The Life of Faith, Part 3 · Chapter 9
CHAP. IX. How to live by Faith, in order to the exerciſe of other graces and duties of Sanctification, and Obedience to God. And firſt of the Doctrinal Directions.
WE cannot by Faith promote Sanctification, unleſs we underſtand the nature and reaſons of Sanctification. This therefore muſt be our firſt endeavour.
The word [Sanctified] doth ſignifie that which is ſeparated to God from common uſes.] And this ſeparation is either by God himſelf (as he hath ſanctified the Lords day, &c.) or by mans dedication; either of perſons to a holy office; and ſo the Miniſters of Chriſt are ſanctified in their Ordination (which is a Conſecration) and their ſelf-dedication to God. (And it is high ſacriledge in themſelves, or any other, that ſhall alienate them unjuſtly from their ſacred calling and work.) Or of things to holy uſes; (as places and utenſils may be ſanctified: Or it may be a dedication of perſons to a holy ſtate, relation and uſe; as is that of every Chriſtian in his Baptiſm▪ and this is either an external dedication; and ſo all the baptized are ſanctified and holy, or an internal Dedication, which if it be ſincere, it is both actual and habitual; when we both give up our ſelves to God in Covenant, and are alſo diſpoſed and inclined to him; and our hearts are ſet upon him; yea and the life alſo conſiſteth of the exerciſe of this diſpoſition, and performance of this covenant. This is the Sanctification which here I ſpeak of. And ſo much for the name.
The doctrinal Propoſitions neceſſary to be underſtood about it, are theſe (more largely and plainly laid down in my Confeſſion, Chap. 3.)
Prop. 1. So much of the appearance or Image of God as there is upon any creature, ſo much it is good and amiable to God and man.
Object. God loveth us from eternity, and when we were his enemies; not becauſe we were good, but to make us better than we were.
Anſw. Gods Love (and all Love) conſiſteth formally in complacency. God hath no complacency in any thing but in good; or according to the meaſure of its goodneſs: From eternity God foreſeeing the good which would be in us, loved us as good in eſſe cognito; and not as actually good, when we were not. When we were his enemies, he had a double love to us (or complacency) the one was for that natural good which remained in us as we were men, and repairable, and capable of being made Saints. The other was for that foreſeen goodes in eſſe cognito, which he purpoſed in time to come, to put upon us. This complacency exceeded not at all the good which was the object of it: But with it was joyned a will and purpoſe to give us grace and glory hereafter; and thence it is called, A Love of Benevolence: Not but that complacency is the true action of Love; and Benevolence, or a purpoſe to give benefits, is but the fruit of it. But if any will needs call the Benevolence alone by the name of Love, we deny not in that ſenſe that God loveth Saul a perſecutor, as well as Paul an Apoſtle; in that his purpoſe to do him good is the ſame.
Object. God loveth us in Chriſt, and for his righteouſneſs, and not only for our own inherent holineſs.
Anſw. 1. The Benevolence of God is exerciſed towards us in and by Chriſt; and the fruits of his Love are Chriſt himſelf, and the mercies given us with Chriſt, and by Chriſt. And our Pardon, and Juſtification, and Adoption, and Acceptance is by his meritorious righteouſneſs: And it is by him that we are poſſeſſed with Gods Spirit, and renewed according to his Image, in Wiſdom, and Righteouſneſs, and Holineſs: And all this relative and inherent mercy we have as in Chriſt, related to him, without whom we have nothing: And thus it is that we are accepted and beloved in him, and for his righteouſneſs. But Chriſt did not die or merit to change Gods Nature, and make him more indifferent in his Love to the holy and the unholy, or equally to the more holy, and to the leſs holy. But his complacency is ſtill in no man further than he is made truly amiable in his real holineſs, and his relation to Chriſt, and to the Father. (The Doctrine of Imputation is opened before.) John 16.27. The Father himſelf loveth you, becauſe ye have loved me, and believed, &c. And 14.21. He that loveth me, ſhall be loved of my Father— As God loved us with the love of benevolence, and ſo much complacence as is before deſcribed before we loved him (1 John 4.10. Epheſ. 2.4.) ſo he now loveth us complacentially for his Image upon us, and ſo much of his grace as is found in us; and alſo for our relation to his Son, and to himſelf, which we ſtand in by this grace: But as he loveth not Saul a perſecutor, under the notion of a fulfiller of his Law in Chriſt; ſo neither doth he love David in his ſin, under the notion of one that is without ſin, and perfect, as having fulfilled the Law in Chriſt: But ſo loveth him in Chriſt, as to pardon his ſin, and make him more lovely in himſelf, by creating a clean heart, and renewing a right ſpirit within him, for the ſake of the ſatisfaction and merits of Chriſt.
Prop. 2. Holineſs is Gods Image upon us, and that which was our primitive amiableneſs, Col. 3.10.
Prop. 3. The loſs of Holineſs, was the loſs of our amiableneſs, and our ſtate of enmity to God.
Prop. 4. Holineſs conſiſteth in 1. Our reſignation of our ſelves to God as our Owner, and ſubmiſſion to his Providence: 2. And our ſubjection to God as our Ruler; and obedience to his Teaching and his Laws: 3. And in Thankfulneſs and Love to God as our Chief Good, efficiently and finally.
Prop. 5. Love is that final perfective act, which implyeth and comprehendeth all the reſt; and ſo is the fulfilling of the Law, and the true ſtate of ſanctification, Rom. 13.10. Matth. 22.37. Mark 12.33. 1 John 7.16.
Prop. 6. Heaven it ſelf, as it is our ultimate end and perfection, is but our perfect Love to God maintained by perfect viſion of him, with the perfect reception of his Love to us.
Prop. 7. Therefore it was Chriſts great buſineſs in the world, to deſtroy the works of the Devil, and to bring us to this perfect Love of God.
Prop. 8. Accordingly the greateſt uſe of Faith in Chriſt is to ſubſerve and kindle our Love to God.
Prop. 9. This it doth two ſpecial waies: 1. By procuring the pardon of ſin, which forfeited the grace of the Spirit; that ſo the Spirit may kindle the Love of God in us: 2. By actual beholding the Love of God, which ſhineth to us moſt gloriouſly in Chriſt, by which our Love muſt be excited, as the moſt ſuitable and effectual means, John 3.1. & 4.10.
Prop. 10. Our whole Religion therefore conſiſteth of two parts: 1. Primitive Holineſs, reſtored and perfected: 2. The reſtoring and perfecting means: Or 1. Love to God, the final and mor… excellent part: 2. Faith in Chriſt, the mediate part. Faith cauſing Love, and Love cauſed by Faith, 1 Cor. 12. laſt, & 13. Rom. 8.35. Epheſ. 6.23. 1 Tim. 1.5. 2 Theſ. 3.5. 1 Cor. 2.9. & 8.3. Rom. 8.28. James 1.12. & 2.5. 1 Pet. 1.8.
Prop. 11. Repentance towards God, is the ſouls return to God in Love; and Regeneration by the Spirit, is the Spirits begetting us to the Image and Nature of God our heavenly Father, in a heavenly Love to him: So that the Holy Ghoſt is given us to work in us a Love to God, which is our ſanctification, Rom. 5.5. Titus 3.4, 5, 6, 7. 2 Cor. 13.14. 1 John 4.16.
Prop. 12. When Sanctification is mentioned as a gift conſequent to Faith, it is the Love of God as our Father in Chriſt, and the Spirit of Love, that is principally meant by that Sanctification.
Prop. 13. The pardon of ſin conſiſteth more in forgiving the poenam damni, the forfeiture and loſs of Love, and the Spirit of Love, than in remitting any corporal pain of ſenſe. And the reſtoring of Love, and the Spirit of Love, and the perfecting hereof in Heaven, is the moſt eminent part of our executive Pardon, Juſtification and Adoption. Thus far Sanctification is Pardon it ſelf, Rom. 8.15, 16, 17. Gal. 4 6. 1 Cor. 6.10, 11. Titus 3.6, 7. Titus 2.13, 14. Rom. 6. Rom. 8.4, 10, 13.
Prop. 14. The pardon of the pain of ſenſe, is given us as a means, to the executive pardon of the pain of loſs, that is, to put us in a capacity, with doubled obligations and advantages to Love God, Luke 7.47.
Prop. 15. Sanctification therefore being better than all other pardon of ſin, as being its end; we muſt value it more, and muſt make it our firſt deſire to be as holy as may be, that we may need as little forgiveneſs as may be, and in the ſecond place only deſire the pardon of that which we had rather not have committed; and not make pardon our chief deſire, Rom. 6, & 7, & 8. throughout, Gal. 5.17. to the end.
Prop. 16. Holineſs is the true Morality; and they that prefer the preaching, and practice of Faith in Chriſt, b… fore the preaching and practice of Holineſs, and ſleight this as meer morality, do prefer the means before the end, and their phyſick before their health: And they that preach or think to practiſe Holineſs, without Faith in Chriſt, do dream of a cure without the only Phyſician of ſouls. And they that preach up Morality as conſiſting in meer juſtice, charity to men, and temperance, without the Love of God in Chriſt, do take a branch cut off and withered, for the tree.
Some ignorant Sectaries cry down all Preaching, as meer morality, which doth not frequently toſs the name of Chriſt, and Free Grace.
And ſome ungodly Preachers, who never felt the work of Faith or Love to God in their own ſouls, for want of holy experience, ſavour not, and underſtand not holy Preaching; and therefore ſpend almoſt all their time, in declaiming againſt ſome particular vices, and ſpeaking what they have learned of ſome vertues of ſobriety, juſtice or mercy. And when they have done, cover over their ungodly unbelieving courſe, by reproaching the weakneſſes of the former ſort, who cry down Preaching meer morality. But let ſuch know, that thoſe Miniſters and Chriſtians, who juſtly lament their lifeleſs kind of Preaching, do mean by morality, that which you commonly call Ethicks in the Schools, which leaveth out not only Faith in Chriſt, but the Love of God, and the Sanctification of the Spirit, and the heavenly Glory. And they do not cry down true morality, but theſe dead branches of it, which are all your morality: It is not morality it ſelf incluſively that they blame, but meer morality, that is, ſo much only as Ariſtotles Ethicks teach, as excluſive to the Chriſtian Faith and Love. And do you think with any wiſe men (or with your own conſciences long to find it a cloak to your Infidel or unholy hearts and doctrine, to miſtake them that blame you, or to take advantage of that ignorance of others? The Grace of our Lord Jeſus Chriſt, and the Love of God the Father, and the Communion of the Holy Ghoſt, do ſhut up your Liturgy by way of Benediction; but it is almoſt all ſhut out of your Sermons, unleſs a few heartleſs cuſtomary paſſages: And when there is nothing leſs in your preaching, than that which is the ſubſtance of your Baptiſmal Covenant and Chriſtianity, and your cuſtomary Benediction; you do but tell the people what kind of Chriſtianity you have, and what Benediction: that is, that you are neither truly Chriſtians, nor Bleſſed.
True Morality, or the Chriſtian Ethicks, is the Love of God and man, ſtirred up by the Spirit of Chriſt, through Faith; and exerciſed in works of Piety, Juſtice, Charity and Temperance, in order to the attainment of everlaſting happineſs, in the perfect viſion and fruition of God. And none but ignorant or brain-ſick Sectaries, will be offended for the Preaching of any of this Morality. Luke 11.42. W… to you Phariſees; for ye tythe Mint and Rue—and paſs over Judgment and the Love of God: Theſe ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone.