his several attributes, i For
Truth and Justice stood up and said, that man had sinned, and
therefore man must die ; and so called for a condemnation of a sin-
ful, and therefore worthily a cursed creature ; or else they must be
violated : for thou saidst, (said they to God) " In that day that
thou eatest of the tree of the knowlege of good and evil, thou shalt
die the death." Mercy, on the other side, pleaded for favour, and
appeals to the great court in heaven : and there it pleads, saying,
"Wisdom and power, and goodness, have been all manifest in the
creation : and anger and justice, have been maguified in man's
misery that he is now plunged into by his fall : but I have not yet
been manifested, j let favour and compassion be shown towards
man, wofully seduced and overthrown by Satan ! ! said they k
unto God, it is a royal thing to relieve the distressed ; and the
greater any one is, the more placable and gentle he ought to be.
But Justice replied, If I be offended, I must be satisfied and have my
right : and therefore I require, that man, who hath lost himself by
his disobedience, should, for remedy, set obedience against it, and
so satisfy the judgment of God. Therefore the wisdom of God be-
came an umpire, and devised a way to reconcile them : concluding,
that before there could be reconciliation made, there must be two
things effected : (1.) A satisfaction of God's justice. (2.) A repa-
ration of man's nature : which two things, must needs be effected by
such a middle and common person that had both zeal towards God,
that he might be satisfied ; and compassion towards man, that he
might be repaired : such a person, as having man's guilt and punish-
ment translated on him, might satisfy the justice of God, and as
having a fulness of God's Spirit and holiness in him, sanctify and
i " How shall I give thee up, Ephraim ? How shall I deliver thee Israel ? How
Bhall 1 make thee as Admah ? how shall I set thee as Zeboim? Mine heart is turned
within me, my repentings are kindled together." Hos. xi. 8.
j Mercy requires an object in misery.
A Favour and compassion.
184 THE MARROW OF
repair the nature of man. I And this could be none other but
Jesus Christ, one of the three persons of the blessed Trinity; there-
fore he, by his Father's ordination, his own voluntary offering, and
the Holy Spirit's sanctification, was fitted for the business. Where-
upon there was a special covenant, or mutual agreement made be-
tween God and Christ, as is expressed, Isa. liii. 10, that if Christ
would make himself a sacrifice for sin, then he should " see his seed,
he should prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord should
prosper by him." So in Psalm Ixxxix. 19, the mercies of this co-
venant between God and Christ, under the type of God's covenant
with David, are set forth : " Thou speakest in vision to thy holy
One, and saidst, I have laid help upon One that is mighty :" or, as
the Chaldee expounds it, " One mighty in the law." As if God
had said concerning his elect, I know that these will break, and
never be able to satisfy me ; but thou art a mighty and substantial
person, able to pay me, therefore I will look for my debt of thee, m
As Pareus well observes, God did, as it were, say to Christ, What
they owe me I require all at thy hands. Then said Christ, " Lo I
come to do thy will ? in the volume of the book it is written of me.
I delight to do thy will, my God ! yea thy law is in my heart,"
Psalm xi. 7, 8. Thus Christ assented, and from everlasting struck
hands with God, to put upon him man's person, and to take upon
him his name, and to enter in his stead in obeying his Father, and
to do all for man that he should require, and to yield in man's
flesh the price of the satisfaction of the just judgment of God, and,
l As man lay in ruins by the fall, guilty and unclean, there stood in the way of his
salvation by mercy designed, 1. The justice of God, which could not admit the
guilty creature ; and, 2. The holiness of God, which could not admit the unclean
and unholy creature to communion with him. Therefore, in the contrivance of his
salvation, it was necessary that provision should be made for the satisfaction of God's
justice, by payment of the double debt mentioned above ; namely, the debt of punish-
ment, and the debt of perfect obedience. It was also necessary that provision should
be made for the sanctification of the sinner, the repairing of the lost image of God in
him. And man being as unable to sanctify himself, as to satisfy justice, (a truth
which proud nature cannot digest,) the Saviour behoved, not only to obey and suffer
in his stead, but also to have a fulness of the Spirit of holiness in him to communi-
cate to the sinner, that his nature might be repaired through sanctification of the
Spirit. Thus was the gioundwork of man's salvation laid in the eternal counsel ; the
sanctification of the sinner, according to our author, being as necessary to his salva-
tion as the satisfaction of justice; for indeed the necessity of the former, as well as
of the latter, ariseth from the nature of God, and therefore is an absolute necessity.
m That is, the debt which the elect owe to me. Thus was the covenant made be-
twixt the Father and the Son for the elect, that he should obey for them and die fur
thom.
MODERN DIVINITY. 135
in the same flesh, to suffer the punishment that man had deserved;
and this he undertook under the penalty that lay upon man to
have undergone, n And thus was justice satisfied, and mercy by the
Lord Jesus Christ; and so God took Christ's single bond; whence
Christ is not only called the " surety of the covenant for us," Heb.
vii. 22, but the covenant itself, Isa. xlix. 8. And God laid all upon
him, that he might be sure of satisfaction ; protesting that he would
not deal with us, nor so much as expect any payment from us ; such
was his grace. And thus did our Lord Jesus Christ enter into the
same covenant of works that Adam did to deliver believers from
it : o he was contented to be under all that commanding, revenging
authority, which that covenant had over them, to free them from
the penalty of it ; and in that respect, Adam is said to be a type of
Christ, as you have it, Rom. v, 14, " "Who was the type of him that
was to come." To which purpose, the titles which the apostle gives
these two, Christ and Adam, are exceeding observable : he calls
Adam the " first man," and Christ our Lord the " second man,"
1 Cor. xv. 47: speaking of them as if there never had been any
more men in the world besides these two; thereby making them the
n The Son of God consented to put himself in man's stead, in obeying his Father,
and so to do all for man that his Father should require, that satisfaction should be
made : farther he consented in man's nature, to satisfy and suffer the deserved pun-
ishment : that the same nature that sinned might satisfy: and yet farther, he under-
took to bear the very same penalty that lay upon man, by virtue of the covenant of
works, to have undergone ; so sisting himself a property sure for them, who as the
author observes, must pay the same sum of money that the debtor oweth. This I take
to be the author's meaning; but the expression of "Christ's undertaking under the
penalty," &c. is harsh and unguarded.
o Our Lord Jesus Christ became surety for the elect in the second covenant, Heb.
viii. 22; and in virtue of that suretyship, whereby he put himself in the room of the
principal debtors, he came under the same covenant of works that Adam did; in so far
as the fulfilling of that covenant in their stead was- the very condition required of him
as the second Adam in the second covenant. Gal. iv. 4, 5, " God sent forth his
Son — made under the law to redeem them that were under the law." Thus Christ
put his neck uuder the yoke of the law as a covenant of works, to redeem them
who were under it as such. Hence he is said to be the " end of the law for righte T
ousness to every one that believeth," Rom. x. 4; namely the end for consummation,
or perfect fulfilling of it by his obedi ence and death, which pre-supposeth his coming
under it. And thus the law as a covenant of works was magnified and made honour-
able ; and it clearly appears how " by faith we establish the law," Rom. iii. 31. How
then is the second covenant a covenant of grace? In respect of Christ, it was most
properly and strictly a covenant of works, in that he made a proper, real, and full
satisfaction in behalf of the elect ; but, in respect of them, it is purely a covenant of
richest grace, in as much as God accepted the satisfaction from a surety, which he
might have demanded of them ; provided the surety himself, and gives all to them
lreely for his sake.
Vol. VII. m
186 THE MARROW OF
head and root of all mankind, they having, as it were, the rest of
the sons of men included in them. The first man is called the
"earthy man;" the second man, Christ, is called the " Lord from
heaven," 1 Cor. xv. 47. The earthy man had all the sons of men
born into the world included in him, and is so called, in conformity
unto them, the " first man ;"p the second man, Christ, is called the
" Lord from heaven," who had all the elect included in him, who
are said to be the " first-born," and to have their " names written in
heaven," Heb. xii. 23, and therefore are oppositely called "heavenly
men :" so that these two, in God's account, stood for all the rest, q
And thus you see, that the Lord, willing to show mercy to the fallen
creature, and withal to maintain the authority of his law, took such
a course as might best manifest his clemency and severity. Christ
entered into covenant, and became surety for man, and so became
liable to man's engagements : for he that answers as a surety must
pay the same sum of money that the debtor oweth.
And thus have I endeavoured to show you, how we are to conceive
of God's eternal purpose in sending of Jesus Christ to help and de-
liver fallen mankind. «,
SECT. II. — OF THE PROMISE.
Sect. 1. The Promise made to Adam. — 2. The Promise renewed to Abraham. — 3.
The law, as the Covenant of Works, added to the Promise. — 4. The Promise and
Covenant with Abraham renewed with the Israelites. — 5. The Covenant of Grace
under the Mosaic dispensation 6. The natural bias towards the Covenant of
Works. — 7. The Antinomian faith rejected. — 8. The evil of Legalism.
Sect. 1. Ant. I beseech you, sir, proceed also to the second thing;
and first tell us, when the Lord began to make a promise to help
and deliver fallen mankind.
Evan. Even the same day that he sinned, r which, as I suppose
p And so in relation to them, is called the "first man."
q Thus Adam represented all mankind in the first covenant, and Christ represented
all the elect in the second covenant. — See the first note on the Preface.
r This our author does here positively assert, and afterwards confirm. And there
is plain evidence for it from the holy Scriptures, which determines the time of the
Lord's calling our guilty first parents before him, at the which time he gave them the
promise. Gen. iii. 8, "And they heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the
garden in the cool of the day ;" (Heb. " At the wind of that day," as Junius and
Tremellius, Piscator, and Picherellus read it) ; the which, as soon as it began to
blow, might convince them that their aprons of fig-leaves were not fit covers for their
nakedness.
MODERN DIVINITY. 187
was the very same day he was created, s For Adam, by his sin,
being become the child of wrath, and both in body and in soul sub-
ject to the curse, and seeing nothing due to him but the wrath and
vengeance of God, he was " afraid, and sought to hide himself from
the presence of God," Gen. iii. 10; whereupon the Lord promised
Christ unto him, saying to the serpent, " I will put enmity between
thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed;" he (that
is to say, the seed of the woman, for so is the Hebrew text), " shall
break thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel." This promise of
Christ, the woman's seed, (ver. 15,) was the gospel; and the only
comfort of Adam, Abel, Enoch, Noah, and the rest of the godly
fathers, until the time of Abraham, t
s Our author is far from being singular in this opinion. The learned Gataker
(upud Pol. Synop. Crit. in Gen. iii. 23,) owns it to be the common opinion, though
he himself is of another mind, " That man fell, and was cast out of paradise, the
same day in which he was created." And he tells us, (Ibid, in Psalm xlix. ]3,)
that " Broughton does most confidently assert Adam not to have stood in his integrity
so much as one day , and that he saith, out of Maimonides, This is held by all the
Jews, as also by the Greek fathers." That this opinion is less received than formerly,
is, if 1 mistake not, not a little owing to the cavils of the Dei->ts; who, to weaken the
credit of the inspired history, allege it to be incredible that the events recorded Gen.
i. 24 — 26; and ii. 7, 18, to the end of the third chapter, could all be crowded into
one day (See Nichol's Conference with a Theist.) The reasons to support it,
take from the learned Sharp, one of the six ministers banished in the year 1606.
(Curs. Theol. Loc. de Peccato.) "Because of the devil's envy, who, it is likely
could not long endure to see man in a happy state. 2. If man had stood more days,
the blessing of marriage would have taken place, Adam would have known his wife,
and begot a child without original sin. 3. The Sabbath was not so much appointed
for meditating on the works of creation, as on the work of redemption. 4. It appears
from the words of the serpent, and of the woman, that she had not yet tasted any
fruit. 5. When the Holy Ghost speaks of the sixth day, Gen. i. and of the day of
the fall, it is with He emphatic. (Compare Gen. i. ult. and iii. 8.) 6. He fell so
soon, that the work of redemption might be the more illustrious, since man could not
stand one day without the Mediator's help." How the Sabbath was broken by
Adam's sin, though committed the day before, may be learned from the Larger Cate-
chism, on the fourth commandment, which teaches, that " The Sabbath is to be sanc-
tified — and to that end we are to prepare our hearts — that we may be the more fit for
the duties of that day;" and that "the sins forbidden in the fourth commandment,
are all omissions of the duties required," &c.
t In this promise was revealed, 1. Man's restoration unto the favour of God, and
his salvation ; not to be effected by man himself, and his own works, but by another.
For our first parents, standing condemned for breaking of the covenant of works, are
not sent back to it, to essay the mending of the matter, which they had marred
before; but a new covenant is purposed, — a Saviour promised as their only hope. 2.
That this Saviour was to be incarnate, to become man, " the seed of the woman."
3. That he behoved to suffer; his heel, namely, his humanity, to be bruised to death.
4. That by his death he should make a full conquest over the devil, and destroy his
m2
188 THE MARROW OF
Norn. I pray you, sir, what ground have you to think that Adam
fell the same day he was created?
Evan. My ground for this opinion is Psalm xlix. 12; which text
Mr. Ainsworth makes to be the 13th verse, and reads it thus, "But
man in honour doth not lodge a night; he is likened unto beasts
that are silenced." w That maybe minded, says he, both for the
first man Adam, who continued not in his dignity, and for all his
children.
Ant. But, sir, do you think that Adam and those others did un-
derstand that promised seed to be meant of Christ ?
works, who had now overcome and destroyed mankind ; and so recover the captives
out of his hand: "he shall bruise thy head, viz. while thou bruisest his heel."
This encounter was on the cross: there Christ treading on the serpent, it bruised his
heel, but he bruised its head. 5. That he should not be held by death, but Satan's
power should be broken irrecoverably; the Saviour being only bruised in the heel,
but the serpent in the head. 6. That the saving interest in him, and his salvation, is
by faith alone, believing tfce promise with particular application to one's self, and so
receiving him, forasmuch as these things are revealed by way of a simple promise.
w " From this text the Hebrew doctors, also in Bereshit Rabba, do gather, that
the glory of the first man did not night with him, and that in the beginning of the
Sabbath his splendour was taken away from him, and he was driven out of Eden." —
(Cartioright apud Pol. Synops. Crit. in Loc.) The learned Leigh, (in his Crit.
Facr. in voc. Lun,~) citing this text, says, " Adam lodged not one night in honour,
for so are the words, if they be properly translated." He repeats the same in his
annotations on the book of Psalms, and points his reader to Ainsworth, whose version
does evidently favour this opinion, and is here faithfully cited by our author, though
without the marks of composition — " lodge a night," there being no such marks in my
copy of Ainsworth's version or annotations, printed at London 1G39. However the
word /are may signify, to abide or continue, it is certain the proper and primary signi-
fication of it is, to-night, (at, in, or with.) T must be allowed the use of this word to
express the true import of the original one. Thus we have it rendered, Gen. xxviii.
11, "tarried all night." Judg. xix. 9, 10, 13, " Tarry all night — tarry that night —
lodged all night." And since this is the proper and primary signification of the
word, it is not to be receded from, without necessity ; the which I cannot discover
here. The text seems to me to stand thus, word for word, the propriety of the tenses
also observed : " Yet Adam in honour could not night; he became like as the beasts,
they were alke." Compare the Septuagint, and the vulgar Latin; with which,
according to Pool, (in St/nop. Crit.') the Ethiopic, Syriac, and Arabic, do agree,
though unhappy in not observing the difference between this and the last verse of the
Psalm. Nothing can be more agreeable to the scope and context. Worldly men
boast themselves in the multitude of their riches, verse 6, as if their houses should
continue for ever, verse 1 1 ; and yet Adam, as happy as he was in paradise, con-
tinued not one night in his honour; it quickly left him; yea, he died, and in that
respect became like the beasts; compare verse 14, " Like sheep they are laid in the
grave, death shall feed upon them." And after showing that the worldly man shall
die, notwithstanding of his worldly wealth and honour, verse 19, this suitable memorial
tor Adam's sons is repeated with a very small variation, verse 20, 21, " Adam was i n
honour, but could not understand ; ho became," &c.
MODERN .DIVINITY. 183
Evan. Who can make doubt, but that the Lord had acquainted
Adam with Christ, betwixt the time of his sinning and the time of
his sacrificing, though both on one day ?
Ant. But did Adam offer sacrifice ?
Evan. Can you make any question, but that the bodies of those
beasts, whose skins went for a covering for his body, were imme-
diately before offered in sacrifice for his soul ? Surely these skins
could be none other but of beasts slain, and offered in sacrifice ; for
before Adam fell, beasts were not subject to mortality nor slaying.
And God's clothing of Adam and his wife with skins signified, that
their sin and shame was covered with Christ's righteousness. And,
questionless, the Lord had taught him, that his sacrifice did signify
his acknowledgment of his sin, and that he looked for the seed of
the woman, promised to be slain in the evening of the world,
thereby to appease the wrath of God for his offence ; the which, un-
doubtedly, he acquainted his sons Cain and Abel with, when he
taught them also to offer sacrifice.
Ant. But how doth it appear that this his sacrificing was the very
same day that he sinned ?
Evan. It is said, John vii. 3, concerning Christ, " That they
sought to take him, yet no man laid hands on him, because his
hour was not yet come ;" but after that, when the time of his suf-
fering was at hand, he himself said, John xii. 23, " The hour is
come ;" which day is expressly set down by the Evangelist Mark to
be the sixth day, and ninth hour of that day, when "Christ through
the eternal Spirit offered up himself without spot to God," Mark
xv. 34, 42. Now, if you compare this with Exod. xii. 6 ; you shall
find that the paschal lamb, a most lively type of Christ was offered
the very same day and hour, even the sixth day, and ninth hour of
the day, which was at three of the clock in the afternoon : and the
Scripture testifies, that Adam was created the very same sixth day;
and gives us ground to think that he sinned the same day. And do
not the before alleged Scriptures afford us warrant to believe that
it was the very same hour of that day, Gen. i. 26 ; when Christ
entered mystically and typically upon the work of redemption, in
being offered as a sacrifice for Adam's sin ? x And surely we may
x That the promise was given the same day that Adam sinned, was evinced before:
and from the history, Gen. iii. and the nature of the thing itself, one may reasonably
conclude, that the sacrifices were annexed to the promise. And since the hour of
Christ's death was all along the time of the evening sacrifice, it is very natural to
reckon that it was also the hour of the first sacrifice ; even as the place on which the
temple stood was at first designed by an extraordinory sacrifice on that spot, 1 Chron.
xx. 18 — 28. and xxii, 1, "At three o'clock in the afternoon, Christ yielded up the
190 THE MARROW OF
suppose, that the covenant (as you heard) being broken between
God and Adam, justice would not have admitted of one hour's
respite, before it had proceeded to execution, to the destruction
both of Adam and the whole creation, had not Christ, at that very
time, stood as the ram (or rather the lamb) in the bush, and
stepped in to perform the work of the covenant. And hence I
conceive it is, that Saint?/ John calls him the " Lamb slain" from
the beginning of the world, z Rev. xiii. 8. For as the first state
of creation was confirmed by the covenant which God made with
man, and all creatures were to be upheld by means of observing the
law and condition of that covenant ; so that covenant being broken
by man, the world should have come to ruin, had it not been as it
were created anew, and upheld by the covenant of grace in Christ.
Ant. Then, sir, you do think that Adam was saved ?
Evan. The Hebrew doctors hold that Adam was a repentant sin-
ner, and say, that he was by wisdom (that is to say by faith in
Christ,) brought out of his fall ; yea, and the Church of God doth
hold, and that for necessary causes, that he was saved by the death
of Christ ; yea, says Mr. Vaughan, it is certain he believed the pro-
mise concerning Christ, in whose commemoration he offered con-
tinual sacrifice ; and in the assurance thereof he named his wife
Hevah, that is to say, life, a and he called his son Seth, settled, or
persuaded in Christ.
Ghost, (Mark xv. 34.) the very time when Adam had received the promise of this his
passion for his redemption." — Liylitfoot on Acts ii. I .
y This word might well have been spared here ; notwithstanding that we so read in
the title of the hook of the Revelation in our English Bibles ; and in like manner, in
the titles of other books of the Testament, St. (J., e. Saint) Matthew, St. Luke, &c. ;
it is evident, there is not such a word to be found in the titles of these books in the
original Greek : and the Dutch translators have justly discarded it out of their trans-
lations. If it is to be retained, because John, Matthew, Mark, Luke, &c, were,
without controversy, saints, why not on the same grounnd, Saint Moses, Saint Aaron,
(expressly called " the Saint of the Lord ?" Psalm cvi. 16.) &c. No reason can
he given of the difference made in this point, but that it pleased Antichrist to cano-
nize these New Testament saints, but not the Old Testament ones. Canonizing is an
act or sentence of the Pope, decreeing religious worship aud honours to such men or
women departed, as he sees meet to confer the honour of saintship on. These honours
are seven, and the first of them is, " That they are inrolled in the catalogue of saints,
and must be accounted and called saints by all." — Billarmin Disp. torn. 1. Col. 1496.
z The benefits thereof (viz, of Christ's redemption) " were communicated unto the
elect from the beginning of the world in and by those promises, types, and sacrifices,
wherein he was revealed, and signified to be the Seed of the woman which should
bruise the serpent's head, and the Lamb slain from the banning of the world." —
West. Confess, chap. 8. art. 6.
a So the Septuagint expounds it. Others, an enlivener, not doubting but Adam,
in giving her this name, had the promised life-giving Seed, our Lord Jesus Christ,
particularly in view, amongst the all living she was to be mother of.
MODERN DIVINITY. 191
Ant. Well, I am peasuaded that Adam did understand this seed
of the woman to be meant of Christ.
Evan. Assure yourself, that not only Adam, but all the rest of
the godly fathers did so understand it, as is manifest in the Thar-
gum, or Chaldee Bible, which is the ancient translation of Jerusa-
lem, has it thus: "Between thy son and her son :" adding further
by way of comment, " So long, serpent, as the woman's children
keep the law, they kill thee ! and when they cease to do so, thou
stingest them in the heel, and hast power to hurt them much ; but
whereas for their harm there is a sure remedy, for thee there is
none ; for in the last days they shall crush thee all to pieces, by
means of Christ their king." And this was it which did support
and uphold their faith until the time of Abraham.
§ 2. Ant. What followed then ?
Evan. Why, then, the promise was turned into a covenant with
Abraham and his seed, and oftentimes repeated, that in his seed all
nations should be blessed, b (Gen. xii. 3 ; xviii. 18 ; and xxii. 18.)
which promise and covenant was the very voice itself of the gospel,
it being a true testimony of Jesus Christ; as the apostle Paul
beareth witness, saying, the Scripture foreseeing that God would
justify the Gentiles through faith, preached before the gospel unto
Abraham, (Gal. iii. 8.) saying, " In thee shall all the nations of the
earth be blessed." And the better to confirm Abraham's faith in this
promise of Christ, it is said, (Gen. xiv. 19,) that Melchisedec came forth
and met him, and blessed him. Now, says the apostle, (Ileb. vii. 1 — 3,
and vi. 20,) " This Melchisedec was a priest of the most high God,
and king of righteousness, and king of peace, without father and
without mother, and so like unto the Son of God, who is a priest
for ever, after the order of Melchisedec ;" and both king of righte-
b The ancient promise given to Adam was the first gospel, the covenant of grace ;
for man, by his fall, " having made himself incapable of life by the covenant of works,
the Lord was pleased to make a second, commonly called the covenant jof grace,''
Gen. iii. 15. — IVestm. Confess, chap. 7, art. 3. When that promise or covenant, in
which the persons it respected were not expressly designed, was renewed, Abraham
and his seed were designed exprsssly therein ; and so it became a covenant with Abra-
ham and his seed. And the promise being still the same as to the substance of it,
was often repeated, and in the repitition more fully and clearly opened. So Jesus
Christ, revealed to Adam only as the seed of the woman, was thereafter revealed to
Abraham as Abraham's own seed ; and thus was it believed and embraced unto salva-
tion in the various revelations thereof. " God did seek Adam again, call upon him,
rebuke his sin, convict him of the same; and, in the end, made unto him a most joy-
ful promise, viz. that the seed of the woman should break down the serpent's head;
that is, he should destroy the works of the devil ; which promise, as it was repeated,
and made more clear from time to time, so was it embraced with joy, and may con-
192 THE MARROW OF
ousness and king of peace, ( Jer. xxiii. 6 ; Isa. ix. 6) ; yea, and
without father as touching his manhood, and without mother as
touching his godhead. Whereby we are given to understand, that
it was the purpose of God that Melchisedec should in these particu-
lars, resemble the person and office of Jesus Christ the Son of God ;
and so, by God's own appointment, be a type of him to Abraham, to
ratify and confirm the promise made to him and his seed, in respect
of the eternal covenant, c namely, that he and his believing seed
should be so blessed in Christ, as Melchisedec had blessed him. d
Nay, let me tell you more, some have thought it most probable, yea,
and have said, if we search out this truth without partiality, we
shall find that this Melchisedec, which appeared unto Abraham, was
none other than the Son of God, manifest by a special dispensation
and privilege unto Abraham in the flesh, who is therefore said to
have " seen his day and rejoiced," e John viii. 56. Moreover, in Gen.
xv. we read that the Lord did again confirm this covenant with
Abraham ; for when Abraham had divided the beasts, God came
between the parts like a smoking furnace and a burning lamp,
which,/ as some have thought, did primarily typify the torment and
rending of Christ ; and the furnace and fiery lamp did typify the
wrath of God running between, and yet did not consume the rent
and torn nature. And the blood of circumcision did typify the
blood of Christ; g and the resolved sacrificing of Isaac on Mount
Moriah, by God's appointment, did prefigure aud foreshow, that by
the offering up of Christ, the promised seed, in the very same place
all nations should be saved. Now, this covenant thus made and con-
firmed with Abraham, was renewed with Isaac, (Gen. xxvi. 4,)
stantly {i. e. most stedfastly) be received of all the faithful, from Adam to Noe, and
from Noe to Abraham, from Abraham to David, and so forth to the incarnation of
Christ Jesus." — Old Confess, art. 4.
c That passed betwixt the Father and the Son from everlasting.
d Melchisedec was unto Abraham a type, to confirm him in the faith, that he and
bis believing seed should be as really blessed in Christ, as he was by Melchisedec.
e This seems to me to be a more than groundless opinion, as being inconsistent with
the Scripture account of Melchisedec, Gen. xiv. 18; Heb. vii. 1 — 4; howbeit it wants
no patrons among the learned; the declaring of which is no just ground to fix it on
our author, especially after his speaking so plainly of Christ and Melchisedec as two
different persons a little before. The text, (John viii. 56,) alleged by the patrons of
that opinion, makes nothing for their purpose: " for all (we mean the faithful fathers
under the law) did see (viz. by faith) the joyful day of Christ Jesus, and did rejoice."
Old Confess, art. 4.
f Namely, the passing of the furnace and burning Ian lp between the pieces.
g Heb. ix. 2'2, " And almost all things are by the law purged with blood : and
without shedding of blood is no remission." Compare Gen. xvii. 14, " The uncir-
cumciscd man-child shall be cut off from his people : he hath broken my covenant."
MODEEN DIVINITY. 193
and made known unto Jesns Christ himself; for that man which
wrestled with Jacob was none other but the man Christ Jesus; for
himself said, that Jacob should be called Israel, a wrestler and pre-
vailer with God ; and Jacob called the name of the place Peniel, be-
cause he had " seen God face to face." Gen. xxxii. 28, 30. And
Jacob left it by his last will unto his children in these words, " The
sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a law-giver from between
his feet, till Shiloh come," Gen. xlix. 10; that is to say, of Judah
shall kings come one after another, and many in number, till at last
the Lord Jesus come, who is King of kings, and Lord of lords ; or,
as the Targum of Jerusalem and Onkelos do translate it, until Christ
the anointed come.
Nom. But, sir, are you sure that this promised seed was meant of
Christ ?
Evan. The apostle puts that out of doubt, Gal. iii. 16, saying,
" Now unto Abraham and to his seed were these promises made, h
He says not — and to seeds, as of many, but as of one, and thy seed
which is Christ." i And so no doubt but these godly patriarchs did
understand it. w
Ant. But, sir, the great promise that was made to them, as I con-
ceive, and which they seemed to have most regard to, was the land
of Canaan.
Evan. There is no doubt but these godly patriarchs did see their
heavenly inheritance (by Christ) through the promise of the land of
Canaan, as the apostle testifies of Abraham, (Heb. xi. 9, 10,) say-
ing, " He sojourned in a strange country, and looked for a city hav-
ing foundations, whose builder is God." " "Whereby it is evident,"
says Calvin, (Instit. p. 204,) " that the height and eminency of
Abraham's faith was the looking for an everlasting life in heaven."
The like testimony he gives of Sarah, Isaac, and Jacob, saying, " All
these died in the faith, j Heb. xi. 13; implying that they did
not expect to receive the fruit of the promise till after death. And,
therefore, in all their travels they had before their eyes the blessed-
ness of the life to come ; and which caused old Jacob to say at his
h Namely of the promises of the everlasting inheritance, typifyed by the land of Ca-
naan : the which promises see Gen. xii, 7 ; and xiii. 15.
i That is, Christ mystical, Christ and the Church, the head and the members ; vet
so as the dignity of the head being still reserved — he is to be understood here prim-
arily, which is sufficient for our author's purposes; and his members secondarily only.
j That these three, together with Abraham, are here meant by the apostle, and
not these mentioned in the first seven verses of the chapter, if it is considered, that
of them he spnke last, vers. 9, II. To none before them was the promise of Canaan
given ; and they were the persons who had opportunity to have returned to the coun-
try whence they came out, ver. 15.
194 THE MARROW OF
death, " Lord, I have waited for thy salvation," Gen. xlix. 18.
The which speech the Chaldee paraphrase expounds thus, " Our fa-
ther Jacob said not, I expect the salvation of Gideon, son of Joash,
which is a temporal salvation, nor the salvation of Saiuson, son of
Manoah, which is a transitory salvation, hut the salvation of Christ
the Son of David, who shall come, and bring unto himself the sons
of Israel, whose salvation my soul desireth." And so you see that
this covenant, made with Abraham in Christ, was the comfort and
support of these and the rest of the godly fathers, until their de-
parture out of Egypt.
Ant. And what followed then ?
Evan. Why, then, Christ Jesus was most clearly manifested unto
them in the passover lamb; for, as that lamb was to be without spot
or blemish, (Exod. xii. 5.) even so was Christ, (1 Pet. i. 19.) And
as that lamb was taken up the tenth day of the first new moon in
March, even so on the very same day of the same month came Christ
to Jerusalem to suffer his passion. And as that lamb was killed on
the fourteenth day at even, just then, on the same day, and at the
same hour, did Christ give up the ghost ; and as the blood of that
lamb was to be sprinkled on the Israelites' doors, (Exod. xii. 7-)
even so is the blood of Christ sprinkled on believers' hearts by faith.
1 Pet. i. 2. And their deliverance out of Egypt was a figure of
their redemption by Christ, k their passiug through the Red Sea
was a type of baptism, I when Christ should come in the flesh, and
their manna in the wilderness, and water out of the rock, did resem-
ble the sacrament of the Lord's supper ; and hence it is that the
apostle says, (1 Cor. x. 2 — 4.) " They did all eat the same spiritual
meat, and did all drink the same spiritual drink; for they drank of
k That is, the deliverance of the Israelites oat of Egypt was a figure of the redemp-
tion of believers by Christ.
I Not that it prefigured or represented baptism as a proper and prophetical type there-
of, though some orthodox divines seem to be of that mind ; but that (as the author
expresses himself, in the case of the manna and the water out of the rock) it resem-
bled baptism, being a like figure (or type) thereunto, as the apostle Peter determines,
concerning Noah's ark with the waters of the deluge, (1 Pet. iii. 21.) even as the
printer's types are types of the letters impressed on the paper, both signifying one and
the same word. For the ancient church is expressly said to have been " baptized in
the sea," (1 Cor. x. 1, 2.) and as the rock, with the waters flowing from it, did not
signify the Lord's Supper, but the thing signified by that New Testament Sacrament,
namely, Christ, (ver. 4.) so their baptism in the sea did not signify our baptism itself,
but the thing represented thereby. And thus it was a type or figure answering to and
resembling the baptism of the New Testament church; the one being an extraordinary
sacrament of the Old Testament, and the other an ordinary sacrament of the New,
both representing the same thing.
MODEEN DIVINITY. 195
that spiritual rock that followed them, and that rock was Christ."
And when they were come to Mount Sinai, the Lord delivered the
ten commandments unto them.
§ 3. Ant. But whether were the ten commandments, as they were
delivered to them on Mount Sinai, the covenant of works or no ?
Evan. They were delivered to them as the covenant of works, m
Nom. But, by your favour, sir, you know that these people were
the posterity of Abraham, and therefore under that covenant of
grace which God made with their father ; and therefore I do not
think that they were delivered to them as the covenant of works ;
for you know the Lord never delivers the covenant of works to any
that are under the covenant of grace.
Evan. Indeed it is true, the Lord did manifest so much love to
the body of this nation, that all the natural seed of Abraham were
externally, and by profession under the covenant of grace made
with their father Abraham ; though, it is to be feared, many of
m As to this point, there are different sentiments among orthodox divines ; though
all of them do not agree, that the way of salvation was the same under the Old and
New Testament, and that the Sinai covenant, whatever it was, carried no prejudice to
the promise made unto Abraham, and the way of salvation therein revealed, but served
to lead men to Jesus Christ. Our Author is far from being singular in this decision of
this question. I adduce only the testimonies of three late learned writers. " That
God made such a covenant (viz. the covenant of works) with our first parents, is con-
firmed by several parts of Scripture, Hos. vi. 7 Gal. iv. 24." — Willisons Sacr.
Cat. p. 3. The words of the text last quoted are these : " For these are the two
covenants, the one from the Mount Sinai which gendereth to bondage." Hence it
appears, that in the judgment of this author, the covenant from Mount Sinai was the
covenant of works, otherwise there is no shadow of reason from this text for what it is
adduced to prove. The Rev. Messrs Flint and M'Claren, in their elaborate and sea-
sonable treatises against Professor Simpson's doctrine, (for which I make no question
but their names will be in honour with posterity,) speak to the same purpose. The
former having adduced the forecited text, Gal. iv. 24. says, Jam dua fozdera, Sfc.
that is, " Now here are two covenants mentioned, the first the legal one, by sin ren-
dered ineffectual, entered into with Adam, and now again promulgate." (Exam.
Doctr. D. Job. Simp. p. 125.) And afterwards, speaking of the law of works, he
adds, Atque hoc est Mud fcedus, Sfc. that is, " And this is that covenant promulgate
on Mount Sinai, which is called one of the covenants," Gal. iv. 24. Ibid. p. 131.
The words of the latter, speaking of the covenant of works, are these, " Yea, it is ex-
pressly called a covenant," Hos. vi. and Gal. iv. And Mr. Gillespie proves strongly,
that Gal. iv. is understood of the covenant of works and grace. See his Ark of the
Testament, part 1. chap. 5. p. 180. The New scheme examined, p. 176. The de-
livering of the ten commandments on Mount Sinai as the covenant of works, neces-
sarily includes in it the delivering of them as a perfect rule of righteousness; foras-
much as that covenant did always contain in it such a rule, the true knowledge of
which the Israelites were at that time in great want of, as our author afterwards
teaches.
196 THE MARROW OF
them were still under the covenant of works made with their father
Adam, n
Norn. But, sir, you know, in the preface to the ten commandments
the Lord calls himself by the name of their God in general ; and
therefore it should seem that they were all of them the people of
God. o
Evan. That is nothing to the purpose : p for many wicked and
n The strength of the objection in the preceding paragraph lies here, namely, that at
this rate, the same persons, at one and the same time, were both under the covenant of
works, and under the covenant of grace, which is absurd. Answ. The unbelieving
Israelites were under the covenant of grace made with their father Abraham extenally
and by profession, in respect of their visible .church state ; but under the covenant of
works made with their father Adam internally and really, in respect of the state of their
souls before the Lord. Herein there is no absurdity ; for to this day many in the visible
church are thus, in these different respects, under both covenants. Farther, as to be-
lievers among them, they were internally and really, as well as externally, under
the covenant of grace; and only externally under the covenant of works, and that,
not as a covenant co-ordinate with, but subordinate and subservient unto, the covenant
of grace : and in this there is no more inconsistency than in the former.
o As delivered from the covenant of works, by virtue of the covenant of grace.
p That will not, indeed, prove them all to have been the people of God in the sense
before given, for the reason here adduced by our author.
Howbeit, the preface to the ten commandments deserves a particular notice, in the
matter, of the Sinai transaction, Exod. xx. 2, " 1 am the Lord thy God, which have
brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage." Hence it is evi-
dent to me, that the covenant of grace was delivered to the Israelites on Mount Sinai.
For the Son of God, the messenger of the covenant of grace, spoke these words to a
select people, the natural seed of Abraham, typical of his whole spiritual seed. He
avoucheth himself to be their God ; namely, in virtue of the promise, or covenant
made with Abraham, Gen. xvii. 7, " I will establish my covenant — to be a God unto
thee, and to thy seed after thee : and their God, which brought them out of the land
of Egypt ; according to the promise made to Abraham at the most solemn renewal of
the covenant with him, Gen. xv. 14, " Afterward shall they come out with great sub-
stance." And he first declares himself their God, and then requires obedience, ac-
cording to the manner of the covenant with Abraham, Gen. xvii. 1, " 1 am the Al-
mighty God (i e. in the language of the covenant, The almighty God to thee, to make
thee for ever blessed through the promised seed) walk thou before me, and be thou
perfect."
But that the covenant of works was also, for special ends, repeated and delivered to
the Israelites on Mount Sinai, I cannot refuse, 1. Because of the apostle's testimony,
Gal. iv. 24, " These are the two covenants; the one from Mount Sinai, which gen-
dereth to bondage." For the children of this Sinai covenant the apostle here treats
of, are excluded from the eternal inheritance, as Ishmael was from Canaan, the type of
it, ver. 30, " Cast out the bond-woman and her son ; for the son of the bond-woman
shall not be heir with the son of the free woman ;" but this could never be said of the
children of the covenant of grace under any dispensation, though both the law and co-
venant from Sinai itself, and its children, were even before the coming of Christ under
a sentence of exclusion, to be execute on them respectively in due time. 2. The Da-
modern divinity. 197
ungodly men, being in the visible church, and under the external
covenant, are called the chosen of God, and the people of God,
though they be not so. In like manner were many of these
ture of the covenant of works is most expressly in the New Testament brought in,
propounded, and explained, from the Mosaical dispensation. The commands of it
from Exod. xx. by our blessed Saviour, Matth. xix. 17 — 19, " If thou wilt enter into
life, keep the commandments. He saith unto him, Which ? Jesus said, Thou shalt
do no murder, thou shalt not commit adultery," &c. The promise of it, Rom. x. 5,
" Moses describes the righteousness which is of the law, that the man which doth these
things shall live by them." The commands and promise of it together, see Luke x.
25 — 28. The terrible sanction of it, Gal. iii. 10, " For it is written, (viz. Deut.
xxvii. 26,) Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written
in the book of the law to do them." 3. To this may be added the opposition betwixt
the law and grace so frequently inculcated in the New Testament, especially in Paul's
epistles. See one text for all, Gal. iii. 12, " And the law is not of faith, but the man
that doeth them shall live in them." 4. The law from Mount Sinai was a covenant,
Gal. iv. 24, " These are the two covenants, the one from the Mount Sinai ;" and such
a covenant as had a semblance of disannuling the covenant of grace, Gal. iii. 17,
" The covenant that was confirmed before of God in Christ, the law which was 430 years
after, cannot disannul ;" yea, such a one as did, in his own nature, bear a method of
obtaining the inheritance, >o far different from that of the promise, that it was incon-
sistent with it ; " For if the inheritance be of the law, it is no more of promise,"
Gal. iii. 18, wherefore the covenant of the law from Mount Sinai could not be
the covenant of grace, unless one will make this last not only a covenant seeming
to destroy itself, but really inconsistent ; but it was the covenant of works, which indeed
had such a semblance, anil in its own nature did bear such a method as before noted ;
howbeit, as Ainswoith says, " The covenant of the law now given could not disannul
the covenant of grace," Gal. iii. 17. — Annot. on Exod. xix. I.
Wherefore I conceive the two covenants to have been both delivered on Mount
Sinai to the Israelites. First, The covenant of grace made with Abraham, con-
tained in the preface, repeated and promulgate there unto Israel, to be believed and
embraced by faith, that they might be saved ; to which were annexed the ten com-
mandments, given by the Mediator Christ, the head of the covenant, as a rule of life
to his covenant people. Secondly, The covenant of works made with Adam, con-
tained in the same ten commands, delivered with thunderings and lightnings, the
meaning of which was afterwards cleared by Moses, describing the righteousness of the
law aud sanction thereof, repeated and promulgate to the Israelites there, as the ori-
ginal perfect rule of righteousness, to be obeyed ; and yet were they no more bound
hereby to seek righteousness by the law than the young man was by our Saviour's
saying to him, Mat. xix. 17, 18, '' If thou wilt enter into life, keep the command-
ments — Thou shalt do no murdur," &c. The latter was a repetition of the former.
Thus there is no confounding of the two covenants of grace and works ; but the
latter was added to the former as subservient unto it, to turn their eyes towards the
promise, or covenant of grace: "God gave it to Abraham by promise. Wherefore
then serveth the law ? it was added, because of transgressions, till the Seed should
come," Gal. iii. lo, 19. So it was unto the promise given to Abraham, that this
subservient covenant was added ; and that promise we have found in the preface to
the ten commands. To it, then, was the subservient covenant, according to the
apostle, added, put, or set to, as the word properly signifies. So that it was no part
198 THE MARROW OF
Israelites called the people of God, though indeed they were not so.
Nam. But, sir, was the same covenant of works made with them
that was made with Adam ?
Evan. For the general substance of the duty, the law delivered on
Mount Sinai, and formerly engraven in man's heart, was one and
the same ; so that at Mount Sinai the Lord delivered no new thing,
only it came more gently to Adam before his fall, but after his fall
came thunder with it.
Nom. Ay, sir, but yourself said, the ten commandments, as they
were written in Adam's heart, were but the matter of the covenant
of works, and not the covenant itself, till the form was annexed to
them, that is to say, till God and man were thereupon agreed : now
we do not find that God and these people did agree upon such terms
at mount Sinai.
Evan. No ; q say you so ? do you not remember that the Lord
of the covenant of grace, the which was entire to the fathers, before the time that it
was set to it; and yet is, to the New Testament church, after that it is taken away
from it: for, says the apostle, " It was added till the Seed should come." Hence it
appears, that the covenant of grace wa9, both in itself, and in God's intention, the
principal part of the Sinai transaction : nevertheless the covenant of works was the
most conspicuous part of it, and lay most open to the view of the people.
According to this account of the Sinai transaction, the ten commands, there
delivered, must come under a twofold notion or consideration; namely, as the law of
Christ, and as the law of works : and this is not strange, if it is considered, that they
were twice written on tables of stone, by the Lord himself, — the first tables the
work of God, Exod. xxxii. 16, which were broken in pieces, verse 19, called the
tables of the covenant, Deut. ix. 11, 15, — the second tables the work of Mose9, the
typical Mediator, Exod. xxxiv. 1 ; deposited at first (it would seem) in the tabernacle,
mentioned chap, xxxiii. 7, afterward, at the rearing of the tabernacle with all its fur-
niture, laid up in the ark within the tabernacle, chap. xxv. 16 ; and whether or not
some such thing is intimated, by the double accentuation of the decalogue, let the
learned determine ; but to the ocular inspection it is evident, that the preface to the
ten commands, Exod. xx. 2, and Deut. v. 6, stands in the original, both as a part of
a sentence joined to the first command, and also as an entire sentence separated from
it, and shut up by itself.
Upon the whole, one may compare with this the first promulgation of the covenant
of grace, by the messenger of the covenant in paradise, Gen. iii. 15, and the flaming
sword placed there by the same hand, " turning every way to keep the way of the
Tree of Life."
q Here there is a large aJdition in the 9th edition of this book, London, 1699.
It well deserves a place, and is as follows; " I do not say, God made the covenant of
works with them, that they might obtain life and salvation thereby ; no, the law
was become weak through the flesh, as to any such purpose, Rom. viii. 3. But he
repeated, or gave a new edition of the law, and that as a covenant of works, for their
humbling and conviction; and so do his ministers preach the law to unconverted sin-
ners still, that they who " desire to be under the law may hear what the law says,
Gal. iv. 21. And as to what you say of their not agreeing to this covenant, I pray
MODERN DIVINITY. 199
consented and agreed, when he said, (Lev. xviii. 5.) " Ye shall
therefore keep my statutes and my judgments, which if a man do,
he shall live in them ;" and in Dent, xxvii. 26, when he said,
" Cursed is he that confirmeth not all the words of this law, to do
them ?" And do you not remember that the people consented,
(Exod. xix. 8.) and agreed, when they said, " All that the Lord hath
spoken we will do ?" And doth not the apostle Paul give evidence
that these words were the form of the covenant of works, when he
says, (Rom. x. 5.) " Moses describeth the righteousness which is of
the law, that the man that doeth these things shall live in them ;"
and when he says, (Gal. iii. 10.) " For it is written, Cursed is every
one that continueth not in all things written in the book of the law
to do them." r And in Deut. iv. 13, Moses in express terms calls it
a covenant, saying, *' And he declared unto you his covenant, which
he commanded you to perform, even the ten commandments, and
he wrote them upon tables of stone." Now, this was not the co-
venant of grace ; for Moses afterwards, (Deut. v. 3.) speaking of
this covenant, says, " God made not this covenant with your fathers,
but with you ;" and by " fathers" all the patriarchs unto Adam may
be meant, (says Mr. Ainsworth,) who had the promise of the co-
venant of Christ, s Therefore, if it had been the covenant of grace,
take notice, that the covenant of works was made with Adam, not for himself only,
but as he was a public person representing all his posterity, and so that covenant was
made with the whole nature of man in him, as appears by Adam's sin and curse
coming upon all, Rom. v. 12, &c. ; Gai. iii. 10. Hence all men are born under that
covenant, whether they agree to it or no ; though indeed there is by nature such a
proneness in all to desire to be under that covenant, and to work for life, that if
natural men's consent were asked, they would readily (though ignorantly) take upon
them to do all that the Lord requireth ; for do you not remember," &c.
r That the conditional promise, Lev. xviii. 5. (to which agrees Exod. xix. 8, and
the dreadful threatening, Deut. xxvii. 26.) were both given to the Israelites, as well
as the ten commands, is beyond question ; and that according to the apostle, Rom. x.
5. Gal. iii. 10, they were the form of the covenant of works, is as evident as the re-
peating of the words, and expounding them so, can make it. How then one can refuse
the covenant of works to have been given to the Israelites, I cannot see. Mark the
Westminster Confession upon the head of the covenant of works : " The first cove-
nant made with man was a covenant of works, wherein life was promised to Adam,
and in him to his posterity, upon condition of perfect and personal obedience." And
this account of the being and nature of that covenant is there proven from these very
texts among others, Rom. x. 5. Gal. iii. 10. chap. 7. art. 2.
s " But the covenant of the law (adds he) came after, as the apostle observeth,
Gen. iii. 17 They had a greater benefit than their fathers ; for though the law could
not give them life, yet is was a school master unto (i. e.) to bring them unto Christ,
Gal. iii. 21 — 24." Unsworth on Deut. v. 3.
200 the xabrow
he would have said, God did make this covenant with them, rather
than that he did not. t
Norn. And do any of our godly and modern writers agree with
you on this point?
Evan. Yes, indeed. Polanus says, " The covenant of works is
that in which God promiseth everlasting life unto a man that in all
respects performeth perfect obebience to the law of works, adding
thereunto threatenings of eternal death, if he shall not perform per-
fect obedience thereto. God made this covenant in the beginning
with the first man Adam, whilst he was in the first estate of integ-
rity : the same covenant God did repeat and make again by Moses
with the people of Israel." And Dr. Preston, on the New Cove-
nant, (p. 317-) says, "The covenant of works runs iu these terms,
" Do this aud thou shalt live, and I will be thy God." This was
the covenant which was made with Adam, and the covenant that is
expressed by Moses in the moral law." And Mr. Pemble (Yind.
Fid. p. 152.) says, " By the covenant of works we understand what
we call in one word, "the law," namely, that means of bringing man
to salvation, which is by perfect obedience unto the will of God.
Hereof there are also two several administrations : the first is with
Adam before his fall, when immortality and happiness was promised
to man, and confirmed by an external symbol of the tree of life,
upon condition that he continued obedient to God, as well in all
other things, as in that particular commandment of not eating of
the tree of knowledge of good and evil. The second administration
of this covenant was the renewing thereof with the Israelites at
Mount Sinai : where, after the light of nature began to grow darker
and corruption had in time worn out the characters of religion aud
virtue first graven in man's heart, u God revived the law by a com-
pendious and full declaration of all duties required of man towards
t The transaction at Sinai or Horeb (for they are but one mountain) was a mixed
dispensation ; there was the promise or covenant of grace, and also the law ; the one
a covenant to be believed, the otber a covenant to be done, and thus the apostle states
the difference betwixt these two, Gal. iii. 12, " And the law is not of faith, but the
man that doeth them shall live in them. As to the former, viz. the covenant to be
believed it was given to their fathers as well as to them. Of the latter, viz. the cove-
nant to be done. Moses speaks expressly, Deut. iv. 12, 13. '* The Lord spake unto
you out of the midst of the fire, and he declared unto you his covenant, which he com-
manded you to perform (<>r do) even ten commandments." And chap. v. 3, he tells
the people no less expressly, that " The Lord made not this covenant with their
fathers. "
it That is, had worn them out, in the same measure and degree as the light of na-
ture was darkened ; but neither the one nor the other was ever fully done, Rom. ii.
14, 15.
MODERN DIVINITY.
201
God or his neighbour, expressed in the decalogue ; according to the
tenor of which law God entered into covenant with the Israelites,
promising to be their God in bestowing upon them all blessings
of life and happiness, upon condition that they would be his peo-
ple, obeying all things that he had commanded; which condi-
tion they accepted of, promising an absolute obedience, (Exod.
xix. 8.) "All thiugs which the Lord hath said we will do;"
and also submitting themselves to all punishment in case they
disobeyed, saying 'Amen' to the curse of the law, 'cursed is
every one that confirmeth not all the words of the law; and all the
people shall say Amen.' " And Mr. "Walker on the covenant,
(p. 128.) says, that " the first part of the covenant, which God made
with Israel at Horeb, was nothing else but a renewing of the old
covenant of works v which God made with Adam in paradise." And
it is generally laid down by our divines, that we are by Christ de-
livered from the law as it is a covenant, w
Norn. But, sir, were the children of Israel at this time better
able to perform the condition of the covenant of works, than either
Adam or any of the old patriarchs were, that God renewed it now
with them, rather than before ?
Evan. No, indeed ; God did not renew it with them now, and not
before, because they were better able to keep it, but because they
had more need to be made acquainted what the covenant of works
is, than those before. For though it is true the ten commandments,
which were at first perfectly written in Adam's heart, were much
obliterated x by his fall, yet some impressions and relics thereof still
remained ; y and Adam himself was very sensible of his fall, and
the rest of the fathers were holpen by tradition ; z and, says
v Wherein 1 differ from this learned author as to this point, and for what reasons
mav be seen, p. 196, note p.
w But not as it is a rule of life, which is the other member of that distinction.
x Both in the heart of Adam himself, and of his descendants in the first ages of the world.
y Both with him and them.
z The doctrine of the fall, with whatsoever other doctrine was necessary to salva-
tion, was handed down from Adam, the fathers communicating the same to their chil-
dren and children's children. There were but eleven patriarchs before the flood; 1.
Adam, 2. Seth, 3. Enos, 4. Cainan, 5. Mahalaleel, 6. Jared, 7. Enoch, 8. Methuselah,
9. Lamech, JO. Noah, 1 1 . Shem. Adam having lived 930 years, Gen. v. 5, wag known
to Lamech, Noah's father, with whom he lived 66 years, and much longer with
the rest of the fathers before him ; so that Lamech, and those before him, might have
the doctrine from Adam's own mouth. Methuselah lived with Adam 243 years, and
with Shem 98 years before the deluge. See Gen. v. And what Shem (who after the
deluge, lived 502 years, Gen. xi. 10, 11,) had learned from Methuselah, he had oc-
casion to teach Arphaxad, Salah, Eber, Peleg, Reu, Serug, Nahor, Terah, Abraham,
Isaac, Gen. xxi. 5, and Jacob, to whose 51st year he (viz. Shem) reached, Gen. xi.
Vol. VII. n
202 THE MARROW OF
Cameron, " God did speak to the patriarchs from heaven, yea, and
he spake unto them hy his angels :"« but now, by this time, sin
had almost obliterated and defaced the impressions of the law writ-
ten in their hearts ; b and by their being so long in Egypt, they
were so corrupted, that the instructions and ordinances of their
fathers were almost worn out of mind ; and their fall in Adam was
almost forgotten, as the apostle testifies, Rom. v. 13, 14. saying,
"Before the time of the law, sin was in the world, but sin is not
imputed when there is no law." Nay, in that long course of time
betwixt Adam and Moses, men had forgotten what was sin ; so,
although God had made a promise of blessing to Abraham, and to all
his seed, that would plead interest in it, c yet these people at this
time were proud and secure, and heedless of their estate ; and though
" sin was in them, and death reigned over them," yet they being
without a law to evidence this sin and death unto ther consciences, d
they did not impute it unto themselves, they would not own it, nor
charge themselves with it ; and so by consequence found no need
of pleading the promise made to Abraham ; e Rom. v. 20. therefore,
" the law entered," that Adam's offeuce and their own actual trans-
gression might abound, so that now the Lord saw it needful, that
there should be a new edition and publication of the covenant of
works, the sooner to compel the elect unbelievers to come to Christ
the promised seed, and that the grace of God in Christ to the elect
believers might appear the more exceeding glorious. So that you
see the Lord's intention therein was, that they, by looking upon
this covenant, might be put in mind what was their duty of old,
when they were in Adam's loins; yea and what was their duty still,
if they would stand to that covenant, and so go the old and natural
10; and xxi. 5 ; and xxv. 26, compared, (Vid. Bail. Op. Hist. Chrou. p. 2, 3.)
Thus one may perceive, how the nature of the law and covenant of works given to
Adam, might be far better known to them, than to the Israelites after their long bon-
dage in Egypt.
a That is, and besides all this, God spake to the patriarchs immediately and by
angels. But neither of these do we find during the time of the bondage in Egypt
until the angel of the Lord appeared to Moses in the bush, and ordered him to go and
bring the people out of Egypt, Exod. iii.
b The remaining impressions of the law on the hearts of the Israelites.
c By faith ; believing, embracing, and appropriating it to themselves, Heb. xi. 13 ;
Jer. iii. 4.
d Inasmuch as the remaining impressions of the law on their hearts were so weak,
that they were not sufficient for the purpose.
e By faith proponing it as their only defence, and opponing it to the demands of the
law or covenant of works, as their only plea.
MODERN DIVINITY. 2U3
way to work ; yea, and hereby they were also to see what was their
present infirmity in not doing their duty :/ that so they seeing an
impossibility of obtaining life by that way of works, first appointed
in Paradise, they might be humbled, and more heedfully mind the
promise made to their father Abraham, and hasten to lay hold on
the Messiah, or promised seed.
Nom. Then, sir, it seems that the Lord did not renew the cove-
nant of works with them, to the intent that they should obtain
eternal life by their yielding obedience to it?
Evan. No, indeed ; God never made the covenant of works with
any man since the fall, either with expectation that he should fulfil
it, g or to give him life by it; for God never appoints any thing to
an end, to the which it is utterly unsuitable and improper. Now
the law, as it is the covenant of works, is become weak and unpro-
fitable to the purpose of salvation; A and therefore God never
appointed it to man, since the fall, to that end. And besides, it is
manifest that the purpose of God, in the covenant made with
Abraham, was to give life and salvation by grace and promise ;
and therefore his purpose in renewing the covenant of works, was
not, neither could be, to give life and salvation by working; for
then there would have been contradictions in the covenants, and
instability in him that made them. Wherefore let no man imagine
that God published the covenant of works on Mount Sinai, as
though he had been mutable, and so changed his determination in
that covenant made with Abraham ; neither yet let any man sup-
pose, that God now in process of time had found out a better way
for man's salvation than he knew before; for as the covenant of
grace made with Abraham had been needless, if the covenant of
works made with Adam would have given him and his believing
seed life ; so, after the covenant of grace was once made, it was
needless to renew the covenant of works, to the end that righteous-
ness and life should be had by the observation of it. The which
will yet more evidently appear, if we consider, that the apostle,
speaking of the covenant of works as it was given on Mount Sinai,
says, " It was added because of transgressions," Gal. iii. 19. It
was not set up as a solid rule of righteousness, as it was given to
y^How far they came short of, aod could not reach unto the obedience they owed
unto God, according to the perfection of the holy law.
<7 Nor before the fall neither, properly speaking ; but the expression is agreeable to
Scripture style, Isa. v. 4, " Wherefore when I looked it should bring forth grapes,
brought it forth wild grapes?"
h Rom. viii. 3, " For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the
flesh; God sending his own Son," &c.
N 2
204 THE MARROW OP
Adam in paradise, but was added or put to ; i it was not set up as a
thing in gross by itself.
Norn. Then, sir, it would seem that the covenant of works was
added to the covenant of grace, to make it more complete ?
Evan. 0, no! you are not so to understand the apostle, as though
it were added by way of ingrediency as a part of the covenant of
grace, as if that covenant had been incomplete without the covenant
of works ; for then the same covenant should have consisted of con-
tradictory materials, and so it should have overthrown itself; for,
says the apostle, " If it be by grace, then it is no more of works ;
otherwise grace is no more grace : but if it be of works, then it is
no more of grace ; otherwise work is no more work," Rom. xi. 6.
But it was added by way of subserviency and attendance, the better
to advance and make effectual the covenant of grace ; so that
although the same covenant that was made with Adam was renewed
on Mount Sinai, yet I say still, it was not for the same purpose.
For this was it that God aimed at, in making the covenant of works
with man in innocency, to have that which was his due from man :j
but God made it with the Israelites for no other end, than that man
being thereby convinced of his weakness, might flee to Christ. .So
that it was renewed only to help forward and introduce another and
a better covenant ; and so to be a manuduction unto Christ, viz. to
discover sin, to waken the conscience, and to convince them of their
own impotency, and so to drive them out of themselves to Christ.
Know it then, I beseech you, that all this while there was no other
way of life given, either in whole or in part, than the covenant of
grace. All this while God did but pursue the design of his own
grace ; and therefore was there no inconsistency either in God's will
or acts ; only such was his mercy, that he subordinated the cove-
nant of works, and made it subservient to the covenant of grace,
and so to tend to evangelical purposes.
Nom. But yet, sir, raethinks it is somewhat strange that the Lord
i It was not set up by itself as an entire rule of righteousness, to which alone they
were to look who desired righteousness and salvation, as it was in the case of upright
Adam, " For no man, since the fall, can attain to righteousness and life by the moral
law," Lar. Cat. ques. 94. But it was added to the covenant of grace, that by look-
ing at it men might see what kind of righteousness it is by which they can be justified
in the sight of God ; and that by means thereof, finding themselves destitute of that
righteousness, they might be moved to embrace the covenant of grace, in which that
righteousness is held forth to be received by faith.
;' This was the end of the work, namely, of making the covenant of works with
Adam, but not of the repeating of it at Sinai ; it was also the end or design of the
worker, namely of God, who made that covenant with Adam, to have his due from
man, and he got it from the Man Christ Jesus.
MODERN DIVINITY. 205
should put them upon doing the law, and also promise them life for
doing, and yet never intend it.
Evan. Though he did so, yet did he neither require of them that
which was unjust, nor yet dissemble with them in the promise ; for
the Lord may justly require perfect obedience at all men's hands, by
virtue of that covenant which was made with them in Adam ; and
if any man could yield perfect obedience to the law, both in doing
and suffering, he should have eternal life ; for we may not deny
(says Calvin) but that the reward of eternal salvation belongeth to
the upright obedience of the law. k But God knew well enough
that the Israelites were never able to yield such an obedience ; and
yet he saw it meet to propound eternal life to them upon these
terms ; that so he might speak to them in their own humour, as in-
deed it was meet : for they swelled with mad assurance in them-
selves, saying, " All that the Lord commandeth we will do," and be
obedient, Exod. xix. 8. Well, said the Lord, if ycu will needs be
doing, why here is a law to be kept ; and if you can fully observe
the righteousness of it, you shall be saved : sending them of pur-
pose to the law, to awaken and convince them, to sentence and
humble them, and to make them see their own folly in seeking for
life that way ; in short, to make them see the terms under which
they stood, that so they might be brought out of themselves, and
expect nothing from the law, in relation to life, but all from Christ.
For how should a man see his need of life by Christ, if he do not
first see that he is fallen from the way of life ? and how should he
understand how far he had strayed from the way of life, unless he
do first find what is that way of life ? therefore it was needful that
the Lord should deal with them after such a manner to drive them
out of themselves, and from all confidence in the works of the law ;
that so, by faith in Christ, they might obtain righteousness and life.
And just so did our Saviour also deal with that young expounder of
the law, Matth. xix. 16, who, it seems, was sick of the same disease,
" Good Master," says he, " what shall I do that I may inherit eter-
nal life ?" He doth not, says Calvin, simply ask, which way, or by
what means he should come to eternal life, but what good he should
do to get it ; whereby it appears, that he was a proud justiciary,
one that swelled in fleshly opinion that he could keep the law and
be saved by it ; therefore he is worthily sent to the law to work
himself weary, and so see need to come to Christ for rest. And
thus you see the Lord, to the former promises made to the fathers,
A That is, the perfect obedience of the law, as it is saiil, Eccl, vii. 29, " God made
man upright."
206 THE MARROW OF
added a fiery law, which he gave from Mount Sinai, in thundering
and lightning, and with a terrible voice, to the stubborn and stiff-
necked Israel ; whereby to break and tame them, and to make them
sigh and long for the promised Redeemer.
§ 4. Ant. And, sir, did the law produce this effect in them ?
Evan. Yea, indeed, it did ; as will appear if you consider, that
although, before the publishing of this covenant, they were exceed-
ing proud and confident of their own strength to do all that the
Lord would have them do ; yet when the Lord came to deal with
them as men under the covenant of works, in showiug himself a
terrible judge sitting on the throne of justice, like a mountain
burning with fire, summoning them to come before him by the sound
of a trumpet (yet not to touch the mountain without a mediator,)
Heb. xii. 19, 20, they were not able to endure the voice of words,
nor yet to abide that which was commanded, insomuch as Moses
himself did fear and quake; and they did all of them so fear,
and shake, and shiver, that their peacock-feathers were now pulled
down. This terrible show wherein God gave his law on Mount
Sinai, says Luther, did represent the use of the law: there was
in the people of Israel that came out of Egypt a singular holi-
ness ; they gloried, and said, " We are the people of God, we
will do all that the Lord commandeth." Moreover, Moses sanc-
tified them, and bade them wash their garments, and purify them-
selves, and prepare themselves against the third day : there was
not one of them but was full of holiness. The third day Moses
briugeth the people out of their tents to the mountain in the sight
of the Lord, that they might hear his voice. What followed then ?
why, when they beheld the horrible sight of the mountain smoking
and burning, the black clouds, and the lightnings flashing up and
down in this horrible darkness, and heard the sound of the trumpet
blowing long, and waxing louder and louder, they were afraid, and
standing afar off, they said not to Moses as before, " All that the
Lord commandeth we will do; but talk thou with us, and we will
hear, but let not God talk with ns lest we die." So that now they
saw that they were sinners, and had offended God ; and therefore
stood in need of a mediator to negociate peace, and entreat for re-
conciliation between God and them ; and the Lord highly approved
of their words, as you may see, (Deut. v. 28,) where Moses repeat-
ing what they had said, adds further " The Lord heard the voice of
your word, when ye spake to me, and the Lord said unto me, I have
heard the voice of the words of this people, which they have spoken
unto thee, they have well said, all that they have spoken," viz. in
desiring a mediator. Wherefore I pray you take notice, that they
MODERN DIVINITY. 2l>7
were not commended for saying, " All that the Lord commandeth
we will do." "No," says a godly writer, "they were not praised
for any other thing, than for desiring a mediator ;" I whereupon the
Lord promised Christ unto them, even as Moses testifies, saying,
" The Lord thy God shall raise up unto thee a Prophet like unto
me, from among you, even of your brethren : unto him shall you
hearken, according to all that thou desiredst of the Lord thy God in
Horeb, in the day of the assembly, when thou saidst, " Let me hear
the voice of the Lord my God no more, nor see this great fire any
more, that I die not : and the Lord said unto me, They have well
spoken, I will raise them up a Pophet from among their brethren
like unto thee, and I will put my word in his mouth, and he shall
speak unto them all that I command him;" and to assure us that
Christ was the prophet here spoken of, he himself says unto the
Jews, John v. 46, " If you had believed Moses, you would have be-
lieved me ; for he wrote of me ;" and this was it which he wrote of
him, the apostle Peter witnesses, Acts iii. 22; and so doth the
martyr Stephen, Acts vii. 37- Thus you see, when the Lord had,
by means of the covenant of works made with Adam, humbled them,
and made them sigh for Christ the promised seed, he renewed the
promise with them, yea, and the covenant of grace made with
Abraham, m
l I see no warrant for restraining the sense of this text to their desiring of a medi-
ator. The universal term, "all that they have spoken," includes also their engaging
to receive the law at the mouth of the mediator, which is joined with that their desire,
ver. 27, " Go thou near, and hear all that the Lord our God shall say ; and speak
thou unto us all that the Lord our God shall speak unto thee, and we will hear and
do." ver. 28, " And the Lord said, They have well said all that they have spoken."
But there is a palpable difference between what they spoke, (Exod. xix. 8,) and what
they spoke here, relative to their own practice. The former runs thus, " All that the
Lord hath spoken we will do;" the latter thus, " And we will hear and do;" the ori-
ginal text bears no more. The one relates to obedience only, the other to faith also,
— " We will hear," i.e. believe, Isa. lv. 3 ; John ix. 27. Hence the object of faith.
that which is to be believed, is called a report, properly a hearing, Isa. liii. 1 ; Rom.
x. 16. The former speaks much blind self-confidence ; the latter a sense of duty
and a willing mind, but with all a sense of weakness, and fear of mismanagement.
w Making a promise of Christ to them, not only as " the seed of the woman," but
as "the seed of Abraham," and yet more particularly, "as the seed of Israel: the
Lord thy God will raise up unto thee a prophet, from the midst of thee, of thy bre-
thren," Deut. xviii. 15. And here it is to be observed, that this renewing of the pro-
mise and covenant of grace with them was immediately upon the back of the giving of
the law on mount Sinai, fur at that time was their speech which the Lord commended
as well spoken : this appears from Exod. xx. 18, 19, compared with Deut. v. 23 — 28,
and upon that speech of theirs was that renewal made, which is clear from Deut. xviii.
17, 18.
208 THE MARROW OF
Ant. I pray, sir, how doth it appear that the Lord renewed that
covenant with them ?
Evan. It plainly appears in this, that the Lord gave them by
Moses the Levitical laws, and ordained the tabernacle, the ark, and
the mercy-seat, which were all types of Christ. Moreover, (Lev.
i. 1,) " The Lord called unto Moses, and spake unto him out of the
tabernacle," n and commanded him to write the Levitical laws, and
the tabernacle ordinances; telling him withal, Exod. xxxiv. 27,
" That after the tenor of these words, he had made a covenant with
him, and with Israel." o So Moses wrote those laws, (Exod. xxiy.
4,) not in tables of stone, but in authentical book,^ says Ainsworth,
called the Book of the Covenant, which book Moses read in the
audience of the people, (Exod xxiv. 7,) and the people consented
unto it. Then Moses having before sent young men of the children
n From the mercy seat, which was within the tabernacle. The tabernacle was an
eminent type of Christ, (Heb ix. 11.) as the temple also was, John ii. 19, 21. So
this represented God's speaking in a Mediator, in Jesus Christ. Here was a change
agreeable to the people's desire on Mount Sinai. God speaks, not from a burning
mountain as before, but out of the tabernacle ; not with terrible thunderings as at
Sinai, but in a still small voice, intimated to us, and intimated by the extraordinary
smallness of one letter in the original word rendered called, as the Hebrew doctors do
account for that irregularity of writing in that word.
o Moses exceedingly feared and quaked (Heb. xxii. 21,) while he stood amongst
the rest of the Israelites at Mount Sinai during the giving of the law, Exod. xix. 25,
with chap. xx. 21. But here he is represented as Israel's federal head in this cove-
nant, he being the typical mediator; which plainly intimates the covenant of grace to
have been made with Christ, and in him with all the elect ; " I have made a covenant
with thee and with Israel," says the text. — See the first note on the preface, in the
Larger Catechism, quest. 31,
p Moses was twice on the monnt with God forty days. In the time of the second
forty days he recived the order to write, mentioned, Exod. xxxiv. 27, as appears by
comparing ver. 27, with 28. This comprehended his writings of the Levitical laws,
but not of the decalogue or ten commandments ; for these last God himself wrote
on tables of stone, ver. 28, compared with ver. 1. This peremptory divine order, Moses
no doubt did obey ; understanding it of writing in a book since he was not commanded
So, in a like case, before he went up into the Mount for the first forty days, he wrote
Levitical laws in a book called the Book of the Covenant. Exod. xxxiv. 4. 7, " And
Moses wrote all the words of the Lord. — And he took the book of the covenant and
read." Compare verse 18. This writing also comprehended Levitical laws, but not
the ten commandments. For all the words of the Lord which Moses wrote, were all
the words of the Lord which Moses told the people. And what these were, appears
from his commissiou received for that effect, chap. xx. 21, 22. "And the people
stood afar off, and Moses drew near unto the thick darkness where God was; and the
Lord said unto Moses, Thus thou shalt say unto the children of Israel," &c. So all
the words were these which follow to the end of the 23d chapter.
MODERN DIVINITY. 209
of Israel, who were first-born, q and therefore priests until the time
of the Levites, to offer sacrifies of burnt-offerings and peace-offer-
ings unto the Lord, " he took the blood and sprinkled it on the peo-
ple and said, Behold the blood of the covenant which the Lord hath
made with you concerning these things ;" whereby they are taught,
that by virtue of blood, this covenant betwixt God and them was
confirmed, and that Christ, by his blood shed, should satisfy for their
sins ; for indeed the covenant of grace was, before the coming of
Christ, sealed by his blood in types and figures, r
§ 5. Ant. But, sir, was this every way the same covenant that
was made with Abraham ?
Evan. Surely I do believe, that reverend Bullinger spake very
truly, when he said that God gave unto these people no other re-
ligion, in nature, substance, and matter itself, differing from the
laws of their fathers ; though, for some respects, he added thereunto
many ceremonies and certain ordinances ; the which he did to keep
their minds in expectation of the coming of Christ, whom he had
promised unto them ; and to confirm them in looking for him, lest
they should wax faint. And as the Lord did thus by the ceremo-
nies, as it were, lead them by the hand to Christ ; so did he make
them a promise of the land of Canaan, and outward prosperity in it,
as a type of heaven, and eternal happiness ; so that the Lord dealt
with them as with children in their infancy and underage, leading
them on by the help of earthly things, to heavenly and spiritual,
because they were but young and tender, s and had not that mea-
sure and abundance of the Spirit which he had bestowed upon his
people now under the gospel.
Ant. And, sir, do you think that these Israelites at this time did
see Christ and salvation by him in these types and shadows ?
Evan. Yes ; there is no doubt but Moses and the rest of the be-
believers among the Jews did see Christ in them, " For," says
Tindal, " though all the sacrifices and ceremonies had a star-light of
Christ, yet some of them had the light of the broad day, a little be-
fore the sun rising;" and did express him, with the circumstances
and virtue of his death, as plainly as if his passion had been acted
upon a scaffold : " Insomuch," says he, " that I am fully persuaded,
and cannot but believe, that God had showed Moses the secrets of
q In the original text, (verse 5.) they are called emphatically the young men for
ministers, or servants, 1 Sam. ii. 13, 15. Esth. ii. 2.) of the children of Israel, to
signify that they were first-born. And so Onkelos reads it " the first-born of the
children of Israel.
r The blood of the sacrifices representing the precious blood of Christ.
s The church was in her minority under the law. Gal. iv. 1 — 3.
210 THE MARROW OF
Christ, and the very manner of his death aforehand :" and there-
fore, no doubt but that they offered their sacrifices by faith in the
Messiah, as the apostle testifies of Abel, Heb. xi. 4. I say, there is
no question but every spiritual believing Jew, when he brought his
sacrifice to be offered, and according to the Lord's command laid his
hands upon it whilst it was yet alive, (Lev. i. 4.) he did, from his
heart acknowledge that he himself had deserved to die ; but by the
mercy of God he was saved, t and his desert laid upon the beast ; u
and as that beast was to die, and be offered in sacrifice for him, so
did he believe that the Messiah should come and die for him, upon
whom he put his hands, that is, laid all his iniquities by the hand
of faith, v So that, as Beza on Job i. says, " The sacrifices were to
them holy mysteries, in which, as in certain glasses, they did both
see themselves to their own condemnation before God, w and also be-
held the mercy of God in the promised Messiah, in time to be ex-
hibited :" "And therefore," says Calvin, Instit. p. 239, " the sa-
tisfactory offerings were called Ashemoth, which word properly sig-
niges sin itself, to show that Jesus Christ was to come and perform
a perfect expiation, by giving his own soul to be an asham, that is,
a satisfactory oblation"
Wherefore you may assure yourself, that as Christ was always
set before the fathers in the Old Testament, to whom they might
direct their faith, and as God never put them in hope of any grace
or mercy, nor ever showed himself good unto them without Christ : x
even so the godly in the Old Testament knew Christ by whom they
did enjoy these promises of God, and were joined to him. y And,
indeed, the promise of salvation never stood firm till it came to
Christ, z And there was their comfort in all their troubles and dis-
tresses, according as it is said of Moses, Heb. xi. 26, 27, " He en-
t From the death he had deserved by his sin.
u Typically.
v " The mystical signification of the sacrifices, and especially this rite, some think
the apostle means by the doctrine of ' laying on of hands,' (Heb. vi. 2.) which typi-
fied evangelical faith." Henry on Lev. i. 4. It is evident that the offerer, by laying
his hand on the head of the sacrifice, did legally unite it ; laid his sin, or transferred
his guilt upon it, in a typical or ceremonial way, (Lev. xvi. 21.) ; the substance and
truth of which ceremonial action plainly appears to be faith, or believing on Jesus
Christ, which is the soul's assenting, for its own part, to and acquiescing in the glo-
rious device of " the Lord's laying on him the iniquities of us all," Isa. liii. 6.
w That is, they saw themselves, as in themselves condemned by the holy law.
x That is. as an absolute God out of Christ, but always as a God in Christ.
;/ To Christ, by faith.
2 It stood, at first, on man's own obedience : which ground quickly failed : then it
came to Christ, where it stood firm. Gen. iii. 15. It (namely, "the seed of the
tvmuan) shall bruise thy head,'' viz. the serpent's head.
MODERN DIVINITY. 211
dured as seeing liim who is invisibles esteeming the reproach of
Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt, for he had respect
to the recompense of reward."
And so (as Ignatius says) the prophets were Christ's servants,
who, foreseeing him in spirit, both waited for him as their master,
and looked for him as their Lord and Saviour, saying, "He shall
come and save us."
And so says Calvin, (Institut. p. 207) " So oft as the prophets
speak of the blessedness of the faithful, the perfect image that they
have painted t'tereof was such as would ravish men's minds out of
the earth, and of necessity raise them up to the consideration of the
felicity of the life to come ;" so that we may assuredly conclude,
with Luther, that all the fathers, prophets, and holy kings, were
righteous, and saved by faith in Christ to come ; and so indeed, as
Calvin says, (Institut. p. 198.) " were partakers of all one salvation
with us."
Ant. But, sir, the Scriptures seem to hold forth as though they
were saved one way, and we another way ; for you know the pro-
phet Jeremiah makes mention of a twofold covenant ; therefore it
is somewhat strange to me, that they should be partakers of one
way of salvation with us.
Evan. Indeed it is true, the Lord did bequeath unto the fathers,
righteousness, life, and eternal salvation, in and through Christ the
Mediator, being not yet come in the flesh, but promised : and unto
us in the New Testament he gives and bequeaths them to us in and
through Christ, being already come, and having actually purchased
them for us ; and the covenant of grace was, before the coming of
Christ, sealed by his blood in types and figure?; and at his death,
in his flesh, b it was sealed and ratified b y his very blo od, actually
and in verydeed shed for our sins. And the old covenant, in res-
pect of the outward form and manner of sealing, was temporary
and changeable ; and therefore the types ceased, and only the sub-
stance remains firm; but the seals of the new are unchangeable,
being commemorative, and shall show the Lord's death until his
coming again. And their covenant did first and chiefly promise
eaithly blessings c and in and under these it did signify and pro-
mise all spiritual blessings and salvation ; but our covenant promises
a " Faith presenting to his view at all times the great angel of the covenant, God
the Son, the Redeemer of him and Israel." — Suppl. Poole's Annot. on the Text.
b " Christ— being put to death in the flesh," 1 Pet. iii. 18.
c Chiefly ; in so far as, in that dispensation of the covenant of grace, the promises
of earthly blessings were chiefly insisted on ; and the promises of spiritual blessings
and salvation more sparingly.
212 THE MARROW OF
Christ and his blessings in the first place, and after them earthly
blessings.
These, and other circumstantial differences in regard to administra-
tion, there was betwixt their way of salvation, or covenant of grace,
and ours; which moved the author to the Hebrews, (Heb. viii. 8.)
to call theirs old, and ours new ; but in regard to substance they
were all one and the very same ; d for in all covenants this is a cer-
tain rule, " If the subject matter, the fruit and the conditions, be
the same, then is the covenant the same :" but in these covenants
Jesus Christ is the subject matter of both, salvation the fruit of
both, and faith the condition of both : e therefore I say, though they
be called two, yet they are but one ; the which is confirmed by two
faithful witnesses ; the one is the apostle Peter, who says, Acts xv.
11, " We believe, that through the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ,
we shall be saved even as they ;" meaning the fathers in the Old
Testament, as is evident in the verse next before. The other is the
apostle Paul, who says, Gal. iii. 6, 7, " Abraham believed God, and
it was accounted unto him for righteousness ; know ye therefore
that they which are of faith, the same are the children of Abra-
ham :" by which testimony, says Luther on the Galatians, p. 116,
" we may see that the faith of our fathers in the Old Testament,
and ours in the New, is all one in substance."
Ant. But could they that lived so long before Christ apprehend
his righteousness by faith for their justification and salvation ?
Evan. Yea, indeed ; for as Mr. Forbes, on Justification, p. 90,
d " There are not therefore two covenants of grace, differing in substance ; but one
an<i the same under various dispensations." — Westm. Confess, chap. 7. art. 6. And
their covenant of grace, confirmed by the sprinkling of blood, Exod. xxiv ; Heb. ix.
19, 20, (the which covenant they brake, by their unbelief frustrating the manner in
which it was administered to them) was given to them when the Lord had led them
cut of Egypt, and at Sinai too, as well as the ten commandments delivered to them,
as the covenant of works. This is evident from Exod. xx. 1 — 17; compared with
Deut. v. 2 — 22 ; and Exod. xx. 20, 21 ; compared with chap. xxiv. 3 — 8. See
page, 208 note/).
e Not in a strict and proper sense, as that, upon the performance of which the right
and title to the benefits of the covenant are founded and pleadable ; as perfect obedi-
ence was the condition of the covenant of works. Christ's fulfilling of the law, by his
obeditnce and death, is the only condition of the covenant of grace, in that sense.
But in a large and improper sense, as that whereby one accepts and embraces the cove-
nant and the proper condition thereof, and is savingly interested in Jesus Christ, the
head of the covenant. " The grace of God is manifested in the second covenant, in
that he freely provideth and offereth to sinners a Mediator, and life and salvation by
him ; and requireth faith as the condition to interest them in him," &c. Larg. Cat.
quest. 32.
MODERN DIVINITY. 213
truly says, it is as easy for faith to apprehend righteousness to
come, as it is to apprehend righteousness that is past : wherefore as
Christ's birth, obedience, and death, were in the Old Testament as
effectual to save sinners, as they are now; so all the faithful fore-
fathers, from the beginning, did partake of the same grace with us,
by believing in the same Jesus Christ; and so were justified by his
righteousness, and saved eternally by faith in him. It was by
virtue of the death of Christ, that Enoch was translated that he
should not see death ; and Elias was taken up into heaven by vir-
tue of Christ's resurrection and ascension. So that from the world's
beginning to the end thereof, the salvation of sinners is only by
Jesus Christ; as it is written, "Jesus Christ, the same yesterday,
and to-day, and for ever," Heb. xiii. 8.
Ant. Why then, sir, it seems that those who were saved amongst
the Jews were not saved by the works of the law ?
Evan. No, indeed; they were neither justified nor saved, either
by the works of the moral law, or the ceremonial law. For, as you
heard before, the moral law being delivered unto them with great
terror, and under most dreadful penalties, they did find in them-
selves an impossibility of keeping it : and so were driven to seek
help of a Mediator, even Jesus Christ, of whom Moses was to them
a typical mediator:/ so that the moral law did drive them to the
ceremonial law, which was their gospel, and their Christ in a figure ;
for that the ceremonies did prefigure Christ, direct unto him, and
require faith in him, is a thing acknowledged and confessed by all
men.
Nom. But, sir, I suppose, thongh believers among the Jews were
not justified and saved by the works of the law, yet was it a rule of
their obedience ?
Evan. It is very true indeed ; the law of the ten commandments
was a rule for their obedience ; g yet not as it came from Mount
Sinai ; h but rather as it came from Mount Zion ; nor as it was the
law or covenant of works, but as it was the law of Christ. The
which will appear, if you consider, that after the Lord had renewed
with them the covenant of grace, as you heard before, (Exod. xxiv.
at the beginning) the Lord said unto Moses, verse 12, " Come up to
me into the mount, and be there, and I will give thee tables of
stone, and a law that thou mayest teach them ;" and after the Lord
/That is, a type, he heing to them a typical Mediator.
g The obedience of the believing Jews.
h That is, in the sense of our author, not as the covenant of works, but of the two-
fold notion or consideration under which the ten commandments were delivered from
Mount Sinai. See page 196, note p.
214 THE MARROW OF
had thus written them the second time with his own finger, he
delivered them to Moses, commanding him to provide an ark to put
them into; which was not only for the safe keeping of them, (Deut.
ix. 10; x. 5.) but also to cover the form of the covenant of works
that was formerly upon them, that believers might not perceive it ;
for the ark was a notable type of Christ; and therefore the putting
of them therein did show that they were perfectly fulfilled in him,
Christ being " the end of the law for righteousness to every one
that believeth," Rom. x. 4. The which was yet more clearly mani-
fest, in that the book of the law was placed between the cherubim,
and upon the mercy-seat, to assure believers that the law now came
to them from the mercy-seat ;i for there the Lord promised to meet
Moses, and to commune with him of all things which he would give
him in commandment to them, Exod. xxv. 22.
Ant. But, sir, was the form quite taken away, so as the ten com-
mandments were no more the covenant of works ?
Evan. Oh no ! you are not so to understand it. For the form of
the covenant of works, j as well as the matter (on God's part, A:)
came immediately from God himself, and so consequently it is eter-
nal, like himself; whence it is that our Saviour says, Matth. v. 18,
" Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no ways
pass from the law, till all be fulfilled." So that either man him-
self, or some other for him, must perform or fulfil the condition of
the law, as it is the covenant of works, or else he remains still
under it in a damnable condition : but now Christ hath fulfilled it
for all believers ; and therefore, T said, the form of the covenant of
works was covered or taken away, as touching the believing Jews;
but yet it was neither taken away in itself, nor yet as touching the
unbelieving Jews.
i From an atoned God in Christ, binding them to obedience with the strongest ties,
arising from their creation and redemption jointly; but not with the bond of the
curse, binding them over to eternal death in case of transgression, as the law or cove-
nant of works does with them who are under it, Gal. iii. 10. The mercy-seat was
the cover of the ark, and both the one and the other types of Christ. Within the
ark, under the cover of it, were the tables of the law laid up. Thus was the throne
of grace, which could not have stood on mere mercy, firmly established in Jesus
Christ; according to Psalm lxxxix. 14, '* Justice and judgment are the habitation
[marg. "establishment"] of thy throne." The word properly signifies a base, sup-
porter, stay, or foundation, on which a thing stands firm, Ezra ii. 68, and iii. 3 ;
Psalm civ. 5. The sense is, O God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, (Psalm
lxxxix. 19,) justice satisfied, and judgment fully executed in the person of the Media-
tor, are the foundation and base which thy throne of grace stands upon.
j Namely the promissory and penal sanction of eternal life and death in which God's
truth was engaged.
h Man's part was lii> consenting to the terms set before him by his Creator.
MODERN DIVINITY. 215
Xom. Was the law then still of use to thera, as it was the cove-
nant of works?
Evan. Yea, indeed.
Ant. I pray yon, sir, show of what u. e it was to them.
Evan. I remember Luther, (on the Gal. p. 171,) says, "There be
two sorts of unrighteous persons or unbelievers ; the one to be jus-
tified, and the other not to be justified : even so was there among
the Jews." Now to them that were to be justified, as yon have
heard, it was still of use to bring them to Christ, as the apostle
says, Gal. iii. 24, " The law was our schoolmaster until Christ, I that
we might be made righteous by faith :" that is to say, the moral
lawm did teach and show them what they should do, and so what
they did not; and this made thera go to the ceremonial law ; n and
by that they were taught that Christ had done it for them ; o the
which they believing, p were made righteous by faith in him. And
to the second sort it was of use, to show them what was good, and
what was evil ; and to be as a bridle to them, to restrain them from
evil, and as a motive to move them to good, for fear of punishment, q
or hope of reward in this life ; which, though it was but a forced
and constrained obedience, yet was it necessary for the public com-
monwealth, the quiet thereof being thereby the better maintained.
And though thereby they could neither escape death, uor yet obtain
eternal life, for want of perfect obedience, yet the more obedience
they yielded thereunto, the more they were freed from temporal ca-
lamities, and possessed with temporal blessings, according as the
Lord promised and threatened, Deut. xxviii.
Ant. But, sir, in that place the Lord seeraeth to speak to his own
people, aud yet to speak according to the tenor of the covenant of
works, which has made me think, that believers in the Old Testa-
ment were partly under the covenant of works.
Evan. Do you not remember how I told you before, that the Lord
did manifest so much love to the body of that nation, that the
l That is, to bring us unto Christ, as we read it with the supplement.
m As the covenant of works, so the author uses that terra here, as it is used.
— Larg. Cat. quest. 93, above cited.
n Broken under the sense of guilt, the curse of the law, and their utter ioabilitv to
help themselves by doing or suffering.
o Christ's satisfying the law for sinners by his obedience and death, being the great
lesson taught by the ceremonial law, which was the gospel written in plain characters,
to those whose eyes were opened.
p Appropriating and applying to themselves by faith Christ's satisfaction held forth
and exhibited to them in these divine ordinances.
</ Both in time and eternity.
216 THE MARROW OF
whole posterity of Abraham r were brought under a state-covenant
or national church : so that for the believer's sakes he infolded un-
believers in the compact, whereupon the Lord was pleased to call
them all by the name of his people, as well unbelievers as believers,
and to be called their God ? And though the Lord did there speak
according to the tenor of the covenant of works, yet I see no reason
why he might not direct and intend his speech to believers also, and
yet they remain only under the covenant of grace.
Ant. "Why, sir, you said that the Lord did speak to them out of
the tabernacle, and from the mercy-seat ; and that, doubtless, was
according to the tenor of the covenant of grace, and not according
to the tenor of the covenant of works.
Evan. I pray you take notice, that after the Lord had pronounced
all those blessings and curses, Deut. xxviii. in the beginning of the
29th chapter, it is said, " These are the words of the covenant,
which the Lord commanded Moses to make with the children of
Israel in the land of Moab, beside the covenant which he made with
them in Horeb." Whereby it doth appear to me, that this was not
the covenant of works which was delivered to them on mount
Sinai ; s for the form of that covenant was eternal blessings and
curses, t but the form of this covenant was temporal blessings and
curses, u So that this rather seems to be the pedagogy of the law,
than the covenant of works; for at that time these people seemed
to be carried by temporal promises in the way of obedience, and de-
r Wh ; ch were of tbat nation, according to Gen. xxi. 12, " In Isaac shall thy seed
be called." And chap, xxviii. 13, " I am the Lord God of Abraham thy father, and
the God of Isaac ; the land whereon thou liest, to thee will I give it, and to thy
seed."
s The author does not make the covenant at Horeb distinct from that at Sinai : for
he takes Horeb and Sinai for one and the same mountain, according to the Holy Scrip-
tures, (Exod. xix. 20, compared with Deut. v. 2.) and therefore, because the text
speaks of this covenant in the land of Moab as another covenant beside that in Horeb,
he infers that it was not the same ; not the covenant of works delivered on Mount
Sinai, otherwise called Horeb. And howbeit there are but two covenants containing
the only two ways to happiness, the author cannot, on that accouut, be justly blamed
for distinguishing this covenant from them both, unless temporal blessings do make
men happy ; the which blessings, with curses of the same kind, he takes to be the
form of this covenant.
t Deut. xxvii. 26, " Cursed be he that confirmeth not all the words of this law to
do them." Compare Gal. iii. 10, " For as many as are of the works of the law are
under the curse ;" for it is written, " Cursed is every one that continueth not in all
things written in the book of the law to do them.
w See Deut. xxviii. throughout. Chap. xxix. 9, " Keep, therefore, the words of
this covenant, and do them, that ye may prosper in all that ye do." And here ends a
great section of the law.
MODERN DIVINITY. 217
terred by temporal threatenings from the ways of disobedience, God
dealing with them as in their infancy and under age, and so leads
them on, and allures them, and fears them, by such respects as
these, because they had but a small measure of the Spirit.
Nom. But, sir, was not the matter of that covenant and this all
one ?
Evan. Yea, indeed ; the ten commandments were the matter of
both covenants, only they differed in the forms.
Ant. Then, sir, it seems that the promises and threatenings con-
tained in the Old Testament were but temporary and terrestrial,
only concerning the good and evil things of this life ?
Evan. This we are to know, that like as the Lord by his prophets
gave the people in the Old Testament many exhortations to be obe-
dient to his commandments, and many dehortations from disobe-
dience thereunto ; even so did he back them with many promises
and threatenings, concerning things temporal, as these and the
like Scriptures do witness, Isa. i. 10, "Hear the word of the Lord,
ye rulers of Sodom ; give ear unto the law of our God, ye people of
Gomorrah ;" ver. 19, 20, " If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall
eat the good things of the land ; but if ye refuse and rebel, ye shall
be devoured with the sword, for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken
it." And Jer. vii. 3, 9, 20, " Amend your ways and your doings,
and I will cause you to dwell in this place. "Will you steal, mur-
der, and commit adultery, and swear falsely by my name ? There-
fore thus saith the Lord God, behold mine anger and my fury shall
be poured out upon this place." And surely there be two reasons
why the Lord did so: first, because as all men are born under the
covenant of works, they are naturally prone to conceive, that the
favour of God and all good things, do depend and follow upon their
obedience to the law, v and that the wrath of God, and all evil
things do depend upon and follow their disobedience to it, w and
that man's chief happiness is to be had and found in terrestrial
paradise, even in the good things of this life. So the people of the
Old Testament being nearest to Adam's covenant and paradise,
were most prone to such conceits. And secondly, because the cove-
nant of grace and celestial paradise were but little mentioned in the
Old Testament, they, for the most part, x had but a glimmering
knowledge of them, and so could not yield obedience freely as
v Not a saving interest in the Lord Jesus Christ by faith.
w Not considering the great sin of unbelief; and that the wrath of God, due to
them for disobedienee, may be averted by their fleeing to Christ for refuse.
x For the more eminent saints in the Old Testament times are to be excepted, such
as David and others.
Vol. VII. o
218 THE MARROW OF
sons.?/ Therefore the Lord saw it meet to move them to yield obe-
dience to his laws by their own motives, z and as servants or chil-
dren nnder age. a
Ant. And were both believers and unbelievers, that is, such as
were under the covenant of grace, and such as were under the cove-
nant of works, equally and alike subject, as well to have the cala-
mities of this life inflicted npon them for their disobedience, as the
blessings of this life conferred upon them for their obedience ?
Evan. Surely the words of the preacher do take place here, when
he says, (Eccl. ix. 2,) " All things come alike to all ; there is one
event to the righteous and to the wicked." Were not Moses and
Aaron, for their disobedience, hindered from entering into the land
of Canaan, as well as others? Num. xx. 12. And was not Josiah,
for his disobedience to God's command, slain in the valley of Me-
giddo? 2 Chron. xxxv. 21, 22. Therefore assure yourself, that
when believers in the Old Testament did transgress God's com-
mandments, God's temporal wrath g went out against them, and was
manifest in temporal calamities that befel them as well as others,
(Num. xvi. 46.) Only here was the difference, the believers' tempo-
ral calamities had no eternal calamities included in them, nor fol-
lowing of them, and their temporal blessings had eternal blessings
included in them, and following of them ; h and the unbelievers'
temporal blessings had no eternal blessings included in them, and
their temporal calamities had eternal calamities included in them,
and following of them, i
Ant. Then, sir, it seems that all obedience that any of the Jews
did yield to God's commandments, was for fear of temporal punish-
ment, and in hope of temporal reward?
Evan. Surely the Scriptures seem to hold forth, that there were
d Having but a small measure of knowledge of the celestial paradise, the eternal
inheritance, and of the covenant of grace, (the divine disposition containing their
right to do it,) they could not yield obedience freely, in the measure that sons do,
wbo are come of age, and know well their own privileges ; but only as little children,
who in some measure yield obedience freely, namely, in proportion to the knowledge
of these things, but (that measure being very small) must be drawn also to obedience
bv motives of a lower kind. And this the apostle plainly teaches, Gal. iv. 1 5.
Compare Westm. Confess, chap. 20, art. I, "The liberty of Christians is further
enlarged, in fuller communications of the free Spirit of God, than believers under the
law did ordinarily partake of.
x Promises and threatenings concerning things temporal.
a By fear of punishment and hope of reward.
b That is, God's fatherly anger, whereby temporal judgments fall on his own people.
c By virtue of the covenant of grace which they were under.
d By virtuo of the covenant of works which they were under.
MODERN DIVINITY. 219
three several sorts of people among the Jews, who endeavoured to
keep the law of God, and they did all of them differ in their ends.
The first of them were true believers, who, according to the mea-
sure of their faith, did believe the resurrection of their bodies after
death, and eternal life in glory, and that it was to be obtained,
not by the works of the law, but by faith in the Messiah or pro-
mised seed; and answerably as they believed this, answerably
they yielded obedience to the law freely, without fear of punish-
ment or hope of reward : but, alas ! the spirit of faith was very
weak in most of them, and the spirit of bondage very strong, and
therefore they stood in need to be induced and constrained to obe-
dience, by fear of punishment and hope of reward, e
The second sort of them were the Sadducees and their sect, and
these did not believe that there was any resurrection, (Matt. xxii.
23.) nor any life but the life of this world ; and yet they endea-
voured to keep the law, that God might bless them here, and that
it might go well with them in this present life.
The third sort, and indeed the greatest number of them in the
future ages after Moses, were the Scribes and Pharisees, and their
sects ; and they held and maintained, that there was a resurrection
to be looked for, and an eternal life after death, and therefore they
e The Author does not say, of believers under the Old Testament, simply, and with-
out any qualification, that they " yield obedience to the law, without fear of punish-
ment or hope of reward," as if he minded to assert, that they were not at all moved to
their obedience by these ; the scope of these words is to teach just the contrary.
Compare page 218. But on good grounds he affirms, that " answerable to their faith,
their obedience was yielded freely, without fear of punishment or hope of reward."
And thus, the freeness of their obedience always bearing proportion to the measure of
their faith ; the greater measure of faith any Old Testament saint had attained unto,
his obedience was the less influenced by fear of punishment or hope of reward, and the
smaller his measure of faith was, his obedience was the more influenced by these ; ac-
cordingly, such as had no saving faith at all, were moved to obedience only by fear of
punishment or hope of reward ; and the meanest saint's faith, being once perfected by
the beatific vision in heaven, these ceased altogether to be motives of obedience to
him, though he aeases not to obey from the strongest and most powerful motives. And
thus the apostle John teaches concerning love which flows from faith. 1 John v. 18,
" Perfect love casteth out fear, because fear doth torment : he that feareth, is not
erfect in love." The more there is of the one, there is still less of the other.
In the meantime, according to our author, the measure of faith in the most part of
believers under the Old Testament was very small, (and the strongest faith was im-
perfect,) and the servile aed childish disposition, which moves to obedience from fear
of punishment and hope of reward, was very strong in them, (Gal. iv. 1 — 5.) and
therefore, as they stood in need of such inducement and constraint, there could not
fail to be a great mixture of the influence of fear of punishment and hope of re-
ward in their obedience
o2
220 THE MARROW OF
endeavoured to keep the law, not only to obtain temporal happiness,
but eternal also. For though it had pleased the Lord to make
known unto his people, by the ministry of Moses, that the law was
given, not to retain men in the confidence of their own works, but
to drive them out of themselves, and to lead them to Christ the
promised seed ; yet after that time, the priests and the Levites,
who were the expounders of the law, and to whom the Scribes and
Pharisees succeeded, did so conceive and teach of God's intention
in giving the law, as though it had been, that they, by their obe-
dience to it, should obtain righteousness and eternal life ; and this
opinion was so confidently maintained, and so generally embraced
amongst them, that in their book Mechilta, they say and affirm, that
there is no other covenant than the law : and so, in very deed, they
conceived that there was no other way to eternal life than the cove-
nant of works.
Ant. Surely, then, it seems they did not understand and consider
that the law, as it is the covenant of works, does not only bind the
outward man, but also the inward man, even the soul and spirit ;
and requires all holy thoughts, motions, and dispositions of the
heart and soul ?
Evan. 0, no ; they neither taught it nor understood it so spiri-
tually ; neither could they be persuaded that the law requires so
much at man's hands. For they first laid this down for a certain
truth, that God gave the law for man to be justified and saved by
his obedience to it; and that therefore there must needs be a power
in man to do all that it requires, or else God would never have re-
quired it ; and therefore, whereas they should have first considered
what a straight rule the law of God is, and then have brought
man's heart, and have laid it to it, they, contrariwise, first con-
sidered what a crooked rule man's heart is, and then sought to
make the law like it : and so indeed they expounded the law lite-
rally, teaching and holding, that the righteousness which the law
required was but an external righteousness, consisting in the out-
ward observation of the law, as you may see by the testimony of
our Saviour, Matt, v ; so that, according to their exposition, it was
possible for a man to fulfil the law perfectly, and so to be justified
and saved by his obedience to it.
Ant. But, sir, do you thiuk the Scribes and Pharisees, and their
sect, did yield perfect obedience to the law, according to their own
exposition ?
Evan. No, indeed, I think very few of them, if any at all.
Ant. Why, what hopes could they then have to be justified and
saved, when they transgressed any of the commandments ?
MODERN DIVINITY. 221
Evan. Peter Martyr tells us, that when they chanced to trans-
gress any of the ten commandments,/ they had their sacrifices to
make satisfaction, (as they conceived ;) for they looked upon their
sacrifices without their significations, and so had a false faith in
them, thinking that the bare work was a sacrifice acceptable unto God:
in a word, they conceived the blood of bulls and goats would take
away sin ; and so what they wanted of fulfilling the moral law, they
thought to make up in the ceremonial law. And thus they sepa-
rated Christ from their sacrifices, thinking they had discharged their
duty very well, when they had sacrificed and offered their offerings;
not considering that the imperfectiou of the typical law, which, as
the apostle says, made nothing perfect, should have led them to find
perfection in Christ, Heb. vii. 19; but they generally rested in the
work done in the ceremonial law, even as they had done in the moral
law, though they themselves were unable to do the one, g and the other
was as insufficient to help them. And thus, " Israel, which followed
the law of righteousness, did not attain to the law of righteousness,
because they sought it not by faith," but, as it were, by the works
of the law. For they being ignorant of the righteousness of God,
and going about to establish their own righteousness, did not submit
themselves to the righteousness of God; Rom. ix. 31 ; and x. 3.
Ant. Then, sir, it seems there were but very few of them h that
had a clear sight and knowledge of Christ ?
Evan. It is very true indeed; for generally there was such a vail
of ignorance over their hearts, or such a vail of blindness over their
minds, that it made their spiritual eyesight so weak and dim, that
they were no more able to see Christ, the son of righteousness, as
the end of the law, i (Mai. iv. 2,) than the weak eye of man is able
to behold the bright sun which shineth in its full strength. And
therefore we read, Exod. xxxiv. 30, that when Moses' face did shine,
by reason of the Lord's talking with him, and telling him of the
glorious riches of his free grace in Jesus Christ, and giving unto
him the ten commandments, written in tables of stone, as the cove-
nant of works ;j to drive the people out of confidence in themselves,
/That is, according to tbeir own exposition.
y To do any work of the mural law aright.
h Namely, of the Jews in general.
i That is, having in himself a fulness of righteousness, answering the law to the ut-
most extent of its demands ; as the sun has a fulness of light.
j Therefore they are called by the apostle, the "ministration of death, written and
engraven on stones,'' 2 Cor. iii. 7. Now, it is evident, the ten commandments are
not the ministration of death, but as they are the covenant of works. And as such,
they were given to Moses to be laid up in the ark, to signify the fulfilling of them by
Jesus Christ alone, and the removing of that covenant-form from them, as to believers ;
and so they served to drive sinners out of themselves to Christ.
222 THE MARROW OP
and their own legal righteousness, unto Jesus Christ and his righte-
ousness, the people were not able to behold his face; that is to say, k
by reason of the weakness and dimness of their spiritual eyesight,
they were not able to see and understand the spiritual sense of the
law; namely that the Lord's end or intent in giving them the law
as a covenant of works, and as the apostle calk, it " the ministra-
tion and condemnation and death," 2 Cor. iii. 7, 9, was to drive
them out of themselves to Christ, and that then I it was to be abo-
lished to them, as it was the covenant of works, ver. 13, and there-
fore Moses put the vail of shadowing ceremonies over his face, Exod.
xxxiv. 35, that they might be the better able to behold it ; that is to
say, that they might be the better able to see through them, and un-
derstand that " Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every
one that believeth," Rom. x. 4. For Moses' face, says godly Tindal,
! is the law rightly understood. And yet alas ! by reason that the
priests and Levites in former times, and the Scribes and Pharisees
in after times, " were the blind leaders of the blind," (Matth. xv. 14,)
the generality of them were addicted to the letter of the law, (and
that botli moral m and ceremonial) that they used it not as a peda-
gogy to Christ, but terminated their eye in the letter and shadow,
and did not see through them to the spiritual substance, which is
Jesus Christ, 2 Cor. iii. 13, especially in the future ages after Moses :
for at the time of Christ's coming in the flesh, I remember but two,
namely, Simeon and Anna, that desired him, or looked for him as a
spiritual Saviour to save them from sin and wrath. For though all of
them had in their mouths the Messiah, (says Calvin) and the blessed
state of the kingdom of David ; yet they dreamed that this Messiah
should be some great monarch that should come in outward pomp and
power, and save and deliver them from that bondage which they were
in under the Romans,of which bondage they were sensible and weary;
but as for their spiritual bondage under the law, sin, and wrath, they
were not at all sensible ; and all because their blind guides had turned
the whole law into a covenant of works, to be done for justification and
salvation ; n yea, and such a covenant as they were able to keep and
fulfil, if not by the doing of the moral law, yet by their offering
sacrifices in the ceremonial law. And for this cause, our Saviour, in
his sermon upon the mount, took occasion to expound the moral law
truly and spiritually, removing that false literal gloss which the
k That is, this is the mystery of that typical event.
/ When they should be driven out of themselves to Jesus Christ.
m As the covenant of works.
n And so they quite perverted the great end of the giving of the law to them.
MODERN DIVINITY. 223
Scribes and Pharisees had put upon it, that men might see how im-
possible it is for any mere man to fulfil it, and so consequently to
have justification and salvation by it. And at the death of Christ,
the vail of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom,
to show, says Tindal, " that the shadows of Moses' law should now
vanish away at the flourishing light of the gospel," Matth. xxvii.
51. And after the death of Christ, his apostles did, both by their
preaching and writing, labour to make men understand, that all the
sacrifices and ceremonies were but types of Christ ; and therefore he
being now come, they were of no futher use : witness that divine
and spiritual epistle written to the Hebrews. Yet, notwithstand-
ing, we may say of the Jews at this day, as the apostle did in his
time, " even until this day remaineth the same vail untaken away
in the reading of Moses." The Lord in mercy remove it in his due
time." o
o The history of the vail on Moses' face is famous in the Old Testament, and the
mystery of it in the New. The former, as I gather it from the words of the inspired
penman, Exod. xxxiv. stands thus briefly. Theie was a shining glory on the face of
Moses in the mount ; but be himself knew it not while God spake with him there,
ver. 29, and that by reason of the excelling divine glory, 2 Cor. iii. 10; {.Or.) even
as the light of a candle is darkened before the shining sun : but when " Moses, being
come forth from the excelling glory, was coming down from the mount, with the tables
in his hand, his face shone so as to send forth rays like horns," Exod. xxxiv. 29, 30,
so that he could not but be conscious of it. " Aaron and all the people perceiving
Moses returning to them, went to meet him; but seeing an astonishing glory, in his
countenance, which they were not able to look at, they were afraid, and retired," ver.
30, 31, "But Moses called to them to return, and goes into the tabernacle;
whereupon the multitude not daring to return for all this, Aaron and the princes alone
return to him, being now in the tabernacle. Ver. 41 , the middle part of which, I think,
is to be read thus, " And Aaron and all the princes returned unto him in the testi-
mony," i.e. in the tabernacle of the testimony, as it is called, chap, xxxviii. 21 ;
Rev. xv. 5. From out of the tabernacle Moses speaks to them, ordering (it would
seem) the people to be gathered together unto that place, ver. 31, 32. The people
being convened at the tabernacle, he preached to them all that he had received of the
Lord on the mount, ver. 32. But in the mean time, none of them saw his face, for-
asmuch as the tabernacle, within which he was, served instead of a vail to it. Having
done speaking, he puts a vail over his face, and comes out to them, ver. 33. Marg.
Heb. " And Moses ceased from speaking with them, and put a vail on his face."
Compare ver. 34, " But when Moes went in before the Lord to speak with them, he
took the vail off until he came out."
The mystery of this typical event the apostle treats of, 2 Cor. iii. The shining
glory of Moses' face did not prefigure nor signify the glory of Christ ; for " the glory
of the Lord Christ," ver. 18, is evidently opposed to the glory of Moses' countenance,
ver. 7, and the open (or uncovered) face of the former, ver. 18, as Vetablus seems to
me rightly to understand it) to the vailed face of the latter, ver. 13. The glory of
the one is beheld as in a glass, ver. 18, the sight of the face itself being reserved for
heaven : but the glory of the face of the other was not to be beheld at all, being vailed-
224 THE MARROW OF
§ 6. Ant. Well, sir, I had thought that God's covenant with the
Jews had been a mixt covenant, and that they had been partly
under the covenant of works ; but now I perceive there was little
difference betwixt their covenant of grace and ours.
Evan. Truly the opposition between the Jews' covenant of grace
and ours was chiefly of their own making. They should have been
driven to Christ by the law : but they expected life in obedience to
it, and this was their great error and mistake.
Ant. And surely, sir, it is no great marvel, though they in this
point did so much err and mistake, who had the covenant of grace
made known to them so darkly ; when many amongst us, who have
it more clearly manifested, do the like.
Evan. And, truly, it is no marvel, though all men naturally do
so : for man naturally doth apprehend God to be the great Master
of heaven, and himself to be his servant ; and that therefore he
must do his work before he can have his wages ; and the more work
he doth, the better wages he shall have. And hence it was, that
when Aristotle came to speak of blessedness, and to pitch upon the
next means to that end, he said, " It was operation and working ;"
with whom also agrees Pythagoras, when he says, " It is man's feli-
city to be like unto God, (as how ?) by becoming righteous and
holy." And let us not marvel that these men did so err, who never
heard of Christ, nor of the covenant of grace, when those to whom
it was made known by the apostles of Christ did the like ; witness
those to whom the apostle Paul wrote his epistles, and especially
But that glory signified the law given to the Israelites, as the covenant of works, the
glory of the ministration of death, ver. 7, agreeable to what the author tells us from
Tindal, namely, that Moses face is the law rightly understood. This Mosaic glory
while it was most fresh, was darkened by the excelling glory of the Son of God, the
Lord Jesus Christ, ver. 18, compared with Exod, xxxiv. 29, howbeit, the discovery of
it to sinners makes their hearts to tremble, they are not able to bear it. That glori-
ous form of the law must be hid in Christ the true tabernacle, and from theuce only
must the law come to them, or else they are not able to receive it ; though before that
discovery is made to them they are ready to embrace the law under that form, as the
people were to receive Moses with the tables in his hand, till they found themselves
unable to bear the shining glory of his face. The vail which Moses put on his face,
keeping the Israelites from beholding the glory of it, signifies that their minds were
t blinded, ver. 14, not perceiving the glory of the law given them as a covenant of
works. And hence it was " that the children of Israel fastened not their eyes, (Luke
iv. 20; Acts iii. 4,) on (Christ) the end of that which is abolished," 2 Cor. iii. 13,
(Gr.} for had they seen that glory to purpose, they would have fastened their eyes on
him, as a malefactor at the stake would fix his eyes on the face of one bringing a re-
mission. And that is the vail that is upon Moses's face, and their hearts, unto this
day, ver. 14, 15, which nevertheless, in the Lord's appointed time, shall be taken
away, ver. 16.
MODERN DIVINITY. 225
the Galatians : for although he had by his preaching, when he was
present with them, made known nnto them the covenant of grace ;
yet after his departure, through the seducement of false teachers,
they were soon turned to the covenant of works, and sought to be
justified, either in whole or in part by it; as you may see if you
seriously consider that epistle. Nay, what says Luther? It is,
says he, the general opinion of man's reason throughout the whole
world, that righteousness is gotten by the works of the law ; and
the reason is, because the covenant was engendered in the minds of
men in the very creation, p so that man naturally can judge no
otherwise of the law than as of a covenant of works, which was
given to make righteous, and to give life and salvation. This per-
nicious opinion of the law, that it justifieth and maketh righteous
before God, (says Luther again) " is so deeply rooted in man's rea-
son, and all mankind so wrapped in it, that they can hardly get
out; yea, I myself, says he, have now preached the gospel nearly
twenty years, and have been exercised in the same daily, by read-
ing and writing, so that I may well seem to be rid of this wicked
opinion; yet notwithstanding, I now and then feel this old filth
cleave to my heart, whereby it cometh to pass that I would will-
ingly have so to do with God, that I would bring something with
myself, because of which he should give me his grace." Nay, it is
to be feared, that, as you said, many amongst us, (who have more
means of light ordinarily, than ever Luther, or any before him
had, q yet notwithstanding) do either wholly, or in part, expect jus-
tification and acceptation by the works of the law.
Ant. Sir, I am verily persuaded, that there be very many in the
city of London that are carried with a blind preposterous zeal after
their own good works and well-doings, secretly seeking to become
holy, just, and righteous, before God, by their diligent keeping, and
careful walking in all God's commandments; r and yet no man can
p This is not to be understood strictly of the very moment of man's creation, in
which the natural law was impressed on his heart, but with some latitude, the cove-
nant of works being made with man newly created ; and so divines call it the covenant
of nature — See Dickson's Therap. Sacr. book 1. chap. 5, p. 116.
q This is not to insinuate, that Luther had arrived but to a small measure of the
knowledge of the doctrine of justification and acceptation of a sinner before God, in
comparison with those of later times; I make no question but he understood that doc-
trine as well as any man has done since ; and doubt not but our author was of the
same mind anent him : but it is to show, that that great man of God, and others who
went before him, found their way out of the midnight darkness of Popery in that
point, with less means of light by far than men now have, who notwithstanding can-
not hold off from it.
r By which means they put their own works in the room of Christ, " who of God is
226 THE HARROW OF
persuade them that they do so : and truly, sir, I am verily per-
suaded that this our neighbour aud friend, Noniista, is one of them.
Evan. Alas ! there are a thousand in the world that make a
Christ of their works ; and here is their undoing, &c. They look
for righteousness and acceptation more in the precept than in the
promise, in the law than in the gospel, in working than in believ-
ing ; and so miscarry. Many poor ignorant souls amongst us, when
we bid them obey and do duties, they can think of nothing but
working themselves to life; when they are troubled, they must lick
themselves whole, when wounded, they must run to the salve of
duties, and stream of performances, and neglect Christ. Nay, it is
to be feared that there be divers who in words are able to distin-
guish between the law and gospel, and in their judgments hold and
maintain, that man is justified by faith without the works of the
law ; and yet in effect and practice, that is to say, in heart and con-
science, do otherwise, s And there is some touch of this in us all ;
otherwise we should not be so up and down in our comforts and
believing as we are still, and cast down with every weakness, as we
are. t But what say you, neighbour Nomista, are you guilty of
these things, think you ?
Norn. Truly, sir, I must needs confess, I begin to be somewhat
jealous of myself that I am so ; and because I desire your judgment
touching my condition, I would entreat you to give me leave to
relate it unto you.
Evan. With great good will.
Nom. Sir, I have been born and brought up in a country where
there was very little preaching, the Lord knoweth I lived a great
while in ignorance and blindness, and yet, because I did often re-
peat the Lord's prayer, the apostle's creed, and the ten command-
ments, and in that I came sometimes to divine service, as they call
it, and at Easter received the communion, I thought my condition to
be good. But at last, by means of hearing a zealous and godly mi-
made unto us righteousness and sanctification," 1 Cor. i. 30. According to the
Scripture plan of justification and sanctification, a sinner is justified by his blood,
Rom. v. 9, sanctified in Christ Jesus, 1 Cor. i. 2, through sanctification of the Spirit,
2 Thess. ii. 13, sanctified by faith, Acts xxvi. 18.
s It is indeed the practice of every unregenerate man, whatever be his knowledge
or professed principles ; for the contrary practice is the practice of the saints, and of
them only, Mat. v. 3, " Blessed are the poor in spirit." Phil. iii. 3, " We are the
circumcision, which worship God in the spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have
no confidence in flesh.
t For these flow from our building so much on something in ourselves, which is
always very variable ; and so little on the " grace that is in Christ Jesus," (2 Tim. ii.
1.) which is an immoveable foundation.
MODERN DIVINITY. 227
nister in this city, not long after my coming hither, I was convinced
that my present condition was not good, and therefore I went to the
same minister, and told him what I thought of myself; so he told
me that I must frequent the hearing of sermons, and keep the Sab-
bath very strictly, and leave off swearing by my faith and troth,
and such like oaths, and beware of lying, and all idle words and
communication ; yea, and said he, you must get good books to read
on, as Mr. Dodd on the Commandments, Mr. Bolton's Directions for
Comfortable Walking with God, Mr. Brinsley's True Watch, and
such like ; and many similar exhortations and directions he gave
me, the which I liked very well, and therefore endeavoured ray-
self to follow them. So I fell to the hearing of the most godly,
zealous, and powerful preachers that were in the city, and wrote
their sermons after them ; and when God gave me a family, I
prayed with them, and instructed them, and repeated sermons
to them, and spent the Lord's day in public and private exercises,
and left off swearing, and lying, and idle talking ; and, according
to exhortation, in few words, I did so reform myself and my life,
that whereas before I had been only careful to perform the duties of
the second table of the law, and that to the end I might gain
favour and respect from civil honest men, and to avoid the penalties
of man's law, or temporal punishment, now I was also careful to
perform the duties required in the first table of the law, and that to
gain favour and respect from religious honest men, and to avoid the
penalty of God's law, even eternal torments in hell. Xow, when
professors of religion observed this change in me, they came to my
house, and gave unto me the right hand of fellowship, and counted
me one of that number ; and then I invited godly ministers to my
table, and made much of them ; and then, with that same Micah
mentioned in the book of Judges, I was persuaded the Lord would
be merciful unto me, bacause I had gotten a Levite to be my priest,
Judges xvii. 13. In a word, I did now yield such an outward obe-
dience and conformity to both tables of the law, that all godly mi-
nisters and religious honest men who knew me, did think very well
of me, counting me to be a very honest man, and a good Christian ;
and indeed I thought so myself, especially because I had their
approbation. And thus I went on bravely a great while, even
until I read in Mr. Bolton's works, the outward righteousness of the
Scribes and Pharisees was famous in those times, for, besides their
forbearing and protesting against gross sins, as murder, theft,
adultery, idolatry, and the like, they were frequent and constant in
prayer, fasting, and alras-deeds, so that, without question, many of
thera were persuaded that their doing would purchase heaven and
happiness. Whereupon I concluded, that I had as yet done no
228 THE MARROW OF
more than they ; and withal I considered, that our Saviour says,
" Except your righteousness exceed the righteousness of the Scribes
and Pharisees, you cannot enter into the kingdom of God, Matth. v.
20 ; yea, and I also considered that the apostle says, " He is not a
Jew that is one outwardly, but he that is one inwardly, whose praise
not of men, but of God," Rom. ii. 28, 29. Then did I conclude that as
I was not yet a true Christian ; for, said I in my heart, I have con-
tented myself with the praise of men, and so have lost all my la-
bour and pains in performing duties ; for they have been no better
than outside performances, and therefore they must all fall down in
a moment. I have not served God with all my heart, and therefore
I see I must either go further, or else I shall never be happy.
Whereupon I set about the keeping of the law in good earnest, and
laboured to perform duties, not only outwardly, but also inwardly
from my heart; I heard, and read, and prayed, and laboured, to
bring my heart, and forced my soul to every duty ; I called upon
the Lord in good earnest, and told him, that whatsoever he would
have me to do, I would do it with all my heart, if he would but save
my soul. And then I also took notice of the inward corruptions of
my heart, the which I had not formerly done, and was careful to
govern my thoughts, to moderate my passions, and to suppress the
motions and risings of lusts, to banish pride and speculative wanton-
ness, and all vain and sinful desires of my heart ; and then I thought
myself not only an outside Christian, bnt also an inside Christian,
and therefore a true Christian indeed. And so I went on comfort-
ably a good while till I considered that the law of God requires
passive obedience as well as active ; and therefore I must be a suf-
ferer as well as a doer, or else I could not be a Christian indeed ;
whereupon I began to bo troubled at my impatience under God's
correcting hand, and at those inward murmurings and discontents
which I found in my spirit in time of any outward calamity that
befel me ; and then I laboured to bridle my passions, and to submit
myself quietly to the will of God in every condition ; and then did
I also, as it were, begin to take penance upon myself, by abstinence,
fasting, and afflicting my soul ; and made pitiful lamentations in
my prayers, which were sometimes also accompanied with tears, the
which I was persuaded the LoM did take notice of, and would re-
ward me for it ; and then I was persuaded that I did keep the law,
in yielding obedience both actively and passively. And then was I
confident I was a true Christian, until I considered, that those Jews,
of whom the Lord complains, Isa. Iviii. did so much as I; and that
caused me to fear that all was not right with me as yet. Where-
upon I went to another minister, and told him that though I had
MODERN DIVINITY. 229
done thus and thus, and suffered thus and thus ; yet was I per-
suaded I was in no better condition than those Jews. yes ! said
he ; you are in a better condition than they : for they were hypo-
crites, and served not God with all their hearts as you do. Then I
went home contentedly, and so went on in my wonted course of do-
ing and suffering, and thought all was well with me, until I be-
thought myself, that before the time of my conversion, I had been a
transgressor from the womb ; yea, in the womb, in that I was guilty
of Adam's transgression : so that I considered that although I kept
even with God for the time present and to come, yet that would not
free me from the guiltiness of that which was done before ; where-
upon I was much troubled and disquieted in my mind. Then I went
to a third minister of God's holy word, and told how the case stood
with me, and what I thought of my state and condition. He cheered
me up, bidding me be of good comfort : for however my obedience
since my conversion would not satisfy for my former sins ; yet, in-
asmuch as, at my conversion, I had confessed, lamented, deplored,
bewailed, and forsaken them, God, according to his rich mercy and
gracious promise, had mercifully pardoned and forgiven them. Then
I returned home to my house again, and went to God by earnest
prayer and supplication, and besought him to give me assurance of
the pardon and forgiveness of ray guiltiness of Adam's sin, and all
my actual transgressions before my conversion; and as I had endea-
voured myself to be a good servant before, so I would still continue
in doing my duty most exactly ; and so, being assured that the Lord
had granted this my request, I fell to my business according to
my promise ; I heard, I read, I prayed, I fasted, I mourned, I
sighed, and groaned ; and watched over ray heart, my tongue,
and ways, in all my doings, actions^ and dealings, both with God
and man. But after a while, I growing better acquainted with
the spiritualuess of the law and the inward corruptions of my
own heart, I perceived that I had deceived myself, in thinking
that I had kept the law perfectly ; for, do what I could, I
found many imperfections in my obedience ; for I had been, and
was still subject to sleepiness, drowsiness, and heaviness, in pray-
ers and hearing, and so in other duties ; I failed in the manner
of performance of them, and in the end why I performed them,
seeking myself in every thing I did : and my conscience told me I
failed in my duty to God in this, and in my duty to my neigh-
bour in that. And then I was much troubled again : for I considered
that the law of God requires, and is not satisfied without, an exact
and perfect obedience. And then I weut to the same minister again
and told him how I had purposed, promised, striven and endea-
230 THE MARROW OF
vonred, as much as possible I could, to keep the law of God per-
fectly ; and yet by woful experience I had found, that I had, and
did still transgress in many ways ; and therefore I feared hell and
damnation. " Oh ! but," said he, " do not fear, for the best of
Christians have their failings, and no man keepeth the law of God
perfectly ; and therefore go on, and do as you have done, in striv-
ing to keep the law perfectly ; and in what you cannot do, God will
accept the will for the deed ; and wherein you come short, Christ
will help you out." And this satisfied and contented me very much.
So I returned home again, and fell to prayer, and told the Lord,
that now I saw I could not yield perfect obedience to his law, and
yet I would not despair, because I did believe, that what I could
not do Christ had done for me : and then I did certainly conclude,
that I was now a Christian indeed, though I was not so before : and
so have I been persuaded ever since. And thus, sir, you see I have
declared unto you, both how it hath been with me formerly and how
it is with me for the present ; wherefore I would entreat you to tell
me plainly and truly what you think of my condition, u
Evan. Why, truly, I must tell you, it appears to me by this rela-
tion, that you have gone as far in the way of the covenant of works
as the apostle Paul did before his conversion ; but yet, for aught I
see, you have not gone the right way to the truth of the gospel ; and
therefore I question whether you be as yet truly come to Christ.
u It is not necessary, for saving this account of Nomista's case from the odious
charge of forgery, that the particulars therein mentioned should have heen real facts;
more than (not to speak of scripture parables,) it is necessary to save the whole book
from the same imputation, that the speeches therein contained should have passed, at
a certain time, in a real conference of four men, called Evangelista, Nomista, Antino-
mista, and Neophetus ; yet I make no question but it is grounded on matters of fact,
falling out by some casuist's inadvertency, excess of charity to, or shifting converse
with the afflicted, as to their soul-exercise, or by means of corrupt principles. And as
the former are incident to good men of sound principles at any time, which calls minis-
ters on such occasions to take heed to the frame of their own spirits, and to be much
in the exercise of dependence on the Lord, lest they do hurt to souls instead of doing
them good ; so the latter is at no time to be thought strange, since there were found,
even in the primitive apostolical churches, some who were reputed godly zealous gos-
pel ministers, especially by such as had little savour of Christ on their own souls, who
nevertheless, in their zeal for the law, perverted the gospel of Christ, Gal. i. 6, 7,
and iv. 17. Whether Nomista was of opinion, that the covenant of works was still in
force or not, our Lord Jesus Christ taught that it was, Luke x. 25 — 28, and so does
the apostle, Gal. iii. 10; and unbelievers will find it so to their everlasting ruin. For,
" our Lord Jesus, who now offers to be Mediator for them who believe on him, shall,
at the last day, come armed with flaming fire, to judge, condemn, and destroy all them
who have not believed God, have not received the offer of grace made in the gospel
nor obeyed the doctrine thereof, but remain in their natural state under the law or
covenant of works." — Practical use of Saving Knowledge, tit. For convincing a man
of Judgment by the Law, part. 2.
MODERN DIVINITY. 231
Neoph. Good sir, give me leave to speak a few words. By the
hearing of your discourse concerning the covenant of works, and the
covenant of grace, I was moved to fear that I was out of the right
way ; but now having heard my neighbour Nomista make such an
excellent relation, and yet you to question whether he truly be come
to Christ or no, makes me conclude absolutely that I am far from
Christ. Surely if he, upon whom the Lord hath bestowed such ex-
cellent gifts and graces, and who hath lived such a godly life as I
am sure he hath done, be not right, then woe be unto me.
Evan. Truly, for aught I know, you may be in Christ before him.
Nom. But, I pray you, sir, consider, that though I am now tho-
roughly convinced, that till of late I went on in the way of the cove-
nant of works ; yet seeing that I at last came to see my need of
Christ, and have verily believed that in what I come short of fulfil-
ling the law he will help me out, methinks I should be truly come
to Christ.
Evan. Yerily, I do conceive that this gives you no surer evidence
of your being truly come to Christ, than some of your strict Papists
have. For it is the doctrine of the Church of Rome, that if a man
exercise his power, and do his best to fulfil the law, then God for
Christ's sake, will pardon all his infirmities, and save his soul. And
therefore you shall see many of your Papists strict and zealous in the
performance of duties, morning and evening, so many Ave Maries
and so many Pater Nosters ; yea, and many of them do great deeds
of charity, and great works of hospitality ; and all upon such grounds
and to such ends as these. The Papists (says Calvin) cannot abide
this saying, " By faith alone ;" for they think that their own works
are in a part a cause of their salvation, and so they make a hotch-
potch and mingle-mangle, that is neither fish nor flesh as men say.
Nom. But stay, sir, I pray ; you are mistaken in me ; for though
I hold that God doth accept of my doing my best to fulfil the law,
yet I do not hold with the Papists, that my doings are meritorious ;
for I believe that God accepts not what I do, either for the work or
worker's sake, but only for Christ's sake.
Evan. Yet do you but still go hand in hand with the Papists; for
though they do hold that their works are not meritorious, yet they say
it is by the merit of Christ that they become meritorious; or as
some of the moderate sort of them say, " Our works, sprinkled with
the blood of Christ, become meritorious." But this you are to know
that as the justice of God requires a perfect obedience, so does it re-
quire that this perfect obedience be a personal one ; viz. it must be
the obedience of one person only ; the obedience of two must not be
232 THE MARROW OF
put together, to make up a perfect obedience ; v so that, if you desire
to be justified before God, you must either bring him to a perfect
righteousness of your own, and wholly renounce Christ ; or else you
must bring the perfect righteousness of Christ, and wholly renounce
your own.
Ant. But believe me, sir, I would advise him to bring Christ's,
and wholly renounce his own, as, I thank the Lord, I have done.
Evan. You say very well ; for, indeed, the covenant of grace
terminates itself only on Christ and his righteousness ; God will
have none to have a hand in the justification and salvation of a siu-
ner, but Christ only. And to say as the thing is, neighbour
Nomista, Christ Jesus will either be a whole Saviour, or no Saviour;
he will either save you alone, or not save you at all. Acts iv. 12.
"For among men there is given no other name under heaven,
whereby we must be saved," says the apostle Peter ; and Jesus
Christ himself says, John xiv. 6. " I am the way, the truth, and the
life ; and no man cometh to the father but by me." So that, as
Luther truly says, " besides this way Christ, there is no way but
wandering, no verity but hypocrisy, no life but eternal death."
And verily says another godly writer , " we can neither come to God
the Father, be reconciled unto him, nor have anything to do with
him, by any other way or means, but only by Jesus Christ; for we
shall not any where find the favour of God, true innocency, righte-
ousness, satisfaction for sin, help, comfort, life, or salvation, any
where but only in Jesus Christ; he is the sum and centre of all
divine and evangelical truths : and therefore as there is no know-
ledge or wisdom so excellent, necessary, or heavenly, as the know-
ledge of Christ, as the apostle plainly gives us to understand, 1 Cor.
ii. 2, that he " determined to know nothing amongst them, but only
Jesus Christ and him crucified ;" so there is nothing to be preached
unto men, as an object of their faith, or necessary element of their
salvation which doth not in some way or other, either meet in
Christ, or refer unto him."ru
§ 7- -Ant. 0, sir, you please me wondrous well in thus attributing
all to Christ : and surely, though of late you have not been so
evangelical in your teaching as some others in this city, which has
caused me to leave off hearing you to hear them, yet I have formerly
v For in that case, the obedience both of the one and of the other is imperfect, and
so is not conform to the law ; therefore it can in nowise be accepted for righteousness ;
but according to justice proceeding upon it, the soul that hath it must die, because a
sinful soul, Ezek. xviii. 4.
w Eph. iv. 20, 21. " Bot ye have not so learned Christ; if so be that ye have
heard him, and have been taught by him, as the truth is in Jesus."
MODERN DIVINITY. 233
perceived, and now also perceive, that you have more knowledge
of the doctrine of free grace than any other ministers of this city
have ; and, to tell you the truth, sir, it was hy your means that 1
was first brought to renounce mine own righteousness, and cleave
only to the righteousness of Jesus Christ.* And thus it was : after
that I had been a good while a legal professor, just like my friend
Nomista, and heard none but your legal preachers, who built me up
in works and doings, as they did him, aud as their manner is ; at
last, a familiar acquaintance of mine, who had some knowledge of
the doctrine of free grace, did commend you for an excellent
preacher ; and at last prevailed with me to go with him and hear
you ; and your text that day, I well remember, was Tit. iii. 5, " Not
by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his
mercy he saved us ;" whence you observed, and plainly proved, that
man's own righteousness had no hand in his justification and salva-
tion ; whereupon you dehorted us from putting any confidence in
our own works and doings, and exhorted us by faith to lay hold
upon the righteousness of Jesus Christ only ; at the hearing whereof
it pleased the Lord so to work upon me, that I plainly perceived
that there was no need at all of my works and doings, nor any
thing else, but only to believe in Jesus Christ, y And indeed my
x What this is, in the sense of the speaker, he himself immediately explains at large
— in a word, in his sense, it is to be an Antinomian indeed. The sum of his compli-
ment made to Evangelista, or the author, which you please, lies here ; namely, that
he had left off htaring him, because he did not preach the gospel so purely as some
others in the place ; yet in his opinion, he understood it better than many others ; and
(to carry the compliment to the highest pitch) it was by his means he turned down-
Tight Antinomian. One would think, that whatever was the measure of our author's
pride or humility, self-denial, or self-seeking, he had as much common sense as would
render this address not very taking with him, or at least would teach him, that the pub-
lishing of it was none of the most proper means for commending himself. So that the pub-
lishing of it may rather be imputed to the author's self-denial than to the want thereof;
though I presume the considering reader will neither impute it to the one nor to the
other.
y The preacher taught, according to his text, The man's own righteousness had no
hand in his justification and salvation; he dehorted from putting confidence in good
works ; and exhorted by faith to lay hold on Christ's righteousness only. And this
hearer thence inferred, that there was no need at all of good works ; as if one should
conclude, that because it is the eye only that seeth, therefore there is no need at all
of hand or foot. So the apostle Paul's doctrine was misconstrued ; Rom. iii. 8,
" Some affirm that we say, Let us do evil that good may come." Yea, in the apostles'
days, the doctrine of free grace was actually thus abused to Antinomianism, by some
" turning the grace of God into lasciviousness," Ju'le 4. The apostle was aware of
the danger on that side through the corruption of the hearts of men; Gal. v. 13,
" Brethren, ye have been called unto liberty ; only use not liberty for an occasion to
the flesh." And ministers of Christ (who himself was accounted "a friend of publi-
Vol. VII. P
234 1MB KABBOW OF
heart assented to it immediately, so that I went home with abundance
of peace and joy in believing, and gave thanks to the Lord for that
he had set my soul at liberty from such a sore bondage as I had
been under. And I told all my acquaintance what a slavish life I
lived in, being under the law ; for if I did commit any sin, I was
presently troubled and disquieted in my conscience, and could have
no peace till I made humble confession thereof unto God, craved
pardon and forgiveness, and promised amendment. But now I told
them, that whatsoever sins I committed, I was no whit troubled at
them, nor indeed am I at this day ; for I do verily believe that God,
for Christ's sake, has freely and fully pardoned all my sins, both
past, present and to come ; so that I am confident, that whatsoever
sin or sins I commit, they shall never be laid to my charge, being
very well assured, that I am so perfectly clothed with the robes of
Christ's righteousness, that God can see no sin in me at all. And
therefore now I can rejoice evermore in Christ, as the apostle ex-
horts me, and live merrily, though I be never so vile or sinful a
creature ; and indeed I pity them that are in the same slavish con-
dition I was in ; and would have them to believe as I have done,
that so they may rejoice with me in Christ, z And thus, sir, you
see I have declared unto you my condition ; and therefore I entreat
you to tell me what you think of me.
Evan. There is in this city, at this day, much talk about Antino-
mian3; and though I hope there be but few that do justly deserve
that title, yet, I pray, give me leave to tell you, that I fear I may
say unto you in this case, as it was once said unto Peter in ano-
ther case, " Surely thou art one of them, for thy speech bewrayeth
thee," Matth. xxvi. 73. And therefore, to tell you truly, I make
some question whether you have truly believed in Christ, for all
your confidence ; and indeed I am the rather moved to question it,
cans and sinners," &c. Matth, xi. 19,) followers of Paul's doctrine, which, in the eyes
of carnal men, had a show and semblance of favouring sinful liberty, ought to set the
apostle'3 example in this matter before them in a special manner ; with fear and trem-
bling, keeping a jealous eye on the danger from that part ; especially in this day,
wherein the Lord's indignation is visibly going out in spiritual strokes, for a despised
gospel; knowing that the gospel of Christ is to some " the savour of death unto
death," 2 Cor. ii. 16, and that " there are who wrest the Scriptures (themselves,)
unto their own destruction," 2 Pet. ii. 17.
z How easy is the passage from legalism to Antinomianism ! Had this poor man,
under his trouble and disquiet of conscience, fled to Jesus Christ, for the purging of
his conscience from guilt by his blood, and the sanctifying of bis Dature by his Spirit ;
and not put his own confessions of sins, prayers for pardon, and promises of amend-
ment, in the room of Christ's atoning blood ; and his blind and faithless resolutions
to amend, in the room of the sanctifying spirit of Christ ; he had escaped this snare of
the devil, Heb. ix. 14 ; Rom. vii. 4 — 6.
.MODERN DIVINITY. 235
by calling to mind, that, as I have heard, " your conversation is not
such as becometh the gospel of Christ," Phil. i. 27-
Ant. Why, sir, do you think it is possible for a man to have such
peace and joy in Christ as I have had, and I thank the Lord have
still, and not to have truly believed in Christ?
Evan. Yes, indeed, I think it is possible; for does not our
Saviour tell us, that those hearers, to whom he resembles the
" stony ground, — immediately received the word with joy, and yet
had no root in themselves," (Mark iv. 16, 17,) and so indeed were
not true believers? and does not the apostle give us to understand,
that as there is a form of godliness without the power of godliness,
(2 Tim. iii. 5.) so there is a form of faith without the power of
faith ; and therefore he prays that God would grant unto the Thes-
salonians "the work of faith with power," 2 Thess. i. 11. And as
the same apostle gives us to understand, " there is a faith that is
not feigned," 1 Tim. i. 5; so, doubtless, there is a faith that is
feigned. And surely when our Saviour says, Mark iv. 26 — 28,
" the kingdom of God is as if a man should cast seed into the
ground, and should sleep, and rise night and day, and the seed
should spring up and grow, he knoweth not how, first the blade,
then the ear, after that the full corn in the ear ;" he giveth us to
understand, that true faith is produced by the secret power of God,
by little and little ; so that sometimes a true believer himself
neither knows the time when, nor the manner how, it was wrought.
So that we may perceive, that true faith is not ordinarily begun,
increased, and finished, all in a moment, as it seems yours was, but
grows by degrees, according to that of the apostle, Rom. i. 17,
" The righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith," that is,
from one degree of faith to another ; a from a weak faith to a
strong faith, and from faith beginning to faith increasing towards
perfection ; or from faith of adherence to faith of evidence ; but so
was not yours. And again, true faith, according to the measure of
it, produces holiness of life ; but it seems yours does not so ; and
therefore, though you have had, and have still much peace and joy,
yet that is no infallible sign that your faith is true ; for a man may
have great raptures, yea, he may have great joy, as if he were lifted
up into the third heaven, and have a great and strong persuasion
that his state is good, and yet be but a hypocrite for all that. And
therefore, I beseech you, in the words of the apostle, " examine
yourself, whether you be in the faith, prove your own self: know
you not your own self, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except you
be a reprobate ?" 2 Cor. xiii. 5, " And if Christ is in you, the body
a See note h, page 182.
p2
236 THK MARROW OP
is dead because of sin, bnt the spirit is life because of righteous-
ness, b Rom. viii. 10.
Ant. But, sir, if my friend Nomista went wrong in seeking to be
justified by the works of the law, then, methinks, I should have
gone right in seeking to be justified by faith ; and yet you speak as
if we had both gone wrong.
Evan. I remember Luther says, that in his time, if they taught
in a sermon, that salvation consisted not in our works or life, but
in the gift of God, some men took occasion thence to be slow to
good works, and to live a dishonest life. And if they preached of
a godly and honest life, others did by and by attempt to build lad-
ders to heaven, c And moreover, he says, that in the year 1525,
there were some fantastical spirits that stirred up the rustical peo-
ple to sedition, saying, That the freedom of the gospel giveth
liberty to all men from all manner of laws ; and there were others
that did attribute the force of justification to the law. Now, says
he, both these sorts offend against the law ; the one on the right
hand, who would be justified by the law, and the other on the left
hand, who would be clean delivered from the law. Now, I suppose,
this saying of Lather's may be fitly applied to you too ; for it
appears to me, friend Antinoraista, that you have offended on the
left hand, in not walking according to the matter of the law ; and
it is evident to me, neighbour Nomista, that you have offended on
the right hand, in seeking to be justified by your obedience to it. d
§ 8. Nom. But, sir, if seeking justification by the works of the
law be an error, yet it seems, that, by Luther's own confession it is
but an error on the right hand.
Evan. But yet I tell you, it is such an error, that, by the apostle
b This doctrine of our author is far from cherishing of presumption, or opening of a
gap to licentiousness.
c That is, to scale and get into it bv their own good works.
d The offences of these men here taxed, were both against the law, (or covenant)
of works ; for they must need* have been against that law which they were under,
and not another; and both of them were as yet under the law, or covenant of works,
as being both unbelievers, the which was told Antinomista, page 234, as it was to
Nomista, page 235 ; wherefore it is manifest, that by the matter of the law here, is
not meant the law of Christ, but the matter of the law of works, that is, the ten com-
mandments, as they stand in the covenant of works, which Antinomista had no regard
to in his conversation, though they had all the authority and binding force upon him
found in that covenant. And as he offended against the matter of it, so did Nomista
against the form, in seeking to be justified by his obedience; for the covenant of
works never bound a sinner to seek to be justified by his obedience to it ; but, on the
contrary, always condemned that as presumption, staking down the guilty under the
curse, without remedy, till satisfaction be made bv another hand.
MODERN DIVINITY. 237
Paul's own confession, so far forth as any man is guilty of it, he
makes his services his saviours, and rejects the grace of God, and
makes the death of Christ of none effect, and perverteth the Lord's
intention, both in giving the law and in giving the gospel ; and
keeps himself under the curse of the law, and maketh himself the
son of a bond-woman, a servant, yea, and a slave, and hinders hi in-
self in the course of well-doing," Gal. v. 4; iii. 19 ; i. 7; i ii - 10:
iv. 25 ; v. 7, and ii. 11 ; and in short, he goeth about an impossible
thing, and so loseth all his labour.
Nom. Why then, sir, it would seem that all my seeking to please
God by my good works, all my strict walking, according to the law,
and all my honest course of life, has rather done me hurt than
good ?
Evan. The apostle says, that " without faith it is impossible to
please God," Heb. xi. 6; that is, says Calvin, (Instit. p. 370.)
" Whatsoever a man thinketh, purposeth, or doeth, before he be re-
conciled to God by faith in Christ, it is accursed, and not only of no
value to righteousness, but of certain deserving to damnation." So
that, says Luther on Gal. p. 63, " Whosoever goeth about to please
God with works going before faith, goeth about to please God with
sin ; which is nothing else but to heap sin upon sin, to mock God,
and to provoke him to wrath. — Nay, (says the same Luther, on the
Galatians, p. 23.) " if thou be without Christ, thy wisdom is double
foolishness, thy righteousness is double sin and iniquity." And
therefore, though you have walked very strictly according to the
law, and led an honest life, yet if you have rested and put confi-
dence therein, and so come short of Christ, then hath it indeed ra-
ther done you hurt than good. For, says a godly writer, a virtuous
life according to the light of nature, turneth a man further off from
God, if he add not thereto the effectual working of his Spirit. And,
says Luther, " they which have respect only to an honest life, it
were better for them to be adulterers and adulteresses, and to wal-
low in the mire." e And surely for this cause it is, that our Savi-
our tells the strict Scribes and Pharisees, who sought justification
by works, and rejected Christ, that " publicans and harlots should
enter into the kingdom of God before them," Matt. xxi. 31. And
e This comparison is not stated betwixt these too, considered simply, as to their dif-
ferent manner of life ; but in point ot pliableness to receive conviction, wherein the
latter hath the advantage of the former ; which the Scripture oftener than once takes
notice of, Matt. xxi. 31, quoted in the following sentence, " I would thou wert cold
or hot," Rev. iii. 15. The passage is to be found in his sermon upon the Hymn of
Zacharias, page 50.
238 THE MARROW OF
for this cause it was that I said, For aught I know, my neighbour
Neophitus might be in Christ before you.
Norn. But how can that be, when, as you know, he hath confessed
that he is ignorant and full of corruption, and comes far short of
me in gifts and graces ?
Evan. Because, as the Pharisee bad more to do before he could
come at Christ than the Publican had, so I conceive you have more
to do than be hath.
Nom. Why, sir, I pray you, what have I to do, or what would
you advise me to do ? for truly I would be contented to be ruled by
you.
Evan. Why, that which you have to do, before you can come to
Christ, is to undo all that ever you have done already ; that is to
say, whereas you have endeavoured to travel towards heaven by the
way of the covenant of works, and so have gone a wrong way ; you
must go quite back again all the way you have gone, before you cau
tread one step in the right way. And whereas you have attempted
to build up the ruins of old Adam, and that upon yourself, and so,
like a foolish builder, to build a tottering house upon the sands, —
you must throw down and utterly demolish all that building, and
not leave a stone upon a stone, before you can begin to build anew.
And whereas you have conceived that there is some sufficiency in
yourself, to help to justify and to save yourself, you must conclude,
that in that case there is not only in you an insufficiency, but
also a non-sufficiency ; / yea, and that sufficiency that seemed to
be in you, to be your loss. In plain terms, you must deny your-
self, as our Saviour says, Matth. xvi. 24, that is, " you must utterly
renounce all that ever you are, and all that ever you have done ;"
all your knowledge and gifts all your hearing, reading, praying,
fasting, weeping, and mourning; all your wandering in the way of
works, and strict walking, must fall to the ground in a moment :
briefly, whatsoever you have counted gain to you in the case of jus-
tification, you must now, with the apostle Pa*ul, Philip iii. 7 — 9,
" count loss for Christ," and judge it to be " dung, that you may win
Christ, and be found in him, not having your own righteousness,
which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ,
the righteousness which is of God by faith."
f That is, you are not only unable to do enough, but also, that you are not able to
Ho any thing. " Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think any thing as of our-
selves." 2 Cor. iii. 5,
MODERN DIVINITY. 239
SECT. III. — OF THE PERFORMANCE OF THE PROMISE.
Sect. 1. — Christ's fulfilling of the law in the room of the elect 2. Believers dead to
the law as the covenant of works. — 3. The warrant to helieve in Christ. — 4. Evan-
gelical repentance a consequent of faith 5. The spiritual marriage with Jesus
Christ 6. Justification before faith refuted 7. Believers freed from the com-
manding and condemning power of the covenant of works.
Neo. But, sir, what would you advise me to do ?
Evan. Why, man, what aileth you?
Neo. Why, sir, as you have been pleased to hear those two de-
clare their condition unto you, so I beseech you to give rae leave to
do the same : and then you will perceive how it is with me. Sir,
not long since, it pleased the Lord to visit me with a great fit of
sickness ; so that, indeed, both in mine own judgment, and in the
judgment of all that came to visit me, I was sick unto death.
Whereupon I began to consider whither my soul was to go after its
departure out of my body : and I thought with myself, that there
were but two places, heaven and hell ; and therefore it must needs
go to one of them. Then my wicked and sinful life, which indeed I
had lived, came into my mind, which caused me to conclude, that
hell was the place provided for it ; the which caused me to be very
fearful, and to be very sorry that I had so lived ; and I desired of
the Lord to let me live a little longer, and I would not fail to re-
form my life, and amend my ways ; and the Lord was pleased to
grant me my desire. Since which time, though indeed it is true I
have not lived so wickedly as formerly I had done, yet, alas! I
have come far short of that godly and religious life which I see
other men live, and especially my neighbour Nomista; and yet you
seem to conceive that he is not in a good condition, and therefore
surely I must needs be in a miserable condition. Alas, sir, what do
you think will become of me ?
§ 1. Evan. I do now perceive that it is time for me to show how
God, in the fulness of time performed that which he purposed before
all time, and promised in time, concerning the help and delivering
of fallen mankind. And touching this point, the Scripture testifies,
that God " did, in the fulness of time, send forth his Son, made of a
woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the
law," &c, Gal. iv. 1. That is to say, look how mankind by nature
are under the law, as it is the covenant of works; so was Christ, as
man's surety, contented to be ; so that now, according to that eter-
nal and mutual agreement that was betwixt God the Father and
240 THE MAKROW OF
him, lie put himself in the room and place of all the faithful, <jr Isa.
liii. 6, " And the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all."
Then came the law as it is the covenant of works, and said, " I
find him a sinner, h yea, such an one as hath taken upon him the
sins of all men,i therefore let him die upon the cross." Then said
g That is, all those who have, or shall believe, or all the elect, which is one and the
same in reality, and in the judgment of our author, expressly declared in the first sen-
tence of his preface.
h By imputation and law-reckoning ; no otherwise, as a sinner believing in him is
righteous before God. (Thus Isaac Ambrose, speaking of justification, says, " This
righteousness makes a sinner sinless ;" i. e. as to guilt.) This must be owned to be
the meaning of this expression, unless one will shut one's eyes to the immediately
foregoing and following words, — I find him a sinner, said the law ; such an one as
hath taken sin upon him. They are the words of Luther, and he was not the first
who spoke so ) " He made him who was righteous to be made a sinner, that he might
make sinners righteous," says Chrysostom ; on 2 Cor. v; Horn. 11 cit. Owen on Jus-
tification, p 39. Famous Protestant divines have also used the expression after him.
" When our divines," says Rutherford, " say, Christ took our place, and we have his
condition, — Christ was made us, and made the sinner; it is true, only in a legal sense.
He (Christ) was debitor /actus, — a sinner, a debtor by imputation, a debtor by law,
by place, by office." — Trial and Triumph of Faith, p. 245, 257. Charnock argues
the point thus; " How could he die, if he were not a reputed sinner '! Had he not
first have had a relation to our sin, he could not in justice have undergone our pun-
ishment. He must, in the order of justice, be supposed a sinner really, or by imputa-
tion. Really, he was not; by imputation then he was." — Vol. ii. p. 547, Serm. on
1 Cor. v. 7. " Though personally he was no sinner, yet by imputation he was,"
says the Contin. of Poole's Annot. on 2 Cor. v. 21. " What lllyricus wrote, (says
Rivet,) that Christ might most truly be called a sinner, Bellaimine calls blasphemy
and cursed impudence. Wow Bellarmine himself contends, that Christ might attribute
our sins to himself, therefore he might also truly call himself a sinner, while in him-
self innocent, he did represent our person. What blasphemy, what impiety is here?'
— Comment on P&ahn xxii. I. The Scripture phrase to this purpose is more forcible,
2 Cor. v. 21, " For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin, that we
might be made the righteousness of God in him." For as it is more to say we are
made righteousness, than to say we are made righteous, since the former plainly im-
ports a perfection of righteousness, if I may be allowed the phrase, righteousness not
being propeily capable of degrees; so it is more to say, Christ was made sin for the
elect world, than to say he was made a sinner, since the first of these doth accordingly
point at the universality and complete tale of the elect's sins, from the first to the last
of them laid on our spotless Redeemer. Compare Lev. xvi. 21, 22, " And Aaron
shall confess over him, (viz. the scape-goat, which the apostle hath an eye to here)
all the iniquities of the children of Israel, and all their transgressions, and all their sins,
putting them upon the head of the goat. And the goat shall bear upon him all their
iniquities." Isa. liii. 6, " And the Lord (marg.) hath made the iniquity of us all to
meet on (Heb. in) him." These two texts give the just notion of the true import of
that phrase, " He was made sin for us."
i Our Lord Jesus Ch ist died not for, nor took upon him the sins of all and every
individual man, but he died for, and took upon him the sins of all the elect, John x.
15. and xv. 13 ; Acts xx 28 ; Eph. v. 25 ; Tit. ii. 14, and no other doctrine i> here
MODERN DIVINITY. 241
Christ, " Sacrifice and offering thou wouldst not, but a body hast
thou prepared me ; in burnt-offeriugs and sacrifices for sin thou hast
no pleasure. Then said I, Lo, I come to do thy will, Lord !"
taught by our author touching the extent of the death of Christ. In the preceediug
paragraph, where was the proper place fur giving his judgment on that head, he pur-
posely declares it. He had before taught, that Jesus Christ did from eternity become
man's surety in the covenant that passed betwixt him and the Father, p. 22 — 24. A
surety puts himself in the place of those for whom he becomes surety, to pay their
debt, Gen. xliv. 32, 33. Prov. xxii. 26, 27. And our author tells us, that now, when
the prefixed time of Christ's fulfilling the eternal covenant, paying the debt he had
taken on him, and purchasing man's redemption by his sufferings, was come, he did,
according to the tenor of that covenant, which stated the extent of his suretiship, put
himself iu the room and place, — he says not, of all men, but — of all the faithful, or
elect of God ; (see note g. ) Jesus Christ thus standing in their room and place, actually
to take on the burden. " The Lord laid on him the iniquity of us all ;" the which
Scripture text can bear no other sense in the connexion of it here, than what is the
genuine sense of it, as it stands in the Holy Scripture, namely, that the Father laid
on Christ the iniquities of all the spiritual Israel of God, of all nations, ranks, and con-
ditions ; for no iniquities could be laid on him but theirs in whose room and place he
sisted himself to receive the buideu, according to the eternal and mutual agreement.
These iniquities being thus laid on the Mediator, the law came and said, 1 find him
such an one as had taken on him the sins of all men. This is but an incident expres-
sion on the head of the extent of Christ's death, and it is a scriptural one too. 1 Tim.
ii. 6. " Who gave himself a ransom for all," i. e. tor all sorts of men, not ior all of
every sort. Heb. ii. 9. " That he, by the grace of God, should taste death for every
man," i. e. for every man of those whom the apostle is there treating of, namely sons
brought or to be brought unio glory, verse 10 ; those who are sanctified, Christ's
brethren, verse 11 ; given to him, verse 13; and the sense of the phrase, as used
here by the author, can be no other ; for the sins, which the law found that he had
taken on him, could be no other but the sins that the Lord had laid on him ; and the
sins the Lord had laid on him were the sins of all the faithful or elect, according to the
author ; wherefore, in the author's sense, the sins of all men which the law lound in
Christ were the sins of all the elect, according to the genuine sense of the Scripture
phraseology on that head. And an incident expression, in words which the Holy
Ghost teacheth, and determined in its connexion to the orthodox scriptural meaning,
can never import any prejudice to his sentiment upon that point purposely declared be-
fore in its proper place. It is true, the author, when speaking ol those in whose room
Christ puts himself, useth not the word aloue ; and iu the holy Scripture it is not used
neither on that subject. And it may be observed, that the Spirit ol God in the word,
doth not open the doctrine of election and reprobation, but upon man'« rejecting or
embracing the gospel offer; the which different events are then seasonably accounted
for, from the depths of the eternal counsel of God. See Luke x. 17 — 22; Matt.
xxii. 1 — 14 ; Rom. ix. throughout ; Eph. i. 3 — 5. To every thing there is a season.
The author hitherto hath been dealing with the parties, to bring them to Christ : and
particularly here, he is speaking for the instruction and direction of a convinced tremb-
ling sinner, namely, Neophitus ; and therefore, like a wise and tender man in such a
case, he useth a manner of speaking, which being warranted by the word, was fitted
to evite the awakening of the ordinary scruples in that case, namely, " It may be 1 am
not elected, — it may be Christ died nut for me ;" and which pointed at the duty of all,
242 THE MARROW OF
Heb. x. 5 — 7. And so the law proceeding in full scope against him,
set upon him, and killed him : and by this means, was the justice of
God fully satisfied, his wrath appeased, and all true believers acquit-
ted from all their sins, both past, present, and to come.j
and the encouragement that all have to come to Christ. And all this, after he had,
in his very first words to the reader, sufficiently provided for his using such a manner
of expression, without prejudice to the truth. Further, the law adds, " Therefore let
him die upon the cross." Wherefore ? For their sins, of the laying of which upon him
there is no mention made ; or for the sins of those in whose room he is expressly said
to have put himself, according to the eternal agreement betwixt the Father and him.
Then said Christ, " Lo ! I come ;" viz. actually to pay the debt for which I have be-
come surety in the eternal compact ; the which, whose it was, according to our
author, is already sufficiently declared. The law then set upon him, and killed him ;
for whom, according to our author? For these, surely, in whose room and place he
put himself, and so stood. If one considers his account of the effect of all this, one
does not find it to be, as Arminians say, " That Christ, by the merit of his death, hath
so far forth reconciled God the Father to all mankind, that the Father, by reason of the
Son's merit, both could and would, and did enter and establish, a new and gracious
covenant with sinful man, liable to condemnation." (Examination of Tilenus, p. 164,
art. 2, sect. 2.) " And obtained for all and every man a restoration into a state of
grace and salvation ; so that none will be condemned, nor are liable to condemnation
for original sin, but all are free from the guilt of that sin." (Teste Turret, loc. 14,
ques. 14, th. 5.) Neither does he tell us, that Christ died to "render sin re-
missible to all persons, and them savable," as the Continuator of Pool's An-
notations on Hebrews, (chapter ii. 9,) says, with other Universalists. By this
means, says our author, " was the justice of God fully satisfied, his wrath appeased,
and all true believers acquitted." Compare Westm. Confess, chap. 8. art. 4, 5,
" This office (viz. of a surety) the Lord Jesus did most willingly undertake, which that
he might discharge, he was made under the law, and did perfectly fulfil it, endured
most grievous torments, &c. — The Lord Jesus, by his perfect obedience, and sacrifice
of himself — hath fully satisfied the justice of his Father; and purchased not only re-
conciliation, but an everlasting inheritance in the kingdom of heaven, for all those
whom the Father hath given unto him. — Christ by his obedience and death, did fully
discharge the debt of all those that are thus justified." Chap. xi. art. 3. Wherefore
the author does not here teach an universal redemption or atonement. Of this more
afterward.
j Pardon is the removing of the guilt of sin. Guilt is twofold : I, The guilt of
eternal wrath, by which the sinner is bound over to the eternal revenging wrath of
God ; and this, by orthodox divines, is called the guilt of sin by way of emiuency.
2. The guilt of fatherly anger, whereby the sinner is bound over to God's fatherly
anger and chastisements for sin. Accordingly there is twofold pardon ; the one is the
removal of the guilt of eternal wrath, and is called legal pardon ; the other, the remo-
val of the guilt of fatherly anger, and is called gospel pardon. As to the latter, the
believer is daily to sue out his pardon, since he is daily contracting new guilt of that
kind ; and this the author plainly teaches afterwards in its proper place. As to the
former, of which only he speaks here, all the sins of a believer, past, present and to
come, are pardoned together, and at once, in the first instance of his believing ; that
is to say, the guilt of eternal wrath for sin then past and present is actually and for-
.MODERN DIVINITY. 243
So that the law, as it is the covenant of works, hath not anything
to say to any true believer, k for indeed they are dead to it, and it
is dead to them.
Nom. But, sir, how could the sufferings of Christ, which in
mally done away ; the obligation to that wrath which he was lying under for these
sins is dissolved, and the guilt of eternal wrath for sins then to come is effectually
prevented from that moment for ever, so that he can never come under that kind of
guilt any more ; and this pardon as it relates to these sins, is but a pardon improperly
so called, being rather a not imputing of them, than a formal remission, forasmuch as
a formal remission being a dissolution of guilt actually contracted, agrees only to sins
already committed. Therefore our author here uses the word acquitted, which is of
a more extensive signification. All pardon of sin is an acquittance, but all acquittance
of sin is not a formal pardon of it: " For at the resurrection, believers being raised
up in glory, shall be openly acknowledged and acquitted in the day of judgment.
Short. Cat. But they will not then be formally pardoned. Now this is the doctrine
of the Holy Scriptures, Rom. iv. 48, " Even as David also descriheth the blessedness
of the man unto whom God imputeth rigteousuess without works, saying, Blessed are
they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man
to whom the Lord will not impute sin. Chap. viii. 1. " There is therefore now
no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus." That is, not only they shall
never be actually damned, i.e. sent to hell, as that phrase is ordinarily taken, for that
is the privilege of all the elect, even before they believe, while yet they are under
condemnation according to the Scripture ; but there is no binding over of them that
are in Christ to eternal wrath v no guilt of that kind to them. Compare John iii. 18,
" He that believeth on him is not condemmned ; but he that believeth not is con-
demned already." " The one (viz. justification) doth equally free all believers from
the revenging wrath of God, and that perfectly in this life, that they never fall into
condemnation." Larg. Cat. quest. 77. "Albeit sin remain, and continually abide
in these our mortal bodies, yet it is not imputed unto us, but is remitted and covered
with Christ's justice," {i.e. righteousness.) Old Confess, art. 25. Q. " What
then is our only joy in life and death ? A. That all our sins, by-past, present, and
to come, are buried ; and Christ only is our wisdom, justification, sanctificatiou, and
redemption." 1 Cor. i. 30, Craig's Cat. quest, 43, "The liberty which Christ
hath purchased for believers, under the gospel, consists in their freedom from the
guilt of sin, the condemning wrath of God, the curse of the moral law." Westmin.
Confess, chap. xx. art. 1. See chap. xi. art. 5. chap. xvii. art. 3, "They (the
Arminians) so utterly deny, that no sins of the faithful, how great and grievous so-
ever thpy be, are imputed unto them, or that all their sins present and future are for-
given them." Exam, of Tilen. p. 226. art. 5. sect. 5.
It " What things soever it saith, it saith to them that are under it," Rom. iii. 19.
But believers are not under it, not under the law of the covenant of works, (chap. vi.
14.) therefore it saith nothing to them. As such, it said all to Christ in their room
and place; and, without the Mediator's dishonour, it cannot repeat its demands on
them which it made upon him as their surety. Meanwhile the law, as a rule of life to
believers, saith to them all, in the name and authority of God the Creator and
Redeemer, (Matt. v. 48.) " Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in
heaven is perfect." Howbeit, they are under a covenant, under which though no lean
is required, yet less is accepted, for the sake of Christ their cuvenant-head.
244 THE MAKBOW OF
respect of time were but finite, make full satisfaction to the justice
of God, which is infinite ?
Evan. Though the sufferings of Christ, in respect of time, were
but finite, yet in respect of the person that suffered, his sufferings
came to be of infinite value ; for Christ was God and man in one
person, and therefore his sufferings were a sufficient and full ransom
for man's soul, being of more value than the death and destruction
of all creatures.
Nom. But, sir, you know that the covenant of works requires
man's own obedience or punishment, when it says, " He that doeth
these things shall live in them ;" and, " Cursed is every one that
coutinueth not in all things which are written in the book of the
law to do them :" how then, could believers be acquitted from their
sins by the death of Christ?
Evan. For answer, I pray you consider, that though the covenant
of works requires man's ov?n obedience or punishment, yet it no-
where disallows or excludes that which is done or suffered by ano-
ther in his behalf; neither is it repugnant to the justice of God for
so there be a satisfaction performed by man, through a sufficient
punishment for the disobedience of man, the law is satisfied, and the
justice of God permitteth that the offending party be received into
favour ; and God acknowledges him, after such satisfaction made, as
a just man, and no transgressor of the law ; and though the satis-
faction be made by a surety, yet when it is done, the principal is,
by the law, acquitted. But yt t for the further proof and confirma-
tion of this point, we are to consider, that as Jesus Christ, the
second Adam, entered into the same covenant that the first Adam
did, I so by him was done whatsoever the first Adam had undone.
So the case stands thus, — that as whatsoever the first Adam did, or
befel him, was reckoned as done by all mankind, and to have befal-
len them, even so, whatsoever Christ did, or befel him, is to be reck-
oned as to have been done by all believers, and to have befallen
them. So that as sin cometh from Adam alone to all mankind, as
he in whom all have sinned ; so from Jesus Christ alone cometh
righteousness unto all that are in him, as he in whom they all have
satisfied the justice of God ; for as being in Adam, and one with
him, all did, in him and with him, transgress the commandment of
God ; even so, in respect of faith, whereby believers are ingrafted
into Christ, and spiritually made one with him, they did all,
in him, and with him, satisfy the justice of God, in his death
and sufferings, m And whosoever reckons thus, reckons according
l See the note n t page 196.
>n Namely, in the sense of the law; for in the law -reckoning, as to the payment of
modern divinity. 245
to Scripture ; for in Rom. v. 12. all are said to have sinned in
Adam's sin ; in whom all have sinned, says the text, namely,
in Adam as in a public person: all men's acts were iucluded in
his, because their persons were included in his. So likewise in
the same chapter it is said, ' ; that death passed upon all men ;"
namely for this, that Adam's sin was reckoned for theirs. Even
so (Rom. vi. 10.) the apostle, speaking of Christ, says, " In that
he died, he died unto sin ; but in that he liveth, he liveth unto
a debt, and fulfilling of a covenant, or any the like purpo-es, tbe surety and the origi-
nal debtor, the federal head or the representative, and the represented, are but one
person. And thus the Scripture, determining Adam to be the figure (or type) of
Christ, (Rom. v. 14.) teaches upon the one hand, that all mankind sinned in Adam
(verse 12.) and died in him, (l Cor. xv. 22) ; and on the other hand, that believers
were crucified with Christ, (Gal. ii. 20.) and raised up in him. Eph. ii. 6, " The
covenant (of works) being made with Adam as a public person — all mankind sinned
in him." — Lar. Cat. Quest. 22. " The covenant of grace was made with Christ as
the second Adam," Quest. 31. " He — satisfied Divine justice — the which he did as
a public person, the head of his Churcb," {quest. 52.) "that the righteousness of the
law," says the apostle, " might be fulfilled in us," (Rom. viii. 4) ; so believers satis-
tied in him, as they sinned in Adam. "The threatening of death (Gen. ii. 17.) is
fulfilled in the elect, so that they die, and yet their lives are spared: they die, and
yet they live, for they are reckoned in law to have died when Christ their surety died
for them." — Ferguson on Gal. ii. 20. " Although thou," says Beza, " hast satisfied
for the pain of thy sins in the person of Jesus Christ." — Bezds Confess, point. 4.
art. 12. " What challenges Satan or conscience can make against the believer
hear an answer; I was condemned, I was judged, I was crucified for sin when my
surety Christ was condemned, judged, and crucified for my sins. — I have paid all, be-
cause my surety has paid all." — Rutherford's Trial and Triumph of Faith, serm. xix.
p. 268. " As in Christ we satisfied, so likewise in Adam we sinned." — Flint. Exam,
p. 144. This doctrine, and the doctrine of the formal imputation of Christ's righte-
ousness to believers stand and fall together. For if believers be reckoned in law to have
satisfied in Christ, then his righteousness, which is the result of his satisfaction, must
needs be accounted theirs, but if there be no such law-reckoning, Christ's righteous-
ness cannot be imputed to them otherwise than as to the effects of it, for the judgment
of God is always according to truth." Rom. ii. 2. This the Neonomians are aware
of, and deny both, reckoning them Antinomian principles, as they do many other Pro-
testant doctrines. Hear Mr. Gibbons : " They, (viz. the Antinomians) are danger-
ously mistaken in thinking that a believer is righteous in the sight of God with the
self-fame active and passive righteousness wherewith Christ was righteous, as though
believers suffered in Christ, and obeyed in Christ." — Morn. Exer. Method, ser. 19.
p. 423. On the other hand, the Westminster divines teach both as sound and ortho-
dox principles, affirming Christ's righteousness, obedience, and satisfaction, them-
selves, to be imputed to believers, or reckoned their righteousness, obedience, and
satisfaction. "Justification is an act of God's free grace, wherein he pardoneth all
our sins, and accepteth us as righteous in his sight, only for the righteousness of
Christ imputed to us." — Short. Cut. " Onlv for the perfect obedience and full satis-
faction of Christ by God imputed to them." — Larg. Cut. quest. 70. '' By imputing
the obedience and satisfaction of Christ unto them. — Westmin. Confess, chap. xi.
ait. 1.
246 THE MARROW OF
God :" so likewise, says he in the next verse, " Reckon ye your-
selves to be dead unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ
our Lord." And so, as touching the resurrection of Christ, the
apostle argues, (1 Cor. xv. 20.) that all believers must and shall
arise, because " Christ is risen, and is become the first fruits of them
that sleep." Christ, as the first-fruits, arises, and that in the name
and stead of all believers ; and so they rise in him and with him
for Christ did not rise as a private person, but he arose as the pub-
lic head of the church ; so that in his arising all believers did vir-
tually arise. And as Christ, at his resurrection, was justified and
quitted from all the sins of all believers by God his father, as hav-
ing now fully satisfied for them, even so were they, n And thus
you see obedience of Christ being imputed unto believers by God
for their righteousness, it puts them into the same estate and case,
touching righteousness unto life before God, o wherein they should
have been, if they had perfectly performed the perfect obedience of
the covenant of works, " Do this, and thou shalt live." p
Sect. 2. Norn. But, sir, are all believers dead to the law, and the
law dead to them, say you ?
Evan. Believe it, as the law is the covenant of works, all true be-
n Virtually justified, not actually, in his justification, even as in his resurrection they
did virtually arise. That this is the author's meaning is evident from his own
words, when, speaking of Neophitus, he says expressly, " He was justified meritori-
ously in the death and resurrectiou of Christ, but yet he was not justified actually,
till he did actually believe in Christ.
o So called to distinguish it from inherent righteousness, which is righteousness from
life.
p This is a weighty point, the plan and native result of what is said, namely, that
since Jesus Christ hath fully accomplished what was to have been done by man him-
self for life according to the covenant of works, and that the same is imputed to believ-
ers ; therefore believers are in the same state, as to righteousness unto life, that they
would have been in if man himself had stood the whole time appointed for his trial.
And here is the true ground in law of the infalible perseverance of the saints, their
time of trial for life is over in their Head the second Adam — the prize is wonj!
Hence the just by faith are entitled to the same benefit which Adam by his perfect
obedience would have been entitled to. Compare Rom. x. 5, " The man that doth
these things shall live," with Hab. ii. 4, " The just by his faith shall live ;" the which
is the true reading according to the original. And here, for clearing of the following
purpose of the believer's freedom from the law, as it is the covenant of works, let it
be considered, that if Adam had stood till the time of his trial had been expired, the
covenant of works would indeed from that time have remained his everlasting security
for eternal life, like a contract held fulfilled by the one party ; but, as in the same
case it could have no longer remained to be the rule of his obedience ! namely, in the
state of confirmation. The reason is obvious, viz. that the subjecting of him still to
the covenant of works as the rule of his obqrfieuce, would have been a reducing him to
MODERN DIVINITY. 247
lievers are dead unto it, and it is dead unto them ; q for they being
incorporated into Christ, what the law or covenant of works did to
him, it did the same to them ; so that when Christ hanged on the
cross, all believers, after a sort, hanged there with him. And there-
fore the apostle Paul having said, Gal. ii. 10, " I through the law
am dead to the law," adds in the next verse, "I am crucified with
Christ;" which words the apostle brings as an argument to prove
that he was dead to the law, for the law had crucified him with
Christ. Upon which text Luther on the Galatians, (p. 81.) says, " I
likewise am crucified and dead to the law, forasmuch as I am cru-
cified and dead with Christ. .And again, "I believing in Christ, am
also crucified with Christ." In like manner, the apostle says to
the believing Romans, " So ye, my brethren, are dead also to the
law by the body of Christ," Rom. vii. 4. Now, by the body of
Christ, is meant the passion of Christ upon the cross, or which is all
one, the suffering of Christ in his human nature. And, therefore
certainly we may conclude with Tindal on the text, that all such
are dead concerning the law, as by faith crucified with Christ.
Nom. But, I pray you, sir, how do you prove that the law is
dead to a believer ?
Evan. Why, as I conceive, the apostle confirms it, Rom. vii. 1 — 6.
Nom. Surely, sir, you do mistake ; for I remember the words of
the first verse are, " how that the law hath dominion over a man as
long as he liveth ;" and the words of the sixth verse are, " but now
arewe delivered from the law, that being dead wherein we were
holden," &c.
the state of trial he was in before, and the setting him anew to work for what was
already his own, in virtue of his (supposed) fulfilling of that covenant. Nevertheless
it is absolutely impossible but the creature, in any state whatsoever, must be bound to
and owe obedience unto the Creator ; and being still bound to obedience, (>f necessity
he behoved to have had a rule of that obedience ; as to which rule, since the cove-
nant of works could not be it, what remains but that the rule of obedience, in the
state of confirmation, would have been the law of nature, suited to man's state of im-
mutability, improperly so called, and so divested of the form of the covenant of works,
namely, in promise of eternal life, and threatening of eternal death, as it is, and will
be in heaven, for ever. The application is easy, making always as the rule of believ-
ers' obedience, suitable reserves for the imperfection of their state, in respect of in-
herent righteousness ; the which imperfection, as it leaves room for promises of fa-
therly smiles, and threatenings of fatherly chastisements, so it makes them necessary ;
but these also shall be doue away in heaven, when their real estate shall be perfect
as their relative state is now.
q Rom. vii. 4, " Wherefore, my brethren, ye also become dead to the law." Gal.
ii. 19, "I through the law am dead to the law." And this, acording to the nature,
of correlates, concludes the law, as it is the covenant of works ; to be dead also to
believers. Col. ii. 14, " Nailing it to his cross."
248 THE MARROW OF
Evan. I know right well, that in our last translation the words
are so rendered ; but the learned Tindal renders it thus, " Remem-
ber ye not, brethren, that the law hath dominion over a man as
long as it eudureth ?" And Bishop Hall paraphrases upon it thus,
" Know ye not, brethren, that the Mosaical law hath dominion over
a man that is not subject unto it, so long as the said law is in
force ?" So likewise Origen, Ambrose, and Erasmus, do all agree,
that, by these words, while " he" or " it" liveth, we are to under-
stand, as long as the law remaineth. And Peter Martyr is of opi-
nion, that these words, while " he" or " it" liveth, are differently
referred, either to the law, or to the man ; for says he, " the man is
said to be dead," ver. 4. " and the law is said to be dead," ver. 6.
Even so because the word " he" or " it" mentioned verse 1. signi-
fies both sexes in the Greek, Chrysostom thinks, that the death both
of the law and the man is insinuated. And Theophylact, Erasmus,
Bucer, and Calvin, do all understand the sixth verse, of the law
beinw dead. And as the death of a believer to the law was accom-
plished by the death of Christ, even so also was the law's death to
him ; as Mr. Fox in his sermon of Christ crucified, testifies, saying,
" Here have we upon one cross two crucifixes, two of the most
excellent potentates that ever were, the Son of God and the law of
God, wrestling together about man's salvation — both cast down and
both slain upon one cross ; howbeit, not after a like sort. First,
the Son of God was cast doTn, and took the fall, not for any weak-
ness in himself, but was content to take it for our victory. By this
fall, the law of God, in casting him down was caught in his own
trip, and so was fast nailed hand and foot to the cross, according as
we read in St. Paul's words, Col. ii. 14." And so Luther on the
Galatians, (p. 184.) speaking to the same point, says, " This was a
a wonderful combat, where the law, being a creature, giveth such
assault to his Creator, iu practising his whole tyranny upon the
Son of God. Now, therefore, because the law did so horribly and
cursedly sin against his God, it is accused and arraigned, and, as a
thief and cursed murderer of the Son of God, loses all its right, and
deserves to be condemned. The law therefore is bound, dead, and
crucified to me. It is not only overcome, condemned, and slain
unto Christ, but also to me, believing in him unto whom he hath
freely given this victory." r Now, then, although according to the
r This is cited from Luther on the epistle to the Galatians, according to the English
translation, and is to be found there, fol. 1 14. p. 1, 2. fol. 185. p. 1. fol. 82. p. 1.
His own words from the Latin original, after he had lectured on that epistle a second
time, as I find them in my copy, printed at Frankfort 1563, are here subjoined.
" Hoc profecto mirabile duellum est, ulji lex creatura cum Creatore sic congreditur,
MODEBN DIVINITY. 249
apostle's intimation, (Roin. vii. at the baginning,) the covenant of
works, and man by nature, be mutually engaged each to other, so
long as they both live ; yet if, when the wife be dead, the husband
be free, then much more when he is dead also.
et praeter omne jus, omnem tyrannidem suam in Filio Dei exercet, qnam in nobis fil-
liis, irae exercuit." Luth Comment, in Gal. iv. 4,5. p. 598. " Ideo lex, tanquam
letro et sacrileijus hornicida Filii Dei, amittit jus, et meretur damnari," lb. p. 600.
" Ergo lex, est mihi surda, ligata, mortua et crucifixa." lb. cap ii. 20. p. 280.
" Conscientia apprenendens hoc apostoli verbum, Christus a lege nos redemit — sancta
quadam subt-rbia insultat legi, dicens — nunc in posterum non solum Christo victa et
strangulata es, sed etiam mihi credenti in eum, cui donavit banc victoriam," Page 600.
That great man of Go'l, a third Elias, and a second Paul, (if I may venture the ex-
pression,) though he was no inspired teacher, was endued with a great measure of the
spirit of them both, being raised up of God for the extraordinary work of the Re-
formation of religion from Popery, while all the world wondered after the Beast.
The lively savour he had of the truths of the gospel in his own soul, and the
fervour of his spirit in delivering them, did indeed carry him as far from the modern
politeness of expression, as the admiration and affectation of this last is like to carry
us off from the former. What he designed by all this triumph of faith is summed up
in a few words, immediately following these last cited : " This, the law, (viz. as
it is the covenant of works) is gone for ever as to us, providing we abide in Christ."
This he chose to express in such figurative terms, that that great gospel truth might be
the more impressed on his own heart, and the hearts of his scholars, being prompted
thereto by his experience of the necessity, and withal of the difficulty of applying it
by faith to his own case, in his frequent deep soul exercises and conflicts of conscience.
" Therefore (says he) feeling thy terrors and threatening, O law ! I dip my conscience
over head and ears, into the wounds, blood, death, resurrection, and victory of Christ;
besides him I will see and hear nothing at all. This faith is our victory, whereby we
overcome the terrors of the law, sin, death, and all evils, but not without a great con-
flict." Ibid. p. 597. And speaking on the same subject elsewhere, he has these re-
markable words, " It is easy to speak these things, but happy he that could know them
aright in the conflict of conscience." — Comment, on Gal. ii. 19. p. 259. Now, to
turn outward the wrong side of the picture of his discourse, to make it false, horrid,
profane and blasphemous, is hard. At this rate, many scripture texts must suffer, not
to speak of approven human writers. I instance only that of Elias, 1 Kings xviii.
27. " He (Baal) is a god ; either he is talking, or he is pursuing, or he
is on a journey, or peradventure he sleepeth, and must be awaked." Yet 1
compare not Luther's commentary to the inspired writing; only where the holy
Scripture goes before, one would think he might be allowed to follow. Here
is an irony, a rhetorical figure, and there is a prosopopoeia, or feigning of a
person, another rhetorical figure ; and the learned and holy man tells us withal, that
Paul used it before him on the same subject, representing the law " as a most potent
personage, who condemned and killed Christ, whom he (having overcome death) did
in the like manner conquer, condemn, and kill;" for which he cites Eph. ii. iv.
epistles to the Rom Cor. Col. p. 599. Now, albeit the law, as it is the covenant
of works, not being a person indeed, but a most holy law of God, was incapable of
real arraignment, sin, theft, or murder ; yet one being allowed to speak figuratively
of it, as such a person before mentioned ; and finding the Spirit of God to teach that
it was crucified, Jesus Christ " nailing it to his cross," Col. ii. 14. What impiety
Vol. VII. q
250 THE MARROW OF
Nom. But, sir, what are we to understand by this double death,
or wherein does this freedom from the law consist?
Evan. Death is nothing else but a dissolution, or untying of a
compound, or a separation between matter and form ; and, there-
fore, when the soul and body of man is separated, we say he is
dead : so that, by this double death, we are to understand nothing
else, but that the bargain, or covenant, which was made between God
and man at first, is dissolved or untied ; or that the matter and form
of the covenant of works is separated to a believer. So that the law
of the ten commandments neither promises eternal life, nor threatens
eternal death to a believer, upon condition of his obedience or dis-
obedience to it; s neither does a believer, as he is a believer, either
what blasphemy is there in assigning crimes to it for which it was crucified, crimes of
the same nature with its crucifixion, that is, not really ami literally so, but figuratively
only ? And the crucifying of a person, as it presupposeth his arraignment, accusation,
and condemnation, so it implies his binding and death ; all which the decency of the
parable requires. And the same decency requiring the rhetorical feigning of crimes
as the causes of that crucifixion, they could be no other but these tbat are assigned ;
forasmuch as Jesus Christ is here considered, not as a sinner by imputation, but as
absolutely without guilt, though in the meantime the sins of all the elect were really
to him, the which in reality justified the holy law's procedure against him. More-
over, upon the crucifixion, it may be remembered how the apostle proves Christ to
have been " made a curse for us ;" for, says he, it is written, " Cursed is every one
that hangeth on a tree," Gal. iii. 13 ; the which if any should apply to the law as the
covenant of works in a figurative manner, as its crucifixion must be understood, it
could import no more, by reason of the nature of the thing, than an utter abolition of
it with respect to believers, which is a great gospel truth. And here one may call to
mind the Scripture phrases, Rom. vii 5, " The motions of sin which were by the
law ;" — chap. viii. 2, " The law of sin and death ;" — " The covenant of works, called
the law of sin and death," Confess, p. 382, fiff. 3. '' The strength of sin is the law,"
1 Cor. xv. 56.
After all, for my part, I would neither use some of these expressions of Luther's,
nor dare I so much as in my heart condemn them in him ; the reason is one ; because
of the want of that measure of the influences of grace which I conceive he had when
he uttered these words. And the same I would say of the several expressions of the
great Rutherford, and of many eminent ministers, in their day signally countenanced
of God in their administrations. Here Luther himself, in his preface to that book,
page {mihi) 10, " These our thoughts," says he, " on this epistle do come forth, not
so much against those, (viz. the church's enemies) as for the sake of our own, (viz.
her friends) who will either thank me for my diligence, or will pardon my weakness
and rashness." It is a pity the just expectation of one, whose name will be in honour
in the church of Christ while the memory of the Reformation from Popery is kept up,
should be frustrated.
s The law of the ten commandments given to Adam, as the covenant of works, pro-
mised eternal life, upon condition of obedience, and threatened eternal death in case
of disobedience ; and this was it that made it the covenant of works. Now, this cove-
nant frame of the law of the ten commandments being dissolvod as to believers, it can
MODERN DIVINITY. 251
hope for eternal life, or fear eternal death, upon any such terms, t
No; " we may assure ourselves, that whatsoever the law saith," on
any such terms, it " saith to them who are under the law," (Rom.
iii. 19.) ; but believers " are not under the law, but under grace,"
(Rom. vi. 14.) and so have escaped eternal death, and obtained eter-
nal life, only by faith in Jesus Christ; u " for by him all that be-
no more promise nor threaten them at any rate. The Scripture indeed testifies, that
" godliness hath the promise, not only of the life that now is, but also of that which
is to come," (1 Tim. iv. 8,) there being an infallible connexion between godliness and
the glorious life in heaven established by promise in the covenant of grace ; but in the
meantime, it is the obedience and satisfaction of Christ apprehended by faith, and not
our godliness, that is the condition upon which that life is promised, and upon which
a real Christian in a dying hour will venture to plead for a share in that life. It is
likewise certain that not only are believers, in virtue of the covenant of works which
they remain under, liable to et rnal death as the just reward of sin, but there is by
that covenant a twofold connexion established, the one betwixt a state of unbelief ir-
regeneracy, impenitency, and unholiness, and eternal death ; the other, betwixt acts
of disobedience and eternal death. The former is absolutely indissoluble, and cannot
but eternally remain ; so that whosoever are in that state of sin, while they are in it
they must needs be in a state of death, bound over to the wratb of God bv virtue of
the threatening of the law ; but then it is impossible that believers in Christ can be in
that state of sin. So these and the like sentences, — " He that believeth shall not be
damned," Mark xvi. 16. "Except ye repent ye shall all likewise perish," Luke xiii. 3.
" If ye live after the flesh ye shall die," Rom. viii. 3 ; do indeed bind over unbeliev-
ers to eternal death ; but they do no otherwise concern believers than as they set be-
fore them a certain connexion of two events, neither of which can ever be found in
their case ; and yet the serious consideration of them is of great and manifold use to
believers, as a serious view of every part of the covenant of works is, particularly to
move them to grow up more and more into Christ, and to make their calling and elec-
tion sure As to the latter connexion, viz. betwixt acts of disobedience and eternal
death, it is dissoluble, and in the case of the believer, actually dissolved ; so that none
have warrant to say to a believer, If thou sin, thou shalt die eternally ; forasmuch as
the threatening of eternal death, as to the believer, being already satisfied in the sa-
tisfaction of Christ, by faith apprehended and imputed of God to him, it cannot be
renewed on him, more than one debt can be twice charged, namely, for double pay-
ment.
t But on the having, or wanting of a saving interest in Christ.
u This is a full proof of the whole matter. For how can the law of the ten com-
mandments promise eternal life, or threaten eternal death, upon condition of obedience
or disobedience, to those who have already escaped eternal death, and obtained eternal
life by faith in Christ V The words which the Holy Ghost teaches, are so far from
restraining the notion of eternal life to glorification, and of eternal death to the
misery of the damned in hell, that they declare the soul upon its union with Christ to
be as really possessed of eternal life as the saints in heaven are ; and without that
state of union, to be as really under death, and the wrath of God, as the damned in
hell are, though not in that measure. (The term " eternal death" is not, as far as I
remember, used in Scripture.) And this agreeable to the nature of the things ; for as
here is no mids betwixt life and death in a subjrct capable of either, so it is evident,
q2
252 THE MARROW OF
lieve are justified from all tilings, from which they could not be jus-
tified by the law of Moses." Acts xiii. 39. " For God so loved the
world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth
in him should not perish, but have eternal life." John iii. 16.
And this is that covenant of grace which, as I told you, was
made with the fathers by way of promise, and so but darkly ; but
now the fulness of time being come, it was more fully opened and
promulgated.
Ant. "Well, sir, you have made it evident and plain, that Christ
hath delivered all believers from the law, as it is the covenant of
works ; and that therefore they have nothing at all to do with it.
Evan. No, indeed ; none of Christ's are to have any thing to do
with the covenant of works, but Christ only. For although in the
making of the covenant of works at first, God was one party, and
man another, yet, in making it the second time, God was on both
sides: — God, simply considered in his essence, was the party op-
posed to man ; and God, the second person, having taken upon him
to be incarnate, and to work man's redemption, was on man's side,
and takes part with man, that he may reconcile him to God, by
bearing man's sins, aud satisfying God's justice for them. And
Christ paid God v till he said be had enough ; he was fully satisfied,
fully contented, (Matth. iii. 17.) "This is my beloved Son, in whom
I am well pleased," Yea, God the Father was well pleased, and
fully satisfied from all eternity, by virtue of that covenant that
was made betwixt them. And thereupou all Christ's people were
given to them in their election. Eph. i. 4, " Thine they were," w
says Christ, " and thou gavest them me," John xvii. 6. And
the life communicated to the sou], in its union with Christ the quickening Head, can
never be extinguished for the ages of eternity, (John xiv. 19.) ; and the sinner's
death under the guilt and power of sin, is in its own nature eternal, and can never end
hut by a work of Almighty power, which raiseth the dead, and calleth things that are
not, to he as if they were. 1 Thess. i. 10, " Jesus which delivered us from the wrath
to come.' 1 John iii. 14, " We know that we have passed from death unto life."
John iii. 36, " He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life; and he that believ-
eth not on the Son, shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him." Chap,
v. 24, " He that believeth — hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemna-
tion, but is passed from death unto life." Chap. vi. 47, " He that believeth on me
hath everlasting life." Verse 54, " Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood,
hath eternal life." 1 John v 12, 13, " He that hath the Son hath life ; and he that
hath not the Son of God hath not life. These things have I written unto you that
believe on the name of the Son of God, that ye may know that ye have eternal life."
See Rom. viii. J ; John iii. 16 — 18, aud xvii. 3.
v All the demands of the covenant of works on the elect world.
w That he taking on their nature, might answer the demands of the covenant of
woiks for them, (Eph. i. 14.) *' According as he has chosen us in him." We are
MODERN DIVINITY. 253
agaiu, says he, "The Father loveth the Son, and hath given all
things into his hands," (John iii. 35.) ; that is, he hath intrusted
him with the economic and actual administration of that power in
the Church, which originally belonged unto himself. And hence it
is that Christ also says, " The Father judgeth no man, but hath
committed all judgment unto the Son." John v. 22. So that all
the covenant that believers are to have regard to, for life and sal-
vation, is the free and gracious covenant that is betwixt Christ (or
God in Christ) and them, x And in this covenant there is not any
condition or law to be performed on man's part, by himself; y no,
said to be chosen in Christ, not that Christ is the cause of election, but that electing
love, flowing immediately from God to all the objects of it, the Father did, in one and
the same degree of election, choose the head and the members of the happy body ; yet
Christ the head first, (in the order of nature,) then all those who make up this body,
who were thereby given to him, to be redeemed and saved, by his obedience and
death; the which, being by him accepted, he, as Elect-Mediator and Head of elect-
men, had full power and furniture for the work made over to him. And thus may we
conceive the second covenant to have been concluded, agreeably to the Scripture account
of that mystery. This, the author says, was done thereupon, not upon the Father's
being well pleased and fully satisfied, by virtue of the covenant made ; the which is
the effect of the covenant, whereas this is one of the transactions or parts of the cove-
nant, as all the following words brought to illustrate it do plainly carry it ; but upon
God the Son, being on the other side in making the second covenant, the which is the
principal purpose in this paragraph, the explication whereof was interrupted by the
adding of a sentence concerning the execution and effect of the glorious contrivance.
In making of the second covenant, the second person of the ever blessed Trinity, con-
sidered simply as such, is one of the parties. Thereupon, in the decree of election, de-
signing, as is said, both head and members, he is chosen Mediator and head of the elec-
tion, to be their incarnate Redeemer; the which headship accepted, he, as Mediator aud
Head of the election, took upon him to be incarnate, and in their nature to satisfy the
demands of the covenant of works for them. Isa. xlii. 1 ; Eph. i. 4 ; Psal. xl. 6,
Westmin. Confess, chap. viii. art. 1. "It pleased God, in his eternal purpose, to
choose and ordain the Lord Jesus, his only begotten Sun, to be the Mediator between
God and man — the Head and Saviour of his church — unto whom he did, from all eter-
nity, give a people to be his seed, and to be by him in time redeemed," &c. chap. iii.
art. 5. " Those of mankiud that are predestinated unto life — God hath chosen in
Christ unto everlasting glory, out of his mere free grace and love." Compare what
the author writes on this subject, p. 21 — 25.
x That is, the covenant of grace only, not the covenaut of works.
y Namely, for life and salvation ; the same being already performed by Jesus
Christ; he, having in the second covenant, undertaken to satisfy all the demands of
the covenant of works, did do all that was to be done or wrought for our life and sal-
vation. And if it had not been so, life and salvation had remained eternally without
our reach ; for how is it possible we should perform, do, or work, until we get life
and salvation ? what condition or law are we fit for performing while we are dead,
and not saved from, hut lying under sin, the wrath and curse of God? See the fol-
lowing note.
254 THE MAKKOW OF
there 13 no more for him to do, but only to know and believe that
Christ hath done all for him. z
Wherefore, my dear Neophitus, to turn my speech particularly
2 Namely, all that was to be done for life and salvation. And neither repentance,
nor sincere (imperfect) obedience, nay, nor yet believing itself, is of that sort :
though all of these are indispensably necessary in subjects capable of them. This
expression bears a kind of imitation, usual in conversation, and used by our blessed
Saviour on this subject, John vi. 28, 29, " Th%n said they unto him, what shall we
do that we might work the works of God? Jesus answered and said unto them,
This is the work of God, that ye believe." The design of it plainly is, to con-
front the humour that is naturally in all men, for doing and working for life and
salvation, when once they begin to lay these things to heart; there is no more, says
the author, for him to do, but only to know and believe that Christ hath done all
for him; and therefore the expression is not to be strained besides its scope. How-
ever, this is true faith, according to the Scripture, whether all saving faith be such a
knowledge and believing or not ; and that knowledge and believing are capable of
decrees of certainty, and may be mixed with doubting, without overturning the reality
of them. Isa. liii. 11, " By his knowledge shall my righteous Servant justify many."
John xvii. 3, " This is eternal life, that they might know thee the only true God,
and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent." Gal. ii. 20, " I live by the faith of the Son
of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me." Rom. x. 9, " If thou shalt believe
in thine hfart, that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved." To
believe that God hath raised him from the dead is to believe that he has perfected the
work, and done all that was to be done for life and salvation to sinners: but is this
enough to constitute saving faith? Surely it is not; for devils may believe that:
therefore it must be believed with particular application to oneself, intimated in the
phrase, " Believing in thine heart;" and this is what devils and reprobates never
reach unto, howbeit these last may pretend to know and believe, that Christ is raised
from the dead for them, and so hath done all for them, even as they also may pretend
to receive and rest on him alone for salvation. But in all this, one who truly believes
may yet have ground to say with tears, " Lord, I believe ! help thou mine unbelief,"
Mark ix. 24.
Nevertheless, under this covenant there is much to do ; a law to be performed and
obeyed, though not for life and salvation, but from, life and salvation received; even
the law of the ten commandments in the full extent thereof, as the author doth at
large expressly teach, in its proper place, in this and the second part.
This is the good old wav, (according to the Scriptures, Acts xvi. 30, 31 ; Matt. xi.
28 29; Tit. ii. 11, 12.) if the famous Mr. John Davidson understood the Protestant
doctrine. Q. "Then the salvation of man" says he, "is so fully wrought and per-
fectly accomplished by Christ in his own person, that nothing is left to be done or
wrought by us in our persons, to be any cause of the least part thereof? A. That is
most certain." — Mr. John Davidson s Catechism, Edin. Edit. 1708. p. 15. "So
we are perfectly saved by the works which Christ did for us in his own person, and no
ways by the good works which he works in us, with and after faith. (Marg. Here is
the main point and ground of our disagreement with the Papists.) Rests then any-
thing for us to do after that we are perfectly justified in God's sight by faith in
Christ ? Disciple. Yes, very much, albeit no ways to merit salvation ; but only to
witnesB, by the effects of thankfulness, that we are truly saved." — Ibid. p. 46, 48,
49.
MODERN DIVINITY.
255
to you, (because I see you are in heaviness,) I beseech yon to be
persuaded that here you are to work nothing, here you are to do
nothing, here you are to render nothing unto God, but only to
receive the treasure, which is Jesus Christ, and apprehend him in
your heart by faith, although you be never so great a sinner; a and
so shall you obtain forgiveness of sins, righteousness, and eternal
happiness, not as an agent, but as a patient, not by doing but by re-
ceiving, b Nothing here comes betwixt but faith only, apprehend-
ing Christ in the promise, c This then is perfect righteousness, to
hear nothing, to know nothing, to do nothing of the law of works,
but only to know and believe that Jesus Christ is now gone to the
Father, and sitteth at his right hand, not as a judge, but is made
unto you of God, wisdom, righteousness, sanctification and redemp-
tion, d Wherefore, as Paul and Silas said to the jailor, so say I
unto you, " Beliave on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be
saved :" that is, be verily persuaded in your heart that Jesus Christ
is yours, and that you shall have life and salvation by him ; that
whatsoever Christ did for the redemption of mankind, he did it for
you. e
a See the two foregoing notes. And hear another passage from the same book
whence this is taken, namely, the English translation of Luther's Commentary on the
Epistle to the Galatians, fol. 75, " Good works ought to be done — the example of
Christ is to be followed. — Well, all these things will I gladly do. What th>.-n follow-
eth ? Thou shalt then be saved, and obtain everlasting life. Nay, not so I grant
indeed, that I ought to do good works, patieutlv to suffer troubles and afflictions, and
to shed my blood also, if need be, for Christ's cause; but yet am I not justified
neither do I obtain salvation thereby."
b This is the style of the same Luther, who useth to distinguish betwixt active and
passive righteousness, i.e. the righteousness of the law, and the righteousness of faith ;
agreeable to Rom. iv. 5, " But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that
justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness."
c The passage at more length is this : " The marriage is made up without all pomp
and solemnity ; that is to say, nothing at all comes between ; no law nor work is here
required. — Here is nothing else but the Father promising — and I receiving — but these
things, without experience and practice, cannot be understood." — Luther, ubi sup. fol.
194.
d These words also are Luther's, in his argument on the epistle to the Galatians, p.
24, of the Latin copy, and fol. 7 of the translation ; but what our author reads,
" Nothing of the law of works," is, in Luther's own words, "Nothing of the law,
or of works;" the sense is the same. What concerns the assurance in the nature of
faith, which these words seem to bear, we will meet with anon.
e In this definition of saving faith, there is the general nature or kind of it, viz.
a real persuasion, agreeing to all sorts of faith, divine and human, — " Be verily per-
suaded ;" the more special nature of it, an appropriating persuasion, or special
application to oneself, agreeing to a convinced sinner's faith or belief of the law's curse,
(Gal. iii. 10.) as well as to it — "Be verily persuaded in your heart;" thus, Rom.
x. 9, " If thou shalt believe in thine heart, that God, &c. thou shalt be Baved ;" and
256 THE MAltKOW OF
finally the most special nature of it, whereby it is distinguished from all other, namely,
an appropriating persuasion of Christ being yours, &c. And as one's believing in
one's heart, or appropriating persuasion of the dreadful tidings of tbe law, imports not
only an assent to them as true, but an honor of them as evil ; so believing in the
heart, or an appropriating persuasion of the glad tidings of the gospel, bears not only
an assent to them as true, but a relish of them as good.
The parts of this appropriating persuasion, according to our author, are, ), " That
Jesus Christ is yours," viz. by the deed of gift and grant made to mankind lost, or
(which is the same thing in other words,) by the authentic gospel offer, in the Lord's
own word ; the which offer is the foundation of faith, and the ground and warrant of
the ministerial offer, without wljich it could avail nothing. That this is the meaning
appears from the answer to the question immediately following, touching the warrant
to believe. By this offer, or deed of gift and grant, Christ is ours before we believe,
not that we have a saving interest in him, or are in a state of grace, but that we have
a common interest in him and the common salvation, which fallen angels have not,
Jude 3 ; so that it is lawful and warrantable for us, not for them, to take possession of
Christ and his salvation. Even as when one presents a piece of gold to a poor man,
saying, " Take it, it is yours;" the offer makes the piece really his in the sense and
to the effect before declared ; nevertheless, while the poor man does not accept or re-
ceive it; whether apprehending the offer too great to be real, or that he has no liking
of the necessary consequents of the accepting ; it is not his in possession, nor hath he
the benefit of it; but, on the contrary, must starve for it all, and that so much the
more miserably, that he hath slighted the offer and refused the gift. So this act
of faith is nothing else but to "believe God," 1 John v. 10; " to believe the Son,"
John iii. 36 ; "to believe the report" concerning Christ, Isa. liii. 1 ; "or to believe
the gospel," Mark i. 15 ; not as devils believe the same, knowing Christ to be Jesus
a Saviour, but not their Saviour, but with an appropriating persuasion, or special ap-
plication, believing him to be our Saviour. Now, what this gospel report, record, or
testimony of God, to be believed by all, is, the inspired penman expressly declares,
'' This is the Tecord, that God bath given to us eternal life ; and this life is in his
Son," John v. 11. The giving here mentioned, is not giving in possession in greater
or lesser measure, but giving by way of grant, whereupon one may take possession.
And the party to whom, is not the election only, but mankind lost. For this record
is the gospel, the foundation of faith, and warrant to all, to believe in the Son of God
and lay hold on eternal life in him ; but that God hath given eternal life to the elect
can be no such foundation nor warrant ; for that a gift is made to certain select men,
can never be a foundation or warrant for all men to accept and take it. The great
sin of unbelief lies in not believing this record or testimony, and so making God a
liar; " He that believeth not God, hath made him a liar, because he believeth not the
record that God gave of his Son. And this is the record," &c. 1 John v. 10, II.
On the other hand, " He that hath received his testimony, hath set to his seal that
God is true," John iii. 33. But the great sin of unbelief lies, not in nut believing
that God hath given eternal life to the elect — for the most desperate unbelievers such
as Judas and Spira, believe that, and the belief of it adds to their anguish and tor-
ment of spirit ; yet they do not set to their seal that God is true — but, on the con-
trary, they make God a liar, in not believing that to lost mankind, and to themselves
in particular, God hath given eternal life in the way of grant, so as they, as well as
others, are warranted and welcome to take possession of it, so fleeing in the face
of God's record and testimony in the gospel. Isa. ix. 6; John iii. 16; Acts iv.
12; Prov. viii. 4 ; Rev. xxii. 17. In believing this, not in believing the former,
MODERN DIVINITY. 257
lies the difficulty, in tbe agonies of conscience; the which, nevertheless,' till one do
in a greater or lesser measure surmount, one can never believe on Christ, receive and
rest upon him for salvation. The truth is, the receiving of Christ doth necessarily
pre-suppose this giving of him. There may indeed be a giving where there is no re-
ceiving, for a gift may be refused ; and there may be a taking where there is no
giving, the which is a presumptuous action without warrant ; but there can be no place
for receiving Christ where there is not a giving of him before. ' In the matter of
faith, (says Rollock, Lect. x. on Thess. p. 126,) there are two things — first there
is a giver, and next there is a receiver. God gives, and the soul receives." The
Scripture is express to this purpose: " A man can receive nothing, except it be given
him from heaven," John iii. 27.
2. " And that you shall have life and salvation by him ;" namely, a life of holiness,
as well as of happiness, — salvation from sin as well as from wrath, — not in heaven
only, but begun here and completed hereafter. That this is the author's notion of life
and salvation, agreeably to the Scripture, we have had sufficient evidence already, and
will find more in our progress. Wherefore, this persuasion of faith is inconsistent
with an unwillingness to part with sin, a bent or purpose of heart to continue in sin,
even as receiving and resting on Christ for salvation is. One finds it expressed almost
in so many words, Acts xv. II," We believe that through the grace of the Lord
Jesus Christ we shall be saved." It is fitly placed after the former, for it cannot go
before it, but follows upon it. The former is a believing of God, or believing the
Son : this is a believing on the Son, and so is the same with receiving of Christ,
as that receiving is explained, John i. 2, " But as many as received him, to them
gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name."
It doth also evidently bear tbe soul's resting on Christ for salvation, for it is nof pos-
sible to conceive a soul resting on Christ for salvation, without a persuasion that it
shall have life and salvation by him ; namely, a persuasion which is of the same mea-
sure and degree as the resting is. And thus it appears, that there can be no saving
faith without this persuasion in greater or lesser measure. But withal it is to be re-
membered, as to what concerns the habit, actings, exercise, strength, weakness, and
intermitting of the exercise of saving faith, the same is to be said of this persuasion
in all points.
3. " That whatsoever Christ did for the redemption of mankind, he did it for
you. — " I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for
me," Gal. ii. 20. This comes in tbe last place ; and I think none will question, but
whosoever believes in the manner before explained, may and ought to believe this, in
this order. And it is believed, if not explicitly, yet virtually, by all who receive and
rest on Christ for salvation.
From what is said, it appears that this definition of faith is the same, for substance
and matter, though in different words, with that of the Shorter Catechism, which de-
fines it, by " receiving and resting upon Christ alone for salvation, as he is offered to
us in the Gospel." In which, though the offer to us is mentioned last, yet it is evident
it is to be believed first.
Object. But the author's definition makes assurance to be of the essence of faith ?
Answ. Be it so : however, he uses not the word assurance or assured in his defini-
tion ; nor will any thing contained in it amount to the idea now commonly affixed to
that word, or to what is now in our days commonly understood by assurance. And,
(1.) He doth not here teach that assurance of faith whereby believers are certainly
assured that they are in the state of giace, the which is founded upon the evidence of
grace, of which kind of assurance the Westminster Confession expressly treats, chop.
258 THE MARROW OF
18, art. 1 — 3 ; but an assurance which is in faith, in the direct acts theroof, founded
upon the word allenarly, Mark xvi. 15, 16 ; John iii. 16 ; and this is nothing else but
a fiducial appropriating persuasion. (2.) He doth not determine this assurance or per-
suasion to be full, or to exclude doubting: he sa^s not, be fully persuaded, but, be
verily persuaded, which speaks only the reality of the persuasion, and doth not at all
concern the degree of it. And it is manifest, from his distinguishing between faith of
adherence, and faith of evidence, (p. 79,) that, according to him, saving faith may be
without evidence. And so one may have this assurance or persuasion, and yet not
know assuredly that he hath it, but need marks to discover it by ; for though a man
cannot but be conscious of an act of his own soul as to the substance of the act, yet he
may be in the dark as to the specific nature of it, than which nothing is more ordi-
dary among serious Christians. And thus, as a real saint is conscious of his own
heart's moving in affection towards God, yet sometimes doth not assuredly know it to
be the true love of God in him, but fears it be an hypocritical flash of affection ; so he
may be conscious of his persuasion, and yet doubt if it is the true persuasion of faith,
and not that of the hypocrite.
This notion of assurance, or persuasion in faith, is so agreeable to the nature of
the thing called believing, and to the style of the holy Scripture, that sometimes where
the original text reads — faith or believing, we read — assurance, according to the
genuine sense of the original phrase: Acts xvii. 31, " Whereof he hath given as-
surance ;" orig. " faith," as is noted in the margin of our Bibles. Deut. xxviii. 66,
" Thou shalt have none assurance of thy life ;" orig. " Thou shalt not believe in thy
life." This observation shows, that to believe, in the style of the Holy Scripture, as
well as in the common usage of mankind in all other matters, is to be assured or per-
suaded, namely, according to the measure of one's believing.
And the doctrine of assurance, or an appropriating persuasion in saving faith, as it is
the doctrine of the Holy Scripture, (Rom. x. 9; Acts xv. 11 ; Gal. ii. 20,) so it is a
Protestant doctrine, taught by Protestant divines against the Papists, sealed with the
blood of martyrs in Popish flames ; it is the doctrine of reformed Churches abroad,
and the doctrine of the Church of Scotland.
The nature of this work will not allow multiplying testimonies on all these heads.
Upon the first, it shall suffice to adduce the testimony of Essenius, in his Compendium
Theologies, the system of divinity taught the students in the College of Edinburgh by
Professor Campbell. " There is therefore," says he, '' in saving faith, a special ap-
plication of gospel benefits. This is proved against the Papists, (1.) From the profes-
sion of believers, Gal. ii. 20, ' I live by that faith of the Son of God, who loved me,
and gave himself for me." Psalm xxiii. 1, ' The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not
want; in cotes of budding grass he makes me to lie down, &c. Though I walk through
the valley of the shadow of death, I will not fear evil; for thou art with me,' &c.
And Job xix. 25; Phil. i. 21— 23 ; Rom. viii. 33 — 39; x. 9, 10; 2 Cor. v. 1—6;
with 2 Cor. iv. 13, &c." — Essen. Comp. Theol. chap. ii. sect. 12. And speaking
of the method of faith, he says, it is, " 4. That according to the promises of the
gospel, out of that spiritual desire, the Holy Spirit also bearing witness in us, we ac-
knowledge Christ to be our Saviour, and so receive and apply him, every one to
ourselves, apprehending him again, who first apprehended us ; 2 Cor. iv. 13; Rom.
viii. 16; John i. 12 ; 2 Tim. i. 12 ; Gal. ii. 20; Phil. iii. 12. The which is the
formal act of saving faith. 5. Furthermore, that we acknowledge ourselves to be in
communion with Christ, partakers of all and every one of his benefits. — The which is
the latter act of saving faith, yet also a proper and elicit act of it. — 7. That we
observe all these acts above mentioned, and the sincerity of them in us; and
MODERN DIVINITY. 259
thence gather, that we are true believers, brought into the state of grace," &c.
Ibid. sect. 2 I . Observe here the two kinds of assurance before distinguished.
Peter Burlie, burnt at Tournay, anno 1545, when he was sent for out of prison to
be examined, the friars interrogating him before the magistrate, he answered, —
" How it is faith that bringeth unto us salvation ; that is, when we trust unto God's
promises, and believe stedfastly, that for Christ his Son's sake our sins are forgiven
us." — Skid. Comment, in English, book 16. fol. 217.
Mr. Patrick Hamilton, burnt at St. Andrews about the year 1527. " Faith," say9
he, " is a sureness ; faith is a sure confidence of things which are hoped for, and a
certaiuty of things which are not seen. The faith of Christ is to believe in him, that
is, to believe in his word, and to believe that he will help thee in all thy need, and de-
liver thee from all evil." — Mr. Patrick's Articles, Knox's History, Ato. p. 9.
For the doctrine of foreign churches on this point, I shall instance only in that of
the Church of Holland, and the Reformed Church of France. — " Q. What is a sincere
faith ? A. It is a sure knowledge of God and his promises revealed to us in the Gos-
pel, and a hearty confidence that all my sins are forgiven me for Christ's sake." —
Dutch Brief Compend. of Christian Religion, Vra. 19. bound up with the Dutch
Bible.
" Minister. Since we have the foundation upon which the faith is grounded, can we
rightly from thence conclude what the true faith is? Child. Yes ; namely, a certain
and steady knowledge of the love of God towards us, according as, by his Gospel, he
declares himself to be our Father and Saviour, by the means of Jesus Christ. ' — Cate-
chism of the Reformed Church of France, bound vp with the French Bible, Dimanche
18. To obviate a common prejudice, whereby this is taken for an easy effort of
fancy and imagination, it will not be amiss to subjoin the question immediately follow-
ing there.
" M. Can we have it of ourselves, or cometh it from God ? C. The Scripture
teacheth us that it is a singular gift of the Holy Spirit, and experience also showeth
it." — Ibid.
Follows the doctrine of the Church of Scotland on this head.
" Regeneration is wrought by the power of the Holy Ghost, working in the hearts
of the elect of God an assured faith in the promise of God, revealed to us in his word ;
by which faith we apprehend Christ Jesus, with the graces and benefits promised in
him." — Old Confess, art. 3.
" This our faith, and the assurance of the same, proceeds not from flesh and blood,
that is to say, from no natural powers within U9, but is the inspiration of the Holy
Ghost." — Ibid. art. 12.
For the better understanding of this, take the words of that eminent servant of
Christ, Mr. John Davidson, minister of Salt-Preston, alias Prestonpans (of whom see
the Fulfilling of the Scripture, p. 361.) in his Catechism, p. 20. as follows, — "And
certain it is, that both the enlightening of the mind to acknowledge the truth of the
promise of salvation to us in Christ, and the sealing up of the certainty thereof in our
hearts and minds, (of the which two parts, as it were, faith consists) are the works and
effects of the Spirit of God, and neither of nature nor art."
The Old Confession above mentioned is, " The Confession of Faith, professed and
believed by the Protestants within the realm of Scotland, published by them in
Parliament, and by the estates thereof ratified and approved, as wholesome and sound
doctrine, grounded upon the infallible truth of God." — Knox's Hist. lib. 3. p. 263.
It was ratified at Edinburgh, July 17, 1560. Ibid. p. 279. And this is the Confes-
sion of our Faith, mentioned and sworn to in the national covenant, framed about
twenty years after it.
260 THE MARROW OF
In the same national covenant, with relation to this particular head (if doctrine, we
have these words following, viz. " We detest and refuse the usurped authority of that
Roman antichrist — his general and doubtsome faith." However the general and doubt-
some faith of the Papists may be clouded, one may, without much ado, draw these
two plain conclusions from these words : 1. That since the Popish faith adjured is a
doubtsome faith, the Protestant faith, sworn to be maintained, is an assured faith, as
we heard before from the Old Confession, to which the covenant refers. 2. That since
the Popish faith is a general one, the Protestant faith must needs be an appropriating
persuasion, or a faith of special application, which, we heard already from Essenius,
the Papists do deny. As for a belief and persuasion of the mercy of God in Christ,
and of Christ's ability and willingness to save all that come unto him, as it is altogether
general, and had nothing of appropriation or special application in it, so I doubt if the
Papists will refuse it. Sure, the Council of Trent, which fixed and established the
abominations of Popery, affirms, that no pious man ought to doubt of the mercy of
God, of the merits of Christ, nor of the virtue and efficacy of the sacraments."
Concil. trid. cap. 9. I hope none will think the council allows impious men to doubt
of these ; but withal they tell us, " It is not to be affirmed, that no man is absolved
from sin and justified, but he who assuredly believes, that he himself is absolved and
justified." Here they overturn the assurance and appropriation, or special application
of saving faith maintained by the Protestants ; and they thunder their anathemas
against those who hold these in opposition to their general and doubtsome faith. " If
any shall say, that justifying faith is nothing else but a confidence of the mercy of God
pardoning sins for Christ's sake, or that that confidence is it alone by which they
are justified, let him be accursed." Ibid. cap. 13. can. 12. " If any shall say, that
a man is absolved from sin, and justified by that, that he assuredly believes himself to
be absolved and justified — let him be accursed." — Ibid. can. 14.
Moreover, in the national covenant, as it was renewed in the year 1 638 and 1639,
mention is made of public catechisms, in which the true religion, as expressed in the
Confession of Faith (there) above written, (i. e. the national covenant, otherwise
called the Confession of Faith and former Larger Confession, (viz. the Old Confes-
sion,) is said to be set down. The doctrine on this head, contained in these cate-
chisms, is here subjoined.
" M . Which is the first point ? C To put our whole confidence in God. M.
How may that be? C. When we have an assured knowledge that he is almighty, and
perfectly good. M. And is that sufficient? C. No. M. What is then further re-
quired ? C. That every one of us be fully assured in his conscience, that he is be-
loved of God, and that he will be both his Father and Saviour." Calvin's Cat.
used by the Kiik of Scotland, and approved by first book of discipline, quest. 8 — 12.
This is the catechism of the Reformed Church of France, mentioned before. " M.
Since we have the foundation whereupon our faith is builded, we may well gather
hereof what is the right faith 'i C. Yea, verily ; that is to say, it is a sure persuasion
and stedfast knowledge of God's tender love towards us, according as he hath plainly
uttered in his gospel, that he will be both a Father and a Saviour to us, through the
means of Jesus Christ." — Ibid, quest. 111.
" M. By what means may we attain unto him there V C. By faith, which God's
Spirit worketh in our heart*, assuring us of God's promises made to us in his holy
gospel The manner to examine children before they be admitted to the supper of the
Lord, quest. 16. This is called the Little Catechism, Assembly 1592, sess. 10. Q.
" What is true faith?" A. It is not only a knowledge, by which I do stedfastly
assent to all things which Cod hath revealed unto us in his word ; but also an assured
MoDEKN DIVINITY. 261
affiance, kindled in my heart by the Holy Ghost, by which 1 rest upon God, making
sure account, that forgiveness of sins, everlasting righteousness, and life, is bestowed,
not only upon others, but also upon me, and that freely by the mercy of God, for the
merit and desert of Christ alone." — The Palatine Catechism, printed by public au-
thority , for the use of Scotland. This famous Catechism is used in most of the Re-
formed Churches and schools; particularly in the Reformed Churches of the Nether-
lands, and is bound up with the Dutch Bible. " As for the Church of Scotland, the
Palatine Catechism," says Mr. Wodrow in the dedication of his History, " was adopted
by us, till we had the happiness to join with the venerable Assembly at Westminster.
Then indeed it gave place to the Larger and Shorter Catechisms in the Church ;
nevertheless it continued to be taught in grammar schools."
" Q. What thing is faith in Christ? A. A sure persuasion that he is the only
Saviour of the world, but ours in special, who believe in him." — Craig's Catechism,
approven by the General Assembly, 1592.
To these may be added the three following testimonies. " Q. What is faith ?
A. When I am persuaded that God loves me and all bis saints, and freely giveth us
Christ, with all his benefits." — Sammula Catechismi, still annexed to the Rudiments
of the Latin tongue, and taught in grammar schools to this day, (172fi) since the
Reformation.
" What is thy faith ? My sure belief that God both may and will save me in the
blood of Jesus Christ, because he is almighty, and has promised so to do." — Mr. James
Melvil's Catechism in his propine of a Pastor to his People, p 44, published in the
year 1598.
" Q. What is this faith, that is the only instrument of this strait conjunction be-
tween Christ crucified and us ? D. It is the sure persuasion of the heart, that Christ
by his death and resurrection hath taken away our sins, and clothing us with his own
righteousness, has thoroughly restored us to the favour of God." — Mr. John David-
son's Catechism, p. 46.
In the same national covenant, as it was renewed 1638 and 1639, is expressed an
agreement and resolution to labour to recover the purity of the gospel, as it was estab-
lished and professed before the (there) foresaid novations ; the which, in the time of
Prelacy, then cast out, had been corrupted by a set of men in Scotland addicted to
the faction of Laud, Archbishop of Canterbury. In the year 1640, Mr. Robert
Baily, then minister of Kilwinning, afterwards one of the Commissioners from Scot-
land to the Westminster Assembly, wrote against that faction, proving them guilty of
Popery, Arminianism, &c. and on the head of Popery, thus represents their doctrine
concerning the nature of faith, viz. " That faith is only a bare assent, and requires no
application, no personal confidence; and that that personal application is mere pre-
sumption, and the fiction of a crazy brain." — Hist. Motuum in Regno Scotia, p. 517.
Thus, as above declared, stood the doctrine of the church of Scotland, in this point,
in her confessions, and in public catechisms, confirmed by the renewing of the national
Covenant, when in the year 1643, it was anew confirmed by the first article of the
Solemn League and Covenant, binding to (not the Reformation, but) the preservation
of the Reformed religion in the Church of Scotland, in doctrine, &c. and that before
the Westminster Confession, Larger and Shorter Catechism, were in being.
When the Westminster Confession was received, anno 1647, and the Larger and
Shorter Catechisms, anno 1648, the General Assembly did, in their three acts, re-
spectively approving them, expressly declare them to be in nothing contrary to the
received doctrine of this Kirk. And put the case they were contrary thereto in any
point, they could not in that point be reckoned the judgment of the Church of Scot-
262 THE MARROW OF
§ 3. Neo. But, sir, hath such a one as I any warrant to believe in
Christ ?
Evan. I beseech you consider, that God the Father, as he is in his
Son Jesus Christ, moved with nothing but with his free love to man-
kind lost, hath made a deed of gift and grant unto them all, that
whosoever of them all shall believe in this his Son, shall not perish,
but have eternal life./ And hence it was, that Jesus Christ himself
land, since they were received by her, as in nothing contrary to previous standards of
doctrine, to which she stands bound by the covenants aforesaid. But the truth is, the
doctrine is the same in them all.
" This faith is different in degrees, weak or strong ; — growing in many to the at-
tainment of a full assurance." — Westmin. Confess, chap. 14, art. 3. Now, how
faith can grow in any to a full assurance, if there be no assurance in the nature of it,
I cannot comprehend.
" Faith justifies a sinner — only as it is an instrument, by which he receiveth and
applieth Christ and his righteousness." — Larg. Cat. Q. 73. " By faith they receive
and apply unto themselves Christ crucified, and all the benefits of his death." — Ibid.
Q. 170.
" Q. When do we by faith receive and apply to ourselves the body of Christ cruci-
fied ? A. While we are persuaded, that the death and crucifixion of Christ do no less
belong to us, than if we ourselves had been crucified for our own sins ; now this per-
suasion is that of true faith." — Sum. Cutech.
" Faith in Jesus Christ is a saving grace, whereby we receive and rest upon him
alone for savation, as he is offered to us in the gospel." — Sltort. Cat.
Now, to perceive the entire harmony between this and the old definitions of faith,
compare with it, as to the receiving therein mentioned, the definition above cited from
the Old Confession, art. 3, viz. " An assured faith in the promise — by which — they
apprehend Christ, &c. Mr. John Davidson joins them thus: Q, What is faith ? A.
It is a hearty assurance, that our sins are freely forgiven us in Christ. Or after this
manner: It is the hearty receiving of Christ offered in the preaching of the word and
sacraments, by the working of the Holy Spirit, for the remission of sins, whereby, he
becomes one with us, and we one with him, he our head, and we his members." — Mr.
John Davidson s Catechism, p. 24. As to the resting mentioned in the Westminster
definition, compare the definition above cited from the Palatine Catecliism, viz. '' A
sure confidence — whereby I rest in God, assuredly concluding, that — to me — is giveu
forgiveness," &c. quest. 21. See also Larger Catechism quest, last. " We by faith
are emboldened to plead with him that he-would, and quietly to rely upon him that he
will, fulfil our request ; and to testify this our desire and assurance, we say. Amen"
In which words, it is manifest, that quietly to rely upon him that he will, &c. (the
same with resting on him for, &c.) is assurance, in the sense of the Westminster
divines.
_/*Mr. Culverwell's words, here cited, stand thus at large. — " The matter to be be-
lieved unto salvation is this, that God the Father, moved by nothing but his free love
to mankind lost, hath made a deed of gift and grant of his Son Christ Jesus unto man-
kind, that whosoever of all mankind shall receive this gift, by a true and lively faith,
he shaM not perish, but have everlasting life." Dr. Gouge, in his preface to this
treatise of that author, has these remarkable words concerning him, ''Never any
took such piins to so good purpose, in and about the foundation of faith, as he hath
done."
MODERN DIVINITY. 263
said unto his disciples, Mark xvi. 15, " Go and preach the gospel to
every creature under heaven : g that is, Go and tell every man,
without exception, that here is good news for him ! Christ is dead
for him ! and if he will take him, and accept of his righteousness,
he shall have him. h Therefore, says a godly writer, " Forasmuch
This deed of gift and grant, or authentic gospel-offer (of which see the preceding
notee,) is expressed in so many words, John iii. 16, " For God so loved the world,
that he gave his only begotten Son. that whosoever believeth in him should not
perish, but have everlasting life." Where the gospel comes, this grant is published,
and the ministerial offer made; and there is no exception of any of all mankind in the
grant. If there was, no ministerial offer of Christ could be warrantably made to the
party excepted, more than to the fallen angels : and, without question, the publishing
and proclaiming of heaven's grant unto any, by way of ministerial offer, pre-supposeth
the grant, in the first place, to be made to them : otherwise, it would be of no more
value than the crier's offering of the king's pardon to one who is not comprehended in
it. This is the good old way of discovering to sinners their warrant to believe in
Christ ; and it doth indeed bear the sufficiency of the sacrifice of Christ for all, and
that Christ crucified is the ordinance of God for salvation unto all mankind, in the
use-making of which only they can be saved ; but not an universal atonement or re-
demption. " What is thy faith? My sure belief that God both may and will save
me, &c. Tell me the promise whereon thou leanest assuredly? ' Whoever (says God)
will believe in the death of my Son Jesus, shall not perish, but get eternal life.' " —
Mr. James Melvil's Cat. ubi. sup. " He freely offereth unto sinners life and sal-
vation by Jesus Christ, requiring of them faith in him, that they may be saved. Mark
xvi. 15, 16 ; John iii. 16." — Westm. Confess, chap. 7. art. 3. '' The visible church
hath the privilege — of enjoying — offers of grace by Christ to all the members of it
in the ministry of the gospel, testifying, that whosoever believes in him shall be
saved." — Larger Catechism, quest 63. " This general offer, in substance, is equiva-
lent to a special offer made to every one in particular, as appears by the apostle making
use of it, Acts. xvi. 31. The reason of which offer is given, John iii. 16." — Praci.
Use of Sav. Knowledge : Confess, p. 380. The Synod of Dort may be heard with-
out prejudice on this head. " It is the promise of the gospel (say they,) that whoso-
ever believeth in Christ crucified should not perish, but have life everlasting : which
promise, together with the injunction of repentance and faith, ought promiscuously,
and without distinction, to be declared, and published to all men and people, to whom
God in his pleasure sends the gospel." — Chap. 2, art. 5. But forasmuch as manv,
being called by the gospel, do not repent nor believe in Christ, but perish in their in-
fidelity, this comes not. to pass for want of, or by any other insufficiency, of the sacri-
fice of Christ offered upon the cross, but by their own defaults," art. 6.
g That is, from this deed of gift and grant it was that the ministerial offer was ap-
pointed to be made in the most extensive terms.
h That the reader may have a more clear view of this passage, which is taken from
Dr. Preston's treatise of faith, I shall transcribe the whole paragraph in which it is
found. That eminent divine, speaking of that righteousness by which alone we can
be saved, and having shown that it is communicated by gift, says, " But when vou
hear this righteousness is given, the next question will be, to whom is it given? If it
be only given to some, what comfort is this to me? But, (which is the ground of all
comfort,) it is given to every man, — there is not a man excepted ; for which we have
264 THE HARROW OF
as the Holy Scripture speaketh to all in general, none of us ought
to distrust himself, but believe that it doth belong particularly to
the sure word of God, which will not fail. When you have the charter of a king well
confirmed, you reckon it a matter of great moment: what is it then when you have the
charter of God himself, which you shall evidently see in those two places, Mark xvi.
15, ' Go and preach the gospel to every creature under heaven.' What is that? Go
and tell every man, without exception, that here is good news for him, Christ is dead
for him; and if he will take him, and accept of his righteousness, he shall have it;
restraint is not; but go tell every man under heaven. The other text is, Rev. xxii.
17 ' Whosoever will, let him come, and take of the water of life freely.' There is a
qnicunqne vult, whosoever will come (none excepted) may have life, and it shall cost
him nothing. Many other places of Scripture there be to prove the generality of the
offer ; and having a sure word for it, consider it." — p. 7 , 8. The words " under hpa-
ven" are taken from Col. i. 23. The scope here is the same with that of our author,
not to determine concerning the extent of Christ's death, but to discover the warrant
sinners have to believe in Christ, namely, that the offer of Chri?t is general, the deed
of gift or grant is to every man. This necessarily supposeth Christ crucified to be the
ordinance of God for salvation, to which lost mankind is allowed access and not fallen
angels, for whom there is none provided : even as the city of refuge was the ordinance
of God for the safety of the man -slayer, who had killed any person unawares, Numb.
xxxv. 16 ; and the brazen serpent for the cure of those bitten by a serpent, chap. xxi.
8. Therefore he says not, '* Tell every man Christ died for him ;" but, Tell every
man " Christ is dead for him :" that is, for him to come to, and believe on ; a Saviour
is provided for him ; there is a crucified Christ for him, the ordinance of heaven for sal-
vation for lost mau, iu the use-making of which he may be saved ; even as one had said
of old, tell every man that hath slain any person unawares, that the city of refuge is pre-
pared for him, namely, to flee to, that he may be safe ; and every one bitten with a ser-
pent, that the brazen serpent is set up on a pole for him, namely, to look unto, that he
may be healed. Both these were eminent types of Christ; and upon the latter, the
Scripture is full and clear in this very point. Num. xxi. 8, " And the Lord said unto
Moses, make thee a fiery serpent, and set it upon a pole ; and it shall come to pass, that
every one that is bitten, when he looketh upon it, shall live. John iii. 14 — 16,
''And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be
lifted up ; that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life."
" For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoso-
ever," &c.
Thus, what (according to Dr. Presti n and our author) is to be told every man, is
no more than what ministers of the gospel have in commission from their great
Master. Matt. xxii. 4, " Tell them which are bidden, Behold, I have prepared my
dinner; my oxen and my fadings are killed, and all things are ready, come unto the
marriage." There is a crucified Saviour, with all saving benefits, for them to come
to, feed upon, and partake of freely. See also Luke ii. 30, 31 ; Prov. ix. 2 — 4;
Isa. xxv. 6.
To confirm this to be the true and designed sense of the phrase in question, com-
pare the following three passages, of the same treatise, giving the import of the same
text, Mark xvi. " Christ hath provided a righteousness and salvation, that is his
work that he hath done already. Now, if ye will believe, and take him upon these
terms that he is offered, you shall be saved. This, I say, belongs to all men. This
you have expressed in the gospel in many places: 'If you believe, you shall be
MODERN DIVINITY. 265
himself, i And to the end, that this point, wherein lies and consists
the whole mystery of our holy faith, may be understood the better,
let us put the case, that some good and holy king should cause a
saved ;" as it is Mark xvi. ' Go and preach the gospel to every creature under hea-
ven ; he that will believe shall be saved.' " — Preston on Faith, p. 32. " You must
first have Christ himself, before you can partake of those benefits by him : and that
I take to be the meaning of that in Mai k xvi. ' Go and preach the gospel to every crea-
ture under heaven ; he that believeth and is baptized shall be saved;' that is, that he
will believe, that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh, and that he is offered to mankind
for a Saviour, and will be baptized; that will give up himself to him, that will take
his mark upon him, — shall be saved." — Ibid. p. 46. " Go and preach the gospel to
every creature ; go and tell every man under heaven, that Christ is offered to him, he
is freely given to him by God the Father ; and there is nothing required of you but
that you marry him, nothing but to accept of him." — Ibid. p. 75.
Thus it appears, that universal atonement, or redemption, is not taught here,
neither by our author. But that the candid reader may be satisfied as to his sentiments
touching the question, — " for whom Christ died ?" let him weigh these two things :
1. Our author puts a man's being persuaded that Christ died for him in particular,
in the definition of saving faith, and that as the last and highest step of it. But
Arminians, and other Universalists, might as well put there a man's being persuaded
that he was created, or is preserved by Jesus Christ; since in being persuaded that
Christ died for him, he applies no more to himself than what, according to their
principles, is common to all mankind, as in the case of creation and preservation.
Hear Grotius upon this head: " Some," says he, "have here interpreted faith to bo
persuasion, whereby a man believes that Jesus died for him in particular, and to pur-
chase salvation all manner of ways for him, or (what with them is the same thine;)
that he is elected ; when, on the contrary, Paul in many places teacheth, ' that Christ
died for all men ;' and such a faith as they talk of, has not in it any thing true or pro-
fitable." — Grotius apud pol. Si/nop. Those whom this learned adversary here taxes,
are Protestant anti-Arminian divines. Those were they who defined faith by such
a persuasion, and not the Universalists. On the contrary, he argues against that
definition of faith from the doctrine of universal atonement or redemption. He re-
jects that definition of it, as in his opinion having nothing in it true, namely, accord-
ing to the principles of those who gave it, viz. that Christ died, not for all and every
man in particular, but for the elect only, and as having nothing in it profitable ; that
being, according to his principles, the common privilege of all mankind.
2. He teaches plainly throughout the book, that they were the elect, the chosen, or
believers, whom Christ represented, and obeyed, and suffered for. See among others,
pages 23, 24, 56, 89. I shall repeat only two passages ; the one, page 84 : " Ac-
cording to that eternal and mutual agreement that was betwixt God the Father and
him, be put himself in the room and place of all the faithful." The other in the first
sentence of his own preface, viz. "Jesus Christ, the second Adam, did, as a common
person, enter into covenant with God his Father for all the elect, (that is to say, all
those that have or shall believe on his name) and for them kept it." What can be
more plain than that, in the judgment of our author, they were the elect whom Jesus
Christ the second Adam entered into covenant with God for ; that it was in the elect's
room he put himself when he came actually to obey and suffer, and that it was for
the elect he kept that covenant, by doing and suffering what was required of him as
Vol. YII. e
266 THE MARROW OF
proclamation to be made through his whole kingdom by the sound of
a trumpet, that all rebels and banished men shall safely return home
to their houses ; because that, at the suit and desert of some dear
friend of theirs, it had pleased the king to pardon them ; certainly,
none of these rebels ought to doubt, but that he shall obtaiu true
pardon for his rebellion ; and so return home, and live under the
shadow of that gracious king. Even so, our good King, the Lord
of heaven and earth, has, for the obedience and desert of our good
Brother Jesus Christ, pardoned all our sins, j and made a proclama-
our Redeemer ? As for the description, or character he gives of the elect, viz. that
by the elect he understands all that have or shall believe in it, he follows our Lord
himself, (John xvii. 20.) "Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which
shall believe on me ;" and so doing, he is accompanied with orthodox divines.
" Thus did the sins of all God's elect, or all true believers, (for of such, and only
such, he there, viz. Isa. liii. 6. speaks) meet together upon the head of their common
surety, the Lord Christ." — Brinsley's Meshes, p. 64. " The Father is well satisfied
with the undertakings of the Son, who entered Redeemer and Surety to pay the ran-
som of believers." — Pract. Use of Saving Kit owl. tit. 4. "The invisible church is
the whole number of the elect that have been, are, or shall be gathered into one,
under Christ the head." — Larg. Cat. quest. 64, " Christ's Church, wherein standeth
only remission of sins, purchased by Christ'3 blood to all them that believe." — The
Confess, of Faith used in Geneva, approven by the Church of Scotland, sect. 4.
§ ult. But Arminians neither will nor can, in consistency with their principles touch-
ing election and the falling away of believers, admit that descripton or character of
the elect, else they are widely mistaken by one of their own, who tells us, that,
" Upon the consideration of his (viz. Christ's) blood, as shed, he (viz. God, decreed
that all those who should believe in that Redeemer, and persevere in that faith,
should, through mercy and grace, by him be made partakers of salvation." — Exam, of
Tilen. p. 139. " Brought into faith, and persevere therein ; this being the condition
required in every one that is to be elected unto eternal life." — Ibid. p. 139. Behold
the Armiuian election : " They do utterly deny that God did destine, by an absolute
decree, to give Christ a Mediator only to the elect, and to give faith to them alone."
— Ibid. p. 149. As for Universalists, not Arminians, " They contend, that the
decree of the death of Christ did go before the decree of election, aod that God, in
sending of Christ, had no respect unto some, more than others, but destined Christ for
a Saviour to all men alike. This account of their principles is given us by Turretine,
loc. 14. q. 14. th. 6. I leave it to the impartial reader to judge of the evident con-
trariety betwixt this and our author's words above repeated.
i Namely, the deed of gift and grant, or the offer of Christ in the word, of which
our author is all along speaking. And if there be any man to whom it doth not belong
particularly, that man hath no warrant to believe on Jesus Christ : and whosoever
pretends to believe on him, without believing that the grant or offer belongs to him-
self particularly, does but act presumptuously, as seeing no warrant he has to believe
on Christ, whatever others may have.
j So far as he hath made the deed of gift and grant, or authentic gospel-offer of the
pardon of all our sins, as of all other saving benefits in Christ. Such a thing, among
men, is called the king's pardon, though, in the meantime, none have the benefit of
it but such as come in upon its being proclaimed, and accept of it ; and why may not
MODERN DIVINITY. 267
tion throughout the whole world, k that every one of us may safely
return to God in Jesus Christ : wherefore, I beseech you, make no
doubt of it, but " draw near with a true heart in full assurance of
faith," I Heb. x. 22.
Neo. 0, but, sir, in this similitude the case is not alike. For
when the earthly king sends forth such a proclamation, it may be
thought, that he indeed intends to pardon all ; but it cannot be
thought that the King of heaven does so : for do not the Scriptures
say, that " some men are ordained before to condemation ?" Jude 4.
And does not Christ himself say, that " many are called, but few
it be called the King of heaven's pardon ? The Holy Scripture warrants this manner
of expression. "And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life,"
(l John v. 11); in which life, without question, the pardon of all onr sins is included :
" Through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins," Acts xiii. 38. The
preaching of the gospel is the proclaiming of pardon to condemned sinners. But pardon
of sin cannot be preached or proclaimed, unless, in the first place, it be granted, even
as the king's pardon must be, before one can proclaim it to the rebels.
That this is all that is meant by pardon here, and not a formal personal pardon, is evi-
dent from the whole strain of the author's discourse upon it. In the proposal of the
simile, whereof this passage is the application, he tells us, that after it hath pleased the
king (thus) to pardon the rebels, they ought not to doubt but they shall obtain pardon ;
and in the following paragraph he brings in Neophitus objecting, that in such a case an
earthly king doth indeed intend to pardon all, but the King of heaven doth Dot so ; the
which Evangelistain his answer grants. So that, for all this general pardon, the for-
mal personal pardon remains to be obtained by the sinner, namely, by his accepting of
the pardon offered. And in the foresaid answer, he expounds the pardon in question,
of the Lord's offering pardon generally to all. This, one would think, may well be
admitted as a fruit of Christ's obedience and desert, without supposing an universal
atonement or redemption. And to restrain it to any set of men whatsoever under hea-
ven, is to restrain the authentic gospel-offer : — of which before.
k Col. i. 23, " The gospel which ye have heard, and which was preached to every
creature which is under heaven."
I Make uo doubt of the pardon offered, or of the proclamation, bearing, that every
one of us may safely return to God in Christ ; but thereupon draw near to him in full
assurance of faith. That there can be no saving faith, no acceptance with God, where
there is any doubting, is what can hardly enter into the head of any sober Christian,
if he is not under a grievous temptatiou, in his own soul's case, nor is it in the least
insinuated here. Nevertheless, the doubting mixed with faith is sin, and dishonour-
eth God, and believers have ground to be humbled for it, and ashamed of it, before
the Lord ; and therefore the full assurance of faith is duty. The Papists indeed con-
tend earnestly for doubting, and they know very well wherefore they so do ; for doubt-
ing being removed, and the assurance of faith in the promise of the gospel brought into
its room, their market is marred, their gain by indulgences, masses, pilgrimages, &c.
is gone, and the fire of purgatory extinguished. But, as Protestant divines prove
against them, the Holy Scripture condemns it. Matth. xiv. 31, " O thou of little
faith! wherefore didst thou doubt?" Luke xii. 29, "Neither be ye of doubtful
mind." 1 Tim. ii. 8, " Lifting up holy hands, without wrath and doubting."
k2
268 THE MABE0W OF
are chosen?" Matth. xxii. 14. And therefore it may be, I am one
of them that are ordained to condemnation ; and therefore, though
I be called, I shall never be chosen, and so shall not be saved.
Evan. I beseech you to consider, that although some men be or-
dained to condemnation, yet so long as the Lord has concealed their
names, and not set a mark upon any man in particular, but offers
the pardon generally to all, without having any respect either to
election or reprobation, surely it is great folly in any man to say, —
It may be I am not elected, and therefore shall not have benefit by
it; and therefore I will not accept of it, nor come in : m for it should
rather move every man to give diligence " to make his calling and
election sure," by believing it, (2 Pet. i. 10,) for fear we come
short of it, n according to that of the apostle, " let us therefore
fear, lest a promise being left us of entering into his rest, any of
us should seem to come short of it," Heb. iv. 1. Wherefore, I be-
seech you, do not you say, it maybe I am not elected, and therefore
I will not believe in Christ; but rather say, I do believe in Christ,
and therefore I am sure I am elected, o And check your own heart
for meddling with God's secrets, and prying into his hidden counsel,
and go no more beyond your bounds, as you have done, in this
point : for election and reprobation is a secret ; and the Scripture
tells us, " that secret things belong unto God, but those things that
are revealed belong unto us," Dent. xxix. 29. Now this is God's
revealed will, for indeed it is his express command, " That you
should believe on the name of his Son," 1 John iii. 23 ; and it is his
promise, " That if you believe, you shall not perish, but have
everlasting life," John iii. 16. Wherefore, you having so good a
warrant as God's command, and so great an encouragement as his
promise, do your duty ; p and by the doing thereof you may put itq
out of question, and be sure that you are also one of God's elect.
Say, theu, I beseech you. with a firm faith, The righteousness
of Jesus Christ belongs to all that believe; but I believe, r and
therefore it belongs to me. Yea, say with Paul, " I live by the
m Had the author once dreamt of an universal pardon, otherwise than that God offers
the pardon generally to all, all this had been needless ; it would have furnished him
with a short answer, viz. That God hath parduned all already.
n By believing the offered pardon, with particular application to himself; without
which one can never accept of it, but will undoubtedly come short of it.
o Like that man, mentioned Mark is. 24. who at once did and said.
p Believe on the name of Christ.
q Namely, your believing.
r This is what is commonly called the reflex act of faith, which pre-supposes, and
here concludes the direct act, namely, a man's doing of his dutv, in obedience to the
command to believe on Christ; by reflecting on which, he m.iv put it out of question
MODERN DIVINITY. 269
faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me,"
Gal. ii. 20. "He saw in me (says Luther on the text,) nothing but
wickedness, going astray, and fleeing from him. Yet this good
Lord had mercy on me, and of his mere mercy he loved me, yea so
loved me, that he gave himself for me. Who is this me ? Even I,
a wretched and damnable sinner, was so dearly beloved of the Son of
God, that he gave himself for me."
0! print this word "me" in your heart, and apply it to your
own self, not doubting but that you are one of those to whom this
" me" belongs. 5
Neo. But may such a vile and sinful wretch as I am be persuaded
that God commands me to believe, and that he hath made a promise
to me ? t
Evan. Why do you make a question, where there is none to be
made? "Go," says Christ, "and preach the gospel to every creature
under heaven," that is, go tell every man without exception, what-
soever his sins be, whatsoever his rebellions be, go and tell him
these glad tidings, that if he will come in, I will accept of him, his
sins shall be forgiven him, and he shall be saved; if he will come
in and take me, and receive me, I will be his loving husband and
he shall be mine own dear spouse. Let me therefore say unto you,
in the words of the apostle, " Now then, I as an ambassador for
Christ, as though God did beseech you by me, I pray you, in Christ's
stead, be ye reconciled unto God; for he hath made him to be sin
for you, who knew no sin, t'.iat you might be made the righteousness
of God in him," 2 Cor. v. 20, 21.
Neo. But do you say, sir, that if I believe I shall be espoused
unto Christ ?
Evan. Yea, indeed shall you : for faith coupleth the soul with
Christ, even as the spouse with her husband ; by which means
Christ and the soul are made one : for as, in corporal marriage,
man and wife are made one flesh, even so in this spiritual and
mystical marriage, Christ and his spouse are made one spirit.
And this marriage, of all others, is most perfect, and absolutely
that he is a believer, one of God's elsct, and one of those for whom Christ died ; the
which he insists upon in the following words. See the foregoing notey. This passage
is taken out of Dr Preston's Treatise of Faith, p. 8.
« " This manner of applying," says Luther, " is the very true force and power of
faith."
t He had told him, that for his warrant to believe on Christ, he had God's command,
1 John iii. 23. And for his encouragement, God's promise, John iii. 16. Thereupon
this question is moved ; the particular application to oneself being a matter of no small
difficulty, in the experience of many who lay salvation to heart.
270 THE MARROW OP
accomplished between them; for the marriage between man and
wife is but a slender figure of tlm union ; wherefore, I beseech you
to believe it, and then you shall be sure to enjoy it. u
Neo. But, sir, if David said, " Seemeth it to you a light thing to
be an earthly king's son-in-law, seeing that I am a poor man, and
lightly esteemed?" 1 Sam. xviii. 23; then surely 1 have much
more cause to say, Seemeth it a light thing to be a heavenly king's
daughter-in-law, seeing that I am such a poor sinful wretch ? surely,
sir, I cannot be persuaded to believe it.
Evan. Alas, man, how much are you mistaken ! for you look upon
God, and upon yourself, with the eye of reason ; and so as stand-
ing in relation to each other, according to the tenor of the covenant
of works ; whereas you being now in the case of justification and
reconciliation, you are to look both upon God and upon yourself with
the eye of faith ; and so standing in relation to each other, accord-
ing to the tenor of the covenant of grace. For, says the apostle,
" God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imput-
ing their sins unto them," 2 Cor. v. 19 ; as if he had said, Because
as God stands in relation to man, according to the tenor of the co-
venant of works, and so out of Christ, he could not, without preju-
dice to his justice, he reconciled unto them, nor have anything to do
with them, otherwise than in wrath and indignation; therefore to
the intent that Justice and Mercy might meet together, and Righte-
ousness and peace might embrace each other, and so God stand in
relation to man, according to the tenor of the covenant of grace; he
put himself into his Son Jesus Christ, and shrouded himself there,
that so he might speak peace to his people, Psalm Ixxxv. 8 — 10.
Sweetly says Luther, " Because the nature of God was otherwise
higher than that we are able to attain unto it, therefore hath he
humbled himself for us, and taken our nature upon him, and so put
himself into Christ. Here he looketh for us, here he will receive us,
and he that seeketh him here shall find him." v " This," says God
u Believe the word of promise, the offer of the spiritual marriage, which is
Christ's declared consent to be yours. Believe that it is made to you in particular,
and that it shall be made out to you ; the which is, to embrace the offer, to receive
Christ, as the evangelist teaches, John i. 12, (which was adverted to before ;) so
shall you be indeed married or espoused to Christ. Thus the Holy Scripture proposes
this matter, lsa. lv. 3, " Hear, and your soul shall live, and I will make an everlast-
ing covenant with you;" to persuade us of the reality of the covenant betwixt God
and the believer of his word, "the Father hath made a fourfold gift," &c. — Pract.
Use of Sav. Knowl. tit. Warrant to Believe, fig. 7. Compare lsa. liii. 1; Heb. iv.
1, 2.
v An eminent type of this glorious mystery was that tabernacle so often mentioned
in the Old Testament under the name of the tabernacle of the con^rega'ion, or ra-
MODERN DIVINITY. 271
the Father, " is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased," Matt,
iii. 17; whereupon the same Luther says in another place, "We
must not think and persuade ourselves that this voice came from
heaven for Christ's own sake, but for our sakes, even as Christ him-
self says, John xii. 30, ' This voice came not because of me, but for
your sakes.' The truth is, Christ had no need that it should be said
unto him, ' This is my beloved Son,' he knew that from all eternity,
and that he should still so remain, though these words had not been
spoken from heaven ; therefore, by these words, God the Father, in
Christ his Son, cheers the hearts of poor sinners, and greatly de-
lights them with singular comfort and heavenly sweetness, assuring
them, that whosoever is married unto Christ, and so in him by faith,
he is as acceptable to God the Father as Christ himself; w accord-
ing to that of the apostle, " He hath made us acceptable in his be-
loved," Eph. i. 6. Wherefore, if you would be acceptable to God
and be made his dear child, then by faith cleave unto his beloved
Son Christ, and hang about his neck, yea, and creep into his bosom;
and so shall the love and favour of God be as deeply insinuated
into you as it is into Christ himself; w and so shall God the Father,
together with his beloved Son, wholly possess you, and be possessed
of you ; and so God and Christ, and you, shall become one entire
thing, according to Christ's prayer, ,: that they may be one in us,
as thou and I are one," John s.vii. 21. x
ther the tabernacle of meeting, as the original word bears ; and the Lord himself seems
to give the reason of the name, Exod. xxx. 36, " In the tabernacle of the congrega-
tion, where I will meet with thee;" or, "in the tabernacle of meeting, where I will
be met with by thee." Chap, xxxiii. 7, " And it came to pass, that every one which
sought the Lord, went out unto the tabernacle of the congregation," or meeting.
w The acceptation, love, and favour of God here treated of, do not refer to the real
state of believers, but to the relative slate, to their justification, reconciliation, and
adoption: and so they have no respect to any qualities inherent in them, good or evil,
to be increased by the one, or diminished by the other ; but they proceed purely upon
the righteousness of Christ, which is theirs in virtue of their union with him and is
imputed to them ; the which righteousness is the self-same righteousness wherewith
Christ, as the Mediator and Surety for elect sinners, pleased the Father. And there-
fore, says one, whom nobody suspects of Antinomianism, " We are as perfctly righte-
ous as Christ the righteous," citing 1 John iii. 7, " He that doth righteousness is
righteous, even as he is righteous," Isaac Ambrose's Media, chap. J. sect. 2. p.
4. This I take to be the true meaning of these passages of our author and Isaac
Ambrose, expressed in terms stronger than 1 would desire to use. There is a danger
in expressing concerning God even what is true.
x The original word, here rendered " one," indeed signifies " one thing." And it
is evident from the text, that believers are united to God as well as to Christ. '' Faith
is that grace by which we are united to, and made one with God in Christ," says the
author of the supplement to Pool's Annot. on the place. Sec 1 John iv. 16 ; Cor.
272 THE MARROW OF
And by tliia means you may have sufficient ground and warrant
to say, (in the matter of reconciliation with God, at any time, when-
soever you are disputing with yourself, how God is to be found, that
justifies and saves sinners) I know no other God, neither will I
know any other God, besides this God, that came down from heaven
and clothed himself with my flesh, y unto " whom all power is given,
both in heaven and in earth," who is my judge ; " for the Father
judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment to the Son," John
v. 22. So that Christ may do with me whatsoever he liketh, and
determine of me according to his own mind : and I am sure he hath
said, " he came not to judge the world, but to save the world," John
xii. 47. And therefore I do believe that he will save me. z
iv. 16, compared with Eph. iii. 17. And whosoever owns Jesus Christ to be one with
the Father, must needs grant this, or else deny believers to be united to Christ.
This derogates nothing from the prerogative of our Lord Jesus, who is one with the
Father ; for he is one with him, as the Holy Ghost also is, by the adorable substantial
union ; but believers are so only by mystical union. Neither does it intrench upon
God's supremacy, more than their confessed union with Christ does ; who notwith-
standing of believers' union with him, remains to be, with the Father and Holy Spirit,
the only supreme, and most high God.
" Whosoever therefore cleaveth to Christ through faith, he abideth in the favour
of God, he also shall be made beloved and acceptable as Christ is, and shall have fel-
lowship with the father and the Son." — Luther's Chosen Sermons, Sermon of the
appearing of Christ, p. 23. " Here I will abide in the arms of Christ, cleaving inse-
parably about his neck, and creeping into his bosom, whatsoever the law shall say,
and my heart shall feel." Ibid. Sermon of the lost sheep, p. 81. " Seeing therefore
that Christ the beloved Son, being in so great favour with God in all things that he
does, is, thine. — without doubt, thou art in the same favour and love of God that
Christ himself is in." And again, " the favour and love of God are insinuated to
thee as deeply as to Christ, that now God, together with his beloved Son, does wholly
possess thee, and thou hast him again wholly ; that so God, Christ, and thou, do be-
come as one certain thing, — that they may be one in us, as thou and I are one, John
xvii." — Ibid. Sermon of the appearing of Christ, p. 25.
y Luther from whom this is taken in the place quoted by our author, confirms it
thus: " For he that is a searcher of God's majesty, shall be overwhelmed of his
glory, I know (adds he) by experience, nhat I say. But these vain spirits, which
so deal with God, that they exclude the Mediator, do not believe me." And on Psal.
cxxx. he has these remarkable words, " Ego s<epe, et libenter hoc inculco, ut extra
Christum, oculus et aures claudatis, et dicatis nullum vos scire Deum ni?i qui fuit in
gremio Mariae, et suxit ubera ejus :" that is, " Often and willingly do 1 inculcate this,
that you should shut your eyes and your ears, and say, you know no God out of
Christ, none but he that was in the lap of Mary, and suckled her breasts." He means
none out of him Burroughs on Hos. iii. 5. (p. 729.)
2 This is the conclusion of that which one, " by faith cleaving unto Christ, and
and hanging about his neck," has by that means warrant to say, according to our au-
thor. Whether or not there is sufficient warrant for it, according to the Scripture,
let the reader judge: what shadow of the doctrine of universal atonement, or univer-
sal pardon, is in it, I see not.
MODERN DIVINITY. 273
Neo. Indeed, sir, if I were so holy and so righteous as some men
are, and had such power over my sins and corruptions as some men
have, then I could easily believe it ; but alas ! I am so sinful and
so unworthy a wretch, that I dare not presume to believe that Christ
will accept of me, so as to justify and save me.
Evan. Alas ! man, in thus saying, you seem to contradict and
gainsay both the apostle Paul, and our Lord Jesus Christ himself;
and that against your own soul : for whereas the apostle Paul says,
" that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners," (1 Tim. i.
15.) and doth justify the ungodly, (Rom. iv. 5.) why, you seem to
hold, and do in effect say, that Christ Jesus came into the world to
save the righteous, and to justify the godly. And whereas our
Saviour says, the whole need not a physician, but the sick ; and
that he cqppe not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance,
(Matth. ix. 12.) ; why, yon seem to hold, and do in effect say, that
the sick need not a physician, but the whole : and that he came not
to call sinners but the righteous to repentance. And indeed, in so
saying, you seem to conceive, that Christ's spouse must be purified,
washed, and cleansed from all her filthiness, and adorned with a
rich robe of righteousness, before lie will accept of her; whereas he
himself said unto her, Ezek. xvi. 4 — 8, " As for thy nativity, in the
day that thou wast born, thy navel was not cut, neither wast thou
washed with water to supple thee ; thou wast not swaddled at all,
nor salted at all. No eye pitied thee to do any of these things
unto thee ; but when I passed by thee, and looked upon thee, be-
hold thy time was a time of love. And I spread my skirt over
thee, and covered thy nakedness; yea, and I sware unto thee, and
entered into covenant with thee, and thou becamest mine." Hos.
ii. 19, " And I will marry thee unto me for ever; yea, I will marry
thee unto me in righteousness, and in judgment, and in mercy, and
compassion."
Wherefore, I beseech you, revoke this yonr erroneous opinion,
and contradict the word of truth no longer : but conclude for a cer-
tainty, that it is not the righteous and godly man, but the sinful
and ungodly man a that Christ came to call, justify, and save; so
that if you were a righteous and godly man, you were neither ca-
pable of calling, justifying, or saving by Christ: but being a sinful
and ungodly man, I will be bold to say unto you, as the people said
unto blind Bartimeus, Mark x. 49, " Be of good comfort; arise, he
calleth thee," and will justify and save thee, b Go then unto him,
a That is, such as are really so, and not in their own opinion, only respectively.
b As the people, observing Christ's call to Bartimeus, bid him be of good comfort,
(or be confident) and arise ; intimating, that upon his going so unto Christ, he would
27i THE JIARR0W OF
I beseech you ; and if he come and meet thee (as his manner is)
then do not you unadvisedly say, with Peter, " Depart from me, for
I am a sinful man, Lord !" Luke v. 8 ; but say, in plain terms,
come unto me ! for I am a sinful man, Lord ! Yea, go on fur-
ther, and say, as Luther bids you, Most gracious Jesus and sweet
Christ, I am a miserable poor sinner, and therefore do judge myself
unworthy of thy grace ; but yet T, having learned from thy word
that thy salvation belongs unto such a one, therefore do I come unto
thee, to claim that right which, through thy gracious promise be-
longs unto me. c Assure yourself, man, that Jesus Christ requires
no portion with his spouse ; no, verily, he requires nothing with her
but mere poverty : " the rich he sends empty away," Luke i. 53 ;
but the poor are by him enriched. And indeed, says Luther, " the
more miserable, sinful, and distressed a man doth feel himself, and
judge himself to be, the more willing is Christ to receive him and re-
lieve him." So that, says he, in judging thyself unworthy, thou
dost thereby become truly worthy ; and so indeed hast gotten a grea-
ter occasion of coming to him. Wherefore, then, in the words of the
apostle, I do exhort and beseech you to " come boldly unto the
throne of grace, that you may obtain mercy, and find grace to help
in time of need," Heb. iv. 16.
Neo. But, truly, sir, my heart, as it were, trembles within me, to
think of coming to Christ after such a bold manner ; and surely,
sir, if I should so come unto him, it would argue much pride and
presumption in me.
Evan. Indeed, if yon should be encouraged to come unto Christ,
and to speak thus unto him, because of any godliness, righteousness,
or worthiness, that you conceive to be in you ; that, I confess, were
proud presumption in you. But to come to Christ, by believing that
he will accept of you, justify and save you freely by his grace, ac-
cording to his gracious promise, this is neither pride nor presump-
tion : d for Christ having tendered and offered it to you freely,
believe it, it is true humility of heart to take what Christ offers
you.
Norn. But, by your favour, sir, I pray you give me leave to speak
cure him ; so one, observing the gospel call, may with all boldness bid a sinner com-
ply with it confidently ; assuring him that thereupon Christ will justify and save him.
c See the note on the Definition of Faith, fig. 1.
d It is to believe the offer of the gospel, with particular application; to embrace it,
and therein to receive Christ. And no man can ever receive and rest on Christ for
salvation, without believing, in greater or lesser measure, that Christ will accept of him
to justification and salvation. Remove that gospel-truth, that Christ will accept of
hitn, and his faith has no ground left to stand upon. See the noie on the Definition
of Faith, notes U, v.
MODEKN DIVINITY. 275
a word by the way. I know my neighbour Neophitus, it may be,
better than you do ; yet I do not intend to charge him with any sin,
otherwise than by way of supposition (as thus :) suppose he has
been guilty of the committing of gross and grievous sins, will Christ
accept of him, and justify and save him for all that ?
Evan. Yes, indeed ; for there is no limitation of God's grace in
Jesus Christ, except the sin against the Holy Ghost, e Christ
" stands at the door and knocks," Rev. iii. 20. And if any murder-
ing Manasseh, or any persecuting and blaspheming Saul, (1 Tim. i.
13,) or any adulterous Mary Magdalene, " will open unto him, he
will come in," and bring comfort with him, " and will sup with
him." " Seek from the one end of the heavens to the other," says
Hooker ; " turn all the Bible over, and see if the words of Christ be
not true, ' Him that cometh unto me, I will in no ways cast out,' "
John vi. 37.
Norn. Why then, sir, it seems you hold, that the vilest siuner in
the world ought not to be discouraged from coming unto Christ, and
believing in him, by reason of his sins.
Evan. Surely, if " Christ carao into the world to seek, and call,
and save sinners, and to justify the nngodly," as you have heard ;
and if the more sinful, miserable, and distressed a man judge him-
self to be, the more willing Christ is to receive him and relieve him ;
then I see no reason why the vilest sinner should be discouraged
from believing on the name of Jesus Christ by reason of his sins.
Nay, let me say more ; the greater any man's sins are, either in
number or nature, the more haste he should make to come unto
Christ, and to say with David, " For thy name's sake, Lord, par-
don mine iniquity, for it is great ; Psalm xxv. 11.
Ant. Surely, sir, if my friend Neophitus did rightly consider these
things, and were assuredly persuaded of the truth of them, me-
e 1 doubt if the sin against the Holy Ghost can justly be said to Le a limitation of
God's grace in Jesus Christ. For in the original authentic gospel-offer, in which is
the proper place for such a limitation (if there was any) that grace is so laid open to
all men without exception, that no man is excluded ; but there is free access to it for
every man in the way of believing, John iii. 15, 16 ; Rev. xxii. 17 ; and this offer is
sometime intimated to these reprobates who fall into that sin, else they should not be
capable of it. It is true, that sin is a bar in the way of the guilty, so as they can
never partake of the grace of God in Christ ; for it shall never be forgiven, Matth.
xii. 31 ; Mark iii. 29; and any further ministerial application of the offer to them
seems to cease to be lawful or warranted, 1 John v. 16. But all this arises from their
own wilful, obstinate, despiteful, and malicious rejecting of the offer ; and fighting
against the Holy Ghost, whose office it is to apply the grace of Christ ; and not from
any limitation or exclusive clause in the offer, for still it remains true, " Whosoever
shall believe, shall not perish."
276 THE MARROW OP
thinks lie should not be so backward from coining to Christ, by be-
lieving on his name, as he is ; for if the greatness of his sins should
be so far from hindering his coming to Christ, that they should
further his coming, then I know not what should hinder him.
Evan. You speak very truly indeed. And therefore, I beseech
you, neighbour Neophitus, consider seriously of it ; and neither let
your own accusing conscience, nor Satan the accuser of the brethren,
hinder you any longer from Christ. For what though they should
accuse you of pride, infidelity, covetousness, lust, anger, envy,
and hypocrisy ? yea, what though they should accuse you of whore-
dom, theft, drunkenness, and such like ? yea, do what they can,
they can make no worse a man of you than a sinner, or the chief of
sinners, or an ungodly person ; and so, consequently, such an one
Christ came to justify and save ; so that in very deed, if you do
rightly consider of it, they do you more good than hurt by their ac-
cusations. / And therefore, I beseech you, in all such cases or con-
flicts, take the counsel of Luther, who, on the Galatians, (p 20,)
says, " "When thy conscience is thorougly afraid with the remem-
brance of thy sins past, and the devil assaileth thee with great vio-
lence, going about to overwhelm thee with heaps, floods, and whole
seas of sins to terrify thee, and to draw thee from Christ ; then arm
thyself with such sentences as these : — Christ the Son of God was
given, not for the holy, righteous, worthy, and such as were his
friends ; but for the wicked sinners, for the unworthy, and for his
enemies. Wherefore, if the devil say, Thou art a sinner, and there-
fore must be damned, then answer thou, and say, Because thou say-
est I am a sinner, therefore will I be righteous and saved. And if
he reply, Nay, sinners must be damned; then answer thou and say,
No, for I flee to Christ, who hath given himself for my sins; and
therefore, Satan, in that thou sayest I am a sinner, thou givest me
armour and weapons against thyself, that with thine own sword I
may cut thy throat, and tread thee under my feet." g And thus
you see it is the counsel of Luther, that your sins should rather drive
you to Christ than keep you from him.
Nom. But, sir, suppose he hath not as yet truly repented of his
/Which may put you in mind that you are one of that sort which " Christ Jesus
came into the world to save," 1 Tim. i. 15, and in pleading for mercy, may furnish
you with such an argument as David used, Psalm xxv. 11, and the woman of Canaan,
Matt. xv. 27. "yet the dogs eat of the crumbs," &c.
g He adds, in the place quoted, these weighty words, " I say not this for nought,
for I have oftentimes proved by experience, and I daily find what an hard matter it is,
to believe (especially in the conflict of conscience) that Christ was given, not for the
holy, righteous, worthy, and such as were his friends ; but for wicked sinners, for the
unworthy, and for his enemies."
MODEJKN DIVINITY. 277
many and great sins, hath he any warrant to come unto Christ by
believing, till he has done so ?
Evan. I tell you truly, that whatsoever a man is, or whatsoever
he hath done or not done, he hath warrant enough to come unto
Christ by believing, if he can ; h for Christ makes a general procla-
mation, saying, " Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the
waters; and he that hath no money, come, buy and eat; yea, come
buy wine and milk without money, and without price." This, you
see, is the condition, " buy wine and milk," that is, grace and salva-
tion, " without money," that is, without any sufficiency of your
h It is not in vain added, "if he can ;" for there is, in this matter, a great differ-
ence betwixt what a sinner may do, in point of warrant, and what he will or can do,
in point of the event. " If we say to a mau, the physician is ready to heal you ;
before you will be healed, you must have a sense of your sickness: this sense is not
required by the physician, (for the physician is ready to heal him) ; but if be be not
sick, and have a sense of it, he will uut come to the physician." — Preston on Faith,
p. 12. I make no question, but before a sinner will come to Christ by believing, he
must be an awakened, convinced, sensible sinner; pricked in his heart with a sense
of his siu and misery ; made to groan under his buiden, to despair of relief from the
law himself, or any other creature, and to desire and thirst after Christ and his righte-
ousness; and this our author teaches afterwards on this subject. (These things also
are required of the sinner in point of duty.) And therefore the law must be preached
by all those who would preach Christ aright. But that these, or any other things in
the sinner, are required to warrant him, that he may come to Christ by believing, is
what I conceive the Scripture teaches not; but the general offer of the gospel, of
which before, warrants every man that he may come. And in practice, it will be
found, that requiring of such and such qualifications in sinners, to warrant them to
believe in Christ, is no great help to them in their way towards bim; forasmuch as it
engages them ic a doubtful disputation, as to the being, kind, measure, and degree of
their qualifications for coming to Christ ; the time spent in which might be better
improved in their going forward to Christ for all, by believing. And since no man
can ever believe in Christ, without knowing that he has a warrant for believing in
him, otherwise he can but act presumptuously : to tell sinners, that none may come to
Christ, or have warrant to believe, but such as have a true repentance, must needs,
in a special manner, entangle distressed consciences, so as they dare not believe,
until they know their repentance to be true repentance. This must inevitably be the
issue in that case ; unless they do either reject that principle, or else venture to be-
lieve without seeing their warrant. For, howbeit they hear of Christ and his salvation
offered in the gospel, these will be to them as forbidden fruit, which they are not
allowed to touch, till once they are persuaded, that the) have true repentance. And
before they can attain to this, it must be made out to their consciences, that their
repentance is not legal but evangelical, having such characters as distinguish it from
the repentance of the Ninevites, Judas, and many reprobates. So that, one would
think, the suggesting of this principle is but a bad office done to a soul brought to
" the place of the breaking forth of children." Let no man say, that, arguing at this
rate, one must know also the truth of his faith, before he can come to Christ; for
faith is not a qualification for coming to Christ, but the coming itself, which will have
its saving effects on the sinner, whether he knows the truth of it or not.
278 THE MARROW OF
own ; i only " incline your ear and hear, and your souls shall live ;"
yea, live by hearing that " Christ will make an everlasting covenant
with you, even the sure mercies of David."
§ 4. Nom. But yet, sir, you, see that Christ requires a thirsting,
before a man come unto him, the which, I conceive, cannot be with-
out true repentance.
Evan. In the last chapter of the Revelations, verse 17, Christ
makes the same general proclamation, saying, " Let him that is
athirst come ;" and as if the Holy Grhost had so long since answered
the same objection that yours is, it follows in the next words,
" And whosoever will, let him take of the water of life freely,"
even without thirsting, if he will; for "him that cometh unto me,
I will in nowise cast out,",; John vi. 37- But because it seems you
conceive he ought to repent before he believe, I pray tell me what
you do conceive repentance to be, or wherein does it consist ?
Nom. Why, I conceive that repentance consists in a man's hum-
bling himself before God, aud sorrowing and grieving for offending
him by his sins, and in turning from them all to the Lord.
Evan. And would you have a man to do all this truly k before he
come to Christ by believing ?
i Take them freely, and possess them; which every one sees to be no proper con-
dition.
j That gospel-offer, Isa. lv. 1. is the most solemn one to be found in all the Old
Testament: and that recorded, Rev. xxii. 17, is the parting offer made to sinners by
Jesus Christ, at the closing of the canon of the Scripture, and manifestly looks to the
former ; in the which I can see no ground to think, that the thirsting therein men-
tioned does any way restrict the offer ; or that the thirsty there invited, are convinced,
sensible sinners, who are thirsting after Christ and his righteousness; the which
would leave without the compass of this solemn invitation, not only the far greater
part of mankind, but even of the visible church. The context seems decisive in this
point; for the thirsting ones invited, are such as are "spending money for that which
is not bread, aud their labour for that which satisfieth not," (verses 1, 2 ;) but con-
vinced, sensible sinners who are thirsting after Christ and his righteousness, are not
spending their labour and money at that rate ; but on the contrary, for that which is
bread and satisfieth, namely, for Christ. Wherefore the thirsting there mentioned,
must be more extensive, comprehending, yea, and principally aiming at that thirst
after happiness and satisfaction, which, being natural, is common to all mankind.
Wen pained with this thirst (or hunger) are naturally running, for quenching thereof
to the empty creation, and their fulsome lusts ; " so spending money for that which is
not bread, and their labour for that which satisfieth not," their hungry souls find no
food, but what is meagre and lean, bad and unwholesome, and cannot satisfy their
appetite. Compare Luke xv. 16. In this wretched case Adam left all mankind, and
Christ finds them. Whereupon the gospel-proclamation is issued forth, inviting them
to come away from the broken cisterns, filthy puddles, to the waters of life, even to
Jesus Christ, where they may have bread, fatness, what is good, and will satisfy that
their painful thirst, John iv. 14, and vi. 35.
k That is, in such a manner as it shall be true evangelical repentance, a gracious
MODERN DIVINITY. 279
Nom. Yea, indeed, I think it is very meet he should.
Evan. Why,' then, I tell you truly, you would have him to do
that which is impossible. I
For, first of all, godly humiliation, in true penitents, proceed?
from the love of God their good Father, and so from the hatred
of that sin which has displeased him ; and this cannot be without
faith. m
Idly, Sorrow and grief for displeasing God by sin, necessarily
argue the love of God ; and it is impossible we should ever love
God, till by faith we know ourselves loved of God. n
humiliation, sorrow, and turning, acceptable in the sight of God. This question
(grounded on Nomista's pretending that Neophitus had no warrant to believe, unless
he had truly repented) supposes that there is a kind of repentance, humiliation, sor-
row for sin, and turning from it, which goes before faith, but that they are not " after
a godly sort," as the apostle's phrase is, 2 Cor. viii. 1 1.
II think it nothing strange to find the author so very peremptory in this point,
which is of greater weight than many are aware of True repentance is a turning unto
God, a corning back to him again ; a returning even unto the Lord, according to an
usual Old Testament phrase, fuund, Hos. xiv. 1, and rightly so translated, Isa. six.
22. But no man can come unto God " but by Christ," Heb. vii. 2a. " He is able
also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him," John xiv. 6. " No
man cometh unto the Father but by me." We must take Christ in our way to the Fa-
ther, else it is impossible that we guilty creatures can reach unto him. And no man can
come unto Christ, but by believing in him, (John vi. 35.) therefore it is impossible
that a man can truly repent before he believe in Christ. " Him hath God exalted
with his right hand, to be a Prince (or Leader} and a Saviour, for to give repentance
to Israel, and forgiveness of sins," Acts v. 31. One would think this to be a suffi-
cient intimation, that sinners not only may, but ought to go to him for true repentance ;
and not stand off from him until they get it to bring along with them ; especially since
repentance, as well as remission of sin, is a part of that salvation, which he as a
Saviour is exalted to give, and consequently, which sinners are to receive and rest
upon him for ; and likewise that it is that by which he, as a leader, doth lead back sin-
ners even unto God, from whom they were lead away in the first Adam, the head of the
apostacy. And if one inquires anent the way of his giving repentance to Israel, the
prophet Zechariah showed it before to be by faith. Zech. xii. 10. " And they shall
look upon me whom they have have pierced, and they shall mourn."
to This the Scripture teacheth, determining in the general, that without faith one
can do nothing acceptable in the sight of God, John xv. 5. " Without me," i. e.
separate from me, " ye can do nothing." Heb. xi. 6. " Without faith it is impos-
sible to please him:" and particularly with respect to this case, Luke vii. 37 — 47.
" And behold, a woman in the city, which was a sinner, when she knew that Jesus sat
at meat, stood at his feet behind him weeping, and began to wash his feet with tears,
and did wipe them with the hairs of her head, and kissed his feet — And he turned to
the woman, and said unto Simon, — Her sins which are many, are forgiven, for she
loved much ; but to whom little is forgiven, the same loveth little." " It is an argu-
ment gathered of the effect following, whereby any thing is proved by signs ensuing."
— Calvin. Inst. lib. 3 cap. 4, sect. 37.
n There is a knowledge in faith, as our divines teach against the Papists, and the
280 THE MARROW OF
'idly, No man can turn to God, except lie be first turned of God ;
and after he is turned, he repents ; so Ephraim says, " After I was
converted, I repented," o Jer. xxxi. 19. The truth is, a repentant
sinner first believes that God will do that which he promiseth,
namely, pardon his sin, and take away his iniquity ; then he rests
in the hope of it ; and from that, and for it, he leaves sin, and will
forsake his old course, p because it is displeasing to God ; and will
Scripture maketh manifest. Isa. Hi. 11, " By his knowledge shall my righteous Ser-
vant justify many." Heb. xi. 3, " Through faith we understand that the worlds were
framed by the word of God." Now, saving faith, being a persuasion that we shall
have life and salvation by Christ, or a receiving and resting on him for salvation, in-
cludes in it a knowledge of our being beloved of God : the former cannot be without
the latter. In the meantime, such as the strength or weakness of that persuasion is,
the steadiness or unsteadiness of that receiving and resting, just so is this knowledge,
clear, or unclear, free of, or accompanied with doubtings. They are still of the same
measure and decree. So that this is no more in effect, but that faith in Christ is the
spring of true love to God; the which, how it is attained by a guilty sou], men will
the better know, if they consider well what it is. The true love of God is not a
love to him only for his benefits, and for our own sake, but a love to him for him-
self, for his own sake ; a liking of, and complacency in, his glorious attributes and
perfections, his infinite, eternal, and unchangeable being, wisdom, power, holiness,
justice, goodnpss, and truth. If a convinced sinner is void of any of the least mea-
sure of persuasion of life and salvation by Christ, and of the love of this God to him ;
but apprehends, as he cannot miss to do in this case, that he hates him, is the enemy,
and will prove so at last; this cannot fail of filling his whole soul with slavish fear of
God ; and how then shall this love of God spring up in one's heart, in such a case
for slavish fear and true love are so opposite the one to the other, that, according to
the measure in which the one prevails, the other cannot have access. 2 Tim. i. 7,
" God hath not given us the Spirit of fear, but of power, of love and of a sound
mind." 1 John iv. 18, " There is no fear in love, but perfect love casteth out fear;
because fear hath torment." But when once life and salvation, and remission of sin,
is with application believed by the convinced sinner, and thereby the love of God to-
wards him is known ; then according to the measure of that faith and knowledge, sla-
vish fear of God is expelled, and the heart is kindly drawn to love him, not only for
his benefits, but for himself, having a complacency in his glorious perfections. " We
love him, because he first loved us," I John iv. 19, The love of God to us is the in-
ducement of our love to him : but love utterly unknown to the party beloved can ne-
ver be an inducement to him to love again. Now, in consequence hereof, the sinner's
bands are loosed, and his heart, which before was still hard as a stone, though broken
in pieces by legal terrors, is broken in another manner, softened and kindly melted
in sorrow for displeasing this gracious God.
a God's turning a sinner first brings him to Christ. John vi. 44, 45, " No man
can come unto me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him." And then he
comes to God by Christ : John. xiv. 26, " No man cometh unto the Father but bv
me."
p In a right manner, in the manner immediately after mentioned.
MODERN DIVINITY. 281
do that which is pleasing and acceptable to him. q So that first
of all, God's favour is apprehended, and remission of sins believed ; r
then upon that cometh alteration of life and conversation, s
q Faith cometh of the word of God ; hope cometh of faith ; and charity springeth
of them both. Faith believes that word ; hope trusteth after that which is promised
by the word; and charity doth good unto her neighbour. — Mr. Patrick Hamilton's
Articles in Knox's Hist. p. 11.
r Not as that they are pardoned already ; but that one must so apprehend the
favour of God, as to believe that God will pardon — his Bin, as the author speaks ex-
pressly in the premises from whence this conclusion is drawn ; or that God doth par-
don his sin in the present time. See note, chap. 3. sec. 6. Now, remission of sin is
a part of that salvation which faith receives and rests on Christ for. See the note on
the Definition of faith. As for the phrase the author uses to express this, it is
most agreeable to the Scripture phrase, " Remission of sins preached," Luke xxiv.
47 ; Acts xiii. 38.
s Namely, such an alteration as is pleasing and acceptable in the sight or God, the
which he has described in the preceding sentence. Otherwise, he has already taught
us, that there are notable alterations of life and conversation which do not proceed
from faith; and therefore are not accepted of God. And of these we shall hear more
anon.
Tt will not be amiss here to observe how our author, in his account of the relation
betwixt faith and repentance, treads in the ancient paths, according to his manner.
" It ought to be out of question," says Calvin, " that repentance doth not only im-
mediately follow faith, but also spring out of it. — As for them that think that repent-
ance doth rather go before faith, than flow or spring forth of it, as a fruit out of a
tree, they never knew the force thereof, and are moved with too weak an argument, to
think so. Christ and John, (say they) in their preachings, first exhort the people to
repentance, &c. — A man cannot earnestly apply himself to repentance, unless he
know himself to be of God : but no man is truly persuaded that he is of God but he
that hath first received his grace. — No man shall ever reverently fear God, but he
that trusteth that God is merciful to him : no man will willingly prepare himself to the
keeping of the law, but he that is persuaded that his services please him." — Instit. b.
3. chap. 3. sec. 1, 2.
" How soon that ever the Spirit of the Lord Jesus, which God's elect children re-
ceive by true faith, takes possession in the heart of any man, so soon doth he regene-
rate and renew the same man. So that he begins to hate that which before he
loved, and begins to love that which before he hated ; and from thence comes that
continual battle which is betwixt the flesh and the spirit." — Old Confess, art. 13.
" Being in Christ, we must be new creatures — so that we must hate and flee that
which before we loved and embraced, and we must love and follow that which before
we hated aud abhorred. — All which is impossible to them that have no faith, and have
but a dead faith."— Mr. John Davidson's Cat. p. 29.
" Quest. When I shall ask you then what is craved of us, after that we are joined
to Christ by faith, and made truly righteous in him? ye shall answer, A. We must
repent and become new persons, that we may show forth the virtues of him that hath
called us." — Ibid. p. 35.
" What is thy repentance ? The effect of this faith, working a sorrow for my sins
by-past, and purpose to amend in time to come." — Mr. James Melvil's Cat. in his
Propine, &c. p. 44.
Vol. VII. s
282 THE MARROW OF
Norn. But, sir, as I conceive, the Scripture holds forth, that the
Lord has appointed repentance to go before faith ; for is it not said,
Mark i. 15, " Repent and believe the gospel ?"
Evan. To the intent that you may have a true and satisfactory
answer to this your objection, I would pray you to consider two
things :
First, That the word "repent" in the original, signifies a change of
our minds from false ways to the right, and of our hearts from evil
to good ; as that son in the gospel said, " He would not go" work
in his father's vineyard ; yet afterwards, says the text, " he re-
pented and went," Matth. xxi. 29 ; that is, he changed his mind and
went.
Secondly, That in those days, when John the Baptist and our
Saviour preached, their hearers were most of them erroneous in
their minds and judgments; for they being leavened with the doc-
trine of the Pharisees and Sadducees, of which our Saviour bade his
disciples take heed and beware, (Matth. xvi. 6, 12.) the most of
them were of opinion, that the Messiah whom they looked for should
be some great and mighty monarch, who should deliver them from
their temporal bondage, as I showed before. And many of them
were of the opinion of the Pharisees, who held, that as an outward
conformity to the letter of the law was sufficient to gain favour and
" Repentance unto life is a saving grace, whereby a sinner, out of the true sense of
his sin, and apprehension of the mercy of God in Christ, doth with grief and hatred of
sin, turn from it unto God." — Shorter Cat.
" M. This is then thy saying, That unto the time that God hath received us to
mercy, and regenerate us by his Spirit, we can do nothing but sin ; even as an evil
tree can bring forth no fruit but that which is evil, Matth. vii. 17. C. Even so it
]<." Calvin's Cat. quest. 117. " He doth receive us into his favour, of his bounti-
ful mercy, through the merits of our Saviour Christ, accounting his righteousness to
be ours, and for his sake imputeth not our faults unto us." — Ibid, quest. 118.
" Quest. What is the first fruit of this union?" (namely of union with Christ by-
faith.) A. A remission of our sins, and imputation of justice. Q. What is the next
fruit of our union with him? A. Our sanctification and regeneration to the image of
God." — Craig's Cat. q, 24, 25. " Q. What is sanctification ? A. Sanctification is
a work af God's grace, whereby they — are — renewed in the whole man, after the ituage
of God, having the seeds of repentance unto life, and of all other saving graces, put into
their hearts." — Larger Cat. quest, lb.
" We would beware of Mr. Baxter's order of setting repentance and works of
new obedience before justification, which is indeed a new covenant of works." —
Rutherford's Influences of the Life of Grace, p. 346.
t This is taken word for word out of the English Annotations on Matt. iii. 12;
which are cited for it by our author under the name of the Last Annotations, because
they were printed in the year 1645, about which time this book also was first pub-
lished. How the author applies it, will appear anon.
MODERN DIVINITY. 283
estimation from men, so it was sufficient for their justification and
acceptation before God, and so, consequently, to bring them to
heaven and eternal happiness : and therefore, for these ends, they
were very diligent in fasting and prayer, (Luke xviii. 12 — 14.) and
very careful to pay tithes of mint, anise, and cummin, and yet did
omit the weightier matters of the law, as judgment, mercy, faith,
and the love of God. Matth. xxiii. 23 ; Luke xi. 42. And so
as our Saviour told them, Matth. xxiii. 25. " they made clean the
outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they were full of
extortion and excess."
And divers of them were of the opinion of the Sadducees, Acts
xxiii. 8. who held " that there was no resurrection, neither angel,
nor spirit;" and so had all their hopes and comfort in the things of
this life, not believing any other.
Now our Saviour, preaching to these people, said, " The time is
fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand : repent ye and believe
the gospel." As if he had said, the time set by the prophets for
the manifestation of the Messiah is fully come; and his kingdom,
which is a spiritual and heavenly kingdom, is at hand; therefore
change your minds from false ways to right, and your hearts from
evil to good ; u and do not any longer imagine, that the Messiah you
look for, shall be one that shall save and deliver you from your
temporal enemies ; but from your spiritual, that is, from your sins,
and from the wrath of God, and from eternal damnation ; and
therefore put your confidence no longer in your own righteousness,
though you walk never so exactly according to the letter of the
law ; but believe the glad tidings that are now brought to you,
namely, that this Messiah shall save you from sin, wrath, death,
the devil, and hell, and bring you to eternal life and glory. Neither
let any of you any longer imagine, that there is to be no resurrec-
tion of the dead, and so have your hopes only in this life : but
believe these glad tidings, that are now brought unto you, concern-
ing the Messiah ; and he shall raise you up at the last day, and give
you an eternal life. Now, with submission to better judgments, I
do conceive, that if there be in the book of God any repentance ex-
horted unto, before faith in Christ; or if any repentance go, either
in order of nature or time, before faith in Christ, it is only such a
like repentance as this, v
u The word rendered repent, is, " To change one's mind, and to lay aside false
opinions, which they had drunk in, whether from the Pharisees, concerning the righte-
ousness of works, traditions, worship, &c. ; or from the Sadducees, concerning the re-
surrection," &c Lucus Brugensis, apud. Pol. St/nop. Crit. Matt. iii. 2.
v That the reader may further see how little weight there is in the objection raised
«9.
284 THE MARROW OF
Xom. But, sir, do you think that there is such a like repentance
that goes before faith in Christ, in men now-a-days ?
Evan. Tea, indeed, I think there is. As for example, when a
profane sensual man (who lives as though, with the Sadducees, he did
not believe any resurrection of the dead, neither hell nor heaven,)
is convinced in his conscience, that if he go on in making a god of
his belly, and in minding only earthly things, his end shall be dam-
nation ; sometimes such a man thereupon changes his mind, and of
a profane man, becomes a strict Pharisee, or (as some call them) a
legal professor; but being convinced, that all his own righteousness
will avail him nothing, in the case of justification, and that it is
only the righteousness of Jesus Christ that is available in that case,
then he changes his mind, and, with the apostle, " desires to be
found in Christ, not having his own righteousness which is of the
law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, even the righte-
ousness which is of God through faith," Phil. iii. 9. Now, I con-
ceive, that a man that does this, changes his mind from false ways
to the right way, and his heart from evil to good ; and so, conse-
quently, doth truly repent, w
Nom. But, sir, do not you hold, that although repentance, ac-
cording to my definition, goes not before faith in Christ, yet it fol-
lows after ?
Evan. Yes, indeed; I hold,- that although it go not before, as an
antecedent of faith, yet it follows as a consequent. For when a
man believes the love of God to him in Christ, then he loves God
because he loved him first ; and that love constrains him to humble
himself at the Lord's footstool, and to acknowledge himself to be
less than the least of all his mercies ; yea, and then will he " re-
member his own evil ways and doings, that were not good, and will
from Mark i. 15. I subjoin the words of two learned commentators on the text " Re-
pent ye, turn from the wickedness of your ways and believe. — There is a repentance
that must go before faith, that is, the applicative of the promise of pardoning mercy to
the soul ; though true evangelical repetance, which is sorrow for sin, flowing from the
sense of the love of God in Christ, be the fruit and effect of faith." — Coutin. of
Poole's Annot. on the place. " Faith or believing, in order of the work of grace,
is before repentance, that being the first and mother grace of all others ; yet is here
and in other places, named the latter : first, because though faith be first wrought, yet
repentance is first seen and evidenced," &c. — Lightfoot's Harmony, part. 3. p. 164.
4/o.
w That is, his repentance is true in its kind, though not saving. There is a change
of his mind and heart, in that, upon a conviction, he turns from profanity to strictness
of life, and upon farther conviction, from a conceit of his own righteousness to a desire
after the righteousness of Christ: nevertheless, all this is but selfish, and cannot
please God while the man is void of faith. Heb. xi. 6.
MOOEKN DIVINITY. 285
loathe himself in his own sight for his iniquities, and for his abomi-
nations," Ezek. xxxvi. 31 ; yea, and then he will also cleanse him-
self from all filthiness of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the
fear of God, having respect unto all God's commandments." x 2 Cor.
vii. 1 ; Psalm cxix. 6.
Nom. "Well, sir, I am answered.
§ 5. Neo. And truly, sir, you have so declared and set forth
Christ's disposition towards poor sinners, and so answered all my
doubts and objections, that I am now verily persuaded that Christ
is willing to entertain me ; and surely I am willing to come unto
him, and receive him; but, alas! I want power.
Evan. But tell me truly, are you resolved to put forth all your
power to believe, and so to take Christ ?y
Neo. Truly, sir, methinks my resolution is much like the resolu-
tion of the four lepers, who sat at the gate of Samaria ; for as they
said, " If we enter into the city, the famine is in the city, and we
shall die there ; and if we sit still here, we die also ; now, therefore,
let us fall into the host of tho Syrians ; if they save us, we shall
live, and if they kill us, we shall but die," 2 Kings vii. 4 ; even so
say I in mine heart, if I go back to the covenant of works to seek
justification thereby, I shall die there; and if I sit still and seek it
no way, I shall die also ; now therefore, though I be somewhat fear-
ful, yet am I resolved to go unto Christ ; and if I perish, I perish, z
x See note k, p. 279.
y His conviction of his lost and undone state was before represented in its proper
place. After much disputing whether such a vile and sinful wretch as he had any
warrant to come to Christ, he appears, in his immediately foregoing speech, to be so
far enlightened in the knowledge of Christ, that he is verily persuaded that Christ is
willing to entertain him ; and to have his heart and will so overcome by divine grace
that he is willing to come unto Christ: yet after all, he, through weakness of judg-
ment, apprehends himself to want power to believe; whereas it is by these very means
that a soul is persuaded, and enabled too, to believe in Jesus Christ. Hereupon the
author waiving the dispute anent his power to believe, wisely asks him, If he was
resolved to put forth the power he had? forasmuch as it was evident from the account
given of the present condition of his soul, that it had felt " a day of power," Psalm
ex. 3. and that he was " drawn of the Father, and therefore could come to Christ,"
John vi. 44. For " effectual calling is the work of God's Spirit, whereby convincing
us of our sin and misery, enlightening our minds in the knowledge of Christ, and re-
newing our wills, he doth persuade and enable us to embrace Jesus Christ." — Short.
Cut. " Savingly enlightening their minds, renewing, and powerfully determining
their wills, so as they — are hereby made willing and able." — Larg. Cat. quest. 67.
z See the foregoing note. This is the concluding point in this matter : the man
being drawn by efficacious grace, though he is not without doubts and fears as to the
event, yet is no more in doubt, whether to embrace the offer or not. And the inward
motion of his heart breaking through the remaining doubts and fears, after a long
286 THE MARROW OF
Evan. "Why, now I tell you, the match is made ; Christ is yours, a
and you are his, " this day is salvation come to your house," (your
soul I mean :) for what though you have not that power to come so
fast to Christ, and lay such firm hold on him, as you desire ; y e *
coming with such a resolution to take Christ, as you do, you need
nor care for power to do it, inasmuch as Christ will enable you to do
it; b for is it not said, John i. 12, "But as many as received him,
to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them
that believe on his name ?" c therefore, I beseech you, stand no
longer disputing ; but be peremptory and resolute in your faith, and
in casting yourself upon Grod in Christ for mercy ; and let the issue
be what it will. Yet let me tell you, to your comfort, that such a
resolution shall never go to hell, d Nay, I will say more ; if any
soul have room in heaven, such a soul shall ; for God cannot find in
his heart to damn such a one. I might then, with as much true
confidence say unto you, as John Careless said to John Bradford, in
a letter to him, " Hearken, heavens, and thou earth, give ear,
and bear me witness, at the great day, that I do here faithfully and
truly declare the Lord's message unto his dear servant and singu-
larly beloved John Bradford, saying, ' John Bradford, thou man so
specially beloved of God, I do pronounce and testify unto thee, in
the word and name of the Lord Jehovah, that all thy sins, whatso-
ever they be, though never so many, grievous, or great, be fully and
freely pardoned, released, and forgiven thee, by the mercy of God
in Jesus Christ, the only Lord and sweet Saviour, in whom thou
dost undoubtedly believe ; as truly as the Lord liveth, he will not
struggle, unto Jesus Christ in the free promise, being in itself indiscernible, but to
God and one's own soul, it is agreeably enough to one's way in that case : discovered
in that expression of a conquered soul, Now am I resolved to go unto Christ, now am
I determined to believe ; the which cannot but represent to him who deals with the
exercised person, the whole soul going out unto Jesus Christ. Hence the match may
justly thereupon be declared to be made, as our author does in the words immediately
following. Thus, Job in his distress expresseth his faith, Job xiii. 15, " Though he
slay me, yet will I trust in him." Compare Acts xi. 33, " That with purpose of
heart they would cleave unto the Lord."
a In possession.
b That is, you need not, holding back your hand, stand disputing with yourself how
you will get power; but with the power given, stretch forth the withered hand, and
Christ will strengthen it, and enable you to take a firm hold. John xii. 32, " And
I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me." Isa. zl. 29., " He
giveth power to the faint ; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength.
c The power here mentioned, seems rather to denote right or privilege (as the ori-
ginal word is rendered in the margin of our Bibles,) than strength or ability.
d See the preceding note, 6
MODERN DIVINITY. 287
have tliee die the death ; but hath verily purposed, determined, and
decreed, that thou shalt live with him for ever.' "
Neo. 0, sir, if I have as good warrant to apply this saying to
myself as Mr. Bradford had to himself, then I am a happy man !
Evan. I tell you from Christ, and under the hand of the Spirit,
that your person is accepted, your sins are done away, and you shall
be saved ; and if an angel from heaven should tell you otherwise,
let him be accursed. Therefore you may (without doubt) conclude
that you are a happy man ; for by means of this your matching
with Christ, you are become one with him, and one in him, you
" dwell in him, and he in you," 1 John iv. 13. He is " your well-
beloved, and you are his," Cant. ii. 16. So that the marriage-union
betwixt Christ and you is more than a bare notion or apprehension
of your mind ; for it is a special, spiritual, and real union : it is an
union betwixt the nature of Christ, God and man, and you ; e it is a
knitting and closing, not only of your apprehension with a Savi-
our, but also of your soul with a Saviour. Whence it must needs
follow that you cannot be condemned, except Christ be condemned
with you ; neither can Christ be saved, except you be saved with
him./ And as by means of corporal marriage all things become
common betwixt man and wife ; even so, by means of this spiri-
tual marriage, all things become common betwixt Christ and you ;
for when Christ hath married his spouse unto himself he pas-
seth over all his estate unto her ; so that whatsoever Christ is, or
hath, you may boldly challenge as your own, " He is made unto
e That is, an union with whole Christ, God-Man; 1 Cor. vi. 17, " He that is joined
to the Lord, is one Spirit." Eph. v. 38, "For we are members of his body, of his
flesh, and of his bones."
/"Jesus Christ and the believer, being one person in the eye of the law, there is no
separating of them in law, in point of life and death. John xiv. 19, " Because I live,
ye shall live also." I have adventured this once to add one syllable to the text of
the author, and so to read " condemned" for " damned." The words are of the same
signification ; only, the latter has an idea of horror affixed to it, which the former has
not; and which perhaps it had not neither, in the days of our forefathers, when godly
Tindal used the expression, as our author informs us. And I take this liberty, the ra-
ther that a like expression of John Careless, in a letter to William Tyms, seems to me
t o run more smooth, by means of the same addition, though I doubt if the word stood
so in the original copy, " Christ (says he) is made unto us holiness, righteousness,
and justification ; he hath clothed us in all his merits — and taken to himself all our
sin — so that, if any should be now condemned for the same, it must needs be Jesus
Christ, who hath taken them upon him." — The Offerer's Mirror, p. G6. And
the Old Confession of Faith, art. 9, according to the ancient copies, it is said, " The
clean innocent Lamb of God was damned in the presence of au earthly judge, that we
should be absolved before the tribunal-seat of our God." But in the copy standing in
Knox's History, reprinted at Edinburgh, anno. 1644, it is read " condemned."
288 THE MARROW OF
you, of God, wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption,"
1 Cor. i. 30. And surely, by virtue of this near union it is, that as
Christ is called " the Lord our righteousness," ( Jer. xxxiii. 6,) even
so is the church called, " The Lord our righteonsnes," (ver. 16,) I
tell you, you may by virtue of this union, boldly take upon your-
self as your own, Christ's watching, abstinence, travails, prayers,
persecutions, and slanders; yea, his tears, his sweat, his blood, and
all that ever he did and suffered in the space of three and thirty
years, with his passion, death, burial, resurrection, and ascension ;
for they are all yours. And as Christ passes over all his estate
unto his spouse, so does he require that she should pass over all unto
him. Wherefore, you being now married unto Christ, you must
give all that you have of your own unto him; and truly you have
nothing of your own but sin, and therefore you must give him that.
I beseech you, then, say unto Christ with bold confidence, I give unto
thee, my dear husband, my unbelief, my mistrust, my pride, my ar-
rogancy, my ambition, my wrath, and anger, my envy, my covetous-
ness, my evil thoughts, affections, and desires ; I make one bundle
of these and all my other offences, and give them unto thee, g And
g This gift would indeed be a very unsuitable return for all' the benefits received
from Christ by virtue of the spiritual marriage, if he did not deal with us in the way
of free grace ; like unto a physician, who desires nothing of a poor man full of sores,
but that he will employ him in the cure of them. But this gift, such as it is, as it is
all we have of our own to give, so one needs make no question but it will be very ac-
ceptable. Ptalm lv. 22, " Cast thy burden upon the Lord, and he shall sustain thee,"
not only thy burden of duty, suffering, and success, but of sin too, wherewith thou art
heavy laden, Matt. si. 2S. We are allowed, not only to give him our burden, but to
cast it upon him. He knows very well that all these evils mentioned, and many more,
are in the heart of the best : yet doth he say, Prov. xxiii. 26, " My son, give me thine
heart ;' notwithstanding of the wretched stuff he knows to be in it. In the language of
the Holy Ghost, these things, as black as they are, are a gift by divine appointment to
be given. Lev. xvi. 21, speaking of the scape-goat, an eminent type of Christ, he says,
" And Aaron shall — confess over him all the iniquities of the children of Israel, and
all their transgressions, and all their sins : and he shall give them upon the head of
the goat." Thus the original expresses what we read, " putting them," &c. View
ugain, note v, p. 210.
Now, the end for which the sinner is to give these to Christ is twofold ; (l.) For
removing the guilt of them. (2.) For the mortifying of them. And though this
is not an easy way of mortification, since the way of believing is not easy, but more
difficult than all the Popish austerites, forasmuch as these last are more agreeable to
nature, yet indeed it is the short way to mortification, because it is the only way ; with-
out which, the practice of all other directions will be but as so many cyphers, without a
figure standing at their head, signifying nothing, for true Christian mortification.
Acts xv. 9, " Purifying their hearts by faith - " Rom. vi. 6, " Knowing this that our
old man is crucified with him." And viii. 13, '' If ye through the Spirit do mortify
the deeds of the body, ye shall live." Gal. v. 24, " And they that are Christ's have
HODEUN DIVINITY. 289
thus was Christ made " sin for us, that knew no sin, that we might
be made the righteousness of God in him," h 2 Cor. v. 21. " Now
then," says Luther, " Let us compare these things together, and we
shall find inestimable treasure. Christ is full of grace, life, and sav-
ing health ; and the soul is freight-full of all sin, death and dam-
nation ; but let faith come betwixt these two, and it shall come to
pass, that Christ shall be laden with sin, death, and hell ; and unto
the soul shall be imputed grace, life and salvation. Who then is
able to value the royalty of this marriage accordingly ? who is able
to comprehend the glorious riches of his grace, where this rich and
righteous husband, Christ, doth take unto wife this poor and wicked
harlot, redeeming her from all devils, and garnishing her with all his
own jewels? So that you, through the assuredness of your faith in
Christ your husband, are delivered from all sins, made safe from
death, guarded from hell, and endowed with the everlasting righte-
ousness, life, and saving health of this your husband Christ." And
therefore you are now under the covenant of grace, and freed from
the law, as it is the covenant of works; for (as Mr. Ball truly says)
at one and the same time, a man canuot be under the covenant of
works and the covenant of grace.
Neo. Sir, I do not yet well know how to conceive of this freedom
from the law, as it is the covenant of works ; and therefore I pray
you make it as plain to me as you can.
Evan. For the true and clear understanding of this point, you
are to consider, that when Jesus Christ the second Adam, had, in
the behalf of his chosen, perfectly fulfilled the law, as it is the cove-
nant of works ; i divine justice delivered that bond in to Christ,
who utterly cancelled that hand-writing, Col. ii. 14; so that none of
his chosen were to have any more to do with it, nor it with them.
And now, you, by your believing in Christ, having manifested that
you are one, who was chosen in him " before the foundation of the
world," (Eph. i. 4.) his fulfilling of that covenant, and cancelling
that hand-writing, is imputed unto you ; and so yon are acquitted
and absolved from all your transactions against that covenant,
crucified the flesh, with the affections and lusts ;" namely, nailing them to the cross
of Christ by faith.
h Thus, namely, by the giving of our sins to him, not by believers, but by his
Father, as says the text, " He (not we) made him to be sin for us." Nevertheless,
the Lord's laying our iniquities upon Christ is good warrant for every believer to lay
his sins in particular upon him ; the latter being a cordial falling in with, a practical
approbation, and taking the benefit of the former.
i Namely, by doing perfectly what it demanded to be done, by virtue of its com-
manding power, and suffering completely what it demanded to be borne, by virtue of
its condemning power.
290 THE MARROW OF
either past, present, or to come ; j and so you are justified, as the
the apostle says, " freely by his grace, through the redemption that
is in Jesus Christ," Rom. iii. 24.
8 6. Ant. I pray you, sir, give me leave to speak a word by the
way ; was not he justified before this time ?
Evan. If he did not believe in Christ before this time, as I con-
ceive he did not, then certainly he was not justified before this time.
Ant. But, sir, you know, as the apostle says, " it is God that jus-
tified ;" and God is eternal ; and as you have shown, Christ may
be said to have fulfilled the covenant of works from all eternity,
and if he be Christ's now, then he was Christ's from all eternity.
And therefore, as I conceive, he was justified from all eternity.
Evan. Indeed, God is from all eternity, and in respect of God's
accepting of Christ's undertaking to fulfil the covenant of works, he
fulfilled it from all eternity; and in respect of God's electing of him
he was Christ's from all eternity. And therefore it is true, in res-
pect of God's decree, he was justified from all eternity : k and he
j Although believers in the first moment of their union with Christ by faith, are
delivered from the law, as it is the covenant of works, and therefore their after sins
neither are, nor can be formally transgressions of that covenant ; yet they are inter-
pretatively so, giving a plain proof of what they would have done against that covenant
had they been under it still. And forasmuch as they could never have been freed
from it, had not the glorious Mediator wrought their deliverance, by fulfilling it in
their room and stead ; all their sins whatsoever, from their birth to their death, after
as well as before their union with Christ, were charged upon him, as transgressions
against that covenant ; and such as are pardoned to them in their justification. Even
as he who redeems a slave must pay in proportion to the service which it i3 supposed
he would have done his master during life ; and the slave is loosed from all obligation
so these several pieces of service, unto that master, upon the ransom paid, in compen-
sation of all and every one of them. And thus our author says, that a believer, in
his justification, is acquitted from all his transgressions against the covenant of works,
not only past and present, but to come. So that he leaves no ground to question, but
Christ satisfied for all the sins of believers whatsoever, whether in their state of regen-
eracy or irregeneracy. Nor does he make the least insinuation, that the sins of be-
lievers, after their union with Chribt, are not properly transgressions of that law which
was (yea, and to unbelievers still is) in the covenant of works : but, on the contrary
expressly teaches, that it is the very same law of the ten commands which is the law
of Christ, and which the believer transgresseth, that was, and is in the covenant
of works. And although the revenging wrath of God, and eternal death, are nut
threatened against the sins of believers after their union with Christ ; and that for this
one reason, That that wrath, and that death (the eternity whereof rose not from the
nature of the thing, but the infirmity of the sufferer, and therefore could have no
place in the Son of God) were not only threatened before, but executed too upon their
surety Jesus Christ, to whom they are united : it is manifest, that there was great
need of Christ's being made a curse for these sins of believers, as well as for those
preceding their union with him.
/. " The sentence of justification war. as it were, conceived iu the mind of God bjf
MODERN DIVINITY. 291
was justified meritoriously in the death and resurrection of Christ; I
but yet he was not justified actually, till he did actually believe in
Christ; for, says the apostle, Acts xiii. 39, "By him all that believe
are justified." m So that in the act of justifying, faith and Christ
must have a mutual relation, and must always concur and meet to-
gether; faith as the action which apprehendeth, and Christ the
object which is apprehended; for neither doth Christ justify with-
out faith, neither doth faith, except it be in Christ.
Ant. Truly, sir, you have indifferently well satisfied me in this
the decree of justifying, Gal. iii. 8, " The Scripture foreseeing tbat God would justify
the heathen through faith," — Ames. Med. cap. xxxvii. sec, 9. " In which sense
grace is said to be given us in Christ before the world began," 2 Tim. i. 9 Turret.
loc. 16. q. 9. th. 11. " Sins were pardoned from eternity in the mind of God."
Rutherford's E.ver. Apolog ex. 1. cap. 2. sec. 21. p. 53. The same Rutherford adds,
" It is one thing for a man to be justified in Christ, and that from eternity ; and an-
other for a man to be justified in Christ in time, according to the gospel covenant. —
Faith is not so much as the instrument of the eternal and immanent justification and
remission of sins." — Ibid. p. 55.
/" Justification may be considered as to the execution of it in time; and that
again, either as to the purchase of it, which was made by the death of Christ on the
cross, concerning which it is said, Rom. v. 9, 10, " That we are justified and recon-
ciled to God by the blood of Christ ; and that Christ reconciled all things unto God
by the blood of the cross," Col. i. 20. And elsewhere Christ is said to be " raised
again for our justification," Rom. iv. 25. Because, as in him dying, "we died, so in
him raised again and justified, we are justified ; that is, we have a certain and un-
doubted pledge and foundation of our justification. — Or as to the application of it,"
&c. — Turret, ubi. sup. " The sentence of justification was pronounced in Christ our
head, risen from the dead," 2 Cor. v. 19. — Ames, ubi sup. " We were virtually jus-
tified, especially when Christ having finished the purchase of our salvation, was justi-
fied, and we in him as our head," 1 Tim. iii. 16 ; 2 Cor. v. 19." — Essen. Comp. cap.
xv. sect. 25.
m " Actual justification is done in time, and follows faith." — Turret, loc. 16. q. 7.
th. 3. "Justification is done formally, when an elect man, effectually called, and so
apprehended of Christ, apprehends Christ again, Rom. viii. 30. — Essen, ubi supra.
" The sentence of justification is pronounced virtually from that first relation which
ariseth from faith," Rom. viii. 1. — Ames, ubi supra.
Upon the whole, it is evident our author keeps the path trodden by orthodox
divines on the subject: and though, in order to answer the objections of his adversary,
he uses the school terms, of being justified in respect of God's decree, meritoriously,
and actually, agreeably to the practice of other sound divines-; yet otherwise he begins
and ends his decision of this controversy, by asserting in plain and simple terms, with-
out any distinction at all, " That a man is not justified before he believe, or without
faith." So his answer amounts just to this, " That God did, from all eternity, decree
to justify all the elect; and Christ did, in the fulness of time, die for their sins, and
rise again for their justification : nevertheless, they are not justified, until the Holy
Spirit duth in due time actually apply Christ unto them." — Westmin. Confess, chap.
1 1. art. 4.
292 THE MAEKOW OF
point ; and surely I like it marvellously well, that you conclude no
faith justifies, hut that whose object is Christ.
Evan. The very truth is, though a man believe that God is merci-
ful and true to his promise, and that he has his elect number from
the beginning, and that he himself is one of that number, yet if this
faith do not eye Christ, if it be not in God as he is in Christ, it will
not serve the turn ; for God cannot be comfortably thought upon
out of Christ our Mediator; "for if we find not God in Christ,"
says Calvin, (Instit. p. 155.) " salvation cannot be known." Where-
fore, Neophitus, I will say unto you, as Mr. Bradford said unto a
gentlewoman in your case, " Thus, then, if you would be quiet, and
certain in conscience, then let your faith burst forth through all
things, not only that you have within you, but also whatsoever is
in heaven, earth, and hell ; and never rest until it come to Christ
crucified, and the eternal sweet mercy and goodness of God in
Christ."
§ 7- Neo. But, sir, I am not satisfied concerning the point you
touched before ; and therefore, I pray you, proceed to show me how
far forth I am delivered from the law, as it is the covenant of
works.
Evan. Truly, as it is the covenant of works, you are wholly and
altogether delivered and set free from it ; you are dead to it, and it
is dead to you ; and if it be dead to you, then it can do you neither
good nor hurt; and if you be dead to it, you can expect neither
good nor hurt from it. n Consider, man, I pray you, that, as I said
n Concerning the deliverance from the law, which, according to the Scripture, is the
privilege of believers purchased unto them by Jesus Christ, there are two opinions
equally contrary to the word of God, and to one another. The one of the Legalist,
That believers are under the law, even as it is the covenant of works ; the other of
the Antinomian, That believers are not at all unJer the law, no, not as it is a rule of
life. Betwixt these extremes, both of them destructive of true holiness and gospel-
obedience, our author, with other orthodox divines, holds the middle path ; asserting
(and in the proper place proving) that believers are under the law, as a rule of life,
but free from it as it is the covenant of works. To be delivered from the law as it is
the covenant of works, is no more but to be delivered from the covenant of works.
And the asserting, that believers are delivered from the law as it is the covenant of
works, doth necessarily import, that they are under the law, in some other respect
thereto contra-distinguished. And forasmuch as the author teaches, that believers
are under the law, as it is the law of Christ, and a rule of life to them, it is reasonable
to conclude that to be it. He must needs, under the term, " the covenant of works,"
understand and comprehend the law of the ten commandments ; because no man,
understanding what the covenant of works is, can speak of it, but he must, under that
term, understand and comprehend the ten commandments, even as none can speak of
a man, with knowledge of a sense of that word, but under that term must understand
and comprehend an organic body, as well as a soul. But it is manifest, that the law
MODERN DIVINITY. 293
before, you are now under another covenant, viz. the covenant of
grace; and you cannot bo under two covenants at once, neither
wholly nor partly ; and therefore, as, before you believed, you were
of the ten commandments, without the form of the covenant of works upon it, is not
the thing he understands by that term, " the covenant of works." Neither is the
form of the covenant of works (which is no more the covenant itself, than the soul
without the body is the man) essential to the ten commandments, so that they cannot
be without it. See note b, p. 169. If it be said, that the author, by the covenant of
works, understands the moral law, as it is denned, (Lar. Cat. q. 92.) it is granted;
but then it amounts to no more, but that, by the covenant of works, he understands
the covenant of works ; for by the moral law there, is understood the covenant of
works, as has been already evinced See note a, p. 166.
The doctrine of believers' freedom from the covenant of works, or from the law as
that covenant, is of the greatest importance, and is expressly taught. — Lar. Cat.
q. 97. "They that are regenerate, and believe in Christ, be delivered from the
moral law, as a covenant of works," Rom. vi. 14; Rom. vii. 4, 6; Gal. iv. 4, 5.
— Westmin. Confess, chap. xix. art. 6. "True believers be not under the law as a
covenant of works." To these I subjoin one testimony, from the Pract. Use of Saving
Knowledge, tit, " For strengthening the Man's Faith," &c. Rom. viii. (note k, p. 290,)
" Albeit the apostle himself (brought in here for example's cause) and all other true be-
lievers in Christ, be by nature under the law of sin and death, or under the covenant
of works (called the law of sin and death, because it bindeth sin and death upon us,
till Christ set us free) yet the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus, or the covenant
of grace, (so called because it doth enable and quicken a man to a spiritual life through
Christ) doth set the apostle, and all true believers, free from the covenant of works,
or the law of sin and death." See note I, p. 291. As also tit. " For convincing
a man of judgment by the law," par. 2. and last. And tit. " Evidences of true fuith.
And tit. " For the first," &c. — note to, Ibid.
Now, delivering from a covenant being the dissolution of a relation which admits
not of degrees, believers being delivered from the covenant of works, must be wholly
and altogether set free from it.
This appears also from the believer's being dead to it, and it dead to him, of which
before at large.
There is a twofold death competent to a believer, with respect to the law, as it is
the covenant of works; and so to the law as such, with respect to the believer. (1.)
The believer is dead to it really, and in point of duty, while he carries himself as one
who is dead to it. And this I take to be comprehended in that saying of the apostle,
Gal. ii. 19, " I through the law am dead to the law." In the best of the children of
God here, there are such remains of the legal disposition and inclination of heart to
the way of the covenant of works, that as they are never quite free of it in their best
duties, so at sometimes their services smell so rank of it, as if they were alive to the
law, and still dead to Christ. And sometimes the Lord for their correction, trial, and
exercise of faith, suffers the ghost of the dead husband, the law, as a covenant of
works, to come in upon their souls and make demands on them, command, threaten,
and affright them, as if they were alive to it, and it to them. And it is one of the
hardest pieces of practical religion, to be dead to the law in such cases. This death
to it admits of degrees, is not alike in all believers, and is perfect in none till the death
of the body. But of this kind of death to the law, the question proceeds not here.
(2.) The believer is dead to it relatively, and in point of privilege ; the relation be-
294 THE MARROW OF
wholly under the covenant of works, as Adam left both you and all
his posterity after his fall ; so now, since you have believed, you
are wholly under the covenant of grace. Assure yourself then, that
no minister, or preacher of God's word has any warrant to say unto
you hereafter, " Either do this and that duty contained in the law,
and avoid this and that sin forbidden in the law, and God will jus-
tify thee and save thy soul : or do it not, and he will condemn thee
and damn thee ?" o No, no, you are now set free both from the com-
manding and condemning power of the covenant of works, p So
that I will say unto you, as the apostle says unto the believing
twist him and it is dissolved, even as the relation between a husband and wife is dis-
solved by death; Rom vii. 4, " Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to
the law, by the body of Christ, that ye should be married to another." This can ad-
mit of no degrees, but is perfect in all believers ; so that they are wholly and alto-
gether set free from it, in point of privilege, upon which the question here proceeds,
and in this respect they can expect neither good nor hurt from it.
o See p. 250, note s. " Believers be not under the law, as a covenant of works,
to be thereby justified or condemned." — Westmin. Confess, chap. xix. art. 6.
p From the general conclusion already laid down and proven, namely, That be-
lievers are wholly and altogether set free from the covenant of works, or from the law
as it is that covenant, this necessarily follows. But to consider particulars, for
further clearing this weighty point, (I.) That the covenant of works hath no" power
to justify a sinner, in regard to his utter inability to pay the penalty, and to fulfil the
condition of it, is clear from the apostle's testimony, Rom. viii. 3, " What the law
could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son," &c.
(2.) That the believer is not under the condemning power of it, appears from Gal.
iii. 23, " Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for
us." Rom. viii. 1, " There is, therefore, now no condemnation to them which are in
Christ Jesus." Verse 33, 34, " It is God that justifieth ; who is he that condemn-
eth ?" (3.) As to its commanding power, believers are not under it neither; for, 1.
Its commanding and condemning power, in case of transgression, are inseparable ; for,
by the sentence of that covenant, every breaker of its commands is bound over to
death. Gal. iii. 10, " Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are
written in the book of the law, to do them." " And whatsoever it saith, it saith to
them that are under it," Rom. iii. 19. Therefore, if believers be under its command-
ing power, they must needs be under its condemning power, yea, and actually bound
over to death ; forasmuch as they are, without question, breakers of its command, if
they be indeed under its commanding power.
2. If, as to any set of men, the justifying and condemning power be removed from
that law which God gave to Adam as a covenant of works, and to all mankind in him,
than the covenant-form of that law is done away as to them ; so that there is not a
covenant of works in being unto them, to have a commanding power over them ; but
such is the case of believers, that law can neither justify them, nor condemn them;
therefore, there is no covenant of works in being betwixt God and them, to have a
commanding power over them; our Lord Jesus " blotted out the hand-writing, took
it out of the way, nailing it to his cross," Col. ii. 14.
3. Believers are dead to the law, as it is the covenant of works, and " married to
MODERN DIVINITY. 295
Hebrews, Heb. xii. 18, 22, 24, " You are not come to Mount Sinai
that might not be touched, and that burned with fire ; nor unto
blackness, and darkness, and tempests ; but you are come unto
Mount Zion, the city of the living God : and to Jesus, the Mediator
of the new covenaut." So that (to speak with holy reverence) God
cannot, by virtue of the covenant of works, either require of you
any obedience, or punish you for any disobedience ; no, he cannot,
by virtue of that covenant, so much as threaten you, or give you
an angry word, or show you an angry look ; for indeed he can see
no sin in you, as a transgression of that covenant ; for, says the
apostle, " Where there is no law, there is no transgression," Rom.
iv. 15. q And therefore, though hereafter you do through frailty
transgress any of all the ten commandments, r yet do you not
another," Rom. vii. 4. Therefore they are set free from the commanding power of
the first husband, the covenant of works.
4. They are not under it; Rom. vi. 14, " Ye are not under the law, but under
grace :" how then can it have a commanding power ever them ?
5. The consideration of the nature of the commands of the covenant of works may
sufficiently clear this point. Its commands bind to perfect obedience, under the pain
of the curse, which on every slip, is bound upon the transgressor. Gal. iii. 10.
" Cursed is every one who continueth not in all things," &c. But Christ hath re-
deemed believers from the curse, verse 13 ; and the law they are under speaks in softer
terms, Psalm lxxxix. 31, 32. " If they break my statutes — then will I visit their
transgression with my rod," &c. Moreover, it commands obedience upon the ground
of the strength to perform, given to mankind in Adam, which is now gone, and affords
no new strength; for there is no promise of strength for duty belonging to the cove-
nant of works ; and to state believers under the covenant of works, to receive com-
mands for their duty, and under the covenant of grace, for the promise of strength to
perform, looks very unlike to the beautiful order of the dispensation of grace, held
forth to us in the word ; Rom. vi. 14. " Ye are not under the law, but under grace."
Lastly, Our Lord Jesus put himself under the commanding power of the covenant
of works, and gave it perfect obedience, to deliver his people from under it; Gal. iv.
4, 5, " God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem
tbem that were under the law." That they then should put their necks under that
yoke again, cannot but be highly dishonouring " to this crucified Christ, who dis-
armed the law of its thunders, defaced the obligation of it as a covenant, and, as it
were, grinded the stones upon which it was wrought to powder." — Cliarnock, vol.
2. q. 531.
q And therefore since there is no covenant of works (or law of works, as it is called,
Rom. iii. 27.) betwixt God and the believer, it is manifest there can be no transgress-
ing of it, in their case. God requires obedience of believers, and not only threatens
them, gives them angry words and looks, but brings heavy judgments on them for
their disobedience ; but the promise of strength, and penalty of fatherly wrath only,
annexed to the commands requiring obedience of them, and the anger of God against
them, purged of the curse, do evidently discover, that none of these come to them, in
the channel of the covenant of works.
r And though all the sins of believers are not sins of daily infirmity, yet they are all
296 THE MARROW OF
thereby transgress the covenant of works : there is no such cove-
nant now betwixt God and you. s
And therefore, though hereafter you shall hear such a voice as
this, " If thou wilt be saved, keep the commandments :" or " Cursed
is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in
the book of the law to do them ;" nay, though you hear the voice of
thunder and a fearful noise ; nay, though you see blackness and
darkness, and feel a great tempest ; that is to say, though you hear
us that are preachers, according to our commission, (Isa. lviii. 1,)
" lift up our voice like a trumpet," in threatening hell and damna-
tion to sinners and transgressors of the law; though these be the
words of Grod, yet are you not to think that they are spoken to
you. t No, no ; the apostle assures you that there is no condemna-
tion to them that are in Christ Jesus, Rom. viii. 1. Believe it, God
never threatens eternal death, after he has given to a man eternal
life, u Nay, the truth is, God never speaks to a believer out of Christ;
and in Christ he speaks not a word in the terms of the covenant
of works, v And if the law, of itself should presume to come into
your conscience, and say, " Herein and herein thou hast trans-
gressed, and broken me, and therefore thou owest so much and so
much to Divine justice, which must be satisfied, or else I will take
hold on thee ; then answer you and say, " law ! be it known unto
thee, that I am now married unto Christ, and so I am under covert ;
and therefore if thou charge me with any debt, thou must enter thine
action against my husband Christ, for the wife is not sueable at the
law, but the husband. But the truth is, I through him am dead to
thee, law ! and thou art dead to me ; and therefore justice hath
nothing to do with me, for it judgeth according to the law." w And
sins of frailty ; Gal. v. 17. " For the flesh lusteth against the spirit, and the spirit
against the flesh — so that ye cannot do the things that ye would ;" Rom. vii. 19. " The
evil which I would not, that I do." — See chap. v. 15, 17, and vi. 12.
s Thus far of the believer's complete deliverance from the covenant of works, or
from the law, namely, as it is the covenant of works. Follows the practical use to be
made of it by the believer. And, 1. In the hearing of the word.
t Though they are God's own sayings, found in his written word, and spoken by his
servants, as having commission from him for that effect ; yet, forasmuch as they are
the lano-ua^e of the law, as it is his covenant of works, they are directed only to those
who are under that covenant, Rom. iii. 19, and not to believers, who are not under it.
u And to believers he hath given eternal life already, according to the Scripture.
See p. 251, note u.
v Follows, II. The use of it, in conflicts of conscience with the law in its demands,
sin in its guilt, Satan in his accusations, death in its terrors.
w He begins with the conflict with the law ; for as the apostle teaches, " the sting
of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law," 1 Cor. xv. 56. While the law re-
tains its power over a man, death has its sting, and sin its strength against him ; but
MODERN DIVINITY. 297
if it yet reply, and say, " Ay, bat good works must be done and the
commandments must be kept, if thou wilt obtain salvation ;" x then
if once he is dead to the law, wholly and altogether set free from it, as it is the cove-
nant of works ; then sin hath lost its strength, death its sting, and Satan his plea
against him. That the author still speaks of the law as it is the covenant of works,
from the commanding and condemning power of which believers are delivered, and no
otherwise, cannot reasonably be questioned, since he is still pursuing the practical use
of the ductrine anent it as such ; and having before spoken of it as acting by commis-
sion from God, he treats of it here, as acting (as it were) of its own proper motion,
and not by any such commission. To those who are under the law, the law speaks its
demands and terrors, as sent from God : but to believers, who are not under it, it can-
not so speak, but of itself. Rom. viii. 15, " For ye have not received the spirit of
bondage again to fear." See p. 292, note n, fig. 1.
Now, in the conflict the believer has with the law or covenant of works, the author
puts two cases ; in the which the conscience needs to be soundly directed, as in cases
of the utmost weight.
The first case is this, The law attempting to exercise its condemning power over
him, accuses him of transgression, demands of him satisfaction to the justice of God
for his sin, and threatens to hale him to execution. In this case the author dare not
advise the afflicted to say with the servant in the parable, Matth. xviii 26, " Have pa-
tience with me, and I will pay thee all ;" but he teaches him to devolve his burden
wholly upon his Surety : he bids him plead, that since he is " married to Christ,"
whatever action the law may pretend to be competent to it, for the satisfaction of jus-
tice, upou the account of his sin, it must lie betwixt the law and Christ, the husband ;
but that in very deed, there remains no place for such action, forasmuch as, through
Jesus Christ's suffering and satisfying to the full, he is set free from the law, and owes
nothing to justice nor to the law, upon that score. If any man will venture to deal in
other terms with the law in this case, his experience will at length sufficiently discover
his mistake. Now it is manifest that this relates to the case of justification.
x Here is the second case, namely the law attempting to exercise its commanding
power over the believer requires him to do good works, and to keep the command-
ments, if he will obtain salvation. This comes in natively in the second place. The
author could not, reasonably rest satisfied with the believer's being delivered from the
curse of the covenant of works, from the debt owing to Divine Justice, according to
the penal sanction : if he had ; he would have left the afflicted still in the lurch, in
the point of justification, and of inheriting eternal life ; he would have proposed
Christ to him only as a half Saviour, and left as much of the law's plea behind with-
out an answer as would have concluded him incapable of being justified before God,
and made an heir of eternal life : for the law, as it is the covenant of works, being
broken, has a twofold demand on the sinner, each of which must be answered, before
he can be justified. The one is a demand of satisfaction for sin, arising from, and ac-
cording to its penal sanction ; this demand was made in the preceding case, and solidly
answered. But there remains yet another, namely, the demand of perfect obedience,
arisin" from, and according to the settled condition of that covenant ; and the afflicted
must have wherewith to answer it also ; otherwise he shall still sink in the deep mire,
where there is no standing. For as no judge can absolve a man, merely on his having
paid the penalty of a broken contract, to which he was obliged, by and attour the ful-
filling of the condition, so no man can be justified before God, nor have a right to
life, till this demand of the law be also satisfied in his case. Then, and not till then,
Vol. VII. t
298 THE MARROW OF
is the law's mouth stopped, in point of his justification. Thus Adam, before his fall,
was free from the curse ; yet neither wa3, nor could be justified and entitled to life,
until he had run the course of his obedience, prescribed by him by the law as a cove-
nant of works. Accordingly, we are taught that " God justifies sinners, not only by
imputing the satisfaction, but also the obedience of Christ unto them." — Westm.
Confess, chap. 11, art. I. And that " justification is an act of God's free grace,
wherein he not only pardoneth all our sins, but accepteth us as righteous in his sight,"
Short. Catech.
Here then is the second demand of the law, namely, the demand of perfect obedi-
ence, respecting the case of justification, no less than the demand of satisfaction for
sin. And it is proposed in such terms as the Scripture uses to express the self-same
thing by, Luke x. 28, "This do and thou shalt live." Mat. xix. 17, "If thou wilt
enter into life, keep the commandments." In both which passages our Lord proposeth
this demand of the covenant of works, for the conviction of the proud legalists with
whom he there had to do. And the truth is, that the terms in which this demand
stands here conceived are so very agreeable to the style and language of the covenant
of works, expressed in these texts and elsewhere, that the law, without receding in
the least from the propriety of expression, might have addressed innocent Adam in
the ver" same terms ; changing only the word salvation into life, because he was
not yet miserable; and so saying to him, Good works must he done, and the com-
mandments must be kept, if thou wilt obtain life. What impropriety there could have
been in this saying, while as yet there was no covenant known in the world, but the
covenant of works, I see not. Even innocent Adam was not, by his works, to obtain
life, in the way of proper merit ; but in virtue of compact only.
Now, this being the case, one may plainly perceive, that in the true answer to it,
there can be no place for bringing in any holiness, righteousness, good works, and
keeping of the commandments, but Christ's only ; for nothing else can satisfy this
demand of the law. And if a believer should acknowledge the necessity of his own
holiness and good works, in this point, and so set about them, in order to answer
this demand ; then he should grossly and abominably pervert the end for which the
Lord requires them of him; putting his own holiness and obedience in the room of
Christ's imputed obedience ; and so should he fix himself in the mire, out of which he
could never escape, until he gave over that way and betook himself again to what
Christ alone has done for satisfying this demand of the law. But that the excluding
of our holiness, good works, and keeping of the commandments, from any part in this
matter, militates nothing against the absolute necessity of holiness in its proper place,
(without which, in men's own persons, no man shall see the Lord,) is a point too clear
among sound Protestant divines, to be here insisted upon.
And hence our author could not instruct Neophitus to say, in this conflict with the
law or covenant of works, " It is my sincere resolution, in the strength of grace, to
follow peace with all men, and holiness." Neither would any sound Protestant
divine have put such an answer into the mouth of the afflicted in this case; knowing
that our evangelical holiness and good works, (suppose we could attain unto them
before justification) would be rejected by the law, as filthy rags : forasmuch as the
law acknowledges no holiness, no good works, no keeping of the commandments, but
what is everv way perfect, and will never be satisfied with sincere resolutions, to do,
in the strength of grace to be given; but requires doing in perfection, in the strength
of grace given already, Gal. iii. 10. Therefore our author sends the afflicted unto
Jesus Christ, the surety for all that is demanded of him by the law or covenant of
works : and teaches him in this case, to plead Christ's works, and keeping of the
MODERN DIVINITY. 299
answer you and say, " I ara already saved before thou earnest ; y
commands: and this is the only safe way, which all true Christians will find them-
selves obliged to take at long-run, in this conflict.
The difficulty raised on this head is owing to that anti-scriptural principle, " That
believers are under the commanding power of the covenant of works;" which is over-
thrown before.
The case itself, and the answer to it at large, is taken from Luther's Sermon of the
Lost Sheep, p. 77, 78, and Sermon upon the Hymn of Zacharias, p. 50.
y Saved, namely, really, though not perfectly; even as a drowning man is saved,
when his head is got above the water, and he, leaning on his deliverer, is making
towards the shore ; in this case, the believer has no more need of the law, or covenant
of works, than such a man has of one, who, to save him, would lay a weight upon
him, that would make him sink again beneath the stream. Observe the manner of
speaking and reasoning used on this head. Tit. iii. 5, " Not by works of righteous-
ness, which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing
of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost." Eph. ii. 8 — 10, "For by
grace are ye saved, through faith — not of works, lest any man should boast. For
we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus, unto good works." Heref'l.) It
is undeniable, especially according to the original words, that the apostle asserts
believers to be saved already. (2.) Denying that we are saved by works which we
have done, he plainly enough intimates, that we are saved by the works which Christ
has done. (3.) He argues against salvation by our works, upon this very ground,
that our good works are the fruit following our being saved, and the end for which
we are saved. Thus he at once overthrows the doctrine of salvation by our good
works, and establishes the necessity of them, as of breathings and other actions of life
to a man saved from death. (4.) He shows, that inherent holiness is an essential
part of salvation, without which it can no more consist, than a man without a reason-
able soul ; for. according to the apostle, " We are saved by oui being regenerated,
renewed, created in Christ Jesus, unto good works." And so is our justification also,
with all the privileges depending thereupon. In one word, the salvation bestowed on
believers, comprehends both holiness and happiness. Thus the apostle Peter dis-
proves that principle, (Acts xv. 1, "Except ye be circumcised after the manner of
Moses, ye cannot be saved,") from his own observation of the contrary, namely, that
God purified the hearts of the Gentiles by faith, (ver 9.) adding for the part of the
Jews, who were circumcised, (ver. 11.) " We believe, that through the grace of the
Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved, even as they ;" that is, even as they were saved,
namely, by faith without the works of the law. And the apostle Paul, encountering
the same error, carries on the dispute in these terms, that a man is not justified by
works, Gal. ii. and iii. From whence one may conclude, that justification does no
further differ from salvation, in the Scripture sense, than an essential part from the
whole.
This is the doctriue of holy Luther, and of our author after him, upon this head,
here and elsewhere. And the disuse of this manner of speaking, and the setting of
salvation so far from justification, as heaven is from earth, are not without danger, as
leaving room for works to obtain salvation thereby.
" They that believe, have already everlasting life, and therefore undoubtedly are
justified and holy, without all their own labour." — Luther's Chos. Sermons, serin. 10.
page {mihi) 133. " How has God, then, remedied thy misery V He has forgiven all
my sins, and freed mc from the reward thereof, and made me righteous, holy, and
T 2
300 THE MARROW OF
and therefore I have no need of thy presence, z for in Christ I have
all things at once ; neither need I any thing more that is necessary a
happy, to live for ever, and that of his free grace alone, by the merits of Jesus Christ,
and workiog of the Holy Ghost." — (Mr. James Melvil's Cat. Propine of a Pastor,
p. 44.) " Now, being made truly and really partakers of Christ, and his righteous-
ness, by faith only, and so justified, saved, and counted truly righteous — we are to see,
what God craveth of us in our own part, to witness our thankfulness." — (Mr. John
Davidson's Cat. p. 27.) — (See Patat. Cat. q. 86.) "God delivereth his elect out
of it (viz. the estate of sin and misery) and bringeth them into an estate of salvation
by the second covenant." — (Lar. Cat. q. 30.) And surely one cannot be in a state of
salvation who is not really saved ; more than one can be in a state of health and
liberty, who is not really saved from sickness and slavery. " Those whom God hatb
predestinated unto life, and those only he is pleased, in his appointed and accepted
time, effectually to call, by his word and Spirit, out of that state of sin and death in
which they are by nature, to grace and salvation — effectually drawing them to Jesus
Christ." (JFestm. Confess, chap. 10. art. 1.) Whence one may easily perceive,
that a sinner drawn to Jesus Christ, is saved; though not yet carried to heaven.
z A good reason why a soul united to Jesus Christ, and already saved by him really,
though not perfectly, hath no need of the presence of her first husband the law, or
covenant of works : namely, because she hath in Christ her head and present husband,
all things necessary to save her perfectly, that is> to make her completely holy and
happy. If it were not so, believers might yet despair of attaining to it : since Christ
shareth his office of Saviour with none; neither is there salvation in any other,
whether in whole or in part, Acts iv. 12. But surely believers have all that is neces-
sary to complete this salvation, in Jesus Christ: forasmuch as he " of God is made
unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption;' in the com-
pass of which, there is sufficient provision for all the wants of all his people. It is
the great ground of their comfort, that "it pleased the Father, that in him should all
fulness dwell," Col. i. 19. And it becomes them, with their whole hearts to approve
of the design and end of that glorious and happy constitution, namely, that "he that
glorieth, glory in the Lord," 1 Cor. i. 31. It is true, that fulness is so far from
being actually conveyed, in the measure of every part, into the persons of believers at
once ; that the stream of conveyance will run through all the ages of eternity, in hea-
ven as well as on earth. Nevertheless, whole Christ, with all his fulness, is given to
them at once, and therefore they have all necessary for them at once, in him as their
head. I Cor. iii. 21, "All things are yours." Phil. iv. 18, "I have all, and
abound." 2 Cor. vi. 10, " As having nothing, yet possessing all things." Col. ii.
10 " And ye are complete in him, which is the Head."
a But are not personal holiness, and godliness, good works, and perseverance in holy
obedience, jostled out at this rate as unnecessary? No, by no means. For Christ is
the onlv fountain of holiness, and the cause of good works, in those who are united to
him ; so that, where union with Christ is, there is personal holiness infallibly ; there
they do good works (if capable of them) and persevere therein ; and where it is not,
all pretences to these things are utterly vain. Therefore are ministers directed to pro-
secute such doctriues, and make choice of such uses especially, '' as may most draw
souls to Christ, the fountain of light, holiness and comfort." — Directory tit. " Of the
preaching of the word." "As we willingly spoil ourselves of all honour and glory of
our own creation and redemption, so do we also of our regeneration and sanctification ;
for of ourstlves we are not sufficient to think one good thought ; but he who has begun
MoDEKN DIVINITY. 301
to salvation. He is my righteousness, my treasure and my work : 6
the work in us, is only he that continues us in the same, to the praise and glory of his
undeserved grace. So that the cause of good works, we confess to be, not our free will
but the Spirit of the Lord Jesus, who, dwelling in our hearts by true faith, brin«eth
forth such works, as God has prepared for us to walk in. For this we must boldly
affirm, that blasphemy it is to say, that Christ abideth in the hearts of such, as in whom
there is no spirit of sanctification." — Old Confess, art. 12, 13. " M. What is the
effect of thy faith? C. That Jesus Christ his Son came down into this world, and
accomplished all things which were necessary for our salvation." — The manner to
examine children, &c. quest. 3. " Whether we look to our justification or sanctifi-
cation, they are wholly wrought and perfected by Christ, in whom we are complete,
howbeit after a divers sort." — Mr. John Davidsons Cat. p. 34. The truth is, personal
holiness, godliness, and perseverance, are parts of the salvation already bestowed on
the believer, and good works begun, the necessary fruit thereof. See the preceding
note, and p. 250. note s. And he hath, in Christ his head, what infallibly secures the
conversation of his personal holiness and godliness : his bringing forth of good works
still, and perseverance in holy obedience, and the bringing of the whole to perfection
in another life, and so completing the begun salvation. If men will, without warrant
from the word, restrain the term salvation to happiness in heaveu, then all these, ac-
cording to the doctrine here taught, are necessary to salvation, as what of necessity
must go before it, in subjects capable; since, in a salvation carried on by degrees,
what is by the unalterable order of the covenant first conferred on a man, must neces-
sarily go before that which, by the same unalterable order, is conferred on him in the
last place. But, in the sense of Luther and our author, all these are comprehended
in the salvation itself. For justifying of which, one may observe, that when the sal-
vation is completed, they are perfected ; and the saints in glory work perfectly good
works, without interruption, throughout all eternity ; for they were the great end God
designed to bring about by the means of salvation. To the Scripture texts adduced,
in the preceding note, add 2 Tim. ii. 10, " I endure all things, for the elect's sake,
that they also may obtain the salvation, which is in Christ Jesus, with eternal glory."
Here is a spiritual salvation, plainly distinguished from eternal glory. Compare 1
Pet. i. 8, 9, " Believing, ye rejoice — Receiving the end of your faith, even the salva-
tion of your souls." This receiving of salvation, in the present time, is but the ac-
complishment of that promise, in part; Acts xvi. 31, " Believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ, and thou shalt be saved ;" which, 1 make no question, bears a great deal of
salvation, communicated on this side death, as well as beyond it; Matt. i. 21, "He
shall save his people from their sins." Thus, salvation comprehends personal holi-
ness and godliness. And the Scripture holds out good works, as things that accom-
pany salvation, (Heb. vi. 9,) and as the fruit of it, Luke i. 71 — 75, " That we should
be saved from our enemies — being delivered out of the hands of our enemies, might
serve him without fear, in holiness and righteousness before him, all the days of our
life." For it is an everlasting salvation, (Isa. xlv. 17,) importing a perseverance in
holy obedience to the end.
b i\Jy righteousness, upon which I am justified, my treasure, out of which all my
debt to the law, or covenant of works, is paid, and my work, whence my righteousness
arises, and which I can, with safety and comfort, oppose to the law-demand of work.
" The law of God we confess and acknowledge most just, most equal, most holy, most
perfect, commanding these things, which being wrought in perfection, were able to give
life, and able to bring man to eternal felicity. But our nature is so corrupt, so weak,
302 THE MARROW OF
I confess, law ! that I am neither godly, nor righteous, c but yet
this I am sure of, that he is godly and righteous for me. d And to
tell the truth, law! I am now with him in the bride-chamber,
where it maketh no matter what I am, e or what I have done ; but
what Cbrist my sweet husband is, has done, and does for me :/ and
therefore leave off, law, to dispute with me, for by faith " I appre-
hend him who hath apprehended me," and put me into his bosom.
Wherefore I will be bold to bid Moses with his tables, and all law-
yers with their books, and all men with their works, hold their
peace and give place: g so that I say unto thee, law ! be gone."
and so imperfect, that we are never able to fulfil the works of the law in perfection, —
and therefore it behoves us to apprehend Christ Jesus, with his justice (i. e. righte-
ousness) and satisfaction, who is the end and accomplishment of the law." — Old Con-
fess, art. 15.
c Namely, in the eye of the law, which acknowledgeth no godliness nor righteous-
ness, but what is everv way perfect ; (Rom. iv. 5.) " Believeth on him that justifieth
the ungodly." And to plead any other sort of godliness or righteousness, in the
conflict of conscience with the law, is vain. Gal. iii. 10.
d That is, Christ hath perfect purity of nature and life, which is all that the law
can demand in point of conformity and obedience to its commandments ; he was born
holy, and he lived holy in perfection. Now, both these are imputed to believers, not
in point of sanctification, but of justification ; for without the imputation of them both,
no flesh could be justified before God, because the law demands of every man purity of
nature, as well as purity of life, and both of them in perfection; and since we have
neither the one nor the other in ourselves, we must have both by imputation, else we
must remain under the coudemnation of the law. So the Palatine Catechism. — " Q.
How art thou righteous before God? A. The perfect satisfaction, righteousness, and
holiness of Christ, is imputed and given unto me, as if I had neither committed
any sin, neither were there any blot or corruption cleaving unto me. Q. 60. The
use — if Satan yet lay to my charge, although in Christ Jesus thou hast satisfied the
punishment which thy sins deserved, and hast put on his righteousness by faith, yet
thou canst not deny, but that thy nature is corrupt, so that thou art prone to all ill,
and thou hast in thee the 6eed of all vices. Against this temptation this answer is suf-
ficient, that by the goodness of God, not only perfect righteousness, but even the holi-
ness of Christ also, is imputed and given unto me," &c. — Ibid. " The satisfaction,
righteousness, and holiness of Cbrist alone is my righteousness, in the sight of God."
— Ibid, quest. 61.
e Namely, to the law or covenant of works, which has no power over me, who am
now married to another.
/Luther expresses it thus, " What am I, or what ought I to do, and what not to
do ; but what Christ himself is, ought to do, and doth."
g Moses with his tables, here, is no more, in the sense of Luther and our author,
but the law, as it is the covenant of works; the which, whoso in the conflict of con-
science with it, can treat at this rate, he is strong in faith, and happy is he. Consider
the Scripture phrase, John v. 45, " There is one that accuseth you, even Moses,
in whom ye trust." Compare Rom. ii. 17, "Behold, thou art called a Jew, and
restest in the law." By Moses here, is not meant the person of Moses, but Moses'
law, which the carnal Jews trusted to be saved and justified by ; that is plainly, by the
MODERN DIVINITY. 303
And if it will not be gone, then thrust it out by force, says Luther. h
And if sin offer to take hold of you, as David said his did on him,
Psal. xl. 12 ; then say you unto it, "Thy strength sin, is the law,
(1 Cor. xv. 56.) and the law is dead to me. So that, sin, thy
strength is gone ; and therefore be sure thou shalt never be able to
prevail against me, nor do mo any hurt at all." i
And if Satan take you by the throat, and by violence draw you
before God's judgment-seat, then call to your husband Christ, and
say, " Lord, I suffer violence, make answer for me, and help me."
And by this help you shall be enabled to plead for yourself, after
this manner: God the Father! I am thy Son Christ's; thou
gavest me unto him, and thou hast given unto him "all power, both
law, as it is the covenant of works. And in our author's judgment, the law was given
on Mount Sinai as the covenant of works. And he shows, that although Luther, and
Calvin too, do thus exempt a believer from the law, in the case of justification, and as
it is the covenant of works, yet do they not so out of the case of justification, and a s
it is the law of Christ — p. 164 — 166. And so, at once, clears them and himself from
that odious charge which some might find in their hearts to fix upon them from such
expressions.
h Luther's words are, " Then it is time to send it (the law) away, and if it will not
give place," &c. See the preceding note.
i Here is the use to be made of the same former doctrine, in the conflict of con-
science with sin. Guilt, even the guilt of revenging wrath is the handle by which, in
this conflict, sin offers to take hold of the believer, as it did of David, Psalm xl. 12 ;
who, in that Psalm, speaks as a type of Christ, on whom the guilt of the elects' sin
was laid. Now, in respect of that guilt, the strength of sin is the law, or covenant of
works, with its cursing and condemning power, from which, since believers are de-
livered, that strength of sin is gone as to them ; they are free from the guilt of sin, the
condemning wrath of God." — Westm. Confess, chap. 20, art. 1. "The revenging
wrath of God, and that perfectly in this life." — Larg. Cut. quest. 11. Whence it
necessarily follows, that sin, in this attack, can never prevail nor really hurt them in
this point, since there neither is, nor can be. any such guilt remaining upon them.
How sin may otherwise prevail against a believer, and what hurt it may do him in
other respects, the author expressly teaches here and elsewhere. In the manner of
expression, he follows famous divines, whose names are in honour in the church of
Christ. " God saith unto me, I will forgive thee thy sin, neither shall thy sins hurt
thee ' — Luther, Clios. Serm. p. 40. " Forasmuch as Jesus Christ hath, by one in-
finite obedience, made satisfaction to the infinite majesty of God, it followeth, that my
iniquities can no more fray nor trouble me, my accounts being assuredly razed by the
precious blood of Christ." — Beza, Confess, point 4, art. 10. ''Even as the viper
that was upon Paul's hand, though the nature of it was to kill presently, yet when God
had charmed it, you see it hurt him not; so it is with sin, though it be in us, and
though it hang upon us, yet the venom of it is taken away, it hurts us not, it con-
demns us not." — Dr. Preston on Faith, p. 51. Hear the language of the Spirit of
God. (Luke x. 19.) " And nothing shall by any means hurt you." " Nothing shall
hurt their souls, as to the favour of God, and their eternal happiness,," says the author
of the Supplement to Poole's Annot, on the Text.
304 THE MAKROW OF
in heaven and in earth, and hast committed all judgment to him ;"
and therefore I will stand to his judgment, who says, " he came not
to judge the world, but to save it ;" and therefore he will save me,
according to his office. And if the jury j should k bring in their
verdict that they have found you guilty, then speak to the Judge,
and say, in case any must be condemned for my transgresions, it
must needs be Christ, and not I; I for albeit I have committed
them, yet he hath undertaken and bound himself to answer for
them, and that by the consent and good-will of God his Father :
and indeed he hath fully satisfied for them. And if all this will
not serve the turn to acquit you, then add, moreover, and say, " As
a woman, that is conceived with child, must not suffer death because
of the child that is within her, no more must I, because I have con-
ceived Christ in my heart, though I have committed all the sins in
the world." m
And if death creep upon you, and attempt to devour you ; then
say, " Thy sting, death, is sin ; and Christ my husband has fully
vanquished sin, and so deprived thee of thy sting ; and therefore
do I not fear any hurt that thou, death ! canst do unto me."
And thus you may triumph with the apostle, saying, " Thanks be
unto God, who hath given me the victory, through oar Lord Jesus
Christ," 1 Cor. xv. 56, 57.
And thus have I also declared unto you how Christ, in the fulness
of time, performed that which God before all time purposed, and in
time promised, touching the helping and delivering of fallen man-
kind.
And so have I also done with the " Law of Faith."
The ten commandments.
h By your own conscience.
I See page 287, note g.
m Gal. iv. 19, "My little children, of whom I travail in birth again, until Christ
be formed iu you." (Col. i. 27.) " Christ, in you, the hope of glory."
MODERN DIVINITY. 305
CHAPTER III.
OF THE LAW OF CHRIST.
Sec. 1. The nature of the law of Christ. — 2. The law of the ten commandments a
rule of life to believers. — 3. Antinomian objections answered. — 4. — The necessity
of marks and signs of grace. — 5. Antinomian objections answered. — 6. Holiness
and good works attained to only by faith. — 7. Slavish fear and servile hope not
the springs of true obedience. — 8. The efficacy of faith for holiness of heart and
life. — 9. Use of means for strengthening of faith 10. The distinction of the law
of works, and law of Christ, applied to six paradoxes. — 11. The use of that distinc-
tion in practice 12. That distinction a mean betwixt Legalism and Antinomian-
ism. — 13. How to attain to assurance. — 14. Marks and evidences of true faith. —
15. How to recover lost evidences. — 16. Marks and signs of union with Christ.
§ 1. Nom. Then, sir, I pray you proceed to speak of the law of
Christ ; and first let us hear what the law of Christ is.
Evan. The law of Christ, in regard of substance and matter, is
all one with the law of works, or covenant of works. Which mat-
ter is scattered through the whole Bible, and summed up in the
decalogue, or ten commandments, commonly called the moral law,
containing such things as are agreeable to the mind and will of God,
that is, piety towards God, charity towards our neighbour, and
sobriety towards ourselves. And therefore was it given of God to
be a true and eternal rule of righteousness, for all men, of all
nations, and at all times. So that evangelical grace directs a man
to no other obedience than that whereof the law of the ten com-
mandments is to be the rule, n
n The author here teaches, that the matter of the law of works and of the law of
Christ, is one, namely, the ten commandments, commonly called the moral law. — See
page 171, note d. And that this law of the ten commandments was given of God, and
so of Divine authority, to be a rule of righteousness for men to walk by ; a true rule,
agreeable in all things to the Divine nature and will ; an eternal rule, indispensable,
ever to continue, without interruption for any one moment; and that for all men, good
and bad, saints and sinners, of all nations, Jews and Gentiles, and at all times, in all
ages, from the moment of man's creation, before the fall, and after the fall ; before
the covenant of works, under the covenant of works, and under the covenant of grace,
in its several periods. Thus he asserts this great truth, in terms used by orthodox
divines, but with a greater variety of expression than is generally used upon this head,
the which serves to inculcate it the more. And speaking of the ten commandments,
he declares in these words, " That neither hath Christ delivered believers any other-
wise from them, than as they are the covenant of works." The scope of this part of
the book, is to show that believers ought to receive them as the law of Christ, whom
we believe to be with the Father, and the Holy Ghost, the eternal Jehovah, the
Supreme, the most High God ; and consequently as a law having a commanding
306 THE MARROW OF
Nom. But yet, sir, I conceive, that though (as you say) the law
of Christ, in regard of substance and matter, be all one with the
law of works, yet their forms do differ.
Evan. True, indeed ; for (as you have heard) the law of works
speaks on this wise, "Do this and thou shalt live; and if thou do
it not, then thou shalt die the death :" but the law of Christ speak-
eth on this wise, Ezek. xvi. 6, " And when I passed by thee, and
saw thee polluted in thine own blood, I said unto thee, when thou
wast in thy blood, live." John xi. 2b', " And whosoever liveth and
believeth in me, shall never die." o Eph. v. 1, 2, " Be ye therefore
followers of God, as dear children : and walk in love, as Christ hath
power, and binding force, upon the believer, from the authority of God, and not as a
simple passive rule, like a workman's rule, that hath no authority over him, to com-
mand and bind him to follow its direction. Nay, our author owns the ten command-
ments to be a law to believers, as well as others, again and again commanding,
requiring forbidding, reproving, condemning sin, to which believers must yield ole-
dience, and fenced with a penalty, which transgressing believers are not to fear, as
being under the law to Christ. These things are so manifest, that it is quite beyond
my reach to conceive how, from the author's doctrine on this head, and especially
from the passage we are now upon, it can be inferred that he teaches, that the believer
is not under the law as a rule of life ; or can be affirmed that he does not acknowledge
the laws commanding power and binding force upon the believer, but makes it a sim-
ple passive rule to him ; unless the meaning be, that the author teaches, " That the
believer is not under the covenant of works as a rule of life r" or, " That the law, as
it is the covenant of works, is not a rule of life to the believer ; and that he does not
acknowledge the commanding piwer, and binding force of the covenant of works, upon
the believer ; nor that obedience is commanded him upon the pain of the curse, and
bound upon him with the cords of the threatening of eternal death in hell." For,
otherwise, it is evident that he teaches the law of the ten commandments to be a rule
of life to a believer, and to have a commanding and binding power over him. Now,
if these bs errors, the author is undoubtedly guilty ; and if his sentiments on these
heads were proposed in those terms, as the thing itself doth require, no wrong would
be done him therein ; but that these are gospel-trutlis, appears from what is already
said : and the contrary doctrines do all issue out of the womb of that dangerous posi-
tion, " That the believer is not set free both from the commanding and condemning
power of the covenant of works," — of which before. See p. 166. note a, and p. 169.
note b.
o These texts are adduced to show, that they to whom the law of the ten com-
mandments is given, as the law of Christ, are those who have already received life,
even life that shall never end ; and that of God's free gift, before they were capable
of doing good works; who therefore need not to work for life, but from life. " The
preface to the ten commandments teacheth us, that because God is the lord, and our
god, and redeemer, therefore we are bound to keep all his commandments." Luke
i. 74, " That we being delivered out of the hands of our enemies, might serve him
without fear." 1 Pet. i. 15, " As he that hath called you is holy, so be ye holy ;
because it is written, be ye holy for I am holy. Forasmuch as ye know, that ye were
not redeemed with corruptible things — but with the precious blood of Christ." — Short.
Cat. with the Scriptures at large.
MODERN DIVINITY. 307
loved us." And "if ye love me, keep my commandments," John
xiv. 15. And " if they break my statues, and keep not my com-
mandments, then will I visit their transgression with a rod, and their
iniquity with stripes ; nevertheless my loving-kindness will I not ut-
terly take away from him, nor suffer my faithfulness to fail," Psal.
Ixxxix. 31 — 23. Thus, you see, that both these laws agree in say-
ing, " Do this." But here is the difference ; the one saith, " Do this,
and live ;" and the other saith, " Live, and do this ;" the one saith,
Do this for life; the other saith, Do this from life: the one saith,
" If thou do it not, thou shalt die ;" the other saith, " If thou do it
not, I will chastise thee with the rod."p The one is to be delivered
by God as he is Creator out of Christ, only to such as are out of
Christ ; the other is to be delivered by God, as he is a Redeemer in
Christ, only to such as are in Christ, q Wherefore, neighbour
p See pages 250, 251, notes s, u. — Of this penalty of the law of Christ, the auihor
t teats afterwards.
q To direct the believer how to receive the law of the ten commandments with ap-
plication to himself, he assigns this difference betwixt the law of works and the
law of Christ. The one, namely, the law of works, is the law of the ten commandments,
but supposed to be delivered by God as he is Creator out of Christ; and so standing
in relation to man, ODly as Creator, not as Redeemer; the other, namely, the law of
Christ, is the same law of the ten commandments, but supposed to be delivered by
God, as he is not only Creator but Redeemer in Christ. And although the notion of
Creator doth not imply that of Redeemer, yet the latter implies the former ; as he is
Redeemer he is Sovereign Lord Creator, else we are yet in our sins, for none of in-
ferior dignity could remove our offence or guilt; but the word of truth secures this
foundation of believers' safety and comfort ; Isa. xliv. 6, 24, " Thus saith the Lord,
the King of Israel, and his Redeemer, the Lord of hosts, I am the First, and I am the
Last, and besides me there is no God. Thus saith the Lord thy Redeemer, and He
that formed thee from the womb, I am the Lord that maketh all things, that stretcb-
eth forth the heavens alone, that spreadeth abroad the earth by myself." Chap. liv.
5, " Thy Maker is thine Husband."
Now, the law of the ten commandments is given, the former way, only to unbeliev-
ers, or such as are out of Christ, the latter way to believers, or such as are in Chrsit.
And to prove whether this be a vain distinction or not, one needs but to consult the
conscience, when thoroughly awakened, whether it is all a case to it, to receive the
law of the ten commandments in the thunders from Mount Sinai, or in the still small
voice, out of the tabernacle, that is, from an absolute God, or from a God in Christ.
It is true, unbelievers are not under the law, as it is the law of Christ ; and that is
their misery, even as it is the misery of the slaves, that the commands of the master
of the family, though the matter of them be the very same to them, and to the chil-
dren, yet they are not fatherly commands to them, as they are to the children, but
purely masterly. And they are not hereby freed from any duty, within the compass
of the perfect law of the ten commandments ; for these commands are the matter of
the law of works, as well as of the law of Christ. Neither are they thereby exempted
fiom Christ's authority and jurisdiction, since the law of works is his law, as he is
with the Father and Holy Ghost, the Sovereign Lord Creator ; yea, and even as
Mediator, he rules in the midst of his enemies, and over them, with a rod of iron.
308 THE MARROW OF
Neophitus, seeing that ye are now in Christ, beware that you re-
ceive not the ten commandments at the hands of God out of
Christ, nor yet at the hands of Moses, but only at the hands of
Christ; and so shall you be sure to receive them as the law of
Christ, r
Nom. But, sir, may not God out of Christ deliver the ten com-
mandments, as the law of Christ ?
Evan. no ! for God out of Christ stands in relation to man,
according to the tenor of the law as it is the covenant of works;
and therefore can speak to man upon no other terms than the terms
of that covenant, s
§ 2. Nom. But, sir, why may not believers amongst the Gentiles
receive the ten commandments as a rule of life, at the hands of
Moses, as well as the believers amongst the Jews did.
Evan. For answer hereunto, I pray you consider, that the ten
commandments being the substance of the law of nature t engraven
r The receiving of the ten commandments at the hands of Christ, is here opposed
(I.) To the receiving of them at the hands of God out of Christ. (2 ) To the receiv-
ing of them at the hands of Moses namely, as our lawgiver. The first is a receiving
of them immediately from God, without a Mediator ; and so receiving them as the
law of works. The second is a receiving of them from Christ, the true Mediator, yet
immediately by the intervention of a typical one, and so is a receiving of them as the
law of Moses, the typical Mediator, who delivered them from the ark or tabernacle-
To this it is, and not to the delivering of them from Mount Sinai, that the author
doth here look, as is evident from his own words. — Page 310. The former manner
of receiving them is not agreeable to the state of real believers, since they never were,
nor are given in that manner to believers in Christ, but only to unbelievers, whether
under the Old or New Testament. The latter is not agreeable to the state of New
Testament believers, since the true Mediator is come, and is sealed of the Father, as
the great prophet, to whom Moses must give place, Matth. xvii. 5 ; Acts iii. 22
See Turret, loc. 11. q. 24. th. 15. However, the not receiving of Moses as the law-
giver of the Christian church, carries no prejudice to the honour of that faithful ser-
vant ; nor to the receiving of his writings, as the word of God, they being of divine
inspiration, yea, and the fundamental divine revelation.
s This plainly concludes, that to receive the law of the ten commandments from
God, as Creator out of Christ, is to receive them as the law (or covenant) of works ;
unless men will fancy, that after God hath made two covenants, the one of works, the
other of grace, he will yet deal with them neither in the way of the one, nor of the
other.
t Calling the ten commandments but the substance of the law of nature, he plainly
intimates, that they were not the whole of that law, but that the law of nature had a
penal sanction. Compare his speaking of the same ten commands, still as the sub-
stance of th« law of works, and of the law of Clirist. — Page 305. Indeed, he is
not of opinion, that a penal sanction is inseparable from the law of nature. That
would put the glorified saints, and confirmed angels in heaven, (to say nothing more)
under a penal sanction too ; for without question, they are, and will remain for ever,
MODERN DIVINITY. 309
in the heart of man in iunocency, and the express idea, or repre-
sentation of God's own image, even a beam of his own holiness,
they were to have been a rule of life both to Adam and his pos-
terity, though they never had been the covenant of works ; u but
being become the covenant of works, they were to have been a rule
of life to them, as a covenant of works, v And then, being as it
were razed out of man's heart by his fall, they were made known
to Adam, and the rest of his believing fathers, by visions and reve-
lations, and so were a rule of life to him ;iv yet not as the covenant
under the law of nature. The truth is, the law of nature is suited both to the nature
of God, and to the nature of the creature ; and there is no place for a penal sanction,
where there is no possibility of transgression.
u The ten commands being the substance of the law of nature, a representation of
God's image, and a beam of his holiness, behoved for ever unalterably to be a rule of
life to mankind, in all possible states, conditions, and circumstances ; nothing but the
utter destruction of human nature, and its ceasing to be, could divest them of that
office, since God is unchanging in his image and holiness. Hence, their being a rule
of life to Adam and his posterity, had no dependance on their becoming the covenant
of works ; but they would have been that rule, though there never had been any such
covenant : yea, whatever covenant was introduced, whether of works or of grace, what-
ever form might be put upon them, they behoved still to remain the rule of life ; no
covenant, no form whatsoever, could ever prejudice this their royal dignity. Now,
whether this state of the matter, or their being the covenant of works, which was
merely accessory to them, and might never have been at all, is the firmer foundation,
upon which to erect them into a rule of life, is no hard question to determine.
v And would have been so always to them all, till they had perfectly fulfilled that
covenant, had they not been divested of that form, unto believers, through Christ
Jesus their surety. To them they remain to be a rule of life, but not under the form
of the covenant of works ; but to unbelievers they are, and still will be, a rule of life
under that form.
w And to them. One will not think strange to hear, that the ten commands were
as it were, razed out of man's heart by the fall, if one considers the spirituality and
vast extent of them, and that they were, in their perfection, engraven on the heart of
man, in his crention, and doth withal take notice of the ruin brought on man by the
fall. Hereby he indeed lost the very knowledge of the law of nature, if the ten com-
mands are to be reckoned, as certainly they are, the substance and matter of that law ;
although he lost it not totally, but some remains thereof were left with him. Con-
cerning these the apostle speaks, Rom. i. 19, 20, and ii. 14, 15. And our author
teaches expressly, that the law is partly known by nature, that is, in its corrupt state.
— See page 313. And here he says, not simply, that the ten commandments were
razed, though in another case (page 186 ) he speaks after that manner, where yet it is
evident he means not a razing quite; but he says, " They were as it were razed.'
But what are these remains of them in comparison with that body of natural laws,
fairly written, and deeply engraven, on the heart of innocent Adam ? If they were
not, as it were razed, what need is there of writing a new copy of them in the hearts
of the elect, according to the promise of the new covenant ? " 1 will put my laws into
their hearts, and in their minds will I write them," Heb. x. 16, and viii. 10; Jer.
310 THK MARROW OF
of works, as they were before his fall, and so continued until the
time of Moses. And as they were delivered by Moses unto the be-
lieving Jews from the ark, and so as from Christ, they were a rule
of life to them, until the time of Christ's coming in the flesh, x
And since Christ's coming in the flesh, they have been, and are to
be, a rule of life both to the believing Jews and believing Gentiles,
unto the end of the world ; not as they are delivered by Moses, but
as they are delivered by Christ : for when Christ the Son comes and
speaks himself, then Moses the servant must keep silence; according
as Moses himself foretold, (Acts iii. 22.) saying, " A prophet shall
the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren, like unto
me ; him shall ye hear in all things which he shall say unto
you."?/ And therefore, when the disciples seemed to desire to
hear Moses and Elias^ speak on the mountain Tabor, they wore
presently taken away ; and a voice came out of the cloud, saying,
"This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased; hear ye
him," Matt. xvii. 4, 5. As if the Lord had said, you are not
now to hear either Moses or Elias, but my " well-beloved Son ;" and
therefore I say unto you, Hear him. a And is it not said (Heb. i.
2.) " That in these last days God hath spoken to us by his Son ?"
and doth not the apostle say, " Let the word of Christ dwell in you
richly ; and whatsoever you do, in word or deed, do all in the name
of our Lord Jesus Christ." The wife must be subject unto the
husband, as unto Christ ; b the child must yield obedience to his
parents, as unto Christ ; and the believing servant must do his
master's business, as Christ's business; for says the apostle, "Ye
serve the Lord Christ." Col. iii. 16 — 24. Yea, says he to the
xxxi. 33. What need was there of writing them in the Book of the Lord, the Bible,
in which they were made known again to us, as they were to Adam and the believing
fathers, the author speaks of, by visions and revelations ? the latter being as necessary
to them as the former is to us, for that end, since these supplied to them the want of
the Scriptures. As for those, who neither had these visions and revelations given to
themselves, nor the doctrine thereby taught communicated to them by others, it is ma-
nifest they could have no more knowledge of those laws, than was to be found among
the ruins of mankind in the fall.
x As to the deliveiing of the ten commandments from the avk, or the tabernacle,
see the sense of it, and the Scripture ground for it. Page 214, note i, and page 223,
note o.
y See page 308, note r.
z The former, the giver of the law, the latter the restorer of it.
a " Which words establish Christ as the only doctor and teacher of his church ;
the only one whom he had intrusted to deliver his truths and will to his people ; the
only one to whom Christians are to hearken." — Sup. to Poole's Annot. on Matth.
xvii. 5.
b " Wives submit yourselves unto your husbands as unto the Lord." Eph. v. 22.
MODERN DIVINITY. 31 1
Galatians, " Bear ye one aaother's burdens, and so fulfil the law
of Christ," Gal. vi. 2.
Ant. Sir, I like it very well, that you say, Christ should be a
Christian's teacher, and not Moses ; but yet I question whether the
ten commandments may be called the law of Christ; for where can
you find them repeated, either by our Saviour, or his apostles, in the
whole New Testament.
Evan. Though we find not that they are repeated in such a
method as they are set down in Exodus and Deuteronomy, yet so
long as we find that Christ and his apostles did require and com-
mand these things, that are therein commanded, and reprove and
condemn those things that are therein forbidden, and that both by
their lives and doctrines, it is sufficient to prove them to be the law
of Christ, c
Ant. I think, indeed, they have done so, touching some of the
commandments, but not touching all.
Evan Because you say so, I intreat you to consider,
1st, "Whether the true knowledge of God required, (John iii. 19.);
aud the want of it condemned, (2 Thess. i. 8.) ; and the true love of
God required, (Matt. xxii. 37.) ; and the want of it reproved, (John
v. 42.) ; and the true fear of God required, (1 Pet. ii. 17. Heb. xii.
28.) ; and the want of it condemned, (Rom. iii. 18.); and the true
trusting in God required, and the trusting in the creature forbidden
(2 Cor. i. 9 ; 1 Tim. vi. 17.) ; be not the substance of the first com-
mandment.
And consider, 2d?y, Whether the " hearing and reading of God's
word," commended, John v. 39 ; Rev. i. 3 ; and "prayer," required,
Rom. xii. 12; 1 Thess. v. 17; and "singing of psalms," required,
Col. iii. 16 ; Jam. v. 13 ; and whether " idolatry," forbidden 1 Cor.
c Whether or not this be sufficient to prove them to be the law of Christ, having a
divine, authoritative, binding power on men's consciences, notwithstanding of the term,
doctrines, here used by the author, one may judge from these texts : Matth. vii. 29, 29,
" The people were astonished at his doctrine, for he taught them as one having
authority, and not as the scribfs." John vii. 16, " My doctrine is not mine, but His
that sent me." Heb. i. 1 — 3, " God who at sundry times, and in divers manners,
spake in time past unto the fathers, by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken
unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made
the worlds ; who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his per-
son," &c. Matth. xxviii. 18 — 20, " All power is given unto me in heaven and earth:
Go ye therefore, and teach all nations — to observe all things whatsoever I have com-
manded you." The original word, in the Old Testament, rendered law, doth properly
signify a doctrine. Hence, Matth. xv. 9, " Teaching for doctrines the commandments
of men," i.e. the laws and commands of men, for the laws aud commands of God.
Compare verses 4 — 6.
312 THE MARROW OF
x. 14; 1 John v. 21, be not the substance of the second command-
ment ?
And consider, 3c%, Whether " worshipping of God in vain," con-
demned, Matth. xv. 9 ; and " using vain repetitions in prayer," for-
bidden, Matth. vi. 7 ; and " hearing of the word only, and not do-
ing," forbidden, James i. 22 ; whether " worshipping God in spirit
and truth," commanded, John iv. 24 ; and " praying with the spirit
and with understanding also," and " singing with the spirit" and
with understanding also," commended 1 Cor. xiv. 15 ; and " taking
heed what we hear," Mark iv. 24 ; be not the substance of the third
commandment ?
Consider, fahly, Whether Christ's rising from the dead the first
day of the week, (Mark xvi. 2, 9) ; the disciples assembling, and
Christ's appearing unto them, two several first days of the week,
(John xx. 19, 26) and the disciples coming together and breaking
bread, and preaching afterwards on that day, (Acts xx. 7 ; 1 Cor.
xvi. 2) ; and John's being in the Spirit on the Lord's day, (Rev. i.
10) ; I say, consider whether these things do not prove, that the first
day of the week is to be kept as the Christian Sabbath ?
Consider, bthly, Whether the apostle's saying, " Children obey
your parents in the Lord, for this is right : Honour thy father and
thy mother, which is the first commandment, with promise," (Eph.
vi. 1, 2,) and all these other exhortations, given by him and the
apostle Peter, both to inferiors and superiors, to do their duty to
each other, (Eph. v. 22, 25 ; Eph. vi. 4, 5, 9 ; Col. iii. 18—22 ; Tit.
iii. 1 ; 1 Pet. iii. 1 ; 1 Pet. ii. 18) ; I say, consider whether all these
places do not prove that the duties of the fifth commandment are
required in the New Testament ?
Here you see are five of the ten commandments; and as for the
other five, the apostle reckons them up altogether, saying, " Thou
shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not steal,
Thou shalt not bear false witness, Thou shalt not covet," Horn. xiii.
9. Now, judge you whether the ten commandments be not repeated
in the New Testament ; and so consequently whether they be not
the law of Christ, and whether a believer be not under the law of
Christ, or " in the law through Christ," as the apostle's phrase is,
1 Cor. ix. 21.
§ 3. Ant. But yet, sir, as I remember, both Luther and Calvin do
speak as though a believer were so quite freed from the law by
Christ, as that he need not make any conscience at all of yielding
obedience to it.
Evan. I know right well that Luther on the Galatians, p. 59,
says, " The conscience hath nothing to do with the law or works ;"
MODERN DIVINITY. 313
and that Calvin, in his Instit. p. 403, says, " The conscience of the
faithful, when the affiance of their justification before God is to be
sought, must raise and advance themselves above the law, and for-
get the whole righteousness of the law, and lay aside all thinking
upon works." Now, for the true understanding of these two
worthy servants of Christ, two things are to be considered and con-
cluded. First, That when they speak thus of the law, it is evident
they mean only in the case of justification. Secondly, That when
the conscience hath to do with the law in the case of justification, it
hath to do with it only as it is the covenant of works ; for as the
law is the law of Christ, it neither justifies nor condemns. d And
d That is, the law of the ten commandments, commonly called the moral law, as it
is the law of Christ, neither justifies nor condemns men's persons in the sight of God.
How can it do either the one or the other as such, since to be under it, as it is the
law of Christ, is the peculiar privilege of believers, already justified bv grace, and set
beyond the reach of condemnation; according to that of the apostle, Rom. viii. 1,
" There is therefore now no condemnation, to them which are in Christ Jesus." But
to say that this makes the law of Christ despicable, is to forget the sovereign authority
of God iu him, his matchless love in dying for sinners, the endearing relations wherein
he stands to his people, and upon the one hand, the enjoyment of actual communion
and fellowship with God, and the many precious tokens of his love, to be conferred on
them, in the way of close walking with God ; and upon the other hand, the want of
that communion and fellowship, and the many fearful tokens against them for their
sins — (See sec. 11.) All these belong to the law of Christ, and will never be despi-
cable in the eyes of any gracious soul ; though I doubt if ever hell and damnation
were more despised in the eyes of others, than they are at this day, wherein believers
and unbelievers are set so much on a level with respect to these awful things.
As to the point of condemnation, it is evident from Scripture, that no law can con-
demn those " who are in Christ Jesus," Rom. viii. 1, 33, 34. And the law, as it is
the covenant of works, condemns all those who are not in Christ, but under the law,
Gal. iii. 10 ; Rom. iii. 19. And particularly, it condemns every unbeliever, whose
condemnation will be fearfully aggravated by his rejection of the gospel offer ; the
which rejected offer will be a witness against him in the judgment; in respect whereof
our Lord says, John xii. 48, " The word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him
in the last day." Compare chap. xv. 22, " If I had not come and spoken unto them
they had not sin ; but now they have no cloak for their sin." Therefore the law
which unbelievers still remain under, as a covenant of works, will condemn them with
a double condemnation. John iii. 18, " He that believeth not is condemned afreadv
because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God." And
hence it appears that there is as little need of, as there is warrant for, a condemning
Gospel. The holy Scripture states it as the difference betwixt the law and the fos-
pel,. — that the former is the ministration of condemnation and death, the latter the
ministration of righteousness and life, 2 Cor. iii. 6 — 9. Compare John xii. 47 "If
any man hear my words, and believe not, 1 judge him not, for I came not to judge
the world, but to save the world."
As to the point of justification : no man is, nor can be justified by the law. It is
true, the Neonomians or Baxterians, to wind in a righteousness of our own into the case
Vol. VII. u
314 THE MARROW OP
so, if yon understand it of the law, as it is the covenant of works,
according to their meaning, then it is most true what they say ; for
why should a man let the law come into his conscience ? That is,
why should a man make any conscience of doing the law, to be jus-
tified thereby, considering it as a thing impossible ? Nay, what
need hath a man to make conscience of doing the law to be justified
thereby, when he knows he is already justified another way? Nay,
what need hath a man to make conscience of doing that law, which
is dead to him, and he to it ? Hath a woman any need to make con-
science of doing her duty to her husband when he is dead, nay
when she herself is dead also ? or, hath a debtor any need to make
any conscience of paying that debt which is already fully discharged
by his surety ? "Will any man be afraid of that obligation which is
made void, the seal torn off, the writing defaced, nay, not only can-
celled and crossed , but torn in pieces, e I remember the apostle
of justification, do turn the gospel into a law, properly so called ; and do tell us, that
the gospel justifieth as a law ; and roundly own what is the necessary consequent of
that doctrine, namely, that faith justifieth, as it is our evangelical righteousness, or
our keeping the gospel law, which runs thus, — He that believeth shall not perish
(Gibbon's Ser. Morn. Ex. Metb. p. 418—421.) But the Holy Scripture teaches
that we are justified by grace, and by no law nor deed, (or work of a law, properly so
called), call it the law of Christ, or the gospel law, or what law one pleaseth ; and
thereby faith itself, considered as a deed or work of a law, is excluded from the justi-
fication of a sinner, and hath place therein, only as an instrument. Gal. iii. 11,
" That no man is justified by a law in the sight of God, it is evident." Chap. v. 4,
" Whosoever of you are justified by a law, ye are fallen from grace." Rom. iii. 28,
" Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith, without deeds of a law."
Gal. ii. 16, " Knowing that a man is not justified by works of a law." 1 read, a law
deeds, works, simply ; because so the original words, used in these texts, do unde-
niably signify.
To this agrees West. Confess, chap. xi. art. 1, " These whom God effectually
calleth, he also freely justifieth — not for any thing wrought in them, or done by them,
but for Christ's sake alone; nor by imputing faith itself, the act of believing, or any
other evangelical obedience, to them as their righteousness; but," &c.. — Lurg. Cat.
quest. 73, " Faith justifies a sinner in the sight of God, not — as if the grace of faith,
or any act thereof, were imputed to him for his justification ; but only as it is an
instrument by which he received and applieth Christ and his righteousness." — Westm.
Confess, chap. six. art. 6, " Although true believers be not under the law, as a co-
venant of works, to be thereby justified or condemned, yet it is of great use to them, as
well as to others, in that, as a rule of life, informing them of the will of God and
their duty, it directs and binds them to walk accordingly." From this last passage of
the confession, two important points offer themselves. (1.) That the law is a rule of
life to believers, directing and binding them to duty, though they are neither justified
nor Condemned by it. (2.) That ueither justifying nor condemning belong unto the
law, as a rule of life simply, but as a covenant of works. And these are the very
points here taught by our author.
t Col. ii. 14, " Blotting out the hand-writting — nailing it to the crois."
MODERN DIVINITY. 315
says, Heb. x. 1, 2, that if the sacrifices which were offered in the
Old Testament " conld have made the comers thereunto perfect, and
have purged the worshippers, then should they have had no more
conscience of sin ;" that is, their conscience would not have accused
them of beiug guilty of sins. Now, the " blood of Christ" hath
" purged the conscience" of a believer from his sins, (chap. ix. 14.)
as they are transgressions against the covenant of works ; and,
therefore, what needs his conscience to be troubled about that cove-
nant ? But now, I pray you, observe and take notice, that although
Luther and Calvin do thus exempt a believer from the law, in the
case of justification, and as it is the law or covenant of works, yet
they do not so, out of the case of justification, and as it is the law of
Christ.
For thus saith Luther, on the Galatians, p. 182. " Out of the
matter of justification, we ought, with Paul, (Rom. vii. 12, 14.) to
think reverently of the law, to commend it highly, to call it holy,
righteous, just, good, spiritual and divine. Yea, out of the case of
justification, we ought to make a god of it."/ And in another
place, says he, on the Galatians, p. 5. " There is a civil righteous-
ness, and a ceremonial righteousness ; yea, and besides these, there
is another righteousness, which is the righteousness of the law, or of
the ten commandments, which Moses teacheth ; this also we teach
after the doctrine of faith." And in another place, he having
showed that believers, through Christ, are far above the law, adds,
" Howbeit, I will not deny but Moses showeth to them their duties,
in which respect they are to be admonished and urged ; wherefore
such doctrines and admonitions ought to be among Christians, as it
is certain there was among the apostles, whereby every man may be
admonished of his estate and office.
And Calvin, having said, as I told you before, " That Christians,
in the case of justification, must raise and advance themselves above
the law, adds, " Neither can any man thereby gather that the law
is superfluous to the faithful, whom notwithstanding, it doth not
cease to teach, exhort, and prick forward to goodness, although be-
fore God's judgment-seat it hath no place in their conscience."
Ant. But, sir, if I forget not, Musculus says, " That the law is
utterly abrogated."
Evan. Indeed, Musculus, speaking of the ten commandments,
says, if they be weak, if they be the letter, if they do work trans-
/ That is, raise our esteem of it to the highest pitch, and give it illimited obe-
dience. Compare this with what is cited from the same Luther concerning the law,
pnge 248.
u2
316 THE MARROW OP
gresssion, anger, curse, and death : and if Christ, by the law of the
Spirit of life, delivered them that believed in him from the law of
the letter, which was weak to justiy, and strong to condemn, and
from the curse, being made a curse for us, surely, they be abrogated.
Now, this is most certain, that the ten commandments do no way
work transgression, anger, curse, and death, but only as they are
the covenant of works, g Neither hath Christ delivered believers
any otherwise from them, than as they are the covenant of works.
And therefore we may assuredly conclude, that they are no other-
wise abrogated, than as they are the covenant of works, h Neither
g According to the Holy Scripture, it is certain, that the law of the ten command-
ments has an irritating effect, whereby they increase sin ; and a condemning and kill-
ing effect, so that they work curse, death, and wrath, called anger (it would seem) in
the language of our forefathers, when Musculus' common places were Englished.
And it is no less certain, that Jesus Christ hath delivered believers from the law as it
hath these effects, Rom. xiv. 15, " For if they which are of the law be heirs, faith is
made void, and the promise made of none effect, because the law worketh wrath."
Chap. vii. 5, 6, " For when we were in the flesh, the motions of sins which were by
the law, did work in our members, to bring forth fruit unto death. But now we are
delivered from the law — that we should serve in newness of spirit," &c. Chap. viii.
2 " For the law of the spirit of life, in Christ Jesus, has made me free from the law
of sin and death." Gal. iii. 13, "Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the
law being made a curse for us." If then the ten commandments have these effects,
not only as they are the covenant of works, but as they are the law of Christ, or a
rule of life, then believers are altogether delivered from them, which is absurd and
abominable doctrine. Therefore it evidently follows, that the ten commandments
have these effects, only as they are the covenant of works. The truth is, uuto a gra-
cious soul, the strongest possible temptation to Antinomianism, or casting off the ten
commandments for good and all, would be to labour to persuade him, that they have
these effects, not only as they are the covenant of works, but as they are the law of
Christ ; so that, take them what way he will, he shall find they have not only a curs-
ing condemning, and killing power, but also an irritating effect, increasing sin in him.
Nevertheless, a Christian man's doing against them (which is the reverend Musculus'
phrase, as cited by the author in the following page) may be a transgression, for a
man may transgress the law, though the motions of his sins be not by the law. And
how such a man's sinning is more outrageous than an ungodly man's will convincingly
appear, if one measures the outrageousness of sinning, by the obligations to duty lying
on the sinner, and not by his personal hazard, which is a measure more becoming a
slave than a son.
h Thus our author has proven, that the law of the ten commandments is a rule of
life to believers; and hath vindicated Luther and Calvin from the opposite Antinomian
error, as he does Musculus also, in the following words: and that from their express
declarations, in their own words. And here is the conclusion of the whole matter.
To show the judgment of other orthodox Protestant divines, on this head, against the
Antinomians, it will not be amiss to adduce a passage out of a system of divinity, com-
monly put into the hands of students not very many years ago, I am sure. " It is one
thing (says Turretine, disputing against the Antinomians) to be under the law as a
MODEHN DIVINITY. 317
did Musculus intend any otherwise ; for says he, in the words fol-
lowing, it must not be understood, that the points of the substance
of Moses' covenent are utterly brought to nothing ; i God forbid.
For a Christian man is not at liberty to do those things that are
ungodly and wicked ; and if the doing of those things the law for-
bids, do not displease Christ ; if they be not much different,^ yea
contrary ; if they be not repugnant to the righteousness which we
received of him ; let it be lawful for a Christian man to do them ;
or else not. k But a Christian man doing against those things which
are commanded in the decalogue, doth sin more outrageously than
he that should so do, being under the law ; I so far off is he from
being free from those things that be there commanded.
covenant; another tiling, not to be under the law as a rule of life. In the former
sense, Paul says, ' That we are not under the law, but under grace,' (Rom. vi. 14.)
as to its covenant- relation, curse, and rigour : but in tbe latter sense we always remain
bound unto it, though for a different end ; for in the first covenant, man was to do
this, to the end that he might live ; but in the other, he is bound to perform tbe same
thing, not that he may live, but because he lives." — Turret, loc. 11. quest. 24. thes.
7. View again, Westm. Confess, chap. 19. art. 6. the words whereof are cited page
314, note d. Hereunto, agreetb our author's conclusion, viz. That believers are no
otherwise, not any otherwise delivered from the law of the ten commandments, but as
they are the covenant of works. Now, how can those who oppose Antinomianism, on
this head, contradict the author thereupon, but by asserting, " That believers are not
delivered from the law, as it is the covenant of works, but that they are still under the
power of the covenant of works?" The which are principles as opposite to the
received doctrine of orthodox Protestant divines, and to tbe Confession of Faith, as
they are to the doctrine of our author.
i That is, that the particular precepts of the law of the ten commandments, called
by Musculus the substance of the law-covenant, are disannulled, and no more to be
regarded,
j That is, very unsuitable.
k That is, or if they be, as certainly they are, displeasing to Christ ; most unsuita-
ble, contrary and repugnant to the righteousness which the believer hath received from
Christ, then they are by no means to be done.
I These are the words of Musculus still, adduced by the author to show, that that
famous divine was no Antinomian; and if they will not serve to clear him, but he
must still be on that side, I apprehend orthodox Protestants will be sorry for their loss
of that great man. But though it be observed, that he speaks of doing against the
things commanded in the law, but not against the law itself, there is no hazard : for it
is evident, that by the law, Musculus understands the covenant of works, or, in his
style, Moses' covenant ; and since he was not of the opinion that believers are under
the covenant of works, no, nor under the commanding power of that covenant, he
could not say that they sinned against it. However, he still looks on the ten
commandments, the substance of that covenant, to be also the law of Christ, binding
the Christian man to obedience. From his saying, that a Christian doing against
these things, sins more outrageously than one who is under the law ; it does indeed
follow, that a Christian's sin is more displeasing to God, and deserves a heavier curse
318 THE MARROW OF
§ 4. Wherefore, friend 'Antinomista, if either you, or any man
else, shall, under a pretence of your being in Christ, exempt your-
selves from being under the law of the ten commands, as they are
the law of Christ, I tell you truly, it is a shrewd sign you are not
yet in Christ ; for if you were, then Christ were in you ; and if
Christ were in you, then would he govern you, and you would be
subject unto him. I am sure the prophet Isaiah tells us, that the
same Lord, who is our Saviour, " is also our King and Lawgiver,"
Isa. xxxiii. 22; and, truly, he will not be Jesus a Saviour to any but
only those unto whom he is Christ a Lord; for the very truth
is, wheresoever he is Jesus a Saviour, he is also Christ a Lord ; and
therefore, I beseech you, examine yourself whether he be so to you
or no.
Ant. "Why then, sir, it seems that you stand upon marks and
signs ?
Evan. Yea, indeed, I stand so much upon marks and signs, that
I say unto you in the words of the apostle John, 1 John iii. 10, " In
this the children of God are manifest, and the children of the
devil ; whosoever does not righteousness, is not of God." For says
Luther, " He that is truly baptized, is become a new man, and has
a new nature, and is endowed with new dispositions ; and loveth,
liveth, speaketh, and does far otherwise than he was wont, or could
before." For says godly Tindal, " God worketh with his word, and
in his word ; and bringeth faith into the hearts of his elect, and
looseth the heart from sin, and knitteth it to God, and gives a man
power to do that which was before impossible for him to do, and
turneth him into a new nature." m And therefore, says Luther in
another place, "Herein works are to be extolled and commended,
in that they are fruits and signs of faith ; and therefore he that
hath no regard how he leadeth his life, that he may stop the mouths
of all blamers, and accusers, and clear himself before all, and tes-
tify that he has lived, spoken, and done well, is not yet a Chris-
tian." How then, says Tindal again, " Dare any man think that
in itself, though in the mean time, the law of Christ has no curse annexed unto the
transgressions of it. For, sins deserving a curse, arises not from the threatening,
but from its contrariety to the precept, and consequently, to the holy nature of God ;
since it is manifest that sin does not therefore deserve a curse, because a curse is
threatened ; but a curse is threatened, because sin deserves it. And the sins of be-
lievers do in themselves deserve a heavier curse than the sins of others. Yet the
law of Christ has not a curse annexed to the transgressions of it ; because the heavy
curse, deserved by the sins of believers, was already laid on Christ, to whom they are
united, and he bare it for them, and bore it away from them ; so that they cannot be
threatened with it, over again, after their union with him.
m That is, makes him a new man.
MODERN DIVINITY. 319
God's favour is ou him, and God's Spirit within him, when he feels
not the working of his Spirit, nor himself disposed to any good
thing ?"n
Ant. But, hy your favour, sir, I am persuaded that many a man
deceives his own soul by these marks and signs.
Evan. Indeed, I must needs confess with Mr. Bolton and Mr.
Dyke, that in tliese times of Christianity, a reprobate may make a
glorious profession of the gospel, and perform all the duties and ex-
ercises of religion, and that in outward appearance, with as great
spirit and zeal as a true believer ; yea, he may be made partaker of
some measure of inward illumination, and have a shadow of true
regeneration ; there being no grace effectually wrought in the faith-
ful, a resemblance whereof may not be found in the unregenerate.
And therefore, I say, if any man pitch upon the sign, without the
thing signified by the sign, o that is, if he pitch upon his graces (or
gifts rather) and duties, and conclude assurance from them, as they
are in him, and come from him, without having reference to Jesus
Christ, as the root and fountain of them ; then are they deceitful
marks and signs : p but if he look upon them with reference to Jesus
Christ, then are they not deceitful, but true evidences and demon-
strations of faith in Christ. And this a man does, when he looks
upon his outward actions as flowing from the inward actions of his
mind, and upon the inward actions of his mind as flowing from the
habits of grace within him, and upon the habits of grace within him
as flowing from his justification, and upon his justification as flow-
ing from his faith, and upon his faith as given by, and embracing
Jesus Christ : thus, I say, if he rests not till he comes to Christ, his
marks and signs are not deceitful but true, q
n Namely, habitually. o Namely, Christ in the heart.
p Because all true grace and acceptable duty flow from Jesus Christ, dwelling in
one's heart by his Spirit; and whatsoever comes not that way, is but a show and sem-
blance of these things. Rom. viii. 9, " If any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he
is none of his." John xv. 5, l< Without me ye can do dothing." Chap. i. 16, " And
of his fulness have we all received, and grace for grace." Gal. ii. 20, " I live, yet
not I, but Christ liveth in me." " The cause of good works we confess to be, not
our freewill, but the Spirit of the Lord Jesus, who, dwelling in our hearts, by true
faith, bringeth forth such works as God has prepared for us to walk in." Old Con.
fess. a*t. 13, " So good works follow as effects of Christ in us possessed by faith."
— Mr. John Davidson s Catech. p. 30.
q Here is a chain, serving to lead a child of God unto assurance, that he is in the
state of grace; wherein duties and graces, being run up unto their true spring, do so
shine after trial of them, as one may conclude assurance from them, as the author
phrases it. And here it is to be observed, that these words, " outward actions — ac-
tions of the mind — habits of grace — justification — faith — embracing of Christ," are
in the progress of the trial, to be taken in their general notion, agreeing both to what
320 THK HARROW OV
Ant. But, sir, if an unbeliever may have a resemblance of every
grace that is wrought in a believer, then it must be an hard matter
to find out the difference ; and therefore I conceive it is best for a
man not to trouble himself at all about marks and signs.
is true, and what is false, in each particular ; as faith feigned and unfeigned, justifica-
tion real and imaginary, grace common and saving, &c. For the special nature of
these is still supposed to be undetermined to the person under trial, until he come to
the end of the trial. This is evident from the nature of the thing: and from the au-
thor's words too, in the sentence immediately preceding, where he says, " If he pitch
upon his graces, or gifts rather ;" the which correction he makes, because the former
word is ordinarily restricted to saving grace, the latter not so. And hence it appears,
that the author was far from imagining that a man must have the assurance he speaks
of, before he can conclude it from his graces or duties.
The links of this chain are five. The first, Outward actions, or works materially
good, flowing from the inward actions of the mind ; otherwise they are but pieces of
gross dissimulation, as was the respect and honour put upon Christ by the Herodians
and others, when they asked him, " If it was lawful to give tribute unto Caesar ?" Mat.
xxii. 16 — 18, The second, These actions of the mind, flowing from the habits of
grace, within the man: otherwise they are but fair flowers, which, "because they
have no root wither away," (Matt. xiii. 6;) like the Israelites, their seeking, re-
turning, inquiring after, and remembering God, when he slew them. Psalm lxxviii*
34 — 37. The third, Those habits of grace within the man, flowing from his justifi-
cation ; otherwise they are but the habits of common grace, or of mere moral virtues,
to be found in hypocritical professors, and sober heathens. The fourth, The man s
justification, flowing from his faith ; otherwise it is but as the imaginary justification
of Pharisees, Papist9, and legalists, who are they which justify themselves, Luke xvi.
15. The fifth, His faith given by Christ, and embracing Christ: otherwise it is but
feigned faith, which never knits the soul to Christ, but leaves the man in the case of
the fruitless branch, which is to be " taken away," John xv. 2.
This chain is not of our author's framing, but is a Scriptural one. 1 Tim. i. 5,
" Now (1.) the end of the commandment is charity, (2.) out of a pure heart, (3.)
and of a good conscience, (4.) and of faith, (5.) unfeigned." " Wherein the apostle
teacheth, that the obedience of the law must flow from love, and love from a pure
heart, and a pure heart from a good conscience, and a good conscience from faith un-
feigned ; thus he only maketh the right channel of good works." Practical Use of
Saving Knowledge ; tit. "The third thing requisite to evidence ttue faith, is, that
obedience to the law runs in the right channel, that is through faith in Christ."
If one examines himself by this infallible rule, he cannot take his obedience for a
mark or evidence of his being in the state of grace, until he run it up unto his faith,
embracing Christ. But then finding that his faith made him a good conscience, and
his good conscience a pure heart, and his pure heart produced love, from whence his
obedience flowed ; in that case, his obedience is a true mark of the unfeignedness of
his faith ; from whence he may assuredly conclude, that he is in the state of grace.
Our author's method being a copy of this, the objections against it must affect both.
Let us suppose two men to put themselves on a trial of their state, according to this
method, and to pitch upon some external duties of theirs, or some graces which they
seem to discern in themselves, as to the substance thereof; though, as yet, they know
not the specific nature of the same, namely, whether they he true or false.
MODERN DIVINITY. 321
Evan. Give me leave to deal plainly with you in telling you, that
although we cannot say, every one that hath a form of godliness
hath also the power of godliness, yet we may truly say, that he
who hath not the form of godliness, hath not the power of godli-
ness; for though all be not gold that glitters, yet all gold doth glit-
ter. And therefore, I tell you truly, if you have no regard to
make the law of Christ your rule, by endeavouring to do what is
required in the ten commandments, and to avoid what is there for-
bidden, it is a very evil sign : and, therefore, I pray you consider of
it.
§ 5. Ant. But, sir, you know the Lord hath promised to write his
law in a believer's heart, and to give him his Spirit to lead him into
all truth : and therefore he hath no need of the law, written with
The one finds, that his external duties proceeded not from the inward actions of his
mind ; or if they did, that yet these actions of his mind did not proceed from habits
of grace in him ; or if they did proceed from these, yet these flowed not from his jus-
tification, or, which is the same, followed not upon the purging of his conscience ; or
if they did, that yet his justification, or good conscience, such as they are, proceeded
not from his faith ; or if they did proceed from it, that yet that faith of his did not
embrace Christ, and consequently was not of the special operation of God, or given
him by Christ in him, by his Spirit. In all, or any of these cases, it is plain that the
external duties, or the (so called) graces, which he pitched upon, can be no true
marks from which he may conclude himself to be in a state of grace.
The other finds that his external duties did indeed flow from the inward actions of
his mind, and these from habits of grace in him, and these again from his justification
or good conscience, and that from his faith, and that his faith embraced Christ. Here
two things are observable: (1.) That neither the duties nor graces pitched upon,
could be sure marks to him, before he came to the last point; in regard of the flaw
that possibly might still be found in the immediate or mediate springs of them. And
therefore the looking, mentioned by the author, is indeed a progressive knowledge and
discovery, but still unclear and uncertain, till one comes to the end, and the whole
evidence is put together; even as it is in searching out some abstruse point, by obser-
vation of the dependence and connexion things have one with another. Wherefore
our author does by no means suppose, that 1 must know certainly that 1 am in Christ
and justified, and that my faith is given me by Christ, before these duties or graces
cau be true marks or evidences to me. (2.) That the man perceiving his embracing
of Christ, as to the substance of the action, is assured of the saving nature of it,
(namely, that it is a faith uniting him to Christ, and given him by Christ in him) by
the train of effects he sees to have followed it, according to the established order in
the covenant of grace: 1 Tim. i. 5. From which effects of his faith embracing
Christ, that which might have deceived him, was all along gradually removed in the
progress. Thus he is indeed sent back to the fruits of his faith, for true marks and
evidences of it ; but he is sent beck to them, as standing clear now in his regress,
though they were not so in his progress. And at this rate he is not left to run in a
circle, but has a comfortable end of his self-examination, being assured by his duties
and graces, the fruits of his faith that his faith is unfeigned, and himself in the state
of grace.
322 THE MARKOW OP
paper and ink, to be a rule of life to him ; neither hath he any need
to endeavour to be obedient thereunto, as you say.
Evan. Indeed, says Luther, the matter would even so fare as you
say, if we were perfectly and altogether the inward and spiritual
men, which cannot be in any wise before the last day at the rising
again from the dead : r so long as we be clothed with this mortal
flesh, we do but begin and proceed onwards in our course towards
perfection, which will be consummated in the life to come : and for
this cause the apostle, (Rom. viii.) doth call this the " first fruits of
the Spirit," which we do enjoy in this life, the truth and fulness of
which we shall receive in the life to come. And therefore (says he
in another place) it is necessary so to preach to them that have
received the doctrine of faith, that they might be stirred up to go
on in good life, which they have embraced ; and that they suffer not
themselves to be overcome by the assaults of the raging flesh ; for
we will not so presume of the doctrine of faith, as if, that being
had, every man might do what he listed : no, we must earnestly
endeavour ourselves, that we may be without blame ; and when we
cannot attain thereunto, we must flee to prayer, and say before God
and man. " Forgive us our trespasses." And, says Calvin, Instit. p.
162, one proper use and end of the law, concerning the faithful, 5 in
whose hearts liveth and reigneth the Spirit of God, is this : namely,
although they have the law written and engraven in their hearts by
the finger of God yet is the* law to them a very good means,
whereby they may daily, better and more assuredly, learn what is
the will of the Lord : and let none of us exempt himself from this
need, for no man hath hitherto attained to so great wisdom, but
that he hath need to be daily instructed by the law. And herein
Christ differeth from us, that the Father hath poured out upon him
the infinite abundance of his Spirit ; but whatsoever we do receive,
it is so by measure, that we have need one of another.
Now mind it, I pray you, if believers have the Spirit but in mea-
sure, and know but in part, then have they the " law written in
r We would have no need for the law written without us, if, as we are spiritual in
part, in respect of sanctification begun in us, we were perfectly and altogether spi-
ritual, both in body and soul. But that is not to be expected till the resurrection ;
when that which is now "sown a natural body, is raised a spiritual body," 1 Cor. xv.
44; being re-united to the spirit or soul "made perfect at death:" Heb. xii. 23; the
which doth therefore no more, from the moment of death, need the law written with-
out it.
s That is, respucting believers.
t Written.
MODERN DIVINITY. 323
their hearts" but in measure and in part,u (1 Cor. xiii. 9 ;) and if
they have the law written in their hearts hut in measure and in
part, then have they not a perfect rule within them ; and if they
have not a perfect rule within them, then they have need to have a
rule without them. And therefore, doubtless, the strongest believer
of us all, had need to hearken to the advice of Tindal, who says,
" Seek the word of God in all things, and without the word of God
do nothing." And says another godly and evangelical writer, " My
brethren, let us do our whole endeavour to do the will of God as it
becometh good children, and beware that we sin not, as near as we
can."
Ant. Well, sir, I cannot tell what to say, but, methinks, when a
man is perfectly justified by faith, it is a very needless thing for
him to endeavour to keep the law, and to do good works, v
Evan. I remember Luther says, that in his time there were some
that did reason after the like manner : " If faith," say they, " do
accomplish all things, and if faith be only and alone sufficient unto
righteousness, to what end are we commanded to do good deeds ? we
may go play then, and work no working at all." To whom he
makes an answer, saying, " Not so, ye ungodly ! not so." And
there were others that said, " If the law do not justify, then it is in
vain, and of none effect." " Yet it is not therefore true," says he ;
" for like as this consequence is nothing worth, money doth not
justify or make a man righteous, therefore it is unprofitable ; the
eyes do not justify, therefore they must be plucked out ; the hands
make not a man righteous, therefore they must be cut off; so is this
naught also, The law doth not justify, therefore it is unprofitable.
"We do not therefore destroy and condemn the law, because we say
it doth not justify ; but we say with Paul, (1 Tim. i. 8,) ' the law is
good, if a man do rightly use it.' And that is a faithful saying,
that they ' which have believed in God might be careful to maintain
« They have not the law written completely and perfectly in their hearts.
v The Antinoraian principle, That it is needless for a man, perfectly justified by
faith, to endeavour to keep the law and do good works, is a glaring evidence that
legality is so engrained in man's corrupt nature, that until a man truly come to
Christ, by faith, the legal disposition will still be reigning in him ; let him turn him-
self into what shape, or be of what principles he will in religion; though he run into
Antinomianism, he will carry along with him" his legal spirit, which will always be
a slavish and unholy spirit. He is constrained, as the author observes, to do all that
he does for fear of punishment, and hope of reward ; and if it is once fixed in his
mind that these are ceased in his case, he stands still like a clock, when the weights
that made her go are removed, or like a slave, when he is in no hazard of the whip ;
than which there cannot be a greater evidence of loathsome legality.
324 THE MARROW OF
good works ; these things are good and profitable onto men,' " Tit.
iii. 8.
§ 6. Neo. Truly, sir, for mine own part, I do much marvel that
this my friend Antinomista should be so confident of his faith in
Christ, and yet so little regard holiness of life, and keeping of
Christ's commandments, as it seems he does. For I give the Lord
thanks, I do now, in some small measure, believe that I am, by
Christ, freely and fully justified and acquitted from all my sins, and
therefore have no need either to eschew evil or do good, for fear of
punishment or hope of reward ; and yet, methinks, I find my heart
more willing and desirous to do what the Lord commands, and to
avoid what he forbids, than ever it was before I did thus believe. w
Surely, sir, I do perceive that faith in Christ is no hindrance to
holiness of life, as I once thought it was.
w It is not the scope or design of Neophitus here, to show wherein the essence of
faith consists, or to give a definition to it. But suppose it was so, his definition falls
considerably short of some given by famous orthodox Protestant divines, yea, and
churches too. See the note on the definition of faith. I repeat here Mr. John
Davidson's definition only, viz., '' Faith is an hearty assurance that our sins are freely
forgiven us in Christ." From whence one may clearly see, that some time a-day, it
was reckoned no absurdity that one's justification was made the object of one's belief.
For the understanding of which ancient Protestant doctrine, grown almost quite out
of ken with unlearned readers, I shall adduce a passage out of Wendeline's Christ.
Theol. lib. 1, cap. 24, p. 542, 543. He proposes the Popish objection thus, "Jus-
tifying faith must go before justification ; but the faith of special mercy doth not go
before justification, if it did, it were false ; for at that rate, a man should believe that
his sins are forgiven, which are not forgiven, since they are not forgiven but by justi-
fication ; therefore the faith of special mercy is not justifying faith." In answer to
which, he denies the second of these propositions, with the proofs thereof, and con-
cludes in these words: "Justifying faith, therefore, hath for the special object of it,
forgiveness of sins, future, present, and past." He explains it thus, " By the faith
of special mercy, as it goeth before justification, a man doth not believe that his sins
are forgiven him already, before the act of believing." This, by the by, is the Anti-
nomian faith, justifying only declaratively ; follows the true doctrine of faith, " But
that he shall have forgiveness of sins ; in the very act of justification, he believes his
sins are forgiven him, and so receives forgiveness, after justification, he believes the
past application," viz. forgiveness, that is, that his sins are now already forgiven him.
But the design of Neophitus is, to make a profession of his faith, and, by an argu-
ment drawn from Christian experience, to refute the Antinomian pretended faith,
wherebv a sinner, at first brush, believes his sins to be already forgiven him, before
the act of believing, and thereafter hath no regard to holiness of life ; a plain evidence
that that persuasion is not of God. And in opposition to it, is this profession made,
which consists of three parts :
(l.) He professes that he believes himself to be justified and acquitted from all
his sins; and this is the belief of the past application, after justification, which we
heard before from Wendeline. For we have alreadv found Neophitus brought unto
faith in Christ, and the match betwixt Christ and him declared to be made, though his
MODERN DIVINITY. 325
Evan. Neighbour Neophitus, if our friend Antinomista, do con-
tent himself with a mere gospel knowledge, in a notionary way, and
have run out to fetch in notions from Christ, and yet is not fetched
in by the power of Christ, let us pity him, and pray for him. And
in the mean time, I pray you, know that true faith in Christ x is so
far from being a hinderance from holiness of life and good works,
that it is the only furtherance ; for only by faith in Christ, a man
is enabled to exercise all Christian graces aright, and to perform all
Christian duties aright, which before he could not. As, for exam-
ple, before a man believe God's love to him in Christ,?/ though he
may have a kind of love to God, as he is his Creator and Preserver,
and gives him many good things for this present life, yet if God do
but open his eyes, to see what condition his soul is in, that is, if he
do but let him see that relation that is betwixt God and him,
faith was accompanied with fears. And now he finds his faith grown up in
some small measure unto the height which Antinomista pretended his faith to be at,
namelv, unto believing himself to be already justified; but withal he intimates, that
his faith had not come to this pitch all of a 6udden, as Antinomista's had done,
but that it was sometime after he believed, ere he did tbus believe. And now,
indeed, his believing thus, only in some small measure, was his sin, and argued
the weakness of his faith ; but such a man's believing, in any measure, great or small,
that he was justified and acquitted from all his sins, must be commended and ap-
proven, unless we will bring back the Popish doctrine of doubting.
(2.) He professes, That therefore, namely, since he was justified, and believed
himself to be so, he had no need to eschew evil, or do good for fear of punishment or
hope of reward ; the which Antinomista pretending to likewise, had cast off all care of
keeping the law, or doing good works, having no other principle of obedience within
him. This does not at all look to punishments and rewards, improperly so called,
that is, fatherly chastisements and favours, of which the author afterwards treats
expressly ; but it is plainly meant of rewards and punishments taken in a proper sense,
as flowing from the justice of God, remunerative and vindictive, and proceeding upon
our works, good and evil; and particularly it is meant of heaven and hell. This is
the sense in which that phrase is commonly used by divines ; and that it is so to be
taken here, is evident from its being inferred from his justification, which indeed
leaves no place for fear of punishment and hope of reward in the latter sense; but not
so in the former sense. And thus, it appears, Nomista understood it, as shall appear
afterwards.
(3.) He professes, That he was so far from being the less inclined to duty, that he
believed himself to be fully justified, and that the fear of punishment and hope of
reward were ceased in his case ; that, on the contrary, he found, as his faith grew,
his love to and readiness for holiness of life, grew: he was more willing, and more
desirous to do the Lord's commandments than he had been before his faith was
advanced to that pitch. And herein, I conceive, the experience of the saints will not
contradict him. Thus he gives a plain testimony against the Antinomian faith.
x Namely, the faith of special mercy, or a faith of particular application, without
which, in greater or lesser measure, it is not saving faith.
y See page 279, note k.
326 THE MARROW OF
according to the tenor of the covenant of works, then he conceives
of him as an angry Jndge, armed with justice against him, and
must be pacified by the works of the law, wherennto he finds his
nature opposite and contrary ; and therefore he hates both God and
his law, and doth secretly wish and desire there were neither God
nor law. And though God should now give unto him ever so many
temporary blessings, yet could he not love him ; for what malefac-
tor could love that judge or his law, from whom he expected the
sentence of condemnation, though he should feast him at his table
with ever so many dainties ? " But after that the kindness and
love of God his Saviour hath appeared, not by works of righteous-
ness that he hath done, but according to his mercy he saved him,"
(Titus iii. 4, 5.); that is, when as by the eye of faith, he sees him-
self to stand in relation to God, according to the tenor of the
covenant of grace, z then he conceives of God as a most merci-
ful and loving Father to him in Christ, that hath freely par-
doned and forgiven him all his sins, and quite released him from
the covenant of works ;" a and by this means " the love of God is
shed abroad in his heart through the Holy Ghost which is given to
him," and then "he loves God because he first loved him," Rom. v.
5; 1 John iv. 19. For as a man seeth and feeleth by faith the love
and favour of God towards him, in Christ his Son, so doth he love
again God and his law ; and indeed it is impossible for any man to
love God, till by faith he know himself beloved of God. b
Secondly, Though a man, before he believe God's love to him in
Christ, may have a great measure of legal humiliation, compunction,
sorrow and grief, and be brought down, as it were, to the very gate
of hell, and feel the very flashing of hell-fire in his conscience for
his sins, yet it is not because he hath thereby offended God, but ra-
ther because he hath thereby offended himself, that is, because he
hath thereby brought himself into the danger of eternal death and
condemnation, c But when once he believes the love of God to him
in Christ, in pardoning his iniquity, and passing by his transgres-
sions, d then he sorrows and grieves for the offence of God by the
z His soul resting on Christ, whom he hath received for salvation.
a Thus he conceives of God according to the measure of his faith, or of his soul's
resting on Christ, which admits of various decrees.
b See page 279, note k.
c A man's believing God's love to him, is woven into the very nature of saving
faith, as hath been already shown. Wherefore, whatsoever humiliation, compunction,
sorrow, and grief for sin, go before it, they must needs be but legal, being before
faith, " without which it is impossible to please God," Heb. xi. 6.
d The belief of which in some measure, is included in the nature of faith. — See
the note on the definition of faith, and p. 324, note w.
MODERN DIVINITY. 327
Bin; reasoning thus with himself: And is it so indeed? Hath the
Lord given his own son to death for me who have been such a vile
sinful wretch ! and hath Christ borne all thy sins ! and was he
wounded for thy transgressions ! then, the working of his bow-
els ! the stirring of his affections, the melting, and relenting of his
repenting heart ! " Then he remembers his own evil ways, and
his doings that were not good, and loathes himself in his own
eyes for all his abominations ;" and looking upon Christ," whom he
hath pierced, he mourns bitterly for him, as one raourneth for his
only son." Ezek. xxxvi. 31 ; Zech. xii. 10. Thus, when faith has
bathed a man's heart in the blood of Christ, it is so molified that it
quickly dissolves into tears of godly sorrow; so that if Christ do
but turn and look upon him, then, with Peter, he goes out and
weeps bitterly ! And this is true gospel mourning ; and this is right
evangelical repenting, e
Thirdly, Though, before a man do truly believe in Christ, he may
so reform his life and amend his ways, that as " touching the righte-
ousness which is of the law," he may be, with the apostle, blame-
less, (Phil. iii. 6) ; yet, being under the covenant of works, all the
obedience that he yields to the law, all his leaving off sin, and per-
formance of duties, all his avoiding of what the law forbids, and
all his doing of what the law commands, is begotten by the law of
works, of Hagar the bond-woman, by the force of self-love ; and so
indeed they are the fruit and works of a bond-servant, that is
moved and constrained to do all that he doth, for fear of punish-
ment and hope of reward./ " For," says Luther on the Galatians
e This is the springing up of the "seeds of repentance put into the heart in sanc-
tification," (Larg. Cat. q. 75,) a work of sanctifying grace, acceptable to God ; the
curse being taken off the sinner, and his person accepted in the Beloved, and like to
the mourning and repenting of that woman, (Luke vii. 47,) " who, having mnch
forgiven her, loved much." Betwixt which repentance and pardon of sin, there is an
inseparable connexion, so that it is of such necessity to all sinners, that none may ex-
pect pardon without it. — Westm. Confess, chap. 15, art. 3. See also p. 281, note s.
f This can have no reference at all to the motives of a believer's obedience, un-
less believers, as well as unbelievers, are to be reckoned to be under the covenant of
works ; for it is manifest, that the author speaks here of such only as are under that
covenant. But, on the contrary, if a man is under the covenant of works called the
law, in the style of the Holy Ghost, he is not a believer, but an unbeliever. Rom.
vi. 14, " Sin shall not have dominion over you : for ye are are not under the law,
but under grace." This reasoning proceeds upon this principle, viz. those who are
under the covenant of works, and they only, are under the dominion or reigning
power of sin. And if men, being under the covenant of works, are under the domin-
ion of sin, it is evident that they are not believers, but bond-servants, that the love
of God dwelleth not in them, but corrupt self-love reigns in them ; and, therefore,
328 THE MARROW OF
p. 218, " the law given on Mount Sinai, which the Arabians call
Agar, begetteth none but servants." And so indeed all that such a
man doth is but hypocrisy ; for he pretends the serving of God,
whereas, indeed, he intends the serving of himself. And how can
he do otherwise ? for whilst he wants faith, he wants all things : he
is an empty vine, and therefore must needs bring forth fruit unto
himself: (Hos. x. 1.) Till a man be served himself, he will not
serve the Lord Christ, g Nay, while he wants faith, he wants the
love of Christ, and therefore he lives not to Christ, but to himself
because he loves himself. And hence, surely, we may conceive it is
that Dr. Preston says, " All that a man doeth, and not out of love,
is out of hypocrisy. Wheresoever love is not, there is nothing but
hypocrisy in such a man's heart."
But when a man, through the "hearing of faith, receives the
Spirit of Christ," (Gal. iii. 2,) that Spirit, according to the measure
of faith, writes the lively law of love in his heart, (as Tindal
sweetly says) whereby he is enabled to work freely and of his own
accord, without the co-action or compulsion of the law. h For that
unto the good they do, they are constrained, by fear of punishment and hope of
reward, agreeable to threatening and promise of the broken covenant of works they
are under ; that their obedience, conform to their state and condition, is but servile ;
no better than it is here described to be, having only the letter, but not the Spirit
of true obedience, the which, before any man can attain unto, he must be set free
from the covenant of works, as the apostle teaches; Rom. vii. 6, ''But now, we
are delivered from the law, that being dead wherein we were held, that we should
serve in newness of spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter :" and finally, that as
is the condition and the obedience of those under the covenant of works, so shall
their end be. Gal. iv. 30, " Cast out the bond-woman and her son ; for the son of
the bond-woman shall not be heir with the son of the free-woman."
g That is, till the empty vine be filled with the Spirit from Jesus Christ it will
never bring forth fruit unto him. Till a man do once eat by faith he will never work
aright. The conscience must be purged from dead works, else one is not in case " to
serve the living God," Heb. ix. 14. The covenant of works says to the sinner, who
is yet without strength, " Work, and then ye shall be filled ;" but the covenant of
grace says to him, " Be filled, and then thou must work." And until the yoke of the
covenant of works be taken off a man's jaws, and meat be laid unto him, he will never
take on and bear the yoke of Christ acceptably.
h The words co-action and compulsion signify one and the same thing, viz. forcing ;
so that to work without the co-action or compulsion of the law, is to work without
being forced thereto by the law.
One would think it so very plain and obvious, that the way how the law forceth
men to work, is by the terror of the dreadful punishment which it threatens in case of
not workino, that does but darken the matter to say, The co-action or compulsion of
the law consists in its commanding and binding power or force ; the which must needs
be meant of the commanding and binding power of the covenant of works, or of the
law, as it is the covenant of works. For it cannot be meant (as these words seem to
J.'ODERN DIVINITT. 329
love wherewith Christ, or God in Christ, hath loved him, and which
by faith is apprehended of him, will constrain him to do so ; accord-
bear) of that power which the law of the ten commandments, as a rule of life, hath
over men, to bind thein to obedience, under which, I think, the impartial reader is by
this time convinced that the author denies not believers still to be ; for to call that
co-action or compulsion, is contrary to the common understanding and usage of these
words in society. At this rate one must say, That the glorified saints and angels, (to
ascend no higher) being, as creatures of God, under the commanding and binding
power of the eternal rule of righteousness, are compelled and forced to their obedience
too ; and that when we pray, " Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven," we pray
to be enabled to obey the will of God, as the angels do in heaven, by co-action and
compulsion in the height thereof; for surely the angels have the sense of the com-
manding anil binding power of the eternal rule of righteousness upon them in a degree
far beyond what any believer on earth has. Wherefore that exposition of the co-action
or compulsion of the law, and so putting believer's under the law's co-action cr com-
pulsion, amount just to what we met with before, namely, That believers are under the
commanding power (at least) of the covenant of works, having obedience bound upon
them with the coids of hell, or under the pain of the curse. Accordingly, the com-
pulsion of the law is more plainly described to be its binding power and moral force,
which it derives from the awful authority of the sovereign Lawgiver, commanding obe-
dience to his law, and threatening disobedience with wrath, or with death, or hell.
And so our author is blamed for not subjecting believers to this compulsion of the
law.
In the preceding paragraph he had shown, that the obedience of unbelievers to the
law of the ten commandments is produced by the influence of the law (or covenant) of
works upon them, forcing or constraining them thereto by the fear of the punishment
which it threatens. Thus, they work by the co-action or compulsion of the law, or
covenant of works, being destitute of the love of God. Here he affirms, that when
once a man is brought unto Christ, he having the sanctifying Spirit of Christ dwelling
in him, and being endowed with faith that purifies the heart, and with love that is
strong as death, is enabled to work freely, and of his own accord, without that
co -action or compulsion.
This is the doctrine of the Holy Scripture. Psalm li. 12, " Uphold me with thy
free Spirit." Compare Gal. v. 18, " But if ye be led by the Spirit, ye are not under
the law." So Psalm ex. 3, " Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power."
Compare 1 Pet. v. 2, "Not by constraint, but willingly." And believers are
declared to be " not under the law," Rom. vi. 14. " To be made free from the law
of death. Not to have received the spirit of bondage again to fear, but the spirit of
adoption," chap. viii. 2, 15. How then can they still be under the co-active and
compulsive power of the law, frightening and forcing them to obedience by its threa-
tenings of the second death, or eternal wrath?
And it is evident that this is the received doctrine of orthodox divines, which might
be attested by a cloud of witnesses, if the nature of this work did permit. " Not to
be under the law," says Luther, "is to do good things, and abstain from wicked
things, not through compulsion of the law, but_by free love, and with pleasure.' — Chos.
Ser. xx. p. 232.
" The second part (viz. of Christian liberty) is," says Calvin, " that consciences
obey the law, not as compelled by the necessity of the law, but being free from the
Yon. VII. x
330 THE MARROW Off
ing to that of the apostle, 2 Cor. v. 14. " The love of Christ con-
straineth us." That is, it will make him do so, whether he will or
no ; he cannot choose, but do it. i I tell you truly, answerably as
the love of Christ is shed abroad in the heart of any man, it is such
a strong impulsion, that it carries him on to serve and please the
Lord in all things, according to the saying of an evangelical man :j
yoke of the law itself, of their own accord they obey the will of God." — Instit. book
iii. chap. 19. sec. 4.
" We would distinguish betwixt the law, considered as a law and as a covenant. A
law doth necessarily imply uo more than, (I.) To direct. (2.) To command, enforc-
ing that obedience by authority. A covenant doth further necessarily imply promises
made upon some condition, or threatenings added, if such a condition be not per-
formed. The first two are essential to the law, the last two, to believers, are made
void through Christ; in which sense it is said, that by him we are freed from the law
as a covenant ; so that believers' lives depend not on the promises annexed to the
law, nor are they in danger by the threatenings adjoined to it." — Durham on the
Commands, p 4.
" What a new creature doth, in observance of the law, is from natural freedom,
choice, and judgment, and not by the force of any threatenings annexed to it." —
Charnock, vol. ii. p. 59.
See Westminster Confession, chap. 20. art. 1. of which afterwards.
And thus is that text, 1 Tim. i. 9. " The law is not made for a righteous man,"
generally understood by divines, critics, and commentators, — the law, threatening,
compelling, condemning, is not made for a righteous man, because he is pushed for-
ward to duty of his own accord, and is no more led by the spirit of bondage, and fear
of punishment." — Turret, loc. 2. q. 24. th. 8. " By the law is to be understood the
moral law, a9 it is armed in stings and terrors, to restrain rebellious sinners. By the
righteous man is meant one in whom a principle of divine grace is planted, and, who
from the knowledge and love of God, chooses the things that are pleasing to him.
As the law has annexed so many severe threatenings to the transgressors of it, it is
evident that it is directed to the wicked, who will only he compelled by fear from an out-
rageous breaking of it." — Continuation of Poole's Annot. on the text. " The law is
not for him, as a master to command him, to constrain him as a bond-man." — Lodovic
de Dieu. " The law doth not compel, press on, fright, lie heavy upon, and punish a
righteous man." — Strigelins. " It lies not on him as a heavy burden, compelling a
man against his will, violently pressing him on, and pushing him forward ; it doth not
draw him to obedience, but leads him, being willing." — Scultelus. " For of his own
accord he doth right." — Castalio, apud Pol. Synop. in Loc.
i " It is a metonymy from the effect, that is, love makes me to do it in that man-
ner, as a man that is compelled ; that is the meaning of it. So it has the same effect
that compulsion hath, though there be nothing more different from compulsion than
love." — Dr. Preston, ibid. p. 29.
j If one considers that the drift and scope of this whole discourse, from p. 176, is
to discover the naughtiness of Antinomista's faith, observed by Neophitus, one may
perceive, that by the author's quoting Towne, the Antinomian, upon that head, he
gives no more ground to suspect himself of Antinomianism, though he calls him an
evangelical man, than a Protestant gives in point of Popery, by quoting Cardinal
Bel'.armine against a Papist, though withal he call him a Catholic. And the epithet
MODERN DIVINITY. 331
" The will and affection of a believer, according to the measure of
faith and the spirit received, sweetly quickens and bends, to choose,
affect, and delight in whatever is good and acceptable to God, or a
good man; the spirit freely and cheerfully moving and inclining
him to keep the law, without fear of hell or hope of heaven." k
For a Christian man, says sweet Tindal, worketh only because it is
the will of his Father ; for after that he is overcome with love and
kindness, he seeks to do the will of God, which is indeed a Chris-
tian man's nature ; and what he doth, he doth it freely, after the
example of Christ. As a natural son, ask him why he does such a
thing ? Why, says he, it is the will of my Father, and I do it, that I
I may please him ; for indeed love desireth no wages, it is wages
enough to itself, it hath sweetness enough in itself, it desires no
addition, it pays its own wages. And therefore it is the true child-
like obedience, being begotten by faith, of Sarah the free-woman, by
the force of God's love. And so it is indeed the only true and sin-
cere obedience : for, says Dr. Preston, " To do a thing in love, is to
do it in sincerity; and, indeed, there is no other definition of sin-
cerity ; that is the best way to know it by."
§ 7. Nom. But stay, sir, I pray you, would you not have believers
to eschew evil and do good, for fear of hell or for hope of heaven?
Evan. No, indeed, I would not have any believer to do either the
one or the other ; for so far forth as they do so, their obedience is
but slavish. I And therefore though, when they were first awak-
given to Towne, is so far from being a high commendation, that, really, it is none at
all ; for though both these epithets, the latter as well as the former, are in themselves
honourable, yet, in these cases, a man speaking in the language of his adversary, they
are nothing so. Evangelista could not but remember that Antinomista had told him
roundly, p. 232, " That he had not been so evangelical as some others in the city,
which caused him to leave hearing him, to hear them," viz. those evangelical men :
and why might not he give him a sound note from one of these Evangelical men,
even under that character, so acceptable to him, without ranking himself with them ?
k See the preceding note a, and the following one.
/ As for what concerns the hope of heaven, the author purposely explains that mat-
ter, (p. 335.) that he would not have any believer to eschew evil or do good for fear
of hell ; the meaning thereof plainly is this, you being a believer in Christ, ought not
to eschew evil and do good, for fear you be condemned, and cast into hell. So far as
a believer doth so, the author justly reckons his obedience accordingly slavish. This
is the common understanding and sense of such a phrase, as when we say, The slave
works for fear of the whip : Some men abstain from stealing, robbing, and the like,
for fear of the gallows ; they eschew evil, not from love of virtue, but for fear of
punishment, as the heathen poet says of his pretender to virtue,
Oderunt peccare boni virtutis amore,
Tu nihil admittes in te formidine pcense.
Horat. Epist. 16.
x2
332 THE MARKOV OF
ened and convinced of tlieir misery, and set foot forward to go on
in'the way of life, they, with the prodigal, would be hired servants ;
yet when by the eye of faith they see the mercy and indulgence of
Which may be thus Englished :
Hatred of vice, in gen'rous souls,
From love of virtue flows,
While nothing vicious minds controls,
But servile fear of blows.
This is quite another thing than to say, that a believer in doing good, or eschewing
evil, ought not to regard threatening 1 ;, nor be influenced by the threatening of death.
For thi-ugh believers ought never to fear that they shall be condemned and cast into
hell, yet they both may and ought awfully to regard the threatenings of the holy law :
and how they ought to regard them, one may learn from the JFcstmin. Confess, chap.
xix. art. 6. in these words, " The threatenings of it (viz. the law) serve to show what
even their sins deserve ; and what afflictions in this life they may expect for them, al-
though freed from the curse thereof threatened in the law." Thus they are to regard
them, not as denunciations of their doom, in case of sinning, but as a looking-glass
wherein to behold the fearful demerit of their sin ; the unspeakable love of Hod in free-
ing them from bearing it, his fatherly displeasure against his own for their sin, and the
tokens of his anger to be expected by them in that case. So will they be influenced to
eschew evil and do good, being thereby filled with hatred and horror of sin, thankfulness
to God, and fear of the displeasure and frowns of their Father, though not with a fear
that he will condemn them, and destroy them in hell ; this glass represents no such
thing.
Such a fear in a believer is groundless. For, (1.) He is not under the threatening
of hell, or liable to the curse. — See p. 2o0, 251, notes s. u. If he were, he behoved
that moment he sinneth to fall under the curse. For since the curse is the sentence
of the law, passing on the sinner, according to the threatening, adjudging, and bind-
ing him over to the punishment threatened ; if the law say to a man, before he sinneth
" In the day thou catest thereof, thou shalt surely die," it says unto him, in the mo-
ment he sinneth, " Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things written in the
law, to do them." And forasmuch as believers sin in every thing they do, their very
believing and repenting being always attended with sinful imperfections, it is not pos-
sible, at this rate, that they can be one moment from under the curse ; but it must be
continually wreathed about their necks. To distinguish in this case, betwixt gross
sins and lesser sins, is vain ; for as every sin, even the least, deserves God s wrath
and curse, (Short. Cut.') so, against whomsoever the curse takes place, (and by virtue
of God's truth, it takes place against all those who are threatened with hell or eternal
death) they are cursed for all sins, smaller or greater : " Cursed is every one that
continueth not in all things:" though still there is a difference made betwixt greater
and lesser sins, in respect of the degree of punishment, yet there is none in respect of
the kind. But now believers are set free from the curse. Gal. iii. 13, '* Christ hath
redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us. (2.) By the re-
demption of Christ already applied to the believer, and by the oath of God, he is per-
fectly secured from the return of the curse upon him, Gal. iii. 13. (see before) com-
pared with Isa. liii. and liv. 9, " For this is as the waters of Noah unto me : for, as I
have sworn that the waters of Noah should no more go over the earth, so have I sworn
that I would not be wroth with thee, nor rebuke thee." Therefore he is perfectly
MODERN DIVINITY. 333
their heavenly Father in Christ, running to meet them, and embrace
them ; I would have them, with him, to talk no more of being hired
servants, Luke xvi. I would have them so to wrestle against doubt-
secured from being made liable any more to bell or eternal deatb. For a man, being
" under tbe curse, is so made liable to — the pains of hell for ever." — Short. Cat.
(3.) He is justified by faith, and so adjudged to live eternally in heaven. This is
unalterable, " for the gifts and calling of God are without repentance," Rom. xi. 29.
And a man can never stand adjudged to eternal life, and to eternal death, at one and
the same time. (4.) One great difference betwixt believers and unbelievers lies here
that the latter are bound over to hell and wrath, the former are not: John iii. 18,
" He that believeth is not condemned : but he that believeth not is condemned
already ;" not that he is in hell already, but bound over to it. Now, a believer is still
a believer, from the first moment of liis believing; and therefore it remains true con-
cerning him, from that moment for ever, that he is not condemned or bound over to
hell and wrath, he is expressly secured against it for all time to come, from that mo-
ment. John v. 24, " He shall not come into condemnation." And the apostle cuts
off all evasious by distinctions of condemnation here, while he tells us in express terms
" There is no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus," Rom. viii. 1. (5.)
The believer's union with Christ is never dissolved Hos. ii. 19, " I will betroth thee
unto me for ever :" and being in Christ, he is set beyond the reach of condemnation,
Rom. viii. 1. Yea, and being in Christ, he is perfectly righteous for ever; for he is
never again stript of the white raiment of Christ's imputed righteousness ; while the
union remains it cannot be lost : but to be perfectly righteous, and yet liable to con-
demnation before a just Judge, is inconsistent.
Neither is such a fear in a believer acceptable to God ; for, (1.) It is not from the
Spirit of God, but from one's own spirit, or a worse ; Rom. viii. 15, " Ye have not
received the spirit of bondage again to fear ;" namely, to fear death or hell. Heb.
ii. 15, " Who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage." (2.)
It was the design of the sending of Christ, that believers in him might 9erve God
without that fear, Luke i. 74. That, " we being delivered out of the hands of our
enemies, might serve him without fear." Compare 1 Cor. xv. 26, " The last enemv
that shall be destroyed is death." And for this very cause Jesus Christ came, " That
through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil ;
and deliver them, who, through fear of death, were all their lifetime," namely, before
their deliverance by Christ, ''subject to bondage," Heb. ii. 14, 15.
(3.) Though it is indeed consistent with, yet it is contrary to faith ; Matt. viii.
26, " Why are ye fearful, O ye of little faith !" And to love too ; 1 John iv. 18,
"Perfect love casteth out fear, because fear hath torment." 2 Tim. i. 17, "God
hath not given us the Spirit of fear, but of power, of love, and of a sound mind."
(4.) As it is not agreeable to the character of a father, who is not a revenging
judge to his own family, to threaten to kill his children, though he threaten to chastise
them : so such a fear is no more agreeable to the spirit of adoption, nor becoming the
state of sonship to God, than for a child to fear that his father, being such a one as
will kill him. And therefore, "the spirit of bondage to fear" is opposed to "the
spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father," Rom, viii. 15.
'' Adoption is an act of the free grace of God, whereby all those that are justified
are received into the number of his children, have his name put upon them, the Spirit
of his Son given to them, (receive the Spirit of adoption, lVestm. Confess, chap. 12.)
are under his fatherly care and dispensation, admitted to all the liberties and privilege!
334 THE MARROW OF
ing, and so to exercise their faith as to believe, that they are by
Christ " delivered from the hands of their enemies," both the law,
sin, wrath, death, the devil, and hell, " that they may serve the
Lord without fear, in holiness and righteousness all the days of
their lives," Luke i. 74, 75. I would have them so to believe God's
love to them in Christ, as that thereby they may be constrained to
obedience, m
Nom. But, sir, you know that our Saviour says, " Fear him that
is able to destroy both soul and body in hell," Matth. x. 28. And
the apostle says, " We shall receive of the Lord the reward of the
inheritance," Col. iii. 24. And is it not said, that " Moses had re-
spect unto the recompence of reward ?" Heb. xi. 26.
Evan. Surely, the intent of our blessed Saviour, in that first
Scripture, is to teach all believers, that when God commands one
thing, and man another, they should obey God, and not man, rather
than to exhort them to eschew evil for fear of hell, n And as for
of the sons of God, made heirs of all the promises, and fellow heirs with Christ in
glory." — Larg. Cat. q. 74.
" The liberty which Christ has purchased for believers under the gospel, con-
sists in their freedom from the guilt of sin, the condemning wrath of God, the curse
of the moral law — as also in their free access to God, and their yielding obedience unto
him, not out of slavish fear, but a child-like love and willing mind. All which were
common also to believers under the law." — IVestm. Confess, chap. 20, art. 1. By
the guilt of sin, here, must needs be understood obligation to eternal wrath. See p.
250, note t.
" The end of Christian liberty is, that being delivered out of the hands of our ene-
mies, we might " serve the Lord without fear." — Ibid. art. 3.
" The one (viz. justification) doth equally free all believers from the revenging
wrath of God, and that perfectly in this life, that they never fall into condemnation."
Larg. Cat. q. 77.
" Though a soul be justified and freed from the guilt of eternal punishment, and so
the spirit is no more to be afraid and disquieted for eternal wrath and hell." — Ruther-
ford's Trial and Triumph, &c. Ser. 19, p. 261.
" The believer bath no conscience of sins ; that is, he in conscience is not to fear
everlasting condemnation, that is most true." — Ibid. p. 266.
See more to this purpose, p. 246, note p; 250, note s ; 328, note h.
m And no marvel one would have them do so, since that is what all the children of
God with one mouth do daily pray for, saying, " Thy will be done on earth as it is in
heaven."
n There is a great difference betwixt a believer's eschewing evil for fear of hell, and
his eschewing it from the fear of God, "as able to destroy both soul and body in
hell." The former respects the event as to his eternal state, the latter doth not. To
this purpose the variation of the phrase in the text is observable, — "fear not them
that kill the body :" this notes tbe event, as to temporal death by the hands of men
which our Lord would have his people to lay their account with ; but with respect to
eternal d»ath, he says not, fear him which destroys, but, '' which is nhle to destroy
MODERN DIVINITY. 335
those other Scriptures by you alleged, if you mean reward, and the
means to obtain that reward, in the Scripture sense, then it is an-
other matter : but I had thought you had meant in our common
sense, and not in Scripture sense.
Norn. Why, sir, I pray you, what difference is there betwixt re-
ward, and the means to obtain the reward, in our common sense,
and in the Scripture sense ?
Evan. "Why, reward, in our common sense, is that which is con-
ceived to come from God, or to be given by God ; which is a fancying
of heaven under carnal notions, beholding it as a place where there
is freedom from all misery, and fulness of all pleasure and happi-
ness, and to be obtained by our own works and doings, o But re-
both soul and body in hell." Moreover the former is a slavish fear of God as a re-
venging judge ; the believer eschewing sin for fear he be damned ; the latter is a re-
vential fear of God as of a father with whom is awful dominion and power. The for-
mer carries in it a doubtfulness and uncertainty as to the event, plainly contrary to
the remedy prescribed in this same case : Prov. xxix. 25, " The fear of man bringeth
a snare ; but whoso putteth his trust in the Lord shall be safe.' The latter is consis-
tent with the most full assurance of one's being put be) ond all hazard of hell. Heb.
Heb. xii. 28, 29, '' Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let
us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably, with reverence and godly fear.
For our God is a consuming fire." A believer by fixing his eyes on God, as able to
destroy both soul and body in hell, may be so filled with the reverential fear of God,
his dreadful power and wrath against sin, as to be fenced against the slavish fear of
the most cruel tyrants, tempting him to sin ; though in the meantime he most firmly
believes that he is past that gulf, can never fall into it, nor be bound over unto it.
For, so he hath a lively representation of the just deserving of sin, even of that sin
in particular into which he is tempted ; and so must tremble at the thought of it, as an
evil greater than death. And as a child, when he seeth his father lashing his slaves
cannot but tremble, and fear to offend him, so a believer's turning his eyes on the
miseries of the damned, mu>t raise in him an awful apprehension of the severity of his
Father against sin, even in his own; and cause him to say in his heart, "My flesh
trembleth for fear of thee; and I am afraid of thy judgments," Psalm cxix. 120,
Thus also he hath a view the frightful danger he has escaped ; the looking back
to which must make one's heart shiver, and conceive a horror of sin ; as in the
case of a pardoned criminal, looking back to a dreadful precipice from which he was
to have been thrown headlong, had not a pardon seasonably prevented his ruin ; Eph.
ii. 3, " We were by nature the children of wrath, even as others."
o Thus, to eschew evil and do good for hope of heaven, is to do so in hope of ub-
taining heaven by our own works. And certainly " that hope shall be cut off, and be
a spider's web," (Job viii. 14,) for a sinner shall never obtain heaven but in the way
of free grace : " But if it be of works, then it is no more grace," Rom. xi. 6. But
that a believer may be animated to obedience by eyeing the reward already obtained for
him by the works of Christ, our author no where denies. So indeed the apostle ex-
horts believers to run their Christian race, " looking unto Jesus, who for the joy that
was set before him, (to be obtained by his own works, in the way of most proper
merits) endured the cross," fftb. xii. 1.2.
336 THE MARROW OF
ward in the Scripture sense, is not so much that which comes from
God, or is given by God, as that which lies in God, even the full
fruition of God himself in Christ. " I am," says God to Abraham,
" thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward," Gen. xv. 1 ; and
" Whom have I in heaven but thee ?" says David ; " and there is
none on earth that I desire besides thee," Psal. lxxiii. 25 ; and " I
shall be satisfied when I awake with thy likeness,"p Psal. xvii. 15.
And the means to obtain this reward is, not by doing, but by be-
lieving ; even by " drawing near with a true heart, in the full as-
surance of faith," Heb. x. 22; and so indeed it is freely given.*/
And therefore you are not to conceive of that reward which the
Scripture speaks of, as if it were the wages of a servant, but as it is
the inheritance of sons, r And when the Scripture seemeth to in-
duce believers to obedience, by promising this reward, you are to
conceive that the Lord speaks to believers as a father does to his
young son, Do this or that, and then I will love thee ; whereas we
know, that the father loveth the son first, and so does God; and
therefore this is the voice of believers, " We love him, because he
first loved us," 1 John iv. 19. The Lord doth pay them, or at least
gives them a sure earnest of their wages, before he bid them work ;s
" Papists," says Dr. PrestoD, " tell of escaping damnation, and of getting into Lea-
ven. But Scripture gives other motives, (viz. to good works) : Thou art in Christ,
and Christ is thine ; consider what he has done for thee, what thou hast by him, what
thou hast been without him, and thus stir up thyself to do for him what he requireth."
— Abridg. of his Works, p. 394.
p " Man's chief end is to glorify God and to enjoy him for ever." — Short- Cat.
" Believers — shall he — made perfectly hlessed in the full enjoyment of God to all
nity." — Ibid.
q Rom. iv. 16, '• Therefore it is of faith, that it might he by grace ; to the end the
promise (viz. of the inheritance, vers. 13, 14,) might be sure to all the seed."
Otherwise it is not given freely ; for " to him that wurketh is the reward not reck-
oned of grace, but of debt," ver. 4.
r The apostle's decision in this case seems to be pretty clear : Rom. vi. 23, " For
the wages of sin is death ; but the gift of God is eternal life :" he will not have us to
look upon it as the wages of a seivant too. The joining together of both these no-
tions of the reward was, it seems, the doctrine of the Pharisees ; Mark x. 17, " Good
Master, what shall 1 do, that I may inherit eternal life?" And how unacceptable it
was to our blessed Saviour, may be learned from his answer to that question. " The
Papists confess that life is merited by Christ, and is made ours by the right of inherit-
ance : so fa- .ve go with them. Yea, touching words, they hold many things with
us; (!.". inat no works of themselves can merit life everlasting. (2.) That works
done belore conversion can merit nothing at God's hand. (3.) That there is no merit
at God's hand, without his mercy, no exact merit as often there is amongst men. 1 be
),oint whereabout we dissent is, that with the merit of Christ and free promise, they
will have the merit of works joined, as done by them who are adopted children. —
Bay ne on Eph. ii. 8. "
s Namely, in the way of the covenant of grace.
MODERN DIVINITY. 337
and therefore the contest of a believer (according to the measure of
his faith) is not, What will God give ine ? but, What shall I give
God ? " What shall I render unto the Lord for all his goodness ?
For thy loving-kindness is before mine eyes, and I have walked in
thy truth." Psal. cxvi. 12 ; and xxvi. 3.
Nom. Then, sir, it seems that holiness of life, and good works,
are not the cause of eternal happiness, but only the way thither ?
Evan. Do you not remember that our Lord Jesus himself says,
" I am the way, the truth, and the life ?" John xiv. 6 ; and doth
not the apostle say to the believing Colossians, " As ye have re-
ceived Jesus Christ the Lord, so walk in him ?" Col. ii. 6 ; that is,
as ye have received him by faith, so go on in your faith, and by his
power walk in his commandments. So that good works, as I con-
ceive, may rather be called a believer's walking in the way of eter-
nal happiness, than the way itself; but, however, this we may
assuredly conclude, that the sum and substance both of the way,
and walking in the way, consists in the receiving of Jesus Christ by
faith, and in yielding obedience to his law, according to the measure
of that receiving, t
t Our author, remembering Nomista's bias toward good works, as separated from
Christ, puts him in miud, that Christ is the way ; and that the soul's motion heaven-
ward is in Christ ; that is, a man being once united to Christ by faith, moveth heaven-
ward, making progress in believing, and, by influences derived from Jesus Christ,
walking in his holy commandments. The Scripture acknowledges no other holiness
of life, or good works; and concerning the necessity of these the author moves no
debate. But as to the propriety of expression, since good works are the keeping of
the commandments, in the way of which we are to go, he conceives they may, with
greater propriety, be called the walking in the way, than the way itself. It is certain
that the Scripture speaks of" walking in Christ," Col. ii. 6. " Walking in his com-
mandments," 2 Chron. xvii. 4, and " walking in good works," Eph. ii. 10; and that
as these terms signify but one and the same thing, so they are all metaphorical. But
one would think the calling of good works the way to be walked in, is further removed
from the propriety ot expression, than the catling them the walking in the way. But
tin- author, waiviug this, as a matter of phraseology, or maimer of speakiug only, tells
us, that assuredly the sum and substance, both of the way to eternal happiness, and of
the walking in the way to it, consists in the receiving Jesus Christ by faith, and in
yielding obedience to his law, according to the measure of that receiving. Herein is
comprehended, Christ and holiness, faith and obedience; which are inseparable. And
no narrower is the compass of the wav and walking mentioned, Isa. xxxv. 8, 9, " It
shall be called the way of holiness — the redeemed shall walk there." "The way of
holiness, or the holy way, (according to an u-ual Hebraism) as it is generally under-
stood by interpreters, is the way leading to heaven, says Piscator ; namely, Christ,
faith, — and the doctrine of a holy life." — Fererius apud Pol. synop. in loc. And
now that our author, though he conceives good works are not so properly called the
way, as the walking, yet does not say, that in no sense they may be called the way,
but does expressly ass.-rt them to be the soul's walking in the- way of eternal happi-
ness ; he cannot justly be charged here (more than anywhere else in this book) with
338 THK MARROW OF
§ 8. Neo. Sir, I am persuaded, that through my neighbour
Nomista's asking you these questions, you have been interrupted in
your discourse, in showing how faith enables a man to exercise his
Christian graces, and perform his Christian duties aright ; and
therefore I pray you go on.
Evan. "What should I say more ? for the time would fail me to
tell, how that, according to the measure of any man's faith, is his
true peace of conscience ; for, says the apostle, " being justified by
faith, we have peace with God," Rom. v. 1. Yea, says the prophet
Isaiah, " Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed
on thee, because he trusteth in thee," Isa. xxvi. 3. Here there is a
sure and true grounded peace : " Therefore it is of faith," says the
apostle, " that it might be by grace, and that the promise might be
sure to all the seed," Rom. iv. 16. And answerable to a man's
believing that he is "justified freely by God's grace, through the
redemption that is in Jesus Christ," u (Rom. iv. 3, 24.) is his true
humility of spirit. So that, although ho be endowed with excellent
gifts and graces, and though he perform never so many duties, he
denies himself in all ; he does not make them as ladders for him to
ascend up into heaven by, but desires to " be found in Christ, not
having his own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is
through the faith of Christ," Phil. iii. 9. He does not think himself
to be one step nearer to heaven, for all his works and performances.
And if he hear any man praise him for his gifts and graces, he will
not conceive that he has obtained the same by his own industry and
pains-taking, as some men have proudly thought ; neither will he
speak it out, as some have done, saying, These gifts and graces have
cost me something — I have taken much pains to obtain them; but
he says, " By the grace of God I am what I am ; and not I, but the
grace of God that was with me," 1 Cor. xv. 10. And if he behold
an ignorant man, or a wicked liver, he will not call him " Carnal
wretch !" or " Profane fellow !" nor say, " Stand by thyself, come
not near to me, for I am holier than thou," (Isa. lxv. 5.) as some
have said; but he pities such a man, and prays for him ; and in his
heart he says concerning himself, " Who maketh thee to differ? and
what hast thou that thou hast not received ?" 1 Cor. iv. 7.
And thus I might go on, and show you how, acccording to any
man's faith, is his true joy in God, and his true thankfulness to
teaching, that holiness is not necessary to salvation, unless one will in the first place
say, that though the way itself, to eternal happiness, is necessary to salvation, y»t the
walking in the way is not necessary to it; which would be Antioomian with a witness.
u And not for anything wrought in himself, or done by himself. See p. 324, note w.
MODERN DIVINITY. 339
God, and his patience in all troubles and afflictions, and his con-
tentedness in any condition, and his willingness to suffer, and his
cheerfulness in suffering, and his contentedness to part with any-
earthly thing. Yea, according to any man's faith, is his ability to
pray aright, Rom. x. 14; to hear or read the word of God aright;
to receive the sacrament with profit and comfort ; and to do any
duty either to God or man after a right manner, and to a right end,
Heb. iv. 2. Yea, according to the measure of any man's faith, is
his love to Christ, and so to man for Christ's sake; and so, conse-
quently, his readiness and willingness to forgive an injury; yea, to
forgive an enemy, and to do good to them that hate him ; and the
more faith any man has, the less love he has to the world or the
things that are in the world. To conclude, the greater any man's
faith is, the more fit he is to die, and the more willing he is to die.
Neo. Well, sir, now I do perceive that faith is a most excellent
grace, and happy is that man who has a great measure of it.
Evan. The truth is, faith is the chief grace that Christians are to
be exhorted to get and exercise ; and therefore, when the people
asked our Lord Christ, " what they should do to work the works of
God ?" he answered and said, " This is the work of God, that ye
believe on him whom he hath sent," John vi. 29 ; speaking as if
there were no other duty at all required, but only believing ; for
indeed, to say as the thing is, believing includes all other duties in
it, and they spring all from it; and therefore says one, " Preach
faith, and preach all." "Whilst I bid man believe," says learned
Rollock, "I bid him do all good things;" for, says Dr. Preston,
"Truth of belief will bring forth truth of holiness; if a man
believe, works of sanctification will follow ; for faith draws after it
inherent righteousness and sanctification." Wherefore, says he,
"if a man will go about this great work, to change his life, to get
victory over any sin, that it may not have dominion over him, to
have his conscience purged from dead works, and to be made par-
taker of the Divine nature, let him not go about it as a moral
man ;" that is, let him not consider what commandments there are,
what the rectitude is which the law requires, and how to bring his
heart to it; but " let him go about it as a Christian, that is, let him
believe the promise of pardon, in the blood of Christ; and the very
believing the promise will be able to cleanse his heart from dead
works." v
v The sum thereof is, that no considerations, no endeavours whatsoever, will truly
sanctify a man, without faith. Honbeit, such considerations and endeavours are
necessary to promote and advance the sanctiticntion of the soul by faith.
340 THE MARKOW OP
Neo. But, 1 pray you sir, whence has faith its power aud virtue
to do all this ?
Evan. Even from our Lord Jesus Christ ; for faith doth ingraft a
man, who is by nature a wild olive branch, into Christ as into the
natural olive ; and fetches sap from the root Christ, and thereby
makes the tree bring forth fruit in its kind ; yea, faith fetcheth a
supernatural efficacy from the death and life of Christ ; by virtue
whereof it metamorphoses w the heart of a believer, and creates and
infuses into him new principles of action, x So that, what a treasure
to That is, transforms or changes. Rom. xii. 2, " Be ye transformed by the renew-
ing of your mind."
x Namely, instrumentally. It cannot be denied that our author places faith before
the new principles of actions in this passage, and before the habits of grace, and yet it
will not follow, that, in his opinion, there can be no gracious change in the soul
before faith. What he does indeed teach, in this matter, is warranted by the plain
testimony of the apostle, Eph. i. 13, " After that ye believed, ye were sealed with
that holy Spirit of promise." And what this sealing is, at least as to the chief part of
it, may be learned from John i. 16, " And of his fulness have all we received, and
grace for grace." For as sealing is the impression of the image of the seal on the
wax, so that it thereby receives upon it point for point on the seal, so, believers being
sealed with the Spirit of Christ, receive grace for grace in Christ, whereby they are
made like him, and bear his image. And as it is warranted by the word, so it is
agreeable to the old Protestant doctrine, that we are regenerate by faith ; which is the
title of the 3d chap, of the 3d book of Calvin's Instit. and is taught in the Old Con-
fess, art. 3. in these words: "Regeneration is wrought by the power of the Holy
Ghost, working in the hearts of the elect of God an assured faith ;" and art. 13. in
these words: " So soon as the Spirit of the Lord Jesus (which God's elect children
receive by true faith) takes possession in the heart of any man, so soon does he rege-
nerate and renew the same man."
Nevertheless, I am not of the mind, that, either iu truth, or in the judgment of our
reformers, or of our author, the first act of faith is an act of an irregenerate, that is
to say, a dead soul. But to understand this matter aright, I conceive one must dis-
tinguish betwixt regeneration taken strictly, and taken largely ; and betwixt new
powers and new habits or principles of action. Regeneration, strictly so called, is the
quickening of the dead soul, by the Spirit of Christ passively received, and goes before
faith, according to John i. 12, 13, "But as many as received him, to them gave he
power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: which
were born not of blood — but of God." This is called by Amesius, the first regenera-
tion, Medul. lib. 1. cap. 29. sect. 6. see cap. 26. sect. 19. And it belongs to, or is
the same with effectual calling; in the description of which, in the Shorter Catechism,
one finds a renewing mentioned, whereby sinners are enabled to embrace Jesus Christ;
and says the Larger Catech. on the same subject, " They, although in themselves dead
in sin, are hereby made able to answer his call." Regeneration, largelytaken, presup-
posing the former, is the same with sanctification, wrought in the soul by the Spirit of
Christ, actively received by faith, and so follows faith. Acts xxvi. 18, " Among
them which are sanctified by faith, that is in Me :" the subjects (of which) " are the
redeemed, c.dh:d and justified." — Essen. Com. cap. 16. sect. 3. And accordingly, in
the description thereof iu the Shorter Catechism, mention is made of the second
MODERN DIVINITY. 341
of all graces Christ liath stored up in him, faith draiueth, and draw-
eth them out to the use of a believer; being as a conduit-cock, that
watereth all the herbs of the garden. Yea, faith does apply the
blood of Christ to a believer's heart ; and the blood of Christ has in
it, not only a power to wash from the guilt of sin, but to cleanse and
purge likewise from the power and stain of sin ; and therefore, says
godly Hooker, " If you would have grace, you must first of all get
faith, and that will bring all the rest; let faith go to Christ, and
there is meekness, patience, humility, and wisdom, and faith will
fetch all them to the soul ; therefore, (says he) you must not look
for sanctification till you come to Christ in vocation."
Norn. Truly, sir, I do now plainly see that I have been deceived,
and have gone a wrong way to work ; for I verily thought that ho-
liness of life must go before faith, and so be the ground of it, and
produce and bring it forth : whereas I do now plainly see, that
faith must go before, and so produce and bring forth holiness of life.
Evan. I remember a man, who was much enlightened in the know-
ledge of the gospel,?/ who says, "There may be many that think,
renewing, namely, Whereby we are renewed in the whole man after the image of God,
anil are enabled more and more to die unto sin, and live unto righteousness. And
thus I conceive regeneration to be taken in the above passages of the Old Confession.
The which is confirmed by the following testimonies. " Being in Christ we must be
new creatures, not in substance, but in qualities and disposition of our minds, and
change of the action of our lives — all which is impossible to them that have no faith."
— Mr. John Davidson's Catechism, page 29. " So good works follow as effects of
Christ in us, possessed by faith, who — beginneth to work in us regeneration and a re-
newing of the whole parts and powers of the soul and body. Which begun sanctifi-
cation and holiness he never ceases to accomplish." — Ibid. p. 30. " The effect (viz. of
justification) inherent in us, as in a subject, is that new quality which is called inher-
ent righteousness or regeneration. — Grounds of Christian Religion, by the renowned
Beza and Fains, 1586, chap. 29, sect. 11. " That new quality, then called inherent
righteousness and regeneration, testified by good works, is a necessary effect of true
faith." — Ibid. chap. 31, sect. 13.
Now in regeneration taken in the fomer sense, new powers are put into the soul,
whereby the sinner, who is dead in sin, is able to discern Christ in his glory, and to
embrace him by faith. But it is in regeneration taken in the latter sense, that new
habits of grace, or immediate principles of actions are given ; namely, upon the soul's
uniting with Christ by faith. So Essenius, having defined regeneration to be, the
putting of spiritual life in a man spiritually dead, (compare chap. 14, sect. 11.) after-
wards says, " As by regeneration new powers were put into the man, so by sanctifica-
tion are given new spiritual habits." — Theological Virtues, ib. cap. 16, sect. 5. And
as the Scriptures are express, that men are " sanctified by faith," (Acts. xxvi. 18,)
so is the Larger Catechism that it is in sanctification they are " Renewed in their
whole man, having the seeds of repentance unto life, and of all other saving graces,
put into their hearts." — quest. 75.
y This man, Bernardine Ochine, an infamous apostate, was at first a monk; but as
our author says, being much enlightened in the knowledge of the gospel, he not only
made profession of the Protestant religion, but, together with the renowned Peter
342 THE MARROW OF
that as a man chooses to serve a prince, so men choose to serve God.
So likewise they think, that as those who do best service, do ob-
tain most favour of their lord : and as those that have lost it, the
more they humble themselves, the sooner they recover it ; even so
they think the case stands between God and them : whereas, (says
he) it is not so, but clean contrary, for he himself says, ' Ye have
not chosen me, but I have chosen you,' John xv. 16. And not for
that we repent and humble ourselves, and do good works, he gives
us his free grace ; but we repent, and humble ourselves, do good
works, and become holy, because he gives us his grace." The good
thief on the cross was not illuminated, because he did confess Christ :
but he did confess Christ, because he was illuminated. For says
Luther on Gal. (p. 124,) " The tree must first be, and then the fruit ;
for the apples make not the tree, but the tree makes the apples.
So faith first maketh the person, which afterwards brings forth
works. Therefore to do the law without faith, is to make the
apples of wood and earth without the tree, which is not to make
apples, but mere phantasies." Wherefore, neighbour Nomista,
let me entreat you, that whereas before you have reformed your
life that you might believe, why, now believe that you may reform
your life ; and do not any longer work to get an interest in Christ,
but believe your interest in Christ, that so you may work, z And
then you will not make the change of your life the ground of your
faith, as you have done, and as Mr. Culverwell says, many do, who
being asked, What caused them to believe ? they answer, " Because
they have truly repented, and changed their course of life." a
Martyr, was esteemed a most famous preacher of the gospel, throughout Italy Being
in danger on the account of religion, he left Italy by Martyr's advice ; and being much
assisted by the Duchess of Ferrara in his escape, he went first to Geneva, and then to
Zurich, and was admitted a minister in that city. But discovering himself there, (a9
Simon Magus did, after he had joined himself to the church of Samari;i")he was ba-
nished ; and is justly reckoned among the forerunners of the execrable Socinus — See
Hornbeck. appar. ad. contr. Soc. page 47. Hence one may plainly see how there
are sermons of his which might safely and to good purpose be quoted. And as for the
character given him by the author here, if one is in hazard of reckoning it an applause,
one must remember that it is no greater than what the apostle gives to those guilty of
6in against the Holy Ghost, Heb. vi. 6, '' Those who were once enlightened, and have
lasted of the heavenly gift," &c. which I make no question but our author had his eye
upon, in giving this man this character very pertinently.
z That is, by believing, get a saving interest in Christ ; whereas, before, you have
set yourself, as it were, to work it. See the note on the Definition of Faith.
a " Which (adds he) if it proceed not fron faith, is not so much as a sound proof
of faith, much less can it be any cause to draw them to believe. " The only firm
ground of saving faith is God's truth, revealed in his word ; as is plainly taught, Rom.
x. \1."—Ibid. p. 20, 21.
MODERN DIVINITY. 343
Ant. Sir, what think you of a preacher that, in my hearing, said,
he durst not exhort nor persuade sinners to believe their sins were
pardoned, before he saw their lives reformed, for fear they should
take more liberty to sin ?
Evan. Why, what should I say but that I think that preacher
was ignorant of the mystery of faith ? 6
For it c is of the nature of sovereign waters, which so wash off
the corruption of the ulcer, that they cool the heat, and stay the
spreading of the infection, and so by degrees heal the same. Neither
did he know that it is of the nature of cordials, which so comfort
the heart and ease it, that they also expel the noxious humours, and
strengthen nature against them, d
Ant. And I am acquainted with a professor, though (God knows, e
a very weak one) that says, if he should believe before his life bo
reformed, then he might believe, and yet walk on in his sins : — I
pray you, sir, what would you say to such a man ?
Evan. Why, I could say, with Dr. Preston, let him, if he can, be-
lieve truly, and do this ; but it is impossible : let him believe, and
the other will follow ; truth of belief will bring forth truth of holi-
ness : for who, if he ponder it well, can fear a fleshly licentiousness,
where the believing soul is united and married to Christ?/ The
law, as it is the covenant of works, and Christ, are set in opposition,
6 This censure, as it natively follows upon the overthrowing of that doctrine, viz.
" That holiness of life must go before faith, and so be the ground of it, and produce
and bring it forth ;" so it is founded on these two ancient Protestant principles : (1.)
That the belief of the remission of sin is comprehended in saving, justifying faith ; of
which see page 324, note w. and the note on the Definition of Faith. (2.) That true
repentance, and acceptable reformation of life, do necessarily flow from, but go not
before saving faith. Hence it necessarily follows, that remission of sin must be
believed, before there can be any acceptable reformation of life ; and that that
preacher's fear was groundless, reformation of life being so caused by the faith
of remission of sin, that it is inseparable from it ; as our author teaches in the
following passages. Calvin's censure in this case is fully as severe. " As for
them (says he) that think that repentance does rather go before faith, than flow
or spring forth of it, as a fruit out of a tree, they never knew the force there-
of." Instit. book 3. chnp. 3. sec. 1. "Yet when we refer the beginning of
repentance to faith, we do not dream a certain mean space of time, wherein it
brings out ; but we mean to show, that a man cannot earnestly apply himself to repen-
tance, unless he know himself to be of God." — Ibid. sec. 2.
c Namely, Faith.
dEven so, faith not only justifies a sinner, but sanctifies him in heart and life.
e I think this expresMon might very well have been spared here.
_/"" Q. Does not this doctrine (viz. of justification by faith without works) make
men secure and profane V A. No, for it cannot be, but they who are ingrafted into
Christ by faith, should bring forth fruits of thankfulness." Palat. Catech. q. 64.
344 THE MABBOW OF
as two husbands to one wife successively, (Rom. vi. 4;) whilst the
law was alive in the conscience, all the fruits were deadly, (ver. 5.);
but Christ, taking the spouse to himself (the law being dead) by
his quickening Spirit doth make her fruitful to God, (ver. 6.) ; and
so raises up seed to the former husband; for materially these <are
the works of the law, though produced by the Spirit of Christ in
the gospel, g
Ant. And yet, sir, I am verily persuaded, that there be many,
both preachers and professors, in this city, of the very same opinion,
that these two are of.
Evan. The truth is, many preachers stand upon the praise of
some moral virtue, and do enveigh against some vice of the times,
more than upon pressing men to believe. But, says a learned
writer, " It will be our condemnation, if we love darkness, rather
than light, and desire still to be groping in the twilight of mo-
rality, the precepts of moral men. than to walk in the light of
divinity, which is the doctrine of Jesus Christ ; and I pity the
preposterous care and unhappy travel of many well-affected, who
study this and that virtue, neglecting this cardinal and radical
virtue ; as if a man should water all the tree, and not the root.
Fain would they shine in patience, meekness, and zeal, and yet
are not careful to establish and root themselves in faith, which
should maintain all the rest ; and therefore all their labour has
been in vain and to no purpose."
Nom. Indeed, sir, this which you have now said, I have found
true by my own experience ; for I have A laboured and endeavoured
to get victory over such corruptions, as to overcome my dullness,
and to perform duties with cheerfulness, and all in vain.
Evan. And no marvel ; for to pray, to meditate, to keep a Sab-
bath cheerfully, to have your conversation in heaven, is as impossi-
ble for you yourself to do, as for iron to swim or for stones to as-
cend upwards ; but yet nothing is impossible to faith ; it can natu-
ralize these things unto you ; it can make a mole of the earth a soul
of heaven. Wherefore, though you have tried all moral conclusions
g As a woman married to a second husband, after the death of the first, does the
same work for subsistence in the family, that was required of her by the first husband ;
yet does it not to, nor as under the dead husband, but the living one ; so the good
works of believers, are materially, and but materially, the works of the law, (as a
covenant) the first husband, now dead to the believer. In this sense only the law is
here treated of: and to make the good works of believers formally the works of the
law, as a covenant and husband, is to contradict the apostle Rom. viii. 4 — 6. to
" make them deadly fruits, dishonourable to Christ the second husband, and unaccept-
able to God."
h After that manner.
MODERN DIVINITY. 345
of purposing, promising, resolving, vowing, fasting, watching, and
self-revenge ; yet get you to Christ, and with the finger of faith
touch but the hem of his garment ; and you shall feel virtue come
from him, for the curing of all your diseases. Wherefore I beseech
you, come out of yourself unto Jesus Christ, and apprehend him by
faith, as (blessed be God) you see your neighbour Neophitus has
done ; and then shall you find the like loathing of sin, and love to
the law of Christ, as he now does ; yea, then shall you find your
corruptions dying and decaying daily, more and more i as I am con-
fident he shall.
Neo. Ay, but, sir, shall I not have power quite to overcome all
my corruptions, and to yield perfect obedience to the law of Christ,
as (the Lord knows) I much desire ?
Evan. If you could believe perfectly, then should it be even ac-
cording to your desire ; according to that of Luther, (on the Gala-
tians, p. 173.) " If we could perfectly apprehend Christ, then
should we be free from sin :" but alas ! whilst we are here, we know
but in part, and so believe but in part, and so receive Christ but in
part, 1 Cor. xiii. 9, and so, consequently, are holy but in part ; wit-
ness James the Just, including himself when he says, " In many
things we sin all," Jam. iii. 2. John the faithful and loving disci-
ple, when he says, " If we say that we have no sin, we deceive our-
selves, and the truth is not in us," 1 John i. 8. Yea, and witness
Luther, when he says, on the Galatians, (p. 144.) " A Christian man
hath a body, in whose members," as Paul says, " sin dwelleth and war- .
reth," Rom. vii. 15. And although he fall not into outward and gross !
sins as murder, adultery, theft, and such like, yet is he not free from .
impatience and murmuring against God; yea, (says he) I feel in my-j
self covetousness, lust, anger, pride, and arrogancy, also the fear of;
death, heaviness, hatred, murmurings, impatience." So that you
must not look to be quite without sin, whilst you remain in this life;
yet this I dare promise you, that as you grow from faith to faith, so
shall you grow from strength to strength in all other graces.
" Wherefore," says Hooker, " strengthen this grace of faith, and
strengthen all ; nourish this, and nourish all." So that if you can
attain to a great measure of faith, you shall be sure to attain to a
great measure of holiness; according to the saying of Dr. Preston,
" He that hath the strongest faith, he that believeth in the greatest
degree the promise of pardon and remission of sins, I dare boldly say,
he hath the holiest heart, and t'.ie holiest life. And therefore I be-
seech you labour to grow strong in the faith of the gospel," Phil. i. 27.
§ 9. Neo. 0, sir, I desire it with all my heart; and therefore I
i After that manner.
Vol. VII. t
346 THE MARROW OF
pray you tell me, what you would have me to do, that I may grow
more strong.
Evan. Why, surely, the hest advice and counsel that I can give
you, is to exercise that faith which you have, and wrestle against
doubtings, and be earnest in prayer for the increase of it. " Foras-
much," says Luther, " as the gift is in the hands of God only, who
bestoweth when, and on whom he pleaseth, thou must resort unto
him by prayer, and say with the apostles, " Lord, increase our
faith," Luke xvii. 5. And you must also be diligent in hearing the
word preached ; for as " faith cometh by hearing," (Rom. x. 17-) so
is it also increased by hearing. And you must also read the word,
and meditate upon the free and gracious promises of God ; for the
promise is the immortal seed, whereby the Spirit of Christ begets
and increases faith in the hearts of all his. And lastly, you must
frequent the sacrament of the Lord's supper, and receive it as often
as conveniently you can.
Ant. But by your favour, sir, if faith be the gift of God, and he
give it when and to whom he pleases, then I conceive that a man's
using such means will not procure any greater measure of it than
God is pleased to give.
Evan. I confess it is not the means that will either beget or in-
crease faith; but it is the Spirit of God in the use of means that
doth it : so that as the means will not do it without the Spirit, nei-
ther will the Spirit do without the means, where the means may be
had. "Wherefore, I pray you, do not you hinder him from using the
means.
Neo. Sir, for my own part, let him say what he will, I am resol-
ved by the assistance of God, to be careful and diligent in the use
of these means which you have now prescribed ; that so by the in-
creasing of my faith, I may be the better enabled to be subject to
the will of the Lord, and so walk as that I may please him.
§ 10. But forasmuch as heretofore he hath endeavoured to per-
suade me to believe divers points, which then I could not see to be
true, and therefore could not assent unto them, methinks I do now
begin to see some show of truth in them ; therefore, sir, if you please
to give me leave, I will tell you what points they are to the intent I
may have your jugdment and direction therein.
Evan. Do so, I pray you.
Neo. 1. Why, first of all, he hath endeavoured to persuade me
that a believer is not under the law, but is altogether delivered from
it.
2. That a believer does not commit sin.
3. That the Lord can see no sin in a believer.
MODERN DIVINITY. 347
4. That the Lord is not angry with a believer for his sins.
5. That the Lord doth not chastise a believer for his sins.
6. Lastly, That a believer hath no cause neither to confess his
sins, nor to crave a pardon at the hands of God for them, neither
yet to fast, nor mourn, nor humble himself before the Lord for
them.
Evan. These points which you have now mentioned have occa-
sioned many needless and fruitless disputes ; and that because men
have either not understood what they have said, or else not declared
whereof they have affirmed ; for in one sense they may all of them
be truly affirmed, and in another sense they may all of them be truly
denied wherefore if we would clearly understand the truth, we must
distinguish betwixt the law as it is the law of works, and as it is
the law of Christ.^'
j The Antinomian sense of all these positions is, no doubt, erroneous and detestable
and is opposed and disproven by our author. The posisions themselves are parodoxes
bearing a precious gospel truth, which he maintains against the legalist; but I doubt
it is too much to call them all Antinomian paradoxes. Eut to call them simply, and
by the lump, Antinomian errors, is shocking: one might as good say, it is a Popish
or Lutheran error, '• That the bread in the sacrament is Christ's body;" and that it is
a Socinian, Arminian, or Baxterian error, " That a sinner is justified by faith;" for
the first four of the paradoxes are as directly scriptural as these are ; though the An-
tinomian sense of the former is antiscriptural, as is the Popish, Lutheran, Socinian,
Arminian, and Baxterian sense of the latter, respectively. At this rate, one might
subvert the very foundations of Christianity, as might easily be instructed, if there
were sufficient cause to exemplify it here. How few^doctrines of the Bible are there
that have not been wrested to an erroneous sense by some corrupt men or other? yet
will not their corrupt glosses warrant the condemning of the scriptural positions them-
selves as erroneous.
The first four of these paradoxes are found in the following texts of Scripture, viz.
1st, Rom. vi. 14, " Ye are not under the law, but under grace." Chap. vii. 6,
"Now we are delivered from the law."
2d, 1 John iii. 6, " Whosoever abideth in him, sinneth not." Ver. 9, " Whoso-
ever is born of God, doth not commit sin — and he cannot sin."
3c?, Num. xxiii. 21, "He hath not beheld iniquity in Jacob, neither hath he seen
perverseness in Israel." Cant. iv. 7, " Thou art all fair my love there is no spot
in thee."
4th, Isa. liv. 9, " So have 1 sworn, that I would not be wroth with thee, nor re-
buke thee."
The case standing thus, these paradoxes must needs be sensed one way or other
agreeable to the analogy of faith, and so defended by all who own the divine authority
of the Holy Scripture. And as an orthodox divine would not condemn the two pro-
positions above mentioned, brought in for illustration of this matter, but clear the
same by giving a sound sense of them, and rejecting the unsound sense, as that it is
true that the bread is Christ's body sacramentally ; false, that it is so by transubstan-
tiation, or consubstantiation ; that it is true, sinners are justified by faith as an instru-
ment, apprehending and applying Christ's righteousness ; false, that they are justified
by it as a work, fulfilling the pretented new proper gospel law : so our author gives
Y 2
348 THE MARROW OF
Now, as it is the law of works, it may be truly said, that a
believer is not under the law, but is delivered from it, k according
to that of the apostle, Rom. vi. 14, " Ye are not under the law, but
under grace ;" and Rom. vii. 6, " But now we are delivered from
the law." And if believers be not under the law, but are delivered
from the law, as it is a law of works, then, though they sin, yet do
they not transgress the law of works ; for " where no law is, there
is no transgression," Rom. vi. 15. And therefore, says the apostle
John, " Whosoever abideth in him sinneth not," 1 John iii. 6 ; that
is, as I conceive, whosoever abideth in Christ by faith, sinneth not
against the law of works. I And if a believer sin not against the
law of works, then can God see no sin in a believer, as a transgres-
sion of that law;m and therefore it is said, Num. xsiii. 21, "He
a safe and sound sense of these Scriptural paradoxes, and rejects the unsound sense
put upon them by Antinomians ; and this he does, by applying to them the distinction
of the law, as it is the law of works, i.e. the covenant of works, and as it is the law
of Christ, i e. a rule of life, in the hand of a Mediator, to believers. Now, if this
distinction be admitted here, neither in these Dor equivalent terms, but the law of
Christ, and law of works, must be reckoned one and the same thing; then believers in
Christ, whom none but Antinomians will deny to be under the law, as it is the law
of Christ, or a rule of life, are evidently staked down under the covenant of works still,
forasmuch, as, in the sense of the Holy Scripture, as well as in the sense of our au-
thor, the law of works is the covenant of works. And since it is plain from the
Holy Scripture, and from the Westminster Confession, that believers are not under
the law as a covenant of works ; a way which, by this distinction, our author had
blocked up, is, by rejecting of it, and confounding the law of works and law of Chnst,
opened for Antinomians to cast off the law for guod and all.
The two last of these paradoxes are consequently scriptural, as necessarily following
upon the former, being understood in the same sense as they are, and as our author
explains them.
k " True believers be not under the law as a covenant of works." — We strain. Con-
fess, chap. 19. sec. 6. " The law of works," says our author, " is as much to say,
as the covenant of works."
I "As the world is altogether set upon sin, and can do nothing but sin, so they
that are born of God sin not ; not that their sins of themselves are not deadly, but
because their persons are so lively in Christ, that the deadliness of sin cannot prevail
against them." — Mr. John Davidson's Cat. p. 32. What he means by the deadli-
ness of sin, appears from these words a little after : " Howbeit the condemnation of
sin be removed from the faithful altogether," &c. The penalty which the law of
works threatens, says our author to Neophitus, (page 351) is " condemnation and
eternal death ; and this you have no cause at all to fear."
m Mr. James Melvil to the same purpose expresses it thus,
But God into his daughter dear sees nane iniquitie,
Nor in his chosen Israel will spy enormitie :
Not luking in hir bowk, whilk is with ferntickles repleit,
But ever into Christ her face, whilk pleasand is and sweet.
Morning Vision, dedicated to James VI. p. 85.
MODERN DIVINITY. 349
hath not beheld iniquity in Jacoh, neither hath he seen perverseness
in Israel :" and again it is said, Jer. I. 20, " At that time the ini-
quity of Israel shall be sought for, and there shall be none ; and
the sins of Judah, and they shall not be found :" and in Cant. iv. 7,
Christ says concerning his spouse, " Behold thou art all fair, ray
love, and there is no spot in thee." And if God can see no sin in a
believer, then assuredly he is neither angry nor doth chastise a
believer for his sins, as a transgression of that law; n and hence it
is, that the Lord says concerning his own people that were believ-
ers, Isa. xxvii. 4, "Anger is not in me :" and again, Isa. liv. 9, the
Lord speaking comfortably to his spouse the Church, says, " As I
have sworn that the waters of Noah shall no more go over the
earth, so have I sworn that 1 will no more be wroth with thee, nor
rebuke thee." Now, if the Lord be not angry with a believer,
neither doth chastise him for his sins, as they are any transgression
of the law of works, then hath a believer neither need to confess his
sins unto God, nor to crave pardon for them, nor yet to fast, nor
mourn, nor humble himself for them, as conceiving them to be any
transgression of the law, as it is the law of works, o Thus you see,
n Such anger is revenging wrath, and such chastisement is proper punishment
inflicted for satisfying offended justice; in which sense it is said, Isa. liii. 5, " The
chastisement of our peace was upon him,'' namely, on Jesus Christ; and therefore it
cannot he on believers themselves.
o Our author does not indeed here refute the Antinomian error, that the believer
ought not to mourn for his sins : he does that effectually in the next paragraph. But
here he refutes the legalist, who will needs have the believer still to be under the
law, as it is the covenant of works; and therefore to confess and mourn,' &c. for his
sins, as still committed against the covenant of works. But it is evident as the light,
that believers are not under the covenant of works, or, in other terms, under the law,
as that covenant ; and that principle being once fixed, the whole chain of conse-
quences, which our author has here made, does necessarily follow thereupon. It is
strange that nothing can be allowed in believers to be mourning for sin, unless they
mourn for it as unbelievers, as persons under the covenant of works, who doubtless
are under the curse and condemnation for their sin. Gal. iii. 10. But "as our obe-
dience now is not the performance, so our sinning is not the violation of the condition
of the old covenant. Believers — their sins now, though transgressions of the law, are
not counted violations of the conditions of the covenant of works, under which they
are not." — Brown on Justification, chap. 15, p. 224. " If sense of sin be taken for
the unbelieving feeling of, and judging myself cast out of bis sight, and condemned ;
whereas yet I am in Christ, and it is God that justifies (me) ; who is he that shall
condemn?" (Rom. viii. 23,34.) we shall agree with Antinomiaos. This is indeed
the hasty sense of unbelief. Psalm xxxi. 22 ; John ii. 4. Hence let them be
rebuked, who say not that Christ in the gospel hath taken away this sense of sin." —
Rutherford on the Covenant, p. 222.
350 THE MARROW OF
that if you consider the law in this sense, then all these points fol-
low : according as you say our friend Antinomista hath endea-
voured to persuade you.
But if you consider the law, as it is the law of Christ, then
they do not so, but quite contrary. For as the law is the law of
Christ, it may be truly said, that a believer is under the law, and
not delivered from it ; according to that of the apostle, 1 Cor. ix.
21, " Being not without law to Grod, but under the law to Christ ;"
and according to that of the same apostle, Rom. iii. 31, " Do we
then make void the law through faith ? God forbid ! yea, (by faith)
we establish the law." And if a believer be under the law, and not
delivered from it, as it is the law of Christ, then if he sin, he doth
thereby transgress the law of Christ ; and hence I conceive it is that
the apostle John says, both concerning himself and other believers,
1 John i. 8, " If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and
the truth is not in us :" and so says the apostle James, chap. iii. 2,
" In many things we offend all." And if a believer transgress the
law of Christ, then doubtless he seeth it : for it is said, Prov. v. 21,
" That the ways of man are before the Lord, and he pondereth all
his goings :" and in Heb. iv. 13, it is said, " All things are naked
and opeu unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do." And if
the Lord see the sins that a believer commits against the law, as it
is the law of Christ, then doubtless he is angry with them ; for it is
said, Psalm cvi. 40, that because the people " went a whoring after
their own inventions, therefore was the wrath of the Lord kindled
against his people, insomuch that he abhorred his own inheritance ;"
and in Deut. i. 37- Moses says concerning himself, " The Lord was
angry with him." And if the Lord be angry with a believer for his
transgressing the law of Christ, then assuredly (if need be) he will
chastise him for it : for it is said, (Psalm lxxxix. 30 — 32.) concern-
ing the seed and children of Jesus Christ, " If they forsake my law,
and walk not in my judgments, then will I visit their transgressions
with the rod, and their iniquities with stripes." And in 1 Cor. xi.
30, it is said concerning believers, for this cause," namely, their
unworthy receiving 6f the sacrament, " many are weak and sickly
among you, and many sleep." And if the Lord be angry with be-
lievers, and chastise them for their sins, as they are a transgression
of the law of Christ, then hath a believer cause to confess his sins
unto the Lord, and to crave pardon for them, as conceiving them to
be a transgression of the law fc of Christ, p
p Thus our author hath solidly refuted in this paragraph the Antinomian sense of
all the six positions above-mentioned.
MODERN DIVINITY. 351
§ 11. And now, my loving neighbour, Neophitus, I pray you,
consider seriously of these things, and learn to distinguish aright
betwixt the law, as it is the law of works, and as it is the law of
Christ, and that in effect and practice : I mean, in heart and con-
science.
Neo. Sir, It is the unfeigned desire of my heart so to do ; and
therefore, I pray you, give me some direction therein, q
Evan. Surely the best direction that I can give you is, to labour
truly to know, and firmly to believe, that you are not now under
the law, as it is the law of works ; and that you are now under the
law as it is the law of Christ; and that therefore you must neither
hope for what the law of works promises, in case of your most exact
obedience ; nor fear what it threatens, in case of your most im-
perfect and defective obedience : and yet you may both hope for what
the law of Christ promises, in case of your obedience, and are to fear
what it threatens, in case of your disobedience.
Neo. But, Sir, what are these promises and threatenings ? and,
first, I pray you, tell me what it is the law of works promises.
Evan. The law of works, or, which is all one, (as I have told you)
the covenant of works, promises justification and eternal life to all
that yield perfect obedience thereunto : and this you are not to hope
for, because of your obedience. And indeed, to say as the thing is,
you being dead to the law of works, can yield no obedience at all
unto it ; for how can a dead wife yield any obedienee to her hus-
band ? And if you can yield no obedience at all unto it, what hope
can you have of any reward for your obedience ? Nay, let me tell
you more, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, hath purchased both justi-
fication and eternal life by his perfect obedience to the law of works,
and hath freely given it to you, as it is written, Acts xiii. 39, " By
him all that believe are justified for all things, from which ye could
not be justified by the law of Moses:" and, " Verily, verily," says
our Saviour, " he that believeth in me hath everlasting life," John
vi. 47.
Neo. And I pray you, sir, what does the law of works threaten,
in case of man's disobedience unto it ?
Evan. Why, the penalty which the law of works, in that case,
threatens, is condemnation and death eternal : and this you have no
cause at all to fear, in case of your most defective obedience ; for
no man hath any cause to fear the penalty of that law which he
q Namely, how to improve these points of doctrine in my practice. There lies the
great difficulty ; and according as unbelief or faith has the ascendant, so will the soul
in practice carry itself; confessing, begging pardon, fasting, mourning, and humbling
itself either as a condemned malefactor, or as an offending child.
352 THE MAKROW OF
lives not under. Surely a man that lives under the laws of Eng-
land, has no cause to fear the penalties of the laws of Spain or
France : Even so you, that now live under the law of Christ, have
cause to fear the penalties of the law of works, r Nay, the lawof
works is dead to you ; and therefore you have no more cause to fear
the threats thereof, than a living wife has to fear the threats of her
dead husband ; nay, than a dead wife has to fear the threats of a
dead husband, s Nay, let me say yet more, Jesus Christ, by his
condemation and death upon the cross, has delivered you and set
you free from condemnation and eternal death ; as it is written,
Rom. viii. 1. " There is therefore now no condemnation to them
that are in Christ Jesus." And, says Christ himself, John xi. 26,
" Whosoever liveth, and believeth in me, shall never die."
And thus you see your freedom and liberty from the law, as it is
the law of works. And that you may be the better enabled to
" stand fast in this liberty, wherewith Christ has made you free ;"
beware of conceiving that the Lord now stands in any relation to
you, or will any deal with you as a man under that law. So that if
the Lord shall be pleased hereafter to bestow upon you a great
measure of faith, whereby you shall be enabled to yield an exact
and perfect obedience to the mind and will of God ; t then beware
of conceiving that the Lord looks upon it as obedience to the law of
works, or will in any measure reward you for it, according to the
promises of that law. And if in case at any time hereafter, you
be, by reason of weakness of your faith, and strength of tempta-
tion, drawn aside, and prevailed with to swerve from the mind and
Avill of the Lord, then beware of conceiving that the Lord sees it as
any transgression of the law of works. For if you cannot trans-
gress that law, then it is impossible the Lord should see that which
is not : and if the Lord can see no sin in you, as a transgression of
the law of works, then it is impossible that he should either be
angry with you, or correct you for any sin, as it is a transgression
of that law. No, to speak with holy reverence, as I said before,
r See pages 250, note s, and 251, note u. " The law, as it condemneth and curseth,
is to the believer a mere passive and a naked stander-by, and has no activity, nor can
it act in that power upon any in Christ ; as the law of Spain is merely passive in con-
demning a free-born man in Scotland." — Rutherford's Spirit Antichrist, p. 87. " The
law being fully satisfied by Christ, it neither condemueth, nor can it condemn, to
eternal sufferings, for that is removed from the law to all that are in Christ." — Ibid.
s For, according to the Scripture, the believer is dead to the law, and the law is
dead to the believer; namely, as it is the law of the covenant of works. See page 24 7,
note k, and pages 248, 249.
* Exact and perfect, comparatively, not absolutely. See pages 344, 345.
MODERN DIVINIT?. 353
the Lord cannot, by virtue of the covenant of works, either require
any obedience of you, or give you an angry look, or an angry word ;
much less threaten and afflict you for any disobedience to that
covenant, u And therefore, whensoever your conscience shall tell
you, that you have broken any of the ten commandments, do not
conceive that the Lord looks upon you as an angry Judge, armed
with justice against you ; much less do you fear that he will execute
his justice upon you, according to the penalty of that covenant, in un-
justifying of you, or depriving you of your heavenly inheritance, and
giving you your portion in hell fire. No, assure yourself that your
God iu Christ will never unson you, nor unspouse you : no, nor yet,
as touching your justification and eternal salvation, will he love
you ever a whit the less, though you commit ever so many or
great sins; for this is a certain truth, that as no good either in
you, or done by you, did move him to justify you, and give you eter-
nal life, so no evil in you, or done by you, can move him to take it
away from you, being once given, v And therefore believe it whilst
u See page 295, note q.
v The author speaks expressly of the love of God, touching believers' justification,
and eternal salvation, which, according to the Scripture, he reckons to be given theua
already. And he asserts, That as no good in them, or done by them, did move him
to love them, so as to justify them, and give them eternal life, so no evil in them, or
done by them, shall lessen that love, as to their justification and eternal salvation;
that is, as himself explains it, move bun to take eternal life (which includes justifica-
tion) away from them, being once given. This is most firm truth : howbeit, the more
and the greater the sins of a believer are, he may lay his account with the more and
the greater effects of God's fatherly indignation against him ; and the corruption of "u-
man nature makes the adding of such a clause in such a case very necessary. What our
author here advances, is evident from the holy Scripture. Psal. lxxxix. 30 — 24, " If
bis children forsake my law, and walk not in my judgments, if they break my statutes, and
keep not my commandments, then will I visit their transgression with the rod, and their
iniquity with stripes : nevertheless, my loving-kindness will I utterly take from him ;
nor suffer my faithfulness to fail ; my covenant will I not break; nor alter the thing
that is gone out of my lips." And to deny it, is in effect to affirm that God loves be-
lievers, as touching their justification and eternal salvation, for their holiness ; con-
trary to Tit. iii. 5, " Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but accord-
ing to his mercy, he saved us." Rom. vi. 23, " The wages of sin is death, but the
gift of God is eternal life, through Jesus Christ our Lord." And that that love of his
to them changeth according to the variations of their frame and walk ; contrary to
Rom. xi. 29, " The gifts and calling of God are without repentance." But while the
doctrine of the perseverance of the saints stands, viz. That true believers can neither
fall away totally, nor finally, neither from relative grace, nor from inherent grace, our
author's doctrine on this point must stand also ; and the sins of believers how great or
many soever they be, can never be of that kind which is inconsistent with a state of
grace, nor of another than that of infirmities. See p. 300, note z. And how low
soever grace is brought in the soul of a believer at any time, through the prevalence
of temptation, yet can he never altogether lose his inherent holiness, nor can be at any
354 THE MARROW OF
you live, that as the Lord first loved you freely, so will he here-
after " heal your backslidings, and still love you freely," Hos.
xiv. 4. Yea, " he will love you unto the end," John xiii. 1. And
although the Lord does express the fruits of his anger towards you,
in chastising and afflicting of you, yet do not imagine that your
afflictions are penal, proceeding from hatred, and vindictive justice ;
and so as payments and satisfaction for sins ; and so as the begin-
ning of eternal tormeuts in hell ; for you being, as you have heard,
freed from the law of works, and so consequently from sinning
against it, must needs likewise be freed from all wrath, anger,
miseries, calamities, afflictions, yea, and from death itself, a.siu fruits
and effects of any transgression against that covenant.
And therefore you are never to confess your sins nnto the Lord,
as though you conceived them to have been committed against the
law of works : and so making you liable to God's everlasting wrath,
and hell-fire ; neither must you crave pardon and forgiveness for
them, that thereupon you may escape that penalty ; neither do you
either fast, or weep, or mourn, or humble yourself, from any belief
that you shall thereby satisfy the justice of God, and appease his
wrath, either in whole or in part, and so escape his everlasting ven-
geance. For if you be not under the law of works, and if the Lord
time " live after the flesh." For, according to the Scripture, that is not the spot of
God's children ; but he who so lives, neither is, nor ever was, one or them. Rom. vi.
2, 14, " How shall we that are dead to sin, live any longer therein ? — Sin shall not
have dominion over you, for ye are not under the law but under grace." Chap,
viii. 1, " Them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the
Spirit." See ver. 4 ; 1 John iii. 9, " Whosoever is born of God doth not commit
sin ; for his seed remaineth in him, and he cannot sin, because he is born of God."
" God foresaw what infirmities thou wouldst have, before he gave Christ this com-
mission ; and Christ forsaw them before his acceptance of the charge. If their pre-
science could not stop God in his gift, nor cool Christ in his acceptance — why should
it now? While they do continue, the love of God to thee is not hindered by them."
— Charnock, vol. ii. p. 749. m
" Observe a twofold distinction : 1st. Between God's love in itself, and the mani-
festation of it to us. That is perpetual and one — without change, increase, or lessen-
ing ; — but the manifestation of this love — is variable, according to — our more or less
careful exercise of piety. 2d, Between God's love to our persons, and God's love to
our qualities and actions. A distinction which God well knows how to make. — Pa-
rents, I am sure, are well skilled in putting this difference between the vices and per-
sons of their children ; those they hate, these they love ; — The case is alike between
God and the elect ; his love to their persons is from everlasting the same. Nor doth
their sinfulness lessen it, nor their sanctity increase it ; because God in loving their
persons, never considered them otherwise than as most perfectly holy and unblameable
in Christ."— Pemble's Works, p. 23.
w Thev are.
MODERN DIVINITY. 355
see no sin in you as a transgression of that law, aud be neither
angry with you, nor afflict you for any sin, as it is a transgression
of that law, then consequently you have no need either to confess
your sins, or crave pardon for them, or fast, or weep, or mourn, or
humble yourself for your sins, as conceiving them to be any trans-
gression of the law of works, x
Neo. Well, sir, you have fully satisfied me on this point; and
therefore I pray yon proceed to show what is that reward which the
law of Christ promises, which you said I might hope for, in case of
my obedience thereunto ?
Evan. "Why, the reward which (I conceive) the law of Christ
promises to believers, aud which they may hope for, answerably to
their obedience to it,?/ is a comfortable being in the enjoyment of
sweet communion with God and Christ, even in the time of this
life, and a freedom from afflictions both spiritual and corporal, so
far forth as they are fruits and effects of sin, as it is any transgres-
sion of the law of Christ, z For you know that so long as a child
does yield obedience to his father's commands, and does nothing that
is displeasing to him, if he love his child, he will carry himself
lovingly and kindly towards him, and suffer him to be familiar with
him, and will not whip and scourge him for his disobedience. Even
so, if you unfeiguedly desire and endeavour to be obedient unto the
will and mind of your Father in Christ; in doing that which he
commands, and avoiding that which he forbids, both in your general
aud particular calling ; and to the end that you may please him ;
theu answerably as you do so, your Father will smile upon you,
when you shall draw near to him in prayer, or any other of his own
ordinances ; and manifest his sweet presence and loving favour to-
wards you ; and exempt you from all outward calamities, except in
case of trial of your faith and patience, or the like ; as it is written,
2 Chron. xv. 2. " The Lord is with you, while ye are with him ;
and if ye seek him, he will be found of you." And so the apostle
James says, Jam. iv. 8, " Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh
to you." And 0, says the Lord, " that my people had hearkened
unto me, and Israel had walked in my ways ! he should have fed
them with the finest of the wheat, and with the honey out of the
rock should I have satisfied thee," Psal. Ixxxi. 13, 16. And this
.r See page 349, note o.
y Though not for their obedience, but for Christ's obedience.
z I read the last word of this sentence, Christ, not works, judging it plain, that the
latter is a press error. See the last clause of Neophitus's speech above, and the rea-
son here immediately following, with the first paragraph, page 357.
356 THE MARROW OF
may suffice to have shown you what you may hope for, answerably
to your obedience to the law of Christ.
Neo. Then, sir, I pray you proceed to show what i3 the penalty
which the law of Christ threatens, and which I am to fear, if I
transgress that law ?
Evan. The penalty which the law of Christ threatens to you, if
you transgress the law of Christ, and which you are to fear, is the
want of near and sweet communion with God in Christ, even in the
time of this life, and a liableness to all temporal afflictions, as fruits
and effects of the transgressing of that law. a
a An awful penalty, if rightly understood ! as comprehending all manner of strokes
and afflictions on the outward and inner man, called by our author "temporal and
spiritual afflictions on the outward man ;" not to speak of the reproach, dis-
grace, and contempt, successless labour and toil, poverty, misery, want, and the like,
which the believer is liable to for his disobedience, as well as others. His sins lay
him open to the whole train of maladies, pains, torments, sores, diseases, and plagues,
incident to sinful flesh ; by which he may become a burden to himself and others.
Aud these may be inflicted on him. not only by the hand of God, but by the hand of
the devil ; as appears in the case of Job. Yea, and the Lord may, in virtue of this
penalty annexed to the law, pursue the controversy with the offending believer even to
death ; so that his natural life may go in the cause of his transgression, 1 Cor. xi. 30,
32. To this may be added the marks of God's indignation against his sin, set upon
his relations ; witness the disorders, mischiefs, and strokes on David's family, for his
6in in the matter of Uriah, more bitter than death, 2 Sain. xii. 10 — 14. chap. xiii.
and xv. In the inner man, by virtue of the same penalty, he is liable for his trans-
gression, to be deprived of the comfort, sense, exercise, and some measure of his
graces ; of his sense of God's love, his peace, joy, actual communion with God, and
access to him in duties; to be brought under desertion, hiding of God's face, with-
drawing of the light of the Lord's countenance ; and left to walk in darkness, to go
mourning without the sun, and to cry and shout, while the Lord shutteth out his
prayer ; to be thrown into agonies of conscience, pierced with the arrows of the Al-
mighty in his spirit, compassed about and distracted with the terrors of God, seized
with the fearful apprehensions of God's revenging wrath against him, anil thereby
brought unto the brink of absolute despair. Besides all this, he is liable to the buffet-
ings of Satan, and horrid temptations; and, for the punishment of one sin, to be suf-
fered to fall into another. And all these may, in virtue of the penalty annexed to the
law in the hand of Christ, meet in the case of the offending believer, together and at
once. Thus, howbeit God nowhere threatens to cast believers in Christ into hell, yet
he both threatens and often executes the casting of a hell into them, for their provoca-
tions.
Only, the revenging wrath and curse of God are no part of the penalty to believers
in Christ, according to the truth and our author. But whether or not this penalty, as
it is without these, leaves the most holy and awful law of the great God, and our Savi-
our Jesus Christ, most base and despicable, the sober minded reader will easily judge
for himself.
" The one, (viz. justification) doth equally free all believers from the revenging
wrath of God, and that perfectly in this life." — Larger Cat. q. 77. " They can
never fall from the state of justification, yet they may, by their sins, fall under God's
MODERN DIVINITY 357
Wherefore, when you shall hereafter transgress any of the ten
commandments, you are to know that you have thereby transgressed
the law of Christ, and that the Lord sees it, and is angry with it,
with a fatherly anger; and, if need be, will chastise you, (1 Pet. i.
6.) either with temporal or spiritual afflictions, or both. And this
your heavenly Father will do in love to you ; eithe" to bring your
sins to remembrance, as he did the sins of Joseph's brethren, (Gen.
xlii. 21.) and as the widow of Zarephath confesseth concerning her-
self, (1 Kings xvii. 18.) or else " to purge or take away your sins,"
according to that which the Lord says, Isa. xxvii. 9, "By this
therefore shall the iniquity of Jacob be purged, and this is all the
fruit, even the taking away of sin." " For indeed," says Mr. Cul-
verwell, " afflictions, through God's blessing, are made special means
to purge out that sinful curruption which is still in the nature of
believers; and therefore are they, in Scripture, most aptly com-
pared to medicines, for so they are indeed to all God's children,
most sovereign medicines to cure all their spiritual diseases. And
indeed we have all of us great need thereof; for as Luther, on the
Galatians, p. 66, truly says, " We are not yet perfectly righteous ;
for whilst we remain in this life, sin dwells still in the flesh, and
this remnant of sin God purgeth." " Wherefore," says the sarao
Luther in another place, b " When God hath remitted sins, and re-
ceived a man into the bosom of grace, then doth he lay on him all
kind of afflictions, and doth scour and renew him from day to day."
And to the same purpose, Tindal truly says, " If we look on the
flesh, and into the law, there is no man so perfect that is not found
a sinner; nor no man so pure, that hath not need to be purged.
And thus doth the Lord chastise believers to heal their natures, by
purging out the corruption that remains therein."
And therefore, whensoever you shall hereafter feel the Lord's
chastening hand upon you, let it move you to take the prophet
Jeremiah's counsel, that is, to " search and try your ways, and turn
fatherly displeasure, and not have the light of his countenance restored unto them,
until they humble themselves, confess their sins, beg pardon, and renew their faith
and repentance. ' — JFest. Confess, chap. xi. art. v. " They may — fall into grievous
sins, aud for a time continue therein, whereby they incur God's displeasure, and grieve
his holy Spirit, come to be deprived of some measure of their graces and comfort.-,
have their hearts hardened, and their consciences wounded ; hurt and scandalize
others, and bring temporal judgments upon themselves." — lb. chap. 17. art. 3.
" The threatenings serve to show what even^their sins deserve ; and what afflictions,
in this life, they may expect for them, although freed from the curse thereof threat-
ened in the law." — lb. chap. 19. art. 6. See page 331, note k.
b Chos. Sermons, Serm. Of the Kingdom of God, page 120.
358 THE MARROW OF
unto the Lord," (Lam. iii. 40,) and confess your sins unto him, say-
ing, with the prodigal, (Luke xv. 21,) " Father, I have sinned
against heaven, and in thy sight, and am no more worthy to be
called thy son ;" and beg pardon and forgiveness at his hands, as
you are taught in the fifth petition of the Lord's prayer, Matth. vi.
12. Yet do not you crave pardon and forgiveness at the hands of
the Lord, as a malefactor doth at the hands of a judge, that feareth
condemnation and death, as though you had sinned against the law
of works, and therefore feared hell and damnation ; but do you beg
pardon and forgiveness as a child doth at the hands of his loving
father ; as feeling the fruits of his fatherly anger, in his chastising
hand upon you : and as fearing the continuance and augmentation
of the same : c if your sin be not both pardoned and subdued :
and therefore do you also beseech your loving Father to sub-
due your iniquities, according to his promise, Micah vii. 19. And
if you find not that the Lord hath heard your prayers, by your
feeling your iniquities subdued, d then join with your prayers,
fasting and weeping, if you can ; that so you may be the more seri-
ously humbled before the Lord, and more fervent in prayer. And
this, I hope, may be sufficient to have showed you what is the pen-
alty Avhich the law of Christ threatens.
Neo. 0, but, sir, I should think myself a happy man, if I could
be so obedient to the law of Christ, that he might have no need to
inflict this penalty upon me.
Evan. You say very well ; but yet, whilst you carry this body of
sin about you, do the best you can, there will be need that the Lord
should, now and then, give you some fatherly corrections : but yet,
this let me tell you, the more perfect your obedience is, the fewer
lashes you shall have ; " for the Lord doth not afflict willingly, nor
grieve the children of men," Lam. iii. 33. And therefore, accord-
ing to my former exhortation, and your resolution, be careful to ex-
ercise your faith, and use all means to increase it ; that so it may
become effectual e working by love. 1 Thess. i. 3; Gal. v. 6. For,
according to the measure of your faith, will be your true love to
Christ and to his commandments; and according to your love to
them, will be your delight in them, and your aptness and readiness
to do them. And hence it is that Christ himself says, John xiv. 15,
" If ye love me, keep my commandments :" and this is the love of
c Matt. vi. 9, 12, " After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in
heaven forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors."
d The subduing of sin is the mark of God's hearing prayer for the pardon of it ; if
one feels not his iniquity subdued, he cannot find that God hath heard his prayers for
pardon.
e To the producing of holy obedience, according to the measure and degree of it.
MODERN DIVINITY. 359
God, says that loving disciple, " that we keep his commandments,
and his commandments are not grievous ;" 1 John v. 3. Nay, the
truth is, if you have this love in your hearts, it will be grievous
unto you, that you cannot keep them as you would. 0, if this love
do abound in your heart, it will cause you to say with godly Joseph,
in case you be tempted as he was, " How can I do this great wicked-
ness, and so sin against God ?" How can I do that which I know
■will displease so gracious a Father, and so merciful a Saviour ?
No, I will not do it ; no, I cannot do it : no, you will rather say
with the Psalmist, " I delight to do thy will, my God ! yea thy
law is within my heart," Psalm xl. 8.
Nay, let me tell you more, if this love of God in Christ be truly,
and in any good measure rooted in your heart ; then, though the
chastising hand of the Lord be not upon you, nay, though the Lord
do no way express any anger towards you, yet if you but consider
the Lord's ways towards you, and your ways towards him, you will
mourn with a gospel-mourning, reasoning with yourself after this
manner : And was I under the law or works by nature, and so, for
every transgression against any of the ten commandments, made
liable to everlasting damnation ? and I am now, through the free
mercy and love of God in Christ, brought under the law of Christ,
and so subject to no other penalty for my transgressions, but fa-
therly and loving chastisements, which tend to the purging out of
that sinful corruption that is in me ? what a loving Father is
this ! what a gracious Saviour is this ! what a wretched man
am I, to transgress the laws of such a good God, as he hath been to
me ! the due consideration of this will even, as it were, melt
your heart, and cause your eyes to drop with the tears of godly sor-
row ! yea, the due consideration of these things will cause you to
" lothe yourself in your own sight for yoar transgressions," (Ezek.
xxxvi.- 31.) yea, not only to lothe yourself for them, but also to
leave them, saying with Ephraim, " What have I to do any more
with idols?" (Hos. xiv. 8.) and to " cast them away as a menstruous
cloth, saying unto them, get ye hence," Isa. xxx. 22. And truly
you will desire nothing more, than that you might so live, as that
you might never sin against the Lord any more. And this is that
" goodness of God which," as the apostle says, " leadeth to repent-
ance ;" yea, this is that goodness of God which will lead you to a
free obedience. So that if you do but apply the goodness of God in
Christ to your soul, in any good measure, then will you answerably
yield obedience to the law of Christ, not only without having respect
either to what the law of works either promiseth or threateneth; but
also without having respect to what the law of Christ either pro-
360 THE MARROW OP
miseth or threateneth ; you will do that which the Lord command-
eth, only because he commandeth it, and to the end that you may
please him ; and you will forbear when he forbids, only because he
forbids it, to the end that you may not displease him./ And this
f The author doth here no otherwise exhort the believer to yield free obedience,
without respect to what either the law of works, or the law of Christ, promises or
threatens, than he exhorts him to perfection of obedience, which, in the beginning of
this answer, he told him not to be attainable in this life. And the truth is, neither
the one nor the other is the design of these words. But he had exhorted him before,
to use all means to increase his faith ; and for his encouragement, he tells him here,
that if he by faith applied the goodness of God in Christ to his own soul, in any good
measure, then he would, answerably, yield obedience, without respect to what either
the law of works, or the law of Christ promises or threatens, and only because God
commands or forbids. The freeness of obedience is of very different degrees ; and
believers' obedience is never absolutely free, till it be absolutely perfect in heaven ;
but the freeness of their obedience will always bear proportion to the measure of their
faith which is never perfect in this life : thus, the more faith, the more freeness of
obedience, and the less faith, the less of that freeness. See page 219, note e.
" The believer obeys with an angel-like obedience ; then the Spirit seems to
exhaust all the commanding awsomness of the law, and supplies the law's imperious
power, with the strength and power of love." — Rutherford's Spirit. Antichrist, p. 318.
" The more of the Spirit (because the Spirit is essentially free, Psalm li. 12 ; 2 Cor.
iii. 17.) the more freeness; and the more freeness, the more renewed will in the obe-
dience; and the more renewed will, the less constraint, because freeness exhausteth
constraint." — Ibid.
" When Christ's blood is seen by faith to quiet justice, then the conscience be-
comes quiet also, and will not suffer the heart to entertain the love of sin, but sets the
man on work to fear God for his mercy, and obey all his commandments, out of love
to God, for his free gift of justification, by grace bestowed upon him ; for '' this is the
end of the law" indeed, whereby it obtaineth of a man more obedience than any other
way." Pract. Use of Sav. Knowledge, tit. The Third Thing Requisite, iS'c.fig. 7.
Promises and threatenings are not, by this doctrine, annexed to the holy law in
vain, even with respect to believers; for the law of God is, in his infinite wisdom,
suited to the state of the creature, to whom it is given : and therefore, howbeit the
believer's eternal happiness is unalterably secured from the moment of his union with
Christ by faith ; yet, since sin dwells in hiro still while in this world, the promises of
fatherly smiles, and threatenings of fatherly chastisements, are still necessary. But it
is evident that this necessity is entirely founded on the believer's imperfection; as in
case of a child under age. And therefore, although his being influenced to obedience
by the promises and threatenings of the law of Christ, is not indeed slavish, yet it is
plainly childish, not agreeing to the state of a perfect man, of one come unto the
measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ. And, in the state of perfection, he
shall yield such free obedience as the angels do in heaven, without being moved
thereto by any promises or threatenings at all : and the nearer he comes in his pro-
gress to that state of peifection, the more will his obedience be of that nature. So
by the doctrine here advanced, the author dotb no more disown the necessity of pro-
mises to influence and encourage the believer's obedience, nor say, that he ought not
to have regard to promises and threatenings, than one is to be reckoned to say, that a
MODERN DIVINITY. 361
obedience is like unto that which our Saviour exhorts his disciples
unto, (Matt. x. 8.) saying, "Freely you have received, freely give."
And this is to " serve the Lord without fear" of any penalty, which
either the law of works or the law of Christ threateneth, " in holi-
ness and righteousness all the days of your life," according to that
saying of Zacharias, g Luke i. 74, 7-3. And this is to " pass the
time of your sojourning here, in fear" to offend the Lord, by sin-
ning against him; as the apostle Peter exhorts, 1 Pet. i. 17- Yea,
and this is to "serve God acceptably, with reverence and godly
fear;" as the author to the Hebrews exhorts, Heb. xii. 28. And
thus, my dear friend Neophitus, I have endeavoured, according to
your desire, to give you ray judgment and direction in these points.
Neo. And truly, sir, your have done it very effectually; the Lord
enable me to practise according to your direction !
§ 12. Nom. Sir, in this your answer to his question, you have
also answered me, and given me full satisfaction in divers points,
about which my friend Antinomista and I have had many a wrang-
ling fit. For I used to affirm with tooth and nail, (as men use to
say) that believers are under the law, and not delivered from it ; and
that they do sin, and that Grod sees it, and is angry with them, and
doth afflict them for it, and that therefore they ought to humble them-
selves, and mourn for their sins, and confess them, and crave pardon
for them ; and yet truly, I must confess, I did not understand what
I said, nor whereof I affirmed ; and the reason was, because I did
not know the difference betwixt the law, as it is the law of works,
and as it is the law of Christ.
Ant. And believe me, sir, I used to affirm, as earnestly as he, that
believers are delivered from the law, and therefore do not sin ; and
therefore God can see no sin in them ; and therefore is neither angry
with them, nor does afflict them for sin : and therefore they have
no need either to humble themselves, or mourn, or confess their
sins, or beg pardon for them ; the which I believing to be true,
could not conceive how the contrary could be true also. But now I
plainly see that by means of your distinguishing betwixt the law, as
it is the law of works, and as it is the law of Christ, there is a
truth in both. And therefore, friend Nomista, whensoever either
you, or any man else, shall hereafter affirm, that believers are under
the law, and do sin; and God sees it, and is angry with them, and
does chastise them for it; and that they humble themselves, mourn,
lame man has no need of, and should not have regard unto the crutches provided for
him; when he only says, That the stronger his limbs grow, he will have the less need
of them, and will lean the less on them.
g See the preceding note.
Vol. VII. z
362 THE MARROW OP
weep, and confess their sins, and beg pardon for them : if you mean
only, as they are under the law of Christ, I will agree with you, and
never contradict you again.
Nom. And, truly friend Antinomista, if either you, or any man
else, shall hereafter affirm, that believers are delivered from the law,
and do not sin, and God sees no sin in them, nor is angry with
them, nor afflicts them for their sins, and that they have no need
either to humble themselves, mourn, confess, or crave pardon for
their sins, if you mean it only as they are not under the law of works,
I will agree with you, and never contradict you again.
Evan. I rejoice to hear you speak these words each to other :
and truly, now I am in hope that you two will come back from both
your extremes, and meet my neighbour Neophitus in the golden
mean ; having, as the apostle says, " the same love, being of one
accord, and of one mind."
Nom. Sir, for my own part, I thank the Lord I do now plainly
see, that I have erred exceedingly, in seeking to be justified, " as it
were, by the works of the law." h And yet could I never be per-
suaded to it before this day ; and indeed should not have been per-
suaded to it now, had not you so plainly and fully handled this
threefold law. And truly, sir, I do now unfeignedly desire to re-
nounce myself, and all that ever I have done, and by faith to adhere
only to Jesus Christ; for now I see that he is all in all. that
the Lord would enable me so to do ! And I beseech you, sir, pray
for me.
Ant. And truly, sir, I must needs confess, that I have erred as
much on the other hand ; for I have been so far from seeking to be
justified by the works of the law, that I have neither regarded law
nor works. But now I see mine error ; I purpose (God willing) to
reform it.
Evan. The Lord grant that you may.
§ 13. But how do you, neighbour Neophitus ? for methinks you
look very heavily.
Neo. Truly, sir, I was thinking of that place of Scripture, where
the apostle exhorts us " to examine ourselves whether we be in the
faith, or no," 2 Cor. xiii. 5; whereby it seems to me, that a man
h This Scriptural phrase is here aptly used, to intimate how men deceive themselves,
thinking they are far from seeking to be justified by the works of the law, because they
are convinced they cannot do good works in the perfection which the law requires :
meanwhile, since God is merciful, and Christ hath died, they look for the pardon of
their sins, and acceptance with God, upon the account of their own works, though at-
tended with some imperfections ; that is, " as it were, by the works of the law,
Rom. ix. 32.
• MODERN DIVINITY. 363
may think he is in the faith, when lie is not. Therefore, sir, I would
gladly hear how I may be sure that I am in the faith.
Evan. I would not have you to make any question of it, since you
have grounded your faith upon such a firm foundation as will never
fail you ; for the promise of God in Christ is of a tried truth, and
never yet failed any man, nor ever will, i Therefore I would have
you to close with Christ in the promise, without making any question
whether you are in the faith or no ; for there is an assurance which
rises from the exercise of faith by a direct act, and that is, when a
man, by faith, directly lays hold upon Christ, and concludes assur-
from thence, k
Neo. Sir, I know that the foundation whereon I am to ground
my faith remains sure ; and I think I have already built thereon ;
but yet, because I conceive a man may think he has done so, when
he has not, therefore would I fain know how I may be assured that
I have so done ? I
i This answer proceeds upon taking Neophitus to speak, not of the grace, but of
the doctrine of faith ; namely, the foundation of faith, or ground of believing; as if
he had desired to know whether the foundation of his faith was the true foundation of
faith, or not. This is plain from the two following paragraphs : And upon the suppo-
sition that he had grounded his faith on the promise of the gospel, the tried foundation
of faith, the author tells him, he would not have him make a question of that, having han-
dled that question already at great length, and answered all his and Nomista's objections
on the head, from p. 254, to 284, where Neophitus declared himself satisfied. And there
is no inconsistency betwixt the author's advice in this case given to Neophitus, and the
advice given in the text last cited unto the Corinthians, unreasonably and peevishly
demanding a proof of Christ speaking in the apostle. Whether, with several judicious
critics and commentators, we understand that text concerning the doctrine of faith, as if
the apostle put them to try whether they retained the true doctrine or not ; or, which
is the common and (I think) the true understanding of it, concerning the grace of
faith; I see nothing here determining our author's opinion, as to the sense of it; but
whether he seems here to be against self-examination, especially after he had urged
that duty on Antinomista, and answered his objections against it, let the candid reader
judge.
h See the note on the Definition of faith.
" The assurance of Christ's righteousness is a direct act of faith, apprehending im-
puted righteousness : the evidence of our justification we now speak of is the reflex
light, not by which we are justified, but by which we know that we are justified." —
Rutherford's Christ Dying and drawing, p. 111. "We had never a question with
Antinomians touching the first assurance of justification, such as is proper to the light
of faith. He might have spared all his arguments to prove, that we are first assured of
our justification by faith, not by good works, for we graut the arguments of one sort
of assurance, which is proper to faith ; and they prove nothing against another sort of
assurance, by signs and effects, which is also divine." — Ibid. p. 110.
I A good reason why this assurance, in or by'the direct act of faith, is to be tried
by marks and signs. There is certainly a persuasion that " cometh not of him that
called us ;" which obliges men to examine their persuasion, whether it be of the right
sort or not.
z2
364 THE MARROW OF
Evan. Well, now I understand you what you mean ; it seems you
do not want a ground for your believing, but for your believing that
you have believed, m
Neo. Yea, Indeed, that is the thing I want.
Evan. Why, the next way to find out and know this is to look
back and reflect upon your own heart, and consider what actions
have passed through there ; for indeed this is the benefit that a rea-
sonable soul has, that it is able to return upon itself, to see what it
has done ; which the soul of the beast cannot do. Consider, then, I
pray you, that you have been convinced in your spirit that you are
a sinful man, and therefore have feared the Lord's wrath and
eternal damnation in hell ; and you have been convinced that there
is no help for you at all in yourself, by any thing that you can do ;
and you heard it plainly proved, that " Jesus Christ alone is an all-
sufficient help ; and the free and full promise of God in Christ has
been made so plain and clear to you, that you had nothing to ob-
ject why Christ did not belong to you in particular ; n and you have
perceived a willingness in Christ to receive you, and embrace you
as his beloved spouse ; and you have thereupon consented and re-
solved to take Christ, and give yourself unto him, whatsoever be-
tides you ; and I am persuaded you have thereupon felt a secret
persuasion in your heart, that God in Christ doth bear a love to
you ; o and answerably your heart hath been inflamed towards him
in love again, manifesting itself in an unfeigned desire to be obe-
dient and subject to his will in all things, and never to displease
him in any thing. Now tell me, I pray you, (and truly) whether
you have not found these things in you, as I have said ?
Neo. Yea, indeed, I hope I have in some measure.
Evan. Then I tell you truly, you have a sure ground to lay your
believing that you have believed upon ; and, as the apostle John
says, "Hereby you may know that you are of the truth, and may
assure your heart thereof before God." 1 John iii. 19.
Neo. Surely, sir, this I can truly say, that heretofore, when I
have thought upon my sins, I have conceived of God and Christ, as
of a wrathful judge that would condemn all unrighteous men to
eternal death, and therefore, wfien I have thought upon the day of
judgment, and hell torments, I have even trembled for fear, and
have, as it were, even hated God. And though I have laboured to
become righteous, that I might escape his wrath, yet all that I did,
m This is called assurance by a reflex act.
n In virtue of the deed of gift and grant. See the note on the Definition of
Faith.
o See page 279, note k.
MODERN DIVINITY. 365
I did it unwillingly. But since I have heard you make it so plain,
that a sinner that sees and feels his sins is to conceive of God, as of
a merciful, loving, and forgiving father in Christ, that hath commit-
ted all judgment to his Son, who came not to condemn men but to
save them ; methinks I do not now fear his wrath, but do rather
apprehend his love towards me ; whereupon my heart is inflamed
towards him, with such love, that, methinks, I would willingly
do or suffer any thing that I knew would please him; and would
rather choose to suffer any misery than I would do any thing that
I knew were displeasing to him.
Evan. We read in the seventh chapter of St. Luke's Gospel, that
when that sinful yet believing woman did manifest her faith in
Christ by her love to him, in " washing his feet with her tears, and
wiping them with the hairs of her head, (verse 38.) he said unto
Simon the Pharasee, (verse 47.) " I say unto thee, her sins, which are
so many, are forgiven her, for she loved much ;" even so I may say
unto you, Nomista, in the same words, concerning our neighbour
Neophitus. And to you yourself, Neophitus, I say, as Christ said
unto the woman, (verses 48 — 50.) " Thy sins are forgiven thee, thy
faith hath saved thee, go in peace."
Ant. But I pray you, sir, is not this his reflecting upon himself to
find out a ground to lay his believing that he hath believed upon, a
turning back from the covenant of grace to the covenant of works,
and from Christ to himself?
Evan. Indeed, if he should look upon these things in himself, and
thereon conclude, that because he has done this, God had accepted
of him, and justified him, and will save him, and so make them the
ground of his believing ; this were to turn back from the covenant
of grace to the covenant of works, and from Christ to himsolf. But
if he looks upon these things in himself, and thereupon conclude,
that because these things are in his heart, Christ dwells there by
faith, and therefore he is accepted of God, and justified, and shall
certainly be saved, and so make them an evidence of his believing,
or the ground of his believing that he has believed ; this is neither
to turn back from the covenant of grace to the covenant of works,
nor from Christ to himself. So that these things in his heart being
the daughters of faith, and the offspring of Christ, though they can-
not at first produce, or bring forth their mother, yet they may in
time of need nourish her.
§ 14. Nom. But, I pray you, sir, are there not other things be-
sides these, that he says he finds in himself, that a man may look
upon as evidences of his believing, or, as you call them, as grounds
to believe that he has believed ?
3G6 THE MARROW OF
Evan. Yea, indeed, there are divers other effects of faith, which
if a man have in him truly, he may look upon them as evidences
that he hath truly believed ; and I will name three of them unto
you:
"Whereof the first is, when a man truly loves the word of God,
and makes a right use of it ; and this a man does, 1st, when he
lfungers and thirsts after the word, as after the food of his soul, de-
siring it at all times, even as he does his " appointed p food," Job
xxiii. 12. Secondly when he desires and delights to exercise himself
therein day and night, that is, constantly, Psalm i. 2. Thirdly, When
he receives the word of God as the word of God, and not as the
word of man, 1 Thess. ii. 13 : setting his heart, in the time of hear-
ing or reading it, as in God's presence ; and being affected with it,
as if the Lord himself should speak unto him ; being most affected
with that ministry, or that portion of God's word, which shows him
his sins, and searches out his most secret corruptions ; denying his
own reason and affections ; yea, and his profits and pleasures, in
any thing, when the Lord shall require it of him. Fourthly, This a
man does, when he makes the word of God to be his chief comfort
in the time of his afflictions ; finding it, at that time, to be the main
stay and solace of his heart, Psalm cxix. 49, 50.
The second evidence is, when a man truly loves the children of
God, 1 John v. 1 ; that is, all godly and religious persons, above all
other sorts of men ; and that is, when he loves them not for carnal
respects, but for the graces of God which he sees in them, 2 John 1,
2 ; 3 John 1. And when he delights in their society and company,
aud makes them his only companions, (Psalm cxix. 63.) and when
his well-doing (to his power) extends itself to them, Psalm xvi. 3.
In being pitiful and tender-hearted towards them, and in gladly re-
ceiving of them, and communicating to their necessities with a ready
mind, (Philem. 7 ; 1 John iii. 17.) And when he has not the glori-
ous faith of Christ in " respect of persons," (James ii. 1, 2,) but can
make himself equal to them of the lower sort, (Rom. xii. 16) ; and
when he loves them at all times, even when they are in adversity,
as poverty, disgrace, sickness, or otherwise in misery.
The third evidence is, when a man can truly love his enemies,
Matth. vi. 14. And that he does, when he can pray heartily for
them, and forgive them their particular trespasses against him ;
being more grieved for that they have sinned against God than for
that they have wronged him ; and when he can forbear them, and yet
could be revenged of them, either by bringing shame and misery upon
p So the margent reads it.
MODERN DIVINITY. 367
tliem, (1 Pet. iii. 9 ; Rom. xii. 14,) and when he strives to over-
come their evil with goodness, being willing to help them, and re-
lieve them in their misery, and do them any good in soul or body ;
and, lastly, when he can freely and willingly acknowledge his
enemy's just praise, even as if he were his dearest friend.
§ 15. Neo. But, sir, I pray you, let me ask you one question more
touching this point; and that is, suppose that hereafter I should
see no outward evidences, and question whether I had ever any true
inward evidences, and so whether ever I did truly believe or no,
what must I do then ?
Evan. Indeed it is possible you may come to such a condition ;
and therefore you do well to provide beforehand for it. Now, then,
if ever it shall please the Lord to give you over to such a condition,
first, let me warn you to take heed of forcing or constraining your-
self to yield obedience to God's commandments, to the end you may
so get an evidence of faith again, or a ground to lay your believing,
that you have believed, upon ; and so forcibly to hasten your as-
surance before the time :p for although this be not to turn quite
back to the covenant of works, (for that you shall never do,) yet it
is to turn aside towards that covenant, as Abraham did, who, after
that he had long waited for the promised seed, though he was be-
fore justified by believing the free promise, yet, for the more speedy
satisfying of his faith, he turned aside to go unto Hagar, who was,
as you have heard, a type of the covenant of works. So that you
see, this is not the right way; but the right way for you, in this
case, to get your assurance again, is, when all other things fail, to
look to Christ ; that is, go to the word and promise, and leave off
and cease a while to reason about the truth of your faith ; and set
your heart on work to believe, as if you had never yet done it; say-
ing, "Well, Satan, suppose my faith has not been true hitherto, yet
now will I begin to endeavour after true faith ; and therefore,
Lord, here I cast myself upon thy mercy afresh, for in thee the fa-
therless find mercy, Hos. xiv. 3. Thus, I say, hold to the word ; go
not away, but keep you here, and you shall bring forth fruit with
patience, g Luke viii. 15.
p This forcing one's self to yield obedience, which the author warns Christians
against, when they have lost sight of their evidences, and would fain recover them, is,
by pressing to yield obedience, without believing, till once by their obedience they
have recovered the evidence of their having faith. To advise a Christian to beware of
taking this course, in this case, is not to favour laxness, but to guard him against be-
ginning his work at the wrong end, and so labouring in vain ; for obeying, indeed,
must still spring from believing, since " without faith it is impossible to please God,"
Heb. xi. 6. And " whatsoever is not of faith, is sin," Rom. xiv. 23. The following
advice sets the matter in full light.
q Namely, obedience, whereby you shall recover your evidence.
368 'I'liE MABEOW OF
§ 16. Neo. "Well, sir, you have fully satisfied me concerning that
point : but as I remember, it follows in the same verse, " Kuow ye
not your own selves, how that Christ is in you, except ye be repro-
bates ?" 2 Cor. xiii. 5. "Wherfore, I desire to hear how a man may
know that Jesus Christ is in him.
Evan. Why, if Christ be in a man, he lives in him : as says the
apostle, " I live not, but Christ liveth in me."
Neo. But, how then, shall a man know, that Christ lives in him ?
Evan. Why, in what man soever Christ lives, according to the
measure of his faith, he executes his threefold office in him, viz. his
prophetical, priestly, and kingly office.
Neo, I desire to hear more of this threefold office of Christ; and
therefore, I pray ybu, sir, tell me, first, how a man may know that
Christ executes his prophetical office in him ?
Evan. Why, so far forth as any man hears and knows that there
was a covenant made betwixt God and all mankind in Adam ; and
that it was an equal covenant, r and that God's justice must needs
enter, s upon the breach of it : and that all mankind, for that cause,
were liable to eternal death and damnation ; so that if God had con-
demned all mankind, yet had it but been the sentence of an equal
and just judge, seeking rather the execution of his justice, than
man's ruin and destruction ; and thereupon takes it home and ap-
plies it particularly to himself, (Job. v. 27,) and so is convinced that
he is a miserable, lost, and helpless man ; I say, so far forth as a
man does this, Christ executes his prophetical office in him, in teach-
ing him, and revealing unto him the covenant of works. And so
far forth as any man hears and knows that God made a covenant
with Abraham, and all his believing seed in Jesus Christ, offering
him freely to all to whom the sound of the gospel comes, and giving
him freely to all that receive him by faith; and so justifies them
and saves them eternally ; and thereupon has his heart opened to
receive this truth, not as a man takes an object or a theological
point into his head, whereby he is only made able to discourse ; but
as an habitual and practical point, receiving it into his " heart by
the faith of the gospel," Phil. i. 27, and applying it to himself, and
laying his eternal state upon it, and so setting to his seal, that God
is true : I say, so far forth as a man does this, Christ executes his
prophetical office in him, in teaching him, and revealing to him the
covenant of grace. And so far forth as any man hears and knows,
that " this is the will of God, even his sanctification," 1 Thess. iv.
3, and thereupon concludes, that it is his duty to endeavour after it ;
r See page 175, note m. s Demanding satisfaction.
MODERN DIVINITY. 369
I say, so far forth as a man does this, Christ executes his prophe-
tical office in him, in teaching and revealing his law to him. And
this I hope is sufficient for answer to your first question.
Neo. I pray you, sir, in the second place, tell me, how a man
may know that Christ executes his priestly office in him ?
Evan. Why, so far forth as any man hears and knows that Christ
has given himself, as that only absolute and perfect sacrifice for
the sins of believers, (Heb. ix. 26,) and joined them unto himself
by faith, and himself unto them by his Spirit, and so made them one
with him ; and is now " entered into heaven itself, to appear in the
presence of God for them," Heb. ix. 24; and hereupon is embol-
dened to go immediately to t God in prayer, as to a father, and
meet him in Christ, and present him with Christ himself, as with a
sacrifice without spot or blemish: I say, so far forth as any man
does this, Christ executes his priestly office in him.
Neo. But, sir, vrould you have a believer to go immediately unto
God ? How then does Christ make intercession for us at God's right
hand, as the apostle says he does ? Rom. viii. 34.
Evan. It is true indeed, Christ as a public person, representing all
believers, appears before God his father ; and willeth according to
both his natures, and desires as he is a man, that God would for his
satisfaction's sake, grant unto them whatsoever " they ask according
to his will." But yet you must go immediately to God in prayer
for all that, u
You must not pitch your prayers upon Christ, and terminate
them there, as if he were to take them, and present them to his
Father ; v but the very presenting place of your prayers mnst be
God himself in Christ. Neither must you conceive, as though Christ
the Son were more willing to grant your request than God the
Father, for whatsoever Christ willeth, the same also the Father
(being well pleased with him) willeth. In Christ, therefore, I say,
and nowhere else, must you expect to have your petitions granted ;
and as in Christ and no place else, so for Christ's sake, and nothing
else. And therefore I beseech you to beware you forget not Christ
when you go unto the Father to beg any thing you desire, either for
yourself or others; especially when you desire to have any pardon
for sin, you are not to think, that when you join with your prayers,
fasting, weeping, and afflicting of yourself, that for so doing you
shall prevail with God to hear you, and grant your petitions ; no,
t That is, even unto. u That is to say.
v But you yourself were not to come near unto hiro, nay, we must " corne unto
God by Christ," Heb. vii. 25.
370 THE MARROW OF
no, you must meet God in Christ, and present him with his suffer-
ings ; your eye, your mind, and all your confidence, must be there-
in ; and in that be as confident as possible you can ; yea, expostu-
late the matter, as it were, with God the Father, and say, " Lo !
here is the person that has well deserved it ; here is the person that
wills and desires it ; in whom thou hast said thou art well pleased ;
yea, here is the person that has paid the debt, and discharged the
bond for all my sius ; and therefore, Lord ! now it stands with
thy justice to forgive me." And thus, if you do, why, then you
may be assured that Christ executes his priestly office in you.
Neo. I pray you, sir, in the third place, show me how a man may
know that Christ executes his kingly office in him ?
Evan. "Why, so far forth as any man hears and knows " that all
power is given unto Christ, both in heaven and on earth," Matt.
xxviii. 18; both to vanquish and overcome all the lusts and corrup-
tions of believers, and to write his law in their hearts ; and here-
upon takes occasions to go unto Christ for the doing of both in him ;
I say, so far forth as he does this, why, Christ executes his kingly-
office in him.
Neo. "Why then, sir, it seems that the place where Christ exe-
cutes his kingly office, is in the hearts of believers ?
Evan. It is true indeed ; for Christ's kingdom is not temporal or
secular over the natural lives or civil negociations of men ; but his
kingdom is spiritual and heavenly, over the souls of men, to awe
and over-rule the hearts, to captivate the affections, to bring into
obedience the thoughts, and to subdue and pull down strong holds.
For when our father Adam transgressed, he and we, all of us, for-
sook God, and chose the devil for our Lord and king; so that every
mother's child of us are, by nature, under the government of Satan ;
and he rules over us, till Christ come unto our hearts, and dispos-
sesses him; according to the saying of Christ himself, Luke xi. 21,
22, " When a strong man armed keepeth his palace, his goods are
in peace :" that is, says Calvin, Satan holds them that are in sub-
jection to him in such bonds and quiet possession, that he rules
over them without resistance; but when Christ comes to dwell in
any man's heart by faith ; according to the measure of faith, he dis-
possesses him, and seats himself in the heart, and roots out, and
pulls down all that withstands his government there : and, as a
valiant captain, he stands upon his guai'd, and enables the soul to
gather together all its forces and powers, to resist and withstand
all its and his enemies, and so set itself in good earnest against
them, when they at any time offer to return again ; and he doth
especially enable the soul to resist, and set itself against the princi-
MODERN DIVINITY. 371
pal enemy, even that which does most oppose Christ in his govern-
ment; so that whatsoever lust or corruption is in a believer's heart
or soul as most predominant, Christ enables him to take that into
his mind, and to have most revengeful thoughts against it, and
to make complaints to him against it, and to desire power and
strength from him against it, and all because it most withstands the
government of Christ, and is the rankest traitor to Christ ; so that
he uses all the means he can to bring it before the judgment-seat of
Christ, and there he calls for justice against it, saying, " Lord
Jesus Christ, here is a rebel and a traitor, that does withstand thy
government in me, wherefore, I pray thee, come and execute thy
kingly office in me, and subdue it ; yea, vanquish and overcome it."
"Whereupon Christ gives the same answer that he gave to the centu-
rion, " Go thy way, and as thou hast believed, so be it done unto
thee,"w Matt. viii. 13.
And as Christ doth thus suppress all other governors but him-
self in the heart of a believer, so doth he raze out and deface all
other laws, and writes his own there, according to his promise, (Jer.
xxx. 33.) and makes tliem pliable and willing to do and suffer his
will ; and that because it is his will. So that the mind and will of
Christ, laid down in his word, and manifested in his works, is not
only the rule of a believer's obedience, but also the reason of it, as
I once' heard a godly minister say in the pulpit; so that he does
not only do that which is Christ's will, but he does it because it is
his will.
that man, which hath the law of Christ written in his heart !
according to the measure of it, he reads, he hears, he prays, he re-
ceives the sacrament, he keeps tho Lord's day holy, he exhorts, he
instructs, he confers, and does all the duties that belong to him in
his general calling, because he knows it is the mind and will of
Christ he should do so ! yea, he patiently suffers and willingly un-
dergoes afflictions for tho cause of Christ, because he knows it is
the will of Christ; yea, such a man does not only yield obedience,
and perform the duties of the first table of the law, by virtue of
Christ's command, but of the second also. that husband, parent,
master, or magistrate, that has the law of Christ written in his
heart ! he does his duty to his wife, child, servant, or subject, will-
ingly and uprightly, because Christ requires it and commands it.
And so that wife, child, servant, or subject, that has the law of
Christ written in his or her heart, they do their duties to husband,
w Namely, believed the promise of sanetification, Ezek. xxxvi. 27; Micah vii. 19.
which belief brings always along with it the use of the means, that are of divine insti-
tution, for that end.
372 THE MARROW OF
parent, master, or governor, freely and cheerfully, because their
Lord Christ commands it. Now, then, if you find these things in
your heart, you may conclude that Christ rules and reigns there, as
Lord and King.
CHAPTER IV.
OF THE HEART'S HAPPINESS, OR SOUL'S REST.
Sec. 1. No rest for tbe soul till it come to God. — 2. How the soul is kept from rest
in God 3. God in Christ the only true rest for the soul.
Sec. 1. Neo. Sir, be pleased to give me leave to tell you some
part of my mind, and then I will cease to trouble you any more at
this time. The truth is, I have, ever since I could remember, felt
a kind of restless discontentedness in my spirit, and for many years
together, I fed myself with hopes of finding rest and content in
persons and things here below, scarce thinking of the state and con-
dition of my soul, or of any condition beyond this life, until (as I
told you before) the Lord was pleased to visit me with a fit of sick-
ness ; and then I began to bethink myself of death, judgment, hell,
and heaven, and to take care and seek rest for my soul, as well as
for my body : but, alas ! I could never find rest for it before this
day; because, indeed, I sought it not by faith, but, as it were, by
the works of the law, or, in plain terms, because I sought it not in
Christ but in myself. But now I bless God I see that Christ is all
in all ; and therefore, by the grace of God, I am resolved no longer
to seek rest aud content, neither in any earthly thing, nor in mine
own righteousness, but only in the free love aud favour of God, as
he is in his Son Jesus Christ; and, God willing, there shall be my
soul's rest. And I beseech you, sir, pray for me, that it may be so;
and I have done.
Evan. This point, concerning the heart's happiness, or soul's rest,
is a point very needful for us to know ; and indeed, it is a point
that I have formerly thought upon ; and therefore, though my occa-
sions do now begin to call me away from you, yet, nevertheless,
since, you have begun to speak of it, I shall, if you please, proceed
on, if you shall, or any of you, give occasion, and as the Lord shall
enable me.
Ant. With a very good will, sir ; for indeed it is a point that I
much desire to hear of.
MODERN DIVINITY. 373
Evan. First, then, I would entreat you to consider with me,
that when God at first gave man an elementish body x, he did
also infuse'in'o him an immortal soul of a spiritual substance ; and
though he gave his soul a local being in his body, yet he gave it a
spiritual well-being in himself; so that the soul was in the body by
location, and at rest in God by union and communication; and
this being of the sonl in God at first, was man's true being, and
his true happiness. Now man falling from God, God in his jus-
tice left man, so that the actual union and communion that the
soul of man had with God at first is broken off; God and man's
soul are parted ; and it is in a restless condition. Howbeit, the
Lord having seated in man's soul a certain character of himself, the
soul is thereby made to re-aspire towards that summum bonum, that
chief good, even God himself, and can find rest nowhere, till it come
to him.y
Nom. But stay, sir, I pray yon; how can it be said that man's
soul doth re-aspire towards God the Creator, when it is evident that
every man's soul naturally is bent towards the creature, to seek a
rest there ?
Evan. For answer hereunto I pray you consider, that naturally
man's understanding is dark and blind; and therefore is ignorant
what his own soul does desire and strongly aspire unto. It know-
eth, indeed, that there is a want in the soul ; but till it be enlight-
ened, it knoweth not what it is which the soul wanteth. For indeed
the case standeth with the soul as with a child new born, which
child, by natural instinct, doth gape and cry for nutriment ; yea,
for such nutriment as may agree with its tender condition; and if
x That is, an elementary body, made up (as it were) of tbe four elements, as they
are called, namely, fire, air, earth, and water.
y The soul of man has a natural desire of happiness: nothing can make it happy
but what is commensurable to its desires, or capable of affording it a full satisfaction.
Nothing less than an infinite good is such : and God himself only is an infinite good,
in the enjoyment of which the soul can rest, as fully satisfied, desiring no more.
Now, since by reason of the vast capacity of the soul, nothing but God himself can
indeed satisfy this its desire of happiness, the which is so woven into the very nature
of the soul, that nothing but the destruction of the very being of the soul can remove
it; it is evident, that it is impossible the soul of man can ever find true rest, until it
return to God, and take up its rest with him ; but must still be in quest of, or desir-
ing its chief good and happiness, wherein it may rest, and this in reality is God him-
self only ; though the practical understanding being blinded, knows not that, and the
perverse will and affections carry away the soul from him, seeking the desired good
and happiness in other things. This is what the author calls the soul's re-aspiring to-
wards the chief good, even God himself; and it is so consistent with the total depra-
vation of man's nature, that it will remain for ever in the damned in hell ; a chief part
of whose misery will lie in that this desire shall ever be rampant in them, but never in
374 THE MARROW OF
the nurse, through negligence or ignorance, either give it no meat
at all, or else such as it is not capable of receiving, the child refuses
it, and still cries, in strength of desire, after the dug ; yet does not
the child, in this estate, know by any intellectual power and under-
standing what itself desires. Even so man's poor soul doth cry to
God as for its proper nourishment ; z but his understanding, like a
blind io-norani nurse, not knowing what it cries for, offers to the
heart a creature instead of a Creator ; thus, by reason of the blind-
ness of the understanding, together with the corruption of the will,
and disorder of the affections, man's soul is kept by violence a from
its proper centre, even God himself.
§ 2. how many souls are there in the world that are hindered,
if not quite kept, from rest in God, by reason that their blind un-
derstanding presents unto their sensual appetites varieties of sen-
sual objects !
Is there not many a luxurious person's soul hindered, if not quite
kept, from true rest in God, by that beauty which nature hath
placed in feminine faces, b especially when Satan secretly suggests
into such feminine hearts a desire of an artificial dressing, from the
head to the foot ; yea, and sometimes painting the face, like their
mother Jezebel ?
And is there not many a voluptuous Epicure's soul hindered, if
not quite kept, from rest in God, by beholding the colour, and tast-
ing the sweetness of dainty delicate dishes, his wine red in the cup,
and his beer of amber colour in the glass. In the Scripture we read
of a " certain man that fared deliciously every day," as if there had
been no more than one so ill disposed ; but in our times, there are
certain hundreds, both of men and women, that do not only fare de-
liciously but voluptuously, twice every day, if not more.
And is there not many a proud person's soul hindered, if not
quite kept, from rest in God, by the harmonious sound of popular
praise which, like a loadstone, draws the vain-glorious heart to hunt
the least satisfied; they shall never be freed from this scorching thirst there, nor vet
get a drop of water to cool the tongue.
z Man's poor soul, before it is enlightened, naturally cries to God, as the " young
ravens cry to him," (Job xxxviii. 11,) not knowing to whom: and it cries for him as
its proper nourishment, as the new-born infant for the breast, not knowing for wbat.
Only it feels a want, desires supply proper for filling it up, and can never get kindly
rest till it be supplied accordingly, that is, till it come to the enjoyment of God ; then
it rests, as the infant set to the full breast. Isa. lxvi. 11, " That ye may suck, and
be satisfied with the breasts of her consolations."
a Namely, violence done to its natural make and constitution (if I may so express
it) by the blindness, corruption, and disorder, that have seized its faculties.
b That is, women's faces.
MODERN DIVINITY. 375
so much the more eagerly, to augment the echo of such vain windy
reputation ?
And is there not many a covetous person's soul hindered, if not
quite kept, from rest in God, by the cry of great abundance, the
words of wealth, and the glory of gain ?
And is there not many a musical mind hindered, if not quite kept,
from sweet comfort in God, by the harmony of artificial concord
upon musical instruments ?
And how many perfumed fools are there in the world, who, by
smelling their sweet apparel, and their sweet nosegays, are kept
from soul sweetness in Christ ? And thus does Satan, like a cun-
ning fisher, bait his hook with a sensual object, to catch men with ;
and having gotten it into their jaws, he draws them up and down in
sensual contentments, till he has so drowned them therein, that the
peace and rest of their souls in God is almost forgotten. And hence
it is that the greatest part of man's life, and in mauy their whole
life, is spent in seeking satisfaction to the sensual appetite.
Nom. Indeed, sir, this which you have said, we may see truly
verified in many men, who spend their days about these vanities, and
will afford no time for religious exercises ; no, not upon the Lord's-
day, by their good will.
Evan. You say the truth ; and yet let me tell you withal, that a
man by the power of natural conscience, may be forced to confess
that his hopes of happiness are in God alone, and not in these
things ; yea, and to forsake profits and pleasures, and all sensual
objects, as unable to give his soul any true contentment, and fall to
the performance of religious exercises, and yet rest there, and never
come to God for rest. And if we consider it, either in the rude
multitude of sensual livers, or in the more seemingly religious, we
shall perceive that the religious exercises of men do strongly de-
ceive, and strangely delude many men of their heart's happiness
in God.
For the first sort, c though they be such as make their belly their
best God, and do no sacrifice but to Bacchus, Apollo, or Yenus ; d
though their conscience do accuse them that these things are naught,
yet in that they have the name of Christians put upon them in their
baptism, and forasmuch as they do often repeat the Lord's prayer,
the apostle's creed, and the ten commandments, and in that, it may
be, they have lately accustomed themselves to go to church, to hear
divine service, and a preaching now and then, and in that they have
c Namely, sensual livers, who yet perform religious exercises.
d That is, give up themselves to drunkenness, music, and lasciviousness.
376 THE MARROW OF 1
divers times received the sacrament; they will not be persuaded but
that God is well pleased with them ; and a man may as well per-
suade them that they are not men and women, as that they are not
in a good condition.
And for the second sort, e that ordinarily have more human wis-
dom and human learning than the former sort, and seem to be more
holy and devout than the former sort of sensual ignorant people ;
vet how many are there of this sort, that never pass further than
the outward court of bodily performances ; feeding and feasting
themselves, as men in a dream : supposing themselves to have all
things, and yet indeed have nothing but only a bladder full, or
rather a brain full, of wind and worldly conceptions ?
Are there not some who give themselves to more especial search-
ing and seeking ont for knowledge in scripture-learnedness and
clerk-like skill, in this art, and that language, till they come to be
able to repeat all the historical places in the Bible ; yea, and all
those texts of Scripture that they conceive do make for some private
opinion of theirs, concerning ceremonies, church-government, or
other circumstantial points of religion, touching which points they
are very able to reason and dispute, and to put forth such curious
questions as are not easily answered ?
Are not some of these men / called sect-makers, and begetters or
devisers of new opinions in religion; especially in the matter of
worshipping God, as they use to call it, wherein they find a begin-
ning, but hardly an end? For this religious knowledge is so vari-
able, through the multiplicity of curious wits and contentious spirits
that the life of man may seem too short to take a full view of this
variety ; for though all sects say they will be guided by the word of
truth, and all seem to bring Scripture, which indeed is but one, as
God is but one ; yet by reason of their several constructions and
interpretations of Scripture, and conceits of their own human wis-
dom, they are many. *
And are there not others of this sort of men that are ready to em-
brace any new way of worship, especially if it come under the cloak
of Scripture-learning, and have a show of truth, founded upon the
letter of the Bible, and seem to be more zealous and devout than
the former way; especially, if the teacher of that uew way can but
frame a sad and demure countenance, and with a grace lift up his
head and his eyes towards heaven, with some strong groan, in de-
e Namely, the more seemingly religious.
/ Namely, of those spoken of in the paragraph immediately preceding, whom he be-
gins to distribute here into three classes or sorts ; all belonging to the second sort, viz,
ihe more seemingly religious.
MODERN DIVINITY. 377
claring his newly conceived opinion ; and that he frequently use
this phrase — the glory of God! then, these men are, by-and-
by, of another opinion ! supposing to themselves that God has made
known some further truth to them ; for, by reason of the blindness
of their understanding, they are not able to reach any supernatural
truth, although they do, by literal learning, and clerk-like cunning
dive ever so deep into the Scriptures ; and therefore they are ready
to entertain any form of religious exercises, as shall be suggested
unto them.
And are there not a third sort, much like to these men, that are
excessive and mutable in the performance of religious exercises ?
Surely St. Paul perceived that this was the very God of some men
in his time, and therefore he willeth Timothy to instruct others,
that " bodily exercise profiteth little," or, as some read it, " nothing
at all ;" and doth oppose thereunto " godliness" as being another
thing than "bodily exercise," and says that it " is profitable," &c.
And do not you think that there are some men at this day that
know none other good than bodily exercise, and can hardly dis-
tinguish betwixt it and godliness ? Now these bodily exercises are
mutable and variable, according to their conceits and opinions ; for
all sects have their several services, as they call them, yet all bodily,
and for the most part, only bodily ; the which they perform to
establish a rest to their souls, because they want rest in God. And
hence it is that their peace and rest is up and down, according to
their working better or worse. So many chapters must be read,
and so many sermons must be heard, and so many times they must
pray in one day ; and so many diys in the week, or in the year
they must fast, &c. or else their souls can have no rest. But mis-
take me not, I pray, in imagining that I speak against the doing of
these things, for I do them all myself, but. against resting in the doing
of them, the which I desire not to do.
And thus you see that men's blind understanding doth not only
present unto the sensual appetite sensual objects, but also to the
rational appetite rational objects ; so that man's poor soul is not
only kept from rest in God by means of sensuality, but also by
means of formality. If Satan cannot keep us from rest in God by
feeding our senses with our mother Eve's apple, then he attempts to
do it by blinding our eyes, and so hindering us from seeing the
paths of the gospel. If he cannot keep us in Egypt by the flesh-pots
of sensuality, then will he make us wander in the wilderness of re-
ligious and rational formality : so that if he cannot hinder us more
grossly, then he attempts to do it more closely.
Nom. But, sir, I am persuaded that there be many men that are
Vol. VII. 2 a
378 the MAitnow of
so religiously exercised, and do perform such duties as you have
mentioned, and yet rest not in them but in God.
Evan. Questionless there be some Christians that look upon such
exercises as means ordained of God both to beget and increase faith,
and all other graces of his Spirit, in the hearts of his people ; and
therefore, to the intent that their faith, and love, and other graces,
may increase, they are careful to wait upon God, in taking all con-
venient opportunities to exercise themselves therein, and yet have
their soul's rest in God, and not in such exercises.
But, alas ! I fear the number of such men are very few, in com-
parison of them that do otherwise. For do not the most part of
men that are religiously exercised, rather conceive, that as they
have offended and displeased God by their former disobedience, so
they must pacify and appease him by their future obedience ? And
therefore they are careful to exercise themselves in this way of
duty, and that way of worship, and all to that end ; yea, and they
conceiving that they have corrupted, and defiled, and polluted them-
selves, by their falling into sin, they must also purge, cleanse, and
purify themselves, by rising out of sin, and walking in new obe-
dience : g and so all the good they do, and all the evil they eschew,
is to pacify God, and appease their own consciences. And if they
seek rest to their souls this way, why, it is the way of the covenant,
of works, where they shall never be able to reach God ; nay, it is the
way to come to God out of Christ, where they shall never be able
to come near him, he being a " consuming fire."
Nom. But, sir, I pray you, would you not have our senses to be
any longer exercised about any of their objects ? would you have us
no longer to take comfort in the good things of this life ?
Evan. I pray you, do not mistake me ; I do not speak as though
I would have you stoically to refuse the lawful use of any of the
Lord's good creatures, which he shall be pleased to afford you,
neither do I prohibit you from all comfort therein ; but this is it
which I do desire, namely, that you would endeavour to attain to
such a peace, rest and content in God, as he is in Christ ; that the
violent cry of the heart may be restrained, and that your appetites
may not be so forcible, nor so unruly as they are naturally, but
that the uuruliness thereof may be brought unto a very comely de-
corum and order : so that your sensual appetites may, with much
g Neglecting to wash, by faith, in the blood of Christ, the " Fountain opened for
sin, and for uncleanness," Zech. xiii. 1. " The blood of Jesus Christ, his Son, clean-
seth us from all sin," I John i. 17. " How much more shall the blood of Christ —
purge your conscience from dead works?" Heb. ix. 14. " Purifying their hearts by
faith," Acts xv. 9.
.MODERN DIVINITY 379
more easiness and contentedness, be denied the objects of their de-
sires, yea, aud contented (if occasion be) with that which is most re-
pugnant to them, as with hunger, cold, nakedness, yea, and with
death itself. For such is the wonderful working of the heart's quiet
and rest in God, that although a man's senses be still exercised in
and upon their proper objects, yet may it be truly said, that such a
man's life is not sensual. For indeed his heart taketh little con-
tentment in any such exercises, it being for the most part exercised
in a more transcendent communion with God, as he is in Christ. So
that indeed the man that has this peace and rest in God may be
truly said to " use this world as though he used it not," in that he
receives any cordial contentment from any sensual exercise whatso-
ever, and that because his heart is withdrawn from them. "Which
withdrawing of the heart is not unaptly pointed at, in the speech of
the spouse, (Cant. v. 2,) " I sleep," says she, " but my heart wak-
eth." Even so may it be said, that such a man is sleeping, looking,
hearing, tasting, smelling, eating, drinking, feasting, &c, but his
heart is withdrawn from the creature, and rejoicing in God his Sa-
viour, and his soul is magnifying his Lord ; so that, in the midst of
all his sensual delights, his heart secretly says, Ay, but my happi-
ness is not here.
Norn. But, sir, I pray you, why do you call rational and religious
exercises a wilderness ?
Evan. For two reasons ; first, Because that as the children of
Israel, when they were got out of Egypt, did yet wander many
years in the wilderness before they came into the land of Canaan ;
even so do many men wander long in rational and religious exer-
cises, after they had left a sensual life, before they come to rest in
God, whereof the land of Canaan was a type, h
Secondly, Because, as in a wilderness men often lose themselves,
and can find no way out, but supposing, after long travel, that they
are nearer the place whither they would go, are in truth farther
off; even so fareth it with many, yea, with all such as walk in the
way of reason ; i they lose themselves in the woods and bushes of
their works and doings ; so that the longer they travel, the farther
they are from God, and true rest in him.
Nom. But, sir, you know that the Lord hath endowed us with rea-
h Such a wanderer our author himself had been, for a dozen of years, See his
Preface, page 161, and compare that heavy word,Eccl. x. 15, " The labour of the fool-
ish wearieth every one of them, because he hnoweth not how to go to the city."
i Namely, of reastn, as the judge and rule in religion. The Holy Scripture is the
rule, and the Spirit of God therein speaking is the judge ; it is the business of our
reason to discern what they teach, and to submit thereto, without reserve.
2 a2
380 THE maubow or
sonable souls ; would you not then have us to make use of our reason?
Evan. I pray you, do not mistake me : I do not contemn nor de-
spise the use of reason ; only I would not have you to establish it
toj the chief good ; but I would have you to keep it under ; so that,
if with Hagar, it attempt to bear rule, and lord it over your faith,
then would I have you, in the wisdom of God, like Sarah, to cast it
out from having dominion. In few words, I would have you more
strong in desire than curious in speculation, and to long more to
feel communion with God, than to be able to dispute of the genus
or species of any question, either human or divine ; and press hard
to know God by powerful experience. And though your knowledge
be great, and your obedience surpassing many, yet would I have
you to be truly nullified, annihilated, and made nothing, and become
fools in all fleshly wisdom ; and glory in nothing, but only in the
Lord, k And I would have you, with the eye of faith, sweetly to
behold all things extracted out of one thing ; and in one to see all. I
In a word, I would have in you a most profound silence, contemning
all curious questions and discourses ; and to ponder much in your
heart, but prat little with your tongue. " Be swift to hear," but
" slow to speak," and " slow to wrath," as the apostle James advises
you, (James i. 19) ; and by this means will your reason be subdued,
and become one with your faith, for then is reason one with faith,
when it is subjugated unto faith ; and then will reason keep its
true lists and limits, and you will become ten times more reasonable
than you were before. So that I hope you now see that the heart's
farewell from the sensual and rational life is not to be considered
absolutely, but respectively; it does not consist in a going out of
either, but in a right U3e of both.
§ 3. Nom. Then, sir, it seems to me, that God in Christ, appre-
hended by faith, is the only true rest for man's soul.
Evan. There is the true rest indeed ; there is the rest which
David invites his soul unto, when he says, " Return unto thy rest,
my soul ! for the Lord hath dealt bountifully with thee," Psalm
cxvi. 7, " For we which have believed," says the author to the Heb-
rews, " have entered into his rest," m Heb. iv. 3. And " Come unto
me," says Christ, " all ye that labour, and are heavy laden, and I
,;' That is, for, or to be.
k 2 Cor. xii. II, " Though 1 be nothing." " 1 Cor. iii. 18, " Let him become a
fool, that he may be wise." Chap. i. 31, " He that glorieth, let him glory in the
Lord."
I According to that saying of our Lord, Matth. xix. 17, " There is none good but
one, that is God."
7n " Do enter into rest," or that rest, viz. " his rest." He means, that we even
now enter into that rest by faith. Compare verse 10.
MODERN DIVINITY. 381
will give you rest,"« Matth. xi. 28. And truly, my neighbours
and friends, believe it, we shall never find a heart's happiness, and
true soul's rest, until we find it here. For howsoever a man may
think, if he had this man's wit and that man's wealth, this man's
honour and that man's pleasure, this wife, or that husband, such
children, and such servants, his heart would be satisfied, and his
soul would be contented ; yet which of us hath not, by our own ex-
perience, found the contrary ? For, not long after that we have ob-
tained the thing we did so much desire, and wherein we promised
ourselves so much happiness, rest, and content, we have found no-
thing but vanity and emptiness in it. Let a man but deal plainly
with his own heart, and he shall find, that, notwithstanding he hath
many things, yet there is ever one thing wanting : for indeed man's
soul cannot be satisfied with any creature, no, not with a world of
creatures. And the reason is, because the desires of man's soul are
infinite, according to that infinite goodness which it once lost in
n This is one of the most solemn gospel-offers to be found in all the New Testa-
ment ; and our author seems here to point at what I conceive to be the true and genu-
ine sense of it. The words " labour and heavy laden," do not restrict the invitation
and offer to such as are insensible of their sins, and longing to be rid of them, though
indeed none but such will really accept ; but they denote the restlessness of the sinful
soul of man ; a qualification (if it is so called) to be found in all that are out of
Christ, whether they have, or have not, any notable law work on their consciences.
I say notable, to distinguish it from that which is common to all men, even to hea-
thens, Rom. xi. 15. Our father Adam led his whole family away out of their rest in
God ; and so left them with a conscience full of guilt, and a heart full of unsatisfied
desires. Hence his children soon find themselves like the horse-leech, having " two
daughters, crying, Give, give;" namely, a restless conscience, and a restless heart;
and to each of these the poor soul must needs say, as Naomi said to Ruth, "My
daughter, shall I not seek rest for thee ?" so the blinded soul falls a labouring for
rest to them. And it labours in the barren region of the fiery law for a rest to the
conscience, and in the empty creation, for a rest to the heart ; but, after all, the con-
science is still heavy laden with guilt, whether it has any lively feeling thereof, or not ;
and the heart is still under a load of unsatisfied desires ; so neither the one nor the other
can find rest indeed. This is the natural case of all men. And to souls thus labour-
ing, and laden, Jesus Christ here calls, that they may " come to him, and he will give
them rest;" namely, a rest for their consciences, under the covert of his blood; and
a rest to their hearts, in the enjoyment of God through him.
This is most agreeable to the Scripture phraseology, Eccl. x. 15, " The labour of
the foolish wearieth every one of them, because he knows not how to go to the city."
Heb. ii. 13, " The people shall labour in the very fire, and the people shall weary
themselves for very vanity.' Isa. lv. 2, " Wherefore do ye spend — your labour for
that which satisfieth uot ?" See page 278, note /. The prophet laments over a
people more insensible than the ox or the ass, saying, " Ah, sinful nation I a people
laden with iniquity," Isa. i. 3, 4. And the apostle speaks of " silly women laden with
sins, led away with divers lusts, ever learning, and never able to come to the know-
ledge of the truth," 2 Tim. iii. 6, 7.
3 82 THE ilAKKOW OF
losing God. Yea, and man's soul is a Spirit ; and therefore cannot
communicate with any corporal thing ; so that all creatures, not
being that infinite and spiritual fulness which our hearts have lost,
and towards which they do still re-aspire ; they cannot give it full
contentment.
Nay, let me say more ; howsoever a man may, in the midst of his
sensual fulness, be convinced in his conscience that he is at enmity
with God, and therefore in danger of his wrath and eternal dam-
nation ; and be thereupon moved to reform his life and amend his
ways, and endeavour to seek peace and rest to his soul ; o yet this
being in the way of works, it is impossible that he should find it ;
for his conscience will ever be accusing him, that this good duty he
ought to have done, and has not done it ; and this evil he ought to
have forborne, and yet he has done it ; and in the performance of
this duty he was remiss, and in that duty very defective ; and many
such ways will his soul be disquieted.
But when a man once comes to believe, that all his sins, both
past, present, and to come, are freely and fully pardoned, p and God
in Christ graciously reconciled unto him, the Lord doth thereupon so
reveal his fatherly face unto him in Christ, and so make known that
incredible union betwixt him and the believing soul, that his heart
becomes quietly contented in God, who is the proper element of its
being ; for hereupon there comes into the soul such peace, flowing
from the God of peace, that it fills the emptiness of the soul with
true fulness, in the fulness of God, so that now the heart ceases to
molest the understanding and reason, in seeking either variety of
objects, or augmentation of degrees, in any comprehensible thing ;
and that because the restless longing of the mind which did before
cause unquietness and disorder, both in the variety of mental pro-
jects, and also in the sensual and beastly exercises of the corporal
and external members, is satisfied and truly quieted. For when a
man's heart is at peace in God, and is become truly full in that
peace and joy passing understanding, then the devil hath not that
hope to prevail against his soul, as he had before : he knows right
well that it is in vain to bait his hook with profits, pleasures,
honour, or any other such like seeming good, to catch such a soul
that is thus at quiet in God ; for he hath all fulness in God, and
what can be added to fulness but it runneth over ? Indeed, empty
hearts, like empty hogsheads, are fit to receive any matter which
shall be put into them ; but the heart of the believer being filled
o There.
p Namely, in respect of the guilt of eternal wrath. See page 242, note;'.
MODERN DIVINITY. 383
with joy and peace in believing, doth abhor all such base allure-
ments; for it hath uo room in itself to receive any such seeming con-
tentments. So that, to speak as the truth is, there is nothing that
doth truly and unfeignedly root wickedness out of the heart of man,
but only the true tranquillity of the mind, or the rest of the soul in
God. And, to say as the thing is, this is such a peace, and such a
rest to the creature in the Creator, that, according to the measure of
its establishment by faith, no created comprehensible thing can
either add to it, or detract from it ; the increase of a kingdom can-
not augment it, the greatest losses and crosses in worldly things can-
not diminish it ; a believer's good works do all flow from it, and
ought not to return to it; q neither ought human frailties to molest
it. r However, this is most certain, neither sin nor Satan, law nor
conscience, hell nor grave, cau quite extinguish it; for it is the Lord
alone that gives and maintains it. " Whom have I in heaven but
thee ?" says David, " and there is none upon earth that I desire be-
sides thee," Psalm lxxiii. 25. It is the pleasant face of God in
Christ that puts gladness into his heart, Psalm iv. 7. And when
that face is hid, then he is troubled, Psalm xxx. 7. But, to speak
more plainly, though the peace and joy of true believers may be ex-
tenuated or diminished, yet doth the testimony of their being in na-
ture s remain so strong, that they could skill to say, yea, even
when they have felt God to be withdrawing himself from them, —
"My God! my God ! why hast thou forsaken me?" (Psalm xxii.
1); yea, and in the night of God's absence to remain confident, that
though sorrow be over night, yet joy will come in the morning,
(Psalm xxx. 5,) nay, though the Lord should seem to kill them with
unkindness, " yet they will put their trust in him," (Job xiii. 15) ;
knowing that for all this " their Redeemer liveth," (Job xix. 25) ;
so strong is " the joy of their Lord," Nehem. viii. 10. These are tiie
people that are kept in perfect peace, because their minds are stayed
in the Lord. (Isa. xxvi. 3.)
Wherefore, my dear friends and loving neighbours, I beseech you
q Namely to any part of the fountain of it, for the time to come : as the rivers re-
turn unto the sea, whence they came, making a part of the store for their own fresh
supply ; nay, it is the Lord alone that gives and maintains it, as our author afterwards
expresses it.
r For these we are never free from in this life. And true repentance, and gospel
mourniug for sin, are so consistent with it, that they flow from it, accordiug to the
measure thereof. Psal. lxv. 3, " Iniquities prevail against me : as for our transgres-
sions thou shalt purge them away." Zech. xii. 10, " They shall look upon me,
whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn."
s That is, the evidence, that they (viz. the peace and joy of believer") are still in
being, (in rerum natura) and not quite extinct.
384 THE MARROW OF
take heed of deeming any estate happy, until you come to find this
true peace and rest to your souls in God. beware last any of you
do content yourselves with a peace rather of speculation than of
power ! be not satisfied with such a peace as consists either in
the act of oblivion, or neglect of examination! nor yet in any brain-
sick supposition of knowledge, theological or divine ; and so frame
rational conclusions, to protract time and still the cries of an accus-
ing conscience. But let your hearts take their last farewell of false
felicities, wherewith they have been, all of them, more or less, de-
tained and kept from their true rest. be strong in resolution !
and bid them all farewell ; for what have your souls to do any
longer among gross, thick, and bodily things here below, that you
should set your love upon them, or see happiness in them ? your
souls are of a higher and purer nature ; and therefore their well-
being must be sought in something higher and purer than they, even
in God himself.
True it is, that we are all of us, indeed, too unclean to touch God
in immediate unity : but yet there is a pure counterpart of our na-
tures, t and that pure humanity is immediately knit to the purest
Deity ; and by that immediate union you may come to a mediate
union ; for the Deity and that humanity being united, make one
Saviour, Head, and Husband of souls. And so you being married
to him, that is, God, in him you come also to be one with God : he
one by a personal union, and you one by a mystical. Clear up,
then, your eye, and fix it on him, as on the fairest of men, the per-
fection of a spiritual beauty, the treasure of heavenly joy, the true
object of most fervent love. Let your spirits look, and long, and
seek after this Lord ; let your souls cleave to him, let them hang
about him, and never leave him, till he be brought into the cham-
bers of your souls ; yea, tell him resolutely, you will not leave him,
till you hear his voice in your souls, saying, " My well-beloved is
mine, and I am his :" yea, and tell him you are " sick of love." Let
your souls go, as it were, out of your bodies and out of the world,
by heavenly contemplations ; and treading upon the earth with the
bottom of your feet, stretch your souls up, to look over the world,
into that upper world, where her treasure is, u and where her Be-
loved dwelleth.
And when any of your souls shall thus forget her own people,
and her father's house, Christ her King shall so desire her beauty
(Psalm xlv. 10, 11,) and be so much in love with her, that like a
loadstone, this love of his shall draw the soul in pure desire to him
l Namely, the pure and spotless human nature of Christ.
u Your soul's.
MODERN DIVINITY. 385
again; and then, "as the heart panteth after the rivers of water,
so will your soul pant after God," Psalin xlii. 1.
And then, according to the measure of your faith, your souls shall
come to have a real rest in God, and be filled with joy unspeakable
and glorious.
Wherefore, I beseech you, set your mouths to this fountain Christ,
aud so shall your souls be filled with the water of life, with the oil
of gladness, and with the new wine of the kingdom of God ; from him
you shall have weighty joys, sweet embracements, and ravishing con-
solations. And how can it be otherwise, when your souls shall really
communicate with God, and by faith have a true taste, and by the
spirit have a sure earnest of all heavenly preferments ; having as
it were, one foot in heaven, whilst you live upon earth ? then,
what an eucharistical love v will arise from your thankful hearts
extending itself first towards God, and then towards man for God's
sake ! and then, according to the measure of your faith, will be your
willing obedience to God, and also to man for God's sake ; for obe-
dience being the kindly fruit of love, a loving soul bringeth forth
this fruit, as kindly as a good tree bringeth forth her fruit ; for the
soul, having tasted Christ in a heavenly communion, so loves him,
that to please him is a pleasure and delight to herself : and the
more Christ Jesus comes into the soul by his Spirit, the more spiri-
tual he make? her ; and turns her will into his will, making her of
oue heart, mind, and will, with him.
So that, for a conclusion, this I say, that if the everlasting love
of God in Jesus Christ be truly made known to your souls, accord-
ing to the measure thereof, you shall have no need to frame and
force yourselves to love and do good works, for your souls will ever
stand bound w to love God, and to keep his commandments, and it
will be your meat and drink to do his will. And truly this love of
God will cut down self-love and love of the world, for the sweetness
of Christ's Spirit will turn the sweetness of the flesh into bitterness,
and the sweetness of the world into contempt. And if you can be-
hold Christ with open face, you shall see and feel things unutterable,
and be changed from beauty to beauty, from glory to glory, by the
Spirit of this Lord, and so be happy in this life, in your union with
happiness, and happy hereafter in the full fruition of happiness : as
whither the Lord Jesus Christ bring us all in his due time. Amen.
v A love of thanksgiving, bearing thankfulness in its nature.
w Or constrained by the force of that love,
.r That is, of God himself in Christ.
386 THE MARROW OF
CONCLUSION.
" And now, brethren, I commend you to God and to the word of his
grace, which is able to bnild you up, and to give you an inheritance
among all them which are sanctified," Acts. xx. 32.
Neo. "Well sir, at this time I will say no more, but that it was a
happy hour wherein I came to you, and a happy conference that we
have had together. Surely, sir, I never knew Christ before this
day. what cause have 1 to thank the Lord for my coming hither,
and my two friends as a means of it ! and, sir, for the pains that
you have taken with me, I pray the Lord to requite you ; and so be-
seeching you to pray the Lord to increase my faith, and to help my
unbelief, I humbly take my leave of you, praying "the God of love
and peace to be with you."
Norn. And truly, sir, I do believe that I have cause to speak as
much in that case as he has; for though I have outstript him in
knowledge, and it may be also in strict walking, yet do I now see,
that my actions were neither from a right principle, nor to a right
end ; and therefore have I been in no better a condition than he.
And truly, sir, I must needs confess, I never heard so much of Christ
and the covenant of grace, as I have done this day. y The Lord
make it profitable to me; and I beseech you, sir, pray for me.
Ant. And truly, sir, I am now fully convinced that I have gone
out of the right way, in that I have not had regard to the law, and
the works thereof, as I should ; but, God willing, I shall hereafter
(if the Lord prolong my days) be more careful how I lead my life,
seeing the ten commandments are the law of Christ ; and I beseech
you, sir, remember me in your prayers. And so, with many thanks
to you for your pains, I take my leave of you, beseeching the
" grace of our Lord Jesus Christ to be with your spirit." Amen.
Evan. " Now, the very God of peace that brought again from the
dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the
blood of the everlasting covenant, make you perfect in every good
work, to do his will, working in you that which is well-pleasing in
his sight, through Jesus Christ ; to whom be glory for ever and ever
Amen." Heb. xiii. 20, 21. John viii. 36, "If the Son make you
free, you shall be free indeed." Gal. v. 1, 13, "Stand fast there-
fore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free. Only use
not your liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one
y This is here fitly put into the mouth of Nomista, the prevailing of legal princi-
ples and practices among professors being much owing to legal preaching ; the success
whereof is not to he wondered at, since it is rowing with the stream of nature.
MODERN DIVINITY. 387
another." Chap. vi. 16, " And as many as walk according to this
rule, peace be upon them, and mercy, and upon the Israel of God."
Matt. xi. 25, " I thank thee Father, Lord of heaven and earth,
because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and
hast revealed them to babes." 1 Cor. xv. 10, " I laboured more
abundantly than they all, yet not I, but the grace of God that was
with me." Psalm xxxvi. 11, "Let not the foot of pride come
against me."
THE
MARROW
MODERN DIVINITY.
PART SECOND.
" We know that the law is good if a man use it lawfully." — 1 Tim. i. 8.
RIGHT HON. JOHN WARNER,
LORD MAYOR OF THE MOST RENOWNED CITY OF LONDON,
E. F. luisheth a most plentiful increase of Spiritual wisdom, and all
necessary graces for the discharge of his duty, to the glory of God,
and the good of his people.
Right Honourable,
The rod of God's judgments hath been now long
upon us, which we by our manifold sins have procured, accord-
ing as it is said concerning Jerusalem, Jer. iy. 18. " Thy way and
thy doings have procured these things unto thee." And have we
any just ground to hope, that till the cause be taken away, the
effect will cease ? Can we expect that the Lord will turn away his
judgments, till we turn away from our sins ? And can we turn
away from our sins before we know them ? And can we come to
know our sins any otherwise than by the law ? Doth not one
apostle say, that " sin is the transgression of the law ?" 1 John iii.
4: And doth not another apostle therefore say, that " by the law
is the knowledge of sin ?" Rom. iii. 20. Surely, then, a treatise,
wherein is shown what is required, and what is forbidden, in every
commandment of the law, and so consequently what is sin, must
needs be for this cause, and at this time, very seasonable. But yet,
alas ! that although there be ever so many treatises written, or ever
so many sermons preached upon this subject, yet do they either
remain wilfully ignorant of their sins, or else though they know
them, yet will they not forego them, but rather choose wilfully to
wallow on in the mire of iniquity, so sweet and dear are their sins
unto them. But what, then, must they be suffered so to go on
without restraint ? No ; God forbid. Such persons as the law and
love of God will not constrain, such must the execution of justice
392
restrain ; upon such must the penalty of the laws of the land (being
grounded upon God's laws) be by the civil magistrate inflicted.
And for this cause it is that the king is required, " when he sitteth
upon the throne of his kingdom, to write him a copy of the law of
God in a book," Deut. xvii. 18. And for this cause it is that the
civil magistrate is called " the keeper of both tables ;" for says
Luther, (on Gal. p. 151.) "God hath ordained magistrates, and
other superiors, and appointed laws, bounds, and all civil ordinan-
ces, that, if they can do no more, yet at least they may bind the
devil's hands, that he rage not in his bond slaves after his own
lusts." And hence it is that the apostle, speaking of the civil
magistrate, says, " If thou do that which is evil, be afraid, for he
beareth not the sword in vain," Rom. xiii. 4. Wherefore, Right
Honourable, God having called you to wield the sword of authority
in the most famous city of this kingdom, I, a poor inhabitant there-
of, the author of the ensuing Dialogue, have, through the advice
and persuasion of some godly ministers, and through the considera-
tion of the suitableness of the subject with our place, been moved to
take the boldness to offer this work to your worthy name and
patronage ; not that I do conceive your honour is ignorant of your
duty, nor yet that I see you to neglect you duty, for your Christian
integrity in your place, and your zealous forwardness to reform
things amiss, by punishing of evil doers, doth to me witness the
contrary ; but rather to encourage your Honour to continue your
godly course in the ways of well-doing, and to advance forward in
paths of piety, being more swift in your motion now towards
the end of your race — your year I mean, that so your Master,
Christ, may have cause to say concerning you, as he once did con-
cerning the church of Thyatira, " I know thy works, and charity,
and service, and faith, and thy patience, and thy works ; and the
last to be more than the first," Rev. ii. 19. Yea, and that it also
may be said concerning you, — " Well done, thou good and faithful
servant, thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee
rnler over many things, enter thou into the joy of thy Lord,"
Matt. xxv. 21.
And so most humbly begging of your Honour that these my poor
393
labours may be accepted, and that under your Honour's name, they
go forth into the world, and praying the Lord of power, and
the God of all grace, to multiply his Spirit upon your Honour, with
all the blessed fruits of the same, I take my leave, and rest your
Honour's most humble servant to be commanded,
Edward Fishek.
Vol. VII. 2 b
The Author to the Well-affected Reader
Good Reader,
I do confess there are so many godly and
learned expositions upon the ten commandments already extant,
that it may seem needless to add any more unto that number.
Nevertheless, I pray thee, do not think it impossible but that God
may by such a weak instrument as I myself am, show his power in
doing somethiug more, touching this subject, than hath yet been
done. I do confess, I have had good helps from the labours of
others, and have made much use thereof, especially for matter, yet
have I not cpnfined my discourse within the compass of what I have
found in other books, but have from the warrant of the word of
God, taken the boldness to enlarge it, both as touching the matter
and manner, and especially touching the application, wherein I
have endeavoured to give both believers and unbelievers their dis-
tinct proportion, by distinguishing betwixt the ten commandments,
as they are the law of works, having the promise of eternal life,
and the threatening of eternal death annexed to them, and so
applying them to the unbeliever ; and as they are the law of Christ,
having the promise of eternal life, and the threatening of eternal
death separated from them, and so applying them to the believer.
I have not denied, but acknowledg3d, yea, and proved, that the law
of the ten commandments, truly expounded, is to be a perpetual
rule of life to all mankind, yea, to believers themselves; for though
the Spirit of Jesus Christ do, according to his promise, write this
law in their hearts, as their inward rule, yet, in regard that whilst
they live in this world, it is done but in part, they have need of the
ten commandments to be unto them as an outward rule : for though
the Spirit have begotten in them a love to this law, and wrought in
them a willing disposition to yield obedience thereunto, yet have
they need of the law to be unto them as a glass, wherein they may
395
see what the will of God is, and as a rule to direct them how to
actuate their love and willingness, so that, as a precious godly
minister of Jesus Christ truly says, the Spirit within, and the law
without, " is a lamp unto their feet, and a light unto their paths,"
Psalm cxix. 105.
But yet I do conceive, that expositors on the commandments
should not only endeavour to drive on their designs to that end,
and there terminate their endeavours, as if there were no further
use to be made of the law, neither in believers nor in unbelievers ;
but they should aim at a further end — an end beyond this, espe-
cially in unbelievers, and that is, to discover to them how far short
tbey come of doing that which the law requireth, that so they may
not take up their rest in themselves, but hasten out of themselves
to Jesus Christ; and that believers, by beholding their own imper-
fections, should take occasion to humble themselves, and cleave the
more close unto him by faith.
For when, by way of exposition, it is only declared what is
required, and what is forbidden in every commandment, with exhor-
tations, motives, and means to do thereafter, it has been observed,
that clivers both profane and mere civil honest people, upon the
hearing or reading of the same, have concluded with themselves,
that they must either alter their course of life, and strive and
endeavour to do more than they have done, and better than they
have done, or else they shall never be sared, and hereupon they
have taken up a form of godliness, in hearing, reading, and pray-
ing, and the like, and so have become formal professors, and there-
in have rested, coming far short of Jesus Christ, yea, and believers
themselves have sometimes taken occasion thereby, to conceive that
they must do something towards their own justification and salva-
tion.
Wherefore I, yet not I by any power of my own, but by the
grace of God that is with me, have endeavoured not only to show
what is required, and what is forbidden in every commandment, but
also, that it is impossible for any man, whether he be an unbeliever
or a believer, to keep any one commandment perfectly, yea, or to
do any one action or duty perfectly, that so by the working of
2b2
396
God's Spirit in the reading of the same, men may be moved ; not
only to turn from being profane, or mere civil honest men, to be
formal professors, but that they may be driven out of all their own
works and performances unto Jesus Christ, and so become Chris-
tians indeed, and that those who are Christians indeed, may there-
by be moved to prize Jesus Christ the more : and if the Lord shall
but be pleased to enable either myself or any other man or woman
to make this use of this ensuing Dialogue, then shall not my labour,
be in vain : But my heart's desire and prayer to God shall be, that
many may receive as much good by the " Marrow" which is con-
tained in this second bone, as they say they have done by that
which is contained in the first; that so God may be glorified and
their souls edified, and then have I my reward. Only let me beg of
thee, that for what good thou receivest thereby, thou wilt beg at
the throne of grace for me, thatniy faith may be increased, and so
my love inflamed towards God, and towards man for God's sake,
and then I am sure I shall keep the law more perfectly than I have
yet done. The which that we may all do, the grace of our Lord
Jesus Christ be with all our spirits. Amen.
Thine in the Lord Jesus Christ,
E. F.
September 21, 1648.
PART SE COND
Evangelista, a Minister of the Gospel.
Nomologists, a Pratler of the Law.
Neophitus, a Young Christian.
Neo. Sir, here is our neighbour Nomologista, who, as I suppose, is
much mistaken, as touching a point that he and I have had some con-
ference about ; and because I have fouud you so ready and willing
to inform and instruct me, when I came to you with my neighbours
Nomista and Antinomista, I have presumed to entreat liim to come
along with me to you : assuring both myself and him that we shall
be welcome to you, and that you will make it appear he is deceived.
Evan. You are both of you very kindly welcome to me, and as I
have been willing to give you the best instruction, Avhen you were
formerly with me ; even so, God willing, shall I be now; wherefore,
I pray you, let me understand what the point is, wherein you do
conceive he is mistaken.
Neo. Why, sir, this is the thing : he tells me, he is persuaded
that he goes very near the perfect fulfilling of the law of God ; but
I cannot be persuaded to it.
Evan. "What say you neighbour Nomologista, are you so per-
suaded ?
Norn. i. Yea, indeed sir, I am so persuaded; for whereas you
know the first commandment is, " I am the Lord thy God, thou
shalt have none other God before my face." I am confident I have
the only true God for my God, and none other.
ii. And whereas the second commandment is, " Thou shalt not
make to thyself any graven image," &c. I tell you truly, I do defy
all graven images, and do count it a great folly in any man, either
to make them, or worship them.
in. And whereas the third commandment is, " Thou shalt not
take the name of the Lord thy God in vain," it is well known that
I am no swearer, neither can 1 abide to hear others swear by the
name of God.
iv. And whereas the fourth commandment is, " Remember that
thou keep holy the Sabbath-day," I am sure I do very seldom either
work or travel on that day ; but do go to the church both forenoon
398 THE MARROW OF
and afternoon ; and do both read, and hear the word of God read,
when I come home.
v. And whereas the fifth commandment is, " Honour thy father
and mother," &c. I thank God I was very careful to do my duty to
my parents when I was a child.
vi. And whereas the sixth commandment is, " Thou shalt not
kill," I thank God, I never yet either murdered man, woman, or
child ; and I hope never shall.
vn. And whereas the seventh commandment is, " Thou shalt not
commit adultery," I thank God I was never given to women, God
has hitherto kept me from committing that sin, and so I hope he
will do whilst I live.
vni. And whereas the eighth commandment is, " Thou shalt not
steal," I do not remember that ever I took the worth of twelve-
pence of any man's goods in all my life.
ix. And whereas the ninth commandment is, " Thou shalt not
bear false witness against thy neighbour," I thank God, I do abhor
that sin, and was never guilty of it in all my life.
x. And whereas the tenth commandment is, " Thou shalt not
covet," I thank God, I never coveted any thing but what was miue
own, in all my life.
Evan. Alas ! neighbour Nomologista, the commandments of God
have a larger extent thau it seems you are aware of; for it seems
you do imagine that the whole moral law is confined within the
compass of what you have now repeated ; as though there were no
more required or forbidden, than what is expressed in the words of
the ten commandments ; as though God required no more but the
bare external, or actual performance of a duty : and as though ho
did forbid no more than the bare abstinence and gross acting of sin.
The very same conceit of the law of God, the Scribes and Pharisees
had; and therefore, it is no marvel though you imagine you keep
all the commandments even as they did.
Nom. Well, sir, if I have been deceived, you may do well to in-
struct me better.
Evan. I shall endeavour to do it with all my heart, as the Lord
shall be pleased to enable me. And because I begin to fear that it
is not your case alone to be thus ignorant of the large extent, and
the true sense and meaning of the law of God, I also begin to blame
myself for that I have not taken occasion to expound the command-
ments in my public ministry since I came amongst you; and theri -
fore I do now resolve, by the help of God, very speedily to fall
about that work; and I hope I shall then make it appear unto you
that the ten commandments are but an epitome or an abridgment
1I0DERN DIVINITY. 399
of the law of God, and that the full exposition thereof is to be
found in the books of the prophets and apostles, called the Old and
New Testament.
Neo. Indeed, sir, I have told hira that we must not stick upon
the bare words of any of the ten commandments, nor rest satisfied
with the bare literal sense, but labour to find out the full exposition
and true spiritual meaning of every one of them, according to other
places of Scripture.
Evan. If you told him so, you told him that which is most true ;
for he that would truly understand and expound the commandments,
must do it according to these six rules.
First, He must consider that every commandment has both a ne-
gative and affirmative part contained in it; that is to say, where any
evil is forbidden, the contrary good is commanded ; aud where any
good is commanded, the contrary evil is forbidden ; for, says Ur-
sinus' Catechism, page 329, " The lawgiver does in an affirmative
commandment comprehend the negative ; and contrariwise, in a ne-
gative he comprehends the affirmative."
Secondly, He must consider that under one good action comman-
ded, or one evil action forbidden, all of the same kind or nature are
comprehended, yea, all occasions and means leading thereunto; ac-
cording to the saying of judicious Virel, " The Lord minding to for-
bid divers evils of the same kind, he comprehendeth them under the
name of the greatest."
Thirdly, He must consider that the law of God is spiritual, reach-
ing to the very heart or soul, and all the powers thereof, for it
charges the understanding to know the will of God ; it charges the
memory to retain, and the will to choose the better, and to leave the
worse; it charges the affections to love the things that are to be
loved, and to hate the things that are to be hated, and so binds all
the powers of the soul to obedience, as well as the words, thoughts,
and gestures.
Fourthly, He must consider, that the law of God must not only be
the rule of our obedience, but it must also be the reason of it : we
must not only do that which is there commanded, and avoid that
which is there forbidden, but we must also do the good, because the
Lord requires it, and avoid the evil, because the Lord forbids it ;
yea, and we must do all that is delivered and prescribed in the law,
for the love we bear to God, though love of God must be the foun-
tain, the impulsive and efficient cause of all our obedience to the
law.
Fifthly, He must consider, that as our obedience to the law must
arise from a right fountain, so must it be directed to a right end,
400 THE HARROW OP
and that is, that God alone may be glorified by us; for otherwise it
is not the worship of God, but hypocrisy, says TJrsinus' Catehchism ;
so that according to the saying of another godly writer, the final
cause or end of all our obedience must be, God's glory, (1 Cor. x.
13); or, which is all one, that we may please him, for in seeking to
please God, we glorify him, and these two things are always co-inci-
dent.
Sixthly, He must consider, that the Lord does not only take notice
of what we do in obedience to his law, but also after what manner
we do it ; and therefore we must be careful to do all our actions
after a right manner, viz. humbly, reverently, willingly, and zeal-
ously,
Neo. I beseech you, sir, if you can spare so much time, let us
have some brief exposition of some, if not of all the ten command-
ments before we go hence, according to these rules.
Evan. "What say you, neighbour Nomologista, do you desire the
same ?
Nom. Tea, sir, with all my heart, if yon please.
Evan. Well then, although my occasions at this time might justly
plead excuse for me; yet seeing that you do both of you desire it,
I will for the present dispense with all my other business, and en-
deavour to accomplish your desires, according as the Lord shall
be pleased to enable me : and therefore, I pray you understand and
consider, That in the first commandment there is a negative part ex-
pressed in these words : " Thou shalt have none other gods before ray
face." And an affirmative part included in these words: "But
thou shalt have rae only for thy God;" for if we must have none
other for our God, it implies strongly, that we must have the Lord
for our God.
Neo. I pray you, sir, begin with the affirmative part, and first tell
us what the Lord requireth of us in this commandment?
COMMANDMENT I.
Evan. In this first commandment, " the Lord requireth the duty
of our hearts or souls," Prov. xxiii. 26 ; that is to say, of our under-
standings, wills, and affections, and the effects of them.
Neo. And what is the duty of our understandings ?
Evan. The duty of our understandings is to know God, 2 Chron.
xxviii. 9. Now the end of knowledge is but the fulness of per-
suasion, even a settled belief, which is called faith, so that the
duty of our understandings is, so to know God, as to believe him to
be according as he has revealed himself to us in his word and worts ;
chap. xi. 6.
MODERN DIVINITY. 401
Neo. And how has the Lord revealed himself to us in his word ?
Evan. Why, he has revealed himself to be " most wise," Rom. xvi.
27 ; " most mighty," Deut. vii. 21 ; " most true," Deut. xxxii. 4 ;
" most just," Neh. ix. 33 ; and " most merciful," Psalm cxlv. 8.
Neo. And how has he revealed himself to us in his works ?
Evan, he has revealed himself in his works to be " the Creator of
all things," Exod. xx. 11 ; and " the Preserver of all things," Psalm
xxvi. 6 ; and " the Governor of all things," Psalm cxxxv. 6 ; and
" the Giver of every good gift." Jas. i. 17.
Neo. And how must our knowledge of God, and our belief in him,
be expressed by their effects ?
Evan. We must express, that we know and believe God to be
according as he lias revealed himself in his word and works, by our
remembering and acknowledging him whensoever there is occasion
for us so to do.
As for example ; when we read or hear those judgments that the
Lord in his word has threatened to bring upon us for our sins,
(Deut. xxviii. 16.) we are to express that we do remember and ac-
knowledge him to be most mighty, true, and just, by our fearing and
trembling thereat, Psalm cxix. 120. Hab. iii. 15. And when we
read or hear of blessings, that the Lord in his word has pro-
mised to bestow upon us for our obedience, (Deut. xxviii. 2.) then
we are to express, that we do remember and acknowledge him to be
most true, and merciful, by our obedience uuto him, and by our
trusting in him, and relying upon him, Gen. xxxii. 9. And when
we behold the excellent frame of heaven and earth, and the crea-
tures contained therein, then we are to express, that we do remem-
ber and acknowledge the Lord to be the Creator and Maker of
them all, by our praising and magnifying his name, Psalm cvi. 5.
and cxxxix. 14. And when the Lord does actually inflict any
judgment upon us, then we are to express that we do remember and
acknowledge him to be the Governor of all things, and most mighty,
wise, and just, by humbling ourselves under his mighty hand, 1 Pet.
v. 6. And by judging ourselves worthy to be destroyed, for our
iniquities, Ezek. xxxvi. 31. And by bearing the punishment there-
of, (Lev. xxvi. 41.) with willing, patient, contented submission to
his will and pleasure, Psalm xxxix. 9. And when the Lord does
actually bestow any blessing upon us, then we are to express, that
we do remember, and acknowledge him to be the most merciful
Giver of every good gift, by our humble acknowledging that we are
unworthy of the least of his mercies, Gen. xxxii. 10 ; and " in giv-
ing hira thanks for all things," 1 Thess. v. 18. And thus have I
showed unto you what is the duly of our understandings.
402 TUE MARROW OF
Neo. I pray you, sir, let us, iu the next place, hear what is the
duty of our wills.
Evan. The duty of our wills is to choose the Lord alone for our
our portion, Psalm xyi. 5. and cxix. 47.
Neo. And how must we express that we have chosen the Lord for
our portion ?
Evan. " By our loving him with all our hearts, with all our souls,
and with all our might," Deut. v. 6.
Neo. And how must we express that we do thus love the Lord ?
Evan. We must express that we do thus love the Lord, by the
acting of our other affections, as by our desire of most near com-
munion with him, Phil. i. 23. and by our delighting most in him,
Psalm xxxvii. 4; and by our rejoicing most in him, Phil. iv. 4: and
by our rearing most to offend him, Matt. x. 28 ; and by our sorrow-
ing most for offending him, Luke xxii. 62 ; and by being most
zealous against sin, aud for the glory of God, Rev. iii. 19. And
thus have I showed you what the Lord requires in the affirmative
part of this commandment.
Neo. I pray you, sir, proceed to the negative part, and show us
what the Lord forbids in this commandment.
Evan. In this first commandment is forbidden " ignorance of God,"
Jer. iv. 22 ; so also is unbelief, or doubting of the truth of God's
word, Isa. vii. 9. And so also is the want of fearing the threaten-
ings of God, Deut. xxviii. 58, and the fearing the threatenings of
men, either more, or as much as the threatenings of God, Isa. li. 12,
13 ; and so also is the want of trusting unto or relying upon the
promises of God, Luke xii. 29, and the trusting or relying upon
ourselves, men's promises, or any other thing, either more, or as
much as we do upon God, Jer. xvii. 5 ; Luke xii. 20. And so also
is the want of acknowledging the hand of God, in the time of afflic-
tion, Isa. xxvi. 11 ; and acknowledging that the rod can smite with-
out the hand of God, Job xix. 11 ; and so also is the want of
humbling ourselves before the Lord, Dan. v. 22; and pride of heart,
Prov. xvi. 5. And so also is impatience and discontentedness under
the chastising hand of God, Exod. xvii. 2 ; and not returning unto
him that smiteth us, Isa. ix. 13 ; and so also is our forgetfulness of
God in not acknowledging his merciful and bountiful hand in reach-
ing forth all good things unto us in the time of prosperity, Psalm
Ixxviii. 11; Deut. xxxii. 18; and so also is our sacrificing to our
own nets, (Hab. i. 10,) in ascribiug the coming in of our riches to
our own care, pains, and diligence in our callings, Deut. viii. 17 ;
and so also is unthankfulness to the Lord for his mercies, Rom. i.
21 ; and so also is our want of love to God, 1 Cor. xvi. 22; and our
MODERN DIVINITY. 403
loving any creature either more than God, or equal with God, Matt.
x. 37 : and so also is our want of desiring his presence, Job xxi. 14 ;
and our desiring the presence of any creature either more or so
much as God, Prov. vi. 25 ; and so also is our want of rejoicing in
God, Deut. xxviii. 47; and our rejoicing either more, or as much in
any thing as in God, Luke x. 20 ; and so also is our want of fearing
to offend God, Jer. v. 22 ; and our fearing to offend any mortal
man, either more or as much as to offend God, Prov. xxix. 25 ; and
so also is our want of sorrow and grief for offending God, 1 Cor. v.
2 ; and our sorrowing more, or as much, for any worldly loss or
cross, as for our sinning against God, 1 Thess. iv. 15 ; and so also
is our want of zeal, or our lukewarmness in the cause of God and
his truth, Rev. iii. 16 ; and our corrupt, blind, and indiscreet zeal,
Luke ix. 55. And thus have I showed unto you what the Lord re-
quires, and what he forbids in this commandment. And now, neigh-
bour Nomologista, I pray you, tell me whether you think you keep
it perfectly or no ?
Norn. Sir, before I tell you that, I pray you tell me how you
prove that the Lord in this commandment requires all these duties,
and forbids all these sins ?
Evan. First, I know that the Lord in this commandment requires
all these duties, because no man can truly have the Lord for his
God, except he have chosen him for his portion ; and no man can
truly choose the Lord for his portion, before he truly know him :
and he that does truly know God, does truly believe both his
threatenings and his promises ; and he that does truly believe the
Lord's threatenings, must needs fear and tremble at them ; and he
that does believe the Lord's promises, must needs truly love him,
for faith always produces and brings forth love ; and whosoever
does truly love God, must needs desire near communion with him ;
yea, and rejoice in communion with him ; yea, and fear to offend
him ; yea, and sorrow for offending him ; yea, and be zealous for
his glory. ,
Secondly, I know that all these sins are forbidden in this com-
mandment, because that whatsoever the mind, will, and affections of
men are set upon, or carried after, either more or as much as after
God, that is another god unto him ; and therefore, if a man stand in
fear of any creature, or fear the loss of any creature, either more
than God, or equal with God, he makes that creature his god : and
if he trust unto, and put confidence in any creature, either more
than in God, or equal with God, that creature is his god ; and hence
it is that the covetous man is called an idolater, Eph. v. 5, for that
he makes his gold his hope, and says to the fine gold, " Thou art
404 THE MARROW OF
my confidence," Job xxxi. 24. And if any man be proud of any
good thing he has, and do not acknowledge God to be the free giver
and bestower of the" same, or if he be impatient and discontented
under the Lord's correcting hand, he makes himself a god ; and if a
man so love any creature as that he desires it being absent, or de-
lights in it being present, either more than God, or equal with God,
that creature is another god unto him. And hence it is, that volup-
tuous men are said to make their belly their god, Phil. iii. 19. In
a word, whatsoever the mind of man is carried after, or his heart
and affections set upon, either more, or as much as upon God, that
he makes his god. And therefore we may undoubtedly conclude,
that all the sins before mentioned, are forbidden in this command-
ment.
Nom. Then believe me, sir, I must confess that I come far short
of keeping this commandment perfectly.
Evan. Yea, and so we do all of us, I am confident ; for have
not every one of us sometimes questioned in our hearts, whether
there be a God or no? And as touching the knowledge of God,
may not we all three of us truly say with the apostle, 1 Cor. xiii. 9,
" "We know in part." And which of us has so feared and trembled
at the threatenings of God, and at the shaking of his rod, as we
ought ? Nay, have we not feared the frowns, threats, and power of
some mortal man, more than the frowns, threats, and power of God?
It is well if it have not appeared by our choosing to obey man
rather than God : and which of us has so trusted unto, and relied
upon the promises of God in time of need, as he ought? nay, have
we not rather trusted unto and relied upon men and means, than
upon God? Has it not been manifested by our fearing of poverty,
and want of outward things, when friends, trading, and means
begin to fail us; though God has said, "I will not fail thee, nor
forsake thee "? Heb. xiii. 5. And which of us has so humbled our-
selves under the chastening and correcting hand of God as we
ought : nay, have we not rather expressed abundance of pride, by
our impatience and discontentedness, and want of submitting to the
will of God ; and by our quarrelling and contending with his rod.
And which of us has so acknowledged God in the time of prospe-
rity, and been so thankful unto him for his blessings, as we ought ?
Nay, have we not rather at such times forgotten God, and sacrificed
to our own nets, saying in our hearts, if not also with our mouths,
" I may thank mine own diligence, care and pains-taking, or else it
had not been with me as it is ?" And which of us hath so mani-
fested our love to God, by our desire of near communion with him
in his ordinances and by our desire to be dissolved and to be with
MODERN DIVINITY. 405
liim, as we ought ? Nay, have we not rather expressed our great
want of love to him, hy onr backwardness to prayer, reading, and
hearing his word, and receiving the sacrament, and by our little
delight therein, and by our unwillingness to die? Nay, have we
not manifested our greater love to the world, by our greater desires
after the profits, pleasures, and honours of the world, and by our
greater delight therein than in God ? Or which of us have so mani-
fested our love to God, by our sorrow and grief for offending him,
as we ought ? Nay, have we not rather manifested our greater love
to the world, by our sorrowing and grieving more for some worldly
loss or cross, than for offending God by our sins ? Or which of us
have so manifested our love to God, by being so zealous for his
glory as we ought? Nay, have we not rather expressed greater
love to ourselves, in being more hot and fiery in our own cause than
in God's cause ? And thus have I endeavoured to satisfy your
desires concerning the first commandment.
Neo. I beseech you, sir, proceed to do the like concerning the
second commandment, and first tell us how the first and second com-
mandments differ the one from the other.
COMMANDMENT II.
Evan. Why, as the first commandment teaches us to have the
true God for our God, and none other; so the second commandment
requireth that we worship this true God alone, with true worship :
and in this commandment likewise, there is a negative part ex-
pressed in these words, " Thou shalt not make to thyself any graven
image," &c. And an affirmative part included in these words,
"But thou shalt worship me only and purely, according to my will,
revealed in my word."
Neo. I pray you then, sir, begin with the affirmative part, and
tell us what be the means of God's worship, prescribed in his word.
Evan. If we look into the word of God, we shall find that the
ordinary means and parts of God's worship, are invocations upon
the name of God, ministry and hearing of the word of God, admini-
stration and receiving the sacraments, with all helps and further-
ances to the right performance of the same.
But to declare this more particularly, First of all, prayer both
public and private is required in God's word, as you may see,
1 Tim. ii. 8; Acts ii. 21, 22; Dan. vi. 10. Secondly, Beading the
word, or hearing it read, both publicly and privately, is required in
God's word, as you may see, Bev. i. 3; Deut. v. 6. Thirdly.
Preaching, and hearing of the word preached, is required in the
word of God, as you may see, 2 Kings iv. 2; 1 Thess. ii. 13.
403 TTIK MAKROW OP
Fourthly, The administration and receiving the sacrament is re-
quired in the word of God, as you may see, Matt. iii. 6. and xxvi.
26 ; 1 Cor. x. 16. Fifthly, Praising of God, in singing of psalms,
both publicly and privately, is required in the word of God, as you
may see, Col. iii. 16; James v. 13. Sixthly, Meditation on the
word of God is required in the word of God, as you may see, Psalm
i. 2; Acts xvii. 11. Seventhly, Conference about the word of God
is required in the word of God, as you may see, Mai. iii. 16. And,
Lastly, For the better fitting and stirring us up to the right perfor-
mance of these duties, religious fasting, both in public and in pri-
vate, is required in the word of God, as you may see, Joel i. 14, and
ii. 15. Aud so also is a religious vow or free promise made to God,
to perform some outward work, or bodily exercise for some end, as
you may see, Eccl. v. 3, 4. And thus have I shown you what be
the means of God's worship which he has prescribed in his word.
Neo. I pray you, sir, then proceed to the negative part, aud tell
us what the Lord forbiddeth in this commandment ?
Evan. Well then, I pray you understand, that in this command-
ment is forbidden, neglecting of prayer, as you may see, Psalm
xiv. 4. And so also is absenting ourselves from the hearing of the
word preached, or any other ordinance of God, when the Lord calls
us thereunto, as you may see, Luke xiv. 18 — 20. And so also is
our rejecting the sacrament of baptism, as you may see, Luke vii.
30. And so also is our slighting the sacrament of the Lord's Sup-
per, as you may see, 2 Chron. xxx. 10. And so also is the slight-
ing and omitting any of the other forenamed duties, as you may see,
Psalm x. 4 ; John iii. 31 ; Isa. xxii. 12 — 14. And so also is pray-
ing to saints and angels, as you may see, Isa. lxiii. 16 ; Rev. xix.
10. And so also is the making of images for religious uses, as you
may see, Lev. xix. 4. And so also is the representing God by an
image, as you may see, Exod. xxxii. 8, 9. Aud so also is all carnal
imaginations of God in his worship, as you may see, Acts xvii. 29.
And so also is all will worship, or the worshipping of God according to
our own fancy, as you may see, 1 Sam. ix. 10, 13 ; Col. ii. 23. And
thus have I shown unto you both what the Lord requireth, and
what he forbiddeth in this commandment, and now, neighbour
Nomologista, I pray you, tell me whether you keep it perfectly
or no ?
Nom. Yea, sir, I am persuaded that I go very near it. But, I
pray you, sir, tell me how you prove that all these duties are re-
quired, and all these sins forbidden in this commandment ?
Evan. For the proof of this, I pray you consider, that the wor-
shipping of false gods is flatly forbidden in the negative part of this
MODERN DIVINITY. 407
commandment, in these words, " Thou shalt not bow down thyself
to them, nor serve them, nor worship them," Exod. xx. 5. And the
worshipping of the true God is implied and expressed in these
words, Matth. iv. 10, " Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and
him only shalt thou serve."
Nom. But sir, how do you prove that these duties which you have
named are parts of God's Arorship ?
Evan. For answer hereunto, I pray you consider, that to worship
God, is to render up that homage and respect that is due from a
creature to a Creator ; now, in prayer we are said to render up this
homage unto him, and to manifest our profession of dependence
upon him for all the good we have, and acknowledge him to be the
Author of all good; and indeed prayer is such a great part of
God's worship, that sometimes in Scripture it is put for the whole
worship of God. " He that calls upon the name of the Lord shall
be saved," Rom. x. 13 ; that is, he that worships God aright; Jer.
x. 25, " Pour out thy wrath upon the heathen that know thee not,
and on the families that call not upon thy name," that do not pray,
that do not worship God.
And that hearing the word is a part of God's worship is mani-
fest ; because that in hearing we do manifest our dependence upon
him, for knowing his mind, and the way to eternal life, every time we
come to hear the word of God, if we know what we do, we do thus
much, we profess that we depend upon the Lord God for the know-
ing of his mind, and the way and rule to eternal life ; and besides,
herein we also come to wait upon God in the way of an ordinance, to
have that good conveyed unto us by way of an ordinance, beyond
what the thing itself is able to do, and therefore this is worship.
And that the receiving the sacrament is a part of God's worship, is
manifest, in that when we come to receive these holy signs and
seals, we come to present ourselves before God, and come to God
for a blessing in communicating unto us some higher good than
possibly those creatures that we have to deal with are able of them-
selves to convey to us ; we come to God to have communion with him,
and that we might have the blessing of the covenant of grace con-
veyed unto us through these things ; and therefore when we come
to be exercised in them, we come to worship God. The like we
might say of the rest of the duties before mentioned, but I hope this
may suffice to satisfy you that they are parts of God's worship.
Nom. But, sir, you know that in this commandment there is no-
thing expressly forbidden but the making and worshipping of ima
ges, and therefore I question whether all those other sins that you
have named be likewise forbidden.
408 THE MARROW OF
Evan. Bat you must know, that when the Lord condemneth the
chief, or greatest and most evident kind of false worship, namely,
the worship of God at, or by images, it is manifest that he forbids
also the other kinds of false worship, seeing this is the head and
fountain of all the rest; wherefore, whatsoever worships are insti-
tuted by men, or do any way hinder God's true worship, they are
contrary to this commandment.
Norn. Well, sir, though that these things be so, yet for all that
I am persuaded I go very near the keeping of this commandment j
for I do constantly perform the most of these duties, and am not
guilty of doing the contrary.
Evan. But thou must know, that for the worshipping of God aright
it is not only required that we do the good which he commands, and
avoid the evil which he forbids, but also, that we do it in obedience
to God, to show that we acknowledge him alone to be the true God,
who has willed this worship to be thus done unto him ; so that, as
I told you before, the word of God must not only be the rule of our
actions, but also the reason of them : we must do all things which
are delivered and prescribed in the ten commandments, even for the
love we bear to God, and for the desire we have to worship him ;
for except we so do them, we do them not according to the sentence
and prescript of the law, neither do we please God therein. Where-
fore, though you have prayed and heard the word of God and re-
ceived the sacrament, and done all the rest of the forenamed duties,
yea, and though you have not done the contrary, yet if all this has
been either because the laws of the kingdom require it, or in mere
obedience to any superior, or to gain the praise and esteem of men,
or if you have any way made yourself your highest end, you have
not obeyed nor worshipped God therein ; for, says a judicious writer,
" If any man shall observe these things in mere obedience to the
king's laws, or thereby to please holy men, and not through an im-
mediate reverence of that heavenly Majesty who has commanded
them, that man's obedience is non-obedience ; his keeping of these
laws is no keeping them ;" because the main thing here intended is
neglected, which is the setting up God in his heart ; and that which
is most of all abhorred is practised, viz. the " fear of God taught
by the precepts of men," Isa. xxix. 13. And to this purpose that
worthy man of God has this saying, " Take heed, (says he) that the
praises of men be not the highest end that thou aimest at ; for if it
be, thou worshippest men, thou dost make the praise of men to be
thy god ; for whatsoever thou dost lift up in the highest place, that
is thy god, whatsoever it be ; wherefore, if thou liftest up the praise
of men, and makest that thy end, thou makest that thy god, and so
thou art a worshipper of men, but not a worshipper of God."
1I0DKRN DIVINITY. 409
Again, says he, " Take heed of making self thy end. That is,
take heed of aiming at thine own peace, and satisfying thine own
conscience in the performance of duties." It is true, says he, when
we perform duties of God's worship we may be encouraged thereun-
to by the expectations of good to ourselves, yet we must look higher,
we must look at the honour and praise of God ; it is not enough
to do it, merely to satisfy conscience ; thy main end must be, that
thou mayst, by the performance of the duty be fitted to honour the
name of God, otherwise we do them not for God but for ourselves,
which the Lord condemns, Zech. vii. 5, 6. And now, neighbour
Nomologista, I pray you, let me ask you once again, whether you
think you keep this commandment perfectly or no?
Nom. No, believe me, sir, I do now begin to fear I do not.
Evan. If you make any question of it, I would intreat you to con-
sider with yourself, whether you have not gone to the church on the
Lord's day to hear the word of God, and to receive the sacrament,
and do other duties, because the laws of the kingdom require it, or
because your parents and masters have required it, or because it is
a custom to do so, or because you conceive it to be a credit for you
to do so. And I pray you also consider, whether you have not ab-
stained from worshipping images, and other such idolatrous and
superstitious actions which the Papists use, merely because the laws
of the land wherein you live do condemn such things. And I pray
you also consider whether you have not been sometimes zealous in
prayer in the presence and company of others, to gain their praise
and approbation ; have you not desired that they should think you
to be a man of good gifts and parts ? And have you not in that re-
gard endeavoured to enlarge yourself ? And have you not some-
times performed duties merely because otherwise conscience would
not let you be quiet ? And have you not sometimes fasted and
prayed, merely or chiefly in hopes that the Lord would, for your
so doing, prevent or remove some judgment from you, or grant you
some good thing which you desire. Now, I beseech you, answer me
truly and plainly, whether you do not think you have done so ?
Nom. Yea, believe me, sir, I think I have.
Evan Then have you in all these things honoured and worshipped
your parents, your masters, your magistrates, your neighbours, your
friends, and yourself, as so many false gods, instead of the true
God ; and therein have been guilty of a breach of the second com-
mandment.
Neo. I pray you, sir, proceed to speak of the third commandment,
as you have done of the first and second ; and first, tell us how the
second and third commandment differ.
Vol. VII. 2 c
410 THE MARROW OF
COMMANDMENT III.
Evan. Why, as the Lord in the second commandment doth require
that we worship him alone by true means, so does he in the third
commandment require that we use the means of his worship after a
right manner, that so they may not be used in vain, Matt. xv. 9.
And in this commandment likewise, there is a negative part ex-
pressed in these words, " Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord
thy God in vain." And that is, Thou shalt not profane it, by using
my titles, attributes, ordinances, or works, ignorantly, irrevently,
or after a formal, superstitious manner. And an affirmative part,
included in these words, " But thou shalt sanctify my name, Isa. viii.
13 ; — by using my titles, attributes, ordinances, works, and religion,
with knowledge, reverence, and after a spiritual manner, John
iv. 24.
Neo. I pray you, sir, begin with the affirmative part, and first tell
us what the Lord requires in this commandment.
Evan. The Lord in his commandment doth require, that we sanc-
tify his name in our hearts, with our tongues, and in our lives, by
thinking, conceiving, speaking, writing, and walking, so as becomes
the excellency of his titles, attributes, ordinances, works, and
religion.
Neo. And how are we to sanctify the name of the Lord in regard
of his titles §
Evan. By thinking, conceiving, speaking, and writing holily, reve-
rently, and spiritually of his titles, Lord and God, Deut. xxviii. 58.
And this we do when we meditate on them, and use them in our
speeches and writings with an inward spiritual fear and trembling,
to the glory of God and good of men, Jer. v. 22.
Neo. And how are we to sanctify the name of the Lord, in regard
of his attributes ?
Evan. By thinking, conceiving, speaking, and writing holily, re-
verently, and spiritually of his power, wisdom, justice, mercy, and
patience, Psalm civ. 1, and ciii. 6, 8. And this we do when we
think, speak, and write of them after a careful, reverent, and
spiritual manner, and apply them to such good uses for which the
Lord has made them known, Psalm xxxvii. 30.
Neo. And in which of God's ordinances are we to sanctify his
name ?
Evan. In every one of his ordinances, and especially in the three
great ordinances, prayer, preaching, and bearing the word, and ad-
ministering and receiving the sacraments.
Neo. And how are we to sanctify the name of the Lord in prayer ?
MODERN DIVINITY. 41 1
Evan. In prayer we are to sanctify the name of the Lord in onr
hearts, and with our tongues, in calling upon his name after a holy,
reverent, and spiritual manner ; and this we do when our prayers
are the speech of our souls, and not of our mouths only ; and that
is, when in prayer we lift up our hearts unto God, Psalm xxv. 1 ;
and pour them out unto him, Psalm lxii. 8 ; and when we pray with
spirit, and with understanding also, 1 Cor. viv. 15 ; and with humi-
lity, Gen. xviii. 27; and xxxii. 10; Luke xviii. 13; and with fer-
vency of spirit, James v. 16 ; and out of a sense of our own wants,
James i. 5; and with a special faith in the promises of God, Matt.
xxi. 22.
Neo. And how are your ministers to sanctify the name of the Lord
in preaching his word ?
Evan. "We are to sanctify the name of the Lord in our hearts,
and with our tongues, in preaching after a holy, reverent, and spi-
tual manner ; and this we do when the word is preached, not only
outwardly, by the body, but also inwardly with the heart and soul ;
and when the heart and soul preaches, then is the ministry of the
word, ou the minister's part, used after an holy and spiritual man-
ner, and that is, when we preach in demonstration of the Spirit,
1 Cor. iii. 27; and in sincerity, 2 Cor. ii. 17; and faithfully without
respect of persons, Deut. xxxiii. 9 ; and with judgment and discre-
tion, Matt. xxiv. 49 ; and with authority and power, Matt. vii. 29 ;
and with zeal to God's glory, John vii. 18 ; and with a desire of the
people's salvation, 2 Cor. xi. 2.
Neo. And how are we hearers to sanctify the name of the Lord in
hearing his word ?
Eaan. In hearing it after an holy, reverent, and spiritual man-
ner ; and this you do when your heart and soul hears the word of
God; and that is when you set yourself in the presence of God, Acts x.
33 ; and when you look upon the minister as God's messenger or am-
bassador, 2 Cor. v. 20, and so hear the word as the word of God, and
not as the word of man, 1 Thess. ii. 13 ; with reverence and fear,
Isa. lxvi. 2 ; and with a ready desire to learn, Acts xvii. 11 ; and
with attention, Acts viii. 6 ; and with alacrity without wcarisome-
ness or sleepiness, Acts xx. 9.
Neo. And how are you ministers to sanctify tho name of the Lord
in administering the sacraments ?
Evan. By administering them after an holy, reverent, and spiri-
tual manner ; and that is, when we administer them with our hearts
or souls, according to Christ's institution, Matt. xxvi. 26 ; to the
faithful in profession at least, 1 Cor. x. 16 ; and with a hearty
desire that may become profitable to the receivers.
c2 2
412 THE 1IAKU0W u9
Neo. And how are we to sanctify the name of the Lord in receiv-
ing the sacraments ?
Evan. This we do when we rightly and seriously examine our-
selves aforehand. 1 Cor. xi ; and rightly and seriously mind and
consider of the sacramental union of the sign, and the thing signified,
and do in our hearts perform those inward actions which are signi-
fied by the outward actions. Acts viii. 37, 38 ; 1 Cor. x. 6.
Neo. And how are we to sanctify the name of the Lord in regard
of his works ?
Evan. In thinking and speaking of them after a wise, reverent,
and spiritual manner ; and this we do when we meditate and make
mention in our speeches and writings of the inward works of God's
eternal election and reprobation, with wonderful admiration of the
unsearchable depths thereof, Rom. xi. 33, 34 ; and when we medi-
tate in our hearts of the works of God's creation and administra-
tion, and make mention of them in our words and writings, so
as that we acknowledge therein his wisdom, power, and goodness,
Rom. i. 19, 20 ; Psalm xix. 1 ; and acknowledging the workmanship
of God therein, do speak honourably of the same, Psalm cxxxix 14;
Gen. i. 31.
Neo. And how are we to sanctify the name of the Lord in regard
of his religion ?
Evan. By holy profession of his true religion, and a conversation
answerable thereunto, to the glory of God, the good of ourselves and
others, Matt. v. 16 ; 1 Pet. ii. 12.
Neo. And, sir, are we not also to sanctify the name of God by
swearing thereby ?
Evan. Yea, indeed, that was well remembered ; we are to sanctify
the name of the Lord in our hearts, and with our tongues in swear-
ing thereby, after a holy, religious, and spiritual manner ; and this
we do when the magistrate requires an oath of us by the order of
justice, that is, not against piety or charity, Gen. xliii. 3; 1 Sam.
xxiv. 21, 22; and when we swear in truth, (Jer. iv. 2.); that is,
when we are persuaded in our conscience the thing we swear is
truth, and swear simply and plainly, without fraud or deceit, Psalm
xv. 4 ; and xxiv. 4 ; and when we swear in judgment, that is, when
we swear with deliberation, well considering both the nature and
greatness of an oath, viz. that God is thereby called to witness the
truth, and judge and punish us if we swear falsely, Gal. i. 20 ; 2 Cor.
i. 23 ; and when we swear in righteousness, that is, when the thing
we swear is lawful and just, and when our swearing is that God may
be glorified, Josh. vii. 19 ; our neighbour satisfied, controversies
ended, Heb. vi. 16 ; our own innocency cleared, Exod. xxii. 11 ; and
our duty discharged, 1 Kings viii. 31.
MODERN DIVINITY. 413
Neo. "Well, sir, now I pray yon, proceed to the negative part, and
tell us what the Lord forbiddeth in this commandment.
Evan. As the Lord in the affirmative part of this commandment
doth require that we sanctify his name in our hearts, with our
tongues, and in our lives, by thinking, conceiving, speaking, writing,
and walking, so as becomes the excellency of his titles, attributes,
ordinances, and religion ; so doth he in the negative part thereof
forbid the profanation of his name, by doing the contrary.
Neo. Well then, sir, I pray you first tell us how the titles of God
are profanely abused.
Evan. They are profanely abused divers ways ; as first, by think-
ing irreverently of them, or using them in our common talk, or in
our writings, after a rash, careless, and irreverent manner, Psalm. 1.
22 ; Rom. i. 21 ; as when in foolish admiration we say, Good God !
Good Lord ! Lord have mercy on us, what a thing is this ! and
the like ; or when by way of idle wishes for imprecations we say,
" The Lord be my judge !" (Gen. xvi. 5.) or, I pray God I may
never stir, if such a thing be not so ! and the like ; or when by way
of vain swearing, we mingle our speeches, and fill up our sentences
with needless oaths, as, Not so, by my faith ! and the like, (Matt. v.
34 ; James v. 12 ;) or when by way of jesting, or after a formal
manner we say, God be thanked, God speed, God's name be praised,
and the like. 2 Sam. xxiii. 21.
Neo. And I pray you, sir, how are the attributes of God pro-
fanely abused?
Evan. The attribute of God's power is profanely abused, either
by calling into question, (2 Kings vii. 2.) or by thinking, speaking
or writing of it carnally, carelessly, or contemptuously. Psalm xii.
4; Exod. v. 2. And the attribute of God's providence is abused
either by murmuring thereat in our hearts, (Deut. xv. 9.) or by
speaking grudgingly against it under the name of fortune or chance,
in saying, "What a misfortune was that ! What a mischance was
that ! and the like. Deut. i. 27 ; 1 Sam. vi. 9. And the attribute
of God's justice is profanely abused, either by thinking or saying,
that God likes sin or wicked sinners. Psalm 1. 21 ; Mai. iii. 15.
And the attribute of God's mercy is profanely abused, either in
presuming to sin, upon hopes that God will be merciful, or by
speaking basely and contemptuously thereof, as when we say, speak-
ing of some trifling thing, It is not worth God a mercy. And the
attribute of God's patience is profanely abused by thinking or say-
ing upon occasion of his forbearance to punish for a time, that he
will neither call us to an account, nor punish us for our sins. Rom.
ii. 4.
414 THE MARROW OF
Neo. Now, sir, I pray you proceed to show how God's name is
profanely abused in his ordinances ; and first of all begin with
prayer.
Evan. God's name is profanely abused in prayer, either by pray-
ing ignorantly, without the true knowledge of God and his will,
Acts xvii. 23 ; Matt ; xx. 22 ; or when we pray with the mouth only,
and not with the desires of our hearts agreeing with our words,
Hos. iii. 14; Psalm Ixxviii. 36; and when we pray drowisily and
heavily without fervency of spirit, Matt. xxvi. 41 ; and when we
pray with wandering worldly thoughts, Rom. xii. 12; and when we
pray with any conceit of our own worthiness, Luke xviii. 9, 11 ;
and when we pray without faith in the promises of God, James i. 6.
Neo. And how is God's name profanely abused in hearing or
reading his word ?
Evan. God's name is hereby abused, when we hear it or read it,
and do not understand it, Acts viii. 30 ; and when we hear it only
with the outward ears of our bodies, and not also with the inward
ears of our heart and soul ; and this we do when we read it or
hear it with our hearts full of wandering thoughts, Ezek. xxxiii.
30 ; and when we read it, or hear it with dull, drowsy, and sleepy
spirits ; and when in hearing of it we rather conceive it to be the
word of a mortal man that delivers it, than the word of the great
God of heaven and earth, 1 Thess. ii. 13; and when we do not
with our hearts believe every part and portion of that word which
we read or hear, Heb. iv. 2 ; and when we do not humbly and
heartily subject ourselves to what we read or hear, 2 Kings xxii.
19 ; Isa. Ixii. 2.
Neo. And how is the Lord's name profanely abused in receiving
the sacrament of the Lord's Supper ?
Evan. This we do when we either through want of knowledge
cannot examine ourselves, or through our own negligence do not
examine ourselves, before we eat of that bread, and drink of that
cup, 1 Cor. xi. 28; and when we in the act of receiving, do not
mind the spiritual signification of the sacrament, but do either ter-
minate our thoughts in the elements themselves, or else suffer them
to rove and run out to some other object, Luke xxii. 19; and when
after receiving we do not examine ourselves what communion we
have had with Christ in that ordinance, nor what virtue we have
found flowing out from Christ into our own souls, by means of that
ordinance, 2 Cor. xiii. 5.
Neo. And how is the name of the Lord profanely abused in tak-
ing of an oath ?
Evan. This we do, when we call the Lord to be a witness of vain
MODERN DIVINITY. 415
aud frivolous things, by our usual swearing in our common talk,
Hos. iv. 2 ; Jer. xxiii. 10 ; and when we call God to be a witness of
our furious anger and wicked purpose, as when we swear we will be
revenged on such a man, and the like, 1 Sam. xiv. 39, and xxv. 34 ;
and when we call God to be a witness to our swearing falsely, Lev.
xix. 12; Zech. v. 4; and when" we swear by the mass, or by our
faith, or troth, or by the rood, or by any thing else that is not good
Jer. v. 7 ; Matt. 34—37.
Neo. And how is the name of God profanely abused as touching
his works ?
Evan. When we either take no notice of his works at all, or
when we think and speak otherwise of them than we have warrant
from his word to do ; as when we do not speak of the inward works
of God's election and reprobation, and are called thereunto, and
when we murmur and cavil thereat, Rom. ix. 20 ; and when we
either do not at all mind the works of his creation and administra-
tion, or do not take occasion thereby to glorify the name of God,
Psalm xix. 1 ; Rom. i. 21<
Norn. And how is the name of God profanely abused in respect of
his religion ?
Evan. When our conversation is not agreeable to our profession,
2 Tim. iii. 5 ; and that is either when in respect of God it is but
hypocrisy, or in respect of men we walk oifensively ; for if we live
scandalously in the profession of religion, we cause the name of God
to be profaned by them that are without, (Rom. ii. 24,) and become
stumbling blocks to our weak brethren, Rom. xiv. 13.
And now, neighbour Nomologista, I pray you, tell me whether
yeu think you keep this commandment perfectly or no ?
Norn. Sir, to tell you the truth, I had not thought that the name
of God had signified any more than his titles, Lord and God.
Evan. Ay, but you are to know that the name of God in Scrip-
ture signifies all those things that are affirmed of God, or any thing
whatsoever it is, whereby the Lord makes himself known to men.
Nom. Then believe me, sir, I have come far short of keeping
this commandment perfectly, and so does every man else, I am per-
suaded.
Evan. I am of your mind, for where is the man that hath and
doth so meditate on God's titles, and use them in his speeches and
writings, with such reverence, fear, and trembling as he ought?
Or what man is he that can truly say, he never in all his life
thought on them, or used them in his common talk, either rashly,
carelessly, or irreverently? I am sure, for my own part, I cannot
say so, for, alas ! in the time of mine ignorance, I used many times
416 THE MAKBUW OF
to say, by way of foolish admiration, Good Lord ! Good God ! Lord
have mercy on me, what a thing is this ! Tea, and I also many
times used to say, I pray God I may never stir if such a thing be
not so ! Yea, and I have divers times said, The Lord be with you,
and speed you, and the Lord's name be praised ! after a formal cur-
sory manner, my thoughts being exercised about something else all
the while.
And where is the man that has always thought, conceived, spoken,
and written so holily, reverently, and spiritually, of the Lord's
power, wisdom, justice, mercy, and patience, as he ought ? Nay,
what man is he that can truly say, he never in all his life called the
attribute of the Lord's power into question, nor ever murmured at
any act or passage of God's providence, nor ever presumed to sin,
upon hopes that God would be merciful unto him ? I am sure I
cannot truly say so.
And where can we find the man that can truly say, he has always
read and heard the word of God after a holy, reverent, and spirit-
ual manner? Nay, where is the man that has not sometimes both
heard it and read it after a formal, cursory, and unprofitable man-
ner ? Is there any man that can truly say he has always perfectly
understood whatsoever he has read and heard ? and that has not
sometimes heard more with the outward ears of his body, than with
the inward ears of his heart and soul, and that was never dull and
drowsy, if not sleepy, in the time of hearing and reading, and that
had never a worldly, nor wandering thought to come in at that
time, and that never had the least doubting or questioning the truth
of what he had read or heard ? I am sure, for my own part, I have
been faulty many of these ways. »
And is it possible to find a man that can truly say, he has always
called upon the name of the Lord after a holy, reverent, and spirit-
ual manner, or has not many times prayed after a carnal, unholy,
or sinful manner ? Where is the man that has always had a per-
fect knowledge of God and of his will in prayer, and whose heart
has always gone along with his words in prayer, and that never was
drowsy nor heavy, never had wandering thoughts in prayer, and
that never had the least conceit that God would grant him any
thing for his prayer's sake, and that never had the least doubting
or questioning in his heart, whether God would grant him the thing
he asked in prayer? I am sure, for my own part, I can scarce clear
myself from any of these.
And can any man truly say he has always received the sacra-
ment after a holy, reverent, and spiritual manner ? Nay, has not
every man rather cause to acknowledge the contrary ? Is there a
MODERN DIVINITY. 417
man to be found that lias always seriously and rightly examined
himself before-hand, and that has al way sprightly, with his heart, per-
formed all those inward actions that are signified by the outward ;
or has not every man and woman rather cause to confess, that either
for want of knowlege, or through their own negligence, they have not
so examined themselves as they ought, nor so actuated their faith,
nor minded the spiritual signification of the outward elements, in
the time of receiving the sacrament as they ought, nor so examined
themselves, after receiving, what benefit they have got to their soul
thereby ? I am sure I have cause to confess all this.
And where shall we find a man that has always sanctified the
name of the Lord in his heart, and with his tongue, by swearing
after a holy, religious, and spiritual manner ; or rather, have not
most men that have been called to take an oath, profaned the name
of the Lord, either by swearing ignorantly, falsely, maliciously, or
from some base and wicked end ? And I think it is somewhat hard
to find a man that never in all his life did swear, either by his faith,
or by his troth, by the mass, or by the rood, I am sure I am not the
man ; and he is a rare man that can truly say, he has always sanc-
tified the name of God in his heart, and with his tongue, by admir-
ing and acknowledging the wisdom, power, and goodness of God
manifested in his works, for it is to be feared that most men do
either take no notice at all of the works of God, or else do think
and speak of them otherwise than the word of God warrants them
to do. I am sure I am one of these most.
And he is a precious man that has always so sanctified the name
of the Lord by a holy and unblameable conversation as he ought;
for, alas ! many professors of religion, by their fruitless and offensive
walking, do either cause the enemies of God to speak evil of the
ways of God, or else do thereby cause their weak brother to stumble ;
it is well if I never did so ; and thus have I also endeavoured to
satisfy your desires concerning the third commandment.
Neo. I beseech you, sir, proceed to speak of the fourth command-
ment as you have done of the other three.
COMMANDMENT IV.
Evan. Well, then, I pray you consider, that, as the Lord in the
third comandment doth prescribe the right manner how he will be
worshipped, so doth he in the fourth commandment, set down the
time when he will be most solemnly worshipped, after the right man-
ner ; and in this commandment there is an affirmative part expres-
sed in these words, " Remember the Sabbath-day to keep it holy,"
&c. That is, remember that the seventh day in every week be set
418 THE MAKK0W OF
apart from worldly things and businesses, and be consecrated to God
by holy and heavenly employments ; and a negative part expressed
also in these words, " In it thou shalt not do any work," &c. That
is, thou shalt not on that day do any such thing or work as doth
any way hinder thee from keeping an holy rest unto God.
Neo. I pray you, sir, begin with the affirmative part, and first
tell us what the Lord requires of us in this commandment.
Evan. In this fourth commandment the Lord requires that we
finish all our works in the space of six days, (Deut. v. 13.) and
think on the seventh day before it come, and prepare for it, (Luke
xxiii. 54.) and rise early on that day in the morning, Psalm xcii. 2.
Mark i. 35, 38, 39. Yea, and the Lord requires that we fit our-
selves for the public exercises by prayer, reading, and meditation,
Eccl. v. 1 ; Isa. vii. 10 ; and that we join with the minister and
people publicly assembled, with assent of mind, and fervency of
affection in prayer, Acts ii. 42 ; in hearing the word read and
preached, Acts xiii. 14, 15, 44 ; in singing of psalms, 1 Cor. xiv. 15,
16; Col. iii. 16; in the sacrament of baptism, Luke i. 58, 59; and
in the sacrament of the Lord's Supper, so often as it shall be ad-
ministered in that congregation whereof we are members, 1 Cor. xi. 26.
Then afterwards, when we come home, the Lord requires that we
seriously meditate on that portion of the word of which we have
heard, (Acts xvii. 11.) and repeat it to our families, (Deut. vi. 7-)
and confer of it with others, if there be occasion, (Luke xxiv. 14,
17,) and that we crave his blessing when we have done all this,
John xvii. 17.
Neo. And is this all that the Lord requires us to do on that day ?
Evan. No ; the Lord requires us that we do works of mercy on
that day, as to visit the sick, and do them what good we can.
(Neh. viii. 12 ; Mark iii. 3 — 5,) and relieve the poor and needy, and
such as be in prison, (Luke xiii. 16,) and labour to reconcile those
that be at variance and discord, Matth. v. 9.
And the Lord doth permit us to do works of instant necessity, on
that day, as to travel to the places of God's worship, 2 Kings iv.
23 ; to heal the diseased, Hos. vi. 6 ; Matth. xli. 7, 12 ; to dress
food for the necessary preservation of our temporal lives, Exod. i.
1 ; to tend and feed cattle, Matth. xii. 11 ; and such like.
Neo. I pray you, sir, proceed to the negative part, and tell us
what the Lord forbiddeth in this commandment.
Evan. In this commandment the Lord forbiddeth idleness or
sleeping more on the Lord's day in the morning, than is of necessity
Matth. xx. 6 ; and he also forbiddeth us to labour in our particular
callings, Exod. xvi. 28—30; and he also forbiddeth us to talk
MODERN DIVINITY. 419
about our worldly affairs and business on that day, Amos viii. 5;
Isa. Iviii. 13; and lie also forbiddeth us to travel any journey about
our worldly business on that day, Matth. xxiv. 20; or keep any
fairs or markets on that day, Neh. xiii. 16, 17; or to labour in seed
time and harvest on that day. In a word, the Lord on that day
forbiddeth all worldly works and labours, except works of mercy
and instant necessity, which were mentioned before. And thus
have I also declared, both what the Lord requires and what he for-
bids in the fourth commandment. And now, neighbour Nornologista
I pray you tell me, whether you think you keep it perfectly or no?
Norn. Indeed, sir, I must confess, there is more both required and
forbidden in this commandment than I was aware of; but yet I
hope I go very near the observiug and doing of all.
Neo. But, sir, is the bare observiug and doing of these things suf-
ficient for keeping of tins commandment perfectly?
Evan. no ! the first commandment must be understood in all
the rest, that is, the obedience to the first commandment must be the
motive and final cause of our obedience to the rest of the command-
ments, othetwise it is not the worship of God, but hypocrisy ; as I
touched before; wherefore, neighbour Nomologista, though you
have done all the duties the Lord requires in this commandment,
and avoided all the sins which he forbids, yet, if all this has been
from such grounds, and to such ends, as I told you of in the conclu-
sion of the second commandment, and not for the love you bear to
God, and the desire you have to please him, you come short of keep-
ing this commandment perfectly.
Neo. Sir, whatsoever he does, I am sure I come far short not only
in this point, but in divers others ; for though it is true, in-
deed I am careful to finish all my worldly business in the space
of six days, yet, alas ! I do not so seriously think on and pre-
pare for the seventh day as I ought ; neither do I many times rise
so early on that day as I ought ; neither do I so thoroughly fit and
prepare myself by prayer and other exercises before-hand as I
ought ; neither do I so heartily join with the minister and people,
when I come to the assembly, as I ought, but am subject to many
wandering worldly thoughts and cares even at that time. And
when I come home, if I do either meditate, repeat, pray, or confer,
yet, alas ! I do none of these with such delight or comfort as I
ought ; neither have I been so mindful nor careful to visit the sick,
and relieve the poor as I ought ; neither can I clear myself from
being guilty of doing more worldly works or labours on that day,
than the works of mercy and instant necessity. The Lord be mer-
ciful unto me. I pray you, sir, proceed to speak of the fifth com-
420 THE MARROW OF
mandment, as you have done of the rest. But first of all, I pray
you, tell us what is meant by father and mother.
COMMANDMENT V.
Evan. By father and mother is meant, not only natural parents,
but others also that are our superiors, either in age, in place, or in
gifts, 2 Kings v. 13 ; and vi. 21 ; and xiii. 14.
Neo. And why did the Lord use the name of father and mother
to signify and comprehend all other superiors ?
Evan. Because the government of fathers is the first and most
ancient of all others ; and because the society of father and mother
is that from whom all other societies do come.
Neo. And are the duties of inferiors towards their superiors only
here intended ?
Evan. No, but also of superiors towards their inferiors, and of
equals amongst themselves ; so that the general duty required in
the affirmative part of this fifth commandment, " Honour thy father
and mother," &c. is, that every man, woman, and child, be careful
to carry themselves as becomes them in regard to that order God
hath appointed amongst men, and that relation they have to others
either as inferior, superior, or equal.
Neo. I pray you, sir, proceed to the particular handling of these
things ; and first tell us what is the duty of children towards their
parents.
Evan. Why, the Lord in this commandment doth require that
children do reverence their parents, by thinking and esteeming
highly of them, Gen. xxxi. 35; and by loving them dearly, Gen.
xlvi. 29 ; and by fearing them in regard of their authority over
them, Lev. xix. 3. And this inward reverent esteem of them is to
be expressed by their outward reverent behaviour towards them,
Gen. xlviii. 12. And this outward reverent behaviour is to be ex-
pressed in giving them reverent titles, (Gen. xxxi. 35,) and by bow-
ing their bodies before them, (1 Kings ii. 19,) and by embracing
their instructions, (Prov. i. 8,) and by submitting patiently to their
corrections, (Heb. xii. 9,) and by their succouring and relieving of
them in case of want and necessity, (Gen. xlvii. 12,) and by making
their prayers unto God for them, 1 Tim. ii. 12.
Neo. And, sir, what be the duties of parents towards their
children ?
Evan. Why, t'.ie Lord in this commandment does require that
parents be careful to bring their children, with all convenient speed,
in duo order, to be admitted into the visible church of God by bap-
tism, Luke i. 59 ; and that they, according to their ability, do yield
1I0DEBX JJlVINITI - . 421
and give unto their children such competent food, clothing, and
other necessaries, as are fit for them, Matt. vii. 9, 12 ; 1 Tim v. 8.
And that they train them up in learning, instruct them in religion,
and endeavour to sow the seeds of godliness in their hearts, so soon
as they he able to speak, and have the use of reason and understand-
ing, Deut. iv. 10, and vi. 7, 20, 21. And that they he careful
to check and rebuke them when they do amiss, Prov. xxxi. 2 ; and
that they be careful seasonably to correct their faults, Prov. xiii.
24, and xix. 18; and that they be careful in time, to train them up
in some honest calling, Gen. iv. 2 ; and that they be careful to be-
stow them in marriage in due time, Jer. xxix. 6 ; 1 Cor. vii. 36, 38 ;
and that they be careful to lay up something for them, as their
ability will suffer, Prov. xix. 14; 2 Cor. xii. 14; and that they be
earnest with God in prayer, for a blessing upon their children's souls
and bodies, Gen. xlviii. 15, 16.
Neo. And what be the duties of servants towards their masters ?
Evan. Why, the Lord in this commandment doth require that
servants have an inward, high, and reverent esteem of their masters,
Eph. vi. 5 — 7 ; yea, and that they have in their hearts a reverent
awe and fear of them, 1 Pet. ii. 18; and this reverence and fear they
are to express by their outward reverent behaviour towards them
both in word and deed, as by giving them reverent titles, 2 Kings
v. 23, 25, and by an humble, submissive countenance and carriage,
either when their masters speak to them, or they speak to their
masters, Gen. xxiv. 9; Acts x. 7; and by yielding of sincere, faithful,
willing, painful, and single-hearted service to their masters in all
they go about, Col. iii. 22 ; Tit. ii. 10 ; and by a meek and patient
bearing of those checks, rebukes, and corrections which are given to
them, or laid upon them by their masters, without grudging stomach,
or sullen countenance, though the master do it without just cause, or
exceed in the measure, 1 Pet. ii. 18, 20 ; and by being careful to
maintain their master's good name, in keeping secret those honest
intents which he would not have disclosed ; and, as much as may be,
to hide and cover their master's wants and infirmities, not blazing
them abroad, 2 Sam. xv. 13 ; 2 Kings vi. 11.
Neo. And what is the duty of a master towards their servants ?
Evan. Why, the Lord in his commandment doth require that
masters be careful to choose unto themselves religions servants,
Psalm ci. 6 ; and that they do instruct them in religion and the
ways of godliness, Gen. xviii. 10; and that they be careful to bring
them to the public exercises, Josh. xxiv. 15; and that they do daily
pray with them and for them, Jer. x. 24; and that they do yield
and give unto them meat, drink, and apparel fitting for them, Deut.
422 THE MARROW OF
xxiv. 14, 15; and that they see to them that they follow the works
of their callings with diligence, Prov. xxxi. 22 ; and that they be
careful to instruct them, and give them direction therein, Exod.
xxxy. 34; and that they be careful to give them just reproof and
correction for their faults, Prov. xxix. 29 ; and xix. 29 ; and that
they look carefully nnto them when they are sick, Matt. viii. 5, 6.
Neo. And what is the duty of wives towards their husbands ?
Evan. "Why, the Lord in this commandment doth require that
wives do carry in their hearts an inward opinion and esteem for
their husbands, Eph. v. 23 ; the which they are to express in their
speeches, by giving them reverent titles and terms, 1 Pet. iii. 6 ;
and in their countenance and behaviour, by their modesty, shame-
facedness, and sobriety, 1 Tim. ii. 9 ; and in being willing to yield
themselves to be commanded, governed, and directed by their hus-
bands in all things honest and lawful, Gen. xxxi. 4, 16, 17; 2 Kings
iv. 22 ; and they are also required to love their husbands, Tit. ii. 4.
and to express their love by their chastity and faithfulness to their
husbands, both in body and mind, Tit. ii. 5 ; 1 Tim. iii. 11 ; and
by their using the best means they can to keep their husband's
bodies in health, Gen. xxvii. 9. They are also required to be
helpful to them in the government of the family, and to be pro-
vident for their estate, by exercising themselves in some profitable
employment, Prov. xxxi. 13, 15, 19; and they are also required to
stir up their husbands to good duties, and join with them in the per-
formance of them, 2 Kings iv. 9, 10 ; and to pray for them, 1 Tim.
ii. 12.
Neo. And what is the duty of husbands towards their wives ?
Evan. "Why, the Lord in this commandment requires that hus-
bands be careful to choose religious wives, 2 Cor. vi. 14 ; and that
they dwell with them as men of knowledge, 1 Pet. iii. 7 ; and that
they cleave unto them with true love and affection of heart, Col. iii.
19 ; yea, and that they content themselves only with the love of
their own wives, and keep themselves only to them both in mind and
body, Prov. v. 19, 20 : they are also to be careful to maintain their
authority over them, Eph. v. 23 ; and to live cheerfully and fami-
liarly with them, Prov. v. 19 ; and to be careful to provide all things
needful and fitting for their maintenance, 1 Tim. v. 8 ; and to teach,
instruct, and admonish them, as touching the best thing, 1 Sara. i. 8;
and to pray with them and for them, 1 Pet. iii. 7; and to endeavour
to reform and amend what they see amiss in them, by seasonable
and loving admonition and reproof, Gen. xxx. 2 ; and wisely and
patiently to bear with their natural infirmities, Gal. vi. 2.
Neo. And what is the duty of subjects towards their magistrates ?
MODERN DIVINITY. 423
Evan. Why, the Lord in this commandment doth require, that
subjects do think and esteem reverently of their magistrates, 2 Sam.
x. 16, 17 ; and that they carry in their hearts a reverent awe and
fear of them, Prov. xxiv. 21 ; the which they are to express by their
outward reverent behaviour towards them, both in word and deed,
2 Sam. ix. 6, 8 ; and by an humble, ready, and willing submitting
of themselves to their commands, either to do, or to suffer, 1 Pet. ii.
13; and by yielding a loyal and sound-hearted love to them, in not
shrinking from them when they have need, but defending them with
their goods, bodies, and lives, if occasion require, 2 Sam. xvii. 3,
and xxi. 27; also they are required to make their prayers unto God
for them, 1 Tim. ii. 12.
Neo. And what is the duty of magistrates towards their subjects?
Evan. Why, the Lord in this commandment doth require, that
magistrates be careful to establish good laws in their kingdoms, and
good order among their subjects, 2 Kings xviii. 4; Rom. xii. 11 ;
and that they be careful to see them duly and impartially executed,
Jer. xxxviii. 4, 6; Pom. xiii. 3, 4; and that they be careful to pro-
vide for the peace, safety, quietness, and outward welfare of their
subjects, Rom. xiii. 4; 1 Tim. ii. 2; and not to oppress them with
taxations and grievances, 1 Kings xii. 14.
Neo. And what duties are people to perform towards their
minister ?
Evan. Why, the Lord in this commandment doth require that
people have their minister in reverent account and estimation, 1
Cor. iv. 1 : and that they humbly and willingly yield themselves to
be taught and directed in their spiritual affairs by him, Heb. xiii.
17 ; and that they pray for him, that the Lord would enable him to
do his duty, Rom. xv. 30, 31, and that they do their best to defend
him against the wrongs of wicked men, Rom. xvi. 4; and that they
yield unto him double honour, that is both singular love for their
work's sake, and sufficient maintenance, both in regard of his per-
son and calling, 1 Tim. v. 17, 18; Gal. iv. 15.
Neo. And what is the duty of a minister towards the people ?
Evan. Why, the Lord in this commandment doth require, that
ministers do diligently and faithfully preach the pure word of God
unto their people, both in season and out of season, 1 Cor. ix. 16 ;
2 Kings iv. 2 ; and that they do so truly and plainly expound the
same, that the people may understand it, and that they pour out
their souls to God in prayer for the spiritual good of the people,
1 Thess. i. 2 ; and that they go before the people, as a pattern of
imitation to them, in all holiness of conversation, Phil. iv. 9.
Neo. And what is the duty of equals ?
424 THE MARROW OP
Evan. Why, the Lord in this commandment doth require, that
equals regard the dignity and worth of each other, and carry them-
selves modestly one towards another, and in giving honour to one
before another, Eph. v. 21 ; Rom. xii. 10. And thus having showed
you the duties required in this commandment, I pray you, Noniolo-
gista, tell me whether you think you have kept it perfectly or no ?
Nam. Sir, though I have not kept it perfectly, yet I am persuaded
I have gone very near it ; for when I was a child, I loved and reve-
renced my parents, and was obedient unto them ; and when I was a
servant, I reverenced and feared my master, and did him faithful
service ; and since I became a man, I have, I hope, carried myself
well towards my wife, and towards my servants; yea, and done my
duty both to magistrates and ministers.
Evan. Ay, but I must tell you, the Lord doth not only require
that you do them, but also that you do them in obedience unto him ;
that is, in conscience to God's commandment, or for his sake, even
because he requires it. Therefore, although you did your duty to
your parents when you were a child, and to your master when you
were a servant, yet if you did it either for the praise of men, or for
fear of their corrections, or to procure the greater portion, or greater
wages, and not because the Lord says, Eph. vi. 4, " Children obey
your parents in the Lord ," and because he says to servants,
" Whatsoever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto
men," you have not in so doing kept this commandment; and
though you have loved your wife, and every way carried yourself
well towards her, yet if it have been either because she is come of
rich parents, or because she is beautiful, or because she brought you
a good portion, or because she some way serves and pleases you
after the flesh, and not because the Lord says, Eph. v. 25, " Hus-
bands, love your wives ;" you have not therein kept this command-
ment : and though you have carried yourself ever so well towards
your servants ; yet if it had been that they might praise you, or to
make them follow your business more diligently and faithfully, and
not because the Lord says, " Masters, give unto your servants that
which is just and equal," you have not therein kept this command-
ment : and though you have done your duty ever so well to-
wards your magistrate, yet if it has been for fear of bis wrath,
and not for conscience' sake, viz. because the Lord says, " Let
every soul be subject unto the higher powers," you have not
therein kept this commandment : and though you have given your
minister his due maintenance, and invited him often to your table,
and carried yourself ever so well towards him, yet if it have been
that he or others might think you a good Christian, and a kind man,
MODERN DIVINITY. 425
and not because the Lord says, Gal. vi. 6. " Let him that is taught
in the word communicate unto him that teacheth, in all good
things," you have not therein kept this commandment.
Neo. Well, sir, I cannot tell what ray neighbour Nomologista
hath done, but for mine own part, I am sure, I have come far short
of doing my duty in any relation I have had to others ; for when I
was a child, I remember that I was many times stubborn and diso-
bedient to ray parents, and vexed if I might not have ray will, and
slighted their admonitions, and was impatient at their corrections,
and sometimes despised and contemned them in my heart, because
of some infirmity, especially when they grew old ; neither did I
pray for them, as it seems I ought to have done ; and the truth is,
if I did yield any obedience to them at all, it was for fear of their
corrections, or some such bye respects, and not for conscience
towards God. And when I was a servant, I did not think so reve-
rently, nor esteem so highly my master and mistress as I should
have done, but was apt to slight and despise them, and did not yield
such humble, reverent, and cheerful obedience as I should have
done ; neither did I patiently and contentedly bear their checks and
rebukes, but had divers times risings and swellings in my heart
against them ; neither was I so careful to maintain their good name
and credit as I ought to have been ; neither did I pray unto the
Lord for them as I ought to have done : and the very truth is, all
the obedience and subjection which I yielded unto them, was for
fear of their reproofs and corrections, or for the praise of men,
rather than in conscience to the Lord's commandment.
And when I entered into the married estate, I was not careful to
choose a religious wife ; no, I aimed at beauty more than piety; and
I have not dwelt with my wife as a man of knowledge ; no, I have
expressed much ignorance and folly in my carriage towards her :
neither have I loved her so as a husband ought to love his wife, for
though it be true I have had much fond affection towards her, yet I
have had but little true affection, as it hath been evident in that I have
been easily provoked to anger and wrath against her, and have not
carried myself patiently towards her ; neither have I been careful
to maintain mine authority over her, but have lost it by ray childish
and indiscreet carriage towards her; neither have I lived so cheer-
fully and delightfully with her as I ought to have done, but very
heavily, discontentedly, and uncomfortably have I carried myself
towards her; neither have I been careful to instruct and admonish
her as I ought ; and though I have now and then reproved her, yet
for the most part it has been in a passion, and not with the spirit
of meekness, pity, and compassion : neither have I prayed for her
Vol. VII. 2 d
426 THE MARROW uF
either so often or so fervently as I ought ; and whatsoever I have
done, that has been well done, I have been moved thereunto, in for-
mer times especially, rather by something in her, or done by her,
than by the commandment of God. And since I became a father
and a master, I have neither done any duty to my children nor ser-
vants as I ought, for I have not had such care, nor taken such pains
for their eternal good, as I have done for their temporal. I have
had more care, and taken more pains to provide food and raiment
for them, than I have to admonish, instruct, teach, and catechize
them ; and if I have reproved or corrected them, it has been rather
because they have some way offended me, than because they have
offended God ; and truly, I have neither prayed for them so often,
nor so fervently as I ought. In a word, whatsoever I have done by
way of discharging my duty to them, I fear me, it has been rather
out of natural affection, or to avoid the blame, and gain the good
opinion of men, than out of conscience to the Lord's will and com-
mandment.
And if I have at any time carried myself well, or done my duty
either to magistrate or minister, it has rather been for fear or
praise of men, than for conscience' sake towards God ; so far have
I been from keeping this commandment perfectly : the Lord be
merciful to me !
Evan. Assure yourself, neighbour Neophitus, this is not your case
alone, but the case of every man that has stood in all these rela-
tions to others, as it seems you have done, as I am confident any
man that truly knows his heart will confess ; yea, and any woman
that is well acquainted with her own heart, I am persuaded, will
confess, that she has not had such a reverent esteem and opinion of
her husband as she ought, nor so willingly yielded herself to be
commanded, governed, and directed by him as she ought, nor loved
him so truly as she ought, nor been so helpful to him any way as
she ought; r nor prayed either so oft or so fervently for him as she
ought ; and I fear me, most women do all that they do rather for
fear of their husband's frowns, or to gain his favour, than for con-
science to the Lord's will and command.
And where is the magistrate that is so careful to establish in his
dominious such good and wholesome laws as he ought, or to see
them executed or put in practice as he ought, or that is so careful
to uphold and maintain the truth of religion as he ought, or that is
so careful to provide for the peace, safety, and welfare of his peo-
ple, as he ought? or where is the magistrate that does not do what
he does for some other cause, or to some other end, rather than
because God commands them, or to the end he may please him ?
MODERN DIVINITY. 427
And where is the minister that does his duty so in his place as
he ought? I am sure for mine own part, I hare neither so diligently
nor faithfully preached the pure word of God as I ought, nor so
fully nor truly expounded it and applied it to my hearers as I
ought ; nor so poured out my soul to God for them in prayer as I
ought, neither have I gone before them as a pattern of imitation in
holiness of life and conversation, as I ought : the Lord be merciful
to me !
Neo. Well, sir, now I would entreat you to proceed to speak of
the sixth commandment as you have doue of the rest.
COMMANDMENT VI.
Evan. Well, then, I pray you consider, that in the sixth com-
mandment there is a negative part expressed in these words, " Thou
shalt do no murder." That, is, thou shalt neither in heart, tongue,
nor hand, impeach or hurt either the life of thine own soul or body,
or the life of any other man's soul or body. And an affirmative
part included in these words, " But thou shalt every way, by all
good means, seek to preserve them both."
Neo. I pray you, sir, speak of these things in order, and first tell
us what is forbidden in this commandment, as tending to the mur-
dering of our own souls.
Evan. That we may not be guilty of the murdering of our own
souls, in this commandment is forbidden all sinning against God,
Prow vi. 2 ; and so also is the careless neglecting and wilful reject-
ing of the means that God has ordained to salvation, Heb. ii. 3.
Neo. And what is forbidden in this commandment, as tending to
the murdering of others' souls ?
Evan. That we may not be guilty of murdering the souls of others,
in this commandment is forbidden all giving occasion to others to
sin against God, either by provoking them, (1 Kings xxi. 25,) or
by counselling them, (2 Sara. xvi. 21,) or by evil example, Rom.
xiv. 15.
Neo. And what is forbidden in this commandment, as tending to
the murdering of our own bodies ?
Evan. That we may not be guilty of murdering our own bodies,
in this commandment is forbidden excessive worldly sorrow, 1 Cor.
vii. 10 ; Prov. xvii. 22 ; and so also is f ,he neglect of meat, drink,
apparel, recreation, physic, or any such refreshments, Eccl. v. 19 ;
vi. 2; and so also is excessive eating and drinking, Prov. xxiii. 29,
30 ; Hos. vii. 5 ; and so also is laying violent hands upon ourselves,
1 Sam. iii. 14 ; Acts xvi. 28.
Neo. Well, sir, now I pray you, tell us what is forbidden in this
2d2
428 THE MARROW 01?
commandment, as tending to the murdering of others' bodies ; and,
first, what is forbidden in respect of the heart ?
Evan. That we may not be guilty of murdering others with our
hearts, in this commandment is forbidden all hasty, rash, and unjust
anger, Matth. v. 22; and so also is malice or hatred, Lev. xix. 19;
1 John iii. 15 ; and so also is envy, Psalin xxxvii. 1 ; Prov. xxiv. 1 ;
and so also is desire of revenge, Lev. xix. 18.
Norn. And what is forbidden in respect of the tongue ?
Evan. That we may not be guilty of murdering others with our
tongues, in this commandment is forbidden all bitter and provoking
terms, Eph. iv. 31 ; and so also are all wrangling and contentious
speeches, Prov. xv. 1 ; and so also is crying and unseemly lifting up
of the voice, Eph. iv. 31 ; and so also is railing or scolding, Prov.
xvii. 19 ; 1 Pet. iii. 19 ; and so also are all reviling and threaten-
ing speeches, Matth. v. 22 ; and so also are all mocking, scoffing,
and deriding speeches, 2 Kings ii. 28 ; John xix. 3.
Neo.- And what is forbidden in respect of the whole body, and
more especially of the hand ?
Evan. That we may not be guilty of murdering others with our
hands, in respect of the other parts of the body, in this command-
ment is forbidden all disdainful, proud, and scornful carriage, Gen.
iv. 5; Prov. vi. 17; and so also is all provoking gestures, as nod-
ding of the head, gnashing with the teeth, and the like, Matth.
xxvii. 29 ; Acts vii. 45 ; and so also is all fro ward and churlish be-
haviour, 1 Sara. xxv. 17; and so also is brawling and quarrelling,
Tit. iii. 2. And more especially in respect of the hand is forbidden
striking and wounding, Exod. xxi. 18, 22 ; and so also is all taking
away of life, otherwise than in ca3e of public justice, just war, and
necessary defence, Exod. xxi. 12; Gen. ix. 6.
Neo. I pray you, sir, proceed to the affirmative part of this com-
mandment, and first tell us what is required of us in respect of the
life of our own souls ?
Evan. In respect of the preservation of the life of our own souls
is required a careful avoiding of all sorts of sin, Prov. xi. 19 ; and so
also is a careful use of all means of grace, and spiritual life in our
souls, 1 Pet. ii. 2.
Neo. And what is required of us in respect of the preservation of
the life of others' souls ?
Evan. In respect of the preservation of the life of the souls of
others is required that according to our place and calling, and as
present occasion is offered, we teach and instruct others to know
God and his will, Gen. xviii. 19 ; Deut. vi. 7 : and so also that we
do our best to comfort others that are in distress of conscience,
MODERN DIVINITY. 429
1 Thess. v. 14; and that we pray for the welfare and comfort cf
other souls, Gen. xliii. 29 ; and that we give others good examples
by our Christian-like walking, Matth. v. 16.
Neo. And what is required of us in respect of the preservation of
the life of our own bodies ?
Evan. In respect of the preservation of the life of our own bodies,
is required, in this commandment, that we be careful to procure
unto ourselves the use of wholesome food, clothing, and lodging, and
physic, when there is occasion, 1 Tim. v. 23 ; Eccl. x. 17 ; 2 Kings
xx. 7 ; and also that we use honest and lawful mirth, rejoicing in
a holy manner, Prov. xvii. 22 ; Eccl. iii. 4.
Neo. And what i3 required of us in respect of the preservation of
the life of the bodies of others ?
Evan. In respect of the preservation of the life of the bodies of
others, in this commandment is required a kind and loving disposi-
tion, with tenderness of heart towards them, Eph. iv. 31, 32 ; and
so also is a patient bearing of wrongs and injuries, Col. iii. 12, 13 ;
and so also is the taking of all things in the best sense, 1 Cor. xiii.
5, 7; and so also is the avoiding of all occasions of strife, and part-
ing with our own right sometimes for peace' sake, Gen. xiii. 8, 9 ; and
so also is all such looks and gestures of the body as do express meek-
ness and kindness, Gen. xxxiii. 10 ; and so also is the relieving of the
poor and needy, Jobxxxi. 16; and so also is the visiting of the sick,
Matth. xxv. 36. And now, neighbour Nomologista, I pray you tell
me, whether you think you keep this commandment perfectly or not ?
Norn. No, indeed, sir, I do not think I keep it perfectly, nor any
man else, as you have expounded it.
Evan. Assure yourself, neighbour Nomologista, that I have ex-
pounded it according to the mind and will of God revealed in his
word, for you see I have proved all by Scripture : I told you at the
beginning, that the law is spiritual, and binds the very heart and
soul to obedience ; and that under one vice expressly forbidden, all
of the same kind, with all occasions and means leading thereunto,
are likewise forbidden ; and according to these rules have I ex-
pounded it. Wherefore, I pray you, consider, that so many sins as
you have committed, and so many times as you have carelessly ne-
glected, and wilfully rejected the means of salvation so many wouuds
you have given your own soul.
And so many times as you have given occasion to others to sin, so
many wounds you have given to their souls.
And so many fits of worldly sorrow as you have had, and so many
times as you neglected the moderate use either of meat, drink, ap-
parel, recreation, or physic, when need hath required, bo many
wounds have you given your own body.
430 THE MARROW OF
And so many times as you have been either unadvisedly angry
with any, or have borne any malice or hatred towards any, or have
secretly in your heart wished evil unto any, or borne envy in your
heart towards any, or desired to be revenged upon any, then have
you been guilty of murdering them in your heart. And if you have
given others any wrangling and contentious speeches, or any re-
viling and threatening speeches, or have carried yourself frowardly
and churishly towards others, and have not borne injuries and
wrongs patiently, and expressed pity and compassion towards others,
then have you been guilty of murdering them with your tongue.
And if you have quarrelled with any man, or stricken or wounded
any man, then have you murdered them with your hand, though you
have not taken away their lives. And thus have I endeavoured to
satisfy your desires concerning the sixth commandment.
Neo. I beseech you, sir, proceed to speak of the seventh command-
ment as you have done of the rest.
COMMANDMENT VII.
Evan. Well, then, I pray you, consider that in the seventh com-
mandment there is a negative part expressed in these words, " Thou
shalt not commit adultery ;" that is, thou shalt not think, will,
speak, or do any thing whereby thine own chastity, or the chastity
of others, may be hurt or hindered. And an affirmative part in-
cluded in these words, " But thou shalt every way, and by all good
means, preserve and keep the same."
Neo. I pray you, sir, begin with the negative part, and first tell
us what is that inward uncleanness that is forbidden in this com-
mandment.
Evan. That we may not be guilty of the inward uncleanness of
the heart, in this commandment is forbidden all filthy imaginations,
unchaste thoughts, and inward desires and motions of the heart to
uncleanness, Matt. v. 28 ; Col. iii. 5 ; with all causes and occasions
of stirring up and nourishing of these in the heart.
Neo. And what be the causes and occasions of stirring up and
nourishing these things in the heart which we are to avoid ?
Evan. That we may not stir up and nourish inward uncleanness
in our hearts, is forbidden in this commandment gluttony, or excess
in eating aud pampering the belly with meats, Jer. v. 8 ; and so
also is drunkenness, or excess in drinking, Prov. xxiii. 30, 31, 33;
and so also is idleness, 2 Sam. xi. 12; and so also is the wearing of
lascivious, garish, and new-fangled attire, Prov. vii. 10 ; 1 Tim. ii.
9 ; and so also is keeping company with lascivious, wanton, and
fleshly persons, Gen. xxxix. 10; and so also is immodest, unchaste, and
.MODERN DIVINITY. 431
filthy speaking, Eph. iv. 29; and so also is idle and curious looking
of" men on women, or women on men, Gen. vi. 2, xxxix. 7 ; and so
also is the beholding of love matters, and light behaviour of men and
women represented in stage plays, Jizek. xxiii. 14 ; Eph. v. iii 4 ;
and so also is immoderate and wanton dancing of men and women
together, Job xxi. 11, 12; Mark vi. 21, 22; and so also is wanton
kissing and embracing, with all unchaste touching and dalliance,
Prov. vii. 13.
Neo. And what is that outward actual uncleanness which is for-
bidden in this commandment ?
Evan. The actual uncleanness forbidden in this commandment is
fornication, which is a fleshly defilement of the body, committed be-
tween man and woman, being both of them single and unmarried
persons, 1 Cor. x. 8 ; and so also is adultery, which is a defilement
of the body, committed between man and woman, being either one
or both of them married persons, or at least contracted, 1 Cor. vi. 9.
18 ; Hos. xiii. 4.
Neo. I pray you, sir, proceed to the affirmative part, and tell us
what the Lord requires in this commandment ?
Evan. The Lord in this commandment requires purity of heart
1 Thess. iv. 5 ; and he also requires speeches savouring of sobriety
and chastity, Col. iv. 6 ; Gen. iv. 1 ; and he also requires that we
keep our eyes from beholding vanity and lustful objects, Psal. cxix.
37 ; Job xxxi. 1 ; and he also requires that we be temperate in our
diet, in our sleep, and in our recreations, Luke xxxi. 34 ; and he
also requires that we possess our vessels in holiness and honour
1 Thess. iv. 9 ; and if we have not the gift of chastity, he requires
that we take the benefit of holy marriage, 1 Cor. vii. 29 ; and that
the man and wife do in that estate render due benevolence towards
each other, 1 Cor. vii. 5. Thus have I also endeavoured to satisfy
your desires concerning the seventh commandment ; and now, neigh-
bour Nomologista, I pray you tell me whether you think you keep
it perfectly or no ?
Nom. Sir, I thank the Lord I am free from actual uncleanness,
so that I am neither fornicator nor adulterer.
Evan. Well but though you be free from the outward act, yet if
you have had in your heart filty imaginations, unchaste thoughts, or
inward desires, or motions of the heart to uncleanness, you have
notwithstanding transgressed this commandment ; or if you have
been guilty of gluttony, or drunkenness, or idleness, or delighted to
keep company with lascivious and wanton persons, or have with
your tongue uttered any unchaste or corrupt communication, or have
been a frequenter of stage-plays, or have used immoderate dancing
432 THE MARROW OF
with women, or have used wanton dalliance with kissing and era-
bracing, then have yon broken this commandment.
Neo. I beseech you, sir, proceed to speak of the eighth command-
ment as you have done of the rest.
COMMANDMENT VIII.
Evan. "Well, then, I pray you, consider, that in the eighth com-
mandment there is a negative part expressed in these words, " Thou
shalt not steal ;" that is, thou shalt by no unlawful way or means
hurt or hinder the wealth and outward estate either of thyself or
others ; and an affirmative part included in these words, " But thou
shalt by all good means preserve and further them both."
Neo. I pray you, sir, begin with the negative part, and first tell
us what is forbidden in this commandment, as a hurt or hinderance
of our own outward estate ?
Evan. That *ve may not hurt or hinder our own outward estate,
in this commandment is forbidden idleness, sloth, and inordinate
walking, Prov. xviii. 9 ; 2 Thess. iii. 11 ; and so also is unthrifti-
ness, and carelessness, either in spending our goods, or iu ordering
our affairs and businesses, Prov. xxi. 17; 1 Tim. v. 8; and so also is
unadvised suretyship, Prov. xi. 15.
Neo. And what is forbidden in this commandment as tending to
the hurt or hinderance of our neighbour's estate ?
Evan. That we may not hurt or hinder our neighbour's outward
estate, in this commandment is forbidden covetousness and discon-
tentedness with our estate, Heb. xiii. 5 ; and so also is enviousness
at the prosperity of others; Prov. xxiv. 1; and so also is resolutions
or hastening to be rich, as it were, whether the Lord afforded means
or not, 1 Tim. vi. 9 ; Prov. xvii. 28 ; and so also is borrowing and
not paying again, we being able, Psalm xxxvii. 21 ; and so also is
lending upon usury, Exod. xxii. 25 ; and so also the not restoring of
things borrowed, Psal. xxxvii. 21 ; and so also is cruelty in requir-
ing all our debts, without compassion or mercy, Isa. lviii. 3 ; and so
also is the praising of any commodity we sell, contrary to our own
knowledge, or the debasing of any thing we buy, against our own
conscience, Isa. v. 20 ; Prov. xx. 14 ; and so also is the hoarding
up, or withholding the selling of corn and other necessary com-
modities when we may spare them, and others have need of them,
Prov. xi. 26 ; and so also is the retaining of hireling's wages,
Jam. v. 4; and so also is uncharitable inclosure, Isa. v. 8; and
so also is the selling of any commodity by false weights or false
measures, Lev. xix. 35, and so also is the concealing of things found,
and witholding them from the right owners when they are known •
MODERJT DI VISIT V 433
and so also is robbery, or the laying of violent and strong bands on
any part of the wealth that belongs unto another, Zech. iv. 3, 4 ;
and so also is pilfering and secret carrying away of the wealth that
belongs to another, John vii. 21 ; and so also is the consenting to the
taking away the goods of another, Psalm xc. 18; and so also is the
receiving or harbouring of stolen goods, Prov. xxvii. 24.
Neo. "Well, now, sir, I pray you proceed to the affirmative part of
this commandment, and tell us what the Lord therein requires.
Evan. In this commandment is required contentedness of mind
with that part and portion of wealth and outward good things which
God in his providence has allotted unto us, Heb. xiii. 5 ; 1 Tim. vi.
6 — 8 ; and so also in resting by faith upon the promise of God, and
depending upon his providence, without distrustful care, Matt. vi.
20, 26; and so also is a moderate desire of such things as are con-
venient and necessary for us, Matth. vi. 21 ; Prov. xxx. 8 ; and so
also is a moderate care to provide those things which are needful
for us, Gen. xxx. 30 ; 1 Tim. v. 8; and so also is an honest calling,
Gen. iv. 2 ; and so also is diligence, painfulness, aud faithful labour-
ing therein, Gen. iii. 19 ; and so also is frugality or thriftiness, Prov.
xxvii. 23, 24 ; John vi. 12 : and so also is borrowing for need and
good ends, what we are able to repay, and making payment with
thanks and cheerfulnesss, Exod. xxii. 14; and so also is lending freely
without compounding for gain, Deut. xv. 8; Luke vi. 35; and so
giving, or communicating outward things unto others, according to
our ability and their necessity, Luke ix. 41 ; so also is the using of
truth, simplicity, and plainness in buying and selling, in hiring and
letting, Lev. xxv. 14; Deut. xxv. 13 — 15; and so also is the re-
storing of things found, Deut. xxii. 2, 3 ; and so also is the restor-
ing of things committed to our trust, Ezek. xviii. 7- And thus have
I endeavoured to satisfy your desire concerning the eighth command-
ment; and now, neighbour Nomologista, I pray you, tell me whether
you think you keep it perfectly or not ?
Nora. I can say this truly, that I never in all my life took away,
or consented to the taking away, of so much us a penny-worth of
any other man's goods.
Evan. Though you did not, yet if ever there have been in your
heart any discontentedness with your own estate, or auy envious
thoughts towards others in regard of their prosperity in the world,
or any resolution to be rich, otherwise than by the moderate use of
lawful means, or if ever you borrowed and paid not again, to the
utmost of your ability, or if ever you lent upon usury, or if ever
you did cruelly require any debt above the ability of your debtor,
or if ever you praised any thing you had to sell above the known
434 THE MARROW OF
worth of it, or if ever you did undervalue any thing you were to buy
contrary to your owu thoughts of it, or if ever you hoarded up corn
in the time of dearth, or if ever you retained the hireling's wages
in your hands, to his loss or hinderance, or if ever you did conceal
any thing found from the right owner, when you knew him ; then
have you been guilty of theft, and so have been a transgressor of
this commandment.
And though you never have done any of these things, (and it is
strange if you have not), yet if ever you were guilty of idleness,
sloth, or any way unwarrantably neglected your calling, or if ever
you did unthriftily misspend any of your own goods, or ever were
negligent and careless in ordering your own affairs and business, or
if ever you sustained any loss by your unadvised suretyship, or if
ever you borrowed upon usury, except in case of extreme necessity,
then have you been guilty of robbing yourself, and so have been a
transgressor of this commandment.
Neo. Now, I pray you, sir, proceed to speak of the ninth com-
mandment, as you have done of the rest.
COMMANDMENT IX.
Evan. Well then, I pray you consider, that in the ninth com-
mandment there is a negative part expressed in these words ; " Thou
shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour ;" that is, thou
shalt not think or speak any thing contrary to truth, or that may
tend to the hurt or hinderance either of thine own or thy neigbour's
good name. And an affirmative part included in these words, " But
thou shalt by all good means seek to maintain them both, according
to truth and a good conscience."
Neo. Well, sir, I pray you begin with the negative part ; and
first tell us what is forbidden in this commandment, in respect of
our own good name.
Evan. That we may not be guilty of bearing false witness against
ourselves, either by overvaluing or undervaluing ourselves, in this
commandment is forbidden too high a conceit or esteem of ourselves,
Luke xviii. 9 — 11 ; and so also is too mean a conceit, in under-
weening the good things that be in ourselves, Exod. iv. 10, 13 ; and
so also is the procuring of ourselves, an evil name, by walking in-
discreetly and offensively, Com. ii. 24 ; and so also is the unjust
accusing of ourselves, when we, in a way of proud humility, say,
" We have no grace, no wit, no wealth," &c. Prov. xiii. 7 ; and so
also is the excusing of our faults, by way of lying, Lev. xix. 11.
Neo. And what is forbidden in this commandment, in respect of
our neighbour's good name ?
MODERN DIVINITY. 435
Evan. That we may not be guilty of not bearing false witness
against any other man, in this commandment is forbidden contemn-
ing or thinking basely of others, 2 Sam. vi. 16 ; and so also is
wrongful suspicion, or evil surmisings, 2 Sam. x. 3 ; and so also is
rash, uncharitable, unjust judging and condemning of others, Matt,
vii. 1 ; and so also is foolish admiring of others, Acts vii. 22 ;
and so also is the unjust reviving the memory of our neighbour's
crimes, which were in tract of time forgotten, Prov. xvii. 9 ; and
so also is the forbearing to speak in the cause and for the credit
of our neighbours, Prov. viii. 9 ; and also is all flattering speeches,
Job xxxii. 21, 22 ; and so also is tale-bearing, backbiting, and slan-
derous speeches, Lev. xix. 16 ; Prov. xx. 19 ; and so also is listen-
ing to tale-bearers, Prov. xxvi. 20, and xxv. 23 ; and so also is
falsely charging some ill upon another before some magistrate, or
in some open court, Amos vii. 10; Acts xxv. 2.
Neo. I pray you, sir, proceed to the affirmative part of this com-
mandment, and first tell us what the Lord requires of us for the
maintenance of our own good name.
Evan. For the maintenance of our own good name, the Lord in
this commandment requires a right judgment of ourselves, 2 Cor.
xiii. 5; with a love to, and a care of our own good name, Prov. xxii. 1.
Neo. And what does the Lord in this commandment require of us
for the maintenance of our neighbour's good name ?
Evan. For the maintenance of our neighbour's good name, in this
commandment is required a charitable opinion and estimation of
others, 1 Cor. xiii. 7 ; and so also is a desire of, and rejoicing in the
good name of others, Rom. i. 8; Gal. i. 24; and so also is sorrow-
ing and grieving for their infirmities, Psalm cxix. 136; and so also
is the covering of others' infirmities in love, Prov. xvii. 9 ; 1 Pet.
iv. 8; and so also is the hoping and judging the best of others,
1 Cor. xiii. 5 — 7; and so is the admonishing of others before we
bewray their faults, Prov. xxv. 9 ; and so also is speaking of the
truth from our heart simply and plainly, upon any just occasion,
Psalm xv. 2; Zech. viii. 16; and so also is the giving of sound and
seasonable reproofs for known faults, in love and with wisdom,
Lev. xix. 17 ; and so also is the praising and commending of those
that do well, Rev. ii. 23 ; and so also is the defending of the good
name of others, if need so require. Aud thus have I also endea-
voured to satisfy your desires concerning the ninth commandment :
and now, neighbour Nomologista, I pray you, tell me whether you
think you keep it perfectly or not ?
Nom. The truth is, sir, I did conceive that there was nothing
tending to the breaking of this commandment, but falsely charging
436 THE MARROW OF
some ill upon another before some magistrate, or in some open court
of justice ; and that, thank God, I am not guilty of.
Evan. Though you have not been guilty of that, yet, if you have
contemned or thought too basely of any person, or have had wrong-
ful suspicions, or evil surmisiugs concerning them, or have rashly
and unjustly judged aud condemned them, or if you have foolishly
admired them, or unjustly revived the memory of any forgotten
crime, or have given them any flattering speeches, or have been a
tale-bearer, or a backbiter, or a slanderer, or a listener to tale-
bearers, you, have borne false witness against your neighbour, and
so have been guilty of the breach of this commandment.
Or if you have not had a charitable opinion of others, or have not
desired and rejoiced in the good name of others, or have not sor-
rowed and grieved for their sinful infirmities, or have not covered
them in love, or have not hoped and judged the best of them, or
have not admonished them before you have discovered their faults
to others, or have not given to others sound and seasonable reproof,
or have not praised them that do well, then have you also been
guilty of false witness-bearing against your neighbour, and so have
transgressed this commandment. And though you never have done
any of these things (and it is strange if you have not) yet if you
have had too high a conceit of yourself, or have after a proud
humble manner, unjustly accused yourself, or have procured your-
self an evil name, by walking indiscreetly and offensively, or have
excused any fault by way of lying, then have you borne false wit-
ness against yourself, and thereby have transgressed this command-
ment.
JVeo. T beseech you, sir, proceed to speak of the last command-
ment as you have done of the rest.
COMMANDMENT X.
Evan. "Well then, I pray you consider, that in the tenth com-
mandment there is a negative part expressed in these words, " Thou
shalt not covet," &c. ; that is, thou shalt not inwardly think on, nor
long after, that which belongs to another, though it be without con-
sent of will, or purpose of heart to seek after it. And an affirma-
tive part included in these words, "But thou shalt be well contented
with thine own outward condition, and heartily desire the good of
thy neighbours."
Neo. Well, sir, I pray you begin with the negative part; and
first tell us what the Lord forbids in this commandment ?
Evan. I pray you take notice, and consider, that this tenth com-
mandment was given to be a rule and level, according to which
MODERN DIVINITY. 43?
we must take and measure our inward obedience to all the other
commandments contained in the second table of God's law. For the
Lawgiver having in the rest of the commandments dealt with those
sins especially which stand in deeds, and are done of purpose, or
with an advised consent of will, (although there is no doubt but
that the law of restraining concupiscence is implied and included
in all the former commandments.) Now last of all, in this last
commandment he deals with those sins which are called only con-
cupiscences, and do contain all inward stirring and conceit in the
understanding and affections against every commandment of the
law, and are, as it were, rivers boiling out of the fountain of that
original sin ; for to covet, in this place, signifies to have a motion
of the heart without any settled consent. Briefly, then, in this
commandment is forbidden, not only the evil act and evil thought
settled, and with full and deliberate consent of will, as in the for-
mer commandments, but here also is forbidden the very first mo-
tions and inclinations to every evil that is forbidden in any of the
former commandments, as it is evident, Rom. vii. 7; and xiii. 9 ;
for it is not said in this commandment, Thou shalt not consent to
lust, but, " Thou shalt not lust." It does not only command the
the binding of lust, but it also forbids the being of lust ; which
being so, who sees not that in this commandment is contained the
perfect obedience to the whole law ? for how comes it to pass, that
we sin against every commandment, but because this corrupt concu-
piscence is in us, without which we should of our accord, with our
whole mind and body, be apt to do the only good without any
thought or desire at all to the contrary? And this is all I have to
say touching the negative part of this commandment.
Neo. "Well then, sir, I pray you to proceed to the affirmative, and
tell us what the Lord requires in this commandment?
Evan. Why, original justice or righteousness is required in this
commandment, which is a disposition and an inclination and a
desire to perform unto God, and to our neighbour, for God's sake,
all the duties which are contained both in the first and second table
of the law; whence it does evidently appear, that it is not sufficient,
though we forbear the evil, and do the good which is contained in
every commandment, except we do it readily and willingly, and for
the Lord's sake. As for example, to give you a few instances, it is
not sufficient though we abstain from making images, or worship-
ping God by an image ; no, though we perform all the parts of his
true worship, as praying, reading, hearing, receiving the sacra-
ments, and the like, if we do it unwillingly or in obedience to any
law or commandment of man, and not for the Lord's sake. Neither
438 THE MARBOW OF
is it sufficient thongh we abstain from the works of our callings on
the Lord's day, and perform never so many religious exercises, if it
be unwillingly, and for form and custom's sake, or in mere obe-
dience to any superior, and not for the Lord's sake. Neither is it
sufficient, though a child show never so much honour, love and re-
spect to his parents, if he do it by constraint and unwillingly, or to
gain the praise of men, and not for the Lord's sake. Neither is it suf-
ficient though a servant do his duty, and carry himself never so well,
if it be for fear of correction, or for his own profit and gain, and not
for the Lord's sake. Neither is it sufficient though a wife carry her-
self never so dutifully and respectfully towards her husband, both in
word and deed, if it be unwillingly for fear of his frowns, or to gain
the applause of them that behold it, and not for the Lord's sake.
Neither is it sufficient, thongh a husband show much love and re-
spect to his wife, if it be because she is amiable or profitable, or to
gain the praise of men, and not for the Lord's sake. In a word, it
is not sufficient, though any man or woman do all their duties, in all
their relations, if they do them merely for their own sake, and not
for the Lord's sake.
Neither is it sufficient, though a man abstain from killing, yea,
and from striking, if it be for fear of the law, and not for the
Lord's sake. Neither is it sufficient, though he bridle his anger,
and abstain from speaking any wrath, if it be because he would be
counted a patient man, and not for the Lord's sake. Neither is it
sufficient, though a man visit the sick, clothe the naked, feed the
hungry, or in never so many ways seek to preserve the life of his
neighour, if it be for the praise of men, and not for the Lord's sake.
Neither is it sufficient, though a man abstain from committing adul-
tery, if it be for fear of the shame or punishment that will follow,
and not for the Lord's sake. Nor though he also abstain from idle-
ness, gluttony, and drunkenness, if it be for our own gain's sake, and
not for the Lord's sake. Neither is it sufficient, though we abstain
from stealing, and labour dilligently in our callings, if it be for fear
of shame or punishment, or for the praise of men. Neither is it
sufficient, though we have abstained from false witness-bearing, and
have spoken the truth, if it have been for fear of shame, or merely
to do our neighbour a curtsey, and not because the Lord requires it.
Thus might I have instanced in divers other particulars, wherein,
though we have done that which is required, and avoided that which
is forbidden, yet if it have been for our own ends, in any of the par-
ticulars before mentioned ; yea, or if it have been merely or chiefly
to escape hell and to obtain heaven, and not for the love we bear to
God, and for the desire we have to please him, we have therein
MODERN DIVINITY. 439
transgressed the Lord's commandments. And now, neighbour No-
raologista, I pray you consider, whether you have gone near to the
keeping of all the commandments perfectly or no ?
Norn. But, sir, are you sure that the Lord requires that every
man should keep all the ten commandments according as you have
now expounded them ?
THE USE OF THE LAW.
Evan. Yea, indeed he does ; and if you make any question of it,
I pray you, consider further, that one asking our Saviour, which is
the " great commandment in the law ?" he answered, " Thou shalt
love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul,
and with all thy mind." "This," says he, "is the first and great
commandment; and the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy
neighbour as thyself," Matt. xxii. 6 — 9.
Whereupon, says a famous spiritual expositor, " God will have
the whole heart;" all the powers of our souls must be bent towards
him, he will have himself to be acknowledged and reckoned as our
sovereign and supreme good; our love to- him must be perfect and
absolute: he requires, that there be hot found in us the least
thought, inclination, or appetite of any thing which may displease
him ; and that we direct all our actions to this very end, that he
alone may be glorified by us : and that for the love we bear unto
God, we must do well unto our neighbour, according to the com-
mandments of God. Consider also, I pray you, that it is said,
Deut. xxvii. 26; Gal. iii. 10, " Cursed is every one that continueth
not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do
them." Now, if you do consider these things well, you shall per-
ceive that the Lord requires that every man do keep all the ten
commandments perfectly according as I have expounded them, and
concludes all those under the curse that do not so keep them.
Nom. Surely, sir, you did mistake in saying that the Lord re-
quires that every mau do keep the law of the ten commandments
perfectly ; for I suppose you would have said, the Lord requires
that every man do endeavour to keep them perfectly.
Evan. No, neighbour Nomologista, I did not mistake, for I say it
again, that the Lord requires of every man, perfect obedience to all
the ten commandments, and concludes all those under the curse that
do not yield it ; for it is not said, Cursed is every man that does
not endeavour to continue in all things, but, " Cursed is every one
that continueth not in all thiugs," &c.
Nom. But, sir, do you think that any man continues in all things
as you have expounded them ?
440 THE MARROW OF
Evan. No, no; it is impossible that any mau should.
Norn. And, sir, what is it to be under a curse?
Evan. To be under the curse, as Luther and Perkins do well agree,
is to be under sin, the wrath of (rod, and everlasting death.
Nom. But, sir, I pray you, how can this stand with the justice of
God, to require man to do that which is impossible, and yet to con-
clude him under the curse for not doing it ?
Evan. You shall perceive that it does well stand with the justice
of God, to deal so with man, if you consider, that this law of God, or
these ten commandments, which we have now expounded, are, as
Ili-sinus' Catechism truly says, " A doctrine agreeing with the eter-
nal and immortal wisdom and justice that is in God ;" wherein says
Calvin, "God hath so painted out his own nature, that it doth in a
manner express the very image of God." And we read, Gen. i. 27.
that man at the first was created in the image or likeness of God;
wheuce it must needs follow that this law was written in his heart,
that is to say, God did engrave in man's heart such wisdom and
knowledge of his will and works, and such integrity in his soul, and
such a fitness in all the powers thereof, that his mind was able to
conceive, and his heart was able to desire, and his body was able to
put in execution, any thing that was acceptable to God ; so that in
very deed he was able to keep all the ten commandments perfectly.
And therefore though God do require of man impossible things,
yet is he not unjust, neither does he injure us in so doing, because
he commanded them when they were possible, and though we have now
lost our ability of performance, yet it being by our voluntary falling
from the state of innocence in which we were at first created, God
has not lost his right of requiring that of us which he once gave us.
Nom. But, sir, you know it was our first parents only that did
fall away from God in eating the forbidden fruit, and none of their
posterity; how then can it be truly said, that we have lost that
power through our own default?
Evan. For answer to this, I pray you consider that Adam by
God's appointment, was not to stand or fall as a single person only,
but as a common public person, representing all mankind which
were to come to him ; and therefore, as in case if he had been obe-
dient, and not eaten the forbidden fruit, he had retained and kept
that power which he had by creation, as well for all mankind as for
himself; even so by disobedience in eating that forbidden fruit, lie
was disrobed of God's image, and so lost that power, as well for all
mankind as for himself.
Nom. Why then, sir, it should seem that all mankind are under
sin, wrath, and eternal death ?
MODERN DIVINITY. 441
Evan. Yea, indeed by nature they are so, " for we know,"
says the apostle, " that whatsoever the law saith, it saith to them
that are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped, and all
the world may become guilty before God," Rom. iii. 19 ; and again
says he, " We have proved both Jews and Gentiles, that they are
all under sin," Rom. iii. 9. And in another place he says, " We
were by nature children of wrath even as well as others," Eph. ii.
3 ; and, lastly, he says, " So death passed upon all men, for that all
have sinned," Rom. v. 12.
Nom. But, sir, I pray you tell me whether you think that any re-
generate man keeps the commandments perfectly, according as you
have expounded them ?
Evan. No, not the most sanctified man in the world.
Nom. Why then, sir, it should seem, that not only natural men,
but regenerate men also, are under the curse of the law. For if
every one that keepeth not the law perfectly be concluded under
the curse, and if regenerate men do not keep the law perfectly, then
they also must needs be under the curse.
Evan. The conclusion of your argumeut is not true ; for if by re-
generate meu you mean true believers, then they have fulfilled the
law perfectly in Christ, or rather Christ has perfectly fulfilled the
law in them, and was made a curse for them, and so has redeemed
them from the curse of the law, as you may see, Gal. iii. 13.
Nom. Well, sir, now I understand you, and have ever been of
your judgment in that point, for I have ever concluded this, that
either a man himself, or Christ for him, must keep the law perfectly,
or else God will not accept of him, and therefore have I endea-
voured to do the best I could to keep the law perfectly, and wherein
I have failed and come short, I have believed that Christ has done
it for me.
Evan. The apostle says, Gal. iii. 10. " So many as are of the
works of the law, are under the curse." And truly, neighbour No-
mologista, if I may speak it without offence, I fear me you are
still of the works of the law, and therefore still under the curse.
Nom. Why, sir, I pray you what is it to be of the works of the
law?
Evan. To be of the works of the law, is for a man to look for,
or hope to be justified or accepted in the sight of God, for his own
obedience to the law.
Nom. But surely, sir, I never did so ; for though by reason of ray
being ignorant of what is required and forbidden in every command-
ment, I had a conceit that I came very near the perfect fulfilling of
the lew, yet I never thought I did do all things that are contained
Vol. VII. 2 k
442 TIIE MARK0W OF
therein ; and therefore I never looked for, nor hoped that God would
accept me for mine own obedience, without Christ's being joined
with it.
Evan. Then it seems that you did conceive, that your obedience
and Christ's obedience must be joined together, and so God would
accept you for that.
Norn. Yea, indeed, sir, there have been ray hopes, and indeed there
are still my hopes.
Evan. Ay, but neighbour Nomologista, as I told my neighbour
Neophitus and others not long since, so I tell you now, that as the
justice of God requires a perfect obedience, so does it require that
this perfect obedience be a personal obedience, that is, it must be
the obedience of one person only. The obedience of two must not
be put together to make up a perfect obedience : and indeed, to say
as the thing is, God will have none to have a hand in the justifica-
tion and salvation of any man, but Christ only, for, says the apos-
tle Peter, Acts iv. 12, " neither is there salvation in any other, for
there is none other name under heaven given among men whereby
we must be saved." Believe it then, I beseech you, that Christ Jesus
will either be a whole Saviour, or no Saviour, he will either save
you alone, or not save you at all.
Nom. But, sir, if man's obedience to the law do not help to pro-
cure justification and acceptance with God, then why did God give
the law to the Israelites upon Mount Sinai, and why is it read and
expounded by you that are ministers? I would gladly know of
what use it is ?
Evan. The apostle says, Gal. iii. 19, " That the law was added
because of transgression." That is, (as Luther expounds it,) " That
transgressions might increase and be more known, and seen ;" or
as Perkins expounds it, " For the revealing of sin, and the punish-
ment thereof; for by the law comes the knowledge of sin," as the
same apostle says, Bom. iii. 20; and therefore when the children
of Israel conceived that they were righteous, and could keep all
God's commandments perfectly, as it is manifest by their saying,
Exod. xix. 8, " All that the Lord commandeth we will do, and be
obedient," the Lord gave them this law to the intent they might
see how far short they came of yielding that obedience which is
therein required, aud so consequently how sinful they were. And
just so did our Saviour also deal with the young expounder of the
law Mat. xix. 16, who it seems was sick of the same disease, " Good
Master," says he, " what shall 1 do that I may inherit eternal life ?"
"He does not (says Calvin) simply ask, which way, or by what
means ho should come to eternal life, but what good he should do to
MODERN DIVINITY. 443
get it." Whereby it appears, that he was a proud justicary, one
that swelled in fleshly opinion that he could keep the law, and be
saved by it ; therefore he is worthily sent to the law to work him-
self weary, and to see his need to come to Christ for remedy.
Now then, if you would know of what use the law is, why first,
let me tell you, it is of special use to all such as have a conceit that
they themselves can do anything for the procuring of their own
justification and acceptation in the sight of God, to let them see, as
in a glass, that in that case they can do nothing. And therefore,
seeing that you yourself have such a conceit, I beseech you, labour,
to make that use of it, that so you may be hereby quite driven out
of yourself unto Jesus Christ.
Norn. Believe me, sir, I should be glad I could make such a good
use of it, and therefore, I pray you give me some directions how I
may do it.
Evan. "Why, first of all I would desire you to consider, that in
regard that all mankind were first created in such an estate as I
have declared unto you, the law and justice of God requires that
the man who undertakes by his obedience to procure his justification
and acception in the sight of God, either in whole, or in part, be as
completely furnished with the habit of righteousness and true holiness
and as free from all corruption of nature, as Adam was in the state
of innocency, that so there may not be the least corruption mingled
with any of those good actions which he does, nor the least motion
of heart or inclination of will towards any of those evil actions which
he does not do.
Secondly, I would desire you to consider, that neither you nor any
man else, whilst you live upon the earth, shall be so furnished with
perfect righteousness and true holiness, nor so free from all corrup-
tions of nature, as Adam was in the state of innocency ; so that no
good action which you do shall be free from having some corruption
mingled with it: nor any evil action which you do not do, free from
some motion of heart or inclination of will towards it ; and that
therefore you can do nothing towards the procuring of your justifi-
cation and acceptation in the sight of God ; which the prophet
David well considering, cries out, Psalm cxliii. 2, " Enter not into
judgment with thy servant, Lord ! for in thy sight shall no man
living be justified." Yea, and this made the apostle cry out, "
wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this
death !" Rom. vii. 24. Yea, and this made him desire to be found
in Christ, not having his own righteousness which is of the law, but
that which is through the faith of Christ, Phil. iii. 9.
Nom. But, sir, I am persuaded there be some good actions which
2 e 2
444 THE MARROW OF
I do, that are free from having any corruption at all mixed with
them ; and some evil actions which I do not do, towards which I
have no motion of heart, or inclination of will at all.
Evan. Surely, neighbour Nomologista, you do not truly know
yourself, for I am confident, that any man who truly knows himself,
sees such secret corruptions of heart in every duty he performs, as
causes him uufeignedly to confess, that wliatever good action he
does, it is but a polluted stream of a more corrupt fountain. And
whatsoever you or any man else do conceive of yourselves, it is
most certain, that whatsoever sin is forbidden in the word, or has
been practised in the world, that sin every man carries in his bo-
som, for all have equally sinned in Adam, and therefore original
lust is equally in all.
Norn. Sir, I can hardly be persuaded to this.
Evan. "Well, neighbour Nomologista, I cannot so well tell how it
is with you, but for mine own part, I tell you truly, I find my
knowledge corrupted and defiled with ignorance and blindness, and
my faith corrupted and defiled with doubting and distrust, and my
love to God very much corrupted, and defiled with sinful self-love
and love to the world ; and my joy in God much corrupted and de-
filed with carnal joy ; and my godly sorrow very much corrupted
and defiled with worldly sorrow.
And I find my prayers, my hearing, my reading, my receiving
the sacrament, and such like duties, very much corrupted and de-
filed with dulness, drowsiness, sleepiness, wandering and worldly
thoughts, and the like.
And I find my sanctifying of the Lord's name very much cor-
rupted and defiled, by thinking and speaking lightly and irreve-
rently of his titles ; and by thinking, if not by speaking, grudgingly
against some acts of his providence.
And I find my sanctifying of the Lord's day very much corrupted
and defiled, by sleeping too long in the morning, and by worldly
thoughts and words, if not by worldly works.
And I find that all the duties that I have performed, either to-
wards my superiors or inferiors, have been corrupted and defiled
either with too much indulgence, or with too much severity, or with
base fears, or base hopes, or some self-end and by-respect.
And I find that all my duties that I have performed, either for
the preservation of mine own, or other's life, chastity, goods, or good
name, have been very much corrupted and defiled, either with a desire
of mine own praise, and mine own profit here, or to escape hell, and
to obtain heaven hereafter ; so that I see no good action which I
have ever done free from having some corruption mixed with it.
MODERN DIVINITY. 445
And as for motion of heart, and inclination of will towards that
evil which I have done, it is also manifest, for though I have not
been guilty of idolatry, either in making or worshipping images,
yet have I not been free from carnal imaginations of God in the
time of his worship, nor from will-worship.
And though I have not been so guilty of profaning the name of
the Lord, after such a gross manner as some others have been, yet
have I not been free from an inclination of heart, and disposition of
will thereunto : for I have both thought and spoken irreverently
both of his titles, attributes, word, and works, yea, and many times
do so to this day.
And though I do not now so grossly profane the Lord's day as it
may be others have done, and do still, yet have I formerly done it
grossly, yea and do still, find an inward disposition of heart, and
inclination of will, both to omit those duties which tend to the sanc-
tifying of it, and to do those worldly actions which tend to the pro-
fanation of it.
And though when I was a child and young, I did not so grossly
dishonour and disobey my parents and other superiors, as some
others did, yet I had an inclination of heart and disposition of will
thereunto, as it was manifest by my stubbornness, and by my not
yielding willing obedience to their commands, nor submitting pa-
tiently to their reproofs and corrections.
And though it may be, I have done more of my duty to my infe-
riors than some others have done, yet have I found an inclination of
heart, and a disposition of will, many times to omit those duties
which I have performed, so that I have, as it were, been fain to con-
strain myself to do that which I have done.
And though I have not been guilty of the gross act of murder, yet
have I had, and have still an inclination of heart and disposition of
will thereunto, in that I have been, and am still, many times sub-
ject to rash, unadvised, and excessive anger ; yea, I have been and
still am divers times wrathful and envious towards others that
offend me.
And though I never was guilty of the foul and gross act of forni-
cation or adultery, yet have I had an inclination of heart, and dis-
position of will thereunto, in that I have not been free from filthy
imaginations, unchaste thoughts, and inward motions and desires to
uncleanness.
And though I was never guilty of the gross act of stealing, yet
have I had an inclination of heart, and a disposition of will there-
unto, in that I have neither been free from discontentedness with
mine own estate, nor from covetous desires after that which belongs
to another.
446 THE MARROW OS
And tbough I never did bear false witness against any man, yet
have I had an inclination of heart and disposition of will thereunto,
in that I have not been free from contemning, despising, and think-
ing too basely of others; neither yet have I been free from evil sur-
misings, groundless suspicions, and rashly judging others.
And now, neighbour Noniologista, I pray you tell me whether
you do think that some of these corruptions are in you, which you
hear are in me ?
Nom. Yea, believe me, sir, I must needs confess that some of
them are.
Evan. Well, though you have but only one of them in you, yet I
pray you consider, that you do thereby transgress one of the ten
commandments ; and the apostle James says, that " Whosoever
shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of
all," James ii. 10. And call to mind, I also pray you, that a curse
is denounced against all those that continue not in "all things
which are written in the book of the law to do them." Mind it, I
pray you, " that doth not continue in all things ;" so that although
you could for a time do all that the law requires, and avoid all that
it forbids, and that never so exactly, yet if you do not continue so
doing, but transgress the law once in all your life, and that only in
one thought, you are thereby become subject to the curse, which, as
you have heard, is eternal damnation in hell.
Nay, let me tell you more, although you never yet had transges-
sed the law in your life hitherto, not so much as in the least thought
nor never should do whilst you live, yet should you thereby become
far short of the perfect fulfilling of the law, and so consequently of
your justification and acceptation in the sight of God.
Nom. That is very strange to me, sir, for what can be required
more, or what can be done more, than yielding perfect and per-
petual obedience ?
Evan. That is true indeed ; there is no more required, neither
can there be more done ; but yet you must understand that the law
does as well require passive obedience as active, suffering as well as
doing ; for our common bond entered into for us all, by God's bene-
fits towards the first man, is by his disobedience become forfeited,
both in respect of himself and all mankind ; and therefore, ever
since the fall of man, the law and justice of God does not only re-
quire the payment of the debt, but also of the forfeiture ; there is
not only required of him perfect doing, but also perfect suffering.
" In the day that thou eatest thereof, thou shalt die the death,"
says the Lord, Gen. ii. 17- Nay, let me tell you yet more : in order of
justice, the forfeiture ought to be paid before the debt ; perfect suf-
m.jbekn divinmjt. 447
fering should go before perfect doiiig, because all mankind, by rea-
son of that first and great transgression, are at odds and enmity
with God ; they are all of them children of his wrath, and therefore
God (as we may speak with holy reverence,) cannot be reconciled
unto any man, before a full satisfaction be made to his justice by a
perfect suffering, (Col. i. 21) : perfect suffering, then, is required for
the reconciling of man unto God, (Eph. ii. 3,) and setting him in the
same condition he was in before his fall, and perfect doing is re-
quired for the keeping of him in that condition.
Nom. And, sir, is man as unable to pay the forfeiture as he is
to pay the debt? I mean, is he as unable to suffer perfectly, as to
do perfectly?
Evan. Yea, indeed, every whit as unable; forasmuch as man's
sin in eating the forbidden fruit was committed against God, and
God is infinite and eternal, and the offence is always multiplied ac-
cording to the dignity of the person against whom it is committed :
man's offence must needs be an infinite offence, and the punishment
must needs be proportionable to the fault; therefore an infinite and
eternal punishment is required at man's hands, or else such a tempo-
ral punishmeut, as is equal and answerable to eternal. Now,
eternal punishment man cannot sustain, because then he should
never be delivered — he should ever be satisfying, and never have sa-
tisfied ; which satisfaction is such as is the punishment of the devils
and damned men in hell, which never shall have an end. And for
temporal punishment, which should be equivalent to eternal, that
cannot be neither, because the power and vigour of no creature
is such that it may sustain a finite and temporal punishment, equi-
valent to an infinite and eternal ; for sooner should the creature be
wasted, consumed, and brought to nothing, than it could satisfy the
justice of God by this means ; wherefore we may certainly conclude,
that no man can satisfy the law and justice of God, neither by
active nor by passive obedience, and so consequently no man shall
be justified and accepted in the sight of God by his own doings or
sufferings.
Nom. Sir, I see it clearly, and am therein fully convinced, and I
hope I shall make that use of it. But, sir, is there no other use to
be made of the law than this ?
Evan. Tea, neighbour Nomologista, you must not only labour
thereby to see your own insufficiency to procure your own justifica-
tion and acceptance in the sight of God, (though that* indeed be the
chief use that any unjustified person ought to endeavour to make of
it,) but you must also endeavour to make it a rule of direction to you
in your life and conversation.
448 THE ilAKllOW I'F
Nom. But, sir, if I cannot by my obedience to the law do any
thing towards the procuring of mine own justification, and accepta-
tion in the sight of God, or, (which as I do conceive is all one) if T
can do nothing towards the procuring of mine own eternal salvation,
then methinks all that I do should be in vain, for I cannot see any
good I shall get thereby.
Evan. No, neighbour Nomologista, it shall not be in vain ; for
though you cannot by your obedience to the law, do any thing
towards the procuring of your own justification or eternal salvation ;
yea, and though you should never make such a use of it, as to be
thereby driven out of yourself unto Jesus Christ for justification and
eternal salvation, but should be everlastingly condemned; yet, this
let me tell you, the more obedience you yield unto the law, the more
easy shall your condemnation be ; for although no man (walk he
ever so exactly and strictly according to the law) shall thereby
either escape the torments of hell, or obtain the joys of heaven, yet
the more exactly and strictly any man walks according to the law,
the easier shall his torments be, Matt. xi. 22. So that although you
by your obedience to the law cannot obtain the uneasiest place in
heaveu, yet may you thereby obtain the most easy place in hell ;
and therefore your obedience shall not be in vain. Nay, let me tell
you more, although you by your obedience to the law can neither
escape that hell, nor enjoy that heaven that is in the world to come,
yet you may thereby escape that hell, and enjoy that heaven which
is to be had in this present world ; for the Lord dealeth so equally
and justly with all men, that every man shall be sure to receive his
due at his hands: so that as every man who is truly justified in the
sight of God by faith in Christ's blood, shall for that blood's sake
be sure of the joys of heaven, though his life may even after his be-
lieving be in many respects unconformable to the law; yet the more
unconformable his life is thereunto, the more crosses and afflictions
he shall be sure to meet withal in this life, Psalm Ixxxix. 30 — 32.
Even so, though no man that is not justified by faith in Christ's
blood shall either escape the torments of hell, or attain the joys of
heaven, be his life never so conformable to the law, yet the more
conformable his life is thereunto, the less of the miseries and the
more of the blessings of this life he shall have ; for it is not to men
unjustified, though I suppose not only to them, that the Lord speak-
eth, Isa. i. 19, saying, " If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall
eat the good things of the land." And does not the Lord in
the fifth commandment promise the blessing of long life to all in-
feriors that are obedient to their superiors ? And may we not observe,
and is it not found true by experience, that those children who are
MODERN DIVINITY. 449
most careful of doing their duties to their parents, are commonly
more free both from their parent's corrections and the Lord's cor-
rections ; and are likewise blessed with obedient children them-
selves, and do also taste of their parent's bounty and the Lord's
bounty, as touching the blessings of this life, more than others that
are disobedient ? And may we not observe, and is it not found true
by experience, that those servants that are most faithful and dili-
gent in their places are commonly more free either from the Lord's
or their master's corrections, and are likewise rewarded with such
servants themselves, and with other temporal blessings both from
their masters and from the Lord, than others that are not so ?
And may we not observe, and is it not found true by experience,.,
that those wives that are obedient and subject to their husbands,
are commonly more free from their frowns, checks, or rebukes; at
least, they are more blessed with peace of conscience, and a good
name amongst men, than others that are not so ? And may we not
observe, that our mere honest men, who for the most part live with-
out committing any gross sin against the law, are commonly more
exempted from the sword of the magistrate, and have many earthly
blessings more in abundance than such as are gross sinners ? And
the Scribes and Pharisees, who were strict observers of the law, in
regard of the outward man, were no losers by it, " Verily," says our
Saviour, " I say unto you, they have their reward," Matt. vi. 2. So
that still, you see, your obedience to the law shall not be in vain ;
wherefore, I pray you, do your best to keep the ten commandments
as perfectly as you can. But above all, I beseech you, be careful to
consider of that which has been said touching the special use of the
law to you, that so through the powerful working of God's Spirit, it
may become an effectual means to drive you out of yourself unto
Jesus Christ.
consider, in the first place, what a great number of duties are
required, and what a great number of sins are forbidden in every
one of the ten commandments ! And in the second place, consider,
how many of those duties you have omitted, and how many of those
sins you have committed. And in the third place, consider, that
there has been much corruption mixed with every good duty which
you have done, so that you have sinned in doing that which in itself
is good; and that you have had an inclination of heart and disposi-
tion of will to every sin you have not committed, and so have been
guilty of all those sins which you have not done. And in the
fourth place, consider, that the law denounceth a curse unto every
one which continueth not in all things which are written in the
book of the law to do them. And then, in the fifth place, make
450 THE MARROW Off
application of tlie curse unto yourself, by saying in your heart, if
every one be cursed which continueth not in all things, then surely
I am cursed that have continued in nothing. And then, in the
sixth place, consider, that before you can be delivered from the
curse, the law and justice of God requires that there be a perfect
satisfaction made both by paying the debt and the forfeiture to the
very utmost farthing ; perfect doing and perfect suffering are both
of them required. And then, in the last place, consider, that you
are so far from being able to make a perfect satisfaction, that you
can do nothing at all towards it, and that therefore as of yourself,
you are in a most miserable and helpless condition.
Nom. Well, sir, I do now plainly see that I have been deceived,
for I verily thought that the only reason why the Lord gave the
law, and why you that are ministers do show us what is required
and forbidden in the law, had been, that all men might thereby
come to see what the mind and will of the Lord is, and be exhorted,
and persuaded to lead their lives thereafter. And I also verily
thought that the more any man did strive and endeavour to reform
his life and do thereafter, the more he procured the love and favour
of God towards him, and the more God would bless him, and do him
good, both in this world and the world to come ; yea, and I also
verily thought, that it had been in man's power to have come very
near the perfect fulfilling of the law, for I never read nor heard
any minister show how impossible it is for any man to keep the
law, nor ever make any mention of any such use of the law, as you
have done this day.
Evan. Surely, neighbour Nomologista, these have not only been
your thoughts, but also the thoughts of many other men : for it is
natural for every man to think that he must and can procure God's
favour and eternal happiness by his obedience to the law, at the
least, to think he can do something towards it; for naturally men
think that the law requires no more but the external act, and that
therefore it is in man's power to keep it perfectly. Is it not
an ordinary and common thing for men when they hear or read that
there is more required and forbidden in the law than they were
aware of, to think with themselves, Surely I am not right, I have
transgressed the law more than I thought I had done, and therefore
God is more angry with me, than I had thought he had been; and
therefore to pacify his anger, and procure his favour towards me, I
must repent, amend, and do better ; I must reform my life according
to the law, and so by my future obedience make amends for my for-
mer disobedience ; and if thereupon they do attain to any good
measure of outward conformity, then they think they come near the
MODERN DIVINITY. 451
perfect fulfilling of the law; and if it were not that the doctriue of
the Church of England is, that no man can fulfil the law perfectly,
and that none but Papists do say the contrary, they would both
think and say they did, or hoped they should keep all the com-
mandments perfectly. And upon occasion of this their outward re-
formation according to the law, they think, yea, and sometimes say,
they are regenerate men and true converts, and that the beginning
of this their reformation was the time of their new-birth and con-
version unto God. And if these men do confess themselves to be
sinners, it is rather because they hear all others confess themselves
so to be, than out of any true sight and knowledge, sense, or feeling
they have of any inward heart-corruption. And if they acknow-
ledge, that a man is not to be justified by the works ot the law, but
by faith in Christ, it is rather because they have heard it so
preached, or because they have read it in the Bible, or some other
book, than because of any imperfection which they see in their own
works, or any need they see of the righteousness of Jesus Christ.
And if they do see any imperfection in their own works, and any
need of the righteousness of Jesus Christ, then they imagine that so
long as their hearts are upright and sincere, and they do desire and
endeavour to do their best to fulfil the law, God will accept of what
they do, and make up their imperfect obedience with Christ's per-
fect obedience, and so will justify and save them; but all this
while, their own works must have a hand in their justification and
salvation, and so they are still of the works of the law, and there-
fore under the curse ; the Lord be merciful both to you and them,
and bring you under the blessing of Abraham !
Norn. Sir, I thank you for your good wishes towards me, and for
your great pains which you have now taken with me, and so I will
for this time take my leave of you; only, sir, I could wish, if it
might not be too much trouble to you, that you would be pleased at
your leisure, to give me in writing a copy of what you have this
day said concerning the law.
Evan. Well, neighbour Nomologista, though I can hardly spare so
much time, yet because you do desire it, and in hope you may receive
good by it, I will, ere long, find some time to accomplish your desire.
Neo. I pray you, neighbour Nomologista, tarry a little longer, and
I will go with you.
Nom. No, I must needs be gone ; I can stay no longer.
Evan. Then fare you well, neighbour Nomologista, and the Lord
make you to see your sins ?
Nom. The Lord be with you, sir.
Neo. Well, sir, now I hope you have fully convinced him that he
452 THE MARROW OF
comes far short of keeping all the commandments perfectly: I hope
he will no longer be so well conceited of his own righteousness as
he has formerly been. But now, sir, I pray you tell me before I
depart, whether you would have me to endeavour to make the same
use of the law which you have advised him to make.
Evan. No, neighbour Neophitus, I look not upon you as an unbe-
liever, as I did upon him, but I look upon you as one who has
already been by the law driven out of yourself unto Jesus Christ ;
I look upon you as a true believer, and as a person already justified
in the sight of God by faith in Christ, and so as one who is
neither to question your inheritance in heaven, nor fear your por-
tion in hell. And therefore I will not persuade you to labour to
yield obedience to the law, by telling you, that the more obedient
you are thereunto, the easier torments you shall have in hell, as I
did him ; neither would I have you to make application of the curse
of the law to yourself, as I advised him to do; for if you do truly
and thoroughly believe (as God requires you) that Jesus Christ
(1 John iii. 23.) the Son of God and your Surety, has, by his active
and passive obedience, fully discharged and paid both the debt and
the forfeiture which the law and justice of God obliged you to pay,
then will not you yield obedience to the law, to pay that which you
do truly believe is fully paid and discharged already ; and if you do
not yield obedience to the law to discharge that, then do you not
yield obedience to the law, in hopes to be thereby made just, or jus-
tified in the sight of God ; and if you yield not obedience to the law,
in hopes to be thereby made just, or justified in the sight of God,
then are you not of the works of the law ; and if you are not
of the works of the law, then are you not under the curse of
the law ; and if you be not under the curse of the law, then
must you not make application of the curse unto yourself. And
therefore, whensoever you shall either hear or read these words,
" Cursed is every one which continueth not in all things which are
written in the book of the law to do them," and your conscience
tells you that you have not, and do not continue in all things, and
that therefore you are accursed ; then do you make so much
use of the curse, as thereby to take occasion by faith to cleave
more close unto Christ, and say, law, thy curse is not to come
into my conscience ! my conscience is freed from it ! for though it
is true 1 have not continued " in all things which are written in the
book of the law to do them," yet this my Surety Jesus Christ
has continued in all things for me, so that although I am unable to
pay either the debt or the forfeiture, yet he has paid them both for
me, and so has discharged me from the curse ; and therefore I fear
it not.
MODERN DIVINITY. 453
Neo. But, sir, though I be a believer, and so be set free from the
curse of the law, yet I suppose I ought to endeavour to do some-
what that is required, and to avoid whatsoever is forbidden in the
law.
Evan. Yea, neighbour Neophitus, that you ought indeed, for mind
it, I pray you, thus stauds the case ; so soon as any man does truly
believe, and so is justified in the sight of God, theu, as the Holy
Ghost, from the testimony of holy writ, does warrant us to conceive,
Jesus Christ, or, which is all one, God in Christ, does deliver unto
him whatsoever is required and forbidden in the ten commandments,
saying, (Col. ii. 14; Eph. ii. 15,) " This hand-writing, even this law
of commandments which was agaiust thee, and contrary to thee,
whilst it was in the hands of my Father, as he stood in relation to
thee as a Judge, and was not cancelled, but had the curse or penalty
annexed to it, (Isa. xxxviii. 14,) and so had power to convince, (Heb.
vii. 22,) accuse, condemn, and bind thee over to punishment; I, who
undertook for thee, and became thy Surety, have paid the principal
debt, and have also answered the forfeiture which did lie against
thee for the breach of that bond ; and my Father has delivered it
into miue hands, and I have blotted out the curse or penalty, so that
one letter or tittle remains not for thee to see ; yea, I have taken it
out of thy way, and fastened it to my cross, yea, and torn it in
pieces with the nails of my cross, so that it is altogether frustrate,
and has no force at all against thee. Yet notwithstanding the mat-
ter contained iu this law, even those precepts and prohibitions which
I have now delivered unto thee, being the mind and will of my Fa-
ther, and the eternal and unchangeable rule of righteousness, and
that which is in my heart, Psalm xl. 8; yea, and that which I have
promised to write in the hearts of all those that are mine, Jer. xxxi.
33 : yea, and that which I have promised to make them yield will-
ing obedience unto, Psalm ex. 8 ; I and ray father do command it
unto thee, as that rule of obedience whereby thou art to express thy
love and thankfulness unto us for what we have done for thee. And
therefore I will say no more unto thee but this, " If thou love me,
keep my commandments," John xiv. 15. And thou art my friend,
" If thou do whatsoever I command thee," John xv. 14.
Neo. But, sir, does God in Christ require me to yield perfect obe-
dience to all the ten commandments, according as you have this day
expounded them?
Evan. I answer, yea, for though God in Christ do not require of
you, or any true believer, any obedience to the law at all by way of
satisfaction to his justice, for that Christ has fully done already ;
yet does he require, that every true believer do purpose, desire, and
454 THE MARROW OF
endeavour to do their best to keep all the ten commandments per-
fectly, according as I have this day expounded them ; witness the
saying of Christ himself, (Matt. v. 48.) "Be ye therefore perfect, as
your Father which is in heaven is perfect."
Neo. But, sir, do you think it possible, that either I, or any
believer else, should keep the commandments perfectly, according
as you have this day expounded them ?
Evan. no! both you, and I, and every believer else, have, and
shall have cause to say with the apostle, (Phil. iii. 12.) " Not as
though I had already attained, or were already perfect."
Neo. But will God in Christ accept of obedience, if it be not
perfect ?
Evan. Yea, neighbour Neophitus, you being a justified person,
and so it not being in the case of justification, but in the case
of child-like obedience, I may without fear of danger, say unto
you, God will accept the word for the deed, and " will spare
you as a man spares his son that serves him," Mai. iii. 18. Yea,
like as a father pities his children, so the Lord will pity you,
" for he knoweth your frame, he remembereth that you are dust,"
Psalm ciii. 13, 14. Nay, he will not only spare you and pity you
for what you do not, but he will also reward you for what you do.
Neo. Say you so, sir ? then I beseech you tell me what this re-
ward shall be.
Evan. Why, if there be degrees of glory in heaven, as some, both
godly and learned, have conceived there is, then I tell you that the
more obedient you are unto the law, the more shall be your glory in
heaven; but because degrees of glory are disputable, I cannot as-
sure you of that. Howbeit, this you may assure yourself, that the
more obedience you yield unto the ten commandments, the more you
please your most gracious God and loving Father in Christ, 1 Sam.
xv. 22; and the more your conscience witnesseth that you please
God, the more quiet you shall feel it to be, and the more inward
peace you shall have, according to that of the Psalmist, " Great
peace have they that love thy law, and nothing shall offend them."
For though faith in the blood of Christ has made your peace with
God as a Judge, yet obedience must keep your peace with him as a
Father ; yea, the more your conscience witnesseth that you do that
which pleases God, the more encouragement you will have, and the
more confidently you will approach towards God in prayer. " Be-
loved," says the loving apostle, " if our hearts condemn us not, then
have we boldness towards God," John iii. 21 ; for though faith in
the blood of Christ takes away that guilt which subjects you to the
legal curse, yet obedience must take away that guilt which subjects
MODERN DIVINITY. 455
you to a fatherly displeasure. Furthermore, you are to know, that
the more obedience you yield unto the ten commandments, the more
temporal blessings, outward prosperity, and comfort of this life (in
the ordinary course of God's dealing) you shall have : " !" says
the Lord, " that my people had hearkened unto me, and Israel had
walked in my ways, he should soon have fed them with the finest of
the wheat, and with honey out of the rock should I have satisfied
thee." Besides, the more obedience you yield unto the ten com-
mandments, the more glory you will bring to God, according to that
of our Saviour, John xv. 8, "Herein is my Father giorified, that ye
bear much fruit." To conclude, the more obedience you yield unto
the ten commandments, the more good you will do unto others, ac-
cording to that of the apostle, Tit. iii. 8, " This is a faithful say-
ing, and these things I will that thou affirm constantly, that they
which have believed in Christ might be careful to maintain good
works ; these things are good and profitable unto men."
Neo. But, sir, what if I should not purpose, desire, and endeavour
to yield obedience to all the ten commandments, as you say the
Lord requires ; what then ?
Evan. Why then, although it is true you have no cause to fear
that God will proceed against you, as a wrathful judge proceeds
against a malefactor, yet have you cause to fear that he will pro-
ceed against you as a displeased father does against an offending
child ; that is to say, although you have no cause to fear that he
will unjustify you, and unson you, and deprive you of your heavenly
inheritance, and inflict the penalty of the law of works upon you,
and so condemn you, for says the apostle, " There is no condemna-
tion to them that are in Christ Jesus," Rom. viii. 1 ; yet have you
cause to fear that he will hide his fatherly face and withdraw the
light of his countenance from you ; and that your conscience will be
ever accusing and disquieting of you, which if it do, then will you
draw back, and be afraid to ask any of God in prayer; for even as a
child whose conscience tells him that he has angered and displeased
his father, will be unwilling to come into his father's presence, espe-
cially to ask of him any thing that he wants, even so it will be with
you; and besides, you shall be sure to be whipped and scourged with
many bodily and temporal chastisements and corrections, according
to that which is said concerning Jesus Christ and his seed, even true
believers, and justified persons, Psal. Ixxxix. 31 — 33, " If his chil-
dren forsake my law, and walk not in my judgments ; if they break
my statutes, and walk not in my commandments, then will I visit
their transgressions with the rod, and their iniquities with stripes.
Nevertheless, my loving kindness will I not utterly take from him
nor suffer my faithfulness to fail."
4-56 THE MARROW OP
Wherefore, neighbour Neophitus, to apply these things a little
more closely to you, and so to conclude, let me exhort you,
when you come home, call to mind and consider every com-
mandment according as you have heard them this day expounded,
and resolve to endeavour yourself to do thereafter; and always
take notice how and wherein you fail and come short of doing what
is required, and of avoiding what is forbidden ; and especially be
careful to do this when you are called to humble yourself before the
Lord in fasting and prayer, and upon occasion of going to receive
the sacrament of the Lord's supper, and so shall you make a right
use of the law.
Neo. And, sir, why would you have me more especially to take
notice of my sins when I am called to humble myself before the
Lord in fasting and prayer ?
Evan. Because the more sinful you see yourself to be, the more
humble will your heart be ; and the more humble your heart is, the
more fit you will be to pray, and the more the Lord will regard
your prayers : wherefore when upon occasion of some heavy and
sore affliction, either felt, or feared to come upon yourself, or some
sore judgment and calamity either felt, or feared to come upon the
nation or place where you live, the Lord calls you to humble your-
self in fasting and prayer, then do you hereupon take occasion to
meditate, and consider seriously what duties are required, and what
sins are forbidden in every one of the ten commandmeuts, and then
consider how many of those duties you have omitted, and how many
of those sins you have committed ; consider also the sinful manner
of performing those duties you have performed, and the base and
sinful self ends which you have had in the performance of them :
consider also how many sinful corruptions there are in your heart,
which break not forth in your life, and the disposition of heart
which you have naturally to every sin which yon do not commit ;
and then consider, that although the sins which you do now commit
are not a transgression of the law of works, because you are not
now under the law, Rom. vi. 14; yet are they a transgression of
the law of Christ, because you are still under the law, 1 Cor. ix. 31.
And though they be not committed against God as standing in rela-
tion to you as a wrathful Judge, yet have they been committed
against him as he stands in relation to you as a merciful loving
Father ; and though they subject you not to the wrath of a Judge,
nor to the penalty of the law of works, yet they subject you to the
anger and displeasure of a loving Father, and to the penalty of the
law of Christ.
Whereupon, do you draw near unto God by prayer, saying unto
him after this manner :
MODERN DIVINITY. 457
" merciful and loving Father ! I do acknowledge that the sins
which I did commit before I was a believer, were a transgression of
the law of works, because I was then under that law ; yea, and that
they were committed against thee, as thou stoodst in relation to me
as a Judge, and that therefore thou mightst most justly have in-
flicted the curse or penalty of the law of works upon me, and so
have cast me into hell ; but seeing that thou hast enabled me to
believe the gospel, viz. that thou hast been pleased to give thine
own Son Jesus Christ to undertake for me, to become my Surety, to
take my nature upon him, and to be made under the law, to redeem
me from under the law, (Gal. iv. 4. and iii. 13; Rom. v. 10); and
to be made a curse for me, to redeem me from the curse, and to
reconcile me unto thee by his death. Now I know it stands not
with thy justice to proceed against me by virtue of the law of
works, and so cast me into hell. Nevertheless, Father, I know
that the sins which I have committed since I did believe have been
a transgression of the law of Christ, because I am still under that
law : yea, and I do acknowledge, that they have been committed
against thee, even against thee, my most gracious, merciful, and
loving Father in Jesus Christ, and that it is therefore meet thou
shouldst express thy fatherly anger and displeasure towards me,
for these sins which thy law has discovered unto me, in bringing
this affliction upon me, or this judgment upon the place or nation
wherein I live: howbeit, Father, I, knowing that thy fatherly
anger towards thy children is never mixed with hatred, but always
with love, and that in afflicting of them thou never intendest any
satisfaction to thine own justice, but their amendment, even the
purging out of the remainder of those sinful corruptions which are
still in them, and the conforming of them to thine own image : I
therefore come unto thee this day, to humble myself before thee,
and to call upon thy name, not for auy need, or power that I do
conceive I have to satisfy thy justice, or to appease thy eternal
wrath, and to free my soul from hell ; for that I do believe Christ
has fully done for me already; but I do it in hopes thereby to
pacify thy fatherly anger and displeasure towards me, and to obtain
the removal of this affliction or judgment which I feel or fear;
wherefore I beseech thee to pardon and forgive these my sins,
which have been the procuring cause thereof; yea, I pray thee not
only to pardon them, but also to purge them, that so this may be
all the fruit, even the taking away of sin, and making me partaker
of thy holiness; and then, Lord, remove this affliction and judgment
when thy will and pleasure is."
And thus have I showed you the reason why I would have you
Vol. V 2 f
458 THE MARROW OP
more especially to take notice of your sins, when you come to hum-
ble yourself before the Lord in fasting and prayer.
Neo. And, sir, why would you have me to take notice of my sins,
upon occasion of my going to receive the sacrament of the Lord's
Supper ?
Evan. Because the more sinful you see yourself to be, the more
need you will see yourself to have of Christ ; and the more need
you see yourself to have of Christ, the more will you prize him ; and
the more you prize Christ, the more you will desire him; and the
more you desire Christ, the more fit and worthy receiver you
will be.
Wherefore when you are determined to receive the sacrament,
then take occasion to examine yourself as the apostle exhorts you,
behold the face of your soul in the glass of the law, lay your heart
and life to that rule, as I directed you before ; then think with
yourself, and commune with your own heart, saying in your heart
after this manner, " Though I do believe that all these my sins are
for Christ's sake freely and fully pardoned and forgiven, so as that
I shall never be condemned for them, yet do I not so fully and com-
fortably believe it as I ought, but am sometimes apt to question it :
and, besides, though my sins have not dominion over me, yet I feel
them too prevalent in me, and I would fain have more power and
strength against them ; I would fain have my graces stronger and
my corruptions weaker; wherefore I, knowing that Christ in the
sacrament of the Lord's Supper seals up unto me the assurance of
the pardon and forgiveness of all my sins ; yea, and knowing that
the death and bloodshed of Jesus Christ, which is there represented,
has in it both a pardoning and purging virtue ; yea, and knowing
that the more fully I do apprehend Christ by faith, the more
strength of grace, and power against corruptions I shall feel ; —
wherefore I will go to partake of that ordinance, in hope that I
shall there meet with Jesus Christ, and apprehend him more fully
by faith, and so obtain both more assurances of the pardon of my
sins, and the more power and strength against them ;" which the
Lord grant you for Christ's sake. And thus having also showed
you the reason why I would have you more especially to take
notice of your sins before you come to receive the sacrament of the
Lord's Snpper, I will now take my leave of you, for my other occa-
sions do call me away.
Neo. Well, sir, I do acknowledge, that you have taken great
pains both with my neighbour and me this day, for the which I do
give you many thanks. And yet I must entreat you to do the like
courtesy for me which you promised my neighbour Nomologista, and
MODERN DIVINITY. 459
that is, at your leisure, to write me out a copy of the conference we
have had this day.
Evan. Well, neighbour Neophitus, I shall think of it, and it may
be, accomplish your desire. — And so the God of peace be with you !
Neo. The Lord be with you, sir.
THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE LAW AND THE GOSPEL.
There is little more in all this, (viz. " The Marrow,") to be attri-
buted to me thau the very gathering and composing of it. That
which I aim at, and intend therein, is to show unto myself, and
others that shall read it, the difference betwixt the Law and the
Gospel, — a point, as I conceive, very needful for us to be well
instructed in, and that for those reasons : —
First, Because, if we be ignorant thereof, we shall be very apt to
mix and mingle them together, and so to confound the one with the
other; which, as Luther on the Galatians, p. 31, truly says, "doth
more mischief than man's reason can conceive ;" and therefore he
doth advise all Christians, in the case of justification, to separate
the Law and the Gospel as far asunder as heaven and earth are
separated.
Secondly, Because if we know right how to distinguish betwixt
them, the knowledge thereof will afford us no small light towards
the true understanding of the Scripture, and will help us to recon-
cile all such places, both in the Old and New Testament, as seem to
be repugnant; yea, and it will help us to judge aright of cases of
conscience, and quiet our own conscience in time of trouble and dis-
tress ; yea, and we shall thereby be enabled to try the truth and
falsehood of all doctrines : wherefore, for our better instruction in
this point, we are first of all to consider and take notice what the
law is, and what the gospel is.
Now, the law is a doctrine partly known by nature, teaching us
that there is a God, and what God is, and what he requires us to
do, binding all reasonable creatures to perfect obedience, both in-
ternal and external, promising the favour of God, and everlasting
life to all those who yield perfect obedience thereunto, and de-
nouncing the curse of God and everlasting damnation to all those
who are not perfectly correspondent thereunto.
But the gospel is a doctrine revealed from heaven by the Son of
God, presently after the fall of mankind into sin and death, and
2f2
460 THE MARROW OF
afterwards manifested more clearly and fully to the patriarchs and
prophets, to the evangelists and apostles, and by them spread
abroad to others ; wherein freedom from sin, the curse of the law,
the wrath of God, death, and hell, is freely promised for Christ's
sake unto all who truly believe on his Dame.
2dly, We are to consider what the nature and office of the law is,
and what the nature and office of the gospel is.
Now, the nature and office of the law is to show unto us our sin,
(Rom. iii. 20,) our condemnation, our death, Rom. ii. 1 ; vii. 10. But
the nature and office of the gospel is to show unto us, that Christ
has taken away our sin, (John i. 29,) and that he also is our re-
demption and life, Col. i. 14 ; iii. 4. So that the law is a word of
wrath, Rom. iv. 14 ; but the gospel is a word of peace, Eph. ii. 17.
2>dly, We are to consider where we may find the law written, and
where we may find the gospel written.
Now, we shall find this law and this gospel written and recorded
in the writings of the prophets, evangelists, and apostles, namely,
in the books called the Old and New Testament, or the Scriptures.
For, indeed, the law and the gospel are the chief general heads
which comprehend all the doctrine of the Scriptures; yet we are
not to think that these two doctrines are to be distinguished by the
books and leaves of the Scriptures, but by the diversity of God's
Spirit speaking in them : we are not to take and understand what-
soever is contained in the compass of the Old Testament to be
only and merely the word and voice of the law ; neither are we to
think that whatsoever is contained within the compass of the books
called the New Testament is only and merely the voice of the
cospel ; for sometimes in the Old Testament God does speak com-
fort, as he comforted Adam, with the voice of the gospel ; some-
times also in the New Testament he does threaten and terrify, as
when Christ terrified the Pharisees. In some places, again, Moses
and the prophets do play the evangelists ; inasmuch that Hierom
doubts whether he should call Isaiah a prophet or an evangelist.
In some places, likewise, Christ and the apostles supply the part of
Moses : Christ himself, until his death, was under the law, which
law he came not to break, but to fulfil ; so his sermons made to the
Jews, for the most part, run all upon the perfect doctrine and works
of the law, showing and teaching what we ought to do by the right
law of justice, and what danger ensues in the non-performance of
the same. All which places, though they be contained in the book
of the New Testament, yet are they to be referred to the doctrine of
the law, ever having included in them a privy exception of repent-
ance and faith in Jesus Christ. As for example, where Christ thus
MODERN DIVINITY. 461
preaches, " Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God,"
Matt. v. 8. Again, " Except ye be converted, and become as little
children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven," Matt,
xviii. 3. And again, " He that doth the will of my Father which is
in heaven, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven," Matt. vii. 22.
And again, the parable of the wicked servant cast into prison, for
not forgiving his fellow, Matth. xviii. 30 ; the casting of the rich
glutton into hell, Luke xvi. 23. And again, " He that denieth me
before men, I will deny him before my Father which is in heaven,"
Luke xii. 9 ; with divers such other places, all which, I say, do ap-
pertain to the doctrine of the law.
Wherefore, in the fourth place, we are to take heed, when we
read the Scriptures, we do not take the gospel for the law, nor the
law for the gospel, but labour to discern and distinguish the voice
of the one from the voice of the other : and if we would know when
the law speaks, and when the gospel speaks, let us consider and
take this for a note, That when in Scripture there is any moral
work commanded to be done, either for eschewing of punishment, or
upon promise of any reward, temporal or eternal ; or else when any
promise is made, with the condition of any work to be done, which
is commanded in the law, there is to be understood the voice of the
law.
Contrariwise, where the promise of life and salvation is offered
unto us freely, without any condition of any law, either natural,
ceremonial, or moral, or any work done by us, all those places,
whether we read them in the Old Testament, or in the New, are to
be referred to the voice and doctrine of the gospel ; yea, and all
those promises of Christ coming in the flesh, which we read in the
Old Testament, yea, and all those promises in the New Testament,
which offer Christ upon condition of our believing on his name, are
properly called the voice of the gospel, because they have no condi-
tion of our mortifying annexed unto them, but only faith to appre-
hend and receive Jesus Christ ; as it is written, (Rom. iii. 22,) " For
the righteousness of God, which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all,
and upon all that believe," &c.
Briefly, then, if we would know when the law speaks, and when
the gospel speaks, either in reading the word, or in hearing it
preached ; and if we would skilfully distinguish the voice of the one
from the voice of the other, we must consider,
Law. The law says, " Thou art a sinner, and therefore them shalt
be damned ;" Ron vii. 2 ; 2 Thess. ii. 12.
Gos. But the go\ I says, No ; " Christ Jesus came into the world
to save sinners;" aLd therefore "believe on the Lord Jesus Christ,
and thou shalt be saved," 1 Tim. i. 15; Acts xvi. 31.
462 THK MAIIR0W OF
Law. Again the law says, " Knowest thou not that the unrighte-
ous shall not inherit the kingdom of God ; be not deceived," &c.
1 Cor. vi. 9. And therefore thou being a sinner, and not righteous,
shall not inherit the kingdom of God.
Gos. But the gospel says, " God has made Clirist to be sin for
thee, who knew no sin ; that thou mightest be made the righteous-
ness of God in him, who is the Lord thy righteousness," Jer.
xxiii. 6.
Law. Again the law says, " Pay me that thou owest me, or else
I will cast thee into prison," Matt, xviii. 28, 30.
Gos. But the gospel says, " Christ gave himself a ransom for
thee," 1 Tim. ii. 6 ; " and so is made redemption unto thee,"
1 Cor. i. 30.
Law. Again the law says, " Thou hast not continued in all that
I require of thee, and therefore thou art accursed," Deut. xxvii. 6.
Gos. But the gospel says, " Christ hath redeemed thee from the
curse of the law, being made a curse for thee," Gal. iii. 13.
Law. Again the law says, " Thou art become guilty before God,
and therefore shalt not escape the judgment of God," Rom. iii.
29 ; ii. 3.
Gos. But the gospel says, " The Father judgeth no man, but hath
committed all judgment to the Son," John v. 12.
And now, knowing rightly how to distinguish between the law
and the gospel, we must, in the fifth place, take heed that we break
not the orders between these two in applying the law where the
gospel is to be applied, either to ourselves or to others ; for albeit
the law and gospel, in order of doctrine, are many times to be joined
together, yet, in the case of justification, the law must be utterly
separated from the gospel.
Therefore, whensoever, or wheresoever, any doubt or question
arises of salvation, or our justification before God, there the law
and all good works must be utterly excluded and stand apart, that
grace may appear free, and that the promise and faith may stand
alone : which faith alone, without law or works, brings thee in par-
ticular to thy justification and salvation, through the mere promise
and free grace of God in Christ ; so that I say, in the action and
office of justification, both law and works are to be utterly excluded
and exempted, as things which have nothing to do in that behalf.
The reason is this ; for, seeing that all our redemption springs out
from the body of the Son of God crucified, then is there nothing
that can stand us in stead, but that only wherewith the body of
Christ is apprehended. Now, forasmuch as neither the law nor
works, but faith only is the thing which apprehendeth the body and
MODERN DIVINITY. 463
passion of Christ, therefore faith only is that matter which justifies
a man before God, through the strength of that object Jesus Christ,
which it apprehends ; like as the brazen serpent was the object only
of the Israelites' looking, and not of their hands' working ; by the
strength of which object, through the promise of God, immediately
proceeded health to the beholders : so the body of Christ being the
object of our faith, strikes righteousness to our souls, not through
working, but through believing.
Wherefore, when any person, or persons, do feel themselves
oppressed and terrified with the burden of their sins, and feel them-
selves with the majesty of the law and judgment of God terrified
and oppressed, outweighed and thrown down into utter discomfort,
almost to the pit of hell, as happens sometimes to God's own dear
servants, who have soft and timorous consciences ; when such souls,
I say, do read or hear any such place of Scripture which appertains
to the law, let them then think and assure themselves that such
places do not appertain or belong to them ; nay, let not such only
who are thus deeply humbled and terrified do this, but also let every
one that does but make any doubt or question of their own salva-
tion, through the sight and sense of their sin, do the like.
And to this end and purpose, let them consider and mark well the
end why the law was given, which was not to bring us to salvation,
nor to make us good, and so to procure God's love and favour
towards us : but rather to declare and convict our wickedness, and
make us feel the danger thereof; to this end and purpose, that we
seeing our condemnation, and being in ourselves confounded, may be
driven thereby to have our refuge in the Son of God, in whom alone
is to be found our remedy. And when this is wrought in us, then
the law has accomplished its end in us; and therefore it is now to
give place unto Jesus Christ, who, as the apostle says, " is the end
of the law," Rom. x. 3. Let every true convicted person, then, who
fears the wrath of God, death, and hell, when they hear or read any
such places of Scripture as do appertain to the law, not think the
same to belong to them, no more than a mourning weed belongs to
a marriage feast ; and therefore removing utterly out of their minds
all cogitations of the law, all fear of judgment and condemnation,
let them only set before their eyes the gospel, viz. the glad and joy-
ful tidings of Christ, the sweet comforts of God's promises, free
forgiveness of sins in Christ, grace, redemption, liberty, psalms,
thanks, singing a paradise of spiritual jocundity, and nothing else :
thinking thus within themselves, the law hath now done its office in
me, and therefore must now give place to its better; that is, it must
needs give place to Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who is my Lord
and Master, the fulfiller and accomplisher of the law.
464 THE MARROW OF
Lastly, As we must take heed and beware that we apply not the
law where the gospel is applied, so must we also take heed and be-
ware, that we apply not the gospel where the law is to be applied.
Let us not apply the gospel instead of the law ; for, as before, the
other was even as much as to put on a mourning-gown at a marriage
feast, so this is but even the casting of pearls before swine, wherein
is great abuse amongst many ; for commonly it is seen, that these
proud self-conceited and unhumbled persons, these worldly epicures
and secure mammonists, to whom the doctrine of the law does pro-
perly appertain, do yet notwithstanding put it away from them, and
bless themselves with the sweet promises of the gospel, saying, " They
hope they have as good a share in Christ as the best of them all, for
God is merciful and the like." And contrariwise, the other con-
trite and bruised hearts, to whom belongs not the law, but the joy-
ful tidings of the gospel, for the most part receive and apply to
themselves the terrible voice and sentence of the law. Whereby it
comes to pass, that many do rejoice when they should mourn ; and
on the other side, many do fear and mourn when they should re-
joice. "Wherefore, to conclude, in private use of life, let every per-
son discreetly discern between the law and the gospel, and apply to
himself that which belongs to him. Let the man or the woman,
who did never yet to any purpose (especially in the time of health
and prosperity) think of, or consider their latter end, that did never
yet fear the wrath of God, nor death, nor devil, nor hell, but have
lived and do still live a jocund merry life ; let them apply the
curse of the law to themselves, for to them it belongs : yea, and let
all your civil honest men and women, who it may be, do sometimes
think of their latter end, and have had some kind of fear of the wrath
of God, death, and hell, in their hearts, and yet have salved up
the sore, with a plaister made of their own civil righteousness,
with a salve compounded of their outward conformity to the duties
contained in the law, their freedom from gross sins, and their up-
right and just dealing with men; let these hearken to the voice of
the law, when it says, " Cursed is every one that continueth not in
all things which are written in the book of the law to do them ;" but
let all self-denying, fearful, trembling souls, apply the gracious and
sweet promises of God in Christ unto themselves, and rejoice be-
cause their names are written in the Book of Life.
APPENDIX.
The Occasion of the " Marrow" Controversy , stated by the late Rev. John Brown of
Haddington.
While the Church of Scotland was clear and exact in her standards, and many of her
preachers truly evangelical, a flood of legal doctrine filled many pulpits about the time
of the Revolution.
The Arminian errors of Professor Simpson were also prevalent after this time ; but
the Assembly used him with great tenderness. However, they were far from being
equally kind to such as earnestly endeavoured a clear illustration of the doctrines of
God's free grace reigning through the righteousness of Christ. Mr Hamilton of Airth
having published a catechetical treatise concerning the covenant of works und grace,
and the sacraments of baptism and the Lord's supper, in a more evangelical strain
than some wished, the Assembly 1710, prohibited all ministers or members of this
church to print, or disperse in writ, any catechism, without the allowance of the Pres-
bytery of the bounds, or the Commission. The Presbytery of Auchterarder having begun
to require candidates for license, to acknowledge it unsound to teach that men must for-
sake their sins in order to come to Christ, the Assembly 1717, on the same day they
had dealt so gently with Professor Simpson, declared their abhorrence of that principle as
unsound and most detestable — as if men ought only to come to Christ, the alone Savi-
our from sins, after they have got rid of them by repentance. Mr. James Hogg, one
of the holiest ministers in the kingdom, having published or recommended a celebrated
and edifying tract of the Cromwellian age, called The Marrow of Modern Divinity,
the Assembly 1720, fell upon it with great fury, as if it had been replete with Autino-
mian errors, though it is believed many of these zealots never read it, at least had
never perused it, in connexion with the Second Part of it, which is wholly taken up
in manifestation of the obligation, meaning, and advantage of observing the law of
God. They condemned the offering of Christ as a Saviour to all men, or to sinners
as such, and the doctrine of believers' full deliverance from under the law as a broken
covenant of works, they asserted men's holiness to be a federal or conditional mean of
their obtaining eternal happiness. They condemned those almost express declarations
of Scripture, that believers are not under the law, — that they do not commit sin, —
that the Lord sees no sin in them, and cannot be angry with them, as Antinomian pa-
radoxes, — and condemned the distinction of the Moral law as a covenant of works,
and as a binding rule of duty in the hand of Christ. In order to explain these expres-
sions, Messrs James Hogg, Thomas Boston, Ebenezer and Ralph Erskines, Gabriel
Watson, and seven others, remonstrated to the next Assembly against these decisions
as injurious to the doctrine of God's grace. And in their answers to the Commission's
Twelve Queries, they illustrated these doctrines with no small clearness and evidence.
Perhaps influenced by this as well as by the wide spread detestation of their acts 1720
on that point, the Assembly 1722, re-considered the same, and made an act explain-
ing and confirming them. This was less gross and erroneous. Nevertheless the
twelve representee protested against it as injurious to truth ; but this protest was not
allowed to be marked. The Moderator, by the Assembly's appointment, rebuked
them for their reflections on the Assembly 1720, in their representation, and admon-
Uhffld them to beware of the time coming; against which they protested.
466 U'l'ENDIX.
Queries agreed unto by the commission of the general Assembly, and put to those
Ministers who gave in a Representation and Petition against the bth and 8th Acts
of Assembly 172U, with the answers given by these Ministers to the said Queries.*
Adhering to, and holding, as here repeated, our subscribed Answer given in to the
Reverend commission, when by them called to receive these Queries, we come to ad-
venture, under the conduct of the faithful and true Witness, who has promised the
Spirit of truth to lead his people into truth, to make answer to the said Queries. To
the which, before we proceed, we crave leave to represent, that the title thereto pre-
fixed, viz. " Queries to be put to Mr. James Hog, and other Ministers who gave in
a representation in favours of the Marrow, to the general Assembly 1721," as well as
that prefixed to the Commission's overture anent this affair, has a native tendency to
divert and bemist the reader, to expose us, and to turn the matter off its proper hinge,
by giving a wrong colour to our representation, as if the chief design of it was to plead
not for the precious truths of the gospel, which we conceived to be wounded by the
condemnatory act, but for " The Marrow of Modern Divinity," the which, though we
value for a good and useful book, and doubt not but the Church of God may be much
edified by it, as we ourselves have been, yet came it never into our minds to hold it,
or any other private writing, faultless, nor to put it on a level with our approved stan-
dards of doctrine.
Query 1. — Whether are there any precepts in the gospel that were not actually
given before the gospel was revealed ?
Answer. — The passages in our representation, marked out to us for the grounds
of this query, are these : — " The gospel doctrine, known only by a new revelation
after the fall. Of the same dismal tendency we apprehend to be the declaring of that
distinction of the law, as it is the law of works, and as it is the law of Christ, as the
author applies to it, to be altogether groundless. The erroneous doctrine of justifica-
tion, for something wrought in, or done by the sinner, as his righteousness, or keeping
the new and gospel-law." Now, leaving it to others to judge if these passages gave
any just occasion to this question, we answer,
\st, In the gospel, taken strictly, and as contradistinct from the law. for a doctrine
of grace, or good news from heaven, of help in God through Jesus Christ, to lost self-
destroying creatures of Adam's race, or the glad tidings of a Saviour, with life and sal-
vation in him to the chief of sinners, there are no precepts ; all these, the command
to believe, and repent, not excepted, belonging to, and flowing from the law, which
fastens the new duty on us, the same moment the gospel reveals the new object.
That in the gospel, taken strictly, there are no precepts, to us seems evident from
the holy Scriptures. In the first revelation of it, made in these words, — " The seed
of the woman shall bruise the head of the serpent," we find no precept, but a promise
containing glad tidings of a Saviour, with grace, mercy, life, and salvation in him, to
lost sinners of Adam's family. And the gospel preached unto Abraham, namely,
41 In thee," i.e. in thy seed, which is Christ, " shall all nations be blessed," is of the
same nature. The good tidings of great joy to all people of a Saviour born in the city
of David, who is Christ the Lord, brought and proclaimed from heaven by the angels,
we take to have been the gospel, strictly and properly so called ; yet is there no pre-
* " A masterly production," says the judicious Mr. FraSer of Kennoway, *' which has undergone
many impressions, and which discusses the points at issue with a perspicuity and energy thai has
commanded the esteem and admiration of Mr James Hervoy, and many others who had no imme-
diate concern in the controversy."
APPENDIX. 167
cept in these tidings. We find, likewise, the gospel of peace and glad tidings of good
things are in Scripture convertible terms; and the word of the gospel, which Peter
spoke to the Gentiles, that they might believe, was no other than peace by Jesus
Christ, crucified, risen, and exalted, to be Judge of quick and dead, with remission of
sins through his name, to be received by every one believing in him. Much more
might be added on this head, which, that we be not tedious, we pass. Of the same
mind, as to this point, we find the body of reformed divines, as to instance in a few,
Calvin, Chamier, Pemble, Wendelin, Alting, the professors of Lej-den, Witzius,
Mastrick, Maresius, Troughton, Essenius.
That all precepts (these of faith and repentance not excepted,) belong to, and are
of the law, is no less evident to us ; for the law of creation, or of the ten command-
ments, which was given to Adam in paradise, in the form of a covenant of works, re-
quiring us to believe whatever God should reveal or promise, and to obey whatever he
should command ; all precepts whatsoever must be virtually and really included in it.
So that there never was, nor can be, an instance of duty owing by the creature to
God, not commanded in the moral law, if not directly and expressly, yet indirectly,
and by consequence. The same first commandment, for instance, which requires us to
take the Lord for our God, to acknowledge his essential verity, and sovereign
authority ; to love, fear, and trust in Jehovah, after what manner soever he shall be
pleased to reveal himself to us, and likewise to grieve and mourn for his dishonour or
displeasure, requires believing in Jehovah, our righteousness, as soon as ever he is re-
vealed to us as such, and sorrowing after a godly sort for the transgression of his
holy law, whether by one's self or by others. It is true, Adam was not actually
obliged to believe in a Saviour, till, being lost and undone, a Saviour was
revealed to him ; but the same commandment that bound him to trust and depend on
and to believe the promises of God Creator, no doubt obliged her to believe in God
Redeemer, when revealed. Nor was Adam obliged to sorrow for sin ere it was com-
mitted. But this same law that bound him to have a sense of the evil of sin in its na-
ture and effects, to hate, lothe, and flee from sin, and to resolve against it, and for all
holy obedience, and to have a due apprehension of the goodness of God, obliged him
also to mourn for it, whenever it should fall out. And we cannot see how the con-
trary doctrine is consistent with the perfection of the law ; for if the law be a complete
rule of all moral, internal, and spiritual, as well as external and ritual obedience, it
must require faith and repentance, as well as it does all other good works. And that
it does indeed require them, we can have no doubt of, when we consider, that without
them all other religious performances are, in God's account, as good as nothing ; and
that sin being, as the Scripture and our own standard tell us, any want of conformity
to, or transgression of the law of God, unbelief and impenitency must be so too. And
if they be so, then must faith and repentance be obedience and conformity to the
same law, which the former are a transgression of, or an inconformity unto; unbelief
particularly being a departing from the living God, is, for certain, forbidden in the
first commandment ; therefore faith must needs be required in the same commandment
according to a known rule. But what need we more, after our Lord has told us, that
faith is one of the weightier matters of the law ? and that it is not a second table duty
which is there meant, is evident to us, by comparing the paralel place in Luke, where,
in place of faith, we have the love of God. As for repentance, in case of sin against
God, it becomes naturally a duty ; and though neither the covenant of works nor of
grace admit of it, as any expiation of sin, or federal condition giving right to life, it is
a duty included in every commandment, on the supposal of a transgression.
What moves us to be the more concerned for this point of doctrine is, that if the
468 AI'VENDIX.
law does not bind sinners to believe and repent, then we see not how faith and repent-
ance, considered as works, are excluded from our justification before God, since in that
case, they are not works of the law, under which character all works are in Scripture
excluded from the use of justifying iu the'sight of God. And we call to mind that, on
the contrary doctrine, Arminius laid the foundation of his rotten principles, touching
sufficient grace, or rather natural power. " Adam," says he, "had not power to be-
lieve in Jesus Christ, because he needed him not ; nor was he bound so to believe, be-
cause the law required it not. Therefore, since Adam by his fall did not lose it, God
is bound to give every man power to believe in Jesus Christ." And Socinians, Armi-
nians, Papists, and Baxterians, by holding the gospel to be a new, proper, perceptive
law, with sanction, and thereby turning it into a real, though milder covenant of
works, have confounded the law and the gospel, and brought works into the matter
and cause of a sinner's justification before God. And, we reckon, we are the rather
called to be on our guard here, that the clause in our representation, making mention
of the new, or gospel-law, is marked out to us, as one of the grounds of this query,
which we own to be somewhat alarming. Besides all this, the teaching that faith and
repentance are gospel commandments, may yet again open the door to Antinomianism,
as it sometimes did already, if we may believe Mr. Cross, who says, " History tells us
that it sprung from such a mistake, that faith and repentance were taught and com-
manded by the gospel only, and that as they contained all necessary to salvation, so
the law was needless.
On this head also, namely, that all precepts belong to the law, we might likewise
adduce a cloud of witness beyond exception, such as Pemble, Essenius, Anth, Burges,
Rutherford, Owen, Witzius, Dickson, Fergusson, Troughton, Larger Catechism on
the duties required, and sins forbidden in the first commandment. But, without in-
sisting farther, we answer,
2dly, In the gospel, taken largely for the whole doctrine of Christ and the apostles,
contained in the New Testament, or for a system of all the promises, precepts, threa-
tenings, doctrines, histories, that any way concern man's recovery and salvation, in
which respect, not only all the ten commandments, but the doctrine of the covenant of
works belong to it, but, in this sense, the gospel is not contradistinct from the law ; —
in the gospel, taken thus at large, we say, there are doubtless many precepts that were
not actually given (that is, particularly and expressly promulgate or required^ before
the gospel was revealed. Love to our enemies, to instance in a few of many, mercy
to the miserable, bearing of the cross, hope and joy in tribulations, in prospect of their
having a desired issue, love, thankfulness, prayer, and obedience to a God Redeemer,
zealous witnessing against sin, and for truth, in case of defection from the faith or
holiness of the gospel, confessing our faults to and forgiving one another. All the
ceremonial precepts under the Old Testament, together with the institutions of Christ
under the New, faith in Jesus Christ, Repentance unto life, with many more, to say
nothing of particular precepts, were not actually given before the gospel was revealed ;
all which are nevertheless reducible to the law of the ten commandments, many or
them being plain duties of the law of nature, though they had no due and proper
objects, nor occasions of being exercised in an innocent state. It is true, there are
many of them we have never heard of, without the gospel had been revealed ; yet are they
not, therefore, in any proper sense, precepts of the gospel, but of the law, which is
exceeding broad, extending to new objects, occasions, and circumstances. The law
says one thing to the person unmarried, and another thing to the same person when
married ; one thing to him when a child, and another thing to him as a parent, &c.
yet is it the same law still. The law of God being perfect ; and like unto its Author,
appendix. 4G9
must reach to every condition of the creature ; but if for every new duty or new object
of faith there behoved to be a new law, how strangely must laws be multiplied? The
law itself (even as in the case of a man) may meet with many changes, and yet re-
main the same as to its essence. Now, as to faith and repentance, though ability to
exercise them, and acceptance of them, be by the gospel, yet it is evident they must
be regulated by the same law, the transgression of which made them necessary. The
essence of repentance, it is plain, lies in repeating and renewing, with a suitable frame
of spirit, the duties omitted, or in observing the law one had formerly violated. For an
the divine perfections are the rule and pattern of God's image in man, as well in his
regeneration as in his creation, so the holy law of God is the rule of our repentance,
as well as of our primitive obedience. And why faith, when it has God Mediator
or God Redeemer, for its object, may not be from the same law as when it had God
Creator, or God Preserver for its object, we cannot see.
Query II. — Is not the believer now bound, by the authority of the Creator, to per-
sonal obedience to the moral law, though not in order to justification ?
Ans. — What is given us for the ground of this query, is the following clause of our
representation, viz — " Since believers are not unde>- it, to be thereby justified or con-
demned, we cannot comprehend how it continues any longer a covenant of works to
them, or as such to have a commanding power over them, that covenant form of it
being done away in Christ with respect to believers." This clause of the representa-
tion being so much one, even in words, with our Confession, we could never have ex-
pected the Reverend Commission would have moved a query upon it ; but since they
have been pleased to think otherwise, we answer affirmatively : —
The believer, since he ceases not to be a creature by being made a new creature, is,
and must ever be bound to personal obedience to the law of the ten commandments, by
the authority of the Father. Son, and Holy Ghost, his Creator. But this authority
is, as to him, issued by and from the Lord Jesus Christ, at whose mouth he receives
the law, being as well as his Lord God Creator, as his Lord God Redeemer, and hav-
ing all the fulness of the Godhead dwelling in him ; nor can nor will the sinful crea-
ture ever apply himself to obedience acceptable to God, or comfortable to himself,
without the Creator's anthority come to him in that channel.
We are clear and full of the same mind with our Confession, that the moral law of
the ten commandments does for ever bind all, as well justified persons as others, to the
obedience thereof, not only in regard of the matters contained in it, but also in respect
of the authority of God the Creator who gave it, and that Christ does not in the gospel
any way dissolve, but much strengthen this obligation ; for how can it lose any thing
of its original authority, by being conveyed to the believer in such a sweet and blessed
channel as the hand of Christ, since both he himself is the supreme God and Creator
and since the authority, majesty, and sovereignty of the Father is in his Son, he being
the same in substance, equal in power and glory ? " Beware of Him," says the Lord
unto Israel, concerning Christ the angel of the covenant, " and obey his voice, pro-
voke him not : for my name is in him." That is, as we understand it, my authority
sovereignty, and other adorable excellencies, yea, the whole fulness of the Godhead
is in him, and in him only will I be served and obeyed. And then it follows, " But if
thou shalt indeed obey his voice, and do all that I speak." The name of the Father is
so in him ; he is so of the same nature with his Father, that his voice is the Father's
voice : "If thou obey his voice, and do all that I speak."
We desire to think and speak honourably of him, whose name is " Wonderful
470 APPENDIX.
Counsellor, the Migbty God, the Everlasting Father, and the Prince of Peace."
And it cannot but exceedingly grate our ears, and grieve our spirits, to find such doc-
trines or positions vented in this church, especially at a time when the Arian heresy
is so prevalent in our neighbour nations, as have an obvious tendency to darken
and disparage his divine glory and authority, as that, if a believer ought not
to receive the law of the ten commandments at the hand of God, as he is Creator out
of Christ, then he is not under its obligation, as it was delivered by God the Creator,
but is loosed from all to it, as it was enacted by the authority of the Lord Creator ;
and that it is injurious to the infinite majesty of the Sovereign Lord Creator, and
to the honour of his holy law, to restrict the believer to receive the ten command-
ments only at the hand of Christ. What can be more injurious to the infinite
majesty of the sovereign Lord Redeemer, by whom all things were created that are
in heaven and in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones or dominions,
principalities or powers, than to speak as if the Creator's authority was not in him, or
as if the receiving the Creator's law from Christ did loose men from obedience to it,
as enacted by the authority of the Father ? Wo unto us, if this doctrine be the
truth, for so should we be brought back to consuming fire indeed ; for, out of Christ,
" He that made us will have no mercy upon us ; nor will he that formed'us show us
any favour." We humbly conceive, the Father does not reckon himself glorified,
but contemned by Christians offering obedience to him as Creator out of Christ Nor
does the offering to deal with him after this sort, or to teach others so, discover a due
regard to the mystery of Christ revealed in the gospel ; for it is the will of the
Father, the Sovereign Lord Creator, that all men should honour the Son, even as
they honour himself ; and that at (or in) the name of Jesus every knee should bow ;
and that every tongue should confess Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the
Father, who having in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, by whom also he
made the worlds, and with an audible voice from heaven has said, " This is my be-
loved Son in whom I am well pleased, hear ye him." Were it not we would be
thought tedious, Perkins, Durham, Owen, and others, might have been heard on this
head. But we proceed to
Query III. — Doth the annexing of a promise of life, and a threatening of death to
a precept, make it a covenant of works ?
We answer, as in our representation, That the promise of life, and threatening of
death, superadded to the law of the Creator, made it a covenant of works to our first
parents, proposed ; and their own consent, which sinless creatures could not refuse,
made it a covenant of works accepted. " A law (says the judicious Durham) doth
necessarily imply no more than, first, to direct; secondly, to command, enforcing that
obedience by authority. A covenant doth further necessarily imply promises made
upon some conditions, or threatenings added if such a condition be not performed.
Now, (says he) this law may be considered without the consideration of a covenant ;
for it was free to God to have added or not to have added promises ; and the threa-
tenings, upon supposition the law had been kept, might never have taken effect.'
From whence it is plain, in the judgment of this great divine, the law of nature was
turned into a covenant by the addition of a promise of life and a threatening of death.
Of the same mind is Burgess and the London ministers, ( Vindicice Legis, page 61.)
" There are only two things which go to the essence of a law, and that is — 1st, direc-
tion ; 2d, obligation. First, direction : therefore a law is a rule : hence the law of
God is compared to light. Second, obligation ; for therein lieth the essence of sin
APPENDIX. 4:71
tint it breaketh this law, which supposes the obligatory force of it. In the next
place, there are two consequents of the law, which are ad bene esse, that the law may
be the better obeyed ; and this indeed turneth the law into a covenant. First, the
sanction of it by way of promise ; that is a mere free thing: God, by reason of that
dominion which he had over man, might have commanded his obedience, and yet
never made a promise of eternal life unto him. And, secondly, as for the other con-
sequent act of the law, to curse and punish, this is but an accidental act ; not neces-
sary to a law, for it comes in upon supposition of transgression. — A law is a complete
law, obliging, though it do not actually curse ; as in the confirmed angels it never laid
any more than obligatory and mandatory acts upon them ; for that they were under a
law is plain, because otherwise they could not have sinned, for where there is no law,
there is no transgression."
Though there is no ground from our representation to add more on this head, yet
we may say, that a promise of life made to a precept of doing, — that is, in considera-
tion or upon condition of one's doing, (be the doing more or less, it is all one, the
Divine will in the precept being the rule in this case) is a covenant of works. And
as to believers in Christ, though in the gospel, largely taken, we owu there are pro-
mises of life, and threatenings of death, as well as precepts ; and that godliness hath
the promise, not only of this life, but of that which is to come, annexed to it, in the
order of the covenant; yet we are clear no promise of life is made to the performance
of precepts, nor eternal death threatened in case of their failings whatsoever in per-
forming, else should their title to life be founded not entirely on Christ, and his
righteousness imputed to them, but on something in or done by themselves ; and their
after sins should again actually bring them under vindictive wrath and the curse of the
law ; which, upon their union with Christ who was made a curse for them, to redeem
them from under it, they are, according to Scripture and our Confession, for ever
delivered from. Hence we know of no sanction the law (standing in the covenant of
grace) hath with respect to believers besides gracious rewards, all of them freely pro-
mised on Christ's account, for their encouragement in obedience, and fatherly chas-
tisement and displeasure, in case of their not walking in his commandments: which to
a believer are no less awful and much more powerful restraints from sin than the pros-
pect of the curse and hell itself would be. The Reverend Commission will not, we
hope, grudge to hear that eminent divine Mr. Perkins, in a few words, on this head,
who having put the objection, " In the gospel there are promises of life upon condi-
tion of our obedience, as Rom. viii. 13, ' If ye through the Spirit,' &c. ;" answers,
" The promises of the gospel are not made to the work, but to the worker ; and to the
worker, not for his work, but for Christ's sake according to his work : e. g. The pro-
mise of life is not made to the work of mortification, but to him that mortifies his
flesh ; and that not for his mortification, but because he is in Christ, and his mortifi-
cation is the token and evidence thereof." This, as it is the old Protestant doctrine,
so we take it to be the truth. And as to the believers' total and final freedom from
the curse of the law upon his union with Christ, Protestant divines, particularly
Rutherford and Owen, throughout their writings, are full and clear upon this head.
Query IV. — If the moral law, antecedent to its receiving the form of the covenant
of works, had a threatening of hell annexed?
Ans. — Since the law of God never was, nor will ever in this world be the stated
rule, either of man's duty towards God, or of God's dealing with man, but as it
stands in one of the two covenants of works and grace, we are at a loss to discover
the real usefulness of this query, as well as what foundation it has in our representa-
tion.
47- APPENDIX.
A9 to the intrin>ical demerit of sin. we are clear, whether there had ever been any
covenant of works or not, it deserves hell, even all that an infinitely holy and ju*t
God ever has or shall inflict for it ; yet what behoved to have been the Creator's
disposal of the creature, in the supposed event of sin's entering, without a cove-
nant being made, we incline not here to dip into ; but we reckon it is not possible to
prove a threatening of hell to be inseparable from the law of creation, the obli-
gation of which, because resulting from the nature of God, and of the creature, is
eternal and immutable : for confirmed angels, glorified saints, yea, and the human
nature of Christ, are all of them naturally, necessarily, and eternally obliged to love,
obev, depend on, and submit unto God, and to make him their blessedness and ulti-
mate end ; but none, we conceive, will be peremptory in saying, they have a threaten-
ing of hell annexed to the law they are under. And we can by no means allow,
that a believer, delivered by Christ from the covenant of works, i« still obnoxious,
upon every new transgression, to the threatening of hell, supposed to be inseparably
annexed to the law of creation, or of the ten commandments ; which law every
reasonable crearure must for ever be under, since this would, in effect, be no other
than, after he is delivered from hell in one respect, to bind him over to it in another.
Whatever threatening one may suppose belonged to the moral law of the ten com-
mandments, antecedently to its receiving a covenant form, all was, for certain,
included in the sanction of the covenant of works : So that Christ, in bearing the
curse of it, redeemed believers from the hell, vindictive wrath and curse, their sins
in any sort deserved; the hand-writing that was against them he cancelled, tore
to pieces, and nailed to his cross. Hence the threatening of hell and the curse are
actually separated from the law of the ten commandments, which believers are under
as a rule of life: and to hold otherwise is the leading error, yea, the very spring
and fountain-head of Antinomianism ; on all which, Burgess, Rutherford, and others,
may be heard.
Query V. — // it be peculiar to believers to be free of the commanding power of the
luxe, as a covenant of works ?
Though our saying we cannot comprehend how the covenant of works, as such,
continues to have a commanding po«er over believers, that covenant form of it being
done away in Christ with respect to them, gives no sufficient foundation to this querv,
since we affirm nothing concerning any but believers, whose freedom from the com-
manding power of that covenant, the query seems, as much as we do, to allow of; we
answer affirmatively : for, since it is only to believers the Spirit of God in Scripture
says, " Ye are not under the law," (the main import of which phrase is, subjection to
the commanding power of it, as a covenant,) " but under grace ;" and since they only
are, by virtue of their union with Christ, actually freed from being under the law, by
Christ's being made under it, ( i. e. under its command, as above, as well as under its
curse) for them ; and since, according to our Confession, it is the peculiar prvilege
of believers, which, therefore, believers have no interest in, not to be under the law,
as a covenant of works, to be justified or condemned thereby, we can allow no other,
besides believers, to be invested with that immunity.
All unbelievers within, as well as without, the pale of the visible church, since they
seek righteousness only by the works of the law, and are strangers to the covenant of
grace, we always took to be debtors to the whole law, in their own persons. And
this their obligation under the do, or commanding power of that covenant, we took
to be invariably firm, till such time as by faith they had recourse to him who is
APPENDIX. 473
" the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth ;" else we thought,
and do still think, if their obligation to the command of that covenant be dis-
solved, merely by their living under an external gospel-dispensation, they would be
cast quite loose from being under any covenant at all, contrary to the common
received doctrine of the Protestant churches, namely, that every person whatsoever is
in and under one or other of the two covenants of works and grace : nor could they,
unless they be under the commanding power of the covenant of works, be ever found
transgressors of the law of that covenant, by any actual sin of their own, nor be bound
over anew under the covenant-curse thereby.
The covenant of works, it is true, is, by the fall, weak and ineffectual, as a cove-
nant, to give us life, by reason of our weakness and disability to ful61 it, being ante-
cedently sinners, and obnoxious to its curse, which no person can be, and jet at the
same time have a right unto its promise. Hence, for any to seek life and salvation
by it now, is no other thin to labour after an impossibility ; yet does it nevertheless
continue in full force, as a law requiring of all sinners, while they continue in their
natural state, without taking hold, by faith, of Christ and the grace of the new cove-
nant ; requiring of them, we say, personal and absolutely perfect obedience, and threa-
tening death upon every the least transgression. From the commanding power of which
law, requiring universal holiness in such rigour, as that, on the least failure in sub-
s'ance, circumstance, or degree, all is rejected, and we are determined transgressors of
the whole law ; believers, and they only, are freed, as we said above. " But to sup-
pose a person," says Dr. Owen, "by any means freed from the curse due unto sin,
and then to deny that, upon the performance of the perfect sinless obedience which the
law requires, he should have right to the promise of life thereby, is to deny the truth
of God, and to reflect dishonour upon his justice. Our Lord himself was justified by
the law; and it is immutably true, that he who does the things of it, shall live in them."
" It is true," adds the same author, " that God did never formally and absolutely re-
new, or give again this law, as a covenant of works, a second time ; nor was there
any need that so he should do, unless it were declaratively only. And so it was re-
newed at Sinai ; for the whole of it being an emanation of eternal right aud truth, it
abides, and must abide in full force for ever. Wherefore, it is only so far broke as a
covenant, that all mankind having sinned against the command of it, and so by guilt,
with the impotency to obedience, which ensued thereupon, defeated themselves of any
interest in its promise, and possibility of attaining any such interest, they cannot have
any benefit of it. But as to its power to oblige all mankind unto obedience, and the
unchangeable truths of its promises and threatenings, it abides the same as it was from
the beginning. The introducing of another covenant, (adds he again on the same head,)
inconsistent with, and contrary to it, does not instantly free men from the law as a
covenant ; for, though a new law abrogates a former law inconsitent with it, and frees
all from obedience, it is not so in a covenant, which operates not bv soveregin autho-
rity, but becomes a covenant by consent of them with whom it is made. So there is
no freedom from the old covenant by the constitution of the new, till it be actually
complied with. In Adam's covenant we must abide under obligation to duty and pu-
nishment, till by faith we be interested in the new.
From all which it appears to be no cogent reasoning to say, if the unbeliever be
under the commanding power of the covenant of works, then would he be under two
opposite commands at once, viz to seek a perfect righteousness in his own person, and
to seek it also by faith in a surety; for, though the law requires of us now, both
active and passive righteousness in our own persons, and likewise, upon the revelation
of Jesus Christ in the gospel, as Jehovah our righteousness, obliges us to believe in
Vol. VII. 2 G
474 APPENDIX.
and submit to hiin as such, yet, as it is in many other cases of duties, the law re-
quires botli these of us, not in sensu composite, as they say, but in sensu diviso. The
law is content to sustain and hold for good the payment of a reasonable surety, though
itself provides none ; and wills us, being insolvent of ourselves, cheerfully, thankfully
and without delay, to accept of the non-such favour offered unto us. But till the sin-
ner convinced of his undonness otherwise, accept of, use and plead this benefit in
bis own behalf, the law will, and does go on in its just demands and diligence against
him. Having never had pleasure in the sinful creature, by reason of our unfaithful-
ness it can easily admit of the marriage to another husband, upon a lawful divorce,
after fair count and reckoning, and full satisfaction and reparation made for all the
invasions upon, and violations of the first husband's honour; but when the sinner, un-
willing to hear of any such motion, still cleaves to the law its first husband, what won-
der the law, in that case, go on to use the sinner as he deserves ? In short, this
pretended absurdity, at worst, amounts to no more than this, — IVIake full payment
yourself or find me good and sufficient payment by a surety, till which time I will
continue to proceed against you, without migitation or mercy. Wherefore, the un-
believer is justly condemned by the law, both because he did not coutinue in all things
written in the book of the law to do them, and because he did not believe on the
name of the Son of God.
Query VI. — Tf a sinner, being justified, has all things at once that is necessary
for salvation ? And if personal holiness, and progress in holy obedience, is not ne-
cessary to a justified person s possession of glory, in case of his continuing in life after
his justification ?
Ans. — The ground of this query, marked out to us, is, in these words of holy Lu
ther, " For in Christ I have all things at once, neither need I any thing more, that
is necessary unto salvation." And to us it is evident, that this is the believer's plea,
viz. Christ's most perfect obedience to the law for him, in answer unto its demand of
good works for obtaining salvation, according to the tenor of the first covenant, which
plea the representation alleges to be cut off and condemned by the Act of Assembly.
But, without saying anything of the old Popish reflection on the doctrine of free jus-
tification by faith without works, as it was taught by Luther and other reformers, or
the hardship of having this question put to us, as if we had given ground of being sus-
pected for enemies to gospel-holiness, which our consciences bear us witness, is our
great desire to have advanced in ourselves and others, as being fully persuaded, that
without it neither they nor we shall see the Lord ; we answer to the first part of the
query,
That, since a justified person, being passed from death to life, translated from the
power of darkness into the kingdom of God's dear Son and blest with all spiritual
blessings in Christ, is, by virtue of his union with him, brought into and secured in
a state of salvation ; and therefore in the language of the Holy Ghost, actually, though
not completely saved already ; and since, in him, he has particularly a most perfect,
law-binding, and law-magnifying righteousness, redemption in his blood, even the
forgiveness of sins, peace with God, access, acceptance, wisdom, sanctification, ever-
lasting strength, and, in one word, an over-flowing, ever-flowing fulness, from which,
according to the order of the covenant, he does, and shall receive whatever he wants ;
hence, according to the Scripture, in Christ all things are his, and in him he is com-
plete. Considering, we say, these things, we think a justified person has in Christ at
once all things necessary to salvation, though of himself he has nothing.
APPENDIX. 475
To the second part of the query we answer, that personal holiness, and justification
being inseparable to the believer, we are unwilling, so much as the query does, to sup-
pose their separation. Personal holiness we reckon so necessary to the possession of
glory, or to a state of perfect holiness and happiness, as is the morning light to the
noon-day warmth and brightness, — as is a reasonable soul to a wise, healthy, strong,
and full grown man, — as an antecedent is to its consequent, — as a part is to the nhole ;
for the difference betwixt a state of grace and of glory, we take to be gradual only,
according to the usual saying, " Grace is glory begun, and glory grace in perfection."
So necessary, again, as motion is to evidence life, or in order to walking, not only
habitual, but actual holiness, and progress in holy obedience, one continuing in life,
we are clear are so necessary, that without the same none can see the Lord. And as
it is not only the believer's interest, but his necessary and indispensable duty, to be
still going on "from strength to strength, until he appear before the Lord in Zion ;"
so the righteous, who believe, " will hold on his way, and he who is of clean hands
will grow stronger and stronger : for though the believer's progress in holy obedience,
by reason of the many stops, interruptions, and assaults he frequently meets with from
Satan, the world, and in-dwelling corruption, is far from being alike at all times, yet
"the path of the just," though he frequently fall, will be "as the shinning light,
that shinneth more and more unto the perfect." Though he at many times "become
weary and faint in his mind," yet shall he. by waiting on the Lord, " renew his
strength, and mount up as with eagles' wings," &c. But still the believer has all
this in and from Christ : for whence can our progress in holiness come, but from the
supply of his Spirit? Our walking in holy obedience, and every good motion of ours,
must be in him, and from him, who is the Way and the Life, who is our head of in-
fluences, and the fountain of our strength, and " who works in us both to will and to
do." " Abide in me," says he, "and I in you: For without me ye can do nothing.
If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered."
But if the meaning of the query be, of such a necessity of holy obedience, in order
to the possession of glory, as imports any kind of casualty, we date not answer in the
affirmative; for we cannot look on personal holiness, or good works, as properly fe-
detal and conditional means of obtaining the possession of heaven, though we own
they are necessary to make us meet for it.
Query VII — Is preaching the necessity of a holy life, in order to the obtaining
of eternal happiness, of dangerous consequence to the doctrine of free grace ?
/4ns.— The last of the two clauses of the eighth act of Assembly, being complained
of in the representation, is the first and main ground of this query. And ere »e
make answer to it, we crave leave to explain ourselves more fully as to the offence we
conceive to be given by that act; namely, that, in opposition to, and in place of the
believer's plea of Christ's active righteousness, in answer to the law, demanding good
works, for obtaining salvation according to the tenor of the first covenant, cut off, as
we apprehend, by the fifth act ; ministers are ordered, in the eigth act, to preach the
necessity of our own personal holiness, in order to the obtaining of everlasting hap-
piness. As also that our inherent holiness seems to be put too much upon the
same foot, in point of necessity, for obtaining everlasting happiness, with justifica-
tion by the surety ; which the frame of the words, being as follows, will well admit,
viz. "of free justification through our blessed Surety the Lord Jesus Christ, received
by faith alone ; and of the necessity of an holy life, in order to the obtaining of ever-
lasting happiness." Moreover, that the great fundamental of justification is laid down
2 g2
476 APPENDIX.
in such general terms, as adversaries will easily agree to, without mention of the surety '9
righteousness, active or passive, or the imputation of either; especially since a motion
in open Assembly for adding the few, but momentous words, — imputed righteousness
was slighted. And finally, that that act is so little adapted to the end it is now given
out to have been designed for, viz. — a testimony to the supreme Godhead of our glo-
rious God and Saviour Jesus Christ, and against Arianism, especially since not the
least intimation or warning against that damnable heresy is to be found in the act it-
self nor was made to that Assembly, in passing it.
To the query we answer, that we cordially and sincerely own a holy life, or good
works, necessary, as an acknowledgment of God's sovereignty, and in obedience to
his command; for this is the will of God, even our sanctification ; and by a special
ordination, he has appointed believers to walk in them ; necessary, for glorifying God
before the world, and showing the virtues of him who hath called us out of darkness
into his marvellous light : necessary, as being the end of our election, or redemption,
effectual calling, and regeneration; for "the Father chose us in Christ, before the
foundation of the world, that we should be holy ; the Son gave himself for us, that he
might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify to himself a peculiar people zealous of
good works ;" and by the Holy Spirit are we created in Christ Jesus into them :
necessary, as expressions of our gratitude to our great Benefactor; for being bought
with a price, we are no more our own, but henceforth, in a most peculiar manner,
bound in our bodies and in our spirits, which are his, to glorify, and by all possible
ways, to testify our thanksgiving to our Lord Redeemer and Ransomer ; to him
" who spared not his own Son, but gave him up to the death for us all ;" to him " who
humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross, for
us:" necessary, as being the design, not only of the world, but of all ordinances and
providences ; even that as " he who has called us is holy, so we should be holy in all
manner of conversation:" necessary, again, for evidencing and confirming our faith,
good works being the breath, the native offspring and issue of it : necessary, for mak-
ing our calling and election sure ; for they are, though no plea, yet a good evidence
for heaven, or an argument confirming our assurance and hope of salvation : necessary,
to the maintaining of inward peace and comfort, though not as the ground and founda-
tion, yet as effects, fruits, and concomitants of faith : necessary, in order to our en-
tertaining communion with God even in this life; for, "if we say we have fellowship
with him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not the truth :" necessary, to the escao-
ing of judgments, and to the enjoyments of many promised blissings ; particularly
there is a necessity of order and method, that one be holy before he can be ad-
mitted to see and enjoy God in heaven ; that being a disposing mean, preparing for
the salvation of it, and the king's high-way chalked out for the Redeemer to walk into
the city : necessary, to adorn the gospel and grace our holy calling and profession :
necessary, further, for the edification, good, and comfort, of fellow-believers : ne-
cessary, to prevent offence, and to stop the mouths of the wicked ; to win likewise the
unbelieving, and to commend Christ and his ways to the consciences ; necessary,
finally, for the establishment, security, and glory of churches and nations. Though
we firmly believe holiuess necessary upon all these and more accounts, and that the
Christian ought to live in the continued exercise of gospel repentance, which is one
main constituent of gospel holiness, yet we dare not say a holy life is necessary in
order to the obtaining of eternal happiness ; for, to say nothing of the more gross sense
of these words, (manifestly injurious to the free grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, by
faith in whose righteousness alone we are appointed to obtain salvation, from first to
last,) which yet is obvious enough, though we are far from imputing it to the As-
APPENDIX. 477
embly ; we cannot, however they may be explained into an orthodox meaning, look
upon them as wholesome words, since they have at least an appearance of evil, being
i.uch a way of expression as Protestant churches and divines, knowing the strong
natural bias in all men towards seeking salvation, not by faith in our Lord Jesus
Christ, but by works of righteousness done by themselves, and the danger of symbolizing
with Papists and other enemies of the grace of the gospel, have industriously shunned
*o use on that head ; they choosing rather to call holiness and good works necessary
duties of the persons justified and saved, than conditions of salvation ; consequents and
effects of salvation already obtained, or antecedents, disposing and preparing the sub.
ject for the salvation to be obtained, than any sort of causes, or proper means of ob-
taining the possession of salvation ; which last hone ur, the Scripture, for the high praise
and glory of sovereign grace, seems to have reserved peculiarly unto faith ; and rather to
say, that holiness is necesary in them that shall be saved, than necessary to salvation ;
that we are saveJ, not by good works, but rather to them, as fruits and effects of
6aving grace ; or that holiness is necessary unto salvation, not so much as a meau to
the end, as a part of the end itself; which part of our salvation is necessary, to make
us meet for the other that is yet behind.
Wherefore, since this way of speaking of holiness with respect to salvation, is, we
conceive, without warrant in the Holy Scripture, dissonant from the doctrinal standards
of our own and other reformed Churches, as well as from the chosen and deliberate
speech of reformed divines treating on these heads; and since it being at best but
propositio male sonans, may easily be mistaken, and afterwards improved, as a shade
or vehicle, for conveying corrupt sentiments, anent the influence of works upon sal-
vation ; we cannot but reckon preaching the necessity of holiness in such terms to be
of some dangerous consequence to the doctrine of free grace. In which apprehension
we are the more confirmed, that at this day the doctrine of Christ and his free grace,
both as to the purity and efficacy of the same, seems to be much on the wane, and Po-
pery, with other dangerous errors and heresies destructive of it, on the waxing; which
certainly calls aloud to the churches of Christ, and to his ministers in particular, for
the more zeal, watchfulness, and caution, with reference to the interests of truth ; and
that especially at such a time, cum hereticis nee nomina habeamus communia, neeorum
errori favere videamur.
If in any case, certainly in framing acts and standards of doctrine, there is great
need of delicacy in the choice of words ; for the words of the Holy Ghost in Scrip-
ture, under which we include such as in meaning and import are equivalent to them,
being an ordinance of divine institution, for preserving the truth of the gospel, if
these be once altered or varied, all the wisdom and vigilance of men will be ineffec-
tual to that end. And it is well known, by costly experience to the churches of
Christ, that their falling in with the language or phrase of corrupt teachers, instead
of serving the interest of truth, which never looks so well as in its own native simpli-
city, does but grieve the stable and judicious, stagger the weak, betray the ignorant,
and, instead of gaining, harden and open the mouths of adversaries. And that it is
said in a text, " They do it to obtain a corruptible crown, but we an incorruptible,"
will not warrant the manner of speech in the query : for the word, in the original,
signifies only to receive or apprehend, being accordingly rendered in all Latin versions
we have seen, and in our own translation in the verse immediately preceding, viz.
" One receiveth the prize ;" and though the word did signify to obtain, in the most
strict and proper sense, it could not make for the purpose, unless it were meant of the
believer's obtaining the incorruptible crown, not by faith, but by works. And that an
ill chosen word in a standard may prove more dangerous to the truth, than one not so
478 APPENDIX.
justly rendered in a translation, with several other things on this head, might he made
very evident, were it not that we have been, we fear, tedious on it already.
Qoery VIII. Is knowledge, belief, and persuasion that Christ died for me, and
that he is mine, and that whatever he did and suffered, lie did and suffered for me,
the direct act of faith, whereby a sinner is united to Christ, interested in him, instated
in God's covenant of grace ? Or, is that knowledge a persuasion included in the very
essence of that justifying act of faith ?
Ans. The query, it is evident, exceedingly narrows the import and design of the
representation in the place referred to ; for there we assert nothing positively concern-
ing the passages relating to faith, but remonstrate against condemning them, as what
to us seemed to hurt the appropriating act of faith, and to fix a blot upon the reforma-
tion, reformed churches and divines, who had generally taught concerning faith, as in
the condemned passages ; all which we might say, without determining whether the
persuasion spoke of in the query was the very direct and formal act of justifying faith,
yea or no. But now, since the query is put so close, and since the matter in question
is no other than the old Protestant doctrine on that head, as we shall endeavour to
make appear, the Reverend Commission, we humbly conceive, cannot take it amiss,
we, in the first place, inquire into the true sense and meaning of this way of speaking
of faith, that we are now questioned about.
The main of the condemned passages the query refers to, runs not in the order
therein set down, but as follows: " Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt
be saved ;" that is, "Be verily persuaded in your heart that Christ Jesus is yours, and
that you shall have life and salvation by him ; that whatever Christ did for the re-
demption of mankind, he did it for you :" — being in matter the same with what has
been commonly taught in the protestant churches, and, in the words of the renowned Mr.
John Rogers of Dodham, (a man so noted for orthodoxy, holiness, and the Lord's
countenancing of his ministry, that no sound Protestants in Britain or Ireland, of what
denomination soever, would, in the age wherein he lived, have taken upon them to
condemn as erroneous) definition of faith, which we have as follows : " A particular
persuasion of my heart that Jesus Christ is mine, and that I shall have life and salva-
tion by his means; that whatsoever Christ did for the redemption of mankind, he did
it for me :" Where one may see, though the difference in words be almost none at
all, yet it runs rather stronger with him than in the Marrow.
In which account of saving faith, we have, first, the general nature of it ; viz. : — a
real persuasion, agreeing to all sorts of faith whatsoever; for it is certain, whatever
one believes, he is verily persuaded of. More particularly, it is a persuasion in the
heart, whereby it is distinguished from a general, dead, and naked assent in the head,
which one gives to things that no way affect him, because he reckons they do not con-
cern him. But with the heart man believes here; " If thou believest with all thine
heart," says the Scripture. For as a man's believing in his heart the dreadful tidings
of the law, or its curse, imports not only an assent to them as true, but a horror of
them as evil ; so here, the being persuaded in one's heart of the glad tidings of the
gospel, bears not only an assent unto them as true, but a relish of them as good.
Then we have the most special nature of it, viz. an appropriating persuasion, or a
persuasion, with application to a person s self, that Christ is his, &c. The particulars
whereof are, first, that Christ is yours ; the ground of which persuasion is the offer
and grant of Christ as a Saviour in the word, to be believed in for salvation, by all to
whom the gospel is made known. By which offer and setting forth of Christ as a
Saviour, though before we believe, we wanting union with him, have no actual or
APPENDIX. 479
saving interest, yet he is in some sense ours, namely, so ? it is lawful and warrantable
for us, not for fallen angels, to take possession of him by faith ; without which, our
common interest in him as a Saviour, by virtue of the offer and grant in the word,
will avail us nothing. But though the call and offer of the gospel, being really parti-
cular, every one, both in point of duty and in point of interest, ought to appropriate,
apply, or make his own the thing offered by believing, they having good and sufficient
ground and warrant in the word so to do; yet is it either neglected and despised or
the truth and sincerity of it suspected and called in question, until the Holy Spirit, by
setting home the word of the gospel, with such a measure of evidence and power as is
effectual, satisfies the convinced sinner, that, with application to himself in particular,
" it is a faithful saying, worthy of all acceptation, that Jesus Christ came to save sin-
ners," and enables him to believe it. Thus the persuasion of faith is begot, which is
nlways proportioned to the measure of evidence and power from above that sovereign
grace is pleased to put forth for working of it.
The next branch of the persuasion is, " That you shall have life and salvation by him,
namely the life of holiness as well as of happiness ; salvation from sin as well as from
wrath, not in heaven only, but begun, carried on here, and completed hereafter ; —
the true notion of life and salvation, according to the Scriptures, and as Protestant
ilivines are wont to explain it. Wherefore this persuasion of faith is inconsistant with
an unwillingness to part with sin, a bent or purpose of heart to continue in it. There
cnn be little question, we apprehend, whether this branch of the persuasion belongs
to the nature of justifying faith ; for salvation being above all things in a sensible sin-
ner's eye, he can never believe any thing to his satisfaction, without he sees ground to
believe comfortably concerning it. Few therefore will, we conceive, differ from Dr.
Collins' laying it down as a conclusion on this very head, namely, that " a Christian
cannot have true, saving, justifying faith, unless he doth, (I do not say, unless he
think he doth, or unless he saith he doth, but, unless he doth) believe, and is per-
suaded that God will pardon his sins." Further, this being a believing on the
Son for life and salvation, is the same with receiving of him, (as this last is explained
by the Holy Spirit himself, John i. 12.) and likewise evidently bears the soul's rest-
ing on Christ for salvation ; for it is not possible to conceive a soul resting on
Christ for salvation, without a persuasion that it shall have life and salvation by
him namely, a persuasion of the same measure and degree as resting is.
The third btanch of the persuasion, " that whatsoever Christ did for the redemption
of mankind, he did it for you," — being much the same, in other words, with these of
the apostle — " Who loved me, and gave himself for me ;" and coming in the last
place, we think none will question but whosoever believes in the manner before
explained, may and ought to believe this in the like measure and in the same order.
And it is certain, all who receive and rest on Christ for salvation, believe it, if not
explicitly, yet virtually and really.
Now, as this account of justifying faith runs in terms much less strong than those of
many eminent divines, who used to define it by a persuasion of God's love, — of his
special mercy to one's self, — of the remission of his sins, &c. ; so it is the same for
substance and matter, though the words be uot the same with that of our Shorter
Catechism, viz. " A receiving and resting upon Christ alone lor salvation, as he is
i.ffered to us in the Gospel :" where it is evident the offer of Christ to us, though
mentioned in the last place, is to be believed first ; for till the soul be persuaded that
Christ crucified is in the Gospel set forth, offered, and exhibited to it as if expressed
by name, there can be no believing on him. And when the offer is brought home to
a person by the Holy Ghost, there will be a measure of persuasion that Christ is his
480 APPENDIX.
as above explained. And that receiving, or believing in, and resting on him for sal-
vation, cannot be without some measure of persuasion that one shall have life and sal-
vation by him, was said already. But more directly to the query,
We answer, 1st, Since our reformers and their successors, such as Luther, Calvin,
Melanctkon, Beza, BulliDger, Bucer, Knox, Craig, Melvil, Bruce, Davidson, Forbes,
&c. — men eminently endowed with the Spirit of truth, and who fetch their notions of
it immediately from the fountain of the holy scripture ; the most eminent doctors and
professors of theology that have been in the Protestant churches, such as Ursinas,
Zanchius, Junius, Piscator, Rollock, Dnna?us, Wendelinus, Chamierus, Sharpius,
Bodius, Pareus, Altingius, Triglandii, (Gisbertus and Jacobus) Arnoldus, Maresius ;
the four professors of Leyden, viz. Wallzeus, Rivetus, Polyander, Thysius ; Wollebius,
Heidegerus, Essenius, Turretinus, &c. ; with many eminent British divines, such as
Perkins, Pemble, Willet, Gouge, Roberts, Burgess, Owen, &c. ; the churches them-
selves of Helvetia, the Palatinate, France, Holland, England, Ireland, Scotland, in
their standards of doctrine ; all the Lutheran churches, who, in point of orthodoxy on
the head of justification and faith, are second to none; 'the renowDed synod of Dort,
made up of eminent divines, called and commissionate from seven reformed states and
kingdoms, besides those of the several provinces of the Netherlands; — since these, we
say, all of them stand for that special Jiducia, confidence, or appropriating persuasion
of faith spoken of in the condemned passages of the Marrow, upon which this query is
raised ; the synod of Dort, besides the minds of the several delegates on this head, in
their several suffrages anent the Five Articles, declaring themselves plainly both in
their final decisions concerning the said articles, and in their solemn and ample appro-
bation of the Palatine Catechism, as agreeable to the word of God in all things, and
as containing nothing that ought to be either altered or amended ; which Catechism
being full and phin as to this persuasion of faith, has been commented upon by many
great divines, received by most of all the reformed Churches as a most excellent com-
pend of the orthodox Christian doctrine, and particularly by the Church of Scotland,
as the Rev. Mr. Robert Wodrow lately told his Majesty King George, in the dedica-
tion of his history : and since we, with this whole church and nation are, by virtue of
the awful tie of the oath of God iu our national covenant, bound ever to abhor and
detest the Popish general and doubtsome faith, with all the erroneous decrees of
Trent; among which, in opposition to the special jiducia of faith therein condemned)
this is established ; being by Protestants, so called, mainly for their denying and
opposing the confidence and persuasion of faith, with application to one's self, now in
question ; by which renunciation our forefathers, no doubt, pointed at, and asserted
to be held and professed as God's undoubted truth and verity, that particular and con-
fident, or assured faith, then commonly known and maintained in this Church, as
standing plain and express in her standards, to the profession and defence of which
they in the same covenant promising and swearing by the great name of the Lord our
God, bound themselves and us: and since the same persuasion of faith, however the
way of speaking on that head is come to be somewhat altered, was never by any judi-
catory of a reformed Church, until now, denied or condemned : — considering all these
things, we say, and of what dangerous consequence such a judicial alteration may be,
we cannot — we dare not consent unto the condemnation of that point of doctrine ; for
we cannot think of charging error and delusion in a matter of such importance upon so
many Protestant divines, eminent for holiness and learning; upon the Protestant
churches; and upon our own forefathers, so signally owned of the Lord ; and also on
the standards of Protestant doctrine, in this Church, for nigh an hundred years after
her teformation: else, if we should thus speak, we are persuaded we would offend
APPENDIX. 481
against the generation of bis children. Nor can it ever enter into our minds, that the
famous Assembly of Westminster had it so much as once in their thought, to depart in
this point from the doctrine of their own, and of this Church, which they were all of
them by the strongest ties bound to maintain ; or to go off from the Synod of Dort,
which had but so lately before them settled the Protestant principles as to doctrine ;
and by so doing yield up to Socinians, Arminians, and Papists, what all of them have
a mortal aversion to, namely, the special fiducia, or appropriating persuasion of faith,
which Protestant divines before and since that time contended for to the utmost, as
being not only a precious truth, but a point of vast consequence to religion. And we
are sure, the Assemblies of this church understood, and received their confession and
catechisms, larger and shorter, as entirely consistent with our confessions and cate-
chisms before that time, as we have already made evident in our representation, from
the acts of Assembly receiving and approving the Westminster Confession and Cate-
chisms.
Answer 2d, It is to be considered, that most of the words of the Holy Ghost
makes use of in the Old and New Testament, for expressing the nature of faith and
believing, do import the confidence or persuasion in question ; and that confidence
and trust in the Old Testament are expounded by faith and believing in the
New ; and the same things attributed to the latter, as were wont to be attributed to
the former ; that diffidence and doubting are in their nature acts and effects con-
trary to faith ; that peace and joy are the native effects of believing ; that the pro-
mises of the Gospel, and Christ in his priestly office therein held forth, are the proper
object of justifying faith; that, faithfulness in God, and faith in the believer being
relatives, and the former the ground of the latter, our faith should answer to his faith-
fulness, by trusting his good word of promise for the sake of it ; that it is certain a be-
liever in the exercise of justifying faith does believe something with reference to his
own salvation, upon the ground of God's faithfulness in the promise, that no other
person whatsoever does or can believe ; which if it be not to this purpose, that now
Christ is and will be a Saviour to him, that he shall have life and salvation by him,
we are utterly at a loss to conceive what it can be ; that persuasion, confidence, and
assuredness, are so much attributed to faith in the Scripture, and the saints in Scripture
ordinarily express themselves in their addresses to God in words of appropriation-;
and finally, that according to our Larger Catechism, faith justifies a sinner in the sight
of God, as an instrument, receiving and applying Christ, and his righteousness held
forth in the promise of the gospel, and resteth thereupon for pardon of sin, and for the
accepting and accounting one's person righteous before God for salvation ; the which,
how faith can do without some measure of the confidence, or appropriating persuasion
we are now upon, seems extreme bard to conceive. Upon these considerations, and
others too long to be here inserted, we cannot but think, that confidence, or trust in
Jesus Christ as our Saviour, and the free grace and mercy of God in him as crucified,
offered to us in the gospel for salvation (including justification, sanctification, and
future glory) upon the ground and security of the divine faithfulness plighted in the
gospel promise ; and upon the warrant of the divine call and command to believe in
the name of the Son of God ; or, which is the same, in other words, a persuasion of
life and salvation, from the free love and mercy of God, in and through Jesus Christ,
a crucified Saviour offered to us, upon the security and warrant aforesaid, is the very
direct, uniting, justifying, and appropriating act of faith, whereby the convinced sin-
ner becomes possessed of Christ and his saving benefits, instated in God's covenant
and family ; taking this always along, as supposed, that all is set home and wrought
by the Holy Spirit, who brings Christ, his righteousness, salvation, and whole fulness,
482 APPENDIX.
nigh to us in the promise and offer of the gospel ; clearing at the same time our right
and warrant to intermeddle with all, without fear of vitious intromission, encouraging
and enabling to a measure of confident application, and taking home of all to ourselves
freely, without money and without price.
This confidence, persuasion, or whatever other name it may be called by, we take to
be the very same with what our Confession and Catechisms call accepting, receiving,
and resting on Christ offered in the gospel for salvation ; and with what polemic and
practical divines call " Fiducia specialis misericordice," " fiducial application," "■ fidu-
cial apprehension," " fiducial adherence," " recumbence," " affiance," " fiducial ac-
quiescence," "appropriating persuasion," &c. All which, if duly explained, would
issue in a measure of this confidence or persuasion we have been speaking of. How-
ever, we are fully satisfied that this is what our fathers and the body of Protestant di-
vines, speaking with the Scriptures, called "the assurance of faith." That once
burning and shining light of the church, Mr. John Davidson, though in his Catechism
he defines faith by a " hearty assurance" that our sins are freely forgiven us in Christ ;
or, a sure persuasion of the heart that Christ by his death and resurrection hath taken
away our sins, and clothing us with his own perfect righteousness, has thoroughly re-
stored us to the favour of God ; which he reckoned all one with a " hearty receiving
of Christ offered in the gospel for the remission of sins ;" yet in a former part of the
same Catechism he gives us to understand what sort of assurance and persuasion it
was he meant, as follows — " And certain it is," he says, " that both the enlightening
of the mind to acknowledge the truth of the promise of salvation to us in Christ, and
the sealing up of the certainty thereof in our hearts and minds (of the which two
parts, as it were, faith consists,) are the works and effects of the Spirit of God." In
like manner, in our first Confession of Faith, {art. 3, 12,) it is called, " An assured
faith in the promise of God, revealed to us in his word ; by which faith we apprehend
Christ Jesus with the graces and benefits promised in him." " This faith, and the as-
surance of the same, proceeds not from flesh aud blood." And in our first Catechism,
commonly called Calvin's Catechim, faith is defined by a " sure persuasion" and sted-
fast knowledge of God's tender love towards us, according as he has plainly uttered
in his gospel, that he will be a Father and Saviour to us, through the means of Jesus
Christ. And again, faith which God's Spirit worketh in our hearts, assuring of God's
promises made to us in his holy gospel. In the Summula Catechhmi, or Rudimenta
Pie.talis, to the question, " Quid est fides ?" the answer is, " Cum milii persuadio
deum me omnesque sanctos amare, nobisque Christum cum omnibus suis bonis gratis
donare ;" and in the margin, " Nam in fide duplex persuasio, 1. De amare Dei erga,
nos ; 2. De Dei beneficiis quce examore fluunt, Christo nimirum, cum omnibus sui
bonis," 8fc. And to that question, " Quomodo fide percipimus, el nobis applicamus
corpus Christi crucfixi?" the answer is, " Dum nobis persuade mus Christi mortem
et crucifixionem non minus ad nos pertinere quam si ipsi nos pro pecutis nostris cruci-
fixi essemus. Persuasio autem hac est vera fidei." From «11 which it is evident,
they held, that a belief of the promises of the gospel, with application to oneself, or a
confidence in a crucified Saviour, for a man's own salvation, is the very essence of
justifying faith ; or, that we become actually possessed of Christ, remission of sins, &c.
in and by the act of believing, or confidence in him, as above explained. And this
with them was the assurance of faith, which widely differs from the Antinomian sense
of the assurance or persusion of faith, which is, that Christ, and pardon of sin, are
ours, no less before believing than after ; a sense which we heartily disclaim.
Whether these words in the query, viz. "Or, is that knowledge a persuasion in-
cluded in the very essence of that justifyfng act of faith ;" be exegetic of the former
APPENDIX. 483
part ol it, or a new branch of the query ; we answer, that we have already explained
the persuasion of faith by us held, and do think, that in the language of faith, though
not in the language of philosophy, knowledge and persusion, relating to the same ob-
ject, go hand in hand in the same measure and degree.
It is evident that the confidence or persuasion of faith for which we plead, includes,
or necessarily and infallibly infers consent and renting, together with all the blessed
fruits and effects of faith, in proportion to the measure of it. And that we have men-
tioned consent, we cannot but be the more confirmed in this matter, when we con-
sider, that such a noted person as Mr. Baxter, though he had made the marriage con-
sent to Christ, as King and Lord, the formal act of justifying faith, as being an epitome
of all gospel obedience, including and binding to all thedvties of the married state, and
so giving right to all the privileges ; and had thereby, as well as by his other danger-
ous notions about justification, and other points connected therewith, scattered through
his works, corrupted the fountain, and endangered the faiih of many ; yet, after all, came
to be of another mind, and had the humility to tell the world so much ; for Mr. Cross
informs us (Serm. on Rom. iv. 2. p. 148 ) that Mr. Baxter, in his little book against Dr.
Crisp's errors, says, " I formerly believed theformal nature of faith to lie in consent;
but now I recant it. I believe," says he, " it lies in trust: this makes the right to
lie in the object ; for it is, — I depend on Christ as the matter or merit of my pardon,
my life, my crown, my glory."
There are two things further, concerning this persuasion of faith, that would be
adverted to : One is, that it is not axiomatical, but real ; that is, the sinner has not
always, at his first closing with Christ, nor afterwards, such a clear, steady, and full
persuasion that Christ is his, — that his sius are forgiven, — and he eventually shall be
saved, as that he dare profess the same to others, or even positively assert it within
himself; yet, upon the first saving manifestation of Christ to him, such a persuasion
and humble confidence is begotten, as is real and relieving, and particular as to him-
self and his own salvation, and which works a proportionable hope as to the issue ;
though, through the humbling impressions he has of himself and his own guilt at the
time, the awe of God's majesty, justice, and holiness on his spirit, and his indistinct
knowledge of the doctrine of the Gospel, with the grounds and warrants of believing
therein contained, he fears to express it directly and particularly of himself. The
other is, that whatever is said of the habit, actings, strength, weakness, and ititer-
mittings of the exercise of saving faith, the same is to be said of this persuasion in all
points. From all which it is evident, the doubts, fears, and darkness, so frequently
to be found in true believers, can very well consist with this persuasion in the same
subject ; for though these may be, and often are in the believer, yet they are not of
his faith, which in its nature and exercise is as opposite to them as light is to dark-
ness, the flesh to the Spirit ; which though they be in the same subject, yet are con-
trary the one to the other, Gal. v. 17. And therefore faith wrestles against them,
though with various success, it being sometimes so far overcome and brought under
by the main force and much superior strength of prevailing unbelief, that it cannot be
discerned more than the fire is when covered with ashes, or the sun when wrapt up
in thick clouds. The confidence and persuasion of faith being in many, at first
especially, but as the grain of mustard-seed cast into the ground, or like a spark
amidst the troubled sea of all manner of corruption and lusts, where the rolling wave9
of unbelieving doubts and fears, hellish temptations and suggestions, and the like,
moving on the face of that depth, are every row and then going over it; and, were
there not a Divine hand and care engaged for its preservation, would effectually ex-
tinguish and bury it. What wonder that in such a case it many times cannot be dis-
484 APPENDIX.
cerned ! yet will it still hold so much of the exercise of justifying faith, so much of
persuasion. Yea, not only may a believer have this persuasion and not know of it
for the time, (as say Collins, Roberts, Amesius, and others, who distinguish the per-
suasion from the sense of it,) but he, being under the power of temptation and confu-
sion of mind, may resolutely deny he has any such persuasion or conscience; while it
is evident to others at the same time, by its effects, that he really has it : for which,
one may, among others, see the holy and learned Haliburton, in his " Inquiry into
the Nature of God's Act of Justification," p. 27. And if one would see the
consistence of faith's persuasion with doubting, well discoursed and illustrated, he may
consult Downham's " Christian Warfare," — But we
Answer, 3dly, There is a full persuasion and assurance, by reflection, spiritual
argumentation, or inward sensation, which we are far from holding to be of the
essence of faith ; but this last, being mediate, and collected by inference, as we gather
the cause from such signs and effects as give evidence of it, is very different from that
confidence or persuasion, by divines called the assurance of faith. " Sanctification,"
says Rutherford, " does not evidence justification, as faith doth evidence it, with such
a sort of clearness, as light evidenceth colours, though it be no sign or evident mark
of them ; but as smoke evinces fire, and as the morning star in the east evinces the
sun will shortly rise, or as the streams prove there is a head-spring whence they issue,
though none of these make what they evidence visible to the eye ; so doth sanctifica-
tion give evidence of justification, only as marks, signs, effects give evidence to
the cause." He calls it a light of arguing and of heavenly logic, by which we know
that we know God, by the light of faith, because we keep his commandments. " In
effect, (says he,) we know rather the person must be justified, in whom these gracious
evidences are, by hearsay report or consequence, than that we know or see justifica-
tion, or faith itself, in abstracto ; but the light of faith, the testimony of the Spirit
bv the operation of free grace, will cause us, as it were, with our eyes, see justifica-
tion and faith, not by report, but as we see the sun-light." Again he says, " We
never had a question with Antinomians touching the first assurance of justification,
such as is proper to the light of faith. He (Cornwall) might have spared all his argu-
ments to prove that we are first assured of our justification by faith, not by good
works, for we grant the arguments of one sort of assurance, which is proper to faith,
and they prove nothing against another sort of assurance, by signs and effects, which
is also divine." Further, as to the difference between these two kinds of assurance:
the assurance of faith has its object and foundation without the man, but that of sense
has them within him. The assurance of faith looks to Christ, the promise and
covenant of God, and says, " This is all my salvation; God has spoken in his holi-
ness, I will rejoice :" but the assurance of sense looks inward at the works of God,
such as the person's own graces, attainments, experiences, and the like. The
assurance of faith giving an evidence to things not seen, can claim an interest in, and
plead a saving relation to a hiding, withdrawing God. Zion said, "My Lord hath
forgotten me ;" and the spouse, " I opened to my beloved, but my beloved had with-
drawn himself, and was gone." So he may be a forgetting and withdrawing God to
my feeling, "and yet to my faith, my God and my Lord still," says holy Rutherford;
" even as the wife may believe the angry and forsaking husband is still her husband."
But, on the other hand, the assurance of sense is the evidence of things seen and felt.
The one says, " I take him for mine ;" the other says, " I feel he is mine." The
one says with the Church, " My God, though he cover himself with a cloud, that my
prayer cannot pass through, yet will hear me ;" the other, " My God has heard me."
The one says, " He will bring me forth to the light, and I shall behold his righte-
APPENDIX. 485
ousness ; the other, " He has brought me forth to the light, and I do behold his
righteousness," The one says, " Though he should kill me, yet will I trust in him ;"
the other, " He smiles and shines on me, therefore will I love him and trust
in him."
Upon the whole, we humbly conceive, were the nature and grounds of faith's per-
suasion more narrowly and impartially under the guidance of the Spirit of truth
searched into and laid open, it would, instead of discouraging weak Christians, ex-
ceedingly tend to the strengthening and increase of faith, and consequently have a
mighty influence on spiritual comfort, and true gospel-holiness, which will always be
found to bear proportion to faith, as effects do to the efficacy and' influence of their
causes.
Query IX. — What is that act of faith, by which a sinner appropriates Christ and
his saving benefits to himself?
Ans. This question being plainly and fully answered in what is said on the imme-
diately foregoing, we refer thereto, and proceed to the tenth.
Query X. — Whether the revelation of the Divine will in the word, affording a
warrant to offer Christ unto all, and a warrant to all to receive him, can be said to
be the Father's making a deed of gift and grant of Christ unto all mankind ? Is
this grant made to all mankind by sovereign grace ? And whether is it absolute or
conditional ?
Ans Here we are directed to that part of our representation where we complain
that the following passage is condemned, viz. " The Father hath made a deed of gift
or grant unto all mankind, that whosoever of them shall believe in his Son, shall not
perish ;" and where we say, " That this treatment of the said passage seems to
encroach on the warrants aforesaid, and also upon sovereign grace, which hath made
this grant, not to devils, but to men, in terms than which none can be imagined more
extensive ;" agreeable to what we have already said in our representation. We
answer to the first part of the question, that by the " deed of gift or grant unto all
mankind," we understand no more that the revelation of the Divine will in the word,
affording warrant to offer Christ to all, and a warrant to all to receive him; for
although we believe the purchase and application of redemption to be peculiar to the
elect, who were given by the Father to Christ in the couusel of peace, yet the warrant
to receive him is common to all. Ministers, by virtue of the commission they have
received from their great Lord and Master, are authorized and instructed to go preach
the gospel to every creature, i. e. to make a full, free, and unhampered offer of him,
his grace, righteousness, and salvation, to every rational soul to whom they may in
providence have access to speak. And though we had a voice like a trumpet, that
could reach all the corners of the earth, we think we would be bound, by virtue of
our commission, to lift it up, and say, " To you, O men, do we call, and our voice is
to the sons of men. God hath so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten
Son, that whosoever believes in him, should uot perish, but have everlasting life."
And though this " deed of gift and grant, that whosoever believeth in Christ shall not
perish," &c. is, neither in our representation, nor in the passages of the book con-
demned on that head, called a " deed of gift, and grant of Christ," yet, being
required to give our judgment in this point, we think, that agreeable to the Holy
Scripture, it may be so called, as particularly appears from the text last cited, John
iii. 16. where, by the giving of Christ, we understand not only his eternal destination
by the Father to be the Redeemer of an elect world, and his giving him unto tha
486 APPENDIX.
death for them, in the fulness of time, but more especially a giving of him in the word
unto all, to be received and believed in. The giving here cannot be a giving in pos-
session, which is peculiar only unto them who actually believe, but it must be such a
giving, granting, or offering, as warrants a man to believe or receive the gift, and
must therefore be anterior to actual believing. This is evident enough from the text
itself: he gave him, "that whosoever believeth in him, should not perish," &c. The
context also, to us, puts it beyond controversy : the brazen serpent was given, and
lifted up as a common good to the whole camp of Israel, that whosoever in all the
camp, being stung by the fiery serpents, looked thereunto, might not die, but live.
So here Christ is given to a lost world, in the word, " that whosoever believes in him
should not perish," &c. And in this respect, we think, Christ is a common Saviour,
and his salvation is a common salvation ; and it is " glad tidings of great joy unto all
people," that unto us (not to angels that fell,) this Son is given, and this Child is
born, whose name is called Wonderful, &c. Isa. ix. 6.
We have a scripture also to this purpose, John vi. 32, where Christ speaking to a
promiscuous multitude, makes a comparison between himself and the manna that fell
about the tents of Israel in the wilderness, says, " My Father giveth you the true
bread from heaven." As the simple raining of the manna about their camp is called a
giving of it, (ver. 31,) before it was tasted, or fed upon; so the very revelation and
offer of Christ is called (according to the judicious Calvin on the place) a giving of
him, ere he be received and believed on.
Of this giving of Christ to mankind lost, we read also, 1 John v. 11, " And this is
the record that God hath given unto us eternal life, and this life is in his Son." This
giving in the text is not, we conceive, a giving in possession, in greater or lesser mea-
sure, but a giving by way of giant and offer, whereupon one may warrantably take pos-
session, and the party to whom is not the election only, but lost mankind ; for the
record of God here must be such a thing as warrants all to believe on the Son of God.
But it can be no such warrant to tell, " that God hath given eternal life to the
elect ;" for the making of a gift to a certain select company of persons, can never be
a warrant for all men to receive or take possession of it. This will he further evident,
if we consider that the great sin of unbelief lies in not believing this record of God, —
" He that believes not hath made God a liar," says the apostle, ver. 10, "because he
believes not the record that God gave of his Son;" and then it followeth, ver. 11,
" And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life," &c. Now, are we
to think that the rejecting of the record of God is a bare disbelieving of this proposi-
tion, that God hath given eternal life unto the elect ?" No, surely : for the most
desperate unbelievers, such as Judas and others, believe this; and their belief of it
adds to their anguish and torment. Or do they, by believing this, set to their seal
that God is true? No ; they still continue, notwithstanding of all this, to make him
a liar, in " not believing this record of God," that to lost mankind, and to themselves
in particular, God hath given eternal life by way of grant, so as they as well as others,
are warranted and welcome ; and every one to whom it comes, on their peril, required
by faith to receive or take possession of it. By not receiving this gifted and offered
remedy, with application and appropriation, they fly in the face of God s record and
testimony ; and therefore do justly and deservedly perish, seeing the righteousness, sal-
vation, and kingdom of God, was brought so near to them, in the free offer of the
gospel, and yet they would not take it. The great pinch and strait, we think r of an
awakened conscience, does not lie in believing that God hath given eternal life to
the elect, but in believing or receiving Christ offered to us in the gospel, with particu-
lar application to the man himself, in Scripture called " an eating the flesh, and
APPENDIX. 487
ilnnking the blood of the Son of man." And yet, till this difficulty be surmounted
in greater or lesser measure, he can never be said to believe in Christ, or receive and
rest upon him for salvation. The very taking or receiving must needs presuppose a
giving of Christ ; and this giving may be, and is, for the most part, where there is no
receiving; but there can be no receiving of Christ for salvation where there is not
revelation of Christ in the word of the gospel, affording warrant to receive him, and
then, by the effectual operation of the Spirit, persuading and enabling the sinner to
embrace him upon this warrant and offer. " A man," says the Spirit of God, John
iii. 27, " can receive nothing, except it be given him from heaven." Hence Mr.
Rutherford, in his "Christ Dying and Drawing," &c. page 442, says, that "reprobates
have as fair a warrant to believe as the elect have."
As to the second part of this question, i.e. " Is this grant made to all mankind by
sovereign grace ? and, Whether is it absolute or conditional?" we answer, that this
grant, made in common to lost mankind, is from sovereign grace only ; and it being
ministers' warrant to offer Christ unto all, and peoples' warrant to receive him, it can-
not fail to be absolutely free ; yet so as none can be possessed of Christ and his bene-
fits, till by faith they receive him.
Query XI. — Is the division of the law, as explained and applied in the Marrow
to be justified, and which cannot be rejected without burying several gospel truths?
Ans. — We humbly judge the tripartite division of the law, if rightly undertood,
may be admitted as orthodox ; yet, seeing that which we are concerned with, as con-
tained in our representation, is only the division of the law into the law of works and
the law of Christ, we say, that we are still of opinion, that this distinction of the law
is carefully to be maintained ; in regard that by the law of works we, according to the
Scripture, understand the covenant of works, which believers are wholly and altogether
delivered from, although they are certainly under the law of the ten commandments in
the hand of a Mediator. And if this distinction of the law, thus applied, be over-
thrown and declared groundless, several sweet gospel truths must unavoidably fall in
the ruins of it. For instance, if there be no difference put between the law as a cove-
nant and the law as a rule of life to believers, in the hand of Christ, it must needs fol-
low, that the law still retains its covenant form with respect to believers, and tbwt
they are still under the law in this formality, contrary to Scripture, Rom. vi. 14 and
vii. 1 — 3, and to the Confession of Faith, chap. xix. § 6. It would also follow, that
the sins of believers are still to be looked upon as breaches of the covenant of works
and consequently that their sins not only deserve the wrath and curse of God, (which
is a most certain truth) but also makes them actually liable to the wrath of God, and
the pains of hell for ever, which is true only of them that are in a state of black
nature ; Less. Cat. quest. 19, and contrary to Confess, of Faith, chap. xix. § 1. It
will likewise follow, that believers are still to eye God as a vindictive and wrathful
Judge, though his justice be fully satisfied in the death and blood of their blessed
Surety, apprehended by faith. These and many other sweet gospel truths, we think
fall in the ruins of the foresaid distinction condemned as groundless.
Query XII. — Is the hope of heaven and fear of hell to be excluded from the mo-
tives of the believer's obedience ? And if not, how can the Marrow be defended, that
expressly excludes them, though it should allow of other motives ?
Ans. — Here we are referred to the third particular head, wherein we think the
Marrow injured by the Assembly's act, which for brevity's sake we do not transcribe ;
488 APPENDIX.
but agreeable both to our representation and the scope of the Marrow, we answer,
That taking heaven for a state of endless felicity in the enjoyment of God in Christ,
we are so far from thinking that this is to be excluded from being a motive of the be-
liever's obedience, that we think it the chief end of man, next to the glory of God ;
Psalm lxxxiii. 25, " Whom have I in heaven but thee?" &c. Heaven, instead of
being a reward to the believer, would be a desolate wilderness to him, without the
enjoyment of a God in Christ. The Lord and the Lamb are the light of that place.
God himself is the portion of his people; he is their shield and exceeding great
reward. The very cope-stone of the happiness of heaven lies iu " being for ever with
the Lord, and in beholding of his glory;" and this indeed the believer is to have in
his eye, as the recompense of reward, and a noble motive of obedience. But to form
conceptions of heaven as a place of pleasure and happiness without the former views
of it, and to fancy that heaven is to be obtained by our own works and doings, is un-
worthy of a believer, a child of God, in regard it is slavish, legal, mercenary, and
carnal.
As for the fear of hell being a motive of the believer's obedience, we reckon it one
of the special branches of that glorious liberty wherewith Christ hath made his people
free, that they yield obedience to the Lord, not out of slavish fear of hell and wrath,
but out of a child-like love and willing mind; Confess, chap. xx. § 6, " Clirist hath
delivered us out of the hands of our enemies, that we might serve him without fear, in
holiness and righteousness, all the days of our lives," Luke i. .74, 75. A filial fear of
God and of his fatherly displeasure, is worthy of the believer, being a fruit of faith,
and of the Spirit of adoption ; but a slavish fear of hell and wrath, from which he is
delivered by Christ, is not a fruit of faith, but of unbelief. And in so far as a believer
is not drawn with love, but driven on in his obedience with a slavish fear of hell, we
think him, in so far, under a spirit of bondage. And judging this to be the Marrow's
sense of rewards and punishments with respect to a believer, we think it may and ought
to be defended.
And this doctrine, which we apprehend to be the truth, stands supported not only by
Scripture and our Confession of Faith, but also by the suffrages of some of our sound-
est divines; for instance Mr. Rutherford : — " Believers," says he, " are to be sad for
their sins, as offensive to the authority of the Lawgiver and the love of Christ, though
they be not to fear the eternal punishment of them;" for sorrow.for sin, and fear for
sin, are most different to us. Again, says the same author, " servile obedience, under
apprehension of legal terror, was never commanded in the spiritual law of God to the
Jews, more than to us." Durham, (loco citato) " The believer (says he) being freed
from the law as a covenant, his life depends not on the promise annexed to the law, nor
is he in danger by the threatenings adjoined to it, both these to believers being made void
through Christ." And to conclude, we are clearly of Dr. Owen's mind anent the use of the
threatenings of everlasting wrath with reference unto believers, who, though he owns
them to be declarative of God's hatred of sin, and his will to punish it, yet in regard
the execution of them is inconsistent with the covenant, and God's faithfulness there-
in, says, " The use of them cannot be to beget in believers an anxious, doubting,
solicitous fear about the punishment threatened, grounded on a supposition that the
person feariDg shall be overtaken with it, or a perplexing fear of hell-fire ; which
though it ofttimes be a consequence of some of God's dispensations towards us of
our own sins, or the weakness of our faith, is not any where prescribed unto us as a
duty, nor is the ingenerating of it in us the design of any of the threatenings of God."
His reasons, together with the nature of that fear, which the threatening of eternal
wrath ought to beget in believers, may be viewed among the rest of the authorities.
APPENDIX. 489
These are some thoughts that have offered to us upon the queries, which we lay
before the Reverend Commission with all becoming deference, humbly craving, that
charity, which thinketh no evil, may procure a favourable construing of our words, so
as no sense may be put upon, nor inference drawn from them, which we never in-
tended. And in regard the tenor of our doctrine, and our aims in conversation, have
(though with a mixture of much sinful weakness) been sincerely pointed at the
honour of the Lord Jesus as our king as well as priest, as our sanctification
as well as our righteousness, we cannot but regret our being aspersed, as turn-
ing the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and casting off the obligation of the
holy law of the ten commands ; being persuaded that the damnation of such as either
do or teach so, is just and unavoidable, if mercy prevent it not. But now if, after this
plain and ingenuous declaration of our principles, we must still lie under the same load
of reproach, it is our comfort, that we have the testimony of our conscience clearing
us in that matter, and doubt not the Lord will in due time bring forth our righteous-
ness as the light, and our judgment as the noon-day. We only add, that we adhere
to our representation and petition in all points ; and so much the rather that we have
already observed the sad fruits, and bad improvement made of the Assembly's deed,
therein complained of.
These answers, contained in this and the preceding pages, ('viz. of the manuscript
given in) are subscribed at Edinburgh, March 12th, 1722 years, by us,
Messrs. JAMES HOG, Carnock.
THOMAS BOSTON, Ettrick.
JOHN WILLIAMSON, Inveresk.
JAMES KID, Queensferry.
GABRIEL WILSON, Maxton.
EBENEZER ERSKINE, Portmoack.
RALPH ERSKINE, Dunfermline.
JAMES WARDLAW, Dunfermline.
HENRY DAVIDSON, Galashiels.
JAMES BATHGATE, Orwel.
WILLIAM HUNTER, Lilliesleaf.
Vol. VI I. 2 h
EVERLASTING ESPOUSALS;
Being a Sermon preached at tbe administration of the Sacrament of the Lord's Sup-
per, August, 1714.
Hos. ii. 19,
And I will betroth thee unto me for ever.
This solemn ordinance we are called to partake of, is the feast of
the espousals betwixt Jesus Christ and believers, as also the seal
thereof; wherefore it is necessary the guests be such as are es-
poused to Christ, being brought " into the bond of the marriage
covenant," otherwise the seal is but profaned. The text shows us,
that all is ready for these espousals on Christ's part ; there is no-
thing to hinder the happy match, if sinners be willing. Our eyes
do see this day, that even the seal of the covenant, the holy sacra-
ment is ready for us ; and thus we have a fair occasion to advance
our eternal interest. There is such affinity betwixt marriage and
death, that every marriage-contract amongst men has a clause of
death in it. Our marriage-vows run in these terms, " Till God shall
separate us by death :" so that the dying day must needs stare the
parties in the face on their marriage-day ; and the marriage-bed is
but a preamble to the death-bed. But, behold, here is a marriage-
contract without that shocking clause, nay, plainly excluding it ;
" I will betroth thee unto me for ever."
I have already explained these words ; but I shall put you in re-
membrance of the nature of betrothing or espousing, as it was used
amongst the Jews, seeing it gives light into the text. Betrothing
or espousing was the bridegroom's taking the bride into a marriage-
covenant. It was done publicly before witnesses, under a canopy
or tent set up for that purpose : and hereunto it is thought the
Psalmist alludes, Psalm xix. 4, 5, " In them hath he set a taberna-
cle for the sun : which is as a bridegroom coming out of his cham-
ber." Some competent time intervened betwixt the espousals and
the solemnizing and consummating of the marriage. Nevertheless,
by the espousals, they were truly husband and wife, as apperrs from
2h2
492 THE EVERLASTING ESPOUSALS
Matth. i. 18, 19, 20, where, while Mary was yet but espoused to
Joseph, lie is called her husband, and she his wife : and therefore, if
a betrothed virgin was defiled in the city, both the man and wo-
man were to be stoned to death : " the damsel because she cried not,
being in the city," (and therefore held consenting), " and the man
because he hath humbled his neighbour's wife," Deut. xxii. 23, 24.
So they were reputed and punished as adulterers.
Thus you see the covenant our God proposeth is a marriage-co-
venant, that our Maker may be our Husband. However men, in the
height of their corrupt wisdom, may think it unbecoming the gravity
and weight of the matter, to speak of the great, transaction betwixt
a Saviour and lost sinners, under the notion of a marriage ; it is
sufficient to us, that the infinitely wise God has not thought it un-
becoming, but sees it to be a condescension necessary for our weak-
ness. And it must needs be dangerous to mock at that manner of
speaking the Lord's word warrants the use of; "I will betroth
thee unto me," saith the Lord in our text.
The parties in this marriage-covenant, are Jesus Christ the Son
of God, and the captive daughter of Zion, lost sinners. The Father
hath made this marriage for his Son, Matth. xxii. 2. And the
apostle tells us, it is Christ whom sinners are espoused to; "I have
espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste
virgin to Christ," 2 Cor. xi. 2. It is the glorious Bridegroom him-
self that proposeth, advanceth, and effectuateth the marriage-treaty;
" I will betroth thee." It is the peculiar quality of this marriage-
covenant, that it is for ever. The Lord brought Israel into a visible
church state by the Sinai covenant; but that covenant did not last,
Israel was put away : here he promiseth to bring them back by the
new covenant, the gospel-covenant from Mount Zion ; and that this
covenant shall be perpetual, to continue while the world stands.
But, as these words look to the spiritual Israel, the elect ones both
of Jews and Gentiles, the covenant is declared to be everlasting,
scorning to be confined within the narrow boundaries of time, but
reaching forward through all the ages of eternity.
Doct. I. The way laid down in the wisdom of God, and pursued
in the gospel, for reinstating lost sinners in the favour of God, is
the espousing of them to Jesus Christ.
I have already spoken to this doctrine at large, and therein ex-
plained the nature of a sinner's espousals to Jesus Christ in several
particulars. There are two points yet remaining, which I shall pro-
pose together in a second doctrine.
BETWIXT CHRIST AND BELIEVERS. 493
Doctrine II. As sinners may be espoused to Christ, so whomso-
ever he espouseth to himself, he espouseth for ever, never to part
with them.
In handling this doctrine,
I. I shall shew, that sinners may be espoused to Christ.
II. I shall consider the perpetuity and everlastingness of this
marriage-covenant; and then apply it.
But, before I enter on these things, it will be necessary to resume
some particulars touching the nature of the espousals betwixt Christ
and sinners : to give you a view thereof in few words.
Our Lord Jesus Christ comes, by his messengers, into the bride's
mother's house, (the public ordinances), and courts her consent : but
words alone will never prevail in that case ; he comes forward, by
his Spirit, into the inner chamber of her heart, and there proposeth
the marriage-treaty, and brings it to a happy issue. We may take
up this in three things ; (1.) Christ, by his Spirit, enters the inner
room of the heart, with the fiery law going before him as his harbinger ;
and so terrible is the sight, that the sinner begins exceedingly to
fear and quake ; but yet has no kindness for the bridegroom, no
heart to the match. So a tribunal is erected within his own breast;
he is accused, convicted, and condemned as a breaker of the law,
and then beholds his absolute need of a Saviour, Acts xvi. 29, 30.
(2.) God reveals his Son in the broken, bruised, sensible sinner, by
the light of the gospel shining into his heart, Gal. i. 16. The royal
bridegroom is manifested unto the soul in his glorious excellencies,
and absolute suitableness to its case; and withal, in his willingness
to betroth the wretched creature to himself. (3.) The Spirit of
Christ powerfully touches the heart of the sinner, who is thereby
made willing to embrace Christ and join hands with him in the
marriage-covenant, Psalm ex. 3. Thus the treaty of espousals comes
to be concluded, which we may sum up in these three particulars.
First, The parties are pleased with one another ; Christ is pleased
with the sinner, and the sinner is pleased with him. And then the
language of the bride's heart is, 1st, I am pleased with his person.
1 have been long seeking a match for this soul of mine, a rest to
this restless heart; but, whatever I cast mine eyes upon, I still
perceived something about it that was shocking; something it had,
I could never love ; something it lacked, which I could not want :
but here is a covering of mine eyes ; " he is altogether lovely," Cant.
v. 16. 2<%, I am pleased with all his offices. There is a glorious
suitableness in each of them to my case, 1 Cor. i. 24, 30. I am
weak, foolish, and ignorant ; it is good he is a Prophet. I am la-
494 THE EVEKLASTING ESPOUSALS
den with guilt, I cannot remove it ; it is good he is a Priest : the
sight of his precious blood revives my fainting soul. My lusts are
strong, too strong for me ; it is good he is " a King mighty in bat-
tle," Psalm xxiv. 8. 3dly, I am pleased with the marriage covenant ;
it is well drawn ; there is nothing to be added to it, nothing to be
altered in it, 2 Sam. xxii. 5. Stilly, I am pleased with the mariage
duties ; the laws of the royal bridegroom, Psalm cxix. 128. Lastly,
I am pleased with the cross, content to take part with him in all
conditions, to cleave to him for better and worse, Luke xiv. 26.
Secondly, As Christ left his Father's house for her, she gives up
with her own people and her father's house for him. Her heart
parts with all other lovers, that she may be his only. She renoun-
ceth the first husband, namely, the law, as a covenant of works,
never to look for her living by it, nor her comfort from it any
more, Rom. vii. 4. She renounceth all her lusts and idols, gives up
with them for ever ; and sets a particular mark of disgrace on the
beloved lust she had a particular fondness for, Job xxxiv. 32.
Lastly, The glorious bridegroom's consent to be her head and
husband she finds in the word, which the Spirit applies to her, and
she by faith applies to herself. Her soul consents to take him as
he offers himself: so Christ gives himself to her, she receives him,
and gives herself to him, John i. 12 : 2 Cor. viii. 5, and from that
blessed moment she may say, " My beloved is mine, and I am his,"
Cant. ii. 16.
Thus she is unite! to Christ, joined unto the Lord, and made one
spirit with him, 1 Cor. vi. 17- And from this union results a com-
munion betwixt the parties, agreeable to the nature of the spiritual
marriage.
Now having given this short account of the nature of the es-
pousals,
I. I shall evince, that sinners may be espoused to the Son of
God. " Behold, we bring you glad tidings of great joy ;" if ye be
willing to be espoused to Christ, he is willing ; all is ready to the
bride's consent. To clear this, consider these following particulars,
which may be as so many motives to stir you up to accept of Christ
in the marriage-covenant.
First, This match was from eternity projected and concluded, in
the cabinet council of the Trinity, Jer. xxxi. 3, " I have loved thee
with an everlasting love : therefore with loving-kindness have I
drawn thee." God, from eternity, foreseeing that all mankind
would be ruined by the fall of Adam, and not willing that the
whole kind should be lost, set on foot this project, a proper pro-
ject for recovering lost sinners, and securing them when recovered.
BETWIXT CHRIST AND BEIilEVEKS. 495
Man being joined to God at first in a simple covenant of friendship,
that covenant was found too slender a bond for such an unstable
creature : wherefore a marriage covenant is devised ; for that will
separate betwixt friends, under the strictest bonds of friendship,
which cannot separate betwixt husband and wife. Now, the King's
friend turning to be his enemy by the breach of the first covenant ; to
bring the criminal out of prison to court again, and restore her to
favour, it is concluded,, that she be espoused to the King's Son, and
so united to him in such sort, as there should never be such a fatal
breach betwixt God and the sinner again.
Secondly, The bridegroom and all his relations are well pleased
with the match. We have his own mind in the text, " I will be-
troth thee unto me for ever." But will he indeed betroth me ?
may the sinner say. " Yea, I will betroth thee," saith our Lord in
the following words, twice in one verse, and a third time again in the
verse immediately following. "Why, truly, it is hard for sensible sin-
ners to believe it; yea, this speaks him to be peremptory in it,
he will not be diverted from it. If ye would know how it agrees
with his Father's mind, Isaiah will tell you, " The Lord is well
pleased for his righteousness' sake," Isa. xlii. 21. Yea, he becomes
a suitor to you in favour of his Son, he solicits for him, Matth.
xvii. 5, "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear
ye him." It is very agreeable to the mind of his Spirit; for the
words he puts in the mouths of all his servants, in reference to it,
are full of good-will to the match ; " All things are ready : come
unto the marriage," Matth. xxii. 4. The angels, these glorious in-
habitants of the upper house, when first the bridegroom came in
person into the bride's country, in pursuance of the blessed project,
sung to his arrival, " Glory to God in the highest, and on earth
peace, good-will towards men," Luke ii. 13, 14. Yea, there is a
full satisfaction with it through all the bridegroom's country : joy
appears there in every face, upon the success of it. " Joy shall be
in heaven over one sinner that repenteth," Luke xv. 7-
I might here tell you, that the mighty stir made about this match
in the bride's country, to hinder it, is a plain evidence of the reality
of it. All her relations are against it. When the royal Bride-
groom was going forth to pursue his design of love to lost sinners,
their father, the devil, addressed him, and offered him " all the king-
doms of the world, and the glory of them," if he would give over
the suit, Matth. iv. 8, 9. When that did not take, he assaulted
him and murdered him, by his hellish agents, that so the designed
match might be marred : but the blessed Jesus having overcome
death and the grave, and sat down at the right hand of the Father,
496 THE EVERLASTING ESPOUSALS.
so that he can reach him no more ; he turns his rage against the
bride, and employs his power to the utmost against her to stop it.
No sooner does she begin to lay to heart the offered espousals, than
she finds her own people and her father's house violently set against
it, and must lay her account with vehement tossing she was not
acquainted with before. Her father, the devil, misrepresents Christ, .
as a husband she can never have a comfortable life with : if that
prevail not to make her lay aside the thoughts of it, he rages and
threatens : if she will proceed in it, he shall cause her repent
that ever she entertained the motion, and bring her back again
from her new husband, to her great confusion ; and that there-
fore it is better for her to draw back in time, and take se-
cond thoughts of the offers made her by other hands. Her friends,
even the world that lieth in wickedness, use all methods to dis-
courage her: they cry out, she will stain the reputation of their
family, and disgrace them all : and, be sure, they will make her the
fool of the company at least, if their hands be bound that they can-
not imbrue them in her blood. And, to crown the difficulty, the
hungry children she was wont to feed, (namely), her lusts, and in a
special manner, the fondling, the beloved lust, hang about her weep-
ing, because they must be starved if the match go on. All this evi-
denceth, that sinners may be espoused to Christ.
Thirdly, The lawful impediments of this match are all removed,
at the Bridegroom's expenses and pains. When the purpose of this
match was declared, there stood up to object against it, parties con-
cerned, whose mouths could not be stopt with fair words. Justice
says, The bride is my debtor, and I will not forgive her; and, foras-
much as she hath not to pay, she must be sold into the hand of ven-
geance, to satisfy the debt, Matth. xviii. 25. She is my criminal,
saith the law, and I will not pardon her; sentence of death is passed
on her, Gal. iii. 10. ; and whithersoever one may go to pick out a
spouse for himself, he must not go into a prison, and bring forth at
his pleasure a condemned woman to be espoused to him ; for though
marriage break term of service, it must not break law : therefore
there must be an execution-day before there can be a marriage-day.
She is my lawful prisoner, says the devil, and I will not give her
up : " Shall the prey be taken from the mighty, or the lawful cap-
tive delivered ?" Is. xlix. 24. These were lawful impediments in-
deed, which, unremoved, would have put an effectual stop for ever
to the marriage betwixt Christ and sinners ; but his heart was intent
upon the match, and therefore he set himself to remove them out of
the way. Accordingly, he became surety to justice for her debt, and
paid it to the last farthing; laid down his own life for the criminal :
BETWIXT CHRIST AND BELIEVERS. 497
and now that the ransom is paid, the jailor must needs let his
prisoner go.
Fourthly, The marriage-contract is drawn up already, and signed
by the Bridegroom, bearing his consent to match with the captive
daughter of Zion : ye have it in this Bible, ye have it in our text,
and the words following, " I will betroth thee unto me for ever, yea,
I will betroth thee unto me in righteousness, and in loving-kindness,
and in mercies. I will even betroth thee unto me in faithfulness,
and thou shalt know the Lord." This is his word, this is his writ,
which he hath sealed with his precious blood. He cannot, he will
not deny it ; and he hath sent it to you, that ye for your part may
consent to it, and so the blessed match is made betwixt Christ and
you.
Question, " But why is this marriage-contract drawn up before
the bride's consent be obtained, yea, and without consulting her at
all ?" Answer, This is highly reasonable, we have no ground to com-
plain of it ; for we have nothing to contract on our part. "We have
nothing to bring with us, no, not so much as to cover our nakedness ;
for all our father's house go in rags, Bev. iii. 17- Nay, we are
worse than nothing; our father Adam left us with a burden of debt,
poverty, and wants, yea, and a burden of the curse besides, Gal. iii.
10. And well may we increase the debts, we can never pay one
farthing of the old or new accounts. But our Lord seeks no portion
with us, whatever our case be, he is willing to betroth us to himself,
Isa. lv. 1, " Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and
he that hath no money." Nay, he will have nothing with us, nor
have we any thing worth his taking off our hands. And if we do
not come to Christ conteut to receive all freely, without presuming
to give for what we are to get, we may fear we meet with Simon's
entertainment, " Thy money perish with thee," Acts viii. 20. "Were
a prince to marry a beggar's daughter, and she should present her-
self to the marriage in her beggarly attire, patched up after the best
fashion of her father's house ; would he not say, Take her away, and
strip her of these garments, she shall bring none of them to me :
they are suitable to the quality of her father's house, bat not of my
spouse ; they would be a stain to my honour : clothe her with change
of raiment on my own expense ? The application is easy : we are
nothing, we can do nothing, we have nothing to commend us to
Christ; and if we pretend to any thing of that kind, we dishonour
the Royal Bridegroom. There is no reason then we should have
any thing ado in the marriage-contract, but to bless God that it is
brought to our hand, and sign it with our whole hearts.
Besides, had our advice been taken to the framing of it, we see so
498 THE EVERLASTINGS ESPOUSALS.
little into our own true interest, we would certainly hare marred it,
inserting some clause that would at length have ruined us. Finally,
It is one of the articles of the covenant, that Christ shall gain the
sinner's consent, John vi. 37, " All that the Father giveth me, shall
come to me." And so saith our text, " I will betroth thee unto me."
It may be, some are saying in their hearts, " that I knew my
name were in that marriage-contract, how joyfully would I then sign
it ! but I fear it is not to be found there." In answer to this, con-
sider there are (if I may speak so) two copies of it, the one close
sealed, and the other opened. 1. There is a sealed copy thereof
laid up in heaven, under the custody of the Bridegroom and his
Father : in this are to be found the names and sirnames of all that
already are, or ever shall be, espoused to Christ ; and behold the
seal thereof, 2 Tim. ii. 19, " The foundation of God standeth sure, hav-
ing this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are his." 2. There is an
open copy thereof, let down to earth, and lodged in the bride's hand :
this ye have in the Bible, which is the book of the covenant. It
bears not the names of those that are to be espoused to Christ, but
runs (as it were) in that form, " We, under subscribers," &c. Now,
the Royal Bridegroom has signed this, and it is incumbent on you to
sign it likewise, consenting to take Christ as he is offered to you in
the gospel ; and so the espousals are made, Isa. xliv. 5, " One shall
say, I am the Lord's : and another shall call himself by the name of
Jacob : and another shall subscribe with his hand unto the Lord."
Now, upon this, I offer these two things.
1st, A view of the sealed copy is the peculiar privilege of those
that are espoused to Christ, by subscribing to the open copy ; " The
secret of the Lord is with them that fear him : and he will shew
them his covenant," Psalm xxv. 14. And to require a sight of that
which is laid up in heaven, before ye have by faith complied with
the design of that which is lodged in your own hands, is to endea-
vour to overturn the settled order and method of grace. But,
" Shall the earth be forsaken for thee ? and shall the rock be re-
moved out of his place ?" Job xviii. 4. Even these that aro
espoused to Christ, though they shall get a full view of it in heaven,
where it is laid up; yet it is but a slender view they get of it now :
at best, sometimes, the Lord opens it a little to the believer, so as
he can see to read his own name in it, but cannot see the name ot
his wife or child therein, though their names be really in it, as well
as his own. And it may be, some of the saints never see so much as
their own names in it, till they come to glory, being, " through fear
of death, all their lifetime subject to bondage," Heb. ii. 15.
2dly, Though your name be not in the open copy, yet we can say,
BETWIXT CHRIST AND BELIEVERS. 499
it is indorsed and directed to you, and every one of you : therefore
ye have a sufficient warrant to sign it for yourselves. What is your
name ? "Wilt thou answer to the name of thirsty sinners ? Then read
your name, and see how it is directed to you, Isa. lv. 1. " Ho,
every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath
no money ; come ye, buy and eat, yea, come, buy wine and milk
without money, and without price." Wilt thou answer to the name
of willing sinner ? Then it is directed to you, Rev. xxii. 17,
" Whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely." Art thou
called heavy-laden sinner ? Arise then, the Master calleth thee,
Matth. xi. 28, " Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy
laden, and I will give you rest." Is thy name whorish backslider?
" Thou hast played the harlot with many lovers, yet return again
unto me, saith the Lord," Jer. iii. 1. Art thou a lost sinner? "The
Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost," Luke
xix. 10. Nay, art thou the chief of sinners ? Even to thee is the
word of this salvation sent ; " Christ Jesus came into the world to
save sinners, of whom I am chief," 1 Tim. i. 15. But, whatsoever
artifice ye may use to disown these, or any of these to be your name;
surely ye are men, sons of men; ye cannot deny that to be your
name : therefore it is directed to you, and every one of you ; " Unto
you, men, I call, and my voice is to the sons of men," Prov. viii. 4.
But to proceed,
Fifthly, The proxies for the bridegroom are sent forth to make
suit for sinners their consent to be espoused to him ; " Now then
we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by
us," 2 Cor. v. 20. And surely this must be glad tidings to those
who are willing to be espoused to our Lord, Isa. Iii. 7, &. We are
impowered to treat with you, in his name, for this blessed match ;
to declare unto you that he is willing to be yours ; and we call unto
you, according to the tenor of our commission, Matth. xxii. 4, " All
things are ready; come unto the marriage." Despise not our call :
for he is great who hath said, " He that heareth you, heareth me :
and he that despiseth you, despiseth me," Luke x. 16. And, by the
refusal of his word in our mouths, ye run the dreadful risk of
eternal ruin, Mark xvi. 15, 16, " Go preach the gospel to every
creature. He that believeth and is baptized, shall be saved : but he
that believeth not, shall be damned."
Sixthly, The bridegroom has already put on his marriage-robes :
the Son of God hath clothed himself with the robes of humanity,
that he might be a suitable match for the children of men : " Foras-
much then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he
also himself likewise took part of the same," Heb. ii. 14. Such was
500 THE EVERLASTING ESPOUSALS
the distance betwixt God and his guilty creature, that the sinner
could never have joined hands with a God, but with an incarnate
God. The bride could never have been able to look on the glorious
bridegoom, in his unveiled divine glory and majesty, without being
confounded at the sight : therefore was his wedding-garment taken
off on earth, namely, the veil of his flesh, wherewith he hath covered
himself, in view of the marriage. Look on it with joy, captive
daughter of Zion. Behold ! it is a dyed garment, and of the right
colour for a marriage robe ; which, in this case is only red, blood-
red, Isa. lxiii. 1, " Who is this that cometh from Edom, with dyed
garments from Bozrah ? "Wherefore art thou red in thine apparel,
and thy garments like him that treadeth in the wine fat?" Let thy
soul then say unto him, as Ruth said to Boaz, Ruth iii. 9, " Spread
thy skirt over thine handmaid," (that is, make me thy spouse) " for
thou art a near kinsman." It was an ancient ceremony in marriage
for the man to throw the skirt of his garment over the woman's
head, in token of his appropriating her unto himself, her subjection
to him, and the protection he owed her : it is applied to the spirit-
ual marriage, Ezek. xvi. 8, " I spread my skirt over thee, and co-
vered thy nakedness : yea, I sware unto thee, and entered into a
covenant with thee, saith the Lord God, and thou becaraest mine ;"
or, " thou wast to me," i. e. married to me ; for so marriage is ex-
pressed in the Old Testament language, Lev. xxi. 3; Deut. xxiv. 2;
and xxv. 5. And thence that phrase is brought into the New Tes-
tament, Rom. vii. 4.
Now, no skirt but a bloody skirt could serve this gracious pur-
pose. The bride is a criminal, and without shedding of blood is no
remission," Heb. ix. 22. Therefore there can be no marriage with
the Son of God but under a covert of blood. The rays of divine
wrath would pierce through any other covert, and separate the par-
ties. And therefore the chariot, (of the marriage covenant) where-
in Christ's spouse is carried to his Father's house, hath a covering
of purple, Cant. iii. 10. Now, this purple covering is no other than
the blood of our slain Redeemer, which covers the soul from the
storm of God's wrath, as the covering of a chariot defends from
storms that come from above. Behold then a crucified Saviour,
meet to espouse guilty sinners to himself.
Seventhly, The wedding-garment for the bride is ready, being pur-
chased at the expense of the bridegroom. It is the white raiment
of Christ's righteousness, which, with the espousals, is offered unto
all that hear the gospel, Rev. iii. 18. It is Christ's active and pas-
sive obedience to the law, imputed to every believing soul, upon its
espousals to Christ. This is that glorious raiment which beautifies
BETWIXT CHRIST AND BELIEVERS. 501
the soul in the sight of God, wherewith Christ's spouse is arrayed,
as the lilies, with that which they toil not, neither do they spin for,
though there were sore toil and bloody sweat at the making of it.
Thus her wedding-garment is taken off in heaven, even as his was
taken off on earth : a blessed evidence of a design of perfect peace
betwixt heaven and earth in the way of a marriage covenant.
Eighthly, The tent for the espousals is set up, even the church.
The tabernacle of the Most High God has mercifully visited our
ends of the earth, and therein erected a church, which is the taber-
nacle he has set for the Son of righteousness, as a bridegroom, there
to espouse sinners to himself. This tabernacle, which has stood
long amongst us, God hath been threatening to pull down, because
of our misimproving the preached gospel; which calls us to tremble,
and to comply in time with the espousals offered : and indeed se-
veral of the cords thereof are broken already ; but had not the
Lord been on our side it had been lying all along on the ground by
this time. Thanks to our gracious God, it is yet standing : but woe
to those who shall not be espoused to Christ before the tabernacle
be removed.
Ninthly, The feast and seal of the espousals, namely the holy sa-
crament we are now to partake of at his table, is ready, that the
espoused bride may feast and rejoice in her Lord and husband.
Though the table be not in heaven, yet the provision given to the
believing communicant at the table is from heaven, even the flesh of
Christ, which is meat indeed, and his blood, which is drink indeed ;
Jesus Christ, with all his benefits, being represented, sealed, and
applied to believers by this ordinance. This holy feast is the seal
of the marriage covenant, whereby Christ seals the covenant to us,
1 Cor. xi. 25, " This cup is the New Testament in my blood." The
bridegroom's seal is a red, bloody seal, like his marriage-robe.
Question. But what need is there of a seal to the Lord's cove-
nant ? Answer. God's naked word is as good security as his writ,
and his writ as good as his seal : but the difficulty sinuers find in
believing requires them all : and therefore the Lord has graciously
condescended to give us all we could require of the most faithless
man on earth, that we may believe him; his word, his writ, his seal,
yea, and his oath too, Heb. vi. 17, 18. Some of you find no diffi-
culty in believing the covenant, and your welcome to Christ. I
dare not commend unbelief, or the least doubt of God's word : it is
very dishonouring to God, though Christ's spouse is often found
slow of heart to believe. But I fear the unacquaintedness of many
with the difficulty of believing the covenant, and their welcome to
Christ, proceeds rather from a spirit of pride and blindness, than
502 THE EVERLASTING- ESPOUSALS.
from the spirit of faith. The marriage covenant betwixt the son of
God, and a vile unworthy sinful creature, is such a great thing, so
very unlike to our condition, that it is a great matter to believe it.
And truly nothing but the testimony of God himself, and " the
working of his mighty power, which he wrought in Christ when he
raised him from the dead," will make a sensible sinner really be-
lieve it, Eph. i. 16, 20. If a prince should send a writ to a beggar
womau, wherein, having heard of her miserable condition, he ap-
points her a free house, and a few pence weekly, to maintain her
while she lives, there would be no great difficulty in believing this,
it is so like her condition, being but a small thing : but, suppose
him to send an ambassador to espouse her unto him ; in this case, if
she were so frantic and mad, as to believe her lodge to be a palace,
her nasty covering a cloth of gold, and her rags precious jewels, it
is likely she would have little or no difficulty to believe the reality
of the great proposal made to her ; but if she were truly sober, she
would hang down her head, and say, Do not mock a poor woman.
And if, upon the producing the marriage contract, confirmed with
the prince's oath and seal, she began to believe it, and rose up to
subscribe it ; it would be no great marvel, if, looking to her rags
and nastiness, she suddenly halted, and said, I am a fool to believe
this ; till considering the words of grace in the marriage contract,
the nature of the prince's oath and seal, her heart were overcome
into a belief of it. The application is easy ; there is great need of
the seal of the marriage covenant betwixt Christ and sinners, and it
is ready for you.
Tcnthly, Here are witnesses enow. Here are the friends of the
bridegroom, to bear witness to the espousals. Te may be witnesses
each one for another; yea, as Joshua saith, Josh. xxiv. 27, "Behold,
this stone shall be a witness unto us." And they will surely wit-
ness something in this case, either for us, or against us. They will
at least bear witness to the offer of the espousals made here this
day.
Lastly, Here is the bridegroom, and here is the bride ; the eternal
Son of God, and a company of wretched lost sinners gathered to-
gether in this place. He has given his consent already in the words
of the text read in your hearing, " I will betroth thee unto me for
ever." "What would you have more ? would ye have him to declare
it by a voice from heaven ? Nay, but this is a more sure word of
prophecy, 2 Pet. i. 19. Bear witness then, ye friends of the bride-
groom; witness all, and every one of you here present; witness ye
stones of the place, that the eternal purpose of this match is declared,
the bridegroom and all his relations are pleased with it, the lawful
BETWIXT CHRIST AXD BELIEVERS. 503
impediments of it are removed, the contract is drawn np, the proxies
for the bridegroom are sent forth ; he hath put on his marriage-
robes, and the wedding-garment for the bride is ready, the tent for
the espousals is set up, the feast and the seal are ready, the bride-
groom and the bride are both present : and, as for the bridegroom
he hath given his consent already ; and therefore there is nothing
wanting to make up the espousals betwixt the Son of God and sin-
ners here present, but their consent.
And shall it be wanting I ! are not ye saying, ye friends of
the bridegrom, ye neighbours, ye stones of the place, bear witness
for me, that my heart is overcome, and I consent to take him as he
offers himself in the marriage covenant, for my head and husband ;
renouncing the first husband, the law, as a covenant of works ; re-
nouncing all my lusts ; giving up myself, soul and body, to be his,
and for him ; to be his wholly, his only, and his for ever \
II. VTe proceed now to speak of the perpetuity and everlasting-
f this marriage-covenant. And here I shall only enquire, in
what respects the espousals betwixt Christ and the soul are for
ever.
First, They are for ever in design.
ndfy, They are for ever in fact.
First. They are for ever in the design of parties. In espousals
amongst men it is not so : the design is only for term of life ; for
the parties know one another to be mortal, and that death will se-
parate them if nothing else do it. But in the spiritual espousals
the parties join hands never to part ; they both look upon it as a
contract for eternity.
First, Christ takes the sinner with a design to be that sinner's
husband from the moment of the espousals for ever; and his de-
signs are immoveable as mountains of brass ; they cannot be
broken ; he knows perfectly before the espousals, whatsoever will
fall out betwixt him and his spouse in the course of the marriage :
and with a full view of all future events, he takes her for ever with
a fixed purpose, 1st, Never to put her away while she desires to
abide with him. Xay, 2dfy, Never to part with her, though she
should desire to go away ; never to put her away, never to let her
go, Jer. xxxii. 40, " And I will make an everlasting covenant with
them, that I will not turn away from them to do them good ; but
I will put my fear in their hearts, that they shall not depart from
me."
8eoondfy t The soul consenting to the espousals, takes Christ, with
a design to be his spouse for ever, never to separate. Howsoever
hypocrites deal with him, whatsoever secret reserves they have in
504 THE EVERLASTING ESPOUSALS
their pretended embracing of the marriage covenant, the believer
takes Christ with a sincere purpose never to leave him, never to
part with him.
1. The believer takes Christ with a sincere purpose never to
leave him, nor go away from him, whatsoever hardships he may-
meet with in the world for cleaving to him, and following of him :
his resolution is, " So will not we go back from thee," Psalm Ixxx.
18. He may indeed fear that he will leave Christ ; nevertheless he
can appeal to God's omniscience, he has no such design, but his
soul loathes it. He has counted the cost, he has weighed in the
balance father and mother, and wife and children, and brethren and
6isters, yea, and his own life also ; and finds that the royal Bride-
groom downweighs them all ; they are all light in comparison with
Christ ; and therefore he is peremptorily resolved, whatever be-
comes of them, he will never leave him, Luke xiv. 26.
2. The believer takes Christ with a sincere purpose, never to
part with him, nor to be put away, howsoever unkindly his Lord
may seem to carry himself towards him ; " Though he slay me, yet
will I trust in him," Job xiii. 15. This is his design, although he
may be very hardly bestead in keeping his ground in a time of
trial : but in the day of espousals, the soul sees there is no help in
any other, therefore says, " Lord, to whom shall I go," but unto
thee ? and resolves, that if it die, it shall die at his door.
And thus, in the spiritual espousals, the voice of the bride, like
an echo, sweetly answers the voice of the bridegroom ; "I will be-
troth thee," saith he, " unto me for ever." " Amen," says the bride,
" for ever, ever, ever."
Allow me here to distinguish this eternity, this " for ever" of the
bride, in three parts, each of which she has in view, in her closing
with the marriage covenant. In the espousals,
1. She has in view the beginning of that eternity, which is from
the very moment wherein she is espoused. So she is to be alto-
gether his, from that moment, thenceforth not to go back. Christ
says, " To-day if ye will hear my voice ;" she dare not, she will
not say, to-morrow ; no, not the next hour ; for that would be a
day or an hour kept back of that eternity, covenanted away to him,
and now no more her own.
2. She has in view the remaining time-piece (if I may call it so)
of that eternity, which lies on this side death, Psalm cxix. 112, " I
have inclined mine heart to perform thy statutes always, even unto
the end." She foresees there will be many difficult steps in her
way through that piece of it : but now, that we have once met, saith
her soul, on this side death, we shall never part. What Ruth said
BETWIXT CHRIST AND BELIEVERS. 505
to Naomi, is the soul's language here to the Lord Christ, " "Whither
thou goest, I will go," (as long as I am going on the earth) ; " and
where thou lodgest, I will lodge : thy people shall be my people,
and thy God my God, Ruth i. 16. The consideration of these diffi-
culties stirs up the soul to take hold of Christ for that part of the
ever, Psalm xlviii. 14, " This God is our God for ever and ever : he
will be our guide even unto death."
3. In the espousals the soul has a view to death, the entrance of
proper eternity, and so forward for ever and ever. The work we
we have in hand is weighty work indeed : it is work for eternity.
I think I may say, there will not be a soul espoused to Christ,
nor a worthy communicant at the table of the Lord, in this place this
day, who will not do their death-bed work here, as really as if they
were fully persuaded they should never go from the place they sit
upon, but in their coffins. If they take Christ, surely they take him
for ever.
There are two things, which, how long soever men may shift and
put off, yet they will find necessary to do them on their death-beds,
when they perceive they must quickly leave the world ; one is, to
dispose of their souls for eternity ; the other is, to dispose of their
effects, whatsoever they have in world : both these will be done by
the worthy communicant at the Lord's table, or wheresoever any
shall be espoused to Christ this day.
(1.) "Whosoever shall here be espoused to Christ, will dispose of
his soul for eternity here, as if he were on his death-bed. Observe
how the Psalmist, resigning himself to the Lord, speaks, as if
he had been about to draw his last breath, Psalm xxxi. 5, " Into
thine hand I commit my spirit." So consenting to the covenant
now, is but doing our death-bed work betimes. And there is good
reason to do it now ; for we know not at what hour our Lord will
come; and whether we shall ever rise up from our seats, or not.
They who manage this work aright, will surely act for eternity,
which they have in their view.
(2.) "Whosoever shall here be espoused to Christ, will here dis-
pose of all that he has, as if he were lying on his death-bed. And
indeed, the soul's joining with Christ, in the marriage covenant, is a
dying after a sort : therefore it is very natural the man make his
will, seeing he is a-dying. It is a dying unto sin; and so he will
solemnly give up with sin, leaving all his guilt to be cast into
the depths of the sea of the Redeemer's blood; leaving all his lusts
to be broken and destroyed by the Redeemer's sanctifying Spirit.
It is a dying to the world ; and so he will give up all his earthly
comforts and enjoyments to Jesus Christ, to be disposed of at his
Vol. VII. 2 i
506 THE EVERLASTING ESPOUSALS
pleasure, pleading no more right to dispose of them himself here-
after, than a dead man can claim to. Whoso give themselves to the
Lord, will make a tender of their relations to him also, that they
likewise may be his ; and will lay down at his feet their houses and
lands, liberty and life, and whatsoever is dear to them in the world.
Thus, in the espousals, the believer disposeth of his all, as on a
death-bed, leaving all to the Lord, or upon him ; taking him for all,
and instead of all, as he oifers himself, for ever. For the espousals
are for ever in design, in the design of both parties.
Secondly, The espousals betwixt Christ and the soul are for ever
in fact. As this match is designed to be everlasting, so it is ever-
lasting indeed. It shall never end, but last it shall, from the mo-
ment it is made, through all the ages of eternity.
1. It is everlasting, without interruption.
2. It is everlasting, without expiring.
First, It is everlasting, without interruption : it shall never be
broken. The marriage covenant betwixt Christ and his spouse, is
not like Adam's covenant, where man might be in this day, and out
to-morrow ; to-day the friend of God, to-morrow his enemy : nay, it
is a bond of peace with God, which the believer shall never be
shaken out of, though devils do their worst. The spouse of Christ
receives a kingdom which cannot be moved, Heb. xii. 28. Marriage
covenants amongst men may be broken, yea, and made null on just
grounds, before the time come wherein they would expire of course :
but the marriage-covenant betwixt Christ and believers is not liable
to such uncertainties. If it could be broken, or the relation become
extinct in any case, it would certainly come to pass in one or all of
these four ; 1. In the case of the adversity of either party. 2. In
the case of the advancement of either party. 3. In the case of de-
sertion. Or, 4. In the case of the spouse's unchastity. But in none
of these cases is the covenant broken, or the relation extinguished ;
in all of them the fatal breach is still avoided.
1st, The espousals betwixt Christ and the believer stands firm,
the covenant remains sure, in the case of the adversity of either
party. This case is fatal to many covenants among men, of whom
there are many who, as Nineveh's captains, Nah. iii. 17, are like the
" great grashoppers which camp in the hedges in the cold day : but
when the sun ariseth, they fly away." They stick close in a time of
prosperity, but adversity drives them off; and they remember not,
but renounce the brotherly covenant. But, in this covenant, the
parties will never break with one another, how low soever either of
them be brought.
(1.) Christ will not break with his spouse, though she be brought
BETWIXT CHRIST AND BELIEVERS. 507
Tery low ; lie will cleave to her in her greatest adversity, having
taken her for ever, and for all conditions. If thon be espoused to
Christ, though thy worldly comforts fail, thy reputation sink, thy
substance decay, poverty and want overtake thee ; yea, though thou
be brought so low by sickness and distress, as to be unable to do any
thing for thyself, or any thing for thy Lord and Husband : yet
know, that even in that case the covenant stands firm, and all
is yours in right and title. Our Lord will not disown his spouse
though she be going in rags. Job was very low every way, before
that God turned his captivity ; but as low as he was, the Lord owns
his relation to him, and seems to take a pleasure in owning it, Job
xlii. 7, 8, " Te have not spoken of me the thing that is right, as my
servant Job hath. Go to my servant Job, — and my servant Job
shall pray for you, for him will I accept: ye have not spoken of me
the thing which is right, like my servant Job." Four times in these
two verses, the Lord calls him his servant Job. And thus the cove-
nant sweetens what is bitter in the believer's lot, and makes his
thorny crown of afflictions better than a crown of gold.
(2.) Christ's spouse will not break with him when he is in adver-
sity. The apostle speaks of the afflictions of Christ, to wit, in his
members, the members of his mystical body, Col. i. 24. These of-
fend hypocritical professors ; and in such a time many of them fall
off ; but they that are indeed espoused to Christ, follow the lamb
whithersoever he goeth, Rev. xiv. 4. Christ with the cross will be
as dear to them as with the crown. Though enemies should prevail
to lay Jerusalem on heaps, they will favour the very dust thereof for
his sake. If he go to the wilderness, they will follow him thither. They
will take part with him, whosoever do oppose him, and side with
him, though all the world should side against him ; they will never
break with their Lord and Husband, upon the account of the most
bitter cup his enemies can fill up to them.
Idly, The espousals stand firm, and the covenant remains sure, in
the case of the advancement of either party. This case has been
fatal to some matches amongst men : but here lordship does not
change manners. The bride now makes choice of Christ for her
head and husband, while the world generally despises and rejects
him. The day approacheth wherein she shall see him come in the
clouds ot heaven, in the glory of his Father, with all his holy angels,
sit down on his throne, judge the world, and put all his enemies
under his feet : but will he then forget the marriage covenant? will
he then overlook the soul that is now espoused to him ? nay, he will
not. When "our God shall come, and shall call to the heavens
from above, and to the earth, that he may judge his people ;" behold
2 i 2
508 THE EVERLASTINO ESPOUSALS
how the marriage covenant is remembered, and the espoused graci-
ously noticed ! " Gather my saints together unto me, those that have
made a covenant with me by sacrifice," Psalm 1. 3, 4, 5. On the
other hand, howbeit the prosperity of fools shall destroy them, yet
the spouse of Christ will never change her Lord and Husband, what-
ever prosperous turn her outward condition in the world may take.
As the world's frowns will not frighten a believer from cleaving to
Christ, so the world's smiles will not entice him from it. He will
contemn its bribes as well as its boasts, Cant. viii. 7, " If a man
would give all the substance of his house for love, it would be utterly
contemned."
3e%, The espousals stand firm, and the covenant remains sure, even
in the case of desertion on either side. And this is a case which often
falls out in the present state and course of the spiritual marriage.
(1.) Sometimes the Lord, in his sovereign wisdom, for his own
holy ends, deserts his spouse in great measure : then the soul, that
was dandled on the knee, is cast down ; she, that had ready access
to her Lord, is held at the back of the door ; she, that was crowned
with loving-kindness, has the crown kicked off" her head : but though
the marriage covenant is laid up out of her sight, yet it is not torn
in pieces : though he in his anger shuts up himself (as it were) in
his chamber, yet he never leaves the house : still the relation stands,
and there is no total desertion in the case, Jer. xxxii. 40, " And I
will make an everlasting covenant with them, that I will not turn
away from them to do them good."
(2.) Sometimes the foolish creature deserts her espoused Husband,
ceaseth to entertain actual communion and fellowship with Christ :
then is she found pursuing this and that other vanity, gadding about
among created things, as if she were not espoused, but had her choice
yet to make : and she begins to nestle in some forbidden place. But
her Lord will not so part with her ; he will set fire to her nest
wherever it is, and graciously bring her back again, as the Psalmist
prays, Psalm cxix. last verse, " I have gone astray like a lost sheep ;
seek thy servant." Christ's spouse never totally forsakes him ; for
so runs the everlasting covenant with respect to her part, " I will
put my fear in their hearts, that they shall not depart from me,"
Jer. xxxii. 40.
Lastly, But what shall we say in the case of the unchastity of the
spouse of Christ? We must not speak wickedly even for God, nor talk
deceitfully for him, Job xiii. 7. It'is evident from the Lord's word,
that even in that case, the espousals stand firm, and the covenant
remains sure, Jer. iii. 13, 14, " Thou — hast scattered thy ways to
the strangers, under every green tree, and ye have not obeyed my
BETWIXT CHRIST AND BELIEVERS. 509
voice, saith the Lord. Turn, backsliding children, saith the
Lord, for I am married unto you." Wo unto us, our case is des-
perate, if the infirmities of Christ's spouse make void the marriage
covenant. But they do not make it void : surely our Lord will put
a difference betwixt weakness and wickedness ; and we know no
sin a believer falls into but sins of infirmity, (I say, not daily in-
firmity), " For sin shall not have dominion over you : for ye are
not under the law, but under grace," Rom. vi. 14. There is a
clause in the covenant touching the miscarriages of believers : but
it is not an irritant clause : " If his children forsake my law, and
walk not in my judgments ; if they break my statutes, and keep not
my commandments : then will I visit their transgression with the
rod, and their iniquity with stripes. Nevertheless, my loving-
kindness will I not utterlv take from him, uor suffer my faithful-
ness to fail. My covenant will I not break," Psalm lxxxix. 30 — 34.
Look not on this doctrine as a pillow for carnal security : for,
although those who are espoused to Christ need not fear putting
away, there remains enough to frighten them from sin, while their
sins may be pursued with all manner of strokes upon their bodies,
even to death itself; and with terrible strokes on their souls, even
to the arrows of the Almighty being within them, " the poison
whereof drinketh up the spirit," Job vi. 4. Yea, one sin in them
may be punished with suffering them to fall into another, as Da-
vid's sloth was punished with suffering him to fall into other sins
of a far more gross nature, 2 Sam. xi. And so a believer has that
to fear which is more to be feared than hell, if of all evils sin be
the greatest. And he spoke right who said, " That if on the one
side were presented unto him the evil of sin, and on the other side
the torments of hell, he would rather choose to fall into hell, than
to fall into sin."
The sum of the matter is this : Our Lord has brought his spouse,
by the marriage covenant, into a paradise on earth, while the re-
bellious dwell in a dry land ; and of the tree of life she may freely
eat ; but under the pain of her Lord's displeasure, she must not
taste of the forbidden fruit. Nevertheless, the day she eats thereof,
is not the term-day of the covenant, that she must remove ; nay,
but he will chastise her, and bruise her, till she vomit up the sweet
morsel. And he may so bruise her in his hot displeasure, as her
faith and hope may be brought to the very point of expiring ; yea,
her natural life may go for it, she may lose her life in the cause ;
only the covenant stands sure, the espousals are not disannulled.
The believing Corinthians provoked the Lord by unworthy com-
municating ; and for this cause (says the apostle, 1 Cor. xi. 30.)
510 THE EVEKLAST1NG ESPOUSALS
many sleep, viz. the sleep of death, which they shall not awake out
of till the resurrection. They profaned the sacrament of his body and
blood, which many do, and yet prolong their lives : but he made their
bodies to fall, and their blood to go for it ; he would not so wink
at it in them. But when God sent their bodies to the grave for
this cause, did he send their souls to hell for it likewise ? No ; they
were within the bond of the covenant, and that cause could not
break it ; but God pursued them so hard for it in this world, be-
cause they were not to bo pursued for it in another world ; ver. 31,
"But when we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord, that we
should not be condemned with the world." So that the marriage cove-
nant betwixt Christ and believers is everlasting, without interruption.
Secondly, It is everlasting, without expiring. "When a man has
a lease or tack of houses or lands, though the tack be not broken,
yet at length the years thereof run out, and it expires of course :
when a man marries a woman, though there be neither adultery nor
wilful desertion in the case, yet the marriage bond is dissolved at
length ; on the death of either party the marriage expires : but the
years of this covenant will run on through the ages of eteruity, but
never run out ; the marriage betwixt Christ and believers will never
expire.
1st, It does not expire at death. Our exalted Redeemer dieth no
more : the espoused bride must die indeed ; but the marriage co-
venant shall not die with her. The time comes at length, that the
believer's last pulse beats, his eyes are set, bis breath goes, and the
silver cord, that tied his soul and body together, is loosed ; but even
then the golden cord of the marriage-covenant, which knits him to
Christ, remains as fast as ever. The children begotten of his body
are no more his ; the wife of his bosom, who was one flesh with him,
is then free : but the espousals betwixt Christ and his soul continueth
firm ; he is still joined to the Lord, and one spirit with him. He is
carried to the land of forgetfulness ; but if his dust could speak in
the house of silence, it might say, on as good grounds as ever, " My
Beloved is mine, and I am his ;" for the believer's death is but a
sleep, which cannot dissolve the relation, John xi. 11, " Our friend
Lazarus sleepeth :" though dead, yet still our friend. Nay, when
his dust is scattered here and there, and the steams of his dead
body are flying through the air, they are well wrapt up in the bond
of the covenant, which insures the believer's resurrection : as our
Lord himself teacheth, while he proves it from Moses' calling the
Lord, " the God of Abraham," Luke xx. 37.
2dly, It does not expire with the world's ending. This world
will have an end: but the marriage covenant betwixt Christ and
BETWIXT CHRIST AND BELIEVERS. 511
believers will outlive the world, and never end. This world's end-
ing shall be by fire ; the day will come that this earth, and the
works that are therein, shall go up in flames, 2 Pet. iii. 10, " But
the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in the which
the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements
shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are
therein, shall be burnt up." What will then become of the lands
and estates, the farms and merchandise, the worldly substance
great or small, which now keep back many from the marriage of
the King's Son they are bidden to, and leave them no appetite for
the gospel feast ? But these who now come into the marriage co-
venant, shall lay up something for themselves this day, which the
fire of that dreadful day shall not reach ; for though that fire shall
burn up mountains, castles, and palaces, break through charter-
chests, and destroy the rights and evidences of lands and honours,
handed down from father to sou, for many generations; yet it shall
not be able to burn the marriage contract betwixt Christ and belie-
vers: " For the mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed,
but my kindness shall not depart from thee, neither shall the cove-
nant of my peace be removed, saith the Lord, that hath mercy on
thee," Isa. liv. 10.
But why do I speak of the expiring of that marriage, when the
world ends ? For, when the last day is come, the marriage of the
Lamb is come ; the marriage betwixt Christ and his spouse shall
then be solemnized and consummated.
Letus take a view of the solemnizing and consummation of the mar-
riage betwixt Christ and believers; it is within the compass of that
clause in the text, for ever. I shall give it in these seven particulars.
1. At the last day the royal Bridegroom shall come out of his
Father's house, his ivory palaces, the highest heavens, in the robes
of his glory, attended with all his holy angels, Matth. xxv. 31.
2. The bride shall c>me out of her mother's house, the house of
mother-earth, Job i. 21, the grave, that darksome, narrow, louely
house. (These are accepted, who shall be found alive at his com-
ing). But it shall be a joyful outgoing : never bride had the like.
Hear the mirth that will be at that outgoing, Isa. xxvi. 19, " Thy
dead men shall live, together with my dead body shall they arise :
awake and sing, ye that dwell in dust" This is a prophecy, which
will not till then have its full accomplishment. Behold the glorious
traiu sent to attend her, and bring her along to the bridegroom, a
train of angels, whom " he shall send to gather together his elect
from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other," Matth.
xxiv. 31. And all shall rejoice together, for, " with gladness and
rejoicing shall they be brought," Psalm xlv. 15.
512 THE EVERLASTING E8POUSAXS
3. The bride shall be presented to the bridegroom : she shall
" meet the Lord in the air," 1 Thess. iv. 17- She sees how his
lovely picture, as it is drawn by the pencil of the Holy Spirit, in
the word of the everlasting gospel ; and she contracts with him :
but then she shall see him in person, and be solemnly married unto
him. She is presented " as a chaste virgin to Christ," 2 Cor. xi. 2.
Look on her as presented that day ; where are all her former de-
formities ? she is presented, " not having spot or wrinkle, or any
such thing," Eph. v. 27. Where is all her former blackness? she
" shines forth as the sun," Matth. xiii. 43. Where are all her rags,
which so ofteu clothed her with shame ? " She is brought unto the
King, in raiment of needle-work," Psalm xlv. 14.
4. The witnesses are present; the whole congregation of heaven
and earth, to be witnesses to the marriage. There is the glorious
company of holy angels : there is the black company of the wicked,
of whom many were wont to satisfy themselves to be only specta-
tors of the espousals ; and now, to their eternal confusion and
anguish, they shall be spectators of the marriage, and but specta-
tors.
5. Then the royal Bridegroom, being on his throne, shall solemnly
take his espoused bride in marriage, before the world, angels and
men, saying, " Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom
prepared for you from the foundation of the world," Matth. xxv.
34. And in token thereof, he shall put a crown on her head, 2 Tim.
iv. 8, and set her down with himself on his throne : " To him that
overcoraeth will I grant to sit with me in my throne," Rev. iii. 21.
6. There shall be a glorious triumph, to grace the solemnity of
the day ; a triumph over the enemies of Christ and his spouse. All
the wicked world shall stand trembling before them, and be adjudged
to everlasting fire, and driven from before the throne, in conse-
quence of that fearful sentence, " Depart from me, ye cursed, into
everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels," Matth.
xxv. 41.
Lastly, Christ and his spouse shall be the last on the field ; and
when they have seen the backs of all their enemies, (while they
depart into everlasting punishment), they shall go away attended
with angels, and enter into the King's palace, where they shall sit
down to the marriage supper of the Lamb, at a table that shall
never be drawn.
So the marriage expires not with the world's ending, but is then
solemnized and consummated.
Shall we proceed any further in quest of that, which we are sure
we shall never find ? We have looked into death, and we find
BETWIXT CHRIST ANI> BELIEVERS. 513
the marriage expires not there; we have looked to tli3 world's end-
ing, and we find it is so far from expiring then, that then it is
solemnized and consummated : if we attempt to go further, we lose
ourselves in a boundless ocean of eternity, where we can see nothing
more to take our mark by. Let us stop then, and conclude, that
the blessed espousals are for ever; that the spiritual marriage
betwixt Christ and believers never expires ; never, never, never.
I proceed to the Application. And the only use I shall make of
this doctrine is to exhort you, that, seeing sinners may be espoused
to Christ for ever, ye would therefore consent to the offer, and be
espoused to him for ever. Christ makes offer of himself unto every
soul here this day ; and we are come in his name to propose unto
you a marriage with the Son of God, that we may gain your consent
thereto. come into this blessed match : accept of Jesus Christ,
your Maker, to be your Husband for ever. Shall we not prevail
with you, in a treaty so very suitable to your case, so very much
for your advantage ? Howsoever it be entertained, we must make
the offer in his name, proclaim the royal Bridegroom's will and
pleasure, and make suit for your hearts. Therefore " hearken
unto me, that God may hearken unto you."
First, Are there any in all this company who have an unstable,
false, and fickle heart, that they can never get fixed, but still it
breaks all bounds? No doubt there are. To such I say, Here is a
suitable match for you. Come into the marriage covenant, put that
heart in Christ's hand : these whom he espouseth, he espouseth
for ever. If ye cannot keep the covenant, the covenant will keep
you. The covenant of works could never keep an unstable heart,
the condition of it being perfect and complete obedience, without
the least failure or wavering; a condition ye cannot pretend to ful-
fil, and therefore ye can have no hope from the way of that cove-
nant. I know the sorry shifts that some make to delude them-
selves, by patching up a bastard covenant of works, wherein they
engage not with Jesus Christ as a Head and Husband, to live
by him, being united to him, (which they could certainly do, if
they took the way of the covenant of grace), but they covenant
with him only as a master, to give him their work for wages.
Surely this covenant of your own making will never keep you : your
hearts, howsoever ye watch them, will leap out and break it; but
the marriage covenant will secure the most unstable heart that is
to be found amongst us ; so that it shall be as the tree whose root
remains fixed in the earth, howbeit the branches thereof are shaken
by the wind. Though the spouse of Christ may be tossed to and fro
by the blasts of temptation, yet the root of the righteous shall not
be moved, Prov- xii. 3.
514 THE EVERLASTING ESPOUSALS
Secondly, Are there any in this company that are mourning for
the loss of their deceased relations ? or any that are afraid of such
a mournful occasion abiding them ? Here is a suitable match for
such persons, the King immortal offers to betroth you unto him for
ever. Ye cannot think of the death of your friends, of parting
with your dear relations, but with greatest sorrow of heart. Truly
ye that are of that disposition will never find a relative suitable to
your mind, but by coming into this marriage covenant. The Lord
Jesus Christ will take you into the nearest relation with himself;
he is willing to espouse you, and being once espoused, ye shall never
part. Death, that inexorable messenger, who snatcheth the hus-
band from the wife, and the wife from the husband, the child from
the parent, and the parent from the child, cannot prevail here, and
shall never be able to separate betwixt Christ and these that are
espoused to him, Rom. viii. 38, 39, " Neither death nor life — shall
be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus
our Lord."
Thirdly, Are there any who know not how to get safe through
the world in the evil day ? Here is a suitable match for you :
be espoused to Christ; he will go betwixt you and all hazards.
How bad soever the times be, they will still be within the compass of
that sweet clause in the text, "for ever." And therefore I infer, that
our Lord offers himself to be a head and husband to us for the evil
day, the day of trial. Take him for your husband for ever. If it
be a dark day, he will be for a light to you, and guide you ; if it be
a day of war, he will cover your head ; if it be a day of searching
of corners, he will hide you either under heaven, or in heaven.
Embrace the covenant, and then, although ye sing the triumph be-
fore the victory, ye shall not be ashamed, Psalm xlix. 5, ''"Wherefore
should I fear in the days of evil ?"
Fourthly, Are there any who have none to provide for them ? or
any under fears, that, ere long, they will be in a destitute and help-
less condition ? Come ye into this match, and ye shall never want
a provisor, who will surely furnish you all that you shall need, and
that is enough ; " Verily thou shalt be fed :" yea, " in the days of
famine they shall be satisfied," Psalm xxxvii. 3, 19. What time ye
are espoused to Chi'ist, even your daily bread is secured to you by
the covenant, Isa. xxxiii. 16, "Bread shall be given him, bis waters
shall be sure." The carnal world will laugh at this, and bid us sit
down and dine upon it ; but they cannot laugh the people of God
out of their experience, whose consciences do bear them witness, that
they have dined sometimes more sweetly upon a promise of the
covenant, than it is possible for carnal men to do at their most plen-
tiful tables.
BETWIXT CHRIST AND BELIEVERS. 515
Fifthly, Are there any here that have been ranging through the
creation, seeking a match for their souls, soinethiug commensurable
to the desires of their immortal spirits, but could never yet find it ?
Ye have not failed to meet with disappointments, even where your
hopes have been most raised : ye have found some one thorn of un-
easiness or another, wheresoever you have essayed to take up your
rest ; and whithersoever ye have turned yourselves, ye have still
come away dissatisfied ; ye have tried many methods to attain to sa-
tisfaction, and none of them has answered your design. Be per-
suaded at length to make trial of this ; embrace Christ in the mar-
riage covenant, and be assured he will be to you what no created
person or thing can be, a complete covering of the eyes, and a rest
to your heart for ever, Psalm lxxiii. 25, " Whom have I in heaven
but thee ? and there is none upon earth that I desire besides thee."
Sixthly, Are there any whom nobody cares for, who are rejected
by all, and cast at every door ? Our Lord will receive you, even
you ; for " he gathereth together the outcasts of Israel," Psalm
cxlvii. 2. His family, so far as it is made up of the children of
men, is made up of foundlings : Israel was a poor foundling; Egypt
would lodge them no louger; Canaan would not take them in: but
when they were cast at all hands, the Lord took them up, Deut.
xxxii. 10, " He found him in a desert land, and in the waste howl-
ing wilderness : he led him about, he instructed him, he kept him
as the apple of his eye." So, however forlorn your case be, he will
take you up, and bring you into the bond of the covenant, even the
marriage covenant.
Ye have a Scripture full to this purpose, representing the case of
the Jews, whom the Lord took into covenant with himself, but ap-
plicable to every soul whom Christ espouseth, Ezek. xvi. 5, " Thou
wast cast out into the open field, to the loathing of thy person."
Ver. 8, " I spread my skirt over thee, and covered thy nakedness :
yea, I sware unto thee, and entered into a covenant with thee, saith
the Lord God, and thou becamest mine." It is evident there is an
allusion here to the inhuman custom of exposing of infants, very usual
among several heathen nations. The Lord shews Israel and all
these whom he has espoused, what a miserable case he found them
in, and how graciously he dealt with them when they were in that
case.
Thou wast cast out into the open field ; thy case was as ill as
that of exposed outcast infants. Now, that barbarous custom we
find was, to take out the infants, and leave them in some place
where they might perish, if some body did not find them, and take
them up, as Pharaoh's daughter did Moses when he was exposed,
516 THE EVEKLAST1NG ESPOUSALS
Exod. ii. Such was thy case, hopeless and helpless, being abandoned
of all, and unable to help thyself. This barbarity was exercised on
these infants that were lame or deformed, and who they judged were
not like to be useful to the commonwealth. So Christ's bride is
altogether unsightly, and has nothing promising about her in the
day he begins to manifest herself unto her ; no beauty for which she
is to be desired. Sometimes they exposed infants to perish by the
waters, the sea, rivers, or lakes ; sometimes they laid them down in
woods or desert places, where they might be a prey to ravenous birds
aud beasts : accordingly thou wast cast out in the open field, even
the waste howling wilderness, Deut. xxxi. 10. Thus the sinner lay
a ready prey for the devourer, and so thy case was as ill as that of
exposed infants.
But that is not all ; it was worse than theirs usually was : they
were laid out, but thou wast cast out ; not laid down warily, but
violently thrown away, to, or in, the lothing of thy person, as some
abominable thing men cannot endure to look at. When they were
exposed, they were put either in a kind of close basket, or in an
earthen pot ; but so much kindness was not shown to thee, thou wast
cast out in the open field, or (as the word is) " to the face of the field ;"
thrown to, and left upon the bare ground without the least shelter.
But it was yet worse : when infants were exposed, they were
swathed and adorned, yea, and precious things, as gold, jewels,
rings, were laid down with them for the charges either of their
education or burial, if any that found them should be at the pains
to do either of these unto them. " But I covered thy nakedness,"
saith our Lord. As for those whom he takes up, there is nothing
to be got by them ; it is of mere grace, absolutely free grace, that
he takes notice of them to help them. They have not so much as to
cover their nakedness.
Now, behold how grace abounds to the foundling ; " I entered
into a covenant with thee, and thou becamest mine," i. e. my spouse,
as I showed before. If one free-born had been exposed, he lost his
freedom, and passed into a servile state ; but those whom our Lord
takes up, he does not enslave, but espouse unto himself.
Finally, Observe, that the first covering the Lord casts upon the
naked foundling, is the marriage-robe, the robe of his own righte-
ousness. He does not delay the espousals till the bride be brought
into a better and more honourable condition than he found her in,
but takes her as she is in her miserable condition, and, espousing
her, covers her nakedness ; " I spread my skirt over thee, (betrothed
thee unto me), and so covered thy nakedness."
the riches and freedom of grace ! Let those that are espoused
BETWIXT CHRIST AND BELIEVERS. 517
to Christ already be humble ; and the worst of sinners, who are
willing now to take him, be encouraged to come forward unto the
marriage.
Seventhly, Are there any amongst us, who are difficulted in these
weighty points of greatest concernment, to wit, How they shall
safely die, and go into another world ; how they shall stand before
the great tribunal ? Hearken ye to this offer, Jesus Christ, the
Lord of the other world, who sits upon the tribunal, is willing to
betroth you unto himself for ever. blessed device for eternity !
Can there be such a proper expedient for the business of another
world, as to be espoused unto the Lord of that world ? Can there
be such a proper expedient for a comfortable standing before the
tribunal, as to be joined now, in a marriage covenant, to the Judge
that sits upon that tribunal ?
Lastly, Are there here any of the children of apostate Adam, who
have fallen off from God, fallen out of his favour, and are under his
wrath ? the gate of heaven is shut upon you; the pit has enlarged
her mouth for you; the earth groaneth under you; and ye are in
danger of perishing for ever: Come ye into this covenant, accept of
Jesus Christ for your Head and Husband ; so shall ye be re-instated
into the favour of God, and made happy for over and ever. " For
so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the
everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ."
This offer is made unto you all without exception. Christ is
willing to be yours, Rev. xxii. 17, " Whosoever will, let him take
the water of life freely." The Bridegroom is stretching out his
hand, in order to join hands with you in the marriage covenant ;
and will not ye stretch out your hand unto God? Psalm lxviii. 31.
What will ye do ? will ye not give your consent to the Son of God,
to be espoused unto him for eA T er ? Before ye adventure to refuse,
there are three things I would beg of you as rational creatures.
1. Before ye refuse to be espoused to Christ, consider how ye will
dispose of yourselves to greater advantage. Will a full swing in your
lusts be to your greater advantage ? Will your betaking yourselves
into the devil's fields to feed his swine, (to feed insatiable lusts),
be to your greater advantage, than to partake of Christ and the be-
nefits of his covenant ? If ye reckon so, ye will at length find, to
your eternal loss, ye have reckoned amiss.
2. Before ye refuse it, consider how ye will do without it. Pos-
sibly you may make some silly shift to live at ease in the world,
without being espoused to Christ : but I pray you consider, how will
ye die without it? how will ye stand before the tribunal of God
without it ?
Lastly, Before ye refuse this offer of the espousals, make it sure,
518 THE EVERLASTING ESPOUSALS
(in case of repenting of the refusal afterwards), that ye shall have
another offer thereof; and that upon this refusal, the sentence shall
not pass against you, which is written, Luke xiv. 24, " For I say
unto you, that none of those men, which were bidden, shall taste of
ray supper." If it do pass against you, ye are for ever ruined ; but
ye can have no such assurance : therefore do not adventure to " re-
fuse him that speaketh from heaven ;" but give yourselves away to
him in the everlasting marriage covenant.
Let none raise objections against themselves, to hold them off
from embracing the covenant. There is as much in the very pro-
posal of it, as may take off all your objections, on whatsoever
ground ye state them ; " I will betroth thee unto me for ever ; yea,
I will betroth thee unto me in righteousness, and in judgment, and
in loving-kindness, and in mercies. I will even betroth thee unto
me in faithfulness, and thou shalt know the Lord."
But necessity has no law. In vain do we stand to dispute
whether or not we shall take that way, which we must needs take,
or inevitably perish. Ye must be espoused to Christ, or God will
be your enemy through the ages of eternity : there is no other way
for sinners to be re-instated in the favour of God. Ye must either
be espoused to Christ for ever, or ye must be damned for ever. The
case is already judged, Mark xvi. 16, " He that believeth not, shall
be damned." If ye reject the marriage covenant, ye must die in
your sins ; for so doing, ye reject the remedy of sin. But why will
ye judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life, and reject the counsel
of God against yourselves ? Will ye fly in the face of the grand
device of the wisdom of God for the salvation of sinners, and wil-
fully die of your disease, when the Physician is come to your
bed-side ? There is no salvation out of this covenant, strangers to
it have no hope, Eph. ii. 12. Wherefore, ye must either join your-
selves to the Lord in the covenant of peace, or he will have war
with you for ever.
This covenant is drawn with blood, the precious blood of the
royal Bridegroom : it is the new testament in his blood. Behold
how he loved his bride, in whom there was nothing lovely !
trample not upon " the blood of the everlasting covenant !"
Now, let your hearts give an answer, before the Lord, unto these
few questions.
First, Are ye pleased with the Bridegroom ? His Father is
pleased with him, all the holy angels and saints are pleased with
him ; and are not ye pleased with him ? I assure you, he is so far
pleased with you, even the worst of you, as to take you for his
spouse ; " I will betroth thee unto me for ever." Are you pleased
to take him for your Husband ?
BETWIXT CHHIST AND BELIEVERS. 519
Secondly, Are ye willing to renounce all your former lovers, and
to part with all your lusts for ever ? Assure yourselves, if ye take
him ye must let these go away. God's covenant is a holy covenant ;
and ye will hring a curse upon yourself, instead of a blessing, if ye
come to seek a shelter to any one lust under it.
Thirdly, Are ye content to take Christ for all, and instead of all ?
will, ye receive him in all Lis offices ? will ye receive him as your
Prophet, to teach you, renouncing your own wisdom ? as your Priest,
to save you by his death and sufferings, renouncing your own righte-
ousness ? as your King, to reign and rule over you, renouncing all
your idols? Art thou content to give up thine own will to him,
and that " thy desire shall be to thy husband," to grant it, or with-
hold it, as he seeth meet ; so that thou shalt be no more master of
thyself, or at thine own disposal, but wholly at his disposal?
Lastly, Will ye take him for ever, from this moment, for pros-
perity and adversity, for life and death, for time and eternity ?
If it be so with you indeed, then ye are espoused to the Lord Jesus
Christ for ever ; and welcome to the feast of the espousals at his
table : but, if not, ye will get a long eternity to repent this refusal,
unless you change your mind, and repent of it in time.
THE
MYSTERY OF CHRIST
IN
THE FORM OF A SERVANT.
A Sermou preached at the administration of the sacrament of the Lord's Supper.
Philip, ii. 7.
And took upon hhn the form of a servant.
Our holy religion, which hath its denomination from Jesus Christ, is
a religion of mysteries ; mysteries of faith, and mysteries of prac-
tice, neither of which can one he let into, in a saving manner, with-
out supernatural grace. The mysteries of faith, mysteries to be be-
lieved, do, all of them, lead unto practice : yea, even these of them
which are most sublime, the more they are truly believed, the more
do they influence men to holiness of heart and life. Wherefore the
apostle, in the contest, to press the Philippians unto the practice of
moral duties, particularly to love their neighbour as themselves", to
lay out themselves to be beneficial to mankind, and for that end to
deny themselves, and condescend to others for their good ; lays be-
fore them, to be believed, that constellation of mysteries appearing
in the incarnation of the Son of God : a motive to good works, un-
known to the Jewish Rabbies, and Greek moralists ; but sealed in
the experience of believers, as the most powerful incentive to uni-
versal holiness.
In this verse, whereof the text is a part, are three of these mys-
teries. The first, which is the leading one, is, that " Christ Jesus
being in the form of God, not thinking it robbery to be equal with
God, yet made himself of no reputation," viz. for us. To be in the
form of God, is to be very God, having the very nature and essence
of God; the form being that which essentially distinguished things,
and makes a thing to be precisely that which it is. And forasmuch
as this form is, according to the apostle, the foundation of his equa-
lity with God his Father; it can denote no less than his being very
God : for no excellency whatsoever, really different from the divine
THE MYSTERY OF CHRIST, &C. 521
essence, can found an equality with God ; but still there would re-
main as great a disproportion as betwixt finite and infinite. Here
then is a wonderful mystery : Christ being very God, the supreme,
the Most High God, equal with the Father, emptied himself of his
divine glory, laying it aside, namely, in point of manifestation, cast-
ing a veil, a thick veil, over it, for a time. The second mystery is,
" He took upon him the form of a servant." Thus it was that he
emptied himself. This form, to wit, of a servant, was the veil he
drew over his divine glory: for so the original words run, "But
emptied himself, taking the form of a servant." The third mystery
is, " He was made in the likeness of men." In regard of the sinful-
ness cleaving to men's nature, which he was absolutely free of, he is
said to have been made, not in a sameness with, but in the likeness
of, men ; truly man in substance and nature, but without sin, how-
ever like to sinful flesh he appeared, Rom. viii. 3, "God sending his
own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh." This was it that was pre-
requisite unto, and qualified him for, taking upon him the form of a
servant : for so stand the words in the original, " Taking the form
of a servant, being made in the likeness of men."
It is the second of these mysteries, "And took npon him the form
of a servant," which I am to insist upon. And two things here are
to be opened; namely, "What the form of a servant is." And,
" What Christ's taking it upon him bears." I begin with the
latter of these.
Whatever is more particularly meant by the form of a servant, it
is plain, that in the general it must denote a mean and low condi-
tion. And our Lord's taking it upon him, imports two things; 1.
That he voluntarily and of his own free choice submitted to it, for
the sake of poor sinners. He was not originally in the form of a
servant, as some men have been, who were born in a state of servi-
tude; nay, he was from eternity the Son of God, his Father's equal:
but he, being Lord of heaven and earth, came, of his own accord,
under the form of a servant. It was not laid upon him against his
will ; but he freely took it on himself, and became bound, when he
might have continued free. 2. It imports, that what he was before,
namely, very God, equal with the Father, he still continued to be,
notwithstanding of his submitting to the form of a servant. He
took upon him the form of a servant ; that is, continuing in the
form of God, he took upon him the form of a servant.
By the form of a servant, is not understood the likeness of a guilty
man. That exposition weakens the force of the apostle's argument,
and the forc6 of that important term, the form of God ; though in-
deed the thing itself is truth, and is taught in the last clause of the
Vol. VII. 2 k
522 THE MYSTERY OF CHRIST
verse. Neither is it to be understood of man's nature, which in
respect of God is servile : because Christ's emptying of himself, con-
sisting according to the text, in his taking on the form of a servant
was surely over, and at an end, in his exaltation, and the full mani-
festation of his divine glory ; while yet his human nature remains.
Neither doth that mean, low, and servile kind of condition, into
which he was brought in his sufferings, seem to explain sufficiently
the form of a servant, which he took upon himself.
The plain and literal sense of these words I take to be the true
sense of them, viz. That the Son of God, our blessed Lord Jesus
Christ, really became a servant, as really as ever man did, who served
for his bread. He voluntarily took upon himself, that wherein the
essence of that relation, on the servant's part, doth consist; and so
was formally constituted a servant, to all intents and purposes of the
bargain with him whose servant he became. As this is the literal
sense of the words, from which we are never to depart without ne-
cessity ; so it is confirmed to be the genuine sense, by the true im-
port of that phrase, Being in the form of God. His being in the
form of God, denotes his being very God ; therefore his taking upon
him the form of a servant, must denote his becoming really a
servant.
Now, the scripture represents Jesus Christ, (1.) As a servant in
his state of humiliation, and so he is called, a servant of rulers,
Isa. xlix. 7- (2.) As a servant in his state of exaltation, Isa. liii. 11,
" By his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many." Com-
pare Acts v. 31, " Him hath God exalted, with his right hand to be
a Prince and a Saviour, to give repentance to Israel, and forgive-
ness of sins." It can hardly be a question with any who reads the
text and context, whether the form of a humbled servant, or of an
exalted servant, is meant here ? Our Lord Jesus did take on both,
the one in his humiliation, and the other in his exaltation ; but it is
evident, the former, and not the latter, is here meant ; and they are
vastly different. The form of a humbled servant he submitted to ;
the form of an exalted servaut was conferred on him, as the reward
of that submission, Philip, ii. 9. In this form of a servant, he has a
most exalted and glorious honorary ministry ; being a servant, for
whose law the isles shall wait, Isa. xlii. 1, 4, " For the Father
— hath committed all judgment unto the Son," John v. 22, hath
" set him king upon his holy hill of Zion," Psalm ii. 6, and "given
him all power in heaven and in earth." Matth. xxviii. 18. But in
that form, whereof the text speaks, he had a service low and humble,
onerous and heavy, a surety-service, a servitude ; and so the form
was the form of a bond-servant. In both the one and the other
in the form: of a servant. 523
Joseph was a shining type of him, being first sold for a servant, and
then exalted to be ruler over all Egypt under Pharaoh.
Here then is a stupendous mystery : Christ Jesus, very God, the
Father's equal, Lord of heaven and earth, became a servant for us,
a bond- man or bond-servant ; for so the word properly signifies, and
therefore is the word that is constantly used iu that New Testament
phrase which we read bond or free, or bond and free, 1 Cor. xii. 13,
Gal. iii. 28, Eph. vi. 8, Col iii. 11, Rev. xiii. 16, and xix. 18. The
greatest inequality found in any relation among men, is in that be-
twixt the master and the servant, the bond-servant : so the lowest
levelling among them is that whereof mention is made, Isa. xxiv. 2,
" It shall be — as with the servant, so with his master." Then, what
unparallelled condescension, wonderlul emptying was this ! God's
equal becoming a servant, a boud-servant, for poor sinners ! Both
these characters, the highest and the lowest, met together in Christ,
in his state of humiliation, Zech. xiii. 7, " Awake, sword, — against
the man that is my fellow, saith the Lord." Isa. xiii. 1, "Behold
my servant ;" the very same word that is rendered bond-man and
bond-servant, Lev. xxv. 39, 42, 44.
Doctrine. Our Lord Jesus Christ, continuing to be his Father's
equal, humbled himself into a state of servitude, and became his
servaTTt, his bond-servant, iu man's nature, for poor sinners of
Adam's race. This was a step lower than his becoming man ; but
the lower it was, the higher did his free love to man appear.
I am aware, that some in the height of their own wisdom, mea-
suring gospel mysteries by their carnal reason, may be apt to say
here, " This is an hard saying, who can hear it?" But it is undeni-
able, that Christ is expressly called God's servant in the holy Scrip-
ture; as Isa. xiii. 1, " Behold my servant whom I uphold," &c. com-
pared with Matth. xii. 18, where that text is directly applied to
him, Zech. iii. 8, " I will bring forth my servant the Branch." But
what kind of a servant unto his Father was he ? did he become a
bond-man, a bond-servant? Yea, he did. Hear his own decision
in that point, Psal. xl. 6, " Sacrifice and offering thou didst not de-
sire, mine ears hast thou opened." The word here rendered opened,
properly signifies digged, as you may see in the margin : and so the
words are, " Mine ears thou diggedst through ;" that is, boredst, as
it is well expressed in our paraphrase of the Psalms in metre,
" Mine ears thou bored." This plainly hath a view to that law con-
cerning the bond-servant, Exod. xxi. 6, " Then his master shall
bring him unto the judges, he shall also bring him to the door, or
unto the door-post : and his master shall bore his ear through with
2 k 2
524 THE MYSTERY OF CHKIST
an awl ; and be shall serve him for ever." This is confirmed from
Hos. iii. 2, " So I bought her to me for fifteen pieces of silver,"
which was the half of the stated price of a bond-woman. In the
original it is, " So I digged her thorough to me," &c, the same word
being here used, as Psalm, xl. 6. It is a pregnant word, which is
virtually two in signification : and the sense is, I bought her, and
bored her ear to my door-post, to be my bond-woman, according to
the law, Deut. xv. 17, " Thou shalt take an awl, and thrust it
through his ear into the door, and he shall be thy servant for ever :
and also unto thy maid servant thou shalt do likewise." The bor-
ing of her ear as a bond-woman, was noways inconsistent with the
prophet's betrothing of her to himself, Hos. iii. 3, see Exod. xxi. 8.
I shall only add, that, accordingly, his most precious life, which
was the ransom for the lives of the whole elect world, was sold by
Judas for thirty pieces of silver, the stated price of the life of a
bond-servant, Exod. xxi. 32, " If the ox shall push a man-servant,
or maid-servant, he shall give unto their master thirty shekels of
silver, and the ox shall be stoned." And the death he was put to,
namely, to die on a cross, was a Roman punishment, called by them
the servile punishment, or punishment of bond-servants : because it
was the death that bond-men malefactors were ordinarily doomed
unto ; free men seldom, if ever, according to law. And it is plain,
that " Joseph who was sold for a servant," (Psalm cv. 17,) was
therein a type of Christ.
Now, for the opening of this mystery of the state of servitude the
Lord of glory put himself into for wretched sinners of Adam's race,
we shall briefly consider the following particulars. (1.) To whom
he became a servant. (2.) For whom. (3.) The necessity of it.
(4.) The contract of service. (5.) His fulfilling of it. (6.) Where-
fore he engaged in it.
I. To whom he became a servant. The Son of God, in our na-
ture, became a servant to man's great Lord and Master. He put
himself in a state of servitude to hia Father, who said unto him,
'• Thou art my servant," Isa. xlix. 3. It was with his Father he
entered into the contract of service : he it was that bored his ears,
Psalm xl. 6. It was his Father's business he was employed in,
Luke ii. 49, and to him he behoved to work, John ix. 4, " I must
work the work of him that sent me." So, howbeit our Lord Jesus
was and is, in respect of his divine nature, the Father's equal; yet,
in that respect, he acknowledgeth the Father greater than he, as the
lord is greater than the servant, John xiv. 28, " My Father is
greater than I." Compare chap. xiii. 16, " The servant is not
greater than his lord, neither he that is sent greater than he that sent
him."
IN THE FORM OF A SERVANT. 525
Christ is indeed called a servant of rnlers, Isa. xlix. 7. But not
in respect of the prime servile relation he stood in : that relation he
bore to his Father only : but in regard of a secondary occasional
relation ; as when a master obligeth his servant to serve another
man in a particular piece of business. Thus our Lord Jesus was,
by his Father, subjected to the Jewish and Roman rulers ; ho paid
tribute, and was by them both treated as a servant. But heroin he
was still about his Father's business.
II. For whom he became a servant. Our blessed Lord Jesus took
on the service for and instead of others, who were bound to it, but
utterly unable for it. The cup is found in Benjamin's sack ; there-
fore poor Benjamin, his father's darling, must be kept a bond-man
in Egypt : Nay, says Judah, " Let me abide instead of the lad, a
bond-man to my lord, and let Benjamin go," Gen. xliv. 33. An
elect world is found guilty before tho Lord ; they must therefore be
bond-men for ever, as well as the rest of mankind : Nay, Father,
saith our Lord, who sprang out of Judah, that yoke will be utterly
insupportable to them, they will undoubtedly be ruined and perish
for ever under it : I will take their state of servitude upon me, let
that yoke be laid on my neck, let me be thy bond-man in their stead ;
and let them go free. So be it, said God, who had set his electing
love on them from eternity, I am well pleased with the exchange :
thou then " art my servant, Israel, in whom I will be glorified,"
Isa. xlix. 3. As to which words, it is evident from the context, that
Christ is the party therein spoke to. By Israel is meant the
spiritual Israel, to wit, the elect of mankind. Compare Rom. ix. 6,
" They are not all Israel who are of Israel." The former text
stands thus precisely in the original, " Thou art my servant ; Israel,
in whom I will glorify myself." As if the Father had said to
Christ, Sou, these are utterly unable to make out their service; for,
their work-arm being broken by the fall, I cannot expect a good
turn of their hand : be it known then, that it is agreed, that I take
thee in their room and place, to perform the service due in virtue of
the original contract ; thou in their stead art my servant, from
whose hand I will look for that service : thou art Israel's repre-
sentative in whom I will glorify myself, and make all mine attri-
butes illustrious ; as I was dishonoured, and they darkened, by
Israel the collective body of the elect. So, it was for the elect Christ
became a servant.
III. The necessity of his becoming a servant for their salva-
tion. No doubt all mankind might have been left to perish, even
as the fallen angels, without any the least imputation of injustice,
either on the Father, or on the Son. The saving of any of the lost
526 THE MYSTERY OF CHRIST
race of Adam, was not a necessary act which could not have been
left undone ; but an act of sovereign free grace. Ilowbeit, on the
supposition that God would have an elect company saved, there was
a necessity of Christ's taking upon himself the state of servitude
for them. This will appear from the following particulars jointly
considered.
1. The elect of Grod were, with the rest of mankind, constituted
God's hired servants by the first covenant, the covenant of works ;
and actually entered to that their service, in their head the first
Adam. And in token of this, we are all naturally inclined in that
character to deal with God ; though by the fall we are rendered in-
capable to perform the duty of it, Luke xv. 19, " Make me as one of
thy hired servants." The work they were to work was perfect obe-
dience to the holy law ; the hire they were to have for their work
was life ; " The man which doth those things, shall live by them,"
Rom. x. 1. The penalty of breaking away from their master was
perpetual bondage under the curse, Gal. iii. 10, •' Cursed is every
one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book
of the law to do them."
2. Ilowbeit they never made out their service : but,' by the time
they were well entered home, they, through the solicitation of the
great runaway servant the devil, violated their covenant of service,
and brake away from their Lord and Master. So they lost all plea
for the hire ; and justly became bond-men under the curse of the
broken covenant of works, liable to be whipt to their work, and,
for their malefices, to die the death of slaves, Gal. iv. 24, " These are
the two covenants ; the one from the Mount Sinai, which gendereth
to bondage." Their falling under the curse inferred the loss of their
liberty, and constituted them bond-men for ever ; as is evident from
the nature of the thing, and instances of the cursed iu other cases,
as Gen. ix. 25, " Cursed bo Canaan ; a servant of servants shall he
be." Josh. ix. 23, " Now therefore ye (the Gibeonites) are cursed,
and there shall none of you be freed from being bond-men." The
very ground being cursed, (Gen. iii. 17,) falls under bondage, ac-
cording to the scripture, Rom. viii. 21. Compare Gal. iii. 13,
•' Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree ;" which hath a special
respect to dying on a cross, the capital punishment for bond-men.
3. By the breaking of that covenant, they lost all their ability
for their service, and were left without strength, Rom.'v. 6. They
had no suffering strength to bear the punishment of their breaking
away from their service ; but they must have for ever perished
under it. Thay had no doing or working strength left them ; their
work-arm, once sufficient for their service, was now quite broken,
IN THE FORM OF A SERVANT. 527
so that they could work none at all to any good purpose : nay, they
had neither hand nor heart for their work again, Roin. viii. 7, " The
carnal mind is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can
be." So it was not possible for them to make out their service,
Josh. xxiv. 19, " Te cannot serve the Lord."
4. Howbeit, the punishment due unto them, for breaking away,
from their service, behoved to be borne ; and the service itself be-
hoved to be made out, according to the original contract, the co-
venant of works ; else they could never have life and salvation.
The truth of God insured this, Gen. ii. 17, " Iu the day thou eatest
thereof, thou shalt surely die." The honour of God's holy law and
covenant required it, Tsa. xlii. 21, " He will maguify the law, aud
make it honourable." And his exact justice confirmed it, Gen.
xxviii. 15, " Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?"
Lastly, Since all this behoved to be done, aud they could not do
it; the misery of servitude behoved to be borne, and they were not
able to bear it ; the service behoved to be fulfilled, and they could
by no means work it out : it was therefore absolutely necessary for
their life and salvation, that Jesus Christ should come under the
curse due to them, take on himself their form, put himself in the
room of the poor bond-man, enter home to the service in then-
stead, and fully serve it out for them, transferring on himself their
state of servitude, Gal. iii. 13, " Christ hath redeemed us from the
curse of the law, being made a curse for us : for it is written, Cursed
is every one that hangeth on a tree." Chap. iii. 3, 4, 5, " We —
were in bondage under the elements of the world : But — God sent
forth his Son — made under the law, to redeem them that were un-
der the law."
IV. The contract of the service. It is the covenaut of grace,
made between the Father aud Christ, the second Adam, represent-
ing all the elect his spiritual seed. The covenant of grace is justly
looked upon as a covenaut of service, strictly aud properly so
called; wherein so much work is to be done for so much wages.
But it is a lamentable abuse of the covenant of grace, by legalists
in their principles, and many of the communicants in their practice,
that they put the work, for earning of the wages, in the wrong
hand ; namely, that they shall be the workers, and eternal life the
hire of their work. This is to trample under foot God's covenant
of grace, and to make a new one of our own, which he will never
approve of. Heaven's device in this case was, that Christ should
be the worker for life and salvation to poor sinners; and that they
should get life and salvation, through him, by free grace ; and so
work from life and salvation received, as sons entitled to the in-
528
THE MYSTERY OF CHRIST
heritance antecedently to all their working, Rom. vi. 23, " For the
wages of sin is death : but the gift of God is eternal life, through
Jesus Christ our Lord." Chap. iv. 4, 5, " Now to him that work-
eth, is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt. But to him
that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly,
his faith is counted for righteousness." So the covenant of grace
was, in respect of Christ, a covenant of service in the strictest sense ;
and the reward is of debt to him, and him only, as the servant
that worked for it, according to the covenant : and none but he
was fit for that service.
Here consider, 1. This contract of service was enteredinto from eter-
nity,Tit. i. 2, " In hope of eternal life, which God that cannot lie, pro-
mised before the world began." The covenant by which salvation
is to be had, is not a covenant of yesterday, or of to-day, now to
be made by us : it was made in every point thereof before the world
was. What remains for us is to take hold of it by faith. 2. The
design of it was, (1.) To illustrate the divine glory, much darkened
by the hired servants of God's own house. There was, by sin, an
invasion made upon God's declarative glory aud honour, and Jesus
Christ was chosen to make the reparation. So, whatever wrong
was done to the sovereignty, justice, holiness, and goodness of God,
or any other the divine perfections, by the sin of those in whose
room he stood, it is laid upon him to repair it, Isa. xlix. 3. (2.)
To save lost sinners; to restore the Israel of God, whether Jews
or Gentiles, to life and favour, Isa. xlix. 6. God had set his love
from eternity on a select company of mankind : they were lost,
ruined, and undone, and they must be saved : and Jesos Christ en-
ters into his Father's service for that effect. 3. The service, which
in this contract he undertook to perform, was, to fulfil the whole
law for them; fully to answer in their room and stead, the demauds
which the broken covenant of works, the original contract had upon
them, Heb. x. 9, " Then said he, Lo, I come to do thy will, O
God." Thus the parts of the service were these two; (1.) Hi3
bearing the punishment which they, as the breakers of the law,
were bound to underly in virtue of the penalty of the covenant of
works. And hereby he was to satisfy the penalty of that covenant,
the law's sanction of death. (2.) His performing the obedience
which they were still bound to fulfil, by the same covenant of
works, though broken. And hereby he was to satisfy the command-
ing part of that covenant, requiring perfect obedience for life, Gal.
iv. 4, 5, " God sent forth his Son — made under the law, to redeem
them that were under the law." Chap. iii. 13, " Christ hath re-
deemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us,"
IX THE FORM OF A SERVANT. 529
Mattli. iii. 15, "Thus it becometh as to fulfil all righteousness."
4. The covenanted reward of the service was a glorious exaltation
to himself, and eternal life for them. Of the former the apostle
makes mention, Philip, ii. 2, " Wherefore God also hath highly ex-
alted him." Of the latter, Tit. i. 2, " In hope of eternal life, which
God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began."
V. The fulfilling of the service, according to his contract. It
was a hard service ; but he went through with it, " became obedi-
ent unto death, even the death of the cross, Philip, ii. 8. And
herein three things are to be considered.
1. He entered to his service, in his being conceived and born
holy for them ; so bringing a holy human nature into the world
with him, which he retained unspotted to the end. Thus he answered
the demand which the law had on them, for original holiness, ho-
liness of nature, as a condition of life, Isa. ix. 6, " Unto us (or for
us, chap. vi. 8,) a child is born :" even that holy thing, Luke i. 35.
That this was a piece of the service he performed for them, and
was indeed his entering to his service, appears by comparing Psalm
xl. 6, " Sacrifice and offering thou didst not desire, mine ears hast thou
opened," (Heb.) digged through ; with Heb. x. 5, " Sacrifice and offer-
ing thou wouldst not, but a body hast thou prepared me." Where the
digging through, or boring of his ears to God's door-post, in the
room and stead of the elect, is expounded of preparing him a body,
a human nature.
2. He went on in his service in the righteousness of his life,
being " obedient even unto death," Philip, ii. 8. All that he did
in the space of about thirty-three years he lived upon earth, was
working the work of bis service, to the fulfilling of the whole law
in its commands ; which was that work wherein the first Adam
failed, and so ruined all mankind. And thus the great Surety servant
answered the demand which the law had on the elect, for perfect
righteousness of conversation, as the condition of life, John xvi. 4,
"I- have glorified thee on the earth , I have finished the work thou
gavest me to do."
Lastly, Having suffered all his life long, in which he was a man
of sorrows, and acquainted with grief, he completed and finished
his service in his death and burial ; thus answering for them the
law's demand of satisfaction for sin, John xix. 30, " When Jesus
therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished : and he
bowed his head, and gave up the ghost." The term of his coutinu-
ance in this state of servitude was, according to the covenant, till
death, but no longer. This accouut of the matter he himself gives
us, John ix. 4, " I must work the works of him that sent me, while
530 THE MYSTERY OF CHRIST
it is day : the night (viz. of death) cometh when no man can work."
He was to serve during all the days of his life ; that is, in the lan-
guage of tlie law, for ever, Exod. xxi. 6, " His master shall bore his
ear through with an awl, and he shall serve him for ever," i. e. till
death. In common cases, the law made an exception here of a jubilee
intervening : but in the case of the great bond-servant, the Lord of
glory, there was no such exception : nor could there be, in regard the
true jubilee was to be brought about by his death. Howbeit, in the
grave " the servant is free from his master," Job iii. 19 : so, having
served out his full time, there he put off the form of a servant : and
he rose and revived, that he might be Lord both of the dead and
living," Horn. xiv. 9.
VI. And Lastly, Wherefore he put himself into, and took on him,
this state of servitude.
1. Love to his Father, and the love he had to his designed spouse,
the captive daughter of Zion, and to his childreu the spiritual seed,
engaged him to undertake it ; as in the case of the servant under
the law, Exod. xxi. 5, " I love my master, my wife, and my children,
I will not go out free." He saw that his Father would entirely lose
his service from all mankind, if he did not in their nature take the
service on himself; the whole tribe of Adam, from the least to the
greatest, being utterly disabled for it. Wherefore, for his Father's
glory, the honour of his holy law, his justice and his mercy, he
" took on him the form of a servant, being made in the likeness of
men." The captive daughter of Zion, his Father's choice, and his own
choice, for a spouse to him, he could not have, but, as Jacob had Ra-
chel, by serving for her, as unlovely and unsightly as she was. But
he loved her freely, he loved her infinitely ; and, because he so loved,
he took on the form of a servant for her, and, as the true Israel, serv-
ed for a wife, Hos. xii. 12. He loved his children, the spiritual seed,
the elect given him of his Father : notwithstanding of all the burden
cleaving to them, he would not quit them : he saw they would be
lost, if he should go out from them free ; therefore he consented to
the boring of his ears, to serve all the days of his life upon the earth.
2. He took it on him, for releasing them from that state of
servitude or bondage which their father Adam, by his mismanage-
ment, had brought himself and all mankind into. What Judah
offered to do, in the case of Benjamin his brother, Gen. xliv. 33,
Christ really performed in the case of his brethren, becoming a bond-
man in their stead, that they might be free. They were in bondage
under the law, under the curse of the broken covenant of works : and
they could never, by all their own doings and sufferings, have worked
themselves out of their bondage ; but had perished in it, had not he
put himself into their room and stead.
IN THE FORM OF A SERVANT. 531
3. He did it for paying their debt. The law, in some cases,
allowed parents to sell their children for paying their debt.
Hence the Lord saith unto Israel, " Which of my creditors is it to
whom I have sold you ?" Isa. 1. 1. Thereby showing, that it was
not to him, but to themselves their ruin was owing. We have a
story to this purpose of one of the sons of the prophets, who was a
holy man, but had died in debt: it is thus related by his poor
widow, 2 Kings iv. 1, "Thy servant my husband is dead, and thou
knowest that thy servant did fear the Lord: and the creditor is come
to take unto him my two sons to be bond-men." Thus stood the case
with the elect. Their father Adam, who ruined his own family,
had brought a burden of debt on them, as well as on the rest of his
children ; he had left them under a double debt, a debt of obedience,
and a debt of punishment, which they were utterly unable to pay.
And Justice, as the creditor, was come to take them away for bond-
men, and force them to serve for payment of the debt, never to be
released till the last farthing of it was fully served for: but Christ
said, Justice, allow them to stay, and take me for a bond-man in
their stead ; if the service for payment of the debt lie on tlrem, they
will perish under it, and the debt will never be paid out : but I will
serve for them. It was accepted : and the Lord Jesus took their
room, and went away with the creditor for a bond-man in their
stead.
Lastly, He took on him the form of a servant, to bring them into
a state of adoption in the family of God. He became a bond-
servant, that they might become sons and daughters. This the
apostle plainly teacheth, Gal. iv. 1, "The heir, as long as he is a
child, differeth nothing from a servant," — ver. 3, " Even so we —
were in bondage." — ver. 4, " But God sent forth his Son, made
of a woman, made under the law," ver. 5, " To redeem them that
were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons."
Use I. What is said may serve for convincing, awakening, and
alarming sinners who are strangers to Jesus Christ, whether they
be profane persons, or formal hypocrites. Being yet in your na-
tural state, not united to Christ ; ye are in a state of bondage, there
is a terrible and heavy yoke wreathed about your necks, from which
ye are not able to deliver yourselves. Ye are bond-men under the
law : and so,
1. It lies upon you, to perform and fulfil the service which man was
bound to by the covenant of works, even to give perfect obedience
to the law, under the pain of the curse : for to you it saith, Kom. iii.
19, " Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are
written in the book of the law to do them." Now, ye are utterly
532 THE MYSTERY OF CHRIST
unable for this, and shall as soon remove these mountains as per-
form it : therefore ye can never be saved, while ye are out of Christ.
Behold, in Christ's taking on him the form of a servant, how that
service behoved of necessity to be performed, according to the law,
ere one sinner could be saved. And if God did so stand upon the
honour of his law with his own Son, that he behoved completely to
fulfil that service for those whom he should save ; it is vain for you
to slight Christ, and think that God will grant an abatement of that
service to you. Nay, as matters stand betwixt God and you, if you
obey not perfectly, you do nothing to purpose : no less can be ac-
cepted off your hand, since ye are not in Christ by faith.
2. It lies upon you to bear the punishment due to yon for break-
ing away from God your Lord and Master ; according to the
threatening, Gen. ii. 17, " In the day thou eatest thereof, thou shalt
surely die." All that ye can suffer in this world, will not be a suffi-
cient compensation for the wrong thereby done to the honour of an
infinite God : nay, ye shall never be able, through the ages of
eternity, to exhaust that punishment, and ge/w°roin under it. None
less thai* he, who was in the form of God, and equal with God, was
able to go through it : therefore the Son of God took on him the
form of a servant, that therein he might bear it, and bear it away
from all that believe. A certain proof that none out of Christ shall
escape it.
Consider then, I beseech you, what ye are doing : and see here,
how precisely God stands to his having the service, owing him in
virtue of the first covenant, fully made out ; that, rather than any
should be saved without its being fulfilled, he would have his own
Son to take on him the form of a servant, and fulfil it for them.
Use II. Let all be exhorted to flee to the Lord Jesus Christ, and
by faith to embrace him, and the service performed by him, as their
only plea for life and salvation. Here is a mystery of faith ;
" Christ took upon him the form of a servant," proposed to be be-
lieved and applied by each one in particular to himself, for salva-
tion. And surely it will be good tidings.
1. To the poor broken-hearted sinner, who sees he cannot serve
the Lord according to the demand of the law, but one way or other
mars every piece of work he takes in hand ; who is out of conceit
with his own best doings, because they are so ill done. There is a
service performed by the Mediator for sinners, that is perfect even
in the eye of the law. It is done, it is completed, and life and sal-
vation is thereby gained for all that shall believe.
2. To such as are under the terror of the threatenings and cnrse
of the holy law, for their running away from God's service, and
IN THE FORM OF A SERVANT. 533
the dishonour they have done to the great Master. Here is the
way of peace and reconciliation, by which ye may return to him as
a Father; even through his own Son, who, for sinners, "took upon
him the form of a servant," and finished his work.
Jesus Christ, with his service, and all the benefits thereof, is
offered unto you this day : refuse him not, but take him as exhibited
uuto you in the gospel-offer. Take him for your righteousuess, in
which you will stand before the Lord ; take him for your treasure,
out of which all your debt shall be paid ; take him for your work,
from whence alone your righteousness shall arise for your justifica-
tion before the Lord ; take him for your Husband, Head, and Lord :
take him for your all in all. Take himself, and his service shall
be imputed to you ; his state of servitude, which is now over, shall
make thee a son or daughter of God's family : in him thou shalt be
" received for ever, not now as a servant, but above a servant ;" as
Paul speaks in the case of Ouesimus, a runaway bond-servant, Phil.
15, 16. So shall you get both heart and hand for working good
works, works truly good ; as children working to their Father,
having the inheritance secured to them before, by the works 1 of their
elder Brother.
Object. 1. " But will ever Christ make me partaker of the bene-
fits of this service, who have served my lusts, instead of serving him ?"
Answ. Christ became not a bond-servant, but for those who were in
bondage to sin and Satan : and it was the very end for which he
took on him the form of a servant, that, by communicating to them
the benefits of his service, he might deliver them from the service of
sin, and cause them to serve him, Luke i. 74, " That we being de-
livered out of the hands of our enemies, might serve him." Doubt
not then, but that, coming to him, ye shall be partakers of the be-
nefits of his service, to all intents and purposes of salvation: and
particularly, that ye may be no more bond-servants under sin, but
honorary servants to himself, whatever ye have been heretofore.
" For we ourselves also were sometimes — serving divers lusts and
pleasures," Tit. iii. 3, " And such were some of you : but ye are
washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the
Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God."
Object. 2. " I fear I am none of these in whose room and stead
Christ took on him the form of a servant : how then can I embrace
him, and apply his service to me, by believing ?" Answ. Your
right to take him, and apply his service to yourself by believing,
doth not at all depend on that matter, which is a secret not to be
known by you till ye do believe ; but it depends on the offer of
Christ, his service which he served, and righteousness which he
534 THE MYSTEHY OF CHRIST
thereby wrought, made to you in the gospel of God, Rev. xxii. 1.7,
" "Whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely." Howbeit
Christ took on him the form of a servant, only in the name and
stead of the elect; yet a slain Saviour, a crucified Jesus, having
fulfilled the bond-service, is the ordinance of God for life and salva-
tion unto all ; that whosoever of all Adam's race " belie veth in hira,
should not perish, but have everlasting life," John iii. 16. And his
service or righteousness is a gift made over in the gospel to all the
hearers of it ; so as it is lawful for them, and every one of them, to
take possession of it by believing. Hence, according to the apostle,
to believe, is to " receive the abundance of grace, and of the gift of
righteousness," Rom. v. 17- And this is so certain, that ye must
either receive it and be saved ; or be held, in the court of heaven,
refusers of heaven's gift of righteousness made to you, and so perish
for ever with a double destruction, Mark xvi. 16, " He that believeth
and is baptized, shall be saved : but he that believeth not, shall be
damned."
Use last, Christians, communicants, come to the Lord's table
with the faith and admiration of this stupendous mystery, " Christ
in the form of a bond-servant for you." See it in the exact justice
of God, the invaluable price of your salvation from sin and wrath,
and the strongest motive to the obedience of sons. And let the faith
of it fill your hearts with love to him, who so loved us ; with repent-
ance and kiudly sorrow for your sin, which brought God's equal so
very low ; with thankfulness for this unspeakable benefit ; and with
holy purposes of uew obedience.
The continuation of the improvement.
This doctrine of Christ's state of servitude is too fruitful, both in
point of faith and practice, to be dismissed without further im-
provement : therefore I shall now endeavour to improve it for your
further instruction, and for exciting to the practice of holiness.
First, This doctrine discovers the ground and reason of several
other gospel truths, which spring from it as a root-principle. And,
among these, I shall take notice of the following particulars.
1. Here is a clear ground, upon which the dead elect, incapable
by any work or doing of their own, to make themselves to differ
from others, are, in a consistency with God's impartial justice,
quickened, an I endowed with saving faith, while others remain
dead about them ; quickening grace coming on them as a dew from
the Lord, as showers upon the grass, that tarrieth not for man, nor
waiteth for the sons of men," Micah v. 7- Our Lord Jesus having,
in their name, taken on him the form of a bond-servant, did, in their
IN T1IE FORM OF A SERVANT. 535
room and stead, perform the service required of tliem by the broken
covenant of works, the original contract of service ; but he did not
perform that service in the room and stead of others. Hence,
though not to others, yet to them is given life, as the reward of the
service performed for them by the second Adam ; even as their life
was lost through the marring of that service in the hands of the first
Adam. " For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be
made alive," 1 Cor. xv. 22, i. e., as all Adam's natural seed die, by
his breaking off from the service ; so all Christ's spiritual seed shall
be made alive by his fulfilling it for them. And now that the Lord
Jesus, having fiuished his service by his death and burial, is risen
again to be Lord of the dead and of the living ; how can they miss
of being quickened, each one in his time, since he lives, to see that
the life, for which he served a hard service, be made forthcoming to
them, according to the contract of service he eutered into with his
Father ? " Because he lives, they shall live also."
2. Here is a clear ground, upon which the obeJience of the
man Christ may be imputed to believers for righteousness, as well
as his satisfaction by suffering : notwithstanding obedience was due
from the human nature of Christ as a creature. For it is evident
that Christ's obeying his Father in the character of a bond-servant
(which is it that is imputed to us for righteousness) could no more
be due, antecedently to his contract of service, than his satisfaction
by suffering.
3. Here is the ground upon which believers in Christ come to be
justified before God ; not upon the account of any thing wrought in
them, or any work or deed done by them, whether the grace of
faith itself, their act of believing, or any gospel obedience of theirs
whatsoever, imputed to them for righteousness, but upon the ac-
count of Christ's service allenarly, imputed to them for their whole
and only righteousness in the sight of God, according to the apostle's
desire that he might " be found in him, not having his own righte-
ousness — but that which is through the faith of Christ," Philip, iii.
9. For in the second covenant there was a transferring on him their
state of servitude, under which they stood bound to make out the
service, which was the condition of life : accordingly be wrought
the work, and fulfilled the service for life, in their name and stead,
both in the doing and suffering part of it. Now, they being united
to him by faith, his righteousness arising from that service becomes
theirs, and so is justly imputed to them. And since a holy, just
God insisted to have his service, according to the original contract
fulfilled for life and salvation to poor sinners, and Jesus Christ was
the servant who did that work, not they ; it cannot be, that any
536 THE MYSTERY OF CHRIST
tiling else whatsoever should be imputed to them for righteousness,
but Christ's service, which he himself served, and for the perform-
ing of which he took upon him the form of a bond-servant, Rom.
iii. 22, 24, " Even the righteousness of God, which is by faith of
Jesus Christ unto all, and upon all them that believe. — Being justi-
fied freely by his grace, through the redemption that is in Jesus
Christ." 2 Cor. v. 21, " For he made him to be sin for us, who
knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of Ctod in
him." It is to his bearing the punishment due to the runaway ser-
vants, we owe the pardon of all our sins ; and to the obedience giveu
by him only, we owe our acceptance, as positively righteous in the
sight of God.
4. Here is a clear and solid ground upon which believers in Christ
are delivered from the covenant of works ; or delivered from the
law, considered as that covenant. For that broken covenant being
so far ingrossed in the covenant with the second Adam, as that
from it the service he was to perform in their room and stead was
stated in all the parts thereof, it plainly follows, that the service
being fully performed by him accordingly for them, and being
really become theirs by faith, they are wholly delivered from that
covenant ; so that it can demand no more service of them, than a
master can demand of a servant, who, in the person of another by
him accepted, has served out his time, and so hath a right to the
full hire, Rom. vii. 4, " Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are be-
come dead to the law by the body of Christ." John viii. 36, "If
the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed."
5. Here is the ground upon which believers are no more bond-ser-
vants, to work for life and salvation, to get it by their own works; but
advanced to the dignity of sons, and to serve as sons, to whom the in-
heritance belongs in virtue of their relation to their Father. For
since the Lord Jesus Christ took on him the form of a bond-servant
for them : and, having finished that service in their stead, became
free again ; they, being united to Christ by faith, can no longer re-
main bond-servants ; it being the very end of Christ's becoming a
bond-servant to set them free. This is their right and privilege be-
fore the Lord; howbeit, through the weakeness of their faith they
often serve the Lord as bond-men. And since it was the Son of
God, the Father's equal, who served in the character of a bond-
servant for them, they are, by the merit of that service, advanced to
be sons of the house of heaven. From this ground it is that the
apostle draws that conclusion concerning every believer, Gal. iv. 7,
" Wherefore thou art no more a servant, (i. e. a bond-servant), but
a son." Compare the preceding six verses of that chapter.
IN THE FORM OF A SERVANT. 537
6. Here is the ground upon which believers are set beyond the
reach of the curse, are freed from the guilt of eternal or revenging
wrath, and can never for shorter or longer time fall under condem-
nation ; howbeit their sins make them liable to all the effects of
God's fatherly anger. For Christ taking on him the form of a
bond-servant for them, bore all the curse, revenging wrath, and con-
demnation due to them for all their sins, whether before or after their
union with him : the which service done for them is imputed to
them, upon their believing in him; and from that moment is ever
upon them, never again disimputed. The truth is, the curse would
reduce them into the state of bond-servants again, and so uu-son
them ; as condemnation, and the guilt of eternal wrath, speak the
sinner on whom they fall to be a bond-servant, and not a son. Thus
teach the holy scriptures, Gal. iii. 13, " Christ hath redeemed us
from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us." Chap. iv. 7»
" Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son." Rom. viii. 1,
" There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in
Christ Jesus." Isa. liv. 9, " For this is as the waters of Noah unto
me : (which waters were a type of the flood of wrath, wherewith Chrisi
the true ark was tossed, 1 Pet. iii. 20, 21,) " For as I have sworn
that the waters of Noah should no more go over the earth ; so have
I sworn that I would not be wroth with thee, nor rebuke thee."
Psalm Ixxxix. 31, 32, " If they break my statutes : — Then will I
visit their transgression with the rod."
7. Here is the fountain-head of sanctification through faith
in Christ ; which is the only true sanctification competent to
fallen Adam's children, the spring of all holy obedience and
good works to be found amongst them. A sinful creature, in
a state of servitude or bondage, under the law or covenant of
works, is a bond-servant to sin : for " the strength of sin is the
law," 1 Cor. xv. 56, binding over the sinner to death, yea, binding
him down under death. And, being a bond-servant to sin, he is
in bondage to Satan too ; since the power of sin is his sceptre,
whereby he rules over the children of fallen Adam. Hence, while
the sinful man continues in bondage under that covenant, sin re-
tains its full force and sway over him ; even as the vermin doth
over the dead corpse in the grave ; so that he can neither be truly
good, nor do any thing truly good. But the holy Jesus becoming a
bond-servant under the law, in the room and stead of the sinful
creature, answered all the demands thereof; and having finished the
service, was, of course, freed from its yoke, which he had voluntarily
taken on himself. Now, the sinner uniting with him by faith, Christ's
service is imputed to him. Hence his bondage under the law as the
Vol. VII. 2 l
538 THE MYSTERY OF CHRIST
covenant of works is done away ; and he partakes more abundantly
of the promised life of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus: so the
reigning power of sin and Satan over him is broken, and he dies unto
sin and lives unto righteousness, in holy obedience to the law of
the ten commandments, as a rule of life to him in the hand of the
Prince of life. Thus unholy creatures are sanctified in Christ Jesus,
1 Cor. i. 2. sanctified by faith, Acts xxvi. 18. And this the apostle
plainly teacheth, Rom. vii. o, G, " For when we were in the flesh,
the motions of sin, which were by the law, did work in our members
to bring forth fruit unto death. But now we are delivered from the
law, that being dead wherein we were held, that we should serve in
newness of spirit, aud not in the oldness of the letter."
8. Here is the ground in law, for the perseverance of the saints ;
that they shall never fall away totally nor finally, but the life given
them, in their union with Christ, must needs be eternal, never to die
out, from the moment it is given, through the ages of eternity. For
the service upon which their life depends, is completely performed by
Jesus Christ : and the life, which was the promised reward of that
service, is actually bestowed on them in some measure : which life,
therefore, can never totally nor finally fail, without the failure of
the promise, the true and proper condition of which is already ful-
filled. Wherefore, the time of trial (in the sense of the first co-
venant) for life and salvation to believers, being now over, in the
second Adam their head engaging in the service ; their perseverance
is as sure as the faithfulness of God can make it. And thus the
apostle proves the perseverance of the saints, Heb. x. 38, from the
testimony of the prophet, Hab. iv. 4. For, as the law saith, " He
that doth these things shall live :" so the gospel saith, " The just by
faith shall live :" as some valuable interpreters read this text, and,
I think, rightly.
Lastly, Here is the only ground of their right to, and upon which
they are put in possession of, complete life and salvation in heaven,
namely, Christ's works and service performed for them, and pleaded
by them in the way of believing. For what plea can one have for
the hire or reward, either as to the right to it, or the possession of
it, but the performance of the service upon the account of which it
was promised ? Now, Christ alone performed that service : there-
fore we cannot found our plea before the Lord for heaven's happi-
ness, on any other ground but Christ's works and service. Paul re-
nounceth all other grounds, and thinks himself very safe upon this
alone, while he desires to " be found in Christ, not having his own
righteousness, — but that which is through the faith of Christ," Phil,
iii. 9. For " they which receive abundance of grace, and of the gift
of righteousness, shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ," Rom. v.
IX THE F0KM. OF A SERVANT. 539
17. And the great design of the contrivance of salvation was,
" That grace might reign through righteousness unto eternal life, by-
Jesus Christ our Lord," ver. 21. There is a glorious recompense of
reward, that follows the saints' work and labour of love: but the
truth is, it is (properly and strictly speaking) the reward of the
service of their head, not of the service of their hands.
Secondly, This doctrine of Christ's state of servitude, is a most
powerful incentive to gospel-obedience ; and, being applied to one's
self by faith, will be found to be a spring of holiness of heart and
life. And thus it may be improven. (1.) More generally. (2.) More
particularly.
First, More generally, in two branches.
I. If ye have any part or lot in this matter of Christ's service,
let it be the business of your life to serve the Lord Christ : say
peremptorily and resolutely, " As for me and my house, we will
serve the Lord," Josh. xxiv. 15. And devote yourselves to the
service of God in Christ, which is your reasonable service. Serve
him in the duties of worship, external and internal ; serve him in
secret, in your families, in the congregations of his people : serve
him in first-table duties, and in second-table duties : serve him in
your civil actions, and in your natural actions ; " Whether there-
fore ye eat or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of
God :" serve him in the several stations and relations wherein he
has placed you : serve him in doing for him, and suffering for him,
as he calls you. Set his holy law before you, in its spirituality
and vast extent; and know that it is the rule and measure of the
service ye owe him. Look upon the service Christ performed for
you, and let it excite and animate you to serve him.
Here is a powerful motive, to engage you to serve him. And
that it may have its due influence upon you to that effect, consider,
1. He was in the form of God, and God's equal, who served for
you : ye were born in bondage, under the law, bond-servants to sin
and Satan, the worst of masters. If you " look to the rock whence
ye were hewn, and to the hole of the pit whence ye were digged ;"
and withal look unto the Son of God, leaving the Father's bosom,
descending from his throne of majesty, laying aside the robes of his
glory, and taking on the form of a servant, therein to serve for you ;
ye must needs be haled to his service by the overcoming force of
his believed humiliation, 2 Cor. v. 14, " For the love of Christ con-
straineth us."
2. He has no need of your service to him, but ye were in absolute
need of his service for you. Though ye had remained bond-slaves
to Satan for ever, the want of your service, and all the disservice
2 l 2
540 . THE MYSTERY OF CHRIST
ye could have done the Lord of glory, could not have hurt him ; nor
can your service add any thing to his happiness, Joh xxxv. 7, 8.
But, without his service for you, ye had perished for ever, ye had
been bound hand and foot in utter darkness, for your breaking
the first covenant of service. Are not ye and your service then
wholly his ? And, if ye believe ye had perished eternally unless
he had served for you, can ye refuse him your service ?
3. The service he performed for you was hard service ; the yoke he
puts upon you is easy, and the burden light, Matth. xi. 30. He served
as a bond-servant for you ; he requires you to serve him as a son
serveth his father, Mai. iii. 17- If his people make their own ser-
vice harder, they owe it not to his Spirit, but to their own spirit, or
a worse, Rom. viii. 15, " For ye have not received the spirit of
bondage again to fear." No less than obedience, every way perfect,
could be accepted at his hand : but he will graciously accept sincere
obedience, attended with many imperfections, at your hand. He had
a hot service, a hot working service, a hot fighting service for you,
in the fire of the wrath of God, which burnt against him, as stand-
ing in your room. Behold him in the garden, in a cold niglit, sweat-
ing great drops of blood at his service ! behold him on the cross,
at once grappling with the Father's wrath, the rage and power of
devils and men ! and hear him calling for your service on that
very score, Cant. v. 2, " Open to me : — for my head is filled with
dew, and my locks with the drops of the night."
4. His service being finished, he is now, in consequence thereof,
exalted to be Lord of all, Phil. ii. 9, 10, " Wherefore God also hath
highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every
name: that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow." He is now
crowned King in Zion ; and all are solemnly commanded by the
authority of Heaven to submit to him, and serve him, to kiss the
Son, Psalm ii. 12. Our Joseph, who was sold for a servant, is now
brought forth of the dungeon, and made ruler over all the land : he
rides in the second chariot, and it is cried before him, " Bow the
knee." His sheaf now stands upright : let all his brethren bow
down before him, even to the earth. Behold him, believer, who
served for thee in the character of a bond-servant, now highly ex-
alted, all power given unto him in heaven and in earth : behold
him sitting on the right hand of the throne of majesty, commending
thee to the broad law of the ten commands, the eternal rule of
righteousness ; and strictly binding thee to obedience thereto, by
the authority of God thy Creator and Preserver; and with the ad-
ditional tie of his mediatory authority, his right of redemption over
thee, and his dying love to thee, which may well supply the place
IK THE FORM OF A SERVANT. 541
of the bond of the covenant of works, and the curse, the only tie
unto obedience which he hath taken from off thee by his service.
5. Christ served his hard and sore service for you, to this very
end, that ye, being delivered from your bondage and slavery under
sin and the curse, " might serve him in holiness and righteousness,"
Luke i. 74, 75. It was for this end the Lord Jesus undertook his
service for you : why would ye then go about to frustrate the end
of your Redeemer's undertaking for you ? is this your kindness to
your frieud ? It is unthankfulness with a witness, to refuse him
your service, to which ye are bound by the strongest ties of grati-
tude for the greatest favour from your best friend.
6. Your service is dear bought ; grudge it not. It is the price of
blood, the blood of the Son of God, " Who gave himself for us, that
he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a
peculiar people, zealous of good works," Tit. ii. 14. Serving the
Lord is a precious privilege, as well as a duty ; for it is a part of
heaven's happiness, Rev. xxii. 3. " His servants shall serve him."
Ye were in bondage to sin and Satan, which would not permit you
to serve the Lord ; until Christ, by his service, took their yoke from
off your necks. Ye were in bondage under the curse, that no service
to God could be accepted at your hand ; till ye were relieved through
Christ's becoming a curse for you. Ye were bound hand and foot,
yea, dead in trespasses and sins, that ye could not serve the Lord ;
until his precious blood set you free, and his death gave you life and
strength. And shall your service, the purchase of blood, be with-
held from the glorious Purchaser ? So far as it is so, it is doubtless
owing to unbelief. believer, look to the cross of Christ, and be-
hold how he paid for every good work, every good word, yea, every
good thought of thine. There is not one of these found, or that
shall be found with thee, through the ages of eternity, but it springs
from the merit and never-failing efficacy of Christ's service. And,
had not the Lord Jesus taken on him the form of a servant for us,
there had never been one piece of acceptable service to God, one
good work, word, or thought, found among the children of men,
after the breach of the first covenant.
7. There is a glorious and full reward, gained by Christ's service,
awaiting all his servants at the end of their course ; even the full
enjoyment of God in the other world : in which ye shall be com-
pletely happy to all eternity, 1 Thess. iv. 17, " So shall we ever be
with the Lord." 1 John iii. 27, "We shall be like him; for we
shall see him as he is." Our Lord Jesus having run in the name
and on the head of the blessed company, the designed heirs of glory,
and having won the prize for them all ; now sits on a throne at the
542 THE MYSTERY OF CHRIST
end of the race, with the prize in his hand, calling you to make haste
and follow him, and to run so, in faith and obedience, that you
may obtain, 1 Cor. ix. 24. Have " respect to the recompense of re-
ward," Heb. xi. 26. Set and keep your eye upon it, all along in your
service, as a won prize, and won for you, by the great Servant : and
let the hope of it excite, animate, and encourage you to the hardest
pieces of service in your way towards it. The time is but short :
wherefore, though your service be difficult, it will not be longsome.
And the glorious reward will more than counterbalance all your
toil. And remember, that according to your works in his service, so
will your share of the reward be, greater or smaller, 2 Cor. ix. 6,
" He which soweth sparingly, shall reap also sparingly: and he which
soweth bountifully, shall reap also bountifully." The reason is,
because both our service to God, and our reward, are purely and
equally the fruits of Christ's service for us ; and so they are propor-
tioned to the efficacy of it in us ; wherefore, according to the efficacy
of Christ's service in us, so will our service be, and so will our re-
ward be ; and so the greater service, the greater reward.
8. If ye do indeed belong to Christ, as these for whom he served,
ye shall certainly serve him. For, if he was crucified for you, your
old man was nailed to the same cross with him, that sin might be
destroyed in you, and you might serve him ; Rom. vi. 6, " Knowing
this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin
might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin." And
your service is a part of the reward of his service, which he cannot
lose ; for he has his Father's faithfulness engaged for it, in the pro-
mise of the covenant made to him, Psalm xxii. 30, "A seed shall
serve him ;" they shall serve him sincerely here, and perfectly here-
after. So that heaven and earth shall be overturned, and the whole
frame and course of nature reversed, rather than one soul, for which
Christ served, be left in bondage to its lusts.
Take heed then to yourselves; for your deliverance from the bon-
dage of your lusts, and your serving the Lord, is the necessary de-
cisive evidence of your part in Christ, of any saving interest in him
and his service. If ye serve him in truth, his service is yours, im-
puted to you for all the purposes of life and salvation. If ye serve
him not, ye have neither part nor lot in that matter, but must per-
ish for ever, Luke xiii. 3, " Except ye repent, ye shall all likewise
perish." Horn. viii. 13, " If ye live after the flesh ye shall die :
but if ye, through the Spirit, do mortify the deeds of the body, ye
bhall live." If ye be not his servants, to serve him, ye are slaves
to the devil and your lusts ; and ye shall die the death of slaves
IN THE FORM OE A SERVANT. 543
for your trausgressions : ye shall die a cursed death, under the
curse of the law, staking you down under eternal wrath, from which
ye shall never be able to lift your head : ye shall die a shameful
death, stripped of all covering whatsoever, the whole world behold-
ing your shame ; ye shall die a death painful beyond expression,
through revenging wrath, like nails and spears, piercing into your
very souls : and ye shall die a lingering death, spun out through all
the ages of eternity.
Lastly, By Christ's service there is strength purchased, where-
with ye may serve him; and it lies open to you, to be improved in
the way of believing, for enabling you to your work, Isa. xlv. 24,
" Surely, shall one say, In the Lord have I righteousness and
strength." The service which the Lord Jesus took off our hand
upon himself, namely, the bond-service, was what we neither had
nor could have strength for. Strength for the suffering part of it
man never had ; strength for the working part of it man once in-
deed had, but now it is lost. Hence these who continue in the bond-
service still, under the law or covenant of works, can work none
at all ; they can work no work truly good and acceptable in the
sight of God. And it is vain, upon that view, to bid them work,
without directing them, in the first place, to get in to Jesus Christ
from under that covenant. But now the Mediator has purchased a
new stock of strength, for the new service which he puts in our
hand ; and it is lodged in himself, treasured up in him as the head
of influences : and in the faith of it we are to set about our work,
2 Tim. ii. 1, " Thou therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that
is in Christ Jesus." So shall we be enabled for the hardest service
required of us, Philip, iv. 13, " I can do all things through Christ
which strengtheneth me." Come then, and resolutely ply the ser-
vice he calls you to.
II. If ye have any part or lot in Christ's service, serve him as
sons and daughters ; serve him as a son serveth his father, not as
a bond-servant serveth his master. If thou art in Christ, " thou
art no more a servant, (i. e. a bond-servant), but a son." Gal. iv. 7-
Serve him then agreeable to the character ye bear before him. As
it is your duty, so it is your high privilege, that ye have access to
serve him in that manner. It is the price of Christ's blood ; slight
it not. He served as a bond-man, that ye might serve as sons. Ye
had been bond-servants for ever, had not the Son of God become a
bond-servant for you, being " made under the law, that ye might
receive the adoption of sons," Gal. iv. 4, 5. And indeed he only
was fit to serve God in that character : none else was able to have
managed it acceptably. Wherefore,
5-14 THE MYSTERY OF CHBIST
1. Serve him out of love to him ; let your work and labour be a
" work and labour of love," Heb. vi. 10. Behold the Son of God
serving a hard service in your stead, from love to his Father, and
love to you who were altogether unlovely ; and let the love of
Christ constrain you to obedience. Believing views of Christ in the
form of a servant will produce this constraining love, 2 Cor. v. 14,
" For the love of Christ constraineth us, because we thus judge, that
if one died for all," &c. They will also prevent your acting from
a slavish fear of punishment, and a servile hope of reward, both of
them unbecoming the state of sonship, 2 Tim. i. 7, " For God hath
not given us the spirit of fear : but of power, and of love, and of a
sound mind." As, on the other hand, they will fill you with a
filial fear of God's fatherly anger, and a son-like hope of the pur-
chased and promised reward.
2. Serve him universally, so as ye may " stand perftct and com-
plete in all the will of God," Col. iv. 12. The Spirit of adoption
brings men unto this evangelical perfection : but a sinner serving
God in the state of bondage will never comply with the whole will
of God; but there will still be exceptions lying in the heart of
such a one against some one or other piece of commanded service.
This is evident from the Psalmist's testimony, Psalm cxix. 3, "Then
shall I not be ashamed, when I have respect unto all thy command-
meuts." Serve ye the Lord then as sons, sticking at no piece of
service commanded you, however painful, costly, or dangerous;
for at this rate Christ served for you, sparing neither pains nor
cost, and sticking at no danger.
Lastly, Serve him constantly, even to the end, Psalm, cxix. 112,
" I have inclined mine heart to perform thy statutes alway, even
unto the end." It argues the spirit of a sinner in the state of bon-
dage, to ply the work no longer than the whip is held over one's
head, or than one has something to gain to himself by his work,
Job xxvii. 10, " Will he delight himself in the Almighty ? will he
always call upon God ?" Shew yourselves sons of God, by cleav-
ing to his service continually, and never going back again to your
old masters. Remember him who was obedient even unto death.
Secondly, And more particularly, If ye have any part or lot in
this matter, let the same mind be in you which was in Christ Jesus,
who for you took on him the form of a servant.
1. Be of a loving and charitable disposition towards your breth-
ren the sons of men. Be concerned for the good of others, as well
as for your own. Lay aside all hatred, malice and revenge, envy
and grudge, at the good of others, as ever ye would shew yourselves
I.N THE E0KM OF A SERVANT. 545
partakers of the Spirit of Christ. Love your neighbour as your-
selves. Let the love that Christ shewed to his Father and to man-
kind, in taking on the form of a servant in man's nature, inspire
you with this love.
2. " As ye have opportunity, do good," and be serviceable " unto
all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith,"
Gal. vi. 10. "Whether they be good or bad, withhold not ye the
good that is in the power of your hand to do them. The Father set
his love on a select company of mankind : but they behoved to be
redeemed, to be bought from destruction with a price : and no sooner
was it proposed to the Son to do this for them, but he consented to
it, and to take on him the form of a servant for that effect. If the
same mind be in you that was in Christ, it will not divert you from
doing good to men, though you are nothing obliged to them, they
are unworthy of kindness, have done wrong to you, and ye cannot
expect compensation from them. Could any or all of these argu-
ments have prevailed with the Son of God to withhold his helping
hand from us, we had been all under bondage to this day, without
hope of relief. And let it move you to do good to the saints in a
special manner, that they are the persons in particular for whom
Christ took on him the form of a servant.
3. Put on bowels of humanity, mercies, and compassion towards
those who are in distress, Col. iii. 12. A selfish and untender dispo-
sition, void of sympathy with those in misery, is most unlike that
mind which was in Christ Jesus, who, in his pity towards miserable
sinners, laid aside the robes of his glory, and took on him the form
of a servant, that he might relieve them. But " he shall have
judgment without mercy, that hath shewed no mercy," James, ii. 13.
4. Shew a strict regard to justice in your dealings ; and be con-
scientious in giving every one his due. It was from regard to jus-
tice and that the service due uuto God from the elect, in virtue of
the original contract, might be performed, that Jesus Christ took
on him the form of a servant, and made out the service.
5. Be humble, and condescend to low things necessary for the
good of others. For this we have the example of God's equal, taking
on him the form of a servant : which may fill the faces of the proud
and selfish with shame and blushing, John xiii. 14, 15, " If I then
your Lord and Master have washed your feet, ye also ought to wash
one another's feet. For I have given you an example, that ye
should do as I have done to you."
Lastly, Be mortified to the ease, pomp and splendour of the world.
Be ready at God's call, to forego the comforts of a present life, in
546 THE MYSTERY OF CHRIST, &C.
the believing prospect of a better ; " looking unto Jesus, who, for
the joy that was set before him, endured the cross, despising the
shame :" and sit down contented, though the world should neither
give you its good word, nor its kind look. All the time that our bles-
sed Lord Jesus Christ was in the world, from his birth to his burial,
he was in it in the character of a bond-servant : and accordingly had
but coarse entertainment, hard lodging, being held in no reputation,
and at length buffeted, scourged, and crucified.
THE
PECULIAR MERCY
AND
BUSINESS OF LIFE,
OPENED UP, AND APPLIED.
Several Sermons preached at Ettrick. in the year 1727.
Isaiah xxxviii. 19.
The living, the living, he shall praise thee, as I do this day : the father
to the children shall make known thy truth.
It is much to be desired, that men would consider the great business of
their life : but few do it, till it is just going, or gone out of their
hands. Hezekiah had been at the brink of the grave, and learned
those just thoughts of life, which he gives us with much concern in
the text. Wherein we have,
1. The mercy of life : " The living, the living, he shall praise
thee," &c. Yer. 18, he had been speaking of the dead, the inha-
bitants of the gloomy mansions of the grave : and in opposition to
these he here speaks of the living, and in a triumphant manner pro-
poseth to speak of them, as seeing the mercy of life. A serious
view of death is the way to get just thoughts of the mercy of life.
2. Wherein the mercy of life, the peculiar mercy of it consists.
And the decision of this is in a vein of thought peculiar to the
spiritual man, in a spiritual frame.
1st, Ask the carnal man, where lies the mercy of life ? And,
(1.) If he is in prosperity, with health and wealth, he reckons the
mercy of life lies, in that the living man may enjoy the pleasures of
sense, mirth, and jollity, and may lay up wealth for him and his ;
all which stern death robs a man of. But there is not one word of
this here.
(2.) If he is in adversity, poverty, and sore sickuess, he either
caunot see the mercy of life at all, but thinks they are well that are
away, that are out of poverty and pain, and lie at ease in the dust.
548 THE PECULIAR MERCY AND BUSINESS
So crosses make him wish to be away. At best, he reckons it the
mercy of life, that he is not there where it may be he would be
worse, viz. in hell. But there is not a word of all this neither in
the text.
2dly, Ask the renewed man in an ill frame of spirit, where lies
the mercy of life ? If he is in outward prosperity, he will be ready
to reckon it lies in the comforts of this life. If he is in adversity,
the troubles of life are so great, that the mercy of it is small in his
view ; only heaven bulks in his eyes, and that as a place of rest
from trouble. But there is nothing of this neither in the text.
The decision is, The mercy of life lies in the business of life, to
wit, being serviceable for God in the world : " The living, the living,
he shall praise thee," &c. Hezekiah counts that the great mercy of
life, to have access to be useful for God in the world. "Which speaks
(1.) A high esteem of God and his service, as men count it a favour
to be allowed to serve their prince. (2 ) An ardent love to him, as
men delight to serve the interests of those they dearly love. This
will be to a spiritual man in a spiritual frame the most desirable thing
in life : Phil. i. 20, 21, " According to my earnest expectation and
my hope, that in nothing I shall be ashamed, but that with all bold-
ness, as always, so now also Christ shall be magnified in my body,
whether it be by life or by death. For to me to live is Christ, and
to die is gain." This is a just endearment of life. Now, the business
of life for which it is desirable, is twofold.
1. To praise or glorify God in the world ; to speak of the per-
fections of his nature, and show forth the praises of him who hath
called ns, among men, to the advancement of his kingdom here
under the sun : to strike up beams of his glory in a dark world, and
commend him and his way before and to others. Now, here con-
sider,
1st, "Whose is this privilege: "The living, the living," i. e. the
living all along in a succession of generations to the end of the
world. That is the import of the doubling of this word. This
access to the praising of God in the world, is peculiar to the living.
And,
(1.) It is not those that are now dead, but those that are now
living, that have access to shew forth his praise, and glorify him,
in a world where he is so much dishonoured ; to side with him, and
take his part against his enemies. It is true, the souls of dead
saints are praising God in heaven in the loftiest strains : but what
the better is the world of these praises ? No more than they that
are sitting in the dark room down stairs, are the better of a glorious
lamp shining in the upper room. Is there ever a poor sinner brought
OF LIFE, OPEXED UP, AND APPLIED. 549
acquainted and to fall in love with Christ by their meaus ? No ;
their praises of God are to sinners here as if they were not ; they
hear them not. Is the kingdom of Christ in the world advanced by
these praises ? No. It is the living, the living only, that have
access to those pieces of service to God. The living man that sits
in a cote-house has the access to glorify God in the world that no
saint in heaven has.
(2.) If those that are now living were once dead, they will have no
more access to praise him in the world ; but those that will be then
living: and so on to the end. Men will go off the stage one after
another, but they will not carry that work with them ; but it will
still be left in the hands of the living, and no other, whatever they
make of it. There are heads, tongues, and hands of ministers and
Christians lying in the grave, that have contrived, spoken, and
acted well for God in the world : but now, if the cause of God and
religion, which is very low, were at the last gasp, there is no more
help to be had from those heads, tongues, and hands. The living
only must speak and act for it, or it must lie.
2c%, An instance of it : " As I do this day." Hezekiah was re-
covered from sickness, and he gives God the praise of it. He looked
on it as his bounden duty to fall closely again to that business of
life, which was likely to have been taken out of his hands by death.
What time of life the Lord lengthens out to us, after threatening
a removal, we should be careful to use for the honour of God.
2. To propagate his name and praise : " The father to the child-
ren shall make known thy truth." It is the special business of life,
to endeavour that the name of God may live and be glorified in the
world, when we are dead. It is a black mark for persons not to
care what come of the world if they were out of it. A child of God
will be concerned, that religion may be kept up and propagated in
it : and while he is living, he has access to contribute to it. And
here consider,
1st, What he has access to do for that end ; namely, to praise
God to the younger sort, that are likely to live after he is gone ; es-
pecially to his own family, and particularly his own children. (Heb.)
" The father to the children ;" q.d. The father [" shall praise thee"]
to the children. They may shew to them how lovely God is, and how
desirable his way : and when they have children, they may do the
same to them ; and so on, God's praise will be kept up in the world.
Now observe, he is still speaking of the living, for these are the
subject expressly proposed to be spoken of. Q. d. As for the living,
the living father may praise thee to the living sons. It imports,
(1.) If the father die, though the children live, he can do God no
550 THE PECULIAR MERCY AND BUSINESS
more honour, and them no more service that way. If he has ne-
glected his duty to his family in his life, he cannot come back again
to mend the matter. If he left them ignorant of God, and strangers
to him, though one word from him again could save their souls from
the pit, he has no more access to give them it.
(2.) If the children die, though the father live, he can do God
no more honour, and them no more service that way. He may take
care of their dust, to bury it : but he can do no more for their souls :
" As the tree falls it must lie." While they are both standing and
living together, he has access to serve their souls : but when one of
them falls, that work is at an end.
Idly, How he may do it, how he may commend him to them;
namely, by making him known to them as an object worthy of their
faith, trust and confidence : " Shall make known thy truth." The
expression in the Hebrew is concise, " He may make known, unto
thy truth." The word rendered to hope, ver. 18, properly signify-
ing intensely to look, Neh. ii. 13, 15, is understood. Q. d. That
they may look unto thy truth or faithfulness. So in it are two
things to be considered.
(1.) The proper method of praising or commending God to the
rising generation ; and that is, by making him known. The more
he is known, the more lovely will he appear. " God is light." The
best way to commend the sun to one sitting in a dark room, is to
open the windows, and let in its light, and bid him look to it with
his eyes : the best way to commend God and religion to the genera-
tion rising, is to labour that they may know and understand them,
by teaching.
(2.) The great thing we are to have in view in that work. It is,
that they may look intensely unto his truth ; that they may look
away from the lies and vanities the world is holding out to them,
to be embraced as their portion : and that they may look unto the
truth of God in Christ, in the promise of the gospel, by an eye of
faith, trust, and confidence, fixed on it, and hold by that as their
portion, their sure portion.
This is what men may do for the rising generation, and the view
they should do it on : but God only can give it efficacy. No doubt
Hezekiah did as he said, coirmended God, and made him known to
Manasseh his son : but how unsuccessful all he did that way was, is
notour from the wicked life his son led. Yet Hezekiah's work
was accepted, and his prayers heard in the end ; and perhaps his
words were minded too, in Manasseh's conversion at long run.
Three doctrines are deducible from the words.
OF LIFE, OPENED UP, AND APPLIED. 551
Doct. I. It is the peculiar mercy of life, that the living only
are, and all along will be, those that have access to praise and glo-
rify God in the world.
Doct. II. It is the special business and privilege of life, to pro-
pagate religion, God's name and praise, the standing generation to
the rising generation, the fathers to the children, all along.
Doct. III. The true way of propagating religion, the standing to
the rising generation, is, That the former make God known to the
latter, so as they may betake themselves unto him, his truth and
faithfulness, by faith and trust.
We shall handle each of these doctrines in order.
Doct. I. It is the peculiar mercy of life, that the living only
are, and all along will be, those that have access to praise and
glorify God in the world.
In prosecuting this doctrine, we shall,
I. Consider the praising or glorifying God in the world.
II. Shew how it is a valuable mercy and privilege of the living,
that they have access to praise God in the world.
III. How this access to praise God in the world is and will be the
peculiar mercy of the living.
IV. Lastly, Apply.
1. We shall consider the praising or glorifying God in the world.
And here we shall shew,
1. What praising of God is.
2. What are the peculiarities of the praises of the living.
First, What praising of God is. It is the acknowledging and de-
claring of the glorious excellencies of God, as he has manifested
himself in his word and works ; and imports,
1. The belief of the being of God : Heb. xi. 6. " He that cometh
to God, must believe that he is." Atheism wholly cuts off the
the praises of God ; for who can praise that which he does not be-
lieve to be ? The works of creation and providence proclaim his
being : but such is the natural enmity of man against God, and his
addictedness to his lusts, that he secretly wisheth there were not a
God, and so is disposed to believe so, if he could get any footing for
it : Psalm xiv. 1, " The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God :"
and that is at the root of men's living to a contrary end to his
praise. Tit. i. ult. " They profess that they know God ; but in
works they deny him, being abominable and disobedient, and unto
every good work reprobate."
2. The knowledge of God. To whom he is an unknown God, he
will be an unpraised God. Hence ignorance is ruining : Hos. iv. 6,
552 THE PECULIAR MERCY AND BUSINESS
" My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge." Isa. xxvii. 11,
" It is a people of no understanding : therefore he that made them,
will not have mercy on them, and he that formed them, will show
them no favour." To live to the praising of God requires,
1st, The knowledge of who he is, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost,
one God, 1 John v. 7. In the name of the three persons, we are
baptized by divine appointment: if we know him not so, we know
not the God to whom we are engaged in baptism ; and so cannot
praise him.
2c%, The knowledge of what he is : the discerning of his glorious
perfections, which are the matter of his praise. We must know him
to be the greatest and best of beings, infinite, eternal, and unchange-
able, in his being, wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness and
truth ; more excellent than any creatures, or all of them together,
as being the fountain of all excellency in them.
Zdly, The knowledge of what he has done. His works are glori-
ous — creation, providence, and redemption. By them he shews
what he is, (Psalm xix. 1, " The heavens declare the glory of God :
and the firmament sheweth his handiwork)," and affords us mat-
ter of praise : and we are to think on them for that end, that we
may from thence praise him, Psalm cxi. 2, " The works of the Lord
are great, sought out of all them that have pleasure therein." And
it is highly offensive not to regard them : Psalm xxvii. 5, " Because
they regard not the works of the Lord, nor the operation of his
hands, he shall destroy them, and not build them up." That is to
deny him his praise.
3. The love of God. Love is the mother of praise, and natively
brings it forth, they that do not love God, can never kindly or ac-
ceptably praise him. 1 John iv. 16, " God is love," not only sub-
jectively, infinitely loving ; but objectively, wholly lovely. And so
he is in tho eyes of all who live to his praise. To them the Father is
lovely, the Son lovely, the Holy Spirit lovely. Every attribute of God
is lovely. The holiness and purity of his nature, the great eye-sore
of carnal men, is most lovely to them : Exod. xv. 11, " Who is like
unto thee, Lord, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing
wonders ?" Psalm xxx. 4, " Sing unto the Lord, ye saints of his,
and give thanks at the remembrance of his holiness." His works
are lovely. The creation of the world is a lovely work; the guid-
ing of it by providence a lovely work ; but the most lovely is the
redemption of the world by the blood of Christ.
4. The admiration of God ; which is, love and esteem raised to a
high pitch. This is the nearest cause of praise ; for it is the heart
swelling with admiration of the object, that bursts forth in praises,
OF LIFE OPENED UP, AND APPLIED. 553
Exod. xv. 11, above cited. They that live to God's praise, are ad-
rah'ers of hira : they see all excellencies in hira to be transcendant —
nothing comparable to them in the whole creation, and believe there
are infinite treasures of excellency in him, which they cannot com-
prehend. So their heart saith, with the Psalmist, " "Whom have I
in heaven but thee ? and there is none upon earth that I desire be-
sides thee," Psalm lxxiii. 25. Launching into the ocean of the
glories of his nature and works, they see it is shoreless; Psalm cvi.
2, " "Who can utter the mighty acts of the Lord ? who can shew
forth all his praise?"
5. Lastly, The expressing that love to, and admiration of him : Exod.
xv. 11, forecited. Micah vii. 18, "Who is a God like unto thee,
that pardoneth iniquity, and passeth by the transgression of the
remnant of his heritage ? he retaineth not his anger for ever, be-
cause he delighteth in mercy." This is it in which the essence of
praising God consists, and is the great end tor which man was made :
and it is the native becoming return the creature is to make to its
Creator, from whom it has received all, and to whom it can give
nothing, but only commend him, and set forth his glory. And this
not being confined to words, is twofold.
1st, Vocal, by words. It is called " the calves of our lips," Hos.
xiv. 2; and the "the fruit of our lips," Heb. xiii. 15. Man's tongue
is called his glory, Psalm xvi. 9, as being a prime instrument
wherewith he is furnished for praising and glorifying God. And
thus we are to praise him, solemnly and statedly, in the duties of
worship, singing his praises ; and occasionally, in speaking to his
praise, as we have occasion offered.
2dly, Real, by deed or actions, though it be not accompanied with
words : for as there is a practical atheism, Tit. i. ult. ; so there is a
practical praising or glorifying God. And this is the main thing
in that praise which is the end of life, without which vocal praise
avails not. It is twofold.
(1.) In heart : 1 Cor. vi. 20, " Ye are bought with a price : there-
fore glorify God — in your spirit, which is God's." Men's praise of
men from the teeth outwaixl may pass, but God knows the heart ; and
if the heart harmonize not with the tongue, it cannot be accepted of
him, Isa. xxix. 13. He must be praised in our understanding, think-
ing and esteeming him above all, Psalm lxxiii. 25 ; in our will,
choosing him above all, for our portion, Psalm cxlii. 5 : and in our
affections, loving, rejoicing, and delighting in him above all, Psalm
xxxvii. 4.
(2.) In life and conversation : Matth. v. 16, " Let your light so
shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify
Vol. VII. 2 m
554 THE PECULIAR MERCY AND BUSINESS
your Father which is in heaven." A holy life is a shining light, to
let a blind world see the glory of God; for as God has expressed his
nature in his word, so his word is expressed again in a holy life, Phil,
ii. 15, 16. The study of holiness says, God is holy; mourning for every
sin proclaims him spotless; and horror of secret, as well as of open
sins, is a testimony of his omnipresence and omniscience.
Secondly, What are the peculiarities of the praises of the living?
The praises of living saints have these peculiarities, which the dead
have no access to.
1. They are the praises of the whole man, in soul and body too :
1 Cor. vi. 20, " Ye are bought with a price : therefore glorify God in
your body, and in your spirit, which are God's." Those of the dead
are of their souls only ; but the living have access to praise God, soul
and body in concert. Even the clay body hath, for the time of life,
access to join in this honourable work : but death breaks it in pieces,
that it can no more bear a part in God's praise.
2. They are praises which may spread among the living, as in
their land, from whence the dead are cut off: Col. iii. 16, " Let the
word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom ; teaching and ad-
monishing one another in psalms, and hymns, and spiritual songs,
singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord." The voice of the
praises of living saints, may be heard under this vault of the hea-
vens ; but the praises above, as high a strain as they are in, reach
not hither, to this our native earth.
3. They are praises raised by the way to the heavenly kingdom,
which the dead have no more access to join in. The living are upon
the road, the dead are at their journey's end. There is a song of
praise raised in the house of our pilgrimage, Psalm cxix. 54; but
there is a deep silence in the grave. The wilderness-song is pecu-
liar to the living.
4. They are praises of faith, not of sight : 2 Cor. v. 7, " For we
walk by faith, not by sight." The saints in glory raise a song
of praise to God, upon their seeing and enjoying ; the living saints,
upon their believing what their eye hath not seen, 1 Pet. i. 8. Prais-
ing God on what one sees of him, is more comfortable to the
party himself : but praising him, upon what one believes of him,
if other circumstances be alike, is more to the honour of God : John
xx. 29, " Jesus saith unto him, Thomas, because thou hast seen me,
thou hast believed : blessed are they that have not seen, and yet
have believed." Rom. iv. 20, 21, " Abraham staggered not at the
promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving
glory to God : and being fully persuaded, that what he had promised,
he was able also to perform."
Or LIFE, OPENED UP, AND APPLIED. 555
5. Lastly, They are praises to God amidst a deal of dishonours
doue to him. David takes notice of God's covering a table to him
in the midst of his enemies, Psalm xxiii. 5 ; and God will take
notice of praises given him in the midst of those that dishonour him :
Rev. ii. 13, " I know thy works," [writing to the angel of the church
in Pergamos], and where thou dwellest, even where Satan's seat
is : and thou holdest fast my name, and hast not denied my faith,
even in those days wherein Antipas was my faithful martyr, who was
slain among you, where Satan dwelleth." The saints in glory praise
him, there being none to open a mouth to his dishonour : but living
saints praise him, in the face of contradiction by a wicked world :
Prov. xxviii. 4, — " Such as keep the law, contend with the wicked."
II. The second general head is, to shew how it is a valuable
mercy and privilege of the living, that they have access to praise
God in the world. The living should value this as their privilege.
1. In regard that they might justly ere now have been put beyond
all possibility of praising God at all ; but might have beeu blasphem-
ing in hell, through extreme anguish and despair : Lam. iii. 22, " It
is of the Lord's mercies that we are not cousumed, because his com-
passions fail not." The rich man in hell, tormented in the flame,
had no access to praise God : the burden of wrath lying on the
damned there, will hold down for ever their praises, and change
them to bowlings.
2. In regard of the honour thereby to be brought to God in the
world ; which in itself is most valuable, and therefore is man's chief
end : 1 Cor. x. 31, " Whether therefore ye eat or drink, or whatso-
ever ye do, do all to the glory of God." Compared with Psalm 1.
23, " Whoso offereth praise, glorifieth me." He lives to good pur-
pose, that lives to the honour of God ; and he that doth not so live,
doth at best but trifle away a life, never reaching the main end of
it. Nothing should be so dear to us as God's honour ; and there-
fore our all must be laid out on it as he calls for it, Luke xiv. 26.
Aud it is the mercy of life, that we have access to honour him in
the world.
3. In regard of the good to be thereby done to others. The view
of this made Paul content to abide out of heaven for some time ; as
you may see, Phil. i. 23, 24, " I am in a strait betwixt two, having
a desire to depart, and to be with Christ ; which is far better :
nevertheless, to abide in the flesh, is more needful for you."
what a satisfying thought must it be, to be instrumental towards
the saving of a soul from hell, and bringing it to acquaintance with
Christ ! Nobody knows what a good word, or a good example, at
a time may do : and to this the living have access only ; but once
2 m 2
556 THE PECULIAR MERCY AND BUSINESS
dead, men can be no more serviceable to the world of mankind
Eccl. ix. 10. — " For there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge,
nor wisdom in the grave whither thou goest."
4. It is an honour to serve and honour God in the world. This
makes a man truly worthy and honourable. The dignity of the
master, and the work, reflects an honour on the servant that does
it. Therefore says the Psalmist, Psalm lxxxiv. 10, "A day in thy
courts is better than a thousand ; I had rather be a door-keeper in
the house of my God, than to dwell in the tents of wickedness."
And since no master is so honourable as God is, it must be then a
peculiar honour to be serviceable to him, Heb. xi.
5. This is the only true balance of that meanness, misery, and
trouble, that attends this life. Considering the spiritual original,
make, and vast capacity, of the soul of man ; it will appear but a
very mean thing to be taken up in eating, drinking, decking; yea,
in building, planting, working, &c. on this cursed earth. From the
seat of the blessed could we take our prospect, men so employed
here would appear but as a company of emmets busy in a hillock.
The troubles that attend this life are innumerable, and they fly
about us as the midges do on a hot summer day. All which, viewed
by the soul, are apt to make a noble mind sick of this life, in its
best appearances ; as a bird would be of the cage. The only balance
for all this is, that in it there is access to praise God in the world.
Hereby the meanest things are ennobled, and the hardest things
softened, that God is to be honoured in these.
6. As men have access to praise God in this world, they have
access to raise their reward in another world. Men think it a
great matter to have access to raise an estate for themselves and
theirs : but we have access, by our honouring of God in this world,
to raise our reward in the other. For though the Lord doth not
give eternal glory for our works, he gives it according to them :
2 Cor. ix. 6, " He which soweth sparingly, shall reap also sparingly :
and he which soweth bountifully, shall reap also bountifully." And
they that have shined here in usefulness most, will shine there in
glory most: Han. xii. 3, " They that be wise, shall shine as the
brightness of the firmament ; and they that turn many to righte-
ousness, as the stars for ever and ever." Compared with 1 Cor.
xv. 41, " There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the
moon, and another glory of the stars ; for one star differeth from
another star in glory."
7. Lastly, The praising of God carri s a reward in its bosom, to
be enjoyed in time: Psalm xix. 11, — "In keeping of them [the
judgments of the Lord] there is great reward." It is good, pleasant,
OF LIFE, OPENED UP, AND APPLIED. 557
and comely, Psalm cxlvii. 1. There is a secret satisfaction in one's
having done his duty, endeavouring to live to the honour of God,
2 Cor. i. 12. And particularly it makes a pleasant reflection, when
one is come to the end of his course : as in the case of Paul, 2 Tim.
iv. 7, " I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have
kept the faith." Compared with what our Lord says, John xvii. 4,
" I have glorified thee on the earth : I have finished the work which
thou gavest me to do." And he that praiseth God to others, is him-
self partaker of the fruits.
III. The third general head is, to shew how this access to praise
God in the world is and will be the peculiar mercy of the living.
1. It is the peculiar mercy of us who are now living on the faco
of the earth : it is peculiar, I gay, to us at this time. They who are
yet unborn, can do nothing, since as yet they are not : they who are
now dead, though yet they are in being, have no access more to
praise God in this world, Psalm cxv. 17- There have been many
generations on earth before us ; and millions of men and women are
gone by death from hence into another world, who sometimes had
their turn of access to this praise : but now, though they are, yet
not one of them all has access to join us in praising God.
2. In all time to come, to the end of the world, this privilege will
be confined to those who for the time shall be on the stage. There
will be generations after us, as there have been before us; and the
work will be devolved on the next generation for their time; witli
whom we, being gone off the stage, will have no more access to join,
than those already dead have to join with us. And then they will
go, and another rise up in their stead, and get the work put into
their hands, none of the former to meddle with it : and so on to the
end. The reasons are,
1st, There is no returning to this world when once gone. Death
is a flitting for good and all, never to come back, Job vii. 9, 10.
Job was sensible of this, chap. x. 21, when he said — " I go whence
I shall not return, even to the land of darkness, and the shadow of
death." We must praise him before we lie down in the grave, or
never; for there is no rising out of it to that work, Psalm lxxxvii.
10. We cannot come back, and God will not bring us back.
2c%, The state and business of the two worlds are, by an un-
alterable purpose, made quite different. Here men are in a state of
trial ; there in a settled state for ever, according to their manage-
ment in the trial. Here is the place of working at the command
and for the honour of the Master ; there is the place of the reward
of their works. If the sun should come back over from west to east,
and so make night day the ordinance of heaven would be quite
558 THE PECULIAR MERCY AND BUSINESS
altered ; so nobody expects it. As little is the access of any but
the living, to praise God in the world, to be expected or looked for.
3<%, This world is under a peculiar mark of divine indignation, as
defiled by sin, Gen. iii. 17 ; and should have been destroyed when it
was first defiled, had not the Mediator interposed to keep up the tot-
tering fabric for some time for the elect's sake, Isa. xlix. 8. So men
are hastened through it, as through a defiled place, and have an op-
portunity of praising God by the way. And therefore it cannot be
expected that ever that opportunity shall be repeated.
Lastly, When the dead shall live again, this world shall be de-
stroyed, and be no more. As long as we shall lie in our graves, in-
capable to praise, this world will last : but wheu we shall live again
at the resurrection, it shall be consumed by the general conflagration,
and be no more. So there is no access to praise God in the world,
but for those that now live, and those that shall live to the end :
Rev. xx. 12, — " The dead were judged out of those things which
were written in the books, according to their works." Chap. xxi.
1 " And I saw a new heaven, and a new earth : for the first heaven
and the first earth were passed away ; and there was no more sea."
In the new heavens and earth, no doubt God will be praised, 2 Pet.
iii. 13 : but he will have no more praises here off the hand of any,
when once they are gone off the stage, which will fall down under
the last generation to be on it.
Use 1. Of information. Hence learn,
1. That the business of life is to honour God in the world. And
if that be so, many have been many years in it, that have never
yet fallen to their business, nay, nor once seriously laid to heart
what their business is. hear the great Master saying to you,
Mat th. xx. 6, " Why stand ye here all the day idle ?" and see how
ye will answer that question. Ye are busy doing nothing, worse
than nothing : but what have ye done, are you doing, will ye do, for
God ? Ye are living : but what praise, what honour comes to God
by your living? What more honour comes to God by your living,
than ye would do him if ye were in the grave ? I beseech you, con-
sider this, as ye will answer it to God, who hath said, Mai. i. 6,
" A son honoureth his father, and a servant his master : if then I
be a father, where is mine honour ? and if I be a master, where is
my fear ?"
Object. 1. Some I fear will think, though not say, that they have
other business to fill their heads and hands with, how to get a
through-bearing in the world for them and theirs. Answ. Ah, is
another world not worth your consideration ? Or can ye think that
ever ye shall enjoy God in that world, who are not careful to
OF LIFE, OPENED UP, AND APPLIED. 559
honour him here ? Consider what the Lord says, 1 Sam. ii. 30, —
•'Them that honour me, I will honour; and they that despise me,
shall be lightly esteemed." To spend all the time you live in
wrestling with this world for a through-bearing, and after ye are
dead to wrestle with the wrath of God for ever, is a sad tryst ; bet-
ter ye had never been born. Be concerned to honour God while ye
live : and God will see to your provision while ye live, and make
you happy after.
Object. 2. But I have no access to do any thing for the honour of
God, in respect of my circumstances in the world : worldly business
is by providence laid to my hand for the business of my life.
Answ. 1st, It is a common mistake in point of practice, that there
are any who have no access to honour God in the world. Though
some are placed in higher and more extensive spheres of activity for
God, yet there is no station so low in the world but it is a sphere
wherein people may honour God, if they have a heart for it. This
you may see verified in the parable of the talents, Matth. xxv. 14, 15,
" The kingdom of heaven is as a man travelling into a far country,
who called his own servants, and delivered unto them his goods :
and unto one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another
one, to every man according to his several ability, and straightway
took his journey." If one is in life, though never so low, according
to the text, he may honour God. If one is a magistrate, or a church
officer, he has access to honour God among those over whom he is
set. Though he be neither, if he is a person of weight and con-
sideration in the place where he lives ; as far as that weight goes, so
far goes the sphere of his activity for God, which he is to fill up by
honouring God. If he is a master of a family, there is a sphere
of activity for God he is put in. If he is a single member of a fa-
mily, he has a sphere of activity among other single members of it.
To this purpose speaks the apostle, 1 Cor. vii. 24, "Brethren, let
every man wherein he is called, therein abide with God."
2dly, It is the honouring of God in our several stations that is
the true honouriug of him, 1 Cor. vii. 24, just now cited. That we
cannot do for the honour of God what does not belong to our sta-
tion, is so far from being our sin, that it would be a dishonouring
of him to attempt it. The moon is useful to the world, though it
shines not by day ; the stars too, though they shine not so bright as
the moon. The hands are useful to the body, though one does not
walk on them ; the feet, though one does not see with them, &c.
Are you a child of a family ? your business of life as such is to be
an obedient, dutiful, pliable child : are you a servant ? yours is to
be a faithful, honest, dutiful servant. Whatever relation you stand
560 THE PECULIAR MERCY AND BUSINESS
in ye are to honour God by a conscientious practice of the duties
of your relation.
Sdly, Whatever business God has laid to your hand, follow it as
duty from God laid upon you ; so ye will live to his honour.
Hence is that exhortation of the apostle, Col. iii. 17, " Whatsoever
ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving
thanks to God and the Father by him." And ver. 23, " Whatso-
ever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord." Set about your busi-
ness as commanded you of God, acting in it as under the eye of
God, and looking to his word as your rule, and to the merit of
Christ for God's acceptance of it. Whatever trials and sufferings
the Lord lays on you, bear them patiently, because it is his will ;
and bear them for the sake of Christ that bare greater for us; and
look for the acceptance of your bearing them through Christ. So
shall the honouring of God be the business of your life whatever
your circumstances are, high or low.
2. The business of honouring God in the world, formerly in the
hands of the former generation, is now devolved on you. See what
ye will do with it. To this purpose prophesies the Psalmist David,
Psalm cxlv. 4, " One generation shall praise thy works to another,
and shall declare thy mighty acts." The former generation of the
righteous, by keeping the law, contended with the wicked, and main-
tained the honour of God in the world ; they rowed against the
stream of an ungodly crew, in the face of persecution, fining, con-
fining, banishment, violent death, till they fell by death, holding up
the standard for the honour of God : and then they gave it to you,
saying, " The living, the living, he shall praise thee, as I do this
day ; the father to the children shall make known thy truth." On
this I would say,
1st, Ye must answer for the standard now. If it go now while
ye live, your life shall go for ever for it, though ye were left alone
to hold it up : Psalm lx. 4, " Thou hast given a banner to them that
fear thee : that it may be displayed because of the truth." Mark
viii. ult., " Whosoever therefore shall be ashamed of me, and of ray
words, in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him also shall
the Son of man be ashamed, when he cometh in the glory of his
Father, with the holy angels." Take heed then, there is a sacred
trust committed into your hands ; the generations of martyrs all
along have conveyed it to you at the expense of their blood, it hav-
ing been set up first at the expense of the blood of Christ.
Idly, Ye must either hold it up, or treacherously desert into the
enemies' camp, formed to dishonour God. Hence says our Lord,
Matth. xii. 30, "He that is not with me, is against me : and he that
OF LIFE, OPEXED UP, AND APPLIED. 561
gathereth not with me, scattereth abroad." Many set np for neu-
tralists; they go not into all excess with the openly profane, but
they are as far from making it the business of their life to honour
God. God will rank such with his enemies : Psalm cxxv. ult., "As
for such as turn aside unto their crooked ways, the Lord shall lead
them forth with the workers of iniquity."
Sdly, The saints of former generations will condemn you, as a
spurious brood of treacherous men, that made so little account of
what they wared their all on to transmit to you : 1 Cor. vi. 2, " Do
ye not know that the saints shall judge the world?" Ye do by your
ungodly lives, dishonouring God, declare them fools : the day will
come, that they will declare you fools, worthy to perish for ever,
though ye have come out of their loins : Rev. xix. 3, " And again
they said, Alleluia. And her smoke rose up for ever and ever."
3. The business of honouring God in the world ye are to trans-
mit to the succeeding generation, since it is the living, all along in
a succession of generations to the end of the world, that have access
to the praising of God. Hence says the Psalmist, Psalm lxxviii.
2, 3, 4, " I will open my mouth in a parable : I will utter dark say-
ings of old : which we have heard and known, and our fathers have
told us. We will not hide them from their children, shewing to the
generation to come, the praises of the Lord ; and his strength, and
his wonderful works that he hath done." As ye have received the
standard from the former, ye are to hand it down to the succeed-
ing generation ; that when ye are gone, instead of the fathers, there
may be the children. See to it then, what ye do, that God may be
honoured when ye are in the dust.
1st, It lies on every one of you to do it for something : Rom. xiv.
7, " For none of us liveth to himself, and no man dieth to himself."
Love to God and your neighbour binds it on you; and none of you
can want occasion for it, while ye live among persons, some of whom
may live after you ; and have a tongue to speak, and hands to act.
2dly, If ye do it not, the honour of God is far from your heart.
They that have nothing of God to communicate to others succeeding
them, have nothing of God within themselves. Grace is a fire, and
fire will go about to set on fire whatever is next it ; so that if it do
not burn, it is because it is not combustible. In the creation of
plants, every tree was made with its seed in itself: so it is in the
new creation of the trees of righteousness, John iv. 29.
3c%, If ye do it not, ye lay a stumbling-block before the succeed-
ing generation, which they may be ruined by. The generation of
Jews in Christ's time rejecting the gospel, as they murdered Christ,
they have murdered sixteen or seventeen generations of their off-
562 THE PECULIAR MERCT AND BUSINESS
spring since. What will come of the succeeding generation that
looks to you, that live not to the honour of God ? When God calls
for the standard for his honour at their hand, they will say, they
never saw it ; though that will not excuse them, it will aggravate
your condemnation.
4. Know that ye must honour God in the world now or never,
Eccl. ix. 10, " Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy
might ; for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wis-
dom in the grave whither thou goest." Now is the accepted time,
wherein ye may act for your own salvation ; miss this time, and the
door will be shut on you never to be opened again, Prov. i. 24, &c.
Now is the working time for the honour of God, wherein ye may do
something for God ; miss it, and the occasion you will never more
have. I would ask you,
1st, Does it concern you to honour God ? or is it none of your
business? If the Father created you, certainly ye are bound to live
for his honour, Rom. xi. ult. If the Son redeemed you, there is a
double tie on you to live for him who died for you, Philip, i. 21.
If the Holy Ghost has sanctified you, he has dedicated, fitted, and
disposed you for it.
2c%, When will ye lay out yourself for it then ? It is not a
work to be done at any time, but confined to one time, the time of
life. Hence said our Saviour, John ix. 4, " I must work the works
of him that sent me, while it is day : the night cometh, when no
man can work." Now the glass is set up to you : there is much of
it run, as ye may see by looking to the lower end, the time ye
have lived : the upper end ye cannot see, what time ye have yet to
live ; how soon it may run out then, ye know not. But it will ne-
ver be turned for you. When the last sand runs out, the word is
given, The Master allows no more time for his work to you, Give
account of your stewardship.
5. Lastly, Life is valuable, as giving access to honour God in the
world. Hence says Hezekiah in the text and context, Isa. xxxviii.
18, 19, " The grave cannot praise thee, death cannot celebrate thee:
they that go down into the pit cannot hope for thy truth. The liv-
ing, the living, he shall praise thee, as I do this day ; the father to
the children shall make known thy truth." There are many im-
pressions of vanity on life. In itself by sin it is become a puff of
wind, that passeth away ; a vapour suddenly vanishing : it is like
a post for swift passage, a dream for vanity, and a dung-hill for
vileness. It is the place of rendezvous for inuummerable troubles
and afflictions; and is a low station for an immortal soul, with much
meanness about it. There are only two things which it is valuable
for, viz. that there is access in it,
OF LIFE, OPENED UP, AND APPLIED. 563
1st, To act for eternal salvation to ourselves, which the dead can
no more do ; 2 Cor. vi. 2, — " Behold, now is the accepted time ; be-
hold, now is the day of salvation." And in this respect an hour's
life may be worth a thousand worlds, because eternity may depend
on it, and heaven be secured.
2dly, To act for the honour of God in the world, John ix. 4, fore-
cited, which the dead have no more access to. To a good man an
opportunity of doing good is valuable, as to an ill man to do mis-
chief. What folk love, they will value access to serve : so the
sinner values access to serve his lusts ; and the saint to serve his
Lord, aud his neighbour. So, on this consideration,
(1.) Life is carefully and honourably to be preserved, as a valu-
able thing; and not to be thrown away, by neglect of the means of
its preservation, or exposing it wilfully to means of destruction :
Exod. xx. 13, " Thou shalt not kill."
(2.) The access to honour God in life, is to be laid in balance
with the troubles of life, that the former may downweigh the lat-
ter, by that overweight that God's honour bears to our ease : Phil.
i. 20, "According to my earnest expectation, and my hope, that in
nothing I shall be ashamed, but that with all boldness, as always,
so now also Christ shall be magnified in my body, whether it be by
life or by death."
(3.) It is nicely to be improved to its proper ends, as a precious
non-such, passing opportunity ; every filing of it is to be gathered
up as gold-sparkling. Hence Paul exhorts to " redeem the time,
because the days are evil," Eph. v. 16.
Use 2. Of reproof to several sorts of persons.
1. To those who look on the business of praising and honouring
God in the world as a burden. In itself it is the mercy of life ; but
they treat it as the plague of life. They are, as Doeg, detained be-
fore the Lord ; and any holy exercise is a weariness to them ; as
was the case with Israel, Amos viii. 5, " When will the new moon
be gone, that we may sell corn ? and the sabbath, that we may set
forth wheat?" The Lord takes notice of this temper of spirit, Mai.
i. 13, " Ye said also, Behold, what a weariness is it, and ye have
snuffed at it, saith the Lord of hosts." how would ye take with
heaven ? but be sure that ye will never get there in that case, as not
being " made meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in
light," Col. i. 12. Ye will be eased of that burden, but for a heavier
one, Rev. xvi. ult.
2. To those who look on it as none of their business, whoever
else be concerned in it. They make no profession of living to the
honour of God, and their practice is conformable. This says you
564 THE PECULIAR MERCY AND BUSINESS
neither to look on God as your Master, nor yet as your Father,
Mai. i. 6. And if so, doubtless, ye cannot look for his reward; nor
for the eternal inheritance of his children : where then will lie the
gain of this liberty which you take to yourselves ?
3. To those who spend their life without consideration of the chief
business of life. They " spend their years as a tale that is told,"
Psalm xc. 9. how many are dreaming away a lifetime, out of
which they are not like to awake till death awake them ! They can
consider any thing but their soul's state : but the thought of that
they cannot dwell on. They that cannot consider the great busi-
ness of life, will certainly lose the opportunity of that business, and
it will speak to them in the end : Prov. xx. 4, "The sluggard will
not plow by reason of the cold ; therefore shall he beg in harvest,
and have nothing."
4. To those who do delay the business of honouring God, till they
shall be near death. Many such off-putters are there, who can never
find the time'to begin their work, though they do not want thoughts'of
it; as was the case with Felix, Acts xxiv. 25, who said to Paul, " Go
thy way for this time : when I have a convenient season, I will call
for thee." When they are young, they put off till they be old ;
then, till they be going to die ; when sickness takes them, they put off
still in hopes of recovery ; when they are past hopes, they are not ca-
pable for it ; and so the soul is lost. Meanwhile, all they are con-
cerned for at best, is but their own safety, not God's honour ; and
being regardless of this latter, no wonder they fall short of the for-
mer.
5. Lastly, To those whose life is a life of dishonouring God, by
secret and open wickedness and untenderness. And this seems to
be the general case of this generation, by which we appear to be a
generation of God's wrath : Micah vii. 2, 4, " The good man is per-
ished out of the earth : and there is none upright among men : they
all lie in wait for blood : they hunt every man his brother with a
net. The best of them is as a brier : the most upright is sharper
than a thorn-hedge : the day of thy watchmen, and thy visitation
cometh ; now shall be their perplexity." Corruption of life and
manners is become universal, so that people are become shameless
in their sin, and proof against conviction from the word, being so
hardened under the softening means of grace, that the case is grown
hopeless ; all which cannot miss, soon or late, to bring down some
rousing stroke, Jer. vi. 15, " Were they ashamed when they had
committed abomination ? nay, they weie not at all ashamed, neither
could they blush ; therefore they shall fall among them that fall :
at the time that I visit them, they shall be cast down, saith the
Lord."
OF LIFE, OPENED UP, AND APPLIED. 5G5
Use 3. Of exhortation. Make it the business of your life to live
to the honour of God.
Quest. How shall we do that?
Answ. 1. Honour him by faith : Rom. iv. 20, "Abraham stag-
gered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong
in faith, giving glory to God." Faith gives God the honour of all his
glorious perfections as manifested in the word ; and without faith
there is no acceptable honouring of him. Therefore the Christian
life is a life of faith, Gal. ii. 20. And honour him,
1st, By believing on his Son for salvation, receiving and resting
on him as your Saviour, to save you from sin and wrath : 1 John iii.
23, " This is his commandment, that we should believe on the name
of his Son Jesus Christ." If ye honour not God this way, ye honour
him not at all, John v. 23. God has sent his Son in the character
of Saviour of the world, 1 John iv. 14: put your case in his hand,
that ye may be saved from your sin, and sanctified by him, and saved
from wrath through him. If ye live in your sins, and will not be
healed; if ye do not believe him able and willing to save you, ye
dishonour God egregiously in a most tender point : 1 John v. 10,
11, — " He that believeth not God, hath made him a liar, because
he believeth not the record that God gave of his Son. And this is
the record, that God hath given to us eternal life : and this life is
in his Son."
2dlt/, By trusting God in Christ in all times and cases : Isa. xxvi.
4, " Trust ye in the Lord for ever." The established way of com-
munication with heaven, is by trust in God : and faith is productive
of hope, which is the anchor of the soul, keeping the soul safe
and spiritually at rest, in all storms public or private, Psalm xxxvii.
7. Trusting in the creature, is a putting it in God's place ; and
hence bearing such a weight, it bows under it, and fails. But God
is honoured by trusting him.
3c%, By believing his word in all the parts of it. Hence is that
exhortation of Jehoshaphat, 2 Chron. xx. 20 — "Believe in the Lord
your God, so shall you be established ; believe his prophets, so shall
ye prosper." God is to be honoured by faith's acting on every part
of the word ; on the commands, believing the divine authority,
equity, and goodness of them, as a transcript of the divine nature,
Psalm cxix. 128 ; on the promises, believing the certain accomplish-
ment of them, however unlikely, Horn. iv. 20, 21 ; on the threaten-
ings, believing the justice and truth of them, Isa. xxxix. ult, and
lxvi. 2.
2. Honour him by the practice of holiness : 1 Pet. ii. 9, " Ye are
a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar
566 THE PECULIAR MERCY AND BUSINESS
people ; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath
called you out of darkness into his marvellous light." To lead a
holy, tender life, is the way to honour God, conforming to him, and
labouring to be like him in all conversation, 1 Pet. i. 15, 16. If ye
be not uniform and universal in your obedience, that part ye are
deficient in may bring a blot on all the rest ; as Judas' covetous-
ness and treachery wiped out all his good deeds. And if ye would
live to the honour of God, I would recommend to you particularly,
1st, Diligent and reverent worshipping of God : Matth. iv. 10,
" Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou
serve." Psalm lxxxix. 7, " God is greatly to be feared in the as-
sembly of the saints : and to be had in reverence of all them that
are about him." "Worship him in your families, morning and even-
ing ; worship him in secret by yourselves ; worship him in the
public assemblies ; set up for his honour in the world ; make con-
science of joining therein for the honour of God. And be reverent
in the frame of yonr heart, and in your outward gesture, as knowing
that he is a great God with whom ye have to do : and there can be
no reverence in their hearts, who behave irreverently.
Idly, Be nice and exact, in point of justice, in your dealings;
shaking your hands of all gain of unrighteousness, as in the sight
of a holy, just God. Isa. xxxiii. 15, 16, " He that walketh righte-
ously, and speaketh uprightly, he that despiseth the gain of oppres-
sions, that shaketh his hands from holding bribes, that stoppeth
his ears from hearing blood, and shutteth his eyes from seeing
evil : he shall dwell on high," &c. That baseness of spirit, dispos-
ing to pick and steal, cheat, and catch any little advantage they can
get of their neighbour without being discovered, that one can trust
them no farther than they see, is most dishonouring to God, as if
either he did not see, or else did approve of their wicked practices,
Psalm 1. 21, 22.
2>dly, Be readily disposed to the duties of humanity, doing good
to your neighbour, being kind, merciful, and compassionate to them
that are in distress and need : Col. iii. 12, " Put on therefore (as the
elect of God, holy and beloved) bowels of mercies, kindness, humble-
ness of mind, meekness, long-suffering." This honours God in a
very particular manner : Luke vi. 35, 36, " But love ye your
enemies, and do good, and lend, hoping for nothing again : and
your reward shall be great, and ye shall be the children of the
Highest: for he is kind unto the unthankful, and to the evil. Be
ye therefore merciful, as your Father also is merciful." And it has
much encouragement by promise : Prov. iii. 9, 10, " Honour the Lord
with thy substance, and with the first-fruits of all thine increase.
OF LIFE, OPENED UP, AND APPLIED. 567
So shall thy barns be filled with plenty, and thy presses shall burst
out with new wine." Psalm xli. 1, 2, 3, " Blessed is he that con-
sidered the poor ; the Lord will deliver him in time of trouble.
The Lord will preserve him, and keep him alive, and he shall be
blessed upon the earth ; and thou wilt not deliver trim into the will
of his enemies. The Lord will strengthen him upon the bed of
languishing : thou wilt make all his bed in his sickness." A selfish,
unkind, unsympathiziug, narrow spirit, is a great stain on an other-
wise fair character.
Aihly, Be the same in secret when no eye sees yon, that you would
be in public. This will much honour God, when the conscience of
his eye being on you, is as forcible to restrain you from evil, as
the eyes of the world would be ; as was the case with Joseph, Gen.
xxxix. 9, when he said to his lewd mistress, " IIow can I do this
great wickedness, and sin against God ?" what do the practisers
of secret mischief think of God ! They can do a mischief unseen, and
then cover it with a lie. But alas ! is there not a God in heaven,
that sees himself dishonoured by such practices ? See Prov. xxvi.
26. Open shame, or else a secret stroke, will be the consequence,
Job xx. 26.
bthly, Shew yourselves on God's side, in the midst of the dis-
honours done to him in the world. For ye must either join issue
with the dishonourers of his name, or else testify against them : hence
says our Saviour, Matth. xii. 30, " he that is not with me, is against
me : and he that gathereth not with me, scattereth abroad." If you
have no heart nor brow to appear for God, while ye see him dis-
honoured, remember what God accounts of that, and how he will
treat it : Mark viii. ult., " "Whosoever shall be ashamed of me, and
of my words, in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him also
shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he cometh in the glory of
his Father, with the holy angels." Beware of being partakers with
other men's sins ; but set yourselves to be a check upon sin in
others, and witnesses against it, else ye honour not God.
6thly, Commend the way of God and religion to others, and en-
courage good motions where ye can perceive them. Grace is com-
municative for the honour of God ; and every gracious person is dis-
posed to propagate religion. Hence said the Lord of Abraham,
Gen. xviii. 19, " I know him, that he will command his children,
and his household after him, and they shall keep the way of the
Lord, to do justice and judgment," &c. The wearing out of that so
much now, from what it was in former years, is one of the black
symptoms of the decay of religion at this day.
7thli/, Learn to bear troubles in the world with a Christian pa-
568 THE PECULIAR MERCY AND BUSINESS
tience, meekness, resignation, and holy cheerfulness. This doth
exceedingly tend to the honour of God ; as you see exemplified in
the worthies mentioned, Heb. xi. There is a despising of the chas-
tening of the Lord, wherein the proud and foolish scorn to be
lowered by the rebukes of Providence, wherein the atheism of the
heart, and contempt of God appears. There is a fainting under the
rebukes of Providence, wherein unbelief appears. Both are dis-
honourable to God, and to be guarded against, Heb. xii. 5. The
middle course is to God's honour.
Lastly, Walk with God in a conscientious performance of the
duties of your station. Hence is that exhortation of the apostle's,
1 Cor. vii. 24, " Brethren, let every man wherein he is called, there-
in abide with God." That is the sphere wherein ye are set to ho-
nour God : and God is much honoured that way. It is exemplified
in the case of the priests, Mai. ii. 6, in that of wives, 1 Pet. iii. 5,
and in that of servants, Tit. ii. 10. No man can live to the honour
of God, who does not carefully notice, and diligently pursue the
duties of his station, to the honour of God.
I shall give you a few motives to live to the honour of God.
Mot. 1. God is the author of thy life. The life and being thou
hast, thou hast from God : Pom. xi. ult., " For of him, and through
him, and to him are all things : to whom be glory for ever. Amen."
Therefore, " remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth,"
Eccl. xii. 1. And since he is your first cause, is it not reasonable
that he be your chief end ? The life which you had from him, will
ye not improve for him ?
Mot. 2. God is the preserver of thy life. Hence says David,
Psalm xxxvi. 6, " Lord, thou preservest man and beast." For
every moment's life thou hast had, thou art his debtor. Thy life is
continually in his hand, to prolong it, or take it away, as seems good
in his sight. If he should but withdraw his upholding hand, thy
life would presently go. Every moment there must be a new out-
letting of influence from him for preservation of thy life. How un-
accountable must it be then not to live to his honour ? This was a
grievous charge against Belshazzar, Dan. v. 23 — " The God in whose
hand thy breath is, and whose are all thy ways, hast thou not glo-
rified."
Mot. 3. God is the giver of all thou hast whereby thou mayest
honour him. Hast thou a tongue whereby thou art capable
to speak for God, aud hands to act for him ? he gave them to thee.
Hast thou any health, strength, wealth, and reputation, whereby
thou art in capacity to honour him ? all is from him : and shall not
his own be used for him ? Hence saith David, 1 Chron. xxix. 14, —
OF LIFE, OPENED UP, AND APPLIED. 569
" All things come of tliee, and of thine own have we given thee."
Is it not sacrilegious to do otherwise ?
Mot. 4. God puts opportunities in thine hand for honouring
him. As he has given thee means whereby thou mayest honour him,
so his providence lays to thy hand opportunities calling thee to use
them, Luke xix. 13. Every opportunity is a providential call, to
lay out what the Lord has put in thy hand for his service. And it
will be found dangerous to hide one's talents in the earth, and not
lay them out for God.
Mot. 5. There are some who are deprived of those abilities or oc-
casions ye have to honour Go 1. So the whole Pagan world is de-
prived of gospel-light, which we all have; the sick of those which
the healthy have. The not improving of them then will aggravate
your condemnation, Matth. xi. 21. It is sad to be cumberers of the
ground in God's vineyard, taking up room in it uselessly, which
others might improve to good advantage.
Mot. 6. Ye have forfeited by sin all your abilities, opportunities,
and your very life. God might justly have taken them all from us
and made us as incapable to speak or act for his honour, as we have
been unwilling to it. But his patience has suffered us long, and he
has done us good though unthankful and evil, if peradventure these
might lead us to repentance. Shall not this engage us to live to his
honour ?
Mot. 7- This was the design of the redemption purchased by
Christ, Tit. ii. 14, " Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem
us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people,
zealous of good works." Man was made at first for the honour of
God: sin entering rendered him unfit for that his great work. There-
fore Christ died that they might be again brought to live to God's
honour, Eph. v. 25 — 27. If then ye are not so liviug, it is an evi-
dence Christ's redemption is not applied to you as yet : and if ye
continue so, it will evidence that ye are none of the redeemed ones.
Mot. 8. It is the design of the sanctificatiou of the Spirit. Hence
says the apostle, 1 Pet. ii. 9, " Ye are a chosen generation, a royal
priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people ; that ye should show
forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into
his marvellous light." "When God puts his Spirit into a man it is
that he may walk in his way, Ezek. xxxvi. 27. So that if ye live
not to the honour of God, it is an evidence that ye have not the
Spirit, but are dead while ye live.
Mot. 9. Lastly, It is a lost life that is not lived to the honour of
God, lost in death, eternal death. Hence says our Lord, Matth. xvi.
25, 26, " Whosoever will save his life, shall lose it: and whosoever
Yon. VII. 2 N
570 THE PECULIAR MEItCY AND BUSINESS
will lose his life for my sake, shall find it. For what is a man pro-
fited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul ? or
what shall a man give in exchange for his soul ?" Consider, this
life is short, it is soon away; it is uncertain, none knows how soon :
but such as it is, eternity depends on it : Eccl. ix 10 — " For there
is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom in the grave
whither thou goest." If ye live not to the honour of God here,
never expect to live with him hereafter in heaven. Remember the
end of the slothful servant, Matth. xxv. 30, " Cast ye the unprofi-
table servant into outer darkness : there shall be weeping and
gnashing of teeth." For your help to live to the honour of God,
take these following directions : —
1. Allow yourselves the justice once seriously to consider, now
that ye are living, and must die, what will be the best way for you
to spend that bit of life. It is a pity that people should not propose
to themselves a design of living, and consider what is that design of
life that will come to the best account at length. Sure if ye do, ye
will find no design so reasonable and advantageous as this.
2. Then take him for your God in Christ, that ye may live to his
honour; and do not think that it is by your living to his honour
that he must become your God. Faith must go before obedience, if
ever the obedience be kindly. Faith, first embracing salvation in
the free offer of the gospel, natively engages the heart to honour
God, as a son doth his father.
3. Labour to keep up the love of God in the heart, by believing
his love ; and that will be a strong band. Hence says the apostle,
2 Cor. v. 14, 15, " The love of Christ constraiueth us, because we thus
judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead : and that he died
for all, that they which live, should not henceforth live unto them-
selves, but unto him which died for them, and rose again."
4. Lastly, Firmly believe that there is a reward of grace for the
righteous ; and that not a good word or good work, spoke or done for
God, shall want a reward. Hence is that exhortation of the apostle's,
1 Cor. xv. ult, " Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, im-
moveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as
ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord."
Doot. II. It is the special business and privilege of life, to propa-
gate religion, God's name and praise, the standing generation to the
risiug generation, the fathers to the children, all along.
In discoursing this doctrine, I shall shew,
1. What it is to propagate religion, God's name and praise, to the
rising generation.
OF LIFE, OPENED UP, AND APPLIED. 571
II. Who are the standing and rising generation, the fathers and
the children, among whom this propagation of religion is to pass.
III. In what respects it is the special business of life.
IV. In what respect it is the special privilege of life.
V. Lastly, Apply.
1. I shall shew what it is to propagate religion, God's name and
praise, to the rising generation. It implies these four things : —
1. The having of religion ourselves. None can propagate what
they have not. If men have not the knowledge and love of God
themselves, how can they praise him to others ? Men are sensible,
that if they gain not a competent portion of the world to them-
selves, they can leave none to their children : so if they be idle or
wasters, they are unjust to their families, 1 Tim. v. 8. Even so if
ye are not religious, ye not only dishonour God, and destroy your
own souls, but ye are unjust to the rising generations, and destruc-
tive to their souls too.
2. The profession of religion. Hence says the apostle, Rom. x.
10, " With the heart man believeth unto righteousness, and with the
mouth confession is made unto salvation." Men may have a pro-
fession without the practice of religion; but the practice requires
the profession of it. And no man will ever propagate religion that
is not himself a professor of it. And the profession must be such as
is not visibly contradicted by the practice : for if example destroy
what precept builds up, there is no propagating religion to others
by that means. So a credible profession of religion is a debt owing
to the rising generation.
3. A desire to continue and spread religion in the world. With-
out this none will propagate it : for what men have no desire of the
continuance or spreading of, they will be loath to propagate. And
it is the want of concern for the continuance and spreading of re-
ligion, that makes men so careless about the propagating thereof.
They have no due concern for their own souls : therefore they have
none either for God's honour, or the good of those that come after
them.
4. Lastly, Contributing our endeavours to bring others, and par-
ticularly the rising generation, to the knowledge and practice of
religion. Hence says the Psalmist, Psalm Ixxxviii. 2 — 4, " 1 will
open my mouth in a parable : I will utter dark sayings of old :
which we have heard and known, and our fathers have told us. We
will not hide them from their children, showing to the generation
to come, the praises of the Lord ; and his strength, and his wonder-
ful works that he hath done." Man is born like a wild ass's colt,
wanting both knowledge and experience. We see such as come into
2n2
572 THE PECUMAK MEBCY AND BUSINESS
our world, come in naked among ns ; and we judge ourselves obliged
to clothe tliem, feed them, and teach them how to do for themselves.
But withal they can have and can do as little for their souls, as for
their bodies ; and shall we leave them destitute in that point? How
will we answer that to God ? Now, to contribute endeavours to bring
them to religion, lies in endeavouring,
1st, To bring them to faith in Jesus Christ, which is the founda-
tion of all religion : Psalm Ixxviii. 7, " That they may set their
hope in God, and not forget the works of God ; but keep his com-
mandments." They come into the world lost sons and daughters of
Adam, under God's wrath and curse. There is a Saviour provided ;
but they know it not, till the standing generation tell them of it.
They are averse naturally to come to that Saviour, and are not
aware of the danger of slighting him : it is justice and charity then
to deal with them, in order to convince and bring them in.
Idly, To bring them to holiness of life ; as did Abraham, Gen.
xviii. 19, " I know him, (says the Lord), that he will command his
children, and his household after him, and they shall keep the way
of the Lord, to do justice and judgment." "When they come into
our world, they bring a corrupt nature with them, which begins
early to sprout. Satan will begin his temptations with them as
soon as they are capable, losing no time. The longer sin continues
in them uncurbed, the stronger does it grow. It nearly concerns
the standing generation then to contribute their endeavours to
quench the hellish flame, and to turn the stream and course of their
life from sin to holiness. And this,
(1.) By precept and counsel, Gen. xviii. 19, forecited. Thus we
are to praise God to them, by word of mouth. We should shew
them what we have to say in God's behalf, commend religion to
them, disparage the way of sin and of the world to them; bind duty
on their conscience, by shewing them the tie of the word, and oblige
them thereto by any authority we have over them.
(2.) By example. Let ns write out religion in our own walk be-
fore them, that they may be brought to copy after us. Those precepts
that are illuminated with example, are most ready to take. Be-
ware of casting an ill example before their eyes ; for the corrup-
tion of nature lies that way; and he that sins before a child, sins
twice ; for his sin lies fair to be repeated by the young spectator.
(3.) By dependence on the Lord for a blessing on the means used
for their good. Hence says the apostle, 2 Cor. x. 4, " The weapons
of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the
pulling down of strongholds." "Whoever he be that plants, if God
give not the increase, there will be none, 1 Cor. iii. 6. That is a
OF LIFE, OPENED LP, ANJJ APPLIED. 573
a great truth in all cases, in spiritual as well as worldly things,
1 Sam. ii. 9, — " By strength shall no man prevail." If a man should
use the best arguments, the strongest motives, the most feasible
measures, for bringing others into the way of religion ; and upon
the suitableness of the means promise himself success, he takes the
way most likely to render them ineffectual. The word spoken needs
to be mixed with faith in the speaker. And he is most likely to
succeed that uses the means of God's appointment for doing good,
with entire dependence on the Lord for success.
(4.) Lastly, By prayer for them. Thus it is promised concerning
Christ, Psalm Ixxii. 15, that prayer shall be made for him con-
tinually, viz. that his kingdom may come, by the daily comiug in of
new subjects to him. Since the success of all that we can do for the
good of the rising generation depends on the Lord's blessing, it is
necessary that we plead for them at the throne of grace, quicken-
ing ourselves thereto, by consideration of the honour of God, and
their eternal welfare, that depend upon it.
II. The second general head was to show, Who are the standing
and rising generation, the fathers and the children, among whom
this propagation of religion is to pass. And this must be stated
according to the language of the Holy Ghost, and the analogy oi
other parts of scripture, if we would rightly see whose is this duty.
In general I shall premise,
1. All superiors and inferiors are in scripture-style comprehended
under fathers and children. This is plain from the fifth command-
ment, which, under the name of father and mother, whose relatives
children are, prescribes the mutual duties of superiors and inferiors.
Therefore every one is to propagate religion to his inferiors.
2. Forasmuch as there is no perfect and absolute equality among
men, but some who are inferior in one respect to others, may be supe-
rior to them in another respect; it is the duty of equals and inferiors
to propagate religion among themselves, and to their superiors, mu-
tually communicating their light and warmth.
3. Some may belong to the standing generation in one respect,
who belong to the rising one in another ; as a person who is infe-
rior to some, and superior to others. So they are to have it propa-
gated to them, and they are to propagate it to others again.
4. Lastly, The same command of God that binds the standiug ge-
neration and fathers to propagate religion, binds the rising genera-
tion and children to receive it. God, by binding parents to instruct
binds the children to receive instruction. And they that are the
rising generation now, will be the standing in a little. But more
particularly,
574 THE PECULIAR MERCY AND BUSINESS
1. Fathers of the state ; magistrates, supreme or subordinate, are
to propagate religion to their political children, their subjects.
They are God's vicegerents on earth, clothed with dominion and
authority over others, to be employed for God in whose name they
act. Hence is that promise, Isa. xlix. 23, " Kings shall be thy
nursing-fathers, and their queens thy nursing-mothers." And it is
one of the blackest symptoms of the corruption of the world, that
oft-times they are found set to extirpate religion.
2. Fathers in the church, ministers and other ruling church-
officers, to their ecclesiastical children, the people whom they are
set over, 2 Kings ii. 12. It is for this very end they are put in
office. Hence says the apostle, Heb. xiii. 17, " Obey them that have
the rule over you, and submit yourselves : for they watch for your
souls, as they that must give account : that they may do it with joy,
and not with grief: for that is unprofitable for you." Jesus Christ
brought this religion from heaven, employed his apostles to propa-
gate it : to them they succeed in the office of propagating religion ;
and must see to make it their business, as they will be answerable.
3. Fathers of families to their children. For every family ought
to be a church, wherein holy worship, doctrine, discipline, and
government ought to be maintained, by the heads thereof. And
particularly,
1st, Fathers and mothers to the children procreated of their
bodies. This is the chief thing in the text, " The father to the
children shall make known thy truth." Compared with Gen. xviii.
19, " I know him, that he will command his children, and his house-
hold after him, and they shall keep the way of the Lord, to do
justice and judgment." It is but an inferior part of your charge,
to provide meat and clothes for your children, and to put them in a
way of living : the chief part is to see to their souls, that they may
be recovered out of the lost state they are in by nature. It will be
but a sorry kindness, to be concerned for their provision in time, if
ye neglect them as to their eternal concerns. It is by them your
name is to be propagated, and you are to propagate God's name to
them, in point of gratitude to God, justice and natural affection to
them.
'Idly, They are to do it also to all others in their family, whether
they be servants, or whatever they be, if they be members of the
family for shorter or longer time. Being in your family, ye are in-
stead of fathers and mothers to them, and owe them that benefit.
Hence masters are called fathers, 2 Kings v. 13 ; and the duty of
propagating religion is expressly extended to one's household, Gen.
xviii. 19, forecited. And whosoever have the chief authority in a
OF LIFE, OPENED UP, AJSO APPLIED. 575
family, though they be servants themselves, are the fathers of it in
this sense.
4. Fathers in gifts or grace, to those who are children in these
respects in comparison of them, 1 John ii. 12, 13. So Joseph was a
father to Pharaoh, Gen. xlv. 8. If God has bestowed on you more
gifts or grace than on others ; mind ye are thereby made fathers to
those that are weaker than you, and are obliged to communicate
your light to them, 1 Cor. xii. 7. So teachers are called fathers,
Gen. iv. 22 ; and the Spirit of God the common Father, 1 Sam. x. 12.
It will then make a dreadful reckoning, for men to have gifts, and
not lay them out for the benefit of others ; to use their gifts just for
ostentation, and instead of helping, to brangle and confound, and
perplex the weaker with them.
5. Fathers in years, to those who are children in respect of age
to them, 1 Tim. v. 1, 2. It is Elihu's observation, Job xxxii. 7, that
" days should speak, and multitude of years should teach wisdom."
The more days the more experience, the more access to improve in
knowledge : and so to be the more useful to the younger. Mind,
then, that your superiority in years constitutes you fathers to those
younger than you. Te will not forget it in point of the regard ye
expect from them, and God allows you it, 1 Pet. v. 5 ; but then ye
should make conscience of the duty too — propagating religion to them.
Thus ye see the rising and standing generation. And if these
fathers would set themselves to the propagating of religion to their
respective children, the work would go on.
III. The third general head was, to shew in what respects it is
the special business of life. The business of life appointed by the
great Master is manifold : but the sum of it is to honour God, Rom.
xi. ult. : and the chief branch thereof, the special business of life, is
to propagate religion, the standing to the rising generation. This
will appear in the following particulars : —
1. It is the business of life, that would have been the business of
it though sin had never entered into the world. The business of the
lawyer, and physician, and many handicrafts now in the world, owe
their original and necessity to sin's entrance. Nay, the very busi-
ness of our own salvation does so too ; for if Adam had stood the
time of trial, all his posterity's eternal happiness would have been
thereby secured to their hand. But God having settled the manner
of the propagation of mankind, as Gen. i. 28, it was an evidence
that the succeeding generations were not to be created in their
prime as Adam was ; but to be born infants, and grow up by de-
grees, in knowledge of religion, and other things, as appears from
Luke ii. ult. Aud this would have afforded this business.
576 THE PECULIAR MERCY AND BUSINESS
2. It is the business of life, that most singly looks to the ho-
nour of God. God is honoured by our working out our own salva-
tion : but tlien our own advantage bears great weight in it allowably,
as well as his honour ; but this is a business carried on not for our-
selves, but for God allenarly ; and in that respect is the more noble.
Hence we find the apostle willing, for the great end of the propa-
gation of religion, either to live or die, to put off his own eternal
happiness for a time, Phil. i. 26, downwards. And he prefers one's
edifying the church, to his own comfort, 1 Cor. xiv. 4, 5. He edifies
the church that edifies his house, Neh. iii. 28, 30.
3. It is the business of life, that is the end of life and salvation
given to the elect, and all their comforts and enjoyments. Hence
said our Lord to Peter, Luke xxii. 32, " I have prayed for thee,
that thy faith fail not , and when thou art converted, strengthen thy
brethren." We get life and salvation by believing in Christ; and
are as really possessed of eternal life that we can never lose, upon
our first believing, as the saints in heaven are, though not in that
measure, 1 Johu v. 11, 12. When the Lord had a mind to honour
Paul to propagate religion, he reached his own heart first by his
grace : and then having so furnished him, he set him to work. Is
not that the special business of life, for which God brings people
into a state of salvation?
4. It is the business of life, that the new creature as natively
falls to, as the new-born infant falls a-breathing. Hence it is said,
Psalm xxii. 30, 31, "A seed shall serve him, it shall be accounted
to the Lord for a generation. They shall come and shall declare his
righteousness unto a people that shall be born, that he hath done
this." So the woman of Samaria, John iv. 29, " Come, see a man
which told me all things that ever I did; is not this the Christ?"
Paul, as soon as he was converted, fell a propagating the religion
that before he persecuted. Grace makes people communicative ; and
there is never a soul in which the leaven of grace is received, but
would, if it could, leaven the whole world with the same.
5. It is the business of life, that is most useful to mankind. .And
we should remember, that both conscieuce and interest requires us
to live so as to be useful to our fellow-creatures : Rom. xiv. 7, "For
none of us liveth to himself, and no man dieth to himself." Some
have been great blessings to mankind by their usefulness, in propa-
gating arts and sciences, in relieving the oppressed, and helping the
needy : but none so useful as those who have propagated religion
among them; as extending not only to their good in this, but the
other world, Isa. xix. 24, 25. And a disposition to be useful to
mankind would prompt men to this duty.
OF LIFE, OPENED UP, AND APPLIED. 577
6. It is tlie business of life of the most diffusive usefulness. It
brings honour to God, comfort to one's self, and advantage to others;
it brings advantage to their souls, tends to make them holy here,
and happy hereafter. It reaches not only to the present generation,
but to the generations yet unborn : in so far as, you propagating
religion to your children, they will propagate it again to theirs, and
theirs to theirs, and so on. It is to be lamented, that some children
follow not the steps of their religious parents. But every body may
observe, that there are some families wherein one generation after
another appears for God ; others wherein, generation after genera-
tion, religion can never get place among them. Trace these back,
and ye may come to one that was careful to propagate religion to
his children, and his children propagated it again to theirs, and so
on ; and to another that had no care that way about his children,
and his children had as little again about theirs, and so on.
7- Lastly, It is the business of life that is the most valuable, most
worthy of the dignity of an immortal soul, and likest the life that
Christ led in the world. The business of most men is nothing but
laborious trifling : their thoughts, cares, and time, are wholly
spent on things pertaining to this life ; as if they had souls
of no other constitution than their bodies. It is nothing like the
life of Christ, who went about doing good, propagating religion: 1
Pet. ii. 21, " Christ suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye
should follow his steps." Compared with 1 John ii. 6, " He that
saith he abideth in him, ought himself also so to walk, even as he
walked."
IY. The fourth thing proposed was, to shew in what respect it is
the special privilege of life.
1. It is that whereby we may honour God most, and so answer
the end of our creation most. Iu our own embracing of religion we
receive the light, in propagating it we diffuse the light received
to the greater glory of God : 1 Pet. ii. 9, " Ye are a chosen genera-
tion, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people ; that ye
should shew forth the praises of him, who hath called you out of
darkness into his marvellous light." Hence among those who turn
from sin unto righteousness, those who turn most of others to it will
have the greatest glory ; Dan. xii. 3, " They that be wise, shall
shine as the brightness of the firmament ; and they that turn many
to righteousness, as the stars for ever and ever."
2. It is that whereby we may be most useful in the world to
others. No benefit done to our fellow-creatures is comparable to it.
We have indeed access to do for their temporal advantage, but this
578 THE PECULIAR MERCY AND BUSINESS
is for their eternal. And when the opportunity of life is over, there
is no more doing that way, Luke xvi. 27, downwards.
Use 1. Of reproof to several sorts of persons. And,
1. To those who make no conscience of propagating religion to
their families, among their children and servants. Every man is, by
divine appointment, the prophet of his o-wn family to teach them, the
priest to worship God with them, and the king to rule them. Each
will maintain his own authority to his power ; but family worship
with many is not so closely stuck to, but family teaching least of
all, which is yet commanded of God: Deut. vi. 6, 7, " These words
which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart. And thou
shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of
them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by
the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up." The
want of this makes ministerial teaching in preaching and examina-
tion so unsuccessful. How will men answer this neglect of the spe-
cial business of life?
2. To those who are backward and averse to receive family in-
struction, or submit to family discipline, checks and reproofs for
their miscarriages. They will get away from family catechising
on Sabbath nights, shift family-exercise, and cannot endure to be
checked for their miscarriages : and therefore they like best to be
in those families where least of these is to be found. But if it is
the duty of others to propagate religion to you, it is on the peril of
your souls ye refuse to receive it. It will aggravate your condem-
nation, John iii. 10.
3. To those who set an ill example before those that are younger
than they. Much of the corruption of children is owing to the ill
examples set them by parents, servants, and others whom they are
near. This lets them see much ill which they would otherwise be
ignorant of ; and the bias of their nature lying that way, they are
by that means carried down the stream. So a wo is brought on
themselves, and them that set them the copy : Matth. xviii. 7, " Wo
unto the world because of offences : for it must needs be that offences
come : but wo to that man by whom the offence cometh." Oh that
men would consider, that they do in effect teach that which they do
or say before the younger sort; for childhood is the imitating age.
4. To those who do not check the outbreakings of corrupt nature in
those of the younger sort, especially parents to their children. the
cruelty of some parents, who, by their ceasing to nip sin in the bud
in their children, betray them into such habits of sin, as afterwards is
too late to correct. They will neglect prayer, profane the Sabbath,
swear, lie, and meet with no check : they will steal little things, and
OF LIFE, OPENED UP, AND APPLIED. 579
the parents will make them welcome. And thus, by their parents'
means, some are so accustomed to sin, that as they grow, it grows, till
it brings some to an ill end. Remember the children of Bethel, 2
Kings ii. 23, 24.
5. To those who propagate irreligion to the rising generation ;
who teach a young generation to despise serious godliness, to con-
temn the ordinances of God, and to lead loose and licentious lives,
impatient of restraint. Do they not propagate irreligion, who keep
up their minced oaths, Haith, Faith, &c. which would die out of
their language, were it not that they were propagated from father
to son, from the old to the young ; who keep up the observation of
superstitious times and customs, Yule, Fastens-even, &c, the re-
lics of Popery and Paganism, which might be razed out of memory,
were it not that they are carefully propagated from one generation
to another?
6. To those that go about to debauch a young generation, by in-
stilling into them loose and licentious principles, which youth is
ready to fall in with ; by taking a liberty with tliem in obscene filthy
speaking, making youthful lusts the subject of their mirth and sport,
leading them into drunkenness, an inlet to all other vices ; tempting
them to the commission of the sin of uncleanness with them, which
will be bitterness in the end to the seducer and the seduced ; en-
couraging them to acts of dishonesty, cheating and stealing from
their parents or masters. These are factors for hell, who do what
in them lies to destroy souls Christ died for.
7. To those that are ready to hide and cloke the scandalous sins
of others, working that they may not be brought to light. How
many poor souls of the younger sort, whom Satan has got led aside
into the ways of sin, might have been recovered out of the snare
of the devil, if it had not been the cruel kindness of some, who be-
stirred themselves to cover their sin ? But thereby they have been
hardened in their sin, and have gone from evil to worse, till at length
they have been ruined altogether. See what an awful threaten-
ing there is pronounced against such, Lev. v. 1, " If a soul sin, and
hear the voice of swearing, and is a witness, whether he hath seen
or known of it; if he do not utter it, then he shall bear his ini-
quity."
8. Lastly, To those who cannot see themselves under any obliga-
tion to propagate religion, and concern themselves as little about it.
They think that may be the business of ministers, and possibly of fa-
thers to their own children ; but not theirs. As soon as the Spirit
of God touches your hearts in earnest about your own salvation, ye
will change your mind ; ye will find a natural concern for the ad-
580 THE PECULIAB MERCY AND BUSINESS
vancing of the kingdom of Christ : John iv. 29, " Come, see a man
which told me all things that ever I did: is not this the Christ?"
The love of God, and of your neighbour, planted in the heart, will
create a concern this way : and not daring to be against him, and
scatter, ye will be for Christ, and gather with him.
Use 2. Of exhortation. Make it the special business of your lives
to propagate religion to the rising generation.
Mot. 1. There is the strongest obligations on you for it. Ye are
in that point under the tie of,
1st, Divine authority. God commands you to do it, requires it of
you. It is commanded to all to edify one another, 1 Thess. v. 11;
yea, all things must be done for that end, 1 Cor. xiv. 26. And the
reason is plain, that God has placed men in society, and in Chris-
tian society for that end, Rom. xiv. 7. And the elder sort are made
tutors and teachers to the younger for that end, Deut. iv. 10, and
xi. 19.
2dly, Gratitude to God. Is not God your Creator, Preserver, and
Sustainer ? And what can ye do for him, for all the goodness be-
stowed on you, if ye do not propagate his name and praise, and
strive to stir up the love and fear of him in the rising generation ?
If ye have any share in the redemption of Christ, ye cannot but find
yourselves under the strongest ties of gratitude for redeeming love, to
labour that his name may be transmitted from generation to genera-
tion. Hence says the Psalmist, Psalm lxxii. 17, " His name shall
endnre for ever: his name shall be continued as long as the sun :
and men shall be blessed in him ; all nations shall call him bles-
sed."
3c%, Justice to former generations, who have propagated religion
to us. What case had we been in this day, if it had not been for
the sufferings of confessors, and the blood of martyrs, which they un-
derwent, that religion might be transmitted to us, and by us to suc-
ceeding generations ? Had they given up with it, it had been lost
as to us. Now, they have an interest in succeeding generations :
and if we propagate it not to them, we betray our trust, and are
unjust to them, and denude the succeeding generation of the inheri-
tance of their fathers. "We should, like those spoken of, Psalm
lxxviii. 3, 4, " utter the things which we have heard and known, and
our fathers have told us ; not hiding them from our children, shew-
ing to the generation to come, the praises of the Lord ; and his
strength and his wonderful works that he hath done."
-if.JJ)/, Our own interest. That maxim, Prov. xi. 24, "there is that
scat t ere Ui, and yet increaseth ; and there is that withholdeth more
than is meet, but it tcndeth to poverty, 1 ' holds in this, as much a.;
OF LIFE, OPENED UP, AND APPLIED. 581
in aiiy thing. Religion is a fire, which, heing smothered, goes out,
but, getting a vent, increaseth. It is like the widow's oil, that in-
creased in the pouring out ; and like the bread that increased in the
breaking. Were men more set on propagating religion to others,
they would have more to themselves.
btldy, Charity to the rising generation. Their eternal state, as to
well or wo, depends on their embracing or continuing strangers to
religion. They need your help : for the bias of their nature lies the
wrong way ; the devil and an evil world cease not to ply them to
walk according to that bias; and if their spiritual enemies gain
their point, they are ruined.
Mot. 2. This is the chief part of your generation-work. The
work of our own salvation must be seen to, Philip, ii. 12; but that
is not all we have to do. "We are to do that for ourselves ; but then
for the honour of God, and the good of our fellow-creatures, we are
to ply our generation-work, Acts xiii. 36 ; and that mainly lies
here: Psalm cxlv. 4, "One generation shall praise thy works to
another, and shall declare thy mighty acts:" Ye are all doing: but
what are ye doing for the honour of God, for the service of your ge-
neration ? Ye have a room in this generation ; and God who set you
in it, will call you to account how ye fill it up.
Mot. 3. As ye carry yourselves in this matter, your sin or your good
works will be going on, after ye are dead and gone, in this world-
The last judgment we must undergo, is not without reason delayed
to the end of the world ; for the sins of wicked men, and the good
works of the godly, will then be hugely increased beyond what they
are at their death. Good Abel is useful to this day : Ileb. xi. 4, —
" He being dead yet speaketh." Haman, in his life, set a mischief
agoing which continued after he was gone, Esth. viii. 3 ; and the
sin of Jeroboam the first king of Israel, continued till that kingdom
was at an end, 2 Kings xvii. 22, 23. If ye propagate religion to the
rising generation, that good work will survive you ; and if ye ne-
glect it, your criminal omission may live and destroy souls long
after ye are gone, which will be laid to your charge at the great
day.
Mot. 4. It is a noble and beneficial work. Hence says the
apostle James, chap. v. 19, 20, " Brethren, if any of you do err from
the truth, and one convert him ; let him know, that he which con-
verteth a sinner from the error of his way, shall save a soul from
death, and shall hide a multitude of sins." To save a soul from
perishing, is such noble work, that it is an honourable working to
be aiming at it, and using means to compass it.
Mot. 5, Lastly, The doom of unprofitable servants is dreadful :
582 THE PECULIAR MERCY AND BUSINESS
Matth. xxv. 30, " Cast the unprofitable servant into outer dark-
ness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth." No man can
profit God, but every man may and ought to profit others, Job xxxv.
7, 8, laying out their talents for the good of others : and if they do
it not, they will be cast into outer darkness, as those who would not
work when they had the light.
Object. But they are froward, and will not receive instruction,
nor take advice. Answ. That is a part of their natural disease, Job
xi. 12. Men take pains to break young beasts, till they make them
tractable : and shall they not be at pains with those of their own
kind? The waters wear the stones; and what has often slipped
off, may at length come to stick. And a word spoken to them for
their good, may lie long under the clod, but spring up at length.
But our success is not the rule of our duty ; we must do our part.
But more particularly, let heads of families be exhorted to pro-
pagate religion to their children and families.
Mot. 1. Consider ye have a charge of their souls from God who
has committed them to you. Hence the fourth commandment, the
bond of all religion, is directed to heads of families. And in Abra-
ham's example their duty is laid before them : Gen. xviii. 19, " I
know him, (says the Lord), that he will command his children, and
his household after him, and they shall keep the way of the Lord,
to do justice and judgment."
Mot. 2. They are born like wild asses' colts, and have a natural
bent to the way of sin and destruction : Psalm lviii. 3, " The wicked
are estranged from the womb, they go astray as soon as they be
born, speaking lies." It is too fond and blind a love to your child-
ren, that makes you take no notice of the corruption of their nature.
And if they are naturally corrupt, what can ye expect but that they
will run to their own ruin, if ye are not at pains with them for their
souls' good ? Hence says Solomon, Prov. xxix. 15, " The rod and re-
proof give wisdom : but a child left to himself, bringeth his mother
to shame."
Mot. 3. Parents propagate that corruption of nature to them, by
natural generation. The sinful nature of children is a glass wherein
the parents may get a humbling view of their own : Gen. v. 3,
" Adam begat a son in his own likeness, after his image; and called
his name Seth." Compared with Job xiv. 4, " Who can bring a
clean thing out of an unclean ? not one." Have ye been instru-
mental in conveying the poison to them, and will ye not be thereby
stirred up to minister the antidote to them ?
Mot. 4. They are in the midst of many snares, entered into a
world wherein offences abound, Matth. xviii. 7. Their youth makes
OF LIFE, OPENED UP, AND APPLIED. 583
them raw and unexperienced, and disposes them to be rash and
heedless. They have need of a monitor, and instructor and guide.
How shall they learn if they are not taught ?
Mot. 5. Ye must die ; and it is like will die before them, and
leave them in this evil world. "Will ye not be concerned for them,
that it may be well with them when ye are away? Your concern
for their temporal provision will not make it well with them, while
ye are not concerned to sow the seeds of religion in their hearts.
That will be but to give much sail to an empty ship without ballast,
that may sink her in the deep sea, as is seen in the sad experience
of many.
Mot. 6. They must die ; and it may be they may die before you,
and leave you ; and then they will have no use for all the temporal
provision ye have laboured for, for them. But religion propagated,
by you to them, will then appear a precious treasure. But if ye
have neglected that duty to them, that will then appear a criminal
neglect which ye will never more be capable to mend ; and it will
leave a galling sting in your conscience, if ye be not quite stupid.
Mot. 7, Lastly, What comfort can ye have in their case, while ye
can have no comfortable prospect of their eternal happiness ? If
they were to be lords and ladies in this world, but to perish eter-
nally in another world, what comfort can be there ? The barren
womb and dry breasts are preferable to the bringing forth children
to the murderers ; much more to the bringing forth children for hell-
fire.
Let these things work upon your consciences, and on your natu-
ral affection, to bestir yourselves towards the propagating of reli-
gion to the rising generation. If ye have any conscience of duty
towards God, any humanity towards your fellow-creatures, neglect
it no more. For particular directions, I propose,
Doct. III. ult. The true way of propagating religion, the standing
to the rising generation, is, That the former make God known to
the latter, so as they may betake themselves unto him, his truth and
faithfulness, by faith and trust. This is the sense of the words of
the text, and agreeable to the matter, Hezekiah's life being pro-
longed in virtue of that promise, 1 Kings viii. 25, — " There shall
not fail thee a man in my sight to sit on the throne of Israel ; so
that thy children take heed to their way, that they walk before me
as thou hast walked before me." So this notification is not a mat-
ter of speculation, but a practical thing, that the rising generation
may be brought to God.
In discoursing this doctrine, we shall consider,
584 THE PECULIAR MERCY AND BUSINESS
I. The end to be aimed at in our teaching the rising generation.
II. The means to be used with them for that end.
III. Give the reasons why this is the true way of propagatiug re-
ligion, the standing to the rising generation.
IV. Lastly, Apply.
1. We shall consider the end to be aimed at in our teaching the
rising generation. And that is, that they may be brought to be-
take themselves unto the truth of God by faith and hope. This is
expressly taught, Psalm lxxviii. 6, 7, " That the generation to
come might know them, even the children which should be born :
who should arise, and declare them to their children : that they
might set their hope in God, and not forget the works of God ; but
keep his commandments." Now, here we are to consider,
1. What is this truth of God we are to endeavour to bring the
rising generation to. 2. How one betakes himself unto God's truth,
which is that we should aim to bring the rising generation to.
First, What is this truth of God we are to endeavour to bring
the rising generation to ? The truth of God may be considered
three ways.
1. In the divine doctrine in general. And thus whatever the
Lord teaches in his word, is true to a tittle. Hence says David,
Psalm cxix. 160, " Thy word is true." All the discoveries made to
us therein, are to be relied on as most firm truth. But that truth of
doctrine is not here meaut ; for it belongs to the means, the object
to be made known.
2. In the divine threatenings. They are not mere scarecrows, as
the wicked world looks on them, and disregards them, Deut. xxix.
19 ; but shall have a certain accomplishment in their true meaning
and intention : for which cause believers of God's word tremble at
them, Isa. lxvi. 2. But neither is this here meant ; since it is not
the object of hope, but of fear.
3. In the divine promises. These are of two sorts.
(1.) Law-promises; as, "He that doth them, shall live in them."
This cannot be here meant neither ; for no man can be happy that
way, Bom. viii. 3. (2.) The gospel-promises ; such as, John iii. 16,
" God so loved the world, that he gave his only-begotten Son, that
whosoever believeth in him, should not perish, but have everlasting
life." Heb. viii. 10, " This is the covenant that I will make with
the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord ; I will put my
laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts ; and I will be
to them a God, and they shall be to me a people." The belief of
these is more difficult ; but it is by them a soul can only be made
happy, 2 Pet. i. 4. Therefore it is the truth or faithfulness of
OK LIFE, OPENED UP, AND APPLIED. 585
God in the promise of the gospel that is here meant. That is it we
are to endeavour to bring the rising generation to.
Now, the promise of the gospel is held forth under the notion of
God's truth, on these accounts.
1. In respect of the weight of the things promised therein. They
are so great and weighty, that were not the infallible truth of God
impawned for them, they could not be believed by sensible guilty
creatures : 2 Pet. i. 4, " Whereby are given unto us exceeding great
and precious promises ; that by these you might be partakers of the
divine nature." Compared with Luke xxiv. 25, 26, " Then Jesus
said unto them, fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the
prophets have spoken ! Ought not Christ to have suffered these
things, and to enter into his glory ?" That the eternal Son of God
should take on man's nature, and suffer the most ignominious death
therein, for sinners — who could have believed on another than God's
own testimony ? That God freely gives eternal life in him to siu-
ners, as 1 John v. 11, who otherwise could believe ?
2. The foundation of believing it, is in God only. A true be-
liever " receives the kingdom of God as a little child," Mark x. 15,
on the mere testimony of his Father. There is nothing in nature's
light to bring us to the belief of the gospel. So faith is called " the
evidence of things not seen," Heb. xi. 1. The threatening of death
in the law, a natural conscience prompts men to believe, Rom. i. ult.
and ii. 15. But the promise of life in the gospel, depending alle-
naily on revelation, the belief of it rests on the truth of God only ;
yea, nature rises up against it. The corrupt mindlooks on it as foolish-
ness; the corrupt will rejects it; the corrupt affections muster them-
selves up against it; and the natural conscience, the more it is awak-
ened, the more hard it makes the belief of it. So the truth of God
has all these to drive over, and pull down. Hence says the apostle,
2 Cor. x. 4, 5, " The weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but
mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds ; casting
down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against
the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to
the obedience of Christ."
3. In opposition to the falsehood, vanity, and lies of the world,
which sinners naturally betake themselves to.
1**, The world swarms with lies, and has always since Satan
hatched the first lie in it. The things of the world are lies, 1 John
ii. 16; the men of the world are liars, Rom. iii. 4; yea the best of
them a lie, Psalm Ixii. 9. There is no trusting of them, Jer. xvii. 5, 6.
2dly, The world itself is one great lie, Eccl. i. 2. Its appearauces
are unfair and deceitful ; it appeirs to vain man quite another
Vol. VII. 2 o
586 THE PECULIAR MERCY AND BUSINESS
thing than it is ; its shadows appear substantial, and so catch the
unwary heart, Eos. xii. 1, 8. Yet it is that which is not, Prov.
xxiii. 5. It is not what it seems to be. Its promises are false, it
never performs them : the good thiugs of it are always greater in
expectation than fruition ; they disappoint, which is lying in scrip-
ture style, Hab. iii. 17-
Secondly, How one betakes himself unto God's truth, which is that
we should aim to bring the rising generation to. It lies in these
five things,
1. In a conviction of the vanity of the world, and its deceitful lusts.
Hence says David, Psalm cxix. 96, " I have seen an end of all per-
fection ; but thy commandment is exceeding broad." The false and
vain world offers itself as a satisfying portion to the rising genera-
tion, as soon as reason begins to dawn in them. To the infant it
makes its court by the lust of the flesh in meat and drink ; to the
child by that and the pride of life in clothing ; and it is long ere
they know there is any thing better than these. To the youth it
spreads out its all, " the lusts of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and
the pride of life ;" and whatever notions of religion they may have
in their heads, till grace open their eyes, they will never truly see
any thing to be better. Now, we should labour to convince them of
the vanity of the world, that it will never satisfy, nor afford a rest
to the heart ; that its lusts are deceitful, and there is a running
hook hid under that bait.
2. In renouncing the world for a portion, and its lusts for our
way, as being a broken reed, that will not only not bear our weight,
but run through the baud that leans on it. Hence it is said, Jer.
xvi. 19, — " The Gentiles shall come unto the Lord from the ends of
the earth, and shall say, Surely our fathers have inherited lies,
vanity, and things wherein there is no profit." It is natural to man,
and therefore to the rising generation, to stick by it, and not to give
over the pursuit; but after a thousand disappointments still to hope
for better from it, Isa. lvii. 10. And the little experience youth
has, makes them the more ready to do so. But we should endea-
vour to bring them to part with it, as a hopeless thing they will
never mend themselves of, Psalm iv. 2.
3. In believing that there is an upmaking portion held forth in
the promise of the gospel. This is the finding of the treasure hid in
the field, Matth. xiii. 44. The carnal mind looks on the promise of
the gospel but as idle tales ; it is a treasure hid in a field, which
men go over without noticing what is in it, because they see it not.
But Christ is there, and in him the fulness of the Godhead, and with
him all things, enough to satisfy the boundless desires of a soul.
OF LIFE, OPENED UP, AND APPLIED. 587
And could we bring the rising generation really to believe this, we
would do a great thing.
4. In trusting to the promise of the gospel allenarly for life and
happiness, and a rest to the heart, upon the ground of God's faith-
fulness. Here is the nature of faith, a betaking one's. -«elf uuto
God's truth, by trusting to him in his word of promise for all, Ruth
ii. 12. It implies these three things. The soul, seeing there is in
the promise what is not in all the creation — enough to answer all its
needs, and to make it completely happy,
1st, Believes its own common interest in the promise, that itself,
as well as others, has access to claim it with all that is in it, and to
rely on it as held out to him iu particular to trust upon for his upmak-
ing in time and eternity, Heb. iv. 1, 2. For no man can embrace the
promise of the gospel, that does not first see himself warranted so
to do. And the nature of the promise warrants all, John iii. 13,
" God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that
whosoever believeth iu him, should not perish, but have everlasting
life."
2dli/, The man thereupon lays the weight of his happiness wholly
ou it, trusting that it shall be made out to him, and expecting all
happiness from it. Thus he buys the field, takes possession of it,
and the treasure hid therein, Matth. xiii. 44. This is the embracing
of the promise, Heb. xi. 13, as one takes an honest man's word for
his security, rests there, and looks no farther. So what trust was
before placed in the vain world, is now placed in the promise.
2>dbj, The ground on which he bottoms this his trust in the pro-
mise, is not any thing in himself, but the truth and faithfulness of
God, Tit. i. 2. The man sees the promise is not yea and nay, as the
promises of fickle men are : but that it is the word of God, which is
surer than heaven and earth, Heb. xi. 11, and yea in Christ, 2 Cor.
i. 20. And to this trust we should labour to bring the rising ge-
neration, which is to bring them unto a rest for their restless hearts,
by bringing them to Christ, and by him to God. "When we see
hungry infants moving about with their mouths for something to
suck, natural affection teaches to set them on the breast : but as they
grow up, ye might observe their hungry souls moving up and down
among the creatures for a fill, and still restless because they cannot
get it. It would be as great charity in that case, to endeavour to
bring them to the breasts of divine consolations from the promise of
the gospel.
5, Lastly, In hoping and waiting for their happiness from the pro-
mise of the gospel. Hence says the apostle, Rom. viii. 24, 25, " We
are saved by hope : but hope that is seen, is not hope : for what a
2o2
588 THE PECULIAR MERCY AND BUSINESS
man seeth, why doth he yet hope for ? But if we hope for that
we see not, then do we with patience wait for it." There is much
got out of the promise, for the present in hand ; but still there is
more in hope, to be got on the other side of death. The natural
cry is, "Who will shew us any good ?" It is hard to make children
wait even for temporal good things : they would ay have all pre-
sently, whenever they take it in their head : but it is harder to get
them to wait in the matter of a portion for their hearts. So they
greedily embrace the present world. But we should labour to get
them off that, and wait for happiness in another world.
II. The means to be used with them for that end. That is, to
make God known to them. He is to many of the aged among men
an unknown God, as to any saving acquaintance with him : but to
young ones, lie is an unknown God, so much as by report or hearsay,
till the aged do tell them of him. The saving knowledge of himself
God only can give : but there is a doctrinal way of making him
known to the rising generation : and that is our duty, Psalm xxii.
ult., " They shall come, and shall declare his righteousness unto a
people that shall be born, that he hath done this."
Now, ye are to make him known to the rising generation, as a
God in Christ, John xiv. 2: for as such only he is the object of a
guilty creature's trust for salvation, 2 Cor. v. 19. The blind world
pretend to trust in God as an absolute God, not eyeing him as in
Christ : but so he is a " consuming fire," Heb. xii. ult. And he is
not honoured, but dishonoured by such a trust, John v. 23. In
Christ he appears,
1. As a God of majesty and glory, 2 Cor. iv. 6. There is no glass
in which ye can represent to the rising generation the glory and
majesty of God so lively as in Christ. The creating a world of noth-
ing, the deluge, and the destruction of Sodom, are but dim glasses, in
comparison of the mystery of Christ. Here the glory of his infinite
holiness, and infinite hatred of sin, his exact justice, his precise and
unalterable truth, his unsearchable wisdom, most fully appear.
2. As the God of grace, 1 Pet. v. 10. The former view of God is
apt to fill the soul with the honour, awe, and reverence of him, fit
ballast for the vain heart: this view of God is apt to fill the soul
with faith and love, whereby the heart may be disengaged from the
the vain world, and knit to him as the alone upmaking portion of
thy soul. In Christ ye can let them see majesty vailed with mercy,
righteousness and peace kissing mutually, a crystal wall to go be-
tween them and the consuming fire.
ill. The third thing is, to give the reasons why this is the true
way of propagating religion to the rising generation.
OF LIFE, OPENED UP, AND APPLIED. 589
1. Because all true religion begins with the knowledge of God in
Christ. Hence our Lord says, John xvii. 3, " This is life eternal,
that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ
whom thou hast sent." As long as ignorance of God continues in
the soul, the prince of darkness rules there, the works of darkness
go on there, and the party is on the way to everlasting darkness,
Hos. iv. 6 ; Isa. xxvii. 11. Therefore cruel are they that bring up
young ones, whether children or servants, in ignorance ; especially
considering that it is the learning age, which season missed, the
loss is seldom retrieved.
2. Because vain is that religion and knowledge that brings not
the soul to betake itself to God's truth for a portion, and to re-
nounce the world and its way, 1 Cor. viii. 1. Our aim in all our
teaching should be to affect the heart, to bring sinners to God, to be
his only, wholly and for ever. To satisfy ourselves with filling their
heads with notions of religion, while we are careless of getting their
hearts to Christ, is sorry service.
3. Because the right discerning of the glory of God in Christ is
the true way to bring a sinner to faith in him : Psalm ix. 10, " They
that know thy name will put their trust in thee." John iv. 10,
" Jesus answered and said unto her, If thou k newest the gift of God,
and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink ; thou wouldst
have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water."
All who are brought acquainted with him, cannot choose but tako
up their soul's rest in him : and whoever do not betake themselves
to him, it is because they know him not. For his glorious ex-
cellency truly discerned, cannot miss to captivate the heart.
Use. Make God known to the rising generation, so that they may
be stirred up to give up with the vain and false world, and to be-
take themselves to the promise of the gospel, therein to take God
for their portion. I have given motives already, I will now give
directions how to manage the work.
1. A general direction. Aim at that particularly, and keep it
always in your visw, to teach them to know God in Christ. Never
satisfy yourselves with letting them know what God is in himself
out of Christ ; for that may strike them with terror, but it will
never bring them to him in faith and love. But labour to discover
to them the glory of God in the face of Jesus. Shew them Christ,
and ye shew them the Father ; for in him the fulness of the God-
head dwells. In his person, you may let them see God's willingness
to take mankind into union and communion with himself; in his
offices, how willing he is to teach them, justify them, and sanctify
them ; in his holy birth, what a nature is pleasing to him ; in his
590 THE PECULIAK MEPCY AND BUSINESS
righteous life, what a conversation he requires : in his satisfactory
death, how dreadful his wrath is against sin ; and in a word, how
they may be made holy and happy for ever. Therefore inculcate
on them the knowledge of Christ. I urge this for three reasons.
1st, Do this, and ye do all to them. Hence says the apostle,
1 Cor. ii. 2, " I determined not to know any thing among you, save
Jesus Christ, and him crucified." When the darkness of the night
sits down on the face of the earth, as many candles as are burning
abroad, so many spots of the earth will be enlightened : but let the
sun arise, and there will be light over all ; for the one sun will do
more than millions of lighted candles. So, whenever Christ the
Sun of Righteousness ariseth, that gross darkness which covers the
mind will suddenly be dispelled. There is more of the glory of
God to be seen in the face of Jesns, than throughout the whole com-
pass of the heavens and the earth, which yet were made to declare
the glory of God. Life, eternal life, is in the knowledge of him,
John xvii. 3.
2dly, Neglect this, and ye do nothing to them to purpose. Hence
says Christ, John viii. 24, " If ye believe not that I am he, ye shall
die in your sins." That light that is without him is but darkness,
and the sparks of knowledge and religion that is without illumina-
tion in the knowledge of Christ, will leave those that walk in the
light of them to lie down in sorrow at length, John i. 9. Not one
truth is rightly learned, that is not learned as it centres in Jesus,
Eph. iv. 20, 21.
3c%, Because the rising generation is in extreme hazard in this
point at this time, beyond what they have been for many years. A
religion is like to come in among them, that has no relation to
Christ and his Spirit, which is in effect but refined Paganism. "With
some Christ is almost dropt out of their practical divinity, and mo-
rality in doctrine is justling out the gospel of the grace of God ; and
hence immorality in practice comes in like a flood ; and principles
are vented highly injurious to his glorious Godhead.
2. Particular directions are these : —
1st, Acquaint them with God's word. Let your children be
learned to read ; and your servants that cannot read, be so chari-
table as to teach them. And ye servants, secure that in your
hiring yourselves. And press them, and stir them up to read the
scriptures ordinarily when they can do it. It is recorded of Timothy,
to his honour, that " from a child he had known the holy scriptures,
which are able to make men wise unto salvation, through faith which
is in Christ Jesus," 2 Tim. iii. 15.
2c%, Neglect not family catechising. Oblige them to get the
OF LTFE, OPENED UP, AND APPLIED. 591
Shorter Catechism, and labour to make them understand it by ex-
amining them. For which purpose ye have many good helps laid
to your hand.
dotty, Often inculcate on them their sinful and miserable state by
nature, and the salvation for them in Jesus Christ.
4thly, Join a practical exhortation with your catechising. It
might be profitable to close the catechising on every question of the
Catechism upon a particular head, with a short admonition to them
by way of use. Ex. gr. on the first, Well, mind that the great
thing ye have to do in the world is, to glorify God ; and that the
great thing ye have to seek, is the enjoyment ol him.
bthly, Inculcate upon them, and train them up in a reverence and
esteem of the ministry of the gospel, as an ordinance of Christ for
the salvation of sinners. And oblige your family to a conscientious
attendance ; none of them to sit at home that are capable of profit-
ing by the word, without a reason that will bear weight before God,
1 Cor. i. 21. I urge this the rather, that some are trained up in a
neglect, or in a contempt of it, to the ensnaring of their poor souls.
Mind the children of Bethel.
Qthly, Inculcate and labour to impress them with the belief of the
vanity of the world, and the impossibility of finding a rest to their
heart in any creature. Tell it them from the word, your own and
their experience.
Ithly, Inculcate and labour to impress them with the belief of the
full happiness to be found in a God in Christ, held forth to them in
the promise of the gospel. Solemnly assure them, that there they
may find a rest to their heart ; and that God is offering himself to
them as such.
8thly, Make it known to them how good a master God is ; how
pleasant the way of holiness is : what an ill master Satan is ; how
contrary and odious sin is to God ; how dear it stood Christ ;
how bitter it will be to the siuner here or hereafter.
9thly, Put them on praying by any means, and teach them to
pray, and inculcate on them the necessity of it.
lQthly, Make known to them how God is a God of exact justice,
and purest truth : and from thence, as ye love their souls, endeavour
often to inculcate on them, and impress them with a horror of in-
justice in the least things, and of lying in any case. The sad way
some are brought up in those points, leave them without any con-
science of common honesty or truth.
And mind that " precept must be upon precept, precept upon pre-
cept, line upon line, line upon line, here a little and there a little,"
Isa. xxviii. 10.
592 THE PECULIAR MERCY AND BUSINESS, &C.
And be not discouraged though ye see not the fruit. The fruit
may come when ye are in your grave. Mind Manasseh's conversion
when his godly father was dead and gone.
Now, ye young folk, and young ones, for whose cause so much has
been said, I will leave this text, with three words to you, and a
great offer.
1. Christ and the devil are striving about you. Christ is striving
for you by his ministers, your parents, and masters, that shew a con-
cern for your soul, and by your own consciences. The devil is striv-
ing to hold you, by his temptations, a vain world and wicked, and
your own lusts. But the devil is a murderer, the world is false, and
your lusts are deceitful, which ye will find if ye trust them.
2. Ye are between the losing and the winning now. If Christ get
you when ye are young, ye will serve him with life and spirit : if
the devil prevail, the elder ye grow, ye will go the farther from
God ; for youth goes with a great swing, right or wrong.
3. Eternity is at stake with you ; eternal well or eternal wo, ac-
cording to the side ye shall choose.
I offer Christ to you, and declare that he is willing to be yours, and
to make you happy for ever, and be a rest to your hearts : Matth.
xxii. 4, " Tell them which are bidden, behold, I have prepared my
dinner : my oxen and my fatlings are killed, and all things are
ready : come unto the marriage." Prov. viii. 17, " I love them that
love me ; and those that seek me early shall find me," Remember
this, and say, Amen.
EVIL AND DANGER OF SCHISM.
A Sermon preached at Ettrick in the Year 1708.
1 Cor. i. 10,
Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ,
that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among
you, but that ye be perfectly joined together, in the same mind, and in
the same judgment.
The church of Corinth was now lying bleeding of her wounds, given
her not by open and avowed enemies, but by her own children, some
saying they were of Paul, others that they were of Apollos, &c.
The apostle applies himself to the curing of this rent and broken
church, in the words of the text, which is a most pathetical exhor-
tation to unity. In the words we have three things.
1. The compellation, " Brethren :" it is a kindly compellation,
whereby he insinuates himself into their affections, or endeavours
so to do ; for it is hard for faithful ministers to get peoples' affec-
tions kept where once divisions enter. In this compellation there
is an argument for unity : he minds them that they are brethren ; and
it is a shameful thing for brethren to fall out by the ears, Gen. xiii.
8, " Let there be no strife, I pray thee," says Abraham to Lot, " be-
twixt me and thee," &c, " for we be brethren ;" and Gen. xlv. 24,
Joseph says to his brethren, " See that ye fall not out by the way."
2. There is a most pithy obsecration, " I beseech you, by the name
of the Lord Jesus Christ." Paul turns a petitioner to them for the
church's peace, and begs of them, as he did of the jailor, Acts xvi.
28, that they would do themselves no harm, but lay by the sword
of contention; and that it might have the more weight with their
consciences, he interposeth the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, " I
beseech you," says he, " by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that,"
&c. It implies two things, I. It is as much as if he had said, As ye
have any regard to the authority of the Lord Jesus Christ, who hath
so often enjoined peace, unity, and brotherly love to his followers,
594 THE EVIL AND DANGER OF SCHISM.
beware of divisions. It is not I, (as if lie had said), but Christ, the
Prince of peace, that requires this of you. 2. It is as much as
if be had said, As ye love the Lord Jesus, as ye tender his ho-
nour and glory, speak the same thing, and let there be no divisions
among you ; for the name of Christ sadly suffers by your conten-
tions, factions, and divisions. The apostle's beseeching of them
notes his gentleness, but withal his vehemency of spirit, entreating
with them for the peace and unity of the church ; he handles their
wounds tenderly, yet so as they might see he was in good earnest to
have them healed. It imports also how heavy their contentions
were to him, how grateful it would be to him if they would unite, and
how grevious, if they should continue their divisions still ; therefore
he obtests them, and after a short adjures them by the name of the
Lord, that they would all speak the same thing, and let no divisions
be among them : If I cannot obtain this of you, says he, for my own
sake, yet let me obtain it of you for Christ's sake. This is the man-
ner of his exhortation.
3. We have the matter of his exhortation, which lies in three
things.
1st, He exhorts them to unity of principles, " that ye all speak
the same thing ;" he beseecheth them, that they would not vent
principles contrary to the truth, and to one another ; for now, in-
stead of unity, some were crying one thing, some another, like
that confused multitude, Acts xxi. 34, there was nothing but con-
tention and contradiction among them, till some of them came at
length to deny the resurrection, 1 Cor. xv.
Idly, He dehorts them from divisions ; the word in the Greek is
schisms, as ye may see in the margins of some of your Bibles : the
word properly signifies a cutting or section in a solid body, as in the
cleaving of wood, when the parts of it before united are rent asun-
der. Thus the one church of Corinth was rent asunder into divers
parties and factions, some following one minister, some following
another ; therefore says the apostle, 1 Cor. i. 13, " Is Christ
divided ?" As if he should say, Why, seeing there is but one Christ,
are there so many bodies ? Where will you get a Christ to head
your different and divided party ? Through these divisions among
them, it would seem, from 1 Cor. xi. 33, they had separate commu-
nions, they would not tarry for one another. The apostle also
taxeth their divisions, 1 Cor. iii. 3, " For whereas there is among
you envying, strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal ?" Where the
word translated " divisions" properly signifies separate standing,
where one party stand upon one side, and another party on au-
other side. It denotes such dissension, wherein men separate one
from another.
THE EVIL AND DANGER OF SCHISM. 595
'idly, He exhorts them to amend what was amiss already among
them in that matter, to he perfectly joined together, in opposition
to their contentions and divisions. The word in the original is very
emphatic, and signifies two things, 1. To restore disjointed members
into their proper places again, Gal. vi. 1, " Restore snch an one."
It is a metaphor from chirurgeons setting members or joints again ;
as if he had said, Set such an one in joint again : so it aims at heal-
ing the church of her rents, restoring such as had separated and with-
drawn. 2. It signifies to perfect and establish in the state to which
a person or thing is restored ; and so it denotes a firm union be-
twixt the members of that church ; he would have them compacted
together as a body, in which all the parts do fitly cleave together,
each of them in its proper place ; and withal he adds here the bonds
of this union, the same mind, that is, the same heart, will, and affec-
tions, as the word mind is taken, Horn. vii. 25, and the same judg-
ment or opinion anent matters ; if the last canuot be got, yet the
first may. From the words, we draw these following doctrines : —
Doct. I. That schism and division is an evil incident to the
churches of Christ while in this world.
Doct. II. That professors ought to beware of schism and division,
as they tender the authority and honour of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Doct. III. Where schism and division enter into a church, there
will be great heats, diversity, yea, contrariety of opiuions, people
contradicting one another in matters of religion, " That ye all speak
the same things," &c.
Doct. IV. That however hard it be, yet it is possible to get a
rent church healed.
Doct. V. That it is the duty of all church members to endeavour
the unity of the church, and the cure of schisms : and particularly,
it is the duty of disjointed members to take their own places in the
body again.
Lastly, that schisms and divisions, as they are grievous to all the
sons of peace, so they are in a special manner heavy and afflicting
to faithful ministers of the gospel of peace.
Here is work shapen out for many days, but I design not to in-
sist.
As to the first of these doctrines, to wit, That schism and division
is an evil incident to the churches of Christ in this world ; I. I shall
illustrate the truth of this doctrine. II. I shall give you some ob-
servations, as to the rise and way of carrying on this sad plague in
churches. And I challenge your attention, and beseech you by the
name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, without prejudice, ye will hear
596 THE EVIL AND DANGER OF SCHISM.
and consider what I am to say ; and if I say any thing contrary to
the word of God, reject it ; but what I may say, as agreeable to
God's word, I require it may have place in, and weight with your
consciences. I shall endeavour to hold off personal reflections, but
must take liberty freely to handle the cause.
I. Then, I shall illustrate this sad doctrine. Alas ! it is written,
I may say, in letters of the blood of our mother, who cries out, " She
is wounded in the house of her friends." This broken, bleeding
church, exposed to the laughter of Papists and malignants by her
divisions, is a sad instance of it. Now, seeing some are apt to
stumble at all religion, by reason of our divisions, and others are
apt to pride themselves in them, I shall, for the sake of both, shew,
that these things are uncouth, strange, or new things. For which
consider,
1. These things are foretold in the scriptures. Our Lord Christ
has given us fair warning, Matth. x. 34, 35, 36, " Think not that I
am come to send peace on earth : I came not to send peace, but a
sword. For I am come to set a man at variance against his father,
and the daughter against her mother," and so forth. Not that this
is the kindly and native effect of the gospel of peace, but so it
proves, by reason of the corruptions of men. The apostle tells the
church of Ephesus, Acts xx. 30, "Also of your ownselves shall
men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after
them." I shall only add another scripture, 2 Tim. iv. 3, 4, " After
their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching
ears : and they shall turn away their ears from the truth," &c. From
all which we may see, that church-renders shall not be wanting, nor
shall they want success.
2. Consider the sad experience of the church in several ages; I
shall give you two instances out of the Old Testament; the first you
have, Num. xvi. Even when the church had a Moses and Aaron in
it, there was a violent schism set a-foot in it by Korah, Dathan,
and Abiram. That this business was not so much a sedition in the
state, as a schism in the church, (though I deny not but there was
something of sedition in it, for schism and sedition go often to-
gether), is clear from the great cause of the quarrel, which was
about the priesthood, as is clear from Nnmb. xvi. 3 — 9, which ye
may read at your leisure, but consider especially the 10th and 11th
verses, where Moses says, " And seek ye the priesthood also ? For
which cause both thou, and all thy company are gathered together
against the Lord: and what is Aaron, that ye murmur against him?"
Compare with this Jude 11, where the seducers, the disturbers of the
church, are said to perish in the gainsaying of Core. Many were
THE EVIL AND DANGER OE SCHISM. 597
led aside into this schism, Numb. xvi. 19, " And Korah gathered
all the congregation against them," viz. against Moses and Aaron.
Two of the heads of it, being called to come before Moses, sent him
a declinature, stuffed with scandalous defamations against him,
Numb. xvi. 12, 13, 14, "And Moses sent to call Dathan and Abiram
the sons of Eliab: which said, We will not come up. Is it a small
thing that thou hast brought us up out of a land that floweth with
milk and honey, to kill us in the wilderness?" &c. Yea, when God
himself had inflicted the censure on them, the people would not quit
their good opinion of them ; but as it is in the 41st verse, " They
murmured agaiust Moses and Aaron, saying, Ye have killed the peo-
ple of the Lord." Another notable schism was that made by the
ten tribes, 1 Kings xii., where two things are very remarkable, 1st,
The rise of it, their dissatisfaction with the civil government where-
upon they refused to own Rehoboam as their king, and also se-
parated from the church of Jerusalem, who owned his authority,
though he was very far degenerate from the piety and wisdom of
David and Solomon. 2d Thing remarkable in it, is the way how it
was maintained, viz. by priests that were not of the sons of Levi
ver. 31, of that chapter, that is, men who had no right to the priestly
office. The New Testament is so full of dismal accounts this way,
that there is not almost an epistle written, wherein we have not
something of church rents and divisions, exhortations to unity, or
some one thing or another of that kind. See Rom. xvi. 17, 18, " Now
I beseech you, brethren, mark them which cause divisions and of-
fences, contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned ; and avoid
them. For they that are such, serve not our Lord Jesus Christ, but
their own belly ; aud by good words and fair speeches deceive the
hearts of the simple." From the 1st Epistle to the Corinthians, read
our text, and downwards. See the x. xi. and xii. chapters of the
2d Epistle to the Corinthians, throughout, where Paul is put to defend
himself against the slanders cast on him by false teachers, and to
compare himself with them. As to the Epistle to the Galatians, I
need not cite chapter and verse, the body of that espistle being against
them that troubled the churches of Galatia. Eph. iv. ye have a pathe-
tical exhortation to unity, from ver. 1 to 17- Phil. ii. 1, and down-
wards, " If there be any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love,
if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any bowels and mercies ; fulfil ye my
joy that ye be like-minded." Col. ii. 18, and downwards, " Let no man
beguile you of your reward. — Wherefore are ye subject to ordinances?
touch not, taste not, handle not; which things have indeed a shew of
wisdom," &c. The Thessalonians are exhorted, 1 Thess. v. 14, to
" warn them that are unruly." In the 2d Epistle to the Thessalonians
598 the evil and danger op schism.
■ — chap. ii. 2, there are some troubling the church, and shaking them
in their minds by their doctrine, 1 Tim. vi. 3, 4, " If any man teach
otherwise, — he is proud, knowing nothing, but doting about questions
and strifes of words," &c, and chap. i. 6, 7, " From which some
having swerved, have turned aside unto vain jangling, desiring to be
teachers of the law, understanding neither what they say, nor
whereof they affirm." 2 Tim. iii. 6, the apostle speaks of some
" that creep into houses, and lead captive silly women : — and that
resist the truth, as Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses," ver. 8.
Tit. i. 11, he tells him, " he must stop the mouths of some that sub-
vert whole houses, teaching things which they ought not." The Epis-
tle to Philemon, a single person, is to unite him and Onesimus. In
the Epistle to the Hebrews the apostle taxeth some that forsook the
church assemblies, Heb. x. 25, " Not forsaking the assembling of
ourselves together, as the manner of some is." James iii. 14, and
downwards, " But if ye have bitter envying" (in the Greek it is
bitter zeal) " and strife in your hearts, glory not — This wisdom de-
scendeth not from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish. — But the
wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable," &c. " And
the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace of them that make peace."
1 Pet. iii. 8, " Finally, brethren, be ye all of one mind." 2 Pet.
ii. read throughout the whole, which treats altogether of false
teachers. 1 John ii. 19, " They went out from us, but they were not
of us." In the second Epistle of John, 10, " If there come any unto
you, and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your house,
neither bid him God speed." In the 3d Epistle of John, 9th and
10th verses, we find a Diotrephes prating against the apostle " with
malicious words." Read the whole Epistle of Jude, for I need not
cite a verse or two of it to onr purpose. See also the 2d and 3d
chapters of Revelation. The church of Ephesus had tried those
that said they were apostles, and were not, Rev. ii. 2, Smyrna was
troubled with those that said they were Jews, and were not, but
were the synagogue of Satan, ver. 9 ; so was Philadelphia, chap. iii.
9. The church of Pergamus had them that held the doctrine of
Balaam, Rev. ii. 14. In Thyatira was Jezebel, teaching and seduc-
ing, ver. 20.
Here is a cloud of witnesses from whom we may clearly learn
two lessons,
1st, That though the apostles themselves were alive to guide and
govern the churches, yet they would not be able to prevent schisms,
divisions, and rending of churches.
A second lesson we may learn from them is, That those who had
most of the Spirit of Go<?, were of the most peaceable temper, most
THE EVIL AND DANGER OF SCHISM. 599
tender of the peace of the church, most careful to preserve it where
it was entire, and most careful to restore it where it was lost.
If we take a view of after-times, we shall find schism and division
infecting the church. "When the Pagan persecution was over, the
fire of contention burnt up the church. Then was that in the Rev.
viii. 5, accomplished, " Fire from the altar was cast into the earth."
When Constantine the Great had restored peace unto the church,
she was miserably defaced by the schism of the Donatists, who sepa-
rated from the church, at first, to eschew the impurity of promiscu-
ous communion. This schism lasted more than two hundred years.
They held, that men were defiled with the corruptions of those with
whom they kept church communion, and that there was no other
true church but their own. That which led them to these extrava-
gancies, was, that the church kept in ministerial communion with
her one Cecilian, whom the Donatists would have had deposed ; be-
cause, as they alleged, that when he was a deacon, he had hindered
some people to assist some that were in prison for the cause of
Chiist, and that he had been ordained by those that were traitors,
that is, who had delivered up the Bible to the persecutors : so, think-
ing the whole church polluted with the fellowship of this man and
his fellows, they separated.
When the Lord raised up Luther to reform the church from
Popery, then came in the Anabaptists, who rebelled against the
magistrate, and taught sedition : and withal pretended that Luther
had made but a half reformation, that he had only cut oft" the
branches of Popery, but they would strike at the root. Hence com-
plained that holy man thus, " It cost us ten years' pains to erect a
little church, and then comes one that knows nothing, but to rail on
faithful ministers, and he in one moment overturns all." And else-
where he says, " They that received the doctrine of the gospel from
us, even they persecute us most bitterly." How our own church
was thus troubled in the time of former Presbytery, is evident from
the writings of worthy men of that time, against separation : so we
find an Act of the Assembly, 1643, appointing to search for books
tending to separation. T cannot but particularly remark an Act of
the Assembly, 1641, sess. 10, against impiety and schism, wherein
they charge " all ministers and members of this kirk, to endeavour to
suppress all impiety, and mocking of religious exercises." And
upon the other part, " That, in the fear of God, they be aware, that
under the pretext of religious exercises, otherwise lawful and neces-
sary, they fall not into error, heresy, schism, scandal, self-conceit,
and despising of others, pressing above the common calling of Chris-
tians, aud usurping that which is proper to the pastoral vocation,
600 THE EVIL AND DANGER OF SCHISM.
contempt or disregard of the public means," &c. This I take plainly
to be meant of what we call fellowship meetings, which have been
so much mocked by wicked men on the one hand, and abused on the
other hand to schism, &c. But the Assembly, 1647, sess. 19, in
their directions for secret and private worship, and mutual edifica-
tion, for cherishing piety, for maintaining unity, and avoiding schism
and division, which are ordinarily bound in with the Confession of
Faith, towards the latter end of the book, they discharge these
meetings altogether, as you may see in the seventh direction, where
they say, " Whatever hath been the fruits and effects of meetings
of persons of divers families, in the times of corruption and trouble,
yet such meetings of persons of divers families, (except in the cases
mentioned in the directions), are to be disapproved, as tending to
the prejudice of the public ministry, to the rending of the families of
particular congregations, and (in progress of time) of the whole
kirk." I bring not in this to shew my own judgment anent these
meetings, but to let you see there was a spirit of separation going
in these days as well as now : and how the fire of division left not
this church till she was cast into the fire of persecution, is too well
known. that it had from that time left us !
II. I come now to the second thing proposed, to give you a few
observations, as to the rise and way of carrying on this sad plague in
churches. And,
1. I say, God has his own holy ends in these things. By these he
tries his people, 1 Cor. xi. 18, 19 ; and thereby he punisheth men for
the contempt of the gospel, and not receiving the truth in love,
2 Thess. ii.
2. We find schisms and divisions raised in the church, under the
plausible pretext of strictness. This was the way how the churches
of Galatia were rent in pieces. The corrupt teachers would needs
add the observation of Moses' law to the gospel, as if that were a
more perfect and strict way. Thus the corrupt teachers among the
Colossians, pretending great strictness, cry, " Touch not, taste not,
handle not," Col. ii. 21. This, in part, seems to have been the rise of
the schism in Corinth, which the apostle points at in the matter of the
Lord's supper, while he says, " Let a man examine himself," 1 Cor.
xi. 28. This was the schism of the Novatians and Donatists brought
in of old — that discipline was not exercised, as they would have had,
against those that fell in time of persecution.
3. There are ordinarily some, (I hope I am not speaking to those
with whom the very scripture text will be accounted treason) ; there
are some, I say, who are at great pains going hither and thither to
spread the flame, that compass sea and land to make proselytes,
THE EVIL AND DANGER OF SCHISM. 601
Thus we find some travelling from Jerusalem to Antioch through
Syria and Cilicia, to make disciples, and disturb the churches, Acts
xv. 23, 24, " Unto the brethren which are of the Gentiles in Antioch,
and Syria, and Cilicia : Forasmuch as we have heard, that certain
which went out from us have troubled you with words, subverting
your souls," &c.
4. We may always observe, that one main thing church renders
aim at, is to discredit the ministers of the gospel, as if the word
were, Fight neither with small nor great but the ministers ; for
Satan knows, if once the ministry be made contemptible, and their
credit sunk, then they will be useless ; and if once they were laid
by as useless, his kingdom were in a fair way of thriving. These
are the wolves, who, though they be in sheep's clothing, yet discover
themselves by barking at the shepherds: so did Korah. Look the
Epistles to the Corinthians and Galatians, and see how the renders
of these churches railed upon and discredited the apostle Paul ; they
said he was no lawful apostle ; hence he is so oft put to clear his
call, 1 Cor. ix. 1, 2 ; Gal. i. and ii. chap. ; they sought a proof of
Christ speaking in him, 2 Cor. xiii. 3 ; they charged him with levity
and inconstancy, as if his words were not to be regarded, 2 Cor. i. 17 ;
they charged him with walking after the flesh, 2 Cor. xi. 2; they
held him out to be a vain-glorious person, and a very contemptible
man, 2 Cor. xi. 9, 10 ; see the four last chapters of 2 Cor.
5. We often find they have great pretences to holiness, and at-
tainments above ordinary ; so they are said to go in sheep's cloth-
ing, and to transform themselves into apostles of Christ : and no
marvel ; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light,
2 Cor. xi. 13, 14. And it doth not a little favour their design, that
men who have suffered for the cause of Christ, are sometimes en-
gaged in it, which is clear from what the apostle says, comparing
himself with the renders of the church of Corinth, 2 Cor. xi. 23,
" Are they ministers of Christ ? I am more : in prisons more fre-
quent ;" which clearly holds forth, that they had been sufferers and
prisoners for the cause as well as he : yea, really godly persons may
be engaged in it, Rev. ii. 20, where we find Jezebel seducing Christ's
servants ; for sometimes even good men may run the devil's errands,
and yet be saved at last.
Lastly, We may observe what characters the scriptures give such,
2 Pet. ii. 10, " Presumptuous are they, self-willed ; they are not
afraid to speak evil of dignities." 1 Tim. vi. 4, " Proud, (for only
by pride cometh contention), knowing nothing, but doting about
questions," &c. Rom. xvi. 17, 18, they are said to be " such as serve
not our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly," &c. They are en-
Vol. VII. 2 p
G02 THE EVIL AND DANGER OF SCHISM.
tertained by those " that have itching ears," 2 Tim. iv. 3. See how the
apostle strikes at the root of division, Phil. ii. 3, " Let nothing be done
through strife or vain-glory, but in lowliness of mind, let each es-
teem other better than themselves." Men that are irritated by a
church, vain-glorious and conceity, esteeming themselves better than
others, are dangerous men, and fit wedges to cleave the church of
Christ asunder.
Now I shall name the second doctrine, and then apply.
Doct. II. That professors ought to beware of schism and division,
as they tender the authority and honour of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Let me apply it in the words of our text, " Now I beseech you,
brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak
the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you ; but that
ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind, and in the same
judgment." Dearly beloved, as ye tender the authority and honour
of our Lord Jesus Christ, beware of this schism and division that is
now troubling this church. I foresee it will be needless for me to
offer to press this exhortation with motives, till I have removed
three prejudices out of the way. The first is, that they are the
strictest party : the second is, that the church has given them just
ground to separate : the third is, that their principles are the
principles of our covenanted reformation. Some, it may be, will be
amazed to hear us offer to question these things ; but I beseech you
consider what I say.
The first prejudice then is, That those who dissent and separate from
us are the strictest party. In answer to this, consider there is a two-
fold strictness : a strictness in practice, and a strictness in opinion.
As for strictness in the point of a holy practice, life and conversa-
tion ; though they seem in a late printed paper to appropriate the
name of the godly to their own party, yet God forbid I should ap-
propriate it to ours. Only I shall say, that among those that con-
scientiously attend the ordinances this day in our church, there are
people as eminent for holiness of life, and close walking with God,
that have as much of the exercise of godliness upon their spirits
and acquaintance and communion with God, as any in the nation ;
so far as I can discern. I could say more to this purpose, but that
I desire not to give offence. As for the ministry, whatever defects
be among them ; and though there are many of them with whom I
have no acquaintance ; yet there are among them, of whom I could
say, (if it were lawful to say it of any man), that my soul were in
their soul's stead ! and at whose feet I would willingly sit down and
learn the knowledge of Christ and practical godliness : this I de-
clare to be my opinion of them, however low thoughts many have of
them. As for strictness of opinions, as to government and church
THE EVIL AND DANGER OF SCHISM. 603
communion, if we measure strictness according to the dictates of
men's own spirits, we will yield to them for strictness ; and so would
our Lord to the Pharisees, and the apostles to the false teachers.
But if we measure strictness according to the word of God, we deny
they are strictest, but they are indeed widest from the rule. I will
follow Christ to the synagogue of the Jews, (1 hope some of you at
least may understand what I say), and in so doiug I will be more
strict than those that scruple to follow Christ's example, for fear
they be involved in the guilt of the corruptions among them ; for
the nearer I follow Christ, the more strict I am, if strictness be
measured according to the word of God. However, this is but an as-
sertion ; but it brings me to the second thing, where I shall prove it.
The second prejudice is, That the church has given them just
ground to separate ; and therefore they cry out on the Commission
of the General Assembly, for representing them to the world as
schismatics. To this I answer, That it is plain they have made a
total separation from us, and refuse communion with us in ordi-
nances, unless it be at some times to serve a turn. If this their se-
paration from us be a sin, then their separation is a schism : but so
it is, that their separation from us is sinful, which I shall prove by
one argument, not to multiply words. The argument is this, Those
who reject communion in the ordinances of Christ with a true church,
and separate from her, because of corruptions in her, while in the
meantime they might keep communion with her without sin, are
guilty of schism and sinful separation : this I think will not be de-
nied, for if our thus keeping communion be not our sin, it must be
our duty ; surely it is not left indifferent. But so it is, that our dis-
senters do thus reject communion with us, and separate from us,
while, in the meantime, they might keep communion with this
church without sin : therefore their separation is schism, and they
are schismatics. That they might keep communion with us without
sin, that is, without involving themselves in the guilt of the cor-
ruptions of the church, will appear, if ye consider, that there are no
corruptions amongst us, whether real or pretended, which the church
obligeth them to approve or join in the practice of, as terms of
communion with her : nor is there any real or pretended truth
which they own, that the church obligeth them to renounce, as a
term of communion with her. This holdeth absolutely as to the
.people for laick-communiou, as they call it ; and I am sure it has
been offered to seme of them, that they should be allowed to exonerate
their own consciences, by protesting against these things which they
look upon as corruptions amongst us, if they would but come and
join with us. As for ministerial communion, it must be remembered
2 p 2
604 THE EVIL AND DANGER OF BCHISM.
that the ministers of this Church are obliged to own the Confession
of Faith, as the confession of their faith, which is very just; and if
we will believe the leaders of that party, they own it as well as we ;
so that herein they will move no debate. It remains then that they
may keep communion with ns without sin, unless mere joining in com-
munion with a church, wherein there are many corruptions, be a sin,
and defile a man. To this narrow point, I think, the controversy be-
twixt them and us is brought : this I take to be the very foundation
of the separation, which if it fall, all falls together with it: and
that this is a gross untruth, I shall evince by two argument?. The
first argument is from Rev. ii. 24, 25, " But unto you I say, and
unto the rest in Thyatira, As many as have not this doctrine, — I
will put upon you none other burden ; but that which ye have
already, hold fast till I come." In the church of Thyatira, Jezebel
was suffered to teach and seduce Christ's servants ; for suffering of
her the angel is reproved, and consequently called to amend this
fault. The party that kept themselves pure are not required to se-
parate ; nay, in effect, are commanded to continue in the communion
of that church ; while the Lord expressly tells them, " He will lay
no other burden upon them," but commands them " to hold fast,"
and yet there is not one word anent their separating to keep them-
selves pure. This could not have been, if their keeping communion
with the church of Thyatira, in which there were such gross corrup-
tions, and corrupt members, had been a sin.
The second argument is from our Lord's example, Luke iv. 16,
" And he came to Nazareth where he had been brought up, and as
his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and
stood up to read." What corruptions were in the Jewish church
in Christ's day, ye may find by reading the Gospels, as great, I
daresay, as can in any measure of modesty be pretended to be in
the Church of Scotland ; and ye would remember they were a cove-
nanted land as well a3 we ; yet our Lord keeps church communion
with them in the ordinances of God ; though he joined not with
them in their corruptions, he joined with them in the ordinances, and
consequently it was no sin ; and people may keep themselves from
the guilt of corruptions in a church, and yet keep communion with
a church wherein these corruptions are. Mark, that it was his cus-
tom to go to the synagogue in the place where he was brought up,
for it plainly relates to his custom which he had while he lived a
private man in Nazareth, seeing it appears from the context that
this was the first time he was in Nazareth, after he had entered upon
the public exercise of his ministry ; which cuts off that exception,
that Christ went thither only to preach to them. Nay, afterwards,
THE EVIL AND DANGER OF SCHISM. 603
did he not go to their solemn feasts ? This he did also before, and
we have plain scripture for his hearing their teachers, Luke ii. 42,
" And when he was twelve years old, they went up to Jerusalem,
after the custom of the feast;" and in the verse immediately pre-
ceding, it is said of holy Joseph and Mary, "they went to Jeru-
salem every year at the feast of the passover," so far were they
from separating. And in the 46th verse of that chapter, " They
found hira in the temple, in the midst of the doctors, both hearing
them, and asking them questions." They that would find this point
more largely proved, let them consult Rutherford's " Peaceable Plea
for Presbytery," and Durham on Scandal, and on the Revelation,
both proving this point against the separatists of their time.
I come now to the third prejudice ; and I beseech you bear with
me, for if I were to handle this point in an ordinary, ye should
not hear so much of it at once. Our great business is to preach
Christ, if we could get leave to do it for our divisions. The third
prejudice, I say, is, That their principles wherein they differ from
us, are the principles of our covenanted reformation, and that their
practices, in the points of difference, are agreeable thereto : and so
they give out that they adhere to our National, and solemn League
and Covenants, Confession of Faith, Directory, &c. But we will ex-
amine their pretensions in these matters.
First, then, As to the National Covenant, I shall take notice of
two things. 1. I find these words in the National Covenant, " This
true reformed kirk, to the which we join ourselves willingly, in
doctrine, faith, religion, discipline, and use of the holy sacraments,
as lively members of the same, in Christ our Head, promising and
swearing by the great name of the Lord onr God, that we shall con-
tinue in the obedience of the doctrine and discipline of this kirk."
Let any compare with this, the Assembly 1638, their explanation
of the National Covenant, as ye have it sess. 16, of that Assembly,
where, repeating these foresaid words of the National Covenant,
they subjoin, " But so it is, that Episcopal government is abhor-
red and detested, and the government by ministers and elders, in
assemblies general and provincial, and presbyteries, was sworn to,
and subscribed, in subscribing that Confession, and ought to be
holden by us, if we adhere to the meaning of the kirk, when that
Confession was framed, sworn to, and subscribed, unto which we
are obliged by the national oath and subscription of this kirk, as
is evident by," &c. Now, I would appeal to the conscience of any
separatist who hath knowledge to discern things that differ, whether
or not we have the same doctrine and discipline that they had,
when that covenant was first taken; and the same doctrine and dis-
606 THE EVIL AND DANGER OF SCHIS.M.
cipline which the Assembly 1638 declares to be the doctriue and
discipline meant in that covenant, unto which we are obliged by the
national oath. Seeing then we have the same doctrine and disci-
pline, they are, by the National Covenant, obliged to join them-
selves to this kirk, and to continue in the obedience of the doctrine
and discipline thereof; and, by their separating, they make them-
selves plainly guilty of the breach of this substantial part of the
covenant. And hence, by the bye, appears the unreasonableness of
speaking so slightly of these days, the doctrine and discipline of
that time being that which the National Covenant still binds to.
2. I find, that at the first taking of the covenant, they swear to
maintain the king's authority : as also, when, with additions, it was
renewed in the year 1638, they swear to stand to the defence of
his majesty's person and authority. How agrees our dissenters' prin-
ciple, rejecting the authority of the queen, with this part of the co-
venant ? 0, say they, " she is not a covenanted qneen, and therefore
cannot be queen of a covenanted laud." Strange prejudices ! "Was
not Scotland a covenanted land long ere the solemn League and Co-
venant was heard tell of? Was not king Charles I. king of a co-
venanted land at that time when the covenant was renewed, and
his authority sworn to be defended? But was he a covenanted king?
Did he own their covenant ? No, no ; upon the contrary ; he obliged
some of their nobles at London* to abjure it, declared the cove-
nanters rebels, and brought down an army against them to force
them from it.
As for the solemn League and Covenant, we find them guilty the
same way. It binds us expressly against schism, as well as Pre-
lacy, superstition, and heresy. And that they are guilty of schism
has been proven before. It also bound to the maintaining of the
king's authority, it being far from the mind of the covenanters to
cast off the authority of the magistrate, though it was entered into
without the king's consent. Was it ever the mind of the covenant-
ers that they would own no king, but one that had taken this co-
venant ? I am sure the Parliament of Scotland thought not so,
when in the year 1649 they proclaimed and declared to all the
world, That Charles II. was king of Great Britain, &c, their sove-
reign lord and king; and this was a full year before he took the
covenant : for which see the Apologetical Relation, pp. 64, 65. Nor
did the General Assembly 1649 think so, when in their letter to the
king's majesty, (to be found amongst the printed Acts of the As-
sembly, in their last session), before he was come home, or had
* Apol. Rel,, p. 53.
THE EVIL AND DANGER OF SCHISM. 607
taken the covenant, they call him most gracious sovereign ; and
subscribe the letter thus, Your majesty's most loyal subjects, and
humble servants, the ministers and elders convened in this national
Assembly of the kirk of Scotland : while in the meantime they tell
him, in the same letter, That he had settled a peace with the Irish
Papists, the murderers of so many thousands of his Protestant sub-
jects, and granted to them (contrary to the standing laws of his
royal progenitors) a full liberty of their abominable idolatry; which,
say they, cannot be otherwise judged, but a giving of your royal
power to the Beast; and they exhort him to lay aside the service-
book. And several other things may be there found, that may
make men blnsh to talk of their agreeing with the Church of Scot-
land in her principles in these times, and yet rejecting the autho-
rity of the present queen. And, which is most lamentable, even those
worthies that laid down their lives for the covenants, whose testi-
monies are recorded in Naphtali,* having owned the king's autho-
rity, and prayed for him on the scaffolds, must by this new doc-
trine be reputed to die as fools, who understood not the covenants
they were laying down their precious lives for. As to the Confes-
sion of Faith,
1. How does their refusing to pray for the queen, to pay her cess,
and to own her authority, because she is not a covenanted queen,
agree with the Confession of Faith, chap. 23, § 4, " It is the duty of
people to pray for magistrates, to pay them tribute and other dues,
and to be subject to their authority for conscience sake : infidelity,
or difference in religion, doth not make void the magistrate's just
and legal authority ?" I know they will say, that article is meant
of lands not covenanted : there had been some shadow of force in
this perhaps, if this Confession of Faith had been framed before the
covenant : but upon the contrary it was long after, and was the pro-
duct of the solemn League and Covenant, as appears from the first
article of the Covenant, in these words, " And shall endeavour to
bring the churches of God in the three kingdoms to the nearest con-
junction and uniformity in religion, confession of faith," &c. The
solemn League and Covenant was sworn in the year 1643, the
Confession of Faith was sent hither and approven by the Assem-
bly not till the year 1647, for which see the Act of Assembly, printed
before the Confession. And can we think, that those who, in pur-
suance of the covenant, framed this Confession of Faith, to declare
to the world the faith of covenanters, would so juggle, as to put
in articles of faith which would bind others, but not themselves?
• See the testimonies of the Marquis of Argyle, Warriston, the Teu. These, witb
T. Paterson, R. Shields, Mr. Robinson, G. Crawford, Mr. M'Kait.
608 THE EVIL AND DANGER OP SCHISM.
2. How does their reckoning the taking the oath of allegiance to
the queen, one of the steps of the Church's defection, consist with
Confession, chap. 22, § 2, " A lawful oath, being imposed by lawful
authority, in such matters ought to be taken ;' ' and § 3, of the same
chapter, " Yet it is a sin to refuse an oath, touching any thing that
is good and just, being imposed by lawful authority?" It is true,
they reckon her no lawful queen ; but one error will not atone for
another. The famous author of the Apologetical Relation was not
of our dissenters' mind, (nay, he thought there had been no Chris-
tian of their mind, and for ought I know there were none in these
days), for, speaking of the reasons why the oath of supremacy,
called then, though falsely, the oath of allegiance, should be refused,
and answering this objection, viz. such as refuse this oath of alle-
giance, declare that they are not dutiful and loyal subjects, he saith,
It hath been shown what difference there is betwixt this oath and
the oath of allegiance; and there is no minister or Christian should
scruple at the taking the pure oath of allegiance, Apol. Kel. p. 259.
If it was this author's mind, that no minister or Christian should
have scrupled the oath of allegiance to king Charles II. when he
had taken the covenant, broken it, and overturned the work of re-
formation, sure, he would far less have thought it a sin to take the
oath of allegiance to the present queen.
3. How doth their separating from this Church, lest they be in-
volved in the guilt of the corruptions amongst us, by keeping com-
munion with us, agree with Conf. chap. 26, § 2, " Saints, by profes-
sion, are bound to maintain an holy fellowship and communion in
the worship of God; — which communion, as God otfereth opportu-
nity, is to be extended to all those who in every place call upon
the name of the Lord Jesus ?"
4. How doth that priuciple of theirs, sometime at least owned by
them, though left out in their last paper, against the power of the
magistrate to call assemblies, agree with Conf. chap. 31, § 2, " As
magistrates may lawfully call a synod of ministers, and other fit
persons to consult and advise with about matters of religion ?" and
with Act of Assembly 1638, sess. 26, concerning yearly General As-
semblies, where they say, " If, in the meantime, it shall please the
king's majesty to indite a General Assembly, ordaineth all presby-
teries, universities, and burghs, to send their commissioners, for
keeping the time and place which shall be appointed by his majes-
ty's proclamation ?" They cry out on- the encroachment of the ma-
gistrates in dissolving Assemblies; but as our Assemblies are con-
stituted in the name of Christ, so are they dissolved in his name.
What dissolution the magistrate makes, is looked upon as the dis-
THE EVIL AND DANGEK OF SCHISAr. 609
missing of the members. There have indeed been encroachments
made by the magistrate in dissolving Assemblies before they had
done their business, and there have been protestations made against
this. And though, iu the late paper, they charge the Church for
not protesting against the encroachments, and recording the same ;
yet that protestations have not been made against them, is an un-
truth : but where the magistrate's deed is not recorded, neither are
the protestations recorded. I was eye and ear-witness to the magis-
trate's dissolving the Assembly in the midst of business; and protes-
tations were made against it, and for the Church's intrinsic power;
and, from every corner of the house, members adhering thereto.
And this protesting is recorded in the Acts of Assembly; so that,
from my certain knowledge, I can say they speak an untruth in
that charge in the declinature; yea, I have the Acts of the Assem-
bly by me, where they, or any that question the truth of what I
say, may read it with their own eyes.
5. How doth their rejecting and despising the testimony of the
Commission of the General Assembly against the Union, and re-
proaching them for it, because it was given into the Parliament by
way of humble address, and not by way of protestation, agree with
Confession, chap. 31, § 5, " Synods and councils are to handle and
conclude nothing but that which is ecclesiastical, and are not to inter-
meddle with civil affairs, which concern the commonwealth, unless,
by way of humble petition, in cases extraordinary, or by way of
advice, for satisfaction of conscience, if they be thereunto required
by the civil magistrate ?"
Lastly, How does their crying out on the magistrate's occasionally
appointing fasts and thanksgivings, agree with the Confession of
Faith, allowing the magistrate to call Assemblies ? This I spoke to
formerly in another sermon. And further, how agrees it with the
last paragraph of the Directory concerning public solemn fasting,
where we have these words, " Besides solemn and general fasts en-
joined by authority, we judge," &c. It may be observed how fre-
quently the apostles enjoin obedience to magistrates, and honouring
of them, as 1 Tim. ii. 1, 2, " 1 exhort therefore, that prayers be
made for kings, and for all that are in authority." Rom. xiii. 1,
" Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers," &c. Tit. iii. 1,
" Put them in mind to be subject to principalities and powers, to
obey magistrates." 1 Pet. ii. 13, and downwards. All which may
shew us, that we have no more right to take away the fifth com-
mand out of the decalogue, that requires obedience to magistrates,
than the Papists have to take away the second, which condemns
their idolatry. I think there is a strange inclination amongst some
610 THE EVIL AND DANGER OF SCHISM.
that profess religion, not only amongst dissenters, but others, to
speak evil of dignities, and to embrace every thing that may make
against the magistrate ; so that the murdering of king Charles I.,
■wherewith Presbyterians are slandered by Papists and malignants,
is owned and adopted by some, as if it had been a laudable action.
"Wo's me ! that ignorance, and an inclination to vilify magistrates,
should give such an handle to the enemy against us. If it was such
a glorious action, the sectaries must have the glory of it; for it was
they, and not Presbyterians, that did the deed, and it was protested
against by the commissioners both from the Church and state of Scot-
land, for which they were hardly used at London ; for which see
Apol. Rel. p. 64. Yea, the General Assembly of the Church of
Scotland, 1649, gave their testimony against it in their seasonable
warning, sess. 27, they say, " That prevailing party of sectaries in
England, who have broken the covenant — and taken away the king's
life, look upon us with an evil eye." And in their exhortation to
their brethren in England, " "We have obtained this mercy, to be
stedfast to our old principles, in bearing free and faithful testimony
against their proceedings, both in reference to the toleration and go-
vernment, and the taking away the king's life." And in their letter
to the king, " We do from our hearts abominate and detest that
horrid fact of the sectaries, against the life of your royal father our
sovereign." Both which are to be found in the last session of that
Assembly.
Let me now renew my exhortation and press it. " I beseech you,
brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak
the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you." Beware
of division yourselves, and give your help to recover, in all tender-
ness, those that have withdrawn, and encourage them not in their
way. I am persuaded, that if they were not so much countenanced
aud encouraged by those that are the hearers, the number of such
would not be so great as it is. Let not that itching ear get place
with you, so as to run away to their meetings, whenever ye have
opportunity, and so to cast yourselves into a snare, and to do what in
you lies to strengthen the division, and trample on the grave autho-
rity of the church, whereby one of their preachers is deposed
from the ministry, and the other, who never was a minister, his
license to preach is declared null and void ; and both are certified,
that if they repent not, and amend their ways, they shall be excom-
municated. I know it is said, that it is thought strange, the Cora-
mission threateneth to censure these men with the highest censures
of the Church, while yet they declare them to be none of their com-
munion. But I think it more strange to find men amused with this,
THE EVIL AND DANGER OF SCHISAI. 611
who though some curates, and others who have been censured by
this Church, who were as little of our communion as these men, yet
are dissatisfied that the Church does not censure more of them, and
that more severely. Beware then of this division, I beseech you,
1. For their sakes that have withdrawn, that ye may not con-
firm them in their course, tending so much to the disadvantage of
their souls, in withdrawing from the means of grace and knowledge,
which they stand in need of, as well as others. Sirs, be concerned
this way ; the Lord's people are of an uniting and gathering spirit,
lsa. lxvi. 20, " And they shall bring all yonr brethren tor an offer-
ing unto the Lord, out of all nations, upon horses, and in chariots,
and in litters, — to my holy mountain." They shall bring them not
by force, but by gospel-motives. But some of them are far off;
what then ? yet they shall bring them ; may be they cannot walk,
then shall they bring them on horses ; may b3 they are so weak they
cannot ride on horses, then they shall get chariots ; some may be so
sickly they cannot come in chariots, then they shall come in litters
that are for carrying of sick folk : But by all means they will en-
deavour to bring them to the mountain of the Lord. Some will not
concern themselves this way, but let every one do as they please in
these matters. But for this gathering spirit !
2. I beseech you for the sake of those, both amongst them and us,
that have no religion. Sirs, what should come of the many perish-
ing souls up and down Scotland, that are strangers to Christ and
their own soul's state, if, as these men would have it, all should
leave us, and we be left to preach to the empty walls, or hold our
tongues ? "Will they be able for the whole kingdom ?
3. I beseech you, for your own sakes, have pity on your souls,
cast not away your spiritual food; yield not so to Satan, who, if he
could, would set you at variance with the ordinances, because he
well knows that men in that case may get greater ease in their lusts,
lor it will be long ere a reproof be reached from the pulpit to the
fields, or their firesides. 1 am very apprehensive, that the preach-
ing of the word, as being levelled at peoples' state, and case of their
souls before the Lord, has been over hot for some, that has made
them withdraw from ministers, as men that tormented them that
dwell upon the earth.
4. I beseech you for the Church's sake, whose beauty is marred
with division, Caut. i. 6, " Look not upon me, because I am black : —
my mother's children were angry with me." There is no danger
from enemies without, like that from divisions within. The unity
of the Church would be the stability of it, lsa. xxxiii. 20, " Thine
eyes shall see Jerusalem a quiet habitation, a tabernacle that shall
612 THE EVIL AND DANGER OE SCHISM.
not be taken down, not one of the stakes thereof shall ever be re-
moved, neither shall any of the cords thereof be broken." Though
the kingdoms of the world be built on mountains, yet they shall fall ;
but the Church, when she is a quiet habitation, though but a tent,
she shall stand ; and though that tent be but fixed with stakes,
yet they shall not be removed : though it be fixed but with cords,
not with great ropes, yet none of them shall be broken. Division
mars retormation in a church. It is very remarkable how discipline
was weakened in the church of Corinth ; divisions were so hot there,
the incestuous man was tolerated amongst them, they could not get
that work minded or plied for the contentions among them. Zeph.
iii. 9, " For then will I turn to the people a pure language, that
they may all call upon the name of the Lord, to serve him with one
consent." There is a reforming time, and then they will serve the
Lord with one consent, so we read it ; but in the first language, it is
one shoulder; they shall, as it were, all set one shoulder to the
Lord's work, and then the work cannot but prosper.
5. I beseech you for ministers' sakes. Ministers are made very
odious this day by the dividers of the Church ; but we hope
they have not made such impressions on you, but that you, at least
some of you, will do something for our sake. Our request then is,
that ye would not burden our spirits with division, that ye would
not mar the Lord's work in our hands, and make our work a burden
to us ; ye see that in other things we are not mere ignorants more
than yourselves ; that in other things we are not men of prostitute
consciences more than yourselves ; must a man then be accounted
quite ignorant of his duty, or one that will go over the belly of his
own light, in things properly belonging to his office, just because he
is a member of this Church at this day ? Be astonished at this,
ye heavens, be horribly afraid, earth ! I am sure it is a changed
world with some, to whom it may be said in the words of the apostle,
Gal. iv. 14 — 17, " And my temptation which was in my flesh, ye de-
spised not ; — but received me as an angel of God. — Where is then
the blessedness you spake oi ? For I bear you record, that if it had
been possible, ye would have plucked out your own eyes, and have
given them to me. Am I therefore become your enemy, because I
tell you the truth ? They zealously affect you, but not well ; yea,
they would exclude you, that you might affect them."
Lastly, I beseech you, for Christ's sake, that ye beware of divi-
sion. I beseech you for the sake of the Prince of peace, who in his
solemn prayer prayed for the uniting of his people, and lays an
astonishing weight on it, John xvii. 21, " That they all may be one ;
— that the world may believe that thou hast sent me :" for his sake
THE EVIL AND DANGER OF SCHISM. 613
who, in the night wherein he was betrayed, instituted the sacrament
of his supper, to seal our union and communion with God, and with
one another : for his sake who laid down his life to procure our
peace with God, and shed his precious blood to unite his elect, Eph.
ii. 14, " For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath
broken down the middle wall of partition between us." As ye ten-
der the authority, as ye tender the honour of our Lord Jesus Christ,
beware of division. As ye would have his presence with, and bless-
ing upon the Church, and upon the parish, beware of division :
Psalm cxxxiii. 1, 3, " Behold, how good and how pleasant it is, for
brethren to dwell together in unity. For there the Lord commanded
the blessing, even life for evermore." And so I close with the
apostle, 2 Cor. xiii. 11, " Finally, brethren, farewell : be perfect, be
of good comfort, be of one mind, live in peace ; and the God of love
and peace shall be with you." Now to the God of peace, even to the
Father, the fountain of peace ; to the Son, the purchaser of peace ;
to the Holy Ghost the worker of peace, be glory and praise, for
ever and ever. Amen.
NECESSITY AND FOUNDATIONS
OF A
THRONE OF GRACE
FOR THE BEHOOF OF POOR SINNERS, POINTED OUT
AND ILLUSTRATED.
The substance of three Sermons, preached upon Sacramental occasions. The first at
Maxton, Saturday, July 4, 17)9.
Psalm lxxxix. 14,
Justice and judgment are the habitation of thy throne : mercy and truth
shall go before thy face.
A most solemn and awful approach is before us, we have on our
hand business of the greatest import, business with a king, a king
on his throne, not a mortal king, but the King immortal, the King
of the world, the king of the church, God himself. And whether
we consider our business or our party, we have no need to trifle. Our
business is for eternity, if we come speed at the throne, we are made
for ever; if not, we are undone. Our party is God on his throne,
a throne where we see a glorious mixture of majesty and mercy,
which requires management with the utmost seriousness.
In the words we have a glorious view the Psalmist takes of Zion's
God and King, in two things.
1. The throne he sits in, and appears on, which is most glorious,
" Justice and judgment are the habitation of thy throne." Where
let us consider,
(1.) The person sitting on the throne, it is he to whom the Psalm-
ist speaks, even God himself, ver. 8, and particularly the Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, ver. 19, " Then thou spakest in vision to
thy holy One, and saidst, I have laid help upon one that is mighty."
THE NECESSITY AND FOUNDATIONS OF A THRONE OF GRACE, &C. 615
And he is here represented as actually upon the throne ; for so
" mercy and truth going before his face," does require it to be un-
derstood.
(2.) The throne itself. I think this text wronged, by expounding
the throne of the throne of providence, and God's government of the
world in general ; the ushers that go before this enthroned King
oblige us to understand it of the throne of grace, Heb. iv. 16, since
truth joined with mercy, as here, is always understood of faithful-
ness in fulfilling promises; and the ushers in the kingdom of pro-
vidence are justice as well as mercy.
(3.) The habitation of this throne, "justice and judgment," (raarg.)
" the establishment" or " place." So that the habitation is not to be
taken actively, for that which inhabits the throne ; but passively,
for that in which the throne abides or inhabits. The word is of such
a frame as denotes an instrument of something, and it properly sig-
nifies a base, a support, or stay, or foundation, on which a thing
stands firm, Ezra ii. 68, and iii. 3 ; Psalm civ. 5. Now justice and
judgment are the base or foundation of this throne, i. e. say some,
just judgment is the stability of God's throne, namely, in his govern-
ment of the world. I am not clear of that sense being safe, far
less genuine : for though just judgment is the stability of a creature's
throne, who is capable to do unjustly ; I see not how it can be
thought to be the stability of his throne of providence, who can do
no wrong, whose dominion is founded on his having created all
things, and is absolutely, and in itself unalterable.
By justice then I understand God's justice proceeding on a righte-
ousness : by judgment, the execution of justice against sin ; which
done, justice gives what is due. These are bases, supporters, or stays
or foundations the throne of grace stands on: and you may easily
perceive they relate to Christ, the Mediator, who became justice's
party, and on whom judgment was executed for the satisfaction of
justice. The throne of grace could not have been set up but
on these bases; and were it possible they could fail, that moment
they failed, the throne would tumble down.
2. The harbingers which go before him, " Mercy and truth shall
go before thy face." Here is,
(1.) Something expressed, viz. that mercy and truth go before this
enthroned King, as kings have their ushers who go before them.
The one is mercy, i. e. loving-kindness, bounty, clemency, good-will
towards poor sinners. The other is truth, viz. faithfulness in per-
forming all the promises made to the Mediator in favour of those
that are his. A glorious reviving sight to a sensible lost world !
(2.) Something supposed, namely, that the throne is a portable
616 THE NECESSITY AND FOUNDATIONS OF A THRONE OF GRACE.
throne. For these go before his face sitting on his throne. God
has a throne of glory in heaven, of justice in hell, of providence
through the whole world, of grace in the church, Jer. iii. 17. And
wherever the gospel comes, there God comes sitting on this throne of
grace, with mercy and truth going before his face, managing
the treaty of peace with poor rebel sinners, and allowing all his
people access to him, 2 Cor. v. 13, 18, " God was in Christ, re-
conciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto
them, &c.
Doct. The throne of grace, which God sits upon for the behoof of
poor sinners, is founded and stands upon justice, and on judgment
executed against sin, in the person of Christ the Mediator.
In discoursing this doctrine,
I. I shall shew the necessity there was of a throne of grace, for the
behoof of poor sinners.
II. I will shew the necessity of these foundations and stays of
justice and judgment against sin, for the throne of grace to stand on.
III. We shall consider the laying of these foundations, and the
erecting of the throne of grace upon them.
IV. Apply.
I shall shew the necessity there was of a throne of grace, for the
behoof of poor sinners. There was an absolute necessity of it for
the salvation of any of the posterity of fallen Adam. For,
1. Sin having entered, they could have no more benefit by the
throne of law-goodness, which run in that channel, "Do this and
live." Gen. iii. 22, 24, " And the Lord God said, — And now lest he
put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and
live for ever : — So he drove out the man," &c. The whole tribe of
Adam turning rebels against the throne of heaven, the promised life
and favour was forfeited, their claim was cut off by that one blow
of the first sin, at the rate that they, with the help of angels, could
never have been able to recover it, Eom. viii. 3.
2. They were bound over to answer at the throne of strict justice ;
for so was the law-treaty related and determined, Gen. ii. 17, " But
of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it :
for in the day that thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die." This
made them liable to eternal death for the least transgression, Gal.
iii. 10. Taste but of the forbidden fruit, an 1 lo ! they must die.
This made our guilty father, when he heard the voice of God, rnn
and hide himself, when he looked to have the summons to that awful
tribunal put into his hand.
In this case, there was the utmost necessity for a throne of grace.
FOR THE BEHOOF OF POOR SINNERS POINTED OUT. 617
A throne of grace, might the criminals cry, else we die, we all die !
we perish, we perish ! For,
1st, They could have no claim to law-goodness and bounty, but
upon perfect obedience, Gal. iii. 12. And that was put beyond their
reach by their sin, which both broke the law, aud wasted entirely
their strength for such obedience in time to come. So the Mediator
found them without strength, fallen down in their race, and not able
to go a step farther, Rom. v. 6 ; nay, " dead in their sins," Eph. ii. 1.
2cJh/, They were utterly unable to stand before the tribunal of
justice, Psalm cxxx. 3, and cxliii. 2. If their process be led there,
the sinner falls, he is a condemned man without remedy. No plea
can do there, but Not guilty ; and that the sinner cannot plead.
The Judge is omniscient, and the criminal can never out-wit him,
nor deceive him, nor keep the truth from him. And in that court
there is no advocate, intercessor, nor mercy; but the sentence
passed must needs be executed, and the criminal fall a sacrifice to
justice : for the Judge is just and omnipotent, there is no moving him
with cries aud tears in prejudice of justice, no out-braving of him,
or making head against the Judge or the law.
Sdli/, The criminal once falling under the weight of the sentence a
sacrifice to justice, there is no rising again, he is cut off for ever,
Psalm xciv. ult. Were it thousands of rams, or the fruit of one's
body, would satisfy for the sin of the soul, the sinner possibly might
make shift ; yea, were finite sufferings so, though for millions of
years, they would have an end : but the olfence against au infinite
God cannot be expiated but by infinite sufferings, which lay the cri-
minal's head so on the block, that he can never raise it up again.
4thli/, Justice had determined the execution-day to be the same
with the sinning-day, Gen. ii. 17- And had it not been that the
throne of grace was erected the same day to which the process was
by appeal carried from the throne of strict justice, the sentence had
been fully executed that day. When man was fallen, justice lays
hand on the criminal, and binds him for execution. Everlasting
love minds a throne of grace, to rescue a ruined world : but where
shall a foundation be had to set up the white throne on for the pale
criminal ? angels nor men could furnish nothing which could bear the
weight of it. Then said the Son of God, Psalm xl. 7, " Lo, I come :
in the volume of the book it is written of me." Let my blood, the
blood of God, be the base of the throne, that will bear it; so it was
done. Hence ye read, Gen. iii. 8, " They heard the voice of the
Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day : and Adam
and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God
amongst the trees of the garden." Ver. 15, " And the Lord God
Von. VII. 2 q
618 THE NECESSITY AND FOUNDATIONS OF A THUONE OF GRACE
said unto the serpent, — I will put enmity between thee and the wo-
man, and between thy seed and her seed : it shall bruise thy head,
and thou shalt bruise his heel." And ver. 21, " Unto Adam also
and to his wife did the Lord God make coats of skins, and clothed
them."
Lastly, Ye may see the necessity of a throne of grace for the be-
hoof of poor sinners, in the hopeless case of the fallen angels. They
were the first that ventured to break over the hedge of the law, and
no throne of grace being provided for their behoof, they were ruined
beyond all remedy, 2 Pet. ii. 4. For at the throne of strict justice
they must answer, and they have no access to the throne of grace ;
Heb. ii. 16, " For verily he took not on him the nature of angels."
The same had been our case, if a throne of grace had not been pro-
vided for us.
II. I will shew the necessity of these foundations and stays of
justice and judgment against sin, for the throne of grace to stand
on. Blind sinners, who never saw so much of the ill of sin as to
make them question whether the saving of such wretches was con-
sistent with the honour of God or not, are apt to think the throne
of grace might have been set up on mere mercy. Nay, but it would
stand on no other but justice and judgment against sin.
1. The justice of God could not suffer it to be erected but on
these bases, Gen. xviii. 25, " Shall not the Judge of all the earth do
right ?" 1 Thess. i. 6, " It is a righteous thing with God to recom-
pense tribulation to them that trouble you." Sinners, by the dic-
tates of their own consciences, know themselves to be worthy of
death, and that God has a right to punish them, Rom. i. ult. And
shall not a just God give sin its due ? "Who can expect mercy over
the belly of justice, or that a throne of grace should have been set
up on the ruins of the justice of God ?
2. The holiness of God, and his hatred of sin, would not suffer it.
Hence says the Psalmist, Psalm v. 5, " The foolish shall not stand in
thy sight: thou hatest all workers of iniquity." And says the prophet,
Hab. i. 13, " Thou art of purer eyes than to behold evil, and canst not
look on iniquity." When God does but spare sinners a while, they
are apt to think he is like themselves, in which he shews he will
vindicate his own honour, Psalm 1. 21, " I will reprove thee, and set
them in order before thine eyes." How then could the honour of
his holiness have been supported, in letting out the fountain of his
mercy and grace upon the sinner, without taking due vengeance upon
the sin ?
3. The truth of God was a bar in the way of emanations of mercy
and grace without satisfaction to justice. He said, Gen. ii. 17, " In
FOR THE BEHOOF OF FOOR SINNERS POINTED OUT. 619
the day that thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die." "What
should have come of the truth of God, had not death followed sin, ac-
cording to the threatening. True, if one will die for the criminal,
he may have life with the good leave of justice and truth, the
surety's death satisfying justice. But no mercy without satisfac-
tion, either by the party or the cautioner.
4. The honour of the holy law, the eternal rule of righteousness,
stood in the way of erecting a throne of grace but on these founda-
tions ; it behoved to be " magnified, and made honourable," Isa. xlii.
21. The law's hedge was broken down by the sinner, it was the fair
transcript of God's holy nature ; and therefore it was impossible
this gap should always stand open, never be made up, and they that
made it not only escape free, but be received into favour.
Lastly, If there had not been an absolute necessity of these foun-
dations for a throne of grace to stand on, they had never been laid
at the cost of the blood of the Son of God, Rom. iii. 25. How can
we believe that an infinitely good and wise God would have given
his own Son, the Son of his love, to a most cruel and cursed death,
to found his throne of grace to sinners on, if there had been no ne-
cessity of such foundations, John iii. 16, " God so loved the world,
that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him,
should not perish, but have everlasting life." If there had not been
a necessity for it, this love had not appeared.
Use of exhortation. And hence I would direct an exhortation to
two sorts of persons.
First, Secure sinners, going on in your sins, fall in with the fair
occasion of grace and mercy, now put in your hands, while the Lord
is come among you appearing on a throne of grace, and offering you
his grace and favour through Jesus Christ. Give up with your sins,
submit yourselves to this glorious King, and slight not gospel-grace
any more.
Mot. 1. Look to him that sits on this throne of grace, that is the
great King, and you will see two things may move you.
1. He is one whose favour ye must have, else ye are ruined ; for
in his favour only is life, Psalm xsx. 5. He is the best of friends,
and of all enemies the most dreadful. How can ye live without his
favour, since ye live on his ground, and live at his cost ? Acts xvii.
25. How can ye die without it ; will ye be able to face the king of
terrors without peace with the King of heaven ? The throne is
among you, then make your address.
2. His favour ye may have, for he is on a throne of grace ; come
and fall down before him on that throne, and make peace, Isa. xxvii.
5. The golden sceptre is stretched out, come forward, and let not
2q2
620 THE NECESSITY AND FOUNDATIONS OF A THRONE OF GEACE
the occasion slip, 2 Cor. vi. 2, " Behold, now is the accepted time ;
behold, now is the day of salvation." The proclamation of grace is
issued out for peace and pardon to rebels, stand not off lest the day
of grace go over with you, and that be pronounced, Luke xiv. 24,
" I say unto you, that none of those men which were bidden, shall
taste of ray supper."
Mot. 2. Look to those that go before this enthroned King, and
you will see two things may overcome your hearts to comply.
1. Mercy goes before it to embrace you, and give you a complete
remedy for your misery; slip not the golden season, Isa. lv. 3, 7,
" Seek ye the Lord while he may be found, call ye upon him while
he is near. Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous
man his thoughts : and let him return unto the Lord, and he will
have mercy upon him, and to our God, for he will abundantly par-
don." And it is sure mercy, ye may well trust to it ; precious mercy,
it is most dangerous to slight, since it issues out from a throne es-
tablished on justice satisfied by the obedience and death of Christ.
2. Truth goes before it, to secure unto all that submit to the King
on this throne all the promises of the everlasting covenant ; they
shall all be yours in Christ, 2 Cor. i. 20. They will begin to be ac-
complished in this life, but they will serve to tell out through the
ages of eternity.
Mot. ult. Look to the foundations this throne stands on, and you
will see two things may determine you.
1. That it is costly grace and mercy that is offered you. This
whito throne had never appeared amongst us, if Christ had not, by
his obedience and death, made a foundation for it to stand on. Has
he been at the expense of his precious blood to rear it up, and will
ye slight the grace purchased at such a rate ? Ye cannot do it but
ye trample under foot the blood of the Son of God.
2. "What ye must lay your account with, if ye continue in your
sins, and slight the offers of grace from the throne, even justice and
judgment on your own souls for evermore, Heb. ii. 3. Will ye look
for mercy, yet not take God's way of mercy in Christ. Justice will
step in betwixt you and mercy, and part you for ever. If this was
done in the green tree, much more will it in the dry. If God spared
not his own Son, how shall the slighters of him expect to be spared ?
Nay, another throne shall be set up against you, where the flaming
sword to devour the adversaries shall go for ever before the face of
the dreadful Judge, 2 Thess. i. 9.
Secondly, Poor trembling sinners, pressed with the sense of sin
and unworthiness, come forward with humble boldness to the throne
of grace, that ye may " obtain mercy, and lind grace to help in time
of need," Ileb. iv. 1G.
FOR THE BEHOOF OF POOR SINNERS POINTED OUT. 621
Look to him that sits on the throne : it is not an absolute God, but
a God in Christ, 2 Cor. v. 19, whose rays of majesty shoot not forth
immediately to you, unveiled ; these indeed would confound the
poor guilty creature ; but they shoot forth through the veil of the
flesh of Christ ; so thou may look on them, and be refreshed with
them.
Look to the ushers which go before him : these are not justice and
judgment with the flaming sword ; these would destroy the guilty
sinner at his first approach ; they are mercy and truth, mercy to
spare and pardon, truth to enrich thee with the King's favours.
Look to the stays that support the throne, justice fully satisfied,
judgment executed against sin, in the person of Christ : hence the
waters of mercy flow out, say then, " Spring up, well, sing ye
to it." Look to these, and ye will see an answer to all the questions
that perplex your souls.
1. Will ever the Lord look favourably on the like of me ? Answ.
Yes, he is on a throne of grace, erected on purpose for his lookiug
favourably on the guilty.
2. But I am laden with chains of guilt, can ever I have access to
the throne ? Answ. Mercy and truth go before his face, to cause
all these fall off, and bring thee in before him.
3. But is it consistent with the honour of God to pardon such sins
as mine are, against so much light, love, &c. ; to put me among his
children, who am the very worst of sinners ? Answ. Yes, very con-
sistent, his justice, holiness, truth, law, his honour shall suffer no-
thing by it ; Christ has laid a foundation, that equally bears up
God's honour, and thy salvation, even thine.
Maxton, Sabbath, July 5, 1719.
Psalm lxxxix. 14,
Justice and judgment are the habitation of thy throne : mercy and truth
shall go before thy face.
(The second sermon on this text.)
III. We shall consider the laying of these foundations, and the
erecting of the throne of grace upon them. Here consider,
1. The general ends of this new erection.
2. The necessary foundations of this throne.
3. How these foundations were laid.
622 THE NECESSITY AND FOUNDATIONS OF A THRONE OF GRACE
First, The general ends of this new erection. For what ends was
it to be made and set up ? The particular ends are as many as the
needs of lost sinners were, but they may be, and are by the apos-
tle, reduced unto two heads, Heb. iv. ult.
1. The saving of sinners from the wrath of God due to them for
their sins ; " Let us come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we
may obtain mercy." Sin entering into the world made a gap, at
which the flood of wrath following might enter, and would certainly
enter and sweep away all before it into the pit, if the gap was not
made up. This throne then was to be erected, that mercy might
fill up the gap, rejoice over judgment, and save the sinner from
perishing; that the sinner might be pardoned, his guilt of eternal
wrath be taken away, and he taken out of the jaws of devouring
death.
2. The making of sinners positively happy in the favour of God
for evermore; "And find grace to help." By sin's entering into
the world, their right to heaven was forfeited and razed, they could
not come thither. They could have no commnniou with God here
nor hereafter. Justice had drawn a bar betwixt them and it, and
shut the door never to be opened, but on answering such demands
of its own, which the sinner never could do. The throne of grace
then was to be erected, that grace might open that door, and let in
the sinner to the forfeited inheritance again ; not only that the
rebel might get his pardon, but might be restored to his Prince's
favour, and loaded with benefits to his everlasting and complete
happiness.
Secondly, The necessary foundations of this throne. The text
says, these are justice and judgment.
1. Justice, as distinguished from judgment, whereby God gives
good unto any, agreeably to the laws of righteousness, which the
justice of his nature requires to be observed in his government of
the world, Gen. xviii. 25, " Shall not the Judge of all the earth do
right?" This justice annexeth his favour and good-will to the obe-
dience, the perfect obedience of his law ; secures the delivery of a
purchase upon the payment of a valuable price for it; and cannot
admit of the keeping back of any good that is due. This is justice,
this is what is right, which the Judge of all the earth cannot but
do, in so far as he cannot but be just.
This answers the end of making the creature happy, upon due
obedience to the great Lawgiver, during the course of such obedi-
ence. And though there was grace in the first covenant, in so far
as the obedience of innocent Adam was not proportionable to the
great reward promised therein : yet as it was not comparable to
FOR THE BEHOOF OF rOOR SINNERS POINTED OUT. C23
gospel-grace, it might have stood upon this single foot of justice.
But supposing this foundation laid, it could not have supported a
throne of grace in favour of sinners ; it could not have stood on
this single foot, unatoned guilt would have undermined it. There-
fore there is,
2d, Namely, Judgment, whereby vindictive justice is satisfied for
sin, for the breaking of the holy law ; vengeance is taken upon it in
proportion to the offence, which in a sort is an infinite offence.
Hereby,
(1.) Sin is condemned, Rom. viii. 3. Sentence is passed from tlie
throne of revenging justice against it, whereby, according to the law,
the curse is pronounced against it, wrath ordained to pursue it in
full measure, where it is found ; and never to leave it, till full satis-
faction be had of the party, who, by the appointment of God, stands
answerable for it.
(2.) The sentence is executed, revenging justice is let loose upon
it; floods of wrath overflow the party answerable for it; the fire
kindled by the breath of an angry God preys upon him, till the
vengeance is complete, and infinite justice has enough, that it can
demand no more.
This answers the end of saving sinners from the wrath of God, and
this foundation could not be laid without them.
Thirdly, How these foundations were laid. The whole creation
could not furnish materials for them.
1. Man himself could not, for he was quite unable to obey the
law perfectly; he had lost all his strength, for obedience by the
fall, Rom. v. 6. He could no moro do it than he could reach the
stars with his hand. Besides, he was quite unable to satisfy the
justice of God for his sin, by suffering; for the punishment required
behoved either to be infinite in value, or in duration. The first he
could not be capable of, being a mere creature ; the last would leave
him for ever ruined.
2. Angels could not neither ; for though they were capable to obey
the law perfectly, yet they owed that obedience for themselves, and
therefore could not perform it for a fellow-creature. Neither could
they, being but finite beings, bear infinite punishment, so as to sa-
tisfy infinite justice ; and they were not of the same nature with
those who had sinned, and for whom the throne of grace was to be
erected.
Thus there being no help among the creatures, God laid help on
his own Son, Psalm lxxxix. 19. When the poor criminals stood
hopeless and helpless before the justice of God, he undertakes for
them, to provide for the laying of these foundations of justice and
judgment, a throne of grace might stand firm on.
621 THE NECESSITY AND FOUNDATIONS OF A THRONE OF GP.Ae'E
In order to this the Son of God was incarnate, he becomes man,
John i. 14. For this he did strike hands with the Father from
eternity ; and seeing it was impossible that covenant could be bro-
ken, upon the virtue of what he was to do and suffer in the fulness
of time, the foundation was laid, and the throne of grace stood firm
thereon in Old Testament times.
Behold now how he was fitted to make provision for these foun-
dations of the throne of grace to stand on. (1.) He was a true man,
" flesh of our flesh, and bone of our bones ; a son of Adam," Luke
iii. " made of a woman," a daughter of Adam, Gal. iv. 4. Having
a true human soul, of which he says, " My soul is exceeding sorrow-
ful, even unto death." Thus obedience was to be performed to the
law ; and justice satisfied with suffering, in the same nature that
had sinned, Heb. ii. 14.
(2.) He was true God too, 1 John y. 20, and so God and man in
one person, which was necessary to make his obedience and death
of infinite value, in order to the full satisfaction of justice and the
law. In this respect his preeiona blood was the blood of God, Acts
xx. 28. And from thence did arise its virtue to support the throne
of grace, for all the gracious purposes God had designed it for.
Hence is that of the apostle, 1 John i. 7, "The blood of Jesus
Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin." And that, Heb. ix. 14,
"How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eter-
nal Spirit, offered himself without spot to God, purge your con-
science from dead works to serve the living God ?" Thus he made
provision,
1. For the first foundation of the throne of grace, namely, jus-
tice, by his obeying the law completely in the sinner's room, ob-
serving exactly and giving obedience to its commands. And this
for laying the foundation of justice to the throne of grace, Matth.
iii. 15, "Thus it becometh us (saith Jesus himself) to fulfil all
righteousness." He was holy in his birth, life, and death ; Heb.
vii. 26, " Holy, harmless, uudefiled, separated from sinners." And
liis obedience was,
1st, Universal, 1 Pet. ii. 22, " who did no sin, neither was guile
found in his mouth." He stuck at none of the law's commands.
The hardest of them he complied with, he loved his enemies, de-
nied himself. And all his enemies were bid defiance to convince
him of the least sin, " Which of you convinceth me of sin ?" says
lie, John viii. 46. And he was justified from heaven, by his resur-
rection from the dead.
2<tty, It was perfect in degrees: John xv. 13. Says Christ,
" Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life
FOR THE BEHOOF OF POOR SINNERS POINTED OUT. 625
for his friends." He screwed up love, which is the fulfilling of the
law, to its highest possible pitch. So that the law could not but say,
It had enough of work.
3dly, It was constant, Phil. ii. 8, says the apostle, " He became obe-
dient unto death." The temptations of Satan, the reproaches of his
enemies, the treachery of his friends, could not make him make the
least halt in his course, 1 Pet. ii. 23, " "When he was reviled, he revil-
ed not again ; when he suffered, he threatened not." The first Adam
broke off fairly, but quickly sat up, the second endured to the end.
^tldy, It was voluntary : Psalm xl. 8, " I delight to do thy will,
my God : yea, thy law is within my l;eart," says he. The doing
of God's will was his meat, John iv. 34. Though he was a man of
sorrows, yet he was never discouraged, Isa. xlii. 4.
2. He made provision for the other foundation, namely, judgment,
by suffering in the sinner's stead. Hence says the apostle, Gal.
iii. 13, " Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being
made a curse for us." He set himself up for the mark at which
the law might shoot all the poisoned arrows, which should have
stuck in the souls of the elect for ever. The fountains of the great
deep, and the windows of heaven were opened against him ; the
flood of wrath pursuing the sins of the elect finding him in the gap,
disburdened itself wholly into him. Justice put such a load of wrath
on him, as made him in the open air, in a cold night, sweat drops
of blood. And his sufferings were,
(1.) Most exquisite, judgment executed upon him to the utmost
rigour, Rom. viii. 32, " He spared not his own Son." Justice pur-
sued him from his birth to his burial, and never left him, till it
brought him to the dust of death. His cup was pure unmixed ven-
geance, was filled to the brim, and he drank out the bitter dregs of
it. In his greatest extremity, he could not have a cup of cold wa-
ter to driuk, but vinegar mingled with gall ; nay, not so much as
the light of the sun to shine on him, but it hid its head, then, be-
cause " light is sweet to the eyes, and a pleasant thing it is to be-
hold the sun."
(2.) Nevertheless they were voluntary, John xviii. 11 ; Isa. liii.
7, without the least murmuring, that so justice might have com-
plete satisfaction. He stood and answered all the demands justice
and judgment could have of the sinner, in order to his finding grace
in the sight of the Lord.
Use. I would drop a word to two sorts of persons.
First, To spectators of this solemn ordinance. And,
1. Unconcerned spectators, who have no part in, but look lightly
on this solemn approach here made to the throne of grace. (1.)
626 THE NECESSITY AND FOUNDATIONS OP A THRONE OF GKACE
Had ye no business at the throne of grace, that ye satisfied your-
selves with mere onlooking? Is not eternity at stake with you as
well as others ? Or is it possible for you to be saved, without ap-
plication to the throne of grace in the Lord's own way ? Acts iv.
12, says the apostle Peter, " Neither is there salvation in any other:
for there is none other name under heaven given among men whereby
we must be saved." And if ye value God's grace and favour, is it
possible for you to undervalue the seal of it ? (2.) How deep must
the guilt of slighting a throne of grace be, which cost so dear to set
it up ? Is it not a trampling the Father's love, and the Son's blood
under foot? (3.) Ye will not get leave to be mere spectators too
at the throne of judgment, but must come out of your graves with
others, and receive your sentence, which will be dreadful, if ye do
not timely make your application for peace with God while on the
throne of grace.
2. Spectators duly concerned, whatever has kept you back from
this ordinance, do ye not prize the throne of grace ? Are ye notTe-
solved to ply it, for the interest of eternity ? if ye do not, ye are
not concerned spectators. If ye do, I tell you, though the commu-
nion be over, the throne of grace stands, and there is access to it for
you ; yet there is room. Therefore go away resolved to settle your
business there for eternity while it is day.
Secondly, Communicants, ye have been professing to approach this
throne, how went the matter ? how managed ye your business there ?
1. It is to be feared some have quite mismanaged it. These are
they that have been careless, formal, and hypocritical in their ma-
nagement, who have retained some underhand management with
some one lust or other, whose hearts have not opened to receive
Christ with his whole yoke, and have not given themselves honestly
to the Lord. (1.) Ye have lost a fair occasion of settling your
matters for eternity, and God only knows if ever ye will have such an-
other : repent, and with all speed manage better, and do in secret
what ye should have done at the table, as ye would prevent a curse
on your treachery. (2.) It is a stout heart that could trifle in such
a solemn approach to such a throne, founded on justice and judg-
ment : surely ye have not looked to the bottom it stands on, else it
would have commanded dread, reverence, and utmost jealousy, as it
did in Jacob, Gen. xxviii. 17, " How dreadful is this place !" said he ;
" this is none other but the house of God, and this is the gate of hea-
ven."
2. Some have been sincere in their management, whose conscien-
ces cannot but witness for them, they have been upright in the
main, whatever mismanagements there have been. Yet,
FOE THE BEHOOF OF POOR SINNERS POINTED OUT. 627
1. Some such may be drooping for that the King on the throne
has hid his face from them, and that they have no token of accept-
ance from the throne ; so they fear they have quite mismanaged.
Answ. (1.) If sincere in the main, whatever mismanagements there
have been, remember it is a throne of grace, where sincerity is ac-
cepted, and acceptance is not marred by unallowed infirmities and
miscarriages, 2 Cor. viii. 12, " For if there be first a willing mind,
it is accepted according to that a man hath, and not according to that
he hath not." (2.) If sin has been made more hideous and fright-
ful to thee by this ordinance, the glorious basis the throne stands
on has not been quite hid. If thy desire after a God in Christ be
more enlarged, neither has he that sits on the throne quite hid him-
self from thee. If thou hast got a kiudly melting of heart for sin,
mercy and truth have darted their beams on thee. (3.) Be as it will,
the throne stands, abide ye by .it; and what ye have not got, ye
shall get in God's time, as did the spouse, Cant. iii. 4, " It was but
a little that I passed from them, but I found him whom my soul
loveth." And ye shall be made to say, Grace times its visits well.
2. Others may have had sensible reviving and refreshing from the
throne. All I say, is, remember that the least kind glance from
the throne is precious ; it is not the price of your pains, prepara-
tion, tears ; it is the price of blood, of the Son of God. Not a
smile from heaven but comes through the wounds of a Redeemer,
nor a pardon but is written with his blood. Therefore walk softly,
and quench not the Spirit.
Lastly, To all whose hope and expectation is all from this throne.
1. Look on sin as the most frightful evil, and stand at a distance
from it, Rom. xii. 9, " Abhor that which is evil, cleave to that which
is good." Oppose to temptations to your former lusts the remem-
brance of justice and judgment the throne of grace stands on.
2. Never entertain cheap thoughts of pardon ; leave it to them
that know not God, his law, nor his gospel, to think it is but to ask
mercy, and have it. There is no pardon of the least sin, without
the good leave of justice, Exod. xxxiv. 7.
3. Love the Lord Jesus, and remember his love, to whose obedi-
ence and death we owe the throne of grace. Grieve not his Spirit
by untender walking ; but let his love constrain you to live hence-
forth not unto yourselves, but unto him which died for you, and rose
again.
4. If at any time ye be obliged either to sin or suffer, choose ra-
ther the greatest suffering than the least sin. And to animate you
thereto, consider what Christ suffered, in order to lay a foundation
for the throne of grace.
628 THE NECESSITY AND FOUNDATIONS OF A THRONE OF GRACE
5. Having settled your matters at the throne by a sincere
embracing of the covenant from thence offered, strengthen yonr
faith, and confirm your confidence of grace and salvation, by look-
ing to the firm foundations the throne stands on.
Lastly, Be much at the throne by prayer and supplication, in the
name of Christ.
Morebattle, Saturday, July 18, 1719.
Psalm: lxxxix. 14,
Justice and judgment are the habitation of thy throne: mercy and truth
shall go before thy face.
(The third sermon on this text.)
I come more particularly to consider, How these foundations of
justice and judgment were laid. When a throne of grace was to be
erected for the behoof of poor criminal sinners, justice and judgment
stand up in the behalf of a holy, but broken law, and require to be
satisfied of the sinner, before there could be a throne of grace erected
in his favour. And Christ answers for the sinner,
First, Justice requires of the sinner, in behalf of the holy law, per-
fect obedience to its commands, pleading the truth of God, Isa. xlii.
21. Otherwise tliere can be no throne of grace erected in his fa-
vour, since it cannot be set up on the ruins of the holy law. There-
fore justice says to the sinner, Matth. xix. 17, " If thou wilt enter
into life, keep the commandments." But this sinful man could not
do; and if the throne of grace cannot stand but on this foundation,
he must lose the benefit of it for ever. Alas ! then, must all perish ?
No, Christ answers for bis own ; what they could not, he did. He
presents himself, and whatever justice has to demand of them for
laying this foundation of the throne of grace, he affords. Hear the
demands.
1st, Demand. Thy nature must be absolutely pure and holy ; for
if the fountain be poisoned with sin, how can the streams be other-
wise ? Hence says Job, chap. xiv. 4, " Who can bring a clean thing
out of an unclean ? Not one." And says the apostle John, Rev. xxi.
ult. " There shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defileth."
Without the law's being satisfied in this point, there is no grace nor
mercy for thee. Alas, the sinner can never answer this. He has a
corrupt nature, he cannot purify it, Prov. xx. 9. He was born in
FOR THE BEHOOF OF POOR SINNERS POINTED OUT. 629
sin; cau he enter again into his mother's belly, and be born over
again without sin ?
But Christ answers this demand for his people ; the law shall
have all its asking. Therefore the Son of God takes to himself a
true body and soul, both sinless. The Ancient of days becomes an
infant of days. He is conceived without spot by the power of the
Holy Ghost, in the womb of the virgin Mary, and in due time born
without sin, Luke i. 35. Heb. vii. 26. His nature was not in the least
tainted, but absolutely free of the least seed of sin. Here is now
such a birth, such a nature, as the law exacted ; so that demand is
answered, that bar in the sinner's way drawn.
2d. Demand. Thou must obey every command of the broad law.
Thy obedience must be as broad as the law. If some, not all, a curse
shall come on thee, and not a blessing, according to that, Gal.
iii. 10, " Cursed is everyone that continueth not in all things which
are written in the book of the law to do them." Alas, what can
the sinner do with this ! He has lost much of the knowledge of the
law ; many of these commands he does not know, yet ignorance of
the law excuses no man ; many quite against the grain with him,
" Love your enemies," &c. ; many that, if his life were a thousand
times lying on them, and he would set himself to the utmost dili-
gence and watchfulness, he will break sometimes, as by vain
thoughts, &c.
Christ answers this. He obeyed all : " fulfiled all righteousness ;"
Matth. iii. 15 ; " did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth,"
1 Pet. ii. 22. He made the law, he could not but know it in every
point. It was the transcript of his own holy nature, he fulfils it in
every jot. Hence says he, Matth. v. 17, " Think not that I am come
to destroy the law or the prophets : I am not come to destroy, but
to fulfil." He gave it external and internal obedience, in heart
and life. Its hardest commands he baulked not, loved his enemies,
denied himself. Never an idle word dropt from the holy mouth,
never a vain thought could run through his holy heart.
3d Demand. Every part of thy obedience must be screwed up to
the highest pitch and degree the law requires : Matth. xxii. 37,
" Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all
thy soul, and with all thy mind." If any thing of the due measure
be wanting there can be no favour. To be sincere, to desire to do
better, and to be sorry at the heart thou canst not, will not be ac-
cepted here, Gal. iii. 10, forecited. Alas ! the sinner shall as soon
reach the clouds with his hands, as this perfection of degrees the
law requires. Let him do his best, corruption clogs him so as he
can never mount to the top; let him be praying never so fervently,
630 THE NECESSITY AND FOUNDATIONS OF A THRONE OF GRACE
there is some coldrifeness about him, his faith is mixed with unbe-
lief, his very sincerity is not without a mixture of hypocrisy.
Christ answers this. His love to his Father was most seraphic,
most ardent and intense, it flamed in his holy breast to the utmost
point the law could require. His love to men was incomparable,
John xv. 13. He went to the utmost boundaries of love with them.
Every action of his was absolutely spotless, perfectly refined, and
without the least mixture of imperfection.
Last Demand. All this must be continued to the end, without the
least trip in one jot, Gal. iii. 10. Shouldst thou live all thy days in
a course of perfect obedience, but at the hour of death one vain
thought run through thy heart, all is gone. Alas ! the sinner can
never answer this. He cannot keep perfectly right one year, day,
hour, minute, if a thousand hells were upon it.
Christ satisfied this demand too, Phil. ii. 8, " He became obedient
unto death." The first Adam broke fair off, but he tripped quickly ;
the second continued to the end. The law could never, in its greatest
rigour, challenge him of the least sin from the womb to the grave,
by day or night, alone or in company. His heart and life shone in
holiness, before his Father and the world, in its meridian brightness,
without the least cloud or spot to stain it. Thus the first founda-
tion of the throne, namely, justice, was laid. But,
Secondly, Ere the throne can stand for all this, judgment, in be-
half of the broken law, requires of the sinner satisfaction for the
wrong done to the honour and law of God. Just judgment, taking
the sinner by the throat, says, " Pay what thou owest." Thou art
in debt to the justice of God for sins committed, thou must satisfy
the just threats of the law, and bear the curse ; and without this
satisfaction there can be no grace nor mercy shown.
then, might the sinner say, " "Will the Lord be pleased with
thousands of rams, or with ten thousands of rivers of oil ? shall I
give my first-born for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the
sin of my soul ?" Mic. vi. 7- No, these are too mean to satisfy
here, Psalm xl. 6, " Sacrifice and offering thou didst not desire :
— burnt-offering and sin-offering hast thou not required." But, ye
crowned heads, mighty monarchs, may not ye be cautioners for this
debt ? No, they cannot ; if they would sell their crowns, kingdoms,
and dig up all the gold in the bowels of the earth, and lay it down,
it will not pay their own debt ; themselves must have a cautioner,
else they are ruined. mighty angels, may not ye rather under-
take for their debt, than that your fellow-creatures be ruined ? Alas,
they cannot, they are not able, they would be broken with thV pay-
ment of the thousandth part of it, and it would never be paid for
FOR THE BEHOOF OF POOR SINNERS POINTED OUT. 631
them. high demands of just judgment, no creature in heaven or
earth can answer ! Then said the Mediator, Psalm xl. 7, " Lo, I
come : in the volume of the book it is written of me." "What are
just judgments ? demands the sinner ?
1st Demand. Sinner, thou must suffer for the breaking of the
holy law, die the death, for the word is gone out of the Lord's
mouth, Gen. ii. 17, " In the day that thou eatest thereof, thou shalt
surely die." Alas, how shall this be answered? If the sinner's life
go for it, what has he more ? and if death, armed with law-ven-
geance, once get him down, it will hold him down for ever. 0, may
not bearing crosses do it ? No, just judgment requires bearing of
curses, not crosses. May not tears for sin do it ? No, it is shedding
of blood, not pouring out of water, it requires, Heb. ix. 22, " With-
out shedding of blood is no remission."
But Christ satisfies the demand. He presents himself to the sword
of justice, and judgment is executed on him, Zech. xiii. 7, "Awake,
sword, against my Shepherd, and against the man that is my fel-
low, saith the Lord of hosts." Death armed with its sting, and all
the force a broken law gave it, falls on him, sheds his precious blood,
wounds him to the heart, separates soul and body, carries him pri-
soner to the grave, and lays him in the dust of death. Death gave
him the first fall, but because he was God, he riseth again ; and
death having got its due, he brings away the keys of hell and death
with him.
2d Demand, more particular. Sinner, thy sufferings must be
universal in the whole man : that is just judgment, for so has thy
sinning been. That body of thine, as the instrument of sin, must
suffer : that head, that contrived the mischief against the law, must be
wounded : that heart, the spring of all, must be pierced ; these feet,
that have carried thee so many black gates ; these hands, that have
wrought so much iniquity, &c. And thy soul must suffer chiefly, as
being the principal actor in all thou hast done against a holy God.
Ah, who can endure this ! it is a thousand deaths in one.
Christ satisfies this demand too. He suffers in his body : his head
is crowned with thorns, and his heart is like wax, it is melted in the
midst of his bowels, Psalm xxii. 14. His feet, his hands are pierced,
his tongue cleaves to his jaws, his bones are out of joint. His
body has nothing but shame to cover it, his strength is dried up.
The wrath of God fell on his soul, it was troubled, amazed, in an
agony ; the arrows dipt in the curse were shot into it, till the law
had no more to require ; Gal. iii. 13, says the apostle, " Christ hath
redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us."
3d Demand. Thy sufferings, sinner, must be most exquisite,
632 THE NECESSITY AND FOUNDATIONS OF A THRONE OF GRACE
thou shalt have no pity, no sparing, but judgment without mercy.
This is just judgment. Ah ! who is able to abide this ? " Who can
dwell with the devouring fire ? It is a fearful thing to fall into the
hands of the living God."
But Christ satisfied this too. So God spared him not, Rom, viii.
32. Though his body was of a most refined temperature, and so his
senses most exquisite, his death was a most tormenting death. .And
in his death he was denied what benefits are not refused to male-
factors. His eyes were denied the light of the sun, his ears were
grated with mooters and cruel insults. He got vinegar to drink,
mingled with gall. He was in travailing pangs, soul-travail ; he
had no help in it, and he died in it.
4th Demand. Thy sufferings, sinner, must be infinite. It is just
judgment, for it is infinite justice thou hast offended. Ah ! who is
able to abide this ? This is killing, saddest of all, a thousand times.
Universal, exquisite, yet infinite ! " Who can dwell with everlast-
ing burnings ?" It is the hell of hell, and must fill a finite being
brimfull of despair.
But Christ answers this too. He was God, and therefore infinite ;
so his sufferings, though not infinite in duration, yet were so in
value. And what the creature could not have borne but by piece-
meal without end, he bears altogether.
Last Demand. Thy sufferings must be voluntary ; God hates rob-
bery for burnt-offering, Lev. i. 3. If thou at all murmur under all
thy sufferings, it will be new sin, and mar the acceptance of the
sacrifice, for which just judgment will repeat its demands. Ah !
what man can perform this ? The weight of wrath makes the devils
and damned to roar. The man cannot bear a fit of the gout or gra-
vel, nay, nor a stitch in his side, but he is in hazard of impatience.
Christ satisfies this too, Isa. liii. 7, "He was oppressed, and he
was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth : he is brought as a lamb
to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he
openeth not his mouth." In all his sufferings he never had the
least wrong or unbecoming thought of God, Psalm xxii. 1, 2, 3.
Never the least murmuring. He willingly underwent what he was
to suffer. "When his hour came, though he was able to have rescued
himself, he would not. He meekly prays for his murderers, even
when he was in his extremity, Luke xxiii. 3L Thus the demand
of judgment is satisfied.
And thus weie the foundations of justice and judgment laid, for
the throne of grace to stand on. And on these it was erected, aiul
stands for the behoof of poor sinners.
Use 1. sinners, come to God, through Jesus Christ ; and while
FOR THE BEHOOF OF POOR SINNERS POINTED OUT. 633
God is on a throne of grace to you, settle your business for eter-
nity at this throne.
First, "What is your business at the throne of grace ?
1st, More generally, your great and comprehensive business
at the throne is, to get God to be your God by a special co-
venant relation. Sinners, do not ye know ye have lost God? that
ye are " without God in the world"? Eph. ii. 12. Sin has dissolved
all saving relation betwixt God and Adam's lost posterity : and his
wrath abides on the rebels and traitors, while in that state, John
iii. ult. But hear good news from a throne of grace to you, who
stand condemned at tne bar of justice, Heb. viii. 10, " This is the
covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days,
saith the Lord; — I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me
a people." Isa. lv. 3, " Incline your ear, aud come unto me; hear,
and your soul shall live, and I will make an everlasting covenant
with you, even the sure mercies of David." And if ye had that se-
cured, your business for eternity is secured.
Quest. How shall we manage that business at the throne ?
1. Believe with application to yourselves, that this covenant is of-
fered to you from the throne. You have the Lord's word for it carry-
ing the offer of it to all to whom the gospel comes, Isa. lv. 1 — 3. " Ho,
every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no
money ; come ye, buy and eat, yea, come, buy wine and milk with-
out money, and without price. Wherefore do ye spend money for
that which is not bread? and your labour for that which satisfieth
not? hearken diligently unto me, and eat ye that which is good,
and let your soul delight itself in fatness," &c. If you had a voice
from heaven calling, and offering it to you by name, would ye not
believe it ? Te have a more sure word of prophecy, which reaches
you among whomsoever you rank yourselves, Rev. iii. 20, " Be-
hold, I stand at the door, and knock: If any man hear my voice,
and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and
he with me." And chap. xxii. 17, " Whosoever will, let him take
the water of life freely." If ye do not believe it thus, in greater or
lesser measure, ye cannot accept of ihe covenant, and so ye perish
without remedy.
Object. But how can I believe that ever God will be my God, who
am such a monstrous vile sinner ? Answ. Look to the foundations
of the throne, aud you will see a perfect righteousness, and a complete
satisfaction for the sins of all, that will take the benefit of the throne
of grace erected thereon. This truth is written in characters of the
precious blood of the Son of God, the which, to what purpose was it
shed, if it could not secure the business of any poor sinner at the
Vol. VII. 2 r
634 THE NECESSITY AND FOUNDATIONS OF A THRONE OF GRACE
throne ? 1 John i. 7, " The blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth
us from all sin."
2. Consent sincerely and honestly to the covenant, and your busi-
ness is done, according to that, Isa. xliv. 5, " One shall say, I am the
Lord's : and another shall call himself by the name of Jacob : and
another shall subscribe with his hand unto the Lord, and sirname
himself by the name of Israel." Let your souls and hearts open
this day to the offer, and consent that from henceforth God shall
be your God in Christ, and ye shall be his. And if ye be sin-
cere in taking him for your God, you will let your other gods go :
the devil, the world, any lust and idol, whatever fondness ye have
had for it, shall be no more your god ; but cast it to the bats, and
to the moles. You will consent to be his only, wholly, and for ever,
to take part with him and his people, for better and worse.
2dhj, More particularly, it is to get supply to all your wants, in
that God through Christ. Hence says the apostle, Heb. iv. 16, " Let
us come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy,
and find grace to help in time of need." Here is the place of
supply ; and think not strange of that, for here is the price of all
our mercies, the obedience and death of Christ. It is your business
to get,
1. Pardon and peace with God, Eom. v. 1. "Weighty business that
can be done no where else. Every where else, but at the throne of
grace, you will meet the flaming sword staving you off from pardon
and peace. Unpardoned sin will be a sinking weight to your soul ;
want of the peace of God will hide peace from your eyes for ever; if
once they are opened, come then, and ply your business.
2. The sanctifying Spirit, and his grace, to make you holy, Luke
xi. 13. "Without holiness no happiness, Heb. xii. 14 ; without the
Spirit no holiness, 2 Thess. ii. 13. And as the fire that bnrnt the
incense was fetched from the altar of burnt-offering ; so the Spirit
comes to us from a crucified Christ.
3. Right to heaven, aud eternal life, that you may be happy in
another world, 2 Cor, v. 1. This is business absolutely necessary ;
leave it not till ye be a-dying ; do it now, and it will be a death-bed
comfort to you, 2 Sam. xxiii. 5.
Lastly, A settled communication betwixt the Lord and yon, that
ye may have recourse to in all the exigencies of your life, Eph. ii_
18 ; 1 John i. 3. Ye have an ill world to go through : ye will need
both for life and godliness ; and here ye are to make the settlement
for both. Ye may come to see sad days of public calamity, wherein
they that cannot draw comfort from heaven, must want it for altoge-
ther. Settle the communication for that.
Secondly, Motives to press this.
FOR THE BEHOOF OF POOR SINNERS rOINTEH OUT. 635
1. God is oil a throne of grace to transact with you in this place ;
for there the throne is wherever gospel-ordinances are set up, Jer.
iii. 17. He has trysted once more with you here. What shall be
the issue; shall the business betwixt Heaven aud you now be
brought to a period? If not, ye will give a new slight to the en-
throned King ; and what will be the end of that ?
2. It cost the Redeemer his precious blood to erect this throne.
If he had not died, we should have had no throne of grace to come
to more than devils have. slight not the glorious and costly
erection.
3. Your business at the throne is most weighty, and necessary.
It is soul-business ; business for eternity ; business that can be done
no where else. If it be slighted or mismanaged here, it is gone;
and if so, nothing can make up the loss, Matth. xvi. 26, " For what
is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own
soul ? or what shall a man give iu exchange for his soul ?"
Lastly, It is a moveable throne ; see the text. It will not stand
always for you. It has stood in some places, where now it is no more ;
but the sometimes churches are unchurched. However, at death,
ye will have no more access to it, if slighted now. And how soon
the Lord may remove it, ye know not.
Use 2. Christians, communicants, ye have heard your business,
that is your business specially at a communion table. Learn here
your communion-frame, and fetch it from a view of the throne.
1. Come believingly, aud with expectation of good at the Lord's
hand. Faith has here the most firm foundation ; justice and judg-
ment executed against sin, in the person of Christ the Mediator. Has
he answered all the demands ? Then are the children free ; free
from wrath, free to the benefits of his purchase.
2. Come with the repenting, broken, bleeding hearts for sin, and
filled with hatred of it. See what Christ suffered for your sins, and
see the malignant nature of it.
3. Come with love, remembering his love more than wine. Be-
hold how the Redeemer purchased the throne for you with his pre-
cious blood; and when none in heaven nor earth was to prevent
your ruin, he stepped in.
Lastly, Come with thankfulness for, and admiration of, the glori-
ous work of redemption. Behold justice satisfied, truth preserved
inviolate ; yet mercy and free love magnified, by wisdom finding out
this way.
2 r2
EVIDENCES AND CAUSES
OF THE
DECAY OF EELIGION IN THE SOUL
DISCOVERED,
AND THE METHOD OF ITS CURE PRESCRIBED.
Two sermons preached at Morebattle, at the celebration of the Lord's supper there.
The first upon Sabbath, July 19, 1719.
Rev. iii. 2,
Strengthen the things ivhich remain, that are ready to die.
"Whoso looks on the face of the generation this day, in respect of
religion, may behold a lamentable decay in spirituals therein.
Great things has God done for us again and again, not only of old,
but of late : but alas ! amidst all our repeated deliverances, wo are
like to pine away under spiritual plagues. that on such solemn
occasions we were stirred up to " strengthen the things which re-
main, that are ready to die."
This is a direction given to the church of Sardis, which had a
name to live, and yet was dead. A church which had as much as
made those about her to reckon her in a good condition ; but God
knew, and themselves might know, they were far from it; death
had got up into their windows, and was making havock of the spirit-
ual case of all sorts. The directions for a recovery in this verse
are two. (1.) Be watchful. Carelessness had ruined all with them;
they are called to bestir themselves to habitual watchfulness. (2.)
" Strengthen the things which remain, that are ready to die." In
which you may notice two things.
1. The decaying and declining condition of this church. " The
things which remain, that were ready to die." In which two things
are to be observed,
THE EVIDENCES AND CAUSES OF THE DECAY OF EEEIGI0N, &C. 637
(I.) Religion among them was brought to a very low ebb ; they
had some remains of it with them, but it was but remains. Their
former stock was much spent, the holy fire was become very weak.
There is no necessity of restraining this to the really godly among
tliem : it is spoken to the body of that church. Time was when
there was another face upon them ; some had life-like stirrings by
common operations of the Spirit, some by saving ones : but alas I
both sorts had quenched the Spirit, and were not now what some-
times they had been.
(2.) That which was among them was like to die out; they were
every day growing worse and worse ; their light was growing dim-
mer and dimmer ; their lamp like to go out.
2. A seasonable duty pressed on them for their recovering ;
" Strengthen the things which remain," &c. Hold hand to what
is left, that it do not go too. Under-prop the tottering building, that
it fall not down for altogether. Repair the breaches that are mado
in it. Add new fuel to the dying spark, that it may not be extin-
guished, but nourished and cherished, till it break out into a flame
again.
Doct. When religion with a person or people is brought to dying
remains, it is high time for them to bestir themselves, and strengthen
these remains, in order to a recovery.
In handling this doctrine, I shall shew,
I. When one's religion is decayed to dying remains.
II. What are the causes that bring one's religion to dying re-
mains.
III. Wherein lies the strengthening of things that remain, and
are ready to die.
IV. Lastly, Apply,
I. When one's religion is decayed to dying remains. This is a
weighty point; and in speaking to it, I shall shew,
1. Some things from whence one's religion may seem to be brought
to dying remains, while really it is not so.
2. Some things that will evince one's religion to be brought to
dying remains, whether they think it or not.
First, I shall shew some things, from whence one's religion may
seem to be brought to dying remains, while really it is not so.
1. The wearing away of violent affections and commotions of heart
in religion, or the settling of flashes of affection. It is true, some
never had more of religion ; in that case, indeed, when these are
gone, all is gone, Matth. xiii. 5, 6. But even the true convert may
have more glistering affections than are true ones, when religion is
638 TLIE EVIDENCES AND CAUSES OF THE DECAY OF RELIGION
new to him : and when these settle, and he gets more solidity of re-
ligion, that is not dying remains. James and John could have
fired whole towns for Christ, Luke ix. 54; but when they had more
of the Spirit, they were not so fiery. See that prayer of the apostle's ;
Philip, i. 9, " And this I pray, that your love may abound yet more
and more in knowledge, and in all judgment."
Some think, the love they had to Christ ! sometimes they could
not have prayed with dry cheeks, &c. But how like ye Christ now ;
would ye not rather part with all than with him ? are ye tender of
grieving his Spirit? do ye pray oppressed with a sense of your sin-
fulness and unworthiness ? These are not dying remains, as you may
learn from what the apostle says, Rom. viii. 26, " Likewise the Spi-
rit also helpeth our infirmities : for we know not what we should
pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for
us with groanings which cannot be uttered." And 1 John v. 3,
" This is the love of God, that we keep his commandments, and his
commandments are not grievous."
2. One's not being able to go through with duties with that
ease that sometimes they have done before. Hezekiah says, Isa.
xxxviii. 15, " I shall go softly all my years in the bitterness of my
soul." Self-confidence mixing itself with grace, may give more ease
in the performance of duties than is welcome ; the which when it
is broken, so much of that ease is removed. One may have more
temptations than formerly : the wind blowing harder in his face, tra-
velling is not so easy; but the horse may retain his metal, though
he go not so cleverly, carrying double, as when single. But he who
in the course of his way is striving, wrestling, and pressing forward
to perfection, whether with less or more ease than formerly, is not
come down to dying remains.
3. The marks of the decay of natural vigour left on religious
duties. Christ says for his disciples, Matth. xxvi. 41, "The Spirit
indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak." Though the being of re-
ligion does not depend on the case of the body ; yet there is such a
close union betwixt the soul and body, that the body may sometimes
be a clog to the soul in religious duties, which is yet going forward in
the way of Grod, not backward. It is not dying remains with old
professors, who, in the way of believing and holy tenderness, are
pressing towaids the mark; that sometimes they could have remem-
bered much of sermons, continued long in prayers, and holy exercises,
heard or prayed not with dry cheeks; but now it is not so. Why,
natural vigour is gone, moisture is dried up, memory is failed, &c.
Was David's courage gone, when Abishai, the son of Zeruiah, hav-
ing succoured him, and smote the Philistine, and killed him, his
DISCOVERED, AND THE METHOD OF ITS CUKE. 639
men sware unto him, saying, " Thou shalt go no more out with us
to battle, that thou quench not the light of Israel ?" 2 Sam. xxi. 17.
The man may have as great love to God, hatred of sin, desire to
remember the word as much as ever : and the impressions abide,
though the expressions slip from him, as much as ever. But he can-
not make so good music as he did ; not because the skill is failed,
but the instrument is cracked.
Lastly, More felt stirring of corruption than before. The apostle
Paul says, Rom. vii. 21, "I find a law, that when I would do good,
evil is present with me." And ver. 24, he cries, " wretched man
that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death ?"
This did not speak him under a decay, because the struggle was
kept up. Corruption may stir more than it did, when it has less
strength than before ; as when death strikes to the heart of the pa-
tient, there are greater fightings than formerly, not because he has
more strength, but that then what he has is put forth to the utmost.
Secondly, I shall shew some things that will evince one's religion
to be brought to dying remains, whether they think it or not.
1. When the conscience boggles not but at gross outbreakings.
That speaks very little tenderness left with the man, that conscience
has little of God's bonds on it ; it has so little feeling, that it is
very near to being past feeling, Jude ver. 23. It is not so with
thriving Christians; Psalm cxix. 113, the Psalmist says, "I hate
vain thoughts : but thy law do I love." The conscience is the first
thing that is awakened, and becomes lively, when the Lord is at
work with the soul ; and when it becomes untender, it is an evidence
little is left.
The untender conscience is an unfaithful watch in the soul, which
may quickly involve it in ruin. (1.) It easily lets pieces of one's
religion go, one after another. (2.) It easily admits into one's prac-
tice, things that have not the King's stamp on them, one after an-
other. And thus churches, and particular professors, hasten to
ruin, the spiritual building being taken down piecemeal, by grow-
ing unteuderness, Prov. xxv. uit., " He that hath no rule over his
own spirit, (says Solomon), is like a city that is broken down, and
without walls."
2. When one's conscience is strait in the circumstantials of reli-
gion, but lax and wide in the substantial of it, as in the case of the
scribes and Pharisees, Matth. xxiii. 23, 24, where Christ says, " Wo
unto, you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites; for ye pay tithe ot
mint, and anise, and cummin, and have omitted the weighter matters
of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith," &c. These are come to
dying remains ; for alas ! the main channel wherein tenderness ought
640 THE EVIDENCES AND CAUSES OF THE DECAY OF KELIGION
to run is dry, or shamefully shallow. Where lies the main of re-
ligion ? in holiness of heart and life, that is, in moral duty to God
and our neighbour, according to the ten commands. All the ordi-
nances of church communion and society are hut means to that end ;
and therefore they shall be laid by, when this is fully attained; and
they avail nothing when they do not advance holiness. "Wherefore
we ought to be tender of both, Matth. xxiii. 23, " These ought ye
to have done, and not to leave the other undone." And whether
one make bold with the one or the other, his religion is like the
legs of the lame, not equal ; and what he has of it, is but dying
remains.
3. When there is any one thing lacking to the perfection of one's
religion in parts ; see the text. That religion is in a ruinous con-
dition, that is not entire, Jam. i. 4 ; like the house that stands want-
ing the cope-stone. The parts of religion are so necessarily to be
joined together, that if one part be lacking, the rest cannot but
moulder away, Mark x. 21. So the whole of what the man has, is
but dying remains, in regard of what is wanting. And hence it
comes to pass, as one may bleed to death at a neglected wound,
while all the rest are taken care of: so one allowed lust will eat out
the life of the soul, whatever execution seem to be made on the
rest.
4. When folks' strength against sin and temptation is abated :
that is a plain indication of a decay, for " the path of the just is as
the shining light, that shineth more and more uuto the perfect day,"
Prov. iv. 18. This is a sad case, for one the longer he lives, to
grow the weaker; to be the easier ensnared by a subtle devil, and
deceitful world ; that says the communication betwixt Christ and the
soul is much stopped, if there be any at all ; that corruptions wax
stronger, as the nails grow in decaying folk. Maybe ye think ye
can pray as well as ere ye did: but indeed ye are not so patient, so
humble, denied to the world, self-denied, ye are easier led aside to
sin. Then thou art come to dying remains.
5. When the work of mortification is at a stand; the man's not
watching his heart, and noticing the lusts rising there, and setting
himself to mortify them, Rom. viii. 13. A Christian, if he be not
going forward, is going backward; if not adding to his stock, he is
losing. The garden will quickly be overgrown with weeds, if one
be not daily working at them to pluck them up. The leaking ship
is drawing water, if one be not busy at the pump, it may quickly
be swallowed up. The thriving Christian never wants Avork. Hence
says the apostle, Phil. iii. 13, 14, " Brethren, I count not myself to
have apprehended : but this one thing I do, forgetting those things
DISCOVERED, AND THE METHOD OF ITS CURE. 641
which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are
before, I press toward the mark, for the prize of the high calling of
God in Christ Jesns."
6. When though the duties of religion be kept tip, yet spirit-
ually in duties is gone. Then what is left is but dying remains ;
for says our Lord, John iv. 24, " God is a Spirit, and they that
worship him, must worship him in Spirit and in truth :" and says the
apostle, Phil. iii. 3, " We are the circumcision, which worship God
in the spirit." The sense of God's command does not stir up the
man to duty ; love to the Lord does not draw him to it ; God's ho-
nour is not in his eye. He goes out in his duty in the power of his
gifts, but no panting for the blowings of the Spirit. The spirit of
the man goes not along with his body; his bodily worship, actions,
and gestures, are but naked, yea, false signs ; he closes his eyes, but
his heart is not fixed on God; bows his knees, but his heart is not
humbled; he aims not at the enjoyment of God; but all his duties
run into the dead sea of self.
Lastly, When one is become a stranger to the life of faith in
Christ Jesus, what is left is but dying remains. The soul, if it have
any life in that case, is in a swoon ; for " the life which we now
live in the flesh, we live by the faith of the Son of God," Gal. ii.
20. The thriving soul is employing him daily, as a Prophet, a
Priest, a King ; growing into him, coming out of itself more and
more, believing his word, prizing his imputed righteousness as its
only hope, and labouring to subject the whole soul unto him in his
commands, and the disposals of his providence. Where this is not,
and the soul never grows more self-denied, more humble, resigned
to the will of the Lord, what is there but dying remains ?
II. I shall shew, What are the causes that brings one's religion
to dying remains.
1. Unwatchfulness, Rev. iii. 2. Carelessness about one's body is
oft-times fatal to it; about oue's substance, breeds a consumption
in their estate ; and unwatchfulness over the heart breeds a spi-
ritual decay. How many this day have little or nothing left them
in religion, who were once in a fair way of thriving, had they but
watched their hearts ? Alas ! there are too many enemies waiting
to ensnare the soul, from without and within, for any to think they
will get their attainments kept, if they do not watch.
2. Spiritual sloth, Eccl. x. 18. This is a bewitching sin; and if
once Satan get men asleep on this enchanted ground, be sure they
shall be robbed and spoiled there. Thus the spouse will rather let
Christ go, thau set her foot on the cold and wet ground, Cant. v.
3. Every one has a devil's agent within him, buzzing in his ear,
Master, spare thyself; and when men sleep, the tares are sown.
642 THE EVIDENCES AND CAUSES OP THE DECAY OF EELIOION
3. Quenching of the Spirit, 1 Thess. v. 19. When the Spirit goes
as he goes, so liveliness goes. Some cast water on this holy fire,
by sinning against light, which wastes the conscience, defiles the
soul, fills it with darkness and deadness. Some ruin themselves by
their not nourishing and cherishing this fire, to give fuel to it,
but they bring themselves into darkness and deadness by neglect-
ing it. Some smother it, by taking part with some one lust or
other against it, and so resist and rebel against the Spirit, to their
own wreck.
Use. I shall drop a word to two sorts of persons.
First, To those with whom nothing remains, but all is died out.
Time was ye had convictions and awakenings at a sermon, on a
sick-bed, or otherwise : but now of all that ever they got at all
the communions, sermons, afflictions, &c. nothing remains, but they
are just where they were before that time, if not worse. To stir
you up to see to yourselves in time, I would pose your consciences
with the following queries : —
1. When ye had your awakening, would ye not have given all
the world to have had that undone ye had done ? Why then turn
back to the same courses ?
2. Did ye not resolve never to be so unconcerned about your soul,
as ye have been ? What have ye done with these resolutions ? were
ye fools to make them?«or were ye fools to break them?
3. Did ye think God's wrath against sin a mere scarecrow then ?
why look ye on it so now? Could you sleep sound this night, if
God should send you home with his arrows again in your conscience ?
They have need of strong armour, that have God for their party.
4. Was not death very terrible then ? and is the turning back to
your old courses the way to make it pleasant now? Is there any
more sand in your glass now ? It may be farther from your mind,
but sure it is nearer your heels than then.
Secondly, To those with whom something remains, though ready
to die. This is the prevailing case of the generation, which is in a
decaying, dying condition, whereof there are several sad symptoms.
1. The stomach for our spiritual food is gone. Ordinances are
not prized, but despised. We look as we had got a surfeit of the
gospel. Farms and merchandize go nearer the heart than occasions
of communion with God. A sign we may come to fast till we find
our stomach.
2. Zion's children have generally lost their colour, their beauty
gone. That heavenliuess, spirituality, tenderness, favour of godli-
ness, sometimes about them, is much away. And self-conceit, pride,
formality, worldly-mindedness, and untenderness, has made them
the colour of the earth.
DISCOVERED, AND THE METHOD OF ITS CURE. 643
Lastly, Death is working powerfully amongst us by the most hor-
rid ingratitude of the generation, for most signal repeated deliver-
ances, under which the generation i3 nothing bettered ; and by the
many melancholy divisions whereby we are crumbled into many
pieces ; all foreboding ruin !
Stir up yourselves to strengthen what remains with you, and is
ready to die. Improve this ordinance, communicants, for strength-
ening the dying remains, and follow on with any little you have, in
order to a recovery.
Mot. 1. The longer ye be a beginning, it will be the harder to
recover.
2. If ye do not, ye may come to lose more, yea, some may lose all
that they have, the remaining spark die out.
Lastly, You may and shall get a recovery, if ye will ply the
means, Hos. vi. 3 ; says the prophet, " Then shall we know, if
we follow on to know the Lord : his going forth is prepared as the
morning ; aud he shall come uuto us as the rain ; as the latter
and former rain unto the earth."
Object. I meet with many disappointments, I think I will never
recover. Answ. Consider the case of Job, chap, xxiii. and the case
of the spouse, Cant. iii. Disappointments sharpen the appetite,
teach honourable thoughts of sovereignty, and make the enjoyment
sweeter when it comes.
Object. But I grow worse and worse. Answ. The darkest time
of the night may be before day-break. See Mark ix. 20 — 26.
Morebattle, Monday, July 20, 1719.
Rev. iii. 2,
Strengthen the things which remain, that arc ready to die.
(The second Sermon on this text.)
I proceed to enquire into the causes that bring one's religion to
dying remains.
4. Slacking in diligence about the duties of religion ; Prov. xix.
15, says the wise man, " Slothfulness casteth into a deep sleep; and
an idle soul shall suffer hunger." The heart touched with the fin-
ger of God, is like a watch, which will stand if it be uot duly rolled
up. Thomas having missed one occasion of communion with Christ,
644 THE EVIDENCES AND CAUSES OF THE DECAY OP RELIGION
his heart was overgone with the power of unbelief. If one be not di-
ligent in the means of soul-thriving, how can he think his soul will
prosper ? It will be owned, that religion, among the professors of
it, is not this day as it has been : but is it not as sure, folks are not
so diligent now as they were in the thriving times of religion ?
5. Doing any thing with a doubting conscience, doubting whether
the practice be lawful or not, Rom. xiv. alt. Venturing forward,
though they are not persuaded in their own minds but it is forbidden
ground. This is such " a casting of God behind one's back," as the
phrase is, Ezek. xxiii. 35, that it cannot miss to give one's soul's
case a frem'd cast. It quenches the Spirit, gives the conscience a
throw, wounds faith and confidence in the Lord, casts the soul into
a kind of spiritual palsy, wherein the whole spiritual case is loosed,
nothing firm, and the man decays daily, till recovered by repentance.
But here beware of confounding a doubting and a scrupling con-
science. The former hangs in suspense betwixt the two parts of the
question, lawful or not, assenting to neither of them. The latter
assents to one part ot it ; but there is a certain uneasiness, arising
from some difficulties in the matter, inclining the conscience to the
other side. In this last case, one should endeavour to have his con-
science well informed from the word, that the scruples may evanish :
but if after all they remain, in case one be sure from the word, that
there is no sin on the side to which the scruples tend, they may for-
bear the action. But otherwise they should throw them by, or act
even against them ; because the conscience has light on the other
side, and they are but the weaknesses of conscience, and without
solid foundation. If it were not so, folk might scruple themselves
out of all religion. For it is certain some have been so tossed by
the wiles of the tempter, striking in with a weak conscience, that
they have scrupled even to pray any more, or eat any more.
Though God's express command for praying, and the sixth command-
ment, gave light for praying and eating ; yet they had such scruples
against these things, that they could not answer, and made the light
dim. Yet to have followed these would have been but to gratify the
tempter, and dishonour God, and foster the weakness of the conscience.
The case is the same in other duties of reading, hearing, communi-
cating, &c. ; all which might be shovelled away with scrupling. There
is a case, Deut. xiii. 1 — 4, " If there arise among you a prophet, or
a dreamer of dreams, and giveth thee a sign or a wonder, and the
sign or the wonder come to pass, whereof he spake unto thee saying,
Let us go after other gods, (which thou hast not known), and let us
serve them ; thou shalt not hearken unto the words of that prophet,
or that dreamer of dreams : for the Lord your God proveth you, to
DISCOVERED, AXD THE METHOD OF ITS CURE. 645
know whether you love the Lord your God with all your heart and
with all your soul. Ye shall walk after the Lord your God, and
fear him, and keep his commandments, and obey his voice, and you
shall serve him, and cleave unto him." The sign's coming to pass
could hardly miss to raise scruples in favour of his doctrine, yet
they were not to be regarded so as to be complied with.
6. Worldliness and carnality, Jam. i. ult. When one goes aside
from God to the world, he lies down among the lions' dens, and the
mountains of the leopards : and how can he come away without loss ?
Therefore says Christ to the church, Cant. iv. 8, " Come with me
from Lebanon, my spouse, with me from Lebanon : look from the
top of Amana, from the top of Shenir and Hermon, from the lions'
dens, from the mountains of the leopards." The world has given
many up their foot in religion for altogether ; witness Demas.
And many a good stock of grace it has brought down to little.
And,
1st, The cares of the world, Luke viii. 14. When the heart is
set on the tenter-pins for getting and keeping the world, good mo-
tives evanish. One cannot hold the gripe of religion, while he takes
such a greedy gripe of other things ; more thau one can grasp hea-
ven and earth at once. They are Beelzebub's flies and wasps, that
he sends to buzz about the soul, and disturb its rest in the Lord.
Hence many, while they are young, and without care of the world,
how blooming and lively are they in religion ! but when once they
come to get a family, they enter into a cloud of cares, and their re-
ligion melts away like snow before the sun.
Idly, The drenching of the heart in worldly ease, comforts, and
pleasures, Luke xxi. 34. Troublous times kept the people of God
waking; but now, they find ease sweet, put their hand in their bo-
som, and it grieveth them to bring it again to their mouth. The
warm sun of worldly ease has caused many cast the cloak from them,
which they held fast in spite of the boisterous wind of persecution.
deceitful world, that with silken cords draws souls into perdition !
Even lawful things may prove ruining. A very gourd stole away
the heart of Jonah, and cast him into a decay ; two graceless sons,
the heart of good Eli.
Lastly, The entertaining of any one lust, or idol of jealousy,
Psalm lxvi. 18. While Samson lay in Deliah's lap, he lost his locks
and strength ; and God departed from him. How many have tam-
pered with some bosom lust, till it has given them a deadly wound?
like the fly, flying about th9 candle till its wings are burnt, and it
falls down. Gideon had seventy sons by his wives, but one by his
Shecht-mite concubine ; but that one destroyed all the seventy but
one. So one sin indulged destroyeth much good.
646 THE EVIDENCES AND CAUSES OF THE DECAY OF RELIGION
III. Wherein lies the strengthening of things which remain, that
are ready to die ? It lies in two things.
1. In blowing up the remaining spark that is ready to die out,
2 Tim. i. 6, ""Wherefore I put thee in remembrance, that thou stir
up the gift of God, " which is in thee by the putting on of my hands."
It is weak in itself, stir it up, that it may act more vigorously. May
be ye have nothing but a conviction of sinfulness, and that very
weak; hold hand to it, press it forward, till it be deeper, and more
lively. If conscience has got the first touch, the heart may get the
next. If sin is become uneasy to the conscience, it may become a
burden to the heart next, and the sweet morsel be vomited up. May
be hearing, or joining in prayer, to purpose is gone : but praying
alone remains, though ready to die : why, stir up that, when alone,
pray more believiugly, fervently, &c, so shall you " strengthen the
things which remain, that are ready to die."
2. In adding to the remains, 2 Pet. i. 5 — 7, " And besides this,
giving all diligence, add to your faith, virtue ; and to virtue, know-
ledge ; and to knowledge, temperance ; and to temperance, patience,
and to patience, godliness ; and to godliness, brotherly kindness ;
and to brotherly kindness, charity." Is there a remaining coal, put
to another ; that will strengthen the dying remains. decaying
Christians, look about you, and you will see several gaps in your
religion ; make up these gaps, fill up the void spaces, if ever ye
would strengthen the dying remains. Many a one's religion this day
is like a city-wall, wherein there are many fearful slaps, and at
these the enemy brings in, and carries out, to the ruin of the city :
and ay the longer the gaps are not made up, they grow the wider;
and the enemy has the easier access. If ye would strengthen the
dying remains, ye must repair the wall, and fill up what is the gap ;
and so what remains will stand firm. Make up what is wanting in
external duties, in internal duties and graces.
Use. decayed Christians, professors, all ye with whom it is
come to dying remains, stir up yourselves to " strengthen the thiugs
which remain, that are ready to die." And as for you with whom
it is better, who are in a thriving case, what is said to them, may be
of use to you, to look to yourselves, that ye come not to that pass.
Mot. 1. Dying remains are not for the work a Christian has to do
in the world. Ye have much work, much opposition from the devil,
the world, and the flesh, and ye have little time to do it in; ye have
need of strength ; they that have most grace will have enough ado
with it.
1. Salvation-work is on your hand ; hence is that exhortation of
the apostle's, Phil. ii. 12, " Wherefore, my beloved, — work out your
DISCOVERED, AND THE METHOD OP ITS CURE. 647
own salvation with fear and trembling." How will that be done
with dying remains ? Faint wishes and languishing endeavours
will not work that work. The garden will grow over with weeds,
if there be not plying in earnest.
2. Generation- work is on your hands, namely, to be useful for
God in the world ; and not to take up room there for no good pur-
pose, according as it is said of David, Acts xiii. 36, that " after he
had served his own generation by the will of God, he fell on sleep."
But will ever your dying remains make you useful for God ? Eccl.
ix. 10. I will say two things.
1. Dying remains are very unfit for any time, the best of times,
there are difficulties in the way to heaven that will be enough to try
the strength of the most grown Christian. There is holy violence
to be used, Matth. xi. 12. There will be striving to enter in at the
strait gate, Luke xiii. 24 ; wrestling with principalities and powers ;
a race to be run ; a good fight to be fought, and victory to be ob-
tained. How will dying remains suit these ?
2. They are especially very unfit for our time we live in ; the
stream of profanity and wickedness runs violently among many of
this generation ; the stream of formality, deadness, and untender-
ness among professors, that it may be hard to keep what remains
from dying out, if not strengthened, Rev. iii. 4. And the Lord is
threatening the generation, as a generation of his wrath, so that we
are very like to see suffering times, which our dying remains make
us very unfit for; hence is that, Jer. xii. 5, " If thou hast run with
the footmen, and they have wearied thee, then how canst thou
contend with horses ? and if in the land of peace, wherein thou
trustedst, they wearied thee, then how wilt thou do in the swelling
of Jordan ?"
Mot. 2. If ye do not stir up yourselves to " strengthen the things
which remain, that are ready to die," and recover, it will be bitter-
ness in the end. Sleeping, decaying Christians, if they awake not
at the Lord's call, will readily get a sad awakening. If ye hold on,
take heed ye get not,
1. Jonah's awakening, being plunged into a deep sea ere ye are
aware, getting a whale's belly to seek strengthening in, for the
things that remain. Consider the case of Joseph's brethren. The
Lord will not let a people he has any kindness for decay on and
on, till what remains die quite out. But a midnight-cry they will
get ; and what the word does not, his heavy hand will perform ;
Rev. iii. 3, " Remember therefore how thou has received and heard,
and hold fast and repent. If therefore thou shalt not watch, I will
come on thee as a thief, and thou shalt not know what hour I will
come upon thee."
648 THE EVIDENCES AND CAUSES OF THE DECAY OF RELIGION
2. David's awakening, over head and ears in a deep mire, ere ye
are aware. A fall into some scandalous sin, that will make you go
halting to the grave. It is a fearful threatening against Laodicea,
Rev. iii. 16, " So then, because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold
nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth." Many keep up the car-
case of religion, but the soul and life of it is gone ; and God even
lets them fall, so as the world may see they -were never sound at the
heart. " Wherefore let him that standeth, take heed lest he fall."
Mot. ult. It is hard work, but must be done. The fire almost out
is ill to kindle. Ye have all to undo ye have been doing since ye
went back from God. Ye have been weaving a net to entangle
your own feet ; building a partition-wall betwixt Gcd and you ; set-
ting up idols of jealousy in every corner of thy heart and life; ye
must open out the net, demolish the wall, sacrifice the idols to the
jealousy of an angry God. But it must be done, else ye will re-
pent it bitterly in time, or in eternity, according as your state is.
What shall we do to recover from a decay, to strengthen the
dying remains ?
1. Labour to work on your hearts a deep sense of the ill of this
decaying case. Hear God saying to thee as to Adam, Where art
thou ? Consider how ye are robbed and spoiled, and snared and
taken. How it mars all ye do, your praying, hearing, communicat-
ing, &c. And try to bring meat out of the eater, and sweet out of
the strong, when ye observe it. (1.) Humiliation of soul before the
Lord, saying with Asaph, Psalm lxxiii. 22, {; So foolish was I, and
ignorant : I was as a beast before thee." (2.) Sense of the need of
grace, while ye see what sad work ye make in your decaying con-
dition, crying out with the apostle, Rom. vii. 24, " wretched man
that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death !"
2. Be sensible of your inability to recover yourself, saying, with
Ephraim, Jer. xxxi. 18, " Turn thou me, and I shall be turned; for
thou art the Lord my God." Sometimes grace prevents the decay-
ing Christian, and puts him in a fair way of recovery : but all is
marred by self-confidence, and turning in to strength of resolution
instead of going out of one's self to Christ. And so the resolution
breaks and gives way, and he is where he was before.
3. Believe, accept, or renew your acceptance of Christ offered in
the gospel-covenant, as if ye had never done it before. And look
to him for quickening influences, depend on him for them ; to him
the Father sends you for quickening, Rev. iii. 1. And believe the
promise suited to your case, and that with application to yourself;
Hos. xiv. 7, " They that dwell under his shadow shall return,
they shall revive as the corn, and grow as the vine : the scent
DISCOVERED, AND THE METHOD OF ITS (JURE. C19
thereof shall be as the wine of Lebanon." Mai. iv. 2, " But unto you
that fear my name, shall the Suu of righteousness arise with healing
in his wings : and ye shall go forth, and grow up as calves of the
stall."
4. Reflect on former experiences, muse on the days when it was
better with you, Hos. ii. 7. Recal to mind the particular times and
places where ye had something of God ye have not now. God says
to Jacob, Gen. xxxi. 13, " I am the God of Bethel, where thou
anointedst the pillar, aud where thou vowedst a vow unto me." Old
experiences sometimes give a fresh smell when handled auew, as in
Jacob's case, Gen. xxxv. 3, " Let us arise, (says he), and go up to
Bethel ; and I will make there an altar unto God, who answered me
in the day of my distress, and was with me in the way which I
went." They help to fill the face with holy shame. Every one of
them comes out with that inscription, Jer. ii. 31, "0 generation, see
ye the word of the Lord : have I been a wilderness unto Israel ? a
land of darkness ? wherefore say my people, we are lords, we will
come no more unto thee ?" They strengthen faith, according to that,
Isa. Ii. 9, "Awake, awake, put on strength, arm of the Lord;
awake, as in the ancient days, in the generations of old. Art thou
not it that hath cut Rahab, and wounded the dragon ?"
5. Repent, or renew your repentance, Rev. iii. 3. Search your ways,
take a review of your decay in the several steps of it, in the doleful
effects of it on your heart and life. Trace it to the source thereof;
aud let your eye affect your heart with indignation against sin, and
self-loathing. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and lament your
backslidings, with sincere purposes to endeavour to return to your
first love.
6. Begin forthwith, and watch, Rev. iii. 2. Satisfy not yourselves
to be affected with your decay on a Sabbath, or at a communion
season, and to stuff your prayers with dry unactive complaints of
deadness and decay : but forthwith set your watch, and call in your
heart from its wandering. Watch heart, life, the whole man; watch
the beginnings of a revival, and blow the coal, Hos. vi. 3.
7. Consider the signs of the times, as did Noah, Heb. xi. 7, who
' ; by faith being warned of God, of things not seen as yet, moved
with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house." Behold
how the harvest ripens for the sickle of wrath. Look over your
bed, and see how the house is like to go up in a fire about our heads,
that ye may bend to your feet. Concern about the public, not im-
proved for the behoof of one's soul is little worth.
8. Make use of godly conference. It is said, Luke xxiv. 15,
" While the two disciples communed together, and reasoned, Jesus
Vol. TIL 2 s
650 THE EVIDENCES AND CAUSES OF THE DECAY OF RELIGION, &C.
himself drew near and went with them." Conversation with lively
Christians is very animating, Prov. xiii. 20. These are rare, ye may
say : but ye that ever had any experience of religion, tell your case
one to another, and though you and your fellow be both alike, two
cold flint-stones struck together may produce fire. See Prov. xxvii.
17; Eccl. iv. 9, 10, 11. Christ sent out his disciples by pairs.
9. Fix your eyes on the particular ills of your heart, and pursue
them with the knife of mortification, Gal. v. 24. These are the suck-
ers that draw away the sap from thy soul, and have made it wither.
And be sure, as any of them thrives, ye will decay. And beguile
not yourself with what you call your weak side; for if ever ye see
heaven, ye must get above it, Matth. v. 29. Remember what is
written, Mark x. 21, "Then Jesus beholding him, loved him, and
said unto him, One thing thou lackest : go thy way, sell whatsoever
thou hast and give to the poor ; and thou shalt have treasure iu hea-
ven ; and come, take up the cross, and follow me."
Lastly, Be much in prayer; fervent in it, Rom. xii. 11. If your
hearts be dead, yet impel them to liveliness, if I may so say. One
benumbed with cold, walking he becomes capable to run, and running
he gathers heat. Stint not yourselves to morning and evening prayers ;
but take occasions between hands, if ye would thrive, and can get
them. Use secret fasting and prayer ; a most proper remedy for
the worst of decays ; for some devils are not cast out but by prayer
and fasting.
END OF VOLUME SEVENTH.
riUNTEll BY
GEORGE AND ROBERT KING,
28, ST. NICHOLAS STKEET, ABERDEEN.
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1 1012 01147 4766
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